An Adventurer's Heart

by Tao Wong

  Daniel blinks, and Asin holds her nose, skirting away from the Adventurer before suddenly realizing that her stomach needed to release some gas too. Letting out a loud burp, she watches the cloud of purple smoke escape her mouth.

  “Well, that’s different,” mutters the Alchemist, making notes. He grabs a knife, swinging it towards Asin who skirts back. When no one moves to take it, he waggles the knife again. “Well, go on and cut yourself. Do I have to tell you everything?”

  “Yes,” Daniel says bitingly, taking the knife carefully from the Alchemist. He rolls his sleeve up before gently nicking his arm. Blood wells up as Daniel grunts, waiting to see what might happen.

  “Hmmm… No residual regeneration. Okay,” the Alchemist mutters and points to Asin. “You.”

  Asin nods, testing the blade on her own arm as well and finding no change. After a moment, the Alchemist comes back with more of the same potion, nodding for them to drink. “One at a time!” he barks when he notes Daniel about to drink as well.

  Again, he watches the young Catkin, keeping an eye on her wound as he tugs on his ear in thought. The wound heals slowly, purple smoke pouring from the wound even as Asin finds herself gassy again.

  “1, 2, 3, 4… and that’s it. Now, you.” The Alchemist points to Daniel before they repeat the procedure. When they are finally done and healed, the Alchemist sniffs, scribbling in his notes. After a time of being ignored, Daniel clears his throat.

  “How many more?”

  “Hmmm?”

  “How many more potions are we testing?”

  “Oh, four more with six variations each,” the Alchemist answers absently, waving to them to be quiet.

  Daniel subsides, looking at Asin who lets out another purple burp. Well, maybe it wouldn’t be that bad.

  “Yes! That’s perfect!” the Alchemist shouts jubilantly while Asin growls, batting at the swarm of flies and other flying bugs that surround her.

  “It’s supposed to do that?” Daniel says, horrified.

  “Of course! It’s a potion of insect attraction,” the Alchemist says, puzzled at how Daniel could not understand something so simple. “Your turn!”

  “That’s not supposed to happen….”

  “YOU THINK!” Daniel shouts, clutching at the table as he floats up in the air. As suddenly as he lost the ability for gravity to affect him, he finds himself crashing into the ground again. Holding his arm which he landed awkwardly on, Daniel glares at the Alchemist.

  “I wonder what a double-dose would do…?”

  “Why’d you drink that? That’s not supposed to be drunk.”

  “Uaarggh.” Asin would have shouted at the Alchemist, but she was currently hunched over the bucket, throwing up the foul-smelling liquid.

  “Application only. Says so right on the… oh, right. Label. My fault!”

  “Uaarggh.”

  “This one works very well,” Daniel says, grinning as he lifts the table with one hand.

  “No, it doesn’t,” mutters the Alchemist, shaking his head.

  “What do you mean? I’m so strong,” Daniel says.

  “It’s not a strength potion. It’s a….”

  “A..?

  “Skin exfoliator. It’s supposed to make your skin shine.”

  “Why’d you make Asin drink it too?” Daniel asks, puzzled as he lets the table down. It’s not as if the Catkin had much skin to exfoliate.

  “Science!”

  “Now remember, write down any symptoms you experience over the next few days,” the Alchemists says, pressing sheets of paper into the Adventurers’ hands. Daniel and Asin both nod dumbly, eyes glazed with the sheer variety of things that have happened to them this day. When they finally escape, the pair look at each other and then find themselves hurrying along down the road, their fast walk turning into a run by the end of the street.

  Never again!

  Another series of complaints had generated a series of quests, and the pair were in the dark again, crawling through the sewers. In truth, after their recent quests, these sewers were quite relaxing. Straightforward and easy kill jobs were so much simpler.

