“How long have you been down here?”
“I don’t know. I tried counting the time, but I lost track a long time ago. It’s difficult when there’s no sunlight.” Daniel finally told him, after finishing his herbs mix.
This was the last mix Matheus had, and he let the kid eat it. He looked miserable, and Matheus couldn’t guess when it had been his last meal.
Silence took over them.
“Sorry I don’t have anything to drink.” Matheus said after a while.
The kid pointed to a stalagmite dripping water, creating a small puddle on a far corner.
“The water there is not bad. We can drink it from there.”
Matheus nodded. He tried to find comforting words, but they wouldn’t come.
“I miss my mom.” Daniel said, tears forming in his eyes.
“She also misses you. Soon you’ll be together again.” Matheus said with a gentle tone.
The boy didn’t seem to believe him.
What was this place? It’d all happened so fast. He knew underwater caves were possible, but he’d never encountered one before.
He decided to check the whole place, to see if there was another way out.
“Where are you going?” Daniel asked, a frightened look on his face.
“I’ll just take a better look around. Don’t worry, I won't be far.”
It took only a few minutes to walk through everything.
The cave was full of bones. Remains of past victims, most probably. No wonder the boy didn’t want to be alone anymore. It was a terrifying place.
Besides that, there wasn’t much. The only way in and out was going through that creature full of eyes and limbs.
Matheus approached the entrance, to take a better look at it.
“Don’t go to the water, the monster will get you!” Daniel exclaimed, his voice full of despair.
“I know, but I’ll be careful. I just need to get a better view at that thing. I won’t do anything too dangerous.”
At least, not yet.
Matheus cautiously entered the water, dipped his head and analyzed his adversary.
Rockling - Level: 12
If you come too close, it will get you and hold until you drown.
Health: 32/32, Mana: 0/0
Fun fact: When a rockling is born, the siblings kill each other until there’s only one left!
Matheus' heart dropped. This was by far the strongest creature he’d seen. It was double his level!
Damnit, he would never swim fast enough to get past it before it reached for him. He would have to fight it. But how? He couldn’t really clap underwater, and his strikes had no strength. The monster would have him in seconds.
It didn’t matter how he looked at it, that would be suicide.
Had he found the boy, just to die together with him?
Maybe there was a way to make it come to him.
But Daniel had been here for days, and the creature still waited for him to die. It wasn’t stupid. It knew it didn’t need to attack them, just defend its position. It would come to feast when they were corpses, incapable of offering resistance.
Matheus couldn’t think about anything. He did his best to come up with a plan, and yet he knew there was nothing he could do.
Hours passed, and he was getting close to admitting defeat. He would either die of starvation in the cave, or drowning trying to get out.
Stupidly, Matheus thought about the cat. Was it looking for him? It seemed irresponsible of him, to make it trust him and count on him, only for him to disappear.
His eyes had got used to the darkness by now, and the boy’s breathing was the only sound in the cave. Matheus let his vision wander, trying to come up with a plan, until it rested on the pile of bones that was at the bottom of the cave.
A skull stared back at him.
Matheus got up, startling the boy. He got closer to the broken skeletons and started analyzing them.
He found what he was looking for on his third try.
Rockling Head
Like most of its species, it was killed right after it was born.
“What are you doing?”
Matheus grinned. “I’m getting us out of here. I think.”
Matheus grabbed his first head, and kept looking for more. Some skeletons belonged to humans, others were from monsters he had not yet seen, but there were enough rockling’s corpses for him to fill his inventory.
Six skulls, each giving him a 21,25% strength bonus. A total of 127,5%. Would that be enough against a monster double his level?
He didn’t even know if his Skull Collector skill would work for monsters he didn’t kill. He could just as well be going for his death.
But he couldn’t think of anything else.
Part of Matheus was trying to hold him back. It whispered for him to be just like Daniel, hidden in a dark corner, hoping it was all a dream. Do nothing and wait for rescue to come.
Except, he knew no one was coming. And long ago he’d learned how real nightmares could be.
One more time, he walked towards the cave entrance.
“Please, no. Don’t leave me alone. I can’t be alone anymore, I can’t.” The kid cried, throwing himself at Matheus and grabbing his torso.
“I’ll be back very soon, I promise.” Matheus said, trying to calm him down.
Would he really be back? It all still felt like a dumb idea. He could only hold his breath for like half a minute.
And yet, he knew that waiting would only make things more difficult. Without food, soon all his strength would leave him.
It was now or never.
Matheus started swimming in the Rockling’s direction.
The creature noticed him coming, and half a dozen eyes opened and watched him. They seemed to dare Matheus to come closer.
And without hesitation, he did just that.
When he was close enough, the creature's many legs sprouted and it rushed to his direction. Soon two hands appeared and grabbed his arms, immobilizing him.
Matheus put his feet on the monster’s face, grabbed the hands back and pulled.
Even underwater, his yank was strong enough to rip the creature’s hands off.
Dark blood started filling the water.
Now hurt, the monster tried to get away, but Matheus wouldn’t let it. He grabbed another of its many arms and held firm, his grip strong enough the creature could barely move.
He took his knife from his inventory and started stabbing eyes.
It was all over in a few seconds.
You’ve killed a Rockling!
You’ve leveled up!
You’ve leveled up!
Stab has reached level 4!
Skull Collector has reached level 3
When he swam back to the cave, he wasn’t even out of breath.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“All this blood…” The kid looked horrified.
“It’s ok. Not a single drop is mine.” Replied Matheus, realizing he was indeed covered in dripping red water. “The monster is gone. Now let me take you home.”
–/–
“But…how?” The city master asked, stupefied.
