Strength Build: A LitRPG Saga (The Complete Strength Build Cycle) Read online

  The title faded and Nick found himself standing in a cluttered shop. He blinked rapidly - Immersion took some getting used to. He legs felt wobbly, like they might fold at any moment. He took one step forward, then another.

  The wood-paneled shop was filled with various nautical apparatus. Brass-mounted globes, silver sextants, model ship. Everything had a slightly pixelated sheen to it. The graphics were ultra-fine, but the pixels were there if Nick looked close enough. He touched a globe - cold and smooth. Amazing. He was addicted to Immersion already.

  The sweet smell of wine tobacco assailed his nostrils - an old man was smoking a pipe behind the counter.

  “Choose your way, boy,” he croaked before taking another long draw.

  A logbook of faded parchment was open on the counter. Nick smiled broadly. This was probably his favorite RPG moment - character customization.

  He placed both hands on the logbook and the shop disintegrated around him. He belatedly noticed a timer in the corner of his view. It was counting down from five minutes, and there were only three and a half left. Of course. This was a recorded event and there were nineteen other contestants. The viewers didn’t want to watch him spend hours customizing his RPG character. This would need to be a quick process. Luckily he knew his preferred build inside out.

  A familiar screen filled his view - a three-dimensional model of his naked self, a discipline pane and a stat allocation pane.

  First, he had to choose a name. He paused - his usual names were anti-social and a little embarrassing. He couldn’t use those on a Nex Cast, could he? This was important, and the seconds were ticking down …

  Panicking, he settled for his usual RPG name - Baron FuckAss. Already embarrassed, he moved on to the discipline pane.

  There were eight disciplines to choose from in Oakshield Junction - Corsair, Paladin, Zealot, Knight, Barbarian, Brigand, Duellist, Ranger, Robed One and Archivist.

  After a full minute of furious internal debate, Nick decided to go with his heart. That meant choosing a strength build. It was the percentage play. In his experience, strength builds could handle most situations. It was rare to encounter a boss that made cock meat of melee characters.

  Dexterity, mana and guile builds were great in certain circumstances and were definitely fun to play, but there was always a boss or two that bottle-necked further progress. A heavily-armed boss in an enclosed space, for example. Kryptonite for Rangers, mages and rogues alike.

  Nick couldn’t afford to be adventurous in his build - these were serious runners he was going up against. He knew strength builds inside out. At the end of the day, he just loved cornering a foe and going to town with his melee weapon.

  So there was really only one choice - barbarian. His body shape thickened and he grew at least three feet. There was no time to tweak the default body shape. His stats rolled automatically, but he had the option to alter them.

  There were eight attributes - strength, stamina, vitality, dexterity, agility, guile, mana and piety. Nick made the usual tweaks, transferring everything to strength and vitality. The strategy was simple. He wasn’t one of those fools who went all out on an offensive strength build, swinging a great axe at level 2 but killable in three hits.

  The secret to RPGs was an incredibly strong defense. You could be the best, most sublimely-skilled dexterity build in the world, but all that hand-eye coordination was useless if your blows couldn’t drain a tank’s HP to zero. If Nick could absorb his enemy’s blows and riposte with interest, he’d stand a chance of progressing to the second round.

  So - strength and vitality. The strength build also gave him room for error when learning the game’s combat system. Choosing the path of the ultimate tank wasn’t the sexiest option, but it had always served him well.

  Next came the perk window. In Oakshield Junction players could choose one perk from ten options. Nick chose the most boring object without hesitation - a standard ring of HP. It added thirty to his health bar, which might well be the difference between life and death in the early levels. Every single stat counted.

  There was no time to peek in his inventory. The final launch screen presented a series of possible starting locations on a map of Durandor. Thirty seconds to go. Where would his fellow runners be spawning?

