Jack still had the rest of the afternoon ahead of him and needed to make plans for where to sleep that night. He made his way back to Islar’s vegetable shop in the hope that she would let him guard her cellar again. Sleeping in the cellar was awful, but not only was the room free, he was paid for his trouble. The 2 coppers in his coin purse could definitely use some company.

“Hello Islar, are you still paying for any rat corpses I am able to find?” he asked, once he entered her shop.

“Why yes Jack, you did such a great job yesterday, I will let you continue, yes I will. I see you have proper clothes and a spear as well. Will you be needing the shovel today?”

“No Ma'am,” Jack smiled and made his way toward the cellar. He was excited to try out his new spear.

After hours of waiting, just before he had fallen asleep, he heard little footsteps pattering upon the hard packed dirt floor. Excited to test out his new spear in combat, he slowly got in position and readied himself, his hands raised above his head. Two rats appeared and scurried his way. As the first rat approached, he struck downward with all of his strength, aiming to pierce the rat from above.

*Thud*

Unfortunately, he not only missed his attack, but he managed to break off the tip of the spear as well. It was much harder to hit a small moving rat with a spear point than it was with a wide shovel. Before the rat could attack or run away, he brought his spear back and lunged forward, this time however with less power. He was able to hit the rat, yet he was not sure how much damage was done.

He was too busy to check the combat logs as he scampered backwards in a circle around the room. Again and again he jabbed forward with his spear as he retreated, until one of the rats finally dropped to the ground dead. With only a single rat left, he was easily able to make short work of the second.

He sank to his knees, breathing deeply to recover. Now that combat was over, he had time to check out the messages he had missed.

You have missed.

You have dealt 3 piercing damage to a Brown Rat.

You have dealt 2 piercing damage to a Brown Rat.

You have dealt 2 piercing damage to a Brown Rat.

You have dealt 3 piercing damage to a Brown Rat.

Brown rat has died.

You receive 20 experience.

You have learned the skill: Spears

You have dealt 3 piercing damage to a Brown Rat.

You have dealt 3 piercing damage to a Brown Rat.

You have dealt 3 piercing damage to a Brown Rat.

You have dealt 3 piercing damage to a Brown Rat.

Brown rat has died.

You receive 20 experience.

With 40 more experience gained from the fight, he now had 180 out of the 200 experience required to reach level 3. It seemed level 3 required twice the experience that level 2 did. If each level doubled the experience required and you could only gain experience by killing things, it was no wonder most people were low level in this village. The hunters and guards were probably the only people with any significant levels. Jack winced as he glanced at his damaged spear and inspected it.

Crudely Fashioned Wooden Spear

Damage 3

Durability 5/15

Strength required: 5

Not only was the durability much lower since it was now damaged, but the dull tip reduced the damage the spear could do as well. Luckily, he had carved the spear tip the first time, so he could carve it yet again. Unsheathing his trusty knife, he whittled shavings of wood off of the dull tip of his spear. Once he was happy with the tip, he once again inspected his work.

Crudely Fashioned Wooden Spear

Damage 4

Durability 14/14

Strength required: 5

It seemed the damage was restored, yet now the full durability was lower than before. There were only so many times you could repair the spear before it was a foot long and useless. The obvious advantage of a true spear was the metal point that would take much longer to dull and was much harder to break. Some tips even had barbed edges so when you pulled it out of your victim, it opened the wound further.

Unfortunately, the sale price for a spear like that was 6 silver, way out of his current price range. He would need to kill well over 20 rats in order to afford that spear, and he had already noticed the number of rats declining after his hunting spree. He definitely needed to hunt larger game, especially if he wanted to be the strongest contestant at the end of the month.

Jack had been so paranoid about missing his meetup with Hem, that after the 5th time waking up in the night, he had decided to just stay awake. He never saw any more rats the rest of the night, and when he left to go relieve himself, he ended up waking up Islar as well. She had been grumpy when woken early, but ended up paying him for the two rats and a copper extra for their disposal. Now 11 copper richer and with two new rats to skin and cook, Jack once again headed towards the gate in the dark.

As he approached the torchlit closed gate, he heard, “Halt! Identify yourself!” shouted a guard, while his partner readied his sword.

Slowly raising his hands, he said, “My name is Jack.”

“What business do you have here?”

“Uhh.. I just planned on heading out to the woods to cook a couple of rats.” he stammered.

“That's disgusting!” The guard sneered, while his partner’s posture relaxed and he sheathed his sword. “The gate is closed at night, come back at first light.”

“But... can you just open the gate real quick? Please?” Jack begged. The guards were obviously not interested in his problems and had zero interest in helping out a stranger. Let’s see if good ole bribery has any effect. “I’ll give you a copper for your trouble.” He mentally crossed his fingers and hoped he wasn’t making a mistake.

