Name: Jack Corvus
Age: 10
Rank: Herald
Level: 2
Faction: Nightblade, Warrior, Maester
Strength: 22
Agility: 9
Spirit: 22
Remaining Stat Points: 5
Remaining Skill Points: 5
Jack could tell from the structure that it had once been a farmhouse but was now in ruins. The floor and wallboards were all buckled and in tatters, pointing their sharp edges in every direction. The pillars were rotten to their cores, barely holding the wiggling ravaged ceiling and roof from collapsing under the weather. Moonlight shone through the holes, revealing trails of particles floating on the dusty surfaces. The now slimy and moldy dungeon seemed to have been a shelter basement for people and animals in case of monsters’ attacks.
Jack dragged the bandit's body away and hid it in a former bedroom. He stripped it from the last of the stuff and threw them all into the inventory bracelet. Not bad an item the robe was, but sadly, the black flame had done a bit of an overkill. However, Jack reckoned he could still make use of the unburnt part.
He went around the house and tracked his way back to find the source of his poisoning. It wasn’t long until he discovered the source at the doorway up the stairs of the basement. Two bottles of poison, hidden in two unseen corners on both sides of the entrance, were pumping out smoke. As soon as it left the bottle’s neck, the poison quickly blended with the air, no color, no smell, no nothing.
A careful one, Jack exclaimed.
If it hadn’t been for the Nightblade faction with their unique advantages in stealth and speed from Presence of the Night and Shadow Dance, a moment slower and the Maester would have handled Jack. He had even prepared a contingency plan even though the prisoners were all in shackles. Still, an unawakened kid with the skills of a forbidden faction was properly too much for most people to plan for. Recalling the feeling of the poison creeping inside his body gave Jack a chill. Even as his preparation had outdueled the Maester’s vigilance, the disparity in ranking had once again brought him real close to death’s door.
He was about to remove the bottles but then thought better of it. They could prove useful for the battles to come.
Returning to the Maester’s tracking table, Jack took out all the vials worn around the dead body. These, too, unsurprisingly, were poisons but non-lethal types. Most of them were anesthetics, sedatives, or paralyzers. When combined with the correct additives and strengtheners in the other vials, the time for the poisons to take effect could be significantly cut down, as well as their symptoms amplified.
Jack thought for a second, then used his crafting skill and selected the item he needed.
Poison Bomb (Throwables, Herald, Common)
Description: A less effective way of using poison before the creation of Condensed Shot.
Effects:
Create a small explosion of poison at the point of contact or at the will of the user.
*Can be tailored to make different kinds of explosions.
*Can be combined with Condensed Shot.
Core Material: Exploding Substance, e.g., Fireflower Powder, Nightsun Leaf, Ember Stone Powder, etc.
Jack received the information from the system. A vision of somebody crafting a poison bomb appeared before his eyes. He relaxed his body, letting his mind synchronize with the figure. His hand quickly looked for the required ingredients, among them the exploding substance, leather covers, and some tangled tying strings from the inventory bracelet. Jack’s movement was that of a skillful workman. The little tips and tricks that would have taken others years to know, he learned them right on the spot. All the calculations and questions that Julia had once taught during class, he now got the answer. The dose to take out a Herald in a limited amount of time, the saturation in the air, the perfect additives, and even information about Condensed Shot were mentioned.
He understood why Poison Bomb was usually considered to be obsolete and why the bandit Maester hadn’t had for himself any kind of offensive items. Drawing out the poison directly from their containers and shooting them at the enemy was actually more effective than using bombs or other throwing items, for their effectiveness would wane away over time when not stored properly. Maesters had also carried on themself too much already, so these would just slow them down even more. Besides, the bombs could be quickly made in a pinch.
With all of the negative reviews, though, Jack could still see some potential for these bombs. One of the rather valuable aspects of thinking he had learned from being a Nightblade could be the deciding factor here, and that was considering the weapon’s undetectability. Condensed Shot would stir up the mana in the air, and an adept Warrior would be able to brace themself if they could sense where the disruption was coming from. Last but not least, Jack still wouldn’t want to review his Maester’s knowledge to Bud and Mantis just yet. He would rather keep an ace for himself.
After a few minutes, around twenty hand-size bombs were rolling on the table. Jack took a crystal from the bracelet, trying to absorb it to make up for the mana he had used during the crafting process.
You have earned experience from crafting.
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Jack collected everything he needed into the inventory item when he saw two shadows making their way to the house through the backdoor. Then, he blended into the night, waiting for his prey.
On the green grass ground waving in the wind of the empty yard, two persons were grumpily stomping their rugged feet toward the house.
“God damn it,” Bud swore, “Felice can’t even do a crap of a job.”
“One mana crystal for you to say that in his face.”
Bud puffed his cheek up, refusing to respond to that. He walked faster toward the farm.
From the outside looking in, the place looked even more devastated and miserable. Marks of claws and fangs carved deep onto the fence could be seen from afar. Trails of curly dried red were all over the ground, though no one could tell if it was that of beasts or man.
The bandits suddenly stopped as they reached the crooked door.
“Smell like fresh blood,” Mantis whispered.
Bud nodded. The two drew their knives from their belt. With utmost vigilance, they took careful steps into the house. On their left, Felice’s table was still pumping out yellow smoke.
“Where’s Felice?” Mantis asked.
