《Energy》 Energy 1: A Dream Sometimes, I dream of a small house at the end of the world. It''s not large, big enough for one, and it sits in the center of an island. Every time, I awaken in a small cot and carry on the same routine: rise, stretch, grab a blanket, and head outside. The air is damp and chilly, with the wind whipping up sprays of salt. I clutch the blanket tighter. The sight of endless ocean before me is quickly dwarfed in appeal by the thunderous, continuous roar from behind the house. My steps are quick, well known at this point, and I take in the softness of the grass with quiet contentment. On the other side of the house, my backyard of sorts, is the end of the world. A mountainous waterfall that disappears into nothing... That''s my best guess, anyway. I wouldn''t want to check, these dreams are too nice to squander by diving into the abyss. Instead, I sit down, wrapped in the comforting warmth of the thick blanket, and watch. The sparkling of the spray, the sheer majesty of that much water pouring off into the sky... it never gets old. Sometimes I wish someone was here to share it with. The island, fairly unique in its placement, essentially amounts to a large rock that protrudes slightly out past the edge of the falls. Uncomfortable, if not for the soft grass cushioning the top. Another, smaller rock troubles the water nearby. It''s the source of most of the spray that makes it to the island. I''ve always wondered, with that swirling, foamy mess sending sprays here all the time, how the island stays so green. My sitting location isn''t for the faint of heart, as all inspections have indicated that it isn''t actually supported by anything. I sit atop a large overhang that remains remarkably stable despite what must be some serious erosion. It''s oddly satisfying to relax in a place of extreme danger. What is risk in a dream? What does a god fear in his own world?Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ... A god, hah. I hold out my hand. The spray catches immediately upon it. It feels real... cold and salty... a god could make it warm and pure. Of course, the water hardly cares what I want it to be, remaining its sullen, salty self. A god could at least have a fire. A god could fall into that darkness and feel right at home. A god would. Time passes as I sit in quiet contemplation. The sun sets into the ocean behind me, framing the world in a last, golden display of color and beauty, before there is nothing but a soft moonlight on the water and the gentle twinkling of stars. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, something nags at me, but I care little right now. Anything can be taken care of when I wake. After all, with such a long day behind me, I deserve the rest. I close my eyes and enjoy the abyss. Except... The nagging intensifies. What did I do yesterday? Dreams are always so fuzzy when you try to remember...what, exactly? It was important, I know that much. My job? Business as usual, so to speak. I work as a programmer. They say do what you love, and I love problem solving. Or, more accurately, I apparently enjoy beating my head against awful documentation, asshole designers, and making excuses to my boss. ¡°It¡¯s the life.¡± I mutter, smiling wryly. No, not that. No stunning developments in the romance front, that''s always been a mixed bag¡­ and now, quite an empty one. Like an incessantly ringing telephone, the nagging in my head reaches a crescendo of aggravation, to the point where I actually yell "WHAT?!" at the sky. Like an idiot. This action becomes significantly less idiotic the moment the sky answers: "It''s about damn time! Jump already, fuck." Energy 2 You know that feeling, right when you realize you''re dreaming?I always feel cold all of a sudden, like I''m not welcome anymore.The world around me loses vibrancy, my movements feel restricted, and anything short of surrendering back to unconsciousness will bring me straight to wakefulness. This moment was a bit like that. Just... without the waking up. The weakness suddenly intensifies and I find myself experiencing this strange place from a new angle: face down in the grass. Grass... that undeniably feels, and tastes, like grass. All in a moment, any amount of calm or collection I had breaks and I do what any rational person would, faced with the situation of actually waking up on a dream island at the edge of the world. I panic. I¡¯m oddly detached as my mad scrambling sends me rolling across the manicured lawn, spinning rapidly and hoping deep down that enough idiotic motion will wake me from what must be a very convincing bout of sleep paralysis. Suddenly, I find myself in free fall. My eyes snap into focus, alerting me that I have inadvertently pushed myself over the edge of the small peninsula overhanging the waterfall. You know how falling in a dream is supposed to wake you up? Well, I can say it awoke something: that pure, unbridled fear best described as the ''did I just kill myself'' feeling. Imagine you''re downhill mountain biking, and your wheel slips at just the wrong time. The turn is over too soon, you''re going too fast, and with a final shudder of the suspension, your bike -and you- are airborne. Below you is nothing but an unforgiving drop onto uncaring rocks, whose only purpose in that moment is to give you a comfortable place to land.I''ve always thought that what you do in that moment defines you. Do you freeze up, refuse to accept reality, and die? Or, do you''screw the security deposit'' and kick that bike further out into the abyss, praying it¡¯s enough to keep you among the living? Fortunately, I''ve been more than stupid enough to become accustomed to answering that question. Several things click in my head at once: this is real, the consequences are real, and regardless of how little I consciously believe what''s going on, my leftover monkey brain is more than happy to take over and save my sorry ass. What I hadn''t noticed before was how the bottom of the cliff happened to be an ideal place for vine growth, and a few of them hung down to bask in the spray.Not the best bet, but surely the only one. I throw my hand out and catch one of the vines, but its slimy texture and relative thinness make it unable to stop my rapid descent. Panicking further, I grab with my other hand, missing any other vines completely andinstead, spinning myself around as I continue to slide. I''m rapidly approaching the end, both of the vine and my life, and my grip isn''t enough to stop me. I feel my body lock up, with every option I come up with becoming impossible the moment I move to execute it. Fear. My hand slips off the end. Dread. I feel something in my back pop, pain lancing through me. My head spins from the jarring motion. Must have hit a rock or something so I can be in pain the whole time I''m falling to my death. Damnit. I always knew it was going to end this way. But¡­ it''s less windy than I thought it would be. Might as well take in the view while I''m falling. I tentatively open my eyes and I¡¯m immediately rewarded with a profound sense of vertigo. I expected to see things moving quickly past me as I fell, but instead I find myself upside down and decidedly not falling. My eyes pan to the gaping void of water and air below me. I won''t lie, there was some screaming. I''m happy to say, I instinctively went into my best diving form. I''m less happy to say that diving into the bottom of a never-ending waterfall would be the most surefire way to die, not even mentioning the fact that you can''t DIVE if you''re not FALLING. Oh well, we can''t all be winners. However, after giving my lungs a bit of exercise (read: voice has failed from yelling too much), I realized one very important thing: I was not falling. Or rather, the ground isn''t getting closer quite yet... if there even is ground down there... Maybe don''t speculate about that. Yeah. Good. I crane my neck to look up and, after some elegant wiggling, I get a view of my predicament. My ankle is thoroughly entrapped in vines, so I won¡¯t be moving anytime soon. Less fortunately: the extended screaming and being upside down had kinda messed with my blood flow, and I''m not feeling super. Even the effort of looking up was such that, after only a second of analysis, I let myself go slack to ponder further. Thinking while all your blood is in your head is a poor decision in any situation, but exceptionally bad when you are in a life or death Spider Man swing under a waterfall. As such, the first thing I thought to do was free my foot. How? Well... if I swing back and forth enough, I''ll get the momentum to more easily do the hanging sit-up required to reach the tangle. Obviously. Beginning the execution of my ingenious plan, I work up a bit of momentum, which would almost be fun if not for the gentle reminder from gravity that centripetal force was a thing. Everything is working against my blood flowing anywherebut to my head. Good thing blood flow makes you smart.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. This combined with the fact that I had been so focused on my trajectory away from the rock that I neglected to think what would happen on the back swing, which led to me whipping around the bottom of the outcropping. An outcropping I met, full force, with my face. Today is looking like a bad day for faces. The term ¡°knock some sense into them¡± seems to work exclusively in cartoons, because whatever semi-competent mental state I was in before now takes a back seat to my blood overdosed and newly concussed train of thought. My face has become a mask of pain and blood, indicating that I really messed something up this time. Blood from my mouth flows logically into my nasal passages, causing me to reflexively cough and splutter to clear it. I succeed only in blowing more blood into my face. Which gets into my unsuspecting eyes. I''d like to take a moment to remind anyone who enjoys happiness that blood in the eyes is never the way to achieve that. I''m just saying, hemorrhagic fever and smashing face first into a rock have one clear thing in common, bloody eyes. I wouldn''t do something so brash as to compare my suffering, -upside down, confused, bleeding, blind, and sad- to someone with Ebola, but I can say I empathize with them a bit more now. Putting ''analytical thinking'' and self deprecation aside, I opt for the tried and true method of brute forcing my way through things. I use my adrenaline fueled muscles to get into a highly uncomfortable sitting position, and grab the slimy vines. With a foothold, I might have a chance. I try to raise my grip, one hand over the other, slow and steady- my hand slips. With a hearty ¡°FUUUUCK¡±, the limited progress I have disappears before my eyes, and it''s all I can do to keep my hands on the vine at all. The thought of falling back into the upside down hang fills me with dread. Can you imagine running out of energy and just being stuck there, eventually dying, upside down, in an alien place? I¡¯d be a fucking macabre pinata. I can die a littlebetter than that, right? Again, one hand over the other... but I''m just squeezing my body into a tight ball... the strain will always eventually be too much. I''ll slip before I can get vertical the way I want to be. An idea strikes me... sometimes you have to trap yourself more to get untrapped. I reach out to one of the nearby vines and wrap it a few times around my wrist. I grab the area directly above my wrap, using my own wrist as a hand hold. Can''t slide past that, slimy bastard. I roll my arm slowly more and more into the vine, getting a handhold that climbs with me, until I can feel my feet start to shift in the tangle. I know that if I cock this part up as badly as the rest, it''s free fall time, so my nerves are fully on edge as I pass all of my weight onto my arms and kick free of the tangle. There''s a moment of pure terror as the ball of safe vines careens away, and it takes every ounce of effort I can muster to keep from losing my grip. Agonizing seconds creep by as the ball leisurely floats away, bounces lightly off the cliff face, and shakily swings back towards me. I wait until it''s just about as close as it will swing, before striking from above with my foot. It''s like trying to balance on a particularly angry goat, who is itself on top of a flimsy ice float, but eventually I manage to get both feet squarely on the tangle. An unbidden sigh of relief escapes my mouth. That acrobatic bullshit was probably the worst thing I''ve ever had to do, and you''re damn right I was going to bitch and moan about it to anyone who would listen. Which was¡­ Exactly nobody. I don¡¯t know where I am and there aren¡¯t any other people around... what is this place? Where is everyone? WHO PUT A HOUSE BY A CLIFF- calm. Calm. Questions for later. I take a moment to use my new perspective and actually survey my surroundings. The craggy rock face I''m looking at seems to be around 8 feet thick at the base, and it steadily gets smaller in width and depth the further towards the tip of the peninsula you get. I shiver momentarily as I remember how long I spent on that outcropping... I really wish this had been a dream. There are worse ways to die than an impromptu waterfall surf atop a falling rock, but... there''s also not dying which is a much higher priority. As I''m about to start climbing, something gleams in the shadowy depths, as though calling to me. It''s higher than me, and looks to be embedded in the cliff side in some mud... but it must be really shiny to reflect the limited light down here. ¡­ I ¡­ I want the shiny. Greed is such a powerful thing, and it always always makes things worse... Quietly cursing the fact that I''ve clearly not evolved far beyond the common crow, I add ''collecting the shiny'' to the route I need to take to get back up to the top of the cliff. But... where would I put it? The pants I have... these are not my pants. Looking down, I realize that nothing I''m wearing looks familiar in the slightest. REGARDLESS. The strange pants I''m wearing have no pockets. Men''s pants that don''t have pockets. Yeah, this is definitely an alien planet. There has to be a way to do this... The pants are fairly tight around my waist... I could tuck in my shirt now, and then use it as a giant pocket. It''s dumb, but... I''m not exactly in a ''high functioning'' mood after all the head injuries and near-death experiences. This will probably secure the shiny thing, and that''s what matters. I free my hand from its wrap, and start twisting the tangle. Just like in grade school when I would twist the swing, as long as I didn¡¯t let it untwist I would slowly gain height. Once I was high enough, I could probably use the twisted part above my current platform as an extremely temporary foothold. Then... I''d have to wrap my arms in vines and hope for the best...after grabbing the shiny thing. I begin to execute my plan, slowly rising, inch by inch, until there are only a few feet from the top of my hands to the top of the cliff. I mentally rehearse what I''m going to do: pull myself onto the twist I''ve been making, grab the shiny and secure it, and...jump...up the rest of the way. I can do it... I just... ya know... am terrified. If I don''t go now, I''ll be stuck contemplating it till I die, which will be soon. One more deep breath.... Go. Energy 3 As soon as I kick off the tangle, it starts to unwind, starting the clock. The extra, momentary weight causes a visible heave at the anchor point for the vines. Frankly, I''m lucky they''ve supported my antics this long. I get my knee into the top of the twist and frantically try to push into a standing position. The extra weight on the twist is shortening my time, speeding the unraveling. Precious seconds tick by as I regain my balance and make a grab at the shiny rock. It comes loose surprisingly easily after I touch it, so much so that I almost lose my balance. Stifling the momentary heart attack, I stuff it down the collar of my shirt, wincing slightly as it bashes my hip on the way down. Don''t look down, it doesn''t matter, do or die. One shot. I grasp the left vine with one hand, crouch, and launch upward with everything I have. The vines themselves give out before the twist does, sapping the power of my jump and turning a fairly sure grab into a hail Mary. There''s a single, crystallizing moment in which it''s impossible to tell whether I''ll make it. There are no thoughts of failure, just about making sure my tired grip will hold me when I make it. I have to. My hand latches onto the side of the cliff. Immediately, the edge crumbles slightly, showering my face with small rocks and sending my heart into my throat. By some miracle, about half the edge manages to hold my weight long enough for me to get my other hand up. There''s no time to celebrate, the hardest part is pulling yourself up a sheer cliff, especially when there''s only empty space beneath it. I have no footholds and my arms are already screaming. Agonizingly, I pull up enough to get my arms on the rim, straining as hard as I can and kicking at the empty air to try and shift my weight a little more over the top. Each laborious breath burns in my throat, my body inching steadily closer to safety even as my muscles lock up. With a fairly anticlimactic flop, Iheave myself onto the grass. Oh sweet flat land, how I missed you. I don''t even care about the grass taste anymore, there''s nothing better. This is bliss. I lie on my back, taking a moment to savor the relative safety. There''s something profoundly satisfying about not dying. More than the normal, day to day being alive, but being faced with death and avoiding it. It can probably be boiled down to your brain flooding you with endorphins for defying natural selection one more time, but I can tell you that knowledge doesn''t diminish the reward in the slightest. ¡­ I open my eyes and struggle to sit up as best I can. Doing so is rewarded withquite a bit of pain, not only from my aching muscles and bones, but also from the inevitable result of letting a large shiny rock slide off one''s chest and onto one''s genitals. My movement to sit upright flows easily into a more ''downward dog'' position, but far more laden with shame and regret than the traditional yoga pose. Untucking my shirt, I let the sizable rock fall to the ground. Though I want to hate it for the wrong it has done me, it really is pretty. It has an amorphous shape, and is colored a deep yellow, almost gold. It seems to glow with its own luster, as though it generates light just from being so polished and perfect... Wait.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I grab the discarded blanket from before my fall and wrap the rock in it. Sure enough, by poking my head into the nearly complete darkness of the bundle, I confirm that the rock actually generates a small amount of light. I love this thing, so I start tucking it back into my shirt for safe keeping... when I hear something odd. Like... mocking laughter? But coming from my head. The inside. Directly in my brain.Right! The mother fucker that scared me off a cliff! That same voice was now, very obviously, laughing at me. ¡°Something funny?¡± - Oh no, (snicker) not at all. Frankly (cough) that was the most majestic display I''ve seen so far! You get all kinds of responses from beings suddenly hearing a voice in their head, but that? Wow, you really rank up there. Issuicide a survival trait among your kind? Do mates find it attractive? You must be quite the catch! ¡°You... were watching that whole thing?¡± - Recording would be the better word. That one''s going in the scrapbook. ¡°I...don''t.... what?¡± - Never you mind. Why don''t you take your bonus and finish what you started? ¡°What, nearly falling to my death? So suicide''s attractive in your culture. How exciting that I''m bonding withaliens today.¡± The bitterness is really leaking into my voice at this point. - A smartass, eh? Think you can do a flip this time? That''ll really show me. ¡°Not like I just spent an agonizing few minutes climbingback here, but you want me to go back? Best idea I''ve heard today. Fuck off.¡± I start looking around, trying to make sense of what''s going on. There''s not much in the way of food here... maybe I can build a boat and try sai- - Don''t bother, the current will force you over the side anyway I frown. It can read my thoughts? That''s... unpleasant. But... You can read my thoughts and you just let me keep talking to myself like an idiot? - Frankly, you need none of my help to look foolish. Besides, this way is far more fun. I briefly consider flooding this unwanted mental connection with whatever horrible images and ideas I can come up with, just to spite whatever being is taking the time to fuck with me, but decide against it - It would be pointless anyway, just jump. and I move to more closely examine my environment. - Again, nothing to do here. You don''t even keep anything but the rock anyway. WHAT. WHAT DO YOU WANT. - I''ve been very open about this. Jump. Waterfall. Now. Ah, yes, of course. Now if you would be so kind as to tell me WHY THE FUCK I WOULD DO THAT. The voice sighs inside my head. - It''s the only way for you to move on to the real meat of this thing. Come on, as fun as this was, I have...like a million and a half more of you to go through in the next nanosecond. Chop chop, time''s burning at an arbitrarily slow pace. ¡­ What... do you mean? - You don''t get to find out till you jump. It''s the first test. You even found the bonus already. Go. I don''t respond, instead walking to the edge of the cliff. Yep, still intimidating as fuck. I turn back to go actually think out my options back in the house, but instead I see a shimmering, smiling shadow in the shape of a person. I can tell it''s smiling because... it has human teeth, twisted into a grin without lips... and human eyes... that are surrounded by inky blackness - Boo I instinctively jump back. Directly. Off. The cliff. What can I say, I scare easily. AND A FUCKING NIGHTMARE DEMON IS ENOUGH TO SCARE HARD. This time, I''m resigned to it. My stupid ass fault for going near the cliff. Arms stretched skyward in a futile attempt to grab a vine, I''m met only with the unblinking gaze of the shadowy manifestation as I fall into the dark below. God, if I survive this, I''m going to have nightmares forever. Energy 4 As my body adjusts from the fear of the devil itself to the fear of falling for far longer than I ever have before, I start to adjust from a pencil dive to a more appropriate skydiving position. You want your body to be slightly convex, allowing the air to flow around as much surface area as possible, as evenly as possible. Favor one side over the other too much and you¡¯ll spiral out of control going way too fast. After a few moments, I can no longer see anything but a swirling gray mist all around me. I can hear the wind rushing past me, and the constant roar of the waterfall, but there is no longer any visual indication that I am moving through space at all, which is incredibly disorienting. Slowly, little droplets of water start to match my falling speed. They accumulate around me, moving slightly up or down, but staying relatively in my vicinity... it would honestly be beautiful if everythingwasn''tso terrifying right now. As the droplets stick around for longer, I notice they are not just drops of water. They''re like little stars, but looking at them conveys... a concept? The first one I focus on gives me visions of physical strength, the next gives the feeling of indomitability. The third feels like ever expanding knowledge... andanother gives off the essence of quick and precise physical control. Class selection? I focus on the concept of knowledge. It slowly expands and clarifies, both in my vision and in my mind''s eye. There are more droplets hidden within the concept, focuses into particular applications. I scan through them: speed of learning, depth of learning, concept of knowledge, boundary of knowledge... they all seem to be things that would help with a particular aspect of intelligence. Learn faster, learn more... but despite my efforts, I get no more clarification than that when I focus on them. It seems I am required to take a bit of a leap of faith regarding which of these I choose. I''m about to focus on the speed of learning concept, when a strange, colorful droplet emerges... as though pinched off from the ¡°boundary of knowledge¡± droplet. Focusing on it fills me with a strange sense of nostalgia... and hope... but, unlike the others, it evokes no words to describe it. I don''t know exactly what it is, but I can feel, instinctively, that this is what I want. I focus in on it, and a gut wrenching force takes me away. ---- I''ve always thought there was something more to the world... to people... than what was immediately apparent. A hidden power that exists in everyone, that no one really acknowledges, but is intensely human. People call it the ¡°indomitable will¡±, the spark of madness, chi... it goes by many names. Though these are not all the same thing, I believe they stem from a common power. A power I call Energy. Energy is one of those things that you go through life wondering if it''s really real or if you just want it to be real so badly that you see anything as evidence to support that wish. It''s easy to brush off as ''feeling weird'' or ''random sensations'', with the point being that it''s ultimately meaningless and begs no examination. Choose to examine it, and you start to see patterns. Your intuition gets sharper, things work out the way you want more... but, the best way I can describe it is ''applied will''. Your willingness and ability to see your desires exerted over the world, and for things to be the way you want them. But, it seems mostly to deal with peopleand their emotions, not the physical world. You don''t will the rain into missing you so you don''t get wet, you don''t stop the wind... you make a loved one feel how deeply you care about them, or someone you hate feel their meaninglessness in your world. ¡­ It sounds crazy, doesn''t it? I honestly think so too. And it''s... very strange having two warring perspectives in your mind: vicious rationality and hopeful dreaming. I believe such duality is necessary. Everyone is capable of more than they know, they just have to be stupid or prideful enough to believe they can do it. And then hard reality hits, and I remember all the things I failed at. Competitions I wanted to win, but could not. I was not enough. One side is too miserable. The other, too hopeful. And together, they make... a very confused person. The nostalgia I felt was reminiscent of the few times I''ve been sure in both my rational and hopeful minds that Energy is real. A temporary oneness in a divided mind. With a mental shrug, I stop following the trail of musings I had been on and take stock of my surroundings. I''m a bit surprised by how much better my head feels.I have the feeling that time has passed, but, for the life of me, I can''t say how much. It''s like when you wake up from general anesthesia, and you know things happened, but they might as well be the wind for all you can grasp any of them. You just suddenly are again. I''ve arrived, sitting, on a white floor in a slightly less white room that appears to have no walls. The floor appears to be tile, and there is no exit in sight. I jump slightly as I notice a man sitting a few feet away from me, staring at me. Slightly unbalanced, I manage to swing my arms around a bit and come to rest in what would look like a ¡°leaned back and relaxed¡± sitting position if not for my entirely unconvincing poise and the heat from my cheeks. The man raises an eyebrow, a mixture of amusement and concern on his face. Look, it''s not my fault I''m not used to random, spooky dudes popping up in front of me, ok? ¡°Uhh...hi.¡± oh boy, starting off strong. ~ ¡°Yo.¡± Surprisingly normal for an alien. ¡°Who are you? Where am I?¡± Get the basics out of the way, confirm abduction by aliens, get home-Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ~ ¡°I''m the teacher you chose. You are in my classroom. I''ll explain more after the lesson. So, shall we begin?¡± He gestures towards me, palm open. I''m entirely sure I want no part of this. None of what''s happening makes any sense. ¡°I want to leave.¡± ~ ¡°Once the lesson is over.¡± His hand remains outstretched. Nothing about this guy jumps out at me... he seems like the most average person I could imagine. Like someone took a character generator for an open world RPG and averaged every measurement across the normal human range. He is entirely unremarkable...and might not be a ¡°he¡±, now that I look harder. The being doesn''t react to my scrutiny. ¡°What... exactly... does this lesson entail?¡± ~ ¡°First, present the gift¡± ¡°The...what?¡± The being simply points at my chest and makes a small ''hurry up'' motion. Oh. Right. I remove the shiny rock from its pocket and hold it up. ~ ¡°This is Power. It''s in its solid form right now, and such physical collections of it are very rare, but very powerful. This particular sample is actually artificially enlarged to make it easier for even the less observant sentients to spot it. Power forms the basis for all things in the trial ahead; it influences the world, its creatures... everything. With this-¡± he walks over and breaks the rock in half, like it''s a loaf of bread- ¡°we will each grow a little more.¡± The being walks back to its original position, still carrying the half it ripped off, and sits. Snapping out of my stupor at seeing a rock ripped in half, I''m suddenly agitated. ¡°It''s useful, and it''s mine. All of it." With a slight smirk, the first expression it''s made so far, it simply states: ¡°Everything has a price. You would not know what to do with such a thing, yes?¡± Ok. Fine. I''m being cheated, but I''m getting something out of it. I try to tear the rock like the being had, but find my efforts summarily resisted, with not even a faint wobble to indicate I was even close. I look back at the being, squinting. ¡°Alright, how do I use this?¡± ~ ¡°This training was only open to you in the first place because of what you know of... you call it ''Energy''. Fill the Power with your Energy, and it will become yours to do with as you please.¡± The idea of moving Energy around is something I''ve played with a bit. It feels a bit like creating voids or surpluses around your body to cause flowing towards or away from an area... but that had always taken the form of weird warm sensations in my body. Frankly, it didn''t make any sense to try and move Energy outside my body; it would justresist. But hey, if my alien guru tells me my crazy musings are real,who am I to argue? I shift into a more comfortable sitting position and hold the half rock between my hands. I close my eyes and visualize my energy, a stream of light, coursing through my body. Breathe in. Breathe out. In my minds eye, I see the light flowing steadily alongside my blood. It''s probably just a mind trick, but I feel slightly stronger and more confident whenever I do this. Like the light supports me, lends extra strength and durability by reinforcing my normal movements. But it doesn''t.I focus specifically on the flow going to each of my hands, and the void that the rock represents. I visualize a void in my left hand, and an immense surplus in my right, increasing the difference with every beat of my heart. My right hand grows warmer. My left, colder. The difference increases, the flow of Energybecomes erratic as it tries to reach equilibrium despite the obstruction. A small stream flows back through my arms, handicapping my efforts, but I refuse to let up. A minuscule spring of light bridges the distance between my hands. As soon as one side is connected to the other, the Energy surplus roars over the new channel to fill the void, and the channel grows to accommodate. As though it recognizes the continuous material, my Energy begins suffusing the entire rock, spreading like a spiderweb before creating a blindingly bright bar of light in my mind. Just like that, the glow disappears, and my hands clap together. The rock is missing. Momentarily startled, I open my eyes and look around, only to be immediately distracted with... what would be best described as a pop-up in my vision.
[Congratulations! You learned the secondary skill: Energy Control (Passive). Energy Control: 1]
[Congratulations! You learned the secondary skill: Imbue Energy (Active). Imbue Energy: 1]
Immediately after I finish reading this pop-up, it is replaced with a second:
[Congratulations! You found the Secret: Origin Bonus. Power increased]
[User assimilated extra Power without external aid. Power conversion efficiency heightened!]
[+250 Power (250)]
¡­ I stare, dumbstruck for a moment. Notifications? You¡¯ve got to be- ¡°No, I''m fucking done. Tell me what the fuck is happening, right now! What is this shit!? A game? Start fucking talking!¡± The being merely stares. ¡°What, are you deaf all of a sudden? Talk!¡± Silence. ¡°This is insane! I had a life before this, where did that go? What is this? Where in the everloving hell are we?! I-¡± a wave of exhaustion hits me. ¡°I just-¡± I know I''m panicking but I can''t stop. Somewhere along the line, I had gotten in the guru¡¯s face. ¡°Please...¡± My angerfades along with my voice. I crumple back to the ground in front of it, shins stinging from the impact. ¡°...What happened?¡± The guru says nothing for a time, merely watching. The silence stretches, as though it¡¯s letting me compose myself slightly and wipe away the frustrated tears that had come unbidden. ~ ¡°Your people always wondered if they were alone in the universe. You are not, and this is merely the manifestation of that fact. You, and all of your kind, will be tested and judged. You no longer compete on the stage of your world alone, but all worlds. This is your trial. Your first step in that competition. Who and what you were before matters little now, and you will find the specifics of those you knew have been suppressed in your memory. They are unimportant. After our training is done, you will go on a long, terrible journey, and you will prove yourself worthy. Or not.¡± Energy 5 It pauses for a moment, as if trying to gauge my reaction. There¡¯s little I can hide. I¡¯m breathing hard, my face is undoubtedly red and twisted in an expression of confusion and fury. Forget everyone I knew and just¡­ deal with it? What I am now, the person that stands here, is the culmination of everyone and everything that came before. I had friends, family¡­ people I cared for more than for myself. But the strange being isn¡¯t lying. I can¡¯t call to mind any names, nor locations. I have memories of places I¡¯ve been, aspects of people, but when I try to imagine a face or a landscape, there are no defining features. It¡¯s like imagining the face on a mannequin. Empty. Devoid of meaning. Seeming unsatisfied, the being continues.~ ¡°Regardless, the individual that emerges will not be the same as who you are now, and the same will be true for any individuals you used to know. Those you knew perished the moment they were selected for the trials, so profound is the change.¡± I barely register the words. This isn¡¯t right; none of this makes sense. Aliens, and a trial for humanity? I feel like movie producers would love this¡­ if only I could remember thenames of any producers. Dealing with shitty situations with equally shitty humor: that¡¯s my coping mechanism. You can¡¯t be hurt if you¡¯re too sarcastic to care, right? The bitter irony being that such a statement is completely false and barely masks the pain. My thoughts spin in circles, trying and failing to make any sense of what¡¯s happening. I think the sudden life or death situation and endless action enabled me to postpone the impending mental breakdown, but that¡¯s in full swing now. I turn around and slowly meander away from the being. I need some time to think, process, and generally freak out, or I think my mind will break. Not like there¡¯s any shortage of space to walk here, seeing as it appears to go on forever. It¡¯s weird not having a horizon¡­ you just stop seeing when your eyes can¡¯t discern any more detail. Not that there''s anything to see. The situation? Aliens abducted me, possibly the rest of the planet. No way to verify. They also suppressed my memory of names and faces. Additionally, I now appear to be in a sort of ''gamified'' state where¡­ somethingis capable of making notifications pop up in my vision. And I¡­ probably have some kind of Stats now, seeing as I got a tangible number of something called Power. Whether that¡¯s just this game¡¯s version of Strength or something else, it¡¯s probably better to have more¡­ and right now I don¡¯t know how to get more. Finally, I got something called a ''Secondary Skill'' after using Energy to...possess(?) the shiny rock. So there¡¯s some kind of skill system for, at the very least, Energy related tasks. And, obviously, Primary Skills as well, unless the aliens didn¡¯t have much grasp on how humans communicate and forgot ''secondary'' implies at least a ''primary''. Maybe more. Part two: How do I address the situation? I have many questions that need answering, and I need to be formidable under these new rules. I need to secure the means to protect my life and, secondarily, my principles. I would say that I want to return things to the way they were, but¡­ that seems both pointless and, frankly, untrue. Being bored with the world as it is-...was, was never an uncommon thing. Why else have so many video games, movies, and comics to distance people from the real world? No, I don¡¯t want things to go back to the way they were. If this is the new world order, I¡¯ll adapt. Maybe it will be fun? I shiver slightly as I remember the shadow monster that scared me off the cliff. Hopefully nothing will be quite that¡­(ahem) terrifying, again. And if something is, that¡¯s just a lot more motivation to adapt quickly and effectively. Who knows what kinds of laws or reason the aliens will enforce, but something about the word ''trial'' makes me think it will be uncomfortable. The best way to prevent your rights and happiness from being taken away is to be powerful enough to stop anyone from doing so. Solve the mystery, gain strength, and win the game. Simple enough. Thoughts gathered, and having walked for at least ten minutes, I turn around, curious how far I managed to get. The being is 20 feet away from me max. The...fuck? I¡¯m struck with the thought that perhaps it was just following me, but it¡¯s seated, the same way it was before, and seems entirely relaxed. As amusing as the thought of this thing following me and sneakily plopping into a sitting position the moment I turn around is, it¡¯s¡­ unlikely, at best. Suddenly interested, I turn away again and sprint as best I can. As I turn around, instead of the sight of the distance I covered, I¡¯m met with another notification.
[Congratulations! You learned the secondary skill: Sprint (Active). Sprint: 1]
More skills. I wonder what degree of granularity this skill system goes down to. Can I get a skill for moving my eyes? Wiggling my toes?...Eyebrow raising? A small endeavor into that last idea bares no fruit. Alas.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Also worthy of note: the notifications seem to sense my intent and dismiss when I feel like they¡¯re being obtrusive. Worrying, but convenient. Less happily, I find my efforts are, once again, entirely in vain. It might differ by a foot or 2, but the being is still there, waiting¡­ somewhat less patiently than last time. ~ ¡°Please attend to the task at hand¡± It doesn¡¯t appear capable of anger, but the way it¡¯s speaking feels more along that vein now. Fine, step one in the Alien Survival Guide: don¡¯t piss off an alien with unknown ability or motivation. ¡°Sorry, let¡¯s proceed.¡± I walk over to about half our starting distance and sit. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± It inclines its head, just barely. ~ ¡°Good. Now, you chose to be trained in the workings of applied Energy. You were allowed to take this tutorial because you have some small modicum of ability using Energy already, which allowed you to more efficiently gather Power from that source. You should have received recognition from the World Intelligence that you demonstrated capability with Energy Manipulation.¡± It looks at me expectantly. ¡°Oh, yeah, I got a notification about something like that. An active and a passive version.¡± It nods ~ ¡°Good. Those will fill your first and second Secondary Skill slots-¡± It stops as it sees my obvious confusion ~ ¡°The first of your 3 Secondary Skills you can learn while here?¡± It seems confused at my increased confusion. ~ ¡°They¡­ told you nothing of this place¡­ at all¡­ did they.¡± The being remarks the last part as more of a statement, despite it being formatted as a question. It gives another slight nod and continues ~ ¡°You can learn 3 Secondary Skills while in this ''tutorial''. You can have a distributed level in those skills that sum to 5-... 8, for you, as part of the bonus. I will guide you through the last skill as well.¡± Fuck. ¡°Wait, I think I ¡®accidentally¡¯ picked up a Secondary Skill called sprint?¡± The being just stares. ¡°How can I¡­ um¡­ fix¡­ that?¡± The being closes its eyes and sighs deeply. ~ ¡°Bring up the menu and select the skill you wish to remove. Most options are disabled in the tutorial, but ¡®forgetting¡¯ skills is allowed. All progress is lost on skills that are ¡®forgotten¡¯. They may be learned again, for a price.¡± The mention of a ¡®price¡¯ fills me with dread. ¡°What kind of price? Money?¡± ~ ¡°The price is the resource known as ¡®Power¡¯.¡± Ok, it seems like Power functions a lot like experience points in most games. Use experience to buy abilities. ¡°But leveling them up is free?¡± It looks thoughtful for a second before responding ~ ¡°Everything has a price, but skill growth comes through effort. To a point.¡± To a point, caveats in caveats. I realize I don¡¯t actually know how to access this menu thing it mentioned. I try thinking ¡°menu¡±. A small screen pops into view. It has white text on a light blue background that seems to adapt to best contrast whatever is behind it. The screen appears to attempt to maximize its readability¡­ which is useful, but might present problems later. Getting a sudden notification might block my view of a critical moment in battle or interrupt planning¡­ maybe there are usability settings? Later. There are different categories listed on the screen: Inventory, Equipment, Statistics, Options. Like for a game. I wonder briefly how to select something, but as I feel the desire to select the ¡®equipment¡¯ tab, it opens. The page has a weirdly realistic picture of me in the clothes I¡¯m wearing. I notice that the menu responds to where I¡¯m focussing and seems to sense my desire to know more, causing descriptions to pop up. A once-over of my clothing reveals that it is ¡®standard clothing (M)¡¯ and offers no more benefits than the protection of my modesty. The same holds for every article of clothing, from my socks to the contacts that help me see. I navigate to my skills screen, which is in the ¡®Statistics¡¯ tab, and focus on the Sprint skill. The only option that comes up is ¡°Forget¡±, which I select. Nothing obviously changes except for the lack of Sprint being on my skills screen anymore. As I¡¯m about to start looking through the rest of the menu, the alien interjects: ~ ¡°Like many things in this world, there is more to see than what is apparent.¡± I pause. This thing must be desperately determined to give me no information while ensuring I¡¯m as confused AND curious as possible. ¡°What.¡± It isn¡¯t even a question, at this point the stupid thing is either fucking with me for fun or it deserves to recognize how useless it¡¯s being. The alien in question, however, only deepens its frown in response. Ohhh I¡¯m so sorry I disappointed you. Dear god, fuck off. I realize a small part of my mind is warning me that I¡¯m being irrationally angry with something that isn¡¯t at fault, and I struggle to reign it in. This thing is an ally, if only temporarily. ~¡±Think on it, the answer will be provided later should you need it.¡± This freakin¡¯ thing is definitely trying to give me an aneurysm.¡±let¡¯s move on. For your final secondary skill, you¡¯re going to learn to heal.¡± it looks me over quickly ¡°This will be very useful for you.¡± Hey! That¡¯s... actually very accurate. I nod. ¡°Please proceed.¡± Energy 6 The being produces a short blade. ¡°Oh. OH. Nononono wait wait, we can talk this through!¡± Being stabbed is really not on the list of things that make me relaxed or meditative and that blade is way too big to fit inside me! The being offers the blade, handle first ¡°You would rather make the cut?¡± Oh boy, rock and a hard place. I¡­ do realize I¡¯m likely going to need to know how to heal, and I¡¯m not going to have a better time to learn, but stabbing myself is... slightlybetter than being stabbed. I nod and take the handle. The blade is light and fits nicely in my hand. OK. Deep breaths, just pick a place you don¡¯t mind being stabbed¡­ like a finger! Yeah, just slice your finger a little. You can do that, right? Just lightly run it across and draw a bit of blood. I hold out my left hand and press the flat of my index finger against the sharp of the blade. It feels cool, doesn¡¯t hurt yet, maybe this won¡¯t be so bad? Stop stalling. Move. I draw the blade across. Wow, it actually didn''t hurt. Being cut isn''t so- ow. OW.A quick, ramping pain shoots up my arm, followed by warmth as blood rushes forth. A heretofore unseen bar with a medical cross on the left end appears at the bottom of my vision,with a sliver from the right edge missing. There is a drop of blood in a box immediately above it, with a white background. No major vasculature knicked, so not too much bl- holy fuck that¡¯s a lot of my blood. It drips to the floor, starting a small puddle. I¡¯m both enthralled by the wound and worried that now I literally have no idea what the healing thing is, let alone how to do it and I¡¯m REALLY no longer in a listening mental state! Why didn''t I askbefore I cut myself?! ~ ¡°Focus, just like before, push the light into the wound. Pool it. Teach it to fix what is missing.¡± This thing won¡¯t just let me die here right? Like, I¡¯m not going to bleed out while he watches, RIGHT? Dumb ways to die, ok, let¡¯s not. Let¡¯s not do that. Fuck. I try to get into my own head, but the stinging pain keeps making my focus on it. I can¡¯t mess with my Energy while dealing with pain and fear and SO MUCH FRUSTRATION- calm the fuck down!This isn¡¯t helping, deep breaths just like before. Address the pain. You know what happened, you did it to yourself, so fix it. Block out the pain, it¡¯s just a signal for something you already know. It has done its job, now do yours. Feel the golden light, pool it in your finger. I slowly talk myself through the process, like pretending there is someone more calm and collected in my head will somehow make me calm and collected. It sounds stupid, but you know what they say about stupid things that work. I feel the tendrils of gold sitting dormant throughout my body, waiting. I pull them all toward my left arm, then my hand, then my finger. The total Energy in my body only seems to fill a quarter of my hand¡­ hopefully that improves. Distractions, task at hand. Hah, hand- OH MY GOD STOP. The energy settles into the far quarter of my hand¡­ and sits there. Frowning, I try imagining my finger wound closing. Nothing. Ok, how about imagining the rapid production of new cells to fill the gap? Nope. Uh. How do you tell Energy to heal? How do you ¡®teach¡¯ something that doesn¡¯t think? I guess¡­ in video games, magic was associated with colors, so maybe taking the gold energy and trying to turn it green would¡­? I focus on just the Energy in my index finger and imagine a green aura around it. Feelings of growth, healing, spryness, whatever tropes I can think of. Nothing. Aww come on! As I turn my thoughts back to solutions, something changes. Small dots of Energy turn from gold strands to green strands. Incensed, I push away the gold strands and leave just the green ones. My first thought of what to do stems from first aid experience, and sutures. Use the thread to bind the wound closed. When I attempt to move the newly converted strands, I find my ministrations ungainly and sporadic. As I try to bumble my way through, I feel my blood still leaking from the wound. It might heal on its own at this rate¡­ I take a single strand of green and move it into the wound in a spiral shape. I attempt to, for lack of a better word, ¡®screw¡¯ the green through the wound. As I twist it through, I find that it is markedly more easy for me to push the Energy through me than through the gap created by the cut. Note to self: Energy movement through air is difficult. It¡¯s slow progress, but I¡¯m not paying attention to time very closely. Almost all of my focus remains on methodically moving the single strand of energy in a corkscrew. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Once the lead end emerges at the end of the wound, I try to pull on both ends to tighten the loops and close the cut¡­ which goes terribly. I was so caught up in success that I just assumed I could move Energy in two directions at once. My efforts result in nothing more than moving the thread one way or the other, but not making any headway in actually tightening. A few more shoddy attempt reveal that I am certainly not at the level where such a thing is possible. I can only move one way. Maybe if I can loop the leading end of the thread back, under the wound, to the trailing end¡­ Ok, now they¡¯re together at one end, so if I twist them together and pull in, back toward my hand¡­ I feel the wound start burning, hot and angry, but there¡¯s no second guessing here. I pull harder, the burning increases, but the coils slowly straighten. When the two ends of skin finally touch, the green strand flares neon and vanishes. I open my eyes to evaluate my work, but instead I¡¯m met with a notification:
[Congratulations! You learned the secondary skill: Transfuse Energy (Active). Transfuse Energy: 1]
I smile and dismiss the notification. The health bar disappeared again, so I must be at full Health. I¡¯m absolutely drenched in sweat, and I¡¯m breathing like I just ran a mile. How long was I working on that heal? Shaking my head, I examine my hand. My finger is still covered in blood, but after I wipe it off, I can clearly see that the only remnant of my self inflicted wound is a thin, red line. No pain, no gap, just the beginnings of a neat scar. I wonder if that will go away as well¡­ otherwise I might end up with a lot of these. Getting hurt is less important when you can heal yourself, you become more likely to take risks as long as they probably won¡¯t kill you. Dangerous. Slippery slope. Keep that in mind. ¡°I completed the task, are we done?¡± I ask, wondering how long I¡¯ve already been here. The guru simply looks back, nods, and proffers its hand. I give the knife back, handle first and cough slightly into my other hand. Huh, weird, I didn¡¯t need to cough a second ago. I take my hand away from my mouth and find it oddly red. Must be leftover blood from the cut¡­ I sway on my feet, feeling a great wrongnesswith my body. All I did was hand the knife back... is this some recoil from the healing? I go to breathe deeply, calm myself, when I realize the problem: the knife is in me again. At least, I assume it is, as I can only see the handle sticking out of my chest. My teacher is already sitting again, watching. ~ ¡°Time is short, act quickly.¡± And the pieces fall into place. The MOTHER FUCKER STABBED ME. FUCK I DIDN¡¯T SEE HIM MOVE! I DIDN''T FEEL IT!I can¡¯t even wrap my head around what just happened. I sway again. Time to sit down¡­ I fall to the floor, which would probably hurt more if I could feel anything but the knife in my chest. First thing, leave the knife in till a professional can remove it. Fuck. I¡¯m the profesional. Double fuck. Ok, ok same thing as before, just pull the knife out and wrap the wound in a -much larger- corkscrew and pull it taught. I rush all my Energy to the wound and start trying to change it to healing type, even as my perception grows fuzzy around the edges.Adrenaline is the only thing keeping me conscious and somewhat focussed, soI need to finish this before it wears off and I pass out. Better prepare as much before I pull the knife out as possible. There won''t be room for error afterwards. I form the familiar corkscrew, and I can tell off the bat it isn¡¯t enough. It won¡¯t get all the way across the wound, let alone double back... I need longer strands! Experimenting under stress, I try the first logical thing and push one end of a strand to the end of a second strand. They flare briefly, and I could swear it shortened a bit, but the strand that emerges is almost twice the length of the original. I quickly combine strands until it¡¯s just long enough, and begin. I grasp the handle, inhale, and tear it out. The pain almost causes black spots to appear in my vision, and I almost lose it for a moment. There''s no time; though I¡¯m focussing inward, I can tell that my blood is pouring out. Something important was cut this time. Bad. I feel my head hit the floor, unable to keep it, or my body, upright. Faster. I use all of my willpower to weave the spiral in and out of my flesh. Knit flesh and bone, cure what¡¯s rent, bind the wound. No room for failure, so I will not. Where last time there was no pain associated with the ¡®screw¡¯ process, the increased speed causes a sharp stab every time. Nothing compared with the other ¡®sharp stab¡¯. It¡¯s through. Loop it back... twist. Twist hard. Fuck, this time I can feel strain on the thread. Like a part of me is going to snap. Can¡¯t force it, don¡¯t know what happens if the thread breaks. Now is not the time. It isn¡¯t strong enough, I¡¯m going to die. No. I can¡¯t. No. I hear a distant voice: ¡°Strength in numbers.¡± Numbers. I have more threads. Stronger thread, stronger binding. Weave them together, many threads, every thread. Fix this. My body only contains green Energy now, and the threads rush together to the wound. As they contact the corkscrew, countless flashes, blurring, can¡¯t tell if it¡¯s real or me. Fading. Pull. Pull. ¡­ Energy 7 A gasping breath. Mine, I hope. Pain. Definitely mine. Good thing you have to be alive to feel pain. I open my eyes. Notifications.
[Warning! Life threatening injuries detected: Severe blood loss; Multiple fractures detected; Organ function reduced]
[Energy pool completely depleted. Total Energy pool increased +1! Energy: 1/11]
[Congratulations! Skill levels gained: Transfuse Energy +2]
[Congratulations! Your Endurance Statistic was tested and found adequate: Endurance +1]
[Congratulations! Skill levels gained: Energy Manipulation +2]
Huh¡­ that¡¯s a good amount of growth for being stabbed. Still never want to do that again. I¡¯ll take a hundred papercuts instead, thank you. My head throbs, my vision whirls for a bit, but settles. Sitting up, I see my clothing soaked with blood. A lot of blood. I feel a little silly about thinking the paper cut I made was anything to sniff at. God I never want to do that again. I spread the cut in my shirt to get a better look at the wound. Right in the sternum dead center in the chest. Not the worst spot, all things considered. The knife wasn¡¯t long enough to hurt my spine, but certainly long enough to slice my lungs and destroy my bones. I¡¯m stunned. My teacher was not only strong enough to punch through my bone, but fast enough to do it without me even seeing when he was right in front of me. Why did my life have to become so terrifying. The scar this time is much longer, but not much thicker. It looks particularly red and angry, and something still doesn¡¯t feel right in my chest, but it¡¯s¡­ well, I¡¯m not dead, and I should be. Would be, back home. ¡°You could have warned me, you know.¡± The guru merely nods. ¡°Should have, in fact¡± ~ ¡°Will your enemies do so?¡± I shrug, and sigh, disheartened. ¡°No... I guess not¡± I can¡¯t will myself to be angry. The blood loss really calms you down. I wonder if I could fix that with Energy? I take a brief look at my Energy state. Although I know from the notification that I¡¯m almost on empty, I want to see what that translates to visually. There is a striking amount of emptiness in my system. There are a few strands of green around my head and lingering strands at the site of the chest wound, but mostly there¡¯s nothing. I don¡¯t even know how I would go about making blood¡­ and I¡¯m in no mood to figure it out. Mostly, I want to sleep. I have no idea how long I¡¯ve been up, and I¡¯m fucking exhausted. I turn to ask the guru if I can sleep here only to see it standing over me. Instinctively, I flinch away lest it stab me again, but it makes no move. ~¡±Allow me to rejuvenate you¡± Well¡­ it could definitely kill me whenever it wants, so might as well try? I nod in response.It raises a hand and places it on my head. ¡°Umm¡­¡± I trail off as the strangeness of the action is replaced with a flood of pleasant, light feelings. I feel all my muscles start to relax, and all the pain and exhaustion dissipates in the wake of a wave of happiness. It only takes a few seconds, but it feels like waking up after a perfect night''s rest. I¡¯m ready to take on the world again. Whichever one that ends up being. ~ ¡°One last thing before you move on. Do you now understand my earlier meaning?¡± Earlier meaning? What is it going on ab- ohhhh. The menu thing. I shake my head. I was way too busy with the other ¡®lessons¡¯ to have time for that. I¡¯m rewarded for my ignorance with another deep sigh. ~ ¡°Try opening the menu differently. Intuitively.¡± I try quietly whispering ¡°menu 2¡±; the normal screen pops up. I try waving my hands wanting an extended menu, the normal screen pops up. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. No success. Unless you count ¡®bothering the alien nearby¡¯ as a success. Which I¡¯m considering. ~ ¡°Imagine yourself.¡± Ah, yes, of course. Such an intuitive design. I try picturing what I look like in my mind¡¯s eye¡­ god I¡¯m hideous. Sometimes you just have to hope other people see you differently than you see yourself. But that isn¡¯t right. Now I¡¯m just imagining myself and nothing else, I don¡¯t feel the¡­ pull? See, what I¡¯ve noticed is that the infrastructure of the game feels right when used correctly, like a jigsaw piece fitting into place. It just *snaps* nicely. This feels like nothing, so either I¡¯m doing it wrong or the alien is messing with me. A quick glance reminds me that this thing might look zen on the surface, but really seems to be a ¡®no nonsense¡¯ sort. No, I¡¯m thinking about this wrong. What am I? A self, with a lot of desires and flaws, and some serious ego. People are layered. A person has an outward facing ¡®self¡¯ that is usually constructed to accomplish social goals like making friends, completing business deals, offending others, whatever. That ¡®outer self¡¯ is decided on by active thought. Do you speak to someone or not? Help the old lady cross the street or carry on as normal? What do you gain and lose through each decision? The narrator. Then, deeper than that, there¡¯s the culmination of experience that forms that narrator. People aren¡¯t born bitter, suspicious, courageous, or perceptive, they¡¯re born screaming. Not much to be said for that, but the gaps are filled in with experience. Eventually, there¡¯s a reason you¡¯re screaming. Experience colors the narrator that determines what is shown to the outside world. I imagine all that, carefully wrapping it up in my mind¡¯s eye, constructing a tangled ball that symbolizes my mind. This. This is right. This is what I wanted. It¡¯s like a 3D map that hasn¡¯t been filled out with any of my specifics, but it¡¯s the right format. It¡¯s probably a bit unflattering that even my image of my mind is a tangled mess¡­ Which, as with most unflattering things, likely means it¡¯s accurate. I open my eyes, having forgottenat what point I closed them, andI''m greeted by another menu. This one looks different in a lot of ways, but the most apparent thing is how much shittier it is. It looks pixelated and bad,without any of the fancy auto-contrast from the regular one. There are no tabs or choices, just a shitty rectangle with the tangled ball I imagined floating and slowly spinning in the center. ¡°What am I looking at here?¡± On the surface, this seems useless. Games never have something there for no reason¡­ but this isn¡¯t a normal game. ~¡±Information.¡± ¡°...You don¡¯t say.¡± The alien nods, as though pleased. Clearly sarcasm doesn¡¯t mean anything outside #$%#- I lurch suddenly backward, falling. ¡°AHH FUCK!¡± The sudden missing memory is more jarring this time. I hate this. ~ ¡°See something you did not like?¡± As expected, there¡¯s no concern on its face, it seems to be merely asking out of curiosity. I really don''t give a shit about its curiosity. The alien stares and remains silent, waiting for a reply I''m not going to give. ~ ¡°There is one last thing I will teach you.¡± Ignoring me. Fine. It produces the knife again. ¡°NOPE.NO, NOT HAPPENING.¡± I beat a hasty retreat, keeping the homicidal guru in my sights. ¡°No more of that shit.¡± The alien, however, makes no moves, aggressive or otherwise, towards me. It only sighs deeply and the knife disappears in the folds of its clothing. What emerges in its place is¡­ ¡°A¡­ stick?¡± The guru nods, places it on the ground, and steps a few paces back before gesturing at it. Cautiously, I approach. It just looks like an ordinary stick, so I pick it up and examine it. My menu even confirms ¡®it¡¯s an ordinary stick¡¯ so¡­ ¡°What do I do with it?¡± I ask, puzzled. ~ ¡°Break it¡± it states, as though this was completely normal. I shrug and easily snap the stick. ¡°Now what?¡± ~ ¡°Make use of your ''Imbue Energy'' skill. Make this mere piece of wood into an extension of yourself.¡± Ok¡­ sounds like your average weapons training mind games. ''Treat the weapon like an extension of your own arm'', and all that. I look down at the stick again to find it whole and unbroken. Momentarily narrowing my eyes at my teacher, I relent and begin focusing on pushing Energy into the stick. Much like before, there is a stark resistance toward the golden threads leaving my body, but by steadily increasing the pressure and willing it out, the Energy tendrils slowly leak into the stick. Once they leave my hand, I can no longer sense them as well, so all I can do to verify my efforts is watch my Energy bar slowly tick down. After emptying about half my Energy pool, the stick begins to change. A soft, yellow light emerges as a sort of aura around the stick. It feels oddly comfortable in my hand now, like it belongs instead of being just a foreign object.
[Congratulations! Skill levels gained: Imbue Energy +1]
~ ¡°Now break it.¡± Breaking from my admiration, I find myself almost unwilling to act on what I¡¯ve just been told to do. ¡°This is my stick. Why would I break it?¡± Why do I care? Why am I acting like someone asked me to kick a puppy,when it''s just a stick I broke without hesitation mere moments ago. The barest hint of a smile flashes across the gurus face. ~ ¡°Try.¡± I guess if my teacher can fix it as easily as last time, it won¡¯t be so bad¡­ I grasp the stick again and break it. Or rather, try to break it. The stick bends a little, but this dry, brittle piece of wood no longer breaks under only a slight effort. I strain, trying to bend it further, but I only get a slight curvature out of it. I start to use my leg as leverage when the gurus hand on my shoulder stops me. I cringe slightly, unconsciously reacting to the stabbing memory, but it doesn¡¯t look like harm is intended so I resist the urge to move away. ~ ¡°You see now the utility of your abilities. You are¡­ as ready as you can be.¡± This thing should never write motivational speeches. Far too much realism. My teacher inclines its head slightly. ~ ¡°Best of luck. May we meet again.¡± I have mixed feelings about this stab happy guru, but I cannot be argued that it was anything but useful. Ok, and maybe a bit of a dick. ¡°Thank you-¡± is all I get out before the gut wrenching feeling of moving very fast overwhelms me. Energy 8: Day One The smell of grass suffuses my nose, making me oddly reminiscent of waking up on that strange island. Itfeels like so long ago, but I know it has been a matter of hours at most. I open my eyes to a bright, blue sky overhead, without a cloud at all in any direction. It appears to be daytime, and probably right around midday judging by the position of whatever star¡¯s in the sky. I shake off the dazed feeling that always seems to set in when I get *moved*, but stop suddenly midway through getting up. Around me, there are hundreds of people. All of them look to be in varying states of confusion, all races and genders, going on for as far as I can see. Admittedly, that isn¡¯t very far because I appear to be in a small, grassy valley. Those that happened to land on top of the rolling hills likely have a better view¡­ All around me there are noises of confusion, excited speech, people fervently trying to make sense of their situation. I slowly get to my feet, concerned. There are way too many people here. Way, way too many. It¡¯s rather... uncomfortable to suddenly find yourself in a crowd of strangers. But at least everyone is in the same boat in that regard. A notification appears:
[Welcome to the starting zone! Performing preliminary checkup¡­ Done! Biological inefficiencies found. Rectify? (Y/N) Cost: 100 Note! Seek shelter before accepting!]
[Prepare for population - 60¡­ 59¡­]
Did I just get¡­ scanned? What does it consider ¡®inefficiencies¡¯? But the counter is much more pressing. Something called ''population'' is going to happen in 50 seconds, and judging by the fact that people are already here, it¡¯s likely not going to be more humans appearing¡­ so what will it be? They said it was going to be a test. I''m not betting it''ll be friendly. I run up to the nearest person ¡°Hey, do you know what the ¡®populating¡¯ thing is?¡± but they¡¯re distracted by something and completely ignore me. Another person, this time I¡¯m not ignored but I get only a scared shake of the head. 30 seconds. Hey, my clothes changed AGAIN?! 25 seconds. But. These. Have. Pockets! 20 seconds. I don¡¯t like this. Crowds are a bad place to be when something unknown is happening, the panic will get people killed almost regardless of what happens. 15 seconds. I see mountains in the distance, high point of view and relative security. That way. 10 seconds. I start running. Dodging people slows my progress immensely. Left, left, right, right, trying to predict the meandering of tens of people every second to lose as little speed as possible, right, wrong. I misjudge a particularly wayward trajectory and knock him to the ground, stumbling a bit myself. No time. ¡°Sorry!¡± I call over my shoulder, trying to get back up to speed, but the momentary loss of sight runs me right into a particularly burly man who doesn¡¯t even flinch as I bounce off him and onto the grass. ¡°Watch where you¡¯re going asshole! You think you can just run around here without looking where you¡¯re going?!¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°S-sorry! Sorry but I really need to go the timer-¡± ¡°Shut it-... what the fuck is that?¡± His tone goes from ornery to low and cautious in only a moment. Worrying. I scramble to my feet, the notification:
[Population Complete. Good luck!]
fills my vision. Uh oh. It disappears without my prompting, and a large mass hits me in the chest, knocking me right back down. At first I thought it was the man I ran into pushing me down, but the snarling mass of teeth and fury on top of me is no human. I see a flash of white and instinctively try to smack it aside. *Crunch* fire lances up my arm, my left hand caught in powerful jaws. Eyes wide with terror, I freeze for a moment, but my attacker does not, shaking its head while still clamping down on my hand. The new bout of even more intense pain shakes me from my stupor and I shove my free thumb into the animals eye. Despite the situation, I can¡¯t will myself to do it hard enough to cause real damage, but it does successfully piss off the animal currently mauling me, prompting it to bite down harder. This thing intends to take my hand. My life. What am I doingsparing it? No. Driven by pain and raw malice, I slam my thumb into its doglike face, missing the eye but gaining purchase to stop it from shaking further. My thumb moves toward the eye again, and, blinded by pain, my previous reluctance disappears, and I think nothing of destroying it. The animal screams, releasing my mangled hand.I grip it by the throat and slam it to the side, befor pinning it under my body. It struggles violently beneath me, covering me in scratches and snapping wildly. The animal is very doglike, but covered in something like scales instead of fur, and decidedly red in color. Its mouth is more pointed than a dogs, and the paws have much sharper talons than I remember dogs having. My grip around its throat is preventing airflow, but I need this over fast so I can heal my hand ASAP. Consequently, I don¡¯t have another hand with which to do anything, so I have to rely on what I have. As its struggles become more desperate, I lean more of my weight onto the pin. The dog monster isn¡¯t particularly large and my concentrated mass should be enough to mess it up in no short order. Its breath escapes under my weight, but it can¡¯t inhale at all to replace it. Seconds pass, the struggles deteriorate¡­ then nothing. As soon as it stops moving, I stand up, too caught up in my own fury and pain to think rationally. It takes a ragged breath as I reach a standing position, but never another after crush its neck with a stomp. ¡°FUUUUUUUUCK.¡± What a battlecry. Or, at least, it would have been if I could even hear it. Is something wrong with my ears? ''No'', I realize as I look around and see the chaos I just went through reflected in hundreds of similar situations. There¡­ are bodies¡­ everywhere. People in my situation just a hair too slow, gone in an instant. Some people are like me, beaten and bloody, but alive. Others look like they somehow got weapons and armor? But they¡¯re taking on multiple monsters at once. Aside from the dogs, there are mobile slime balls and a larger class of dog monster, more akin to a wolf. I should help. My hand throbs. I survived, I should fight. With what weapon? I could use Energy to¡­ to what? I can¡¯t see any wayward weapons, everything has been snatched up by quicker thinkers or buried under bodies and viscera. I can¡¯t heal other people in this madness, not that they¡¯d even let me. I¡¯m...useless¡­ I''m a healer and I can''t help anyone. I start running. Mountains, live to fight another day. A slime ball launches at me as I run past, latching onto my leg. I keep going, hoping the motion will fling it off, but my attempts become more frantic as my leg lights up like fire. They''re made ofacid?!I run harder, hoping it will get launched off by the force, but it''s throwing off my movements. I use my good hand to scrape the slime off me, more burning, but I manage to remove whatever made it sentient and cohesive. A small nucleus-like thing. The rest runs off me like particularly painful water. My skin looks blistered and red. No matter. Continue. A frantic series of minutes pass with me ducking around, through, and even over combat in progress. Nobody had breath to waste to chastise me for my cowardice. My lungs burn, and my broken body shudders with every step as I barely hold it together. I reach a particularly large hill that I do my best to run up, but my legs fail me after only a few steps. A blinking, empty bar at the bottom of my vision labeled ¡®Stamina¡¯ tells me why. I can only trudge, slowly making my way up the slight incline, always expecting another dog or errant swing to deal the final blow. The sound of battle, death, and screaming slowly fades as I continue up the hill, and it takes until the grass ends for me to notice something is wrong. I actually look up for the first time since I started running only to find that this ¡®hill¡¯ was in fact the mountain I was headed toward the whole time. Oh. Good. I fall over, leaning heavily on the mountain to control my slide into a sitting position. Good. I can¡­ rest. Energy 9: Day One My hand feels stiff, and my fingers won''t move. Not that I would want to move them, given how mangled the whole area is. I¡¯m a little surprised it¡¯s still holding together with all the holes and ripped flesh. Multiple tendons are severed and my skin is bulging in odd areas in my forearm. Probably the muscle bunching up as a result of the lost attachment points¡­ Uh oh. I don¡¯t know much medicine, but I know that¡¯s bad. Hard to fix. ''Requires surgery'' levels of hard to fix. But I need this hand. It isn¡¯t bleeding profusely anymore... but the bar above stamina, labeled ¡®Health¡¯, is only a quarter full. Not much room to work with. Without any other pressing threats, I get to work on fixing my body. The process goes similarly to the ¡®practice¡¯ with my mentor, but the complexity of the issue is daunting. I can see the damage when I view my Energy; it appears as glowing areas of red, purple, and some tinges of a yellow green. These colors come with no legend with which to decipher them, so I¡¯m left to use my wits to figure it out. Or ¡®wit¡¯, I should say, as implying that I had the presence of mind of a shoe would be an insult to shoes. The red appears to cover areas where my flesh should be, but isn¡¯t. Like cuts, stabs, and that sort of thing. My hand is covered with a blinding array of red, and it is certainly the most numerous of the lights, so I address it first. Stitch, stitch, and stitch. With my flesh fully mended, I flex my hand¡­ or try to, anyway. I can just barely close some of my fingers, but straightening them back out is a no go. It¡¯s just as lame as it was before, just not as painful. The bulging muscles are still present¡­ because none of my efforts did anything to fix them. Shit. A quick examination of my hand reveals that the normal lines one can see running along the tops and bottoms of the limb, the tendons that let you open and close your hand, are peacefully laying in whatever configuration is easiest, and certainly not the ones where they''re CONNECTED TO MY FINGERS. Looking at the problem with my Energy senses, I see the purple lights are still present along with the yellow green ones. I sigh. How do I even begin with this shit. By taking a break and looking at the notifications I ignored during my life or death flight. I need to recover some Energy anyway.
[Defeated Carnine: +20 Power (270)]
[You defeated your first enemy! +50 Power (320)]
[Your actions have led to the creation of a basic secondary skill: Hand To Hand Proficiency (Passive). Learn? (y/n) Cost: 50]
Why not. (270)
[Congratulations! Skill levels gained: Transfuse Energy +2 (5)]
------ I sigh, looking down the mountain. There isn¡¯t any more fighting going on, which would be good news if there were predominantly humans down there. Well¡­ living ones anyway. The hills where so many people appeared not too long ago are now filled with slimes, those ¡®carnine¡¯ things, and whatever the bigger doglike things are. I guess I was too out of it to tell the state of things when I started trying to heal, but now, things are fairly quiet. I¡¯m rather far away, but I can see¡­ piles of dead¡­ piles of belongings¡­ the monsters are methodically sorting the results of the ambush. Itwasan ambush. It would be one thing if this shitty game warned us to be battle ready, or told us ¡®hey, maybe get combat training with your mystical mentor while you have the chance¡¯, but no, I was scared off a cliff and given no guidance. I can only assume everyone else was given the same shit. ¡­ It¡¯s like life from before, just brought to the extreme. Have your hand held your whole life: go to school, go to college, learn something practical(?), sell yourself to companies so they give you the ¡®experience¡¯ to convince other companies to hire you for slightly more money. Here? I guess we get nothing and are expected to die as failures if we don¡¯t guess right. Fuck, what if somebody chose something like ¡®building¡¯ as their core skillset. That¡¯s useful as hell! But unless you¡¯re a fighter, or a coward¡­ you died in that valley. ¡­ In hindsight, it seems symbolic that the first entity I ran into was an uncaring fuck with a face made of shadow. Is that all this is? A ¡®test¡¯, but in reality just torture porn for some fucked up aliens? It¡¯s hard not to pass judgment then and there. Gather enough power to break free of this place and bring the slaughter to those that sent us here to die. See how they like the sudden appearance of monsters when they thought they were safe. I sigh. That¡¯s a sobering thought. That¡¯s what anyone who survives this will probably be: a monster.Stolen novel; please report. No. Shaking my head I fumblingly push myself to my feet. There¡¯s more to this. If I reach the end of the road, with all the facts, and there is no redemption for those that brought us here, then¡­ Then they will suffer. But before that, I need to survive this. Casting my eyes over the valley of monsters, I know there is no chance of me, as I am, doing anything more than inconveniencing them with another body to carry. That needs to change. With renewed purpose, I start trudging up the mountain again. An hour or so passes before I reach a sticking point: a ledge. Normally this would be as simple as doing a pull-up and being along my way, but¡­ I twitch my left hand¡­ I¡¯ll lose my grip and die. Well, notdie die, but I¡¯m positive I¡¯ll fail and it¡¯ll probably hurt. I¡¯ve met my pain quota for the day. Ideally the rest of the week. I lean against the obstacle and end up in a sitting position facing out, back the way I came. I¡¯ve gotten pretty high up in my hour of hiking. High enough that I¡¯ll be able to see anything coming behind me for a while. I¡¯ll just have to hope nothing drops a rock on my head or something. Ugh.That''s a big part of the problem.You kinda take for granted knowing the general animal population of a planet. You see a spider? Probably venomous, eats bugs, probably spins webs. There¡¯s always caveats and differences, but you get the idea. You see spider webs and it¡¯s almost certainly a spider. But here? There are cohesive balls of slime. What do they eat? Besides¡­ meat. Is anything here not a predator? Hell, I bet the grass can stab you or something. A place of magic and mystery and it is 100% out to kill me. But to the matter at hand. A frown crosses my face. How many humans survived? I didn¡¯t see the initial egress, but now I can only see a few small collections of people. Some are alone, some in groups, but generally they look to be sitting around or heading further away from the monster camp. It doesn¡¯t look like anyone else thought climbing a mountain was the best idea¡­ which is good and bad. Strength in numbers is nice and all, but humans are not all reliable¡­ and now that all of our relationships have been functionally reset, none of us have any friends or family to fall back on. No one is going to protect me out of the goodness of their heart here. Maybe it¡¯s just as well. I¡¯m not sure I want to save anyone either. Distractions! I really need to fix my hand, but I have no idea how. I could try using the same suture method, specifically targeting the tendons, but i¡¯m not totally sure that would work. I know for a fact that the suture method leaves scars, even if it heals things fast, and I remember something about tendons not dealing with scar tissue very well. I wouldn¡¯t want a quick fix that would just fail when I needed my hand most. No, I need to find a way to completely nullify the damage and make it just like it was before. If only I wasn¡¯t so damn tired. Turns out, sitting down when you¡¯ve been running off tons of adrenaline and doing your best to ignore how many people you saw die today works well as long as you¡¯re in motion and not thinking¡­ which is now no longer the case. Snapshots from my frantic run flash through my mind. Bodies in pieces, eyes full of fear, people missing limbs and still fighting with everything they had¡­ people I ran past¡­ No, stop, I didn¡¯t kill them, this wasn¡¯t me, it wasn¡¯t my fault It was I that left them. I left them because I could do nothing! What could I hope to accomplish? Healing them? Punching? I barely survived my first encounter and I lost my hand! They died while I watched. Stop! Is this who Iam?What Iam? I¡¯m not a monster! I¡¯m alive because I ran! No, you¡¯re I''m not a monster. I '' m a c o w a r d. ¡°SHUT UP¡± My breathing resists any attempts to slow it down, my vision blurs with tears. Crying again. Useless. Furious with myself, with this world, with the shitty game I¡¯m being forced to play, I violently rub the weakness from my face. I can¡¯t think right now. There¡¯s too much emotional baggage to deal with. My thoughts are just as likely to poison me as they are to help. What was that thing about ¡®inefficient life processes¡¯ or whatever? I search through my menu until I find the section where previous notifications are stored. Yeah, it wanted me to use Power to ¡®fix¡¯ my body. I could definitely use some fixing¡­ but it sent that before I was mangled. I¡­ don¡¯t trust this game, but so far, nothing I have willingly initiated with it has hurt me. Learning skills worked fine. It tried to kill me, but it also provided a tutorial of sorts.
