“Hey boss! I’ve returned with what you asked for!” Salix shouted from outside the workshop. I loved that he was less formal than the other chimera ants. He had a habit of calling me boss which made him sound like a Yakuza thug, but his lack of etiquette was a perfect change of pace from the other ants. I had wondered if that had something to do with his previous position as a regular guard or if this was just his disposition, but either way, I was grateful for it. For now, He seemed like the only person I could have a normal conversation with.
“Awesome, thanks a bunch! I’m just putting on the finishing touches, would you mind bringing it in for me?”
“Sure, no problem.” Salix came in through the front door with a large animal hide on his back. He carefully laid it out on the table behind me while I finished my prep work. The hide was black with grey stripes and was in nice condition after being thoroughly cleaned in the river. “It looks great, what animal did this come from?”
“A shadow cat. I found the animal not too far from here along the border of Bright Bog and the forest. Dangerous critters if you don’t know how to tell them apart from the foliage. Their blend ability is nothing to scoff at. One minute you’re enjoying a nice walk through the trees, the next minute something that looks like a walking bush is hunting you for dear life. Nasty little buggers. Will the skin work for what you need?”
“Only one way to find out.” I cut the hide into a long strip and anchored it at the bottom of what I was working on. I slowly wrapped the hide around the bottom as tightly as possible until I was sure it wouldn’t fall off. I then used tar and a pin to make sure the hide was stuck to the metal and wouldn’t slide. Lastly, I slid a smaller piece of the same hide around the cover as decoration before using more of the black tar and a pin to secure it in place. When I was finished, I held the katana up to the light to examine its edge one more time. I named the sword ‘Last Resort’, hoping that I would never have to actually use it. The sword glowed to show the naming process had worked, and after appraising the blade I was glad to see it now boosted my strength by 1. Salix whistled to show his admiration.
“Damn, what a beauty. What kind of sword is that?”
“It’s called a katana…” I gave Salix a small explanation on the sword and how it differed from a normal sword. The whole time I spoke, I couldn’t help but get passionate about the signature weapon of my homeland. Salix listened patiently but I could tell something was bothering him and it was distracting.
“You’re making a face. Is something wrong?”
“You sure you haven’t done this before, boss?”
“What do you mean?”
“Is that really your first weapon? No offence, but you’re either a natural or a really bad liar. You seem to know a lot about this.” Oops. Did I tip my hand there too much?
“I guess I just have a knack for this kind of stuff.”
“Uh-huh. Well, it doesn’t matter to me, but it’s kind of suspicious. You might want to come up with a better answer in case someone more inquisitive than me asks.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I said with a smile and a small nod. That was nice of him. If he didn’t trust me, I really don’t think he’d go to the effort to warn me. I should probably fabricate some sort of story, just in case he’s actually right.
“Good. Hey Gerrix, take a look at this!” Salix shouted outside through the window and the muscular chimera ant eventually ducked his massive body in through the door frame. He took a part of the wall with him as he came in and embarrassingly tried to force it back into place like it had never happened. Oops. That reminds me to design rooms for people of his size from now on. I told him not to worry about the door for now and ushered him over to the table where the sword was.
“My king… this is splendid! The detail, the craftsmanship. It’s perfect. I know I’m getting ahead of myself, but do you have enough iron to repair our weapons as well?”
“The thing is, it’s not just about having enough iron sand to make steel. In order to repair melee weapons, I’m going to need a sharpening stone, and a few other tools that I don’t know how to make yet. Also, it seems I can’t make enough materials by myself to keep up with our demand. We need a larger workforce.”
I had made Kera with the furnace and charcoal that we got from a charcoal pit I threw together about a week ago. It was a long, arduous process that required someone watching the furnace the entire time in case something went wrong, but no other methods would have worked with our level of technology. The muscle-heads (my nickname for Gerrix and his siblings) and I had split up into shifts, so the molten metal was never unattended.
The other issue we faced was inefficiency. This was the main reason the Japanese had started incorporating western techniques into their prestigious steel-making processes despite the blowback from the population for abandoning their traditional methods. The quality of steel may have dropped overall, but there’s no denying that the difference made in quantity totally offset any problems people had with the steel that was produced. I had sprinkled in bits of nickel to make the metal stronger while it was in liquid form, then scooped out the slag by pouring it through a sieve. The amount of supplies we had used to do this was insane and it quickly became obvious that it wouldn’t be feasible to continue in this manner. We had gone through nearly nine tons of iron sand and eleven tons of charcoal to make two tons of steel the old-fashioned way. It was painfully obvious to everyone that we would constantly be out of supplies if we continued making steel like this, but that wasn’t the answer Gerrix was looking to hear.
