Child, I have concerns for your next plan of action.

Oh? What’s your concern?

We inhabit the same body, though strange it may feel, it’s not one I am familiar with. If I focus my attention to the sensations, I feel the joints stiff, and the muscles weak. I understand the previous owner worked with the quill, but it will not be sufficient for your grand endeavours.

Grand endeavours Nym? It's to fight a bunch of rats! I can’t imagine needing to train to kill rats!

You say that, but there is a reason why I call you a child, child. Rats are small enough, and just fast enough, to be a challenge for most to hit. There is a reason why the previous human failed, nimbleness is required. Otherwise we may end up creating more dire rats.

Great, I really can’t just get a break can I. I come into this world almost dying, it seems like I am in a world where magic exists, but I can’t seem to cast anything, and now I have accepted my first couple quests, but apparently you and my mastermind skill both agree I need training before I even go and kill a fucking rat.

Nym takes a bit of time to respond.

Child, look over to the tree across the road. It’s the tree with the big knot facing us.

My attention is drawn to it right away. It seems like the souls have an ability to lead my attention.

Yes, that's the knot. Why don’t you take one of your smaller daggers and throw it at the knot?

Ok Nym, I will, just to show you.

I can feel Nym’s smirk, like an adult would smirk at a child when the child seems adamant about doing something impossible.

I reach down and grab my smaller dagger strapped to my lower leg. I grab the hilt and start practicing my throwing by swinging my arm above my shoulder back and forth slowly in a straight line, stopping with the dagger's tip pointing to the target.

I hear Nym chuckling.

Everytime I swing it though, I can’t help but feel like I am remembering something I long forgot.

*Ding*

Synchronization with Nym increased

4.01% -> 21.76%

It feels like I have done this for all my life, throwing daggers at targets. Memories of running through a forest, throwing daggers at trees, and pretendingthe said trees to be filthy humans.

Filthy Humans?

My muscles are straining under the weight of the dagger now. I can feel how inflexible my arm is under the weight. Joints creaking with the unfamiliar positions.

Another swing brings back familiar memories of a deep green canopy, laying on a mossy bed and roots jabbing into my side. Tossing and catching a dagger dangerously in front of my face.

At the end of the swing, I do a quick little movement with my wrist and toss the dagger up in the air with a little rotation. I catch the tip of the dagger with my thumb and index finger, with my middle finger resting on the very tip to stabilize the dagger.

Nym’s voice in my head starts to go off, I can’t focus on his words, but I do recognize the tone as confusion and astonishment.

I am no longer moving my arm so much. I am merely rocking my wrist and letting my arm sway with it’s shifting weight. The original thoughts that my muscles were starting to strain against the weight were clearly wrong. It’s the muscles straining to release, straining to be flexible, straining against the joints hindering their movements.

The breeze that’s been gently going all day quietens, as if to pay heed to myself and what I‘m about to do. My focus has been only on the target in front of me, and these memories that keep flooding into my mind, distracting me. Was the target this big? Squinting increases the size of the target to the point I can see the nooks and crannies of the knot in the tree. While staring at my target, it seems like the simple wood fibers are being twisted into something...unfashionable. Is there a face forming in that knot? Fires seem to be lapping up all around his laughing face in the knot.

NOW

That thought hit me and my arm sprang into action. My arm came down some 30 degrees in a blink of an eye. The dagger had been released sometime in that blink, slowly rotating and flying to the target. The face I saw disappeared, and the dagger’s tip meeting the target and sinking in. Not quite centre, but it stuck and stayed in.

*Ding*

Skill Learned:

Dagger Throwing (Beginner)

Throwing a dagger's accuracy and damage has been increased.

Dagger Throwing (Intermediate)

Throwing a dagger's accuracy and damage has been increased.

Dagger Throwing (Advanced)

Throwing a dagger's accuracy and damage has been increased. Able to perform complicated throws with relative ease.

Nym’s voice comes back to me shortly, as if breaking the dream I was in.

What in the twelve heavens was that?

That was me throwing the dagger at the target, why?

You… you shouldn’t have been able to do that…

Why not?

My arm starts to feel a dull pain grow, growing one direction from my elbow to my wrist and another from my elbow to shoulder blade. I had held my hand over a flame and [Pain Endurance] softened it to just a tickle yesterday, so this must be quite severe pain.

Child, this pain should tell you that what you did was not what your body was capable of. I don’t know how you… you used techniques similar to my own. This body cannot handle it much more. Muscles and joints should be working together, but with these stiff muscles and joints, doing that again without training will cause your muscles to tear and your joints to be damaged.

Checking over my mastermind skill, focusing on the plan of killing rats while staring at my dagger, the window pops up again.

Completion of Rat Quest

Current: 35%

Objective List:

Kill the Rats (0/???)

Kill the 2 Dire Rats (0/2)

Seal the holes for further Rats (Bonus)

Create a flowerbed (Hidden Objective)

Chance of Completing: 30%

Nice, the chances have increased by like 22%!

Child, that’s not a good chance, plus we could still be completing it but end up destroying us in the process.

I let out a long sigh.

Nym, let me enjoy my small victories.

Now it's time to figure out what to do with the rats themselves. They are trapped in the Old Mill, now I just need to exterminate them. I don't know how to make any rat poison, nor would it be wise with the flour.

Any thoughts Nym?

Child, this is what you barbaric humans do, killing animals that make their way into your homes and business, instead of maintaining and building them so creatures can’t get in, or cohabitating with nature.

Ok, I get it, you won’t be any help…

I might be of use here bub

*Ding*

New Spirit Awoken

Hunter Jeb Muzakie

Oh? How long have you been awake? Do you need to filled in with what we're doing?

I have been stirrin’ since you started tracking those rats. Been reelin’ with being dead and not, but from what I understand you have already sealed the rats escape and are looking at exterminating them?

Great, another human soul. Child, there better be more than just human souls in here.

A shiver runs through me as I can feel the great discomfort of Nym thinking he’s the only elf in us.

Hi Jeb, yes, we are looking at killing the rats in the Old Mill here, and hoping to get a considerable amount of experience out of it.

I get you, but not too sure about this experience bit you mention, the one with that floating status page. I suppose I should have spoken up sooner instead of gathering my bearings, but why’d you seal off the rats’ escape routes?

I start to realize we may have been a bit early with the putty.

All the rats are trapped in the Mill now. We can go about taking them all out in one go and won’t have to worry about them getting back in.

I get you, I do, but instead of them escapin’ and you just seal their tunnels after they left, now you gotta either relocate or kill each and every one of them. Also ever try fighting an animal backed up in a corner? He pauses for a moment. I thought you might have had some experience or knowledge in this but… Looks like you just sat and never dealt with nature… Let’s just say you don’t want to make an animal feel trapped, and then try to fight them.

Ok, so I fucked up a bit here, I get it. What would you say is the next step?

Well, this is a different world, and no there was no fuckin’ Dire Rat magic from eating human blood in my world, but I am hoping these rats behave the same as back home, they work as a horde and avoid anything new.

We have some prep to do bub.