Three days later, the grin had long since faded from my face. Sweat poured down my head as I crouched down with my back towards the tree. A long gash on my arm bled profusely, and bruises covered my now well-muscled upper body. Counting silently in my head, I hoped I would get time to open my status this time.

My ears were perked as I listened for the padding feet of my hunter. A growl sounded from the bushes to my left, and I snapped my attention to it. Shit, it was here already?

Two orange eyes stared at me from the dark brown bush. They glowed from the inside and moved closer. A stubby grey snout pushed through the bushes, followed by a muscled grey-haired body.

I straightened up, sucking in deep breaths. Ten seconds left before I could open the status and regain my lost stamina and the bonus from the increase in muscle mass I'd gained. Far too long, it could have been a year.

With a snarl, the enormous Wirg charged me.

"Fuck, you stupid mutt! Why don't you go and hunt a rabbit?" I yelled as I jumped to the side, barely out of the way of its sharp claws and fangs. Landing on my side, I scrambled up, keeping my eyes on my attacker.

The Wirg, if it even still qualified, was already turning to me, thick saliva dripping from its mouth. Its dark red tongue hung out of its mouth for a moment. Then it slipped back in its mouth as its teeth snapped together. Its lips wrinkled up as it growled at me.

Raising my ax, I looked at its left leg. A deep slash went from the tip almost to the ankle. It was the only attack I'd manage to get in. If I could hit the same spot again, I might be able to cripple the thing.

The Wirg rushed forward again, and this time I jumped forward, legs stretched out sliding below it. The ax was above me, the blade up. I'd hoped to slice the thing's stomach, but it bit in the ax blade, ripping it aside. Feeling all of my arms strain, I was glad I had four instead of two. The Wirg's teeth squeaked as they slid along the ax blade, leaving scratch marks in the dented metal.

My heart rate accelerated as the Wirg landed just behind me, and I swirled the ax around in one of the motions I had practiced over the last few days. The ax blade's tip grazed it's flank as it dodged back, leaving a long, shallow cut.

Not enough, I knew. I needed to keep on the offense. Its jump attacks were too dangerous! Rolling forward, on my knees, I struck out with the ax, holding it only in my right hands and stretching my arms as long as they could. The Wirg yelped from the suddenly extended reach and tried to jump back. It succeeded, but its hind legs buckled. Jumping forward, my left hand slammed into the ax, stopping its momentum and turning it to the other side. The blade sliced into the Wirg's muzzle, through an eye, and cut off one of its ears.

Yelping, it scrambled back, its tail between its legs.

I jumped after it, angry and desperate. I couldn't let it get away again to ambush me from the dark! I leaped, stretching my arm, holding the ax with only my right top hand as I slung at it's running form. The ax bit down into its leg just as it jumped forward, slicing its tendons. The Wirg howled in pain, fear, and anger as it rolled on the ground, trying to get away.

Ignoring it, I began attacking it as fast I could, slicing from left to right, unconsciously falling into some of the patterns I had taught myself. Bloody gashes opened on its flank and back, and then the ax bit down in its neck with a solid thud. The Wirg shuddered and sank to the ground dragging me a little forward. Holding on to the ax, I yanked it free and slammed it down between the Wirg's eyes. The skull cracked, the ax splitting it wide.

I let it go and fell back on my ass, my breathing laborious and spots flicking across my vision.

When my breathing finally became normal again, I struggled up and grabbed my ax. With some effort, I ripped it free. I couldn't stay here. The racket we made was sure to attract whatever else nasty things this forest housed. Looking at the carcass, the hide marred by dozens of long deep cuts, I sighed. That probably wouldn't make for a nice jacket.

Holding the ax in my left hand, I summoned my status. Three bars filled and emptied, and I felt most of my energy return. The wounds were still there, though, and my hitpoint bar was yellow and less than half-filled. Looking at my avatar in the middle of the screen, I grinned. Although I wasn't some superhero, I sure as hell was more muscular than I had ever been in real life.

> Derived Strength: 8

> Derived Dexterity: 10

> Derived Constitution: 7

> Derived Intelligence: 4

> Derived Common sense: 1

> Derived Charisma 1

> Total mass: 70 KG

> Current weight: 70 KG

Active attributes: (Easily changed)

> 16/23: Muscle mass

> 03/80: Fat

> 15/25: Coordination

> 14/20: Stamina

> 03/20: Learning rate

> 71/199: Knowledge

> 02/20: Beauty

> 00/99: Grooming

> 02/40: Well spoken

Skills (Learned)

> 1/4

> Ax master 3/10

My muscle mass was increasing nicely, and I had finally figured out why my dexterity seemed to go up faster than my strength. For every five muscle mass, I got one dexterity. I was most proud of my Ax mastery, though. It had increased to three, and I knew I was better with it now than I had ever been with a quarterstaff or knife.

Feeling mostly refresh, I grabbed the Wirg by the back of its neck and hoisted it on my shoulders. I had seen images of rangers carrying deer like this, but as my legs almost buckled under the weight, I wondered if I would even make it halfway.

A rotten smell came from my right, and turning my head slowly, I stared into the gaping maw of the Wirg. Brain matter dripped from the open skull, and I saw strings of meat in the back of its mouth.

I quickly turned my head back, closing my eyes, and taking a few deep breaths. When my stomach stopped protesting, I began walking forward. I had never been this deep in the forest yet, but the thing had chased me for a long time.

