《Adorne: (A LITRPG adventure) (DROPPED)》 Chapter 1: Reborn I turned my face down into my pillow to get try and get rid of that fuckin bright light shining straight into my eyeballs. To my great surprise, my face did not land on a nice comfy pillow, instead, my nose got pressed right into some muddy soil. I quickly shot my head up when I sniffed some soil right up my nose, only to groin in pain, My head hurt, LIKE IT HURT A LOT! It felt like someone was pounding my head into an anvil while a mini hammer was inside my brain and they were trying to meet in the middle. Grabbing my head, I ever so slowly opened my eyes, and soon realised that was a big mistake, a ray of light stabbed right into my eyes and somehow made my headache even worse. I winced by still opened my eyes a crack, and my mouth opened with shock. There was a blue rectangle with white writing right in front of my eyes, but that was not what really surprised me, I was in a forest, like a real forest. Quickly realizing that I was not in a soft comfy bed, and instead was lying on hard cold dirt I jumped up and winced at the pain in my head. To my great shock, the blue rectangle stayed in the forefront of my vision as I got up. I moved my head around but the rectangle continued to stay in the middle of my vision. Realising that there was writing in that box I tried to ignore the pain and continue reading. ''Hello Jacob Fox, and welcome to Adorne!'' I already had fifty question pop up in my mind, like WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON and WHERE THE FUCK AM I! Deciding to save my questions for when I was done reading the rest of the screen, and seeing as I didn¡¯t really have anyone to ask my questions I decided to continue reading. You have gained an ability from an unknown source
  1. Regeneration - any wound taken will heal significantly faster.
Huh, well that''s useful I guess, but I WOULD RATHER KNOW WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. Suddenly having an idea I quickly pinched myself, and nope, I''m not dreaming. After I read the first block of text another screen appeared right in front of my face. Name: Jacob Fox level:0 (0/1000) Race: Linn hit points: 100/100 mana: 100/100 stamina: 100/100 Professions: locked Abilities:
  1. Regeneration: Fast health regeneration
Deity: none skills: none Spell: none Titles: none Attributes: Strength: 10 Endurance: 10 Vitality: 10 Perception: 10 Dexterity: 10 Agility: 10 Intelligence: 10 This kind of looks like MMO games and those Litrpg/Gamelit books stat sheets. I could guess what most things here did, the hit points probably determine how much health I have, the stamina how I can move, and the mana is used for stuff like spells and skills. But if that¡¯s true then that means their actual spells in this world. I could already imagine throwing fireballs and laughing like a maniac. Clearing my head of thoughts I turned my attention to the Attributes. I could what they are but I decided to focus on them to get a more detailed picture, and to my surprise something actually appeared. - Strength determines how much weight you can carry and how hard you can attack with a weapon or hit unarmed. - Endurance determines how much stamina you have, how resilient your body is to damage, poisons and toxins - Determines the amount of health you have, health regeneration and stamina regeneration. - Perception determines how easy it is to spot things, this includes traps and hidden people or objects. Perception also enhances all senses. - Dexterity determines how nimble and flexible you are. Dexterity also helps your fire rate and accuracy of range weapons. - Agility affects your speed. E.g. how fast you can run, swim and move. mental fortitude - Intelligence affects how large your mana pool is, your spell effects and increases pattern recognition Attribute points gained for race: 5 Attribute points from chosen deity: 0 Attribute points from chosen profession: 0 Attribute points from titles: 0 Well, that answers that, it seems like gain 5 points to distribute to any of my chosen attributes per level and I can increase this by choosing a god to devote myself to, getting a profession, or getting some title. I wasn¡¯t religious in my old life but if I get more stat points to play with, I would consider becoming a theist.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Thinking back to games and how I would usually build my character, I came up with a few ideas of what I might want my build to go. Becoming a stealthy assassin, or a fire breathing, earth splitting, dragon killing wizard! MWAHAHAHAHA! I may have gotten slightly ahead of myself, seeing as I was, you know, in the middle of a forest. Before I do anything drastic I should find some civilization and get some more info on where I am how the mechanics of this world work. Looking around I found I was in a clearing around a roughly 100m long and wide. It was filled with luscious grass and with some flowers interspersed. There was also a blue, green and red bar in the top right of my vision. I tried to turn to look at them but they followed my vision. I focused on them and more information appeared. The blue bar was my mana, the green bar was my stamina and the red bar was my health. My endurance and mana both have 100/100 while my vitality only has 75/75, after than minor mystery was solved, I started to look around again. I was under a tree that had a large canopy that blocked most of the sunlight, blazing down. There were also a few other trees in the glade, but after around 100m the trees started to become a lot more common. A gentle river passed to the right of me, going into the forest, and from what I could tell was coming from a faraway mountain. The soft grass under my bare feet, and the light wind rustling the leaves, the sun was beating down on the glade and it seemed to warm and the gorgeous view slowly made me relax. Deciding to stop lazing around and panicking I lifted my foot and took my first step in my new life, and abruptly fell flat on my face. Groaning in pain I turned over to my back, only to hear a squirrel laughing at my predicament. After shaking my fist at the squirrel. I stood back up again and took a tentative step forward, my foot tripped and I had to steady myself on a tree. After a couple of minutes practise I slowly got the hang of it but everything still felt weird. After a few minutes of consideration, it hit me like a truck. I had shrunk! From what I could I was now 155 -160cm, shrinking from my previous height of 175. Walking carefully over to river I looked down into the slowly moving water to get a better look at myself. I could only see a distorted visage of myself in the water, but I could see enough to tell that my face was not the same as the one from earth. My short black hair came down into fringe a few centimetres from my brown eyes, and a bit below that were my cheekbones that were definitely higher up than they were on earth. All of that ended in a sharp chin, that made my face look gaunt. However that doesn¡¯t mean I looked bad, all of that gave me a slightly exotic look that that seemed strangely attractive (at least in my expert totally not biased opinion). My body also seemed to go through some changes as well. It looked more lean, with shoulders that were less broad. For some reason I kinda felt like a cat, I have no idea why, I just do. After staring at myself for a few uncomprehending minutes the implications of what I was seeing finally hit me. I was no longer human. I still had mostly human characteristics but they¡¯re enough difference to tell that I am not. Ahh, who gives a shit. I mean it doesn''t really matter what race I am, I still look human, and not half bad if I do say so myself. Actually now that I think about it wasn¡¯t there something about that on my status sheet? Name: Jacob Fox level:0 (0/1000) Race: Linn Linn: Linn are an intelligent race that prefers to live in congregated groups of people (i.e. villages, towns and cities). They are often hired as assassins for their small size and dexterous fingers. Linn get a boost to agility and dexterity but suffer a penalty to strength and vitality That''s probably why my health is less than my other stats. It''s 25% less so that probably means that I have 25% less strength and vice versa for my agility and dexterity. This also crosses a few builds off my list, since I probably can¡¯t be a front line fighter with my low HP and strength, I also can¡¯t be tank, but I mean who wants to be a tank? I mean there they¡¯re useful but let''s just say I would rather not get pummeled, thank you very much. Well, it''s about time I start heading off in search of civilization. There was only one tinsy winsy little problems with that plan. I HAD NO FUCKING IDEA WERE I¡¯M MEANT TO GO! There was also the problem of me not having any clothes, and not knowing the language of the local people but I¡¯ll cross that bridge when I get to it. Looking around for any hint of which way to go I saw a chest further down the stream. Walking closer to it I could tell that it had a very similar look to a treasure chest. It was made of wood with copper strips running through it. Stopping just before the chest I slowly lifted the curved top to reveal something that solves at least one of my problems. You have found woollen pants. Quality - average Durability - 30/30 Rarity - common Weight - 0.25kg These pants will cover your legs. You have found a woollen shirt. Quality - average Durability - 30/30 Rarity - common Weight - 0.2kg This shirt will cover your chest. You have found woollen lined leather boots. Quality - average Durability - 40/40 Rarity - common Weight - 2kg These boots will cover your feet. You have found a bronze dagger. Quality - average Durability - 200/200 Rarity - common Damage - (5 - 10) Weight - 0.4kg This dagger will cut objects or people. Everything so far seems self-explanatory even the status screens that appeared. The last item, however, was different. It reflected the light in an odd way, almost like a prism when looking at it from certain angles. I reached down and grabbed the oval from its resting place in the chest and a description of the item appeared with red shimmering text instead of the usual white. You have found a memory crystal. Quality - masterwork Durability - 500/500 Rarity - rare Memory - unknown Memory crystal contains information or memories the creator has imparted into it. Would you like to use the crystal [yes, no] I am pretty sure I know what a memory crystal from games and books but I have no idea what the memory inside it is. Could it be a trap and was actually a cursed item, and when I used it I would I explode into flying chunks of flesh., or would it show me something so terrifying I would turn into a vegetable when I saw it? Probably not, seeing as whoever brought me here could have killed me in easier ways. The crystal was a sphere around 12cm tall and 5cm wide. It was translucent, and when I peered through it the image on the other end was slightly distorted. Thinking about it for a second I said ¡°yes¡± out loud and waited for something to happen. It took only a second before the crystal started to shine. The light beamed out started to focus on my eyes. The light but bright but didn¡¯t seem to blind me. The light stayed on my eyes for a second before it turned off I fell to my knees grasping my head, spraying crystal dust in my hair. That hurt like a bitch. It felt like someone pounded a book on my head in hopes I would learn something. The pain vanished as suddenly as it started and a new prompt filled my vision. You have learned common tongue; you can now speak, read and write fluently in common. It was a strange feeling knowing an entire language that you have never seen or heard. but it was still amazing learning an entire language instantly. I remember ¡°learning¡± Italian for 5 years in primary and middle school. For all that I could only count to ten, and just barely at that. So I am seriously glad I don¡¯t have to learn another language. After getting my senses I slowly stood from my kneeling position and tried to say a few words in ¡®common¡¯. To my inexperienced ears, it sounds like a mix between Spanish and Japanese, which, truth be told sounded weird. After dropping my head into shaking it in the stream to get rid of the dust done, I reached back into the chest and pulled out the last two items. You have found a leather belt. Quality - average Durability - 25/25 Rarity - common Weight - 0.2kg This belt will help keep your pants up. You have found a coin bag. Quality - average Durability - 10/10 Rarity - common Weight - 0.1kg This bag will store any small item/items. On the bottom of the bag was five-round silvery looking coins. When I reached in and picked one up a new notification appears. You have found silver coin ¡Á 5 Durability - 200/200 Rarity - n/a Weight - 0.15kg I had no idea whether that was a lot of money or was just barely enough to buy some bread. But from what I could remember from history class that was a least a decent bit of money. There was only one way to find out, I stood up and started to dawn on my clothes. The shirt was only halfway down my chest and I already knew that I was in for a hell of a time. It was the itchiest and scratchiest shirt I had ever put on, and my grandmother had sewn me a shirt. The pants weren''t as bad, but I knew I was going to get a rash in my inner thigh before too long. The coin sack and the dagger fit nicely on my belt. well, at least I knew what I going to do when I found civilization, buy new clothes! Having nothing left for me to do here I headed downstream as that was the way the chest was pointing me, at least I hope. Chapter 2: Battle Chapter 2 The walk alongside the stream was actually quite pleasant. The tree¡¯s made a canopy above me blocking enough sunlight so it wasn¡¯t too hot but not enough that I was cold. The birds chirping and the thick oak tree give me a sense of nature that I never had in my old urban life. It was truly quite peaceful. I walked for a few hours until something finally came in front of my path. A coyote had it head down slurping water, blocking my path. Rushing behind a tree I fumbled with my dagger until I could get it out in my cold sweaty hands. My steady beating hard started to quicken and I could feel it trying to beat out of my chest. Taking a few steadying breaths I ever so slowly turned my head to look over the tree. The coyote was still drinking water but I could see a newly clogged gash in its hind left leg. Thinking through my options I really only had two. I could either circle around the coyote or I could try and kill. It was probably quite easy to just avoid the coyote, however, it was getting dark and I¡¯m getting hungry. I don¡¯t know when I will next get an opportunity to find some meat. Also if I¡¯m right, I could get some juicy experience. Plan decided, I readied my dagger and courage and sneakily moved from behind my tree. I slowly made my way over to the coyote trying to be silent as possible. I was almost their as well when my coin pouch made a *clink sound*. The Coyotes head shot up. Well SHIIIIITTTTT! Without thinking any longer, I pounced. I slammed into the coyote full body, with my dagger held out in front, I felt the coyote right bite into my arm, the one holding the daggers, its teeth grinding against the bone. With a ragged scream, my momentum plunged the dagger into the animal''s meaty chest where it hit the animals ribs and deflected away. Then my body slammed into the coyote forcing the animal to loosen his bone grinding grip on my forearm. My dagger also came loose of my hands, still embedded in the coyote''s side. When we finished rolling I ended on top of the coyote, and before he could recover I slammed my fist into its face with my uninjured arm. I punched him again and again and again. Until his face was a pancake and my fist was bleeding. Only when I could punch no longer did I realise I was screaming the entire time. Then before the pain could hit me, I passed out. I woke up and groaned remembering the strangest dream. I was transported to another world and I was fighting a coyote? I opened my eyes and was filled with the scent of blood. I looked down and noticed a bleeding coyote under me. Groaning anew when I realized it wasn¡¯t a dream. Moving my forearm and expecting to feel a burst of pain I was pleasantly surprised when there was none. Looking to my forearm it was completely healed. I guess that''s what enhanced regeneration meant. I moved off the coyote and saw a blinking square at the bottom left of my vision. When I focused in on it a notification filed my vision. Unlike like the other it was blood-red. You have