“And this is darkfog moss, not to be confused with darkfog grass which is primarily used in necromantic rituals as a catalyst.” Elder Huga said as she pointed to another page in the thick tome.
It was the afternoon of the 4th day in this new world and I was currently trapped in a seemingly endless lecture of botanical and alchemical reagents from Elder Huga. Caleb’s parents had signed off on his bill of health and the elder had agreed to begin his lessons. It had not occurred to me that I would be forced to listen to the lessons as well.
I had never liked those teachers in school who just didn’t stop talking until the bell rang. I still didn’t. And though I could tune out for the most part and just work on my own projects, I was always aware of it going on in the background which made it hard to concentrate.
Elder Huga had made it very clear that knowing the effects of each reagent was the first step to becoming a proper alchemist.
“While advanced recipes need an exact mix of specific ingredients, more basic concoctions can have their ingredients substituted or altered to a degree without drastically changing the final effects.” Or so she says. “Meaning that it is important to know as much as you can about as many as you can, so that if you are out of one ingredient, that doesn’t stop you from making what you need.”
To his credit, Caleb was dutifully listening to her lecture, whether he was motivated by the eventual XP reward or he was just a natural academic, I didn’t know. He didn’t have any way to take notes, though. Paper didn’t seem to be super expensive or rare or anything, just that it wasn’t considered a necessity out in border villages like this one, so no one had any on hand.
I lamented my lack of a head to shake as I reigned in my thoughts, I was getting distracted from the task at hand. Something that was becoming an unfortunately common occurrence. Caleb was now sitting pretty at 18 XP, which meant I’d probably have another month or so to work out the kinks in my setup.
Turns out working almost nonstop for 3 days and nights lets you get a lot of work done. I’d already figured out a basic status page, updates pending, while also looking through my list of abilities, one of which stood out from the rest.
I turned my attention inward and felt the experimental rocks and sticks floating in my “Inventory”. Apparently I can draw objects into a sort of “virtual space” where they’re neither real or unreal. Like, the “knowledge” that they are there exists but they can’t affect anything.
I’d been taking breaks in my work to practice pulling things in and out of the space and investing some of my collected energy to expand upon it. I can now store up to 10 pounds of stuff within the space and I’m considering giving Caleb access to a part of that capacity with one of his level ups. At the same time though, I feel like one of my other projects would be more useful early on and the “inventory” can come a little later down the line. If someone catches Caleb summoning a sword or something out of nowhere, they’re probably going to try and find out how he did it, which could be bad for me.
This was all months or maybe even years down the line considering Caleb had yet to even reach the first level. Although, really, I could just do away with the level system entirely and give him the abilities as I figure them out, but where’s the fun in that?
Plus, if I did juice him up like that, he might start thinking he was unstoppable and try to conquer the world or fight ancient gods or something. And then he’d probably die immediately and I’d lose my meal ticket. So no, the levels were way too useful a tool to guide Caleb with to get rid of them so early in the game. In a world filled with magic and who knows what else, I figure it would be a good idea to keep Caleb close to home.
The lesson went on for a while longer, Caleb focusing diligently while I did my best to tune it out. When Elder Huga was done, she handed the heavy book to Caleb explaining that she hadn’t used it in years so he might as well have it. Caleb thanked her for the lesson and left clutching the book to his chest.
The lesson must have gone on for longer than I realized, because the sun was just beginning to set as they moved through the village. The village was quiet around this time, most of the villagers having eaten and getting ready for bed save for the guards at the gate. Early to bed, early to rise and all that.
Caleb moved through the streets of the village, a relaxed smile on his face. I only had a second more of notice before a pair of hands reached out from around a corner and dragged Caleb behind a shed, slamming him up against the wall.
Caleb was surprised and dazed from the sudden assault, but I instantly recognized the trio of boys that surrounded him. The boys from the forest were no longer laughing as they stared down the smaller boy with hatred in their eyes.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“What did you tell them you little shit?!”
Their apparent leader looked a little older than Caleb with a shock of blond hair. His two cronies looked like brothers, likely twins with their matching brown hair and eyes, and the same general appearance. Both were tall and muscular, but came up short of their admittedly imposing leader, who I felt would’ve made a decent gangster even back on Earth.
“I said, what did you tell them?” His voice became a low growl as he loomed over Caleb.
