― Would you like to cross over?
— Cost of service: 10000 mana points.
Great! It works! It doesn’t even need a blood analysis. However, it does eat through oodles of mana. By the way, how much had dripped into my supply already? It might be time to introduce Gorgie to the otherworld.
I peeked into my characteristics and was blown away. My mana supply just kept stubbornly reflecting the same four points! Everything inside me went cold! What’s going on?!
I feverishly looked over all my figures.
― Level: 0
― Mind: 15
― Strength: 13
― Agility: 12
― Endurance: 10
― Health: 10
― Intellect: 100
― Wisdom: 130
― Will: 60
― Regeneration: 10
― Life supply: 110/110
― Energy supply: 110/110
― Mana supply: 4/11690
I was just sixteen mana points short of what I’d need to summon Gorgie! Not a single spell available! And for weaponry, just Dragonfly!
I took another peek into my supply. Just those same four points! Oh gods! Either this cursed world is governed by different laws, or there simply is no mana here! And there’s no source my Wisdom can use to fill it.
Unexpectedly, I realized I was all alone in this alien world. I was so used to having Gorgie’s protection and my spells that now I felt absolutely helpless.
Okay! Hold on! Quit panicking! I remembered that when I was headed into peonage for Bardan, my situation was quite a bit worse. At that time, I was limited to only the characteristics my items conferred.
So there is my first clue! The artifacts! I need to take another look at every item and read back through the descriptions carefully. That reminds me, I can still create sparks of the otherworld!
Honestly, they are a highly unstable substance, and I had never used them before. I was constantly troubled by the part of the description which said improper use could destroy the artifact I was trying to enchant. Anyhow, I still am not in such a wretched position that I’d risk my valuable items. But I’ll keep it in mind as an option if things get really extreme.
Trying to drive off the gloomy thoughts, I got to looking over all my items. I had more hope for the potions of satiety. I was really counting on that elixir being able to boost my magic supply regeneration.
But what if there really is no magic in this world? What then? How will I get back? Although there is a portal here and it requires mana. Bug take the cursed thing, that still means all is not yet lost! I did not want to consider the possibility that Wanderers, for example, might come to this world with their own personal supply of reserve mana.
I took a second look at everything in my pockets and breathed a disappointed sigh. Nothing. Not even a hint. Although one unusual thing did catch my eye...
That’s right! How didn’t I notice right away?!
I took the Amulet of Gunnar the Destroyer from the sash as if I was seeing it for the first time. I read deeply into the description and, when I saw what I was looking for, I gave a happy smile.
Amulet of Gunnar the Destroyer.
― Type: One of the seven Great personal artifacts belonging to the True Armor of the Founder collection.
― Rarity: Legendary.
― Will +50.
― Wisdom +40.
― Special effect:
― Searches for Places of Power.
― Requirements:
― Rank: Senior hunter and above.
― Mind: 15.
― Note:
― Weight: None. Takes no space.
― Attention! Collect all items from the True Armor of the Founder collection to receive an additional reward!
It was all basically the same as ever but with the exception of one detail. The special effect description now no longer had the words “not active” in parenthesis. And that meant that I could now use the amulet in its full measure. Which I checked right away.
― Would you like to initiate search for nearest Place of Power?
“Yes!” I rasped.
― Wait! Locating...
Smiling in satisfaction and rubbing my hands together, I turned toward the main door and froze.
There was a man standing in the doorway aiming a bow at me. And I needed the Great System to tell me that it was a man rather than some other creature. The word “human” was hovering over his head. And nothing more! No matter how hard I looked, I just couldn’t see a level! It was simply absent!
Not like mine. My head still had a zero hovering over it. And not like the Steel King and his magister either. They had the word “hidden” where the number was supposed to be.
Before me now stood a boy of medium height. To look at him, I’d say sixteen or seventeen. If I saw someone like him in downtown Ironville or Orchus, I would never have taken him for an otherworlder.
Most likely a northerner. A Vardian. He just had so many pelts on him.
The stranger was in no rush to shoot me just yet. Based on his quickened breathing, he’s anxious. Finally, he muttered something indistinct in an unfamiliar language.
— Attention! Your Mind score is high enough to activate the “Language of the Lakefolk!”
— Would you like to activate it?
Yes!
“Show me your hands!” the stranger repeated, squinting his dark blue eyes. “Well!”
I slowly raised my hands just then.
“Show me your fingers!” the boy demanded.
I splayed my fingers and turned my hands around.
“You a mutant?” he asked for some reason with hope in his voice.