[Biological inefficiencies found. Rectify? (Y/N) Cost: 100]
It¡¯s a substantial cost, but I have 270 Power to play with, so¡­ I think it¡¯s worth the risk. Maybe it¡¯ll cure me of all that ails me, or give me super strength. Whatever, here goes. I select ¡®Y¡¯ (170)... and nothing happens. I look around for a moment, expecting something, anything. Maybe I was already the ideal male specimen? Pfft. I''m suddenly aware ofa small tingling in my feet, which slowly climbs my legs until it reaches my hips. Then the burning starts. Horrible seizing grips my legs and bolts of pain lance up my spine. I inadvertently kickout and fallover,dimly awarethat the tingling is spreading further up my body even as I writhe in agony. There is nothing to describe the feeling of being rewritten, but I feel new empathy for hot metalin a forge. I hear cracking coming from my legs and look just in time to see my ankle snap, hyper extending my toes towards my shin, only to see it snap back into place moments later. Ifelt both events without any way to reduce the pain, and I can''t even scream with my body seizing this much. Please give me the sweet release of shock, I don¡¯t want to remember any of this, please anything to dull the pain- With that thought, the fire starts in my torso, and a resulting spasm in my arms causes me to thankfully punch myself in the face and pass into blissful unconsciousness. Energy 10: Day One I gasp. Fresh, crisp air fills my lungs as I immediately struggle to sit up. But¡­ there¡¯s nothing around me. At least, I don¡¯t think so. My vision had suddenly gotten very blurry¡­ did something go wrong? I rub my eyes in an attempt to clear them, which didn¡¯t help but *did* serve to remind me that I had two small pieces of plastic on my eyes that I had completely forgotten about. I quickly pull them out of my eyes, hygiene be damned, and¡­ oh. OH. It fixed my eyes. I... I''ve spent my whole life dealing with shitty vision, and suddenly... I''m whole. Despite everything, I''m smiling. My head is killing me, throbbing like mad. I¡¯d never been knocked out before, so I don¡¯t know if this is how people always feel or not, but 0/10, do not recommend. A notification attempts to mollify my suffering:
[Congratulations! Genetic/Anatomic restructuring successful! +10 to all stats!].
G-....genetic? It rewrote my DNA!? WHAT. COME ON MAN THAT WAS ME! FUCK. Well I guess I don¡¯t exist anymore. Or the me thatwas me doesn¡¯t...fuck it. I guess I get to be born twice. How exciting. I mean, If the genes you¡¯re born with stick with you for the rest of your life, that pretty much means they¡¯re you, right? As much as your arms or legs or organs. But if my genetic code got changed then¡­ All of my cells must have been changed¡­ so there probably isn¡¯t any of the original ¡®me¡¯ left. Well it¡¯s official, the game straight up killed me and copied my memories over to a substantially better human. I should have known. Griping aside, it¡¯s definitely a little weird to move in this new body. The notification mentioned something about stats, but I haven¡¯t really looked into that. Good news: my hand is healed. Even in energy vision, I can see nothing wrong, which is great because the new colors were freaking me out and I didn¡¯t know how to deal with them. Bad...strange news? My thoughts are faster. Noticeably. Which is good, because my body is also faster. Even when I was startled awake, I was taking breaths way too forcefully without even trying. I thought it was the adrenaline response, but no, that¡¯s just how I breathe now. Like a fucking forge bellows. Usually, you gain strength and mental acuity too slowly to really notice the difference. You can count the pounds you lift, or assume mental growth by how long studying and problem solving takes you, but you never try pushing yourself to your feet and accidentally way overshoot and land on your face. Not that I speak from experience, or anything. But it turns out, when a weird alien game REWRITES YOUR BODY you can experience growth rapid enough to cause a hypothetical ¡®falling on face¡¯ incident. In which case, it would be totally understandable! Regardless, I can now continue. Judging by the sun¡­ it seems like midday. I was out for a bit, apparently. Unfortunate, but very necessary considering my newly fixed hand. The less fortunate side is¡­ that was a one time thing. The notification is gone, so if my tendons get torn again¡­ or if I lose a limb¡­ Ahem. Then I will have to fix that using just my Energy healing, which I have so little grasp on that it¡¯s almost comical. Perfect. Maybe when I have some actual safe, free time to experiment. I¡¯m actually a little surprised I didn¡¯t get eaten by some homicidal rock while I was out. This part of the mountain seems relatively devoid of life, mostly just loose stone and dirt. Without any small life forms running around, I guess it makes sense that nothing lives here. There¡¯s nothing to eat, which could be a problem. I¡¯m starting to rethink my choice of being a mountain hermit, but I don¡¯t want to be stuck running around in the dark anywhere close to that monster camp. Hopefully I can find a cave or rocky outcropping to shelter under. I¡¯d better, or there isn¡¯t going to be much sleeping tonight. As I¡¯ve climbed higher, the wind has picked up substantially. It isn¡¯t particularly cold yet, but it¡¯s definitely going to be after the sun sets. Fortunately, it... still looks like midday. Maybe the days are really long? There''s some weird structure in the sky that looks like it might be moving toward the star... which would almost certainly block the light.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. I quickly upgrade ''finding shelter'' to top priority. Taking the time to actually search my surroundings, I notice that the mountain loses most of its loose rock only about a 5 minute hike upward, meaning that the worst wind and weather is up there. On my left, facing the mountain, there¡¯s about a quarter mile till what appears to be a drop off. I can¡¯t say how steep without going to look, but my curiosity won¡¯t keep me warm tonight, so I¡¯m nixing that idea. To my right, there looks like there are some reasonable sized pits in the side of the mountain¡­ worst case they¡¯ll shelter me from most of the wind. I make my way over to the right and use what I can of the overhead light to search for the best interim housing. After looking into a few of the pits, it becomes clear to me that there is some kind of cave system that¡­ could possible connect them together. Which: yay cave! But also, not-yay: lots of possible threatening cave monsters. Some quick searching and running around reveals the ideal candidate, which doesn¡¯t continue very far past the cave entrance and only has a few small holesalong the ceiling that are too small for anything larger than a small dog or bird to get through. It¡¯s not safe, but it¡¯s free real estate. As I enter the cave, I immediately notice a strange smell of¡­ wet. It¡¯s uncomfortable, but not a deal breaker. The part that worries me is that the cave doesn¡¯t appear to be wet. Maybe the holes in the back lead to a mountain cave lake? Maybe I can take a peak before I hole up here¡­ I walk over to the back of the cave, my newly perceptive eyes taking in everything in the dim light, and cautiously haul myself up to look into the hole. It¡¯s about six feet off the ground, so it isn¡¯t much trouble if I stand on my toes. I am rewarded for my troubles with a hiss and bright red eyes launching towards me. I narrowly avoid the angry missile, but there¡¯s no way for me to recover my balance after dodging and I fall to the floor with whatever launched itself at me. My vision whirls as I launch to my feet (still not used to that) but when my eyes focus, I find the nature of my assailant. It¡¯s a giant rat. Ok, ''giant'' may be an overstatement but it¡¯s more than a foot long and about half a foot high and it looks very unhappy to see me. It lunges at me, all teeth and claws, but with just the one threat I don¡¯t have much trouble sidestepping it. I have a spark of inspiration, that maybe I can steal Power from one of these things while alive. The conversion seems to happen automatically when monsters die, and it doesn¡¯t give me the time to use the heightened conversion rate with Imbue Energy I learned in the tutorial. Maybe the monsters have the same property as the gold rock? I wait until it goes to lunge again, gathering energy in both of my hands, and strike. It speeds toward me as I simultaneously sidestep and crouch, hands out, and grab two legs. My ungainly movement is made worse by the sudden momentum change as I grab the rat-missile, but I¡¯m focussed only on testing my theory, so I ignore the muscle pain and push my energy through with everything I have. There is a momentary resistance, as if slamming against a wall. I push harder, as hard as I can, while the thing claws and bites at me. Whatever, I can heal that later. I feel the pressure start to release a little, then all at once as my energy rushes through. Elated with success, I start to open my eyes to see what notifications popped up, but something catches my attention. Something is flowing against my Energy and back into me. They look like Energy threads, much like mine, but their color¡­ Black. Not the ¡®Energy emptiness¡¯ black, but the terrifying black of the hostile unknown. My Energy is mostly ignoring the tendrils, but when they touch, my Energy noticeably weakens. As the threads progress further into my hands, I notice a dull pain followed by a creeping numbness. It¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s attacking me back! I stop everything I was doing Energy wise and snap back to the reality of this thing desperately biting and clawing me, but much less effectively than before. I roll with it and try to throw it away from me, but it manages to catch me with its teeth and gouges deep lines along my arm as it flies away. My hands aren¡¯t working right anymore, it hurts, there¡¯s a wrongness with my body that goes beyond a physical level. The dull ache stops progressing, but is replaced with the searing pain of the many wounds on my arm. Needs healing, quick, but this thing isn¡¯t going to stop and let me do that. It dies first. I roll to my feet, planting my hands on the ground, which give almost immediately and land me back on the ground face first. I hear the rat scrambling, I can¡¯t let it get at me while I¡¯m on the ground. I roll onto my back and use only my legs to get me back to a kneeling position. As I finish, however, the monster lunges again, aiming for my throat. I fall back as fast as I can and try to kick out with my leg. I feel something connect, loud hissing, and a thud. I flail back to my feet to find the monster scrambling only a foot to my left. I waste no time taking advantage of its broken stance and bring my foot down hard on its chest. Crunch. Still moving. Crunch. I feel like I¡¯m going to throw up. I slam down a final time. Splortch. Before vomiting all over my leg and the corpse.
[+1 Will]
[Congratulations! Giant Rat defeated! Gained 10 Power. (180)]
Great. Energy 11: Day One More interestingly, two other notifications appear:
[Your actions have led to the creation of a basic secondary skill: Combat Proficiency (Passive). Learn? (Y/N) Cost: 100]
[Your actions have led to the creation of a basic secondary skill: Energetic Attack (Active). Learn? (Y/N) Cost: 50]
Ok, damn. It¡¯s just like in the tutorial, except they come with Power costs now. But those prices¡­ I thought I was sitting on a high horse with all the Power I had saved up but if I took both of these I¡¯d be down to 30¡­ Hmm. I guess there¡¯s no point in saving now. That would be like hoarding your copper pieces in an MMO, eventually it will build up to something but it¡¯ll handicap your growth compared with others who spend more freely. It''s better than dying with a fortune stored up. These notifications are different than the ''body upgrade'' one, which is the only other notification I had a choice in. My attempts at dismissing them just make them fade for a moment before becoming prominent the moment I lose focus. It really wants me to choose now, not later. I doubt I can just keep a bunch of potential skills in my back pocket if this is the case. While it would be nice to do a lot of random crap and gain potential skills on spec, I can see how it would be a little overpowered to be able to instantly use skills and saved Power to adapt to a given situation. Fighting an enemy resistant to stabbing? Boom, blunt weapons expertise. Ice elemental? Fire spells. I wonder if there are spells here... Or Ice elementals... Though my eyes wander while I think, I¡¯m not looking as closely as I should and I fail to notice that I am, once again, not the only living thing in this cave, which makes my surprise all the more visceral when an angry ball of fur, teeth, and claws latches onto my face and knocks me over. Though I can¡¯t see anything through the dark mass attacking my face, I have an intuitive understanding of how much health I have remaining, whichdecreases at a fairly slow rate despite my being taken completely by surprise. I attempt to pry the stubborn rodent off my head, but its claws are dug in and ripping it off would take a lot of my skin with it. Fuck fuck fuck. Health just passed ?. I try punching the rat, but it¡¯s actually really hard to land a good hit that close, and I found my hits only serving to push the rat more to one side and subsequently tearing more of my face. I reach up desperately to try and choke the rat or something and am met with only a painful bite as a response. I literally don¡¯t know what to do. My Health just passed the ? marker and what I thought was a trivial assault now looks like it has every potential to straight up kill me. I REALLY don¡¯t want to die to a fucking rat! Combat Proficiency. NOW. (80) In an instant, I¡¯m flooded with new knowledge and instincts,all of whichimmediately begin berating me for getting in this situation in the first place. My hand flies to my face, finds the ribs. Crush them. I squeeze as hard as I can and immediately earn the rat¡¯s ire again. As it twists to bite at my hand, I guess at it being distracted enough and follow up with my other hand to the back of it''s neck. It hisses in surprise, but I only tighten my grip in response, cutting off its airway and putting pressure on what passes for its spine. Using the two points of contact as leverage, I bring my hands together, and the rats head along with it. There is resistance, frantic scrabbling and intense pain, butI''m bigger and stronger than it.The fight ends with a gruesome cracking noise and a suddenly limp rat. Well that could have- ¡°SKREEE¡± oh fuck. I launch the rat corpse at where I think the screech came from and a black mass of fur smashes into it and falls to the cave floor. Not again mother fucker. No more face rats. My health has stabilized around ? so I¡¯m brooking no more risk. That being said, I¡¯m not feeling great, and the quick reaction of throwing the rat was probably the last fast movement I¡¯m going to be able to pull off. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. That, combined with the obviously different color of this rat (something dark) vs. the previous rats (a light brown?) makes me wary. Maybe these are pack animals and this is their alpha? Mad at me for not dying to the regular rank and file? DODGE. The word echoes through my mind, and my legs give out without my input. I barely notice the blackish blurr fly past my head as I crumple to the floor. Damn! It almost happened again! Why am I so terrible at this!? My head feels foggy as I try to focus myself. Losing health is no joke, and it¡¯s honestly only these new Combat Proficiency instincts that have kept me alive this long. Hopefully all the use I¡¯m getting out of it will make it level faster. The rat must have expected my dodge less than I did and it collides neatly with the wall of the cave, taking long enough to recover that I can also get back to my feet. I really need a weapon. My stick! I completely forgot! I wasn¡¯t aware it was even on me still after the teleporting, but once I thought about needing a weapon, the stick pulsed lightly, letting me know it had been sticking to the back of my shirt this whole time¡­ held there by fucking magic or something. Dashing my irrelevant thoughts, I draw my stick, feeling it hum pleasantly in my hand. I may be the hero of my own story, but I definitely look like a dumbass facing off against a rat with a stick. Especially remembering how many humans had actual weapons. The rat once again launches at me (not much attack variety), andI give my best impression of a baseball player by smacking the rat''s center of mass and sending it careening into the back of the cave. I run after it, seeking to finish off the wounded monster, but it turns out that swinging a two foot long stick, even attuned to my Energy, doesn¡¯t have enough momentum to do any real damage. At least, the angry hissing I receive in response doesn¡¯t sound like dying. Fortunately, I know what does have enough mass. *crunch*
[Congratulations! Pack Rat was defeated. Gained 20 Power (50)]
¡­ I¡¯m going to need a way to clean my shoes. They arecovered in rat. Also, what gives? There were 3 rats and I only got two notifications. Does that mean one of them is still alive? I look around for it, but it seems that now that I¡¯m no longer directly in combat, the notification about Energetic Attack is back and blocking everything. I¡­ guess it¡¯s worth it. I do need combat abilities if I¡¯m going to survive, might as well weaponize Energy too. I select ¡®Y¡¯ and dismiss the congratulations. (50) I look around to be sure I¡¯m momentarily safe before finally taking a look at my status: ___________________________________________________________________________ Name: Amadeus Power: 50 HP: 8/33 H Recovery: + 5.75 / hour Stamina: 10/33 S Recovery: + 11.5 / min Energy: 19/21 E Recovery: + 0.48 / min Primary skills: Dexterity 18 Strength 22 Endurance 23 Toughness 23 Intelligence 27 Perception 23 Will 2 Secondary Skills: -Active Transfuse Energy [Active] (5) - Move Energy through physical contact into living objects. Imbue Energy [Active] (2) - Move Energy through physical contact into non-living objects. Energetic Attack [Active] (1) - Attempt to destroy the spirit of a target using your own. -Passive Energy Manipulation [Passive] (3) Medium - general ability to move and understand Energy. Combat Proficiency [Passive] (1) Hard - General combat ability. Improves through not using it in training/combat. Hand to Hand Proficiency (1) Hard - Unarmed competence. Improves through practice using the body as a weapon. Peripherals: Exhaustions - 1 Inventory: Basic Clothing (cloth); Stick; Energy 12: Day One Huh. I guess that¡¯s me. It¡¯s weird havingyourself boiled down to a bunch of numbers and short snippets¡­ Well, that¡¯s not totally fair. This is what the game recognizes/supports in me. The snippets next to my skills gives some context that I wasn¡¯t aware of. First, apparently the Combat Proficiency skill is a crutch. The less I need to use it, the more it can do to aid me. Frankly, It makes sense. I assume it just enhances my own abilities, so the more I give it to work with, the more it can do to enhance. But, if I¡¯m always relying on it, then I¡¯m just a shitty meat puppet¡­ and I don¡¯t like the sound of that. It did give me some useful insights about stance and basic attacks that I think I can practice, if I ever have the time and energy to do so. And then, the Energetic Attack... I don¡¯t know how I feel about destroying a living thing¡¯s¡­ spirit? Whatever that means. Maybe I¡¯m actually using my soul to attack the soul of something else? That might explain why my hand got all weird and numb when it happened. Though, a quick test of my hand reveals that the problem solved itself. It didn¡¯t really bother me after the rat died either¡­ so maybe when something dies their Energy stops outside their bodies as well? Or did I beat its incursion? I need to experiment. Which brings me to the rat that still isn¡¯t dead. I¡­ do I really want to do this? I mean, I¡¯m literally taking advantage of a monster, that admittedly tried to kill me first¡­ but that¡¯s all it did. It was trying to kill and eat me. What if this is worse? It¡¯s like: there¡¯s dying, but then there¡¯s also having your soul destroyed¡­ and dying. I¡¯d have to say that the latter is at least an order of magnitude worse than the former. On the other hand, it probably isn¡¯t sentient, and humans used to do experiments all the time on rats that ended with their deaths¡­ I¡­ I think I have to. Sorry rat. At least you¡¯ll get to fight back? A short search reveals the one rat that hasn¡¯t begun to cool in the evening chill, and I can see the slight movement of shallow breathing. It¡¯s going to die slowly if I don¡¯t deal with it¡­ ugh, I hope I¡¯m making this out to be worse than it is. I kneel next to the rat and place my hands on it. Gathering Energy in my hands, I focus on activating the Energetic Attack Skill. The Energy pooling in my hands takes on a murderous dark red hue and a small amount of pushing sees it disappear into the rat. Small tendrils of the same kind of angry dark Energy as before flow into my hands from the rat, but the red Energy there quickly converges on it and destroys it. In less than a minute, my Energy is nearly at half and the rat¡¯s counter attack stops.
[Congratulations! Skill levels gained: Energetic Attack +1 (2)]
[Congratulations! Giant Rat Defeated! +10 Power (60); +5 fragments]
Huh? That¡¯s new¡­ and sure enough, looking at my Energy-scape, there are small remnants of the encroaching, dark Energy from the rat. They''ve formed into little things that kinda look like rocks. I try sending Energy to them, but instead of anything interesting happening, the fragments just get pushed around. I can push them into random shapes, but it¡¯s mostly like sweeping a pile of dirt without anywhere to dump it. It''s unclear what it¡¯s useful for, though. But proof of concept is there, I get something extra for my effort. I could probably use this to debuff enemies in the middle of a fight as long as I can get into contact with them¡­ and considering how much harder it made things for me, I can only assume something without Energy training would be hard pressed to deal with it without killing me. And that would be a lot harder with creeping numbness. Good. ¡­ I really hope I didn¡¯t crush that thing¡¯s soul and steal the remains. That would be a bit much. I briefly check around the cave, piling all the rats up in a corner, and simultaneously making sure there¡¯s nothing else waiting to try and kill me. Fortunately, I seem to be alone. The sun is pretty much gone, and like clockwork, the cold sets in. If I was outside, I would probably die. As it stands, I only feel uncomfortable¡­ which will get worse if I try to sleep and let my body temperature drop¡­Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. However, the dropping temperature isn¡¯t the only point of interest. The massive, celestial rings I saw earlier are actually what caused the sunset. I mean, they¡¯re probably ring shaped, I can¡¯t tell for certain, but it¡¯s as though the planet I¡¯m on is headed through a tunnel with the star on the outside. Small lights, like stars, cover the interior of these weird sky circles. Even with them, the darkness is almost absolute. The night must have fallen really fast, because before the fight it had been like noon, and now? It''s the dead of night. I¡¯m¡­ going to give my eyes the chance to adjust before I go back in. I don¡¯t want any more ambushes. Honestly, the view is worth appreciating for a while longer anyway. In this long, horrifying day, I¡¯ve seen almost nothing pleasant, and certainly not beautiful. But here? Now? This is beautiful. Those rings don¡¯t look natural, they have a structure that could only have been purposely designed. But even construction,at that scale, can only fill a person with awe¡­ In the valley below, the monster camp is immediately noticeable, with multiple fires around the hastily erected barricades. They must expect some kind of attack, but I doubt there are enough people left to mount a serious assault, and I firmly believe no one will try. Hundreds of monsters versus a rag tag army? Not likely. Maybe if we were stronger.. Much stronger¡­ Then something could be done. Looking at the few dots of light that litter the plains, I can¡¯t help but feel that what we have left isn¡¯t enough. I guess we all have to get stronger then. Grow into a species that can stand against the tides of murderous monsters. Maybe then we can start to put things back together¡­ It isn''t quite hopeless.The cave interior has taken on a ghostly glow in the starlight, and I can dimly make out some of the shapes of rocks and the pile of rats. It¡¯ll have to be enough, I can¡¯t stay outside for long. As I move to sit down, I hear a light, almost imperceptible skittering. Like something hard clicking against another hard thing. It doesn¡¯t take long to spot the source, crawling out of the hole in the back of the cave. The creature before me is long and thin, like a snake, but covered on all sides with small, flowing, cillia-like appendages. It¡¯s only about a meter long, with a 4 pronged claw on its tail and a large eye that takes up most of what could be considered its face, and seems to glow with reflected light. Its body is likely ideal for surviving in caves, but it creeps the hell out of me. Something about ¡®too many moving parts¡¯messes with my head. This state of affairs made its decision to move towards me all the more alarming. For every inch it flowed towards me I backed up three. It can¡¯t be that much of a threat, right? It¡¯s small and ropey, I could easily beat it to death¡­ I think? So why¡­ can¡¯t I stop¡­ moving bac- My back hits the stone wall of the cave, nowhere left to run. I freeze. The eyeball thing continues its inexorable approach, raising my anxiety to extreme levels. Do I kill it? Is it hostile? Being disgusting isn¡¯t a reason something should die, but everything I¡¯ve run into so far has tried to kill me, so isn¡¯t it fair to assume this will too? Either way, my senseless deliberations comes to an abrupt end when it touches my shoe. Letting loose a scream that a small child would be embarrassed to have created, I kick wildly with my foot and run from the cave, back into the hopeless cold. The mountain was chilly during the day, but now that night has fallen, it is truly inhospitable. Looking down the mountain, seeing the fires and crude fortifications from the camp of monsters, I know nothing awaits me down there but death, but I can¡¯t stay outside in this cold or the end is the same. I¡¯m already beginning to shiver uncontrollably again. I can¡¯t go back down there. Not yet. ... No time to waste. I turn and cautiously approach the cave entrance again, the promise of shelter from the enduring wind too sweet to refuse just because an alien creature is in there too. I don¡¯t immediately see the creature¡­ perhaps it went somewhere else? Yeah, I was probably just in its way or something. It didn¡¯t care about me¡­ certainly not as food or anything. Regardless, I keep an eye out as I sit down. The cave floor isn¡¯t comfortable or warm, but I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯ll die immediately here. ¡­ I really wish I had some blankets. Glancing at the pile of dead rats in the corner, I briefly consider using them as blankets or a pillow, but such hopes are dashed when I get a whiff of their stench. Absolutely not. It smells like something vomited, ate the vomit, shit it out, and then died in the result¡­ Which might be a fair assessment, considering I threw up on one of them. Even if I had a knife, they would be difficult to turn into something usable, not that I know the first thing about butchering giant rats. Orbutchering anything really¡­ Maybe another time. I huddle up as best I can in a groove of the cave wall, hoping the stone will reflect my trivial body heat production back to me and make my stay more bearable. Just survive.
[Your actions have led to the creation of a basic secondary skill: Cold Resistance (Passive). Learn? (y/n) Cost: 50]
Not even a question.
[Congratulations! You learned the secondary skill: Cold Resistance (Passive). Cold Resistance: 1]
(10) The relief is subdued, but certainly noticeable despite being tempered by the last of my Power going towards its acquisition. Relishing my unexpectedly increased comfort, I barely even notice my eyes close. Energy 13: Dawn My dreams are muddled, forgotten voices, faceless people talking and laughing, a strong sense of belonging... I awake with a start, noticing that though the wind has yet to die down, at least the sun appeared again. As my mind settles back into being awake, the only remnant of my dream is a sense of vague loss. I grimace. This is my life now. Best start the day. Lots to do, no guidance.
[Congratulations! Cold Resistance has leveled up through use! Cold Resistance (2).]
Oh, what a nice surprise-
[Congratulation on surviving the first day! Biological protection lifted]
¡°Fuck.¡± My stomach turns inside out with hunger and pain. Holy fuck I didn¡¯t even realize I wasn¡¯t eating or drinking anything that whole day. Why wasn¡¯t there a warning. God...Fucking...
[Quest Received! Reclaim the Starting Grounds. Difficulty: E23!a$%%Ss~Y Eliminate all the monsters in the Starting Grounds area. Reward: Establishing a Village].
And the third time¡¯s the charm. How is it that my morning started so great and over the course of two more notifications, everything is terrible. And what¡¯s with that difficulty? It looks like something broke, like, in the game¡­ which makes the ¡®easy¡¯ it suggests much more suspect. Something¡¯s up. But there¡¯s no way I can take that quest on, not that I think anyone can right now. Not that I think all of us could, together. So¡­ later problems. The village sounds enticing though. I quickly get to my feet, feeling oddly unbalanced, and meander outside to take in the view and plan my next move. As I step into the sunlight, my balance shifts suddenly, and I realize what feels off: something is on me. I freeze. Again. The movement continues, and I literally have no idea what to do. Every part of my body is screaming at me to move, flail, kick, remove all clothing, but it¡¯s kept back by the knowledge that things like bees will just leave on their own if you don¡¯t mess with them, but will fuck your day up if you get uppity. True to my hopes, the weight seems to be making its way down my leg. The thing that weirds me out the most is how, other than the moving weight, there is no sensation associated with whatever is happening. I flick my eyes down toward my legs just as the weight reaches my heel. IT¡¯S THE GODDAMN SNAKE THING AGAIN. Inwardly fuming and panicking in (somewhat) equal measure, I hold my movement just long enough to let the thing climb down before sprinting away and ducking behind a rock. I collapse, breathing far more heavily than the brief exercise warranted, refusing to look back at the MUCH TOO FORWARD snake thing. No, this is stupid, you¡¯re being stupid. Go check this thing out. I don¡¯t care that it is literally the most terrifying thing, it hasn¡¯t eaten you yet. I grumpily break off the inner dialogue and peek around the rock I¡¯m using as a hiding place. The snake thing is right where I left it, staring after me with its eye half-lidded. I-is this thing giving me sass? I¡¯m being judged by an alien snake worm. Truly I have never been so low. Assuring myself that it probably just has its eye half closed because it doesn¡¯t like bright light, I slowly approach it. As though the game senses my desire to know more about the thing in front of me, a notification pops up.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
[Cathid: Necessary waste recycler, usually found in caves. Feeds primarily on dead flesh, plant matter, and small organisms. Mostly harmless.]
Mostly harmless huh. I squint slightly at the cathid. It doesn¡¯t *look* that harmful. No idea why it was climbing all over me though. Maybe I smell like rot? I tentatively sniff myself. Nah, seems fine to me¡­ Who knows. The cathid regards me as I approach, doing little aside from undulating slightly. ¡°So you don¡¯t do much, do you?¡± It only stares. ¡°Are you going to hurt me?¡± Staring. ¡°Do¡­ you understand me or am I just talking to myself.¡± It blinks. Sighing, I give up. The rumbling of my stomach is more pressing than dealing with this creature. There doesn¡¯t seem to be much in the way of food up here in the mountains though¡­ And it¡¯s not like I could use the cathid as a truffle pig, it would just find dead stuff. Not that I could even cook anything, I realize with a frown. There isn¡¯t much plant life growing here, let alone something big enough to burn, and I have no source of fire, so that¡¯s two strikes. Thank god for Cold Resistance. Looking out over the valley, I see the monster camp along the river closest to where I appeared yesterday. It looks shoddy, but it¡¯s full of monsters. Hundreds, at least. Maybe even thousands. From this distance, seeing what they¡¯re doing is a bit difficult, but from the way the camp has been changing, they seem to be building fortifications. I can see collections of brush and sticks with raised areas punctuated along them. There always seems to be one monster or another sitting atop them, watching. They even have roving patrols, for lack of a better description. The faster monsters, the ones oddly reminiscent of dogs, run along the hills searching for¡­ people, I assume with a shudder. God knows why they¡¯re hunting us, why they attack us at all, but I guess this is part of the challenge or whatever. Weed out the people who can¡¯t adapt and survive¡­ but to what end? To my right there is a cascading mountain stream that flows gradually out into the grasslands below. The stream appears to be glacial melting from even higher up the mountain, far past where would be safe for me to travel without some kind of weather protection. The upper parts of the mountain are completely obscured with a kind of fog, which I can only assume is tons of snow and ice. It looks like the most diverse plant life grow along the river in the grasslands, so there¡¯s probably some kind of food there. In fact, I can see a few small camps along the river. It¡¯s heartening to see that some people made it out and found somewhere safe enough to sleep. Far down the stream there stands a rather thick forest. It looks a bit ominous, even from this distance.The forested area seems to be less well lit, contrary to what one would think. The river flows directly through the forest, but it¡¯s mostly obscured by canopy so I can¡¯t tell where it goes or if it lets out. To my left, I see only that the grasslands continue, dotted with small lakes and a few small streams. Unfortunately, they are all much further away than the stream to my right, and the monster patrols are thicker that way. No dice. Making the executive decision to seek out food along the left river, I briefly glance back to check on the cathid, only to find it is right next to me. It opens and closes the claw on its butt, making a distinctive clicking sound. ¡°What, you want to come with?¡± *Click click* ¡°It might be dangerous, are you sure?¡± *Click click* ¡°Fine, just don¡¯t bite me, ok?¡± *Click* I touch my hand to the ground next to the cathid and it undulates its way up my arm. I still can¡¯t feel it moving, despite knowing where it¡¯s touching me. Creepy. It climbs up to my shoulders and loosely drapes itself there, seemingly comfortable. ¡°Let me know if you see anything dangerous and I¡¯ll do my best to keep it away from us.¡± *Click click* Assuming that to be acquiescence, I begin trekking down the mountain, doing my best to follow the same way I went up. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t remember that much from the early parts of my mad dash away from the monsters, so the path I end up taking is certainly not the same, which earns me a few nicks and bruises during lost traction, sliding, and falls. The cathid, unsurprisingly, always manages to make it out unscathed, almost as if it knows when I¡¯m going to fall and moves accordingly. ¡°D¡¯you think you could find me a better way down?¡± Shot in the dark, but hey, maybe it¡¯s good for something. *Click click*. I feel the weight on my shoulders change such that my body wants to move towards what looks to me like a sheer cliff. I resist at first, cautiously inching in that direction just to see for sure whether this thing is trying to kill me, but I¡¯m pleasantly surprised to find the opposite. There¡¯s a very clear path only a short drop from where I am. It doesn¡¯t lead directly to the cave, but it would be a hell of a lot easier than the shitty climbing I¡¯ve been trying to do. Turns out this thing has some sort of native knowledge of these mountains. And I can tentatively say it understands me, which is¡­ surprising? I was mostly talking at it to calm myself down. Energy 14: Dawn Once we¡¯re most of the way down the mountain, I¡¯m struck with curiosity. How would this thing react to Energy? The only time I¡¯ve been able to really experiment with another living thing reacting to it was with that fucking rat and it was actively trying to kill me, so I didn¡¯t get much of a chance to figure things out. I just got those weird ¡®fragments¡¯, but that might have been from another factor I didn¡¯t take into account. But¡­ with this cathid, it doesn¡¯t seem to have any animosity towards me, so I probably won¡¯t get counterattacked¡­ So I won¡¯t have to use the Energetic Attack, right? ¡°Hey, do you mind if I try transfusing you with Energy?¡± Honestly there¡¯s no way it¡¯ll understand me I don¡¯t know why I asked- *Click* Huh. Ok. While mindlessly continuing my descent, I concentrate Energy in my shoulders and push it towards the cathid, being very careful to not activate the Energetic Attack skill. It¡¯s almost like it knows it could be used here, and it presses on my mind. The push is easily ignored, but it¡¯s certainly noticeable. There is resistance for a moment before a trickle starts to leak out of my purview, and I carefully watch as the golden Energy sluggishly moves through the barrier. Interesting, that was the easiest so far out of anything, living or not, to infuse energy with. I let the trickle continue until my Energy bar decreased by two points, and a notification appears:
[Domination (cathid) at 10%, -1 total Energy pool]
Accompanied by a sudden, pounding headache that stops not only my hike, but also any rational thought in my brain. My eyes squeezed shut on their own and I try not to whimper while the worst pain I¡¯ve ever felt courses through my head. An eternity, or only a moment, passes before the pain clears, leaving so abruptly that I know it couldn¡¯t have been coincidence. That ¡®domination¡¯ thing caused it, almost certainly. Also: what the fuck. I quickly check and, sure enough, I¡¯m now only capable of regenerating Energy up to 20. Son of a bitch, this thing knew! It willfully let me give away a permanent chunk of my Energy! God damnit that was hard to train up! I mean, I kinda got it on accident while healing myself, and I know how to get more, but that¡¯s hard! I stop and grab the offending cathid, prying it off my shoulders and holding it in front of me. It doesn¡¯t resist much other than coiling slightly around my forearm, and stoically meets my gaze. ¡°Dude, what the fuck.¡± the only logical question, honestly. ¡°Give that back!¡± *Click* (Can¡¯t). ¡°Yes you can, you got it in the first place now gi- ¡­¡± I was so angry I didn¡¯t notice, but that was different. ¡°Do that again¡± *Click click* (yes) *Click* (can¡¯t). It blinks. I blink. ¡°You can talk.¡± *Click* (no). ¡°You are literally clicking words or something, I can hear it.¡± *Click* (no). ¡°I¡­ what?¡± I swear I can hear it saying things, but closer inspection reveals it is still just clicking its tail at me, the same as before. The difference is that I can detect more nuance in it. Some amount of meaning is conveyed. ¡°What happened here? What did I do to you?¡± *Click Clack* (bond).Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°We¡¯re bonded?¡±. The cathid merely stares back. This goes on for several awkward minutes before I wordlessly place the cathid back on my shoulders and sit down, resting my head on my knees. I can¡¯t explain it, but the thing I was absolutely terrified of this morning now feels comfortable to have hanging off me. It¡¯s¡­ unsurprisingly, similar to the feeling of the Energy infused stick. I focus on the section of the notification regarding ¡®domination¡¯ and a small blurb appears:
[Domination: The superimposing of one¡¯s ego on to that of another being. A dominated being feels the influence of the dominator at the intensity of the domination. Domination creates a two-way connection for information between dominator and dominated. Cost of domination determined by skill level and Will/Energy pool of target. More research required for further analysis.]
That¡¯s¡­ a lot to take in at once. I didn¡¯t know you could evolve game-provided information through your own experimentation. And, much more troubling, that I seem to have inadvertently overwritten ten percent of my cathid partner with¡­ myself? I¡¯m not totally sure what that part means, but it feels like I took a piece of myself and transplanted it into this creature, making it more¡­ me? And that transplant allows it to communicate with me in a more meaningful manner. Which, in all likelihood, would increase in comprehension if I increased the domination percentage. This is all really creepy. It seems like the cathid knew this would happen, but¡­ would something ever really sacrifice some of itself like that? ¡°Why would you willingly submit to that?¡± The cathid doesn¡¯t move or make any noise for a bit. Long enough that I look over to see it staring off toward the monster camp. I guess it has its own reasons. I wouldn¡¯t have imagined a glorified centipede-snake hybrid would have any higher level thinking, but I think this one might. Which means the intelligence of these monsters might be more than just meat puppets. What if they aren¡¯t just wild animals, but they actually intended and planned the wholesale slaughter of all those people? ... My face feels hot as shame and anger mix in my mind. Shame I didn¡¯t do more, anger it had to happen at all. I¡¯d ask the cathid¡­ who I should really name at some point¡­ but I don¡¯t think its in a communicative mood right now.
[Congratulations, you have discovered a hidden skill: Tamer. Insufficient Power detected to learn skill. Processing¡­ As the first of your race to discover this skill, payment is deferred. Subsequent Power gains will be consumed until Power defecit is removed. Continue?]
I¡­ *really* don¡¯t need this right now. Not, the skill, the¡­ this shitty game is trying to put me in debt?! Fucking typical. A brief, wild thought has me almost decide to dismiss it. But. ¡®First of your species to discover¡¯ is a very compelling line. Accept. Maybe it will shed some more light on what¡¯s going on here. Whether these monsters are intelligent, whether they can be understood¡­ whether they truly deserve to be annihilated.
[Congratulations! You¡¯ve learned the Secondary Skill: Tamer!]
(-90) [Tamer: You have the capacity to forge bonds with the native creatures of this world, and so can grow to learn from and understand them. Caution! Avoid attempting to bond with strong creatures, especially if they are unwilling!] Ugh. I¡¯ll think about it more later. Hunger and confusion do not make a happy, understanding person, so let¡¯s deal with at least one of those. With a huff, I set off again, newly bonded cathid in tow. Energy 15: Dawn It appeared in a cave, as it would have wanted if it had any real capacity to ¡®want¡¯. Things would have been inconvenient if it had appeared anywhere else, but it could probably manage. At least, it thought so. Where most creatures were blind in the level of darkness surrounding the cathid, its massive eye captured even the faintest traces of light. Where that wasn¡¯t sufficient, a friendly, bioluminescent bacteria residing in the fluid that lubricates its eye generated just enough light for it to make out a small space in front of it. The cathid also primarily ate dead things. Hunting those was relatively safe from the cathid¡¯s perspective. Dead things tend not to eat you back. All in all, the cathid was very proud of how well suited for its environment it was. The only issue was that this world was so new that nothing had really gotten the chance to die yet, and the cathid was hungry. It had wandered the caves for hours, trying to find food and get a grasp of its new home. The fruit of its labor was only a few bites of some small wall plants and a bit of water from the moist cave walls. Though the cathid cared little for the day/night cycles of the outside, it did get tired, especially when it was hungry. And it was hungry. It found a small indentation to curl up in and passed into worried unconsciousness. It could not go on forever without real food. Some time later, the scratching of some of its fellow creatures shuffling across the floor woke the cathid. It held very still, doing its best to avoid being noticed. The fellow creatures were not all nice. The cathid avoided all of them, just in case. The creatures appeared to be heading toward a specific destination, however, and while the cathid didn¡¯t like interacting with fellow creatures, it did like the food they left behind when they hunted. So it followed. The cathid watched, skulking in the safe darkness, as the creatures succeeded in providing a meal for it, but not in the way those creatures probably wanted. The cathid cared little for the combat, but the predator that took its fellow creatures on was quite formidable. It managed to take a lot of damage without succumbing itself. This was slightly displeasing to the cathid because such a creature would have much more food in it than its fellows could possibly want, so there would be plenty for the cathid. The cathid did not expect the predator to ignore the food left by the creatures that attacked it. The predator seemed to care nothing for them.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. The cathid, however, did. Once the predator left the cave, the cathid took its chance to dig into its less fortunate fellows. So great was its desire to eat that it did not notice the predator come back into the cave and step in its way. The cathid did not blame the predator for then protecting its food, and quickly scurried off rather than risk further damage. It did not need food badly enough to die for it. The cathid would, however, risk continuing to watch. The predator huddled up and stopped moving after a few more minutes, appearing to have gone to its own unconsciousness. It had, however, left the pile of food untouched. It wondered why the predator had protected the food once but not then eaten it. Perhaps it was left for the cathid? Confident in its understanding of the situation, the cathid crawled over and dug into the fresh food. It ate until it was satisfied. Then it ate more. It stopped when it hurt to move. The cave was cold, too close to the outside and too far from the heat of the home. The cathid went to leave through the hole it entered through, but was surprised to find it could not lift its food laden body to the hole anymore. The cathid became alarmed! And if it had any capacity to believe it had inferior intelligence to anything else, now would be a strong point of evidence in its mind. However, it did not, which was part of the reason it decided that, rather than waste the food by throwing it up, that it would curl up on the predator. The predator was very warm, and this pleased the satisfied cathid. It quickly fell into unconsciousness, far less worried than before. ---- The cathid did not understand the predator very well. The predator was clearly afraid of something, but the cathid could not figure out what. What could possibly cause fear in something that could get beaten so much and still live? Nothing the cathid wanted anything to do with. The cathid *did* know that the predator could possibly continue leaving food in its wake, which would be a good thing if the cathid was nearby. The cathid decided to follow the predator, and fortunately for it, the predator allowed the cathid to ride on it! The cathid felt very safe being protected by the predator. It tried to help as best it could. The predator could fight, but it could not climb very well. The cathid could. The cathid helped. --- The bright, painful ball in the above had only gotten more painful as they descended. The cathid didn¡¯t like it very much. Too much light was much worse than too little. The cathid knew this. But, the predator interrupted its suffering by asking a strange question. The cathid barely understood its meaning, but the cathid knew the predator would protect it, so it agreed. The cathid did not understand what happened next. It felt that it had lost a part of itself, but that what had replaced it was something greater. Better. The cathid had changed, but understanding had come with it. Understanding of the predator, understanding of itself. The predator had seemed angry with this one, but the it passed quickly. This cathid could communicate with the predator now. It could explain. It was happy about that. The predator asked some difficult questions that this cathid couldn¡¯t answer. It was sad about that. This cathid resolved to help as best it could. Perhaps this cathid could grow further with the help of the predator. It just needed to prove its use. Energy 16: Dawn Man, when you¡¯re hungry, everything looks like food. I¡¯m almost tempted to go and try to take down one of the roving packs of Carnine monsters. The monsters seem to be impressively organized, given that they¡¯ve set up mobile patrols of their fastest species while seemingly leaving the slimes to protect the camp. Unnerving. But, as big a fan of my stick as I am, I don¡¯t think I can take on three enemies at once... and that¡¯s as small as the packs seem to get. Plus, I don¡¯t know how I feel about eating monster¡­ especially dog shaped monster. That¡¯s too much. I remember having a dog¡­ and I don¡¯t like the thought of her being eaten¡­ With the cathid¡¯s (which I should probably name at some point, considering it seems to be sticking around) help, I manage to navigate to flat ground rather quickly. I try to pick out landmarks so I can find my way back, but¡­ the mountains are rather plain and uniform. At least for me. Maybe some geology enthusiast would be mad that I can¡¯t tell rocks apart, but the mountains are mostly big gray things that stick up into the clouds. Of course, the outcropping with all the caves along it isn¡¯t visible from the ground, so I can¡¯t even use that as a way back¡­ not that I think the cave in the mountains is the best place to make a permanent camp either. Too little food, and I¡¯m not eating rats or cathids. Fuck that. In fact, the difficulty associated with making a fire is a major contributor towards me not hunting for food. Most plants, however, I should be able to eat raw, so time to hit up the plants. It¡¯s just¡­ I don¡¯t know what¡¯s edible. There are tons of flowers littering the grassy hills, all different colors, but the game-provided information on them is limited to [Unknown alchemical ingredient], which at least indicates it isn¡¯t food, but not much else. I¡¯d test out what they do the old fashioned way (eating them), but if one of them happens to be ¡®sudden paralysis!¡¯ then I¡¯ll probably get mauled to death by roaming dogs. Not worth the risk. That being said, later I¡¯ll hopefully be in a safe enough place where I can inadvertently poison myself and just wait for it to wear off. Alchemy means potions and potions mean safety nets. I won¡¯t have time to heal myself in the middle of combat using Energy, but I could definitely drink a potion quickly. Maybe college *was* worth something after all. I passively pick flowers while I walk towards the river, collecting about five of each kind. Good thing these shorts have pockets. The sun (or maybe not the sun as I know it anymore) has remained in the middle of the sky. It might honestly be stuck in place up there¡­ or whatever planet this is might be rotating at exactly the right speed, while orbiting around it. Whichever. The reason doesn¡¯t matter so much as the result, that there is always the full bore heat of noon throughout the day. During my trip toward the river, the cathid had been strategically keeping to the shade I created. Unfortunately for it, I don¡¯t have much on me to cast shade, especially with the heat source being from directly above. With almost no shade to be found on my body, it¡¯s wrapped around my waist like a belt, likely in the hope that my arms will block some of the light. I mean, it lived in a cave, this is definitely not the environment it signed up for. I hope its eye is ok. That much light with an eye that sensitive¡­ hopefully it has some adaptation. It may be creepy looking, but it¡¯s kinda funny with its antics. I¡¯d rather it be happy. The river is around 15 feet wide and not more than a few feet deep, but it¡¯s flowing fast enough that I would want to weigh my options before crossing it, if I needed to. The water is enticing, but the fruits and nuts lying on the ground and hanging off small bushes along the river are even more so. I immediately set to picking them, praying they¡¯re edible.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The first berry is violet.
[Ju Berry. It is highly poisonous to living creatures (effect unknown). It grows in the river lands and grasslands near ready sources of water.]
Oof, 0/1. The second berry is blue and had similar information about growth patterns.
[Ku Berry. It is a mildly flavorful food that can be eaten raw or cooked. Cooked food provides more regenerative effects than raw food, in general.]
But also some new stuff¡­ If only I *could* cook. One for two, at least. And finally the nut, which is high reminiscent of a walnut with much more pronounced grooves.
[Bon Nut. It has a hard exterior that can be cracked with sufficient force. The nut is sour in taste, but highly nutritious. Can be eaten raw or cooked. Cooked food¡­]
Ok great, two forms of growable food that the game *promises* won¡¯t kill me, and one that it promises will! I should probably keep them separate, I could totally see myself reaching for a snack after dark and mixing up those colors. I miss flashlights. I tentatively try a bite of one of the Ku berries. The fruit is firm, and not very juicy, but the flavor is refreshing. It certainly is mild, but maybe that will help the flavor not become boring as fast? No clue how long I¡¯m going to have to exist on a fruit and nut diet¡­ or how long I can. If it were just me, I could probably survive a long time off all this food, but¡­ Looking down the river, I can see a few camps of people. Some as few as 3 or 4, but one has almost 20. People grouping together is probably good. Probably safe. ¡­ But¡­ I¡¯d rather keep my distance for now. I don¡¯t exactly have *anxiety* about talking to people, but I¡­ don¡¯t¡­ want to. It¡¯s not¡­ comfortable- that¡¯s the word. Especially approaching a group. Especially especially a big group. I continue to eat the Ku berry, relishing the taste of food in my mouth. The cathid seems uninterested in any of it. ¡°Hey cathid, what do you eat?¡± *Clack!* (dead!). Dead? Like dead stuff? Oh. Duh. ¡®Necessary waste recycler¡¯ or whatever. So it feeds on rotting stuff. I probably could have given it the rats I left in the corner of the cave. Oh well. Another cathid will be thrilled I¡¯m sure. I guess it¡¯ll bug me when it wants food. Heh, bug. Cause it¡¯s a- God damnit. Shitty jokes are my coping mechanism. After eating my fill and feeling pleasantly full for the first time in what feels like forever, I consider the water. I *am* really thirsty, even after the juice from the berries, but I don¡¯t know if the water is safe to drink. I mean, I can see it cascading down a mountain that I know has little life on it (if it¡¯s anything like the one I was on), but I know there¡¯s life in the caves, and that this river is probably glacial, but it might be a spring welling up instead. Dying of dysentery because some rat was bad at swimming and died upriver is not on my to-do list. The game also provides a relatively unhelpful description:
[River Water, useful for keeping hydrated]
Sigh. Maybe I¡¯m being paranoid. Back home, it would be very unwise to trust this water, and technically I could squeeze berry juice for water¡­ but I¡¯d probably not get enough to sate myself. Damnit I need a fire. If I could just boil it, everything would be fine. It definitely looked like people had fires around here last night, so maybe¡­ grr. I think I have to talk to them. But I can and will put that off as long as I can. After taking some time to collect a few berries and a bunch of the nuts I didn¡¯t get to try, I decide I¡¯ve stalled enough and have sufficient provisions, but before I take my first step, I notice a growing violet stain on my pants. Shit. I put the Ju berries in my left pocket and all the food and flowers in my right, but I never checked how soft the Ju berries were. Stupid Stupid Stupid. Well great, now I¡¯ve stained my new clothes with berry juice¡­ Poison berry juice. That¡¯s¡­ touching my skin. SHIT. Energy 17: Dawn As jumping into the fast current of the river was about all I could think of to solve the poison problem, I quickly found myself floundering in the river. Swimming has never been an issue for me, whether it¡¯s the ocean or a pool or whatever, but an angry river is quite another beast. The random currents keep twisting me around, dragging my bottom half up while my top is forced down, end over end and spinning too much to really get my bearings. Plus the water is COLD. It takes a monumental effort to guide myself towards the shore, and I¡¯m thoroughly exhausted as I dragged myself onto shore. All I can manage is to flop down, a wet mass of sadness, my breathing coming in ragged gulps as I attempt to recover any sort of composure. I had only managed a few gasping breaths before my revery for life was interrupted by a ¡°What the fuck is that thing?! Quick, get it off him!¡± and the sound of steps running in my direction. Thing? What would they be talking abo- Cathid. I quickly spring up and stumble through words trying to explain and coughing too much. A group of about 10 people had been running over to me with weapons ranging from a full on battle axe to a shitty looking club. It didn¡¯t help that they were yelling things like ¡°Hold still! We¡¯ll get it off you!¡± and ¡°Holy fuck that thing is terrifying¡± over my attempts at explaining. ¡°LOOK!¡± I finally had enough. ¡°IT¡¯S A PET. IT¡¯S HARML-*HACK*¡± collapsing into a coughing fit, all I can manage is an attempt at trying to wave them back. Someone else speaks up. ¡°Woah there everyone! Give the guy some space! I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll explain everything and more when we give him the chance.¡± Fortunately, they¡¯re all too confused to approach me and my scary pet while I finish coughing my lungs out. Ah, man, I swallowed enough water during that shitty flume ride that I definitely have whatever shit is in the water. Hopefully it doesn¡¯t suck too much. When I can finally control my heaving enough to look up again, one person has stepped forward to stand between me and the rest of the group. He¡¯s tall and skinny, with black hair that somehow looks styled, despite the apparent end of the world. ¡°Hey there, I¡¯m Nate.¡± I recognize his voice as that of the one who called the crowd off me. He extends a hand, either to help me up or to shake, I don¡¯t know. Nodding in thanks, I grab his hand and haul myself up. He sways a bit under the sudden force, but does a good job of hiding any surprise if he felt it. ¡°Anthony,¡± I respond, ¡°thanks for the assist. This thing on my back is called a Cathid, they look freaky but that¡¯s¡­ because it usually lives in a cave, and everything in caves is creepy.¡± I look to the cathid ¡°no offense.¡± *Clack* (confused). The cathid communicating makes some of the crowd jump, and Nate (accidentally?) lets a wary look cross his face, but he¡¯s right back to the confident smile so fast it makes me question whether I actually saw it. ¡°No need to worry, that¡¯s how it¡­ talks? I guess?¡± I flounder a bit, trying to weigh how much I should share, and also acutely aware that I¡¯m talking to loudly and that I¡¯m the center of attention of way too many people. Nate seems to sense my discomfort and grabs the reigns of the conversation again. ¡°We saw you wandering around, figured you¡¯d come this way when you were ready.¡± He chuckles lightly, shaking his head. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d arrive in quite so spectacular a fashion.¡± Ah. They saw. Lovely. I must have looked quite ¡®spectacular¡¯ suddenly freaking out and falling into the river. Good thing it¡¯s not night soon and my clothes will have a bit of time to dry, I¡¯d hate to¡­ well actually, cold resistance would just get some training. I wonder what the ratio of misery to experience gain for that skill is¡­You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Nate continues: ¡°Anyway, everyone, please be good to our new friend Anthony while he gets his bearings.¡± he waits a moment before beginning again in a more conversational voice ¡°Anthony, feel free to introduce yourself more personally to the group. Make yourself at home, or as ¡®at home¡¯ as you can here. Just, before you go, I¡¯d like to chat with you. See what you think. Sound good?¡± Nate reminds me of a salesman. He¡¯s just a bit too confident, and his voice is so smooth I feel like he must have practiced conversations in the mirror, once upon a time. It seems like he¡¯s the current spokesperson for the group judging by how everyone went about their business the moment he stopped addressing them¡­ That and he¡¯s really charismatic. Ugh. I think I hit my head while I was tossing and turning in the water. My health hasn¡¯t dropped but¡­ oof. I don¡¯t really understand the relationship between pain and hit points, so it could be possible that I would bruise or get contusions without it lowering. Something to research, anyway. ¡°Sounds good, Nate. Thanks.¡± I reply. He nods and walks back over to the fire. As he walks away I whisper to my pet ¡°Sorry about the bath, are you alright?¡± *Click* (safe). I nod. I¡¯ve got to be better about doing stupid shit. It would be really sad if I hurt my pet¡­ Which in itself is a rather strange thing. The progression from ¡®I¡¯m terrified of this¡¯ to ¡®I¡¯d be sad if it got hurt¡¯ happened over the course of a day. Not even a whole one, either. I think the Domination effect has a lot more nuance than the game¡¯s explanation gave. I¡¯ll need to be careful. My pockets were tight enough that the harder Ku fruit and nuts survived the trip, along with the flowers, and my stick is still in the back of my shirt. Everything accounted for, I survey the people around me. I¡¯ve gotta say, I¡¯m not thrilled about having to go talk to total strangers. I¡¯ll do it, but I¡¯m going to complain the whole time internally. Sigh. I pick randomly, the least threatening person I can see. ¡°Hi there-¡± ¡°Get the hell away from me.¡± ...Oh. Turning to walk away, I realize I only thought she was non-threatening because she was small. Couldn¡¯t be more than a few inches over five feet. But, idiot, she was armed to the teeth with knives and covered in leather armor. How the FUCK was that supposed to be a ¡°approach me, I¡¯m friendly!¡± sign?! I¡¯m so dumb sometimes it actually astounds me. Wasn¡¯t there an Intelligence stat? Didn¡¯t I *just* get much smarter? Good lord. I guess all the intelligence in the world doesn¡¯t fix idiocy. I¡¯m a little extra bummed about the stark rejection because what she was doing was working with a basic looking alchemy set, and I would *really* like to know how to make potions. Energy healing is work, and not terribly combat effective. ¡®Oh, hold on for a minute, evil monster, I just need to meditate a bit so I can fight you better.¡¯ ¡°Don¡¯t mind Lauren¡± one of the guys, who definitely saw that horrible interaction judging by the light smile on his face ¡°she¡¯s that way with everyone. Likes to be left alone.¡± Sensing a social rescue, I wholeheartedly smile back. ¡°Ah, I should have noticed. Honestly, I wish I had *a* knife and she must have twenty at least..¡± I reply. ¡°Twenty that you can see. Don¡¯t bother trying to figure it out. I¡¯m Dean, by the way.¡± ¡°Dean, nice to meet you¡± we briefly shake hands ¡°I guess I¡¯ve already been introduced.¡± Dean smiles more genuinely ¡°Yeah, Nate is a real go-getter when it comes to people knowing everyone else. Trouble is, people are feeling scared, alone, and a little bad after yesterday. Sleeping on the ground didn¡¯t help. There¡¯s not much happiness to go around here.¡± He honestly couldn¡¯t have done a better job describing the mood. People seemed either listless or entirely enthralled in whatever task. Lauren with her potion making, another woman had cleared the grass from a small section of ground and seemed to be planting something, many others were caring for their weapons. Very focussed, or entirely vacant¡­ can¡¯t say I blame them. Wincing, I remember what happens in my own mind when it¡¯s allowed to wander too much. I need to deal with that part of me¡­ the part that hates me and what I did and didn¡¯t do¡­ but not now. If I ever end up safe again, I can take the time to break down. If I do that now, I¡¯ll probably just die faster. In a really humiliating, stupid way. Best to keep moving. Energy 18: Dawn ¡°So Dean, what did you get from the game?¡± His eyebrows furrow ¡°Game? You mean all this?¡± He gestures to the world around us ¡°A *game*. You¡¯ve got some sense of humor. No, I think God judged us and sent us all to Hell, and we¡¯re here to suffer for as long as we can.¡± Noticing my startled expression, he continues ¡°Yeah¡­ to answer your question, I take *this*¡± he half speaks, half grunts as he hefts a greatsword the size of his 6 foot tall body ¡°and I ruin everything I hit with it. It wasn¡¯t much use in that melee we started in, but it kept me alive.¡± His face darkens for a second. ¡°What about you.¡± he doesn¡¯t look at me while he asks, keeping his eyes on the ground near my feet. ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± uh¡­ what am I. The game thinks I¡¯m an Energy user, but that whole concept isn¡¯t a thing for almost anyone before the game started, or we went to Hell, whichever. I don¡¯t think Dean would understand. ¡°-a healer.¡± I finish ¡°I use a bar of Energy to heal wounds.¡± Testing the waters, maybe he knows something. ¡°You use Stamina to heal? That¡¯s weird. Also why call it Energy? Whatever, same thing.¡± It most definitely is not ¡°But healing, that¡¯s pretty useful. You cast spells and replenish HP? Like a cleric or something?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ it¡¯s more like meditating.¡± He frowns at that. ¡°Weird.¡± Then suddenly ¡°Hey, Rav!¡± Dean shouts to someone behind me. I look over my shoulder to see a frail looking guy in what must be robes look up, dazed. ¡°C¡¯mere!¡± Dean yells again, motioning towards us. Rav doesn¡¯t react for a moment, but slowly gets to his feet and plods over. ¡°Rav, Andy-¡± Anthony ¡°here is a healer. Show him.¡± Dean gestures at Rav¡¯s torso area. Rav doesn¡¯t say anything, but blinks a few times. More emotion than he¡¯s displayed up to this point. He slowly moves one hand, covered in voluminous robes, to the other, uncovering it. Or where it would be, if it were there. An angry, red stump exists where his hand once was. No sign of the hand. ¡°Oh...Oh my god¡± I breathe ¡°what the hell happened?¡± Ral doesn¡¯t react, but Dean supplies ¡°Rav¡¯s a wizard. Casts spells, uses hand gestures, fireballs, the whole deal. One of the monsters took exception to that.¡± He doesn¡¯t continue. I¡­ Oh fuck. I barely know how to fix basic cuts¡­ and that¡¯s just on me! How the hell¡­ how do I begin? Can I even use my Energy to help him? Can I regrow the limb? I think I might be able to attach a new one but¡­ ¡°Do you have the hand?¡± I ask, hoping. Once again, Dean supplies the answer ¡°You can go ask the monster for it, but I doubt it¡¯s willing to share. Do you need it?¡± Fuck me, I don¡¯t know whether to be honest about how incompetent I am or possibly subject this guy to Energy-Medical experimentation. ¡°How...How badly do you want your hand back?¡± It¡¯s not a fair question. I know. But I need him to be desperate, otherwise I can¡¯t justify even trying what I think I can do to help. Dean frowns at me, but says nothing. Rav¡¯s eye twitches, and a word more like a sigh than anything else escapes: ¡°bad.¡± Oof. I was afraid of that. ¡°I might be able to help you, Rav,¡± I begin ¡°but I have to warn you, this isn¡¯t¡­¡± well I can¡¯t say it isn¡¯t magic cause it really is ¡°safe. This is not safe. I will do my best to heal you without putting you in harms way, but I can¡¯t guarantee your safety. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll die no matter what I do, but¡­ It might get worse.¡± I finish, rather lacklusterly. I¡¯m really not sure I can help. Rav doesn¡¯t do anything, but, after a moment, slowly holds his stump slightly out. Fuck. I motion for him to sit with me, trying to gather my thoughts in the precious few moments it takes him to comply. I remember trying to fix my hand when it got mangled. There were a bunch of colors I didn¡¯t understand, but I¡¯m sure I could fix them if I had the time, energy, and...well, Energy. But I haven¡¯t yet- Wait. ¡°Did you already use your body upgrade? That healed m-¡± Rav shows the first bit of real expression in somehow managing to look more unhappy while he nods his head. ¡°Rav took that as soon as he landed here, before the big fight. Said his ¡®mentor¡¯ advised him to do so.¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Oh. On the one hand, he probably only made it through the clusterfuck at the start because of that advice (which, by the way, I¡¯m not at all bitter about not getting), but on the other hand, having that backup to heal me of my more permanent wounds was a big deal. Very unlucky. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. I¡¯ll do my best.¡± I blurt out. It¡¯s annoying to know how dumb you sound. How little confidence you inspire. Not a great start. Cutting my losses as far as bedside manner goes, I do what I am only marginally more qualified for and grasp his arm above the stump, feeling out with my own Energy. In my Energetic space, looking at my own body, I can see I¡¯m full up on Energy. It steadily, rhythmically courses through my body, like a second heartbeat following unseen vasculature. Alright. I know I have at least three kinds of Energy: the green, the gold, and the deep red. Two of those are out off the bat; the red for obvious ¡®I don¡¯t want to kill him¡¯ reasons and the gold because¡­ well I don¡¯t know if I can Dominate humans, but I really don¡¯t want to try. Plus, it wouldn¡¯t help. That just leaves green. It heals me¡­ so it might also be able to heal other people. Seems reasonable, but that¡¯s only half of the equation. The easy half. The hard half is that I can¡¯t really control my Energy once it¡¯s outside me. It¡¯s just... not in my perception anymore. Poof. And healing is pretty exact. I have to put the stitches in the right place, or it would¡­ do something? I don¡¯t actually know. Mental note: experiment with that. Hopefully I wouldn¡¯t fuck myself up too bad¡­ The point is: I can¡¯t heal what I can¡¯t see. Finally, I couldn¡¯t even heal my own hand, and it was still attached to me. How, the ever living hell, do I even begin to *make a new hand*!? Ahhh! FUCK. I¡¯m so unbelievably out of my depth. Why did I agree to this. I got his hopes up and what, I can¡¯t even heal his stump wound, let alone give him his hand back! My Energy is coursing faster, seeming to sense my agitation and reflecting it. Interesting insight, but ENTIRELY USELESS RIGHT NOW. Think. There has to be something I can do. Think. I¡¯ve done so little with external Energy, just the rat and the cathid. The differences are innumerable, the rat was agitated, unwilling, actively hostile, and fundamentally different than the much more peaceful, actively willing cathid. The rat attacked me when I pushed my gold Energy at it, like my assault, because it was unwanted, allowed an attack back through. A retaliation. Even when it was completely incapacitated, it still fought back Energetically. So¡­ a mental defence? I think Rav is willing, but I can¡¯t see into him. Maybe he isn¡¯t? Maybe he¡¯s too agitated? Both would make sense, I¡¯m a stranger and offering voodoo magic to fix him. He would be right to be suspicious. Guarded. One way to verify¡­ I push some green Energy through my hands. Or¡­ I try to. It¡¯s like pushing on a wall. No give, no flexing, nothing. My Energy slowly pools in my hands, a soft green, but nothing moves through. ¡°Rav, I need you to relax¡­ and I know this is strange, but I need you to trust me. My healing is diminished if you resist it.¡± Nothing changes for a moment, and I wonder if maybe didn¡¯t hear me, or that I¡¯m on the wrong track, but a trickle moves through. And like clockwork, small black tendrils appear among my mass of green. ¡°Rav, you¡¯re fighting me, I really need you to stop or I can¡¯t help you. I can¡¯t focus on both at once,¡± I explain, cutting off the trickle and eliminating his attack. After waiting a few moments, I push again, and more flows through. A small black tendril appears, but diminished much further from before. ¡°You¡¯re doing great, just keep it up.¡± With inching, grudging slowness, the attacks stop and the trickle increases more and more. Before long, I¡¯ve dumped half of my Energy into him. But what can it do? Probably just passively heal him¡­ It¡¯s something, but I¡¯m disappointed. But¡­ But. Something¡¯s different. The dark space that makes up my body has changed slightly, like a strange growth has been added to my hands, connecting them. No, not a growth. A stump. And it isn¡¯t my stump. I can see his arm. It¡¯s entirely full of my Energy, concentrating to points of bright green stars at many points along the wound. It''s... beautiful. I¡¯ve never seen anything like it. The lights swirl and twinkle, forming perfect and ever-changing diamonds. It¡¯s almost enough to make me forget what I¡¯m doing. Why I¡¯m doing it. I need to help this guy. I¡¯d say it was out of the goodness of my heart, but that would be a lie. I don¡¯t know him, and I don¡¯t care about him. I *do* care about his loyalty and usefulness both as a companion and as a link to this group. If I can give him back his hand¡­ to say he¡¯ll look favorably on me is likely a gross understatement. He *could* just take it and run, but I think not. I think he¡¯s devoid of hope and this would bring it back. People tend to like that. And if I fail, I¡¯m unlikely to be well received. I¡¯ll have to find something else to ingratiate me, or just set off on my own. Both are options, both require extra work. Plus, I could use people to watch my back while I¡¯m sleeping. Energy 19: Dawn I have vision, now I need results. I could address the red plaguing the entire stump, but I think that would just seal it up. It would make Rav more comfortable, stop the bleeding, prevent future infection, but make the eventual healing of his hand (if it¡¯s possible) more difficult. There are large lines of yellow-green interspersed in the red. They never go very deep, except where flesh is clearly missing. Many of the yellow-green lights follow an almost fang-like shape¡­ like a bite. Animal bites generally cause infection via saliva and the introduction of foreign bodies¡­ so maybe that? Tentative: yellow-green means infection/foreign contaminant. There isn¡¯t any purple like there was for me, which is odd. There is, however, a very telling blue light that extends about an inch further past the stump. ¡­ Missing tissue? Maybe it¡¯s a template? The body knows what was lost and wants it back, signified by blue light? An interesting thought, but ultimately null because my Energy refuses to move past the red wall where the stump ends. My first thought is to blame the red, and say ¡®if I healed it, I could go further¡¯ but further consideration makes me unsure. There isn¡¯t any resistance around the other red, Energy can pass easily through it, so why would it be true here? No, I think the lack of body there is the issue. I can¡¯t move my Energy through air, and that¡¯s all that¡¯s there. Time slips by as I wonder what the answer is. There clearly is one, there wouldn¡¯t be a blue light otherwise. I mean, maybe it means something totally different, but my intuition says I¡¯m onto something. If that intuition is the game offering me guidance, perfect. If it¡¯s just my gut¡­ that¡¯s right sometimes too. No, this has to be it. I know I¡¯m right. I just¡­ don¡¯t¡­ know how. I pull out of the Energetic view. The scene has changed slightly since I last looked, and now Nate is standing very close, watching me intently. Dean is sitting nearby on a hunk of wood, eyeing me warily. To be expected, honestly. Rav looks¡­ like he¡¯s in a trance. It¡¯s amazing, he must be barely breathing to be that still. Nate addresses me: ¡°Can you heal him?¡± I pause for a second before answering. Can¡¯t be too honest, can¡¯t be too negative. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know. I¡¯m close to figuring it out, but there¡¯s something missing. I know I¡¯ll figure it out, but¡­ I don¡¯t know when.¡± I sigh, looking down. Then Nate says something I don¡¯t expect: ¡°I think I can help¡­ *heal Rav¡¯s hand*.¡± The mental equivalent of a *wham* sound rings through my skull, and a pounding headache emerges. I fail to keep in a small grunt of pain as the sensation washes over me for a moment before receding. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. But it isn¡¯t just pain¡­ it¡¯s also clarity. There¡¯s a connection I hadn¡¯t made. Energy is only a piece of the puzzle, not the whole thing. Energy, Mana, Power¡­ these are all part of this new system that¡¯s in place. There¡¯s no way they could be independent. Rav could cast spells; that means he must have been able to show some exterior sign of it. Meanwhile my attempts at using Energy outside something I¡¯m in direct contact with have been fruitless. Additionally, he only just got his powers when the game gave them to him, so he must be a novice like me, meaning¡­ exterior control came naturally to him, just like interior control with Energy came easily to me. Well¡­ ¡®easily¡¯, but generally the same. And then there¡¯s Power. Something Rav and I have in common. There was a Power cost for rebuilding and upgrading our bodies and for acquiring new abilities. Where did the muscle mass come from? The strength? Density? Something had to be created, and if the stat boosts are any indication, this wasn¡¯t just my body being re-molded¡­ It was growing, becoming something more. Where else could that addition have come from than the Power I put in to make it happen? Energy is the self, Mana is the fuel, and Power is the clay. It gives shape, but that shape is dead. If I shape a dead hand from Power, and give it life with Energy, it just needs to be connected to its new owner and¡­ ¡­ And I guess we¡¯ll see. Rav, I hope you have some Power lying around, cause I sure don¡¯t. I dive right back in, praying that my mental model is correct. My view is just as I left it, but there¡¯s an odd aura around my body. Maybe it¡¯s related to the clarity I got when Nate ordered me around¡­ That was also unusual, now that I think about it, but unimportant right now. I reach through my connection with Rav and feel around in him. I never noticed Power within myself, but it must be somewhere, right? I¡¯m out right now, otherwise I¡¯d figure it out internally first, but Rav might have some. He probably got a bunch from the fight but has been too out of it to use any. Hopefully. I press my Energy up his arm and slowly gain vision of the rest of him. I don¡¯t see any damage or new colors as I go, which is good, and before long I reach the center of his chest. Here I find gold. Literally. There¡¯s a large, golden mass in the direct center of his sternum. It looks exactly like the chunk I found buried in the hillside all that time ago. The chunk of pure Power. Jackpot. The act of moving it is only a slight challenge. It resists being moved all at once, but I can wrest small pieces off by rubbing tendrils of my Energy against it. The green tendrils become golden, but don¡¯t seem to take on the domination quality, more like they¡¯re just covered in Power and it masks their color. I set up a cycle of Energy flowing to the Power source and back to the stump, over and over, building up power in the blue section. As the Power accumulates to a noticeable amount, which takes for-god damn- ever, my residual, green Energy moves easily into the space. The tendrils flash brightly and disappear, leaving blank body space behind! The outline of Rav¡¯s stump extended slightly, and the blue light didn¡¯t change in size, but moved out to signify opportunity for more growth. Only a matter of time. ---- I¡¯ve been at this for such a long time (I can never tell exactly in my Energetic view) that I¡¯ve used almost the entirety of the Energy stockpile I¡¯d placed in him, and the supply of Power is getting slower. I have to push more and more Energy into him just to keep the rate up. It¡¯s difficult work. I¡¯m starting to feel the strain, both on my body through the lost Energy, and on my mind from having to micromanage the process. The thing that keeps me going is my undeniable progress towards creating a new hand. There¡¯s a wrist structure, half a palm, and a thumb is starting to appear. The good news is that I can move faster on the smaller biomass sections like the fingers. The¡­ more questionable news is that I don¡¯t know if the result will be¡­ good. Forget matching skin color, I don¡¯t even know if it¡¯ll look human. ¡­ Oh well. It¡¯ll be fine. Energy 20: Lauren Lauren knew off the bat that she wanted nothing to do with the new guy. She laughed to herself when she saw him fall into the river, hoped he drowned, then brought her focus back to alchemy. Such a shame he survived. A much bigger shame that he washed ashore right next to camp. She hadn¡¯t been listening when he said his name; she didn¡¯t care. He¡¯d be dead, gone, or both before long. Most of these people would be. Her dislike towards the new guy wasn¡¯t limited to just him, to be fair. She hated everyone here in their own unique way. All except Nate. Him, she wasn¡¯t sure about. She examined the result of her efforts: a poison made from simmering down a lot of Ju berries and mixing in some of the red flowers littering the area. [Fire Poison I] was the name, described as ¡®causing intense pain and moderate inflammation, in more ways than one. It wouldn¡¯t be terribly useful against monsters, unless they were made of wood, but they would definitely convince anything (or anyone) she didn¡¯t want messing with her to fuck right the hell off. That was something she could definitely appreciate. She smiled internally, never letting it show on her face. Smiling made you approachable. Which, actually, begs the question of just how dumb this new guy is, that he would see *her* and think she was the right person to be buddies with. She just wanted to be left alone to train and kill things. Especially that really big monster, she remembered wistfully. A gargantuan, wolf-like creature. Larger than a horse. What a fight that would be¡­ In the chaos of the initial fighting, she had been right at home. Ducking in and out of combat, snagging weapons and planting them in monsters (or people, on accident¡­ a few times)... she got 200 Power over the course of all that fighting. It had been life changing. Glorious. Totally in her element. One would think that a rogue would be in dire straights when surrounded by combat, but it¡¯s quite the opposite. In her training, she had maximized her investment into stealth, and it paid dividends in full when everyone around her was distracted fighting for their lives. Her teacher had understood her, but was only allowed to let her leave with the armor *or* a weapon. She liked the armor, and acquiring a weapon had been as easy as reaching over and lifting a small throwing knife off some asshole she landed next to. From there, she had climbed the ladder of weaponry, accruing a total of 5 throwing knives and one very nice dagger. She knew full well none of their previous owners cared anymore. All that with only a few scratches on her armor from wayward swings and mistimed steps. She couldn¡¯t be *perfect* after all. A growing murmuring swept her from her reverie back to the significantly more dull present. Frowning slightly, she noticed that Nate and much of the rest of the camp was paying attention to the new guy and the mage who had lost his hand, and whose name didn¡¯t matter. He was already dead, just waiting for his body to realize. All the light was gone from those eyes. Even with the minimal Health regeneration a mage probably has, his wound hadn¡¯t closed, and Lauren could only imagine that was because he had totally given up. Pathetic. It seemed that the new guy was doing something¡­ like he was meditating with him. She rolled her eyes. What kind of good is praying going to do. Hah, probably giving him his last rights or something before he jumps in the river. Maybe that moron will jump with him. She couldn¡¯t concentrate with all the noise, though, so she opted to get some target practice and Endurance training in. Run to the forest, put some holes in some trees, run back. Her Endurance was one of her lowest Primary Skills, not that it was terribly important. Still, it shortens travel times to be able to run longer, so it has its benefits. Her stealth ability helped with that too, nobody could follow her if they never noticed her leave. And human eyes were very easy to trick. Well, some of them. Some had higher perception, like the few ranged people in the group. But even then, with their focus divided between ogling the meditating couple and their own work, they had no attention to spare for her. She started to slip away when she heard a low whistle come from Nate. Not directed at her, but more of a ¡®shock and awe¡¯ sort of whistle, like he couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. What, never seen two dudes hold *hand* before? Heh. But as she slipped by, she noticed two things. First, the new guy was *drenched* in sweat -gross- and second, the mage¡¯s hand was¡­ actually there. It was there. The missing one. She even checked to be sure she hadn¡¯t mixed up the sides, but she could see his other hand too. How the fuck. That miserable piece of shit can regrow limbs?! By PRAYING?! Un-fucking-believable. Fuck! Now he¡¯ll never leave, Nate won¡¯t let him! Fuck fuck fuck. She can¡¯t find it in her heart to blame him either, Nate needs someone like this to keep the group together, and Magey McNo-Hand had been a massive downer to everyone. It just makes it *so* much harder to poison him in the night if he¡¯s important. There goes plan A. The good news is, there¡¯s no way he would try to talk to her again after she had completely shut him down. All she needed to do was avoid losing a limb she couldn¡¯t fight without and she could just pretend he didn¡¯t exist. Just like the rest of them. All except for Nate. Lauren¡­ didn¡¯t *like* Nate, but she did *appreciate* him. He made things so easy. He told her to do something, like ¡®train hard¡¯, ¡®improve quickly¡¯, or ¡®kill some monsters¡¯ and it became super easy. She was immediately motivated to do whatever he said, able to ignore all hints of laziness, gripes, whatever. And he was so good about telling her to do stuff she really wanted to do anyway. Hell, it honestly felt *easier* when he told her to do stuff than when she did it on her own. See, *that* is how to be useful to an excellent killer like her. That¡¯s how you don¡¯t get poisoned in the night. She pulled out 3 of her throwing knives, testing the weight she already knew was off. -Sigh- you could only expect so much from stolen goods. She was lucky enough to get the high quality dagger, so she didn¡¯t mind too much that her knives, *specifically for throwing*, were not actually that great for it. She was sure she¡¯d find better ones, though. Or get her skill level high enough that it didn¡¯t matter. Skill levels, now those were a funny thing. At the start of all this, standing on top of some crazy waterfall, she had felt¡­ bad. Like something was missing, something really important to her¡­ but every time she tried to figure out what, there was only this gaping, grasping emptiness that she could not fill. The running theory was that everyone had forgotten specifics of their previous lives, particularly people. Maybe to make us more vulnerable, give us a blank slate, who knows. Lauren did know that the gap in her mind was oddly person shaped, so she had been close to someone. *Whack* The first throw slammed handle first into the tree. Frowning, she changed her grip. She hated whoever made that hole inside her. She had relied on them, and they were gone now, and their emptiness just¡­ emanated dark thoughts. As long as she didn¡¯t think about it, she just felt a little anxious all the time, but when she thought bout it¡­ when her concentration lapsed, when she couldn¡¯t fully immerse herself in what she was doing¡­ It got so much worse. It felt like glass replaced her blood, every heartbeat bringing a new swelling of pain all along her arms and legs. And it just. Didn¡¯t. Stop! It would start and go on and- *WHACK*- ON. ¡°GOD DAMNIT.¡± Her voice came out strained from disuse, making her more agitated. Even from here, she could see the dent the handle of her second throw had caused, but she was still fucking up. It was entirely that fucking gap too. Messing with her focus, making her hurt when nothing had hurt her¡­ She hated it. And that drove her to train. Training drowned everything out, she could totally lose herself in the moment¡­ but only for so long. Fighting? Ohhh man, fighting. She could disappear. Hide so well that not even she could find her. And then, the thoughts wouldn¡¯t come. Then she was free, and she was *amazing*. ¡­ If only she didn¡¯t have to come crashing back down. She couldn¡¯t fight forever. Her distractions would die, she¡¯d run out of targets, or the enemy would notice how much damage she was doing and target her specifically. All obstacles that led to her *not* fighting. She loved battle, but she wasn¡¯t going to die for it. *Thud* There it is.
