System Change

“Roman, this is Derek Hunt. I just gave him his Onyx Badge and decided to treat him to a celebratory drink.” Shae said. “Derek, this is Roman. A little halfling dipshit who is getting a little too big for his britches.”

Oh, so they have halflings as well? This day keeps getting more and more interesting. Derek thought as he watched the banter between the two.

“You’re calling me a dipshit? I wasn’t joking! No drinking today.” Roman spat.

Shae waved the halfling off. “Yeah, right… you know you’re going to cave. It’s too much money to go towards supporting your habit.”

The halfling ground his teeth but relented. “Fine! But you’re buying by the jug!” He pulled a small jug out of his storage ring and slammed it on the bar. Then, he slammed down two small shot glasses, not even half the size as regular ones, that were surprisingly crafted from the same obsidian that he had observed at the Crown Hotel.

“You sure your new friend can handle it?” The halfling eyed Derek up and down. “I would hate to get on the bad side of an Onyx.”

Shae slapped Derek on the back. “You’ll have no problems with him.”

The halfling nodded. “Good. Payment up front.” He stuck his card out.

Shae grumbled, but soon pulled out his bank card and transferred the money. “Little runt.”

Roman clicked his tongue and walked back to the makeshift fighting arena.

“Interesting guy.” Derek said. “Old friend?”

“Something like that.” Shae reached up and grabbed the small jug to pour them each a shot.

They both took one of the glasses and drained it. Derek didn’t know what to expect, but he certainly didn’t expect what happened. Battery acid was the only comparison Derek could think of as the liquid slid down the back of his throat.

If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought the liquid took half of his tongue down with it. He slammed the glass on the bar. “What the fuck was that?”

Shae gave Derek a toothy grin. “It’s some good stuff, huh?”

“I don’t know about that. You could have at least warned me.” Derek said as he watched his HP tick down faster than his innate healing could bring it up. “Holy shit! Is it a poison or a venom or something?”

Shae’s grin got wider. “Nope, just a drink… one that actually works on folk like us.”

“Folk like us? You mean people with a death wish?”

“Nope, people with a high enough Endurance and Vitality to drink it. People who are past the stats that allow normal drinks to have any effect.” Shae explained.

“So you’re saying that this will get us drunk?” Derek asked.

Shae snapped his fingers and pointed at Derek. “Exactly.” Then he grumbled. “For 25,000 gold a jug, it better.”

“25,000 gold? For a jug that small?” Derek stared at the jug like it was a priceless treasure. He picked it up. “It’s not even full!” There was less than a liter of liquid in the small container.

“The prices we pay for luxury.” Shae said.

“Luxury my ass.” Derek said. “I don’t even like being drunk.”

“You do today.” Shae said as he poured another drink.

Derek may have voiced his concern, but he still took the glass and drained it, making sure not a drop of the liquid gold was left inside.

“So, what’s the dungeon situation like around here?” Derek asked.

“Depends on what you’re looking for.” Shae filled their glasses back up, then pulled a map out of his storage ring. He straightened the map out over the bar as they both took another shot.

Derek looked over the map and realized that there weren’t any markings or a legend. “How is this supposed help?”

“What level dungeons are you looking for?” Shae asked.

“Level 50+” Derek said. “I have other people with me who may want to run a dungeon or two later.”

Shae nodded as he injected some mana into the map. Instantly, multiple marks appeared, with the level written beside them.

“That’s cool.” Derek said. “Can you filter out the popular dungeons?”

Shae nodded, and over three quarters of the dungeons disappeared. “Nobody likes to run these dungeons. Either the monsters inside are too hard, or the rewards aren’t any good.” Shae explained.

Derek nodded. That was exactly what he was looking for. Derek examined the map. There were dungeons of every level after 50 remaining. Finally, his eyes came across a level 170 Golem Dungeon. He pointed at it. “Tell me about this dungeon.”

“The Golem Dungeon?” Shae asked and Derek confirmed. “Well, it’s a dungeon that rewards potions at the end. There’s a small chance of receiving something amazing, but mostly it’s just health and mana potions, with an occasional Resurrection Potion.”

“What about the Golems?” Derek asked.

Shae nodded. “It’s a five level dungeon. The first floor has Water Golems, the second has five Fire, the third has Wind Golems, the fourth has Earth Golems, and the final area is the boss area. The first floor starts at level 155, and the final floor ends at level 175.” He explained.

