I start to doze off but a cute sneeze wakes me up. This has happened several times now. No matter how hard I try, I can’t sleep. The cold assaulting my body. The strange noises of the night. The risk of people finding me. The hunger. They all keep me awake.
“I need to do something or I’ll get sick” I clean my runny nose with my sleeve and stand up. Almost immediately my vision starts to get blurry, forcing me to sit again.
“Not this again!” I grab my head in frustration and start walking towards the street. I need to find a way to make money quick or I won’t survive. I try to focus my eyes to get rid of the dizziness and that’s when it appears again. That weird hud I could not read.
“No, wait… I can read it now, what is this!?” The excitement made me speak at loud. Embarrassed, I look around but no one is paying attention to me. It seems only I am able to see it. It again goes away when I stop looking at it. I decide to return to my alley and investigate this weird hud.
“I should have done this from the beginning“ I focus my eyes and it appears again. The gray, translucid, rectangle in the middle of my field of vision has an array of numbers and letters written on it. It meant nothing to me when I first saw it but now I understand that this is written in this world’s language. "These are this body’s stats?".
Level 1 Hit Points 14/15 Stamina 7/10 Mana Points 28/30
STRENGTH: 5
INTELLIGENCE: 15
DEXTERITY: 11
SPEED: 15
CHARISMA: 2
“This can’t be right. There must be some kind of mistake.” Seeing those low numbers is disheartening to say the least. I was kinda hopping to be an extremely overpowered hero or have some broken hidden talent but now I am glad I did not pick up any fights here. This body is really weak.
“N-No, I can’t lose hope now. Maybe these are really high stats for this world. I have nothing to compare them with so I can’t say for sure these numbers are low…ha ha ha” Trying to escape the bleak reality in front of me, I look down and notice there is more at the bottom.
“Skill List? This is what I wanted!” As soon as I stare at it, the status screen closes and a new window pops up.
SKILL LIST
/steal/ Allows user to steal a random skill from a target
/stone skipping/ Allows user to bounce flat stones across water
/bilingual/ Allows user to speak and read the common language of the empire
“Well, that’s disappointing” All these skills seem weak, none look like the kind that would let me slay dragons or save damsels in distress. Being an adventurer and getting rich exploring dungeons seems like a very unrealistic dream now. I close the Skill List and hug my legs. With a heavy sigh I close my eyes.
A cute sneeze returns me to reality. “I don’t have time for this, I need to get money quickly and find a place to live. I can't keep living like this” I open the status screen again. “There must be something here I can use”
I read the Skill List again and again until I reach some conclusions. I must have obtained /bilingual/ and /stone skipping/ from those men that attacked me. That means I had /steal/ from the very beginning. It must be that black wind that let me escape. /bilingual/ is the reason I can talk to people now. /stone skipping/ sounds completely useless. After thinking it for a while, I decide that I want to test my /steal/. “If I don’t have any cool powers all I need to do is steal them!”
With that in mind, I get out of my alley and look around trying to find an easy target.
As usual, the main street is filled with people. I look at the travelers carrying swords and shields. They all look tough, getting in a fight with any of them would be a bad idea. I look at the villagers chatting at the marketplace. They all look weak, I don’t need more useless skills. I look at the guards in silver armor. The female guard with the giant sword is easy to spot, she looks very dangerous so I hide behind a house before she sees me. I look at the forest. Then I remember those dudes in the inn were talking about wolves and goblins. A weak monster would make for an excellent test target, they should be easy enough to defeat and they probably know skills normal villagers and travelers don’t know. With that in mind I venture into the forest.
After walking for a few hours I hear an animal growling. I quickly hide in some bushes and start sneaking around. It takes me a few seconds to process what my eyes are seeing. Two imposing beasts are fighting over a carcass. One black and the other white, they only resemble wolves in their silhouette. Their fur looks as sharp as spikes. Their paws are scaly and end in five claws. Most astonishing of all, their tails seem to be completely made of fire. Fighting these things would be a terrible idea.
That’s when I realize they haven’t noticed me. They are fighting each other. I foolishly think to myself that I don’t need to fight, all I need to do is steal from them and hide away. The white one is the closest. Only a few meters in front of me, giving me its back. The black one is on the other side of the carcass, staring at the white one. I open the status screen to look at my skills again and ready my dagger, just in case. I wait until they start fighting over some bones.
“This is my chance!” I activate my /steal/ skill. It comes to me as easily as walking or breathing. As soon as I think about it, I extend my right arm and a black wind extends from my hand. It hits the white wolf on its back. The effect is immediate, I focus on the screen and a new skill is already listed there.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
SKILL LIST
/steal/ Allows user to steal a random skill from a target
/stone skipping/ Allows user to bounce flat stones across water
/bilingual/ Allows user to speak and read the common language of the empire
/bite/ Allows user to exert extreme force with their jaw
I soon realize averting my gaze from the wolves was a mistake. The black one seems confused at first but the white one is already charging towards me. They found me. It seems /steal/ is not an stealthy skill, the victim immediately notices something is wrong and where the culprit is. Before I can even react, the white wolf tackles me to the ground and gets on top of me. It menacingly opens its mouth but those shark like teeth don’t burry into my flesh. It doesn’t bite me. It forgot how to.
I don’t have time to think. In a panic, the trembling hand holding the dagger moves and stabs the wolf. I roll to the side to use the white wolf as a shield and see the black wolf’s teeth sink into the wounded monster, tearing a chunk of its flesh. The thick fur of the wolf provided no resistance. The monster’s leg muscle and bone are now exposed. I keep rolling to create some distance between us and realize I let go of the dagger. A quick look lets me know it is still firmly buried inside the injured white wolf. The black wolf growls at me with embers coming from its mouth. I try shooting /steal/ again but the beast dodges it and starts running towards me.
