Lord of Creation

by Lawrence Blackwood

  I carefully cut down the line, only to be met with more resistance as I hit an intersection where a yellow slash cut through the green. Well I guess that solves that. I continued cutting, the whole process taking only ten or fifteen minutes. With a rather embarrassing failed flourish, I pulled the skin free from the rest of the body.

  (You have earned 1 Moderately Damaged Giant Rat Pelt!)

  (You have earned 5 Exp for skinning a Giant Rat!)

  (You have learned the Skinning ability!)

  Level 1 Skinning- This measures your ability to effectively and efficiently skin animals and humans (Note that skinning humans and humanoids will drastically affect your Humanity and Alignment). Higher Levels are needed to skin higher Level beings.

  "Huh. That's pretty neat. I'm seriously fucking hungry though. Let's carve this son of a gun up and have some lunch, eh Shard?" I put the rat pelt into my Inventory and went to work, ignoring the massive amounts of blood running down my legs. Clothes could wait, and they would have been ruined by the blood anyway.

  Thankfully, the lines persisted for the meat carving just like they did for the skinning. Even with the lines' help it took almost three times as long though, because I had to be careful of the internal organs. If I nicked the intestines or any other organ that held waste it would ruin the whole thing. Because of that, after I separated each piece from the main body I instantly moved it into my Inventory.

  Finally, I was finished, even though I was covered in blood and rat grime. I tossed the useless hunk of rat skeleton aside, despite the meat that was still on it. It just wasn't worth the effort at this point, and I had plenty more to eat.

  During the carving process a multitude of notifications had popped up.

  (Your Skinning ability is now Level 2!)

  (You have earned 10 Exp for Leveling up an Ability!)

  (Your Mentally Hardened ability is now Level 2!)

  (You have earned 10 Exp for leveling up an ability!)

  (You have learned the Dagger proficiency!)

  (You have unlocked proficiencies!)

  (You have earned 20 Exp for unlocking proficiencies!)

  Proficiencies- These are a measure of your ability with a certain equipment type. The higher the Level, the higher your skill with the according equipment and the higher Leveled equipment that you are able to use effectively.

  Dagger Proficiency- You have begun to learn the art of wielding small, one handed daggers. These can be used for especially close quarter combat, subterfuge, or even as basic tools.

  "Huh. All that for cutting up a rat! I've still got a long way to go to the next Level though. I'll also need to get this mess of blood off of me, sooner rather than later. Any ideas Shard?" It took a while for it to respond, and I got the sensation that it was thinking.

  "Just deconstruct the blood."

  "Sounds good." It only took 2 mana to deconstruct the blood. When that was done, I went about seeing what it took to make a campfire.

  (Small Campfire requires 4 branches, 3 twigs and 5 mana. Do you wish to create?)

  I deconstructed another sapling before accepting. I had a couple minutes before it was finished, so I also refined the rat pelt down.

  (You have earned 2 Leather for deconstructing a Moderately Damaged Giant Rat Pelt!)

  (You have earned 13 Exp for deconstructing a Moderately Damaged Giant Rat Pelt!)

  I quickly checked how much it would cost to make a pair of leather pants.

  (Leather Pants requires 8 leather, 4 cordage, and 25 mana. Do you wish to create?)

  I declined, because I didn't have the resources yet.

  (Small Campfire is complete? Do you wish to light for 1 mana?)

  I tossed the 'campfire' on the ground, and watched as it spontaneously combusted. It was essentially a pile of wood that was magically stuck together with a wooden cooking spit that somehow didn't burn. I speared a few sections of the rat meat onto the spit, and went about skinning a few more of the massive things while my food cooked.

  ◆◆◆

  "Finally, food. It feels so good not to have an empty stomach, even if the meat did taste a little off." I leaned back into the dirt and grass, lazily blinking a few times. Between the food, lack of decent sleep, and warm sun, I was asleep before long.

  I woke to moonlight, briefly wondering if I was becoming nocturnal by accident. I had enough pelts to make a pair of pants and shoes once they were deconstructed into leather, so I went about starting that and a new campfire. The old one had burned entirely to ash overnight.

  The raw leather and fire took a decent chunk of my mana to make, but by the time everything was finished deconstructing I had regenerated enough to make the leather pants. The shoes only needed 10 mana, so I would have enough for them soon.

  After hopping awkwardly into my new pants, which were the same odd, pinkish grey color of the rats' patchy skin, I pulled the unlit campfire from my Inventory and set it on the ground. A quick jolt of mana lit it, and before long I was making myself rat meat breakfast. "So, Shard. This world is seriously fucked, right? How do we fix it?"

