New World Day 5

  Thanks to the infighting between the goblins I was able to kill both of them without a hitch, but now that they were dead I had some decisions to make. I now was pretty certain that they had magic stones in them. Should I dig around in their chests to try and find the magic stone, and what should I do with the bodies? I could throw them over the side of the deck to be dragged away by the creatures in the lake again, but there were some other thoughts swirling in my head. Darker thoughts that if put into action might cause other goblins and creatures to think twice before coming near my home. NO! NO! I wasn’t going to go down that road. At least not with intelligent creatures. I could likely get the same effect by using some of the bodies of forest coyotes. For that matter, I didn’t even try to communicate with the goblins again. It was like as soon as I saw them my body recognized them as a mortal enemy and my instincts took over. If I had kept my head, could I have made some sort of agreement with them given the chance? Honestly, I doubted it, but for the second time I didn’t even try.

  A gloomy mood set in. One that matched the dark thoughts beckoning enticingly to me in my mind. A drop of water hit my hand followed by another and another. Looking to the sky I saw that it was still clear of clouds, and so, I touched my face and found my cheeks were sleek with tears. The slightest of smiles emerged upon my lips as I thought, “If I can mourn for the deaths of these monsters then perhaps there is hope for me yet.” That thought cut through the gloom surrounding me like a knife. I lightly slapped my cheeks and said aloud, “Time to get to work!”

  I decided that I still wasn’t ready to start digging into the bodies of the goblins and certainly not ready to do anything else with them yet. Instead, I tossed them both along with the one from in the family room over the back of the deck towards the lake. The bodies rolled a few times down the hill bumping into a handful of small cedar trees along the way before they came to rest a dozen yards or so from the lake shore. Nothing came out of the lake for them right away, but I could see a few ripples spreading across the lake. Something knew they were there! I waited on the deck for a time watching the bodies and the lake, but nothing emerged to grab them. I didn’t watch for too long as I had too much to do to keep watching the bodies all day.

  Careful to avoid the various jagged shards of glass that still stuck to the sides and bottom of the window frame, I climbed over the window sill and through the broken window into the house. After I successfully navigated through the open window, I quickly made my way up the gray carpeted steps to my parents’ bedroom. The door was still firmly closed just as I had left it the other day, but I didn’t want to take any chances. I twisted the handle and pushed just enough to open a slight gap before I firmly grasped my shotgun and knocked it the rest of the way open with the gun barrel. The door swung flew open and smacked into the wall causing a loud bang to reverberate throughout the house. I winced in regret. I hadn’t meant to push it that hard. Hopefully the sound wouldn’t attract any other creatures. Considering the gunshots and thuds of the bodies being thrown over the deck I didn’t think it too likely, but I couldn’t afford to keep being so careless.

  The bedroom was still in the same shape that I had left it. The white walls matched the cover less white bed and perfectly complemented the caramel brown colored nightstands and doors. I was happy to see that no goblin had desecrated the room overnight, and I could see my prizes sitting peacefully on the two night stands on either side of the bed. I grabbed the two of them and placed them carefully into my backpack before I backed out of the room and shut the door firmly once more. Task one complete! Next, I needed to go grab the lanterns from the big barn to the right of the house. Standing on the right side of the deck, I could just barely see the barn doors through the trunks of the trees. The distance from it to the house didn’t used to be too much, but I could see that it was at least twice as far as it once was. How did that work exactly? The little lake was four times the size it once was. However, the house was the same distance away from it was before the world changed, and the barn was only twice the distance from the house. You would think that it should be four times like the lake, but I guess Old World logic shouldn’t be applied to this New World.

  I caught myself right before I started to shake my head. I was doing that more and more ever since the world warped around me. Best not to get into too many bad habits. Instead of going straight to the barn, I made a short detour and put the two alarm clocks in the garage on top of the ATV barrier and reloaded my shotgun with two more slugs before I headed to the grassy lawn in front of the house. A gentle breeze wafted through the air causing the short emerald grass and tall brown warm season grasses to sway silently in the breeze. The open space atop this ridgeline allowed my mind to feel at ease. I could easily see that there was nothing around, but I would have to keep an eye on the tree lines to my left. The ridge dropped down gradually into a heavily forested valley with a creek running through the base, and I would be greatly surprised if there weren’t some forest coyotes that now claimed that area as home. The area to my right dropped down much more gradually and was far more thinly forested. So much so that I could see through it almost as well as the open grassy area I was now striding upon. The screech of a hawk pierced the air causing me to jerk my head upwards to the sky. I could see a few brown and black blobs flying high in the sky throughout the area. They were too far away for me tell exactly what they were, but they did give me a timely reminder that there could easily be flying beasts ready to attack me. Another thing that I would have to keep in mind going forward.

