Runeguard 004

“Ouch!” I yelped. 

That had hurt. I spun around, nearly dropping my sword in my haste. 

I had felt the damaging sting on my back. I waved away the System’s message while I searched for my attacker. Where—?

You have been hit by a level 1 bloat fly for 1 damage. You have 8 HP remaining.

But just as I banished the first message, a new one opened to take its place as the bloat fly—was I really being attacked by a fly?!—hit me again.

“Damnit Adi, how do I turn these notices off!” I growled. “They’re cluttering my vision.”

“Turning off combat alerts now, Dace.”

The messages disappeared to reveal a buzzing shape, about as large as my hand. I didn’t have time to enjoy my relief though as it surged forward again.

I ducked and the bloat fly zipped harmlessly by.

I whirled around. Narrowing my eyes, I tracked it with my gaze. That’s one damn big fly! The insect swung full circle and raced forward, seemingly intent on ramming me. I stepped to the side and hacked down with my sword.

I missed.

Growling in frustration, I readied myself as the bloat fly came around for its next pass and swung at it once more. 

I missed again.

“Bloody hell,” I swore. Swatting flies was not easy. Even oversized ones.

The fly was relentless. Turning around, it came at me once more. I had no idea why the bloat fly was attacking me, but at this point I was beyond caring.

This time as the fly neared, I didn’t dodge. Realizing flailing at the insect with my sword was a losing proposition, I tried something altogether different and thrust my shield at it.

The bloat fly crashed headlong into the thick wooden plank and fell to the floor in a daze. Wasting no time, I skewered the little bugger before it could recover.

The corpse twitched once and then stilled. Leaning on my sword, I wiped the sweat off my brow. By damn, that was tiring. “Is it dead, Adi?”

“It is, Dace.”

“Good, now let’s—”

Twin stings struck at me from the left and right. I was under attack again. Damn it! Cursing my misfortune, I yanked out my sword from the dead fly and retreated.

It took me a few seconds, but I finally managed to pick out my attackers. The two bloat flies were skimming low over the water’s surface as they homed in on me again.

Ignoring the one on the left, I picked out the insect on the right and repeated my previous maneuver. I bashed it out of the air with my shield, and then pinned it with my sword even as the other one attacked me.

“Dace, your health has fallen to 50%.”

“Got it, Adi,” I said.

Stepping away from the second bloat fly’s twitching corpse, I searched the skies for the last attacker. It was diving down from up high.

I tracked its trajectory and timed my own attack near perfectly. As the bloat fly closed in, I swatted it away with my shield, then slashed it in half with my sword.

This time, I did not delay. Spinning around, I fled for the safety of the town. I didn’t stop until I crossed its invisible boundary and received a most welcome message from the System.

You have entered the protected zone around Town 1050-A. Only humans are permitted within this area.

Throwing myself to the ground, I flopped down against the closest building. My pulse was racing, and I panted heavily.

Slowing my breathing, I leaned my head back against the cold stone wall and closed my eyes. The encounter with the bloat flies had been both scarier… and more exhilarating than I expected. 

I could get used to this, I thought. 

At the very least, it was a damn sight more exciting than the endless paperwork that had been the bane of my life back on Earth.

“Adi, what’s my status?”

“Your health is at 50% and your stamina at 30%, Dace.”

I opened my eyes. “What? Still? Shouldn’t I have recovered by now?”

Adi didn’t respond immediately. “You don’t have any health restoration skills, and you only gained the stamina recovery skill during the battle. Your current rate of stamina recovery is 1 SP per minute.”

My mouth dropped open, and for a moment I stared foolishly at nothing. “Adi,” I asked slowly, “if I don’t automatically recover from my injuries between encounters, how do I regain my lost health?”

“Other than the restoration skill, the only means of regaining lost health is through magic, healing potions, food, rest, and specialized items.”

I chewed over her answer. It was obvious that obtaining a means of healing was critical, otherwise I would spend the greater part of my time stuck in town while I rested.

“How did I gain the stamina recovery skill?”

“Recovery belongs in the constitution Essence skill tree. When your stamina pool dipped below 50%, you automatically gained the skill. You also advanced in other ways during the battle. Do you want me to display the System alerts?”

“Go ahead.”

You have gained the strength skill: swords! 

You have gained the strength skill: heavy armor! 

You have gained the dexterity skill: evasion! 

You have gained the constitution skill: recovery!

Your swords, heavy armor, evasion, and recovery skills have reached their cap.

You have reached level 2! 

+1 rank in strength, dexterity, and constitution.

+3 Essence Points.

I frowned as I read the System messages. While I was pleased to have gained four skills, there were aspects of the messages that I didn’t understand. “Adi, why are my skills capped?”

“Skills are limited by their parent Essence. To increase your skills further, you must raise your Essences’ ranks.”

My brows furrowed. “And how do I do that?”

“Whenever you level up, your installed Essences will advance by one rank. Additionally, you will gain three Essence Points to freely allocate.”

My eyes widened as the implications of that sunk in. “Are you saying Adi, if I had all seventeen of my Nodes filled, I would have gained one rank in each Essence when I advanced to level two?”

“Correct, Dace.”

I felt like kicking myself. By not using my twenty gold coins to unlock one, or even two other Essences, I had effectively robbed myself of two free Essence ranks.

And here I had been feeling all smug and superior over making a smarter choice than all the fools who had unlocked their magic Essences too early. 

