Chapter 4

Thomeric was grinning, he just had a death-threatening fight with a pack of wolves, he leveled up, and the skills too, dash was now level 2, and his tracking was level 4, his spear mastery was now level 5, and the piercing attack was now level 3, though only alchemy remained at the same level, it was hard to raise the mastery when you are so poor that you need to eat plain bread with its taste of rubber, he wanted a rich meal with a cup of warm horse milk, he sighed, he had enough money just for sustenance, any dreams of hot meal are just that, dreams.

Level : 15 Profession/class : Lancer

Title : None

Reputation : 0

Mana : 220 Health: 160

Strength : 32 Agility : 40

Constitution : 16 Dexterity : 35

Wisdom : 23 Intelligence : 22

He decided to try a dungeon, but the shameful thing was that, he didn't know any, maybe he should ask in a tavern or something.

He is now back in the city, searching for a tavern, he entered the first one he saw, in it there were people drinking and eating, some where chattering, others were staying alone, probably lost in thought, he sat at a table, when he was asked if want to command something, he said that he will command later.

He saw a person in chainmail armor eating, he seemed to be a powerful NPC or maybe it was a player, even now he wasn't able to distinguish between them.

He approached him and said, "Ah, sorry to disturb you when you are eating, would you want to help a beginner, please."

The man raised his head and looked at Thomeric, the man had a classy mustache modeled with pomade, he finished chewing, then he took a napkin and cleaned any grease marks, and said, "Sure, if it's something easy to do, and I don't need to leave my food."

Thomeric was uncomfortable, he interrupted someone from eating, and that was rude, and now he is even asking for help, though he doesn't want to hunt wolves anymore, that's boring, "Sorry for interrupting your meal, what is the easiest dungeon around here?"

The man put the fork down, and said, "Hmm, the easiest is the Two-headed snake's valley, the boss is not dangerous if you are careful, and any help with culling the snakes is appreciated, when their numbers are raising, they leave the valley and start hunting in group, they inflict serious damage on caravans and merchants, and as such the kingdom losses money and prestige, right now they are in their matting season and the valley will be full of them, so be careful and don't get bitten, the valley is in the North, through it passes a tributary of Tynus river. A tip, you can buy a map with the known dungeons in the market, it's pretty cheap and will be a time-saver."

Thomeric said, "Thanks, and sorry again for interrupting your meal."

He left and made his way towards the valley, to arrive at the valley he started to track the tributary of river Tynus, so he goes to the river's coast and after that goes up till he meet the first river branch, in his travel he saw a hordes of sheep being led by a sheepherder on a horse, colored Yurts spread on the rolling sea of green, he even saw some kids hunting birds with bows and dogs. The terrain started to get hilly, and he found it, the valley with snakes, a snake jumped from grass wanting to bite him.

Thomeric struck it with his spear, hitting the head with the shaft, killing the snake, he got the snake's venom sac, very useful for alchemy and as a weapon, and some snake scales.

He walked in the valley, snake attacks became frequent, with bigger snakes and more aggressive, bitting the spear if they couldn't bite the wielder, he followed the river that passed through the valley, the water was clear, crystalline even, fish and snakes were swimming in the water, though there wasn't any other wild animal, other than snakes on earth, probably got killed by the snakes.

He was going deeper into the valley, he saw a stone statue under a willow tree, it was covered by moss, but it still had distinguishing features, it was a statue of a man, he had a mustache, with sharp eyes and a conical helmet, he was covered in a long jacket and had a curved sword at his belt.

You entered in the area of the Forgotten Hero's sculpture

A sculpture made in the memory of a hero, though both the hero and the sculptor have long been dead, the statue still persists, and will persist for a long time.

Effect:

Monster attacks -10%

Mana and Health recovery rate +20%

Thomeric touched the statue, making sure it was a statue, and not a human, he admired it for some moments, looking at the fine cuts in the stone, the minor details on the armor, he was awed by the mastery of the sculptor, as a sign of gratitude, he removed the moss that covered the statue, this way maybe it will resist for a longer time, he waited there for his Health to recover, and when it was full, he again advanced.

He leveled up, the snakes are now almost the same height as him, they are low level, lower than him and that makes it easier for Thomeric to kill them, but he was almost overwhelmed by five snakes attacking him.

Three of them jumped directly towards him, he swiped with spear and thrown them at a distance, he then attacked the remaining two, jabbing them into the earth with his spear, when the three snakes regained their senses, it was too late, he was on them with the spear.

He arrived at the beast's lair, the two-headed snake was sleeping, coiled, with their tongues flickering.

The snake woke up, lifting their head into the air, it was two times bigger than Thomeric, and as wide as him, they hissed, and swiped with their tail, Thomeric rolled to the closest rock, evading the attack.

