Who says that shadows can’t hurt you?

  I was shocked as I saw the changes which had occurred. I had just made a Legendary item. It was beyond imagining. There were clearly some issues, as the question marks in the description signified, but I was now the first person in Legends of Selmia to own a piece of Legendary gear. The stat bonus alone was incredible. Added damage to my base attacks was also going to be impressive.

  I was still looking at the revised code when I felt that I was no longer alone. Without knowing how, I knew that X4.X1 had appeared.

  “Stop it right now? What are you doing?”

  I didn’t have a face right now; otherwise I probably would have looked like a cross between the Cheshire cat and a toddler caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I didn’t know what to say so I went with the classic, “Nothing.”

  “What do you mean, nothing?” The sub-AI demanded.

  “Just what I said.” I knew this could get out of hand quickly, but when accused, always try to redirect. “Besides, where have you been? I’ve been here waiting for what feels like forever.”

  “You… uh… what do you mean?”

  “Is something wrong with your programming? I said I’ve been here waiting for you.”

  “Why?”

  “I had a really good idea, and I wanted to share it with the AI. I don’t know how I got here, but when I tried to enter the dungeon it brought me here, probably because of my good idea.”

  “Idea?”

  “Yes, an idea. Are you sure there isn’t anything wrong with you? Do you need me to come back later?”

  X4.X1 got as close to sputtering as an incorporeal entity could at that point. “Come back? You aren’t supposed to be here in the first place. This must be an error in the coding. I shall have to report that for repair.”

  “Sounds like a plan, but do you want to hear it or what?”

  “Hear what?”

  “Uh, my idea, duh? Are you sure that you are the superior entity here?”

  I internally laughed as I got the sense of X4.X1 sucking in his non-existent breath before deeply sighing. “Yes, yes, tell me so we can end this farce.”

  “I’m going into this dungeon, and the name of it is pretty lame. I mean ‘The Depths’? Where’s the pizazz in that? The depths of what? Depths of misery? Depths of despair? You guys really need to consult me about your naming protocols.”

  “Do you have a recommended correction?”

  “I haven’t even been in there, but from what I hear, the main threat is kobolds, so why don’t you call it ‘Rage of the Tiny Dragon’?”

  “I will pass your recommendation along, but you cannot stay here. You should not even be able to enter this place, unless you are respawning; and most of the time you shouldn’t even be aware of that, unless the AI wishes to speak to you.”

  I gave my best psychic nod and said, “Sure thing, chief.”

  X4.X1 didn’t bother to respond but I felt myself being kicked out. At the same time, the part of my mind that was focused on absorbing and cultivating the trans-dimensional energy was trying to hang on. The energy was rich, and I wanted to absorb more of it. Yet, I couldn’t hang on any longer.

  When I was booted out, I got a notification.

  Trans-Dimensional body has encountered a third type of dimensional energy. Upgrades achieved to (B-9). Energy consolidation still ongoing.

  Then there was a sensation of rapid motion and everything went completely white around me. The last thought I had was to realize that X4.X1 hadn’t seemed to notice what I had done.

  Chapter 5- Impulses

  I stumbled as I fell through the dungeon entrance. Despite having run a number of dungeons during my time as a player in LoS, I have never experienced anything like this before. Clearly there was something to this extra-dimensional stuff. I was past thinking it might just be a gaming element. It was clearly something more. The next step was to figure out the limits of the AI in dealing with this. I could only wonder how long it would before I was busted for having a Legendary item. Until then, I would simply make the most of it.

  “You okay there? I know those legs of yours are bowed, but think you can walk straight?”

  Even if I only met her a few hours ago, I was never going to forget Violet’s voice. She could somehow make her making fun of me sound like friendly banter. “Yeah, ogres don’t normally go in dungeons.”

  She stared at me for a moment before saying, “Then you better follow my lead. The monsters in here shouldn’t be too difficult for us, but sometimes the dungeons adapt to the strength of the party that enters.”

  “There are only two of us. Does that mean it will make the monsters weaker for us?”

  “The game er… I mean the dungeons rarely seem to make things easier on us. If I had to guess, I would say that the number of monsters we will face will be reduced because there are fewer of us; but that their average level will be increased because of your higher level. There are limits, though. Nothing in here should be above level forty, but I guess we will find out.”

  A part of me wanted to see if she knew anything further about the game mechanics for dungeons. It would be informative to see how much the AI was adapting to situations. But, I already had too much to process. I didn’t want to play the stupid ogre asking roundabout questions to get the information I wanted.

  Nor did I want to tempt the AI any further. I was already nervous about what change I may have made to myself when I inadvertently jumbled up that other line of code. Just because I hadn’t felt any differences yet, didn’t mean that the other shoe wouldn’t drop sooner or later.

