I shook that off and headed into the woods. I had spent the past month here and found several larger monsters hiding deeper in the woods. My last favor to the people of Large Fall was that I would clear them out. It would also get me some funds for the future.
As soon as I was out of sight of the town I Instatraveled to my three rocks I had left at the bear’s location. I climbed a tree and checked my map. Nothing nearby so I pulled up my status page
Name: Jake Smithson
Race: Human
Level 9 (428%)
Age 25 plus 7 years 2 months 22 days
Main Categories and sub categories displayed
Wisdom 10 (Mana 5, Mana Control 2, Knowledge 1, Mana Regen 2/10min)
Intellect 9 (memorization 3, recall 3, Speed of thought 3)
Strength 11 (Attack 6, speed 2, endurance 3)
Constitution 9 (Resist Poinsons 1, Vitality 6, Protection 2)
Agility 8 (control of movement 3, balance 3, learning new skills 2)
Will 10 (Discipline 4, Ability to overcome adversity 2, desire to win 3, resistance to charm or intimidate 1)
Charisma 10 (Good Looks 2, Luck 4, Communication 1, negotiations 1, leadership 2)
You can level up 4 levels. Level up now?
Yes. No.
You have 4 skill points.
Assign skill points now?
Yes. No.
Skills list: Analyze 2, Axe Mastery 2, Bow Mastery 6, Fire Magic 2, Injury Evaluation 1
Mana Manipulation 7, Night Vision 1, Space Control 1, Sword Mastery 3, Time Control 4
Tracking 1, Sword Mastery 3, Water Magic 4
Mana Control had gone up when mana manipulation went up with healing. I’m not sure when mana regen had gone up. I constantly used Time Slow when sleeping and studying and Mana Manipulation whenever I could, even when fighting to keep me fresh. It was second nature now. Control of movement had gone up with weapons training. Everything else looked the same. Time to level up.
YOU HAVE 8 EXP POINTS TO ASSIGN. ASSIGN NOW?
Yes. No.
I don’t mind if I do! With a month to think about it there wasn’t any doubt where I wanted them. 1 in Mana Regeneration to help with Time Slow which I would be relying on much more now, 4 into Attack so I could make hits count on tougher opponents. I was tempted by speed, but I had Time Slow. I would bring it up eventually incase I ran into a situation where I couldn’t use magic, but not right now. 1 into Control of Movement to help with using weapons. 1 into learning new skills and 1 into… you guessed it. Luck baby. I couldn’t for sure say it was as helpful as I thought it was, but I couldn’t help but love that I could control my luck... at least a little.
After I assigned my stats, I could feel the difference with so many points. Everything worked better. I jumped down picked up my 42lb stone and it was obvious I was different. I was probably stronger than any human on earth now. I pulled out the Red Bear (Chuff) for the first time since I put him in my inventory. I pulled out my Knife and went to work. I took probably 50lbs of meat, the hide and the core which was a third larger than the Pelur’s had been. I put all those and my pack and potions and herbs and first aid kit in my Inventory. My pack also had my pot and sleeping bundle and seasonings in it. I would keep everything in my Inventory for now and then when I got to a more populated area I would carry my pack on my back, but mostly empty. If I needed something I could just make a show of pulling it out of my pack when I would really open my Inventory in my pack. My knife went on my belt and my bow I kept in my hand. It was time to clear this forest.
My first target was a large lizard that hid out at a pond 5 miles away. I had markers like my rocks in various places around the forest so I used Instatravel hopping a few miles then waiting 10 for my mana to regen and then hop again. I always had Time Slow on when I hopped so when I got there I had to turn it off to regenerate after I made sure the coast was clear. The weakness I found to instatravel was the chance of hopping right into trouble. I shuddered thinking about hoping right on top of a family of a little furry family that had to be related to skunks somehow… I could still smell it. Eew.
The lizard was out where I often saw it. Sunning on a rock in the middle of the lake. No one knew about it because it would hide when anyone came close. I dropped a Rock on it without moving from where I was, then collected its core and it’s hide which was used for leather armor.
Most of the Monsters I went after went just like that. They were all levels between 15 and 25 and I took out 7 that I had found. The only one that gave me any trouble was the spider… yuck. Stuff of nightmares as it was. This was the furthest out I had traveled around the town. Nearly 25 miles away. It was a tough one too.
Race: Rachel Spider
Level: 25
Strongest Stat: Strength (Speed 30)
Poisonous.
I considered letting the Guild know about it, but no one lived out this way. Chances were, they wouldn’t do anything about it. This kind of spider didn’t breed fast and was very territorial, but if you left its square 400 meters it left you alone. The biggest issue I had was that it knew I was there before I could do anything. It had web fibers all over the place and pretty sure it had a skill to detect anything near one of its webs. I had to emergency Time Stop and Instatravel more than once to map out it’s area. I only had one shot at this. If it didn’t work I wouldn’t have any way to kill it. It was just too fast… not to mention dangerous… and scary. I hate spiders.
