The sun poked through the clouds in the morning. Birds were chirping, water dripping, and crickets playing their tune felt almost like a movie to Victor as he finally woke up first with Serena sleeping naked on top of him. He laid there incredibly happy for what felt like the first time in his life only to notice the achievement.
Achievement: First Time – Have sex for the first time. Gain 1 stat point. Gain 40 Luck.
‘It was great but why did she feel the need to aggressively get me in bed? I wonder if it means even more in this world than on Earth.’ Victor pondered but genuinely did not care. He ran his hand over one of her scars on her back. ‘They really do look badass, and yet I want to find whoever did this to her with an intensity I’ve not ever felt before.’ She slept soundly on him for another half an hour before waking up. “Good morning sunshine.”
“Good morning honey.” She sat up with the blanket on her shoulders. “You’ll need to increase your stamina if you want to be on top.”
Victor turned red realizing just how out of shape 5 strength and 2 rigor really made him. “Yeah and I definitely need more rigor too.” He paused ‘I wonder if working out physically makes you stronger here.’
“Get dressed sweetie.” She stretched before putting her clothes back on. “I’m starving. We should get some food.”
“What do people usually do for breakfast?” Victor asked.
“Well I usually had gruel but eggs and sausage sounds divine, and I’m sure Cawthorn will agree with me on the sausage at least.” She opened the door.
Victor quickly accompanied her to the door and followed her downstairs to a dining area similar to the area at the previous inn except much larger and with a cobblestone floor. Unlike the other area this inn bustled with activity at least 40 people sat around various round tables and on benches affixed to the walls. Several barmaids ran around bussing tables to the hustle and bustle and at least two chefs could be seen cooking meal after meal behind a window. The smells of the meat and spices wafted up to the top of the steps and the entire flood had the aroma of breakfast. Victor’s mouth watered as Serena grabbed his hand and practically pulled him down the stairs. “That smells so good.”
“I know!” She smiled pulling him behind her to the bench.
A barmaid quickly came toward them. “What will it be for you two?”
“Sausage and eggs for both of us and some water.” Serena nodded.
“Oh it’s you! The love birds from yesterday!” A tall woman next to them with long hair and a slender face turned to them. “Are you two okay? Where’s your dwarf friend?”
“We’re fine.” Serena answered.
“She rushed here after I fell unconscious.” Victor noted.
“I’m Lara Austin, this is Thaddeus Tanner” she pointed to a massive man likely needing to duck down to enter any room “and that is Zack Mendoza our leader.”
Zack nodded. “Our group is Just the Gold. It’s good to see the youngsters surviving. More people killing monsters is always a plus in my book.” Thaddeus just grunted and continued eating his massive plate of meat. “Don’t mind him he eats a lot.”
“We’re the Stars of Verdan, I’m Victor Vogal, this is Serena Brooks, and the dwarf is Gargrim. He’s not really in our group we were just traveling together.” Victor explained.
Zack leaned on his hand and asked. “What are your levels?”
Victor hesitated ‘Are they asking because they might want to rob us?’
Serena asked. “Are you checking to see if we’d be good recruits?”
Zach shamelessly said. “Yeah! We are always looking out for good party members since our core is only 3.”
“I’m a level 8 rogue and he’s level 9 mage.” Serena answered.
“Ah that is a bit low for our group. We’re all around level 15.” Zach took a drink.
Food arrived for both of them. Victor called out the window. “Cawthorn! Sausage!” The crow swooped through the window to much laugher from a good portion of the tavern. Victor fed him a sausage and took a bite himself.
“DELICIOUS!” Cawthorn proclaimed.
Lara laughed. “Is that your familiar? He is delightful.”
“Yes and he is a great familiar.” He gently stroked the back of Cawthorn’s head. “Do artifact hunters and adventurers normally recruit each other in bars and inns?”
Lara turned to him slightly confused. “Yeah, where did you two form a group?”
Victor with food in his mouth mumbled “In a cave.”
