Myst in Worm (Gamer) Part 4 (Patreon)

Amy looked around as they stepped out of the alley. “The silence takes some getting used to. I didn’t even really notice it the first time until I heard the sounds of the city once more.”

“It’s nice,” Vicky said with a bright smile. “I’m not continually trying to figure out whether the latest scream I hear is someone having a really good time or a really bad one.”

“It is peaceful,” Amy agreed as she opened the door to the bookstore. “This place looks so different without a small car through the front window,” she teased.

“I don’t know, I think it really opened the space up,” Myst said with a grin as they unloaded their supplies onto a table, sorting through what they’d bought.

“Destructive design, call for a free quote,” Vicky said brightly, getting a laugh.

“Okay, I have a number of course books,” Amy said, noting how Vicky had slid in close to Myst so she could look over his shoulder at what he was doing.

“If I copy everything, everyone can get the upgrades and we might get something interesting,” Myst offered.

“Not to mention you’ll be able to copy the books for the next hero you empower if we don’t use the originals,” Amy mused.

“It would certainly make things easier,” Myst agreed as he reached over and grabbed a blank book from the stack of blanks then started copying the various skill books and pamphlets they’d assembled.

“Oh, first aid,” Vicky said cheerfully when Myst handed her a pamphlet. She frowned slightly when she opened it and it told her that she already had basic first aid. “It says I already have the basics.”

“I’m not terribly surprised,” Myst said as he stuck the original pamphlet in his inventory then opened the copy, slightly annoyed and yet unsurprised to get a point of first aid as his last refresher course was over five years ago. “I’ll take what I can get,” he muttered as he started copying the chemistry book to a blank book.

“When was your last first aid class?” Victoria asked a touch surprised that the basic first aid pamphlet was enough to count as a skill book for him.

“A couple years ago,” Myst replied as he handed Amy the copied chemistry book then started scribing another copy for Victoria. “The only reason I took it was because I needed it for a job. Thankfully I never had to use it.”

Amy opened the book and grinned as she got several points of chemistry and a distillation and brewing tab in a new crafting menu. “I think that just made me a tinker.”

Victoria blinked. “What?”

“I have a crafting menu with tabs for distillation and brewing.”

“Neat!” Victoria squealed as she nearly ripped the chemistry book out of Myst’s hand when he handed it to her. 

Myst smiled as he started scribing another chemistry book, rather amused by Victoria’s enthusiasm.

Victoria opened the book and hit accept then pouted when she merely got a point of chemistry rather than a new tab. “Hey! What gives, I didn’t get a crafting tab!”

“Different skill levels or maybe power interactions?” Amy asked absently as she looked over her new tabs. “Huh, I might be able to use this to purify water.”

“Can you get the chlorine taste out of the water before you make coffee?”

“Probably,” Amy agreed as she flipped over to the brewing tab. “I can make high end coffee with the right type of beans.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way because I love you, but I sort of hate you right now,” Victoria admitted.

Myst opened the duplicate chemistry book and wasn’t terribly surprised to get a chemistry tab in his crafting menu. “I’m sure you’ll end up with stuff that Amy doesn’t, probably related to creating force fields or something.”

“You think?” Victoria asked hopefully.

“Considering my chemistry skill is only seven, I doubt you’re that far behind,” Amy pointed out.

Myst glanced at his chemistry skill, he wasn’t terribly surprised that his skill was only eight which meant that professional was probably at least twenty or thirty. “I’m not all that much better and I’ve taken a decent amount of chemistry.” He put the original chemistry book in his inventory then picked the next book on his list. “I should be able to do a couple more books then we should probably take a look at the monster filled ID barrier to give Vicky something to smash.”

“Vicky Smash!” Victoria agreed, cheering up at the idea of smashing things. 

“I’m game,” Amy agreed, looking forward to being able to hit things without ruining her reputation.

Myst spent the next couple minutes scribing and handing out books, wanting to get everyone the basics before they started fighting mobs. He glanced at his mana bar as he started putting the rest of the books in his inventory. ‘I still have a fifth of my mana, that should be plenty.’ He turned to look at Victoria. “Ready to take a break and smash things?”

“Ready,” Vicky agreed cheerfully while Amy merely nodded.

