"What do you think they were doing?" Someone asks as I slowly stir awake.

I don't know where I am, having lost consciousness in the water, but I appear to be in a carriage, bobbing over a street with my hands tied, every single jump of the wagon sending jolts of pain through my body.

"I don't know but when we sell them or he dies, I'll want his amulet," another voice answers.

Oh, Slavers, so I'll have to kill them. What about Kara?

Pretending to still be unconscious, I start checking my notifications, skimming over the Kills to search for Idanu. There is no notification that sounds like him so I swap to the level ups.

[Congratulations, Death has reached level 12. Stats have been awarded.]

[Congratulations, Death has reached level 13. Stats have been awarded.]

[Congratulations, Death has reached level 14. Stats have been awarded.]

[Congratulations, Marksman has reached level 10. Stats have been awarded.]

[You've gained the Keystone Skill: Bullseye]

[Bullseye: Curve your shots to hit your target. Higher calibres take more mana and have decreased efficiency, penalty decreased by Magic Power.]

[Congratulations, Marksman has reached level 11. Stats have been awarded.]

[Congratulations, Marksman has reached level 12. Stats have been awarded.]

[Congratulations, Marksman has reached level 13. Stats have been awarded.]

[Congratulations, Magitech Tinkerer has reached level 10. Stats have been awarded.]

[You’ve gained the Keystone Skill: Restoration]

[Restoration: Repair Gems and Inventions by infusing them with mana. Increased efficiency and mana input from Magic Power.]

I barely manage to keep quiet, making only a strangled noise as I get to my stats. I’ve got over 300 stats in total now.

“I think he woke up,” the first voice says, “Hey, kid!”

They poke my side, trying to wake me up but I keep quiet.

The second voice scoffs, “I don’t think he is going to wake up again, look at his wounds.”

The necklace is still around my neck but I can’t feel my weapons or pouches on my person so either they stole it or it got ripped away from the water. I open my eyes slightly, stealthily looking around.

I am in the back of a wagon, two stereotypical bandits in the back with me, playing dice. Kara is laying opposite of me with her clothes mostly torn to shreds, glaring at the two bandits and silently working on her shackles.

Siro snapped off one of the tendrils to threaten Vona, maybe I can fashion a lockpick like that. I snake a tendril down through my cloak to my hands, grabbing it and pulling hard, a searing pain filling my mind.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Hey, he is awake,” Bandit one says as I hiss in pain, putting a hand on his sword, “What’s your Vitality?”

“What, why do you need my Vitality?”

Bandit two rolls his eyes, throwing the dice. “Someone hasn’t been around for long, we need it to know how little we can feed you.”

“No need to be rude about it,” I say. I’ve been pretty sheltered, travelling most of the time and surrounded by death but he doesn’t have to be an asshole about it.

I twirl the tendril around my finger and wait for another bump in the road, snapping it off and trying to hide the wince.

“I guess we'll figure it out when you begin to beg,” Bandit two says with a grin, “What did you two do in the swamp, out for a romantic walk?”

I turn to Kara, “accidentally” falling and landing in her lap, placing the snapped of tendril in her hand. “None of your business,” I reply, glaring at him.

Bandit one grabs my shoulder, pulling me off of Kara and slamming me against the wall. “Cool it, lovebirds. Answer the-”

Hearing a click from Kara's shackles, I burst out the tendrils, blinding the bandit and clawing at his face with them.

“Motherfu-” he exclaims before getting cut off by Kara twisting his neck, a loud crack sounding out.

[Your party has killed a Bandit- lvl8]

Bandit two unsheathed his sword, taking a step forward and pointing it at me. “Don’t make a move or I’ll kill him.”

Kara looks at him confused, exchanging a glance with me before jumping towards him, whacking the sword to the side and going straight for his throat. She bites down on his neck, completely overwhelming him in terms of strength. It's not anywhere near a fair fight.

[Your party has killed a Bandit- lvl9]

She drinks his blood, a big grin on her face as she wipes over her face and turns to me “You owe me one.”

“What do you mean, I owe you?” I ask, grabbing the tendril of darkness and fumbling with my shackles.

She leans down to Bandit one and bites into his neck, drinking his blood as well before turning back to me “I did just save your life and I did tell them your amulet is cursed and can only be removed by you unless they want to have their eyes melt out.”

Finally feeling the shackles open, I toss them to the side and kick Bandit one in the side. “I could have killed them without your help, I’ve got 92 Vitality and 20 Strength. I could have fought two against one.”

“Really,” She smirks, grabbing the shirt from Bandit two and putting it on to cover herself, “Thats all you have? I’ve got 102 Strength and 87 Vitality.”

I wait for the second part of the joke, grabbing the revolver from Bandit one and checking it, Three bullets inside. I decide to check her level with [Identify].

[??? - lvl9]

“Stunned silent?” she asks.

Over 100 strength is impressive but I can’t just admit that. “What’s your total stats?” I ask, crouching to look to the front of the wagon.

“250,” she says.

“Hah, I’ve got over 300 stats in total,” I reply, “Did they take my weapons?”

Looking outside, I can see that we are in the last wagon, four wagons in front of us travelling down a road. We appear to be back in the hunters plains, arid wasteland surrounding us with a city on the horizon although it could be an illusion.

She loots Bandit two as she answers, “Nope, they declared them scraps, or that’s what they said.”

“Alright,” I say, walking to the other end and checking the lock, “How full is your [Pantry], can we survive until the next city if we run away?”

“Yeah, I’ve still got a ton of meat and the weird food from the fishmen. Did you get a kill notification for Idanu?”

I shake my head and open the door, grabbing Kara and jumping down.

“Hey! You two- doesn’t matter,” a Bandit yells, giving up on stopping us halfway through.

We start running away, stopping after less than a minute to check if they are following us. They aren’t.

“Huh,” she says, “Do you have any idea where we are?”

“Nope.”

“Great, let’s go.”