Freelance Saga: Slow Grind Read online

He started to make a notation in his expense journal then stopped. Scott sighed softly. “Better make it eight hundred, that girl can really pack the food away.”

  A sad memory surfaced after he thought of their food expenses. They were banned for life at the only all-you-can-eat buffet style restaurant in town. Never say, “Sure, it’s all you can eat.” to Scarlet.

  Scott was both nervous and excited for tomorrow. Scarlet planned to go hunting with him in the nearby grassland. Fighting monsters was dangerous work because they always swarmed in areas where few people existed to keep their numbers down. Humanoid monsters like Scarlet were rare, but in the areas where they lived in great numbers regular monsters tended to be scarce. They were a ready food source.

  Humanoid monsters were more or less the local equivalent of named boss monsters. During his search on the Aethernet Scott learned a lot about the nature of such creatures. There were dragons that did not have a humanoid form, and did not look like turtles either. There were fox monsters that didn’t look like bimbos. Basically there was a world of monsters out there and only some of them evolved to become bosses. The fact that boss monsters typically looked like humanoid pornstars was just strange, but hey, at least it was easy to tell them apart!

  Well, that was usually the case. There are some humanoid monsters that were not boss monsters, goblins for instance. There may be a few queen class goblins in any given forest or cave system, but mostly they were just regular monsters. They were ugly little bastards, however. Their queens tended to be prettier, though, so that helped the situation.

  Humanoid monsters could be male as well, and those males were known as kings if they were in charge. They might be pretty or ugly depending on the race.

  It made sense to Scott now that he’d had such a hard time in the Roxi Woodlands. Almost all of the monsters there were queen class. This means that they were at minimum fifty percent stronger than a regular monster of their type. Just like Scarlet was obscenely powerful at level twenty-two, other queen class monsters were stronger than regular versions. The suggested level for traveling in the outskirts of the area was twenty-seven despite the fact that the average monster level was eight to twelve.

  He had been surprised to discover that any monster could be made into a pet. Why would monsters like Scarlet be considered special if this was the case? The answer was simple. Only humanoid monsters could wear equipment similar to a human. There were a few specialty monster items in existence for inhuman body types, but they were hideously expensive. Kings and queens also had the power to summon their minions, but this power was translated through their master if bonded. Scott’s level and leadership skills currently prevented Scarlet from calling her dragon-turtles to battle.

  “She said we’d go hunt easy monsters tomorrow.” Scott reminded himself of the conversation that they’d had recently. Scarlet was eager to start hunting. She assured him that his attributes and finances would increase much more quickly through hunting.

  Scott found the site he was looking for and smiled at the image on screen. It was a site that thrilled him to no end. “Discount spells. Oh yes, you will be mine.”

  He signed up for their mailing list, and bookmarked the site for future purchases. Life had delivered him into a world where magic was real. He might as well learn to use it!

  Unfortunately, the spell that he had learned from a purchased spell book back home was unavailable to him currently. His faith, intelligence, and charisma scores were too low to use it now that he’d been reduced to his current level.

  ~*~

  The tall grass swayed gently in the breeze and a gentle fragrance permeated the air. The grassland area outside of the small town was an enjoyable place to spend your time. It was the perfect place for a novice to hunt according to Scarlet.

  “So, where are all these monsters you keep mentioning?”

  The dragon shrugged then pointed further out. “You’ll need to go a little farther. Even a small town like this one has plenty of hunters.”

  “Are you sure this will work for gaining experience? I mean, hunting rabbits and frogs doesn’t seem like it would be easy barehanded.” The prices for simple weapons and armor had nearly made him choke the day that they had gone shopping. Four hundred copper for a simple low-durability kitchen knife was just too much! He still had his unarmed combat skill, even if his mastery had been reset to zero. Training with scarlet had increased that skill by several levels, but real combat would increase it more rapidly.

  “You’ll be fine. I’ll be nearby to help if you get into trouble.”

  Scott looked to Scarlet and saw the sincere smile she projected after saying something so strange. He had meant that wild animals tended to run away from people. Animals were afraid of humans after all.

  It would not be long before he found out exactly how wrong he had been. A soft rustling motion from the grass signaled the fact that something was moving nearby. Scarlet stopped moving and motioned Scott forward.

  He walked toward the shaking grass but his movements stopped cold when he saw what was waiting for him. “What the hell, man!”

  A massive rabbit leapt from the tall grass and hurled its horned head toward the surprised hunter. Scott barely managed to dodge the furry torpedo. The bulky beast landed heavily then quickly turned toward him again. It opened its mouth and unleashed a feral snarl. Sharp predatory teeth smiled up at the man. Obviously this rabbit was not much of a grass eater!

  Clawed feet dug into the earth and the creature launched itself toward him once more. This time it managed to catch Scott on the shoulder as it passed by in a blur of motion. Blood erupted outward showering the grass in his bright crimson vital fluid.

  He cried out in pain and staggered back. If that attack had hit him directly he would have died! This rabbit was no joke!

  The pattern repeated itself three more times. Twice Scott took light damage from the speedy attacks of the unstoppable hell beast.

