Chapter 2
I must have fainted during the fall because I woke up in a tower with a hole above me in the roof and shingles and stones scattered around me. Miraculously I wasn’t in horrible pain, not even minor pain. Either I was in an invincible state until I landed and actually started the game, or I was out for much longer than I thought and it had been weeks since I started. Either way I’m finally here so I should start exploring, right?
I looked around the room and saw a simple bed made on one side of the room and stairs going down on the other. There were also four windows looking out each direction from the tower, better start there to get my bearings. Looking out the northern window, assuming it was morning, there was a long mountain range running east and west with one large peak standing twice as tall as the rest in the middle slightly west from here. A forest dominated the land between the tower and the foot of the mountains. Looking to the eastern window, I saw the edge of the forest give way to wide grasslands and a small town slightly north of me at the edge of the forest. Hopefully I could get there before sundown, but I’d better check the rest of the surrounding terrain just in case. To the west, the forest kept going as far as the eye could see with a tree that looked as tall as a mountain jutting up in the middle of it. I wonder how old that tree must be to grow so large. It had to be thousands of years old, if not millions. I had plenty of time to think about that later though so I continued scouting the area. To the south, the forest shortly gave way to a massive swamp with dead trees sparsely dotting the area. The area gave off a creepy vibe even from this distance, I shudder to think what it would be like lurking through those muddy waters.
I was happily distracted from my thoughts when a notification surprised me. Skill unlocked: Survey - Accurately study and memorize surrounding area/terrain. Decreases chance of being lost by 25% and increases chance of finding hidden entrances/treasures by 10%. Both percentages increase 1% per level. I hadn’t expected to unlock my first skill so soon, and just for looking out the window. I can only hope all my skills come this easy.
Well, now that I have some more confidence in getting to town without wandering aimlessly. It’s time to head downstairs. I pulled out my daggers and quietly made my way downstairs. The next floor looked like a study of some kind with an old dusty skeleton sitting at a desk and papers scattered across the table. I decided to leave him alone and continue my way down to the ground level.
As the bottom room became visible, my cautiousness paid off. There were two level 2 Large Rats, the size of dogs, gnawing on the bones of some kind of large animal. I quietly stepped back up out of view before they could notice me and put away my daggers to pull out a throwing knife and get ready to cast my first spell.
I made my way back down and as soon as I had a clear shot on them I flung the knife at the one on the right while beginning to cast Entangle on the one on the left. The knife stuck into the side of the rat as it screeched in pain. The other rat was barely able to stop his gnawing and begin looking for the threat as dark blue tendrils sprang from the ground wrapping around its body. After recovering from the pain, the first rat began charging up the stairs. I just had enough time to pull one of my daggers out and hold it up to try to deflect its fangs and stab its mouth. I was mostly successful though its fang still cut the back of my hand. While it was distracted trying to eat my hand off, I pulled out my second dagger and jammed it into its throat causing it to fall off my hand lifelessly.
I turned to look at the other Large Rat, but it was still trapped by my spell. Though it won’t be for much longer. So, I started casting my second spell Sprint as I ran down the stairs getting ready for an overhand strike with both daggers. The poor rat could do nothing but watch as the daggers plunged into its back giving out a terribly loud screech. It was still alive and tried to swing around to bite my leg, but thanks to Sprint I easily jumped over it dodging the blow and delivering two more slashes before I landed behind the now dead rat.
A few seconds after both rats died, their bodies disappeared leaving behind a large rat fang and three copper pieces each. At least I won’t have to be dissecting monsters to get their usable parts, that could get very nasty with some of the strange recipe ingredients I’ve seen in other games. There was another set of stairs going underground, but I can come back to explore later. I don't want to sleep in the woods if I don't have to. After waiting a few minutes for my mana to recharge and collecting my knives, I headed out of the tower and towards the town.
I made my way through the forest, being careful to not be seen or heard. A forest is an easy place to be ambushed from any side as the trees block vision beyond 10 or 15 feet. The forest was alive with the sounds of birds and insects chirping away.
After a few hours of walking in the forest, I heard footsteps nearby. Sensing trouble, I quickly climbed the nearest tree to get out of sight of whatever was coming this way. A few moments later, a pack of about seven level 5 Grey Wolves walked by sniffing the ground apparently following the scent of some soon to be prey. Luckily, they weren’t on my trail as I watched them continue past my tree deeper into the forest. I waited a few minutes to make sure they weren’t returning before continuing my journey to town.
Another few hours of peaceful travel were interrupted by the sounds of battle. I quietly made my way, tree to tree, to get a better look at the fight. I was getting close to the battle, thinking I could probably see it once I get around this tree. Then, BAM!!! I look to my right as a level 3 Iron Boar with spikes along its back gets up from the base of a tree, shakes off the hit, and runs back into the fray. Luckily, it didn’t notice me, but the sounds of battle didn’t stop so it’s not fighting alone.
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I peeked around the tree and saw three more Iron Boars fighting a single male beastfolk (wolf) in chainmail armor with an axe and shield. He seemed to holding them off with his shield, but he didn’t have time to counter with them all attacking one after the other. I figured he could use some help so I cast Entangle on the boar trying to return to the fight. Then, I threw a throwing knife at one of the boars attacking, what I assumed was, the other player. The knife simply bounced off of it's hard plated back, and the Iron Boar barely seemed to notice it. I aimed my next throwing knife at its belly the next time it attacked. It struck just as its own attack was about to be blocked. The Iron Boar gave out a guttural squeal as the knife sank all the way into its soft underbelly and it fell flat against the shield.
