EFate: An MMO Story Chapter 31: Fallen Soldier

With the loud sound of rending flesh, Eric relaxed. At least death didn't seem to hurt that much in Fate, he thought as he attempted to feel his neck. For some reason though his arms were still barely listening to him, the stunned status still affecting him.

Feeling something was off, Eric opened his eyes to see the enormous wolf still just in front of him. It's jaws however, were not resting around his neck, filling its mouth with his blood. Instead they flopped uselessly as the wolf slowly fell to the side, it's enormous body collapsing on the ground in front of him, creating a small crater in the leafy ground. The milky whites of its eyes showed that it's life was finally depleted.

Behind the wolf, with his sword still embedded in the wolf's back stood the surviving militiaman. Panting hard he pulled his sword from the wolf, wiping the blade on it's fur.

"Thanks for saving me, I owe you my life," he said, reaching out to help Eric up.

[Elite Red-maned Wolf has died]

[Quest Complete: Save the remaining Militia!]

Looking at the militiaman in shock, Eric was greeted by two system messages announcing his success. Smiling wryly, he looked at the remaining time for his stunned status, six more seconds.

"Sorry, just give me a second. I was pretty badly hurt at the end there," he told the man who was still standing there with his arm outstretched.

"I've got a potion here, take it," the militiaman advised, removing a small flask from his belt. Uns.c.r.e.w.i.n.g the cap, he lowered it to Eric's lips who drank a small mouthful. With a sudden feeling of invigoration Eric watched his healthbar soar to almost sixty percent full, his mana rebound status disappearing.

Taking the offered hand, Eric stood up, surveying the damage to the clearing. The once calm clearing was now transformed, the leaves torn up and scattered while fresh bloodstains shone in the dawn's pale light. To one side lay the dead militiaman, an enormous puddle of blood pooling beneath his pale corpse. At the other end of the clearing lay the dead wolf, nearly half a quiver of arrows sticking out of it's corpse which lay stilly only a foot away from Eric.

"I'm Owin, a member of the Nova.n.a.lba militia. I owe you my life," said the militiaman, shaking Eric's hand. Nodding, Eric sighed.

"I just wish I'd arrived in time to save your companion," he lamented.

"Wylls was a good man. But he was never a talented fighter. He froze up there, forgot his training. You can't blame yourself for his death. It was just unfortunate that we ran into a freak like this while scouting," Owin responded.

"Scouting?"

"Aye, Commander Sloane wants us to find out about the Ironfrost Horde's movements. We've been tracking goblins in the northern woods for the past week. We were just on our way back when that monstrous wolf beset us. Had you not intervened then both of us would be dead and all our information would have been lost."

"Just doing my duty as a fellow militia member," Eric explained, flashing his badge to the man. Owin's eyes widened.

"You're also a member of the militia? In that case I'm going to make a selfish request. Can you escort me to the nearest village?"

Eric nodded, "Of course. I can't shirk my duties to Nova.n.a.lba. Tonbura village should be the closest to here."

Owin grinned, "Ole Grumpy Alistair eh? That works for me."

Bending down Eric looted the wolf's corpse. Unfortunately all of the arrows embedded in its pelt were now unuseable, having been destroyed in the explosion from his spell.

[You have received Singed Dire Wolf Pelt]

[You have received 16 Dire Wolf Claws]

[You have received 7 Dire Wolf Fangs]

[You have received 9 Broken Iron Arrows]

[You have received Partially-Digested Leather Satchel]

Staring at the last line, Eric opened his storage pouch with a curious expression. Looking inside, he took out a heavily damaged leather bag. The bag was torn by what appeared to be wolf teeth, its exterior harshly scarred by the wolf's digestive fluids. With a disgusted look, Eric gingerly opened the bag.

[You have received Spellbook: Wind Blade!]

Eyes widening, Eric looked at the small green book in his hands. The book was tiny, with only two pages held together by an unadorned leather cover. Flipping the book open, he saw a pair of runes, one in the shape of a crescent moon and the other in the shape of a vertical line with a smaller line branching off the top.

The second page had a brief description of the spell. The two runes represented the Blade rune and the Wind elemental rune. Combining the two allowed the user to cast the Wind Blade spell. A spell that created a crescent shaped blade out of arcane energy, then used wind magic to add speed and a tearing element to the spell. Resolving to practice the spell on the return journey, Eric stood back up, looking at Owin who was gathering debris and twigs from the ground nearby.

Stretching a little, Eric pointed at Wyll's corpse. "What should we do about your companion? I don't think we can safely transport his body back to Tonbura."

"We burn it," Owin said with a steely glint in his eye. Eric looked at him in surprise.

"Burn it? Are you sure?"

"Totally sure, if we leave him here then he'll become food for wolves, bears, or even worse, goblins. It could also alert the scouts to our presence. We need to burn the body and get out of here."

As Eric nodded his understanding, Owin walked over to Wylls' corpse, dropping the branches and leaves he'd gathered next to the body. Kneeling over his fallen friend, he gently closed Wylls' eyes, muttering a few words as he did so. Next he grabbed his sword, which was still lying where he'd dropped it, roughly a meter away from his body. Unhooking the sheath from Wylls' belt he sheathed the sword and tossed it over to Eric.

"You don't have a blade right? Take it." He instructed before Eric could protest. Closing his mouth, Eric observed the sword, removing it from the sheath and holding it in front of him.

