Chapter 5

Groaning I mummled, “god damn it, I hate this place that’s twice in one day”. Cracking my eyes open, I felt as if my chest was caved in, well it was but I was on the mend. Looking in front of me I saw the hulking mass of the mountain troll. Its tormented body skewered from head to ass, legs bent to the floor under the mass of rock pinning the troll to the ground. Arms hanging lifelessly at its sides he looked down and saw its massive hand, the hand that was just about to end my life. I then thought to Wick. That annoying, short pants wearing imp. Who saved my live, at the cost of his own. In less than a day I came to rely on that little guy. Hated to admit it but I really missed Wick. Wick was smug and a bit of a dick, but he helped me in so many ways; including sacrificing himself. Knowing full well without him I would have been killed multiple times over by now. Forcing back a tear, I pushed my feelings back down. Trying to sit up but with every rib broken in multiple places, the pain was a good reminder that I should really check all of the notifications that I had. Resting my head back down I started to open them up.

You have killed a Hobgoblin Shaman!

330 Exp (doubled to 660) + 56 Exp (17 lvls higher)

Congratulations! You have reached Lvl 6! You have 5 points to allocate

491/3200 Exp till next lvl

Congratulations! For killing Hobgoblin Shaman Z'gut Orccutta

You receive all of Z’gut Orccutta’s System owned items:

You have received 23 slaves!

You have received Kham Faldihr city core!

Congratulations! For owning a slave the “Slavers Path” is open to you!

Congratulations! For owning more than 20 slaves, the “Slave Master Path” is open to you!

Your Soul Companion Wick has died!

Respawn in 24 hours

Congratulations! Really like to embrace the “no pain, no gain” attitude,

+1 Constitution

Viara, goddess of Battle; takes notice of a man willing to fight insurmountable odds. Receive Title : Battle Forged.

Title – Battle Forged – (Godly)

It takes a certain someone special to fight insurmountable odds. Willing to push their bodies beyond their limits in doing so. You have been granted the scalable skill Pain Resistance level 1.

You have discovered the Pain Resistance. Lvl 1.

Willing to take a beating and keep on ticking. Who says it’s crazy to take this kind of abuse…everyone!

Reduce pain by 1% per level up to maxumim lvl 80.

Pyktris, goddess of Death; is intrigued by someone who is willing to bring themselves within a few points of death multiple times in a day

Receive : Death Dancer

Title – Death Dancer – (Godly)

Magic is one of the bedrocks of life on Raylia. Learning from a master can unlock a school of magic. Learning from a goddess you unlock two:

Death Magic and Dark Magic.

You have killed a Mountain Troll!

1800 Exp (doubled to 3600) + 2124 (118 lvl’s higher)

Congratulations! You have reached Lvl 7! You have 10 points to allocate

2959/6400 Exp till next lvl

Congratulations! For killing something over 100 levels higher than you, “The Indomitable Path” is open to you!

Congratulations! Who can make a million to one shot, You can!! Now that’s a shish kebab! +1 Luck

“SLAVES! WHAT SLAVES?! I DON’T WANT TO OWN SLAVES! Trying to stay calm, I took a breath and thought I’d check my stats and see if I can figure out how long I’d been out.

NAME: Thoren Parker

LEVEL: 7

AGE: 22

RACE: Human (Earth End Prot)

EXP: 2959/6400

LANGUAGES: All System Sentient

SOUL COMPANION: Chadwick (Wick)

LIVES: ???? (Bonus Life(s) for EP)

Magics: Death; Dark

TITLES

Lucky Bastard: grants you an additional 100 points in Luck.

Battle Forged: Grants skill Pain Resistance

Death Dance: Unlocks Death and Dark Magic

STATS

HEALTH: 89/260

MANA: 85/194

STAMINA: 252/252

H REGEN: 11/HOUR

M REGEN: 11/HOUR

S REGEN: 10.05/MINUTE

ATTRIBUTES

STRENGTH: 28

AGILITY: 20

DEXTERITY: 19

CONSTITUTION: 31

ENDURANCE: 29

INTELLIGENCE: 32

WISDOM: 32

CHARISMA:16

LUCK: 111

RESISTANCES

Fire: 5%

Pain: 1%

SKILLS

Firestarter. Lvl 1.

