Rupegia Ch. 01: First Day

"W-what? Who's there?" I question and look around, but there's nobody around. I blink as I process what I heard, and after a few moments, I recognize that the voice was inside my head, like a video game announcer.

I stand still for some time, thinking about what just happened, but the adrenaline goes away and the pain of the spines piercing my skin starts to grow.

I quickly pull the spines out, but it just makes the pain worse. Now, my skin trickles with blood and stains my clothes, then I notice that four spines got stopped by the leather jacket.

<i>I guess armor really is useful here, though it's a bit lacking in padding.</i>

I cast [<i>Regeneration</i>], and a ball of light appears, floating above my left palm. I push it against my body and it sinks like it was ethereal, and I remain still for some time as I feel my mana steadily drain, then I start to calm down as the pain slowly subsides, and a slightly pleasurable feeling courses through my body. It seems that this is a continuous or "channeled" spell.

It takes ten minutes, but the blood stops completely, then the wound starts closing, and the pain goes away completely. I guess this magic isn't something you use during battle, but it remains in effect for a minute after I stop channeling it.

My mana is now at twenty. I guess I really need that [Mana Efficiency] skill for magic.

--

While waiting for my mana to recharge, I look at my stats, but disappointingly, they didn't change. Perhaps, like "Sanity," stat values change based on training or other conditions instead of level.

Then I look into my skills and notice that I have four new Skill Points to spend. I use two for the [Mana Efficiency] skill and two for [Sword Use]. Even though I barely used the sword, it was because I made a mistake and kept it sheathed before the battle. The monster was fast and magic has a short delay to cast, so I need to defend myself with a weapon if I get into melee.

I test a [Dismantling] skill, but it seems it just gives me "intuition" in how to butcher it, but at least it gives me the idea that the corpse of monsters might be valuable.

I decide to put it into my "Items," and it shows as "Hedge-wolf? monster corpse." I don't understand why there's a "?" there. Maybe it's like the fruits and the naming is based on my knowledge, so it picked the most appropriate name I could think of.

I also change my pants since the smell of blood could attract more monsters. The bloodied pants are put into "Items" and get named as "bloody black woolen pants."

I take out the "spare clothes bundle." It's a neat stack of clothes tied by a small cord. Maybe it needs to be like this so that it can "stack" and be considered as one item instead of each piece of clothing being separate. The bundle also has some linen underwear, which is the same as the one I'm wearing. It's loose-fitting and a little uncomfortable for me.

Now I start to think about this world. It's clear that there are monsters different from animals and that they're hostile.

This one likely discovered me by smell, so I guess [Hide Presence] was a bit useless, but maybe there's some magic that can help mask my scent. The loud roar my [<i>Lightning Bolt</i>] made when I tested it might've also alerted it of my presence, so that could be why it came towards me, to begin with.

But the main lesson here is that I need to fight and I need to <i>kill </i>what I fight, there's no other way to survive here.

--

After recharging my mana, I start moving again. Now I feel a little more confident since I calmed my heart, but I'm still feeling rather stressed. The [Sense Presence] skill is taking its toll on me.

After walking for what seems like half an hour, I get another hit on my radar. The red dot feels "different" this time, and it's not coming directly towards me.

I hide behind a bush with a good vision ahead and wait until I can see it. After a minute or so, a bush rustles and the monster comes out of it.

It's a skinny, little green man with an ugly, oversized bald head full of wrinkles, a large, pointy ear, and a curved nose. It's a goblin, a standard enemy of fantasy worlds. It's completely naked, and its disgusting genital is dangling around, waving as he moves. He's also wounded as I can see a few bruises and cuts all over his exposed skin that are lightly bleeding. In his left hand, he is dragging a long, thin dagger, probably used for piercing, not cutting.

This is a golden opportunity. A single Hedge-wolf gave me one hundred and ten experience points and let me level up, now I need two hundred points, but every single point counts.

Just a single level in [Electric Magic] was enough to be the difference between life and death, or at least life and a nasty bite on my face. If I want to survive, I need more skill points, so I need more levels, and, therefore, I need to <i>kill</i> this goblin. The chance of success on this is high unless I'm mistaking the strength of this little green thing. He's not even a meter tall, so he should be weak.

