Strapped for cash yet armed to the teeth And mildly dangerous. I was ready to go. The problem is where to go. I got to thinking of random of adventures close to home. Hone my skills a bit and then truly strike out never looking back. outside of civilization shit got hard and dangerous real fast. I had to be prepared. For many tales were ended out of carelessness. A few practice adventures wouldn't hurt. I had sweetleaf, food and water. It was time to go for a outing. The city is surrounded by a large wall constantly manned. Entrance and exit was easy for people who were well known. those who lived here didn't pay a fee, People who didn't. Did. I got away easily enough. Outside of the dukes castle city is rich farm land Claimed from an ever growing forest of both tranquility and terror in equal parts. The dukes great-grand forefathers once led a small army of royal knights and camps followers to subjugate this forest and make it part of the kingdom. After fighting for many years claiming and losing the same land over and over again. His people said fuck it constructed a fortress and held out to the current day. The land was heavily patrolled. The swamp something to guard against but also plentiful in its resources. Thats why people stayed here caught up in a dangerous life. Monster hordes and shit. But bountiful. When the lord's knights and soldiers did their jobs most of the baddest shit stayed deep in the forest and only showed it face every few years. Mostly common monsters like mutant rodents slimes and beastman were all that reared up around the trade routes that had been painstaking carves out with blood, sweat and tears. Because they couldn't catch every monster Freelancers with legitimate proof of kill or p.o.k Could turn it to get paid. Thats where I come in Kill as much as possible hone my skills. Get savvy with my gadgets. Buy a mount and ride into the nearest place not here. Real short term. Should be real simple. I kept my wits about me when I got into The real field. The forest was like a swamp. The ground was mostly dry but it could get muddy if got to close to the pools that randomly sprang up. And a thin but deep river that vivisected the land. providing fresh water to this Duchy. Another thing that kept life easier for the people was the truth that nature was brutal period. Everything had to eat Leaving many creatures and monsters at odd for many reasons, mostly food and territory. We humans only factored into the foodchain we didn't dominate it entirely. I had an rough idea of how to deal with the fact that I sucked. Grind. With a capital G. I could do that the slow way. Stratigizing my every move. Only going for the sure kill. Cautious above all else. Or I could be reckless killing as much as possible Putting my life on the line to push my limits. I decided to chose a middle road. Putting my life on the line while being cautious And engaging in battle as much as I safely can. With each new combat experience I hoped I could hone myself into a weapon with sharp edges and engrained responses. No wasted energy. No useless useless actions that only lead to death. This wasnt gonna be an overnight experience. It could take a while. But the benefits my mind, body and soul should receive would be immense. I tried to immerse my self in my surroundings Low patches of fog clung to the swamps floor like atmospheric carpeting Potentially housing dangers. Mostly small poisonous snakes More dangerous was the rarer Acid oozes. The snakes were easy to deal with if you had good footwear. More an annoyance. The acid oozes could desulve most organic things Their mode of attack was mainly was whips made out of a slimey form of acid. The mature ones can spit acid but rapidly lose mass. I heard the acid unless spit directly at you wasnt highly damaging. Will fuck you up and melt you skin though. No they swallow you to kill you. Not wanting to be killed by becoming slime food. I tried to keep my wits about me, wanting to get the jump on whatever I couldnt avoid. I actually spot a A Ooze trying to creep back into a patch of fog just ahead. You thought! I picked speed simultaneously unsheathing my sword. My intent was to use the point of my blade as a spear and strike its core. All oozes have cores. This is embarrassing but I actually missed but I didn't panic Nope! I spun the blade sideways and smack it with the flat like a bat! The core flew out. I ran swiftly to the core giving a fuck if I looked like a fool. Struck the core repeatedly to it was crushed. Fuck and damn. I actually should have just pocketed that core. There were three ways to kill an ooze. The best way was magick unless it was a magick ooze. Destroy the core. The last was snatch it and it keep it away from the now berserk body for just long enough. Which might vary. But worth more. Now I didnt get shit. Instead of being discouraged i kept it pushing. my eyes and 6 senses extra alert as a form of training really. I was mostly getting used to my equipment. I couldnt really develop much skill fighting these kinds of oozes. Although they did help me get comfortable stepping back into the field. The sometimes sudden swipes of acid arms Helped me get adapted to suddenly dodging or trying to parry an attack. I wasnt always successful. This was a new fighting style. I went from fighting with almost impenetrable defense to dodging blocking and counterattacking. The