Let fly the pigs of war!

The adventurer’s aim was true. The thin rapier was angled perfectly to slip past the ribs and pierce the orc’s heart. A one shot sure kill to show off the skills of any adventurer. Another humiliating **** for the orc.

The tip thudded dully against the orc’s unprotected chest and bounced away. There was no blood. It hadn’t broken the skin. He might as well have been poked in the chest by a finger. Not even a single point of HP dropped from the orc’s health bar.

The two eyed one another in shocked disbelief. Indignantly, the adventurer stabbed at the orc again. But again the sword slipped off the orc’s hairy chest without so much as a scratch.

“What?” The same question came from both men.

The orc numbly rubbed the spot where the sword should have impaled him. A bug in the system?! No, the gods weren’t that merciful to disposable monsters such as himself. Something else was at play here. Something darker.

Blessings of the Dark Ones - Blessing (Curse?) from the Ancient creatures of the Dark Abyss who have recognized an abnormal magical aptitude in the caster. Caster’s Dark attribute spells deal x2 more damage. Immunity to Dark attribute damage. Take x2 more damage from any source of Light Attribute attack. Studying any Arcane Knowledge is gained more quickly.
-note- a Blessed Feat from any source unlocks the normally hidden Luck attribute.

The orc’s mind raced. It wasn’t that he had forgotten any of his meager skills. It was just that in the myriad of ways he’d been killed, Dark attribute attacks simply hadn’t come up. He had never had the opportunity to follow up on that simple word. Immunity.

Mere seconds had passed but the orc knew he had to press this unexpected advantage before the adventurer could adapt and truly kill him in some other humiliating fashion. He was out of MP. His only weapon was a simple staff. But they were still within arms reach of one another. The orc did the first thing that came to mind, with a howl of all the pent up rage of his multiple lives and deaths, he head butted the taller adventurer in the jaw.

The other man staggered back, apparently stunned, though whether from the noise, the attack, or simply the sudden change of events; the orc didn’t know and didn’t particularly care. With his free hand the orc grabbed the adventurer’s hand still holding onto the useless rapier. With his other arm he slammed his staff down on the man’s forearm with a sickening crack.

The adventurer screamed in pain and terror as he was **** to drop his weapon. The pain was all too real for a mere game. He was **** to his knees in front of the foul creature as the beast still held firm to his broken arm. He stared in horror at the look of pure bliss on the orc’s face as he raised the wooden stick again. The gnarled piece of wood filled his vision as it impacted his face and then everything went dark.

Strike after strike hit the **** man as the orc attempted to cave his head in. Payback for every cruel **** that had been inflicted upon him by their kind. Each hit did little damage on its own, but soon enough the orc managed to bash through what little health the adventurer had remaining.

At the same time the bloody adventurer disappeared in a cloud of dust and sprites, the orc was overwhelmed by a sudden surge of power and a triumphant blast of music from the system.

That was new.

Or was it? The orc wasn’t sure or not, he only knew it had never happened to him before. With trembling hands he checked his character sheet

Level Up!
Level 4 Orc Novice
Monster, Orc, Explicit
Experience to level up – 399
Attributes: Strength 18 > 19
Dexterity 10 > 10
Stamina 23 > 26
Charisma 9 > 10
Intelligence 12 (+0) > 14 (+0)
Wisdom 17 > 18
Luck 22 > 23

He was slightly stronger. There was a small but noticeable increase in his health bar. Even better was increased intelligence and wisdom. He felt like he was actually close to being a true magic user now. There were no new feats or spells but holy shit he had actually leveled up!

The orc knew it was always theoretically possible, but he’d never seen anything but an adventurer gain a level before. He had spent months of his life grinding, killing anything weaker than himself for the meager experience rewards, but he had always failed and died long before he could accumulate the necessary three hundred point. The dear he had killed the day before had granted a single point. Doing the math quickly in his head he realized he had gained three hundred points at once from defeating the adventurer. He had been going about this all wrong, but now he understood. Adventurers weren’t a plague, they were the key. He would use them to unlock the secrets of this world... eventually.

For now he needed to get the hell away from this spot and off the road before anyone else that may have been alerted by the sounds of the battle could find him.

He quickly opened the large leather pouch that now occupied the spot from where the adventurer had vanished. What delicious loot would be his reward? First came... coins? What need did he have for copper, silver, or gold coins? But they didn’t seem to take up any of his very limited inventory space so might as well grab them. No potions as he had suspected. Too bad, a potion could help him turn the tide of a future battle, but then again if the adventurer did have any then the orc would probably be dead already.

This looked tasty.

Pork Belly (x15) - common

Then there was the ugly purple and black shirt the adventurer had worn.

Tunic-???

But when he tried to slip it on he received an error

Unidentified items cannot be equipped

And lastly a fist sized blood red crystal

Claimant Crystal - Special

The orc nearly hyperventilated. Yesterday he thought it would be impossible to find. Today he was holding it in his hand. He could build. Better yet, he could claim! Would that make him a boss? Could he hold on to what he had claimed? His head swirled with questions and possibilities but the first was simple, he only had one spot open in his meager inventory.

There was really ****, it had to be the crystal. But the orc wasn’t about to discard the first piece of additional equipment he had ever found, ugly or not. The orc still had the wood he had harvested the day before, as well as the moss, grass, and deer hide. He also had a final serving of the venison stew and the hammer he had somehow neglected to return to the goblins. He could have easily made room by throwing something out, but he was greedy and wanted it all. Besides, just because he couldn’t equip it didn’t mean he couldn’t just carry it back.

The only question was where to head back to. He could turn around and return to the goblins. He had promised to aid them and this was the best possible prize. Then again he had already once decided that the negatives outweighed the positives of staying with them. At least for now. Did the crystal really change that?

Was the tiny cave worth claiming? As it was surely not; but if he could build, what could he turn it into?

Was there a better piece of land to take for his own?

He needed to decide quickly. If anyone else realized the prize he held, the entire region would be after his head.