Chapter 5: My Two Little Kittens
Noah trudged into the water, holding Sophie’s hand as he guided her toward the crevice. He peered in, but there was no visible end in sight.
“I’ll go first.” He glanced at Sophie’s tear-stricken face one last time before diving in.
It was a tight fit. The jagged edges of the rock walls scraped against his skin as he scooted his way through.
Alright, here we go.
He pushed off, doing his best to navigate the narrowing passage which soon began twisting in a tight, winding tube.
Up, down, left, right.
He had been underwater for thirty seconds, and there was still no exit. Adrenaline coursed through his veins. He started to thrash harder. A sharp pain shot through his right hand as he banged it against the wall. It didn’t matter. There had to be an exit soon.
Wait, was that light in the distance? Noah fought the urge to charge ahead recklessly, not wanting to risk getting a limb caught on something. The tunnel was starting to widen now.
Yup, it definitely was! The circle of light got bigger and bigger… until he finally burst through the surface.
He greedily sucked in air as he took in his surroundings. Okay, no monsters, so that was a good start. But where was he?
By the edge of a wide lake, apparently. A massive, mountain loomed behind him, with smaller hills scattered around the shore.
Did Sophie make it? Fighting the fatigue, he submerged himself below the water’s surface, squinting through the gloom. There was no sign of her.
He waited for a minute. Two minutes. She was taking too long. Fearing the worst, Noah fought the current, trying to re-enter the tunnel. But in his fatigued state, that just wasn’t possible.
There was a sudden movement in the water. Sophie, propelled by the current, almost barrelled right into him.
“Pah!” she gasped. A coughing fit wracked her body as she fought to tread water.
“Help,” she choked out.
Without wasting a second, Noah wrapped an arm around her waist and kicked towards the shore, doing everything he could to keep her head above the water. Once they were firmly on land, the two of them lay in a heap.
“We’re out,” Noah gasped.
Sophie didn’t reply.
Noah snapped his head towards her. She was panting hard, but her eyes were glazed over. She gently turned towards Noah. Her Vitra flickered to life. It looked like she had unlocked a new skill.
—
Class: HumanLevel: 1XP: 800 / 1000HP: 46 / 1000MP: 32 / 50ATK: 300DEF: 250Rank: ETalent: Looter
—
Global Skills
GS: Echolocation (Lvl 1)
—
Talent Skills
TS1: Eagle Eye (Lvl 1)
TS2: Ocean Breath (Lvl 1)
—
She was at 46 HP. She didn’t have long to live. Ocean Breath? What did that even do?
He reopened his own Vitra.
Class: HumanLevel: 2XP: 700 / 1100HP: 1150 / 1250MP: 51 / 53ATK: 330DEF: 250Rank: FSupport the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.Talent: 0
—
Global Skills
GS1: Echolocation (Lvl 1)
GS2: Consume (Lvl 1)
—
Talent Skills
TS1: Void Suppression (Lvl 1)
TS1: Void Vitality (Lvl 1)
—
1150/1250. How did he still have so much health? Then it hit him. His HP had fully restored when he levelled up after defeating the Diamantis.
He glanced at Sophie’s XP. 800/1000. She must’ve gained some from unlocking her skills, but she was still 200 XP away from levelling up. But if she did, wouldn't that fully heal her?
That certainly gave Noah some hope, but how was she supposed to get another 200 XP? He doubted she could unlock another skill just lying there on her deathbed. She had to kill a mobile entity, or a mob as the gamers call it. The Diamantis must’ve given him a massive chunk of XP, but there was no way Sophie could take down something like that.
Noah rapidly formed a plan. He had to find a mob and somehow make sure Sophie got the kill. He wasn’t sure how, but sitting around wasn’t going to help.
“Don’t move, okay? I’ll be right back.” Yeah, as if she could even do that.
Noah rushed into the surrounding woods. The hilly landscape made navigating difficult, but he was on borrowed time. Is there anything? Anything at all?
Fortunately, he didn’t have to travel far before he spotted movement. An enormous swan was drifting across a small pond, lounging under the shade of a huge tree.
That would have to be his target. Noah slowly crept up on it. Upon closer inspection, he realised just how sharp its beak was. It was certainly different from the swans back home. Now, how much XP was it going to drop? Hopefully at least 200.
