Chapter 67 – Loot!

There was something odd about the way that the Hobs were lying on the ground. Not the fact that their bodies were entirely broken and bloodied, but something far more irregular than that even. Taking a quick look around the group to make sure there were no more imminent threats about to kill them all, Titus turned onto his hands and knees and patted the dead Hobgoblin.

He had seen a lump. Not a lump like what’d most likely been caused by extended fighting, but more like it had something strapped around its waist.

“What the hell are you doing?” Petra asked. “You know it’s dead; you don’t have to make sure.”

“I’m not making sure,” Titus said. “I think it’s got something.”

“It doesn’t have anything,” Petra replied. “It’s dead.”

“No, look,” Titus urged as he peeled away the blood-soaked wrappings that the creature had been wearing. Petra stepped forward, followed by Jordan, and indeed they could see that Titus had revealed a small leather pouch.

“What is it?” Jordan asked. “Human teeth?”

Titus pulled at the bag, and it came away freely. It had no weight to it at all and the moment it came free from the creature, a notification flashed into his vision and the bag instantly disappeared.

3 Silver Coins

Items have been added to your personal storage.

“What did you do?” Jordan asked with wide eyes. “Did you burn it?”

“Did it look like he burnt it?” Petra spat sarcastically.

“It… I… check the others,” Titus ordered, knowing that for something like this, seeing was believing.

Both his friends checked the two other fallen hobs, and both of them found identical little pouches. As soon as Jordan and Petra pulled them free, they too found that the objects had disappeared, and the way that their eyes widened told Titus everything he needed to know.

“What… what does this mean?” Titus asked.

“Well, I think the God of Balance is rewarding us for killing the monsters of Chaos,” Petra said. “Do you think it’s going to keep happening, or is it just for this fight?”

“Hell free money is free money!” Jordan announced loudly. “Where do you think it goes?”

“Probably the anywhere boxes by the sounds of it,” Petra said. “That’s the only thing I can think of that sounds similar to ‘personal storage’. I bet when we get back in there we’re going to have a few shiny new coins waiting for us.”

Titus smiled. “And all we had to do was risk our lives. Soon we might make a gold coin if we keep fighting them off.”

“One more gold coin than I had this morning,” Petra said. “And if I’m killing monsters anyway I may as well get paid for it.” Then Petra looked pensive. “Hang on, you don’t think the other monsters…” She looked around at the other corpses that were still littering the ground nearby and walked over to a goblin that’d fallen earlier. Bending down, she indeed found another pouch on the creature. Then she checked another, and then a beetle. They all had pouches and she quickly beckoned her friends over.

“Quickly, they all have something. Take what you can. It looks like the harder the monster, the more coins they have.” As she spoke, she glanced towards the battle between the Ironjaw Behemoths and the highest-ranked Contestants and Instructors.

“You don’t think…” she started.

“I don’t think we’d even get close,” Titus finished for her. “But I’m happy to scoop up whatever I can from around here.” He picked up another pouch. This time it contained five coppers, but again it was better than a sword in the gut.

“So what, we just keep fighting?” Titus asked. “You know I’m pretty much out of Mana at the moment, and I can tell both of you could do with a refresh too.”

“Yeah a minute to catch our breath maybe,” Petra said. “But we’re not always going to be able to wait, so we better get used to fighting the old-fashioned way, right? Besides, pretty soon we’re not going to have a choice.”

That was the way Titus had been fighting anyway, barring his fireball spell — though he only ever really got to cast that once or twice before he ran out of Mana. He remembered how Ferran Torres had been teaching the spellcasting class about Mana management, and how he’d only really half been paying attention.

“Hey… isn’t that…” Jordan started to say, and then both Titus and Petra followed his gaze.

“That’s Henderson!” Petra shouted. “What the…”

“He needs help,” Titus said, causing Petra to stare daggers at him.

“He’s a Contestant and a human, just like us,” Titus said. “And I’m not going to just stand here and let him get carried off by some Hobgoblins!”

Petra sighed. “Fine, but if we get killed it’s your fault, you know that, right?”

Titus didn’t respond. He knew that no matter what, he wasn’t going to let some monsters carry off a human being to do only God knows what with. It didn’t matter what Henderson had done in the past; nobody deserved that.

What Jordan had pointed out and what the group had seen, was a group of no fewer than eight Hobgoblins carrying Henderson across the battlefield and back towards the treeline where all the monsters had appeared from.

Henderson was lying flat across their shoulders and didn’t appear to be putting up any kind of fight, which told Titus that the boy was either dead or unconscious. Either way it wasn’t good. Most likely, the ass had tried to take on all eight Hobgoblins at once, and they’d just beaten him. He’d always thought he was better than he actually was.

Checking to see that there were no monsters about to attack again, Titus broke into a run. His friends followed, and there wasn’t much distance between them and the Hobs, though their opponents were closer to the trees and if they made it too far in then Titus and his friends could risk losing the hobs in the wilderness.

Of course, there was also the risk of the unknown within the forest, but Titus pushed that from his mind; this was more important than anything silly like his own safety.

