My head hurts……

So does my body..

That healing spell did nothing. I feel like I got hit by a truck.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck…

But hey, at least this pillow is soft while I lay here on the ground. So squishy I could just bury my face in it forever and melt.

Wait. Hold up.

Pillow? I don’t remember buying a pillow, nor remember being reincarnated with one. It feels soft, like really soft. Maybe I should just ignore the questions and continue to rest? No, I’ve already thought about it, can’t stop thinking about it. Goddammit.

I slowly open my eyes. My god is everything blurry for a bit, but as I slowly come to, I see a wall, an extremely flat wall, no wait, that’s just Nephele’s chest. So her thighs are this soft?

Nice.

I blink a few more times and try to sit up, but every single cell of body has rejected that idea. I just groan. Nephele looks down to me. Her face oddly comforting to me right now.

“I see you’ve come to. Any pain?” she asks

“Everything….hurts..” I say slowly

She actually chuckles at my words. Nephele helps me up and slowly leans me against the cave wall. Right, we’re still here in the cave. Don’t know why I thought I was elsewhere.

“I took the liberty to bandage you before myself. You still had a few injuries that need to be healed. I’d also recommend some more rest.” She says

I glanced down to my arms and saw the bandages. That’s why everything felt a bit more constricting. I feel some bandages on my stomach as well. Is this the way athletes feel? Because its fucking miserable.

I just sigh and look around.

Wait, where’s Artemis? And some of the chests and urns have been opened already.

“We came to sooner than you and opened some of the urns and chests. Artemis only took a small share of drachma and a few items before saying she needed to leave. The message she asked me to convey to you was just a simple thank you.” She informs me

I just nod.

I’m a bit sad about that. I wanted to get to know her a bit more, but I’m still convinced she’s a god in disguise.

“So, what happens now?” I ask her

“The same thing we discussed before. We travel to Scrya together.” She says

I nod. Oh yeah, think I’ll level up while we’re still here. I got six levels from that boss fight.

I open up my inventory and a prompt appears asking if I want to level up, naturally I nod. Alright let’s increase mana-, no wait, actually, I should increase all three twice, that’s the better idea. Let’s just start with Stamina.

Health: 75/75

Stamina: 60/60

Mana: 200/200

Oh? What the hell is this?

Congratulations on reaching Level 3! From this point on 90% of external visual aid shall be removed and re-configurated!

Please enjoy your life!

Wat.

The fuck does that mean? Is that tied to why Neph couldn’t see the others on the HUD?

Holy shit that means everything till Level 3 is partially smooth sailing for most people, not me. That makes sense why everyone was so weirded out by a level one elf. I’m guessing the average human reaches level three by the time they become an adult. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck man…

The prompt disappears and another one appears.

Viewing of party member(s) health is removed

Viewing of another’s level is removed

Player level visibility removed

Player statistical notebook added to inventory

O-Okay…

That’s just fucking weird. I guess it makes sense to partially normalize the world maybe? I’ve got no clue. Let me just get this leveling over with. Mana, Health, Stamina, Mana, Health. Boom. New numbers look pleasing, I’m finally getting somewhere.

Health:125/125

Stamina: 75/75

Mana: 300/300

Alright, I should reforge my summon spell now as well actually. I close out of my inventory for a second to catch my breath, but I already see the major change. Technically Nephele is still in my party, she’s not in the top corner of my HUD though and the party name has disappeared.

Matter of fact, only a small diamond is in the top left corner of my HUD, my health, stamina, mana bars are center bottom of my HUD. That’s all. Huh, it’s much more minimal than I expected, but not terrible.

I open my inventory back up and navigate my way to my spells. Good point of reminding myself that I have quite a few spell books I need learn. Oh! And the other items I found. Going over my summon spell I’ve got the new option of reforging. I just give it the mental command to do so and in the blink of an eye it changes from Summon: Skeleton to Summon: Skeleton Warrior.

The true upgrade my man deserves! I’m excited to summon him up again.

I close out of my inventory and lean back on the wall. I’m still so goddamn exhausted. How the hell are we going to reach Scrya anytime soon? You know what? I’ll think about later. Let’s actually see if the loot was worth it at all. I look to Nephele.

“Can you help me stand up? May as well get the search over. Did you pick out anything?”

