XXIII

  The parchment finished rolling out, and once the gold lettering turned black, it read:

  Chest contains these items:

  1x Health Potion

  5x Silver Tokens

  14x Copper Tokens

  1x Choice of Equipment:

  - Warrior’s Broadsword (Refined)

  - Hunter’s Longbow (Refined)

  - Battlemage’s Glaive (Refined)

  - Bulwark’s Shield (Refined)

  - Healer’s Staff (Refined)

  - Assassin’s Dagger (Refined)

  Kaz, in a state of near delusion from his injuries, quickly chose the Battlemage’s Glaive, even though he didn’t know what kind of weapon that was. He just saw Mage and knew it was something for him. The parchment disappeared, and everything appeared in the chest, with the glaive sticking out of the chest as it was a long-staffed weapon. Kaz ignored it and quickly went in, whimpering from the pain from his sudden movement. He grasped the health potion and downed it in one go, the sweet taste and uncomfortable warmness spreading throughout his body. He ripped out the dagger from his shoulder, too weak to cry out in pain as blood flowed freely from his shoulder.

  He slumped down against the chest, allowing the potion to work itself in his body. He sighed in relief, the pain fading away, and fell asleep, as the post healing effect of drowsiness hit him.

  Kaz opened his eyes, unaware of how much time had passed. He stretched and yawned, feeling rejuvenated from the potion. He decided that when he was in town, he would get at least a dozen of these potions, and he would never have to worry about taking damage in fights ever again. It did leave some blemishes on his mental state, but he would have time to heal from that, as it wouldn’t be the first time he had to recover from a near death experience.

  He curiously went back to the chest, and collected his Tokens, tripling his current balance that he had previously. He was rich! Kaz then looked over his new weapon, a glaive. It was an interesting weapon, not just because of its long shape and weird blade on the end, but it was glowing a soft white color. Was this because it was a (Refined) quality weapon?

  The quality of an item usually was represented by the color it glowed when it was first discovered, and the user could then choose to hide or show the glow of their item. He knew (Refined) came after (Simple), and it was surprising to him he was able to obtain such a huge upgrade so soon into his journey. He immediately picked it up, and to his amazement, the weapon shrunk to a size that was suitable for him, and it felt perfect in his hands. It was a little bit on the heavy size, but he would grow accustomed to it. Kaz felt a slight ding in his mind, meaning something important appeared in his [ Archive ], so he opened it up right away.

  His [ Archive ] rolled out in front of him, but what he noticed right away was that the parchment extended farther to the right, and a new page section was added. It was titled [ Equipment ], and it was similar to both of his Abilities pages. It contained multiple slots, which were mostly grayed out, and outlined certain pieces of equipment. It contained:

  Head: —

  Head Accessories: —

  Neck: —

  Chest: Brown Robe (Simple)

  Arms: —

  Hand Accessories: —

  Belt: —

  Legs: Canvas Pants (Simple)

  Footwear: Leather Boots (Simple)

  Main Hand and Offhand: Battlemage’s Glaive (Refined)

  Intrigued by this new page, Kaz wondered why this didn’t appear when he opened his [ Archive ] the first time. He assumed it was probably since he only had simple gear, which couldn’t provide any information about the gear. So, he decided to test that theory and focused on his weapon, Battlemage’s Glaive, and immediately a small parchment rolled out, explaining the weapon to him:

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  An ancient (Refined) weapon, forgotten over time, forged from sturdy iron and strong wood; the Battlemage’s Glaive provides the Mage with a weapon for close range combat. Best suited in long sweeping attacks, to dissuade enemies from approaching. Provides a 5% damage increase and 5% bleeding damage increase while wielding.

  This was the perfect weapon for him. The boost to damage was great, but he wondered how that would work, as he wasn’t sure how much damage he could actually do with the glaive. Another question he would have to ask at the Adventurer’s Guild. He examined it closer, and the weapon had a smooth wooden shaft that reached up to his neck, and at the end of the shaft, a small blade curved inwards, similar to an oversized dagger. He picked it up and swung it a few times.

  He was extremely clumsy with it, his lack of experience with the weapon painfully obvious. But at least he was able to swing it in front of him, and for now, that’s all that mattered, as he would use it rarely once he was out of this cave. Kaz was happy with his loot, and the extra quest he received to retrieve it was worth it to him. He received loot that immediately benefited him, not only the weapon itself, which was the best part, but also the health potion, which immediately made up for the gruesome battle he had with the quick footed goblin. He shivered from the recollection of the battle and how wrong everything went.

  Kaz then realized he didn’t pick up his loot from the goblin assassin, and looked around, not really seeing anything. He slightly winced when he saw the trail of blood from him going over to the chest. Kaz followed his blood trail and arrived where the fight happened and saw a single Silver Token lying there. At least he got a Silver Token from that. He threw the Token into his bag and begun his walk back out the cave.

  He quickly ran into some goblins, who were confused at the Gnome who was walking from the other direction. They snarled at him and charged at him, raising their wooden clubs in the air. Kaz decided to try out his new glaive, as he wasn’t afraid of the wooden clubs, because they merely stung and gave him bruises instead of cutting him open.

