After arriving back in the clearing, Lee was still upset with himself. I need to do better. He did. He was becoming a liability again. After years of hospital visits, chemo, and needing assistance, he was done with it. It was his turn to help with what he’s been given.
Lee continued thinking while picking up sticks and leaves for kindling. I’m being too hard on myself. It’s been less than twenty-four hours, and I'm acting like I should be fine doing everything perfectly. I need to do progressively better.
Deciding to try to be more proactive, Lee worked his way over toward Neia and handed her the kindling while also attempting to ask more questions. “Neia, I have the Identify skill, but feel like I don't use it often enough. Do you have advice?”
Neia grabbed the kindling from Lee and then proceeded to start another fire with a snap of her fingers. “You were scared.” She simply stated.
Stunned, Lee looked at her. Neia gazed into the fire with a content expression. “Do not beat yourself up over not using your skills and abilities at every possible moment. You are mortal.” She turned to Lee with her hands splayed out.
Lee took a few moments to understand what she wanted. Quickly, he grabbed the squaller steaks from his Hidden Cache and handed them over. “I would still like advice. I need to adjust faster.”
Neia skewered the squaller steaks and set them up to cook. “Use it for truly new things and enemies in combat. I saw the look on your face when you realized you never identified the squaller. Next time, just use it while others are fighting it. It can save your life.”
Ruven then walked into the clearing. Lee never even noticed that he had left. Ruven walked up to the fire as he spoke. “I am sorry for last night. I didn't mean to try to get information from you with your safety as your incentive.”
Lee wasn’t even bothered that much by what was said last night. In his mind, it only made sense. “I accept your apology, thank you.” He sat down with his Jackalope fur underneath him, acting as a cushion for the log. He then began another series of questions. “I have never been in combat. In my world, the worst most people would get in was a brawl. What are some methods you would recommend for a beginner?”
Ruven immediately replied without a second thought. “Spear. Simple, has range, cheap and effective.” He grabbed the cooked steaks and started to hand them out.
As he took a bite, Lee thought about what options he had. He realized that fighting was going to happen, whether he liked it or not.
Neia chimed in. “Have you looked at your stats and thought about what they might align with?” She tore a bite out of her steak a bite as she continued. “You mentioned a dexterity of eight, if your physical stats are low, I would consider looking at some distance options.”
Lee brought up his status.
Name: Lee Barnes
Titles: None
Level:1 XP: 0/100
HP:105/105 MP:175/175
Stats:
Strength: 7
Dexterity: 8
Constitution: 7
Wisdom: 11
Intelligence: 13
Luck: 10
Skills: Identify, Mana Sense, Stealth,
Spells: None
Abilities: Language Comprehension, Healer’s Touch, Hidden Cache.
Looking through, he came to the conclusion that all his physical stats were probably low. Neia called a dexterity of eight low. So he is assuming having sevens for his strength and constitution is also low. After debating on whether or not he should tell Ruven and Neia his whole status page, he just shrugged and decided to do it. They already know I'm level 1 and I have probably a fraction of the skills normal people have.
“I’m going to tell you my status page, there isn’t much on it. I would appreciate your help.” Lee then proceeded to list his whole status.
Ruven seemed to be uncomfortable with hearing his full status, but Neia listened carefully. Once finished, she spoke. “I would assume the average stats for a human is ten, your luck is at ten, and that’s generally a good indicator. Though it may be eight or nine, and you just so happen to be above average.” She finished her steak, tossed the skewer in the fire, then said. “We will leave now, we can continue this conversation as we travel.”
After a minute or two to clean up camp, they began to make their way through the forests once more. Early in the morning, the forest was a wonderful sight. The early birds chirped and as he saw the light from the sun send light beams through the gaps in the low purple canopy, he was momentarily at a loss for words. After snapping out of his revelry, Lee continued the conversation. “How hard is it to learn magic?”
Neia, who was in the front of the group once more, had a faint smile. “You’ve gotten one of the pieces for magic, Mana Sense is a skill not many are fortunate enough to have. Without it, most spells and sometimes skills are impossible to learn.” She weaved her way through the thick forest as she continued. “You’ve seen me light some fires with mana, but that wasn’t a spell. That was Mana Manipulation. With Mana Manipulation you could make mana change types or interact with the environment, like creating a spark, or nudging objects.” She then moved a low-hanging branch, bending it down slightly and making it get onto Lee’s path. Lee, who was watching his footing, didn't notice and walked right into it.
“Is there a method to unlock Mana Manipulation?” Lee asks while rubbing his forehead.
“The way most people obtain it is by creating your own spell.” Glancing back toward Lee, she says, “You’re still a bit far from that I’m afraid. You need to figure out which mana types you have affinities with first.”
Stolen novel; please report.
Ruven immediately cut into the conversation, “Is this wise?” He was directing his question toward Neia while scanning the surroundings.
Niea stopped and looked at him. “It is my choice.”
Ruven looked conflicted but quieted down again.
Suddenly, Ruven's eyes widened, and he dashed forward toward Lee, knocking him to the ground.
Not a moment later, Lee heard a grunt and saw a crude-looking arrow sticking in Ruven's side. “Goblins!” Ruven screamed.
Neia immediately dashed off toward the location where the arrow was shot in the blink of an eye.
Lee rolled over and rose from the ground. His veins were being pumped full of adrenaline as he looked in the direction Neia was headed. He paled slightly as he saw four goblins.
