Path To Radiance; First Ascent

Chapter 4 - Brick, Part 3

For generations, Goblins have killed Dragons and Dragons have eaten Goblins.

Honoring your lineage has had its benefits. You gain more bonus EXP the more goblins you end.

You gain 50 EXP for killing 5 Goblins.

Next Reward Requirement: Kill 10 Goblins

Kills to next goal: 5/10 Goblins

Again I watch as my Personal EXP increases to ninety out of one hundred. My smile never fades. I've almost reached level two. I close out the final notification and bring up my Character Page. It now reads:

Basic
Name: Jut Kylos Zoak
Title: Mister
Level: 1
Race: Human
Sub-Race: Dragon-Kin
Age: 24
Rank: Basic
Roll: Tank
Class: None
HP: 19
MP: 10
Stamina: 19

Attributes
Free points: 0
Body: 1
Spirit: 0
Civil: 0

Characteristics
(Body)
Strength: 9
Stamina: 9
Agility: 9

(Spirit)
Intellect: 11
Wisdom: 10
IQ: 10

(Civil)
Charisma: 10
Influence: 10
Luck: 10

"Did you just level up?" Brick's voice makes me jump a little. He is standing rather close to me, looking me up and down inquisitively.

"Um...Yeah, I did." I meet his gaze briefly.

"That's so cool!" Brick throws both his arms up in a victory pose. "Grats, man! Let me know when it's my turn. I can't wait to reach level one myself."

"Go on ahead, I'll keep watch." I wave him off. He immediately pulls up his menu after sitting. I take that in. It is fairly obvious why the option to auto-minimize alerts is even a thing. You would be considered a sitting duck staring at a prompt like that with enemies around. Better to be wary going forward.

I station myself in a place where I could glance at the road while digging through my bag. I pull the ring out. It turns out to be pretty worthless after all. It isn't even enchanted.

Iron Ring, Level 1
Sale Price: 15 Copper Pieces

I place the ring back into my bag and continue watching the road. A bright light catches my attention. It flashes briefly from Brick. His whole body emits the light, then it is gone again. It didn't even hurt my eyes. He must have leveled up too. That looks different from the outside.

Brick's windows disappear and he appears attentive so I take the opportunity. "I am going to run over to my camp real quick and grab my tent. When I get back and finish setting it up, you can crash for a few hours. I caught a few before the fight."

He waves me off. "See you when you get back."

I make swift work of it too, getting to my camp and back in less than three minutes. After I get the tent set back up in the yard, Brick circles it. He lets out a short whistle.

"An Estate? This was in your Supply Room?" He asks as he continues to circle. "I didn't look hard enough."

I shake my head. "Not really. It was something a lot less cool beforehand. I kind of ran into a Goddess who blessed it." I would normally have kept this to myself, mainly out of greed and my desire to not show off. This time feels different. I know nothing about Brick, but I feel like I want to trust him. Besides, if I am stuck in this game, I might as well make friends, right? I tell him about Charity and her "blessings." I leave out the Dragonkin bit, though as I am still unsure what it means exactly. I didn't want to flaunt something that might raise questions I couldn't answer.

"Oh man, you're lucky and unlucky at the same time. I wouldn't want to owe anything to a Goddess who could be all hot and just flop out a package at any time. I do wish I could have seen that rack though." He cringes when he says package then goes all swoony eyed when he says rack. He's so animated, it takes the sting from the perversion.

It even makes me chuckle. "You are right about that. I didn't even sexually consider her though. She could fry my man bits off with a wink." I pause briefly but push on while he laughs. "I've got a question about something else, though. I can't see my indicator, is it a blue shield-like yours?"

Brick nods. "Yep, we're both tanks."

For a while, we chat casually about our first week in this place. It turns out; Brick arrived in the game four hours before I did. He remembers a very similar e-mail just waiting in his inbox. He started further North from me but was in the plains already. He just appeared in a grassy field when he exited the Supply Room.

Like me, Brick ran into wild animals which he killed for food. He fought a few rabbits that he had stumbled upon. They were three feet tall and pretty vicious apparently.

Brick went on to explain that he found this farm that very morning. After a swift negotiation with Betty, they had worked it out that he'd watch over the property in exchange for shelter. That's when his first quest popped up. I noted his experience for future experimentation. Maybe other NPCs will do the same.

We didn't talk about our real lives very much at all. I did tell him about my camping experience in-game and the endless walking after my arrival.

I left the details pretty simple around the boar fight though. I'm still pretty ashamed of myself. Not only for reacting the way did, but also for causing the beast to suffer so much.

We split the foodstuffs we got from the Goblins evenly. Some apples, cooked boar meat, and a cooked chicken leg found their way into my bag. It looks like I won't be getting away from boar meat anytime soon.

Brick waves me off again when we set up watch shifts, saying he is fresh and can finish out the night. I decide to stay and continue chatting about irrelevant things for a while though.

After a few more hours, I retreat to my tent. I plan on reaching the base of the Tower as soon as I can.