Tom and Mike left the forest tired and bloody. Behind them, they dragged a large creature through the snow, creating a bloody trail.
They hunted in the forest every day, bringing back a steady supply of meat and furs. It earned them a fair amount of coin, but an even greater amount of respect through the village. The creatures they were hunting weren’t common deer or other such harmless creatures. They were hunting Monsters. Every day, they brought back yet another Monster that two Novices had no business fighting.
Today, they had picked a fight they almost lost.
It had been a long battle, where even a single mistake would be the death of one or even both of them. Yet neither backed down. They forced ahead, refusing to retreat. Tom had actually blocked a blow from the Monster. A blow that should have immediately killed him. As it was, his shield was shattered, left behind as kindling, and his arm was broken. Even with the System healing him, Tom was certain that it was still fractured, even several hours later.
Health Regeneration was a great aspect that saved the lives of countless people. However, it did have its drawbacks. It excelled in sewing flesh back together once more. But it was slow to repair bone breaks or muscle tears. And as the person leveled up, and put Stats into CON, it only became slower and slower to fully heal. The current theory was that as the body become more durable, it was harder for it to heal itself to the same level.
A Mage healed quickly compared to their peers, but was also more fragile to begin with. While a Warrior was much slower to heal completely. The Warrior was more likely to put more Stats into CON, making them harder to damage, but also making it slower to heal from said damage. Just another reason that those who could heal were so sought after. Those who had Abilities that could heal others would never be poor, being able to heal for vast amounts of coin.
Even a Novice Healer would still be effective when using their abilities on Adepts. Their abilities would be diminished, but they would still find many customers, or patients, among Adepts. Even Experts would hire Novice Healers. Of course, the level differences were so severe that even the strongest of Healing Magic from a Novice would at best shave off a few hours, or maybe even a day off the Experts, recovery period.
Unfortunately, Abilities that could heal were very rare, and Abilities that could heal others, even more so. Some Military Medics were respectively called Food Angels. The faster one was able to heal, either by their own natural rate, or with their own healing Abilities, or by another person, the faster they would grow hungry. It was believed that this was due to the body requiring more energy to heal itself. After all, the majority of healing simply accelerated the natural healing rate of the body. However, there were a few certainties of Healing.
First and foremost, only the very highest forms of Healing could revive the dead, and only if it was done very quickly. Second, lost blood could not be regenerated through any Healing, only as quickly as the heart could create more. This led to most Food Angels carrying around plenty of red meat. Finally, It was better to not require healing in the first place. Many who could heal preferred to instead cast protections on the person, if they were expecting a fight. Protection Spells were much cheaper, Mana wise, than Healing spells.
Tom had actually found this quite funny when his father, the village Blacksmith and retired soldier, had explained all of this to him. Before a child turned fifteen, they healed very slowly, typically referred to as the Natural Health Rate. Then they turned fifteen and could suddenly recover from nearly fatal injuries within a few days at most. And as they grew stronger, they gradually returned to the NHR, whether they put stats into CON or not.
And despite all of that, Body Constitutions could ignore most of the established ‘rules’ of the System. Unique Body Constitutions were very rare. The vast majority of people only had a standard Body, granting no bonuses or negatives. Some had a Body that granted additional stats in one stat or more. So instead of two points each level in strength, they would get three. Some had a Body that granted more Free Points. Some even had a body that improved Health or Mana Regen, or both!
Body Constitutions were one of the most varied and impactful aspects of a person. However, not all of them benefited the recipient. Mike had read about a Body Constitution that made any type of poison lethal to the recipient. That didn’t sound too bad, just avoid poisons like any normal person. But the key term is ‘any type’. Meaning even the smallest and weakest type of poison was lethal, like a rotten apple, or moldy bread. Mike also read some Bodies lowered the amount of Stat levels or Free Points.
Mike himself had a special Body Constitution that allowed him to see further and with more detail. It wasn’t anything amazing, in fact, it was very nearly normal.
Some Special Body Constitutions could be gained later in life through various means. Mike wasn’t able to find any books about what would happen if someone who already had a special Body gained another. However, from what he did know about Body Constitutions, he couldn’t think of any logical reason the person wouldn’t have two Body Constitutions, or even if the two bodies merged together into one.
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Special Body Constitutions were incredibly valuable, they could turn the tide of many things. Those with Special Bodies were usually quickly scouted and recruited by larger and more powerful organizations. But they weren’t only recruited for the use of their Special Bodies, but also because Special Bodies could be inherited through their Children.