  The rabbit stopped its leaping attacks briefly and growled at him. It was becoming frustrated. Scott thought that this might be his chance to attack, but that chance never came. The rabbit reared back and opened its fanged maw. Scott did not take more than two steps toward it before a hellish scream erupted from its adorably vicious mouth.

  ~*~

  Horned Rabbit has used Bunny Battle Cry!

  Due to your low charisma you are unable to resist its intimidating power.

  You are paralyzed with fear for 6 seconds.

  You cannot move.

  All statistics have been reduced by 25% for one minute.

  The horned rabbit’s statistics have increased by 10% for one minute.

  ~*~

  Frozen in paralytic fear, Scott could do nothing but shudder and stare at the monster as it prepared for another powerful leaping strike. The incoming attack was unavoidable. He was knocked to the ground by the brutal impact. The attack accuracy of a leaping rabbit horn assault was low, but due to his decreased stats and paralyzed state the horn had managed to hit him in the chest, near his shoulder.

  The horn penetrated deeply and neatly separated his arm from its socket. Only a few devastated strands of flesh kept the limb attached to his body.

  Scott screamed in agony and immediately lost all sensation in his arm beyond extreme pain. He could not move it at all! The rabbit tore its horn from the ruined shoulder of its would-be prey then prepared to feast. However, a dark shadow suddenly loomed over it..

  The hundred pound beast turned its head to see what had happened then chittered in terror. Scarlet, in full dragon girl mode, snarled down at the beast. The terrified rabbit tried to run away but a bright red blur raced behind it. The dragon gripped the hapless rodent by the horn then casually snatched it up by the thick pelt on its back. The rabbit kicked wildly in fear of its life, but it could not reach its opponent.

  Scarlet launched herself upward then rocketed high into the air. She soared upward beyond the clouds. She flew high enough that the air grew chill, and then high
er still. The air grew thin now and she figured it was a reasonable place to stop. “Have a nice trip bunny.”

  She casually tossed the rabbit forward and it fell at a rapid pace. Wind whipped its ears back and the rabbit screeched in mortal terror, the skin of its face became distorted by the air as it rapidly plummeted toward the ground below. It flailed its paws uselessly in an attempt to stop what was coming. Scarlet smiled then flew down after it. When it hit the ground the force of impact shattered its body, but surprisingly it was not yet dead.

  It landed a few hundred feet from Scott. The paralysis had worn off, but the brutal attack had done its job. The pain in his shoulder had died away, despite the severity of the injury. Scott was too angry to notice. He wasted no time pondering the insanity of his wound. He ran over to the fat bastard rabbit bastard that had nearly taken his arm.

  It cried out feebly due to its shattered body. The pathetic sight was almost enough to turn the hunter’s stomach. The horned rabbit was obviously experiencing incredible pain. The weakness passed, however. The murder bunny’s would-be meal lifted its feeble human foot. Scott stomped down onto the rabbit’s head with all the remaining strength that he could muster.

  He had to repeat that motion twice more but the rabbit finally died. Scott jumped back suddenly. A vibrant and victorious fanfare had sounded throughout the area. Upbeat victory music began to play in the background after the initial alert sounded.

  Ding! A menu screen popped up congratulating him on his first kill!

  ~*~

  Congratulations! You’ve defeated your first real opponent.

  The horned rabbit’s monster information is now available in your bestiary.

  You have acquired 30 experience points for your hard work.

  ~*~

  “Thirty experience points! I didn’t do anything but nearly get killed by a big ass rabbit.” He was honestly surprised that he had gained any experience points. Scarlet was much higher in level than he was.

  Scarlet swooped down and landed nearby. She had been close enough to hear what he was saying. “Alright! You finished it off!”

  “Thanks to you. Man, how weak am I that a rabbit can kick my ass?”

  Scarlet laughed at his emasculating moment of triumph. “At least you survived. You even finished it off before your mana ran out!”

  That last point was important. Scott checked his stats then shuddered. He’d lost over one hundred thirty mana during that short fight. Had it gone on much longer Scarlet would have been banished for at least an hour.

  “Yeah, barely. Now I’m a cripple though.” Scott tried to sound cool, but he knew that he was badly injured. That rabbit’s strike was deadly. What he didn’t understand was how the pain had decreased to a dull-ache. It was certainly much worse only a few seconds prior.

  “Hmm, yeah. We should let you rest awhile so that your arm can regenerate.”

  “Rest awhile to regenerate? What makes you think I can regenerate a badly damaged shoulder after a short rest? It took me days to heal after waking up in the woods.”

  She stared at him then cocked her head to the side. “You don’t regenerate from resting where you come from?”

  “We do, but not major injuries like this. We have to have surgery to repair the torn muscles and stop the bleeding!”

  “Are your hit points really that low in your home world?” Scarlet could not fathom a world filled with such easily killable people.

  “We don’t have hit points there.” Scott looked at his status screen once more to see how many hit points he had lost.

  “It took off one hundred eighty-five points with a few grazing hits and good strike!” He’d lost that many hit points just from that one fight! No wonder he was cautioned not to go hunting until he had reached a higher level!

