Why can't anything run smoothly in my life?
Just when I was walking calmly with the goblin I had recently met, only four or five minutes from their "house," or whatever that place was, a bipedal deer, not too tall, probably less than two meters in height, suddenly appeared and began running in my direction.
When I noticed, Lyx was nowhere to be found. She, having lived in this world much longer than I, likely sensed the creature before I did and slipped away without a sound.
Even though my mind was completely frozen from the recent life-and-death situations, my body was slowly learning how to survive in this place. It instinctively tried to hide as quickly as possible without drawing the creature's attention.
I completely failed because, as I was trying to slip away, I unfortunately stepped on a terribly inconvenient stick. The loud snap instantly alerted the creature to my presence.
If this system had attributes, my luck would undoubtedly be the worst. Incredible. Didn't I request to be sent to a low-level zone? Well, I don't think trolls and wendigos could be classified as low-level monsters.
What am I complaining about? She transformed me into a goblin, and a dark lord at that. It makes that dagger even more suspicious. Maybe it has some misfortune charm, designed to shorten my lifespan
But now that the creature has seen me, all I can do is run, praying no tree appears in front of me, which could easily end this journey, just as that goddess warned.
After running for about forty seconds, I finally noticed the strange creature was no longer in my field of vision. As if trying to lose it, I began walking crouched among the bushes.
Just when I thought I was safe, I looked to my left, and a green face appeared beneath the many leaves. It was obviously Lyx.
"What? How did you get here so quickly?" I said, my voice extremely loud, almost a whisper.
She, with an odd look of disbelief, said, "Me? Why did you start running like a troll searching for his bridge when we were almost within the magical protections? What? You think a pathetic, weak, ugly wendigo can penetrate our defenses? No, no, no, not even its father or grandfather could."
Damn, how could I have known?
"Wait, so the wall is some kind of magical invisible shield? Okay, it doesn't matter now, but why are you here if you were safe there? That strange deer is already gone, right?"
"Haha, that would be nice. Nope, wendigos don't give up so easily. Most likely, it'll roam the area until it finds us or something else to eat. And the Something needs to be a humanoid, preferably humans, but I don't believe that hungry wendigo will make a value judgment of a "Human enough". It's partly my fault; I forgot we're in wendigo season. Most of the year, they just stay in hibernation."
Then, at the corner of her eyes, the same wendigo appeared between the trees. Just before Lyx stopped talking completely, her face showed clear signs of fear.
After a few moments of the creature searching for us, slowly walking with its deformed limbs, I tried to whisper to Lyx as quietly as possible, "We really need to defeat this creature."
I immediately handed her the dagger I was holding and, remembering how those adventurers defeated trolls, with all of them trying to follow some role in their party, said to her
"I believe I can cast at least twenty, maybe thirty fire arrows. They're not very strong, but if they can pierce flesh, they should at least wound this creature. Okay, here's the plan: I'll throw a rock as far as I can. When the creature goes to investigate, I'll draw its attention and attack with my fire arrows. When it's about to catch me, you appear and deliver the final blow, okay? You know how to hold a dagger, right?"
Only then did I realize I was entrusting my life to her. But she had done the same by coming back for me.
After a moment, she said with a trembling voice, "Okay, I'll try."
As she spoke, an interface appeared before me:
"You're invited to form a party. Do you accept it?"
Yes/No
Wait, the system has a Party System? Well, better than nothing.
After accepting, I saw a peculiar expression on her face. Then another window opened, and what was just a peculiar expression turned into one of pure horror:
"Dark Lord Permission Surpasses Previous One, transforming this party into a Darkness Covenant. Your Party Member has become your servant [role undefined]."
"Da... Da… YOU'RE THE DA…"
I quickly covered her mouth. When I noticed her looking at me with an expression I couldn't tell was dark or bright, I whispered
"We don't have time for this now. Let's kill this creature first and then I can answer all your questions, alright?"
It was almost as if her entire perception of me had changed, and with just a nod from her, I tried to forget that my greatest secret had already been revealed and focused on starting my plan.
