Hero of Lichfrost

by M E Robinson

  [Your understanding of Arcane magic has grown. Basic Arcane Magic has reached Apprentice 4]

  [Your understanding of Arcane magic has grown. Basic Arcane Magic has reached Apprentice 5]

  [Basic Novanalba Mana Technique has been learned!]

  [You have learned a mana technique! Mana techniques will allow you to cast spells more effectively and are a crucial part of being a successful mage in Fate. Continue to practice your mana technique and search for techniques which suit your casting style!]

  [Due to learning a mana technique, your understanding of Arcane Magic has grown. Basic Arcane Magic has reached Apprentice 6]

  Letting out a low whistle, Eric exhaled. He knew that studying under Lucy would bring him benefits - Or at least it better be after paying her five silver Sricks, Eric grumbled to himself - but he hadn’t expected to gain this many levels simply from reading books on the topic and listening to Lucy’s lectures. Clearly, it had been money well spent, he thought to himself, closing the event log and bringing up the description of his new mana technique.

  Basic Novanalba Mana Technique: Beginner Mana Technique - Arcane

  Passive

  You have learned the basic mana technique taught to residents of the Novanalba Kingdom. This is a mana technique that was developed with the purpose of being as easy to learn as possible. It is a very balanced mana technique that does not lean towards either casting speed or mana efficiency. It offers a miniscule bonus for casters of Wind or Water magic; however, the effects are so small as to be negligible. Creating a new mana technique with this technique as a base would not be difficult for an accomplished mage.

  Closing the skill description, Eric pushed a branch out of the way, allowing the flexible limb to whip back and whack Griffin in the face. Laughing under his breath at his friend’s indignant sputtering as he spat pine needles out of his mouth, Eric tried to digest what he’d just learned about skill leveling.

  It was now clear to him that there were alternatives to leveling apart from simply using the skills to kill monsters. Skills could be leveled up as long as one learned more about the skill. Whether or not that meant becoming more proficient with the skill, learning more about it, or a combination of both, was something he would have to figure out. But it now seemed definite that taking lessons or learning new things about a skill would have an effect on the skill’s proficiency.

  “We headed in the right direction?” Mark spoke up from the back, jumping over a fallen log. Reopening his UI, Eric confirmed that they were closing in on the cave, “Should be there in a minute or so. Have either of you guys ever gotten skill levels from activities other than grinding?”

  “I think I have,” Griffin replied, appearing deep in thought for a second, an interesting look on an almost six and a half foot tall half-orc charging through the forest, Eric thought privately as he turned to look at him. Turning his gaze forward again, he stumbled, nearly tripping over an exposed tree root.

  “And?” Eric prompted impatiently after nearly half a minute had gone by like this, this time keeping his eyes forward.

  “Uhhh. It would’ve been when Mark and I handed in a quest for a militia NPC that wasn’t Captain Melvin. He showed me a few sword moves. I didn’t learn a skill, but my militia swordsmanship gained two levels after he fixed some of my mistakes,” Griffin replied.

  Hearing this triggered a response from Mark, who piped up from the rear, “Ah yeah, I remember that. He didn’t know any mace moves so I didn’t get any skill level ups. But I was playing with my mace while Griffin was grabbing a drink IRL and I decided to try some baseball swings, using the tips my coach gave me. That gave me a skill level,” he added.

  “Why do you ask?” said Griffin, directing the question towards Eric.

  “Ah well, it turns out I actually gained quite a few skill levels from the session with my teacher. I was wondering if that was a one off thing, or something that could be replicated. Could be a useful way to powerlevel skills if we can earn enough coin,” Eric explained, bounding over a rock, he landed precariously on a soil incline. Windmilling his arms wildly, he managed to regain his balance, surfing down the dirt into a grassy clearing.

  Moving smartly to the side, a loud cry that was abruptly cut off announced Griffin’s face-first arrival into the dirt beside him. As Griffin raised his head to stare at Eric resentfully, Mark jumped down agilely, having stopped just short of the drop as he noticed his friends’ sudden drops.

