by Edward Brody
I groaned as the pain gripped me. I really needed to bandage myself, but with so many enemies around me, there was no way I’d be able to do any sort of first aid without getting mauled.
I jumped to my feet and drew my sword, trying to ignore the piercing ache in my neck and side as the kobold I shot stood back up and charged. I stepped to my left and swung my sword across its chest, and when it dropped to its knees and screamed, I dove the tip of my sword deep into its back.
When I turned, I saw there were still a good ten or so kobolds still alive, despite there being eight or more bodies on the floor. Donovan was jumping, dodging, and blocking the two larger kobolds, but he was so busy trying to protect himself that he wasn’t landing any attacks.
Name: Kobold Foreman
Race: kobold
Level: 18
Health/Mana/Stamina: 180/0/170
Status: aggressive
Keysia swung her staff in an upward arc, lifting a kobold in an impressive show of strength, throwing it to the opposite side of her. She spun around, knocking back the horde of miners rushing towards her, and then she suddenly stowed her staff on her back.
She placed her hands together, rose one of her knees in the air, and when she brought her leg back down and spread her hands apart, a large, glimmering translucent fan formed in her hands.
As the kobolds were all pulling themselves to their feet, she pulled the hand fan back and swung it in the direction of the kobolds, causing a hard breeze of wind to fly in their direction, knocking them all back down. Keysia dashed forward, and using the edge of her fan, started slicing at the kobolds as they tried to recover, ending their lives, one-by-one.
I ran towards Donovan to try to assist, and slashed my sword against one of the foremans’ backs. It yelped and turned towards me, throwing a backhand in my direction. I dodged, and my attack was enough of a distraction that Donovan was able to dodge the other foreman and land a blow against the distracted foreman’s back.
The kobold cried out at the blow and then jumped forward, trying to get out of range of the elf and closer to me. I swung my sword at him, but he simply held his sword up and easily blocked my attack, then swung a strike out at me.
I dodged the blow, barely. The kobold was faster than me, and I knew that if Donovan or Keysia didn’t help, I’d probably be toast.
I held my hand out and shot a Fireblast at the kobold, which knocked it towards Donovan. As the dark elf saw the body stumbling back towards him, he kicked the other foreman he was fighting, then turned and dipped his sword into the kobold I just burned.
“Look out!” Keysia screamed.
Donovan and I both turned to see a bundle of thick, red sticks with a string jutting out of it, flying in our direction, sparks shooting out from around it. A kobold nearby screamed something unintelligible at the top of its lungs.
The dynamite, or whatever kind of explosive had been thrown, exploded when it was right overhead, knocking all of us back forcefully—even the two foreman that Donovan and I were fighting.
I must have been thrown ten feet or more when my back slammed against the wall, and for a moment, all I could hear was a loud ringing in my ears. I struggled to pull my eyes open, but through the crevice between my lids, I could see nothing but a thick cloud of smoke. To my right was a dead kobold foreman, and I could barely make out the sound of someone still fighting through the high-pitched ringing noise.
My health was at 5%.
I lifted my hand to side of my head and could feel a piece of leather dangling from my ear. My helmet had obviously been destroyed.
You are bleeding and require medical attention. Bleeding is a damage-over-time effect.
I heard a loud swoosh noise like the one that had come from Keysia’s fan earlier, and another kobold came flying backwards in my direction, smashing hard against the wall. Blood was pouring from its mouth, and it sank slowly down to the floor.
You have gained 1300 XP!
Advancement! You have reached level 11 and gained 3 ability points. To assign your ability points, open your status page. You can also increase any of your known skills by 1 level. Choose wisely, as your choices cannot be undone.
You have gained 10 SP!
My stat bars shot back to full, and the bleeding indicator immediately went away. Thank goodness I leveled, and thank goodness I wasn’t poisoned to prevent my stats from replenishing.
I tilted my head to the side and reared my shoulders back as I stood to my feet, trying to stretch the tense feeling of near-death from my body. My Divine Sight had faded sometime during the explosion, and the only thing that was lighting the area were the lanterns that kobolds had placed around the mine.
I cast Divine Sight on myself again, and looked up to see Keysia was at about 50% health, and Donovan was down to his last sliver.
“Guys?” I cried out, walking through the dust hanging in the air, trying to find them.
“Here,” Keysia said as she approached me, panting and leaning forward, trying to catch her breath. It didn’t look like she had any serious injuries, but her stamina and mana had almost been drained during the fight. She lifted a finger and pointed to the far wall. “Over there.”
Donovan was hunched over against the side of the mine, but he had his knee up and an arm perched over it. Keysia and I both ran to attend to him.
I crouched down so that we were face to face when we arrived to him. “Are you alright?”
There was blood dripping from his mouth, but he smiled. “A little roughed up from the bomb is all. My armor protected me for the most part.”
I was surprised that his chitin withstood the blast. It must have been some seriously durable shit. But then again, only the not-so-special leather helmet of my armor set had been destroyed; everything else seemed fine. And thank goodness I had the helmet to mitigate some of the damage. I would have been dead if I hadn’t.
