Wham!

Damon groaned. The landing hadn’t exactly hurt, but the uncomfortable feeling of going from terminal velocity to a complete stop instantly, had really done a number on him. He lay there for a few moments, while collecting his thoughts, marvelling at the sky above him that appeared as a sea of blue with spots of white drifting slowly across his vision.

It was then he noticed the floating red, green and blue bars in the top left of his vision. They were surprisingly clear and when he focused on the crimson bar at the top, it grew slightly and the numbers 100/100 could be seen in clear black font.

Numbers were another thing he’d had to learn, they were surprisingly simple to recognise and he already knew the names for them all. So, it’d hadn’t taken him much time at all to memorise as much as he could count.

The green bar below it showed the same as the red, but the blue bar was faded out and didn’t grow when he focused on it. Frowning, Damon dismissed the problem for another time and focused on the blinking blue icon in the bottom right of his vision.

Welcome to King's Wrath!

This world is a hard and unforgiving one. You may become whatever you want and do whatever you wish, but be warned; there are consequences to your actions.

War is coming, are you ready?

Huh. Thought Damon. Finally standing and dismissing the notification. Looking around, he noticed a small brown object by what he could only assume was a tree, by the distinctly large outline. He treaded over to it, the snow under his feet making soft depression noises as he moved. The wind picked up for a moment and suddenly Damon realised he was only wearing a plain grey loose shirt, made of a rather itchy cloth. His brown trousers were equally as uncomfortable and the boots he wore did little to combat the wet snow underfoot. He shivered, finally feeling the biting cold in the air. Not pleasant, especially when all his senses were much more heightened, while his eyesight was still very poor.

When he picked up the object, he discovered it was a leather bag. Inside, he found a piece of hard bread; a leather flask of a liquid Damon guessed was hopefully water, by the sloshing inside; some sort of paper with strange squiggles on it; and a rusty looking dagger, whose handle was wrapped in dark, eroded leather. Quite simply, this dagger had seen better days. Although to Damon, it was a perfectly good dagger. He'd never actually used a dagger or any sharp object before so really wasn't an expert. When he inspected the items, small prompts appeared.

Dirty Leather Bag

This bag is in real need of a good wash, the dirt has actually become part of the bag and is an integral part of the structure, adding a slight increase to carrying weight.

Total carrying weight capacity: 10Kg

Durability: 14/20

Rusty Copper Dagger

This dagger has seen far better days. Not even appropriate for cutting up food, let alone harming something.

Damage: 2-5 physical

Durability: 10/20

Small Stale Loaf of Bread

This bread seems to have stayed a little too long in the wrong kind of enviroment. Best eat it quickly before it starts to mold.

HP gain: +20 HP

Durability: 3/5

Badly Drawn Map

This barely legible map shows an area containing the Diamond Villages. How accurate this map really is, one can't really say

Durability: 4/5

Small Leather Flask

This flask leaks ever so slightly over time and gives off a slightly disturbing smell.

Contents: Fresh water

Durability: 8/10

So the piece of paper was a map. Not really of any use to Damon, he'd never learnt how to read maps before. So he ignored it, instead focusing back on the other items.

Suddenly, Damon heard a low growl from behind him and he whirled around just in time to see a grey mass leap towards him. He was so surprised by the sudden attack, he stumbled back and tripped over a root in the ground, falling backwards. This lack of balance turned out to save his life. The grey mass had been expecting to meet resistance from its leap and so overshot Damon. Causing it to instead slam, head first, into the tree he'd been crouching in front of. It wasn't all good news though, the mass had still landed on Damon’s legs. The weight of whatever it was, pinned him to the ground, while it tried to recover from the tree headbutt.

You have received 10 physical damage from Forest Wolf.

Panicking, Damon started flaying his arms, trying to drag himself out from under the Forest Wolf that had attacked him. It was no use, the creature was too heavy and Damon didn’t have a very good angle to lift the body off by himself. Falling back, Damon’s hand scraped against something sharp and he quickly inhaled a breath.