The wendigo was now almost completely obscured by the distance, but knowing this, I picked up the nearest and largest rock I could find. Without thinking twice, or even at all, I glanced at a random tree in my field of vision and threw the rock with all the strength I could muster.
As I predicted, the rock created a loud sound, which quickly caught the creature's attention. It ran frantically in that direction, and when it reached where I expected, I finally stood. With its focus still entirely on the tree, since this creature probably wasn't even sentient, I began rapidly casting fire arrows.
Thankfully, because of the skill, the entire preparation process was unnecessary. What might have taken half a minute using fire manipulation could be done in less than two seconds.
After three fire arrows, which I believe caused it great pain, the creature finally turned around. When it saw me, its back now completely burned, it began running toward me.
In none of those moments did I stop casting my fire arrows, but each time I cast, my mind grew blanker, as if I were completely losing focus on the situation.
But then, just when the wendigo was almost upon me, after I had cast probably fifteen spells and was nearly collapsing from mental fatigue, I clearly saw Lyx holding the dagger with both hands. While everything was in a strange state of blur, I could vividly see her jumping from one of the bushes and perfectly thrusting the silver blade into its jugular just as its fingers were nearly reaching my head.
After this, I collapsed on the ground, and maybe one or two minutes later, I could finally regain my focus and consciousness.
Recalling what had just happened, I quickly tried to find Lyx, but I stopped when I saw she was actually by my side, still trembling, her gaze completely fixed on the blade still stained with the wendigo's blood.
But while I was looking at her, I noticed, in front of my eyes, another window, like the many others I had seen by now, appeared before me:
"Congratulations, you helped one of your servants slay a wendigo. For this achievement, both received 10 points."
A wendigo is worth much more than those hares, which makes a lot of sense. Actually, these aren't even the total points; most likely, the points were split between us. Still, now I have what? At least more than twenty, for sure.
A bit curious about it, I opened the status and shop again, but when the shop appeared, another window popped up unexpectedly:
"Congratulations, by overusing costly fire magic and through your extraordinary talent with magic manipulation, you created the skill Fire Affinity [H+]. You received 15 points for it."
Now I wanted to see not just how many points I had, but whether this new skill was listed too.
Still, this skill gave me many more points than when I created the lighter spell. Well, it's a tier higher, and judging by the name, maybe fire magic will be a bit easier now, or maybe I'll be able to cast it more times.
But then, is the magic system in this world purely related to elements? Maybe there's a skill related to a 'pure mana' affinity? Or does that not even exist? If all skills are split by their own element and type, then I'll need to level multiple of those skills if I want to be a multifunctional caster with spells for attack, defense, support, and healing
I'll test that soon. It seems pushing my magic to its limits really hits my mind hard. Though I'm not seeing stars and butterflies from the pain like a few minutes ago, the headache is still there.
Name: Bran Godwin
Title: The Dark Lord
Race: White Goblin [Lower]
Skills:
Language of the Bird [S]
Lead Belly [N/A]
Dark Vision [N/A]
Fire Arrow [G-]
Fire Affinity [H+]
Skill Shop
Free Points: 40
Available to Buy:
—
Wow, now I have even more points than when I first bought Fire Arrow. Clearly, it paid off. Nothing to buy, I see.
With just a bit of effort, since only my mind was exhausted, I slowly stood and then saw, less than two meters away, the creature's body, now completely motionless.
A great weight lifted from my shoulders. This thing could have lived peacefully until the next day if it hadn't started frantically running toward us.
It was probably just acting like an animal. I can't really understand how Lyx survived so long in such a dangerous place like this.
In a low voice, I said without even realizing it, "But still, we really did it."
When I looked back at Lyx, I noticed she was in the same position as before. I called her name a few times, but after seeing she wasn't responding, I touched her shoulder. Only then did she seem to snap out of something.
"Are you okay? You really managed to deliver that attack."
Then, as if she still couldn't catch her breath, she said, "I... I killed that wendigo... and then... but before, that strange message appeared in front of my eyes saying you're the Dark Lord... and another one just after I finished off the creature. And now I'm here, realizing I've finally gone completely crazy. Is this what happens when a century-old goblin doesn't evolve properly?"
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