The grand expanse of flatlands separated by the slowly encroaching mountainous landscape made up the northern dregs of Eruka, little to no homesteads claimed the free space surrounding the barren surface.
Sebas boots flicked rocks behind him as he walked up through patches of grass and rubble, a single map that seemed to animate in real time took up Sebas attention, a friendly gift that was gifted under the pretext that he “bring it the fuck back.” How nice was his Dwarf-dad-blacksmith-father?
A pickaxe was tied to his shoulder with a small cloth while the rest of his outfit remained the same, who would purchase clothes just to work in? Unsensible nonsense. The rest of his ensemble was a magic bag that hung right in front of his right thigh, while a dagger sheathe sat filled on his left. Occasional time was taken to stop and rest, as Sebas was not the most knowledgeable when it came to handling and reading a map. Fortunately for him, the destination marked by what appeared to be a large painted red X sat atop a location noted as “Dull Skull Redoubt.”
Over his adventure, the strangest thing happened; a small rodent ran out from a bush while he waded through the grasslands, the funny part was that the small creature with the nublet horn atop its head managed to startle him. Beyond the notable instance of manly decorum, time was promptly spent viewing fauna that he had lacked in accustoming.
Collecting several small animals throughout his journey, Sebas had a notable find of the following species: a Rock Lizard, a few Lesser Horned Rabbits, some sort of yellow spider, a few gray squirrels being chased by a coyote in the distance, along with what looked like a bear made of feathers that he promptly disappeared from the presence of.
Fucking with some sort of bear creature? In the mountains? What was he, some sort of wild man explorer maniac?
Absolutely. (However, fighting a giant animal that has more experience killing than he does? Not happening.)
After a trek of three days, Sebas sat in front of the cavern, the ground around the entrance was speckled with blood, grass, and rocky terrain. The remainder took the form of the mountain behind it, spanning for miles.
Sebas crouched down at the edge of the flecks of red liquid, and unfortunately for him it wasn’t dry. He took a few hours to search around the entrance, lacking a proper way to inspect for dangers, his insight was limited to money, and the cavern piqued his insight, making him contemplate the danger between the strange blood trail and uncertain valuables, maybe even metals.
Sebas sighed at his indecision and made his way into the cavern entrance, a small oil lantern placed in a belt hook, generously given by his interspecies benefactors.
Inner turmoil led him to his own death, the behest of his dysfunctional moral compass told him to find the creature at the end of the trail. Small and slow footsteps led him into the dark, untold teeth jutted out from the orb of light, mostly made of stone some of untold mosses, and Sebas kept his eyes down on the now slowly changing blood drops, eventually the small red drops began to change from circles to long ovals that were spread across the floor, leading to a small grey dog with flopped ears that weakly panted between breaths, yet did not scream in its pain.
Sebas crouched down to stare at the creature, prodding it sadly, a large gash took over most of its stomach, he was tempted to use a potion to try and fix the gaping wound.
But would that be enough, something so young that dealt with a horrible wound like this would be dead, it should be dead now, the biggest hesitation on Sebas’ part was the fact that something could do this easily to such a creature. He relented and poured a low rank potion he had been saving, albeit stupidly considering how often he almost died, and soft yowls began to sound as the beast’s stomach sewed itself back together.
Sebas looked around while the puppy took its time to heal from the potion, not that he was certain it would work. Something felt off, this place was not exactly pet central, and with people being horrible he didn’t expect an owner to show up suddenly, but something felt extremely wrong, it smelled.
It smelled like a setup.
[Attempting to resist the Skill:
[Player has failed to resist the Skill:
A giant maw fled through the light, which made Sebas view a giant bounding creature to swallow the small canine whole through a giant beak. Small marbled eyes looked down at Sebas after it choked the animal down.
A flat rim of feathered fur peered down at Sebas, licking up blood from its face with a pale tongue. It sniffed the air in front of him, while the sudden sensation of the creature made him go deathly still.
