Chapter 6:

On the Road

Brought into my Unfinished Game World


The duo went to the outskirts of the town. They were ready to depart. Alpha thought he would have to travel heavily but thanks to Dave's [Re_Coding] ability, they got everything they needed with minimal expenses. The only thing he could not do much about were potions. The potions could only contain a maximum of two attributes. So Dave just swapped the value of higher grade potions with lesser ones. And these act as both mana and health potions. It was still incredibly useful but not as impressive as the attributes newly attached to Alpha's equipment. Dave explained that one of the strategies he thought new players would exploit was to sell everything they had to be able to afford an intermediate grade weapon. This way, new players could almost kill every monster in the beginners' area with ease. However in their case, Dave just secured Alpha the most broken set of gear one could possibly obtain this early in the game. In no way they could encounter any obstacles along, right?

Wrong.

To reach the castle of the Twilight Kingdom, they needed to go through a forest and go around a chain of mountains. From there, the main road was not much further than this and it would have been a straight and safe way to the castle. But as soon as they entered the forest, an emerald dragon flew over their head and started blasting them with various fire spells. While they were on the run, Dave was able to identify the dragon's weakness and took advantage of it. The Dragon's [hitbox] was too large to fit into cramped spaces. His attacks also had the same problem. Thanks to that, Dave and Alpha hid themselves in a cave where they could chip away at the monster's health bar at their leisure.

Once the dragon was defeated, Alpha gained a bunch of levels, allowing him to strengthen his "stalling" strategy. He invested points into negative status inducing spells and increased his own overall resilience through stats distribution and skills related to his constitution. He also learned basic healing spells just in case he ran out of potions. Now that he became a lot more stronger, Dave suggested taking a more straightforward path. A shortcut he designed in the cave to be able to reach the main road faster. His thought process at the time was that beginners could try to gamble their own lives and go through this cave full of more powerful monsters but also treasure chests. It would have been a real challenge for hardcore gamers to overcome this area and also to reward them with rare items and an opportunity to gain a lot more experience points through difficult battles. However, with how overpowered Alpha was thanks to his equipment and the higher level he achieved through defeating the dragon, exploring this cave became almost trivial. Alpha could even afford to eat dinner and sleep a couple of hours in the cave.

As they explored every nook and cranny, Alpha was most of the time disappointed each time they found a treasure chest. His current gear was always more valuable than what was hidden in this grotto. The only findings worth his time were the bottles of potion. That is when Alpha realized something:

— Now I think I understand what you meant about everything being too easy to actually enjoy the thrill of life, said Alpha with a bored sigh.

— Right? The dragon was actually the most exciting thing of today. Even though I busted my ass for a whole month to make this place worthwhile, it almost feels empty now.

— Come on, you're not to blame. I am sure it would have been such an adventure to pass through this zone, feeling like death was awaiting us in every corner. It would have been amazing to say the least.

— Thanks, this feedback means a lot to me. My goal was for people to actually enjoy what I make. I know what I like and I know how to make things I like. And it makes me feel a little bit less lonely when I know people had a good time with what I made. It feels like they understand what I tried to convey.

— I am glad our creator is someone as thoughtful as you, said Alpha with a warm smile.

Dave did not know how to react but he was flattered. He just went red from embarrassment and stayed silent for a while.

While exploring the cave, Alpha just cut through hordes of kobolds until the few survivors fled in despair toward a hidden passage.

— They are evacuating to the Boss' room, explained Dave. I think you could take on him without much trouble. But then again, we could also just skip it and go for the main road. We may even reach the castle outskirts tonight if we really want to.

— I think your estimation is about right. And I agree, there is no need to go fight some guy that would just drop a massive sized leather thong.

— Ahahah! That's actually something I code. There is no real reward for defeating him aside from the huge amount of experience one gets and the feeling of achievement you get for slaying such a difficult enemy.

— Does the thong actually have something special to it at least?

— Well I wanted to code a character that would serve as a prestigious collector. And this guy's role was all about trading useless items obtained through defeating hard bosses and gaining a powerful artifact or piece of equipment in exchange. But I never had the time to implement him. So the thong is truly useless in the end...

Both of them laughed at the idea that some adventurer might try to take on the beast but would end up either dead or with a useless thong that held no value whatsoever. After their last chuckle, silence returned for a bit.

— Do you want to see me bring that thing down? asked Alpha.

— You bet I do! replied Dave with enthusiasm. However, let's spice things up and add a little challenge. I noticed you got a bunch of points in your agility and even if it's not your main stat, I want you to use it. That's right! You will be doing a "no-hit" challenge! Get hit even once and you lose, meaning that you'll have to retreat and give up on the experience points this big guy holds.

Alpha thought for a bit and nodded to himself as if he was just making up his mind. Then he went and pushed through the heavy wooden doors.

— Alright! Let us begin then!

Don.Coals
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