I made my way back to the shipping area and Guild square after buying lunch at the Bazaar. Borris had given me 10 copper in change, which was enough for a full meal at all but the nicest inn in town, so I ate enough delicious street food that I could hardly move. I even wrapped some up to eat for dinner tonight.
Approaching the wagon, I started to regret my decision when I saw Borris’s guards stretching. I’ve never traveled with a caravan where the guards stretch, they usually just accept that they’ll be a bit sore at night and deal with it. And it’s not like there were half a dozen horses here for them all. What did I sign up for?
While the guards were stretching in a circle while wearing near-identical dark leather armor, there was another group of fighters standing nearby that juxtaposed them quite well. The Adventurers were casually doing an assortment of light stretching with totally mismatched gear. It all looked fierce and robust, but I could tell not a single thing was coordinated. Well, except for one of the men who seemed to have red leather-wrapped around all of his axe handles in an apparent attempt to match his fiery hair.
I slowed my pace, awkwardly trying to figure out which group to approach or if I should just stand quietly waiting for Borris to gather us. And then the question is where do I stand and should I join the stretching?
Thankfully, Borris took that time to close his journal and walk over, prompting the groups to gather. I joined in and listened as Borris started introductions of the Adventurers. I zoned out a bit, still worried about why they were stretching before simple travel, and barely managed to give a nod when he introduced me.
“And this is Leo, he’s just tagging along to Ironwood,” Borris said. “He doesn’t have a combat Class, but was recommended, so he’ll be able to keep up.”
He droned on about a few of the rules for the caravan, mostly about keeping watches moving quickly and staying within earshot. There was a bit of a debrief on the apparent bandit situation since Borris claimed the lack of soldiers on the road would make it popular for those types of groups. He briefly mentioned how we should form up if there was an errant monster attack since the few predators that could pose a challenge had wide territories that they hunted.
I heard a bit more about what he expected me to contribute, rather than the vague explanations I got this morning. My job was to grab the spears and health pouches from the wagon and get them to the people who needed them as they dealt with any bandits. Easy enough, and I was ready to get going.
I took a look at our four-legged companions for the first time and realized the two mottled horses that pulled the wagon were bigger than I had thought. More surprising was Borris’s large black horse, which definitely looked like I imagined a war-horse should. Finally, Borris swung himself onto his horse and we started to get moving.
He honestly looked like a [Knight] sitting atop his mighty steed. And now that I wasn’t distracted by his expensive outfit, I could tell he had the build of a fighter. Thinking about it, he never introduced his Class, so maybe he has some business fighter hybrid type?
We left the dirt shipping square and made our way to the main road to get out of town. There were a decent amount of people about, but everyone knew well enough to move when they heard powerful hoof beats clacking down the cobbled street.
Soon, High Valley’s gate fell behind us as we made our way to the northern edge of the valley. It was plenty warm here under the summer’s bright mountain sun, but it wouldn’t get really hot until we make it farther north and closer to the equator.
As the sounds of the town faded in the distance and we passed through a small thicket of trees, Borris let out a whistle and we all picked up the pace. I quickly got comfortable, and probably a bit too overconfident, but I couldn’t believe I was so worried about this, I was barely jogging.
After three more whistles and the corresponding increases in pace, I was mentally berating myself for jinxing it. I had long passed the jogging stage and was just running at this point. The rest of the guards seemed to be taking a casual jog with some even holding quiet conversations. Even the horses barely looked like they were trotting yet still keeping pace. Oh, how I envied the coachman right now.
To keep my mind off of the pain in my legs, and lungs, and head, I started thinking about our path for the next few days. This road we were on now ran mostly north, eventually running into Seaside on the coast. You could travel there then turn south-east, following the coast to Cold Harbor, if you had the time to waste on such a roundabout route.
