[One-Handed Weapons: Novice 2 → Novice 3]
[One-Handed Weapons: Novice 3 → Novice 4]
[One-Handed Weapons: Novice 4 → Novice 5]
[Duellist Level 1 → Level 2]
The notifications appeared just as Callum had sat down as if waiting for him to be out of combat. In the thick of it, he had almost forgotten the class system, but he was glad to see that he had gained something from that life-threatening scenario.
Curiosity overtaking exhaustion, he pulled up his status page.
[Status: Callum Green]
Duellist Level 2
HP: 10/40 MP: 40/40 SP: 25/60
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 8
Endurance: 2
Intelligence: 4
Wits: 6
Resolve: 2
Skills:
One-Handed Weapons:
Rank: Novice 5
Proficiency: 20%
The first thing that struck him as odd was his health had dropped very low. When he compared it to what he remembered, it seemed his health had dropped to zero with the level-up increasing his health pool by ten. That didn’t seem right as he had been nowhere close to dying.
He held up his arm, trying to catch some torch light so he could see, and the place where he had been struck was no longer bleeding. It wasn’t a major wound, but it should have needed medical attention to stop the bleeding.
Feeling his side where the spear had struck him, there was a tear in his shirt, but there was no cut and he could only faintly feel some kind of scar.
*Maybe health isn’t a measure of how much you can take before you die, but some kind of resource that prevents damage until it is exhausted.*
It was a possible theory, but not one he was eager to test. Focusing back on his status page, he saw that his mana and stamina pools had increased. He made a mental note of how much they had, but his mind was otherwise too occupied to attempt the math needed to figure out how they were calculated.
The other curiosity from the notifications, which was confirmed by his status page, was his One-Handed Weapons skill had gone from Novice 2 to Novice 5. He was eager to test how the rapier felt now, with such a large jump, but wanted to wait until his stamina was refilled.
He kept his status page open, watching as his stamina slowly ticked upwards. After half an hour of sitting there, he was getting bored. It wouldn’t go down by walking, and he was starting to get a little hungry as well.
With nothing better to do, he walked back to the entrance where his backpack was. Walking was no longer a fitting term for what he was doing now. Even with his cautious movements, he was moving at a speed that would have been closer to jogging before he received the class.
He wanted to break out into a full run to test how fast he could go now but resisted the urge. He still didn’t know what secrets this sewer held.
He was back at the entrance in no time and grabbed a quick snack. As he ate, he reopened his status page and watched as his stamina filled faster. He knew that his body processed food into energy, but it was not an instant process.
Science said that his body had to break down food first before it could be turned into energy, but by all known laws of science, he shouldn’t be able to walk into an aboveground building, and suddenly be underground.
His pack of crackers finished, he drew his sword to his improved skill but noticed it was still covered in goblin blood. With nothing to clean it off, he simply made a mental note to carry something with him that he could clean it off with.
Ignoring the goblin blood, he settled into his fighting stance and tested how it felt with a few stabs. He felt that same sense of wrongness again. Reaching for that instinct that came with the skill, he went about correcting his muscle memory.
He reflected on what he had known about it and found that what he had originally taught himself was not incorrect, but now the skill was guiding him to refine his technique further.
After a solid thirty minutes of work, he had adjusted his muscle memory and felt prepared to take on the next challenge.
He retraced his steps back through the tunnel to the site of his first fight. He moved slowly, taking his time to listen for any signs of more goblins. There was a worry in the back of his mind that the noise of the first fight had drawn the attention of more goblins.
This time when he reached the bend, he could not hear any chattering coming from around the corner, yet the torchlight was still present. He came around the bend cautiously still but was relieved when he saw no goblins.
As he made his way closer, the stench of burnt meat assaulted his nostrils and he saw that the goblins had been cooking some kind of meat. Though by now it was so badly burned that he had no clue what it was originally.
Gathered around the fire where the meat was cooking was an assortment of animal skins that looked to serve as some kind of bed for the goblins. This situation was getting more and more weird for Callum. The fact that they had weapons as well as beds and were cooking food spoke to a whole sort of ecosystem.
He worried that he would encounter whatever they had hunted for food, but shrugged it off reasoning that whatever the six goblins were able to kill, he would be able to do the same.
