Luke croaked. “Fucking hell.”
He looked around for his apples but they had all gone, he cursed the land and everything in it. 2 points wasn't enough Mana to create another apple he'd have to wait until it ticked up to 3 but that his stamina had dropped to 1 point was worrying. If his stamina dropped to zero before the Mana ticked up to 3 he wasn't sure he'd make it.
It looked like the Mana drain had cost him 3 health points and he only had 2 left, well 1 really. He felt his body shiver despite the heat and thought he wasn't long for this world. He hoped whoever stole his apples had choked to death on them.
A shadow hovered over him and Luke barely had the strength to look up to see who it was. He coughed and spluttered. “Nothing to steal here, it's all gone...” Finishing in a hoarse whisper. “All gone.”
A small hand reached down, in it's hand was a deep red apple Luke looked up and saw the little girl. She had been starving. It had probably been her that had taken the apples, but despite her hunger she had saved one for him.
He felt a stinging in his eyes as he gazed at her and then at the apple as he struggled to find the strength to reach out and grasp the fruit. She brought it closer and dropped the apple into his hand.
Ray barely had the energy to bite into the apple but groaned in pleasure as he finally got a small morsel into his mouth. It was the singularly most delicious thing he had eaten in his whole life.
Tart yet sweet, crunchy and dripping with juice, just the best thing ever. He had finished it before he'd realised it but he felt his strength gaining already.
STATS
RACE: HUMAN
MOD MAGE
LEVEL: 0
HEALTH : 3 OF 10
STAMINA: 2 OF 10
MANA: 3 OF10
Luke blinked. 3....that meant something right? Wasn't he waiting for 3? Mana! Fuck yeah!
He focused trying to remember what he'd done before everything turned to shit and in seconds another delicious apple had dropped into his hand. Luke bit into it with relish and instinctively looked up as he heard a tiny “yip!” when the new apple appeared from nowhere and saw the small child scamper out of reach, not far, just far enough.
As Luke finished his second apple he sighed happily as his body slowly slipped back into unconsciousness.
When Luke opened his eyes the next time the sky had drawn in, it was dusk and clouds filled the sky, the girl was nowhere to be seen so he traipsed back to where he thought she might be.
He found her huddled under the ruined shelter and started when she saw him. He tried to smiled, reassuring her she was safe and looked about trying to see what he could do to repair the girls home.
It took about half an hour and was a fair bit smaller than he remembered it but as it started to rain he smiled up at the almost completely water resistant shack.
STATS
RACE: HUMAN
MOD MAGE
LEVEL: 0
HEALTH : 7 OF 10
STAMINA: 6 OF 10
MANA: 6 OF10
As he sat in the muddy floor of the hut Luke sighed with relief as he conjured two apples, he handed one to the girl who snatched it away not caring where it came from and had eaten it all in less than half the time it took Luke.
MANA 2 OF 10
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
It had been way harder than it should have been but he'd survived the first day of his new life. No monsters, no fighting, yet he had still come to with a whiskers width of death. If he was going to survive this world he was going to have to be a lot more careful. With that thought he fell asleep to the tippy tap of rain on a leaky roof.
--------------------------------
Atticus fumed as he lay in his hideout. Everything had been a complete and utter disaster! Well everything but the soul summons. He would have to start from scratch, find another sacrifice.
The sigils and ritual set up had taken weeks to get right, but he'd do it. He coughed and black sludge splattered his handkerchief. Time was running out so there would be no mistakes, quite literally it was time to do or die trying.
He lay there trying to sleep but it was impossible, what with the rain, the darkness within him eating away at his insides and wondering if the soul spirit had found another host or had simply dissipated into the aether he didn't know and the thoughts kept him too wired to sleep. What if his nieces soul spirit was still on this plane of existence? he would find out, he had to know for sure and if it did he would take it by right of sacrifice, It was his and no one was going to stop him from having it.
------------------------------------------------
Luke awoke with the sound of splintering wood and the roof collapsing in on his head.
“WHERE'S MY MONEY!?”
A monster of a man stood kicking bits of the shelter out of the way as he stomped towards Luke and the little girl. The thug growled at the child and she shrank back even further into the shadows than before.