  According to the map, there was a small village in the south called Salisbury. If the attached symbols were any guide, a scrolls vendor was located there. Would runners with mana builds spawn there for early gear? He might be half a chance to take one by surprise …

  With seconds to go he touched the village of Salisbury, quivering as the screen dissolved to black …

  An introductory movie began playing.

  The Kingdom of Durandor is in turmoil. King Andaran has been murdered. A three thousand crown bounty is offered to any hero who can uncover the base villain.

  Thousands of mercenaries have stepped forward to claim their prize and win widespread acclaim. Only a few possess both the physical and investigative abilities required to solve this darkest of puzzles. The King’s sons - Janis, elite mirror knight, and Alain, revered scholar, will be watching closely. Durandor is on the brink of civil war - time is running out.

  Nick nodded sagely as his world went black again. It was a relatively simple setup, but he didn’t doubt that things would get complicated.

  A title materialized in his view - DURANDOR.

  He found himself standing under the eaves of a confectionery store in Salisbury. Judging from the front window there were several items for sale, but he was loathe to spend his crowns so early in a game.

  How many did he have anyway? He hadn’t checked his inventory yet, but long experience demanded that he check his surroundings first. Especially if this was a popular spawn point for fellow players.

  With a shock he realized he was completely naked - there must have been an option to equip gear back at the skill allocation window. Worse, his private parts weren’t covered in a loincloth or briefs. All was present and anatomically correct - not even blurred via pixelation. The Barbarian was fairly well endowed, much to his relief.

  He wondered if his physiological responses could cause erections. This wasn’t the time or the place to test. He was a professional pixel runner on his maiden gig. Which made his nudity all the more galling. How many people were watching this episode of Oakshield Junction?

  He noticed the social window in the upper right of his view. There was a red up arrow for Love and a blue down arrow for Hate. He already had 23 points for Love, and felt a surge of adrenalin like he’d never experienced before. Folks out there were already liking his work!

  A steady stream of harmless NPCs went about their business, some frowning and shaking their heads at him. Nick was about to get changed when a splash of color drew his attention. Something a little different to the NPC flow.

  It was a character name - AndronicusB. Another player! This guy was wearing a blue robe and dealing with the scroll vendor no more than ten yards away. A Robed One. Pretty much a mage in Oakshield Junction. He must’ve chosen extra crowns as his perk. It made sense for a mana build with early scrolls at his disposal. AndronicusB gave no indication that he’d seen Nick.

  Unable to control a sudden rush of blood, Nick rushed naked across the street, extending his arm and drawing it quickly into his chest. He’d seen other pixel runners do it - it equipped the first available weapon in the inventory. Which in his case was a … shortsword.

  Screaming like a maniac, he plunged the sword into the Robed One’s back, blood spurting like a fountain. That drained over half his HP in one hit. Without armor and with his back turned, AndronicusB was meat for a ruthless barbarian like Nick.

  His trade window broken, the Robed One climbed to his feet, a fireball forming in his hands. It was a decent spell in these early levels but took over two seconds to shape. Nick had more than enough time to execute a killing blow.

  Pixel runners didn’t need to be experts in martial arts or swordcraft to excel at Immersion ga
mes. With the right trigger movement and enough stamina, a variety of set moves could be performed. Nick cross cleaved at AndronicusB, removing his bald, scholarly head from his shoulders.

  A starburst of 500 XP appeared in the top right corner, along with a ton of Love and a little Hate too. Just for effect, Nick delivered a primitive howl, wanting to come across as a little unhinged. It fitted the barbarian profile at any rate.

  When he noticed his dick swinging from side to side he decided it was time to stop. AndronicusB had already disappeared. Nothing but a tattered robe to loot. Pathetic. On the bright side, somewhere in the country a very pissed pixel runner would be climbing out of their Immersion tank.

  Buzzing with the endorphins of an early kill, Nick finally perused his gear. Pretty standard for a strength build - leather greaves (equipped first), chestplate, gauntlets and helmet. Steel shortsword and wooden buckler. All items that would save his life over the next few hours, but they needed to be upgraded at the first available opportunity.