The tunnel continued for half a mile before he noticed an increase in torchlight coming from up ahead. He tried to hide his approach by sticking to sections of the tunnel that had fewer torches, but he soon reached a point where he would be in clear light if he were to go any further.
Callum strained his eyes against the light and was able to make out six figures. Five of them matched the stature of goblins, but the sixth was larger, about twice the size of the goblins. That put it at about the same size as him.
He studied them for a few minutes as he strategized. The goblins were similarly armed to the group that he had dispatched earlier, but there was a larger figure that stood out to him. The handle of a weapon protruded out from behind its shoulder and Callum could tell from the stature of the creature that it could handle the weapon well.
There was nothing more to be gained by delaying, so Callum gathered his strength and dashed. He covered the fifty feet in only a second, catching the group by surprise.
The first goblin was dead instantly, but Callum’s plan accounted for this. He instantly leaped towards his next target, the second spear-wielder. It fell as quickly as the first, but the goblins had recovered by now.
Any semblance of strategy was now as the goblins blindly rushed him. The hatchet goblins were the first to strike. He deftly skirted to the side, ending the first with a lightning-quick stab.
The second hatchet-goblin struck again, but Callum batted it aside and claimed its life with the same simple thrust he had used on the other goblins. By now the larger one had its weapon in hand, a fearsome double-bladed battle-axe.
It would soon become a problem, but Callum had one last goblin to kill before he could turn his attention to the big one. Utilizing his newfound speed, he closed the several feet between him and the last goblin in an eye-blink.
The goblin managed to block the first strike, but the follow-up was too quick and it fell victim to the same blade that had claimed the other’s lives.
With the five goblins dead, Callum could engage the larger one in a manner that his class was meant for. One-on-one combat.
Callum turned his attention to the final enemy and saw distaste etched across its disfigured face. Now that he could see it, it was wearing armor, unlike the goblins he had so easily dispatched. It still had the same sickly green skin as the goblins, but where the goblins were practically skin and bones, this one had rippling muscles.
Callum took all of this in during the brief pause in combat as the big goblin sized him up. They circled for a moment, Callum careful to give himself room to move so that he wouldn’t be tripped up by the bodies sprawled around the makeshift camp.
The large goblin was done sizing him up and charged, axe coming down in an overhead swing. Callum darted to the side and took advantage of his speed to throw a stab at its arm.
His sword met heavy resistance and only managed to inflict a slight flesh wound – barely enough to make the creature bleed. It responded with a roar, swinging hard through the space Callum’s head had been a moment before.
Callum ducked and rolled, coming up behind the creature. He threw two quick thrusts at its back but was met this time with the resistance of the leather armor. The strikes pierced the armor, but only resulted in two small wounds and a trickle of blood down its back.
He jumped backward, predicting the spinning strike from his enemy. Face to face again, Callum saw pure rage in its eyes, yet it didn’t immediately attack. It seemed to be reevaluating Callum.
It stepped towards Callum and he took a step back, keeping an even spacing between them. It stepped again and swung this time, but putting less force into it. Callum dodged and snuck in a strike. He drew blood, but the four hits he had scored so far did not seem to be affecting the beast.
*I’m getting nowhere just staying on defense.*
Callum shifted his strategy. This time when it stepped forward, Callum saw its muscle tense for the strike, and he stepped in as well, predicting where the strike would go.
The axe sailed over his head, and he saw his opportunity. Right at the end of its swing, its left arm was raised enough showing the exposed skin where its armor didn’t cover. He struck in an instant, his sword sinking deep into the soft flesh.
It roared again, pure anger contained within the yell, but it didn’t fall. Callum had been overconfident in dealing a death blow.
Its left arm had been disabled, but the right arm had enough strength to bring down one final strike. Callum threw his sword up to block, but in terms of pure strength, he was outmatched. His sword was battered out of the way, and the axe sunk into his shoulder.
With a shout of pain, Callum staggered backward, warm blood flowing from his shoulder. Both combatants stared at each other, wounds fresh in their minds, not willing to be the first to step forward.
Callum poured the last of his strength into a final, lightning-quick strike and speared the creature through the throat. His sword point dropped to the ground as he caught his breath.