  Gripping his new glaive with two hands, holding it near the bottom of the shaft, and as the goblins approached him, he swung with all his might, sweeping the glaive ahead of him, slicing into the two goblins. While he did manage to cut into them, he followed the momentum of the glaive and nearly tripped over as the momentum pulled him to the right. He collided with the wall of the tunnel, bumping his head, causing his vision to spin slightly.

  The goblins shrieked when they realized they got cut, and quickly regained their senses, attacking Kaz with their wooden clubs. He felt the impacts against him, but he let it happen as he regained himself. He gripped his glaive again, this time holding it near the middle and widening his stance. He swiped from his left shoulder to his right leg, slicing across one of the goblin’s chest. The goblin staggered, blood gushing from its chest. His [ Evasive Step ] pulsed and ducked under a wooden club that swinging straight for his head.

  Slightly annoyed at the boldness of the goblin, he turned to it, gripping his glaive a bit too hard, his knuckles turning white. He took a step forward, stabbing his glaive forward. The glaive slid into the goblin’s chest, easily sliding in and pushing the goblin back. The goblin gripped the shaft of the glaive, trying to pull it out.

  Kaz did the job for him, pulling the blade of the glaive out, blueish blood flowing down its chest. The goblin dropped to its knees, becoming pale and eyes fluttering. Kaz simply swiped his glaive, cutting again in the chest area, finishing off the goblin. He turned back to the other goblin, who was bleeding out and already unconscious. Kaz simply stabbed it in the area where he assumed the heart was, and the goblin died, disappearing into the air. He picked up his few Copper Tokens that were dropped from the goblins and nearly dropped them when a loud ding rang across his head, which meant he had an Ability to look at.

  Excitedly, he summoned his [ Archive ], and as it always did in the past, a small parchment rolled across his eyes. It offered him:

  Would you like to learn the Passive Ability, [ Glaive Novice ]?

  He almost accepted it right away but then thought about it. This was his last slot for his Passive Abilities, as he only had three slots for Passive and Skill Abilities each. Kaz would unlock three more slots for each set, but he would first need to undergo his first Revelation, which required him to reach 50 Resonance. He was nowhere close to that. He already had [ Mana Regeneration ] and [ Evasive Step ]. He was a Mage, so he should focus on Abilities that would help him improve his Calling, which he had with [ Mana Regeneration ], but [ Evasive Step ] was more something a weapon user would acquire, someone with the Calling of the Fighter, Rogue, or Defender even.

  And now, he was offered another Passive Skill which was primarily useful for a weapon user, not someone who wielded mana. He pondered on this, and after some deliberation, he accepted the Passive Ability. The decision was a tough one to make, but the main objective for him was to become dominant in combat, and due to his current circumstances, he was alone for most of it. So, it wouldn’t matter if he didn’t have the most optimal Mage build, he would be someone who would be able to survive any challenge put in front of his journey to the top. He would be versatile.

  Kaz opened his [ Passive Abilities ] and immediately opened his [ Glaive Novice ] description, noting that his ability was already Rank 4. The Ability’s description revealed:

  Develop a basic understanding of how to wield a glaive. Gain a 4% boost to strength and dexterity while handling a glaive in combat. (Rank 4)

  It was a very simple description, but it made sense, although the word “dexterity” slightly confused him, it probably had something to do with his ability to be better with his movement. He decided it was also a good time to check all his Abilities and his Resonance, as he has gone through quite a lot since the last time he checked.

  Each Ability of his had improved, with his [ Mana Regeneration ] reaching Rank 12, just a one Rank increase. His [ Evasive Step ] saw a huge Rank up, now sitting at Rank 16. It was probably due to his Ability being put to the test in this dark environment, where his vision was limited and he just had to trust his instincts, especially against the stealthy goblin who almost executed him in the shadows.

  Over on his [ Skill Abilities ], he first began with his main Ability, [ Mana Burst ], which saw a slight increase to Rank 19, going up two Ranks. No changes to the Ability, just the usual percentage boost. His [ Mana Shield ] saw a generous increase, going up to Rank 11, a full three Rank increase. And he was still waiting to unlock his third Skill Ability, and he promised himself he would only choose it if it was something that contributed to his Calling of the Mage. Curious about his Resonance, since he saw such huge increases in his Abilities, he decided to go to his [ Status ] page, and as the page shifted, he heard footsteps approaching him.

  He quickly closed his [ Archive ], panic flooding him as the steps were heavy, and there was a small group of them. They seemed to be quite far down the tunnel, as he only heard the slight echo and a low glow came from the exit of the tunnel, which meant they had a source of light.

  These were people, not monsters!

  He almost began running at them, but something stopped him. He’s been through this before, when he first spotted the Stonerock Goblins. His adrenaline was pumping, and he began getting the cold sweats, therefore he decided he would hide and observe them when they came closer. The tunnel had nowhere to hide, so he quickly scurried into the main space he was in earlier, and tucked himself into one of the dark corners behind some crates where no one would be able to see him. He heard voices and the light grew brighter, and finally, a group of four people entered the space he was in.