First Quest

Exerting about as much effort as a standard power walk, I was able to quickly accelerate myself to speeds beyond what I was capable of full-out sprinting in my old life. I presume this is thanks to the 18 Agility. I can see my mind automating optimal foot placement, even in this uneven terrain. As I relax and let my body do its thing, I start to find myself mixing in launches off of nearby trees, turning into rolls and other optimized movements. The forest's trees whip by faster and faster as I find myself suddenly bursting out onto a worn dirt road. Clearly well and recently travelled, I can see distinct tracks from travellers' feet side by side with ruts from the thin wheels of what I presume to be carriages.

Landing upon the road, I can gain even more speed while dashing due to the ground's relative levelness upon which I find myself. After running for a few minutes, I can smell fire. Closing on the plume of smoke ahead, I can start to smell blood and hear the sounds of battle. Being cautious of the potential fight ahead, I scale the nearest tree and complete my travel through the trees' upper branches. Stopping once I am directly above the noise, I peek down to survey the battle.

Below me, there was a minor engagement on the road. On the losing side, there were two men armed with shortswords and bucklers. These men were wearing matching red cloaks over simple chain armour. Lying in different states of defeat around and behind them were nine dead men in the same uniform, as well as a heavy man in his late fifties, wearing expensive silk robes. Except for the spear sticking out of his throat, he was immaculately dressed. His corpse was slumped against an elaborate wooden carriage, which had had its rear axel demolished.

Facing off against these folk were several humanoids that stood around six and a half feet tall, with rippling muscles under dark green skin. Orcs! I wonder if they are monsters or sentient. I activated my Magic Vision and my analysis ability at the same time. None of the orcs or men showed any mana flow. The orcs were all level 5 or 6, while the men were all between 3 and 5. No wonder only two of the six orcs had fallen. My eyes were drawn by a few dissipating sparks around the man who looked like a noble or merchant. Plus, behind him, I saw more mana particles leaking from the carriage's partially open door. Activating my Eye on the man revealed his name was Gene Igraff; he was a forty-two-year-old merchant, level 5. He had a selection of skills, like 'Haggling' and other merchant-specific skills at level 2-3 and a few offensive magic spells at level 1. His stats were 7 in Strength, Agility and Stamina. Meanwhile, he was an 11 in Intelligence and Wisdom and a 15 in Charisma. A sensible distribution for a merchant, I suppose.

Directing my vision back to the orcs, I read through the information I had available on them. I debated if I should intervene. I was a newcomer to the world, and I had yet to learn the power dynamics and, more importantly, the history of relations between the races. While I was considering my participation in the conflict, one of the orcs, who had a darker skin colour and the biggest axe, who had been standing behind the others and watching, whistled. Immediately, the other three orcs fell back as he strode forward towards the last two humans. The men readied their shields are swords to meet the oncoming attack. The orc smiled, placing a second hand on the axe he had been easily carrying with a single hand the whole time. The axe flashed faster than one could reasonably expect from such a large chunk of metal. The two men dropped to the ground lifeless after the axe split the shields and their chests beneath.

Just as I thought it was over, the orc sniffed the air. "I smell..." He growled as I started to wonder if he could sense me. "... a female!" He grinned, finishing his thought. Immediately my eyes flashed over to where I saw the mana coming from the carriage door. From the way he said it, I could only feel a deep, gut-wrenching horror over what these creatures would do to her. I checked to make sure my Hardened Skin was still active. As the group of orcs passed directly below me, I targeted the nearest one and dropped from the tree fists first towards the ground as I activate Ground Smash.

Landing on the orc below me caused him to pop like an angry boil. His blood getting into the eyes of the two other nearby orcs. Before either could recover, I swept the legs of the first. As he quickly rotated 180 degrees in the air, I kicked out into his face, smashing splinters of his nasal bones into his brain. Then with a fluid pivot, I threw a sidekick, snapping the second orc's leg at the knee, then got around the orc standing back to back with him. as he fell from his knee giving out, I reached back over my shoulders, grabbing both sides of his skull. I dropped with him, pulling his head down, and as we landed on the ground, his neck snapped where it was extended over my right shoulder. Tossing his corpse aside, I righted myself, facing down the leader orc.

Contrary to my expectations, he looked elated. "Worthy prey." He smiled, baring his tusk-like lower canines. As he took a moment to take in the excitement, I had opened a small window in the corner of my vision. The orc swung his axe, raising it over his shoulder before barreling towards me. Having finished with my window, I closed it, took a wide stance, concentrated on my mana, making it flow to each of my hands. Just as the orc was about to be within five feet of me, I struck out with my left hand, sending out a blast of high-pressure water. The orc used the flat of his axe to deflect the shot. The stream-like blast flew off to the side, cutting a 20cm thick tree in half. Now dripping with the water from the misty off spray of the deflection, the orc roared, launching forward to close the gap. The orc dropped to the ground lifeless. A bit of steam hovered around my right hand which had just launched the bolt of lightning that had ended its existence.

After checking the AR display to confirm my opponents' deaths, I dashed to the carriage, where I ripped the stuck door off its hinges. Looking inside, I found on the floor a young woman. I was about to reach out to the woman who was curled up on the floor in nothing but a raggedy old gown when I noticed something strange about her hair. I reached out to touch the part that had caught my attention. But unlike the soft but slightly dirty feeling of hair I was expecting, I found a floppy ear. Pulling up my Eye's ability, I read the first few lines.

"Luna, of the dogman race, the Canus."

"Hopefully, she's a good girl..."