Amber | Chapter 8. (Patreon)

Chapter 8.

It was the first time Amber saw death. The death of a human anyway. Animals, the frogs, the monsters, they all felt so far fetched, so far removed from reality that she didn’t quite register what it meant. But now, it was different. Looking down, she saw the lifeless eyes of a man she didn’t know, his stomach was carved out, entrails splattering everywhere.

Part of her expected to panic and lose her mind when it eventually happened. She was in the world of Vir after all, it was clear that death was common, far too common probably. It would’ve been foolish to think she’d never see someone get killed. Did she expect it so soon? No, she didn’t.

But here she was, staring at death.

Another part of her, expected her to hyperventilate, perhaps get cold feet over the whole: pushing herself to the limits thing. Maybe even miss her home; wish desperately she could return to Earth. Something, but she never expected her reaction to be what she was having.

She felt pale, as if a pit had formed in her stomach. Her mood was ruined. It felt as if she had made a grave mistake, and yet the man had actually been dead before she arrived. It all felt wrong. Logically, she knew she couldn’t have done anything to save the man. While there were people she could’ve saved amongst the few that died, she didn’t feel that much different towards their deaths.

She looked at a corpse in the distance.

There was a woman that died after she tried to save her and it didn’t make much of a difference.

They all gave her a feeling of wrongness. Perhaps it was due to being from Earth? Death wasn’t a common thing to experience; and her father had died when she was about two years old so it wasn’t something she had to exactly grieve past not having much of a father figure for some time.

In the end, Amber didn’t understand her own reaction. A sigh left her, she still felt a heavy weight on her heart even when no longer looking at the corpse.

“Hey, did you get injured killing all those monsters?” an adventurer called.

She turned only to see a man in plated armor, it almost seemed bulky. He had a somewhat large shield that was covered in blood, but thankfully he seemed uninjured. Slightly pale perhaps, he looked to be thirty or older.

[Warrior. Lvl. 30]

A warrior?

“I didn’t,” Amber answered, closing her eyes. “Not past minor scratches anyway.”

She had been lucky that Cursed Momentum was fully stacked when the attack happened. Otherwise the fight against the Simia Insani would’ve gone slightly different, perhaps a lot more hard-fought for some time. Maybe more people would’ve died, she didn’t know.

“Uh, I see, that’s… uh good?” the man said awkwardly after a short silence before looking away. “Oh, that’s your dagger, let me get it for you.”

Amber paused seeing the adventurer going for her weapon. “Don’t touch it, I’ll get it myself. It’ll cut you.”

“It’s fine, it’s just a dagger.” He smiled, reaching it. “I know how to handle a knife myself⁠— ouch!”

He yelped, shaking his hand in pain as blood dripped onto the ground. Amber felt a tiny bit bad as she approached and grabbed the dagger herself, putting it away. Which was met with a very confused look from the adventurer.

“How⁠—? I mean, I touched its handle and it cut me⁠.”

Amber wanted to reply something like ‘I told you’ in a cheery tone, but given her current mood she couldn’t bring herself to do it. So, instead she gave him a shrug.

“I don’t know.”

Moments later she was approached by very grateful people, they weren’t dressed like adventurers nor did they hold weapons. And from her conversation she was able to glean they were merchants, immediately inviting her to join the caravan and offering her payment for her employment.

Something she immediately took. For her services she was paid a silver coin in advance and three upon reaching the city of Laria. She didn’t use the opportunity to ask questions to learn about the world, but instead to ask the traders what they were doing and other things. Mostly learning they were transporting preserved meats, seeds and a bunch of monster parts.

To be honest, the conversation was mostly to occupy her mind rather than learning anything useful. So after thirty minutes, she ended it and took a seat in one of the wagons. Not bothering to help with moving bodies and burning them.

* * *

“Not too used to seeing death?” the adventurer from earlier asked her.

The caravan was now starting to move again, none of the goods were damaged and only three people had died in total; which Amber supposed was good.

“I’m not,” she sighed. “It’s the first time I see someone die.”