We were headed to the camp near the edge of the woods within the valley and would crest the pass tomorrow as earlier as possible, so we don’t get stuck up there. Without warm weather gear, we’d freeze, even in the summer. After that, we follow the main road for a day or two more before cutting off on a western facing offshoot.
That’s the less traveled forest road, which goes northwest straight into the big forest on the other side of the mountains. After that turnoff, it's a straight shot with nothing besides trees. The caravan, if you could even call a single wagon a caravan, included the six guards, five Adventurers, coachman, and Merchant. Fifteen of us total, if you’re including me. I don’t know exactly how much food feeds fourteen people for the month and a half that I heard it takes to get to Ironwood, but if we keep this pace the whole way, then I bet we only would need food for three weeks.
With the sobering thought that I still had at least three weeks of this ahead of me, I pulled myself together and focused on getting one foot in front of another, not wanting to waste any more energy.
With that mindset, the rest of the day fell away and we soon came to the edge of the valley.
By the time we stopped, for the first time I might add, the sun was already setting. I assumed there was not much I could do to rapidly improve my Attributes at this point, but clearly, I was wrong. Keeping up with higher leveled Classed that focused on body enhancement for an entire day was enough to leave me worn out, but exhilarated.
I was awarded an Attribute for Constitution! More stamina for me!!
Attribute point awarded: +1 Constitution.
It was one of my most focused stats, considering any physical flying skill would benefit the most from the additional stamina gained. So for just a day of traveling to make an impact training with others must give some kind of boost, even if it was pretty fast the whole time.
Improving an Attribute is pretty tough considering those improvements are just fulfilling your body’s potential, after considering any increase to that potential granted by the system, of course. But that means you have to go past your limits farther each time.
A very simplified example would be like instead of getting a point for lifting 5% more weight than your maximum, it becomes 10%. Not 5 stone more becoming 10 stone. Oh, you go by the fancy mage’s system? That would be 5 kilograms per stone, but don’t expect me to remind you from now on.
Any Attributes awarded are just the System awarding you for developing your mind or body without its help. A few months after you earn one, it will fully assimilate into your body and that will become your new baseline to adjust from.
All that’s to say, working hard enough to gain a point in a few hours left me fucking exhausted. How they can make the journey look like a leisurely stroll while I’m on the almost sprinting to keep up is beyond me. And practically from midday until dusk as well! We don’t have 24 hours of daylight like a few places south of Cold Harbor, but we’re close enough that the sun was out for nearly 18 hours!
Too exhausted to keep ranting, I mindlessly helped set up camp. Boy was I glad to accept the lower pay to basically be an assistant than slip my way into a guard position. Not needing to wake up for a watch rotation made me feel happy inside. Unless we find ourselves fighting right after breakfast, I might only have the energy to run away. Honestly, maybe not even enough for that, thinking about today’s journey.
I sat down near the fire with my rations in my hand, looking up between the branches. The stars were bright, with no clouds obstructing the view. Both moons were slim tonight. Whether they were waxing, waning, or new moons, I had no idea, but that meant a better view of the stars. Beautiful.
The watch rotation probably wouldn’t be as happy though. On edge about watching for enemies with low visibility. Oh well, their problem, not mine. And if they had half as many points in Dexterity as Strength and Constitution, then their perception would be high enough where it wouldn’t even be a problem.
As I was admired the inky outline of the northern mountains ahead of us, one of the Adventurers came and sat beside me. The one with the vibrant red hair I noticed before. I would have taken him to have some sort of rouge class based on the graceful way he snuck up on me, but considering he was decked out in half a dozen axes and his armor left most of his chest bare, I wouldn’t place any bets on my first guess.
He was slightly shorter than I was, and I was surprised to note that despite his slightly rough facade, his beard and hair in done immaculate braids. It seemed that I could not get a read on this guy. Maybe he just enjoys breaking as many stereotypes at once as possible?
“Arnold,” he said in a deep smooth voice, once he’d sat down cross-legged.
