Once Mel had limped far enough away with her spoils to feel safely hidden from any prying eyes, she stopped and leaned against a large tree to rest. Her bleed affliction faded before the battle was over. She guessed it was due to how small the cut had been. Aside from the loot she gained, there was one special notification she was interested in.

You earn the Title: [Bloodseeker]

[Bloodseeker]

(Title, Legendary)

Earned by slaying Ian Valgrom and transferred to you upon his death. Ian’s bloodthirsty nature was nurtured from a young age by the Bloodtide Covenant, a relatively new Covenant on Lormar. Once uplifted into the multiverse, Ian wasted no time in using his innate talents to find those with strength he could steal. The irony would not be wasted on Ian that his slayer would go on to use his unique talents to further her strength.

Whenever you encounter another person, you are able to determine if they are in possession of a Legendary title. Bleed afflictions you inflict are also more severe than usual.

As a Legendary title, it is eligible for additional growth should you satisfy specific requirements. Additionally, should you be slain, this title will be transferred to the victor.

“No wonder he flanked me with his cronies. I’ll need to be more careful around people with Legendary titles.” She grinned to herself. “At least now I’ll know who is worth killing if it comes down to it.”

Not that she enjoyed thinking about that. Mel wasn’t a murderhobo at heart. At the same time, she wasn’t going to shy away from killing somebody who was trying to kill her.

While she was sure there were plenty of useless titles, if she ended up fighting more people, [Bloodseeker] would let her prioritize her targets.

Not only because she could gain another title, but because their title might give them an edge if she didn’t target them first.

The rustle of leaves in the breeze grabbed her attention. She looked up, astounded at how tall the trees were. She hadn’t realized how massive they were until that moment. The one she was leaning against was carpeted in vibrant green moss and big enough around that you could drive a pair of cars through it.

“Please don’t secretly be a monster about to kill me,” she whispered to the tree.

Fortunately, it didn’t respond.

And neither did her lantern, which meant she was at least clear from tree-based enemies and undead skeletons.

“This sucks,” she muttered under her breath. Walking with two arrows in her was shitty. Pulling them out would be even worse. “Where’s my fun, happy-go-lucky adventure? Where is the broken skill that makes me unhinged and all-powerful on day one?! Why can’t I just get all my aspect skills at once? I demand a refund. Zero out of ten. Would not adventure again.”

She had already snapped off the shafts to avoid them smacking into anything, but that still left the painful arrowheads.

Since both wounds were on her back, she couldn’t get a good look at them to tell if they were barbed. Not that it would matter. She couldn’t see the wounds to cut the arrowheads out.

That’ll be a fun little surprise for me.

Glancing at her health bar, Mel got another dose of bad news. While she didn’t have an affliction that she could see, the physical arrow heads lodged in her back apparently counted as afflictions, regardless. Her health was capped at roughly 60% with two wound marks, and her blessing wasn’t doing a damn thing about them.

So this is what would happen if I got wounded without the blessing, Mel thought to herself.

She had no choice but to find a way to remove the arrowheads.

Knowing the bloodthirsty fiends that had tried to jump her, the arrows were probably designed to make their victim bleed when pulled out.

Then again, they were pretty weak. Even three on one, she probably could have taken them.

Finding a source of water would be good. Not just because she was thirsty as hell, but because it would make cleaning all this filth off actually feasible. The last thing she wanted was an infection.

Maybe a river would count as a haven? That quest hadn’t been completed, so this sure wasn’t it.

Mel strained her ears to listen for any signs of water. Her health was uncomfortably low at 60%. Her stamina drained several times faster than usual as well, and her mana recovered at nearly half the speed she was used to.

All in all, things were not looking up. If she ran into another pack of would-be-murderers, Mel didn’t like her chances. And there was a good chance that finding a body of water would increase her odds of finding other people.

That could mean some semblance of safety, or those people could also turn out to be… murdery .

On the other hand, if she didn’t take care of her wounds, she wasn’t going to last long.

Without the adrenaline coursing through her veins, she didn’t know how effectively she could fight. She could feel one arrowhead scraping against bone if she moved her arm the wrong way. It was sickening how she could feel the sound more than hear it.

Setting off again at a slower pace, Mel leaned on her survivalist knowledge. What little she could remember. She looked for damp ground, animal tracks, and even peered up through the gaps in the canopy for hints at where the birds were flying.

Eventually, she came across a depression formed from an old riverbed. Following it downhill, her patience was rewarded with the sweet sound of trickling water.

A small stream intersected the dry riverbed and was carried away further downhill. Mel followed it as several more streams joined with it to form a wide path of surprisingly clear water the width of a road.

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

She held herself back from immediately approaching the water’s edge. Instead, she looked for any signs of monsters and people.

Seeing nothing, Mel shakily dropped to one knee on the edge of the water. Over the last hour, a new status icon appeared beneath all three of her bars. A little blue droplet that meant she was dehydrated.

The fact that it impacted all three resources was concerning.

She had been checking the stream for anything that might foul up the waters, but there was nothing she could find without going further upstream.

It was hard enough work walking downhill with two arrows in her. Going uphill might have killed Mel. She cupped her hands and drank her fill. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she should have found a way to sterilize the water, but these were desperate times. Exhausted, in a world of pain, and dealing with mysteriously winding up somewhere very dangerous, Mel definitely wasn’t in a clear state of mind.