“In a cave?” Lara asked.
“He rescued me as I was about to die after my traveling companions had been killed.” She told the truth with a tongue so slick it couldn’t be matched. “I fell for him right there and joined him.”
“Aw that’s so romantic.” Lara commented.
Zack shrugged. “Real shame you’re lower level you sound like a great party member. You’ll have real difficulties finding a group below 10 th level. At 10 you get a specialization and get a lot more powerful. If you were both 10 th we might be able to help you out but as it stands you’ll have a tough time finding someone to group up with, or you’ll need to help out lower level adventurers.”
“That’s fine, we had intended to focus on lower level creatures for a while to be safe.” Victor nodded to Serena.
Serena smiled at that. “We’ll find a lower level cleric that is searching for a group and help them level so when they reach higher levels we have a cleric we can trust.”
“You have to be careful doing that.” Zack noted. “There is nothing keeping a cleric in your group after level 10 especially if they take the priest specialization. Every group would take a priest without exception and they’d just help them level up.”
“Wait why are priests so valuable?” Victor asked.
“Priests have a huge amount of mana regeneration, and significantly reduced mana cost when casting spells on an ally. They are basically the default healers for powerful groups. Devout clerics and holy warrior clerics are really useful since they too can heal in a group but priests excel at it.” Zack explained.
“Yeah but they have no defense! No one actually wants to be a priest.” Lara replied. “They can’t use armor, their healing spells are less powerful per cast than a holy warrior and a devout has a much more diverse skill set. Priests basically fill your health to full all the time and buff you nothing else. Their barriers are weaker than a devout and they have minimal self defense. Finding one of those even low levels would be tough since if they take it a higher level group would poach them from you after they hit 10 th level.”
“So they are as frail as a mage?” Victor asked. “That would really suck.”
“Even more so! They don’t improve prowess every level from 11 to 30 like mages do so their barriers are weak. Their passive stat increase is only 3 flow per level while mages all get between 1 and 3 prowess which improves their barriers massively over 10 or more levels. At least a mage can block a hit if they react fast enough. A priest ends up having their barrier shatter most of the time. Without an exceptional defensive front line they will die without question.” Lara groaned again.
“I bet mages also largely improve prowess before other stats too.” Victor noted.
“Yeah! There are even powerful magic weapons which deal damage based on prowess. There’s no weapon that does that for flow. The stat is only useful for spell spamming which is great for regeneration magic and buff spells which don’t scale off prowess, but literally nothing else!” Lara continued complaining.
Zach interrupted her. “Don’t mind her, we actually trained a couple priests and both got poached by level 25 or higher groups. It’s not like we can do anything about it either. What are you going to do? Enslave them? That barely works at lower levels. They have to act on direct orders only. Past level 10 combat tends toward improvisation and shouting what to do will get you killed.”
Victor glared at them. “Even if it worked you shouldn’t enslave someone.”
“Yeah it always feels weird having a party member who may as well be less than human. They won’t help. They don’t contribute and often they don’t want to live. Slavery is just not effective above level 10 unless you’re intending to sacrifice them or you are assigning them to a specific task.” Zach shrugged.
Victor bristled. His breakfast ruined. He looked around. How many of these people own, or did own slaves in the past. He scanned the room and noticed at least 6 people not eating, not laughing, and not speaking. His blood pressure shot up. ‘I can’t. I shouldn’t. I have to focus.’ He bit down into his food and mentioned to Serena. “I am going to wait outside alright?”
She quickly shoveled in her food as Cawthorn leapt on Victor shoulder and all 3 left. “What’s wrong?”
Victor looked out on the muddy streets to slaves being transported in a cart with an auction house across the road from them. Down the street a blacksmith and a tailor along with food stalls. Victor’s blood boiled as he observed this unholy land. ‘One day I will free all of them. I know angels exist and I will speak to Swordie about this later. How could heavenly creatures allow this? FUCK THESE PEOPLE.’ He looked up the street to the north seeing a massive gate with the same black stone from the keep. “Let’s buy what we need to buy and get out of here.”
