How To Avoid Death On A Daily Basis: Book One by V. Moody Read Free Book Online Page B

went through surprisingly easily.
     
    The result was a fearsome weapon, with vicious-looking barbs. If the nails didn’t kill you, tetanus probably would.
     
    Excited by how well I was doing, I moved on to the leather scraps. I took a square about the size of a large stamp and poked holes in either side using the spike I’d got off Kizwat. I tied a long strip to each hole. It made a little hammock. I grabbed a handful of small stones off the ground and placed one in the cradle.
     
    Spinning it around worked well. Getting it to release proved a bit trickier. My first attempt stayed firmly in the cradle and smacked me on the top of my head. Painful. A few goes later I got it to fly out at considerable speed. In the wrong direction, but still, it would be an effective weapon once I got the hang of it.
     
    I estimated I had enough material to make three more. It was so straightforward I could probably make another couple using the rags left over in the clothes box back at the shed.
     
    The other bits of metal didn’t seem to have an obvious use right now, but I wrapped them up as best I could and headed back. With my rusty nail cub and my sling of infinte ammo, I felt ready to strike fear in the hearts of rabbits everywhere.
     

18. Lock And Load
     
    Just before I walked through the shed door, I had a sudden urge to make a sharp 180 and go off on my own. Whenever I played an MMO on my computer, I chose to play solo. Online games are designed to be a social activity. You can speak to people as you play, plan out and coordinate your attacks, chat about this and that. You share the highs and lows, the laughter and the tears.
     
    Not me. I liked to explore alone and try to deal with monsters on my own. It took longer but it was just a lot less stressful that way. Of course, I would occasionally join a group to do a dungeon or a raid, but more often than not you’d run into a bunch of arseholes.
     
    People who took the game too seriously, swore and screamed at anyone who made a mistake or didn’t already know the mob attack patterns, and generally used the game as their personal venting platform. And then there was the whining when it came to rolling for loot…
     
    Playing solo meant you could do what you want, make as many mistakes as it took, and generally enjoy yourself without relying on anyone or having anyone rely on you. Much more fun.
     
    But I wasn’t here to have fun. On my PC, if things got hairy I could just try again or logout. Or even complain to the GM and get them to rollback my character. In this world, there was a good chance game over really meant game over. If I wanted to survive, I’d need help. People watching my back, ready to offer me a helping hand when I came up short.
     
    I wasn’t too sure if the idiots I was stuck with would turn out to be those people, but I didn’t think being on my own would have many advantages right now.
     
    I walked through the empty shed and out into the courtyard. The other groups had left. Where they’d gone, I had no idea. My group sat around our now smouldering fire. Maurice cleaned his glasses with the sleeve of his onesie. Dudley hugged his knees while rocking back and forth like a disturbed child. Flossie had a fixed smile on her face, the kind nervous people have when they don’t want others to think they’re feeling nervous. And Claire scowled as she poked the remnants of the fire with her stick.
     
    Perhaps going solo needed some serious reconsideration?
     
    “You’re back,” said Claire, sounding angry. “I thought you’d gone off and left us.”
     
    “Must have been a hell of a dump,” said Maurice. “You took ages”
     
    I ignored them both and dropped my recently acquired items on the ground. Leather scraps, metal junk and some pebbles. I expected them to look at me like a nutter who had brought them trash, but they all stared wide-eyed with amazement.
     
    “What did you do to that?” Maurice pointed at the stick resting on my