He quickly crafted a course of action. Once he triggered Zero, he would chase after the swan, catch it, knock it out, and drag it to Sophie before it died. Was it a good plan? No, not at all. In fact, it was a terrible plan. But he didn’t have the luxury of time or choice. It was all or nothing.
In any case, it was time to act. Noah burst out from behind the tree. “Zero!” he yelled, aiming at the swan, hoping it would work like before.
To his surprise, instead of fleeing, the swan squawked and charged at him.
“Shit!”
Instinctively, he backpedalled, sprinting toward the lake.
He glanced over his shoulder. An HP bar revealed itself above the swan.
—
Kywan/ Level 42
HP 24,452/24,452
—
A Kywan? Was that what the swan was called? Why hadn’t it popped up earlier? Had the system not classified it as hostile until now? Or had he simply been too far away?
A tornado of questions swirled in his head, but he had to focus. He dodged as the Kywan swiped at him. It was then he realised that it had razor-sharp talons instead of webbed feet.
Had he made a mistake?
He continued stumbling through the trees. The large bird crashed into his back, snapping a peck at his exposed neck. However, its beak simply bounced off, leaving only a trace of pain.
Zero! It was already working! But it wasn't working fast enough. In his panic, Noah realised he was closing in on the lake too quickly. Sophie came into view, lying serenely by the water.
His plan had been reckless. He should’ve thought it through. But this was no time to beat himself up over it. He needed to slow the Kywan down.
The bird ploughed into him once again, attempting to sink its talons into him. All it did was knock him over. The Kywan was rapidly weakening. Before it could regroup, Noah lunged out, grabbing it by the neck.
"You're coming with me," he gritted his teeth.
The Kywan flailed, biting and scrabbling at him with its claws, but they were nothing more than an inconvenience now.
—
Kywan/ Level 42
HP: 4,748/ 24,452
—
What? It was already almost dead. When did it drop so fast? No, don't die yet! It had to die by Sophie’s hand! Noah fought his way to the shoreline, lugging the Kywan along. At this point, the bird had exhausted itself, and its HP had dipped below the 500 mark. It was offering no resistance now.
There! Noah crouched, scooping up an especially sharp pebble just as he reached Sophie. Her face was deathly pale. He hoped he wasn't too late, but he also had to strike at the right moment.
Pinning the swan with his knee on its neck, Noah wrapped Sophie’s hands around the pebble and clamped his hand over hers, leaving the pebble’s sharp tip exposed. As the swan’s HP dropped below twenty, he slammed Sophie’s hand down. A loud crack echoed as the rock shattered its skull. The Kywan went limp.
Had he done it? Had she levelled up? He watched Sophie's pale features with bated breath. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then her eyelids flickered. She opened her eyes.
“Noah, what…?” Sophie murmured.
“Sophie, thank goodness,” Noah breathed. “How are you feeling?”
She held a hand to her head. “A little bit of a headache, but I think I’m… fine?” Her Vitra popped open.
Noah’s eyes immediately fixed on her HP.
1250/1250.
He checked her Level and XP next.
Level 2.
0/1100.
Noah breathed a huge sigh of relief, slumping back onto the gravel. He had done it.
It must have clicked for Sophie too, for her eyes widened in realisation. “You… saved me? How? Why? What in the world did you do?”
Noah was more than happy to explain, given the opportunity to gloat about his heroics. But there were more pressing matters at hand. “The sun’s pretty far off to the side now,” he commented. “We might only have an hour or two of daylight left. Ideally, we should find some shelter at least, or a town.”
For some reason, Noah suddenly felt as if he just knew what to do now. His mind and senses were sharpened. He felt as if he could survive anything. Come on, what's next?
“Uh, okay. Once we find a place to rest, you gotta tell me what I missed,” Sophie insisted.
Noah interrupted his internal monologue. “Y-yeah. Hopefully there’s like a village nearby or something.” He got to his feet and his knees immediately buckled. “Woah-hoh,” he stumbled.
Sophie steadied him. “Um, maybe we should rest for a couple of minutes first. You’ve overexer—”
“My, my, look what we have here!”
They spun in the direction of the voice.
A portal formed out of thin air, revealing a familiar face.
“Anna…” Noah snarled.
The mage smiled, seemingly oblivious to their livid expressions. “It seems two of my little kittens have actually managed to break free.”