I couldn’t breath. The weight of the carcass on top of me pressing my blood soaked face to the dirt. The blood around me glowed red, its bioluminescent light brightening the small pockets of air between my face and the body of the Namori. I noticed a small message in the top center of my vision that read, “Skill Unlocked”. Upon examination of my stats I found that I’d learned Sword G and Shield G during the fight. I’d thought that my Dagger skill might also transfer to swords but apparently that hadn’t been true.
I felt the beast on top of me shift slightly. Its weight transferred off of my chest for a brief moment before settling back. This movement repeated rhythmically and I took the opportunities to catch a breath of air when I could get it. Suddenly the movement stopped. I sat there with lungs full of oxygen that was rapidly being depleted, wondering what was happening outside of my furry prison. Just as I thought my lungs were going to explode I felt the body move again. This time however, the power behind the push was enough to dislodge my body entirely. With a thud, the carcass rolled off of my body and onto the dirt, its lifeless open eye stared at me while glowing red fluid flowed from the socket where it’s other eye should have been.
I gasped as the weight was lifted from my body, my lungs filling with the chilled nighttime air. Beside me stood Orion and the farmer both gawking at the sight of me lying crumpled on the ground. After looking down I realized why; my entire body was covered in the glowing red blood of the Namori, lighting me up like a christmas tree. Looking at my health for the first time since the end of the fight I realized just how much danger I’d been in. My health was down to a measly five, the spike protruding from my sword arm must have damaged me again when the creature landed on me.
Orion had started tending to my wounds as I laid there, so exhausted from the recent battle that I could barely move. My stamina had also dropped to seven during the course of the fight, its tiring effects still wearing down my willpower even after the struggle had ended. I saw my health slowly increasing as Orion removed the spike and applied a bandage to my arm, my hearing slowly returning with each passing second.
The farmer had walked over to the dead Namori and kicked it a few times, “That’s for eating my favorite cow. You get what you deserve!”
I sat there in silence watching my health tick up before what he’d said hit me. I sat up slowly, ignoring the protests from my aching muscles, “I thought you said feral dogs took your cattle?”
He seemed to stutter for a moment before responding, “I… I said I saw them chewing on the bones. They must've gotten in after this beast was gone and scavenged what they could.”
My eyes narrowed and my hand gripped my sword as the feeling started to flow back into my arm, “You said that you saw them chewing on the bones of your favorite cow! How would you know that this thing killed it if you hadn’t known it existed before now?!” He shuffled slightly as he struggled to find an answer, “I also didn’t see any evidence of feral dogs but I did find areas with large claw marks on your fence! You knew didn’t you? You knew, and you still sent us to fight that thing without warning us about what we’d be facing!”
The hair on the back of my neck was standing up, my fury growing with each second as the man struggled and stuttered to come up with an explanation, “Well… uh… you see… I knew there was one in the area and I didn’t want to spend so much money on a higher ranked contract on the off chance it wasn’t dogs.” At this point he sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince us, “I figured that they’d send some sewer rat to come and solve my problem and they’d notice the Namori and come out and hunt it for the experience.”
“You risked our lives so you could save some money?!” My anger was reaching a tipping point. This scum had requested a copper level contract for something that should have been bronze in the first place, proceeding to lie to the guild in the process and throw a copper level member to his death, all so he could save some coin!? The feeling in my hand had returned with my increasing heart rate as I felt my grip on the hilt of the sword tighten further.
As I took a step toward him the farmer's face got pale and his eyes darted to my sword. Before I could take another step I felt a hand grab my arm from behind, “Alyx… its fine… he’s not worth it.” I heard Orion's voice behind me and the rage that I was feeling subsided, my vision clearing of the red fog that had started to fill it. At the top of my vision another message reading, “Skill Unlocked” was present, at the moment however, I couldn’t be bothered to check it. I turned and walked away from the now trembling man and Orion, I needed some time to cool off.
I found a spot near the fence line on the opposite side of the plot to sit and try to calm down. The man had known all along that it was a Namori that’d had been killing his livestock. He wouldn’t admit it but he’d tried to lure a copper here to die so that he could have higher ranking members come here to kill it for free. The man was selfish and dangerous, he would have traded someone else’s life for a chance to save a little money.
I sat and stared at the night sky, stars twinkling as far off suns danced in the glow of their own nuclear fusion. After feeling myself calm down I opened my stats, curious as to what skill I’d unlocked. The new skill I’d acquired was called, “Corrupt Rage” I thought back to the red mist that had filled my vision. That experience combined with the name of the skill made me want to forgo its use entirely. It had felt like all of the anger and hate had been blocked behind a dam inside my head. Rapidly filling the space behind it until it felt as though the dam would burst. Thoughts did not come clearly and those that did were shrouded in anger, ready to burst forth and crack the barrier. It had made the aching in my muscles disappear and I’d noticed my own health rapidly increasing before Orion had stopped me.
