Chapter 5

Itennu crept into the cave, the burning torches illuminating his path down into the rocky terrain. The stones felt cool under his feet sending a chill throughout his body, and climbing, ever so slowly, up to his spine. The rattle of bones echoed throughout the cave, distorting his senses it sounded as if the skeletons were all around him. Itennu under this pressure tried his best to hold his composure, but he was visibly nervous as sweat dripped down his face, and his body grew tenser with each step. He looked behind him, he didn't know how far he was but he couldn't see any sign of the entrance behind him. He gripped his sword tightly in his right hand, as he delved deeper into the cave.

A sudden rattle of bones echoed throughout the cave, Itennu instinctively dipped behind a large rock and tried to conceal his presence. Two skeletons lazily lumbered into his view, one had a spear, and the other had a round shield with a sword, they slowly grazed the cave's halls coming up to Itennu's position. Itennu poised to strike his heart racing; he pulled out his dagger with his left hand and decided to strike when they passed him. He shadowed their view moving slowly around the rock as they passed him.

Itennu quickly emerged bringing the but of his dagger up and smashing the skull of the skeleton with the shield. The other skeleton reacted quickly thrusting his spear at Itennu. Itennu moved to the side dodging the blow, he then quickly closed the distance rendering the skeleton's spear incapable of attack.

With a great heave Itennu smashed the skeleton's skull with the flat of his blade, the skull cracked and the skeleton fell back from the blow, its head smashed against the stone floor, causing further damage to the skull and causing it to crumble. Itennu quickly compared his sword with the other skeleton and deemed they were of equal effectiveness, Itennu unstrapped the green creature's spear from his body and took the spear from the skeleton which was longer and had a more refined edge. He strapped it across his body leaving his spear behind.

The skeleton bodies disappeared like the one in front did, leaving two small crystals behind, he picked them up and put them into his boar sack. That went easily he thought to himself and he felt like he could go for a few more. Itennu's fear dropped as he had new confidence in himself. He pushed onward finding two more skeletons both with swords and shields.

He played it out the same way hiding behind the caves' terrain and smashing the skeletons' skulls as they went past him. The first skeleton crumbled as the butt of his sword shattered its skull and the other skeleton was swept off his feet, with a quick kick by itennu, who then quickly pinned its sword arm with his foot and smashed its skull before it could raise its shield, the unearthly sound resonating throughout the cave.

Name: Itennu

LvL: 5 -> 6

Titles: Forgotten, Hunter, Betrayed

Class: None

Exp: 675/2100

Stats:

Str: 30

Vit: 16

Agi: 31

Int: 20

Wis: 6

Stat Points Remaining: 10

Skills:

Armor Worker lvl 1,

Hide Presence lvl 9,

Silent Foot lvl 5,

Climbing lvl 4,

Skinning lvl 5,

Magi's Knowledge lvl 2 (Requirements not met (lvl 20/26), Max level 10)

Cooking lvl 3,

Engineering lvl 2,

Crafting lvl 4,

Sword Mastery lvl 2,

Spear Mastery lvl 3,

Dagger Mastery lvl 4,

Martial Mastery lvl 1,

Knowledge of the Ancients Lvl 1 (Requirements not met (lvl 6/20)) (Max Level ****)

Abilities:

Forgotten Magic of the ***** lvl 0 (Requirements not met, Requires int:85, Requires wis: 42, and Magi knowledge, lvl 7),

Forgotten Magic of the Earth lvl 0 (Requirements not met, Requires int: 45, Requires wis: 20, and Magi knowledge, lvl 5),

Forgotten Magic of the ***** lvl 0 (Requirements not met, Requires int: 130, Requires wis: 82, and Magi knowledge, lvl 8),

Forgotten Magic of the ***** lvl 0 (Requirements not met, Requires int: 280, Requires wis: 220, FM of the ***** lvl 10, FM of the **** lvl 10, FM of the Earth lvl 10, Magi Knowledge lvl 10, Advanced Magi Knowledge lvl 7)

Ability Points: 18

With his new goal set he invested four points into int and three into wis he put the rest into agility as even though he wanted to find out the secrets of his past and these mysterious abilities he still needed to survive and in this forest, as such his physical attributes were important.

Int: 20 -> 24

Wis: 6 ->9

Agi: 31 ->34

Each skeleton gave him 500 exp which meant he would lvl up with the next three skeletons. Before he constantly checked his Power Recorder after each skeleton to confirm this. He sat down to rest before the next encounter, listening closely to the crackling of the torches and the rummaging of other skeletons.

So far the cave has been very linear and the enemies easy enough for him to take out. But he was still cautious something still loomed over him and stabbed at his nerves every time he calmed down. He got another skill called martial mastery which he must've gotten when he swept the skeleton with a wide swinging low kick.

This probably correlated with his mastery of kicking and punching with his bare hands and feet. These mastery skills seemed to only measure his progress in becoming more familiar with the weapon he's using but he felt they did more, something that he couldn't see on his Power Recorder screen.

