by DB King
The scrounge-worm thrashed itself free, scattering debris all over. It lined itself up for another pounce. Raphael sighed.
“Are we really going to do this now? Again? Come on, you know I can’t work properly if you’re jumping around, smashing things up like this, and distracting me.”
The creature shrieked in response and hurled itself forward, its body uncoiling like a gigantic spring. Raphael leaned out of the way again, and once more it slammed heavily into another pile of garbage—this time containing glass.
He winced at the tinkling of shattering glass and the scrounge-worm’s cries of pain. The creature pulled itself out of the wreckage its pounce had created and shuddered. Cuts ran down the length of its body, and it bled a grayish-green ichor from dozens of places.
“See? You’ve hurt yourself, silly Wormy!” Raphael chided, walking over and wagging his finger.
The scrounge-worm wept, making a strangely human noise. It tried to coil in on itself but couldn’t, the pain of its wounds sending it into convulsions.
Raphael sighed. He crouched down over the creature. “Don’t be a big baby. You know these cuts will go away in a few hours, so I don’t want to hear any more crying from you.”
The scrounge-worm made another sound, something not unlike a grumpy groan. Raphael reached for a shard of glass embedded in its side. “We’ve got to get these out first, though.”
It hissed, but Raphael wagged a finger in front of its maw and hissed back. “None of that. Now, be quiet and let me work.”
He focused the light of the Dragon Meridian on the scrounge-worm’s body, a trick that he’d picked up from Koshi a few months ago. The glass shards stood out in his vision. They’d torn several nasty holes in the creature’s flesh, but Raphael had seen it recover from much worse before. He cracked his knuckles and got to work, ignoring the scrounge-worm’s whimpering complaints.
By the time he was done, Raphael had a small collection of broken glass shards at his feet. He unstoppered his waterskin and rinsed out the rest of the creature’s smaller cuts. It groaned.
“No, I don’t care if you think this smells bad. The water will get rid of the smaller pieces of glass I couldn’t get to with my fingers,” he scolded. “And no, I don’t smell funny. You smell funny.”
The scrounge-worm turned its back on Raphael and oozed away. Somehow, it managed to infuse its retreat with disgruntlement.
“You’re welcome!” he called after it.
Predictably, it didn’t reply, except to break wind into the passing breeze.
“Ugh. Gross,” Raphael huffed. He clipped his waterskin back to his belt and looked up at the sky. There were another three or so hours of sunlight left, enough for him to reach an unexplored area of the junkyard and do some foraging.
Then he would be off to the marketplace, hopefully having found something valuable enough to trade for some medicine. Koshi had been coughing all night, and in the morning, during breakfast, he’d actually coughed blood, though he’d tried to hide it.
Raphael had insisted on skipping school that day to take care of the day’s chores, so that Koshi could sit down and focus on repairing a puzzle-box that Mr. Manzo wanted to sell in his emporium.
Little did Koshi know, Raphael hadn’t been going to school for several months already. Instead, he’d been finding work in the city and telling Koshi that the money he’d earned came from scholarships. It wasn’t entirely unbelievable. After all, Raphael had attained full marks for every subject during the civil exams that every eighteen-year-old in the Kingdom of Lucario had to take.
But his earnings had been sparse, little more than scraps on the hour for tedious errands, since most of the peddlers in the marketplace were reluctant to hire a child. Raphael gritted his teeth as he broke into a run. The only way he’d be able to buy some medicine for Koshi was to find something in the junkyard, something precious.
Grab Dragon Magus 1 on Amazon today!
Facebook Fantasy Group
Want more books about magic using main characters? Grab recommendations and be with folks who share your love for magical books!
Join the Facebook group
Support DB King on Patreon!
Read books before they’re on Amazon, see exclusive artwork, and check out sneak peeks into the writing process on DB King’s Patreon.
Become a Patron today at: https://geni.us/DBKing-Patreon
Free progression Fantasy Novel!
Join my email newsletter to receive a free ebook of the progression fantasy novel, Hellion Mage.
Facebook Genre Groups
Do you like Gamelit & LitRPG stories? Check out the Gamelit Society Facebook Group for recommendations and fun!
Want to connect with other fans of Gamelit & LitRPG stories? Join LitRPG Books
What about Western Cultivation Stories? Check out Western Cultivation Stories.
About the Author
DB King’s stories feature competent main characters, magic and skill progression, and nothing too dark. While he doesn’t shy away from violence, he mostly avoids cursing and doesn’t have any adult scenes. Most of his stories aren't strictly Gamelit/LitRPG, but a lot of his magic and progression systems often feel like something you might find in a video game.
