Chapter 2: Book 1, Chapter 2: The Healer’s Home

Another near-frozen village, another dead end, Shane bitterly thought as he walked through the gates of a tiny mountain town inside of a significantly large winter biome. He knew the farther someone traveled from Krooth, the more challenging encounters could be. The same thing could be said of neutral or even positive encounters, and that's what he counted on—a high-ranking healer. As Shane pushed through the blowing snow and wind, he observed the character stat window he willed into existence in front of him.

Name: Shane Carther
Race: Human
Class: Barbarian
Level: 25
Exp: 320/4615
HP: 540/540
Mana: 16/16
Fatigue: 5/205

Attributes:
Strength: 109
Agility: 60
Vitality: 38
Endurance: 53
Intellect: 8
Wisdom: 7
Luck: 20
Physical Attack: 220
Magical Attack: 0
Physical Defense: 91
Magical Defense: 20

Satisfied with how his stats had been building the past few weeks, he opened up his [Feats] tab with the evolved jump feat highlighted.

-The Lord's Leap-
(Legendary Feat)

The user can jump as high as 3 meters per 1 Strength

The user also takes zero fall damage after using this feat

Cost: 75 Fatigue
Duration: Instant
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Requirements: 90 Strength/50 Agility

Through his class's unique evolution mechanic, Shane could take a common-grade feat and raise several higher grades, thanks to using it daily for almost two months straight. However, its high fatigue cost meant he couldn't use it rapidly back to back.

Still, a few minutes of walking between jumps generally kept his fatigue low. This was advantageous if he was ambushed and forced to increase his fatigue further through the use of his combat feats. This was because maxing out fatigue would cause him to slip into unconsciousness until it lowered again over an extended period of walking or rest.

Of course, those leaps weren't the only thing that helped him succeed in this world. With its powerful physical properties, Shane's [Ascendant-grade] two-handed battle-ax allowed him to cleave most of his problems in two. As he traveled, he periodically looked over the battle ax's various stats and benefits.

-Brutal 2H Battle Ax of Glory-
(Ascendant)

+42 Damage
+7 Strength
+5 Agility

Modifiers:

Brutal: Weapon attacks can be magically extended up to (1) foot in length
Glory: Attacks do 10% more damage after each kill and stack up to 50%

Feat Gained:

-Weighted-
(passive)

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The user's weapon weighs normally but is several times heavier if an opponent tries using it

It was just one of the few powerful pieces of loot he obtained through the game's dynamically generated quest and battle system rewards.

Strangely, as of late, his quests had started to have time limits assigned to them. He found it odd, given he had successfully completed every quest the system had given him thus far. Once Liz was fixed up, he would ask her about these timers. Currently, he only had one active quest left: to travel back south to Krooth to help quell an uprising by the marginalized hybrid people.

The quest did have a timer, but Shane didn't care. He couldn't be bothered to travel that far, even with his ability to jump great distances. Now, if he had been granted a magic-bearing class, he could use said magic to fast-travel, but not with this current ax-loving profession. Knowing this, he steeled his resolve, braced himself, and used the lord's leap skill again. As he jumped, the ground crumbled beneath the force, simultaneously kicking up mighty torrents of wind and several cubic feet of snow and dirt.

While flying through the air, he quickly noted that his one remaining quest to travel back to the city of Krooth had only thirty minutes left on its timer. Shane hoped the penalties for running out of time on a quest weren't too terrible, as he hadn't failed a quest before. Even if the penalty was harsh, his search for a high-leveled healer took priority for Liz's sake.

Shane landed just shy of the blended border between a winter biome he had just traveled through and the swamp biome further north. His landing caused the ground to shake all around him, and more bits of dirt and snow filled the air. It was fun to sometimes try to land in a classic superhero pose. However, it was harder to control, making his landings problematic for potential nearby life.

It was already dusk when he crossed that invisible boundary of the two biomes. The snow and ice adorning the dead trees and frozen earth slowly transitioned to muck, grime, and moss. The temperature also rapidly increased. Thankfully, a couple of lucky armor drops gave Shane the ability to resist most temperatures outside of the extreme.

As he jogged through the moist weeds of the musty biome, points of interest appeared on his overhead compass: a cave, a monster nest that spawned creatures until demolished, and a dungeon. Nothing immediately stood out to him as something that held a powerful healer within. Ten more minutes passed, and a new point of interest appeared—A dwelling.

City, town, and village icons looked different than this on the compass. This icon looked like a small one-story home with a single window and chimney. With his hopes increasing, he lept a shorter distance through the air, trying hard to land where the home might be. The dwelling's icon rapidly grew in size as he grazed the tops of the swamps' dying trees and brush.

When he did land, it sent a small shockwave through the damp undergrowth but was relatively soundless. Shane looked around and finally saw a medium-sized cobblestone hut with a dome-shaped roof made of tightly wrapped stalks of hay overtop interlocked wooden boards. There was what looked like a small garden with tall planets Shane couldn't identify lining the left side of the hut. If a healer lives here, then a wide variety of herbs and plants would indicate such, in my opinion, Shane thought. That line of thinking was undoubtedly a stereotype for healers, but if it brought Liz back, he didn't care.

The sun had just fully set; thick dark shadows blanketed the swamp's murky waters. Luckily, a single, flickering torch staked in the ground to the left of the building's entrance illuminated the otherwise hidden structure. As Shane made his way toward the simple wooden front door, he noticed its aging metal hinges were broken in multiple places. He placed a calloused hand on the unlocked door; it swung open easily but at an awkward angle. Its remaining hinges straining greatly with a long hitching creak.

He walked inside and realized the entire place was in shambles. Anything that could have been opened, like wooden drawers, chests, and even antique decorations, had been turned inside out. Even the once comfy-looking furniture hadn't been spared by whoever had broken in. All the destruction made it look like a twister had torn through each room with selective malice.

Either they couldn't find what they were looking for and left, or whoever did this is still here, he thought grimly. Shane closed his eyes and extended his warrior's battle sense, a passive feat that let him sense nearby hostile life. His eyes flew open, and he looked down to see the outlines of flowing life energy below the floorboards.

Shane moved effortlessly through the trashed home as he followed a slight glow from under the door at the end of a dark hallway. Three life signatures clumped together near another that was crouching against a back wall underneath where Shane stood. Over the months, the gear bonuses and points allocated to Strength and Agility left his body flexible but hardened with muscle. So as he descended the stairway to the dwelling's basement, he felt confident he could handle whatever was down there.

It looks like I'm in the right place at the right time! Shane thought, pleased with himself. He couldn't be more wrong.

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