Itennu quickly picked himself up and then poised for the attack as three shadowy skeletons with a black mist surrounding them appeared in his peripheral vision. He didn't hear nor sense these creatures but was not taken back by their unusual appearances. He quickly pulled a sharpened boar horn and threw it at one of them. The shadowy misty skeleton didn't dodge it and moved onward as the sharpened horn flew right through it.

The skeletons seemed to be holding blades made of the black mist making up their bones. Itennu didn't want to fight this unknown foe but as he turned around to run he was blocked by two more shadow skeletons. Itennu's heartbeat elevated, his breathing became hastened, and sweat started to pour down his face.

He pulled out his spear as the shadowy skeletons crept slowly to him, he thrusted at a skeleton a little ahead of the other skeletons, and the spear went through it. A sudden glint however caught his eye as the force of the thrust blew some of the black mist away.

He saw a black crystal for a split second almost above its rib cage. This time he aimed for the crystal as he thrusted another strike from his spear. The attack pushed back the misty skeleton which fell onto its nearby allies, Itennu felt resistance as the strike landed, the three skeletons laid still for a second but raised up slowly and ominously.

The skeleton with the pierced crystal grew red eyes and opened up its jaw, sending an ear wrenching scream echoing throughout the cave. Itennu quickly struck at the skeleton again shattering its crystal. The mist dissipated revealing rotting old bones that turned to dust when they hit the ground. Itennu dodged two strikes from the two skeletons beside the one he killed. He ducked as another skeleton slashed at his neck and rolled as another tried to chomp him in half with an overhead strike.

Their attacks were predictable but quick and decisive. Itennu pushed the two skeletons blocking the path from where he came, utilizing the long reach of the spear and finding out where the black crystals were and destroying them. Two strikes destroyed the black crystals which were about the size of a fist. The skeletons didn't have much speed and preferred to walk slowly and ominously at their target, Itennu didn't know the reason for this but he took advantage of it striking and stepping back quickly with each strike.

Itennu grazed the last skeletons black crystal which gave it enough time to retaliate and slash at his arm, Itennu let go of the spear so as to not get his arm chopped off, but the strike cut his new spear in half.

He took out his sword and quickly approached his target confident that he could dodge his strike. The skeleton jabbed at him with his sword, Itennu simply moved his head to the side to dodge the linear attack aimed at his head. Before the skeleton could recover he closed the distance between them and kneeling down, he swung hard and fast in an upward slash. The force cracked the black crystal which shattered as the skeleton fell to the ground.

He sheathed his sword to his hip, and picked up the black crystal, it appeared dissimilar to the regular crystals dropped by the other skeletons, but they did not dissipate into a blinding light, the shadowy mist only ran back into the crystal. Itennu thought there must be something inside as he used the butt of his dagger to break it open.

Bits and pieces broke off with every strike finally breaking apart and sending shadowy mist everywhere, Itennu quickly dropped the crystal and the shadowy mist quickly vanished as it appeared, all that was left was a similar stone that the other skeletons dropped.

Name: Itennu

LvL: 6 -> 7

Titles: Forgotten, Hunter, Betrayed

Class: None

Exp: 2325/2685

Stats:

Str: 30

Vit: 16

Agi: 34

Int: 24

Wis: 9

Stat Points Remaining: 10

Skills:

Armor Worker lvl 1,

Hide Presence lvl 9,

Silent Foot lvl 5,

Climbing lvl 3,

Skinning lvl 5,

Magi's Knowledge lvl 2 (Requirements not met (lvl 24/26), Max level 10)

Engineering lvl 2,

Crafting lvl 4,

One-Handed Sword Mastery lvl 3,

Spear Mastery lvl 5,

Dagger Mastery lvl 5,

Martial Mastery lvl 1,

Knowledge of the Ancients Lvl 1 (Requirements not met (lvl 7/20)) (Max Level ****)

Abilities:

Forgotten Magic of the ***** lvl 0 (Requirements not met, Requires int:85, Requires Wis: 42, and Magi knowledge, lvl 7),

Forgotten Magic of the Earth lvl 0 (Requirements not met, Requires int: 45, Requires Wis: 20, and Magi knowledge, lvl 5),

Forgotten Magic of the ***** lvl 0 (Requirements not met, Requires int: 130, Requires Wis: 82, and Magi knowledge, lvl 8),

Forgotten Magic of the ***** lvl 0 (Requirements not met, Requires int: 280, Requires Wis: 220, FM of the ***** lvl 10, FM of the **** lvl 10, FM of the Earth lvl 10, Magi Knowledge lvl 10, Advanced Magi Knowledge lvl 7)

Ability Points: 21

Stats Increased:

Int: 24-> 28

Magi's Knowledge lvl 3 (Requirements not met (lvl 28/34), Max level 10)

Wis 9 -> 11

Str: 30 -> 34