Ulysses opened his eyes, and the smell of nature was the first thing that ran through his mind.
He sat up and tried to process where he was and how he got here. He still could remember who he was and the life he lived.
Then he remembered his fall from grace and how he lost the powers of a god. The pain that he felt from that incident felt like yesterday and sent shivers down his spine.
He got up and patted his thighs and butt to remove the dirt. He noticed that his armor was all moldy and torn, and his iron sword was damaged but wasn't rusty.
"Must've been here for a couple of weeks, luckily I didn't starve to death considering I'm not an immortal anymore."
Ulysses looked up at the mountain that he fell off after he sacrificed his power. It was roughly 40 meters up, and no regular human could survive that fall.
"No way I survived that unscathed... maybe it's from my constitution stat that made me live. I didn't manually set it, so I let my luck decide which to give me."
Ulysses didn't need the device that showed the user's stats. He used the unique skill he gave himself right before he got rid of his powers.
"So I think the words are... APPRAISE."
A white screen appeared in front of Ulysses' face that showed him his stats.
Name: Ulysses _________
Age: __
Strength: 8
_______________
Intellect: 2
_______________
Dexterity: 33
_______________
Constitution: 32
_______________
Unique Skill: Appraise
Can show the stats of the object appraised by the user.
Ulysses had mixed feelings about the numbers he saw. His strength and intellect were both pitiful. The standard warrior had at least 15 Strength, and the standard mage had 20 Intellect.
But his Dexterity and Constitution were all off the charts. The last time Ulysses checked, only a handful of people had achieved over 30 Dexterity.
And a person that designed his or her build to absorb damage needed at least 20 Constitution.
"I don't know if I should be happy or depressed... hopefully, the two other stats make up for my pitiful Strength and Intellect."
Ulysses took a look at his sword. The sheathe was almost falling apart, and the handle was barely on the sword.
"Hopefully, this bad boy is still strong and sharp."
Ulysses sheathed his iron sword and appraised it.
Iron Longsword
Durability: 33/70
_______________
No enchantments or buffs added.
Ulysses frowned and inspected the sword further.
"I didn't even get to use this thing, and now, all it takes is one hit to shatter it? Stupid light man, exploding my ass.
Ulysses sheathed it back and walked forward into the deep forest.
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As Ulysses walked through the forest, finding the exit. He heard a growl.
"Ahh, it must be a Wildger. I didn't think I'd get to encounter one at this time of day."
Ulysses sneaked over to the Wildger he heard.
Ulysses got close and hid behind a tree. When he peeked, he saw an 8 ft. tall cat with black stripes resembling a tiger with saber teeth and the mane of a lion.
Ulysses' heart stopped as he saw the beast with his own two eyes.
(What the fuck is that? That's not a Wildger! That's some sort of mutation!)
Ulysses thought to himself, panicking from what he thought was a Wildger.
I better get the fuck away from here before that thing spots me.
Ulysses tried to walk away from the Wildger, but his curiosity got the best of him.
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(Well, I do want to appraise it first before I leave.)
Wildger
Age: 13
Strength: 32.65
_______________
Dexterity: 35.77
_______________
Constitution: 40.93
_______________
Unable to wield magic.
(Unable to wield magic? So other beasts can?)
When Ulysses was admiring the Wildger's stats and abilities, the Wildger smelt him and pounced towards him.
Even though Ulysses wasn't as strong as he previously was, he still had his reaction speed and keen battle sense.
Ulysses rolled over to the side and dodged the Wildger.
His legs froze after he witnessed the tree being sliced entirely in half and fell to its side.
The Wildger enveloped Ulysses with fear, something he felt before but wasn't as powerful as this time.
But something else had risen inside of Ulysses. He grew more and more excited because of encountering a situation he always dreamed of facing.
He had two choices. It was either sheathe his sword and fight. Or run away from the one thing he desired.
Then the sound of iron sliding off rang through the ears of the beast, and it grew cautious and fiercer.
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Ulysses held his sword with both hands and had the longpoint guard stance.
Both of Ulysses' hands were shaking and struggling to hold on to the heavy longsword.
(I designed the Wildger to have a weakness in its stomach. I need to find a way to get under it.)
Ulysses once frightened, and fearful face turned to a crooked smile.
The Wildger was getting ready to pounce with eyes aimed at Ulysses' throat.
Ulysses gripped his sword tighter and took a deep breath.
Then the Wildger pounced at Ulysses with its mouth open flaunting its razor-sharp canines.
For Ulysses, the world stopped, he tried to avoid its paws from slicing him, but he wasn't fast enough.
"AaahhHH!"
His left arm got cut with deep wounds. Ulysses was lucky it didn't get cut off. Blood was gushing out from his arm and dripping to the grass below him.
Ulysses dropped his longsword and covered his wounds. Ulysses was almost about to pass out because of blood loss.
"RAGGH!!"
From a distance, Ulysses also heard a woman scream. The scream wasn't from fear but was a war cry.
But he didn't have time to worry about such things and only put all his attention to the Wildger before him.
Ulysses grabbed his sword again and thought of a plan. He got back into a stance and waited for the Wildger to strike.
Fear and hesitation were no longer on Ulysses' face. He had one goal, and that was to kill the beast that challenged him.