When I had tracked my way back to more familiar territory, the light filtering through the occasional gap in the canopy was reddish. Agga would kill me, or worse. Make me go to bed without food. Groaning at the prospect, I continued forward.

Hours later, the woods so dark I could barely see a thing, mostly moving on gut feeling when I heard a soft scream in the distance. Continuing, I soon heard more yelling, and the smell of smoke drifted on the chilly wind.

When I had reached the last trek of the woods, battle sounds, screaming, and roaring came from the direction of Sart. In the distance, I saw flickering orange light move around. Torches?

Someone was attacking Sart. Either that or they were having one hell of a party. I quickly hid the Wirg body inside a few bushes and stretched my sore muscles. Should I go and see what was going on? My strength was almost good enough to make my way to Geliron and the Paladin castle that was supposed to be there.

I knew I had to go and find Sandra, warn her about what was going on, warn all the other players, but… The image of Agga, alone, bone-tired and sad, played through my head. Sighing, I tried telling myself I'd only just met her; there were more important things to take care of. It didn't matter what my heart told me.

Fine. A quick look would be ok. If it was too dangerous, I'd turn around and leave. Flexing my arms a bit, I gathered my courage and snuck towards Sart.

The further I got, the louder and more chaotic the sounds became. Standing behind a tree, I snuck a peek around.

The small open area in front of the east gate was swarming with humanoid creatures. Archers atop the walls were shooting arrows at them, but they moved so fast, and chaotic many just struck the ground. They had mottled yellow skin and sharp pointy ears and screamed as they threw burning branches against and atop the wall. Most only wore ragged pieces of hiding stitched together and wielded crude spears and bows.

At first, I thought they were Goblins, but they didn't fit completely. If they resembled the games I'd played, they would be smaller. These things were roughly my size and seemed even less intelligent than I expected of Goblins to be. Not a single one was shooting back at the archers, and although the wall was smoldering, they would probably all be dead before it even started properly burning.

There stood three different ones behind the others, roaring them on in a guttural, unfamiliar language. They were a head taller than the others and wore a rough assortment of armor that left their arms free. Their dull yellow skin, darker than the others, was splattered with blood.

Even while most arrows missed, lucky shots had taken down some of the creatures. They lay groaning on the ground, ignored by the others.

Looking along the sides of the wall, I saw more of the creatures in the distance, and from what I could hear, they were also attacking the other sides of Sart.

The gate was closed, the wall too high for me to scale, that left only one option. Wait.

Wondering how this would end, I kept my attention on my surroundings so I wouldn't be backstabbed by more of the things.

Half an hour later, a loud horn sounded from the other side of Sart, and the creatures began cheering and running along the wall towards the other side. On the walls, the archers were running after them, pelting them with arrows, still hitting less than one in every ten shots.

Staring after them, I wondered if the wall on the other side had been breached. I hoped not. Waiting for a bit longer, I examined the few dozen groaning shapes on the ground. Most were on hands and knees, crawling after their kin.

As the grip on my ax-handle tightened, a nasty grin came to my face. Taking one last look, I saw the last archer on the wall, scanning the treeline. I stepped forward, holding my ax up.

"Ho, it's me, Est!" I shouted. The archer blanched, it's bow pointed at me until it saw my four arms and ax. Then it lowered the bow and bent over the wall.

"I can't open the gate. The other side is having trouble! You need to hide and wait until dawn. The Fin'r Goblins will leave as soon as the sun rises!!"

So they were Goblins after all? Hearing I couldn't get inside sucked, but it was to be expected. Moving to the nearest Goblin on the ground, I saw it had its eyes closed and an arrow stuck below his collarbone. A human would probably have died by now, I thought. Staring at the thing, I raised my ax and hesitated. It couldn't resist, and I'd never killed anything except in a fight for my life. Back when I knew it was a game, I wouldn't have hesitated… but now?

A loud, piercing scream from the main gate made me flinch. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and slammed the ax down in the Goblin's chest. The sickly crunch of shattering bone mixed with a soft ping from my status and made me nauseous. Opening my eyes, I saw blood pooling around the ax blade, which didn't help.

"Hurry! They will heal and join the others if you don't!"

I blinked as I looked at the archer. He was looking at me with large eyes.

"They would do the same to you, and worse!"

Nodding, I moved to the next body. Without giving myself time to think, I struck it's neck with the ax. Another ping and I moved to the third. Minutes later, I was slightly out of breath, but all of the Goblins had stopped breathing.

"Hurry, hide now! When it's morning, come to this gate. I'll stay here and let you in!"

"Alright!" I yelled before rushing back into the pitch dark forest. I hid inside a dense bush, a few minutes from the wall.

The image of the Goblins I'd dispatched played through my head, and trying to shove the images away, I summoned my status.

> You've murdered your first humanoid

> You've killed a defenseless creature

> You've stopped a potential killer from wreaking havoc

> You hesitated

> Your emotions are in turmoil, and you feel guilt

> You did what you thought was right, to protect those you love

> All these things combined have unlocked a title!

> Titles unlocked

> If you use the title to identify yourself to others, they might use it

> If others use a title to describe you, you can gain Karma

> Title gained

> 'Guardian at all cost.'

> Karma unlocked

> -1000/1000

> Current Karma: 1

> Karma gives special, random bonuses at set intervals

Looking at the lines at the bottom of my status window, I shook my head. This world was strange. No matter what you did, everything seemed to have a potential consequence. What actions could I do that might get me a title, and were all titles beneficial? Seeing the possible negative value, I presumed they weren't.

Holding my ax, ready for anything, I prepared for a long wait.