taken 38 points of damage from a level 4 coyote. You are bleeding. You will take 6 hit points of damage every 5 seconds until the wound is closed. There were a bunch more damage from bleeding notification that slowly decreased the amount of HP they took. I¡¯m assuming it was my regeneration that slowed my health decline. In total, I took 51 points of damage. Looking back at my hit points they were back to full. After digesting the first notification another two appeared. You have gained the skill stealth. Description: Sneak passed enemy and friends alike, unseen and unheard Level 1 novice -2% less noise made and 2% harder for others to see you when stealth is active. -30% more stamina consumed and 40% slower movement speed when stealth is active. You have gained the skill daggers. Description: Stab and slash your enemy¡¯s up close, this skill applies to all small blade under 25cm in length Level 1 novice - +2% more damage when wielding daggers While thinking about how to open my status screen the screen magically appeared. I guess that handy. Confirming my guess the skills I had just obtained appeared under the skills subtitle. Skills in this world, universe, Multiverse? From the looks of things, it seems that skills are pretty easy to obtain. By easy to obtain I mean I didn¡¯t have to try much to get them, and not as in almost getting mauled by an oversized chihuahua. There was one more notification waiting for me, and it was what I was waiting for. You have killed a level 3 coyote and have gained 50 experience Yes, EXPERIENCE! Finally what I''ve been waiting for. I mean It wasn¡¯t a lot of experience, but it was something. Actually, that was barely anything, I would have to kill another 20 coyotes to reach level 2. But if I was being honest killing them wouldn¡¯t be that hard, if I wasn¡¯t a dumbass. And that¡¯s a big IF. Sighing I got ready to leave. The sun was heading down and would be reaching the horizon soon enough. I plucked my dagger from the coyote''s corpse and put it back on my belt. Next, I washed my hands and the coyote to avoid attracting predators from the smell of the blood. Now came the gruesome part. I lifted the coyote and quickly put it over one shoulder. Even though my best efforts I still felt its blood seep into my clothes and gagged at the smell. I probably should have taken my shirt off, but you live and you learn. Walking another half a kilometre to get away from the where our bloody fight had taken place, I plopped the coyote down and almost vomited again. My shirt was covered in blood and I had no idea if I would ever get the stink out. Pulling my shirt with a sigh of relief, I bent down and started to rinse it out. My hands were slightly shaky from the whole ordeal but I managed to wash my shirt. Doing the same with my pants. While I was shakily washing my clothes my stomach decided to growl. Right, I''m still hungry. Taking out my dagger I looked down to the wet and somewhat bloody coyote. Its face looked slightly flattened and it had a large gash in its side from where I stabbed it. Not really knowing where to start, I just started from the hole already cut in its side. Almost instantly my hands were covered in blood and my breath was coming in raggedly. My hands were shaking so bad I could barely hold the dagger. Only when I was almost done did I remember that I have no idea how to make a fire, so my skinning was kind of pointless. Deciding that was a problem for later, I kept my eyes focused and continued to cut to the other end. At this point, my arms were drenched in blood up to my forearm, and my hands were barely holding onto my knife, my cut no longer straight, instead, making a shaky zig-zag pattern in the skin. I finished skinning the coyote and blurrily grabbed my clothes and the coyotes skin before walking another 500m. Dropping everything and lying on the floor, I hazily reached out and grabbed the still bloody coyote skin and wrapped it tight around me before slowly falling into a deep restless sleep. Waking up in a cold sweat I reached out for my dagger. My hand closed around the dagger, and my breath came in raggedly. Right, it was only a dream. I loosened my grip on the dagger and let it drop. My hands were shaking a little and were still covered in blood from the night before. That really didn''t help my panic, but my heart slowly claimed.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. So that''s what a psychotic breakdown feels like. I guess being transported from everything you know and love and then fighting for dear life isn''t good for your mental. You would have thought it? After a short wash I removed all the blood I was covered in and took a few minutes to analyse what happened yesterday. From what I can tell I was just WAY to stressed for what was good for me. I could still feel some of what I felt yesterday but in a much more diluted and rational way. I dunked my head back into the water to remove the last bit of panic and read the notification waiting for me. You have learned the skill skinning. Description: Take the skin, bones and organs of dead animals without leaving a mark. Level 1 novice - 5% increase in speed when skinning animals or monsters. For your excursions, you have gained stat points! +1 to vitality +1 to endurance Lying on the grass while waiting to dry off, I took a look at my stats. Sure enough, my health increased by 7.5 and my stamina by 10. So it looks like levelling isn¡¯t the only way to increase stats. Dried off, I tentatively took my tattered shirt and held it far away from my body, like it was a viper ready to bite me any second. The shirt was nothing but torture through the entirety of the walk, and I could see and feel an angry red rash on my chest and back. Doing the wise choice of action I put my pants and my shirt under my arm, I was not going to wair than ¡®thing¡¯ unless I absolutely had to. My stomach rumbled once more, reminding me that I hadn''t eaten all of yesterday. The hunger was gnawing at my mind, even if I knew I could probably last 3 weeks without eating, but that¡¯s assuming I didn¡¯t do any energy-consuming task and considering yesterday that was unlikely. I really have no idea how to make a fire. I knew you could do it with two sticks, but that seemed deceptively easy. I guess I¡¯ll need to just survive until I find some people, or if I don¡¯t find anyone I guess ill just have to try my like with some raw meat, or maybe find some edible berries. A course of action decided I walked through the forest collecting any berries I saw and put them in my coin pouch just in case I needed them. It was my third bush of berries that I plucked when I got the notification. You have gained the skill herbalism Description: Understand how to cultivate, the use and rarity of plants Level 1 novice -When activated you can see the name and rarity of plants, levelled uncommon or bellow. -+5% chance to spot rare plants The plants I had picked up all showed as common. Which didn¡¯t really surprise me seeing as they were everywhere in the forest? I spent another two hours of walking, and picking up any berries I saw until my coin purse was full. I thankfully saw nothing eventful until I came across a cave embedded in a small hill. It had an archway of rock that looked just large enough to let me pass through. Which I was a bit wary of doing. The rock looked old and crumbled, cracks ran through the stone and it seemed it would collapse any second. Not to mention the cave probably had monsters inside it. From every game, I had ever played if you found a random cave it was probably invested with monsters. I don''t think the monsters would be too strong seeing as the strongest thing I had to fight was a coyote, buuuuuut it had almost killed. I was debating going in or not when my stomach started to rumble. I swear it did that on purpose every time there was a decision to be made. The cave probably didn¡¯t have any food but it may have a flint and steel from someone who had entered and died long ago. I was pretty sure I could figure out how to use one, just strike the rock with the other rock, simple. Also if I cleared the cave I could sleep inside it without worrying about being eaten in my sleep. Without further thought, I entered. Peering into the cave I could feel my pulse quicken. I couldn¡¯t see much inside the cave, however, something was glowing inside the cave. When I picked it up the description said it was Schistostega and in brackets glowing moss. I assume the brackets translated it into something I could understand. It was also labelled as uncommon. As I continued to walk down the cave I could feel my pulse quicken and hand tighten on my dagger. Waiting for any sign of trouble. So when I heard a noise around a corner, I lunged at it with my dagger forward. I felt my dagger pierce into something that let out a wailing scream. Its claws bit into me and I joined in screaming. Pulling my dagger out I started stabbing with all my strength. There was no precision to it. I just wanted it dead. I could feel it pierce my skin of all the way to the bone. It¡¯s shrieking deafening in earlier quite. With one more plunge of my dagger, the monster fell limply to the floor. I flopped on the ground, not a second later, my injuries making it hard to think. My health was at 35 and was dropping. Looking at my damage notification I saw that I was losing 1 hit points every 2 seconds. Grabbing my shirt I tore a piece of it off to tightly bandage a large gash or my left arm. Checking my notification again I saw my bleeding status had decreased to 1 hitpoint every 4 seconds. However, I wasn¡¯t done. I could already hear some more of these things wailing there way towards me. I pushed through the pain and planted myself right up against the wall. The dead body was just around the bend, so went to the other side and hid. My wounds started to close but it wasn¡¯t fast enough. A new enemy appeared out of the shadows sniffing the air. I could only see the outline of the beast but it was close. Bending down on all fours with it¡¯s back to me it started sniffing the dead body. I slowly lifted a leg and started to silently shift my way towards the beast. When I was only a few metres away from it, it started to quickly stand and turn, a growl releasing from its throat. I darted in and stabbed my dagger right into its neck. Blood started to erupt from the wound and the creature made gurgling cry before it fell lifelessly to the floor. After the next monster fell to the floor, I moved around the bend again, this time a little closer to the dead body¡¯s. I hoped the next monster that came would do the same thing as the last one did. It didn¡¯t take long for me to test my theory, however, there was another problem. Two monsters came out of the shadows, slowing just like the last it bent down and sniffed the air. I knew it was only a matter of time before they found and killed me, so I slowly and silently made my way towards the one standing. When I had taken only 2 steps the beast let out a cry and ran at me. I jumped back startled and hit my back against the wall, causing my head to whiplash against it. Everything started to spin but I dodged its first attack. Managing to sidestep its next attack I slammed my dagger into its side. The monster let out another shriek and backhanded me away, forcing me to lose my dagger inside the monster. But I must¡¯ve stabbed it somewhere sensitive because it was clutching the wound and doubling over with pain. I didn¡¯t see the next one coming until it was almost on top of me. Luckily I saw the claw coming at me in the last second and managed to pull my hand up in time to block. The claws left trails of blood running across my uninjured arm. The blood started to run down my hand and I let out a low growl to match the creatures. I tossed my own punch at its face which was shortly followed up by a low kick to its knee. I could hear and feel the bone snapping under my kick. With only one leg supporting it, the creature fell to the floor screeching. Before I could deliver Coup dagra searing pain bloomed on my back. I stumbled a step forward I made a quick turn to face the forgotten opponent. It was already taking another swipe at me and I put my hand up to block again, this time avoiding its claws. I punched the monster with my free arm and was about to kick when something grabbed my leg. With only one leg connecting me to the floor I fell. My hands came up in time to stop me from hitting my head but I felt a sharp pain in my wrists. I turned my head up just in time to see a clawed foot coming down towards my face. Hastily twisting out of the way, avoiding the foot coming down and releasing my leg from the prone monster¡¯s grip. From this angle I could that my dagger was still embedded in the standing monster''s side and reaching for it I yanked out the dagger with all my strength. While the abomination was stunned from the pain, I made my way to my feet. My body felt sluggish, and everything started to turn into a haze from my blow to my head. Quickly glancing to my stamina bar I saw that it was almost empty. My health bar wasn¡¯t doing much better either. I couldn¡¯t waste any more time. I ran in, stabbing the standing monster in the side of the head. I aimed for its neck, and even with my hands shaking from the exertion, the blow was a killing one. The monster made a feeble attempt at one more slash at me before crumpling. The last monster was standing back up, hobbling on one leg. I, however, wasn¡¯t in much better shape. I could barely hold onto the dagger, and the world¡¯s starting to go blurry. So when the monster slashed at me I didn¡¯t have the energy to block or really even see it coming. Its claws scraped me from my hairline to my jaw leaving a burning sensation in its wake. The pain giving me one last point of focus. I put all my energy into one last attack. Raming my dagger into its jaw, I could feel the bone snap and my dagger coming through its jaw and into the roof of its mouth, killing it near instantly. We both fell to the floor. My body no longer able to take the strain of holding me upright. My stamina bar sitting at its very ends. My breath was coming out in gasps and darkness was slowly crawling in on the edges of my sight. Staving off unconsciousness with force of will alone. I could hear more footsteps coming. My stamina was refilling but not quickly enough and so when the next monsters arrived I still had only a sliver of it left. Lying on the floor and waiting for certain death was the only thing I could do. Hearing the monster sniffing I waited with bated breath. I could hear one of the monsters grunt and start walking towards me. I still didn¡¯t move, I waited. Only when the monster was on top of me did I strike. Grasping my dagger with a white hard grip I shot it upward, right towards the sniffing ugly monster. With the monsters head being only inches in front of me, it was a foregone conclusion of what would happen. A smile spread across my face, that soon turned into a frown as my hand dropped with the bottoming of my stamina. The other monsters took a step towards me, and with the accepting of my fate, I closed my eyes and waited, AND WAITED! Like seriously could the monster not give me the courtesy of killing me off quickly. Cracking my eyes open I could see the frozen image of claws a bare inch from my face. Chapter 3: Wade I was about to move when I heard a voice coming from behind me. ¡°Please don¡¯t move, it takes a lot of energy to keep you in this state.¡± I whirled my head around only to find a young man in his twenties wearing black shorts and a yellow t-shirt with colourful shapes on it. I pulled my dagger out of the chest of the dead monsters, barely holding it in shaking hands. ¡°Well, that¡¯s no way to treat someone who just saved your life.¡± The man said in a sarcastic tone.¡± I slowly got up, being mindful of my stamina, watching the man the entire time. His winced a little when I started moving. ¡°You know I wasn¡¯t kidding when I said that it takes a lot of energy to keep you in this state.¡± ¡°And what state would that be,¡± I said while carefully examining the motionless claws. The entire monster has stopped moving. Actually, that was wrong, it was moving very slowly. I was interrupted by the man¡¯s voice. ¡°Seriously don¡¯t move it takes a lot of energy to keep you like this.¡± For some reason, I didn''t think of this a second ago, but WHO WAS THIS GUY! I didn¡¯t see him come in, I mean I could¡¯ve missed him in all the commotion but that seemed unlikely. Even if he did come in how did he freeze, or at least slow everything down. I came back to myself when he spoke again. ¡°You are probably wondering who I am. Well, in essence, I am a god, a god of kinetic energy, or motion if you wish to be simplistic about it. I am also the person who brought you here.