“What’s wrong?” She asked again.
Victor angrily whispered to her. “There are slaves everywhere. How are you not freaking out?”
“It is really depressing seeing it but I’m so used to it I don’t feel anything. No one would dare try to enslave someone in broad daylight in the middle of town so it’s not like we are in danger.” She said.
Victor clenched his fist. “Let’s just go get whatever we need and go through the gates. I do not want to be here any longer.”
“We need food, clothes, and I could really use a few more daggers and a short bow.” She noted.
“Let’s stop for the clothes first. I could use a change of clothes.” Victor took a deep breath.
The two of them crossed the muddy street toward the tailor and entered the shop. The smell of the wooden floors after the storm filled his nose as he approached the shop keep needle in hand. An elderly woman nodded at him. “Hello young man, how may I help you today?”
“I’m a mage in need of some new clothes. She’s a rogue.” Victor noted.
“Well I do have a few magical sets but they are a bit pricy. If you want to see them I’ll need to see some coin. 1000 Gold is the cheapest set.” She noted.
“Goodness, we’ll just look at regular clothes then.” He held his hands up.
Serena had already started looking through clothes to find a few loose fitting shirts and a couple pairs of pants one short and one long, all black except for one pattern of red roses on her shirt. Victor tried to match his brown pants and white shirt as closely as possible so he could just wear whatever is clean and look the same. The two of them quickly paid for their clothes and walked out wearing them. Serena looked rather beautiful with the sewn rose pattern running up her shoulders and down her sleeves. Victor looked just as plain as ever with his cloak, white shirt and brown pants. Victor realized he’d have to wash his clothes by hand in this world and groaned slightly. ‘I wonder if a skill can clean something.’
They walked next door to the smithy. The smell of hot iron and the steam from it cooling in water immediately filled their noses with a sense of weight and heft to the building. Every inch of the building constructed from the same black stone they had seen before. In the back bows and blades lined the wall with a table in front of all 8 smiths either talking to a customer or forging a weapon. They walked to the back. Serena pointed to a batch of 10 throwing knives, two daggers and a bow. She also purchased 20 arrows. “I’ve got 41 left.” She fitted all her equipment on her new belt Victor just now noticed and the bandoleer she bought before. Her bow fit around her chest and with that she looked much better equipped than she had moments ago. A rogue well outfitted for a dangerous journey. Suddenly Victor felt naked like he was back on earth.
“Should I buy a weapon?” He asked Serena.
“Why? Are you going to be a Spellsword ? It’s a lot safer to be a Contemplative Caster or Deep Mage since you’ll be far at the back and you do not need a weapon for that.” Serena noted.
“I was planning on it. Are any weapons more effective with speed instead of strength?” Victor asked.
She seemed dismayed and slumped over. “Yeah fine, any of the rapier, daggers, or thin blade weapon classes do more damage with speed instead of strength. Strength still improves those weapons but they get a lot less from it. If you have to fight close up a rapier, it’ll be best in duels and generally good for narrow hallways. You should still try to shoot from range when possible.”
“Which rapier looks best to you?” He had no idea what rapiers would work since he had never held one before. Historically he knew long swords and katanas are effective blades but didn’t see any katanas.
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“Well that one there” She pointed to a rapier with runes on it. “Is the best but I bet if we ask them to show us it they’ll want to see the coin. It’s probably thousands of gold. I don’t know what magic it has on it but those blue glowing runes aren’t easy to apply to the weapon.”
Victor pointed to it and asked. “What is that one?”
A halfling shop keeper of tiny stature at the station reached up pulled it down and wiped off the blade. “This is Frost Fang a rapier that is designed to apply frostbite with every single swing. It never runs out and constantly slows and chills enemies hit. After the first hit any creature will become much easier to finish off. Not cheap but very effective.”
