Name:

Zareb Sindile

Age:

???

Titles:

Master of One’s Soul

Fame:

---

Level:

5

Class:

---

Health:

50/50

Health Regen:

0.05/s

Mana:

100

Mana Regen:

.01/s

Stamina:

20/100

Stamina Regen:

0.1/s

Strength:

16

Intelligence:

30

Vitality:

5

Wisdom:

28

Agility:

15

Charisma:

5

Dexterity:

15

Luck:

16

Soul Force:

MAX

Soul Resilience:

MAX

It has been one month since I woke up in this world. After my first major battle and assassination attempt, I spent the remainder of my time in the former bandit camp studying every book and exploring every nook and cranny.

It was a good thing I did, as well. I found a lot more items that were cached away, buried or hidden in obscure locations. Among them were what seemed to be personal items, including jewelry, journals, armor, small weapons, and even a handful of cores. Those I [Identified] and absorbed immediately, though they did not increase my level as I hoped they would. I figured the Inventory Core was a special case, giving me a large amount of experience coupled with the knowledge on cores I picked up beforehand. In any case, I did not gain another level in the past four weeks, which only mildly bothered me.

Still, I had great expectations for my next level up. Assuming my theory of how the Attribute Cores work is correct, when I next gain a level I should see a significant increase in my agility and vitality stats. Over the last few weeks I did everything I could to train my new body; sprints, jogs, push-ups, every exercise I could think of to make my body healthier and faster. Sure, a lot of those exercises are meant more to raise muscle strength, but a strong body is also a healthy one, so even while I gain strength points on my next level I should see an even greater gain in vitality points. I also made sure to eat three full meals each day, although I was a bit uncertain about some of the fruits and vegetables I found in the bandit stores. Most of their stored food looked similar to what I had come across in other worlds, and thankfully they felt and tasted similar too, but others were just bizarre. I mean, why on earth - or whatever this planet was called in this iteration - would there be a fruit in the shape of a pair of testicles? I’m just glad they were bright green or else I would have had the worst impression of the deceased bandits.

Okay, I already had a bad impression, but the color made it a little better! And no, I am not being racist towards fruits!

Other than my body training, I discovered a few neat things about my abilities in this world. Namely, that I had them.

And I could create them.

A sudden crackle in the bonfire I was sitting by caused me to snap out of my reminiscing. This was the last night I would spend in the ghost camp, as the easy access food was running too low. I figured that it was time to end my seclusion and begin my exploration of the outside world. I had only meant to practice creating a fire out of dry wood and kindling for the last time before heading off to sleep, as I couldn’t rely on any elemental magic as yet; but somehow I found myself reflecting on all that I have learned and gained since waking up. Even after all these years, the mind still mystifies me in how it could get so caught up in something.

I opened up my inventory one more time to check all that I would be carrying with me. A transparent blue screen, similar to my status screen, displayed itself before me, showing a 10x10 grid. A hundred slots for items, and it seems that similar items could stack, though to what maximum number I have not learned yet. Most of my slots are empty, since I wanted to be efficient in what I stored, and some of the items had stacked anyways; but the remainder was quite a haul.

I had several bedrolls made of some sort of plant fibers, they were quite comfortable to sleep on actually. At least they were better than other things I have slept on. I also carried several dozen empty bottles of the same material I found when I first started exploring the camp. Some of them held water inside while the rest were empty, so I had no clue if these were specifically water bottles or if they were intended for any liquid. I’d find out later. There were a few stacks of weapons and clothes, which did not seem to count as armor, so I got nothing by Identifying them aside from the names. The remainder of the preserved food went in as well, and I hoped that the subspace properties of my inventory would keep them preserved as indefinitely as I needed. Another thing to find out later.

After checking on the hygiene products (I was surprised to discover toothbrushes, but couldn’t figure out what they used for toothpaste, so I just used a minty sap that I found that hopefully wasn’t intended for anything...else), I closed the inventory screen and opened the map screen. One of the cores I absorbed over the month turned out to be a General Map Core, the name of which lead me to believe there were other types of map cores to be found. This core allowed me to see a hovering image of any map I had previously seen, but I determined through constant study that I needed to have registered every line and point on a map before it would be rendered by the core. If I just glance at a map, the core would only show what my mind registered in that glance. It was not much of a drawback to me, as I prefer to study everything in great detail regardless.

The map screen showed me the six mountains again, but this time with a name. The bandit camp was situated in the middle of the Hidden Claw Peaks, which makes an interesting sort of sense - the three smaller mountains were hidden within the three larger mountains, making it look almost like a hidden claw. I looked over the path that would lead me out of the mountain range and onto what seemed to be a main road between two major cities. The closer one was marked on the map as the city of Rasenbur, and I decided to make that my destination.