Physical Fitness. Lvl 2.

Heavy Blow. Lvl 1.

Camping. Lvl 1.

Dodge. Lvl 1.

Iron Skin. Lvl 3.

Herbalism. Lvl 7.

Fire Resistance. Lvl 1.

Meditation. Lvl 4.

Running. Lvl 1.

Inspect. Lvl 2.

Sneak. Lvl 2.

Planning. Lvl 7.

Mana Bolt. Lvl 1.

Craftsmanship. Lvl 1.

ABILITIES

Gift of Tongues: Due to having a Soul Companion all sentient spoken language known. Written language only in Common and Infernal. Due to vast spoken knowledge written learned 75% faster.

Limitless Potential: Being born human your lives are fleeting. All skills level 50% faster

+1% experience per level a defeated mob has over you.

PATHS OPEN

Support Path 0/10; Risk Taker Path 0/15; Dauntless Path 0/50; Lucky Bastard Path 0/50; Path of the Cunning 0/20; Slavers Path 0/5; Slave Master Path 0/25; The Indomitable Path 0/50

PATHS COMPLETED

Newbie Path 7/7; Defense Path 10/10; Risk Taker Path 15/15

DESTINY PATH POINTS AVAILABLE: 3

Absolutely shocked by the streaming blue screens, I just tried to digest everything that I was reading. Really need to ask Wick about the gods thing. After spending the free stat points, I could feel a bit of the edge fall off with the increases. Now let’s figure out how long I’ve been out. I wiped out my mana before passing out, and before adding the new points I was regenerating 10.25 per hour so, and with the added 14 points from the new stats works out to being just about 7 hours. I still need to wait another seventeen hours for Wick to come back. Crap I really need his help figuring this out. With a bit more of a clear mind I started thinking about the slaves again. They must be what’s in the cages we saw, don’t really think I should keep them in the cages until Wick gets back, should just set them free and be done with it. With a bit more conviction I decided to get my ass in gear, figured I should get up and free my slaves.

Trying to roll over onto my side I see a glowing dark blue orb about the size of an ostrich egg laying next to me. Feeling my ribs grind a bit with the motion, I figure, hey I should really take a closer look at this, should never just leave glowing blue egg looking thing laying around. Reaching over I pick it up and start to look and the swirling energies floating inside being drawn into the swirling lights..

Kham Faldihr city core

The lost KhorDuuarven city of Kham Faldihr is currently being intrigrated into The System. Full integration in 29 hours.

Do you wish to claim Kham Faldihr?

YES/NO

Claims completed in 24 hours.

Damn it! Really could use Wick on this! Have no idea what claiming a city means. Taking a little look around at the rubble a bit of dejection in the idea of what the city would be worth. Remembering the statues at the end of the road however brought back the greed of owning such an amazing place with masterful works of art. I quickly accepted.

Congratulations on owning Kham Faldihr!

For being the first of your kind to own a city you receive one building!

Bonus delayed until city restored.

Claim completion 24 hours.

1000 Exp (doubled to 2000)

4959/6400 Exp till next lvl

“Hahahaha, yesterday I could barely pay to keep my dorm room and now I own a city!” laughing out loud to myself. Coughing and clutching my chest, cursing to myself. Ok chuckles heal up first before you decide to go all manic. Getting myself on my hands and knees I spit out a bit of blood then slowly pushed myself back up onto my feet.

Standing up I looked at what was around me. The fires had burned down to glowing coals. The cavern lit by the soft light of the moss gave a bit of an oppressing feel. Slowly shuffling, tripping over scattered stones, I made my way back to the fires. Ok, need to get these fires going first. Not being able to see will be a bit of a health hazard trying to get to the slaves. More likely going to kill myself falling over the debris than actually achieving anything. Would be pretty sad to survive all this then to keel over due to whacking my head on a stone after tripping. Searching around the fire pits I spotted scattered piles of wood. Slowly dragging some wood over I placed some smaller pieces in the coals first. Blowing on the coals as much as he could without causing a coughing fit, the small pieces caught, small merry flames dancing of their surfaces.

