It wasn't the first time Raven was in bad shape. Once, when she was a dumb kid and still lived with her mother, she wanted to go out and play with the other kids at the village. Obviously, she had a lot of fun, she still could remember how children and adults alike stoned her and barely came out alive thanks to some traveling priest who stopped them.
The entrance to the dungeon was full of people. Some looked at her with disgust, others with pity, but none did anything at all. There was nothing to win in helping a stray cat, after all, and seeing people devastated after being beaten in the dungeon was everyday bread.
"Mom, mom look!" Said a kid pointing at her as she left the tower, and got his hand grabbed forcefully as he got pulled inside his house.
There was that time too, when she got beaten by the personnel of the orphanage, every day at the orphanage was a battle for life or death after all, stealing other kids food and avoiding those older enough to know how to abuse the smaller kids. Hell, she once got caught by the baker and got beaten to a pulp, her ass got smacked so hard with the kneading board that she had trouble walking for an entire week. A small smile spread on her lips as she continued walking.
'Lucky for me that monster hit me strong enough to force the activation of the skill, else I would be in a world of pain now' At least she could keep moving on.
A big muscular guy bumped her shoulder throwing her to the floor, he turned around annoyed.
"Look where you are walking piece of crap!" He barked as he kept walking.
She stood up; her mind must have been playing tricks on her. For a moment, she was in the middle of a battlefield. Her mercenary company was fighting fiercely against a horde of monsters from the wastelands. They stood their ground for months even if the promised gold never arrived. Hence, they turned into bandits after losing too many people. She joined them on an impulse just to leave the orphanage, but there she met some extraordinary people who taught her how to fight even when she got the revelation of her class and it sucked.
For a moment she felt like everything was spinning, she could see those disgusting faces, the faces of the people who had wronged her, the faces of the people she had to settle the score with, and then she felt tired and fell to the ground like a puppet who had its strings cut down. Everything faded to black.
...
...
...
"Oh you are awake" Said an unknown voice, the voice of an elder lady.
Raven woke up, she was covered in sweat in an unfamiliar room. She was on a rustic bed, covered with goat skins and naked, except for her belly, which was wrapped in bandages and looked like a poultice had been applied.
"Silly cat" Said the elder lady "You are so lucky that my stupid apprentice found you" She looked at her with the indifference of a person who has healed countless in the past, her eyes had already seen many get healed or die in the process "Internal bleeding, and organ failure" She said raising one finger "You got beaten pretty bad" She grabbed some papers and smacked her head with them "Put more attention when you are spoken to, punk!" The lady scolded her because Raven was looking with her eyes at her belongings "Everything is under the bed, everything except the vial you had, consider it a payment for saving your puny life"
"Who are you, shitty granny?" She said trying to sit down.
"Someone who can break you again if you don't show proper manners" She said and for some reason, she felt fear, she felt like being back at the orphanage being scolded by the sisters, the woman cleared her throat and talked again "Get dressed and get the hell out of here if someone worries about you, you have been asleep for four days"
A kid entered the room carrying a tray with a bowl of soup.
"Ma' Raezee, I brought the soup for the patient" Said the boy, he should be almost an adult, so around 15 years or so" He was scrawny, definitely not a fighter "By the beard of the holy mother!" He exclaimed looking at Raven "You were right, she woke up!"
"When have I been wrong?" The woman said in a cocky tone of voice "Now get out, this one is a cat with claws and if you stare too much at her you will get mauled"
It happened too fast, the kid got taken out by the women while they talked about some medical mumbo jumbo she didn't understand, and then she got goosebumps all over her body, that kid had looked at her naked and she didn't noticed until they left, she was speechless, but for some reason, it looked like he didn't care about that. She crossed her arms, the woman, that Raezee or whatever her name was said she had her payment, she didn't like to get stolen, but at least she was alive. She got up, the pain was like a phantom remnant of what had happened...
"!!!" Then she remembered.
"『Status Open』!"
Name: Raven
Race: Beastman (Cat Clan)
Level: 1
Class: Clown
Strength: 3
Endurance: 7
Agility: 3
Dexterity: 4
Intellect: 7
Luck: 10
Skills
*Masquerade lvl 1
*Emergency Illusion (Passive)
*Fire Butterfly Swarm lvl 1
*Footwork lvl 2
*Daggers lvl 3
That near-dead experience only accounted for 1 point increased endurance, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, she hadn't killed that many monsters, even if she got rid of the rare monster it was just that, a monster, not even a floor boss, getting her hopes up she could have leveled up was stupid. She dressed up, her clothes had been cleaned and even she had been washed while unconscious, this was awkward as hell, she hated being treated with pity, but she wasn't stupid enough to be an asshole. So she ate all the food they provided, it tasted like nothing, totally healing food, but at least she wasn't hungry anymore... then she remembered the other loot she had gotten, the card.