I got to the edge of where I knew it’s zone was. I could see it on my map. So I used Time Stop, opened my Inventory over it and dropped my 900lb boulder on it. It was overkill, but I didn’t care. I canceled Time Stop and waited until my mana was full and I had watched it long enough to know it wasn’t moving and slowly moved through towards it. I was ready to jump out of there if it moved an inch. I came into site of it and saw it wasn’t dead, but couldn’t move. It had 3 of its legs trapped under my rock. I put my knife away while I watched it and pulled my bow off my back. I was a fair shot now thanks to Marbell and at the 50 yards we were at I could hit it’s head without a problem. The question was would it move out of the way. I had an answer for that too. I drew back on the string and I saw the spider tense and yank. It had torn its own legs off and was skittering at me. I made I noise I’m not proud of, but instead of jumping out of there I waited until it was close and stopped time. I sent my arrow and hopped to my boulder then canceled Time stop. I didn’t wait to see if it would drop it or not. Too many animals have gored people after receiving a fatal blow. I waited until my mana regenerated again and walked over. The spider was about where I had been standing without a head or half it’s body. That was rather odd, but I still used Inventory to pick up my big rock and dumped it right on the spider again. Head or no I wasn’t playing around. It didn’t move. I walked up to it and with some trepidation touched and out stretched leg.
You have defeted a Level 25 Rachel. Absorb Exp?
Yes. No.
Whew… It was dead. I selected yes and noticed I had a notification
YOU HAVE LEVELED UP Bow Mastery!
YOU HAVE LEARNED THE SPELL INSTANT SHOT
Most archers have to shoot multiple arrows and targets that weave and dodge before they can hit them. Not you! For the cost of 2 mana your arrow will travel the distance between you and your target at the speed of thought! Chant Instant Shot to charge your arrow with the power of flight by light.
Woah! I made my own spell using Time Stop and Archery! Could I do this with other things? The Mana cost didn’t make it much better than just using Time Stop, but it was so cool! I had to try it right away. I picked a tree about 20 yards away and when I drew back on the bow and said Instant Shot. I felt Mana leave me and go into the wood. It was the first time I had felt Mana leave the way it did with water. The arrow started to shimmer like it wasn’t there and then it was. When I let loose before the arrow should have even left my bow it hit the tree… with a bang! The tree exploded where it was hit and the top half fell to the ground. I stood there with my mouth open for a minute. What happened here? Then it hit me moving at the speed it must have been it was a huge amount of force. No wonder it had exploded the spider’s head as well. I’m surprised any of it’s body survived. Why did the arrow move during time stop, but not my rock dropping? After a little experimentation I discovered anything I was touching could still move during Time Stop, but since I dropped my rocks remotely it wouldn’t drop until I started time again!
After that I checked my status page again.
Name: Jake Smithson
Race: Human
Level 13 (714%)
Age 25
Main Categories and sub categories displayed
Wisdom 11 (Mana 5, Mana Control 2, Knowledge 1, Mana Regen 3/10min)
Intellect 9 (memorization 3, recall 3, Speed of thought 3)
Strength 15 (Attack 10, speed 2, endurance 3)
Constitution 9 (Resist Poinsons 1, Vitality 6, Protection 2)
Agility 10 (control of movement 4, balance 3, learning new skills 3)
Will 10 (Discipline 4, Ability to overcome adversity 2, desire to win 3, resistance to charm or intimidate 1)
Charisma 11 (Good Looks 2, Luck 5, Communication 1, negotiations 1, leadership 2)
You can level up 7 levels. Level up now?
Yes. No.
You have 13 skill points.
Assign skill points now?
Yes. No.
Skills list: Analyze 2, Axe Mastery 2, Bow Mastery 7, Fire Magic 2, Injury Evaluation 1
Mana Manipulation 7, Night Vision 1, Space Control 1, Sword Mastery 3, Time Control 4
Tracking 1, Sword Mastery 3, Water Magic 4
Wohoo! Seven levels and 13 skill points. Based on what I had seen, after I figured out I could use Analyze on everyone without them finding out, Bronze was up to level 20 and Iron was up to about 50 where Hert and Selfy’s Brother were nearing. Silver was up to the highest that I had seen in our town which was Marybell at 68. It didn’t seem to be linear so I wasn’t sure what the top would be. I would need to go to a bigger town for that. I could now get into the Iron rank at my next town and take larger prey without raising eyebrows. I didn’t want to scrape by forever. I also wanted better gear. With the 8 good size cores and skins I had in my Inventory, I was already able to start upgrading soon. I hadn’t been able to get the poison sacs from the spider because it exploded with my arrow, but I wasn’t going to cry about that. I would probably need to stay at iron rank for a while just to make sure I did raise suspicion, but I could do that by not raising my level past 50 and just focusing on skills for power.
With that happy thought I headed to the road. My plan was to travel to the capital to see what was available at a bigger city. From where I was I could either head through the woods straight to the Capital and pick up the main road, or take the road coming out of Town and follow it as it went through several other towns in a more circumspect way. I decided on the latter. I wasn’t really sure I wouldn’t get lost as my map wasn’t great for taking me to places I hadn’t been before. I also hadn’t been able to find a real map in Large Fall. Really detailed maps were kept by lords, but not shared or copied. The Adventurers Guild gave out a basic map that made it so you could travel via road without getting lost, but were not very good for navigating otherwise. They served the basic purpose of the guild which is to get needed Adventurers to towns they were needed in. They didn’t expect them to travel through woods due to the danger. Roads had protections on them, but when you went off road you had no safety from monsters. That wasn’t my only reason for wanting to travel via roads. In fact, fear of monsters was low on my list because I just watched my map and it kept me out of trouble. I always knew about them before they knew about me. No… I wanted to be around people. Even if it was only in passing. I was going to be lonely anyway so I didn’t want the harshness of the forest to add to that.
