Chương 8: The Shadow of the Cave

Ethan didn't load a second stone. The math had completely broken down. To stand his ground and reload required three seconds of rotation time, but the Level 4 skirmisher's javelin range was already active, and the heavy warrior was only six metres away, his bronze broadsword cutting a wide arc through the dust. A single critical hit from that metal blade would wipe out Ethan's Level 1 health pool instantly, forcing a death-penalty item drop that would surrender his hard-earned barley profits back to Pixel Rex.

Run, his inner voice snapped. He didn't twist or dodge with flashy, stamina-draining maneuvers. He spun on his bare heel, grabbed the drawstring of his leather pouch, and bolted down the incline, using the sheer vertical drop of the nahal to accelerate his pace.

"Get back here, you F2P rat!" the warrior screamed behind him, his heavy boots clattering violently against the limestone boulders. A sharp, metallic whissh sliced through the air right past Ethan's left ear. The skirmisher's copper javelin struck a boulder two inches ahead of his stride, ricocheting into the brush with a dull clang. Missed. Ethan didn't look back to check the durability loss on their thrown weapon.

He let his legs drop, his weight throwing him into a blind slide down a steep, loose gravel scree that cascaded into the deeper, uncharted cracks of the ravine. Behind him, the heavy warrior tried to follow, but his massive, top-heavy bronze armor ruined his balance metric. The system computed the failure instantly; Ethan heard a loud, armor-shattering crunch followed by a string of furious Mandarin curses as the warrior tumbled backward into the rocks, his health bar taking a self-inflicted fracture penalty.

Ethan didn't slow down. He scrambled out of the scree pile and pushed through a tangled thicket of wild terebinth bushes and thorns, his default linen tunic tearing against the branches. He plunged into the dark. The blinding glare of the canyon disappeared, replaced by the damp, chilly gloom of a massive limestone cavern cutting deep into the roots of the Canaanite hills. The entrance was narrow, choked by collapsed rockfall that blocked any large-scale search.

Ethan dropped to one knee behind a massive stalagmite, his chest heaving as his stamina bar flashed a dangerous, pulsing amber at twelve percent. His heart thundered against his ribs, the cheap haptic rig vibrating violently against his chest to simulate physical exhaustion. He held his breath, staring back at the mouth of the cave. Outside, the ragged shouting of the skirmisher echoed through the ravine, but the heavy footsteps didn't follow him into the dark.

The corporate players weren't willing to risk their high-tier gear inside an unmapped, zero-visibility cavern zone without a squad layout. The silence of the cave rolled in, thick and heavy. A sudden, sharp system chime rang directly inside his auditory feed, different from the light tones of standard trade notifications. This sound carried a heavy, resonant hum. [System Prompt: Historical Sanctuary Sub-Sector Discovered] Location: The Cave of the Fugitives (Mearat HaBor).

Linguistic Root Resonance Detected: [M-L-K] (To Reign / King). Current Operational Cost: 0. 00 Silver Shekels. Ethan stood still, his eyes adjusting to the dim, blue light filtering through the limestone roof. His photographic memory instantly flipped back to the old wooden benches of the Queenstown church, the Sunday school lessons overlapping with the game's simulated geography. The Cave of Adullam, Ethan thought, his mind running the historical ledger.

Where David fled when he was an outlaw, broke, and hunted by the king. He didn't have an army or an armory. He gathered four hundred desperate, debt-ridden men from the slums of Israel and hid in the dirt. He opened his unassigned novice pathing menu. A hidden track had cracked open beneath his feet, drawing directly from the historical sandbox engine. [Available Public Class Path Discovered: The Outlaw Shepherd (Ro'eh Noded)] Prerequisites Met: 0.

00 Silver Shekels Spent on Arms, High Perception, Sling Weapon Mastery (Grade 1). Class Benefits: +15% Critical Damage to Armored Targets using Alluvial Stones. 0% Metal Weapon Dependency. Low Visibility / Wilderness Stealth Modifier (+20% in Cavities and Ravines). Ethan stared at the flashing interface. His penny-pinching mind calculated the numbers instantly. An Outlaw Shepherd, Ethan analyzed, a sharp, cold grin breaking through his face. It's an official F2P combat class with zero maintenance overhead.

The ammunition is free river stones. The armor is default cloth. I don't have to pay a single bit of coin to a palace blacksmith to keep my damage scaling. He reached out to select the path, but his finger hovered over the digital interface, his eyes catching a small system tag at the bottom of the prompt: Class upgrade locked to regional militia rank. To fully unlock it, he needed capital.

He needed to buy his way into local mercenary loops, exploit the markets of Hazor for more shekels, and build a massive financial floor before he could walk the path of the desert kings. He wasn't ready to lock himself down yet. There was still too much free money to be squeezed out of the city gates. Ethan lowered his hand, leaving the option open in his ledger. He packed his braided hemp sling into his leather pouch, turned away from the cavern depths, and began the long crawl back up toward the sunlit valleys.

He didn't need a crown yet. He needed his next fifty copper bits.