¡± That statement brought me short, I spoke the first thought that popped into my mind. ¡°Can you bring me back.¡± While saying this I brought my dagger up, I didn¡¯t know what I could do to a self-proclaimed got, but who knows, maybe his weak to concussed, exhausted level one newbies with a dagger? He grimaced when I said those words. ¡°Ahh, no. I can¡¯t bring you back, you died and your soul has transitioned to this realm. I didn¡¯t actually bring you to this world, you could say I just hijacked your soul to bring you this forest. He gestured to my body and said. ¡°You really should be thanking me, if not for me you would have ¡°spawned¡±. He made air quotes. ¡°In a random place on this planet or in a gods torture chamber. Not me god some other god.¡± He spoke that entire speech quickly, like he being rushed by something. My face fell and hands dropped to my side. I thought I might still be able to go back, or this was some kind of practical joke or a dream, I knew it was irrational but I still hopped. At least I was right about me dying, my head shot up as I remembered something. I was with friends when I died, they could have been injured or dead as well. ¡°Do you know how I died, are my friends alright?¡± I rushed out through wide eyes, dreading the answer. ¡°Sorry, but no. I only felt your soul when it came through the barrier and I couldn¡¯t divine how you died. If it helps I don¡¯t think your friends died if they did die I probably would have sensed more souls come through the barrier from the same location. Now I know you have more questions but we need to cut this short. My power is already failing.¡± He pointed to the claws, I was confused for a second but then I saw it, the claws were starting to move visible faster. ¡°My power is limited and I used most of it to bring you to the forest and give you your abilities and items. So shut up and listen to me, when I¡¯m done you can ask questions. Cupish.¡± I nodded my head. ¡°Good, as I told you before, I am a god of kinetic energy. That is how I am slowing everything done. More accurately I am speeding you up, around 30 times normal. But that''s beside the point. I brought you to my glade and gave you your stuff so you could help me.¡± The god waited for me to nod before he started talking again. ¡°A long time ago, I and many other gods waged a large war. Our goal was to quarantine an area of space and time from, well everything. We succeeded and created the barrier but there was a problem. One of us was a traitor and sabotaged the barrier. I¡¯m paraphrasing things here, like a lot, but you get the gist of it. The ¡®god¡¯ said that all in a rush, no stopping for breath. ¡°I still don¡¯t see where I come in¡­¡± I tried to say before he cut me off. ¡°I was getting to that.¡± He said in a huff. ¡°The barrier between our universes are weakening and is how they brought you into this world after you died. So I hijacked your soul and brought to the forest. This is where you come in. Since I am god and gain power from followers, and right now I have none. I was hoping you could become my follower. Doing this will increase your power and will help both of us. If you do not wish to become my followers I will let you keep the gifts I have given to you. ¡± He looked at me and put a jointy smile on his face, looking slightly desperate. ¡°Any questions.¡± I was about to open my mouth but he interrupted me. ¡°Make them fast, I can only hold this for another 40 seconds at most.¡± My mind raced for what to ask. I had hundreds of questions acting through my mind but I had to get my priorities straight. My words came out in a jumble, trying to say everything at once. ¡°Why should I choose you as my god.¡± He nodded, ¡°That¡¯s a good question. Right now you will be my only follower so will you get special treatment from me. You will also learn my branch of magic, kinemancy. Which almost no one has.¡± ¡°Why did you choose me to become your follower?¡± I start to see his face scrunching up in strain ¡°Because your soul was a strong and in a convenient place. I can''t hold this much longer, hurry up.¡± ¡°Uhh, where and how far to the nearest town.¡± ¡°The town is about two hours walk down the river. Now choose!¡± He boomed.¡± Will you, Jacob Fox become my follower and my champion.¡± He said this in a ritualistic and grand voice that echoed from the ceiling. What to do. What to do. He had been helpful so far but that doesn¡¯t mean he will always be helpful. I could tell he was hiding something from me but I didn¡¯t know what. My thoughts came down to this. He could be lying about everything, but he did just save my life, and besides, at the very least I would gain some extra status points per level. ¡°I will become your follower or whatever. Did I do that right? Do I need to do something else or ¡­ ¡± I was cut off again by him. He was doing that a lot and I was starting to get annoyed. He gave me a wide smile showing his perfect teeth. ¡°No that is perfect. For becoming my champion I give you s gift.¡± He walked forward and before I could stop him, he placed two fingers on my forehead and pushed back slightly. My eyes went wide and knowledge flooded my head. You have unlocked the spell haste: Level 1 novice Spell school: Neutral Cost - 30 mana and an additional 5 mana per second of the spell being active Effect - +15% increase speed when the spell is active Description: Empower your muscles with mana to increase movement speed. You have unlocked the spell movement detection: Level 1 novice Spell school: neutral Cost - 25 mana and an additional 2 mana per second of the spellbeing active Effect -Detect any movement in a 5m radius Description: Create an aura in a 5-meter radius around yourself. In that aura, you can detect any large movements. ¡°I hope you do great things in this world, I will talk to you again when we next meet.¡± He pointed to the claws that were coming at a noticeable pace now. ¡°You better get in position.¡± I gave him a nod and took a step back. ¡°Ohh yeah, one more thing. Make sure no one finds out you can you kinomancy or knows you are my follower, you may get hunted down and tortured by a lot of angry god on this planet. Have fun, bye¡± He said in a rush before promptly disappearing. ¡°WAIT WHAT?!!¡± I managed to get out before claws swept an inch in front of my chest. I could see the confusion on the monsters face right before my dagger plunged into it, taking its life.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I tried listening to anything moving straining my ears, but I heard nothing, except the slow patting of water against stone. I let out a sigh of relief, it looks like no more monsters were coming to attack me for the moment. I had a bit of time to rest and check my notifications. I opened the first one up and was bombarded with skill increase notifications. You have increased the skill daggers. Level 1 novice -- Level 4 novice -+4% more damage when wielding daggers You have increased the skill stealth. Level 1 novice -- Level 3 novice -6% less noise made and 6% harder for others to see you when stealth is active. -27% more stamina consumed and 37% slower movement speed when stealth is active You have increased the skill unarmed combat. Level 1 novice -- Level 4 novice -+4% more damage when fighting unarmed Those were skill increase was pretty good for only a little bit of fighting. But I mean nothing gets your best self out of you like fighting for your life. Like seriously, going into this cave was a really bad idea. I mean I just teleported into a new world with completely different laws and the first thing I think is ¡°hey I wonder what''s in that monster-infested cave, maybe they¡¯ll be some loot.¡± I thought about that for a bit and then my stomach grumbled. Ohh right, I went in to find a way to cook food. That reasoning seems a little flimsy now, but I guess it all turned out fine. ¡°Now where was I... Ohh yea, going through my notifications.¡± I opened up the next notification to the sound of people cheering. Congratulations! You have killed a level 5 Gibberling(?5) for a total of 1250 experience and have reached level 1! You have 6 free points to distribute. You have gained 2 points in agility and one in intelligence. (see character sheet for all attribute point sources). You have 72 hours to distribute points before they are randomly assigned. Would you like to distribute points now; [Yes : No] Awesome, I fist-pumped the air and gave out a whoop. I looked frantically around, right, I¡¯m still in a dungeon, better wait to celebrate outside. I waited a few seconds, making sure nothing heard make, before contemplating what to do. I wonder what it would feel like to upgrade a stat, a better question would probably be what I should upgrade. I thought about it for a few seconds before I realized I had more notifications waiting for me. This one had a crystal lattice background with dark blue writing. Congratulations! you have done a rare feat and have earned a title! For killing a monster 5 times your level you have earned the title, ¡°punching above your weight¡±. This title grants the following effects; Wow. Just wow. Those were some pretty powerful bonuses. I guess power favours the bold. There was one more notification waiting for me and this one had a background of gold and lettering of shimmering blue. The deity Wade, the god of Kinetic energy has chosen you as his champion! He will protect and guide you, while you bring him to power and notoriety. More bonuses can be gained for doing great deeds for your deity, and remember as he rises, so will you. For now, you will gain these benefits; -+10 to faith, +10 to agility and +5 to intelligence -+2 agility and +1 intelligence per level -All kinematic spells are learnt 20% faster Warning: Servants of other deities will grant you and your god power. But beware, you will be hunted in return. Congratulations! You have unlocked the Faith stat. The faith stat corresponds to how connected you are to your god. This stat can be used to gain a temporary boost to health, mana, stamina a stat and many other things depending on the god you follow and your connection to them. (note: you can not add undistributed stat points to this stat. It can only be gained for connecting with your god.) My body and brain felt all tingly for a few seconds. It felt like that feeling you get when someone touches you with cold hands except all over your body and also inside your brain. I was about to rub my head when I noticed my hand move quite a bit faster than I was used to. I adjusted slightly too late and smacked myself in my head. This will take a bit of getting used to, but it¡¯s awesome. I ran around a bit, only tripping over a few times before I got the hang of my body. I tried ¡®thinking¡¯ to see what my intelligence did, but my brain didn¡¯t feel any different, I didn¡¯t feel any smarter at the very least. But either way, those were some serious benefits, but something in the notification caught my eye. The almighty god of movement, saviour of the universe and fighter for freedom, name is Wade! Ha, I mean seriously, what kind of god is named Wade. All fear the mighty god Wade. Ohh no, the mighty Wade is going to kill us all. I had a good laugh before my mind slowly wandered back to earth and inevitably to my mum. She had always been religious and wanted me to join her in her faith. I wonder what she would think of me, finally believing in god and it not being her religion. I thought about her kind smile and loving arms for a minute before a tear started to form in my eye. I was never going to see her¡­ I shook my head, no, this isn¡¯t the time for that. I can mourn for her and everyone else once I get into a safe place. I put the memory of her and earth into the back of my mind and focused on my current situation. The new faith stat looked interesting and I would have loved to try and play around with it if my body didn¡¯t feel like dropping dead. No matter what my stamina I was exhausted. The reasons I wasn''t asleep was because I was still inside a monster-infested cave. I had 6 points I could spend into any characteristic I wanted. Agility and intelligence were probably not my best choice seeing as I just got a large boost in those areas and getting extra points every level. So that leaves strength, perception, endurance, vitality and will. They all have merits and I could easily choose any one of them to increase, however, what I needed in the last fight was stamina. If it wasn''t for Wade, I snickered a little, I would have died stamina depletion. I thought about it for a minute before deciding what to do. I put four points into endurance and two points into Vitality. Having more health is always fun. I felt the tingling all across my body, slightly weaker than last time but still noticeable. When the tingling stopped a few seconds later I didn¡¯t feel any different. I checked my stats to see the changes. name: Jacob Fox ?? level: 1 (300/2000) ?? race: Linn hit points: 105/105 mana: 150/150 stamina: 180/180 Professions: locked Abilities:
  1. Regeneration: Fast health regeneration
Deity: Wade (The god of kinetic energy) skills: Combat skills: -daggers (novice 4) -unarmed combat (novice 4) Rogue skills: -stealth (novice 3) Gathering skills: -herbalism (novice 1) -Skinning (novice 1) Magic schools/spells: Neutral: Haste Movement detection Titles: Punching above your weight Attributes: Strength: 11 Endurance: 18 Vitality: 14 Perception: 11 Dexterity: 11 Agility: 21 Intelligence: 15 Faith: 11 For some reason, I have an extra 1 point in agility, vitality, dexterity and 2 points in endurance. I tried racking my brain for when I might have gotten the bonus stat points from, but I just couldn¡¯t remember getting them. I was about to give up and just call it an unsolved mystery when blinking the bottom left of my vision caught my attention. I must not have looked at all my notifications. For your excursions, you have gained stat points! +1 to strength +3 to endurance +1 to vitality +1 to perception +1 to dexterity +1 to agility I was going to explore what to do next when I saw something on the status page. I had spells! I thought about how to cast the spells and suddenly I was not so happy. A slight blush crawled up my cheeks when I recalled what I have to say if I want to cast the spell. And that was only what I had to say. I also had to do some weird ritual dance thing as well. Sighing I got ready and started to cast. I flailed my arms around circles while also starting to move in circles. After half a second, words escaped my lips in a quiet a voice as I could speak. ¡°speedy, speedy, I want to be speedy. Speedy me going to be, I wanna move super fast, woosh, woosh.¡± While the words and movements were happening I could feel pressure from inside my chest, and after a few seconds, I could feel that pressure explodes out of chest into my entire body. When I finished the last words around 7 seconds later I could feel my muscles ¡®strengthened¡¯. That was the best way I could describe it. It felt like energy entered my muscles and gave them strength. That was not the only effect thou. My brain suddenly became more fatigued. It felt like I just did half an hour of math problems in an instant. I assume that would be because of the mana drain. I moved around a bit and could feel my speed increases. This will take some getting used to. As I practised I could feel more and more pressure in my head, and after roughly twenty seconds a splitting headache crashed into me. I dropped to the ground clutching my head in my hands. It felt like someone was bashing on my head with a sledgehammer. With every beat of pain, the vice-like grip on my head slightly decreased. It took another 20 seconds before the pain was manageable to think through. ¡°Oww, stupid god and his stupid spells and his stupid not telling me to not use all my mana. I am definitely not doing that again.¡± That was by far one of the most painful things I have ever experienced. +1 intelligence, well that was interesting. It looks like something good came out of this at least. Actually, now that I think about it the pain from my previous fight is all gone. Even my concussion is gone. I guess regeneration is way faster in this world. Or maybe the god did something? Even when most my mana regenerated I still felt mentally fatigued. Looking at my mana I seemed to like it regenerated at a rate of 1 mana every two seconds. That would mean it would take a total of 5 minutes for all my mana to regenerate from zero. Waiting the necessary time for my mana to regenerate I got ready cast my second spell. This one wasn¡¯t any less embarrassing than the last spell. I let out a sigh of resignation, I was just going to have to live with saying stupid shit to cast spells. I got my footwork in the correct place and started my chant. ¡°I create circle to see move move. I am going to see all the move move. No sneaky on me.