“That’s too bad. This weapon was given to me by the Queen and the edge of my blade is chipped horribly. I’d hate to throw it away and use something else, but I’m starting to get desperate.”
“Huh, I’m sorry to hear that. I wonder if other humans might be able to sell us the tools to fix it if we go to a town or something, but that might be dangerous.”
“Might be? Try definitely.” Salix said with a chuckle. “We chimera ants wouldn’t be able to go with you as protection either.”
“Why not?”
“The human nations and our species haven’t exactly gotten along over the years, so I’m afraid we’d just cause problems for you. We are considered hostile entities to most nations, and Chimera Ant Queens are considered to be Calamity-level threats by the adventurer’s guild. They send people after us all the time. Bringing us along would only be putting you in more danger and mark you as an enemy of humankind, I’m afraid.” Rylix had snuck in at some point while I was distracted and was unloading herbs into storage when she made a good point, I wasn’t aware of.
“That’s too bad. I guess we’ll have to put that idea off for now until we can figure something else out.”
“What will you do now, my King?”
“Honestly, I’m thinking of taking a look around the forest.” I had been stuck at the base for the last few days and was starting to become extremely bored and slightly stir-crazy. I had taken a few breaks that mostly amounted in lessons about sword-fighting from Salix and magic from Rylix, then would have mock-battles where I'd combine what I learned with Gerrix to test out my new skills, but it hadn’t been enough to quench my need for excitement. Between the sword, iron bars, clay bricks and the throwing knives I had also crafted, I had spent too much time slaving over a fire and really needed a break from the intense heat of the forge before I lost it.
“Allow me to accompany you on your walk, my king.” Gerrix loudly declared.
“No, that’s okay.” What I really want is to be alone, Gerrix. Take the hint. I figured he wouldn’t let me go that easily though, so I came up with a plan on the fly to keep the chimera ants busy. “Instead, I need you to get me some of that yellow stone I showed you yesterday. Tell Terrix and Ferrix to start picking up the other minerals I showed them too. We could also use more clay vessels to carry things and put supplies away so Rylix, can you handle that? As for Salix, keep building a stockpile of food for us. Any meat that can’t be consumed right away should be smoked and salted to prevent it from spoiling. Lastly, Rylea should keep an eye on the charcoal pit, the kiln, and the furnace and keep feeding them or we’ll fall behind schedule. Can you relay those orders to the others for me?”
“I will do as you say, my king.”
“Are you sure Boss? I would feel much better knowing that you had an escort with you. The forest is filled with creatures and monsters.”
“I understand your concerns, but I’ll be fine. I’ll take Lucky and Falco (I had named the Targe Mountain Falcon after one of my favourite video game characters) with me in case something does happen.”
“Ok, but this time pay attention to the dog. We all saw how he wouldn’t go down into the wasteland towards the worm ambush and you barely even noticed at all. Having a pet with you that has danger detection is great, but it won’t matter if you can’t recognize when he’s warning you.”
“Ouch, but fair enough. I’ll use Falco to survey the area from the sky too. Does that work for the two of you?”
“Yes my king, thank you for indulging in our selfish wishes.” Gerrix added.
“Dude, you just want me to be safe. That’s not selfish in the slightest. Tell Rylea that I’m going out. See ya later!” I waved goodbye and fixed my new sword to my belt. Damn, this is hard…I’m really regretting not picking up sewing or tanning as starting skills. When it came to making clothing in this world, sewing was an essential skill. I was getting tired of wearing the same clothes every day, but I didn’t have the talent to make my own. I thought I could get by with animal hide once I acquired some, but I quickly learned that I couldn’t even craft basic armour without tanned hide, and I didn’t have enough metal to make plate mail.
The chimera-ants waited until I was out of sight before they finally went back to work. Jeez…I really need to do something about their extreme loyalty before it becomes a problem. Everyone likes to be served, but this is too much even for me… I walked with Lucky while Falco flew above, occasionally using Birds-Eye to make sure nothing was sneaking up on us. The forest was almost silent this morning, minus a few birds chirping in the distance and the wind rustling the leaves. The peace and quiet was really nice and was basically exactly what I needed after seven days of intense crafting.
