Chương 7: Stealing from a Dead Guy

They left the little antechamber they'd been hiding in and followed the hallway deeper into the building. Just like the larger tower Evan had wandered around before, this smaller building was a maze of rooms and corridors. Finding their way around was further complicated by the state of decay everything was in. Some of the walls had crumbled, blocking hallways and doors with piles of rubble and debris. All the rooms they managed to get into were empty.

Some had the same carved-in-stone shelves like the one Evan had found the skill gems in, but they were picked clean. No boxes, no loot.

"I don't understand this," Evan complained. His video game experiences had made him assume this ancient ruin was stuffed to the brim with cool stuff to loot, but so far their excursion had been a frustrating endeavor.

"The room I've been in had those big stacks of boxes, at least two dozen. Why are all those other rooms picked clean?"

"These ruins have been abandoned for hundreds of years," Oliver explained, climbing over a pile of rocks from a caved-in wall.

"Most people don't dare to come here because of the monsters, but we're probably not the first people to search this place."

"Obviously not. Look," Evan said. The caved-in wall had separated the hallway from another room with shelves. At first glance Evan had thought it was empty, just like the others until he spotted something in the corner. There was a skeleton lying just a few steps away from the shelves. It wore a mix of leather and metal armor, but the state of the armor and the bones told Evan that this person had died long ago. Years at least. Next to the finger bones lay a somewhat rusted metal sword on the ground.

"Bingo!" Evan called out. He picked it up and weighed it in his hand before handing it over to Oliver. Oliver took it with a smile, weighing it in his hand.

"Pretty decent quality, aside from the rust." Evan watched him try a few practice swings before he looked at the skeletal remains again.

"Should I feel bad about stealing a sword from a dead guy?"

"Nah," Oliver said, trying a piercing strike.

"He clearly doesn't need it anymore."

"Then should we take the armor too?" Oliver lowered the sword and crouched to inspect the corpse. He poked the leather strap holding the metal chest plate in place and shook his head.

"No, this is all brittle and rusted. It'll fall apart the moment the wind blows."

"It looks like it used to be very sturdy. I wonder what killed the guy."

"I think these are claw marks on these arm bones. Could be a number of monsters…" Alarmed, Evan looked around.

"Do you think it's still here somewhere?" Oliver stood up again and furrowed his brows.

"Possible. This is a high mana place, so it attracts monsters."

"Monsters like mana?"

"They don't just like it. They need to consume it to grow and procreate. That's the problem."

"That's the problem?" Evan asked.

"I thought the problem was large spikes and sharp claws and stuff."

"Well, yeah, that too… but the mana thing is worse. Do you know what mana is? Do you have it in your world?"

"Uh, no? I don't think so," Evan said, scratching his head.

"We don't have a ledger, so there's no way to check, but I'm pretty sure there's no magic in my world, so probably no mana either."

"No magic?" Oliver asked, surprised.

"None at all? Man, that sounds awful."

"Hm. I'm not sure I'd call it awful, but I'm sure some magic would solve a lot of problems my world has been struggling with." He thought about that healing potion he'd used to fix Oliver's leg and wondered how powerful it was. Could it heal measles, or arthritis, or cancer? Could it heal Helens's breast cancer or his father's Korsakoff syndrome? Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. He gave himself a little shake.

To find answers to these questions, he needed to get home, and to get home he needed to solve a lot more immediate problems.

"So mana. What exactly is it, and why is it so bad that monsters eat it?" Oliver made a thoughtful face, as if he were trying to find the right words to explain it to Evan.

"Mana is a kind of life force. Like blood, but instead of your heart pumping blood through your body, mana flows through your soul."

"So you die without mana?"

"In a way, yes," Oliver said.

"Your body is still alive, but without mana, it's nothing more than a hunk of flesh. No thoughts, no feelings, no… life. And it's not just humans. All living creatures have it and need it. Even plants."

"I see. So when monsters suck up all the mana, everything else around them dies. Did I get that right?"

"Yes, pretty much. It's a very slow process, so we can stay on top of it by killing the monsters before the mana drain becomes so bad that it irrevocably damages the ecosystem. That's why I came here." Oliver fiddled with a piece of loose fabric wrapped around the hilt of his new sword.

