Chương 38

The other item inside the inventory was what had caught my eye instantly. It was a dagger! And what a dagger it was! It had a beautiful, twelve-inch silver blade with a greenish tint on either end. The blade had straight edges on both sides, narrowing to a point at the top. The hilt was dark-green, engraved with a snake's face with two red gems glittering in place of its eyes. I picked it up with hands trembling in excitement, and a system screen appeared. The name was blue, indicating a rare item!

Bloodfang +3 to Dexterity +15% chance of Bleed Oh, my first weapon that gives me stats! And a bleed effect? That would be very useful, although I was expecting a poison effect with the nature of the snake and the green colouring prominent on the dagger. However, this was quite the effect as well! With a Bleed effect, I could deal a few quick strikes and then wait for it to weaken my opponents, saving me the trouble of constantly endangering myself with having to deal devastating strikes.

There was one other new item inside my inventory, something for which I was arguably as excited about as the dagger. It was a scabbard for the dagger! I finally had a place to hold my dagger, instead of keeping it inside the inventory all the time! The scabbard was also of a dark-green colour, matching the dagger's hilt.

I excitedly started tying it around my hip, having a bit of trouble before finally figuring out the correct position for it, and sliding the dagger inside, immensely satisfied at how smoothly it entered the scabbard. Done with the loot, I closed down the inventory and looked around before remembering that I was going back towards the body of the snake. I climbed back down and was soon beside the massive body. I reached its mouth, which was almost as large as me, and looked inside.

Luckily, it was already open slightly, or else I would have had trouble trying to lift its undoubtedly immense weight. The insides were a mess – the mana bullet had penetrated the top of its mouth and had blasted a significant portion of it away, while the poison cloud had rotted a significant portion of its tissue. I could even see the underside of the skin when I looked up; the poison strong enough to melt its tissue all the way to its skin. Surprisingly, the underside of the mouth was completely fine.

It must have had a membrane of some sort that protected itself from its own poison, but my spell broke through it on the upper side of its mouth and exposed the flesh underneath. I mentally filed away the importance of attacking vulnerable insides, and focused on what I had come here for – the fangs. The two fangs were almost as large as my entire arm, and about as thick as my torso at the top. The tips were much thinner and I could see a tiny hole right at the tip.

I wanted to somehow harvest the fangs so that I may be able to use them later. However, I had no knowledge of how to do that correctly or safely. The hole in the fang probably pointed at there being some kind of poison with its bite, but I couldn't figure out if it was still there or not, as everything had rotted away. I knew snakes had poison sacs, but I couldn't quite see them at the moment. What if…?

It was worth a shot, so I imagined myself 'attacking' the roof of the snakes' mouth with my new dagger, and surprisingly, it worked! Tactical Insight informed that it wasn't a good idea, but wasn't too dangerous. Hmmm… I went towards a tree, and thought about attacking the trunk; but the skill remained silent. Same thing with leaves, branches, or the bushes surrounding me. The skill wasn't giving me any feedback at all, making me believe there was something else I was missing.

It could be that the remaining poison in the snakes' body was just harmful enough to be considered a genuine threat, or that the snake had been alive just recently and that allowed the skill to still work. All I knew for sure was that I needed to do more testing to be certain of the skill's details. I took a branch and went back to the huge body. I then prodded at the base of the fang to see if there was something there, and to my surprise, behind the fang and at the base, there was something squishy.

I couldn't see it as it was at a terrible viewing angle, but there was a high probability that it could be the poison sac! I took a deep breath, and put my entire face inside the mouth to better see behind the fang. Right at the top, I could see a type of oval sac covered in tough, fibrous tissue. I couldn't see what was inside it, but I was pretty sure that it was the poison sac. I got back out of the mouth and let out the breath I had been holding – the smell inside the mouth still evident outside.

Now, how do I get this?

About an hour later, I was standing naked with two large fangs cut up beside me. The poison sacs were thankfully within my inventory, and I was absolutely covered in blood, saliva, and general nastiness. Luckily, with elaborate exploitation of Tactical Insight, I was able to extract the fangs and sacs successfully. Securing everything in my inventory and thankful that concealed presence would let me keep my dignity, I headed towards the river. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval.

Report any appearances on Amazon. Really need a bath.

Sara's POV The world had slowed down, allowing me to observe even the tiniest details. That crab is about to spit. Target acquired, I hurried to the crab and sliced my sword straight across its face, stopping it from being able to spit. As always, I paid attention to the way the sword moved, and how it felt slicing the crab. There was still resistance when the sword moved, showing me that I still needed to improve. We kept attacking the crabs.

