Chapter 15: Chapter. 15: Loot

I sat down inside the crevice, making sure to avoid all vomit. The snake had been gone for about one hour now. I simply stared at the timer trying to distract myself, I was in a pathetic state, my legs were bleeding from the slide, and I struggled to simply not faint from the lack of mana.

[Incubation Period: 6 days 0 hours 1 minute]

I took a deep breath, while I didn’t find the matter something worth celebrating, it was something that would’ve made me at least slightly happy to progress so much. Alas, it couldn’t happen.

[Incubation Period: 5 days 23 hours 59 minutes]

I scoffed, one day in and I had lost all my arrows, almost died about three times as well. I did not feel as if I was impulsive with the Guardian of the Osthus Tree, or as I kept calling it⁠— snake. I had underestimated it so much, but… Who would’ve thought that a Guardian would be so strong⁠— no, I should’ve assumed it had some type of special ability simply because of its name. However, who would’ve thought it could just ask the tree for level ups?

Why can’t I ask a tree for level ups? The World Tree was gone, and moreover, I seriously doubted it would even help considering my race was… wiped. My anger subsided, and I took a deep sigh. I wasn’t impulsive. At least I didn’t think I was. Perhaps I should’ve known better. But now I knew what to expect of the snake.

[Blair, if I may speak…] Glim called with a small voice.

“What?” I wasn’t too annoyed with Glim, but I did resent it for not telling me about a lot of things.

[I feel inadequate as your companion…]

I snorted. “You think so?”

[So I was thinking I should make it up to you!] It circled around me. [See this monolith right here, how about you follow the crevice till the end?]

His statement gave me pause. “Why would I do that?”

[Just do it! Trust me! Please!]

“Alright,'' a sigh left me. “Why didn’t you tell me that the Guardian was immortal?”

[Immortal is a strong word, but the short answer is that I couldn't. I cannot tell you about the challenges you can find in the Skirmish, the only ones I can tell you about are Prophecies, but that is because they simply aren’t native to the Skirmish. Things such as Guardians are, though not exclusive to it. Now that you’ve faced off against the Guardian of the Osthus Tree, I can at least say that it is not immortal. And my hint is⁠— it returned to the tree because the tree was in danger. The tree is on a higher priority than itself, the tree is part of its life, the tree is its life.]

I nodded. “So what you’re saying is I should’ve attacked the tree?”

Glim shivered. [N-No I never said that, please don’t misunderstand, I simply said what I said. If I dared to give you the way to defeat it, The System would snap me out of existence in an instant!]

I nodded, hearing Glim’s plea. So it was like that. I waited for a few more minutes for the nausea to subside. Losing all my mana was as if part of me was wiped out, everything on my body had felt off and my insides seemed to keep bleeding. Thankfully as trickles of mana regenerated the bleeding subsided, though I still felt lightheaded and the other symptoms remained.

Ten minutes passed before I finally stood up, I felt like an old lady⁠ ⁠— avoiding sudden movements and simply moving as slowly as possible, using my bow as support. Its frame was rigid and in spite of all the things I had gone through with it, it seemed to be in mostly pristine condition, aside from a few scratches anyway. Its frame hadn’t bent in spite of all the stuff I had done so far. Though perhaps getting another bow as a back-up wasn’t a bad idea.

I slowly shambled through the gap at an awkward pace, it seemed to be getting narrower and narrower. I was unable to extend more than one arm before having both sides of my body touch the damp black rock. As the opening seemed to end, there was a… wooden chest? I frowned with confusion and approached it, I poked it with my bow but there was no reaction. It did not have a lock either.

Who would put a chest here?

[Oh wow, who would leave a chest here?] Glim said helplessly. [It would be such a shame if you were to take from its contents!]

“Was this what you wanted to⁠—” Glim shivered. “Right, who would leave a chest here?”

[Who knows, perhaps it was the gods of the Skirmish smiling upon you! Maybe The System itself!]

I shook my head at Glim’s shamelessness. It seemed as if it had found a way to circumvent its language restrictions, which I was more than happy to realize. I even considered listening to what Glim sometimes said for the first time, but I was still doubtful about it. No matter, I shook my head, baby steps. I slowly crouched in front of the chest and I opened its heavy wooden cover. Its hinges did not squeak, as if they were well oiled, there was no dust in its insides either.

There were just; three vials, and what seemed to be a knife.

I picked one vial, its liquid as opposed to the health potions, was a transparent blue. I attempted to inquire for an answer, which was promptly given to me.

[Mana Potion (Basic)]

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I did not think twice about it before removing the metal cap and swallowing the liquid. Its taste was of nothing, it was like drinking water. As soon as it reached my stomach I felt growing warmth. My mana was being recovered at a rapid rate⁠— about… I would have all my mana back in about ten minutes? It was quick. It didn’t take long before the nausea left my body. I disposed of the vial and grabbed the other two, placing them on my belt. Just like that I had three potions once more. Though⁠— I looked at my belt with slight concern, I didn’t really have anywhere else to store the potions, but if my slide had gone awry, the potions would’ve slammed against the wall and broken.

