The sun was about to rise.
Owen looked up at the sky and his surroundings with a keen eye. He was only partly sure that the bandits let him go, he wasn't completely sure if they were tricking him to have a false sense of security.
So to somewhat delay their plan, Owen ran like the wind. Extending his distance from the bandits that were already far away from him.
From what he saw when he killed Ledasdore, the bandits are just humans at the end of the day.
It makes sense that they also get tired.
But because he didn't need to rest at all, he made use of his advantage to the fullest.
==========
---[Status]---
[Name: Ivory11 - Level 2]
[Class: Debuff Knight]
[Health: 20/20]
[Soul Energy: 5/10]
[Energy: -15/26]
[Hunger State: Starving]
[Thirst State: Dehydrated]
[Body State: Terrible]
[EXP: 75/200]
==========
Seeing his body state, he wondered.
"Terrible? How am I doing terribly?" Owen subconsciously touched his chin with his left hand and answered his own question by doing so.
"Oh."
With a cough, Owen ignored his own stupidity and called out his attributes panel.
==========
---[Attributes]---
[Strength - 5]
[Speed - 2]
[Defense - 4]
[Intelligence - 2]
[Fortitude - 3 + (0.75)]
[Detection - 2]
[Luck - 2]
Available Points: 5
==========
Owen didn't think too much about where to assign the attribute points. All he knew was that his speed isn't up to par.
He reminisced on those times where he first thought that classes aren't much different when it came to attribute points distribution.
Owen used to wonder how attributes differentiate classes. Because if they all have the same attributes when they start, what's the reason for choosing another class?
The answer is simple.
It's not the attributes that differentiate classes. The crystal paths are the ones that do.
The [Jade Mountain Crystal] isn't something that an Assassin class could get. Nor is the [Shadow Cloud Crystal] something a Warrior class could get.
In that regard, the Warrior class is special because it can get well rounded crystal paths from every melee class. But it's very evenly distributed, so getting your desired build takes some skill and adaptation to the paths you have.
The Warrior class also needs a balanced attribute distribution to activate its passive. A 300% increase to all stats.
To explain each attribute in detail, [Strength] focuses more on [Armor Bypass], [Critical Damage] and [Base Damage] which surely is obvious enough to understand.
[Speed] has two subcategories, [Movement Speed] and [Attack Speed]. Leveling up [Speed] upgrades both of them. But some equipment with special characteristics may only enhance one subcategory. This applies to all attribute subcategories.
[Defense] has four subcategories. [Soul Defense], [Mental Defense], [Physical Defense], [Block Effectiveness] and [Ailment Defense].
[Physical Defense] negates all physical damage and [Ailment Defense] weakens the effects of debuffs.
[Intelligence] has two subcategories which are [Learning] and [Soul Vigor]. The former helps learning new skills and acquire sub talents like forging, farming and cartography. [Soul Vigor] strengthens the soul and increases Soul Energy capacity. Which is essentially the leading magic energy of this world.
[Fortitude] also has two subcategories called [Vitality] and [Endurance]. [Vitality] is for the amount of health points and [Endurance] is for stamina. A lot of things in this world consume stamina, so Owen's class ability is a very valuable asset when working with a lot of sub talents.
[Detection] is split into [Clear Sight], [Sensitive Senses], [Intuition], and [Stealth]. All of them are self explanatory except for [Intuition] which works in a special way. It helps the character sense enemies even though they aren't in the line of sight and it can even help looking for buried treasures, creatures, people, secret entrances etc.
[Luck] is simple but it also has one of the most unique subcategories out of all of them. They are called [Drop Rate], [Block Rate], [Critical Rate], and [Success Rate].
All of them are easy to understand, but if you need help with what [Success Rate] is, it is applicable to persuasion, crafting, alchemy, translation, and many more.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand…
Owen finished applying all of his points and looked at the panel with a contemplating look.
==========
---[Attributes]---
[Strength - 5]
[Speed - 4]
[Defense - 4]
[Intelligence - 2]
[Fortitude - 4 + (1)]
[Detection - 4]
[Luck - 2]
Available Points: 0
==========
---[Status]---
[Name: Ivory11 - Level 2]
[Class: Debuff Knight]
[Health: 20/30]
[Soul Energy: 5/10]
[Energy: -15/40]
[Hunger State: Starving]
[Thirst State: Dehydrated]
[Body State: Terrible]
[EXP: 75/200]
==========
Owen closed both panels and checked out his inventory.
