We had, after all, planned on killing them all anyway. I didn’t have the energy to answer a slew of questions, I was tired enough as it was. The wildman, on my signal, fell on the exhausted Children of the Tides with relish, releasing a battle cry that seemed to stun them. Elwin followed him two heartbeats later with his small flashing blade that stabbed and stabbed into yielding flesh. With utter shock on their faces, and with little resistance, we slaughtered them all, to the man. I welcomed the experience as the last one fell.

Still shaking from the thrill and shock of battle, I had completely ignored my notifications, so I decided to check up on the progress of my character, looking for any notable changes I had missed.

STATUS

Calling: Gilgamesh Level 10 Paladin of Avaria / Reaver

Strength: 24

Dexterity: 18

Constitution: 34

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 16

Charisma: 10

Luck: 15

SKILLS & PROFICIENCIES

Pain Nullification (lvl.2)

Power Strike (lvl.2) 10

Endure (lvl.3)

Stealth (lvl.1)

Rest (lvl.3)

Backstab (lvl.2)

Dodge (lvl.3)

Polearms (lvl.2)

Dual Wield (lvl.2)

Critical Hit Mastery (lvl.2)

Mining (lvl.2)

Unarmed Combat (lvl.3)

Hammers (lvl.2)

Flails (lvl.1)

Maces (lvl.1)

Shields (lvl.1)

Medium Armor (lvl.1)

Heavy Armor (lvl.1)

Axes (lvl.1)

Daggers (lvl.1)

SPELLS & MAGIC

Heal (lvl.5) 5

Rust (lvl.3) 1-2

Identify (lvl.2) 1

Silent Casting (lvl.1)

Mana Regeneration (lvl.2)

Purify (lvl.2) 3 Visible

Greater Heal (lvl.1) 10

Holy Aura (lvl.1) 2

Decay (lvl.1)

Stolen story; please report.

Drain (lvl.1)

Entropic Aura (lvl.1)

GIFTS

Curse of Entropy: -20% to all starting attributes.

Mark of the Paladin: 10% resistance to Dark/Holy magic. 5% resistance to Physical.

Touch of the Void: 10% reduced resistance to Holy/Fire magic, 20% resistance to Mental Effects, 15% immunity to Mental Effects.

Experience to next level: 2417/2583

Health: 196/230

Stamina: 15/55

Mana: 8/13

Progress of my character? What a strange turn of thought, this was my progress, and this was in no way a game. I focused more seriously now on my current situation.

A single point to Dexterity and Strength was both welcome and at the same time a little disappointing, since the growth rate of my attributes was slowing down despite the ever more frenetic battles I had been fighting. Even after suffering a multitude of wounds in the heat of combat, my Constitution refused to budge.

Going over my skills, I noticed that my Dual Wield proficiency had increased by a level, thanks to my wild swings with the new weapons. These weapons must have been categorized as daggers by whatever system ruled this world. I knew this to be fact as I had gained a new skill ‘Daggers’ through their use. This skill, like all my other newly acquired skills from this world, was at level one.

I still had some spells that required testing, which I would leave until we had reached a safe place. My new gifts from my class choices would also need to be examined some other time, as I had more pressing needs before me currently.

“Leave the corpses where they are. Take no trophies but loot the men. Leave the weapons on them for now. If they have coin, take some of it but not all,” I said, looking hard at our Rogue who looked like he was about to protest. “Please trust me...there is a method to my madness,” I assured him between labored breaths.

Elwin shrugged his shoulders, before he began rifling through the bodies. A few moments later, he was joined by Kidu, who spat on one of the corpses before going about the grisly task.

During the latter part of the fight, several times my notifications displayed the names of the men that I had killed instead of the usual question marks. I briefly wondered if they had any scripted family or friends to mourn them, before swiftly brushing the thought aside.

I felt the smallest pinprick of guilt before I rationalized that their deaths, if they were truly alive in the first place, had been nothing more than a necessity for the survival of our group. It was a cliched conviction, but we simply did what we had to do. I did not have the time, nor emotional energy, to cry over every defeated foe.

“Okay...I mean alright,” I said as I looked at the corpses that had been killed by spear and knife, “Let’s try and set the scene.”

Moving to the corpses, I started the gruesome task of slashing or stabbing at the wounds that Kidu and Elwin had inflicted, attempting to make them look like they were simply the victims of the Echo-Stalkers. Understanding my intent, Elwin moved to join me, and we quickly finished our macabre work.