“I told you last week, pay or I was going to fuck you up! So where's my money?”
Luke clambered up pushing aside the debris of what was once the shelter. All that was left now was small fragments of splintered wood. There was no putting this back together.
“What is it with everyone kicking in the door and screaming at us!? It's not locked, the thing doesn't even have hinges, all you have to do is shove it to one side!” Luke stood in front of the thug blocking his view of the child trembling with righteous indignation.
“If you're the landlord then you're shit outta luck firstly there's no shelter left. You, you fucking moron have just destroyed it. Second, neither of us has any money and thirdly what the hell are you doing threatening a five year old girl? Jesus man get a fucking life.”
Thug nuts whipped out a hand and grabbed Luke by the throat and started to squeeze. It was then that Luke remembered he was not on earth and that levels were a thing and he was a zero. He struggled trying to pull the stinking mammoth's hands apart but they didn't budge an inch.
The thug pulled Luke to within an inch of his face and growled. The stench was vomit inducing and if Luke's wind pipe had been open more than just a fraction he might have been assaulting the guy with his new and patented. Projectile vomit comet. Well it seemed to have worked on the Atticus lookalike so why not thug nuts.
The squeeze on Luke's throat increased and he started to panic. There was no way he was going to win in a straight up battle of strength. No he needed to cheat. Thug nuts growled even deeper, more threateningly. “Where's my money?”
Trying to focus on bringing up the console command screen is surprisingly difficult when you're having the life squeezed out of you but thankfully once managed the pain fades away. Good to know.
“So how do I deal with this? Taser? Nope this place didn't have outdoor plumbing let alone electricity. Mace? No if I wished for that I'd probably get an actual mace. No I need something small, cheap to conjure but deadly.”
“Additem common iron dagger 1”
The dagger didn't immediately appear in Luke's hand, instead the item found was written in red. Well that didn't look good, but what other option did he have?
Luke focused his will on the dagger and thankfully it appeared in his right hand. As soon as he dismissed the console command he needed to immediately started jabbing into the thugs body as hard and quick as he could. He had a fear that red was bad and needed to do as much damage as he could before whatever happened, happened.
The very second he came out of the command and life blossomed into being again he felt his Mana drop through the floor. His head felt like it had exploded but he kept jabbing at the thug as he felt his stamina, then his life essence drain away from him.
Luke's legs felt like jelly and realised after a moment he was back on his own two feet. The thug had a stunned look on his face and his torso was covered in bloody gouges, Luke tried to force his knife to do more damage but his fingers were going numb and his world was going hazy as his stamina bottomed out and health bar continued to drop.
He was fast loosing consciousness. The only bonus was that the thug looked just as bad as Luke did. Both were laying on the floor as Luke's life ebbed away from him. Luke noticed through the haze a tiny figure picking up the knife and sticking it through thug nut's left eye in one quick jab as death quickly approach him.
HEALTH : 0 OF 10
STAMINA: 0 OF 10
MANA 0 OF 10
YOU HAVE SLAIN DROLG, LEVEL 5 STREET THUG YOU HAVE GAINED EXP.
CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE LEVELED UP! YOU ARE LEVEL 1
ELLIPSES. YOU HAVE LEVELED UP! YOU ARE LEVEL 3
Luke coughed and his head span as his once dwindling life essence suddenly soared to new heights. Sitting up took some effort and he was breathing hard as he peered over the slain street thug, then over to the small girl. He gave her a thumbs up. “Nice one kiddo, I think you saved both our skins there.”
He gestured to the girl to give him the dagger back but she snarled at him and growled in a tiny voice. “Mine!”
Luke bit his lip in thought for a bit. Giving a five year old a sharp deadly weapon on earth would get you a jail sentence but here on....wherever... she might probably need it. He nodded at her. “OK just don't stab me with it right? It took a lot out of me to get that thing.”
She nodded and sat back in the debris of their once home. They needed to get out of there but first Luke needed to work out how he was doing.
STATS
RACE: HUMAN
MOD MAGE
LEVEL: 3
HEALTH : 34 OF 34
STAMINA: 34 OF 34
MANA 34 OF 34
