Hell's Glitch (initial draft)

2:20 Understanding the System

"What the hell is CBT? I need to know."

As Sam sat in front of the Soul Beacon near Bismuth's shop that he'd revived earlier, he obsessed over the mysterious combat stat. It was getting higher and higher and Sam hadn't even touched it. He wasn't even paying attention to it and it was going through the roof, but what did it do and what did the other three stats under it do?

"Combat, MYST, WAR, and HUNT ... MYST, WAR, and HUNT always add up to combat no matter how much it increases. They're each a part of the combat stat, but how?"

What Sam did notice was that the more enemies he managed to kill, the more the those stats increased. Lately MYST and HUNT had increased the most and that was while he was hunting the golems and silver furred beasts for their rocks and fur respectively.

"It has to be a kill count, but what is it good for? Golems count as MYST and beasts count as HUNT and every time I make a kill it gets added to combat. I just have to figure out combat."

After a few more minutes of brainstorming, he gave up. Without the right information, it was impossible to figure out. He stared into the azure fire and let out a sigh. For the moment, he was at his limit as far as abilities went. All he had left to do was increase his stats, which he'd held off on doing until he bought Bismuth's contracts. He used all but the thirty-thousand souls he needed for the contracts to increase a few of his stats, but now that was less exciting to him than his training with Ji.

As Sam rose to his feet, Bismuth looked up from whatever book he was reading and cleared his throat.

"Yer off to do that job?"

"I am. I'll be back shortly to collect those contracts."

"Heavenspeed."

As Sam walked through the village, the human children jeered him.

"You little assholes really know how to hold a grudge, don't you?" he said, offering a one finger salute to the youngsters.

"Sam!"

The disapproving voice came from his ear. He almost thought he was hearing his conscience, until he remembered he had a game developer "assisting" him.

"What is it, Alex?"

She had been quiet for a longer stretch of time than normal.

"Did you really just stick your middle finger up at virtual children and call them assholes?"

"What? They are assholes?"

"Sam ... are you okay?"

He left the village and started towards the cave that lead to the fortress.

"I'm still in this game aren't I? How can I be okay?"

"I know, but you seem more stressed than usual?"

"There's a lot on my mind and no offense to you, but if you aren't calling to give me some advice on this place then you're just distracting me."

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to check in with you, make sure you're okay."

"I am ... thanks, Alex."

"No signs of any Glitch Fiends?"

"Not so far. You haven't spotted anything on your end?"

"No. I'm getting accustomed to these tools that Thomas and Milner have created, so it's a relief that none have shown up yet."

"You're telling me! I hope it stays that way."

As he neared the cave, Sam spotted a surprise walking towards the entrance from the east.

"Alright, Alex, I have to get my head back into the game. I'll talk to you later."