I nodded my permission to Elwin, who proceeded to pocket a fine steel dagger. The weapon was crafted beautifully, its blade a beautiful damask pattern that drew the eye with wavy lines etched into the smoked steel. I hoped that it was of a common enough design in these parts to avoid drawing attention. Seeing that I could do with a better weapon, he removed the leader’s short sword from his belt and passed it to me for my perusal. Rooting around the corpses, he soon found a long dagger to replace it with.

Drawing it from its plain unpatterned leather sheath, I examined the short sword under the large moon’s silvery light. The lightly fullered blade was a little longer than my crude scythe dagger. It was perhaps around forty-five centimeters in length and ended in a triangular tip. A plain bronze cruciform guard protected the hands, and the handle of the weapon was made of dark-stained wood with a heavy iron or lead pommel. Testing its balance, I concluded that it would make a simple, if not particularly aesthetically pleasing, weapon.

Assessing its heft, I rolled it around my wrists as I had seen actors do before in film. Finding it comfortable, I sheathed the blade back in its scabbard. Seeing that I was having some difficulty fitting the cloth sword belt around my waist, the intricate knots alien to me, Elwin assisted with a wry grin.

“Right bunch of trouble you are, feel like mother helping out with her child’s first mass-murder,” he said jokingly in a paternal tone, though his eyes spoke a different story.

Kidu merely snorted at the attempted joke before commenting. “Gil is no child, Elwin. He is wise enough to know that a wolf does mourn a death of the herd, only of the pack. Besides, we had saved their lives from the monsters. As they said, they owed to us their very lives. They belonged to us to spend as we pleased,” he stated simply with a satisfied sparkle in his eyes. I couldn’t help but note that the calculus of the North was a cold one indeed.

“Search the cabins for valuables and supplies. Try not to disturb the place too much, and remember to leave a few things. I want this to look like nothing more than just a monster attack,” I instructed the pair, looking at them each in turn.

After seeing them nod their understanding, I led them into the cabins. We were greeted by the sight of a few overturned chairs and half-eaten food, now growing cold at their tables, the signs of hastily made exits. The insides of the dwellings were all sparsely furnished, with utilitarian furniture of simple wood or iron. The walls were uniformly unadorned, and a small fire burnt merrily in each of the cabins in simple stone hearths. We eagerly searched the dressers and tables, going through the knick-knacks and small things of the previous occupants. The Rogue, by dint of his larcenous skills or instincts, uncovered a coin purse hidden under a loose floorboard. In this manner, we passed through each of the buildings eagerly searching for items useful to us.

During this time, I was greeted by yet another mysterious notification.

Do you wish to claim Nyamdor’s Hold? Yes/No

I paused as I rifled through a dead man’s nightstand, looking for hidden valuables, surprised once more by how gamified this world was. This smallholding must have been the property of the man in blue garments, Chagatai Nyamdor. Scoffing at the notification, I of course chose ‘No’ and the message disappeared out of sight. The last thing I needed was something linking us to the massacre that we had perpetrated.

I remembered the games I had played in my past where you had to build up your settlement, pandering to an endless list of needs from helpless NPCs and micromanaging their pathetic daily lives for minor, pointless rewards. No thank you, I thought with finality as I continued my pillage. Responsibility for a place that would tie me down was most certainly not my cup of tea.

The work was tedious but worthwhile. Our haul consisted of several bags filled mostly with copper and bronze coins and a purse filled with several silver pieces and four gold coins that Elwin had found under the loose floorboard. The Rogue replaced his iron dagger with another simple steel dagger of slightly higher quality, which he discovered in one of the cupboards.

We also attained a good supply of food and general supplies, taking what we could easily carry in large leather bags that we also pillaged. Most importantly, we were able to find new clothes, even for Kidu’s massive bulk, all cut in the local fashion with wide silken sashes. We were even lucky enough to find some leather boots that were roughly our size, a huge upgrade over our simple sandals.

After changing, we burnt our slave linens in the fire of one of the hearths. The whole process was solemn, like a funeral, or a pagan rite of passage. We had come so far, and we were now closer to achieving true freedom as we watched our old garments being consumed by the hungry flames. My modern sensibilities now thoroughly put aside, I knew then that I would fight with everything I had to survive in this cruel and callous world.