Seeing the bleeding wolf on the ground and my dagger still on it I realize there is nothing I can do. All my thoughts grew to a halt and fear fills my mind. I cannot think. I cannot run. I cannot fight. I have no weapon. I have no armor. My skills are useless. If the black wolf bites me it is all over. If it bites me.
With an almost primal rage I rush towards the black wolf. Ramming into it sends my tiny body flying to the ground. The grass below and the sky above violently switch places as I roll and a dull pain extends on my chest as I suddenly come to a stop. All the air seems to have escaped my lungs already. With no time to think, my hazy mind focuses on the black beast currently on top of me. As its fangs approach me I use both my arms to grab the fur on his neck and manage to hold onto it with an embrace. Like it tried to do to me, I burry my small teeth into its neck. With more force than my jaw should be able to generate I bite down and manage to tear out a chunk of its flesh. Blood starts pouring over like a fountain and the injured animal gets off me.
With a weak howl the white wolf charges towards me but now its movements are slow and sluggish. I easily evade the attack and bite into its skin. Pinning it down with both my hands, I use /bite/ one last time. As I firmly hold the wolf’s leg on my mouth I pull as hard as I can. With a sharp sound whatever was keeping the leg attached breaks and I fall on my butt with the severed limb still in my mouth. The now red wolf lies on the ground defeated in front of me, allowing me to recover my dagger. The limping black wolf tried to attack me as I grabbed it but I quickly turned around and stab it in the face. The black wolf is now dead. The white wolf is in a pool of its own blood.
With jagged breathing I slowly realize that I won. It doesn’t feel real. With a wicked smile on my face I start to laugh. The fear is still there but an overwhelming joy starts filling me as well. Sadly the happiness is short lived.
A weird taste permeates my mouth. With foolish curiosity, I explore my gums with my tongue until I realize a disgustingly squishy object is stuck between my teeth. Touching it with my tongue was a mistake. Recognizing the taste of flesh and blood I can’t help but puke. Luckily for me I had not eaten in a few days but the flavour of bile is still disgusting.
I rest my back on a nearby tree until I calm down. I can still hear the white wolf whining in the background from time to time. I cannot help but feel bad hearing the animal in pain. Guilt starts filling me as well.
“I really should end its pain”
To distract myself I decide to open my status screen. To my surprise, I leveled up.
Level 2 Hit Points 13/16 Stamina 5/20 Mana Points 26/32
STRENGTH: 10
INTELLIGENCE: 16
DEXTERITY: 11
SPEED: 20
CHARISMA: 2
Not the kind of gains I would have hope for but not bad either. It is a bit disheartening seeing charisma not go up at all and Stamina being that low worries me a little.
With some trouble, I get up from the tree and walk towards the black wolf. Now that is safe there are a few things I want to confirm.
I open the hud and shoot /steal/ at the wolf. My MP goes down by one but no new skills appear. I deduce I can not steal from corpses.
I walk towards the other one and see it is still agonizing. I use /steal/ on it and once again my MP goes down by one but no new skills appear. I remember the white wolf is the one I stole /bite/ from and deduce I can only use this skill once per target. Considering I used it several times today there should be no limit on how many times I can use it other that my limited MP.
I am feeling very tired already so I decide that this is enough for today. The experiment was a successful one. I proved /steal/ to be useful and gained a powerful combat skill in /bite/. With a heavy sigh I tell to myself that “I need to think positive”
I burry my dagger on the monster’s neck, killing it.
The sensation of the blade cutting through its flesh and bone crawls up my arm. With no danger to distract me, the weight of killing that wolf fully sinks in. It is completely different from killing those dumb birds. It is completely different from killing that first wolf. I slowly back off and sit near a tree. All I can do is hug my legs and burry my face on my knees. Almost immediately, my body starts to shake and tears start to flow.
By the time I calm down it is already sunset. The forest around me is surprisingly dark. Staying here any longer would be dangerous. After all, the corpses around me could attract more wolves or other wild animals. I look at them one last time.
“Should I sell their pelt?” I ready my dagger but quickly realize I have no idea how to skin it. Then I remember the merchants won’t but from me anyway and put my dagger back on its sheath.
“But it is such a waste to kill an animal like this…maybe I should eat them” The thought alone makes me feel sick. Remembering the texture of the wolf’s flesh I puke once again. I had no idea it was even possible to puke this much on an empty stomach. I quickly clean my mouth with my cloak. The mix of blood and bile is disgusting to say the least. Seeing blood I first worry I may be injured but I soon realize it must be their blood. Touching the dry blood on my lips makes me feel dirty. Seeing the stain on my cloak makes me feel dirty.
“I can’t return to the village looking like this” I stumble around for a while and manage find a small river. I must be close to the place where I first arrived.
Looking at my reflection on the water I can no longer say this face is cute. Covered in blood like this I am nothing but dirty. I wash my face with a disgusted look in my eyes.
No matter what I do the stain on my cloak doesn’t go.
By the time I make it to the village it is already dark. The wet cloak sticks to my body making it unpleasant to walk. My crotch feels uncomfortable because of the lack of underwear. My feet hurts because of the lack of socks. Seeing the female guard in the distance, I sneak into an alley. It takes some time but I finally return to my spot.
I sit on the floor and hug my legs, resting my shoulder on the side of a barrel. The cold wind pierces through my wet, dirty, cloak.
I don’t sleep that night.