  Flashing Griffin an apologetic smile, Eric swept his hand grandiosely towards the clearing. “We’re here,” he announced with a grin.

  The clearing was the very same place where Eric and Owin had fought the pack of wolves on their desperate flight south. To the north, Eric could see the brushes where he and Owin had hidden, while to the south lay the cave system that the wolves had used as their den.

  Striding forward, Eric heard a thunk sound at his feet. Looking down, he could see a stained, white stick next to his boot, with the end snapped off and small marks along the length of the shaft. Looking closer, he realized that it was a bone, with bloody stains marring the normally white sheen. Alert now, Eric examined the clearing. Sure enough, there were several more bones scattered across the end of the clearing, many with bloodstains or bits of reddish fur still attached to them.

  Approaching a cluster of bones that were scattered near the northern entrance, Eric was startled to see that the bones were what remained of the corpses of the wolves that he and Owin had killed, which were still lying in the clearing, though remarkably worse for the wear than they’d been when he’d left. Although the wolves had been hacked at and looted, their corpses had still been relatively intact, and should have disappeared after a certain amount of time. Had something happened to cause them to stick around? And what had stripped the corpses to the bone? Eric wondered as he bent down over the scattered bones.

  “Anything wrong?” Mark asked, approaching the pile of bones.

  “Yeah, why’d you stop all of a sudden?” Griffin added, rubbing the dirt off his face as he shot Eric a dirty glare.

  “Sorry, I didn’t realize there was a drop off there,” Eric apologized before pointing to the bones, “Anyways. This is weird. These should be the bones of some wolves that I killed a few days ago.”

  “Shouldn’t those have disappeared?” Griffin asked with interest, the hostility in his tone replaced with curiosity as he came closer to observe the bones.

  “They should have, yeah. Which is why I’m wondering what’s going on,” Eric replied.

  “Could just be a fresh kill on some different wolves. Not like you stuck around to watch the corpses disappear right?” Mark asked, prodding a bone with his foot.

  “Could be…” Eric said with uncertainty, “but the placement of the bones seems to match up with where the wolves were killed. I dunno, it just feels weird that these wouldn’t disappear.”

  “Perhaps it’s a different system that has a random chance of kicking in, simulates nature properly on some kills or something like that,” suggested Griffin.

  “Maybe…” Eric responded, then shook his head rapidly to dispel the thoughts. “Anyways. We’ve arrived. That’s the cave that I feel should contain something or another. Last time it had four red-maned wolves. Not sure if they’ve respawned or not, of if there’s anything deeper, but it can’t hurt to find out right?”

  “I mean it could hurt. Significantly. Luckily, we have Griffin for that,” Mark said with a grin, pushing their fearless tank forward. Rolling his eyes, Griffin unhooked his shield and drew his sword before advancing towards the entrance to the cave. Exchanging a look with Mark, Eric drew his sword, holding it in his left hand as he prepared a Wind Dart, following Griffin into the cave.

  Entering the cave, the thing that immediately stood out to Eric was the stench. An aroma, not dissimilar to that of a slaughterhouse he’d visited as a youngster, wafted through the caverns, causing Eric to wrinkle his nose. Despite Fate reducing the sensory impact of pain, th
e other senses were still mostly untouched and that included smell. While the smell in the cave was probably better in Fate than it would have been in real life, that still didn’t make it any easier to bear for the three experiencing it now.

  “God this stinks,” Griffin spoke up, keeping his shield high as his boots kicked up dirt from the cave floor.

  “You’re telling me,” Eric replied, using his sword hand to pinch his nose, carefully keeping the blade away from his face as he did so.

  Mark observed the two in amusement. “It’s just a little smell, suck it up and keep moving. There might be something good in here.”

  Attempting to ignore the stench proved to be impossible. It penetrated their nostrils, causing them to furrow their noses with disgust, but unable to escape it. However, as they rounded a corner the stench was driven from their minds by the sight that had appeared in front of them.

