“So, huntsman, what have you to say for yourself?”

If the situation wasn’t so serious, Fen would have laughed. His back was up against a tree, with Ser Rovik looming over him and pressing his buckler against his chest to pin him in place. At least that’s what it looked like, because Ser Rovik’s physical force was laughably weak. As he had presumed before, the knight’s build was so defense-oriented that he had only his natural strength to press against him, which in this system-governed world was pitiful. Fen hardly even felt the Buckler against his chest; the only thing keeping him in place was that he was pressing himself against the tree. He could have pushed Ser Rovik off of him easily.

Of course, he did not do that because defending himself now would just have made his situation worse than it already was. Right now he had to de-escalate. So he raised his hands with his open palms facing forward, and spoke: “I am not certain what has happened, Ser Rovik, but it is not what you believe. I did not steal your kill.”

Ser Rovik looked calm at first glance, but Fen could see the seething rage in his eyes and his nostrils flaring as he took a deep breath. “Do not play me for a fool”, he said. “Or do you mean to say that the Ironback died just like that, by itself, for no reason?”

“Of course not, Sire. There is always a reason, but it was not my doing.”

“Where’s your proof?”

Fen glanced over at Essa. “The lady and I are in a team, as we have been since this very morning. Had I delivered the killing blow to the Charger, we would both have gotten EXP. Lady Essa, could you please check your Status?”

“I already did”, Essa replied with her arms crossed. “I have the exact same points, number for number, that I had prior to the kill.”

Ser Rovik was far from convinced. “The huntsman could have left the team to conceal his tracks and pocket the EXP for his own, then rejoined it.”

Fen bit his lip. That was plain and simply impossible: had he left the team, Essa would have gotten a notification, and he could not have unilaterally reformed the dissolved party. But to say it to the Ser’s face would have had no effect; he was seething mad, and reason would not sway him. “Let’s confirm it in Silverrock then. A Scribe can check my Status and confirm my lack of EXP gain for the last day.'' Plus, this would give the Ser time to cool down.

Essa chose this time to speak up: “If it pleases you, Ser, I can call ahead and have Lady Rovik enlist a Scribe to be ready to perform the test immediately upon our return.”

“Hm… yes, do that. But also bind him.”

“Ser, if I may”, Fen spoke up quickly, before Essa could carry out that order. “You have my word that I will come with you, but I would like to investigate the body and identify the cause of this issue, and I’ll need my hands free to do that. Besides, the contract included the Charger’s carcass, right?”

The knight looked annoyed, but Fen stood his ground. If they left the body here, it would be long gone when they came back to butcher it for its leather and horn: there were plenty of carrion eaters around that would be attracted by such a large and tasty carcass. And if he lost out on the bounty by not having a horn to turn in, his finances would take a hit.

Fortunately, Ser Rovik seemed to agree and harrumphed. “Very well. Do your work, huntsman, but be warned: one wrong move…”

“I would not dream of it, Sire”, said Fen. The armored human seemed content with that and stepped backwards, releasing him. Fen moved away from the tree and approached the body while pulling his curved knife from his belt. Before going to work, he carefully poked the area around the wound with the tip of the blade. Only when nothing happened did he go on to examine it more closely.

The carcass was a sorry sight, laying on its side in a pool of its own blood. With the large hole opening on its torso just below the base of the neck, Fen did not need to search for the cause of death, but as he carefully cut the torso open, he saw the extent of it: the lung and trachea were severely damaged, the heart was almost completely destroyed and several blood vessels had been torn open. What made him curious was that it looked like something big, like a lance or a cannon projectile, had dealt the damage in a single hit. But he had witnessed first-hand how the Charger’s life had ended: it had exploded outwards, its blood and innards had come flying out from within, not the other way around.

He cut a long incision along the Ironback’s underside, all the way to its rump, and swiftly peeled off its heavy hide. The chunks still attached would just have to come along for a tanner to remove before turning them into leather.

