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Chainbreaker - A LitRPG Adventure
6. A Pill in the Woods

6. A Pill in the Woods

The East Road had a lot more activity than the main street, most of the crowd either soldier or Sheriff. He walked cautiously, avoiding the law keepers even though he hadn’t done anything wrong. Although he imagined he would be soon.

The commercial buildings slowly tapered out on either side as he approached the farmline, and the road traded cobblestone for soil. The Throh’s farm was the first one to the left of the road, a modest plot of land cultivating rakeseed. He could see uncle Throh explaining something to a Military officer in the distance, with Brec standing next to him in attention, beaming like he was just given a custom made battle axe. At least there’s someone who’s happy with everything.

Sett grinned at how the soldier who was with the officer was clearly uncomfortable by Brec’s sincere stare. He was avoiding the law right now, however, so he moved away from the four, and into the farm to look for Bone.

He found the Throh twin in the barn feeding the Bullbeast. He seemed tired as always, but his face betrayed a hint of worry too.

“Hey Bone. What’s going on?”

“Hmm? Sett? What are you doing here?”

“I saw a lot of cops down this road and came to check it out. The fugitive came here didn't he?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Bone asked as he dropped a bale of hay into the trough.

“I saw it happen. When they… got to him. I saw him come from here and wanted to see how you guys are holding up.”

Bone leaned on the fence of a pen and sighed.

“Was it gory? I heard it was. I mean, Brec assumed it was and he’s been really excited about it. He wouldn’t stop talking about it.”

“Yeah man, it was brutal. A swing from the officer’s sword almost sliced the guy in two. It was some weird ability that shot out of his swing like a huge Ether blast or something.”

“An Arc Attack?” Bone asked, as his eyebrows furrowed even more.

“What?” Sett looked at Bone curiously.

“It’s called an arc attack. Where you swing your weapon and an arc of Ether blasts out. Brec would learn it if he joins the military as a melee so he wouldn’t stop talking about his skills, abilities and stuff.”

“Shit okay. Yeah I guess it was an arc attack. It was bloody man”

Bone sighed again, his expression contorted in worry.

“I don’t want Brec to join the Military. I hope he fails. I don’t want him to get cut in two like that or something. And what if he does the cutting? What kind of person do you become when you slice people in two regularly?” Bone looked at his friend, his eyes begging Sett for a solution.

Sett didn’t know what to say. He agreed with Bone, and nodded solemnly to show it. The image of another person being nearly cleaved in two like that was burnt onto his brain, barely suppressed by the rest of the excitement. He dreaded what would show up in his dreams.

“I don’t know man, maybe he will fail? They’re also really strict and I can’t imagine Brec surviving such discipline, you know?”

Bone nodded but his worry hadn’t eased, so Sett changed the topic.

“What’s uncle Throh talking to the military about?”

“They wanted to ask if anyone saw the guy. One of our farmhands saw a suspicious man go to the Woods.”

“The Woods? What was he doing in the woods?”

Sett could feel an inkling of an idea form.

“Damned if I know.” Bone shook his head and added, “Sett, listen, don’t tell Brec you saw the incident. He’ll find out eventually but I don’t want him to get more excited for arc attacks.”

“Yeah of course man. Not a word.” Sett put a finger to his lips. “How are you guys handling it? I figured you’d have gone home already.”

“Dad wants to stay out and help with the investigation. Gather farm hands and such. Uncle Babb is leading the soldiers through the woods. Brec just likes seeing them in action. I figured I’d stick around with them.”

“Yeah I get it. Listen, I think I’ll head back home now, I just wanted to check up on you guys. Apparently there’s a grand assembly in Trent Park tomorrow, let your dad know. Bye man.”

Sett waved Bone goodbye and headed out, cutting across the farm to avoid the patrols. He snuck around the spot where uncle Throh was talking to the officer, Brec and the guard nowhere to be seen. He ran diagonally, away from the main road to the woods, looking for a spot without patrols. This wasn’t too hard to find, since the majority of the red plates were probably in the woods. He ran across uncle Babb’s farm, the last one before the woods, and entered the forest through a small desire path at the far end of the farmland.

Sett had gone exploring in the woods countless times with Brec and Bone, and he knew the terrain of the woodland’s fringe like the back of his hand. He’d also gone on a few more hunts with his father and other parties over the last couple of years, so he was confident in making his way around while avoiding patrols. He knew the sounds of the woodland creatures and their treads enough to differentiate them from heavily armored troops. He quickly but stealthily weaved his way around the trees, prowling like he’d been taught.

To what ends though, he had no idea. The thief had come here for a reason, and the Military investigating the forest meant they hadn’t found what they were looking for on the corpse. Sett had a feeling whatever the man had stolen from the alchemist was hidden here.

The forest was big, and finding something hidden here sounds like it would be near impossible. However, Sett considered the circumstances. The fugitive had presumably never come to Mupnal, but was forced to stop here. He probably searched the entire commune and made it to the woods under the weight of pursuit. He would’ve, probably, hoped to come back if he escaped, and hence would’ve hidden the loot in a place he could recognise, even if it was only his second time there. A random tree wouldn’t count, neither would some shrubbery. There were a handful of memorable places Sett thought of, and he could check them out before the investigators got there, if they hadn’t already.

