BXBX NOVEL Chapter 208: Coattails
This Title grants you access to the skill \'Hunter\'s Instinct\'.]
[Skill: Hunter\'s Instinct
Description: On activation, your senses become sharper i.e. Your Perception receives a temporary 50% boost.
Costs: 50 Mana Points.
Duration: 2 minutes.]
"Useful," Henry mumbled as he read through the skill\'s description.
Many times already he had tried analyzing spells and had failed because his Perception had not reached a good enough threshold for the analysis. This changed things and allowed him to bend or at least adjust to the requirements better.
Plus higher Perception meant faster reactions to enemy attacks and that could never be a bad thing to have in his arsenal. Especially if his body was capable of following the speed of his reaction to get the hell away before he got hit.
Speaking of which;
\'All points to Agility.\'
The situation that had made Stamina especially important had passed now and Henry decided it was about time he invested in his most used physical stat. That it had barely helped today did not change that fact.
[Agility: 76 ———> 82]
While the System allocated the Stat points as per his wishes, Henry walked over to Louis and Andor.
He passed the dead Werewolf on the way and saw the body\'s fur was gone and its size had shrunk. It had reverted to its human form and the way the mouth was lolled open with eyes wide open and rolled lifelessly looked very pathetic and almost pitiful. This was especially the case when Henry\'s eyes fell on the completely ruptured midsection.
Henry looked away quickly enough and was by Louis\' side assessing the damage. He touched the spine and felt Louis twitch in reaction.
\'He can still feel pain,\' he thought somberly, \'That\'s good.\'
While the injury was very extensive, pain could mean the cord within the spine had not yet snapped so he could still recover and regain full mobility of his body.
"Nyx, the horses," Henry called to the black mare trotting closer.
"-Ah, I forgot about those idiots-" she answered with an annoyed snort,
"-I had rallied them and was bringing them over when they heard the sound of battle and skittered away like the cowards they are. I\'ll bring them back here.-"
By the time she was saying the last sentence, Nyx had already reached the very end of the path and she dwindled quickly as she traveled far to bring the fearful horses back.
Because Henry had tamed them and had ordered them to stay close, there was only so far the horses could get. Sure, they were still very free to react to sounds of distress and save their hides but they ensured closeness with their tamer and obeyed Nyx as a horse whose \'Equine hierarchy\' surpassed theirs.
Henry turned Louis on his back and propped him up before feeding him Potion after Potion. They flowed down the Mage\'s throat and applied first aid to his wounds but besides a few twitches, he hardly made a move. His heartbeat was also very weak.
For a moment, Henry worried the potions would not be enough. He couldn\'t help but think back to the one time this had happened to him.
Sure, Louis was different from Tony because he had Mana and was more durable than the average human thanks to that, however, Louis was as exempt from the System\'s way of calculating injuries as Tony had been.
"Come on," Henry said with urgency and as though his voice had hit Louis\' ears and pulled him from the brink, the mage\'s chest heaved and he turned his face to the side to open his mouth wide and spew out blood that had pooled on his inside.
He retched for half a minute and it didn\'t look like it was just blood that spilled out.
"Ugh, Henry," he said weakly, "We\'re alive?"
"You, barely," Henry said with a small chuckle, "Think you\'ll be alright? I have to tend to Andor."
"Yeah, yeah," Louis managed to wheeze out as he retrieved a Healing potion from his Storage bracelet and downed it before holding up the empty bottle,
"This will hold me. Go, go."
Henry nodded and walked over to the mountainside that Andor\'s back was pressed against while he sat on the ground.
The Fighter\'s head was lolled to the side and a blood trail drew down the corners of his lips. Just like with Louis, Andor\'s heartbeat was also weak, and just as he had done with Louis, Henry fed him Healing Potions as well.
Two potions were all that were needed to have Andor\'s eyes fly open as he looked around in urgency and he only relaxed when he saw Henry crouching in front of him and no sound of a rampaging Werewolf.
"Henry," he said," It\'s over?"
"It is."
"You killed it?" Andor asked as he grabbed the next potion and drank it himself.
"We all did, actually," Henry said before sitting down and resting his back against the wall.
Up ahead, Louis looked to be feeling better. He had shifted into a somewhat crosslegged position and had his eyes closed as he drew in Mana to rejuvenate his weakened body and dull the ache in his spine.
