I’d incurred some knowledge on fighting beast and creatures in my last life. The first and foremost was not being too cocky.
Draugrs were basically magically drowned fat zombies. Of course, that was a bit of an oversimplification but it could still hold.
Then there was the healing, quite a few creatures which stepped out of the portal could heal, and they were all difficult.
But bet was for me to go its head or heart, or keep chipping away at it until its healing factor finally wore off.
I reached back for my sword discarded on the snow, gripped it and whipped back to my feet to meet the beast eye-to-eye.
And he was already pedalling towards me, each step making craters on the snow underneath.
It swung its arm at me forcing me to duck underneath before whipping me across the lawn with its left.
Feeling the taste of iron fill my mouth and a pain on my shoulder that made me question why I didn’t just wear the full armour.
But still I got back up, when the draugr was a few inches away from me—hands in the air about to bring them down on me on what I felt would be less than pleasant.
I dove between its legs, recovered quickly as I sliced at the back of it’s knee and its blood (if you can call it that) leaked out.
The creature screeched before falling to a knee, head moving back to catch me and the smelling worse than skunk ass hitting me.
Its hand whipped back to catch me as I ducked down and watched it fall completely down.
I wasn’t going to waste the opportunity as I ran with my sword, cutting along the side—making sure its hands would be occupied.
Right on time as its hands went to calf, I was already at the head.
Its eyes met me too late for its arms to do anything as my blade came down with a scream.
And the bony head rolled across my lawn and I watched the glow of its eyes dim to nothing.
But the job wasn’t done yet, like I said, been doing this enough to know that until the heart was out anything could happen.
Learn that the hard way when I was woken up by something’s tongue on my face in a less than pleasant way.
I climbed up its body and drove my sword into where its heart would most likely be—I didn’t major in fantasy biology.
The smell hit me thicker when it heart was out just before the body began to dissolve to nothing.
I had no idea why they all did that but it was easier than explaining why they were corpses on my property.
He slid down and stretched. "All in a good day’s work." I said to myself.
Technically no one else had seen these things so there was a possibility I was just insane now.
But that was unlikely... right?
The system message popped up before I could have my regular morning spiral.
• · ─ ·✶· ─ · •
[ BATTLE COMPLETE
All hostile entities have been eliminated.
Experience Acquired.
LEVEL UP!
Current Level: 15
Rewards:
• 1 Skill Point Available
• 1 Attribute Point Available
Allocate points now?
[YES] [NO] ]
"Yes," I said, feeling simultaneously ridiculous and badass for talking to an invisible window.
The display changed, splitting into two sections:
• · ─ ·✶· ─ · •
ALLOCATE YOUR SKILL POINT:
• Sword Proficiency I : (You gain the ability to wield sword with confidence and grace)
• Journeyman Fishing I : (Enables the option to catch magical fish that, once eaten, provide temporary stat boosts)
ALLOCATE YOUR ATTRIBUTE POINT:
• Strength: 17
• Dexterity: 15
• Constitution: 14
• Intelligence: 10
• Wisdom: 10
• Charisma: 9
"Are you kidding me?" I muttered to the empty field.
"Fishing? What the hell am I going to do with that?"
I poked the air where "Sword Proficiency I" was displayed, feeling like I was picking the lesser of two useless freaking evils.
I didn’t even have a shield at the moment, but that could always change.
The text flashed once, then vanished with a tone.
• · ─ ·✶· ─ · •
Skill acquired: Sword Proficiency I
Next, please select an attribute to increase:
"Strength," I said without hesitation, pointing at the corresponding line.
I thought about upping my lowest stat, Charisma—but when I’d boosted it and Intelligence in the past, I never felt much different.
Maybe it was a gear check thing, but I didn’t have much in the way of magical gear to choose from out here, so the physical domain was always my go-to.
The moment I made my selection, a warm sensation flowed through my body.
It started concentrating in my arms, then spread to my chest, and eventually filled my entire core.
It wasn’t painful by any means.
It was more like the pleasant endorphin-filled burn after a good workout than anything else, but compressed into a few intense seconds.
When the feeling subsided, I lifted my sword with less effort than before, as if it had suddenly lost a bit of its weight.
• · ─ ·✶· ─ · •
Attribute increased: Strength (Now 18)
Congratulations on reaching Level 15!
New skill and attribute points have been allocated.
• · ─ ·✶· ─ · •
The floating blue window vanished.
I rolled my shoulders, feeling the new power coursing through my muscles.
I lifted my platemail up and glanced down at the bit of my abs I managed to reveal, where a six-pack that had taken shape over the past few months now looked like it had been chiseled from marble.
I made a movie superhero look like a pee-pee piss-piss boy.
"Nice," I said with a grin, letting my breastplate drop back into place.
"Beats the hell out of stocking shelves at Amazen."
I turned toward the farmhouse, eager to get inside and check my stats more thoroughly on the larger interface I could summon at will.
Plus, that ramen was calling my name.
But before I’d taken three steps, another distortion appeared in the air.
I froze.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
The rifts always closed after dispensing a single enemy, and they never appeared twice in the same night.
It was like ordering one pizza and having two delivery guys show up.
Something was definitely wrong.
Also, I was way too focused on food.
"What the hell?" I muttered, drawing my sword again and falling into a fighting stance that I’d half-remembered from a YouTube video on medieval combat.
I glanced back over my shoulder at the spot where the draugr’s portal had been, confirming it had indeed closed completely before turning back to face this new threat.
The new rift had the same purple energy as before, but there was something different about it.
The color seemed more vibrant, the edges more defined, like someone had cranked up the contrast on a TV.
I tensed, expecting something even worse than the draugr to emerge—maybe a dragon or a demon or some unholy combination of the two.
What stepped through the portal, however, was not a monster.
It was a woman.