[Congratulations! Skill levels gained: Throwing Weapon +1 (2)]
It was the first skill she picked up after the tutorial. A ¡®Secondary Skill¡¯ called ¡®Throwing Weapon¡¯. She had been practicing, probably in this exact place, and decided to try out throwing knives at the trees. Lauren had had a lot of versatility in combat, but no ranged option, so there was nothing else to do but fix the gap. Her first attempts had been even more pathetic, but noone was around to see. If anyone ever managed to spot her and follow her here, they¡¯d best not speak of it to anyone. Or she¡¯d ensure they didn¡¯t slip up twice. But, she wasn¡¯t worried. Nobody could sneak better than she, and she had some of the best eyes in the group, or so she believed. No, she wouldn¡¯t be snuck up upon. She doubted anyone would try. Nate was happy enough to leave her be to improve, and nobody else had the balls. Smirking to herself, she threw another knife at the unlucky tree. *Thunk* Ha, getting the hang of it now. There was honestly no comparing how bad she was before to this stellar display. She was new, totally untrained, to be fair, but bad. Now that she was amazing, she could stand to admit it. It had taken her¡­ probably an hour of constant effort before the skill even bothered to present itself. An hour in which she had tried every grip on the handle *and* blade she could think of, all without a single success. She tried moving closer, but that just changed the number of rotations. Further away was even less helpful. She even missed the tree a few times... But when she got that first skill level, dropping the miniscule 75 Power requirement, the knowledge of what she was trying to do came almost instinctively. She knew where to hold the knife, how to stand, how to turn her body to throw more powerfully without losing accuracy¡­ It was awesome. *She* was awesome. And she didn¡¯t give a fuck if anyone else knew it. Energy 21: Dawn I fell back, panting and sweating like I¡¯d just run my ass off. No, worse than that. Like I just ran from a life or death situation, and my body forgot to feel pain or tiredness until the moment the situation ended. And it hit all at once. Not a single part of me is spared from the overwhelming burning sensation, but my head is worst of all. I can¡¯t even will my eyes open because it feels like I¡¯m staring at the sun even with my eyes closed. It¡¯s indescribable, and not in a good way. My ears can¡¯t make sense of anything going on around me, my sense of touch isn¡¯t working very well, with only the heavy pressure of the ground beneath me telling me I¡¯m on my back. It¡¯s so much for my fucked up brain to handle that I barely notice the slight change in sensation as my body convulses and I¡¯m certain I throw up. I belatedly turn on my side (probably) to keep from choking on it. Not that I could tell even if it helped. I lie there, cringing and spasming for a long while. At least, for me it feels like an eternity of pain and simultaneous sensory deprivation and overload. I really wish I could just black out and wake up later, when my body has recovered, but that is not to be. I am *never* doing this is combat. Ever. I am *only* doing this for serious payment in the future. This guy better fucking love me after this shit, or else I¡¯m going to use the hand I MADE FOR HIM to punch him in the GODDAMN FACE. The disjointed sounds have diminished to a steady drone, much lower in intensity. I guess people left me to wallow in my misery. God forbid they get a healer. Except¡­ I¡¯m the healer. Fuck me. It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m sure my Energy will heal me soon¡­ except that I used it all healing Rav. Well. The general trend for people is that they appreciate things that look difficult a lot more than things that look easy, regardless of actual difficulty¡­ and it¡¯s not like anyone thought I was going to be able to regrow a hand. So doing that, at all, and *then* polishing it off by throwing up and entering a coma-like state *must* count for something. See? I can do ¡®positive thinking¡¯. Though there¡¯s something to be said by demonstrating your own power by doing the impossible and making it look easy¡­The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. That ship has sailed. Not even sailed, more like a canoe with an outboard strapped onto it. Just- FWOOOM off into the sunset. (Concern) What? My hearing is back? Oh, no, still just nonsense. But *I* didn¡¯t have that thought. At least, probably not. Can¡¯t really tell. (Live?) I¡­ oh it¡¯s the cathid. I try to nod in response, hoping the thing understands. (Relief) It¡¯s funny, I had thought that our connection required sound¡­ well, maybe it does, but it somehow manages to bypass my malfunctioning hearing. This whole ¡®domination¡¯ thing deserves more study. My body involuntarily shudders, but it¡¯s far less painful than before. The worst part is that my Health looks fine. I can get a sense of it just by thinking about it. Energy, still totally depleted. I think I might have overdrawn myself a bit¡­ hopefully that doesn¡¯t have lasting consequences. This experience is enough, please and thank you. I¡¯m certain I¡¯ll have to¡­ even *want* to do this again. Regrowing limbs is just too valuable. So, long term consequences would certainly put a damper on that¡­ While I can get a sense of the state of my body through Health and Energy, I can¡¯t see any notifications. Now that I have time to sit and pore over them, they vanish, but in the heat of the moment? Always there. Classic. I can still think, however, and think I shall. Nate. What the fuck is up with him. He tells me to do something impossible, and it becomes possible. Well, it goes from ¡®very fucking hard¡¯ to ¡®moderately fucking hard¡¯, but it was the last bit I needed to actually put the pieces together and make it happen. I don¡¯t feel like he gave me the answer or anything. Hell, I¡¯m positive he had no idea what I was doing, but he made *me* better at doing it. Like he¡­ ¡®buffed¡¯ me for a specific task. No wonder he seems the de-facto leader, if he agrees with something and tells people to do it, they can do it better than if they did it alone. I¡¯d sign up for that too, if the orders were right. At the same time, that must make it way easier to do things that you¡¯d normally be a bit reserved about. Like a soldier just doing their job in the field, but having trouble rationalizing it when they get off the field. But this goes above following orders¡­ I bet if I had not gotten so caught up in the moment and checked my stats, I would have figured out what the game thought was most important for me to be boosted in. I¡¯d bet Intelligence¡­ maybe Will? But¡­ Will is a weird stat, so maybe not. It¡¯s super low compared with the others, and I don¡¯t think I had it before I got a point in it. Also, it didn¡¯t get upgraded along with *literally every other stat* when I used the body upgrade thing. That¡¯s telling. It also seems to dramatically affect Energy, and I can tell something changed there as well because my Energy bar¡­ feels larger? I can¡¯t make out exact numbers, but¡­ unsurprisingly, I guess, forcing a fucking hand into existence involves a lot of fucking willpower. But¡­ I don¡¯t know, something is wrong with that. It can¡¯t just be willpower, it¡¯s tied too closely with Energy, and everyone in this camp has to have *some* strong ass willpower to be alive after everything that¡¯s happened. Or really lucky. Maybe that¡¯s a stat too? ... I honestly like that the menu seems incomplete from the start. Most games have a bad habit of hinting at the future by having bars, menu sections, bullshit you can¡¯t access or use or understand until the game ¡®dramatically reveals¡¯ it. This way, you can live and die without ever knowing certain things exist. Mystery is the spice of life, after all, and what fun would any of this be if it were easy? Just less, ya know, terrifying. Energy 22: Dawn All at once, my ears pop and my eyes don¡¯t feel like exploding. A single point appears in my Energy bar. Come to think of it, last time I ran out, I was mostly unconscious¡­ maybe that horrible experience is just a side effect of running out of Energy? I don¡¯t really want to experiment¡­ Sigh. But I will¡­ later. Much later. I immediately become aware of somebody stroking my hair, which, in many situations would have been pleasant and reassuring. The knowledge that it is not my cathid (as it lacks arms), and that the cathid is the only sentient being I would be remotely ok with doing that, is not. I open my eyes to see a nice patch of grass next to my face. Oddly, I don¡¯t see remnants of my stomach contents lying around¡­ so maybe I just thought I threw up? I honestly wouldn¡¯t be able to tell. Sure, it felt like it, but I also felt like I was dying, and I¡¯m still here. In hell, as Dean would call it. I start to sit up, and the petting stops. ¡°Easy, friend. You were pretty bad off not too long ago. Take it slow, drink.¡± A strange voice, not one I recognize, but the clay cup of water in front of my face is far more important. I take it and drink greedily, the earthy taste of the clay making the water a bit less good, but still amazing. The clay is soft, unfired in my hand, which is expected. Having the time to fire the clay would be rather amazing, considering how little time there¡¯s been for such things. I¡¯m just glad to have a cup. ¡°Thanks,¡± I sigh after finishing the contents and turning to my benefactor ¡°I really needed that.¡± Rav sits beside me, looking happy beyond words. The broken, decrepit, reject of a man has been transformed in a matter of one comatose semi-nap. Every bit of him that once screamed ¡®failure¡¯ now radiates calm collection. It¡¯s actually a bit jarring. ¡°Rav. You¡¯re looking well.¡± why was he stroking my head. ¡°And you, much better, my friend.¡± he waves his hand, the new one ¡°Worry not about the mess, I was happy to take care of it.¡± Lovely. Well, nothing ever goes according to plan, so why shouldn¡¯t I garnish my ¡®heroic healing¡¯ with a healthy dose of ¡®drunk at a frat party¡¯. Way to inspire confidence. I grimace slightly ¡°Thanks for that too. I¡­ didn¡¯t expect that. I¡¯d never done healing of that calibre before¡­¡± I trailed off, not really knowing what more to say. Oh. ¡°How long was I out?¡± ¡°Only a short while. Very short when you consider what miracles you wrought¡± Rav¡¯s face widens with a smile. ¡°I must show you the fruit of your labors, intense as they were. I¡¯m certain it will cheer you.¡± Still radiating happiness, Rav pulls back his sleeve to the elbow and holds his new hand out for me to examine. And what a hand it is¡­ Massive color difference, brown to pure white, like bone. Then the hand itself, more like a claw than a human hand¡­ Much of the musculature looks malformed or extraneous¡­ and the fingertips end early. I¡­ must have run out of Energy by the end and¡­ mmm. Left off a bit. In any case, Rav doesn¡¯t seem troubled by it. Quite the opposite, in fact. I can only imagine how low he must have felt for that mockery of a body part to bring him such joy. I genuinely feel bad for him. ¡°But that isn¡¯t the half of it,¡± he begins, glowing with pride, ¡°watch.¡± He pivots his arm away from me, toward an empty stretch of grass. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. For a moment, nothing happens, and the stillness worries me. His face never wavers from confident pride, and that reassures me until his hand glows with a soft blue light. The ball of light launches out from his hand, glowing even more intensely as it flies through the air, before finally fizzling into nothing some distance away. I close my mouth, having opened it at some point without realizing it. Energy is cool, but I can¡¯t shoot balls of light out of my hand¡­ and that is way cooler than I imagined it. I¡¯m filled with the a childlike giddiness seeing *actual* magic. Magic! ¡°That¡­ that¡¯s incredible¡± I breathe, not knowing what else to say. Rav, the picture of self satisfaction, merely smiles in response. ¡°How do you do that?¡± Honestly, more than anything, I want that power. ¡°How do you heal wounds, friend?¡± Oh. Umm. ¡°I¡­ could try to explain it, but I know it wouldn¡¯t make sense. There¡¯s a special resource bar and stat for it¡­ and I¡¯m not sure you could use it if you don¡¯t have it already.¡± I shrug, helplessly. Rav looks thoughtful for a moment. ¡°Truly? A stat as well? Remarkable. As I¡¯m sure you expect, casting requires Mana, which is its own, as you said, ¡®resource bar¡¯. To be truly honest, I do not know what makes up ¡®normal stats¡¯, so I could not tell you if I had one you did not. Suffice to say, I believe we each have some amount of arcane knowledge, and neither of us would be well served by focussing on the specialty of another. Honing our own skills will bring far better results, I think.¡± He smiles sadly at me. And fuck me if he isn¡¯t right. My greed got away from me a bit¡­ I *will* learn that ability, though. If this magic system is anything like the magic systems in other games, the utility alone demands it. Lighting a fire with a snap? Summoning golems? Knocking things away with a wave of force? There¡¯s so much there! But, he¡¯s right. Magic wasn¡¯t what I chose to learn when I started, and honestly, it¡¯s better that I learned Energy. There are already so many unanswered questions and experiments to be done, if I end up trying to do too much at once, I¡¯ll just be shit at everything. Lots of utility maybe, but no power to back it up. A bag of tricks only works for so long, but true ability can be adapted to answer many questions. Rav takes note of my introspection and offers a few more words. ¡°However, you gave me a monumental gift this day, so I offer you one as well. Whatever you would ask of me, I will do my best to fulfill. I do not wish to sway what you ask, or guide you from what you want, but I feel it would be wrong not to tell you. A major part of using Mana, or magic at all, involves the Mana channels that run through the body. These channels can form in a great many ways, but the most simple is to have them created for you by a caster. By me. But- my friend, do not get so excited so quickly, because this process will certainly kill you if you do not have a fortunate gift for the arcane already. That, and the one who performs the process must make a sacrifice. For you, I have no reservations about the latter, but the former¡­ I bid you be cautious. I would be unable to carry on if I rewarded your selflessness with a poison gift.¡± His steady words echo through my head, and I am strangely inclined to believe what he¡¯s said. Honestly, I should have asked my mentor *many* more questions before the session ended¡­ and I know I didn¡¯t because I was too scared, off-balance, and overloaded to do much of anything reasonable. I acted like a fucking child, screaming and crying¡­ and just because it was reasonable doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s forgivable. Idiot. Though my senseless blundering about (regarding Energy) has been sufficient so far, I know the latest in my exploits was only possible due to unforeseeable bullshit and blind luck, and I have a feeling that further accomplishments are going to be much more taxing to achieve. I have no qualms with taking his gift, except the part where he seems really fixed on this ¡®danger¡¯ associated with the process. Normally I would shrug off such musings and, assured that I am both chosen by fate and invulnerable, gone to my death. But right now, having just recovered from overtaxing myself to the point of senselessness, I am not so convinced. Rav doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯s trying to scare me off, I think he genuinely hates the idea of killing me by accident, which is more than a little heartwarming. Honestly, I¡¯m sure in my past life I would have disliked his constant use of ¡®friend¡¯ in his language, but now I find it endearing. He might be the first person (other than Nate, but I think there¡¯s definitely an agenda there) to treat me genuinely well. Lauren would probably have rather stabbed me than spoken the words she did if we had been alone, Dean was¡­ curt. Not friendly at all. The cathid was¡­ well, it¡¯s not human so it doesn¡¯t count. I like him (I think it¡¯s male¡­), but I also *literally* Dominated it a little¡­ which is not what I would call ¡®willing¡¯ or ¡®genuine¡¯. Mmm¡­ It¡¯s a gray area. I have no reason to think I would be particularly gifted when it comes to the arcane, other than my general desire to *learn and experiment with it forever*. I doubt that¡¯s enough. I could probably heal myself the whole time using Energy to ensure I don¡¯t die, but¡­ what if it wasn¡¯t enough? ¡°I also believe that, as my control over my abilities grows, so too will the safety of the process. My advice is patience, but I will respect whatever you decide.¡± Rav¡¯s intuition regarding my internal struggle is pleasant. He makes it feel less like filling a silence he considers awkward and unfortunate and more like he understands the difficulty of rejecting, even temporarily, something as undeniably great as magic. ¡°You¡¯re wise far beyond me, Rav. I am sorely tempted by your offer, but I¡¯ll resist until you believe it is reasonably safe. Obviously, my abilities make me more resilient than an average person, but¡­ Well, frankly I don¡¯t want to die.¡± I chuckle lightly at the end, trying to make it more of a joke. People don¡¯t like morbid talk about death. Jokes make things more palatable. ¡°As you say, my friend.¡± Rav replies, with a nod. Energy 23: Dawn The conversation stopped there, and I was able to turn my attention to the shit-ton of notifications I had been ignoring while Rav periodically shot ¡®Arcane Bolts¡¯, as he called them, off into the distance.
[You are under the effect of Leadership Aura. Extra effect resisted!]
[Congratulations! You risked the essence of your existence for the good of another! Reward hidden.]
[Congratulations! Skill levels gained: Transfuse Energy +2 (7); Energy Manipulation +2 (5)]
[+1 Will - You¡¯ve done something you weren¡¯t capable of.]
[+1 Perception - You¡¯ve seen something few others have.]
[Note: Experience gains are based off risk and difficulty.]
[Note: Some Primary Skills only rise under specific circumstances.]
... Good fucking lord. While I appreciate that the game¡¯s logic rewards me for ¡®selflessness¡¯ even though I totally had an agenda, I had no idea it was so risky. Damnit. So if Rav fucks up a spell, it probably explodes in his face or something. Big deal, it¡¯ll regenerate. But if I fuck up? I apparently risk my ¡®essence¡¯. What the fuck would happen then? How close did I come to *not existing*? I¡­ have never been so motivated to train in my life. I don¡¯t know why my Energy skills don¡¯t have a tooltip like the Tamer skill did¡­ in fact, none of the others do, but maybe eventually it will? The issue there is that I¡¯ll have to keep sticking my neck out toward a blade I can¡¯t see and don¡¯t understand¡­ with my immortal soul as collateral. I mean, not literally¡­ but maybe literally. I *really* don¡¯t like not knowing. I wish I could call the Guru. It was such an asshat, but I would deal with the devil just to get some knowledge.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. I¡¯ve been put in so many tricky situations with Energy that the related skills have leveled up like mad. I peruse my stats page: Name: Amadeus Power: -90 Fragments: 5 HP: 33/33 H Recovery: + 5.75 / hour Stamina: 33/33 S Recovery: + 11.5 / min Energy: 21/31 E Recovery: + 3 / min Primary skills: Dexterity 18 Strength 22 Endurance 23 Toughness 23 Intelligence 27 Perception 24 Will 3 Secondary Skills: -Active Transfuse Energy [Active] (7) Move Energy through physical contact into living objects. Imbue Energy [Active] (2) - Move Energy through physical contact into non-living objects. Energetic Attack [Active] (2) - Attempt to destroy the spirit of a target using your own as a weapon. -Passive Energy Manipulation (5) Medium - general ability to move and understand Energy. Improves through use. Combat Proficiency (1) Hard - General combat ability. Improves through not using it in training/combat. Cold Resistance (2) Medium - General resistance to the effects of cold. Tamer (1) ??? - Rare skill. Tame and forge bonds with monsters. Hand to Hand Proficiency (1) Hard - Unarmed competence. Improves through practice using the body as a weapon. Peripherals: Dominations - 14% Cathid Exhaustions - 2 Inventory: Basic Clothing (cloth); stick; 5 flowers each (red, green, blue, yellow, orange, purple). 5 Bon nuts. Energy 24: Dawn Ok¡­ well some of the Energy skills have leveled like mad. I¡¯ve been neglecting ¡®Imbue Energy¡¯ and that¡¯s probably pretty dumb considering it bolsters my meagre combat ability. I mean, I took on a bunch of rats, so I¡¯m no slouch¡­ but they also almost killed me, and they were rats. Giant rats, but rats nonetheless. And I only really survived because Combat Proficiency saved my ass. Against rats. Maybe I should go piss off Lauren. If she didn¡¯t kill me, that would be some very high risk combat experience. I bet I¡¯d improve by leaps and bounds all at once, especially if I could avoid using Combat Proficiency and give it a chance to get better. She wouldn¡¯t kill me, right? Not enough humans left and all that? Nah, she¡¯d fucking do it. I think everyone avoids her for a reason. Speaking of, she must have left at some point¡­ Whatever. Also that whopping ¡®-90¡¯ for Power. ¡®Deferred payment¡¯ is ass. That¡¯s so many dead monsters¡­ I pull out my bound stick and examine it. There are lots of uses of the word ¡®bond¡¯ in regard to Energy, almost as though its whole purpose was forming connections. Connections within the self, connections with non-living things, connections with others¡­ The ties that bind us. My original training with ¡®Imbue Energy¡¯ was entirely with this stick (well, and absorbing Power from that rock, but that seems to be a one off) so it stands to reason that the way forward lies with the stick. Such an exploration into the nature of my bond with a literal fucking stick is not to be, however, as people start to notice that Rav and I are done with our ¡®heart to heart¡¯ and the first of many comes over and strikes up conversation. Fortunately or not, Rav was the only one so injured that the game¡¯s mechanics for health regeneration hadn¡¯t fixed them. People came up to me to introduce themselves, ask about my ¡®magic¡¯ and if it was ¡®similar to Rav¡¯s¡¯ and functionally do the same as talking about the weather. While normally it would have been a welcome thing to have everyone doing the hard work of starting conversation, I¡¯m far too exhausted to be of much assistance. Being tired has a way of expressing itself very acutely to those that exacerbate it, and nobody seemed miffed at my short responses, tending to politely excuse themselves after a few minutes. In fact, they were mostly polite and positive when talking about me or the group, and it was somewhat cheering to have people care about me and what I did for Rav. ¡®Care¡¯ in the loose sense, anyway. I¡¯m convinced it¡¯s to curry goodwill with me so if they ever end up needing my ¡®services¡¯ that I¡¯ll help them. Honestly, I¡¯d help them even if I hated them. They¡¯re human, and we¡¯re on the same team¡­ I think. I couldn¡¯t exactly let people die either, that¡¯s bad for business. Besides, keeping the people around me -who are much better fighters than I- in good shape means I¡¯m less likely to die in a surprise attack. At least until I can fight properly as well. I almost wish I¡¯d taken a combat class. Lauren, unsurprisingly, was not one of those that came up to me. Still missing, in fact. Not Dean, and neither was Nate, though that last one was less surprising. He did spare me a few glances and smiles when he noticed me interacting with the group. I think he wants me to stay¡­ and I¡¯m still undecided. I did learn a few things about the group, though:The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. It¡¯s amazing any of these people survived. Pure luck, as they described it. Ok, they didn¡¯t use those exact words, but somewhere between heroic descriptions of people fighting tooth and nail against a superior foe, tales of personal bravery and other such braggadocio, I realized all of them would have died without Nate and his buff. Even Nate, honestly, because he isn¡¯t much of a fighter himself. He doesn¡¯t need to be, on account of how much everyone here seems to value him. Apparently he¡¯s the only one Lauren gets along with at all. The group is scared of her, in general. Haven¡¯t heard Nate, Dean, or Rav speak on the matter, but she seems to be the best, and most bloodthirsty fighter anyone has seen. The main takeaway was ¡®don¡¯t get on her bad side¡¯, which¡­ I¡¯m unsure about; I¡¯m either already on it or her bad side is *really* bad. Also, people talk about her a lot. Very little of it good. The end of the world certainly didn¡¯t put a damper on gossip. People also had a few of guarded comments to say about Rav, but I figure that most of them only knew him once he was¡­ hurt. I can¡¯t imagine he gave off much of a good impression when the wound was fresh. They¡¯ll start appreciating him a lot now, considering there¡¯s only one other ranged combatant in the group: an archer. As if sensing the moment I¡¯ve gathered my thoughts, Dean comes over to say ¡®hi¡¯. It¡¯s just odd that his face is so¡­ unhappy. Uh oh. I raise my hand in greeting from the rock I¡¯m sitting on. ¡°Hey Dean. Need any healing?¡± I chuckle lightly, trying to gauge his mood. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± he states, a little harder than he needs to. Another rock sits a few feet from me that the others who came to speak had all made use of. Dean remains standing. ¡°So you¡¯re a real big-shot now aren¡¯t you.¡± It was worded as a question but came out as more of a judgemental statement. He¡¯s mad. What the fuck, why? ¡°Hardly. I was worried I wasn¡¯t going to be able to pay my keep. Now¡­¡± I trail off as his frown deepens. ¡°Is something wrong, Dean?¡± He looks agitated, not really looking directly at me. When he does meet my eyes, he quickly looks away. ¡°No, I¡¯m happy for you.¡± He is not. I let my face crease into a worried expression. ¡°Would you like to sit? I was just gathering my thoughts, we don¡¯t have to talk.¡± I continue to meet his averted gaze. He shakes himself suddenly, looks at me, shakes his head, and walks away without a word. With his back turned, my eyes fall on the massive sword hanging on his back. Easily as tall as he is, and he¡¯s not below 6¡¯. My mind flies through a few possibilities for why he would be upset with me, but nothing really makes sense. I expected this kind of treatment if I totally failed Rav and left him crushed and without hope¡­ but I helped¡­ so why? Ugh. I feel like I need a nap and it¡¯s feels like the day has barely started. I¡¯m exhausted, I¡¯ve been going nonstop all day, and it¡¯s not like I slept well on the cold floor of a cave. I wish I knew whatever trick my teacher had used to make me feel better during our lesson. Maybe then I could figure out the answers to the impressive number of questions swirling in my head. So many things I want to learn about and pursue, from alchemy, magic, and Energy to fighting, working with this group, and figuring out whatever bullshit attitude seems to be infecting people. I¡­ think I¡¯ll go talk to Nate and see about taking someone along as a helping hand for taking down some monsters. Maybe beating the shit out of something will clear my head¡­ Or maybe I¡¯ll die. Either way, problem solved. Energy 25: Hunt ¡°Nate.¡± ¡°Anthony, hello.¡± he returns, smiling and waving off the man he was talking to (the archer, I think). ¡°What¡­¡± he gestures around at the camp ¡°do you think?¡± His eyes settle on me, an intensity in his look that wasn¡¯t there the first time we spoke. ¡°I honestly don¡¯t know how you managed to band these people together, and I understand even less why they seem to be *staying* together, but it¡¯s good. What you¡¯ve done here is very impressive.¡± ¡°High praise, certainly. It takes a certain effort to keep things in order, but what I lack in combat ability I try to make up for in management. I¡¯m glad it shows.¡± I¡¯m used to people acting humble while their egos get inflated, but this guy looks like he¡¯s *acting* like he¡¯s acting humble. As though he genuinely thinks nothing of it, but wants me to think he is actually proud. The question is, why would anyone do that? Expose badly hidden faults so that the real ones don¡¯t draw attention? I don¡¯t think he has to bother, if that¡¯s the case. Everyone here is probably a train wreck in their own, unique way anyway¡­ Ohhhhh. To fit in better. Obvious flaws that convince people he¡¯s just like them while he maintains a competency level far above what they expect. He can lead effectively and people don¡¯t feel threatened by his ability. No wonder he¡¯s the leader, he¡¯s thought this through, at least a little bit. I smile back, a genuine smile. I won¡¯t deny it brings me satisfaction to pick people apart, even if I end up being wrong. The logical deductions are entertaining. ¡°I want to go hunting, see if I can raise my fighting ability a bit. As nice as healing is, I would rather fight well enough not to need to.¡± ¡°Ah, well feel free. I¡¯d stay away from the forest, and avoid getting too close to the¡­ battlefield¡­ but you should be able to find something aggressive a mile or two from camp. We¡¯ll have dinner before the sun passes.¡± ¡®We¡¯. Tempting me with food. There are worse things, honestly. ¡°I¡¯ll keep it in mind. Do you think I can bring Rav? I¡¯d rather have someone watching my back.¡± He frowns slightly ¡°Do you think Rav is up to it? I know he¡¯s feeling better, but I don¡¯t want to strain him.¡± At least Nate values his mage, but I need someone I can trust. ¡°I¡¯ll bring it up with him. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s stir crazy -well, as much as he *can* be- after not doing much for so long. Plus he¡¯s obviously looking forward to testing his magic on live targets again, he¡¯s been shooting off spells for the last hour.¡± I finish with a grin. ¡°Too true. I see no issue with it. Normally I would tell you to grow and learn, but this time, I think I¡¯d rather you come back safely.¡± His words intensify strangely throughout the sentence, but not like he¡¯s putting emphasis on any of it. It¡¯s like¡­ the bass suddenly being turned on in music where there previously was no bass. It¡¯s merely a light thumping, nothing wall shaking. Maybe that''s what keeps causing my headaches?
[You are under the effect of Leadership Aura. Health and Toughness temporarily increased]
I maintain eye contact with him as I bring up my status and see that my HP and Toughness have both risen. HP by a whopping 10 points, toughness by 2. The two stats are also highlighted in a slight green. Interesting. As usual, his orders offer a great boon, but I wonder how easily he could turn that into a debuff. Something like ¡®die quickly¡¯ to lower defence and health. And how many people can he buff/debuff at once? Does the power of the buff depend on anything? Can he debuff a monster that can¡¯t understand him? One that can? I¡¯d ask him, but then I¡¯d have to dance around accidentally making him suspicious. Ask too many questions and if he has any mischievous ideas, I might have to deal with them. I can always leave to avoid such things, but¡­ safety in numbers. I¡¯m sure there are other groups, but I¡¯m also sure they would consider joining Nate if they knew the benefits. I nod at him in gratitude, emphasizing it with a slight widening of my eyes, as if in shock, and a surprised ¡°T-thanks...¡± What, he can lie, I can lie. Besides, I do appreciate it. My Cathid crawls around my neck and looks at me as I walk away from Nate. I honestly forget it¡¯s there it¡¯s so quiet. That and the way I can¡¯t feel it move even when it¡¯s on me¡­ It¡¯s like a ghost. ¡°Hey, how would you like the name ¡®Kaythe¡¯?¡± It just stares at me. Several long moments pass with us just staring back at each other, but with a steadily growing smile on my face. ¡°You like it, don¡¯t you. It¡¯s so fantastic that you¡¯re speechless. Well, more-so than usual. Can¡¯t even clack at me you¡¯re so excited. Right?¡± *Click* (Name?) *Click-clak CLACK click* (Confusion. K...a...e...th¡­) Oof. I guess it doesn¡¯t translate well. ¡°You¡¯ll get the hang of it. Just as long as you don¡¯t hate it, it¡¯ll be much easier for me if I¡¯m not just thinking of you as ¡®that one cathid I hang out with.¡¯¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Kaythe stares at me for another moment before *Click*ing in affirmation, and continues with a resounding *CLICK* (Food?). ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what we¡¯re going to go find. I¡¯m fine with the fruits and nuts, but I¡­¡± I glance around quickly ¡°-don¡¯t see any meat around here, and I know these guys have done some hunting. So either the meat tastes really bad or they just¡­ didn¡¯t think about it. Either way, we can cart back some smaller monsters for you.¡± Kaythe returns with a slightly more enthusiastic Click of acknowledgement. I¡­ guess I have a pet now. Hopefully it can get to the point where I don¡¯t need to maintain it, but I have no idea how these things work. Do monsters have skills? Stats? Because no matter how I view Kaythe, it¡¯s still a monster. A creation of this world¡­ I feel like I should distrust Kaythe more, but I don¡¯t. It seems to trust me, and I¡¯m a sucker for that kind of thing. --- ¡°Rav, how do you fancy a hunt to stretch the new muscles?¡± Rav hasn¡¯t moved too much since I left. I guess he¡¯s a mostly sedentary type. ¡°I¡¯d be more than happy.¡± he returned, his usual smile reflecting his newly positive attitude. ¡°Great, let¡¯s head ou- oh hey Dean.¡± Uh oh. ¡°Hey.¡± He must have been trying to move quietly or something because I really didn¡¯t know he was approaching before I turned mid-sentence and saw him standing there. It looks like his mood hasn¡¯t improved. A moment passes in which he says nothing, and I shoot him a questioning look. ¡°I o-overheard you talking to Nate. Going for a hunt?¡± Fuck, it¡¯s like every ounce of deadness and dread that Rav had before I healed him got transferred to this guy. The composure he had before is gone, he¡¯s stuttering¡­ I¡¯m worried. About him and about myself, what he might be thinking of doing. ¡°Yeah,¡± I reply slowly, ¡°Rav and I were thinking of stretching our legs.¡± It would be so easy to let my politeness slip in and invite him along. And, usually? I wouldn¡¯t mind. But¡­ I¡¯m almost sure that Dean is a better fighter than me. Probably better than Rav too. And where I have a foot and a half stick, Dean has a fucking greatsword. My stick is stronger than a normal stick, but it isn¡¯t *greatsword resistant*. I¡¯m in no hurry to figure out who would win that exchange, and he¡¯s acting weird enough. Why is everyone giving off all these unstable vibes¡­ I mean, beside the fact that society is dead, they¡¯ve been robbed of all their previous social attachments, and they¡¯ve watched hundreds of their fellow humans get massacred... But, I mean¡­ that made me want to protect what¡¯s left even more. Not¡­ make it worse. Maybe I¡¯m thinking too much about it. Paranoia is a bitch after all. I let another few moments pass with utter silence between the three of us, and only when it has reached levels of discomfort previously unknown to me, do I nod at Dean and start to walk in the direction of the monster camp. After walking for a few minutes, hearing mostly just the ambient sounds of some insects that look oddly like grasshoppers, but with strange proportions, and being mostly the size of a penny, I feel my weight shift slightly. I ignore it, thinking it¡¯s just Kayth looking around, but a few moments later my weight shifts again, twice. They¡¯re small shifts, not enough to make me stumble, but when I turn in the direction they¡¯ve been pulling me in I realize that Dean has just been following right behind Rav. Rav, of course, looked entirely unconcerned with the whole deal, but this was greatly unnerving to me. ¡°Dean, you decided to tag along?¡± God damnit why. He looked startled for a moment before recovering slightly ¡°Y-yeah, figured you guys could use more close combat backup, considering you¡¯re unarmed and R-Rav is all ranged.¡± I¡¯m sure. Also, unarmed? Bitch. I have a stick. ¡°Well why didn¡¯t you just say so. But, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve been on hunts before, so you should lead us. I was just wandering in the direction Nate recommended, we would be much better off with a guide, so, do you mind leading the way?¡± He starts shaking, looking even more nervous. ¡°N-no, I just came to help out anyway. I wouldn¡¯t know w-where to go.¡± ¡­ enough of this. My tone moves from something fairly polite and amiable to something hard. ¡°Dean, you look like you¡¯re about to collapse from fright, and now you¡¯re refusing to lead? What¡¯s the matter with you? Skulking around, sneaking into this expedition¡­ that¡¯s not something people usually do. Tell me.¡± Our eyes meet for a moment, but he quickly tears his away to look at something else. Anything else. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ nothing.¡± he states, the tension in his shoulders releasing slightly as he turns around without another word. I stand there for long minutes watching him walk back to camp. I¡­ I know what I think. I think he was trying to make an ¡®accident¡¯ happen. Working himself up to put me in the wrong place at the wrong time during combat and¡­ yeah. Nobody would blame him too much, things happen. He might regret it if he loses a hand, but¡­ my life isn¡¯t worth someone¡¯s regret. Now, I could be wrong. He could just be super awkward and trying to be helpful, but he *wasn¡¯t* before. Even seeing him walk away now, the tension, the strange stuttering gait, it¡¯s all gone. That was prompted by him giving up on the hunt, and we didn¡¯t ask him along so it¡¯s really unlikely he was afraid of whatever monsters we¡¯re going to find. It all stinks to me. Dean¡¯s on the watch list. ¡°Get sleep now, I¡¯ll need you awake later.¡± I murmur to Kaythe. It clicks lightly in return, a question I don¡¯t answer. ¡°Did you say something friend?¡± Rav is still smiling his passive, congenial smile, like nothing happened. ¡°Ah, sorry, was speaking to Kaythe. Did you find that strange at all?¡± ¡°Not a bit, many pet owners speak to their animals-¡± ¡°No¡± I interrupt, ¡°The thing with Dean.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t notice anything odd about that?¡± ¡°Dean¡­ I¡¯ve only known for a day more than you have. All those that follow Nate are¡­ new, to me. You are new to me, and have many eccentricities as well.¡± ¡­ ¡°Ok fair. But he seemed very different from when I talked to him earlier, before I healed you.¡± ¡°Ah. I remember little of that time, friend. It was¡­ unpleasant.¡± Also fair. Energy 26: Hunt I nod, distracted with my own thoughts. Though I know the day has been going on for a while, looking up, the sun¡­ or whatever star it is now¡­ seems to not really have moved. Yep, definitely fixed position, but the habit of judging time by the position of the resident star is going to be hard to break. It¡¯s not like I have a watch or anything, so how am I supposed to know when all the light is going to vanish and I¡¯m going to be shit out of luck as far as seeing things? Are the days 24 hours like I¡¯m used to? Less? More? I honestly couldn¡¯t say. They seem to drag on, but that¡¯s probably just me mentally processing the time as perpetual mid-day. This shit will probably mess with my sleep cycle¡­ if I¡¯m ever able to stave off exhaustion long enough to let it. Perks of fighting for your life: good sleep. Rav and I walk in silence for a while, and I¡¯m completely caught up in thoughts of giant, celestial rings and day night cycles when Rav fires off a blast of mana, creating a smoldering crater in the monster that was running at him. I think too much. That¡¯s my problem. My body reacts before my mind. Suddenly, and urgently, my instincts tell me to drop down, which manifests as more of a trip considering how entirely unprepared I am. I feel Kaythe tumble away from me as I hit the grass, and a red blur streaks through the area I just was. Carnines. I spring to my feet and grab my stick from its place in my shirt, ripping it out fast enough that I scrape the shit out of my back, but adrenaline allows me to ignore it for now. In front of me, a small red dog with only small gouts of patchy fur growls at me. It should be silly, it should make me laugh, but despite myself I¡¯m afraid. That fear intensifies as my instincts scream at me again to roll, to be aware of my surroundings, and I unthinkingly listen. Another carnine rushes past, clearly planning on taking me down with a pounce. They aren¡¯t large, but the sudden weight at that speed would be more than enough. Then I¡¯d die. I can almost feel my Combat Proficiency skill assessing me with more than mild scorn. The first carnine takes advantage of my moment of weakness to charge in and bite at me while I¡¯m getting back to my feet. The sudden rush forward causes me to reflexively back away and I trip, falling onto my back. The carnine leaps, intent on landing on my chest, and my kick catches it and forces it higher. As it careens over my head, the second Carnine tries the same tactic, but this time I¡¯ve recovered enough to use my weapon. I stab out with the blunt tip of my stick, and feel a jolt of pain up my arm as I knock back the offending monster. The dogs may be small, but they¡¯re heavier than they look, and they go faster than their small bodies suggest. Consequently, my ¡®full stop¡¯ stab probably would have shattered my arm before it was upgraded by the game. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Silently cursing my Combat Proficiency for not making better decisions for me, I switch to a two hand grip and follow up on the recently grounded carnine with an overhead slam. It slides out of the way, but I manage to correct the strike enough to clip its side. A yelp pierces the air, but not from the one I just hit. Rav had neatly launched a ball of weaponized mana into the waiting mouth of one of his assailants, and its teeth look to have been shattered; its once lolling tongue now gone. Briefly reminded that the battlefield exists beyond just me and one other opponent, I side step and half turn to try and catch the other Carnine. I really need to finish up here and go help Rav! Predictably, it was preparing another lunge, but once it notices that I¡¯ve seen it, it changes tactics and veers away from me. Forced to choose between continuing to track it and keeping eyes on the first Carnine, I try to do both by constantly turning and glimpsing snapshots of their movement. The first carnine joined in with the second, and they both try to distract me so the other can get into position¡­ and honestly, it¡¯s working. I can¡¯t keep looking at both of them, and all it will take is some good timing on their part for there to be nothing I can do to defend. Without much choice, I make a gamble. I charge for the second Carnine as it passes close to me, my newfound strength and agility aiding the motion, making it faster and more powerful than I ever had any right to be. My feet find easy placement on the hills and my balance remains within my control. All of this contributes to avoiding me slipping and getting eaten by dogs. The second Carnine, obviously expecting this, tries to dodge me, but clearly underestimated my speed, and my unassuming weapon whistles through the air before shattering its back leg. That elicited a yelp. In one smooth motion, I pivot with the follow through and turn to face the expected other carnine that was seeking to get me while my back was turned. In the same way a certain unfortunate rat learned about baseball, an ugly red demon dog did too. The stick lacked the heft to really redirect it, but I put enough power into it that it gets pushed off its ¡®me¡¯ trajectory and into a more safe ¡®ground¡¯ trajectory. The lamed carnine starts to limp away as its partner has its skull dented by a few follow-up whacks, but I¡¯m beyond mercy. They hunted me. There¡¯s a feeling that comes after being really scared. The result of feeling a loss of control over your life, safety, whatever. At first, you¡¯re surprised, then quickly you become scared. Scared that something has the ability to take something from you, and you recognize that. And then you fight, run, cower¡­ but if you¡¯re still alive afterwards, there is *hate*. Raw, unclean fury directed at whatever made you feel that way. A primal desire to settle the score. And these pathetic, hateful little shits made me feel that way. Ambushed me and my friend. Hounded me, circling and nipping like I was prey. I will not be hunted. And this one -I think as I reach for its broken leg- will suffer horribly. The tortured scream of having its leg jerked was cut short by what I can only assume was the crushing horror of realizing that I wasn¡¯t going to just kill it, but let my Energy kill it.
[Congratulations, you successfully defeated two Carnine. +40 Power (-50). +10 Fragments (15)]
Energy 27: Hunt With that notification, the carnine¡¯s eyes glaze over, and I find myself seated next to its corpse. It really is an ugly thing. Scattered, ratty hair. An ugly red color, like a sore. Mostly bald tail. And its eyes¡­ don¡¯t look peaceful. I guess it makes sense, considering I¡¯m holding the fragments of its soul¡­ But there¡¯s something about its eyes that haunt me. Something that makes me think. Demands an answer for why I was willing to destroy it. Why I thought death wasn¡¯t enough. In the silence of the aftermath, it becomes harder and harder to justify the extra measure. Not because Rav was here to see it, he wouldn''t know what I did. Couldn¡¯t know. All he saw was me grab the broken leg of a monster, and the monster stop moving. ¡­ No, I don¡¯t care about his judgement, if he even would judge me for it. I¡¯m judging myself for this. I don¡¯t think I was this way before¡­ willing to kill and indulge in sadism¡­ Even in the heat of the moment, I always had a line I wouldn¡¯t cross. And then I got here, to this place. This beautiful, horrifying world, full of endless opportunity and boundless danger¡­ and I lost that line. It bothers me. It bothers me that I¡¯m kicking myself for what I essentially *had* to do. There¡¯s no room for civility here, for morals or standards. It¡¯s kill or be killed, these are monsters. But it still hurts. It still¡­ I don¡¯t know. Regardless of what fragments do, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll wish I had gathered more by the time I need them. In a detached sort of way, I know a lot of my remorse is just as senseless as the aggression that caused it. Chemicals in my blood making me feel angry and strong, then their absence making me feel mortified¡­ but knowing that doesn¡¯t stop it. Understanding what¡¯s wrong doesn¡¯t fix it. And the same voice that whispers ¡®coward¡¯ in my ear every time I¡¯m not paying attention is now whispering ¡®murderer¡¯ too. __ I don¡¯t know how long I sat there, staring at nothing. I do know that my emotions are getting far more chaotic than normal, just flying from blind rage to crushing guilt. Before all this, it didn¡¯t really happen¡­ but maybe that was because nothing ever drove me that hard. I was never attacked by anything that meant to kill me, never genuinely thought I was going to die¡­ my life was pretty easy. I got scared, sure, but honestly the fear was never real. I was always safe, and I knew I was safe. Even when I probably wasn¡¯t safe, staring down some random bear during a hike, I *knew* it wasn¡¯t going to attack me. So, while I felt scared, I didn¡¯t¡­ *feel* scared. Now? My mortality is ever-present. Whether it¡¯s traumatized humans that might snap at a moment''s notice or crazed monsters than seem intent on killing people, I know that ¡®guarantee of safety¡¯ I felt before is long gone. I¡­ never realized how accustomed to that safety I had gotten until I had it ripped away. Knowing there¡¯s nowhere for me to go, no safe haven with people who care and would protect me, no higher power looking out for me¡­ it¡¯s not something I ever thought I¡¯d face. And now? With all *this* in front of me? Why¡­ why do any of this? I can either become a killer, squashing the things I think make me human, or I can¡­ die. Part of me wishes I could hole up next to the river and just forget about all this. Try making something of a life. I think it would even be fun to try building a fort or something. Make my own tools, build, grow, and learn. I would like that. Then, the whole ¡®gamified¡¯ existence I have going on now could actually feel like a game. Gaining skills and stats, seeing measurable progress in whatever I try to do, all that would be a bit like life before, but more fulfilling. There is probably plenty of adventure to have on this world that doesn¡¯t involve killing. Mountains to summit, caves to explore, ruins to delve. Why can¡¯t I have that?This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡­ But I¡¯m pitying myself. I know that. I can hear my own common sense wryly responding to every one of my complaints with exactly why I¡¯m being a whiny bitch and exactly how to fix it, but I don¡¯t want to fix it. Any of it. I don¡¯t want to die and I don¡¯t want to fight. It¡¯s not like I could tame any of those Carnine creatures¡­ and even if I could, they aren¡¯t powerful enough. Maybe it would open a line of communication with the other monsters, but what then? Ask them politely to let us kill them all? We literally have a quest to ¡®eliminate¡¯ them, and if we don¡¯t then we can¡¯t get whatever benefits a ¡®village¡¯ provides, whatever the fuck those may be. We were thrown into a game with a torn and burned piece of the rulebook and expected to just figure it out. Or maybe we¡¯re supposed to be like food? I¡¯ve been treating this like something that was designed around people, around humans, but it might not be. What if we¡¯re just fodder for something stronger? Some far superior alien race that is using this place as a¡­ game¡­ Oh. Wouldn¡¯t that just be fucking hilarious. Aliens that don¡¯t invade, they just rob a world of all its people and pit them against ridiculous challenges, themselves, or random monsters, or whatever. I wonder if they¡¯d have cameras or something that just watch everything. A giant battle royale of fuck. I shake my head slightly, sighing. There¡¯s no reason to think about this kind of stuff, and it¡¯s all spite-motivated speculation anyway. Cathartic, maybe, but not useful, and right now I need useful. Until I¡¯m safe and can break down in peace. Speaking of safety, where¡¯s Kaythe? I stand up and look around, but I don¡¯t see it in my immediate vicinity. Alarmed, I rapidly turn over the corpses, worried it might have gotten hurt, but there¡¯s no sign of it anywhere. The surrounding hills make for extremely inconvenient sight lines¡­ Where the hell¡­ I mean, it¡¯s not a huge creature, but it also isn¡¯t tiny, and the grass isn¡¯t tall enough to hide it. I jog up to the top of a nearby hill and quickly survey the area. I see the fortifications of the monster camp, the looming mountains, and I can barely make out the glistening river we came from¡­ but no Kaythe. Did it¡­ decide to go home? But why? The thought of it leaving by choice fills me with pain, reigniting the loneliness I vanquished only minutes before. I try my best to dismiss the possibility; Kaythe wouldn¡¯t leave without saying something. But where¡­ Damn these blasted hills! It could be anywhere! I hear footsteps approaching me. Rav, I already know, wondering why I¡¯m looking so panicked. ¡°I need to find Kaythe, it¡¯s gone and I don¡¯t know where- did you see? Rav, I can¡¯t find-¡± ¡°Calm. Calm yourself, friend. I know not what happened to your little companion, but I am sure I did not see it harmed. Come, we will find it.¡± He smiles, his usual, innocuous smile. It doesn¡¯t do much to calm me, but I try to stop outwardly panicking as much. More as a sign of solidarity than anything. I nod, and do my best to open my senses. Something I never noticed before, being just a regular human, was the control we have over what we experience. All of your senses can be willfully dulled, but when you have such a small range to cover, you barely notice it. The change isn¡¯t meaningful enough. A child, screaming endlessly? Dull your hearing. A normal human wouldn¡¯t notice much difference, perhaps the experience is slightly less irritating, but nothing more. But now? My hearing is constantly assaulted by a cacophony of tiny, meaningless sounds. The rustle of an insect in the grass 10 feet away, the wind shaking a bush in the distance, the beating of my own heart, but hidden in all of that could be an actual threat. I can dull it so only the really pronounced sounds get through, like a sudden crackle of dried grass or the heavy pounding of a charging monster. It isn¡¯t perfect, and while I can focus on particular sounds that I already hear, I have trouble listening *for* particular sounds. For instance, the clacking of my wayward cathid. Stats give you the ability to be better, but not the knowledge of how. Even though my perception is higher than almost any other stats, I still need to wade through learning how to be perceptive. Classic. Energy 28: Hunt I strain my hearing, reaching out as far as I can with it. Sight might fail me, but if my Cathid wants to be found, I will definitely hear it. The barrage of sound is almost unbearable, and it¡¯s through force of will alone that I suffer the onslaught. Crackling¡­ no, that¡¯s a dry bush. A clack? No, too muted, probably a rock hitting something. Crawling? Too small. Just some insect. But there¡¯s something else, hidden under this layer of sounds. A small, rhythmic beat. It¡¯s coming from the direction of the monster camp, but not within the monster camp¡­ somewhere close, but that general direction. Wordlessly, I follow it, and the steady footfalls behind me confirm that Rav is still willing to back me up, despite my heading. I don¡¯t know how he ended up the way he is, but the loyalty is greatly appreciated. Small things matter so much when you have nothing. The strange sound leads me on a five minute walk, in which we manage to avoid the detection of another small band of Carnine. Although the sound never really increases in intensity, I know I¡¯m headed in the right direction. As I crest a seemingly normal hill, the sound immediately switches to behind me. Confused, I crest the hill again, and the sound is pointing in the original direction. No idea whether it¡¯s up or down, the sound seems to be two-dimensional in orientation. ¡°Uh¡­ this is it. This is where Kaythe is.¡± I say, pointing at the top of the hill, but even as I say it, I know that things aren¡¯t adding up. If Kaythe had just burrowed in the ground, we would probably see a hole somewhere nearby. If it had burrowed all the way here¡­ it¡¯s a tiny creature, there¡¯s no way it could dig that fast. And why is it underground anyway? ¡°Kaythe! Are you here!¡± I shout, and to my great surprise, I hear a frantic *Clack* (Here!) in response. Kaythe repeats the clack over and over, and the acoustics of it also don¡¯t make sense. It doesn¡¯t sound muffled, like something below the ground would, and it sounds like its coming from the side of the hill. I beckon Rav to follow, whose expression hasn¡¯t moved from a mild, happy ambivalence, and carefully approach the source of the sound¡­ that seems to just be another, normal side of the hill. Frustrated, I continue forward, intent on climbing this side of the hill and just digging my way through if I need to, but my plans are immediately flipped on their head as my first step down involves my foot passing through the ground and me falling face first down a fair distance, whilst yelling in surprise and no fear at all, until a sudden impact silences me, filling my mouth with dirt as the force drives the air from my lungs. ¡°Anthony? My friend, where have you gone?¡± Rav actually manages to sound worried for the first time since I¡¯ve met him, and while I¡¯d love to tell him I¡¯m alive, my attempts at breathing are met with sullen resistance from my lungs to do anything. Gaping emptily, I try to force air into my stubborn lungs by swallowing it, but that does nothing more than make a strange sound. Panic builds in my chest, and I look around frantically, trying to make sure I¡¯m safe enough to use Energy, when a small groan escapes my lips. The tiniest puff of air makes its way into my starving lungs. Without even enough breath to curse, I hold very still as every miniscule breath grows in size, little by little, until I¡¯m gasping huge lungfulls and praising every god I¡¯ve entirely forgotten the names of. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. During my brief brush with death, Rav has continued calling out to me, getting more and more concerned as my responses are not forthcoming, and it seems he came to investigate first hand, as he trips through the base of what must be a very impressive illusion. An illusion obscuring the entrance to a rather large cave called ¡°The Barrows¡± if the notification that popped up upon my less than stellar entry is anything to go by. Kaythe had, at some point during my difficulties, climbed on top of me and was doing its best to help in much the same way as a dog. Having no capacity to do anything, but moving around a lot and clacking. The noise and the sudden loss of balance had Rav convinced I was being attacked, and he quickly recovered his balance and assumed a fighting position, eyes and hand glowing blue, but his face quickly broke from the mold of stoic determination into a joyful grin. ¡°I see you have been victorious in your quest. Were you too overcome with happiness to respond to my calls?¡± He asked through a smile that held less guile than a newborn. I cough lightly, ¡°I-¡± I cut off as I find speaking rather difficult, despite the fact that I can now breathe. My voice sounds strained and weak, so instead I hold up one finger and manage a sort of grumble. Rav chuckles and proceeds to look around the cave entrance, studying both the illusion that hid it as well as the structure of the cave itself. In the meantime, Kaythe fills me in on why it ran off and brought me here. Now, I don¡¯t speak cathid, but the weird, mental connection we have now lets me pick up that Kaythe is instinctively attracted to caves. Cool, dark places in general really. And it has a very sensitive smelling organ that can detect most common fungus and molds that live in such a place. It knew it would be of no use in the fight, so it came to find the cave. A combination of wanting some shade after being outside all day and figuring the information would be useful to me. Kaythe is the best scout, I swear. ¡°I¡¯m good.¡± I manage to force out, weakly, ¡°Fell right on my chest, knocked the wind out of me, my parents, and my unborn children. Took a bit to get it back.¡± Rav nods. ¡°I figured as much, but I was worried you were unconscious and that whatever had laid this trap had gotten to you. It¡¯s good to see that it was just your companion waiting for you down here. This illusion is very impressive, but I lack the skill to examine it thoroughly.¡± Rav continues, his eyes burning blue as he studies the faint image of grass growing over us, ¡°It even moves in response to the environment¡­ most impressive. Not even these eyes can see through it¡­ it masks its own Mana¡­ Amazing.¡± Well, I guess if there¡¯s going to be magic in this world, there¡¯s going to be all kinds of magic. This is both exciting and unnerving. Frankly, if there was some giant monster or many smaller ambush predators down here, I would have fucking died. No question. Especially if I, as previously, did not know such a thing was even possible here. It¡¯s nearly impossible to fight a weapon you don¡¯t know exists¡­ Kinda like Energy. That would explain why none of the monsters I kill with it have any real defence, just an automatic response. A double edged sword where information is the key to victory. The more tricks I have to call on that enemies don¡¯t have, or better, don¡¯t know exist, the more likely I can stay alive. Always be underestimated. Which means, I would benefit greatly from understanding this illusion magic. In pursuit of that knowledge, I ask the main question on my mind: ¡°How is it maintaining itself without a caster?¡± Energy 29: Hunt Rav doesn¡¯t respond immediately. He wore a deep, thoughtful expression, that became more pronounced when I asked my question. His glowing eyes rove around the interior of the illusion, when his head suddenly snaps to look at a small corner of the entrance. He reaches down and brushes some dirt from the side of the cave, right where the illusion joins the actual hill, and reveals a small blue stone that gives off a faint light. ¡°Oh¡­ my¡­ the stone is full of concentrated mana¡­ more than I can have in me at once. Much more.¡± He pauses for a moment, tracing the area around it with his eyes, before pronouncing ¡°I believe if we remove this, the illusion will fall. We would have the stone to do with what we wish. I believe the Mana stored within could be accessed rather easily, much like a battery.¡± Rav stops, and looks expectantly at me. ¡°This place is your find, Anthony, what would you like to do?¡± Part of me wants to retort that he, in fact, found the stone, but I already know in a broader sense that literally neither of us ever would have found this place if not for Kaythe. The battery would run out one day and someone would stumble across it. That would be how it was revealed. Long in the future. That, or someone randomly running across it¡­ like¡­ a small pack of carnine in a¡­ scouting party. Oh. Ohhhh. Fuck. I quickly explain my theory to Rav, whose expression darkens and he nods. ¡°We must not allow this place to fall into the hands of the enemy.¡± ¡°Yeah, I was thinking similarly. We need to explore this place, find out what it¡¯s there for, why the monsters want it, and take it for ourselves. Letting those things get another advantage likely spells the end of all of us.¡± An uncomfortable silence follows as the thought reminds us of the seriousness of our situation. ¡°How did you find that Mana battery anyway?¡± I ask, trying to change the subject. ¡°Ah, there are some strange symbols that cover the perimeter of the illusion. They all flow into each other, and they begin and end at that point.¡± he gestures, indicating the area the stone now softly glows in. Symbols? That¡¯s intriguing.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. I walk over to where he¡¯s standing and look along the edge, like he indicated, but see nothing out of the ordinary. It just looks like dirt that suddenly ends into an illusion. Voicing my concern earns me a wry look from Rav and a brief explanation. ¡°My eyes can see constructs of Mana. It is a part of a magician¡¯s skillset. Mundane vision will not be able to make very much out. I do not know how the mana is kept in such intricate shapes, however. Mana is wild, volatile¡­ it does not form orderly lines easily, and even then, only through great effort and concentration¡­¡± he trails off, not knowing how to continue. Of course, this explanation only stokes the fires of greed in me, as now there is this amazing concept of embedding magic into static objects and having it do something. Imagine a tent with this capability, you could pitch it anywhere and just look like a small hill. You could make a shield seem bigger or smaller than it is, a sword longer or shorter¡­ the applications are as varied as stars in the sky! I bite my tongue to avoid asking for the second time today if Rav will just give me the power. His point was valid then, and it¡¯s still valid¡­ but damn¡­ And the battery itself looks beautiful in ways that are difficult to describe. The Power stone was elegant and sparkling, where this has nearly the opposite appearance with its cool blue translucence and soft, comforting light. It practically calls to me, but the threat of this place being quickly discovered is far too important to ignore to feed my petty greed. Plus, there¡¯s probably some amazing stuff in here. Stuff that those monsters have spent a ton of time searching for¡­ Stuff I totally plan to take. ¡°Rav, it¡¯s getting close to sun...down? Or whatever happens when the star passes behind those giant rings, but it¡¯s going to be dark soon. I don¡¯t want to leave this place unattended, because the scouts could definitely find this place while we¡¯re gone. I volunteer to stay while you return to get more people to help with the exploration.¡± It isn¡¯t a lie, the celestial ring is already apparent in the sky, and staring at it lets me see visually just how little time is left. Rav looks at me, concern in his eyes. ¡°Will you be alright? I will be unable to return immediately, the dark is¡­ unlikely to be safe, and people need to sleep. You must hold here by yourself until morning.¡± ¡°It¡¯s no problem. In all likelihood, it will be a quiet night with the protection of the illusion to keep me safe. Otherwise, a cave opening is fairly defensible¡­ plus I¡¯m not alone, I have Kaythe to keep watch while I sleep.¡± I smile, gently patting Kaythe¡¯s back. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. You need to hurry back to camp, though. I don¡¯t want you getting caught out after dark.¡± He¡¯d probably be fine, but the nights are dark out here. Even with enhanced Perception and the limited ¡®starlight¡¯, it would be way too easy to get ambushed. Rav hesitates another moment, looks at his new hand, and nods. ¡°Good luck, my friend. Be here to greet me on my return.¡± He nods again, with a slightly less genuine smile, and takes off running. Leaving me, by myself¡­ with a dungeon to explore. Energy 30: Hunt As I turn toward the cave entrance, I¡¯m interrupted with a notification:
[Domination progress milestone reached! Cathid 20% dominated]
And then another...
