“For fuck’s sake, will these pricks just fuck off already!” William yelled, as he dispatched the last Lynx that assaulted the pair.
“If you keep doing what you’re doing man, they’ll end up growing instincts to avoid you,” John replied, breathing heavily having not had a chance to rest for the past two hours.
The walk back started smooth, for five minutes. Since then, they had been attacked by more Horned Lynxes, some weird deer looking thing that had shark style teeth and razor sharp antlers, and several different types of dog sized insects.
It was as if the system was throwing waves of creatures at them. William started to believe that particular theory until he saw the left side hind of the Lynx he had just killed. It was burned on the posterior, and recently. William pulled up his map and did some quick calculations mentally, and his face dropped.
“So...this one’s got a fresh burn, John,” William said, turning his head in John’s direction.
The man slowed his breathing slightly, trying to shift his focus to William it seemed in hope of ignoring his fatigue as he said, “Wait. What?! Ohhh we may have fucked up slightly.”
“We?” William replied, giving him a coy smile and raised eyebrow.
“We.”
“I don’t think that’s how [Fire-Wall] works.”
“You’ll never know,” John returned with a wink.
William chuckled a little as he rolled his eyes, the only response he felt like giving.
Returning his gaze to the direction of their little pyro incident, William pondered, some concern about the people at the logging site surfacing. He doubted the fire pushed all the beasts into their specific direction. If he was lucky, some would run across the bandits, doing some of William’s work for him. He doubted that his luck was that good if the last few encounters were any gauge.
The pair continued their journey, both thankful that they weren’t harassed by any other forest denizens. Suddenly, William’s [Danger Sense] flared up as he blocked an arrow with his buckler variant of the shield. A yelp of pain on his left notified William that his friend had not been as reactive, taking the arrow to his right shoulder, falling back to the ground.
William stood in front of John then, erecting his tower shield variant as he scanned the surroundings for more people and more arrows. Another two came, this time both headed for William. In response, he summoned Sharpie, blocking one arrow from the left with his shield, and parrying the one from the right, using a strike from his first sword-form.
His eyes darted between the trees, seeking the attackers, but had to redirect his attention to the right once again as another arrow flew his way. He had been slightly too slow, and the arrow skimmed his shield, nicking the shoulder above. William hissed at the pain, but didn’t find it overly painful as he was accustomed to greater pain by that point.
John had gotten to his feet, activating [Mana-Ward] and standing back to back with William to form a haphazard defensive formation, showing an impressive disregard for the arrow still embedded in his shoulder.
The two continued their defense for a couple of minutes, taking some more nicks, but nothing too severe, now that they expected the arrows. The assault abated after that, but the pair didn’t get the chance to rest as three individuals emerged from the trees around William and John.
To William’s surprise, they weren’t bandits, or at least seemed better equipped than bandits. The individuals sported chain mail cuirasses, short-bows and short-swords, all with bright yellow trim made from either paint or fabric. The kit seemed standardized, meaning a militaristic group of some association. William also realized that some of the kit that he and John sported, had indeed came from bandits.
“For some lowly bandits, there’s some level of competence at least. This mission would be boring otherwise,” A young man, somewhere in their twenties spoke up, sporting long blonde hair, a golden opposite to William’s umbral hair.
The man was unblemished and almost seemed to carry some radiance to his gait. He looked like a member of the aristocracy preparing for a duel of honor or something. The gear on his two companions was more scraped and worn than the lead man’s own. That meant one of two things; either the man was not experienced in battle, or was so talented that his armor remained unblemished.
“If we were bandits, I’m sure we’d already be dead. Fortunately, as that’s not the case, there’s no need for violence, and the need for you to give us a healing potion as recompense for my friend here,” William said, pointing to John.
The man looked amused at that for some reason as he examined the pair.
He seemed to consider something briefly and spoke up, “Did they give you that stuff out of the kindness in their hearts?”
William rolled his eyes at that. This guy was going to be a dickhead, he just knew it.
“No, I killed them for it. How many have you killed?” William shot back.
This was a dangerous game he was playing. Potentially risking animosity with an unknown faction could only lead to bad things in the future, but he couldn’t back down from this.
“None yet, but before my greatness, many villains will perish,” the man said, with a haughty tone of self importance.
“Yep. Nobility.” William thought, confused as to why a fucking noble was in the middle of the woods hunting some bandits. He didn’t care enough to get the answer however, just wanting them to fuck off.
“Okay, so go kill them. Their base is somewhere north west about fifty miles from here,” William replied, hoping that would get the guy’s attention.
“Yes, I’m sure there’s no ambushes on that route waiting for us either.”
