Both of my hands were shaking, bloodied beyond recognition. My emotions boiled over, spilling into the chaos around me. Between the pain of being shot and stabbed, twice each, and the absurdity of my current predicament, I completely lost control. The realization hit me like a hammer: I could actually die here. Alone. Without ever seeing my friends or foster parents again. Something inside me snapped.
I lashed out, pounding the creature's face over and over. Surprisingly, if you hit something in the face enough times, all your problems seem to fade. The rhythmic thuds of bone against my fists gave way to wet, squishy sounds, and then, finally, a sickening crunch. That sound snapped me out of my stupor.
Breathing hard, I stumbled to my feet, taking a few shaky steps away from the crumpled body. My chest heaved as I surveyed my surroundings, every nerve on edge, waiting for another threat to appear. But the woods remained eerily silent.
The sun, now brushing the peak of the distant mountain, reminded me of a new, pressing concern: survival. Specifically, the looming need for sleep. My body screamed for rest, but I couldn’t afford to be careless. Shelter. Warmth. Hell, even a pillow these were luxuries I’d have to scrounge for in this unforgiving place.
Pushing that worry out of my mind for now, I hobbled over to loot the bodies of the fallen. Some feeling had returned to my leg, but it still hurt like hell. I went over to knife throat guy first, kneeled down and touched him. No loot screen appeared.
"What the hell?" I shook the still corpse. "Loot damn it." snarling and opening the system menus in the process.
Combat initiated would you like to reinstate system screens? yes / no?
Kicking myself for not remembering I had that feature on, I mentally selected yes. An unexpected onslaught of information came in.
Congratulations! You have successfully defeated the following enemies:
1x Goblin youngling, granting you 200 experience points
1x Goblin hunter, granting you 750 experience points
Total experience rewarded: 950 exp
Loot acquired:
Goblin meat x2
Leather x5
System Credits x300
Not particularly impressed by the quantity of loot, I moved on to the next notification.
New achievement unlocked: Sapient Killer
You have taken down another sapient being on a planet governed by the system. You may have overlooked the moment when the goblin youngling responded to your challenge to fight, but in the heat of battle, such details can easily slip your mind. Regardless, you have now earned your first randomly generated system item:
Generating...
Generating...
Generating...
Cursed Ring of Holding (Minor)
This ring allows the wearer to store up to ten random items, which can be accessed via the inventory screen.
Curse: each day, one random item stored within the ring will vanish. -3 Intelligence while wearing
Having an internal battle happening, I was ecstatic and let down at the same time. The ring itself managed to materialize in the palm of my hand which frightened me at first, but it went as fast as it came on. Looking at the ring it was a silver or steel band with a deep green, emerald seated into it. Staring intently at it, I almost forgot the curse it came with. Fighting the urge to just toss the damn ring into the forest, but after a few seconds I reluctantly just slid it on my finger deciding it was worthwhile to keep it for now. The loot I was awarded had just dropped right in front of me, strangely enough the small goblin body did not dematerialize like the coco mites. Finding that interesting but deciding to look for the answer another time. I quickly figured out how to store my items in the ring, just had to think about picking the item up and it stored it automatically. The first thing I noticed was materials were stackable, so the five-leather counted as one item. Hopefully the same wouldn't be true with the curse, but time will only tell. Since the bodies were still around, I looked over them and also tossed in the two knives, bows and quivers. Inspecting all the weapons I did notice that they were all of shoddy makeshift condition which wasn't really a surprise since they came from goblins. With all the loot gathered I set off towards the mountain.
My body had mostly healed by the time I got to the base of the mountain. My right leg was still bothering me, but I was able to fully put my weight on to it. Thoughts of my class kept coming to my mind along the walk and I was really hoping I'd get some hybrid class that would allow range and melee combat to be possible. Who knew if the system even put restrictions on weapons though, so I'd just have to wait and see. I had 1,050 experience left to gain so I was getting excited. At any rate I had roughly an hour of sunlight before it dipped below the horizon, I cursed my luck. No caves, no shelter, and the mountain’s rocky base offered little in the way of protection. A cold wind swept down from the peaks, carrying with it the distinct bite of an approaching chill. I scanned my surroundings again, my eyes darting between jagged rocks and sparse clusters of scraggly trees among the oaks. Nothing.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Resigned, I decided to set up a makeshift camp beneath a large overhang. I was having a hell of a time trying to knock down the smaller scraggly trees, but that was before I thought of the clubs extra damage when thrown. After that I had three of the trees down in fifteen minutes. I hurriedly started interlocking the logs and tying them up with some of the bark. After the frame was done, I started to apply a mixture of clay like mud and leaves to the sides. It wasn’t perfect, but it would block at least some of the wind. Gathering a small pile of twigs and dry leaves to burn, I mentally prepared myself to sleep out in the open. Having the goblins fight hang in the back of mind, I hoped I wouldn't have to deal with more in the middle of the night, but knowing at the same time I had no choice.