“I guess not,” I answered in his language, shrugging my shoulders.
The boy’s eyes opened wide.
“Pretty clean babble for an outsider,” he said in surprise. Then with suspicion in his voice, he added: “But I don’t know you. Whose kind do you belong to?”
“Me, I’m of the highlanders,” I got straight to improvising. “My mom was one of your’n. While she was alive, she would speak to me in your tongue.”
“A highlander?” he asked quizzically. “And just where are the mountains around here?”
“Over there,” I nodded vaguely.
“You’re weird,” the stranger said, his head tilted a bit to the side. “What is your name?”
“Eric,” I answered.
“See, you’ve also got a weird name.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked, surprised and added: “It’s the name my mother and father gave me.”
The boy snorted with mistrust and said:
“Like I’m saying, weird. Or just a liar. Or maybe you’re possessed?”
The astonishing guess made the stranger all the more anxious. The bow in his hands started shaking. His bowstring started to whine.
“Where’d you get that from?” I asked, trying to look scared.
“Well, who in their right mind would tell someone their secret name?!” the stranger laid out his argument. “Only a liar or a man possessed.”
“I’m telling the truth! I swear!”
“What good are your oaths to me?!” He quickly spat out and chuckled. “What are they worth?”
My jaw crept downward. A chill ran down my spine. An unpleasant guess flickered in my head. But I’ll think about that later. For now, I need to wriggle out of this.
“In other words,” I began. “If I had told you a non-secret name, would you have believed me?”
My simple question had him stumped. Mind must not have been a priority when he was spending his tablets.
“Don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes!” he finally snapped. “It isn’t for me to decide whether you’re a liar or possessed. You’re coming with me. Let the elders decide what to do with you!”
He nodded at the exit and ordered menacingly:
“Come! And remember, one false move and I’ll kill you!”
; Not lowering my hands, I slowly walked to the exit. I slid my gaze over the portal arch one last time and gave a fateful sigh.
It took just over half an hour to get down to the ground. It was clear that my new acquaintance was up there for the first time. As by the way, was I. But here’s the weird thing. It seemed I was moving much more gracefully and quickly than him. Me, a mere zero! For the first time, I was nimbler than another person! I’ll admit, it was an unusual feeling. My guard simply could not keep up with me. I had to slow down often and sometimes wait for him to find a safer path for himself. Even though I knew for certain I could jump over the gap between sets of stairs with ease.
I caught him looking at me in surprise more and more often. Seemingly, he wasn’t expecting such fleet-footedness.
As we went down, I was strenuously thinking over the new pile of shit I’d landed myself in. I decided to do some soul searching when I got the chance. Now I had to be as put together as possible.
The fact he didn’t kill me right away was a good sign. Although, who could say what awaited me in this boy’s settlement? And that was obviously where he was taking me. I had also already come to the realization that I could run away from my guard whenever I wanted. His speed and reaction time left something to be desired. What am I saying!? In our world, he would be even weaker and slower than me!
When we finally got to the bottom floor, the boy called a short break:
“You’ve got me all run down, kid,” he muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow. “I haven’t leapt like that in a long time! Now I believe you’re a highlander. You’ve got jumping down to a fine art. You must be a mountain goat. And you didn’t even break a sweat!”
The kid snickered. He was a big fan of his own joke. And not wanting to set off his nerves, I chuckled as well.
The stranger got out a bulbous flask, uncorked it and took a few swallows. Then extended it to me. Now that is a good sign! I nodded gratefully and also took a few gulps.
Water. Regular old water. Though it does honestly taste a bit mucky. I’ve had worse though.
I gave the flask back and said:
“Thank you...”
“Badger,” he said, cluing me in. “Call me Badger.”
I nodded and smiled:
“Thanks, Badger! Glad to meet you!”
“What’s got you glad?” his ears perked up right away.
I cursed mentally. Another swing and a miss!
“It’s like... hm... a figure of speech,” I tried to explain. “In my homeland, it is normally said when people meet each other. Common courtesy.”
“A-hem!” he clicked his tongue. “You’ve come around in short order! I think you’ll find a common tongue with our witch doctor quick.”
I wanted to keep extracting information when suddenly I heard several yowls from somewhere to the right. I habitually counted five voices.
“Damn!” Badger exclaimed in fear. “Hyenas!”
Quickly hopping to his feet, he started bolting back where we’d come from. But it was too late. The beasts had us encircled expertly.
After quickly checking my mana supply, I gave a quiet curse. That same four still.
