《World Labyrinth》 Prologue: Average Beginning As the bright light faded, the young man found himself standing on a circular platform of some kind. He considered it a platform, since there was nothing around it other than white colored space that seemed to extend as far as he could see in all directions. The young man stood where he was for a while, both confused and a bit scared to do anything else. He had no clue where he was. Worse yet, he had no idea how he got to this place. The last thing he could remember clearly was some crazy junkie sticking a gun in his face at a convenience store. Before that, he had been minding his own business, restocking some of the shelves and keeping the place clean like he had done for the last two years since graduating high school. The young man scrunched up his narrow face as he finally realized something: the gun. He couldn¡¯t remember what had happened after the junkie pulled out the gun! Running his suddenly shaky hands through his messy black hair, the young man whispered, ¡°No way¡­ that can¡¯t be right. But, I can¡¯t remember. Frig¡­ the gun. The bastard shot me.¡± The realization left him with a sick sensation in his stomach. He had been shot, and based on what he was seeing around him, the young man realized he was probably dead. ¡°Ughhh.¡± Kneeling on the floor, the young man dry-heaved a few times, but nothing came out. Shutting his eyes for a while, he cried quietly, wondering what he had done to deserve being shot. He had never hurt anyone, never mind insulted anyone. He didn¡¯t even have any real family, who might have pissed off someone. Most of his life had been spent in orphanages and uncaring foster homes without him standing out in any way. Even his student life had been mediocre at best, with no real friends or hobbies. However, even if his life had been shit, he had still valued it since it had been his life. ¡°Why!¡± The young man screamed the question, not caring if he got an answer. It was his anger at existence for taking away what little he had. Slamming his fists on the platform, the young man snarled, narrowing his thin eyes in frustration. He shook in anger at the unfairness of it all and felt like slamming his head against the floor to vent. However, as quickly as the anger had come, it vanished with a single realization: he was dead. The young man huddled on the floor, quietly breathing as the frustration slowly filtered out of him, leaving him feeling empty. He knew he couldn¡¯t do anything to change what had happened. It was over and done with. Getting angry might have been normal, but it wouldn¡¯t give him back his life. Sighing, the young man wondered what was going to happen to him now. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Ding! The sound shocked the young man, who looked up in surprise. Floating right in front of him was a blue text box.
You are on the threshold of death. An alternative option is available. It is a grand experiment that has been ongoing for thousands of years. If you choose this option, you will encounter a new world filled with adventure, danger, and wonder the likes of which you have never faced. There is no promise of a long life, and death is very likely. Do you wish to enter this new world? Yes or No
The young man stared at the box uncomprehendingly for a while. It seemed like a joke at first, but looking around the white hell he was in, he realized the text box was probably for real. It implied he was about to die, but a second chance was being offered. Of course, there were strings attached with the word ¡°experiment¡± standing out prominently. However, the young man realized something: right now, death was a certainty while the text box offered an alternative. With a shaky hand, the young man pressed the ¡°yes¡± option on the text box. Ding! The box blinked out, and a large, black door appeared on the platform, a couple meters away from him. The young man couldn¡¯t make out anything within the door except for endless darkness, but he realized he didn¡¯t have a choice in what he had to do. Worse yet, the platform around him began shaking and crumbling, with the outer edges being the first to fade away. Clenching his teeth and mustering up his courage, the young man stood up and nervously walked up to the doorway. He stood right in front of it, wondering what to expect inside the darkness. His thoughts went round and round, until he finally decided that whatever was on the other side, it couldn¡¯t be worse than this old life. Just as the last parts of the platform began to crumble away, the young man stepped into the darkness. Next Chapter: http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5740
Chapter 1: Bureaucrats and Skill The young man had been scared of what he would find in the darkness, but when he opened his tightly shut eyes, he was instead confounded by what he saw. There were no flashy lights or winged angels welcoming him, but there were no horned demons or fiery pits either, for which he was grateful. Instead, he was standing in a well lit, office waiting room. There were four, light blue walls enclosing the waiting room with a dozen or so chairs lined up against the walls. Other than that, directly ahead of the young man, there was cheap looking metal desk with a green colored, flower vase sitting on top of it. Even the man sitting behind the desk looked like a stereotypical office worker with his slightly disheveled hair, thick rimmed glasses, and a deep frown on his puffy, pale face. The young man stared at the office worker for a while before the office worker loudly said, ¡°Come on now, get moving. I don¡¯t have all day, you know,¡± without even looking up from some papers he was flipping through. A bit nervous, the young man hesitantly walked forward until he was standing right in front of the desk. The office worker finally looked up, scratching his neck and pulling on the collar of his white shirt to loosen it up a bit. For a few seconds, the two men looked at each other. Eventually, the young man cleared his throat and asked, ¡°Umm¡­ where am I?¡± For a few seconds more, the question just hung in the air. Eventually, the officer worker frowned while pushing his glasses slightly up using his index finger. ¡°That¡¯s all you¡¯ve got to ask? No freaking out or threats? Maybe even some self important comments about how important you were or how it¡¯s very important that you get back to where you were?¡± The young man had no clue what the office worker was talking about. ¡°Ahh¡­ I¡¯m dead or something right? The box thingy said this was some kind of new world or something.¡± That produced another round of silence, before the office worker muttered, ¡°Weird¡­ your kind is always a bit excitable about all this. Hmm¡­ well¡­ whatever. It just makes it a bit easy for me.¡± Then, clearing his throat, the office worker said, ¡°Alright Mr. ? ¡°Richard¡­ Richard Jaegar.¡± Without missing a beat, the officer worker continued, ¡°Alright, Mr. Richard Jaeger, we¡¯re going to need some paperwork filled out. Mind you, you already agreed to the terms and conditions the moment you selected ¡®yes¡¯ at our ¡®Before Death Rest Point.¡¯ But I still need to data tap your background history to see what your placement options will be and what starting skill to give you.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± To say Richard was a bit lost was a bit of an understatement. The only part he had comprehended was the part about him selecting ¡®yes.¡¯ Other than that, the rest seemed like gibberish. ¡°So¡­ skill¡­ data tap? What does that mean?¡± The office worker sighed and rubbed his face, muttering, ¡°I don¡¯t get paid enough for this shit. Ughh¡­¡± Looking up at Richard with what was definitely a fake smile, the office worker said, ¡°All you have to do is put your little hand on this nice, safe pad over here and wait till I say you¡¯re done.¡± With that, the annoying man pointed at a black pad sitting on the right side of the table. The pad was nothing weird; it looked like a black piece of metal that had been polished to a shine. Richard hesitantly put his hand on it and nervously waited as the officer worker fiddled with something below the desk. For a few seconds, Richard felt the black slate slightly warm up, but nothing else happened. The officer worker, who was looking down at whatever was behind his desk, nodded and said, ¡°That¡¯s good enough. You can move your hand.¡± Even as confused as he was, Richard obeyed, not wanting to question the annoying man behind the desk. Truthfully, Richard had dealt with more than a few similar people before, and he knew that the chance of getting a straight answer from the fellow was about the same as an insurance agent dealing fairly with someone. Pissing them off was also a bad idea since they could find ways to make your life miserable like accidentally losing your application for a driver¡¯s license or giving you a bad employee evaluation. Suddenly, a chirping sound came from behind the desk, reminding Richard of an old style printer or fax machine. The office worker pulled a long sheet of paper up from under the desk and folded it in half before glancing through it. Muttering, the man said, ¡°Richard Jaeger¡­ 20 years old¡­ no living family¡­ cashier¡­ no hobbies¡­ few friends¡­ no enemies¡­ hmm¡­ no girlfriend¡­ go figure¡­ Shot while cleaning up a broken bottle of mayonnaise off a counter. Really? Killed when cleaning up some mayonnaise¡­ talk about shitty luck¡­ hmm¡­ no skills¡­ physical characteristics¡­ triangular face¡­ black hair¡­ black eyes¡­ average nose¡­ average weight¡­average physical strength¡­ average speed¡­ average intelligence¡­ average reflexes¡­ average, average, average¡­ Sheesh, should have named you Average Joe.¡± The longer the annoying man talked, the more frustrated Richard became. Slamming his hand down on the table, he yelled, ¡°Excuse me!¡± The office worker lazily looked up at Richard with raised eyebrows. ¡°Yes¡­?¡± Richard felt like yelling at the man, but seeing the almost dismissive attitude the man had, Richard just clenched his teeth in frustration and replied, ¡°Nothing¡­ never mind.¡± Straightening up, he stared off to the side, ignoring the officer worker, who continued reading down the paper as though nothing had interrupted him. Most of the information was mundane, with the word ¡°average¡± popping up often. Eventually, the office worker stopped speaking and cleared his throat. ¡°Well, that was a waste of time. Anyway, it seems as though you really don¡¯t have a specific skill that we can we can optimize. A bit difficult to give you your choices when you¡¯ve got none¡­ maybe¡­ well, something useful like ¡®Elemental Fire¡¯ or something. That¡¯s a pretty useful one, even if it¡¯s a bit overdone.¡± The office worker smiled at Richard with one of those slimy car salesman smiles. Richard frowned and asked, ¡°What are ¡®skills¡¯ in the first place?¡± The officer worker sighed. ¡°Easiest way to explain them is to call them special abilities that you can use, you know¡­ like¡­ hmm¡­ what were they called again where you¡¯re from¡­ oh yeah¡­ X-men superpowers and all that. There¡¯s thousands of skills out there in the World Labyrinth that you can learn, but we usually start you off with one to help you survive in the beginning. So, how¡¯s ¡®Elemental Fire'' sound? Useful right?¡± Of course, Richard wasn¡¯t willing to let things slide that easily. ¡°What¡¯s the World Labyrinth?¡± The officer worker rolled his eyes and replied, ¡°It¡¯s the new world that you chose to go to. What else do you think it is? Anyway, like I said, ¡®Elemental Fire¡¯ is a pretty good choice. So, just agree, and we¡¯ll get things moving.¡± Once again, Richard refused to budge. He realized this ¡®skill¡¯ thing was more important than the moronic office worker was making it out to be. If having the right skill was important to surviving in the World Labyrinth or whatever, Richard came to the conclusion that he couldn¡¯t just cave in to whatever the idiot on the other side of the desk was pushing for. ¡°Are there other skills I can pick from? Like a list or something?¡± The office worker frowned and muttered, ¡°Seriously... There goes my lunch break.¡± Looking Richard in the eyes, the office worker said in an annoyed tone, ¡°You realize I¡¯m giving you a good deal with ¡®Elemental Fire¡¯ right, especially since you have shit for your current skills. What do you want instead, ¡®Fishing¡¯ or maybe ¡®Cleaning?¡¯ Because, I can make that happen too.¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Richard felt his anger building but kept it clamped down while muttering in his mind. ¡°No, I can¡¯t get angry at him¡­ I don¡¯t want to be screwed over. Stay calm¡­ Stay calm.¡± Just as he was about to give into the stupid office worker, a ringing noise filled the office. The office worker¡¯s smug face suddenly turned pale and he glanced under his desk again. Looking nervous, he reached down and pulled up an old school telephone handset with its wire dangling from one end. Putting the handset up to his head, the officer worker respectfully said, ¡°Hello sir. This is Interviewer 3948.¡± Richard couldn¡¯t make out what was being said on the phone, but he did hear the interviewer¡¯s answers. ¡°Yes sir¡­ no sir¡­ yes¡­ that¡¯s possible¡­ Yes, I understand¡­ Of course¡­ Thank you¡­ I understand, sir.¡± Almost mechanically, the interviewer returned the handset to back underneath the desk, no doubt hanging it up. When he looked back up at Richard, there was a slightly apprehensive look on the man¡¯s face. ¡°Alright, Mr. Jaeger¡­ It seems as though we have a once in a million years offer that is available. I have just been told to offer you something interesting: a skill classified as as ¡®Legendary.¡¯ Just to let you know, the highest class, ¡®Unique¡¯ is right above ¡®Legendary.¡¯ So you see, this is a very amazing offer.¡± Richard stared at the officer worker with suspicious eyes. ¡°What¡¯s the catch? If the skill or whatever is as special as you it is, there¡¯s got to be a catch to it. Also, you haven¡¯t told me what the skill is.¡± The office worker tried to smile his slimy smile again but gave up quickly. Sighing, he said, ¡°Look, my friend, this is a crazy offer. I¡¯m gonna be up front with you. I¡¯m not allowed to tell you what the skill is. That¡¯s part of the surprise, you see. Also, if you pick this skill, you won¡¯t get a choice of where you¡¯ll start off in the Labyrinth. You¡¯ll start at a random location. It doesn¡¯t sound too bad just at face value, but considering something like 90% of the World Labyrinth is considered hostile territory, you can see how that¡¯s a bad thing. What I can tell you is that the skill won¡¯t be much good to you to start off with, but it will be useful if you can keep your ass from getting scragged quickly. So, like I said, it¡¯s a gamble taking the surprise offer. Me¡­ well, let¡¯s just say, I would play it safe and refuse it.¡± Richard wasn¡¯t exactly a genius, but he understood most of what the interviewer was saying and implying. Basically, the skill could end up being powerful or very useful, but living until then was going to be a nightmare, especially with the ¡®random start location¡¯ requirement. However, Richard thought it over seriously. He knew he could choose ¡®Elemental Fire,¡¯ which seemed to be a common skill from what the officer worker had implied. However, for some reason, Richard didn¡¯t feel drawn to it. Maybe it was his frustration with the interviewer or maybe it was his sudden disdain for his past ¡®average¡¯ life, but he felt like ¡®common¡¯ and ¡®average¡¯ were too similar to accept a second time around. ¡°I¡¯ll take the legendary skill.¡± There was silence in the office for at least half a minute. When the interviewer spoke, it was with some respect. ¡°Didn¡¯t think you would actually choose that one, especially with the special requirement, but I have to say, it takes some guts to do that.¡± The interviewer leaned back in his chair and said, ¡°Well¡­ it¡¯s your choice¡­ let¡¯s get this over with. Put your hand back on the black panel, and we¡¯ll get you set up with your skill and core.¡± Richard quietly obeyed, tired of trying to figure out all the new terms. He just tried to remember the words and hoped he would get answers sometime soon. As soon as he touched the panel, the warm feeling from earlier returned, but this time, it enveloped him completely. He felt a second of panic, but that quickly faded as his body relaxed and his attention wavered. When he suddenly jolted to awareness, he found himself standing in the same spot, but the interviewer was now looking up at him with some concern. The man said, ¡°I¡¯ve never tried setting up a core with with such a high ranked skill before. It¡¯s good to see that you¡¯re okay.¡± Richard felt like asking what would have happened if he was not ¡®okay¡¯ but quickly decided he did not want to know. The interviewer smiled normally before saying, ¡°Alright¡­ Let¡¯s test things out. I want you to say or think ¡®Show core.¡¯ Something should pop up.¡± As weird as that sounded, Richard went ahead and said, ¡°Show Core.¡± Almost immediately, a transparent panel showed up right in front of him. It had half a dozen tabs, some of which said things like Statistics, Items, and Skills. Looking at everything, he felt almost overwhelmed. It was like he was looking at some kind of weird video game menu or something. The interviewer interrupted at this point. ¡°Consider this your interface for monitoring how your body improves and develops in the World Labyrinth. It¡¯s installed in your core, and just like your core, it can never be removed or altered against your wishes. You can use it to check your increase in abilities and skills as well as for checking on certain things like your current condition and what items you have stored in your core. There¡¯s also a basic guide in there that will help you figure some of it out, but let¡¯s just say that you¡¯ll have to figure the rest out yourself. As of now, your skill has been added to your core and should be available for use as soon as you enter the World Labyrinth.¡± Pausing for a second, the interviewer looked around nervously before whispering, ¡°I also left you a little good luck gift in your Inventory. Open it up later. Depending on what you get, it may help you.¡± Richard didn¡¯t know what to say or where to start. He just held on to the words ¡®guide¡¯ and ¡®gift,¡¯ since they seemed to be the most important ones. He mumbled, ¡°How do I make this menu thing disappear?¡± Almost immediately, the transparent panel disappeared, leaving his line of sight uncluttered. The interviewer grinned and said, ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve got the hang of it. Anyway¡­ take a step back, and we can finalize things.¡± Almost automatically, Richard stepped back, but realizing he still had questions, he said, ¡°Wait, there¡¯s still a few things I need¡­¡± Of course, like some kind of crazy cartoon, the floor opened up, and he dropped like a rock. His last sight of the office was the interviewer giving him a thumbs-up with one hand while waving goodbye with the other. Previous Chapter: http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5693
Next Chapter: http://www.royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5749
Chapter 2: Welcome to the World Labyrinth ¡°URRRRHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!¡± Richard couldn¡¯t help but scream as he fell through the dark void. It didn¡¯t help that he was confused as hell, never mind scared shitless. Just a few seconds ago, some kind of office worker fellow had done something to him that made him see floating panels and words. After that, he had been dropped by a trap door into this dark place. Richard didn¡¯t know whether to curse how easily he had gone along with everything or shit himself in fear. Just as he started thinking about dropping his pants, a bright light appeared underneath him. He stared at it with hope at first. Tears filled his eyes in relief. The closer he got to the light, the more he could make out. It looked like there was some kind of ground inside the circle of light. Around that time, he realized he was still speeding towards the light¡­ and the ground. ¡°Oh Shit!¡± Flailing around, he finally tried to flap his arms like a bird, hoping he could fly or something. It was pretty pathetic, but then again, when you¡¯re about to slam into something at a few dozen meters per second, you don¡¯t really think about how dignified you look. Of course, nothing worked, and Richard plunged into the field of light screaming, ¡°GWAHHHHHHH!¡± Blinded momentarily by a sudden flash of light, he continued to flail around and scream. However, unlike in the void, Richard felt a large amount of air resistance as his body continued to fall. Blinking away tears, he forced his eyes open to see a blue sky around him and an expanse of dark brown ground far below him. It was breathtaking and terrifying at the same time, since he was afraid of heights to the point of even avoiding escalators at malls. For a few seconds, Richard froze as he fell like a brick. He wondered if this was a sick joke or something: like the random location that the interviewer had talked about was a few hundred meters up in the sky. ¡°No way¡­ they couldn¡¯t be that evil, could they?... Seriously! What the hell!¡± As the ground got closer, he started seeing more details in the rocky, lifeless terrain below. It looked like one of those rocky deserts that usually had skulls of animals lying around as decorations. As terrified as he was, Richard sighed, muttering, ¡°This sucks. A new life... sureeeee¡­ I wonder if this¡¯ll be record or something, dying within a few seconds of arriving here¡­ wherever this hellhole is.¡± To say he wasn¡¯t afraid of death would be incorrect. He was completely terrified as death zoomed towards him. However, by this time, he also was becoming numb to it all. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Plop! Suddenly his body felt light as a feather, and his descent started slowing. His apathy turned into confusion as the ground stopped rushing up at him. Looking around, he couldn¡¯t see any real difference from a few seconds ago. There was no huge bird trying to carry him away for its meal or some kind of special glowing field surrounding him. It was like one minute he was plunging to his heath, and the next, something decreased the speed he was falling to almost nothing. Richard flailed around a bit more until he was falling while standing upright. ¡°Okaayyyy... So what just happened?¡± At this point, he was less than a hundred meters away from the rocky terrain below. Indeed, he could make out the details of his presumed landing place. It was right next to a huge rock or butte, the size of medium sized building that stuck out like a sore thumb in the desert. He sighed in relief as he realized he wouldn¡¯t be landing on the damn rock formation, especially since he couldn¡¯t climb if his life depended on it. That¡¯s when the other shoe dropped. The rocky formation started trembling as Richard watched, with dirt and broken rocks falling off. Just as he was wondering what the hell was going on, reality took a turn for the worse. ¡°Wha¡­?¡± His mouth dropped open in shock when large, leathery legs punched out from two sides of the huge rock creating a blasting noise, and the rock slowly rose up from off the ground. Just as he was starting to process the craziness that was unfolding, a loud growling sound filled the air. GRUOOOHHHHHHH! Following in its wake, the rumbling sound from the rock worsened until something pushed through the rock face. Calling it something was incorrect¡­ way, way incorrect. The head that slowly extended out from the large rock was covered in a mix of rocky, leathery skin and looked like a cross between those of a crocodile¡¯s and a turtle¡¯s. Richard stared at the monstrous head in mute silence as it opened its jaws, roaring and showcasing rows of huge, blackened teeth. Two large, yellow eyes then opened, and the red irises in them focused on Richard, who was frozen in terror. By this time, Richard was about a dozen meters away from the ground and maybe 20 or so meters away from the large rock monster. Chapter 3: Lunch on the Run Richard stared at the colossal monster, creature, beast, kaiju¡­ whatever it was in horror. The majority of his brain was gibbering incoherently, but a small part of it was trying to figure out if being eaten by some kind of uber monster was worse than going splat on the ground. So far, his only answer had been to drool from his mouth, which was hanging open in shock. It wasn¡¯t until he felt his floating body being pulled that he finally snapped out of his trance. Richard looked around frantically, trying to figure out what was happening. There wasn¡¯t anything attached to him, but he realized he was being pulled towards the monster. He looked back up at the creature, which was calmly staring at him while exhaling gusts of air out of its huge nostrils. Once again, Richard wasn¡¯t a genius, but even he realized that his floating around and the creature were somehow connected. How they were connected was another question, and one he really didn¡¯t care about at this point. Instead, the fact he was being drawn directly towards the monster¡¯s head and its huge, open jaws was the main problem. ¡°Shit! ARRRAAHHHH! What the hell!¡± Flailing around, he even tried to turn around midair to run away, but by this time, he couldn¡¯t even move properly. Finally, looking at the monster in desperation, he shouted, ¡°Mr. Monster, I don¡¯t taste too good. I¡¯ll give you severe indigestion¡­ you know the shits¡­ or rocks or whatever you poop! Also, I¡¯m skin and bones! Seee!¡± Pinching his gaunt cheeks, he tried to give the monster a fake smile. However, the monster just opened its jaws wider, revealing a rough looking tongue and teeth that would make a dentist faint. ¡°Oh, come on! Really! You¡¯re gonna eat me! Seriously? You oversized turtle!¡± Yelling at the monster didn¡¯t do anything either. His shoulders drooping in resignation, Richard cursed at the creature. ¡°I hope I give you a belly ache, you stupid piece of¡­!¡± Before he could finish, there was an explosion somewhere off to the far left. He turned quickly, reacting almost automatically. In the distance, he saw something else rising out of the ground in a cloud of dirt. It was another monster, but unlike the turtle thing, the new creature had no legs. Instead, it looked like the sandworms from the movie Dune. The beast pushed out of the ground, bending its snake like body so it was facing towards Richard and the turtle monster. After a second of silence, the worm monster opened the four flaps that covered its mouth, revealing its serrated teeth and screeching horrendously. CRISHSSSHSHHHAAAAAHAAHAH! Richard covered his pain filled ears as the as the air around him trembled. Before he could think straight, he felt himself falling, and it wasn¡¯t a slow fall either. Flailing around, he landed butt first on the sandy ground less than a dozen meters away from the huge turtle monster. He laid there stunned for a bit, as his body spasmed in pain, but slowly pulling himself up, he tried to get a grip on himself. Richard guessed he had at least fallen eight or so meters, and it was a miracle that he didn¡¯t have pieces of his bones sticking out of his body. As shocking as that was, he didn¡¯t even have time to think about it. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The ground around him shook violently as the the turtle monster began maneuvering to face its new foe. Richard stared at the colossal creature as it twisted its stone encased body around, and he knew that sticking around was going to be a bad idea. Getting to his feet was a chore, but he was glad he could still move after all the insanity. For the moment, he focused on getting away from the two monsters and the bloodletting that was going to take place. He hobbled as fast as he could, ignoring the jolts of pain rippling through him. Every few seconds, the air and ground trembled as roars and smashing sounds echoed from behind him. He tried not to look back, too scared to care what the stupid monsters were doing to each other, but the handful of times that he took a peek, he saw things that belonged only in movies like Godzilla. Having a front row seat to a monster battle might have sounded impressive, but Richard had no desire to become Crushed Bystander #1. Where he was going was a big concern, but for the moment, he aimed for a massive rock formation in the distance. It looked like it extended a few miles both to his right and left and was the only other major landmark in the dry landscape around him. There were a few other medium sized rock formations, but after having been duped by the stupid turtle monster, Richard didn¡¯t feel like taking a chance. Getting quickly exhausted in the heat, he kept walking even when his eyes began getting blurry. Sweat poured down his face, and his mouth soon became so dry that he could barely say anything. The battle between the monsters eventually died down, but when he looked back, he couldn¡¯t tell who had won. The giant rock formation that served as the turtle monster¡¯s shell was still there, and Richard also saw the snake like body of the worm monster. However, with the cloud of dust surrounding the bodies, he couldn¡¯t tell who had won. Mind you, he didn¡¯t care one bit. Looking up at the sun in the sky, he guessed it was mid afternoon, but he wasn¡¯t sure considering this was supposed to be a completely different world. That¡¯s when it really hit him: he was on some other world¡­ one with building sized monsters that wanted to eat him. Until now, he had been operating on autopilot and basically running for his life. However, now that he could think again, he realized how screwed he was. He was in the middle of a desert like place with no water, no food, and no shelter. ¡°I¡¯m f@#&%d!¡± Richard collapsed to his knees and stared at the dirt ground. He stayed that way for a while before he started giggling. ¡°Hehehehehehehe¡­¡± Then, the giggles turned to laughter. ¡°HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH!¡± Then, the laughter turned to a scream. ¡°ARRRHHHHHHHHHHHGGHGHHHH!¡± Finally, he fell face down on the ground, too exhausted to care anymore. Chapter 4: Me Hunter! When Richard finally came to, it was to the feeling of something poking at his head. He opened his dirt encrusted eyes as the poking became seriously annoying and increasingly painful. However, being face down in the ground really didn¡¯t help. Painfully lifting his head a bit, he found himself staring at a furry face and a slightly pink nose. The creature backed away a bit, almost as though it was surprised. It had a cute look to it, reminding Richard of a rabbit except for the twin horns on the sides of its head and the slightly longer limbs. He smiled as the rabbit thing tilted its head in a cute way. Then, it snarled¡­ widely opening its mouth to display its wicked looking, serrated teeth and lifting its paws to display the talon like claws on them. Richard screeched in an unmanly way and rolled over, barely dodging as the rabbit¡­ no¡­ devil rabbit almost ripped off his face. Adrenaline rushing through him, he propelled himself backwards on his elbows, trying to put as much distance between himself and the little monster. Of course, the devil rabbit had other ideas, and it followed him, propelling itself forward faster than any rabbit Richard had ever seen. ¡°What the f%#&K are you?¡± Richard couldn''t help but yell as he barely managed to dodge the creature again. Stumbling to his feet, he backed away from the little beast, keeping it clearly in his line of sight. Now that he had a better view of it, he realized how deadly and different the creature looked in comparison to a rabbit. Its longer limbs seemed to be built for quick dashes, and from how quickly it moved, Richard realized he had been lucky to dodge the creature the first time around. The devil rabbit slowly circled him at a distance, moving more like a cat than a rabbit. Richard swore that he could feel it analyzing him as it observed him. When he took a step backward, it moved closer, and when he moved forward, it backed away. Richard had no clue what to do. It felt like he would be attacked the moment he let his guard down. He had a bad feeling that killing the damn thing was the only way to get out of this alive. That brought up a whole slew of other problems like how he had barfed the he last time he saw a cat run over by a car. Richard didn¡¯t think he was being queasy, but then again, the average person¡¯s never killed an animal with their own hands either. The other big issue was simpler yet damning: he had no weapon. Glancing around, all he saw were rocks, rocks, and more rocks. It wasn¡¯t exactly an armory, but he at least had an almost unlimited amount of ammo. Picking up a few of the medium sized rocks, he began throwing them at the rabbit as fast as he could. Unfortunately, the creature dodged them like a pro-dodge ball player and bared its teeth at him. ¡°Yeah, same to you, you little freak!¡± Frustration welled up in him until he remembered that business with skills and cores and whatnot. He had completely forgotten about it all, but then again, he hadn¡¯t been in his right state of mind while freaking out about being turned into monster chow earlier. ¡°Umm¡­ what was it again¡­ Display¡­ umm¡­ something about my core coming up¡­ ughhh.¡± Suddenly, the transparent, blue tinted screen from earlier popped up in front of him, and he jumped back in surprise. With the display blocking his line of sight, he couldn¡¯t make out everything clearly on the other side. For a second, he panicked as he imagined the devil rabbit attacking him while he was distracted. ¡°Go away you stupid screen!¡± Almost immediately, it vanished, leaving him staring at the rabbit, which was still at its normal distance, sitting up on its hind legs with its head tilted sideways in question. ¡°Umm¡­¡± Richard became curious about the screen and how the rabbit hadn¡¯t reacted to it. So, he tried calling it up a few more times, both by using words as well as his thoughts. Still, the rabbit remained at a certain distance, staring at him or circling him, almost like it couldn¡¯t see the screen. Also, with how transparent the screen was, Richard was able to angle his body so he could see the rabbit through the screen at times. Finally getting down to business, he tapped on the Skills tabs, which opened up a new section. It was pretty much empty except for one skill. ¡°Ummm¡­ Mimic Skill¡­ What the hell?¡± Tapping on it, opened up another screen over the first one.
Passive Skill: Mimic Skill Gives the skill user a small chance of successfully copying one skill of a target creature, person, or construct that the user kills and adding it to his repertoire. Level 1: 5% Chance of Success, Copied Skill has 50% the Effectiveness as the Original Skill Skill Cool Down Time: 240 seconds
¡°What the f&%$K?¡± I have to kill the damn thing for this to even be useful, and a 5% chance of success? Seriously?! That damn office piece of¡­. Argghhhh!¡± Richard screamed at the top of his lungs after looking at how useless his skill was going to be. In front of him, the devil rabbit jumped backwards as it was suddenly scared by this strange creature¡¯s roaring. The devil rabbit could feel the anger emanating from the two legged animal and wondered if hunting such a creature was safe. It had seen other beasts go mad and act in bizarre ways before, and when they had been killed and eaten, the killer had usually ended up going insane as well. The devil rabbit became a bit annoyed that it never had any luck when it came to free food. Of course, Richard had no clue what the rabbit was thinking or doing. He was lost in his own misery, lamenting his earlier decisions. ¡°Uwwaaahhh¡­! ¡®Elemental Fire¡¯¡­ Sounds so cool¡­ Why did I get sucked into the whole ¡®Legendary¡¯ skill shit? Uwaaahhhh!¡± Saying he felt bamboozled was an understatement, but then again, he wasn¡¯t thinking straight since he had been hunted by everything that moved since arriving on this world. Eventually, he calmed down and hung his shoulders in misery. Richard realized he couldn¡¯t do anything to change things at this point in time. Sighing, he flipped back to his last hope: the special item he had been given. The Items tab opened up a screen that looked like an inventory list from a game. There were dozens of small boxes, but they were all empty. Only one had something in it, and the icon looked like a star. Richard hesitantly clicked on it, thinking, ¡°Please be something good¡­ please be something good.¡± Ding! Ding! Ding! Sounding like he had just won a carnival prize, a large roulette wheel appeared right in front of him. Richard stepped back in shock, wondering what the hell he was seeing. His item screen was gone and in front of his a small blue panel appeared with a button saying, ¡°Press to spin.¡± Richard stared at the roulette wheel, confused and amazed at the same time. He saw a dozen different items including what looked like symbols for a sword, axe, shield, knife, and a wand. His eyes began tearing up in relief, and he pressed the spin button, sending the wheel turning quickly. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Dooh!Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh!... Dooh!.... Dooh!..... Dooh!..... Dooh!..... Dooh!..... Dooh!........ Dooh!........ Dooh!........ Dooh!............. Dooh! The spinning wheel slowed down gradually, and Richard¡¯s eyes followed the little selection arrow with desperate hope. When it finally stopped, he looked up at the selection with his heart beating anxiously. He hoped for a powerful sword like Excalibur or something, so he could teach the stupid rabbit a lesson in manners. Instead¡­ ¡°Huh?.......... What the¡­? A watch?¡± Confused, he stared at the roulette wheel like a stupefied zombie. Ding! Ding! Ding! Suddenly, a message box popped up in front of him.
Congratulations! Your prize has been deposited in your inventory.
The roulette wheel disappeared, and Richard¡¯s item screen popped back up. Once again, there was a single box that was occupied by something¡­ that looked like a wrist watch. His body starting to shake in disbelief, Richard tapped on the icon, choosing to view its description.
Compass of Seeking Can be used once every 24 hours to seek an object of your desires within a one mile radius.
¡°Heh heh heh heh hah hah hah aahahahahaHAHAHAHAHHAAHHHAHAHHAHHH!¡± Richard began laughing hysterically as he held his head and yanked on his hair. The blue screen in front of him vanished, leaving him staring at the monstrous little devil rabbit, which made him even more hysterical. ¡°ARGHGHGHGHHGHHGHGHH!¡± The devil rabbit had been patient up to this point. It had been a little surprised when the big round looking thing had appeared out of nowhere and began making a racket. However, having lived in the desert for all its life, the devil rabbit was used to surprises. So, it had watched the round thingy carefully, waiting for an attack that never came. When the round thingy had disappeared, the rabbit was left feeling foolish. It became very annoyed. Then, the two legged creature began making the crazy sounding noises again, and it began getting louder and louder. Finally, the devil rabbit had enough of the whole mess. It snarled, revealing its teeth and got ready to turn the two legged creature into a meal, not caring if it was crazy or not. As for Richard, he saw stupid rabbit snarling at him¡­, and he completely lost it! Being killed was one thing. Even being mocked by a gloried office worker was acceptable. But there was no way in hell he was going to let a stupid rabbit make a fool out of him without a fight! Snatching a rock off the ground, he wildly threw it as hard as he could, mostly hoping to distract the damn critter. Clud! Richard stared in surprise at the rabbit fell over after being hit on the head with the rock. For a second, he remained frozen where he was, shocked at the scene, but his brain finally woke up. Running with a lurch, he made it to the beast just as it began twitching awake. Without pausing, he stomped his right foot down as hard as he could on the disoriented rabbit¡¯s neck. SUEEERRRRKKK! SUERRKKK! SUERKK! The devil rabbit¡¯s painful squeal petered off as Richard stomped on it a couple more times, breaking the creature¡¯s spine and almost crushing part of its skull. It twitched a bit before going still. Richard looked at its dead body¡­. and then stomped on it a few more times just to vent. ¡°Stupid¡­ little¡­ piece¡­ of¡­ shit!¡± Eventually, he got tired of pulping the dead creature and collapsed on the ground, exhausted. ¡°Ughhhh¡­¡± As tired as he was, he had a smile on his face as he realized he had finally killed a monster. That was until he remembered it was a rabbit¡­ well, a devil rabbit. Still, it seemed pretty pathetic. Face-palming himself, he whispered, ¡°A frickin rabbit¡­ gahhh.¡± When he finally looked up to see if there was anything else to worry about, he saw something out of the corner of his vision. Turning, he tried to make look directly at it, but it remained where it was¡­ in the corner of his vision. Focusing on it, he realized it looked like a small circle that was half colored in. When Richard wished he could see it better, it enlarged and centered itself in his line of sight. He realized it was part of the skill and core system and was a clock of some kind. Under the half filled circle, there was a timer that said, ¡°120 seconds.¡± A second later, it dropped to ¡°119 seconds.¡± Richard realized this was some kind of countdown timer and looking at the label above it, he realized it was for his skill, ¡®Mimic Skill.¡¯ It took him some time to understand, but he realized his skill had activated as soon as he had killed the devil rabbit, hence the countdown timer being used. He quickly called up his skills menu, hoping to have gained something. However, all he saw was his skill, ¡®Mimic Skill.¡¯ ¡°Oh come on! After all that, and I don¡¯t get a skill?¡± Frustrated, he kicked at the dead rabbit¡¯s corpse. It seemed like his skill had failed miserably. ¡°Damn it!¡± Of course, on top of all that, his special item turned out to be a stupid compass of some kind. Pulling up his inventory, he clicked on the watch like compass. A couple options popped up including an option to equip it on his left wrist. When he picked that option, he felt a slightly cold sensation on his wrist as something began to appear there. It looked like it was forming out of some kind of mist, but it quickly solidified into an archaic looking watch, with leather straps and a circular, meal display. However, instead of markings for time, the display had a star shape engraved on it. Curiosity getting the better of him, Richard touched the star. Ding! A message box popped up right in front of him.
What do you seek?