[Congratulations! Skill levels gained: Tamer +1]
[Tamer info: Monsters are changed by the bonds you form with them, and you will be as well. The Will stat and the power of the monster determines how much of this effect you can resist. More Energy can be devoted to this bond to increase Domination speed. Adding too much can strain the bond!]
More...
[You were the first creature to discover the hidden dungeon, The Barrows. Your Perception exceeds that of many, and the dungeon¡¯s secrets are yours to plunder. +1 Perception]
I frown. Kaythe was the first to discover this place, not me. Why did I get the bonus? It put me at 25 Perception though, and there¡¯s a pretty noticeable difference in how well I can see in this dimly lit cave entrance. Anyway, duly noted: exploration is rewarded. I had honestly put the whole ¡®Domination¡¯ thing mostly out of my mind. I¡¯m still not sure how I feel about it, but I had thought the process was directly related to how much Energy I devoted. Put in 1 Energy, gain 10%, all the way to an assumed 100% at which point *something* probably happens. Nope. Wrong. It¡¯s a passive process with Energy as the vector. The more I devote, the faster it happens, but it inexorably *will* happen. Kaythe doesn¡¯t seem bothered by this, however. If anything, it looks more lively than ever. Maybe that has something to do with the changes stipulated by the tool tip? Regardless, it¡¯s interesting how that description has evolved as I level the skill. I really hope that happens with more things. Like my Energy skills. Which are a much higher level and have gotten almost NO EXPLANATION. They¡¯re useful skills with just my current knowledge, but¡­ you don¡¯t know what you don¡¯t know. They could be much more powerful due to some small facet that I¡¯ve overlooked and I¡¯d have no idea. I guess it works as incentive to actually practice with my skills instead of panicking and using them mostly out of desperation. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Whenever I have the time to practice¡­ if I ever do. Ugh. Not a moment¡¯s rest. I *could* do it now, but then I wouldn¡¯t get first dibs on the dungeon. Opportunity cost. Now, do I add more Energy to forming the bond with Kaythe, or do I not mess with it and let it run its course with what I¡¯ve already donated? On the one hand, I have no indication that I get the Energy back, so it might very well be a permanent reduction in my total Energy. That¡¯s a big commitment. On the other hand, my bond with Kaythe is the only reason I found this place. Even the game itself thought this was a feat only possible through skill, so it mis-rewarded me. Honestly, it should have given me ¡®luck¡¯ or something considering how I just happened to befriend a cave dwelling monster that was capable of sensing this place, and that liked me enough to guide me here. The fact that the game thought *I* found it, when I literally entered it by falling through the illusion I thought was ground, is the closest thing to comedy so far in this entire experience. I assume you¡¯re meant to find this place after a certain amount of time has passed and that Mana battery in the wall dies, unveiling a perfectly unassuming cave in a place where you previously could have sworn there wasn¡¯t a cave. A concept that would be fun and light hearted if we had easily cleared out the monsters that spawned and created our town, the way we were *supposed to* (I think), but instead we have monsters way stronger than us with almost certain prior knowledge about this world. Fucking hacks. I feel like I need to talk this through with someone, but all the other humans are probably as ignorant as I, and Kaythe can only communicate in nuanced clacking noises. Not exactly the best spread, but I can probably solve one of the issues. Kaythe couldn¡¯t talk to me at first, that came with the Tamer skill, so enhancing the bond and leveling the skill will probably both add to my ability to communicate with it. Whiiiich¡­ means putting excess Energy into the bond. I call Kaythe over from where it was investigating some fungal growths along the edge of the cave mouth and push some more golden Energy into it. After two notifications that I¡¯ve increased the Domination rate, I start to feel a small pressure pushing me back from Kaythe, spurring me to immediately snatch my hand away. The tool tip warned me about straining the bond, and three Energy rate should be more than enough for now. There¡¯s no immediate difference, at least not that I can see, but Kaythe clacks an (Interesting) before taking up residence on my shoulders. It¡¯s time to loot and pillage. Energy 31: Hunt I draw my stick and approach the giant stone doors that mark the entrance to the rest of the tunnel. There are some strange runes carved on the surface of the door that I can¡¯t make out at all. Maybe it¡¯s the same rune system that holds the illusion in place? No clue, as I can¡¯t fuckin¡¯ see the Mana infused runes, but the door is slightly ajar, so the word or words are broken up. As I pass through the gap, I note that it¡¯s a pretty good thing that the door is already open, on account of the fact that even my enhanced Strength means nothing against a foot thick, 9 foot tall stone door. How the hell would someone even open this? Can it be closed? This place would be really defensible just based on this choke point¡­ hmm. I step through and find a long, dark passageway. I can see very faint light in the distance, but the entire way there is mostly shrouded in darkness. I shrug and begin slowly making my way down the hall. The light from outside fades almost immediately past the doors, but I can still make out a few feet in any direction. My vision feels weird in that range, entirely colorless and mostly outlines of features¡­ must be due to my Perception stat. I figure that as my eyes adjust I¡¯ll be able to see more, but for now it¡¯s pretty crap. A few careful steps in and suddenly Kaythe starts trying to guide me to the left wall. At first I resist, as I¡¯d much rather have space around me for maneuvering if need be, but Kaythe rapidly becomes more insistent, even going to far as to *click*(danger) its disapproval. A trap? But¡­ looking around, I don¡¯t see anything. It looks like a totally normal underground cave hallway, if a little dusty. Granted, I can¡¯t really see the ceiling that well, but the floor and walls look normal¡­ I put my stubbornness aside and follow Kaythe¡¯s guidance to the left wall and start walking forward from there, only to be *once again* interrupted by Kaythe! It¡¯s wiggling like crazy and constantly clicking out the ¡®danger¡¯ warning, but there is literally nothing there. ¡°Kaythe¡± I whisper, ¡°what the hell is wrong with you?¡± Kaythe, for his part, clicks in my face and continues wiggling. Very helpful. But I trust the little idiot so I stop again. Let¡¯s say there¡¯s a trap here. It has to be triggered somehow, yeah? Unless it¡¯s magic¡­ like a rune trap¡­ but even then something has to set it off, right? While there¡¯s a chance that it requires a living target to set it off, that would be ridiculously unfair for a dungeon so early in ¡®the game¡¯, so I¡¯ll assume (probably wrongly) that it can be set off by anything that ¡®trips¡¯ it. I don¡¯t see any tripwires, and pressure plates could be hidden, but there aren¡¯t any holes in the walls for spears or poison darts to come through¡­ so the threat is either going to come from way in front of me, the ceiling (which is tall as fuck and hard to make out), or the floor. With that in mind, I grab a fist sized stone from the floor and roll it down the middle of the path. The stone rolls along the ground, and I don¡¯t hear anything trigger, so I start to reach for another stone to test the ceiling when I hear a sharp *crack* sound from in front of me¡­ but also down, much further than the ground. I immediately dive to the ground, from the noise, but after lying there for a few seconds in a fog of newly stirred up dust, no other sounds have emerged¡­ so I guess the trap is triggered? I move forward to investigate only to have Kaythe start warning me in the same place about some clearly well hidden danger. Exasperated, I ask Kaythe to kindly show me this danger, to which Kaythe clacks in agreement. It crawls off me, forward a few feet, and then into the ground. Before popping back up. And crawling back to me. My exasperation switches to confusion, and then a dawning realization. Despite having 27 Intelligence, I¡¯m a fucking idiot. The entrance to the cave was covered in a giant illusion, so why the fuck didn¡¯t I think the traps would be? Crawling forward on my stomach, I slowly approach the place Kaythe had disappeared through, and, sure enough, my hands pass right through the ¡®ground¡¯. The illusion dispels at my touch, revealing that it is, in fact, a giant pit. One with giant, sharp spikes at the bottom. Neat. I carefully slide back and away from the pit of death, quietly whispering my thanks to Kaythe for saving me from a really dumb death. Now that I can see the pit, I can tell why Kaythe wasn¡¯t happy with me just walking close to the wall. There are ledges on either side of the pit, but they¡¯re only about half a foot wide, and I would have tanked ass right into the pit if I¡¯d gone on walking. Additionally, I know these illusions have to be powered by something, and because the illusion vanished at my touch (but not Kaythe¡¯s?), I have to assume it¡¯s a much smaller battery, likely for a one time use. As one time would be all it needed¡­ eugh. I check the near side, and as far along the left and right sides of the pit as I can see from the safety of my side, but don¡¯t see anything but sheer drops, meaning¡­ I¡¯ll have to cross and check the other side. I almost wish I could put the illusion back. I don¡¯t much care for heights. Especially not heights where I don¡¯t have much footing, it¡¯s dark as shit, and there are giant spikes waiting to fill me with their love. It¡¯ll be fine. I won¡¯t fall. Kaythe will help me balance. Right Kaythe? Right? Haha¡­ please. Back against the wall, I start to carefully scoot along the edge of the pit, doing my best to study the tips of the spikes that I desperately don¡¯t want to become more familiar with.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. People always told me not to look down, but fuck that, I need to look down. This isn¡¯t safe, it¡¯s fucking dangerous, and being constantly reminded that I¡¯m about to die is a great way to stop me from getting comfortable. Comfort means slip-ups. Panic also means slip-ups. Gotta walk the razor¡¯s edge. Freak out just enough. Good thing I live my entire life being anxious all the time. This is just another day in the life. No problem at al- OH I¡¯M ACROSS THANK FUCK. I calmly walk a few more steps before sitting down and allowing myself to lose composure for a moment. Screaming internally is a very healthy coping mechanism, and I won¡¯t hear otherwise. A quick break to steady my nerves and a thorough check of this side of the pit reveals a small, dark stone embedded in the side of the wall. I pluck it out, and though it is very smooth and pleasant to hold, it doesn¡¯t seem terribly interesting. I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s another Mana battery though. If not, it¡¯s just a cool looking stone, and those are usually worth *something* in video games. I find it interesting how these stones seem to be consistently exposed or reachable in some way. You¡¯d think you would want them well hidden so nobody would take them¡­ but¡­ I guess you¡¯d also want them accessible so you could refill them. Maybe it¡¯s not so bad if someone steals them? They could be super easy to make for all I know. *If you have magic.* I do have the issue of rapidly filling pockets though. One of them is full of nuts and flowers, so I slip the small stone into the other pocket. I really need a bag¡­ and I just realized I left the two dog monsters to rot instead of keeping them for fur and meat. I can¡¯t keep doing this. I feel like my increased Intelligence stat just makes it easier for me to get caught up in my own head and forget important things. Yes, Kaythe had disappeared and finding it was way more important to me than some shitty dog corpses, but I still should have remembered to grab them. Now I can¡¯t even use them as a treat for Kaythe for finding this place or saving my life. I really do owe it for that. Hopefully this dungeon has some nice, easy things to kill that taste good to Cathids. I turn away from the death trap and continue forward again, much more carefully than before. You know, I thought just being on the lookout for traps was enough, but it really isn¡¯t, especially when you¡¯re fucked if you miss even one. The darkness extends further on my left, indicating a passageway off to the side. Glancing again at the still distant light, I decide it¡¯s better to investigate now and maybe not get ambushed from behind later. It also occurs to me that I might just be ambushed from behind in *this* room instead, with something from the hall creeping in behind me¡­ I add ¡®watching my back¡¯ to the list of things to do neurotically. The room, or as much as I can see, looks very old. The stone that makes up the floor is smooth, but not slick, and the air hangs stale. It¡¯s dead silent in here. At least in the hall, there was some sound of wind and grass creeping in from the outside, but¡­ not here. Every step I take sounds like thunder in my ears, and that¡¯s not just the higher Perception. I¡¯m sure the residents of this place are non-existant or totally aware of my presence, and I¡¯m really hoping it¡¯s the former. I do my best to quietly move around the room to take stock, checking every corner and constantly looking out for traps and anticipating Kaythe letting me know I¡¯m an idiot for something or other, but I find nothing. Well, nothing but four sarcophagi. They¡¯re made of stone that feels the same as the floor, but completely caked in dust. Granted, everything in here is, but it indicates that none of these were recent burials¡­ and that nothing must wander these halls. I can track my own footprints in the dust, and other than that, there¡¯s no disturbance. Now. I¡¯m not usually one for grave robbing, but¡­ that¡¯s a human taboo and there aren¡¯t any other humans around. I lean down next to the sarcophagus closest to the door and shove the stone slab on top. It resists my efforts, requiring me to regrip and get better footing before I can, very slowly, shift the stone. If I thought my footsteps were loud, fuck if this isn¡¯t the end of times. A loud, grating sound emanates from the stone as it protests the sliding. Even though the process certainly only took a few moments, the intense pounding of my heart and abject terror I felt doing it made it last an eternity for me, but greed quickly overcomes my fear. Inside the sarcophagus, instead of a decaying corpse, is a smattering of small coins. I¡¯m unable to make out the surface or the type of metal, but hey, currency is great. Also maybe has implications toward there being a buy/sell system in this game, which would be super. Again, need a backpack. As I slide the coins into my pocket, my inventory management is once again brought to bear as a problem: coins make a shit ton of noise. As much as I¡¯d love to sneak around, clinking and alerting everyone even more to my presence, that¡¯s a fucking terrible idea¡­ but so is leaving the coins. I¡¯ll have to share if the ¡®backup¡¯ arrives and finds it. Eww. If I had some cloth, I could cushion them so they didn¡¯t make noise¡­ but the only cloth I have is part of the limited clothing I¡¯m wearing. While it isn¡¯t terribly cold in here, and I have a resistance skill to it, I feel¡­ attached to them. I have so few possessions, it would be hard for me to willingly destroy some of them. Instead, I opt to start a pile of loot by the entrance and deal with it later¡­ maybe bury it at the mouth of the cave. Dunno. I move on to the next sarcophagus, opting to kick this one open instead and just get the noise out of the way. The stone slab slides off cleanly, loudly striking the stone floor as it lands, and a bony hand snatches my ankle. I scream. I was so entirely unprepared for that to happen that I didn¡¯t even have my stick in hand, so I was only able to reflexively pull my leg away in a shitty attempt to dislodge the angry dead. My efforts only serve to drag the skeletal remains that have grappled onto me out of the confines of the sarcophagus, and it rattles menacingly as it begins reaching up towards- ABSOLUTELY *stomp* THE FUCK *crack* NOT *CRUNCH*.
[Congratulations, you have slain a Wight. +30 Power (-20)]
If i¡¯m going to have my junk grabbed, it sure as shit isn¡¯t by a fucking skeleton in a dusty cave. Just no. Would it make a great campfire story? Yes. Could I heal even if it injured me? Probably. Could I live with myself? No. It¡¯s fortunate that the skeleton didn¡¯t start to stand up or anything and stayed conveniently at stomping height, but¡­ stomping something to death that¡¯s this big is a little personal. Like how there¡¯s that threshold for bug size where you don¡¯t want to step on them because there¡¯s probably going to be actual resistance and, worse, a crunching *noise*? That. But instead, bones. I know it was already dead, and that helps a little. Fucking irrational human minds. It was trying to kill me, lay off the discomfort for every little thing, damn. Energy 32: Hunt I crushed the skeleton¡¯s skull, so there¡¯s no telling what its face looked like, but the bone structure is different from any I¡¯ve seen before. Obviously bipedal, with hands capable of grabbing. The length of the legs is rather small, with the arms being significantly longer in comparison¡­ it¡¯s possible these things move with their arms instead of their legs. Noted. A quick survey reveals there was nothing but terror as loot from that sarcophagus, so I move on to the next one. I kick open this one with a lot less force, trying to avoid what happened last time. Of course, as soon as I recoil from my kick, a skeletal hand waving a sword bursts from the interior. It is, however, unable to do any more because the stone lid prevents it from getting up or doing much besides aimlessly swinging the sword and chattering. I had to unleash the sword side, didn¡¯t I. Classic. I¡¯ll see if I can wait it out. Maybe it gets tired? A solid minute passes before I start to lose my patience. This shitty skeleton, or ¡®Wight¡¯ as the game calls it, is just being an ass and keeping me at a distance, and doesn¡¯t seem to be slowing down in the slightest. Maybe I can knock the sword away? I quickly take the time to focus my Energy into my weapon before clashing with the sword and trying to beat it away. The sword remains in the grasp of the wight, and I feel a slight discomfort as a chip is taken out of my stick. Grimacing, I decide not to risk further damage. But how... Ok, fine. Carefully moving to the other side of the sarcophagus, I kick the lid, hard, back in the direction I originally kicked it from, catching the idiot skeleton¡¯s arm between a rock and another rock and thoroughly severing it (and the sword) from the rest of the body. The lid, of course, continues past that point and ends up crashing to the floor while I finish off the ¡®disarmed¡¯ (I¡¯m so sorry) Wight.
[Congratulations, you have slain a Wight. +30 Power (10)]
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. 30 more Power and I¡¯m finally in the positive again! No more strange Power debts. Not that I¡¯ve needed it for anything lately, but I need to replenish my stockpile anyway. Not all the skills I come across will be super rare and offer a payment plan. I check through the sarcophagus to find only bone dust and bones, and with nothing to collect that in, it¡¯s useless to me. The sword, however, will be very useful. Finally, a cutting implement! I heft the stone slab and find the powdered remains of the skeletal arm, and a sword, neatly shattered into at least fifteen pieces. Nailed it. With the sword thoroughly destroyed, am my stark unwillingness to carry broken shards of metal, I start to move towards the final sarcophagus¡­ but¡­ wait just need to check¡­ Sure enough, the handle of the sword is still solid, and about 3 inches of the blade are still holding on to it. Well. It¡¯s a shitty dagger, but it¡¯ll hurt all the same if I can get the drop on something. I can¡¯t carry it, however, on account of my having nothing to wrap it in. I¡¯m not cutting up my pants by being an idiot. I¡¯d spill my nuts. Nobody wants that. Instead, I opt to have my stick in one hand, and the broken blade in the other. The dagger feels cold and heavy in my hand, nowhere near as comfortable as the close familiarity I feel with the shitty stick. I could probably Imbue Energy into this thing as well¡­ but it *is* a broken sword, and I can probably do better. I don¡¯t know if there¡¯s a cap or something on how many things you can have attuned to you. Based on how emotionally attached I seem to become when I attune to something, I doubt I¡¯d be willing to destroy it to make room for better stuff. Best not to risk it. A quick kick and a loud clang later, I¡¯ve successfully attacked the sarcophagus for zero damage, because it¡¯s a rock and all these surprises have me seeing the appeal of ¡®stab first, look second¡¯. Just because it was empty doesn¡¯t mean it was stupid. It just *looked* stupid. There¡¯s a difference. Fortunately, my haphazard stab failed to hit the one notable piece of loot inside: a decrepit looking leather satchel bag. It¡¯s full of dust, which I unceremoniously dump onto the floor, and it looks like the latch to keep it closed has disintegrated. The strap is cut on one end, making it unlikely to be useful for carrying anything heavy until I can cobble together some things to repair it. I¡¯d kill for a needle and thread¡­ After trying a few (admittedly quite terrible) configurations for carrying the satchel, I rest on wrapping it around my waist a few times and looping it through. For now, it will hang shittily against my right thigh, but I¡¯m not going to put anything in it until I can find a way to secure it to my leg. Otherwise¡­ I¡¯m just *positive* I¡¯d die because the thing swung around and hit me in the dick mid-combat. No thank you. Room one, down. Just have to go through the entire rest of the dungeon¡­ Energy 33: Hunted Lauren hadn¡¯t waited for a moment after Rav had huffed into camp and told Nate about the dungeon. The fact that she heard that asshole, Anthony, was ¡®keeping watch¡¯ there pissed her off even more. Rav might be too simple to catch on, but it was clear to Lauren that Cocksucker McFuckface planned on clearing the dungeon himself and keeping the best of the spoils before everyone else got there. What was going to happen was that Lauren was going to show up, kill him, and then pick up where he left off. At least he¡¯ll have probably had the decency to collect a bit of the loot and store it on his corpse before she got there. How sweet. And if, for some reason, he actually is watching the entrance like Rav said, then he¡¯s clearly too dumb to live for not taking advantage of that opportunity. There¡¯s no way the dungeon is actually difficult, at least if you have more brain in your head than shit. It was clear to Lauren that she could finish the dungeon, in its entirety, by herself, before the sun came up. And on that note¡­ People had been mentioning something about the ¡®dangers of the night¡¯. Like, the first night was safe, for the most part, but after that, things came out to hunt. Stuff that their teachers had warned them about. That was why the monsters had built a camp. That was why her group had built a camp. But honestly, Lauren knew she was the powerhouse of the camp anyway, so she¡¯d be totally safe. Annnnd technically Nate hadn¡¯t ordered her to stick around so¡­ Eh, maybe he¡¯d be mad, but he¡¯d get over it. ¡­ It still made her feel weird. The running helped. The sun had mostly disappeared behind the giant sky-rings, meaning it was getting harder and harder to see. Or, it would, if her 25 Perception didn¡¯t afford her a certain edge when it came to night vision. There wasn¡¯t an adjustment time, her eyes simply pierced the darkness as though it were nothing¡­ within a certain range. She could still see much further during the day, but she was confident she would see any threats before they saw her. The only issue being that she didn¡¯t quite know where the dungeon was. Rav had come from the direction in which she was now running, which she figured was most likely to be a bee line from the dungeon, but¡­ people can be so very dumb¡­ she could have been wrong. Maybe this was a bad idea. No, nonsense. What, should she go back to camp with her tail between her legs while some dick takes her loot? It would be much more of a chore to steal it after he was back with the group. That wouldn¡¯t do at all. Unacceptable, honestly. Her pace quickened. The sun slipped away. It became¡­ really dark. And¡­ something was¡­ definitely moving¡­ behind her. Her Endurance wasn¡¯t anything special, not like her other Primary Skills, but her Agility afforded her an incredibly fast movement speed while she was able to run. Didn¡¯t dampen the Stamina usage though¡­ and her bar had just reached the last quarter, glowing a dull red in her vision.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. There wasn¡¯t any going back now. There might not even be any going forward, she realized. If she chose to fight here, she¡¯d have to win quickly and take some time to rest and recover Stamina¡­ which relied on nothing else being attracted by the sounds of fighting. A bad gamble. But continuing to run meant she either made it to the dungeon, or ran out of stamina and died like a dog¡­ No. That wasn¡¯t right. NO. Fucking never again would she feel inferior, weaker, or at the mercy of ANYTHING. Mercy was hers alone to give, and her supply was lacking. Diving forward, she executed a front roll and used her combined Agility and Perception to size up her attacker mid-maneuver. Even upside down, she could tell this thing was going to be more of a fight than usual. It seemed to bleed shadows, standing on two legs with a hulking upper body with overly long arms that it used to move. Instead of eyes, a deep red-gold emanated from narrow slits. It had no obvious weapons. She doubted it needed any. Thankfully, it was just the one, and as her roll ended, her knife appeared in her hand and she planted her back foot to shift her center of gravity forward, maximizing the impact of her comparatively smaller Strength. Her stance was perfect, and the shadow chasing her couldn¡¯t have expected her to entirely reverse her momentum from a full run in less than a second, so it was very surprising that the thing managed to change its course mid-stride, dodging into an aerial corkscrew. This caused it to only sustain a long scratch along the outside of its body instead of impaling itself on her waiting dagger. It didn¡¯t matter, of course, and a cruel smile crossed her face as her experimental poison activated to great effect. The monster landed skillfully and was just shifting forward to launch an attack of its own when the wound erupted in fire. The unearthly scream that followed was the stuff of nightmares, and bothered Lauren¡¯s sensibilities too much to allow it to continue. A knife bounced off the creature¡¯s head, handle first, but the mistake was quickly rectified as two more daggers embedded themselves in the places where its strange eyes made clear targets in the dark. The scream cut off.
[Congratulations, you defeated a Dwarf Shade. +50 Power]
Damn, these things really hate fire. She had watched as the light seemed to cause the ¡®Shade¡¯ to disintegrate near the wound. Whatever its health, it certainly didn¡¯t last long after losing a substantial chunk of its body. All that was left after a few moments was a small pool of black liquid, and her throwing knives. She moved to collect the weaponry, but the nearby howls of anger and pain threw her into a panicked run instead. She could always come back later, now she had to run. Fast. Her Stamina hadn¡¯t had the chance to recover much at all, and the dodge roll, though perfect, used a large chunk of her remaining Stamina. She had trained enough to know how fast her Stamina ran out. She had seconds. And there was nowhere to hide here. If she was in a dungeon? Easy. She could pick them off one by one. She wasn¡¯t being given the chance. She heard the cries, even louder now. They had found the body, and they were mad. Her lungs burned, her legs were worse. She had trained for bursts of combat, not for endurance running and consecutive fights! This was so fucking unfair. Not like this. Please not like this. Her Combat Proficiency was in a state of constantly screaming at her but having no advice. The sign of real danger. The sign she needed help. A rock slammed against her calf, causing her to stumble slightly. They had found her. More stones soon followed, not dealing significant damage, but messing up her rhythm and causing her run slower. She had no time to look behind her and see by how much. She could hear them closing in. Her Perception made sure she heard exactly how close they were. Her Stamina ticked to 0, glowing angry red. She did not stop. Her vision started to fill with warnings from the game, her Health was steadily ticking down. She was going to die out here, and it was entirely her fault. She choked on her own breath, something like a sob escaping her mouth, as an uncaring claw pierced her side and she fell. Energy 34: Hunted There was a lot less excitement in the next two rooms. The first contained only a single sarcophagus, that (of course) contained a wight. This one had been a little different than the previous two, in that it was actually strong enough to throw off the lid of its sarcophagus and attack me. Fortunately, I had two weapons and it had none, so I got away with some torn clothing (actually really aggravating) and a bit of lost health. Nothing major. Plus, this guy must have been a king or noble or something because he had this really cool looking crown on. Once his skull was reduced to dust, I had picked it up and nearly dropped it immediately when it¡­ stung? Me? For lack of a better description. It¡¯s very uncomfortable to hold. Until I can figure out what¡¯s up with it, it¡¯s staying in the satchel. It¡¯s not heavy, so it¡¯s not a big deal yet. The next room had contained literally nothing. I even did a thorough examination of the ground and walls just to see if there was a secret room or something but no, dust and cobwebs. As I was emerging from that room, however, the crushing silence I had been enduring was broken by a distant howling. My first thought was that the Carnines had found this place, or something to hunt, and both needed to be addressed, which brings me to now, at the entrance to the cave again. The howls are getting closer, and it¡¯s definitely multiple enemies. Maybe even quite a few. It¡¯s hard to tell with how their cries overlap. They also¡­ don¡¯t sound normal. There¡¯s a strange desperation and wildness I hadn¡¯t noticed from the Carnines¡­ or any other monster. This might be something new. New is bad. From the cover of the illusion, I could hear the monsters getting closer, and they¡¯re headed almost directly here. This had better be a lucky accident. If they find this place already, I¡¯m actually going to be alone, trying to fight off a horde of monsters until morning, which is exactly the opposite of what I wanted. Tense seconds crawl by as I wait, fully prepared to fight for my life the moment the enemy passes through the illusion. The area I can see includes another hill about 20 feet from the base of the illusion, and 35 feet on the right and 15 feet on the left toward more steep hills. It¡¯s these fixtures that are blocking my vision and preventing me from seeing what the fuck is happening. Also probably making this place even harder to notice because it would be almost impossible to spy on people going in and out from ground level. My nerves are starting to get out of control. The first of them crests the hill. I can mostly make out shadows due to the crushing darkness, but there¡¯s enough light from the ¡®stars¡¯ that I can make out more than I could inside the cave. This first shadow looks very humanoid, but, oddly enough, the first thing it does is shudder forward, trip, and fall down the hill... With a very human-like cry of pain (though mostly muffled by the chorus of insane howling). The cause of their scream became immediately apparent as the pair of attackers (that also look like shadows) howl in triumph and begin leisurely following the tumbling person down the hill. You¡¯ve got to be kidding me. Did Rav run back? That fucking madman! He must have run into trouble along the way and been overwhelmed. Throwing caution to the wind, I sprint full bore out of the safety of the cave, brandishing my eclectic pairing of weapons. The rest of the hunting force crest the hill, and I can immediately see why Rav was having issues. Two more shadow creatures follow the initial pair over the top. I can¡¯t fight them myself; I¡¯m absolutely positive I¡¯ll die. But... I can get Rav and book it. Then? Improvise. I feel my Energy starting to move, pulsing through me, filling me with an unshakeable feeling of strength. Speed. I can do this. I *will* do this. I throw the shattered sword at the closest shadow and switch to a two handed grip on my stick as I throw all my weight behind slamming the second one. Without even pausing to check the results of my delaying tactics, I grab Rav around the waist and throw him over my shoulder. He¡¯s going to be hurting a bit, but it¡¯s a hell of a lot better than being dead. He¡¯ll thank me later, I¡¯m sure. His breathing is ragged, and he¡¯s limp. Must have given everything he had just to get this far, and I¡¯ll be damned if I let that go to waste. Not enough good will to go around for that kind of thing. Plus, he came out here for me, so it¡¯s really the only thing to do. Stamina is no obstacle as I bolt with everything I have to the cave, through the doors, and down the hall. Howls of anger and pain follow immediately behind me, but they must be confused about the illusion.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. There¡¯s no two ways about this, I can¡¯t fight jack shit with my back to a pit of spikes, so¡­ grit your teeth Rav. I put all my effort into launching Rav across the pit. The holds on his armor make it much easier to do this than normal clothing, and he easily clears the gap. The crack from his landing makes me think he might be slower than before to forgive, but there¡¯s no time. Not even taking the time to look back at the monsters I know are seconds behind me, I size up the gap, and my brain kicks into overdrive, and I see faint silhouettes of ways I could try to get across. Jumping fails, I don¡¯t have time for a running start, but I don¡¯t need one to run along the wall. I open the floodgates on my Stamina usage, Energy surging and making my whole body feel like it¡¯s vibrating. Kick off, wall, step, step, kick off, tuck legs, hit stone, roll. I don¡¯t feel the pain I know is there, too much adrenaline. I spring to my feet and address my attackers, the first of which launches across the gap only to be stopped dead, over the pit, by a thrust stick. My weapon bends under the strain, but I struck it center of mass, and it no longer had the ability to make it across. It barely had the chance to scream.
[Congratulations, you defeated a Dwarf Shade! +50 Power (90)]
Standing between limp body of my friend and certain death, I beckon to the Shade lurking on the far side of pit, ¡°Next.¡± my voice a cold, deadly serious whisper. The second shade does not come. Having witnessed how the last one died, it seems to have learned that killing us won¡¯t be trivial. I keep my guard up, and my focus spread among the varied threats that file in. Four total shades remain. Still too many to take in a straight fight, but this isn¡¯t a straight fight anymore. They have to get to me across a very dangerous pit, where jumping straight over means at least some are going to fail. I think if they all did it at once, I might be fucked, but they would have to go into it knowing one or two would die¡­ and it would take some planning. It really depends how much brain power these things are working with. If they get ready to jump¡­ I¡¯m going to stand and fight. I don¡¯t anticipate that going well. Instead, they seem content to wait on the far side. They cluster together, every once in a while howling into the night. I don¡¯t know why they do it, aside from scaring the shit out of me, but I fucking wish they would stop. With them no longer in a threatening position, I opt to check on Ra- This is not Rav. This is not Rav at all. Who the fuck did I sav- Lauren?! Fucking Lauren, the one who barely resisted spitting in my face when I went to say ¡®hi¡¯... came here? To help me? No, that¡¯s fucking stupid. She came to kill me or make sure I wasn¡¯t making off with loot, or to get some loot herself. Or all three. She risked her life out of greed? Huh. We might actually be friends if she stops being an asshole for just a moment. She¡¯s¡­ bleeding a lot, actually. It looks like one of the shades got her pretty badly. I need to stop the bleeding. Keeping Lauren in between me and the shades, I place my hand on the wound in her side and enter the Energetic space to appraise the wound. It¡¯s deep, almost went all the way through, lots of internal bleeding, some organ damage. Nothing is *missing* thankfully, no tendons destroyed, so it¡¯s pretty basic healing. Just a lot of it. But¡­ there¡¯s something else wrong with her. A creeping void resides within her, sucking in all the Energy that passes through. It¡¯s almost like someone cursed her¡­ this will make my life more difficult. I¡¯ll have to maintain control over my Energy so enough of it doesn¡¯t get sucked up that I can do the most necessary repairs. I also can¡¯t exhaust my Energy supply, as that will leave me completely vulnerable. I could also just¡­ leave her to die. She has some pretty nice stuff after all. And I really think she had ill intent coming here. It would be so easy¡­ ... She deserves it. She literally deserves it. Go on. Kill again. No, shut up. I¡¯m not killing her, just¡­ not saving her. Lies the weak tell themselves. I¡¯m¡­ not going to risk my life for this animal. Even her Energy is broken. She isn¡¯t really even¡­ Go on, dehumanize her. Make it easy. No one will miss her anyway. No one will miss her anyway¡­? Emotion washes over me, and I can¡¯t maintain the Energetic view anymore. Tears blur my eyes. What the fuck is wrong with me. I legitimately just thought about letting someone die because they¡¯re inconvenient. Look. I *know* she¡¯ll be just as likely to stab me to death if I heal her now. I *know* I¡¯d be saving myself the hassle of having to watch out for her. But¡­ people aren¡¯t born like her. I mean, angry, bitter, and broken. They¡¯re made that way. I don¡¯t know what hurt her, and I don¡¯t think Energy can fix it, but if I let her die now, she¡¯ll have died a monster. Unlikeable, unloved, and ultimately forgotten. Maybe she has it in her to get better, and I have the ability and opportunity to give her that chance. Energy 35: Hunted I activate the Energy view again, and just as I¡¯m about to start in on stitching, my instincts scream at me, tearing me back to reality just in time to take a rock to the face (much to the delight of the shades). My head snaps back and spots dance in my eyes, a warning or something flashes past my eyes but I ignore it as I quickly drag Lauren to the first room, taking a few more stones to the back in the process. My ears are ringing and my face is raining blood from what I¡¯m sure is a nice gash across my forehead. My health was reduced to ? by that first volley, and I think some other things too cause I¡¯m not feeling so hot. I won¡¯t win. If I stay here, they¡¯re going to jump over here and kill us. If I stay out there, they¡¯ll just throw stones till I die. Fuck. Fuck! I drag Lauren into an open sarcophagus and stick my head back around the corner. Two of them were getting ready to jump, but stop when they see me and start howling loudly. Immediately, the two who weren¡¯t ready to jump launch stones at me with absurd accuracy, and I barely pull my head back in time. This is going tits up in a hurry. My concussed brain, once again, comes up with a perfect plan. Baseball. So it is with my head held high and blood in my eyes that I step around the corner again. More howling, more launched stones, but this time, I dodge further from cover. As the stones pass through where I was standing mere fractions of a second before, I slam my stick into one, skillfully deflecting it into the ceiling and doing no damage to anything other than my stick. The process repeats several more times before a lucky hit both dents my ¡®bat¡¯ and smashes a rock back into the unfortunate pitcher. The rock collides with the shade¡¯s shoulder with a sickening crunch, and the howling turns from excited to pained and enraged. The two who were going to jump before also pick up rocks and start firing near me while one of them still targets me where I¡¯m standing. I can¡¯t track three speeding objects at once, so my next dodge not only doesn¡¯t allow a counterattack, but also fails to completely avoid one of the adjacent throws, hitting me right in the stomach. My vision swims, and it¡¯s only with great effort that I don¡¯t immediately vomit, and I manage to limp back into the adjacent room before they get off another volley. In answer to my earlier question: they are working with a fair amount of brain power. They adapted to that idea way too quickly, and now I can¡¯t prevent them from crossing. I did manage to hurt one, hopefully enough that it can¡¯t cross, but I¡¯m at half health now. And there is no time. Stand and fight? Run and die? Both are terrible. Even against three I don¡¯t have much hope, I¡¯m out of tricks. Kaythe can¡¯t fight, Lauren is dying, I can¡¯t use Mana (Damn it RAV) and I have A FUCKING STICK as my only weapon because I threw the other one to get myself into this mess in the first place! I look at Lauren in the sarcophagus, thinking of something, anything I can do to get us out, when it clicks. The sarcophagus. A life or death shell game. As quickly as I can, I place the three stone slabs back over empty sarcophagi, and climb into the same one as Lauren. I remember to rip the dagger she¡¯s holding out of her hand before I do. It¡¯s impressive how hard she was holding it while being totally unconscious and *actively* bleeding to death. Stick in one hand, dagger in the other, I lie on top of her and move the final slab into place over us. For the love of god, and all that is holy, PLEASE don¡¯t let her wake up until this is over. It would be impossible to explain this. The sounds of me moving all that stone were drowned out by the frantic howling from the Shades, so they likely have no idea what happened in here. A small part of me has the courage to hope that the residents of this dungeon take issue with their rudeness and drive them out for me, but¡­ If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Barring the idea of miracles from my thought process, I put my faith in ambushing the fuck out of the first thing to open my sarcophagus. Best case? They think we vanished and don¡¯t bother checking. Worst case? I take one out of the equation with an ambush. It¡¯s better odds than before, and that¡¯s the best I can do. The howling gets even louder for a few moments before rapidly dying off to absolute silence. The change shocks me to my core. I¡¯d forgotten how quiet this place is when nothing is making noise, and the only sound from outside the slab is gentle stepping as the shades move around the room. Lauren is fortunately too unconscious to be terrified, so her breathing is quiet, but it¡¯s taking an active effort for me to maintain mine being even, and I still feel like I¡¯m hyperventilating. I don¡¯t dare move a muscle lest I make any noise. This plan becomes certain death the moment they know which one we¡¯re in, and- *WHAM* Ok, they just opened one of the sarcophagi. Maybe they¡¯ll give up? *WHAM* Shit. Shit. I realize the fatal flaw in my plan. In the shell game, you get to move the ball between each guess, but this game has unlimited guesses. They must have figured out we¡¯re in one of these, so if they open the next one and it isn¡¯t us, it¡¯s just as damning as if I had tipped them off! Whatever happens next, it¡¯s going to be a fight for both of our lives. My whole body tenses in anticipation; I¡¯m already putting pressure on the slab so the moment it moves I can fling it off and stab. Waiting. Waiting¡­ There isn¡¯t a sound. A long while ticks by without any indication of whether we¡¯re alone, or if all the shades are poised to strike the moment I try to move the cover. The air inside the sarcophagus gets worse and worse, and I know that sooner or later I¡¯ll lack the strength to open the lid again, and we¡¯ll just suffocate in here. Every breath burns my lungs. My head has started to hurt less, and I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s bad. It was a hard blow. I¡¯m losing consciousness. Do or die. I muster the rest of my flagging Stamina and launch the cover off me, towards the door, immediately stabbing to my left with the dagger. The cover explodes into stone fragments as hit collides with the floor, and my stab whistles through the air, missing¡­ because there¡¯s nothing to hit. My breath comes in huge gulps as I try desperately to listen for any sounds of danger¡­ But I hear nothing. We¡¯re safe, for the moment. I collapse back into the coffin, relief flooding my body before immediately bouncing back up as I remember Lauren is *still* dying and might already be dead and I really need to fucking work! My shirt sticks to her as I get out of the sarcophagus because HOLY SHIT THAT¡¯S A LOT OF BLOOD. I place my ear next to her mouth, listening for anything¡­ A slight whistling. How the fuck is she still alive. She¡¯s right on the edge. There¡¯s no time. I check the hall just to be sure we¡¯re clear, and run back, immediately forcing all the green Energy I can into her without keeling over. Having flooded her with 20 Energy, almost my entire pool (while keeping a few points in me for safety), I set to fixing her. I feel like I should have more available, but whatever, can¡¯t focus on it now. Stop the bleeding. Seal the outside wounds. Knit together broken organs, intestines. Repair the abdominal muscle, return functionality¡­ less strong than before. It¡¯ll heal. The void inside her is constantly sucking at the Energy I¡¯m using, pulling it away midway through repairs, and I don¡¯t have any to spare! What is that void!? Why is it there?! What is WRONG WITH YOU! But the void is quiet, and only consumes. I can stabilize her. I can do it. My Will shudders as I dedicate every ounce of it to the task of keeping my Energy from being sucked away. There is only one, single thing in my mind: ¡®save this person.¡¯ It is all consuming. Without even realizing it, I reach for and use the rest of the Energy I need to accomplish the task. Directly from my pool. The last of the bleeding is stopped and I¡¯m moving on to musculature when I¡¯m forcibly ejected from the view and immediately floored by a crippling headache. Energy exhaustion¡­ did it again¡­ fuck¡­ me- The last thing I see is the empty Energy bar blinking tauntingly at me before I slip into unconsciousness. Energy 36: Elsewhere There are, before me, so many paths that I couldn¡¯t begin to count them if I wanted to. All of them call to me, singing their own, sweet songs. Some call louder, some barely whisper. All are beckoning. I can see a little bit along each path. Some paths are paved in blood. Others in light. Some in stone... bone... broken or pure. ¡°I will make you strong¡± or ¡°I will make you swift¡± or any number of other temptations echo simultaneously, their meaning passing through me, waiting for my answer. A million, million decisions, and I know for certain that I want nothing to do with any of them. Every path, no matter how bright, dips eventually into darkness. Some go quite high before they fall, but many simply fall off straight away. It all ends in darkness. My eyes take in the lines, tracing every path as it disappears away, hoping I can find something¡­ anything. My search goes on. Boredom doesn¡¯t exist here, as time does not flow. How can you be bored if nothing has changed? You¡¯ve been here but a moment, and maybe not even that. The paths get louder, more insistent. Perhaps there is some change. ¡°You must choose¡± at the same time as ¡°You have no choice.¡± Lies, half-truths, and full truths. All promising success, glory, fulfillment¡­ They know me. They can see me. Who and what I am. Their calls get personal, tantalizing me with the return of my memories, the bonds I once had¡­ But it would be empty now. This world is not that one. Even if I remembered, the others wouldn¡¯t. I¡¯d be more alone than ever, stuck with knowledge but with no one who cared. Greeting my mother only to have her look at me as she would a stranger. The paths writhe, angry. Their calls, once individualized, unique, devolve into a mantra, repeated over and over into infinity. Choose. Choose. CHOOSE. The words are all-consuming. I can¡¯t see the paths anymore, nor hear anything but the mantra. I couldn¡¯t say how long the torment went on for. One moment passed, and I opened my eyes again to behold nothing but soft white all around me. One single path forward. And I walked. ----- The platform I had started on had disappeared from view by the time a hole in the floor opened beneath me. Falling holds no fear for me here, but only because it¡¯s here. This dreamlike space makes certain truths readily apparent, and among those is that the real danger is not from falling. It¡¯s from what you fall into. I¡¯m now brought face to face with that horrid darkness, cracks of lightning lancing through it and crackling red static covering dark clouds. It¡¯s a defined layer, where peaceful light becomes crushing dark, and I¡¯m falling toward it. The fear starts, but not for long. A small platform comes into view, hovering close to, but not inside, the darkness.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I land, far more gently than my velocity would bely, and come face to face with¡­ something very hard to describe. A bipedal entity, to be sure, but it looks¡­ blank. Like a naked mannequin, but fuzzy around the edges. It¡¯s colored a light gray, but has no other defining features. It- ¡­ It looks a lot like that thing from the waterfall. The one that scared me into jumping. But¡­ gray, not inky blackness. ¡°Do you ever wonder why you are asked to choose? Why there is any option for you at all? I assume you guessed it. That, or you¡¯re a coward, and insufficient for what I need. Are you a coward, Amadeus?¡± Its voice feels like a liquid in my brain: ice cold, seeping into my very bones. -¡°Th- that¡¯s not¡­ my name. Nobody calls me that.¡± There is no visual reaction. ¡°It is your name. You¡¯re ashamed of it because it¡¯s old-fashioned and makes you feel weak, so you made something of your own. A figment of your imagination designed to protect you from yourself. You are a coward, Amadeus, and you can¡¯t even accept your own name. You should go, you aren¡¯t sufficient.¡± There¡¯s no anger, no derision, it¡¯s as clinical as a doctor listing off life changing ailments, and the words cut deep. Not because it knows my name, but- -¡°I. Am not. A coward.¡± I feel my eyes narrow, intensity filling my gaze. ¡°Yes, I changed my name, but because I never felt like it fit me. ¡®Anthony¡¯ isn¡¯t less than ¡®Amadeus¡¯, just different.¡± Something that could be a chuckle is the only answer. Fury wells up in my chest, that this thing dares to criticize me. But¡­ There might be truth to what it said. More than I want to admit. A lot happened to make me try to change myself. Even without specifics, I remember that time very clearly. The name was only the label I gave that change. ¡°Oh really? Then I must ask you to prove yourself. I say you¡¯re a coward, but perhaps I misjudged you. You will complete a test, one you¡¯ve already done, in fact. Two words you may recognize: ¡®Jump already¡¯.¡± I freeze. -¡°Y-You? Were you that fucking thing from the waterfall!?¡± It looks different, but that might mean nothing. ¡°Not exactly. You could call him my¡­ warden. A guard. Now jump into that darkness.¡± -¡±It will kill me.¡± Not a question, I¡¯m sure of it. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°N-¡± I bite my tongue. Something¡¯s up here. My pride is screaming at me to tell this thing to ¡®fuck off¡¯ or even take a swing at it¡­ but that wouldn¡¯t do anything. Does attacking a random stranger make you not a coward? Even if the one hit is a fucking asshole? And mouthing off isn¡¯t worth a damn either because this thing has made no indication of hostile intent. It might even be unable to hurt me, and words mean nothing when the repercussions don¡¯t exist. But¡­ is listening to the order to literally kill myself any better? Yeah. I think it is. This place? It¡¯s obviously a metaphor for something. The paths I didn¡¯t choose all ended the same way; with a deep, angry darkness consuming me. But that¡¯s life. All the choices you make all lead to the same place. You¡¯re going to die. I don¡¯t think this thing is asking me to kill myself, but instead, whether I cower before death¡­ or face it. I walk to the edge. The platform I¡¯m standing on is so thin it might actually be two dimensional. My attention, however, is quickly stolen by the swirling dark clouds only around 20 feet below me. I turn, staring for a moment at the mannequin, before looking down, and pushing off and out. This time there¡¯s fear¡­ danger. But I accept it. I¡¯ll find a way back. I will face death, but only because I refuse to die. My fall stops abruptly, a firm grip on my arm holding me in place. I dangle for a moment, confused, but mostly relieved, before looking up to see the mannequin. ¡°This is where I say something like ¡®boo¡¯, isn¡¯t it?¡± -¡±You believe me now.¡± It knows my outward calm is entirely fake. ¡°I do.¡± I¡¯m hauled back onto the platform. ¡°But it helped to see your thought process. You¡¯re a funny creature. Your arrogance astounds me, considering your weakness.¡± -¡±I was right.¡± Lucky. Lucky is the word I was looking for. The chuckle again. ¡°Right enough to not let you waste yourself. We¡¯ll see.¡± It pauses a moment. ¡°You would not make a choice that would willingly put yourself on the road to annihilation, so the choice was made for you. This path is much worse than the others. Much worse. And you will need to go down into that darkness at one point, if you continue to follow it. But¡­ It does not end down there. Walk on. Find your way. Survive and I¡¯ll see you again soon. Then I will answer your questions.¡± A flash, and I¡¯m back on the path again. I briefly look over the side, but can¡¯t make out the platform I¡¯d fallen to. Too far off, I guess. Shrugging, I start walking again, and the world falls apart around me, fading to a soft blackness.
Congratulations! You¡¯ve chosen the Path of Denial. You must honestly fucking hate yourself. You have gained access to the ¡®Traits¡¯ tab. Earn traits by leveling up skills. Every skill has a unique Trait or tree of Traits associated with it, which will remain hidden until the appropriate skill level is unlocked. Good luck!
Energy 37: The Barrows I gasp, my head lancing with pain, and immediately start coughing loudly on the mouthful of dust that accompanied my sudden intake. After spitting, swearing, and clearing my airway, I wipe my eyes and take in my surroundings. The Barrows, just as I left it. I had the weirdest fucking dream. More than a dream, I see, as I actually do have access to a new tab in my menu. I also might have talked to one of the game¡¯s administrators? At least something God-like. I remember being certain that it had a terrifying amount of power. I can¡¯t fathom why I was able achieve such confidence when I was talking to something that could probably crush me with a thought. Meanwhile, if a rat jumps on my face I might as well be fucking myself. It¡¯s like my unconscious mind *wants* me to die in a stupid way. I guess I can also cross ¡®being called an idiot by the game¡¯ off my bucket list. I¡¯m either doing something very right or very wrong. Jury¡¯s out on that. I¡¯ll look into ¡®traits¡¯ after the more pressing issues are taken care of. Some notifications appeared while I was out:
[Energy fully exhausted. Regeneration rate temporarily reduced. +1 max Energy]
[Congratulations! Your actions led to the death of a Dwarf Shade. No other claims detected. Partial reward issued! +25 Power (105)]
[Your actions have led to the creation of a basic Secondary Skill: Hide (Cost: 50). Learn? Y/N]
[Multiple skill increases detected! +1 Imbue Energy (3); +1 Transfuse Energy (8); +1 Cold Resistance (3); +1 Energy Manipulation (6); Combat Proficiency +1 (2)]
Holy. That¡¯s a lot of gains. It almost makes it feel worth it that I almost died. I accept the ¡®Hide¡¯ skill (55). I got lucky. Lucky they didn¡¯t thoroughly check all the sarcophagi, lucky they didn¡¯t just camp around in the dungeon, lucky nothing came in while I was on the floor, unconscious. I may have maximized my chances of being lucky, but¡­ having a skill makes the odds even better. More in my control. More luck.
[Domination milestone reached! 30% Domination of Cathid.]
Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The flash of concern about Kaythe¡¯s whereabouts passes quickly as I notice it hanging from the ceiling, watching the entrance to the room. I think it¡¯s standing guard, actually. ¡°Thanks Kaythe. You¡¯re the best.¡± *click* (Awake!) It quickly flows down to the floor and onto my waiting arm, resuming its usual perch on my shoulders.
[Congratulations! The threshold for Primary Skill sharing has been crossed! +1 Dexterity +2 Perception]
Holy x2. Today is shaping up to be a damn good day. I¡¯d rank that as ¡®Energy well invested¡¯, and it''s only 30% done. My stomach growls, and I take a Bon nut from my pocket. Quite the celebration feast. As a test, I attempt to crack it with just the force of my grip, but no amount of straining is sufficient to break it, so I use a broken stone shard from the slab I threw at the wall. Definitely sour. Not great tasting, overall. But very filling. The nut is about the size of a walnut, but the meat of it feels like a complete meal. I¡¯ll live. Still thirsty as hell, but I don¡¯t have as easy access to water out here. It¡¯s not like I could have brought water either, at least without a bottle or waterskin. While I eat I consider the notification about indirectly killing one of the Shades. Was that the one I hit with the stone? Must be. Maybe it tripped into the pit because its arm-leg wasn¡¯t working anymore. Serves the asshole right. My Health has recovered entirely, but I don¡¯t think my physiology is used to such rapid recovery, so phantom pain still lingers. It¡¯s the kind of pain that you don¡¯t notice if you don¡¯t think about it, but the second you do, it¡¯s very apparent. Hopefully it goes away on its own. It¡¯s neat to know that partial experience is a thing though. At least, if something limps off and dies after fighting me, I¡¯ll get something for my trouble. I wonder if it works for multiple people attacking the same monster. Is there experience division? Power division? I guess I¡¯ll find out if Lauren sticks around. And doesn¡¯t kill me. Nah, she wouldn¡¯t kill the person that fought tooth and nail to save her, right? Pfft. I¡¯m going to have to be really careful. I think if I even hint at suggesting she owes me anything for it, it¡¯s going to be a bad time. Speaking of¡­ Lauren seems to still be unconscious, lying in the sarcophagus. I didn¡¯t have the time to move her before I healed her, and I was senseless after I emptied my Energy pool. Oh well. She deserves to be sore, the fucking idiot. Almost got both of us killed. ¡­ Part of me is glad that I thought she was Rav. For him, I wouldn¡¯t hesitate, but¡­ for her I might have. And then she would have died. ¡­ Yeah. Glad. Energy 38: The Barrows A quick look into Lauren¡¯s Energy view reveals she isn¡¯t completely healed, but also isn¡¯t in danger anymore. While my Energy pool is full again, I don¡¯t have any interest in waking her up early, and even less in making her in peak fighting condition. Honestly though, she should probably have already healed completely by now. My health was at about half when I passed out, and I¡¯m full now, so it stands to reason that she should also be almost healed. Instead, she still looks like a bit of a mess. A recovering mess, but still. Maybe if she had a healing potion. Not that I¡¯d give it to her. I think major injuries might decrease healing rate. Like how Rav couldn¡¯t recover past a certain point due to his amputation. Or maybe serious injury reduced overall Health and it takes some time to regenerate that. Enter Energy healing. It can fix what ails you fast. Faster, anyway. That being said, Energy isn¡¯t exactly the best for quick tricks and gimmicks in combat, so I¡¯m going to see what I can do to add a bit to my rapid-response ability. With alchemy. Producing the alchemical ingredients I found in the fields, on my way to the river the first time, I finally take note of what I actually have: Time to test their properties. And if video games and cooking have taught me anything, that means eating them. Oh boy. What follows could only be described as a slightly harrowing experience of Russian Roulette but with a proverbial gun that could have all blanks or have all live rounds and I wouldn¡¯t know. With me being the only player. The orange flower appears to do nothing, and doesn¡¯t taste like much, until I open my mouth to put the next flower in, when I notice a small amount of light coming from inside. Just to make sure it isn¡¯t my imagination, I spend a few moments opening and closing my mouth, but sure enough, it¡¯s like I ate a firefly. Useful. White is next. It tastes¡­ familiar. Why, exactly, I couldn¡¯t say, but it becomes a little more clear when a small ¡®+1¡¯ appears for a moment over my Energy bar. My initial excitement is dashed as I find it is not, in fact, a max Energy upgrade, but a current Energy upgrade, and it doesn¡¯t go above my max. Still, regenerating Energy faster would be invaluable for more difficult wounds.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Or people with an Energy void like Lauren¡­ The green flower does not appear to do anything. It tastes a bit like onion though, which is nice. The green bud is really chewy and quite an unpleasant taste. Kinda like grass. My heart drops further as I see a +1 appear over my Health bar. Why couldn¡¯t the onion one have been Health? Bullshit. My good luck with non-harmful ingredients comes to an abrupt end with the red flower, which literally burns the inside of my mouth and sizzles lightly on the ground after I spit it out. It even manages to deal a damage to me! Which¡­ I¡¯ll concede is getting off light compared with what could have happened. What if I had swallowed it¡­ Talk about heartburn. Finally, the purple flower. I¡¯m a little wary after being scalded, but there¡¯s only one way to find out what it does. I gently chew the flower. It tastes almost¡­ purple? A force, unlike anything I¡¯ve ever experienced, radiates through my body, burning and tearing at me, causing my health to rapidly drop. Tense seconds go by as I spit it out but the effect doesn¡¯t stop. My mind is going too fast for me to think about using Energy to help, and I can only watch, panicked, as my health drops with each wracking wave. Suddenly, the effect stops and the damage levels off after only a fifth of my Health is gone. I¡¯m left, sweating on all fours, with no idea WHY THAT HAPPENED. The pain mostly vanished when the effect ended, but there¡¯s a spot on my leg that burns particularly painfully. I pull up my shorts leg to investigate, and there¡¯s a dime sized area of scorched skin. Why the fuck? Why there in particular? I check the pocket, to see if there was something metal or something, as I¡¯d obviously just been shocked pretty badly by a flower, but instead I find the little Mana battery, now glowing slightly. The memory of Rav talking about the process involved in getting Mana, the danger it poses, how it has to essentially create channels for itself in your body¡­ That was a Mana flower, but I have no Mana pool, so it just¡­ tried to leave. If the trend of previous ingredients holds, that was the effect of one Mana applied to my body. Holy fuck. Rav wasn¡¯t kidding, I would probably have died if I insisted on being given Mana. I¡¯m sure his control would have lessened the damage a bit, but I really doubt it would have been enough.
[You have been afflicted with the status effect: Burned Channels - An overflow of Mana has caused damage to your Mana channels, preventing you from regenerating Mana. Consult your Village Healer for a cure. Duration: ---]
Ffffffuck. Yeah, that was the kind of thing I was really hoping *not* to have happen. Health I can replace, poison I can outlast, paralysis will go away at some point, but a semi-permanent status effect? That literally says in the tooltip that I need a ¡®Village Healer¡¯ to fix? Fuck me. At least it only affects my Mana, which I don¡¯t actually have any of- There¡¯s a Mana bar. I have a mana bar now. It reads: 0/1. I hate this fucking game. Energy 39: The Barrows I¡¯m done hurting myself for now. I have some idea of what all these ingredients do, but I don¡¯t have any way of experimenting further. I don¡¯t know much about alchemy, but I do know I¡¯ll need some sort of container to hold stuff I make, and I¡¯ll probably want to reduce ingredients in water over a fire. I have exactly zero capacity to do that. The red flowers might be able to solve the fire problem, though¡­ Actually, now that I think about it, that¡¯s probably how they got the fire going at the camp. Idiot. Should have asked. I mean, I tried, but Lauren seemed like the go-to person to ask, and she¡­ wasn¡¯t in a ¡®talkative¡¯ mood. I have a vain hope that she¡¯ll teach me some stuff, or at least tell me how I can get my hands on an alchemy kit like hers. Seriously, that setup looked really legit, there¡¯s no way it was cobbled together from sticks and rocks. I¡¯m pretty sure I saw a mortar and pestle! But she definitely doesn¡¯t have it on her now. Probably left it at camp. Not that I feel comfortable checking through her stuff¡­ for a variety of reasons. The least of which is ¡®being stabbed¡¯. I promise. I opt to take a seat on one of the open sarcophagi, with Lauren firmly in my view, while I peruse the Traits tab. The last thing I want is her unstable ass sneaking up on me. The tab is¡­ mostly vacant. Selecting it brings me to a screen that looks like it will be a canvas of traits at some point, but right now has only four: The Selfless; Energy User; Energy Healer; and Path of Denial.
[The Selfless (0/5): Reward trait. Saving one of your own species at great personal risk has earned you the interest of the Administrator. Gain one free Primary Skill for every point. Reduced cost of Ascending once the trait is complete.]
[Basic Energy User (0/10): Increases efficiency of all Energy use by 1%/point. Bonus doubles once the trait is complete.]
[Novice Energy Healer (0/10): Speeds active healing effects by 10%/point. Reduces concentration required for active healing once the trait is complete.]
And finally:
[Path of Denial (0/25): Does absolutely nothing. Effect doubles once the trait is complete.]