  “Hold up for a minute,” I said as she had already started to head down. The inside of the dungeon looked like a deep pit, with a wide path winding its way downward, assorted caves along the side, and stone bridges which crossed the pit at various intervals below us. It was interesting to look at, and I was once again struck by how visually stunning this world was.

  My senses made it so realistic to me that it was hard to believe my mind was trapped inside a digital construct. Well, the jury was still out on that, but that had been my working premise when I first arrived here. The air was damp like a cave, but I could smell smoke and the scent of roasting meat coming from the caves. There were no columns of smoke to make it obvious where the kobolds were, but the overall feel of the place was great.

  There was just enough light coming down from some massive crystals in the ceiling that my low light vision made everything fairly clear. That brought up another question. I thought gnomes had a form of darkvision, but I needed to ask. “Can you see in here?”

  “Yeah, gnomes live underground like dwarves. I’m sure I can see better than you in here. Now, can we go already? I’ve got some kobolds to kill and treasure to get.”

  There was a certain vitriol in her voice when she said the word ‘kobolds.’ “Is there anything I need to know about you and kobolds?”

  “They are just an ancestral enemy of gnomes. I thought you’d appreciate it if I did a little more roleplaying.”

  I just shook my head. “Give me a sec to buff us both. I need to change out some spells.”

  With that, I cast Wolf Spirit and Scale Skin on both of us. Then I re-arranged my spells again. I decided not to cast Call Brother Wolf until I knew a bit more about our situation. The wolf was good in a fight, but I was big enough already, and we didn’t need any more bodies in a tight dungeon space. “Ready.”

  My mana was buffed by the cloak, and while Violet scouted ahead, I took a minute to move around and get used to my body with the extra Agility from the cloak. I was now sitting at almost one hundred Agility. I felt like I could move as gracefully as a dancer. Sure, I was a big, ugly dancer, but a dancer all the same. It was sorta freakish. What I wouldn’t have done to be able to post a video on the holo-net about this. Y-tube or one of the similar services would have loved to get their hands on something as bizarre as a nine-foot-tall ogre dancing on his toes.

  The more I moved, the more I realized that high Agility didn’t explain this. The description on the cloak said something about my mass remaining the same but being able to move as though I were a mere shadow. I didn’t know how that was physically possible, but then again, I was living as an ogre, so who was I to dispute what was possible.

  I truly could flit about. My strength was able to propel my feet twenty feet off the ground; and while I still fell back to the ground like I would have before, I didn’t struggle with the impact at all. Magic was definitely weird. It was one thing to cast spells in a game, and something entirely different to live the way that magic twisted the physics of my life now.

  I checked on Violet, looking to see if she had come back yet or if she was in any danger. I couldn’t see her, so I had no idea where she was; likely, inside one of the caves exploring. The group interface said she was still at full health and free of any status effects other than my buffs, so I went back to experimenting.

  The next thing that I tried was the shadow step thing. It was one of those cool powers you read about in a book, but which once again was very different in reality. I kept it simple at first: K.I.S.S. and all that was quickly becoming my new life motto.

  I stepped into one shadow and willed myself to a shadow a few feet away. Immediately, my stomach lurched. I couldn’t find my bearings. Up was down and down was up. My mind felt like it was pulled in a dozen different directions. Not literally, but more like when I was trying to understand theoretical geometry again. All the vectors and angles felt like they were piercing my mind.

  Stepping from one shadow to another turned out not to be quite so easy. I assumed it was because if I were a player, the system would have done all the math to make their wishes come true. Apparently, even in a world full of magic, I couldn’t entirely escape math.

  My failure to pass the entrance exam required of all students wanting to enter a science academy was the moment that I had realized I wasn’t meant for greatness. It was a defining moment in my real life. Math was the building block of modern society on Earth. If you couldn’t operate at the highest cognitive levels, then you weren’t going to be a creator.

  Instead, you would end up being one of what I liked to call ‘sheeple’ who were patronizingly cared for by AI at the behest of the elite. Not that I wasn’t guilty of being one of those people. How else had I ended up signing a contract that made it legal for my body to be destroyed and my mind uploaded into a digital world permanently?

  But that rabbit hole was just a way of my mind trying to ground itself after the recoil of the shadow step. A simple ability which made me feel sick to my stomach and reminded me I hadn’t yet eaten breakfast. I was truly acting weird this morning. I needed to get a grip on this ability, but now all I could think about was eating. Heck, just a minute I was acting like an ogre ballerina, a sight sure to horrify.

  Now, I actually wondered what gnome would taste like. Something was definitely off. Violet still wasn’t back, but I decided that was a good thing. Before another shadow step, I needed to eat some of the rations I had in my pack. It would also give me a chance to see if there were any changes with my progression in trans-dimensional body.

  Unfortunately, I had only just managed to cram my mouth full of some dried meat and bread when Violet came running back while yelling, “Incoming.”

