I was so tired because of the previous day, that I slept like a baby, but after waking up, there was nothing else but classes and skills on my mind. I grabbed my shit and rushed to the city center. It was early. The sun didn't rise fully yet, and instead was peaking from behind the horizon, covering everything with dim light.
The city looked sad in this light. Like a ghost town, where the only wind blows. But it was not true. We were here. More than three hundred souls. Thoughts about the purpose of it all returned. An idea that maybe it was all created by the device, and then filled up with us popped in my head, but I quickly discarded it. There was no way. There was a secret here. I knew it.
I reached the city center as hunters were preparing to depart. I waited a bit in line for my turn to finally check up the skills, and maybe pick up a second class.
First thoughts about skills made them appear in my head. I could invest in 'Heal', 'Clensing', 'Life energy', 'Life energy manipulation'.
Heal gave me an ability to... heal. But I had to use life energy. I had no idea how much it would use, or how efficient it would be. Just the very basics. Cleansing allowed me to get rid of poison or other outside effects taking tool on the body. Just like heal, it consumed life energy. Life energy was gonna give me a pool of such energy. Manipulation skill was gonna increase the effectiveness. How? I had no idea. There was no description or anything, I just knew, barely, how it all worked. Like that information was always in my head.
Each skill had a price tag of thousand points. With my remaining 77 957, I could afford them all. I started with buying 'Life energy'. I could feel a strange change in my body. I quickly thought about it, and the upgrade page showed in my mind. Indicating now that I had a pool of hundred 'life points'. Whatever that meant.
I went back to skills, and check if this skill can be upgraded, and it could. Ten thousand points this time. Instead of buying it, I took the 'Clensing' and 'Heal'. I needed to test how it worked before putting more points into it. There was a chance of those skills being worthless. Just like a statistic points in low amounts, but this time price was way higher.
I thought about classes because there was still one point to spend, and picked a fighter hoping to improve my dueling skills. With that, I gained access to 'Weapon mastery', 'Increased stamina', 'Parry', and 'Technique'.
Weapon mastery was gonna determine the other's skills. I could choose to specialize in one type of weapon. I just had to think about the right one while choosing it. Stamina skill was self-explanatory. Parry was bound to weapon mastery, so I actually couldn't take it without picking weapon mastery first. The technique was a boost to my fighting capabilities in general.
I picked Weapon mastery at first thinking about pudao, and the skill became 'Pudao mastery'. Then I bought the rest, and also new weapons. Two.
All for 16k. Which left me with 61 957. I bought some food and was done shopping for now. It was quite crowded around, but there were no familiar faces in my immediate vicinity. I looked for Hatta, to ask if they are gonna go back to the goblin cave. It took some time to find him.
- Not for now. You can go there. It's not that good of a spot, and the boss is strong, but even though I doubt it will be left alone. We are just waiting for Blue's decision since Williams reported everything that happened yesterday. By the way - and he quickly glanced around. - Can we talk?
- Sure, but how about later, when I come back from hunting? We need to have a longer conversation, but I also don't want to lose the spot to somebody else.
- Ok, I'm good with that.
- Then see you later, Hatta.
- Good luck on the hunt.
I thought we were kinda close, but he didn't even mention yesterday's crystals. I should get my share. Greet was pushing me to mention it, and demand what's mine, but in the end, I just headed to the cave. There were more crystals waiting for me there.
On my way to the cave, I cut myself a bit, just to check how the heal works. A single thought was enough to close the wound. Seemed to be working well, but the problem was I had no idea how strong it was. How big of a wound it would be able to close. There was no reason to think about it because without getting hurt, I was unable to get more information.
I was also curious about the fighting skills, but I was about to test them very soon. All it took was couple more minutes, but a small group of goblins was not enough to ascertain the difference. I was sure of one thing, the way I moved during the fight changed. Still, I was uncertain if it was for the better, or worse. It was just too hard to identify facing such weak opponents as goblins, but it got me curious.
I rushed to the cave hoping that battling the horde will allow me to grasp whats was different. But it wasn't. Goblins' way of fighting was just too simple, but I didn't realize it yet. It took a bit longer.
I went down after collecting the crystals and battled all the way thru incoming waves until I reached the metal door. More organized warriors from below made me realize, that I could now see clearly the moves of my opponents. I could tell what they are gonna do by observing their body, the way they distributed their weight. I didn't even have to focus.
It allowed me to avoid more hits and combined with a few heals made me go almost unscratched. I felt strong, and just couldn't wait for the ultimate test, of fighting with the boss. But he was not there.
After opening the door all I found, was few armored goblins. No sign of the boss. I got rid of them and started picking ut crystals, all the time wondering why he didn't show up. There was only one logical answer I could come up with. He was not appearing because I already killed him. Yesterday he showed up because there were people who didn't kill him yet. I had no idea if it really was this way, but I couldn't think of another explanation.
After filling the cart up, I returned to the city. Paid the tax of three, and sold the rest of my score for a nice number of 291 500 points. I bought food but kept the rest of the points. I needed to do some research on the skills, and then decide if it's worth to spent points on them.
When I was done with the device, I went to find Hatta. He was actually waiting for me to finish shopping. I approached him.
- You done? Can we talk?
- Yeah. Come with me.
I led him to the place where firekeepers stored their wood. Nowadays the whole position kinda died. Only ashes remained of the bonfire.
- So, what you wanted to talk about?
- I talked with Blitzkrieg about Blue, and he confirmed my suspicions about him. I never told him about the poison, but he told me, that Blue visited Mark, and offered to help them with Zhang Yong if they agree to the duel.
- So it was really him? Are you sure about that?
- I'm almost a hundred percent sure. Also, Blitzkrieg wants to get rid of Blue. He is preparing for war.
- Many people will die.
- Yeah. I don't know the details of his plan yet, but there is a big chance that the whole city will be drenched in blood.
- I don't like this idea.
- Me too, but if he is right about Blue, then we might have no other choice.
- What do you mean by that?
- Blitzkrieg thinks Blue is trying to strengthen himself so nobody will be able to even touch him. He is using all the crystals gathered by Wuxia, to become ruler of this place. Time works for his advantage, so we might have no other choice but to attack now when we still can win.
- Mark accepted this plan?
- I have no idea. When I know the details, I'm gonna tell you right away. This is all I have for now. I know Blitzkrieg is also preparing something else. He wants to use me, to get rid of Blue, and with this minimalize casualties. He wants me to kill Blue for him. It might not work though. I have no idea if I'm even strong enough, and on top of that Blue is smart. Whatever the trap is, he might not fell for it.
- Tell me when you know more. I need to prepare people.
- Be careful. If he finds out, there might be no other choice, but to face him head-on. It will be a bloodbath then.
- I'm well aware of that. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
He just left after saying that. I waited a bit, trying to collect my thoughts. I was afraid of what was about to come. I was afraid that Hatta might somehow alarm Blue. I was afraid that he can discover everything way before we make our move, and strike first. I was afraid of so many things.
Thinking about everything that might happen, I started to head home.
Day ended with 353 407 points on my account.