A massive ape ran across the forest ground, dust being picked up in its wake as it jumped up into the trees, moving through the forest with ease.
Rugrat’s rounds cracked around it, before three hit the ape’s chest.
It was rocked back by the rounds and dropped to the ground. The forest went quiet.
Erik looked around. Other than the tombstones above the dead winged forest snakes and the ape, there was nothing to be found in the area.
“Let’s get moving quick,” Erik said.
“Check the tombstone on that snake next to you.”
Erik reached out with his hand. When he touched the tombstone, a menu descended.
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Winged Forest Snake Loot
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Winged Forest Snake Scales Damaged
Winged Forest Snake venom pouch (Empty)
Winged Forest Snake meat
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Take all?
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Erik hit the take all part of the screen.
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No storage device detected. Will drop in real world.
==========
The snake’s corpse turned white, being replaced by the three piles of items.
Erik was interested by the materials but he didn’t have the space or time to collect them.
He quickly got his rucksack on and holstered his shotgun on its side again as he grabbed his personal rifle.
“Cover me.” Rugrat moved to the ape. The tombstone flashed for a few seconds before the ape’s chest seemed to open. A brown orb appeared, moving to Rugrat’s hand. He stuffed the one-inch brown marble into his pocket.
Erik didn’t ask as they set off at a jog, checking their surroundings for any other sneak attacks.
It was sometime later that they slowed down. They dropped their packs and scanned the area. The regular noises had come back to the forest. The great fight before seemed as if it was nothing to the beasts here.
Erik and Rugrat listened for anything that might be following them for a few minutes before they relaxed.
“Fuck me.” Erik sighed.
“No thanks.” Rugrat pulled out the marble from his pocket and tossed it to Erik as he leaned against his rucksack on the ground.
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Monster Core
Rank: Common Mortal grade
Weight: 0.2 kg
Base Value: 5 Silver
Characteristics: Unknown
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Do you wish to absorb this Monster Core?
YES/NO
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Erik tossed it back to Rugrat. There was an undeniable power held within it. “Well, I hope that one silver and fifty coppers is worth something,” Erik said.
“I wonder what would happen if we absorbed it.” Rugrat looked at the marble before tucking it back into his pocket.
Ever since the battle had started, an exclamation mark in the top right of his vision had appeared. After the first couple of notifications came in and he dismissed them before the screens could totally form, none had appeared.
He thought of the exclamation mark in his vision and was bombarded with screens.
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You have learned the skill: Marksman
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Ranged Weaponry is familiar to you. You have far to go before gaining the title of a Master but with practice, you will get there.
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Skill: Marksman
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Level: 6 (Novice)
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No bonuses at this time. You must prove your skills first.
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You have learned the skill Blade
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You’re handy with sharpened steel but the path of Master is not one can get to by just repeatedly stabbing their target.
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Skill: Blade
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Level: 1 (Novice)
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No bonuses at this time. You must prove your skills first.
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You have reached Level 3
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When you sleep next, you will be able to increase your attributes by: 10 points.
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2,075/2,700 EXP till you reach Level 4
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That golden energy that had entered his body from the snakes he killed must have been a visual aid for Experience. Erik didn’t fully understand just what that meant right now.
“Let’s find somewhere to set up camp. We’ve still got a long way to go,” Erik said.
They gathered their gear and moved on. It wasn’t long until they found a place to camp. Erik took first watch.
He used Simple Organic Scan to look inside his body. He wanted to check on the snake poison. It had been tearing up his body internally, trying to knock him out and send him into a state of paralysis. Erik had fought back with magic, but he hadn’t had time to see whether there were hidden injuries.
When he looked through his leg, he was surprised. Instead of showing weakness, it appeared to be stronger.
Erik checked over his body. Not only was his leg in better condition, it seemed as if these changes were spreading slowly throughout his body.
Seeing as it wasn’t anything bad, Erik could only shake his head, not knowing what to do. Four hours later, he woke Rugrat. He knew with the increase in stats it wasn’t easy to wake someone.
Rugrat took his place and he got into his sleeping bag. When he closed his eyes, he was greeted with a familiar sight.
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You have 10 attribute points to use.
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Erik thought on his character sheet and what he wanted to do moving forward. With Strength, he could hit harder; Agility, his reactions were faster, his control greater. Stamina and Mana didn’t need to be explained.
