Chapter 3: Monster Hunting Pays the Bills

“That’s good for now,” Deia said.

Dave’s great sword transformed into his two rods as he fell back and landed on his back, groaning.

Deia laughed at his antics.

“Even though you’ve been off hammering metal for months, you’re picking this all up rather quickly.” Deia squat down next to him and handed him a water skin.

“Thanks.” He drank from the skin.

“I think that because of your higher Intelligence, you are able to pick up skills faster. I’d like to check out something, if you’re willing?”

“Does it include beating me with sharp things?” he asked, warily.

“I’m not going to kill my fiancé off this early.” She smiled.

“Oh thanks, babe.” He sighed. “So what is this idea?”

“Let’s go and get some books. I want to see if you studying books and then watching people fight will increase your fighting skills.”

“Fine.” Dave got to his feet. “But first I need a damned bath.”

***

Dave rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension in his muscles.

He opened the notifications that had piled up after training with Anna and Deia over the last couple of days.

Active Skill: Dual wield

Level: Expert Level 2

Effect: Attacks are 32% faster. 25% reduced damage with off-hand weapon.

Cost: 15 Stamina

Active Skill: Two-handed

Level: Apprentice Level 7

Effect: 17% armor penetration on target. Stamina costs reduced 5% while fighting.

Cost: 35 Stamina

New Active Skill: One-handed and Shield

Well shit, so you didn’t want to cut your leg off so now you’re fighting like the human multi-tool. Either this is gonna work, or be one hell of a messy ending. I’m getting the popcorn—should be a good show!

Level: Apprentice Level 1

Effect: Weapons damage increased by 11%. Defense increases by 5%.

Cost: 20 Stamina

Active Skill: Archery

Level: Journeyman Level 5

Effect: Critical Hit chance increases by 25%. Ranged targets take 10% increased damage

Cost: 10 Stamina

Stat Increase

+2 Strength

+1 Intelligence

+1 Willpower

+2 Endurance

+5 Agility

+3 Vitality

“Character sheet.” Dave pulled on his jacket.

Character Sheet

Name:

David Grahslagg

Gender:

Male

Level:

3

Class:

-

Race:

Human/Dwarf

Alignment:

Chaotic Neutral

Unspent points-295

Health:

2,900

Regen:

2.24/s

Mana:

1,470

Regen:

6.60/s

Stamina:

740

Regen:

3.65/s

Vitality:

29

Endurance:

112

Intelligence:

147

Willpower:

132

Strength:

74

Agility:

73

“How are your stats looking?” Deia asked, already dressed and ready to leave.

“Good. They’re going up slower. However, because I’m still learning something nearly every time or activating something different than before because of my increased Intelligence, I’m still growing well. I think that I’m going to plateau soon with smithing all done and shift my focuse to just fighting,” Dave said as they left the room.

“I’m an Expert at dual wielding and Apprentice with one-handed weapon with shield. I’m still learning. It might take me a few weeks to get new stats from it, but usually when I do, it marks some kind of breakthrough in my fighting style. Even as a Master, there is so much more to learn. Bonuses might fall away but stat points are still there.”

“And stat points can really change how you fight, to make you even stronger.”

“Yeah. I’m thinking about that the more I think about smithing. I’ve always got a constant stream of ideas that I want to do and try out going on in my head,” Dave said.

“There’s also the fact that there are other skills that you can work on that influence your different Actions. I have made it to Mastery level 7 for archery but I am an Expert level 7 with dual wield. While training will improve your skills up to the Journeyman level, you need to go out and hunt living creatures to advance further, or get into fights with other people to train up. It is what makes sparring better as a training partner. I am wondering with your high Intelligence if you will be able to learn a lot on different fighting techniques and use it in battle,” she said as they were leaving the adventurer’s guild inn where they had been staying.

“So, kind of like uploading new skills and techniques into my mind? Essentially, giving me a whole bunch of information to go off and seeing if my mind will pull it up at the right time?”

