Done testing my spells, I checked my notifications just to make sure, but it looks like that was it. It was definitely a good haul for however long I’ve been here. But now I have to decide what to do. I could either get out of the cave, and if it’s still light out I could go find that town, or I could explore the rest of this cave. It looks like I’ve cleared most of this cave, seeing as no more monsters have decided to attack me. So if I explore I might find some loot with no to very little fighting. Or there could be a boss who could sneeze me out of existence.

‘Aeeh, what the hell’. I’m here, I might as well explore this entire place. I mean what's the worst that can happen. I die, been there done that. With that thought on my mind, I walked down the cave.

Nothing eventful happened until I found my way to a split in the path. There were two options, I could either continue straight or turn to the right. Not having any better ideas I turned right, (because right is always right). The hallway opened up into a rough stone opening. It looked like it could fit 4-5 of those things I had killed earlier. There were some dead mice strewn about the floor, and it smelled like week-old gym socks. Suffice it to say, I didn’t stay long.

I backtracked to the split and went onto the other pathway. It took another 5 minutes before I found my way into another opening. This one seemed to be double the size of the previous one and smelled just as bad. I approached the doorway slowly. Keeping my eyes and ears open for anything. I made my way to the entrance and heard a noise coming from inside. Before I did anything else I walked further back down the cave and put down my coin purse. I was not making that mistake again. Done with that, I entered into the room just far enough to see what I was up against.

On the back end of the cave, there were three silhouettes, all quietly snoring on a bed of skins. I was about 6 metres away from them with a dagger in hand. I had a quick argument in my mind on whether to retreat or not. Fighting quickly won out seeing as they were sleeping and I could hopefully kill them without a fight.

I debated whether to cast a spell I decided against it. I was still getting used to my new speed so increasing that would only worsen the issue and make me more clumsy. Besides if everything went right I would have no need for extra speed. I also had no idea what the other spell felt like. I might get surprised if I randomly felt a brand new sensation. I also had the issue of running out of mana, and if that happened in a fight I would be done for.

I activated stealth and slowly made my way to my targets. Each step causing my heart to beat faster. I slowly bent down, only inches away from my targets. I poised the dagger above the first monsters neck, sweat coming down my back in waves. Just as I was about to stab down I heard a horrifying noise. It rebounded off the walls, sounding like thunder in the quiet space. My stomach rumbled loud enough to wake the dead or at least the sleeping. “For fuck's sake!”. I stabbed my dagger down onto the neck of the monster I was above and aimed another killing blow on the next nearest one. He moved away just in time and I only managed to score a wound across his right biceps.

He oriented himself far to quickly and returned a blow against me. The claws drew three pales lines of blood across my cheek, while I stepped back. I could hear both the monsters get up and let out a deafening shriek. I pulled back enough to get a quick glance at them. The monster on the left was similar in height to all the other. But the other one. Well, let’s just say I attacked the wrong giberling. I could only see the silhouette of the monster, but that was enough to make a little water come down my pants. The other monsters was similar to its kin, only a bit over 5 foot. But other one had to be other 7 feet tall at the very least.

We all stood staring until the monsters gained their senses and rushed me. The smaller monster was the first to come at me and had one thought before the monster swung at me. I could really do with some music right now. I easily ducked under the first blow with my new speed and struck out with my dagger. The giberling moved out of the way and let out a low menacing growl. I rushed forward striking with all my speed. I slashed a line of red across the length of the monster's chest. It returned with a backswing which I easily dodged, and returned with a punch from my off hand.

I saw the next one coming and maneuvered so only one could come at me at a time. The large one came next. Charging at me with a haymaker. I dodged back easily, letting blow strike the wall. Running forward I struck it with my dagger, releasing a flurry of slashes against the creature. It managed to move back and dodge most of the blows. A few slashes hit, however, and left lines of red crisscrossing the monsters chest.

My stamina was draining quickly, and I had already used half of it up and it was not regenerating fast enough. I would need to finish this fight quickly.