As tired as he was, he wasn¡¯t thinking straight. He didn¡¯t even remember the limitations for the compass. However, thankfully, the first thought that came to his mind was ¡°water.¡± Ding! The message box vanished, and a blue, misty line appeared before him, extending about a few feet and pointing towards the large rock formation ahead. He stared at the mist like trail, the large rock formation, and the dead rabbit in that order. ¡°Fun times...¡± Chapter 5: Rocks, Water, and Tears Richard trudged along the dry ground, kicking up clods of sand and dirt as he tried to stay standing. He was tired, thirsty, and hungry. Above him, the sun was already nearing the horizon, meaning sunset was maybe a few hours away. Truthfully, he should have felt hopeless, but the fact that he was almost to the rock formation and the fact that no monster was trying to eat him amazingly kept him going. Well¡­that plus his hopes of eating that the devil rabbit that he had stuck in his inventory. It had been a surprise when he actually done it after he got tired of dragging the carcass around. All it took was for him to shove the dead creature into the item screen, and with a bright flash, the dead rabbit had disappeared from his hands and appeared in the item screen as a rabbit symbol occupying two boxes. As amazing as that was, Richard had learned that he was limited to about 48 boxes. He had experimented by sticking a few rocks into the inventory screen just to see what would happen. Like his watch, a rock only required one box, but disappointingly, all six rocks had required their own boxes. Also, he was starting to gain a better opinion concerning his solitary skill and special item. The skill was at Level 1, which meant it could be leveled up somehow, hopefully improving its abilities and maybe making it easier to copy some monster¡¯s skill. More importantly, when he pulled up his skills screen, he found a long unfilled bar right next to ¡®Mimic Skill¡¯ with a 0% listed next to it. Richard hoped that was some kind of experience bar or something, like from video games. As for his item, he saw how useful it could be in the future for finding things that were hidden. The misty trail that the compass produced was even more helpful since it seemed to shorten in length the closer he got to what he thought was his destination. Of course, none of that optimism really improved his current situation. He was in the middle of some kind of desert, even if there weren¡¯t sand dunes, and from what he could tell, the only living things around were dangerous monsters. Even the damn rabbits seemed to be screwy. Sighing, he muttered, ¡°Uhhhh¡­ Just my luck.¡± Then again, he didn¡¯t think he should be complaining since he had somehow survived instead of falling to his death or ending up as a huge turtle¡¯s lunch. Lost in his thoughts, he was a bit amazed when he finally found himself near the base of the large rock formation. The huge thing extended a hundred or more meters up into the sky and thousands of meters to the sides. It seemed like a natural formation and not some monster¡¯s shell at least. Richard stared at the jagged sides of the large formation, wondering where the water was. He looked back at the blue trail, which swerved off to the left. Scratching his head in question, he finally gave in and approached the rock formation. Initially, he couldn¡¯t see anything, but a few minutes later, he found himself near a passageway that seemed to have been cut into the rock face. Entering it, he could see that the passage way was actually a gorge that led deep into the rock formation. At first, Richard felt nervous, having to walk through such a dangerous place, since things could technically start falling on him from either side and he wouldn¡¯t be able to run away easily. However, after a minute or so of safely walking through the gorge, he calmed down a bit. It seemed like the gorge was well worn down over time, with little or no dangerous looking formations hanging from the steep sides. He didn¡¯t know how long he spent walking through the narrow passageway, but when he finally saw water, relief flooded him. Richard rushed to the small, stone basin jutting out of the wall ahead of him, where a thin stream of water was shooting out of a small opening in the wall. The stone basin was about the size of a kitchen sink and seemed to have an opening at its base that allowed the water to drain out. Richard leaned over the basin and stuck his head right under the hole in the wall, gulping down water as fast as he could. He drank and drank and drank until he felt his stomach gurgling in pain. Then, he stuck his head under the water to cool himself. It was probably the most relaxing thing he had ever felt in his life, and he had choke back his sobs as he felt himself tearing up. ¡°Uwahhh¡­!¡± ¡°If you¡¯re done, do you mind if I fill up my canteen?¡± ¡°Frig!¡± The deep voice, rumbling from behind, shocked the living daylights out of Richard, and he yelled and fell to the side as he pushed away from the basin while trying to twist around. Falling on his rear end, he banged his head up against the nearby wall and closed his eyes in pain. ¡°Owwww¡­ Damn!¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Forcing them open took a few seconds, but when he did, he was amazed to see another person standing in front of him. The man was armored in what looked like full plate armor that included everything from greaves to a wicked looking pair of gauntlets, and his cuirass had an elegant engraving of what looked a red dragon, rearing up on its hind legs and spreading its wings wide open. As intimidating as his armor was, the man even more so, being at least six feet in height and as big as wrestler. Most of the man¡¯s face was hidden by a metal helmet that seemed to cover everything but the man¡¯s eyes and nose. However, the man¡¯s green irises bored into Richard without any wavering. Richard stuttered, ¡°Umm¡­ who¡­. what¡­ I¡¯m¡­. ah¡­¡± The stranger tilted his head in question and then removed his helmet, revealing curly blonde hair, a chiseled, pale face, a broad nose, and full lips. He looked like some kind of medieval warrior out of a movie or book. Clearing his throat, the warrior said, ¡°Sorry to scare you like that. I hoped you were done with the water?¡± Richard stared at the man, dumfounded before finally whispering, ¡°Go right ahead¡­¡± The warrior smiled broadly, giving his serious looking face a bit of a relief. ¡°Thank you, friend.¡± Then, the man did something that caught Richard¡¯s attention: he made some kind of flask appear out thin air. Richard stared in shock as the huge warrior began to fill up the flask while nonchalantly whistling. Working up his courage, Richard asked, ¡°How¡­ was that¡­ Did you pull that¡­ that form your inventory?¡± The warrior paused his whistling and looked down at Richard in curiosity. ¡°Hah! I thought so. You¡¯re an adventurer as well, huh? But¡­ well¡­ to answer your question, yes I did. Don¡¯t you have one a canteen?¡± Richard eyed the leather flask and looked back at the warrior before coming to a decision. Throwing himself at the warrior¡¯s feet, Richard hugged the man¡¯s leg and yelled, ¡°Thank God! Take me with youuu! Oh, for the love of God, take meeeee!¡± ¡°What! What¡¯re ya doing?... No!¡­ I don¡¯t swing that way¡­. Hey!¡± The warrior, who was too surprised to dodge Richard, instead tried backing away while trying to shake Richard off. Of course, Richard, who was blubbering for all he was worth, hung on to the warrior¡¯s leg like it was his favorite teddy bear. It took a while to things to settle down, but eventually Richard found himself sitting in seiza in front of the large warrior, who was seated on a small boulder. They were a few meters away from the water fountain and surrounded by some kind of ruins. Richard hadn¡¯t paid any attention to his surroundings when he first rushed the water fountain, but now that he was a bit more awake, he realized the fountain was just a small part of whatever had occupied the large space around him. There were collapsed, stone columns and things that looked like ruined statues. At another time, he might have been intrigued by it all, but currently, he was busy rubbing at the small bump rising on his head and looking resentfully at the large warrior. The warrior was busy muttering to himself with his arms crossed against his armored chest. ¡°Amazing¡­ This is the first time a man¡¯s hugged me while crying ¡®Take me.¡¯ Usually, it¡¯s the ladies, but¡­ a man. If this ever gets out, Wilford will never let me live it down.¡± Richard cleared his throat and said, ¡°Ahh¡­ I¡¯m sorry about that. It¡¯s just¡­ it¡¯s just you¡¯re the first person that I¡¯ve seen since coming here. A bunch of monsters tried to eat me¡­ and¡­ and¡­¡± He tried manfully not to cry, but he could feel his eyes tearing up. The man looked up in irritation. ¡°Alright, alright. I understand. Don¡¯t cry¡­ Seriously¡­ don¡¯t cry. I don¡¯t plan on lending you my shoulders, okay.¡± Richard wiped away his snot and nodded while choking back a sob. The warrior sighed and asked with a serious face, ¡°So¡­ why don¡¯t you start from the beginning. Who are you, and what are you doing here?¡± The story didn¡¯t take long to tell, and Richard mainly stuck to the details: his sudden death, the shitty office worker, the sudden flying lesson, the huge turtle, running for his life, and his fight with the rabbit. He left out details about his skill and the compass, wanting to avoid uncomfortable questions, but otherwise, he was upfront with the warrior. When Richard was done speaking, the warrior said, ¡°Wow¡­ you got screwed big time, huh?¡± Chapter 6: Lecture So, to anyone reading this chapter... It''s a boring one and was very tedious to write. Even so, I recommend you read it since it lays out the basics of the leveling system for the character. Its a simple system but takes a bit to understand. I plan on making the next few chapters more interesting, but I had to make this one this way to explain a bunch of things. Again... sorry ahead of time -Reaper019 _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Richard didn¡¯t know how to respond to the big warrior. Yes¡­ he had been pretty badly screwed by everything so far. Then again, he had picked the whole ¡®Legendary¡¯ skill and its associated risks even after being warned not to. So, overall, it was his own fault. However, he couldn¡¯t tell the warrior that. Instead, he asked, ¡°So, that¡¯s why I¡¯m begging you¡­ please help me. I have no clue where I am or what I¡¯m supposed to do.¡± The large warrior sighed and asked, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Richard¡­ Richard Jaeger.¡± The warrior nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯m Martin. And I¡¯ll be honest with you. You¡¯re right now in a pretty dangerous zone. As for what a zone is¡­ well, it¡¯s like a part of the World Labyrinth. You¡¯ve heard those words right?¡± Richard nodded and said, ¡°Yeah, but I have no clue what it means. The office sleazebag just told me it was a new world or something.¡± Martin chuckled before explaining, ¡°A new world is about right, but its more than one world. Think of it as dozens if not hundreds of worlds all linked to one another. One world may be the Garden of Eden to another world¡¯s fiery hell. There are gateways that connect these worlds, but only a small portion of the gateways are mapped out. You can technically live on just one of those worlds and not do much, but a lot of us like to wander around. That¡¯s why we¡¯re called adventurers. Also when I say ¡®us,¡¯ keep in mind that there¡¯s also a ¡®them.¡¯ Most of the people in the ¡®us¡¯ category are like you and me. We weren¡¯t born in the World Labyrinth and were instead sent here after dying in our original worlds. As for those in the ¡®them¡¯ category, they are either the original inhabitants of the World Labyrinth or born here. The reason I¡¯m telling you that is because in some ways we are special. Do you know why?¡± With that, the warrior gave Richard a questioning look. Richard scrunched up his face and thought about what he knew. Suddenly, it hit him. ¡°The core and skill thing.¡± Martin nodded but said, ¡°Close but no cigar. A sizable number of creatures and all sentient beings in the World Labyrinth have cores and skills. However, what they can¡¯t do is pull up the core interface like you and I can. It¡¯s the blue screen with the different tabs. I hope you know about it.¡± When Richard nodded, Martin continued explaining, ¡°Well, most of ¡®them¡¯ can¡¯t use the interface, and they¡¯re limited in some other ways as well. For example, the only skills they have are what they¡¯re born with. And by skills, I mean something like the special skill you might have been given by your interviewer and not your every day abilities. For example, there¡¯s a special skill called ¡®Cooking.¡¯ You can cook without that special skill, but if you get the skill somehow, you¡¯ll be able to some interesting things with food, like making it so food can heal or strengthen someone.¡± Richard was following most of what Martin was saying, but he was still a bit lost about the differences between him and ¡®them.¡¯ ¡°You said that we aren¡¯t limited in skills like the locals. What does that mean? Is it because of the interface? How does that make us different?¡± Martin smiled slightly. ¡°Good questions. Let¡¯s just say that while the locals are limited to the skills they are born with, we aren¡¯t. Technically, we can learn an infinite amount of skills and subskills, but we¡¯re limited in how many we can equip and use at any given time. On average, most adventurers can equip maybe eight or nine different skills, while a powerful local might only be able to use the three or four that they were born with. It can be a hassle if you want to manage and level up a dozen skills at the same time. Of course, that¡¯s where the interface is so useful. Using it, we can manage our skills, check on their progress, and keep track of things like equipment and items. Also, the interface also gives us a constant update as to our abilities in the form of stats. All that of course makes it easier for us to level up in comparison to the locals.¡± Richard remained silent for a while, chewing on his lips as he thought about what he had just learned. It really seemed like some kind of game system to him. Of course, this wasn¡¯t a game. It was reality. He then thought about the last thing Martin had mentioned: something about stats and leveling. ¡°What are stats and leveling?¡± Martin looked at Richard with surprise written all over his face. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you haven¡¯t checked your stats yet?¡± When Richard shook his head, Martin sighed. ¡°Look here youngster, you better start figuring out things. Otherwise, you¡¯ll be a dead man soon. You¡¯re lucky you ran into someone like me out here and not someone from The Damned or the Joker¡¯s Fist. They would have used you as bait for monsters or enslaved you without a second thought.¡± Richard suddenly felt sick to his stomach when he saw the pure seriousness etched on Martin¡¯s face. Whispering, he asked, ¡°Who¡¯re they?¡± Martin wearily rubbed his eyes and replied, ¡°People you don¡¯t want to meet. You hear those names anywhere, you run as far as you can as fast as you can. That¡¯s all you need to know for now.¡± After a few seconds of silence, the warrior cleared his throat, ¡°Alright, pull up your interface and pick the tab for your stats.¡± Richard followed the instructions, curious as to what he would see. The screen that popped up in front of him was a bit smaller than the other screens but was a bit weird as well. [tr][
Status Window
Name:Richard JaegerRace:Human
Endurance:NExperience:0%
Strength:N Experience: 0%
Agility:N Experience:0%
Dexterity:N Experience:0%
Wisdom:N Experience:0%
Magic:N Experience:0%
Defense:N Experience:0%
Charisma:N Experience:0%
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Ummm¡­ there¡¯s some things like Strength, but then there¡¯s just a lot of letters like N''s and 0%¡¯s.¡± Richard had no clue what he was looking at. Part of the status window made sense since it listed certain attributes, but the rest seemed out of whack. Martin interrupted, ¡°Interesting¡­ N''s.... Very average¡­ yet... hmm¡­¡± Hearing the word ¡®average,¡¯ Richard closed the screen in front of him and looked up at the warrior a bit annoyed. ¡°Don¡¯t say average. I had enough of that from the stupid interviewer guy.¡± Martin smirked and replied, ¡°No¡­ I wasn¡¯t making fun of you. Just commenting on your attributes. If they''re ranked as N right now, that pretty much means they are about average. It means you don¡¯t have any real strengths, which isn¡¯t helpful, but the good part is that you probably don¡¯t have any serious weaknesses either.¡± ¡°Huh? How¡¯d you get all that from the just reading a bunch of letters.¡± Richard had no clue what the warrior was talking about. Martin sighed and said, ¡°Think about it. Where is the letter N in the alphabet? It¡¯s near the middle. That means all you attributes are about average.¡± ¡°But, what does that mean? I mean, does that mean I¡¯m screwed compared to others.¡± Richard didn¡¯t understand what the warrior was trying to explain. Martin nodded and explained, ¡°Let¡¯s put it this way, if a wrestler or body builder showed up in this world, his strength ranking may be L or K, and his agility may be an O or P. If a sprinter showed up, his strength may be an M and his agility may be a K. The higher the letter, with A being the highest and Z being the lowest, the more capable someone is when it comes to that attribute. The experience bar for each attribute is for the experience you¡¯ll gain to level up each of your attributes by doing various things. When I say various things, I mean various things. There¡¯s thousands of ways to gain experience for your attributes, but it gets harder to accumulate the necessary experience the higher you move up in the letter scale. For example, someone trying to level up from N to M would have it 100 times easier than someone trying to go from an H to a G. Also, gaining the experience is very arbitrary. This isn¡¯t some kind of game where numbers will pop up saying you gained this much experience for this action, but each attribute¡¯s experience bar will show your progress as you progress through daily life. It¡¯s almost like training yourself to run continually for an hour over the course of a few months. It¡¯ll take time to improve and to reach your goal, but then again, some people will never be able to get past a certain point due to various reasons. ¡° For a few minutes, Richard stared at the ground, trying to understand the crazy status system. It sounded like some kind of third grade report card rather than a game system. When he told Martin that, the warrior frowned. ¡°Put that out of your mind. This isn¡¯t a game! There have been a bunch of people, who¡¯ve shown up in the last few decades who thought of it as one. Most of them talked about leveling up and respawning and started off by trying to hunt in the various zones. Very few of them survived, and most of them ended up being monster shit. Remember this: death is as real in this world as your old one. Mind you, there are spells that can bring you back to life, but there will always be consequences for using those spells. You may turn into a mindless, undead creature or you may turn into a halfwit, who can barely function.¡± Chastened, Richard nodded and instead asked, ¡°You said we can level up the attributes. How does that affect us?¡± Martin scratched at his cheek while contemplating how to answer the question. Eventually, he said, ¡°That¡¯s something you¡¯re better off understanding over time. It¡¯s a bit hard to explain, but I¡¯ll give you a small example since I don¡¯t¡¯ want to leave you clueless. Going back to the wrester example, the guy starts out with rank K, so he¡¯s about three or four times as strong as you. If he gains another rank, he¡¯ll be even stronger¡­ maybe six or seven times as strong as you. However, you won¡¯t see him gaining more muscle or anything. Somehow, all the changes occur to our cores. So a skinny, weedy looking fellow could have a strength rank of J after training and leveling it up and be stronger than the bulky wrestler. Appearance means very little in this world. You should have the basic guide for the world in your menu options there, so I would look it over if I were you. It¡¯ll at least give you descriptions of each attribute, but as for the changes, that¡¯s something you¡¯re going to have to learn over time.¡± When Richard didn¡¯t say anything further, the warrior stood up, his armor creaking in the process. ¡°Well, I hope I was helpful, but like I said, you¡¯re going to have to learn things on your own from here on in. Most adventurers won¡¯t share details about their skills or attributes, and they definitely won¡¯t tell you how they level up their attributes. Anyway¡­ I have to get going. I wish you luck youngster.¡± With that, the warrior tried to walk off. However, Richard was quicker. He scrambled in front of Martin and said, ¡°Please, I need to find a way out of here. I don¡¯t know where to go or even if there¡¯s a nearby town or something.¡± Martin sighed and said out loud, ¡°Serioiusly¡­¡± _____________________________________________________________________________________________ This was an annoying chapter to type. For one thing, I wanted to get away from the leveling system most people have been using so it took me a crazy amount of time to figure how I wanted to explain things. I''m still feeling things out though... Lastly... I felt like this thing was a damn lecture... I felt like shooting the main character myself for his annoying questions, but then again, I didn''t want to make him all wise since he was supposed to be an average wuss. For those of you, who have voiced being annoyed with him, well... yep.. he''s an idiot. But again, these are still the intro chapters. So give it some time. Also, I did some foreshadowing in this chapter... And i''ll leave you with that. Chapter 7: Class is Out of Session Grabbing Richard by the collar of this shirt, Martin lifted him up like he weighed nothing. Growling the warrior said, ¡°Understand this youngster¡­ this isn¡¯t earth. Acting like a little pansy is like painting a bullseye on your back. You¡¯ll be lucky if you end up as a slave somewhere. So, straighten up and act like you¡¯ve got a backbone!¡± Finished shouting, the warrior tossed Richard off to the side before striding off. Richard landed on his feet but stumbled a bit before regaining his balance. He watched the warrior¡¯s receding back in frustration. Being called a pansy stung a bit, but Richard couldn¡¯t fault the warrior for saying that. However, he didn¡¯t feel he was wrong in begging either. Survival required desperate actions sometimes, and his situation was pretty damn desperate. He was supposedly on one world of the World Labyrinth, which was composed of hundreds of worlds. As far as finding where he was on a map¡­.. well, he didn¡¯t think anyone would have maps that big. On the other hand, it seemed like he was screwed any way, since the warrior was leaving him behind. ¡°Shit¡­ Now what?¡± Whispering, he the rubbed the back of his neck, lost in thought. ¡°Hey, youngster!¡± Martin calling him woke Richard up. He looked up at where the warrior stood waiting in the nearby the ruins. ¡°Are you coming or not? I don¡¯t have all day!¡± Richard suddenly felt relief flood him. He yelled, ¡°I¡¯ll be there¡± before heading towards Martin. A few minutes later, both of the men found themselves heading deeper into the ruins, which seemed to become more expansive the deeper they went into the widening gorge. They came across dozen of openings carved into the gorge walls, many of which were surrounded by crumbling statues and ruined carvings. Collapsed pillars were also scattered around haphazardly, creating roadblocks every few meters. It looked like something had gone through the place, purposefully wrecking anything standing. With the sun setting in the sky, the ruins in the gorge suddenly had an ominous feel to them. ¡°What is this place?¡± The whispered question was rhetorical, but Martin heard it nevertheless. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. The place is deserted. It used to be some kind of town gods¡¯ knew when, but it was abandoned for one reason or another.¡± The warrior¡¯s nonchalant reply kind of worried Richard. ¡°Some reason or other?¡± Martin looked back with raised eyebrows. ¡°You know¡­ like some crazy monster rampaging through here or some lunatic deciding to raze a town down to the ground. Things like that. It¡¯s pretty common in most of the World Labyrinth. Either you can defend yourself or you¡¯ll find yourself in for a world of hurt.¡± Richard winced at that barb. He knew the warrior was reminding him about ¡®growing a backbone,¡¯ but the gentle reminder still annoyed him a bit. Changing the topic, Richard asked, ¡°You talk like you¡¯ve seen a lot in the World Labyrinth.¡± Martin snorted up ahead. ¡°Yeah¡­ you could say that. When you¡¯ve been around as long as I have, done what I have, and seen what I have, believe me¡­ things can get pretty repetitive.¡° ¡°And how long is that? That you¡¯ve been around?¡± Martin stopped and turned around with a frown. ¡°Now that would be none of your business. Consider it one of those taboos you don¡¯t ask adventurers. It gets into the whole skills and stats matter. However, I will tell you that many adventurers will gain¡­ call them abilities that will affect how you age. Some things will speed up your death, and others will increase your lifespan.¡± With that, silence once again dominated their interaction. Richard thought about what Martin had said. Speeding up your death sounded kind of stupid, but an increased lifespan sounded like the fountain of youth or something. If that actually existed¡­ Martin looked at the warrior in front of him, wondering how old the fellow was. Never mind that, Richard wondered how strong the man must be to wander around this hellhole with no worries. Richard had almost died out in the desert when those two huge beasts fought each other. If Martin spent his time wandering around places like this for a living or on ¡®adventures¡¯ as he put it, Richard could only imagine how strong the warrior was. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. His contemplation was cut short when Martin said out loud, ¡°Alright we¡¯re here.¡± Richard looked around trying to figure out where ¡®here¡¯ was. There were just more ruins around him, and¡­ ¡°What the hell?¡± When Martin stepped out of the way, Richard was finally able to see what the warrior was talking about: a large circular platform, easily big enough to hold a dozen or more people. It had four talon like protrusions equally spaced around it and a small pedestal to one side. Martin explained, ¡°I¡¯ll be sending you to someplace you can get a relatively safe start at. It doesn¡¯t mean that it¡¯ll be a safe place, just that it¡¯s safer than most other places. You get the difference right?¡± Richard, who was still trying to figure out the weird platform, replied, ¡°Yeah¡­ don¡¯t let my guard down.¡± Martin nodded and said, ¡°Good. At least, you understand that much. One last piece of information: there are hundreds of languages used in the World Labyrinth. Right now, we¡¯re speaking English. That¡¯s part of how I figure out you¡¯re an adventurer, because English is a relatively rare language that only a few people speak in the Labyrinth. However, there is a common trade language that most of the worlds use. When you were sent here, the ability to speak that language was placed into your mind. Once you hear it being spoken, you should be able to understand it and use it.¡± When Martin had started talking about languages, Martin had initially been worried that he wouldn¡¯t be able to understand anyone wherever he was going. However, by the end of the explanation, he felt curious about it. ¡°Is that some kind of magic thing or something? Martin shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t know. But there are high level skills or spells that can help with language acquisition or translation. I¡¯m just telling you this so you don¡¯t freak out when you start hearing stuff that sounds like gibberish.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ got it.¡± Martin walked over to the pedestal and tapped on its surface. Suddenly, a small blue screen appeared on top of the pedestal, and Martin began moving his hand up and down in front of screen like he was scrolling through something. When he stopped, he held out his left hand, and a yellow colored crystal appeared in it. Taking the crystal, Martin stuck it on the surface of the pedestal and began doing something else to the blue screen. ¡°Alright then, get on the node, and I¡¯ll send you to the nearest safe zone. I can¡¯t promise what you¡¯ll find there, but it¡¯ll at least be better than a red zone like this place.¡± Richard had seen enough science fiction movies and played enough games to realize the circular platform was a transporter of some kind and was supposedly called a ¡®node.¡¯ He gingerly stepped onto the platform, wondering how it worked. After positioning himself in the center of the node, he looked back at Martin, who gave him a thumbs up and then tapped the blue screen one last time. Before Richard could say anything, a blue flash surrounded him, making him blink, and when he next opened his eyes, he was¡­ somewhere else. From what he could tell, the node was in a spacious clearing filled with flowers of all kind. Large trees surrounded the clearing, and the sound of birds chirping filled the air. More importantly, it seemed like it was only late in the afternoon here¡­ wherever here was, rather than being almost sunset. Richard walked off the node and glanced around, wondering what he should do next. There was a dirt path leading away from the node, but it seemed to cut into the woods in the distance. With it being so late in the day, he wasn¡¯t sure he wanted to start walking through some strange woods. SCQRREEEAAAAAEEEEEE! The loud screeching sound made him jump, and he twisted around, trying to find its source. He didn¡¯t see anything near the ground, but when he looked up, he made out some kind of flying creature closing in. ¡°Oh shit... Not again!¡± Chapter 8: Safe Place? The flowers were blooming, the birds were chirping, and the wind was softly blowing through the clearing, making it an idyllic day. Mr. Squirrel scampered across a large tree branch, looking for acorns. They were Mr. Squirrel¡¯s favorite treat, and if he found any extra, there was a certain female squirrel, who he knew would love thank him for the gift in more than one way. He had no worries and no pressure unlike the poor fool screaming and running through the meadow nearby. Mr. Squirrel sat up on his hind legs and watched in idle curiosity as the two legged creature awkwardly ran away from the feathered one hunting him. It was a given what was going to happen, but Mr. Squirrel didn¡¯t really care enough to watch further. He had acorns to find and lady squirrels to please. As for the poor fool, he felt more pressure and had more worries than he wanted. ¡°Seriously! Why meeeee!¡± He was running of course¡­ Then again, he realized he had been running from one thing or another since he had arrived in the World Labyrinth. However, it was a bit different this time around. His enemy was in the air and based on periodic checks every few seconds, the creature was closing rapidly. Richard hadn¡¯t spent too much time analyzing the feathered brute swooping down on him before he started running. The basics of what he had seen had terrified him enough. Any fantasy or science fiction nerd could have figured out the identity of the creature from just one glance. What has four legs, the body of a lion, an eagle¡¯s head, and a pair of large, bird wings? ¡°A friggin¡¯ gryphon¡­ really!!!? Isn¡¯t this supposed to be a safe zone!!!?¡± The rhetorical question was gasped out as Richard desperately ran on his already tired legs. He wasn¡¯t breathing hard yet, but he knew it was only a matter of time before his lungs started burning and he collapsed. His goal¡­ well, living was the ultimate goal, but his immediate hope was to get to the tree line as soon as possible. If he could do that, he knew he could hide among the trees and escape becoming monster shit. He was so close that he could even see a squirrel scampering down the nearest tree. All he had was maybe 10 meters or so to go¡­ Of course, the universe decided to drop a big pile of excrement right on top of him. He saw the dark shadow diving down on him from behind and dove to the ground just in time to dodge the large feathery/furry body that swooped past him. A gust of wind pummeled him down towards the ground, and he covered his head trying to protect what he could. Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of the furry rear of the gryphon as it landed hind legs first and slightly hopped to a stop. Richard spat out some grass that he had accidentally swallowed and looked up as the large creature twisted around, bringing its large eagle head around to lock its predatory gaze on him. The monster was everything that Richard had imagined it would be, if not a bit bigger. It looked like its main body was larger than a minivan with each of its feathered wings probably being three or more meters long when extended. The back two thirds of the creature¡¯s body was definitely covered in fur, looking like a lion¡¯s body all the way down to the cat like hind legs and tail. The front third was covered in a mix of feathers and fur, almost like an imperfect blending, except for the head, which was that of an oversized eagle¡¯s. Both of the gryphon¡¯s yellow eyes focused on Richard, and its beak opened slightly as though it was considering taking a bite out of him. However, Richard didn¡¯t run. He slowly stood up, raising his hands above his head. The reason was less because of the griffin and more due to the small person sitting on the griffin¡¯s back and aiming a stick of some kind in Richard¡¯s direction. The little fellow was scowling, but Richard couldn¡¯t tell much more of what the little person¡¯s face looked like since he was wearing some kind of leather, aviator¡¯s cap and a pair of old school, glass goggles. The little person slid off the back of the gryphon and quickly darted around the creature¡¯s wings before approaching Richard. To say Richard felt a little silly on top of being scared would be an understatement. He was literally being held up by some kid, who was dressed in some kind of tight, leather clothes and whose head barely came up to Richard¡¯s abdomen in height. ¡°Umm¡­ I don¡¯t have any candy?¡± The little fellow spoke up with a slightly high pitched, singsong voice while pointing his stick threateningly at Richard. ¡°Flued den! Daten! Er ull blus yue! Gwet dan un den grund!¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.Richard couldn¡¯t understand what the little person was saying, but worse yet, he suddenly felt like he had bees buzzing around in his head. He winced and grabbed his head, saying, ¡°I don¡¯t understand¡­ What are¡­¡± ¡°Get don! Basterd! Don muk me blas ya!¡± Richard suddenly put two and two together. ¡°Wait! Did you say ¡®blast¡¯? Hold on¡­¡± Before Richard could finish, the little fellow shoved the wooden stick forward a bit, and a bright yellow light shot out from it. Richard¡¯s eyes rolled back up, and he felt himself twitching wildly before everything went dark. ------- Flying¡­. Pretty wings¡­. One bunny... two bunnies¡­ bunny with fangs¡­ turtle soup¡­ big chicken barbeque¡­ ACKKKK! Star Trek Midget!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Snort! With a sudden jolt, Richard flailed awake and promptly fell off whatever he had been sleeping on. He hit the cold floor with a grunt and groaned as he looked up with squinted eyes. ¡°Ohhh¡­. My head¡­ What happe¡­?¡± Of course, everything suddenly came back to him: almost being killed by a huge, mutant turtle, almost being killed by a vicious bunny, almost being killed by a confused, flying chicken, and being held up by some kind of midget with an attitude. ¡°Auggggh¡­ little people, my ass¡­ more like angry nut smashers¡­¡± Sitting up on the floor, he rubbed his head, which hurt like crazy and peered around the dark room. He caught sight of the metal bars in front of him, so he realized he was in some kind of prison cell or something. Crawling over to the bars, He peered around at the dimly lit hallway outside. There were a half a dozen more cells lining the hallway, and it looked like at least a few of them were occupied by snoring individuals. Richard wondered why he was in this place, and remembering all the crazy prison stories he had heard, he didn¡¯t think remaining here would be conducive to his health. The smell in the place wasn¡¯t the most pleasant either, reminding him of dried puke, rotting garbage, and dog crap all rolled in one. Shaking the bars weakly at first, he croaked out, ¡°Heyy¡­. Anyone ouh ther¡­.¡± Then, clearing his throat and putting a little more effort into it, he shouted, ¡°Hey! Anyone there?! Hello!¡± ¡°Shur up, ya bassurd!¡± ¡°Freken shet yer mouth!¡± As garbled as the words were, Richard understood their meaning and quietly ducked away from the bars. He walked back to the stone bench he had fallen off of and sat down, massaging his head, which hurt like hell. That¡¯s when he realized something: the other prisoners weren¡¯t speaking English. It sounded like whatever language the angry midget had been speaking in. ¡°The trade language¡­¡± His eyes widened as he realized he was also speaking in the different language. Concentrating on what he was saying, he said a few phrases out loud until disbelief filled him. It was like he had the entire language fully installed in his head or something. He tried switching to English, and after a few tongue twists, he succeeded in talking in his native tongue. A little bit more effort and he found himself switching back and forth between the two languages almost like it he had grown up speaking both of them. ¡°Damn¡­ I wish I could have done this with Spanish II in highschool.¡± As preoccupied as he was with muttering to himself, he didn¡¯t realize someone was outside his cell until a voice said, ¡°Ah¡­ you can finally speak the trade language. Good. That¡¯ll make things much easier.¡± Richard looked up and jumped to his feet, hoping he was saved. It was hard to make out the face of the man, but there was definitely someone on the other side of the bars. ¡°Yes¡­ I can¡­ speak now.¡± Richard spoke the phrase a little hesitantly since he was still getting used to the language, but he was more curious about who the man was. ¡°Who are¡­ you?¡± Suddenly, a bright light lit up the hallway, and Richard winced as it blinded him temporarily. Blinking, he looked outside the cell¡­ and felt his jaw drop. The blonde haired man outside was¡­ handsome in a very feminine way. The closest thing Richard could think of was the various boy band members from earth, especially the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean ones. The man¡¯s triangular face had those same soft features and radiated that smug superiority that said ¡®I make women go gaga when I walk by.¡± However, what really shocked Richard were the long pointed ears that the man had and the liquidy, glowing ball of light the man held in one hand. Richard mumbled, ¡°Elf¡­ magic¡­ No frickin way¡­.¡± Chapter 9: Civilization The green eyed elf frowned in response to what Richard had said. ¡°Cough¡­ Ehem¡­ I would prefer it you would not use that term, adventurer. I am an astori, just like you are a human. So, please use the proper terminology.¡± Richard just gaped at the man¡­ elf¡­ astori¡­ whatever and his magic ball of light. The elf fidgeted a bit and asked, ¡°Are you alright, adventurer?¡± ¡°Maybe he¡¯s still addled. Or maybe whas¡¯ left of ¡®is brain got fried by the wand.¡± The familiar high pitched voice jolted Richard back to his senses, and he looked to the right of the ast¡­ aster¡­ elf. Richard made out the familiar looking little person from before. ¡°You! You bastard! You tazed me!¡± Almost reflexively, he tried to reach through the bars to grab the little guy, who was partially hidden in the shadows. Unfortunately, the midget was too far away, and he moved even further away. The high pitched voice spoke up again, almost whiningly. ¡°See, Finovin, I told you he was a violent one. See how he¡¯s tryin¡¯ to attack me. That¡¯s why I had to use the wand on him. He was refusin¡¯ to comply wih my orders.¡± Richard stopped trying to lunge through the bars for a second and pieced together what the midget had just said. Suddenly, he felt angrier than he had ever been. ¡°What is this? A cop frame up or something? Refusing to comply my ass! That midget over there chased me with his stupid gryphon and almost tore off my head. Then, he got down and yelled some shit I didn¡¯t understand. When I finally figured it out, he was already pointing his damn stick, wand¡­ whatever at me and blasting me!¡± Richard had no clue if there was such a thing as unlawful arrest or excessive violence by law enforcement in the World Labyrinth, but he wasn¡¯t going to let the damn midget get away with it. The elf sighed and sideways at the little person, who was now completely hidden off to the side. ¡°Welks, this is the fifth time this week I¡¯ve gotten a complaint about you. Consider yourself on report, and you¡¯re no longer authorized to carry your wand. Return it to the armory until I approve its use again. Do you understand?¡± The high pitched voice belonging to Welks indignantly replied, ¡°Oh yes¡­ you big lummoxes always stick together don¡¯t ya. Well, I¡­¡± ¡°Welks! I will not repeat myself.¡± The elf¡¯s face turned hard for a second, and Richard realized the elf was definitely more dangerous than the midget. A quiet, grumbling reply came back. ¡°Yes sir.¡± After that, Richard heard light foots steps fading away. Finally looking back at Richard, the elf said, ¡°As for you, adventurer, it seems you are very unfamiliar with things around here since you were surprised by my appearance. Usually, I wouldn¡¯t waste my time in here, but you intrigue me. Consider this your opportunity to convince me to let you out.¡± When the elf didn¡¯t say anything more and just stood there as though expecting an explanation, Richard sighed and told an abbreviated version of his story, leaving out some of the dramatic stuff. After Richard finished, there was a moment of silence, before the elf said, ¡°It seems as though you had a good amount of bad luck. But¡­ I can see no real lies in what you¡¯ve told me. We are familiar with the name Martin. He has a¡­ mixed reputation but nothing bad. Very well, I can release you once you¡¯ve paid your fines.¡± Richard smiled in gratitude until he realized what the elf had said. ¡°Fines?¡± The elf, who was unlocking the prison door raised one of his eyebrows in question. ¡°Yes. Fines. You used the node without authorization. It was locked dozens of years ago as per the Serenthal City Council¡¯s orders due to its proximity to the city. You never know when a horde of monsters might use it to invade through. Your friend, Martin must have overridden the lock somehow¡­ most likely with an artifact. ¡° When Richard just stared in confusion, the elf sighed. ¡°There are very few nodes, and they can be dangerous due to what they can do. However, more importantly, they are a large source of revenue for the various powers that control them. When you used the node near the city, you not only broke the law, but you also have to pay a fine for using it illegally. That¡¯s why Welks¡­ umm¡­ arrested you.¡± Leaving aside the part where the elf actually said ¡®arrested,¡¯ Richard couldn¡¯t help but feel he was being taken advantage of by the guards or whoever they were. It seemed bureaucrats were the same everywhere. ¡°So¡­ what¡¯s the fine?¡± The elf opened the cell gate and said, ¡°20 gold should be fine. Come with me, and I¡¯ll write you a receipt once you pay.¡± Richard wondered how much 20 gold was in the World Labyrinth but suddenly had an uncomfortable feeling it was quite a bit. ¡°Umm¡­ I don¡¯t exactly have any money.¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The elf, who had been turning around to lead the way, stopped and faced back towards Richard while still holding his floating, liquidy ball of light. ¡°No money¡­ that is very¡­ unfortunate¡­ Of course you wouldn¡¯t¡­ now I wonder¡­ ¡° After looking Richard up and down for a bit, the elf sighed and said, ¡°There may be some ways for you to work off the fines. Also, you¡¯re going to need some money if you plan on staying in the city. We also don¡¯t look too kindly on¡­ vagabonds. Just follow me, and we¡¯ll see what we can get set up for you.¡± Richard nervously followed the elf, while glancing into the dingy, dark cells that they walked past. He saw shapes of people curled up on their stone beds, but most of the cells were empty. It was a bit weird, especially when he noticed that some of the cells had had rusty bars, never mind missing the metal bars completely in some cases. As for the grime covered floor that seemed to move in places, Richard avoided looking at it as much as possible. Even he felt something go ¡®squish¡¯ under his shoes, he adamantly avoided looking down. Ahead of them, there was a doorway with bright sunlight filtering through a small, barred view port. The elf banged on the sturdy looking door, until a bearded face looked through the port. The face vanished as quickly as it appeared and the door swung open, creaking loudly. Outside, it was bright... with a wide hallway leading to an open yard of some kind. Richard squinted as walked through the doorway, avoiding the burly man standing off to the side. Like the elf, the burly man was wearing some kind of blue and green patterned tabard over his clothes. When Richard looked at him, the large, square jawed man growled and crossed his arms. Richard quickly looked away and sped up to keep up with the elf, who was striding down the hallway. There were a couple other hallways off to the side as well, and more men, including a handful of elves were busy going about their business. All of them were wearing the green and blue tabards, and more than a few of them had sheathed swords belted to their waists. More importantly, there was large variety to all their features: black hair, blonde hair, brown hair, red hair, beards, smooth chins, sharp noses, broad noses, green eyes, blue eyes, black eyes, brown eyes, brown skin, pale skin, black skin¡­. the list went on and on. It was like being back in some city in the United States. Richard began to relax a bit since he didn¡¯t look too different from any of them, except being a little skinnier. The large yard they entered had dozens of ¡®guardsmen¡¯ as Richard was starting to think of them. All of them were armored in a mix of brigandine, chainmail, and plate armor and were pummeling straw dummies with swords, spears, halberds, axes, maces, and a half a dozen other weapons he couldn¡¯t recognize. None of them paid much attention to the elf or Richard as they made their way across the yard. At the far end, they encountered two fully armored guardsmen, lounging on either side of a sturdy looking wooden door. The moment they caught sight of the elf, they stood up straight and saluted, thumping their clenched left fists against their steel cuirasses. Both men wore helmets that only revealed what their chins and eyes looked like, and they stared straight ahead as though they were on inspection. The elf didn¡¯t pause and just pushed open the door and strode through. Richard glanced at the men as he passed them, a little intimidated at their suddenly forceful presence. Inside, it was a bit different. The well lit hall had dozens of desks and people, including some, who were wearing ordinary clothes. It looked like¡­ some kind of office or maybe even medieval police station. The buzzing noise of people speaking rose and fell. Richard peeked at all the different people, keeping an eye and ear out for anything curious. That¡¯s when something¡­ someone caught his eyes. Just as he was walking past one wooden desk, Richard found himself locking gazes with a little, brown haired kid. Of course, the kid had a small, triangular face with a cute, button like nose and green colored, innocent seeming eyes. He was dressed in a mini blue and green tabard as well and was holding a metal quill that seemed one size too big for him. There was something awfully familiar about the kid¡­ hmm¡­ Richard stopped and stared at the boy, and the boy stared back, tilting his head a little¡­¡­. before smiling a nasty smile. Richard suddenly recognized him. ¡°You¡­.!¡± Chapter 10: A Very Shitty Development Richard saw red... blistering, fiery red. He had always scoffed when people talked about anger that way. Seeing red before attacking someone? It had sounded so absurd. But now¡­ he realized how angry you had to be to see red. ¡°Its you! You damn midget! I¡¯m gonna kill you!¡± Now, that wasn¡¯t the most intelligent thing to say when you¡¯re in room full of medieval cops, but Richard didn¡¯t care. He lunged across the desk at the nastily smiling midget¡­ who jumped backwards out of his chair laughing like a damn hyena. Not giving up, Richard scrambled on top the desk growling like a mad man. The little twerp scooted back a bit, showing an exaggerated, scared face and saying, ¡°Oh, I¡¯m so scared¡­ Please save me from the big bad man! HAHAHAHHAHAHAH!¡± ¡°Why you little¡­!¡± Suddenly, Richard was dragged backwards by someone pulling on his shirt. Slightly hanging in the air, he flailed a bit until he was turned around so he could see the man holding him up by the back of his shirt. The bearded, square jawed man had a stern expression on his face. His black eyes were relaxed, however, like he had done this a hundred times before. ¡°Please show some respect. Assaulting a guardsman here is an insult to all of us¡­ no matter what the fool of a guardsman might have done to deserve it.¡± Richard jerked a nod before he was dropped on his feet. The large guardsman calmly glanced over to the midget and said, ¡°And Welks, show some decorum¡­ at least while you¡¯re wearing the colors.¡± With that, the large guardsman walked away, with all the eyes in the suddenly quiet room following him. When he finally walked out the door, all the eyes turned back to look at Richard, who nervously smiled, especially when he caught sight of half a dozen other guardsmen looking at him with their hands holding drawn daggers or metal clubs. ¡°Ahem¡­!¡± Turning, Richard saw the elf looking at him with an annoyed face. ¡°If you¡¯re done, we have some things to discuss.¡± Looking behind Richard with a stern face, the elf said, ¡°And a particular guardsman has a report he needs to finish rewriting, I believe.¡± Behind him, Richard heard high pitched grumbling but didn¡¯t dare turn around. Instead, he mechanically followed the elf to a separate office. The inside of the office was very utilitarian, with the prominent features being a large wooden desk and a glass window with light spilling through it. The elf sat down in his chair behind the desk. When Richard moved to take a seat as well at an available chair, the elf coughed lightly. Looking up, Richard saw the elf looking at him with a raised eyebrow, so he remained standing a bit awkwardly. The elf nodded in a businesslike manner and pulled out a clean sheet of paper from inside his desk somewhere. Dipping his metal quill in a little ink well, he asked, ¡°Your name, please?¡± Richard said, ¡°ahh¡­ Richard¡­ Jaeger.¡± ¡°Age, please?¡± ¡°20.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see... physical description¡­ black eyes, black hair¡­ Weight¡­ hmm¡­.¡± The elf glanced up at Richard a couple times as he continued to jot down things describing Richard. Eventually, the elf asked, ¡°Any skills?