“There is a cave inside the lake. He had been down there this whole time.” Matheus simply said.
They had arrived in the city a few minutes prior, for the total astonishment of the guards at the gate. The boy was taken to the infirmary right away, while Matheus went to the city hall to complete his quest.
“A cave inside the lake? How is that possible?”
“It's just the way the world is.” Matheus answered with a shrug. It wasn’t like he understood the physics behind it anyway.
The city master gave him a weird look, and Matheus started getting nervous.
A loud meow echoed behind him.
The cat came running, and started rubbing Matheus’ legs desperately. In its haste, it kept falling to the ground, only to get up and start over.
“Hey. I was only a few hours late,” Matheus said, using the opportunity to get away from the city master.
“Meow.” It answered.
Matheus petted its head, then picked the animal. It looked at him, affection and accusation on its one eye.
“I’m not leaving you alone. Don’t worry.” Matheus said, while putting it on his shoulder and walking. The cat didn’t seem to mind.
“You know, I’ve never had a pet before. I had always wanted one, but my mom has severe allergies.”
The cat seemed to know Matheus was talking to him, because the purring became stronger.
“I remember a time when I found a little dog on the street, on my way back home. Just a little puppy, with big round eyes. He tried to follow me back home, and it broke my heart to leave him behind.”
“The next day, I passed through the same street, and there he was. And I swear, he recognized me! He came running to my direction, wagging his tail all the while.” Matheus kept going, while petting the little cat’s head.
“That day, I’d decided to name him. I thought for a while, and finally ended up with “Bark”. It was my first time naming anything, and I admit it was kind of a silly name. Still, it felt special. I was officializing our relationship that way. It felt right.”
“I started buying dog food with my allowance, and some days I would play with Bark for hours. He even answered when I said his name.”
“This was right after the whole “King of Losers” thing started. In the beginning, it wasn’t that bad, but it escalated quickly. Everyone got meaner and meaner.” Matheus could help clench his fists.
He never liked talking about the bullying. It changed nothing, and it drained him of all energy. But he kept going. “Bark was the only thing I had going for me those days. A little happiness, in the middle of all the pain.”
“Until one day, I couldn’t find him. I searched for hours, everywhere I could think of. He was nowhere to be seen.”
“The next day, some kids cornered me after school. They told me they knew about the dog, and they had made sure I couldn’t do my “filthy things” with him any longer. They laughed, and tried to make my cry. I just felt numb.”
“I never found out what happened to Bark. I prayed for days, begging God or whatever to ensure my dog was safe. I hoped those boys had only taken him somewhere else, maybe someone had even adopted him and he was now living a warm and happy life. Happier than he could have been with me.”
“I needed to believe that. I couldn’t accept the alternative”.
“Afterwards, I never let myself get closer to any other animal. I don’t think I could handle being responsible for the suffering of someone else again. Nor letting someone get close, only to be taken away. I am not sure I would be able to handle that even now.”
Matheus took a deep breath, the small creature still looking at him affectionately, like he was the most important person in the whole world.
“It wouldn’t be fair, would it? For me to walk away now. Not after making you care for me.”
“You deserve a name. Don’t worry, I won’t call you “meow.” Said Matheus with a small chuckle.
“What about…Captain?
The moment he said it, a new System notification popped up.
You’ve met the requirements to bond this animal as your familiar.
Warning! Every Champion only gets one familiar, choose wisely.
Double Warning! Due to your Vassals attribute you can ignore the last warning.
He could bond this cat as his familiar?
Matheus felt an uncontrollable rage coming over him.
If the System was allowing that, it was because it considered the cat as a “loser”. It had been pretty clear on what the restrictions were.
He wouldn’t let a voice on his head dictate someone’s worth. Fuck the system and whoever created it.
He looked at Captain, licking himself. Should he really do it? A familiar could be of great help, but Matheus had no idea how this poor creature could be of any use in a fight. Mostly likely, he would have to protect and care for him.
Well, if not him, who else would? Wasn’t he just about to accept the responsibility of taking care of the cat?
Matheus confirmed it.
He felt…something, going through his whole body and connecting him with the little one. A warm feeling.
It was nice.
Matheus also noticed a new tab was available on his System. He checked the information straight away.
Familiars! Powerful creatures, if you manage to build a strong enough relationship, your bond is stable enough you can start getting stronger together!
Captain - Cat
Level: 3
Health: 8/8, Mana: 0/0
Stats
Strength: 3, Speed: 3, Agility: 3, Intelligence: 1, Constitution: 2
Skills
Scratch
If there’s a cat around, get used to it
Skill Level: 2
Effects: A powerful close range attack.
A scratch attack, as expected. But Matheus had no idea how Captain would be able to do it with only one arm.
Well, he wasn’t expecting much anyway.
Either way, he had another important notification to deal with before the day ended.
You’ve been rewarded with a simple spell. Are you ready to accept your reward?
It looked like this quest reward would be done in the same way as the last one.
No point in postponing in.
“Yes.” Matheus confirmed.
Three choices have been created! You have 30 seconds to decide.
Roses Field!
Spoon!
Bubble Ball!
What the fuck was a Spoon spell?
As usual, Matheus had no idea what his best option was. Roses Field might be some kind of boost, or a healing magic? Or perhaps it’s related to their thorns. Spoon could be anything, really. And Bubble Ball… it sounded weak. But it might be a long range attack, which he was still lacking.
Either way, it would be a bet. He might end up with something really good, or another useless skill.
Matheus made his choice just as the timer was about to run out.
He only hoped he wouldn’t end up regretting it.
You’ve been rewarded with a simple spell. You have 30 seconds to decide.