Skill proficiency threshold reached. [Advanced Field Dressing] (5) has leveled up to [Advanced Field Dressing] (6).

Fen absent-mindedly waved the System message away that appeared in the form of a floating scroll. He was happy enough that the painfully slow-leveling skill had finally gained a level - in Greenlake, the monsters were just too low-level, making proficiency gains very minor - but he had other concerns at the moment. The level-up’s effect was immediate, his movements became a little swifter and more accurate and his cuts were more precise and clean, leaving a little less meat on the hide. Still, it took him a half hour before he was able to peel the top half of the hide back and expose the muscle and fat tissue beneath, and all that time he felt the watchful gazes on him.

“The creature has died from something that bursted its way out from within it”, he said. “It’s a surprisingly clean cut. I have seen injuries like this when creatures are killed via beam-type magic attacks, but those spells usually leave burn marks on the injury as well. This is not the case here. There was also no lingering magic: if there was, there would have been a reaction when I tapped the carcass with my metal knife.” He motioned around the hole with his hand as he went on to explain: “It appears to me like it was a physical projectile of some kind. And it came outwards, originating from deeper inside…” He removed a pair of ribs to reach deeper, then cut away the meat and fat, carefully piling it on the peeled-back hide rather than on the ground. “Here we are. The first stomach. There’s a hole right here, finger-thick, and it widens out from that point, like a cone.”

“That looks correct to me too”, confirmed Essa. “What do you believe that this theoretical projectile could have been?”

“Some huntsmen employ ammunition that has a wide pellet spread, to make aiming easier. The shape of the injury lines up with it, supposing that an unused shell found its way into the Charger’s stomach and exploded outwards. For instance, a colleague of mine may have carelessly dropped some ammunition during a hunting trip, which the Charger then swallowed.”

“What would have set a projectile like that off?” asked Ser Rovik, who had come closer to lean in and get a good look himself. He then wrinkled his nose and pointed out: “Yuck, there’s already maggots crawling around in it? Disgusting!”

“Oh, this? No, that looks like an insect coming out of the stomach, Sire”, Fen said as he casually flicked the offender away with his knife. “Likely a part of the Charger’s last meal that narrowly escaped digestion. But to answer your question, the ammunition shells I think of are volatile. They contain powder produced by the Dwarfholm dwarves, which explodes quite easily. Perhaps the magic item you used, Ser…”

“My magic item has an [Amplify Damage] skill stored in it, not a spell”, Ser Rovik said.

Essa cleared her throat and remarked: “The skill uses mana to fuel its effect. As such, the glow was likely a side-effect of the mana circulating through the animal when the skill was applied to it, and that could have set the shell off…”

“... and [Amplify Damage] made it deal lethal damage”, Ser Rovik finished. “But if that is the case, I should still have gotten the EXP.”

Fen rubbed his hairless chin. “It could be that the shell’s owner was credited for the kill, Sire. The System’s designs are often complex beyond the understanding of mere mortals, so I couldn’t say.”

“This is still all conjecture”, Essa remarked. “The shell is just a thought experiment, we have yet to see evidence.”

“That is true. But this is all I can make of this body. I do not have the Skills to review the creature’s final moments.”

“Besides, you could’ve planted a shell so it would be no proof of your innocence”, Ser Rovik concluded. “We’re going back. Essa, what is the situation with the Scribe?”

“Lady Rovik is apprised of the situation, she has assured me that a Scribe will be waiting for us when we return.”

“Good. You know what to do.”

“As you wish, Sire. Well, Fen Draelgar, I hereby place you under arrest for suspected breach of contract. Please do not resist, it will make it easier for us both”, Essa said as she raised her hand, which glowed with a green light. “[Bind]. [Skill Seal].”

Fen grimaced as he watched green vines burst from the ground and coil around his wrists, which he dutifully held together before himself. Soon his hands were firmly bound, and a new System scroll popped up before him:

[Skill Seal (??)] is now in effect. Your skills are restricted until allocated mana runs out.