“Okay, then let’s see what a monster dungeon has,” he replied as he finished putting the last book in his inventory. He concentrated on his ID Create skill and broke reality around them, dropping them into the next level.

The effect was instintatious, the shadows became darker and the sounds of the city crept up around them, insects and birds being the main addition, as if the city had been abandoned by man long ago and the wild life had returned despite the city’s condition remaining unchanged. 

“RoUS?” Amy asked warily as her gaze danced around the street as rats the size of well fed wolves sprinted from shadow to shadow, vanishing from sight with far too much skill to be natural for creatures that size. 

“Apparently,” Myst replied more than a little unnerved by the shadows and the rats, having expected something easier. “I was half expecting the starting dungeon to be zombies or maybe one of the gangs, not rats.”

“Maybe next time,” Victoria said, looking forward to bashing some zombies.

“How are we going to do this?” Amy asked as she tried to keep all of the various rats in sight, something made harder by the fact that they never stopped moving, scurrying from cover to cover.

“We have a Victoria, we might as well have her test how aggressive the rats are and if they swarm.” He was really hoping they didn’t swarm as they were enormous and he hadn’t thought to get anything even approaching armor for the party. “If they don’t swarm and we can kill them in melee, we should probably hit the sporting goods store and pick up some armor before we try our luck against the monsters.”

“You want Amy to fight giant rats in melee?” Victoria asked warily.

“If they don’t swarm and we work together, we can probably kill a dozen without too much trouble, which should let us see how much our combat skills improve. Besides, I can break the dungeon at any point and we all have healing spells, I won’t say we’re not in danger but we’re probably in less danger than walking around certain sections of town.”

“We should probably start with the sporting goods store so we can grab some armor then hit the costume shop, they had a katana on display I wouldn’t mind borrowing,” Amy said, wanting some sort of protection before they decided to fight giant rats.

Victoria charged as she saw a large rat trying to sneak up on them.

Amy winced slightly as her sister kicked the giant rat and sent it flying into a brick wall, causing the rat to turn into black motes and vanish, leaving what looked like a roll of leather if she wasn’t mistaken. “Did that rat just drop a roll of leather?”

“Best power ever,” Myst replied smugly as he eyed the rats near the roll of leather. “At least they’re not swarming.”

“Yet,” Amy grumbled as she watched a pair of rats dart across the street into an alley forty feet in front of them. “Let’s grab some armor.”

“Victoria express!” Victoria said playfully as she picked Amy up and set her down so she was straddling her thigh.

“A little warning,” Amy grumbled as she leaned back into her sister.

Myst rolled his eyes as Victoria picked him up one handed and set him on top of Amy so that she was sandwiched between the two then flew toward the sporting goods store. 

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” Amy said as she looked at Myst.

“At least-” Myst cut off as he saw something out of the corner of his eye. “Incoming!”

Victoria spun so that the giant pigeon hit her back rather than Amy then backhanded the bird as hard as she could causing Mist to slip sideways as he had nothing to hold him in place and he wasn’t going to grab any of the obvious handholds without a clear invitation and possibly dinner first. She glared at the pulped bird as it broke into black motes and vanished, leaving behind a feather. “Are you okay?”

“Peachy,” Myst muttered as he slipped completely upside down, hanging by his legs.

“Give me a second,” Victoria replied as she flew toward the sporting goods store, staying low to the ground so that she didn’t trigger another attack from above. “How come we have pigeons in a rat dungeon?”

Myst set his hands on the ground then reluctantly let go of Victoria’s leg once she came to a stop, unable to help but note how soft and smooth her skin was. He twisted around then stood up. “Probably because they’re flying rats.”

“Sorry about that, I wasn’t expecting to be attacked from above,” Victoria admitted as she set Amy down.

“Don’t worry about it,” Myst replied as he glanced around the street. “Is it just me or does it look like the rats are slowly heading our way?”

“We should probably hurry,” Amy said as she walked over to the door and opened it.

“Let me make sure it’s empty,” Victoria said as she flew into the shop to make sure there weren’t any rats lurking between the aisles.

“Don’t take too long,” Myst said as he noticed one of the rats moving closer. “We should have grabbed a couple machetes or baseball bats before we started.”

