When the tree got back to the clearing, Elo gave Lara two pieces of the deer meat. While she started cooking, Elo and Gorden sat around the fire.
"Thank you for saving Lara and me from that ugly bast*rd. By the way, it dropped something that might be useful for you."
A small stone dagger appeared in Elo's hand.
"It's not a great weapon, but it's better than nothing. I think you are the best fighter we have, so you should have it."
When Elo threw the knife to Gorden, he caught it from the air.
-"Just like I thought, he has some experience in handling weapons. I'll have to keep an eye on him."-
"And this really is a weapon?"
As Gorden asked, a window appeared above the knife.
"Small stone dagger:
A small dagger that was carved out of hard stone.
Damage multiplier: 1,5"
"Wow, this is not even bad… but how much damage do I do?"
"Damage:
(1 + Strength) X Damage multiplier (+ weapon damage)"
"So it seems like I am dealing 3 to 4 damage each hit, great."
-"Wow, humans are very vulnerable. A person with four strength could two hit me even without a weapon. And if there is something like a critical hit, maybe one hit is all it takes.
I just lost my life; I would rather not lose it a second time anytime soon. As long as I don't know if I can respawn, I'll have to be very careful."-
Elo wasn't surprised when his character screen appeared in front of him, because that was just what he had wanted.
-"It seems like the screens appear and disappear by thought."-
"Elo
Lv. 0 4/10
Title: none
Health: 10
Mana: 0
Strength: 0
Endurance: 0
Speed: 0
Stealth: 0
Charisma: 5
Magic: 0
Power Available: 0
Skills: Leaders authority
Equipment: none
Inventory:
-2 Power Stones (very rare)
-2 sole gems (rare)
…
[see more]"
-"This is very interesting, I have not killed anything, but I already have 4 XP. Does a Team chare XP?"-
"Hey Gorden, can I see your character screen, please?"
"Yes, you can come over here."
Elo was already behind of Gorden when he opened his character screen.
"Gorden
Lv. 0 0/10
Title: none
Health: 10
Mana: 0
Strength: 2 (+1)
Endurance: 2 (+1)
Speed: 1 (+1)
Stealth: 0 (+1)
Charisma: 0 (+1)
Magic: 0 (+1)
Power Available: 0
Skills: none
Equipment: none
Inventory:
- Small stone dagger "
-"He has no XP at all, how is that possible? Do I get not only all of the items but also all of the XP? That would be bad if the team leader gets all the XP, nobody would still like to be in a team with me, and nobody would protect me.
Wait, didn't the soul gems say something about increasing your level? I actually would rather keep them for myself, but I think I will have to give one of them to Gorden to see what happens."
Gorden cleared his throat.
"So, do you want to know something specific?"
He sounded a little bit annoyed.
"No, sorry. I have something for you once again. The gnome also dropped a soul gem, but I don't understand what it does. Still, you were the one who killed it, and that's why I think you should also be the one to get it.
When Elo gave one of the soul gems to Gordan, Gorden's XP immediately went up by one.
"Wow, would you look at that, I now have 1/10 level points. It seems like we will be able to level up with those gems."
As Elo opened his character screen behind Gorden's back, he saw that level points had decreased by one.
-"So it's not XP, but rather the number of soul stones in my inventory. But thankfully, it looks like the Power Stones also count as soul gems.
The only problem is that I can't show my character screen to anybody. Otherwise, my teammates will think I hoard Sole gems… which is partly true, but still.
I won't be able to keep all the soul gems for me, but at least I can make them appear harder to come by than they are."-
"I think those sole gems are pretty rare; this was the first one we got, even though we already killed three monsters."
Lara, who attentively followed the conversation, turned away disappointed.
**
When the meat was finally ready, it was already pretty dark.
After they had eaten, Elo felt full for the first time in this new world. But still, he couldn't sleep yet. Also, he could feel something hard in his pocket once again.
"Someone has to stand guard for the night. We can't measure the time, so we cannot split the time up fairly.
We'll just have to wake someone up when we can't stay awake anymore. I will take the first shift."
Once Lara and Gorden had gone to sleep, Elo could finally take a proper look at his character screen.
-"I am finally alone! Now, what does Charisma do?"-
"Charisma:
The more you invest in this stat, the easier it will be for you to talk to other people. They will think you are more trustworthy, and it will be easier for you to manipulate them."
-"This would seem pretty underwhelming for almost everybody else, but it's just what I was hoping for.
I've been fighting and killing my whole life, and it got me nowhere. The only thing I accomplished was getting shot.
Why should I go on doing the same dumb thing now? Someone or something gave me a new life, and I am not going to waste it like my last one."-
When he took out, what he believed to be one Power Stone, Elo was shocked. There were actually 5 Power Stones.
"You received:
-5 Power Stones, gifted by Pariapism and others"
-"Wow, until now, I only got one at a time. This is great; I only need one more soul gem to level up."-
Elo was ripped from his thoughts when he suddenly heard a loud battle cry.
-"Speak of the devil!"-
A huge green monstrosity was making its way through the undergrowth.
Elo didn't have to wake up his teammates; they were already standing behind him.
"Damned, mommy gnome is seeking revenge!"