Something was wrong, he shouldn’t be unable to move, this thing had something locking him in place, and it was toying with him.
Sebas snarled through his unmoving expression, the beast managed to make an expression that Sebas interpreted as a sneer, a small claw, about half the size of Sebas’ dagger brought itself next to his face, and cut a solid hole into his face, the creature took a long inhale of his blood before its eyes blinked, turning to a bluish color that faded into the familiar black, and a message addressed him mentally.
[
[You have been marked by a Predator with an evil inclination, it will hunt you for joy and sport, rather than food.]
[Malevolent Predator has inflicted you with a penalty: {-10% to all stats}]
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Sebas body seemed to deflate, and he felt as if the wind had been removed from his lungs, everything felt heavy and burdensome.
“Fuck you.”
The large avian hulk fled into the darkness, and Sebas heard it clambering around, much more agile than he expected, when he looked towards the entrance, a pair of green eyes leered at him, as if daring him to try to leave. It was a game that had been perfected.
Sebas sighed, and picked up the now cracked lantern, looking down at the small bloodstain that the creature left behind.
It was through luck that his body was unable to evaporate, his blood was beyond boiling, his feet trudged heavily through the dark, light held up with one good hand.
Darkness encompassed him, threatening to take away his only light source when paired with winds that seemed to flow from inside to the outside. Threats seemed to be made, as a rumbling growl mixed with a bird's call was sent in his direction, hidden within the dark fog. A newfound hatred was created in Sebas’ mind for the beast, he was forced to play its game when it felt it was time for him to, all he was able to do was wait in the dark, making his way in further. It took thirty minutes for him to encounter the large beast again, and with a swipe of his pickaxe to its lowered snout it fled into the darkness.
[Malevolent Predator has failed its first attempt at an ambush, penalty has been reduced.]
The creature which never failed to annoy him got away from his strike, fortunately it would seem he had some edge over the giant beast, placing every single point he could in his physical attributes must have helped, and he’ll be sure to do so in the future.
[
[The God of the Hunt watches your battle]
“Joy.”
Placing the lantern on the floor, Sebas struck the ground with the pickaxe, prompting a large claw to remove the back of his shirt, warm liquid beginning to pool below his feet.
[Prey has been penalized]
A few more strikes with the pickaxe separated a black rock that revealed a shiny silver interior that almost twinkled within the cave.
[Unknown Mineral]
A loud screech was heard and Sebas turned, only for another slashing claw to ruin his back again.
[Prey has been penalized]
He held the ore in his palm and waited, focusing on his surroundings. Small shifting rubble could faintly be heard from within the murky ink beyond his sight.
A lumbering beast rushed through the cavern, seeming to glide forward on its way to pounce from above Sebas, he shoved the metallic rock in the beak of the flying monster, an audible crack was heard from the meeting of bill and ore, Sebas took a chance as Surprize overtook the bear slinging his dagger into the closest thing to the neck of the creature.
[Prey has successfully retaliated, Malevolent Predator has been canceled]
A source of strength, unknown to him, was brought forth as the strange effect was severed from his body. Sebas gripped the dagger, twisted it, and swiftly reeled his fist back to drive it in further to the monster's neck.
What could be described as chuffing came as a whimpering moan came from the Owlbear, it clawed at its neck in the dark, right out of Sebas’ vision presumably trying to get the dagger out of its new resting place.
Choking gasps were made in between moaning growls, and soon the beast ceased all movement. Sebas walked over, and looked down at the monster before embedding the pickaxe into skull.
[Notice: Kill confirmed, Level 12 Owlbear Juvenile]
[Access. 25 Stat Points are available for Distribution.]
[The Goddess of the Hunt wishes to Bless this Hunt]
[Accept?]
[Yes] [No]
Sebas stared at the strange notification, more worried about the fact that the owlbear was only a juvenile, much less an actual threat, and ignored the message for the time being, placing his focus on the now exposed metal vein below, he focused on his strength, and constitution.