Just before I got to the road I climbed a tree and leveled up again. This was pretty fun after a month of not leveling up at all. Twice in one day made me feel like I was making great progress. “Yes I would like to level up” I said to my screen!
“You have 14 Exp points to assign… thank you very much yes I shall!”
Where to put them though. From this point on I would be meeting people that I will know for a while. I had been refraining from being vain up until now and left the good looks stat at 2. I didn’t think I was ugly… I had always been considered strong, but just ok looking. If I was going to do anything about that, it was now or never. I don’t know if it was because I was missing people so deeply and wanted to do whatever it took to make friends, but I said “I’m just gonna do it.” And put 6 points into good looks and 2 into knowing what to say. As soon as I did, I felt my face and body shifting. I wasn’t near any water so I couldn’t check my reflection, but I hoped it was a good thing. I figured 8 was upper end for human points on earth right? I wouldn’t be as gorgeous as an Elf, but I should look good. Having spent 8 points on people stuff I had to think harder about where to put my 6 left over. I was still doing ok against monsters I could use to level up. If anything, it was easy right now. That said I was really feeling like a glass cannon with how low my constitution is. Even with Time Slow there are no guarantees in fights. Eventually I would get hit. I decided to shore that area up a bit. 2 went to Vitality and 4 to Protection. That balanced out my strength and constitution. I felt much better about that now. I didn’t have enough information about what these numbers really meant though. I hadn’t been able to see sub stats on people and the only people I had been able to really see a full stat list were low level like me. Analyze was proving to be really hard to level up. I eyed my 17 available skill points and decided I should quit hoarding them. I had a good idea now about what went up easily based on my efforts and what didn’t. Plus, even if my level went up and Exp became hard to get I was still getting skill points at the same rate. It seemed like this is where I would really be able to get strong without anyone knowing.
First, I needed Analyze to be better. I decided to dump 8 points into it.
ANALYZE HAS LEVELED UP!
At level 3 you gain the ability to see all characteristics of a plant!
ANALYZE HAS LEVELED UP!
At level 4 you can determine how things are made as well as who made them. Potion recipes, complex designs and more all reveal their secrets to you.
ANALYZE HAS LEVELED UP!
At level 5 you can see sub stats for all those 5 levels above you and under.
ANALYZE HAS LEVELED UP!
At level 6 you can determine worth of an item. Cost will be in local currency.
ANALYZE HAS LEVELED UP!
At level 7 you can tell how someone feels about you.
ANALYZE HAS LEVELED UP!
At level 8 you can see the profession and all skills of those 5 levels above yours and under
ANALYZE HAS LEVELED UP!
At level 9 you can see the weakness of all monsters 5 levels above you and under.
ANALYZE HAS LEVELED UP!
At level 10 all level caps go up from 5 levels above you to 25 levels above you.
I sat there looking at my notifications barely able to contain myself. Each of these level upgrades were overpowered. No wonder it hadn’t leveled up. It must take a huge amount to do it to be worthy of these. Level 9 had to be the best for an adventurer. ‘Know their main weakness.’ I couldn’t wait to try this out. Nothing was going to escape me now! All that and I still had 7 more to assign. Weapon skills went up with instruction so I left those alone. Injury Evaluation had never gone up. Nor had space control. I hadn’t used the others that much so I didn’t know if they would go up on their own. That in mind I put a point into Injury Evaluation, Space Control and 4 into Time Control.
INJURY EVALUATION HAS LEVELED UP!
You no longer need to touch a patient to evaluate their health. Just focus on them when you cast it.
SPACE CONTROL HAS LEVELED UP!
At level 2 if you can see somewhere you can travel there if you have enough mana. Inventory size increases.
TIME CONTROL HAS LEVELED UP!
At level 5 you can stop time for 45 seconds for 1 mana
TIME CONTROL HAS LEVELED UP!
At level 6 you can stop time for 55 seconds for 1 mana
TIME CONTROL HAS LEVELED UP!
At level 7 you can stop time for 65 seconds for 1 mana
TIME CONTROL HAS LEVELED UP!
At level you can stop time for 75 seconds for 1 mana
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
This was awesome. I now had 6 minutes worth of Time Stop. I played with the regen point on Time Slow and found it was about at 1/2 speed. I would only need 4 hours real time to get 8 hours of sleep. It also made my speed stat being so low not quite as bad. That said it would have multiplicative effect to raise my speed now. I couldn’t keep ignoring it. With Time Slow going my speed of 2 because a 4. When you compared it to the faster monsters though… 25 for the spider it was still painfully slow. I had to use Time Stop not Time Slow for them. Now if it got it up to say 13 we would be an even match with Time Slow going. Humans were known for their speed I couldn’t be slow about things. That would raise eyebrows too. I had left one skill point just in case. I had my eye on cooking actually, but I thought that would probably need some training to make anything of.
“Hmm… I wonder how much my Inventory is bigger with the Space Control going up.” I wondered out loud. I jumped down and started throwing things in my Inventory. Rocks, fallen logs, anything. When I got the notification I was full I dumped it all out and sure enough it was at least twice as big. Excellent! I put my belongings back and set my Time Slow to Regen and started walking. It was going to be a long day of walking. Twice as long!