<i>Yes, that's it, I'm charging.</i>

I draw my sword and dash towards him, holding it high above my head. The goblin barely has a chance to react before I'm into range, and I chop downwards.

The goblin's face instantly warps into a scowl as he raises his dagger and tries to deflect my sword with his dagger, but he's too weak in comparison to me. He's not fast or strong enough to parry, but he still moves my sword sideways a bit. What was supposed to be a single hit kill by a chop to the head becomes a deadly wound as the tip of my sword sinks into his shoulder. It passes through flesh and bone, entering his chest, then it gets stuck.

"GYEEEEEH!" The goblin screams. A nasty scream so loud that it hurts my ears.

With this, the color drains from my face. He could be calling for allies, and now I might be in <i>a bit</i> of trouble.

With anger fueling my movements, I dislodge my sword from its body, then bring it back and slice horizontally. The skill helps me do a simple, but perfectly executed cut, and the blade smoothly slides along his neck sinking deeper and deeper until it comes out on the other side, decapitating him, and his head rolls away. This is an <i>awfully</i> sharp sword, though his neck was pretty slim.

I don't have time to be stunned by the bloody scene. If a wounded goblin appeared, maybe there are others who just finished fighting. Even if they're wounded, I have no confidence in fighting more than one enemy, especially if they can just throw things at me, like spears.

Leaving a corpse will attract more monsters sensitive to smell, so I quickly add the goblin's body, head, and knife to my "Items," then I dash into a right angle from where the goblin came from to maximize my distance from where I killed it.

After a minute or so, I slow down and catch my breath. I look at the sword in my hand and realize I forgot to clean it, so it should've left a trail of blood directly towards me.

<i>Fucking...!</i>

I pull the already bloodied pants from "Items" and use it to clean the blood, then I resume moving towards my destination.

This goblin gave me one hundred and eighty experience points, now I only need ten more for the next level. This is good progress.

Just two more points into [Sword Use] allowed me to properly swing the sword twice and get a kill, so I'll soon be able to increase the skill some more. But this battle went so well because it was a surprise attack against a small monster armed only with a knife, so I hope I don't find anything worse.

But I do, find what that goblin had fought.

--

After another hour, I get another hit on my radar, and it sends chills down my spine. I feel that this red rod is considerably larger than the previous ones, and I estimate that its body size is as big as me, but much longer and thick.

I immediately crouch behind a bush and hide in fear, then I make sure that [Hide Presence] is constantly on.

The monster is just going to pass nearby, and there's no risk of it getting too close. It's slowly strolling around, and it seems like it doesn't even have a fixed destination, so I assume that it's not searching for me, specifically.

After two minutes, I start to hear the monster walking. It's another quadruped with a very heavy body. Then I hear a small growl, an unmistakable <i>bear</i> growl.

I start sweating cold. Even in my world, a bear is not something you fight with just a sword and a party trick spell.

Then the bear suddenly stops.

<i>Did it notice me? How? I can't hear it trying to smell the air.</i>

Then I hear it turn in my direction. I wait for a few seconds, my heart trying to escape my mouth, then it growls again, and this time, it sounds angry.

<i>Yeah, it noticed me. [Hide Presence] must've failed!</i>

I should've walked away, I should've taken [Quiet Steps] so that I could walk away from any dangerous encounter, but I didn't think this would happen, I didn't expect that it could so easily detect my presence. I thought the Hedge-wolf was an exception, but I was naive.

Now, what do I do, flee? I'm getting tired, the bear is in the way of my destination, and I'm not sure if I can outrun a bear. Maybe I should fight and test the waters, then flee if the situation gets worse. The problem is, if I get hit once, then maybe I'm dead, so there's no room for a mistake here.

I need to at least look at what kind of enemy this is. The hedge-wolf was just bizarre, but maybe I can see something that'll help me defeat it.

I get up and peek from behind the bush and regret doing so. The enemy is truly a bear, a frightening bear staring at me like a ravenous beast. It has five claws the size of my hand on each paw, fangs the size of my head protruding from its open, salivating mouth, and grey fur covering its body.

