Note: Chapter 15.2 already mentioned that he didn’t get anything from the lizards. Also, if I don’t say he got a skill… that means he didn’t get a skill from killing something. From now on, if I don’t mention it… well, that means he didn’t get anything. As for the argument about OP vs Non OP, I like OP characters… but I like to gradually build them up to that. As I mentioned, I’m hoping to keep this story going for a while. Even if I stop typing every day, like I’ve been doing for the last two weeks, I will still put out longer chapters when I do put them out.

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There was heat! Yessss…. heat… heat for prey…..Ssssss… Fooood…..

Silently slithering through the ‘prey food’ and brush, the serpentine creature moved deliberately towards the source of heat. In its mind’s eye, the heat was not too high and not too low. It was about right for one of the two legged vermin that always intruded on what the creature considered the domain of its kind. Just in case, it’s forked tongue shot out, tasting the air and confirming the creature’s suspicions. The two legged vermin was real…. but nearby, there was another large heat source… the creature knew what it was of course, having felt the burning pain from the ‘ash that dances like the wind.’ That was the name the creatures had given to the small mound of heat that the two legged ones always made when they stopped for the night, especially since the air tasted like ash when the mound was near. The serpentine creature hissed its displeasure at the mound, not being able to sense much or taste anything near it, as its heat vision and sense of taste became confused and distorted when it tried.

It knew to avoid that mound of heat as much as possible, and thankfully, the two legged vermin was foolishly resting away from the mound. The creature pushed through the long stems of ‘prey food’ surrounding it, finally poking its head out into the clearing, where its prey was resting. Now was the moment of the hunt, the moment of life and death...!. The serpentine creature’s jaws slightly opened, revealing small, razor sharp serrated teeth… but those were not its true weapons. They were still retracted into its gums, ready to push out right before the final strike…

Then… it began. The creature flashed out of the tall ‘prey food,’ slithering rapidly towards its prey, ready to…..

Splsusshsh!

Hsssss! It had a moment of confusion, as its body plunged into some kind of mud. Usually, it wouldn’t have been stopped by something like this, but at the speed it had been moving… its body was now partially stuck in the mud and… sinking the more it tried to move. Hsssssssss! Shaahhhhhh! It was angry. Angry at the mud! Angry at being stopped! And lastly, angry as it saw its prey rising before it! That wasn’t all… Surprise flitted through the creature’s mind as it saw the mound of heat suddenly separate into two, and a tall source of heat rise up… The creature finally realized… It was a…

“The trap worked. You want to finish it or what, Jaeger?” Nevel asked the question even as he lounged against the nearby tree, watching the Blood Viper thrash violently in Richard’s ‘Quagmire’ trap.

Richard, who was now standing near the fire, covered in a large blanket, nodded and took aim with his right arm. With a thought, ‘Stone Projectile’ was cast, and the stone struck the creature’s body, eliciting a sharp hiss and nasal screech. Richard knew it wasn’t enough to actually kill the damn, 15 foot snake, especially since he missed the creature’s head, but it was enough to stun it just a bit. Picking up his newly gifted halberd, he got close enough to strike with the weapon. It took a dozen or more swings to actually kill the damn creature, as it kept thrashing and then tried to curl around the halberd’s metal blade to escape. When he was finally done, it looked like some mad butcher had taken his anger out at the snake by slicing up its head.

Ding!

The sound echoed in his ears, but he knew that he was the only one who had heard it. At the periphery of his vision, he saw a flashing icon… Richard smiled a bit, glad to have finally gotten whatever skill the stupid snake had. It had been a nerve wracking, seven days as he and Nevel had hunted in the outer portions of the marshlands for the dangerous, overgrown snakes. According to Nevel, the snakes were the top predators of the marshlands due to their size and powerful venom, and unfortunately, their population had skyrocketed with the Guard no longer actively hunting them due to the lack of funds. Even the small bounties posted for the creatures had gone unanswered as most independent hunters had sooner or later ended up dead, facing the creatures.

The reason was pretty simple: the Blood Viper venom. As far as Richard understood, the poison was so deadly, that a person could literally die within a dozen or so minutes of a blood viper bite. The physical symptoms over time were… gruesome to say the least. Anything from bleeding eyes and orifices to rotting parts of the body… that’s why the local people called them Blood Vipers. Of course, to make things worse, their venom had a secondary effect… mana poisoning. Nevel, who had some magic/skills of his own, indicated the venom also induced mana poisoning for a while, effectively cutting a person’s mana capacity in half. According to Nevel, those two dual abilities were why a Blood Viper could kill creatures, both magical and non-magical, that were larger and more powerful than itself.

It had taken more than 24 Blood Viper kills before Richard finally got the skill, and each of those kills had been different, with Nevel displaying a mix of traps, weapons, and hunting techniques. The master hunter/trapper had orchestrated the first twenty, sometimes using Richard as bait, but Richard had been allowed to design the last few. It seemed like a crash course in monster hunting, but Nevel had just emphasized one thing: know as much about your prey as you can before hunting it. Everything from its habits, living environment, usual prey, hunting techniques, and… its weaknesses. In the case of the Blood Viper, its vision was even worse than most snakes… so a heat based trap was the most effective.