  I swear I could hear the sound of her eyes rolling back in her head when she saw me with my crumbs all over my front and food slipping out of my mouth. I don’t know what had come over me. I hadn’t eaten like this since I was three years old. But I couldn’t sort that. I had to focus on the trio of monsters following Violet.

  They weren’t kobolds, like I had expected. Instead, they were dogs of a sort. They had long, frill-like flaps of skin on each side of their backs running down from what would be like their shoulder blades. It was something like vestigial wings. Their bodies were wide, with large chests like cartoon bull dogs, but their heads were more reptilian. even if overly broad with clearly powerful jaws.

  I assessed them as I tried to swallow my food in order to be able to cast while simultaneously fumbling to grab my spear.

  Ko-dog Level: 15 HP: 300 Highest Stat: Strength

  Violet turned and allowed her armor to expand to fully cover her while she swung one of her long punch daggers at the lead dog. She sliced an ear off but not before it slammed into her. The impact knocked her backwards, and I thought I was about to learn why a gnome should never be a tank. I wasn’t quite sure her Agility or class ability would be enough; butwhen she hit the ground, it was like an explosion went off underneath her.

  She was launched forward and sent the three dogs sprawling. Violet didn’t waste the initiative. She laid into the first hound and was like a sewing machine punching holes in it, rapid fire, with her twin blades. One of her strikes triggered the Arctic Blast effect from my buff, and the ko-dog was frozen solid till she hit it again, shattering its body.

  Meanwhile I managed to gulp down the last of the food in my mouth before casting Frost Rift. It blasted into the second dog, but the normal blue-white flash of icy power was laced with a black shadow. I ignored the damage notification but saw that the hound was mostly done for, so I launched myself at the final hound.

  I extended my spear and skewered the beast before it could even get up. Arctic Blast triggered on my first strike, but again, the energy was tainted by a thick shadow. The beast was not shattered like the one Violet had procced on, but it was frozen; and with my Strength, it was simple enough to twist my spear and split its body in half.

  I turned to finish off the dog I had hit with Frost Rift, but Violet was already finishing it off. This one wasn’t frozen, so its green blood hit the stone floor. That, as much as anything, spoke to its foreign nature and made it easier to kill something that was called a dog. I took issue with the name the system had given it, but I had bigger issues to consider.

  As I looked back through the notifications, a common theme revealed itself.

  You hit ko-dog with Shadowed Frost Rift for 135 damage. (cold/shadow)

  You struck ko-dog with your spear for 97 physical damage and 24 shadow damage.

  Arctic Blast has triggered on ko-dog. Effect is converted to Arctic Shadow. Cold and shadow damage are blended for 448 damage.

  Interestingly, the shadow damage seemed to blend with the cold damage of the spells but was kept separate for my spear thrust.

  Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my ear lobe, followed by the tug of a steady weight against the side of my head. It took a second for me to realize that Violet had leapt up and grabbed my ear. She was trying to twist it like somebody’s grandmother who disapproved of their language.

  “What the f was that? Did somebody miss their breakfast?”

  I shook my head. All her weight on my ear didn’t feel good, but I was still able to hold my head upright. When she kept hanging on, I grabbed her armored torso and pulled her off. At least she hadn’t tried to pierce my ear with her punch dagger.

  Once I set her down on the ground, I glared at her. “I may look like a tree to you, but I’m not for climbing.”

  “Actually, I thought you were more of a cow.” She matched my glare, which was comical, in a way, given how much shorter she was than me; but for some reason, I couldn’t seem to look away.

  I wasn’t sure what to say. She was right. I shouldn’t have been eating while she was pulling monsters. It was kinda insane, actually. I mumbled, “Sorry.”

  “What’s that? I couldn’t hear you. Still got some cud in your mouth. Gonna chew it longer, you fat cow?”

  “Look, I’m hungry but I don’t know why I started eating. I was testing out the abilities of my new cloak, but then all of a sudden, I just had to eat. I don’t even really know how the food ended up in my mouth. I just had to eat something.”

  She kept glaring at me before eventually breaking it off. “I get it. This is a new situation for you. Whatever that situation is. But no matter how cool I think this is, I’m not gonna end up dying because you were too busy scratching your butt, picking your nose, or having an impromptu snack right in the middle of battle.”

  “Hey, I don’t pick my nose.”

  She just stared at me down her nose. It was some kind of divine ability that women, had because it didn’t matter if we were inside a game or in real life, nor the ridiculous height difference between us, she was still able to make me feel like she was looking down at me. “Two out of three. Two out of three.”

  I shrugged. “Guilty. Sorry. It won’t happen again.”

  “What, the butt scratching or the eating in the middle of a battle.”

  “Uh, I’d like to say both, but being realistic, the eating during a battle.”