Amy raised her hand and blasted the large rat as it started running toward them with a beam of frost that quickly cut off as she ran out of mana. “That’s a bit annoying.”

Myst raised his hand and finished the half frozen creature off with his own beam of frost, causing it to turn into motes and vanish, leaving nothing behind. “So much for every mob dropping something.”

“Were you really expecting them to?” Amy asked sarcastically, thinking about some of the computer games she’d played over the years.

“No, but it would have been nice,” Myst replied as he absently flexed his fingers while keeping watch on the street and the sky so they didn’t get ambushed.

“How long do you think it will take to build up enough mana regeneration to be useful?” Amy asked as she studied her character sheet.

“No clue, that’s one of the things I need to figure out if I want to turn people into effective healers.”

“It’s going to be nice not being the only healer in town,” Amy admitted.

“Othala can give people regeneration which sort of counts,” Myst pointed out.

Amy shook her head. “She’s a villain, she doesn’t count.”

Victoria smirked as she walked out of the store holding a steel sledge hammer. “The rats have been vanquished!”

Myst frowned as he looked at the metal handle on the sledge hammer. “That has to weigh at least thirty pounds.”

“Yep!” Victoria beamed.

Amy was fairly sure she’d have to use both hands to lift the hammer without straining. “Why would the sporting goods store have a sledge hammer?”

“It’s used for core training or at least that was what the sign claimed.” Victoria shrugged. “I’m fairly sure they’re just trying to get money out of idiots or brutes.”

“Probably. Let’s grab our gear before the rats respawn,” Myst said as he headed into the store.

Amy followed Myst into the store then made her way over to the aisle with the catcher’s gear. “Any idea what we should grab?”

“Something that fits over the fencing gear I’m grabbing,” Myst replied as he went looking for high end fencing gear knowing that a combination of the fencing gear and hard plates from the catcher’s gear should help keep them safe, at least in theory.

“We’re going to look ridiculous,” Amy pointed out absently as she grabbed a box and opened it. She scowled as the box proved to be empty. “Shit, we’re going to have to go for the display pieces.”

“I’d rather look like an idiot than look stylish and end up losing a gallon of blood from rat bites,” Myst replied as he walked over to the fencing mannequin. “Yoink.” He smirked as he used his thievery skill to steal the fencing jacket. He opened his equipment page and tossed the fencing jacket into the armor slot then looked at the armor rating for his chest. “Better than nothing.”

“How much better?” Amy asked as she grabbed the two most expensive chest protectors on display.

“Enough that it’s worth Victoria laughing at us,” Myst replied as he ‘yoinked’ the other fencing jacket from the ‘female’ mannequin.

“Damn,” Amy muttered as she equipped a pair of hard plastic shin guards. “Huh, that’s a decent amount of armor, at least to the front of my legs.”

“Yeah, we should probably avoid getting attacked from behind,” Myst replied as he walked over and handed Amy the fencing jacket. “This should help.”

Amy equipped the fencing jacket and blinked as her robes dropped into her inventory, leaving her wearing a fencing jacket, shin guards and revealing a pair of seemingly uncharacteristic hot pink Hello Kitty panties. “Ack! Don’t look!”

Myst blinked then turned away. “Sorry, I was not expecting that to happen.”

Amy darted down the aisle headed for the skating section to see if they had any shorts she could grab. “We should probably let Vicky know how the character doll works, or rather doesn’t, before she accidentally flashes the world.”

“The world consists of just us three and a lot of rats at the moment, but yeah, that would be a good idea.” Myst watched Amy out of the corner of his eye despite trying not to look. ‘Those robes hide a lot.’

Amy grabbed a pair of padded shorts and tossed them on her character doll, relaxing and glancing back to make sure Myst had turned away. Thankfully he had... mostly, which was reasonable as she admitted to herself that she probably would have looked if it had happened in reverse. She pulled the catcher’s chest protector over her head and adjusted it until it fit reasonably well. “Nice, my chest armor went up.”

“Good,” Myst replied as he grabbed a pair of hard shin guards and equipped them, rather glad that his power came with the ability to instantly equip gear as it saved time and frustration while occasionally strippiing curvy bruenettes nude. ‘Is that a bug or a feature?’

Amy returned and handed him the second chest protector. “We should figure out something for our arms.”

