Coal was able to find out that the whole cave system was a giant spiral, and if you went to the right areas you could skip sections of it and advance your time faster. This vast network of caves was also why it took the others so long get to him since he was going along the spiral directly he missed all the ledges he could have climbed for a quicker ascent. The trip out of the cave system took them less than two weeks and Coal spent most of time learning what he could from the others.
From Natalia he learned how to set traps, and what insects in the cave were edible. Stonebro taught him some of the better ways to swing an axe in combat, and how to recognize some of the minerals found in the rocks around them. Bartram would occasionally stop him and point to a fungus or even the occasional cave moss. He would then show what to do with them, often either eating or sometimes he would mash them up and coat his hammer spike.
There was one time that he came across a different moss though. This moss appeared a little thicker than others around it, sticky in texture with a stalk that appeared almost plump and soft. Bartram was quick to point this out to the others that day, and they spent the rest of the evening looking for more. He learned later that it was a well sought-after herb nicknamed Cave Suture. The leaves of it would work as a minor pain killer. The stems when crushed would release a sticky sap that could temporarily close open wounds and the roots were dried and used for low quality healing potions.
Bartram also showed that if you dig around the bottom of the plants you can release most the roots. He would then cut the larger portion of it away and place the rest back in the ground.
Finally, there was Rendrake. He learned the most from him. In the mornings he would teach him reading and writing in this world’s common tongue then in the evenings he would walk him through the steps he knew about mana manipulation limited though they were. Coal learned how the tree he brought forth was a representation of the world bringing the mana to him. The tree filtered the mana to protect him and made it possible to grab individual threads from it. He also learned that a light touch was much more effective than the rough grabbing he was doing before, and that he can mist his mana into an area and then bring the thread through it.
With this he was able to use his first real spell.
Light. One of the simplest spells to learn, it is a single thread of essence given shape and form through mana. The more you use this spell the easier it is to maintain. Current cost to maintain spell. 15 mana/minute.
Coal was able to maintain it for 83 minutes now while producing the light equivalent of a 60wat bulb. He tried lower brightness to see if he could reduce the consumption of mana to be less than what he regained, but the light production was not linear to cost. Producing a 5-10wat light took 14 mana/minute, and a 250wat light would cost 20 mana/minute and burn him out in just over half an hour.
Coal also tried to have Rendrake teach him some of the body enhancement spells that he knew, but they proved too advanced for him to understand at this point in time.
The trip out of the cave was both anticlimactic, and exciting. The four individuals he traveled with proved both knowledgeable and willing to teach, which left Coal to learn everything he could on the trip out.
For every horrid atrocity this world had shown him so far it was more than making up for it with the shier majestic beauty that greeted him once he was outside of the caves. There was life everywhere from deer to horned rabbits, evergreens that would take ten of him to reach around. Off in the distance he even thought he saw some aurochs. The world was alive with more colors than he ever thought to see in nature. Though it didn’t take long to notice something was off in the distance. While looking around and waiting for his eyes to transition to the now lit world again Coal couldn’t help but smell the trace scents of smoke, rot, and decay. It permeated the area like a soft blanket after a rough night of work. Clinging to some areas while leaving others open.
“What is that smell in the air?”
Tashia stopped what she was doing and sniffed the air as well. “Good catch, your senses must be high I smell it too. If I was to guess id say that a small goblin camp moved into the area in the last month since we were in the cave. I'll scout ahead to see what’s up”
With a grin on his face Stonebro speaks up. “We are in the Nazan province near the capital of Pandora. Pandora is less than a week away, and goblin ears fetch 10 copper each, not including what they have in them. If there are enough of them we can possibly recoup our losses for this quest taking so long.” Frowning at the mention of losses, Rendrake quickly speaks up. “We are D rank adventurers so in out line of work we make around a silver coin a week. This doesn’t make up wealthy, but it will keep you comfortable. This task was an assignment though. Something the local lord requires of the guild in place of part of the taxes.”
“The quest would normally be good pay, at twenty five silver for completion, but split four ways and taking almost three months to complete it is a bight in the pocket."
"By the way, you are currently indebted to the crown for one gold piece. Payable within five years.”
Bartram touches his badge and waves it in front of Rendrake for a minute. “Really Bartram you think he has what it takes?” With a quick nod he signaled his thoughts. “Well since it was mentioned you can always join the guild, and they take on your current debt to the crown, but a percent of all your earnings go to it until the debt is payed back. This will also have them send you to schooling for what ever vocation you choose to specialize in. You will need to proove yourself proficient in battle to obtain a full badge though."
With no better option than the guild at this time Coal shook his head in agreement to work with them until there help was not needed. That, or he came across better options. He was sure they did not just spend nearly three months getting him out of the cave just to get him killed in some random battle out in the woods. After spending two weeks with them so far everything they did appeared to be done without malice, and in complete honesty. And in this harsh world where the strong got stronger, and the week could easily be trampled he was committed to being among the strong.
He had a new body that was already capable of standing up to twice the punishment his old frail self could. He could run faster, hit harder, and now he had magic. That word that was used to describe hopes and dreams. That which allowed impossible to become real. Actual magic, and he was going to do everything he could to learn all there was about it.
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“I will learn all the magic I can and fight for strength. I want to get to the point that I don’t half to rely on others to survive out here.”