“I didn’t say anything!” Caleb pleaded, recovering from his initial shock and had his eyes darting around, looking for a way out of this situation.
“Bullshit! Then why was the guard questioning my parents about where I was that day?” The leader said.
Looks like the guard that found Caleb didn’t just drop the matter after all and was still looking into how Caleb got hurt. A nice sentiment, but the boys now seemed to think Caleb had told on them and now wanted revenge.
After a moment with no answer from Caleb, who was busy trying and failing to find an opportunity to slip out, the leader sent a knee into his gut. Caleb doubled over, the air leaving his lungs, and the leader let him fall to the ground, kicking him again once he collapsed.
I saw Caleb begin to curl into a ball to try and weather their beating and I remembered the limp and lifeless body I found when I first came to this world. Not again.
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RUN!
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I forced the image of the prompt into his vision even as he closed his eyes to try and avoid looking at it.
[RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!][RUN!]
Again and again I forced it into his mind, even as the bullies gathered around him to start their assault. I felt the fear in his soul. . . and I felt as a small ember of determination was kindled deep inside.
Caleb kicked off the ground, grabbing the book Elder Huga had given him, and sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him out into the village. The trio just looked stunned for a second, obviously not used to Caleb running away instead of just taking their abuse. But it was only for a second, before they took off after him in hot pursuit.
Caleb seemed disoriented as he ran through the rapidly darkening village, so instead of running home or calling for help he was just trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and the trio. He had a head start but the bullies chasing him were faster, so he focused on zigging and zagging between houses, trying to lose them. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.
Caleb was out of breath and ready to collapse again when one of the twins tackled him to the ground. Caleb couldn’t muster the strength to resist, as tired as he was from all the running. I cursed myself for letting this happen, maybe if he had just endured the beating it all would’ve turned out fine. But I just couldn’t get the image of his body just lying there out of my head.
“That was a dumb move, Lebby.” Said the twin. “We were going to let you off lightly, but now? I think you need something to remind you of your place. Something permanent.”
To my horror, he drew an iron shiv from a scabbard on his waist and held it out in front of Caleb’s face. Caleb’s eyes went wide as he saw the point of the blade and the murderous smile on the boy’s face.
My mind raced as I searched for a solution.
“The Inventory!” I thought, and reached out with my presence to grab the shiv and pull it into the inventory space. I wrapped my sense around the blade and pulled, but it would not budge. Some force interfered and prevented me from pulling the shiv out of the boy’s hand.
I despaired as the boy slowly brought the blade to Caleb’s face. . . only for him to be knocked to the side by a wooden rod.
Caleb and I shared a feeling of shock and relief as the larger boy was knocked to the ground, unconscious. I turned my focus to the wooden rod and the person holding it. I had been so zeroed in on Caleb and his bully I hadn’t registered that another person had come close.
Standing there was a girl, looking to be about 16 years old, with just as much muscle on her as the boys. I checked my memory to see what happened and watched as she had simply ran up and smacked the boy on the side of the head. A smack which had knocked the boy fully off of Caleb and sprawling onto the dirt. She looked down at Caleb and offered a hand. He took her hand and she easily pulled him to his feet.
“You okay?” She asked.
“Um, no?” he responded. “But I think I will be, thank you.”
“Was he the only one after you?” she gestured to the unconscious bully.
The other bullies were still nowhere to be seen, so they were either still looking for Caleb or had spotted the girl and decided to steer clear. Caleb looked pensive for a moment before shaking his head.
“Jack, Ray, and Bob all cornered me on my way home.”
So the assholes had names, now I just need to figure out which is which. Hearing their names, the girl scrunched up her nose like she’d just smelled something awful.
“Ugh, those pieces of trash! I’ll take this one to dad and he can take care of the rest in the morning.”
I didn’t know who her dad was - maybe a guard? - or what was going to happen to the trio, but hopefully this would make Caleb’s life a little easier. That being said, I’d been holding back from empowering Caleb because I didn’t want him going power mad or thinking he was invincible. But now I realize that the world is even more dangerous for those who don’t have magic powers
It was time to fast track Caleb to the next level.
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You’ve completed the Mission: RUN!
You’ve been rewarded 10 XP!
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A new Mission has been generated!
Mission: Fight!
Description: You live in a dangerous world that is not kind to the weak. Seek out training on how to handle yourself in combat.
Rewards: 10 XP, ???
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