Even once I got on the road, I didn’t see many people. I was traveling at a pace that could probably keep up with any mounts which is how most people traveled here. They had an animal that looked suspiciously like a horse. I had to wonder if it hadn’t been stollen from my world as well at some point. I didn’t have money for that yet and my legs worked just fine. I did see some people going the other direction and said hello in passing.
I made some good headway and came to a designated campsite before dark. This was where the same protections for the road were expanded in a side area for camping during travel. It didn’t protect you from other humans of course, but I had an idea about that. I walked into the woods, map on of course, and picked some plants to use with my meal tonight. Meat only was a thing of the past with my new Analyze skill level. Then I found a spot out of sight of the camp and put down my three boulders to use as an Instatravel spot in an emergency. Then I went back to the camp site and said hello to everyone and made sure no one had a problem with the location I had picked for my spot.
There were two groups there already. One was a merchant band headed back the way I had come. They asked me about Large Fall and that was about it. I then walked up and said hello to the other group. It was a family of four with one son who was about 16 or so and a daughter who was 14. They looked somewhat travel weary. The wife was the one who responded to me. “Hello there stranger. Great weather for travel.”
“Yes” I said and realized with my farmer clothes on they probably thought me a farmer as well. “Headed to the capital myself so I have a ways to go.”
She said “That’s a long way for sure. We were just about to eat if you care to join in. I see you have some fixings. I could throw them in the pot. We don’t have any meat. Just tubers, but you are welcome to share.”
“Oh really! I did get some edibles, but I also just traded for some Red Chuff meat. It is fresh if you would like I could throw that in.” I said. I had been smelling their food since I walked up and if she could do this with just vegetables then I wanted in.
“You have Red Chuff meat! That’s so tasty!” The daughter exclaimed.
“If you are really ok sharing such valuable meat with us we won’t say no mister, but we can’t pay anything. Our travel funds are already tight enough.” Said the man.
“Not at all.” I said. “I could never do this meat justice like your wife could based on the smells I’m getting. It’ll go bad before I make it to where I can sell it. Let’s eat it. If your wife cooks it I’ll throw it in the pot for free.”
This wasn’t exactly true as my Inventory seemed to keep things perfect for a while. The first piece of meat I cooked was still warm and perfect when I took it out to check every so often and put it right back. That said my level three Know What To Say put those words in my head so I used them and it worked like a charm. I made a show of going to my backpack to get the meat and brought it to them with my vegetables and we all had a wonderful meal.
After that I went back to my area and put everything except my pack and my sleeping pad in my inventory. If I was robbed tonight, they weren’t getting anything except a cheap leather bag. I laid down for what I thought was going to be a relaxing night when a carriage pulled into the camping site and right up to where I was.
A man on a horse riding next to the carriage said “You there we are taking this area, go somewhere else.”
Now… I know why he picked this spot. It was nice and away from the others. I thought about saying they could go somewhere else as I was already comfy, but I decided to hit him with Analyze
Name: Rolf
Race: Human
Level:47
Age: 42
Highest stat: Strength (speed 24)
Dang it! The first person I hit with Analyze since leveling it up was too high to read substats. Well, if he was good with that sword and that fast I would only stand a chance against him using Time Stop and a killing move. I didn’t want to play that card so I grumbled about it, but picked up my pack and pad and walked closer to the other two groups and laid down.
Four hours later I got up and walked over to get my rocks and then kitted up and walked back to the road. It was only about midnight, but I wasn’t tired and if I started cooking here it would look weird. I had some Red Chuff bear meat that the nice Farmer’s wife had cooked for me when I asked and I used that as an excuse to give them some money. It was just a couple large coppers, but they looked like they could use it and had refused more. I would walk a ways and then have that for breakfast.
I kept walking for a while and just about sunrise I noticed something strange. There was a group of humans moving around on both sides of the road. On my map it looked like they were lined up for an ambush. I couldn’t really know for sure without checking, but I wasn’t going to just waltz down the road. I could have just gone around, but then I thought of the Farmer’s family. That guy with the carriage seemed like he was pretty tough, but there were 23 of them by my count. 10 by the road and 3 others together further away from the road. I thought about it for a while and came up with a strategy. Recon first. I dumped my rocks to make a jump back point and then used my skill point I had to get a skill I hoped would help here.
YOU HAVE LEARNED THE CAMOUFLAGE SKILL
Camouflage is blending in and disappearing. To not be seen or heard chant Camouflage. For the cost of 1 mana you will fade from view and become part of your surroundings. It will be hard to notice you. You won’t be wearing striped pajamas, but even if people look at you or hear a sound you make, they will push it out of their mind. Like their eyes pass over you and the sounds they hear they don’t even register. Each level it will become harder to notice you. Higher resistance to charm than you will negate this skill. At level 1 if someone isn’t looking actively looking for something while looking at you, they won’t notice as long as you keep sounds below 50 decibels. Chant Camouflage to start and then Reveal to stop it.