The different foliage around here is incredible. The forest was filled with several strange plants that I had never seen before. There was a purple flower that looked rather thorny like a rose, a vine-like structure that grew like moss but only on the side of rocks, and a bright yellow daisy-like flower with spotted leaves that looked rather poisonous to me. I gathered a little bit of everything, carefully extracting as much as possible with my little hunting knife. Afterwards, I quickly washed my hands with the water skin in case I got any irritants or chemicals from the flowers on my skin. As I was putting my harvesting stuff away, something shiny in the grass caught my eye that I hadn’t noticed when I initially stopped. “Oh, what’s this?” I bent over and picked it up. I flipped the item over in my hand and examined it. The object was a four-leaf clover charm made of white silver attached to a thin platinum chain necklace. Where did this come from?
“CAAAW!!!” Falco screeched from above me to indicate something was happening up ahead of us. I activated Bird’s Eye again and made Falco investigate the disturbance he discovered. From what I could see, two large heat signatures had trapped a smaller heat signature up in a tree, but the two predators didn’t look like they we’re working in tandem. Judging from the situation, they seemed to be having a violent fight over who got to eat the creature trapped up in the tree.
I probably shouldn’t get involved. If the chimera-ants found out that I walked into danger knowingly, I would never hear the end of it. I turned to leave, and my gut rumbled. Uh-oh. As a kid, whenever I got a bad feeling about something, my stomach would rumble. I had ignored the warning once in the past when a friend of mine had given my girlfriend a strange look, only to discover that they had been hooking up behind my back for a while some time later. When it happened, I decided I would never doubt the feeling again. I need to go over there…That being said, I can’t just walk into danger all willy-nilly without letting someone know…Maybe Salix is close by?
I activated the Message spell and sent him instructions, letting him know what I had found. Luckily, he wasn’t too far off from where I was. He received my message and told me that he was currently west of my location and was on his way over. As I waited for him, the situation started changing rapidly. One of the large creatures had started losing heat fast and was moving much slower than it had a few minutes ago, a sure indicator that it was gravely wounded. The fight most likely wouldn’t last much longer. The other creature had stopped paying it any attention at all and resumed attacking the smaller heat signature up in the tree. The creature would have its prey in a few moments if someone didn’t intervene. I hoped Salix would get here soon. Hold on… could this person be one of the neutral cards The House sent me? If so, I can’t just sit around and watch them die. Watching the situation get worse, I began to panic internally and made my decision. Shit. I really hope this kills me, otherwise Gerrix and the others will probably beat some sense into me later. I made sure my weapons were ready to go and then took off towards the fight as fast as I could.
When I arrived, a grizzly bear covered in armour and a giant black lizard with yellow spots were exchanging blows again in a small clearing. A blonde teenage girl with long ears was dangling from a tree branch right above them, holding on for dear life and screaming her head off. She looked like she was only fourteen years old. The girl must have sensed my presence because her demeanor suddenly changed, and her head snapped in my direction. “Hey you, over there! You’re one of the dirty slave traders who’s been chasing me, right? I promise that I won’t run anymore, and I’ll do whatever you say, please just save me!” Slave trader? What the hell is she talking about? I haven’t been following her either…maybe she’s just delirious from fear?
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of this. Just um… hang tight!”
“Seriously? Does this really seem like the time for bad jokes?!”
I ignored her sarcastic reply and went back to observing the battle. The two creatures were absolutely massive, making the fight truly seem like a clash of the titans. They battled intensely while I watched safely from the bushes, waiting for a safe moment to swoop in. With a mighty roar, the grizzly bear stood on its hind legs and was about to slam the other creature with its full weight when the lizard suddenly spat something in the bear’s face.
I couldn’t tell what the lizard did, but it was clearly a near fatal attack. The bear howled in pain, its fur singed and smoking where the lizard’s saliva had hit it. The bear managed to stay on its feet temporarily, but I could tell that this fight was over. Sensing that this was the right moment, I used a blink spell to grab the girl and move her to safety while the armoured bear crumpled to the ground. The lizard must have seen me move, and it hissed as it stood on its haunches, then shot a glob of spit at us, but we had already gotten well out of its attack range.