None of the three said a word as they ran. They tried to remain as quiet as possible so as not to attract any unwanted attention but to their dismay, they simply weren’t quick enough; Henderson and the hobs disappeared into the forest when they were still a good ten paces away.

That wasn’t going to stop the Contestants though. As one, they increased their speed and made it to the trees without being caught by anything nasty and disappeared into the forest without taking a moment to pause.

All three came to an abrupt halt the moment they had at least a single line of trees behind them. Not because they needed to catch their breath, but because their environment had just changed so drastically and so unexpectedly that they simply couldn’t help it.

The sounds of battle that had been so loud, so present, just vanished. It was like nothing was happening beyond the treeline, and the world was calm and at peace. Titus even stepped back and peered back through the trees to make sure they were in the same place — which he saw they were.

The forest they’d entered seemed to just have its own environment, and to be honest, Titus didn’t think it was a bad thing.

“So this is like a… magical forest then?” Titus asked.

Petra shrugged and looked to Jordan for an answer.

“It’s a new one on me. Never even heard of what goes on outside the walls, other than the Hunters of course,” he replied.

“Yeah,” Titus agreed. “I’m no expert in this either. It's kind of calming, isn’t it?”

Jordan nodded in agreement. “I must admit I do feel a lot better in here.”

“Actually,” Petra said. “Did you see any Hunters in the battle back there? I mean they’d be the ones to take down those Ironjaw Behemoths, wouldn’t they?”

“I don’t think they just hang around outside the City walls,” Jordan replied. “They’re probably out there, miles away, and fighting even bigger monsters. They probably don’t know any of this is even happening.”

Petra exhaled, but she didn’t look convinced.

“Either way, it doesn’t matter,” Titus said. “We’ve got to find Henderson before it’s too late. There must be tracks around here somewhere.”

“Oh, are you a tracker?” Petra asked. “Because I’m not. And I bet Jordan here never had to find his own food in all his life.”

Jordan actually looked rather sheepish at that. “Actually I was taught to track and hunt,” he said. “Thought I might need it if I ever really did become a Hunter.”

“Unbelievable,” Petra sighed, placing her thumb and forefinger on her eyebrows. “Just… tell us which way to go, and don’t make a big deal of it.”

The group had spent no longer than ten minutes inside the dense forest before they understood completely that the huge battle between good and evil was something that was happening entirely separately from them and this place. It was like the treeline had been used as a hiding place or an event horizon of some huge portal that allowed the monsters through, because there was no sign in the forest of any kind of large force having moved through it recently.

Furthermore, the forest didn’t seem to house any monsters of Chaos at all so far; no low-level beetles and certainly no all-powerful behemoths. It was quiet, peaceful, and it made Titus worry.

“Do you think we’ll be able to find them?” Titus asked as the group walked with Jordan slightly in front.

“Oh yeah,” the Defender said. “A group that big leaves pretty obvious tracks if you know how to look for them. I mean, they must be moving pretty fast too because otherwise we’d be able to hear them or catch them up. I doubt they think they’re being followed, so that means they won’t be covering their tracks either.”

Petra gave Titus a sideways glance and raised an eyebrow.

“I still don’t get how this guy can be such a complete idiot but also so clever,” she said.

“I think after someone shows themselves to be clever over and over, you can’t call them an idiot anymore,” Titus replied and he saw the edges of Jordan’s face move, betraying the fact that the boy was grinning.

“Nah, I’m OK with calling him both,” Petra said. “I’d better get used to it if it’s going to keep happening anyway.”

Titus nodded and turned his attention to the ground and then the forest around them. He was looking for whatever it was that Jordan was seeing that let him know which way to go.

Some things were obvious – disturbed undergrowth or broken branches, but they were few and far between. If it had been raining recently, then he might’ve been able to follow footsteps left in the sodden ground, but it hadn’t. By all indications, the forest enjoyed a moderate temperature and if the trees around them weren’t so dense, then it might’ve been more akin to a pleasant stroll than a mission to rescue a fellow human being.

“You think we should go back and get help?” Titus asked after a minute or two more. “I mean, how long do you think we can keep this up? And there were more than I think we could handle on our own, weren’t there?”

Jordan shook his head. “We don’t know what they’ve got planned for Henderson. If we want to save him, then we’re going to have to do it quickly. Besides, I’m recovering as every minute goes by anyway, so soon we’ll be able to take them on at full strength… or hit them while they rest or something. In any case if we stop now, we might never find them.”

“Such planning,” Petra said. “Just wait and see… I don’t know how I didn’t come up with that one myself!”

“It’s not wait and see,” Jordan said over his shoulder. “It’s basic hunting: you never let your trail go cold.”

“Did they ever teach you about giving up on a lost cause? Or changing tactics when presented with new information, or are all Hunters as hard-headed as you are?” Petra asked.

“Uh… well…” Jordan started.

“Well what?” Petra asked.

“I… wouldn’t know.”

“You wouldn’t know what?”

“I wouldn’t know what other Hunters are like.”