Besides, she had superhuman capabilities. If she got sick, she got sick. You’ll die of dehydration way before anything in the water will get you.

Her throat convulsed at the first few swallows, forcing her to take it easier. The next few handfuls stung her cracked lips, but she hardly cared.

Eventually, the status effect icons went away. Even if she hadn’t looked for them, she would have known that she was on the mend. Her mana and stamina both ticked up at a steady pace. Her health was stuck at 60% until she dealt with those arrows, though.

Note to self: hydration is the key to regeneration.

Now came the part she was dreading. Those arrows had to come out.

She had found an [Exile Survival Bag] on one of those Archers. It had some basic stuff in it, like a few [Rough Bandages], a [Simple Flint & Steel], and a [Threadbare Blanket]. No food, no rations, which wasn’t great. Not even some kind of waterskin. She had some [Managlass Bottles] she could use at least.

Most of the items she gained she tossed at the sight of the battle. She had no need for their soiled red robes, stained pants, or broken weapons. Even though they had some Copper gear, the armor had class requirements she didn’t meet, since her class was Mystic.

What useful items they had, she gladly took. Unfortunately, that meant her inventory was nearly bursting with miscellaneous junk.

Mel silently cursed the Bloodtide for not having any potions that could have easily healed her wounds without issue. Assuming such a thing existed. And for trying to kill me, too, she added. Clearly some of the items they had were stolen from other people, but those people seemed just as destitute as she was.

Judging by how there was still a bit of daylight left, she doubted that there had been much time for the bandits to truly get going. If there were a lot of people here, as the system suggested, she probably had been one of their first encounters.

Three less dickbags to compete with, Mel thought to herself as she spread out the pitiful blanket on a flat rock beside the stream. It was useless for warmth, but its threads were sturdy and strong.

Using a knife she gained from the Bloodtide members, and cursing up a storm, she managed to cut out a few sturdy strips.

Finding a sapling that was thin enough with smooth bark was the real chore. Once she did, she painstakingly reached behind herself. Without her enhanced agility, she didn’t think it would have been possible to tie a strip of cloth right behind the arrowhead lodged in her shoulder.

Despite her higher agility that translated into supernatural flexibility, she couldn’t pull the arrow out on its own. So, she did the next best thing.

Looping one end of the cloth over a smooth segment of bark, Mel pressed her opposite shoulder to the half-foot-wide sapling and gripped the other end.

She took several quick, shallow breaths, stuffed a stick wrapped in cloth into her mouth and tugged with all her might.

Her muffled scream as the arrow ripped itself free barely disturbed the few birds up in the trees nearby. Mel’s vision grew dangerously fuzzy.

She nearly swooned at the throbbing pain, but the bleeding wasn’t as bad as she had feared.

The arrowhead in her left butt cheek was much more accessible, but no less painful. Still biting down on the stick, she agonizingly put her left leg up on a stump and reached down to the broken shaft.

Another muffled scream escaped her lips, but the deed was finally done.

Once her vision stopped encroaching with darkness, she bandaged her wounds as best as she could. Mel’s enhanced agility proved invaluable.

She was afraid of how hard it would be without any sort of tape or glue. Fortunately, the [Rough Bandages] were surprisingly self-adhesive, helping her to staunch the minimal blood loss at the same time.

What’s the difference between normal blood loss and a bleed affliction?

The wounds both bled freely, but without the arrowheads in her, her health was regenerating once more.

Sitting awkwardly by the stream so as not to disturb her wounds, Mel took out one of the glowing mushrooms. “We’re really doing this, huh?” she muttered to herself.

It didn’t help that it glowed a radioactive green.

She seriously contemplated trying to roast it with the [Simple Flint & Steel]. Technically, it was already in an edible state.

It just looked gross.

Even without the flint, she knew how to make a fire. Now that she had a bow, she could make a fire much easier than normal. The problem would be all the bending and squatting to find enough deadfall. That would cause a lot of bleeding, and Mel had been doing too much of that lately for her preferences.

For now, she would take her chances with the only food she had that explicitly said it could be eaten.

Shutting her eyes, Mel popped the green glimshroom into her mouth. She winced and chewed. If it was edible, the system had a real wide definition.

A pervasive smell of dirt filled her mouth and nostrils. It was somehow both dry and mushy at the same time. She imagined this was what it would be like to chew old dirty sponges that had been marinating in a muddy puddle on the side of a dirt road for a week.

If it wasn’t happening to her, it might have been funny in a schadenfreude sort of way.

Miraculously, she managed to swallow and keep it down.

For a moment, she thought it was going to come back up. Something rumbled in her middle, a low threatening sound like a bull about to charge, and then it was gone.

A short-lived, nearly euphoric sensation flooded her body. Her health, mana, and stamina flashed. Each bar took on a glowing hue as their recovery rate increased dramatically.

The effect only lasted a few minutes, but by the time it ended, she was nearly back to full health. Her stamina and mana were maxed out.

“Oh gods, that means I’m going to have to eat more,” she said to herself.

While she was sitting, Mel figured she might as well finally see what the Emporium was about. This was as safe a place as any. It had to count as a haven, right?

Eager to see how many Battle Points she had, Mel opened up the Emporium and was greeted with an unsettling message.

You can’t access the Emporium when you are in danger.

“The hell does that mean?!”