“Exactly. If you can, then it would create a whole new way of training—well, for people who have a very high Intelligence. In fact, you might even need a higher Intelligence or more knowledge of fighting for it to be useful.” Deia tapped her lip in thought.

“But you don’t know, so I get to be a guinea pig.” Dave looked to her.

“A cute guinea pig,” she said with a winning smile.

“I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.” Dave rolled his eyes. “You were talking about skill augments, like one skill affecting another. I guess that is similar to how the building skill can be used with the smithing skill, allowing me to use less material?”

“I didn’t know that was possible, but along those lines. I know that it works with different fighting techniques. With the bow, you gain a bonus for hitting targets at range, which can be stacked with one-handed and shield to increase the base damage. Then that’s compounded by the stealth skill. Add in the two-handed’s ability of armor penetration, and your one arrow can hit for a decent amount of damage. With most skills, there is just one bonus or two. With weapons there is a main bonus, a subset and then specialization at Mastery level.” Deia looked to him to see whether he was following.

“Okay, but how do they stack?”

“So, if you’re using dual blades, the effects of two-handed, archery, and one-handed will only add a total of ten percent of their overall skill. The armor penetration of forty percent on the two-handed would mean four percent armor penetration with the dual wielding. This changes when you reach Master of the weapons you’re using. If you’re a Master of dual blades, you gain a twenty-five percent effectiveness. Your armor penetration of forty percent with the two-handed would mean when you’re dual wielding, you gain an additional forty percent.”

“Okay but it says it’s an active skill…” Dave trailed off, confused.

“Let’s think about this as a game system, then real world. Open up your two-handed skill.”

Dave did so, sharing it with her.

Active Skill: Two-handed

Level: Apprentice Level 7

Effect: 17% armor penetration on target. Stamina costs reduced 5% while fighting.

Cost: 35 Stamina

“Your first main bonus is the armor. It is calculated at your overall level, so if you’ve risen seventeen levels, you have a seventeen percent modifier. Also, because you are an Apprentice instead of a Novice, you gain your sub-skill, of Stamina effect reduction. You gain this at the Apprentice level; at Journeyman, you gain an extra five percent. This occurs every time you pass into a new named level. Now, while you become better at using your two-handed, your levels will increase, though you are learning how to fight by yourself, not with the Action command system. If you know how to gain armor penetration with your great sword, could you not adapt that over to your dual blades or weapon and shield? The subsets are listed for fighting or against your target; unless it is stated that you have to be using that specific weapon, it will mean any target.”

“So, wait. If I was just using these as Action hot buttons, they wouldn’t cross over. However, since I am fighting with these weapons and not just button mashing, I have a bleed-over of skills. Fighting with multiple weapons gives me more options with them. With arrows, I would have to be accurate; dual blades, faster with my hands and faster at moving. With the increased dexterity in my fingers from shooting a bow, I can be more accurate with my blades.” Dave thought of the ramifications, thinking on the times when he had blocked with his axes and used what he knew with the shield to deflect the attacks.

“Correct—bleed-over. It’s an active skill, as you still have to use it, though weapons skills are one of the only set of skills that have a bleed-over from one to another.” Deia smiled.

“Damn. I can now see why Josh and Dwayne wanted to train everyone with all kinds of weapons and have a school going in Cliff-Hill.”

“If someone can master all of the weapons, even by simply grinding it out, then they can be a damn scary adversary on the battlefield. If you can get to even Journeyman level, added to the fact you can change out your weapons at will, it’s going to be very interesting.” Deia smiled as they reached a building.

“What’s this?” Dave asked.

“The library. Now come on; we have some research to do!” She smiled.

“Oh, you could definitely pull off the sexy librarian look.” Dave followed behind. He looked around the room.

Over time, he had finally grown back into his original height of just under six foot. Deia was still a bit taller than him, but he didn’t mind. He was a giant of the Dwarven race, but about average for humans. He wasn’t growing upward anymore, though his Dwarven build made it easier for him to pack on dense muscles.

There were runes and books all over the place. Books were stacked one upon another. There were a few dozen people around on different balconies or studying cubbies, reading all kinds of material.

