> 10% Off your accumulated XP has been lost.

 

When Joseph finally regained consciousness, that sleepy feeling fading, he once again found himself completely naked, this time near an open plain close to the forest.

 

Not only was he completely naked, He was fucking furious as well. Clenching his fist, he couldn't help but angrily scream. Yet, it wasn't a scream that left him; it was a howl.

 

This sudden noise surprised him greatly, Causing him to freeze and assert the situation for a moment, calmness returning to his mind. He checked out his perfectly normal hands, but as he inspected his own body, he was quick to notice something weird.

 

His ears weren't on the side of his head, but on top of them, they were more sensitive. His sense of smell also greatly improved, and lastly, he could feel an extension on his tailbone; needless to say, he was a demi-human now.

 

He had seen a few of them in the character creation process, so it didn't take him long to adapt to this new situation. Now that he had figured the situation out, some of that anger returned to him once again, but not quite as bad as it was earlier.

 

" That fucking, asshole. "

 

He can't believe that the guy just did it like that. I mean, PK? (PK stands for player kill) Sure, it happens, but at the start of the game? When you're saying " friendly friendly," how fucking shameless can you be?

 

First thing first, he checked out his inventory.

 

> Basic wooden bow.

> 2 quivers of arrows. (25 & 24 iron-tipped arrows per quiver)

> 1 basic dagger.

> Leather brigandine chest armor

> Leather greaves

> Leather boots.

>Underwear

 

He read on the forum that your starter items aren't lost on death and was glad to see that was actually the case. They're called soul-bound items, and unlike normal crafted or found items, they aren't lost on death but remain with the user.

 

The forums didn't say anything about losing XP when you died; It said there were penalties, but nothing was specified. Seeing that, he decided to open his stats once more.

 

>Health 100/100

>Stamina 100/100

>Mana 100/100

 

>LVL 1 Player XP 81/100

>END: 10

>AGI: 10

>STR: 10

>INT: 10

 

> LVL1 Archer 81/300

 

> Quick shot

 

>Archery

 

[Unselected class: N/A]

 

>Special skills: Accept soul oath - Physiological protection

 

>Active skills:

 

>Passive skills:

 

It appeared that he indeed lost 10% of his XP, Not that it was unexpected after that notification popped up. He killed 3 goblins, which each gave 30 XP with his 200% XP increase. That means that a goblin without the pain/XP modifier is worth 10 XP. So he gained 90 XP in total and lost 9 upon death.

 

Although it looked like a little, This experience loss would be a bitch on later levels. if the XP gain required for each level increases just like it usually does in games, that'd be a giant pain. Imagine being lvl 30 and losing 10% of your accumulated XP. There was a pretty decent chance your level would be downgraded and you'd lose unlocked skills, unless of course, you can get a minus negative XP stat which he doubted.

 

" I also lost a fucking arrow! That Fucking BITCH. "

 

He hadn't recovered one of his arrows before he died and thus lost it, which is a giant pain. Does this happen to every weapon which you don't have on hand when you die as well, such as swords, etc? Or did this happen because arrows are like consumables that you use?

 

He didn't want to test it, so somewhat frustrated, he decided to check out the plain. There was a river running through it; making his way over, he decided to take a drink. It was streaming water, so it was mostly safe, probably.

 

After taking a drink, he decided to move further into the plains when his now more sensitive ears picked on a zipping sound. Having learned from last time's ambush, he didn't move his head to check; the sound came from above, so he simply rolled to the side.

 

He made sure to use his shoulder in the roll and not his back; after all, he had a quiver attached to it. Luckily, the starter's quiver came equipped with an arrow lock, meaning he didn't suddenly have an empty quiver.

 

He quickly grabbed one of the arrows and activated quick shot just in time to see the beast adjusting itself from his missed predatory dive. It's monstrous mouth looked right at him as he was about to launch himself into Josephs direction.

 

Joseph, however, didn't feel like dying a second time and quickly released the arrow; the metal-tipped arrow found its mark and pierced straight through the creature's eye, killing it on the spot.

 

 

 

 

He quickly checked out the sky and the treelines of the forest to look for any more of those creatures; seeing none, he decided to get to work, leaving his attribute point for later.

 

He tried pulling the dead vulture corpse, but although he could move it, it was quite heavy for just one person. So, Seeing that he couldn't move it, he decided to cut into it here, starting with the area where the wings connect to the chest.