While Coal talked Tashia was returning from scouting. She reported a goblin band of around forty to fifty goblins in a valley over the next hill. There was also a path around them, so it would be easy enough to avoid them if they wished. Coal remembered how much it took to take down the troll and asked about the strength of the goblins. He found that they were considered weak creatures but are a nuisance because they attack indiscriminately and breed like rabbits. There biggest threat was their numbers and intelligence. They may not be intelligent when compared to humans, but they were still on par with young children and seemed to relish in making other beings suffer. With this thought process in mind they decided to fight the goblins. Both to get them away from the town, and as experience for Coal. The plan was simple enough. Tashia and Bartram would stay in the vicinity, while Rendrake would use this experience to practice his body magic and staff work. Meanwhile Stonebro would take on the majority of the goblins, and Coal would get what he could. Coal was quick to ask if they had a partying system and was told they would engage it before the fighting. They also argued over the loot split for the fighting since he was not likely to provide any actual support and would be mostly a hindrance for this fight. He eventually relented and gave up his share of loot drops under the condition he got the bounty on the any ears he personally obtained.
Decisions made they decided to wait for mid-day to start the fight, so the sun was in their favor.
Rendrake has asked you to join the party. accept decline
Notice party is set on (shared) experience and all experience will be split evenly between (5) party members.
After accepting the invite Coal got a popup for each of the people in his group.
Name Rendrake Position Leader Rank C Level estimation 21 outings 126 Warning level estimations are based on past fights and are not based from actual level.
Name Bartram Position Druid/Healer Rank D Level estimation 18 outings 86 Warning level estimations are based on past fights and are not based from actual level.
Name Stonebro Position Damager Rank D Level estimation 14 outings 45 Warning level estimations are based on past fights and are not based from actual level.
Name Tashia position Scout Rank D Level estimation 16 outings 68 Warning level estimations are based on past fights and are not based from actual level.
Name Coal Position recruit Rank N/A Level estimation 8 outings 1 Warning level estimations are based on past fights and are not based from actual level.
Surprisingly coal was much higher than he would have expected and was hoping he would not be as much of a hindrance in this fight as expected. Rendrake seamed to stop talking for a second and looked over at Coal as though he was reading his thoughts and spoke up. “You fought a level twelve troll and survived. I don’t know how much was luck, how much was skill, or how much was the weapon you had with you, but don’t get too confident with your rating. Most won’t recognize it unless it is from at least ten outings. Fight with care, and we will watch your back. Don’t push yourself and let us support you. You are here to learn and survive. Don’t let confidence scour your judgement.”
On that note we were off to the goblin camp. Tashia took her place in the trees, and I could see Rendrake begin one of his incantations. Stonebro was swinging his arms back and forth, and Bartram was nowhere to be seen.
With a simple nod Rendrake set it all into motion.
Stonebro screamed as he shot through the brush, and Rendrake was quick to follow.
They were at the top of the vally that the goblin camp was in, and the goblins could be heard just below. For some reason at first his legs refused to move. he started to second guess himself. These were intelligent creatures that had their own life and society, there short heights reminiscent of ugly children, and they were killing them because they were a nuisance. This is what Coal thought till he saw what spilled out of their stew pot when it was knocked over. There lying on the ground in-front of their pot was a small humanoid arm. It was too small to be one of Tashia’s kin and that did not leave a lot of options in his eyes. The next thing he knew he was in the middle of them with one of the hatchets leaving his hand as he threw it at a foe outside of his immediate reach. He saw the axe embed itself into the forehead of one of the goblins and twisted as he swung the other axe at another goblin. Seeing the goblins converge on all sides of him he split his focus momentarily gathering the threads of light in one hand. This time instead of one long strand for continuous light he grabbed little pieces of thread and squeezed them together. He then poured over two-hundred of his mana into it before release.
For a brief moment it was as though another sun appeared above Coals head. All the goblins in the immediate area began to scream in pain and attempt to cover their eyes. Not one to miss the opportunity Coal buried his axe in the chest of one of the goblins getting it stuck in its ribs. Leaving it there he quickly grabbed one of his daggers and stuck it to the hilt into another’s head, causing its handle to snap off. Feeling something knock him to the ground Coal was stunned long enough for one of the goblins to burry a stone axe into his shoulder causing him to shout out in pain. Grabbing the handle of the axe he tor it out and swung it wildly, ripping off most of his gambeson in the process. Now with one arm useless he was beginning to fight more defensively, he used the stone axe to hold off three of the goblins at once by smashing their own weapons into each other. Then the stone axe head came loose flying across the area and disappearing. While jamming the handle of the axe into the face of one of the goblins he had his legs swept out from under him by another. As soon as he was on the ground it sunk its teeth into his good shoulder and began to shake itself unable to move his arms he kicked his legs about wildly until he felt something grab his head. Looking up he could see into the ugly grinning face of the third goblin. It was pulling back on his hair with one hand and holding a Kris shaped dagger in the other. Raising the dagger into the air in begun its decent.
All coal thought was that he would watch this till the end, and if he was fortunate then this world would have a Valhalla. He could go there and watch the Valkyries. He could die and know that magic was real. Watching as the dagger came down at him he followed its motion as it came closer and closer. With the last of his energy he threw his shoulder forward. The one with the other goblin bighting on it directly into the path of the oncoming blade. The blade stuck, and the goblin screamed as it jerked it back and forth. Coal screamed with it as the tip of it was pinned through the scull and into his shoulder.
The screaming seamed to last an eternity before it finally stopped. The silence was caused by the sudden growth of a crossbow bolt out of the goblins forehead.
Lost in the fight Coal forgot about the others out there fighting beside him. Finally taking a moment to look around he could see the other four members standing there looking at him. Seeing himself from there point of view he had a damaged leg and two mangled shoulders making his arms useless he used the remnants of his adrenalin high to say the most appropriate thing he could think of before passing out “Tis but a flesh wound”.