“Hello, how can I help you?” a teenage boy asked Deia as she stepped up to the desk.

“I am looking for books on fighting techniques,” Deia said.

“Oh, very well. There are books in the far back left, Section Training, Sub-section Melee.” The boy gave a friendly smile and started to lower his head toward the book he was reading.

“Do you know of anything that might make reading faster?” Dave asked.

“Well, there are magical glasses that are rumored to be capable, though the ones I have seen were twenty to fifty gold coins. Otherwise, there are potions of increased recollection, speed, and so on. Stacking several different potions will give you bursts of increased intellect as well as speed,” he said.

“Thank you.” Dave smiled and let him get back to his book.

Dave and Deia wandered toward the section they wanted.

“We need to go hunting if this works,” Dave said.

“Oh?” Deia asked, looking over different tomes.

“Well, we’re going to need some coin in order to make these potions, and fighting things will increase my melee levels.”

“Why not smith something?” Deia asked.

“I could, but with us going to fight something with the rest of the guild, I don’t want to be relying on conjuring some powerful ass weapon to make up for my lack of skills.”

Deia gave Dave a smile and a kiss. “I knew I didn’t just make you my fiancé for your rugged good looks.”

“I have rugged good looks?” Dave grinned happily.

“Yes, you look like a freaking hobbit.” Deia held in a laugh at his expression.

“I’m not a bleeding hobbit!”

“Sssh!” one of the people reading nearby said, glaring at them.

“I’m much bigger!” Dave whispered.

Deia couldn’t hold in her laugh, making a half snort, half grunting noise. “They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard,” she whispered back.

“Last time I watch movies with you,” Dave said, trying and failing to hide his smile.

“Don’t say that. Suzy said that we’ve got to watch these things called rom-com movies,” Deia said.

“What monster have you made, Suz?” Dave asked, shaking his head, as he pulled out more books.

Deia simply smiled and grabbed her collection of books. Dave gathered his together and they headed for one of the reading tables.

***

Dave stood up, cracking his back and rubbing his eyes. He heard a message ping, but took a few moments to finish rubbing his eyes.

“Seems that Suzy spent a few more gold coins than she was expecting. She’s asking if we want to go hunting,” Deia said.

“All right. I checked out the potions that the guy at the desk was talking about. Should be able to get most of the ingredients from the surrounding area or from the market. I really don’t want to go and deal with that alchemist store again,” Dave said.

“Upset at the old lady who wanted to fleece you for money?” Deia stood and gathered up the books they’d been reading for a few hours.

“Uggh. Fleece? It was downright highway robbery.”

Deia chuckled. “Well, I think that has been enough for today. Guess we can try to see if any of this reading has helped you.”

“Woohoo,” Dave said with a half-hearted fist pump.

“Come on, you big oaf.”

“Hobbit, now a big oaf—what’s it going to be? You know I can only have one nickname, Firecracker,” Dave teased.

“Maybe I’m still playing around with them.” She smiled and carried her books back to the shelves. It took them a few minutes to put the books back and then make it to the waypoint where everyone else was waiting.

“Well, let’s go kill some rabbits. It’s like three coppers a rabbit, bit more for larger creatures, then we can skin them and sell their parts on the market here. I know someone who would be interested in them if we could turn them into jerky,” Suzy said.

“Been a bit busy?” Dave asked.

“Been a bit broke. Just wined and dined a possible client without a credit card,” Suzy said.

“Ouch. Well, you never knew how to stretch a dime when it came to sealing a contract,” Dave said.

“I always sealed the damned contract though.” Suzy smiled.

“That you did, Sealer Suz!”

Suzy winced at the name, making it look as if she were shuddering. “I forgot how bad your nicknames were.”

“Tell me about it,” Deia said.

“You too! Ah, it must be love!” Suzy smiled.

“Did you ever figure out a good one for him?” Deia sidled up to Suzy.

“All right, let’s go kill some fucking rabbits!” Before these two get enough time to conference and come up with a truly terrible nickname!