It was time to leave this desolate place and see what the rest of the world was like.

I pulled out a bedroll, placed it a comfortable distance from the fire, and set myself down to sleep under the clear night sky.

***

“AAAHH! SOMEONE HELP ME!”

I glanced over to my side as a woman continued screaming, backing away from several creatures. The looked like wolves, except they had feathers instead of fur and a wide, flat tail reminiscent of a bird’s. They had beaks as well, but they were shaped in such a way that when opened, very sharp looking teeth were revealed. Overall, I thought they were some strange mix between a wolf and a bird of nightmares. On each of their foreheads appeared a spherical stone, which I assumed to be Cores, similar to what the slimes possessed.

Honestly, I didn’t care for the situation. It was the third day since I left Hidden Claw Peaks and I had only made it to the main road yesterday. The General Map Core wasn’t so good at helping me with distances and their relation to time, so I had no way to tell how long it would take me to reach Rasenbur. It seems I would take longer than I thought.

And helping this random woman who just so happens to need help as I came along would only delay me more.

She looked to be older than me, but not by much. With short, tree-brown hair and a dark olive complexion, she looked like yet another possible beauty that could be willing to kill me for whatever reason. No thanks, I would rather get to an actual populated area first before dealing with more crazies.

I kept walking, ignoring her cries and the growling screeches of the Harpy Wolves, as my Identify skill informed me (don’t ask me how they managed to make that combination of sound). They were a few meters off the main road anyways, so I had no reason to go out of my way.

Once I passed by, when I reached what I estimated was halfway out of the range at which her shouts would reach me, I heard her go silent along with the wolves. Curious, I stopped for a moment, wondering what happened -

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Huh. Wonder what that was about...Meh.

I shrugged and continued walking without bothering to turn around. Really, I would have investigated, but I wanted to find a stable place to hole up and venture forth from, or else I would get too sidetracked and make more mistakes.

Before I got too far, I heard some footsteps quickly approaching me from behind. Going by the pace and sound, it wasn’t any of the wolves, so it must have been the woman. I was proven correct as she grabbed my shoulder and spun me around before I could do it of my own free will.

I hate when people do that.

“What’s the matter with you?! Why didn’t you help a woman in distress?!” She demanded of me.

“You looked like you had it covered,” I replied with a blank face.

Looking at her up close, I could see that she was indeed cute, though I wouldn’t personally rank her as ‘beautiful’ until I got to know her better. Her eyes were a deep green, which, combined with her hair, made her seem like a part of the forest that surrounded us on either side of the road. She could probably blend into the trees very well with just the right casual clothing.

She gave me a disdainful look. “Seriously? I’m surrounded by four Harpy Wolves and screaming for help and you thought that I was okay?”

I shrugged once more, with her actually being able to see it this time of course. “You are alive and talking to me, are you not? That means you are okay. Is that all you wanted to harass me about though? You rudely interrupted my journey without even a proper greeting and scolded me even though I had no obligation to help you, a total stranger.” I didn’t need to be a prick, but I was kind of annoyed by her presumptuous attitude. Of course, I could be in a world where men were expected to defend women no matter the circumstances, but those were the iterations that I hated the most. I was far more of a proponent of equality.

The woman looked at me strangely for a while, then sighed as if there was no point in arguing with me. Remembering the bandit daughter that did something similar a month ago, I tensed slightly, not enough to be noticed visibly, but enough that I could respond quickly if needed. She looked away for a moment, then looked me back in the eye and said, “You’re right. I shouldn’t have expected someone I did not know to risk his life to save mine. And I guess I did harass you for a misguided reason.”

She offered her hand to me. I guess handshakes are a thing in this world? That makes my transition a little easier. “My name is Lilia, by the way. Think of this as a small apology for harassing you.”

Well, I guess I could accept it like the gentleman I am. “I am called Zareb. Your apology is accepted.” I gripped her hand and gave it a firm pump.

Lilia smiled and returned my grip. “Paralysis Touch!” She cried out. My body went numb and I lost control over all of my limbs. Every muscle and joint locked up. My balance was destroyed and I found my body tipping over. Lilia pushed me gently so that I would land on my side. The fall didn’t hurt, as the paralysis seemed to have blocked my pain receptors as well. Thankfully i could still take some shallow breaths, but that seemed to be the full extent of my movement.

Really, though? What is wrong with the women here?