Chapter 107: Unexpected Gains

Kaius slid his feet through the loamy soil, twisting in place to allow the goblin serf’s adze to dig into the meat of his thigh. He took the wound with little more than a stoic grunt, even as the ice cold metal tinked against his femur. The depths-born ripped its weapon free with a sickeningly jubilant cry.

That pissed him off.

He stepped in, cutting off its foul glee with a knee to the gut, then smashed it down to the ground with a backhand coated in scale. It went down hissing, scrambling drunkenly before its Health could clear its concussion.

The muscle in his thigh writhed, quicker than it had only a few days prior. The sensation still sickened him, the unnatural animation of his flesh only worsened by the speed of his healing. He still preferred it to no healing at all.

**Ding! Lesser Regeneration has reached level 19!**

Kaius grinned as he read the notification. It was more than welcome, after days spent slowly rotating through the farms that surrounded the dwarven city. He hated training like this. It was so much less satisfying, less visceral, than the burn and heat of a true battle.

Sure, it still got the heart pumping, and it was effective, but his blood barely simmered. There was no manic song that coursed through his veins, revitalising his body and mind.

It was boring, plain and simple.

The goblin threw itself to its feet in a howl of fury, lunging forward with a short grip on the haft of its weapon. Spittle flew free of its mouth, sticky slime landing on Kaius’s chest. He growled. Blood was one thing, but that was just fucking gross.

His hand snapped out, grabbing its adze in an open palm. The chipped edge sank into his flesh, cracking the bones in his hand. He ignored the hot flood of blood that pumped from the gash, twisting with his hips to land a jaw-shattering haymaker.

A single stinking and rot-laden tooth flew free of its mouth. It collapsed, squealing.

Then, something unexpected happened.

**Ding! Moderate Feat of Strength performed under Observation. You have been awarded an Honour: Persistent Survivor**

Kaius blinked as the notification came into view, then he moved.

A quick step in brought him towards the goblin, who frantically waved its adze in a wild attempt to gut him. Contemptuously slapping the blow aside, he ripped his hunting knife out of the sheath on his hip, burying it point first into the depths-borns eye.

**Ding! level 13 Goblin Serf slain**

Ripping his knife free, he did his best to wipe it clean on one of the few cleanish sections of his pants, before he returned it to its place on his hip.

“What’s up? I felt you get excited, then you killed it. Did you cap the skill?” Porkchop asked in curiosity as he strode over.

Kaius gave his friend a wide grin. “Honour,” he answered simply.

Porkchop froze, staring at him in shock before a riot of excitement and anticipation flooded over their bond-deepened connection. “WHAT! What is it?!” he asked in a flood of impressions that boarded the line between words and beast-speech.

Kaius understood the sentiment, receiving another Honour so soon was beyond what he had expected. Even getting another one at all was a surprise. He had absolutely no clue what it was for, and he strongly doubted it had anything to do with fighting goblin serfs of all things.

“Not sure yet, I’ll check now. Hopefully it’s also one that you can get. Though it seems to be a little different from the rest, only a Moderate feat instead of Significant.” he responded, hurrying to pull up the description.

Persistent Survivor:

Minor Honour

Whether through wit and cunning, or strength and domination, even the most deadly environments can be thrived within.

Awarded to those who survive in the Great Depths for a consecutive year while unclassed. Allows a vague sense of the direction of the nearest Depths Guardian. +3 all stats.

Bonus: For being the first in your cohort to achieve this honour, navigational sense also provides a direction to the nearest Depths Champion in a moderate radius, and the stat bonus is increased to +5 all stats.

As soon as Kaius accepted the honour, a new awareness entered his mind. It didn’t tug at his attention, not like Uncanny Dodge or Explorer’s Toolkit. Instead he simply knew that his target lay in the direction of the peak of the dwarven city.

Frustration flooded him as he chewed on his reward, heightening his every discomfort. The itch of blood drenched fabric on his skin, the lingering crawl of his Health sealing his wounds, the ache of having to wait to assault their final challenge when it lay right there.

He scowled, kicking a clod of dirt to burn some of it off. The clump sailed through the air to hit the nearby hillside with a puff of soil.

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Porkchop looked up at him, confusion flowing across their bond. “What could you have possibly gotten to annoy you so much?” he asked.

“It’s for surviving down here a year as an unclassed. I got plus five, you would get plus three. The annoying thing is that I can now sense where the Guardian is in the biome. Only a vague sense of direction really. That, and the first bonus lets me feel Champions much the same, in a smaller radius.” Kaius explained, chewing on his words.