I reached in my bag and handed Donovan my last health potion. He glanced at me like he was a little surprised at me giving him the item, but then he just nodded and started to drink. After pouring the liquid down his throat, he looked quite a bit livelier and stood to his feet.
“I’m fine now,” Donovan said. “Are you two okay?”
Keysia nodded. “Tired, but I’m okay.”
“I just leveled, so I’m fine,” I said.
“Another!” Donovan shouted suddenly.
Keysia and I turned to see a kobold stepping out of the passage they had been blasted earlier. He held another bundle of explosives in his hands. He lit the end of the bundle with a candle, and hurled it in our direction.
Keysia was already channeling her fan before the dynamite was in the air, and when it was halfway towards us, she swung the magical weapon towards the kobold hard, and the blast of wind was enough to both knock the kobold down and make the bomb change course mid-air, flying back in the kobold’s direction.
It exploded right over the top of the passage, probably killing the kobold in the process, but if it hadn’t, the heap of rocks that fell down on top of the kobold from the passage entrance did.
“You always had good reflexes, Keysia,” Donovan commented.
“Amazing,” I awed.
Keysia sat down and crossed her legs. “And I’m completely spent now.” She closed her eyes and started meditating.
I pulled the remnants of my leather helmet off my head and tossed it to the ground, just as I noticed two messages from earlier that were showing in my bottom left hand corner.
Your Beaufort Leather Helmet has been destroyed!
Your Mythanthar’s Blade has been destroyed!
“What?” I said out loud. “My sword broke?” I looked down to my sheathe, and it was gone. “What the hell happened?”
I scurried over to where I had been knocked down from the blast, and about 10 meters away from there, I saw the hilt of my sword lying on the ground. The blade had been broken in two, and right beside the hilt end was the other half of my blade. The hilt only had a few
inches of swords still attached.
“Shit!” I spat and picked up the two broken pieces. I held the remnants of the weapon in my hands and moaned. When the bomb had been flying in our direction, I must have instinctively lifted my sword to it, causing it to take the full impact of the blast.
I had gotten used to fighting with Mythanthar’s blade, and I had no other weapon to replace it with, so I was left in a not-so-great predicament.
“What happened?” Donovan asked as he approached.
“I broke my fucking sword,” I groaned.
Donovan shrugged. “That’s unfortunate, but you’ll surely break others if you continue to fight like this.”
“Yeah, but that was a legendary sword,” I complained. “It was awesome.”
Donovan raised his eyebrows. “Legendary? What were stats like on it?”
“12 to 25 attack damage, +5 strength and 5% chance to apply torment.”
Donovan chuckled. “I suppose that’s not bad for an early level legendary item, but it’s nothing to write home about.”
“What do you mean?” I questioned.
“Do you have an item identification wand on you?” Donovan asked.
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t need one. Queen Faranni granted me the Elven Touch.”
Keysia and Donovan both looked at each other with wide eyes.
“I knew it,” Keysia said with a smirk. “There’s something about this guy.”
“It’s unusual for Queen to go to such lengths for a human,” Donovan said. “I know the Queen has extended her graces to a human who lives in Addenfall, but that was under special circumstances, from what I understand. I can’t imagine she’d give Elven Touch to just anyone.”
“The human you’re referring to is Jax—the guy you snared on the first day we stepped in Edgewood.”
“Gunnar is special,” Keysia said towards Donovan, dismissing my comment about Jax. “She probably gifted it to him because he’s serving as ambassador.”
I wondered again if I should just tell them that I was a Reborn and that I had not only completed a couple important quests for the elves but had already aligned myself with the faction of the High Elves of Mist Vale.
“Hold this,” Donovan said, pulling one of his swords from his belt and handing it to me.
Fine Mameluke Sword. 31-37 Attack Damage. Requires 15 Strength. Requires 25 Dexterity. Durability: 7/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Common. Weight: 2.7.
“Damn,” I said. Donovan’s curved sword didn’t look nearly as cool as Mythanthar’s Blade, but it had more weight to it and felt a lot more dangerous. Its stats confirmed its power.
“As I was saying, your blade wasn’t particularly extravagant. The rarity of a weapon is just how common it is. It’s possible to find rare items ranked as ‘rare’ that have poor stats simply because they’re hard to find, and then again, it’s possible to find items that are commonly available which may have great stats. Legendary items are often unique throughout the world or have unusual stats and attributes, but that doesn’t mean that they’re always the best items in the world.”
“So rarity is just how common the items are?”
Donovan nodded. “Yes, but in general, legendary items will mostly have better stats than common items—not always though. And a legendary item you find on a level 10 enemy will usually have far poorer stats than items you find on a level 50 enemy, simply because of stat requirements.”
“But,” Keysia said. “Legendary items aren’t even the tip of the iceberg. People sing songs about Legendary items, but Ancient items and Relics are what high-levels dream of getting—the kind of things that make people cower in fear.”
“Ancient?” I asked.
“Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary,” Donovan said. “That’s the standard rarity ranking for items. Anything above that and you’re getting into items fit for kings—items that people start wars over. You’ll have to use your brain to figure out what is best for you—rarity isn’t everything. And good luck getting ahold of something better than legendary.”
“Okay, well that’s good to know.” I handed Donovan’s sword back to him. “What about repairs of broken items?”
“Most items can be repaired a few times before they’re unrepairable. Any items that are completely broken, like your sword, may possibly be repaired, but it’s likely to lose some of its stats in the repair process. You’re better off dismantling the sword and finding a new weapon.”
I sighed loudly and shoved the broken pieces into my bag. “Okay…”
We started looting the fallen kobolds, and my eyes were set on grabbing a sword from one of the fallen foremen. They both had identical weapons, but one of them was down to a single durability, while the other still had a bit more life in it.
Bronze Sabre. 10-23 Attack Damage. Requires 11 Strength. Requires 15 Dexterity. Durability: 5/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Common. Weight: 2.7.
I swung the sword around in my hand. It didn’t feel as natural to me as my previous weapon, but according to its stats, it wasn’t a huge step down. The biggest loss was the +5 strength from Mythanthar’s Blade and the chance to apply torment, of course. I felt weaker without the strength boost, and I’d have to invest some of my points into strength or find another item if I wanted to bring myself back up to where I was.
We continued looting the rest of the corpses, and I ended up finding another 125 gold and a simple gem.
You’ve received: Amber. Durability: 100/100. Quality: Exceptional. Rarity: Common. Weight: 0.1 kg.
Sadly, not even the foremen had any magic items on them. Their loot seemed weak considering the amount of trouble they had caused us while fighting them.
“This is the end of the mine?” I asked, scanning the bottom floor.
“It might have gone further through the collapsed passage, but it’s closed off now.” Donovan walked over to the wall and ran his finger across the hard rock. “But that’s not too much of a problem. This area seems rich with ore and minerals.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Keysia said.
I left the mine with the elves feeling like the whole dive was a bit of a loss. The mine was cleared, but I had broken my weapon, and come out with some pretty unimpressive loot. I earned a bit more gold, but I had also spent three minor health potions in the process. I wasn’t sure if it had been worth it.
I picked up a couple lanterns and an extra axe as we made our way out of the mine and started back through the forest.
My mind shifted towards Jax. Getting the guild together and making our mark in Edgewood was still my number one priority, but I still found myself wondering about the whole Sparrow thing from time to time. I was curious what the dark elves might know. “Are you familiar with the Sparrows?
“That’s a random question to ask,” Keysia said. “What business do you have with the Sparrows?”
“No business, really. Just learning more about the world.”
“The Sparrows have never bothered us in Edgewood—perhaps because we have little to steal—but we know of them, sure”
“So what do you think of them?” I asked.
“I think you’d best keep away from them,” Donovan said. “They kill and they steal. What else is there to know?”
That wasn’t reassuring.
Chapter Ten
01/09/0001
As we approached my home, I could hear the sound of a handsaw tearing into hard wood. A tree had been downed right beside Aaron’s cabin, and all that was left was a low stump. On top of the stump were two pieces of chopped wood.
What’s more, there was a wooden workbench that had been erected right beside the home, and lying in front of his home were a few pieces of rudimentary furniture, a few wooden chests, two wooden training swords, a wooden shield, and two wooden shortbows.
Aaron was standing over the workbench, sawing a piece of timber into clean, flat stilts.
“What’s all this?” I asked.
“Woodworking.” Aaron stopped what
he was doing and wiped the back of his hand against his brow. “I’ve been crafting as fast as possible since I got back here. Most of this stuff isn’t too hard to make, but I think it’ll get harder as I get to higher level items.”
Donovan and Keysia approached Aaron’s house and looked down at the items at the ground, looking a bit confused as to why they were placed there.
I pulled one of the lanterns out of my bag and sat it on Aaron’s workbench.
“Oh great.” Aaron looked up to the sky. It was almost night time. “I was afraid I was going to have to waste my torches or call it an early night.”
I walked around to the front of my home and noticed that a flat pallet was sitting on the other side of the house along with two chairs. “You made all this in that short of time?”
“With the right tools and materials, you can craft pretty quickly in Eden’s Gate. Remember how we talked about crafting speed before? Well, leveling up your crafting is hard as shit, but the actual crafting time of a single item isn’t too bad.”
“But what are you going to do with all these items?” I asked. I picked up one of the bows. “We both have bows already.”
“Sell them for gold,” Aaron said.
“How?” I asked. I quickly cleared my throat. “I mean, how would you get all these items to town to sell them? We don’t have a wagon. There’s no way we can lug all of this stuff over to Thorpes.”
“Yeah we can,” Aaron said. “It might take a lot of back and forth, but over time we can carry it there by hand.”
Keysia lifted one of the wooden swords. “What will you use this for?”
Aaron shrugged. “I’ll sell that too. I just made it for crafting progression.”
“I wouldn’t mind buying this from you,” Keysia said. “My nephew Tryn would rather practice sword fighting with this than the sticks he usually uses.”