“Then pick your own route to the same place if you’re that skeptical.”
“Or we could capture you and get the truth from you in a more...firm way.”
It seemed that they were destined to come to blows. William decided to identify the new group quickly, before he had to get violent:
{Ascension_Protocol}
Human – Guard – Level 13
Human – Noble – Level 8
Human – Guard – Level 13
{End}
The guards were the real threat, it appeared, as William saw the noble wave his hand summoning one of the guards to draw their sword, and handed a long, wooden box to the noble. They seemingly didn’t care about the opening that was glaring, but William caught the other guard raising their bow, probably to stop the pair from pre-emptively attacking.
William smiled at the sight, making the bow user frown. William was about to rock their world. He saw the guard’s grip on the taught string begin to loosen and used [Flash Stride] to appear behind the noble as he heard an arrow sail through the air from behind, where William had just been.
His Mana was below two hundred so he had to make the attack count. William swung Sharpie using [Vortex Slash] with [Mana Investment] releasing the classic blade of energy that bisected so many foes before. It didn’t disappoint this time either, decimating the top half of the noble and his guard. William didn’t spare the corpses any thought as he casually turned with disinterest as his eyes locked with the straggler’s own.
“You may live if you fuck off to where you came from. If you aren’t running in the next three seconds, I’ll cut you down too,” William said, flexing his aura, focusing it on the guard who visibly paled before nodding and swiftly fleeing.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
John winced as he pulled the arrow from his arm, drawing William’s attention, “How bad is it?” William asked with some concern.
“Not too bad, stings like a bitch though, but nothing important was cut, so I think just tying some cloth around it tight for now will work,” John replied, taking some cloth that was unbloodied from one of the bodies William had just made and tying it around the shoulder wound.
William considered his own minor shoulder wound, but left it alone as it would scab over eventually and wasn’t pouring blood.
William started rummaging through the corpses, stopping briefly as John said, “why’d you let the last one go? I can understand not being unnecessarily murdery, but these people seem particularly troublesome.”
William grinned, causing John to roll his eyes at the scheming expression as he replied, “Because he now gets to report to his bosses about two bandits that killed his charge in the woods. Either they won’t risk any more people in this area, or they’ll seek out the bandits in revenge. I gave them true enough directions towards where we believe the bandit camp to be, and didn’t mention Greenwell. The risk to us is minimal I’d say.”
John’s eyes widened at the revelation as the man now fully grasped the outcome. William continued looting, focusing on a fat coin purse on the noble’s body. He opened it and his jaw almost dropped. It was filled with gold coins. He showed it to John who’s shock mirrored William’s own. They worked together to tally it up and the total came to three hundred gold and seventy silver.
The gear was a concern however as he noticed John eyeing it, prompting William to say, “We need to strip the gear and bury it or hide it. We can’t risk getting identified in another faction’s garb”, especially when it was one with aristocracy of some form.
“Can’t we just leave it behind?”
William had considered it, but swiftly dismissed the idea as he said, “Bandits would take all the valuables, not just the gold.”
John nodded, understanding the reason. William stored the looted gear in his spatial ring for ease.
“I need to get one of those,” John said, a hint of envy present.
William gave John a wink as he got to his feet. He scanned the surroundings half expecting some reinforcements of some form. Why would a noble only have two guards with him in the middle of the woods? The man probably had too much confidence to the point of detriment. William hoped that was the case anyway.
As the thought passed, William stretched, loosening his muscles. It would be best to be on their way soon, before more of these people appeared. The pair did a double take of the scene, ensuring that nothing was missed on the first rummage. Satisfied after double checking, the two set out, continuing on their way. It would be evening soon, and William wanted to be near the edges of the woodland to reduce the chance of encountering the local wildlife. He had already grown bored of fighting the local creatures. None were a real threat, unless they were swarming, and so far, only Assholes had been shown to do that, yet he didn’t want to chance it.
William started to notice the dying light, shrinking from the gaps in the canopy. A look at his map told William that they were maybe two or three miles away from the treeline, and around four miles south of the logging site. William felt it best to setup a small camp in the spot they were currently in. The location was a small patch of clearing, covered on three sides by thick flora, with a wide opening that they had entered through, and a small northward trail cutting through the bushes, indicating a trail commonly used by the wildlife.
They risked running across that wildlife, but either of the two humans should be capable of fending off any such beasts. Fire also deterred a lot of natural wildlife, at least going by Earth logic anyway. John started a fire, making reliable use of his skills. William took some time to lay out the two bedrolls that they had acquired from the yellow guys earlier that day. William was shocked when he unrolled them as they changed shape.
