Pain became our close's friend. By the second sunrise at Kaer Morhen, I no longer wondered if I had made the right choice, I was too busy trying not to vomit from the food they gave us. Or from exhaustion of training.
Coën, oversaw our physical drills, and hated it, and he made sure we knew it one way or another. He spoke little, but his eyes missed nothing. He barked instructions in a tone that brooked no argument:
"Hold the plank even if your arms give out. Then keep holding."
"Fall again and you will run until I say stop."
"You stop moving, you stop breathing."
Each morning for six days we before began at dawn I would check my stats. I noticed my stats would go up by a point or two over the past few days. Even though there were no new quests.
My current stats
Strength: 4 → 6
Dexterity: 7 → 9
Constitution: 5 → 6
Intelligence: 9
Wisdom: 8 → 10
Charisma: 6 → 8
Luck:???
I chose not to open my chest for now. Even though the possible rewards would help me. I just didn't want the extra attention.
Each evening ended with bodies slumped around the fire like broken dolls. And somehow, Callum and I were always the last two standing.
Whether if it was running around the training grounds 100 times in the freezing cold. Especially when someone collapsed. My lungs burned like fire, and my legs barely responded to me by the twentieth lap. Sweat froze to his skin in the icy wind.
Beside me, Callum ran like a man on a mission, not just fast, but steady as well. Because of him I always pushed myself harder. His eyes always had a fire burning in them. it was hard not to be inspired myself.
That night, as I sat alone by the fire with a bowl of herb soup. It went down hard and came out harder. Then the System chimed.
[Stat Update – Physical Growth Detected]: +1 Strength. +1 Constitution.
I exhaled slowly. So this confirms it, training feeds the system... not just quests.
I then looked at Callum across the fire, still stretching out his calves, humming a tavern tune.
Cain smiled. "How are you holding up?"
Callum glanced up. "No better or worse then you Cain."
By the seventh day Lambert with all his cursing, sarcasm, arrived .
He held up a dried drowner's tongue one afternoon and said, "Who can tell me why this stinks worse than Coën's boots?"
Callum raised his hand. "It releases a scent when drying, an alchemical trigger for necrophage repellents."
Lambert blinked. "Huh. Smart bastard. You're not supposed to know this yet"
Callum shrugged modestly. "I just learned from a herbalist and alchemist in my village."
I leaned over. "Of course you did."
The System pinged softly in my vision again.
[Codex Entry Expanded: Drowner Alchemy]New Potion Recipe: Minor Necrophage Repellent. Bonus: If created successfully, grants +5% evasion against necrophages for 10 minutes.
Then Vesimir, came in. "Alright little ones. This is your chance to make your own decision. Stay and trial of grasses, or leave. The choice is yours, and we won't force you to choose either one."
A few kids were looking around, but no one said anything. Then two kids raised their hands, one boy was even crying. Vesimir, had lambert escort the boys out, and all that was left was 13 boys left.
"Alright you all are gonna finish your herb and mushroom soup and herbal tea. I added some salted meat to, but remember this. You must finish the tea no matter what."
After saying that Vesimir handed out the food and tea. The boys mouth's were watering from the single piece of salted meat in our soups. Everyone even Callum didn't complain. They ate the food like it was a five course meal.
Me on the other hand I was suffering. My modern taste buds were way more refined. I needed seasonings and spices. I love when my food is spicy and has a kick to it. In the future I will have to reinvent the culinary arts of this world if I want to survive.
I swallowed the bitter soup, and managed to chew the tough salted meat. But the tea was beyond horrible. The other two were tolerable, but this tea hurt like hell going down.
Then the system notification chimed:
[New Quest Received!]
" Trial of the Grasses" :Objective: Take the trial of grasses and survive.
Rewards: 5 random Stat Points. 1 Ability Point. 1 Rare Equipment Chest.
Penalty: Death upon failure
[Accept/Decline]
Looking at this quest, I feel like I can't refuse at this point. Especially if the survival rate is 30% for the trial. That means on average every 3 out of 10 apprentices survive. Not to mention the other the following trials after.
I chose "Accept." Hopefully I don't regret it. After that I were sent to sleep, but sleep was the last thing anyone did. looked at my current stats.
Status Window:
Name: Cain
Age: 8
Race: Half-Elf
Class: ???
Trait: Bloodline: [Elder Blood – Dormant]
Strength: 6→ 7
Dexterity: 9
Constitution: 6 → 7
Intelligence: 9
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 8
Luck:??
Stat Points: 1
Ability Points: 1
My stars weren't bad, and since their is no level. That means I have no level cap on how strong I can grow. I wonder what ability points did?
I examined my system interface mentally. I looked at my trait bloodline: [Elder Blood – Dormant]. Then text started to appear.
Elder Blood: A genetic legacy from the elven sorceress Lara Dorren, a result of an elven genetic experiment to create a powerful being with immense magical abilities potentially to save the elven race. With the ability of traveling between worlds, and control time and space.
Status: [Dormant] Trigger conditions have not been met.
Okay. So it's just like how I remembered from the lore and games. I wonder what trigger conditions are needed to unlock it?
I then focused on Ability points.
Ability Points: Points that are earned and spent to unlock or upgrade abilities, skills, or attributes.
Okay so a simple game mechanic, this is what I'm use to. I then focused on "Mind's Eye"
Mind's Eye: Ability points needed for upgrade [0/2].
Okay so that's how that works. I have to remember to check, any abilities I gain in the future to see how many points are needed. Then a notification appeared .
* "New Abilities are gained from experiences in the world, and repeated actions. Not every ability or skill can be upgraded with AP (Ability Points). Some abilities can grow from natural use and understanding it's mechanics."
Look at that the system answered a question of mine, without me asking. I get what it's saying. I take it some abilities, or skills cost to much to upgrade after a certain point. So it would be smarter for me to save them for emergency, just like status points.
Okay good to know, I should get some rest for the trial tomorrow morning.