The man paused, his eyes growing wide. “At your level? It’s the first time seeing someone die?” It seemed like he couldn’t believe it. “That… how? I guess it’s not that rare if you only hunt monsters alone…”

“It doesn’t matter how.” She shook her head.

“Right, I’m sorry for reacting like that,” he said, getting on her wagon. “It was… very insensitive. You will get used to it in time, I’m sure of that.”

Amber just nodded in response. She wasn’t quite sure of what to say to the man. She just felt depressed, but that was about it. Still… To think my first encounter with other humans is just me being depressed. A small chuckle left her, which earned her a very puzzled look.

Amber thought about it for a moment.

“What was your first experience like, and well… how did you get over it?”

The man seemed to frown at the question before looking down the road. “I personally choose to accept that the deaths of strangers are inevitable, but the deaths of my friends, the deaths of my family? I don’t think I ever got over them,” he answered, looking ahead with a stoic face. “My brother died protecting me from bandits, I returned only to see his corpse left at the side of the road.”

Amber gave him a look, realizing she was just being selfish. “I’m sorry for making you relive those memories.”

The man shook his head. “It’s fine. I just mean to say that, deaths are an inevitability. Monsters attack us, we defend ourselves. Sometimes we are the heroes that defend against the darkness, and sometimes the darkness wins. Today, we are the heroes.” He nodded to himself.

“I see.”

Amber decided to not dismiss the thought as she thought about it for some time. It was a logical argument, much like the one she already had. Still, thinking of everyone fighting monsters as heroes slightly helped her. Of course, she still felt off, but she felt better.

She tried to imagine what the Ax’thar the Primordial Spirit would have said. And, honestly she wasn’t very sure. It was such an alien thing to imagine a god trying to comfort her. It almost felt more realistic to imagine him mocking her in regards to how she felt, even though he wasn’t cruel.

Finally, after a few more minutes of contemplating, she turned to the man and offered her hand.

“Thank you, I’m Amber.”

He blinked and answered in kind, doing a handshake. “Thieney.”

“Thieney?” she repeated, confused. “Is that a common name around here?”

“More or less, met one or two in the past.” He shrugged. “First time meeting an Amber, though.”

“Huh, I see.”

After that, the conversation ended as they looked towards the road. And Amber just looked at the passing road. The caravan was traveling at about jogging speed for her, which she didn’t mind. Horses seemed to be pulling the carts, so that was another familiar sight to her one which actually made her hopeful.

Vir shares similarities with Earth, but is also distinctly different. She frowned for a moment. Perhaps that’s not so bad.

* * *

After brooding for another hour, she finally slapped sense into herself. She was achieving absolutely nothing by being depressed, so instead she turned to her notifications.

[You have defeated a [Simia Insani. Lvl. 31].]

[You have defeated a [Simia Insani. Lvl. 32].]

[You have defeated a [Simia Insani. Lvl. 34].]

…

There were a lot, but she had been rewarded for her efforts.

[Curse Battery has leveled up from level 1 to 2.]

Curse Battery had leveled up, and honestly she was glad given the long charge time. That said the skill had been strong, essentially killing three enemies in a single hit. Since they had touched each other, the Curse of Laceration had spread across all of them. It was… really nice.

She inwardly thanked the Primordial Spirit before turning to her level ups.

[You have reached level 36. 5 stat points awarded.]

[You have reached level 37. 5 stat points awarded.]

She had received two levels for her efforts, which she greatly welcomed. Amber made sure to distribute the attribute points she had received before looking at her status.

[Name: Amber | Level: 37

Class: Cursed Berserker | Unspent Stat Points: 0

Stats:

Vitality: 103

Strength: 71

Dexterity: 62

Endurance: 46

Intelligence: 22

Wisdom: 22

Free Core Skill Slots: 4 | Core Skills:

[Heavy Swing - 2nd Rank Lvl. 2], [Body Bash - Lvl. 9], [General Weapon Mastery - 2nd Rank Lvl. 1], [Cursed Momentum - Lvl. 5], [Berserker’s Body - Lvl. 4], [Cursed Stomp. - Lvl. 3], [Curse Battery - Lvl. 2]

General Skills:

[Supernatural Nullification], [Identify. Lvl. 2], [Toxin Resistance ⁠- Lvl. 10], [Elemental Resistance - Lvl. 3], [Physical Resistance - Lvl. 3], [Keen Senses - Lvl. 8], [Quick Recovery - Lvl. 8].]