Petra stared at the back of Jordan’s head. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“Well,” Jordan said slowly. “I haven’t seen that many Hunters. They don’t really come to the City very often, do they?”

“They don’t,” Petra agreed. “So why would you want to be one?”

“Hey, you want to be one too,” Jordan replied. “Both of you.”

“That’s because it’s what we are supposed to want,” Petra said. “Because the Hunters are famous, respected, wealthy, and powerful. But I’d have thought some lover of all things Arena like yourself might’ve actually seen more than one. I mean, hell, I’ve seen one.”

“Which one?” Titus asked, realising that he was even less informed than Petra about the Hunters. “What could he do?”

“Well, his name was Julius…” Petra started.

“…the balanced,” Jordan finished Petra’s sentence for her. They shared a glance.

“The balanced?” Titus asked. “What does that even mean? We’ve had the Bloodied and the Dreaded, but the Balanced?”

“No idea,” Jordan shrugged. “Hunters don’t fight in the Arena, so you don’t really get to see what they can do. I bet it’s something really good though.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Petra said though she trailed off and didn’t sound like she was so sure about what she was saying anymore. Titus didn’t want to question her though and felt that if she wanted to say something about it, then she would.

“In any case,” Jordan said with an air of finality. “I know what I’m doing. We can’t turn back now and if we do come across any enemies, then we’ll just fight them off, right? Besides, after that last fight, I gained another level, which I’m sure you both must’ve too, so we’re already getting stronger, and that means things get easier to kill.”

Titus hadn’t even thought to see what had happened since they’d actually finished fighting, and was pleased to see that he too had increased in level.

Congratulations, You have reached Level 4.

XP to next level: 128

You have 5 stat points to distribute.

You have 1 Ability point to use.

Skills Available to learn: Taunt [1AP]

Titus had already planned what he was going to do with his attribute points when he levelled up, and it was exactly the same as he’d done at level three. He placed a point into his Constitution, Agility, and Defence, and two points into his Wisdom. He had been expecting to have to make the choice between Health and Stamina Resonance this time, though when he checked again, sure that he’d missed them in the text somewhere, he saw that they were well and truly gone. He hoped that this was just temporary, perhaps caused by selecting Mana Resonance the last time he levelled up, but he had no real way of knowing for sure. All he could do is hope to see them again when he levelled up next.

He hadn’t been expecting anything else wonderful to use his new Ability point on either, and it kind of made sense that he had nothing new to learn yet other than Taunt, but that seemed like something he really didn’t want to use. Perhaps one day soon he could spend some time with Ferran Torres and learn another spell — something in the air magic school would be nice, he thought, because being able to fly looked like it was very, very useful. If there was a flying skill as well as the two remaining resonances, he truly didn’t know which he would pick first.

Titus perused his new stats as he and Petra quietly followed Jordan, each of them applying their upgrades.

Titus: Level 4

Exp: 22/150

Class: Capacitor

Profession: Arena Contestant - Blue

Primary stats

Health: 59/59

Mana: 28/28

Stamina: 24/24

Secondary stats

Constitution: 4

Wisdom: 6

Agility: 4

Strength: 3

Defence: 4

Magical Defence: 2

Skills

Sacrifice 2

Fireball

Mana Resonance

Items Equipped

Blue Arena Contestant Armband

Wooden Stamina Ring

Divine Ring of Mana Resonance

“Do you want to talk about what you put your points in?” Titus asked aloud once he returned his attention to the task at hand. Oh and did you get any new skills this time?”

“Nope, and nope,” Petra said with a half-grin.

“Me neither,” Jordan said, though by the looks of the boy, it seemed like he’d just grown an inch in the time it took Titus to deal with his own stats, which told him that his friend had probably invested in his Strength and Constitution again. Jordan was certainly turning into quite the formidable Defender.

When Titus looked at Petra though, there wasn’t anything new to see there, but that stood to reason; if she’d spent her points primarily on her Agility again, the result wouldn’t be apparent until they found themselves in another fight.

“No new abilities for any of us?” Titus asked. “That seems kind of lame, doesn’t it? I mean up until now we’ve been getting new stuff and using it really well.”

“Maybe we’re supposed to get really good at what we already know before we keep going?” Jordan said over his shoulder. “Our skills so far aren’t exactly fool-proof, are they? We need to figure out when and when not to use them, really.”

That made a lot of sense to Titus, who decided that moving forward, he really needed to pay attention to when his skills were used to their greatest effect. He especially thought that his Sacrifice skill had been given to him for a reason, though he was yet to really use it effectively. Perhaps that was a part of the reason he hadn’t been given something new to play with yet.

All in all though, Titus knew he was already blessed. He had a couple of unique skills as far as he could see, as well as a good ranged fireball that he could imbue with additional Mana—something else that he had reason to believe was unique to him.

And he couldn’t help but smile at the thought of a fireball that had been empowered by his entire Mana pool and the kind of damage a twenty-eight Mana cost spell could do.

Lastly after the group had spent their stat points, their Health, Stamina and Mana had refilled themselves right back up to their maximums, so perhaps if they did find themselves in another battle, at least they’d have a fighting chance.