Pfft. This is actually so terrible that I can¡¯t help but laugh. Honestly what the fuck. The two Energy related traits are pretty great, same with the reward trait (whatever Ascending is), definitely worth the investment, but my path? Good fucking lord. I¡¯d laugh harder if it didn¡¯t hurt so much. Why, pray tell, the fuck, does it do nothing? Maybe it¡¯s a joke? Maybe it just says that but then you put in ten points and it switches to something awesome. Or maybe I¡¯ll put in all twenty-five points and get nothing x2. The worst part about this is the fuckin¡¯ God thing told me I have to ¡®walk the path¡¯, which means it wants me to finish this stupid thing for some crazy ¡®epic destiny¡¯ or whatever. What kind of epic destiny starts with FUCKING NOTHING. Well, maybe I¡¯ll have tons of trait points and won¡¯t even know what to do with them, so it won¡¯t be a major loss. Trait points available: 26 Oh boy. It has a one to one match with the number of Secondary Skill levels I have. Fuck.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Well, I¡¯m maxing the two Energy traits on account of the fact that I need to survive long enough to finish the stupid path, and being able to heal quicker and with less focus will definitely contribute to the chances of me being alive. Same with reducing Energy costs. I distribute the points: 10 to Basic Energy User, 10 to Novice Energy Healer, 5 to the reward path, and 1 to Path of Denial. It¡¯s only after putting in the final point that I realize I could have left the point available and just put it in as a lump sum later, especially because I might get more traits that would be even more useful. Ugh. It¡¯s only one point, but I just have to hamstring myself every once in a while. I can be all cool fighting off a horde of angry Shades and then trip and fall on my proverbial face in the comfort of a menu. I¡¯m interrupted from my point distribution by a *CLACK*(Danger!) and, before I can react, something cold is on my throat. I literally took precautions to ensure exactly NOT this. ¡°Oh for fucks sa-¡± I mange to get out, before a sharp pain emanates from my throat followed by a ¡°Shut. Up.¡± A pause, heavy breathing. Well, Lauren¡¯s awake. Not feeling too hot I see. -¡°Now tell me -breath- what the fuck -breath- you did to me.¡± ¡°Saved you from shadow monsters-¡± I blurt out, unthinking. Shit, I meant to say anything other than that because- yep, that¡¯s more pressure. Great. Fucking genius. ¡°What!? I did, alright? I thought you were Rav and came to save you, and, once I realized, I decided to save your worthless ass because¡­¡± I don¡¯t even remember, why did I do this? ¡°-Because you know how to fight and we need you so we don¡¯t all die.¡± Might as well double down. Speak the language, so to say. She doesn¡¯t move or say anything for a while, seemingly content to hold me hostage while she thinks. I concentrate a fair chunk of green Energy in my throat, right along the line of pressure I can feel. If she does it, I doubt she¡¯ll be thorough, and I might be able to save myself. And I will, honestly and truly, destroy her soul if I survive. Wait- I convert the remainder of my Energy to the weaponized red, gathering it along the points of contact between us. Why wait? I could destroy her now. She¡¯s literally holding a knife to my throat. Her intent is clear. -¡°Why really. Why would you help me. Don¡¯t lie again.¡± Really? Because- ¡°You could be useful to me personally. I wasn¡¯t lying. I saw you working on alchemy, and that¡¯s a skill I want so I can survive. I need all the tools I can get. Where did you find equipment like that?¡± It¡¯s weird having a conversation when both parties have weapons levied against the other. Not that she knows. It¡¯s better this way, she thinks she¡¯s in control. The tension of the knife eases somewhat. -¡±You helped me so that I¡¯d teach you? Fuck off, -breath- jackass, I¡¯m not teaching anyone. But, I don¡¯t think -breath- I¡¯m going to kill you just yet. You¡¯ve left out an important part: what the fuck was with that dream you gave me?¡± Dream? ¡°I didn¡¯t-¡± the pressure gets more intense than ever before, definitely breaking skin. -¡±Don¡¯t you FUCKING lie to meeEEE AHH WHAT THE FUCK-¡± Oh, did that hurt? My bad. I only managed to use about half of the Energy I had ready to attack her. I kick off the ground, taking advantage of her being stunned, and smash the back of my head into her face. A distant clatter rings out as the dagger flies from her grip. The small amount of poison that made it into my neck is being held at bay by the wave of green Energy around the wound. Hopefully it¡¯ll stay until I have time to fix it. ¡°Well,¡± I say, over her pained groan, ¡°that worked even better than I thought. What? Don¡¯t give me that face, I saved your life, suffering greatly for it, and you rewarded me by pulling a knife on me and demanding answers I would have freely answered if you had just asked, like a fucking normal person. I literally did nothing to harm you-¡± except throw you across a pit trap, but that was necessary and she was unconscious ¡°- and I helped you, despite my extreme doubts about why you came here. Oh? It¡¯s spreading? Well you¡¯re familiar with poison, right? This is just like that, but instead of targeting the body, it targets the soul. And yes, it would eventually consume you.¡± I grab her good arm, letting her try desperately and ineffectively to fend me off with the unresponsive Energy infected one. ¡°-But it won¡¯t. I won¡¯t let it. Now hold still and let me help you.¡± Her eyes hold a mixture of fear, confusion, and anger, but the fear wins out and she just shakes and holds still while I remove the Energy from her, pushing a bit of green Energy in to fix the damage passively. She visibly shudders when the Energy passes into her. Weird. She sinks to the ground, breathing heavily, looking at me with a strange expression. -¡±I -huff- don¡¯t like you.¡± she says, simply. ¡°Feeling''s mutual.¡± Energy 40: The Barrows We hold the resulting silence for a while, not making eye contact, but studying each other. I break it first: ¡°The dream, I think, was part of the game. Designed to let us pick a ¡®path¡¯ to follow, which will influence our ¡®Traits¡¯. I didn¡¯t cause it.¡± Lauren studies me a moment longer before shrugging. -¡±I won¡¯t turn down free¡­ power.¡± A sudden nagging pulls at my attention, directing me to look at the corner of the room where Kaythe is lying motionless. Panic rises in my chest, turning furiously to Lauren I start to yell, only to see her lift her hand. In it: a strange bottle with an equally strange liquid. -¡±Give it a few drops.¡± We share another glance. She knows I¡¯ll destroy her if this doesn¡¯t help. She knows it isn¡¯t worth the trouble of putting me down. It¡¯s easier this way. I try examining the liquid quickly, but the result is unhelpful as usual: [A mysterious alchemical liquid. Ask an Alchemist to identify it!] ¡°What is it?¡± I ask, gently putting some on the shallow wound on Kaythe¡¯s body. -¡±Paralysis antidote. You probably need some too.¡± I refrain, returning the bottle to her. I could use the healing practice anyway. Her eyebrows raise slightly, but she gives no other reaction. I hold Kaythe in my arms, carefully channeling healing Energy into it. The Energy view I have for Kaythe is much more detailed than for Rav or Lauren. I can see Kaythe¡¯s own Energy moving around. And, obviously, there was no resistance to me passing Energy in. Actually, that begs an important question: why did Lauren not resist my Energy either time I used it on her? In the heat of the moment, when I was first healing her, I hadn¡¯t even noticed. Probably chalked it up to her being unconscious or something. But just now? When I¡¯d attacked her? That definitely should have provoked some kind of response. Yet, there had been nothing. No counter-attack. Perhaps it has something to do with the Energy void? Kaythe suddenly starts wiggling and clacking happily, bringing a smile to my face as it celebrates its regained movement. I quickly deal with the poisoned tissue in my neck and seal the wound on my neck. It was shallow, so it probably won¡¯t even leave the usual scar. I¡¯ll need more practice before I¡¯ll be able to deal with poison while maintaining awareness. Great. Maybe Lauren will let me chug her poisons to practice. No, she definitely would, but not for any other reason than because she would believe I¡¯d die. Lauren is focussed intensely on me when I emerge from my concentration. I raise an eyebrow, questioning. -¡±The cut vanished.¡± Not shock, not awe, just a statement. I nod. -¡±While I was watching, it just¡­ came together.¡± Still just stating things. Maybe she is a bit shocked. ¡°Yeah well¡­ that¡¯s what I do.¡± I murmur, awkwardly. Ugh, come on dude. She literally tried to kill you, you had a faceoff, and now you get awkward? It doesn¡¯t seem to bother her, as she just nods in return. -¡±Uhh¡­ it¡¯s an Apprentice¡¯s Stone.¡± My turn to be confused. ¡°What?¡± -¡±Earlier, you asked about my Alchemy. The stuff came from my Apprentice¡¯s Stone.¡± ¡°I¡­ the beakers and bottles and shit came from a rock?¡± On the one hand, I¡¯m incredibly skeptical. On the other, I have, in my pocket, a rock that holds mana and some flowers that can cause fires, so this would be far from the weirdest revelation today. She nods, producing a small, intricately carved talisman. Before I can examine it more closely, she says -¡°Apprentice, alchemy.¡± and the stone pulses with a low, green light. As soon as she places the talisman on the ground, it shifts and grows until it becomes the same alchemy set I saw her working with earlier. I¡¯m floored. ¡°That is fucking amazing. How does it work? Where can I get one? I was trying to figure out the basics just by eating random ingredients until I figured out what was good-¡± -¡±You ate ingredients? That you didn¡¯t know the properties of? Are you dense? Ha! Oh my fuck, you¡¯re an idiot! You don¡¯t even need me to kill you, you¡¯ll just do the trick yourself, won¡¯t you? Oh that is too much, please, my stomach still hurts, laughing just makes it worse!¡± The pain, of course, doesn¡¯t stop her from having a fair amount of enjoyment at my expense. That¡¯s what I get for being excited. Whatever tentative, mutual respect was there before has been thoroughly dashed. RIP me.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. To my surprise, once she gets over herself, she proceeds to explain how the stone works. That was another interesting point: that monsters can drop things. Occasionally, as Lauren tells it, you¡¯ll be notified when you kill a monster that the Power reward was reduced and an item was created. They¡¯re usually fairly useful things, depending on the Power of the monster that drops it. More Power, more interesting item. One such item she got was a poultice specifically for repairing armor. Apply it, and it fixes any lost durability, closing holes and mending scratches. I¡¯d be really interested in figuring out how that works; the mechanisms probably use Power to create the replacement armor, but how does it know to mimic what¡¯s already there? Musings for later. Lauren is a funny person. Once she starts talking, she isn¡¯t quite as¡­ terrible. Weird and broken, sure, but ¡®we¡¯re all mad down here¡¯, in our own ways. I quickly distribute the free Primary Skill points that I was going to deal with before I was so rudely interrupted. For some reason -probably because it¡¯s special- I can¡¯t add to Will, but I opt to round out my Dex to 20, raise Int to 28, and raise Toughness and End by one each. There¡¯s some pain, popping and cracking joints, and the texture of my skin feels a little different all of a sudden, but nowhere near as disorienting as the +10 to all earlier. With that done, time to see if Lauren is going to be a team player- but first: status. Name: Amadeus (Anthony) Power: 105 Fragments: 15 HP: 34/34 H Recovery: +6 / hour Stamina: 33/33 S Recovery: +22 / min Energy: 30/30 E Recovery: +3 / min Mana:0/1 M Recovery:0 / min Primary skills: Dexterity 20 (+1) Strength 22 Endurance 24 Toughness 24 Intelligence 28 Perception 25 (+2) Will 3 Secondary Skills: -Active Transfuse Energy [Active] (8) Move Energy through physical contact into living objects. Imbue Energy [Active] (3) - Move Energy through physical contact into non-living objects. Energetic Attack [Active] (2) - Attempt to destroy the spirit of a target using your own. Hide [Active] (1) - Utilize stamina to decrease your presence. Audio generated reduced. Light reflection reduced. Reduces effectivity of olfactory tracking used on you. Stamina usage increases with movement. -Passive Energy Manipulation [Passive] (6) Medium - general ability to move and understand Energy. Improves through use. Combat Proficiency [Passive] (2) Hard - General combat ability. Improves through not using it in training/combat. Cold Resistance [Passive] (2) Medium - General resistance to the effects of cold. Tamer [Passive] (2) ??? - Rare skill. Tame and forge bonds with monsters. Hand to Hand Proficiency (1) Hard - Unarmed competence. Improves through practice using the body as a weapon. Traits: [Basic Energy User (10/10): Increases efficiency of all Energy use by 1%/point. Bonus doubles once the trait is complete.] [Novice Energy Healer (10/10): Speeds active healing effects by 10%/point. Reduces concentration required for active healing once the trait is complete.] [The Selfless (5/5): Reward trait. Saving one of your own at great personal risk has gained you the interest of the Administrator. Gain one free Primary Skill for every point. Reduced cost of Ascending once the trait is complete.] [Path of Denial (1/25): Does absolutely nothing. Effect doubles once the trait is complete.] Trait points: 0/26 Peripherals: Dominations - 30% Cathid(3 Energy rate/30%) Exhaustions - 3 Status - Burned Channels: ---; Inventory: Basic Clothing (cloth); stick; 4 of each flower (red, green, purple, white, orange, green(bud); 4 Bon nuts; small Mana battery; 10 copper coins; Worn satchel (broken strap); Crown (unidentified); Energy 41: The Barrows ¡°How are you feeling?¡± -¡±Sorry dude, we¡¯re not that close. I don¡¯t even know your name.¡± ¡°I meant your wound, not your fucking feelings- and you were literally sitting right there when Nate shouted my name.¡± -¡°I wasn¡¯t listening.¡± I mutter something unflattering under my breath, which evokes a snicker from her. Of course she had a high enough Perception to hear it. -¡±My wounds are fine. If you¡¯re done investigating the secrets of the universe¡­¡± she trails off, then picks back up ¡°I¡¯m going to look around the rest of this dungeon and find everything you missed. Don¡¯t do anything dumb and you can come along.¡± She almost sounded like she was going to ask me to come along before she made it a jab. Maybe there¡¯s hope for her. She¡¯s still a fuckhead. ¡°Yeah,¡± I reply dryly ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to get in your way. Do watch out for the traps, they¡¯re quite deadly.¡± -¡±Look, your blind incompetence might make traps a threat to you, but I have no such trouble.¡± She¡¯s going to die. Hundred percent. I don¡¯t give a fuck what her Perception is, seeing through illusions in almost pitch darkness in a cave is beyond her. I¡¯m totally fine with her going first, though. She steps into the hall with me right behind her, and immediately turns right, stopping in front of the pit- fuck that¡¯s bright! The light from outside is like a military grade flashlight if I look right at it. -¡±Is this one of your dreaded traps? Ohhh nooo whatever will I do to get around this spectacularly well hidden GIANT HOLE IN THE GROUND.¡± She starts sidling along one side of it. Ok you smug piece of shit, not only are you going the wrong way, but also, how about this.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. A few moments later she comes back, frowning. -¡±You let me walk all the way out on purpose.¡± ¡°I did. Ah, you¡¯re going to want to stop walking soon. Or at least move to the sides again.¡± -¡±What are you ta- ¡­ where did the pit go?¡± ¡°Whatever do you mean, you¡¯re standing right in front of it.¡± -¡±Is this some kind of fucking joke?¡± She does stop walking though, thoroughly confused and scanning the ground. ¡°Yes.¡± -¡±Well cut it out so I can cross back, we¡¯re killing time before everyone else gets here and fucks everything up.¡± Good point, the BRIGHT AS FUCK light streaming in is a strong indicator that it¡¯s morning, and even though my eyes have definitely adjusted to the dark and are making it seem brighter than it really is, it¡¯s always noon anyway so the day could have just started or been going for hours. I wouldn¡¯t know. Pressing time restraints will not, however, keep me from rubbing her nose in it. ¡°You mean to say that you can¡¯t see it? What was all that earlier? Oh very well.¡± I sigh dramatically, reclaiming my now empty mana battery. It was probably a waste, but honestly it was too satisfying to see her frown move to a full scowl as she jumped back from the literal edge of the pit. I don¡¯t do a very good job of hiding my smirk. -¡±Point taken, dick.¡± ¡°Anthony. Richard¡¯s my father¡¯s name.¡± She stops her sidling for a moment -¡±You remember your dad?¡± Oof. That hurts. ¡°No¡­ no, just a joke.¡± Kinda killed the mood with that one. She doesn¡¯t say anything until she finishes crossing. I can¡¯t see her expression due to the blinding light coming from the door, but I assume it¡¯s not a happy one. -¡±Take the lead.¡± I look at her, considering mocking her again, but drop it. The moment passed, and I can¡¯t pretend things are like they were before the game anymore. It had been so long since I was able to just banter with someone. Not since the game started. It was nice just to forget for a bit. Back to ¡®life or death¡¯. I nod and take the lead, carefully moving forward. ¡°Kaythe, if you notice anything interesting about the cave, guide me to it.¡± *Clack* (yes). -¡±It¡¯s weird how you talk to that thing like it understands you.¡± ¡°It does understand. Those noises it makes mean things to me.¡± -¡±Oh yeah? What did it say? Feed me?¡± ¡°Kaythe agreed to look out for me.¡± -¡±How sweet. You¡¯re crazy.¡± ¡°Shut up and watch for things trying to kill us.¡± It¡¯s unnecessary because I¡¯ve already been through here and I know it¡¯s empty, but we¡¯re close enough to unexplored territory that she could alert monsters that we¡¯re here if she isn¡¯t careful. Energy 42: The Barrows We soon arrive in front of the last room in the hall. At this point I can tell the light I saw earlier, from within the cave, is actually reflected firelight from the next hallway over. Odd, that something would still be burning down here. I can¡¯t smell smoke, and there weren¡¯t any chimneys obvious from outside¡­ I poke my head into the fourth room to find sarcophagi everywhere. They all look the same as in previous rooms, slab and all. I count about seven total. I whisper to Lauren ¡°Sometimes these have Wights in them, so be careful. They tend to be armed.¡± She scoffs and walks in. It takes a monumental effort not to roll my eyes at her. Whatever. I go up to the nearest coffin, trying to listen for any noises within, when my hearing is jarred by the familiar sound of a slab slamming against the ground. What is less familiar is when the slab I was listening to ALSO MOVES. I jump back as almost all the sarcophagi slide open on their own. Not on their own, I realize, but because of the five Wights we¡¯ve unintentionally disturbed. I have an easy retreat if I need it, but Lauren was immediately grappled by the Wight in the sarcophagus she kicked open, and she won¡¯t be able to shake it off and escape before the rest of them are already up and ready to fight. Meaning: I have to take pressure off her. Of course, most of the undead are armed. All at once, Lauren and I spring into action; her, whirling through the Wights, never taking any of them down, but three of them suddenly spout gouts of fire at her passing and me smashing the nearest Wight back into its coffin. I lose track of her as another Wight comes to back up the first, armed with a massive greatsword. It takes a massive swing at me, cleaving the air at chest level. I don¡¯t want to risk blocking that, so I duck its upward slash and spring forward, spearing it with my stick. The Wight is slightly staggered, but I lose my grip on my weapon as it twists away. I make a grab for it, but it slashes diagonally down, forcing me to jump back lest I dodge into another Wight or sarcophagus. I clench my fists, unhappy about taking on armed enemies without a weapon, but there¡¯s no time to think as the Wight I smashed down grabs me and tries to hold me in place. Shaking it violently, I manage to loosen one skeletal hand¡¯s grip and grab it, unwrapping the fairly light skeleton from its hold on my torso and throwing it at the greatsword wielder. The Wight is undeterred by the promise of destroying its compatriot and cleaves right through it, slicing neatly along my ribs in the process. Damn thing held me just long enough to get hit. Fuck. I devote a bit of Energy to it as fast as I can, but I¡¯m immediately put on the defensive. Groans and skeletal clattering inform me that Lauren is still managing her opponents as well. The Wight is slow, and the greatsword is slower still, but my wound is slowing me down and I can¡¯t duck as fast. Consequently, almost all acrobatic maneuvers are out as well, so I slowly back into the fairly narrow doorway.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. With it unable to swing laterally anymore, it suddenly surges forward with an overhead strike, firmly planting the tip of its sword in the stone floor as I manage to dodge back. The moment of vulnerability as it dislodges the sword from the ground is all I need. Using the colossal sword as a ramp, I smash its head from the rest of its body with a punt. Rotted teeth and bits of skull litter the room as I pick myself up from my less than graceful landing and grab my stick to help Lauren finish up the stragglers. Fighting is much easier when you aren¡¯t the one outnumbered.
[You aided in the defeat of five Wights! +70 Power (175)]
[Congratulations! Skill levels gained: Hand To Hand +1]
[Congratulations! Your actions have led to the creation of a basic Secondary Skill: Fencing Proficiency. Cost: 100]
[Congratulations! Your actions have led to the creation of a basic Secondary Skill: Blunt Weapons Proficiency. Cost: 100]
I¡¯d like to learn both, but I don¡¯t have the necessary Power to do so. While I like the idea of fencing as a form of combat, I don¡¯t think it will be the best against undead. My stick getting taken from me is evidence enough for that. Blunt weapons, however¡­
[Congratulations! You learned the secondary skill: Blunt Weapons Proficiency (1)] (75)
About time I got something for swinging this stick around, not that it¡¯s much of a blunt weapon. I¡¯m certain this stick was both smaller and shorter when I first got it. I broke it with my normal strength without even needing to step on it, and now¡­ it has to be at least an inch and a half in diameter. The length is approaching two feet¡­ might even be there already. Is this from my Energy? A weapon that changes and grows with me. Now that I like. I opt to put my new abilities regarding healing to the test and attempt to keep my awareness while I heal my stomach wound. It feels like issuing orders, guiding the Energy where it needs to go, making sure it¡¯s the right type, and telling it to do what I always do: knit flesh. It takes a while, and I don¡¯t think I could walk while doing it, but I manage to keep my eyes open and watch as Lauren gathers the weapons and other loot. She pockets some of the coins, thinking I was distracted. Whatever. Let her have them. Energy 43: The Barrows All told, and minus Lauren¡¯s little ¡®self donation¡¯, the results of our combat are 20 coins (once examined, revealed to be copper, the same as the ones I found earlier), a bronze ring, 2 ancient swords, 1 good condition zweihander, and 1 shortsword. A lot of weapons and a few valuables. Lauren has pockets and straps to hold onto the shortsword, the coins we¡¯ll leave by the entrance with the rest, and the ancient swords are unlikely to be very useful, which leaves me to deal with the ring and zweihander. Lauren has no interest in either. The ring goes on my finger, and I make a first pass at binding it to me with my Energy. It resists, prompting me to wait for later. Inanimate objects are so stubborn. As for the zweihander, I pry a back harness off the Wight who originally owned the weapon. It¡¯s ratty, loose, and smells like rot, but it keeps the massive blade from dragging and my hands free. If I can Infuse Energy into that, it¡¯ll be monstrous and indestructible. I can¡¯t wait. We continue down to the end of the passage, turn right, and can easily see that the main passage continues after the next right, however, something draws our attention. A large crack in the relatively smooth cave wall on our left. It looks like I can just barely squeeze through, and claustrophobia has never bothered me. Leaning my greatsword and satchel against the wall, I climb through the gap, followed shortly by Lauren. Kaythe crawls along the wall overhead, obviously in its element. He doesn¡¯t warn me of anything, so I assume there are no traps. Not that Kaythe is infallible, but dark ass caves are literally his home turf. As I emerge into a larger cavern, I note how this passage is much more crude. Where the main passage is mostly flat, well hewn stone, this looks like someone with a pickaxe spent a while digging and no time making it look nice. The tunnel curves down, and I let Kaythe back onto my shoulders and ready my stick, just in case. There are a few tricky moments with loose rock, but I never seem to lose my balance, and I always manage to find areas that hold my weight and prevent me from sliding the rest of the way down. At the bottom, there is a small peninsula that reaches to the middle of a small, underground lake. The water is dark, darker than I think it should be¡­ but that might be an artifact of my strange darksight ability. Lauren also seems to have it, so I¡¯m almost certain it¡¯s Perception based. I wonder what other things can be seen, with a high enough Perception¡­ This place is serene and beautiful, even without color, but while I don¡¯t mind tight spaces, I do mind dark, cold water. This seems to be the end of the road, at least for this path. ¡°Care for a swim?¡± I wonder if she can make out the smirk. -¡±I will absolutely shove you into this water and leave.¡± Yeah she definitely can. ¡°Point taken.¡± Returning to the main passage, we continue deeper still, and with every step I feel more uncertain. The walls are bare, the floor is uniform, there is nothing in this passage! That makes it an ideal location to put a trap. -¡±Why are you moving so slowly.¡± I frown but make no reply. If she wants to run ahead, I¡¯m perfectly fine healing her. Assuming she survives. I¡¯m going to be careful. Whoever built this place had an eye for lethal traps.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The hallway drags on, and Lauren makes her impatience known with frequent groans and loud sighs. I swear, she¡¯s like a kid sometimes. A stupid, deranged kid. I¡¯m so absorbed in checking everything, so certain I¡¯m going to find a trap that I nearly walk into the far wall. Another left turn, and I can make out that the source of the flickering light is in the next room. Which concerns me. I could see the flickering all the way from the entrance, but that isn¡¯t how normal light behaves. Maybe if the walls were wet, but they aren¡¯t. We¡¯re being led. If someone entered this place and didn¡¯t have a high Perception, they¡¯d already be dead from the pit trap they never would have seen, saying nothing of the Wights. There¡¯s something wrong here. ¡°Careful.¡± No mocking remark, just a curt nod. At least she can be serious sometimes. I start moving forward, even more slowly than before, examining by inches rather than feet. All the time in the world, no need to rush. Nobody is going to charge in here without a light, and we¡¯ll hear them approaching. Plenty of time to stash the loot. I actually wonder what¡¯s holding them up- Focus. Step by careful step, no warnings from Kaythe, but while I expect he¡¯ll protect me from pits, I¡¯m not sure he¡¯s smart enough to know what more well hidden traps look like. Step, step, st- ¡°Wait.¡± The stone has been perfectly even up to this point, but there¡¯s a bump here. It looks like a poorly managed strike didn¡¯t make the ground quite level, but¡­ no, there¡¯s a gap around it. A trigger mechanism, but for what? My eyes glide to the walls, the ceiling, and back to the floor. Nothing I can see. Better to not find out the hard way. ¡°These areas are almost certainly triggers for something. Don¡¯t touch them.¡± Now that I¡¯ve seen them, I notice a very obvious path through them as well.
[Having the faculties is one thing, applying them is much more demanding. Perception Enhanced.]
Waving away the distraction, I pick my way slowly across to the other side. The moment I reach the far side, my balance suddenly shifts back, almost making me trip onto one of the triggers. ¡°Kay-¡± I almost get through scolding it before Lauren scoffs and takes a running start. -¡±I¡¯m doing it my way!¡± Fuck! She doesn¡¯t know there¡¯s another pit! By the time I open my mouth, she¡¯s already in the air. Her jump will easily clear the triggers, but put her right into the pit. If I try to grab her and arrest her fall, I¡¯ll be pulled in too, so instead I gamble on her increased Dexterity to save her and, dropping into a steady stance, plunge my hand through the ground. Just as with the last one, the floor shudders and disappears, revealing a number of unforgiving metal stakes at the bottom of at least 10 feet of empty space. ¡°Here!¡± I shout, my hand at the maximum angle I could still catch her at and not be pulled in. To her credit, she doesn¡¯t scream, instead using every bit of her ability to twist in the air and slam her foot into my hand as she passes. My shoes skid across the dust, pulling my toes over the edge as I stop her forward motion -and, just barely, her vertical motion- before she can fall head first into the waiting maw of earth. This would have been so fucking impossible without a combination of high Strength, Dexterity, and Perception. I hear a tinkling as some metal falls out of her pockets into the spiked abyss. Probably those coins, the idiot. Lot of good they do now. I¡¯m very careful to control every shift in weight as I slowly haul her back up. One wrong move and I¡¯ll trigger the trap and we¡¯re both fucked. By the time I¡¯ve got her head above the lip, I realize I have nowhere to put her, especially not upside down. -¡±Enjoying the view, jackass?¡± Ok yes, I¡¯m looking down vaguely in the crotch region, but what the hell, it¡¯s at eye level. Not my fault. ¡°Well if you like that, you¡¯ll love this. I¡¯m going to flip you, slowly, so I hope you don¡¯t mind being groped.¡± I¡¯m mostly being facetious; her armor has tons of places to hold onto so I¡¯ll have no trouble finding safe places to grab. Still fun to torment her. I can¡¯t tell in the dark, but I assume she¡¯s blushing because she doesn¡¯t respond. A point for me. Thank the game for the Strength Skill; this precise movement is a massive strain and I¡¯d never have been able to even think about doing it before, no matter how light she is. Once she¡¯s on her feet behind me, I throw a comment with as little snide and smug as I can muster that went something like ¡°Step only where I step. If you wanted to die, I could have left you to the Shades.¡± What the hell is she trying to show off to me for? I guess even the attention of people you despise is worth something when everyone hates you back. Honestly¡­ Energy 44: The Barrows The setup of this pit is much like the first one, but with one catch: the only safe space to approach the pit from is in the dead center of the hallway, and the ledges are along the side. I¡¯ll have to jump to the ledge. Although I could just jump to grab the ledge, I would also have to slam against the wall and make sure my grip didn¡¯t fail the whole way across¡­ so I¡¯m going to try to land on the ledge still standing. This also means crashing into the wall, but hopefully not as hard. Plus- ¡°Kaythe, help me stick close to the wall once I land, ok?¡± *click* (yes.) The impact hurts, but my newfound balance combined with Kaythe¡¯s ability to basically stick to surfaces makes sure I don¡¯t rebound. I sidle a bit to make room for Lauren and beckon her over. She lands, softer than I did, but she doesn¡¯t have a cathid to steady her and nearly ends up off balance. I quickly reach out to steady her. She shoots me a glare and smacks my hand away with a surly ¡°I had it.¡± It takes a lot of effort to not antagonize her by pointing out how she also definitely ¡®had it¡¯ when she almost jumped straight to her death. Even if she had fallen here, she would have been able to grab the ledge. I just spared her the inconvenience. What a horrible thing to do. I sigh, more tired than anything. I don¡¯t know if I could have handled that last room of Wights without her, but honestly I think trying would have been worth it just to not have to deal with her. We make it to the far side without further incident, and I pocket another small mana battery as a reward. While the door -and the fire beyond- are tantalizingly close, I make an effort to scan every inch up to it anyway. Especially considering how willing the designer of this dungeon is to use misdirection to land cheap shots. Fortunately or not, I find nothing. The room beyond the doors extends further and towers far higher than any room so far. The crackling fires illuminate every corner, top and bottom, making it entirely apparent how small we are in comparison. There are four braziers casting the light and a supersized stone sarcophagus making up the most interesting parts of the room. Oddly I don¡¯t see any holes in the ceiling, and although the fires are large and warm, they don¡¯t feel as hot as I think they should. Something isn¡¯t right. As if on cue, the gigantic stone slab covering the large sarcophagus begins shifting carefully to the side. Lauren hides behind the doors and I drop my stick and draw the zweihander, confident I can retreat if I need to. If the thing in there compares at all to the size of the sarcophagus, it won¡¯t be able to fit through the doors easily. Despite my expectations, the hand that emerges from the stony depths is not skeletal. It is, however, massive. I almost freeze at the sight of what can only be described as a giant. Seriously, this thing puts houses to shame. I take a very voluntary step back. Its large eyes focus on me, blink twice, and then¡­ raises its hand to smack me! ¡°Greetings, and welcome to the Tomb of the Giant!¡± It booms in a deep, resonant voice, shaking me to my core, before apparently realizing how fucking loud it was. ¡°Apologies-¡± it says, quieter, almost sheepishly, ¡°it has been quite some time since I last spoke. Far too long, in fact. What brings you fine folk to this place?¡± My mouth has been open this whole time. There¡¯s nothing that makes any sense about this. I thought this thing was going to easily squash us and go back to sleep or whatever, but it¡¯s engaging in pleasantries?! ¡°What the fuck is happening right now. What is this. What are you. What the fuck.¡± It¡¯s not charismatic, I don¡¯t care, there¡¯s a giant in front of me, fuck off. The giant winces slightly ¡°Please, although the dead do not care what language is used, I prefer politeness.¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Sorry. Heck.¡± The giant raises one of its massive, bushy eyebrows at me. ¡°I am called Zathis. I am something of a guardian of these halls. What more do you wish to know?¡± ¡°Is that a serious question?¡± Lines of confusion cross his face. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Well, since you¡¯re offering¡­ Why are you talking to me instead of smashing me?¡± ¡°Is¡­ that how your people usually greet others?¡± ¡°Uhh no. But everything on this planet seems set on killing me so it was a reasonable question.¡± ¡°Including the small creature on your shoulder?¡± ¡°... Point taken.¡± I proceed to share with him the situation we humans have found ourselves in. Zathis, in turn, tells me a short history of the dwarves that lived and died here, as well as inadvertently confirming a few things I had been suspicious of. ¡°¡±¡±The dwarves had been a prosperous people. They were blessed with very long lives, leading to great experience and profound respect for their elders. Their low birth rates made death an extremely important part of their tradition. Every loss was felt by the entirety of the populace. Because of this, they had never been warlike. There were disagreements, but they were mostly solved diplomatically. The dwarves, as a people, had been proficient with magics of the ground and soil, allowing them to ensure the surface of their world flourished with life and simultaneously delivering them the mineral bounties from their stone prisons. They had constructed massive labyrinthine structures, hewn from solid stone by their mystic prowess, and had once stood above all others. Arriving here had changed that. They had become corrupted, deranged, and ultimately most of them had died. The lucky ones had died. Some had been consumed with corruption, and still wander the surface, broken remnants of their once noble selves. Their ground based magic had been all but wiped out.¡±¡±¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ terrible. What do you know of the corruption that took them?¡± ¡°Very little. It was something new, something from this place. Which thing exactly, I could not say. There was so much new to us, it could have been disease, a monster¡­ anything.¡± Not Mana, they clearly had that before this. Energy or Power. And I doubt it¡¯s Energy. Lauren seems unwilling to show herself, and honestly I can¡¯t blame her. I would have retreated long ago if the giant had actually made a move to leave its stone coffin, but its non-threatening posture combined with my need for information makes me entirely unwilling to leave unless it¡¯s absolutely necessary. ¡°So how do you fit into this? You¡¯re clearly no dwarf. You¡¯re far too¡­-¡± ¡°Large...?¡± He peers at me, eyes narrowing slightly. ¡°Hah! You speak truly, I am no dwarf. I am a giant. The giant, for which this tomb was built. The dwarves were not alone on their world. They had the company of the giants. My people¡­ lacked the sensibilities of the dwarves, and caused significant problems, both for themselves and for others. I was¡­ retribution. Proof that we could be better.¡± ¡°So giants came here too, with the dwarves. Where are they now? Why did they leave you here, behind so many traps?¡± Zathis breaks eye contact with me for the first time, lowering his gigantic head. ¡°I know not.¡± he voice dropping to nothing more than a whisper, yet still full of power. He looks¡­ sad. ¡°But that is of no matter. I am sure of their health, and that one day I will be relieved of my vigil.¡± His expression brightens significantly. ¡°Besides, I am no longer alone now that you are here!¡± ¡°Y...eah.¡± I manage, awkwardly. ¡°You¡­ do not wish to remain here?¡± His face darkens slightly, but mostly looks sad again. ¡°Nonono, not at all! It¡¯s just that I¡­ we were tasked with eliminating the monsters that control this region. I believe they were looking for this place, so I will certainly protect it, but anything that doesn¡¯t serve the goal of making me strong enough to secure the place of¡­ my people¡­¡± Ok look, I tried to emulate his manner and priorities a bit and I was ad-libbing, give me a break. The giant, however, takes no notice of my awkwardness and fills in the rest himself. ¡°I believe I could be of assistance. I will train you to fight.¡± He can hardly contain his smile, which alone dwarfs (hah) me in size. To train with something that big? ¡°I hate to say it, but you¡¯d squash me like a bug, even in practice.¡± Zathis looks confused for a moment, before realization dawns on him and he starts laughing so uproariously that it throws off my inner ear. I fail to balance and end up on my back, hurting everywhere and listening to the high pitched whine of my mostly gone hearing. My Energy floods to my ears, immediately trying to repair the damage. Mostly my ruptured ear drums, and because they are so small, the healing takes only a short period of time. Meanwhile, I struggle to my feet, nodding along as my chest vibrates with each tone, but unable to parse anything until he¡¯s finishing with ¡°-d better draw your sword quickly, I am beginning!¡± as a vaguely person shape clump of ground rises up, produces a stone sword from its own body, and charges at me. Energy 45: The Barrows ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me!¡± ¡°Dodge! No, the other way- you¡¯ve landed on your sword!¡± ¡°Hey, it¡¯s harder than it looks!¡± ¡°Young one, I am controlling a rock and still managing to land strikes! You are fortunate this blade is blunted.¡± --- ¡°Parry. Harder! No, no. Would it help if I made the fighter larger, to emphasize its strength? Measure the strength of a blow before it touches your sword. After is far too late!¡± ¡°FINE.¡± ¡°Now you¡¯re wasting energy! Committing too much!¡± ¡°Decide, damn you!¡± ¡°Language, child.¡± --- ¡°This sword -huff- is more durable than I would have thought.¡± ¡°It should be. It belonged to Gox the Mighty. He could not wield an unenchanted weapon for fear of shattering it immediately.¡± ¡°This thing is magic?¡± ¡°-Sigh- Truly, you are hopeless.¡± ¡°Try me.¡± --- The blunted sword smashes me in the side, sending me careening across the ground. Again. But I was closer that time. Better. Where his golem puppet used to easily disarm and smack me around, now I am able to last several clashes before losing to his superior skill. He¡¯s even changed it up a few times, revealing different weapons of different lengths and styles, projectiles, and even obstacles. Ground magic is a remarkable thing, and Zathis is second to none. At least, I hope so. I don¡¯t want to fight anything more powerful than him. This training, however, also paid massive dividends in the form of skill levels:
[Congratulations! Skill levels gained: Transfuse Energy +1 (9); Imbue Energy +2 (5); Energy Manipulation +1 (7); Combat Proficiency +2 (4); Blunt Weapons Proficiency +2 (3)]
During the training, I found myself unconsciously tapping into the same boost of power I got when I was running to save Lauren when I thought she was Rav. Little by little, I discovered that I was not just imagining it (or getting pumped up like I thought), but I was using Energy inside my body the same way I use it in a weapon. By ¡®Imbuing¡¯ parts of my body with Energy, I experienced a massive increase in strength and durability in that area. However, it came at a substantial Energy drain of 1 Energy point per second, roughly. Because my Energy recovery is 3/minute at best (and seemingly less the more I¡¯m damaged), it¡¯s definitely a risky choice. On the one hand, I can easily end a fight based on Strength, or tank a hit that should easily put me down, but on the other, I won¡¯t have Energy left to heal if I overdo it. That, combined with lower Energy recovery at low Health, could easily put me in dire straits. With the help of the game, though, I think I can maximize the utility and minimize the detriments.
[Your actions have created a rare Secondary Skill: Fortify. Learn (Y/N)? Cost: 75]
[Congratulations! You have learned the Secondary Skill: Fortify!]
Annnd back to 0 Power again. But hey, large gains, so I can¡¯t complain too much. It did mean that I was unable to take ¡®Greatsword Proficiency¡¯ when it popped up, and I¡¯m slightly regretting taking ¡®Blunt Weapons Proficiency¡¯ instead, but¡­ c''est la vie. It isn¡¯t that important that the game assist me with my swordsmanship. Despite not getting any levels in it, I learned a lot about how to hold the larger weapon and make use of footwork and changing grips to allow complicated attacks and defence. It¡¯s actually really fun to fight with a greatsword, almost like dancing. Never lose your grip, never hit your partner, and you¡¯ll be fine. Step on her toes, and you¡¯ll be missing yours. Fortunately, having lessons beaten into you both helps you learn them faster and gives you the chance to work on healing mid combat. It works just as badly as you can imagine. But, I¡¯m getting better. Slowly but surely. I feel slightly less terrified about taking on enemies now. Thank the dwarf god for Zathis. Or the giant god. Whichever. Name: Amadeus (Anthony) Power: 0 Fragments: 15 HP: 30/34 H Recovery: + 6 / hr Stamina: 34/34 S Recovery: + 12 / min Energy: 12/30 E Recovery: + 2.65 / min Primary skills: Dexterity 20 (+1) Strength 22 Endurance 24 Toughness 24 Intelligence 28 Perception 25 + (+2) Will 3 Secondary Skills: -Active Transfuse Energy [Active] (9) Move Energy through physical contact into living objects. Imbue Energy [Active] (5) - Move Energy through physical contact into non-living objects. Energetic Attack [Active] (2) - Attempt to destroy the spirit of a target using your own. Hide [Active] (1) - Utilize stamina to decrease your presence. Audio generated reduced. Light reflection reduced. Reduces effectivity of olfactory tracking used on you. Stamina usage increases with movement. Efficiency of Stamina usage and Perception required to detect user increased 5% and 1 respectively per level.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Fortify [Active] (1) - Enhance one¡¯s own body with Energetic traits. Efficiency and efficacy of Energy usage increased by 10% per level. -Passive Energy Manipulation [Passive] (7) Medium - general ability to move and understand Energy. Improves through use. Combat Proficiency [Passive] (2) Hard - General combat ability. Improves through not using it in training/combat. Cold Resistance [Passive] (2) Medium - General resistance to the effects of cold. Tamer [Passive] (2) ??? - Rare skill. Tame and forge bonds with monsters. Hand to Hand Proficiency (2) Hard - Unarmed competence. Improves through practice using the body as a weapon. Blunt Weapons Proficiency(1) Medium - Competence using weapons designed to crush and sunder. Traits: [Basic Energy User (10/10): Increases efficiency of all Energy use by 1%/point. Bonus doubles once the trait is complete.] [Novice Energy Healer (10/10): Speeds active healing effects by 10%/point. Reduces concentration required for active healing once the trait is complete.] [The Selfless (5/5): Reward trait. Saving one of your own at great personal risk has gained you the interest of the Administrator. Gain one free Primary Skill for every point. Reduced cost of Ascending once the trait is complete.] [Path of Denial (1/25): Does absolutely nothing. Effect doubles once the trait is complete.] [Novice Energetic Weaponry - Functional increase for combat using Energy enhanced weaponry] OR [Novice Energetic Presence - Functional increase for objects enhanced with Energy.] Trait points: 7/33 Peripherals: Dominations - 34% Cathid(3 Energy rate) Exhaustions - 3 Status - Burned Channels: ---; Inventory: Basic Clothing (cloth); stick; 4 of each flower (red, green, purple, white, orange, green(bud); 4 Bon nuts; small Mana battery (2); Worn satchel (broken strap); Crown (unidentified); Zweihander (unidentified); Bronze ring; ----- When Lauren had first woken up in the darkness of the Catacombs, she had thought she was dead. This was hammered home by the stone around her looking very much like a coffin. She felt peaceful for the first time in¡­ she couldn¡¯t say how long. Long before the game started, that¡¯s for sure. She was sure she could only feel this ok when she was dead. It was fine, though. Things would be better now. Oblivion was preferable to the pain she had felt every day. A pain she could only truly appreciate the magnitude of now that it was gone. Long moments passed, and very quickly, the novelty of her newfound comfort passed. Could she still move? Yes. And with it came a different kind of pain. A more manageable feeling of being literally torn open. All at once she remembered: she had been stabbed by a shade, and she had fallen in the middle of nowhere¡­ where was she now? Someplace called The Catacombs, if the notification was to be believed. She immediately jerked upright and regretted everything the moment she did. The pain flared, and she instinctively grabbed her side to ease the pain¡­ Her side, that was whole. No hole. It hurt like there was one, but she was healed. Her regeneration must be better than she had thought¡­ Looking around, she noted she was in a very dark cave. There were other coffins around, made entirely of stone, and sitting on one of them- HIM?! She felt an old anger flare in her, but much less strong than before. She disregarded the strangeness and chalked it up to her being badly hurt. If he was here, totally fine, and she was here, hurt, that meant he¡­ How fucking dare he save her! How dare he touch her! It was no matter, though. He was clearly distracted, so she decided she would end him then and there. No witnesses to her weakness. But she felt¡­ wrong. Every time she thought about using the dagger on him, it felt like the wound inside her was opening again. Like the bad feelings would come back. She hissed and tried to get up, finding that she needed to lean on the coffins to keep on her feet. The stupid worm thing noticed her and started to warn him, but she was just able to throw one of her poisoned daggers at it, stopping it short. The throw was terrible, entirely due to her injuries, but the poison quickly stopped its movement. Or so she thought. It managed to make a small sound while she was making her way towards him, forcing her to rush the rest of the way, badly aggravating her wound. ---- Whatever he had done to her, that soul poison or whatever, was the worst thing she had ever felt. She no longer believed oblivion was preferable to life. She had experienced oblivion. Her arm still felt strange, like it wasn¡¯t all the way there¡­ like it wasn¡¯t hers anymore. She found herself unconsciously clenching it, just to make sure. But worse than that, the second she had cut him, the bad feelings had rushed back. Combined with whatever he did, she was entirely helpless, physically and emotionally¡­ and she deserved it. She deserved the fate worse than living. Then he had helped her. Stopped the poison. He could have let it go. Let it kill her. He should have, she thought, with a half hearted fury. She should have died. Part of her still wanted to. But¡­ the thing he used to stop it, whatever it was¡­ it dampened the feelings again. Pushed away the bad stuff. She didn¡¯t know what to do. What to think. Maybe he could heal more than just flesh. Maybe he could heal¡­ her. She needed to know. ---- The moment she saw the giant, she had no intention of waiting around. She had run, wasting no time getting back across the pit and navigating the traps. The thundering voice almost made her trip and trigger them. Almost. It was only when she was most of the way down the hall that she realized Anthony wasn¡¯t following. He had stayed. To give her the chance to escape? No, he wouldn¡¯t. He was content to save her life when he was able¡­ but he didn¡¯t like her. She didn¡¯t blame him. She didn¡¯t like herself right now. She knew she should go back, but the sounds of fighting pushed her further away. It didn¡¯t make sense. She loved fighting. It was her thing. She should be rejoicing at having such a powerful opponent. But she hurriedly walked toward the entrance. What was left of her pride kept her from running. The entrance. Yes, she would be needed here to point out the traps, help people get inside safely. Did they want to be inside? She didn¡¯t know. Why did she care about helping them? Her brain wasn¡¯t working right. She felt vulnerable. The wall of bad emotion that had kept her conscience at bay was almost entirely gone, and she didn¡¯t know how to handle it. The guilt weighed on her. She really couldn¡¯t be around people. Not until she fixed this. But she longed for someone to care. She was scared and alone, wanted company and knew no one would want to be around her. It hurt. She wanted to crawl back into the coffin and stay there. --- ¡°Are you¡­ alright?¡± Anthony. She didn¡¯t want to be seen like this. -¡±I¡¯m f- *hic* fine.¡± she managed to get out, her uneven breathing betraying the lie. ¡°You don¡¯t need to be afraid of Zathis. He¡¯s pretty friendly, knows a lot.¡± She tried to speak, but the words caught in her throat. She shook her head, covering her eyes with her hands. He didn¡¯t speak, but took a seat on one of the other coffins. Lauren tried with everything she had to muffle her crying, quietly shaking instead. A long while passed before she was able to speak, and the only thing on her mind was -¡°How¡­ did you make me feel better¡­?¡± Her face still buried in her hands, she hid what she could from him. She didn¡¯t want him to know how hopeful she was. How close to the edge. ¡°I meant to ask you, actually. When I was healing you¡­ I found a hole in your¡­ core. Your self. Any of my healing that got close to it was sucked in and vanished. It kinda made things close there for a minute, like I wouldn¡¯t have enough to stop the bleeding.¡± The healing? So Mana was the answer? -¡±Can you¡­ fix that hole?¡± She couldn¡¯t hide the hope in her voice anymore. He hesitated, wary¡­ as he should be. She wouldn¡¯t trust her either. So she did something she could only do now, with whatever emotional band-aid he had put on her, and talked. She opened the floodgates, explaining to him just how bad of a person she was: the people she had killed, poisoned, stolen from, left for dead, spit on and hurt just because she could. She even told him why she came here. He said nothing the entire time, listening with his eyes fixed solely on her. -¡±... for everything¡­ I know it¡¯s fucked up. I¡¯m fucked up, broken, and people are right to h-hate me. I know. I¡¯m so, so sorry.¡± She couldn¡¯t hold back the sobs, taking a moment to just hurt and prepare to get out the hardest part. ¡°But¡­ will you help me?¡± And his only response was¡­ to laugh? Her face burned in shame, tears flowing anew and she no longer cared for decorum. This was ok. This was how it should be. She would walk towards the monster camp while she still had her sanity and kill until she died- Warm arms wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her chest. She hadn¡¯t known how cold she was until she felt him so close. It was¡­ happy. Comforting. ¡°I will help.¡± Her sobs only worsened as hope rejoined the warring emotions in her chest. She heard a clack, which she could swear was a warning, but Anthony didn¡¯t loosen his hug, rocking her gently. She heard him whisper: ¡°Shh Kaythe. It¡¯s ok. It¡¯s ok.¡± Energy 46: Home We stayed there for quite a while. I don¡¯t know how long. But the others did arrive at the entrance and a familiar voice started calling out for me, prompting Lauren to suddenly shove me away, hissing ¡°Go deal with it.¡± I get it, she doesn¡¯t want everyone to see her so messed up. It¡¯s probably unnecessary though, considering people would need quite a high Perception to even see in here. Regardless, I head into the hall to answer Rav¡¯s calls. He stands in the space between the stone doors, holding a dim light of what I can only guess is Mana and peering into the darkness. His face lights up when he spots me, and, waving, he starts making his way over. ¡°Rav wait, hold on a second. There are traps I¡¯ll need to warn you about first. Let me come to you.¡± He stops, frowning slightly, but ultimately he holds his ground and waits for my arrival. His frown diminishes somewhat when he sees me edging around the giant pit. ¡°It¡¯s good to see you safe.¡± I say, smiling as I approach. ¡°Did the night go well back at camp?¡± He meets my smile with a sad version of his own. -¡±My friend, it was a trying time. We lost some of our fellows. We were warned about the dangers of the night, and though we prepared, we¡­¡± he trails off, searching for the right words. ¡°-We did not prepare enough. The Shades were highly resistant to my magic and only seemed to be bothered by bright lights. We huddled around the campfire, but our own bodies cast shadows that they could use to approach. We tried scattering the flames to prevent this, but the light they produced was then insufficient to protect us. Three of our number were¡­ we could not save them. Shaye, Pam, and Derek. Lauren hasn¡¯t been seen since that night either¡­ we assume the worst.¡± I¡­ Oh. I stay silent for a while, stunned by the realization that I could have gone back with Rav, helped, and made sure more people survived¡­ Hell, if I hadn¡¯t stayed here, Lauren probably would have stayed back as well and snuck over here early in the morning. That would have made a massive difference. For all that she is- was a terrible person, she would have made the difference, easily. Rav sees my troubled expression and places his hand on my shoulder. -¡±It is no fault of yours, my friend. This place needed to be guarded. We could not afford the risk. One man would not have made the difference. I am only thankful that you convinced Dean to return. Otherwise, I know he would have insisted on staying to guard as well, and we would have been worse off by far.¡± I drop my gaze, shaking my head. ¡°Lauren came here last night. She said she didn¡¯t wait a moment and came¡­ to back me up.¡± his eyes widen slightly. He knows it¡¯s a lie. He doesn¡¯t question further. -¡±It is good to know she lives. Her help would have been¡­ meaningful, but I assume she felt this place to be more important.¡± I nod, placidly. He¡¯s giving me an out and I¡¯m taking it. Our conversation is, afterall, far from private. The others- what¡¯s left of them, anyway- are huddled in the cave entrance. Most of them look exhausted and shell shocked, with some notable exceptions. Dean looks brooding, his brow deeply furrowed, and he seems to be consciously avoiding looking at me. Nate just seems sad. Not shocked, broken, or anything that might come with a life or death struggle, just¡­ regular sad. Like he dropped food on the ground and regretted he¡¯d no longer be able to eat it. The sadness diminished somewhat at the mention that Lauren was still alive, and he came over to interrupt. ~¡±Anthony, good to see you well. Where did you say Lauren had gotten off to?¡± Right to business, aren¡¯t you. I know for a fact that him and his mental suggestion or whatever is the last thing Lauren needs right now.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. I gesture into the inky dark. ¡°She was exploring the dungeon a bit while I stood guard. I¡¯m sure she¡¯s in there somewhere. She said she¡¯d be doing mostly scouting, so I think she¡¯ll be back soon.¡± His expression darkens, just for a moment before returning to his former, ¡®benevolent,¡¯ smile. I need to warn her about him. She might not even know about the suggestion stuff¡­ I doubt any of them do. I think there¡¯s something to do with the Will stat that makes me resistant, and it¡¯s unlikely anyone else here has it. That¡¯s a problem. Nate makes no move to leave the conversation, so I guess he¡¯s a part of it now. Rav nods and turns back to me, continuing his exposition. ¡°When morning finally came, we were immediately knocked unconscious by a strange force. We all had dreams of ¡®paths¡¯.¡± I nod. ¡°We had a similar experience. Mine was¡­ very strange. There were so many choices and none of them felt quite right. What kind of benefits did you get?¡± -¡±Many choices? Odd. I had only three. They were all based around Mana. The one I chose was the Path of Intellect, and it gives Mana regeneration with every trait point, Intelligence every 5. I found it most useful.¡± Good lord. That does sound useful. Way fucking MORE USEFUL THAN NOTHING. Maybe I should have taken one of those other paths¡­ No. I don¡¯t know what the darkness was. Whether it was death, like I thought, or something worse, but I chose what was best for me. The fact that the game is punishing me for it makes me feel almost vindicated. I don¡¯t know that this world and its weird system is designed to help me, but there is a very obvious guide towards growing stronger. The game seems to have set crafting elements by the wayside, making them easy to get into with a magic item that just becomes whatever you need. That and you need Power to get the skills in the first place, so you pretty much have to fight. Zathis¡¯ tale about the Dwarves worries me. I don¡¯t want humanity to go the same way. ¡°Yeah, like twenty or so.¡± A lie. ¡°It was difficult picking the optimal one, you never know what you¡¯re going to need in the future.¡± Rav nods in return before facing Nate. -¡°We should move deeper into the dungeon to avoid being detected. We may be hidden visually, but our sounds and smells remain a problem.¡± Nate nods and looks to me. ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll guide you all inside. I think there should be a few suitable locations for everyone to settle.¡± --- The move was fairly uneventful. There were a few close calls with people trying to cross the pit, but nothing that wasn¡¯t quickly fixed or avoided. The last room in the hall, with the seven sarcophagi, was converted into a dedicated sleeping area, which was immediately put to use by many of the survivors. The existence of so many ¡®beds¡¯ and the reasonable distance from potential threats made it the best option. People were sent out to collect grass for bedding, told to make sure they attracted no attention when they returned, and business continued mostly as normal. Just with seven instead of ten. I know Nate, Dean, Lauren, and Rav, but that still leaves three that I don¡¯t have more than a passing familiarity with. I honestly don¡¯t even remember their names. If I¡¯m going to be working with these people (and it seems that it¡¯s in my best interest to do so), I¡¯ll need their support. I spent a bit of time talking to them as a group, catching them up on what had happened over here and the general layout of the dungeon. I also warned them to stay clear of the last room, partially because I¡¯m certain someone will die on the traps, but also because I don¡¯t want tons of people intruding on Zathis¡¯ home. The others, Tom, Marie, and Lynn, were thankful enough that Rav and I found the place, and more so that Lauren and I had cleared it for them. After they had rested somewhat, the tales of the rest of our meagre exploits and their relative success were well received. Though, I believe that was less because they were truly impressed and more because they wanted anything to take their minds off what happened last night. What Rav hadn¡¯t mentioned was that the three who were lost were actually lost, not dead. Carried off into the night, screaming and thrashing. Though the camp was able to fight back, they actually finished off very few Shades. They had mostly stopped attacking after they kidnapped the third person. That was definitely bad news. Worse, because they probably all know about this dungeon now. If only I had managed to kill them all¡­ Maybe now I could have. Too late. It¡¯s no longer a haven from them. They¡¯ll probably be back to carry off more of us tonight. I worry what could happen if we¡¯re discovered by the monster camp as well. We would have the potential for almost non-stop fighting, day and night. We¡¯d lose eventually under that pressure, no matter what. ¡­ Best not to let that happen. Energy 47: Home ¡°Nate, I need to go get some food for Kaythe. He only eats meat and it¡¯s been a bit since I got the chance. Mind if I take Lauren and Rav and mess up a few patrols?¡± He smiles slightly. -¡°You might be hard pressed to convince Lauren to come along, but you¡¯re welcome to try. If Rav wishes to accompany you, I have no problems with it. Thank you, by the way, for bringing him back to us.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± I smile in return. ¡°See you before sundown.¡± -¡±A bit before, if you wouldn¡¯t mind. We will need to prepare as much as possible before night. I won¡¯t stand to lose anyone else.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± I can feel his gaze on my back as I walk to where Rav and Lauren are already prepared to set off. --- With this new camp, we¡¯re located much closer to the Monster Camp than the previous site. While defensible, we still need food and water from outside. Fortunately, the effects of our Primary Skills have dramatically reduced our need for such things, so we can get by with only a mouthful of water a day and one piece of fruit or nut. The convenience is immense. Regardless, part of our mission is to increase our supply stockpiles. It would also be good if we could get some lumber from the forest, but that¡¯s being handled by another group led by Dean. Turns out, a greatsword isn¡¯t so bad for chopping down trees. I¡¯m worried it will draw attention to our location, but we need the wood to build defenses for the night. It¡¯s probably worth it. Because of this secondary mission, we¡¯re headed back towards the original campsite and the large river that runs next to it. As we leave the cave, I receive a notification:
[Point of interest added! The Barrows]
Which is how I discovered the ¡®map¡¯ functionality. Turns out I had been constantly mapping a small area around me as I¡¯d traveled, and because NOBODY MENTIONED IT I had no idea. Fortunately I hadn¡¯t needed it until now, but really, you¡¯d think there¡¯d be more information sharing. I wouldn¡¯t have minded knowing about the night monsters a little earlier either¡­ With ¡®finding our way back¡¯ no longer a concern, we set off. Before long, we spot a group of Carnine headed in our general direction. The group spots us as well, and immediately changes course.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Guess we¡¯re not the only ones who are hungry. Lauren fades from my awareness and Rav gathers a ball of Mana in his hands. I unsheath my greatsword, relishing in the now familiar weight. I can feel a trickle of my Energy inside it, and increasing that has been much slower than with my trusty stick, but this weapon is quite a few steps up in terms of quality. It¡¯s to be expected. The four dogs split into pairs and attack us, aiming to split me away from Rav. One lunges directly at me while the other moves between us. To their credit, it would have worked before. The twin halves of the lunging Carnine fall aimlessly to the ground in the wake of my sword, and while my recovery isn¡¯t anything special, neither monster anticipated that I would attack instead of dodging and the remaining one was unable to capitalize on my weakness. I followed up quickly with a stunning blow using the flat of my blade, stunning it for long enough that I could grab its throat and flood it with red Energy. The Energy traits are clearly working, as it barely takes a few moments to break its defenses and destroy it. My control over Energy has increased dramatically in terms of precision and speed.
[Carnine slain! +40 Power (40); +10 Fragments (25)]
[Congratulations! Energetic Attack +1 (3)]
Throwing the carcass aside, I see Rav and Lauren standing nearby, watching me. Lauren has a slight smirk. -¡°I knew there was bloodlust in there somewhere.¡± Wow, a compliment. She¡¯s getting better already. Rav looks slightly concerned but says nothing. ¡°Hey, they attacked us. I think that¡¯s ¡®monster¡¯ for ¡®I want to die horribly.¡¯¡± We gather the corpses, weighing down my satchel and messing with my movement, but it becomes much more manageable when I switch to holding it over my shoulder. When fighting is required, I drop it wherever and just find it afterwards. We make pretty good time getting to the river and filling our pockets with the available food. Rav has a waterskin, which he acquired as monster loot, and fills it to the brim while the rest of us take the liberty of quenching our thirst. Drinking it straight is probably still dangerous, but fuck me if it did anything last time, so I¡¯ll risk it. I bet our bodies are almost immune to sickness anyway, just from stats. Full of food, water, and all the extras we can carry, we hurry back. Our destination, of course, is the monster camp. Well, close to it. We don¡¯t want to poke the hornet¡¯s nest, but we do want to take on more powerful enemies. The Carnine are proving no challenge, as I¡¯ve managed to cleave through no less than six so far, netting 120 (160) more Power and 20 more Fragments. We really don¡¯t see other monsters this far from their camp. Meanwhile, I haven¡¯t even needed to Fortify yet. I¡¯m keeping it as a last ditch buff if I need it, but I still want to get some use in so it can level. Currently, it takes me a few moments of concentration to actually activate the skill. In dire circumstances, I seem to activate it unconsciously, but when I want it on-demand, it requires coaxing. Because of this, I can¡¯t maximize efficiency by rapidly turning it on and off. For a fight, it¡¯s either on to start with, or it¡¯s off. I can drop it pretty easily. Even accidentally, should I be stunned or hit too hard. Energy 48: Home As we get closer to the Monster Camp (staying a healthy distance from our own hideout), the number and quality of patrols increases. Slowly, at first, but the latest patrol we dismantled had one Carnine not engage us. Instead, the moment our victory became clear, the hound took off towards camp. Reinforcements. ~¡°Friends, I have sufficient Mana for now, but I will not do well in a protracted fight.¡± ¡°Got it. We probably should have made you some Mana potions before heading out.¡± -¡±Next time, if you¡¯re lucky.¡± At first, it seems the monsters have underestimated us, as only seven more Carnine arrive to deal with us. However, they stop approaching around 40 feet from us. Lauren is already back to sneaking around, but I¡¯m sure she¡¯s nearby somewhere. Any attempt we make to approach them and engage is met with an equal retreat. The Carnine are fast, so they could run all the way back to the heart of their camp before we could catch them. A good minute passes before the reason for the wait becomes clear: a wolflike creature at least triple the size of a Carnine pads slowly toward us. Where the Carnines are fairly hideous, hairless things, this newcomer is covered in gray hair and heavily muscled. It bears quite a few scars that look fresh. Probably from the humans that fought back while it murdered them. My grip tightens on my sword. To all things, an end. The battle starts in an instant. I feel Fortify activate without my intention, launching me forward with speed far beyond what I¡¯ve ever moved with before. My bones creak and my tendons thrum as my enhanced durability barely keeps my body from tearing itself apart. It is only because I had to cross the entire space between us that the large wolf manages to dodge an overhead strike that cracks the air. The Carnine behind it is not so lucky. The larger monster recovers quickly from its dodge, baring its teeth and rushing forward to attack my stance directly. Rav covers me with a quick Mana bolt, eliciting a yelp of pain from the wolf as it staggers slightly. I leave my sword firmly embedded in the ground, unwilling to take the time to dislodge it, and draw my stick. I¡¯m forced to dodge as Combat Proficiency kicks in and alerts me to an incoming flank from a remaining Carnine, but, midway through my leap, the warning vanishes as Lauren appears underneath the offending monster and guts it. The others respond by closing in on her, only to have Mana bolts and heavy stick blows fend them off. The strength of these attacks is such that the monsters either don¡¯t get up afterward or are clearly unfit for combat, choosing to limp away. My momentary distraction, however, is all the wolf needed to pounce on my back and bring me to the ground. I manage to turn my fall into a sort of roll, landing hard on my shoulder, but allowing me to get a sub-par hit on the wolf¡¯s head, knocking it slightly aside. It serves to only momentarily postpone its strike at my throat. It towers over me from its place on my chest, powerful jaws far too close. Like lightning, the bite comes, and it¡¯s all I can do to throw my hands up in defense¡­ but the anticipated pain never comes. Not of its own will, of course, but because the connection between its body and brain was interrupted by a piece of metal, courtesy of Lauren. With their apparent leader dead, none of the retreating Carnine make it far under Rav¡¯s barrage of Mana. No survivors this time. ¡°Alright, I think we overstayed our welcome.¡± -¡±It was just starting to get interesting.¡± Lauren counters with a frown. ~¡±My Mana will need quite a few minutes to recover from that. Perhaps it¡¯s best we return, for now?¡± ¡°There will be more coming. I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll take kindly to us wiping out one of the stronger ones. It will eventually be impossible for us to escape without them following, and we can¡¯t lead them back home.¡± -¡±Ugh. Fine.¡±
[Congratulations, Carnine Squad eliminated! +67 Power (327). Power reward reduced! Item: Apprentice¡¯s Stone created!]
Perfect!This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. I gather up the remaining bodies, pocket the stone, and we make our escape. The larger monster, identified as a Carnine Lieutenant, definitely does not fit in my satchel, so it¡¯s carried over my other shoulder. Fortunately, it¡¯s still in one piece due to the precision strike that killed it, but I¡¯m going to smell like fur and wolf blood for a while. We only stop running when it seems Rav is going to keel over and we¡¯ve taken a long, roundabout way to start heading back to camp. The weight and our need for stealth on the approach makes the going much slower than before, but we manage to make it back without incident. If we hadn¡¯t¡­ we would have had to make something up. The fields make excellent cover for travelling undiscovered, but it would be almost impossible to outrun even regular Carnines, if they found us. When we arrive back at the cave, we still wait outside while Lauren does a quick scouting of the surrounding area, but she fails to find any tails (not a pun) and we head inside to share our spoils. The carcasses are left just past the illusion, and I leave Kaythe with orders to eat as much as he wants, but try to avoid harming the pelt of the lieutenant. We¡¯ve deemed the ratty fur of Carnines to be not worth the effort of skinning, so they¡¯re being used as meat. The lieutenant, however... there would be a sadistic joy associated with wearing the fur of their fallen when paying them back for everything they caused. With that in mind, I¡¯m going to see if some armor can be made out of its hide. I know two of the others specialize in crafting, but not specifically if they can help me. I¡¯ll check later. That trip was highly productive from a skills perspective as well. I managed to net: Energetic Attack +2 (4); Imbue Energy +1 (6); Hide +2 (3); Fortify +1 (2); Energy Manipulation +1 (8); Combat Proficiency +1 (5); Blunt Weapons Proficiency +1 (4). A low whistle escapes my mouth as I take in all that growth. It turns out that having just a bit of practice dramatically increases how effective you are. Killing things in life or death situations is clearly the path to success, but you get a lot more out of them if you know what you¡¯re doing. And they¡¯re much safer. If I hadn¡¯t had Zathis to teach me, it probably would have taken me a week at least to figure everything out myself, not to mention finding a trustworthy sparring partner. I should ask the guy if there¡¯s anything I can do for him besides hang out with him once in a while. He certainly didn¡¯t need to help me, and the overall hostility of this world has me legitimately thankful to anyone/anything that doesn¡¯t try to kill me off the bat. That¡¯s for later though. Now, I need to decide on traits. I have 17 trait points waiting to be used, and a choice to make. I had been a bit¡­ ah- ¡®distracted¡¯ after I finished training with Zathis, and then totally forgotten in my eagerness to try out my newfound skills, so I hadn¡¯t taken the time to look over what had changed with my traits. It seems like as soon as a Secondary Skill gets to level 5, I unlock the basic trait for it. Or at least, one that supports it in some way. With Imbue Energy finally reaching 5 (now 6), I unlocked the associated trait. Well, traits, I should say.
[Novice Energetic Weaponry - Functional increase for combat using Energy enhanced weaponry]
OR
[Novice Energetic Presence - Functional increase for objects enhanced with Energy.]
As is typical, the game has given me very weak descriptions of both. They¡¯re almost identical, with one appearing to be a more general version of the other. That leads me to assume that the ¡®weaponry¡¯ specific one will be more pronounced and specialized, while the general one will give more utility. Honestly, I think Energy has enough utility as is, and apart from the ability to convert physical Power into my personal pool, I haven¡¯t used Imbue Energy on anything but weapons.
[Novice Energetic Weaponry selected! (0/10) - Rate at which weaponry is bound to user increased by 5% per point. Number of simultaneously bound weapons doubled when maxed.]
