Dungeon Core Online

Chapter 62

The train ride was, if anything, a little more animated than James was used to. People spoke in hushed, excited tones throughout, either in person, or through AR calls. Those always made James chuckle a little, as a person would simply be sitting, seeming to stare off usually blankly in a single direction, while they listened to a voice being transmitted from elsewhere into their mind via an ear bud.

James never received AR calls, a fact he was actually glad of. He couldn't imagine standing around where everyone could hear your conversation with another person. He preferred sending messages via his AR text features when he could, in the rare circumstances he had to communicate with someone. The train ride was one of those circumstances.

Rue,

Just wanted to make sure you were alright following everything that happened. Wanted to let you know, Steve's achievement worked, we did it, I am now a Tier 2, Rank 5 Dungeon Core, though I'm sure you already knew that. Any who, I gave the Terminus the Like a Sir passive, like we discussed earlier. I know you wanted Godzilla?!, but trust me, Like a Sir will be so much better. Did you want me to assign all my mob skill points now, or wait for when I log back in? Finally, I've got some exciting news! It seems The Knights Who Go Ni are going to team up with Skar's group, to try and take on the Terminus. Definitely looking forward to that. Any ways, that's all for now, chat with you later.

Glyax

He scanned over the message really quickly before he sent it. Should he keep signing his messages Glyax to Rue? She obviously knew his name was James. He wasn't quite sure what to make of that whole situation, especially the link between her, her father, and James's parents. That was all way above his head, and he promptly decided, not truly worth devoting too much thought to. There wasn't much he could do about the situation, and he was sure part of the reason Xander had shared all that information with James, was to try and get inside of his head. You didn't become the top gamer of a generation without playing mind games. However, James was a top gamer in his own right, and he could tell what Xander was trying, and it wasn't going to work.

At least, as James sent the message to Rue, closing out of his messenger just as the train reached his stop, that's what he told himself. He knew deep down he was going to spend more than a little time during the day in class replaying the conversation over and over in his head. Part of that, would most definitely be trying to puzzle out what exactly was going on. The other part though, would be spent trying to figure out ways to poke Xander, now that he knew he had some levels of protection from the wanna be all-powerful developer.

"Oy Specs." James was pulled from his pondering by a loud voice, the sound of it making him wince.

"We've been waiting for you." A second voice, and James slowly turned his face in the direction of the voices. Dwight, and his party of orcs, er, friends, were making their way towards James from the direction of the school. Uh oh.

"Hey guys, how'd it go last night?" He offered them a fake smile and a wave, his eyes darting around. He knew exactly how it had gone for them. And unfortunately, he could already guess who the bullies were about to blame for their misfortune. Of course, they were completely right in their assumptions.

Dwight walked up and put his arm around James's shoulder and neck, pulling him in roughly as the bully eyed their surroundings.

"Oh, just great. We went to that chest you told us about."

James swallowed hard as he felt Dwight's grip tighten. "Any luck?" He managed to get out.

"It was a mimic." The grip was painful now.

James was scared, but he inadvertently let out a slight chuckle before he could stop himself. That video was still racking up views. It was probably one of the funniest things James had seen in a while, Dwight's orcish face twisted in fear right before he got eaten. Priceless. The chuckle died as Dwight's arm flexed, cutting off the blood circulation to James's brain for a split second before loosening. That moment of pain, followed by the rush of blood, made something in James tick.

He was always so in control, but right now, after all he had been through, James could feel himself growing angry. First, Xander, now, Dwight. Apparently, the two of them together just put a little more pressure on James's cool than he realized.

"I'm, I'm sorry to hear that. I've been seeing a lot of chatting about mimics on reddit, I think they were just added last night." He wasn't lying, there was an entire thread, titled It's a Traaaaappppp, that was trying to pinpoint where the mimics were located. However, the conclusion the internet had come to, the correct conclusion, was that they were random. People were simply going to have to gamble with RNG when it came to whether or not a chest was safe.

"Funny, that you managed to get to the chest and get a gold coin, while we get eaten by a mimic."

James pushed against the grip from the bully, working to free himself. "Do you think I had something to do with it?" James did his best to act insulted and confused at the same time. He wasn't sure how his face was twisting, but judging by Dwight's surprised look on his face, James had to guess he was accomplishing something. Well, it was either his face, or the strange tone his voice was taking.

"Well,"

James cut Dwight off before the bully could continue, having finally freed himself.

"Seriously, how the hell would I be able to know if it is a mimic or not? Just because you're unlucky doesn't mean you take it out on me. I told you what I knew. It's not my fault you and your Orc buddies there got gobbled up by a freaking mimic. You do know, sucking at a video game, bad luck, those aren't caused by other players, that shits your problem."

This really wasn't like James, but after being bullied by Dwight and his friends for so long, not to mention everything that had just happened to him, well, he may have finally hit his limit. That, and the injustice of it all. Why were bullies allowed to get away with their actions? Especially given the fact that everything was freaking recorded. Did no one care about-

James's train of thought was cut short as a fist smashed into the side of his jaw. The sudden jarring caused his brain to bounce wildly about his head, as his world wavered and flickered. His balance was lost, and he hit the ground. Hard. He heard muffled cries and shouts, but the world was cast in strange dark figures, and James closed his eyes against them, fighting the nausea that was welling up within his body. As he did so, the world seemed to fade to darkness, as he slipped out of consciousness.