Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

and brought them down to the arena, leaving two along the sidelines in case one broke and to take for weapons when he inevitably had to return to battle with the Dark Nth.

“Hit the target, maintaining your stationary stance,” the instructor ordered. The pillowbot had a holographic display envelop the cylindrical padded area where the head would be. This morphed into a target with two red bullseyes instead of eye sockets.

Gus had to orient where to hold the spear with the dynamic display and locked in the right placement of his hands. It felt nice to be able to have a decent grip instead of fumbling like he did with the too-thick bamboo. He wondered what this spear was made of—*whoosh*! The pillow arm narrowly missed his face.

“Can’t get distracted like that,” Gus chided himself.

It took a couple minutes to get his balance together when his hands were locked onto the spear and he couldn’t wave them in circles to regain his balance, like a man on a tightrope. Now that he had his center back, he timed his attempt to stab at the pillowbot.

His first lunge was over-exaggerated and pulled him off balance, and he was promptly punished with a smack to his kidneys by the pillowbot’s arm. He was sure that he had seen people flipping spears propeller fashion in the movies, but was not sure if that was even a realistic way to fight. Trusting there was a method to the constraint, Gus probed with minor attacks, not too aggressive, as to not expose himself again. One thrust by the pillowbot came quickly and Gus reflexively brought the haft of the spear across that side and blocked the blow. Another was similarly deflected and pushed aside. Gus placed his attention on these blocks, trying to add a little shove at the end and began to notice that it was bearing fruit. When his stamina bar drained after five minutes, he had to take a break to let his stamina recharge. The waiting really was the hardest part.

“Nick, what stat would increase my stamina? I’m getting winded way too easily.”

“Constitution gives you an extra twenty units of stamina for each level, as well as twenty units of HP.”

Managing stats was much harder in real life than when he min-maxed characters in video and tabletop games. The only things he felt he could ignore for a while were charisma and luck. For some reason, he was exceptionally lucky lately and almost felt like adding points would jinx him somehow.

He needed strength to fight the durable zombies, but he could get past that if he actually knew how to fight. He would need speed if there were more of the fast zombies. Constitution would make him much less squishy, and he was feeling especially squishy lately.

Those super long fight scenes in martial arts movies had lied to him; he was easily winded in such a short time. Finally, his stamina bar had filled and he continued on with training.

After more sparring, he could start to see a little more of an overextension in his foe. He attempted a stab after a deflection but was too slow in aiming and the pillowbot retreated. Success came after another three five-minute cycles of training, focused attention, and trial and error. He caught the attack with the middle of the spear, rotating clockwise to his right, then snapped back like a coiled spring and scored a bullseye. A chime sounded, and the instructor-pillowbot stood at ease while Gus extricated his spear.

After resetting, Gus began to improve his timing and could feel himself being guided as the Nth gave a tiny impulse at the right time to start his attack or retaliation. Apparently once he had a successful execution of a skill, the Nth could guide him to replicate it. Another hour later, mostly taken up with stamina rests, another chime sounded. Gus noticed two prompts in his log.

You have leveled up the skill: Spear Mastery to Level 2!

50 XP awarded

100 FP awarded

You have leveled up the skill: Spear Mastery to Level 3!

50 XP awarded

100 FP awarded

Quest Complete: Shake Spears!

Rewards: 500 XP, 250 FP

New skill unlocked: Sweep the Leg! (Level 1)

Upon successfully blocking an attack, have a 25% chance of knocking an opponent off their feet, stunning them for 5 seconds.

100 XP awarded

200 FP awarded

1825 XP to Level 6, 1800 FP total

“That is enough,” the instructor stated, bowing slightly while maintaining eye contact. The hologram dissolved and the pillowbot retreated behind its panel. The instructor then faded away and the lights dimmed, indicating that the training session was over.

Chapter Nineteen

Welcome to the Jungle

Day 5 6:46 PM

9:17:50 remaining

Gus thought he should feel tired after such sustained effort, but he was becoming more resilient. Wanting to try some of his new techniques, Gus went to the command center to check out the display that showed the entire island. Touching the interface and expanding the area close to the lower field of his first skirmish, he dragged the image farther into the forest, but the dense cover blocked the view of the ground.

Gus wondered if these images were from a satellite in geosynchronous orbit, and how visibility would change if it were a cloudy day. There were sensors on the ground that picked up motion and somehow analyzed threat levels, but nothing was showing up on the monitors the farther into the jungle he scrolled. Gus was also unsure how extensive those sensors were farther away from the manor. Deciding to go on a reconnaissance mission, he grabbed his three spears to take with him.

He headed back to his room to grab an energy bar and some foam to remake Razorback’s handle, reverting it back to a knife. He tore into the black packaging of the energy bar and was greeted with a dry concoction that tasted like peanut butter and sawdust. With a lot of water, he was able to choke down the bar. Whether it was its age or just how they were designed,