[Access. 25 Stat Points are available for Distribution.]
[Strength 35 -> 45]
[Access. You have 45 points in Strength. External forces have boosted this by an additional 5 points.]
[Access. 15 Stat Points are available for Distribution.]
[Constitution 15 -> 30]
[Access. You have 30 points in Constitution. External forces have no additional upgrades.]
His back, which was ruined by the pair of clawed strikes gifted by the kid owlbear, felt much better compared to moments ago, a throbbing sensation that rapidly spread heat around his back replacing debilitating pain at a speed that felt atypical to a natural recovery.
Spending his time collecting whatever magical shiny objects his insight told him were high value targets took up most of his time, as Sebas was not pressed for time, the only thing that brought in uncertainty that made him rush was a god that seemed to enjoy watching him become their personal little actor perform a play.
[Magic Bag {Capacity 21%}: Unidentified Treasure Casket, 20(kg)x
Sebas, ignorant to the amount of kilogram each individual rock he funneled into his bag, ignored the unit measurement, and hoped it would be enough for an arm, it felt like it would be “metal” as Adam says.
He finally returned his attention to the awaiting message.
[The Goddess of the Hunt has revealed her name: Ihta]
[The Goddess of the Hunt (Ihta) wishes to Bless this Hunt]
[Accept?]
[Yes] [No]
That’s got to be a good thing, right? There’s no way that isn’t a good thing, but what are the consequences?
[The Hunter Goddess, Ihta, wishes to impart a Boon, through your struggles, and will offer you a spot under her pantheon.]
Sebas sighed. “Can I just get the reward without becoming a god puppet?”
[Your will has been expressed through your thoughts.]
“Oh no.” Sebas placed his hand over his nose
[Itha requests to see your God Panel.]
[Accept] [Deny]
Sebas begrudgingly pressed accept. For a moment a small signal of warmth grows deep within what feels like his soul, almost like he were a baby bird being held by a giant human, in fact; it feels exactly like being held, and any undesirable discomfort seemed negligible.
Gods are not only mysterious, but they are vast creatures, which could kill indiscriminately if they so wished.
A sudden chill made Sebas shiver as the hands that held his soul suddenly left.
[Notice: Goddess of the Hunt (Ihta) has changed the terms of her offered Boon]
[“Young Monster-
Sebas frowned.
Through your efforts; You became Stunted, and crippled, yet you strive to fight, and survive your battles. You respect Nature’s Bounty and Beauty, despite hiding from it with a scowl and scorn its embrace. Offer to me the youngling’s Heart, and I will offer you a blessing.”]
Sebas stared at the words of a god in front of him floating with a small blue transparent window. Albeit testy from the accusatory claims that he “scorns,” he couldn’t help but stare at the words.
He walked over to the beast, pulling out his dagger and grimaced at the mess made from the blood that sprayed out once removing it.
He sliced open the chest of the bear, flustered by the organs inside of the massive animal, and fished out a reddish-brown meat piece.
[“That is a Liver”]
The message startled him from within his head, and he felt as if a girlish teasing laugh could be heard. He rooted around within the monster while crouched over the orifice, and after managing to remove the ribcage, pulled out a hand sized pink and red vein-covered ball.
A small ethereal hand of white light appeared, and he hesitantly placed it down within the palm.
The remains of the bear seemed to crackle and burn away, despite no apparent fire appearing, the mesmerizing sight was unfolding, and simply left a small orb, and a dead, decomposed corpse of a puppy.
Sebas placed the small ball of dubious nature in his bag, and picked up the corpse of the animal, making his way outside.
Silence was all that was left, as if the goddess walked away from him, presumably to do some other animal or person hunt business.
Sebas spent the last of his afternoon digging up a small grave near the cavern to place a dead animal within.
”… did she just steal an Owlbear pelt from me?”