“How ‘not cheap’ are we talking?” Victor asked.
“This one is 750 gold but if you have the gold right now I’ll let it go for 700.” The halfling leaned forward. “What do you say?”
“I recommend starting out with a simple weapon, poor use might break it anyway.” Serena noted.
“Ah a beginner then let me recommend one of these.” He bent over beneath the desk and pulled up a thin moderately long blade with a thin point. “Try this.” Victor drew the blade and it felt so effortless. Despite the blade’s weight being so light it still felt heavy to Victor and his paltry strength score. “That there is running 25 gold, finely made steel for a starter weapon. If you need something a little lighter but have 65 gold we have this.” He reached down and pulled out a blade nearly identical in make but with slightly more decorations on the sheath and a metal leaf at the top leading into the hilt of the blade. “This is elven steel it’s lighter and just as strong. It’s a bit more expensive but for those without immense physical strength it’s a great choice.”
As Victor pulled the blade he realized the difference in weight. It was at least 3 or 4 times lighter than the first weapon yet its’ sheen and strength seemed identical to Victor. “That really is light. I’ll take it.” He handed over 65 gold. “I’ve got 61 left after all of that.” He clipped the metal clip at the top of the sheath to his belt and drew his blade then sheathed it again. He smiled satisfied with his purchase. “Let’s get out of here Serena.”
“We need to get more provisions.” She pointed out. “I had to use all our potions and all of Gargrim’s potions to make it here as fast as we did. We also only have 1 antidote.”
“Where is the apothecary? Let’s get our provisions and get out.” Victor pressed forward as they both reached the stalls. They bought food quickly and got moving on to the potion shop and both spent 15 gold buying healing potions and Victor added another antidote to their store of potions. “That’s it right?”
Serena seemed slightly deflated “Yeah.” They walked into the street with a man following behind a carriage with no hair and the symbol inked into his head. “I hadn’t really had any time to think about others…” She looked at her new clothing and all of her new equipment. “I feel like we are wearing someone’s life.”
“We are wearing someone’s life.” Victor hung his head and started walking away gripping his fist so hard he felt like he’d start to bleed.
Serena followed after him toward the gate. “DRAKES!” Cawthorn shouted. As they passed by the auction house a man screaming passed them. The sudden crash of a cart landing in the blacksmith moments ago they bought their equipment in. The metal strewn across the road and alleyways they had just strolled down. Victor turned just in time to see it. Large claws headed for his face he tried to dodge to the side but Serena had to tackle him to the ground. He landed on a wooden porch that quickly broke to pieces.
Urgent Quest
Time to accept: 0:30
Quest Giver: Luzuzal
Free Slaves – In the chaos of the drake attack Free at least 1 slave.
Reward: ????
Accept Reject
‘Go on.’ Luzuzal stood before him. ‘Let me see your delusion in action.’ Another cart dropped from the sky to the auction house and slaves scattered. Victor clicked accept.
“WE HAVE TO RUN!” Serena tried to grab him but lost her grip on his wet hand as Victor crossed to the alleyway.
Victor ran into the alleyway “Speed boost, Vitality Boost.” Victor nearly collided with two people and a horse running at top speed away from the bright red drakes flinging objects at the town. A mage stood center of the road and blasted off a powerful lightning spell instantly killing a drake only to get charged. He put up a barrier shield and yet it cracked breaking like an egg as the drake ripped him in half. Victor realized even trying to save someone here would be insanity. ‘Am I insane? I guess I can’t be if I’m asking that question.” Victor felt a stone hit his side but not break his skin.
-13 Health
Victor noticed a little child running duck into a barrel tipped over. Victor rushed to the ground and opened the lid. “Shh.” The tattoo was on the child’s head. Victor stopped using Speed boost and vitality boost. He waited a moment breathing while she silently sat there shaking her head as the men looked for the slaves in the alley. A drake swooped down and consumed a guard immediately before taking off. “Don’t move.” He began tracing the tattoo on her forehead and within a few moments it was gone. “Hide until later.” He put the lid on the barrel.