Fen checked. There was enough mana for six hours, though he could force the skill to spend more mana by resisting it until that mana ran out. If he wanted, which he did not.

“And take the Ironback’s body”, Ser Rovik added. “We’re taking it back to the butcher’s. All of it.”

“Wait”, Fen said as the half-elven woman dutifully produced a sack from her backpack and opened it before the carcass, which began to be sucked in. “Ser, our contract stated that the horn-”

“The contract stated that you would get me the EXP for the kill”, Ser Rovik replied coldly. “I did not get the EXP, so the contract was not fulfilled. The bounty can go towards compensating me for this waste of time and expending a valuable magic item’s charge.”

Fen was baffled. “A Leashing contract doesn’t guarantee that-”

“Enough! One more word and I’ll have Essa [Bind] your mouth shut too, huntsman. Now let’s go.”

As they began to walk, Fen glared at the armored man’s back. He was too angry to even think about how the lack of a payout from the contract itself, plus the missed bounty, would put him in bad financial straits. Of course, the Scribe would find him innocent and he’d be released, but there was no chance he, a mere commoner, could force a lesser nobleman to uphold the contract.

As they began their trek back to the city, he realized that even an exploded dwarven firearm would have left burn marks. In that case, what could have caused the injury that had killed the beast? And more importantly, who had netted the EXP?

---Elsewhere---

Whew! For a moment when the stomach had been cut open, I’d thought that this was going to be an out-of-the-pan-into-the-fire situation, but the giants - relatively speaking of course, I knew they were probably human-sized - that I saw above me barely paid me any mind and let me run off.

Well maybe that’s what I should be doing. On the other hand, the pointy-eared man and woman and the man wearing knight armor just fascinated me too much, even though they spoke a language I couldn’t understand. No amount of focusing helped there - it was different from what the two developer gods had spoken, a language that did not auto-translate.

I opted to stay for now. I could still scurry away, hide in the grass or amidst the tree roots or find some little hole to crawl into or something if the situation turned bad. So I snuck beneath the carcass until I felt like I was just out of sight, but I could still see and hear them. It seemed like they were investigating the carcass, and the pointy-eared man with the bow on his back was pointing things out with his knife. Maybe he was teaching the other two?

Wait, don’t tell me that they were a group of hunters who were angry that I’d stolen their kill! I swear, that was completely by accident! I didn’t know that one of you would be using that magic item that made up half of the exploit I’d accidentally used! But judging by how none of them went to look for me, I figured out that they either didn’t know I was still here, or didn’t connect me to the reason that their hunt had gone bad.

Come to think of it, they fit the bill for the basic adventuring team trio: the knight in heavy armor was obviously the frontline tank, although personally I would say two shields was a bit silly, the lightly-dressed bowman was the damage dealer who sniped monsters from behind the knight, and the woman was the mage or healer. She even wielded a staff and wore long robes and everything!

When the bowman stood back up from his squat I slid backwards just in case that they were going to do something, losing sight of the group: only their lower legs and feet remained in my vision. The discord I had heard earlier, especially between the knight and the bowman, seemed to grow. I could tell from the tone of their voices. I saw a green light reflecting off the knight’s armor, then things went calm for a bit. Then, just when I thought they might start leaving, I felt the carcass move… and myself with it.

What was that? Were they moving it? Ahaha, alright, but this was my stop, I wasn’t going to come along for now, so I’m just going to hop off! Unfortunately that had the opposite effect, as instead of dropping down I found myself caught in a powerful wind. Everything twisted and turned as I was tossed around like a ragdoll, but before I even had a chance to really panic it stopped, and I was dropped back onto solid ground.

I picked myself up on shaky legs, wondering what the hell had just happened. I thought someone might’ve lifted the carcass up to sling it over their shoulder - granted, a rhinoceros weighed in at several hundred kilos, but in this world with Skills I wouldn’t put it beyond the knight to just be able to lift it up - but that didn’t explain the wind. Maybe the pointy-eared mage had casted a spell? So where was I now?

