Tired, gasping for air I take a look at the two corpses turning into a cyan colored ball of light, which is absorbed by the ring on my hand.
Somehow I did it.
I beat them…
“HAHAHAHAHA”
You are dead and I am alive, it was either you or me.
I no longer have doubts in my mind, these creatures had to die.
My body still shivers, I feel the pain produced by the wounds the ratmen made while we were fighting.
Backstab was essential for me to survive.
When the ratmen passed by my side and left their back open to my knife, my arm moved on its own, critically injuring one of the two creatures.
For the first time I felt something different in my body, I was more powerful than before and the effect from backstab only made it more noticeable.
After that fighting the other ratman was easy, I just had to use the longer reach to my advantage.
I got some minor wounds, nothing to worry about.
On the ground there are no pages left behind this time, is it up to luck?
There is a newfound feeling of power within my body.
Checking the book confirms my suspicion, I leveled up again, I’m now level 3.
Will I get even stronger if I keep leveling up?
The thought of killing more ratmen crosses my mind, then I notice how I needed to kill two of them to level up this time.
How many do I have to kill for the next level?
As I’m focused on my thoughts of getting stronger I arrive near the farm.
The scene I find there shocks me.
The land is covered by the corpses of the animals from my uncle’s farm.
Two ratmen eating from the remains of a cow.
A sigh of relief escapes from my mouth.
I expected to find larger numbers of these creatures near the farm.
No time to be relieved, there could be more of them around, scouting the area.
Should I attack now?
I could sneak from behind while they are eating.
It feels like they don’t even care to be on guard.
Are they that confident on themselves or just plain stupid?
Oh… I no longer feel afraid before facing these creatures.
No, I can’t get overconfident.
Fear will keep me alive.
With a knife in my left and the sword on my right I approach stealthily towards the two ratmen.
Step by step the fear creeps up my mind, I don’t let it get ahold of me I try to embrace the fear and use it to my advantage.
Both creatures are too immersed on eating, they don’t notice my presence behind them.
Swiftly I grab one of them and stab my knife through its throat, I feel its life vanishing in my arms.
The other one only realizes the danger when its companion falls to the ground.
Not fast enough to pick its weapon as I deal a blow with my sword on its right arm.
A miserable cry of pain emerges from the ratman.
It’s defenseless against my attacks, it takes no more than 30 seconds for the creature to take its last breath.
And then I hear it.
A guttural cry of anger coming from inside the building of the farm.
Any thoughts of facing whatever made that sound are denied from my mind.
I run for my life in fear of the unknown enemy behind.
When I regain focus I’m outside the cabin, trembling in fear.
Just remembering the sound makes my soul shiver.
What was that?
It doesn’t matter, I can’t fight something like that.
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I go inside the cabin, once inside I try to regain composure.
Shit.
Once I’m calm enough I realize that my weapons are no longer in my possession.
When I started running away in fear I must have dropped them.
“Evocatus”
With the book floating in front of me I check my current status
Gabriel Hess – Level 3
Experience: 50%
Health: 72% Magic Power: 0
Skills: none
“Simple knife, Short Sword”
Both sheaths disappear from my body, and then I recall them.
Yes, both weapons are back.
One less thing to worry about.
I don’t understand the logic behind this book, but I’m glad it works this way.
As I go back to the first page of the book, I notice the health went up to 73%.
A simple conclusion is that my body heals slowly.
Five minutes go by until the percentage increases again.
One percent every five minutes, twelve per hour.
Looks like I’m going to be fully healed in about two hours.
Then I make a guess about the experience I have received until now to level up.
The first ratman I killed was enough for me to get a whole level, 100% experience.
The next two gave me another level, 50% of experience?
And the last two only gave me 50% between both of them, meaning I received 25% per ratman.
Two more for me to reach level 4.
I wonder how strong is the creature back there in the farm.
At least I’m sure that I can’t fight it on my current level.
Looking the information of my weapons I realize they both have leveled up.
Simple Knife
Level 3 - Experience: 0%
Type: Weapon
Description: a usually sharp blade attached to a handle that is used for cutting or as a weapon.
Skills available:
Backstab Level 1 – Proficiency 50%
Increases chance of critical hit when attacking from behind.
Short Sword
Level 2 – Experience 0%
Type: Weapon
Description: this weapon is a smaller version of the longsword but longer than a dagger, having many of the same parts including a generally double-edged blade, cross-guard, grip, and pommel.
Skills available:
Bash Level 1 – Proficiency 0%
Amplifies the strength of the next attack to 125%, stamina is consumed when using this skill.
There is a new skill on my sword.
I bring out my sword and feel my strength flowing towards my next strike.
An explosive sound emerges from the slash of my sword.
I’m not sure how I know the way to use the skill, it just feels natural like the knowledge was always there.
My body feels somewhat drained, the consumption from [Bash] isn’t small.
Sitting on a chair trying to recover my health and stamina I try to decide my next steps.
Should I leave with Annie? Should I try to level up more until I’m strong enough to fight the creature on the farm?
I don’t even know if there are more ratmen around for me to kill.
Footsteps outside the cabin put me on alert.
Both sword and knife are firmly held within my hands.
Through the window I see four ratmen walking towards the cabin.
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Please let me know if you find any mistakes, thanks!
Also if you could let me know what you think of the story so far, I'm not sure if the chapters are too short, I've been aiming at around 1000 words pers chapter.