Stretching out languidly he felt content. But then he woke with a start and realized he had been able to move his left arm. He lifted it up and still felt the pangs of pain in his chest, but not as bad as it had been at first. He was able to move his arm around at least. He still had trouble breathing, but he felt much better. Supporting himself with his right hand, which protested less painfully to being used, he tried to get up and found himself in a seated position quite easily.

Feeling elated at his progress he checked the state of his wounds and found that they all had scabbed over nicely. The wound in his back was still extremely sore, and his chest was throbbing, but he felt more energetic than he had in ages. Scooting over to the wall using his hands and legs was definitively easier than moving had been in the last few days.

Using the wall as support, he got up slowly until he was standing on shaky legs and stinging feet, the freshly scabbed wounds protesting over the pressure they were under.

He felt out of breath after that exercise and leaned against the wall whilst he recovered his breath, enjoying the feeling of just being able to stand, and the rush of blood to his feet.

When he felt confident enough, he stumbled carefully towards the wall using small steps, careful to keep his balance, and not fall over. Grasping the wall to support himself, he needed to take some time to regain his breath again, his labored breathing echoing through the tunnel. He just couldn’t get enough air in his chest.

Using his left hand to maintain his balance, he reached with his right arm and plucked a rat lodged in the wall above him. Grinning savagely he gutted the rat and ate it as quickly as he could. He had so many questions to ask the [Shaman] about this strange ritual that had given him this extra health and now gave him these mysterious choices.

As he fished the next rat from the wall for breakfast, he decided to see the descriptions for the choices the ritual offered him now. Circumstances and exhaustion had prevented him from focussing on secondary issues, but now, as he was recovering, he could take his time to study the description whilst he feasted on the rats.

[Puzzle]

Your love to make complex puzzles to stupify others transcends reality. You will be able to earn extra experience by making more complex puzzles for adventurers to solve, besides the normal means of earning experience.

[Nightmare]

Night terrors fill your dreams, and you aim to make them a reality for others. You will be able to earn extra experience by inducing terror in adventurers, haunting their dreams to come. The greater the fear instilled, the more experience you’ll earn, besides the normal means of earning experience

[Vengeance]

The fire of righteous vengeance consumes your soul and becomes your very being. You will be able to earn extra experience by exacting vengeance in creative ways, besides the normal means of earning experience

[Death]

The embrace of death comes to all, just a bit sooner to adventurers thanks to you. You will be able to earn extra experience by offering nonviolent means of death, besides the normal means of earning experience.

[Adventure]

Bushwacking and treasure-filled temples are what you crave to explore, hauling loot out of a dangerous situation. You will be able to earn extra experience by offering memorable adventures to the adventurers, besides the normal means of earning experience.

[Eldritch]

Otherworldly twisted forms and reality-bending rules of the mind are just a matter of course for you. You will be able to earn extra experience by afflicting madness upon adventurers, besides the normal means of earning experience.

[Mushroom]

[Mushroom option erased]

[Slime]

Slippery, silent, and fluid is how you would best describe yourself. You will be able to earn extra experience by digesting adventurers alive, besides the normal means of earning experience.

[Carnivore]

Big teeth, strong jaws, and claws for rending are how you became master of the hunt. You will be able to earn extra experience by separating and hunting down adventurers with great beasts, besides the normal means of gaining experience

[Trap]

A snare is the simplest of traps you can make, you yearn to make a grand deadly trap to entrap everyone. You will be able to earn extra experience by making unique and ingenious traps, besides the normal means of gaining experience.

Chewing on a rat tail pensively whilst leaning against his wall, he pondered all the options, they sounded like very interesting options, but he was kind of confused by what they meant with earning extra experience. Where and how was he supposed to do some of these things? And how would it work exactly?

He checked his status and saw he still had three hours to make a decision. He should be able to make it back to his tribe in that time and consult with his [Shaman], he would know what to do or be able to lend him some insight. With his shamanic wisdom, he would be able to guide him on what would be the best option to choose in this strange ritual.

Deciding to forego looking for his rod until later, he made all haste back to his tribe, so he could consult his [Shaman] about what was best to choose to serve his tribe. Painful small step, before painful small step, his heart filled with purpose that allowed him to ignore the pain, he walked back to the brick wall and leaned against it with his left hand for stability and started his painful walk back to his tribe.