“A copper each, and you better not tell anyone.” the guard threatened.

Jack quickly handed over 2 of his 13 coppers and fled the gate into the darkness. As he slowly made his way through the field with only the light of the moon to light his journey, he seemed to find every hole and mound along the way. The darkness closed in on him, making him feel like he was being watched and hunted.

Far enough, he desperately thought as his paranoia overcame his prudence. His shaking hands searched through his pack for his flint and steel. Thank God I packed kindling in the box! The sudden light that appeared as sparks and alighted his kindling calmed his beating heart. I am so glad I slept in the cellar the last two nights, he thought as he added more branches to the now roaring fire. Now that he had enough light to work, it was time to get to work skinning and cooking.

First light came not long after he finished eating the nasty rat meat, so he hurried to put out the fire and pack away his things. Luckily, he had only left town an hour or two before dawn. Without his cell phone to tell him what time it was, he had to judge the time by the position of the sun, and at night, there was no sun.

When Jack arrived at the gate, he saw Hem but not the rest of the hunting party.

“You slept outside the gate?” Hem asked, surprised.

Jack glanced at the guard who was scowling at him. “Yeah…”, he said slowly. He didn’t want to lie, but he definitely was not about to go back on his word right in front of the guard who let him out.

“You are either very brave or very dumb.”

“Maybe both?” Jack added in a self-deprecating manner with a quick laugh.

Sighing, Hem added, “Well at least you are here on time, unlike Makir and Leb. Well, if you want to learn how to hunt properly, pay attention to what I say and keep your eyes and ears peeled. There are dangerous beasts outside these gates and worse.”

“Worse?” he asked, curious as to what could be more dangerous than a wolf or bear.

“Aye, there are orcs that scout through these woods. They leave groups alone, but if you are by yourself and they think they can safely take you out…”

As Hem let me stew on that thought, the silence was interrupted by the rest of the party that had arrived at the gate.

“Ok, now we can head out. I will lead and I want you in the rear Makir. Make sure the greenhorn doesn’t wander off and get himself spat by an orc. Jack, when we are in the woods, keep the talking to a minimum. If you need to say something or ask a question, whisper. I don’t want you scaring away the game. Remember everyone, keep your eyes and ears open.”

The group made its way slowly through the woods. Hem seemed to be searching for some sign of an animal’s crossing as he bent near the ground multiple times throughout the trek. He looked like a turtle with his massive shield strapped to his back and his green tinted leather jerkin. Although Hem had told us to be vigilant, Leb just followed blindly with his eyes on Hem's back.

Jack’s first hour through the woods was spent in constant anxiety. Every snapping branch, every weirdly shaped log was examined carefully. Eventually however, Jack’s vigilance began slipping as he saw and heard nothing throughout the morning. His nerves had been stressed for hours, and maintaining that level of hyper-awareness became too tiring.

Suddenly, Hem held up his hand in a fist for us to stop. Makir and Leb immediately adjusted their grip on their spears, so Jack followed suit. Hem slowly unstrapped his shield from his back and brought it to the ready. Excitement filled Jack again, invigorating his body. After searching for a few seconds he found what had alerted the group.

Tusker boar

Level 6

Health 90/90

The group slowly started approaching the boar. *Snap* Jack winced and paused as he heard the snapping of the branch beneath his feet. The boar looked up and snorted, now aware of the hunting party. Everything seemed to slow down as the boar began its charge straight at him. He stood frozen, unable to decide what to do. Suddenly his vision was blocked; Hem had quickly moved in front of Jack with his shield at the ready. A loud bang echoed through the forest as Hem was pushed backwards several feet. Hem quickly recovered his footing and braced himself again as Makir and Leb got into the flank position of the boar. The boar quickly shook off the collision and charged again. After the collision, it was stunned and two spears stabbed into it from behind. Loud squealing filled his ears as the boar cried in pain.

Shaking off his panic, Jack readied his spear to help. The boar had turned around to face the new threat from behind and Makir and Leb were slowly backing away. Putting all his strength into a lunge, he slammed his spear into the flank of the boar. More squealing filled his ears as the boar quickly turned and immediately gored his shin. Unlike the experienced Makir and Leb, he hadn’t backed away after the lunge and left himself in range to be counter-attacked.

Immense pain filled his leg as he fell on his ass and dropped his spear. He grabbed his throbbing leg to try and relieve the pain. Even though he wasn’t out of danger, none of his attention was on the boar. All he could think about was how much his leg hurt.

Before he knew it, the forest was silent, no squeals of pain or grunting of hunters filled his ears. A new popup distracted him from his pain as he was now out of combat.

Critical Hit! You have dealt 10 damage to Tusker boar.

Tusker boar has gored you for 15 damage.