Hmm. I was wrong about this skill. I had thought it just helped you blend into your environment or helped you disguise yourself or maybe even changed your colors or something instead of using face paint, but this was actually pretty handy…. And not just in the woods. I wish I could level it up a bit and get that 50 decibels up higher. That was like lightly snapping your fingers or brushing up against a tree. A snapped twig twig and I was in trouble. Really, I hadn’t been in that many scenarios where stealth had been needed. The Pelur came to mind. The rest of the time I just sat back and dropped things. I chanted Camouflage and my mana moved to the surface of my skin. I thought I detected a slight shimmer, but I really couldn’t tell much.
I moved first to the group of three. I thought maybe they were the leaders and planning but I was wrong. It was a man and two female elves. The elves were tied up and gagged. This didn’t bode well right off the top. I worked my way around them and that is when I saw one of the elves looking right at me. She was obviously following my movements. I put my finger to my lips to indicate she should stay quite, and she looked at the man and then back at me and slowly nodded her head. I continued on my way and checked out the rest of their group that was on this side of the road. If this wasn’t an ambush, I didn’t know what it was. Weapons out hunkered down and watching the direction I had been coming from cover. Well, this is a pickle. I thought and backed off slowly. I had a feeling I was going to have to either get my hands dirty or abandon people I didn’t know to a bad fate. Said like that it didn’t sound like much of a choice, but I had never killed anyone. I had talked with my father about it though. I had always said taking a life was not something to do lightly, but if you did make sure it was for the right reasons.
I went back to the man with the elves tied up. I hit him with Analyze
Name: Bill
Race: Human
Level: 23
Age 35
Profession: Bandit
Attitude to you: Neutral
Wisdom 11 (Mana 2, Mana Control 1, Knowledge 7, Mana Regen 1/10min)
Intellect 10 (memorization 2, recall 2, Speed of thought 6)
Strength 19 (Attack 4, speed 12, endurance 3)
Constitution 7 (Resist Poinsons 3, Vitality 2, Protection 2)
Agility 6 (control of movement 2, balance 2, learning new skills 2)
Will 8 (Discipline 2, Ability to overcome adversity 2, desire to win 3, resistance to charm or intimidate 1)
Charisma 10 (Good Looks 2, Luck 2, Communication 2, negotiations 2, leadership 2)
Skills list: Axe Mastery 5, Bow Mastery 22 Sword Mastery 17, kidnapping 12, Cooking 14, assassination 9.
Ok that pretty much answered that. I had forgotten I would be getting a profession now. Then you look at the skills. Somehow cooking got listed between kidnapping and assassination. Ha! Neither of those were on my list. I wonder how many skills were out there I didn’t even know about. Either way these were bad men. If I didn’t do something this was on me.
Looking at his stats though I was shocked. I needed to rethink how I assigned my Exp. This guy could think twice as fast as me? Our level was close and yet his speed was still 6 times mine? I took a screen shot to look at closer later. Now wasn’t the time for that. I needed to take out 11 bandits in the next few minutes before that carriage got here. I should have plenty of time, but I had been going through the woods occasionally to look for plants to eat and I wasn’t sure how fast I was.
First things first. This guy needed to go. I came to terms with what I was about to do, took a slow breath and then turned on Time Stop. I then walked over and ended his life. I used my knife and with surgical precision severed his spinal cord between his occiput and his first cervical vertebrae. I let him down slowly and then turned to the elves, ending time stop as I did. They were both wide eyed and looking at me. I’m sure it looked like I came out of nowhere. I walked over and cut their bonds. They removed their own gags. While they were doing that, I took stock of them. They were both beautiful of course though one looked a little curvier than the other and had less pointed ears. Was this a half human elf? They were dressed in finer clothing, though any jewelry they might have had was obviously taken from them. I told them they could leave or stay and wait for me to come back, but I had to take care of the rest of the Bandits. They nodded and then the full elf whispered “We will wait over there from cover. If you don’t come back quickly, we will run. I’m sorry, but we aren’t trained for this and have no weapons. We are both inexperienced in fighting.”
“That is fine.” I whispered back. “I am. I’m an adventurer and this is what we do.” I hoped that didn’t sound to arrogant or cringy, but I wanted them to feel like they could at least wait a few minutes before they ran.
She smiled at that and nodded before she took the other woman and walked over to some rocks they could hide behind.
I turned back to the other Bandits. I still had 6 minutes worth of Time Stop. If I was quick that would be all I would need. I stealthed back out to where the others were. I got it done, though it made me sick to be honest. Ending lives that way like an assassin. I didn’t have much choice as I was by myself. It was this or walk away. When I was done, I went back into the woods and called out. “It’s done. They are dead.”
The two ladies came out and the full Elf said “Truly? That took you no time all.
“Don’t worry” I said. “You are safe. Let’s go back to the road though. If you don’t want to see the bodies we can go back in a more round about way. Oh and my name is Jake Smithson by the way. I haven’t introduced myself.”
The full Elf smiled and said “My name is Flare and this is Windy. She is my half sister. We are… were traveling to the capital with our guards when we were attacked and our men killed. That just happened during the night, so we have escaped without the worst happening. You finding us was a stroke of luck. Were you hunting these Bandits? Is this an assignment?”
“That is horrible. I’m very sorry about your men. No, I am just very good at spotting ambushes and when I saw what was happening decided to step in. I know that there is a carriage headed this way soon. I’m not sure if they will stop for us, but if they will perhaps you can catch a ride with them.”
