Chapter 7
Making my way back to the campsite it seemed that most of the monsters wouldn’t venture out of their territory. The large grassy area leading back to the hill was still as desolate as it was previously.
Reaching the top of the hill I was once again greeted with a very unnatural looking counter and the points board which was now completely covered once again with the same papers I had already taken.
Another issue I needed to sort out would be sleeping arrangements, thankfully there were some sleeping bags I could buy from the shop. At the very least I wouldn’t be sleeping on the ground tonight.
Grizz was currently stood behind the counter as per usual but was now digging into a massive chunk of meat. Watching chunks of meat being ripped off the bone once again confirmed how this little guy could easily rip my head off if he wanted to.
Noticing my presence, he threw back the not yet finished slab of meat as it vanished out of sight. Surely, he wouldn’t eat it off the floor, even goblins have standards, don’t they?
“Back already, are we? What can I do for you James?”
Wiping his greasy mouth with a pristine white handkerchief, Grizz happily encouraged me to shop as he pushed the same tablet before me.
“Yeah, just hit Level Five and needed a bag and some clothes to properly carry everything. Hey… You wouldn’t be able to tell me anything about learning Skills, would you?”
With a gleeful clap and a happy smile on his face, Grizz seemed quite joyful at the news that I had hit level five, or maybe he was happy about me needing to buy some more stuff. I still was completely clueless as to what this guy was truly like.
Hearing my question, Grizz clapped his hands together appearing to take delight in teaching others.
“Oh, that’s quite simple, at certain Level milestones you’ll earn a skill point. For you it should be Level 10 for your first one.”
Wow this system really was stingy as hell.
They unlocked my skill tree and everything, but I had to wait another five levels before actually getting my first skill. What a scam.
“Well then what’s the difference between these skills and the ones I can buy from the shop?”
With a glint in his eyes Grizz once again took it upon himself to educate the clueless me.
“Ah okay, the skills you obtain as Skill Books are all set at a rarity that won’t change no matter what. On the other hand, skills obtained from the Skill Tree generally start out weaker and with little versatility but can grow in rarity and overall usefulness dependant on the user’s needs.
Gratefully, Skills can be swapped out at any time so you can always stock up on stronger Skills that you find or buy off others, and then eventually swap them out.
Oh, and natural Skills all evolve by their own unique factors, there isn’t a one-way fit all system for them.”
Well, that explanation was quite handy. Knowing how skills work, it made sense why some of the ones in the shop costed thousands of points.
“Any other questions?”
“Uh no, think I’m all good. That was very useful, thanks Grizz.”
Hearing my gratitude, the goblin chuckled to himself unsettling before walking off.
He wasn’t angry at me, was he?
For the time being it seemed that obtaining skills would be out of reach, the simplest solution was to level up and reach Level 10. The whole concept of Evolving skills was quite a fun idea and the earlier I got my hands on them, the better.
With a new goal in mind, I put the Mutt Tails on the bench as they magically vanished as four points were added to my score. With 24 points to my name, I purchased a large travel backpack and a new set of clothes.
The backpack had a very simple design, with just one large zipper to open it up it had a large amount of space inside it as it rested comfortable on my back.
The clothing options ranged in prices, but I settled for one of the cheaper pairs.
The clothes I had found were the standard desert military camouflage, the colour scheme was slightly off but it would help in making me slightly harder to spot.
Buying up a few extra necessities like water and food, my finances quickly hit rock bottom.
Going from 24 to 0 points in a matter of seconds was a bit sad but it also lit a fire underneath my feet.
For the sake of not sleeping on the ground tonight I needed to get a good amount of hunting done.
With a comfortable number of supplies in my backpack I returned to the tall grass. With the sun just past it’s peak I assumed the time to be about 1’O’Clock, with hours of sunlight remaining I should be able to get a good amount of hunting done.
Re-entering into the maze of grass I was welcomed with silence, it seemed that I needed to go in further to find some prey.
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For now, I planned on going in a bit deeper, if this place works off a game-like system than the further I go the tougher the opponents will be, and if I want to hit the quota of 1000 than I needed to pick up the pace a bit.
It took five minutes of walking before being attacked by another lone Mutt. Reusing the same strategy as previously used it was proven effective yet again. With more EXP to my name and another tail, I continued my journey further into the grass.
10 Minutes went by before anything happened this time.
Expecting a singular mutt to be circling around me, it felt like my ears were playing tricks on me as the sound of grass being pushed around was echoed throughout the area.
Turning to keep pace with the unknown number of attackers, I swung around in a circle. Unfortunately for me there was an errant rock just slightly peaking above the ground, and it was perfectly in line with my sword.
A small clink of metal on rock reverberated as silence suddenly hung over the area.
Knowing what comes next I stepped away from the rock as a trio of blurry figures emerged upwards. The three Mutts seemed a bit larger than the other two I had seen, but that wasn’t what stood out.
Between the Mutts front legs and torso was a thick layer of skin connecting the two parts, and this layer of skin was currently being utilized to allow the mutts to control their descent.
Flying man eating dogs, is that how we’re doing things here?