Tap tap. The ground below me was tough, but it kind of gave when I pressed against it. Hmm, and this brown color looked familiar… speaking of, there had to be a light source because I could see in here. Where was the light coming from? Up there? Ooh, yep! There was an opening, allowing the sun to shine in, and giving me a view of… what was that? I could see some kind of cloth moving past the narrow opening, then a big pink worm, and… wait, that was a finger! And the cloth, I recognized the texture on it, it was the robe that the mage wore! With that recognition, I quickly realized that the curve I could see was her waist and the side of her torso all the way up to her shoulder, with her arm periodically entering my limited field of vision as it swung past… so in other words this thing I was inside of must be hanging on her belt.

So this brown thing I stood on was leather, and I was inside a bag? I initially dismissed the idea as silly, considering that the big guy’s carcass was right next to me, then I remembered that this was a world with magic items. Bags of Holding were the most staple and generic magic item that existed in practically every game, in more or less obvious form. It would also explain the wind, perhaps? If the Bags of Holding in this world had some sort of enchantment to suck in items, it could be that I had been picked up along with the carcass when she’d collected it.

This certainly made things complicated. The inside of this bag seemed infinite, or at least very vast. I could see no walls in the darkness surrounding me, only the flat ground, so I probably couldn’t climb out. I COULD go looking for a wall, train [Grip] until I was good enough to climb, make it to the opening and sneak out, but who was to say how long that would take? Would I not just starve first?

So the only way out was to be taken out, but the mage probably didn’t know I was in here, and if I missed the right timing, I could be stuck in here for… uhhh hey, big guy, you’re dead now so you won’t mind me hiding on top of you and piggybacking my way out, right? Thanks!

As I climbed on and found myself a crevice in what was probably an old battlescar on its snout a little ways below its eye, I decided to use the downtime to check out my notifications. There was a blinking dot in the corner of my vision, informing me that there were a bunch of messages waiting for me. I nuzzled into place, prepared for horrible mental overload, and tapped the button with my imaginary finger.

…

Okay that wasn’t so bad. There were lots of notifications covering my screen, but I wasn’t passed out and my head didn’t hurt either. And the however-many-hundreds-or-thousands of notifications from the [Amplify Damage] and [Giant Slayer] loop seemed to have been cleared for me, so I did not have to sift through those.

There were several individual level-up messages, which I cleared away to leave only the last ones. After that, the notifications covering my screen were much more manageable.

You have defeated [I̸͔̭̔̿͘͘r̶̩̱̬̃̄̽͜o̴͙̠̠͐ň̶̟͎̉͘b̸̝́͌̚̕a̸̟̓c̴̛̫̗͈͖͠k̴̛͚̈ ̴͉̊̃͘ͅC̵͈̳̫͎̔̾h̷͉̄̄a̶̅̈̆̎͜r̵͎̠̜̜͗g̴̗̦̫̾͌̀ḛ̶̡̙͗̊͑̈́r̴̖̝̐]. EXP gained. EXP threshold reached. [Nameless] has leveled up (New LV: 10). Level threshold reached. [Nameless] can now evolve. Skill proficiency threshold reached. [Dagger Proficiency] (4) has leveled up to [Dagger Proficiency] (5). Undone. Reason: Accidental use of exploit, skill proficiency gain withheld. Skill proficiency threshold reached. [Chitin Carapace] (1) has leveled up to [Chitin Carapace] (2). Undone. Reason: Accidental use of exploit, skill proficiency gain withheld. Skill proficiency threshold reached. [Giant Slayer] (5) has leveled up to [Giant Slayer] (6). Undone. Reason: Accidental use of exploit, skill proficiency gain withheld. Trait acquired: Titan Slayer You have acquired a trait of a higher tier than a currently owned skill. [Giant Slayer] has been removed. 2 Skill points have been refunded. Trait acquired: Touched by Divinity: The Hammer Trait acquired: Profaned [Profaned] has absorbed [Touched by Divinity: The Hammer].

