Ben collapsed to the side of the goblin monster he had just felled, breathe heaving out of him in ragged bursts, the reality of what they'd just done settling into him.
"Are you alright? Dying?", Mari said, her eyes looking a bit glossy, clearly in shock.
Why am I not losing it? Ben wondered, looking at the changes to his status.
Status
Name: Benjamin October
Core Talent: The Passivist
Level: 4
Grade: 1
Points: 130
HP: 59/130
Mana: 130/130
Strength: 10
Fortitude: 16
Dexterity: 11
Wisdom: 10
Intelligence: 11
Willpower: 15
Skills
Actives: N/A
Passives: Hardened Skin 3; Reinforced Fists 3; Hiking 1; Identify 1; Sneak 2; Persuasion 2; Cool-Headed 1; Unarmed Combat 2
Hm, must be the new Cool-Headed passive. I feel much... Cooler I guess. He thought, slightly shaking his head at his inability to think straight. "Yeah I think I'm fine, not actively losing health at least.", he responded.
Slowly he took stock of himself, patting his body and checking for breaks. His arm that he'd swung with was definitely in a lot of pain, but no clear breaks could be felt, seeming to be fractures and bruising at most.
Looking around the hut they'd fought the ogre in, he found a place to rest as he inspected the room closer. There was a wooden crate in the corner, which upon closer inspection looked to be a chest with the top ripped off. There were also skins stretched out in the hut with various nuts, fruits, and dried meats available. Ben grabbed some nuts and motioned for Mari to approach the chest with him. Laying inside were a few treated furs and clothes that looked to be stained with blood.
Oh no... Ben thought as he picked through them slowly.
It looked like two outfits total, both appearing to be in men's sizes.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
"Looks like they weren't as lucky as us.", Mari muttered quietly before turning to pickup the axe from the crater in the floor it had caused. Immediately she began swinging it around, small puffs of flame emanating off of it with each pass.
"Well at least we got something out of this I guess.", she said as she slung her spear over her shoulder setting herself up to carry both weapons.
"We still have the cave to look through.", Ben said quietly, "There could be more enemies about so don't get too comfortable.", he finished as he threw the clothing back in the chest and turned toward the cave entrance.
----------------------------------------
The duo had made it about 30 yards into the cave before it began smelling musty, the lack of airflow being apparent, despite that there were still torches regularly on the wall, so they pressed a bit deeper.
Finally they encountered a single goblin, seemingly in a prayer stance at the bottom of the cave. It was sitting before a small mound, light emanating from within it. The temperature in the cavern feeling slightly higher where they were.
After motioning to Mari, quietly, Ben snuck up behind the shaman, easily slipping behind it due to it's trance like state. Swiftly he grabbed its chin and the other side of it's head and twisted viciously, feeling a pop indicating tearing in its neck as well as dislocation of its bones.
The duo watched wide-eyed as the goblinoid violently flopped on the ground, before finally falling still after around 30 seconds.
Goblin Shaman Killed > 30 points rewarded
"That was nothing like the movies.", Mari muttered, disgust in her voice.
"Yeah. I almost feel bad. That was... Rough. I think he may have been some kind of mini-boss or something, I wonder what he was doing down here.", Ben said, before turning and kneeling next to the mound.
Reaching out slowly, Ben touched the mound with his uninjured hand.
Natural Fire Mana Spring found! Would you like to attempt to absorb it? Y/N
The system flashed in his mind.
"Ooo. Looks like this is why they were here. Maybe it has something to do with the axe?", he motioned for Mari to touch it too, seeing the flash of recognition when she did.
"Maybe? What do you want to do? Do you want to try or what should we do?", she responded.
"I don't know, I don't know if I can, it seems we can fail if it's specifically saying attempt. Also I don't want to just hog this if it's a potentially valuable resource.", he said weakly, knowing he wanted to take it for himself despite his words. It was quickly becoming clear that power was the new currency in the world, without it he would quickly cease to exist.
"No, you should take it. You came here with me to exact revenge, plus I've got this axe to do... Something, with. You've done me plenty of solids, plus there will be more coming with any luck.", she told him.
Here goes nothing. Ben thought, confirming the notification in his mind.
Immediately a searing sensation shot through his arm, causing a scream to erupt from him. His skin quickly bubbled up to his elbow, clear severe burns appearing, before all at once it stopped and another notification appeared as the mound faded to regular earth.
Skill Flame Touched Level 1 Acquired
SHIT! Ben thought quickly summoning his health.
HP: 32/130
Idiot! I should've healed more before I tried something that could clearly fail. He could only shake his head and watch to see if it ticked down any more. And after a minute or so of Mari pacing behind him, unsure of what to do, it did.
HP: 31/130
"Shit. I think my body is under too much stress. I'm losing health steadily now when I had been gaining it after the fight. Give me a second I'm going to try to get something from the Weave so I don't die.", he muttered concern pushing him to act.
Points: 160
Query for healing or health regeneration passives that I can afford. He thought, hoping it would work, and it seemingly did, a gargantuan list scrolling in his mind.
Frantically he searched through the list, his eyes catching something for 150 points that he instantly bought.
Skill Minor HP Regeneration Enhancement Level 1 Acquired
He then peered back at his health, after about 30 seconds it once again ticked up.
HP: 32/130
"OH THANK GOD! I'm so freaking stressed out in this stupid reality!", Ben yelled as he let himself fall backward to lay flat again the cool earthy floor of the cave.
"So no dying today?", Mari questioned, nervously chewing at her thumb.
"No, well, hopefully not.", Ben considered. "I got some kind of passive called Flame Touched from the mound. It feels like it's making me more resistant to flames and something else? I don't know it's not like when I've acquired skills before from the Weave or learning them, it's like something foreign was just stitched onto me.", he squeezed through gritted teeth, the pain in his body and arms almost too much to bear.
"Well. It must be acting through some other mechanism or something." Mari considered staring off, "Anyways, lets head back up and we can take a rest in one of the unoccupied huts. They had plenty of non-meat that we can snack on, maybe we should just camp out?"
"Nah, I'd hate to be sleeping and a roaming band of the pests came back to bed down, just to find us.", Ben replied, feeling the cave begin to cool down, now that the power had sapped out of the mound.
"Good point. C'mon, I can help you back to the campsite, I'm not feeling too worn-out, well, not as bad as you look anyways.", she half-chuckled, awkward about the damage her new impromptu teammate had undergone.
Carefully they began the exhausted walk back to the clearing Ben had found Mari in originally.