Scott forgot all about the arrow in his calves. In fact, if he had paid any attention to it, he'd have realized that the bleeding had stopped a while back, in the area where it pierced his flesh. But at the moment, his mind was on something else completely.
'The combat notifications are really long and verbose! They might be good to analyze after a big fight but during combat, I don't think I want to see them. Okay…let's see if I can tweak that.'
After struggling with the System for several minutes, Scott was able to ensure that he'd still receive notifications about important status effects, buffs, and debuffs on him and the enemy, but anything else would be suppressed in the notifications, during active combat.
'But I still need actual data. How would I be able to confirm whether my enemy is at the brink of death if I don't see a health bar!'
Even as he thought that Scott mentally admonished himself for being utterly ridiculous. He had to keep in mind that this world is as real as they come. Yes it may have magic in it, but it does not have HP, MP bars, or Attribute points, or Mini-maps to detect enemies (well that one's a little iffy…maybe?). It was just him that had received all these numbers and values, in order for him to have a metric of unknown accuracy for his own power compared to others. It was the assistance of the System, not a property of this Realm.
'But still…is it possible to have a health bar to indicate the rough estimate of how long I, or the enemy, can fight without losing our lives? It's not that big an ask if you can estimate power levels, right?'
Scott kept trying several mental commands with varying degrees of creativity in order to achieve what he wanted from the System, but he was met with silence on all his attempts.
'Ok fine…if not health bar, what about damage values? Maybe we can start from there and extrapolate? I already have a Strength attribute that has a numerical value. Surely it is possible to convert it into an approximate damage value based on weapon…and…whatever other parameters are needed…and then maybe determine an average health bar from the number of hits it took to kill my enemy? I mean statistically speaking I only have the single sample here…'
Scott rambled on and on mentally, straining the limits of his verbal flair, hoping that the System would allow at least one of the variations. It was only after several more tries that he remembered what the System…Brianna…had told him before teleporting him to Athionia.
Damn it…I can't believe I forgot that and wasted so many precious minutes. Only basic functionalities for now, until I do more quests. Ok…that's doable…hopefully.'
Next, he was curious about the new skill that he'd learned during combat and also somehow managed to upgrade. He mentally selected the skill and started perusing the details.
Shadow Artist - Level 1
<<…Shadow Artist - An enhanced version of the Skill - Stealth Artist. The user is adept at moving undetected and ambushing unaware enemies. Each successful hit the user manages to land, to the opponent's vitals and semi-vulnerable areas, without letting them see, or hear, or feel the user's presence will all be critical and deal significantly more damage, and not break the Ambush buff if the User is under its effect. Each level in this skill will allow the user to stay undetected with more ease and further hone the ability of the User to remain unseen and unheard in myriad environments. Each level in this skill increases Agility and Dexterity by +1…>>
Scott was both pleasantly surprised and shocked at the new skill he'd gained. He could see its utility right away, although he displaced any notions of RPG stealth from his mind immediately. He knew he would be detected regardless of his skill level if he made any rookie mistakes. At the same time, he could sense a new presence in his mind, a…head-space for the lack of better terms…where he was suddenly cognizant about several techniques to reduce his presence in front of people, various concealing techniques both while moving and being still, movement techniques, maneuvers, breathing techniques, ways to remain silent….it was a jumble of information that somehow all connected in his mind and made sense to him when he thought about it. And…he also realized his limitations. Even if he knew the theory, he was well aware that if there is no practice behind these techniques, it will fail.
'Well, that's one way to level the skill up, I guess. Wait…this is an upgraded version of another skill, let me check that out.'
Scott quickly looked through the skill 'Stealth Artist' that he'd initially gained when he'd successfully launched a sneaky ambush on the killer. It was mostly similar to Shadow Artist with a few noticeable differences. First, it only dealt Critical damage to the opponent's vitals. Shadow Artist had an added provision for semi-vulnerable areas. Scott thought about it for a bit and realized it made sense. With Stealth Artist, areas like the stomach or the back of the opponent might not get critical hits, but Shadow Artist will ensure it as long as he's undetected.
The Attribute bonus between them was also different. Stealth Artist gave the user +2 Dexterity per level, while Shadow Artist has +1 to two Attributes - Agility and Dexterity.
'Wait…is that where the huge Dexterity boost I got came from? Because I upgraded it so fast? I guess…that would make sense.'
He'd also gained a single point in Agility while in combat. With the added bonus from Level 1 in Shadow Artist, his Agility saw an increase of 2 points. His Dexterity on the other hand had increased by a whopping 41 points. Scott was excited to try the effects out immediately.
His mini-map was still showing no signs of any entities; hostile or otherwise, so Scott deemed it safe to get down from the tree. The moment he landed on the ground, he had a sense of his new stat boost. Scott was not shabby at climbing trees, but this time his movements were beyond perfection - as if his body was forcing him to perform it with the utmost efficiency. No wasted movements, no false footings. It was in fact so strange to his body, that the boost in Dexterity actually made him clumsier. His body was not used to the change yet, and he realized he'll need to consolidate it with some kind of training.