“Can ask anything less dumb than that?” Bud grumbled. “How the hell do I know?”
“Basement?”
“Go! If there were any real danger, we would have been done for by now.”
Bud and Mantis carefully made their way toward the stairs. Taking a gulp, they slowly walked downward; each had a hand on the other’s back in case something went horribly wrong, he could push his crewmate down and flee first. For now, though, that didn’t happen.
The bandits looked around the cell and saw the prisoners staring back at them. As they discovered the bent metal bars that Jack had left behind, their heavy breathing broke the silence in the room.
Mantis squinted his eyes, and Bud roared.
“Go back upstairs, now!”
Mantis, ever the quick-witted smart ass, had already dashed halfway up. He reckoned even though the two were tough to kill, trapping them down here was a possibility. Bud followed shortly with his mouth full of swearing.
To their surprise, the door opened, and it was still the quiet night, along with the creepy creaking sound of the wooden house that welcomed them.
They both stared at each other for a while before seeing the growing uneasiness in their counterpart’s eyes as well as in themself.
“Poison!” They called out at the same time.
They looked back at the entrance, seeing the two smoky bottles in the dark corners.
“Damn Felice, the maniac!” It was Mantis’ turn to grumble. “Did he really have to do that?”
“Just take the damn antidote,” Bud said. “I don’t think I see the little brat down there. Maybe his family has already been making their moves.”
Mantis nodded and took out a black vial the size of his finger that Felice had given the crew prior.
As soon as he started opening it, a shadow dashed before him and grabbed Bud’s vial. Mantis reacted, but the small figure was faster. A kick landed on his hand, knocking the antidote away. The shadow swiftly fell back to the landing spot of this one and picked it up. It wasn’t until now that the smoke screen dispersed, revealing the figure of the bandit’s opponent.
“You!” Bud called out in annoyance.
“Thanks for the antidote!”
Jack opened the cap, bringing the vial up to his mouth. He pretended to be gulping it down, all the while holding his thumb, blocking the flow. He knew better to look into the antidote first in case Felice still had a few tricks up his sleeve, as well as the fact that the prisoners might need this more than him.
“Who’s helping you?” Mantis wasn’t yet jumping at Jack.
“You see, that matters little now, doesn’t it?” Jack shrugged. “What matters now is which one of you will get the antidote.”
“What are you talking about, brat?” Bud asked.
“Don’t be such a thick-head. You were quite fast rushing up the stairs, weren’t you? The Warrior’s skill to hold back the poison can’t save you for long, right? And now, there’s only one vial left.”
The bandits knew precisely what Jack wanted them to do. Mantis leaned forward, preparing to pounce on Jack, but the kid wasn’t there anymore, as if the night had engulfed him.
They hadn’t even regained their composure when they heard Jack’s yelling again.
“Hey! Don’t you mess with me! Unless you wanted to receive a proper judgment.”
For a second, the bandits were confused seeing Jack standing by the table, where the candle, the only source of light in this dark space, was.
The two had been working together long enough to understand each other’s stare and nod. Jack couldn’t be caught, so their boss was the only option left. In a blink of an eye, they separated, trying to escape through the window and the main door.
Jack smiled. You won’t get what you want. With the limit-breaking speed from Shadow Dance, he blocked off Mantis and threw a kick at his chest, stopping him in his track. The level disparity was enough for Jack to feel the countershock, numbing his leg. Shadow Dance still had one second of usage time left, enough for him to push himself right behind Bud and give the bandit a chunk of sticky black fire.
Bud stopped and, without hesitation, started rolling on the floor, trying to put the fire out. Even though the black flame’s effectiveness was greatly diminished due to the bandit’s level, it still wouldn’t go away that easily. Slowly but surely, it would burn him to the ground.
“What now? Should you focus your mana on protecting your lungs or your back, you slit-eyed fat ass?” Jack leisurely pulled himself back into the veil of night, then reappeared sitting at the old spot by the table. He didn’t stand because he didn’t want the bandits to know how fatigued his legs were. Therefore, he had to yell from one side of the house to another for his words to reach the air of his enemies.
“I reckon you hurry yourself up and satisfy me while I’m still in the mood.” Jack continued. “I’m no bunch of words-swallowing bandits. We can stay here and play cat and mouse all day. I’m also interested in how long you can last.”
The bandits didn’t know how long of a cooldown Shadow Dance had since Jack had played for time with a little chit-chat, both then and now. Throwing out a black flame right after all of that movement had sapped Jack of half his mana, even though he did have a decent Spirit stat. Jack was confident in victory even in a face-to-face battle thanks to his Nightblade and Maester skill advantages, but turning them against each other would be faster, more efficient, and ultimately, more interesting.
Jack was expecting some serious hesitation and guilt, which was why he had in his hands a few poison bombs, locked and loaded in case things didn’t go his way, but then, Mantis suddenly pounced on Bud. The fat one was not a second behind, ignoring the flame and springing up, using all of his bulk to push Mantis away. The deadly poison running in their veins had made them frenziedly hold on to that slim chance of survival; a chance, in all honesty, was most likely a lie.
Jack gladly put out the fire. This would make the fight even so that they could damage each other more. Thinking about his next moves, Jack sneakily grabbed another crystal and used it.
He needed to speed things up. There was still one more target to go for before sunrise.