  “Jesus. What do you think did this?” Griffin asked in shock, looking at the scene in front of them in horror.

  “Is this normal for a wolf den? I’ve never been inside one before,” said Eric, looking a little pale as he observed the scene in front of them.

  The cave had opened up into a large circular stone chamber. A hole in the top of the rock allowed sunlight to stream in, which illuminated the scene below. More than a dozen red-maned wolves lay dead on the floor of the cave. Although Eric counted fourteen, it was quite possible that there were even more than that number, as fur, blood, and torn off limbs, created a gruesome carpet for the rocky cave floor. Not a single corpse remained in one piece, with some wolves having been literally torn in half, their inner organs spilling out in long trails that stretched between the two or more halves. Not even the cubs had escaped the massacre, their pitiful mangled bodies lay huddled in a corner behind the corpses of two adult wolves, most likely their mothers, Eric theorized as he tried to come to terms with what he was seeing.

  “I’m slightly regretting not toning down the gore settings right now,” said Griffin. Eric and Mark nodded in silent agreement.

  “Seriously, is this normal at all? I’ve only encountered wolves in the forest. I’ve never been inside a den before,” Eric asked again.

  Mark shook his head. “Wolves don’t normally kill each other. And certainly not in such a brutal fashion. Also there should be survivors if this was an inter-pack conflict, or a fight over territory. I have no idea how closely red-maned wolves resemble wolves in real life. But big cats like lions tend to kill off the cubs and young males when they take over a pride. That might have been the case here, but it still doesn’t explain why all the wolves are dead.”

  “Maybe another group of players killed them?” Griffin suggested.

  “What type of sick fucks would do something like this? Even if it’s virtual, this goes way beyond mere cruelty,” Eric cursed, a dangerous glint appearing in his eye.

  “I don’t think it was players - there are claw marks on this one. And some of these wolves look like they were bitten around the neck. It kind of looks like the mice and vole corpses my cat brings me,” said Mark, bending down to get a closer look at one of the wolf bodies.

  Crouching down beside Mark, Eric took a closer look at the wound he was talking about. The back of the wolf’s neck bore a number of bloody holes. The area had clearly been ravaged as the wolf’s neck was nearly devoid of fur in the location of the bite. Stray tufts of bloody fur hung from the wound, or wounds rather, as numerous holes each over an inch deep could be seen dotting the flesh and bone below.

  “So you’re saying an animal did this?” Eric asked, standing up and moving away from the bloody sight.

  “It’s possible. Either way, these corpses are unlooted so we should loot them and then move on. Perhaps whatever it is that killed these wolves is still in these caves,” Mark said darkly, scanning the entrances to the cavern for any trace of danger. With grim looks, Eric and Griffin set to helping Mark loot the wolves. Griffin kept his shield equipped, vigilantly watching the openings in the cave for any signs of movement.

  Grabbing the last wolf pelt, Eric stood up, cracking his back as he turned away from the gruesome sight. He had left the cubs to Mark, opting instead to loot the adult wolves at the far corner of the cavern. Looking over at Mark, he shook his head sadly. While it was true that they’d come to kill the wolves themselves, the sheer brutality and cruelty of the killer left him shocked. Despite the fact that he knew Fate was a video game, and these wolves were merely packets of data, doomed to respawn and be killed in a never ending cycle of violence, it still felt just a little too real.

  Briefly, Eric considered turning down the gore settings, but after a short moment of hesitation he stopped, leaving them as they were. No matter how used to killing he became in Fate, he vowed that he would never be this cruel. If being forced to experience scenes like this was the price he had to pay to act like a decent human being, then so be it, Eric swore to himself.

  “We should keep moving. No point sticking around now that we’ve looted the wolves,” said Mark, breaking Eric out of his reverie.

