Darkness (3)

Blank looked at me confused, "um human?" he said more like a question.

"Um Royal, did you hit your head earlier?" Deck asked looking concerned.

I reached over and grabbed his sleeve dragging him into the tunnel further. "You stay here for a moment." I said eyeing Blank.

We walked until we were out of Blank's earshot.

"Okay Royal spill what is up with you?" Deck asked. "What do you mean what is Blank?"

I looked at him still trying to piece together my own thoughts. What was Blank? Was he actually not human? That sounded completely ridiculous.

"He…." I paused trying to figure out how to word the mess of thoughts in my brain. "not germy" I said.

"Not germy? What do you mean by that?" Deck seemed to be trying to check my head for signs of injuries. The idiot, I was fine, well I was my normal self anyway.

"He..... I can touch him." I whispered.

Deck's eyes shot to me, "wait like for real? I thought you had never run across someone you could touch before."

"I haven't" I muttered playing with some of the dirt on the floor with my glowing hands. "Which brings the question of what is he?" I looked up at Deck.

His eyes met mine. "Royal you idiot. That just means he is marriage material. Quick stick a ring on him before he manages to run away!"

I smacked him across the head with a hoddie sleeve. "Not helpful." I muttered.

Deck smirked, "Well he's human if that's what you are wondering. I've been around him enough that I would know if he suddenly became a robot."

I looked back up the tunnel where a small flame flickered in the darkness.

"If you see anything that looks weird or suspicious you need to let me know immediately. I seriously doubt that after all this time I would randomly stumble on a person that doesn't bother me." I didn't believe much in random luck or chance.

Either he was somehow a one in a million or he was dangerous. I wasn't going to take a chance on blind faith. We went back to Blank before moving forward as a group again. I felt the need to keep my eyes on him as I walked behind him.

Oh finally the tunnel was widening and growing lighter! We were close to freedom!

A loud crash reverberated making the walls shake a little. Was that worm back? I looked behind us seeing nothing but darkness. No wait it was smaller than a worm but still large.

The tunnel opened into another sinkhole this one much closer to the surface where light flooded in. In the center of it four players were attempting to fight another dog beast that had crashed down with them.

I recognized Hardcore and WhizKid of the FlamingMustangs guild. They looked identical to their in game avatars. The other two were unknowns at the moment though.

The dog beast had then running just to keep alive as it snapped at them. They were like little dog toys before the beast.

I saw Blank immediately take a metal pole and hold it like a sword again. Where had he even gotten another of those from? I saw him immediately start running toward the beast. Ya know, he might seriously have a death wish nearly as much as me.

"Wait a minute! We should probably ….." yelped Deck.

"Waiting is boring" I smirked as I pulled two blades from my boots. I had lost my original two in the first fall. Time to make some hot dogs out of this pile of scrap metal.

The two FlamingMustangs were trying to keep the dog occupied while the two unknowns were slicing at its ankles.

Blank formed a fireball in his hand and aimed at an ankle. It flew forward hitting the circuit wire tube which began to melt but not fall apart enough to fail.

Haha I really had gotten the better deal with the ice crystal magic. I formed my ice around my blades fixing their edges so that they were jagged. This way they'd be the perfect tube cutters. No more weak Royal, not anymore!

I focused on my lonely happy place letting my ice spread out around me. Focus and picture what you want. I thought letting the ice form into small platforms that I could jump on. Just like a staircase. I leapt from one to the next until I was above the dog beast.

The dog turned and charged at my ice stairs shattering the lower part and sending the rest falling toward the ground. Stupid dog that was exactly what I was hoping you'd do.

I fell directly onto its back and sliced the wire tube with a single slash. Hehehe ice ruled!

The dog beast crashed toward the ground but I nimbly jumped up and formed another ice platform before hopping to the ground.

As soon as I dropped my happy place my ice disappeared as if it had never existed. My blades returned to their lame vegetable cutting mode.

I wonder if I can make my blades purely from ice without needing a base? I'd have to try that later.

I looked over at Blank who had managed to burn one of its paws. Hahah I so totally won that round. Not that we were fighting, and not that I was claiming a petty victory, okay maybe I was. My rival? I glanced at him again. Had he always looked so beautiful in the light rays? What exactly was he to me? What was I to him?

Ugh too much thinking, I still needed to confirm that he was normal. Until then I should ignore him.

I looked over at the other four players. Good they were still alive. Not that I hugely cared or anything. Could I get real life exp for my magic by taking down a real beast? Eh maybe I should check them for injuries. If nothing else I might be able to level up my healing magic closer to the level 10 that I needed to transform it into alchemy.

I glanced back over at the four other players again. They were staring at Blank and me like we were gods. Oh you know, we kind of are. Hahah wait till they learn magic is real. Were they mages?

Let's see Hardcore if he kept the same info is a warrior of long blades. WhizKid should be a wizard in earth. Oh maybe he could reform us a staircase out of here. I didn't have enough power to ice all the way up but if he could modify what already existed, hmm useful.

"LoveStruck, you guys all okay?" Blank asked looking over. The girl nodded. Oh is that what she looked like in real life? The young beauty of the WinterRoses guild. Wait then beside her is likely…..

"Avian9 you're hurt!" said Blank seeing a long scratch on his arm. Yep the other WinterRose guy with a major crush on her. Figures. So we had a shield with Avian and another warrior with LoveStruck. Not useful to getting out of here. I should ignore them.

Wait he was injured. My eyes sparkled at the potential EXP. Healing was a very annoying skill to level as a solo player who couldn't use it on himself. I just needed another three levels to reach 10 in it as well.

Come here little EXP EXP EXP!

How to go about nicely being a solo player. Heal other for the Exp of course! Then you could always injure them again on accident if you needed more. He should be grateful here I was lending him my help in exchange for some exp. Not to mention Blank and I saved them from the dog beast. Granted it was totally mostly my kill. I'll let him have an assist on it though.

I didn't even bother to ask permission before holding my hand above his arm and healing the cut then quickly withdrawing. The less time I spent near him the better.

The others all looked exhausted. How long had they been stuck in here fighting the dog? Shouldn't someone have dropped a rope down by now?

Eh no matter. Earth boy was my ticket back to the surface. If I was lucky I might make level 10 in my healing by the end of this dog raid. Then I could stop healing others and start making potions!