They once more gathered the bodies bringing them to the entrance of the cave. Hailey stayed to watch for anything sneaking up behind them, and the other three went into the cave. They stayed in formation, weapons drawn. None of them knew if the cave would have more wolves that needed to be dispatched, and none wanted to take the risk of relaxing their guard. Martin lead the group, having the highest overall survivability incase of a sneak attack. Despite the worries of the team, there didn't appear to be any remaining wolves. That is what they thought, until they came across two wolf pups hiding in the back end of the far end of the cave.
“Well we can't just kill ‘em.” Martin said, echoing the thoughts of Mike and John.
“Could you tame them, kinda like what you did with Kenny?” Mike asked. He genuinely hoped he could, as leaving the cubs to fend for themselves would likely weigh on his conscience.
“Maybe, let me try something.” Martin walked over to the two wolf cubs, inching closer slowly, as to not alert them. They both backed up, pressing themselves into the wall. Martin sat down, a few feet from the two, and looked like he was trying to extend some mana to them.
“When the hell did he figure out how to control his mana?” Mike asked, even more jealous of the man now.
“He has a spell, so it makes sense. Once you feel your mana moving, it is much easier to move it around.”
They watched for a moment as the mana left his hand, though it didn't make it more than an inch past his finger. Seeming to have another idea, Martin cast nurture on one of the pups. The cub suddenly looked much more lively and filled with vigor, almost as if Kenny had just given it a nuzzle. He repeated it on the second cub, and the same process repeated. Mike and John decided to leave the man be, as he seemed to have the situation under control. They approached the entrance to the cave, seeing Hailey sitting, leaning against the wall.
“You seem pretty relaxed for someone watching our flank.” John said, poking a bit of fun at her.
“I am paying attention, sitting is just more comfortable.”
They all sat, finally feeling like they could truly relax. The sun was setting, and thanks to the cave, they found shelter for the night. Almost half an hour later, Martin came out of the cave sitting with them.
“Did you tame the cubs?” Mike asked.
“I believe so, they are resting now. We need to cook up these corpses before they start rotting. Also, we need a source of meat for the cubs, as forcing them into cannibalism doesn’t seem like a good way of gaining their trust.”
“I can go gather some firewood,” Mike responded, “In the meantime, try and pick through which of the corpses are too mutilated to eat.”
Setting off into the forest Mike set out on his duty of picking up sticks and small logs for firewood. He briefly wondered if he could knock down some trees with his newfound strength, but even the bark didn’t flinch under the might of his swing. Whatever made the animals of Earth stronger, apparently also affected the plantlife. He made a few back and forth trips, trying to gather enough wood to have a fire that could last through the night. On one of his trips, he saw a group of foxes. Remembering what Martin said about the cubs needing to eat, he set down the wood he had and began creeping up on the foxes.
When he was close enough, he ran, catching one in the side of its head with his hammer. The level he gained since last fighting foxes showed its worth as he made it to the creature before it could react. As his hammer made contact with the fox, he noticed something was different than last time.
*Forest fox (level 5)*
The hammer did damage, but not nearly as much as he was expecting. The fox was thrown a few feet, but quickly got its bearings and ran at him. The other two also noticed him at that moment, and ran to him.
*Forest fox (level 5)*
*Forest fox (level 5)*
Mike was very much regretting not identifying at least one of them before moving in, but it was too late to be upset at his mistake. He backpedaled to avoid one pouncing at his side, once more in a situation where he found himself defending with little opportunity to attack. It was obvious that even though these foxes were all a level higher than the alpha wolf, they were not even close to its strength. He decided that he was going to be in major trouble if he didn't take a risk. Taking a step forward, he caught the foxes off guard by swinging his hammer in a low arc, he missed all of them, leaving him wide open.
Stolen story; please report.
Seeing the opportunity, one of the foxes pounced, aiming for the back of his leg. He didn’t attempt to block or to dodge, but instead kept turning, allowing the weight of his hammer to guide the path of his swing. The hammer spun in a full 360 degree motion, Mike pulling it along with all his strength. The fox who pounced soon regretted its decision, as the hammer moving at a significant speed hit it in the side of the head. The fox's head was ripped from its body, flying off into some bushes.
*Skill upgraded. Basic Weapon handling (common) upgraded to Intermediate Weapon handling (uncommon).*
The other two foxes froze in fear for a moment, but it was long enough that Mike completed a second spin, nearly ripping another fox in two. The last fox put up a good fight, but ultimately fell, having lost its two companions. Mike stood, panting and looking at the bodies. After a moment, he realized he was smiling. He felt exhilarated by the fight. He was covered in blood, but something in him thought of it as proof of his dominance.
