William opened his eyes and was immediately assailed by cramps in his legs. As his vision adjusted, he only saw grass. Grass stained in blood. William quickly shot up panicked but quickly fell back down succumbing to the cramps, pulling him down like an anchor. His legs were giving off intense pins and needles as if they had been in a bad position for too long. His focus quickly shifted to the myriad crimson stains on his trousers and shirt. The memories came back to him ruthlessly as he got a replay of events in his mind. The initial contact, the trading of blows, the loss of his arm. William looked at his arm that was now back on his body as if it never left. He did notice however, the shirt sleeve was gone. He could see where the fabric had been severed at the joint of his elbow. He had a clear scar circling it. Had it...grown back?
“What the fuck?” He muttered.
The memories continued before he could think further on it as he felt colder and colder the more he remembered. The fact he was alive by sheer luck and arrogance on the bandit’s part only served to worsen the feeling. He hadn't truly earned the victory and if the bandit even heeded slight caution, he would be dead, along with everyone from his town. All those lives could have ended because of William's weakness. He didn't really have much care for the people, but they were the only people he really knew in this new world and part of him hoped for bonds to mend or at least for an amicable atmosphere to be born.
As the memories reached the crescendo of two beings acting on pure instinct to end the other, William felt truly weak. He felt that he was an insignificant boy swimming in with sharks that consider him an annoyance. He brought his knees up to his chest and started to cry. "Isekais were meant to be fun adventurers right?" He thought to himself. This continued for a couple of minutes until William calmed himself down again. He tried to get to his feet again and was able to without issue. As he stood, William realized that it was day time. Looking up to the sky, he could see that the sun was not at its zenith. As far as he knew it was either morning or afternoon. Either way, he had been unconscious for the entire night at minimum. A chill crawled up William as it dawned on him that he could have been killed by anything that came across his battlefield. It appeared lady luck was stalking William on his journey.
William turned around to confront the aftermath of his battle. He saw a horrific mess. Blood-soaked soil was everywhere. The grass around the bandit’s body was more crimson than emerald. The bandit’s body was far worse. The face was mush, the leather jerkin had tooth holes on the shoulder where William had apparently bitten through the leather and flesh. 3 deep gouges adorned the Bandit’s torso with the hilt of a dagger lodged firmly in the center of the body. It was a truly horrendous sight made worse as the smell of rot from the corpse invade his nose. William felt his gorge well up inside him and erupt as he vomited it out on the ground in front of him. Wiping his mouth, he took a couple moments to recover and continued looking at the body. He would need to harden himself to such sights if the world was intended to be this way for him. After about five minutes he walked over to collect his equipment that was sprawled everywhere around the bandit and to his dismay, stained with blood.
William found his shield a couple feet away...with his arm attached. He was taken aback at that. He picked up the shield and pulled his arm out from it. It was clearly beginning to rot and emit the smell of decay. He grimaced at it and tossed it away. It was almost surreal to him that he had just thrown his own arm away with his new one. He once again fixed the buckler to his new arm then ran his fingers on the other hand along his new scar. It was almost as if it had been perfectly sewn back on with impeccable stitching skills. William recalled his other injuries and looked back down at his body. He could see part of his stomach through a knife-shaped hole punched into the fabric, also scarred. William looked to his left shoulder next. A long scar was visible through a deep gash on the shoulder of his shirt. Finally looking at his other shoulder, he saw teeth marks scarring it along with a chunk of fabric barely attached.
Quite frankly, William was a mess to look at. He felt his hair. It was starting to get greasy and had crusted blood mixed into it like a crimson dandruff. He would go and ask miss Jones, the hairdresser of his village to cut it short later and hoped that he wouldn’t be stoned or chased out of the new settlement by the others after his earlier dispute. He erased those thoughts quickly, a problem for future him. He turned back to face the corpse and approached, picking his sword up along the way. He sheathed it and decided it was looting time.