  There should have been a mixed gravel and dirt path leading straight to the barn, but most of my path forward was a dark green almost blackish grass. My ability to identify plants was dismal, but I was almost 100% sure that it was a new type of grass. Despite the increased distance, it only took me a couple of minutes to make my way to the side of the big barn and onto a path of thinly spread gravel and hard packed dirt. Now I was on a familiar path! Heartened by the familiarity, I started to walk down a slight incline to the barn doors. If I kept going down the incline through a lightly forested area with just a bit of thorny underbrush I would reach the dam of the Small Lake, but I had no intention of going that far. I had already reached my target for the day. The barn was a large rectangular construct made out of tan sheet metal with dark brown outlines around the joints. There was an odd shaped addition hanging off of the back of it that was a later add-on. It housed my dad’s new tractor that had been too big to fit in the original barn. I was just getting ready to slide the original barn’s big tan door open when I noticed something odd in the mud nearby. There was a pattern in the mud leading up to the door. The mud was pressed down flat and smooth almost like when water rushed over a hill eroding everything around it, but water couldn’t be the cause of this pattern. The pattern was going side to side in a three foot wide S pattern up to the doors of the barn where it disappeared into the barn.

  I was a fool, but I wasn’t stupid. An S pattern. Smooth flat mud. A nice dark barn to hide in. I had a good idea about what was waiting for me in the barn, but judging from the size of the markings it would be the largest of its kind that I had ever heard of. It had to be a snake! An enormous snake of unknown powers and abilities was what I suspected was waiting for me in the barn. Snakes had always liked to make their homes in that barn. Why would a massive potentially magical snake be any different? I wanted those lanterns badly, but did I need them enough to risk a potential encounter with a giant snake? Probably not, but curiosity was getting the better of me. I had always loved snakes and reptiles, and there was a crazy urge welling up inside of me to see exactly what kind of new variations had been introduced to the world.

  Foolish! It was pure foolishness and yes crazy and a bit stupid, but I was doing it. I held the shotgun firmly with my right hand while I slowly and as quietly as possible slid the big door open just enough for me to walk through without any obstructions. The hinges and old metal door creaked and groaned, but the door slid open despite its complaints kicking a light dusting of dirt into the air along the way. A portal to the unknown was now open before me illuminated only by the handful of rays of sunlight that could sneak through the small opening and past the small swirling cloud of dust into the heart of the barn. Most of the interior was hidden by a deep inky darkness. My targets were in sight. They were on a long cracked wooden bench sitting snugly against the metal wall to my left. It would only take me three steps at worst to get to them, but what about the snake? Was it in the barn? If it was then the noise of the door opening would no doubt have alerted it to my presence in its domain. I stepped back from the door and took a long look at the inside of the barn searching for any movement or any shape out of place. The darkness kept me from seeing exactly what I was looking at, but I had been in the barn enough times to know if something was there that shouldn’t be. I searched and searched, but didn’t see any new or different blobs in the darkness. My luck wasn’t too bad after all. It seemed the snake wasn’t here at the moment. I wouldn’t get to see a new type of snake, but I also wouldn’t have to expose myself to mortal danger at least.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  It was with mixed feelings that I was about to head into the barn to grab the two lanterns when a tiny rattle reached my ears and a thought struck me like lightning. I looked up at the rafters my mouth opening in growing horror. Laying there atop the rafters was a gigantic black snake. The snake must be at least 20 feet long and 3 feet wide. It had smooth black scales along its belly, but the scales on its side and back flipped up slightly when they came together at a sharp wicked looking point. It reminded me of how the stems of fallen leaves bent upwards in the fall. Portions of its long thick coils dangled from the rafters while its enormous triangular black head glared down at me from within the darkness of the rafters. Looking into its pitch black eyes was like looking into a swirling abyss that had no end. A man could lose himself in those eyes for all of time. This must be what it is like for a frog when confronted by a snake or a deer when it is hit by headlights. It was most assuredly not a pleasant experience. Fear threatened to overwhelm me, but there was another feeling that was working its way through my body. Excitement! I might be the first person from the Old World to see this creature and it was magnificent! The curved shiny scales and massive size were unlike any other snake I had ever seen.