"My village is nearby, and we recently noticed the signs of mana drain. My father's plants aren't growing like they should, and Albert the fisherman reported he finds more and more dead fish at the shores of the river every day." Evan nodded.

"So you decided to kill the monster that causes it?"

"There used to be someone from the Monster Hunter Guild nearby, but he retired and moved away two years ago. We sent a message to Stormhaven last month, but when we got no answer, I decided to take things into my own hands. I thought that…" He paused and let out a heavy sigh.

"I thought that if I managed to kill the monster, my father would let me leave the farm and join one of the guilds. Things haven't exactly worked out the way I hoped." Evan slapped Oliver on the shoulder.

"Hey, don't throw in the towel just yet. We have a sword now, and I have an idea how we can—""Evan, watch out!" Oliver's warning made him whirl around just in time to see the Spineback hurdling toward him, spiky back first. Evan sidestepped the attack, and the creature landed on the floor, more angry than ever.

"Time to try out that sword, Oliver!" Oliver didn't need to be asked twice. He jumped in front of Evan and swung his sword. His blade slipped off the spikes, but he still managed to tear a deep gash into the Spineback's body. The little monster squeaked as it quickly bled out. [Your party has killed 1 Spineback] [Oliver Detreyo earns 6 experience points] [Oliver Detreyo looted 8 mana stones] Evan checked his own menu, but noticed no experience gain.

"So the experience isn't split among party members?" Oliver lowered his sword and looked at the Spineback carcass.

"It is, but only among the party members who participated in the fight. And it's not split evenly. It's based on who did the most damage." Evan wondered how that worked out for support classes like healers. It seemed like a crippling disadvantage. How were they supposed to rank up if you could only earn experience points by doing damage? Were there other ways to gain experience? Or did this world just didn't have non-fighting skill builds? Was every mana user a warrior in this world?

He probably needed to stop making assumptions based on video games and start gathering some real information, but for now he filed the question away for later. He had bigger problems to solve.

"Grinding our way up to the next rank before we face that golem is probably out of the question with how few experience points those Spinebacks give," he said.

"Yeah, we'd have to kill hundreds of those things before we could reach rank 2," Oliver agreed.

"Besides, it's not recommended to do that, anyway."

"It's not?" Evan asked, surprised. He was starting to realize that this world had strange similarities to the games he'd played, but it was most definitely not a game.

"No. You saw your attributes, right? And how they connect to your skills' power?" Evan understood what he meant. The interface had told him his skills were tied to certain attributes and that he should level them up to improve the skill.

"Skill gems unlock a skill," Oliver explained, "but things like range, duration, or how much damage they deal depend on your attributes."

"But I can improve my attributes by leveling up, right? When I got to rank 1, I received three attribute points."

"Yes, you'll continue to get them. And you'll get more for reaching higher ranks. I know rank 2 gives 4 and rank 3 gives you 5 attributes points and it continues to scale, but that's more of a bonus. It's not nearly enough if you want to keep up with monsters or other mana users of the same rank. You'll end up with lots of skills, but none of them are going to be very strong."

"I think I get it. So what do I have to do to raise my attributes?" Oliver gave him a lopsided grin.

"Sometimes you get some free points for quests or achievements, but mostly training." Evan sighed.

"I was afraid you'd say that. What kind of training are we talking about here?" Evan had never been a gym bro. The idea of having to lift weights for hours every day to increase his awesome magical special power wasn't very appealing.

"Running? Push-ups?"

"Uh, I guess that would net you a few points, but you probably wouldn't get very far. See, the tie between the attribute and the skill goes both ways," Oliver explained, "Your skills improve with your attributes, but practicing your skills will also increase your attributes."

"I have no issues with hard work to improve, but we don't have time for that," Evan said. They hadn't found any food in the ruins, not even a water source. Holing up for weeks or months and practicing until they were as strong as the Mud Golem wasn't an option.

"We'll have to make do with what we have right now." Oliver smiled sadly.

"Two rank 1s, a kitchen knife, and a rusty sword."

"Wait, it really is a kitchen knife?"

"Yes. I live on a farm, Evan. We don't have any proper weapons. That was the longest, sturdiest knife we had, so I took it."

"Doesn't matter. I have a plan. I'm going to kill that golem with your kitchen knife, and you're going to help. I'm going to prove to you that your affinity is anything but useless."