Nephele stands back up and reaches down to help me. She struggles a bit but hey! I’m standing on my own two feet even if they’re shaking like hell.

“I will admit, I had some minor troubles bandaging and moving you.” She mentions

You’re talking about my massive mommy milkers aren’t you? Probably. Or calling me fat. I’d rather it be my big tits instead of my weight.

“Sorry about that.” I say with a nervous chuckle

I move slowly to the bundle of untapped loot and just think about what to open first. Big moment in my life right now.

“From what I did find with Artemis I picked out a dagger and short sword. She picked out a bow and long sword. The urns are mostly filled with drachma. Artemis took only a hundred to my surprise.” She says

“How much was in total?” I ask

“Five thousand.” She doesn’t miss a beat with that response

Dear lord. Five fucking thousand? Holy shit I’m set for like a year or two even with half of that. Maybe even life if I retire now, okay maybe not life, a good few years if I don’t get robbed or buy anything ridiculously stupid.

“Want to split it now?” I ask her

“I’ll begin the unpacking from the urns then. Do open the chests, I’m partially curios about everything else we’ve garnered.” She says

Fair point. Fair point.

She moves past me and starts grouping the urns together. While she does that let’s look at these chests. They genuinely look like the most basic and universal loot chests you’d see in any game. A shame they aren’t Greek themed, but hey, no game is perfect.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I lean forward and unlatch the largest chest of the bunch. Fuck me, it’s pretty heavy. Slowly, I manage to lift it and throw the chest lid back. I almost fall onto my ass, but I catch myself. You know I might need to kneel down for this thing. Wonder what we got. I glance inside and something catches my eye immediately.

Yoooooo! Is that a staff? Like a mage staff?

I reach down to grab it. You know how you usually expect a mage staff to be made of wood right? Wood with an orb at the top or something. Intricate design and all that jazz. This doesn’t feel like wood. This feels like something much harder, and it feels a bit heavy.

Bringing the staff out of the chest I grab with my other hand as well and just look it over. It’s a mix of white and black, more on the white side though. The bottom part is flat, probably helps with travel and balance, but it has a design around it.

Looking at the head of the staff I can clearly see there’s no orb there. The entire head has the shape of a circle? No wait! I know that symbol. That’s a strophalos. That’s a symbol of Hecate. It's pretty large.

Staring at it a bit more a small indicator appears above the staff. I just nod to it and a yellow outline appears around the staff. A prompt appears.

Great Strophalos Staff of Hecate

Oh, that’s new, and a nice touch if you don’t mind me saying.

So, I’ve got a mage staff now. A decent one at that from the looks of it. I’ll need to look it over a little bit later. I wonder…

I hold the staff close to me, giving it and myself the mental notion to have it transfer to my inventory. It takes a few seconds, but I see it de-materialize and go inside me. Nice, getting the hang of it.

I look back into the chest and reach down, grabbing what feel like shoes. Pulling them out my random touching of unknown things doesn’t fail me again. But these do not look like boots I can wear. Looks a bit thick for mage armor. I place them next to Nephele.

“They might fit you.” I tell her before turning back to the chest

Seems like we’ve got some smaller gems, nothing too big. I take those out and place them in my bag. Some arrows? Weird. I’ll just leave them there.

Hmm? Some gauntlets? Extremely heavy. I pull them out and just drop them right beside the chest. Those are getting sold hopefully.

There’s still some more stuff inside, but while we’re here I may as well open the smaller chests. I pull them close and actually sit down. I open up the smallest ones and take out the items.

Both a journal of handicraft and a recipe to make a Gorgoneion. Huh. I guess that’s an Athena thing? I know a lot, but not everything about the gods. But this isn’t a bad thing to have honestly, having handicraft or well knowing the artisans trade is pretty good for a variety of crafting.

With that chest being empty, let’s move to the next one. Opening up the second smaller chest all I can find is about two spell books. It looks like we have Light and Night Sight. Very nice, very nice. Helps me quite a bit.

I transfer all these to my inventory, I can put them in my backpack later. You know I actually feel heavier with all this stuff. That’s crazy.

Do we have any more small chests? Two more from the looks of it. I reach over for them and pull them close. I glance over to Nephele. She’s still in the midst of gathering all the drachma while also looking over the boots I gave her. I took for granted how easy chest to inventory transfer is huh? Plus that’s like pure gold I think. Shit can be heavy if not in your inventory.