“How was the library—anything good?” Malsour asked.

“Not really. I’ve just been looking at information on martial arts. Deia has a theory that I might be able to store the information and use it better than other people because I have a higher Intelligence stat.”

“Hmm, I have heard people with a higher Intelligence stat are able to assimilate information faster. They are usually found in the mages colleges and deal with information that is not about fighting.”

“Well, I hope that I’ll be the first one, though reading a bunch of books about people fighting isn’t bad.” Dave smiled and looked around as they exited SC. “Sometimes it’s hard for me to think of this as a game, other times I’m just blown away by the fact that this is the real world and how much better it is than Earth’s simulation. Like, look, I’m a freaking Dwarf and I know how to craft blades, how to fight—not very well but I can still do it—and I can use a bit of magic.”

“We do live in an interesting time,” Malsour agreed.

“Even got some old bastard who likes to give out corny one-liners.”

“Dick.”

“And the student becomes the teacher.” Dave smiled proudly.

Malsour laughed, shaking his head as they headed toward the waypoint Deia had created for their quest.

As they left the city, Suzy threw out some cores. They rolled on the ground, two Earth golems and five metal golems appearing.

“I’ll have the Air creations move out and scout to see if we can’t find some fun things to do. I’m sharing the quest with everyone,” Suzy said. It was her quest and her show. Unless something went seriously wrong, then she was in the driver’s seat.

Quest: Cleaning Out the Hills

There have been a number of creatures too close to Selhi’s capital. Farmers are complaining of their food being eaten and people are finding creatures eating their wares. Go forth and kill creatures that might be in the area.

You will receive a reward based on the number of creatures you and your party kill.

Rewards: Loot and gold according to number of creatures killed

Do you accept?

Y/N

Suzy had already accepted it, so Dave just waved it away from his vision. Another notification showed the prices of the different animals; the bigger and more aggressive, the bigger the payout. It would be active for two days, so they had to do as much as possible.

“We’ll split up into two-person groups so that we can cover more ground and get more creatures. Malsour and Dave, Induca and Anna, Suzy and myself. Keep your party chat open and let us know if you run into anything that you can’t handle by yourself.” Deia looked to everyone. “Well, let’s go make some gold!”

They headed in three different directions.

Dave spread out his Touch of the Land and looked for any good spots that might allow him to use his surveyor skill. Usually it only picked up possible landmarks and areas that larger creatures lived in. Dave was hoping that he’d find a few hides and maybe find some other creatures due to it being connected to his quest.

“Malsour, you keep them pinned. I’ll stick an arrow in them.” Dave held his two batons in his left hand. Shadows seemed to spread out from them into a compound bow. In Dave’s right hand, he conjured an arrow.

“You’re getting much better.” Malsour glanced at Dave and then faced away from SC. He didn’t need to use Touch of the Land with his ears and ability to sniff something out.

Dave saw a rabbit moving within a hundred meters; shadows moved over it. Within seconds, the rabbit was cold.

“That’s new.” Dave looked at Malsour.

“Shadow technique. I don’t use it much, but out here there is enough shade that I can make use of it.”

Dave nodded, his eyes continuously searching. His Touch had not found much more than a few burrowing creatures.

Selhi Capital was between a forest to the north, a swamp to the west and south, and farmers’ fields to the east.

“I’m happy we’re going in the forest instead of the swamp,” Dave said, trying to ease the mood as Malsour killed any rabbit or creature that came within two hundred meters.

“Why? There are more creatures in the swamps.”

“Cause I hate mud and I hate swamps—just smells nasty and the trees are just weird.”

Another shadow killed off a rabbit.

“That spell is just freaky.”

“I’m just using the shadow to extend my Touch, then applying a draining spell. Their Health is so small that it takes a few seconds for them to die,” Malsour said. “I would be killing a lot more in a swamp, though they do smell like ass.”

Dave smiled at hearing Malsour coming close to cursing. “Oh, ’tis a proud moment.”

“What?” Malsour turned to Dave.