Now, I am the one who looks the idiot. 

But… I stared down at the sword and shield lying at my feet. Would I have been able to kill the bloat flies without my weapons?

Likely not.

Thinking back on how much trouble the mages were having hitting the bunnies, I doubted I would’ve managed much better flinging spells at the bloat flies. In fact, shooting the faster-moving flies out of the air with a spell would have been nearly impossible. It perhaps also explained why none of the wannabe mages were in this region.

I rose to my feet. Don’t second guess yourself, Dace. And besides, it was too late to change my approach now. I had no money left. “Adi, how do I spend my Essence Points?”

“You can instruct me on how to invest them whenever you are not actively engaged in combat.”

 I thought for a bit, then decided. “Put all three in constitution, Adi.” I still wasn’t certain what eventual path I would follow as a player, but the one thing that wouldn’t go amiss with any Class, was more hit points.

“Done, Dace.” A System alert followed a moment later, confirming Adi’s words.

Your constitution Essence has increased to rank 5.

New Health: 45 / 50 HP. New Stamina: 43 / 50 SP.

I smiled as I read the message. By investing the Essence Points in constitution, I had gained thirty more health points, which together with the rank I had gained from leveling, had taken my health to ninety percent.

The boost to my stamina was also nice. It meant I was combat ready again. 

Hefting the shield in my left arm, and resting the flat of my sword on my right shoulder, I headed back to the river.

It was time to kill a few more flies.

✵ ✵ ✵

Before searching for more enemies, I stopped by the carcasses of the three flies. 

“Adi, can corpses be looted?” I asked, staring down at the first skewered fly.

“Yes, Dace. Touch your hand to the body and verbalize the command ‘loot’ in your mind. The recovered items will appear in your inventory.”

My face wrinkled in disgust. The bloat fly’s remains did not look pleasant, and I didn’t really want to touch it. But at least I wouldn’t have to try gutting the thing.

Tentatively, I reached out and did as Adi instructed.

You have acquired: 1 x bloat fly leg and 1 x bloat fly wing.

At the message’s appearance, the insect remains’ vanished. My brows rose in surprise. Well, that was easier than I thought.

Stopping by the other two corpses, I looted them too, acquiring two more leg and wing pieces. I didn’t wonder about the purpose of the items just yet. For now, it was enough that I had them.

Done with collecting my spoils, I dropped into a crouch and tiptoed towards the river. I was certain now that the bloat flies had been hiding in the reeds. With a careful approach, I hoped not to rouse more than one at a time.

I made it to the river’s edge without being attacked. Cautiously, I tested the water’s depth. It reached no higher than my knee and I waded further in, moving as slowly as I could.

 You have gained the dexterity skill: sneaking! 

I smiled at the message. “Adi, turn off the System alerts again, please.”

“Done, Dace.”

I continued onwards, alert and ready. It didn’t take long for another bloat fly to find me. Buzzing angrily, the oversized insect zigzagged through the reeds towards me. 

Grinning, I hefted my shield as I waited for it to get within range.

✵ ✵ ✵

Hours later, I had found and slain another twenty bloat flies and was the proud owner of a sizable quantity of insect innards.

The river had turned out to be shallower than expected. At its deepest, it reached no higher than waist high.

Over the course of the afternoon, I had followed the waters meandering path south, inching through the reeds and scaring out any bloat flies I could find.

The further south I went, the wider the river got, and it had not taken me long to lose sight of both shores entirely. But I wasn’t concerned. Plenty of small islands dotted the river’s depths—most likely due to its shallow nature.

By the time the sun began to set, I had reached level four. All my skills had advanced nicely too. Sitting down on one of the river’s mini-islands—this one was only a few yards in diameter—I paused to reflect on the day’s progress while I took a moment to rest.

Player Profile: Dace Tolman

Level: 4. Health: 120 / 130 HP. 

Stamina: 100 / 130 SP.

Species: Human. Class: None.

Base attack: 5 (with steel longsword).

Base defense: 5 (with large wooden shield).

Nodal Capability

Max Nodes: 17. Total Occupied: 3 / 17.

Available Essence Nodes: 13 / 17.

Class Reserved: 1 / 17. 

Occupied Nodes

Strength, tier 1 Essence: 4.

Dexterity, tier 1 Essence: 4.

Constitution, tier 1 Essence: 13.

Skills

Strength: swords: 4, heavy armor: 4.

Dexterity: evasion: 4, sneaking: 4.

Constitution: recovery: 11.

I hadn’t gained any further skills, but all my skills with the exception of recovery were at their skill cap. On both level ups, I had invested all my Essence Points into constitution, and right now I was feeling quite tanky—especially against the bloat flies.

Once I had gotten the hang of it, killing the insects had turned out to be simplicity itself, and even though I had faced off with more than twenty of the creatures over the course of the day, they had only managed to hit me five more times.

Despite my lengthy crawl through the river, I had yet to encounter any other lifeforms, which was both a relief and something of a disappointment. 

I had also hoped to find something edible. By this stage, I was starving. My thirst, I had managed to quench with the occasional sip from the river, but I knew I could not stave off hunger for much longer. 

Right on cue, my stomach growled.

I chuckled. Alright, time to head back, I thought, rising to my feet.

That was when the bloat fly queen struck.

You have been ambushed!

You have been hit by a sneak attack for 15 damage. You have 105 HP remaining.

A level 5 bloat fly queen has poisoned you!