by Aaron Oster
You Deal: -31 Damage to Human Bandit (Mana Flare)(Critical).
You Deal: -27 Damage to Score Dwarf (Mana Flare)(Critical).
Sam wasn’t done, however. Quickly raising his wand, he used Mana Shot and Mana Burn, further reducing the man’s health by another 38 points. Sam was pleasantly surprised when both turned out to be critical hits and a second later, Gordon was on top of the man, tearing at his throat.
Human Bandit dies! +302 XP
Sam raised his fist in the air, then a heavy something smashed into the side of his head.
Score Dwarf hits you for -48 Damage (Blunt).
You are stunned! Time remaining: S 9
You are dazed! -30% Agility. Time remaining: M 2 : S 59
Sam reeled as the blow struck, leaving his head swimming with shock and pain. He crashed to the ground, blearily trying to focus on the numbers swimming before his eyes. Thankfully, it only took a few seconds for his eyes to focus and he was up on his feet as soon as the stunned timer ran out.
He found that his legs still felt a bit wobbly, and guessed that had something to do with his decreased Agility.
Damn, that dwarf packed a punch!
Sam looked quickly around, wondering why the dwarf hadn’t already finished him off. His question was answered a moment later when his eyes alighted on Gordon, who was holding her at bay. At level 7, Gordon was pretty close to matching her, but the dwarf still had much more power. He winced as a glancing blow, from what he could now see was a heavy looking mace, shaved 30 points off Gordon’s health.
Casting around for his wand, he was happy to see that it was only lying a few feet away. Wobbling slightly, he bent down to retrieve it. Suddenly, he heard a scream from off to his right, and his blood froze.
That sounded like Milly!
Snatching the wand from the ground, Sam shakily turned in the direction of the scream. His eyes alighted on the elf woman, who was kicking her feet and struggling against a filthy looking man, dressed much in the same way as the other bandits.
They’d missed one.
The bandit was cackling loudly as he dragged the unfortunate elf from her hiding spot and began tearing at her clothes. Thankfully, Milly had chosen to wear more appropriate clothes for the road and they were holding the bandit off, for now.
Sam’s eyes darted between the dog and the elf, trying to decide who needed him more at the moment. Finally, with a growl of annoyance, Sam turned to attack the bandit. Gordon could take care of himself for now. Milly could not.
The bandit had finally gotten a good grip on the inside of Milly’s collar when Sam’s Mana Shot hit him in the head. The man staggered back with a screech of pain and Milly took the opportunity to bring her booted foot up between the man’s legs. Sam winced as the man doubled over, howling in pain, and Milly kicked him again, this time in the face.
Damn, that girl’s scary!
Sam watched in amazement as the elf girl beat the man until he fell to the ground. shouting all types of obscenities while she did so.
Never mind. It appeared that Milly was more than capable of taking care of herself.
He saw the level 4 bandit’s HP dropping at an almost alarming rate and had to wonder how the elf could dish out so much damage with only a few kicks. Then he remembered how much more damage the creatures in this world seemed to dish out when they were enraged, and it all made sense to him. Why the blue siren’s attacks had suddenly gotten stronger; why all those bunnies in the dungeon had dished out so much damage; and why Milly’s basic attacks right now were knocking off such huge chunks of the bandit’s health.
“Don’t! You! Ever! Fucking! Dare! Touch! Me! Again! You Filthy! Sack Of Shit!”
The elf woman punctuated each word with a kick, that knocked off more than 5% of his HP with each jarring blow. Finally, she stopped, panting hard as her entire body shook with adrenaline. The bandit was sitting at about 10% HP, so Sam didn’t think he’d be bothering them anytime soon.
Slowly approaching the elf, Sam placed a hand on her shoulder. She whirled on him, fist cocked back to deliver a punch that would probably hurt. A lot.
“Milly! It’s me, calm down!” Sam said, raising his hands and taking a step back.
“Sam?” The rage seemed to melt away from her then and she sagged, Sam only managing to catch her at the last moment.
Her face was drawn and her eyes were watering at the corners, as though she couldn’t understand what had just happened.