With my strategy already obsolete and three incoming Mutts who had locked onto me not caring about my camouflage I had no choice but to square up.
Sword pointed to the sky, I waited for their incoming approach. The only relief was that the sun was now past its peak, meaning I wasn’t staring straight into it.
As the creatures pulled their legs back increasing their velocity like furry missiles towards me, I bent my knees and waited for impact.
Two of them were closest and going to reach me at the same time. Dodging was the only rational option.
Running under them the Mutts tried to twist their bodies to reach me but to no success as they roughly hit the ground, but they weren’t my current concern.
Just a few seconds behind it’s pack, the third Mutt was able to properly aim for me after adjusting its course. Going in for the kill, the only thing it managed to taste was a mouthful of my sword as it impaled itself on my waiting weapon. These things were certainly much easier to kill when they were in the air.
Without hesitation I withdrew my weapon from the corpse and whirled around, coming face to face with the two snarling mutts.
Growling and barking at their prey, the two creatures separated in an attempt to pincer me, yeah, no thanks. Dealing with two of them sounded dreadful.
Unlike other defenceless prey, I sprinted straight towards the mutt to my right. Seeing my actions it jumped back, clearly not expecting this type of resistance.
Refusing to let up I chased it backwards as it continued to retreat further and further.
It was only when the remaining mutt sounded like it was just behind me that I let up.
Spinning around yet again I held out my arm expecting an attack.
With its deadly teeth just inches from my throat it was just by a few centimetres that I was able to raise my shield in time as the creature gnawed on it. Now attempting to latch onto my arm I refused to give the creature the second chance as I quickly stabbed it piercing its brain.
With no time to hesitate I once again pulled out my sword from the dead Mutt and spun on the final opponent, only for nothing to be there.
Looking up I was half expecting to see it falling straight onto my face, but no matter where I looked the Mutt had simply vanished. It took multiple minutes for me to finally let my guard back down. Claiming the tails and stuffing them in my backpack I was welcomed with a new Status Message, one that was dearly welcomed.
You have Levelled up!
Level 5 -> Level 6
+3 Endurance
+1 Strength
+1 Vigor
+2 Free Points
Status
Name: James Burns
Class: Guardian (Tier 1)
Level: 6
Strength: 11 (12)
Dexterity: 10 (11)
Vigor: 10
Endurance: 14 (15)
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 8
Free Points: 2
Skills (0/5):
Runes (0/1)
Wow, just by looking at my stats it was evident how much I had grown in such a short amount of time.
Not only was endurance easily beating out everything else, I was also left with two points to allocate elsewhere. Looking down on my left arm I was greeted with the sorry sight of my shield.
It had taken multiple beatings and had finally reached its limits by the looks of it, with the top half completely ripped off by the Mutts powerful bite, the shield was now useless.
Discarding the lump of wood I suddenly felt slightly less secure, but I had the perfect solution to that.
Dumping both the free points into vigor, why worry about a shield when I can just tank attacks with my own body. That seemed like a flawless thought if you ask me.
With limited time to rest I continued my hunt for another two hours before the Sun dipped lower, not risking getting caught out here in the dark I backtracked without managing to get lost this time. Turns out doing a 180 and just walking straight was quite an effective way to get out of this place.
Reaching Level 8 in the process, I was now well on my way to reaching my goal. Hitting the quota was still a looming threat, but if I continued to grow at this pace then there shouldn’t be too many issues there. The real concern was with the others, would everyone else be able to survive this?
With a quick thought to everyone else, I made my way back to the basecamp on top of the hill as I shared my loot with the ever-friendly Grizz.
Thankfully as the new Mutts were higher levels and were now called ‘Flying Striped Mutts’, they were also worth much more. Netting 10 points for each Level 5 tail, I also snagged 15 for a single Level 6 that came from the last group that I had hunted.
Sitting at 185 points, I was now sitting pretty. I had only scored just under a fifth of the quota, but as I continued to get stronger the points would naturally increase. Knowing this I couldn’t help but struggle with the thoughts of greed, wouldn’t it be worthwhile to stockpile points and buy some of the better items from the shop?
Creating a Wishlist seemed like a fun idea, but for now the only thing on my mind was sleep.
In just one day I had to deal with fighting for my life against goblins with a group of strangers, before being separated from said strangers and struggling for my life solo.
Yeah, it’d been a bit of a hectic day.
Buying some of the packets of mystery food and a bottle of water, I had a quick dinner before retiring to my newly bought bed.
Fine, I went a little overboard and bought a bed instead of a sleeping bag for cheap, sue me for wanting some comfort.
Washing away the worries on my mind, sleep quickly took me as the sounds of Grizz tinkering away behind the counter acted as a pleasant white noise. They had to after all, not like I was about to ask him to be quite so I could sleep.
Status
Name: James Burns
Class: Guardian (Tier 1)
Level: 8
Strength: 13 (14)
Dexterity: 10 (11)
Vigor: 12
Endurance: 20 (21)
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 8
Free Points: 4
Skills (0/5):
Runes (0/1)