“Alright, Jaeger. Get its mana stone and drag its body out of that mess. I’ll get the Bladel powder scattered.” Nevel stood up and began heading to their packs, containing Bladel powder securely sealed in a jar. The powder was basically ground up dried, Bladel leaves. The plant had a strong smell, which kept Blood Vipers away… and as common as they were, they were one of the reasons why the vipers had never spread out around the country side like a plague. It was kind of interesting that a top predator was afraid of a bunch of common plants… but Richard guessed it was something like a kid not wanting to eat his broccoli or something.

As he dug and dragged the still body of the snake out of the now solidified ground, Richard whistled in appreciation. The snake was the largest one yet… which made sense since this was the deepest he and Nevel had travelled into the marshlands in the last week. That meant that there were very few if any other Blood Vipers nearby. From what he had learned, they were very territorial. Pulling out his knife, he cut into the snake’s ripped up head, digging for the stone. Richard wasn’t afraid of accidentally cutting into the snake’s venom sack… because the creature didn’t have one. According to Nevel, the creature used magic to create its venom internally instead of producing it biologically. That was why it was classified as a magic creature instead of a normal beast.

When Richard had inquired whether all magic creatures had such abilities, Nevel had shook his head, chuckling. Richard still remembered the reply. “If every fricken’ creature had some kind of crazy magic, then we all be dead men… It’s like us humans, we all got some amount of magic en us, but that don’t mean all of us can do magic. On the other hand, some of us got a small amount of magic and can do some dangerous things. The Blood viper’s like the second kind of human. It can’t use its venom no more than a few times a day because it don’t got the magic to use it that much, but when it does… well, you best not be its prey.”

Richard smiled wryly, wondering if he was being a bit greedy about wanting different skills or spells, but the memory of being ambushed by those bandits was still too fresh. He realized that his ‘Stone Projectile’ was useful, but it hadn’t killed anyone immediately. All it had done was hurt or maim them. No doubt, it would get more powerful later, but for now, he needed something more deadly or at least another offensive skill/magic. And it seemed some kind of poison might be useful… Looking at the flashing icon in his vision, he mentally clicked on it, wondering what the skill would look like.

Sub-skill Blood Viper Venom Successfully Copied

Sub-skill: Blood Viper Venom

A highly dangerous hemotoxin produced through the manipulation of mana that can be applied to various surfaces and can cause severe physical damage if exposed to the blood of most creatures. As a secondary effect, it can also temporarily cripple a creature’s mana field. User has full immunity to the venom.

Level 1: Duration of mana constructed hemotoxin: 60 Seconds, Lethality on Venom Scale: 4/10

Skill Cool Down Time: 300 seconds

His smiled turned grim… it was good that he had immunity to the poison/venom. Otherwise… it looked like he would die pretty painfully if some of that poison got into him somehow. On the other hand, the short duration of the poison seemed to counterbalance against its effectiveness. Richard wasn’t exactly a doctor, but even he knew that the longer any poison had to work on a person’s body, the more dangerous it would be… He wasn’t sure how much of an effect it would have on something… until he actually experimented with it. That made him shiver just a bit in uncertainty…

“Jaeger, you done yet?” Nevel’s voice woke Richard up from his daydreaming, and he looked down at the index finger sized mana stone in his bloody hand.

“Yeah… I got it. But we need to skin this thing and salvage its fangs. Master will be happy with this one I think. Its big enough for him to chart their growths.”

Nevel walked over to where Richard was crouching. “So, that’s it then. We’re finished I hope?”

Richard replied, “Yeah… we’re done.” It had taken some fast talking and thinking to spin some crazy reason why Master Mulfow had needed the snakes, but in the end, Richard had used something he was curious about: a study of the magic creatures’ size, the size of their magic stones, and their physical composition. Nevel had only blinked… and shrugged, saying Master Mulfow had always been a bit weird.

“Alright, we’re heading back to the village in the morning. Staying out here for this long has been tempting fate. We’re lucky that the damn snakes haven’t been too hungry this year.” Nevel crouched down near Richard and began working on skinning the snake. Richard watched carefully without really saying anything. He had learned how to skin things properly… but he was still having trouble doing a good job of it. So, Nevel usually handled the bloody task.

An hour or so later, both of the men were seated near a fire, gnawing on roasted snake… Richard decided he wasn’t exactly a food connoisseur, right there and then… the oily meat had a very gamey taste to it and if wasn’t for the fact that they were low on supplies, Richard would have most likely spit out the meat after the first chew.

“So, Jaeger, what’re ya planning on doin’ when ya get back to Serenthal?” The question at least distracted him from the weird taste in his mouth. It was one of those things that Richard and Nevel had discussed on and off: the various professions available in this world. Things like becoming a priest, craftsman, merchant, mercenary, guard, farmer… However, other than inquiring about all that, Richard hadn’t really expressed an interest in anything to Nevel. Still, the hunter seemed pretty curious about things.

