The day has finally come for Arthur and Jane to leave the cave, which has been their only shelter for the past two weeks. He wakes up and goes outside to stretch as usual after a good rest.
"I never thought I'd say this but I slept so well. Meditating sure paid off," He says, stretching and limbering up. "My body's all healed up too, and so are my channels."
He finishes his stretches and reaches into his pocket, pulling out one of the cores he had left. "I can finally absorb these," He says absorbing them one after another. "Now that that's done, I wonder how many times I leveled up. Status window."
Race: Human Level: 14 (100) Strength: 37 / Agility: 34 Stamina: 23 / Health: 53 Magic: 87 / Perception: 30 ???> "This should be enough to make the trip," He claims, checking out his other stats. Satisfied with how far he's come, he walks back into the cave, where he sees Jane picking up the sword he gave her and also getting ready to leave. He picks up his sword and slides it through his belt, before asking. "Ready?" "Yeah, I'm all set," She replies, making her way towards him as she looks around the cave one last time. "I kinda started to like this place." "Let's go," He says, motioning his hands towards the entrance. He walks out first before thinking to himself. "I know James said 20 kilometers but we're so deep in the woods it's probably farther than that." They finally set off on their journey, following back the way they first came from. They cautiously walk through the forest, relying on Arthur's senses to avoid monsters and fighting unless absolutely necessary. They walk for hours, taking breaks at intervals to preserve their stamina as much as possible. After walking for a couple more hours, it was time for another break. "Phew, remind me to do some serious cardio when we get back," He says, breathing heavily with his hands on his knees. "And we're not even out of the forest yet." "You're so young yet you get tired this easily?" She asks, teasingly as she sits on the ground. "Anyway, it seems the sun is setting. Do we continue or spend the night here?" "I don't sense any monsters around, so I think we can sleep here for the night. Going further when it's dark will be dangerous." He claims, drawing his sword and sitting on the ground. "I just hope it doesn't rain." They sit and talk as the sun as the sun gradually set and Arthur decides to look around for a bit, just in case there were any monsters lurking. He thoroughly checks the surrounding and calls it a night, going back to rest as there was still a long way till their destination. The night swiftly goes by and they continue on their way. They walk for several kilometers and things seem to be going smoothly, until an unexpected surprise interrupts them, cutting their smooth sailing short. A loud scream echoes through the forest, causing Arthur to stop. "Did you hear that?" He asks, trying to figure out where it's coming from. "It sounded like a person screaming. I think it came from that direction, I'll check it out." Before he can even move, he hears the loud scream again, but this time it is followed by a call for help. "HELP ME!" A feminine voice calls out from beyond the thick waves of trees, followed by a loud roar and heavy stomping sounds. "Wait here!" He says, as he rushes towards the call for help, pushing through branches and bushes, finally making it to the source of all the ruckus. He sees a large hideous human-like creature with oversized features, standing at almost ten feet tall, It's skin grey and muddy. A creature known for its insatiable hunger for human flesh, a Troll. Just yards away from it is a young girl, seemingly in her teenage years, dragging herself across the ground and leaving a trail of blood as her. She desperately tries to escape from it but her leg is visibly broken. Arthur draws his sword and charges at it, swinging it with full force at the troll's calf, but it doesn't cut through. "Why's it so hard? It's like I struck a rock," He thinks to himself, trying to step away, but he reacts too late. The troll swings its hand at Arthur, hitting him dead on and sending him flying into the trees. He crashes into the trees, cracking sounds reverberating on impact as he falls to the ground coughing up blood. The troll turns his attention away from the girl and onto Arthur as he scours the ground for his sword. [Your sword is useless against it, trolls are known to have impenetrable hides.] "And you're only telling me that now?" He asks, struggling to get up as the troll approaches him. [Well I was going to, but you zoomed off before I had the chance to.] "What else was I supposed to do? It was literally about to stomp her," He claims, finally standing on both feet. "Anyway, enough finger pointing, how do I beat it if my sword won't work?" [They're weak against blunt attacks so you're gonna have to use your fists.] "Sigh, it had to be that. Well it's a good thing my aether capacity increased a lot after absorbing those cores. Now I can worry less about it depleting while I'm fighting," He says, preparing to charge at the troll. "I'm gonna hit it with everything I've got." He charges at it, punching it right in the midsection of the torso, causing it to sway backwards and falling to the ground. It tries to get back up, but he wastes no time following up with another arcane impact on the same spot, finally breaking through the hard skin and shattering its chest. It roars as Arthur stands atop it, flailing its fists in a desperate attempt to shake him off, but he stands his ground. He dodges the attacks easily as he is much more agile than the troll, dealing the final blow and piercing its chest. He jumps off the troll's body, flesh dripping from his bloodstained hands. "Ugh, this is so gross," He comments, motioning his hands to shake off the mess. Jane steps out from behind the trees, walking towards the scene. "Are you ok?" She asks. "Yeah, I'll be fine with a little rest, but she doesn't seem ok," He replies, pointing at the girl, still visibly in shock. They walk up to her and she stares at them without uttering a word. "You're gonna be ok now," Jane says, squatting and holding her hand. She then looks at the girl's injured leg, slowly reaching out her other hand as a mysterious green glow illuminates from her hand. Arthur and the girl watch in awe as her wound slowly starts disappearing. [How interesting, for her to awaken as a healer.] [END] To be continued…