The smaller monster came at me again, when the bigger one stepped back, not stopping when I struck with my dagger. Moving its body the monster dodged part of the dagger, while the rest of its body slammed into me, knocking both off us over. I tucked my head in, stopping it from hitting the floor. I could feel the monster's breath on my face, sending chills down my spine. I stabbed my dagger into its side. Causing it to recoil, I then pulled my knees in and kicked the creature back with all the force I could muster.

My respite didn’t last long as the other monster came in and slammed his clawed foot down onto my face. I rolled just in time causing the foot to slam on my hand instead, making me drop my dagger. I screamed in pain, I could feel a few bones in fingers break under the force. Quickly getting up I took a few steps back, cradling my injured arm to my chest.

The large one charged in, leaning in I put all my body weight into a front kick to the monster's stomach. I felt my feet sink in nicely and ran in to take advantage of his pain. Releasing my injured arm I punched him in the face, then followed up by moving past the monster to grab its chin I then pushed the chin up and then forced it straight back down to the ground. I could hear when his body slammed into the ground, the sound reverberated from the cave walls. I pulled my foot up and slammed it into his face once before the smaller monster was back on me.

The monster was limping and holding its side but still coming strong. I pushed my weight into my leg and kicked out again with all the force I could muster. The creature unceremoniously fell to the floor were I simply stomped on its head until it lay lifeless on the floor.

I stabbed both the monsters in the head just to be sure before promptly falling to the floor beside them. Everything hurt and I was exhausted. I just laid there until my stamina was a quarter full, and even still all I wanted in life at that moment was to sleep, but now was not the time.

When the adrenaline left, my attention was brought back to my hand. It definitely had at least a few broken bones. I don’t know what would happen if I regenerate with unaligned broken bones, but I would rather not find out. I just had to hope the nearby town had a doctor.

I was about to head out when I noticed a spot that seemed to reflect the minuscule amount of light coming from the moss. Cautiously moving over to the spot, wincing when I moved a little. I examined the shining spot. It had it has been covered by a large unmoving rock. Under that large stone was the thing reflecting the light. The only problem was I couldn’t reach it with the rock on top of it. Trying to lift the rock was an effort in futility due to my maimed hand. With a sigh of resignation, I got into a good angle and kicked the rock full force. Pain flared in my hand with each movement, forcing the bones in my hand to grind together, but I continued. Pushing past the pain I kicked again and again until the rock tumbled off.

Brushing past some loose pebbles I found a dull sword, that looked to be covered in age, but no worse for wear. There was a thick coating of dust on the sword, but no rust. Picking up the sword a new notification appeared in my vision with a sparkling red title.

You have found a ????? one-handed longsword

Quality - splendid

Durability - 1148/1500

Rarity - rare

Damage - (37 - 42)

Magic: Unknown

Weight - 1.1kg

You do not meet the requirements of 55 dexterity to use this weapon.

You do not meet the requirements of 19 strength to use this weapon

This magical longsword was scribed with unknown symbols and made from an unknown metal.

Running my fingertips along the edge of the blade I could definitely tell that it was still sharp, even after many years it lay here. On the faces of the blade, there were strange symbols, which I could only guess were some magic things similar to runes. The hilt of the blade did not fare so well, however. It was crumbling in my hands, and the leather was torn so bad, it was more threads than sheath. Swinging the blade around I could definitely that this was not made from any earthly metal. It was heavy and sturdy, but the blade also seemed to travel faster than it should have. The sword also had durability many magnitudes larger than my dagger. I also found out why I needed more dexterity and strength for this blade. After just a few swings I was already struggling to move the sword, with the blade feeling faster than it should have. I was having a lot of trouble controlling it. After the second time I almost took my nose off, I decided to stop playing around.

Excited with my first find I returned to the place where the rock fell. The first thing I found was a sheath for the blade. It fared no better than the hilt of my new blade. It was in tatters, crumbling into dust at the bottom of the safe. The next thing I found definitely made up for it.

A bag made of threadbare linen lay at the back of the safe. The second I tried to lift the bag up it turned to dust. Where in I heard the sound of ‘clink clanks’ on the floor. “Damm,” it was going to take forever to pick all this stuff up in the dark. Bending over and lifting one that didn’t go too far, up to my eyes, a notification appeared telling me that I had found a gold coin.