  As Daniel finishes kicking away the body of the rat before him, he frowns. Something was wrong. It takes him only a moment more before he realizes what the issue is – light. Light that glowed blue and that shimmered slightly as it reflected off the dark water that ran through the center of the sewer was coming around the corner. Now that he is paying attention, Daniel also realizes that there’s a creaking of a cart moving along slowly as well.

  Asin hisses slightly and pulls out her daggers, tucking the rat tail away as she steps up next to Daniel. Cat eyes gleam in the dark, reflecting light as she slowly moves forward, followed quickly by Daniel.

  The hooded figures turn the corner, a single tall figure leading the way as a cart is pushed along behind him. The figure holds a hand up as he spots Asin and Daniel, lips pulling apart and showing a series of sharp, needle teeth. The Beastkin lets out a low growl, a hand falling to the knife at his side.

  Before Daniel can reach for his shield, Asin lets out a low hiss and growl, replying to the Beastkin in the common tongue of their kind. The Beastkin hesitates and then moves forward slowly though Daniel does not fail to notice that his companions have retrieved a pair of crossbows.

  A yowly, growly conversation ensues between the stranger and Asin for a few minutes. Finally, out of patience, Daniel elbows his companion gently and asks. “What is going on?”

  “Smugglers,” Asin replies and gestures to the group.

  “Oh…” Daniel tightens his grip on his mace, an act that has the Beastkin tense and Asin shaking her head.

  “No, leave. Not our business,” Asin insists.

  “I…” Daniel frowns, considering. Asin is technically correct – they are not the Guards. However, letting them smuggle some unknown substance or person in did not sit well with Daniel either. “What are they smuggling?”

  “Sabu,” the answer is a low, rumbly growl that sets the hair on the back of Daniel’s neck tingling.

  “Oh.” The alcoholic drink that was prized by the Beastkin was certainly tasty, but it seemed a bit excessive to smuggle.

  “Tax. Very high,” Asin answers the unasked question. She frowns, growling back to the Beastkin who answers in Brad.

  “Five times the cost of Sabu,” the Beastkin growls, spitting to the side at the end.

  Daniel’s eyes widen, mind going back to the size of the population and how many there are of them. For a moment more, he considers before he slowly slides his mace back into its loop. The Beastkin sees the gestures of peace and gestures for his men to continue pulling the cart, stopping as they pass by to throw over a wineskin that Asin deftly catches.

  A quick sniff is all that is needed to confirm the contents before Asin stores the skin. Daniel eyes the skin for a moment, wondering if it is a bribe or a gesture of gratitude. In the end, did it really matter? He had made his decision. “Come on; we’ve got rats to kill.”

  Chapter 12

  “Sure?” Asin prods Daniel again as the young Adventurers fights to contain his yawns. Up early in the morning to meet the caravan to Karlak, the pair are walking through the city with their gear on their back. The two and a half weeks in Silverstone had passed in a blur of quests, and now, it was time to head home.

  “Yes.” Daniel nods firmly. As tempting as the offer to join a guild was, he could not choose it now. Would not, perhaps. He had a quest that needed completing, a Dungeon that he had never seen the end of and a girlfriend he had to confess too. In truth, a part of Daniel knows he is putting the decision off, procrastinating.

  Asin continues to chew on the improvised bread wrap she has made, content to let Daniel make the choice without interference. She understood she was not truly wanted by the guild - they would not decline her if she joined with Daniel but she was not their target. If Daniel went, she would follow - the more advanced the dungeon, the more coin there was after all. If he did not, she wo
uld get there eventually. In either case, Asin knows her pig-headed partner would not abandon her.

  As they come up to the caravan, Asin prods Daniel to take over the conversation, content to let him do the talking. Being in a new city, she had done more talking than she was used to. While she would never tell Daniel, her throat was raw from squeezing out words in Brad. It was so much easier to speak in Catkin and perhaps partly why she had gotten involved with Tevkin so fast. Her tail lashed again as she thought of the Catkin and his luxurious fur, the way he used to nibble on her ear…

  Daniel quietly moves slightly further away from his growling friend, having gotten used to the occasional switches in her temperament in the last few weeks. Tevkin had hurt her, more than she was willing to let on and once again, Daniel wonders how old his friend really was. Was Tevkin perhaps her first real relationship?