The example that Mike read was that a child with one parent with a Special Body would have a twenty percent chance of inheriting a Special Body of their own, and a Five percent chance of it being the same Special Body as their parent. A child with both parents having a Special Body would have a forty percent chance of having their own Special Body and a ten percent chance of that Special Body being one of their Parent’s.
However, if the Parent’s Special Bodies were the same the child would have a sixty percent chance of developing a Special Body and of that sixty percent, twenty percent would be the same Special Body.
But if the Parent’s Special Bodies were not the same, but complimented each other, the child would have a sixty percent change of developing a Special Body that was a mixture of both their Parent’s Special Bodies.
For Example, If the father had a Body that improved Health Regeneration and the mother had a Body that improved CON, the Child could have a Body that increased Health Regeneration every five points into CON instead of ten, or even every other point.
The two boys were quickly spotted as they left the forest. Of course they were. They were dragging a very large corpse behind them. As the boys came closer to the Village proper, the Monster was quickly identified. A Dire Bear.
The title ‘Dire’ was given to any mundane Creature that absorbed enough ambient mana. Dire Creatures were much larger, faster, and stronger versions of their normal selves. They had no access to Magic and were just as intelligent as before, making them somewhat simple Monsters to hunt. However, they were nonetheless very lethal.
This Dire Bear was easily twice the size of a normal bear. The fight had nearly killed the two boys. Even a normal bear was wicked quick when it wanted to be. This Dire Bear had been so quick as to provide little to no time to react. By any count, the two Novices had no right to succeed killing a Dire Creature, let alone a Dire Bear.
However, in fact, they were best suited to kill a Dire Bear. Had it been a Dire Wolf, they would certainly be dead. Tom had struggled to keep up with the Dire Bear, but he was able to, if only just barely. If it was a Dire Wolf, he would have had no chance of reacting in time. And while many Adept Mages would struggle to pierce the fur of the Dire Bear, Mikes Wind Magic was naturally sharp, allowing it an easier time to cut through the thick fur. Regardless, Mikes Magic still only barely cut through. Earth Magic would have been much better against any Creature they couldn’t cut. Very few creatures could resist their organs being crushed and bones shattered.
In the end, however, the two had managed to beat the Bear and even haul it back to the village, no easy feat in itself. Even if Tom hugged his shield arm close to his chest and Mike had used so much mana in such a small amount of time that he felt on the brink of puking and his nose bled.
As the pair dragged the beast closer to the village with their ropes, more and more people came over to see the creature or help push or drag it while congratulating the two young novices.
Tom and Mike had long since caught the eye of the City Knights residing in the Village. Even if they were only Novices and commoners, on top of that, they showed remarkable skill and perseverance. The Knights had not approached them or spoken to them, just as they didn’t with the rest of the Village. With the Dire Bear kill, both Tom and Mike had become level Fifteen. Something that was unheard of in the Village. They became the shining beacons of the small frontier Village.
Regardless of their popularity, though, the Butcher and his wife, the Village Tanner, refused to give them a special deal. Not that it truly mattered to the two boys. The coins the Dire Bear corpse brought them was still an extraordinary amount for the two young men.
Despite their fame and amazing strength, for their age at least, neither of them allowed it to get to their heads. They didn’t care. Their fame was useless as it was limited to just their Village. And their strength, while it might have been great for their age, was still pathetic to Adepts.
That night, as they laid in their individual homes and beds, both recalled that night. The night their lives changed. The night they lost their friend, who disappeared only days later. Both of them remembered the cloaked figures who had snuck into their Village, slaughtered two of the people they considered family, displayed their corpses to be found, kidnapped a child, and disappeared, all unseen and unheard by the rest of the Village and within minutes.
Alaster’s father had been one of the strongest Guardsmen for the Village. Guardsmen who the children always looked up to as heroes. And yet these cloaked figures killed him with ease. Their strength didn’t go to their heads because they no longer saw the Guardsmen as someone to strive to become. The Guardsmen were powerful compared to the rest of the Village. But that night had broadened their eyes. They saw becoming as strong as the Guardsmen as only the first step. The first step in finding their friend who they considered their brother, and helping him find his sister.
Every night as they stared at their ceilings, they reminded themselves of how weak they were, of how much further they had to go. And every day, they pushed themselves further than the day before. Tom’s arm was still fractured, but by morning, it would be healed, if extremely sore. Yet it wasn’t even the first broken bone he had had trying to level up, and he was prepared to break as many bones as he needed to reach his brother.