Urgent Quest Free Slaves - Completed
Reward: Luzuzal’s Delusion Rank 2, refill mana .
Accept Reject
‘Accept!’ He clicked so fast and immediately reactivated “Vitality boost.”
Serena reached him “WHY!?” Victor panted and looked at the barrel with a single hole with an eye looking out it. He looked to it unable to speak and then looked to her. “You’re unbelievably reckless. We need to get across the border.”
“I know you can carry someone.” Victor noted still out of breath as two people screamed in the streets being torn apart. The drake hobbled forward toward them on two legs with tiny claws in front of it. It roared charging them only for Serena to throw two blades into its eyes. It crashed into the nearby building through the wall. Victor couldn’t move. He was completely out of stamina and the drake turned to them.
“RUN!” Gargrim tore toward them axe in one hand decapitating the drake in one hit. “RUN!”
Victor shook his head. “Serena, carry her.” The girl popped the top of the barrel and stepped out.
“Absolutely not.” She picked up Victor and started to run as fast as she could. The young girl ran after them seeming to nearly keep up. She said nothing but Serena did have something to say. “What the hell?” In the streets around them many adventurers fought back and several drakes began to die. Victor contemplated casting Jolt to sneak in a level. “I swear if you cast a spell Victor I will never stop carrying you in front of people no matter how embarrassed you get.” He immediately stopped that line of thought.
Cawthorn screeched on his back. “THE GATES ARE OPEN FLY MY MAGE!”
Victor put his hand on Serena not knowing if this would work and feeling like he really should have asked. “Speed boost” Serena starting moving much faster and they approached the gate with great speed wind rushing through their hair. The girl followed behind them staying with them.
“Why is she so fast?!” Serena asked as they passed the broken gates. More than two dozen guards were firing dozens of arrows with many landing and bringing down some drakes. After all of them reached the other side of the gates they made their way toward the nearby trees where the girl followed after. The three of them hid near a cluster of trees as many more people rushed into the woods. The drakes seemed to follow those fleeing. “Who is she?”
“She’s a little girl, she was a slave but isn’t now.” Victor patted her head. “We can hide here until it passes.”
“Do you know me?” The young girl asked.
“I’m Victor Vogal. Nice to meet you.” A drake roared chasing others running down the road. He extended his hand and shook her hand.
She grabbed his hand and firmly shook it while Serena still carried him. “Why do you carry him?”
Serena raised an eyebrow. “He’s my boyfriend and he used all his stamina helping you.”
“I can carry him if you’d like.” She held out her hands.
“What?” Both of them asked in unison.
“If you are low on stamina I can carry him.” She repeated.
“I’m sorry let me try another way. I’m Serena Brooks. Who are you?” She looked at her genuinely confused as screams in the distance started to fade.
“I am Forala Medot. You freed me and have my lifelong gratitude.” She answered.
“What?” Both answered in unison again.
“I am Forala Medot. I am a black half-drake. I am currently in my human form. I was captured voluntarily hoping the adventurers could protect me. All of them died. These drakes are likely chasing me.” She explained.
“What?” Both again repeated in unison.
“It appears my rescuer and his wife are both hard of hearing.” She noted.
“What!” The both turned red.
“I SAID YOU ARE HARD OF HEARING!” Forala added.
Victor shook his head. “I’m not hard of hearing just astonished.”
Cawthorn spoke in a calm low voice. “Really my mage? I had been shouting this whole time because humans tend to ignore me.”
“WHAT!?” Victor turned to Cawthorn. “You know they can’t understand you Cawthorn.”
“I can speak corvid.” She added.
Cawthorn looked her dead in the eye and answered with a flat “What.”
“I must reward you for rescuing me Victor Vogal. What do you desire?” She continued.
“I need no reward. I was just doing what is right.” Victor nodded. “You’re free now.”
She shook her head. “Are you a paladin? A holy warrior perhaps?”