“You’re alright,” he said, pulling her into a hug and holding her tight. This was partially to give her support, but also to keep his eye on the bandit over her shoulder.
He felt Milly begin shaking against him and had to wonder how someone so much older than him could act like someone his age. He had to wonder how old Milly was by Earth’s standards. After all, he’d never actually asked how the calendar worked in Somerset.
It didn’t take long for Milly to calm down, maybe a minute or two, but by the time she had, Sam’s debuff had worn off. Pulling away from him, Milly wiped her large eyes, sniffing lightly and looking more than a little embarrassed.
“Sorry about that. I don’t know what came over me,” she sniffed.
“There’s no need to apologize,” he said, patting her arm lightly. “The world can still be harsh, even to a seasoned person like you.”
+1 Charisma
Milly giggled at that and swatted him on the arm.
“Stop making me feel so old. I bet I’m barely older than you.”
Sam wanted to find out more, but the loud crack, followed by a whine of pain from Gordon, brought his attention back to the battle.
“Stay here. I need to help Gordon,” Sam said, turning to run to his companion.
“No! You’re not going to leave me here with that man,” she said, clutching tightly to his arm.
Sam looked back to the man, who didn’t exactly look as though he’d be getting up for a fight anytime soon but nodded all the same.
She’d had a real scare and he wasn’t going to force her to stay.
“Fine then, come on,” he said, grabbing her hand and tugging her behind him.
Milly had a bit of trouble keeping up, but luckily, they didn’t have far to run. As Gordon and the dwarf came into view, Sam felt his blood run cold for the second time that day. Gordon’s HP was dangerously low, and he was limping heavily on one foot. The dwarf didn’t look too good either, but her HP was still at around the 40% mark.
Quickly reaching into his pack, Sam pulled out a Healing Herb and handed it to Milly.
“I’m going to draw her attention. Can you please get this to him?”
Milly took the herb, wide-eyed, but nodded.
Sam then turned his attention back to the dwarf and used Mana Burn, sending the ball of flaming mana into the dwarf’s chest.
You Deal: -28 Damage to Score Dwarf (Mana Burn +5 Burn Damage)(Critical).
The dwarf staggered back from Gordon, and Sam fired off another two spells, Mana Shot and Mana Burn . Sam saw, out of the corner of his eye, as Milly ran over and bent down near Gordon, placing the Healing Herb in his mouth.
“Damn you, human!” Aoife growled as she regained her balance, then winced in pain.
“Oh, I’m sorry for not just rolling over and letting you kill us, your highness!” Sam said sarcastically, lifting his wand again and preparing to finish the dwarf off, rules be damned.
Aoife’s eyes flicked away from his for a moment and went wide.
“I said no killing!” she yelled.
Sam half turned to see what she was talking about, when her heavy mace went flying past him, missing his head by inches. His eyes widened as the haft of the weapon caught the bandit who’d been sneaking up behind Milly, clutching a dagger in his hand. The bandit staggered back under the force of the blow and Sam was quick to finish him off with a Mana Burn.
You Deal: -17 Damage to Human bandit (Mana Burn).
Human bandit dies! +141 XP
LEVEL UP!
&n
bsp; Congratulations! You have reached level 6! You have 5 new attribute points to distribute.
Would you like to distribute them now?
Yes/No
ABILITY RANK UP!
Congratulations! Your Mana Burn ability has advanced from Novice to Beginner!
Mana Burn: Fire a ball of mana hot enough to burn.
Damage: 15-18 (20% chance to inflict +5-7 Burn Damage, 10% chance to inflict an additional +3-5 Burn Over Time Damage) Level: Beginner 11 (7%) Cost: 40 MP
Range: 25 Ft Cast Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown: 6 Seconds
Sam managed to swipe away his notifications just as the dwarf reached him. His eyes widened as she closed the gap, and he did the only thing he could. Pulling his arm back, he punched her straight in the face.
17
“Motherfucker!” Sam screamed, clutching at his hand, as the dwarf slumped to the ground in an unconscious heap.
