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Name Ikite Level 9 (4441 EXP to next level) Titles Pegasus' Blessing Race Descended Human Class Scavenger/Diplomat Status Soldier of Hell Age 18 (+2)

The elk moved slowly through the forest, approaching a small pool of water in a large clearing. Completely unaware of my presence just a few metres from it, it tilted it’s head down to drink the water. The forest was filled with nature’s sounds; the chirping of a bird, the constant drip-drip from the dew on the trees, the wind, rustling through the bushes, and me. My shadowed figure squatting behind a tree trunk, pipe fashioned from tree bark raised to my lips and a dart ready to be fired.

Hiss!

The dart soared out of the pipe, propelled by a burst of breath and flew through the trees, into the poor elk’s hide. The measly thing looked like it hadn’t even penetrated through the skin, but suddenly, the elk shuddered and fell over on it’s side. It writhed on the floor for a second or two before ceasing. I counted to ten in my head before carefully creeping out from my cover and approaching the fallen elk.

As I came closer to the elk, I could identify it with a mix of ‘Gamer’s Perspective’ and Aligned Perception. It’s health read zero and had the poisoned effect.

It looked as if the imp’s poison had been as deadly as I thought it was. I shivered and reminded myself how lucky I was to be alive. The Pegasus and now this poor elk had been taken by that dreadful poison.

Today, I had dedicated myself to learning how to hunt efficiently and effectively, under Bea’s watchful eye.

“Next time, don’t use the poison.”

Her smooth voice came from the branches above me, where she had positioned herself to watch my hunting unfold.

“The poison hurts the animal and we can’t eat the infected meat from it anyways.”

Just as she said that, the elk exploded into particles, leaving behind a brown bag.

“Wow, so this is the loot bag’s natural state.”

I was surprised only because, whenever I had been sent out to collect the items from the monsters that the attack force in the army had killed, the loot bags had already been opened and all valuables taken away. They couldn’t trust some useless scavenger to not steal the treasures, right?

Bea dropped from the shadows and walked up to me, patting me on the back.

“Not bad for a first hunt, though you mostly caught it unprepared because of your boots. Those boots are so overpowered.”

She looked over at my boots jealousy, then smiled and raced toward the bag. As she touched it, the bag disappeared into particles, just like the elk, and several items lay on the ground.

“Let’s see what you got from this, shall we?”

I agreed and inspected the items:

Item Window

Name Infected Elk Meat x3 Grade D Item Class Consumable Durability N/A Use Restores stamina by 5, but gives you the posioned effect. Information

A terrible food source that harms the consumer.

Name Elk Antlers x2 Grade D+ Item Class Ingredient Durability 50/50 Information

Can be used as a piece of wood or turned into a wooden weapon. Looks great on a wall.

Name Elk Hide Grade C Item Class Ingredient Durability 85/85 Information

Makes a great carpet and can be used to make clothes. Very warm.

“Damn Ikite! You got some good luck!”

Bea, for some reason, was ecstatic when I read out the item list.

“Uhh, what do you mean?”

“Don’t you know? Elk antlers are worth like, 30 gold a piece! Also, the elk hide makes a really warm and nice jumper. Can I have it? Please?”

She was practically drooling at this point, so I just did what any gentleman would do.

“No! Absolutely not! It was my kill, so I get the drops. Understand?”

She whimpered and I swear I saw a tear come out of her eye. I laughed and nudged her shoulder playfully.

“Just kidding, you can have it.”

* * *

As we entered the village, carrying our loot, we saw several people muttering about something weirdly. After selling the antlers for 50 gold and the poisoned meat for another 10, we walked over to Percy’s house to ask what was going on.

“Haven’t you heard? The humanoid army camp was destroyed by another army from Nexus.”

“Nexus?” I burst out. “That can’t be possible. You can’t travel between the layers!”

Percy’s face turned grave and nodded his head.