You have received 1 physical damage from Rusty Copper Dagger.

Shit! Damon thought, ignoring the pain and grabbing the handle of the dagger. He must have dropped it when he fell. Twisting his body, Damon plunged the dagger into the creature’s fur covered side. Belatedly realising the fur was warm and quite soft against his skin.

You have dealt 3 physical damage to Forest Wolf.

You have dealt 3 physical damage to Forest Wolf.

You have dealt 2 physical damage to Forest Wolf.

…

…

Damon kept stabbing, while the creature above him began to come out of its dazed state. It moved then, its head snapping round, it’s body turning with it. The wolf attempted to snap its jaws around Damon’s arm. Regrettably for the creature, at that exact moment Damon stabbed down again with his knife and the blade went straight through the soft, wet nose of the wolf. Straight through into the snout. Bone and cartilage crunched and the wolf let out a pitiful whimper and jerked away, releasing the blade from its now tattered snout. The smell of blood permeated the air and the feeling of something wet splattered onto Damon’s face.

(Critical Hit)

You have dealt 12 physical damage to Forest Wolf.

You have dealt 6 physical damage to Forest Wolf.

Capitalising on being free to move again, Damon stood and lunged forwards. Stabbing again, at what he could only assume was the Wolf’s head, catching it just below its left eye. The blade slide up, piercing straight through and into the soft tissue behind. A faint popping noise could be heard, as Damon’s hand was covered in a jelly like substance.

(Critical Hit)

You have dealt 16 physical damage to Forest Wolf.

Damon pulled the knife out, snarling with disgust, preparing to strike again. The wolf, in a last ditched effort, lashed out with its jaws again. It crunched down around Damon’s leg, the sickening sound of tearing as teeth rendered flesh echoed through the woods.

You have received 25 physical damage from Forest Wolf.

Damon screamed as the wolf began to shake its head vigorously, its jaws still clamped around Damon’s leg - just above the ankle. He could feel bone groan under the pressure and he fell backwards into the soft snow, his leg already going numb from shock.

Your right leg is crippled. Movement speed reduced by 50%.

You have received 5 physical damage from Forest Wolf.

You have received 5 physical damage from Forest Wolf.

Instinctively, Damon began ramming his blade into the wolf’s head again and again. A wet crunch rang out, each time he sank the knife in and a wet sucking answered, as he withdrew the blade over and over.

You have dealt 12 physical damage to Forest Wolf.

You have dealt 14 physical damage to Forest Wolf.

You have dealt 12 physical damage to Forest Wolf.

Congratulations you have slain Forest Wolf (Level 5) +75 Exp

Damon kept stabbing, completely oblivious of the blue window that had popped up in front of him. He couldn’t believe this pain, or the realism of what was happening.

Slowly, after a few minutes of mad stabbing, the cold air around Damon and the lack of movement from the wolf calmed him down enough to realise the wolf was dead. He finally stopped maiming its head, which was now just a red mess of flesh and bone. Damon silently thanked the fact he couldn’t see properly as he attempted to survey the damage. Feeling slightly queasy, Damon looked away from the corpse of the dead animal and instead peered around himself. No more dark shapes as far as he could tell, and he could only hear the small chirps of birds. A squirrel ran across a low branch to his left. The wildlife seemed almost unaffected by the fight that just occured. Damon finally read the notification and then dismissed it.

Damon then looked down at his leg. He couldn’t see it properly but he could still feel the pain. Although slightly numbed thanks to the freezing snow on the floor, there was still a faint throbbing whenever he focused on it.

Having heightened touch senses really sucked right about now! Damon thought, trying to stand, but the leg wouldn’t take any weight.

Guess this is what it means by crippled, huh? Damon fell to the ground once more and simply sat there, his back to the tree, waiting for his health to regenerate back to full. He hoped another wolf wouldn’t be passing by anytime soon.