Skill Firestarter. Lvl 2. reached

Smiling, I slowly started to grab larger pieces of wood building the flames back up. After the fire was cheerily burning I grabbed a few lit pieces and started to build up the other three fires. The bright flames pushing back some of the darkness.

Skill Firestarter. Lvl 3. reached

Well guess it’s time to introduce myself. I started to shuffle toward the cages.

Three crude iron cages stood about thirty meters from the fires. Each cage seemed to be made up of more rust (practically begging to give someone tetanus) than iron but still held strong. On the front of each cage sat a large poorly made yet secure lock. Looking into the cages I see twenty-three sets of warry eyes looking back at me. Looking from cage to cage, everyone was covered in dirt and grime, wearing threadbare clothes with most showing signs of malnourishment. Bit of a shock seeing all the different races mixed together; humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes, even a kobold and a goblin. Raising his hand he did a little awkward wave and said “Hi.. I’m Thoren, if anyone knows where the keys are I’ll get you all out.”

An older dwarf in the back slowly got to his feet and trudged his way to the front of the cage. No more than five feet tall, and just about the same wide. The dwarf was a picture of a working life. A long red braided beard streaked with gray hung low. His worn simple clothes hung off a body that seemed to be used to long hard work. Never taking his eyes off me he asked in a suspicious tone, “Whit ya gaunnae do wit us lad?”

Standing there a bit awkwardly, I reached back and nervously scratched at my head, “Ummm, well thought I’d get you out of the cages and then I don’t know, set you free? I have no idea where we are or how to get you back to where you come from.”

Looking me over for any sign of deception, the dwarf stared at me for a few moments before he started. “Noo jist haud on, are ye a bit o’ touched in da heid? Da troll musta knock’d ye silly. We be System slave’s lad, there aint be naw freein’ us”.

Plopping down on my ass, I was utterly gobsmacked. Lowering my head into my hands I just muttered, “just where the hell am I? I’m a college kid not some slave owner…”

Seeing the true raw emotion in front of him the dwarfs tone changed, “Dunna fret ‘bout it. Da imp wit ya? He be able ta splain better. Da key was wit da shaman, check da clothes.”

Nodding my head, I carefully got back up and shuffled to the shaman’s corpse. Not having searched for loot in the dead hobgoblins, I thought about getting the people free before I went looking for loot. Finding the keys I just left everything else right were it was. Keys in hand I went to free my new slaves.

Going from cage to cage I unlocked each one. Dropping the locks on the floor and hauling the rusty doors open the best that I could. With slight nods back and forth twenty-two of my new acquaintances made their way to the fires to warm up a bit. The last to leave was a woman who had been sitting cross legged in the back with her head down. With an easy grace she stood up and brushed her silvery hair behind her pointed ears. Looking at her my heart just froze in my chest. Before me stood the most stunning woman I had ever seen in my life. Every model and actress back on Earth just paled in comparison. In those moments I tried to commit to memory every feature of hers that I could. The deep blue silvery eyes, the small slightly freckled nose, a delicate mouth that I just wished I could make smile. The soft angular features of her cheeks and chin. Most of all I couldn’t stop looking into those eyes. A deep intelligence with a mix of curiosity, wariness, steadfastness and tiny bit of gratitude bore back into my eyes. As I stared I got a notification.

Kali Quimoira

Lvl 27 Celestial Elf

Slave/Druid

With sure fluid motion she practically glided to me. Taking a moment before speaking she said, “Thank you for freeing us…” With a look like she wanted to say more she turned and walked over to the others and sat beside one of the fires.

Looking over at the fires I could only think, damn it Wick I need you, sixteen more hours till you get back…