Infinite Lives

Bryan walked through the forest on a dirt path between the trees with the sunlight dimming.

Need to figure out something more significant to try.

He walked for a while longer, spotting smoke in the distance.

Well, it has been a few hours, should be approaching a village soon.

As he got closer, he saw an overturned carriage with its side on fire.

Bryan unsheathed his sword and carefully approached it, seeing movement on the other side.

Concealment.

Walking quietly around the carriage, three men were picking through the objects on the floor and counting coins from a pouch. Four people lay on the ground with slash marks across their chests or holes in their stomachs.

“Easy score, merchants are good money,” one said.

“Well yeah, helps that adventurer was useless, haha,” the other replied.

Bandits… should deal with them.

Bryan walked carefully behind one of the men and drove his sword through his neck. The man coughed and spat out blood as he collapsed to the shock of the others.

Dispel.

“What the actual fuck… how did you do that?” one man said.

Bryan rushed towards them and sliced one across the chest and swung for the other, who blocked with his sword.

In between swings and blocks, the man spoke.

“Why the fuck are you just attacking without warning?”

Odd question… does it suggest they warned the wagon before attacking…

Physical Enhancement Rank One.

Bryan dashed with vastly increased speed, feinted an attack from the left, but instead stabbed the man in the chest. He coughed before collapsing.

Dispel. I should check if anyone is alive.

He checked the people on the ground and stabbed the bandit he had slashed across the chest, after noting he was alive. Bryan then checked the bodies for potions.

Bryan checked the merchants and adventurer for signs of life.

Only the adventurer is alive, barely.

Bryan checked his status by raising his hand.

Status

• Name: Bryan • Level: 120

  • Job: Elemental Trickster

  • Skill Points: 159

• HP: 2000 MP: 4000
• STR: 140 AGI: 260 VIT: 120 • DEX: 230 INT: 380 CHR: 75

  • LUCK: 20

• Your Regret - Greatly increases XP gain, suppresses the effect of repeat deaths. • Mana Channelling (10)

  • Mana Shaping (10)

  • Fire Bolt (10)

  • Lightning Bolt (10)

  • Water Bolt (10)

  • Air Bolt (10)

  • Blink (10)

  • Evade (10)

  • Atom Split(10)

  • Piercing Strike (10)

  • Blade Slash (10)

  • Heavy Slash (10)

  • Sweeping Slash (10)

  • Fire Enchanting (10)

  • Item Box Enchanting (10)

  • Light Blast (10)

  • Mana Dump (1)

  • Trainer (10)

  • Physical Enhancement (10)

  • Rock Growth (10)

  • Item Appraisal (10)

  • Torch Light (10)

  • Subtle Manipulation (10)

  • Shield Bubble (10)

  • Inscribe Spell (10)

  • Concealment (10)

  • Mirage (10)

  • Enhance Senses (10)

Hmm, annoying I have not figured out healing spells despite my experience…

There is a component I don’t understand… potions it will remain.

Bryan walked over to the adventurer, pulled a red potion from his bag and, while holding the man’s head in one hand, slowly poured it into his mouth.

The man coughed once but began swallowing the potion. After a few moments, the wounds on his body began knitting themselves closed.

It is lucky he didn’t lose a limb, or the potion would be useless.

After the man had finished drinking, he remained asleep. Bryan proceeded to pick him up and carry him away.

He walked a while until they were a good distance from the carriage, and Bryan set the man down against a tree and set up a camp with a fire.

Bryan was sitting on a vertical log segment by the campfire while he cooked. Until he heard sudden shouting.

“No!... Don’t kill them all!”

Bryan turned around to see the man sweating and panicked.

Without warning, Bryan dashed over to him and put his hand over the man’s mouth and shook his head.

The man instinctively tried to remove Bryan’s hand but couldn’t move it.

He will attract monsters or bandits if he makes that kind of noise.

“You are safe; calm down and remain quiet,” Bryan stated calmly.

The man focused on Bryan and slowly stopped his attempt to move Bryan’s hand, feeling that, Bryan slowly removed his hand.

“What happened to the carriage? All I remember is bandits attacking, and one cut me across the chest,” the man said before frantically rubbing his hand along his chest and frowning.

“I have no injury… are you a healer?” he said, looking confused.

Fair assumption.

“No, I killed the bandits and gave you a potion,” Bryan stated.

Bryan tilted his head at him then spoke, “Would it help if I fixed your shirt? Torn clothing is inefficient.”

“Sure, thanks, so… you are a tailor?” the man said.

Bryan shook his head, holding his hand over the clothing tear.

Mana Knitting.

The slice in the clothing glowed blue before knitting back together with ethereal thread.