difference in combat and mindset was radical to say the least. I had to break old bad habits like standing still to receive unnecessary blows, assuming my defense would thort them. After to many near misses I decided to make my sword my shield. Anything that came at me hand. Body or blade I'd first strike down then strike back. My movement would be my winged chariot. Precise and swift ghost like steps that glided across the ground These things just popped into my head as i moved deeper into the swamps. Collecting ooze cores. My objective was to stalk (most likely stumble upon or get ambushed by) some ferals. Ferals referred to beastmen. Ferals were more beast than beast like. Dumb exhibiting a little cunning. Most blood thirsty to say the least. Outcasted from the larger developed packs led by beastman Monarchs. Who wouldn't conform or follow. Turned savage to survive. These beastman werent like the true humanoids with beast features that did exist and interact most peacefully with humans. They were like a different race more monsterous than anything. Different packs had different modus operandi. Some killed humans. Some just fought us but didn't kill. some just want to traded or eat your food for free. Well shit if a little bit of cooked food would save me from some real life blood thirsty savages. I'd break bread they said. Honestly speaking though I came for the aspects of combat that this low leveled area had to offer. Thats why I came to hunt ferals no one cared if you killed them off. none of the packs. Even relatives. They were the crazies and outcast. The few that were still rational were few and far between. Between the tall trees with branches and limbs Like it had arms hands and fingers. Moisture wasnt as abundant. Although the mist still lingered the swamp waters were drunk by the trees. This place was very dangerous Home to winged spiders capable of flight They were hard to detect at times blending into the trees. thier maim drawback as a species became apparent when in flight. The very wings which made them dangerous also made a harsh sounds. so they often shrieked when attacking to add to the terror i guess. The best way to avoid dying in the instance of shrieker attack is to turn strike it from the air. And kill it when it falls. They were in mortal fear of flames. Trying to flee usually ended in death. The activation of the flame blade was supposed to be taxing on my Vigor. Its hard to put vigor into a number. its just like saying the more healthy or better your body is the more Vigor you have. Simple. I didnt have alot. So I didnt just walk around with it active. The more vigorous you were the harder it was to get tired. The easier to recover. I tried it once it didn't actually take alot of my vigor despite what I was told. The blade glowed bright yellow-orange like it was freshly forged and gave off intense heat. It felt comfortable. Almost relaxing. The quicksilver amulet on my wrist was a interesting thing in itself. Able to mold into any type of small projectile I could visualize Little pellets, needless, arrowheads. I personally liked these spiral fat compact spearheads. I could make six at once I couldnt control them individually but I could shoot them at once or delayed in one direction Unbeknownst to me I was being surrounded by a small group of winged arachnids. I like to call them shriekers. If I had known I would have reacted to the situation different. Still I think I handled it quite well. While practicing i was distracted by an awful shriek I looked up to see two ugly big hairy winged bodies falling swiftly towards me Without hesitating I fired my gadget off Striking one of the hairy Creeps straight in abdomen. 3 of of my projectiles drilled clear through. Leaving it twitching. I tried to stutter shot rest of them at the other 'Target' falling towards me but it spread it wings which seemed to be sharper then I thought. It tried to cut me as it flew past but was rebuffed by my vest. I sighed and relief but to soon. At my feet were another two Shriekers trying to Creep up on me. With out giving it much thought to cost. I grapped my blade and ignited it. Pouring what felt like a gallon of my vigor into the blade. The result felt instantaneous. Flames jumped and danced along the blade leaving a blazing trail as the sword stroked left and right. Immolating the shriekers before they could reach me. I didnt even feel resistance as I cut them through. I lost track of the final prey. I caught my bearing and breath not nowing if I was still in danger. a few tense minutes passed without seeing its return. I fell down to one knee and gasped for breath like bellows. Still I kept myself alert. Hella apprehensive i struggled to my feet, With out caring which direction i took I just wanted to get away from the clear and present danger. Which was a little stupid I know. but I wasnt thinking clearly a little lightheaded from Vigorloss. I wandered for a while. Took a drink of some watered down fruit juice and a puff of some sweetleaf. I started to feel alot better. Even dancing a little caught up in the feeling of being alive. Walking, strutting even. skip and a twirl...??? Bam! I looked up from the ground. The Sun shined harshly through the dreary surrounding. A long shadow was cast over me I bumped into the Into my prey! Being harshly slammed off an apes back made me get my shit together real quick like