“By all means then let’s go back to the road then. We don’t need to avoid where the bandits are. They were scum and I will not mourn their loss from the world. Come Windy” she said grabbing her hand. “Please lead the way Sir Jake.”
I led them back out to the road. Flare and Windy did look at the bodies briefly as if to make sure their nightmare was really over and then they looked at me. Windy said “to do this so quietly and quickly you are amazing.” She hesitated a moment and then asked “are you perhaps part Elf as well?”
Me? No I’m 100% human. They don’t make us any different where I’m from.”
“Oh.” She said “Are you from one of the Human supremacy countries?” With a little trepidation.
I laughed “No. I’m from a different world. We don’t have Elves and Dwarves and Beastmen.”
Flare stopped in her tracks. “You are a Guided?” I had heard that Humans rarely had those of late.”
“Yes I believe the last Human before me to be brought here was about 100 years ago. Do elves get brought more frequently?”
“Yes, but as of late it has been getting less and less for us as well. This is a problem because we don’t have as many offspring as you humans do and as such find our numbers much lower in this dangerous world than we would like. Some, like my father, will take more than one wife and marry a human. The offspring from a human and Elf has the advantages of both. The Magic of the elves and the increased offspring rate of the humans.”
“Wow. I had heard that your numbers were fewer. My trainer at the Guild was an Elf. She never mentioned that transplants from other elf worlds were getting less common.”
Flare perked up at that. “Who was your trainer?” She asked.
“Lillie Marybell. Any chance you know her?”
“I do! She has been gone from home for many years. Nearly 35 year I would guess since I last saw her. She is my Father’s best friend’s daughter. Was she well?
“Yes. She seemed to be doing well. She was a great instructor.”
“That does explain why you are so good doesn’t it? If she was your trainer.”
She stopped talking then and turned to the direction I had come from. “a carriage is coming.” She said.
“Really?” I asked. My map had been up this whole time watching for dangers, but I had nothing on it of any size.
“Yes we elves have good hearing. They are a couple miles away, but are going at a good rate.
Just as she said that a group of 3 came onto my map clearly moving at a good rate. We waited a few minutes and the carriage came into view. As soon as it saw us standing in the middle of the road they stopped. The man on the horse who had kicked me out of my own camp conferred with whomever was in the carriage and then came up to us by himself. Obviously keeping an eye out for ambush. I smirked at that. He didn’t know how right he was. He looked at me and then dismissed me and looked at the two ladies with me. Taking in their finer clothing no doubt, still his smile was one I didn’t like.
“And what are you three doing standing in the middle of the road. I am Rolf Knight of the kingdom stand aside and let us pass.”
Flare didn’t acknowledge his order and instead gave one of her own. “My name is Flare Elfwoods. You will give me and my sister and our guard transportation to the Capital or you will find your stay there short before you are introduced to the stockade.”
Rolf blanched and without a word turned his horse and galloped back to the carriage. He said something to person in it and then came back with the carriage in tow.
“Ms. Elfwoods you are welcome to ride in the carriage with your sister of course. That man isn’t your guard though. He was staying by himself at the same camp we did last night. I am escorting a noble and cannot let an unknown man ride with her.”
Flare looked like she was about to explode on the man when I said. “Flare, I am ok either way. If you are comfortable going with them then I won’t be offended to be left to walk. If you don’t feel comfortable I will dispatch this man for you and ride the horse as escort in his place.” I said the last part with a smile on my face and loud enough for Rolf to hear as well, but I didn’t even look at him. Flare was much to pretty to turn away from just to see him.
Flare laughed and then called out. “Who is in the carriage please. I would know who I will ride with.”
The door opened and out stepped a young woman about 20 years of age. Hello Ms. Elfwoods. My name is Mindy Delcourt. I am the daughter of count Delcourt. I believe we met at a ball last year. I am really sorry about all this. My father hired Rolf to escort me and he has been a little… strict about who he lets near the carriage, but he has been a trustworthy guard. He is retired military.”
“Yes I remember. It is nice to see you again. My sister and I will travel with you. I’m sure the king will be happy to know one of his nobles helped a daughter of Elfwoods in her time of need. She turned to me. “I’m sorry about this. I would like to give you a ride with us, but I would rather not have a confrontation here when it appears we shall be safe. Will you please let the guild know to contact me when you get to the capital? I would like to thank you properly for all you have done.”
“Of course Flare. It was a pleasure to meet you. You too Windy. I wish you both safe travel from here to the capital.” They both curtsied gracefully to me which I returned with a bow and then I did something I hadn’t tried before. I pulled up my map and tried to mark a person. Flare to be specific. To my surprise it worked and I quickly marked Windy, Rolf and the driver as well while the ladies were loading up.
I then said to Rolf. “I expect their safety while with you. If any harm comes to them I will take your head.” He stiffened and sneered at me then took off without looking back.
As soon as they left I put my Time Slow to the regen point and then quickly collected Exp and Skill points and then looted the bodies of money and weapons and anything else I could find. I found some jewlery in the leader’s pockets which I had too assume were Flare and Windy’s. I then threw them bodily further into the woods so that monsters would eat them. After that I took off at a jog after the carriage. It was just getting to the edge of my map by this point and well out of sight. I got a little closer and then slowed to a walk. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience Flare and Windy, but I didn’t really trust that Rolf fella. I realized this wasn’t any of my business, but when a pretty lady looks at you after you’ve saved her something happens in your heart. You want to keep protecting them. It didn’t hurt me to keep up with them and I was going this way anyway. It wasn’t because I had a slight crush on a pretty, strong and confident Elf… of course not.