“I’m a mage, level 9.” Victor added.
With an affect even flatter than Cawthorn and even more direct eye contact she simply asked “What.”
Serena still holding him propped him up reconfiguring her grip added. “Yeah that’s just who he is. Idiot can’t control himself when it comes to helping people.”
She blinked twice as one more person screamed near their small ring of trees blocking the view. A single red drake roared at them. “Do not leave this spot.”
Cawthorn put a wing up to Victor’s ear and whispered. “I think we should listen to her my mage.”
She transformed into a black drake looking very similar to the red one but smaller. She roared gutturally and charged the red drake. They couldn’t close their beaks or mouths as she gripped the red drakes neck and flipped it over slamming it into ground, then a tree, back to the ground again until the creature flopped lifelessly and then several times more. Finally she tore off its’ head and ate it. With the chomping and a final lick to clean off the blood she stomped back toward them slowly transforming back into a human. “I cannot defeat them all but a single foot soldier cannot stand against me.”
“I really want to ask her level but am far too terrified to ask.” Victor couldn’t even blink looking at her only briefly realizing he said that out loud.
“Ordinarily I would never reveal my level to anyone, however you deserve a reward. I am a level 59 fighter.” She answered.
“Oh. Wow.” Victor just stopped.
“My mage I am afraid.” Cawthorn whispered.
“I can hear your familiar.” She noted.
Cawthorn recoiled and hopped back. She finished wiping her face with her arm and put her robe back over her head. “I may look young by your human standards but I am 28 years old. My mother is likely dead or about to die. The red drakes are hunting us and desire our end. I vastly overestimated humans, except for you.”
“Thanks but I couldn’t save more than one slave back there. Not exactly results worthy of boasting.” Victor noted.
“Has Serena claimed you?” She put her hand on victors shoulder.
Serena turned away pulling him back still in her arms. “Yes, I have.”
“Ah, pity.” She seemed disappointed. “I had always asked my mother how she could love an inferior species. For someone like you I could at least understand the desire.”
Serena breathed deep putting Victor on his feet and standing between them. “Aside from that the only thing he wants is to become stronger.”
‘Luzuzal what should I ask for? You obviously set this up and want me to ask for something. Please don’t pretend you didn’t interfere here.’ Victor waited and Luzuzal appeared within a few seconds.
Luzuzal shook his head. “I just wanted to see what you would do, and this time you did not disappoint.” He smiled worlds stretching into the air and his sun in place of his single eye burned bright. “Ask for whatever you desire. Her body, artifacts, power, or perhaps nothing. Take what you desire.” He faded into nothingness satisfied.
Truly shocked by the response he told her his actual desire. “I just want to live in a more equal world. I don’t want anyone to have serious power over me or anyone else.”
“What an idealistic view. The strongest will always have power over the weakest.” She noted.
“I know it’s foolish, it’s probably impossible but I see no reason not to work toward that future.” Victor added.
“It isn’t foolish, it’s idealistic. Perhaps even heroic for the strong to protect the weak, but even if you will do that few others will.” She shook her head.
“You just did.” Victor noted.
She tilted her head. “Huh?” She turned around to what they were looking at. Behind them the mangled corpse of a red drake laid bleeding and headless. “Oh that was nothing. It was just a foot soldier. Likely level 20 to 25.”
“Our demise would have been swift and painful if not for you.” Victor shook his head and knelt down. “If you insist on repaying my favor consider it paid. If you insist that isn’t enough then next time someone is in need consider helping if you can.”
“It’s making more and more sense to me how mother felt about father before he died. I shall remember your name. If you pass through the Xalper mountains and ever you encounter a black drake speak my name in draconic Forla Medoat and I’m confident they will take you to me. Regardless of my actions today I feel I owe you more than I have given.” She extended her hand. Victor gently walked around Serena and shook her hand. She started walking to create distance from them before taking off fast enough to disappear in the blink of an eye.