But then I become surprised as I notice that it's wounded. I can see more than a dozen shafts of what seems to be spears stuck to its body, there's a strong trickle of blood dripping from its face, one eye is closed, and there are multiple bloodstains all over its grey fur. It's heavily wounded, so it's probably what the previous goblin was fighting.

I think that there's a chance of victory, but I can't get hit. If I do, I'm dead, so I have to use everything I can to win.

I draw my sword and start casting [<i>Lighting Bolt</i>], then the bear immediately starts charging. I don't want to use [<i>Constricting Vines</i>] because the spell is too slow, and I also have a feeling that simple vines won't stop the charge of something that big.

He's fast, but so is my casting, I manage to cast my bolt twice before he gets into melee range. Each hit slows him down considerably and the smell of burnt flesh fills the air, so I successfully stop his charge.

He gets on his hind legs and tries to use his huge paws to swipe at me, but they're too slow, so I jump backward and release another Bolt, making him roar in anger.

Now he's angry. With a sudden burst of speed, he waddles a little closer and swipes with a speed that catches me by surprise. All I can do is defend myself with the sword as the claws hit the blade and its massive strength sends me flying.

I hit my back against a tree and air leaves my lungs, then I feel a blinding pain that immobilizes me for a second.

My vision becomes blurry, but I manage to cast the Bolt again. The spell hits the bear on the snout, then it stops its attack and starts convulsing.

An opportunity! I could run away, but the bloodlust clouds my mind. Anger makes me move forward, and the sweet deal of getting a large amount of experience fills my thoughts with greed. I charge forward.

How long are his convulsions going to last? I don't know, but since this is low-level magic, it's likely to be short, so I start casting again.

A strong headache attacks me, so I think this is my last spell.

The bear stops convulsing and roars again, then I finish my cast at point-blank range.

The bear flinches in pain from the spell, then I let the skill take hold, and I lunge. The tip of the blade sinks through the eye and continues on until it reaches the hilt, then I feel the tip hitting the back of its skull.

The bear twitches once, then his body gives up and it falls limp on the ground.

"You are now level five," the female announcer reports again.

I look at my stats, my MP is at minus four. A massive headache flares and my vision goes dark.

--

I slowly recover my consciousness. My back hurts a lot, I'm shivering, I have difficulty breathing, and my head hurts so much I don't think I can even stand.

While laying down, I look into my stats and see that my MP is at ten but my HP is at ninety.

<i>Even though I blocked the attack I got damaged. Scary.</i>

My "Magic Power" grew by five and my maximum MP by ten. I now have twelve new skill points, so I put them all on [Mana Efficiency] and cast [<i>Regeneration</i>] on myself.

It takes another ten minutes, and I heal myself until I have only one MP left. The spell helps with the back pain, but the headache worsens, and I'm still feeling very tired.

I simply rest on the ground until my MP reaches twenty, then I use [<i>Regeneration</i>] again and the back pain subsides enough to let me stand.

I look around and see that the bear is dead with my sword sticking out of its eye.

<i>I did it, I fucking killed a huge bear, a monstrously large bear. Fucking hell.</i>

I take the sword out and clean it on the bear's own fur, then I grab a paw and store the bear on "Items. Now I need to properly distribute my points.

--

I have thirty-one points total, so I put them like this:

--

<i><b>['PRESS HERE TO CHOOSE Skill Report']</b></i>

<i><b>['Physical']</b></i>

<i>[Skill Name: Level | Skill Name: Level]</i>

<i>[Sword Use: 5 | Dodge: 3]</i>

<i><b>['Magical']</b></i>

<i>[Skill Name: Level | Skill Name: Level | Skill Name: Level]</i>

<i>[Mana Efficiency: 3 | Mana Recovery: 3 | Electric Magic: 4]</i>

<i>[Nature Magic: 5]</i>

<i><b>['Miscellaneous']</b></i>

<i>[Skill Name: Level | Skill Name: Level]</i>

<i>[Sense Presence: 4 | Hide Presence: 4]</i>

--

I should at least be able to use [<i>Lightning Bolt</i>] five times without fainting, perhaps one more and then fainting. I don't know which is more efficient, [Mana Efficiency] or [Reduced Mana Cost], so I'm just going to bet on efficiency. I also don't have time to test them since it's way past noon now and I need to keep moving. I prefer to spread out my capabilities a bit instead of focusing on only one thing since no skill has a significant impact on my fighting capabilities because they seem to be heavily limited by my stats. I need to be versatile and adaptive here.