It felt like he’d just punched a brick wall. Not a creature made of flesh and bone.
Shaking his hand and cursing, Sam turned his attention to Milly and Gordon, both of whom seemed to be doing just fine. Milly was scratching Gordon behind the ears, and judging by the dog’s half-lidded gaze and the way his tail was thumping against the ground, he was enjoying himself immensely.
“How are the two of you doing?” he asked, fishing the rope from his pack.
“We’re doing just fine. Aren’t we, Gordon?” Milly asked, increasing her scratching speed and making the dog’s tail wag even faster.
“Yes, I do believe that we are doing fine. Please do not interrupt this woman, she really knows how to treat a dog right!” Gordon exclaimed, tongue now lolling out of his mouth and a low, appreciative growl sounding from his throat.
Chuckling to himself, Sam walked over to the unconscious dwarf and clumsily tied her hands behind her back. There were two things that had stopped him from killing her. The first was obviously the day’s rule, but the second was because she’d most likely saved Milly’s life, and he didn’t want to feel like he owed her anything.
Rising from his crouched position over the dwarf, he nodded to himself in satisfaction, then went about looting all of the bandit’s corpses.
They were dead. It wasn’t like they would be needing it from now on.
ITEMS FOUND!
Name: Rusty Iron Sickle Durability: 14/40
Rarity: Common Quality: Shoddy Damage: +1-3 Slashing Name: Rusty Iron Sword Durability: 7/22
Rarity: Common Quality: Poor Damage: +0-2 Slashing Name: Steel Dagger Durability: 38/40
Rarity: Uncommon Quality: Good Damage: +5-7 Slashing Name: Heavy Steel Mace Durability: 88/100
Rarity: Rare Quality: Sturdy Damage: +10-15 (Blunt) Requirements: 15 Strength Name: Ring of Agility Durability: 87/88
Rarity: Rare Quality: Enhanced Effect: +4 to Agility attribute
Sam also found a total of 1 gold, 63 silver and 118 copper between all five of them. He was surprised at the quality of the items he’d found on the score dwarf but figured that a dwarf would have some good equipment.
He quickly slipped the Ring of Agility onto his finger and felt an immediate difference. His body suddenly felt about 30 pounds lighter and he felt as though he could run a mile in less than a minute.
Okay, maybe that was exaggerating a bit. But the ring did make one hell of a difference!
Sam quickly stashed the weapons in his bag, shocked that they even fit in. He tried to lift the mace up as well, but staggered under the weight before being forced to drop it.
What the hell?
He glared down at the mace for a few moments, before it finally dawned on him.
The Strength requirement! Of course he couldn’t lift this thing, with the pitiful score he had.
Sam blew out a disappointed breath, but decided that it was probably for the best. His bag was now completely out of space, so he would have had to physically carry it. He wasn’t entirely sure, but he felt as though the bag might be reducing the weight of his items, and not just by a little bit. The bag was full and some of the items in there were quite heavy, but he didn’t even feel the slightest strain, despite his meager Strength attribute.
Turning his attention back to his traveling companions, Sam saw that Milly had snuggled up against Gordon and was fast asleep. Gordon, to Sam’s utter amazement, was out cold as well.
What the hell, dog?
He stared at them, debating walking over and kicking them both awake, but decided to leave them be. At least for the next few minutes. He still had a level’s worth of attribute points to assign, and new skills to check out. Opening his status, Sam immediately assigned his new points, and as always, left one just in case.