Sett thrived in the adrenaline rush of the hunts, but that had slowly declined as he went on more excursions. He was wise enough to know how dangerous thrill seeking was, and old enough to not get away with rule breaking. So naturally, the excitement of doing something like this brought a grin to his face.

He arrived at the first location, a small waterfall over two boulders wedged together, trickling down from a stream. At this point of the year, there’s not much rain so the water had been reduced to a trickle. The spot was about 2 kilometres in and as Sett approached it, he heard people up ahead. The soldiers had already reached, so Sett hung back to avoiding being caught. From his hiding spot, he could see one of Babb’s farmhands, so he knew the spot would be searched thoroughly. There were Sheriffs with shovels supervised by red plates, ready to ransack the crag. He circled around, quickly making his way to the next location. He had no chance of getting the loot if it was here, so he hoped it wasn’t. The sun was slowly descending at this point, and he knew he didn’t have much time.

Two hours later, Sett arrived at the third spot, nearly 7 kilometers into the woods. He had almost been caught by the patrols, but his knowledge of the forest saved him. He planned on quitting after this, as the last embers of dusk were making way for the night at this point. The second spot, too, was being scouted by his unwitting competitors. It was a fairly large clearing forming a near perfect circle devoid of trees or bushes. It was a strange phenomenon that no one could explain, a haven inexplicably fighting back against the encroachment of the forest. Sett had spotted a farmhand, two sheriffs, and a soldier investigating the glade. This gave him hope that the squad wouldn’t have the manpower to reach his third possible location, and he was proven right.

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Sett stared at the massive tree in the middle of the clearing. With its nearly pitch black wood, the aptly named Blackwood tree is a famous landmark of the Mupnal Woods that denoted the boundary between the outer area of the woods, and the increasingly dangerous inner areas. The tree was colossal, standing at nearly 150 metres tall and a diameter of about 20 feet, it was the only one in the forest. The behemoth required unsustainable amounts of nutrition for its growth, preventing anything from growing nearly a hundred metres around it. That also meant it was near impossible for a second Blackwood tree to grow in the forest, making this one a unique landmark.

Sett immediately drew his glowstone torch and began his investigation around the tree. In retrospect, this would be too obvious a place to hide anything but he hoped the criminal was under too much pressure to think things through.

Half an hour of frantic searching yielded no results, and by this point it was completely dark. While the patrols would leave the forest to try again tomorrow, the night predators would not. Sett had never stayed in the Woods past sunset, but he’d been warned a million times about the consequences. A pained cry of an Elk in the distance reinforced his fears, and Sett called off his adventure. This was the most excitement he’d had in years, and he hadn’t really expected to find anything of worth anyway.

He turned back the way he came from, and quickly but silently made his way back to the treeline. His torchlight brushed past an inconspicuous rock in the clearing, and Sett’s eyes ignored it for a moment before he paused. He shone his light over the area, and noticed a patch of disturbed soil under the rock. It was clearly recently disrupted, and he decided to take a closer look after a thought. It wasn’t made by an animal, and Sett noticed clear knife marks around the patch. Someone had dug up this spot recently.

He set his torch down and began digging with his hands. The soil still hadn’t settled, and he easily made his way through the ground. He didn’t have to dig for long, and in five minutes his hand stubbed something hard. He shook his hand in pain, but excitedly scooped out his discovery.

It was an ornate wooden box with mesmerising runes carved around it. Almost cubic and the size of both his hands, Sett could subtly feel Ether flowing through the etched symbols. He had heard there were specially carved containers meant to hold alchemical ingredients, Ether flora and products without losing their efficacy, and he guessed this was one of those. This box alone would be worth a year of hard blacksmithing, but Sett was more excited by what was inside. The lid opened with a slight tug, and the aroma that followed almost knocked him out. The potent smell made him dizzy, and it took a whole minute before he could gather his wits. He could feel the Ether in his body agitate, and he willed the energy to circulate. He finally calmed down, and looked down at the culprit.

A shining orange pill stared back at him, shimmering with unseen power. Golden waves of energy swirled inside the orb that was a little smaller than Sett’s palm. It was mesmerising, and though he couldn’t tell what it did, he couldn’t deny the power that went into creating it. The air around the orb pulsated as the ambient Ether stirred, and Sett’s eyes reflected a greed and hunger he had never felt before. Humans were inherently creatures made to wield Ether in their bodies, and high quality Ether flora and pills could stir the Ether in the body, causing it to crave the treasure.

Fuck it, Sett thought for a second and popped the pill into his mouth.