I counted five heads. They were in some way similar to wolves, but larger and heftier. Slightly flattened drooling snouts. Ghastly jaws packed full of teeth. Short veiny paws. Wide ribcages.
Their rusty red predatory bodies were winding circles around us, preparing to attack at any moment. Seemingly, they were all merely awaiting a signal from their alpha – a large dark brown beast of nearly black coloration.
I took a closer look at them and snorted in surprise. None of them had a level. Only names. As an aside, they were not hyenas at all. The system called them Bigfangs.
“Have you any weapons, highlander?” Badger asked in a quavering voice, his gaze transfixed on the monsters surrounding us.
Dragonfly appeared in my hand out of thin air. I winced. I felt an urge to slap my own forehead. I’d have to try and avoid these magic tricks in the future. But seemingly Badger didn’t assign it any meaning. The sight of the knife itself, however, disappointed him to put it lightly.
“Come on, how have you been surviving with a weapon like that?!”
Badger pulled a menacing machete off his back and threw it to me.
“Here! Though it probably won’t be much help!”
Taking the unexpectedly light blade, I froze quizzically.
― Machete.
And that’s all? No limitations, no characteristics, no level?! Just a name. Where am I?! I waved the cumbersome looking weapon a few times and realized I could make good use of it in battle.
Badger was about to say something else but wasn’t fast enough. The alpha gave a loud bark and the beasts threw themselves on the attack.
I quickly looked around. To be frank, they didn’t move as quickly as I was expecting. The giant rats from the caverns, for example, would have torn us to shreds by now.
Badger’s bowstring gave a booming twang. And his arrow stuck straight into the chest of the first hyena that jumped our way. An excellent shot! But he’s moving too slow. While Badger notched a second arrow, the next beast had already come within ten feet.
Its rusty red body soared through the air. Its wide jaws are just about to clamp shut on Badger’s throat. I dashed forward. A wide swipe and the machete crunched through its boxy head. The hyena gave a dull whimper, landed a step away from Badger and froze.
I looked on wide-eyed as a rust-red viscous puddle spread around the beast’s head. And I unexpectedly realized that there hadn’t been a single system notification.
“Behind you!” Badger shouted, yanking me from my trance.
I swung at random and another hyena went flying aside with a screech.
The bowstring gave another twang! But the dark bendy arrow missed the gracefully dodging beast.
“Curses!” Badger barked, now pale.
A hyena sunk its teeth into his right leg. I heard a nasty crunching sound. The boy, screaming in pain, beat the hyena biting his leg with his bow. I meanwhile started fending off two of them at once.
Giving their toothy maws a wide berth, I jumped over to help the unconscious boy. Raising the machete high over my head, I brought it down full force into the spine of an attacking hyena.
The wide blade sunk into twisted neck scruff with a loud crunch. The beast gave a powerful twitch and dropped dead. I was not able to pull the machete from its rusty red back. The stubborn hunk of iron was stuck dead in the cartilage.
I jumped over the foul-smelling wet canid corpse and came down next to Badger’s body. I grabbed his bow with my left hand and notched an arrow with my right.
I had never shot a bow before, but I’d seen it done many times. My movements seemed clumsy and disjointed. My hands were shaking. Sweat was cascading into my eyes.
The taut bowstring was surprisingly easy to draw back to my chin. A snap and – my first arrowshot ever was up on the board. A miss. The arrow gave a plaintive rattle and flew into some stone ruins.
The hyenas are being cautious now. Not throwing themselves straight at me. Especially given they’d already lost two of their buddies. And the third, with an arrow in its chest, is just about to give up the ghost.
I drew the bowstring back again and, after a fashion, aimed. My movements were no longer quite so clumsy. The choice of target is obvious. The alpha and I met gazes.
He gave a dull bark and threw himself forward.
Ten steps... Seven... Four... Thump! From that distance, even I didn’t miss.
The dark arrow easily pierced the chest of the jumping beast and went in almost half of its length! I sharply hopped back and, right where I’d just been standing, the already dead blackish carcass came in for a landing. A black tongue lolled out of its open jaws.
I quickly notched another arrow, but the remaining hyena gave a loud wail, put its tail between its legs and dashed away. I didn’t shoot then. Not enough arrows in the quiver. I didn’t want t
o go wasting ammunition.
I walked over to Badger on stiff legs. I took a closer look. His chest is still rising and falling barely noticeably. He’s alive! I pulled the head of the dead hyena off his leg. Then I took out a bulb of satiety potion and dribbled it into the kid’s mouth.
The Dark Continent (Underdog Book #3): LitRPG Series Page 31