\'I wonder…\' Henry thought as he activated <Insight> and analyzed the Mage;
——————
[Name: Louis]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Mage]
[Health: 200 ———> 210]
[Mana: 280 ———> 300]
[Strength: 14]
[Agility: 19]
[Stamina: 32 ———> 38]
[Intelligence: 100]
*[Remarks: A young Mage who makes up for what he lacks in Magical Training with a lot of enthusiasm and Talent. Has only discovered one Elemental Aptitude (Lightning).
Has impressive potential but Killable should you want to.]
——————
With <Insight> still activated, Henry turned his subtly glowing eyes to Andor who was staring off into space and clearly at nothing in particular.
——————
[Name: Andor]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Fighter]
[Health: 270 ———> 290]
[Mana: 200 ———> 210]
[Strength: 80 ———> 84]
[Agility: 34 ———> 36]
[Stamina: 42]
*[Remarks: A Fighter who makes up for his limited Martial training with enthusiasm and Impressive strength. Has Impressive Potential but is killable should you want to.]
——————
\'Huh, they advanced again,\' Henry thought.
For the second time today, the stat screens of both had seen improvement and while the System would justify it as being due to their contributions, Henry felt it was mostly following his coattails.
It was as though since they had \'formed a party\' and he led the party and they attempted a Quest of his, then every time he leveled up, they would too. It wasn\'t entirely a bad thing. Henry just wondered what the guidelines were because the System had not made it clear.
And then the sounds of clopping rang clear in the silence of the night. Both Louis and Andor reacted with a readiness to do battle like they thought more enemies were making their way to them.
"Relax," Henry said, "It\'s just Nyx and the other horses."
Nyx galloped slowly —slow for her— so she could keep pace with the horses she was leading and Henry could hear her snipe at them over and again, accusing them of cowardice.
Henry could tell the horses didn\'t quite care. They were scared of Nyx, sure, but should another dangerous situation arise, they\'d be only too eager to get their asses to safety.
"Come on, let\'s go," Henry said once the horses had stopped a few feet away from them,
"Can you walk?"
The question was for the two and they nodded slowly and stood shakily to their feet.
Louis had a strange posture to not aggregate the damage done to his spine but even then, he winced with every step. His horse trotted closer and, gripping its reins, the Mage pulled himself into the saddle and promptly laid across its back.
"Oh, that\'s so much better," he cooed.
Andor, moving cautiously one step at a time, walked over to his Spear to lift and send it back into his storage bracelet along with his shield, and then he allowed himself one last look at the Werewolf\'s pitiful human body before pulling himself onto his horse\'s saddle.
Henry was observing his Status screen with Nyx\'s tagged along with it;
—————
[Name: Henry Morgan]
[Level: 28 (341/8500 Exp)]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Gunslinger]
[Title: Death\'s Bane, Vyker-Killer, Infernal Partner, Dungeon Raider <Novice>, Hunter]
[Hit Points: 141/280]
[Mana Points: 50/390]
[Strength: 31]
[Agility: 82]
[Stamina: 41]
[Perception: 43]
[Skills:
{Marksmanship Lv. 5 <Active Sub Skill: Quick Thinking> <Active Sub Skill: Reload> <Active Sub Skill: Guiding Shot>}
{Taming Lv. 2 <Active Sub Skill: Bonding>}
{Insight Lv.3}
{Raider\'s Intent}
{Hunter\'s Instinct}
[~Arcane Tapestry~:
Imprinted Spells: -Shocking Grip-. -Extra Arms-.]
—————
—————
[Name: Nyx]
[Creature: Shadow Mare]
[Breed: Valaeren Night-Mare]
[Level 12 (3140/5000 Exp)]*
[Hit Points: 75/215]
[Mana: 225]
[Strength: 95]
[Speed: 180]
[Stamina: 90]
[Skills: {Shadow Dash Lv.2} {<ShadowScape>}]*
—————
With that look at what more he required for the next level-up, Henry clicked the \'LOOT\' button the system presented to him and reaped whatever residual wealth was on the bodies of the many dead littered all over the ground.
Some gold, and some Verlans later and he pulled himself into Nyx\'s saddle and led the way away from the ridge and back to Alvareen.