“Nothing, nothing at all. I’m going to see if I can’t find somewhere with a higher elevation and pick out some creature’s hide in the area.”

“Very well. I am interested in seeing your progress with weapons.”

“Thought you said that magic was the way to fight?”

“It is the best way to fight, but during Boran-al’s Citadel, I saw that mages are not infallible to warriors and other melee classes. After that, I have been thinking of asking Anna to teach me some more.”

“You, my friend, are a glutton for punishment.” Dave put a consoling hand on his shoulder.

“Go climb your damned tree and find us a real opponent.”

Dave found a good tree, but the lowest branches were too high. He used a smaller one to scale up and then jumped from it. It didn’t take him long to scramble to the top.

“Well, looks like the old Agility is paying off, even if it hurts like hell after Deia’s done helping me train it up.” Dave used his Soul Smith ability, adding runes to his bow that would make him lighter and get higher.

He looked out over the area. He felt as if his vision shifted over as he started to pick out things he wouldn’t have noticed by himself. His mini-map updated with a slew of markers, from caravans that were moving from SC through the swamps and on to Donsk Mountain.

“I can see why banditry is kind of easy. This skill points out all possible things you can interact with, from animals’ territories to good ambush spots. You’d need to have someone constantly up here to keep track of the caravans and pick it out for the people you’re working with. Also, it is really useful for map building and knowing things in your area,” Dave muttered to himself.

“Anything good?” Malsour asked in voice chat.

“Well, it looks like I’ve got a few farms and caravans—there’s an abandoned dungeon that might be interesting. A few caves and two animal territories, one bear and one other thing that my surveyor skill doesn’t recognize. Don’t know what’s going on with it.”

“The more you know about different things, the more your surveyor skill will be able to pick up. Say those caravans—if you knew more about goods, then you might be able to guess what they are carrying. Or, if you knew more about bears, you would know if they were looking for a mate, hunting, or going into hibernation.”

“The more you know, the more it reflects in your other skills. I am seeing the value of books and learning more and more.” Dave used his skill two more times before he ambled back down to the forest floor.

“Bear first, the unknown creature, the caves then the abandoned dungeon?” Dave asked.

“Do you want to go first to try out your bow?” Malsour asked.

“You just want a meat shield,” Dave said as he moved forward, expanding out his Touch of the Land and advancing on the waypoint he’d made to the bear’s territory.

“Well, that is also another factor.”

“Glad I can be of service.” Dave lowered his voice as he’d picked up the bear. With their UI linked through the party service, Malsour could see the red outline of the bear as well as the rabbits. The rabbits quickly turned into blue blinking icons, showing that Malsour had once again killed them off.

Malsour grabbed them and casually threw them into his pack if they came near them.

“Okay, just in the clearing ahead. You ready?” Dave moved up to a tree that was just twenty meters from the bear.

Malsour nodded.

Dave took a breath, slipping around the tree while trying to stay low and undetected.

The bear was scratching its back on the tree, leaving its body open for Dave.

His perception, knowledge, and Touch of the Land worked together, showing him different critical hit spots. Dave let loose his arrow.

The air cracked as the arrow slammed into the bear’s heart. It looked at him dumbly, even as Dave conjured a new arrow on the string. Dave thought that it was going to charge but instead fell forward.

“Good shot.” Malsour threw out a piece of metal next to the bear. The piece of metal grew into a spike and stabbed the bear. It didn’t even fidget.

“Holy crap! This weapon mastery stacking stuff works pretty damn good.”

“That it does.” Malsour moved to the body and pulled out a knife. They’d have to cut the bear up to get it into their bags of holding.

“Nice little one gold bounty and then three gold for the rest of it. I’m feeling good about our money situation.” Dave moved to help, his analyze skill kicking in.

Swamp Bear

Level 89

“Damn. It used to be hard to kill a level 60 bear and I took this one out with one shot.”

“Welcome to the land of leveling bonuses. This bear wouldn’t have been an issue to us even if he charged. He’s actually a pretty low level for this area. Must be because he’s near the city and most of the bigger bears stay away as hunters and fighters go searching for them and the larger payoff for their hides and meat.” Malsour worked his blade through the bear.