Overall, I was miffed but it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. Four levels of Dagger Proficiency sounded pretty nice, though I had no idea why I had gotten levels in them. I hadn’t wielded daggers after all. The only thing I’d used in my escape attempt were my claws, which could make sense on some level, but were they really something I could call “daggers”? It was kind of a jump in logic.

What annoyed me a bit more was that Chitin Carapace had been reset too. I’d earned that one fair and square by wading through the big guy’s stomach juices, that had nothing to do with the exploit!

On the other hand, I’d gotten seven levels out of it… and what was this? I could evolve?! I wasn’t sure what this would imply for me, but I felt rather giddy about it nonetheless. I could hardly wait to see what I was going to get, but I could not get ahead of myself. So I opted to check out the traits first, and of course my Status.

[Status (Nameless)] Race Small Inferior Parasite Hatchling [Monster] [Insectpoid] LV 10 (Max - [Evolve]) Skill Points 10 Biomass 0 Traits

Titan Slayer

Profaned

HP 0,62/1 MP N/A SP 0,59/1 Skills Mooch (2) Leech (3) Dagger Proficiency (1) Piercing Fang (2) Grip (2) Chitin Carapace (1) EXP Modifier 250%

Yikes, I was at just over sixty percent health? The acid had hit me harder than I’d thought… Although, looking down at myself I could see that I was a bit tattered, so it made sense. Everything else looked okay, so I opened [Titan Slayer].

Titan Slayer [Epic] Reqs: Slay an opponent whose evolutionary level is higher than yours by 3 or more. Bigger foe bigger weakness!

Effect: Hurt big foe harder.

Hurt much bigger foe much harder.

[Information limited due to low mental capacity]

It kind of sounded like a straight upgrade to Giant Slayer, so I could tell why it replaced the skill. Also, the skill point refund was nice! I kind of wondered why that hadn’t been removed, though… had that god, Thorgrimm, missed it or was he unable to remove the trait, sort of like how he wasn’t able to reset my level? Well I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially not if said horse was an Epic-level trait with such a cool-sounding name.

It also hinted to me that the Ironback Charger had been three or more ‘evolutionary levels’ above me, which made me wonder a bit. Did it mean that if I evolved thrice I would be as big and strong as the big guy? That sounded unlikely, unless an evolution was a huge jump up. I kind of hoped that it was, I didn’t want to be a stupid small bug forever.

What about [Profaned]?

[Profaned (Uncommon)] Biggest Ones no like you!

Effect: No good from Biggest Ones for you!

Eaten: [Touched by Divinity: The Hammer]

[Information limited due to low mental capacity]

Huh… this had to be the Blocker that Thorgrimm put on me. ‘Biggest Ones’ had to be the Gods of this world, obviously. “No good” meant that this trait would probably nullify the beneficial traits that one would get from, what, being near a god for long enough? Or being in its domain, I remembered Thorgrimm having said something about that.

And what was that about a “Hammer”? Was it like a title? Thorgrimm did look a bit like a blacksmith with the tools on his belt, so perhaps… I tried to open the absorbed Trait, but it did not allow me to do so. Which in retrospect was perhaps for the better: I would’ve just been more annoyed if I knew that it was some amazing buff I was missing out on.

Well, I was safely nestled into place and I could do nothing but wait, so I might as well check out the evolution-related options available to me. Now, what keyword would open that menu? Uhh… Evolve? Evolution Me-

[Evolution [Nameless]]

You have reached the maximum level for your species, Small Inferior Parasite Hatchling, and can now [Evolve]. This will change your form and unlock new possibilities.

WARNING! [Evolution] is irreversible. Once you have picked, you cannot go back. Be sure to choose well.

The following [Evolution] options are available to you:

(Base Evolution) Small Inferior Parasite Juvenile Small Parasite Hatchling (Standard Mutation) Myrmidon Ant Worker Pupa Myrmidon Ant Soldier Pupa Myrmidon Ant Tank Pupa (Special Mutation) Monster Seed: Mantis Ripper Vampire Baby

Ah. Thank you, System. Now, that was a lot of options available to me… and so well-sorted too! For once this thing came through for me. Although just going off the titles I ruled out over half of them without needing to inspect each option first.

