Chapter 4
Sebastian was running, again. From a Silver Stag, again. He really had to stop getting himself into these situations. His legs carried him across the forest floor in a blur and this time the Stag was having a more difficult time trying to catch up with him. Sebastian didn’t like that he still had to run from the monster he was supposed to be hunting, but he consoled himself with the fact that the more monsters he killed, the easier it would be to kill more.
Sebastian tried the same tactic as last time - he still hadn’t thought of a better way to kill the stags when they chased him yet - He got close to one of the nearby tree trunks and turned around to take aim. But the Silver Stag was right in front of him, and its antlers were already down and directed towards Sebastian’s stomach, and then he was impaled. Once the stag had its antlers in him, it reared up and slammed him into the tree trunk. The antlers went even further into him and then the stag shook him off with several hard jerking motions.
Sebastian fell to the ground with an unceremonious thump and the stag walked off, its antlers glistening with his blood. But Sebastian didn’t die, not yet at least. He was still awake for a while, his eyes were glazed over and unfocused as he stared up into the dark canopy of the forest. The cold that he had been able to ignore with his slightly higher Attributes and campfire had begun to seep into him. Sebastian was scared, and this time he couldn’t push that emotion down, because there was no stopping this. He was going to die and that truly scared him.
“If only I w-”
And then he died.
———————
Sebastian woke up with a start, gasping for breath and covered in a cold sweat. He looked around in fear trying to identify any threats, but his mind was too disturbed to actually focus on anything. He eventually began to calm down and noticed his heart was beating a little too fast for his liking. Sebastian laid back down and thought about what had happened. It had been a few days since his close encounter with death, and Sebastian hadn’t been sleeping well, but this was totally different. He had never had such an intense dream before. It hadn’t felt exactly like reality, and Sebastian began to find some missing details in his dream, but it was still eerily realistic.
But Sebastian was tough, maybe not the toughest, but still tough. He did his best to not let the dream bother him much and instead used it as a warning: death sucked and the only way to avoid it was by being strong. Sebastian tried to comfort himself by showing that he had gotten stronger, Sebastian opened his status, his new favorite thing to do.
Name: Sebastian Hart
Age: 18
Level: 6
Class: Locked
Experience: 578 / 600
Unused AP: 0
Health
60 / 60
Stamina
60 / 60
Mana
60 / 60
Constitution
6
Vitality
6
Resilience
6
Intellect
6
Endurance
6
Spirit
6
Strength
6
Focus
6
Agility
12
Wit
6
Perception
23
Insight
6
Dexterity
13
Control
6
Skills
Abilities
Treasures
None
None
None
Class: Locked
“Just one more stag and I’ll have reached |Level 7| and be one step closer to my goal.” Sebastian thought.
Sebastian was starting to get a little bored of the Silver Stags though, as beautiful as they may be, it was becoming monotonous hunting the same thing over and over again. And hunting the stags was beginning to give less and less Experience now because they were all still |Level 4| or |Level 5|. Sebastian would need to leave his current hunting grounds and head towards a different part of the island, preferably one with different monsters.
Sebastian was thinking that the mountain would be his best bet since the trees thinned out higher up and gave way to a dangerous and more mountainous environment. And a different environment likely meant different monsters, but Sebastian’s main worry was the other people on the island. He had faith that his Perception would be able to catch anyone coming near him, but shooting someone was different than shooting a stag.
Not for moral reasons though, Sebastian had started to get over things like that, and that dream of his had definitely helped. The problem was that people moved, while the stags mostly stayed still or slept. Even someone just walking would make things difficult. The large pine trees that covered the island meant that he would need to move around to keep a good line of fire on someone, which Sebastian wasn’t used to and wasn’t sure he could even do without getting caught. Which meant that it would devolve into a shootout, something that could go quickly sideways and get Sebastian killed.
Still, getting stronger was Sebastian’s only goal and he decided he wanted to take that risk. So he gathered up his things and set out. Sebastian was going hunting.
———————
Noxia was beginning to grow worried. Every day that Samuel wasn’t here with her guarding over Lady Wixx was another opportunity for disaster. With one of her guards out looking for a potential guard for young Lady Emelia, and her political allies now abandoning her, Lady Wixx was in a bad position. Assassins would likely come for her soon and Noxia wasn’t sure she could handle them alone. Her abilities were better suited for directly attacking her enemies, not protecting her Lady. That’s why she and Samuel made such a good team. Noxia eyed her status.
