Chapter 18: Follow That Compass

The goblin let out a gurgle as I pulled my blade from its throat. I wiped it down on its green skin just before it vanished, leaving meat cubes that I ignored.

"You're getting better," Dill said. "If we make it back I can suggest a teacher to even teach you if you want?"

"When we make it. Have some hope."

Dill had given me some tips as we followed the compass. Every once in a while we came across a monster, usually a goblin or wolf, which provided more food, or some kind of giant insect. Luckily I hadn't met any more centipedes yet. So far it had been the deadliest monster, though from what Dill said it was nothing compared to some of the monsters he'd heard about.

"Especially on the frontiers," He gushed. I found that Dill's favorite topic was delving which was the act of exploring unknown parts of Labyrnithea and delving into places never before discovered.

"Mhm. Let's hope we don't run into any monsters like that." I was confident in my ability to deal with these types of monsters, but I couldn't imagine going up against some of the stuff Dill talked about. Stuff like slag moles, stone swimmer piranhas, and different types of wyverns.

"My father has armor forged from a wyvern he slew. One day, maybe If they ever let me out after this. My sister's going to kill me if— when we return."

"I doubt it. She'll be too glad you're alive."

He snorted. "Maybe, but I've asking for months to go with her on a delve, and look what happened. I'm never going to hear the end of it."

I could sort of relate. I'd gone to an amusement park with my uncle once and I'd begged to go on a rollercoaster only to start crying when it started. He certainly hadn't let me live that down. Every time after that day whenever I brought up the idea he'd hit with something like, "You sure you won't cry again?"

I smiled at the memory. We had gone again in the end, and I'd overcome that fear with his help.

As I finished off another wolf and stored its meat, Dill walked over and shook his head. "Can you turn it off?"

"What my looting magic." That's what I called my looting ability

"It's waste," he said. "Sure it's a shortcut in a way, but those three steaks are only like a quarter of the wolf. And what about the fangs, and fur? You can make money off them."

"I've never tried to turn it off," I said with a frown.

Could I turn it off?

I could as I found out with the next monster which was a goblin. I just focused on not looting and the body remained. That was certainly good to know and made me wonder, would it be worth it to use on weaker monsters? I had received the crude rat bone dagger which meant it wasn't just meat and body parts but unique loot I got. I tried to loot the body and found that I could even if I had stopped it initially.

The next monster, a spider, I cut up into three pieces much to Dill's confusion.

"What are you doing?"

"Testing something." I focused and tried to loot. The body vanished.

With the next monster, a goblin, I lopped its head off and flung it far away. When I tried this time, the body vanished, but the head did not, and the pile of meat cubes was smaller. I continued testing as we followed the compass. I tested what would happen if something ate a piece of a corpse by throwing a goblin limb to a wolf before trying to loot the goblin. The same thing happened; it vanished but the pile of meat was smaller.

Things got really confusing for a moment when I killed an overly large wolf, took its head, and walked on for a few minutes before looting it. What appeared was one-half steak and a dagger.

-----

Crude Fang Dagger[Tier 1]

Weapon Type: Dagger

Durability: 20/20

Quality: Average

Abilities: [None]

Traits: [None]

-----

Was it only the kill that mattered when it came to unique loot like this? It seemed so, though I couldn't be sure until I tested more. If it was true then the amount of meat and resources I got was dependent on the size of the corpse when I looted. There was a range involved. If one part of the corpse was far enough away it wouldn't be looted.

That gave me another idea.

"You're not a butcher in your world are you?" Dill asked

"No," I said. I was also surprised by how unaffected I seemed to be by all the blood and gore, but it just didn't bother me. I found the firm I'd worked for more disgusting than this.

The next test involved a goblin. I killed it, took its head, and walked out of range which seemed to be a few meters. I looted it, which earned me one nasty cube of goblin meat. Then I walked back to the other part of the corpse. When I walked into range, nothing happened. I tried looting it and it worked. More cubes of nasty meat.

After that came the size test which involved taking the eye of the wolf and walking out of range before looting it. The eye vanished, and the corpse remained. I got nothing from the eye.

"Interesting."

"Kaiden, I don't want to interrupt you, but your…" He pointed at me and I looked down to see that I was covered in blood.

"Yeah, that's a problem."

Dill nodded.

"It will attract more monsters, though that's not entirely a bad thing."

Dill choked.

By the end of the first day I had leveled up twice, and we had plenty of meat, though Dill would not stop asking me about the dagger and my magic.

"So what, it just makes weapons for you, how?"

"I already told you, I don't know." I took a bite of wolf steak. "It's innate magic, something I was born with."

That was a lie, but I wasn't going to tell him the truth.

"You need to become a delver," Dill said, his eyes growing wide. "Or a monster hunter. Just think about it, imagine what a dragon would get you."

I chuckled. "I'm far from facing a dragon."

"I've seen weaker people take them on," Dill said. "Though they're usually in larger groups that have organized a hunt."

"And how does it go for them?"

"A lot of death, but sometimes they get the dragon, depends on the type."

"How nice," I said flatly.

Before I went to sleep that night I made sure to place my points and I did a quick check-up on everything.

