Wizard Of Cosmos

15 - Penalty

Along the way, Jason learned the real condition in the village. 

There were around three hundred families in the village, and most younger people seemed to be leaving. Since there was no exact value left in this small place, Alexandria seemed to have let it slip out of their grasp. 

As for the ones that were left in the village, they lead a scavenging life of collecting minerals and gems in the abandoned mines. Which was a risky matter, with the animals and unstable mines.

This explained why there were no official guards in this village, and the reason for two hidden characters to appear there.

Jason felt enlightened, but he was also baffled. He didn’t know about a lost kingdom that existed thousands of years ago. 

‘I thought I lived here for twenty-five years. Apparently, I know nothing.’

However, he felt this might be the real reason for no powerful wizard trying to claim this massive continent. Still, he was nobody to look into such deep matters. As for now, he had to hunt without being hunted. 

He managed to buy two spears, two shovels, and a heavy rope from the blacksmith for ten silver coins. Even though the price was heavy, he had to buy these before entering the woods. Also, he brought a fish from the fisherman he met earlier. The man was kind enough to give it to him for free.

“There… That one.”

Jason showed the boar that was as big as a cattle. It was the only one nibbling on the grass while the sounder was mostly sleeping. 

“Holy… Are you sure we can hunt it? I mean… Why are those wolves smaller than this?”

“Didn’t you hear the merchant? They are not mature.”

Dawn didn’t miss her chance to get back at Logan, but she was also surprised. If they met wolves bigger than this, they wouldn’t have survived.

“Let’s go. We have to prepare a trap.”

Jason didn’t want to waste any more time. They had to finish this before dark. 

…

He walked a fair distance before finding an opening between two strong trees.

He dropped the equipment before starting to dig the ground. They didn’t have the time to dig a proper trap, but he had to dig enough to trip the swine before it killed all of them.

“What do you need me to do, bro?”

“One needs to help me with the digging. The other has to tie this rope there.”

He showed a place about three metres high from the ground. 

“I will dig.”

Logan took the shovel and Dawn silently took the rope. She was a woman, but she had enough training to do any of these tasks.

…

‘Why did I agree to this?’

Logan looked at the dead fish in his hand. His back was covered in sweat as he looked through the bushes. 

He was the bait. 

He admitted Jason had to be the one to take the main attack, and he had to stay near the trap. Also, he didn’t want to let Dawn take the risk as a woman. The red sunlight was coming through the canopy, and he knew they had to finish it before dark. Forget about the wolves, he didn’t want to deal with these swine at night, anyway.

‘Sigh.’

He slowly walked toward the giant swine, prepared to turn back at any time. This no longer felt like a game. 

He saw the swine sniffing into the air before slowly walking towards him.

He slowly backed away, keeping his distance. 

“Oink!”

‘Shit.’

The swine actually saw him very soon, and Logan was sure it was looking at the fish in his hand.

He turned back and started running as fast as he could. 

The trap wasn’t far from him, but he had to be fast. Dropping the fish wasn’t an option, either. He clearly heard the sound of trees breaking behind him. He felt as if an elephant was chasing after him.

‘Damn it.’

He saw the rope hanging above the pit in front of him. He ran straight toward the pit before throwing the fish inside. He jumped to the rope and used it to swing to the other side. 

The pit wasn’t deep, only around one metre, but he didn’t want to be inside when the swine fell into it.

“Oink!”

The swine tripped over the pit and another rope wrapped around its neck. 

Logan saw Dawn charging in from the bushes and Jason falling on the swine from the branches. 

Dawn pushed her spear into the swine’s neck, but it didn’t pierce deep. With the violent struggle, she was thrown off into the bushes. 

Jason thrust his spear deep into the swine’s ear, and he used the momentum from the struggle to launch himself off its head. He drew his sword mid-air and fell down targeting its eye.

The sword went right into the head of the swine, but this time its final struggle became intense. 

Jason failed to balance his body and he was thrown against a tree in a violent crash. With all his instinct, he avoided the crushing blow from landing on his spine. 

“Crack.”

He heard his ribs cracking as he clenched his teeth in pain. 

“Cough! Cough!”

He spewed out a mouth full of blood, breaking into a violent cough.

The swine carried out its last struggle for a few seconds as Jason crawled to the tree and sat with his back against the trunk.

“Are you alright, man?”

Logan rushed to him. 

Dawn also made his way to them. She had several wounds on her body, but nothing was serious. 

“Can… Can you go to the east side of the village? There is a woman named Amelia. Ask her help to butcher this swine.”

Jason had no choice but to ask for help from Dawn. None of them was strong enough to dismember this creature, and he had no strength left.

“Butcher? What… What about you?”

“I will be fine. Go… quickly.”

He knew there was no one he could ask to help him right now. He was ashamed to ask his new master to help him. Even if he could ask that, he wasn’t sure what the type of magic Master Merlin used was. Only a Life Wizard could help him right now.

“Alright.”

Dawn gave a nod before running off.

“What should we do, man?”

Logan knew Jason’s rib cage was badly damaged. Most probably some of the bones might be already damaging his lungs. However, he was unable to stop his amazement. They actually killed a giant swine. More likely, Jason did the most work by himself. 

Also, the injuries Jason suffered were identical to a real-life situation.

“Let’s wait.”

Jason was unable to move or talk. He tried his best to find a breathing pattern that could ease his pain.

…

Not long after, Jason saw Amelia coming towards them with Dawn. She had an axe on her shoulder.

“You really killed it.”

Her eyes carried a weird emotion that Jason failed to decipher, and he had no strength to answer her back.

“Take him to my house. He knows the way.”

She nodded at Logan.

“What do you want me to do with this?”

“You can have one-fourth… Mine can be exchanged with people for anything. The other two belong to them…. Give a good portion to the blacksmith and the fisherman.”

He got up from the ground with Logan’s help. He didn’t want to talk, but he had to say what should happen with meat. 

His first proper hunt was a success, but it easily could have been a disaster. His body wasn’t ready to use these combat techniques. He wondered how long it would take before he could actually fight.

…

“Phew.”

Jason finally opened his eyes to the pleasant light of the cabin. 

He barely made it to Amelia’s house with Logan’s help before immediately logging out. He felt exhausted. Not physically, but mentally. 

He clearly remembered the pain he had to go through. It wasn’t a joke. He wondered if someone would get traumatised for their entire lives. As for him, he had experienced much worse. 

‘Huh?’

He saw a message on the screen above his face.

- The player has taken significant damage. 

- Penalty time - 12hrs

- If the player enters the game before the end of the penalty time, all the injuries will remain and the penalty time will be refreshed based on the condition when the player logs out of the game again.

- After the penalty time the player can enter the game without injury 

‘That is a relief.’

He pressed the button to open the hatch, but didn’t try to get up from the cabin.

It was a relief to know that he didn’t have to go back with that injury into the game.