Erik placed two points into Strength and Agility; the remaining six he split between Mana and Stamina Regeneration. They would allow him to cast spells or fight for longer. With their guns, it only mattered how long and far they could run, or their reaction speeds.
He looked at the final character sheet.
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Character Sheet
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Name: Erik West
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Level: 3
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Race: Human
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Titles: From the Grave
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Strength: (Base 7) +2
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90
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Agility: (Base 6) +3
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45
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Stamina: (Base 10) +0
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150
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Mana: (Base 2) +0
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20
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Mana Regeneration (Base 1) +5
1.95/s
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Stamina Regeneration: (Base 7) +5
3.15/s
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Chapter: Helping From Afar
When Erik and Rugrat woke up the next day, they found that as they moved through the forest, many of the creatures quieted as they got close.
They increased their pace, half jogging through the forest, trying to make sure that they didn’t bust up their ankles. Rugrat had put his stats toward his Strength and Agility so he was able to quickly outdistance Erik. He slowed down so that they were always close to each other.
There was no hiding the shock in each other’s eyes at the speeds they were traveling at or the way that the
y had gained superhuman abilities.
If this is just level three, what would level ten or level twenty be like?
It wasn’t until the afternoon of the second day since fighting the snakes that they paused their movements. They reached a cave. Several wolves moved around the cave in groups.
Erik and Rugrat looked at each other. They had experienced the advantages of gaining Experience through killing but they weren’t reckless. These wolves weren’t small by any means and they gave off a faint pressure that made Erik not want to underestimate them.
They skirted around the cave and headed downwind. As they did, it took them closer to the rough dirt road that led to Chonglu. They followed close to the road for a bit, looking for a way to cut back into the forest as they’d entered a hilly region.
Rugrat held up his hand, halting Erik.
Erik took a knee and scanned the area behind them as Rugrat scanned the area off to their front left. He moved back to Erik and tapped on his armored shoulder. “I think I hear sounds of fighting, like metal on metal,” Rugrat whispered.
Erik couldn’t hear it, but he nodded, trusting Rugrat. “You take lead and we’ll check it out?” Erik said.
Rugrat nodded. They dropped their packs. Rugrat took out his modified M40A6. It was identical to his service weapon as a Marine scout sniper. He slung it on his back. The two of them moved forward, Erik just slightly behind Rugrat as they stayed low.
Rugrat stopped and pointed to the road. Next to it, a person was looking in the direction they had come. They were wearing rough pelts, with dirt on their face and a crude rusted sword in their hand.
To Erik, it looked like a lookout if he’d ever seen one.
They kept moving. A notification appeared in Erik’s vision, but he dismissed it.
They moved onward toward where the noises were coming from.
Erik and Rugrat got to a small rise where there was a break in the tree line, giving them a view over the fight.
There were three carriages under attack. The first two carriages had been abandoned. The simple large creatures that looked like oxen pawed the ground, anxious with the spilt blood. There were some fifteen fighters on the side of the traders and thirty on the side of the raiders who were attacking them from either side.
Archers were in elevated positions raining arrows down; melee types fought one another on both sides. Six people were on the ground. Two of the traders had already been killed by these archers; another two had been killed by the raider melee types and then the final two had fallen to the blades of the traders’ melee fighters.
If nothing changed, then the traders wouldn’t survive.
“Give me the women and goods—I might even let you live!” A large man yelled as he swung a claymore against one fo the defenders, forcing them back.
The other raiders renewed their attacks against the relatively weak traders.
The traders all had ugly looks on their faces. They usually traveled with their families and their women. Although they were fighting alongside their fellow traders and husbands, all knew the grim reality if they were to fall into these raiders’ hands.
Rugrat and Erik glanced at each other. Rugrat nodded and cleared a place on the ground quickly, pulling his rifle from his shoulder and pulling out its bipod.
Erik turned and braced himself against the small hill they were on. He sighted on the scout who was looking from the battle to down the road.
Erik found that his aim was drifting less, that his breathing was easier than normal.
He controlled his breathing before slowly pulling back on the trigger. He fired a quick double tap. His first and second round hit the lookout, dropping him to the ground.
Erik’s exclamation marker blinked but he ignored it, looking back on the fight around the carriages. None of them heard anything from the silenced rifle.
Erik moved next to Rugrat, using a fallen log to steady himself.
“Good to go?” Rugrat asked.