¡®Doubled¡¯? What the fuck was the original value!? God fucking¡­ I hate this stupid, shitty game. The trait is useful, but not as useful as most of the others. That being said, it provided some useful information: The second point is a bit of a leap, but everything meaningful in the game has had some sort of notification associated with it. This has not. I assume that when I actually bind it, I¡¯ll have some flashy pop-up about it. But that begs a further question: what does binding actually do? There are the obvious features, like that they resist being forcibly removed from my body, feel warm to the touch and easy to hold, and they¡¯re much more durable¡­ but is there something beyond that? I¡¯m interested to find out. I have no rush to finish the useless ¡®path¡¯ trait, so I dump 10 points into my new trait to max it. Nothing really feels different off the bat, so I assume this will be another passive process like Domination. Trying to use Imbue Energy on the stick or zweihander doesn¡¯t feel any different than normal, so it seems the ¡®active¡¯ part only does anything to objects without any of my Energy in them. Like, I can kick off the process but that¡¯s it, kinda like Domination. Alright, fair. I¡¯m totally ok with power creep. I have a suspicion that practicing with the weapons I want to bind will bind them faster than just having them on my person. Energy 49: Home I close out of all the menus and head into the hallway. It¡¯s still not very well lit, but it seems Rav has left some of the soft Mana lights he demonstrated earlier. I assume they don¡¯t last forever, but it will help the people with under 25 Perception get around in here. It seems that (at least for Perception) certain Primary Skills have substantial boosts in functionality when reaching level 25. In this case, it¡¯s lowlight/darkvision that improves slowly with more levels. People below that threshold simply cannot see in the deeper parts of the Barrows, and using fire to help would just be a terrible idea. We only have one opening to the outside and there aren¡¯t really plants in the dungeon, so we¡¯d have an oxygen problem really quickly if we even tried to cook. Not to mention the smoke. But I think my Alchemy experiments earlier might have keyed me into an even better answer than Rav¡¯s lights. A quick pass reveals that Lauren is nowhere to be found. I guess it was too much to think she might start trying to make friends. Rav¡¯s the only one on guard, and all he could tell me was that he didn¡¯t see her leave¡­ which means nothing. She can be borderline invisible when she wants to be. Meaning: she either left or she¡¯s by the lake. Given how even her bloodthirst should have been slaked by the number of monsters we killed, I bet on the latter. Carefully picking my way down the steep decline, I stumble to a stop at the bottom. My eyes pick up the unmistakable shape of a hunched over person. ¡°Hey Lauren.¡± -¡±...¡¯ Fair enough. I push aside my misgivings about the water and join her sitting on the peninsula. After the noise of my movements fades, the natural sounds of the cave start to come through again. You wouldn¡¯t think much would happen in a small cave like this but¡­ the steady dripping of moist cavern walls into the pool below, the small sound of ripples running over the rocks¡­ It¡¯s very pleasant. -¡±How do you do it?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± -¡±Deal with people. All the time.¡± ¡°Frankly? I try not to. I keep people around because they make certain things easier but¡­ I almost left the camp when I first got to it. You might have noticed that I didn¡¯t arrive on purpose.¡± She chuckles softly. -¡±I remember. I had hoped you¡¯d died.¡± ¡°I bet¡­ Maybe that would have been easier.¡± -¡±Yeah.¡± The silence hangs for a moment as I search for words. ¡°I¡­ guess I kinda do this. I get close to a few people and try to forget about the rest. Interact with everyone in bursts, but have a few people that I can be around without feeling stressed. It¡¯s odd that you¡¯re one of them.¡± -¡±Oh? Are we close now?¡± ¡°Well¡­ you did tell me a lot of personal stuff. Then you kinda saved my ass from the lieutenant.¡± -¡±Hah. So I still owe you one more.¡± ¡°Pfft. You don¡¯t owe me shit and you know it. You also didn¡¯t save me because you felt like you owed me. I think we¡¯re close. For this world, at least.¡± -¡±Maybe... Maybe so. Why did you come here, bestest friend?¡± Her tone has slowly changed from sad to a playful mocking, so I¡¯ll call it a win. ¡°Two things. We have your hole to investigate-¡± -¡±Phrasing.¡± ¡°-AND I need to use your alchemy kit. Which is first is up to you.¡± I see her nod. -¡±You still think you can do it, now that I¡¯m not crying and begging you to?¡± More mocking, but there¡¯s a tinge of realness to it. I think she¡¯s afraid that might have been why I agreed. ¡°One thing you¡¯ll learn about me is that I love hard truths. I would have crushed your hope then and there if I thought it was impossible. And honestly? It might be anyway¡­ but I can¡¯t deny that you changed as a result of my Energy messing around with you. I mean the healing stuff, not the poison.¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. She shivers slightly, rubbing the arm I¡¯d attacked, before stopping suddenly. -¡±What did you call it?¡± Oh. Shit. I was so used to not being open at all that when I started being at all honest I ended up mentioning it. ¡°Ah, Mana.¡± -¡±No, not Mana. You think just because I don¡¯t have a knife to your throat this time that I don¡¯t know when you¡¯re lying? What¡¯s Energy?¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ just another resource. It¡¯s like Mana but it does different things. Internal uses instead of external uses.¡± Her eyes remain fixed on mine for several more seconds before she inclines her head slightly. -¡±Don¡¯t lie to me again.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± I grope for words. How can I tell her that I just can¡¯t tell her certain things? Oh. Fucking duh. ¡°I promise I won¡¯t lie to you again. I may, instead, refuse to tell you things that I think are dangerous.¡± She seems to accept this. -¡±Alright. Try to fix me, doc.¡± ¡°Sure. Give me your hand.¡± -¡±You want to hold my hand?¡± ¡°Y- I mean no- I mean what? I need contact to look inside yo- ok this is going nowhere good, and yes I can see your smirk, you fuck. Give me your damn hand.¡± ---- Just as before, it is much easier than it should be to move Energy in and take a look around. I know she must have a Power store in her somewhere, so I make it a point to find it, just to get a lay of the land. It actually takes a bit of searching because I have to keep dealing with the void snatching some away and moving the feelers I have, but eventually, enough feelers find it accidentally that I realize where it is. The hole. The hole that sucks in Energy is also where her Power is. I quickly look at my own Power stores and see nothing of the sort. I may need to look at Rav again, just to make sure, but it seems like it¡¯s just Lauren¡­ And if it is, why? Is it caused by the Power or is the Power just exacerbating an existing problem? Is it something to do with wounds inflicted by the Shades? Normally I¡¯d just move all the Power like I did with Rav, but all the way into me. Like, stealing her Power temporarily just to see if I could then repair the void. There¡¯s a chance it¡¯s just happenstance that they¡¯re located in the same place but¡­ in this game, things are usually done by design. However, its location makes it impossible for my Energy to get any of the Power out before being pulled into the void, like escaping a black hole Zathis told me that something here, a part of this game, corrupted the Dwarves¡­ Could it have been Power? But then, why doesn¡¯t it do anything to me? Why didn¡¯t I see it with Rav when he was missing his hand? I don¡¯t think I can solve this now, but I have a lead. I leave Lauren with about ? of my Energy pool and pull back into reality- To find her, totally relaxed, in my arms. The moment must have surprised both of us, because as I open my mouth to say something I shouldn¡¯t, she shoves me to the side and scrambles away. Normally, this would not be a problem. Normally I do not sit next to pools of scary dark water. My arm plunges in as I mistakenly try to stabilize myself against a liquid, and it¡¯s only frantic grabbing with my other hand to Lauren¡¯s armor that keeps me from toppling in. She, of course, rapidly bats my arm away, but I¡¯m safe again so it¡¯s fine. ¡°Uhh, so you might get this question often, but what the fresh hell was that?¡± -¡±Shut.¡± ¡°Seriously, that water was really cold-¡± -¡±SHUT UP.¡± ¡°Fine, but if my arm had been eaten by a water monster I would have been glaring at you the whole time I healed it back.¡± -¡±Is this all a joke to you?¡± ¡°No, water monsters terrify me for real. I¡¯d probably even swear at you too.¡± -¡±You¡¯re a dick.¡± ¡°...Yeah? I figured that¡¯s why we got along at all.¡± -¡±Can you stop?¡± I sigh, loudly. ¡°Look. Energy seems to have a much stronger effect on you than anyone else I¡¯ve seen, so I¡¯ll explain something to you so you can stop wondering: Energy is making you feel that way.¡± -¡±What?¡± ¡°Weird about me. I know it relaxes you and makes you feel happy. That¡¯s what it does.¡± -¡±What the hell are you talking about?¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ back home, before all this, I could still kinda use Energy.¡± -¡±You could faith heal people.¡± Her sarcasm was very clear. ¡°I said kinda, ok? The most I could do was convey small bits of emotion. Make someone feel encouraged, happy, relaxed¡­ hurt, sad, angry¡­ It was only very little, and it couldn¡¯t be done frequently. Honestly, I thought it was fake for the longest time because it could so easily be attributed to the randomness of human emotion. But here? It¡¯s much more potent.¡± -¡±Especially for me.¡± ¡°Well¡­ as far as I can tell. I mean, half the reason Kaythe follows me around is because he likes my Energy¡± *Clack* (untrue) -¡±Ok, it makes sense for a tiny monster like it, but why would it affect me particularly?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re hurt.¡± -¡±I¡¯m fi-... yeah. Ok. Being emotionally¡­ hurt¡­ is making me susceptible to Energy?¡± I shrug. ¡°It¡¯s all hypothetical. All I¡¯m trying to say is that if you feel comfortable and hap-¡± Her eyes narrow at me -¡±Shut.¡± I raise my hands in surrender. ¡°I won¡¯t read into it, that¡¯s all I¡¯m saying. We¡¯re good. We¡¯re friends, I think.¡± She nods. -¡°Y-yeah. Fine.¡± Energy 50: Home I go on to explain the results of my search and my theories on what the issue might be. Lauren isn¡¯t big on the idea of not getting more Power for a while, but she tacitly agrees to try and use all she has as quickly as possible. I really wish I¡¯d had this idea before we went and hunted a bunch of monsters... -¡±Ok, here¡¯s the deal. I¡¯m going to teach you alchemy, and you¡¯re going to teach me Energy.¡± ¡°Yeah su- what?¡± -¡±Don¡¯t even pretend, I know how high your Perception is.¡± ¡°Fine, I heard you, but¡­ I don¡¯t¡­ know if I can.¡± -¡±You¡¯ll try.¡± Not leaving much room for choice here¡­ ¡°Energy is¡­ very dangerous. If you try to use your Energy on anyone or anything outside your body, you might die- -¡±I only need it for me.¡± ¡°...Why do you want to know about Energy?¡± -¡±Because¡­¡± She looks directly into my eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t want to have to rely on you.¡± I open my mouth to retort, but actually, she makes a valid point. Whatever¡¯s wrong with her requires her to rely on Energy to fix it for now. As the only resident Energy user, that¡¯s me. I may want her to rely on me because it means I can count on her to stick around, but¡­ I can¡¯t reasonably say no. That would be willfully controlling her. That¡¯s something I could never let myself do. I¡¯m pretty sure Energy isn¡¯t something you can learn, more of¡­ something you just have and know? But I¡¯m willing to try. Who know, maybe she¡¯ll figure out how to fix herself. ¡°Ok hold on. That isn¡¯t a fair trade though. Energy is my thing, so if I teach you, you have to teach me alchemy and fighting.¡± -¡±And why would I agree to that?¡± ¡°Because: you need to use up Power, and learning some non-stealth combat skills will do that in a hurry. Plus, you need me to not die until you¡¯re fixed or can fix yourself.¡± She¡¯s quiet for a few seconds, staring intently at me. -¡±Yeah, ok.¡± ---- He didn¡¯t see her smile as he started working with her alchemy kit, mixing whatever potions she didn¡¯t care about. He might be a dick, a dolt, and overall full of himself, but he hadn¡¯t tried to lie or gaslight her, and that meant more to her than she thought was reasonable. She didn¡¯t know why. She had asked to learn Energy not because she cared overmuch to learn it, but because he had openly admitted to it being a manipulative power and still been willing to share it. He was right, his Energy caused her to¡­ want. It had definitely made it easier to relax around him in the first place¡­ and maybe something more...Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. But, she didn¡¯t believe for a moment that it was all because of Energy. --- The ¡®Bottled Light¡¯, as it¡¯s called, is really easy to make and lasts for an entire day/night cycle as long as it¡¯s been prepared correctly. Granted, I fucked up the first two attempts because this is nothing like cooking. I had thought that, because it involves fire and essentially cooking ingredients, I¡¯d have something of a knack for it. The opposite is true. I ended up overcooking them and destroying whatever property makes the light last for a while¡­ so the first bottle will only glow for about two hours, and the second I got up to six. The third and fourth were actually done correctly (once Lauren gave me some pointers on timing and the amount of heat to use).
[Congratulations! You have successfully crafted a Bottled Light (II)]
[Congratulations! Your actions have led to the creation of a basic Secondary Skill: Alchemy. Learn? (Y/N) Cost: 150]
Ok ouch. That¡¯s a hefty fucking cost. But I guess the game knows the price of utility¡­ Maybe I should have Lauren learn some crafting skills. That¡¯d drop her Power to nothing in no time. I mentally tap ¡®yes¡¯ and cringe slightly as my Power drops to 177. Those large Power drops don¡¯t feel good at all, like a slight nausea and weakness for an hour or so afterwards. Ugh. I shake myself slightly and dump out the failed bottles into the lake, swishing them around for reuse. The shaking activates the potions, causing a phosphorescent orange light to seep into the lake as the potions spread. The thin, snaking tendrils slowly dim as the potion is spread too thin to be of substance, but it almost feels like a sunrise over a lake¡­ something I will never see again. -¡±It¡¯s beautiful.¡± I nod, taking in the glistening walls and deep, dark water that may well have never felt light before. The lake is¡­ really deep. Deeper than I thought. Even as the potion fades, it still hasn¡¯t spread to the bottom. I¡¯m now very glad that I didn¡¯t fall in. The light vanishes entirely, save for the tiny illumination from the alchemy set¡¯s fire. Back to work. I go about using one of the remaining bottles to craft a Fire Potion (II) and a Healing Potion (II). That¡¯ll give me some utility. I call forth my own alchemists set and give the four generated bottles to Lauren. After all, she gave me hers. -¡±You can keep them. I have enough.¡± ¡°Use them to make some healing or something. You can¡¯t die until you¡¯re fixed either.¡± Her expression is strange in the flickering light, like a small smile that you can¡¯t quite guarantee is really there. I return my set to a stone and pocket it. ¡°One more thing. There¡¯s¡­¡± I look around, making sure no one is nearby before lowering my voice to the lowest whisper I can manage. ¡°There¡¯s something up with Nate. I feel like every time he tells me to do something, I get a headache. There might be some kind of mental compulsion attached to his words. Watch out for that.¡± Her gaze darkens significantly as she eyes me. -¡±I haven¡¯t noticed anything like that.¡± her words are curt, with a bit of edge to them. ¡°You¡¯re susceptible to the mental effects of Energy, and it might extend on to other mind altering effects. All I¡¯m saying is ¡®be careful¡¯, alright?¡± The dark gaze lingers for a moment longer before fading with a sigh. When she looks up again, the small smile is back. -¡±And who will warn me about you?¡± ¡°Hah, Rav. He¡¯s a better guy than any of us. Speaking of, I¡¯m going to go put up these lights so Rav doesn¡¯t have to worry about it. Not that they¡¯ll do much¡­ but I can at least illuminate the dangerous areas. You ready for tonight?¡± -¡±They aren¡¯t getting me this time.¡± The flicker of a smile is gone, leaving only determination. ¡°Be sure of it.¡± Energy 51: Dark I place the two bottles roughly evenly spaced along the floor of the hall while making my way back towards Rav. The lights have a much more dramatic impact than I had anticipated, with just the two managing to return enough light that I could see normally instead of with the weird, high contrast images. Their light manages to just barely illuminate the entire first hallway. It should even be sufficient for people with normal, human Perception to be able to navigate safely. People tend to be pretty cagey about what their weaknesses are, and this game assigning a number to low stats magnifies that trend, if anything. There wasn¡¯t much complaining before, to do so would be to admit inferiority. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised, however, if there was a noticeable increase in walking speed among a few of the residents, as a result of this. The light will be instrumental when the star disappears for the night. We can¡¯t mount an effective defense with people bumbling around in the dark, especially with the traps. Plus, having backups to a fire is important, especially when dealing with enemies that hate light. Marie, our resident structural craftswoman, had used her apparent command over materials to fashion sturdy crosswalks to make navigating the pit traps less dangerous. She apparently has a skill that lets her use Mana to manipulate materials and shape them how she wants. It takes a while and requires many breaks, but she can stretch rock as thin as paper or turn a tree into a house if she wants. Nate tasked her immediately with fortifying the entrance with as much wood and rock as we could muster. While it would be ideal if she could just close the doors for us and lock out any intruders for the night, we would probably suffocate. Any holes we made in the roof would probably have little effect and serve the double purpose of letting noise of our activity escape and potentially alerting the roving Carnine packs. Unfortunately, we have to defend the doors and leave them mostly open for the night. That doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t make them pay for every inch of ground they take. I join Rav for the final hours of watch before night and survey our current fortifications. Nobody asked me how they should be laid out, so I assume Nate just decided. It isn¡¯t bad, but it¡¯s clear Nate doesn¡¯t think outside the box much. For starters, there are no defenses on the ceiling. I don¡¯t know what Nate saw while fighting the Shades last night, but what I saw was a group of highly mobile assassin type enemies. To me, that means that standard, waist-high, spiked barricades aren¡¯t going to cut it. They¡¯ll jump over, run up the cave wall, fling projectiles, whatever. There¡¯s a lot of open space in the defences where small stones will be able to get through and harry defenders. There¡¯s also no position of height for Lynn, our resident archer, or Rav to take advantage of their ranged abilities. They¡¯ll have to shoot around the front lines, or be entirely exposed. I know we¡¯re short on materials, but this can¡¯t stand. It¡¯s definitely too late for tonight, so tomorrow, assuming I¡¯m still alive, I¡¯m going to talk with Marie and see what we can do. We are at war, and currently, we are only alive through stealth. Hit and run tactics will work, up until they don¡¯t, and then we die unless we have the fortifications to multiply our meagre strength to match that of an enemy a hundred times our number. Just gotta make it through the night. Hey, I can also see about Tom turning my lieutenant pelt into something more useful. I had asked Marie earlier, but apparently her skills are explicitly designed for structure building. Anything she makes with her ¡®material control¡¯ offers no boosts, where it otherwise might have if handled by an actual armor craftsman. Tom is technically a blacksmith, but hopefully he can make it work anyway. If not, I guess I¡¯ll end up with a really smelly blanket. --- ¡°I found that making a coction- err, applying moderate heat to some orange flowers, and subjecting them to mechanical force, like shaking, causes the liquid to give off a large amount of light. The tooltip estimates about a full day.¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ~¡±Thank you again, my friend. The ¡®Light¡¯ spells I was using in the meantime require constant focus and Mana to maintain, making it hard to do anything else. I do not see a future for myself as a generator.¡± Rav¡¯s ever present smile seems much more bright and sincere. ¡°Always glad to help. Oh¡­ uh, I kinda messed up a bit with¡­ Mana.¡± His smile fades somewhat, moving from a confused expression to one of alarm. ~¡±Anthony what has happened? Are you hurt?¡± ¡°N- well, kind of, yeah. I was experimenting with alchemical ingredients without knowing what they did and¡­ one of them gave Mana instantly on consumption. Rav¡¯s eyes widen further at this revelation. He looks beside himself with fear, and immediately grabs my arm, pulling me closer, eyes aflame with Mana. ~¡±Oh, my friend¡­ Thank the heavens above you are alright. This damage is severe, but I can¡¯t find any trace of the chaotic energy inside you. How did you manage to cleanse yourself?¡± ¡°Chaotic energy? You mean the Mana? Oh, I got¡­ really lucky. Some of these traps, the pits, were covered by illusions, which were, in turn, powered by small Mana batteries like this.¡± I hold up one of the batteries for his inspection. He carefully grasps it, turning it over in his hand. ~¡±This¡­ is most fortuitous. I fear you would have likely perished if not for this stone capturing the Mana that ravaged your body. It almost looks as though your body healed rapidly and sealed it inside. The Mana channels in your body are¡­ everywhere. I have never seen so many. But there is no beginning, no end. You received Mana through alchemy, but it had no way to leave, and you could not control it. I think the only reason you are still with us is because these batteries attract Mana more than the body or the air, so the Mana was forced through the walls of your Mana channels. I don¡¯t see where this occurred, so I assume it also healed over. I would likely attribute it to your healing abilities.¡± He shakes his head, a mixture of concern and awe across his face. ~¡±If you could use these channels, your Mana pool would be incredible¡­ but I fear even attempting to open a channel to the outside would prove life threatening. All others I¡¯ve seen have at least one opening through which Mana can enter and escape, but¡­¡± Mine are all closed. Fuck. ~¡±I am deeply sorry, my friend. I cannot repair this damage. I cannot even begin to understand it, and I cannot allow myself to experiment even with your permission.¡± A mournful sigh is all I can muster. ¡°Of course. When it happened, the notification claimed I would need a ¡®Village Healer¡¯ or something in order to remove the effect. I took the liberty of warning everyone that the purple flowers should be considered poison if you don¡¯t have a Mana pool. I doubt it would be as bad for anyone else if it was, as you say, my healing that trapped the Mana inside me, but I wouldn¡¯t want anyone else to feel that. Would it have been that bad if you had tried?¡± Rav shakes his head slowly. ~¡±No, I fear it would be quite the opposite. Now that your Mana channels have been revealed, it seems my fear for your safety was unwarranted. You would have been fine even under my untrained hand. The process gently opens gateways, making it unlikely you would heal them, even unconsciously. I apol-¡± ¡°It¡¯s not your fault,¡± I interrupt, filled with a mix of regret and anger ¡°the fault lies with neither of us. We were thinking of gambling with my life, and that would have been highly idiotic. We made the right choice¡­ it just happened to be wrong.¡± Rav takes his hand off my arm and places it on my shoulder, looking me in the eye. ~¡±We will fix this. Worry not.¡± I manage a half hearted smile. ¡°Yeah.¡± I turn my attention outside, to the sky. The celestial rings are plainly visible against the backdrop of the sky. We don¡¯t have long. It¡¯s time. Energy 52: Dark ¡°Night is falling, we need to prepare. Let¡¯s gather at the mouth of the cave.¡± The few inhabitants of the room either nod or don¡¯t respond at all as they get to their feet. They look tired, and the fighting hasn¡¯t even started. I can¡¯t say I blame them¡­ most of them haven¡¯t slept much at all, and tonight is unlikely to help that. Our newly enhanced bodies can deal with a lack of sleep significantly better than before, but battle and tribulation has a way of sapping one¡¯s strength. Hopefully we can get into a routine tomorrow of sleeping the morning away after surviving the night. This is likely to be the worst one. Lauren and Nate are in the next room together. Alone. My stomach tightens slightly at the sight, and the knowledge that they stopped talking when I approached hurts. It isn¡¯t jealousy, I¡¯m just worried that my speculation about Nate having mind powers is real, and that, coupled with Lauren not being in the best place, could end really badly. Like her not being your pawn anymore? She isn¡¯t my pawn. You¡¯ll be just like him. ¡­ I used to be the kind of person that manipulated others, yeah. I used to be very good at sensing what people wanted to hear, and using that to coax them to my way of thinking. Frankly? I still am¡­ but I only ever did that to push them along a path they already wanted to go down, but lacked the guts to do so. I wanted them to ask that girl out, or try a difficult project¡­ go big or go home. That sort of thing. I manipulated people to be better, but for their own definition of better instead of mine. I know that sounds high and mighty, but it was¡­ how I was. I don¡¯t regret it, but it isn¡¯t something I typically do anymore. Not unless people ask. And Lauren¡­ asked. So yeah, maybe I¡¯ll be like him, but I won¡¯t be Nate. I won¡¯t tell her what to do. I won¡¯t use some bullshit mind power to compel her to act the way I want. I¡¯ll talk to her, be there for her, and try to use my Energy to fix her, while minimizing any influence I have over her decisions. Plus, Nate seemed perfectly happy to let this person, who was clearly hurting, be his proverbial mad dog. Who would question the authority of the one guy the crazy assassin girl doesn¡¯t want to kill? It isn¡¯t right. I know I¡¯m the minority in thinking that. Everyone here tends to agree on just one thing: Nate¡¯s the leader. And they don¡¯t seem to mind things staying that way. I do. I think there¡¯s no way in hell Nate doesn¡¯t get corrupted by the power he holds. Everything about the way he acts already reeks of the idea that he thinks of people as pawns and tools, not as humans. As time passes, he will only bring more people under his control and become harder to take down. Imagine a kingdom in which everyone is too brainwashed to care that they¡¯re suffering? Humanity has a chance for a new beginning here, and I¡¯ll be damned if I see what¡¯s left of us ruled by some asshole with magic powers. ¡­ God damnit. I could have left all this and gone off on my own. It would have been so easy to leave them to their fate. But now? I can¡¯t leave until this is resolved. I just¡­Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Really hope it doesn¡¯t kill me. Ugh, the best part about a high Intelligence stat is how I can think so much and have very little time pass. ¡°Time to get ready guys.¡± I start to leave before Nate answers ¡°Wonderful, thank you Anthony. Please get the others.¡± I physically cringe as he finishes, reacting to the slamming headache. That¡­ that was worse than usual. Is he getting stronger? Fuck, is it a skill? And if he levels it through use¡­ How long before I can¡¯t resist anymore? I suppress the shiver and nod before heading to the next room. Kaythe senses my mood and *click*s (alright?) at me. I don¡¯t want to speak because I¡¯m sure Nate will hear me, but I shake my head. Kaythe seems to understand and curls tighter around me. The pressure is comforting.
[Congratulations! Domination milestone reached! Domination at 40%]
[Domination synchronization increased! Primary Skill sharing efficiency raised! +2 Perception, +1 Dexterity]
[Congratulations! Skill levels gained: Tamer +1 (3) Monsters gain a fraction of your Primary Skills, increasing with bond percentage. If the bonded ally exceeds any of your Primary Skills, you receive a boost to those stats.]
A welcome addition, but the timing could have been better. So Kaythe far exceeds my Perception but less so when it comes to Dexterity. Unsurprising. However, now isn¡¯t the time to focus on such things. I have an ¡®order¡¯ to follow, after all. I send the remaining people towards the entrance. We probably have twenty minutes, max. One last thing before I can head over¡­ --- ¡°Zathis.¡± ¡°Hello Anthony! Are you here for more training?¡± ¡°I genuinely wish I was. Tomorrow, if I¡¯m still alive, I¡¯ll be sure to take you up on the offer.¡± ¡°Are you¡­ undertaking a dangerous mission?¡± I shake my head, sadly. ¡°The Shades¡­ Dwarf Shades¡­ will likely be back tonight. They attacked our camp last night, dragging off some of our number. We don¡¯t know what happened to them. We have no reason to think they¡¯re satisfied.¡± Zathis¡¯ eyes widen slightly, unease flickering across his massive face, but he says nothing. ¡°I came to tell you¡­ you may want to shut the doors to this room. If they get past us, they might come for you as well. If it isn¡¯t too much to ask, please look after Kaythe for me, until I get back.¡± ¡°...You came, not to ask for my aid in battle, but to ensure my safety, and that of your companion? Surely you recognize that I could crush these enemies easily, even from here.¡± He¡¯s right. It¡¯s very tempting to ask yet another favor from him. It would be nothing for him to hold off the onslaught tonight. But life has taught me never to take advantage of a generous host. I fully believe he would help if I asked, but¡­ ¡°I would not ask you, after training me and allowing us to live in these halls, to also defend us. Especially not against those that were your brothers. They may be Shades, but I can¡¯t imagine it would be easy to raise your hand against them. Besides, they only found this place because of us¡­ because of me. We can at least clean up after our own mess. This is our responsibility.¡± The giant looks at me strangely, as if uncertain. It¡¯s fair, honestly. I would doubt my intentions too. The truth is: we need the levels, experience, and good will. Zathis is a master of earth magic and an extremely valuable resource. He also seems to be a pretty fair guy, so he will likely repay us in some way for defending the halls he guards from the living mockeries of the ¡®honorable death¡¯ that this place apparently symbolizes to the Dwarves. Kaythe resists climbing from my shoulders at first, but I think he knows there¡¯s nothing he can do to help. He¡¯s a scout, not a warrior. ¡°Good night Zathis, I will do my best to greet you when the sun rises.¡± The honorable giant remains silent as I leave. The doors remain open. Energy 53: Dark ~¡°Now that everyone is here,¡± Nate begins, ¡°I will lay out the battle plan. Dean, Lauren, and Tom will hold the front line. Lynn and Rav will stand behind and between them, using the space to fire projectiles at the enemy. Marie will reinforce any position where someone goes down, buying time for Anthony to heal them and get them back in the action. Any questions?¡± Yeah, just one: what will you be doing? ~¡±Alright. Positions everyone, and remember, fight tirelessly.¡± Everyone moves, making as little noise as possible. A bright fire burns just beyond the illusion. My potions of ¡®bottled light¡¯ have been moved to the back of our fortifications, placing them out of harm''s way (even from thrown rocks¡­ mostly), but still able to cast light on our positions and, more importantly, our attackers. Lauren had made a ton of the same fire poison she had used on the Wights, and distributed it to anyone with an edged weapon. I touch Rav¡¯s shoulder as he moves past me. ¡°These guys are resistant to magic, right?¡± I murmur, ¡°Try casting the brightest light you can manage when they charge us. Pin them between the fire and your magic.¡± Rav smiles and nods. -¡±Be safe, my friend.¡± I feel a little miffed that Nate insisted I stay in the back lines with him. I know I¡¯m the best (and only) healer we have, but I fight at just a level below Lauren at the very least! I¡¯m certainly worth more on the front lines than our blacksmith. His weapon is literally a smithing hammer. Sure it can probably kill things, but compare it to a fucking greatsword? Hardly. That said, making waves right before a battle that we might very well lose is just asking to die, so I keep my mouth shut. I¡¯ll fill the front line if it¡¯s necessary, and Nate can¡¯t stop me. It would be a shame to waste the mass buff he gave us. It seems to be a +2 to Strength and Endurance. The silence deepens as the minutes pass. The sky darkens rapidly, and the world around us is cast in dancing shadows. The crackling fire alone breaks the quiet of the night. The tension rises slowly. Hands shift and tighten on their weapons. All eyes peer through the translucent veil of illusion into the darkness beyond. A howl pierces the air. Another. Soon, a cacophony erupts in the distance. The screams contain only fury. I have to consciously release the tension in my body, feeling much less secure than I would like, even with the greatsword in my hands. Closer and closer. They crest the hill. A group of at least ten. More howling in the distance confirms that these are merely the vanguard. Lynn looses an arrow, which embeds firmly in the hill next to the advancing force. I look over to see her hand shakily reaching for another arrow. She moves fast, but every shot counts. There aren¡¯t enough in the ground beside her for nerves to make her miss. I channel a calm that I don¡¯t feel and lightly tap her shoulder. My Energy bar depletes by a few points, but her hands steady. Maybe it¡¯s ok for me to be in the back. The charge slows as the Shades approach the fire, but one of the larger monsters speeds up instead. The Shade obviously can¡¯t tell that it¡¯s about to fling itself into a wall of spikes, but its mass alone might be enough to break the shoddy fortifications. It readies to hurl itself over the fire when Lynn¡¯s follow-up shot cracks through the air, passing straight through the head of the offending creature and into the arm of the Shade behind it. The charger continues forward under its own momentum, careening into the fire and scattering it slightly. Not good. It won¡¯t last as long spread out. The Shades group up at the edge of the fire, howling in fury and indignation, and for a moment, it seems as though the one death will be enough to deter them. Lynn fires off shot after shot while Rav practically glows with the amount of Mana he¡¯s channelling. The fallen Dwarves return fire with anything and everything lying around. Clumps of grass, rocks, brush, anything that can be used as a projectile rains around us. Fortunately, without actual sight on their targets (courtesy of the illusion) or access to more effective weapons, their efforts are largely fruitless. Until a dark figure crests the ridge, followed by at least a dozen more Shades. A distorted voice rings out over the howling: ¡°Dirt¡­ fire.¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. We can only watch with growing dread as the Shades stop pointlessly flinging dirt at us and start throwing dirt on the fire. Though at first there appears to be no change, the dirt steadily piles into the fire and it grows more and more dim. We still have the light from my potions, but¡­ it¡¯s not nearly as bright as the fire. It will weaken them at best. The monsters edge closer, excitement apparent in their gestures and noises. The brave ones run around the edge of the bright area toward us. The people standing at the front ready their weapons. With a sickening *thunk*, the shade impales itself on the spiked exterior of the front barricade, only managing a brief scream of horror and pain before Dean slices its head off with a single stroke. +¡±More you bastards! MORE!¡± He roars the words, giddy with anticipation. As if in answer, more Shades rush around the fire and swarm our position. There are so many, but the power of their numbers is limited by our fortifications and the choke point the cave entrance presents. They are forced to come at us head on. The two sides are a blue of blades as Dean and Lauren send gouts of fire and shadow up into the night sky. They¡¯re clearly straining, but it¡¯s nothing they can¡¯t handle for now. Tom is doing less well. Where I probably could have held my own, he is primarily a craftsman, and though he certainly has some combat skills, he¡¯s wielding a blacksmith¡¯s hammer as his weapon of choice. Far from the deadly knives or greatsword, and incapable of making use of Lauren¡¯s poison. Lynn tries to cover him, but she can only fire so fast, and the barricade in front of Tom is almost entirely gone. There isn¡¯t enough room for anyone to reinforce his position either, he just¡­ isn¡¯t strong enough to hold it. If he falls, it will be up to me and Marie to hold the tide¡­ without a barricade. I prepare for the eventuality, raising my sword, when I hear Rav gasp. The man is almost blindingly bright. My hair stands on end just being this close to him. I can only imagine the power of a spell that takes almost a minute to charge. -¡±Shield...your...eyes¡­¡± Rav struggles to speak. I obey without question, covering my eyes with my hand. Even so, the flash shines so brightly that the bones of my hand are the only black I see. I hear a body hit the ground as I try to blink away the spots in my vision. Most of our group listened when the wizard spoke, but Dean¡¯s screams of pain make it clear that he callously ignored the warning. The good news is: the Shades expected this even less. Their advance was thrown into disarray, with many greatly diminished and a few of the smaller ones being destroyed entirely. Thanks Rav, I owe you one. ~¡±Dean! Come get healed!¡± +¡±I CAN¡¯T FUCKING SEE.¡± ~¡±Anthony, guide him back here and heal him.¡± I frown at Nate. ¡°I don¡¯t know, he¡¯s waving that sword around a lot, it looks dangerous to approach him-¡± ~¡±Now.¡± The headache diminishes quickly as I immediately move toward Dean. I manage to bat his sword down to the ground and get close enough to grab him. Alright, Dean should be no different than Lynn. I just need to channel calm feelings and he¡¯ll follow me. ¡°Come on, this way, I¡¯ll get you healed up in no ti- hey, watch it with that! Stop swinging, there¡¯s nothing to hit near you! Fucking drop th- FINE.¡± Dean had been not so subtly swinging his sword around, seeming to target me the moment he heard my voice, and that last swing had been dangerously close to hitting me. I actually had to smash his ¡®random swing¡¯ into the ground. So what if it was a smash that was enhanced with Fortify? So what if it put a nice chip in his blade? Next time don¡¯t attack the healer. His response was no longer subtle. He roared, swinging full force at me, and, if not for his blade having been stuck in the ground by my earlier hit, I wouldn¡¯t have had time to duck it. He did not have the same good fortune when the flat of my blade smashed him in the face, knocking him out cold. God, that was fucking liberating. Not to mention, I feel the familiar sting of someone having fought back against my Energy and quickly deal with the murderous darkness he left in me. Dean clearly doesn¡¯t have the same susceptibility to Energy that Lauren does, so his distrust and outright hostility will make it impossible even to calm him, let alone heal him. I¡¯d have to destroy his defenses first, and that might end up triggering Domination¡­ I can¡¯t risk it. I will not. Scowling, Nate orders Marie to hold Dean¡¯s position while I drag his limp body to the back. ~¡±That was unnecessary, now we¡¯re down two people. Fix Dean up immediately.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t, he¡¯s closed himself off to my healing. I¡¯ll get Rav back in fighting condition first, then see what I can do.¡± ~¡±No. We need Dean to hold the line more than Rav to shoot projectiles. Heal Dean.¡± The pain sears through my mind as I fail to make any move to follow the order. ¡°It¡¯s too dangerous. Either I¡¯ll die or he will. No.¡± Shock, then anger, flashes across Nate¡¯s face. ~¡±If you¡¯re not going to follow orders, then get out of our way. We don¡¯t need you.¡± ¡°Like it or not, you do.¡± Energy 54: Dark I move to check on Rav, causing Nate¡¯s scowl to deepen. Fuck him. The Energy view of Rav¡¯s body indicates that he is mostly intact, but there¡¯s a bit of yellow tingeing in his head. Maybe he strained his mind too much while handling that spell and couldn¡¯t remain conscious. I move some green Energy in and rapidly work away at the yellow. In a matter of moments (and a few more Energy points), the color clears up and Rav starts moving. He instinctively touches his hand to his head, as if anticipating a great headache, but removes his hand, looking more than a little shocked. -¡±How¡­? Ah, of course. It is always you, my friend. My thanks. How did our plan work out?¡± ¡°They¡¯re in disarray. Dean didn¡¯t listen to your warning and can¡¯t see anymore, but he¡¯s sleeping it off.¡± He winces. -¡±That is most unfortunate. Could I trouble you to restore his sight?¡± I sigh, exasperated. ¡°I would, but he¡¯s resisting my healing the same way you did when I first put your hand back together.¡± ~¡±Rav, get back to your post!¡± The wizard looks momentarily startled, before climbing to his feet, nodding to me, and returning to his position. ~¡±Resume firing!¡± -¡±I cannot, my Mana has yet to recover full-¡± ~¡±Then get it back!¡± Rav¡¯s face is a mask of stoicism, but I can¡¯t imagine he appreciated being talked to like that. I can¡¯t say I like this side of Nate¡­ at all. It¡¯s only because of Rav¡¯s incredible magical ability that he even has time to yell. The Shades look much less organized, like they¡¯re dazed and confused. The strange one that spoke is hunched over in the back, not moving. I can¡¯t fathom where Nate¡¯s urgency stems from¡­ or his attitude. ¡°Hey, Marie, I can take over in place of Dean. It¡¯s my fault he¡¯s down, after all.¡± She barely turns her head, too focussed on the collection of monsters in front of her. I can¡¯t blame her for not wanting to take her eyes off them. Smart, really. =¡±I¡­ yeah, sure. Yell if you need backup.¡± She doesn¡¯t say it, but she clearly hoped she wouldn¡¯t have to fight. I, however, have accumulated a fair amount of aggression that is best not spent on the ones who deserve it. For now. ¡°...left...monsters¡­¡± The speaking shade shudders slightly, saying something¡­ but even with my Perception, I can¡¯t make out the words. ¡°You¡­ left me¡­ for the monsters¡­ all alone.¡± It rises unsteadily to its feet, head bowed, and starts shaking more. That voice¡­ it¡¯s distorted, but some part of it feels familiar¡­ You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Lynn strings an arrow, but hesitates, looking confused. ¡°YOU LEFT ME TO DIE. IT IS NOT I WHO IS A MONSTER, BUT ALL OF YOU. AND I... WILL BE YOUR DELIVERANCE.¡± Darkness flows, like a living thing, towards the Shade, bleeding off the lesser ones and even making the night itself seem brighter in comparison. ¡°Now¡­ you will be cleansed as I have.¡± A missile of pure darkness slams against Tom, knocking him to the ground. He screams and writhes, the concentrated blackness seeming to spread to cover his body even as I yell for support and run to him. ¡°Join me¡­ JOIN ME. AVAIL YOURSELF, YOU BASE CREATURES, AND SERVE A HIGHER PURPOSE.¡± It¡¯s all I can do to control my Energy enough to prepare some green in my hands before I get to Tom¡¯s fallen form. Unthinkingly, I plunge my hands into the center of the pulsing mass. I can feel this evil shit attacking me, as though it has a mind of its own, but I keep struggling to scrape it off Tom. It doesn¡¯t react like normal matter. The Energy in my hands vanishes entirely within a few scrapes, and as soon as I feel it disappear entirely, the darkness stops reacting to my touch. Pieces of it latch onto me instead, burning with an agonizing fire. Self preservation wins over my desire to help Tom and I do what I can to flood the affected areas of my own body with Energy. The green I send still vanishes quickly, and with almost no effect, causing me to panic more. My Energy is moving more sluggishly, responding to my panic with chaotic movement and uneven direction. The darkness spreads. I send everything. Gold, red, green¡­ everything. Something does the trick and the darkness fades, but I only have a quarter of my Energy pool left, and Tom is still screaming. My efforts stopped the darkness from spreading as fast, but his torso is covered, and it¡¯s only getting worse. Silently cursing myself, I shove some of the Energy flowers into my mouth, swallowing as quickly as I can and trying to control the hacking cough that accompanies it. I see a few points added to my Energy pool and take a combination of red and gold Energy and push as hard as I can against Tom¡¯s natural defenses.
[Hostile Domination attempt detected. Initializing¡­ Error, target Domination already in progress. Intervene? (Y/N)]
GET OUT OF MY WAY. The darkness suffuses almost every corner of Tom¡¯s body. My Energy meets no resistance going through. His defenses have already been destroyed. This thing is attacking with Energy? What the fuck is going on. The other, darker Energy seems mindless, spreading wherever it can and attacking everything. There are a few bastions where it seems that they can¡¯t access, but they grow smaller by the moment. I inject as much as I can, as fast as possible, aiming to reinforce those small remnants. I try not to ever come into contact with them, as I¡¯m sure that¡¯s Tom¡¯s resistance trying to fight any hostile forces, me included. My timely interference turns the tide, transforming the battlefield from a crushing loss to a serious fight. Gold and red mix freely, binding themselves to each other in a way that is difficult to separate and glowing brighter than before, with a beautiful orange color. These strands individually destroy many more than the red or gold alone, convincing me that this new color is optimal for fighting the dark Energy. I move a fan of orange Energy out, destroying everything that remains of the encroaching force. Even in my victory, Tom¡¯s defences rush out to fight me, and I hurry to pull out all of my potentially damaging Energy, before returning to reality. My breath comes in heavy pants, and I realize that I almost used up all of my Energy saving him. Story of my life, honestly. Fortunately, no one else was hit by those black projectiles. It seems that when people see one person consumed with pain as a result of being hit once, they tend to take cover or retreat. I stick my head up to get an idea of what¡¯s happening, only to immediately dive back down as another projectile careens towards me. It ends up smoldering harmlessly against one of the barricades behind me, but I¡¯m way too scared to try that again. I might be able to survive one blast, but I¡¯d be unconscious from Energy deprivation afterwards. This thing has to be dealt with before I go down. From my quick glimpse, I gathered that all the accompanying Shades had gone, and all that was left was a massive swirling darkness around the lead Shade. The mass which, effectively, serves as ammunition for her ranged corruption shots, which are also Energy? This is a really bad time to be confused. Energy 55: Dark No more shots go off. No one is brave enough to look, and the shots don¡¯t seem to deal damage to non-living things, so the thing isn¡¯t blasting away at our defences¡­ but I can hear it slowly padding closer. I want to do something, but every second I¡¯m not getting hit is a second I get a bit more Energy, raising the likelihood I¡¯ll live through a blast of that stuff. The thing about cover is that it stops being cover when the enemy is on top of you. I crawl over to my sword, left by the wayside as I rushed to help Tom, and grip it firmly. I look around quickly, trying to see if anyone is planning anything that I can help with, any speck of hope, but everyone just cowers or stares back with frightened eyes. Nate is nowhere to be seen. And neither is Lauren. I really only have two days of experience fighting with her, and barely one where she got to use her stealth effectively, but I know she isn¡¯t a coward. She was always in fights, but never a part of fights. She used distractions and other people to work best, never landing the first blow¡­ but frequently the last. She specializes against single targets so¡­ why was this Shade still standing? Simple: Lauren can¡¯t reach it. How much do I trust her? Definitely not enough for what I¡¯m about to do: give her an opening. Nobody else is going to do it. I¡¯m the only one with any chance of surviving. I have to. I don¡¯t deserve to die a hero¡­ so I¡¯ll definitely live, right? My heart deafens me with every beat. The bottle of fire. Now¡¯s as good a time as any. Will it be enough? I¡¯ll make it enough. It isn¡¯t much, but it¡¯ll get that thing¡¯s attention¡­ then I will keep it. I take a deep breath, forcefully keeping ¡®Fortify¡¯ from activating, and yell with everything I have as I jump to my feet, launch the bottle, duck the retributory blast, then vault the barricade and charge the swirling mass of despair. The first shot hits the barricade, thrown wide by the fire licking up its legs. The second¡­ I never even saw coming. I¡¯d only gotten halfway to the Shade before I was hit, but all I could think of as I fell was that this Shade felt familiar. Not a Dwarf, certainly, but¡­ that voice? I became insensate as my awareness focussed exclusively on fighting for my life. --- Lauren had been hoping, even praying that someone would give her the distraction she needed. She had circled the thing at least four times, looking for an opening, but every time she tried, her senses warned her away. Somebody needed to act, threaten it somehow, draw its focus¡­ anything! But they all cowered behind their stupid barricades. It¡¯s one fucking monster! She wanted to scream at them, call them the cowards they were. Even Nate was gone¡­ he wasn¡¯t a fighter, but it still pissed her off. Her heart nearly soared when she heard the yell, then took an immediate nosedive the moment she saw who had stepped up. No! That fucking idiot! Of course he was the only one stupid enough! There was no time to feel anger or hurt. He was saving them, one way or another, and she needed to do her part. Time almost slowed as she focussed solely on taking down the bastard in front of her, thankfully keeping her attention off Anthony and¡­ what was about to happen to him. To her, if he died. She flew through the night, a silent arrow gliding, swift and undetectable. Lauren slammed her dagger right into the back of the Shade¡¯s skull. It- she screamed. A very human scream. Lauren wrenched the dagger from her skull, going to stab again, but the woman knocked her away with an arm far too strong for its size. Lauren landed hard a few feet away, looking up in horror at the face of this horrifying hybrid of Shade and human as her poison took effect. A bright gout of flame erupted from the back of her head, eliciting a very inhuman screech. The flames burned away the shadows covering her face, revealing the tortured visage of Shaye¡­ Shaye from camp¡­ Shaye who had been dragged into the dark and presumed dead.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The sight of her anguish burned itself into Lauren¡¯s memory as the fire burst her eyes in a shower of gore. The screams changed from those of rage, to fear and pain. There was only one thing Lauren could do. As Shaye fell to her knees, wailing with a sound of heartfelt despair that Lauren had hoped only existed within herself, the assassin ended the miserable existence before her. She did not even stop to pull her dagger out before rushing to Anthony¡¯s side. She heard shouts of warning. She didn¡¯t care. His skin felt cold, and some of the solidified darkness played across the surface of his skin, but he still gave ragged breaths. He was still fighting. Don¡¯t you die on me. Don¡¯t you dare fucking die on me. She held his head in her hands and rocked gently, perceiving little other than the continued ragged breaths. She didn¡¯t want to think about what she would do if they stopped. A hand touched her shoulder, breaking her stupor. Nate. ~¡±If it looks like he isn¡¯t going to make it, kill him.¡± -¡±W-what?¡± ~¡±Kill him so he doesn¡¯t become one of them.¡± No -¡±...Yes¡­ I will.¡± What? She didn¡¯t mean that¡­ she didn¡¯t try to say that! She tried to say: ¡°He won¡¯t fail.¡± There. She felt lightheaded. Nate looked at her strangely. She tried not to think about Shaye, whose body smouldered even now. What if she could have saved her? What if Anthony could have with his weird Energy shit? Where were the other two who were dragged away? Oh god¡­ she had killed again¡­ killed a human, even if it was a poor, desperate husk of a human¡­ again¡­ could she never escape the person she had become? This horrible, amoral murderer? ~¡±Come. We need to talk.¡± She rose, lifting Anthony into her arms. ~¡±You could leave him if you wanted. Someone else will get him.¡± She shook her head. No one else would touch him with that darkness raging inside him. Too afraid for themselves. Nate shrugged and led the way. --- Lauren deposited Anthony in one of the coffins turned bed, and immediately Nate began to speak. ~¡±It¡¯s alright, you know. We knew Shaye was lost¡­ just not how lost she really was. You saved her from suffering. That¡¯s what you do, where your prodigious talents lie. You are truly a great weapon, as long as you know who to strike... and when. You can trust me. I won¡¯t lead you astray. With me, you¡¯ll become the strongest, most feared weapon out there. None will dare cross you.¡± She raised her eyes from Anthony¡¯s resting form. Nate was smiling gently at her. Smiling like he hadn¡¯t just confirmed her worst fears. Smiling like she would have if she had heard those words, that praise, only days earlier. But¡­ a great killer wasn¡¯t not who she was¡­ not who she wanted to be. She knew with certainty she was no one¡¯s pet¡­ right? But why did it¡­ sound so good? So right? She shook her head slightly, trying to snap herself out of whatever weird thing her head was doing, but it persisted. What came out of her mouth was: ¡°Yes, sir.¡± It took all her will just to keep from smiling at him as she said it. Why was it so hard to control herself? Was this shock? She knew she didn¡¯t want to smile, in fact, she wanted to mention his absence on the battlefield¡­ but that just seemed like a bad thing to do. He clearly knew what he was doing, so retreat was probably the right call, and she was just too stu- AHH! She shook herself, harder this time. It seemed like her thoughts started to turn against her the moment she let them wander. It was almost like before¡­ before Anthony had done anything, but instead of the haunting images of all the people she had hurt, it was Nate. Everything related to Nate. It would just change. ~¡±You should probably avoid getting too close to him. He¡¯s unlikely¡­ to stick around.¡± She tried to shake her head, and failed. She couldn¡¯t will herself to disagree, he was kinda¡¯ an asshole, trying to help her¡­ there was nothing wrong with he- STOP. There was something wrong, but it wasn¡¯t Anthony, and it wasn¡¯t her¡­ not any more than usual, anyway. She wanted to stay by Anthony. She didn¡¯t want to leave Nate either, even if he was a coward. She would make it work, make him see. ~¡±You are to refuse his requests to accompany him on hunts.¡± What?! She didn¡¯t want that at all! She told him so: ¡°As you say.¡± Her heart hurt, speaking those words, because she felt like she meant it, but she also¡­ didn¡¯t? What was- ¡­ Oh¡­ no... Anthony¡­ she was so stupid. So fucking stupid. Anthony was right about Nate¡­ He¡¯d been right to warn her¡­ No god damnit! She would fight this, with everything she had. She struggled, rage burning within her, to say or do anything to spite Nate. Even to frown at him! Nothing worked. She could find no reason to do any of that, so she didn¡¯t. It was too late. Energy 56: Dark It was a fight for survival. Reckless, unorganized, and unending. Every time I thought it was the end, that there wasn¡¯t enough of my Energy left to fight, a little more appeared. And a little more. Dimly, I¡¯m aware that I probably have the maximum Energy regeneration due to the blast not actually dealing any Health damage to me. It¡¯s making the difference, slowly but surely. When the battle first joined, my body was much more corrupt than Tom¡¯s. I¡¯d been able to scoop some off him, he¡¯d used his natural defences to fight some of it off himself¡­ I had no such benefits. I went in with a quarter of my pool, and I was hopelessly outmatched. But¡­ I had reinforcements, and the darkness was finite. Ultimately, these battles are to see who is left standing. Which Energy is able to totally overwhelm the other and seize control. As long as I remain, the Energy produced here is mine. ...It hurts. It hurts so much. Even within my Energetic view, the pain of the corruption in my body rings clearly. At first, it drove me to fight like a madman. Throw everything I had in desperate gambles to surround and corner chunks of the encroaching Energy so I could destroy it all without losing too much ground. All I had to do was hold out, and eventually I would win¡­ But the pain only grew. The torture continued, and so much of my body lay unseeable for me. Areas that could be packed with darkness or entirely empty, but the unending torrent that rushed to consume me held promises of nothing but agony. It has slowly eroded my will, to the point where now¡­ I feel cold, scared¡­ and alone. I feel a touch. The first sensation that isn¡¯t pain. The warmth¡­ is familiar¡­ yes, it¡¯s her, isn¡¯t it. I don¡¯t want to fight anymore. But¡­ I want to leave the others behind even less. My battle rages on. My Energy¡­ my soul, my will, my life... disperses more rapidly than it forms. I¡¯m losing¡­ but I cannot lose¡­ I will not lose. I cannot muster the same confidence or rage¡­ things that would usually bolster me. It hurts. I want to give up. Please don¡¯t let me¡­ Another familiar presence. More familiar. My closest friend. Kaythe. Knowing he¡¯s here is a comfort, but he surprises me beyond words when Energy of his own flows into me. Not much¡­ but enough. The relief of victory is so great that I cannot resist unconsciousness. Never in my life have I needed sleep more. ---
[A profound effort of Will and sacrifice detected. +2 Will. Why do you risk yourself so? Deep understanding of the nature of Energy production gained. Energy accumulation rate increased by half. You will destroy yourself and those who rely on you. Energetic Attack +2. You are a fool. Energy Manipulation +1]
[Domination Milestone achieved! 50% domination reached.]
My eyes open reluctantly. The darkness of The barrows surrounds me. I move to sit up, evoking a horrible pain in my head. ¡°Water¡­¡± I whisper, uncertain if anyone is around to hear it. The pressure of leather answers my question quickly. I grab the waterskin and drink deeply. The water tastes terrible, but I don¡¯t care in the slightest. ¡°Thanks¡­¡± I turn to look at who was kind enough to attend me. ¡°-Lauren?¡± -¡±Morning, idiot. Don¡¯t act so surprised. I brought Kaythe here too¡­ glad I did. You were looking pretty bad there for a while. You got a lot better with it around.¡± ¡°Y...yeah. He really helped¡­¡± To Kaythe: ¡°Thank you, Kaythe. I owe you yet again.¡± Turning back to Lauren, I continue: ¡°Did you sleep at all?¡± -¡±Yeah. I only just got here.¡± *click* (liar) -¡±I wasn¡¯t talking to you.¡± I chuckle slightly, before the pounding in my head returns from the minor shaking. Wincing, with my head in my hands, I manage: ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he was just¡­ corroborating your story.¡± -¡±I thought I told you not to lie to me anymore.¡± She replies, mirth evident in her tone. -¡±If you¡¯re ok enough to make jokes, I don¡¯t have to worry anymore.¡± ¡°Aww, you worried about me? How sweet... Oh, did you make sure that Shade screamed for me?¡± She starts to smile before it freezes on her face, melting away. -¡±Yeah¡­ yeah I did.¡± Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. Ignoring the throbbing in my head, I move to sit by her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Who was that thing?¡± I fucking knew that voice was familiar. -¡±Shaye.¡± Oh. Oh no. Christ I¡­ didn¡¯t know anything about her, but Lauren actually did. ¡°It¡¯s ok, Lauren.¡± -¡±No¡­ No it¡¯s not fucking ok. I did it again, Anthony, I fucking killed a human. Shit, I knew her. She was the medic before you showed up. She didn¡¯t know much, but she made people a little happier¡­ and I¡­ I¡­¡± She chokes up and stops speaking, head turned away from me. ¡°It¡¯s ok that it hurts you. It¡¯s ok that you feel shitty and guilty. Lauren, listen to me, that¡¯s a very healthy way to feel. I¡¯m not going to tell you it¡¯s not your fault. You saved us, and you bear the weight of that¡­ and I¡¯m so sorry you have to. But¡­ you¡¯re not falling backwards, ok? You aren¡¯t turning back into that person you were. That person wouldn¡¯t be sad about the fallen, or worried about me. Give yourself time.¡±Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Lauren shudders slightly, her words only whispers. -¡±I¡­ her face, Anthony¡­ it was so human¡­ so scared. What if she could have been saved?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t know. We didn¡¯t even know she was still¡­ alive, if you could call it that. Next time we¡¯ll be ready. There are two more who could still be out there, and- Lauren, listen to me- we will not fail them. Ok?¡± She nods too hard, trying to cover up her pain. I carefully move my arm around her shoulders, and for a moment, she sinks into me. Then something changes. I end up on the stone floor, my head aching like crazy from the sudden movement. -¡±I can¡¯t, ok? I just¡­ Nate is¡­ I can¡¯t.¡± She ran. I watched, almost in a daze. Nate? What did he d-... Nate. Alright motherfucker. --- My gait is still unsteady as I stumble outside. My head throbs with every step, but this is important. The sun nearly blinds me, but I struggle past it, searching. There. He¡¯s off on a nearby hill, standing around as if appreciating the scenery. Better enjoy it, asshole, I¡¯m here to ruin your day. This is nothing compared with what I dealt with last night. Nothing at all. ¡°What did you do to her.¡± I do my best to cover how much it hurts just to be alive. ~¡±Ah, Anthony. Good to see you in good health.¡± ¡°Answer me.¡± ~¡±Who, Shaye? She had to be kil-¡± ¡°Don¡¯t fuck with me.¡± ~¡±Don¡¯t use that tone with me, Anthony. Speak civilly or not at all.¡± ¡°What. Did you do. To Lauren.¡± ~¡±Ah, did she rebuke your advances? I did warn you she was quite prickly.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t been making advances, I¡¯ve been trying to help someone who was badly hurt. Slowly losing her mind in her isolation. I was trying to help her be who she wants to be.¡± ~¡±I am also, in fact, trying to help her. With me, she will become that which is her sole desire: to be the strongest. Unmatched in bloodlust and deadliness.¡± ¡°She doesn¡¯t want that. You¡¯d know if you ever fucking asked her. You want that. Like a mad dog, you want her on a leash. Your leash.¡± ~¡±Just because we want the same thing doesn¡¯t mean she doesn¡¯t follow me of her own free will.¡± ¡°Oh really? Than order her to speak her mind about you, disregarding all previous orders. Do it in front of me, here and now. We¡¯ll get her together. If it¡¯s as you say, you have nothing to fear, and I will either fall in line or leave, whichever is your choice.¡± ~¡±Lovely. Lauren?¡± She materializes next to me, her blank expression chiseled from stone. --- ~¡±Lauren, how do you feel about me?¡± -¡±Nate¡­ Is a kind¡­ and benevolent¡­ leader.¡± She hated saying it. She wanted desperately to bite her tongue, to spit, to twitch¡­ anything so that Anthony would realize something was wrong. She couldn¡¯t let him fall prey to Nate as well. ¡®Go!¡¯ she wanted to say, ¡®Run while you can still control your own mind! Leave us to a fate we all asked for.¡¯ Instead, she only held perfectly still. The picture of a disciplined warrior, but with a war between two powers raging in her heart. She hated it. ~¡±There, you see? Right from her mouth. Now, you said something about falling into line?¡± ¡°¡®Disregarding all other orders¡¯. Say it.¡± ~¡±Anthony, tsk tsk. I do believe you misunderstand your place. I give the commands here. Kneel.¡± Her knees lost all strength and she fell immediately to her knees. ¡®Damnit¡­ DAMNIT. It¡¯s too late now¡­ too late for any of us¡­¡¯ ¡°Fuck you, you worthless piece of filth.¡± She hadn¡¯t seen. She had been staring at the ground. It seemed like the most important thing in the world that she kneel. She couldn¡¯t disappoint Nate, but she also felt like she was disappointing herself. Who would she ever kneel to? Anthony was no longer where he had stood. She heard a meaty *thwack*, and looked up in time to see Nate fall to the ground, blood running from his face. Had Anthony even flinched? That command was strong enough to affect her, and she knew it hadn¡¯t been intended for her... What¡­ what was this guy? Nate sputtered in disbelief, spitting blood as he tried to haul himself to his feet. ~¡±How¡­? Very well. You try to rise above your station. You have for quite some time. I have no further need of an untamed ruffian such as yourself¡­ Lauren, my dear?¡± Her head perked up, unbidden. ~¡±It is clear you care for Lauren, child, and that will make it all the more poetic when she slits your throat.¡± No. Nate turned to her. ~¡±Kill him.¡± No. She rose. Do not do this. She moved to him, where he towered over Nate. Please. Her hand raised, and she saw¡­ ¡°We¡¯re not going to do this again, are we?¡± -the most confident smile she¡¯d ever seen, plastered across his face. Why? Did he have so much faith in her? Did he think she would resist this? She couldn¡¯t. She wouldn¡¯t. She wanted to kill him so much, it physically hurt her. But some part of her rebelled so strongly, that she could slow herself. But not stop. It was far more than¡­ than¡­ ¡®Kill¡­ him.¡¯ Could that be¡­? It was over in a flash. His blood ran freely over hands that did not shake. She felt something click. A path, chosen. A life, locked into place. The look in his eyes¡­ the shock, the raw betrayal, the mouth moving soundlessly as it tried to speak¡­ She had killed before, and she knew she would kill again, but never before had the act felt this good. She spit on his corpse. A righteous burial for a righteous man. Nobody deserved it more than Nate. Anthony fell to his knees, then all fours, laughing. She wiped her blade on the man¡¯s clothes and sauntered back over to him, extending a hand. He looked up at her approach, a manic smile on his face. ¡°I don¡¯t have the fucking nerves for this.¡± -¡±You¡¯re insane, you know that? That was so close. So close. If he had been slightly less careless, that would be you, and I¡¯d be a puppet forever. What if he had told me to ¡®never harm him¡¯? Huh? What if he said: ¡®kill Anthony¡¯? You¡¯re mad.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ to be fair, I¡¯d probably have survived it if you tried to kill me. All wouldn¡¯t have been lost¡­ plus, I know guys like him. He was absolutely sure you would never even want to hurt him. Sure showed him.¡± It struck her as strange to feel so relaxed¡­ even giddy, about killing someone when she had been bothered so much before¡­ but Nate was a vile man and deserved death. As an afterthought, she moved to kick Nate¡¯s corpse to the bottom of the hill where no one could easily see the corpse. Let the Carnines have a snack. He was a son of a bitch, only fair if he goes back to them. -¡±Let¡¯s go back. You need rest, and I need a bath.¡± ¡°Help me limp?¡± She laughed, more freely than she had in a really long time. -¡±Come here, cripple.¡± Energy 57: Preparations How the fuck am I going to explain to this group of people that I had a hand in killing their beloved overlord? Trick question, I¡¯m fucking not. I don¡¯t want to be lynched. There was probably no one around to see what happened, Nate probably wanted no witnesses to my murder. And if someone happened to see it¡­ I¡¯ll figure that out when I get to it. He was fucking mind-controlling them! Though it might be hard to convince them of that¡­ Hopefully people will be too preoccupied with survival to investigate thoroughly, and as long as we figure out some kind of substitute leadership system, everything should be fine. The good news is that Lauren showing up anywhere covered in blood is actually the norm, so it won¡¯t arouse anyone¡¯s suspicions. I can¡¯t be bothered to think anymore for now. It¡¯s stupid and a waste of time to sleep more during the day, but I feel like I didn¡¯t sleep at all last night, and freeing the group from the shackles of a mind-controller is more than enough work for one day. Except¡­ he was a huge boon to the group as well. Those mass buffs were really strong, and his mental influence kept the team orderly. Without that? We¡¯ll have to keep people together the old fashioned way. Building bonds. Problems for later. I yawn and return to the coffin I rose from, falling asleep as soon as I hit the bedding. --- *shhhhING* *SHING* *shhhhING* My eyes snap open, and I frantically look around the room to assess the threat. My eyes focus on the only other person in the room. Dean. Sharpening his sword. ¡°What¡­ the fuck, Dean?¡± +¡±Oh sorry, were you sleeping? I couldn¡¯t tell anyone was in here. Maybe you shouldn¡¯t be resting in so much. I was just trying to sharpen my sword after it got chipped.¡± His tone is as nasty as his attitude. ¡°Yeah, I should have pushed you out as a distraction instead of doing it myself. My sincerest apologies for saving your life.¡± *TANG* +¡±You HIT ME WITH YOUR SWORD.¡± He practically snarls the words. ¡°You were attacking me. With intent. I¡¯m no fool, Dean.¡± +¡±The hell you aren¡¯t. You¡¯re picking a fight with your betters, and you ought to know your place. What are you going to do to replace my sword?¡± Damn, that¡¯s a familiar line of thinking. Such a shame what happened to the last guy, eh? ¡°Nothing.¡± +¡±Oh? Well maybe I¡¯ll just take yours then. It¡¯s not like you can even use it anyway.¡± He stoops and picks up my sword where it lay by the wall, unsheathing it. *CLANG* He drops it almost immediately, recoiling as though it bit him. +¡±What the hell? Ow! What, is this a cursed weapon? You fucking maniac!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not cursed, it¡¯s mine. Which means you shouldn¡¯t touch it. Or did preschool teach you nothing? Go sharpen somewhere else, I have no interest in your boasting.¡± +¡±Oh yeah? Or what? You gonna call your girlfriend on me? I¡¯m not scared of her.¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Good thing you lowered your voice. There are at least two parts of that little line of yours that¡¯ll get you stabbed, poisoned, and maimed.¡± +¡±Doesn¡¯t change the fact that you¡¯re a weak piece of shit. Why don¡¯t you come at me with that stick of yours and we¡¯ll see who¡¯s worth more?¡± I smile darkly. ¡°You¡¯re really not that clever about your attempts to kill me, are you? What, were you planning an ¡®accident¡¯ during our ¡®spar¡¯? ¡®He was too weak, he dodged into it¡¯ you¡¯d say. Oh, don¡¯t make that face. The worst part is that you came in here to pick that fight in the first place just because you don¡¯t like me. That¡¯s despite the fact that there aren¡¯t many humans left, despite the fact that I¡¯m one of the few remaining creatures on this planet that won¡¯t stab you in the back. You really put rocks to shame with how fucking dumb you are. Or maybe you¡¯re just a sociopath? No, stop, I don¡¯t want to hear it. If you still want to fight, I¡¯ll come out in a few hours. I¡¯ll bring a mediator. Anyone dies, the other dies too. I know someone with no qualms about that. Yeah?¡± He stares for a long while, breathing unevenly. He looks like he¡¯s about to say something a few times, but ultimately throws the rock he was using to scratch his blade (he obviously had no idea how to sharpen) to the ground and leaves. Good riddance. --- The adrenaline coursing through my veins made it hard to go back to sleep. Exhaustions won out, and I got a bit more blissful unconsciousness in before I woke again. Not refreshed, but better. I immediately make my way to Zathis. The doors to his chamber remain exactly as they were last night. I guess he never ended up closing them. He was either very serious about how much of a pushover those monsters were or he had a lot of faith in us¡­ Or maybe he was going to slam them shut if he heard us fall. Whichever his reasoning, it feels nice that he probably had some faith in us. ¡°Zathis, did you sleep well?¡± Only the top of the giant¡¯s head is visible from the entrance, as he appears to be reclining in his gigantic sarcophagus. He stirs at my words. ¡°Anthony! I see you are well. This is most pleasing. Your companion was not much for conversation, but far more intelligent than any other of its kind. How did you manage such a thing?¡± I like you, Zathis, but I¡¯m not explaining my secret weapon to everyone. I¡¯m still acutely aware that you can crush me in a moment. ¡°Kaythe is just the smartest monster I¡¯ve come across. It¡¯s probably why he was willing to join me instead of attacking off the bat like everything else.¡± ¡°True¡­¡± He trails off, stroking his chin with his massive hand. ¡°Anthony, I have not been honest with you. Though I am not entirely to blame for this, I now believe it is important and prudent to tell you¡­ more. Though I have not lied to you in our conversation, I have not mentioned some very important things. Allow me to explain.¡± Zathis spoke, and the more he spoke, the more concerned I became¡­ and the more I understood about what had gone wrong. Zathis had been chosen as a ¡®Fixture¡¯, or a persistent feature that occurred in every iteration of this ¡®trial¡¯. He had proven to be a monumental influence when the Dwarves were undertaking this world¡¯s trial, and his mind and body had been preserved as a dungeon guardian. It was, apparently, very boring, and very painful¡­ but he did it because the ¡®administrators¡¯ had promised to save the Dwarves as a species after they failed. According to Zathis, there is a tower on another continent that reaches up to the celestial rings that pass every night, and those creatures that can make it to the top, all the way from the starting area, are considered ¡®worthy¡¯. Creatures who fail this test are generally destroyed and consumed. However, sometimes the administrators see potential in keeping certain creatures around, and allow them to remain on this world to enhance the testing of future species. Species like humans. It turns out that the species being tested, humans, are awarded a Tier 1 status. This means we can have skills and level them. Meanwhile, the Fixtures are reduced to Tier 0, meaning they cannot level skills, and only spawn with a random collection of possible skills determined by their species during their own trial. They are incapable of growth, in a meaningful sense. The giant claimed that the quests that everyone received would eventually lead us to the tower, and we would climb. The dwarves failed in this because they wished not to fight, trying to resettle into peaceful cities. Apparently, the game takes measures to prevent that, but Zathis could not say what. He also could not say how many iterations of this he had gone through with countless other species. Some things do not survive in memory between iterations of the trial. Specifics tend not to make it through, just a general idea. Which makes the fact that the monsters are most likely actively looking for this dungeon all the more unsettling. They shouldn¡¯t remember its existence. Energy 58: Preparations ¡°I fear I may have been misled. I fear that my people, the Dwarves, have been preserved, but as slaves like I. As monsters, consumed by a dark force. The thought¡­ troubles me deeply.¡± I only nod. I can¡¯t imagine what it would be like to sacrifice yourself in this way for time beyond memory, only to find out that you¡¯ve been betrayed. To not know whether this was the case from the start, or if the betrayal occurred recently was a horrible thought to contemplate, let alone experience. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know, Zathis. I¡¯ll keep on the lookout for Dwarves that haven¡¯t been corrupted, but¡­ the only ones I¡¯ve seen are undead and corrupted.¡± ¡°I understand. Thank you, Anthony, for this, as well as for striving to defend my home this past night. You are most strange, but in a way I can only respect. I believe you are worthy, and deserving of power. I will grant you... a gift. What you do with it will likely define you. Perhaps your entire species. There is, behind my resting place, a small passage that continues into the ground. This passage leads into the rest of The Barrows, and is full of both undead and items of value. I will allow you and yours passage into this place. For you, personally, I give information: dive in the pool within these halls, and find the key to ascension.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± I¡¯m taken aback by the deluge of strange praise and rewards. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s¡­ extremely helpful, actually. Just the dungeon alone, I mean. There was more dungeon behind you? How did I not notice¡­ whatever, this is great! We desperately need more items to effectively fight against the monsters. Skill levels likely won¡¯t be enough, and we have to be strong enough to defeat them before they find this place, or we¡¯re probably scr- *ahem* going to die.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad I could be of assistance. It will be a shame when you all move on.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if we can help it, we would probably try to settle a city nearby, if not directly above this place. If the least I can do to thank you is ensuring you have company, I shall.¡± ¡°I believe you would be correct, if only you were not the only one to visit me.¡± Nobody else came here? I mean, yeah it¡¯s a bit dangerous to get over the traps, and we haven¡¯t really lit this area, but¡­ I don¡¯t know, I figured some people would come check it out. Lauren, at least¡­ but she¡¯s also had a rough couple days.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°If you are willing to train them, I believe I could convince them to give you a chance. Once they¡¯re here, I¡¯m certain your demeanor will win some of them over. Most of us are pretty nice people.¡± ¡°Again, my thanks.¡± ¡°Not a problem. Ah, right. You, uh, mentioned a pool of water? I¡­ remember a pool of water, and I just want to be sure we¡¯re talking about the same pool, cause the one I¡¯m thinking of is dark, cold, terrifying, and I know you couldn¡¯t possibly mean that pool, so where is this one?¡± Pleasepleasepleaseplease- ¡°It is down a shoddily built passage off the second hallway from the entrance.¡± ¡°Ah, lovely.¡± Shit. --- Lauren punches me squarely in the arm. ¡°Hey! You said you needed a bath!¡± -¡±I already took one while you were resting. Plus, I¡¯m sure as hell not taking one with you there, in a cold, underground lake. Fuck that. If you need to go for a swim, go. And honestly, you probably need a bath more than I did, considering I bet the last time you bathed in something other than blood was when you fell in the river.¡± ¡°Ok, well¡­ fair, but will you at least watch me to be sure nothing happens?¡± -¡±Dude, you want me to watch you bathe? Presumptuous.¡± ¡°You¡¯re being insufferable on purpose, and I hate you. Not a bath, just looking for something.¡± -¡±I know it¡¯s probably been a while since you took off your clothes, but I promise, it¡¯s probably still there. I haven¡¯t seen it lying around.¡± Only Lauren could manage dick jokes during a survival situation, but the touch of normalcy is always appreciated. The Lauren who¡¯s currently ribbing me mercilessly is such a far cry from the person I first met, it¡¯s more than a little amazing. She¡¯s simultaneously much more and much less cooperative. I know she¡¯ll help me, but she¡¯s taking her tithe in amusement at my expense. You¡¯d think there¡¯d be a bit of gratitude or respect for freeing her from mental domination, but whatever, sure, this is fine. I remove my hands from my face, trying to cover my quiet laughing with the excuse of being totally exasperated with her. ¡°Will you just come with? You can do something else in the meantime, I just don¡¯t want to disappear below the water and never come back up.¡± -¡°Fine, but you¡¯re giving me a dose of Energy first.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t it be after? I might need it¡­¡± -¡±Nah, if you die, I¡¯ll be way worse off without it.¡± ¡°All the more reason to protect me. Come on.¡± Feigning unwillingness, she complies. Energy 59: Preparations I sit in the pool, dangling my legs in it. It¡¯s taken me at least five minutes to will myself to do just this much, and I¡¯m fucking terrified. It feels so much more cold than previously, and I know that¡¯s psychosomatic and related to me actually needing to immerse myself in it, but god I hate this. I hate this so fucking much. I start to lower myself further in, supporting my weight with my hands, and carefully searching with my legs for the bottom¡­ which isn¡¯t there. I get about to my waist before I decide this is just fucking terrible. I start to pull myself back out, rethinking this whole ¡®reward¡¯ idea, when I¡¯m kicked squarely in the back. The water closes around me and foams as my panic fueled thrashing churns the entire pool. I hear water smack against the far wall as my ¡®Fortify¡¯ activates and my swimming strokes launch me toward the peninsula, displacing huge amounts of water. I start to haul myself up, when Lauren steps on my shoulder, trying to hold me back. -¡±No, stay in. Do your stupid bullshit. I don¡¯t want to hang around here forever while you pussyfoot around.¡± ¡°FUCK YOU WHY. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS.¡± My voice rings out loudly in the confined space, the sound of churning, wavy water filling the subsequent silence. -¡°Shh, you¡¯re going to attract attention. You¡¯re fine.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to fucking pull you in.¡± -¡±Only if you want to be healing knife wounds for a while.¡± I stop struggling against her foot. I¡¯m deeply uncomfortable, but I try as hard as I can to suppress it. She¡¯s right, I¡¯m wasting time, and the sooner I find the stupid thing, the sooner I can get out. Gah, I know it¡¯s irrational, but that only makes me hate it more. That and there could EASILY be some horrible tentacle monster in here and I don¡¯t want to think about that at all. Why! What eldritch god did I piss off to cause this to happen? I¡¯d much rather god run at the monster camp, ass naked. Lauren shoves a bottle at me, already glowing. -¡±Go.¡± I snarl at her half-heartedly, but accept the bottle, and she removes her foot from my shoulder and sits down. -¡±I¡¯ll be here. Don¡¯t stay down too long. If I jump in to save you and you¡¯re just holding your breath, remember: knife wounds.¡± The light illuminates a large amount of brown, kelplike plant in the bottom of the lake, which I now understand is¡­ at least 20 feet deep. Great. I take a deep breath, steel my nerves, and submerge. The water burns my eyes, almost like Chlorine in a pool, but I put the strange sensation to the back of my mind. I swim down until the pressure in my ears grows too painful, pinch my nose and blow to equalize, and continue going down. There¡¯s almost no sound in the lake aside from my movements and the occasional splash from the earlier turmoil, and even those are nearly silent. It¡¯s eerie, but the light helps keep it from being overwhelming. I stop right above the tips of the weird plants. Trying to swim through them would probably be a bad idea¡­ it¡¯s really easy to get tangled up. I really don¡¯t want to drown, so I swim carefully around the bottom, using the light to look down into them. Unfortunately, their constantly shifting movement makes it impossible for me to see the bed of the pond, so I try pushing some water at them. The plants spread in the wake of the unexpected current, revealing some rubble, but nothing interesting, before closing back together a moment later. I try this three more times before my lungs start to feel the lack of Oxygen, and I make my way to the surface. I tread water for a few moments, taking time to gasp for a while, and leave Lauren¡¯s smirking face behind as I dive again. Slowly but surely, I grid-search the bottom of the lake, being sure to check the walls for good measure. Part of the problem is that I don¡¯t know what exactly I¡¯m looking for. Zathis said it was some kind of ¡®key¡¯, but was that a metaphor or is it an actual key? I¡¯d have asked, but he seemed really cagey about specifics. Maybe he couldn¡¯t say more. I didn¡¯t want to push. I¡¯m mostly looking for something that seems acutely different. He did say there was just one, so I need to find the one unique object in here. God help me if it¡¯s buried¡­ but there¡¯s no way. That would mean I¡¯d have to rip up all the kelp shit and then DIG UNDERWATER. No. It¡¯ll be hidden, but not that hidden. It has to be sufficient, for whichever neurotic asshole hid it, for the thing to be in a dungeon hidden by illusions, in an unassuming side passage, under the creepiest fucking water ever, and lightly covered by some plants. Right? Grumbling underwater isn¡¯t smart, but I¡¯m sorely tempted anyway. Wait-¡­? I had just searched a space, seen nothing, and started to move on, but I could have sworn I saw something still glowing in there. When I brought my light back, I couldn¡¯t tell anything. Probably because my light is drowning out the one I saw, they all look the same¡­ but there was definitely (probably) something glowing. I¡¯m unwilling to drop my light into the kelp, but I need it out of the way, so I swim back to the surface, drop my light next to a very confused rogue, and dive in roughly the same spot again. The process of finding the actual place again is at least an order of magnitude harder without good lighting, but eventually I see a glimmer: a thin, stone slab, slightly covered by other miscellaneous rocks, and blending right in with them. All except for the faint light it gives off. I swim down, grab it, and swim up just as I start feeling the 4 foot long strands of plant closing back in around me. The stone in my hand makes my strokes less effective, and my legs are brushed by the plants as I ascend.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I feel pressure on my leg, and my upward motion stops suddenly. There¡¯s no way I got tangled, I was barely moving my legs, but I feel something sturdy holding me down. I feel the panic trying to set in again, but I fight it and rev up Fortify again, kicking and pushing water down with everything I have. The sudden explosion of force, shoots me out of the water slightly, and I almost splash back down to the plants when I fall back in. Thankfully, I manage to avoid re-entangling myself and swim to the peninsula. The leg that got trapped is in agony, and I quickly pull myself out of the water so I can examine it. Lauren looks alarmed. -¡±What the fuck, are you a fucking dolphin- you¡¯re bleeding, here- OH GOD IT¡¯S MOVING, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT.¡± I look down to find that not only is she correct about the bleeding, but also about the ¡®what the fuck is that¡¯. The kelp, or what I thought was kelp, wriggles like a living thing while still attached to my leg. I start to grab it to pull it off, but remember the force they held on with before, and instead send some of the new orange Energy to deal with it.