¡± Richard felt a bit of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. Not wanting to hear ¡®average¡¯ thrown around, he blurted, ¡°Cleaning¡­. Ummm¡­ inventorying¡­ customer service¡­ ahhhh¡­ pest control¡­ ¡° Getting a bit desperate, he remembered his compass. It was still on his left wrist, probably left there since it looked kind of worthless. ¡°I ahhh¡­ might be able to find things as well¡­ like lost things.¡± The elf continued to methodically write until he finally picked up the sheet of paper and waved it in the air to let the ink dry. Then after glancing through it, he pulled out a large bound book of some kind. Flipping through the book, the elf seemed like he was comparing a few things with the sheet of paper, wincing at times. When he finally looked up, his face was back to its neutral expression. ¡°Well, Mr. Jaeger¡­ there¡¯s bad news and good news. Which would you prefer first?¡± Richard fidgeted a bit before sighing. ¡°The bad news, please.¡± ¡°Alright then. Your skills, though useful sounding, are in limited demand right now in Serenthal City and its surrounding environs. If you had something like ¡®Nature Affinity¡¯ or ¡®Clothier¡¯s Touch,¡¯ they would be in high demand at this time. As an adventurer, you might have been able to also find mercenary work as a body guard or caravan guard, but your unfamiliarity with everything and appearance seems to indicate you recently arrived in the World Labyrinth. I suggest you quickly fix your lack of knowledge and at least change your clothes. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee how safe you will be even inside Serenthal. Lastly, your lack of funds places you in a difficult position in regards to paying off you fine and surviving here. Also, your physical description will be forwarded to some of the guard posts in the country side, so you will not be able to leave the city¡¯s jurisdiction until you pay your fines. ¡° Richard gulped at the almost unsympathetic tone the elf was using. ¡°Soo¡­ what¡¯s the good news? The elf laid the paper down on the desk and replied, ¡°There are a few tasks that you may be able to complete for the Guards. It will not pay you anything, but it will at least give you a place to sleep and three meals a day for now. Though, if you don¡¯t make any progress with the tasks, the benefits won¡¯t be included. All in all, it¡¯ll at least give you some time to look around the city and figure out what you wish to do. I will be honest with you. The only reason I am even offering you this is because of the adventurer Martin. Otherwise, it may have just been simpler to auction you off as indentured servant.¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. When the Elf first started describing the good news, Richard had felt thankful for the kindness, but the last sentence completely disgusted him. The fact that the elf said it so nonchalantly, like it was no big deal, annoyed Richard, but he just smiled while keeping his anger in check. After the Elf paused expectantly, Richard said, ¡°It seems I have no choice. I¡­ ah¡­ will help with what you need.¡± ¡°Good¡­¡± Looking though his desk, the elf pulled out a stained piece of paper that looked out of place in the clean office. ¡°Take this to my assistant. He should be at the table to the left right outside my door. He¡¯ll get you sorted out. Good luck.¡± At the curt dismissal, Richard nodded and collected the piece of paper before turning to leave. His nose twitched a bit as smelled a faint, stale odor coming from the piece of paper. It reminded him of the prison cell, but he didn¡¯t give it much thought at the time. A short while later, he wished he had. Standing in front of what looked like the stables, he stared at the rows of horse stalls and something that looked like a very tall diving board. The secretary, a bland, expressionless man had guided Richard to the stable entrance and walked off holding his nose after telling Richard to find the stable master, some man named Haroken. Based on the description the assistant fellow had provided, the stable master was an old man with an attitude. Richard had no clue where to start looking, so he walked into the nearest wooden building. There were more than a few horses standing in their stalls, and a few of them stuck their heads out, whickering as they caught sight of Richard. He gingerly touched one of them on the head, letting it butt up against his hand. From looking at what was written on the paper, he knew he would helping out at the stables, and though it wasn¡¯t a dream job, it was at least better than starving on the streets or in the wilds. ¡°You there! Geh away from the horse!¡± The loud shouting made Richard jump a bit, and he quickly turned to see an old, man purposefully walking towards him. The grey haired man was well built, with a slight paunch, and his craggy face was stuck in scowl, which made his graying moustache stand out even more. ¡°What do ya thing yer doing boy? Messing with the gentle creatures wih your useless hands.¡± Richard didn¡¯t know if he was being yelled at or questioned, but he knew one thing for sure: he had found Haroken. ¡°Ah¡­ I was sent to find you, sir.¡± Holding out the stained paper tentatively, Richard was hesitant to say anything more. The old man scowled some more and snatched the paper before quickly glancing at it. The scowl faded a bit, but an annoyed expression still remained on the man¡¯s face. ¡°So Finovin finally found a poor sap to send over. But you don¡¯t look like no drunk or beggar. Clothes are a bit dirty, but they look to be good quality. So, speak up boy. Who are ya, and why did Finovin figure it¡¯ll be a good thing to saddle me with ya?¡± Richard sighed and quickly recapped his story, just sticking to the basics, including the small fact he was penniless and had a fine hanging over his head. The stable master laughed roughly and said, ¡°So, that¡¯s why that miserly elf sent ya here. Hah! Usually, I get the damn drunks and hobos, who the guard bring in for sleepin on the streets. Of course, most of ¡®em either pay up fer their fines or get sold off as labor en the mines or the fields. The fact that yer not dead or being packed away means you got lucky with that damn elf. ¡° Richard winced at the brutal honesty spilling out from the stable master. ¡°So, I¡¯ll be helping with the horses?¡± ¡°HAHAHAH¡­ GAHAHAHAHA! Helpin with the horses, he says! HAHAHAAHAH!¡± The stable master hunched over, laughing like a madman for a while. Eventually, he caught his breath and began walking while waving at Richard to follow. ¡°Thas¡¯ got to be the funniest thing I¡¯ve heard in a while. Letten a brainless fool touch one of my beauties¡­ I¡¯m not an idiot to be doin that.¡± A minute later, Richard found himself standing in front of a couple piles¡­ no mountains would be the best word. Dozens if not hundreds of flies were buzzing around and relaxing on the twin peaks, even as foul smelling steam wafted up from them. Richard tried not to gag, but it was kind of difficult, considering the fact that he was looking at the two largest piles of shit he had ever seen in his life. The stable master grinned evilly and asked, ¡°So, would ya be wantin yer lunch now¡­ or a bit later?¡± Chapter 11: Shovel of Cleansing For those of you reading this chapter, I encourage you to not be eating while you read... LOL ________________________________________________________________________________________ ¡°Ugghhh¡­.¡± Richard hurt all over. He had muscle cramps and aches in places he didn¡¯t even know existed in his body. To say his arms and legs felt like jelly wasn¡¯t an understatement either. The worst part¡­ well¡­ the worst part was that this was the fourth damn day he felt like this. As he trudged towards the far back of the yard, where the manure piles were located, he couldn¡¯t help but think about the almost mind numbing, tedious, and¡­ back breaking hours he had spent shoveling shit. At first, he had dry heaved a few times before he had been able to handle the smell from the animal shit. Of course, the job had been easy to understand: shovel shit, toss shit into wagon, and repeat. Pretty simple right? Wrong! Dead, f#$%@#g wrong! Other that his body hurting like some psychotic masseuse had experimented on him, he had literally smelled like shit every, god forsaken day. The first day, when he had stumbled into the stable¡¯s outdoor, chow line, he had been given very nasty looks and had been advised to stay the hell away. Thankfully, he had still been delivered some food¡­ or at least something that looked like food by a stable boy, who had held his nose the entire time. By the end of the day, Richard had been too tired to care and had literally collapsed in the horse stall that he had been provided as his sleeping quarters. When he had woken up, the stable master had finally told him that there were bathing facilities in the guard complex. That led to an embarrassing walk through the rest of the guard facilities and a very annoying argument with the pinch-faced man, who managed the baths. However, when Richard finally managed to secure access to the facilities, he was told to show up after everyone else had finished up to avoid stinking up the place. Thankfully, there wasn¡¯t a shortage of water since there was supposedly an aqueduct running through the city. He knew the city existed and that he could technically go look any time he wanted. However, the threat of losing his free meals and sleeping place kind of limited his choices. So, he mostly took a few peeks at the city and asked the stable hands a lot of questions, learning a lot about the city in the process: like where to go for work, where to go to learn about the World Labyrinth, and where the best deals were for food and other necessities. However, being penniless kind of made everything seem hopeless. Still, he figured he could go explore at the end of today, at least to get a lay of the land so to say. One good thing had occurred though. After his first disastrous day, the stable master had actually taken pity on him and given him two old sets of patched up clothing. The linen tunic and wool pants were a big baggy on him, but it was better than wearing his only set of decent clothes. It had taken a dozen or more washes to actually get the smell of shit out of his slacks and collared t-shirt. As for his boxers¡­ some things shouldn¡¯t be asked. So, scratching himself, no doubt because of the lice he had picked up somewhere, he made his way to the manure piles behind the dilapidated buildings at the far back corner of the yard. Supposedly, the elf... Captain Finovin had been saving up all the shit, wanting to sell it to some farmers from the countryside. However, the deal had fallen through, and the mounds of manure couldn¡¯t be left there anymore, stinking up the place. Of course, no one really wanted to deal with it¡­ hence, Richard¡¯s first job in the new world. Sighing, Richard stared at the remaining pile. It was the larger of the two, with the other one having already been cleared away by him. Richard was frustrated. He felt like he was getting nowhere. If this was his new life, he wondered if he should have just chosen to completely die back in that large white space. Then again¡­ dying like that was shitty too¡­ killed by some random druggie who probably wanted some cash for a quick fix. Looking at this blistered hands, he decided he at least had a second chance to exist and decided he would make the best of it, even if took him years to figure things out. Shaking his head to clear out the melancholy thoughts, he focused on the large pile of manure that was literally twice his height. ¡°Where to start... hmm¡­.¡± He was afraid to start near the bottom somewhere, not wanting the damn thing to collapse on him. However¡­ the pile looked a little weird today. Richard had a decent eye for remembering how things generally looked or were arranged, so he could easily keep track of items when worked in the convenience store back on earth. The pile of manure¡­ looked like it had changed its shape a little bit¡­ like it was a lot more moundish than before. It was weird to say the least... of course, over the course of the last few days, he had felt a weird vibe from this pile as well, hence why he had avoided it to start off with. More than the stink, it had felt a bit¡­ intimidating, like it was waiting to swallow him whole. ¡°I¡¯m just over thinking things¡­ sheesh.¡± Muttering, Richard pushed his crude wheelbarrow over to the large pile and chose a safe spot to wield his shovel at. ¡°Heh! My mighty blade¡­ the Shovel of Cleansing¡­¡­¡­ or maybe that¡¯s a bit corny.¡± Picking a spot, he planted the shovel into the manure, using his right foot to push it in all the way. Rummble¡­Rummmmble.. Suddenly, the manure pile slightly shifted, and Richard quickly stepped back, a little worried and confused. ¡°What¡­..¡± For a few seconds, he watched the pile, but nothing else happened. ¡°Huh¡­ maybe I¡¯m just worrying for nothing¡­¡± Returning to the shovel, he pulled it out, lifting a scoop of manure out. RUMMMMBBLE¡­. RUMMMBELLE¡­. RUMMBLLEEELELE¡­.. This time the rumbling didn¡¯t stop, and Richard backed away holding the shovel tightly in his hand. He watched with wide eyes as the pile of manure shook constantly, sending clods of shit tumbling away from it. It didn¡¯t fall apart though¡­ instead, it looked like it was shedding its outer layer or something. Then¡­ it moved! Richard¡¯s jaw dropped open in shock as the pile of shit began morphing into some kind of huge blob. Dozens of pustule like growths formed on its sides, growing in size until medium sized tentacles formed. The center of the blob caved inwards, forming a cavernous space, like a mouth or something. All the while, the mound¡­ the blob convulsed and spasmed with ripples running all over it. No doubt, the thing was still changing¡­. But Richard was not about to just watch. He already knew that standing and gawking was the worst thing he could do¡­ so¡­ he turned around and tried to run! You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. GUURGGHGAHAGGGLAAA! From behind Richard, the Shit Monster suddenly let out a deep booming gurgle, sounding like someone had just exploded from farting too loud. Richard began to sprint, his spidy senses telling him something bad was about to happen, but¡­ suddenly, he couldn¡¯t breathe right. No¡­ that wasn¡¯t true. He was breathing, but¡­. It stunk bad enough to make his eyes water and to make him feel like his lungs were burning. The worst part was that he felt like he couldn¡¯t get enough oxygen into his body. His eyes began swimming, and the world around him wavered. For a second, he thought about just lying down and sleeping, but suddenly, his adrenaline spiked, as his instincts told him to move! Forcing his rubbery legs to jump, he threw himself forward as far as he could go. It wasn¡¯t that far of a distance, but the moment he landed on his knees, he could finally breathe. Gasping and his chest hurting, he turned around, wondering what had just happened. The Shit Monster was still there, convulsing and morphing, as parts bubbled up, twisted back in, or fell off it. It was a horrifying yet disgusting spectacle. But more terrifying were the two thick tentacles forming out of either side of its body almost like some kind of chunky arms¡­ Richard knew he was in trouble. Getting to his feet, he began to hobble as fast as he could go, screaming, ¡°HELLLLLLPP!!! HELLLLPPP!¡± All of sudden, he couldn¡¯t move well. Looking down at his feet, Richard found himself sinking into the dirt ground, only¡­ it wasn¡¯t dirt anymore. The ground looked like some kind of mud puddle that was slowly sucking him in. It had only been a few seconds, but he was already down to his knees. Twisting around, he had just enough time to yell ¡°FUCK!¡± before one of the Shit Monster¡¯s ultra tentacles grabbed him by the legs. Flailing around, he was pulled face down into the muddy ground without mercy. He freaked at that point, scared that he was going to drown¡­ but to his surprise, the ground suddenly hardened again, causing his body to burn from being rubbed raw. He was dragged backwards, even as he tried to get a grab onto the ground or anything that could slow him down. The only thing he was able to grasp was the shovel, which was lying where he had dropped it earlier. Even as he tried to flip his body over, he was yanked into the air, leaving him hanging upside down. The only good thing was that he could finally see the Shit Monster, even if it was from disgustingly up close. The monster still had parts falling off it and reforming in it. However, what scared Richard the most was the crater like opening forming in the Shit Monster. He stared at the deepening orifice in horrified fascination, unable to look away. He felt frozen in fear, his body trembling and unable to do anything. Richard hated this. He remembered his earlier thoughts about dying in a shitty way, but actually being killed by ¡®shit¡¯ was something beyond the range of bizarre. More than that, he couldn¡¯t let it happen! The thought of ending up in front of God or even that white world and its interviewer and telling them he had been eaten by a Shit Monster was¡­ was¡­ was¡­ ¡°NO F$@%&#G WAY AM I DOIN¡¯ THAT! ORRAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!¡± When the monster finally began plunging him down into its ¡®mouth,¡¯ Richard finally broke out of his brain freeze and began swinging his shovel around like a madman. He wasn¡¯t doing any damage, but in his head, the only thing he could think of was someone like the stupid, dumbass interviewer laughing and saying at least his death hadn¡¯t been ¡®average.¡¯ ¡°ORYAAAAAAAA!¡± In his heightened state of wanting to survive, his eyes finally caught sight of something he could hit other than shit. It was brightly glowing bubble of some kind, and it was poking out just a bit at the deepest part of the Shit Monster¡¯s mouth. His frenzied brain had enough sense to realize there was something ¡®special¡¯ about the bubble thing, and when the Shit Monster finally dropped him, he instinctively aimed his shovel at the exposed part of the bubble. He fell like an arrow, plunging rapidly, even as the monster¡¯s mouth closed around him. CREAEKKK! His frantic brain had enough time to be shocked as his shovel ripped into the bubble, freezing the shit that was engulfing everything but the top part of his body. The sudden reprieve snapped him out of his frenzied state, and he finally came back to his senses. Looking around, he realized was literally and figuratively in ¡®deep shit.¡¯ In front on him, there was just enough open space for his head, arms, and the shovel, which was gently vibrating in his arms along with the gel like bubble it was stuck in. The layer of shit surrounding the head sized bubble cleared up just enough for Richard to finally make out two fist size stones in it. The stones looked like they had been in the process of merging but were now stuck in a figure eight shape. The reason was of course his shovel. Its tip was embedded right where the two stones were touching, but he realized the shovel was slowly being pushed back up. Also, the shit engulfing him began to slightly move. His brain put two and two together, and Richard put every ounce of strength he had left into his arms as he pushed the shovel down, screaming, ¡°ARRRRHRHRHHHAAAAA!!¡± CRUMMMPPPP!!! A sudden blast of air threw him backwards through the shit filled air, and his eyes were able to focus just enough to see large clumps of dark, brown excrement flying everywhere before he collided with the ground. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! ¡°Ughhhhh¡­.¡± All Richard could see was the sky. It was so blue¡­ he felt he could stare at it forever. However, he knew he couldn¡¯t risk it, not when he was at risk of being eaten by a Shit Monster. Pushing his boy up using his elbows, he sat up gasping in pain. His entire body felt like it had been used as a punching bag. When he finally looked ahead, all he saw was a mound of shit¡­ with a small crater in it. It wasn¡¯t moving or growing tentacles or growling. It was just a normal pile of manure, acting the way it should. ¡°What the f$@%k just happened?¡± Somehow, his question seemed inadequate. That¡¯s when he also noticed the five little icons on the left side of his vision. He was familiar with one of them: the timer thing for his solitary skill. But the other four were new¡­ Each was a blue colored plus sign, and¡­ they were flashing. Chapter 12: Lucky Break Richard was still in a daze when he heard footsteps behind him, but he automatically turned around, mostly reacting to the noise. It was the stable master. However, instead of looking worried or angry, the man seemed almost cheerful. ¡°Ah¡­ good to see you survived then, lad. But a bit of mess on you there.¡± Richard went from being slack faced to pissed in a few seconds. Again, he wasn¡¯t a genius, but he was becoming a lot more perceptive about people trying to screw him over. ¡°What the f$#K do you mean by that?!¡± ¡°Well¡­ Umm¡­ forget I said any..¡± The stable master suddenly backed off with a sheepish look on his face. ¡°Oh, hell no! You knew about that¡­ that ¡­ that whatever it was didn¡¯t you!? Richard was on his feet and was walking towards the stable master with balled fists. The stable master held up his arms, motioning for Richard to calm down. ¡°Now, now¡­ No need to be hasty. You seem to be fine¡­ you know¡­ other than some slight issues¡­¡± Of course, he said that while looking at Richard, who was coated from head to toe in brown¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t f#$k with me. You¡¯re acting like you knew about that thing! You set me up!¡± Richard¡¯s anger was so bad that he was ignoring how disgusting he felt. The stable master took another step back covering his own nose. ¡°Well¡­ that¡¯s a bit harsh way of putting it. Knew¡­ is a bit off. It¡¯s more like there was a possibility.¡± Richard ground his teeth and growled, ¡°Explain..¡± And the stable master did explain. The gist of it was the Shit Monster had been an experiment by some guard members called ¡°Elementalists¡± in creating a ¡°Delayed Reaction Elemental¡± using ¡° whatever that was. Of course, the experiment had been abandoned a month ago, when nothing formed. So, the stable master had put in a request for someone else to clean the mess up, not wanting to risk one of his own people¡­ just in case something went wrong . Of course, that was where Richard came in¡­ and¡­ well, the rest was history. ¡°I didna think the damn thing would actually form¡­ The Elementalists will be happy to hear it finally worked¡­¡± ¡°Worked my ass!¡± Richard was still pretty wound up, but looking at the still pleased looking stable master, he realized his anger was like a fly buzzing past the man¡¯s ears. The fly might be a bit annoying, but it was nothing to worry about. Sighing, Richard gave up, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. ¡°F$#K this! A horse stall and crappy food isn¡¯t worth this!¡± The stable manager nodded, ¡° Well, you¡¯ve done enough anyway... I¡¯ll tell Finovin that you¡­ dealt with the elemental. If that thing had gone berserk for a while, we¡¯d be down a couple buildings and the gods only know how many horses. I don¡¯t how what kind of reward he¡¯ll give you, but it may help with clearing some of your debt. Anyway, get your shovel and got get yourself cleaned up. I¡¯ll get one of the other stable hands to finish cleaning this place up.¡± With that, the stable master left, whistling a happy tune. Richard stood where he was, fuming for a while, before stomping through messy yard towards where he saw his shovel was lying. At first, he just thought the shovel blade was just covered in clumps of manure, but a closer look revealed two, bright bluish crystals embedded in the manure. He remembered the two fist sized crystals, of course, from inside the monster¡­ elemental. Richard lifted them up, one each hand and curiously looked at them. They weighed about the same as a baseball, surprisingly light for their size, but more importantly, they felt warm in his hands, like they had an inner fire in them. Suddenly, he heard talking behind him, and almost impulsively, Richard pulled up his inventory screen with a thought and shoved the two crystals into it. Turning around quickly, he put a blank expression on his face. Thankfully, the only people approaching were staring at the pile of manure instead of Richard, who stood far off to the side. He slipped away as quietly as he could and made a beeline to the baths, taking the most out of the way path available. A couple hours and a few arguments later, he was sitting in a large, bucket shaped wooden tub, soaking, in lukewarm water. His ¡°personal bath¡± was in an underused corner of the stone building, and his closest neighbors were spiders and their meals. Still, it was an okay place, since there was a direct pipe feeding water to the room. Staring at the ceiling, Richard finally had some time to think. Number 1: He was most likely going to be homeless come the night. Number 2: The only things he owned were his three pairs of clothes and whatever was in his inventory. Number 3: He needed a real job. Number 4: It was finally time to looking into the flashing plus signs.. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.The flashing signs were still there of course, and Richard had a decent idea what they were for. ¡°All right¡­ let¡¯s see what we have.¡± His attention focusing all four symbols, he sent out a mental command to select them. Almost immediately multiple screens popped up one after another
Under the Eyes of the Gods of Luck The Gods of Luck have watched your struggles from the moment you entered the World Labyrinth. You have amused them by surviving each and every time you have faced an enemy beyond your abilities, not by strength, not by determination, but by blind, sheer luck at the very last moment. The Gods of Luck, though a capricious lot, have decided that you deserve a bit of a helping hand so you can survive and amuse them with your unexpected battles. Obtained Active Skill Critical Luck Active Skill: Critical Luck A skill that allows the wielder a single, random opportunity to turn the tables in a desperate situation. Of course, the Gods of Luck will not provide such a skill without conditions: Condition 1: This skill cannot be leveled. Condition 2: This skill can only be used once every 720 hours Condition 3: The more amusing the situation, the more powerful effect the skill will have. Condition 4: The more desperate the situation, the more powerful effect the skill will have. Condition 5: The Gods of Luck prefer the underdog, so be sure you are one. Or else¡­
Passive Skill: Mimic Skill has been Enhanced +5 % Chance of Success when Copying Skills of Elementals
Sub-skill Quagmire Successfully Copied Passive Skill Elemental Earth Forcefully Unlocked due to Sub-Skill Quagmire Passive Skill: Elemental Earth Allows wielder to gain affinity for earth based magic and is the core requirement to gaining and using earth based sub-skills. Active Sub-Skill: Quagmire Allows wielder to create a mud based trap that slows movement for a period of time. Level 1: Circular Trap is Eight Feet in Diameter. Duration of Trap is 10 Seconds Skill Cool Down Time: 60 seconds
Theft of Elemental Skill By striking at the forming core of the Earth Elemental at the right place and right time, you have successfully stolen a ¡®Rare¡¯ sub-skill of the Earth Elemental, Toxic Blob. Sub-skill Biogas Stolen Passive Skill Toxic Domination Forcefully Unlocked Passive Skill: Toxic Domination Provides the wielder with affinity in all magic relating to biological and chemical hazards and is the core requirement to unlock all Toxic Domination sub-skills. Active Sub-skill: Biogas Creates a globe of toxic fumes produced by decomposing waste and provides the wielder with the ability incapacitate an enemy or prey without killing them. Level 1: Globe is 10 feet in diameter. Duration of the globe of toxic fumes is 10 seconds. Skill Cool Down Time: 120 seconds
¡°Jackpot!¡± Richard¡¯s eyes lit up in happiness. Not only did he get some actual skills he could use in a fight, he also got something that seemed kind of crazy. ¡°Gods of Luck¡­ Like more than one¡­ and Critical Luck¡­ ¡° That one skill seemed kind of weird, like it was something specially designed for him. Thinking back to the handful of crazy life and death instances since arriving in this place, he realized he had been very, very lucky to survive¡­ and like the description said, it had been blind, sheer luck. A part of him felt like he was the butt of someone¡¯s joke, but reading the skill¡¯s description and remembering how lucky he had been in killing the Shit¡­ no... the Toxic Blob, he realized maybe the luck skill was going to save his ass when he least expected it to. Chapter 13: End of the Beginning The cobbled street was full of people, some dressed finely in intricately designed cotton tunics, vests, blouses, skirts, and pants, while others were dressed in faded, homespun wools or linen. But they were all going about their business, entering, exiting, and browsing the stone and wooden buildings lining the street. Dozens of signs hung along the roadside with pictures of everything from vegetables to weapons. Though the contents varied, most of the buildings and their owners had one thing in common: they all had some kind of connection to the huge structure looming in the distance. To them, it was the Guard Fortress, the symbol and source of their livelihood. However, to Richard it was a prison he had finally gotten away from¡­ at least for a while. Dressed in his original clothes, he was relaxing near the Guard Fortress exit, leaning on a stone railing that lined the moat surrounding the fortress walls. To a passerby, it would have seemed like he was staring at the disgusting sludge floating by in the moat or even like was analyzing the fortress walls that stood across the moat. But, in reality, Richard was too busy to care about such mundane things. His eyes darted this way and that, looking like he was schizing out or something, but there was a reason for it. It was one of those things he had discovered while playing around with his new skills and trying to understand them. He could control the core interface by just using thoughts and using his eyes as pointers. If he had been looking at all the nice people passing by, he might have been treated as some crazy person. So, he took what he thought was a cool pose contemplating the intricacies of the crumbling fortress wall and the divine nature of the gloop in the moat. His mood, however, didn¡¯t match his cool pose. At first, he had been thrilled. He had gotten five different s skills all at once, including one which he had a suspicion was a ¡®Unique¡¯ or ¡®Legendary¡¯ skill. It was even more amazing since his ¡®Mimic Skill¡¯ had succeeded even at such a low level. At least, that¡¯s what he thought until he tried to figure out how to equip the skills. The first thing he learned was that he only had four skill slots available, and to make things worse, the help guide didn¡¯t explain how to gain more skill slots. The second thing he found out was that the Critical Luck skill couldn¡¯t be unequipped. When he tried, he just kept getting a message that said, ¡°Option not available.¡± To make matters worse, the skill suddenly seemed a whole lot subjective. What did the Gods consider amusing? What did they consider desperate? His own experiences with all the crazy monsters had definitely been desperate in his opinion, but as for funny¡­ Richard didn¡¯t see what was amusing about the hell he had been through. Not everyone shared his opinion of course. By the afternoon, the stable hands and some of the guards had started snickering when he walked by with the words ¡®Shit Slayer¡¯ being whispered. He had felt pissed off initially, but gradually the anger had turned to a dull frustration. He came to the realization that one little slip up at any time in the last four days, and he would have died a half a dozen times already. And the Gods of Luck considered that to be funny? That¡¯s when he realized something: as amazing as the skill sounded, to use it, he was going to have to put himself in some crazy, dangerous situations. Thinking about it gave him a headache. Even with all that, he had held out hope for his four, new skills. However, even those ended confusing and disappointing him. He was able to equip the Skills Elemental Earth and Toxic Domination in the available slots, but in reality, he was forced to equip the sub-skills as the actual skills he could use. It was like Elemental Earth was a chosen category, and the sub-skill was the actual item in that category that you picked to use. So, in the end, he ended up with two actual skills, two categories, and one very fishy skill/curse. At least that¡¯s how he thought of them. That disappointment had been appeased just a bit by the elf captain¡¯s reward. Richard¡¯s debt had been reduced by a third. Of course, he was also told that he would have to vacate his stall the next day and to make sure to clean up after himself before leaving¡­ As annoying as that last part sounded, Richard had realized he had been premature in telling the stable master he was going to quit just like that. Thankfully, the stable master had invited him to a night out in the city to celebrate his victory and to put him in touch with someone particular¡­ To say Richard wasn¡¯t suspicious would be downright stupid, but he had agreed to the suggestion, mainly since he didn¡¯t have any plans other than wandering around the city, gawking. ¡°Hey, hero of the shovel¡­ wake up!¡± The loud, gruff voice put a spike in Richard¡¯s contemplation, and he turned to the side to find the gray haired stable master walking down the cobbled street with a cheery expression on his craggy face. It didn¡¯t help that the man¡¯s black eyes¡¯ were positively twinkling. ¡°Who¡¯re you calling hero, old man? And don¡¯t be talkin¡¯ about things that shouldn¡¯t be mentioned!¡± So far, no one out here had called him any weird names, but Richard knew it was just a matter of time until rumors spread. However, he didn¡¯t really care as long as people didn¡¯t match his face to his name or the nicknames that were spreading around. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°So¡­ you ready to see Serenthal?¡± The stable master didn¡¯t even pause as he walk by Richard, who was forced to play catch up. ¡°That depends on where you¡¯re taking me. The last time I followed you, I ended up almost dying pitifully. If you have any more of those kind of surprises, I¡¯ll take my chances alone in the city.¡± Richard knew he shouldn¡¯t be so rude, but then again, the aging stable master seemed to have more than one sneaky bone in his body. ¡°No lad¡­ Not trying to mess around with you. Just trying to be helpful. Captain Finovin¡¯s a bit of a prig when it comes to properly rewardin¡¯ those that deserve it. Me¡­ well, you took care of one of my problems, so it leaves me grateful. You won¡¯t be regetin¡¯ my gratitude either. Any way¡­ this here is the Guard market district. It¡¯s got all the major merchants, who deal with the Guards¡­.¡± Richard listened closely as the stable master explained the intricacies of the City of Serenthal. The city itself was split into dozens of districts, including residential, markets, craft guilds, the guard fortress, and the slums. Though there were class distinctions within the city, it seemed like there was decent social mobility, so there wasn¡¯t any restriction on who could enter where and whatnot. That didn¡¯t mean that there weren¡¯t private security forces or dangerous organizations, many of which had deep connections to the city¡¯s council and liked to lord it over others. Unfortunately, even though the Guard was neutral and well trained, they were also relatively powerless when it came to matters within the city, especially when it dealt with the council. It had something to do with the oath they took as Guardsmen. The result was heavy corruption and a merchant¡¯s dream, where everything but slavery was legal. Of course, indentured servitude kind of made up for that. The stable master spat in disgust as he mentioned what he thought was the greatest evil in the city: the Indentured Servitude Ordinance, which was passed a dozen years ago with heavy support form a large part of the city council, many of whom owned large tracts of land worked by ¡®indentured servants.¡¯ Stable Master Haroken had a sober face as he explained how it changed the city. ¡°Many of the penniless vanished off the streets in the first few weeks¡­ They explained it as making sure those people contributed to the wellbeing of the city. Of course, then the taxes went up, slowly but steadily. Most of the individual crafters and minor merchants were forced out of business as the larger ones consumed them like razor fish shredding a piece of meat in the water. So, the number of poor got larger and larger, and more of ¡®em became indentured servants. Of course, the city would have gone belly up if it wasn¡¯t for the wars to the west. The small kingdoms there are busy tearing each other apart, so we get a steady flow of more bodies to fill in all that we lose. Also, we keep gettin¡¯ a steady flow of adventurers and mercenaries, who like using the city to winter in or to spend their loot in. It¡¯s like a vicious cycle.¡± Avoiding what looked like a bunch of men carrying a palanquin with some fat, florid looking fellow, Richard asked ¡°Seems like you aren¡¯t too happy with it.¡± The stable master stopped and turned around to look at Richard with a glare. ¡°Not too happy? Aye, that¡¯s one way of puttin¡¯ it. But, lad, understand this: this city is my home. Seeing it turned into a abomination makes my blood boil. If I wasn¡¯t a Guardsman and beholden to the oaths I swore, I promise you that I would ¡®ave made some of those council bastards pay.¡± Almost quivering in rage, the stable master turned around and marched through the cobbled streets without saying much more. Richard¡­ well, he understood that anger. He had felt it more than once too, back on earth¡­ Watching the drug dealers and gangs running roughshod over decent people, while the damn city councilmen did shit to resolve issues. Instead, most of the councilmen kissed rich asses and took payoffs from the drug lords and gangs to keep things broken. Richard felt a spike of irritation rise in him, but after years of keeping his head down, he was well practiced in suppressing that feeling. Even so... Even so....he didn¡¯t like it. As he walked down the crowded streets, his eyes briefly met those an emaciated, raggedly dressed boy, maybe eight years old, who had a metal collar around his neck and was busy cleaning the entrance of a large building of some kind. It was just a brief moment in which two strangers, who would never see each other again, shared an unspoken connection that touched their souls. The boy¡¯s eyes momentarily gained a sparkle of curiosity as his gaze fell on the stranger¡¯s weird clothing, but a second later, the dull, dead eyes returned as the boy bent back down to scrub the stone steps leading to the store. Richard stood there for a moment, like a rock in the flowing tide of humanity, looking at the boy¡­ no child. ¡°Yep, I don¡¯t like it one bit.¡± Chapter 14.1: Meetings and Greetings So, I just have a few things to say before you read this chapter. Number One: Those of you who pointed out the two active skills should have been passive. You are right. After looking them over, I realized that making them passive skills made more sense in how I designed the skill system. I went back and edited the skill explanations in the chapter that had them. Number Two: The content of my story is definitely not like the hack and slash of various other series. The leveling system is secondary to the story in mine. I¡¯ve gotten more than a few posts indicating my MC isn¡¯t getting skills or gaining power quickly or that he¡¯s a wuss. I¡¯ll be blunt: He is a wuss, at least right now, but I don¡¯t plan on giving him anything freely¡­. He¡¯s going to earn what he gets¡­ even the skills he got from the ¡®Shit Monster,¡¯ he earned. Of course, he got lucky as hell in killing the damn thing but then again, that¡¯s going to be one of the main legs supporting my MC during his adventures: luck. I¡¯ll probably post an updated character attributes, skills, and inventory compilation a bit later to show you how he¡¯s progressed. As for having combat and action every posting¡­ it¡¯s not going to happen. There will be plenty of action, as in at least every couple chapters. It¡¯s VERY necessary in a fantasy type story, but unlike the various series on the Royal Road page, you won¡¯t see it every single chapter. Also, you won¡¯t see the MC overpowering his enemies... at least not yet. He needs to get stronger and put in the effort to get stronger. It¡¯s going to take time, and like some of the posts said, I¡¯ll have to create an interesting story during that time. If some of you have noticed, I¡¯ve been taking your advice and implementing them in my story. I¡¯ll admit there has been some pressure to create a story my audience will like, but more than that, I felt that you guys and gals were right in some places. So, feel free to give suggestions and even ideas. You might see them in the very next chapter or maybe a few chapters down the road. Lastly, for those of you who emphasized the creation of a purpose for this character: you¡¯re advice was appreciated. I¡¯m planning out the next dozen or so chapters with his purpose in mind. All I¡¯ll tell you for now is that he¡¯ll learn who he really is inside. I will continue to try and post every day, but I can¡¯t promise how everything will work out. Even so, thank you for reading this story so far and I hope to see your posts, whether they be critiques, praises, or you just saying hi... or Merame saying Thanks for the Chapter (smiley face) LOL _______________________________________________________________________________________ The sun was already setting by the time Haroken and Richard made their way to Haroken¡¯s meeting place. The stable master had eventually calmed down and finished giving Richard the ten cent tour of the city, which had been a lot more developed than what Richard had expected. There were magnificent stone mansions, beautifully maintained gardens, dozens of market streets, a burgeoning crafts industry, ancient statues, a reliable sewer and water system, and a sizable population of almost 50,000 strong. In fact, the streets remained crowded even near sunset, with street lamps being lit to drive the darkness away. Richard could imagine this city matching the splendor if not size of ancient Rome in its heyday on earth. However, like Rome¡­ there was something... almost broken about the city. There was an insidious infection spreading through the city, and it was obvious after a few hours. It was the collars¡­ everywhere Richard and Haroken went, there were collars. Women, children, elderly¡­ it didn¡¯t matter who¡­ the collars made no distinction. It took a while, but Richard realized that almost every twentieth person had a collar of some sort around their necks, with many wearing rags or clothes that were close to rags. These people seemed half starved and almost hopeless, with their eyes appearing dead to the world around them. Richard didn¡¯t need Haroken to tell him that these people were indentured servants, but to him, they seemed more like slaves than anything. If that wasn¡¯t enough, Haroken finally introduced Richard to the slums¡­ or at least the poorer districts of the city. Here, the buildings were mostly built of wood, with many looking worn down with age or badly neglected. The streets were covered in a layer of unidentifiable filth that made Richard glad about still having his tennis shoes. From what Haroken explained, many of these poorer districts had suffered from years of neglect and depredation. That became very obvious as Richard saw dozens of men loitering around, doing nothing but staring at streets. Many of them had pipes lit or were smoking something that looked like some primitive copy of cigars and cigarettes. However, the smoke curling around the blank faced people had a strong, almost lulling odor that Richard automatically reacted to. He kept his mouth and nose covered as much as possible as he recognized the signs and scent of some kind of narcotic. He also saw large numbers of armed men and women drinking and soliciting scantily clad men and women, who hawked their services from alleyways and open windows. Here and there, small confrontations broke out, mostly among the armed people, with no one intervening to stop the brutality that unfolded. Haroken deftly led Richard through this new world, but Richard didn¡¯t really need the stable master¡¯s help. He felt like he was walking through a bit more crowded version of his own home. Eventually, they reached their destination. ¡°This here¡¯s a fine establishment¡­ a good place to pick up some news about work and get some splendid swill to fill yer belly.¡± Smiling, the stable master led the way into the well lit, raucous sounding, two story building. Richard looked a bit dubiously at the ¡®fine establishment¡¯ and decided the place seemed like a ¡®place of vice and iniquity¡¯ from some random fantasy novel. He imagined the eye patched rogues, gap toothed drunks, and seedy eyed thieves he would meet inside and¡­ just sighed. ¡°Nah¡­ it can¡¯t be that clich¨¦d¡­¡± Thud! Crash¡­ Splat. Just as he was about to enter, a body¡­ at least it looked like a body¡­ came flying out the door and sprawled on the crud covered road in front of the tavern. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Richard stared at the filthy¡­ person for a bit before slowly opening the door to take a peek inside. It was¡­ about what he had expected. The crowded hall was filled with battered tables, flimsy chairs, harassed looking tavern maids, a smell as sour as unwashed underwear, what looked like¡­ a green furred monkey, and patrons as vile and horrifying as any he had imagined. Thankfully, the clich¨¦d scene of everyone turning around to balefully stare at the newcomer didn¡¯t happen. Richard quietly slipped in, while dodging a drunk, who was trying to get out the door but was too busy running into the tavern walls instead. Looking around for a bit, Richard spotted Haroken already at the far end of the hall and waving Richard over with an excited face. Squeezing through the crowded room was a bit of a pain and for some reason, some of the tavern maids kept rubbing up against him as he tried to pass them. Mind you, their low cut blouses didn¡¯t leave much to Richard¡¯s imagination, but Richard had to politely smile and turn down their advances. He was as healthy a male as any other guy, but the thick layer of makeup, prevalent sweaty smell, common pock marks, and generally gap toothed smiles of the hard faced women made him a bit put off. Eventually, he made it to the table that Haroken was standing next to, only to find it already occupied. Well¡­ there was a solitary person sitting at the small table seriously sipping at a mug that seemed to be filled with a yellowish liquid. The bald headed, old man had more wrinkles than a prune and was wearing what looked like spectacles that made his eyes seem as big as acorns through the lenses. Of course, those eyes were locked on the half empty mug which was gripped firmly in the old man¡¯s hands. Richard was suddenly reminded of a child staring at his or her first sippy cup, wondering what he or she was looking at. Haroken leaned over and spoke right next to Richard¡¯s ears to be heard over the noise in the tavern. ¡°This ¡®es Master Mulfow. He¡¯s a genius scholar with a large amount of knowledge about the World Labyrinth. More than that, he¡¯s got an interest in Adventurers who¡¯re brought to his world by the Gods, so you should be able to find some way to squeeze out what ya want to know if ya get lucky. He knows about ya. In fact, he asked to meet you when he found out that you were workin¡¯ in the stables. So... I¡¯ll leave you ta get to know him¡­ I got some other business to attend to.¡± Richard wanted to protest suddenly being abandoned, but then he noticed where¡­ who the stable master was staring at: a middle aged, slightly gray haired woman, who seemed somewhat more properly dressed compared to the tavern wenches and was standing at the tavern counter/bar busily scolding a couple of men while waving around what looked like a spatula of some kind. The stable master noticed Richard looking and slightly blushed¡­ ¡°I¡­ ah¡­ well, Marie an¡¯ me got a bit of a¡­ ummm¡­ date set up fer the night. I figured I can go¡­ ah¡­ well spend some time wih¡¯ her while ya talk to Mulfow there.¡± Richard smiled a bit slyly and said, ¡°Take your time¡­ I don¡¯t think finishing quickly would be a good thing.¡± The stable master loudly cleared his throat and blushed even more before quickly leaving. Richard watched him leave before turning back the senior citizen, who looked like he should have been in his rocking chair at home instead of a seedy place like this tavern. ¡°Umm¡­ Master Mulfow?¡± Richard tried to get the old man¡¯s attention, but nothing happened. ¡°Master Mulfow!¡± Not quite shouting, Richard leaned over the table to tap on the old man¡¯s shoulders. Jumping a bit in his seat, the old man suddenly looked a bit frazzled as he looked up at Richard and squinted while biting his lips. After a few seconds of staring at Richard with his huge looking eyes, the wizened old man slightly adjusted his spectacles and said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry sir, but I am not interested in your services. I do not need anyone killed, and as clean looking as you seem¡­ I don¡¯t lean towards men¡­¡± Richard was shocked for a second. A couple dozen thoughts and scenarios ran through his head. He wondered if the stable master tried to stick him in some crazy situation again, but quickly getting a grip on his thoughts, he said, ¡°Huh?¡± a bit loudly. The old man shrunk a bit in his chair and whispered loud enough to hear, ¡°Oh¡­ look what you¡¯ve done now Mulfow. You¡¯ve made the ruffian angry. We must apologize before something bad happens. Yes, yes.¡± Looking up at Richard, the old man said a bit more loudly, ¡°I apologize young sir if I¡¯ve offended you. How do say¡­ ah yes¡­ ¡®knife work¡¯ requires some decent skills I believe. So, you need not think it is a worthless profession... and if you incline towards the male persuasion for your amorous needs, well¡­ there¡¯s a creature in the Bartous Mountains that does so as well, and it¡¯s considered one of the most ferocious monsters in our world. So, you see how you need not be offended by your¡­ um¡­ inclinations.¡± Richard stared at the old man, wondering what just happened before he finally said, ¡°Umm¡­ I¡¯m neither of those¡­ ah¡­ categories I guess. Master Haroken brought me here to meet you. He said something about you being able to tell me things about the World Labyrinth and that you¡¯re interested in Adventurers or something. Umm¡­ I hope that¡¯s right¡­¡± The old man¡¯s worried frown suddenly changed to a bright smile, and he stood up a bit more quickly than Richard thought he would have been able to. Shuffling around the table, the old man grabbed Richard¡¯s right hand with both of his slightly trembling hands and began pumping it vigorously. ¡°Oh¡­ Forgive me. Yes, yes¡­ I was waiting for you to show, young sir. Mind you, I was worried you might be some kind of wicked looking villain based on Haroken wanting to arrange the meeting here. But seeing you, I¡¯m glad that you¡¯re just an average looking ruffian.¡± Richard¡¯s face, which up till now had been a bit relaxed, suddenly stiffened. ¡°Average¡­¡± Chapter 14.2: Meetings and Greetings Part 2 So, while standing in a seedy dive that fit the stereotypical mold of fantasy taverns and surrounded by murderous villains, who would probably slit his throat for a cooper coin, Richard tried to rationally figure out how the old man had come to the conclusion that Richard was an ¡®average ruffian.