“Well, I didn’t think that it would be this messy,” Dave complained, cutting out the parts of the bear that they didn’t need and then portioning it and throwing the portions into his or Malsour’s bag. Once it was in a bag’s storage, then it seemed to be held in whatever state it was placed in there, meaning that meat could stay fresh in a bag of holding forever and only aged when it was pulled out.

“I think that’s all for now. Shall we move onto that other creature?” Malsour used his water skin to clean his hands.

“Yeah. I want to know just what the hell it is. I’ll take point.”

“Very well.” Malsour fell in behind Dave as he moved up. More rabbits died in their wake; they would get the coppers for killing them, though they would need to get their corpses for any extras they might get for the meat, eyes, and hide.

“The fuck is that?” Dave looked at the rough outline of what looked like a huge mantis.

“Giant Mantis,” Malsour said.

“Well, someone didn’t put much thought into naming these things.”

“Unless the admins announce new creatures, then whoever finds the creature first gets to name it. There are some really dumb ones. Like Pink Poof—it’s a type of carnivorous plant that excretes knockout gas, then lashes out with its vines to pull its knocked-out prey into its mouth. Most people wake up with half of their body being digested by the creature’s stomach acid.”

“Now, that I think about it, Giant Mantis isn’t a bad name.” Dave rose out from the bush they were hiding behind and let loose his arrow.

“Son of a bitch,” Dave muttered. Even with all the bonuses, he’d only just cracked the mantis’s carapace and dropped its Health by ten percent. It let out a clicking war cry as Dave let loose another arrow for the same spot. It lost another twenty percent Health. Dave fired his third arrow, missing the mantis as shadows tried to jump onto the mantis, draining bits of Health here and there.

Dave destroyed his conjured bow, pulling his rods back, and turned the left rod into a shield and his right into a sword.

The mantis’s front legs came down, two scythes looking to tear him apart.

Dave threw up his shield in time to block it as Malsour threw out metal blocks that stabbed upwards and into the mantis. Dave saw the mantis’s left arm come down; he smashed it to the side, stunning the creature long enough for him to stab his blade into the creature’s side.

It came back, enraged and clicking. Dave blocked and attacked, remembering the training that Joko had given him so long ago. The way that the Dwarves had fought at Boran-al’s Citadel, the different moves he had seen in his travels and even the techniques from the different books he had read on one-handed and shield-work flowed through his mind in that instance.

Dave slapped the claws away; his blade darted out, feinting and slamming into the creature.

His shield was a steel wall, stopping any attack from making it through. Dave got past the initial shock. He had fought people who were stronger and faster than it before. Now, it was just a very large garden creature.

He laughed as he fought. The mantis tired quickly from its wounds and the fight. Dave continued to dance and weave. It was much easier than running all day or beating metals and ores into submission.

The creature swung wide, leaving its neck open. Dave stabbed forward, digging his blade into the creature’s neck. He used soul smith; a metal spike came out the top of the creature’s head. He destroyed the conjured sword, returning to its rod form as the mantis let out a few clicks before it fell over.

“So, anything useful happen?” Malsour asked as he grabbed his metal blocks and moved to the mantis.

“Well, it seems that I can recall things in the heat of battle. Makes it a lot easier. I don’t know what the limits are but I think that increasing my Intelligence just became my biggest goal,” Dave said.

“Now, how the hell are we going to get this back?” Malsour looked at the mantis.

“In bits?” Dave asked. His right rod turned into an axe as he cut the mantis’s forward leg off in one hit.

“Give me a sword, will you? I don’t think I have a blade sharp enough to get through this thing’s carapace.”

Dave destroyed the shield and turned it into a sword, handing it to Malsour.

“I feel like I’m in some weird horror movie or one of those ones where everyone gets shrunk so everything looks massive,” Dave said as he worked.

“Well, there are potions that can make you smaller and larger,” Malsour said.