Myst pulled the chest protector on over his head then adjusted it as best he could. “We can probably find some bracers or something in the costume shop.”

“Worth a shot,” Amy agreed as she picked up a hockey mask style face protector off the shelf and equipped it. “That’s actually decent protection for my head.”

“It should be,” Myst agreed as he grabbed a helmet with a plastic face shield.

“Let’s grab a couple baseball bats,” Amy said as she walked over and looked at the baseball bats. “How many do you think we’ll need?”

Myst walked over and picked up one of the baseball bats, frowning as he noticed the durability was fairly low. “At least several each, these are crap.”

Amy grinned as she started stuffing the bats in her inventory. “I think we can carry more than that.”

“Inventory,” Myst muttered, still distracted by thinking about Amy in her panties, “missed that. For some reason I was thinking we were going to grab golf bags and stuff them inside.” He put four baseball bats into his inventory then walked over toward the section of the wall that held tennis rackets and grabbed three. “For the birds.”

“Not a bad idea, grab a couple for me, I’m going to find some cleats,” Amy said cheerfully as she headed toward the soccer aisle.

“Cleats?” Myst asked as he stuck the rackets in his inventory then grabbed another two rackets for Amy. “You’re not really supposed to wear those off the field.”

“You’re not supposed to wear the metal cleats on concrete, the plastic ones are fine. Besides, do we really care about damaging the cleats?” Amy asked as she grabbed a pair of metal cleats that looked the right size and tossed them on her feet slot. 

“Fair enough,” Myst agreed as he walked over. “We’re probably about the most protected we can get without going overboard.”

“In that case, let’s go bash some rats!” Amy said enthusiastically as she grabbed two rackets and stuck one in her inventory.

Myst followed Amy out, looking forward to smashing some rats.

“And the kick is good!” Victoria shouted as one of the rats sailed through a car window a block away.

“She should have played soccer,” Myst commented.

“She certainly has a flair for it,” Amy agreed, “though I think we’d lose a lot of goalkeepers.”

Myst shook his head. “Yeah, I’m not sure giant rats are tournament legal anyways.”

“They should be, it would be awesome,” Victoria said as she flew over, rather amused by their patchwork attempt at armor. “Say cheese!” she said as she took a picture with her phone. “Huh, how did I get the settings this wrong?”

“What settings?” Amy asked.

“You know how the flash sometimes washes people out?” Victoria asked, trying not to laugh.

“Yeah…” Amy trailed off as Victoria showed her the picture of Myst’s gear without Myst. “Okay, what gives?”

“I have a stranger ability,” Myst admitted. “I have it set so I don’t show up on cameras though I can use it to vanish completely.”

“I need that and you have way too many powers,” Amy complained thinking about all the times having a stranger power would have been useful.

“I’d scribe a book if I thought it would help but I’m fairly sure it’s an actual power,” Myst offered as he pulled a baseball bat out of his inventory.

“Try?” Amy asked hopefully.

“Ask me again when I’ve maxed out my scribing skill,” Myst replied as he walked toward the nearest giant rat. “Let’s hope this works.”

“Don’t worry, if something goes wrong I’ll kick it,” Victoria said cheerfully.

Amy watched Myst hit the giant rat in the nose, staggering it then hit it twice more on the head finishing it off. “How hard did you hit it?”

“As hard as I could with one hand, you should be fine, I’m not a brute,” Myst assured her, happy that the rats weren’t nearly as durable as he’d feared. 

Amy pulled a baseball bat out of her inventory then stepped toward the rat charging them and hit it as hard as she could, scoring a good solid hit on it’s muzzle.

“Amy smash!” Victoria squealed enthusiastically as Amy went to town on the dazed rat with her racket and baseball bat. 

Myst smiled as the rat fanished, leaving behind a roll of leather and a decent sized square of fur. “Having fun?”

“More than I should,” Amy admitted as Myst picked up the loot. “Planning on leveling your leatherworking?”

“That’s the plan,” Myst agreed as he looked down the street at the various wolf sized rats. “Let’s work our way toward the costume shop.”

“Works for me,” Amy replied as she ran toward the nearest rat, eager to get a couple more points in two weapon fighting and blunt weapons mastery.