  Pushing aside those thoughts, Daniel focuses on the job at hand and greets the caravan master, getting their orders. It would be a long few weeks back to Karlak.

  Later that day, when things have settled, and the caravan is on its way, Daniel finally pulls up the information on his Status. It was time to allocate his attribute and skill points. He had avoided the topic for days, not feeling the need to rush as the simple low-level Quests that were offered to them were easily dealt with by their existing skills.

  Now, with nothing more to do but watch the surroundings and his decision to turn down the guild offers, he could focus on leveling up.

  First, it was time to adjust his skills. Of course, he could upgrade his existing skills making each better and more effective, but Daniel was more curious about the new skills he had the option to learn.

  Now that he had upgraded his Healing skills and knew the human body better, he had access to two different spells - Cure Serious Wounds or Healer’s Mark. The first was a more powerful version of his current spell, providing almost instantaneous healing but at a higher mana cost. Healer’s Mark however just accelerated the healing process of the target over a period of time, allowing the target’s body to do the majority of the healing. It was significantly more mana efficient than either of the instantaneous spells and was very popular among Healers who needed to conserve their mana. It did have the potential of failure though - if the host body was not strong enough, the spell would fail to heal the wounds fully and would instead use a significant portion of the target’s resources, causing the death of the target.

  In terms of his offensive skills, he could now learn Shield Rush which was a progression on the Shield Bash skill he already knew. Instead of a static attack, Shield Rush would allow him to attack using his shield at a distance by charging the monsters, allowing him to layer a stun and knockback attack. While not as versatile as Shield Bash, Shield Rush was extremely powerful against single opponents, and the Stun effects normally lasted longer too.

  His archery skills were still not sufficient to give him any Skill options, but he did have several Club options to review. Power Strike continued to be available while two additional options had opened up - Crushing Blow and Perin’s Blow. Crushing Blow was a variation on Power Strike which did less overall damage but which gave additional bonuses against medium to heavily armored opponents. The skill focused on destroying and smashing through armor with pure strength and at higher levels was known for ignoring even physical damage resistances. Perin’s Wrath, on the other hand, provided a knockback effect that if used correctly could even throw a monster into the air for follow-on attacks. A similar skill had been what Niko had used to finish off the Overseer in the dungeon.

  In addition to all these, Daniel had also gained a few additional passive skill options including Sprint, Greater Endurance and exclusive to him, Martyr’s Strength. The last made Daniel pull up the detailed information again to review.

  Martyr’s Strength

  A unique skill brought about by the ongoing usage of Martyr’s Touch on the individual’s body. Combines an innate understanding of the owner’s body with the user’s unique Gift to increase regeneration rates.

  Skill: Passive

  Cost: N/A

  Effect: User has a permanent increase of 10% to Health and Stamina regeneration.

  In the end, Daniel closes the screen again and rubs at his chin. There were so many options to choose from that Daniel sits quietly, attempting to structure his thoughts. If he focused on his most likely opponents in the near future - the Ogres - both Crushing Blow and Shield Rush would benefit him the most. However, the use of Perin’s Blow with his other skills could allow Daniel to inflict significant damage on a single target in a short period of time. In fact, over time, Perin’s Blow probably could become the linchpin of his attacks against a tough opponent.

  However, that would not benefit him in a fight against smaller opponents. If he upgraded his Double Strike ability, he’d be able to attack four times in quick order, making him a much deadlier opponent against multiple individuals. It would have made him significantly stronger against the Imps for starters.

  Healer’s Mark would always be useful especially over the course of a day. It would ensure they could stay in tip-top condition while they fought and when they increased their party, it would be even more important as Daniel’s mana pool was highly limited.

  If he wanted to be selfish, he could even take his unique Skill and increase his health and stamina regeneration. The significant increase in both would make it easier for him in dungeon levels and everyday life though it was probably the least useful group skill.

