The Forgotten Legacy

As they walked through the tunnel Shaun figured they needed a plan for when they encountered the next group of monsters. After a quick discussion it was decided that they would continue on with the same routine as they had with the group, Shaun would be the scout and the other two would stay a little behind and guard their back.

It didn’t take long before they encountered their first monsters, this time a group of three salamanders walking in the same direction they were, all around the same level as the last ones, one level 3 and two level 2. As Shaun returned to let Gabe and Eric know what he found they made their plan with each of them taking one monster each.

“Why do you want the level 3? I mean it's fine, I’m not complaining, just curious is all.” Eric asked Shaun.

“So I can get the bonus experience, I am level 2 now in my race so if I fight the others I wont get the bonus. This way we all get the benefit.” He explained to Eric.

“Wait, your race is level 2? What level is your class? You never did say how many levels you got in the last fight, but my class is only level 2, that would mean you have at least twice as many levels as I do! How?” Eric still didn’t know about the fight he had this morning so he figured he should loop in him.

“You know that blood we came across earlier before the fight with the salamanders?” Eric nodded so he decided to continue, “That was me from when we were on watch duty. Gabe kept watch while I went down and explored a little, I found some monsters and decided to get in a bit of training. We kept it quiet so no one would be upset that I wasn’t watching the cavern the entire time or get annoyed that I killed monsters and got experience that the others missed out on.”

“Fair enough, honestly I would have done the same if I had your skills. I saw you during that last fight, the way you just appeared out of the shadows and moved around the battle was insane. I have never seen anything like it. It was one of the reasons I chose to come with you both, that and the way you stood up for us when it came to the looting of the monsters before.” Eric replied “I won't say anything to the others, besides, we are about to go get some more levels right? I will catch up to you eventually.”

Laughing Shaun just looked at Eric, “You're not so bad Eric, but if we stand here much longer we might lose those salamanders so let’s get moving. Oh and if you haven’t done it already you should allocate your AP.” Shaun hadn’t done this yet but had already decided he was going to split it with 2 in Vitality and 2 in Strength. Why? Because his strength was lagging behind how fast he could move and obviously he wanted more health points.

It didn’t take them long to catch up to the monsters as they were still walking down the tunnel but at a very casual pace, they had agreed that Shaun would try and move ahead of them in stealth as the level 3 was in the lead with the other two following behind. This would be a real test of his skills as he was essentially going to have to go fast enough to not only get up to them but move alongside them to get in front. They had also decided that Gabe and Eric would attack at the 60 second mark, so he had a time limit on him which added to the pressure.

Shaun had just gotten up to the salamander at the back of the group and 20 seconds had already passed, he kept count in his head making sure he would know when he would run out of time to get in position. At 30 seconds he was in line with the middle of the group and at 50 seconds he had just made it to the front of the level 3 monster. Keeping a bit ahead of the group wasn’t hard from there and he kept his detection skill on the entire time so that he could pinpoint if any of the salamanders broke their position. At the 60 second mark, like clockwork, Gabe shot his arrow and hit his monster right in the back and before any of them could turn around Eric was running towards the other, thankfully not screaming like a lunatic this time.

As the second arrow flew and Eric reached his salamander Shaun made his move. Wanting to get more training in with throwing the dagger, he threw the first one right at its head, he was only about two metres away from it and he had increased his strength a fair amount, but he didn’t expect it not only slam into the salamanders head to the hilt but also knock the entire salamander to the ground. Shocked he just looked at it, it tried to stand back up but then just fell to the ground unmoving.

*You have defeated a (Cave Salamander – Lvl 3). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 30 TE awarded*

Increasing one’s strength really isn’t a joke, I just killed it with one hit Shaun thought. Looking at the how the fight was going with the other two he realised he didn’t have anything to worry about, Eric was dealing with his salamander a lot easier then last time and Shaun didn’t think he would need to help at all, while the other salamander had nearly half a dozen arrows sticking out of it and was barely able to move. Standing back he just watched, it didn’t take long for Eric to finish his off and Gabe was just walking casually towards his with an arrow pointed right at the salamander. Once he got close enough he let the arrow loose and it punctured right through its head, dying immediately.

Checking his notifications, he was annoyed that he hadn’t gained a level but he did raise all of his skills by 1. He proceeded to loot the body, getting the same meat and salamander skin that he had gotten from each of the other bodies and then waited for the others to join him. Once they had all finished they informed Shaun that they had both gained a level, and both had level 3 classes.

“That was a lot easier than fighting in the last battle, gaining stats and skill levels really makes a difference in a fight. I am actually excited to see how the next fight goes.” Eric said to them, Shaun could tell he was happy about being with them, he didn’t have to deal with who got what loot and only had to focus on getting his job done.

They continued on like this for the next few hours, deciding that every time they got to a split in the tunnels that they would turn left. During this time they fought six more times, four of them being groups of salamander’s with the other two being Cave Spiderlings.

The first fight with the spiderling was rough, it was level 3 and Shaun had spotted it with his detection skill while he was scouting ahead, thankfully not missing it, as having one of those things drop down on top of you was a disaster. They approached the situation a little differently than usual. Shaun still used stealth to get to the other side of where the spider was hiding in the ceiling of the tunnel but instead of trying to throw a dagger at it, Gabe would instead shoot at where Shaun pointed with his arrows until it would fall to the ground. From there it was rather simple, Eric would step in and attack from one direction while Shaun lined up his attack and attacked from the other.

