Wearing no shirt in public felt uncomfortable to Arthur. He stood next to three people, two being wrist deep in animal carcasses. “So you ain’t a demon? Possession is usually somethin’ a demon does, y’know?” The head huntress was asking him questions in both a skeptical, and snarky way. Arthur had learned her name was Brielle. “I am not possessing him.” She raised her eyebrows at him. “Oh? You’re just takin’ a little walk in his skin then?” her accent making ‘then’ sound like ‘den’. “I didn’t even believe in demons before this, I still don’t know if I actually do.” Brielle smiled “Oh , believe me. They’re around.” showing her teeth, two of which were shiny gold. Arthur just looked at her blankly, which made her look back in annoyance and confusion. “What’s that mean?” Arthur waggled his finger at his own mouth, remembering the necromancer's gilded teeth.

“If you kill a demon, the god of the hunt will reward you with a golden tooth.” Arthur nodded in interest. “I’m guessing Atreus never killed a demon?” She shook her head. “He did one time, Fuckin’ thing turned his leg completely around below the knee though.” She chuckled at the thought, which further terrified Arthur. He had wondered why one of his legs felt a little odd. “No golden tooth though?” She pondered aloud, the change of subject didn’t comfort Arthur as much as he would have liked. “I also have two blessings that are blocked off. It makes sense that the gods wouldn’t let someone keep a blessing someone else earned.” And she nodded in agreement. “Speaking of earning, when will I be able to sell these bodies?” Arthur realized how bad that wording would have sounded to literally anyone on earth.

“A trader brings his cart every other day, meaning tomorrow .” Arthur gazed into the forest as he considered something. “Is it a bad idea to go out and try to hunt some more?” and she shrugged. “You’d probably be fine. It’s a good idea to get a handle on fightin’ with the skills you got.” At this time her two hunter underlings had the expertly disassembled boars on a travois and pulled it back down the road, prompting Brielle to leave. She turned to follow, eyes still in Arthur’s direction. “You should grab that weird little healer, been begging to play support on hunts.” Arthur always felt weird watching people go about their business. It made him feel like there was a divide between him and everyone who knew what they should be doing. Even the people who had to verify he wasn’t an insidious threat seemed to have more important things to do at any given moment.

He retrieved a few things from the box he had left with Mung. He took a sling made from a rough-hewn material and two long thin daggers with oddly flattened pommels, along with their respective sheaths that were both attached to a belt. He lamented that there was no spare shirt in this box and was informed by the friendly goblin that he’d have to take the gross balled-up one to the river a couple of hundred yards into the forest to properly wash it. Now he had more than one reason to trudge into a monster-populated area. Next he went to find the healer in case he got horribly injured during this quest, which was easier than he expected. He was sitting by the bell tower outside the little brick building that probably stored all the medical supplies. Though he had been the one that had healed Arthur, he didn’t remember his name. He used his ability on him.

Filantriam Butchard

Level 20 Human

White Warlock

HP:1250/1250

Afflictions: Boredom (-5% focus)

Despite just wanting his name, Tyson got caught up by the information presented. ‘What kind of name is “Filantriam Butchard” ?’ He thought inwardly, considering he was a kind of warlock the over-the-top name is almost fitting. ‘Aren’t warlocks the opposite of healers?’ He couldn’t deny his effectiveness though, he had fixed his broken hand after all. Arthur tried to hold a massive club in a way that wasn’t threatening as he approached Filantraim. “Hey!” he called out to him to get his attention, putting on a smile and a friendly tone that was as fake as it sounded. Arthur was more annoyed than anything, feelings of anger kept swelling up inside him. The warlock gave him a weird look. “Yes, Atreus?”

His voice was soft and soothing, matching the outward appearance of a meek and gentle healer. Arthur chose to just ignore being called by the wrong name to avoid the possession dialogue from happening again. “Would you like to go on a little hunt with me? I also have some washing to do and could use a healer just in case.” He pressed his teeth together in annoyance at his own wording. He was standing there without a shirt asking a cute boy if he wanted to go on a romp through the woods with him. It didn't help that his high strength stat gave him hard six-pack abs. Butchard stood up with a bright smile. “Of course! I hope there’s some little monster we can get experience from!” Arthur wasn’t too surprised since he had ‘boredom’ as an affliction, he was taken aback by his sudden excitement though. “Okay... Filantriam. I’m ready when you are.” He quickly stepped in and out of the medical building, holding a shoulder bag that he was clumsily pushing frosted blue mana potions inside. “Let’s get going!"

Filantriam has joined your party!