More kept coming from the river to avenge the ones we had already killed, but we managed to keep ourselves from being overrun, largely because the crabs were just too slow on land. My ability allowed me to keep ahead of them as I focused on my sword and how to improve my handling of it. I had never held a sword before coming here, almost everyone here being in the same boat. Thus, everyone was struggling to understand how to effectively use what the system had provided them. Well… everyone except for Alex.

I didn't understand him. Lucas had told me about how he had just drifted about in life, doing the bare minimum despite having high mental acuity. He told me that Alex just never cared about anything, and I absolutely loathed such people. I have had to work hard and prove myself my entire life. Having to first try and make my parents proud, who only ever seemed to notice my elder brother and sister.

Then, I had to work myself to the bone, studying and working two part-time jobs to make ends meet, and still managing to top my class at college. I had gone on to have a very successful start in my career in marketing – all due to the hours I had put in. But then, this system had to arrive, and suddenly I was back at square one. Still, I figured I would put in the work, more than others, and manage to stay ahead as I always did. And largely, I had been succeeding.

Lucas was more adept socially, but I had him beat in combat, so we could be looked at as equals, which I was more than fine with. Instead, what had bothered me was no matter what I did, Alex always seemed to stay ahead. He was always the one to discover something new, always the one highest levelled, and always off exploring the unknowns. His class gave him an unfair advantage – allowing him to go wherever he pleased, unseen and unnoticed. However, that wasn't all.

I hated to admit it, but he was just better at all this than me, and I actually respected him for it. He was also actively working all the time. Even if he was resting, I noticed his mind always seemed to be churning, going through possibilities and theories each second. It must be exhausting having your mind constantly active like that. Still, I would continue to do my best. Which is exactly what I did.

I did numerous tiny adjustments – changing my grip slightly, tweaking my swing, adjusting my thrust, all the while my ability remained active, enhancing my focus. Although, I could soon feel a pressure building behind my eyes, and I knew the time for my ability was running out. Pushing myself till the pain became almost debilitating, I finally stopped my ability. The world snapped back to its normal speed, the change jarring for a moment, but I had gotten used to it by now.

Stepping away from my latest kill, I wiped the tears off my eyes when I heard Lucas's shout to retreat; the crabs now becoming too numerous now. I looked around and my eyes met Lucas's, who gave a small smile, making my heart skip a very tiny beat. Focus, Sara! Shaking my head, I joined the 15 others as we stepped back rapidly, like we had practiced. Soon, we had retreated far enough into the forest to be safe. We were resting for about a minute before the first excited shout came.

"I've reached level 10" shouted out Oliver, immediately followed by Laura's shout of "me too." I had enough time to be relieved that our plan of getting others to level 10 seemed to be working, when an unexpected system screen showed up in front of me. Ding! Congratulations! You have acquired a new Skill: Sword Mastery

's POV This is boring. I hacked away at the tree stump, imagining it to be something else a bit more fun to take the mundanity away. Mason's grating voice reached me, praising everyone around no matter how much of a shit job they were actually doing. When will this tutorial end? I knew I couldn't stir shit up here, I was all alone and others were far more powerful. I had to lay low and blend in, bidding my time till I got back to Earth. There, I would have more leeway and be able to enjoy myself a bit more openly.

That being said, I still found my ways of enjoyment here. It was night now, and the darkness was truly my friend. I stalked behind someone, moving silently due to years of practice hiding away in the shadows. I flicked my dagger, spinning it in my hand with practiced ease. Unlike the softies here, I actually had experience with a dagger. And slitting something with one just so happened to be something I enjoyed.

The man whom no one would miss continued a bit further into the trees, before stopping to relief himself. This was the second time I was doing this; the first one having gone beautifully un-noticed. No one here really knew one another, so why would they notice when someone stopped showing up? Especially someone like this idiot, who stayed cooped inside the rooms all day, not contributing. Filth! I was just getting rid of a freeloader. Less mouths to feed mean more for everyone else after all.

I snuck up behind him, clamped my hand over his mouth and slit his throat with the dagger in the other with practiced ease. A shiver of pleasure rolled through me at the sensation of flesh parting below my blade. He never uttered a sound. I took a few seconds to enjoy the moment, before going to work. Grabbing his legs, I started the arduous journey of dragging him to the river.

I was strong and well built, and putting a few points to strength just compounded everything, meaning the journey was finished quickly, and I watched the body splash into the river before something immediately grabbed it and dragged it down. Turning around, I made my way back to base happy with the knowledge that the next few days I would sleep well. All of a sudden, a system screen showed up. Ding! Congratulations! You have a Class upgrade available.

You may choose to upgrade your Class to Assassin, or choose to remain as a Rogue. A grin spread over my face.