Bryan shrugged before speaking, “It won’t be as strong as real thread, as it’s too difficult to make magic constructs as effective as natural material.”

The man thought for a moment, then replied, “Thank you, my name is Erran. What is your name?”

“Bryan,” he said before walking back and stirring the pot of stew over the fire.

Erran stood and put his armour back on before walking over.

“So, you are a mage, right?” Erran said.

He really wants to understand what I am… wonder why.

“I mean, I do use a lot of magic… so maybe?” Bryan responded.

Erran furrowed his brow and then spoke, “How do you not know what you are? What is your job?”

Bryan stirred the pot more before replying, “Elemental trickster.”

Erran scratched his head and frowned before speaking again,

“I have not heard of that. Thank you for saving me. Sorry for asking so many questions.”

Bryan shrugged and handed him a bowl of stew and then spoke, “It is fine; you should eat.”

He then made himself a bowl before moving over to a log further from the fire.

While digging into the food, Bryan noticed Erran take a spoonful of the stew and then cough repeatedly.

“Oh my god… why is there so much garlic in this!” Erran exclaimed.

It is well seasoned…

Bryan tilted his head at him before responding, “It does have some garlic. I like it.”

Shrugging, Bryan continued shovelling the stew in his mouth, with Erran watching him with wide eyes.

“I’m sorry. You saved me and graciously made food. All I am doing is complaining and bugging you,” Erran stated, before grimacing and eating more stew.

Garlic is good… We should put the fire out soon.

They both ate, and once they had finished, Bryan used some water to put out the fire.

“It will be dark soon; we should rest,” Bryan stated.

Erran picked up his sword and strapped it to his waist before speaking, “Thank you for the food, but I need to see what happened at the carriage.”

Bryan tilted his head and replied, “Why?”

“I just need to see it, which way is it?” Erran said.

Bryan pointed to the right of the road before standing and walking with Erran towards it.

Once it was in sight, Erran ran over to the bodies; Bryan waited a short distance away.

Not sure what he intends to find.

A short time later, Erran walked back over, tears rolling down his cheeks.

“This was my fault. I wasn’t strong enough to protect them… it was hard to see people with chunks missing like that.” Erran said.

Well, yes, bodies left in the open will draw in scavengers.

“Being stronger would have helped, yes,” Bryan stated.

Erran lowered his head before replying, “You must be strong if you took those bandits out?”

Bryan shrugged then replied, “Strong enough for my goals, I’d imagine.”

“What is your goal?” Erran asked, still looking at the floor.

“To help people and figure something out,” Bryan stated.

Fully explaining the experiment wouldn’t help me.

Erran sniffled before looking up at Bryan.

“Would it be too much to ask to join you for a while, as helping people is what I want to do as well?” Erran said.

Bryan shrugged and said, “Ok.”

I don’t imagine he’ll be helpful or stay long, so it is fine.

He then began walking back to the camp with Erran following; once there, both took off some armour and lay on the ground near the embers of the fire.

Bryan woke up to the sound of noise. Looking around, he saw Erran cleaning the stew pot with the jug of water and a cloth.

Stretching before getting up and putting his armour on, Bryan stood and walked over to collect the items around the camp and put them in his shoulder bag.

“Wait… how is that stuff disappearing?” Erran had stopped and was staring at Bryan.

“Item box enchantment on the bag,” Bryan stated while continuing to collect things.

Erran thought for a moment before replying, “Think I read something like that in a guide the guild gave me… never thought I’d see one”

You never know what some will find interesting.

Bryan shrugged and, once he had collected everything, spoke,

“Well, I don’t have a particular direction; I will continue west and see who I find.”

Erran smiled at him, nodded and then replied, “Ok, sounds good.”

They travelled for a few hours, not seeing much until they spotted two people fighting in the distance; they headed towards them.

That is not two people… a goblin attacking a person.

Bryan picked up his pace, leaving Erran behind, unsheathed his sword and as soon as he was close enough, the goblin stopped beating the whimpering man with a stick and turned to look at Bryan.

Without hesitation, Bryan dashed towards it and thrust his sword through its chest; it quickly slumped on the sword before he tugged the sword free.

Best see if the person needs healing.

Walking over to the person still cowering on the floor, Bryan inspected them.

Several scratches, bruises and one or two shallow stab wounds.

A small potion will do.

Bryan reached into his bag and pulled out a potion. Using one hand to hold the person’s mouth open against their struggle, he slowly poured it in their mouth. After a short while, the wounds knitted themselves closed, but they remained on the ground.

Erran caught up and, while panting, spoke, “Dam you are fast. Are they ok?”

Bryan nodded and spoke, “Yes, I took care of the danger and made them have a potion to heal the wounds”

This is resolved… will try to find something else to do now.