¡¯ What did that even mean? It was like Richard was supposed to be some petty crook, who stole the purses of little old grannies for a living or something. It¡­ it.... ¡°Excuse me, young sir¡­ Are you okay?¡± The old man¡¯s question jolted Richard out of his spaced out moment. Forcing a fake smile, Richard said, ¡°Ahem¡­ Ah yes¡­ and just to be clear. I¡¯m not a ruffian. If I seem a bit disheveled¡­ well, sleeping in a horse stable doesn¡¯t helping me get a good rest.¡± The old man¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. ¡°Indeed¡­ that would be an interesting topic to research. Sleeping surrounded by horses¡­ hmm¡­ they don¡¯t seem to be the most comforting animals¡­ all that whickering¡­ but I wonder if dogs or cats might be¡­¡± ¡°Um¡­ Sorry to interrupt you, but Master Haroken said we might have more important things to talk about.¡± Richard kind of felt bad cutting off the old man, but the fellow reminded Richard of one of those absent minded people, who stood at the convenience store counter taking a dozen minutes trying to figure out if they needed something else or how they should pay. Master Mulfow nodded and frowned a bit. ¡°Yes, we have much to discuss, but¡­ this place seems a bit too crowded and noisy. It may be best if we retreated to my residence. It will be a lot more comfortable and a bit more private that this¡­ um¡­ establishment.¡± Richard nodded, hoping to get to a safer place than the tavern. Looking around, he caught sight of Master Haroken still talking to the slightly chubby woman, who was leaning over the counter, making doe like eyes at him as he talked expressively about something. Turning back to the old man standing nearby, Richard said, I¡¯ll meet you at the door, sir. I need to go tell Master Haroken that I¡¯ll be going with you for now.¡± The old man nodded and said, ¡°Indeed, indeed. Though, if he wishes, he may come with us a well.¡± Nodding, Richard parted with the old man, saying, ¡°I doubt he¡¯ll want to, not with the way things look right now¡­¡± As he got closer to the counter, Richard finally started hearing what the stable master was saying. ¡°And¡­ monster¡­ dived into¡­ mouth. Not¡­ what¡­ but the next thing I see¡­ explosion.¡± Richard¡¯s eyes started twitching as he realized what the crazy man was talking about. Thankfully, the stable master¡¯s girlfriend didn¡¯t seem to be too interested in what the fellow was saying, but that wasn¡¯t true for the half a dozen or so drunks and tavern maids staring at him in rapt attention. ¡°Shit¡­¡± Richard walked up to Master Haroken and tapped him on his shoulders. The stable master turned around with a wide grin¡­ which quickly froze. ¡°Uhh¡­ Richard¡­ lad¡­ You¡¯re done so quickly? I was just telling some of Marie¡¯s associates here about you, my new friend¡­.¡± Richard kept his fake smile on and through clenched teeth, said, ¡°That¡¯s nice... But let¡¯s keep the story to a minimum shall we¡­?¡± When the stable master nervously nodded, Richard then said, ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll be going with Master Mulfow for a bit. He¡¯s invited me to his home to discuss things.¡± Master Haroken frowned a bit. ¡°Be a bit careful, lad. The Fuldow district is a bit rough¡­ and with it getting dark outside, it¡¯s only going to get worse.¡± Richard waved it off and made his way to the exit, where the old man was waiting patiently while staring at the drunk from earlier, who was still stumbling around like a fool. Master Haroken saw Richard approaching and said, ¡°This man is a curious specimen. He makes me wish that we could learn how much alcohol is within a person¡¯s body at any given time. We could easily determine at which point people lose their ability to think properly¡­ like this poor fellow.¡± Richard smiled a bit and wondered what the old man would say if he knew such methods existed back on earth and that it was actually a commonplace process. However, now was not the time to be thinking about something so random. Richard slightly shoved the drunk off to the side, allowing easy access to the door and the outside. A few minutes later, he and Master Mulfow were on their way through the darkening streets. Though there was enough light from nearby buildings and the last rays of sunlight to see by, it was pretty nerve wracking, since people were still out in the streets causing a ruckus. Interesting enough, Richard realized the old man didn¡¯t seem worried. In fact, the old fellow kept mumbling, talking about this or that as though the rough neighborhood was some experiment rather than reality. ¡°You b@$%h!¡± ¡°No, plezee!¡± ¡°Who do you think yer wantin¡¯ payment frem! I work fer Lord Masur!¡± Thunk! Splat! The noise and yelling was drawing a small crowd of people, who were watching the argument from a safe distance. Richard and Master Mulfow stopped next to the crowd, curious as to what was going on. For Richard, it only took a few seconds to figure things out. 1. A man and woman were involved. 2. The man was standing, and the woman was down on the ground being kicked by the man. 3. The woman was wearing what was most likely hooker wear for this world. It didn¡¯t look like she had anything on underneath her ripped, thin blouse and muddy skirt. 4. The man was very drunk and was wearing a black and red outfit that looked like a uniform of some kind. Of course, the uniform looked like it had been hastily thrown on. No one standing in the crowd did anything. They all watched the beating, and Richard¡­ well¡­ he realized he was one of them. There was a psychological term for it: the Bystander Effect. In a crowd, your sense of responsibility and motivation to act decreases, because the responsibility is spread out among everyone. It was easy to believe someone else would act, that someone else would do something... Richard wanted to believe that. More so, the woman was just a hooker¡­. Richard¡¯s eyes narrowed. Just a hooker? Where did¡­ How could¡­ Did he always think that way? Did he really think she was worth nothing? A hundred thoughts raced through his mind in a few seconds. What would happen if he acted? Who was the uniformed fellow? Was the hooker in the wrong? Was it worth it?.... And then, the snarling man began raising his foot near the woman¡¯s head, no doubt getting ready to stomp¡­ Everything changed in that one moment¡­ For once in his life, Richard acted. He automatically selected ¡®Biogas,¡¯ and a large globular area glowed in front of him. The glow, which only he could see, was the magic zone of activation for the skill, and he could freely move it around as he saw fit. It took a fraction of a second to set it so just the man¡¯s upper body occupied that globular space. Then, with another thought, Richard¡¯s skill activated. All of that happened in a little more than a second. The effect was almost immediate. The drunk¡¯s eyes suddenly bulged, and he stumbled, gasping and making weird fish like faces. Tripping over his own feet, he fell backwards, slamming into the ground hard. However, he wasn¡¯t knocked out completely due to the limited exposure to the toxic fumes. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. COUGH! COUGH! ¡°B@#$h!¡± COUGH! ¡°Whatchya¡­ uck.. do. heuehhuhh?¡± The man was flailing on the ground, holding his throat and face as though it was hurting him. The woman, who was sobbing, began crawling towards a nearby alley as she tried to get to her feet to run away. The small crowd began whispering and muttering. ¡°What jus¡¯ happened?¡± ¡°The man¡­ he¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°Do ya smell that¡­ et smells like the sewers on a bad day¡­:¡± Richard suddenly smelled the same stench, most likely from the toxic fume cloud dissipating into the air. However, the mess wasn¡¯t over yet. The uniformed man suddenly rolled over and began trying to get up, yelling, ¡°I¡¯ll kill ya, b@$%h!¡± Again the spike of anger hit Richard, and he finally lost all his patience. It took a second more to activate ¡®Quagmire¡¯ right under the man. Suddenly, the man began to thrash around as his body began to sink into the muddy, soupy ground. ¡°ARRGHGH¡­.. Damn! Magic User! Who es it! I¡¯ll kill ya, you basturd. Then, I¡¯ll finish the womun!¡± The man continued to scream even as he sank all the way down to his knees. Even though he was feeling a bit drained, Richard felt his fists clench in rage, and without thinking, he edged forward to push through the few people standing between him and the drunk fool. Richard had dealt with bastards like that all his life, and he had always swallowed his anger and frustration every time he had seen some screwy situation, being too afraid to get involved. Now, it was different¡­ He didn¡¯t really have anything to lose anymore. He had already faced death a half a dozen times, and more than anything, Richard could only think of the fact that a piece of shit like this man was responsible for killing him on earth. And here he was in a supposedly new world, and guess what? Assholes like that still existed. The only thought in Richard¡¯s mind was to make the drunk eat his own words. Suddenly, a bony hand grabbed his left arm in a vice like grip. ¡°Young fellow, you need to escort me home. My eyes are not what they used to be.¡± Surprised, Richard looked down at Master Mulfow, who was staring back with narrowed eyes. Richard¡¯s mouth suddenly ran dry as he realized what he had done and was trying to do. Worse yet, the old man somehow knew Richard had been the one to act. He began to stutter, ¡°But¡­ but¡­ the wom¡­¡± ¡°It seems like things have resolved themselves. Now come along¡­¡± With that, the old man slightly dragged Richard away from the crowd, which was getting restless as people tried to figure out what had happened. For a while, neither Richard nor Master Mulfow spoke, and Richard just trudged along, his brain finally catching up to his anger. He had acted impulsively when he saw the man about to stomp on the woman¡¯s head¡­Why?... Memories long buried came back¡­ Vague ones¡­ But they were there. A hazy one, where a woman was on the ground¡­ and a drunk stood over her, beating her even as she begged. Over the screaming and shouting, Richard remembered the desperate sound of a child crying¡­ It didn¡¯t take much to know the child had been him. With slightly trembling hands, Richard wiped the sweat off his face and took a deep breath. It had been years since he last thought about that memory¡­ years since he had sworn on paper as a teenager that he would become someone important to make sure something like that never happened to another child or mother. That essay he had written for his seventh grade teacher had gotten a A+, and even though his teacher had never praised him openly for it, he remembered getting a few important words of encouragement from the old harridan when he got his essay back. ¡°Strive for what you wish, Mr. Jaeger.¡± Richard didn¡¯t know what happened to him after that. Maybe, reality hit him, or maybe, he lost motivation along the way¡­ ¡°Mr. Jaeger¡­ yes¡­ I believe that is your name, is it not?¡± Master Mulfow¡¯s inquisitive voice broke Richard out of his thoughts. ¡°Ye¡­ yes.¡± ¡°Well, Mr. Jaeger. I am impressed¡­ You have access to Elemental Earth magic¡­ That¡¯s something relatively uncommon among folk here.¡± The old man seemed almost happy as he spoke. ¡°It is?¡± That confused Richard a bit, since he had been told Elemental Fire was a common skill by the interviewer/office geek. Elemental Earth seemed like a similar skill. But there were more important questions. ¡°How did you know¡­ that I was the one to stop that man?¡± The old man chuckled a bit and said, ¡°Yes¡­ a very successful use of your magic¡­ or skills as you outworlder adventurers call them. Though I don¡¯t know what you first did to that fellow to make him collapse, I was able to easily see your activation of your ¡®Quagmire.¡¯¡± Richard¡¯s hands trembled a bit. ¡°How?... I mean how did you see that?¡± Master Muflow deftly dodged a sow and her piglets that were crossing the street and said, ¡°Well¡­ because I have Elemental Earth magic as well, including ¡®Quagmire.¡¯ So, I am familiar with the effects. But more importantly, my Elemental Earth mastery is high enough that I can see the aura of earth magic being used.¡± Richard kept walking as he nudged away the sow, which seemed to stop to sniff at his shoes. ¡°You know Elemental Earth¡­ and wait¡­ the aura?¡± Master Muflow said, ¡°You know¡­ the glow that you see. Not only did I see the aura being set up under the drunk fellow, but¡­ I also saw the aura surrounding you, when you began to use the ¡®Quagmire¡¯ spell.¡± Richard felt a bit stunned, and he realized how screwed he was if someone else in the crowd had seen his aura or whatever. He had acted almost impulsively to save¡­ to save the woman. Though he didn¡¯t regret it¡­ the consequences now seemed a lot more looming. ¡°I would not worry about what happened back there if I were you.¡± Richard looked to his side at the old man, who was peering up at him with an unruffled expression. Richard choked out, ¡°Excuse me?¡± Master Mulfow said, ¡°Your face tells much, Mr. Jaeger. But, like I said, do not worry. The council enforcer won¡¯t be able to figure out who did that to him, and the crowd won¡¯t talk even if they knew who did it. This part of the city isn¡¯t¡­ well let¡¯s just say that they aren¡¯t very cooperative with the council. So, you do not have much to worry about. Mind you, I was intrigued by why you chose to help that poor woman even as worried as you are now about the consequences.¡± Richard didn¡¯t know how to respond to that. For one thing, he was a bit relieved that the old man didn¡¯t think there would be any problems. But for another¡­ what was his reason? A childish dream? His anger? A desire to help the woman?.... But there was something more than that¡­ he knew there was. Suddenly a quote from a movie popped up in his head. It was a quote that he had scorned so much, because it didn¡¯t look like anyone actually believed it even though the idea had existed for a long time. However, he knew that somewhere deep in himself, he still wished it was true. Almost whispering, Richard said, ¡°With great power, comes great responsibility.¡± Chapter 14.3: Meetings and Greetings Concluded Quick note before you read this chapter. I did a edit on chapter 6, where the MC meets Martin. The edit deals with the couple of sentences after the MC checks his stats/attributes screen (i.e. the one with the N''s). I changed a few things in what Martin realized about the MC or didn''t realize... Part of it was to make this chapter''s story flow better... Its hard to explain without you reading the chapter, so I encourage you to do so... and I promise you that you won''t be disappointed. _________________________________________________________________________________________ ¡°Oh ho¡­. You¡¯re a philosopher too, Mr. Jaeger? Amazing¡­ you outworlders have many facets to your knowledge. But¡­ ¡®With great power comes great responsibility¡¯ What a truly deep way of phrasing it. Indeed¡­ ¡± Master Mulfow¡¯s serious expression made Richard look away a little embarrassed. ¡°It¡¯s something that someone once said in my world that¡¯s stuck with me¡­ But¡­ Until I came here¡­ well, magic¡­ power was not something I had¡­ You need to have power before you can do anything¡­ Even now¡­ ¡± Richard muttered a bit, not really sure what he was trying to say. ¡°Hmm¡­ That¡¯s true for many of you outworlders. You all seem amazed at the World Labyrinth and the magic that is part of this world. You seek it out as though its power is valuable beyond anything else. However, most seem to forget¡­ there are many kinds, Mr. Jaeger¡­ The power of magic¡­ The power of wealth¡­ they exist, yes, but there are many that are not so evident¡­ The power to make a child smile¡­ the power to carry other¡¯s burdens¡­ or maybe even the power to act when no one else will¡­¡± The old man smiled slightly, making it seem like he was trying to encourage Richard. Richard pondered what the old man had said for a while, wondering if that was really true¡­ that power existed in various forms¡­ theoretically, it seemed true, but he didn¡¯t know how realistic it was. However, he didn¡¯t get too much time to think about things. Soon enough, the old man led Richard up to a two story, house, that sat behind locked gates in what seemed like a moderately prosperous neighborhood. The streets were cobbled and relatively clean, and most of the buildings seemed to be old yet in decent repair. It reminded Richard of a middle class suburb, what with the handful of women and men taking peaceful walks early in the evening, the many houses filled with brightly lit rooms, and the general silence that filled the area. After getting through the iron gates and the house¡¯s front door, Richard was a bit disoriented in the darkness inside the house. He could make out the old man moving around, doing something, but Richard didn¡¯t know what. Then, suddenly, the room lit up with a soothing, yellowish light. Richard blinked and focused on what the scholar was holding: a flashlight of some kind. At least, it looked like a flashlight, but Richard couldn¡¯t believe it was one, especially since he hadn¡¯t seen any type of electrical devices in the city so far. Master Mulfow saw Richard staring and said, ¡°Ah¡­ Curious little object isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s an enchanted object or ¡®artifact¡¯ that I bought from a merchant in the city. A bit expensive, but it can produce light using magic for an hour or so, before it has to refill its mana for a day.¡± Richard nodded, but he was curious about a couple of words the old man had used: artifact and mana. He knew they had something to do with magic, but as far as he knew, he hadn¡¯t seen anything like that in his core interface. Martin hadn¡¯t talked about it either. But Richard didn¡¯t want to bring it up all of a sudden, so he just stood where he was as he watched the old man putter around, moving this or that. Eventually, the old fellow hung up his leather cloak and lit a half dozen candles, spread about the living room in strategic positions, until the place was well lit. Taking a seat in a comfortable looking armchair in front of a writing desk, Master Mulfow adjusted his glasses again and motioned for Richard to take a seat nearby in what looked like cushioned, wooden couch. ¡°Well, then. Now that we¡¯re a bit more settled, I will introduce myself properly. My name is Arcmaes Mulfow. Master Haroken probably informed you that I am a scholar, and yes, that¡¯s true. However, my interests primarily lie towards understanding the underlying principles of the Labyrinth and on the side¡­ some bizarre things you could say. It¡¯s one of the reasons why I asked him to introduce you to me. He tells me that you came through the node, and from what I understand you were in a desert before then. Also, your status as an outworlder and life there intrigues me. In exchange for the knowledge you provide me, I will be more than happy to help you understand the World Labyrinth a little better, including giving you access to some of my notes and the books I have.¡± Richard took a seat on the couch and listened carefully to the old man before glancing around at the room¡­ which looked like some kind of professor¡¯s study. Books and papers were haphazardly piled everywhere, and the place had a musty smell of mold and age. He didn¡¯t know what he could or would learn, but it seemed like an opportunity he couldn¡¯t pass up. ¡°So¡­ when I first arrived¡­.¡± It took a bit of time, but Richard told man his story since arriving on this world. Interestingly enough, the old man scribbled away on a piece of paper throughout the little dialogue. When Richard concluded with his fight with the earth elemental, the old man said, ¡°Amazing¡­ You have only been in the labyrinth for maybe four to five days, and you¡¯ve seen creatures that most people here would never even hear about. A Desert Juggernaut and Sand Behemoth¡­ both at the same time¡­ You, Mr. Jaeger, are one lucky man to have survived those encounters. And meeting one of the Seven Blades of the Citadel¡­ amazing... just amazing.¡± Richard guessed the juggernaut and behemoth were those huge monsters he ran away from when he first arrived, but he couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Seven Blades of the¡­ Citadel?¡± The old man, who was furiously scribbling on the paper with his quill looked up in confusion. ¡°Yes¡­ the man you met in the desert. Your description of him matches what I have learned of one of the seven blades¡­. Oh¡­ I see¡­ you would not know what the Citadel is¡­ hmmm¡­ well, that makes sense, especially since you are so new to this world. I guess I should explain¡­¡± The explanation was filled with some history and a good amount of politics¡­ the usual good vs. bad¡­ crazy outworld adventurers and horrifying monsters needing someone to stand against them¡­ yadah¡­ yadah¡­ yadah¡­ some super strong adventurers formed the guild, Citadel to become unofficial law enforcers among dozens of worlds of the Labyrinth. Most of it seemed like the plot of some kind of fantasy novel, but as interested as Richard was in the whole story, there were a few main things he focused on: the Citadel had been in existence for almost 1000 years, the identity of the Seven Blades had not changed in almost 100 years, and each of the Seven Blades was supposedly capable of conquering entire kingdoms. That left him wondering what kind of crazy monster Martin was and a better understanding of why he had been nonchalantly wandering around a desert containing behemoths and juggernauts. Beside the whole Citadel and Martin thing, Richard let the old man ask the questions first. Time passed quickly as Richard gave out what replies he could, explaining whatever the old man wanted to know about earth and Richard¡¯s old life. There were many things the old scholar focused on: architecture, technology, finance, economy, weapons, etc¡­ the list went on and on. Truthfully, Richard felt like he was getting a bit overwhelmed by the man¡¯s curiosity, but looking at him scribbling away furiously, Richard was just a bit amazed and maybe even a bit excited himself, since someone valued what he knew. Even if it was just Richard¡¯s perspective on things, it seemed like the old scholar found it very important. However, soon enough, Richard felt tired, and even though he couldn¡¯t tell the time, he knew that it was very late, especially since most of the candles looked like they had shrunk quite a bit. ¡°Um¡­ Master Mulfow, I was wondering if could call it a night for now¡­ We¡¯ve been talking for quite some time¡­¡± The old man, who was flipping through his notes, paused and looked up blinking and a bit surprised. ¡°Oh¡­ yes, yes¡­ Dear me¡­ I lost track of all time¡­ It¡¯s the first time that I¡¯ve been able to interview one of you outworlders so intensively¡­ Yes, we should stop for tonight¡­ Maybe continue later.¡± With one last look at his notes, the old man glanced up at Richard again and said, ¡°As promised, Mr. Jaeger, you have access to what knowledge I have in equal exchange, but do you have any questions for me tonight?¡± Richard frowned a bit and said, ¡°Just a couple for now¡­ Earlier, you used the term magic a lot. I¡¯m familiar with the word, and I¡¯ve even seen it on my Stat screen. Since you¡¯re familiar with adventurers, you probably know what that means. However, I haven¡¯t seen the words mana or artifact anywhere. Also, how can a person so strong enough to conquer a country by himself. I don¡¯t understand how they could be that powerful. I know it has something to do with magic or ¡®skills¡¯ and the increase in our attributes, but it seems almost impossible.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. The old man nodded and scratched his bald head while lost in thought for a while. Richard waited patiently but knew the old man wasn¡¯t clueless about what was being asked. When Richard had talked about Martin¡¯s introductory explanation from the desert, the old scholar had ¡®tutted¡¯ and ¡®hmm¡¯d¡¯ the entire time, almost as though he knew something else. Finally, the old man spoke. ¡°Your friend Martin wasn¡¯t incorrect. Indeed, I believe he gave you what was a standard explanation for how an outworlder adventurer like yourself must perceive your abilities. There is a reason for this as well, and your friend mentioned it. Recently, there have been many outworlder adventurers arriving in the Labyrinth, who foolishly thought of this as some kind of bizarre game and quickly died by overestimating their abilities. To be clear, becoming stronger in the Labyrinth is as difficult as in the real world. However, you outworlder adventurers and the majority of the Labyrinth¡¯s people have access to what you call ¡®magic¡¯ and ¡®skills¡¯ to offset that weakness. However, even that is not completely accurate... All of us who reside in the Labyrinth have access to ¡®magic,¡¯ but few have the ability to manifest it in the form of specialized ¡®skills¡¯ like ¡®Elemental Earth¡¯ and the ability to improve our inherent abilities using that ¡®magic.¡¯¡± Richard frowned, realizing he was misunderstanding something. ¡°I¡¯m getting the feeling that the ¡®magic¡¯ you¡¯re talking about is a lot more than just spells and whatnot.¡± The old man nodded and said, ¡°The best place to start is by first understanding what you call your ¡®core interface.¡¯ That screen of yours, which no one else but you can see, is a relatively simple summary of the physical and magical status of your body. You mentioned you have experience gauges for all your attributes and skills and that Martin told you that filling those gauges is difficult the higher you progress in each of your attributes and skills. Well¡­ if you think about it, it¡¯s the same in real life. For example, let¡¯s say you are a normal warrior. You defeat a few others of your own level and maybe improve a bit, becoming stronger and more skilled. Then you defeat someone much stronger than yourself. There¡¯s a good chance that you¡¯ll learn more from the more skilled enemy than from the normal enemies. Your interface somehow changes that subjective, real life experience into a semi-numerical measure. Indeed, if your interface was truly accurate, it would provide specific numbers like telling you that you gained X amount of experience for killing such and such beast. Instead, at most it provides you with a percentage of change in your skills and attributes. My opinion is that your interface is more of a subjective overview of who you are and less of an accurate tool to measure your abilities.¡± Richard understood what the old scholar was saying. He, himself, had thought the attribute system was a bit unorthodox¡­ like it was designed by someone trying to forcefully fit some kind of structure to a world that was hard to understand and¡­ well¡­ magical. ¡°How does magic fit into all this?¡± The old scholar nodded and said, ¡°Good question. My answer is, how doesn¡¯t it? Like I told you, Mr. Jaeger, everything in this world has some magic or what is called mana. Every single living thing, from the minuscule creatures you cannot see with your bare eyes up to the large Behemoth in the desert. The difference is in the quantity of mana each living thing can produce. It¡¯s how you say ¡°in the blood¡± or in your scientific terms, part of your inherited genetics. In the same way that genetics may make one person physically stronger than another, it also gives some people an increased ability to produce magic or to produce mana in their bodies. For those of us born in this world, very few of us have significant levels of magic or mana and are able to use what you call magic spells or skills. However, you outworlder adventurers all start with a significantly larger amount of magic or mana in your bodies than most humans in this world. If I were to say how much using your attribute levels system, it would be level ¡®T¡¯ for most Labyrinth dwelling humans and ¡®Q¡¯ on average for newly arrived outworlders. And that greater magic level you outworlders have fuels your skills and helps you gain experience faster than most of the people in the Labyrinth. For example, your body may have the ability to improve nearly 10 times more than a Labyrinth dwellers body in the same amount of time if you train it.¡± Richard furiously thought about the explanation, and something crazy just clicked in his mind. This voice trembling a bit, he asked, ¡°Master Mulfow¡­ what is the highest magic level an outworlder has started with as far as you know? The old scholar scrunched up his face for a bit and replied, ¡°One of the Citadel¡¯s Seven Blades supposedly arrived in the World Labyrinth with a Magic Level of ¡®O¡¯ I believe, and he is considered one of the strongest human magic wielders alive as far as I know. I don¡¯t know what level he¡¯s at now, but his initial level definitely allowed him great power to start off with. Why do ask?¡± Richard¡¯s eyes widened in shock. His own ¡®average¡¯ magic level of ¡®N¡¯ was one level higher than what some uber adventurer from the Citadel started off with. Richard had a feeling that the interviewer guy from ''heaven'' screwed up big time.... like he made Richard average in comparison to all of the World Labyrinth''s inhabitants instead of just the humans or something. More importantly, Richard was amazed that Martin hadn¡¯t said anything about it in the desert. Then again, Richard didn¡¯t remember telling the warrior exact details of all his stats and skills either. Instead, he had just said some of the stats were ranked ''N.'' Still, ¡°What the hell?¡± ¡°You seemed surprised by something, Mr. Jaeger.¡± The old man¡¯s question jolted Richard out from his sudden amazement. ¡°No¡­ ha ha¡­ I was just a bit¡­ I realized something that I hadn¡¯t before.¡± The old man smiled and said, ¡°Yes¡­ I¡¯ve had those moments. They can truly be enlightening at times.¡± Master Mulfow then looked a bit pensively at his notes before looking back up at Richard. ¡°I would like to offer you a deal Mr. Jaeger, if you are interested? Richard frowned, a bit curious and worried at the same time. ¡°A deal?¡± The last time he had agreed to a deal, he had been mucking out manure for a few days. The old scholar nodded and replied, ¡°Yes¡­ a deal. A profitable one for both of us, I believe. There is still so much I would like to know about your world¡­ the carriages that move by themselves, the metal birds that fly, the buildings that soar into the sky¡­ so much to learn, but I can never truly gather that knowledge since you outworlder adventurers are so flighty and unwilling to share much of the time. However, you are different Mr. Jaeger¡­ from all the others I¡¯ve met to date. So, I would like to offer you a deal. You need a place to stay and a¡­ guide¡­ you might say in understanding the World Labyrinth and¡­ getting stronger. I need access to you to learn what I wish. So, here¡¯s what I propose: you may live here and learn what you can with my help and you will teach me about your world and its wonders. What do you say, Mr. Jaeger?¡± Richard was amazed at the offer. The fact that the old scholar was making such an offer after only knowing Richard for a day was¡­ unprecedented in Richard¡¯s life. However, more importantly, Richard knew that he had very little to lose from the deal. Technically, he was going to be homeless starting the next day, so¡­. ¡°I accept.¡± The old scholar smiled brightly and replied. ¡°Excellent¡­ excellent¡­ This will be of great benefit to both of us.¡± Richard nodded, but before he could say anything else, the old scholar continued, ¡°But I will ask you one thing, Mr. Jaeger.¡± Richard sighed inside. He knew there had to be a catch. ¡°Umm.. what is it, sir?¡± The old scholar¡¯s face took on a serious expression. ¡°As long as you stay here, I would ask that you be¡­ discreet in who you might get into an argument with. I believe Master Haroken should have explained what the city is like now¡­ making enemies is very easy in this city now, Mr. Jaeger. For your own safety¡­ be very careful. Also¡­ this may be presumptuous of me, but I would also advise you to be careful not to showcase your access to multiple fields of magic, especially what I have deduced is ¡®Toxic Dominance.¡¯ Certain people will become curious as to how you obtained that rare field of magic¡­ especially since it is very unique to the type of earth elemental you killed in the Guard fortress.¡± Richard just froze. Somehow the old man knew about his ''Toxic Dominance'' skill and possibly even where Richard got it from. And that meant.... Chapter 15.1: A Questing We Will Go...Hi-Ho the Merry-Oh Part 1 What a beautiful scene it was¡­ the wind gently blowing through the forest stirring up the dark green leaves on the majestic, ancient trees while the sun clearly shined from the clear blue sky above. It was a prime day for an excursion, to explore the beauty of this world¡­ well, it would have been if Richard wasn¡¯t sitting up in a tree and staring at the dog sized, mutant lizards screeching up at him. Each of the damn lizards alternated between running around on all fours and standing up on their hind legs to peevishly hiss and screech at him, while spreading their red and gold colored frills around their heads like it was supposed to scare him or something¡­ To be honest, if Richard had been on the ground, he might have been scared¡­ but luckily, he had a safe, tall tree to lounge in. How had all this happened? Well, it all began when Richard had been sent on a quest¡­ yes, he couldn¡¯t believe it at the time¡­ a real, frickin¡¯ quest offered by Master Mulfow. Though the old man hadn¡¯t called it a quest, instead referring to it as an errand, Richard had suddenly felt like he was in front of his TV screen listening to an NPC generating a random dungeon quest/random delivery quest. For a few seconds, he had even considered whacking the old man on the head to see if he would keep talking like nothing had happened. Thankfully, Richard had snapped out of his imbecilic delusions before he got too carried away. The errand¡­ umm¡­ quest was simple: go to the Ortesse fishing village, which sat on the banks of the nearby Mistfall River and deliver a message to one of Master Mulfow¡¯s associates. It had sounded so simple and so much like a waste of time that Richard had almost refused it. However, once again, his brain had stopped his mouth from flapping just in time. He had realized it was a great opportunity to see more of the nearby country side and to possibly test out his abilities. Of course, unlike the annoying quests in games, Master Mulfow had actually taken into account the fact that Richard was dirt poor, never mind equipment-less. So, Richard had gotten a very dusty, slightly bloodied, and slightly torn up set of brigandine armor¡­. RIP whoever owned it before hand¡­., a dented, steel sword, and a couple silver coins to fund his errand. The dull brownish, leather armor was almost like a slightly heavy coat and had thin, steel plates riveted¡­ mostly when they weren''t missing¡­ in between its two layers of leather. It had decreased his ability to move around freely just a bit, but Master Mulfow had been adamant about Richard wearing the armor in case of ¡®unforeseen disasters.¡¯ The sword was relatively heavy, weighing about one and a half pounds, but not as heavy as the crates of drinks that Richard had wrestled with back at his job. As for the coins¡­ Yaay! Money!... The equipment completely blinded him, of course, to the danger he might face. He had listened half heartedly to Master¡¯s Mulfow¡¯s warnings about what to expect on the road to Ortesse and had instead been too preoccupied trying to figure out how to use his new equipment in conjunction with his ¡®skills.¡¯ Moreover, the two days he had spent living with the old man and learning about Serenthal hadn¡¯t revealed anything like there were hordes of goblins and monsters camping outside the city. The creatures did exist, but Richard had expected at most to meet a stray wolf or some thug with an attitude. Honestly speaking, that¡¯s how the first three days outside the city had progressed. Other than a few village thugs, whom he had stayed away from, he hadn¡¯t run across any other trouble. He had even cursed the fact that nothing interesting was happening to him¡­ Of course, as luck¡­ or maybe the gods of luck would have it, he had walked right past a snoozing pack of Grasards. Back in the city, Richard had read up on the three feet tall, mutated lizards, since there were bounties on them, but he had expected at most to face one or two of them. Instead¡­ with his amazingly good luck¡­he had found a pack of 20 of the damn things. One minute, he had been jauntily whistling past a few large bushes, and the next minute he had seen more than a dozen ugly heads popping out with sleepy eyes and irritated faces. Mind you¡­ his whistling hadn¡¯t been that bad¡­ For a second, he had been shocked, but the ear splitting screeching of the sleep deprived lizards had quickly snapped him out of his open mouthed surprise. He had sprinted down the dirt road for all he was worth, while casting ¡®quagmire¡¯ and ¡®biogas¡¯ ahead of him to create a few traps the creatures. Unfortunately, even after a couple days worth of practice, the skills still hadn¡¯t leveled up and had still required 60 seconds and 120 seconds respectively before they could be used again. So, he had run as fast as he could¡­ for about a minute until his body felt like it was about to collapse. Breathing hard, he had scrambled up a tree in desperation¡­ and that¡¯s where he was now. Richard looked down at the pack of green colored vermin with mixed emotions. At first, he had been scared they were going to scale the tree and turn him into lizard shit. However, after a few unsuccessfully attempts at climbing or trying to jump up the tree, the lizards had given up and had instead decided to camp his refuge like a bunch of damn PK¡¯ers, waiting for him to drop down. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Unfortunately¡­ for the stupid, oversized lizards, Richard was far from being screwed. Numero Uno: He had a safe spot to harass the vermin from. Numero Dos: He had about a dozen days worth of food and water stashed in his inventory thanks to the miracle of small sacks. Sticking 12 individual loafs of bread into his inventory might have filled up 12 slots, but stashing a couple dozen loafs in a small sack had allowed him to save nearly eight slots. Numero Tres: He had his sword. Though he didn¡¯t know much about using it, except that he could slash with it and stick the sharp end into most things, it was a pretty useful in keeping the lizards from fumbling up the tree. Numero Quatro: He was able to use his ¡®quagmire¡¯ and ¡®biogas¡¯ ¡®subskills¡¯/spells pretty frequently until he started feeling the extreme exhaustion that told him that he was running out of mana. Numero Cinco and probably his greatest advantage: His new ¡®subskill¡¯/spell: ¡®Stone Projectile.¡¯ This was a gift from Master Mulfow, who had allowed Richard to learn the spell/subskill from a ¡®Spell Artifact¡¯ that had been gathering dust in his attic. As the phrase indicated, it was the most basic of Elemental Earth Subskills/Spells and allowed the user to shoot a stone projectile at enemies. The best part of the spell was its Cooldown Time: 35 seconds¡­ Yep¡­ It was the backbone of an Elemental Earth user¡¯s offensive arsenal. According to Master Mulfow¡¯s great encyclopedia like head, each level gained by the spell alternated in changing some aspect of the spell or the projectile itself: a decrease in the Cooldown Time, a decrease in mana consumption, how fast the damn projectile can fly, how far it can fly, and even how dense the projectile was. Of course, like all the screwy nature of magic in the World Labyrinth, the spell changed differently for different people. Soo¡­. Richard remained in the tree, casting ¡®quagmire,¡¯ ¡®biogas,¡¯ and ¡®stone projective¡¯ at the dumb lizards, who ignored their dying comrades, while they ran around the tree like a bunch of nincompoops screaming bloody murder. Of course, Richard wasn¡¯t able to keep casting the spells/subskills nonstop. Usually, he could cast a two dozen or so ¡®stone projectiles¡¯ in a row before he felt drained. That or he could cast ¡®Biogas¡¯ thrice and ¡®Quagmire¡¯ four times in alternating succession before he was equally drained. Mixing up the spells/subspells was a bit more confusing, and Richard eventually ended up using a mix of one ¡®biogas,¡¯ one ¡®quagmire,¡¯ and eight ¡®stone projectiles¡¯ to kill a few of the lizards at a time. Just using ¡®stone projectile¡¯ was impossible, since the lizards were smart enough to keep moving, making aiming with his right hand a lot more difficult. For some reason, the ¡®stone projectile¡¯ spell also refused to work without an arm being used. Also, it took about two or three well aimed projectiles to actually create enough blunt force damage on the lizards to kill them. So, he took his time trapping the damn things and knocking them out before slaughtering them while avoiding becoming exhausted. A lot of that ¡®feeling exhaustion¡¯ was also subjective, but it was obvious he was almost out of mana, when none of his spells wouldn¡¯t activate. When he got to that point, a few, flashing box like icons usually appeared at the top left of his vision, no doubt telling him the spells couldn¡¯t be used. Master Mulfow had denied the World Labyrinth denizens had such an advantage and usually realized their spells didn¡¯t work¡­ when nothing happened. That didn¡¯t mean that there were no risks. There were things called mana crippling or mana intoxication, but from what Richard had learned, those issues didn¡¯t usually pop up for the type of low level spells/subskills that Richard was using. Also, his ''average'' magic level was so frickin'' high that he was technically using four or five times the amount of spells a beginner magic user or newly arrived outworlder adventurer might have used... without actually exhausting himself. That didn''t mean he was invincible since one mutant lizard could probably tear him apart if he let it get to him, but... it was still a frickin'' power rush!!! Also¡­ yes, he was referring to subskills as spells now, since Master Mulfow referred to them as such. In the end, he spent a couple hours in the tree, killing, waiting, rinse and repeating, and recuperating from mana loss, before he finally set foot on the ground. Around him, it looked like a scene from some horror movie. There were lizards sticking out of the ground in all kinds of positions and places. Others had tongues sticking out of theirs mouths, while their faces¡­ well for those whose faces had not been turned into unrecognizable pulp... were frozen in a rictus of pain and desperation. Giggling, Richard said, ¡°Silly lizards¡­ Trix are for kids.......... stupid dumb ass lizards... must have brains the size of walnuts¡­¡± Richard opened up his inventory and pulled out a serrated knife with a blade about the length of his hand. Looking at the knife and then the 20 dead, cheap imitations of the Fallout 3 Gecko, he sighed. ¡°Well¡­ I wonder what Grasard meat tastes like?.... Better not be chicken¡­¡± Chapter 15.2: A Questing We Will Go...Hi-Ho the Merry-Oh Part 2 So¡­ A couple of things before you read the chapter. 1. There was a question in regards to how the MC¡¯s skills are set up or what he can use. His luck skill is a permanent active skill in the four slots he has right now. So, of the remaining three, each is occupied by the mimic skill, Elemental Earth, and Toxic Domination. However, as I explained before, Elemental Earth and Toxic Domination skills are more like certain categories of ¡°magic mastery¡± and the subskills are the actual spells that can be used. I¡¯ll explain a little more in this chapter about that topic. 2. There¡¯s now some concern that I¡¯ve made my character a bit too powerful, because of his mimic ability¡­ However, I began writing this story with the mimic ability as a core part of his power. Yes, it¡¯s a ¡®Legendary¡¯ skill¡­ and it allows the ¡°copying of skills.¡± But there are a good number of reasons why the MC won¡¯t go super saiyan overnight¡­. TOverall, I have a wide variety of tools or ways I can uplift or screw over the MC¡­ the question for you is what will I do each chapter¡­..*evil smile* LOL Also, this will be the last chapter for a while where I¡¯ll post all the Stats in the chapter. I¡¯ve found that its fluff that belongs every seven or so chapters. That doesn¡¯t mean that I won¡¯t discuss skills and spells in each chapter, but I won¡¯t give you a summary of everything every other chapter either. And it won¡¯t be that bad since the leveling system in my story is designed to be super slow. Anyway¡­ let¡¯s get back to the story shall we¡­ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ The campfire was lazily burning, its flames flickering in the light wind, spilling dancing shadows on the ancient trees scattered around the small clearing. Richard poked at the burning wood, lost in thought about the long day he had just gotten through. It had taken him nearly three hours to skin the damn grasards, and even then, he hadn¡¯t actually done an expert job of it. There had been large clumps of flesh still attached to the skins when he had stashed them in sacks in his inventory. Thankfully, his inventory still had about 20 or slots still open even with all the random crap in it now. The worst part of the whole thing was the bitter smell still surrounding him and the blood still coating parts of his arms and clothes. He hadn¡¯t changed, not wanting to waste a fresh set of clothes on a still dirty body. However, he wondered if it might not be a good idea. Walking into a village covered in blood, even if it was lizard blood¡­ didn¡¯t seem like a good plan¡­ or maybe it was, depending on who he had to deal with. Musing on the psyche of ordinary people, Richard took another bite of the slightly oily piece of charred meat. It tasted burned of course, but underneath that, it surprisingly tasted like a gamier version of chicken mixed with a rubbery texture. His cooking skills, sad to say, sucked, but he had a few pounds of the meat stored away in his inventory¡­ just in case he found a real cook. Why was he so satisfied with his inventory¡­ well¡­ he learned that his inventory literally froze time or something. For example, the dead evil rabbit that he had stashed in his inventory almost a week ago had still been fresh when he last pulled it out to show Master Mulfow. Richard figured, if worst came to worst, he could probably be a walking refrigerator or something¡­ There had to be money in that concept. However, the main thing that he was satisfied with was the real ¡®loot¡¯ from the dead lizards: their mana stones¡­ and he wasn¡¯t talking about their actual balls either. Master Mulfow had taught Richard about the mana stones, and with the old man¡¯s help, Richard had actually dissected the evil rabbit corpse to remove its fingernail sized mana stone. What is a mana stone, you ask? The simplest explanation Master Mulfow had provided was¡­ a complex one. Suffice it to say¡­ for now, a mana stone is basically the solidification of a living creature¡¯s existing mana upon the creature¡¯s death. The crystallized mana can literally be used by people to power their spells¡­ one of the reasons why mana stones were in high demand. Of course, a sliver like the one from the evil rabbit was worth jack shit, never mind being worth enough to power one ¡®stone projectile.¡¯ Master Mulfow had told Richard that he might get a dozen copper coins for the mana sliver. Of course, 12 coppers equaled maybe one meal including a pint of ale at an inn or tavern¡­ in a backwoods town. On the other hand, Richard had ripped out pinky sized mana stones from the dead grasards. Now, those¡­ all 20 of them¡­ well¡­ he wasn¡¯t sure how much they were worth, but he figured he could sell the stones for a decent price if he wanted. However, he figured they could be more useful as a mana source. During the batt¡­ slaughter of the lizards, he had tried using the evil rabbit¡¯s mana sliver when he felt like he had exhausted his own mana supply. Interestingly enough, all he had to do was hold the mana sliver and activate the spell or subskill he had wanted. Of course, his subskill/spell icons had still been blinking, indicating he didn¡¯t have enough mana to use them, but somehow, he had still been able to fire a ¡®stone projectile.¡¯ However, as expected, the mana stone had literally crumbled into small fragments of golden light in his hand in the process¡­ but he hadn¡¯t felt any type of drain from his own body. On top of that, he had the weird barbell shaped, core thingy. He hadn¡¯t shown it to Master Mulfow, mostly because he was afraid he would get in trouble. Richard remembered stable master Haroken saying the earth elemental had been an experiment of some kind, and from what Richard could tell, the core crystal had been the main part of the experiment. He had no clue how much something like that was worth¡­ or if it could even be used as a mana source. However, he wasn¡¯t willing to sell it or experiment with it for now¡­ and maybe not until he was far, far away from Serenthal. Richard was starting to realize there was a growing list of things that were not governed by his core interface¡­ or maybe interpreted by his core interface might be a better way of saying it. Master Mulfow had been very adamant about the interface being nothing more than a basic interpretation of who a person really was, and Richard was coming around to that same conclusion. However¡­ the interface, like Martin had said, was very useful in managing and monitoring his skills and attributes. Pulling up his stats screen, he looked at the progress he had made so far. [tr][
Status Window
Name:Richard JaegerRace:HumanGender:Male
Endurance:NExperience:5%
Strength:N Experience: 2%
Agility:N Experience:9%
Dexterity:N Experience:3%
Wisdom:N Experience:4%
Magic:N Experience:6%
Defense:N Experience:3%
Charisma:N Experience:8%
As expected, he had barely gotten any experience for his different attributes even after killing the ¡®Shit Monster¡¯ and the 20 grasards. It didn¡¯t look like the leveling system used objective data, but it instead seemed to rely on some kind of subjective scale: like how much of a challenge something was for him or how much effort he put into doing something. Even that seemed off, since he had literally been dead meat when fighting the ¡®Shit Monster,¡¯ and his only effort had been trying to escape. Truthfully, only luck had saved his ass. However, he had made some progress. What really caught his eyes was the significant increase in Charisma, Magic, and Agility. Richard thought back to all the people he had dealt with so far: Martin, Welks, the elf captain, Haroken, and Master Mulfow. He realized he had established some kind of relationship with most of them and in some cases, even friendly relationships. Scratching his head, he wondered if that¡¯s why his Charisma had increased so rapidly. The same seemed to apply to his magic and agility. It made him consider running a dozen miles each day for exercise and just practicing his magic to see if it would increase the percentage gained. On the other hand, combat or practical applications of his skills seemed to be a key part as well. Or maybe, was it something more complex? Richard felt a headache coming on. All he could say for sure was that the percentage increases seemed to match the type of actions he took in situations. It explained why his Defense and Strength had a lower percentage of experience gained¡­ running away from physical fights had unfortunately become a habit for him. Of course, the attribute levels were only part of the story. Flipping through the interface screen, Richard pulled up the list of his skills.