Back to my looting though. I open up both chests. We have a small mirror and a ring. Okay. I expected a bit more, but oh well. I just transfer them to my inventory and turn back to the big chest and reach inside again.

I grab onto something light and pull it out. A rusted sword? Really rusted and quite old, pretty much useless. I just place it aside and reach back in. This thing feels odd. I pull it out and huh, a statue of Aphrodite. She’s uh, pretty hot. Jar material not going to lie. I might keep this actually, not for those kind of purposes, just aesthetic reasons. She also did give me that blessing.

Do we have anything else inside? I grab onto the sides of the chest and pull myself up and look inside. Clothing. Looks nerdy enough to be mage robes, I mean I hope they are.

Reaching down and pulling it out I can see that its just basic clothing. Goddammit. I just toss it aside and sigh. That should be it. I just lean against the chest and groan again. I don’t want to move at all today, but I don’t have the current luxury to do that really.

“Ynnessa, could you please come here for a moment?” Nephele calls for me

I glance to her looking down at the drachma, I wonder why. I slowly stand and make my way to her. I glance to where she looks and all I’m seeing is a map, I think.

“A map?” I ask

“A map of Scrya and her defenses, it was left here. Most likely on accident by the Hobgoblins.” She guesses

Nah, them fuckers can be dumb and I mean capital D dumb.

“What do you want to do with it?” I ask her

She just tears it to pieces and stands up.

“We must set off soon.” She says, moving past me “Your share is laid out, start packing up.”

Fine…fine….don’t be so bossy, not now anyways…

I just sigh and move in front of the gold and transfer it to my inventory. I look back to Nephele who is almost done packing up, she even packed away the stuff I left out of the big chest. Goddammit don’t be so fast!

God I just feel like whining today. Fuck!

I start gathering up my things as well, transfer a few items to my backpack and re-materialize my new staff. It takes me about five minutes, but I’m packed and ready. I can already see Neph moving to the entrance of the cave. She’s not really waiting on me.

I just slowly follow behind her, I’m not running today, even with a full bar of stamina. I need like a carriage to learn my new spells and some downtime to test this staff out. I’ve got a guess of what it can do combat wise. I’m also guessing it has some minor martial uses. It is technically a staff.

Maybe having a horse would be handy or any kind of mount. You know I think once we get to Scrya I’ll make a pit stop to buy some more summoning spells, having a little summonable army sounds neat for the future and with my max mana I should be able to maintain quite a few summons at once.

This cave is pretty smooth all things considered, nice curve and all. I do catch up to Nephele and from the looks of it, I can see light.

“Is that?” I ask

“Our way out most likely.” Nephele says

Walking more we finally reach it and my god the light is annoying. I cover my eyes as we leave the inside of the cave. The outside air hits me and my god it is pleasant.

I can touch grass again holy shit.

I let my eyes adjust and blink a few times. We’re actually near what I think is a main road. I only looked at the map once, but I’m pretty sure that’s a main road, following it would probably lead us to Scrya, but otherwise I’ve got no clue where we are. I know for sure we aren’t close to the entrance of the tomb.

Nephele starts moving down the hill towards the road. I follow behind. Thank Azura I have this staff right now or I’d be tumbling down from here. But honestly the more I hold it the more I get used to it and I’ve had this thing for about maybe fifteen minutes or so. I’m guessing I’m attuning to it.

Does every item have that now? I guess it would help with certain things. I’m not complaining about that.

We reach the road and I see Nephele take out her map and start looking it over. I’m guessing she doesn’t know where we are either.

“Eastwards is where we have to go I believe.” She says, not exactly with confidence

“Are you sure?”

“No.”

“Ah..” I don’t know what to say after that to be honest with you

I’m not exactly directionally sound if you get me, having a correct map always helps, but this time there’s no little icon telling me where I am you know?

I just scratch my head to think. Maybe we should just pick a direction and go? We’ve got two options basically, but we’re a little bit short on time.

Hmm.

Right then as we were debating our options both of us heard a shout coming from the western side of things. The hell was that.

“Can you hear that?” Nephele asks

“Besides the shout?”

“Clashing of steel, there’s a battle.”