I struck two stones together, each spark taunting me with how long this process would take. With each strike the frustration built in me, but I fought through with determination. Believing at any second the spark will catch on the dry leaves. Ten minutes later my arms were screaming out to me in pain just as I was going to quit the fire finally caught, I leaned back, staring into the flickering flames. My thoughts returned to the ring on my finger, its emerald gem catching the firelight and refracting it into strange, twisting patterns.
What curse? I wondered, staring at the band. The system message had been vague, cryptic even. There had been no immediate consequences since putting it on, but that didn’t mean I was safe. I even checked my status screen for the missing intelligence, and it still said I was at 15 points. A curse wasn’t always something that hit you straight away. Sometimes, it waited.
The goblin loot had been underwhelming, yet I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that this ring wasn’t meant for someone like me. It felt deliberate, as if it were a piece of a larger puzzle I hadn’t yet begun to solve.
As the fire crackled and the mountain loomed above me, I felt a subtle pressure in the back of my mind. A faint whisper.
“Who are you?”
I froze, my hand instinctively gripping the club resting at my side. The voice hadn’t been external—it echoed inside my head, soft and curious but undeniably there. I scanned the area, heart pounding, but saw nothing beyond the dancing shadows cast by the firelight.
“Who are you to wield this?” the voice repeated, calm yet tinged with something darker.
My breath hitched. "Who's there?" I muttered, gripping the club tighter.
The voice chuckled, low and knowing. “Oh, you don’t know yet, do you? The bargain you’ve struck. How amusing.”
It had to be the ring. I yanked it off in a panic, but the moment it left my finger, I gasped. I still heard a humming sound like someone was really into the newest pop song that they couldn't get out of their head.
“Great,” I muttered, sliding it back on. “Looks like I can’t get rid of you even if I want to.”
“Indeed,” the voice murmured. “But it’s not all bad. After all, I can be... useful.”
“Useful how?” I asked warily, glaring at the ring.
“Oh, you’ll see. In time. For now, focus on surviving. That mountain is no friend to the unprepared, and nightfall is a cruel mistress.”
The voice faded, leaving me with more questions than answers. I stared at the ring, unsure whether I’d gained a reluctant ally or a manipulative foe. Either way, one thing was clear: the ring’s curse was more complicated—and dangerous—than I’d imagined.
Pushing the encounter to the back of my mind, I turned my attention to the fire and the darkening woods. Sleep would be a risk, but exhaustion was creeping in. Tomorrow, I’d climb the mountain and hopefully find answers—or at least a clue about what I’d gotten myself into.
For now, I needed to trust that whatever this curse was, it wouldn’t kill me in my sleep.
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Brams brilliant plan had worked. Well, the whole thing with the ring was actually random, but the thing wasn't really cursed. That had been Brams doing just a little play in the system description and boom. His lackluster plan of whispering into Liams ear while he was sleeping to make him believe he was being haunted had died. Left in its steed was something far more beautiful, making the poor guy think he's cursed and slowly losing his mind.
Bram was still unsure of revealing himself yet, this had been the best entertainment he had gotten in a long while. Well besides last Midsommer Festival he put a whole bottle of fire brandy into the fruit punch. The best part was covering it up with alchemical ingredients and miracle berries, so no one even noticed the harsh booze was in it.
As he contemplated his next move, Bram found himself hesitating. For all the fun he was having, there was something annoyingly endearing about Liam. The kid was persistent, if nothing else, and watching him blunder through life-threatening situations with a mix of sheer luck and stubbornness had an odd charm. Bram would never admit it, of course, but he was starting to like the dumb human. Well, in the way a cat might tolerate a particularly amusing mouse.
Still, there was work to be done. Bram wasn’t ready to reveal himself just yet not when there was so much potential for more chaos. He leaned back, smirking as he considered his options. Should he "accidentally" let Liam stumble into a pack of wolves? Or maybe convince him the mountain air was cursed, too? The possibilities were endless, and Bram wasn’t one to waste an opportunity for mischief. After all, tormenting Liam was quickly becoming his favorite pastime.
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I awoke sometime in the night from the biting cold. My whole body was shaking, I had forgot to make a pile of sticks and leaves to keep adding to the fire. Veering over at it I saw that there were still some embers going, but they were becoming faint. That was enough to get me up and moving, I dashed out of the makeshift encampment and searched feverously amongst the trees for any flammable materials that would keep the fire going. Calming down a bit in the search my eyes wandered upwards in took in the moons of this planet. There were three of them, one was a light pink and barely smaller than the moon I knew back from earth. The other two were bigger and actually put off quite a bit of light which definitely aided in my search.
I finally managed a small bundle of sticks that filled my arms and turned back to the overhang when I saw a shadow of something by the makeshift wall I created. Whatever it was moved on all fours and was sneaking and investigating. My palms instantly got slick with sweat, and I went to take a step back when I heard one word spoken out of fear.
"Don't."