Due to Mike's less than gentle methods, the bodies were utterly unfit to be cooked. He didn't know if the pups would still eat it, but he couldn’t imagine them being too picky. He picked up all the bodies, hauling them back to camp. On his way, he passed the time by looking at his notifications.
*Forest fox (level 5) slain x3*
*Class level up. Warrior (level 3)*
*Class level up. Warrior (level 4)*
*Race level up. Human (level 2)*
*Fragments obtained*
*Fragment upgraded*
Mike once more found himself smiling at the level ups. He would have been a bit peeved if all that only got him one level. He also guessed it was due to a combination of being alone and the foxes all being of a higher level. Excited to see how the level ups affected his stats, he looked over them.
Strength: 22
Constitution: 15
Agility: 13
Wisdom: 9
Intelligence: 11
Charisma: 10
Perception:10
Fortitude: 14
Unspent points: 6
Mike looked at his high strength, truly feeling how easy it was to carry the three foxes in that moment. Spending his points, he added 3 to strength and 2 to agility. He also added 1 to wisdom, the single digit number sticking out like a sore thumb. As he neared the cave, he wiped the smile from his face, not wanting to seem off putting to the others. His attempt was clearly in vain, as the others quickly made him go clean himself after seeing the blood caking his face and hands. Hitting the head of anything hard enough to rip it off didn't tend to be a clean process.
He walked in the direction that John said they found a small river, and began thinking about how he had felt after the fight. He had felt great, better than he could remember feeling in a long time. He had never understood the adrenaline chasers who liked to jump out of planes and climb down caves narrower than Mike's shoulder width, but remembering the rush he felt after the fight, he began to see what people liked so much about it. He reached the river, realizing his expectations may have been a bit too high for the small stream.
It was maybe ten feet wide, and was barley waist deep. He walked into the water, not bothering to disrobe, as wet clothes were favorable to having his clothes covered in blood. As he walked, he barely felt the resistance of the water, his newfound strength once more showing. He found the gentle flow of the water relaxing. He walked back to the shore after rising himself, the water there shallow enough to sit in.
He sat, feeling a sense of peace. He thought about how this would be a nice place to try meditating, but didn't want to risk getting caught off guard. Instead, he sat there, feeling the water, and thinking his thoughts. He didn’t know how long he sat there, but after a while, he began to feel something. It was coming from within him, and felt like it was moving through him, circulating all through his body.
He pulled at the feeling, recognizing it as similar to when he had first opened the system menu. He held his hand in front of him, as that was where he felt the flow the strongest. He pulled on the feeling, progressively trying to pull harder and harder. After a few dozen seconds of this, a subtle blue glow came from the center of his palm, growing brighter the longer he pulled.
He pulled harder, the glow spreading to encompass his entire palm. By now the glow was bright enough for the glow to brighten his surroundings. It was at that moment Mike realized just how dark it had gotten while he sat there. His concentration slipping for a moment, the glow dissipated from his palm.
*Skill gained. Basic Mana Manipulation (common)*
Mike didn't know what allowed him to finally unlock his mana. It might have been the increased stats from his level ups, it may have been the clear mind he had in the moment, it may have even been dumb luck. No matter what it was, Mike was excited to have it. He couldn’t wait to try and throw around magic, blasting monsters open just like John had. Thinking about it, he didn’t think he would be able to, at least not right away.
John specialized in magic, and probably had a significantly larger mana pool than he did. Standing up, Mike shook himself to try and dry off at least a little. He was happy with what he had done, once more feeling the joy of getting stronger. It was a nice feeling. Mike really began to contemplate his situation as a whole on his walk back.
Just a day before, he had been working a typical office job, being a member of his company's IT team. Now, he was a man who had killed some beasts that could have ripped that IT guy to shreds.
He felt like he should have had a stronger reaction to all of this, but he never had the feeling of his whole life taking such a drastic change. He never had a particularly interesting life before all of this, and that skewed his perspective. He had a boring, monotonous life, and it had become more interesting than he would have imagined possible. One day truly had made all the difference. Despite the short time frame, it really had felt much longer. He had gone from killing something for the first time, to enjoying the thrill of doing it.
He arrived at the cave, noticing that Martin was the only one outside. He walked over about to speak, when Martin put a finger over his lips.
“The others turned in for the night, I suggest you do the same after eating something. I will wake you when it is your turn to watch.” He said.
Nodding at the man, Mike walked into the cave, seeing the others passed out on the floor, as well as some strips of meat stored in what looked like a crude pouch fashioned out of some wolf pelt. Grabbing some of the meat, he had to practically choke down the nearly inedible meat. It was awful, there was no sugar coating it. He then turned to the others, just wanting to go to sleep. They had taken off their helmets, wrapping them in the fur of the butchered wolves, and were using them as pillows. Mike followed their example and did the same. The exhaustion of the day caught up with him as he fell asleep the moment he laid down.