After taking a minute trying to puzzle the best way to proceed, Arthur ended up scraping the filthy shirt against the sand and gravel that rested at the bottom of the stream. The surface gleamed in the sunlight coming through the high canopy. He had never seen such perfectly pristine fresh water. The motion in the water caused some tiny river fish to flee down the stream, and Arthur quickly plucked something out of the water that caught his eye. A tiny reddish-green crustacean that resembled a lobster.

River Morkreb

Health: 7/7

An extremely small variant of

a Morkreb commonly found in

freshwater streams and rivers.

Non poisonous

Potential ingredient

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Arthur perked up. “It’s a crawdad.” He smiled at the little creature trying to pincer him in futility. Not only did he find it adorable, he also loved the taste of seafood. Maybe stepping into a new world finally gave him the excuse he needed to learn how to cook. Though he knew he’d just have someone else do it if he could. He dropped the one back into water and promised himself to come back with a wicker basket or bucket to collect some. Filantriam was slowly turning in place, scanning the surrounding forest for anything that might be a threat. “I don’t think I’ve asked, what did you do before coming to the village?” Arthur rang out his shirt as best he could without tearing any of the seams. Before he woke up in the village he worked at a gas station; and it was awful. “Random low paying jobs that are hardly worth doing.” And that was the truth.

Arthur pulled the damp shirt over his head and looked up. He noticed something gleaming that was moving not that far from the stream. “What’s that?” The warlock turned around and tried to follow the movement. Arthur then jumped when he shouted “Chase it!” at the top of his lungs and bounded through the stream in the direction of the thing he had seen. Arthur took up his club and ran after him. He noticed how even with his oversized weapon he was still a bit faster than the warlock. And just a bit faster than what they were chasing. They were both led a distance away from the river. When he got close enough to really see what it was, he was both confused and weirdly excited. His luck had won out and a steep slope of earth had gotten in the way of their prey’s escape. Slightly smaller than a basketball and shining the sun, a shifting mass of soft metal with a pleasant buttery color. It had two little silver dots that served as eyes that turned to the berserker, and it was oddly cute.

Small Golden Slime

Level:21

Health: 1500/1500

A rare monster formed from living

gold, much slower than lesser

variants but with extreme toughness

and a resilience to most forms of damage.

Afflictions: none

Before Arthur could process Filantriam's shout of warning the Slime pushed itself off the forest floor with great force and slammed itself into Arthur’s chest. He was flung onto his back and gasped at the air above him. His vision went white for a second in pure agony.

You have been struck by

Heavy Slime Slam

-156 health

You have been afflicted with

Broken Ribs x2 (-6 Dexterity)

Filantriam Butchard has struck

Golden Slime with Cursed Bolt

(-5% resilience)

Filantriam Butchard has casted

Resurgence on you

+100 health / 2 afflictions healed

He heard something very loud, then a moment later he felt life enter his chest again. And he gasped again as he scrambled to his feet. The sensation of his ribs pulling back together made him pause for a few seconds. He jerked his head in the direction of the slime, which smoldered with dark purple-tinged smoke. It seemed to be stunned as it jiggled away the burn mark and began rolling itself in another direction. The warlock was panting and shakily uncorking a mana potion. Arthur picked up his mace and strode towards the little monster. He felt his chest burn as the healing magic wiped away the bruise that had already started forming.

Rage Activated

Arthur brought down his club on the slime, which cratered it inward before it flowed back into place. It made a odd chiming noise and Arthur heard crackling. Where the studs on his mace connected with the golden creature seemed to melt where they had dented it. When it reformed those spots stayed warped and damaged. It flattened itself against the ground, this time Arthur held up his club like a shield and bunted it with some force. He was pushed off balance, but stumbled instead of hitting the ground. The creature jiggled in a way that looked like it was in pain and more spots bubbled on its surface from where it had flown itself into the silver studs. Arthur pummeled the blob before it could begin to flee again or prepare another jump .Text boxes with damage notifications started to stack up. Each swing made his arms burn more after just a moment, he heaved and gritted his teeth. “Just fucking die!” Twisting his hips in an exaggerated motion. He swung down vertically onto the slime, forcing it into the shape of a crescent moon.

You have struck Golden Slime

with “Finish Him”

244 damage dealt

All of the sudden Arthur felt like the wind had been knocked out of him, he gripped tightly onto his club as he fell to one knee and panted. He realized that his stamina must have run dry. He looked down at the metal blob trying to pull itself back together despite still being under his club. Then his vision went white for the second time that day.

Filantriam Butchard has struck

Golden Slime with Lightning Strike

Filantriam Butchard has killed

Golden Slime

You have resisted effect

Electrocution (Instant Death)

You have been afflicted with

Unconsciousness