Active Skill: Critical Luck A skill that allows the wielder a single, random opportunity to turn the tables in a desperate situation. Of course, the Gods of Luck will not provide such a skill without conditions: Condition 1: This skill cannot be leveled. Condition 2: This skill can only be used once every 720 hours Condition 3: The more amusing the situation, the more powerful effect the skill will have. Condition 4: The more desperate the situation, the more powerful effect the skill will have. Condition 5: The Gods of Luck prefer the underdog, so be sure you are one. Or else¡­
Passive Skill: Mimic Skill Gives the skill user a small chance of successfully copying one skill of a target creature, person, or construct that the user kills and adding it to his repertoire. Level 1: 5% Chance of Success, Copied Skill has 50% the Effectiveness as the Original Skill +5 % Chance of Success when Copying Skills of Elementals Skill Cool Down Time: 240 seconds
Passive Skill: Earth Elemental Allows wielder to gain affinity for earth based magic and is the core requirement to gaining and using earth based sub-skills. Active Sub-Skill: Stone Projectile The most basic of Elemental Earth skills. It allows the wielder to shoot a stone projectile at enemies. Level 1: Stone Projectile Material: Talc, Initial Speed of Projectile: 50 m/s Skill Cool Down Time: 35 seconds Active Sub-Skill: Quagmire Allows wielder to create a mud based trap that slows movement for a period of time. Level 1: Circular Trap is Eight Feet in Diameter. Duration of Trap is 10 Seconds Skill Cool Down Time: 60 seconds
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Passive Skill: Toxic Domination Provides the wielder with affinity in all magic relating to biological and chemical hazards and is the core requirement to unlock all Toxic Domination sub-skills. Active Sub-skill: Biogas Creates a globe of toxic fumes produced by decomposing waste and provides the wielder with the ability incapacitate an enemy or prey without killing them. Level 1: Globe is 10 feet in diameter. Duration of the globe of toxic fumes is 10 seconds. Skill Cool Down Time: 120 seconds
SLOT 1: Active Skill: Critical Luck Level: LOCKED SLOT 2: Passive Skill: Mimic Skill Level 1: 2% SLOT 3: Passive Skill: Earth Elemental Level 1: 0% A. Active Sub-Skill: Stone Projectile Level 1: 5% B. Active Sub-Skill: Quagmire Level 1: 3% SLOT 4: Passive Skill: Toxic Domination Level 1: 0% A. Active Sub-skill: Biogas Level 1: 2% All his skills and spells were all still stuck at the bottom of the barrel even after all that. It was pretty disheartening. It made him wonder how most of the people, who came to the World Labyrinth managed to survive, never mind become stronger. But then again, a couple days worth of practicing didn¡¯t really mean much. However, he got the impression that the subskills were capable of leveling up faster than the Passive Skills they were equipped under, based on what he was seeing. Master Mulfow had described the Passive Skills like Earth Elemental and Toxic Domination as ¡®Classes¡¯ of magical study under which each of the subskills/spells fell. According to Master Mulfow, it was possible to ¡®master¡¯ the ¡®classes¡¯ of magic, forcing SOME of them to ¡®evolve¡¯ over time to higher tiered ¡®classes.¡¯ For example, Mater Mulfow indicated Earth Elemental would eventually change to Terra Mastery. How did that happen? According to Master Mulfow, it was by the magic wielder¡¯s body gradually becoming stronger through experience and increasing its pool of mana until the body could handle higher tiered spells. Based on how his Core Interface¡¯s interpreted all that, Richard guessed his Passive Skill Earth Elemental would eventually level up to Terra Mastery. To do that, it seemed like he had to use the Subskills frequently and level them up¡­ eventually forcing the Passive Skills they fell under to level up. Though he was limited for now to four slots for his ¡®skills,¡¯ the ¡®subskills¡¯ or ¡®spells¡¯ he could use under each of those ¡®Skills¡¯ or ¡®Classes¡± was almost unlimited. There was no equipping involved, and from how he understood it, he could use any of the ¡®subskills¡¯ or ¡®spells¡¯ he had access to at any time as long as their ¡®Skill¡¯ or ¡®Class¡¯ was equipped. It sounded amazing and almost overpowering¡­ until he realized he was limited in how many of those spells he could use in succession based on his supply of mana. The worst part of it was that there was no numerical estimate of how much mana each spell or subskill required and how much mana he had. It meant that he had to have a deep understanding of his own spells, limitations, development. With each successive level he gained in his magic attribute, Richard guessed his mana limit would increase¡­ or maybe even as he progressed further in each level¡­ like a 50% level N magic attribute might allow for a larger mana field than a 5% level N magic attribute. Luckily, his core interface at least let him know when he couldn¡¯t use spells due to the lack of mana by flashing little icons around the perimeter of his vision when he thought of a certain subspell he wanted to use. More than that, the failure for the magic fields¡­ like the globular field of his Biogas spell¡­ to form was a good indicator that he didn¡¯t have the mana necessary to use the spells. Most of the World Labyrinth inhabitants seemed to have similar limitations based on what Master Mulfow told Richard¡­ excluding the little flashing icons showing up. All of it was scarily complex¡­ with the most screwed up thing being his Mimic Skill. Richard massaged his temples as thought about Master Mulfow¡¯s reaction to the knowledge that Richard had a ¡®Legendary Skill.¡¯ The old man had literally frozen up and stared at Richard for a few minutes in shock, curiosity, maybe some horror¡­ and gods knew what else. The old man hadn¡¯t mentioned anything about the skill after that, other than to tell Richard to never tell anyone else about it no matter what. The almost scarily intense look on the old scholar¡¯s face when he said that had scared the hell out of Richard. After understanding some of the details about how skills and magic were related and their importance in his new world, Richard finally realized how dangerous his skill was¡­ Staring at the fire¡­. lost in thought, Richard didn¡¯t notice he had company until it was almost too late. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw movement, and his spidey senses went on full alert. Fwuup! Just as he shoved himself backwards, something went whizzing right past where his chest would have been a moment ago. He only caught a glimpse of the glinting piece of metal and wood that passed him, but¡­ it didn¡¯t take a frikin¡¯ genius to figure out someone had just shot a god damned arrow at him! As soon as his back hit the ground, he rolled instinctively to his left, towards the road and away from the forest from where the arrow had come from. Almost immediately, another arrow whizzed past where his body had just been, skidding on the ground nearby before coming to a rest near a tree. ¡°Did ya get ¡®im!¡± ¡°I kan¡¯t see him! Beldek, go circle aroun¡¯!¡± Richard clearly heard the shouting after crawling on his elbows and belly to behind a fallen log. He was breathing hard, as his heart raced at a hundred miles per hour. ¡°What the f#$k?¡± He wanted to yell, but his words came out in a furious whisper. A quick peek over the rotting log revealed a few shadowy figures in the woods, but nothing definite. Richard quickly glanced behind himself just in case, but he didn¡¯t see anyone there. In a whisper, he muttered, ¡°Three¡­ four¡­ who are¡­?¡± Thunk! Even before he could finish, another arrow pierced the log right next to his face. ¡°Shit!¡± This time around, he wasn¡¯t able to hold back. To his right, almost perpendicular to how he was lying, he saw the dark figure of a man holding what looked like a bow. A piece of metal glinted right in front of the man as firelight played across the clearing, and Richard knew the man was nocking another arrow. Out of desperation, Richard pointed his right hand towards the figure and cast ¡®Stone Projectile.¡¯ A piece of Talc a bit larger than a tennis ball shot out from in front of his open palm, almost appearing out of thin air. Thud! In a fraction of a second, the sound of rock hitting flesh echoed through the clearing, followed by, ¡°Aharrrrgg!¡± Richard saw the glint of metal falling and glimpses of a dark figure retreating, while plowing through the forest sounding like a wild boar. ¡°Beldek, Wha¡¯ happened!¡± The shouting came from ahead of Richard, and he raised himself up just enough so he peeked over the log while resting his chin and arms on it. Three figures came out of the trees. Two of them were carrying what looked like swords, and the third was carrying a bow. Richard couldn¡¯t make out too much of what they looked like, but he could tell the two swordsmen were a lot burlier than the archer. Coming to a decision, he cast ¡®Biogas¡¯ right in front of where the archer was walking. Cough! Cough! ¡°Hurrrghghh! Urgggghghgh!¡± Almost immediately, Richard saw the archer drop his bow and grab his throat and face, while stumbling. The man, however, failed to fall and instead staggered out of the ¡®Biogas¡¯ cloud gasping loudly. ¡°Maaagggge!¡± ¡°Shit!¡± This time it wasn¡¯t Richard yelling. ¡°Rush him!¡± ¡°Oh f#$K!¡± Richard knew he was screwed. Without stopping to think, he cast ¡®Quamire¡¯ on the lead swordsman, who was like a bearded, black haired man. SLUSSSSH! ¡°Oragghhh!!!¡± The black haired man just began to yell a war cry, when it suddenly turned into a shout of surprise. Richard watched as the man tripped while losing his balance in the sludge like ground! That just left the last man¡­ and Richard was out of skills. He hadn¡¯t gained anything from the damn lizards¡­ and it looked like the skill cool down for his ¡®Stone Projectile¡¯ was only two thirds done. Unfortunately, the blonde haired man, who was maneuvering around the first swordsman, didn¡¯t look too happy. His bearded face was covered in a scowl, and he held his sword like he knew how to do more than poke things with it. Richard thought fast and¡­.. ¡°Hold! One more step and I¡¯ll blast you!¡± A pure bluff¡­ Holding out his arm and pointing it towards the blonde haired, burly man, Richard also pulled out his short sword from his inventory. To the blonde swordsman, it looked like the sword had appeared out of nowhere. Now¡­ he wasn¡¯t stupid¡­ He knew of magic users and especially about how dangerous outworlder adventurers were. Of course, he was the most intelligent out the four, and realizing his prey had just thrown maybe two or three spells at his band of thieves without pause made him hesitate. That¡¯s just about the time Richard was able to use ¡®Stone Projectile¡¯ again. Brandishing his sword, he fired the spell, aiming for the man¡¯s face. Thudssshh! ¡°Arrrrrraaaaaaahhghg!¡± The blonde man, who was about 10 to 15 meters away grabbed his face and collapsed to knees, making gurgling sounds. Richard caught sight of blood pooling out between the fingers of the hand clutched to man¡¯s face and took a step back in surprise. Richard¡¯s nervous eyes flitted back towards the other swordsman and the archer, but all he saw was the fleeing back of the black haired swordsman. That just left the blonde man¡­. ¡°Hey! You!¡± Richard called out to the man, but other than the fellow moaning while hunched over, he didn¡¯t say anything. Richard nervously made his over to the man, keeping his short sword up in front of himself in what he thought was a guard position. ¡°Hey! Answer me!¡± The closer he got to the man, more Richard got agitated. He felt himself shaking a bit. Muttering, ¡°F#@k, F@$k, F@#k!,¡¯ he repeated the cuss word like it was a prayer. Edging close enough to almost touch the man with his sword, Richard shouted, ¡°Damn it! Answer me, you bastard!¡± ¡°Gwafwwwahh!¡± With a gargled scream, the man threw himself forward with his arms stretched out to grab Richard. Richard jumped back, almost crapping his pants in surprise and fear as he caught sight of the man¡¯s mangled face. The man¡¯s nose had been pulped, with cartilage sticking out of the fleshy mess, and his eyes looked like something had shredded them, leaving them in bloody tatters. Worst of all, there was a shallow dent right above where the rim of the nose would have been, and Richard¡¯s shocked mind couldn¡¯t understand how the fellow was still moving after that kind of damage. Richard stumbled back even as the man lunged forward, and almost reacting out of reflex, Richard swung his sword diagonally¡­ right as the man¡¯s neck got close enough. The next moment, Richard found himself on his back wrestling with a 200 some pound smelly bandit. ¡°GET OFF!¡± ¡°Gwwahahhh!¡± The man¡¯s calloused hands grabbed Richard¡¯s neck, but almost immediately, Richard felt the grip around his neck relaxing. But¡­ that¡¯s when the stream of blood washed over the man¡¯s shoulders, pouring down on Richard¡¯s face. ¡°Gahhhh!¡± With a desperate push, he rolled the man¡¯s body off himself, and Richard flipped himself over coughing and gasping. He felt shaky all over and a bit dizzy¡­ When he finally looked over to the¡­ dead body, all he saw was blood, blood, and more blood. ¡°GUAAAHHH UGGHGGG!¡± The next second, he hunched over and vomited. Chapter 15.3: A Questing We Will Go...Hi-Ho the Merry-Oh Part 3 Note: About the spidey sense in the past chapter¡­. It was a joke. Basically, I was trying to say he ¡°realized something was not right¡± in a more comical way. It isn¡¯t a skill¡­ and yes his survival was partial luck but this time around, he actually fought his enemies instead of running away¡­ _____________________________________________________________________ The new day was peaceful, for which Richard was desperately thankful, since he was in no condition to run or fight if he had to. After last night¡­ well, let¡¯s just say he was drained emotionally and physically. He had literally spent a cold night huddled near some bushes, nervously watching for the men¡­ bandits to return. Thankfully, they never did. However¡­ it didn¡¯t help that he had spent the night on an empty stomach after puking up everything he had eaten and that he had experienced the ¡®shakes¡¯ on and off as he had stayed hidden. Richard remembered whispering, ¡°Him or me, him or me, him or..¡± all night long, almost numbing himself to what had happened. However¡­ some things couldn¡¯t be suppressed that easily. Even now, his thoughts still kept going back to the man he had killed¡­ Whether the fellow had a wife or children, who would never see him again¡­ or if he had friends, who would miss him¡­ or even what his last thoughts had been. It was¡­ not logical. Richard knew he had done what he had to... but there was a big difference between killing a bunch of mindless lizards and actually killing a person. The worst part was that Richard realized he would probably have to do the same thing again in the future. Oh¡­ he had a choice of course: to hide somewhere and be a cog in this world like he had been in the old one, but¡­ hiding like that was not living. He realized that in his old life, he had just drifted through life, and even though he tried to avoid and ignore all the ¡®evil¡¯ around him¡­ in the end, it had still come to devour him. In the World Labyrinth, from what he had seen, the ¡®evil¡¯ or unjustness was greater with much less to restrain it. Slavers, monsters¡­ bandits¡­ Richard knew that he would have to face them for as long as he lived¡­¡­.. that¡¯s if he really wanted to ¡®live¡¯ in this world instead of fading into mediocrity and obscurity like in his old life. However, none of that changed the fact that he was human¡­ and had human morality and emotions that controlled what he could or could not do. So, it was understandable how paranoid and stressed he felt by the time he caught sight of the first farm on the outskirts of the village of Ortesse. For a second, he paused on the road and stared at the crude, wooden log house in the distance, wondering how he should approach it. If it had been a day ago, he might have just waltzed up to it without a second thought, but almost being killed by strangers¡­ well, it kind of changed things. He scratched his head and looked his body over. His clothes were a pair he had switched out earlier¡­ but his arms were still stained lightly with blood. And the smell of blood still lingered around him¡­ There was only so much he was able to do last night with leaves, dirt, and some water from a leather water skin to clean with. Remembering the desperate scrubbing, he shivered a bit¡­ After a minute of watching people working in the fields around the house, he decided to avoid them for now. It seemed better to deal with others when there a lot more of them around. Maybe it was his paranoia speaking, but¡­ it was better to be safe than sorry. So, he passed the farm quietly and a half hour so later, arrived the village proper after passing a handful of villagers, who avoided him as much he avoided them. His first sight of the place was a lookout tower in the distance, and the closer he got, he realized there was a wooden, log wall surrounding many of the village buildings, most of which seemed to be modest homes built out of logs, wattle, and daub. It was about the same as all the other villages he had passed through, but he was still a bit disappointed about how shabby and almost medieval the place looked. The only interesting thing was the lake on which the village sat. It looked to be huge, and from what Richard could tell, there were a few boats in the water, no doubt heading out for the day. Sighing, he made his way towards the nearest buildings, passing a few people dressed in rough looking woolens and linen clothing. The only information he had concerning his destination was to find a man named Nevel, who lived somewhere near the village. Master Mulfow hadn¡¯t been too specific in his directions, since he hadn¡¯t been out this way in years and had last dealt with this Nevel, when the man had worked for the Guard and was based out of Serenthal. As he made his way to the village gates, he saw an armored man standing guard with a halberd near the place. The guard¡¯s light equipment looked to be the same as those he remembered seeing at the Guard fortress back in Serenthal, and Richard decided to deal with him instead of some of the skittish looking villagers, who were starting to stare. The other reason was that the helmeted guard was also looking at Richard with narrowed black eyes. Muttering, ¡°Better to deal with this before things get worse,¡± Richard approached the young looking guardsman. ¡°Hello!¡± This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it The guardsman frowned and asked, ¡°Who are you stranger?¡± Richard cleared his throat and replied, ¡°Just a messenger. I was sent to here by my master to find and speak with a Nevel.¡± Then, seeing the guardsman looking at his hair and arms, Richard said, ¡°Ah¡­ don¡¯t mind the blood¡­ I was attacked by a pack of grasards about a day ago. It was¡­ a bloody battle. If you can also tell me where I might be able to claim the bounty for the dead beasts, I would appreciate it.¡± He decided to strike first in the conversation instead of looking like he was trying to hide something. The guard, who was frowning, suddenly broke out in a slight smile. ¡°Ah¡­ you mean that pack that¡¯s been harassing some of the outlying farms and the travelers coming here¡­ Sergeant Cothers will be happy to hear that! The village put up a bounty specifically for those creatures a week ago, but the few mercs, who went hunting, never showed back up. There must have been more than a few. How many did you get? How did ya kill them? Were you wounded?¡± From how excited the guardsman sounded, Richard realized the guard was probably younger than he seemed, maybe in his late teens, but his suddenly friendly tone was more than worth the barrage of questions. It also helped that the handful of villagers in Richard¡¯s line of sight were no longer frowning either. So, Richard decided to milk the positive reception for all it was worth. ¡°Ahem¡­ Ahh¡­ I was attacked by nearly two dozen of the foul creatures. They came upon me as I was traveling peacefully on the road to your fair village. They were as horrendous¡­¡± So, he spend the next few minutes regaling them about the encounter, throwing in some blatant lies about his amazing sword work and the desperate struggle with only a tree to protect his back¡­. Of course, he left out the part where he was sitting in a tree and spent a couple hours killing the damn creatures. He figured they were white lies¡­ since he was telling the truth¡­ for the most part. By the time he was done, a crowd of a dozen or more people had gathered around him, staring with wide eyes and broad smiles. The guardsman was no better, with clear admiration written on his face. As the villagers began happily talking amongst each other about the road being cleared, the guardsman said, ¡°Amazing! You¡¯ve done us a huge service. I have to tell the sergeant about this.¡± Richard¡¯s smile slipped a bit, when the guardsman tried leave. Reaching out quickly, he grabbed the young man¡¯s armored shoulder and said, ¡°Umm¡­. About my question from earlier. Nevel?¡± The guardsman turned back with an apologetic look, ¡°Oh¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­ Umm¡­ His cabin is west of here towards the marsh. You can¡¯t miss it if you take the road that way¡­ ¡° ¡°That won¡¯t be needed, Mever.¡± The new voice cut through the chatter, and Richard looked off to the right to find a middle aged man dressed in a mix of animal furs and leather. He had a medium build and a weather beaten face under his scruffy, grey streaked beard. The shaggy haired man looked totally like one of those American frontiersmen from a couple hundred years ago. ¡°You were looking for me, stranger?¡± Richard replied, ¡°Ahh¡­ You¡¯re Nevel, then?¡± The frontiersman smiled, showing yellowed teeth. ¡°I¡¯m the only one aroun¡¯ here wih that name. So, yes, tha¡¯ would be me.¡± Richard forced a smile in return and pulled up his inventory off to one side. A quick grab let him pull out the wax sealed letter Master Mulfow had requested he deliver. ¡°Master Mulfow requested that I deliver this to you.¡± While a couple of villagers gasped or spoke in surprise after Richard''s little display, the frontiersman didn¡¯t even blink. He acted as though he was used to what Richard had done. Instead, Nevel took the letter and waved at Richard to follow him. A few minutes later, they were standing behind one of the village houses, and Nevel was busy reading through the letter. When he looked up, he had a worried look on his face. ¡°Master Mulfow¡­. Did he tell ya what he wrote in this?" Richard wondered how he should answer for a second but quickly decided to stick to the truth. Shaking his head, he said, ¡°No. Just that I was to deliver it directly to your hands.¡± Nevel grunted and scratched at his beard as he stared at the letter for a bit. When he spoke, it was with a serious voice. ¡°The old man wants me to teach you some basics on woodcraft and to help you hunt Blood Vipers. He said you would know when to stop hunting¡­ That make any sense to you?¡± Richard¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°Yeah¡­ I think so¡­ but what¡¯s a Blood Viper?" Nevel¡¯s smiled but it didn¡¯t reach his eyes, which had a dangerous glint to them. ¡°The most poisonous magical beast in this part of the world, and lucky you, the Furea Marshlands to the west are one of their biggest nesting grounds....¡± Chapter 15.4: A Questing We Will Go...Hi-Ho the Merry-Oh Part 4 Note: Chapter 15.2 already mentioned that he didn¡¯t get anything from the lizards. Also, if I don¡¯t say he got a skill¡­ that means he didn¡¯t get a skill from killing something. From now on, if I don¡¯t mention it¡­ well, that means he didn¡¯t get anything. As for the argument about OP vs Non OP, I like OP characters¡­ but I like to gradually build them up to that. As I mentioned, I¡¯m hoping to keep this story going for a while. Even if I stop typing every day, like I¡¯ve been doing for the last two weeks, I will still put out longer chapters when I do put them out. ______________________________________________________________________________ There was heat! Yessss¡­. heat¡­ heat for prey¡­..Ssssss¡­ Fooood¡­.. Silently slithering through the ¡®prey food¡¯ and brush, the serpentine creature moved deliberately towards the source of heat. In its mind¡¯s eye, the heat was not too high and not too low. It was about right for one of the two legged vermin that always intruded on what the creature considered the domain of its kind. Just in case, it¡¯s forked tongue shot out, tasting the air and confirming the creature¡¯s suspicions. The two legged vermin was real¡­. but nearby, there was another large heat source¡­ the creature knew what it was of course, having felt the burning pain from the ¡®ash that dances like the wind.¡¯ That was the name the creatures had given to the small mound of heat that the two legged ones always made when they stopped for the night, especially since the air tasted like ash when the mound was near. The serpentine creature hissed its displeasure at the mound, not being able to sense much or taste anything near it, as its heat vision and sense of taste became confused and distorted when it tried. It knew to avoid that mound of heat as much as possible, and thankfully, the two legged vermin was foolishly resting away from the mound. The creature pushed through the long stems of ¡®prey food¡¯ surrounding it, finally poking its head out into the clearing, where its prey was resting. Now was the moment of the hunt, the moment of life and death...!. The serpentine creature¡¯s jaws slightly opened, revealing small, razor sharp serrated teeth¡­ but those were not its true weapons. They were still retracted into its gums, ready to push out right before the final strike¡­ Then¡­ it began. The creature flashed out of the tall ¡®prey food,¡¯ slithering rapidly towards its prey, ready to¡­.. Splsusshsh! Hsssss! It had a moment of confusion, as its body plunged into some kind of mud. Usually, it wouldn¡¯t have been stopped by something like this, but at the speed it had been moving¡­ its body was now partially stuck in the mud and¡­ sinking the more it tried to move. Hsssssssss! Shaahhhhhh! It was angry. Angry at the mud! Angry at being stopped! And lastly, angry as it saw its prey rising before it! That wasn¡¯t all¡­ Surprise flitted through the creature¡¯s mind as it saw the mound of heat suddenly separate into two, and a tall source of heat rise up¡­ The creature finally realized¡­ It was a¡­ ¡°The trap worked. You want to finish it or what, Jaeger?¡± Nevel asked the question even as he lounged against the nearby tree, watching the Blood Viper thrash violently in Richard¡¯s ¡®Quagmire¡¯ trap. Richard, who was now standing near the fire, covered in a large blanket, nodded and took aim with his right arm. With a thought, ¡®Stone Projectile¡¯ was cast, and the stone struck the creature¡¯s body, eliciting a sharp hiss and nasal screech. Richard knew it wasn¡¯t enough to actually kill the damn, 15 foot snake, especially since he missed the creature¡¯s head, but it was enough to stun it just a bit. Picking up his newly gifted halberd, he got close enough to strike with the weapon. It took a dozen or more swings to actually kill the damn creature, as it kept thrashing and then tried to curl around the halberd¡¯s metal blade to escape. When he was finally done, it looked like some mad butcher had taken his anger out at the snake by slicing up its head. Ding! The sound echoed in his ears, but he knew that he was the only one who had heard it. At the periphery of his vision, he saw a flashing icon¡­ Richard smiled a bit, glad to have finally gotten whatever skill the stupid snake had. It had been a nerve wracking, seven days as he and Nevel had hunted in the outer portions of the marshlands for the dangerous, overgrown snakes. According to Nevel, the snakes were the top predators of the marshlands due to their size and powerful venom, and unfortunately, their population had skyrocketed with the Guard no longer actively hunting them due to the lack of funds. Even the small bounties posted for the creatures had gone unanswered as most independent hunters had sooner or later ended up dead, facing the creatures. The reason was pretty simple: the Blood Viper venom. As far as Richard understood, the poison was so deadly, that a person could literally die within a dozen or so minutes of a blood viper bite. The physical symptoms over time were¡­ gruesome to say the least. Anything from bleeding eyes and orifices to rotting parts of the body¡­ that¡¯s why the local people called them Blood Vipers. Of course, to make things worse, their venom had a secondary effect¡­ mana poisoning. Nevel, who had some magic/skills of his own, indicated the venom also induced mana poisoning for a while, effectively cutting a person¡¯s mana capacity in half. According to Nevel, those two dual abilities were why a Blood Viper could kill creatures, both magical and non-magical, that were larger and more powerful than itself. It had taken more than 24 Blood Viper kills before Richard finally got the skill, and each of those kills had been different, with Nevel displaying a mix of traps, weapons, and hunting techniques. The master hunter/trapper had orchestrated the first twenty, sometimes using Richard as bait, but Richard had been allowed to design the last few. It seemed like a crash course in monster hunting, but Nevel had just emphasized one thing: know as much about your prey as you can before hunting it. Everything from its habits, living environment, usual prey, hunting techniques, and¡­ its weaknesses. In the case of the Blood Viper, its vision was even worse than most snakes¡­ so a heat based trap was the most effective. ¡°Alright, Jaeger. Get its mana stone and drag its body out of that mess. I¡¯ll get the Bladel powder scattered.¡± Nevel stood up and began heading to their packs, containing Bladel powder securely sealed in a jar. The powder was basically ground up dried, Bladel leaves. The plant had a strong smell, which kept Blood Vipers away¡­ and as common as they were, they were one of the reasons why the vipers had never spread out around the country side like a plague. It was kind of interesting that a top predator was afraid of a bunch of common plants¡­ but Richard guessed it was something like a kid not wanting to eat his broccoli or something. As he dug and dragged the still body of the snake out of the now solidified ground, Richard whistled in appreciation. The snake was the largest one yet¡­ which made sense since this was the deepest he and Nevel had travelled into the marshlands in the last week. That meant that there were very few if any other Blood Vipers nearby. From what he had learned, they were very territorial. Pulling out his knife, he cut into the snake¡¯s ripped up head, digging for the stone. Richard wasn¡¯t afraid of accidentally cutting into the snake¡¯s venom sack¡­ because the creature didn¡¯t have one. According to Nevel, the creature used magic to create its venom internally instead of producing it biologically. That was why it was classified as a magic creature instead of a normal beast. When Richard had inquired whether all magic creatures had such abilities, Nevel had shook his head, chuckling. Richard still remembered the reply. ¡°If every fricken¡¯ creature had some kind of crazy magic, then we all be dead men¡­ It¡¯s like us humans, we all got some amount of magic en us, but that don¡¯t mean all of us can do magic. On the other hand, some of us got a small amount of magic and can do some dangerous things. The Blood viper¡¯s like the second kind of human. It can¡¯t use its venom no more than a few times a day because it don¡¯t got the magic to use it that much, but when it does¡­ well, you best not be its prey.¡± Richard smiled wryly, wondering if he was being a bit greedy about wanting different skills or spells, but the memory of being ambushed by those bandits was still too fresh. He realized that his ¡®Stone Projectile¡¯ was useful, but it hadn¡¯t killed anyone immediately. All it had done was hurt or maim them. No doubt, it would get more powerful later, but for now, he needed something more deadly or at least another offensive skill/magic. And it seemed some kind of poison might be useful¡­ Looking at the flashing icon in his vision, he mentally clicked on it, wondering what the skill would look like.
Sub-skill Blood Viper Venom Successfully Copied Sub-skill: Blood Viper Venom A highly dangerous hemotoxin produced through the manipulation of mana that can be applied to various surfaces and can cause severe physical damage if exposed to the blood of most creatures. As a secondary effect, it can also temporarily cripple a creature¡¯s mana field. User has full immunity to the venom. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.Level 1: Duration of mana constructed hemotoxin: 60 Seconds, Lethality on Venom Scale: 4/10 Skill Cool Down Time: 300 seconds
His smiled turned grim¡­ it was good that he had immunity to the poison/venom. Otherwise¡­ it looked like he would die pretty painfully if some of that poison got into him somehow. On the other hand, the short duration of the poison seemed to counterbalance against its effectiveness. Richard wasn¡¯t exactly a doctor, but even he knew that the longer any poison had to work on a person¡¯s body, the more dangerous it would be¡­ He wasn¡¯t sure how much of an effect it would have on something¡­ until he actually experimented with it. That made him shiver just a bit in uncertainty¡­ ¡°Jaeger, you done yet?¡± Nevel¡¯s voice woke Richard up from his daydreaming, and he looked down at the index finger sized mana stone in his bloody hand. ¡°Yeah¡­ I got it. But we need to skin this thing and salvage its fangs. Master will be happy with this one I think. Its big enough for him to chart their growths.¡± Nevel walked over to where Richard was crouching. ¡°So, that¡¯s it then. We¡¯re finished I hope?¡± Richard replied, ¡°Yeah¡­ we¡¯re done.¡± It had taken some fast talking and thinking to spin some crazy reason why Master Mulfow had needed the snakes, but in the end, Richard had used something he was curious about: a study of the magic creatures¡¯ size, the size of their magic stones, and their physical composition. Nevel had only blinked¡­ and shrugged, saying Master Mulfow had always been a bit weird. ¡°Alright, we¡¯re heading back to the village in the morning. Staying out here for this long has been tempting fate. We¡¯re lucky that the damn snakes haven¡¯t been too hungry this year.¡± Nevel crouched down near Richard and began working on skinning the snake. Richard watched carefully without really saying anything. He had learned how to skin things properly¡­ but he was still having trouble doing a good job of it. So, Nevel usually handled the bloody task. An hour or so later, both of the men were seated near a fire, gnawing on roasted snake¡­ Richard decided he wasn¡¯t exactly a food connoisseur, right there and then¡­ the oily meat had a very gamey taste to it and if wasn¡¯t for the fact that they were low on supplies, Richard would have most likely spit out the meat after the first chew. ¡°So, Jaeger, what¡¯re ya planning on doin¡¯ when ya get back to Serenthal?¡± The question at least distracted him from the weird taste in his mouth. It was one of those things that Richard and Nevel had discussed on and off: the various professions available in this world. Things like becoming a priest, craftsman, merchant, mercenary, guard, farmer¡­ However, other than inquiring about all that, Richard hadn¡¯t really expressed an interest in anything to Nevel. Still, the hunter seemed pretty curious about things. ¡°Ahh¡­. I don¡¯t know, Nevel. I figure I might help out Master Mulfow some more until I decide. Haven¡¯t really seen enough to say.¡± On the other side of the fire, the hunter nodded. ¡°True, true. My pa always wanted me to become a merchant or somethin¡¯ in the city¡­ but me and the damn numbers never got on. Went there to ¡®prentice under a merchant for a few years, but I couldn¡¯t take the beatins¡¯ and the insultin¡¯ words for too long. Joined up with the Guard after, but those oath sworn bastards were as bad¡­ sayin¡¯ ya cant¡¯ do this or that, cause we couldn¡¯t break the city treaty¡­¡± Richard had learned that the hunter had a major dislike for the Guards as a organization early on in their hunting expedition, but this was the first time he had heard why exactly. ¡°What do you mean about the oath. The stable¡­ someone back in Serenthal said something similar about being oath sworn.¡± Nevel looked down into the fire with a scowl. ¡°If yer asking about the oath, you really must not be from around here, lad¡­¡± Sighing, the hunter continued, ¡°The oath is pretty basic, but it was created by the settlers when they first came out here, a bit over a hundred years ago. Back then, all this land here was mostly wild lands with the closest cities or towns being to the east among the warring kingdoms or to the West among the Kingdom of Filiaranthon or Astori Lands as we usually call ¡®em. But, when our people settled here, there were no lords or kings¡­ just farmers and merchants not wantin¡¯ to bow to a bunch of stuck up prigs. Of course¡­ to keep some bastard from takin¡¯ over like that, the council of elders back then created the ¡®Oath¡¯ for the Guard. It goes like this: ¡®I as a guardsman, swear to defend Serenthal and its lands from all enemies and to uphold the laws of the council against all enemies. My word is my oath, and my oath is my life.¡¯ The oath may have been great when the council was actually made of elders, who cared about the people. But now, it¡¯s grasard shit¡­ the fools back then forgot that greed can do a lot even if yer no lord. But ta make things worse, about twenty years ago, part of the Guard rebelled, ¡®cause they didn¡¯t like some of the things he council was startin¡¯ to talk about¡­ like forcing people to work as indentured servants. The rebellion was crushed when the council brought in mercenaries to help control things. Of course, things only got worse from then¡­ the Guard was decreased in size and eventually, years later, the Indentured Servitude Ordinance was declared¡­ Things went to shit after that. Now¡­ saying you¡¯re oath sworn is the same as saying you don¡¯ dare to break the council¡¯s laws, ¡®cause you and everyone ya know are dead men if ya do.¡± Richard frowned and quietly said, ¡°The Indentured Servitude Ordinance¡­ Those collars I saw people wearing¡­¡± Nevel looked up and fixed his dark eyes on Richard. ¡°Yeah those¡­ It means yer a slave. No basturd will say it where some council flunky can hear it¡­ but that¡¯s what a collar means... Indentured servant my ass¡­¡± The silence that filled the campsite was a poignant one. Richard didn¡¯t disagree with the hunter¡­ and now that he had heard a little bit more about Serenthal¡¯s history, he understood the Guard and the people a little bit better. Still¡­ somethings weren¡¯t right no matter what oaths were sworn and how much you were afraid. However, Richard wondered if he had the right to be saying that after being so confused because he killed one bandit. ¡°Hello the Camp!¡± The shout jolted Richard out of his thoughts, and he immediately grabbed his short sword that was lying within reach and took a knee in the ground, ready to roll or run in any direction. Across the fire, Nevel also went on guard and began looking around for the source of the shout. A few seconds later, both men made out five dark figures, shoving through the tall grass towards the campsite. Nevel looked over to Richard and stuck out five fingers, signaling how many he saw. Richard did the same and motioned that they should retreat into the tall grass. His pulse was racing again, and his thoughts kept going back to the last encounter with strangers at night¡­ But, Nevel shook his head and motioned for Richard to move away from the campfire just a bit, so he was in the dark. Richard nodded jerkingly and quietly walked over to the nearby tree while still crouched. Nevel shouted, ¡°Identify yerself!¡± A few seconds later, the same man¡¯s voice yelled back, ¡°We come in peace!¡± Nevel looked at Richard, who just shrugged. He had no clue why peaceful people were moving around at night¡­ After a few second of hearing the grass rustling getting closer, Nevel shouted, ¡°Come out with yer hands in the clear! I don¡¯t want any trouble!¡± After a brief time of nervously waiting, Richard finally saw the new arrivals. Two of the men were wearing a mix of leather armor and animal skins and had the look of experienced warriors. One of others, the third man, was slender, wearing sturdy, yet expensive looking clothing and had clean cut, brown hair. Richard didn¡¯t like him at all¡­ His angular face had that weasely look that greedy lawyers usually had, and the way the man¡¯s narrowed eyes kept moving, taking in everything as though they were assessing things worried Richard. Of course, the real reason why Richard decided not to trust them was the last two people. Both of them were women, one with black hair and other with blonde hair, and from what Richard could tell, they were relatively pretty¡­ However, they wore collars¡­ _____________________________________________________________________________________ Note: The venom skill was a bit hard to explain. I wanted to list out the concentrations etc¡­ , but after doing a bit of research, I found the expression of venom toxicity to be very¡­ complicated. So, instead I made it a scale where 10 is like death in less than a minute. Also, keep in mind that the Mimic skill also creates 50% powerful spell for the MC, so you could say that the original venom was like 8/10 on my scale. As far as explaining what a hemotoxin is¡­ browse the short webpage below¡­it was very¡­ um informative¡­ http://malct32.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-does-snake-venom-hemotoxin-affect.html Chapter 15.5: A Questing We Will Go...Hi-Ho the Merry-Oh Part 5 So, just a heads up. I altered the poison skill in the last chapter just a bit. In the venom scale I had it as 3/10 for the one the MC obtained versus the Blood Viper having 5/10. However, I realized something¡­ the venom is too weak for the snake that is feared by so many people. Also, the venom seemed just a bit weaker than I thought it should be for the MC to use. So, I altered it to 4/10 for the MC and 8/10 for the Blood Viper. It¡¯s a bit of drastic change for the snake and a bit less for the MHC, but I felt the change was needed. Thanks. ______________________________________________________________________ Richard clutched his sword tightly as he watched the newcomers walk out of the tall grass. There were only five of them as far as he could tell, but that didn¡¯t mean anything. Remembering the last ambush, he glanced to the sides, trying to find anyone else hiding out there in the dark, and almost automatically, he began to move backwards, keeping a constant distance away from the closest swordsman, who was glaring Richard¡¯s way with a scowl on his blocky face. On the other side of the fire, Nevel was also slowly walking around the fire, so he would have the fire between him and the newcomers. The whole situation stunk, from the way the two swordsmen kept scowling to the way the weasely looking fellow in the middle kept smiling his swarmy smile. However, even if it had been Santa Claus with his elves who had shown up, Richard would have still been on guard. The reasons stood near the weasel faced fellow. Two¡­ women wearing metal collars and¡­ metal shackles around their wrists stood quietly among the men, shaking whether from the night chill or¡­ something else. They had their heads bowed, but even in the dimly lit clearing, Richard could see the bruising on their faces and arms¡­ not to mention the torn up condition of their clothes. For a second, Richard saw red, remembering the prostitute from Serenthal, and his nose flared as he clenched his teeth in anger. Before he could say anything, the weasely fellow spoke first, directing the conversation towards Nevel. ¡°It¡¯s good to be seeing company all the way out here in the marshes. Why, when I saw yer fire, I told my man, Ferthers, that we gotta go see who¡¯s here.¡± After motioning at one of the black haired swordsmen, who was glaring at Nevel, the weasely fellow continued, ¡°The name¡¯s Torane, an¡¯ I¡¯m a bit of a merchant¡­ got some business I¡¯m taking care of around here. So, I¡¯m a wondering if I can¡¯t take some time at yer fire tonight to rest my feet.¡± The smile the man fixed on his face was a fake as the ones Richard was used to throwing around, but Richard felt the tension go up a notch as he saw the almost sinister twist to the man¡¯s eyes and lips. Nevel replied gruffly, and to Richard¡¯s surprise and relief, there was anger in the hunter¡¯s voice. ¡°Not to be rude fellow, but we ain¡¯t entertaining folks tonight. Yer the 25th one to come bothering us in the last few weeks, askin¡¯ for food and shelter. We don¡¯t have much as is¡­, so sorry fella.¡± Richard twitched when he heard ¡®25th¡¯ but otherwise tried not to show any reaction. After hunting with Nevel for even a week, Richard was used to the hunter not saying anything uselessly, and that number was unfortunately one more than the number of Blood Vipers they had killed. Richard¡¯s mind went into to a frenzy as he knew this whole encounter was going to end badly. He glanced at the swordsmen again¡­ and found them even more alert with their eyes narrowed and their bodies starting to tense up. Torane spoke again, this time, his voice almost oozing, ¡°Tell ya what, swamp man, I throw in some free time with these two pretties¡­ well, they¡¯re a bit used up now, but they still got more than a bit spunk left ov¡¯r fer a few more rides.¡± The offer sickened Richard. The last time he had heard something like that was from a thug standing outside Richard¡¯s workplace, trying to pimp out a woman, who looked like she needed a few months in rehab. Back then, he had walked away, too scared to say anything since he had seen the 38 Special stuck in the bastard¡¯s pants. A few weeks later, the cops and an ambulance had shown up a few blocks over and removed the woman¡¯s dead body from an alleyway. The local cops, who visited the store once in a while, said she had been shot by an unknown assailant. No one had done anything more or said anything about it¡­ anyways, the woman had just been another whore¡­ who cared, right? Some things¡­ some things could not be allowed again¡­ Richard felt his feet moving to get a better balance and his sword steadying in his hand. Nearby, he heard Nevel growl out, ¡°I don¡¯t think those women are yers to be offering, dogfucker¡­ They ain¡¯t slaves.¡± Torane¡¯s smile vanished in a flash, and the vicious smirk that replaced it was more of a fit for the narrow, weasely face. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to be seeing anyone out here with high and mighty feelings, but well¡­ but both of ya will make a good bargain. Especially, the prettier one over there.¡± The last was said with nod towards Richard. ¡°Take ¡®em boys, but keep ¡®em in one piece if you can!¡± Almost immediately, all hell broke loose. The swordsmen both moved quickly, propelling themselves forward, towards both Nevel and Richard. Richard reacted on instinct, casting ¡®Biogas¡¯ right where all five people had been standing, but he was too late as the swordsmen had already moved. He heard coughing and gasping, as he saw Torane and both women stumble out of the cloud and collapse on the ground. From experience, he knew they would survive, though they might be incapacitated for a while. However, Richard had no time to think about that as one of the swordsman was already running at Richard while drawing what looked like a bastard sword over his shoulder. Again, Richard acted with practiced ease, casting ¡®Quagmire¡¯ right in front of the swordsman, who subsequently ran into the mud trap and stumbled to a stop with a grunt. Richard, who had been backing away, took a second to see what had happened with Nevel¡­ just in time to see the other swordsman point an arm towards Richard and produce a ball of red fire that spun right at him! Richard felt his muscles and brain freeze in shock as he watched death come for him¡­ but suddenly, a blast of wind filled the space in front of him, pushing him backwards¡­ and shoving the fireball off course so it flew past Richard, leaving him with a slight sunburn on his right arm instead of with fourth degree burns. Behind him, Richard heard the whooshing sound as the fireball hit something, but his eyes were instead fixated on Nevel, who was just turning his attention back to the second swordsman after casting the wind based magic. Suddenly, Richard head Nevel shout, ¡°On your guard, Jaeger! They¡¯re magic users¡­ Both of them!¡± That woke Richard up, and he turned to the first swordsman, just in time to see the ground solidify under the man, trapping his legs under the soil. Richard automatically aimed his left arm at the man and cast ¡°Stone Projectile, but whether through luck or preparation, the man crouched just in time for the projectile to miss his head. ¡°F#$K!¡± Richard cursed his aim, realizing he should have just taken the body shot instead of risking a head shot. He realized he had no choice but deal with the man at close range and began walking towards the first swordsman while trying to find a good angle to attack from. That¡¯s when the third shock of the battle hit Richard. The trapped swordsman screamed, ¡°ARRRGGGHGHHH!¡±¡­. And almost immediately, the man seemed to tremble wildly and¡­ f#$king grow¡­ it wasn¡¯t anything like the nerdy scientist becoming the hulk, but Richard watched with amazed eyes as the man¡¯s clothes strained as all the muscles in his body bulked up. Steam rose from the man¡¯s body, making it seem like some kind of crazy scene from an anime. And within a few seconds¡­ the swordsman looked like some kind of mutant human wearing a set of clothes two sizes too small for him. The man¡¯s eyes were bloodshot and veins pulsed all over his red tinged arms and face. Richard whispered, ¡°Bane...¡± And like the monstrous juggernaut, who had been Batman¡¯s nemesis, the swordsman didn¡¯t disappoint. ¡°URRRAAHHAHHHHH!¡± With an animal like roar, he effortlessly ripped one of his legs out of the ground, freeing it from the ¡®Quagmire¡¯ trap. ¡°ORRAAAAHAHH!¡± A second roar, and as second leg was freed. Then, the man¡¯s rage filled eyes fixated on Richard, and¡­. he charged with a primal scream. ¡°ARRRRAAAHHHHH!¡± ¡°F#$K!¡± Richard had just enough time to bring his sword up to block as the hulked up swordsman brought his bastard sword swinging right at Richard¡¯s chest. Thankfully, Richard had the good sense to block the swing while bracing his blade using his left forearm. Even so, he felt the bone jarring impact as the bastard sword slammed into his own short sword... slamming the flat side of his blade back up against Richard¡¯s left arm¡­ and shoving the tangled weapon and limb into his chest, almost slicing his nose off in the process. Unfortunately, the hulkified swordsman didn¡¯t stop at that. Slamming his body into Richard, the other man growled vengefully, while pushing his bastard sword so hard that it was literally pinning Richard¡¯s left arm and sword up against Richard¡¯s chest. Then with another ¡°URAAAAAAAHHH,¡± the man thrust forward so hard that Richard literally went flying a half a dozen feet backwards. Splaattttshh! Falling on this back, Richard felt dazed and suddenly scared shitless. The swordsman was almost like some kind of human beast¡­. that strength¡­ that rage¡­ it made Richard¡¯s entire body shake in terror. Then, he heard the stomping¡­ and Richard knew he was totally f#$ked if he froze up again. He couldn¡¯t stay down¡­ not if he wanted survive. With a wheeze, he rolled to his left as fast as he could, guessing what was coming next. Almost a second later, he heard a ¡®thunk¡¯ as something slammed into the ground he had just gotten away from. Richard quickly rolled to his feet, propelling himself up with his arms and knees as his adrenaline finally drove his muscles to action. He stepped back a bit to reorient himself, and he saw the hulked up swordsman coming right for him. The worst part was that Richard had lost his sword¡­ Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the dead tree from earlier, and just as the swordsman brought the bastard sword down at Richard¡¯s head for an overhead strike, he dodged behind the tree, while calling up his inventory. Richard pulled out his halberd, while he nervously watched the swordsman recover from the missed swing. The halberd was a gift from the Guard armory at Ortesse, and Richard had been practicing with it for a few days now. He wasn¡¯t exactly trained to use it properly, but he knew it gave him the benefit of range, which was exactly what he needed to keep the crazy freak swordsman in check until he could figure out how to deal with the man. The swordsman walked around the tree and advanced just out of range of the halberd. The man¡¯s rage filled eyes seemed a lot more focused for some reason, and Richard almost choked when he saw the man smile a gap toothed, evil smile. ¡°Sooo¡­ the littttlllleee hunttteerrrr wansss too plaaaayyyzzz.¡± The swordsman¡¯s voice sounded slurred and almost like he was high or something Muttering, ¡°Shit¡­ f#@King crackheads no matter where I go¡­¡± Richard braced himself for the worst. Most of his skills/spells were still not ready yet. The one with the least time left was the ¡®Stone Projectile¡¯¡­ As the swordsman swung a few times, almost like he was toying with his opponent, Richard desperately used his Halberd like a spear, always keeping it between him and the swordsman. Meanwhile, his brain was furiously trying to figure out what to do. He kept hearing the sound of swords clashing and other noises further away, so he knew Nevel was still alive¡­ but he knew he couldn¡¯t count on Nevel coming to the rescue¡­ especially not with the other swordsman being a magic user. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. So¡­ Richard realized he had to win this fight himself. ¡°Weakness¡­ weakness¡­ come on¡­ what¡¯s the freak¡¯s weakness.¡± Muttering to himself, Richard kept retreating in the face of relentless attacks even as his stomach clenched tighter with the fear of dying. However, the more he dodged and backed up, the more he understood his enemy. There were two things that stuck out. The man was red all over¡­ like his blood was about to erupt out of his skin. More than that, the man¡¯s attacks seemed very unbalanced¡­ like he was having trouble controlling his strength. There was no clear opening on the man¡¯s body, or at least one that Richard could easily attack¡­ but¡­ the limbs¡­.! Richard didn¡¯t think he could get a clean strike at the brute¡­ but maybe there was another way. In the corner of his vision, he saw the suddenly solid icon indicating his stone projectile skill was ready. Just then, he heard the hulked up swordsman growl, ¡°Enufffff off thessss! Timeee taaaa enddd etttt!¡± Richard realized he was out of time, but¡­ as the swordsman took up an attack stance, Richard began his own desperate attack. Quickly raising his left arm, he cast ¡®Stone Projectile¡¯ just as the swordsman stepped forward to slash at Richard¡­ However, Richard wasn¡¯t exactly standing there anymore¡­. Even as he awkwardly cast his attack spell, he dove to the left, while keeping a firm grasp on his halberd. In the corner of his eyes, Richard saw the swordsman¡¯s bastard blade cut through the air, missing him by just a few inches. As scared as he was, a cold rage kept him focused. There was desperation in what he was doing¡­ but he also had a plan. He didn¡¯t expect the ¡®Stone Projectile¡¯ to kill the man, but at the close range it was fired at, Richard knew even the hulked up swordsman would be hurt enough to buy a few precious seconds... and that¡¯s all he needed¡­. As expected, ¡°ARRGGHGHGG! BASTTUUURD!