The snake, slithered, they were constantly flickering with their tongue, the snake got next to Thomeric, and they bit, Thomeric rolled back, the snake attacked again, this time with both of their heads, he jabbed the spear into Snake's body, but it only left a mark, it did not enter the body.

He cursed, he was now too close to the snake, he used dash and took a distance from the beast, the snake hissed, then they spit from their mouths two balls of venom, Thomeric hid behind another rock, the venom hit the rock, the rock partially melted, but only at the surface.

He didn't know how to attack the beast, the scales were hard and the spear didn't pass through them, next time he would use the piercing attack, he used dash to on the left of the snake, he attacked the body, exactly at the point where the body forked into the two heads, his spear cracked the scales but had not entered in.

The snake swiped with the tail, hitting Thomeric, he lost half of his life, the next attack will kill him, he hid again behind a rock, the snake was searching everywhere for him, hissing from time to time, while Thomeric was changing the hiding places, he observed that the snake was not using only their eyes, but their tongue too, it was like they were smelling him, the tongue needs to be gone, both of them.

He needs for the snake to hiss, he used dash, appeared right on a rock, the snake cracked with their tail like it was a whip, he used dash and jumped, the snake lunged at him, he sliced one of their tongues, the snake trashed with their tail, destroying some of the rocks Thomeric was using to hide, while the snake was attacking everything in their pain, he goes behind the snake, resting to recover his mana.

The snake calmed themselves, now they were watching the battlefield, crushing the rocks, destroying any place Thomeric could have used as a hiding place.

Thomeric was on his belly in the grass, with the spear In his hand, thinking about his next move, he needed to pierce both of the snake's heads, or to cut the branching point, something harder to do, than to pierce.

He dashed on the snake's body, he didn't turn it off, but continued to walk upwards on the snake, he arrived at the top, the snake was wiggling, and shaking to get him off, but it was too late, he grasped the shaft and stabbed, the right head, the spear entered the head.

The snake spasmed, they were unable to move, Thomeric using this weakness pierced the head again, to make sure that the head was dead, the snake shook their body, trashing, Thomeric jumped down and rolled into the grass, keeping his head low and not making any moves.

The snake was now completely crazy, it was shooting venom everywhere, a smell of burning and of spoiled meat was filing the air, little snakes were coming over, a fight broke between them while the two-headed snake coiled and burrowed their heads in the coil, while the snakes were covering them.

Thomeric wanted to rage quit, how he now was supposed to kill the boss? The last head was protected by the sturdier scales of the body, and now these little demons were all over the battlefield, he had only some stones left where he could hide, and any place that was better positioned was now dust or a burned mess.

He took a deep breath, and calmed himself, it was not good to become furious only from this, first he should remove the snakes, then he would deal with the boss, though hopefully, they would not heal themselves, he hoped.

Thomeric then began to kill the little monsters, one by one he removed them, he was now level 18 with how many snakes were here, now he needs to make the two-headed snake to raise their head, he pestered them with attacks, cracking the scales and even drawing blood, he pierced through the scales and the meat, leaving a hole on the snake's body.

The snake swiped with their tail, Thomeric blocked with the spear, though the impact thrown him backwards for some meters, he dusted himself, and took an attacking stance, the snake shoot some venom balls in his direction, though only from one head, the other was flaccid, not moving at all.

He dashed in time to evade them, he leveled up his dash skill to level 3, giving him a higher speed boost, he approached the snake, close enough that he could smell the stink of their venom, he lunged at them, and pierced their head through their mouth, finally killing the snake.

Level : 22 Profession/class : Lancer

Title : None

Reputation : 0

Mana : 260 Health: 220

Strength : 40 Agility : 50

Constitution : 22 Dexterity : 40

Wisdom : 25 Intelligence : 26

The spear mastery with the piercing attack has gone up by one level, for the amount of effort he put, the loot he got was not worth, for god's sake he got some mutated snake scales, venom sac and teeth, what he could do with them, if not only to sell them.

He left the valley, walking back to the main city, but on his way there he meet a person in a dark green caftan and full of gold on his body, he was next to a carriage, the driver was sickly white, foaming at his mouth, while the guards were on the ground tending their wounds, though there were some dead among them, the person asked, "Adventurer, could you help a man in need, you will be richly rewarded for this."

Ting

A merchant in need

The merchant Sokal was attacked by a band of marauders while he was going to Fort Odin, found at the border with Britten Alliance, now some of his guards are dead, and his driver is heavily poisoned with no chance of survival.

Help the merchant to arrive at the Fort Odin and to survive any misfortune that will befall on him.

Difficulty level: D

Reward: 10 gold coins and one item from his goods.

Distance: 300km till Fort Odin.