[You have received Common Iron Shortsword!]

Attack: 6-9

Durability: 43/100

Description: A normal iron shortsword forged by a Nova.n.a.lba blacksmith for the militia. It bears the insignia of the royal house of Nova.n.a.lba. The workmanship is good but the balance feels slightly off. It bears some signs of recent use and could use repairing.

Buckling the sheath to his belt, Eric slid the sword back in its sheath, striding over to help Owin to gather sticks and leaves to form a pyre.

As they threw the last twig on top of the pyre they'd created, Owin reached down and grabbed Wylls' militia badge and his pack.

"Can you light it? My tinder got soaked," he asked Eric. Nodding Eric formed the runes for a flame strike, casting several flame strikes at the pyre. With a slow crackle, the damp twigs and branches began to burn, the flames licking hungrily at the leaves and other kindling they'd found.

As they watched the flames began to eat at Wylls' shirt, the fire consuming the b.l.o.o.d.y cloth. Slowly the flames burned, embers ascending the hot drafts of air towards the clear night sky. Solemnly, Eric watched as Wylls' body was consumed by the fire, this was the first non-monstrous NPC he'd seen die and it had been far more real than he'd expected. Wylls had fought so hard to survive, clawing at the ground and searching for a way to live even after the wolf had torn his throat wide open.

Glancing at Owin, Eric saw a tear roll silently down the man's face, reflecting the firelight as it slid down his cheek. Now that he had the chance, Eric took a better look at the militiaman. He looked young, with a youthful face and light brown hair. He couldn't have been more than twenty years old, with a face not yet hardened by the ravages of war. Unlike Wylls' who'd been more cla.s.sically handsome, Owin had a more heavyset appearance, with the signs of a small belly poking out from his tunic despite the hardships of scouting life. His low cheekbones and slightly overhung brow pointed to a low birth, but the intelligent light in his eyes showed why he had been trusted with the essential role of scout by the Kingdom.

As the flames licked the sky, Owin turned, "We'd best be going before this fire attracts unwanted visitors. It's still several hours to Tonbura village if I'm reading the stars correctly."

"Will the fire not ignite the forest?"

"Too damp for that, and I built the pyre in the middle of the clearing. We shouldn't have to worry about forest fires for now," Owin explained, "Plus if it does start a fire, perhaps it will make us harder to track," he added grimly.

With one last look at Wylls' body, now burning brightly as the fire consumed what had once been a fellow soldier, Eric followed Owin out of the clearing as they set off southwards, making for Tonbura Village.

~~~

Checking his event log, Eric was surprised by just how many skill levels he'd gained in the fight. He'd only levelled up a few skills; however, each skill that had levelled up had received multiple levels. Even better, despite not having a new skill reach Beginner 10 he'd managed to level up to level five somehow. Clearly levelling involved more than simply reaching Beginner 10 in a skill, he mused as he looked at the log in detail.

[Basic Archery has reached Apprentice 5]

[Charged Shot has levelled up to Beginner 6]

[Basic Evasion has reached Apprentice 5]

[Evasive Shot has levelled up to Apprentice 2]

[Basic Flame Magic has reached Beginner 8]

[Multi-Linked Flame Strike has levelled up to Beginner 5]

[You have levelled up to level 5! Stats have been updated]

Strength +1

Agility +1

Endurance +1

Magic Power +1

Mana +10

[Quest Received: Escort Owin to Tonbura Village]

You've saved the remaining militia member. But he's informed you that he's actually a scout who is carrying important information. Escort him to safety and let him meet Alistair.

Reward: Increased reputation with the Nova.n.a.lba Militia. Increased reputation in Tonbura Village. ???

Closing the event log, Eric practiced the Wind Blade spell as they walked. Guiding the mana through the mana paths and infusing it into the runes for the spell. Once the spell was complete he allowed the mana to fizzle, the runes dissipating uselessly into tiny sparkling motes of light that fell silently to the forest floor.

After roughly ten minutes of this, Eric was rewarded with a new system message.

[You have learned Wind Magic!]

[You have learned a new spell: Wind Blade!]

Quickly opening his spellbook, he checked the details of the spell.

Wind Blade: Common Air Magic

Mana Cost: Varies

Casting Time: 1.5 Seconds

A common form of attack air magic. The caster can infuse more mana into the blade to increase both the size and damage of the blade. However, the mana cost will increase proportionally to the size of the spell. Increasing your proficiency with the spell will allow you to increase the maximum amount of mana that can be infused into the spell.

The most interesting thing about his new spell, apart from the fact that he'd learned two new runes to play with, was that it was rated as a Common spell instead of a basic like his other three were. The casting time was also slightly higher, but it could probably be reduced if he became proficient at drawing the runes. He'd already managed to shave over a tenth of a second off the cast time of his Arcane Strike simply by learning to better draw the rune and infusing his mana more efficiently. So it should be possible to do the same with Wind Blade if he practiced diligently.

Eric grinned. Now that he finally had a spell that was suitable for use in the forest he could rely more heavily on magic. Arcane Strike was okay, but its damage felt lacking against anything stronger than a demonic rabbit. He'd have to test to see if Wind Blade was powerful enough to use against strong foes, but his instincts as a gamer were telling him that this was a strong spell for his level.