A problem for later, I sighed, and turned to the knife. It had patterns on its blade in a different metallic color, its body was pitch black and the patterns that reminded me of small islands were blue.

[Mana Knife ⁠(Uncommon item) ⁠— Imbue this knife with your mana to increase its sharpness.]

That was convenient. I gripped the knife and guided my mana before pausing⁠— it was best if my mana did not leave my body for now. I looked at my belt before realizing that there was no space for the knife, pondering where to carry it. I looked at the Loa Vulpe’s tail, my ex quiver. Maybe?

I fiddled with the thing for a few minutes before managing to finally get it to sit snugly inside the tail. Though there was no doubt in my mind that I would end up cutting right through it given enough unsheathings. Still, it was better than nothing. With that in mind I placed my bow on my back and grabbed my arro⁠— I had no arrows. I grimaced before heading outside, my leg was slightly bleeding but nothing to use a potion over.

Each step was slightly painful, and I had to limp in order to not hurt, but there was no doubt in my mind that I could still run away if needed. I only had one health potion left, and I did not want to waste it on simply healing the gashes on my leg. It seemed like, well… a waste? I shook my head and simply went to the nearest tree before making sure there was nothing around, and then I began my search.

I skulked and prowled like an animal looking for food, but my target instead, was a fallen stick, one that was big and robust that I could use like a spear. I needed to be able to at least hunt food, as far as leveling up went⁠— I would deal with it later.

I grimaced as I dug through the grass and fallen leaves, all I could find was small sticks, or full branches⁠, which were thicker than my arms.

However, it wasn’t all for naught, about an hour into it I found just the right branch. The branch ⁠— now walking stick ⁠— was about as tall as me, and was relatively straight, its thickness was similar to the grip of my bow; something that I could comfortably wield. I nodded to myself before deciding to return to the monolith since it was a short walk away. Moreover it was considerably safe.

As I entered the crevice I couldn’t help but frown, my vomit reeked of whatever smell that was. It was something that shouldn’t have existed. I debated on whether to leave or not, but ultimately remained and used the mana knife. It was simple to use, my mana would reach the knife and simply go into it, and the sharpness would come to be on its own⁠. First the patterns would begin to light up in a green hue, and then its edge too.

I passed it through the stick and it was as if I was cutting through something soft, softer than any fruit I had tried. It was pleasant.

During my time cutting Glim reminded me to claim the rewards for the Land Reconnaissance quest, which I had forgotten about. So, I had completed the quest 3 times now, I made sure to re-accept it before returning to making a sharp edge on the stick.

And after just a few minutes it was done. The stick stood relatively tall and it had a sharp but blunt edge, one that seemed made for the sole purpose of piercing from sheer strength rather than sharpness. I smiled to myself before leaving. First things were finding a fish to catch, since I seriously doubted I’d be able to kill a Loa Vulpe with my makeshift spear, or an Everwood Moose that would certainly demolish me in melee combat.

Making a mental note of where I was I decided to continue my path north into uncharted territory.

◇ ◇ ◇

There were no lakes. Small rivers existed but they carried no fish, simply water. I completed the quest once more, and five hours had passed. I wish it gave some sort of reward, but alas, it did not.

I let out a grunt of defeat as I lazily climbed a tree and perched myself on the branch. The sun was setting on the horizon, it was the second night I had experienced, or so I thought anyway. I watched the sun hide away on the west, now that I thought about it⁠— it was also the direction in which I fought the Knell Boar, though now that place was south-west. I nodded to myself as I dreamily watched the sunset. My makeshift spear accompanied me on my lap along with my bow.

So beautiful. As I closed my eyes I saw something at the edge of my vision.

Smoke.

There was a fire nearby, but… There was not a way for fires to start naturally, they were always something created by intelligent beings. By the elves. Perhaps the armored people had started it⁠— no why would they come north, they had gone south if I remembered correctly. I frowned and decided to go investigate. Perhaps I could get some arrows if they happened to carry some, though I doubted if they were going to be friendly. Leveling up seemed to be among the highest priorities here after all.

I climbed down the tree.

I was going to steal if need be.

◇ ◇ ◇

I snuck through the bushes and I could see the light from the fire after a couple of minutes walking, though I did not want to get closer. Instead I opted to climb a tree. I went up high where I managed to see a clearing to the source of the fire. It was a relatively big campfire with what seemed like meat skewered⁠—

A figure walked and stood next to the campfire, pale skin and short hair. It stood on two feet⁠— An elf? I gnashed my teeth before stopping myself upon seeing its ears. Unlike elves, they were close to his head, and rounded.

Not an elf.

I frowned pondering what to do next. They weren’t the armored people, these people did not have horns, nor were they elves. A different species? I had to get closer to make sure.

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