CHARACTER STATUS
Name: Sam Race: Human Level: 6
XP: 101/2,500
AP: 1
Class: None HP: 100/100 (Regen 1.0 Per Second) MP: 252/260 (Regen 2.4 Per Second) STA: 78/80 (Regen 0.8 Per Second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength: 5 (6)
Constitution: 10
Agility: 6 (10)
Endurance: 7 (8)
Intelligence: 26 +4
Wisdom: 20 (24) +1
Charisma: 16
Luck: 10 (20)
ABILITIES
Mana Shot: Novice LV - 9 (98%) Mana Burn: Beginner LV - 11 (7%) Mana Flare: Novice LV - 4 (17%) Mana Cloak: Novice LV - 3 (44%)
SKILLS
Sprint: Novice LV - 7 (82%) Stalker: Novice LV - 3 (27%) Inspect: Beginner LV - 11 (19%) Mind Over Body: Novice LV - 6 (35%) Mental Manipulation: Novice LV - 4 (67%)
TITLES
Butcherer of Bunnies
EQUIPPED ITEMS
Clothing Farmer’s Canvas Shirt Farmer’s Canvas Pants Farmer’s Leather Boots Total Armor Rating: 7
Set Bonus: +1 Strength & Endurance Other Items Basic Leather Bag Carry Capacity: 10/10 Slots filled Basic Wand Damage: +3-5
Lucky Rabbit’s Foot Effect: +10 Luck Ring of Wisdom Effect: +4 Wisdom Ring of Agility Effect: +4 Agility
RULE OF THE DAY
Do not kill any female dwarves
So, it looked like experience gain was the previous level’s XP, plus the new level, times 100.
Sam was happy to have finally figured it out. He’d always been terrible at math, so it had taken him a few levels.
Closing his status, Sam was pleased with his progress.
At this rate, level 10 was just a few days away and he’d finally be able to get his class.
Looking back to his still sleeping companions, Sam decided that he didn’t have the heart to wake them. Well, Milly at least. He couldn’t care less about Gordon.
Slumping down on the side of the road, Sam leaned back against a tree and let out a long sigh.
***
“Let me go, you sons of bitches! I’ll fucking kill you all!”
Sam jerked awake at the sound of someone screaming wildly and was up on his feet before he even knew what was happening. Quickly looking around, he spotted Gordon already up on his feet, and Milly blinking bleary-eyed on the ground next to him. His confusion cleared up as his eyes alighted on the dwarf, who was still tied up and looking angrier than a bunny who locked eyes with him.
“Shut up!” Sam yelled as the dwarf began cursing their mothers.
In Aoife’s defense, she was right about his mother. He wasn’t about to take an insult lying down, though.
Aoife glared at him and opened her mouth to begin yelling again.
“I said, shut the fuck up!” Sam yelled again, making the score dwarf wince and lower her eyes.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Through your intimidation of others, you have gained a new skill!
Browbeat: If you’re intimidating enough, you can get away with anything Effect: +10% Increased chance to make people do what you want
“Damn it!” Sam yelled, throwing his arms in the air and stalking angrily away from the dwarf.
With the collection of skills he’d acquired so far, people would think he was some kind of
creep. Stalker, Mental Manipulation, and now Browbeat. He may as well just hand himself over to the cops now to save them the trouble.
This behavior only seemed to cow the dwarf even further and Sam blew out a long breath.
“Come on, you two. We’re leaving,” he said, turning his back to the dwarf and going back to his companions.
“Very well. That would be prudent, as it appears that we may have fallen asleep and may arrive at the city after dark,” Gordon said.
“No, we did fall asleep,” Sam replied, checking his clock and wincing.
It was nearly 4, which meant that they’d been asleep for over 2 hours.
He inwardly berated himself for being so careless and not setting a watch. Anyone could have come along and simply butchered them all.
Milly was up on her feet by now and was looking at the dwarf dubiously.
“Are you really just going to leave her here?”
Sam felt a moment of uncertainty.
Could he do it? Leave someone tied up on the side of the road, knowing that they would most likely be killed? If he had been asked this question last week, he would have said no. Now, however…
“Yes. I won’t kill her because she saved your life, but I won’t let her free, because she was the one to put it in danger in the first place.”
“A wise compromise,” Gordon agreed.
Now he was really having second thoughts. The dog actually agreed with him?
Milly bit her lip for a moment, eyes flicking between the score dwarf and Sam, before nodding.
“If that’s what you think is best, then I’ll go along with it.”
He nodded, feeling relieved that she wasn’t going to argue and the three of them set off walking down the road.
“Wait! You can’t just leave me here!”