In the seven occupied inventory slots, he has two iron hatchets, a belt, leather pauldrons, a scarf, boots, and a knife.
Owen focused on the two iron hatchets and summoned them out of the inventory.
*Vhoom.*
*Clank!*
Two iron hatchets appeared in front of Owen and fell on the ground. Since he could only use one of the hatchets, Owen wanted to throw the first one away.
However, he also saw that he had a belt on his inventory.
Owen observed his left forearm missing the hand.
He had an idea.
He took the belt and the scarf from their slots and put one of the hatchets to his left forearm. He secured the hatchet tightly with the scarf and the belt.
Now, he had a hatchet for a hand.
Owen stood up and swung his arm to test out if he could use it effectively.
Turns out, he can. He just had to be cautious when scratching his face or his hair.
"I'll have to bear with this for a while… So far, it doesn't seem too uncomfortable to wear." Owen acknowledged his work and noticed the panel next to his head.
"Huh?" Owen turned to look at the panel and realized why he didn't feel any kind of irritation.
[Discomfort]
'That explains the lack of discomfort.' Owen praised his class ability once again in his mind.
He took the other stuff in his inventory and began putting them on.
Since one of his shoes was damaged, the boots were great to have. Ledasdore's feet were slightly smaller though.
And even though the leather pauldrons weren't that good as armor, it was better than nothing. Beggars can't be choosers.
Currently, even with his efforts to leave the forest, it was too big for him to even leave. Owen was wondering if he was going deeper into it or if he was leaving the forest.
'This is a problem. I don't know where to go… Maybe those bandits knew a thing or two…. Sadly, with the sun rising, I don't have the night as cover and they're probably wary of anyone approaching at this moment.' Owen concluded that it was safer to stay away from the bandits.
"…"
— Meanwhile, in the same forest…
"Huhh! Huhh! Everyone's dead! Everyone's dead! Even boss Drulg didn't stand a chance!"
Yuhmbir, a bandit who followed Drulg back to the campsite, ran away as fast as he could.
He looked like he was running for his life.
— 20 minutes ago…
After chasing down Owen and deciding to return to camp, the bandit group returned successfully.
Ixila sat down in front of the campfire with her back facing the returning bandits.
She was eating a cube of cooked meat stabbed on a knife. Ixila ate in such a carefree manner that you'd forget there's a bunch of dangerous armed men behind her.
"My my, where did you guys get this meat? My tongue feels like an unsatisfied wife expectantly seeing her husband come to her room… It's delicious, you should really get more of these." Ixila turned to look at them before taking another bite without a care in the world.
A bandit clenched his teeth as he pulled out his sword.
Drulg stopped him by using his arm to block his way. He then looked at Ixila.
"Where is our men?" Drulg had a stern look on his face. As he looked at the ground, he could see traces of blood but no bodies. He knew his men followed a terrible fate.
Ixila appeared confused.
"Hmm… I'm not sure. Maybe up there? I don't quite remember where I put them." She pointed up in the middle of her sentence. Ixila then faced the bandits as she sat on the log.
Drulg felt a little apprehensive.
He lifted his chin into the air.
When he did, his pupils shrunk the moment he saw the horrifying scene.
The bandits who looked up as well were so shocked that some of them dropped their weapons.
On the tall pine trees were two dozen men with decapitated heads, severed limbs and sliced jaws. Their swords, daggers and axes nailed them to the trees as drops of their own blood fell down like it came from a leaking pipe.
Some of them had their intestines hanging out like ropes, some had their limbs mismatched, making them look like some freakish work of art.
One of the bandits was even dangling upside down. The body's feet were nailed to the tree with knives, letting his decapitated head leak blood.
The moonlight only amplified the horror that the bandits saw.
Ixila looked up as well.
She whistled in amusement. "I know it's not my prettiest work, but I just didn't want you to see them when you got back." Ixila picked up her sword that was leaning on the log she sat on.
Standing up, she took one step towards them and looked at their defensive stances.
The pressure she exuded made them take one step back for every step she took.
She revealed a wide grin. "Sooooo…. To make my job easier, can you guys just line up neatly so I can slash your heads off? It'll be quick and painless, I can assure you on that."
None of them replied.
Although they were despicable people, they had brains.
If someone is this nonchalant after killing over two dozen men without a scratch, you just know that they're dangerous.
It was unfortunate that their silence didn't sit well with Ixila though.
She tilted her head.
"No one? Too bad then, I really thought you guys would oblige." Ixila sighed.
Drulg held his sword tightly. He anticipated any kind of movement Ixila would make. He glued his sight to her sword that was hanging low, held by her left hand.