[Target lacks any will, elimination guaranteed. Dominate(-1 max E) OR Eliminate(+1 fragment, +2 Power, +0 Max E)]
I don¡¯t know much, but I know I definitely don¡¯t need a creepy underwater leech for a pet. It¡¯s not much, and it definitely doesn¡¯t make up for the body horror of a plant leech sticking to my leg and sucking my blood, but the implications of that notification are worth more than everything else, except maybe the stone tablet in my hands. I could raise my Energy pool using orange as my offense instead of red, and have the chance to force a Domination on things that aren¡¯t as intrinsically awesome as Kaythe. Awesome: not immediately trying to eat me. It¡¯s amazing how my standards have fallen. This changes a lot. But the stone outclasses that discovery entirely.
[Stone of Ascension - Raises the user¡¯s Tier by one level. Cost: 5000 Power.]
There¡¯s no option to use it, probably because I¡¯m not even close to the Power requirement, but damn. Zathis only told me a bit about Tiers, but what he said made it seem like they¡¯re a pretty big deal. If I¡¯m Tier 1 already, this would bring me to Tier 2¡­ which would do something, but probably an extremely useful something. It fucking better for that cost. I put it into my soggy pocket and start to put my other clothes and sword back on. -¡±Aww, is the show over already?¡± ¡°Shut it or I¡¯ll throw this leech thing at you.¡± She frowns slightly and glances at it in disgust. -¡±What did you get out of your ¡®leisurely swim¡¯?¡± ¡°It¡¯s essentially an upgrade that costs a shit ton of Power. But, there¡¯s no indication what the upgrade does, so¡­ I¡¯ll have to accumulate it first to find out.¡± -¡±Huh. Maybe I could use it to empty out my Power supply so you can fix me.¡± She smiles coyly at me. ¡°Fat chance. It¡¯s 5 grand, do you have that lying around?¡± Her smile remains but she shakes her head. -¡±That¡¯s going to take a bit. A lot of hunts¡­ or one big one.¡± Her smile says there¡¯s more to that last part. ¡°Did you have something in mind?¡± -¡±Hmm¡­ have you seen the leader of the monster camp?¡± ----- He did not rest during the night. Nor had he any other night, for he had no need. His body was powerful beyond measure. He had been intended as a final encounter for the fledgeling ¡®competitors¡¯, but his subordinates had done well. The resistance had been broken before he had even arrived. They had won. He growled. Almost. The beast called Cerberus was, so far, unable to fully execute his plan. It would only be a few more days, at most, until he was ready, but for now¡­ He had to wait. He hated waiting. His patrols would find the ¡®dungeon¡¯, and all this will have been worth it. Saving his energy, succumbing to lesser beings again and again due to their numbers alone¡­ he would be repaid in full. He detested dealing with one of the administrators, but it was required. He needed part of his memory so he could save his species from this recurring hell. If he had to do this anymore¡­ appear, watch his kin be slaughtered, and die as well at the hands of the weak... he would go insane. Then, his species was surely doomed. He was the last one capable of leading them, and while he remained sane, they had a chance. His subordinates responded to his will without need for communication. He wanted, and they acted. Without this, they would be unable to survive as a group. Even his Lieutenants were only marginally more intelligent than the lowest ranking, and the slime balls were¡­ almost useless. They had mostly been disposed of. The ones that remained languished in pit traps where the unwary would fall and be consumed. The best they could do. He knew that insanity had already claimed all of his underlings. He knew he would join them if he could not succeed. This ¡®contestant¡¯ species would suffer in their stead, but it was of little concern. They had not lost everything over and over like he had. He thought no longer on the plight of others. They would find the dungeon, and they would escape the cycle forever. Energy 60: Preparations ¡°That sounds absolutely fucking terrifying.¡± -¡±It would be one hell of a fight!¡± ¡°Maybe- maybe if we could separate it from the others, it would be possible¡­ but it has an army of monsters. It¡¯s not like it will sit around while we kill them all, or just come out to meet us.¡± -¡±I think we can figure something out. We¡¯ll need more than just us, but if we cut off the head of that leader, the rest will be disorganized. Easy pickings for us.¡± It¡¯s a weird feeling to be tempted with glory and reward but still feel petrified with fear. It isn¡¯t something that happens frequently in life that isn¡¯t governed by magic, survival, and death. It unnerves me how tempting the idea is, even while the back of my mind warns me against prideful folly. Lauren¡¯s suggestion is accurate, though; this would all be over quickly if the thing behind the Carnines¡¯ seemingly organized movements was removed¡­ but she might as well be suggesting we just ¡®go back to our own planet¡¯ in terms of how possible it is. That being said, I can¡¯t dismiss the idea because we will have to do it eventually. That quest needs to be completed, broken or otherwise, if we¡¯re going to ever get to that tower Zathis mentioned, and that¡¯s the only way off this place. We need more information first. Scouting, training, fortifying¡­ everything needs to be better. ¡°Ok, we should meet regarding our next steps. We need to give everyone an idea of what needs to be accomplished and push them to fill in where they¡¯re needed. Especially now that¡­ well, we need to reestablish some kind of structure. Help me gather everybo-... shit. Ok, one thing first, I have to take on Dean. Mind refereeing?¡± -¡±Wait what?¡± ¡°He¡¯s¡­ a dick. And he¡¯ll be a problem unless he and I can work something out. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s been biting his ass lately, but he¡¯s gotten too belligerent. I think I might be able to fix it, but¡­ I¡¯m going to need to fight him.¡± -¡±Uhh¡­ ok¡­? Guys are fucking weird.¡± ¡°I swear it¡¯s not a posturing thing. I mean- look, tell me honestly that you respected me, in the slightest, when you thought I couldn¡¯t fight worth a damn, despite the fact that I could regrow limbs.¡± -¡±...Point.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a warrior thing. Fighters respect strength.¡± I hope. --- +¡±It¡¯s about time you showed up.¡± Dean scowls at me but doesn¡¯t look at Lauren. I really wish I felt as confident as I need to look. ¡°Alright. I¡¯d rather use blunted weapons, but neither of us have blunted swords. With that in mind, no cuts above the naval. I can probably keep someone alive if they don¡¯t die immediately. Any fuckups in that regard will result in Lauren sending the living one to hell where they belong. Also I¡¯m going to talk the whole time, so if you want to shut me up you¡¯re going to have to make me try.¡± Dean looks taken aback for a moment, before a sinister grin spreads across his face. +¡±Ready?¡± I draw my sword. We stand in a valley, not too far from where blood was spilled earlier today. There¡¯s plenty of room to move around, and Lauren, in addition to being a ref, is also keeping watch for sudden monster attacks. As there doesn¡¯t seem to be much else going on, most of the others are nearby, either watching, or, in Marie¡¯s case, repairing and reworking the barricades. On my way out, I had mentioned some improvements I had thought of (spikes on the ceiling, projectile defenses, arrow slits for our ranged combatants) and the vague list of ideas had sparked some inspiration in her. I made a mental note to get her more raw material as soon as I was done with Dean. If I can walk, that is. ¡°Ready.¡± He didn¡¯t wait for a moment, launching toward me with all the speed he showed last night. I slash up, attempting to fully stop his strike. A moment before impact, I realize he greatly outclasses me in Strength, and turn my sword slightly to deflect instead. The sword grazes just over my head, and I side step and rush forward, running the length of my sword along his side. The cut is shallow, but I landed the first strike.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. +¡±Ack! Bastard!¡± He roars, and swings his sword around, however I continue moving past him, easily getting out of range of his follow-up. I whirl. ¡°You¡¯re underestimating me. Fight like you mean it. I don¡¯t even have the Greatsword Proficiency skill, isn¡¯t that crazy?¡± His eyes narrow in anger, but his stance changes. He hold his sword at eye level, two handed and ready to respond to any strike. He waits, but I don¡¯t make a move. ¡°What the fuck happened between the first time we met and when Rav and I set out on a hunt?¡± He doesn¡¯t respond, but his glare intensifies. He moves slowly towards me, and I move just as slowly away. His frown deepens. ¡°I had thought you were pretty cool when we first met. You talked to me when it was clear I was uncomfortable and alone within the group.¡± He rushes forward again, intent on stabbing me directly. I push the hilt of my sword to the left, parrying with the base of my blade, but before I can counter, Dean whirls with the momentum of my parry and strikes at me significantly faster than before. I turn my downward slash from an offensive strike into a defensive one, smacking his blade low as I just manage to jump the strike. His attack moves smoothly into another strike, and we exchange a flurry of blows. His speed keeps increasing, but mine evens out fairly quickly, and I quickly start losing ground. I feel lines of fire appearing on my arms and legs as I end up losing more and more exchanges. My grip tingles, getting more numb with every overpowering strike I try to move away from me. Dean¡¯s wicked grin has only gotten darker, and the first cut I landed isn¡¯t slowing him down at all. I couldn¡¯t get much experience reading body language when I trained with Zathis, so it¡¯s only with my Intelligence stat letting me analyze more than I should in less time, combined with my high Perception from Kaythe that I can even do this much. I have to keep predicting his attacks perfectly so I can just barely escape with minor wounds, despite the skill difference. I¡¯m mostly acting on instinct, while he seems to be barely trying. He feints, and I misread. Badly. The real strike isn¡¯t hard, but it gets me in the side. I correct fast enough that I can dislodge his sword from my side before it gets more than an inch in, but I feel my core muscles stiffen. Energy already rushes to take care of it, but it isn¡¯t a job that can be fixed in mere seconds, and that mobility was the only thing keeping me in the fight. Fortify activates as Dean takes a moment to relish what he surely believes to be the beginning of his victory. He jumps back, raises his sword, and executes a powerful overhead strike. He knows I¡¯m not strong enough to stop the attack, and I wouldn¡¯t be able to deflect and dodge with my wound. His surprise clearly shows as my counter not only stops his strike, but also sends his sword back the way it came. He barely holds onto the hilt as the weight of the sword and the sudden change to his center of balance sends him stumbling back, but I don¡¯t stop. I follow up mercilessly leaving shallow cuts all over his body, smashing his sword over and over. He clearly has never encountered someone stronger than him, so his deflections are insufficient and absorb too much of the attack¡¯s power, failing both to protect him and knocking his guard away. ¡°You changed, all of a sudden, and you act like you hate me. For what? Why? What did I do that wronged you? Fuck! I¡¯m really, truly sorry for whatever it was! But I can¡¯t ask for forgiveness for something I don¡¯t understand. Talk!¡± +¡±Fuck you!¡± He desperately strikes at me, and I feel my Energy waning. This needs to end. I put everything I have into attacking his blade directly. I mimic his motion in the exact inverse, and the collision is nearly deafening. My sword rests at his neck. His sheathed itself in the grass a few feet away. The only sound is our heavy breathing. The tension in our eye contact suffuses the air. None of the spectators dare make a sound. I toss my sword to the ground, letting Fortify deactivate before I exhaust myself. Dean doesn¡¯t move for another second, but without warning, he launches forward. My world jars suddenly, as I find myself on my back with Dean on top of me. I bring my hands up barely in time to block the first of a barrage of punches. Some get through, or target my chest instead of my head, and I can¡¯t see where his strikes are targeting with my hands in the way. +¡±You smug son of a bitch! I had one thing! One person that relied on me! One person who couldn¡¯t live without me, and you took him away! You sick son of a bitch! Then you closed me off, denied me when I tried to help, you fucking shut me out! Now?! You ask why?! WHAT YOU DID?! How dare you take the high road with me! I¡¯ll kill you, you fucking monster!¡± His ranting ends as his voice cracks and the hurt becomes evident in his voice. I taste blood in my mouth. My arms radiate pain. My beleaguered Energy supply flows to assist, but it''s not important right now. Finally having gotten the ¡®dialogue¡¯ I wanted, and the opening I needed, I spring up, into his blows, and wrap my arms around him in a sort of hug. He keeps trying to punch my undefended head, but he can¡¯t get effective leverage anymore with me so close to him, so they¡¯re weak at best. I twist to the side, bucking my hips. He tries to throw out a hand to stabilize himself, but I¡¯m already rolling with him. I pull his stabilizing hand in, causing him to fall hard. Hand to Hand Proficiency was 100% worth it. ¡°Then *thud* fucking *smack* talk *crack* to me *thud* you stupid *THUD* bastard!¡± I disengage from the pin I had him in and stand over him, his face bleeds profusely and his eyes are squeezed shut. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to take Rav from you. I don¡¯t think Rav even knew you thought that, cause I sure as hell didn¡¯t. But this isn¡¯t something you should talk to me about, it¡¯s him. I think you¡¯re probably an alright guy, Dean, but not like this. Now, do you want me to heal that for you?¡± +¡±FFfff-...¡± He instead takes a few more breaths, cringing in pain. +¡±Yeah¡­ just a bit.¡± Energy 61: Preparations I wouldn¡¯t say it was a total success. Everyone saw me beat a guy¡¯s face for a while, but, judging by the responses from the more mild people, they didn¡¯t think I went overboard. It was really hard to hold back, especially at the end. He sucker punched me after losing a duel. Seriously, who the hell does that? Then I had to lie about what I thought about him, directly to his bleeding face. I guess it¡¯s easier to do that when your face is also bleeding. Fortunately, he couldn¡¯t just ignore words from the guy who beat him twice, so when he got up, looking completely healed, he nodded at me and went to grab Rav. Hopefully they work it out. It took a bit of time to get us both healed up, and once the show was over, nobody was inclined to watch us sit there. That made slightly more work for me, as I had to run around and gather everyone up so we could talk about the future of the group and not about the mysterious absence of Nate. Marie and Tom were a little reluctant to join because apparently Nate had told them to work on defenses, but I managed to convince them that this meeting was about that and they needed to be involved. A feat that, honestly, would have been impossible if Nate still held sway over them. They¡¯re probably still going through the motions at this point, and it¡¯ll be a while before they totally regain their individuality¡­ I wish I could tell them he¡¯s a manipulating, and dead, bastard, but¡­ I refuse to believe they would accept me afterwards. I need them, at least until we can establish a town. If they want to ostracize me then, I¡¯ll take it. I¡¯m more interested in pursuing these quests than being part of a town, but it seems like most of the group would love nothing more than to settle in. Our goals align, for the moment. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like anyone knows where Nate is for now,¡± I address the small group in front of me, ¡°but we can¡¯t sit around idle until he gets back. We need to put together an idea of how we¡¯re going to take on the monster camp. I know, they are many and dangerous, but we can¡¯t live peacefully without first defeating them. We can¡¯t start our town until that threat is gone. To that end, I propose two things: first, we fortify The Barrows to the point of being impenetrable, even to their numbers. Second, those who are willing will train for combat and haul materials for constructing the aforementioned fortifications. By the time the enemy discovers us, we will be a small fighting force of unparalleled skill, with potions, weapons, armor, and fortifications to increase our ability beyond any reasonable measure. And we will live. We will not succumb.¡± The silence afterwards is almost deafening. I¡­ don¡¯t really do speeches, maybe this was a bad idea- A few heads nod, silently. Lynn pipes up: ~¡±How will we train? We will stagnate if all we do is fight with each other and practice alone. Even with your healing to prevent accidents from having a lasting impact, we would require combat, and fighting the Carnine forces is hardly training.¡± I incline my head to her, slightly. ¡°Good point. The Shades that invade each night and fending off any Carnine ambushes should serve to keep giving us real combat experience to temper what we learn in practice. As to the practice part, I would like you all to meet with Zathis, the giant in the back of our home. He¡¯s- yes, I understand your concerns, but- listen, he¡¯s the one who trained me in the use of a greatsword, ok? I got that good after a few hours of training with him. It¡¯s gruelling work, but you¡¯ll improve by leaps and bounds. You¡¯ll see why. Those of you who want to be a part of the offensive force, let me know. The rest will help with either gathering people from the surrounding area and trying to convince them to join us, or with the fortification process.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. I look expectantly at the group. ¡°Anyone who has thoughts or ideas, please share them.¡± It¡¯s like¡­ school, when the teacher asks an open question, but there¡¯s no smartass in the class who answers everything. I don¡¯t even get an awkward pity cough. They¡­ might be a bit too used to following orders. I¡¯ll have to figure something out, because I don¡¯t plan on sticking around here forever. Somebody (who can¡¯t mind control) will lead, or we¡¯ll get a council going, or something. It works for now because we have so few people and we¡¯re focussed on combat and defense over infrastructure, but¡­ it¡¯s something to note for the future. I dismiss the meeting, and people start to wander off, either back to what they were doing, or waiting on me for more guidance. Lauren, Lynn, and Tom come up to me after the others have dispersed. I inform them a bit about Zathis¡¯ training process and promise to guide them over soon, so they wouldn¡¯t get stuck on traps. Lauren, in an uncharacteristically helpful move, declares that she isn¡¯t going to bother waiting while I ¡®put on my prom dress¡¯ and yells at the others to follow her. Tom starts to follow, but I pull him aside instead. ¡°I know you want to be part of offense, but we¡¯re going to need some actual armor and weapons for people who don¡¯t have it. Is that something you can handle?¡± Tom smiles weakly in response. >¡°I would love to, but a while back my Apprentice¡¯s Stone went missing. I haven¡¯t been able to find it, and Lauren won¡¯t let me use hers¡­ I need it in order to craft things. I¡¯d also need a place to craft things, like one of the side rooms that we don¡¯t really use... but without the stone, I¡¯m not able to forge anything. I¡¯ve been mostly just¡­ hitting things. I figure I¡¯d be most useful fighting.¡± I frown slightly. I don¡¯t really want to do this, but it makes more sense than not. Curse my greed. ¡°I think I can help you on the ¡®Apprentice¡¯s Stone¡¯ front, but wouldn¡¯t it be dangerous, with all the smoke, to run a fire in here? I was thinking we could build something outside-¡± He shakes his head. >¡±Fortunately, the magic that makes those stones work doesn¡¯t use Oxygen or create smoke. It seems to be just heat, with an image of fire plastered onto it. The function is the same.¡± ¡°Well¡­ that¡¯s perfect, actually. Oddly convenient, considering¡­ never mind. You can use my stone for now. I can always borrow Lauren¡¯s if I need a new potion. Can you do me a favor and repair Dean¡¯s sword as well? It got a bit beaten up.¡± Tom stares down at the talisman I handed him like I just carelessly dumped gold into his palm. >¡±How did¡­ where¡­ thank you! Haha! Thank you so much! Of course, anything you need, just let me know! Hah yes!¡± His genuine happiness does a lot to mitigate my unhappiness at parting with the stone that I had wanted so much, but it needs to be done. The group needs equipment. I nod in response to his enthusiasm, with a genuine smile on my face. He hurries off, intent on getting started as soon as possible. Good, now I can go find Rav and Dean and fill them in on their parts. Nobody seemed particularly keen on being an envoy to the surviving humans, but I know a guy who¡­ well, he¡¯s not the perfect person for the job, but he¡¯s the best we have. Energy 62: Preparations I find the two on top of a nearby hill. They both appear to be looking absently in the direction of the monster camp and casually shooting the shit. I breathe a quiet sigh of relief. The last thing I wanted to do was interrupt whatever idiotic emotions were certainly flying around while they reforged their friendship. Maybe Dean has been a loner forever and Rav being his first friend was a big deal, maybe it¡¯s something else, I don¡¯t know or care. I¡¯ve taken exactly as many rage induced punches as I wanted. Part of me envies their bromance, but I¡¯m pretty sure Rav would die for me anyway, so I can¡¯t complain too much. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll forgive you guys for sitting out on my meeting. I¡¯ll have you know, it was riveting. I talked a lot.¡± Dean awkwardly raises his hand in quiet greeting, which is leagues better than the usual glare, and Rav nods at me with a smile. -¡±My most humble of apologies, my friend. There were urgent matters to attend to.¡± I wave him away. ¡°Yeah, yeah. I¡¯m just messing with you. But, I¡¯m still here to make sure you guys know what went down. Basically, we have people building base defences, and people who are going to train and bring in building materials. Tom and Marie are currently on the base defence, and everyone else is on offense. However, we have a problem: we have nowhere near enough people to take on the monster camp, even if we all get a ton stronger. Rav, I¡¯d like you to be our envoy toward the other surviving humans that are strewn about. I¡¯m sure they¡¯d rather link up with us to survive instead of braving the nights as they have been. We can offer them food, safety, and, as soon as Tom gets up and running, equipment. Can you handle it?¡± Rav regards my words carefully, thinking silently for a minute. Dean looks¡­ uncertain. -¡±I believe I can do that, ye-¡± +¡±He can¡¯t go alone. He¡¯s strong, but he isn¡¯t good enough to take on a pack of Carnine alone, and running away won¡¯t-¡­ sorry, I interrupted you there.¡± He starts to trail off, looking abashed. -¡±It is of no issue; what you say is true. Though I could likely deal with any enemy attack if I spotted it far enough in advance, I have little recourse when it comes to retreat or close range combat.¡± Dean looks straight at me. +¡±I¡¯ll go with him.¡± He isn¡¯t asking. Ah, crap. I wanted him as part of the offense¡­ but they¡¯re right. Better to have Rav protected, and Dean will get combat experience defending him. Hopefully they¡¯ll be able to round up a sizable number of people in a matter of days. My turmoil must have shown on my face, because Dean¡¯s eyes start to narrow slightly, as if daring me to tell him not to go. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a good idea. Try to move as fast as you can while staying safe, and try to make it back to The Barrows every night. If you don¡¯t return, we won¡¯t know if you¡¯re in trouble or safe somewhere else.¡± Dean visibly relaxes at my words. I¡¯m not interested in riling him back up so fast. -¡±What does Nate think about this?¡± ...Fffffuuck. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen him today. It seems unlike him to go off like that... Maybe he went to recruit on his own?¡± Rav looks slightly fearful, and Dean shares the expression. +¡±Let¡¯s head out now, then. Maybe we¡¯ll be able to find him.¡± -¡±Our recruiting efforts would be dramatically bolstered with his assistance. Be safe, my friend, we will return by sundown.¡± I really hope they bought my poker face. ¡°Good luck, and don¡¯t die. Either of you.¡± They started to leave, before Rav stopped suddenly and turned back. -¡±Oh, I had nearly forgotten. Here.¡± A small, bound booklet appears in his hand, extended towards me.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. -¡±This contains some basic information on the runes that create magic. I finished memorizing it this morning. I hope it can be of some value to you.¡± I look at the booklet, awestruck. Oh hell yes. Normally, studying is terrible, but studying in anticipation of magic? No problem. ¡°Thank-¡± They¡¯re already gone, out of earshot, and I feel no need to shout after them. --- He wasn¡¯t such a bad guy. Anthony had his flaws, but¡­ most people left when Dean got too close, and he had been afraid. Just like everyone else, Dean couldn¡¯t remember the specifics of the time before this hell had started, but he knew he hadn¡¯t had many friends, and those he had been fortunate enough to find, he soon drove away. It wasn¡¯t on purpose¡­ he didn¡¯t like people leaving, he just wanted someone else to care for him as much as he did for them. They all had other friends¡­ they spared him a reasonable fraction of their time, but it was never enough. He would push for more, and he¡¯d always push too hard. Then they would leave. He¡¯d call, and they¡¯d ignore it. He¡¯d see posts on social media about them having fun after they¡¯d told him they were too busy to hang out. It hurt. The deep dread that would permeate his being, weighing him down¡­ he couldn¡¯t shake it on his own, so he would distract himself with a pain he could control. He would go to the gym. The dull, repetitive patterns, lifting, pushing, whatever. It was hypnotizing, and the searing pain from his muscles kept him from thinking too hard. Afterwards, he would be too tired to think, so he could pass out. The pain dread always came back in the morning, but¡­ he did what he could. And he kept trying. He kept failing. Until Rav. Dean had met Rav in the midst of the chaos of the first day. They had both responded to Nate¡¯s rallying cry, along with many others who didn¡¯t end up making it, and Dean had fended off the close attacks while Rav had weakened enemies at a range. They had been a team. A damn good one, at that. But Dean had messed up. He had strayed too far from Rav without even realizing it, and it wasn¡¯t until his anguished cries snapped Dean out of his battle frenzy that he realized the cost of his actions. Rav¡¯s hand. Dean had vowed never to forgive himself for his failure. Someone had finally trusted him with their life, and he had let him get hurt. Badly hurt. He wanted to make it up to Rav by keeping him safe, no matter what, and looking after everything he needed. Dean had stayed by his side, or nearby, ever since the accident. He was going to fulfill his obligation, and do his best to fix his error. And then Anthony had come, waved his hand, and fixed it. Dean grimaced. Ok, not like it was nothing, but he had fixed Rav¡¯s hand. He had succeeded where Dean had been powerless. He had fulfilled Dean¡¯s obligation. His heart stilled roared in fury at the memory, but he knew he should be grateful. Knowing that, however, only made him more angry. Dean knew he was in the wrong. He wished the others hadn¡¯t watched. It was shameful for him to show such raw emotion to so many¡­ and he didn¡¯t really trust any of them. He feared how Nate¡¯s opinion of him would change when he learned¡­ It didn¡¯t matter, but it did. He couldn¡¯t be mad at Anthony anymore, but he was. Dean felt like a walking contradiction, and he didn¡¯t like it at all. Jogging with Rav was helping. He wanted to push harder, but he didn¡¯t want Rav to feel like a burden, so he let Rav set the pace. It was slow, and that was fine. Dean smiled, but it didn¡¯t reflect his feelings. He didn¡¯t know a good face for ¡®tangled up inside¡¯. Anthony had given him what he wanted: a real apology and a chance to hit him. Anthony had also beaten him in a sword fight. How? How?! He had been useless only days ago, having mentioned nearly succumbing to rats! Then he went out and found a dungeon, and suddenly he¡¯s comparable to Dean? His form was¡­ poor, but that was to be expected. He claimed not to have the ¡®Greatsword Proficiency¡¯ skill, which¡­ really bothered Dean. Dean was level five in that skill, and he¡¯d lost to a weaker opponent in a duel? Dean believed Anthony had cheated, but he had no idea how a healer could have done that. Dean hadn¡¯t been afflicted with status effects, and any mid-fight healing should have just prolonged the inevitable, but Anthony had gotten stronger as the fight went on! It was impossible. Absurd. And yet, it had happened. He supposed he owed Anthony a bit of respect for winning. He supposed, maybe a bit more for not beating him to a bloody pulp after he- Dean tripped slightly, and he frowned deeply. Rav took no notice. -After his cheap shot. He¡¯d attacked an opponent who had bested him and thrown down his weapon. He wasn¡¯t proud of that. It hurt worse that Anthony didn¡¯t get him back for it, not really. Dean didn¡¯t like feeling this way, but he firmly believed that spending some time with his best friend would make things better, and if they managed to get some people to join, he¡¯d call it even. At that, he almost smiled a real smile. Energy 63: Preparations I take a moment to address the myriad of notifications that had showed up.
[Congratulations! Skill levels gained: Hand to Hand Proficiency +1 (3)]
[Congratulations! Your actions have led to the creation of a basic Secondary Skill: Natural Armor! Your willingness to take damage without any protection earns you extra effective Toughness when wearing cloth or lesser armor. Cost: 100. Learn? (Y/N)]
It¡¯s hard to say no to bonus defence, but¡­ I really want to save for the ¡®Ascending¡¯ thing. Eh, I¡¯ll never get there if I die first, fuck it.
[Congratulations! You learned the Secondary Skill: Natural Armor (1)]
I brought Rav¡¯s book with me as I traversed back towards the giant¡¯s room. I hadn¡¯t thought about it much before, but I don¡¯t have anywhere to leave things that I want to keep for myself. That¡¯s¡­ annoying. Is it too much to ask to have a personal storage container? That had better be a possibility in this world. I hate inventory management. They didn¡¯t even give us backpacks to start off. Do they expect us to just make them?! Ugh. Ranting aside, I have to keep the book close for now. I can¡¯t even store it in a pocket because my pants are still wet from my swim, and as hilarious as Lauren¡¯s face would have been, I elected to keep my pants on. Plus, after the shock wore off she would have been rather merciless about the sad reality of men combined with cold water. She has enough ammunition. Although I¡¯m incredibly tempted to just sit with the book and study its contents until my eyes blur, I should train with everyone else, partially because I think the others would rather have me there while meeting Zathis the first time, but also because that bout with Dean taught me how poor a swordsman I am. I held my own for a bit, but I would have been destroyed if I didn¡¯t have a gimmick up my sleeve¡­ I probably would have done better if I had gotten the Greatsword Proficiency skill, but¡­ I don¡¯t want to. Not yet. I¡¯ve noticed something about this game system, and specifically skills: they help you, whether you ask for it or not. What I mean is, if I strike with my stick, I feel in the depths of my soul exactly how I should swing. The rocking of my weight from front to back, the perfect arc to strike along, the exact positioning of my shoulders and arching of my back to maximize force or precision¡­ it¡¯s all as natural as breathing. And that¡¯s wrong. If I try to swing my sword like a blunt weapon, I suck at it. The skill only activates in certain circumstances. A rock in my hand is a blunt weapon, but I don¡¯t inherently know how to engage in combat with a rock as a weapon. It¡¯s just¡­ normal? But, I bet if I tied the rock to a stick, I¡¯d suddenly be swinging it like an old pro. This bothers me mostly because I¡¯m clearly not learning how to do this stuff, but instead just doing it. For Energy, this is mostly fine, and the skills are vague enough that I can work within them to do anything I want, but for combat skills? It just¡­ doesn¡¯t feel like me. I know, it¡¯s dumb. Why should I care if the skills are specific? But that¡¯s the thing- this game system seems to play off creativity. Energy has rewarded my experimentation time and time again, and alchemy is the same way, but I don¡¯t have the same gains from combat. I think that¡¯s precisely because I am too shit at combat to not rely on the skills, and because the skills don¡¯t impart an understanding so much as an inherent capability, I can¡¯t think of improvements or style differences. I¡¯m willing to bet that if two people with Greatsword Proficiency fight, with the same levels and stats, that they would reach a stalemate. But, I¡¯m equally certain that if I had that same proficiency now, after training a while without it, I¡¯d beat someone like Dean. Probably just by a tiny margin, but¡­ I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s a good thought, but I don¡¯t have any real evidence to back it up. If I could get an active skill for the greatsword¡­ then I¡¯d know. I cross the pit, only to find that Lynn and Lauren are waiting patiently outside the room. -¡±You sure kept us waiting. Lead the way, princess.¡± ¡°Oh? You were waiting for me? How kind. I just assumed you all were afraid of Zathis, or something crazy like that. Please forgive my idle thoughts, they are meaningless.¡± That earns me a smirk from Lauren, and a sideways look from Lynn. Crap, I forgot we haven¡¯t really talked much, so that probably came off to her as an insult. Also¡­ It¡¯s only now, with Dean and Rav gone, that I realize how small the offence force is without them. Five isn¡¯t a big number, but it¡¯s much better than three. I cough, awkwardly. ¡°Alright, ah, follow me.¡± Lauren follows right behind me, while Lynn hangs a bit further back, stopping part of the way through the doorway. ¡°Zathis! I¡¯d like you to meet two of my friends, Lauren and Lynn. Lauren is quite adept at sneaking and fighting without getting hit, while Lynn is our best archer.¡± ~¡±Your only archer.¡± She states, matter of factly, as she slowly enters the room, eyes trained on the giant. ¡°My greetings to you all, and my thanks for defending this place. You are most welcome to continue seeking shelter here.¡± Lynn looks more scared than relieved at Zathis¡¯ rumbling words, and Lauren looks like she¡¯s moments from drawing her dagger. Her eyes keep flicking to me, checking to see if I¡¯m going to react.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s start. Zathis, this might be asking a lot, but do you think you can spar with all of us at once?¡± Zathis scratches his beard for a moment before grinning. ¡°With you lot? It should be... manageable. Draw!¡± He booms the last word, putting everyone on guard, but for wildly different reasons. Me, because I know what¡¯s coming. Lauren and Lynn, because they don¡¯t. --- Zathis displays expert control over the stones he animates by not just sparring with all of us at once, but also giving feedback and providing different challenges for each person. He has me fighting two foes at once, which taxes my body to the limits and still results in uncountable bruises covering my body. For Lauren, he creates a small obstacle course, on which he forces her to simultaneously navigate, eliminate several ¡®targets¡¯, and dodge while he shoots projectiles at her. It¡¯s almost enough for me to pity her, but I still laughed when she tried to stealth out of the room and was thrown back in by a wall of stone. She was livid, but started clearing ever more difficult obstacles with ease. Lynn refuses to damage her arrows in practice, so Zathis generously provides a quiver of stone, with similar arrows. She fails quite spectacularly for a while, protesting the idiocy of the training, but keeps at it. By the end of the first hour, she¡¯s almost capable of accurately hitting the moving targets around her while also avoiding melee strikes. Zathis¡¯ training is entirely unfair, unreasonable, and impractical, but it¡¯s like he knows the exact way to kick all of our asses. I knew what I was getting into, and I still thought I¡¯d be better this time. While maybe that¡¯s true, the difference in my skill doesn¡¯t give the giant any pause at all, even while he¡¯s simultaneously battling two others. He is truly a being of baffling skill. Meanwhile, Lynn and Lauren? They didn¡¯t know what this was going to be, and while I don¡¯t know whether Lynn¡¯s pride outweighs an ox, I know Lauren¡¯s does. Anger dances in her eyes, even as her sweat soaked hair gets in them. She seems to thrive in the adversity, with every blow Zathis throws at her to show the difference in their skill, she throws one back. She really is something else¡­ My momentary distraction at the sight of her acrobatically navigating her course earns me a powerful blow to the ribs. I feel something shift, and a small pop as I fly, and the landing hurts like hell. Idiot, it¡¯s a spar, but you have to know better than to get distracted. I spit blood onto the floor, spending a moment to evaluate the damage. Punctured lung. Broken rib. Idiot. I quickly heal the tear in my lung before too much air can escape into my chest cavity. Lung wounds are really dangerous for that exact reason. Without Energy, I¡¯d probably be fucked, as every time I tried to exhale, a bit of air would escape through the hole and into the area around my lungs. Eventually, I¡¯d build up so much pressure in there that I wouldn¡¯t be able to breathe anymore, and I¡¯d suffocate. Bad way to go. The shitty thing about having a stronger body is that when your body hurts itself, the strength doesn¡¯t matter. My bones might be very dense, and my lungs like leather, but it means nothing when they scale roughly equally. Case and point: I¡¯ll never reach the point where being stabbed with my own bone will be an ok thing. -¡±Maybe if you weren¡¯t staring at my ass so much you wouldn¡¯t have gotten hit.¡± Fuck! I swear, she literally appears out of thin air. I grumble something meaningless, focussed on repairing my rib enough to breathe without cringing. Lauren sighs and sits with her back leaning on a rock, breathing heavily. Her eyes are closed, and a ghost of a smile plays on her lips. Why do I keep noticing this stuff. Stop. Lynn limps over, drops her bow unceremoniously to the ground, and almost falls onto the ground in exhaustion. ~¡±Mad...ness¡­ this is¡­ madness.¡± -¡±Yeah¡­ but how many levels did you get?¡± Lynn shrugs, looking away. ~¡±A¡­ lot¡­ but fuck¡­ this.¡± Now it¡¯s Lauren¡¯s turn to shrug. -¡±Better to learn it against a rock than against a pack of raving monsters. Plus, you looked pretty impressive out there. I didn¡¯t know you could fight.¡± Lynn grimaces, but she seems to have recovered her breath enough to speak normally. ~¡±I wanted to be an archer because I thought it would be fun to go hunting things. I wanted to tame a wild dog and chase deer across the plains. But this? It¡¯s war. Holding positions, fortifying, planning how we¡¯re going to¡­ kill things¡­ I don¡¯t like it.¡± Lauren cocks an eyebrow. -¡±So why are you on the offense team?¡± Lynn glares at her. ~¡±Just because I don¡¯t like the senseless killing doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t know why we need to. It just¡­ sucks. I¡¯d rather coexist with those ugly dog things, and the horrible shadows that try to kill us. Why do they want to kill us?¡± ¡°I wish I knew.¡± -¡±Who cares? We kill them, we get a town, we win this game, and we go home. Anything that gets in our way?¡± Lauren flicks her knife into the air, keeping eye contact with Lynn. -¡±We destroy it.¡± She catches the knife perfectly. Lynn just shakes her head. -¡±There has to be something better.¡± I¡¯m conflicted. I agree with both of them, but I don¡¯t have a good way to pursue Lynn¡¯s ideals. I¡­ don¡¯t like killing. In the heat of the moment, I can get angry, and I can will myself to do it¡­ but it isn¡¯t automatic. It¡¯s an effort. And something twists in me every time I do it. The sick, pleasurable feeling of getting Power, combined with the knowledge that every kill brings me more skill levels and a higher chance of survival is a really hard thing to combat. If I let it, I¡¯d easily find myself enjoying killing. Longing for it. Back home, we killed for a reason. If we felt threatened, or we wanted to protect someone or something, or even for a cause like a religion or a country. We killed humans, animals, whatever. And sometimes, people killed for other reasons. For pleasure. And those people were the monsters of our home. Our world made us not want to kill, if at all possible¡­ but this one is the opposite. It emphasizes growth through killing. I don¡¯t like it either. Sometimes we have to kill, but¡­ if we have to kill every one of the Carnine? Would that make us monsters? We would be doing it for a ¡®quest¡¯, but what does that mean? What justification is that? Because we need to go home? For all we know, there could not even be a home to go back to. We might be stuck, and this is the best we¡¯re going to get. It¡¯s possible that we, like the Dwarves, will be destroyed if we don¡¯t keep pressing forward, but¡­ maybe there¡¯s a way to press forward without death. I look at my hand. Energy. Will made substance. Mine isn¡¯t strong enough for that kind of change¡­ but maybe, some day, we can figure it out. I hope so. Otherwise, we¡¯ll end up like the Dwarves: destructive, hateful shadows, doomed to serve as some alien¡¯s pawn for eternity. I sigh, exasperated. I¡¯ll figure something out. I have to. Or¡­ someone else always could. That would be great. ¡°So. Who¡¯s up for carrying some supplies?¡± The groans are music to my ears. Energy 64: Preparations -¡±You¡¯re a bastard.¡± ¡°It needs to be done. Just think how happy Marie will be when we give her all this wood.¡± -¡±Phrasing, and ew.¡± I can tell Lynn is both silently judging us, but also confused by our behavior. I think she remembers that she¡¯s supposed to be afraid of Lauren, but that idea is conflicting with the actual conversation she had with her when they were both too high on endorphins to care. It¡¯s not much of a surprise that Lauren¡¯s transition from ¡®don¡¯t talk to me, I¡¯ll kill you¡¯ to just an annoying fuck sometimes is messing with people. She doesn¡¯t seem to care that much about what people think, at least on the outside, but I still remember how hurt she sounded when she talked about everyone hating her. Things will get better, it¡¯ll just take time. Time that I genuinely hope we have. The three of us all have fairly high Dexterity, so we manage a steady run from The Barrows towards the forest. Marie and Tom, who had done the journey before, told us that we¡¯d either have to cross the river (which they advised against), swim across a massive lake (which I advise against), or run around said lake in order to reach the forest. It¡¯s all highly inconvenient, and the trip could be shortened by almost three miles if we had a bridge, but we can¡¯t spare Marie long enough for her to craft one until the base is fortified. It¡¯s a good idea for later, but for now, we¡¯re running the long way, and it¡¯s¡­ actually quite refreshing. It feels so nice to be able to stretch my legs and just¡­ run. I still have to keep on the lookout for Carnine, but they aren¡¯t common this far from their camp and, frankly, that¡¯s a lot less important to me than the feeling of my legs pushing me along at ridiculous speeds. It¡¯s almost enough to make me laugh, honestly. I could have trained my whole life, and maybe at my peak I would have been good enough to run this fast¡­ but even then, I doubt it would have felt this good. Earning something is great, but getting something substantial for free is also great. My legs barely burn at all, and every once in a while I pop Fortify for a few seconds just to experience the thrill of hurtling forward even faster. The best part is that doing so doesn¡¯t exhaust me. For a moment, I burn Energy instead of Stamina, or something like that, and Energy burns way brighter. Of course, Energy recovers more slowly, but not that much slower, so I can almost juggle them. If I can get effective enough at toggling Fortify, I might be able to fight at my peak for far longer than most people, just from the sheer resource volume of having two bars. For now? I get a nice burst of speed every once in a while. Lauren sees it as a competition (which she¡¯s losing) and Lynn seems annoyed, but fuck it and fuck them. I love this feeling. The lake is fairly normal, with almost crystal clear water. The river we had the old campsite next to forks after going East for about 10 miles, with the North side emptying into this lake, and the South side disappearing into the forest. In between divergent rivers is a bit more grassy plain, and a lot of water vapor covers that area, almost like a cloud. I can still see through it fairly easily, but it¡¯s a bit of an obstruction. It looks like a pretty good place to build a fortification, honestly, just from the natural difficulty of accessing it across the rivers, and the optical covering of the mist. That said, it comes with the encroaching lake as a threat. The level of the water has risen so quickly that green grass still waves silently in the pool, having not even been submerged long enough to die. The lake is already huge, but with almost half of a massive river feeding directly into it, this whole area may well become aquatic over time. We might have to do something about that.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Concerns for later. We finally approach the forest. Well, I say ¡®finally¡¯, but the run probably took us around half an hour. I love the effects of a high Endurance. The forest starts off with a some sparse, small trees, before rapidly forming a canopy so dense that almost no light penetrates to the forest floor. I shudder slightly, imagining trying to go in there and not get lost immediately. I¡¯ve never been so glad for a map¡­ but somehow, I doubt it would be enough. Regardless, I¡¯m not here to stare at trees. After determining there aren¡¯t any obvious threats, we fan out and start collecting any loose wood we can. Ideally, we would have thick tree trunks to bring back, but that¡¯s mostly because they¡¯d be more substantial and easier to hold onto than a bunch of twigs. I make a point to keep an eye on Lauren and Lynn, but it¡¯s difficult to hunt for dead wood at the same time. I relax more and more as time passes, and we amass a pile of logs of varying sizes. I brush the sweat off my face, finding satisfaction in the results of our efforts. ¡°I think this is enough, let¡¯s go.¡± I say, to no one in particular. Because there¡¯s nobody around. ¡°Lauren? ¡­ Lynn?¡± The tree line¡­ empty. The fields? Nothing¡­ where are they? I literally just saw them. ¡°Kaythe?¡± *click, clack clack.¡± (Forest, did not leave.) ¡°Fuck.¡± My feet move before my mind even tells them to. ¡°LAUREN? LYNN!¡± No reply. Why did they go so deep? The light fades quickly as I advance. Where? Where! WH- *clack*(there.) I don¡¯t see where Kaythe means, but I intuitively understand what he meant. Two huddled masses next to a jagged, dead tree. One still moves slightly, the other does not. Neither make any noise at all as I rush toward them. All at once, it feels like I pass through a barrier, but just for sound. The ambient forest sounds fall away, replaced by screaming. The sound shocks me so much that I miss a step and stumble before getting to them. I steady myself on the dead tree, look down, and finally see what the problem is. They¡¯re covered in an interlocking webbing of roots, through which I can just make out a panicked eye staring back at me. Their agonized screams reverberate in this strangely isolated space, and it¡¯s impossible to tell which voice could possibly be making which. I don¡¯t want to know. My hand starts to hurt, and resists my efforts to pull it from the tree. I don¡¯t feel anything binding me¡­ roots? When- I finally realize it¡¯s the fucking tree that¡¯s attacking, and I rip my hand out of the roots that don¡¯t even register to me as touching my body. It has some kind of numbing? But it¡¯s clearly interacting with pain receptors as well¡­ to feel that over your entire body? There¡¯s no time. I desperately claw away at the motionless form, but the roots are strong, and my numb hand isn¡¯t responding well. I can¡¯t chop them away without hitting them, so I fortify my body and keep tearing. What the fuck is attacking them?! No, fuck this. My attempts at freeing the motionless body, who I can now identify as Lynn, leaves large tracks of blood as my fingernails accidentally catch her clothes and skin. I try to tear her away from the ground, but the roots hold onto her skin, tearing it slightly as I wrench her away. There¡¯s so much blood. She doesn¡¯t even move, despite what must be horrifyingly painful injuries. At least she¡¯s stopped screaming, but¡­ that could mean she¡¯s really bad off. Not good. I can¡¯t put her down without endangering her again, but I really need both hands to carry Laure- *CLACK*(Tree!) What? Right! Kill it first, save them later. Lauren has stopped struggling, but a small wisp of smoke emanates from the depths of the roots. I take a moment to be sure, but Kaythe is right; the tree I was leaning on isn¡¯t dead, it¡¯s alive. I drop Lynn to the ground and rip my sword from its sheath. With fortify still coursing through my body, I hack and slash at the tree with everything I have, taking full advantage of my magical blade to rip through the dense wood, which also starts screaming and retreating into the ground. It vibrates quickly back and forth, sinking rapidly even as I hack nearly clean through it. As it disappears below the surface, I slam my sword point first down through the top of it. One set of screaming stops, leaving just one. I pull back on my sword, trying to dislodge it, but the blade is stuck fast within the body of the tree monster.
[Congratulations! You have defeated a Treant! +35 Power!]
