Deep breaths.
In…and out…
My palms are sweaty as they grip the hilt of my sword with both hands. Blade aligned vertical and tilted towards the forest a few yards away. Stance stable. Eyes focused on the tree line. Waiting…
Every second of silence is more uncomfortable than the last. Especially with mamas gaze seemingly burning into the back of my head. And I'm trying my best not to turn around to check on her.
I tried to convince her I'd be fine tonight but she wasn't having it. She wanted me to wear more armor but I told her it would slow me down too much. Mr. Thorpe gave me a gambeson to wear and that's all I need. She watched over Leone's first time and she would do the same for me. Despite how uncomfortable it makes her atleast.
And so I am trying to ignore her as I wait. It's already been about 20 minutes since Mr. Thorpe ventured out into the forest and I am getting a little worried.
I know he can certainly take care of himself but that doesn't stop my paranoid mind from wandering into overdramatic scenarios. But thankfully I don't have to wait much longer as I hear a sharp whistle from inside the forest that makes me jolt.
The signal…
Readjusting my stance, refocusing on the direction the whistle came from. Already hearing movement in the trees. I take another deep breath as the sounds get closer and closer.
Snapping twigs. Rustling leaves. Birds scared off into the evening sky.
"GET READY! IT'S HOPPING MAD!" Mr. Thorpe yelled from inside the forest.
I grimace at the apt pun given what he's leading towards me. The old man finally breaking through the treeline with speed and clutching something in his arms. He beelines it straight towards me and runs past. "Eyes forward! Focus and drown out the rest of us."
I give a swift nod without looking back, my brows furrowing as all my attention goes to the sounds of movement still within the forest. Flexing my fingers around the grip of my sword. Another deep breath. And just as I exhale…
THRASH!
Out of a bush along the treeline bursts a fuzzy creature about the size of a bloodhound. Covered in muddy gray fur and sporting a pair of branch-like antlers with razor sharp tips. Back legs bent and folded in, ready to pounce while the front legs are more like arms that end in 4 fingered claws. A very angry monster rabbit.
A Jackelope.
The jackelope lands in the open field while trying to pursue Old Guard. But the moment it sees more people in the clearing it stops and slinks back a bit. The creature lowers its head and adopts a more defensive stance. Growling and thumping the ground with its powerful back legs.
My heart pounds in my chest, standing in the way of this ferocious monster and it's target. I take a step towards it and the monster snaps it's attention on me. It thumps the ground rapidly as if to ward me off but I take another step in advance.
And in an instant the Jackelope tucks back and bounds forward with incredible speed. Springing itself towards me with its antlers poised to impale me.
But I am prepared. Mr. Thorpe has spent weeks making sure I've got the timing down. The sound the creature makes as it launches. The slight reverberation felt in my feet. My body shifting reflexively to my left side as my sword drops down into an upward swing as I dodge. Slashing into the space next to me where I think it will be.
My sword connects with something briefly but nothing solid as the Jackelope speeds past me and thuds onto the ground. The wild monster quickly spinning back around and snarling. It shakes one of its back legs out and the tests it on the ground.
I must have hit one of its back feet. So need to be a little faster. Reorienting myself towards the creature. I can see Mr. Thorpe with his spear out looking excited. A big grin plastered on his face. While mother is sheltered behind him but looking like she's ready to sprint at me at any moment.
But I keep my focus on the challenge. I'm supposed to be proving myself today. I've been working up to this moment for a year now. It took months of constant hard work to get my dexterity stat up to 2. It has made a world of difference in terms of my speed and reaction time. And especially my flexibility as well. But sadly my strength is still a 1 so I'm still fumbling a bit with the weight of my sword.
Taking a deep breath I push forward again toward the Jackelope. Goading it into leaping. And once again the creature snarls and pounces towards me. My body moving on instinct as I dodge and shift into an upward swing. This time the blade finds purchase and connects, thudding against the side of the monster and smacking it out of the air. The strike painfully rattling my hands and up my arm.