As he sheathed the blade, he realized that he hadn't used Swift Thrust in that fight at all. If he had done so, maybe it wouldn't have been such a tough fight. He screamed into his hands in anger at his shortsightedness. He couldn't just forget about his bloody skills when they mattered the most.
With the mood soured further, William decided to take the dagger first. He was surprised that he could now lift it out without issue, unlike the night prior. He guessed it was the decay of the body softening it or something. William tossed the dagger down next to the body. Next he loosened the several toggles keeping the jerkin closed. William quickly discovered that removing clothing from a dead body was incredibly awkward. The biggest struggle he had in this was getting the jerkin past the arms, a difficult endeavor when the person who owned them was dead. After several minutes he had freed one arm. He was getting impatient. He wasn’t going to waste excessive time on this. He unsheathed his sword and clutched it in a two handed grip above the corpse’s other arm, just beyond the short sleeve of the jerkin. With all his might, he brought the sword down expecting he would need every gram of strength he could muster.
The blow was clean and even dug into the ground by a couple centimeters. William wiped the coagulating blood off the sword on the bandit’s bloodstained under-shirt and sheathed it once more. He paused before removing the jerkin again considering his actions. Desecrating the body of a dead person was a terrible deed or so everyone always said, yet he didn’t bat an eyelid to chopping the guy’s arm off. “The guy isn’t going to be using it and it’s kinda revenge for my own arm,” he thought. With his justifications boosting his confidence he got back to work. He had no issues removing the jerkin from the other arm and rolling the bandit over to pull it out from under him. William examined it and decided he would need to figure out how to patch the holes up but for now it would offer him some protection. He didn’t equip it yet however as he had more to loot. He noticed a small pouch on the belt of the bandit’s body.
“Coin pouch?” he asked himself.
He untied it from the belt and lifted it. As he did, it jingled and felt a little bit weighty.
“Coin pouch!” he stated, smiling slightly.
He considered it before opening, wondering what the currency would be. Could it be Rupees, Credits, GAEA-Bucks, or good old fashioned gold coins. With bated breath he opened it up. He was excited and confused as he saw the contents of the pouch. Inside was copper, silver, and gold coins. It wasn’t just coins however, a few different coloured crystals were also mixed amongst the coinage. They appeared like tiny quartz crystals that had somehow been died in pastel colours. There were red, blue, green, and white crystals.
William laid the jerkin on the ground open like a miniature picnic blanket and emptied the pouch to take stock of his new haul. Two gold coins, five silver coins, thirty copper coins. Two red crystals, three blue crystals, one green crystal, and four white crystals. It seemed alright in terms of value, but he couldn’t be certain. Picking up one of the copper coins he used identify:
{Ascension_Protocol}
Currency – Copper Coin
{Currency value:}
– 100 Copper > 1 Silver
– 100 Silver > 1 Gold
– 100 Gold > 1 Platinum
{End}
William grinned at the result. He felt like he just had a big payday. He put the coin down with the others and picked up one of the crystals. He was about to identify it again but paused, he had something he wanted to try. William picked up the green crystal, and one of each of the blue and white crystals. Trying to solely focus on the four crystals now in his hand, William once again cast identify:
{Ascension_Protocol}
Material – Green Energy Essence Core
{Description}
Energy Essence Cores are typically found from slain creatures of speed such as Wind Eagles, Man-stalker Hounds, and Death-Scythe Hornets. Often used in Enchanting, Alchemy, and Witchcraft.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Material – Blue Mana Essence Core
{Description}
Mana Essence Cores are typically found from slain magical creatures such as Elementals, Summons, and Spriggans. Often used in Enchanting, Alchemy, and Witchcraft.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Material – Red Life Essence Core
{Description}
Life Essence Cores are typically found from slain nature affinity creatures such as Dryads, Tree-folk, and numerous Sentient-Plant species. Often used in Enchanting, Alchemy, and Witchcraft.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Material – Unattuned Essence Core
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
{Description}
Unattuned Essence Cores are typically found from Slain Constructs, created through Mage-craft or grow from the earth of Mana-barren landscapes. Often used in Enchanting, Alchemy, and Witchcraft.