  It was not a simple choice and one that Daniel had agonized over for hours now. Worst, he knew that these kinds of decisions would come even more often as he developed in strength.

  Later that evening Asin prods Daniel, taking him out of his contemplation as he prods at the fire. “Skills?”

  Daniel pauses, staring at the fire before he finally answers her, “I chose to get Perin’s Blow.”

  Perin’s Blow

  Named after the God of Storms, Perin, this strike sends concentrates the force of the user’s blow to create a knockback effect against its target.

  Skill: Active

  Cost: 25 Stamina

  Effect: User’s Strike does 15% more damage and knocks back target. Knockback level dependent on user’s strength, Club skill, weight and size of the target and striking area.

  “It’s a knockback effect, kind of like Niko’s,” Daniel explains, before continuing, “I think it’d be useful against the Crawlers and Ogres, and if I learn to use it right, it should also allow me to control where the monsters move during a fight.”

  Asin just nods as Daniel calls up his Status Screen once more, hoping he made the right choice. When he got back, he would ask Khy’ra to teach him Healer’s Mark. It was a spell that he had watched her cast before, one of the few Healer spells that the Elf knew. If she was still willing to speak with him after he told her what he had done.

  Name: Daniel Chai

  Class: Level 6 Adventurer (14%)

  Sub-classes: Level 7 (Miner) (14%)

  Human (Male)

  Statistics

  Life: 229

  Stamina: 229

  Mana: 168

  Attributes

  Strength: 22

  Agility: 20

  Constitution: 28

  Intelligence: 17

  Willpower: 18

  Luck: 13

  Skills

  Unarmed Combat: Level 3 (37/100)

  Clubs: Level 9 (04/100)

  Archery: Level 2 (18/100_

  Shield: Level 7 (84/100)

  Dodge: Level 5 (12/100)

  Combat Sense: Level 5 (98/100)

  Perception: Level 6 (07/100)

  Mining: Level 7 (78/100)

  Healing: Level 8 (89/100)

  Herb Lore: Level 3 (31/100)

  Stealth: Level 2 (14/100)

  Cooking: Level 3 (21/100)

  Singing: Level 2 (14/100)

  Skill Proficiencies

  Double Strike

 
Shield Bash

  Perin’s Blow

  Mapping (II)

  Spells

  Minor Healing (I)

  Gifts

  Martyr’s Touch - The caster may heal oneself or others by touch and concentration, sacrificing a portion of his life to do so. Cost varies depending on the extent of the injuries healed.

  Pushing aside those thoughts, Daniel stands and moves to the back of the caravan. He had made his decision. Better to keep busy and that meant helping others. Interestingly enough, the hanger-ons from Silverstone seemed both less numerous and better fed than before, so Daniel expects that he will have less to do.

  Days pass in quiet contemplation and evening bouts of training. The other Adventuring group that hired on with this caravan were highly insular, refusing to interact with Daniel and Asin outside of the bare minimum. After overhearing a particular conversation about the Catkin, Daniel was more than happy to keep it that way. As always, Asin just shrugs and moves on with her life, not letting the slight affect her.

  Without other Adventurers to train with, Daniel finds himself working with the caravan guards. Once word of his free healing made the rounds, even the caravan manager had taken to speaking with Daniel in more friendly terms - if nothing more than to soothe his ulcerous stomach. The caravan guards were more than happy to train with Daniel for his aid, whether it was for magical or non-magical healing.

  A week and a half after they leave Silverstone, the caravan meets its first sign of trouble. The other Adventurers having left to complete another quest, the caravan is sparsely guarded for its size. The lack of guards has resulted in Daniel and Asin having to stand guard every evening, cutting into precious sleeping time. As Daniel rolls over to grab his mace after being woken to take his turn, an arrow strikes his bedroll. For a moment, Daniel just squats there, staring at the arrow as he attempts to understand this strange feathered disturbance.