For now she’d keep increasing Dexterity along with Strength, though if she got a useful movement skill that would change. Dexterity did help her with weapon wielding too, but the main reason she kept on putting points on it was just to be more mobile.

Amber sighed and whispered to herself. “If only he was here so I could ask him for some of his thoughts.”

“What’s that?” the adventurer, Thieney, piped up.

“Oh, I was just thinking about a friend. I haven’t seen them in like a week and a half and I miss them already.” She smiled. “Maybe he’d have a laugh if he knew that.”

“I’m sure he’d appreciate it,” Thieney chuckled. “Were they a good friend?”

“Hm…” Amber pondered. “I’m not sure? They were mean at times, frustrating at times, and condescending at other times? But also helpful and a good company?”

“So a mixed bag.” He nodded. “Personally for me it sounds like an unbearable person.”

His reply made her suppress a chuckle.

She nodded. “That’s right, he’s unbearable.”

Thieney was yet again, seemingly confused by her words. But Amber didn’t mind, instead she watched as the man thought about some things. For some reason, he was interested in small talk with her, which she actually didn’t mind. Instead, choose to engage to gain some information.

“So, as you can probably tell, I’m not from these parts.” She gestured at her clothes. “You should tell me more about things, sell me on the Kingdom of Lorisdil. What’s it like around these parts, culture, what to expect, etcetera.”

“Lorisdil?” Thieney blinked. “We are in Cytel, otherwise known as the Kingdom of Prospects.”

Outdated information…

“Right, sell me on Cytel, the Kingdom of Prospects,” Amber corrected herself. “Anything I should be aware of?”

He pondered long and hard before nodding. “I don’t know how it is in your land or even in other territories, but after using Identify on you I can tell you’re a Warrior.” Amber nodded. “And that is why I must warn you, usually us Warriors get treated significantly worse than Mages. Something to keep in mind, beware of being seen as disposable.”

She nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.” That matched with Ax’thra’s information. Finally, after a moment she spoke. “I’m pretty fucking clueless, so if you could point me to the library it would honestly really useful.”

Her brutal honesty seemed to shock the man, his expressions changing before he replied.

“Huh, I’ll make sure to do that,” he thought before nodding. “That said, it would be pretty lame if I just gave up on explaining things, so I’ll explain what I do know.”

Amber nodded at that and listened intently.

* * *

She had learned some useful things, such as the one to one hundred exchange from coins. She also learned the man was ⁠— as she had guessed ⁠— an adventurer working for the Guild. A widespread organization that acted more like a mercenary board, having requests of purging monsters and helping with other tasks. Given it was a widespread and public organization, requests for killing people outside of actual bounties for wanted criminals was, of course, out of the question.

She also had asked about how people usually healed, which was met with incredible confusion. Thieney explained that Healers could help, but otherwise their best friends were potions. Though he did warn about potion poisoning. When he asked him if resistances helped with it he just shook his head.

“It’s not actual poison, it’s something different… deeper, more attached to your being, like some sort of curse.”

His explanation had certainly caught her attention, but she wasn’t about to reveal her super rare class. To some extent, she was actually relieved that Identify for her just said Warrior and nothing else. The Argon guy had attacked Ax’thrar just for information, so just based on that alone Amber figured that it was best to keep a lot of her information to herself.

Finally, when the sun was setting, they saw the city. The City of Laria. The caravan had encountered no further battles after she had saved them, which was a small relief for her. She didn’t want more people dying on her first day meeting other humans.

After they passed the gates, everyone disembarked and she received the rest of her payment. Now she had a total of four silvers; the coins looked mostly unassuming, having engravings of a castle on one side and on the other the portrait of a man.