{End}
William was made even happier by the success of his plan; Multi-Identify. He considered the prompt and thought back to when he got his second class; Enchanter. He recalled a particular skill:
Mana Conversion – Enchanter Skill: Through touch, you can channel specific magic imbued in one object or person into another object or person. Mana is in a dormant state ready to be activated. Effects may vary. Effects may not succeed. Effects may be fatal. [Cool-down – 1 Minute] [Cost – 50MP]
“A surprise tool that would help me later eh?” He said, chuckling to himself.
He decided that when he got a chance later on or maybe the next day, to experiment with his Enchanter class, after all, he had new items he could enchant to test it out. William scooped up his riches into the coin pouch and tied it to his sword belt. He then undid the two dagger sheaths strapped around the bandit’s upper thighs and strapped them around his own. Seeing nothing other than bloody pants and under-shirt on the corpse, William started to untie the boots. Once they were removed, he held one to his foot to check the size. They were a little bit large on him but not overly so. They would do. William put the boots on and tied them up then proceeded to collect the two daggers the bandit had owned. He examined one and went to identify, but received a different prompt:
{Ascension_Protocol}
Insufficient MP – 20/70 [25MP required]
{End}
William would have to regenerate his MP before identifying the daggers. They were curved back slightly, mimicking fangs almost. The blades were plain steel, and their hilts were wrapped in black leather with no guard and a square pommel. They were weirdly designed, but he just assumed fantasy bullshit was the reason. William Sheathed the daggers and felt a little bit more warrior like as he took in the several weapons he now carried with as many scars to match. Once everything was collected, William readied himself to go back to the settlement but stopped as the sunlight glinted off of something in the grass near the body.
William approached the glint and noticed an empty glass vial laying amidst the bloodied grass. As William picked it up, he saw tiny red droplets on the glass. He then recalled that before passing out, he was able to drink a health potion.
“You saved my life you glorious bastard.” He said to the empty vial.
“Didn’t get rid of the scars though, so nine out of ten rating I’d say.”
The vial obviously didn’t respond, and William felt a little bit embarrassed. Maybe he was beginning to go insane. His life would be a lot simpler if he was.
William started walking off after considering whether he should bury the bandit. “Would he have buried me?” he asked himself. He knew the answer to that and continued walking. Jerkin in one hand and his other hand resting on the pommel of his sword. He felt a bit like a badass if he was being honest with himself. As he was about to reach the crest of the hill, he felt a tingle in the back of his mind. He acknowledged it and his mind received what felt like a million prompts pop up at once. He grimaced and staggered back a couple inches as he adjusted to the sudden appearance. A couple moments later he let out a defeated sigh and decided to just get them all out of the way. He sat down on the grass and started working through them.
{Ascension _Protocol}
You have slain: Human Level 5 – Scout Level 5
Bonus EXP awarded for slaying a creature of higher Race level than you.
Bonus EXP awarded for slaying a creature of higher Class level than you.
{Class: Fighter – Level 3 Reached}
Attribute points allocated, plus 5 unused points.
{Race: Human – Level 3 Reached}
Attribute points allocated, plus 5 unused points.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
{Class: Fighter – Level 4 Reached}
Attribute points allocated, plus 5 unused points.
{Race: Human – Level 4 Reached}
Attribute points allocated, plus 5 unused points.
{Allocation:}
Would you like to Allocate Unused points (20) to attributes?
{Y/N}
{End}
He had gained four total levels from his battle with the bandit. Some guilt went through him as he knew a big portion of his victory was based on luck. He wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth however. He thought back to his fight and considered where his points would be best suited. After a minute or so he decided that he would put three points into Intelligence, six points into Strength and Dexterity each, and put the final five into Vitality.