But at this moment, Drulg saw his field of vision get lower and lower until it fell and reached the ground. Right now, all he could see was her boots.
"What… happened…" Drulg said to himself in his final moments.
The bandits were terrified.
One bandit even squealed when Drulg's head fell to the ground.
Another bandit was sprayed in the face with blood by Drulg's headless body. This understandably traumatized him.
Ixila's right mechanical arm was flexed towards the crowd, her hand was flatly positioned in a chopping motion. She merely waved her hand as if to slice the air, and a thin, bright blue arc flew out of her hand, decapitating Drulg in one move.
That was what killed him. Not the sword.
"I really don't like wasting my soul energy. But I'm feeling lazy today so I just want this to be over." Ixila raised her sword and started walking towards the remaining bandits.
For every step she took, they were all oppressed by a bloody aura.
One scar faced bandit couldn't take it anymore and shouted. "Run!"
This one signal was the catalyst for them to start their escape.
All of them scrambled and turned tail. The only thing in their mind was to escape from this maniac.
Ixila frowned. Her displeasure was very observable. "Really now? How pathetic… skittering away like rats."
She bent her left leg and shot forward like a bullet to the nearest bandit, slicing his head clean off when she caught up.
After killing one bandit, she turned her attention to another bandit who had a lot of throwing knives tied to his leather tunic. He saw her fast approaching and threw as many knives at her as a reflex.
Ixila used her right mechanical hand and caught all the knives. She spun counterclockwise and used that momentum to throw the knives to his face.
*Shwick!* *Shwick!* *Shwick!* …
The knives precisely struck the bandit's eyes, mouth, nose and neck. Ixila finished him off with a downward vertical slash, slicing his head in two. His brain, skull and many other bloody organs like his intestines, lungs and liver could be seen before he fell down.
After getting another kill, Ixila pulled out a knife from the guy's face and chucked it at someone's ankle.
"Agh!" The bandit who received the knife to the ankle fell down.
He tried to get up, but his head was stabbed by the obsidian blade before he could do so.
Geryt, one of the most athletic bandits in the group, ran away as fast as he could. He controlled his breathing to run with maximum efficiency.
Right now, he had the best chances of escaping.
"Wow, you're fast for a bandit. Have you tried being one of the city knights in Mysteriea? They pay well." Ixila said as she ran next to Geryt.
Geryt was struck with fear. 'How did she catch up?' He was even more fearful when he saw that she wasn't even using her full speed.
He tried to knock her back by swinging his arm, but all that did was give her the opportunity to slice it off and his head in a short timeframe.
And the moment he died, Ixila looked at the other escaping bandits and easily caught up.
In summary of this battle, it was a one sided bloodbath.
And when there was only one left, she tripped him on the soil and stabbed her sword to an empty spot next to his head.
"Why do you look so scared? It's not like I'm going to kill you." Ixila showed an amused expression on her face.
The bandit is Yuhmbir. He was hyperventilating in fear so much that he couldn't make a clear response due to it.
"That's bad, I may have gone too far." Ixila pulled her sword from the ground and took one last look at Yuhmbir before walking away. "Alright, you're good to go… I'm sparing your life."
"Hehh??" Yuhmbir was surprised. He didn't know if she was joking.
But just like what she said, Ixila went to the camp and carried the valuables with her and left.
She didn't care if her back was turned in front of him.
That's how weak she regarded Yuhmbir.
It took some time before Yuhmbir was sure that she left him completely. He looked around the camp littered with dead bodies.
The body next to him was dead, but the eyes still moved to look at him.
"Yieek!" Yuhmbir stood up and ran away from the campsite as fast as he could.
— Right now…
Yuhmbir was still running with all his might and came across another person.
It was Owen.
"Huh?" Yuhmbir paused. The moment he saw Owen, Owen also saw him.
They looked at each other for a moment.
"You…." He pointed at Owen with his finger quivering in anger.
Owen quickly responded by holding both hatchets against him.
"You're that scum worm who killed Ledasdore, aren't ya!?" Yuhmbir finally got the words out that were stuck in his throat.
Yuhmbir's eyes flickered with malicious intent. "So that's how it is…" He unsheathed his sword with one hand and said, "Although you are a man, I don't mind tasting new dishes from time to time…" Yuhmbir licked his lips.
Owen uncomfortably shivered.
"Not interested… I can see why your family disowned you with that face." Owen had a messy sneer on his face.
