The Roads West of South Jaga City – Year 1344, Month 1, Night of the 8th. Spring

Olea Munroe

You have received a party invitation from John.

Party invitation accepted.

“Hold still now, lass.” Said the axe wielding giant.

I am not sure what he expected me to do aside from falling sideways as I did just that, the world reorienting me as gravity asserted itself. I believe my Wind Walk passive must have faded with the loss of my last point of mana.

“Steady now, steady.” He said slowly while he placed a hand on the shoulder of my prone body. I could hear the herd of beasties gathering somewhere behind the man as he calmed me like a spooked child.

You have been affected by Boon of the Boar.

+ 20% to Constitution.

+ 20% to Health regeneration rates.

Duration 8 Hours.

You have been affected by Boon of the Bear.

+ 20% to Strength

+ 20% to Stamina regeneration rates.

Duration 8 Hours.

You have been affected by Boon of the Ox.

+ 20% to damage resistance.

+ 10% to all regeneration rates.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Duration 8 Hours.

You have been affected by Shamanic Regeneration.

Health regeneration will not be suppressed by physical wounds.

Duration eight hours.

“Wha-.”

“Shh, calm down child.” Came the interruption from the large man. My vision had stopped swimming as his spells took effect. “That’s about it for anything I can do to help you not die, aside from the next little bit. You stay here and I’ll go clean up Apathy’s mess.”

I wasn’t sure who Apathy was, but that buffing bomb seemed to be helping quite a bit. I would be sure to visit that list of Boons once I was sure I would live through the night. The pain was still there, still bleeding though I could see my health bar slowly refilling. Sitting at a frightening thirty of seventy-five, looking back I noticed that I had come dangerously close to zero only moments after impacting the tree. I was beginning to grow curious as to how I survived my flight and the sudden impact against the tree when a buzzing came through the fog of my slowed thoughts.

‘The effects of your Wind Walk spell lowering your overall mass combined with Armor’s damage resistance effect reduced the damage from the hit that was inflicted from the impact from both the bull and the tree substantially. You received fifty damage from the bull after what I calculate as a sixty percent reduction from various magical multipliers as well as fifteen damage upon impact with the tree. You then bled off four health while sitting there under your laurels.’

Oh, yeah. That seemed like enough of a magical science explanation for my liking. Nearly being one shot was quite shocking to the mind though, I’d been kind of treating this life a bit flippantly lately. Being cajoled and taken care of by others just a tad bit aside from my little rat slaying adventures had left me with a slightly skewed image of the dangers I could face outside of the carefully controlled city I had been born into.

‘Had the bull used any enhancements other that Toss Idiot or had he hit you in a vital spot you would have died instantly. Do be more careful as my image would be marred by your idiocy in such an event.’

Sorry, sorry. Sheesh. Wait a minute! You made that skill up, come on.

‘It was apt, though you should focus more on current events and stop trying to defend your irresponsible actions. Don’t pass out.’

Right. Focus! I could maybe do that. I watched from my near prone position against a tree with a limited view of the wide area in front of me. The road, up a small bank was now sporting a long caravan of angry bovine beasties. There were almost no shrubs between this tree and the area before me, just areas of rough scree along the ditch and tall tufts of stubborn grass.

I could feel a light mist of rain on my face as John traced a small circle around my tree-chair with his weighty axe. Deep furrows were cut along in an almost perfect circle, though I did notice how his axe left not a scratch on the tree’s roots and the grass would sort of split away as if reversing a knit-stroke the entire time he pulled his weapon along. Circle complete, John knelt and muttered something that sounded like Ward before standing. A vibrant orange light spotted with bits of green, brown, and blue spring up along the path in the ground and I watched as John walked away, axe resting on his shoulder as he strutted, totally a strut, up toward the mass of beef before me.