Neil had many questions about the entire encounter he had just had.
'Who was the one that killed those two Myathalens? How did that tower sink into the sand? Why were the bodies left there? Who's tower was that? what was the pouch of holding doing there and how did its pickup cause the tower to sink?'
All of these questions floated around in his mind but he knew for the time being that he would simply have to wait for them to be answered as he had no proper way to answer them. It seemed he had spent a few hours within the tower as by the time he was out the sun had begun rising and was now shining with a bright green glow onto the desert.
The sun of Archemia was a dark green unlike the yellow orangish one of Earth. It still did a wonderful job of illuminating the planet and Neil liked this change in color as he had always preferred the color green to yellow and orange.
Neil opened the magical pouch and pulled out the corpse of the older man. He grabbed the axe off of his back and then put the corpse back into his bag, he didn't want to do an in-depth analysis on what all he had picked from the tower yet but felt better with a weapon in his hands. Furthermore, he happily accepted the barbarian class for the time being as it had always been one he had fun with.
He held the axe in his right hand and then continued his southward march, hoping to make it to the village before darkness fell on the desert sand. Even with it being relatively uninhabited it was still a dangerous place for him and nighttime had a habit of luring out some of the more dangerous enemies of each area.
He realized he hadn't yet scanned the axe in his hand and realized he should do that to better understand what he was fighting with.
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Axe of Aquamarine Sands
This axe was crafted within the Great Blue Sands and feels most powerful there, within it flows magical energy making it an exceedingly dangerous weapon for enemies who lack magical defense.
Rare Grade Weapon
+2 Strength
+2 Endurance
+2 Will
Skill:
Burning Conclusion: Slam the axe into the ground to produce a wave of particles that burn any being they come into contact with, stunning the enemy in their pain.
Cost: 20 Mana and has a 3-minute cooldown.
Attacks from this weapon burn enemies with a bright blue fire, emulating the process it was made in. The fire does little physical damage but causes immense pain, damaging the enemy's mind.
1/3 of Aquamarine Sands set
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Neil was surprised by just how good the axe he picked up was, while its stat bonuses were somewhat little for a piece of rare equipment he didn't mind it as it was an innately magical weapon and inflicted a painful burning from any hits. Furthermore, while he currently had no mana he knew the skill would become useful once he was able to gain some.
Now that he knew more about the weapon he was holding he continued onwards, having already walked for 4 hours at this point he was starting to get weak and was feeling the difficulty of not having any food. He knew he couldn't stop though and needed to continue forward if he wanted any chance for food and drink. Once he got to the village he could enjoy those pleasures all he wanted.
'I wonder what I'll have once I get there, definitely some beer' He was thinking to himself about what he wanted when suddenly he could make out an unfamiliar noise. After having walked for numerous hours he had gotten used to the sound of the sand underneath him. So he knew this was something different.
"Skree Skree!!" 'Sand Scorpions shit!!' Neil quickly recognized the sound as even though he hadn't heard them before he knew the creatures of this world very well, he had looked into most of them, at least the ones he could, quite extensively.
Nearly 20 yards ahead of him sat a pack of 3 sand scorpions, they were much larger than your average scorpion being 4 feet long and 2 feet tall. They had a thick armor shell that blended in with the surrounding sands with its light blue tint. They had two large claws in the front and a long stinger coming off of their body, furthermore their plating was spiked in numerous areas making them quite dangerous to the touch. All of their body was coated with a venom that could temporarily paralyze those who came into contact with it.
As much as Neil had been craving a fight within this new world he still retained his intelligence and knew the danger of these creatures, being typically fought around level 30 he would have absolutely no chance taking on three of them at once, even with his powerful axe.
So he decided to choose the best strategy of simple avoidance, continuing southwards walking around them from as far as possible but making sure to keep them in view in case they did see him and decided to his attack.
"SKREEEEEE!!" The cries of one of the scorpions let him know he had been spotted.
"Well shit guess I gotta run now," He said to himself as he began to sprint southwards, even while he did this he knew the scorpions would catch up to him as they were much faster creatures than a low-level human with no speed skills.
He didn't even look back and instead dashed as quickly as he could push his body, he could then make out a faint village on the horizon.
'Almost there, you can't stop now' He said to himself, he turned to look at the scorpions and realized they were swiftly closing in on him.
He wouldn't be able to make it to the town without some fighting
Realizing this he turned around and caught his breath. 20 yards. 15 yards. 10 yards. He steeled himself for the upcoming battle and remembered the group of thugs he had fought earlier, even with this being quite a different experience he would follow the same general rule. Stay away so you don't die, if he could maintain a somewhat safe distance and swiftly close it to strike then he might be able to survive.
He placed his entire strategy in the hands of the special aspects of the axe, hoping the pain from the burning sensation would stun the scorpions, giving him time for a single killing cleave on each. He knew the scorpions' mental fortitude was rather low which fed the hopes he had for this strategy.
The scorpion was now under 10 feet away from him and he decided quickly close the gap with a stride and at the same time brought down the axe with as much power as he could.
"SKREEEEEE!!!!" The front scorpion screamed out.
His attack was a success, cutting deep into the body of the front scorpion. it seemed the innate magic made it much easier to puncture the scorpion's shell.
He had been so happy with his strike that he had forgotten of the two other scorpions and was planted in front of the first scorpion when he was suddenly stung by the stinger of the second scorpion which had quickly made its way around the fist scorpion and now flanked Neil.
"Ahh!!" He yelled out in the pain from the initial pain and the burning sensation that spread from the wound. He went to grab the axe but realized he was completely stuck, unable to command his muscles to move. He fell onto the sand, unable to move
He lay staring as the two scorpions slowly approached him, as though they were playing with prey that they knew was caught. Yet again Neil faced what he believed to be his final moments, this fight would've been very educational had he been able to make his way out of it.
The two scorpions were now close enough to do whatever they wished, and he knew a painful death awaited him as they planned to eat him as he was alive but paralyzed. He wanted to cry and scream out but knew there was no reason anymore, he accepted the situation as it was and closed his eyes, ready to do his best to embrace the upcoming pain.
He then heard a whistling sound from behind his head and saw a single arrow fly straight through the scorpion and become stuck in the sand behind it.
The scorpion didn't even have time to scream in pain, it simply collapsed, dead on the sand. The last scorpion seemingly realized this and ran away from the prey it had caught, in an attempt to save its life.
It was not able to escape as just 2.5 seconds after the first arrow pierced its scorpion a second one came, shooting straight through the fleeing scorpion and killing it instantly.
Neil couldn't believe his luck, it seemed that he had a savior. Neil could only smile happy he was now safe, though he did wonder what his savior would be like upon their meeting.
'I need some proper practice' He thought to himself as he lay on the warm sand, waiting for either his savior to appear or for his paralysis to wear off. It had only been a minute since he had been stung so he knew he still had about 2 more minutes before he could regain control of his body.
"Hey, are you alive?" He could hear someone shout in the distance, he could only wait to see who they might be once they were closer to him.