“Leo,” I replied quickly. Perhaps a bit awkwardly. Social calls were always conversations for me, not that I talk to many people outside of working or trying to get work. Actually, that’s definitely why they’re tough.
And I totally was not jealous of his natural presence. He seemed like the approachable neighborhood grandpa who happens to wrestle bears in his free time. Even though Charisma mostly improves attitude and mental awareness of social interactions, only slightly modifying the physical body, perhaps it gives that type of presence if you dump all your points in there anyways. If so, certainly was an idea to consider.
“Didn’t expect you to keep up with us all day,” Arnold continued “Not many 1st tiers leaving home. Even fewer that don’t put any points to the physical stats. I can see you’ve trained.”
“Oh, how can you tell?” I asked, genuinely curious about his stellar insight, and relieved that it was going to be more of a lecture than a conversation I’d need to participate in. Learning about The System was something I could handle.
“Well, I’m sure now because you confirmed it,” he said with a chuckle. “Knowing about a point or two you slipped in a is tough, but I’ve been around enough to see the difference between mostly work and relying System benefits.”
“So you’re saying System Attributes are better than recognized Attributes?”
“Nah lad they’re just different. You’d’ve gotten more endurance and health regen out of putting a point in Constitution, it’d keep you going a bit longer than you went. But your form shows me you’ve put in real work. You improve like that only when you keep trying to push past your limits for those Attributes.”
“Damn,” I muttered and started considering what I was going to be freaking out about later.
Mostly that this was just another way for people to figure out I haven’t allocated any points at all, so must be System-less or without a Class. At least Arnold had just assumed I was a stupid [Mage] variant that put everything to mental Attributes. Ok, not stupid always… I’d accept someone like that who’s got a partner or party that’ll have their back for life. Specialization is always stronger, but stronger doesn’t matter if you’re dead.
“Ahahaha no it's not something to worry about, your enemies won’t be able to tell all that,” Arnold clearly mistook my anger to be about battle effectiveness. Which is fair, but why is everyone I meet a battle lunatic ugh. “It took me all day of being around you and only really came to the conclusion because even with a few points you wouldn’t have struggled that much. Once you allocate a few more points, nobody will know.”
He winked at me like I was trying to keep my status as a ‘specialized mage’ some type of secret. Which probably made sense, considering I actually looked much more like a fighter. It still rubbed me the wrong way though. My mana abilities are just as bad as physical ones, and my Charisma is even worse! Maybe dumping it all there is a better idea than I thought…
“Ah, seems like Charlotte needs me,” he said, nodding towards the tall woman from his party who was impatiently waving him over. “Good talk Leo, get some sleep tonight.”
“Uh, thanks. You too?”
He stood up and left just as quietly as he had come. Our brief conversation left me feeling a bit confused, wondering what exactly he wanted before I considered that most people introduce themselves just to be nice.
Yeah, I should do that more. Later though, I deserved a break after that day.
I pulled out a book from my pack, one of the few non-essentials I carried, and settled in to read. My books are all very important to me. Primarily sentimental items, since I’ve read them so many times, but also good reminders about what I’m working towards. I have three small guide books and one short fiction story. Books can be pretty expensive, so the only ones I could afford have basic information and are close to falling apart.
The one I just pulled out is called An Empirical Analysis of the System. It’s a real fancy name, but it’s just the Kingdom’s widely disseminated study of the System. Only the basic findings, sure, but something that is sent to every productive town in the Kingdom. There’s more than a single one in each city, kept by libraries, mayors, or local minor nobility. It’s one of the most widely dispersed pieces of literature, understandable considering the importance of the System.
I also have one of the very short primers that describe getting a Class and how to become a valued member of the Kingdom. They are incredibly basic and spread to most households, worth less than the paper they are printed on. But having a population educated on using the System is the right thing to do, according to the first page of the book.