This was his first time consuming an alchemical pill, or any Ether based consumable for that matter. He knew enough to circulate the Ether within his body, but that bit of information alone didn’t prepare him for what he felt. He felt the Ether in every corner of his vessels roil, a tempest that shook him to the core. He felt no pain, but his senses were overwhelmed nonetheless as a tempest raged inside. He could feel the Ether smashing against the vessels in his body as his very being trembled violently. He felt nausea in every pore in his body, like he wanted to throw up through every tiny outlet. The feeling overwhelmed his mind and he lost what feeble control he had over his circulation of Ether, his senses too swamped for him to even form a thought.

The feeling and tremors lasted for what felt like eternity, but it eventually calmed down. His body slowly stabilized, the energy coursing through his veins calmed down, and his thoughts were given space to form again. He lay on his back feeling dizzy, the sound of his own rough panting keeping away the sounds of the forest. This was by far the most intense experience in Sett’s life and he would do it again without a thought. He immediately pulled up his system screen, dying to see what changed.

Name: Sett Keidum

Race: Human [F]

Age: 17

Level: 7

HP: 100/100

Ether Capacity: 80/80

Strength: 11 Intelligence: 8

Agility: 8 Wisdom: 9

Endurance: 10 Perception: 9

He immediately noticed his Intelligence and Ether Capacity had gone up. This was nice since the stat only gradually increased with practicing Ether, but it didn’t match the experience he had. He was disappointed for a second, but he considered the real change to be something that couldn’t be measured by a simple Tier 5 system. It could be a deeper change, maybe an ability or a change to his affinities. Sadly, checking those attributes was not easy on Resource III, let alone his simple commune.

He then checked the time and noticed that the entire ordeal took about 20 minutes. It was the 20th hour, another 4 away from midnight. He quickly hid his tracks, burying the box after a moment’s consideration. The box would be very valuable, but trying to sell something like that would implicate him immediately. He tried to leave the scene like he found it, hoping the soldiers would blame the thief for the mess Sett created by writhing on the floor.

He ran back the way he came, correcting his course to the fastest route since he didn’t have to worry about running into any soldiers anymore. It was late, and he expected an uninterrupted run home. He thankfully avoided any night predators in the forest, and made it out of the forest in a little over an hour. He stood at the edge for a few minutes, dusting himself off, and made his way back to the road as inconspicuously as he could.

Unfortunately, his expectations didn’t come true. As he walked past the Throh farm and thought about how they’d all be home by now, he was stopped by a patrolling red plate.

“Oi! You! Where are you coming from?” The soldier grabbed Sett’s shoulder and demanded.

“The forest? I went to get some fruit. I live here man, leave me alone!” Sett jerked his hand free, feeling his anger rise. He had an exhausting day, and he didn’t want to deal with a self important soldier. Thankfully, he plucked a few Taka fruits that grew on the outskirts of the woods just in case something like this happened.

“Don’t get violent with me! Are you collaborating with the escaped fugitive?”

“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about! I went to get some fucking fruit! Look!” He thrust a Taka at the man, his anger growing.

The soldier grabbed his wrist and twisted him around, restraining him. He frisked Sett’s body violently, his hand pausing at his mother’s hunting knife.

“You’re armed! I’m arresting you in the name of the Krakar Empire!” He took out the knife and waved to another patrolling red plate, “I found an armed potential collaborator!”

By this point Sett was furious. He could feel his anger rising, and with it, the Ether in his body churned. He pushed his aggressor with his shoulder, and twisted his body out of the man’s grasp. The red plate stumbled back a surprising distance, as Sett shouted,

“That’s my mother’s knife you bastard! GIVE IT BACK!”

More Sheriffs were running towards the spot now, and the soldier’s face twisted in rage. He dropped the knife and grabbed his rifle slung across his shoulder, flicking the safety off. Sett knew what was coming, but his rage only grew and let it flow into his fist as he retracted it to -

“Wait! Sir! Please stop! I know that kid!”

Jonran came sprinting in panic, his arms waving frantically.

“Sir! Please! That’s the blacksmith’s apprentice!”

“This man is armed and dangerous, Sheriff! He must be taken in immediately! He attacked a Private First Class of the Krakarian Military Corps!”

“You stole my mother’s knife! And attacked me first! For nothing!” Sett screamed, but controlled his anger enough to not get physical.

“Sir I’m sorry! He’s got a temper, everyone knows it! We can’t escalate things with the citizens, they’re already angry! Captain Sarker said-”

“I know what Captain Sarker said, Sheriff, do not lecture me!”

“I apologize sir, I’m just saying. We can’t antagonise them further. Please”

The soldier glared at Sett, and Sett returned it. After a few moments, the red plate lowered his weapon, and Sett relaxed his muscles. He could feel the Ether roiling in his veins, especially around his fist. This had never happened before.

“Make sure this thug knows the law, Sheriff. For the sake of your own town, you need to discipline these hooligans.” The man sneered and walked off, kicking Sett’s knife into the farms in a final act of pettiness.

Jonran sighed and glared at Sett, clearly intending to lecture him but thought twice after seeing Sett’s expression.

“We’ll talk about this later, kid. I’ll come by the smithy tomorrow. Or your house. Go home.”

Sett nodded and ran to search for his knife. After pocketing it, he sprinted home, running faster than he ever had.