The second spiderling went down even easier, it didn’t even have a chance, as soon as it fell from the ceiling and Eric attacked, his sword strikes would go straight through its legs, it didn’t take much for him to slice off half of its legs and then right through its head.

Just as they were going to call it a day and head back Shaun came across something unexpected. His detection skill had picked up a small alcove in the wall in front of him, there was nothing living inside but something in there did give off a weird feeling that he couldn’t ignore. Instead of going straight up to it to investigate he waited for the others to catch up to him. When they did reach him he explained what he felt.

“What do you think we should do?” Gabe asked him, unsure about whether whatever it was should be left alone or whether it was something special that would help them and they should grab it before anyone else stumbled along and found it.

“I say we check what it is. It's not a monster so that means it has to be an item or something right?” Eric put forth his own opinion.

“I agree I say we go for it, the worst thing that could happen is it's some kind of trap, we all still have our health potions so I think we would be fine if it is.” Shaun said to the others. Having made his decision he went up to the alcove slowly, it was at ground level so he needed to get on the ground to see what was inside. Without hesitation Shaun put his arm in and felt around until he got a grip on a handle and pulled it out.

What came out was not what anyone was expecting, in front of them was a small chest, it was made of wood and had a clasp on the front. “I am going to open it.” Shaun said out loud. When he opened the lid he had no idea what he was looking at.

“What is it?” Gabe asked, “That doesn’t look like treasure.”

Sitting in the chest was an oval slab of stone, it was smooth and was an off white colour, having no idea why a stone would be inside of a chest inside of a wall Shaun resorted to using identify to figure it out.

*Heat Attuned Stone – This stone has been imbued with the properties of fire. When infused with Mana the stone will rise in temperature depending on how much Mana is provided.*

“That’s useful, I guess….” Shaun muttered.

“What is it?” Gabe asked, Shaun went on to tell them what Identify said, “That’s amazing!”

Confused, Shaun looked back at Gabe “Why is it so amazing? It’s a rock that heats up.”

“Think about it Shaun, what would a hot stone be good for? Cooking meat! Especially when you can’t just blast it with a Mana Bolt. It could also heat up water if you put the water and the stone in something and then heated the stone up. That’s pretty cool!” Gabe was damn excited about finding the stone and once Shaun thought it through he now fully understood the benefits of having something like it on hand.

Picking up the stone and removing it from inside the chest, the chest just crumbled to dust where it sat. Not even questioning it Shaun just stood up to face the others. “Who gets to keep it?”

Gabe looked like he wanted to, so did Eric, they exchanged a look and Eric nodded at Gabe, “You need to keep it Shaun. Listen for a sec and you will know why. Out of the three of us you are the one that has caused the most trouble for Michael and Trevor. You have to have noticed the way Michael has been reacting to everything you say lately, he is one step away from just throwing you out of the group, I think if he could get away with it he already would have to be honest. If something happens and you end up alone, it's best if you have the stone to be able to cook the meat you get from the monsters.”

Thinking it over Shaun could disagree with a thing Gabe had said, it was all true. He had been standing up to Michael and it was causing issues, if he was right the only reason he agreed to let Shaun split the group was in the hope he didn’t come back. And if he did need to split from everyone, having the stone would mean he didn’t have to try raw monster meat, something he would be thankful for.

“Thank you, both of you. You're right about everything that is happening with Michael and I, hopefully it doesn’t come to getting kicked out of the group but I won't let him walk all over us like he tried to earlier. If it comes to it I will leave.” Shaun nodded at both of them “What do you guys say to trying it out?”

Putting the stone on the ground he then looked at it, thinking over how to infuse it with mana. Every time he had seen someone use mana it had started from their hand, either with Danielle’s healing or the mages with their wands, so he put his hand on the stone and imagined the Mana leaving his body through his hand and entering the stone to then cause it to heat. Keeping an eye on his status sheet, he watched his mana slowly start to drop, 29…..28…..27…..26……25…..he then had to remove his hand from the now glowing hot stone. Without delay he put a piece of salamander meat on the stone and it started to sizzle, moving it around every few minutes so it cooked on every side, after what he thought was about 10 minutes he took the meat off the stone. After taking a bite he passed it around to the others, it tasted much better than the charred spider meat from this morning which was nice.

Once everything was done he picked up the now cooled stone and put it in his inventory and checked his status sheet.

Status:

Name: Shaun Clermont

Race Human (F)

Level: 4

Class: [Basic] Rogue - Level 8

Profession: N/A

Health Points:180/180

Stamina:145/180

Mana:27/30

Stats: (Available Points: 0)

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 32

Endurance: 18

Vitality: 18

Intelligence: 8

Perception: 31

Willpower: 6

Soul: 3

Affinity: N/A

Titles: New Initiate

Skills:

Class: [Basic] Short Blade (Level 15), [Basic] Stealth (Level 17), [Basic] Detection (Level 12)

Profession: N/A

He had split his AP into Strength and Vitality again and over the course of the day increased all his skills by a few levels each. Without any further delay, they decided that now was the best time to head back to the cavern and see how the others had gone with their hunt down the other tunnel.