They were at the entrance of the city, and Amber couldn’t quite see anything just yet, given she was amidst all the carriages. But just as she was about to leave, she was met with a blonde-haired girl. Her stomach was exposed, blood marrying her torn and now rather open robe. She had a weird expression.

[Mage. Lvl. 31]

“I don’t know how to express it but…” The woman hesitated before bowing deeply. “Thank you so much for saving my life.”

Amber blinked. Remembering the battle⁠. It took her a moment before she realized it was the woman that was being eaten on the ground. Her mind bounced around for a long while before a feeling of relief washed over her.

“So you’re alive.” Amber smiled deeply. “I really am glad.”

The woman nodded hurriedly. “I really thought I would die back there… so, thank you.”

She bowed once more this time gently, and at that moment a large part of the weight Amber felt was lifted. Though the woman wasn't aware of that as she continued.

“If there is anything I can do to repay you, please do let me know.”

“You’ve done plenty for me, but I will if there is anything,” Amber offered her hand and they shook it.

It would be a bad idea to not use this favor after all.

The woman smiled, stepping back. “My name is Liz, let us meet again, Warrior.”

With those words, she departed. Amber was left bewildered for a moment before she was approached by Thieney, who seemed almost shy.

“Hey, I can show you around the city tomorrow, but I wanted to make you an offer before I depart, Amber,” he said, hesitating.

Amber blinked. “What is it?”

“Well, there is a nearby dungeon that I was planning to explore with a team the day after tomorrow. You see, there is an increased uptick in undead activity. It’s an abnormal thing. And to be honest, I’m concerned for the wellbeing of Laria, this is actually where I grew up most of my life,” he explained somewhat awkwardly.

“Right, so you’re asking if I can come along?”

“Yes, but not that. I’d like you to become an adventurer so you can come with us. I know it’s a sudden decision but to reassure you we are only investigating, not clearing the dungeon⁠. The undead being present is actually a big deal, so it’d be a reconnaissance mission more than—”

“Sure,” Amber interrupted.

Thieney blinked. “Sure? It’s a big decision to become an adventurer⁠— well I suppose you can always just… stop being active and retire the next day? Still, it will cost you coin, which from what I gleaned you don’t have a lot of⁠—”

“Then I’ll only accept if you pay for my registration. Then I’ll go with you to the dungeon.” Amber smiled. “Consider it a trade.” Plus, I get to fight— possibly push my limits, she added in her mind.

Thieney seemed shocked before nodding, proffering his hand. “That won’t be a problem, so we have a deal?”

“We do.” Amber shook it. “Before you go, could you point me to an inn?”

Thieney paused before nodding and giving her a few recommendations and general directions as well as the description of the buildings. He also made sure to add how bad the dungeon situation was. Apparently, undead weren’t normal in most dungeons and they were related to demons in some form. She didn’t really get it, but it sounded like bad news. It was almost as if he was trying to make her reconsider joining?

Though in the end, she made sure to reassure him that everything would be fine before bidding him goodbye. The sun finally set by the time their conversation ended.

Thieney is a good guy, is what Amber thought while heading to the inn. He approached me for my strength, but seems to also care. Maybe all the chatting changed his mind?

She didn’t really know, but thanks to his directions he found an inn. She didn’t admire the city, nor even pay any attention to it given it was hard to see at this point. She stood before the unassuming three floored building ⁠— the cheapest inn Thieney had recommended ⁠— and went inside. After paying thirty copper she found herself in a room.

Amber plopped down on the bed, letting out a groan of pure unbridled joy.

“How long has it been since I used a proper bed? A fuck ton of time,” she answered to herself, smiling.

She still felt a bit odd about the deaths today, but she had mostly accepted them.

In the end, I saved someone that would have otherwise died. The merchants in Amber’s mind would have probably survived without her interference, but not the Mage that had called herself Liz. And that small difference made everything so much more bearable for her.

A hero that won against the darkness, huh? That thought was nice.

Shortly after, she drifted off to sleep.

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