¡± While chanting these degrading words I had to do a spin in a circle with my arms to the side, pretending to be a Beyblade. While chanting and ¡®dancing¡¯ I could once again feel that power swell up inside, and this time instead of going into my muscles I could feel it come out of my skin and enter the air. It was very slight and I would have missed it if it were not for me paying close attention. Unlike the last spell, I felt no difference. Moving my arm in front of my face to see if I could sense anything thing, I concluded that I could not. That was probably a good thing if I could sense my own movements that would be confusing and probably distracting. Now how do I dismiss my spell? The last one just stopped when I run out of mana, but I would rather not go through that experience again. I tried just thinking to stop the spell but nothing happened. My bar was dropping quickly and a pulse of fear went through me. I focused on the trickle of mana escaping my skin. I ¡®pushed¡¯ with my mind back onto the mana and it stopped exiting my body. With that, my mana stopped draining. Chapter 4: Alpha Done testing my spells, I checked my notifications just to make sure, but it looks like that was it. It was definitely a good haul for however long I¡¯ve been here. But now I have to decide what to do. I could either get out of the cave, and if it¡¯s still light out I could go find that town, or I could explore the rest of this cave. It looks like I¡¯ve cleared most of this cave, seeing as no more monsters have decided to attack me. So if I explore I might find some loot with no to very little fighting. Or there could be a boss who could sneeze me out of existence. ¡®Aeeh, what the hell¡¯. I¡¯m here, I might as well explore this entire place. I mean what''s the worst that can happen. I die, been there done that. With that thought on my mind, I walked down the cave. Nothing eventful happened until I found my way to a split in the path. There were two options, I could either continue straight or turn to the right. Not having any better ideas I turned right, (because right is always right). The hallway opened up into a rough stone opening. It looked like it could fit 4-5 of those things I had killed earlier. There were some dead mice strewn about the floor, and it smelled like week-old gym socks. Suffice it to say, I didn¡¯t stay long. I backtracked to the split and went onto the other pathway. It took another 5 minutes before I found my way into another opening. This one seemed to be double the size of the previous one and smelled just as bad. I approached the doorway slowly. Keeping my eyes and ears open for anything. I made my way to the entrance and heard a noise coming from inside. Before I did anything else I walked further back down the cave and put down my coin purse. I was not making that mistake again. Done with that, I entered into the room just far enough to see what I was up against. On the back end of the cave, there were three silhouettes, all quietly snoring on a bed of skins. I was about 6 metres away from them with a dagger in hand. I had a quick argument in my mind on whether to retreat or not. Fighting quickly won out seeing as they were sleeping and I could hopefully kill them without a fight. I debated whether to cast a spell I decided against it. I was still getting used to my new speed so increasing that would only worsen the issue and make me more clumsy. Besides if everything went right I would have no need for extra speed. I also had no idea what the other spell felt like. I might get surprised if I randomly felt a brand new sensation. I also had the issue of running out of mana, and if that happened in a fight I would be done for. I activated stealth and slowly made my way to my targets. Each step causing my heart to beat faster. I slowly bent down, only inches away from my targets. I poised the dagger above the first monsters neck, sweat coming down my back in waves. Just as I was about to stab down I heard a horrifying noise. It rebounded off the walls, sounding like thunder in the quiet space. My stomach rumbled loud enough to wake the dead or at least the sleeping. ¡°For fuck''s sake!¡±. I stabbed my dagger down onto the neck of the monster I was above and aimed another killing blow on the next nearest one. He moved away just in time and I only managed to score a wound across his right biceps. He oriented himself far to quickly and returned a blow against me. The claws drew three pales lines of blood across my cheek, while I stepped back. I could hear both the monsters get up and let out a deafening shriek. I pulled back enough to get a quick glance at them. The monster on the left was similar in height to all the other. But the other one. Well, let¡¯s just say I attacked the wrong giberling. I could only see the silhouette of the monster, but that was enough to make a little water come down my pants. The other monsters was similar to its kin, only a bit over 5 foot. But other one had to be other 7 feet tall at the very least. We all stood staring until the monsters gained their senses and rushed me. The smaller monster was the first to come at me and had one thought before the monster swung at me. I could really do with some music right now. I easily ducked under the first blow with my new speed and struck out with my dagger. The giberling moved out of the way and let out a low menacing growl. I rushed forward striking with all my speed. I slashed a line of red across the length of the monster''s chest. It returned with a backswing which I easily dodged, and returned with a punch from my off hand. I saw the next one coming and maneuvered so only one could come at me at a time. The large one came next. Charging at me with a haymaker. I dodged back easily, letting blow strike the wall. Running forward I struck it with my dagger, releasing a flurry of slashes against the creature. It managed to move back and dodge most of the blows. A few slashes hit, however, and left lines of red crisscrossing the monsters chest. My stamina was draining quickly, and I had already used half of it up and it was not regenerating fast enough. I would need to finish this fight quickly. The smaller monster came at me again, when the bigger one stepped back, not stopping when I struck with my dagger. Moving its body the monster dodged part of the dagger, while the rest of its body slammed into me, knocking both off us over. I tucked my head in, stopping it from hitting the floor. I could feel the monster''s breath on my face, sending chills down my spine. I stabbed my dagger into its side. Causing it to recoil, I then pulled my knees in and kicked the creature back with all the force I could muster. My respite didn¡¯t last long as the other monster came in and slammed his clawed foot down onto my face. I rolled just in time causing the foot to slam on my hand instead, making me drop my dagger. I screamed in pain, I could feel a few bones in fingers break under the force. Quickly getting up I took a few steps back, cradling my injured arm to my chest. The large one charged in, leaning in I put all my body weight into a front kick to the monster''s stomach. I felt my feet sink in nicely and ran in to take advantage of his pain. Releasing my injured arm I punched him in the face, then followed up by moving past the monster to grab its chin I then pushed the chin up and then forced it straight back down to the ground. I could hear when his body slammed into the ground, the sound reverberated from the cave walls. I pulled my foot up and slammed it into his face once before the smaller monster was back on me. The monster was limping and holding its side but still coming strong. I pushed my weight into my leg and kicked out again with all the force I could muster. The creature unceremoniously fell to the floor were I simply stomped on its head until it lay lifeless on the floor. I stabbed both the monsters in the head just to be sure before promptly falling to the floor beside them. Everything hurt and I was exhausted. I just laid there until my stamina was a quarter full, and even still all I wanted in life at that moment was to sleep, but now was not the time. When the adrenaline left, my attention was brought back to my hand. It definitely had at least a few broken bones. I don¡¯t know what would happen if I regenerate with unaligned broken bones, but I would rather not find out. I just had to hope the nearby town had a doctor.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I was about to head out when I noticed a spot that seemed to reflect the minuscule amount of light coming from the moss. Cautiously moving over to the spot, wincing when I moved a little. I examined the shining spot. It had it has been covered by a large unmoving rock. Under that large stone was the thing reflecting the light. The only problem was I couldn¡¯t reach it with the rock on top of it. Trying to lift the rock was an effort in futility due to my maimed hand. With a sigh of resignation, I got into a good angle and kicked the rock full force. Pain flared in my hand with each movement, forcing the bones in my hand to grind together, but I continued. Pushing past the pain I kicked again and again until the rock tumbled off. Brushing past some loose pebbles I found a dull sword, that looked to be covered in age, but no worse for wear. There was a thick coating of dust on the sword, but no rust. Picking up the sword a new notification appeared in my vision with a sparkling red title. You have found a ????? one-handed longsword Quality - splendid Durability - 1148/1500 Rarity - rare Damage - (37 - 42) Magic: Unknown Weight - 1.1kg You do not meet the requirements of 55 dexterity to use this weapon. You do not meet the requirements of 19 strength to use this weapon This magical longsword was scribed with unknown symbols and made from an unknown metal. Running my fingertips along the edge of the blade I could definitely tell that it was still sharp, even after many years it lay here. On the faces of the blade, there were strange symbols, which I could only guess were some magic things similar to runes. The hilt of the blade did not fare so well, however. It was crumbling in my hands, and the leather was torn so bad, it was more threads than sheath. Swinging the blade around I could definitely that this was not made from any earthly metal. It was heavy and sturdy, but the blade also seemed to travel faster than it should have. The sword also had durability many magnitudes larger than my dagger. I also found out why I needed more dexterity and strength for this blade. After just a few swings I was already struggling to move the sword, with the blade feeling faster than it should have. I was having a lot of trouble controlling it. After the second time I almost took my nose off, I decided to stop playing around. Excited with my first find I returned to the place where the rock fell. The first thing I found was a sheath for the blade. It fared no better than the hilt of my new blade. It was in tatters, crumbling into dust at the bottom of the safe. The next thing I found definitely made up for it. A bag made of threadbare linen lay at the back of the safe. The second I tried to lift the bag up it turned to dust. Where in I heard the sound of ¡®clink clanks¡¯ on the floor. ¡°Damm,¡± it was going to take forever to pick all this stuff up in the dark. Bending over and lifting one that didn¡¯t go too far, up to my eyes, a notification appeared telling me that I had found a gold coin. That was way better in terms of monetary value than silver. At least it was on earth, and I also heard at least a handful of coins fall all on the floor. I bent down to all three¡¯s with renewed energy. ¡®Ahh money, it can brighten any day, even my hands somehow hurts less.¡¯ All in all, I had found a total of 10 gold coins after a few minutes of searching, but I was pretty certain I had found all of them. Placing the coins in my bag it started to droop from the newly added weight. With that done I returned to safe to see anything else inside the chest. I didn¡¯t find anything useful, however, I did find what looked like a crumbling miniaturised crossbow at the back. I swallowed, my mouth suddenly becoming dry. If that still worked, I would have been very dead. Shuddering at my stupidity I picked up my sword and hobbled out of the cave. When I exited the cave I let out a sigh of relief. I had made it. I also noticed just how dry my mouth was. I guess intensely fighting really dehydrated you, who would have guessed? I went over to the river drinking a big gulp of water. With near death out of the way, my stomach decided to let itself be known again. Actually, scratch that, even near-death my stomach still has time to rumble. Reaching my hand up above my eyes I looked at the sun to see that it was already near the horizon. I let a slight grimace onto my face, I would have to rush if I wanted to make it into the town before nightfall. Well, as a wise man once said better get moving or better get dying. That wise man being of course me. Changing the grip on my sword, I continued into the forest at a speed walk. Well as fast as you can walk in a heavily forested area with a broken hand and a sword. As I walked I opened up the mountainous amount of notification that had accrued. The first one that came up did nothing to improve my mood. It was coloured in an ominous blood red. Debuffs: Broken left hand: You have a broken left hand: -All mobility in hand is decreased by 80% -You are unable to carry or lift with your hand -5% harder to do anything involving the mind Straighten your arm and weight for it to heal, or find a healer to remove this debuff. Hungry: You haven''t eaten in a few days and have gotten the debuff: Famished -Stamina regeneration is decreased by 20%, health regeneration is decreased by 30% -max stamina cap is reduced by 20% -10% harder do anything involving the mind Eat some food to remove this debuff Exhaustion: You have exhausted your energy and have gained a debuff: Weary -Stamina regeneration decreased by 15% -Max stamina cap is reduced by 15% -10% harder do anything involving the mind Get a good night''s sleep to remove this debuff Hopefully, in the town, I¡¯ll be able to find a doctor, and more importantly, EAT SOME GODDAMN FOOD! The next notification was much better. You have increased the skill daggers. Level 4 novice -- Level 5 novice -+5% more damage when wielding daggers You have increased the skill stealth. Level 3 novice -- Level 5 novice - 10% less noise made and 10% harder for others to see you when stealth is active. - 25% more stamina consumed and 35% slower movement speed when stealth is active. You gained the skill unarmed combat Level 4 novice -- Level 6 novice - +6% more damage when fighting unarmed You have killed a level 7 Gibberlings(?2) and a level 10 alpha Gibberling for a total of 1600 experience. No wonder those last guys were so much harder to kill. The tall guy was double their normal level. If I didn¡¯t get the sneak attack on that guy at the start I could have been a lot more seriously injured, or maybe even killed. Letting the tension from my shoulders go, I focused on the last notification. Congratulations! You have done an extremely rare feat, for killing 5 monsters 5 times your level your title ¡°punching above your weight¡± has upgraded and become ¡°The strong fear ME!¡± All previous bonuses apply, and this additional one; Now that was awesome. Social interactions are useful in any society and gaining a 10% boost in them is a huge gain. The fear effect also looked useful but there was one thing I wasn''t sure about so I focused on it. Weak Fear Effect: The fear effect affects the mind of the one targeted. They are more susceptible to intimidation, and they have -5% to any actions. Effects of fear can be decreased if the targeted user, has a strong will or good control over their mind. Chapter 5: town Seeing an end to the tree¡¯s I let out a sigh of relief, I made it. It took 2 hours of lugging a heavy sword around (where I got an extra point in strength) but I could see what I was looking for. Wood spikes protruded from the top of a metre tall wood poll, and every two metres there was a small square hole which I assumed were used to shoot arrows through. In the centre of the wall, there was a 6-metre wooden gate that just happened to be to closing at that exact moment. Rushing over to the gate, ignoring my exhaustion and pain, I shouted to wait while waving my uninjured arm in the air. Which I soon realised may not have been the best idea seeing as I was carrying a sword in that hand. And nothing says I come in peace like waving a sword above your head. I realized just in time to reverse my sword grip before someone peeked from around the side of the gate. After the guy saw me he stepped from behind the gate fully clothed in plate mail and equipped with a spear. I reached the gate a minute later doubling over trying to catch my breath. The man mercifully waited a minute for me to catch my breath before staring down at me and talking. ¡°Ye¡¯re lucky to get¡¯ ier before night. We ah had some reports of te¡¯ spooky monsters out here a¡¯ night. I don¡¯t say I believe em, but some¡¯tin definitely happenin out there.