Erik got himself ready and checked his aim. “Good.”
“Archers, then the leader.”
“Understood,” Erik said. They were some two hundred meters away and elevated compared to their targets.
Rugrat fired first. The suppressor cut the noise of the rifle as Rugrat changed his point of aim and worked the bolt action as Erik fired, his round taking down another archer.
The remaining two archers on their side were starting to realize something was wrong as Rugrat’s second round found its target. Erik hit the second archer but didn’t kill them right away.
They let out a scared and painful howl before being cut off suddenly with Erik’s second round.
The leader and the raiders started to look around to see that their four archers supporting them from behind on one side were dead already.
Rugrat fired again. Erik could only praise his abilities. With his rifle, Rugrat was a terrifying individual.
Erik picked out raiders who were outside of the fight and started firing, not caring about hitting them in the head and killing them silently.
They went down in pained cries, their armor unable to stop Erik’s rounds.
Erik checked his aim as his targets were sprawled on the ground, screaming out in shock and sudden pain.
The leader was still on his feet, even with three rounds in him.
Rugrat put a fourth in the man’s skull, dropping him.
The raiders had gone from twenty-eight fighters to seventeen in just a few seconds and they had no idea where their attackers were.
Also, their leader who had organized them all and was their strongest fighter had his head explode and was lying on the ground, dead.
They started to run in all directions.
The traders held where they were, getting in attacks on the raiders’ backs, killing two more and wounding three before they were able to escape.
Erik and Rugrat took down targets of opportunity, adding another three to their count before there were no more raiders they could hit easily.
Erik checked the position that he had been firing from, quickly policing his brass and stuffing it into his cargo pockets.
Rugrat did the same with his expended cartridges.
They only had a limited amount of them and they didn’t want to put any to waste.
Seeing that all their gear was tucked away, they headed away from the road, not wanting to meet the traders or the raiders they had been fighting.
They were heading off as a man’s voice sounded out. “Thank you for your aid!” the man yelled into the forest.
Erik and Rugrat didn’t slow their steps as they grabbed their rucksacks and then headed off deeper into the forest.
It was some time before they stopped and took stock of their gear.
==========
You have learned the skill: Stealth
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You know when to pick your fights and when to sneak about to get an advantage over your enemy.
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Skill: Stealth
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Level: 5 (Novice)
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No bonuses at this time. You must prove your skills first.
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Skill: Marksman
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Level: 18 (Novice)
==========
No bonuses at this time. You must prove your skills first.
==========
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Stealth Attack, hitting a target while undetected in stealth your attack is X2 stronger.
==========
==========
You have reached Level 6
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When you sleep next, you will be able to increase your attributes by: 15 points.
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7,700/23,000 EXP till you reach Level 7
==========
“Made it to a level twenty-three Novice Marksman.” Rugrat pulled out his M40 and checked it.
Erik checked his magazines and moved them around. “Well, we also know a few things. One, that the people here are human, that they use creatures other than horses. They carry out trade; they wear simple fabrics that we might find in history on Earth.
“These guys were all fighting with their strength, not magic, so maybe they haven’t put in any points to their Mana, or they just have a few of their Mana gates open, like us. Also, health is definitely not based on hit points,” Erik said as he worked.
“Hit points?”
“In some games, the people you’re fighting have a certain number of hit points. You have to wear these down before you beat the creature. I didn’t see anything like hit points. Everyone died as they would back on Earth.”
“Though that boss raider,” Rugrat argued. “When the first round struck, it punched a hole in him but it didn’t exit. It was like his skin was as strong as body armor. I put the second shot into him and it was the same. His first wound was starting to recover when I took his head off.” Rugrat stared into nothing as he recalled what he had seen.
Erik turned thoughtful. “Hopefully we’ll find out more when we head to that town outside of Chonglu.”
Rugrat nodded, putting his M-40 away in its gun bag. “You forgot the biggest thing.”
“What’s that?” Erik asked.
“We could understand them,” Rugrat said.
Erik sat there, stunned. Between Rugrat and him, they knew five different languages. He hadn’t even thought of it. They were on another planet, but the boss raider and the man who had thanked them had both been speaking English.
Erik and Rugrat went to sleep and did their watches. Rugrat was the first to go to sleep, with Erik going after him.
He quickly organized his attribute points, increasing his stats.
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Character Sheet
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Name: Erik West
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The Two Week Curse Page 7