Goblin - Level 2 - These chaotic green skinned tribal humanoid monsters populate most of the wilds of the world. Fights with crude weapons and little to no armor. Ambushes and poisons are common. Very low intelligence.
Lee took in the sight of the four goblins. They were roughly the same in appearance, but they were nothing like what he imagined them to be like. In Lee’s mind, goblins were small, 3-4 foot tall, cute but chaotic treasure gatherers. In reality, they were 4-5 feet tall with bumpy green skin and horrible bright yellow eyes with small black beads for pupils, and a mouth with pointed jagged teeth which resembled needles. They wore next to nothing, just a loincloth and three of the goblins had pointed shaved-down bones for weapons. The other had a makeshift bow. The one with the bow appeared to be female, the rancid and dirty-looking cloth band barely covered her bumpy and warty chest.
Immediately, Lee reached for his belt knife and readied it with a posture he was sure was wrong.
Neia, now finished with her charge, targeted the closest of the male goblins. She grabbed the two hilts on the sides of her waist, and instantly her hands were extended. In a cross-like pattern, the goblin was instantly cut into four pieces.
Not knowing what to do, Lee decided to take a defensive position over Ruven—scared to enter the fray and getting gutted by the bone daggers. Senses heightened and with adrenaline pumping, he heard the sound of the wind, an arrow flew right over his shoulder. After snapping his gaze to the female goblin with the bow, he charged.
His fight or flight response decided to fight it seemed. Running to get shot in the back did not seem like a good idea, so forward it was.
Lee was roughly 20 feet away as he started his sprint toward the female goblin. The goblin nocked another arrow and, once ready, fired again, this time hitting Lee in his thigh.
-20 HP
Lee, now close after taking the arrow, tackled the goblin to the ground. Not knowing what to do, he continuously stabbed with the belt knife in his hand---up and down as fast as he could. The goblin was screaming and smacking him with her fists. She tried to bite on his stabbing arm with her needle-like teeth.
The goblin, deciding that she couldn't reach the knife arm, went for the other and latched on. The needle-like, sharp, jagged teeth penetrate his skin easily, and Lee immediately felt a searing burning pain, causing him to scream.
-32 HP
Lee was lost in the heat of battle. His adrenaline was pumping and his life was on the line. With his eyes clamped closed in fear, he continued with the stabbing. Hoping to take the goblin out before she does the same to him.
He felt something splatter on his face. Snapping his eyes open he looked at the goblin. The head was gone. it was replaced by a sharpened spear of ice. He quickly glanced around looking for more threats, but all he saw was Neia coming toward him with Ruven limping alongside her.
While still in shock and still on top of the goblin's corpse, he looked around the area. He spotted the four pieces of a single goblin in a small pile and two others who appeared to be frozen and cut in two. Frost surrounded their fallen bodies freezing the leaves and ground around.
In its own fucked up way, if you ignored the bodies, it was a beautiful sight. The colorful leaves almost looked like colorful solid crystal shards, contrasting beautifully with the white, chilly ground.
A few moments later, Neia and Ruven arrived next to him. Neia placed her hand on his shoulder, causing him to flinch. With pity in her eyes, Neia attempted to move him off the goblin.
Numbly, Lee followed along with what she wanted. He was still in shock as he looked at his wounds. He can see the arrow in his thigh, and as soon as he registered it, he felt the white hot searing pain. It felt like a piece of hot iron was embedded into his leg as he screamed once more. Suddenly, he yanked it free in his panic.
-7 HP
Seeing the text, Lee looks at his HP.
HP:83/105
HP:84/105
HP:85/105
What? Looking down at the injured forearm, he watches in disbelief as his wound slowly closes right before his eyes.
Looking up, he saw Neia and Ruven both staring at his arm. They were not as surprised as him, but still surprised nonetheless.
“Lee, can you heal Ruven?” Neia asked.
He slowly nodded as he reached out to Ruven. The arrow had already been removed, and all three watched as the small wound healed just from the act of Lee touching him.
“I will loot the bodies.”
Neia started to walk off toward the frozen corpses as she spoke over her shoulder. “You did what you had to do Lee. We will talk more on the journey. Rest a little for now.”
Lee moved away from the bloody and frozen area with Ruven and sat down by a tree. He viewed his status.
Name: Lee Barnes
Titles: None
Level:1 XP: 50/100
HP:105/105 MP:175/175
Stats:
Strength: 7
Dexterity: 8
Constitution: 7
Wisdom: 11
Intelligence: 13
Luck: 10
Skills: Identify, Mana Sense, Stealth,
Spells: None
Abilities: Language Comprehension, Healer’s Touch, Hidden Cache.
All of that… for 50XP…
A minute later, Neia joined them by the tree. “There wasn’t much of any value, just some coins.” She Handed a few copper coins to Lee. He took the coins and put them into his Hidden Cache. “Now, let’s talk about what happened.”
“Give him some time. It was his first battle.” Ruven responds.
Neia started to leave the clearing, with Ruven and a shocked Lee in tow. She didn't even look back as she replied, “It is better to talk when the experience is fresh in his mind. Lee, tell us what happened from your point of view.”
Lee slowly started to come out from his shock. “We were talking, and suddenly Ruven tackled me to protect me. I stood, attempting to defend myself and Ruven, but the female goblin had a bow.” Lee looked around the forest, checking to look for any hidden goblins. “I didn’t know what to do, I just acted and ran at her. I tackled her and just stabbed. Over and over again. She bit me but I just kept stabbing. Then it was over.”
Neia nods. “You did well.” She paused before continuing in a morose voice. “The killing becomes easier with time…”