Between the two Parasite evolutions, the only real contender was the “Small Parasite Hatchling”. The way I saw it, I could either evolve to a better variant, or I could grow out of my Hatchling phase. Sure, growing up might be nice but I’d much rather be rid of the ‘Inferior’ in my name.

The Myrmidon Ants were also bad options: not only would it remove my unique mutation to a Parasite - and who knows if that would take away my 50% EXP multiplier? -, it would also make me into an ant of a hive that was mostly dead already. I had no clue where its survivors were at, if there were any left, and even if I somehow found them, what then? I’d either be killed because the Queen remembered me as an Aberration, or I would become another body in the hive mind, without individuality. Finding another hive carried the same risk of losing my individuality, not to mention I might not even be accepted as a ‘foreign’ ant. And of course I would evolve into a pupa rather than directly to the next form, meaning I would be immobile and vulnerable for however long it took me to develop, without someone to protect me. No thanks!

Finally, the Monster Seed and the Vampire Baby options… those were intriguing. Well, the Vampire one was probably out the window too, on account of that I couldn’t well evolve into a newborn and expect the elf mage to not be shocked when she found me in her bag. As a baby, I would be almost as defenseless as if I transformed into a pupa. Still, it was my only “Rare” option… and for the other one, the Monster Seed, I had no idea what to expect, so I chose to inspect that. Well, System, please show me the details.

[Small Parasite Hatchling] Rarity: Uncommon Description:

Hatchling of Parasite genetic family. Better genes. Stronger. Smarter. Faster. Still small and weak.

[Information limited due to low mental capacity]

[Choose!] [Monster Seed: Mantis Ripper] Rarity: Uncommon Reqs:

[Giant Slayer] (3+)

Blade Proficiency type Skill (1+) OR Piercing Proficiency type Skill (1+)

[Monster] type

Description:

Seed of great Monster. Vicious. Reckless. Attacks big foes for big EXP with deadly claws.

[Information limited due to low mental capacity]

[Choose!] [Vampire Baby] Rarity: Rare Reqs:

[Leech] (3+) AND [Piercing Fang] (1+)

[Monster] type

Description:

Child born of Vampire, not turned by bite. Feared by Enlightened. If found, usually killed before can grow strong and danger. Can bite Enlightened to turn into Ghouls for protection. Ghouls often become base for Vampire Cult later.

[Information limited due to low mental capacity]

[Choose!]

It was practically a no-brainer. Rare or not, picking the Vampire Baby option would turn into a disaster unless I somehow got incredibly lucky. Sure, the whole immortal vampire schtick - if vampires were indeed immortal in this world - might be awesome but what good did immortality do me if I got killed within the week? Not to mention, turning people into subservient Ghouls just rubbed me the wrong way. I did not want to kill or turn humans, that was a hard limit for me.

As for the Mantis Ripper thing… apparently the [Titan Slayer] trait counted towards the unlocking requirements. It seemed to be a race built entirely around that skill or trait, to attack larger monsters. But I did not like the ‘vicious’ or ‘reckless’ attributes, it sounded a bit like a berserker kind of insect that picked fights with much bigger enemies and didn’t stop until one of them died - usually the insect. High risk, high reward and all that.

Finally, the Small Parasite. It was a straight upgrade, but what especially caught my eye was the word “Smarter” in the description. Was it too much to hope that I might be able to escape this stupid oversimplified text with that? I could only hope. [Choose!], please and thank you!

Just as my world began to go dark, I realized that I had ten unspent Skill Points that could potentially have unlocked more options. Uhm, can I still cancel? And why was I suddenly feeling… drowsy… and hearing a familiar voice?

“Oh. Look who’s come back.”

[Nameless] is now undergoing [Evolution] to [Small Parasite Hatchling].

Time left until completion: 3h 59m 55s.