  I chewed, swallowed, and took another bite. Shard was silent. "Okay Shard, I get it. You have a fucking chip on your shoulder! You're all high and mighty and I don't give a shit! You chose me as a vessel, or companion, or whatever you want to call it, but now I'm the one in charge. Either you get off your high horse and help me out with this, or I die and you go down with me."

  I may have looked like an idiot for screaming into the air, but I was furious. There was no way I was letting this place go down if I could help it.

  "Why?"

  "What?"

  "Why do you want to save this place? What has it done for you? The only beings on this planet you know are dead, mostly by your own hand. You owe no allegiance to this place."

  "Fuck off Shard. I can't just kill a whole world because it would be easier to leave." I shoved a too hot piece of rat into my mouth, almost spitting it out at the pain.

  (You have been burned for 1 point of damage!)

  "Really?!" I shook my head and ate another piece, after checking it to make sure I wouldn't further burn my mouth. I finished my meal and started the shoes, using the leftover mana I had to magically skin the rats. I wasn't in the mood to waste my whole day in a pool of rat blood and excrement.

  As everything slowly created itself, I kicked dirt over the fire and cleaned my knife with a leather scrap. After that, I waited the few minutes it took for my shoes to finish crafting. The rest of my clothes would follow after the pelts were deconstructed.

  I slipped my newly crafted shoes on, which were far from high quality but were much better than going barefoot. Then, with a last look at the carnage I had wrought on the innocent clearing over the last couple days, I left.

  "Oh, and Shard? Someday I won't need your powers. Don't forget it."

  Chapter 5

  "Ugh, why did I come back here?" I muttered from my perch on a tree branch, holding an arm up to my nose to block out the putrid smell of decomposing rat. The sun was low in the sky, casting deep shadows around the large clearing.

  I had Hunter's Sight activated, but the odds of any nocturnal predators showing up already were slim. They weren't what I was looking for though. Earlier I had stumbled upon a bear sized, demonic looking boar. Its face was a mess of tusks and horns, disfigured almost beyond anything I had seen before.

  When I had gotten within a few hundred feet of the thing, it charged. I unashamedly ran, not wanting to be on the receiving end of the thing's wrath. When everything settled down, I noticed that I had disturbed its meal of half rotted deer. The beast was a scavenger, and I had a plan.

  Which is how I found myself lying in wait to sneak attack the monster. When it finally got here, anyway.

  "It isn't coming you dolt. Only you would be so naive to fall for a trap as simple as this one."

  "Suck a big one Shard. Can't you feel its footsteps? They're literally shaking the ground." And they were. Soon after, Hunter's S
ight began to pick up its outline. "Showtime boys." I said to myself, nerves starting to get the better of me.

  The boar finally ambled into the clearing, and wandered close enough for me to highlight it with Warrior's Sight. Bright colors appeared all over its skin, highlighting weak points, and a red Health bar appeared over its body.

  (Level 8 Tainted Boar, 650 Health)

  "Shit. This is going to be one hell of a fight." My current leather clothing gave me a meager defense of 4, but if I could skin that damn boar I would have a decent set of armor, not to mention probably a Level up.

  "Hey, ugly fucker!" I called while forming Force Slash into more of a force spear, dumping half of my mana into it. Even if I only got a regular hit, it should do about 80 damage. I just had to hit somewhere that would do some serious damage without hurting its pelt.

  The Tainted Boar looked up right as I leaped, simultaneously launching my spell at it.

  (You critically spear a Level 8 Tainted Boar for 213 damage!)

  The boar recoiled as Force Slash pierced its eye, narrowly missing me with one of its immense tusks. I slammed to the ground right next to it, feeling my left ankle almost give out under the pressure of landing.

  I rolled forward to my feet, once again barely avoiding being impaled. I started funneling mana into another Force Slash, but I had to let go of it when the boar charged straight at me. I hit the earth hard enough to force the air from my lungs as the Force Slash dissipated before my eyes.

  Damn it! I really couldn't afford to waste mana here. I rolled to my feet, only to find the Tainted Boar right behind me. I scrambled out of the way, a scream forcing itself out of my throat when the thing stepped on my leg.

  (Tainted Boar tramples you for 23 damage!)

  I pushed the pain away for the moment. My bonding with Shard made this feel like a walk in the park anyway. With shaky hands, I began drawing on my mana again. This time though, I didn't narrow it like I did with Force Slash. I expanded it like a wall that would explode with force if anything hit it. And the boar sure did hit it.

  Like an angry dump truck it ran straight into the invisible magical barrier, only to be launched backward half a dozen feet.

  (Force Wall damages Tainted Boar for 59 damage!)