Before William was two beds. Not bedrolls, but actual, physical beds.
“What the fuck?” Was all William could utter, his face as bewildered as the onlooking John.
He decided to identify them:
{Ascension_Protocol}
Furniture – Bed of Everlasting Comfort
{Description:}
A soft bed of impeccable craftsmanship made for the wealthy traveler. Enchanted to retract into a rolled up bedroll when not in use. When unrolled, the item transforms into its true form.
HP and SP recovery doubled while used by a humanoid.
[Notice – Enchantment Restrictions in place. No new additions allowed.]
{End}
Both beds were identical. William told John about the beds and the pair decided that they would keep these items for themselves. The bedroll form would fit onto the pack that John had perfectly fine, and William had his ring, so both could keep the items. William in a brief moment of naughty mindedness wondered what nights would be like in such a bed with his girls.
The thought shifted quickly as John spoke up, “Who’s taking first watch?”
William eyed his friend, picking up on the glint in his eyes, and William knew that they both wanted to take first watch, solely to test their new beds. William decided to be a kind and benevolent god letting John take first watch. It wasn’t time yet however, as they still needed to eat and wind down a bit first. The pair sat around the fire as William got a few chunks of the deer meat they had harvested previously and he grabbed two nearby twigs to act as skewers.
William decided to take the time and look through the items that they looted from the two dead guys. He didn’t bother identifying the guard’s sword, the bows, or the cuirasses as none felt magical. All seemed like bog standard arms and armor. The Noble’s sword however, felt magical and William surmised that something that had its own fucking box, would be at worst valuable, and at best, some OP bullshit.
{Ascension_Protocol}
Weapon – Absolution
{Description:}
A sword forged from the collective and multi-generational efforts of Dwarven artisans. Forged from enchanted metal ore, the blade has latent magical effects that can bypass the material realm.
Sword has a 50% chance to pass through arms and armor of the user’s target, cutting living material with no resistance. Chance of trigger increases to 75% when user channels Mana into the item.
{End}
“I guess I’m keeping this too,” William said, amazed at the item he just acquired.
John gave him an envious look after hearing the description, making William chuckle wholeheartedly.
“You get to try the bed out first, seems like an even trade off to me,” William added, prompting John to swiftly flip him off. William could tell it was playful as neither of them expected John to wield the blade. William examined the weapon, taking in the beautiful detail. It had no sheath, unfortunately, detracting from the weapon’s splendor. A sword was always complemented by a good sheath, at least in all the video games he had played. The blade itself was onyx black, not so dark that light was absorbed, but dark enough to seem partially abyssal. He lightly brushed the edge of the blade with his thumb and was amazed that the mere touch had drew blood. The sword was scary sharp. Absolution seemed like a good name as it would absolutely fuck up someone it cut into.
The hilt was gilded with a winding golden guard. He hoped it was purely gold plated as gold wasn’t the strongest or toughest of metals. The majority of the hilt was made of a deep, pine colored wood, emphasizing the gold trim. The pommel bore a large ruby, polished and rounded, only slightly protruding from the golden mass making up the majority of the pommel.
He stood up, taking Absolution in both hands and began practicing his katas. He also tested flowing from one kata into the next, alternating the order. It was a surreal feeling, the blade, perfectly balanced, complemented his sword form and the katas themselves were interchangeable to a scary extent. He estimated about ninety percent of each kata could be switched into and out of, with only a few movements in each being too awkward for such a shift in form.
Overall, William was pleased with the results and was looking forward to trying it out. It also had no enchantments, so he took the opportunity to change that. Sitting back down, William took out his enchanter’s tools, drawing John’s attention as he watched on, not bothering to hide his curiosity. William lay the blade gently on his lap, careful to not cut himself on the blade as he got to work.
His nerves were almost frayed from worry that he would fuck up. It was like a great weight was lifted when he finished enchanting the hilt of the blade successfully. He had put the Recall rune onto the hilt and after storing his tools, stood up and threw the sword into the flora. John was shocked and confused at the action, and was about to say something, but William held a hand up to wait and watch. William extended his other hand out in the direction of his throw, William’s gaze not leaving John’s as he mentally activated the rune.
The sound of cracking twigs and leaves sounded as the blade returned as if flying on its own, directly into William’s grasp. A wide grin almost cut William’s face in half, almost looking like a Canadian from a cartoon back on earth that he enjoyed on occasion.
William saw John’s wide eyes shift to acceptance as John turned to look at the meat in the fire. The pair’s stomachs rumbled in tandem, and the two took the meat that was already nearly charred, and deeply indulged.