With unsteady steps, I start moving again. I'm still hurting, my HP is at ninety-eight, and my MP is at forty, but I shouldn't linger any longer here lest another monster find me, attracted by the sounds of our battle.

The range of [Sense Presence] is noticeably higher now and it makes me less tense to use it along with [Hide Presence], which is good since I still have a headache.

I can see my MP gradually going up even while moving, so [Mana Recovery] is a good investment. Now I can heal myself again while walking, then the headache and back pain gradually stops, but I'm still feeling very tired.

--

After another hour, I get another hit. This time, I know it's a goblin.

It seems to be standing still, so I could test using [Quiet Steps]. I don't want to fight and I'm really tired, but I need this knowledge!

In games, goblins usually attack in numbers to compensate for their lack of intelligence or equipment, so finding a single goblin is lucky. Maybe not so lucky since I also met what made them scatter, but still, this situation is a lucky find.

I switch [Sense Presence] for [Quiet Steps] and activate it, then I sneak closer to the goblin. Like [Sword Use], [Quiet Steps] gives me "intuition" in how to move quietly, and my footsteps become noticeably softer. It seems that the skill isn't straight-up magic, but it's close.

I manage to catch a glimpse of the goblin, and he seems to be looking downwards, distracted with something, so I circle around to get behind him and continue approaching.

From an opening in a bush, I notice he's treating a wound. He has a nasty cut on his shoulder, and he's wiping it with a seemingly clean cloth.

<i>How smart is he?</i>

Then I notice that he's wearing a small leather jacket and that he has a wooden spear with a shining metal tip next to him.

He's not the same as the previous goblin. This one is more experienced, seemingly smarter, and also has better equipment. I need to kill him with one attack.

I carefully approach, inching closer, little by little.

<i>I must have patience.</i>

My heart beats so fast I can hear my own pulse.

I inch closer.

My hand shakes with anxiety and anticipation.

I inch closer.

He's barely within reach of my sword.

"Gah?" He leaks a sound and looks behind, but it's too late.

I lunge forward and stab his throat, then he immediately pressures the wound as he writhes on the ground. All he can do is garble some words and gasp for air while slowly dying from drowning in his own blood.

He stares at me intensely. His beady little eyes don't contain anger but only surprise. Maybe he's surprised he got attacked, or just surprised he's going to die.

I stand over him and stare back, but the bloody scene makes me feel nauseous. He's way too human for me to just watch him slowly die.

Perhaps I made a mistake. Perhaps he's sapient and a person who belongs to a community in this world. Perhaps I committed a crime. I never allowed those two goblins to attack first; I ambushed both of them.

I can't look at this anymore, so I decapitate the goblin.

<i>Shit, I feel even worse now.</i>

He gave more experience than the last goblin, but it's not enough to level up again. I look at my status and see that my "Crimes" section is still saying "NONE." This gives me a little comfort, but only a little.

I put him and his spear in my "Items," then I turn around towards my objective again and see something frightening.

A human skull, multiple bones, and a skeleton torso are laying at the foot of a huge tree. The bones are small, but they're definitely human, or at least I think they are. Goblin heads are seemingly much larger than this skull.

Then I see something besides the skeleton, a ruined backpack.

I now remember that the goblin's equipment was rather dusty and old-looking. The spear was clean, but it was chipped. It seems that the previous owner of this equipment was the skeleton remains. The goblin had just found it by chance.

When I look inside the backpack, I see a small ruined notebook. I open it, and while it's mushy and the words are blurred, I can still discern some foreign characters every once in a while, so I remove one point from [Sword Use] and start adding it to each of the language skills in my "Miscellaneous" tab.

After a few minutes, I finally find the language this notebook was written in, it's Norvok.

I have to put five points in the language for me to be able to make sense of what's written. Also, it seems that the maximum for language is ten.

This notebook is a diary. A dwarven young man was traveling to the other side of the continent and writing about his travels. There are tellings of what was eaten, killed, who he talked to, and minor random details. I can't absorb anything from the culture just by reading this, but it helps me discover that the language used by the locals is called Andraste.