As I walked down the path it wasn't long before I heard a noise up ahead. I quickly crouched down and quietly moved to the side of the path. When nothing came down the path, I began walking through the woods alongside the path doing my best to avoid any dry leaves or sticks. A few minutes of my slow methodical movements I came across a group of three more Kobolds in a smaller clearing then before. Quickly focusing on each of the I used [Analyze].
[Kobold Level 4 (Uncommon)(Reptilian)]
[Kobold Level 3 (Uncommon)(Reptilian)]
[Kobold Warrior Level 7 (Uncommon)(Reptilian)]
One of the normal Kobolds had a dagger like the first one I fought and the other had a shabby looking spear. The Kobold Warrior also had different equipment than the first one, instead of a hammer it had a similar spear to the normal Kobold and a Shield. All three of them were gathered around a small fire all facing down the path from where I came. Seeing this, I carefully circled the clearing while staying in the woods to get behind them.
Knowing that the shield would pose a problem I knew the kobold warrior had to go first. Slinking forward, carefully as to make no noise, I worked my way to the kobold warrior. As soon as I was close enough, I struck out planting both my left and right daggers in the top of the kobold warrior's shoulders into the kobold's torso. Moving faster than I anticipated, I was thrown off balance the moment I struck. While I was regaining my balance a blunt pain exploded in my back, and I was thrown off the rapidly dissolving kobold warrior. Luckily, I kept grip of my daggers as I fell.
As soon as I hit the ground I sprung up as quickly as I could, turning to face the two normal kobolds. Both kobolds were staring at me hesitantly with their weapons raised. The one with the spear stabbed towards my chest in slow motion. No, not slow motion I'm just that much faster. Using the dagger in my left hand I fluidly pushed the spear out of line while stepping forward and slashing the throat of the kobold. Seeing another kobold drop the one with the dagger leapt towards at me trying to tackle me to the ground. Quickly sidestepping I held out the dagger in my left hand letting the kobold impale itself as it fell. Just as I began to crouch down to collect the shards that had dropped from the three kobolds, I felt a sharp pain in my chest. Looking down I saw that there was an arrow sprouting from my chest. Shit, that hurts! Must have been an arrow that hit me after stabbing the warrior as well.
Looking up at the tree line I tried to spot where the archer was. I caught the flicker of a reflection just in the tree line before another arrow flew out. Seeing this one coming I was able to shift just enough to take a glancing blow on my upper arm. Now knowing the general location of the archer, I sprinted for the tree line while keeping an eye out for more arrows. Just before reaching the tree line another arrow came, I was too close to dodge it and could only use an arm to stop the arrow from hitting anything too important. I let out a scream as I felt the arrow strike the bone in my forearm. Feeling the grip strength in my left arm failing I quickly slid my dagger into its sheath as I continued running towards the now visible kobold archer which I threw a quick [Analyze] at it.
[Kobold Archer Level 8 (Uncommon)(Reptilian)]
Moving quickly, I rushed the kobold as it dropped its bow and drew a well-made obsidian dagger. Moving almost faster than I could keep track of it lunged at me trying to stab me in the chest. Pushing my new agility attribute to the limit I used the dagger in my one working hand to parry the stab. Barely managing the parry, I attempted to counterattack and received a left hook that sent me to the ground from the kobold in response. Damn, that punch was hard. I think it broke my jaw. Looking up at the kobold I saw a dagger plunging down towards me. Thinking quickly, I once again pushed my attributes to the limit to just barely move out of he knifes path.
Scrambling to get back on my feet I took a few steps back to reset. Taking the initiative for this engagement I feinted a stab to the kobolds left thigh. The kobold responded predictably by moving its dagger down to parry my thrust. Seeing conformation that my feint worked I pulled back from the half-hearted stab before quickly lunging into a second thrust aimed at the kobolds throat. Feeling my dagger pierce through the scales on the kobold I pushed it deeper before ripping it out to the side and jumping back.
I remained in a defensive stance until the kobold finally dissolved into motes of energy. Once it finally registered that the fight was over, I collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. After giving myself a few minutes to rest I started the grisly task of preforming first aid on myself. Luckily the arrow that hit me in the back at the start of the fight didn't stick in, so I only had two to pull out. I worked quickly, cutting strips off my cloak for makeshift bandages and wrapping the wounds on my left arm and torso. Once my wounds were addressed, I checked the notifications I got during the battle.
[Critical Hit!]
[Level Up! User Is Now Level 6]
Hunh, guess the warrior went down so quickly because of a critical hit. I shrugged before assigning the free points from the level into agility. After this I rolled over to the loot pile dropped by the archer, not yet having the energy to stand. I grabbed the handful of tiny shards that dropped from the kobold archer, there was also a slightly larger shard in the pile, so I used [Analyze] on it.
[Small Shard (Uncommon)]
Nice. While tiny shards do turn into skills they only turn into common skills, a group of small shards will turn into an uncommon shard. Small shards and above are also much more predictable in how many you need, in that you will always need 50 small shards to make an uncommon skill. While there are some very sought after common skills such as [Analyze] and most weapon skills most people would rather find uncommon and above skills as they are almost always useful.
Sighing I finally stood up to go collect the shards from the other three kobolds. I kept my eyes peeled as I entered the clearing not wanting to take another surprise arrow to the chest. Surprise attacks are much better when I'm the one doing the surprising. Picking up another few handfuls of tiny shards from the other kobolds, no other small shards, and a bottle of liquid from the kobold warrior. I quickly used [Analyze] to check what it was.
[Potion of Minor Recovery (Common)- recovers a minor amount of vigor, stamina, and mana.]
Seeing the name I quickly downed the potion. While it would sell very, very well outside the tower, as all system made potions do, I need the recovery now. That ambush hit me hard, and I would be hard pressed to fight in my condition. The effect of the potion was immediate as it felt like a second wind blew over me. I felt my wounds close and was and felt as energized as I was when I woke up this morning.
"Holy shit, minor must be relative and not based on the user" I mumbled out loud to myself. Nothing more than to knock out this floor. I did a quick stretch routine to clear some knots that formed from the rapid healing and set off back down the trail, this time sneaking along the side of the path from the get go.