The sound of a rock skittering across the ground nearby caught Adam’s attention, and he turned his head to see a mass of green flesh jumping out at him. Adam raised his stick and blocked the green blur which bounced back, the sound of claws scraping against the ground deafening in his ears.
The little creature crouched low and snarled at him. It was naked, its body covered in dark green skin. Adam put two hands on his stick and kept it between him and his attacker. The creature’s lips and mouth moved, and unintelligible sounds came out before it raised its clawed hands and jumped at him again. This time, Adam was ready for it and swatted it aside with a mighty swing, sending the creature sailing into the wall.
You have dealt 5 damage to your opponent.
The message flashed at him before a scream of pain and anger echoed around the cave. The green angry creature lunged at him once more and Adam batted it away.
You have killed a goblin.
So that’s what it was. Adam smirked. A goblin didn’t seem too difficult. He looked at the dead body and considered what to do with it. Was it good to eat? The smell of rotting meat and sour cheese dissuaded Adam from that notion.
Adam peered down the cavern from where it had come, startled as the goblin faded into yellow dust. He crouched down and saw a small sack inside holding—a single diamond-shaped fleck of bronze, uniform in shape, and the size of his thumb. Picking up the sack and his stick, he walked into the dark.
Rounding a tight bend in the cave, a flickering light came into view, illuminating the path before him. There was a sconce on the wall with a flaming torch set inside. Adam looked at the flaming torch and was amazed that there was no smoke and the flaming torch seemed to not burn down. He took it out and held it out in front of him. He inspected the torch; it looked odd to him. The torch in question was a good two meters long and only barely flickered. He puzzled over why it needed to be quite so long but shook off his musings. The light it provided was enough to see but dropped off after about five meters. Beyond that, the inky blackness of the cave returned, swallowing all light.
Adam stepped forward further into the dark hallway. Another spot of light appeared in the distance where a second torch was embedded on the wall. Who or what replaced the torches on the wall? Did the torches appear by magic? Maybe Dhana also kept the torches from burning out? The second torch grew closer with each step, and on the other side of the light source was a fork in the cave. Words appeared in the ground beneath the entrances of each of the paths.
Adam looked down at the words. The one to the left read ‘strength’ while the word to the right read ‘magic’. How could he read the words? He didn’t remember learning to read but he could read.
Adam looked from one word to the other. Magic was cool and maybe a little frightening, and if he had mana, then magic was real. If mana was linked to the MIND, then it stood to reason that the best way to get magic was to raise his MIND stat. He shook his head and looked down the tunnels. Strength made the most sense to him as that would most likely be relevant to his BODY stat. But he did want magic. How could he get his character sheet back up?
“His screen popped up in front of him. It hadn’t changed.
Adam (First Man)
Level 1 (Progenitor 1)
BODY
MIND
SPIRIT
4
5
4
HP 20/20
MP 25/25
SP 20/20
Feats
Observant +1 intellect
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Adam considered his stats. With five in MIND, did that mean he was meant to go down the magic path? He wanted magic certainly, but if he went down that path it might require him to actually cast magic while he only had his muscles to rely on. To be safe, he would go down the strength path.
Taking a deep breath, Adam stepped onto the path labelled strength. The sounds of a crackling fire and snoring echoed down the tunnel and Adam froze. Were there more goblins? Or were there people? Adam placed the torch on the ground, crept up to the wall and peeked into the adjoining room. It was an open cave with several natural columns created when stalagmites and stalactites met. Glowing coals cast a reddish glow around three creatures sleeping near a fire pit. They all looked like the goblin he killed earlier, with green skin and a compact form. Like him, they were all completely naked. Two males and one female, based upon the similarity of the features to his own. At the edge of the light stood an open rectangular chest.
Adam crouched down. If he could get in close and rely on surprise, he might be able to kill them. Maybe there was something better than a stick in that chest.
He crept over to the fire and with a mighty heave smacked one of the males on the head with his stick. The head caved in with an audible crunch and squelch.
You have dealt 10 damage to your opponent.
You have assassinated a goblin.
The female stirred, turned and looked at him. Adam raised a finger to his lips and shushed the female.
Charisma check successful.
The female nodded and put her head back on the stone. Adam was shocked that it worked. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he moved around the glowing embers to the last male and smacked him in the head with another sickening crunch.
You have dealt 10 damage to your opponent.
You have assassinated a goblin.
The female woke up again and looked at Adam, but this time she screamed at him. So, Adam stepped over her friend and struck her in the head.
You have dealt 10 damage to your opponent.
You have killed a goblin
For killing goblins at a low level you have gained a level in Commoner {Progenitor}.
+1 BODY +2 MIND +1SPIRT +5HP +10MP +5SP
You have gained a perk Staff Weapon Proficiency +10% damage to use with staves and staff like weapons.
Adam took a deep breath, choked on the smell of death and dropped his stick, the charnel smell of blood and gore overwhelming him as the stress of the adrenaline of the situation evaporated. He slumped onto the floor and vomited. He noticed his vomit was green and flecked with blue. Closing his eyes and breathing shallowly, he stood up. His prize had better be worth it.
All the goblins started to glow yellow and then disappeared into yellow dust, leaving behind one bronze shard. He collected it, adding it to his sack. Afterwards, he stumbled over to the chest and opened it. Inside the chest was a leather jerkin and beside it lay a smooth wooden spear with a bronze tip. He reached in and pulled the jerkin over his head. It smelled faintly of urine and blood, he had hoped for pants, but anything was better than nothing. The spear was another issue altogether. As he inspected it, he could feel the smooth polished wood beneath the pads of his fingers. When he brandished it, it felt light and cut through the air with ease. The metal point was sharp but lacked any sort of luster in the reddish glow of the goblins’ fire.
Status, Adam thought.
Adam (First Man)
Level 2 (Progenitor 2)
BODY
MIND
SPIRIT
5
7
5
HP 25/25
MP 35/35
SP 25/25
Feats
Observant +1 intellect
Staff Weapon Proficiency +10% damage to use with staves and staff like weapons.
4 Bronze Shards
With his MIND stat raised to seven something triggered in his mind, almost like an epiphany. He understood that mana flowed around him. An instinct, or perhaps an internal voice explained that mana was a part of everything. His MIND not only increased his capacity for magic, but it also allowed him to control it. He focused on the mana in his body, saw it gather into his hand and pushed it out. A searing blue bolt shot out across the cave, impacting the far wall with a small blast. Chips of rocks flew from the wall and there was a crunching sound.
You have learned [MANA BOLT]
Then came the pain. A searing, burning sensation ripped through the center of his palm, causing him to grip it in an effort to suppress the pain. Adam breathed deeply and the pain began to ease. He opened his eyes and looked at his hand. Upon it was a burn mark with curling black lines traced over the palm.
Adam looked at the message that faded before his eyes. He focused on the name of the spell, and another message flashed in front of his eyes.
[MANA BOLT]
You can focus your mana into a bolt and shoot it from your palm.
Type: Mind
Cost: 10 MP
Range: 25 meters
“Yes!” Adam celebrated with a fist pump. It was then that he noticed that he only had enough mana to cast [MANA BOLT] twice more. He didn’t know how much damage it would do to a goblin he hoped that it would be enough to kill a goblin in one hit, the pain made casting it multiple times a troubling prospect.