The spit hit the ground a few feet in front of me and started sizzling like a piece of meat dropped onto a fire. What the f*ck?! Suddenly the earth started to melt away where the spit had landed. The monster’s saliva ate away at the earth until a huge hole about two meters in diameter appeared right in front of me.
Holy crap! Is that some sort of corrosive acid? If I get hit with that, there’ll be nothing left of me. I need to figure out what other attacks this monster is capable of quickly before I become its lunch. I blinked the two of us again so that we were behind some bushes further away, trying to make sure that we we’re out of the creature’s sightline in case another glob of spit came our way. After making sure that the girl was alright, I caught my breath and cast appraisal. The creature spun around trying to find where we had gone and slowly investigated the clearing as it looked for us.
Name: (Blank) LVL: 25 Sex: Male
Race: Gilly Monster
STR: 9 AGI: 4 INT: 5
CON: 9 DEX: 4 CHR: 1
LUK: 1 WIS: 1
Health: 1200/3400 HP Mana: 1500/3000 MP
Stamina: 28/50 SP
{Acid Spit: LVL 5} {Corrosive Bite: LVL 5} {Paralyzing Gaze: LVL 4} {Rake: LVL 5} {Scale Armour: LVL 4}
{Bleed (x 2)}
A level 25 Gilly Monster!?! Shit. I’m pretty sure this was one of the monster’s the chimera ants we’re even afraid of… It’s only got about a third of its health left but damned it, this isn’t a fight I can win. I observed the monster and tried to find an advantage to exploit when I finally noticed something I could use. Wait a minute, is the monster bleeding? It wasn’t easy to tell, but a dark viscous liquid oozed out of a laceration in the monster’s shoulder. It is! So that’s what that bleed x2 means… it must have received two stacks of bleed from the armoured bear.
I watched the monster’s health and confirmed that it was losing Hit Points at a rate of about 3 points a second. Even if I don’t do any damage to the monster, the Gilly Monster would die in 400 seconds as long as the bleed effect didn’t stop. The terminal prompt also indicated that I was too low a level to tame a creature of this level. If we we’re going to get out of here, I needed to buy time until Salix showed up. The girl behind me was clearly terrified, I could feel her shaking as she clung to the back of my jacket. I didn’t need her panicking and making the situation worse for us, so I calmly gave her instructions while keeping an eye on the monster.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Listen, I’m going to hold this thing back, but I can’t do that if I have to protect you. I want you to stay behind me until the fight starts, then grab my dog and retreat to a safe distance. Can you do that?” She took a moment to process what I said, and the light slowly returned to her eyes. She nodded back to me to show that she understood. “Good. I’ll be right back. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Why would you assume I’d do something stupid jerk-face?!”
“You just seem like the type.”
“The type to do what, exactly?” She said venomously as her eyes narrowed. Yikes. I definitely hit a sore spot there...I’d better be careful with how I phrase this. “The type to get involved even when asked not to.”
“N-nonsense, that’s not true at all!”
Yep, I for sure hit the nail on the head there… “Just leave everything to me, okay? I got this.”
“You can’t! It’s too dangerous!”
“So what?” I gave her a knowing look and a brave smile before I confidently stepped out from behind our cover. Shit, I’m going to die. No Sake, pull yourself together. You can do this! Sike yourself up! Finally getting a handle on my nerves, I picked up a tiny rock from nearby and got a good grip on it. Okay you overgrown lizard, it’s time for us to play. “Please don’t die…” I heard the girl whisper from behind me.
“Hey ugly!” I shouted as I threw a small rock at the creature. The rock bounced off the scales on its back, and the lizard menacingly spun around to face me. Something shiny caught my eye, and I could see a handle protruding from the creature’s underbelly. When I realized what it was, I almost laughed out loud. I’d recognize that handle anywhere. It was my pick-axe Rock-Biter. I guess that explains the two stacks of bleed, one was from the bear and the other from the impaled pick in its belly. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to admire the fact that my trap hurt the creature just yet.