Every once in a while, I would have to jog for a bit to catch up, but I kept them at the edge of my map. They would stop occasionally and I would get close enough to see them from cover to make sure nothing funny was happening and then rest myself. During one such break I took a look at my Status page.
Name: Jake Smithson
Race: Human
Level 20 (784%)
Age 25
Main Categories and sub categories displayed
Wisdom 11 (Mana 5, Mana Control 2, Knowledge 1, Mana Regen 3/10min)
Intellect 9 (memorization 3, recall 3, Speed of thought 3)
Strength 15 (Attack 10, speed 2, endurance 3)
Constitution 15 (Resist Poinsons 1, Vitality 8, Protection 6)
Agility 10 (control of movement 4, balance 3, learning new skills 3)
Will 10 (Discipline 4, Ability to overcome adversity 2, desire to win 3, resistance to charm or intimidate 1)
Charisma 19 (Good Looks 8, Luck 5, Communication 3, negotiations 1, leadership 2)
You can level up 7 levels. Level up now?
Yes. No.
You have 57 skill points.
Assign skill points now?
Yes. No.
57 skill points? Wow! people really gave more than monsters! I really didn’t like thinking that way though so I shut it down. I didn’t want to kill people. These were real people. Granted this world was very different, but that didn’t make it any more real. That said I was shocked. I had never had this many before.
I wanted to get the other types of magic, but since I was going to go up to Iron rank in the capital I didn’t want to yet. That would be hard to explain. How a Bronze rank adventurer was able to afford multiple spell scrolls. I already had gotten water magic. That was bad enough. Instead, I decided to just up a few of the spells I already had and also go ahead and get cooking. It was just 1 skill point after all.
YOU HAVE LEARNED THE COOKING SKILL!
Don’t let anyone fool you the way to anyone’s heart is through their stomach. They call it the spice of life for a reason. Is life without yummy food really that great? You will find that life is much better as you increase this skill. At level one you begin to see how certain tastes go together. You can also pick out one or two ingredients from just eating a dish. Level up to get more information and become more adept at various cooking techniques.
YOU HAVE LEVELED UP THE NIGHT VISION SKILL!
Thermal Night Vision is yours! While night vision is nice to see in the dark it is still based on your vision. Animals tend to hide using their natural camouflage. They can’t hide their body heat though. This will make spotting animals easy and also tracking through dense underbrush.
YOU HAVE LEVELED UP THE MANA MANIPULATION SKILL!
……
YOU HAVE LEVELED UP THE MANA MANIPULATION SKILL!
As I was working on levelling up my Mana Manipulation I noticed something I hadn’t before. Each time I did my map edge went out a little further. It wasn’t a long way, but it was noticeable. This was another weakness I was glad I could take care of. Considering how helpful Mana Manipulation was I decided to go ahead and raise it to level 20. This bought my map out many miles further. I also felt the mana moving through my body much easier. I almost wished I hadn’t tied myself to watching over this group. I wanted to go run and try my fire ball and practice everything to see what all this did for me. I could tell this was a big deal. I also wanted a bigger Inventory so I brought that up to 15 and found a bonus of my range going up.
YOU HAVE LEVELED UP THE SPACE CONTROL SKILL!
At level 3 you can travel 3 miles for 1 mana
…..
YOU HAVE LEVELED UP THE SPACE CONTROL SKILL!
At level 15 you can travel 15 miles for 1 mana.
YOU HAVE LEVELED UP THE CAMOUFLAGE SKILL!
At level 2 it is slightly harder for someone to notice you. Sounds below 51 Decibles will be ignored
….
YOU HAVE LEVELED UP THE CAMOUFLAGE SKILL!
At level 10 it is slightly harder for someone to notice you even if they are looking right at you. Sounds below 59 Decibles will be ignored.
I wanted to keep going with Camouflage, but I also wanted to upgrade tracking since that was what I was doing and I wanted to leave some skill points. I had 20 left so I put 9 into Tracking
YOU HAVE LEVELED UP THE TRACKING SKILL!
More information will be available.
…..
YOU HAVE LEVELED UP THE TRACKING SKILL!
More information will be available.
I looked around and picked a track nearby to see what info I could get out of it.
Race: Hatmar
Weight: 13lbs
Speed: 1foot/2seconds
Age of track: 1 day 3 hours ago
Emontional State: Hungry, Relaxed
This was great! Everything I wanted out of tracking. I didn’t know what going up higher would do for me, but this was exactly what you needed when tracking and hunting. I felt like this was turning into a great day. That is when I noticed something big on my map.
A few minutes earlier stopped at a camping spot for a stretch….
“Thank you again.” said Flare. “I’m sorry we haven’t been much in the way of conversation during the ride. Falling asleep so quickly like that. This ordeal has really taken its toll.”
“That isn’t something you should concern yourself with Lady Flare.” Said Mindy. “It is honor enough to share a carriage with the daughter of such a distinguished family as the Elfwoods.”