While that primer is an incredibly basic guide even containing pictures for the illiterate, An Empirical Analysis of the System is a more sophisticated research compilation. Basic as the information may be in a large city, after buying it off a merchant I became one of the most well educated on the System in Cold Harbor. Not for great effort on my part, most just didn’t seem to care about something they’d never encounter anyways.
I flipped to a random page and started reading, trying to relax after a long day and prepare for the next.
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...
One of the most easily studied aspects of the System is the Experience needed to Level. As the specific amount is listed for each level, it is elementary to aggregate an enormous set of data. We did this by separating subjects by species, gender, station, and Class rarity to determine if any would impact results.
Of these, the only reliable trends we found were that different species and Class rarities generally level at different speeds. As it is tangentially related to the actual amount of Experience, I will mention it briefly, but the full analysis can be found in chapter four. The general trend showed that the higher rarity a Class has, the slower it takes to gain an experience point for that Class. The only correlation we could fit species was that those with a longer lifespan took longer to gain a single point of Experience than ones with shorter lifespans. That revelation caused researchers to speculate whether that reduction based on experience was a result of the current length of lifespan or the species average from birth, as there are a number of ways that change throughout life. Most significantly, since subjects live longer depending on their Level and attributes, does there come a point where their leveling speed is equal to those of a longer-lived species? Or would humans, who have a natural lifespan of around 60 years, gain Experience faster at any Level than elves, who have natural lifespans of 200 years.
We were not able to find enough participants of the higher tiers to produce any sort of valid conclusion. In fact, most of them withheld their Class rarity and all refused to confirm even the name of their Class, further disrupting any hypothesis from being formed. For more details of this study, see chapter six.
The Experience question is further muddled by people who have multiple Classes, though studying those differences is where we find our answer regarding the standard amount of Experience required per Level. It seems in our analysis that every additional Class doubles the amount of experience to Level. Let us consider a hypothetical situation where various combinations of Classes modify the Experience amount. Rather than working with larger numbers, our first example is a person at [Level: 14] who has a single Class granted at [Level: 10]. The known amount to get to the next Level is 15,000 points of Experience.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Now, let’s say that this person has a second Class. The only documented way for this to be possible would be granted a Class during a Class Trial, a dungeon-like phenomenon where the reward is an additional Class or a new Class to replace your old one. Although we could assume this is the method of obtaining another Class, we have observed that those granted as rewards modify other aspects of the System to prove unreliable constants. For more information on Class Trials, please read On the Mysteries of Class Trials, the third volume of this series.
If our subject has a second Class, that amount will increase from 15,000 to 30,000 Experience required. If they had a third Class, unlike our hypothesis of increasing another by another 15,000, it actually doubles again to 60,000 total Experience required. We were not able to make conclusions on those with four Classes, but the assumption is they would require 120,000 for Level 15.
Based on our observations, we have produced accurate values for required Experience up to Level 20. See the chart below, where the Level column indicates the current Level (next Level) since our formula is based on the next Level number.
Level
Required Experience
Base
0 (1)
100
100
1 (2)
200
100
2 (3)
300
100
3 (4)
400
100
4 (5)
500
100
5 (6)
600
100
6 (7)
700
100
7 (8)
800
100
8 (9)
900
100
9 (10)
1,000
100
10 (11)
11,000
1,000
11 (12)
12,000
1,000
12 (13)
13,000
1,000
13 (14)
14,000
1,000
14 (15)
15,000
1,000
15 (16)
16,000
1,000
16 (17)
17,000
1,000
17 (18)
18,000
1,000
18 (19)
19,000
1,000
19 (20)
40,000
1,000
Despite there being an inconsistency with the first ten levels, we have extrapolated the following equation to accurately describe the required System Experience to get to each respective Level.
Experience required = (Level to reach) * (Multiplier)
The multiplier remains consistent throughout each tier, multiplying by some constant (five or two) starting with the required Experience to reach the next tier. Since this formula only is valid after the first tier, here is a recursive formula below that describes the specifics.