The Gilly monster hissed and made the same motion it had earlier, a clear indication that it was preparing its acid spit ability. Just before the Gilly monster could attack, I swooped into action myself. “Earth Magic: Earth Wall!” I cast the spell, making sure the wall was as close to the monster’s mouth as possible. The spit hit the wall that had appeared, and it began melting like the ground had earlier, but the spell served its intended purposes perfectly. Even though the wall was melting at an alarming rate, the lizard would have to go around it or wait until it fully melted if it wanted to attack again. The lizard howled in anger and began circumventing the perimeter of the melting wall just like I had predicted. My strategy wasn’t finished yet though. I quickly pulled out the five throwing knives I crafted and waited for my opportunity. I really wish I got to test these spells out in combat with Rylix first, but when in Rome…
“Space Magic: Personal Orbit!” I shouted as I let go of the knives in my hand. Four out of five of the knives slowly drifted through the air until they were a few feet away, like a circle of floating steel. A few days ago, my space magic finally hit level two which unlocked two new spells for me; Relocate and Personal Orbit. At this point, I had only ever used the latter skill to make my blacksmith work easier. Personal Orbit made chosen hand-held objects float around the user. Having to keep running back and forth between the tool racks every time I needed something was becoming a major pain, so I started using the Personal Orbit spell to keep the tools close by while I worked. Most people would assume that this wouldn’t help very much, but it had actually cut down on my crafting time significantly. I could also instinctively sense which items were in my orbit and where exactly they happened to be located around me based on their weight, making the transfer between tools a breeze.
I waited until the monster was just about to pass the wall when I threw the last throwing knife that was in my hand. The lizard raised a claw to protect itself and the knife deflected off of it, flying off into the distance after the impact. I had expected that my attack wouldn’t work and was pretty sure I couldn’t pierce its scales anyway based on what Rylix had said, but I still had to try. Seeing the sharp end of the knife bounce of the monster like a basketball was pretty disheartening, but I wasn’t worried. After all, I planned for this. If the scales aren’t an option, I’ll just aim somewhere else.
The Gilly monster seemed to think it had me beat and was practically smiling as it cornered me further. I could sense the malice coming from the creature, but I refused to budge. I quickly grabbed another knife from my orbit and whipped it as hard as I could. The knife tumbled through the air end over end towards its target. The Gilly monster raised its arm once more to shield itself like it had earlier, and now it was my turn to produce a menacing smile. “Space Magic: Relocate!” The knife suddenly vanished from mid-air and reappeared behind the lizard’s claw, still travelling at its initial speed. The look of shock on the creature’s face was palpable, but there was nothing it could do to stop the knife anymore. The blade hit the monster directly in its left eye, causing it to scream and the same dark liquid came leaking out in droves.
“Weak spot targeted. Marksman successfully activated. Achieved conditions required for critical hit. One stack of the status effect: Bleed added to target.” There’s that mysterious voice again…but I can worry about that later.
“Space Magic: Relocate!” Rock-Biter suddenly dislodged itself from the creature, dealing a small amount of damage and causing a fountain of blood to shoot out of the now open wound. The pickaxe appeared in my orbit, and I was about to recover my knives in the same way when the lizard started charging towards me. I didn’t expect it to rush me, and I was caught off guard momentarily. I blinked out of the way and started to run while the lizard chased me deeper into the forest. The creature’s demeanour had completely changed, and I could tell that it no longer looked down on me as weak. The Gilly monster charged forward with reckless abandon, crushing small trees and foliage as it rampaged.
A suicide charge? Is the lizard trying to take me down with it? Damnit, I still need another 120 seconds! It quickly began picking up speed and I tried to put as many trees or obstacles in between us as possible. I ran for what felt like forever, constantly hounded by the sound of snapping branches and twigs that signaled that my pursuer was gaining on me. My nerves began to get to me, and I looked back to see how close the Gilly Monster was when I smashed into something incredibly hard. I bounced backwards and hit the ground in a daze, scattering the items that were still in my personal orbit all around me.
I rolled back over and came face to face with what I collided with. It was a small boulder that was completely hidden in a blind spot behind the two trees I had just run around. I slowly pulled myself to a sitting position while the monster behind me moved in for the kill. Shit… This is what I get for being cocky. I tried to find anything I could use to defend myself, but I was groggy from hitting my head and the boulder was the only thing within eyesight. The lizard casually walked over until we were close enough to touch. The Gilly Monster seemed to be grinning again as it approached me, and a chill went down my spine as I watched it creep forward. The bad feeling arose in my stomach again as I thought about what Rylix told me. “They can be quite…sadistic.”