That was way better in terms of monetary value than silver. At least it was on earth, and I also heard at least a handful of coins fall all on the floor. I bent down to all three’s with renewed energy. ‘Ahh money, it can brighten any day, even my hands somehow hurts less.’ All in all, I had found a total of 10 gold coins after a few minutes of searching, but I was pretty certain I had found all of them.

Placing the coins in my bag it started to droop from the newly added weight. With that done I returned to safe to see anything else inside the chest. I didn’t find anything useful, however, I did find what looked like a crumbling miniaturised crossbow at the back. I swallowed, my mouth suddenly becoming dry. If that still worked, I would have been very dead. Shuddering at my stupidity I picked up my sword and hobbled out of the cave.

When I exited the cave I let out a sigh of relief. I had made it. I also noticed just how dry my mouth was. I guess intensely fighting really dehydrated you, who would have guessed? I went over to the river drinking a big gulp of water. With near death out of the way, my stomach decided to let itself be known again. Actually, scratch that, even near-death my stomach still has time to rumble.

Reaching my hand up above my eyes I looked at the sun to see that it was already near the horizon. I let a slight grimace onto my face, I would have to rush if I wanted to make it into the town before nightfall. Well, as a wise man once said better get moving or better get dying. That wise man being of course me. Changing the grip on my sword, I continued into the forest at a speed walk. Well as fast as you can walk in a heavily forested area with a broken hand and a sword.

As I walked I opened up the mountainous amount of notification that had accrued. The first one that came up did nothing to improve my mood. It was coloured in an ominous blood red.

Debuffs:

Broken left hand:

You have a broken left hand:

-All mobility in hand is decreased by 80%

-You are unable to carry or lift with your hand

-5% harder to do anything involving the mind

Straighten your arm and weight for it to heal, or find a healer to remove this debuff.

Hungry:

You haven't eaten in a few days and have gotten the debuff: Famished

-Stamina regeneration is decreased by 20%, health regeneration is decreased by 30%

-max stamina cap is reduced by 20%

-10% harder do anything involving the mind

Eat some food to remove this debuff

Exhaustion:

You have exhausted your energy and have gained a debuff: Weary

-Stamina regeneration decreased by 15%

-Max stamina cap is reduced by 15%

-10% harder do anything involving the mind

Get a good night's sleep to remove this debuff

Hopefully, in the town, I’ll be able to find a doctor, and more importantly, EAT SOME GODDAMN FOOD! The next notification was much better.

You have increased the skill daggers.

Level 4 novice -- Level 5 novice

-+5% more damage when wielding daggers

You have increased the skill stealth.

Level 3 novice -- Level 5 novice

- 10% less noise made and 10% harder for others to see you when stealth is active.

- 25% more stamina consumed and 35% slower movement speed when stealth is active.

You gained the skill unarmed combat

Level 4 novice -- Level 6 novice

- +6% more damage when fighting unarmed

You have killed a level 7 Gibberlings(✕2) and a level 10 alpha Gibberling for a total of 1600 experience.

No wonder those last guys were so much harder to kill. The tall guy was double their normal level. If I didn’t get the sneak attack on that guy at the start I could have been a lot more seriously injured, or maybe even killed. Letting the tension from my shoulders go, I focused on the last notification.

Congratulations! You have done an extremely rare feat, for killing 5 monsters 5 times your level your title “punching above your weight” has upgraded and become “The strong fear ME!” All previous bonuses apply, and this additional one;

The strength of will and might required to kill enemies so much stronger than you has seeped into your very soul. Respect and fear come in equal amounts when confronting you. You can now activate a fear aura that applies a weak fear effect against enemies (stackable). You now have an aura of respect around you, +10% to positive social interactions, -10% to negative social interactions.

Now that was awesome. Social interactions are useful in any society and gaining a 10% boost in them is a huge gain. The fear effect also looked useful but there was one thing I wasn't sure about so I focused on it.

Weak Fear Effect:

The fear effect affects the mind of the one targeted. They are more susceptible to intimidation, and they have -5% to any actions. Effects of fear can be decreased if the targeted user, has a strong will or good control over their mind.