Erran frowned and walked up to the cowering person. After a moment or two, he crouched down and gently spoke to the person.

“Come on, day is still early; hopefully there are more people to help,” Bryan stated.

Erran shook his head and replied, “Give me a moment; this person is distressed beyond the attack we witnessed”

How can you tell that?

After some quiet, inaudible whispering from Erran and the person.

Enhance Senses.

“It was horrible… they took my friend into their den... I barely escaped, and one chased me down... I was useless!” The man shakily said.

“It is ok, I know how it feels to be powerless. We are just here to help people,” Erran replied calmly.

“But that man in black came out of nowhere… stabbed the creature… and without saying anything started forcing a potion down my throat… I thought he was killing me.” The man said, looking wide-eyed at Bryan.

But if your injuries were severe internally, you could have died had I stopped to explain?

“He is a good man; he saved me. We will go look for your friend,” Erran said with a smile before standing up.

“He told me what happened,” Erran stated, but before he could continue, Bryan interrupted.

“I heard. Goblins took another… what direction?”

Erran’s face scrunched up in confusion before he spoke, “How… not important…”

The man on the floor pointed weakly to the north; Bryan nodded in response and began walking in that direction.

Hmm… I would not have known about the extra person…

He may have uses.

Erran ran to catch up and to be beside him as they walked, keeping an eye out for goblins.

Within ten minutes, they could see a small cave with three goblins standing outside.

“Ok, what is our plan ... I have some potions and can take one alone, how many can you take?” Erran asked Bryan.

Logically, he will slow me down here…

“You stay here; this will be quickest if I deal with it,” Bryan stated.

Physical Enhancement Rank Five.

Bryan unsheathed his sword, dashed forward, side-slashing the throats of the goblins by the door and dashing into the cave.

He ran at full speed, slicing through the goblins as he cleared each chamber of the cave one by one.

Slowing briefly as he approached the last chamber’s wooden door, he used a hefty front kick to knock it down.

Dashing into the room, he cut down two more goblins. Spotting the last two, he leapt at one, cut its head off and threw his sword at the other’s chest, impaling it onto the wall.

There is a beaten, bloody person on the ground below the last goblin.

Dispel

Bryan walked over to the person and checked them for injuries.

I will give them a potion now…hmm, actually.

“Person, I will now make you drink a potion to heal you,” Bryan stated bluntly.

He rummaged through his bag, grabbed one and made the person drink it.

I don’t see how announcing it helps…

Once most of the person’s wounds had healed, they sat up and leaned against the wall.

Erran came running through the door to the chamber, panting and holding his sides.

“What the fuck was that! ... You ran at insane speeds and came through here like a blade tornado…” Erran said before panting more.

“What even are you? ... Mages don’t use swords like that, do they?” Erran stated.

Bryan shrugged, then responded, “Not relevant, I am an effective fighter… that is what matters.”

Erran frowned, scratched his head and spoke, “Well, yes… I suppose that is true… Let’s get them out of here.”

Erran then walked over and put one of the person’s arms over his shoulder to help them walk out.

Once out of the cave, the person spoke, “Thank you. I was certain I was going to die.”

Bryan tilted his head at the person before speaking, “The fact you are still alive suggests they intended to eat you.”

Both the person and Erran looked at Bryan with horror.

It is factual... They kill for sport or save things for food.

The person spoke again, “More reason to thank you then… I owe you everything.”

Hmm, nothing like Clara… but I think I felt a sliver of something.

“No need, we will escort you to your friend,” said Bryan.

They walked together for a while until they got back to the other person.

After the two of them hugged and cried, they turned back to Bryan and Erran.

“We owe you our lives; we don’t have much money, but we will give it all to you,” one of them said.

Bryan spoke up, “No, you keep it; I am fine.”

He nodded at them and began walking away, Erran followed behind quickly.

“That was benevolent of you to not take a reward?” Erran said.

That money would have made no difference to me.

“The money wouldn’t have helped me… if they had potions, I may have accepted,” Bryan stated.

Erran thought for a moment, then replied, “To help more people, interesting.”

They walked for a short while longer before Erran approached again.

“Are you avoiding the villages on purpose?” Erran asked.

Bryan stopped and tilted his head at Erran before speaking, “I stuck to the main roads to find them?”

Did I miss something?

“Oh, I thought you were intentionally avoiding them. The villages cover the paths to them to discourage bandits,” Erran stated.

Bryan thought for a moment, then replied, “Ok, we will head for one of those next.”

Erran smiled and nodded at Bryan.

Hmm… that was foolish of me… though his local knowledge helps.

Will see if I can increase the feeling at the village.