"Tch, alright then…" Although Yuhmbir didn't care what Owen was babbling about, he ran forward with his sword ready to kill.
Owen did not want to engage in battle as much as possible and took the smart decision to run.
However, Yuhmbir was still under the influence of adrenaline.
He caught up to Owen and screamed as he slashed down.
"Got ya!!!!" Yuhmbir swung his sword downwards with all his strength.
Owen quickly reacted. He turned his head and dodged according to the sword's direction.
Yuhmbir wasn't just going to let him dodge it though. He switched the sword's trajectory with a downward vertical slash that nicked Owen's shoulder, but was guarded by the pauldrons.
Owen turned around and swung his left forearm with the hatchet tied to it. Yuhmbir avoided it because of the short range.
Seeing that Owen wasn't going to stay in one place, Yuhmbir looked down and swiftly kicked Owen's thigh.
Instantly, Owen realized that he was losing balance after receiving the kick.
It was nothing short of painful.
His pupils shrunk as Yuhmbir thrust his sword towards his abdomen where his liver was located.
*Tsschk!*
Blood rose up from Owen's throat. The same crimson liquid was spat out from his mouth.
"Kuh!"
Even though he was stabbed, Owen raised the hatchet from his right hand and swung it towards Yuhmbir's face.
But Yuhmbir was no idiot. He used his left hand to grab Owen's wrist before delivering a knee strike on his stomach, making Owen drop the hatchet.
Yuhmbir then pushed his legs forward and ran, forcing Owen to walk backwards into a tree.
*Bam!*
Owen's back received the impact and allowed the blade to make its way through his body.
He felt furious and a bit of fear. He swung his left arm to chop down Yuhmbir's head, but all the latter had to do was switch his grip onto the handle of the sword and catch Owen's forearm, preventing the hatchet from moving any further.
"Whew…" Yuhmbir exhaled. "And from your performance last night dodging arrows, I thought you'd have some ability to fight…. Turns out that you're weaker." He was disappointed that Owen didn't reach his expectations.
Owen's blood was boiling with anger. He looked at Yuhmbir hatefully without saying a word.
"You got stabbed in the liver.. Do you feel it? You can't control your body that well anymore right?" Yuhmbir chuckled seeing how Owen couldn't even muster the strength to fight him anymore.
Yuhmbir believing that he already won wasn't grounded on empty reasons. After all, for him Owen was just a human with limitations that would normally apply to him as well.
But that's where he was wrong.
*Vhoom…*
[Shock]
*Vhoom…*
[Internal Bleeding]
*Vhoom…*
[Bleeding-4]
*Vhoom…*
[Weakness-3]
Owen grabbed Yuhmbir's shoulder. And before Yuhmbir could react, Owen used his grip on Yuhmbir to pull his body towards him to deliver a strong knee blow to Yuhmbir's crotch.
*Crack.*
Because of this, the pair of eggs were no more. The remaining egg would have to go solo from now on.
"AAAAAHHHGHG!" Yuhmbir had to let all of his pain out through his scream.
Owen didn't stop there though. With his right hand, he delivered a hook right up to his throat, making Yuhmbir lose balance.
Owen kicked his legs against the tree which made Yuhmbir fall over to the ground. And once he was on top of Yuhmbir, Owen grabbed his neck and started strangling him.
Yuhmbir, with gritted teeth, grabbed the sword that was still stabbed through Owen's body.
*Twchk*
He twisted the blade inside Owen, as an attempt to damage his organs and to take it out.
Owen winced in pain. His mouth leaked two streams of blood. It was painful, But Owen wasn't having any of it. He raised his forearm and swung it at Yuhmbir's face.
But like earlier, Yuhmbir caught his forearm. The hatchet was only a few centimeters away from his nose. Yuhmbir's face was flushed red as he channeled all his strength to try and get the hatchet away from slicing his face.
Slowly, he was able to move it away. He couldn't use any hands to try and grab the sword because he was holding Owen's forearm with both hands.
"Damn you! You thought that would be enough to kill me?? You're still too weak!" Yuhmbir saw that the hatchet was unable to advance any further. He was even pushing it away.
Veins popped all over his forehead while trying to get rid of the hatchet, but he wasn't expecting Owen to be so ruthless.
Owen decisively pressed his body weight forward as if to push against his forearm, giving it enough continuous momentum for the blade to chop Yuhmbir's face.
The hatchet landed on Yuhmbir's eyes, blinding him as his eyeballs were carved messily.
"@##$@$#!!!!" Yuhmbir cursed in a disorganized shriek.