 

Joseph isn't a butcher or a skinner, so he isn't a specialist in it, but he decides to try his best. After making an opening, he pushes his knife under the creature's skin; its skin, although not super thick, was relatively thick for an aerial creature.

 

He cut the skin off the wings as well, as good as he could until he reached the torso once again where he cut it off. He left the meat of the wing alone since that was mostly muscle anyway.

 

He cleaned the feather-covered wing skin in the river. This soaked the feathers, but he didn't mind that; he wanted all the blood off.

 

He also ignored the tail and legs since those pieces were also muscles. He instead skinned a big piece of its hide on its torso, as well as its neck area and back, since those areas were really fluffy. He washed it all carefully to get the blood out, after which he cut the soft, juicy parts off his thigh and torso. He tried washing as much of the blood off the meat as possible, after which he quickly made his way to the edge of the forest. The soaked feathers were a little heavier than they needed to be, but he could carry everything in one trip.

 

He left the pieces of cleaned skin flat onto the grass still within the valley to dry in the sun. The reason he washed it off so cleanly is because he didn't want animals messing around with it. He took the meat further off and temporary placed it in some clean looking grass.

 

He didn't want to keep it in the same spot afterward; He made his way into the forest, looking for materials to make a fire. He made fires in games before, so it didn't take too long for him to get something going. He quickly burned it up and waited for the fire to calm down while he looked for a suitable piece of wood to turn into a spear.

 

He used his dagger to cut himself a nice spear from a suitable piece of wood. He made a sharp tip and cut off all the bark/skin, after which he looked for a tree leaking syrup. He used that to cover the spear, after which he hardened it above a fire.

 

He had learned this online; sadly, he hadn't learned how to process tendons; otherwise, he could've used those births to craft more stuff. He fire-hardened his spear but didn't throw any extra wood on the fire to speed it up. Once the fire wasn't burning as heavily anymore, he spit some sticks with meat above it, allowing it to roast while he went to check stuff out in the forest.

 

The whole process took a while, so he was starting to get hungry. The reason he left his food to roast slowly while he looked around was because he didn't just want to sit still if it wasn't necessary, especially not near a fire.

 

He spent about 7 minutes wandering around under the forest cover, after which he returned to turn his meat. Once that was done, he went back into the forest. He had his spear tied on his back using some of the wet Vulture skin; it wasn't the most effective method, but he needed both arms for his bow.

 

As he was about to make his way back to the forest, he noticed another creature sneaking around. He could instinctually recognize her as a fellow canine, although he wasn't sure which type.

 

She was fully naked, safe for a loincloth that came until about half her thigh. Her breasts were in full view, and although Joseph was by all means a virgin, he didn't stare at them. Besides the fact that this was a potentially dangerous situation, Joseph also was always crippled from the waist down. So he wasn't exactly familiar with the whole erection thing, nor did he think about anything related to it.

 

She was snooping around, making his way toward his campfire until she spotted him. Her eyes suddenly turned into a deadlock with his. Both their ears softly twitched while both their noses sniffed the air. There was no wind currently, so both of them could smell each other. This was also why they instinctively knew they were both canines.

 

Joseph knew this was an NPC and, although still wary, did want to give it a shot; otherwise, he wouldn't ever gain followers. So, He softly coughed while taking a more casual stance, still keeping his bow in his hand, just in case.

 

" Do you want something to eat?..... "

 

The way he asked the question left a clear indiccation that he was looking for a name and the female responded in kind.

 

"Aesira, and yes... I want something to eat."

 

Joseph gave a soft nod, after which he stretched his arm towards the campfire, indicating it was all right. He then took the lead, depositing his bow into his inventory and keeping the spear on his back. He kept the dagger nearby, just in case. Aesira noticed his bow disappearing and her eyes widened in shock, she however didn't comment on it.

 

He wanted to appear non-threatening while, at the same time, he wanted to keep the ability to surprise his potential ambusher if the need arose. The forum was very clear about NPCs. Unless they were marked as a follower, you couldn't see their loyalty, and even with loyalty, it was possible for them to betray their players.

 

Every NPC had its own backstory and personality unless there was a special circumstance that prevented them from having that. So, He made his way over to the campfire, His guest following behind him.

 

Once there, he motioned for her to sit; she was a little hesitant but eventually sat down. Joseph didn't want to sit down first since that meant she could potentially ambush him if she meant to. He might be a little paranoid now, but he really didn't wanna die again.

 

He kinda likes his new body; his ears already saved him once. Once they sat down he grabbed one of the meat skewers and handed it over to her.

 

It was time to make some conversation.