Uh-oh. I think it enjoys making its prey suffer…I gulped nervously as the Gilly monster suddenly moved. The lizard lifted its scaled arm over its head and grinned evilly as it slammed down on my legs, crushing them completely with a symphony of cracking bone. I screamed in horror and bit my lip hard, which may have prevented me from fainting due to shock, but I couldn’t stop myself from crying when I saw my legs. It was apparent from the condition of my limbs that I couldn’t walk. I could feel my regeneration ability slowly kicking in, but there was no way it would heal my legs in time for me to get out of here. As I cried, the lizard hissed repetitively, and its forked tongue shot out of its mouth. Is it…laughing at me?
A burning rage filled me up internally. I had gotten angry with people before, but I never felt anything like this. It was almost like my drive to crush the lizard was giving me power. “No…I won’t go out like this. I refuse to just lay down and die for anyone. Get it?! You can’t…defeat my ambition. No one can. So... screw y-you…you stupid lizard. You dare laugh at me?! Me?! Well guess what? I’ve got a newsflash for you, asshole. I’m not you’re fucking lunch. You really think you can eat me, go ahead and try…BUT NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS TO ME, I PROMISE I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”
“??? Conditions met. Seed of ??? acquired. Seed of ??? has forced the acquisition of new skills. Fury activated.”
What? I barely had the time to understand what the voice had said when my anger seemed to overtake me completely. The Gilly Monster apparently hadn’t liked my provocation and prepared another glob of acid to finish me off with, but I had no intention of letting a drop of spit ever leave its mouth. “Space Magic: Relocate!”
The boulder I smashed into and had been leaning on disappeared from behind me, and I fell backwards after losing my support. The monster was surprised momentarily but gathered itself quickly and continued its attack. Good. Just a little closer…Judging from the number of times I had seen it use the acid spit skill earlier, the Gilly Monster would always move slightly forward when it dropped back down onto its four legs. Just as the lizard began to launch its attack, the boulder dropped down on its skull like a piano in an old cartoon from 20 feet above, stunning the monster and sending it crashing to the ground with a resounding thud. I quickly removed a healing potion from my bag and drank it as fast as I could. My legs started to glow momentarily before the light subsided. Eventually my legs looked like they had previously, although there were some cuts and bruises.
I carefully tried to stand and was a little bit wobbly, but I could still move slightly. I picked up the pickaxe and approached the creature carefully while using the weapon as a cane. At this point, the Gilly monster only had a small sliver of HP left and was on the verge of death. Its breathing was clearly heavily labored, but after the way the creature had messed with me, I couldn’t care less about the pain it was in. No. I’m going to enjoy this, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop me. I will have my vengeance. The Gilly monster gave me a rather pitiful look, clearly frightened by me as I got closer.
“You see what I was saying now don’t you, you dumb lizard? What did I tell you was going to happen? I tried to warn you, but you didn’t listen. Don’t blame me for what happens next.” I said as I lifted my pickaxe above my head as menacingly as possible. “I hope you enjoyed tormenting me. Luckily for you, I don’t enjoy playing with my food.”
The Gilly monster was visibly shaking but that only made me angrier. “What’s wrong? Are you scared? After everything you did to me, don’t tell me you're afraid now that the shoe’s on the other foot. Don’t worry, I’ll be turning you into some nice equipment, so in a way, you’ll still get to go on torturing and hurting people just like you wanted. Isn’t that nice of me?” The lizard spat its acid at me in a futile attempt to stop me, but I was ready for it.
“Space Magic: Relocate!” The glob of spit vanished before it hit me and smashed into the lizard’s chest as the monster’s scales started dissolving rapidly. The Gilly Monster screamed again, twice as loud as it had previously, and it was really starting to piss me off. “SHUT UP!” I yelled, but the Gilly Monster continued to thrash and roll around. The noise was getting really annoying, and I couldn’t take it anymore, so I decided it was time.
“EAT-SHIT-AND-DIE!” I brought the pickaxe down on the monster’s face once for each word I shouted. By the fourth whack the lizard’s head resembled a smashed pumpkin.
“Stamina pool expended. Fury has now been deactivated.” At this point, I was running on adrenaline and had very little left in the tank energy wise. Extremely satisfied, I let out a war cry and fell to my knees from the exhaustion, dropping the pickaxe from my grip with a metallic clang.