With no choice left, Yuhmbir abandoned trying to defend his face. He gambled on the fact that Owen still has a sword stuck in him.
So maybe, just maybe… he could use this to kill him before Owen could kill him.
But sadly, the moment he did so, he was vulnerable to the hatchet's mercy.
Owen raised his left forearm and began hammering the hatchet down Yuhmbir's face.
Chop after chop, it was relentless.
Yuhmbir couldn't bear it and tried defending using one hand, only to get it chopped into chunks of bone and flesh.
With a non-stop amount of chops Yuhmbir received, he also began to lose blood. Yuhmbir gradually lost strength as his face began to look more mangled than before.
His teeth were lodged out of his mouth, still attached to his dismembered gums. Deep gashes were in his face, freely pouring out blood. Whatever made his face appear human was no more.
His gamble failed.
'I… can't die here… why didn't he go down? Why did he still have the strength?' Yuhmbir's last moments were a mix of regret, confusion and pain.
He stopped resisting, his hand fell down on his side.
He was dead.
*Vhoom...*
==========
[+ 80 EXP - Yuhmbir: Level 8]
[EXP: 155/200]
==========
Owen looked at the panels and complained internally, "Hah- This hideous reject of nature.. almost killed me…"
Even in death, Yuhmbir wasn't spared from insults.
Owen looked at the sword lodged in his abdomen and took it out.
"Ngh!" Owen's breathing was labored from the pain.
He inspected his wound, although gnarly to look at, it was healing considerably fast. The bleeding was gone too.
He sat down to recuperate.
This took a while.
He didn't feel anything after killing a person.
It's not like this was his first time.
'What the hell am I thinking?' Owen slapped himself for making it seem as if the death of his classmate was something so trivial.
The fact that he took someone's life didn't bother him. Owen felt that it was natural to protect yourself from danger, so he did just that.
But still, he gained some clarity.
He still understood that there's a difference between good and bad.
He wasn't going to kill wantonly just because of this.
The thing that he said to himself last night about not caring whether he killed hundreds, thousands, or millions?
"Nah, I won't stoop so low to that…" Owen shook his head with a wry smile.
Was it hypocritical of him to say that?
Of course.
But then again, human nature is unpredictable. It mostly depends on how they feel at a given moment.
After resting for a bit, Owen took his other hatchet back and decided to take Yuhmbir's stuff.
Since Owen saw the kill notification, he was sure that Yuhmbir was dead. So of course, he began looting his corpse.
He had some good armor that Owen liked. Although he only found a sword with no other weapon than that, he was satisfied because Yuhmbir wore chainmail and that is a good kind of armor in the early game.
Owen went ahead and wore the chainmail. It only covered parts of his arms and torso without ever reaching his head or his upper thighs.
Yuhmbir owned leather leg greaves with some knee guards, so Owen also put them on without hesitation.
The durability of the armor were as follows:
==========
[Level-8, Old Class Hauberk (Common) - It is enough to keep you alive for a number of attacks. Just don't fall off a cliff for this old armor will not save you.
Additional Effects: N/A
Durability: 47/50]
==========
[Level-7, Forager Leg Greaves (Common) - Leather for your shins and calves. It is best used to forage.
Additional Effects: N/A
Durability: 23/50]
==========
[Level-6, Leather Knee Guards (Common) - Provides protection and a good way to hit if you use your knees to strike foes in the face.
Additional Effects: N/A
Durability: 45/50]
==========
"..."
"These will work for now." Owen glanced down at his body and gave his gear a nod of approval. He seemed to forget about what he just did to Yuhmbir earlier.
Owen also discovered that he can either equip armor from the inventory and it will be worn like how it's supposed to, or just by putting it on manually. It was convenient, but he still put on the armor like normal because he did not want to be too reliant on the inventory.
He continued to rummage through Yuhmbir's body to see if he still had anything useful.
All he had were a handful of different spices and some fruits. For Owen, these were useless. But one thing was quite useful.
After looking at the contents of Yuhmbir's pockets, he found a map of a long route in the forest with different landmarks that he remembered that he ran past when he was chased by Drulg and his men.
He stored it in his inventory and stood up.
'So there's a nearby town… If I go there, the chances of finding a city would be high.' Owen's eyes began to gleam.
His main objective was to get back home no matter what. To achieve this, he knew that he must take care of his current predicament.
Currently, he needs to be strong enough to wander around safely to get anything that would help him leave this place.
And finding a place where he could acquire weapons, armor and other necessities would be the first step in doing so.