Talent Insights

After careful consideration, Markus decided to patrol the area and kill any animals he found. He left his torch behind next to the campfire and took a few laps, increasing his radius every time he went around. He managed to sneak up on a few level 1 rodents and get some meager loot. He put all the bodies together and looted them all at once.

[Looting…

Small Fur x3

Rodent Meat x3]

[Level 1 Rodent looted… 1 exp gained.] x5

Since there were many rodents in the area, Markus guessed there probably weren't any predators. He walked back casually without even bothering to stealth. He was rather relaxed with his current gameplay. The rate at which he leveled would be much quicker than others, so he could afford to take it easy. Additionally, taking it easy was the key to his success!

[Danger Sense has increased to Level 2.]

Markus suddenly dived forward onto the ground and covered his head with his shield. His [Danger Sense] had activated and even leveled up in that moment. Markus grinned as his scheme seemed to work. He wondered what would happen if he wandered around without any caution. Since the cooldown of his [Danger Sense] was up, he wasn't going to waste the opportunity.

While making himself bait, he kept his mental state calm and relaxed. He had a hunch that his talent might be related to not only his physical effort in game, but mental effort. Seeing his gamble pay-off, he was proud. However, when he turned his head and raised his sword to attack, he contemplated running away.

[Eagle (mortal) Level 3]

Scree!

Missing its attack, the eagle had already made a loop, coming in for the second claw attack. The birds golden-brown feathers were beautiful, but its talons the size of a fist were frightening. Markus crouched slightly and raised his buckler to intercept the talons. He glanced at the server time and realized he only had minutes before he became [Overworked] again.

Therefore, he was quick and decisive. Without waiting for the talon to hit the buckler, he leaned forward and aimed for its wing.

[Vital Strike]!

-5

-5

"Gah!"

They exchanged blows. The buckler was already being outclassed. It could not make a significant difference against such a powerful opponent. Despite successfully blocking, the bird overpowered him, and left a gash on his forearm and shoulder. If not for the leather pauldron, he would have taken more damage. Fortunately, his attack landed. Although, he didn't see any signs of bleeding.

Unfortunately, he learned the hard way that [Vital Strike] didn't always hit vitals. He aimed for the wing in an attempt to cripple it. However, he neither crippled it nor did he cause a bleeding effect. It seemed he still needed to take into consideration the anatomy of his opponent. On the bright side, since it was a bird, it needed to circle back to strike again or risk a ground battle. This gave Markus plenty of time to wait for his cooldown.

At least, that was what he thought. The eagle suddenly increased its flying speed by three times and dive bombed him. He instinctually understood that this attack would be lethal. However, it seemed to be a sacrificial exchange. Markus thought he saw a glint of rage in the eagle's eyes as it came down at him. It was willing to die with him!

The speed at which the eagle was diving him would outpace any attempt to retreat. His only hope was to try and block the attack. He took out all his hides and covered his arms with them. Then he let his blocking skill adjust his stance. Using both his forearms in a kneeling position while holding the buckler, Markus still felt unsafe. He looked at his health and steeled himself.

Scree!

-14

-10

All the hides on his arms had long puncture wounds in them. He felt that his arms were fractured from the force of the impact. Fortunately, he had some life left. Due to the sheer size of the eagle and speed it was going, it couldn't stop itself after slamming into Markus. It kept going, pushing Markus to the ground, and slamming its head on the rock he skillfully placed himself in front of.

Peaking at his status, he seemed to have taken that 14 damage. This meant the eagle still had a lot of fight left in it. He dropped everything except for his sword and pulled a reversal on the eagle. Once he mounted its back, he hooked his arm around its neck and started stabbing it in the upper torso.

-3

-3

-2

Once the daze wore off, the eagle started thrashing around, but Markus had secured his body weight in the best position. Additionally, the constant stab wounds and head injury had weakened it. It started calling out in a mournful tone. The sound of a dying animal echoed through the woods as blood splattered all over the ground.

