Every fallen face I pass, I engrave into my mind — each one just like me. In the darkness, I make my way out of the battlefield before they come back for the bodies. Making myself scarce is the first priority, since my enemies are stronger, I cannot rush into things.
I make my way through the forest path, moving in silence. The moon is still high as the pain of hunger and thirst kicks in.
A river stream comes into range as I hear the water gushing, and I move towards it. My tongue not having touched anything other than blood for what seemed like days, I step into the river as I feel the ice-cold water crash onto my calves, soothing them. Cupping my hands with water, I bring my face towards it.
Though the water is not the cleanest, nothing has ever tasted sweeter. I gulp down more and more to the point where I nearly choke on it.
I sit down on the riverbank, taking a break. I have come to understand that the stats can be opened and closed just by thinking about it.
I open my stats as I lean back on my arms. From the inventory and take out the grimoire again to look into it more. I attempt to pull it open, but it still won't budge. I turn the book in every side, inspecting each and every part of this book. The only thing that looked out of place in this book was the dull gem. It looked like a magic gem, but they are normally vibrant due to the magic inside the gem itself.
Is this a magic gem? I have never seen anything of this colour to be any kind of gem. It looks like a magic gem that has lost all its magic.
Something instantly clicks in my head, and I touch the gem as I start to pour magic into it. A familiar sting cuts across my skin; it had somehow cut my finger that was touching the gem, and my blood dripped onto the gem — it glowed red.
I saw my magic and my blood soak into the gem, and it seems to have absorbed it. They seem to intertwine and mix together, finally giving the dull gem a colour of a true magic stone.
With a small tug, the book opens.
>> Would you like to learn this book?<<
>> [Yes] [No]<<
"Huh?" Shocked, I spoke out loud in the middle of the night. I hear the scuttles in the bushes behind me. I hear something running towards me. Quickly, I grab the spear out of the inventory, and as the unknown being throws itself at me, I lunge the spear right through it, killing it instantly. It was a shadow wolf, a species that normally hunts alone. Letting out a sigh, I pull the spear out of the wolf as I suddenly see the different screen pop up again.
>> +100 experience <<
>> Congratulations, you are now Level 2 <<
Bilwithered by this unexpected situation, having learnt that killing creatures can level you up, I look at my stats.
>> Player: Cain Thorne <<
>> Title: Devil's Awakened <<
>> Level: 2 <<
>> Stats: <<
>> Strength: 21, Agility: 17, Intelligence: 20, Luck: 3, Magic: 9(+25) <<
>> Stat points: 2
>> Skills: Locked <<
>> [Inventory] [Shop] [Quests] <<
Another change? Stat points? No way! I can increase any of the stats I choose to?
I grin from ear to ear.
My goal seems to be even easier to accomplish than expected.
Hovering over the stat points I have it allows me to select which attributes I want to increase. I decide to put both in luck.
I remember the group I was in: Theo, the holy knight, Felix, a mage, Leona, a warrior, Theren, the cleric, and I, who was just a knight picked up by the team.
We had gotten this far and ended up defeating the Demon King due to luck, it was even luck for them to meet me, as I seemed to have been someone useful to them before I was thrown away. Theo was always great at finding legendary items or people to help him; even people stronger than him could not defeat his luck, which is apparent as the Demon King was killed by him. His luck was always too unbelievable, but I guess some people are just born with luck, unlike me.
After adding the points into Luck, I look at my magic.
I guess it's time to see what types of spells I can learn from this book.
I open the book once more. The same text pops up again, I select yes.
>> New Skills Lernt <<
>> Blast Lvl1: Attribute dark, Allows you to make a concentrated blast with a range of 1 metre. The higher the level, the wider the range.
>> Darkfire Lvl1: Allows you to manipulate dark fire <<
>> Shadow Veil Lvl1: Cast a veil of shadows to the surrounding so you can move undetected. (Higher-level players will be able to notice you) The range is 5 metres. The higher the level, the wider the range. <<
>> Black Thorns Lvl1: An area attack that allows you to spurt poisonous black thorns from any surface 5 metres from the user. The higher the level, the wider the range. <<
>> Blood Thirst Lvl1: Consume the blood of humans to regain your own health. You will only gain 10% of the health you consume. The higher the level the more percentage you will be able to consume.<<
Looking at the spells I received, I was satisfied. As a knight who uses weapons, I was worried about having to use magic, but these spells are relatively great with my sword style, wild and raw. It was as if these spells were picked just for me. There was only one problem, knight normally used magic only to protect their bodies or strengthen them, so unlike mages, we never learn to manipulate it, only move it.
I guess I have to find someone to teach me when I get to a city. Now, to take care of this Shadow Wolf.
I take out a dagger from my thigh sheath as I start to harvest the fur and fangs of the wolf. These wolves are very similar to lone wolves but stronger. People would normally struggle to kill them, especially alone, but thankfully, I am stronger than the average person.
I dig my blade into its chin and slice it in one swift motion all the way to its tail, then proceed to skin it. I clean off any excess and then wash off the rest in the river. Doing this reminds me of my life before I met Theo, simple, but it put food on the table and a roof over my head. Working as a mercenary may not have been an honourable job, but it was rewarding. It was what made me strong.
I place the items into my inventory and wash the blood off myself. The meat of Shadow Wolves is toxic, so I had to discard it.
I set out on my path once more to look for civilisation away from where I used to be.