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Name: Noxia Esper
Age: 27
Level: 29
Class: Bladedancer
Experience: 17328 / 90000
Unused AP: 0
Health
290 / 290
Stamina
370 / 370
Mana
290 / 290
Constitution
29
Vitality
29
Resilience
37
Intellect
29
Endurance
37
Spirit
29
Strength
40
Focus
29
Agility
70
Wit
29
Perception
65
Insight
29
Dexterity
70
Control
29
Skills
Abilities
Treasures
|A| Sword Dominium |1|
Blade Dance
Aion’s Clock
Acrobatics |7|
Echoing Melody
Resonant Blade
|T| Last Second
Reigning Rhythm
Class: Bladedancer
Physical
Blade Dance
Move with the grace of a dancer and the precision of a sword master
Echoing Melody
Create another blade identical to your own in your off-hand out of the echos of your melody
Resonant Blade
Infuse your blade with the power of song and shatter enemy weapons
Magical
Reigning Rhythm
Unleash your inner rhythm and force your enemies to move according to your will
Locked
Noxia would be widely considered the better between her and Samuel seeing as she had an Awakened Skill and most only got an Awakened Skill after they reached |Level 40|. Still, Samuel reassured her when he was around, and she knew could go all out when he was around to protect Lady Wixx. Now she felt trapped though, most of her Abilities were centered around movement but now she was required to stay closer to Lady Wixx in order to keep her safe. Noxia looked off into the distance.
“I hope Samuel finds someone soon, I don’t feel comfortable doing this alone.”
———————
Samuel was feeling rather lucky today. He had been rather disappointed to find out that his first choice was someone he couldn’t even talk to without causing potential political problems for Lady Wixx. And he had begun to grow rather paranoid the more he followed her, the young Harlow might have her own guard, one that he couldn’t sense. Not wanting to cause any trouble, Samuel decided to look for another candidate, and immediately found one, not that he recognized it at the time.
The young Harlow had ended up saving someone by killing the stag that had chased the boy. To be honest, he hadn’t been impressed at all by him and Samuel had kept looking. But now he saw the same boy again, and this time as a level seven, which was actually an impressive feat considering almost everyone else on the island had been killed and the rest were around |Level 4| if he didn’t include the Harlow. Samuel didn’t want to give the boy too much credit though since the only reason he was alive was because the Harlow had saved him. But Samuel was willing to give the boy a chance if he could face the challenges ahead of him.
There were three monsters on this island that would be a threat to both the Harlow and the kid. Maybe if he did well then Samuel would consider him.
———————
Sebastian ran, but not from another stag thankfully. He had once said that his Attributes weren’t good enough for him to run while shooting a stag, but that was in the past now. A Silver Stag raised its head to see what was making all that racket, and then a bullet blasted through its head. Sebastian wasn’t just in a good mood because of his improved Attributes though, he was happy because the stags around here are at a higher level. Most of them were around |Level 6|, but they did seem to be more sparse than the ones from his old campground. Perhaps the girl who had saved him was hunting them too, she certainly seemed capable of it.
Though now that Sebastian thought about it, how were there still any monsters here at all? Sure there didn’t seem to be any natural predators, but there was no way they were repopulating that fast because if they were then they would suffer from overpopulation and die from a lack of food. But Sebastian had never actually seen any of the stags eat now that he thought about it. They were all questions that Sebastian decided to file away for another time. Perhaps joining a faction could help him answer them, though he still didn’t think that would be a good idea.
Sebastian shot another stag in the head as he continued racing through the forest. By now, Sebastian had gotten used to the noise of his hunting rifle, and it seemed that as his constitution went up, his ears didn’t start ringing every time he fired. Then he decided to just stop thinking about things and just enjoy the moment. His every breath seemed to channel power into him and his heart was beating with excitement and joy. Sebastian was inching closer towards |Level 8| and he could almost taste the power of a classer. But despite his attempts to stop thinking, he did wonder how getting a class would work. Perhaps he should make another goal to better understand his status and the Shattered Isles.
Sebastian came to a stop though when he saw a new stag, this one called an Exiled Stag, though Sebastian wasn’t sure what that meant. Do stags even live in groups? This stag unlike the others had white hair and a golden-colored mane. It was also |Level 9|. Sebastian was getting excited, not only was a |Level 9| likely enough to push him into |Level 8| himself, he was just getting excited to kill it. His old fear and caution from the Silver Stag that almost killed him had bled away the past few days as he became a more proficient hunter and gained more levels.