The monster rabbit hits the grass and rolls. Whining for a few moments but ultimately gets back up. A shallow cut up it's left side but no blood. Not deep enough.
I grit my teeth. My strength isn't enough to even cut through a monster like this. Mr. Thorpe was right. But I'm not giving up just yet.
Before I can press forward again the Jackelope has already had enough playing defense as it suddenly rushes towards me. Pouncing halfway to me.
Caught off guard, all I can do is dodge out of the way as it fly's past. Reorienting myself just in time to see it skid to a stop and immediately launch again while I'm partially turned.
I do my best to dodge back but the monster slashes past me a little too close and I can feel a sharp pain in my side. The monster thuds to the ground past me, skids, and leaps again but I'm ready for it. Even as pain aches through my hip I dodge and swing with a growl. Connecting again with a THWACK as the creatures goes flying off to the side.
"She's hurt Auguste! You have to stop this!" I can hear my mother yelling at Mr. Thorpe.
"The wound is shallow! She has this under control!"
I grimace at their bickering while trying to keep concentration on the Jackelope who seems to be getting faster. Falling into a rythmn I am having trouble keeping up with. Pouncing at me from shorter distances to give me less time to react but im managing.
I can see what it's trying to do. Attempting to catch me mid-dodge from behind. And it's almost working. I'm getting fatigued as the Jackelope is baring down on me in a loop. I am getting my strikes in when I can but my strength stat is literally not cutting it. And every few leaps it's getting a few flesh wounds on me. And I must look like quite a harrowing sight to my mother who I have blocked out while I'm focused.
It's quickly wrenching an opening past my defense. It's just too fast and I'm not fast enough.
Wait…it's faster than me…
A smile creeps up on my face. If it wants an opening then I'll give it one.
I dodge out of the way of its next rebound attack. Letting it reorient itself before I turn into my left with my sword pulled back. Looking like I'm going to try to run. Showing it my back for just a moment and hoping it takes the bait.
"LIORE BEHIND!" Mr. Thorpe yells out just as I hear the THUD of the Jackelope pouncing towards me. But instead of dodging or running, I plant my foot down and rotate my body left and thrust my sword out in a stab behind me. Just fast enough to see the monsters eyes before its trajectory slams its face right into the tip of my blade.
A wet THUNK as the Jackelope impales itself on my sword. Going deep enough for its nose to touch the hilt. It's sharp antlers stopping only a few inches from stabbing into my shoulders and chest. The force of it sending me skidding back a bit but my planted foot kept me from being barreled over.
The Jackelope twitches a bit before going limp. I lower the sword to the ground with the extra weight and exhale the breath I had been holding in for a few seconds. Looking over at Mr. Thorpe and Mama who were making their way over. Mama looking very agitated but relieved while Old Guards expression was rather smug.
Mr. Thorpe gives a rough pat on my back that has me wince a little. "That…was pretty reckless…but good thinking nonetheless. Sharp as always." The old man chuckles.
My mother sneers as she has already knelt down to me to look over my cuts. "Don't be so nonchalant you big lug! Look at her! She's bleeding all over…" The sad frown on her face makes my heart ache. I want her to stop fussing with me so much but I don't have the heart to.
"Mama I'm fine. They are just flesh wounds. Barley broke the skin. They'll heal fine." I assure with a smile which just makes her purse her lips at me.
"I know…but it's so hard to watch my little dove fighting and gettin hurt. It's just not something I ever imagined for you. Breaks my heart…" She says with a quite a bit of fatigue in her eyes. Watching this definitely seems to have taken a lot out of her.
I frown. Dropping the sword on the ground fully so that I can embrace my mother. Holding her tightly. "I'm sorry…" Burying my face in her neck.
To be honest I'm not really sure what I can say to her to make her feel better about all this. And over the last year of training she has only gotten more nervous. It's made me worry about her a lot.