Base Multiplier for even tiers = five times previous tier’s Multiplier (5x)
Base Multiplier for odd tiers = two times previous tier’s Multiplier (2x)
Base Multiplier for first tier = 1,000
See chart for the second tier, modeled with the previous formula. As before, the required Experience is to reach the Level in parentheses.
Level
Required Experience
Base Multiplier
…
…
…
20 (21)
105,000
5,000
21 (22)
110,000
5,000
22 (23)
115,000
5,000
23 (24)
120,000
5,000
24 (25)
125,000
5,000
25 (26)
130,000
5,000
26 (27)
135,000
5,000
27 (28)
140,000
5,000
28 (29)
145,000
5,000
29 (30)
150,000
5,000
However, note the experience required to go from [Level: 29] to [Level: 30]. In reality, the Experience required is 450,000. If you look back at the prior figure, you can also see there is an unexplained increase to get to [Level: 20].
We have called labeled these phenomena ‘tier restrictors’, as they prove to be an unexplained increase that prevents many from reaching the next tier. The expected Experience level is multiplied by another variable to create higher entry requirements for each tier. Since Class Upgrades occur every other tier and most Classes grant extra skill slots every tier, these blocks represent counterweights to the significant boost in power.
From our analysis, the tier restrictor multiplier is equal to the tier level. So the first tier has a multiplier of 1, second of 2, third of 3, and so on. Initially, this does not impact the value much, if at all. However, at the higher tiers, the amount of Experience required can be insurmountable. The barrier to tier 5, for example, requires 12.5 million Experience, more than twice the Experience required for any other Level in that bracket.
These trends are proven true in nearly all of the population and most Citizens of the realm. As you get to higher tiers, the equation’s accuracy decreases rapidly, but we speculated getting to higher Levels requires special circumstances or treasures that have the effect of modifying Leveling from the norm.
Next, we will discuss the expected Experience earned for slain monsters and crafted items. Other sources of Experience are not efficient enough to measure, except for System granted Quests, which we discuss in detail in our fourth volume of this series, System Quests: Separating Legitimate Accounts From Legendary Rumors.
...
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Today we cut our travel day a few hours short, after finding an ideal campsite with some particularly valuable herbs that Borris expressed interest in harvesting. During our perpetual rush to Ironwood, Borris had been constantly worried about something. From my earlier unintentional snooping, I assumed something to do with the Skill Crystal he was transporting. But after catching sight of that patch of flowers and grasses underneath a larger oak tree, he seemed to be visibly relieved.
As for me, this meant more of recovery between brutal days, enough actual time to train, and the chance to hunt.
As usual, I had planned to work on Constitution Attribute training, despite being not at all naturalized to my most recent gain from about a week ago. Getting a skill to grow wings of some sort was much more common than magical based [Flight], so endurance was key to being unhindered. Plus, recovering from injuries faster was always nice.
After that first day, I expected things to be better. They were not. The second day was much worse since we had to climb a mountain and I woke up sore. Luckily, the third was not as gruesome. Not that it was easy, just that it's hard to do something worse than sprinting up a mountain. After that, I seemed to get more comfortable with the workout and had more and more energy at the end of the day.
Those few days where I barely had the energy to think, I may have come to a stupid decision but decided to stick with it. I would start training Dexterity when I found the time. It was the one Attribute that I consistently ignored during training because I saw no use for it.
I always worked hard to improve Wisdom despite never making progress. And as much as I hated Charisma, I knew how important it was to improve my people skills, so I still did the work. But I never found an interest in dexterity.
With no interest in picking up a crafting Profession, I did not need nimble fingers. No intention of becoming a thief, there was no need to avoid creaky floorboards and pick locks. And I had no idea where enhanced perception could be used if not in a fight, and that was something I was vehemently avoiding.
Sure, Dexterity might improve my bow handling a bit, or help me stalk prey, but I relied on traps as much as my bow while hunting, and I was doing fine without the boost.