  He reached over and grabbed his ruined arm. He could feel the pressure of his hand gripping his wrist. This meant that he really did still have sensation in that arm. Where was the pain?

  He lifted the arm up and let it flop back down. A jolt of pain lanced through his body, but then it passed and he felt nothing from the ruined area.

  Scott gasped in surprise when he felt a strange tingle race through his body. The onscreen information changed. He had regained one hit point.

  “Your hit points only restore themselves slowly while you are awake and active. A good night’s sleep will usually completely heal all wounds.”

  “Seriously? If I went and took a nap I would wake up perfectly fine?”

  She stared at the oozing wound. “It’s not that bad. The rabbit didn’t puncture anything important. At that level of damage it would probably take a good night’s rest to completely heal. If you need to heal when you’re awake try eating something. That can increase your regeneration capacity.”

  Scott was astonished. Not that bad? The rabbit didn’t puncture anything important? His shoulder would completely heal just by going to bed for the night? Was such a thing possible? In his own world that kind of injury might give him permanent loss of motor-control even with expert surgery. During the tutorial he had seen minor injuries and bruises fade away quickly or disappear after resting, but this was entirely different! This type of thing was a life-altering injury back home.

  During the tutorial he’d seen his injured hands be restored to full function after only a short rest, but when he’d returned to this world a few weeks ago he’d been injured so badly on arrival that it had taken days to heal! How much damage had his body taken that a system like this had taken several days to restore his health? Certainly he had not managed to receive much real rest in the forest, but the total amount of time resting should have counted for something.

  He felt the tingle go through his body once more. He could feel his fingers again. It took great mental effort, but he actually made his index finger wiggle. This was amazing!

  “While we’re waiting, let’s see what we can get from the rabbit.” Scarlet pointed at the corpse lying nearby.

  Scott squatted down and Scarlet pointed out a few things about looting corpses. “This rabbit has fur, bones, meat, fangs, and a horn that can be harvested. You probably won’t be able to collect much but the meat and the horn this time. We don’t have a skinning knife.”

  “We should get one for next time I guess?”

  “It would be a good idea. Today was just about you meeting your first monster in combat and seeing what it’s like.”

  “Yeah, I saw exactly what it’s like. No wonder you wanted me to gain a few levels first!”

  Scarlet grinned at him. He had actually done pretty well for his first time. The rabbit was at least five levels higher than he was. Plus it had its racial modifiers. “You should work on your physical skills more. Agility, vitality, and durability will help you out. All people who fight directly need those attributes to be high, but it is especially necessary for unarmed fighters. Fighting appropriately leveled monsters will improve those stats the most for you right now.”

  “Just like the stats from doing other jobs, right? I should probably hunt the critters around here until I don’t gain any stats from it.”

  “That’s slow but effective. Most humans just rely on gaining levels then find out later that monsters are often a lot stronger than their natural level would allow for because they gain stats instead of experience points when not dealing with humans.”

  “I see. Since monsters only gain experience by killing humans, mating with them, or fighting alongside them, they end up raising their stats more compared to what their level claims.”

  “Right, and our natural racial modifiers make things even more difficult for humans. You developed your stamina and vitality by doing work. That sort of work did not increase your stats much because of the difference in effort versus your ability. Fighting monsters is the same way. The easier it becomes to fight that monster, the slower it raises your stats.”

  “I suspected something like that. That’s why I was happy to increase my stats while working and training. It m
akes sense when you think about it. I gain ten points to use for my attributes when I increase my level. If I spend them on a specific attribute it will increase, but it will be a little harder to increase it by training after that.”

  “Exactly. You might only gain a handful of attribute points while fighting rabbits and the other monsters around here, but if you wait to use your points from leveling until after the monsters in the area no longer help you gain attributes, you’ll be much stronger.”

  “It would be like being several levels higher than my level claims, right?”

  “Right! I honestly don’t know why most humans don’t train that way.”

  Scott shook his head. That didn’t make sense to him either. Even if he only gained one extra point per level in every attribute, by the time he was level twenty all of his attributes would be twenty points higher. That would be roughly equivalent to an extra eight levels. It was worth a try, and seemed quite doable.

  “You know, what I really need is some actual combat training. I was a soldier for a few years back home, but we didn’t train for this kind of fighting.”

  “Really? That could still be useful! What kind of weapons did you use?”

  He shrugged. “Rifles mostly.”

  “Ah, you used guns. They are useful for low level monsters but they become really expensive to upgrade and maintain for higher levels. Even then they are best for soft-bodied monsters and useless against some others even at lower level.”

  “I see, so this world really does have guns too?” He was a little excited by the prospect but her dismissal of firearms was disconcerting. They seemed like a specialty item. During the tutorial he had found a .38 pistol but he had not used it. Now he didn’t even have access to it. He had lost all of his items from that time when he had returned to this world.

  “Yes, and they could be useful If you heavily specialize in them. The problem is that they can’t really be used with higher level enchantments.”

  “Why not?”

  Scarlet eyed the rabbit corpse hungrily for a moment then her stomach rumbled. She blushed at Scott then grinned. “Uh, oh guns? Well, it’s extremely costly to enchant ammunition individually.”