Two ratmen corpses turn into balls of light before our eyes, while the one remaining tries to run away through the trees.
I catch up to the creature and use my knife to stab it from behind.
It collapses on the ground almost instantly, now that I’m level 4 the rats can’t take a hit from the power of backstabbing.
So far Monica and me have found 8 ratmen, all of them killed by us. We have split the kills in half, I’ve killed 4 including the one laying in front of me.
As the corpse disappears I bring out my book and check my current status.
Gabriel Hess – Level 4
Experience: 60%
Health: 46% Magic Power: 0
Skills:
Backstab Level 2 – Proficiency 0%
Increases chance of critical hit when attacking from behind.
Bash Level 2 – Proficiency 20%
Amplifies the strength of the next attack to 125%, stamina is consumed when using this skill.
Important facts we’ve learnt during this time, skills are permanently learnt once proficiency reach 100% during level 1, allowing its use with any of the weapons in our possession.
Taking a look at the information of my knife it’s possible to see that backstab is no longer listed as an available skill.
Simple Knife
Level 3 - Experience: 50%
Type: Weapon
Description: a usually sharp blade attached to a handle that is used for cutting or as a weapon.
Skills available: none
The same happened to the short sword, it no longer has the information of Bash.
Short Sword
Level 4 – 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: none
I haven’t used the dagger yet, as I needed to keep using my previous weapons to be able to use their skills, which it’s no longer a restriction. I decide it’s time to switch my knife and start using the dagger.
Monica has only been using the dagger so far and it has a very useful skill.
[Throw] is used as a ranged attack, it increases the accuracy when using the dagger as a throwing weapon.
By Monica explanation, the accuracy increases a lot. She tried throwing her knife as an example and it hit nowhere near its target, meanwhile using the dagger on the same target had a completely different result.
Its accuracy depends on the distance to the target, if thrown within a two meters range the skill works with almost a 100% rate of accuracy.
My goal for now is to get my dagger to level 2 so I can use that skill.
We have also confirmed that for the weapon or skill to gain experience, it needs to be used when killing the enemy.
I suppose the proficiency doesn’t represent how “proficient” you are at using the skill, instead it reflects how many enemies have been killed while using that skill.
Monica has already reached level 3, given the current information we have noticed that a Level 3 ratman gives 25% of experience to her, while they only give me a mere 10%. Which means I’ve yet to level up, it has become a lot slower since I reached level 4.
I’m hoping to reach level 5 before heading to the farm, more than that seems impossible when taking into consideration our current speed.
For the time being we are taking a short break, our current health is below 50% and we don’t want to take needless risks.
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“Don’t you think this is too easy?”
Monica looks at me, I think she doesn’t get my question.
“I mean, there are monsters, floating books and who knows what else… yet here we are hunting ratmen as if it was the natural thing to do.”
I pause for a second.
Yes, I’ve really adapted too easily to this situation.
It is strange, it feels strange.
I know for certain that this isn’t the way I would normally react. I should be freaking out, hiding in the cabin waiting for help, any time before today that’s what I would be doing. Yet, why am I so calm and composed right now?
There is a voice inside my head telling me not to worry about it, it feels like that same voice is trying to guide me.
“I know I’m going to sound crazy… but… I feel like there is something or someone guiding my actions… sounds crazy right?”
Looking at her smile makes me feel comfortable, even though normally I’d be too nervous to even speak to her.
“You aren’t wrong… I feel it too.”
“Really? I’m trying to make sense of this situation, but I just can’t, it’s driving me crazy.”
I sigh.
Where am I supposed to get answers to all the questions plaguing my head.
She takes my hand and stares deep into my eyes.
“Don’t think too much about it, we should remain focused on our current goal.”
Her voice soothing my soul, helping me get rid of all the worrisome thoughts.
“You are right. We should get moving.”
We start looking for more of those monsters.
After walking for a few minutes we find ourselves observing the battle between 6 ratmen and a different kind of monster.
It is some sort of humanoid bird, its head is completely birdlike, yet its body looks somewhat human both torso and legs, the biggest difference beside its beak is instead of having arms it has wings.
The birdman flies through the air while attacking the ratmen faster than they are able to react. Then it grabs one of them with its bird like feet and takes it before leaving the area.
The rest of the rats stay there looking perplexed by what just happened.
One of them is bigger than the ones I’m used to battle, at least 15 cms taller and more muscular, it has a different kind of presence, a more imposing presence.
We’ve never taken on 5 of them before, I’m not even sure we could do it if they were just the regular ones, but there is a bigger one too.
“Should we fight?”
“I can take down one of them by backstabbing it, you will have to try and kill one by throwing your dagger… then I will take on the bigger one while you distract the other two, what do you think?”
“I trust your judgement, but are you sure you can take the oversized rat?”
How could I be sure? I’ve never fought one of those before, but there is no way I’m going to hide behind her.
“It should be fine… It’s still shorter than me!”
“Fine, I will try to finish quickly so I can help you take on that one.”
We position ourselves right behind them, hiding next to some trees.
“Now.”
Monica throws her dagger while I jump towards the closest ratman stabbing its throat from behind.
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