Thomeric salivated at that amount of money, 10 golden coins, he could buy milk, armor and of course a hot meal, he said, "Sure, I will help you, how could I not help a man in a dangerous situation, isn't every human duty to help others in need?"

The merchant nodded, "Yes, helping each other is very important, you see, I need a new driver as the former one had… meet some misfortune and now is on verge of death, but if we can reach in time Fort Odin, then maybe we could save him."

Thomeric didn't mention that he doesn't have any experience as a carriage driver, or that he never touched or rid a horse, he will wing it, somehow, maybe, he hoped, he asked, "Should we go now, or we stay for some time here?"

The merchant said, "Yes, as fast as possible, we are still followed by marauders"

Thomeric put the former driver in the back of the carriage, took the harnesses and put the carriage on move, he was moving alongside the river, the Tynus river, the horses were galloping over the grass, Thomeric saw wild groups of horses playing and running, he saw the eagles flying up in the air.

The guards were in the carriage, holding bows and watching for any movement, the terrain started to get hilly and were forced to take detours, at night wolves were running towards the horses, wanting to kill them, though the guards kept them at a distance.

A bridge was appearing in the distance, a bridge made from stone with two dragons carved at the entrance, when they passed over it, the merchant sighed in relief, he said, "Now we need to cross only one more river and will arrive at Fort Odin, be vigilant, that will be the most dangerous part of the road."

One day passed, the guards were kind enough and gave Thomeric food, a cup of mare's milk and some fried rabbit leg, he licked the grease from his fingers, it was totally different from his live in the real world, where he was only a normal student, here he was a warrior of the steppes, much more enjoying than the real life.

Sadly, the former driver died, he looked at the man, now white as the milk, he doesn't breath, the merchant came and put a hand on Thomeric's shoulder and said, "He was a good man, Freya will have him in her heaven."

The guards buried him, they made a figurine resembling the man and put it where he was buried.

They continued the journey, trees started to appear here and there, bushes were more common, and yurts appeared, they were in a myriad of colours, dogs started to run after the carriage and escorted them till the yurts weren't visible anymore.

The river was beginning to curve inwards, farmed lands were sprawling next to the river, with some of them having golden wheat, being gathered by families, yet, the peaceful moment was broken, they were encircled by a group of armed horsemen, they attacked without saying anything.

The guards let loose their bows, hitting some of them, Thomeric jumped from the carriage and pierced one of the closer bandits. The guards too left the carriage and made two protective shields on its left and right, the front and the back were left open because of the missing men, the horsemen regrouped and attacked the front, hacking into the horses, the merchant shouted, "Stop them! They are killing my Buchephal, please someone stop them!"

Thomeric attacked the man who was cutting the horses, hitting him so hard in his rear so hard that he had fallen down from his horse, he shouted, and attacked Thomeric with his axe, Thomeric didn't let him close the distance and was jabbing constantly, the man still furious let again a shout, and forced his way, Thomeric cut his skin, but wasn't able to pierce the bandit as he parried every jab with his axe, Thomeric was now in the man's attacking range.

He swiped with his spear, hitting his ribs, then he jabbed in the man's dominant hand, piercing through it, the man let a cry, and the axe had fallen down, Thomeric plunged his spear into the bandit's body, killing him.

He Leveled up three times, the man had a high level, Thomeric got lucky.

The battle settled down, some guards died, form the original twenty that started the journey, only five remained, the horsemen where all dead on the ground, some of their horses were still close by, Thomeric looted the person he killed, he got his axe, that he wasn't able to use, the man's leather armor and some silver coins.

The merchant ordered the guards to loot the bodies and to catch the horses, after that to burn the bodies, Sokal the merchant smiling at Thomeric, he said, "Thanks you, you're my saviour, you can't understand how much I care about my horse, it's one of the fastest horse in the kingdom, a gift form the king himself, I will gift you one of my precious items as a reward. Come here."

Thomeric at the carriage back with the merchant, Sokal entered the carriage and opened a wooden box, from it he took an armor, it was a chain armor with the front and the back of it padded with a type of metal, and over it, it was a metal mask that was engraved with the merchant face.

Sokal said, "This was supposed to be my armor, but take it, it's a reward for the hard work you put, and due to your help, we can safely arrive now at Odin fort and my precious horse is alive."

Thomeric took the gift, and put it in his inventory, though he wanted so hard to try it, it looked expensive and noble, but it would be rude for the former owner, even if it was a gift.

They arrived at the Odin Fort without any misfortune, the fort was small, with conical roofs over the towers, in the center it was the main body, it had a rugged feel, and over some walls there were dents and charred marks.

Thomeric finished the quest, and was paid 10 golden coins, now what he should do, should he go back to Aidern, or to fight in some close dungeons, anyway, first he needs to get a map of the kingdom, hopefully with the nearby dungeons marked.