The small “eep” that emanated from Chris’ mouth was entirely involuntary. The wolf had managed to sneak up on him without making a sound and its jaws were just inches away from his face. Without thinking, Chris swung his right arm up and felt a satisfying smack as his buckler collided with the wolf’s face, automatically activating his Shield Strike skill. The wolf was knocked back with a yip of surprise, giving Chris time to stand to his feet, draw his seax, and face down the beast. It was then he noticed there was more than one wolf. He’d forgotten that they always traveled in packs!

The lead wolf, which he assumed was the alpha male of the group, was still stunned, but one of the other wolves quickly jumped forward, lunging directly for Chris’ throat. He only just raised his buckler up to block the blow, stabbing with his seax into the wolf’s softer underbelly. Whimpering, the wolf fell back. The other wolves paused for a moment, seeing their leader stunned and one of their comrades wounded. They circled the threat in their midst, each one looking warily for an opening.

Now that the initial shock was past, Chris took the wolves’ pause to take stock of his situation. Including the alpha wolf and the one he had already wounded, there were only four wolves in this rather small pack. Off in the distance, however, he could hear other wolves howling and he was sure they would come join the group he faced if he wasn’t able to dispatch them quickly. Instinct kicked in and he turned with the wolves, trying to keep the two circling him in sight and keeping track of the stunned and injured wolves.

As soon as they thought he was distracted, they struck, one going for his chest the other for his legs. Chris raised his buckler to the one striking at his legs and raising his seax to stab at the one leaping toward his face. Both hits rocked his frame as he tried to absorb some of the force from the blows. To his surprise, his seax strike took the wolf through the roof of the mouth, killing it instantly. A critical hit notification blinked in the corner of his vision. The other wolf struck his buckler, knocking it aside and grazing Chris’ leg with its teeth.

He hissed in pain before once again activating Shield Strike. The blow just caught the wolf as it attempted to dodge away, stunning it. Chris turned, jabbing his seax at the wolf he had wounded earlier who had decided the come back for another round. Two of his short strikes connected, killing the beast, but not before the alpha wolf had rejoined the fight.

Seconds later, Chris looked up in confusion as the alpha wolf stood over him. He had been concentrating on the others and hadn’t noticed the larger wolf sneak and knock him to the ground. The wolf struck, burying his teeth into Chris’ shield arm. Pain blossomed as the wolf worried the wound and Chris lashed out blindly with his seax as he cried out in pain. A couple of his weak strikes landed, doing minor damage to the monster.

With a growl, Chris dropped his seax and scooped up a handful of dirt and rocks, flinging it into the face of the attacking wolf. Stunned, the wolf released his hold on Chris’ shield arm and stepped back, shaking its muzzle. Chris scrabbled to his feet, picking up his short sword, and got in a Shield Strike on the alpha wolf before whaling on it in an angry frenzy. Many of his strikes were barely affective, but the combination of being stunned and the unrelenting flurry of blows finally brought down his opponent. Chris turned, looking for the final wolf, but it had fled.

Finally able to breathe, Chris took a moment to bandage his wounds with a piece of cloth torn from his shirt.He approached the wolves with his knife, thankful that the quest didn’t say what condition the wolf pelts had to be in. By the time he went to skin the alpha wolf, he at least had an idea of the basics of skinning and was able to remove its pelt with less trouble and in better shape than the other two wolves. Thankfully, realism didn’t extend to his storage space, and he placed the pelts in his bag where they took up a couple slots.

He looked around and picked up the last arthest plant, which thankfully had not been destroyed during the battle with the wolves. That done, he quickly scavenged what little he could from the wolf corpses before dashing out of the forest. The cries of the other wolf pack followed close on his heels as he made it out of the undergrowth and back onto the open road leading toward Genfaldur. Finally able to relax a bit, he pulled an apple from his pack and bit into it, savoring the juicy flavor and watching as his HP meter slowly refilled.

As he headed down the road toward the city, Chris took a moment to pull up his character sheet and check his notifications.

Level Up!

Congratulations, you have reached Level 4! You now have 20 stat points to distribute. Your health and mana have also been restored!

Chris paused for a second, wondering why he had twenty stat points to allocate, but then remembering that he had forgotten to distribute the points from his last level up. “I bet that would have made that last battle a bit easier...” he thought to himself. He quickly distributed his points, putting more in Strength and Dexterity and also upping his Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, and Agility. He instantly noticed that his HP had almost doubled, as had his MP. The notification icon was blinking furiously, so he closed his character sheet and selected it next.

New Skill: Power Strike

In combat you may attempt to make a powerful strike at one enemy. This strike will be a critical hit and add a bleeding debuff to your target, however, you will be off-balance for a moment afterward.

Skill Cost: 20 Stamina

New Skill: Cantrips

With practice you can learn and cast simple spells to aid you in your adventures.

Learnable Cantrips: Ignite, Light, and Mending.

New Skill: Tier 1 Magic

You are now intelligent enough to learn Tier 1 Magics. You must learn them from spell books or from a practitioner of magic.

Learnable Tier 1 Magics: ?

“So, I’m ‘smart’ enough now to learn magic. That could come in handy in the future as well.”

The only other notification signified the completion of his current quests, so he dismissed it and continued on towards the gates of Genfaldur.