Before he could start experimenting, he realized that he'd left a corpse at the base of the first tree he'd climbed. Scott moved towards the body and saw it lying there untouched.
'What did I expect? It would vanish and leave loot behind? I am still thinking this to be a….wait hang on a second! Loot!'
Scott eagerly knelt down near the body and started going through the dead person's belongings. He even stripped him down to his loincloths, because he needed a change of clothes before entering civilizations. The man's clothing consisted of a black cloak with a cowl, a simple brown tunic with a jerkin and a pair of trousers, dark brown with laced calves that made the legs baggy, and a pair of boots that had definitely seen better days. Scott surmised that if he wore all his clothes and didn't put the cowl on his head, he could probably pass for…if not local…at least not an alien. He briefly pondered the possibility that the black cloak or the other outfits actually were part of a uniform or something, and him wearing them could raise all kinds of flags in certain sections of the society if he's discovered. However, after thinking about it more, he discarded the idea. Upon thorough scrutiny, he found no special marks or stitches anywhere on the clothes. They felt…as common as they come. So Scott didn't hesitate and started to change…when he realized yet another thing he'd ignored for a long while now.
'I still have an arrow stuck to my legs, and I never felt it. What is going on!'
Scott carefully checked the area around where the arrow had gone in and realized that his skin and flesh had just healed around the projectile. This was both disconcerting and reassuring.
'If I yank it out, I'll heal up I think? …Well, have to try it anyway.'
The arrow wasn't barbed, just straight-headed with a feathered shaft. He did a mental 'one-two-three' and yanked it right out. There was a stinging pain that subsided soon. Scott saw blood on the arrowhead but when he rolled up his trousers and properly checked his wound this time, he realized that it was already closing. Moments later, he was staring at an area that, except for a faint pink spot, looked completely normal.
'Well, that is…something. I guess I won't have to worry too much about scratches.'
Scott went ahead and wore the entire set of his attacker's clothing on top of his clothes. He didn't want to burn his Earthen clothing just yet, and discarding them in the middle of the forest did not sound like a good idea. After he was done, he felt quite warm but decided to just bear it for now.
Apart from the clothes, the man he killed had the bladed weapon that Scott had disarmed from him, a dagger, some coins, and a small pouch that contained some pungent smelling items. Scott took everything but decided to leave the machete behind. It was definitely a fine weapon but he wasn't used to that style of blade, and he didn't want to carry it and give his next opponent an extra weapon to use against him. Additionally, even if the clothes he took from the corpse might not constitute as any sort of uniform, he surmised it might not be the same thing with the machete. It was quite possible that it could be used by a specific segment of people and he didn't want any kind of associations right now, good or bad.
He was not treating this realm as a game anymore, where he'd pick up a weapon and be able to hit his enemies with it without training. All things considered, it was still a decent weapon and Scott…after some hesitation, moved out of the tree-line into the open area where the stream was. He'd spotted a nice slab of rock while he was gutting his fishes and he decided to chuck the blade under it. That way it will be sufficiently hidden and if he ever needed it back, the stream would probably be a good marker to come back.
As for the corpse, Scott decided to leave it as it is. Hiding it would be pointless as it would soon start giving out the stench of decay, leading to its discovery for anyone searching. Digging a grave would take too long and would leave him exposed and static in one spot for too long. Dropping it in the stream wouldn't work - the stream wasn't deep enough to submerge it and he didn't want to unnecessarily contaminate a water source. Also, he was pretty sure the guy's partner, the archer, already knew about his buddy's death so Scott already had a potential witness to his…homicide, even if done in self-defense. In the end, leaving the body alone felt like the easiest option for him. Plus, he hoped there were some carnivores in the forest who would appreciate a free meal in the night.
He did however have a sudden moment of paranoia and decided to completely burn the arrow-shaft to ash and proceeded to grind the arrowhead with a large rock. It wasn't too hard since the head wasn't made with the best metal and being brittle, it broke pretty quickly. He took the broken pieces and scattered them in the stream.
The reason he did it was because he'd basically become an occult master following up to the days where he actually managed to summon Hraxanthus in his dwelling, and one of the things he'd always encountered in his research, was how valuable blood and other bodily fluids of a person was, in countless rituals. He had no idea if such magic or rituals existed in this world, but being a world where magic is common knowledge, Scott decided not to test his luck. Sure, maybe down the line he would overlook these little things but for now, he wanted to stay as safe as possible. He was suffering from a severe lack of information about everything this realm had to offer, and before he could fix that, he was not going to give anyone a chance to put a tracker on him based on his blood, or worse.
'Should I worry about my fingerprints on the neck of the bloke I killed? Nah…that's probably taking it too far.'
Scott decided he'd lingered in this area long enough. With a quick wash, a few gulps of water, he doused the still-smouldering logs of the campfire, threw away the fish remains and set off. He still had no idea where to go, so he just kept to his original plan - North. He knew he'd need to rest before long, an increasing sense of fatigue was slowly creeping up inside him.
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