How the hell can you hear that?

“Bandits?” I ask her

“Unlikely.”

“Right…” I sigh “Let’s go then..” I start lightly jogging West, god my thighs hurt

I glance back to Nephele who looks a little surprised by what I’m doing, but she follows soon after. I guess this is a good time as ever to summon him up again.

Extending my hand to my side I summon Talos.

Materializing with a fresh and sharp set of steel armor and weaponry he starts moving alongside me. His steps are way louder because of the armor and replacing his dingy sword is now a nice, curved battle axe. Man does he look good. I like the no helmet look.

I give him the mental command to head towards the shouting which I really hope is nearby. Nephele quickly catches up to me.

“There.” She points forward

Yup, that do be a carriage being attacked by…..hobgoblins….

And those are men defending the carriage. Men.

Men.

Guys.

Blokes.

Dudes.

Um…

How are they on the island? Wait how are Hobgoblins on this island?

I guess those questions can be answered later. We need to help them, the humans guys I mean.

I give Talos the command to deal with the Hobgoblins. I glance over to Nephele, she doesn’t seem all too shocked.

“Not concerned?” I just ask her

“I’ve seen human men before, Ynnessa. In my trade you meet everyone.” She says with a smirk before rushing forward, drawing her daggers

Right right. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say she’s only met Humans. Can’t wait for her culture shock when meeting other races.

Now, I can either test this staff or just stick to my hand, safety first I think.

The shouting gets louder as I get closer. I can see blood on the road and on the grass, this fight has been happening for a while now I'm guessing.

Looking forward I see a Hobgoblin cleanly decapitate one of the defenders. I slightly throw up in my mouth. I’ve never seen that happen before…

I cast Calm on myself quickly.

I raise my free hand and cast Gaia’s Fist and send it towards the Hobgoblin fighter. It hits him dead center knocking him back a few feet before I see Talos bring down his new axe straight into its head, killing him. Mans got a serious boost.

“Protect the prince!” I hear one of the men shout

Those colors that he’s wearing, oddly familiar. Never mind that for now.

Nephele appears behind one of the Hobgoblins and just lays into him with her daggers. I get closer and fire another Gaia’s Fist into one of the attackers. Talos moves around fast slaying more of the fuckers.

The shouting suddenly stops and silence lurks over this bloody field. I finally get close to the carriage and catch my breath. Fuck me I’m slow today..

One of the men moves past me to the side of the carriage and opens it up. He’s got a few arrows in the back and he’s breathing heavy…

“Are you hurt my prince?” he asks before falling to a knee

I can see a hand reach out to the man, but he pulls away.

“Worry not, it is my duty to protect you.” He says

Man isn’t looking good. I just extend my hand and cast Heal, but nothing…

I don’t have a high enough Restoration spell to help him. He’s going to die…

He stumbles back and glances to where I am.

“You..” he says

He starts moving towards me. One of his legs gives out and he begins to fall, but I manage to catch him and help him sit.

“Elf…” he says “I ask of you, beg of you that you see the prince to the queen, he must be protected…” he says

“I…o-okay…” I tell him “I’ll try”

He grips my robes before nodding. His breath stammers for a second before his breathing stops and he lets go of my robes. I just lay him down and stand.

I’ve got blood on my hands…

I cast Calm on myself quickly again. Need to keep a cool head.

“None of them survived.” Nephele says coming to me “This is concerning.” She adds

I just move past her with a nod and look inside the open carriage to see a young, emerald eyed and haired person with exquisite feminine features. I’d sooner think princess before prince. His hair reaches down to his shoulders and let’s just say the clothes he’s wearing isn’t exactly manly. He's also pretty short.

We lock eyes for a moment before he speaks.

“Are all of them dead?” he asks me

I just nod.

“I’m sorry.” I tell him

He just rubs his eyes for a second.

“C-Can I ask your name?”

“Paris..” he says

Paris…Paris…Paris? Paris! Oh! How the hell is Paris here! Did the Hobgoblin-Olympia war stop the Trojan War event from happening? I’ll think about later. Geez!

I shake my head and focus on him again.

“I’ll be taking you to Scrya.” I say

He looks back up to me, his eyes shining a little.

“May we bury them before?”

“Of course.”

Yeah, let’s do that…