¡± The man talked strangely, seeming to swallow some words and hyphening others. At least I think he was, I did just learn a new language and the only person I have talked to was a god. So not exactly the most common person to compare to. ¡°Yea, I got attacked out there and it took me a while longer to get here,¡± I said gesturing to my broken hand. Being very careful to make it not a threatening gesture. I skirted around the truth, not sure if new people were not welcome, or had to pay some fee to enter. I could see him nod, before gesturing me through the gate. ¡°Ye better get in here befo night, if ye want t¡¯ doctor he is 800 steps down to the right near t¡¯ dungeon. People always gettin hurt in there. He closing soon, but if you rush ye may make it.¡± Well, it looks like he already knew I wasn¡¯t from around here seeing as he pointed me to the doctors. Nodding my head in thanks and seeing no reason to daddle I started off towards the doctor. Taking a few steps forwards I turned back to him, ¡°I forgot to ask, but do you know anywhere I can stay the night?.¡± I could see him turn around from the gate a point towards a random street. ¡°Down tha¡¯ way is the more pricey places, near the dungeon you see. But there a nice place 200 steps forward and to t¡¯ right of here, it¡¯s called the drunken barber and it ain¡¯t too pricey but also won¡¯t giv¡¯ya fleas if ya know what I mean.¡± Nodding my head in understanding I thanked him and started back towards the doctor. By the time I finished talking with the guard, the sun was behind the horizon, leaving only an orange glow, lighting a small part of the sky. Walking past tents and houses I could see that the houses grew bigger and more common the closer I got to where the guard pointed me to go. By the time I go to the place I was meant to turn right in, there were no more tents and most of the houses were either shop or inns. One of these stores had a large sign hanging from the front with a potion bottle painted on it. Another had a hammer and anvil etched into the wood and coloured silver. But most importantly of all, I saw a sign gloriously showing a plate with a fork and knife on it. I was seriously tempted to go straight there, but the doctor was going to close and I would rather not sleep with a broken hand. It was at this point that I realized I have no idea how far 800 steps were. I must have been seriously distracted from my hunger and broken hand to miss something that obvious. Thinking back over our conversation I do remember him mentioning something about the doctor being next to the dungeon. Now all I have to do is find the dungeon. Just as I came across the next intersection I saw a giant stone archway leading down into a dark depth. Turning right down the street (which was around triple the normal size of a street here) the archway of polished stone seemed to be faintly glowing with a soft blue light as if inviting you to go inside. That, however, wasn¡¯t the main thing that drew my attention to the hole. It was the seemingly infinite darkness underneath the stone. That darkness seemed to convey a sense of death and danger. When looking into that abyss I could feel a chill crawl down my spine. This was definitely a dungeon if I ever saw one. Which in this case was the first time I ever saw a dungeon. The thing in the forest was definitely not a dungeon. It was probably just a place where a bunch of monsters decided to make a nest. I shook my head trying to get back on track. Right got to get to a doctor. I can check out the dungeon when I¡¯m no longer crippled. It took another few seconds before I could see the doctor store. Everything seemed normal except for the sign. The sign proclaiming the store was a double snake surrounding a golden staff. It was the exact same symbol we used back on earth to depict a doctor/healer. If I remember correctly we got that from some Greek myths or something like. But how did it get here? I could only think of two options for this happening. 1. Both are planets somehow managed to create the exact same symbol for the exact same profession randomly. Or 2. One of the planets copied it from the other. Seeing as the earth was inhabited after this planet was, and if Wade was to be believed hadn¡¯t had any contact with this one, it probably means that we copied it from them. Unless of course, it was completely random, which seems rather unlikely. My thoughts were interrupted when I came across the front of the doctor''s house. Finding the door I noticed a man who was in the middle of turning an open sign into a closed one. ¡°Wow, my timing is impeccable today.¡± Running forward and waving my hand in a non-threatening manner, which was somewhat redundant as I had a sword in that hand, I called out, ¡°hey, do have time for one more.¡± The man turned around and gave me a full view of him. He was a middle-aged man, maybe in his 40-50, that had a resigned face on. As if he spends the entire day around morons and one especially dumb one decided to visit him. But for all that he spoke in a much more educated way, (at least compared to the guard). ¡°Put down that sword if you don¡¯t want to cut your own head off. I mean adventures, always getting hurt and expecting me to heal them. I mean seriously, can¡¯t think ¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t hear what he said after that, he just started mumbling about the adventures and idiots. Waiting politely for the man to finish. And when he didn¡¯t I discreetly coughed, and when he still didn¡¯t stop, I less discreetly coughed. After that, he finally looked up, as if forgetting I was ever there. Waving my hand again I asked ¡°Hello you there? Will you heal me or just keep blabbering on?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll heal you if don¡¯t cut your arm off with that stupid sword you keep swinging around. And hurry up and get in before I change my mind.¡± After speaking his my mind he turned around and started towards the store, expecting me to follow. Spluttering for a moment and trying to think of an appropriate reply, I saw that the man already had one hand on the doorknob before I could even open my mouth. Sighing in resignation, I hung my head and followed the middle-aged man inside. Compared to the man the store was quite cozy. The walls of the room were made of rich dark wood with a fireplace to the right of the entrance, facing a comfy looking brown couch that had a sign saying ¡®please wait for the doctor to see you¡¯. Two doors lay ahead of the front door, one with a sign saying ¡®authorized personnel only¡¯. Looking around for what was giving off the light for me to see everything I saw multiple crystals on the walls giving of soft yellow light. All in all, it gave this place a comfy and relaxing look.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The doctor walked through the door on the left, the one without the ¡®Authorized personnel only¡¯ and brought me into a small room. The walls were made out of the same wood as the other room. With the same crystals lighting the room. Except in this room, there was a chair and desk with a lot of labelled drawers underneath. The names all seemed to correspond to something to do with medicine. On the other side of the room was a bed. Which was currently being pointed at by a grumpy man. ¡°Get on the bed, and put your sword away, I¡¯m not having you cut up my nice clean sheets.¡± Complying with the annoying man I leaned my word against the wall and lay back onto the bed. Once I was on the bed the man became much more serious. ¡°So, what''s wrong. From the looks of things it looks like you have a broken hand, and multiple scrapes and bruises. Did I miss anything?¡± Shaking my head and replying ¡°No,¡± the man nodded and rummaged around in one of his draws until he pulled out a roll of bandages. ¡°I can heal your heal in two ways¡± He brought one finger up and said, ¡°I can either instantly heal your hand and you can walk fine within a few seconds.¡± He brought his second finger up, ¡°Or I can set your bones and infuse them with regenerative magic, if you keep your hand in a cast it should heal by tomorrow morning. Assuming you get some sleep of course.¡± putting his hand up, the man stopped me before I could say anything. ¡°It may seem like an obvious choice but hear me out first. The first option is faster, but there is a slight chance of complications, and using it too much of this magic may make you resistant to healing magic. It also costs more.¡± Pausing a second to make sure I understood he continued. ¡°On the other hand.¡± I narrowed my eyes at him. trying to tell if that pun was intentional, but he gave no implication of guilt and just continued talking. ¡°The second method has almost zero chance of going wrong, so long as you keep the cast on. It also cost less.¡± Thinking about it for a second I decided to go for the second option. It was safer and besides, he said my hand will heal overnight, so it won''t be too much of a bother. It also had the added benefit of being cheaper and money is always good. The man smiled and gently grabbed my hand. Thinking back on how my magic experience has been, I assumed he would do some motions and chant. But nope. His hands simply turned green and then that green light went into me. I also assumed it wouldn¡¯t hurt. But I was wrong, again. I could feel the bones in my hand move, getting adjusted into place. I swear I could hear them grinding into one another. My mouth parted and I screamed out in a hoarse cry of pain. After what felt like hours, (probably on a few seconds), the green glow around the healer and my hand faded away. He quickly got the bandage from his desk and efficiently wrapped my hand tightly. ¡°There, that should keep bones in place. Don¡¯t make any sudden movement and try to avoid putting any stress on your hand during the next 12 hours.¡± Getting into a sitting position I glared at the man. ¡°Was the pain really necessary¡± He gave me a sheepish look before replying, ¡°no, not really, but you did disturb me right before closing, so it was only fair I got to have a little fun of my own.¡± Ignoring my flaming glare and sputtering mouth he continued on as if I wasn''t there ¡°So that will come to a total of 3 silver, I could also heal your bumps and bruises, that would usually cost 6 copper, but since I¡¯m feeling a little bit bad I¡¯ll do it for free.¡± The grouchy man from before was completely replaced by a smiling amicable man. Still glaring daggers at him I eventually snapped ¡°fine¡± and placed 3 silver coins on the bench and lay back down onto the bed. ¡°This better not hurt or I want a refund.¡± The man chuckled before placing his hand a few inches above my chest and pushed them down slowly. A familiar green light appeared around his hands. As his hands came closer to my chest, aches and bruises around my body started to go away. Once his hands were on my chest it only a minute before all my bruises and scrapes were gone. Getting up and out of bed I let out a sigh of relief. I could finally get what I came here for. It almost brought a tear to my eye. Begrudging thanking the man I walked out to find what I heaven. Retracing my steps until I found the house I was looking for I walked inside to the sound of people laughing and the delicious smell of food. I could already hear my stomach grumbling from the smell. The front desk was manned with a pretty young lady who looked up when I approached and gave a wide white-toothed smile. She was your average women serving at a restaurant. Nice looking but not knock your pants of beautiful. She had long brown hair and a slim petite frame. But what really stuck out about her was her small antlers peeking out from above her head. Her gaze turned slightly confused when she looked at my bloody shirtless appearance and then turned to a scowl when she caught me staring at her antlers.¡°What never seen an erl before!¡± She nearly spit those words out. Venom seeming to course out of her mouth and into my ears. ¡°Actually no I haven''t! I lived in a rural village and never seen an erl before. I just got here tonight. So if you could please find a seat for me that would be much appreciated. I literally haven''t eaten in days¡± I gave a returning glared that seemed to make her sheepish. I guess there''s some prejudice going on here. But she did still accuse me of something I didn¡¯t think, and if I play this right it could come in handy if she feels like she offended me. After apologizing she brought me to a table and gave me a menu. Not even bothering to look at it I just told the young elf to get me multiple dishes of whatever she thought best as long as it was not fish. I really hated fish. Retrieving the menu she walked off and gave my order to another waiter. Seeing all the food I could barely suppress my urge to go over and steal food from the nearest table, but I managed to hold myself by focusing on the other customers. Most of the people inside seemed to be elves at least from what I could guess, however there a few other races present. There were a few tables of dwarves who were loudly talking and a few were singing. Another table was filled with slim elves dressed in finery and elegantly eating. Another two tables were occupied by a mix of races, including elves. However, the elves that we''re conversing with other races seemed to be less elegant than the ones sitting with their own kind. There were also a few people that seemed to be gnomes but I couldn¡¯t really be sure if they were gnomes or dwarves. The race that really stuck out was the humanoid wolves. There were only two tables of the wolves, them seeming to be the most unsociable of the races here. Or at least the most prejudiced against. Either way, they were the most different from all the other races. They either had drooping ears or pointed ears, and were covered in a soft fur, (it looked almost like coloured skin). From the top of there head to the tips of their tails, excluding there faces. The other thing that stuck out about them was their size. They were all at least 6 feet tall and broad shoulders. Even the women seemed to be gigantic. However, when I saw their teeth I decided to stop staring, just in case one of them decided to take offence. They could probably chop my head off in one bite. Quickly looking and hoping they didn¡¯t see me, I scoured the rest of the restaurant looking for other races. There was one more race that happened to be very cute and made me forget about my hunger for a second. On one table looked to be cat women and men. They were short and slim, kind of the opposite of the wolf people, and I felt the blood rush to my cheeks, and well, other places when I saw there ears and tails. A part of my mind told me I''m a perv, but a much more friendly one told that part to shut up and stop kink-shaming me. One thing all the races had in common was that none of them were shirtless and covered in blood! Actually, most of the customers were nicely dressed, so I stuck out like an eagle in a pigeon''s nest, (giving myself a mental high five for creating that amazing simile, or wait is it a metaphor? Never mind, that¡¯s beside the point now where was? Right talking about being an eagle in a pigeons nest). The only reason the front lady didn¡¯t kick me out was probably that she felt bad for accusing me of racism, or is it specism? Shaking my head I tried to get back on track. Those mental debuffs must seriously be affecting me, not to mention my tiredness it probably making me struggle to remain on one line of thought. That or I have a serious case of undiagnosed ADHD. During my contemplations of whether I have ADHD, my food finally arrived. A different waiter brought it over and he barely had time to put the food down before I was stuffing it into my mouth. It was the greatest thing I had ever