The nasty group of kobolds ran around in panic. Their movements were wild and jerky. They grabbed the tied up goblin and tossed him into a wagon. They started rolling him away. When Rowan ran to stop them, a pair of little blue slimes hopped over and blocked his path.

Rowan didn't want to fight. He just wanted a peaceful little farm. Grow some vegetables, have a relaxing time. But apparently that was not on the table for today. So he whacked a slime with his wooden sword.

2

Rowan stepped back. He couldn’t believe what he saw. The moment his sword sliced the slime, a large numeral 2 seemed to appear above the creature. It seemed to float upward then fade away.

Apparently the hit dealt some damage. Then the slime oozed up to him and attacked, as did the other slime. Each slime body slammed into him.

Something changed in Rowan’s senses. He suddenly became aware of his own state of being. Of course he was aware of the pain caused by the slimes’ attacks. But somehow he’d become aware of exactly how healthy he was, and how many more hits he could take before falling unconscious.

HP 8/10

Rowan braced himself. He didn’t know how he was changing. Maybe it was something in the air here in Zyndak. It didn’t matter. He still had this obstacle before him.

Fortunately Rowan found that a second hit would knock out the little blue slimes. He slashed the first slime just one more time, watching carefully to see if the number appeared again. After another “2” appeared the slime faded away. Then more text appeared that Rowan didn’t understand at first.

1XP

Before Rowan could react to this, the slime oozed around his leg and squeezed, dealing 1 damage. Rowan used wide side of his sword to push the slime off him, making another “2” appear. The slime tried to attack again, but Rowan blocked the attack with the hilt of his sword. Then he attacked the slime again and defeated it.

1XP

Rowan once again became increasingly aware of his state of being. He could tell that fighting these creatures was making him stronger. Or at least bringing him closer to becoming stronger. But how many more would he have to fight to notice a change?

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HP 7/10 XP to Next Level 10

Rowan pushed these thoughts aside to focus on the task at hand. Saving that goblin. The kobolds had gotten quite a distance away while he was distracted by the slimes and the reality-breaking numbers. Rowan ran to catch up. The wagon was almost out of sight, but Rowan could still hear the goblin calling for help.

Rowan followed the kobolds to another clearing. But before he could get much closer, a giant worm and a giant beetle came from out of the trees.

Rowan made the judgment call that he could probably take out the worm faster. This was no ordinary worm. It was at least four feet long and had circular rows of sharp teeth. All the more reason to take out this thing fast. It probably dealt more damage. The beetle was also quite large, and seemed to have a tough exoskeleton. It probably wouldn't be taken down very quickly, so Rowan didn't want to waste time hitting it over and over until the worm was out of the picture.

Rowan struck the worm with his wooden sword. The worm writhed in pain, and bit him back. Rowan stabbed the worm one more time and defeated it. Little numbers still appeared, but Rowan began to tune them out. Either he was delirious, or crazy, or this was the new normal. He’d make more sense of the numbers later. For now he just had to slice some bugs.

With the worm down, there was just the beetle. Though it had scary looking pincers, right now it was just banging its head against his shin. The attack still hurt, but not too bad. Rowan hit the beetle with his sword. The wooden blade didn't get very deep into the hard shell of the beetle, but the blow at least did some damage. Then the beetle seemed to figure out what it was doing and hit him with a pincer. Rowan whacked the bug a couple more times with his sword and finally defeated it.

Rowan paused for a moment. Whatever he was able to do for a split second after the slime fight, he tried to do it again. He tried to… become self-aware? But the more he tried to force it the less sense it made.

“Don’t think about it, just feel it,” Rowan relaxed and let his senses reach out. He suddenly became aware again.

HP 2/10 XP +4 XP to Next Level 6

Rowan could tell his injuries were adding up. He wasn’t sure how he was going to face those kobolds with such little health left. But he’d think of something. He couldn’t just run away again.

The bug battle felt like it took too much time. Rowan didn't know if the kobolds escaped with their prisoner in the time it took him to take out the small fry. He raced to catch up, and when he entered the next clearing he saw the kobold cart again.

The ax wielding armored kobold shouted some commands to the other one, then took off alone, leaving the cart behind, guarded only by the sword wielding kobold scout.

Rowan pulled himself together. Maybe he could appear intimidating enough. He was quite a bit taller than the kobold. He raised his sword above his head and shouted, hoping to scare it off. But the kobold laughed and drew its sword.