-----

[General Information]

Name: Kaiden Anthony Lorde

Race: Human(Modified)

Gender: Male

Age: 20

Origin: Earth(Terra - 13)

Level: 15 | XP: 8% > 16

Entity Class: 0

[Attributes]

Strength: 20

Endurance: 20

Constitution: 20

Dexterity: 18

Agility: 18

Intelligence: 12

Perception: 15

Sense: 15

Willpower: 16

Wisdom: 10

Charisma: 10

Luck: 6

AP: 0

[Abilities]

Heavy Impact(5)[Tier 0]

Force Push(2)[Tier 0]

Quickstep(4)[Tier 0]

Force Bullet(2)[Tier 0]

Harden Body(1)[Tier 0]

[Ascension]

Body(Core): 4%

Mind(Core): 2%

Soul(Core): 2%

[E-Seed]

Seed Slot I: O-Energy | OE: 0/0 (N/A) |

Seed Slot II: Internal Energy | IE: 15/15 (1.5/1H) |

-----

I smiled at the beautiful sight. I felt the increase in stats from my physical capabilities to my perception and my other supernatural senses. It wasn't too noticeable maybe because it was subconscious and was not connected to my instincts but I was more aware of my surroundings. It was hard to describe. It wasn't like normal senses. It was more knowing, at least that's what it seemed like. Like a sixth sense.

Then there was my IE. There was definitely more to explore there, and I was glad I had done the short experimentation I had. Quickstep and Force Push had been life-saving. I hadn't used Harden Body much so it hadn't seen any increases. In fact, I don't think I'd used it at all yet.

Lastly was ascension which I still had no clue about. It had increased, but I didn't know what that meant or how it would affect me. I had guesses and speculation, but nothing concrete.

"Kaiden… how long do think it'll take?" Dill's voice was soft and full of longing and a hint of sorrow.

"I don't know, Dill. It could be days, it could take weeks. But don't fret too much. We'll make it. You have to believe."

I knew what he was going through. I knew worse. I had been complacent at the firm and with my parents. More a puppet than a person, forcing myself to do something for reasons which I kept believing. Reasons that weren't true, but powered by my belief created a cage that kept me locked up; that kept me from breaking free.

In the end, something had broken in and destroyed the cage. I suppose I should be grateful to my father for that at least. For breaking it, even if it was in a messed up way. Even with the danger, the monsters, and all the other worries, I felt happier here, on the cold hard earth in a monster-infested forest than I ever had in New York. But most of all, I felt free.

"Get some sleep, Dill. I'll keep the first watch"

"Ok… Thanks, Kaiden."

"Don't mention it."

****

"Come on, rise and shine." I tapped a hand against Dill's cheek. "You don't want to be an easy snack for the monsters."

"Five more minutes."

I snorted. "There's steak cooking."

His eyes snapped open. "Steak?"

I chuckled and pointed to the fire I'd made. Two steaks were cooking and giving off an inviting aroma. A goblin had actually appeared, attracted by the smell. A throwing knife had ended him. We ate heartily before we continued on our way, Dill leading us along with his compass.

"Stop!"

I flicked the safety off my pistol and quickly glanced around. "What, what is it?"

"Huh, oh it's not a monster."

I relaxed and walked over to see him looking at the compass worriedly. It was spinning wildly.

"It's not meant to do that is it?"

Dill shook his head. "It only just started. When we passed that tree with the dead goblin."

I'd used said goblin for another test. Seeing if I could loot things killed by others. I could.

"Walk back to it," I suggested.

Dill did, and the compass stopped spinning. He looked confused for only a moment before coming to the same conclusion as I.

"Keep walking and stop the moment it starts spinning."

He nodded and stopped on a normal-looking patch of grass. I walked over and knelt, brushing a hand against the dirt, or so I thought it was dirt. It felt smooth and as I pulled my hand back, it passed through a blade of grass.

"An illusion," Dill muttered.

Almost as if that was some key to an invisible lock, the ground blurred, revealing a circle of stone with a single line down its center. It had the image of a six-eyed skull with its mouth, full of pointed teeth, agape, and words around it. Words in the language of the system or Labyrinthea as Dill called it.

"Speak, enob, thrice as death is to life and offer the currency of the living." Was it meant to be a riddle?

"Enob?" Dill questioned aloud.

"It's bone backward," I explained. "Speak it thrice and offer the currency of the living."

"Does it mean money?"

I shook my head. "No, I think it means blood."

"So what, we say bone three times and offer some blood. Then what?"

I shrugged. "No clue, but we have nothing else to try. Let's not be on it when we do."

"Should I…"

I ignored the question and pulled one of my throwing knives out. I pricked a finger, hoping that would be enough. If not I could kill a monster and drag it here. "You want to do the honors?"

"Sure. Bone, bone, bone."

I let a drop of blood fall. It struck the stone and for a long moment, nothing happened.

"Well that was—"

Dill's words were cut off as it opened up, the two sides of the stone sliding into the earth, revealing a hole of pitch black darkness.

"A dark gap." I sighed. "Well, if this is where the compass is pointing."

"Hold on, are we sure? I've heard of things like these before, and they usually lead into dangerous places."

I pointed to the compass. "That's our way out, and it's leading us here. Unless you want to try and explore this entire place for another way, which might lead us to somewhere completely different or we can use this."

Dill slumped. "You're right. On three?"

I nodded and held back a smirk. "On three."

"One—"

"Three!" I pushed him forward and he disappeared into the darkness, swallowed by it. I took one last glance around at the forest before following in after him. For the second time, I went down the rabbit hole.