¡± It was music to Richard¡¯s ears, and he snarled as fell on the ground, twisting around so he was facing the swordsman. It was an awkward position, but he had a clear shot at the big brute for those few seconds as the swordsman tried to recover. More than that, Richard had a little gift for the bastard¡­ The swordsman was angry. The little weakling kept dodging around, running away like the vermin he was. More than that, the swordsman was angry, because he had let the little vermin use his stone spell again. Even if it had been weak compared to his own power, it had hurt¡­ his chest felt like it was on fire, and he had no doubt that some of his bones might have been bruised as well. However, the swordsman felt the fury inside him burn away all pain. He would tear apart the vermin¡­ and then butcher the other fool¡­. then maybe he would use one of the women again¡­ Smiling in beastial rage, the swordsman turned quickly, ready to rend the vermin in half. Suddenly, the swordsman felt pain in his right thigh¡­ Looking down, he found the tip of the halberd shallowly embedded in his right thigh, but for some reason¡­ it began to burn¡­. And hurt bad enough for him to feel it through his rage. ¡°ARRRRRRGGG!¡± The bastard sword swung down, trying to smash the shaft of the halberd, but Richard was already scrambling back away with the halberd firmly grasped in his hands. He quickly got up, standing in a defensive pose, even as the crazy swordsman howled in anger for a while. The wound wasn¡¯t that bad, and it was nothing a few stitches and some medicinal herbs couldn¡¯t take off in the long run... But the swordsman grabbed his thigh and looked up at Richard with a pain contorted face. Now, it was Richard¡¯s turn to smile evilly¡­. The swordsman¡¯s face twisted into a repulsive mix of pain and anger, and he spat, ¡°Whasss Youuzzz doooo??!!!¡± Richard chuckled¡­ ¡°You know, I really wanted to kill you by slicing you up or chopping you up¡­ but then I realized something¡­ It was a waste of my time and effort. Easier just to sting you to death¡­ like a bee¡­ or maybe, I should say¡­ better to bite you to death¡­¡­ like a snake.¡± Richard raised his halberd, so its metal head was at chest height. The head had an axe like blade with a spear like tip, but the interesting part was the greenish tinted glow on the tip and blades. The swordsman¡¯s bloodshot eyes widened, and he quickly glanced down at his thigh, which was starting to swell up as well hurt like something was burrowing into it. When he looked up, it was with shock on his face. Richard smiled cruelly, and at the corner of his vision, he saw the icon for his ¡®Quagmire¡¯ spell become available. ¡°Let¡¯s get started then, shall we?¡± Before he could say anything, the swordsman once again found himself sinking in the blasted mud trap spell. The swordsman tried to move, but the more he struggled, the deeper he sank. If it had been dry ground like before, he could have maybe ripped his legs out¡­ but this¡­ this didn¡¯t allow anything. The worst part was his right leg, which began to burn, starting with his thighs and slowly reaching towards his groin and lower leg. Every time he tried to move, it sent lances of pain up into his body. The swordsman roared his anger and raged ¡­ but it was useless¡­ He watched as the vermin circled around quickly¡­ The swordsman screamed, ¡°No! No! No!,¡± but it was useless. The vermin quickly passed out of sight, and just as the swordsman began struggling to get turned around¡­. the ground solidified. And then¡­. it began¡­ Multiple jabs¡­ two¡­ six¡­ a dozen¡­ two dozen¡­ bored into his back sending fiery lances of pain into his body. But, that wasn¡¯t all¡­ he felt his back burning¡­ burning¡­ burning¡­. As time passed, his body began shaking as he felt his back swelling up, and¡­ he finally began to cry for mercy¡­ Then, through his tears, he saw the vermin show up before him¡­ ¡°Merceeee¡­ pleasseee¡­¡± The vermin¡¯s plain face suddenly contorted into one filled with rage. The last words the swordsman heard before the halberd¡¯s tip pierce his throat was ¡°F@#K you!¡± Richard pulled the halberd back out of the swordsman¡¯s neck and backed away a bit disgusted¡­ both with what he done and what was happening to the man. The Blood Viper venom was deadly¡­ but it was only part of the horror that had befallen the swordsman. Richard had realized that whatever skill the man was using to gain extra strength was probably pumping his blood through his body at a tremendous rate, hence the heavily flushed skin and steam pouring off the man. Mix hemotoxin with something like that... well¡­ shit happens. But, Richard didn¡¯t have time to admire his bloody handiwork¡­ there were still enemies left. However, as the adrenaline rush finally started to wear off, he felt his chest, arms, legs¡­ everything throbbing¡­. ¡°Shit¡­¡± Thankfully, when he turned around, it was to the scene of Nevel plunging his longsword into the fireball casting swordsman¡¯s belly. There were small fires burning in the surrounding grass, and the scene very much looked like the end of a duel between some barbarians¡­ But as Nevel pulled out his sword and the swordsman collapsed, Richard sighed in relief¡­. Now¡­ all that was left was weasel face and the two women. The whole battle had taken maybe three minutes, but weasel face had been busy in the mean time. For some stupid reason, the fool hadn¡¯t run away when he recovered from the ¡®Biogas¡¯¡­ Maybe he thought his men would win, or maybe he was just a greedy bastard¡­ but he was still there, coughing and holding a knife up to blonde woman¡¯s neck. As Richard made his way over, he heard weasel face yelling at Nevel. ¡°Damn you, ya ignorant turd! I¡¯ll be leavin¡¯ with the women an¡¯ you won¡¯t be following. Ya understan¡¯!!¡± Nevel stood a few feet away, holding his bloodied blade at a downturned angle. Richard wondered if he should cast ¡®Biogas¡¯ again¡­ but he didn¡¯t think it would be healthy for someone to get a double dose of it that soon. Weasel face, Richard didn¡¯t care much about, but seeing the coughing blonde woman, Richard didn¡¯t dare to use that skill again. Of course, fate has a way of changing things¡­. A few seconds later, just as weasel face began to rant again, the other woman hit him in the back of the head with a large rock, and weasel face stumbled forward in pain. Things like a person being knocked out only happen in movies, but the opening was enough for Nevel to grab weasel face and wrestle him to the ground. The women immediately fell to the ground sobbing and clutching each other in misery. Richard avoided looking at them and instead made his way over to Nevel and weasel face. Nevel got up holding the merchant¡¯s knife, and seeing Richard, he passed the knife over. Richard looked at the steel blade. It was very¡­ decorative with multiple gems embedded in the hilt. He wasn¡¯t a good judge of weapons, but Richard had a very poor opinion of any idiot that would stick gems in a knife that they planned on threatening people with. Nevel finally asked, ¡°So what do ya want ta do with the fool?¡± Richard looked at the hunter¡¯s stoic face. ¡°What was he doing out here? You said something like he was a slaver.¡± Nevel finally grimaced and spat off to the side. ¡°Yeah¡­ Shits like him trade with thieves and some cultists that live out here in the marshlands¡­. They buy women fer¡­ well¡­ for various reasons¡­¡± Richard felt his insides go cold. He could imagine what thieves might use women for, but cultists¡­ Looking down at the sobbing merchant, Richard felt that little core of hatred inside him grow just a bit more. Weasel face sobbed, ¡°Please, don¡¯ kill me¡­ I can pay.. ye¡¯ll be rich men¡­ please¡­¡± Richard¡¯s face lost all expression, and he turned to the women, who were crying on the ground nearby. ¡°Hey! You two!¡± The women flinched at his voice but looked up at him with tears on their sweat and grime streaked faces. Richard motioned for them to get up and approach him. Shaking and scared, the women slowly complied. Looking at their faces, Richard saw women¡­ no¡­ just girls¡­ a few years younger than him. Both had oval faces, and they were not breath taking beauties. They were just average people¡­ who had their entire lives ripped out from them¡­ because why? Because they owed money¡­ or maybe because they couldn¡¯t find work¡­ or maybe because their shitty parents sold them¡­. And then, they got used and beaten before they were going to be sold again¡­ to cultists? Richard¡¯s face hardened, and his eyes narrowed, causing the women to flinch back a little in fear. He held up the merchant¡¯s knife, showing it to them, and then without looking, he pulled out his hunting knife from his inventory. Holding both knives by their blades, he presented them to the girls. ¡°Me and my friend took care of the other pieces of shit¡­. There¡¯s still one left. Do what you want with him¡­¡± Both of the girls stared at Richard with wide eyes for a few seconds, before their eyes hardened just like his own, and they carefully took the knives out of Richard¡¯s hands. From the ground, Richard heard the merchant whimpering and begging, but he tuned it out as he turned around and walked towards the campfire, which was still burning. It was a beautiful night¡­ and he had survived again¡­ That¡¯s all that mattered for now¡­ Then the screaming began¡­.. Chapter 16: We Meet Again Wow¡­ I don¡¯t post one day b/c of Christmas¡­ and I come back and some guy¡¯s (PraveenLvv) given me half a star on everything on the ratings page, screwing up the ratings completely¡­.LOL¡­ I can understand getting that for the story and overall score etc¡­ but I didn¡¯t think my grammar and writing style was that bad¡­ Also, I thought the purpose of chapter title was to summarize the chapter or give you a good idea of what¡¯s in the chapter¡­ LOL¡­ Merry F#$king Christmas right?... anyway¡­ It seems like part of the issue is that my chapters are too short and since my story is not hack and slash or ¡®adventurous¡¯ everyday, you aren¡¯t seeing excitement in each chapter¡­ Up till now, I¡¯ve been trying to put out one chapter a day with about 1500 words and decent to above average grammar... Well¡­ I decided to go ahead and stop that after this chapter. From now on, I¡¯m going to do one chapter every four to five days with maybe 4000 words or more in it. It¡¯ll give you guys a bit more to read each chapter and maybe expand the story each chapter instead of spreading it out. Hopefully, that¡¯ll resolve a few issues. ____________________________________________________________________ It was midday, and for what it was worth, Richard was in a good mood. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and more than anything¡­ his inventory was stuffed. In fact, it was pretty much full, so he was carrying his share of the loot from the battle with the slavers in a rucksack on his back. The salvaged sword, clothes, food, and a few other items from their packs added about 20 or so pounds to his weight, so¡­ it was slow going, but Richard didn¡¯t mind. Waste not, want not, right? He had been wandering around the outer fringes of the marshlands for the last few days after splitting up with Nevel and the women. The hunter had decided to take the women to somewhere safe¡­ at least that¡¯s how Nevel had put it¡­ and Richard hadn¡¯t second guessed him. For one thing, Richard had observed the hunter long enough to realized he wasn¡¯t a bastard, and for another, the man really hated slavers. So, it wasn¡¯t too difficult to let the tearful/thankful girls go with him¡­ Part of the reason was because he had wanted to some time to contemplate what had happened that night. Thinking about what had happened¡­ it gave him shivers¡­ Never mind what he had done¡­ the girls had been very¡­ ummm¡­ ¡®thorough,¡¯ would be the best word. Overall, Richard felt just a bit uncomfortable with how cold and ruthless he had been¡­ Though, all of it happened in the spur of the moment, the more Richard thought about it, the more he realized something was fundamentally changing inside him. In some ways, the change was good, because he wasn¡¯t afraid of the unknown anymore¡­ but he was starting to develop some deep hatreds that were starting to nag at him¡­ like wanting him to hunt some more of those bastards down even now¡­ He wondered if that would make him a serial killer or maybe a vigilante¡­ Hmm¡­ Well¡­ But for the present, he was just happy that shit was behind him and that he was finally heading back to what counted as civilization in this place. A week and a half without a shower¡­ was a bit disgusting feeling. Thankfully, the village was a few miles¡­ somewhere ahead, and he¡­ well¡­ honestly, he was lost. Richard stood in the forest, looking around and scratching his head in confusion. From the position of the sun¡­ and the moss growing the tree¡­ ¡°Umm¡­ Let¡¯s see¡­ Nevel said east and southeast, so I¡¯ve been moving¡­ ummm.¡± Technically, he had been lost to start out with. Sooo¡­. He had even tried using his Compass of Seeking after remembering about the damn thing. The first day¡­ when he had requested it direct him towards the village, nothing had happened, and the countdown timer on the damn thing had reset to 24 hours. The second day, he had tried to be more specific, forcing his desire for a building to be forefront on his mind¡­ He had ended up with three different trails, two of them heading in the same, general direction. So, he had followed the two trails, and after a while, the third, misty/smoky trail had disappeared. Of course, as his luck would have it, he ended up finding a couple of old, rotting cabins. And now, it was the third day¡­ and the clock showed 3 seconds¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ Richard tapped the top of the compass/watch. Ding! A message box popped up right in front of him.
What do you seek?
Richard kept his mind clear¡­ since the stupid thing seemed to pick up on the first thing he thought of¡­ So, the first think he thought of was ¡®people.¡¯ For a second, nothing happened¡­ Then suddenly, a single blue, misty trail popped up, heading somewhere off to what he thought was¡­ the east? After wondering about it, he shrugged and decided to head that way instead of wasting time. One thing he had learned was that the stupid compass thing had a time limit of about a half an hour or so. It seemed to be one of those ¡®not important¡¯ details that was left out of its description by whoever had made the thing... A couple dozen minutes later, he started hearing voices¡­. Well, there was some high pitched screaming¡­ followed up raucous laughter. The forest had been getting denser as well, so Richard couldn¡¯t actually make out a lot of what he was heading towards¡­ However, he got that shitty feeling that it was another one of those stupid ¡®random encounters¡¯ he was starting to get lucky with. And this one was starting to sound like it was going to be a messed up one¡­ again. So, he crouched and quietly dropped his rucksack before slowly maneuvering through the forest underbrush. He wasn¡¯t exactly Solid Snake from the Metal Gear games¡­ but he had learned a few tricks of the trade from Nevel¡­ Also, hunting Blood Vipers had been a pretty good motivation towards staying silent and hidden¡­ considering the alternative had been having a 15 foot freak of a snake wanting to take a bite out of you. One of the main things that had been pounded into his head was that if he could see the enemy, the enemy had a good chance of seeing him in return¡­ So, he instead peeked through what looked like a bush. ¡°God f@$king shit¡­ why can¡¯t it be something peaceful for once?¡± Quietly muttering his breath, Richard took in the situation. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. 1. Three no good, piece of shit armed douches were laughing like a bunch of third rate villains. 2. The object of their ridicule was tied to a tree, with his back facing towards the third rate villains. 3. The object of their ridicule looked like some kind of young kid. 4. The object of their ridicule had his pants down around his legs. 5. One of the third rate villains was waving around a stick, which seemed to have a tip that was slightly smoking, no doubt having been burned by the small, smothered campfire they had going. ¡°Seriously¡­.¡± Muttering, Richard shook his head in disgust¡­ Anyway, the moment he had seen the kid, he had decided to help¡­ but after watching the morons and their stupidity for a while, he decided killing them was a gods¡¯ given task¡­ since it would at least improve the average IQ in this world. So, he quietly snuck a bit closer, trying not to rustle any bushes or snap any twigs¡­. He had always wondered how a snapping twig could be so loud in a forest where the wind was blowing, rustling leaves and generally making a racket¡­. but, he decided to be careful nevertheless. His luck wasn¡¯t exactly the best lately, and there was always a shitty chance that the bandits had some super skill like ¡®Cat¡¯s Ears¡¯ or some shit like that. Finally, when he thought he was close enough, he targeted one of the morons, who looked like he was carrying a crossbow. The idiot had his back turned to Richard¡­ and though he seemed a bit skinny, his back was a pretty clear target¡­ The other two, one of whom was the bigger and bulkier of three goons, were standing closer to each other, so Richard reserved the area effective spells for them. However, watching them for a bit, Richard realized the trio of morons were so absorbed in their little game, that they weren¡¯t paying any attention to anything¡­. Thug One¡­.who¡¯s name didn¡¯t matter anyway¡­ felt perverse glee at watching and hearing the little freak tied to the tree squirm and squeal in a squeaky voice. The gang had netted the twerp in their last night raid on a camp on the road to Ortesse. Though the pickings hadn¡¯t been too good lately, Thug One was happy that they had at least gotten the squirt to torture a bit. Thug One¡¯s companions¡­ hadn¡¯t been too happy after the last raid¡­ Thug one scowled. It wasn¡¯t his fault that their mark the last time had been some kind of magic user. Of course, Thug one had gotten the blame since he hadn¡¯t actually been hurt¡­ Well, at least the others now had the twerp to rough up a bit¡­. ¡°ARRGGHGHGH!!!¡± Thug one collapsed forward onto the ground, screaming and his hands dropping his crossbow as they clutched his sides instead. His back felt like something had just slammed into it¡­ breaking something. It felt like his insides were being poked¡­ and¡­ and¡­ he couldn¡¯t move his legs¡­. ¡°Uggaggghhhh¡­.! Whaaaaa?!!!¡± Thug one choked out a scream and looked up through watering eyes, trying to find his companions. However, to his shock, he saw them flailing around, while holding their throats and faces¡­ and to make things worse, they seemed to be stuck where they were standing... Thug one moaned in pain and tried to move his body. He was afraid¡­ as afraid as he had been that night¡­ His eyes suddenly widened and his heart started racing¡­. That night! Then from behind him, he heard a sarcastic voice¡­ ¡°Oh¡­ so it¡¯s you three f#$k heads¡­ I wondered where you dumbasses ran off to back then¡­¡± Standing behind the bandit trio, Richard quickly recognized the huge bulky one as one of the swordsman from the night ambush. So¡­ that meant the other two were the archers¡­ Richard shrugged¡­ It didn¡¯t really matter¡­ They were still idiots¡­. Hell¡­ they hadn¡¯t even bothered to keep an eye out on their surroundings¡­ Richard could have probably stabbed one of them in the back, before they realized something was wrong. Now¡­ one was on the ground squirming like his back was broken or something¡­ and the other two¡¯s legs were firmly implanted in the now dry ground. One of them even collapsed as though he had fainted from the Biogas¡­ They were helpless¡­. Richard pulled out his halberd from his inventory, coated its metal head with Blood Viper Venom and stabbed at each of them a few times. The big one got a couple extra pokes due to his size¡­ ¡°ARGGGGGG!¡± ¡°MAMAAAAA!¡± ¡°NOOOOOOO!¡± After watching them squirm and scream for a few seconds, Richard decided to finish things¡­ the bandits were stupid and evil and probably deserved the slow and painful death¡­ but they were making too much noise. Gods forbid that there was something horrible and nasty wandering around the forest¡­. Hack! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!..... Stab! ¡°Sheesh¡­ you f#$kers bleed like pigs...¡± Muttering, Richard walked past the bloody mess he had made and looked at the half naked kid tied to the tree¡­ Richard didn¡¯t really feel any remorse in killing the morons¡­ mainly because of the kid. Any piece of shit that did this to a kid, deserved to die a slow, painful death. However, Richard also felt as sense of¡­ taking out the trash¡­ yeah, that might be the best way to describe it. The little kid, who came up to about Richard¡¯s abdomen in height, was whimpering and crying. Richard couldn¡¯t exactly see much since the kid had his face up against the tree, so he walked around the tree, pulling out his hunting knife from his inventory. ¡°Alright kiddo, I¡¯ll have you free in a sec. I¡¯m here to help ya.¡± With a quick slash, the rope tied to the kid¡¯s arms and around the tree fell away, and the kid quickly backed away from the tree. Richard stepped around the tree with a comforting smile¡­ His smile quickly dropped¡­ and ¡°Welks! You f#$king midget!¡± __________________________________________________________________________ See Chapters 8,9, and 10 to see why MC hates Welks.... Chapter 17.1: Wilabouwus Pt. 1 Richard felt his body suddenly shaking in anger. Standing in front of him was the midget, who had f#@ked up his first day on this gods¡¯ forsaken world. Memories of being tazed by some kind of magical wand and being stuff in a smelly, dark prison returned with a vengeance, and Richard gripped his knife with thoughts of homicide running through his brain. Then, the little midget piped up in a cute sounding, high pitched voice, ¡°I¡¯m no Welks! My name¡¯s Meran, an¡¯ I¡¯m a halfling you big dope!¡± Richard¡¯s homicidal inclination almost immediately vanished, and he looked back down in surprise at the midg¡­ no halfling, who was pulling up his pants while wiping his tears off his trembling cheeks, looking like he was desperately holding back his sobs. The hair was the same color¡­ but this midg¡­ halfling didn¡¯t have a button like nose or green eyes. Instead, this halfling¡¯s nose was a bit more prominent, and his eyes were black colored. Mind you, he still had the kid like, soft looking triangular face. Still¡­ Yep¡­ Not Welks. Then Richard¡¯s eyes then fell on his own knife, which he was holding like he was some kind of crazy slasher¡­ It was a pretty ¡®suspicious¡¯ scene. Anyone looking at it would have probably considered Richard to be some kind of¡­.umm¡­ let¡¯s leave it at ¡®bad guy.¡¯ Quickly, Richard hid the knife behind his back and cleared his throat. ¡°Ahem¡­ ahh¡­ As I was saying, I¡¯m here to save you¡­ I think?¡± The halfling, Meran, looked up at the big human, who had saved him just when things were looking very, very bad. The mean bandits were going to do something, which would have¡­ hurt very badly. In fact, Meran had been praying desperately, even as he screamed, for someone to come save him. Truthfully, he had been praying since he was kidnapped at the crossroads to Ortesse earlier today, but the halfling gods must have not heard him until now. Thinking about everything he had lost at the crossroads and the mean things the bad bandits had said to him, Meran began to tear up again, his lips trembling. Richard winced as he saw the tears pouring down the halflings face and tried to say something encouraging. ¡°Your¡¯re safe now¡­ right¡­ Look, all the bad men are dead.¡± Pointing at the dead men, Richard tried to simile his most calming smile. The halfling looked back at the bloody scene and quickly turned back with wide eyes, a scared face, and his mouth opening in shock. Richard¡¯s smile froze on his face and he thought, ¡°Oh shit.¡± ¡°WWWWAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!¡± It took some time to get Meran calmed down, and by the end of it, Richard felt like he was one of those kindergarten teachers, who was yanking on his/her hair in frustration while standing in middle of a dozen crying kids. Except, Richard only had one annoying halfling do deal with. ¡°So¡­ Uh¡­ Meran¡­ How old are you?¡± Richard felt it was a pertinent question, since the halfling was literally acting like a kid. Meran, who had just finished blowing his nose on one of Richard¡¯s tunics, looked up and whispered, ¡°14.¡± Richard winced as he watched his tunic get ruined and asked, ¡°How¡¯d you end up being kidnapped by the goons back there?¡± Meran looked down and said in a depressed voice, ¡°They attacked me when I was camped at the crossroads to Ortesse¡­ and then stole some of my things and then they brought me here.¡± Now, Richard was all for independence and self reliance, but even he didn¡¯t think a 14 year old had any business traveling alone in this crazy, f#@ked world, especially with things like grasards, Blood Vipers, and crazy bandits roaming around. ¡°Were you alone or¡­?¡± Richard really didn¡¯t want to hear that he had to go save someone else or hunt down some other idiots¡­ but, well, he couldn¡¯t ignore a kid either. Meran shook his head, becoming a bit lively finally. ¡°No. I was on my Wilabouwus after leaving my parent¡¯s farm four weeks ago.¡± ¡°Wila¡­wilabow¡­ what?¡± Richard hated weird, foreign words¡­. Oh, he was all for cultural diversity and multicultural experiences... But some words you had to grow up saying, and no amount of brain implanted languages could fix that. ¡°Wilabouwus, silly. It¡¯s where a halfling, who¡¯s come of age to be an adult, goes and sees the world, experiencing new things and learning what he wants to do in life.¡± The halfling had a bright smile on his face suddenly, like he had just forgotten he was supposed be depressed after losing all his stuff and almost being¡­ umm¡­ tortured by a bunch of goons. That made a couple alarms go off in Richard¡¯s head¡­ but¡­ he resolutely focused on the fact that the halfling was an adult even though he was only 14¡­. ¡°Umm¡­ So you¡¯re an adult?¡± Richard wanted to make sure of that¡­ ¡°Yep!¡± The halfling smiled brightly, standing akimbo, like he had just accomplished something spectacular. ¡°Okay¡­ You¡¯re welcome for being saved¡­ Good luck¡­¡° With that, Richard turned to leave¡­ His business was done with the halfling, and Richard¡¯s ¡®You¡¯re Screwed¡¯ alarm was ringing pretty loudly now. The halfling seemed a bit¡­ ditzy was the best word. He had walked about half way across the clearing, when suddenly, he felt someone hugging one of his legs¡­ Richard stared at the sky for a bit, counting down from three, but the hugging sensation didn¡¯t go away. Sighing, he finally looked down¡­ and as expected, Meran was on his knees, hugging Richard¡¯s right leg with a suddenly tearful face. To say Richard felt D¨¦j¨¤ vu was an understatement, though he remembered being on the other end in the past. Massaging his forehead, Richard said, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­ you want to go with me, right?¡± When Richard looked down again, Meran had his mouth wide open as though shocked, ¡°Yes, mister! How did you know?¡± The high pitched, piping voice was super annoying, but Richard just gritted his teeth and decided he couldn¡¯t actually¡­ technically¡­ or maybe even morally kill someone he had just saved¡­. Right? Richard sighed and decided he had to be firm with the halfling. ¡°Look, I know¡­.¡± CRUBBSSSSSSSSHHH! The sudden noise kind of put an end to the conversation. The halfling¡¯s eyes widened, matching Richard¡¯s own surprised look. Slowly¡­ both of them turned their heads in a creaking manner towards where the breaking, crushing noise had come from. Richard began muttering, ¡°Please don¡¯t be something¡­ please don¡¯t be something¡­¡± Of course, the gods seemed to be in a good mood today¡­ so¡­ there was something there¡­ From behind some bushes, a large form pushed out. Two yellow stained tusks, each curving up on either side of a large snout were the first to appear. Then came the wrinkled, dirt and grime stained face that only a mother could love¡­. and following that was a large body, a little smaller than a Volkswagen Beetle, covered in matted, brown fur and held up on four beefy legs. SNORT!!!! The sound echoed through the small clearing¡­ literally making the air tremble. Richard couldn¡¯t believe his eyes¡­ It was a friggin boar¡­ but not just any boar¡­ it was boarzilla. There was no fat on the monstrous slab of pork chops¡­ The body of the beast rippled under its fur revealing well toned muscle and dozens of old scars, and when it tossed its head to shake off some leaves, it was with a force that would have made a bear flinch. Then it lowered its head, and its bloodshot eyes fixated right on Richard¡­. ¡°Oh shit¡­.¡± ¡°Hey mister¡­ umm¡­ Mr. Pig doesn¡¯t look too happy¡­¡± For a second, Richard disbelievingly looked down at the halfling, who was staring back at him with wide, frightened eyes. SNORT!!!! By then, it was too late any witty comebacks or even a ¡°seriously¡­.?¡± Richard yelled, ¡°Move!!¡± Surprisingly enough, the halfling actually let go pretty quickly, scrambling off to the side doing a backwards crabwalk. Richard slowly lifted up his halberd, nervously pointing it towards boarzilla, who was pawing at ground and spraying snot all over the place as it got ready to charge. He¡­ really didn¡¯t want to be doing this¡­. From his experience so far in this world, boarzilla was most likely something out of the ordinary. Just its size was enough to prove that it was a magical beast of some sort, but¡­ the overpowering ¡°I¡¯m going to f#$k you up!¡± aura it was spilling all over the place kind of sealed the deal. In the first place, Richard had no idea why the freakish beast was after him. It wasn¡¯t like he had accidentally kicked the pig while it was sleeping or something. Hell, he didn¡¯t even like pork¡­ But¡­ GRUNNNNTTSQUEAALLL!!!! Boarzilla began charging, tossing dirt and grass behind as it closed quickly on Richard from across the clearing. Without a second thought, Richard fired a ¡®Stone Projectile¡¯ right at the beasts head¡­.. to no effect. It was like the piece of stone just shattered, with pieces deflecting off the boar¡¯s head in a half a dozen directions. The old Richard would have just stared in shock¡­ but he was too used to the crazy world to be caught unawares. Even as the stone shattered, he was already dodging to the right as he twisted his arms so his halberd would at least cut the boar¡¯s back. SKISSSHHHHHH! The sound of the metal skidding on something¡­ hard reverberated through the air, as the halberd was jolted in Richard¡¯s hands. It took all his strength to not lose his grip on the wooden shaft but¡­ his surprised attention was instead on the boar¡¯s fur, which showed no signs of damage as the creature charged past him. Richard twisted around wincing, trying to regain his balance and trying to ignore the jolts of pain rippling through his arms. He watched as the boar stopped running¡­ but had to friggin skid to a halt while creating furrows in the ground. To make things worse, the bloated, dead men lying in its path were trampled over like they were ketchup packets on the ground¡­ Of course, the red stuff that got splattered this time around wasn¡¯t ketchup. Suddenly, Richard felt queasy realizing he would have been crushed to a pulp if he had stood his ground. Boarzilla shook itself and began stomping, as it turned around making grunting and squealing noises. Richard quickly reviewed the list of spells he had left that were active, finding ¡®Quagmire¡¯ and ¡®Biogas¡¯ the only ones available. Just as the boar finished turning, Richard cast ¡®Quagmire¡¯ right below the beast¡­ only the mud trap didn¡¯t exactly cover enough space¡­ The boar literally had a couple feet in and a couple feet out¡­ SQUEAAALLLLL!! And it was pissed! Richard turned, and seeing Meran nervously standing off to the side, he yelled, ¡°Run!!!¡± Richard didn¡¯t stick around to see if the halfling had heard and began running as fast as he could. He wasn¡¯t being a coward¡­ No, Really¡­. There were a couple of very valid reasons why he was running¡­ 1. Boarzilla¡¯s skin was armored with iron like fur¡­ Richard had no clue if that was the pigs real fur or some kind of skill. Still¡­ it was kind of pointless to try and fight when you couldn¡¯t even stab the damn thing. 2. The only spell he had active now was ¡®Biogas,¡¯ and even if it was effective, Richard had a bad feeling that it wouldn¡¯t be enough to actually knock the fat ass pig out¡­ 3. He just needed enough time to figure out how to kill the damn thing¡­ hopefully, while the boar stayed busy with the halfling¡­. It was a bit evil, but¡­ Richard figured he deserved some compensation in return for saving the midget in the first place. Crossing himself, Richard offered a small prayer for the annoying, little squirt¡¯s soul¡­ Pumping his legs as hard as he could, he kept running, dodging branches and bushes as he tried not trip on any roots creeping across the ground. Hurtling over a fallen tree, using one arm to pull himself over, Richard suddenly saw something dart right under the fallen tree trunk. ¡°What the¡­.?¡± Meran turned around with smile. ¡°Wow, mister¡­ You sure stopped that pig in its steps¡­¡± Richard dropped down off the collapsed tree and very quietly asked, ¡°Meran... why are you following me?¡± Meran¡¯s eyes widened a bit. ¡°But, you said to run.¡± Richard felt his left eye twitch. ¡°Yeah, but not after me!¡± GRUNNNTTTTSSQUEEAAALLLLLLL!!!! Boarzilla¡¯s furious roar echoed from behind Richard, and the ground began trembling more and more violently, like something was closing in. Richard watched as the halfling¡¯s eyes became large saucers¡­ before the squirt turned around and ran holding his arms out in front of him, screaming ¡°AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Damn it! Come back here, you little¡­!!¡± Richard began running after the halfling, but the little bastard was actually fast on his feet¡­ Behind himself, Richard heard the boar getting closer and closer, the sound of grunting and squealing becoming louder. Richard¡­ took off sprinting¡­. ¡°F#$K!¡± Even as he ran, he knew it was stupid to think he could escape from the damn beast. He needed a plan¡­ someway to trap or at least slow down the damn thing¡­ Weakness... the only weakness he could think of was the boar¡¯s eyes¡­ ¡°SHIT!¡± Almost sliding to a stop on the uneven forest ground, Richard eye¡¯s quickly took in all the surrounding trees¡­ until he finally found one large enough. ¡°Damn, Damn, Damn¡­. This is going to work¡­ It will¡­ It will¡­¡± Muttering to himself, he sent his halberd back into his inventory as he pulled out his dented short sword. Taking up a very loose defensive stance in front of the huge tree, Richard watched and waited¡­. It didn¡¯t take long as he saw the rampaging boar approaching. It skid to a stop and twisted around before facing his way. Snorting blasts of air, the boar pawed the ground furiously as it got ready to charge at Richard again. ¡°That¡¯s right piggy¡­ Come here little piggy¡­ Come right here¡­.¡± Almost sarcastically, Richard called out to the boar as he stood shaking in his shoes¡­ He knew he had once chance to pull it off¡­ and if he screwed up even a little, he¡¯ll end up as ketchup¡­ SQUEAAALLLLGRRRRUUUUNT!!! With a loud cry, the boar charged shaking the ground like an approaching train. Richard held his breath as he watch Boarzilla get closer and closer¡­. and right at the last minute, he dove to the left with every bit of force he could muster. CRARKBBAAHASHHHHHHHCCCRMMMMM!!!! The sound of the huge tree splintering was music to his ears even as he tumbled in the leaves covered ground. Rolling to his knees, he quickly got up, turning around just in time to see the boar stumble backwards, shaking its head as though stunned. Richard knew this was his last chance¡­ His mind immediately pulled up the ¡®Biogas¡¯ spell. Using it wouldn¡¯t knock out Boarzilla, but Richard hope it would be enough to slow it down until¡­. ¡°Mister! I¡¯ll save youuuuuu!!!¡± The high pitched voice suddenly piped up from somewhere on the other side of the boar, and Richard eye¡¯s immediately reoriented itself on the halfling, who was standing about seven or so meters on the other side of the boar¡­ holding stones. ¡°What the¡­!¡± Richard¡¯s brain tried to comprehend what in the hell the halfling was up to¡­ just as the little idiot threw a rock as hard as he could¡­ while closing his f#$king eyes in the process. Time slowed for Richard for a just second¡­ Oh, not in the literal sense, but in that sense of seeing some terrible disaster coming his way with little he could do about it. The midget¡¯s aim was completely off¡­ And based on what Richard could tell¡­. ¡°FUC... UGGGGHHHHHH!¡± His scream of frustration ended in a heartrending gurgle as he doubled over inhaling air and feeling like he was going to puke¡­ ¡°AGGGGGGGGYYYYYUSSFFUUUUKKKK¡± Richard literally screamed as he exhaled. He couldn¡¯t really say much, but in his mind¡­ ¡°IT F#$KING HURTS!!!! ARRRRRHHH!!! I¡¯M GOING KILL THAT MIDGET!!!¡± Mind you, the back of Richard¡¯s mind considered the irony of the whole situation¡­ The second halfling¡­ no¡­ the second MIDGET he had met in this wonderful world¡­ and he got screwed over again. Instead of just being tazed, this MIDGET had tried to make him a F$#KING EUNICH! RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A F#$KING BATTLE! Richard dropped his sword and stumbled backwards, holding his hips and trying to breathe deeply as his nuts throbbed in pain. Through his tears, he saw boarzilla steadying on its feet¡­ Richard didn¡¯t want to use it, but he had no choice¡­ He couldn¡¯t run, not with his nuts feeling like¡­ well, most guys would understand¡­ A quick thought, and ¡®Biogas¡¯ was cast with the boar¡¯s head as the center of the spell. SQUEEE!!!! GRUUUNNN!!! GOUAHHH!!! SQUEEE!!!!! Boarzilla began stomping on the ground and spinning around in a frenzy¡­ smashing into nearby trees¡­ and pretty much going insane¡­ Richard turned and began to slowly waddle away with tears pouring down his cheeks¡­ ¡°F#@k, F#$K, F@#K....¡± He couldn¡¯t actually think straight as every little step he took hit him with dizziness¡­ but the one thing he adamantly swore¡­ ¡°GOD DAMN HALFLINGS!¡± GUARRRRGSQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! The air splinting roar almost bowled Richard over, and shaking in pain and fear, he turned around just in time to see Boarzilla jump straight up into the air¡­ and literally smash back into the ground with an echoing rumble! BRRUMMMMMMMSSSHHHH! Almost immediately, Richard felt himself being thrown up into the air by both the ground and a blast of air. He crossed his arms in from of his face as branches, dirt, rocks, and gods knew what else pounded his body as he flew backwards like a ragdoll being thrown by a bratty child. Then¡­ he felt a jarring impact coupled with the blue sky, hundreds of leaves, and the rough bark of a tree¡­ ¡°Ughhh¡­ Where am I???¡± Grunting, Richard moved his arms¡­ only to feel more leaves and air. He moved his legs¡­ only feel more airs as well. His brain quickly woke up, and he realized he wasn¡¯t actually on the ground anymore. Looking around, he found himself tangled in a few branches¡­ about 10 or so meters off the ground. Feeling dizzy and hurting all over, Richard had clue what to think¡­ The last thing he remembered was being tossed¡­. ¡°Shit¡­ the crazy boar did this¡­¡± He felt amazed at whatever the boar had done to toss him up here like it was nothing. He knew that the pig was some kind of magical monster! Mind you, Richard suddenly didn¡¯t feel that excited¡­ He glanced down at the ground wondering what happened to boarzilla¡­ and the hated halfling. ¡°I hope the boar crushed that little¡­¡± That¡¯s around the time the boar waddled into view on the ground, looking around as though it was confused. Richard tightened up his lips and shut up, thinking, ¡°Go away¡­ go away¡­ go away¡­ no one here¡­ just us trees¡­¡± ¡°Mister! Are you okay up there!¡± The high pitched voice suddenly made Richard flinch, and suddenly, a couple of branches around him broke¡­ leaving him flailing as he began slipping downwards. Thankfully, Richard was coherent enough to grab a few other branches just in time to stop from falling further¡­ ¡°Thank gaw¡­¡± Richard was about to sigh in relief, when he caught sight of¡­. boarzilla looking up at him with its bloodshot eyes. ¡°Crap¡­¡± Richard¡¯s voice came out in a whine¡­ But he realized he would be safe, up here in this safe, strong tree. ¡°I¡¯ll distract him mister!¡± The high pitched voice sounded suddenly closer than before, and Richard began frantically searching the ground below even as the boar began twisting around to locate the voice¡­. Until Richard finally caught sight of Meran just as the halfling jumped off a low level tree branch from a tree nearby onto boarzilla¡¯s back. ¡°DONNN¡¯TTTT!!!¡± Of course, Richard¡¯s desperate plea went out a bit too late. SQUEEEEEEEEEEE! Almost immediately, the boar went crazy, thrashing around, stomping, and¡­ crashing into trees. Richard had no f@#king idea how the halfling had even climbed a tree that quickly¡­ but watching boarzilla tear up everything below, he felt like crying¡­ Even sturdy looking trees were being pummeled without mercy. Meanwhile, the halfling looked like some midget cowboy, squealing and yelling, as the boar ran amuck trying to buck off its passenger. ¡°Mis¡­ Ter¡­ How¡­ Do¡­ I¡­ Stop¡­ This?!!!¡± Richard didn¡¯t know whether to feel shocked at the screwed up scene taking place or¡­ laugh his head off¡­.. Just then, the midget got tossed off, and Richard saw the shrimp fly into a big bush nearby¡­ that completely camouflaged the little bastard. Boarzilla quickly stopped its antics and looked back up at Richard, snorting and its sides heaving¡­. Even Richard knew what the crazy creature was thinking¡­ ¡°Ah..hah¡­ha¡­ummm¡­ It wasn¡¯t me¡­ it was the midg¡­ halfling¡­ He¡¯s over there¡­¡± Richard tried pointing towards the nearby bush, but boarzilla just kept staring up even as its face began twisting up in rage. ¡°Shit¡­¡± For a second, nothing happened. Then boarzilla twisted around and walked away for a short distance. Richard had no clue what it was doing. Of course, it then turned around and began pawing at the ground, getting ready to charge. To Richard, the only option left was¡­ up¡­ He immediately tried to grab a different branch to pull himself further up the tree, only to slip¡­. Eyes suddenly wide, he fell, thrashing until something dragged on his pants and ¡°UGGGGGHHHHHHH¡­..¡± Richards went cross eyed as his already throbbing privates were treated to an ultimate wedgie by a friggin tree. Almost crying as he hung on¡­ literally by the seat of his pants¡­ he saw the boar charging¡­ Only, this time¡­ boarzilla jumped forward from a distance, shooting forward like some kind of wrecking ball flying towards its destiny with a second story apartment. Richard¡¯s mind froze in shock, watching the end coming¡­ Even if his spells worked, it was already too late to stop the mass of death from hitting him¡­ Then¡­ Then he remembered his last ditch option¡­ His thoughts quickly selected the joke skill, ¡®Critical Luck,¡¯ triggering it¡­¡­. Everything froze... It was hard to explain¡­. There was silence... Pure silence¡­ and stillness¡­ Richard could see what was around him, but time was frozen. He tried to move¡­ but he couldn¡¯t. It was like he was there¡­ yet could not affect the world¡­ Then black colored numbers started swarming in front of him like bees. The largest he saw was a ten and smallest, a one. He had no clue what was happening¡­ Ding! The sound reverberated through the still world, and Richard¡¯s mind/existence flinched. Then, in front of him, a single ¡°6¡± formed in golden color, before slowly fading away. Before Richard could figure out what that meant, he felt his mind/spirit being drawn away from his body. It was almost surreal as he saw his awkward hanging position and his pain/fear face from a third person perspective. Then, parts of the tree, mainly the branch he was hanging from, started flashing gold¡­ Richard stared for a second, his mind trying to figure out what that meant, before his spirit/mind was suddenly shoved back into his body¡­.. And reality resumed. Suddenly, from behind him, Richard heard a loud breaking noise, and he found himself falling through some low level branches towards the ground¡­ even as he saw boarzilla¡¯s body fly right above him and smash into the tree... CRARKBBAAHASHHHHHHH!!!! Richard¡¯s mind flashed through everything that would happen next, and by the time he hit the ground, he was already twisting his body, so he would roll out from under where the boar¡¯s body would fall¡­ And fall it did with a CRUMMPPPPP!!! Richard rolled, his body hurting like hell, but he knew he couldn¡¯t just lay there. He had his chance again, and this time around, halfling or no halfling, he wasn¡¯t going to waste it. Turning his head, he saw the huge body of boarzilla collapsed near the tree, flinching here and there as the creature tried to move. Richard didn¡¯t give it a chance. He immediately cast ''Quagmire'' under the pig and dragged himself to his feet. His body felt drained and bruised, but anger, frustration, and pure bloodlust drove him forward. Retrieving his halberd from his inventory, a quick thought coated its tip with ¡®Blood Viper Venom,¡¯ and Richard stumbled over to the boar, even as it began to flail a bit to try and get up. ¡°Funs over, pork chops!¡± With a roar, Richard plunged his halberd into the boar¡¯s left, stunned looking eye. SQUEEEEESNOORRGRUNNNT!!! The boar began thrashing wildly, and it took everything Richard had to keep shoving the halberd further into the beast¡¯s skull¡­ ¡°URAAAAAAAAA!¡± Finally, when he couldn¡¯t take it anymore, Richard let go and stumbled backwards, until he collapsed on his back with a grunt. For a while, he laid there, too exhausted and hurting to move. He continued to hear thrashing and pain filled squeals¡­ until suddenly everything went quiet. DING! In the corner of his vision, two icons showed up. One was his ¡®Mimic Skill¡¯ icon, indicating it was refilling. And the other¡­ was a golden icon that was flashing... Chapter 17.2: Wilabouwus Pt. 2 ¡°Uggghhhhh¡­.¡± Richard felt like he had gone a dozen rounds with Mike Tyson¡­ including the ear biting part¡­ Of course, in Richard¡¯s case, the parts damaged were a little bit more serious. He groaned and pushed himself to sit up, ignoring all the aches and sudden jolts of pain. There wasn¡¯t much to be happy about, but seeing the huge carcass of boarzilla lying with its legs splayed out and with blood oozing from the large hole where its left eye used to be, Richard couldn¡¯t help but smile evilly and begin to laugh. ¡°HAHAHAHA¡­ MWAHAHHAAH¡­ HACK¡­ UGGG¡­. COUGH¡­ COUGH¡­.¡± Of course, his sore chest and cramping diaphragm kind of disagreed with his feeling of elation. Sitting there, feeling like an invalid, Richard wondered if victories were always so painful. Then again¡­ the last time something so insane had happened was with the ¡®Shit Monster¡¯¡­ and of course, a friggin halfling had been involved in that too. Richard clenched his teeth in anger¡­ and balled his fists up, ready to punch the damn midget¡­ ¡°Owww¡­ frig!... OwOwO¡­. Ugggh...¡± Unforturnatley, his body didn¡¯t agree as muscles all over began to cramp up, leaving him squirming in pain. And just when he thought his torture couldn¡¯t get any worse¡­. ¡°Mister! Mister!¡­ Are you all right? You did it! Mr. Pig is dead! Hurrah!¡± The evil one appeared, jumping for joy with a childish smile on an exuberant face. That made Richard gasp and scream inside in terror. He couldn¡¯t say anything out loud, since his neck was cramping up, making it hard for him to talk, but inside his head¡­ ¡°NOOOOOOOOOO! STAY AWAY!!!!!¡± The dreaded midget of chaos pranced up to Richard, even as he tried to desperately drag himself backwards. Tears were falling from his eyes, creating track marks on his dirt and grime covered face¡­ He couldn¡¯t understand it. Why were the gods torturing him like this¡­ First Welks¡­ and now this¡­. this¡­ Richard felt this great despair within him that told him that midgets were his bane in this world, and he began to choke up in misery¡­.. The brown haired monster with a child like face stopped in front of Richard with a smile on his face, that suddenly turned serious¡­ well, as serious as the face of a six year old trying to figure out how to tie his shoe laces. ¡°Oh, No! You¡¯re hurt! I have to help you!¡± Richard began gasping, trying to speak, but all that came out was incoherent babbling. ¡°NUWOSTUOWOPLEEES!¡± But it was too late. The wretched halfling raised his hands reaching for Richard, who closed his eyes in terror¡­ and suddenly felt his body relaxing as a soothing warm tide of power washed through it. His cramping lessened until his muscles unwound from their tension, and all the little aches and jolts of pain began to fade as though they were being¡­ ¡°Healed!¡± Richard¡¯s eyes flew open in shock, and his first sight was Meran wearing a childlike serious expression while holding out his softly, glowing hands towards Richard. The golden glow flowed from the halfling¡¯s hands onto and into Richard, spreading across his body like¡­ mist over a surface. Richard¡¯s jaw dropped as he realized the impossibility¡­ no it wasn¡¯t impossible. He remembered¡­ anything was possible in the World Labyrinth... even magic healing. Just then, Meran collapsed on his rear end, panting and looking drained. Still, the halfling smiled and said, ¡°There! You¡¯re all better mister!¡± A short while later¡­. ¡°So¡­ you can actually heal someone¡­ like make cuts and things go away?¡± Richard still had trouble fully grasping what Meran had done. The halfling, who was busy gorging on some snake jerky, nodded happily. ¡°Yep! Well¡­. I can¡¯t do a lot, but I¡¯ve been getting stronger and stronger!¡± Richard handed over another piece of jerky and asked, ¡°Explain stronger¡­¡± It was kind of difficult making the little demon spill all his secrets in an understandable manner¡­ but the food was definitely helping. Meran scrunched up his face a bit, chewing thoughtfully. ¡°It¡¯s like I can make small hurts go away, but I can¡¯t fix big hurts yet. But my da said I might be able to one day.¡± Richard frowned and muttered, ¡°Small¡­ big¡­¡± In some twisted fashion, Richard thought it made sense. The halfling had probably exhausted his mana field by casting the spell/using the skill, whatever it was. Hence, the exhaustion and general weakness. But, that still didn¡¯t explain how much the halfling could heal¡­ The only way to test it would be to actually take some wounds on purpose¡­ Richard shook his head, clearing it of that nonsense. He knew he could take a punch if he had to, but he wasn¡¯t a masochist by a long shot. For the first time, Richard regretted not keeping one of the damn bandits alive¡­ They would have made excellent test subjects. Anyways¡­ ¡°So, how many times can you use it per day again?¡± Meran excitedly said, ¡°12 times, but my da said I might be able to do it a couple dozen or more times one day when I¡¯m older!¡± Richard divided approximately 24 hours into 12 and¡­ ¡°So, once maybe every two hours, huh?¡± It was¡­ a bit limited, but Richard felt there was more to it than just simple healing. ¡°Hey midg¡­ Meran¡­ Have you ever tried re-growing a limb?¡± Suddenly, the halfling went still and looked at the ground as though worried by the question¡­ Richard didn¡¯t say anything, deciding to let the halfling speak first¡­ ¡°Umm¡­ I tried once, but I fainted¡­ My da said I wasn¡¯t ready yet¡­ He said I had to get stronger.¡± The almost sad tone made Richard wonder what had happened to Meran to make him so withdrawn so suddenly¡­ but that was something that could wait until later. Richard realized how¡­ useful the little devil could be if he was used properly and also how dangerous his ability could be in the wrong hands. Master Mulfow had talked about rare abilities and how magic based healers were almost worth their weight in gold¡­. Richard suddenly asked, ¡°Does anyone else know about this¡­ I mean other than your da?¡± The halfling looked up, suddenly worried. ¡°Umm¡­ no¡­ Only my da and ma and granpa and cousin...¡± Richard cut him off. ¡°So no one but your family, right?¡± The halfling nodded, looking a bit confused. Richard smiled¡­ The gears in his head began turning, and even though he felt like he might have a phobia for halflings, he decided some things couldn¡¯t be passed up. ¡°Soo¡­ How would you like to work for me?¡± It was a pretty crazy offer, since Richard wasn¡¯t exactly Mr. Moneybags¡­ but based on his estimates, the halfling maybe ate a third of what a normal human might¡­ and housing wasn¡¯t an issue¡­ neither was clothing if some of the dead bandits outfits could be recycled¡­ Overall, having a little minion healer seemed like a good deal, especially Richard could figure out a way to commercialize the little demon¡¯s super healing¡­ ¡°Hmmmm¡­¡± Lost in thought, Richard failed to notice the excited, face splitting smile that Meran suddenly developed before rushing Richard. ¡°Yay! I¡¯ll do it Mister! I always wanted to be a hero¡¯s companion!¡± Richard desperately fended off the excited midget, trying to figure out what the little demon had just said. ¡°Wha¡­..?¡± A dozen minutes later¡­. Meran or Minion Number One, as Richard had labeled the little demon, was busy working on skinning the boar. It seemed as though being a farmer had included some basic skills training in livestock care/disposal. Of course, watching the halfling dart around boarzilla¡¯s corpse like some overactive speed demon slicing up the huge pig¡­ was a bit disquieting. It reminded Richard of the old Leprechaun horror movies. The only difference was that Meran had a friendly, youthful face¡­ that still made Richard shiver in fear. Richard got busy gathering up all the loot from the dead bandits and retrieving his abandoned rucksack. Repacking was going to be an issue¡­ but Richard focused on getting rid of all the meat he had stored up on, choosing to keep the skins and other random loot instead. For a brief period, he felt like he was in some kind of game world, sorting through his inventory in the hunting fields. Shaking off the weird feeling, Richard got busy peeling off the blood stained, leather armor from what looked like a pulped human torso¡­ maybe¡­ ¡°Hmm¡­¡± He felt a little amazed at his own constitution and the fact that he wasn¡¯t barfing in disgust. ¡°Well¡­ whatever.¡± Eventually, he got to the last thing on his list of to do: the flashing icon. He hesitated in pulling up the screen. There was a chance it was a skill, but the fact that he had used the ¡®Critical Luck¡¯ skill made him wonder about what had happened. What he had seen and experienced had been completely different from all the so called ¡®magic¡¯ that he had seen in this world so far. The closest thing he had ever felt to that was the dark void which he had fallen through in entering the World Labyrinth¡­ The only conclusion he could come up with was that the skill was different somehow¡­ and the only one, who could maybe help him understand it was Master Mulfow. Of course, Richard had kept it a secret from the old man¡­ wanting to avoid some unnecessary questions. It looked like he had to come clean soon¡­.. Meanwhile¡­ His attention finally focused on the flashing symbol¡­.
