By the second day, the healer was able to see him. She was an older woman, hair streaked with grey, hands steady in a way that spoke of long practice. Her skill was subtle. No glowing light or dramatic chants. She pressed fingers into his thigh, frowned, and told him plainly that something was wrong. Not infection, poison.
“Necrotic,” she said after a moment. “Slow-moving. Deep.” Her eyes flicked up to his face. “You must have fought something nasty,” she said. Kaizer nodded. She worked carefully, using what little essence she had to close torn flesh and slow the spread, but she could not purge it entirely. “You’ll have to clear the rest yourself,” she said. “Meditation. Circulation. Don’t push your body too hard.”
Kaizer thanked her and left with his wound bound much tighter than before. The pain dulled over the next day, replaced by a faint cold ache that never quite went away. It was a reminder of the seriousness of the injury. He decided to help on a hunt two days later. Not because he was asked, in fact he had volunteered. Kaizer felt that he needed to contribute for the betterment of the group.
The hunting party was efficient. Coordinated. Monsters died quickly. Kaizer learned their patterns fast, adjusted his strikes, and consistently took less damage than the other members despite continuing to fight with a limp. When they returned, he was given a portion of meat and a simple set of system crafted leather armour. Crude, but serviceable.
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Crude Leather Armour (Inferior)
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A crude first attempt at armour, stitched from untreated hides.
The construction is uneven, but functional
Item Rank: Initiate
Attributes:
- Endurance +1
- Slight reduction of injury from glancing blows
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Crude Leather Boots (Inferior)
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Crude leather boots fashioned as a first attempt by an armourer.
Poorly balanced, but flexible.
Item Rank: Initiate
Attributes:
- Agility +1
- You feel slightly lighter
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Crude Leather Wrappings (Inferior)
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Simple leather wrappings made as a first attempt at hand protection.
The fit is rough but serviceable.
Item Rank: Initiate
Attributes:
- Agility +1
- Weapon grip slightly stronger
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The rest of the clothing and armour Kaizer was wearing at this point still did not seem to be identifiable but at least progress was being made. He spent time with the blacksmith after that. Kaizer took a liking to the man, though something always felt off to him. The blacksmiths name was Derek. He was a much smaller, gaunt man then what Kaizer thought a blacksmith would be. His shoulders were constantly hunched but his forearms were corded with clear muscle from the endless hammering. His forge often burned late into the night, sparks drifting like fireflies.
Kaizer offered the man a chunk of meat he had gained from the hunt without a word. The blacksmith hesitated initially, then accepted it with a nod. They spoke for awhile about trivial things, like the old games they used to play and Kaizer reminisced of home, before Kaizer moved on to check out a few of the other stalls in the camp.
Later in the night, Kaizer passed by the forge yet again while on his way back to his tent. The fire was low and the blacksmith sat alone on a crate, chewing slowly. What he ate barely qualified as a meal. Crust of bread. Fat scraps scraped clean of meat. He ate methodically, as if used to just getting by. Kaizer stopped for a moment, intending on talking to them man but chose to keep walking. It was clear Derek wanted to be alone with his thoughts and supplies were limited after all, not everyone could eat a 5 star meal. The hunters and warriors needed their strength. Everyone did their part. He had heard it said more than once around the fires.
On the fourth day, he was approached by the staff wielding woman from the initial contact. Her name was Elira. At first the approach wasn’t direct, instead, she sat near him during the evening meal, close enough that he could feel the faint hum of her staff without seeing it. When she finally spoke, it was casual, almost friendly. “I see you eyeing my staff again, I guess you’ve noticed my skill then?” she asked quietly.
Kaizer glanced at her, then nodded. “I can feel a hum from it, but don’t know what you’re doing.” Elira hesitated at first then smiled. “The skills called Truth Sense,” she replied. “It’s a basic skill and isn’t perfect. It’s kind of like a lie detector from the movies. I can sense when someone’s words aren’t lining up with their actions. It can be fooled of course, but I look for other clues too.” Her eyes flicked toward the camp, then back to him. “You weren’t lying when you first met us. That mattered a lot. Rourke may have killed you on the spot if there was any deception.”
Kaizer considered that. “So you use it often?” She smiled, “well… people like to lie, sometimes I worry it’s becoming a crutch.” Even though she was smiling, Kaizer could tell it hadn’t reached her eyes. She was restrained. Not through fear or guilt, but Kaizer could tell she was calculating something, like gears were ticking in her head.
Moving the conversation direction, Kaizer asked her about system items, dungeons, chests and skills. She answered honestly, if briefly. Kaizer learned that there were multiple dungeons in the tutorial and almost everyone had entered one ‘accidentally’ if they survived the first few minutes of the system. These dungeons were mostly non-combative, with a few exceptions. They mostly focused on skill building, or professions. Other then this, she told him that chests had been hidden throughout the tutorial, often guarded by stronger monsters. The camp had found 2 so far, though she didn’t know what was in them, Rourke had claimed both of them for the good of the camp.
Other then that, not much was volunteered. She showed no signs of deception and refused to talk about her past. What was clear though, was that other people seemed to defer to her opinion, even if she didn’t realise it herself.
Kaizer also had numerous conversations with Jake. The young swordsman talked way too much, was constantly laughing too loud, drinking heavily and bragging about his level. Kaizer learned that Jake was level 4. In fact, it was the second highest in the camp, before Kaizer arrived that is. Jake consistently complained about work assignments, about people not pulling their weight and about how things had to be done differently now that the world had fallen into this weird state.
Kaizer more often listened then said anything. At night, he meditated. He sat alone, focused on circulation, on breathing techniques and guiding warmth throughout his body. The poison began to recede slowly. His instincts calmed and thoughts sharpened. There were moments where he felt a sense of balance, centring himself, it almost became peaceful. Other times, he felt like something darker was stirring beneath the surface, held in check only by his focus.
Kaizer chose not to question himself, at least not yet. On the seventh day, he realised he knew the camp layout well enough to walk it blind. It was also on the seventh day he began to feel a real sense of unease. Some areas seemed to be avoided without any explanation. Some guards lingered longer than necessary. People constantly seemed more downtrodden then hopeful, especially when certain names were mentioned. Kaizer noticed these things but filed them away without pressing. It was just simpler that way.
He was healing. He was growing stronger and finally, he wasn’t alone. At least for now, that was enough.