  With a small nod, Eric followed Mark over towards Griffin’s position at the far end of the cavern, preparing a Wind Dart and drawing his sword once more. If whatever had killed the wolves was still in here, he was going to make them pay, Eric swore, his grip tightening unconsciously on the handle of his sword as the party descended further into the cavern.

  Chapter 14

  As the trio travelled through the caverns, it became readily apparent that the cave had been used as a wolf den for many years. Small tufts of red fur could be seen lying in many of the nooks and crannies in the rock, while claw marks adorned the stones roughly around Eric’s chest height, at the same height as a red-maned wolf standing on its hind legs. Other smaller scratch marks could also be seen on the cave floor, and the rock itself seemed to have been worn away in many of the smaller rooms they passed through on their journey through the caverns.

  Entering one such chamber, Eric sighed as they saw yet another dead wolf. Unlike many of the others they’d found, this wolf’s corpse was all in one piece, with only a chunk of flesh missing from its neck to indicate how it had died. The wolf’s legs were sprawled out in a manner that suggested it had been running when it had met its untimely demise. Small claw marks in the stone in front of the corpse also gave weight to this suggestion. It appeared as if the wolf had been attempting to flee deeper inside the cave when its killer had caught up, pinned it to the ground, and dispatched it in a single blow.

  Bending down to loot the corpse, a strange look came over Marks face as he stood up.

  “What?” Griffin asked, noting the look of concern upon his friend’s face.

  “I just got a quest,” said Mark, his expression troubled.

  “Can you share it with us?” Eric asked, moving over to the wolf’s corpse and attempting to loot it himself.

  [Red-maned Wolf’s body has already been looted. However, the signs point to a troubled death. Discover what killed this wolf.]

  As Eric stared at the system message, another system message appeared, replacing the previous one.

  [Quest received: Red-maned Killer]

  The red-maned wolves of this den have all been killed by a mysterious assailant. One particular wolf died full of grievances. Discover its killer and resolve the grievances of the wolf’s spirit.

  Reward: The red-maned wolf’s spirit will grant you a reward if you can fulfill its wish. However, its wish may not be as simple as merely killing the attacker.

  Dismissing the quest notification, Eric looked up at Mark.

  “Did you get it too?” Mark asked.

  “Yup,” Eric replied.

  Turning to Griffin, Eric pointed at the corpse. “Loot it. There’s a quest,” he said simply.

  Nodding, Griffin looted the wolf as well, the change in his expression as he looked at his system messages indicating that he had been successful in obtaining the quest.

  “Why do you think we got this qu
est now?” Griffin wondered out loud as they left the wolf’s body behind, continuing deeper into the cavern.

  “And not when we found the entire group of wolves? No clue. Maybe it’s because some people would bail when they found the first group?” Eric suggested.

  “That’s possible. Remember that quest we got earlier Griffin? The one where we had to hunt down that elite wolf?” said Mark.

  “Oh yeah. We only got that because we followed the trail and found the girl hiding, didn’t we?”

  “Yeah. I feel there are quite a few quests that are hidden a little below the surface in Fate. That you need to do a little work in order to get them if that makes sense,” Mark explained.

  “That makes sense. My magic teacher only agreed to take me on as a student because I met her conditions. No one advertised her either. The militia captain only mentioned her after I had a run in with her. So it definitely seems like Fate’s a game that rewards the thorough,” Eric added, looking pensive.

  “That’s what I’m thinking. Quite a few people would probably see the carnage in the first room and assume that everything in here had already been killed. Or maybe run away rather than go deeper, so it’s possible that this quest is only triggered by heading deeper into the cave to investigate,” Mark theorized, getting nods from Eric and Griffin.

  “I just hope that whatever it is that killed them isn’t still here,” Griffin said with a heavy tone.

  “Or that it’s just players, although that’s looking a little unlikely,” Mark said softly, leading them towards a new section of the cave.

  Continuing onwards, the group attempted to make small talk, but the somber atmosphere of the cave seemed to prevent lighthearted conversation. After a few fruitless attempts to start a discussion, the three grew silent, simply following the path deeper into the cave.