  An even crazier urge than before swept through my body. I wanted to see what this snake could really do. Could it use magic? How fast was it? Was it venomous or was it a constrictor? Question after question popped into my head while the snake calmly continued to stare down at me from the rafters its long black forked tongue occasionally flickering in and out like lightning. Could I lead it to the lake and get it to fight something from there to find out its capabilities? No, no that would be suicide. I wasn’t so caught up in the excitement to go that far, but grabbing the lanterns and seeing how it reacted. Now that I could do! A faint part of my mind registered the fact that I had gained two new titles when I came to that decision.

Title awarded! Curious Fool ( C ) *

Title awarded! Stupid Fool ( C ) *

  Why did the System keep calling me a fool? That same part of my mind could have sworn that something or someone let out a quiet ethereal laugh when that thought crossed my mind, but unless the snake was laughing at me that was impossible. Grinning insanely, I focused back entirely on the task at hand. I slung the shotgun on my shoulder so that I had a hand free for each lantern and set myself in a suitable starting posture for sprinting. I began to sway slightly back and forth and then on one final sway forward I exploded into a sprint right into the barn to the lanterns. I came to a screeching halt in front of the lanterns, roughly grabbed a lantern in each hand, and immediately began to pivot around ready to sprint back out of the barn. My actions must have caught the snake by surprise as its reaction was a step slower than I had expected, but after a moment it reared its head and neck up into the air and opened its mouth wide letting out a great hiss that caused the entire barn and everything in it myself included to shake and vibrate. Enormous white fangs unfolded from the roof of the snake’s mouth and all of the scales on its side and back began to vibrate and rattle. That light rattle from when I was about to walk into the barn earlier must have been caused by the scales. A warning maybe not to intrude on its territory.

  As I pivoted around ready to run back out of the barn the rattling reached a crescendo and then the scales did something I never would have expected. They bent up away of the snakes body and pointed right towards me. Then the snake whipped its first coil towards me sending the sharp tips of the scales flying at me. Lunging forward towards the door, I just barely managed to evade the dozens of flying scales. They impacted the dusty floor with series of deafening thuds and kicked up a massive cloud of dust that blocked me from the sight of the snake. Sprinting through the opening I swept my left leg out behind me kicking the great door closed behind me. The screech of metal being struck and torn entered my ears as the metal door blocked a second wave of scales for me. I stared back in terrible awe at the scales that penetrated almost entirely through the door. Now that I got a chance to see them up close, I could see that the tips of the scales had dozens of little barbs on them that would make them a royal pain to remove if I got hit by one. I didn’t take more than a slight glance at them before I sprinted up the slight incline and made a mad dash along the grassy ridge towards the house. I had the lanterns in hand and the guns were swinging wildly and sometimes painfully upon my shoulders and back. I took a series of quick glances backwards to see if the snake was following me, but the creature seemed content to have forced me out of its territory and didn’t give chase. Even so, I didn’t stop running into I had reached the relative safety of my basement hideout where I collapsed into an exhausted madly laughing heap.

Curious Fool ( C ) * LVL 1 0% : This title is awarded to users who manage to somehow be both a fool and curious at the same time. The title requires users to already have the Fool title. The rarity is determined by how curious and foolish the user can be at the same time. The rank of the title will increase after every ten levels.

Stupid Fool ( C ) * LVL 1 0% : This title is awarded to users who manage to somehow be both a fool and stupid at the same time. The title requires users to already have the Fool title. The rarity is determined by how stupid and foolish the user can be at the same time. The rank of the title will increase after every ten levels.

Name: Jason Silver

Job Name: N/A

LVL: 3 12%

Job LVL: N/A 0%

Job Points:

N/A

N/A

Titles:

Survivor (B) LVL 3 82%

Fool (B) LVL 4 50%

Pack Killer (B) LVL 3 54%

Beast Killer (B) LVL 3 50%

Risk Taker (B) LVL 3 42%

Repeated Risk Taker ( C ) LVL 2 89%

Compassionate Fool ( C ) LVL 1 78%

Curious Fool ( C ) LVL 1 0%

Stupid Fool ( C ) LVL 1 0%

Title Points:

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

5

Stats:

HP:

MP:

Mana Regen:

Endurance:

Strength:

Speed:

Bonus Points:

120/120

10/10

2 per min (-1.5)

10

8

7

9

Status Effects:

Regen, Disease Resist, Parasite Resist

Skills:

Basic Axe Mastery (B) LVL 6 28%

Basic Gun Mastery (B) LVL 4 62%

Basic Regen (Passive) (B) LVL 6 99%

Basic Disease Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 1 34%

Basic Parasite Resist (Passive) (B) LVL 1 10%

Basic Mana Control (B) LVL 3 59%

*

*

*

*

*

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