After a few more stabs through the painful moans of the bird, it finally died. Markus relaxed his tired and broken body. Pain started welling up from his chest and arms. If the pain wasn't enough to hint toward severe injury, the system's notification was.

[Abnormal condition: Crippled]

[Crippled

Rank: Mortal

Effect: Due to severe injury, one or more body parts has been disabled.

Message: That looks bad, you should see a doctor!]

Markus sighed, he looked at all his hides and saw that they were all now damaged hides. He proceeded to loot the eagle. At least he was able to defeat a powerful opponent. He imagined a day where level 3's would be crushed by him in a single strike like he did to rodents.

[Eagle (mortal) Level 3. /Loot]

[Looting…

Golden Feather x12

Long Talon x1

Bird Meat x3

Mysterious Coin x1]

[Level 3 Eagle looted… 8 (+3) exp gained.]

After waiting for a minute, no further notifications came up. He was hoping for at least one skill increase, but perhaps that expectation caused it to not happen. Markus calmed his mind and decided to first deal with his nonfunctioning left arm. Just as the system had stated, his arm became disabled. He used his other painful arm to undo the damaged pauldrons and turn it around, cupping his elbow. Then, he wrapped the leather strap around his neck and created a make-shift sling. His left arm suddenly felt a lot more comfortable.

[New skill First Aid learned.]

[First Aid Level 1

Rank: Mortal

Effect: Applying appropriate treatment within the first fifteen minutes of injury will decrease the healing time by up to 50%.

Message: That means it heals faster.]

"Ha… ha." Markus could only laugh at the notification. This further proved that his mental state, intentions, and effort were a major factor to his talent [Lazy Genius]. His half-assed sling with minimal effort gave him a skill, while creating a torch did nothing. Maybe he should have just lit a stick on fire and called it a torch.

[Name: Markus (mortal) Level 2

Status: 3/20 hp | [Crippled] 1:32:21

Experience: 17

Talents: [Lazy Genius]

Skills: [First Aid Level 1], [Deception Level 1], [Block Level 1], [Stealth Level 3], [One-handed Weapons Level 2], [Naturalist Level 2], [Looting Level 2]

Abilities: [Vital Strike Level 2], [Danger Sense Level 2]

Message: You're pretty skilled for a mortal.]

[Danger Sense Level 2

Rank: Hero

Effect: Passively detect lethal danger and move automatically to avoid it. 28 minutes cooldown.

Message: DODGE!]

Looking at his status, he saw the hour and thirty-two-minute timer for his injury. He didn't look at what it was before but imagining the possibility of a full 3 hour wait before he could use his arm again was agonizing. He looked at his gear and realized that he was lacking in equipment. Markus had no practical skill in crafting of any sort, but with his recent gains in understanding of his talent, he had some ideas of how to scam his way into a skill.

The cooldown decrease that came with [Danger Sense] wasn't a huge change, but it opened the door to future possibilities. At the very least, using it to fish for strong enemies was useful. While pondering future plans, he eventually made it back to his campsite. The scattered leaves he placed didn't seem to be disturbed, but he looked around anyway just to be sure.

After confirming nothing was lying in wait for him, he sat down by the campfire and took out the remaining two boar meat. While it was cooking, he started to think about the things he needed going forward. With the knowledge of the level 10 python boss, he understood that the tutorial would last much longer than people previously thought.

In order for him to take on the boss by himself, Markus needed to upgrade his gear. Unfortunately, because of his injury, it would be difficult to do anything that required both arms. This meant dexterous actions like crafting would have to wait. He thought about what to do next, when he suddenly remembered his naturalist skill. Looking for some useful plants would be a great use of his time. Additionally, the first aid skill gave him some rudimentary knowledge about useful medicinal plants.

"Alright, its decided. I'll go looking for various plants after resting. Maybe I can come up with a safer way to remove overworked than eating raw little Elysium."