Chapter 16
“Let the hunt begin”
And how am I supposed to kill a monster while healing it ... Unless this world is overrun with zombies and undead, it won’t do me much good. She thought with annoyance. At least the extra free points and stat points will come in handy.
So, Kalysto selected the blue window, and after clicking on her class, a new window popped up.
[(Normal): Grants: +1 strength/ vitality/ agility/ intelligence/ stamina and 1 free point when leveling up.]
“So yes there are more differences between the two systems” She looked at the Violet window and observed her basic stats, since even though they had gone up, it still caused her concern to see how weak she was, “those goblins were part of that orc’s army, and that means he and the others are around here somewhere... And if they also gained a system, my only advantage would be that I can understand the language of this world and they don’t... probably” Kalysto looked at her bow, her most reliable weapon.
Swords are too heavy and although it would be advantageous to kill them with them, I have no experience using them. So she discarded that idea. Besides, I would have to get close to kill them. And although she didn’t like the idea of not having a way to defend herself when her enemies were too close, as happened with the last goblin, she was well aware that she needed to get used to fighting up close and taking better advantage of the distance between her target and her, so it would be easier to adapt for when she could finally use magic. The problem is that both mages and healers don’t have good skills in close combat... then she remembered that even though she was able to defend herself against the goblins, she didn’t stand a chance against the orc.
I need to prepare myself better. Who knows what kind of creatures I will encounter in this world.
Then she closed the windows and stripped the goblins of their knives, keeping one in her blue inventory, which had more space available, and the other inside her right foot sock. Well, at least now I’ll have a chance.
But then an idea crossed her mind, and she pulled out the knife she just put away in her blue inventory again.
“Inspect!” she said, and two small windows opened before her.
[Goblin knife. Class: common.
Strength +10
Penetration +10]
No wonder it was so easy for me to kill the first one! She was surprised. How did they create an item with those stats? The first three goblins hadn’t seemed very smart. Where do I get more weapons like these? And how do I add those same stats to my arrows?
Filled with curiosity, she pulled an arrow from her quiver.
“Inspect!” she said, and two small windows opened, giving her the information she needed.
[Common arrow. Class: common. Requires 10 points of strength to use.
Strength + 2
Penetration +5]
Not bad. But it would be even better if it had at least four times the penetration. She thought, wishing she had a way to increase that stat.
With nothing she could do about it, she closed the windows and continued her ransacking, but after finding nothing else of value on their bodies, she reopened her status windows and watched her in silence.
Healers are always the first to die. And they have a lousy defense. She thought as she remembered the number of times she heard Natasha, her landlady’s daughter, complain because the healer in her group had died again. Kalysto didn’t want the same thing to happen to her. So she allocated the two free points from the blue window, one in strength and the other in vitality. She was surprised to see that her HP went up 20 points thanks to that.
To tell the truth, she had never had enough free time to dedicate to playing video games. The little she knew was because she had watched Natasha play on more than one occasion while she ate her dinner after coming home from work. And although Natasha had tried to teach her a couple of times, Kalysto only knew the basics and had focused more on collecting materials and leveling up the alchemy and herbalism professions and then selling her products at the auction.
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It’s much easier to get money in a video game than in real life. She thought, but now in her inventory, there were enough swords to get some coins and pay her expenses for at least a couple of weeks. Hopefully, it would be enough to live on for more than a month. At least then, she would have enough time to settle down and see what job options were available to her in some nearby city or town.
Once the free points from the blue window were spent, she switched to Violet and went up a point in stamina. She would have liked to add even more, but she knew that the few mana points she had would be a problem in the future. So she allocated a point to intelligence, noting how 14 points were added to her MP.
A surge of energy swept over her, making her feel much more powerful and full of life, capable of anything.
This is exciting! She thought, noting how addictive that feeling could be, but she didn’t let herself be fooled. And she forced herself to concentrate on what was really important.
And now, what to do with the rest of the points?
And while she was concentrating on that, a couple of windows popped up.
[The passive skill mental defense has been activated.]
She immediately closed them as she felt the familiar coldness envelop her entire body. And she looked at her violet-colored status window again.
She didn’t like the idea of being left with so few free points available as she might need them in case some emergency arose, especially at the possibility of meeting that powerful orc again. I need to level up fast and get more points.
So, after checking that her wounds had healed completely, she continued walking through the forest. With a quiver strapped to her back, her bow in her left hand with an arrow already nocked, ready to attack the moment when it becomes necessary.
I need to get more health points and raise my stamina. At least then it would be harder to kill her, because even though increasing her mana level or attack strength was important, making sure she could stay alive was even more so.
Especially in the early levels, where a single hit could kill her.
After walking for about ten minutes near the edge of the forest while taking any opportunity, she had to loot a body or two along the way increasing her collection of swords, potions, and arrows while using the thick bushes to hide, she heard a noise.
Kalysto had to go deeper into the forest to track it. She carefully ducked into a small bush next to an old tree and observed the situation. Five goblins and a hobgoblin surrounded the lifeless body of a large white wolf, whose young lay near its belly and near the entrance of a small shallow cave.
A large bloodstain spread under the mother’s body and one of the cubs was pierced by a spear from a nearby goblin while Kalysto was still finishing settling in her heart clenched at the sad scene and the pitiful whimper of the wounded cub and her little brother who lay wounded beside her. Quickly, Kalysto pulled a quiver from her inventory, and as quietly as she could, she scattered the arrows to the side to avoid wasting time pulling them out later.
Before the goblin could stab the other cub while his brothers-in-arms celebrated, Kalysto put an arrow through his neck. Before the other attackers could react and the goblin’s body fell to the ground as it struggled for breath, Kalysto shot at the neck of the old hobgoblin, who carried a large staff in his hand and was dressed strangely. The instant he turned to face her, a second arrow slammed into his head, followed by another into his neck two seconds later.
Eight windows opened before her, four of each color.
[You have gained 45 experience points.]
[You have gained 105 experience points. ]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have gained +1 vitality point, +1 strength, +1 stamina, +1 agility, +1 intelligence.]
Kalysto closed them immediately, watching as the hobgoblin's body fell to the ground, satisfied that she had managed to save the life of at least one of those defenseless animals.
The rest of the goblins went crazy at the sight and began to grunt and emit sounds that Kalysto assumed were words as they pointed in the direction of the tree next to her, but she didn’t understand anything they said. Which helped confirm her theory about these being the same creatures that had attacked her when she was on Earth. That, and that the hobgoblin’s blood was also purple.
Kalysto took another arrow from the ones she had scattered earlier, and before the goblins started running towards the thicket she was still hiding in, she shot another arrow, piercing the neck of another goblin, who fell to his knees on the ground.
Two goblins, one with a spear and one with a knife, rushed at her while the third turned around and tried to help his fallen companion, who was desperately trying to pull the arrow out of his neck.
Kalysto launched an arrow at her two attackers, both of whom had almost reached her. The nearest one, who was carrying a spear that he was about to throw in her direction, she shot in his eye, causing him to stumble, and the one with the knife she shot him twice in the neck.
And the one who had stopped to help his fallen companion. She shot him in the head.
Several screens appeared before her.
[You have gained 35 experience points.]
[You have gained 40 experience points. ]
She closed them immediately and shot another arrow at the spear goblin, who was using it as a support to try to get up. Without mercy, Kalysto shot him in the neck.
A few seconds later, two windows appeared, notifying her of his death.
[You have gained 35 experience points.]
She closed them immediately and frowned.
She cautiously picked up another arrow, and stepped out of her hiding place, carefully approaching the goblin she had shot in the head and from whom she had received no notification of his death.