It's not helping that we haven't received any letters from Leone or Papa at all. And Papa has been missing payments for us for a few years now. Mama has started losing hope on that end but it's only made me more frustrated for her.
And to make matters worse the harvest in the village is getting worse. More of the crops are dying to bad soil. And from the letters we've received from Lanercost the surrounding villages haven't been fairing much better. Mama has to deal with a lot of stress that keeps piling up. But I'm just not sure how to help.
While Mama continues to look over my wounds Mr. Thorpe picks up my sword and chuckles at the somewhat comical kill. "Already prepped for spit roasting."
I grin and Mama just shakes her head but does smile a bit. The old man using his boot to kick the Jackelope off of the sword and into the grass. "Again…might I say…that was some smart thinking. Using its own momentum against it." Old Guard mused. "But if this was an adult you'd be a pincushion." He flashes a grin at me.
My eyes widen before looking down at the already quite large monster. "That's…not an adult?"
Mr. Thorpe shakes his head. "Nope. The adults can get as big as a head of cattle. And their antlers can get tough enough to break through stone." He explains, sounding so casual as he wipes the blood away from my sword.
My face pales at the description and I swallow hard.
The old man laughs at my expression and pats me reassuringly on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Adult Jackelopes are incredibly rare. Very few of them make it to that age because they are food for ALOT of the forests predators. Jackelopes are herbivores as well so you ain't gonna see them hunting you."
The reassurance does make me feel a bit better but that makes a question pop up in my head. "Then how did you lead it out here?"
The old man sets my sword down and reaches into his coat to produce a ball of peach fur that squeaks in protest. A little baby Jackelope nestled into his palm. Little white boney nubs on its head.
I gasp, eyes sparkling. "It's so cute!" Moving closer to get a closer look before my heart sinks. "Wait…did I…kill its mom?"
Thorpe reached over and tusseled with my hair. "Nah, more like a nest guardian. It's mom is way bigger." He assures, tucking the baby back into his coat.
Although it's not it's mom I still feel kinda bad. It was just doing its job. "What…are you gonna do with it?" Almost afraid to ask.
The old man smiles. "I'll give it to ole Chester. Their pretty easy to domesticate and they shed their antlers like crazy. Great for certain types of tools and arrow heads."
I nod slowly, feeling a bit better that I didn't kill something for nothing.
Mama finally finished looking at my wounds. "Aye. Just a bunch of shallow cuts. Your lucky they weren't any deeper." She would as she stands up. "We'll wash them when we get home. You need a bath dove."
I nod in agreement, feeling very sweaty from all that moving around.
Mr. Thorpe picks my sword back up and hands it to me so I can sheath it at my side. "You should check your window and see if anything changed. Could have gotten a skill or something for your first kill."
Excitement begins to fill my body as Old Guard mentions that. Smiling from ear to ear I speak the phrase. "Let the Blinded See!"
_________________________________________
[[LEVEL-01]]
//Name: Liore Perro
//Age: 11
//Class: [Farmer]
//Status: Healthy
[[STATS]]
//Strength: 1
//Dexterity: 2
//Intelligence: 2
//Perception: 2
//Stamina: 1
//Resilience: 3
[[PASSIVE]]
[??????????]
[Slayers Aspect]
[Favored]
[Battle Theory]
[[SKILLS]]
[??????-??????]
[Leap Stride]
[[CLASS QUESTS]]
[Plant A Seed]
_________________________________________
My face brightening up even more. "I got a skill!!!"
Thorpe and Mama both brighten up as well as the old man leaned over to me just as excited. "What did you get it?"
Clearing my throat. "It's called [Leap Stride]. That doesn't sound like an attack…"
Mr. Thorpe scratches his chin. "Haven't heard of that one before. Check the description."
I quickly poke the title of the skill and the descriptor writes out for me.