  Nick checked his look in a shop front window - much, much better. The leather was weathered and marked with lash trails. The game designers certainly had an eye for detail. He equipped his shield in the left hand slot, firmly believing in the art of shield fighting. Most RPGs allowed a shield move set that could be devastating if the wielder invested in the right attributes and skills.

  Which reminded him - he’d chosen a discipline, attributes and a perk, but where were the skill trees? Had he missed that screen?

  Shrugging off the troubling thought, Nick checked the timer in the lower right of his view. It was counting down from five hours. Five hours in which to solve the mystery of King Andaran’s murder. Knowing the clock was ticking was a little intimidating, but then again he’d dispatched one of his rivals within the first two minutes! Not bad for a virgin runner.

  He spent the next five minutes familiarizing himself with the various info screens. Map, quest log, quick menu triggers. He practiced the latter so he could access information quickly. A horizontal swipe of his hand brought up the map display. Now that he was in the game, a fog of oblivion shrouded everything but the village of Salisbury.

  The last thing to do was familiarize himself with the shortsword’s move set. It’s primary attack was the left-to-right cross cleave he’d used to great effect against AndronicusB. The second attack was a return swing from right-to-left, but with more power.

  If that was timed correctly, and if stamina wasn’t an issue, the third swing was an over-the-shoulder swipe for moderate damage. It wasn’t quite a two-handed, from-the-heavens swing, but it was neat enough considering the size of the weapon.

  The power attack was a 360 spin that used a lot of stamina but was helpful against swarming melee enemies. Nick never really liked using the move for some reason, probably because he usually made sure he never got swarmed. He was an old-school, draw-and-isolate tank, not very dynamic or exciting to watch but extremely effective.

  It was time to move. What he needed first, while he still had time on his side, was a low-level farming area. He hustled down the main street and out the north end of the village. There was a huge castle in the distance, and it made sense to head towards that.

  The intermediate terrain looked inviting enough - green fields occasionally interrupted by woods. Flocks of birds drifted lazily across the sky and the sun was bright and warm. Life couldn’t possibly get any better.

  Immediately in front of Nick lay a large, tranquil pond. Several crab-like creatures skittered up and down the muddy shore. Bingo. He drew his first non-human enemy up the grassy slope. The creatures were fast and liked to move in mobs. Two other crabs tagged along with the first one.

  Nick used the terrain to his advantage, luring the crustaceans into a small gully. He was experienced enough not to fall into the trap of backing into an unknown area and triggering attacks from other creatures.

  Two strikes were enough to kill the crabs. He moved through them delicately, lowering his head and using the tumble move where he could. Historically he wasn’t much of a tumbler, preferring to wear heavy armor and absorb damage, but over the years he’d found tumbling useful in the early stages when his armor was still reasonably light. The first third of any RPG usually required a strength build to move a bit like a dexterity build would.

  At length Nick dispatched the crabs for the loss of minimal HP. He craved an item that gradually restored HP. Such boosts were perfect for the slow-moving, considered tank. He wasn’t interested in accumulating wealth or harvesting hundreds of healing herbs. By the end of an RPG he just wanted to be an impossible-to-kill tank with massive HP that replenished itself between each engagement.

  Nick managed to lure the rest of the crabs individually. The accumulated XP was just enough to tip him over to Level 2. The blinking LEVEL UP was without doubt the most satisfying thing a gamer could see.

  Nick withdrew to a safe location and accessed his stats view. His attribute point went straight to strength, but only because he was on a timer and knew he’d be fighting fellow players soon. Normally he’d beef up his HP as much as possible early on, sticking to his defense first mantra.

  He also had a sneaky feeling Oakshield Junction would be one of those RPGs that dropped weapons out of phase. If he could score a larger weapon that required moderately high strength, he’d immediately have an advantage over other players. In theory.