eaten in my entire life and I was shoving the food in my mouth so fast that I couldn¡¯t even eat taste the food. . . . Leaving the restaurant with a stomach full of food and a purse 2 silver lighter I headed to an inn. It took me many wrong turns but I eventually made it. Or at least I think I did, I¡¯m not completely sure if this was the inn the guard recommended since I forgot the name of that one and got seriously lost, but it¡¯s still a place to sleep that doesn¡¯t look like i¡¯ll catch an untreatable disease from. Entering through a wooden front door into a room that was filled with loud laughter and even a dwarf drunkenly sinking on top of a table, I hazily made my way to the bar. All the days fighting and walking and broken ¡­ arm-ing finally caught up to me. It also didn¡¯t help that I just had a giant meal after not eating anything in 3 days, it was like a food comma times eleven. Suffice it to say I was dead on my feet. The bartender came up to me after serving a customer and said something and I just nodded, barely hearing what he was saying. Plopping the money he asked for on the bar I grabbed his key and stumblingly made my way up the stairs into the room number on the key. Failing a few times I eventually opened the door and let myself in, hastily tearing my pants off and flopping onto the bed. Passing out near instantly. Chapter 6: Dungeon Waking up was by far the best experience I''ve had since I came here. My stomach no longer felt like eating itself, nothing hurt, all my debuffs were gone and my hand was fully healed just like the doctor said. Getting out of bed without snitched I put on my remaining articles of clothing on, which wasn¡¯t more than a few bloody rags covering my legs and boots that could have been passed as a garbage bag. My only good piece of equipment was my sword, and now that I could examine closely without fear of being eaten I could tell that every time I swung my sword the symbols on the length of its side would glow faintly white. The sword also felt weird when I swung it, somehow feeling like it moved considerably faster than it should. I assumed it has something to do with the glowing symbols. Ignoring the sword for now and heading downstairs to the main space of the inn, I found myself an empty table. Light streamed through the window and gave the entire room a cheery atmosphere. Not wanting to waste any more sun I called over a barmaid and order my food. The food coming free with the room Getting brought my food I thanked the maid before stuffing it down. Once I was satisfied that I was full I headed out into the streets of ¡­ whatever this city is called. First things first, buy some clothes. . . . It took me a few hours but I eventually bought everything I needed. I bought two articles of clothing (ones that were almost comfortable). A fire starter kit and a backpack to hold it in. I also explored the city in that time. It looked like the dungeon I found yesterday was roughly in the centre of town and when I neared it, I could see a line of people stretching from the entrance that slowly moved closer, every five minutes or so. On the opposite side of where I came in was another gate similar to the one I come through, except now there were numerous people and wagons entering and exiting the gate at any one time. Over the course of the day, there were a few people that seemed to give me odd stares and move to the opposite side of the street when they saw me. At first, I thought it was my torn and ragged pants and no shirt. But even when I bought new clothes people still did the same thing. It was only after a lovely dressed women nearly gagged when she passed me that I realized that I probably stank. Doing what any sane man would do I did a sniff test. And yep, I smelled like a wet donkey had just decided to bath in pig shit, but on the way over to the bath fell into a pool of whale vomit and then rolled down a muddy, wet, fertilized hill into that aforementioned pig shit. Suffice it to say I went to a bathhouse real quick after that. In total, I was down 1 gold and 2 silver from my purchases. I also managed to find out the conversion rate from gold to silver being 10:1. With all my necessities completed, I have to think about I¡¯m going to do now. Before I was just constantly reacting to my situation I was in, but now I have to actually think about what I¡¯m going to do with my life. From the looks of things I really only have two options, either become some sort of fighter, and make a living that way, or invest in a trade, maybe even invent something new to this planet from earth Walking and thinking my feet eventually took me to the dungeon. Well, I guess that settles it. I have always been a firm believer in your subconscious knows what you want, and if it took me here it probably means that is what I truly want, or I''m just bullshting my self. But either way, even if I don¡¯t like the adventuring life I can always become a carpenter or something, assuming I don¡¯t die of course. With my decision made I turned around and headed towards the inn, getting ready for an adventure. Taking my sword from the floor I soon realized that I may have forgotten something to buy. Slightly deflating from my anticipation of riches, I headed towards the smith. There were two blacksmiths in town from I could tell, one was close to the dungeon and the other was a bit further to the outskirts. The one closer to the dungeon seemed more refined and expensive while the other seemed less so. I Headed to the cheaper looking one first, for no other reason than it was closer to my inn. I headed inside to the sound of a bell ringing. A human male was manning the station and he gave me a small smile when I entered. The inside of the shop was covered in display cases showing swords, shields, armour and a host of different kinds of weaponry. There also seemed to be a few displays dedicated to things like shovels, hammers and nails. Approaching the desk I plopped my sword down onto it. ¡°Do happen to have a sheath that fits this sword? Also, do you know what is made of, and what those runes do.¡± The man looked at the sword and his eyes grew wide, he lifted the sword and slowly swung. After a few swings in the air (and once into a piece of wood) he placed the sword back onto the bench and looked at me slightly impressed ¡°Where did you get this sword? It is made from a rare metal and has an advanced speed rune. From what I can tell the metal is either slanice or racium. The rune speeds up your attack, from what I can guess by 20% - 40%, you will need to go to a runesmith to get an exact number.¡± Ignoring his question I got back to the point. ¡°So can you make the sheath? I¡¯m also looking for some light armour.¡± He nodded before ducking behind the counter and taking a few leather sheath out and trying to see which is the best fit for my sword. After the fourth one he tried the smith nodded and put it on the counter. ¡°Now the amour will take some time, I recommend leather armour, but whatever you choose, I need to take your measurements. If you would follow me this will only take a moment.¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. I followed him behind the counter and into a back room with a body-sized mirror where he started measuring my proportions. When he was done, we returned to the reception room. ¡°It will take two weeks to finish the armour. In total it will cost 5 gold, plus the sheath which cost 6 silver. You can pay half the price of the amour now and the other half when you get the armour.¡± The smith said slyly grinning at me. . . . That was how my purse ended up 3 gold and 1 silver lighter. I still felt a pang in my chest when I thought about the money I spent. At least I managed to get my sword hilt wrapped and a promise to repair my sword to full health for free. Apparently, only his master could repair the sword and he was out shopping and couldn¡¯t do it now, or some bullcrap like that. With my sword at my hip, I made my way to the line standing outside the dungeon entrance and waited for it to dwindle. It took nearly an hour, but I made it to the front of the line where a man behind a desk waited. When I stepped forward he looked up at me, and with a bored expression and tone of voice explained how the dungeon worked. Apparently there was a 20% tax on everything collected in the dungeon, and they did a scan before and after you left the dungeon to check if you were hiding anything. Apparently the value of the items gained from the dungeon was decided by the adventurers guild. The guy also seemed to look at me like I was slightly stupid for going in alone but said nothing. He also gave me a few ideas for what to expect in the dungeon. Apparently there were three ways to get out of the dungeon, you can either come back to the entrance, find a safe room or defeat a boss to get out. The main creature on the first level were some bats and vines that gripped at you. When he was done explaining he looked at his watch and waited for another 2 minutes before he let me into the dungeon. You are entering an area of the dungeon designed for a group of 5 people, with a recommended level of 6. Since you are alone all loot gained is increased by a multiple of 3. Your level is also more than 4 levels below the recommended so all loot gained is increased by a multiple of 2. Giving a total of 5X the average loot. As I entered the dungeon I drew my sword and strained my senses for anything. The walls were a rough stone, and the air felt thick and heavy, seeming to convey a sense of earliness that caused my hackles to rise. The tunnel looked to be 10 metres wide and sloped downward. The light also strangely seemed to be constant, coming from nowhere, it was still dark but there was enough light to see by. Walking without trouble for a few minutes, I heard a ¡®woosh¡¯ behind me. I spun around into a bat that latched onto my right shoulder and with teeth penetrated into my neck. Stumping for a second, as I felt my blood get sucked out I reached up with my left arm and tried to tear the bat off my shoulder. A scream erupted from my throat as its teeth ripped a larger hole into my neck and the bats¡¯ claws left gauges on my shoulder. The bat bit my hand but I had enough state of mind to run to the wall and beat the bat to death. The bleeding was profuse, I was losing 4 hit points a second and I had already lost 34 hitpoints. Gritting my teeth I took my shirt off, pain flaring in my shoulder and neck. I tied my shirt around my neck and sat next to a wall taking slow breaths, gritting my teeth through the pain. I lost a total of 86 points out of my total 105, my wounds stopped bleeding but I still felt pain every time I tried my moving my right arm or neck. I waited for 15 minutes to regain some of my lost health, and in that time a group of people passed me while I was resting. They warily looked at me while they passed, but they seemed to ease when it was just me here. 5 copper coins also clincked to the ground after I killed the bat that soon found a new home in my purse. Once I was mostly healed I grabbed my dropped sword and hesitated for a second before casting my movement detection spell and continuing onward. Focusing on my senses I suddenly felt something coming from my right side. It felt like an itch coming from a place outside my body, it was weird but I didn¡¯t hesitate. Spinning around I put my arms up in time to block a bat coming at my neck. The bat still latched onto my arms, leaving shallow burning lines of pain on my forearms. I managed to get my sword hand free and thrust my sword through the bat. The sword bit into my hand as well with my shitty control over it. I let out a grunt of pain at the same time as the bat dropped to the stone. I stopped my mana spell before gritting my teeth and leaning down to collect the 6 copper coins that dropped. Mana depleted I turned around and headed out of the dungeon, checking my notifications on the way, Congratulations! You have killed a level 4 mutated vampire bat(?2) for a total of 140 experience and have reached level 2! You have 6 free points to distribute. You have gained 2 points in agility and one in intelligence. (see character sheet for all attribute point sources). You have gained the skill first aid. Description: Heal the sick and damaged without the aid of magic Level 1 novice - Bandaging wounds blocks blood 2% more effectively - Medical mundane single use items are 0.5% more effective. (i.e. slaves, creams) You have increased the spell movement detection. Level 1 weak -- Level 2 weak Cost- 24 mana and an additional 1.9 mana per second of the spell being active For your excursions, you have gained stat points! +2 to vitality +2 to perception +1 to intelligence +1 to dexterity I put 3 points into perception, two points in vitality and one point in strength. I really wanted to put some points into dexterity but perception would be more useful in the dungeon, I really needed health as I almost died earlier and the requirement for strength is a lot less for the sword. But I still needed a better way to get points. 6 per level was just not enough. I also need to find someone to teach me how to use my sword. I had training in krav maga from back on earth, but I neglected to train my sword skills, for obvious reasons. I mulled over my options as I made my way back, passing another group near the entrance. As I came out of the dungeon I was whisked to the side, where I was put through another scan. I had to give away 2 of copper due to tax. Overall the day wasn¡¯t a bad haul, I gained a level and a few coppers. But I really need to be more prepared next time I go in there. I probably shouldn¡¯t have gone into the dungeon today and just rested and explored the town more. Walking around the town I bought some bandages, a few more shirts and a better belt. I also checked out an alchemist store were I bought a health and stamina potion that regenerated 60 stamina/health over 20 seconds. The stamina potions cost 7 silver while the health one cost 1 gold. The price was exorbitant but I would rather have it for emergencies than, you know, die. I checked out a magic store as well, but I quickly realized that everything was out of my price range so I didn¡¯t stay long. After a long day, I made my way back to my inn, where I ate my meal and paid a maid to wash my clothes. Falling on my bed exhausted, I was out before the sun was down. Chapter 7: Guilds Waking up, I did my morning routine and made my way into the street. I saw a building yesterday that I wanted to check out so I headed in that direction. Pushing open the doors I made my way into a cheery building full of people drinking and talking. I ignored them and headed to the front desk. The attending elven clerk looked up when I approached him and gave me a bright smile. ¡°Welcome to the ¡®Dronic adventurers guild¡¯ what can I do for you? ¡°Hi, I¡¯m looking about joining the guild, what does that entail? I said slightly leery. In books adventurer''s guild have some sort of downside. It could be that you can¡¯t leave the guild for a few years or you have to go into indentured servitude. The problem was that I couldn¡¯t really do much at the moment without help. Just going into the dungeon has a high probability of killing me, and even if I level enough to survive I still need training in sword combat and information about ¡­ well, everything. "To join the guild you need to at least have a profession and after that, we will do some tests to see if you are suitable to join the guild. May I ask what level or profession do you have?" The man said somewhat dubiously. as he looked at me. "I am level 2." Well shit. I didn''t even know at what level you get a profession, let alone what profession I want. Looks like I''m not joining the guild today. "How are you only level 2?!" The man looked at me slightly dumbfounded. "What have you been doing with your life?" "Mysterious things you won¡¯t understand." Ignoring his snub I just answered completely truthfully and vaguely for this little shit head. Getting back on track I asked him a few more pointed questions about training my stats and skills. The guild allows non-guild member (as long as they''re not affiliated with another guild) to purchase someone to help learn a skill. That''s all fine and dandy, the problem is how much it costs. One sword training session cost five silver, and just for beginners, the cost only multiplies after that. Guild members pay less but that information is not going to help me right now. Still, I coughed up the five silver from my quickly dwindling purse and was told to come back in a few hours to join the class. While I waited, I decided to do some experiments.

