"Phew—"
After a brief but intense fight, Eric didn't bother lingering. He gave the battlefield a quick once-over, looting anything of value before moving on.
Something among the spoils caught his eye.
It was a bow—one he'd never seen before, with a distinctive, rugged design.
[Orcish Bow]
+10% Ranged Damage
+10% Attack Range
"Huh?!"
A weapon with special stats?
The last time he saw an item with added traits was that dagger he snagged off the scrap merchant.
Eric picked up the bow and examined it with interest. Compared to the basic wooden bows he could craft himself, this one was clearly made from higher-grade materials. The grip had a faint metallic texture—not something you'd get from regular woodwork. Quality craftsmanship.
Say what you will about orcs, they knew how to make weapons.
He bent down, grabbed a stray arrow from the ground, and gave the bow a test shot. The arrow flew with a satisfying thunk and buried itself deep into a nearby tree.
Solid performance.
Truth be told, this was Eric's first time firing a bow.
On one hand, he'd never found the materials needed to craft bowstrings. On the other, he'd always favored melee combat. In a world of cold steel and brute force, he'd dismissed archery as a niche tool.
Sure, the orc squad he wiped out earlier had archers—but after he carpet-bombed them with TNT, there wasn't much left to loot. Calling the scene a mess would've been generous.
But now, holding this weapon in hand, Eric felt something stir.
Familiarity?
Yes. This… this felt right.
With the system's assistance, the learning curve was laughably low. The moment he notched an arrow, his posture locked into the ideal stance, smooth and practiced. None of that fumbling you'd expect from a rookie.
After a few test shots, Eric had already grasped the basics of archery.
Well, basic usage. Hitting the target consistently? Mastering arrow arcs and leading shots? That would take time, practice—and probably a lot of arrows.
Luckily, the system let him toggle assistance on and off. But until he fully mastered the craft, he wasn't taking the training wheels off just yet.
Unfortunately, the orc archer didn't carry many arrows. Even after collecting every single one he'd fired, Eric only had nine in total.
Not ideal.
It was already late—deep into the second half of the night.
Eric found a nearby cave to rest in. He built a small campfire and skewered a corn cob on a stick, roasting it slowly over the flames.
Sure, he could just gnaw on some jerky to fill his belly, but life was about more than survival—it needed flavor, a bit of ceremony.
The fire crackled as the scent of roasting corn filled the cave.
Unable to resist, Eric bit into the cob.
Soft, sweet, and fragrant. Pure bliss.
"Perfect timing," he mumbled with a grin.
Thump.
Suddenly, Eric felt the ground beneath him tremble.
He instinctively turned toward the direction of the vibration.
In the flickering firelight, a hulking shadow emerged.
Eric quietly put down his corn.
Thump. Thump...
The shadow drew closer, revealing its immense size. The closer it got, the more massive it seemed—until finally, a bloated head and grotesque body loomed into view.
Then, it spoke in a guttural, broken tongue:
"Food… eating food…"
And that's when Eric saw it clearly—
An ogre.
"Well now!" the ogre cried gleefully, bouncing on its heels. "Look what wandered into my cave—fresh meat delivered right to the door!"
Eric sprang to his feet, just as excited. "Well I'll be! Look what I stumbled into—an ogre!"
That threw the ogre off completely.
Wait… why was this supposed meal so happy about being eaten?
Before the ogre could piece that together, Eric blurred into motion—and suddenly, he was clad in gleaming armor.
A longsword reflected in the ogre's dazed pupils, growing rapidly larger.
SLASH!
"AAARGH!"
The ogre roared, clutching its eye and stumbling back as blood streamed down its face. In its pain, it swiped blindly, flinging a spray of stone fragments at Eric. He was forced to retreat, shielding himself with his buckler.
"Yikes!" Eric grunted, spotting a bright red bar above the ogre's head.
[53 / 60 HP]
This beast didn't just have a ton of health—it had two full blocks of armor on top of that.
Tougher than a ghoul, even.
"You little maggot! I'll kill you!"
The ogre bellowed and swung with massive force, smashing the campfire and lunging toward Eric.
He narrowly dodged, ducking in for another strike—but the ogre reacted fast, punching low and wide. With no room to evade, Eric had no choice but to raise his shield.
CLANG!
The force of the punch was immense, rattling through his bones. His shield groaned under the pressure—then cracked.
A cooldown icon appeared over it.
"Great," Eric muttered. "Shield's busted."
Knowing he couldn't afford a straight-up brawl with this tanky brute, Eric dashed out of the cave, taking a glancing blow to the ribs as he went.
[-3 HP]
Okay, yeah, that hit harder than a wolf's bite.
Reaching open ground, Eric yanked a round stone from his pack and—channeling the power of raw panic—hurled it at the cave entrance with freakish speed. The boulder wedged tightly in the gap, sealing the ogre inside.
"Damn it!"
Inside the cave, the ogre smashed against the makeshift barrier. Cracks started forming already—its brute strength was no joke.
Eric pulled out his new bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed at the small gap he'd intentionally left for airflow and vision.
Thwip!
"AARGH!"
The scream confirmed it—a clean shot to the neck.
That one arrow chunked 8 HP off the ogre's bar.
Now spooked, the ogre threw one hand over its face to shield its head and eyes.
But the moment Eric had sealed the cave, the ogre's fate had already been decided.
"You ever heard," Eric muttered, drawing another arrow, "of the legendary cowardly block-builder?"
Arrow after arrow whistled through the gap.
The ogre took seven… eight shots before finally collapsing with a thunderous crash.
It never did break through the stone wall.
"No worries if you hadn't heard of him before…" Eric smirked, lowering his bow. "You just met him."
Once the cave went completely still, Eric cautiously approached.
What he saw made him blink in disbelief.
"Holy hell… that's nearly a meter of solid rock. And it almost got through?!"
Yeah, this ogre wasn't just strong—it was terrifyingly strong.
Next time, he was stacking two layers.
Sadly, the ogre didn't drop any rare loot. Its only real value was as fertilizer—the bones, maybe.
As for the meat… hard pass.
Eric's taste threshold stopped at direwolves—and even those tasted like wet dog and sadness.
A quick search confirmed his suspicions: the ogre was broke. Not a coin, not a scrap of gear, not even a dented tooth worth keeping.
But then—
"Wait a second… did it say this was its home?"
That changed things.
If this cave was the ogre's den, then there had to be a stash.
Treasure.
Now that was why Eric had come here in the first place.
Up until now, he thought it was just a random cave. But an ogre's lair? That meant loot. Probably.
Grabbing a torch, Eric plunged deeper into the darkness.
It didn't take long for his nose to wrinkle in disgust.
Bones, rot, filth—literal filth—covered the floor. The air was foul enough to curdle milk.
Even Eric, who had waded through his fair share of corpse piles, hesitated.
"Ugh. Hygiene was not this guy's strong suit."
Just as he was about to turn back, the firelight danced across a far wall.
Something… shimmered.
Something hidden in the deepest corner of the cave caught the flickering light—and reflected it.