Ch. 4 Decisions and Rifts

I looked at the stones in front of me and didn't know what to do. It was then I noticed Tyrone walking up to me. "So normally we take about ten minutes to decide what we want to do with our loot. It takes 2 days for a cleared Rift to close and within those 2 days teams come in and mine everything out so those IRBA guys can get paid. You got about 9 minutes left before we head out." he said with a grin and I nodded.

'9 minutes to decide. Well I know I want to use the Spell stone and the INT and WIS stones. I'll pocket the rest.' with my mind made up I grabbed one of the blue stones first. It was about as large as my thumb was long. I crushed it and saw a message pop up '+3 to INT' punching the air I grabbed the other two '+5 to INT'. I didn't hesitate to crush the WIS stones '+5 to WIS'.

The last one I wanted to crush right away was the Spell stone. I grabbed it and crushed it as well, when I did I saw a new spell and description pop up.

Spell acquired Mana Arrow.

I almost laughed to myself and pulled up my Character sheet to see the changes and read the new Spell's description.

Name: Odellin Hundai

Level: 4

Str: 12

Dex: 9

Con: 11

Int: 18

Wis: 17

Cha: 12

HP: 230

MP: 350

STA: 110

(12 unused stat points)

SKILLS:

One-handed - 1

Two-handed - 1

Survival - 3

Evocation - 16

Animal Handling - 10

SPELLS:

Force Missile

Mana Arrow

Mana Arrow: This spell allows you to use Mana to replace conventional ammunition at a rate of 1MP per use. Damage dealt is reliant upon weapon type, but ammunition will count as magical for purposes of damage reduction. Cast time - Instantaneous.

I leveled up 3 times and got a new spell and still had 12 points I could put into stats. I felt on top of the world. Not to mention my evocation skill had broken through to the Artisan rank and would now do double its previous damage. I didn't even know what stats I wanted to put my points into so I figured I would deal with that at a later time.

After the ten minutes were up we all headed out. It took almost an hour before we got to the entrance. I looked back and sighed contentedly 'Horrifying or not, this is gonna be awesome.' then Bella and I stepped through.

We were met by the IRBA employee. He walked over to Tyrone and chatted with him for a moment before going to each of the other raid members first. Each one handed over a Mana Stone after he spoke to them. When he came up to me he smiled and said "As a member of a International Rift Breakers Association raid the required fee is one Mana Stone."

I looked over to Will who nodded "Alright, is there a specific type I'm supposed to give you or just any stone?" he shook his head "No specific one needed. I'm usually not supposed to say this, but normally Rift Breakers unaffiliated with a guild who participate in Association raids give us the smallest of their Mana Stones. It is required though so pick whichever one you want."

I reached into my pocket and grabbed the smallest Mana Stone I could find and handed it to the employee who nodded and turned away.

Another hour later after we were questioned by three more Association employees we all met up again. Tyrone was the first to walk up to me. "So you and your Raccoon were wicked in there. That boss would have been an issue normally but damn your Raccoon is fast. Your Missiles packed a powerful punch too. Here's my number. I'll call you soon and hope we raid together again." he said offering his hand to me.

I shook his hand and he turned and left. Will came up to me next "So what was the Spell Stone?" I almost laughed "Mana Arrow, looks like I might need to get a gun soon." he laughed as well and handed me a card "Here's my number too. I wouldn't mind finding out how you got your Raccoon."

Grinning I said "It was an accident. I kinda killed her mom, then her and her sisters were sitting there all scared and stuff so I brought them in and took care of them. Woke up with the skill Animal Handling and got to choose an Animal Companion."

He scratched his head and chuckled "So rescue a wild animal and get a wicked animal, got it." then he too turned around and walked off. It was then I realized I had no idea how to sell my Mana Stones. I walked up to the Association employee who I gave my Mana Stone to and asked "Hey, so I don't exactly know what to do with the rest of my Mana Stones."

He nodded "First rift?" I nodded in response and he smiled again "You can either sell them to the IRBA Mana Stone Exchange, but they will charge a ten percent tax. You can also sell them yourself on the web, but it's sometimes a risk that way. Once you are affiliated with a guild though you will be able to sell them directly to your guild."

I thought to myself for a moment before nodding to him "Thanks you have been really helpful." he grinned and walked away.

I looked down at Bella, then remembered that she would level up with me and brought up her character sheet as well.

Bella (Animal Companion, Dire Raccoon)

Level: 4

STR: 25

DEX: 23

CON: 23

INT: 6

WIS: 10

CHA: 8

HP: 480

MP: 160

SKILLS:

Dig LVL 1

Multi-Attack LVL 3

Not only had she leveled up but she got stronger and her Multi-Attack skill leveled up as well. I scratched her head as we walked to the car.

We drove straight to the IRBA building and parked. I saw Will coming out of the parking lot as well and waved to him. He grinned and walked over "Selling your leftover Mana stones?" he asked and I nodded.

"It's definitely safer this way. I tried selling mine online one time and got jiped, the dude cut off funding to the account as soon as I sent it." he shook his head as he remembered. 'So definitely the right choice for the moment. I can't wait til I'm in a guild.'

We walked up to the front steps and he led the way to the Mana Stone Exchange. We got in line behind five others and only had to wait about fifteen minutes before Will let me go first. I walked up to the counter and the man sitting at the desk was an older graying man who had a bored expression etched on his face.