The Gods of Luck have been entertained this day by your struggles. Your use of their gift was most fitting, and in their infinite grace, they offer you a gift forged from the essence of luck. Use it wisely in your future endeavors.
¡°Huhhhhh!....¡± Richard gawked at the blue screen, trying to figure out what he was seeing. It wasn¡¯t a skill¡­ Instead, there was a star like icon flashing on the screen. The star¡­ was familiar, and Richard eyes quickly glanced at the compass on his wrist before going back to the screen. A mental tap on the star icon and¡­ Ding! Ding! Ding! Sounding like he had just won a carnival prize, a large roulette wheel appeared right in front of him. Richard gaped as a small blue panel then flashed into existence with a button saying, ¡®Press to spin.¡¯ He felt d¨¦j¨¤ vu again¡­ This time he knew what he was looking at, but¡­ ¡®how¡¯ was the big question. The last time, this had been a gift from the interviewer. A dozen theories popped up in Richard¡¯s mind¡­ but the one that stood out... ¡°No¡­ that can¡¯t be right¡­ can it?¡± This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Suddenly, Richard had a mental image of the bastard of an interviewer sitting on a couch, eating popcorn, and laughing his head off as while watching Richard flounder around in this crazy world. Shaking his head, Richard firmly refused to believe it¡­ but¡­ but¡­ Richard remembered the white world and the tiny, little fact that¡­ he was supposed to have died. He suddenly felt sick¡­ there was a tiny, itsy bitsy, however miniscule chance that¡­ the interviewer had been some kind of¡­. god¡­ or maybe representative of god¡­ as friggin crazy as that sounded. Richard closed his eyes and sighed, wondering if he really had been ¡®screwed by god¡¯ when he was dropped into this world a hundreds of meters up in the sky. But, that meant the so called Gods of Luck¡­ Who the hell were they? He suddenly had a hundred questions, and no realistic way to answer them by himself. The only one who might have some answers or know where to find them was once again Master Mulfow¡­ Richard sighed, realizing he had to cut his little adventure short and get back to Serenthal. But first, he mentally tapped on the ¡®spin¡¯ button and triggered the roulette wheel. Dooh!Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh! Dooh!... Dooh!.... Dooh!..... Dooh!..... Dooh!..... Dooh!..... Dooh!........ Dooh!........ Dooh!........ Dooh!............. Dooh! Ding! Ding! Ding! Suddenly, a message box popped up in front of him.
Congratulations! Your prize has been deposited in your inventory.
The roulette wheel disappeared, and Richard pulled up his inventory, curious to what he might find in it. There was enough space cleared out in it to hold more than a few things¡­ and Richard saw the new object: a plain gold ring. Tapping on the icon gave him some options, including one for item description
Lucky Ring of the Boar King Gifted by the Gods of Luck, this ring allows the wearer to temporarily enhance their strength randomly once a day by one of three multipliers. Strength Enhancement Multipliers: 2X, 4X, 8X Enhancement Duration: 180 Seconds Enhancement Cooldown: 24 Hours
Richard¡¯s face broke out in a slight smile¡­ The ring was a god send both literally and figuratively. He remembered all the battles so far where something like this would have been useful. Even 2X his strength would have given him an edge, but something like 8X his strength was almost impossible to imagine¡­ It wouldn¡¯t make him invincible, but it would definitely make it much harder to kill him. ¡°Mister Jaeger, are you alright?¡± The sudden question out of nowhere made Richard jump a bit, and he twisted around a bit flustered¡­ only to stumble backwards almost having a heart attack. Standing in front of him was Meran, smiling broadly¡­. while coated in a layer of blood and holding Richard¡¯s hunting knife in one hand and a red lump of something covered in flesh in the other. For a second, Richard¡¯s memories flashed to his childhood trauma of watching Chuckie¡­ Shaking off the sudden fright with a ¡°living slasher dolls aren¡¯t real,¡± Richard cleared his throat and asked, ¡°Yes, Meran? Are you done with the skinning yet?¡± Meran fiercely shook his head, scattering droplets of blood before saying, ¡°No sir, but I got the mana stone out¡­ See!¡± With that, the halfling held the flesh covered mana stone like he was showing off his favorite toy. ¡°Yeah¡­ I see¡­ Why don¡¯t you go clean off the stone a bit¡­ so it¡¯s not as bloody. Also, you might want to wipe off some the blood on your face as well¡­ It¡¯s a bit¡­ umm¡­ disconcerting.¡± Richard forced a smile even as tried not to get too close to the demonic looking halfling. ¡°Okay, Mr. Jaeger! I¡¯ll be done with the skinning in a bit!¡± Excitedly, Meran ran off, leaving Richard wondering what in the hell he had gotten himself into. 5 Hours Later¡­ ¡°Well¡­ you look a bit more presentable.¡± Richard couldn¡¯t help but glance over the halfling with a critical eye. Meran¡¯s clothes were still kind of stained in red¡­ but it was more like some kind of dye than actual blood stains now. Thankfully, the lake had been a relatively close for a pit stop before they got to the town. Unfortunately, it hadn¡¯t been Richard, who had steered them through the woods¡­ The halfling was showing more than a few useful skills¡­ something that made up for all the trouble he had caused. ¡°Ummm¡­ Mister Jaeger, what are we going to do in Ortesse?¡± Meran¡¯s cheerful face seemed not to be bothered by the fact that he was soaking wet. ¡°Ahem¡­ ahh¡­ We need to sell some of the loot, buy some things¡­ and I¡­ well, let¡¯s just say I need to pay the local Guard post a visit¡­ you know, to regale them of my adventures.¡± Richard couldn¡¯t bring himself to tell the halfling that he had to check in at the post like some kind of petty criminal visiting his probation officer¡­ Well, there was a little more to it this time around¡­ and part of him was looking forward to it. So, a short while later, Richard walked into town gasping while dragging a crude sled, packed with scavenged loot, some snake skins, and a few huge boar bones. Most people stared at the bizarre scene, especially since Meran was skipping along in the back singing. ¡°On the road¡­ On the road¡­ La La La La¡­¡± Richard had almost gone insane after the third time the halfling began singing same damn song, but thankfully, he had gotten some good use out of some of the slightly damaged, scavenged clothes¡­ Mind you, he had removed the bizarre looking turban/head wrap/earmuffs after getting close the village. He really didn¡¯t want to seem even more out of place. Dragging the crude sled made out of branches, bones, and pieces of boar fur, he made his way to the stone building sitting right next to the village gates. As he approached the place, he saw the guardsman form before¡­ mev.. Mev¡­ Mever or something. ¡°Hello guardsman.¡± Smiling broadly, Richard held up his hands in salute. The guardsman looked at Richard, then at the sled, then at the singing, smiling halfling, and then back at Richard, before whispering, ¡°Must have been some hunting trip¡­¡± Richard continued to grin his fake grin and muttered, ¡°You have no idea.¡± After gaining entrance to the guard post, Richard braced himself for the next¡­ person. As soon as he entered, he smelled the booze, clearly stinking up the place. It was like he had walked into another tavern. However, instead of a dozen or so drunks, there was one fat, florid faced man in a stained guard uniform sitting behind a desk with his legs propped up on the desk. The fat man seemed very busy¡­ chowing down on what looked like a drumstick. The guard post office looked like¡­ a pig sty, including the half rotten food sitting in one corner, and Richard had to watch where he stepped just in case. Getting close to the desk, Richard loudly cleared his throat and said, ¡°Sergeant Cothers¡­ I¡¯m back to check in with you¡­¡± The greasy, pimpled faced man looked up and grunted, ¡°Where¡¯s that bastard Nevel?¡± Richard tried not to scowl and replied, ¡°He¡¯s umm¡­ looking over some things in the marshlands¡­ We ran into some trouble.¡± The sergeant snorted and said, ¡°Well¡­ whatever, get yer face outta here¡­¡± Richard placed his hands on the desk, leaning down. ¡°I¡¯m here to get your signature on the pass. I believe we talked about this last time.¡± The sergeant looked back up and smiled greedily. ¡°Well, then¡­ you know what you gotta do fer that, right?¡± Richard felt his left eye twitching¡­ Last time, Nevel had intervened, preventing Richard from having to bribe the bastard¡­ But this time¡­ ¡°Listen up piggy¡­ I had to deal with one of yer brothers out there in the woods¡­ I¡¯m not in a happy mood, so sign the damn paper¡­ and I¡¯ll be out of your shit covered pigsty.¡± To say that Richard was out of patience and tired of two bit villains/morons was an understatement. The fat man¡¯s face went red, and he opened his mouth to yell¡­ about the time Richard plunged a jeweled dagger right into the desk¡­ THUNK! The familiar, gem studded dagger trembled a bit, and piggie¡¯s mouth flopped open¡­ without a word spilling out. Richard grinned maliciously. ¡°Yeah, lard ass¡­ I know all about your little under the table deals with the slavers¡­ In fact, I ran into your buddy Torane¡­ He was most cooperative. It¡¯s amazing how a few cuts in the right places loosens up people¡¯s tongues.¡± The truth was a bit more complex. It had been mostly Nevel, who had encouraged the dead slaver to spill his guts to avoid prolonged torture by the girls¡­ though, the fact that the weasel had a knife sticking through his ball sack at the time had helped. Then, being inspired a bit and deciding to take a shot in the dark, Richard continued, ¡°Also¡­ those four dumb shits who¡¯re working for you¡­ you know the ones¡­ the blonde and black haired muscle heads and the two lanky dogfuckers¡­ well, I turned them into meat paste as well¡­ But before that, they were kind enough to tell me about some of the things you¡¯ve been doing¡­¡± The sergeant, who had been shaking like a disgusting jello mold, started gasping and grabbed his chest. ¡°Aggghhhhhh! Gahhhhh!¡± Then, he fell forward over the desk, twitching a bit with his eyes rolled back and drool seeping out of his mouth. Behind Richard, Guardsman Mever entered through the doorway. Richard didn¡¯t turn around but instead remained staring at the dead, sorry sack of shit. He had planned on threatening the moron, maybe blackmailing him, then finding a way to get him removed from his post before killing him some time in the future, but having him die of an actual heart attack was even better. There was no need for Richard to actually get his hands dirty anymore¡­ The Gods of Luck seemed to shining down their abundant grace. Now all he had to do was play it cool¡­¡°You heard?¡± Guardsman Mever¡¯s subdued voice filled the office, ¡°Yes¡­¡± Richard smiled a bit contently looking at piggie¡¯s dead face. ¡°Good¡­ You can sign my pass then¡­.¡± Chapter 17.3: Wilabouwus Pt. 3 ¡°OOOOOHHHH¡­ Ahhhhhh¡­¡± Meran couldn¡¯t help but stare at the big buildings and new sights. There were so many big people, and all of them looked so different from each other. Also, there were so many signs. His da had told him about what a lot of those signs meant. Like, the one with a foaming mug was for a tavern. And, the one with the anvil was the blacksmith. And, the one with the figure of a woman¡­ Well, Meran didn¡¯t know what that one meant, but all the women hanging out from the window had seemed super friendly, blowing him kisses and winking at him. Meran blushed a bit, wondering if the women had realized that he could see their boobies¡­ Still, Meran was enjoying his first visit to the city of Serenthal immensely. Mister Jaeger had said it was good to see the city to learn more about the world and that it would help Meran with his Wilabouwus. So far, Meran hadn¡¯t been disappointed. Looking at some kind of market stand off to the side that was selling meat pies of some sort, Meran felt his mouth watering. He wondered if Mister Jaeger¡­ ¡°UFFFFF!¡± Meran bounced back, having run into something, and he turned around a bit surprised. There were two men standing there, and the one, who Meran had run into, looked down at him with a scowl. The scruffy looking man growled, ¡°Watch it shorty!¡± Meran¡¯s eyes widened and he backed away, stuttering, ¡°So¡­so¡­sorr¡­.sorry¡­¡± Unfortunately, that just made the man smile nastily. ¡°Hey, Bo¡­ Look at this little midget¡­ Can¡¯t even ¡®pologise properly¡­ Think he owes us? I mean, my leg¡¯s hurtin¡¯ where he hit me¡­¡± The other man, a bit bigger looking, with a sloping forehead and close set eyes grinned stupidly, ¡°Yeah¡­duhh¡­ he owe us¡­ uhhh¡­¡± Meran began trembling a bit. These men reminded him of the mean men from the forest. Just then¡­ ¡°Is there a problem here?¡± Meran glanced behind the men and saw Mr. Jaeger¡­ who looked very angry. Kind of like how he looked when Meran had first met him. Richard was in a foul mood. It had taken three whole days to get back to the city, even though most of the days had been spent walking constantly. Part of the reason was due to Meran being a bit slow over long distances, but the other reason was behind him: a donkey. He had bought the stupid beast to help him transport all his loot, but the animal had turned out be more than a bit obstinate, throwing fits whenever it wanted and generally acting like an¡­ ass. But now, even the stupid idiots in the city were starting to piss Richard off. Take for example the two thugs, who were now threatening Meran. They reminded Richard of some two bit street gangsters from back home, who acted like they were all that just because they had a couple tattoos and walked around with their pants hanging below their butts and with a cheap, imitation handgun stuck in their waistbands, pointing toward their crotches. It was like they never thought about what would happen if the gun accidentally misfired or something. After the crazy bastards and monsters that Richard had fought in the marshlands and the forest, these morons were¡­ just an eyesore. So¡­ ¡°Like I said, is there a problem here?¡± Richard thought he pulled it off correctly¡­ the slight scowl, the annoyed tone, and the narrowed eyes. Unfortunately, the thugs didn¡¯t seem to take the hint. The normal looking, oval faced thug wannabe just briefly turned around and snarled, ¡°Mind yer own business! We¡¯re discussin¡¯ some impurtent facts with the shorty, here!¡± Richard revised his estimate of the thugs, knocking them down to petty neighborhood trash, who bothered little old ladies and stole people¡¯s dogs. ¡°That shorty is with me. So, once again, you idiots got a problem?!¡± Both men turned around scowling¡­ until Richard pulled his short sword part way out of his inventory¡­ while grinning his evil smile. To the men, it seemed like the sword was appearing out of thin air, but that wasn¡¯t important part. Seeing Richard suddenly tense up with what looked like ¡®crazy eyes,¡¯ a sadistic smile, and a willingness to go at it in the middle of a busy street, they knew how to leave well enough alone¡­. The slightly smarter looking one mumbled, ¡°Ahh¡­ No¡­ no problem here, right Bo?¡± The other one, who looked a bit intellectually deficient, looked between his friend and Richard before saying, ¡°Duhh¡­ But Ful, you said shorty did wrong¡­¡± Ful suddenly grabbed the big guy and pulled him away, furiously muttering something. Richard let them go, while he pushed his sword back into his inventory. When they were far enough away, he sighed, thankful the threat had worked. Actually attacking them in the middle of a busy street would have been a bit too dangerous and stupid. Around him, he noticed a few people, who quickly looked away when their eyes met his. ¡°EEEEHAAA! EEEHHAAA!¡± Of course, the donkey began to protest right about that time¡­. ¡°Meran, calm Stinker down, will ya?¡± Richard had realized Meran was almost like a jack of all trades when it came to animals and the countryside. So, Richard had left most of what he thought of as a ¡®supporter¡¯ role up to Meran. It reminded him of a manga from the earth, where the MC had a halfling supporter. But looking at the, child like, clueless face starting up at him, Richard couldn¡¯t see Meran calmly following him around while he killed hordes of evil beasts. Still¡­ the halfling had done a pretty good job of taking care of other things so far. ¡°Yes sir, Mr. Jaeger!¡± Happily shouting in his high pitched voice, Meran skipped over to the donkey and began whispering to it as he calmly stroked its head. Richard sighed and shrugged. It wasn¡¯t like he was a farm boy, and working in a convenience store, you really didn¡¯t learn how to tend to animals¡­ unless you counted the crazy, doped up people that showed up in the middle of the night to grab a dozen of the partially cooked hot dogs at the to go counter. ¡°Well lad, you seem to have moved up a bit in the world since we last met.¡± The familiar voice caught Richard¡¯s attention, and he turned around, only to find himself staring at Master Haroken, standing nearby with a smile on his craggy face. ¡°Haroken, you old thief, how have you been?¡± Richard held out his right hand and genuinely smiled back at the stable master, considering the man had been a big help so far¡­ well, excluding the incident with the ¡®Shit Monster.¡¯ Grabbing Richard¡¯s hand in a tight grasp, the stable master wryly grinned, ¡°Fine enough, though it¡¯s been a tad bit busy with the mess ya left behind. My boys were complaining all last week ¡®bout havin¡¯ to scrub down the horse shit ya left coated on the yard grounds and building walls.¡± Richard felt his smile twist up a bit into a sardonic one. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not my fault that you let some idiots experiment with a pile of manure, is it?¡± The stable master shook his head and still smiling, asked, ¡°I heard from Master Mulfow that you went out to Ortesse to get some training done. It looks like that¡¯s true, but who¡¯s the little guy?¡± Before Richard could answer, Meran excitedly answered, ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Meran! Mister Jaeger saved me, and now I¡¯m travelling with him!¡± Stable master Haroken cocked an eyebrow up in question and looked at Richard, who suddenly wished he had some duct tape to seal the halfling¡¯s mouth with. Clearing his throat, Richard said, ¡°Yeah¡­ I ran into some trouble out there. Helped him out in the process. It¡¯s one of the reasons I¡¯m heading to the Guard fortress to talk to Captain Finovin. Well, that and I gotta check in with him to have him sign off on my pass.¡± As they began walking, Haroken chuckled wryly and said, ¡°He might be surprised that you made it back.¡± Richard scowled and replied, ¡°No doubt, he¡¯ll be happy to know that I¡¯m back so he can still fleece me for the stupid fine. It¡¯s partially why he stuck me with that stupid pass, you know. Every guard post I passed, I had to check in with some fool in charge to make sure they could keep track of me. Well¡­ at the last post, the local officer in charge ended up¡­ ah¡­ passing away. So, his replacement took care of things.¡± Richard accidentally let that slip, and when he felt Haroken¡¯s eyes suddenly boring into him, Richard looked away as suavely as possible, pretending to observe the scenery passing by. Finally, the stable master said, ¡°Must have been a bit interesting there¡­.¡± Richard shrugged, still avoiding looking at the stable master. ¡°Well¡­ one guardsman is the same as another, not so?¡± Haroken¡¯s reply was a bit mumbled, but Richard though he heard, ¡°Maybe¡­ Maybe not.¡± Deciding to redirect the conversation, Richard turned back to the stable master and asked, ¡°Got a favor to ask you. You think you can take care of Stinker back there at the stables?¡± Right on cue, the donkey started making a racket, and Meran¡¯s sing song voice interrupted, trying to calm the stupid animal down. Harkoken turned around briefly before looking back at Richard with an enigmatic smile. ¡°I¡¯m guessing you mean the donkey and not the halfling¡­¡± Richard snickered as they crossed the drawbridge leading into the guard fortress. Finally getting to the large lobby/hall from the first day took some time, but when he did, he had Meran tagging along still ¡®oohing¡¯ and ¡®awwwing.¡¯ Most of the guardsman looked at the halfling with amused faces and gave Richard the critical ¡®you look like shit¡¯ glare. Of course, Richard wasn¡¯t about to downplay the ragged, bloody state of his brigandine armor and his clothes. It was all part of the show¡­ to squeeze out the maximum rewards for all his bounties. So, grinning like a madman, he jauntily made his way past the two fully, plate armored guardsman standing guard at the hall doors. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Inside, it was as noisy and busy as he last remembered the place being. This time around, he was at least able to make out some of the differences. Here and there, he saw merchants negotiating with sharp eyed guardsmen, while other ¡®paper pusher¡¯ guardsmen dealt with stacks of paperwork. In the corner, he saw a few harassed looking men and women dealing with some less prosperously dressed individuals, and from what he could tell, there was a long line of people leading out through a side door of some sort. Interestingly enough, Richard also made out a few other elves and halflings in the crowded hall, but his eyes kept looking for the ¡®one.¡¯ He had a few plans for the little bastard, but unfortunately, most of them were useless in such a place. Still¡­ ¡°So, you¡¯re back then.¡± The familiar, gruff voice caught Richard¡¯s attention, and he suddenly stopped, causing Meran to run into him. ¡°Ouch¡­ What did you do that for Mister Jaeger?¡± Ignoring the halfling¡¯s whiny complaint, Richard focused on the muscular guardsman, who was sitting at a nearby, wooden desk. The man fit the desk like a gorilla belonged in a suit, but the square jawed face was very familiar. Richard tilted his head a bit perplexed¡­. The guardsman put down his metal stylus that looked like a toothpick in his hands and solemnly looked Richard up and down. ¡°You seem a bit beat up, adventurer. It might be a good idea to come in next time properly attired.¡± Suddenly, Richard remembered: Mr. Prim and Proper. This was the guardsman, who had effortlessly plucked Richard off the table, before he could get to the¡­ to the ¡®one.¡¯ ¡°Um¡­ hello?¡± The guardsman calmly glanced at Meran, who was staring back with wide eyes, before saying, ¡°The captain¡¯s available if that¡¯s what you¡¯re here for.¡± ¡°Eh¡­ heh¡­ heh¡­ ahhh¡­ thanks.¡± Awkwardly, Richard slipped away dragging Meran along and made it to the captain¡¯s closed door. The plain looking male ¡®secretary,¡¯ who was seated nearby looked up¡­ and looked back down with replying. The last time Richard had been here had been before his trip to Ortesse. He had waited about thirty or so minutes, before the secretary had finally asked what he was waiting for. That had been¡­ a bit infuriating. This time around, Richard turned around and told Meran, ¡°Go ahead and wait out here¡­ I have some business to discuss with the captain.¡± Meran¡¯s mouth formed a wide ¡®O,¡¯ and he said. ¡°Wow, Mr. Jaeger. You know the Guard captain?¡± Out of the corner of his eyes, Richard saw the emotionless secretary raise an eyebrow and stop writing for a bit. Coughing a bit uncomfortably, Richard replied, ¡°Ahhh¡­ Kind of¡­ Anyway, like I said, wait out here¡­ and¡­ ahhh¡­ don¡¯t bother the people in the fancy outfits.¡± ¡°Okey dokey, Mr. Jaeger.¡± Meran¡¯s reply didn¡¯t exactly fill Richard with confidence, but sighing, he decided it was finally time to enter the lion¡¯s den. Straightening out his torn up brigandine armor, he knocked on the door and waited until he heard an ¡°Enter!¡± Letting out a deep breath, he walked in. A couple minutes later, he was patiently standing in front of the familiar, blonde elf, who was scanning through Richard¡¯s pass and the letter from Ortesse for the fifth time. Richard was a bit annoyed¡­ it was like he wasn¡¯t trusted or something. Finally, the elf looked up. ¡°So¡­ Let me get this right, Mr. Jaeger. You made it to Ortesse after defeating a pack of grassards, met with Sergeant Cothers to get your pass signed, went hunting for Blood Vipers in the marshlands with a disgraced, former guardsman, killed what I think is a class C beast in the forest, then killed some bandits, rescued a halfling, showed back up in Ortesse, and met with Sergeant Cothers, who¡­ suddenly died from the shock of your news?¡± Richard nervously looked at the elf and said, ¡°Uhh¡­ yes?¡± Captain Finovin calmly laid the paperwork on his desk and steepled his him fingers in front of him before saying, ¡°If I didn¡¯t have Guardsman¡­ let¡¯s see¡­ ah yes¡­ Guardsman Mever¡¯s testimony here, I wouldn¡¯t believe half of that¡­ dare I say horse shit.¡± Though Richard felt a little ticked off at the suspicion¡­ he decided to stay quiet. Truthfully, some of the letter written by Guardsman Mever had been a bit guided by Richard¡¯s own perspective of things¡­ Well, to be honest, the guardsman had pretty much written whatever Richard had told him to. It was amazing how desperate low level staff were to avoid responsibility when they found out their boss had been doing a big ¡®no no.¡¯ All it took was a few hints and out loud questions about what the ¡®big wigs¡¯ back in Serenthal would think of such corruption for the innocent, na?ve guardsman Mever to pretty much dance to Richard¡¯s tune. Of course, by the end of it, the guardsman had lost most of his naivety. Richard figured he had done the boy a favor in any case¡­ Richard had figured reality was a bitch, and the sooner the guardsman learned that, the better he would be for it. Captain Finovin spoke aloud again, ¡°Still¡­ It seems as though you have done Serenthal a service with your actions.¡± Though the elf said it mostly straight faced, Richard wondered if he had seen a quick up lift of the elf¡¯s lips¡­ But quickly decided that was impossible¡­. ¡°So¡­ About the bounty?¡± Richard wasn¡¯t going to let that go, no matter how much praise the captain spat out. Captain Finovin raised an eyebrow before stating, ¡°Guardsman Mever here confirms your grassard and Blood Viper kills in his letter, so you could collect three silver per grassard and five silver per Blood Viper. As for the boar¡­ unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t a bounty on the creature, though we knew it lived in the forest. That¡¯ll still give you 180 silver Vales total or about 10 gold Vales. If I deduct that from what is left of your fine, you still owe about¡­ lets say an even three gold Vales.¡± Most people would have been pissed, knowing they had risked their lives only to have the ¡®man¡¯ take all the rewards in lieu of fines, but Richard was in a good mood. For one thing, he had all the loot from all the dead bandits/slavers. Even though the stuff was a bit bloody even after a good wash, he knew he could sell it for a decent amount. Number two, the bandits/slavers had actually been modestly well off, so he had about six or so gold stashed in his inventory. Of course, he could have gotten more if he had been greedy, but he had let Nevel keep the weasely boss merchant¡¯s purse in exchange for the jeweled dagger. So, in the end, he was in a good mood, because HIS FRICKIN FINES WERE PAID OFF! He felt like break dancing in front of the elf and mooning the bastard¡­ but reality told him that would be a baaadddd idea. Instead Richard said, ¡°Yes, sir. And I have a just enough to pay those three golds¡­¡± Captain Finovin leaned back in his chair and said, ¡°Indeed¡­ I congratulate your Mr. Jaeger. Luck seems to have been on your side these past few weeks. To think you earned 20 gold in that time is a bit amazing, especially when a modest merchant hopes to make that much in profit in a couple months. Well done, indeed.¡± Richard smiled stiffly and replied, ¡°Sooo¡­ I guess that means my business with the Guard is done¡­ not so?¡± The elf tilted his head off to one side and said, ¡°Yes, very much so in regards to the fine. However, there is some work that I may have coming up¡­ Your more adventurous outing tells me that you may find the ¡®job¡¯ a bit interesting. Do you think you might be interested?¡± Richard felt a bit nervous seeing Captain¡¯s eyes suddenly take on a predatory gleam, and for a second, he thought about refusing right off the bat¡­ But then, he remembered who he was talking to: the Captain in command of the whole friggin Guard. Doing a favor for the man could be helpful in the future¡­ or harmful if Richard refused. So, he whispered, ¡°Sure¡­ why not¡­¡± The captain grinned, though the smiled lacked any goodwill or humor. ¡°Good¡­ See my secretary outside, and he¡¯ll give you a receipt for the fine once you pay it off¡­ And come see me tomorrow. I¡¯ll have more details about your¡­ little ¡®job.¡¯¡± By the time Richard got out of the office, he was sweating¡­ His ego was back down on the ground like it had been stomped there, and he wondered if this was the world¡¯s way of telling him that he had been getting a bit too arrogant. Still, Richard didn¡¯t think the ¡®job¡¯ would be that bad¡­ at least he hoped so. Outside the office, he suddenly saw¡­ two Merans. They were hugging each other and laughing in their high pitched voices. Richard blinked a few times and then rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating again¡­ One little demon was bad enough, but two¡­ Then the second Meran turned around¡­ and he had green eyes and a button like nose¡­ ¡°YOU!!¡± Richard yelled, while pointing the right index finger of his right hand at the ¡®one!¡¯ The halfling grinned evilly and took up a guard stance. ¡°I heard ye were here stranger! Lookin¡¯ a bit grubby aren¡¯t ya? Hah!¡± ¡°Why, you little¡­.!¡± Richard felt his blood pressure going up, and the poison icon showed up in the corner of his vision as he began to pull up his inventory to get to his hunting dagger. Then Meran piped up, smiling broadly. ¡°Look Mr. Jaeger, it¡¯s Cousin Welks!¡± Chapter 17.4: Wilabouwus Pt. 4 So, to all the readers... I''ve been sick for a few days now, so that''s why there''s been a delay. I''m still ill so this chapter will be a bit short... about 2500 or so words. ______________________________________________________________________________ The atmosphere was tense, like walking on hot coals type of tense. Everyone in the room could feel it and even knew what was causing it¡­ unfortunately, no one was brave enough to say anything or even look in that direction. Instead, everyone had their heads ducked down, trying to ignore the hostility emanating from a certain table occupied by three certain individuals¡­ while trying to overhear anything juicy. Said table had some interesting looking occupants. One of them was happily shoveling down the bland, steamed potatoes, assorted greens, and the rubbery looking slices of beef as though it was the best meal ever. The half sized person was even making ¡®yum yum¡¯ noises if that was even possible. Unfortunately, what amusement anyone could have taken from watching him was ruined by the other two. One of them was a half sized person as well¡­ but was definitely not happy looking. Indeed, the halfing had a huge scowl on his childish face, which was a bit lopsided considering it had a large bruise forming on one side. There was also a large, blackish foot print on the halfling¡¯s backside pretty much around his butt, and his uniform along with his green and blue tabard seemed torn in a few places. The halfling was gripping his fork in a tight fist, holding it like it was a weapon while staring at the even more disheveled looking human across the table. The black haired human had a black eye along a busted lip on his grim face and a couple of bite marks on his scratched up arms, which were folded across his chest. Also, the man¡¯s face was a bit¡­ red. The reason¡­ well¡­ he learned the hard way that halflings with their height have a pretty good, easily identifiable target when fighting fully grown human males. What had happened between the three people was well known to the entire dining hall, especially since many of the guardsmen had been involved in trying to break up the¡­ ¡®friendly squabble¡¯ earlier. They all had their mementos from the ¡®little disagreement¡¯ in the form of bruises. Truthfully, they were curious about what was going to happen next, especially since they knew all about the halfling¡¯s crazy personality. Mind you, the other, happy looking halfling wasn¡¯t as interesting, but the black haired human¡­ well¡­ they all knew who he was of course: ¡®The Shit Slayer.¡¯ Richard felt his temper barely restrained and was only keeping it that way since the little monster¡¯s friends were kind of all over the place. The last fight¡­ had been a bit spontaneous and pretty much rage driven. Truthfully, Richard couldn¡¯t really remember what had happened. Only that, when he came to, there was a dog pile of guardsmen holding him down, while the captain was yelling at everyone to ¡°take both the idiots outside to cool down.¡± That had unfortunately involved quite a bit of shoving and name calling by the other guardsmen, but Richard hadn¡¯t minded it much, since Welks had been included in it as well. After that, somehow, Richard, Welks, and Meran had ended up in the familiar dining hall¡­ surrounded by a small horde of guardsman, waiting for a rematch and secretly¡­ or at least trying to secretly take bets on what would happen next. Richard ignored them all and tried to get his mind around the crazy thing he had heard earlier¡­ Welks was Meran¡¯s cousin. It was like ¡®duh¡¯ and ¡®no wonder.¡¯ Thinking back to how Meran had completely screwed up the fight with the boar, Richard shivered thinking about how he was sitting next to two related, omens of disaster. Just then, a happy, contented voice spoke. ¡°This is yummy! Can I have yours?!¡± Richard, who was still staring at Welks, automatically said, ¡°Sure¡±¡­. Just as Welks also replied, ¡°Sure.¡± Richard scowled as Welks snarled back. And Meran said, ¡°Yay! Thank you Cousin Welks. Thank you Mr. Jaeger.¡± And, the happy go lucky halfling leaned across the table to drag off both trays of food. ¡°Muffffhahahah!¡± The laughing broke the mounting tension, and Richard¡¯s head swerved to find a nearby brown haired, guardsman coughing while trying hold in his chuckles. Before Richard could tell the man to shut it, Welk¡¯s voice cut through the dining hall. ¡°Don¡¯t make me come over there an¡¯ yank yer tongue out, Peter!¡± Almost immediately and to Richard¡¯s satisfaction, the young guardsman blanched and ran out of the hall like his pants were on fire. Richard smiled grimly and turned back to staring at Welks¡­ who had a similar sardonic smile on his face. It was a bit of shock to Richard, who wondered if the crazy, halfling guardsman was thinking the same thing. That was a bit¡­ weird, like learning your hated mother-in-law liked to eat your favorite ice cream in the same way or something. Still¡­ seeing Welks also become a bit surprised, Richard suddenly felt nauseated¡­ Eventually, Welks broke the silence. ¡°I heard you saved my cousin¡¯s life...¡± ¡°Yep.¡± Richard muttered the reply. ¡°Also, it seems that he¡¯s working for you now¡­¡± ¡°Yep.¡± Richard was wondering where this conversation was going. For a few seconds Welks went quiet as he stared intently at Richard. Then, he finally spoke again. ¡°Come to the Drunken Goat tonight. I got some things I need to go over with ya... If ya don¡¯t, well, I¡¯ll come looking for ya, got it?¡± The last part was said with the halfling running his thumb across his throat, like he was making some kind of clich¨¦d threat. Richard bared his teeth in annoyance but just asked, ¡°Where?¡± Welks got off his bench and began walking off as he said, ¡°The place ya went with Haroken before, moron.¡± With that the halfling left the dining hall, whistling. Richard continued to scowl for a while before asking Meran, who was still eating heartily, ¡°Is your cousin always that crazy and annoying?¡± Meran paused shoveling food down for a few seconds and looked up at Richard with a slight tilt to his head like he was thinking about the question. Then he said, ¡°Yep. That¡¯s Cousin Welks¡± before going back to his food. An hour so later, Richard was walking down a familiar street with Meran tagging along still gawking at everything and asking annoying questions. The neighborhood looked as calm and peaceful as it did more than a week ago. Most of the people moving around were dressed either like well to do residents or servants, but they all avoided the bizarre duo of Richard and Meran like the plague. Richard just snorted at their antics and ignored them for the most part. Finally, reaching the familiar looking house, he entered the small courtyard and knocked on the door, while Meran kept nagging. ¡°Do you live here Mr. Jaeger? It¡¯s so big. Da told me that only rich people live in big houses. Are you rich?¡± After a minute or so, the door slightly creaked open, and a familiar bald head appeared in the doorway. Master Mulfow blinked owlishly through his glasses before broadly smiling. ¡°Ah yes, Richard, my good fellow. You have returned. Good. Very good. Come in. Come in, dear lad.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good to be back Master Mulfow¡­ but I¡¯ve brought some company.¡± Even as he stepped into house, walking past the old man, he brought up Meran¡­ hoping the old man wouldn¡¯t kick out the halfling without giving Richard a chance to explain. In any case, he quickly realized he shouldn¡¯t have worried. ¡°Hi! My name is Meran. It¡¯s an honor to meet you, elder. Mr. Jaeger told me that you¡¯re the wisest man he¡¯s met!¡± Even as Richard watched a bit amazed, the halfling actually bowed from waist respectfully. Elder Mulfow looked up at Richard with a baffled expression before turning back to Meran. ¡°Yes¡­ umm¡­ Meran was it. Welcome. Yes, welcome. My name is Arcmaes Mulfow. It is good to meet you.¡± As Meran nodded happily and went skipping into the house, Master Mulfow turned to Richard and said, ¡°You seem to have made an¡­ interesting friend. You must tell me all about it and also why you look like a vagabond¡­ covered in blood in some places if I¡¯m not mistaken.¡± By the end of his sentence, the old man was peering closely at Richard¡¯s torn up armor, poking and prodding curiously. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Richard sighed and said, ¡°Yes sir. It¡¯s been¡­ interesting¡­¡± It took a couple hours to explain ¡®interesting,¡¯ and this time around Richard didn¡¯t leave out or hide anything. He talked about the slavers, his ¡®Critical Luck¡¯ skill, the sergeant in Ortesse, and generally everything he had learned about the world. Honestly, Richard spilled his guts, venting his worries and anger at the things he had seen and experienced. For some reason, he felt comfortable with the old man, and maybe it was the simple fact that he needed someone who he could trust in this crazy world. When Richard was done, Master Mulfow remained quiet for a while, staring at the floor. When the old man looked up, it was with a worried face. ¡°You have possibly made some dangerous enemies, Mr. Jaeger. I cannot blame you for your actions, since you did only what was right, but you must remember well Mr. Jaeger, that every action has a consequence. Those petty slavers and that sergeant¡­ they were nothing more than minor flunkies in the rot that has been spreading through Serenthal. By eliminating them, you may have drawn unwanted attention, both bad and possibly good to yourself. Especially since it seems Captain Finovin has taken a deeper interest in you. He may not be ¡®evil¡¯ or ¡®good¡¯ as we think of it due to his oath to the Guards, but whatever he points you towards will have some¡­ unwanted consequence.¡± Richard grimaced as he slightly nodded. He knew that there would be problems sooner or later as nothing would remain a secret forever, but having Master Mulfow confirm it was a bit¡­ worrisome. But then again¡­ Richard clenched his fists as he thought about the bastards he had killed. Even if it led to trouble, those pieces of trash had deserved what they got. As far as Captain Finovin went, Richard didn¡¯t know what the man was up to, but if he had wanted Richard dead or enslaved, there had been more than a few opportunities already. Master Mulfow interrupted Richard¡¯s thoughts. ¡°But seeing your determined face, lad, I guess you already understand all that¡­ So, now, we just have to focus on making you stronger.¡± That woke Richard up, and he looked questioningly at the old man, who was slightly smiling. ¡°You mean like the Blood Viper Venom skill?¡± Master Mulfow nodded. ¡°Indeed. It was a perfect fit for your ¡®Biohazard Domination¡¯ class of magic. With your ¡®Mimic Skill¡¯ ability, obtaining it was possible, but you needed someone to keep you from dying. That¡¯s why I sent you to Nevel instead of just telling you about where to hunt the Blood Vipers.