-------

“Fall back! The bastard is casting again!”

Mereah kicked the goblin she had been fighting in the face and quickly disengaged. She found her squad, as they formed up in a shield wall, and joined the effort, linking her shield with the others as they had practiced countless times under Nimra's watchful eyes.

Breathing heavily, she glanced out of one of the little gaps as the [Shaman] finished his spell. The goblins on the field suddenly seemed rejuvenated and more intimidating. The small greyish creatures ran towards their shield wall, eyes closed to slits against the bright light of their light crystals mounted on their shields, and threw themselves at it with reckless abandon. Their claws tore long gashes in their shields, dislodging a light crystal here and there, illuminating random spots on the ground, casting confusing shadows within the writing goblin mass.

She braced as well as she could against the shock and the tearing from their small frames. They should not be able to be this strong. They had lost two soldiers in the initial attack. They had managed to get five goblins fairly quickly in their first charge, but then the [Shaman] had cast this cursed enchantment, and two of them had died in that surge before they had been able to regroup.

A mighty roar resounded as from a pile of bodies where Nimra had made his stand against the goblin [Chieftain], bringing it down after a fierce battle that left him with a shattered knee and giant gashes exposing his abdomen, and he had to be transported away from the frontlines to the healers.

The blood froze in her veins when she saw the frame of the goblin [Chieftain] rise from the pile of the corpses, the wounds on his body not bleeding, but the blood flowing back into his veins! The [Shaman] must have cast a restorative spell on it!

The goblin stood there flexing and stretching its muscles as it waited for his blood to flow black into his body.

It was standing there, glaring at them menacingly, whilst they did their best to keep the wall up against the furious goblins. Specs of wood torn from their shields flying around, guarding Nimra so the healers could patch him up so he could return to the field as soon as possible. Then it started to walk towards them, stepping over the bodies of its slain tribe members, with each step towards them he seemed to get angrier. The blood had stopped flowing up into his veins and seemed to be held into place by magic in his wounds, its muscles bulging with energy.

It started to run towards them, shouting something in its horrid guttural tongue, and the goblins that assailed them shouted back in a cheer, making room for him. He crashed into their wall with an explosive force, splintering one shield into two boards that fell away from the suddenly unguarded trainee. The goblin had collapsed from its charge, lying motionless over the shield, blocking the light-giving crystals.

The goblins that had made room for their [Chieftain] flowed over their prone leader and furiously flowed into the gap in the shield wall, breaking bones with primitive clubs, biting through shins with their sharp teeth, and rending open stomachs with their claws.

Their formation was broken and half of their squad was wounded by the sudden breach. The shield wall broke apart and suddenly Mereah found herself having to battle three goblins at once. She was with her back to the wall, fending off one goblin by swinging it at, whilst bashing another away with her shield. Her moment of imbalance was used by the third goblin which hit her knee with a club.

[You have suffered blunt force trauma]

[HP 29/31]

With a scream she fell through her knee, resisting the urge to let go of her weapon and shield, suddenly thankful for the painful bouts on the training field. She quickly positioned her shield between her and the goblin and caught the club on the edge.

The goblin she had chased away with her sword came charging at her, claws ready to gash her, whilst the goblin with the club tried to rip her shield away, jerking her off balance. She took an extra step towards the goblin jerking at her shield, leaning into it. This caused the goblin to lose his footing and fall backward. She dropped the shield on top of it and then stepped on the shield, pinning it under it. She then extended her sword towards the goblin, but couldn’t position it in time and it ran into her sword face first, getting stuck halfway up the blade, body falling limply dragging her blade down.

[You have slain a minor goblin]

Sudden pain in her back reminded her that there had been a third goblin, and it had just clawed at her back. She stumbled forward, grasping at her back, and felt warm hot liquid. Looking at her hand confirmed she was bleeding profusely from the wound. To add insult to injury the system came with a not so helpful message, to rub it in she had let her guard down.

[You are bleeding profusely]

[HP 25/31]

She held on to her blade with an impaled goblin on it as she stumbled away out of reach of her attacker. This gave the goblin she had pinned down time to get up and to hold her shield up between her and itself. It all but vanished behind the round shield as it inched closer to her, whilst the other goblin lunged for another attack.