The beastfolk perked up after seeing the boars weakness revealed. He began slashing upwards at the boar on his right, while blocking the boar on his left. I threw another throwing dart at the one he was blocking getting it right in the gut, but not killing it. Then, ran forward pulling my daggers out to give the entangled Iron Boar a double belly poke. With the damage it had taken before I joined the fight it died before the tendrils from Entangle could fade away. With only two boars left and both missing about half their health, it was short work for us to finish them up with the help of Sprint.
After the battle, the beastfolk collapsed onto his back with a heavy pant. Getting a closer look at him, his body was covered in short black fur and he had a slight canine like snout and pointed ears near the top of his head. He also had quite a few dents and scratches on his armor and shield. He definitely wasn’t uninjured, but he didn’t look like he was about to die either. “Sorry if you had it covered. I saw they were against you four to one, so I figured I’d help even the odds, at least a little bit.” I said sheepishly. “Name’s Radzid, by the way.” as I reached my hand out to help him up.
He waved my hand away with a smile. “Nah, thanks for the help, I was in trouble for sure. I started fighting one of ‘em and the others just showed up out of nowhere. I’m just gonna lay here for another minute to catch my breath.” He said with a weak laugh. “Name’s Lupin. Nice to meet ya.” I nodded in response and went around to collect my knives and the loot as he rested up. Each boar dropped a pair of iron tusks and five copper coins, which I split with Lupin. He got up as I was picking up the last of the loot and brushed himself off. “Well, I probably should head back to town to repair my stuff. You heading back to town, too? Wanna party up so we don’t get outnumbered on the way back?”
I was fairly confident I could get to town without a fight thanks to my Sneak ability, but figured since I was close to leveling up and I could ask him about places in town on the way. “Yea, sounds good. I actually started in the forest, so I’ve been trying to make my way slowly to town. I still need to register with the Adventurers’ Guild and pick up some more supplies for my class.” I was hoping to find a poison merchant so I could poison my daggers and knives. The guild registration was required to take quests and receive the rewards, and there was plenty of both to go around.
Lupin looked confused, “You didn’t start in town? You should have teleported right into the town square after going through character creation.”
“You’re telling me you didn’t just start falling from up there? Shit, did I already piss someone off just by making my character?” Could it be because I chose the android species? Or both of my classes being combat classes? Or was it just chance and part of the player base just didn’t start in town. I sighed, “Well, whatever the reason, it’s just a small delay to getting to errands in town, and I did get to test out my combat ability before I had spent any money. So, I guess it all works out in the end. Even though skipping that fall and just appearing on the ground would’ve been nice.”
Lupin gave a chuckle, “Then, we should stop wasting time and start heading to town to get you registered. Oh yeah, I’ll send you a party invite in case we see more monsters on the way.” After accepting the invite, I took a look at Lupin’s character stats. He was a level 2 Fighter and level 1 Blacksmith, and he put most of his stat points into Strength and Constitution. He had more health than me, to be expected, but no mana, I guess you have to have a spellcasting class to get mana.
We trekked through the forest asking each other questions along the way. I told him about my spells and the tower I had started in before I met him. And he told me about the town, Feralin’s Nook, which sounded like a typical fantasy village. The Adventurers’ Guild was a large 3 story building in the town square, there was also an inn and a general store nearby. I asked about an alchemist or apocatheory in town and he said he hadn’t visited it but heard it was near the edge of town. After our info swap, Lupin excitedly started explaining why he was hunting the Iron Boars in the first place. “I’m gonna be the first Master Blacksmith in Kalethia!” he said with a large grin. “And if I wanna be a Master I’ll have to be able to get my own materials for crafting.” He held up two of the iron tusks we’d gathered. “My mentor sent me out to get these tusks so I could craft my first weapon. This is just the beginning of my Master journey!” as he let out a hearty laugh.
Just as his laugh began to fade, I heard growling and movement coming from either side of us. I called out, “Watch out! We’ve got company!” Right then, two level 2 Ravid Wolverines jumped out of the bushes at Lupin, and a third charged at my legs. They had green foam frothing in their mouths and two green stripes along their backs going to the tips of their tails. I tried to dodge out of the way, but I wasn’t quick enough to dodge the bite completely as one of its fangs cut my leg.
You have been poisoned. Shit, I guess being an android doesn’t give me poison immunity. I already felt the cut on my leg heating up, so I cast Sprint to hopefully end this fight quickly. I hastily cast Entangle on one of the wolverines fighting Lupin and charged my opponent with both daggers in hand. I attacked with a flurry of stabs and slashes. The beast zigged and zagged every which way trying to avoid the blows, and managed to make me miss one out of every three strikes. But, I finally pinned its tail to the ground with my dagger causing it to yelp in pain. A few more quick stabs and it was no longer moving.
Turning my attention back to Lupin, he had also taken out one of the wolverines by smashing it into a tree with his shield and was fighting off the other with a combination of shield bashes followed by axe blows. I threw a knife towards it as Sprint ran out and Lupin took a final overhead swing as both weapons struck and the beast was slain.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 2! 2 stat points awarded and choose 1 new spell: Icebolt, Firebolt, Magelight, or Shield!
I’d have to wait until later to level up, because I’m bloody poisoned. The poison made my leg feel like it was on fire and I felt dizzy as if I was suffering blood loss. Luckily, I wasn’t losing health so it wasn’t life threatening, but it still damn well hurt and made it hard to keep upright once the adrenaline had worn off. Luckily, we were near the edge of the forest so it would take less than an hour to get to town. Lupin quickly gathered the loot and began helping me limp through the rest of the forest.