Kente stumbled a little as Marke’s unreasonably large boots caught on a protruding stone in the sewer floor. He gripped the edge of a cloak he had stolen from the military stores and gathered himself. “Focus, Kente. Don’t rush.” He said to himself. Kente crouched a bit and shuffled towards a nearby tunnel opening. He held an ice dagger ready to strike. The wood golem peeked around the corner and spotted his prey.

  

  Identify

  ----

  Level: 1

  Race: Sewer rat

  The rat was digging into a pile of trash and pulling out maggots to eat. Since the rat was facing away from the tunnel opening, Kente snuck forward.

  

  +1 Stealth

  The notification startled Kente, but he managed to keep his reaction silent. I really need to finish customizing my settings He thought. He took another step towards the rat, then stabbed downward.

  

  Victory

  ----

  Sewer Rat lvl 1: killed

  Experience: 2

  Level Up: 1 -> 2

  Stat Points Available: 1

  Ambush +1

  Backstab +1

  “Finally.” Kente said. He tossed the rat off his dagger blade. “Five sewer rats to get the same experience as that first spider we killed in the tunnels.” Kente pulled out a small cloth strip and cleaned the dagger. He threw the cloth away and began to backtrack towards the sewer entrance. On the way, he grew distracted by messing with the System and ran into several walls. “Ow! Watch where you’re going!” He complained. He looked around for a moment before his shoulders slumped. “Oh right, I’m driving. No Marke here.” He said. He assigned stat point to constitution and dismissed all the System windows until he got out of the sewer and back to the apartment.

  —————

  “Where were you last night?” Marke stood with his hands on his hips and glared at Kente.

  “Nowhere, mom.” Kente replied. He sunk lower in his chair and hid behind his book.

  Marke wagged a finger at the possessed wood golem. “Now listen here young man, your father and I taught you better than to be up at all hours, gallivanting about who-knows-where with who-knows-who.” He said.

  “Ugh, you don’t understand!” Kente whined.

  The pair laughed at their own impromptu skit for a few seconds. Marke shook his head and slipped on his boots. “I’m headed to buy you your own boots. Mine still smell like rat guts. What else should I get for you?” He asked.

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  “Thanks Marke, sorry I couldn’t clean the boots better. I would like a fire resistant cloak, some leather armor, boots, belt, and a pair of regular daggers, long ones. Oh, and shirt and pants just to complete everything.” Kente said.

  “You don’t want to keep using the ice dagger?” Marke asked.

  Kente shook his head. “I’m afraid I’ll drop it or cut myself, and it’s way too strong for anything I can fight right now.” He said.

  “Ok, see ya later.” Marke said. He exited the apartment.

  As soon as Marke left, Kente flipped to the back of his book and examined a half-finished spell diagram. He pulled out the Everflowing Pen and carefully wrote a few more runes. He tapped his chin for a while, thinking deeply. Satisfied, he took out a scalpel and began carving the diagram into his upper arm, on the inner face just below the joint. He chanted a few words under his breath until a small red flame appeared at the tip of one finger. He pressed the flame to the carving.

  Red light filled the carved runes. A soft hum filled the apartment for a moment, then the wood around the carving began to fill in the runes. Kente watched as the red light shrunk and disappeared, replaced by smooth wood. “Huh.” Kente said. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.” He returned to studying the diagram in the book. After half an hour of tracing the runes and muttering, he leaned his head back against the wall. “Self-repair carved into the wood caused the wood to self-repair and remove the carving. I really should have realized that would happen. Sigh.” Kente said. “Sigh. I wish I could sigh for real.” He said. He flipped to another of the extra, blank pages at the back of the book and began to draw a new spell diagram.

  —————

  Kente stalked through the trees. The sliver of the realm’s single tiny moon was barely brighter than the stars in the cloudless night sky, and the light didn’t regularly reach the ground. Kente maneuvered around obstacles with ease–his perception remained unusually complete, even after being placed in the wood golem body. In his hands, he held an arrow to the string of a short bow, aimed at the ground. With no scent, no heartbeat, and no need to breathe, Kente moved closer to the giant ursid without being detected. Kente identified the ursid.

  

  Identify

  ----

  Name: Urtark

  Level: 15

  Race: Forest Tyrant (adolecent)

  The forest tyrant raised its head and sniffed the air. Kente stopped moving. His wooden body had a scent, but it was the smells of wood and oiled metal–not anything that an animal would recognize as predator or prey. The tyrant sniffed again. It bent its head and picked up the body of a giant elk. The ursid moved deeper into the forest. After five seconds, Kente followed.

  Kente followed the ursid by the sounds is made as it pushed its way through the forest. Owls, bats, and rodents all fell silent when the forest tyrant strode past. Kente wondered for a moment how the ursid had killed the elk if it was this loud when walking. After half an hour of stalking through the forest, Kente lost track of the ursid.

  Where did it go? Kente wondered. I just heard it right here. Kente looked into a small clearing where a small amount of moon and star light reached the ground. A steep rise of stone blocked the path forward, but Kente hadn’t heard the bear turn to either side. Slowly, keeping out of the light, Kente moved around the edge of the clearing. When he reach the steep rise, he touched the stone. Kente shook his head and laughed quietly. With a flicker of red flame, he empowered the array of cleverly disguised runes that were carved into the stone. The possessed wood golem vanished without a sound.

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