Chapter 14: Twinkle Blessing

"What happened?" Jaxir asked, his voice carrying an edge of cold with it that he didn’t mean to direct at Lue.

There was a small pause on the other end, but then Lue quickly spoke.

"Do you know that you’re being targeted by a guild?"

Jaxir blinked, and then his mind felt like it reset a bit.

"A guild? Like in a game? Divinity, you mean?"

"Yes. There’s a guild that’s out to hunt you. They’re scraping the region to find you."

Jaxir frowned. "No. I didn’t know that. I haven’t been on the game since the first time I logged in. I was actually just about to log in again―."

"Don’t!"

Jaxir was taken aback. "Why not?"

"They’ll make your life a living hell. I think you should reset your character. You can do that once for free so long as you’re not Level 10 yet."

"Is this really that big of a deal?"

"Did you kill their people?"

Jaxir thought back and then recalled that he had, indeed, killed some people.

"I did. But they attacked me first."

"That difference isn’t going to matter. Starting out in a zone where the guild ruling it hates your guts is a recipe for disaster. If you can get to the Tutorial Village, I might have something that can help you come over to my side. But I don’t know if that’s going to be possible.

"What Level are you?"

"Level 2."

"Yeah, that’s not―wait. How long did you spend on the game?"

"I don’t know? Half an hour or so maybe? I wasn’t really paying attention."

"Did you get a special class?"

"No." Jaxir was going to mention the Mark he received, but then he thought it was better not to. Between his parents’ letter and the odd memories swimming around in his head, it probably wasn’t a good idea.

"Well, damn..." Lue’s voice trailed off. "Still, I think you should follow my suggestion and―."

"It’s fine." Jaxir shrugged as though Lue could see him. "I’m about to log in right now. Do you know anything about the Twinkle Twinkle Dungeon?"

Lue laughed. "Everybody just calls it twink, don’t go around saying that otherwise they’ll spot you as a newbie immediately and think they can take advantage of you."

"Oh, alright."

"As for the dungeon, I advise you not to enter right now. You need a team of three, first of all. And the recommended level is 5, especially this time of year. The twink bears are usually in hibernation right about now, so waking them up for the dungeon pisses them off and gives them extra abilities."

"Like?"

Lue quickly explained a few things and Jaxir finally understood why he got screwed over.

The only reason he managed to do over 200 damage in one shot was because the bear was still near max health. Otherwise, the boost to its defenses would have made doing that much damage impossible.

It seemed that for the bears, he had to do as much damage in one shot as he could. Otherwise, he’d be pelting away at an impenetrable wall by the end.

And he also had to keep in mind that he would need two strikes for a fatal blow, not one.

"Got it. Thanks for the help."

"Wait, you’re not going to enter anyway―?!"

Jaxir sank into the pod and the call automatically disconnected. External devices were automatically frozen in the pod to stop cheaters and modders, so Lue’s fatalistic last words were cut off.

It was time to see what state he was left in mid-game.

―

[Medical Pause Active]

[Rescind?]

[Yes][No]

―

Jaxir clicked "yes".

―

[Medical scan in progress]

[Player "Jaxir Chance" has been determined to be in poor condition. Are you sure you would like to continue?]

[Yes][No]

―

Jaxir had actually been a bit worried that it would bar him from continuing. Maybe if it had been yesterday, it would have. Luckily, the nutrient shots were doing their job.

The world warped around him again as he sank back into the game.

When his vision cleared, he found himself lying against the wall of a cave, blood leaking out of his body. His vision was blurred, and pain ravaged his body.

It was fiercer than Jaxir thought it would be, but he was having a lot of trouble moving.

"I guess it will kill me now."

However, the bear didn’t attack.

Jaxir’s head slowly moved and he spotted the twinkle twinkle bear.

No, it wasn’t the bear. Instead, it was a few motes of light that radiated from the equipment that had fallen from it.

The bear had died.

Jaxir recalled that in the last moments before it smashed into him, he realized that something was wrong and tried to use Cast one more time. The problem was that just as he fired, the bear rammed into him.

It seemed he had gotten that last shot off in time. Or using its body to hit him had caused it to lose that last bit of health?

In a normal game, Jaxir wouldn’t even consider the second option. But Divinity was a lot more realistic, so he wasn’t sure.

"So much for being realistic. Why weren’t you crippled after you hit 1 HP too?"

Unfortunately for Jaxir, there were some Classes and abilities that allowed you to maintain full power even at 1 HP. Most of those exceptions were concentrated in the Tank Class, a Class the twinkle twinkle bear happened to be in.

"What is that..." Jaxir’s eyes squinted. He could see three items. One looked like something close to a mini-shield, the other looked like... "A Vestigem Card... but that last one...?"

It looked like an orb of light, and Jaxir had almost missed it, half because he was still looking through a fog of darkness and blood because of the game, and half because it looked almost like part of the same light the other treasures were radiating.

Jaxir couldn’t even move right now. He was honestly just hoping that his HP would slowly recover like his MP did. He had never confirmed if that was a thing.

Luckily, the bear had died close enough to him that he could read the description.

―

Name: Twinkle Blessing

Grade: Uncommon

Level: N/A

[Grant mana Twinkle characteristic]

Recommended Paths: Hex, Trap, Speed, Aggro

―

Jaxir had no idea what that last line meant. But if he had done the barest modicum of research, he’d know that Trap was a Path of the Ranged Class while Speed was a Path of the Melee Class. The most self-explanatory of them was Aggro, a Tank Class Path.

It seemed they wanted to be very precise with the Paths that used this mana type. And luckily for Jaxir, his Path happened to be one of them.

He weakly reached forward and just barely managed to touch the orb of light. It was slow going in a crippled state, but it wasn’t impossible.

If he was going to die in this dungeon, or at least be stuck here for a while, he might as well make sure he got his rewards.

―

[Would you like to use the Blessing Orb "Twinkle Blessing"?]

[Yes][No]

―

Jaxir didn’t know what it would mean, but he clicked yes anyway.

He felt a surge rush through him, and then a starry light reflected in his eyes.

"Wait, is this going to affect Cast?"

Jaxir didn’t think of that, but suddenly his body felt a lot better and a lot more robust.

He was still in a crippled state, but it wasn’t to the point of not being able to move at all anymore. It was almost like his constitution itself had gotten stronger.

At that point, Jaxir didn’t care if it affected Cast. He would just find another way to use it, then.

Now. What were these two other rewards?