“You are too kind. We owe your house a debt and I will make sure my father knows of it.” Said Windy. Both Flare and Windy had cleaned up and rested and were looking much more comfortable with Mindy.
“Who was the man you were with if you don’t mind my asking?” Mindy asked. “Is he part Elf as well?”
“No, he is human.” She said.
Mindy looked dumbfounded. “I don’t want to sound rude, but have you ever seen such a handsome human? Elves are graced with beauty, but to see one such among us humans. Are you certain?”
“He said such and I felt no deception from him though Windy obviously thought as you do.” She said smiling at her sister to which Windy blushed bright red, but before she could say anything Flare continued “More surprising than that is that he said he is a human Guided.”
Mindy’s eyes went huge. “That was Jake Smithson?”
“Indeed… You have heard of him then?”
“Everyone has heard of him! He is the first Human to be brought by the god of guidance in over a hundred years. There also haven’t been any more to appear yet. What did you think of him?”
“He is amazing!” gushed Windy.
Flare smiled at her. “I would agree. He moved through the forest like a ghost. I wouldn’t doubt he has a skill for that. He then single-handedly took out the 12 bandits that were laying in wait… for you.”
That caught Mindy’s attention. “What did you say? They were laying in wait for us?”
“Yes, I didn’t think of it until now as tired as I was, but they captured us the night before and coming from the same direction you did and when I told them my name they looked surprised. I believe in twilight they mistook Windy for you because while they tied us up, they did nothing else and just went back to the road to wait. You were the next one to come down the road, other than Sir Jake that is. Is there someone who might want to stop you Mindy?”
“I hadn’t thought it would come to this, but maybe. I need to consult with my father before I say more though.”
Everyone became silent for a moment at that and that is when Flare noticed a sound. It was something large headed in their direction. It was still a ways off, but it sounded big and walking on two legs. She was about to say something when she noticed something else. It had escaped her until now… another sound headed toward the first. It was like the sounds were slippery. Hard to pin down. So much so that now that she thought of it she had been hearing them, but ignored them almost like… She smiled. ‘You wouldn’t leave us alone in Rolf’s hands… would you sir Jake’ she thought and was filled with a warm feeling she couldn’t quite place.
In the woods
‘There you are big guy’ thought Jake. This was a large one. 8-9 feet tall at least. Different from an Orc. Not knowning what it was he hit it with Analyze.
Race: Ogre
Level: 10
Age 15
Attitude towards you: Hostile
Weakness: Fire
Main Categories and sub categories displayed
Wisdom 3 (Mana 1, Mana Control 1, Knowledge 0, Mana Regen 1/10min)
Intellect 3 (memorization 1, recall 1, Speed of thought 1)
Strength 5 (Attack 5, speed 1, endurance 1)
Constitution 18 (Resist Poinsons 1, Vitality 17, Protection 2)
Agility 3 (control of movement 1, balance 1, learning new skills 1)
Will 5 (Discipline 1, Ability to overcome adversity 1, desire to win 2, resistance to charm or intimidate 1)
Charisma 1 (Good Looks 0, Luck 1, Communication 0, negotiations 0, leadership 0)
Skills: Smash 2
And I haven’t even been seen yet. Hostile! This thing had only one skill… smash and it wasn’t high enough to give skill points I bet. That is interesting though. The amount of Damage he can take is really high for his level. Maybe it was born with extra. It had zeros in other areas. It was strong too, but slow as well. I thought I would do a little dancing with it before killing it to see what it could do. I set my Time Slow to regen and stepped out of the brush. First, I shot a regular arrow at it and hit it in the chest. It didn’t like that and pulled it out and rushed me. I ducked under its first swing and, like Marybell had taught us, slashed it’s Achilles tendon. Sure enough, just like the books said it went down for a minute, but I gave it time and within a few seconds it stood back up heel and Achilles healed. It didn’t have a self-healing spell so was this the high amount of vitality at work? It turned and rushed me again and we did the same dance. I wanted to see how my training worked out for me. I felt confident at this level, but this was a large opponent so the level didn’t really matter. This was an iron tank monster even at level 10. I kept slicing away at it and it kept coming back. There didn’t seem to be any end to its regeneration. Only essential things regenerated quickly though. It seemed like anything vital for fighting healed fast, but the cut on it’s cheek I gave it wasn’t really healing at all… or really slowly. F
Finally, I used Time Stop and cut its head off and burned the stump of the body and the head with fire ball… which was really large now. Thank you Mana Manipulation! When I harvested his Exp it barely got me 7 points and no skill points. Fighting below your level really didn’t give you much. The core was still the size of a level 25 monster though. I was just lucky to come upon a young one. What would a mature one be like? I also wouldn’t be able to take on more than a couple even with Time Stop. Too much mana usage with the fire ball to finish them. This was a good learning experience.
I cleaned up and walked back to my lookout point and when I checked on the ladies Flare was looking right at me smirking. Oops! I forgot her hearing. No way she missed our crashing around the woods even if it was a mile away. I smiled at her and put my finger to my lips like the first time I saw her. She smiled even bigger and then turned back to the other ladies and continued their conversation. ‘I think I’m in trouble with that one’ I thought.
Three days later we arrived at the capital. I had watched for Monsters and ambushes, but hadn’t had to do any more protecting. They went through a gate that was obviously meant for royalty so I lost them there and went to the gate for us regular folks.