“Yes, you can’t normally travel between the layers. However, in the last couple centuries or so, someone discovered a massive hole in the ground in Heaven which went through Nexus. At first, this discovery meant nothing, but then people fell through. From Heaven down to Nexus, or Nexus down to Hell, humanoids and non-humanoids fell through the hole and, using gliders or parachutes, survived the fall.”

“Ok, but that still doesn’t explain how an army managed to somehow organise an invasion.”

“The layer separating system God created still functioned for some time, until Johann, the angel, flew from Heaven to Hell and back up again. It marked a moment for us Afterlifeians that will be forever remembered. Someone had actually managed to go around God’s rules! As a result of this, and many years of testing, ‘messengers’ were created. These were humanoids or non-humanoids that had the ability to fly the thousand kilometers up to the next layer and pass on messages from below.”

“Isn’t that… kinda stupid? Is it really that hard to climb the tower?”

“Ikite, that question can only be answered if you try yourself.”

Well, I had to climb the tower anyways to complete the Pegasus quest so I settled down, telling myself that I would find out in due time. The centaur continued after answering my question.

“So right now, the townsfolk are panicking, wondering if the foreign army will find us and destroy us too, just like what they did to the army.”

The army. My army. Why didn’t I feel sad? I had spent two years of my life around those people who now, apparently, had been slaughtered by some foreign attack.

The truth was, I knew I didn’t belong there. I didn’t have any nice memories of that horrid place, only ones that consisted of bullying and constant harassment.

A thought popped into my head. What would the implications be for my mother when she heard the news that the army had been destroyed? She would grieve for both her son and her husband’s death, of course.

“Percy, thanks for telling me this news. I’ve got to get to my mother now to tell her that I’m safe and wasn’t caught in the attack.”

Percy nodded respectfully and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“What a caring son she has. However, I may have some more bad news for you. Where does your mother live?”

“Just outside of Nunyek.”

His face turned grave yet again and shook his head.

“The foreign army has set up camp between here and Nunyek. You won’t be able to make it through without encountering them. If you encounter them, they’ll mostly destroy you, just like they destroyed your army.”

I shook my head.

“I have to try, at least. I can’t bear the thought of my poor mother having to receive such horrid news.”

Bea spoke up, offering an idea.

“How about this. Because there are no villages close to what used to be your army other than this one, the news of the destruction won’t spread quickly. I estimate you’ll have just under a week before the news, spread by the delivery people, reaches Nunyek, then another couple days before it reaches your mother. Why don’t we spend a week here, training as much as we can before trying to get past the foreign army to your mother?”

I nodded and silently thanked Bea’s problem solving skills.

“Great idea. But since when was this a ‘we’ thing? I’ll just go by myself. Also, if the delivery people can make it across the army, why can’t I?”

“To answer your question about the delivery people, do you have wings? Are you a bird? Haven’t you seen the delivery ‘people’ doing their job around here?”

She paused, then continued, seemingly remembering something.

“Oh that’s right, you were asleep for like two days. Anyways, I’m going with you, and that’s final. Your sneaky boots can carry you only so far without skill.”

It seemed like I had found my first few friends in this world.

“Thanks, Bea. You make a good point. I’d be glad to have your company.”

Percy joined the conversation, a frown on his face.

“I wish I could accompany you all too, but my hooves aren’t exactly designed for sneaking. I can carry you to just before the army camp though.”

“That’s plenty, Percy. Thanks for all you guys’ help.”

They both nodded,then an awkward silence passed through the three of us before Percy broke it by speaking again

“Well then, I guess it’s time to get training.”

* * *

Percy’s first job for me was to find out more information about my combat class. He said that if I found out more about my class and it’s capabilities, picking out a weapon to use would be a whole lot easier.

Finding out more about my combat class was the easy part. Just a quick request and Kimi had brought up the information for it.

Classes - Scavenger

Scavengers are a generic subclass that make very good all-rounders. This is because they come from a variety of major classes. In combat, they are good for a variety of different uses. Scavengers can trap, use ranged weapons such as bows, use stealth like assassins, defend (depends on stats), use melee weapons such as swords or clubs, and even use magic spells. Depending on the person’s strengths, weaknesses, perks and stat builds, different weapons and equipment is advised.

