05 – Solutions

Martin stared at the three ghosts, upside down, blood rushing to his face and eyes until they threatened to explode.

“Motherfucker,” he growled.

The three were staring at him with featureless faces, like the faint outlines of a drawing that was never finished. They wore different clothes each, but the most disturbing was the green one, who seemed to be a young girl wearing renaissance clothes of a noble. She had a hand on her face that covered her mouth, and seemed to be giggling under the small umbrella that hid the rest of her features. The other two, the white and the blue ghost were even less visible, truly just shapes of men made of mist and wind, with the blue being at least twice as big as the other two.

Martin struggled and writhed, but the binding was tight. His leg was tangled up, the whole weight resting on one ankle that was screaming at him in mute pain, and he stared in horror when the white shape drew closer, extending a hand towards his face. No. He yanked hard, and managed to loosen the bindings on his wrists just a tiny amount. That was all he needed. He closed his eyes and tensed up, just as a ball of fire exploded right next to him and sent him flying away across the room. Then he felt a sharp pain in his leg and was pulled back by the rope, and the world spun about for a few long seconds before he came to a stop, still hanging from the ceiling. He glanced at the red bar, his HP. It was half empty now, but it was not going down.

His whole body was in pain, but what worried him was the sensation that he had lost feeling and function in many places. He was still blinded by the explosion, and couldn’t see anything. There was another feeling, the urge he got to check the menus as he knew he had leveled up, and he almost did it but resisted the urge, pushing it aside for now. Slowly his HP was going up. He waited, he didn’t know how long, struggling to stay awake and gritting his teeth through the numbed pain he felt, until some feeling returned to his hands, and feet. Then he struggled, moving to build momentum until the rope snapped, and he fell face first to the ground.

Shaking hands felt for the vial in his pocket. With barely any sensation coming from the still damaged nerves, it took a while until Martin realized that he was only feeling shattered glass, and retrieved the bloody hand from the pocket.

With the last of his energy spent, he collapsed against the wall, and closed his eyes.

The HP bar ticked up, ever so slowly. The wounds were cauterized, and he was not losing HP to blood loss. The feeling of leveling he got earlier told him the ghosts were gone, but also worried him slightly. He decided that he would worry about it later. The pain was bearable, thanks to the system, but he already knew that before he even entered the manor. He had tried it, despite his fear of pain, as soon as he saw the HP bar. Before even trying magic out he had cut himself against a snapped branch and had watched the wound close and his HP return to normal, with barely any pain. He exhaled. He could sleep safely. Upon waking up, he was sure to be back to full health.

>>Mission complete!<<

>Level up!

He felt it again, the erotic pleasure of growing in power as the system told him he had done a good job and rewarded him with a level. He thought about it for a few seconds. Had he ever felt a sensation quite like this?

Martin dismissed the level up menu just as the rewards from the completed quest plopped in his hand, struggling to grip at them tightly while the sensation of weakness typical of an awful sleep was still in his body. He glanced at the status bars distractedly, and noticed how both the HP and the stamina bar were not full, but resting at three quarters.

A cramp shot through his body like electricity. Shit, I haven’t eaten anything in the last day. He got up, struggling a bit until he decided to lean on the wall, and got his bearings. After a long breath, feeling a bit more refreshed, he examined the two items he had in his hands: the rewards of the system quest.

One was a small bottle, round unlike the vial of red liquid that was the health potion. To be fair, the health potion looked more like it belonged in a lab than in a world like this. Inside the small glass thing was a green fluid, splashing around and making bubbles. It reminded him of a fizzy energy drink, and suddenly he felt quite thirsty. He opened it and drank, discarding the empty shell on the ground where it broke in a few sharp pieces, close to the rubble from the explosion of last night.

>Level up!

Once again the rest of the message was dismissed, to be looked at later. Martin instead closed his eyes as a surge of pleasure washed over him, like electric pinpricks that massaged his internal organs with a delicate feather. It passed all to quickly, leaving him craving for more.

Checking his heads up display, Martin confirmed that leveling up didn’t restore his bars to full, nor did it calm his hunger. It didn’t matter. It felt good.

Seeing the remains of the blast next to the discarded glass of the xp bottle cleared his head, and also made Martin massage his side without thinking, where the explosion had taken away a good chunk of flesh. It was pink skin through the ripped shirt, and it felt strange, but it didn’t hurt much. Another confirmation of the pain suppressing properties of the system, meaning that he could fight pretty much until he was an inch away from death without suffering from paralyzing pain.

Alright, he thought, while summoning his status.

>>Status<<

>Martin C. Molotov
>Level 3 Human. (2 points available.)
>F rank.

Then he summoned the level up menu.

>Choose one:

>Improve random skill (1 point)
>Improve chosen skill (2 points)
>Improve Blueflame (1 point)
>Generate new random skill (1 point)

“Improve random.” He said.

>Improving random skill…
>Skill: Master system 1 improved to Master system 2!

• Master System 2
  • Passive skill. Allows for leveling up once exp meter is full, and to choose between three level up options. Displays current HP, MP and SP in the form of persistent color-coded bars. Displays compass in the form of a persistent bar. Allows for placement of up to 1 waypoint that will be marked with an icon on the compass.

Martin nodded. There was indeed a new bar floating in his vision, and as he turned, the numbers told him what direction he was facing, alongside the cardinal points.

There was still a point to spend.

“Generate random.”

>Generating new random skill…
>Skill: Summon sword 1 generated!

• Summon sword 1
  • Activate to summon a steel sword, extending from the caster’s hand. Size can vary slightly.

He frowned, then nodded. “Okay…”

Almost as an afterthought, Martin took a look at the manor key. It was a small stone thing, shaped like the stylized image of a key hanging on a string. He put it around his neck close to the guild token, and decided it was finally time to leave this place. If anything, he thought, he needed to eat.

As if sensing that he wished to leave, the key activated. The manor dissipated like a mirage around Martin, and he found himself in the middle of the clearing with no trace of the house ever being there in the first place.