“Ahh…. I don’t know, Nevel. I figure I might help out Master Mulfow some more until I decide. Haven’t really seen enough to say.”

On the other side of the fire, the hunter nodded. “True, true. My pa always wanted me to become a merchant or somethin’ in the city… but me and the damn numbers never got on. Went there to ‘prentice under a merchant for a few years, but I couldn’t take the beatins’ and the insultin’ words for too long. Joined up with the Guard after, but those oath sworn bastards were as bad… sayin’ ya cant’ do this or that, cause we couldn’t break the city treaty…”

Richard had learned that the hunter had a major dislike for the Guards as a organization early on in their hunting expedition, but this was the first time he had heard why exactly. “What do you mean about the oath. The stable… someone back in Serenthal said something similar about being oath sworn.”

Nevel looked down into the fire with a scowl. “If yer asking about the oath, you really must not be from around here, lad…” Sighing, the hunter continued, “The oath is pretty basic, but it was created by the settlers when they first came out here, a bit over a hundred years ago. Back then, all this land here was mostly wild lands with the closest cities or towns being to the east among the warring kingdoms or to the West among the Kingdom of Filiaranthon or Astori Lands as we usually call ‘em. But, when our people settled here, there were no lords or kings… just farmers and merchants not wantin’ to bow to a bunch of stuck up prigs. Of course… to keep some bastard from takin’ over like that, the council of elders back then created the ‘Oath’ for the Guard. It goes like this: ‘I as a guardsman, swear to defend Serenthal and its lands from all enemies and to uphold the laws of the council against all enemies. My word is my oath, and my oath is my life.’ The oath may have been great when the council was actually made of elders, who cared about the people. But now, it’s grasard shit… the fools back then forgot that greed can do a lot even if yer no lord. But ta make things worse, about twenty years ago, part of the Guard rebelled, ‘cause they didn’t like some of the things he council was startin’ to talk about… like forcing people to work as indentured servants. The rebellion was crushed when the council brought in mercenaries to help control things. Of course, things only got worse from then… the Guard was decreased in size and eventually, years later, the Indentured Servitude Ordinance was declared… Things went to shit after that. Now… saying you’re oath sworn is the same as saying you don’ dare to break the council’s laws, ‘cause you and everyone ya know are dead men if ya do.”

Richard frowned and quietly said, “The Indentured Servitude Ordinance… Those collars I saw people wearing…”

Nevel looked up and fixed his dark eyes on Richard. “Yeah those… It means yer a slave. No basturd will say it where some council flunky can hear it… but that’s what a collar means... Indentured servant my ass…”

The silence that filled the campsite was a poignant one. Richard didn’t disagree with the hunter… and now that he had heard a little bit more about Serenthal’s history, he understood the Guard and the people a little bit better. Still… somethings weren’t right no matter what oaths were sworn and how much you were afraid. However, Richard wondered if he had the right to be saying that after being so confused because he killed one bandit.

“Hello the Camp!” The shout jolted Richard out of his thoughts, and he immediately grabbed his short sword that was lying within reach and took a knee in the ground, ready to roll or run in any direction. Across the fire, Nevel also went on guard and began looking around for the source of the shout.

A few seconds later, both men made out five dark figures, shoving through the tall grass towards the campsite. Nevel looked over to Richard and stuck out five fingers, signaling how many he saw. Richard did the same and motioned that they should retreat into the tall grass. His pulse was racing again, and his thoughts kept going back to the last encounter with strangers at night… But, Nevel shook his head and motioned for Richard to move away from the campfire just a bit, so he was in the dark. Richard nodded jerkingly and quietly walked over to the nearby tree while still crouched.

Nevel shouted, “Identify yerself!”

A few seconds later, the same man’s voice yelled back, “We come in peace!”

Nevel looked at Richard, who just shrugged. He had no clue why peaceful people were moving around at night…

After a few second of hearing the grass rustling getting closer, Nevel shouted, “Come out with yer hands in the clear! I don’t want any trouble!”

After a brief time of nervously waiting, Richard finally saw the new arrivals. Two of the men were wearing a mix of leather armor and animal skins and had the look of experienced warriors. One of others, the third man, was slender, wearing sturdy, yet expensive looking clothing and had clean cut, brown hair. Richard didn’t like him at all… His angular face had that weasely look that greedy lawyers usually had, and the way the man’s narrowed eyes kept moving, taking in everything as though they were assessing things worried Richard. Of course, the real reason why Richard decided not to trust them was the last two people. Both of them were women, one with black hair and other with blonde hair, and from what Richard could tell, they were relatively pretty… However, they wore collars…

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Note: The venom skill was a bit hard to explain. I wanted to list out the concentrations etc… , but after doing a bit of research, I found the expression of venom toxicity to be very… complicated. So, instead I made it a scale where 10 is like death in less than a minute. Also, keep in mind that the Mimic skill also creates 50% powerful spell for the MC, so you could say that the original venom was like 8/10 on my scale. As far as explaining what a hemotoxin is… browse the short webpage below…it was very… um informative…

http://malct32.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-does-snake-venom-hemotoxin-affect.html