  Using the boar's disorientation, I struggled to crawl to the treeline. The boar got up, and drunkenly stumbled toward me. I kept crawling. Twenty feet to go. The boar was walking straighter now, a little quicker. Fifteen feet, and it began to stamp its feet.

  Ten feet, five. It charged. I wasn't going to make it, not with enough time to regenerate any mana. I funneled what little I had into Force Slash, ready to face my apparent death with dignity.

  But of course, I had a plan. When the beast was within ten or so feet of me, I launched Force Slash into a nearby tree. I could only hope that it would be powerful enough to cut it down.

  A beautiful creaking soon reached my ears, soon followed by the sound of cracking wood.

  (You creatively strike a Level 8 Tainted Boar for 378 damage!)

  (You have killed a Level 8 Tainted Boar!)

  (You have earned 578 Exp for killing a Level 8 Tainted Boar!)

  (You have earned enough Exp to Level up! Congratulations on reaching Level 7!)

  I sighed as my broken leg shifted painlessly back into place. It seemed that I always managed to hurt myself right before Leveling up, but someday I wouldn't be so lucky.

  I put all of my points into Endurance, bringing my max Health to 83 and my max Stamina to 65. I would have liked to boost Intelligence or Wisdom, but I couldn't afford to be a glass cannon. It was fine if I had somebody to back me up, but I didn't.

  Huh. That's weird. I had two notifications that I wasn't expecting to be there.

  (You have learned the skill Force Spear!)

  (You have learned the skill Force Wall!)

  Level 1 Force Spear- By condensing the Force Slash skill into a thin, dense spike you can create a spear. Deals 5-8 piercing damage per mana invested.

  Level 1 Force Wall- By expanding Force Slash, you can create a shield that will detonate on impact. Deals 2-4 blunt damage per mana invested.

  Huh. Apparently if I used a skill enough times, even if it wasn't technically a skill, I would learn it. That was actually pretty cool, but I had more pressing matters. Like skinning a half-ton boar and salvaging its tusks. Time to see how well my bone knife held up to boar skin.

  But first, I had to move the damn tree. Somehow. I braced myself against the thing's side and heaved, a strained grunt forcing itself from my lips. The massive trunk shifted slightly, lifting off the ground an inch or two. Then I lost it, and it crashed back into the boar.

  "Bastard!" I muttered, before realizing I was going about this the completely wrong way. I couldn't roll it off for fear of ruining the pelt, but I could Force Slash the tree in half again, which would make it small enough for me to deconstruct.

  I started forming Force Slash, proportioning it so that it would only hit the tree and not cut through the boar. With careful aim, I let the spell go.

  The wood was cleaved in two with a satisfying crack, and the momentum of my attack actually knocked one of the pieces off. I quickly deconstructed the other piece, welcoming the added weight to my Inventory with a grunt.

  I was going to make a wooden chair out of my newly acquired resources, but didn't have the mana for it yet. I activated Smith's Sight while I waited to get a little bit of an idea of what I was dealing with.

  Deep, red lines appeared all over the thing. Oh, shit. This is going to be quite the process. Out of curiosity I pulled the Skinning Knife from my Inventory, and pressed its tip to one of the red lines.

  I pushed lightly at first, slowly increasing the pressure to gauge just how hard this was going to be. Deconstructing it was out of the question, as it would take over 100 mana to do so. With a grunt of effort, I finally pierced its hide.

  (Your Skinning ability is now Level 3!)

  (You have earned 20 Exp for Leveling up an ability!)

  "Well hell. I wasn't expecting that." The lines collectively got slightly less angry red at the Level up in ability. I began to drag the knife downward painfully slowly, and the simple movement was harder to make than I would ever readily admit.

  I sliced and diced for half an hour before remembering that I was going to make a chair, but I decided against it. The work I was doing was difficult enough standing up, and I wouldn't be able to get enough force behind my movements while sitting down.

  I was going through a particularly tough section of hide when my knife caught, and the handle ripped straight off. "Son of a bitch!" I stumbled forward at the unexpected lack of resistance, smacking against the boar's hide.

  I felt the pressure of the back side of my broken blade pushing against my leather shirt. Regaining my balance, I stood up and took stock of the damage. The handle itself was what broke, not the blade, so I should be able to repair it easily enough. I may not even need to take it out of the boar.

  Focusing on the blade, I brought up a section of my crafting menu labeled Repair. The weapon was instantly highlighted, with mana and resource costs labeled around it.

  (Broken Giant Rat Fang Skinning Knife, 1-2 slashing damage, 1-2 piercing damage. 0/25 durability. Repairs cost 2 cordage, 2 twigs, 4 mana. Do you wish to repair?)