4 The [Pit Snake]

After both men gave a sigh of annoyance, Arlos shoved a satchel of basic provisions and a few potions into his hands, before hurrying him over to the rack of gleaming weaponry on the wall. "Just take your pick and hurry on. You're gonna be a real danger when you're stronger so I wanna keep ya as an ally of this place anyways." The wall was covered in well made, and well cared for weapons, each carrying an edge with a silver sheen to it. Entranced by so many options, Kael wished nothing more than to shove each beautiful piece of equipment into his inventory and get adventuring, but he knew that most of this was beyond his strength. Looking each item up and down, swords, maces, spears, daggers, and more lethal works of art shone with a menacing appearance. Out of the corner of his vision, a dull looking glow was coming from a dusty, worn sheathe looking as if it would crumble at the first touch. As he approached, he decided to use [Analyze] to check it out.

[?????]

ATK: [???]

DUR: [???]/[???]

Info: [?????]

[Your level is not high enough to [Analyze] this item. You may equip this item.]

Blinking slowly, he leaned over to pick up the sheathe. The weapon was a dagger, the short hilt and guard made from plain looking metal. Inside the sheathe, which upon further inspection was simply made from a stonelike leather material, was a short, wickedly curved blade shaped similarly to a jawbone, another smaller blade arcing from above the larger one to form a set of wolflike jaws with nasty, painful looking teeth scattered into the gap between. Kael knew this was something good, the dull, black glow coming from the dark maroon metal of the dagger almost like a void. "Hey, Arlos? What's this thing, it looks sweet!" He exclaimed with a hint of excitement, the dagger perfectly balanced and snug in his grip.

The elven blacksmith blinked, and began to speak slowly. "I don't know. I found it in the depths of the storeroom one day in a pile of my Master's old works. If you like it, it's yours but be warned. Master Andak was quite the smith, but had a habit of making [Demon] type weapons." At that, Kael only grinned wider. In Valhalla, there were three normal weapon types. [Basic], [High] and [Magic]. Above those were the rarer, more powerful types, unique to the material they were made from. [Beast] from strong beast monsters, [Dragon] from dragon monsters, and so on. [Demon] weapons were made from the bones or cores of strong Demons from Valhalla's first event, [The Holy War] and the residual Demon enemies that populated the world after.

"I'll take good care of it! Now, onto the adventuring part-" As Kael eagerly walked towards the door, Ceal stopped him and handed him a small leather bound book. "Before you go, I figured you would like a list of the local monsters to know what to avoid. Maybe beating one of those Lesser Crawdads got you excited, but there are much more dangerous things out there. Good luck, Friend." A firm handshake and short, glare filled walk later, Kael found himself out on a well traveled merchant's path, on the other side of the village. He was curious as to why no one told him the name, or where it was, but decided against asking. Some places just wanted to stay hidden.

A solid hour of walking later, a slight indent in the road caught his attention. Ducking into a nearby bush before approaching, he observed it rather warily. Back in Valhalla as a player, he often died to a weak, yet pesky Serpent monster called a [Pit Snake]. They would make small dens in the road and launch at unwary passerby if they were unprepared, often killing weaklings like himself with one bite. If not, their weak poison would finish off his small level of HP. 'Damn, this doesn't look too good.. If that really is a [Pit Snake] den, there could be at least two there. I'm level 2, and slightly geared so if it were a low-level solo one, I might be able to take it... but what about baiting it?' He thought to himself, pulling one of the rocks from his inventory. Thanks to that point in STR, he could heft it easily, and chuck it right on top of the den from behind a tree. Almost instantly after it struck, a thick, brown and grey serpent shot out of the indent, blending in with the well traveled road. The snake was as big as 3ft long, with a body so thick it could be mistaken for a tree limb were it not the color of earth. A [Pit Snake] this big was usually the rare solo one, or a cannibalistic subspecies rarely seen.

Taking his chance, Kael ran out of the bush with dagger raised, aiming for the neck of the outstretched serpent. Slashing sloppily, the blade slit its mouth with a rather big miss from the intended strike at the neck, black blood gushing from its now heavily bleeding mouth. The blade in his hand started to throb, like the beat of a heart as the small blade opened and lifted, looking like an open mouth. 'Hah! Got the bastard!'

[Pit Snake -8HP. Pit Snake Is now bleeding from [?????]'s effect. [?????] Is now in [Devour] Form.]

"Devour form huh? I guess I should try for the neck now then!" Launching himself back at the disoriented, bleeding snake, he found its angry, burning with hatred gaze locked on him. The snake unhinged its jaws, and struck at him, the dagger being clamped into its maw along with his hand, fangs sinking into the flesh as a red glow emanated from the blade, which snapped shut, severing the top jaw from the lower, but not before the snake got a bit of venom in his hand.

[Player Kael took -4 HP. Player is now afflicted with Poison(S). Player has defeated an enemy with cunning, INT +1.]

[Level gain +2. EXP Bar unlocked. 50% to Level 5. Eat the flesh of [Pit Snake] for a chance to gain a Skill.]

"Hell yes! Second monster kill, and some leveling!" Pumping his fist, he then winced as his hand throbbed painfully, the poison hurting him for another 2 HP as it faded away. Setting up camp mid road, he began to butcher the snake and skin it, putting the resulting materials in his inventory as he stuck the lengthy serpent over a makeshift spitroasting fire, looking at his status.

Name: Kael

Level: 4- 50% -> 5

Class: [None]

HP: 15/25

MP: 20/20

STR: 2

CON: 1

DEX: 2

AGI: 1

INT: 2

WIS: 1

Skills- [Gluttonous Nature(Lv1)] [Analyze(Lv1)] [Weak Water Control(lv1)]

"I think.. I'll put a point into CON and AGI." Doing so, the system pinged. [Player's movement speed increased 1%. Now at 101%. Player's HP increased to 35, +10 from CON level.]