Considering all the reasons not to, it makes sense I haven’t consciously trained Dexterity in years. What does not make sense is that I would train it now. But that’s exactly why I decided on it! Convoluted reasoning, sure. Was I oxygen-deprived at the time, maybe. I would still argue that it makes sense. I’m sure there’s some good reason to have a higher Dexterity Attribute, but since I haven’t trained or even focused on it in years, I wouldn’t be able to tell you what that would be.
Finally stopping early and not being exhausted after travel meant I would finally get to train. Just running alongside the casually jogging guards is enough to train Constitution, so I could dedicate all my other time to Dexterity.
I pulled out my smaller knife and began to reach around the ground for an appropriately sized stick. I only knew whittling and knife work was decent ways of improving Dexterity, but anything more specific I’d have to come up with on my own.
Well, I could ask Arnold or Borris or some of the guards for advice… Nah there’s no need to bother them.
I sat down and spent about half an hour trying to sculpt something out of wood before I realized how much harder it is than it looks. I hardly felt any improvement, probably because the knife was rarely moving where I thought it should.
Grabbing a new branch, I peeled the bark off and simply started slicing thin strips off the branch. The same action I use to make tinder for fires. I held the stick in my left hand and faced the knife blade away from me, holding it almost parallel to the stick. Using steady motions, I pressed the edge into the wood and glided over the surface.
I started to feel improvement when I aimed to make the peels as thin as possible and slowly got the hang of it. It got even more efficient when I aimed to make them as close to the same thickness as possible.
After about an hour of that, I thought of another way to push my limits. In school when I was younger a popular game involved kids placing their hands down on a surface, with fingers spread wide, and grabbing a stick in their other hand. Then, they poke the stick in between each gap increasing in speed until they get too scared or accidentally hit themselves. I never played, since the others didn’t particularly like me, but I knew the rules well enough.
Despite it seems exactly like the type of thing that Dexterity would react well to, I felt absolutely no improvement even after a bunch of tries. Then, it hit me. Pushing yourself to the limits works so much better under pressure and getting poked by a stick isn’t that much of a problem.
I set the stick down and pulled out my knife. I didn’t want to use the rock as the surface since that would ruin my knife, so I kneeled on the ground and cleared the brush away so my hand was on the soft soil.
The first game I took it embarrassingly slow and barely poked the ground, but still felt more improvement than with the stick, so I kept at it. A few games later, I was stabbing with respectable force and moving nearly as fast as with the stick. I had a few nicks from times I missed, but it wasn’t like I could lose a finger if I was paying attention.
Once it got too easy, I decided to start stabbing the gaps out of order, then as randomly as I could. I kept at it for a few hours, until my grumbling stomach reminded me I had to hunt today. After coming up with such an effective training plan so quickly, I was giddy thinking of ideas of how Dexterity would be useful for me.
On my way over to my bedroll, I picked up a few sticks so I could whittle on the road tomorrow, assuming that working while moving would help me improve as well. I grabbed my hunting bow and my crappy arrows I kept with it and prepared to head out.
I didn’t waste space with a quiver, so I had to untie the twine holding my arrows together. Then, I grabbed my unstrung bow and looped the string around the bottom notch. Setting that on the ground and stabilizing it with the toe of my magical boot, I gently arched the wood until I could just slip the other loop around the top of the bow. I was good to go.
Well, I probably needed a warm-up shot or two, but I didn’t want the guards to make fun of me missing a tree a dozen strides away.
Once I was deep enough in the forest, I crouch and froze for a few minutes, seeing if I could catch a glimpse of any animals. Technically, everything thing in here was a monster, since any animal that absorbs enough ambient mana technically gets that classification. Even the forest of the mountain valley where I spent the last year is mana rich enough to not leave anything at the moral animal levels.
Technically I think the right term for them would be magical creatures or beasts, but until someone started correcting my inner thoughts, anything that had mana was a monster for me. Blame my tiny town upbringing if you’re that picky about how I refer to animals.