Well that was… useless. Absolutely useless. It told me nothing except for the fact that I could do everything! Yay! So apparently I was supposed to decide which weapon to use based on my class information’s advice. That advice which said I could use everything.

So instead of further consulting my class information, I decided to use what I had at hand. My frayed whip, shortsword, and Fist Fighting Style.

Percy had designated a small clearing at the back of his stable for me to train my combat skills.

“Screw it, let’s just go with the shortsword.”

I chose a vertical wooden tree branch embedded into the ground as my first victim.

“Hyah!”

“Hah!”

“Take this!”

“And this!”

Smack!

Crack!

I swung my sword a few times at that branch but nothing happened, except for me becoming out of breath. I watched my stamina out of the corner of my eye drop from 50 to 45.

“Surely there must be some way to do this faster.”

Kimi must have heard me and interpreted it as asking for her help because my statistics screen suddenly filled my vision.

Statistics

Strength 5 Intelligence 4 Dexterity 4 Constitution 4 Sense 2 Charisma 9 Comeliness 3 Adaptability 6 Unspent Base Stat Points 33

Oh yeah! I still had 33 base stat points I could use.

I thought over it for a few minutes before coming to a decision.

Because I was going for a combat main as my class, I needed to increase my dexterity, constitution and strength a fair amount. To sneak past the soldiers from the foreign army, I would need to use the environment and have some sense. My comeliness right now wasn’t that important, and my intelligence was high enough.

Adding the points, I watched my statistics increase.

Statistics

Strength 13 Intelligence 4 Dexterity 12 Constitution 12 Sense 7 Charisma 9 Comeliness 3 Adaptability 10 Unspent Base Stat Points 0

Much better. Perhaps now I could learn skills and increase mastery faster? I shook my head and closed the profile, turning towards the tree branch once more. It was time to put away all distractions and get to the task at hand.

Taking a deep breath, I charged at the branch and shouted.

“Hyah!”

* * *

(4 hours later)

It hadn’t taken me very long to realise that my stamina, although increased, still went down very quickly. It took about 20-30 minutes for me to regain that stamina, during which I attempted to meditate, earning me a meditation skill.

Skill Window - Ikite Dorau

Name Meditation

Rarity Uncommon Type Stamina Regeneration Increase Power Level 0 Activity Level Active Mastery 5% Information Information: A skill that, when used, increases the amount of stamina gained per second by 10%. Every 5% mastery increase, stamina gained per second increases by an additional 1%. Current stamina gain increases by: 11%.

On top of that, after approximately an hour of hacking at a tree branch with my shortsword, I had gained a skill for it.

Name Shortsword Attack Style

Rarity Basic Type Weapon Technique Power Level 5 Activity Level Passive Mastery 6% Information A basic shortsword attacking technique. Must have a shortsword to be used. Power level may scale with the quality of short sword used. Increases damage done by short sword.

For now, it seemed like a good start. However, it was getting late and I needed to head back to my current lodging, in Erina’s house.

* * *

“Erina! I’m home!”

Erina bounded into the hallway, her white apron evidence that she had just started cooking. She had tied her auburn hair back behind her head in a ponytail and wore white pants with a blue shirt.

“Welcome back Ikite! Would you like a bath first, a hot meal, or perhaps… me?”

She laughed and went back into the kitchen before waiting for my reply.

“So how was your day? Did your hunting go well?.”

I thanked God silently for having found such an angel as Erina who for a little coin, offered accommodation and meals.

“My day was fine, I managed to snag an elk with my darts. I shot a poisoned one though, which ruined the meat. Other than that, I trained some of my skills a little.”

“Sounds like fun! I’ve just started making some rabbit stew, so it’ll be about half an hour before we can have dinner.”

I walked upstairs, into what was my temporary room. Collapsing on to the bed, I thought about what lay in the future for me, my friends, and my mother.

Day one had been completed. Six days to go before I took on the army from Nexus.