Deciding to ignore the bear for now I slowly make my way over to wear the fighting is happening. I take my time so as to not get caught in the crossfire. Still if I can determine who is fighting and why it may help me to gather more information about this world. I still know remarkably little about the world as a whole beyond some of the creatures that exist in this area. So, any information I can gleam from this battle will be useful. Assuming I don't get killed, which again is why I'm trying to sneak despite my size.
As I got closer, I realized that there seemed to be a lot of goblins surrounding something. Looking around at their stats I noticed that the highest level among them was only 9. My first thought was to ignore it and simply walk away. Even the outnumbered bonus would be of no help gaining experience here. After all, I seriously doubt I would gain anything from killing creatures of a lower level than myself and 13x0 is still 0. Just as I started to turn and leave something caught my eye. A couple of somethings actually. I'd recognize those assets anywhere, being held by the woman they belong to was the first time I'd felt safe since coming here. It was only for a moment, but it taught me that living without constant fear in this perpetual battleground was possible. That brief feeling of absolute safety was what encouraged me to make that vow that I would one day repay her kindness.
It looks like that day has finally come I think to myself as I slowly steps into the encirclement grabbing an unsuspecting goblin in my beak as I do. I also activate mirror shield at the same time, not because I need it but because it reflects damage back on the attacker. My attack speed was so fast that the goblin, who was fully concentrating on the group of humans they had surrounded, didn't even have time to react. I did this for two reasons. For one the screaming goblin in my mouth caused all the goblins nearby to start focusing on me relieving some of the pressure the human group was under. For another it let the Humans know whose side I was on, or at least let them know I wasn't on the goblin's side. It had been a while, and I was much bigger now so I wasn't confident she would recognize me.
Taking advantage of the fact that the goblins had changed their focus the archer of the group, who appeared to be the only one still capable of long-range combat, began to take his time and actually aim. Besides that, the woman who had healed me so long ago was currently working to heal a man who ... wasn't doing too well to be honest. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that her constant healing is the only thing keeping him alive. This piques my interest, so I decide to take a look at his stats.
Race Human Class Defender Level 9 Health (bleed) 3/500 Attack 29 Defense 30 Speed 23 Skills Active, Taunt Level 2 (cause all nearby enemies to target you) Stone Skin Level 1 (double your defense for five seconds) Passive, Dull The Blade Level 3 (Allies within range receive 6% less damage than they otherwise would have)
His remaining health is constantly fluctuating between three and four. Seeing this I quickly kill the goblin still in my mouth, it served its purpose, and toss it over toward the other goblins. Then I slowly approach the dying man. The archer turns to aim at me but the other woman who was there that day says ... something, and he goes back to targeting the remaining goblins. I hadn't even noticed her. She doesn't seem to be seriously injured though. She is currently covered in cuts but none of them seem particularly bad. Mainly she seems to just not have the energy to keep fighting.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
Turning my attention back towards the dying man once more I walk up and place my head in one of his hands. My healing aura may be weak, but it was still enough to break the stalemate between the bleeding effect and her healing magic. I'm pretty sure she noticed immediately because she did glance over at me. She obviously had more pressing concerns at the moment, so she didn't react to me beyond that. I could tell that she was exhausted. I may not speak her language, but you don't really need to in order to tell that she is on the verge of passing out. She refused to stop though. Putting everything she had into the healing spell. With my healing aura helping his health slowly began to improve.
Eventually the bleed effect did go away. When it did, she seemed to relax. Before I knew it, she was leaning against my shell sound asleep. At some point the goblins must have either been defeated or fled. As I look around, I can't help but notice the archer is the only one still conscious. He's still leery of me. He never lowers his guard but he's also not pointing his bow at me, so I'll take it. I'm sure he would have come around eventually but I don't plan to stick around long. My debt is repaid as far as I'm concerned. Then I get a notification I wasn't expecting.
Heal Human Received Experience 1
It's only a single experience point but it's the first time I've gotten experience for something other than killing. The fact that I can gain experience without killing fills me with joy. Even if it's not as fast. It's much more reliable, and I don't need to risk my life to do it. it also doesn't hurt that I'm only a few points away from another level up. At some point during the next few hours, I did manage to get another experience point for healing a human. Looking at the guys I can see that his health has gone up by two since she had stopped actively healing him. I'm not sure why I didn't get any experience when I was helping her but the two experience I did get still put me over the threshold for a level up. Soon enough there are a familiar set of notifications.
Congratulations On Reaching Level 11 Please Choose Whether To Gain A Random Skill Or Skill Points Equal To Your Level
This time I decided on a new skill. I could have easily leveled up one of the existing skills, but I was still hoping for an offensive combat skill that wasn't so ... conditional.
Selection Acknowledged, Beginning Skill Roulette New Skill Acquired, Earth Manipulation (ability to manipulate the earth around you up to 25% of hosts body length away) Attribute Points Available Please Allocate Them As Soon As Possible
It's a bit awkward trying to constantly adjust my body as I grow so that the sudden increase of one meter in size doesn't wake up the girl sleeping against my shell, but I somehow manage it. Either that or she is so exhausted that a heard of elephants couldn't wake her up. Either way she hardly moves. Afterwards, I take a look at my new stats after spreading all of my attribute points out evenly.
Name Thomas Race Large Turtle Size 4m Level 11 0/120 Health 1000/1000 Attack 36 Defense 48 Speed 36 Skills Passive, Regen Level 2 (5/10), Healing Aura Level 2 (0/10) Active, Water Manipulation Level 2(0/10), Earth Manipulation Level 1 (0/10), Mirror Sheild Level 2 (0/10) Traits Obsidian Shell, Last Stand, Improved Mental Fortitude.
Finally, a skill I can actually use regularly. The range leaves a lot to be desired, but it should still be a nasty surprise for any would be attacker.