“I think you got him…” I spun around and the elf I saved was holding Lucky with a rather odd look on her face, as she stared at my clothes for some reason. What’s with her all the sudden? Considering the fact I just saved her life I figured she’d be a tad more grateful. I followed her gaze and finally realized that I was covered in blood, guts and brain matter. Crap. I look like I just stepped out of a horror movie. Unable to wait any longer, Lucky leapt out of her arms and ran over to me while I wiped myself off. He happily circled around me while barking and I scratched his ears the way he liked.
“Good, you guys are okay.”
“Yes, we’re fine. Thanks for saving me, I guess.”
“You guess?” I said while rolling my eyes. “Remind me to let the lizard eat you next time.”
“You’re right, that was rude of me. I apologize.”
I hadn’t expected her to say that, and it caught me off-guard. Realizing that she had been through a lot, I forced myself to be a little nicer and not such an ass. “It’s okay…I don’t blame you for being frightened. I need to make sure that we’re out of danger though. Follow me.” I began to walk but the girl seemed reluctant to actually come with us. “Look I don’t have time for you to be indecisive. There may be more creatures around and I don’t have the energy to fight anymore. If you don’t want to come somewhere safe, be my guest.” I said without turning back. Eventually, I could hear the sound of hurried footsteps as the girl ran to catch up to me.
“So, what’s a little girl doing out in a place like this?”
“What makes you think I’m a little girl?”
“Your appearance, your attitude, your general demeanor, the fact you needed rescuing… Need I say more?”
“Only if you want to die! I might look young, but I’m actually one hundred and forty, so treat me with some respect, jerk!”
“Alright, jeez.” Clearly that was a touchy subject. I really wasn’t a huge fan of this elf girl whatsoever, so I decided to continue in silence as we made our way through the forest.
We walked onwards until we got back to the spot where I had found the girl in the first place. As we approached, a small black blob of fur that wasn’t there originally was nudging the armoured bear sadly and making depressing grunts that tugged at my heart-strings. Oh no…Is that her cub? A somber feeling overwhelmed me as I watched the heartbreaking scene play out in front of me. I paused and held my hand up to the elf to indicate that she should stop for now. I knew it was dangerous, but I couldn’t leave the cub without at least trying to help. The older bear’s face was growing paler by the second, and it was clear that time was against us. I cast appraisal magic on the bear so I could figure out just how injured my patient was and got to work.
Name: (Blank) LVL: 16 Sex: Female
Race: Armoured Bear
STR: 8 AGI: 3 INT: 3
CON: 8 DEX: 3 CHR: 1
LUK: 1 WIS: 2
Health: 28/2400 HP Mana: 100/1900 MP
Stamina: 1/40 SP
{Armoured Fur: LVL 3} {Bite: LVL 3} {Charge: LVL 3} {Hibernate: LVL 3}
{Rake: LVL 3} {Tree Climber: LVL 1}
{Corrosive (x 4)}
Shit. The stacks of corrosive are eating away at the bear’s HP way too quickly. I would have to act fast if I had any chance of saving her. I calmly walked over to the bear in an effort to not alert the cub. The little bear glanced over at me but was too concerned about its mother to worry. The cub whimpered softly as I kneeled next to the armoured bear, who painfully opened her eyes to look at me. “That was a pretty impressive fight. You’re pretty tough to still be alive after all that acid, aren’t you girl? Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this for you. Just rest.” The bear of course didn’t answer me, but I could feel her presence calming as I spoke. Good. The last thing I need is the bear lunging at me while I try to heal her.
“I don’t think anything could help her at this point.” The elf solemnly stated as she knelt beside me.
“Even so, I’m at least going to try.” I carefully pulled out a health potion and a panacea that Rylix had taught me how to make. I hadn’t had a chance to test out its effectiveness yet, so I was using this opportunity as a clinical trial.
“What’s that?”
“Medicine. A friend and I whipped it up together yesterday.”
“You can make medicine?!” She loudly exclaimed, barely able to contain herself as she moved into my personal space.
“I’m trying to focus, do you mind?”
“I’m sorry. Please continue.”
