Marshal and Alex looked to each other and said at the same time, “shit.”

Both of their eyes were wide like saucers. Neither of them could believe it was over. The menace that had them trapped was gone.

Letting out a groan, Alex collapsed onto the grass. His whole body shook as he opened up his inventory and took out a small brown pill. It was about the size of a small marble with some small green flecks covering its surface. Tilting his head back, he swallowed it.

“Are you alright?” Marshal asked. He jogged over and took in his friend’s ragged body.

Looking up close, he sucked in a cold breath. He knew Alex had taken quite a beating, but he realized he had underestimated just how badly hurt his friend was.

His body was covered with wounds ranging from minor bruises and scrapes, to broken bones. It was a miracle he was even alive.

He opened his status window, wanting to see if he could purchase any healing items. However, he was quickly stopped by Alex.

“Don’t,” he huffed. “I’ll be fine. You already spent a lot of your points.”

“But-.”

Before Marshal could finish, Alex interrupted him. “You need to understand, if your points hit zero in any category, you could die.”

“What?” Marshal said with a gasp.

I almost decided to use all my fame. That was close. Marshal thought.

“Yup, you should be grateful that I decided to be nice enough to give you a warning.”

Marshal turned around to see Bartus flying behind him. The imp had a toothy grin on his porch mark covered face.

“See,” Alex said. “You are too low on points to help.”

Bartus snorted coldly. “I can’t believe you have survived this long.”

“What do you mean?” Alex frowned.

“I’m saying you are pretty ignorant for a veteran player. Check your points, both of you.”

Half reluctantly, Marshal checked his Fate page, and was surprised by what he saw.

“How?” Marshal asked, his jaw dropping from shock.

On his page, his five points in luck was now seventeen. Also, both his health and fame were at twenty.

“Simple, you earned a part of the unfulfilled fate of that undead centaur.” Bartus said with a yawn. “So, are you going to buy something or what? I dislike wasting time.”

Well that sure doesn’t stop you from berating us. Marshal thought before saying, “yes, but first explain what you mean.”

“That is not my job.”

“Well in that case, I think I want to slowly browse through the list of available healing items. Got to make sure I’m buying the best.” Marshal said with a laugh, and started to comb through the list. He hunched his body over the panel like a grandpa trying to read a newspaper. A finger combing through the available options letter by letter.

This development made Bartus displeased, and he made sure it showed. His face turned beat red and he tapped his foot in the air. Despite this, he remained quiet, or that’s what he wanted to do. With each minute that passed by, the more fidgety he became.

“Fine! You win!” Bartus shouted while flinging. His arms up into the air. “Basically each time you kill a being in Parcaeland, you inherit a part of their fate.”

“So, like gaining experience?”

“No! Well, maybe, in this case,” Bartus grumbled unhappily. “But I will warn you one last time. This is not a game.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Marshal brushed him off. “Can you tell me what is so important about points?”

“Nope.”

“Wow, did you know that the store has several hundred kinds of bandages? I better read the medicinal properties for each one.”

“The answer is still no.” Bartus now had a serious face. “I’m merely a shopkeeper. You can decide to research every single item for all I care. There are things I’m not permitted to discuss.”

“Really?” Marshal asked with a raised eyebrow.

“He is telling the truth.” Alex said.

He came over wearing a new set of clothes that looked a lot like medieval peasant cosplay. His outfit consisted of a simple grey tunic with baggy brown pants and a large leather belt. What was truly odd, however, was the lack of wounds on his body.

“You’re… You’re healed. How?” Marshal gasped like he just saw a ghost.

After all, while he did not seem to be at death's door, those wounds were severe enough to take months to heal. Now, even the broken arm was mended.

“You were taking your time, and I noticed I also earned quite a few points.” Alex replied with a shrug. “I did burn through most of it though to buy a high quality healing pill.”

“Are points all you guys got?” Bartus asked, a bit of intrigue in his voice.

“Yeah, why?” Marshal asked.

“No reason. If you're lucky you’ll find out later.”

“You’re trying a bit too hard to be mysterious. You know that?” Marshal groaned. Nothing irked him more than unanswered questions.

“I can’t help it. Anyways, are you going to order anything, or can I go?”

Marshal paused for a second. If this incident has taught him anything, it was best to be prepared. Parcaeland was clearly a dangerous place he needed to formulate a plan to ensure his survival.

First things first, I should get a weapon and maybe some more of those talismans. That elixir that Alex took would be pretty useful to have as well.

There were so many amazing items he wished to buy, but unfortunately his capital was simply too low. Plus, he had no intention of testing the negative effects of having zero points.

After, asking Bartus to put together several lists, Marshal finally came to a conclusion on which items he most desperately needed.

“I’ll buy a Minor Healing Pill, one Minor Shock Talisman, one Minor Smoke Talisman, and one Ironwood Bow Set.”

“Let’s see, the total is twenty five points in total. Five for the healing pill, ten for the talismans, and another ten for the bow set. How would you like the payment to be received?”

“Deduct five from luck and ten from the other categories respectively.”

“Very well,” Bartus said and clapped his hands twice. “The items you ordered have been placed in your inventory.”

“Thanks,” Marshal said and dismissed the shop window, allowing the moody imp to retire.

With an excited grin, Marshal checked his inventory to inspect his new equipment. The Minor Shock Talisman was the same as before, and the Minor Smoke Talisman was similar; with the only difference being that the ink was light grey. Next, he took out the Minor Healing Pill, and seeing it look identical to the one Alex consumed, carefully put it back.

The last item he took out was the one he truly cared about, the Ironwood Bow. As the name suggested, it was a dark wooden bow with a metallic sheen to it. When he ran a hand over its smooth surface, it felt like he was touching actual steel.

While the weapon looked impressive, it was nothing compared to the other kinds of bows for sale. Some of the more expensive had magical abilities, like allowing an arrow to change trajectory mid flight. The Ironwood Bow was the one of the cheapest of its kind. Despite that, Marshal was very satisfied with his purchase. Especially because it was a part of a set. Along with the bow, there were three Ironwood Arrows in his inventory.

With these items, he was ready to start phase one of his plan. Turning to Alex, he put on a big smile. It was time to hunt.