“That’s just weird. Why would anyone use that?”

“Well, people who want to get into hidden areas, for one. It’s a lot harder to see someone who’s the size of a pin instead of a full-grown human.”

“Yeah, but the chances of getting stepped on must be so damn high.” Dave looked at Malsour, the two of them covered in green blood as they put the limbs into Malsour’s bag.

“Well, no one said it was a safe profession.”

“I prefer this hunting stuff a lot more.” Dave cut the mantis’s main body apart to fit it in his bag. “Caves next?”

“Looks like a good hunting ground to me.”

“Don’t dragons have large caves filled with gold and all sorts of expensive things?”

“We do, but Induca and I didn’t bring much. Didn’t want people asking where we got all that wealth from so early in the game. We sold soul gems and the like. Now, with the vault soul gems, saving that power for later when we might need it in battle is worth more than the gold we would get otherwise.”

“Why don’t you just pull more metal from the ground and sell it?” Dave asked.

“I can do a bit of that—though again, too much and it starts looking suspicious.”

“Well, I won’t tell if you don’t—can just say that it was loot drops or we found it in the caves after killing something. Maybe in the dungeon.” Dave stretched his Touch out, noticing a number of metals that were around. “Got a decent vein of silver near the dungeon as well.”

“Well, then, it will be perfect for you to pull it out of the ground.” Malsour smiled. “I’ve done it hundreds of times, though you’re still relatively new to the skills of moving metals and items with your mind and magic. It’ll be good practice.”

“I swear, you lot should start up a boot camp with all the training you want me to do.” Dave sighed.

“You want to take point?”

“Damned slave drivers,” Dave muttered as the last of the mantis was stored away and he started forward toward the caves.

***

Dave and Malsour looked at the entrance of the caves.

“I can sense thirteen creatures inside. All of them seem to be pretty big,” Dave whispered to Malsour as they watched a wolf wandering around outside.

“I can get them to come to us if you want,” Malsour said.

“Be the best plan. Funnel them into here and I’ll take care of them.” Dave put his two rods together, once again forming a compound bow with glowing runes on it. An arrow appeared in his hand as he watched the wolf.

Timber Wolf

Level 91

Dave watched the creature, his knowledge and perception marking points where he should aim to hit critical areas. He was closer than ten meters, making it not a ranged shot.

Dave fired; the arrow pierced the wolf’s lungs. It tried to call out but coughed, suffocating to death as it fell on the ground.

“Okay, just moving the metal to outside of the caves. Hopefully I can catch them as they come out,” Malsour said.

His skill is really powerful, but getting the resources he needs to carry it takes planning and precision. Knowing the time it is, where shadows will be, or curses and spells that will work on different animals and having inanimate materials nearby that he can manipulate: he takes this all into account when setting up. I just have to make weapons and hit things.

“Done.”

“All right. Well, do whatever voodoo magic you want to get them a running.” Dave looked at the entrance to the cave; it was sixty meters away. The area in front of the caves had been cleared away. The trees had scratch marks on them and bushes along their edges. Dave and Malsour used these bushes for cover.

Dave moved so that he stood, using a tree to balance himself so he could draw on the full power of the bow.

“Here they come.” Malsour moved his hands as he started casting spells.

The first wolf came out, only to get hit with a curse, making it cry out as its Health start to plummet. Spiders, the size of small dogs and venom dripping from their teeth, flowed out of the other caves; a battle started with the spiders and the wolves.

Dave hadn’t been able to see them all as they’d been in some kind of hibernation state. “Shiiiiiet.” Dave fired his arrows into the little buggers. “Creepy ass spiders.”

Malsour continued to throw curses as Dave took out spider hatchling after spider hatchling. Spider guardians started to flow out as the thirteen wolves and spiders battled it out. The spider hatchlings were no higher than level 30, but there had to be fifty of them. Their venom stacked damage, making the wolves slow after a few dozen hits. The spider guardians were level 30 to 60.

“Even though the spiders are less in Strength, their numbers and their venom means that even if they die, their work is done with a bite,” Malsour said.