________________________________________
[Leap Stride]: Power harvested from a Jackelope. This skill allows one to perform swift standing leaps and bounding strides while also cushioning their landings.
_________________________________________
I read it off slowly aloud and then several more times to myself. My eyes flickering over to Mr. Thorpe as he looks quite puzzled.
"That is definitely not a skill I've heard of." The old man mutters.
Mama purses her lips. "It even directly mentions it came FROM the Jackelope." Her expression concerned as she turns to Thorpe. "I'm just a farmer but I've still been around the bend. I've never heard of a class that can take skills from other things."
The old man shakes his head at Yara. "Me neither…"
The excitement from before has somewhat drained from me as the ominous strangeness of the hidden class infecting my window rears it's ugly head. Staring at my window wondering what it all means as I skim through my window again before I finally see it.
Another change.
My body locks up and I gasp. Catching the others attention, expressions concerned. Mama stepped over to kneel next to me. "What's wrong dove?"
My eyes stay locked on to the passive skill that has been revealed. My hand raising up slowly to press on it. "One of the passive skills that was question marks…I can read it now…" I answer quietly as my finger presses down on the skill a bit apprehensively.
________________________________________
[Slayers Aspect]: Keep what you kill. When slaying a creature of any type, you harvest from them a random skill in their possession. You may only have as many harvested skills equal to your Intelligence stat. These skills can be discarded and replaced by harvesting more from slain creatures.
_________________________________________
Reading that aloud it's obvious how I got the skill from the Jackelope now. The three of us just standing in silence for a few moments to mull this information over.
Mr. Thorpe finally breaks the silence by giving me a hard slap on the back. "Never heard of it but that sounds pretty badass to me!" He smirks wide down at me. "Taking skills from monsters you fight sounds like it's going to be real handy don't you think?"
The slap and the encouraging words help to break the pit that was forming in my chest and I smile back. "Y-yeah!"
Mama sighs and smiles as well, folding her arms over her chest. "It certainly does. Sounds pretty unique to me. Wouldn't you say Auguste?"
Mr. Thorpe lifts a brow and chuckles. "Uh…well yeah it's pretty damn unique…"
The farmer woman stood up straight and turned fully to her old friend. "So unique…I think a certain guard captain owes my husband a 2 of Silver."
Old Guards smile turns into an awkward grimace as he rubs the back of his neck nervously. "Uh…um…could…could be true…"
Mama smiles deviously. "And since my husband is absent at the moment I'm sure you can just give it to me instead. Right?"
Thorpe looks like he's about to run away before he sets sights on me. "Uuuuhhh LIORE! Why don't you try that leap thing skill! I bet that'll be fun and distracting!"
Mama scoffs and shakes her head before looking down at me. "Go ahead dove. Try it out. Just be careful."
I was getting a little scared for Mr. Thorpes life there but it seems that has been diverted…for now. "Oh..okay! How…uh…how do I do that?" I ask. Because I genuinely don't know how! I've never used a skill before.
The old man takes a brief sigh of relief as the attention has been diverted. "All you have to do is think about the skill. Think about it like a lever. Pulling it to make something happen."
I nod slowly, turning towards the side where it is clear. The sun has already started to set. My mind wandering back to how the Jackelope moved when it was about to leap. Bending my legs, taking a deep breath, thinking about the skill, and…
THUMP
The next thing I know I'm in the air. Several feet off the ground. I can see above the trees a slight bit. My smile stretching out so far. "WOOHOOOOO!"
But then I start descending. And the ground is nearing very quickly. "OH SHIT!"
CRASH
I groan. I landed hard into the grass on the hill. But despite the rough landing it didn't feel like it hurt at all? I guess that must be the part about cushioning my landings.
The sound of running nearby. "LIORE! Are you alright?!"
"Sweetheart! Oh lord she hit the ground so hard."
But my smile returns as I get up, laughing at my clumsiness before shooting my arms up triumphantly. "I'M OKAY!"