. . .

Stepping outside the gates I was greeted with the forest where I came from. I walked into the forest before starting to sprint. I ran for an entire 5 seconds before I tripped on a root and stumbled over my own feet. Stabilizing myself I started running again, tripping ever so often. I continued the cycle of running and waiting for my stamina to regen for a few minutes. I could sprint at max speed for about 10 seconds before my stamina drops, I could probably go farther if not for me running in the woods. I gained a point in dexterity and endurance from my sprint cycle. The strange part was that I didn''t gain a point in agility. Doing this kind of training is perfectly suited to agility so it''s strange that I didn''t get a point in it. Probably has something to do with it being harder to gain points in attributes that are larger. This just means that I need to be even more stingy with points that I get every level. I would be kind of a waste to put an undistributed attribute point into a stat with 15 when I could just train for 10 minutes to increase it. Getting back to training I started to work out my strength and endurance next. Doing the normal training things like push-ups, sit-ups, throwing rocks, and last but certainly not the best (*kill me*) burpees. I also managed to find out that I could do a whopping half a chin-up. Truly one of my greatest accomplishments. Repeating the cycle for 45 minutes (with breaks), I gained a total of 3 points in strength, 2 in endurance and 1 in vitality. I considered doing a bit more physical training but I was starting to get tired. Even with my stamina''s full, I could feel a bit of exhaustion and muscle fatigue. Doing some intelligence training would also be nice, but I have very little idea on how to increase intelligence. Like do I just need to read books or do math? Because I can do that, I mean I don''t want to brag or anything but I can read and also get this, do addition. Amazing right, no no, save your applause, it''s nothing really. But seriously how do I go about increasing intelligence. Do I need to do something mentally challenging things to increase the stat? Or is it like learning new things, or both? The only way to test it would be to try one of them. But I don¡¯t have anything new I can learn right now, and the only mentally challenging thing I can think of doing is puzzles and math, and I''m broke AF, so no puzzles. That only leaves (*shudder*) maths. I have nothing against maths, and I even enjoy it sometimes, but who wants to do math for the sake of math? Still, with the only option open to me I started doing multiplication in my head on the way back to town. I reached the guild house while trying to find out how hard a truck would hit an object with a bunch of factors involved. I managed, to my great shock, gain a point in intelligence, however that took extensive thinking. I even ended up doing percentages, algebra and physics. After I gained the point I was done. No more math. NO MORE. I waited for 30 minutes before I entered through a side door into a large courtyard. On either side were racks of weapons, armour and shields of all types. In the middle of the courtyard were 9 people, and at the end of the court was a raised empty platform. There were 5 elves, 2 humans, a 6 foot tall bulking green dude, and a small pale (around my height) women. The green giant was interacting with a mix of elves and humans. The girl, on the other hand, was twiddling her hands alone. She has an albino complexion with a slim petite frame. Her eyes were a pale silver colour that matched her hair. I was always nervous about approaching new people. I especially had trouble asking girls out on dates, but once I start talking I''m usually more confident and relaxed. Still, I like to be alone more often than not. The only problem with that right now is levelling is damn near impossible by myself. So I''m going to have to make ''friends''. Ahh, what a hassle. At least the girl looked nice and cute with her nervous look. I walked up to the girl with a nervous smile. God, I hate starting conversations. "Hi" I could hear her startle slightly before turning to me, "h-hi." A slight blush came to her face, which was very noticeable with her pale face.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. "I just came to this town and was hoping you could give me information about this place." She really did have a lovely looking face. Her eyes were like swirling pools of silver of light that seemed to draw me. I may have stared slightly too long and a blush started to creep up on my cheeks. Which only made her blush more. She really was quite cute. "I ~ ahh ~ yea. I don''t know much about this place either. I only came here with the guild a week ago." She said. Tilting her head down slightly so part of her hair fell over her face. We didn''t get any more talking done as a rather sour pinched elf man come upon the stage. He clapped to get our attention. "Hello everyone. I will be your instructor for this session. Grab a training sword and line up in a straight line in front of me." The man waved off to a rack of wooden.

. . .

It started off by him teaching us how to hold a sword and some basic footwork before showing a few sword combinations on the stage and telling us to do them. The next 30 minutes consisted of me fumbling my way through the sword strikes and then being corrected by the teacher, before doing it again. It would have been infuriating if it wasn''t so mentally draining. My entire focus was on my footwork and sword strikes so that everything else seemed to fall away. The flow of time, my surrounding everything disappeared. It was actually quite refreshing being so single-mindedly focused. The rest of the class consisted of him teaching us some basic strikes and blocks, and getting us to practise them with a partner. I got paired up with the pale girl (probably because she''s my height). We repeated this pattern until the end of the lesson. After we finished I ran up to the girl before she left. Man, this is going to be awkward. "Hi, their again. I was wondering if you wanted to pair up and go into the dungeon together. As I said earlier I just came to this down and it''s been hard to dungeon dive by myself." I smiled at her as I was saying this. "I ~ Uhh, think that''s good. I mean sure." Her cheeks grew red again as she fumbled her words. I could tell that she wanted to end this conversation as soon a possible. Her body was tilting to the exit and I could see her eyes dart away. "Great, I''ll meet you at your place sometime in the morning." Before I even finished the last words she was making a beeline towards the exit. I called out before she could leave. "Wait can you at least tell me where you''re staying, and what your name." She briefly paused to look behind her. "I''m staying at the guild. My names Anthea." And she was off. Done with my daily social interaction I checked my notifications. A person with the ''teaching skill'' is teaching you. -Skills level 27% faster while taught -Memories retention increased by 2% while being taught You have gained the skill swordsmanship. Description: Fight enemies or friends with the sword in your hand Level 1 novice - Parrying with the sword is 1% more effective -Sword deals 1% more damage You have increased the skill swordsmanship. Level 1 novice -- Level 6 novice - Parrying with the sword is 6% more effective - Sword deals 6% more damage For your excursions, you have gained stat points! +2 to dexterity +1 to endurance You have exhausted your energy and have gained the debuff ''tired'' -Stamina regeneration decreased by 10% -Max stamina cap is reduced by 10% -5% harder do anything involving the mind It may have been expensive but the class was definitely worth it. Not only do I now feel I could use my sword without cutting my hand off, (thou I still feel I shouldn''t use it in a fight) but I gained a whopping 6 levels in the swordsmanship skill. I was exhausted but I felt a smile creep onto my face. It felt like doing a good, hard workout plus the feeling of a job well done. I also always have a fascination with swords, and actually using a sword (even a wooden one) made me feel like a Jedi. Now all I need is a plasma sword. I had one more stop to make before I was done for the day. Grabbing my sword and my backpack I exited the guild and headed across the street. On the opposite end of the guild, a two-story monstrosity made out of black stone with silver cracks that pulsed in time with each other. There were gold-laced carvings that depicted what looked like magical beasts. The entire place gave off a mysterious and powerful visage. Quite the opposite of the homely guild house looking appearance. As I entered the tower an enthusiastic elf greeted me."How may I help you, sir?" She said "What is this place? I said a little surprised by her greeting. The inside of the tower was made of marble with blue swirls running throughout, contrasting with the outside of the building. There were a few people inside the building each with a guild member talking to them, like the one talking to me. There was also a receptionist desk made out of black marble, manned with people talking to a few customers. "This is the magic guild.¡± She said. ¡°I assume you''re new here, so I''ll give you a run down off what you can get here. The magic guild provides magical ingredients, books about magic and tutoring for magic. Of course, all of the good stuff is only available if you join the guild." The girl said almost jumping with excitement. Why is she so happy? No one is this happy working in hospitality. It was kind of creepy "How much does the tutoring cost and what the cheapest magical book you have?" "At the cheapest, tutoring cost 6 gold and a magical book cost 2 gold. Off course these prices are only for non-guild affiliated. " She said smiling at me. What the actual fuck! While they''re at it why don''t they just shoot a fireball at my fucking balls, those goddam bastards. 6 Gold just for an old fucking prick to teach me how to how to summon some water. I could feel my eye twitch and it only got worse as she continues speaking. "The prices I quoted will provide some basics on how to control your mana. I recommend doing them as it would give you the basics of how to control mana" She said bubbly with a smile. Okay now I know she''s fucking with me. I am really starting to dislike the magic guild. I thought 5 silver was bad, but compared to this the adventurer''s guild are cheap. linn "How do you become part of the guild," I said through strained teeth. "You need to be at least level 10 and have some sort of magic class. You will also need to complete a test to see if you are qualified to join." She said in her continually happy voice. I was really starting to lose my sanity talking to her. "Thanks for your help." I managed to say those words before I mechanically left the guild. I walked around the city trying to get the stupid mage guild and that stupid bubbly elf out of my mind. Fucking bastards. Thinking about the elf made my mind wander over to the girl I met earlier that day. Hopefully, with another person, the dungeon will be a little more fruitful. She was also very cute in an adorable sort of way, so that definitely hel... Wait is she a loli, AM I A LOLI! ¡°No this can''t be!¡± I said while falling to my knees. "I have become the very thing I swore to destroy."

. . .

