It was but a little way further down the path that movement caught Max’s attention; a small herd of boars were foraging around for food among the bushes that lined the route. An information box popped up as he looked at them.
Boar
Level
1
Health
7
Simple, starting zone creatures, meant to at most mildly inconvenience any new adventurer who stumbled upon them, and to lure them into a false sense of security about the future. He had no weapons to deal with them, besides his fists, and [Troll Quake!] wouldn’t kill them in one go, and would just aggro the whole herd down on him in one go.
Unarmed attacks really weren’t all that spectacular, but it was what he had and so it would have to do.
[Unarmed Attack]
The simple arts of punching and kicking are the very last resort of the desperate; those wanting to excel in unarmed combat should have chosen to be a [Monk.]
Damage: 1-2 + BRAWN/2
Each punch would only do 4 or 5 damage, hardly enough to bring down one of the boars before they could retaliate, and given he had no means to heal except for regeneration, and that very slowly, each fight would mean too much downtime before being able to undertake the next one.
But alcohol solved that problem - really it was the only chance a [Brewer] had of getting anywhere, given their lack of special powers or attacks.
He opened the keg and tossed back five charges of [Basic Grog] in one go. As had been foretold, the taste was not particularly spectacular, but that wasn’t why he drank.
YOU GAIN 5 BRAWN
YOU GAIN 5 DRUNKENNESS
He felt his body swell up as the drink coursed through him, the magic of it boosting him, muscles rippling with temporary power. A quick check of his character sheet showed a new value of BRAWN: 12, which meant that now each strike of his fist would do 7 or 8 damage. Enough to drop a boar in a single strike. And not just that, but his HEALTH was, for the moment, boosted up to 19. He was powerful, he was mighty; he was nowhere near done.
Other classes had their special attacks that would do comparable damage, though theirs did not require the expenditure of physical resources to use. He had only started with 10 charges of [Basc Grog] in his keg and now half of those were gone to deal with some simple boars. Along with everything else, it was part of why [Brewers] were not so highly regarded; no one else had to expend valuable consumables just to reach the base level that everyone else started out at.
But then no one seemed to have figured out what he had.
With a laugh, he sauntered towards the boars. The closest looked up with little piggie eyes and great big tusks as he drew near.
“Groink, groink,” it said.
Max punched it. The boar exploded.
YOU DEAL 8 PHYSICAL DAMAGE.
THE BOAR DIES
YOU GAIN 15 XP.
STAMINA: 13/14
What was left of the boar rolled over, its legs in the air, and a couple of objects fell out of it.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
[Chipped Boar Tusk]
Value: 1 Copper
[Boar Steak]
Effect: Restore 2 HEALTH
Value: 2 Copper
“Groink, groink,” went the next boar, and Max punched it as well.
YOU DEAL 7 PHYSICAL DAMAGE.
THE BOAR DIES
YOU GAIN 15 XP.
STAMINA: 12/14
[Boar Tusk]
Value: 2 Copper
[Torn Boar Skin]
Value: 3 Copper
With no chance of any danger to himself, he walked through the herd of boars, blatting them as he went, netting himself a rather healthy 150 XP - almost a third of a level - and an arm full of trash items, bits of boar body that some innocent merchant somewhere would buy for reasons unfathomable.
The buzz from the grog wore off as he returned to the path; the buff from it only lasted a couple of minutes. There was no way to increase the length of that, not until he reached a higher level at least, but two minutes was more than enough for his needs for the time.
Whistling once more, Max sauntered off again, down the path as it descended back and forth until it reached the valley beneath. There were simple fields and farms down there, just a few, not nearly large and numerous enough to feed a whole village in reality, but this was the System, and it ran on rules that ignored reality.
Of course, the village itself, when he arrived, was little more than a handful of houses that surrounded an inn and an impressively large town hall. The village also operated on the System scale, which meant it was far smaller than was inferred. Perhaps twenty Proto-Troll villages milled around outside, most likely almost all of the population of the village. There might have been a few elsewhere, and Max figured at some point he would be asked to rescue them, but this would be about it for the entire Proto-Troll population of the world. Minus any adventurers of course. As neglected and unfavoured as they were, there would still be more Proto-Troll adventurers than the entire population of their home village. It was just the way the System worked.
One grander-looking Proto-Troll, complete with a bowler hat and monocle, stood outside the town hall, a golden ? hovering over his head. Max ignored him, instead walking over to a stall outside one of the houses, where a hopeful Proto-Troll merchant stood, displaying his wares of food and drink.
“Greetings adventurer!” the merchant said with forced cheerfulness, “Shall we bargain?”
Max dumped the trash he had accumulated from the boars in front of the merchant.
“I have these for sale,” he told the merchant, “And I am interested in that, and that.” He pointed out the only two alcoholic drinks the merchant had on offer. The rest were water and various fruit juices, none of which held any interest to him.
“Certainly, adventurer,” the merchant replied. He handed Max the two drinks, along with 34 copper coins.
“Thanks,” Max replied, pocketing the coins.
[Basic Beer]
Technically beer, but don’t tell a dwarf that.
Effect: + 1 TENACITY, -1 GRACE, 2 DRUNKENNESS
Value: 2 Copper
[Basic Wine]
An elf would rather die than drink this.
Effect: + 1 APPEARANCE, -1 REASONING, 2 DRUNKENNESS
Value: 2 Copper
Max wasn’t so interested in them for their effects, but to unlock the ability to craft them, and variants of them, so he downed them both in one go.
YOU HAVE UNLOCKED BASIC BEER BREWING
YOU HAVE UNLOCKED BASIC WINE CRAFTING
Feeling a touch more tenacious and better looking, Max sauntered over to the Mayor.
“Hello [Sailor],” the Mayor said, “What news from the mountains?”
What was it again? Ah, yes. “Minions of the Leech Queen have broken through the passes.”
The Mayor gasped, overly dramatically Max felt, and slapped a hand to his head, knocking his bowler hat off in the process. “Woe is us!” the Mayor replied, picking up his hat and dusting it off. “We shall be undone without quick action. You look a brave sort, [Sailor]. I need you to seek out three people, and aid them as they devise means of defending ourselves from this attack; Yul’aji the Priest, Anh’vel the Blacksmith and Fee’Eld the Farmer. And please accept this for your efforts."
YOU RECEIVE 30 COPPERS
YOU RECEIVE [OLD DAGGER]
YOU RECEIVE 350 XP.
DING. YOU GAIN A LEVEL
YOU GAIN +1 INTELLECT, +1 REASONING, +1 AGILITY
YOU GAIN A FEAT.
Max pumped a fist. That was what he was looking for. Now the fun could really begin.