Tusker boar has died

You receive 80 experience.

You have gained a level!

You receive a free attribute point to place.

Jack was excited that he had gained a level, but he was also confused. The boar was much higher level and much more difficult than the rats, yet only gave 80 experience. Figuring there was no need for quiet now that the battle was over, Jack asked Hem about it.

“Why did I only get 80 experience for the boar?”

“Much like our share of profits, the experience is divided up between the four of us. You only got a quarter of the experience the boar was worth.”

Quickly judging Jack’s mood, Hem added, “Don’t be so disappointed, I know you want to gain levels quickly, but it is too dangerous to hunt by yourself. Even at my level, I bring others with me. All it takes is one mistake or a second or third wild animal to end your life. Trust me, you will be high level eventually, in a few years, you might even be level 10!”

At that moment, Jack knew he was going to die. If it wasn’t a wild animal or an orc that took him out, it would be Elantar at the end of the month. His body started shaking uncontrollably as he felt a weight on his chest. It was getting hard to breath, and he could only get quick shallow breaths of air as it suddenly was getting very hot. Drips of sweat were sliding down his face, salt irritating his eyes.

“Calm down Jack, the fight is over.” he heard from far away. “Slow your breathing, take deep slow breaths. That’s right, slow and steady.”

He didn't know how long he lain there focusing on his breathing, but when he eventually calmed down, he realized Hem was kneeling next to him with a hand on his shoulder. He decided to focus on the here and now, and not what may happen in the future. Glancing around, he saw that the others had been busy trussing up the boar with ropes for ease of carrying.

“I am all right.” Jack said as he got to his feet. He dusted off his clothes and grabbed his bloody spear from the ground.

“Great!” Hem said and clapped Jack on the back. “That was great work everyone, no one was seriously injured and I hope Jack learned a few valuable lessons here today.”

Once he heard the words seriously injured, he realized he had forgotten all about his shin. Of course, now that he focused on his wound he could feel the pain again, but it was a dull pain, not the throbbing heat from before. He quickly checked his status and saw that he was almost full health. How long was I panicking for? He must have been on the ground for longer than he thought if he was mostly healed already.

The group turned back and made their way towards town. The heavy weight of the boar was split between Jack and Leb while Hem guided them and Makir watched their backs. During the trip back, Jack began peppering Heb with questions about hunting, about stats, and strategies they used to hunt.

He quickly became disappointed in the answers he heard. It seemed they had been using the zerg approach to overwhelm everything with numbers. The term “zerg” referred to a video game called starcraft. In this game, the race produced large amounts of weaker enemies. The popular strategy for this race had been to send large waves of weaker creatures to overwhelm the enemy. The strategy of this group seemed to be about the same. Hem’s shield would block any charge from an animal, or arrow from an orc, and the others would just stab their prey to death. This may have been effective and safe, but there was a reason Hem was only level 12, even though he looked to be in his 40s. By using a larger group that splits the experience four ways, they leveled up four times slower than they could on their own. This also reduced the need for a complex strategy as everything was made easier when you added more hunters.

Jack quickly checked the other’s levels and sure enough, Leb was level 5 and Makir was level 6. They both seemed to be just a few years older than Jack and they had probably started hunting at a much younger age. According to Hem, they did not even hunt every day, they hunted every other. They spent their off days drinking ale in the tavern and relaxing with friends and family. No wonder they are so low level after all this time.

To make matters worse, Jack found out that you gained half the experience for creatures two levels beneath you, and none at all for creatures five levels beneath you. Hem may have taken a quarter of the experience away from the others for participating in the kill, but he didn’t receive any himself. He is level 12 and the boar was only level 6, a full level beneath the requirement for him to receive the benefit of half experience.

They had a similar approach to placing their free stat points gained upon leveling. Most of their points went into vitality to increase their health. This made mistakes less disastrous and raised the chance of a safe return, but their damage and avoidance remained low. Because of their lower damage and speed, they actually needed more people in order to quickly kill any creatures. It was a self-reinforcing cycle that limited their future growth.

While their armor and weapons were better than Jack’s, they did not use the best available. They seemed to spend most of their money on ale instead of saving and investing in better equipment. Jack was not going to criticize their decisions however, if they are happy with their life, who was he to judge them. Following all of Hem’s advice would lead to a long, safe and possibly happy life for most people, but not for him. He didn’t have years to slowly and safely gain levels, he had less than a month.

Jack spent the rest of the long return trip back to the village deep in thought. Something needed to change. He had been focused on saving money and finding safe ways to level up, but if he continued, he would lose and then die. He had a second chance at life, he was not going to waste it. It was his third day here on this world and he just now became level 3. I wish I could see what level the other contestants were. Without knowing how they were fairing, he had to assume it was better than him.

I need to take more risks, no more playing it safe!