“Besides,” Sebastian thought, “I’ve been wanting to try out new stuff with these higher Attributes of mine.”
Sebastian aimed and fired. The bullet shot off and slammed into the Exiled Stag’s neck, or it should’ve at least. The stag must have sensed him because it had started to move before Sebastian had fired and the shot had only grazed its neck. It looked at him and then ran away.
“What?” Sebastian thought in confusion.
None of the stags before had run away from him, they had all been very aggressive when they spotted him. But this one had run away. Sebastian wondered if it had anything to do with its weird name, but he couldn’t be sure. Then he jumped out of the way as the stag rushed him from behind, the leap carrying him over ten feet away, then Sebastian began to run.
“What?! It came at me from behind? Whether or not this is because of its name. This stag is much smarter than all the other ones I’ve faced.” Sebastian thought.
Thankfully, the plan he had been wanting to try out before could still work seeing as the stag was chasing him now. Sebastian picked a tree at random and sprinted in that direction, the stag still chasing him. Then when Sebastian got close to the tree, he gave a light hop and landed on the bark, then he gave a real push and blasted off in a different direction, his sights on the stag, and then he fired.
But the stag wasn’t there, it had continued its charge but had changed course last second and went around the tree. Sebastian began to grow worried, if all of his shots kept missing like this then he’d run out of ammo and wouldn’t have enough time to reload. Sebastian thought about the knife he kept on his belt, but he really didn’t want to use it. He had no experience with using a knife in combat and if he did use it he would have to get close.
Sebastian thought back to when that mysterious girl had saved his life and wondered how she had done it, but maybe it hadn’t been as much of a problem since that stag had been significantly weaker in comparison. As if his thoughts had summoned her, that same girl from before had appeared next to him.
“Would you like some help there?” She asked, her black hair flowing behind her in the wind, a sword in hand. It looked a lot like what Sebastian suspected a normal sword would look like, except the blade was had a light purple color and lightly glowing red inscriptions on it too small for Sebastian to make out. He guessed she was good at using things besides knives too.
“Can you get close and distract it for me?” He asked, too invested in killing the Stag to properly consider why she was here.
“I was actually hoping you could distract it.” She said casually, as if he also was capable of her insane gymnastics moves. “I was thinking you could do that thing you did earlier and then I can disable it, then you kill it and we both get a good split of the Experience.
It sounded to Sebastian like she knew more about their status’s than he did, which got him more curious than he probably should have been with someone so dangerous.
“Okay then.” Sebastian agreed, “Anything specific you need me to do?”
“I want you t-” The stag leaped forward, getting a bit too close for their liking. The girl threw a small dagger at it but the stag had mostly moved out of the way and the dagger bounced off of its shoulder, only leaving a small cut.
“I want you to lead the stag towards that tree in about a minute.” She pointed towards a tree that looked exactly like all the others. “I’ll be waiting there and drop down on it, okay.” She said.
“Okay.” Sebastian responded.
As soon as he said that his once-again-savior dashed off too quickly for him to keep up and then launched herself into a tree. Sebastian looked back again to check on the Exiled Stag but it was thankfully still focused on him. Then Sebastian looked forward and leapt toward a tree, then launched himself away like before, taking aim and firing again. The girl had said she would disable the stag first, but Sebastian figured there was no harm in trying again while she got ready.
Sebastian tried his best to keep his eyes on the tree that they had agreed on beforehand, but it was rather hard to do that with a six hundred pound death machine trying to kill him. Thankfully he was confident a minute had passed and finally headed towards the tree, doing the same maneuver as before, and just like last time the stag veered around the tree ready to get him again. But then the girl launched herself out of the tree onto the back of the stag. Sebastian thought she was crazy at first but then quickly say what she was doing she plunged her sword tip first into the Stags spine, its back legs giving out. As soon as she leaped off the monster Sebastian readied his aim and fired, the back of its skull blew up, but he fired again just to make sure, that stag was a little too smart.
Sebastian then leveled up but ignored it - a harder task than expected - and directed his attention towards the girl in front of him.
“You better not run away again.” He said with a confident tone he didn’t really feel.
“I wasn’t planning on it.” She smirked.