She managed to deflect it by grabbing the goblin corpse by its leg and under its shoulder and using it as a meat shield. The corpse got torn up badly quickly and suddenly she felt it tear apart in her hands, holding legs and torso separately, and a goblin claw reaching for her stomach through the mess.

Barely thinking she dropped the corpse parts and heard her sword ring with a metallic sound as it hit the ground, muffled by the head it was logged in. She stepped back and twisted sideways, then grabbed the goblin by the wrist in one fluid motion, and added her strength to it, sending the goblin running into a wall headfirst, where it slid down dazed.

[You are bleeding profusely]

[HP 21/31]

The edge of a shield rammed into her back right where her wound was sending breathtaking sharp pains up her spine, quickly followed by a slash at her legs, which she managed to avoid by rolling forward.

[You have suffered blunt force trauma]

[HP 20/31]

She got up quickly and saw she was standing next to the dazed goblin she had bowled into the wall. She put her hands against the wall and then rammed her knees as hard as she could in its face, feeling the skull give under her strength with a loud and satisfying crunch.

[You have slain a minor goblin]

[You have suffered blunt force trauma]

[HP 19/31]

Stepping away in a fluid twist, ignoring the burning pain in her knee, she eyed the goblin that was facing her, its eyes burning with fury and face twisted in a bloodthirsty sneer. It started to run towards her, hunched down, claws ready for a quick slash, when it stumbled. With a sigh of relief, Mereah relaxed a bit. Without the shamanic boost, they were much easier to fight.

She took a step forward and then gave it a windmill kick to the side of the head, as it recovered its balance from the sudden loss of power, sending the goblin flying and then skidding to a halt in a heap.

She rushed to her sword and put a foot on the goblin head, pulling at her sword, but it was lodged firmly in the bone. Seeing the goblin unconscious and no other immediate threats, she went to recover her shield. With shield held in both hands, she started to bash the head of the goblin to pieces, until she was finally able to free the sword.

Covered in blood and gore, she walked to the unconscious goblin and looked down at it for a moment, sword hovering over it, before stabbing it through the throat, making sure to sever the spinal column. She didn’t fancy that [Shaman] resurrecting this one as well.

[You have slain a Goblin]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have gained a class: Bladedancer]

[You have gained a skill: Grace]

[You have gained a skill: Arc]

[You have gained a class trait: Fleet Footed]

[All stats +5]

She only glanced at the notification before dismissing it, taking the opportunity to look around in the relative lull of the battle she had created for herself. Noticing she was quite a ways removed from the main battle, where her peers were pressured into a tight spot, defending their wounded with broken shields amidst confusing shadows cast by the goblins standing over the dislodged light crystals.

She glanced over to where the shaman was and saw it was preparing another cast. If he managed to resurrect the [Chieftain] one more time they would be slaughtered to the last man. Whilst the [Shaman] was focussed on the main battle, she tried to stick to the walls and moved as quietly as she could around the [Shaman]. Her feet managed to find the perfect spots to tread, so she wouldn’t make a sound.

Waiting behind a crate behind the [Shaman] until his spell would near its conclusion, when the complexity would take all the focus of the goblin, she noticed that her squadmates were slowly pushing back the goblins from their position. With their boost gone, they were hardly a match for the steel and severely damaged shields of the soldiers.

Readying her sword in hand, looking past the crate waiting for the ideal moment, she took the time to study her new skills. When the [Shaman] lifted his arm towards the battlefield, she jumped up and started running towards the goblin. Her feet not making a sound, her movements graceful.

The goblin noticed her despite her silent steps and started to turn towards her. Turning her last step into a jump with a spin, swinging her sword in a wide arc. This left her wide open, a foolish move an experienced warrior would say, but one that would add extra strength to her swing. Which she suspected she would need.

The goblin ducked down from her swing, but not fast enough, and the top of his head was sheared off, his beaded scalp flying through the air and landing with a loud clatter of beads, only to be followed by the wet thud of the body.

Suddenly utterly exhausted, she stumbled over to the crates and sat down on one. Leaning on her sword guard, she observed how her squadmates decimated the goblins.