“The Golems are considered elite monsters. The only way to defeat them is to destroy their cores. Otherwise, they just keep rebuilding themselves.” Shae said.

Derek nodded. “Seems like a good place to train your skills.”

“Maybe for a crazy person.” Shae said. “Contrary to popular belief, these elite Golems aren’t slow. Even the level 155 Golems pack a punch. My magic defenses aren’t the best in the world, so, even as I am now, I would prefer not to be hit by it. Of course, I was already faster than they are years ago when I stopped the overflow.”

“You stopped the overflow?” Derek asked.

Shae nodded. “Yeah. Nobody likes to run the dungeon, so it only ends up completed when the guild sends the order down, which is always just before the overflow happens.” Shae took another drink. “I was just under level 170, so I decided to tackle the dungeon.”

“Alone?” Derek asked.

Shae nodded. “That’s one thing you’ll find about Onyx Ranked Adventurers.” Shae said. “We always end up pulling away from our parties and running dungeons alone. You get to the point where you can complete a dungeon easier by yourself than having to look out for others.”

“I can understand that.” Derek said.

“It happened to me at around level 150. I got a great class at level 100, then the extra stats and skills started adding up, level by level, until I outranked everyone in my party by a giant margin. My party members started getting more daring because I was there to save them. They kept pushing for harder and harder dungeons, even though they were barely able to kill a single monster, together.” Shae drained another shot.

“Judy seen what was happening, and told the party off. Told them they were only using me. After that, she left the party. We went on for a bit longer. Finally, we lost Jeff. That opened my eyes and I realized that Judy was right.” Shae said.

“Sorry.” Derek said.

Shae waved him off. “It was bound to happen. I broke off from the party, then. The Golem Dungeon was the third dungeon I did solo, and the first elite one.”

“I see.”

“It was easy.” Shae said. “My class was practically made for it. I was fast and precise. I went through the whole dungeon in less than an hour. I was powerful enough to break a core in one hit, and fast enough to dodge any attacks. Of course, I was dancing on a tightrope the whole time. I’m sure I would have been finished if I got hit one or two times. Luckily, I was out to prove myself, and I took my training very seriously.”

Derek laughed as he took another drink. “I could tell. I couldn’t hit you to save my life if it weren’t for my skills.”

Shae took another drink. “’Ere we go.” He slurred. “Whew!”

“Huh?” Derek asked.

“The brew.” Roman said as he walked back over, cleaning a mug with a rag. “The toxins build up with each drink until one more takes you over the edge, then BOOM! You’re shitfaced. I haven’t worked out how to make it a slow build, yet.”

“I see. So no buzz, just straight up drunkenness?” Derek asked.

“Nothin’ wrong wit that.” Shae said.

The halfling laughed. “Shae seems to like it.”

Derek frowned and took another drink, then another, then another. “I guess it’s going to take more than the usual for me.” He took another three drinks.

“Looks that way.” The halfling answered.

Shae took another drink as well, before Roman took his shot glass away. “That’s enough for you. Judy’s already going to kill you for buying a whole jug, better not risk blacking out.”

Derek held his hand out. “Give me the mug.”

Roman shook his head. “That shit will eat right through it.”

Derek sighed. It had been years since the last time he’d even had a buzz, much less gotten drunk. He was sure he’d be fine if he did get drunk, plus, he had Cure Toxin if he needed it. Not to mention the skill would probably level.

Derek took the jug and tipped it up, taking two big gulps. His HP rapidly diminished, but nothing else happened. “I guess it’s not strong enough for me.” He said.

Roman clicked his tongue. “You’re the first.” He looked over to a now passed out Shae and smiled. “He’s going to shit a brick when he realizes the whole jug is almost gone and he only got drunk once from it.”

“I guess you don’t have anything stronger.”

“Than that? Nope. Never thought I’d need it. Would you drink enough to cover the cost of me making it stronger?” Roman asked.

Derek snorted as he thought about the price of the previous jug. “Not on your life.”

“Didn’t think so. I got plenty of customers for the Onyx stuff. Shae’s been good about introducing them to me.”

“How did you get into doing this, anyway? What made you want to brew alcohol for high level people?” Derek asked.

“Brew alcohol?” The halfling laughed. “You got it all wrong. I’m an Alchemist.”