I unwrapped the packaging and poured the panacea (which was a powder) on the bear’s wounds. The corrosive stacks slowly declined until the status effect disappeared completely, indicating that the panacea had been a success. I then uncorked the healing potion and carefully poured it down the bear’s mouth. That only leaves me with one potion left… Considering how strong they are, I really need to improve my medicine making skills so I can slam together a surplus of these bad boys. The bear glowed and a healthy light returned to the animal’s complexion, but it still was missing about half of its total HP. The bear slowly stood back up, much to the joy of the cub, and turned to look at me after giving its wounds the once over. The marks from the acid had left scars, but otherwise the bear’s fur was practically back to the way it was before. Before I knew what was happening, the bear suddenly bowed to me.
“Amazing…to think a protector of the forest would actually bow its head to a lowly human…” The girl muttered from behind me, but I wasn’t finished yet. If she thought that was shocking, just wait until she sees what happens next. “Taming Magic: Tame Creature!” I proceeded to also cast the same spell on the cub, and the two bears glowed. After the spell finished the two bears fell into a line and promptly sat on their hindquarters right in front of me.
“You can use taming magic too?!”
“Pretty cool, right?” I could tell I impressed her but I didn’t push any further. “I probably should have asked earlier, but can you tell me what your name is?”
“Why do you want to know my name?” She insinuated, clearly suspicious of my intentions.
“Well how am I going to call you if I don’t know your name?”
“I guess that’s fair. Fine. You may call me Elendria.”
“Okay, Elendria it is. My name’s Adam by the way. So… you’re an elf?”
“Excuse you? I’m a high elf, moron. Can’t you tell the difference?”
“How the hell would I know? I’ve never met an elf before.”
“Please. Clearly you know, otherwise why would you be after me?”
“Honestly, I couldn’t care less about what or who you are.”
“Then why…”
“Why what?”
“Why save me, dummy!”
“Well, you were in trouble and my gut told me to rescue you.”
“What?! That’s ridiculous, stomachs don’t talk.”
“Believe it if you want, I really don’t care what you think.”
“Humph!” Elendria moaned as she folded her arms and turned her back to me in a huff. God…this is why I’ve never gotten along with the opposite sex. I was getting tired of this conversation, so I increased my pace and focused on my surroundings in an attempt to get her to stop talking. I was a fool for thinking that would work.
“Um, Adam? A-are you going to take me back to your slave camp now?” Elendria asked with a worried look, clearly assuming what I’d say next.
“Pardon?”
“As a slave trader, I just figured that-”
That again? I’m starting to get really fed up with this chick. “Again with this slave trader thing? Look lady, I’m not a slave trader and I wasn’t chasing you earlier either alright?! I just happened to live close by and heard the commotion. I ran over here in case someone needed a helping hand, which clearly you did. SO WOULD YOU STOP CALLING ME A G-D SLAVE TRADER ALREADY, OR DO YOU TREAT EVERYONE WHO SAVES YOUR LIFE LIKE THIS?!” I don’t think the elf liked my answer or my bravado. Her eyes narrowed in anger as she looked me up and down. It was starting to make me uncomfortable. “What’s wrong now?”
“So you’re a liar and a slave trader?”
“EXCUSE YOU?!” Now it was my turn to get angry.
“I don’t believe you. Your story is full of holes. I barely just escaped from that hell, and then you show up out of nowhere when I know that they’ve sent trackers after me. Also, you said you were living nearby but this is the middle of nowhere. No one would make this their home by choice. Do you think I’m stupid? I would pretty much have to think that your appearance is just a mere coincidence. Besides, why would a human ever want to help an elf anyway? Our people normally hate each other.”
“Well, the good news is I’m not normal, but don’t worry, I’m sure it won’t take very long for me to hate you either, particularly with how this conversation has gone.”
“Humph!”
“I take it that means we’re done here?”
“Talking to you is pointless so clearly. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that nothing you said makes any sense.”
I wanted to keep arguing with her, but Falco sent me a signal through our shared connection that requires my immediate attention. The bear’s seemed to sense it too, and they stood in position on either side of us suddenly like secret service members getting ready to take a bullet for the president. “As much as I’m enjoying this conversation, it’ll have to wait until later. Can you still fight if you have to?”
“What? Yes I can still fight obviously, but…I’m not the greatest. Why even ask me that?”
“I hate to be that guy, but we’ve got company.” As soon as I finished my warning, a large gang of men burst out of the brush from all around us and they were armed to the teeth with weapons. We're completely surrounded.
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