William then put two of the four fighter class points he gained into Dexterity and the remaining two into Strength.
William decided to finish all the prompts before checking his status changes:
{Ascension_Protocol}
{New Title Offered: Brutal Man-Slayer}
{Description}
Achieved through ending the life of another person by using multiple means of weaponry, and natural abilities on them such as claws and teeth. A testament to your willingness to put down any threat to your life in brutal ways.
{Effect}
Plus 5 all stats
[Notice – Accepting this Title will make it appear on your identity if the spell Identify is used on you. Description not included.]
Do you accept the title?
{Y/N}
William was a little bit shocked at the message. The description made him sound like a monster. He didn’t really want others assuming he was a ruthless killing machine, but he would get five stats to each attribute. It was too good to refuse. Consequences were a problem for future him though, and confidently, he selected Y.
William skipped through several warning prompts about dehydration and hunger as they weren’t affecting him too badly at that point. And reached the final prompt; another Title.
{Ascension_Protocol}
{New Title Offered: Relentless Combatant}
{Description}
Achieved through an indomitable will to kill your enemy. Disregarding your life, you commit your being to ending another. A testament to the instincts of a predator.
{Effect}
Plus 5 to Dexterity, Strength, and Vitality
[Notice – Accepting this Title will make it appear on your identity if the spell Identify is used on you. Description not included.]
Do you accept the title?
{Y/N}
Okay, firstly, that description was badass. Secondly, immediate yes from William as he mentally slapped the big red button that was Y.
Feeling significantly more content, he then decided to view his final status changes:
{Ascension_Protocol}
{Level & Skill Changes:}
- Fighter Level 2 > Level 4
-Human Level 2 > Level 4
{Attribute Changes:}
Strength – 10 > 28
Dexterity – 10 > 28
Intelligence – 7 > 15
Wisdom – 7 > 16
Vitality – 5 > 20
Charisma – 5 > 10
{Resource Pool Changes:}
SP 100 > 280
MP 70 > 150
HP 50 > 200
SP cost reduction to skills from changes to Dexterity Attribute. Reductions as follows:
- Swift Thrust: 25SP > 5SP
- Indomitable Parry: 15SP > 5SP
- Shield Bash: 10SP > 5SP
[Notice – Current Skills cannot be reduced further.]
{End}
His stats were starting to look respectable for a level four fighter, at least compared to various RPGs William had played over the years. Titles appeared to boost a person’s stats beyond what their levels gave, and he had just gained two of them. He got to his feet and felt lighter, a lot lighter. He walked around in a circle and was astonished. He was so much faster and more fluid now. His body seemed to have immediately adjusted to the stat change.
“That’s convenient as fuck!” William cheered.
He then realized that he had also increased his strength and wanted to test it out on something. The only heavy thing he could think of was the bandit’s body; a dead weight.
He ran down the hill again to the body and said, “Sorry about this,” before using both of his hands to lift the body.
He did so with shocking ease. Like lifting a small cabinet in terms of weight. He put the body down then wanted to try it with one hand. It was harder, but he did it on the first try. He couldn’t hold the body up for long though before he had to drop it again. It hit the ground with a thud and some squelching from the impact on the bloody soil made William grimace slightly.
William decided to try one more thing before returning to the settlement: jump distance. William ran up the hill slightly and launched himself upwards. It was like being bounced off the canvas of a trampoline as he reached the crest of the hill feet first. He was astonished. He must have jumped several feet into the air, and more importantly didn’t feel any shock from the landing. The dexterity was an unsung hero with the SP reduction and fluidity of movement it granted. William took a final look at the bandit and their battlefield and slightly bowed. He wasn’t sure if the bow was for the battle or the bandit, but he felt it was necessary. William then started his walk back to the settlement.