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It seemed I had inadvertently picked up a dangerous skill. The regeneration was a nice perk but combined with a loss of control, the skill risky to use at best. If I lost control and jumped into a situation that I couldn’t handle it could put me in a really bad situation. Alternatively, with rage filling my mind, I could find myself unable to stop myself from chasing an enemy unnecessarily. I could be baited into a trap more easily with this skill active. Either one was a situation I had no intentions of putting myself in. I decided that my acquisition of this skill would be kept a secret, there was no need to tell Orion about a skill I was never going to use.
As the sun had started its rise over the planet, Orion and I started our journey back to the city. The walk was mostly uneventful other than joining a few bronze members of the Warrior’s guild fight off a few wolves that had been harassing them. As a team, the four wolves had been quite simple to dispatch. One of the three warriors quickly skinned the bodies and handed Orion the pelts as thanks. They were heading in the opposite direction and thanked us before promptly continuing on their way.
When we reached Valenta, the lines were short and we made our way into the city relatively fast. On our way to the guildhall we swung by the Merchant’s guild. The Merchants’ guildhall was a massive three story building made out of wood and sandstone. Brightly colored windows adorned the walls and passers by stopped to take in the beautiful architecture as smoke rose from one of the buildings two chimneys. The inside was even more opulent as members of the guild sat around marble tables adorned with finely crafted centerpieces, sipping unknown drinks from bronze and silver chalices. Inside, two guards stood on either side of the entrance, both openly wearing gold Warrior’s guild medallions.
We walked up to a circular desk in the middle of the immense room, behind which sat three extremely busy humans. A man and a woman dressed in the same color gold and silver uniforms were quickly sorting through multiple books, writing quicker than most college students I’d seen in my previous life. The last woman approached us with a friendly disarming smile, “Welcome to the Merchant’s guildhall, Valenta branch. How can I be of service to you today?”
“We’re looking for a Musteve named Shiza.” Orion responded kindly.
“A yes, she is here currently. I will go fetch her.” After directing us to a table the woman was off in a flash, quickly ascending the staircase and disappearing from sight. It wasn’t two minutes before Shiza came jogging down the stairs. She stopped short of the table when she saw who we were, “Hey guys! I was kind of worried when Shelly told me two warriors were asking for me. I didn’t know you two joined that guild!”
I showed her the copper medallion that hung around my neck and she jumped joyfully exclaiming that she’d be able to pick up better contracts now that she had Warrior’s guild escorts! I sighed, “Let’s not go taking the most dangerous contract you can right away ok? Besides, we had something to talk to you about.” I said as I pulled the wolf pelts out of my magical pouch.
Realizing our intentions her eyes lit up at the sight of the pelts, “Wow! You brought these to trade through me?! You could get a better price if you sold these through a silver member you know?” We jokingly told her that we didn’t know any silver ranked merchants, laughing at her indignant response.
She paid each of us a silver coin for all of the pelts and handed them to Shelly at the desk. Afterwards, she returned to us and we related all of what had happened during our most recent quest. Her smile quickly turned to a scowl as she listened, “What a scumbag! I hate people who do that kind of stuff, it happens with every guild. People try to game the system and beginners end up dying because they can't spot the bad contracts. My first delivery was transporting bronze ingots through bandit infested countryside. Although, I didn’t know it was bandit infested until they had a knife to my throat and were taking my delivery. I was lucky they let me go…” She drifted off, thinking of the alternatives to her past situation, “So yeah, I hate people like that.”
Just as she finished, a loud crash emanated from the front of the room. A man dressed in fur laced armor holding a silver tipped cane was standing over the top of a Ferrin merchant. His bronze Merchant’s medallion was lying on the floor a few feet away from him, “Filthy, swine! I told you that I needed the materials by today. So tell me how in the world with your pointed furry little ears, did you not hear me correctly?!”
The Ferrin on the floor was trembling, a tooth could be seen in his hand as blood dripped from his chin, “I’m sorry Lord Satian please, I have most of it! Please take what I have and I will get you…”
His pleas were cut short by a swift kick to the stomach, neither of the two guards had moved to interfere. The man picked up the Ferrin by the fur on the top of his head, “That would be perfectly acceptable. But there’s still the issue of disrespect that I have to deal with. You will learn as a beastman must, to listen to your betters.” Another blow to the gut knocked the wind out of the Ferrin. The man threw the small beastman against the wall and with a thud his shoulder hit the floor, “I will be back tomorrow morning to pick up the rest of my shipment.” With a small nod from the figure on the floor, the aggressor walked between the guards and out of the building.
I turned back to Orion and Shiza, shocked at what I’d just witnessed. I was expecting likewise reactions but to my surprise they had continued their conversation like nothing had happened.
I had to remind myself about the rules of this world. I looked over at the Ferrin slowly picking himself up off the floor with his tooth still clenched between his fingers, in this world, respect and mercy were not things that beastmen were given.
Alyx
Wrorine (Level 2)
156/200 Experience
50/50 Health ----
60/60 Stamina ------
20/20 Mana --
30/30 Spirit ---
‘0’ Stat Points Available
Racial Ability - Locked
Skills: (Rapid Experience) (Dagger G) (Botany G) (Healing G) (Activation Detect) (Sword G) (Shield G) (Corrupt Rage)