The one good thing about these types of the forest is that the animals were not used to being hunted. By humans, at least. There were plenty of bigger monsters around. Plus, with the extra bit of power that comes from infusions of mana quite a few of the little beasties decide they’re invincible.
Right on schedule, I heard a thump and crack as something jumped and landed on some dry branches. A rabbit, it seemed like. I slowly lifted an arrow to my bow and drew the string back to my cheek. I heard a thump as it jumped again, and as it came into my sight I exhaled and tracked it with an arrow. It landed between two trees and, with my breath steady, I took the shot.
I missed.
Two bits of good news, though. This was a hare, not a rabbit, so it was significantly larger. It was also dumb as a rock. The arrow didn’t hit anything for quite a distance, so the hare just sat there on its hind legs, sniffing around and twitching its ears at the sudden gust of wind.
Once again, I slowly grabbed an arrow, knocked it, and steadied my breathing. This time, I focused on barely holding the string back and being as gentle as possible as I released and the arrow flew true. I saw my Experience notification and wasn’t too surprised.
Enemy killed: +160 Experience
A bit more than I would have expected for an animal too dumb to run, but it was pretty big, so that made some sense. I picked up the hare and began the skinning process right there in the clearing, preferring to leave as little blood and guts near the camp as possible. After sloppily finishing the skinning, I used it as a makeshift wrap for meat and headed back to camp with my bow slung on my back.
About halfway there, I heard quiet puttering noises from a tree just ahead. I set my previous kill down, pulled out my bow, and crept slightly forward. I couldn’t tell exactly what type of bird they were, but there were almost ten of them up there. I pressed two arrows into the soft dirt so I could quickly take another shot if I missed.
Which I did. I definitely rushed that.
I took more time to steady my breathing as the birds perked up and wondered if they should be flying away. I repeated the attempt and subsequent miss, though.
This time they did take off, so with no time to overthink, I drew the bow and chose a target at random. This one was maybe twenty strides away now, but it was flying almost directly away from me. Lining up my shot, I quickly let the arrow fly and was awarded a squawk.
Starting to jog over before something else could eat it, I stopped and raced back to my first kill, thankful that nothing ate it
The bird seemed like a grouse, small plump birds that had a pretty nice gamey flavor. It was still squirming around, even with an arrow in its chest, so I grabbed its neck to try to snap it. I messed something up because instead of putting it out of its misery it squawked again and I was forced to use my knife. I nearly decapitated it in my rush to finish up. I don’t mind killing for food but making something suffer because I made a mistake. Yuck, makes me feel disgusting.
Enemy killed: +305 Experience
I thought it was funny I got almost double the Experience than for the Hare kill. It did seem to have higher Attributes, or whatever the equivalent was for non-sentients. More mana absorbed? I mulled it over and I let the little guy bleed.
Leaving most of the blood here would be enough, I could pluck the feathers back in camp. I wondered how much time it would take to finish preparing the kills, not to mention actually cooking the meat. I didn’t have the time to properly salt and smoke them, despite that being the preferable option by far, so I would just do the best I could before I could get to bed.
I had only spent a couple of hours hunting, so wasn’t even dark yet, but that didn’t mean much considering how late the sun was setting. I was not excited about the short night’s sleep I’d be getting later.
The best I could do was focus on the fresh food first and the lack of sleep second. Tomorrow was another day on the trail, as were the next two weeks. I just hoped we found more spots that Borris decides to stop for. I really did get a lot done today.
Name: Leo of Cold Harbor Level: 18 (8,936/19,000) Age: 20 Class: N/A Attributes: Strength 14 Constitution 18 1 Dexterity 13 Intelligence 16 Wisdom 13 Charisma 11 Free Points 18 Professions: Achievements: [Reminiscent Traveler] Skills: (Slot Open) (Slot Open)