¡± Richard realized there was more to it than that. ¡°You know more, don¡¯t you, sir? Other places I might be able to get some other skills, I mean¡­¡± Master Mulfow leaned back in his comfortable looking armchair and smiled slyly. ¡°Indeed, lad. Indeed, I do. I haven¡¯t spent a life time learning and researching without achieving something, you know¡­¡± Then, the old man¡¯s smile faded, replaced by a serious look. ¡°As we agreed, Mr. Jaeger, I will place my knowledge at your disposal as long as you share your knowledge. What kind of help would I be, if all I gave you was useless garbage?¡± Richard nodded and said, ¡°Not much¡­ Thank you, sir. The venom skill and the ¡®Stone Projectile¡¯ skill have both been life savers more than once.¡± Master Mulfow rubbed his bald head, seeming a bit embarrassed. ¡°Now, now, lad. Don¡¯t be praising me like that¡­ We still have much to accomplish. But that brings up something else¡­¡± Looking through a pile of books on a table nearby, Master Mulfow pulled out one that looked a bit battered. He flipped through a few pages until he seemed to find the one he was looking for. Clearing his throat, he said¡­ ¡°Listen to his Mr. Jaeger and tell me if it sounds familiar¡­ ¡®And the Gods will bestow their favor or hate upon those who draw their attention. But we wary as the attention of the Gods comes at a cost that may be a blessing or a curse¡­¡¯¡± The old man stopped speaking and looked up at Richard with a questioning gaze. Richard slightly nodded. ¡°Yeah¡­ That sounds like my ¡®Critical Luck¡¯ skill¡­ but blessings and curses¡­ I¡¯ve never heard that since coming here.¡± Master Mulfow put away the book, saying, ¡°Of course not, Mr. Jaeger. Blessings and curses are special, as in very few receive them¡­ Even among the worlds of the World Labyrinth, the Gods do not meddle needlessly or dare I say¡­ on a whim. If you¡¯ve caught the attention of even a few Gods¡­ then you will find that you may end up in situations that are not what you expected them to be.¡± Richard was a bit confused, until he remembered the stupid shit monster amazingly forming when he was shoveling manure, boarzilla showing up out of nowhere, and the fact that he had met Meran in the middle of nowhere¡­ ¡°Oh, crap¡­ What, you mean like godly intervention or something?¡± Master Mulfow nodded with a thoughtful look. ¡°Indeed, and the way you described what happened with your skill¡­ if not for godly intervention, how would you explain it?¡± Richard didn¡¯t have an answer to that question, but the whole thing left him with a bad taste in his mouth¡­ like he was some kind of character in some freaky story the Gods, whoever they were, were playing out. Master Mulfow cleared his throat and said, ¡°Though I have some understanding regarding the event that brings you otherworlders to the Labyrinth, I am not a foremost authority on the Gods. What I have learned about them is either second hand knowledge from adventurers like yourself or theories and mysticism from various priests. In some ways, you might say that you know more about the beings called ¡®Gods¡¯ than I do.¡± Richard sighed, saying, ¡°I had a feeling it might be something like that¡­ but what you said about curses and blessings is a good place to start though. Hopefully, I¡¯ll be able to pry something out of someone down the road.¡± The old man nodded and replied, ¡°Indeed¡­ the labyrinth is enormous after all, so you should find some guidance out there sooner or later. However, I¡¯ll continue looking into things to see if I can find any more leads.¡± After a few seconds of silence, the old scholar spoke up again. ¡°But we must focus on the here and now at this time. You mentioned some of the equipment you salvaged and the mana stones. Have you found a way to dispose of them?¡± Richard pushed back his worries and replied, ¡°Uhh¡­ No. Unfortunately not. I sold some of grassard skins in Ortesse, but I think I was cheated in that deal. I still have everything else either in my inventory or with the donkey I left with Haroken. I was thinking of selling it here in the city¡­¡± Master Mulfow smiled. ¡°Well then. I would like you to meet with an associate of mine. He¡¯s a merchant, but unlike most, he deals¡­ well, let¡¯s just say various items, some of which may come in handy down the road. One thing he will want to buy from you for sure is the mana stones you¡¯ve recovered. We can go there today once¡­¡± CRSSHSHHHH! Just as the old man was about to finish, there was a crashing noise from the living room, followed by an ¡°Owie!¡± Both Master Mulfow and Richard turned to look in the direction of the living room, before the old man turned back to Richard with a confused expression. Richard face palmed himself, muttering, ¡°Meran...¡± Chapter 17.5: Wilabouwus Pt. 5 ¡°You know, most people would see a large shelf overloaded with books and try not to touch it¡­ never mind try to climb the damn thing.¡± Richard was just a bit annoyed as he walked through the relatively peaceful looking neighborhood. ¡°But, but¡­ I wanted to see the big book at the top. It had all the pretty umm¡­ drawings on them.¡± Meran, of course, was following along, though the little halfliing had lost some of his endless sugar rush and was busy trying to keep up while rubbing his head, which had a small bump on it. ¡°I believe you mean the engravings, Mr. Lulantople.¡± Master Mulfow interrupted with that side note as he led the little group through the back streets of the Suldoren District. As amused as Richard was about the old man calling Meran a ¡®Mr.¡¯ and using the halfling¡¯s last name, he wondered what kind of store was out here in the back streets. Thankfully, the neighborhood didn¡¯t look like one of ¡®those¡¯ places, where you had to walk around with one hand on your concealed weapon and another on your wallet. However, Richard noted that the area wasn¡¯t as well to do as Master¡¯s Mulfow¡¯s neighborhood either. Though the neglect wasn¡¯t that bad, there were some signs that poverty was setting in among the residents: the lack of new paint on some houses or stores, the lack of upkeep on the open air sewers, the frequent potholes on the streets, and even the random person sitting around doing nothing in the middle of the day. ¡°Where are we going, Mr. Jaeger?¡± Meran¡¯s piping voice interrupted Richard¡¯s musings. ¡°Once again¡­ to a store belonging to a friend of Master Mulfow¡¯s.¡± That was true enough, but Richard didn¡¯t elaborate further. Richard had no intent on discussing financial matters with the little guy, especially since he doubted the halfling understood too much about money. ¡°Oh¡­ Are there going to be a lot of people, like over there?¡± Richard was looking at where Meran was pointing and at the people standing there. Of course, he also noticed Master Mulfow stopping and staring at the scene ahead. The building didn¡¯t look like much. It was a wooden, two story affair with wooden shutters on its windows and peeling paint on its brown colored walls. There was a small sign hanging above its door with a magnifying glass on it. All in all, it looked like an average store of some kind. However, the thugs standing in front of the door were definitely not part of the decor and screamed ¡®trouble,¡¯ especially since they had long daggers sheathed at their waists. The two men, one of them bald and the other one with shaggy, black hair, looked like muscle bound bruisers, and the alert way in which they were scowling in Richard¡¯s direction with their blocky faces told Richard most of what he wanted to know. Sliding up to Master Mulfow, Richard asked, ¡°Does this friend of yours¡­ umm¡­ how do I say¡­ deal with some unsavory types?¡± Master Mulfow looked up at Richard with a grim face. ¡°Unfortunately, yes. I¡¯ve discussed the foolishness of such business dealings with him before, but unfortunately, with some businesses suffering under the council¡¯s taxes, he feels that he needs to¡­ widen his market so to say.¡± Richard sighed and asked, ¡°So, how do you want to deal with this?¡± Master Mulfow bit his lip for a second and replied, ¡°Follow¡­ how do you say¡­ follow my lead in this.¡± With that, the old man walked forward while adjusting his glasses and his green colored overcoat, trying to look serious. The thugs almost immediately went on guard, putting their hands on the hilts of their daggers and turning towards Master Mulfow. The bald headed one loudly said, ¡°The store¡¯s closed. Come back laters.¡± Richard immediately didn¡¯t like the fellow¡¯s attitude. Master Mulfow replied in a calm, collected voice. ¡°I have come to meet with my associate. If you would be so kind, I would like to enter please.¡± The bald headed thug scowled and once again spat out, ¡°I tol¡¯ ya its closed ol¡¯ man. Now get!¡± Richard stood a bit behind Master Mulfow with his arms hanging off to either side. However, he wasn¡¯t just staring at the foolish meeting. His inventory was already pulled up off to his right, and he had already selected ¡®Stone Projectile.¡¯ All he needed was an excuse to start the mayhem. Master Mulfow just adjusted his glasses one more time and quietly, yet sternly said, ¡°I have no reason to ¡®get¡¯ as you so quaintly put it, and neither do I have any reason to be speaking with a bunch of rock for brains, second rate ruffians. Now, once again, I am politely asking you to step out of the way.¡± By the end of the request, the old man was lifting his right hand almost purposefully. Richard went on alert when he noticed the hand motion, but the thugs just scowled even more, with the shaggy haired one snorting in amusement. ¡°What¡¯cha gonna do, ol¡¯ fool? Talk us ta death?¡± ¡°No, but I am quite certain that I can introduce you to death.¡± Within a second of the old man¡¯s reply, a dozen tall, stone spikes about Richard¡¯s height erupted out the ground right between Master Mulfow and the thugs, almost angling up towards them! Richard stepped back momentarily, stunned as he was by the sudden spikes. He had been expecting ¡®something,¡¯ but nothing¡­ nothing like this. The thugs weren¡¯t any better as they flinched and back pedaled against the building shouting, ¡°Magic user!¡± and ¡°F#@K!¡± Of course, they had nowhere else to go, as they were soon ¡®pinned¡¯ up against the building. Richard was left staring in amazement at the spikes, guessing it was a higher level ¡®Earth Elemental¡¯ spell, but he was more amazed when Master Mulfow said in a cold voice, ¡°Now that I have your attention, gentlemen, I will ask once again¡­ Will you step aside, or do I have to explain myself further?¡± The shaggy haired thug, who had stone spikes bracketing his neck stuttered, ¡°Suuu¡­ suu¡­ sur... surree¡­¡± The bald one was a bit busy staring cross eyed at a spike that was less than an inch away from going up his nose. ¡°Thank you.¡± With a slight twitch of the old man¡¯s head, the spikes immediately lit up a golden color¡­ and withdrew back into the ground as though they were returning back to where they had come from. Master Mulfow then nonchalantly walked over to the store door, while the two thugs collapsed on the ground on either side of the door and crawled backwards away from the old man. While ignoring the scared men, Master Mulfow turned around as he opened the store door and asked, ¡°Coming, Mr. Jaeger?¡± Richard stared at the scene a bit dumbfounded while he had his short sword partially drawn out from his inventory. Unfortunately, Meran was the first to speak. ¡°Ooooh... How did you do that?¡± Richard felt like asking the same question as he walked towards the door while glancing the nervous looking thugs, who were still sitting on the ground¡­ though a decent distance away from the door. All Richard heard as the old man entered the store was, ¡°With practice¡­¡± Shaking his head somewhat in disbelief, Richard wondered what else the old man had up his sleeves¡­ or even how advanced his ¡®Elemental Earth¡¯ spells were. Unfortunately, as Richard walked through the doorway, he decided all those questions would have to wait. The inside was about what you might have expected from a mom and pop store out in boonies with a clutter of random things hanging or piled up here and there in shelves, wooden bins, and even on small display tables. Signs with what looked like prices stuck up in weird angles from the different ¡®things¡¯ that included various skins, furs, bones, metal ores, pieces of armor, weapons, bottles and pouches of ¡®stuff¡¯, and god knows what else. Most of the light was from a couple of glassless windows that had daylight spilling through their closed wooden shutters. Unfortunately, there were two more men inside the store. One looked like another dumb thug, this one with blonde hair and a bearded face. The other person¡­ well¡­ he was a bit on the chubby side and had a double chin and a florid face that Richard immediately identified as belonging to some kind of mid level mafia bum. Unlike the thugs, who were dressed only in a mismatch of leather and linen tunics and pants, the midlevel boss also had a brown and blue coat on, no doubt trying to seem respectable. Unfortunately, the entire scene inside the store kind of ruined that attempt. The man was holding what looked like a metal/bone club, while there were destroyed displays around him and trashed merchandise covered the store¡¯s floor. The scowl on the boss¡¯s sweaty face made him look like a panting bull dog, but Richard didn¡¯t laugh. Any asshole that was willing to tear up a store in broad daylight without worrying about the consequences deserved at least some careful handling. Once Meran had slipped into the store with an ¡°Eeep!,¡± Richard quietly closed the door. Master Mulfow, who was further inside the store, yelled, ¡°Tolnoy, are you alright?¡± Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The midlevel boss grunted and cursed, ¡°Who in Velis¡¯s dark hell are ya and what da¡¯ ya want?¡± At the far end of the store, a muffled voice desperately shouted, ¡°I¡¯m here Arcmaes! Help!¡± The boss guy turned around, looking behind himself and yelled, ¡°Shut up, ya dung eater!¡± Then, facing towards Master Mulfow again, Mr. Bulldog Face snarled, ¡°Get yer ass out of here, ol¡¯ timer! I don¡¯t think ya should be stickin¡¯ yer head into things that don¡¯ concern ya! Mos, get rid of ¡®em!¡± Master Mulfow sighed and mumbled, ¡°Do these people never learn¡­ yes¡­ yes¡­ it seems I must.¡± Richard wondered what the old man was mumbling, just as he saw the blonde haired thug come rushing forward like he wanted to shove the Master Mulfow out of the store. Before Richard could shout out a warning, Master Mulfow¡¯s arm was extended and a ¡®Stone Projectile¡¯ shot out, flying faster than Richard could track it. Richard¡¯s eyes widened as the old man¡¯s ¡®Stone Projectile¡¯ literally blasted into the thug¡¯s chest, splattering blood and flesh outwards and throwing the beefy fellow backwards. For a second, it looked like the thug had been shot at close range with a .44 magnum. Richard suddenly had a sinking feeling that shit had just hit the fan, and¡­ Master Mulfow of all people had been the one to start things this time around. From further in the store, Mr. Bulldog Face shouted, ¡°What the hell! Gods Damn you!¡± right before his head was encased in what looked like a layer of soil or rock¡­ Richard couldn¡¯t tell in the chaos. Almost immediately, the asshole began stumbling around, running into shelves and knocking over things while clawing at the clump of material encasing his head. Richard felt his jaw drop again in shock, but he didn¡¯t have time to gawk at the effects of the new ¡®Elemental Earth¡¯ spell. He heard angry sounds coming from outside, and he instinctively turned around and shoved Meran out of the way just as the door was flung open! Richard didn¡¯t even hesitate. His short sword was already extended forward and he was already pulling his hunting dagger out of his inventory, when he saw the first thug try to rush through the door. A quick thought coated the sword with poison even as Richard rammed it into the belly of the bald thug, who bulled his way forward¡­ right into a few feet of steel. ¡°OHHHFFFGGGHGHGHHHH!¡± The man¡¯s pitiful gurgle was cut halfway as Richard viciously plunged the hunting dagger into the thug¡¯s neck while staring into the dying man¡¯s scared eyes. As the thug¡¯s body bowled over Richard tackling him down towards the floor, blood sprayed all over Richard¡¯s face and body, putting a coppery taste in his mouth and almost blinding him. For a second, Richard could only make out muffled yelling as he fell and frantically scrambled to make sense of things. As Richard hit the hard floor and the first thug¡¯s body slammed down on top of him, he gasped, trying to breathe. Blinking through the blood covering his eyes and face, he was horrified to see the last thug suddenly loom over him, snarling and holding a dagger. Richard had just enough time to choke out ¡°F#$K,¡± before the last thug¡¯s face was¡­ suddenly sandblasted! One second, the shaggy haired man was scowling at Richard with his ugly, square jawed face and the next¡­ well¡­ it was pretty much a ruin, like someone had ripped off large parts of his skin, hair, and flesh including parts of his nose, lips, eyelids, ears¡­ Well, you get the idea. The faceless horror shrieked, ¡°ARRHFFFFFFEEEHHH!¡± and stepped back out of Richard¡¯s view. Richard, who was staring up in disbelief, flinched from hearing the pain laced scream and desperately pushed at the dead body lying on top of him. With a final heave, it finally slid off, still gushing blood from all its open wounds. Coughing up the dead man¡¯s blood, Richard rolled over and puked up a mix of red and white vomit, as he tried to breathe normally. He felt numb from everything, and his vision was shaky¡­ but he knew it wasn¡¯t over yet as he still heard the screaming from the mutilated thug. Dragging himself to his feet, Richard saw Master Mulfow and some skinny fellow wrestling with the midboss guy further in store, while Meran was frantically dodging the flailing, faceless thug while screaming, ¡°AHHHHHHHESGONNAAKILLLLLMMMEEE!¡± Pulling his halberd out of his inventory without hesitating, Richard lined it up with the faceless thug and shoved it right into the man¡¯s belly¡­ pretty much disemboweling him and leading to another round of gurgling shrieking. Ignoring the gut wrenching sounds, Richard continued shoving the halberd¡¯s tip as hard as he could into the man¡¯s abdomen even as the thug grabbed the weapon¡¯s wooden shaft and shook it desperately trying to get himself free. It took a dozen seconds for the thug to finally collapse lifelessly on the floor, but those gruesome, dozen seconds embedded themselves forever in Richard¡¯s memory. The sight of the man¡¯s blood, flesh, and entrails spilling out while he screamed and clawed at his bloody, pulped face was a nightmare given life. When it was over, Richard finally let go of his halberd and stumbled backwards almost in a daze before collapsing on his ass on the bloody floor of the store. While trying to wipe the blood from his face, Richard looked at Meran, who was halfway up a shelf and was hefting some kind of large chunk of ore like he was going to throw it. The halfling¡¯s face was frozen in an expression somewhere between terror and surprise¡­ Richard stared at the halfling for a bit before grunting out, ¡°Seriously¡­ What is with you and climbing shelves?¡± It took some time to¡­ clean things up. Richard was unfortunately stuck with the messy job of hauling the dead bodies to the back room of the store, while Meran dealt with the blood stains using a bucket of water and some rags. Still, they didn¡¯t say ¡®pools of blood¡¯ for no reason. Eventually, leaving Meran to finish up, Richard walked over to Master Mulfow, who was sternly talking to his ¡®associate,¡¯ who had bruises on his face and arms and was dressed like a old school shopkeeper, wearing a now smudged, white linen shirt and a brown apron over his brown, linen pants. ¡°Now, Tolnoy, do you see what your foolish involvement with those other thugs has brought you?¡± The old man¡¯s voice had an angry sound to it that Richard had never heard before. The ¡®associate,¡¯ who seemed to be a skinny, grey haired fellow with a triangular face muttered, ¡°They aren¡¯t thugs, Arcmaes. Fergur and his people keep things peaceful around here. They¡¯re doing what¡¯s needed to keep the council¡¯s goons out and to keep the peace.¡± Pointing to the midboss fellow, who was lying on the floor glaring nearby in his tied up and gagged state, Tolnoy spat out, ¡°Unlike these bastards. They¡¯ve been comin¡¯ around demandin¡¯ protection money from me and sayin¡¯ it¡¯s that or I¡¯ll be a dead man.¡± Master Mulfow sarcastically cut in, ¡°Yes¡­ and unfortunately, I¡¯m now involved in this. So, I do believe you can be happy now.¡± Tolnoy muttered, ¡°I didn¡¯t plan on draggin¡¯ you in to this Arcmaes, but I thanked the Gods when I heard your voice.¡± Flinching as he rubbed his sides, the shopkeeper continued, ¡°I thought they were gonna kill me this time around¡­¡± Richard decided to butt in, not wanting to let the two men drag things out. ¡°So, what can we expect now. Are more of the idiots going to show up? How do we get rid of the bodies? And the neighborhood¡­ there¡¯s no way no one would have heard nothing¡­¡± Tolnoy looked up at Richard, eyes narrowed in annoyance. ¡°An¡¯, who¡¯re you to be asking?¡± Richard suddenly felt his left eye twitching in anger. He was covered in blood and gods knew what else, while standing in a store after killing a man in broad daylight to save some moron, who may or may not be involved in something shady¡­ and who was being an ungrateful little shit after having his life saved. ¡°Listen to me you¡­¡± Before Richard could go further, Master Mulfow cut in, ¡°He¡¯s a friend of mine Tolnoy, and he¡¯s right. We have issues that need to be settled.¡± Tolnoy scowled at Richard before turning back to Master Mulfow. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Arcmaes. The people around here won¡¯ say anything to anyone that comes snooping, especially about these goons. About the bodies¡­ Fergur an¡¯ and his boys¡¯ll take care of it since they technically owe me¡­ but you¡¯re right about other issues. These dead morons have friends, who may decide to cause some problems later. I¡¯m just going to have to hope Fergur can deal with them¡­¡± Richard wasn¡¯t exactly filled with confidence. This Tolnoy seemed to be depending on some local neighborhood thug named Fergur to deal with everything, and unless Fergur was the ¡®God Father,¡¯ Richard doubted three¡­ possibly four dead men could be explained away that easily. In Richard¡¯s experience, that¡¯s how gang wars usually started. He whispered, ¡°Wonderful¡­¡± Chapter 17.6: Wilabouwus Pt. 6 The afternoon sun was blazing down as the small party of people wound their way through the streets, talking quietly and looking around nervously¡­ well most of them anyway. ¡°Mr. Jaeger, are the bad people still after us?¡± Meran was walking with a slight spring to his step and wasn¡¯t exactly looking too scared. All his worry had immediately vanished a few seconds after leaving the store, and he had even started singing his stupid traveling song all of a sudden until Richard had smacked him on the head, telling him to be quiet. To Richard¡­ it was kind of annoying, truthfully speaking. With a slight scowl, he bitingly said, ¡°Well, keep a good eye out for some big looking men carrying knives. When you see a few of them, why don¡¯t you run over really quickly and ask them.¡± Meran frowned cutely and replied, ¡°But, they might get mad¡­¡± Richard looked up at the blue sky for a second, praying for whatever god was up there watching all this craziness to send him some patience some time soon. Unfortunately, the irritation refused to go away. So, Richard did the next best thing¡­ he ignored Meran, blocking the halfling¡¯s high pitched, piping voice. Instead, as he kept his eyes moving, Richard thought about where he and the others, including Tolnoy were going. The merchant had been adamant about getting to Ferger to hopefully clean up the mess at the store, including the now four dead bodies. It had been a pretty screwed up thing to do, stabbing the last thug while he had been tied up, but Richard had done it anyway after the bastard threatened to have everyone involved tortured¡­ Mind you, it might have been just stupid bluster, but Richard figured adding one more piece of trash to his list of dead wasn¡¯t exactly going to add screw up his mind even more than it already was. However, now, Richard didn¡¯t know whether he should regret getting more involved. The risks involved were pretty serious, but the rewards had seemed to be a bit tempting at the time. With Master Mulfow watching like a hawk, the merchant had actually bought most of Richard¡¯s mana stones above market price, had agreed to look over all the other stuff stored at the Guard Fortress with Richard¡¯s donkey, and had even agreed to look for a buyer for the boarzilla skin that was clogging up like three quarters of Richard¡¯s inventory. The only thing Richard had refused to sell was the mana stone from boarilla and the mana core from the ¡®Shit Monster.¡¯ Thanks to that Richard had another two gold Vales added to his savings. Of course, the merchant had offered to ¡®sweeten¡¯ any future ¡®deals¡¯ if Richard tagged along with him. Richard would have gone anyway since Master Mulfow had voiced his intentions to go, but the last offer had been tempting¡­ Still, Richard was having second thoughts about the whole thing. For one, he felt lightly dressed for whatever was to come as the group approached their destination: a slightly worn down looking tavern of some kind. This one looked at least a bit more respectable than the Drunken Goat, without looking like it was going to come crumbling down any time soon. However, the man obviously standing guard outside kind of made Richard wish he had his armor on. Unfortunately, it had been impossible to get the fresh blood out of the armor that easily without a large amount of water, and Richard had used most of the available water at the time to clean the rest of himself up. So, he was just wearing an old pair of linen tunic and pants donated by Tolnoy. Thankfully, the ¡®guard¡¯ was dressed about the same, while carrying what looked like a wooden club of some kind. Unfortunately, this ¡®guard¡¯ didn¡¯t exactly carry the menacing aura like the dead thugs from the store. Instead, the man/boy looked like a weedy, village yokel fresh off the farm, who was playing at being a ¡®bad boy.¡¯ Richard looked the boy/man over and whispered, ¡°F#$k¡­¡± The gawky, blonde haired ¡®guard¡¯ held out his right hand, palm wide open and patronizingly said, ¡°Halt!¡± Then the man/boy sauntered forward, like he owned the street or something. Richard rolled his eyes in disgust at young man¡¯s immaturity and looked back down the street, trying to find anyone, who might have been spying. Meanwhile, Richard heard Tolnoy speak up, ¡°Mesch, I got no time to be dealing with you. I need to see Feger, now!¡± The pompous voice that replied set Richard¡¯s teeth on edge. ¡°You got no business here old man. The boss¡¯s got business today to take care of. Come back later.¡± Tolnoy snorted and said, ¡°I don¡¯t care what you think Mesch! I¡¯ve got business with your boss, so get out of the way!¡± Around that time, Richard saw a rough looking man walk around a corner in the distance and quickly step back, however not before Richard saw that the man was carrying a bladed weapon. ¡°Shit¡­¡± Whispering the words, Richard turned back towards the conversation happening in front of the tavern and immediately pulled out his short sword from his inventory without second guessing himself. Sticking the short sword¡¯s tip right near the gawky guard¡¯s nose, Richard said, ¡°The man said he needs to see your boss. Now, get out of the f#@king way!¡± The young man, who was now cross eyed staring at the blade, held up his hands muttering, ¡°Easy, easy¡­ I was just joking. Go right in.¡± Richard held his blade in position and nodded his head at the others, telling them to go on in. Just as Master Mulfow was passing, Richard quietly said, ¡°We¡¯ll be having company soon. Try to see if there¡¯s a back door to the place, sir.¡± Thankfully, the old man must have heard, as he nodded slightly while following Tolnoy through the entrance with Meran being a step behind. When they were all inside, Richard withdrew his blade and snarled, ¡°Watch what you say next time¡­¡± Then, just as he began going into the tavern, Richard decided to have some mercy on the pompous fool. ¡°Also, keep your eyes peeled. If you see a bunch of people strolling down the road lookin¡¯ like they¡¯re pissed¡­ warn us inside. Don¡¯t pull this guard shit with them.¡± With that, he slipped inside the well lit tavern, which looked like what he had expected: relatively dirty, smelly, and lit mostly from the sunlight spilling through the partially open, window shutters. Otherwise, the place was mostly empty except for the eight men either standing around or seated at a table in the middle of the small common area. All the men were staring at Richard and those with him in surprise, and most of them didn¡¯t exactly look like the usual thuggish types. They all had some kind of weapon, either a dagger or a club, but most of them looked more like a next door neighbor than a thug. It didn¡¯t help that at least half of them looked nervous as hell. There were three of them that had a muscular build along with a determined look on their faces. Among them, Richard guessed the man leaning back against his chair with his arms crossed against his broad chest was Ferger. The black haired, chiseled faced man definitely had a commanding presence, and from the way everyone kept looking at him, it was clear he was the leader. Tolnoy stepped forward speaking quickly, ¡°Ferger, I got a problem. A bunch of the damn Joker¡¯s Fists attacked my store. They were gonna kill me, damn it! I thought you said you¡¯d be dealing with ¡®em!¡± Richard suddenly froze¡­ The two words the merchant had just uttered completely made his blood run cold. ¡®Joker¡¯s Fist.¡¯ He had heard those words before from Martin¡­ who had told him to run as fast and as far he could if he heard that name. ¡°F@#k...¡± Whispering the words, he felt oblivion sucking him down... but he wasn¡¯t the weakling he had been weeks ago. Too much had happened to break him so easily. Clenching his teeth, he shook his head to clear his thoughts and focused on the sudden shouting in front of him¡­ He had already missed some of it, but he knew that he desperately needed to know details to figure out what he was going to do next. The hard faced man, whom Richard had identified as Ferger, was scowling and he slammed one of his fists on the table, ¡°Damn it Tolnoy! Four of the bastards includin¡¯ Bosar being killed! Do you know what ye¡¯ve done? Boser was one of Froy¡¯s lieutenants¡­ He won¡¯ be lettin¡¯ this go!¡± Tolnoy, who was now standing at the table, pointed his right index finger at Ferger and shouted, ¡°You were supposed to provide protection, Ferger! I haven¡¯t been payen¡¯ yer damn taxes fer nothin¡¯! They were gonna kill me in my own damn store!¡± The men around the table began talking all at once¡­ ¡°We need to negotiate¡­¡± ¡°Hit ¡®em before¡­¡± ¡°Tell them, we¡­¡± Seeing the disorder, Richard immediately found what looked like a side door off to the right of the common room and began pushing Meran in that direction while tugging on Master Mulfow¡¯s sleeves. The old man, who had an upset look on his face, looked up at Richard and asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Mr. Jaeger?¡± Richard mouthed the words, ¡°Joker¡¯s Fist.¡± He didn¡¯t know if Master Mulfow knew the words, but the old man nodded grimly and began following. That didn¡¯t improve the hollow feeling in Richard¡¯s guts. It only meant that the situation was as bad as he feared it was. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Just as they were about halfway to the door, there was large thud and crashing noise¡­ The tavern¡¯s door flew open¡­ and the pompous doorkeeper came flying in, crashing into a table and sprawling unconscious on the floor. Richard immediately pulled his Lucky Ring out of his inventory and slipped it onto his fingers, while sending his sword back into his inventory. Just as large, mean looking men began entering through the door, Richard pulled out his salvaged crossbow and shouldered it, targeting the doorway. He had only used it a couple times in practice after taking it off Meran¡¯s torturers, but he figured he needed every edge possible with what was to come. The only good part was that he could store it loaded in his inventory. In the tavern, everyone was getting up and shouting all at once, but no one moved to stop the men, who were entering through the door. In a half a dozen seconds, close to 15, brutish looking men were crowded near the doorway with most of them carrying a mix of short swords, long daggers, and spiked clubs. Then, one of them, a pock mark faced man with large scar running down the right side of his face stepped forward. He was somewhat well dressed, wearing a red and black coat, but his beefy build looked out of place in the clothes. ¡°Ferger, I heard one of yer people got Bosar and his boys dead! Froy wants to know if this es yer way of talkin¡¯ things over, then?¡± The scar faced man was definitely angry, and from the way his men kept looking around like they wanted to kill everyone, Richard knew it was too late to run. All he had left to do was figure out who to kill first with the crossbow. Luckily, he, Meran, and Master Mulfow were off to the side in the tavern and weren¡¯t exactly being targeted fully by the large crowd of enemies. There were a couple eyeing him, but Richard rated them as a lower threat than the boss guy and the two chainmail wearing, sword carrying flunkies flanking the man. Ferger, amazingly enough, didn¡¯t back down from the accusation. ¡°Don¡¯ be tellin¡¯ me that me and mine did wrong, when your dogs tried to kill one of my people in his own store, Vebem! I was all fer talkin¡¯ about peace, but after this¡­¡± Ferger didn¡¯t have to say much more. Vebem or the main target as Richard considered him pointed at Ferger and yelled, ¡°Then we¡¯ll settle this here and now!¡± A half a dozen things happened all at once or within a few seconds. From beside Richard, Master Mulfow sharply said, ¡°The boss is using some kind of magic¡­ The thugs all began moving to attack everyone around the room, with three of them coming towards Richard and those with him. However, Richard chose to deal damage elsewhere first. He immediately pulled the trigger on his crossbow, which was aimed right at the boss, as the man was walking around a table. The bolt shot forward without a problem, heading right for the man¡¯s back. Richard, however, didn¡¯t keep watching to see what happened, not with the number of enemies that were still left. Even as a the crossbow bolt flew straight and true, a dozen, stone spikes erupted out of the floor boards right in the middle of the a half a dozen thugs still standing near the doorway, impaling three of them and tearing off an arm and leg off another one. Somehow, two of the men escaped harm, barely that is and stumbled away from the death trap. Suddenly, the whole place erupted in pain filled screaming and confused shouting. Richard targeted the area with three other thugs, including the two wearing chainmail, who seemed to hesitate in the confusion and immediately cast ¡®Biogas.¡¯ Again, he didn¡¯t keep watching to see what would happen. There was no time to hesitate, but he hoped the men would at least be slowed by the gas. By this time, he was dropping his crossbow even as he held out his right hand to cast ¡®Stone Projectile.¡¯ From beside him, a more powerful ¡®Stone Projectile¡¯ shot forward, punching a fist sized hole in one of the approaching thugs¡¯ chest, throwing the man backwards, while splattering blood everywhere. Richard¡¯s own projectile shot forward hitting another approaching thug in the chest but not doing much more than causing the man to grab his chest with a pain filled face and to stumble. Unfortunately, that man got unlucky as his head was encased in a globular mass of stone, and his stumble turned into a collapse as he fell over a chair blocking his way. The last thug coming Richard¡¯s way looked angry and had a large, spiked club, which didn¡¯t exactly look painless. Richard had already pulled his short sword out of his inventory by this time, and he moved forward after casting ¡®Blood Viper Venom¡¯ on the blade. The last thing he did was try to activate his ring. He didn¡¯t know what would happen per say, but he hoped it would help. Almost immediately, off to the corner of his vision, a mass of numbers twisted around until a small 2X showed up. Nothing drastic happened, but suddenly Richard felt somewhat lighter on his feet, like his legs didn¡¯t need to apply as much force to keep him standing. Also, his sword felt lighter as well. Richard almost stumbled due to how weird he felt but caught himself just before the thug with the club swung, trying to smash Richard¡¯s head. Dodging to the left, Richard targeted the thug¡¯s right arm and wildly slashed at it. He was barely able to nick it, but more importantly, it drew blood. The thug winced a bit but swung his club sideways like it was tennis racket or something instead of with any skill. That suited Richard just fine, since he wasn¡¯t exactly a swordsman either. Richard didn¡¯t dodge this time and stepped into the attack, clumsily blocking it with his sword. THUNNKKK! Though his arms were jarred a bit by the power of the swing, Richard had no trouble in deflecting the club with his doubled strength. But he didn¡¯t stop there. With the thug standing sideways and suddenly being off balance for a follow up attack, Richard stepped quickly and rammed into the thug shoulder first. That sent the man stumbling, and Richard didn¡¯t hesitate to shove his sword into the man¡¯s side, most likely piercing a lung. ¡°AGHGGHHHH!¡± With a choked scream, the man collapsed on the floor as Richard withdrew his bloodied sword. But Richard didn¡¯t get away scot free. A last second swing by the thug sent lances of pain up Richard¡¯s right leg as the thug¡¯s spiked club ripped into Richard¡¯s thigh, leaving three bloody furrows. ¡°UGHHHHH!¡± He hopped back grunting in pain and with tears forming in his eyes. A quick glance down showed blood soaking through his pants near the torn areas, but Richard clenched his teeth, trying to hold back the pain he felt. Suddenly, he felt a wave of refreshing energy pass through him and the pain in his legs beginning to numb. Richard glanced to the side and saw Meran standing there his face scrunched in effort. Richard choked out, ¡°Keep it going¡­¡± and hobbled over to the third thug, who was flailing around with a large chuck of stone encasing his head. Richard stayed out reach and pulled out his halberd from his inventory one handed. Effortlessly lifting up the long weapon with just his right hand, Richard brought it down, chopping heavily at the thugs left shoulder with the halberd¡¯s axe blade. THUCKK! ¡°ARFGGHGFUCCGKC!¡± The thug screamed as he dropped the dagger he had been waving around and grabbed at the halberd¡¯s shaft trying to pry the weapon loose. However, by this time, the man had blood squirting out of his shoulder and flowing down to the floor. Richard let go of the halberd and painfully propelled himself forward, stabbing the man¡¯s unprotected abdomen with the venom coated short sword. ¡°GWUAGGH!¡± The thug collapsed to his knees, and Richard yanked his blade back out with a snarl, finally taking a look at the rest of the tavern to see what had happened. Bodies were lying everywhere, bleeding and moaning in some cases, but most of the men left standing were part of Ferger¡¯s men. Even Tolnoy was alive, though the merchant was cowering behind a table with one other man. Also, to Richard''s interest, there was a flashing icon at the corner of his vision... Of the men who had barged in, only two seemed to be alive or stay up, and they were kneeling near the stone spikes, holding their hands up, while being threatened by two of Ferger¡¯s men. Even as Richard watched, the two men, who were begging for mercy¡­ received none as they were stabbed and hacked at mercilessly by their captors. It seemed as though the ¡®no mercy¡¯ rules were in full effect. Just as Richard began walking backwards to try and get out of the place with Meran and Master Mulfow, Ferger loudly shouted, ¡°You! Stop right there!¡± Richard¡¯s eyes met the dark eyed man¡¯s angry, reddish face, and Richard tightened his grip on his short sword¡­. _______________________________________________________________________________ For why Richard is afraid of the Joker''s Fist, refer to his meeting with Martin in chapter 6 I think......