  So - half an hour gone. He’d killed a pixel runner and leveled up. Not a bad start. Love points had trickled in as he destroyed the crabs with impressive guile and finesse.

  The pond was fed by a stream to the east and drained into a swamp to the west. He thought about trying the swamp, but such terrain was sometimes tricky for low level strength builds as they invariably involved poisonous enemies.

  Right now his resistance was low, so he opted for the eastern route along the stream. He’d seen people swim in Oakshield Junction, but that was usually with a fairly high agility stat. Chances are he’d get swept away if he attempted to cross, which would either result in a loss of time or HP. A death respawn at this point would undo all the good work he’d done so far.

  Nick entered a copse of trees as he moved east. His shield was immediately up - you just never knew what was lurking behind those gnarled trunks. A steady scratching drew his attention. There was no immediate danger, but something compelled him to investigate.

  Over a small rise there was a strange creature digging a hole. It had four legs, a long tail and skin like plates of armor. An armadillo. Before Nick could back away, the armadillo turned and hissed. Not wanting to turn his back on the thing, all he could do was engage.

  He circled the creature warily. He’d learned to be patient in these situations - after all, a tank’s best asset was his defense.

  In that spirit, he tried lowering his shield a few times as bait. The armadillo lunged and stunned itself against his buckler. He swung his sword and barely scratched it. Worse, he might have actually damaged his sword. Panic rising, he circled again, thinking hard about his strategy. Perhaps its tail …

  The next time the armadillo lunged, Nick tumbled forward and struck fluidly in the same motion. The beast’s tail spewed wonderful red blood, draining a third of its HP. Nick waited patiently for two more opportunities to strike, repeating the move without error.

  He felt a gamer’s rush of joy when the armadillo left behind some loot - two armadillo plates! He hoovered it up with glee. What could he do with these? Did Salisbury have a smithy? It was worth heading back there.

  He backtracked through the trees and warily made his way into town. There was always the chance that another runner was using the town as a leveling hub, but he didn’t see anything suspicious. There’d been more than ten spawn point options so hopefully his rivals were spread across Durandor.

  There was a blacksmith in Salisbury, on the southern outskirts. Like most early level blacksmiths, the dude’s wares were fucking useless, but he was able to craft armor using raw materials. He s
pent close to all his crowns (90) in getting a pair of gauntlets made. Greaves and body armor would require more plates.

  Nick was tempted to go back and farm the armadillo, but there wasn’t enough time. Not for the first time he wished he had more time to play properly. No matter what happened today, he promised himself he’d save up for an Immersion tank. No man could be expected to taste its pleasures and go back to standard screen games.

  The best thing about his new gauntlets was the strength requirement of 17 - his decision to boost strength on the last level up was already paying off. Too many inexperienced players made the mistake of underestimating the humble gauntlet, upgrading their chest armor and helmet first. A surprising percentage of enemy blows glanced off the hands. A good set of heavy gauntlets, particularly early, could save a lot of HP.

  Another mistake rookies made was caring too much about how they looked. The armadillo gauntlets looked ridiculous alongside the leather armor, but they had a defensive rating of 10 as opposed to 3. No brainer, especially in competition.

  Picking up the pace, Nick ran a few circular runs around the village, scooping XP from the crabs, which were respawners. Interestingly, the armadillo hadn’t respawned, which was fair enough. Within ten minutes he had enough XP to hit level 3, so he allocated a point to vitality. Tank, tank, tank. BaronFuckAss was gonna be hard to kill.

  There were healing herbs hidden in trees around the village, which Nick sold to a general store in Salisbury. He didn’t consider buying anything; he was a forager at heart and usually found his best gear in the field.

  It was time to move on - the timer had just clicked under four hours. He headed east, through the clearing where he’d first encountered the armadillo. The trees grew thicker, so he kept his shield up. He’d done well so far but one lapse of concentration and he’d be dead.