“Poor bastards,” Dave said. The wolves were holding their ground well but the spiders’ attacks were indeed having an effect. Dave watched as what he had mistaken for a boulder moved out of the cave.

Spider Queen

Level 121

“Ah shit!” Dave turned to fire at the queen.

“Don’t shoot her!” Malsour yelled, but it was already too late. Dave had fired and released, hitting her in the eye and taking out twenty-five percent of her Health.

The spiders seemed to move as one, turning from their battle with the wolves and rushing toward Dave and Malsour.

“What the hell?”

“You attack the queen and the rest will destroy you. She’s the only one who can birth more spiders!” Malsour said as spikes rose out of the ground.

Dave’s increased speed from his Agility and dual wielding came into effect. The spiders were close enough that they were getting splash damage, using the two-handed main skill. His arrows hit with enough damage to one-shot the regular spiders and kill another just because of splash damage.

The guardians took two hits, or one hit and one splash hit.

“Dark ground!” Malsour yelled.

A black smoke seemed to seep out of the shadows, covering the area around the spiders.

They moved slower and took a few hit points of damage every second. Dave stopped hitting the regular spiders and started hitting just the guardians.

Dave jumped sideways, firing an arrow as a guardian spat acid twenty meters, melting through the tree he had been standing beside. Dave put an arrow into its maw as the others started to fire their acid.

Dave ran toward a tree, still firing his arrows as he jumped at the tree. He used it as a springboard to get to another and jump back and forth, messing up the guardians’ aim and leaving melting trees in his wake.

“It’s just like Tree Tag!” Dave laughed as he took out the last five guardians. He conjured a holy sword, dropping it right on the queen.

It let out a high-pitched wail as she tried to get the sword out of her back.

“Well, should have tried out yoga, ya ugly bastard.” Dave moved back to the ground as the Dark ground spell dissipated.

Malsour’s metal had finished off the remaining spiders and were now finishing off the wolves that had been so heavily poisoned that only three remained.

The spider queen died with a loud shriek.

After a few moments, Dave dismissed the sword and looked at the small battlefield.

“Shall we call the others? This is going to be a pain in the ass to clean up ourselves,” Dave said.

“Might as well ask them and see if they want to.” Malsour opened his interface.

Dave checked the area to make sure that there weren’t any more spiders or creatures that wanted to try to eat them. There were a few, but they were all staying away after hearing the queen’s dying scream.

Dave looked over the queen’s body, his perception highlighting the legs, fangs, poison sacs, and thick-armored skin on her body.

“That chitin would make some decent light armor; seems that people use the poison for—food? What the hell?” Dave dug deep into the forums to find the different things to use her parts for.

As he discovered more, more areas were highlighted on the queen to show the different usable parts. Dave simply had to look at them to get prompts.

Spider Queen Fangs

Can be used to create large needles and daggers

Each said what the item was and what it could be used for.

“Wow, the more you know, the better.” Dave moved to start pulling the spider apart.

“Seems that Suzy and Induca aren’t finding much. They’ll meet up with us to help clear out this area and then go to the dungeon.” Malsour waved his interface way.

“Good, cause the spiders will fetch a good price due to their level, armor, and venom. Apparently, venom in meat serves to tenderize it, making it more sought-after, so the wolves should get us a good price if we can dilute the venom in them. Otherwise, it will still be good. We’ll just need to find a cook good at getting the venom out. I do not want to be accused of selling bad meat.”

“It is just meat,” Malsour said.

“Yes, but that doesn’t matter to the person stuck on a toilet for two days because of a stomach bug! Uggh, Mexico.” Dave shuddered.

“What happened in Mexico?”

“I ate bad meat on the first day on holiday in the country. Was sick for three days. Even though it was a nice-looking country, I flew back home and spent the rest of my vacation playing video games. Could never look at a burrito the same way after that. Never went back either.”

For The Guild EMERILIA 3 HAS BEEN PUT UP ON AMAZON. Check it out here:http://amzn.to/2mycHCO