"Are you here to buy or sell?" he asked with a monotone voice. I pulled out all of the leftover Mana Stones and placed them on the counter "Sell please." then he gestured to a device to his side. It was a bowl that had a chute attached to it that led to another machine with a glass display and two monitors on it. I placed the Mana Stones in the bowl and they all sped down the chute one by one.

As they all sped through the machine and showed up briefly in the glass display the monitors recorded the stat boost as well as what stat it was associated with on the two monitors.

Once the machine went silent he held his hand out and said "Badge please." I looked at him curiously and he responded, again in a bored expression. "I need your badge to be able to load the funds to your International Rift Breakers Association account. It should have been explained in the welcome packet you received."

I shook my head and said "I never got a welcome packet." he groaned and reached under the desk then handed me a book the size of a small romance novel. "Here is a welcome packet, it has all the relevant information you need. Now can I see your badge please?" and I handed it to him.

He put my badge over the scanner and nodded "First day is it. Nice haul. So we buy each Mana Stone at 200 dollars per stat boost per stone. You have 9 stones with a total boost of 21 stat points. Your take is 4,200 minus a ten percent tax." I followed along with him as he continued.

"Your account will be credited 3,780 dollars. You can use your badge at any ATM or bank and withdraw your funds. You must choose a personal pin before you can utilize your badge in this manner. I suggest when you're finished here you head to the ATM by the lobby to set that up."

Once he was done explaining he typed in a few more things on the computer and said "Your badge also will automatically update us with your current condition and status when you leave a dungeon. If you ever lose your badge for any reason, notify us immediately and we will freeze your account and reissue you a new badge for 100 dollars."

I nodded to him as he returned my badge and said "Next!". I made a beeline to the ATM and set up my pin quickly. Then I realized I hadn't called my wife yet. 'Shit, she's probably pissed at me.'

I pulled out my phone and called her up. She answered the phone and I could hear my kids screaming in the background "Finally you call. Did you get everything taken care of?"

I grinned and said "Get yourself dressed in something nice and call over the babysitter. Tell her we will pay 20 per hour if she gets there in the next hour."

"Ode, we don't have that kind of money. What did you get some kind of sign on bonus or something?" I chuckled "No actually I just cleared my first rift and got paid."

She didn't say anything for a moment, just as I was getting nervous about what she would say she asked "How much?" I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding and responded "Almost 3800."

I heard the phone drop, then a few seconds later she asked "How much now?" I repeated the number and I could almost hear her smile. "I'll call her and be ready when you get here." then I heard her yell at Junior something about whooping his ass if he didnt put the bag of rice back in the cabinet before she hung up.

I was leaving to go to the store next, but as I was leaving Will came up to me "Hey bud, so it was a pretty nice haul wasn't it?" I nodded "Almost double what I make at my other job." he chuckled "Yeah, a haul like that isn't super rare, but it is rare. Usually you can go on about 2 raids a month and the total we bring back is about what we made here."

I looked up at him curiously "Really? So work twice a month and make double what I make at my job. Or I can work five days a week and hate my life and make half what I make with this. Oh not to mention the first one also makes me stronger. I definitely need to quit my job."

He laughed this time and so I got curious about something "You said you've been doing this about five months right?" he nodded "Why are you only level 6? I just hit level 4 after what I'm guessing would be equivalent to 2 normal runs." He nodded as we walked to the door "Every 5 levels it starts getting harder to level. You get this quest kind of thing on your character sheet that you have to complete before you can advance to 6."

I scratched my head and asked curiously "What was yours?" he shrugged "Can't say, it was one of the stipulations. If I tell you I lose 2 levels." I groaned but nodded "Well then I will have to keep an eye on that." I wondered exactly what my quest would be when I hit level 5. Then it hit me "Wait, you mean like actual quests like in a video game?"

Will laughed "I had the same reaction, but yeah I mean you can literally shoot magic, you have a Dire Raccoon and you can see your stats. Honestly it feels like I'm playing Dungeons and Dragons." I nodded excitedly "I used to play D&D a long time ago, back when Pathfinder was the newest big thing. It really does feel like that except we don't choose a class."

We chit chatted for a bit before we got to my car and I said "Well I gotta go get a new set of clothes. I'm taking the wife out to dinner."

He nodded and headed towards his car "Don't forget to call and definitely don't be a stranger. we'll break another Rift soon enough."

Bella climbed in just as I opened the door and I chuckled to myself 'two new friends, one new spell and 3 more levels. I feel like a kid again.'

I went to wal-mart and grabbed a new pair of shoes, pants and a shirt, buying them then putting them on in the dressing room. While I did I thought about exactly where I wanted to put my new stats.

I knew I would need more Dexterity if I was gonna be using a ranged weapon. I also needed more Intelligence so I would have more Mana and attack power with my spells. However I also wanted to maybe buff up a bit, 'yes I know it's childish, but I like looking good'. I chuckled at my own internal argument. Then before I could change my mind further i put 2 points into Strength and 5 each into Dexterity and Intelligence. Then I took a look at my character sheet.

Name: Odellin Hundai

Level: 4

Str: 14

Dex: 14

Con: 11

Int: 23

Wis: 17

Cha: 12

HP: 250

MP: 400

STA: 110

(0 unused stat points)

SKILLS:

One-handed - 1

Two-handed - 1

Survival - 3

Evocation - 16

Animal Handling - 10

SPELLS:

Force Missile

Mana Arrow

I was definitely pleased with myself, but then I felt a rip up the back of my shirt 'oh come the fuck on'.