And so the Wildger got into the same stance and pounced to Ulysses once more.
When Ulysses was about to face a bloody and gory death, he slid under the beast and slashed its stomach. He came out the other end, leaving his sword lodged in the Wildger.
He was down on one knee and exposed his back to the Wildger. He was closing his eyes and praying to Cid that he would still keep his head. Then he heard the Wildger's body hit the soft grass.
He turned around to see what happened to the Wildger. Blood was gushing out from its mouth and stomach with the sword deep inside it. The eyes of the Wildger were white and looked to be dead.
Ulysses was still processing what happened and if the beast was dead or not. Ulysses stood there for a while on guard until he decided to consider the Wildger dead.
"I killed it... It's dead."
The adrenaline got to Ulysses' head, and he couldn't think straight.
Ulysses started laughing maniacally, and his wound began to bleed harder. Ulysses grasped his arm in pain but was still grinning.
Ulysses grabbed his sword's hilt and tried to pull it out but to no avail.
"It's stuck in there deep. I'll just leave it here, its a pain to bring it with me. I should find a smaller blade to carry."
Ulysses took a good look at his wound and noticed that it was already starting to heal.
"Thank my luck for having a high enough Constitution stat. Any less would've guaranteed my death."
"Shouldn't have laughed, it bled more because of me."
Ulysses remembered hearing a young woman's battle cry while fighting the Wildger.
He was too fixated on beating the beast that he didn't bother thinking about it.
"I better check what's up. Hopefully, I won't encounter any more stupid Wildger's."
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He sneaked over to the scream he heard, trying to make as little noise as possible.
He got close and saw one dead Wildger and one in the process of being skinned by a girl with a metal chest piece and thick leather sleeves and pants for armor.
The girl had long blue hair and a magic staff on the ground beside her.
She seemed to be skinning the Wildger with a sharp dagger and doing it skillfully.
(What the? Those are the same Wildger sizes I fought. Are all Wildger's this massive now?)
Ulysses appraised the girl to know her stats and name.
Name: Mia Maguire
Age: 17
Strength: 15.87
_______________
Intellect: 40.41
_______________
Dexterity: 27.11
_______________
Constitution: 24.32
_______________
Unique Skill: Memorization
Can perform spell's flawlessly with little practice and memorization.
Ulysses jaw dropped after seeing her stats. She could be any class she wanted with those types of numbers.
(And she's 17? She had the potential to be the most powerful person on the planet if she trained enough.)
(Her stats don't make sense! The world has to advance several years to produce even prodigies at that age!)
Ulysses felt something hot coming towards him.
Then a hot wave hit the causing it to fall sideways.
Ulysses was standing behind the burnt tree with his eyes wide open.
The girl who cast the fireball was looking sharply at Ulysses.
"Who are you and why are you spying at me?"
Said the girl with an angry and furious voice.
"I wasn't spying! I just came across you!"
Said Ulysses with a frantic voice
"It sure doesn't look like it when you're hiding behind a tree."
When Ulysses' face the girl. Her face reminded him of someone else.
It was Emilia, the daughter of the most influential king in all of history.
King Killian Maguire was the 3rd king of Crivaria. He lost his wife shortly after his coronation, and that was said to be his drive for running the kingdom.
The world hailed Crivaria as a perfect kingdom. It had no slaves and no discrimination against other races.
Every day, people around the world would go to Crivaria to seek a good life there.
As a result, Crivaria grew bigger and prospered.
(She has the same last name, "Maguire." but her first name isn't the same.)
"Don't stand there silently. Why are you spying on me?"
She pointed her staff at Ulysses, gripping it tightly.
"Ok, yes, I was spying on you. I was just surprised by how good you were at magic."
Ulysses smiled, trying to warm up to her.
"I guess I do possess some skill in magic. But what's more important is your arm."
She points her staff to the wound in Ulysses' arm.
"Wildger cuts heal much slower than normal ones. Your arm is barely attached to you."
The magic stone on her staff emits a strange green light then Ulysses felt a wave of pleasure around his wound.
He looked at his wound, and it started to heal rapidly.
The girl completely healed Ulysses with a healing spell.
"Oh. I take it you have a high Constitution stat for it to heal like that."
"Yea, I do. Thanks, Mia.
"And that's another indicator that you are some creep. But I don't sense any ill-will in you, that's why I healed you."
Ulysses was embarrassed that he said her name out loud and tried to explain it.
"It's from my Unique Skill! I can appraise anything!"
Mia loosens the tension between the two of them.
"I see. That's a pretty useful skill for a warrior like you. Your armor is terrible, though. You should use a metal chest piece like mine."
"I can't afford one at the moment."
Mia was surprised by Ulysses' sudden remark.
"Really? Metal chest pieces are very cheap. There's more of them in the world than leather ones."
(Since when did metal chest pieces become cheaper? And there's more of them in the world than leather ones? Did she hit her head or something?)
"Ahh, I see."
Ulysses walked over to Mia.
"I'm heading back to Crivaria now. You want to come with me?"
Ulysses purposely set himself in the forset near Crivaria so he could easily travel there.
Mia raised her eyebrow in confusion.
"Crivaria? Do you mean the kingdom that Nyubis reduced to rubble 180 years ago?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
End of chapter 2