Checking my status before drowsing off, I smiled at my progress. I was progressing nicely in this new world. Name: Jacob Fox Level: 2 (40/3000) ?? Race: Linn hit points: 127/127 mana: 190/190 stamina: 220/220 Professions: locked Abilities:
  1. Regeneration: Fast health regeneration
Deity: Wade (The god of kinetic energy) skills: Combat skills: -Daggers (novice 5) -Unarmed Combat (novice 6) -Swordsmanship (novice 6) Rogue skills: -Stealth (novice 5) Gathering skills: -Herbalism (novice 1) -Skinning (novice 1) Trade: -First Aid (novice 1) Magic schools/spells: Neutral: Haste Movement detection Titles: The strong fear ME! Attributes: Strength: 15 Endurance: 22 Vitality: 17 Perception: 13 Dexterity: 15 Agility: 23 Intelligence: 19 Faith: 11 Chapter 8: Mana channels Walking into the adventure guild I looked around the tables of eating customers until I saw what I came for. I came to the guild an hour and a half after I woke up, deciding to do a jog in the forest before I came, seeing as I woke up at dawn. The jog netted me 1 point in dexterity and agility. I never used to wake up this early on earth, but being exhausted every day tends to leave me going to sleep before the sky even goes dark. I approached a lone table in the corner of the room. "g''day, Anthea. Are you ready to go explore the dungeon." I said grinning at the small girl I met the other day. "umm, yea I should be ready in 5 minutes." She said jumping a little in surprise when I called out to her. She started to quicken the pace at which she finished her eggs. I took the seat opposite her but didn''t start a conversation. Anthea, unlike the other day, was wearing a suit of tight-fitting leather armour that showcased none of her non-existing curves. Really she was straight as a pencil, at least I hoped. I thought with a sly smile. Look don''t judge me. I have been nothing on the edge of death and stressed out my mind since coming here, and I really needed to relax. It had also been a while since my last relationship, so that didn''t help either. True to her word she finished a few minutes later and we headed off to the dungeon in silence. Look I like silence more than most, and in my opinion, people take way to much. But if we were going to fight with each her I needed to know what she could do. So I reluctantly started up the conversation again, to her obvious discomfort. Anthea''s specialised in air magic and was starting up sword training just in case she ran out of mana or someone cam up close and personal. I didn''t find out much else about her but either way, I still felt somewhat inadequate. I mean all I could do was stab the bad guy with the pointy stick and hope I don''t kill myself. I was definitely getting the better deal out of this arrangement. We reached the line to the dungeon and explained what my experience was so far. From what I could tell this was her first time entering. At least she didn''t say anything to stop me when I rambled. But could just be her personality, she didn''t ask anything about me and just listened. The line was much shorter than the day before, probably having something to do with how early it was, and how much adventures drink. They didn''t seem like the type to stay sober. We met the same guy as the day before standing behind the tall booth. This time he added that since Anthea was part of the guild she would have to pay 30% on all the loot after it was halved. Luckily that wouldn''t affect my share, only hers. Entering the dungeon the notification about loot multiplier appeared, except this time the loot was only increased by a factor of 2.5. As we entered she cast a spell that told her when any enemies were near. She also didn''t do any motions I had to do to cast a spell. So either my spells were special or wade just fucked with me. I''m leaning towards the latter. However, she did chant so maybe he''s no a total prick. We walked through the dark tunnel side by side encountering nothing for a few dozen meters. Until Anthea spun around and jabbed at something in the dark. A screeching sound came right next to my left ear and I heard a muffled yelp. Dropping my sword I grabbed onto the bat which shrieked as I touched something slimy. At I same time I activated my fear aura with stunned the bat for a second, giving me and Anthea enough time to pull it off her without causing any extra damage to the air mage. She re-applied the spell after we collected the coins and we continued. I was amazed at how long she could hold the spell for. It had been a good few minutes and she didn''t look like she needed to stop anytime soon. I would be on the floor with a concussive migraine if I tried holding my spell that long. Walking through the dim stone my mind started to wander. We had fought another two bats which were easily dispatched without taking any more damage. It''s easy to kill them when you know when the bats are coming and where from. The effortlessness of killing thee mobs caused me to get distracted as we walked and lose track of my surroundings. As I a vine slithered around my foot my mind quickly got back on track. The vine pulling my ankle caused me to fall onto my back, dropping my sword in a clatter. I could Anthea yell just as a piercing pain injected itself in my neck. Slightly stunned I reached out to the cause of my pain pulling the bat out, along with a good portion of my neck. I let out a scream to join the mages at I grabbed the bat''s neck and twisted it off. My head was starting to spin, and I could only dizzily look around at what was going on. "He-ey, whatcha do-in." I drunkenly slurred as the air mage started saying funny words. My last thought before everything went black was why there was wind on my neck. Sitting up everything blurred in my vision as the blushed around in my head. "What the fuck happened, and why in Wades names is the world spinning?" I groaned as I tried to stabilize myself the last thing I remembered was getting tripped by a vine. After everything stopped spinning I looked around my surroundings. I was still in the dungeon and Anthea was right next to me. Actually, if I looked at where my head was, I grinned. I got a lap pillow. 10/10 would go unconscious again. I was about to say something when everything started to spin again and I fell back unconscious. Opening my eyes I did not sit up this time, and instead just looked around. I was still in the cave, and ... not in the cute girl''s lap. Godammit. She was just to the side, doing what looked like meditation. Getting slowly up I did a few stretches to loosen the old body before turning towards the girl. "Hey there, thanks for saving me." Also because I couldn''t help myself, "and for the other thing you know." I said winking at her, even though I knew she couldn''t see it. I could her blush even in the dark, (it was way too easy and fun to tease her) before she followed me in standing up and walking out of the dungeon. I found out she also got tripped by the vine but managed to sense the bat in time to stop it from latching on to her. She killed the bat and cut the vine before casting her spell on. Which I found only stopped my blood from escaping my throat by encasing the area around my neck in a container of wind.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. We reached the start of the dungeon paid out the taxes. We earned a total of 28 copper in the dungeon and an individual amount of 11 coppers for me. She got a little less cash due to having to pay some type of guild tax. I thanked her again for saving me and we departed with a promise to do this again tomorrow. I gained 170 experience, and sadly nothing else. Teaming up certainly had its benefits, but the experience gained was severely decreased. For the bats were we killed together I gained less than half the experience on average per kill(probably something to do with her doing most of the work). If I did the same trip by myself I would have gained in the vicinity of 310 experience. The last bad that attacked me had a higher level and I also gained some points when Anthea killed the vine gripping my ankle. Still, if I was alone I would have gruesomely died so in all fairness I can''t complain. I had one more place I wanted to visit so I headed towards the largest building in the town. It was a large radiant complex that seemed to give off a divine type of aura. It did not feel like a purely good aura per se, it just felt like it was beyond this world. Part off the building was still under construction but it was open to the public. As I entered, the first thing I noticed was an exquisitely carved giant 5 meters tall statue of an elven woman in leather armour holding a sword pointed in front of her while riding a horse. Under her was a plack that read ''The Goddess of Adventure''. Shaking my head when someone yelled at me to stop gawking like a dimwit I started to get back on track. There was a sight posted that that three arrows corresponding to the three corridors. The hallway behind the statue was for the goddess herself, the arrow to the left denoted deities of craftsmen and trades, that also wrote that while the miscellany area was under construction it will also encompass for those deities. The arrow to the right marked martial/fighting deities. A staircase also wound its way up a sign reading ''miscellaneous gods area under construction''. Heading towards the craftsman I noticed that the number of people walking this way was considerably less than the martial wing. Even with two categories of gods. As I left the hallway I was greeted by yet another statue self-important much. This one was also an elf, except they ''only'' 3 and a half metre tall, were in white robes and had a Bandelier of potions around there belt. They also had an old kindly face, and unlike the statute at the front that radiated a sense of movement and discovery, this one gave the energy of health and longevity. Other than the statue the place was just as opulent as everyone else in this palace of a church. There were smaller statue around the place and people kneeling before but a found and out of the way with no statutes and sat down in a lotus position, I would be damned if I was going to kneel. "Oww might Wade please hear my call so that I may hear your magnificent voice once again." I intoned my most deadpan voice. "Do not worry my subject I hear your prayer and I have come and lowered myself to speak to you mere mortal. You may now sing my prayers so that everyone may hear the good name of Wade the mighty." I rolled my eyes as I heard an overly theatrical voice in my head. "I am in the town and am having some difficulties with what to do next. I am training and entering the dungeon but was wondering if there was anything better I should be doing, hopefully, something with magic." I said quietly, I wasn''t sure how Wade heard but I presume the volume of my voice didn''t matter. "I don''t really know what you should be doing, I haven''t exactly talked to any in a long time let also been in the mortal realm. If you want to learn magic find someone to teach you magic. I have a few requests but those can wait till you''re of sufficient strength to fulfil them." Wade said. "I would love to learn some magic from someone, but the magic guild is a fucking money raper. Really what I need is money, but that may be an even harder task." No matter what where you are it all comes back to money. You either love it or you hate but either way, everyone wants money. "Hmm, that may be a problem. I don''t know much about your world but can''t you make something from there?" "I can maybe fumble my way to make a basic electricity generator with some copper wire and a magnet but I don''t know how useful that would be here. I thought about some more basic items I could make from back home but I haven''t come up with anything, I''ll keep thinking about it. Any other suggestions?" I said sounding kind of desperate. It''s not that I just needed money to buy things like magic and training. I was running out of money for basic necessities like lodgings and food. I needed cash fast. "Can''t think of anything right now, but I can give you a few tips for improving your magic. Next time you cast a spell focus on where that mana is coming from. You should see the mana come from pathways that lead to your centre." "Thanks for that, if that''s everything I''ll be going then. " I said before getting up to leave. "Come back to visit soon and if you could please convert someone to my pantheon." Wade sounded desperate. He was almost begging me. If I thought about it, he did say he was alone for a very long time, so he''s probably desperate for any social interaction. I wonder if he''s gone slightly insane from isolation? +1 Faith. Well that''s not suspicious at all. "I''ll be back soon. Also, do I need to dance every time I want to cast a spell?" "Ahh, great visit come back soon and bring a friend. Don''t die, bye." "WADE!" . . . Sitting on my bed I focused and tried to cast my movement detection spell without invocation. I could feel something stir within me but other than that nothing happened. Trying again except with the stupid chant, the mana inside me started moving. I tried focusing on where the mana was coming from and what it was doing but all I got was a vague sense of my centre and a feeling that something was moving inside. I cancelled the spell and tried again. By the third cast off the spell, a burning sensation started to permeate my body when my mana was flowing. By the fifth attempt, the burning turned into searing pain and I barely managed to finish the spell. Even without my mana moving, I could still feel a burning in my body. I almost had it though. The pain gave me a sense of direction of where the mana was moving and by the last attempt, I almost managed to follow the mana. Steeling my nerves, I got into a comfortable position and started chanting again. Why do I hate myself? Agonizing fire spread around my body while my mind followed the pain. Every time the pain entered a new part of my body I zoned in on it until I felt it. It was a stream water flowing through a pipe that was my body, and everywhere the stream went caused my body more pain. The stream was tiny, smaller than a hair but I could it move through my body. The entire experience would have been more impressive if I wasn''t in constant pain. letting the spell go, I do a few deep breaths for most the pain to slowly dissipate before checking my notifications. Mana scaring: You have overtaxed your mana channels and have gained the debuff: Mild Mana Scaring -Mana speed within channels is decreased by 25% -Mana regen is decreased by 10% You have gained the skill meditation. Description: Focus your mind and calm your emotions Level 1 novice - 20% easier to calm emotions during meditation -20% easier to focus during meditation -15% easier to block/resist mind-altering effects during mediation You have gained the skill mana channels Description: Push more mana through your mana channels for a longer period of time Level 1 novice -Mana channels can accommodate 2% more mana -Mana channels can sustain mana flowing through for 6% longer You have increased the skill mana channels: Level 1 novice -- Level 3 novice -Mana channels can accommodate 6% more mana -Mana channels can sustain mana flowing through for 6% longer UPDATE/EDIT: I have finished editing the chapters! YAY! (Truthfully I did a very poor job of editing. English isn''t my strongest subject. I know it may sound weird since I''m writing a book, but I''m more of a math/science person). It''s also a pain in the arse every time I copy the chapter over to RR. The formating changes it''s driving me slightly crazy. If you see a formating error please tell me. Changes: I removed the Willpower attribute and added the Faith attribute after the MC became the champion of Wade. Congratulations! You have unlocked the Faith stat. The faith stat corresponds to how connected you are to your god. This stat can be used to gain a temporary boost to health, mana, stamina a stat and many other things depending on the god you follow and your connection to them. (note: you can not add undistributed stat points to this stat. It can only be gained for connecting with your god.) Current status page.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Name: Jacob Fox Level: 2 (210/3000) ?? Race: Linn hit points: 127/127 mana: 190/190 stamina: 220/220 Professions: locked Abilities:
  1. Regeneration: Fast health regeneration
Deity: Wade (The god of kinetic energy) skills: Combat skills: -Daggers (novice 5) -Unarmed Combat (novice 6) -Swordsmanship (novice 6) Rogue skills: -Stealth (novice 5) Gathering skills: -Herbalism (novice 1) -Skinning (novice 1) Trade: -First Aid (novice 1) Miscellanies: -Meditation (novice 1) -Mana channels (novice 3) Magic schools/spells: Neutral: -Haste -Movement detection Titles: The strong fear ME! Attributes: Strength: 17 Endurance: 22 Vitality: 17 Perception: 13 Dexterity: 19 Agility: 24 Intelligence: 19 Faith: 12 Sorry, it took so long, but there was more to edit than I thought and I have started school again. ); (KILL ME!!!!) Thanks for being patient.