What¡­ the fuck. Energy 65: Preparations I wrench at the blade, only managing to pull the body slightly back towards the surface, and to make things even better, I¡¯m forced to let Fortify deactivate so I don¡¯t pass out. I disregard my sword for the moment and start freeing Lauren, which is much easier now that the ¡®Treant¡¯ is dead. The roots have all stiffened and died, making them much easier to break. They also don¡¯t stick to the skin as well. ¡°Lauren? Are you alright? St- hey! Stop that! I¡¯m try- gah!¡± Lauren tries to move as more of her emerges from the roots, but the movements are sloppy and haphazard, requiring me to dodge several times as she inadvertently (I think) swipes at me. I give up, she can free herself. -¡±Flllk yow.¡± ¡°What.¡± ¡°O Fllls grslf.¡± She¡¯s clearly trying to talk, but it¡¯s like her mouth isn¡¯t working. I choose to interpret it as ¡®thank you¡¯ and ¡®I feel great¡¯. ¡°Are you poisoned?¡± I glance over at Lynn, who is still unmoving. More important. ¡°Hold on, I need to check on her.¡± Crap, I don¡¯t have the Energy for this. She¡¯s breathing, and her heart still beats¡­ but even pressing the smallest amount of Energy against her elicits a ridiculous response from her natural defences, forcing me to back off. I frown at her rapidly darting eye. ¡°I guess if you like being poisoned, I¡¯ll leave you to it.¡± Maybe she doesn¡¯t realize she¡¯s blocking me¡­ it¡¯s not like I¡¯ve explained it to everyone. Oh well. ~¡±Unnnnnh.¡± ¡°Unnh yourself.¡± I try once again to wiggle my sword out, but it¡¯s stuck fast in the stump. I cringe, activate Fortify just for a moment, and rip the whole stump out of the ground before deactivating it again. It¡¯s heavy as shit, but I guess this is what I¡¯m carrying back, like it or not. I place it down, and sit, content to wait until my Energy comes back or a threat shows itself. The second one will end poorly, as I only have my stick, but¡­ Sitting in a dark forest, sword impaled in a dead parasitic tree, surrounded by two paralyzed women¡­ that just about sums up my life. --- Lauren recovers first, primarily because she isn¡¯t maintaining a fucking wall to block my Energy from healing her, and she wordlessly tries to light the tree on fire. Emphasis on ¡®tries¡¯. She becomes so frustrated when the bottle of her fire poison does nothing more than lightly soak the tree, that she spikes the glass container against it, shattering it and making me wince at the waste. She even proceeds to stab it a few times, which probably should have activated the poison¡¯s fire effects... It makes me wonder what the poison actually triggers on. Lauren goes to sit down, and I nudge her and indicate the sunlight in the distance. Her eyes don¡¯t seem focussed, but she moves to comply. I haul my sword/stump combination onto my shoulder and grab one of Lynn¡¯s arms while Lauren silently bears most of the weight. It¡¯s an effort, but we manage to get back into the brightly lit fields, and I swear I¡¯ve never been so happy to see the sun. I used to go hiking a bit, back before we all appeared in a game, and I loved walking around in forests. This forest? The sounds are all wrong. Different. The trees are gnarled and curvy, like they¡¯d been around forever, and I definitely saw a few more of those ¡®totally a dead tree¡¯ trees on the way out. It should have seemed odd that there were random, rotted looking trees lying around, but to think they were hostile monsters? I shake my head in agitation as I leave Lauren to tending Lynn and keep trying to get the damn log off my sword. If we¡¯re attacked, and I can¡¯t defend myself because of a fucking log monster, I¡¯m going to find my way to hell and kill that tree bastard again.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Should we just carry her back? I¡¯m not sure how safe it is to wait out here, and she¡¯s not letting me heal her.¡± Lauren scowls at me. -¡±Do you want to carry all that wood back yourself? We need her or this trip was almost pointless.¡± Her voice sounds terrible and guttural, which¡­ isn¡¯t surprising. The screams¡­ ¡°Are¡­ you ok?¡± She just shakes her head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ I¡­ I should have been quicker. It was my f-¡± -¡±Shut up. Just shut up. Your fault? You just have to be the hero, don¡¯t you? You have to be there and lead everyone to safety, because you¡¯re the best, is that it?!¡± ¡°What? No, I-¡± -¡±You¡¯re so arrogant that you claim responsibility for my mistake! Who the hell do you think you are?¡± I open my mouth to say something, anything to calm her down, but she raises a hand to stop me. -¡±Just¡­ stop. I know. It¡¯s shock. Makes people lash out, and I¡¯m fucked up and irrational right now, and whatever. I don¡¯t care.¡± Her face contorts in rage. -¡°It¡­ tripped me, I just thought I¡¯d fallen, but I should know better by now. I don¡¯t trip, I¡¯m too stable, but I tripped. When I fell, I was wrapped up in those¡­ horrible roots, and first there was pain, but then there was nothing! I couldn¡¯t feel anything, but I knew, I saw my Health draining, felt my life leaving me, and I struggled and fought but NOTHING WORKED.¡± I don¡¯t say anything in response. I can¡¯t. I¡¯m part of the problem. ...Maybe I could¡­? I carefully walk towards her and hold out my hand, eyebrow quirked with an unspoken question. Lauren turns away. -¡±Just give me some fucking Energy that takes the feeling away, right? You have a solution to everything, don¡¯t you?¡± The words are laced with caustic anger. She realizes how she sounds too late. -¡°Ah¡­ fuck. I¡¯m sorry, Anthony, I didn¡¯t mean¡­ I don¡¯t¡­ I need to feel this, is all. I need to feel this pain and remember it so next time I don¡¯t need to be saved. I¡¯m not a fucking princess, I don¡¯t need to be saved! ¡­But I do, and I hate that. It¡¯s not your fault, you were just¡­ there. Just the person who happened to be in the right place to help¡­ but you¡¯re always that person. If I fail, will you ever not catch me? Or anyone else? Do my risks mean anything? With Nate, I never cared to ask these questions, but n-... I mean¡­ I¡¯m asking them now, okay? And I feel like I should be able to answer more of them with ¡®yes¡¯.¡± I fail to control my reaction when Lauren starts to imply what happened to Nate, like she fucking forgot we weren¡¯t alone. God damnit. Lynn¡­ I really hope you weren¡¯t paying attention¡­ But she¡¯s on the ground, numb and seemingly partially paralyzed¡­ what else would she be doing besides listening? Maybe she won¡¯t piece it together? Fuck. I really don¡¯t need more problems in the works. I really hope she ignores it. ¡°You¡¯re coming back from a really bad place. It¡¯s okay to need someone to pick you up for a while afterwards.¡± -¡±Damnit but does it have to be you?¡± ¡°¡­Oh.¡± My eyes sting for a moment. I¡¯d thought we were closer than that, but I guess even a few days filled with life or death situations doesn¡¯t make real friendships. Lauren looks at me, suddenly furious, looks at her hands for a moment, throws them down and walks away. A piece of me wants to check on her. I don¡¯t. Lynn doesn¡¯t seem to be improving quickly, and I¡¯m now entirely done with being here. ¡°Lynn, please relax, I¡¯m going to help you if you let me. We need to get out of here.¡± I know no response will be forthcoming, so I touch her hand and push again. Wisps of dark Energy flow in, but I¡¯m fully recovered in terms of my own pool, so they present no obstacle. Her body, much like Lauren¡¯s, is covered in a light yellow glow, but unlike Lauren, the yellow glow seems to have suffused her muscles as well, almost like it¡¯s following neurons¡­ That explains the paralysis. I bathe the areas in green until the glow winks away, and rapidly remove most of my Energy, leaving a small contingent of green behind to mop up any small issues. Lynn shudders slightly, and carefully starts to move. ~¡±Th...anks.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it.¡± ~¡±Did¡­? nevermind.¡± Energy 66: Preparations The return trip passes uneventfully, but none of us are happy. Part of me is angry with Lauren for letting stupid shit get to her, and part of me just hurts because she was willing to say all those things. I get wanting independence and self-sufficiency, but for fucks sake, we¡¯re surviving out here. I¡¯m not going to let anyone die just because they want to prove something. If I can help, I will. She¡¯s entertaining a dangerous outlook, like I am personally doing her a favor every time I help her out. Like she owes me. I¡¯m not, and she doesn¡¯t. If Dean had been in that same situation, even before things started to improve between us, I wouldn¡¯t have hesitated either. It¡¯s not about either of us, it¡¯s about doing the optimal thing to survive. I don¡¯t need to be the hero, but somebody has to be there to help whenever someone is in danger, because otherwise¡­ There aren¡¯t enough of us left for heroics. Survival comes first. Not of the individual, but for humanity. Honestly, I think she knows that¡­ so why? Why did she willfully drive me away? --- ¡°Marie, I hope this is enough to keep you working for a while.¡± =¡±Hey, yeah! This is perfect, thanks so much guys! But, uh, that chunk of wood on your sword looks pretty good too, can you take it off so I can use it?¡± I glance back at the stump. ¡°Yeah¡­ no. To both. I think I¡¯m going to have Tom look at it. It¡¯s actually a monster¡¯s body? A very dangerous ambush predator, anyway. I think it might make a good bow for Lynn, or at least some arrows.¡± =¡±Roger roger. Let me know if you have any to spare, it looks so¡­ dense¡­ I¡¯d love to weave defences out of it¡­ or beautiful furniture¡­¡± She starts to trail off, staring intently at the block of wood while muttering to herself. ¡°Uhh¡­ yeah, will do. Let me know if you need anything.¡± She brightens up. =¡±Yeah, actually! Could you give me a hand with holding some of this stuff in place? It¡¯ll be boring, but it¡¯s really hard to shape this stuff when it¡¯s all in seperate pieces without something holding them in place.¡± Well, I was going to train more¡­ ¡°Yeah, I can help out for a bit.¡± Hopefully I can do something productive with the time. ¡°Just let me drop this off with Tom. Are Rav and Dean back?¡± =¡±Not yet! ...But neither is Nate¡­ I¡¯m getting really worried.¡± ¡°Dean and Rav said they¡¯d find him, so leave it to them.¡± =¡±Yeah!¡± Her face moves so fast, seemingly expressing everything she¡¯s feeling in the moment she feels it. Excitement, intrigue, happiness, worry, excitement again¡­ What an odd person. Her relatively positive demeanor only serves to make me more aware of how negative I¡¯m feeling. Damn idiot, adding emotional issues to this already precarious situation¡­ I turn away before Marie can see my sour expression. Lauren had dumped her wood without saying a word and is probably sitting by the underground lake, and Lynn seems to be waiting for me. She fidgets slightly as I walk by, and I hear the slapping sound of her trying to catch up before falling in behind me. Finding Tom is as easy as following the sound of metal on metal, along with a noticeably rising temperature gradient. ¡°Tom.¡± Of course, I choose the moment he slams his hammer onto a piece of molten metal to speak, so I don¡¯t even hear myself. ¡°TOM.¡± I shout during the off beat, and he nearly fumbles his hammer in surprise. >¡±Anthony! Lynn! Good to see you, yes, very good indeed. I¡¯ve been working on reforging new blades from the ancient swords you found on the original denizens of this dungeon. Fine metal, fine indeed! Takes enough heat to burn a forest before you can mold them, singed off all the hair on my arms! Hah! But look, look at what I¡¯ve managed!¡± The man radiates excitement as he bustles about, seemingly forgetting about the cooling chunk of metal on an anvil that I don¡¯t remember seeing before. He fumbles around in the corner, before emerging with a simple looking sword, gleaming in the firelight. I drop my sword to the ground with a woody *thunk* and take the offered hilt.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
[Dwarven Steel Longsword (Uncommon) - An early attempt from a talented blacksmith, forged from an ancient metal. +2 Strength]
It may look simple, but it¡¯s light¡­ far more so than one would think just by looking at it. The notification is also a new addition. Previously, trying to Examine any of the weaponry I came across was borderline pointless. I know enough about swords to maybe identify their type, but no more. It must be the fact that Tom created it that gives me the extra information. It¡¯s no joke, either, I actually feel a lot stronger just by holding it. ¡°This¡­¡± I take a cautious swing, testing it. ¡°-is incredible, Tom. Very nicely done. How many more can you make?¡± Tom frowns, considering. >¡±There was one fractured blade, two intact swords, and an intact shortsword. The one you¡¯re holding is the broken one, so it¡¯s a bit¡­ less, than the others will be. The intact blades are still fairly fragile due to age, but I should be able to remove a lot of the oxidation layer, smooth out the grain so they won¡¯t break as easily, and sharpen them back up to nearly their original level! Of course, with the materials as aged as they are, I have only guesses as to how strong they were be- hey, that weapon on the ground? Could I¡­¡± He doesn¡¯t finish his thought as he moves quickly over to it. >¡±What a remarkable weapon¡­ did you find that here? May I- Ack! Why¡­ why is it so cold? Is it magic? How can you even hold that?¡± ¡°Hold on a second Tom. Yes, it¡¯s magic, but it¡¯s also mine so it doesn¡¯t like being touched by others without my permission. Feel free to examine it, just please remove the wood from the end, and make a bow out of it for Lynn.¡± >¡±Yes, yes of course¡­¡± Tom tentatively tries to grasp the handle again, quickly recoiling, only to put his hand on it again, tapping it lightly like it was going to burn him. >¡±Ahh, much better, yes, I¡¯ll just get this off and save it for- make a bow?¡± Is he even listening to me? ¡°For Lynn, yes. You can handle that, right?¡± >¡±I¡¯m a blacksmith, man! You can¡¯t hammer out wood!¡± ¡°Well we have an archer, and you have intimate knowledge of how to make equipment within the system, right?. Can¡¯t you just forge some woodworking tools and carve it for her?¡± >¡±I wouldn¡¯t know where to begin!¡± I look toward Lynn, who seems slightly less awkward and slightly more excited. ~¡¯I-i *ahem* I mean, I can help. With what it looks like, I mean. It would¡­ probably help me¡­ a lot.¡± She keeps shifting her gaze between me, the log, and Tom. ~¡±Plus, this thing almost ate me, so the least it can do is keep me safe.¡± Tom sighs, loudly. >¡±Anthony, you ask a lot, but by god, you gave me back a forge, and provided all this metal, so I¡¯ll do it. You be on the lookout for more raw materials though, yeah? When this runs out, I don¡¯t want to be carving wood swords! Ya hear?¡± ¡°Loud and clear, Tom.¡± A small chuckle escapes my lips. ¡°Thank you for the work you put in, it¡¯ll make the difference.¡± He smiles before turning to Lynn and telling her to start prepping the log (getting it off my fucking sword) and I opt to leave them to it. Marie seems deep in concentration as I approach. At first, it seems unclear what she¡¯s actually doing, but I rapidly notice that the pile of stick she¡¯s touching are all starting to flow together into a bundle of twisted wood. I watch with fascination as the pile slowly forms into one large, sharp spike. She sighs in relief, opening her eyes as she grasps the newly created spike. The whole process only took a few minutes. =¡±Anthony, you¡¯re back! So soon, too! I like timeliness in a helper, it¡¯s a good quality.¡± Enthusiastic as always, but frankly, I¡¯m impressed enough by her ability that I¡¯m not bothered. ¡°I feel like everyone is determined to take my breath away today. First Tom with his sword, and now this? I never actually took the time to watch you work, but that¡¯s¡­ incredible. Could you use it on my bag to fix it?¡± I detach the satchel and hand it to her. =¡±Hah, should be no problem! But work first, mister, no freebies around here!¡± ¡°Fine, that¡¯s fair. But, I also think you should consider using the grass in the fields or the skins of the Carnine to make backpacks for people. Inventory management is really hard with just pockets. Chords for carrying wood, Tents...¡± =¡±Huh. Yeah! That would be really cool! But the defenses are more important. Much more. I don¡¯t want anything breaking through, cause then I¡¯ll have to fight, and nope, no, nah. Not about that. Now, let¡¯s get to it! Just hold this bundle here, like this¡­ a bit to the le- perfect! Yes! Just stay still.¡± Energy 67: Preparations After several minutes of standing around while she concentrates on whatever skill lets her manipulate matter, I realize that I will be unable to tolerate sitting around idle for however long the process takes her. I had thought I¡¯d be able to talk to her or something, so I figured I¡¯d sacrifice the time to get to know her better, but she doesn¡¯t respond in the slightest when she¡¯s using her skill. Ugh. Wait, Rav¡¯s book! After supporting her next fixture, I run and grab it from Zathis chamber. Now this I can get behind: magic. I flip to the first page¡­ to find it¡¯s nearly blank. There is a small scribble, no larger than a quarter, and one word: ¡®Light¡¯. The next page is similar, with a different scribble, and the word ¡®form¡¯, followed by ¡®sharp¡¯, ¡®dark¡¯, ¡®blunt¡¯, ¡®mana¡¯, and ¡®self¡¯. Every one has its own unique scribble above it. Are these¡­ the runes Rav was talking about? They all seem like they can be created without ever picking up the pen, or formed by one continuous line. I really wish there was more- wait, there is! A small excerpt on the last page. Mana must be used to create these shapes before a spell may be cast. Great care must be taken to ensure the correct shape is held, lest the spell misfire. Hmm. Well, I don¡¯t have any Mana, and I won¡¯t until we get a village to heal my ¡®Seared Channels¡¯, but at least I can practice visualizing them. Maybe forming Mana is similar to moving Energy? It¡¯ll be good practice anyway. The Light rune looks a lot like someone drew the number ¡®4¡¯, but backwards, with a circle around it. I spend a few minutes staring at the image, trying to ingrain it in my memory, but that¡¯s more force of habit than actual necessity. My Intelligence skill is high enough that I have a near perfect recollection of the rune after a few moments. The warning at the end of the book unnerves me, however, so the extra time serves the secondary purpose of making me feel safer. I remember the way it felt to have Mana raging through my body unchecked, and it is far from a pleasant memory. After once again moving to hold some sticks in a new position, I enter my Energy view and start trying to arrange my Energy to match the symbol of Light. Several minutes of concerted effort offer one conclusion: no. It¡¯s impossible to hold the Energy in an exact shape. It¡¯s like¡­ a living thing, for lack of a better alternative. It doesn¡¯t stay still even when commanded to do so. It wiggles, undulates slightly, wavers, whatever. On top of that, trying to maintain even the rough shape proves incredibly difficult, like trying to actively heal multiple areas of my body simultaneously. I usually focus on just one place, but have some Energy ready at other problem locations so I can quickly jump around, but I¡¯ve never tried doing it simultaneously¡­ and the lack of practice shows clearly here. Even moving as fast as I can, the general shape persists for only a moment before deteriorating into an unorganized mess. A huff of frustration must have gotten out, because I¡¯m distracted from my efforts by Marie. =¡±I know, I know. It¡¯s boring to just stand there, but hey! We¡¯re almost done! And look at what you¡¯ve helped build!¡± She spreads her arms wide before the beginnings of an actually nice looking, fortified raised platform. Lynn, Rav, or both at the same time would be able to shoot way over the heads of anyone below, and they¡¯d be almost entirely safe from counterattack through the combined power of accessible cover and the illusion. ¡°No more worrying about getting shot in the back of the head.¡± =¡±I know, right!¡± Her blunt nature is amusing, and I smile at her, but there¡¯s no real happiness behind it. I¡¯m too caught up in my own thoughts about what I can do to make the Energy more stable¡­ maybe place Power in the configuration I want? Or maybe the Fragments can corral some of it? I have a surplus of Power that I could experiment with, but I also have a pile of Fragments that have been taking up space for a while, so I opt to start experimenting with the more expendable resource. 70 Power is a lot short of 5000, I don¡¯t have any to waste. Fragments. I haven¡¯t experimented with them to any large degree, just enough to know that I can move them around. They¡¯re kinda like pieces of Energy, but they look and feel...different. Heavier, if that even means anything in terms of Energy. They¡¯re slow to move, and I can¡¯t control them directly. I can push them with my Energy, but it takes a fair amount of effort, and it¡¯s a pretty slow process. Fortunately, I have time to spare, so I begin the laborious process.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The Fragments don¡¯t move much once they don¡¯t have Energy pushing them around, so they fit this purpose a lot better, even if they aren¡¯t meant for it. Marie finishes her work and starts checking to be sure the platform is stable long before I finish putting together the rune, but I¡¯m too invested in this line of thought not to at least see it through. At the end, the rune just sits there. It doesn¡¯t disperse naturally, and as long as I don¡¯t accidentally run Energy into it, the Fragments don¡¯t move out of place. It also doesn¡¯t do anything, so there¡¯s that. I try lightly surrounding the symbol with Energy, but it doesn¡¯t have much effect aside from lightly buffeting the Fragments. I try raising the pressure, pushing my Energy at the Fragments from all sides at once, but my pressure is far from equally distributed, so I only manage to mess up the rune more. Grumbling angrily, I shove the stupid thing back into place and stare at it. I want to put my Energy in it, how do I do that. Wait. Fuck me I¡¯m stupid. I surround the fragment in Energy and focus on activating the Imbue Energy skill. The fragments shudder slightly, and the surrounding Energy suddenly glows much more brighter. It feels almost blinding, despite my perception of Energy being purely non-visual, and I can hardly make anything out as the intensity climbs ever higher.
[Rune Creation Detected¡­ Error, unrecognized operation involved in rune creation. Denied.]
WHAT?! The system BLOCKED ME? You¡¯ve got to be- The light fades to nothing the moment the notification vanishes. The Energy that was being infused just¡­ evaporated. Gone. I¡¯ll regenerate it, but still¡­ there was something there! Something was happening! I solved the puzzle only to have a fucking admin step in and say ¡®no¡¯. Fuck that, I refuse to accept it. But the next attempt doesn¡¯t change anything. Nor the next. It fails the same way every time: system blocking. Closing my eyes in frustration, I decide to look through the skill gains of the day. I gained another partial boost to Perception, which turns into a whole stat gain, bringing me to 30 total (with the boost from Kaythe). I also gain a ¡®plus¡¯ for Strength and Endurance, from swinging a sword a lot and pushing myself physically respectively. For Secondary Skills, I got: Transfuse Energy +1 (10), Imbue Energy +1 (7), Fortify +1 (3), and Tamer +1 (4). Overall, a fair amount of balanced gains. Fortify seems pretty hard to level, and Tamer¡­ there¡¯s not much I can do to speed it up. I think if I tried to Dominate more creatures, it would level faster, but¡­ well, I wouldn¡¯t have even attempted it before I had the orange Energy, and since then I haven¡¯t gotten the chance. This level, like usual, came with a note:
[Your understanding of the ties that bind you has grown to where you can experience the senses of your bonded allies.]
[Domination progress milestone reached! Cathid 75% dominated]
I look at Kaythe, who has been patiently sitting on my back. Nothing. He just stares back at me. Well, the bonds use Energy, so maybe reaching out with that? His Energy looks the same as always, but as I move my awareness into his body space, I feel my senses expand and¡­ change. I feel slightly hungry all of a sudden, and my perspective suddenly shifts to a still frame of my face. Everything seems more vivid, colorful, and there are tinges of another color, something I¡¯ve never seen before. The air past the outside of the cave is speckled with transient rays of a very light purple. I can see every rock and crevice in the cave entrance with impeccable detail. Even the structure Marie is building looks different, with certain pieces of wood darker or lighter than I remember them. The color isn¡¯t uniform either¡­ but it looks like it might have something to do with ¡®load bearing¡¯? Supports under stress seem to be a darker color than their unstressed counterparts. I take all this in with more than a hint of wonder, until the moment Kaythe moves slightly, and my physical body almost falls over. I snap back to my own senses just in time to feel a wave of nausea. Oof. I hadn¡¯t realized how important it was for sight to know when it was going to change. Trying to make sense of the inbetween images messed with me really badly. It might take some getting used to, but this is a big fucking deal. I have a scout that I can use literally as a second pair of eyes. Well, another eye, anyway. This skill really deserves the rarity it has. Energy 68: Preparations New experiences aside, I have 22 free Trait points to spend. A few skills hit level five and got their own Traits opened up, but¡­
[Combat Synchronization (0/10): Increases user/skill synchronization, making warnings more noticeable and reactions quicker through automatic movement. Allows ¡®Combat Proficiency¡¯ to be leveled through use once the trait is maxed.]
[Destroyer (0/50): What you¡¯ve done can never be forgiven. Lethality of offensive Energy increased by 1%/trait point. Consequences unknown.]
They look very shady for widely different reasons. Combat Synch looks pretty good, but it seems to involve giving control of my body over to the Combat Proficiency skill more than I already have. So far, it has just given me strong urges to do what it recommends, and that¡¯s been extremely helpful, but if I gave it more control, I¡¯d consequently have less. I don¡¯t trust the game enough to give that kind of power over myself to it. Plus, maxing it out would make it much easier to level, and probably involve an even further loss of control. For now, I¡¯m leaving it. The second trait also looks pretty good for parts, and exceedingly ominous for the first and last sections. The first section especially seems to confirm my fears that I¡¯ve been doing something¡­ drastic, with my Energy. What if there¡¯s an afterlife, and everything I¡¯ve killed this way doesn¡¯t even get the chance to go there. Like, it¡¯s ¡®Gone¡¯, never to be seen again. For some Fragments? Some trait points? I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t know. I almost hope that the Fragments are ultimately useless so I can just stop using Energy to kill things. Weaken? Sure. Intimidate? Yeah. Actually killing them seems to be¡­ bad. With both of these new Traits easily dismissed as choices for now, I turn to the one remaining option: my awful path.
[Path of Denial (1/25)]
Well, I can¡¯t fill it out, but I can put a lot into it.
[Path of Denial (23/25)]
¡­ Nothing feels different. I really hope I didn¡¯t waste those points. Either way, time to find out. I sink into my Energy view, and start the process of creating the rune, one more time. This time, as the glowing reaches its peak, the message changes:
[R0rrrrrrune cCreat12ion d@@@@@tected. ERROR$Errrrrrorr Interference Detected. Remov-#.... Operation Failed. Fallback Creation Engine Activated: Warning! Non-Deterministic Operation Being Attempted. Consequences Unknown And Unadvised. CONTINUE? (N/N/N/N/N/Y/N/N/N/N/N/N/N/N¡­)]
The notification appears, and with it, time seems to slow. I can feel the thing I¡¯ve created reaching a critical point, and if I don¡¯t stop now, something will happen. Something this world has never seen before. Anything, fortuitous or disastrous, could come to pass¡­This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. I grin, a small laugh echoing only inside my mind. How exciting. And something that was never meant to be, became. ---- It would scowl, if it was at all capable of such a thing. It could form the semblance of a scowl on the surface of its body, but that would be useless. There was nothing around to perceive it. It was left with a furious anxiety, and no good way of releasing it. Not yet, anyway. Perhaps later it would pay a visit to the holding cells and¡­ ¡®remind¡¯ the inmates of their plight. But, such pleasant thoughts needed to be reserved for later. It turned its attention back to the monitor. The display was a figment of its imagination, but served the same purpose as more mundane, pixelated displays available on some of the planets that had been selected for the trials. On it, a very worrying message blinked.
[Error! System Interference Detected! Source Of Interference: Unknown]
A pattern was beginning to emerge. These strange messages tended to coincide with new species being added to the trials. A recent occurrence, to be sure, but far from a welcome one. It knew of no other entity that had sufficient access to the system to interfere with it, and there was certainly nothing on this installation that had any ability to do so. Besides, it was sure it would have seen anything that tried. It had seen nothing, and yet the screen blinked. Something had meddled. Again. It looked like the interference had allowed the creation of some new kind of rune, which confused it, but ultimately it did not care overmuch. Runes were powerful, but new ones would certainly be unstable, and were terribly unlikely to be more useful than the basic ones that had already been discovered. Runes distilled the essence of matter, which was a very complicated thing, but their results were very simple. Making the runes more complicated would only muddy the meaning, damaging the outcome. It was nonsense, but nonsense was acceptable. Nonsense could hardly be dangerous. No, the true source of its interest was, in fact, that there was a meddler in the system, and their continuous, and now, predictable, behavior. It ran another check of all the systems, but analyzing such a vast quantity of information was taxing, so it prioritized the main systems, leaving the data collection and storing areas alone. If an entity was hiding among the data, it would never be able to threaten the system as a whole, and catching it would involve it doing nothing but searching for a fairly long time, even by its standards. It did not relish the thought, so until this meddler did anything that actually unbalanced, or even broke, the system, it would remain a pest unworthy of its attention. It would smirk, had it the means or inclination to express itself. The likelihood that something could break the system it had designed, the system it now governed, was inconsequential. It was made to consider every possibility, but it knew the much more likely outcome was for the meddler to show itself in a display of force and attempt to seize control, at which point it would be destroyed. It had happened before. The being dismissed the error, having concluded it remained safe, and appeared suddenly in the holding cells. Well, suddenly for the occupants of the holding cells, but quite a slow process for the being, as it had been entirely aware of every piece of it being deconstructed and reconstructed. Painless, if done correctly. However, as these inmates were about to learn, it could be done very incorrectly. Their screams were elegant music. Energy 69: Growth [Light]... So that¡¯s what it looked like. All this time, I had seen reflections, adaptation, tricks, and fantasies, but this¡­ the unbridled concept, given form and function exactly as intended. I feel a notification pop up, but I want nothing more than to continue to appreciate this new beauty inside me. It¡¯s¡­ perfect. A soft, glowing illumination, but one that I know contains the potential to light the world with its presence¡­ I feel myself being shaken, and reluctantly withdraw from my Energy view. Marie. =¡±-you alright? Hey! You there buddy?¡± She snaps several times in front of my face, even as I meet her eyes and frown slightly. ¡°Yes?¡± I ask, a little too curtly. =¡±You¡¯re glowing!¡± ¡°Yes I kn- wait what?¡± I most definitely am not. =¡±Woaaaah¡­ It¡¯s your skin isn¡¯t it? But just¡­ here, take your shirt off!¡± ¡°I-¡± =¡±I need to see!¡± I start to protest before she takes matters into her own hands, wrestling the shirt off me despite my complaints. She fails immensely at doing it smoothly, and I end up batting her away and just taking it off myself. Her excited shouting has drawn what little attention there is to draw, and Lynn and Tom poke their heads out. Lauren is noticeably absent. Good. As Tom and Lynn come out to see what all the noise is about, their expressions change from bemused curiosity, to shock and surprise¡­ while staring at my chest. It starts to make sense the moment I also look down, and find the center of my chest... is glowing. ¡°I¡¯ll be fucking damned.¡± +¡±What the he-¡± =¡±That¡¯s so coo-¡± ~¡±Put your shirt back on.¡±
[Congratulations! Energy Rune successfully created. ! -5 Maximum Energy. -25 Fragments]
I barely register the interested noises and words from the others in the face of this notification. It cost¡­ permanent Energy to do that? To glow? For fucks sake, I bet it also takes Energy to use! But... checking revealed that, no, in fact, it doesn¡¯t. It¡¯s just passively ¡®on¡¯ right now. So I can¡¯t turn it off? I¡¯m glowing forever? I check my Energy view again only to realize the answer to a much more important question I hadn¡¯t even bothered to ask. The rune doesn¡¯t use Energy, it produces Energy. A very specific kind, in fact, that glows with a bright, ethereal light. Where there was darkness within my view when my Energy wasn¡¯t occupying it, I now can actually see the space. It¡¯s mostly empty, but it¡¯s like I suddenly have a torch in a dark cave. Most of the Light Energy is clustered around the rune that produces it, which currently resides¡­ in my chest. ...Makes sense. Backing out of my Energy view, I find it very easy to move the new Energy around, and I can actually see it moving through my body. It gets brighter when close to the skin, and barely visible at all when in the core of my body, unless it¡¯s somewhere thin like my hands or feet. Marie in particular couldn¡¯t stop exclaiming and gasping with what must be the same level of excitement a golden retriever feels when its master arrives home from work. I can¡¯t help but smile at her antics; the energy and levity she adds brings the whole group a little higher. I still don¡¯t know how I can stop the Light production, but I can at least hide it. I can just concentrate the Light in my toes, and my shoe effectively blocks all the light. As fun as it would have been to declare my presence with a literal shining beacon, that would be very stupid and dangerous. In the worst case, I could probably break the rune again¡­ like rip out a Fragment or something¡­ but at the very least I¡¯d have to restart the rune when I wanted it to produce again, and that takes no small amount of available Energy and time. I¡¯m a little miffed that there wasn¡¯t a skill notification with my success, but¡­ ¡®record not found¡¯. Huh. I think I¡¯m trailblazing here, so the system wouldn¡¯t even be able to help me if I did get a skill. What use would a ¡®Combat Proficiency¡¯ skill be if the knowledge base it drew from was empty?This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I always wanted to invent something, but I never would have guessed it would be ¡®the ability to carve runes into my soul, using the destroyed souls of my enemies, that give me possible benefits¡¯. Furthermore, this means that stuff like ¡®Domination¡¯ has been done before in this place, which isn¡¯t terribly surprising given what the Shades do to people. It¡¯s literally ranged Domination. ¡°Alright, alright. Light show¡¯s over.¡± I don my shirt again, letting the Light slink off to my feet. Tom, who looks absolutely fascinated, nods with a smile. +¡±You¡¯re going to have to teach me that one, lad.¡± Lynn looks flushed and embarrassed as she follows Tom away, which I don¡¯t quite understand. Maybe she¡¯s into me, who knows. Can¡¯t stand looking at that glistening bod? Unf. Jokes aside, I turn to Marie. ¡°Have I served enough to warrant a satchel repair?¡± She smiles in return. =¡±I suppose you have¡­ I can¡¯t say I expected you to flash me for it though, haha!¡± I smirk slightly, rolling my eyes. Christ, and I had just broken myself of the pun habit. Someone always has to wear the mantle. Marie takes the busted satchel into her hands and, within moments, fuses the strap back in place. She even goes through and methodically patches holes and reinforces areas that might have been a problem later. ¡°That skill you have is really something else. Do you think you could teach it?¡± She frowns slightly, looking up at the ceiling. =¡±Could I? Maybe¡­ but it would require you to know magic and be really really knowledgeable about how things work. Do you know magic? I mean, you were glowing earlier, so I assume you do, so mayb-¡± ¡°I don¡¯t. Rav was going to teach me, but then I¡­ got some uncontrolled Mana in my body and it messed things up pretty badly. I¡¯ll need the village to be formed before I¡¯ll be able to work with Mana.¡± =¡±Psh. That sucks. Yeah, come talk to me about it when you can mess around with Mana without hurting yourself. Most of the Magic that exists in this world is controlled by runes, but not all of it. Runes help it keep a form, or so Rav tells me, but when you¡¯re working with physical matter, it maintains the form itself. You use Mana to¡­ push it around. Break the form. Does that make any sense?¡± It does. Like how Energy responds to will, and can slowly change an inanimate object (or even an animate one, like in Kaythe¡¯s case), Mana can be used to rearrange something. With Energy, the thing grows with you, becoming greater than it once was, but with Mana, you¡¯re changing what already exists without adding. Different processes, but closely related. I¡¯m a little confused how it could be done without runes, on account of Rav¡¯s book literally saying they are required, but maybe this isn¡¯t a spell? Maybe because it¡¯s a skill, certain concessions are made? Are spells also skills? I should ask Rav. I nod at her, unwilling to share how much of a revelation it was. ¡°Thanks for the insight, I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll make more sense when I get actually use it.¡± Though, I have a theory about that. The issue is that I can¡¯t generate my own Mana, I just have a lot of space for it. Wouldn¡¯t a Mana rune fix that? But¡­ then it would still be uncontrolled, so it would hurt me... just like drinking a Mana potion, so¡­ would I need to combine it with the ¡®Self¡¯ rune? Can you combine runes to make more complex statements? Rav said they could flow into each other, and their designs seem to support that¡­ but why would the Light rune produce Light I could control already if it needed Self? Maybe it¡¯s implied? Satisfied that I have little idea about this new system, I know I¡¯ll need Rav around before I dare experiment with the Mana side of things. At least he could probably keep the stuff from killing me if it went badly. I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d be able to destroy the rune quick enough otherwise, and they don¡¯t have a convenient ¡®on/off¡¯ switch. More importantly, I don¡¯t know if destroying the rune refunds the Energy it takes, and I only have 45 left. I need to stockpile a lot more (and more Fragments) before I try anything too interesting. Which means: more hunting. More crushing monster souls. But¡­ my group is all broken up now. Rav is recruiting, and Lauren¡­ I guess I could go with just Lynn, but she probably won¡¯t want to do any combat until her bow is done. Well, I could¡­ shit, Lauren has the only remaining Apprentice¡¯s stone. Fuck everything. I hope Zathis doesn¡¯t mind wasting time with me. Energy 70: Growth The green, crackling flame gave off a fair amount of warmth, but she barely felt it. She absently tossed another fragment of the wood onto the blaze, even as part of her screamed about the waste. Their bodies, it turned out, were full of the same numbing agent it attacked her with, which could be used to make poisons. Overall, a very potent alchemical ingredient, and perhaps even a medical one, if used correctly. They also burned well. She had returned to the forest almost immediately after dropping off the wood. She knew Anthony would have tried something to make things better if she hadn¡¯t, and the thought of dealing with that right then had bothered her beyond belief. She would be the one to fix things. It was her fucking fault they were broken. Part of her hated him for not understanding. Part of her hated herself for needing the understanding. She had to escape for a while, and she figured she owed the fucking ¡®Treants¡¯ a visit. Turns out, they aren¡¯t hot shit when they get ambushed. They may be deadly to anyone who doesn¡¯t know they¡¯re there, or if their target was hurt or unconscious, but once you knew what they looked like, they were easy to spot. Even easier to kill. She¡¯d killed about ten of the things, and, while she wanted to kill ten more, Anthony¡¯s warning about her¡­ ¡®condition¡¯... kept her at bay. She needed to get rid of a lot of Power, not gain it. Another thing she owed him for. Aggravating. She sighed loudly. She hated feeling this way. The dude had helped when no one else would. No matter what he spouted about the good of everyone, not many people actually cared about that. And she didn¡¯t really think that was a ¡®wanting to be a hero¡¯ thing. He did it because he could afford to. She would probably have thought twice about staying to help if she ran across two incapacitated people with no clear attacker around them. Maybe more than twice, honestly. It would be way more smart to run away. But Anthony could heal himself from pretty much anything, or so she believed. The dude could probably keep himself alive if he was stabbed through the heart while she¡¯d certainly die. Anyone else would die. He was a healer, so of course he helped people. It was so unreasonable to be mad at him for that, but she was. He made her feel like she was following him instead of living her own way. She wasn¡¯t sure if she was ok with that. Part of her wanted to run off into the forest until she figured out the answer, but she squashed the thought. That kind of thinking had gotten her nearly killed by Shades. Or, worse, not killed by shades, and corrupted instead. Flashes of Shaye¡¯s face flashed through her mind. No, not the forest. Too much potential for ambush. But she could run around in the grasslands if she wanted. That should be safe. She had her curiosity piqued the first time she ran past the fork in the river and its strange abundance of water vapor. It was almost like a cloud resting on the ground. She found the idea of sitting in there and relaxing for a bit to be very peaceful. Maybe it would help her feel better. She started running. --- The bane of every swordsman, especially the unarmored ones: projectiles. Of course, greatsword users have to use two hands to swing effectively, so a shield isn¡¯t an option. Something hits me in the back, sending ripples of pain up my spine. ¡°FUCK.¡± ¡°You squander breath cursing when you should be dodging. Where is your awareness? You dance like a blind fool, looking everywhere but where the threat resides. Quickly! Assess, then act!¡± Troublesome giant. He doesn¡¯t seem to realize that, without Kaythe, I can only see so many spots. In fact, he is extremely aware of exactly where I can¡¯t see at any given moment, and takes full advantage of it by launching these blunted stone arrows at me from my blind spots.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°You will be fighting an army, yes? How will you defend against many foes without perceiving them? Your enemy will know where you cannot see, and they will attack where they believe you are weak.¡± ¡°I AM weak there, damnit! This is why I¡¯ll have a group. People to watch my back. Kaythe will help cover me.¡± The giant sighs in frustration. ¡°You cannot rely on others to keep you safe. No matter how talented your fellow combatants may be, relying on them to protect you endangers you the moment problems arise. Problems always arise.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why we¡¯re training. We need to get to the point where our formation won¡¯t break no matter how many assault it.¡± ¡°Your enemy can and will find a way to break through. When they do, you will die, unless every member of your team can survive being surrounded, with no support, for a period of time.¡± *Ting* I just manage to whirl in time to deflect on of the bolts. ¡°Good. How did you defend that?¡± ¡°Luck. I turned and already started blocking before I saw the bolt.¡± *Thunk* ¡°AHH FUCK. WHY.¡± ¡°The enemy will not stop to let you think, but that does not mean you should stop doing so. How did you block the bolt?¡± What does he want from me? I knew he was consistently picking somewhere in my blind spot, and I took my best guess at the general direction. My Perception and Dexterity allowed me to make minor adjustments, but only barely. ¡°I can¡¯t rely on my enemies always striking where I¡¯m weak. I have only one sword, and can move only so fast. I knew you were going to aim where I couldn¡¯t see, so I made a good guess, but a guess nonetheless. If I had five monsters around me? I wouldn¡¯t be able to move fast enough. The press of bodies would be too great.¡± Zathis smiles broadly. ¡°Yes! Now you begin to understand. You must not stay still. A rock in a still pond is completely surrounded by water, but a rock in a rushing river has a void in its tail. Even where there is no current, you must make your own.¡± Like how cavalry worked back home¡­ they couldn¡¯t stop moving or they would be destroyed. In the chaos of warfare, they were able to upset most formations because by the time anyone noticed they were there, the cavalry had already moved on. The press of bodies limits mobility both ways¡­ I set my grip and start moving, changing direction erratically as I glide along the open space. I continue trying to twist around to see all sides at once, but realize quickly (after a few more hits) that I can replace looking at blind spots with moving to avoid them. Several times, bolts would fly from exactly where I wasn¡¯t looking at the exact moment I changed directions to avoid them. Bolts that came from the front or sides, I avoid by using the flat of my sword to guide their trajectory away. The sound of stone contacting flesh makes way for the steady hum of dwarven metal and shattering stone. I juggle my stamina, activating Fortify when I need a break, and the game goes on for many minutes. Sweat drenches my clothes as each whirl, deflection, and rapid movement change taxes my body more and more. My pace quickens as Zathis increases the number of projectiles. No conscious thought remains, just muscle memory and absolute focus on making each movement as perfect as it can be. Each wrong step earns me a new bruise. Each turn too slow, a lesson. We play a game of endurance, but I cannot treat it like one. I must keep up with Zathis, or suffer. I¡¯m dimly aware of my Stamina blinking red, but I won¡¯t stop. I cannot. To stop is to die. I barely notice when my legs give out, and the sensation of what I¡¯ve been doing to myself returns all at once. My lungs scream with fury and each breath is fire, my muscles are locked and cramping, and my vision is hazy and dark. I think the giant is talking to me, but I can¡¯t hear him. A notification rests in my tired vision:
[Congratulations! Your actions have caused the creation of an Uncommon Secondary Skill! The skill ¡®Swordsman of the Great River: River¡¯s Flow¡¯. Cost: 75. Learn? (Y/N)]
Finally. Energy 71: Growth As Lauren burst from the forest, leaving the crackling fires behind her, she was immediately met with the sight of three people looking at her. She radiated discomfort as she tried to ¡®pretend not to see them¡¯ and run past. Of course, one of them had to call out to her.%¡±Hey there! Are you ok?¡± She frowned. Why would she not be ok? Couldn¡¯t they see the fires? She stopped running, though she would much rather have left them in the dust. We need more people, she told herself, maybe they can help. She tried to shake off the anger and frustration, but the way their genuine smiles fell into something more strained and concerned told her how successful she had been. -¡±I¡¯m fine.¡± She addressed the girl who had called out, surreptitiously ignoring the beefy looking guy with a warhammer and yet another female archer. -¡°Are you guys surviv- well of course you are, you¡¯re alive. Umm. Hi.¡± Lauren quietly cursed her lack of interaction with other people. She was really bad at getting familiar with others, but once they reached a friendly point, things were usually fine. She momentarily wondered why she knew that about herself, as she had no specific memories of such a thing. Heedless, the girl continued the coversation. %¡°Hi, are you running from something we should know about or can we talk a minute?¡± -¡°No¡­ not running from anything. Things tend to run from me. I¡­" Oh god this was going terribly. That didn''t sound threateningat all. " -look, my¡­ group.. is looking for people to join up with us. We can offer¡­ fuck it, do you want to be around people?¡± %¡°Oh.. um... Well we were looking to talk to other humans, if for no other reason than to share information on how to survive out here and what¡¯s happening.¡±She surreptitiously looks over Lauren''s shoulder, eyeing the woods. Never seen fire before? -¡°We have a¡­ base, you could call it. Way safer than out here, especially at night. As for information, I only know a bit of Alchemy, and Anthony is a much¡­ he has the patience to teach people. If you join us, we can probably share info.¡± She looked noticeably excited at the mention of Alchemy. %¡°I was just squashing flowers earlier to see what I could do with them actually.¡± Oh for fucks sake. -¡°My god. You¡¯re just fucking like him. Look, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll get along. If you want to go ahead that way, I¡¯ll point it out on the map.¡± It was really nice that the other two seemed too awkward to contribute, but Lauren really wanted to get rid of them before it became a full on conversation. She was barely holding it together as it was. %¡°Do you need¡­ Can we offer you a hand with anything?¡± -¡°No.¡± She replied too quickly. She grimaced, realizing her mistake, and clarified: -¡°Not¡­ right now. I¡¯m going to go check out the fork in the river for a while, but I think the sun is going to be gone sooner than later. I¡¯m not going to stay too long.¡± %¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t mean to pry. That sounds good if you could point it out on the map.¡± -¡°Umm, yeah. Just go¡­ here, and start yelling something like ¡®Lauren sent us¡¯. That¡¯s me, by the way.¡± She wasn¡¯t sure they¡¯d be able to figure it out, but she assumed someone would find them if they yelled enough. She winced. Hopefully not Carnines. %¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you even if the circumstance aren¡¯t ideal.¡± A pleasure? That¡¯s a first. And a bad lie. -¡°Don¡¯t be so sure.¡± She muttered, quietly. -¡°Alright, see you around.¡± %¡°See you.¡± She nodded at the group and took off, faster than she needed to. The deep breaths and rapid exercise helped clear her head more, and she cursed whatever twisted god made her run into other people when she was this¡­ annoyed. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. At least they were nice¡­ I hope they weren¡¯t bandits. Probably should have checked. She mentally shrugged. Too late anyway. She passed a small campsite looking place, where she assumed the group had spent the night. How they had possibly made it through the night was beyond her, but she saw no human bodies around. They probably weren¡¯t raiders. The air started to thicken as she approached the fork. The moisture felt nice on her skin as she pushed deeper into the mist, and her Perception allowed her to keep her bearings. She padded to a walk as the mist continued to thicken, which seemed strange to her; she had been able to see through the mist when she wasn¡¯t inside it. Now, her vision range had shrunk to no more than twenty feet¡­ and even that seemed to shrink. She stopped, listening. The sounds of the twin rivers, and the light rumble of their point of divergence, were slightly muffled by the fog, but that was normal. What was not normal was the way her footsteps had continued after she had stopped. Are those assholes following me? She turned quickly toward the source of the last step¡­ but saw only the rolling mists. Her dagger was already in her right hand, with another ready to throw in her left, but a complete scan of the area revealed nothing. Perhaps she had misheard? She carried on, carefully and quietly. If something was using the fog to stalk her, she would teach them who the real hunter was. Her footsteps no longer made noise, but her Stamina slowly drained. She kept her pace in check so she would have at least a few minutes before she¡¯d have to unmask her presence. Hopefully it would be long enough. Step by careful step, she traced a roundabout route in a circle, checking the grass. A second pair of footprints. Claws. Then¡­ laughter? Like a child, but¡­ wrong. Distorted. Lauren tensed, then relaxed her body. Something was here with her, but she couldn¡¯t see it. She could swear she saw shapes moving through the fog, but they always dissolved away into nothing. But the laughter continued. Lauren took a deep breath... and tuned it out. The laughter was misdirection, seeming to come from everywhere at once. A trick to confuse her, when what she really needed to focus on was the sound of grass being softly crushed. She heard things all around her, and for one terrifying moment, she was running from Shades, dying alone¡­ but she wasn¡¯t that person anymore. Even if she was broken, pushed people away, and generally fucked things up, she was getting better. She would be better still. And that did not allow for dying here. Her knives flashed, a throwing knife at one shape and her dagger at the noise she heard behind her. A scream, the laughter turned darker. She wrenched her dagger out as a pale white body, much like a human with too long limbs and almost no torso, shimmered into existence in front of her. She had no time to dwell on the horror of what she had just wounded as it used its remaining arm to grab at her. She rolled out of the way, feeling the brush of another attack she hadn¡¯t even known was coming. This was bad. The first monster turned to her, and she got a good look at its face. The shattered remains of a skull, with flesh barely hanging onto it, twisted into a grotesque smile. She ran. The mist swirled around her, and she had no idea which way was out anymore. She could hear the rivers, but only barely over the cacophonous, hideous laughter. She dodged anything and everything that looked like a strike. Getting caught was not an option. Every attack looked like natural currents of the mist, but her combat instincts hadn¡¯t stopped screaming at her since she started running. There was no telling how many were following her. She dodged and ran with everything she had. There was only so much mist, and she would escape them. She would. Duck, weave, feint one way, rush the other. The laughter was becoming strained, almost angry. Good, let them make mistakes. She saw something large and dark towering through the mist. A building? She was positive she hadn¡¯t seen one from the outside, but she wasn¡¯t about to argue. She ran towards it, but quickly realized there was no easy entrance. She couldn¡¯t risk stopping to check the doors, and there were no windows to throw herself through on the first floor. As she rounded the far edge of the circular tower, the fog broke for a moment and she saw the river fork she had been aiming for. This wasn¡¯t the original plan, but... the sound of laughter behind her made the decision for her. If that dickhead Anthony could survive it, she could too. The water was colder than she¡¯d hoped. --- Coughing a spluttering, she dragged herself onto the far shore. After a few cautious breaths, and a stoic attempt to clear the water from her lungs, she turned her ragged voice against the far side of the river. -¡°BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME, FUCK WADS.¡± She gave them a complimentary middle finger salute as she hauled her soggy self in the direction of The Barrows. God help anything that got between her and a warm fire. Energy 72: Growth ¡°For the third, and hopefully final time, we are not bandits.¡± Dean knew he was letting his exasperation leak into his tone, but he was far beyond caring. ¡°But that¡¯s exactly what bandits would say. Combine that with the whole ¡®come to our secret hideout¡¯ thing, and I have to say, I¡¯m highly skeptical.¡± ¡°WHY the everliving FUCK would we want to rob you? We¡¯re all surviving out here! I guess I¡¯d understand your ¡®concerns¡¯ if you had a really nice weapon or something, but you fucking don¡¯t! You have a shield! Great! Even if it¡¯s fucking magical or something, we don¡¯t have any shield users. We need willing people to fight with us so we can fucking live. How can you be this dumb and not be dead?!¡± ¡°Well, now you¡¯re just being rude. Why would I willingly associate with rude people? Be along your way.¡± Dean¡¯s eye twitched as the recurring thought of throttling this stupid man became more and more tempting. ¡°IT¡¯S NOT HANGING OUT, IT¡¯S FUCKING SURVIV-... Ugh. fine, handle it.¡± Rav had placed his hand on Dean¡¯s shoulder indicating he should shut the fuck up. Dean knew he wasn¡¯t being helpful, but god damn if this wasn¡¯t the most idiotic existence left to the human race. ¡°Survivor, if I may-¡± ¡°My name is Samuel. Please use it if you must continue to speak to me.¡± Rav blinked once, but held his cool much better than Dean had, as he was already imagining how wonderful it would be to crush ''Samuel'' into a paste. ¡°My apologies, Samuel, but how have you survived these past days? Especially at night, the dangers are many, and I see no remains of a fire.¡± Samuel sniffed, as if it was a substantial burden to continue the conversation. ¡°I have had no trouble sleeping through the night. As for a fire, I have no need of one. The forage around her is sufficient, so I have not needed to cook, and the temperature is warm enough.¡± Dean didn¡¯t notice his mouth drop open as Rav put words to his incredulous thoughts. ¡°Apologies, Samuel, you said you slept through the night? Are there others around who watched over you? How did you avoid the Shades?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t the faintest idea what you¡¯re talking about. I am alone here, as I quite like it, and I¡¯ve never seen these ¡®Shade¡¯ things you speak of. Are they at all like the dogs that roam this area? Nasty things.¡± Dean didn¡¯t know whether to be furious or amazed. They must be in the presence of the single dumbest, and luckiest, son of a bitch to ever be born.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Your unconsciousness kept you safe... and the Shades could not find you.¡± Rav concluded, with a sigh that might just have been the last fuck escaping his body. He turned to Dean. ¡°I¡¯m unsure we have anything to offer such a¡­ magnificent existence. Perhaps our efforts would be better spent elsewhere?¡± The suggestion was music to Dean¡¯s ears, but there was something about what Samuel had said that bothered him. ¡°Why are you so worried about bandits?¡± Samuel frowned at him, the way a teacher looks at a child that had failed at basic arithmetic. ¡°A group of two, or four now that you¡¯ve joined them... Shouldn¡¯t you know this?¡± Dean took a large breath, fully prepared to continue his tirade, but Samuel interrupted. ¡°Yes, yes, of course you aren¡¯t with them. It was a jest, they would have no use for bumbling fools such as yourselves.¡± This fucking guy really wants to die. ¡°As I was saying, they are a pair, and I¡¯ve seen them approach others, in much the same way you two approached me, and lead them off. I never see them again, but I have seen them wearing belongings of those they took. Vagabonds, the lot of them, but alas, I can do nothing about it. I¡¯m excellent defensively, but even I cannot protect others from their own idiocy.¡± Dean exchanged another look with Rav. Maybe that¡¯s where Nate had gone? Nate was smart, but he might have gotten in over his head trying to help other people escape. Dean really didn¡¯t like asking assholes for help, but...¡°Samuel¡­ if you would like, we could certainly use a defender in our group, and we could probably provide you with armor to better protect yourself.¡± His aloof expression faded somewhat with the mention of armor. ¡°Ah, truly? So you have a smith in your employ? I say, why didn''t you start your pitch with that? We could have beaten right to the punch! Hmm¡­ Yes, very well, but what would this cost me? As you said, I haven¡¯t any coin.¡± Dean¡¯s exasperation was reaching unheard of levels. ¡°If you join us to take down the bandits, and prove useful, we¡¯ll take you as part of our group and equip you with whatever you need.¡± Samuel smiled, like he had shrewdly negotiated a good deal for himself. ¡°Done.¡± Dean sighed. He was regretting this already. --- They had looked for hours, and though they found traces of skirmishes around, they had concluded it must have been Carnines attacking, not other humans, due to the paw prints in the mud and the odd bit of reddish skin. Samuel had been anything but helpful when asked for clues as to the location of the bandits'' base of operations, but he was fortunately very quiet the rest of the time. While they saw other people, they tended to be wary of their approach, and Rav decided for the party that they would not push the matter. Once the bandits were taken care of, they would hopefully be more receptive to strangers. Then they started to find human bodies, which was odd because the Carnines usually dragged off anything they killed. As if that wasn''t evidence enough, the single red line running along their throats, or gaping wounds in their hearts, firmly indicated how they had died, and what sort of ''monster'' had killed them. But, none of their group had any knowledge of tracking, and the hills were excellent hiding places when one didn¡¯t want to be found. It boiled Dean¡¯s blood, but the celestial rings had appeared. They had to head back. Fortunately, their circuitous route had taken them most of the way back, so they would only have to run for about 20 minutes to get back. It was only when they were mostly home that they found one last body, lying in a valley. A body that Dean and Rav immediately recognized. ¡°N-Nate?¡± Energy 73: Growth The new people had already started settling in. They apparently showed up while I¡¯d been training with Zathis, and Marie and Tom found things for them to do. They had apparently been calling out while wandering around the illusion, which had greatly amused Marie, who ultimately helped them out when they yelled something about Lauren. Three new people¡­ and Lauren convinced them to join? That¡¯s got to be the strangest part of all this. The archer, Amy, doesn¡¯t talk much, but she¡¯s apparently quite good with her bow and woodworking, and immediately fell in with Tom and Lynn and their bow making project. The barbarian-looking guy with the warhammer, Seth, was thrilled to find that we had plenty of meat prepared, and I think he¡¯ll make a sound addition to the front lines. The final one, Loreian, appears to be a sort of finesse fighter, but there¡¯s¡­ something strange about her. I don¡¯t know what exactly, but the moment I saw her, I felt a spark. Not anything romantic, but like¡­ familiarity? I¡¯ve never seen- I mean, I don¡¯t remember ever seeing her before. She could have been my best friend 5 days ago and I wouldn¡¯t know. I make a point to remember to talk to her when there¡¯s some time. I decide not to bother them too much now because they¡¯re either utterly exhausted or involved in their own projects. Besides, I think Dean and Rav are just arriving back from their expedition. I hear them approaching before I see them, and I¡¯m excited to note the sound of three people walking, meaning they were successful in at least finding one person to join. I go to greet them at the entrance, when Marie¡¯s scream cuts the silence, and the smile I had at their return is entirely wiped away by their cargo. They fucking found Nate! How do I explain this away? I don¡¯t have a good lie ready! This is really bad, I¡¯ll have to deflect. Thank god Lauren isn¡¯t here. I open my mouth to say something, but Rav must have seen my expression change from happiness to horror. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, my friend. We failed to find him in time. We failed him. He was so close to home, but he couldn¡¯t...¡± He chokes and cuts off. The tears streaming down his face make my heart ache. Dean has a look more of cold fury than sadness. ¡°They killed him, Anthony. Those monsters in human skin, FUCKING KILLED... the best of us all. No, I can¡¯t wait around and let this¡­ atrocity go unanswered. I¡¯m going after them. Take him, bury him, I can¡¯t¡­ I¡¯ll be back.¡± He turns to leave after handing Nate¡¯s bloody corpse to Rav. ¡°Dean.¡± Rav begins quietly. ¡°Stay. Do not force me to bury two friends in one day.¡± Dean turns back, distressed. ¡°But-¡± He stops at Rav¡¯s raised hand. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Tomorrow, after the night is done, we will go. The three of us. Yes?¡± His words are measured and careful, barely holding back the tide of emotion. ¡°Please stay, at least through the night,¡± I agree ¡°but who is this you¡¯re talking about? Who did this?¡± The new, shield bearing man replies in their stead. ¡°I believe I can take over for my emotionally compromised comrades. You see, we were attempting to get rid of some bandits that have been damaging the reputations of any legitimate attempts at organizing the masses through their wayward actions. We stumbled across many instances of their handiwork, but it seems¡­ this one was of great personal significance to your group.¡± ¡°He was our leader,¡± Dean clarifies, ¡°he banded us together in the worst of times, and kept us together through the rest. He led us through hell and back. Most of all, he was¡­ a friend, to all of us.¡± The man only nods. Rav carries Nate¡¯s body back outside, and he and Dean start to dig. Marie joins them outside, standing with them and talking quietly. I go and tell Lynn and Tom, who had been too distracted by the sounds of the forge and their planning with Amy to notice what had transpired. Lynn turns away at the news, shuddering and hiding her expression. Tom looks shaken to his core, mumbles something inaudible, and also heads outside. Amy looks bewildered, and I give her a small smile and shake my head, giving her a short explanation. She nods in understanding and excuses herself, leaving me alone with Lynn. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Something¡¯s off about her. She¡¯s shuddering, but¡­ not like she¡¯s sobbing. She doesn¡¯t answer for a moment, but wipes her eyes before reagaining control of herself. ¡°Totally fine.¡± She replies with a small smile. A small smile that looks¡­ suppressed. Like it wants to be a much larger one. ¡°You¡­ didn¡¯t care much for Nate, did you.¡± She maintains her tight smile, looking at me with eyes that speak volumes about how much of an underestimation I had made. The smile breaks a moment later. ¡°You were not the only one to notice his¡­ effects. But you? You could resist them. Not that he asked you to do anything truly awful, but you¡­ for some reason¡­ had the choice. I¡­ didn¡¯t.¡± She tried to take a deep breath, but choked part of the way through. ¡°So¡­ when he asked for things that¡­ I didn¡¯t want to give I-... I couldn¡¯t say no. I didn¡¯t want to say no, even while my mind screamed at me to stop him.¡± She sniffs loudly, clearing her eyes of more genuine tears before finishing. ¡°I think¡­ you¡¯re probably wondering why. Why I¡¯m telling you. It¡¯s not like it matters anymore, he¡¯s dead, and what would you care? But you did care. Enough to stop him. I¡¯m telling you because of what he truly was, and because... you knew that better than anyone, didn¡¯t you? You and Lauren? ¡­Hah, he¡¯s dead, and it wasn¡¯t even me that got him.¡± ¡°Wai-¡± ¡°No, don¡¯t. I can¡¯t¡­ possibly thank you enough. I¡¯m not alone in knowing he was a monster, and he¡¯s dead now; that¡¯s what matters. Thank you.¡± Her arms wrap around me, squeezing tightly. ¡°Thank you thank you thank you¡­¡± she whispers, before releasing me and walking quietly away. Energy 74: Growth That was¡­ heavy. I had been wondering why her response to my Energy was so¡­ intense. But, of course it would be. How could she be ok with someone, especially a guy, touching her while she was paralyzed? And here I was worried about her causing trouble¡­ I don¡¯t think I¡¯m quite perfect at reading people yet. After taking a moment to collect myself, I go and attend Nate¡¯s impromptu funeral. Pretending to be sad and comforting people presents enough of a challenge, but holding in my feelings whenever somebody lavishes him with praise¡­ it physically hurts. He did so much to hurt people with his abilities. The good he did for others only emphasizes how truly evil his transgressions were¡­ but I can¡¯t tell them that. I can¡¯t explain. He will be remembered, if any of the people here live long enough, for generations¡­ and as a hero. He deserves to be forgotten. They won¡¯t see it that way, but maybe that¡¯s for the best. I was worried about how well the group would stick together with Nate gone, but they seem to have banded together to keep ¡®Nate¡¯s legacy¡¯ alive, sticking it out through thick and thin because that¡¯s what Nate would have wanted. Maybe the most good he ever does is after his death, as a symbol to unite people. If only it wasn¡¯t so wrong. Their ceremony is cut short as darkness falls and we rush to prepare for the incoming Shades. I join the front line with Seth and Dean, with Lauren and Loreian as relief and Amy, Lynn, and Rav as our ranged support. The howls begin, low and careful in the distance. One crests the hill across from the entrance, and howls in delight. They must know that a fire means their food is still around. They will be sorely disappointed. A group of ten Shades cluster together before charging, splitting in half to skirt the fire. Our impressive array of ranged attackers knock out several, and Rav unleashes a small burst of light above the entrance, keeping us from being blinded, but still weakening our enemies. My sword hums as I engage the first in a long line of monsters, which howls in surprise when my arms suddenly start emitting light. It isn¡¯t very bright, but they seem more reluctant to swarm me. At least, for a while. I desperately want to activate my new skill... to wade out into these enemies as a shining beacon and dance among them until they lie still or I do. If only it wouldn¡¯t be suicide.
[Swordsman of the Great River: River¡¯s Flow [Active] (1) - Uncommon skill. The user enters a battle trance, raising awareness, speed, and reaction time the longer it is active. While active, the user, gradually loses cognizance of Stamina and Health, as well as the ability to feel pain. Presence and awareness during usage increases with level.]
Incredibly useful, to say the least, but it has to be used in moderation when standing on the front line. I can¡¯t allow myself to suddenly collapse from exhaustion like before. Sure, I would be dragged back and someone else would take my place, but that will happen soon enough anyway. Plus, I can¡¯t activate Fortify while it¡¯s in use. It takes too much concentration, and even if I got it going, I¡¯d use it until I passed out without even realizing. Far too risky, at least until I get a better handle on it. One of the Shades vaults over the one I¡¯m engaged with and I can¡¯t reposition my sword in time to stop it. A heavy blow from its freakish arm slams me into the cave wall, blurring my vision and causing a bleed effect from somewhere. It lands where I was standing, past the barricade. I quickly try to activate Fortify, but the head wound keeps my concentration too scattered. I barely manage to stagger to my feet when the encroaching Shade collapses and bursts into flames. Lauren¡¯s face is wreathed in the aftermath of fire. She smiles slightly, almost imperceptibly, and covers the hole I left while I shake of the dizziness and ready myself to continue. She falls back as step forward, exchanging combat nearly seamlessly. I¡¯m still not happy with her, but she seems¡­ different. Better. The fighting continues, and the rewards are minimal, as the Shades make it a point to escape before they¡¯re slain, if at all possible. It¡¯s aggravating, but, from what little I can see over the fray, our ranged combatants are finishing off a few that try to escape. They¡¯re going to be loaded with Power after this. BUT I NEED THAT SHIT MORE, DAMNIT. As if answer to my frustration, the Shade I¡¯m fighting tries to use its stupidly tough skin to block my strike and trap my sword, but I¡¯ve recovered enough to use Fortify again. It fails even to scream as whatever passes for its lungs are cut in half, along with the rest of its twisted body. Even in my moment of temporary triumph, one of the other monsters uses the body of its ally to screen its own attack, which I barely manage to jump out of the way of. It screeches, grabs a half of the fallen Shade, and smashes it into the barricade, impaling it deep onto the fortification. I return in time to fend it off before it can do more damage, but now, the attacking Shades won¡¯t have to worry as much about the defensive spikes on their side of the barricade. The pressure on my position suddenly increases dramatically, and I call out for backup. Dean isn¡¯t the backup I anticipate, but he¡¯s what I get. He had pushed the the new girl, Loreian, into his place. Two greatswordsmen in a tight location? Sounds fucking stupid. But¡­ the truth is, both of us know how greatsword combat works. Hell, we even know a bit about how the other fights. Because of this synchronization in understanding, we manage to mostly stay out of each other¡¯s ways while continuing to repel the enemy. The only time we run into trouble is when Dean seems to lose his cold fury to burning hatred. His attacks suddenly become much more aggressive, with no clear indication why, and I¡¯ll have to interrupt my own movements to make way for him. It gets worse and worse until a particularly wild strike glances off a Shade and I have to actively parry it. The clash of metal on metal echoes strangely during a battle where only one side has weapons. ¡°What the fuck do you think you¡¯re doing? Pull yourself together, now isn¡¯t the time to make mistakes!¡± But Dean doesn¡¯t answer, his mouth set in a firm line. He reigns himself in a bit, still occasionally pulling stupid stunts, but overall acting more aware that I¡¯m fucking next to him, which is good. Even though his actions convey how much pain he¡¯s in, his expression is almost vacant. It¡¯s¡­ eerie. Inhuman, almost. But damn if he isn¡¯t effective. As much as his chaotic strikes mess with my ability to perform, most of them are killing or crippling blows, where I generally need to duel enemies for a few moments before I can drive them off without Fortify. The pressure eases up as the torrent of Shades starts to slow down, and eventually stop. The remaining wounded and more cowardly of their number run howling into the night. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. I¡¯m¡­ glad. Glad that we didn¡¯t see an appearance from another of our number that had been corrupted. Maybe they weren¡¯t all changed like that? One can hope. Nobody moves or speaks as the howls fade into the distance. Whether because of the emotional exhaustion or physical, everyone looks immensely drained, even those that didn¡¯t fight. Samuel, Tom, and Marie all stayed safe in the back, which made sense for the latter two, but I would have thought the giant ass tower shield would come in handy¡­ whatever, we had all the spots occupied, and things worked out. If only every night could go so smoothly. I move around, healing what few injuries there are, before attending to my notifications.
[Multiple Dwarf Shades slain! +375 Power]
[Feats performed! Your abilities may come from power you don¡¯t fully understand, but they leave their mark on your body. Strength enhanced. Endurance enhanced. Dexterity enhanced.]
[Congratulations! Skill levels gained! Transfuse Energy +?, Fortify +1 (4), Combat Proficiency +1 (6), Natural Armor +1 (2)]
The fuck is that question mark-
[Alert! Secondary Skill: ¡®Transfuse Energy¡¯ has reached a critical point, and can no longer improved without modification. User may ¡®Retrain¡¯ this skill, setting it back to level 1 and gaining a Legacy Skill. Legacy Skills minorly increase the efficacy of the related Secondary Skill. Legacy Skills cannot be leveled. User may ¡®Crystalize¡¯ this skill, greatly increasing efficacy. A Crystalized skill cannot be leveled. Retrain? Cost: 500. Crystalize? Cost 200.]
...Oh. ------ Name: Amadeus (Anthony) Power: 489 Fragments: 31 HP: 34/34 H Recovery: + 6 / hour Stamina: 34/34 S Recovery: + 22.5 / min Energy: 21/45 E Recovery: + 7.5 / min Mana: 0/1 M Recovery:0 Primary skills: Dexterity 20 (22) + Strength 23 Endurance 25 Toughness 24 Intelligence 28 Perception 26 (30) Will 5 Secondary Skills: -Active Transfuse Energy [Active] (10) Move Energy through physical contact into living objects. Imbue Energy [Active] (7) - Move Energy through physical contact into non-living objects. Energetic Attack [Active] (6) - Attempt to destroy the spirit of a target using your own. Hide [Active] (3) - Utilize stamina to decrease your presence. Audio generated reduced. Light reflection reduced. Reduces effectivity of olfactory tracking used on you. Stamina usage increases with movement. Efficiency of Stamina usage and Perception required to detect user increased 5% and 1 respectively per level. Fortify [Active] (4) - Enhance one¡¯s own body with Energetic traits. Efficiency and efficacy of Energy usage increased by 10% per level. Swordsman of the Great River: River¡¯s Flow [Active] (1) - Uncommon skill. The user enters a battle trance, raising awareness, speed, and reaction time the longer it is active. While active, the user, gradually loses cognizance of Stamina and Health, as well as the ability to feel pain. Presence and awareness during usage increases with level. -Passive Energy Manipulation [Passive] (9) Medium - general ability to move and understand Energy. Improves through use. Combat Proficiency [Passive] (6) Hard - General combat ability. Improves through not using it in training/combat. Cold Resistance [Passive] (2) Medium - General resistance to the effects of cold. Tamer [Passive] (4) ??? - Rare skill. Tame and forge bonds with monsters. Hand to Hand Proficiency (3) Hard - Unarmed competence. Improves through practice using the body as a weapon. Blunt Weapons Proficiency(4) Medium - Competence using weapons designed to crush and sunder. Improves through use of heavy and blunt weaponry. Alchemy (1) Medium - Competence using alchemical equipment and crafting using alchemical ingredients. Higher skill level increases potency and ability to find and intuit ingredients. Raises through practice. Natural Armor (2) Hard- Your willingness to take damage without any protection earns you extra effective Toughness when wearing cloth or lesser armor Traits: [Basic Energy User (10/10): Increases efficiency of all Energy use by 1%/point. Bonus doubles once the trait is complete.] [Novice Energy Healer (10/10): Speeds active healing effects by 10%/point. Reduces concentration required for active healing once the trait is complete.] [The Selfless (5/5): Reward trait. Saving one of your own at great personal risk has gained you the interest of the Administrator. Gain one free Primary Skill for every point. Reduced cost of Ascending once the trait is complete.] [Path of Denial (23/25): Does absolutely nothing. Effect doubles once the trait is complete.] [Novice Energetic Weaponry selected! (10/10) - Rate at which weaponry is bound to user increased by 5% per point. Number of simultaneously bound weapons doubled when maxed.] [Combat Synchronization (0/10): Increases user/skill synchronization, making warnings more noticeable and reactions quicker through automatic movement. Allows ¡®Combat Proficiency¡¯ to be leveled through use once the trait is maxed.] [Destroyer (0/50): What you¡¯ve done can never be forgiven. Lethality of offensive Energy increased by 1%/trait point. Consequences unknown.] Trait points: 3/61 Peripherals: Dominations - 80%% Cathid Exhaustions - 3 Status - Burned Channels: ---; Inventory: Basic Clothing (cloth); stick; flowers: red(3), green(4), purple(4), white(4), green(bud) (3); 5 Bon nuts; small Mana battery (2); Leather Satchel; Crown (unidentified); Zweihander (Unbreaking) Energy 75: Growth Dean breaks the heavy silence. ¡°I¡¯ll keep watch until first light. I¡­ couldn¡¯t sleep anyway.¡± I¡¯m suddenly aware that the new girl, Loreian, isn¡¯t taking her eyes off me. ¡°Oh, sorry, I meant to offer. Did you need healing?¡± ¡°Nope, already got myself and Seth. You heal too then?¡± My eyes sharpen, scrutinizing her. No, she doesn¡¯t seem to be messing with me, but¡­ does that mean she knows Energy? No, maybe she¡¯s just a normal cleric-like healer or something. ¡°Yeah. I wasn¡¯t sure anyone else did. It¡¯s such a¡­ rare ability, healing. It¡¯s weird how almost nobody even has the resource to do it, right?¡± ¡°Neither Amy nor Seth have anything that is more magical so far, so I¡¯m not really sure what is normal yet. Apart from Marie and that guy conjuring lights, I don¡¯t know of anyone who uses Mana. For all I know, Mana and Energy could be equally common. Which one do you use?¡± I almost laugh, despite myself. My attempts at subtly figuring her out were completely wasted. She really has no idea how uncommon Energy is. Granted, the only reason I know it is is because the system told me all my Energy skills were uncommon, and that I got the first iteration of ¡®Tamer¡¯ in all of humanity. I have to assume that such a thing wouldn¡¯t be common otherwise. That, and the guru back in the tutorial said only people who already had some ability with Energy could learn it, even with the system. I should ask Rav if his arcane skills have ¡®uncommon¡¯ tags as well. My surprise must have shown on my face, because she tilts her head, frowning slightly. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Nothing. Here.¡± I extend my hand, and a chunk of Light flows to my fingertips. ¡°Take my hand.¡± She cautiously reaches out and takes it, seeming weirdly unphased that my hand is literally emitting light. I push the Light into her. Only a bit gets through before I sense a counterattack and snatch my hand away. ¡°Fuck¡­¡± I mutter under my breath. Why does everyone have to fucking do that. I shake off the numbness, ignoring the weird look she¡¯s giving me. ¡°If you¡¯re an Energy user, you should be better at not attacking allies.¡± My voice is a little too tinged with anger, partially from pain, and partially because I had hoped that she was¡­ more experienced. That she could teach me. It looks like she barely understands how Energy works in this new world. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what? I wasn¡¯t.¡± She states flatly. ¡°You¡¯ve healed others, right? How do you not know-... have you ever healed anyone besides Seth and Amy?¡± ¡°I hadn¡¯t encountered anyone besides them before yesterday so no. Would that make a difference?¡± ¡°They probably trust you, so yeah. People naturally lash out against unfamiliar Energy when they don¡¯t already have a certain trust or acceptance of the person.¡± ¡°So I shouldn¡¯t do that¡­¡± she pauses ¡°let me try something.¡± She closes her eyes. ¡°Try again?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need.¡± I don¡¯t want to get burned again. ¡°Just move around the stuff I gave you.¡± Her frown deepens as she seems to focus more, and the Light slowly moves around her hand. So she can actively control Energy, that¡¯s confirmed. Albeit very slowly¡­ I shake my head. I¡¯m being unfair. I highly doubt she¡¯s had as many life or death situations. ¡°Your glowing Energy responds sluggishly compared with mine, but it seems manageable. I don¡¯t think I can really do anything with it other than move it.¡± She remarks, still focused. Well, that explains it being so slow. But she¡¯s piqued my curiosity. ¡°Give me some of yours. Make it non-hostile this time, yeah?¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. She offers her hand, and I feel a moment of trepidation as my defenses are tested. My Energy naturally starts to rile, but I force it to relent. A small number of gray strands enter and float listlessly around my hand. I try to move them the same way I move the rest of my Energy, but they doesn¡¯t seem to care. I take some green Energy I have lying around and use that to push it, which works in much the same way as fragments, but that¡¯s it. I was hoping for more. On a whim, I run golden Energy into it. Neon yellow flashes, one after another, explode out as the dull gray strands slowly take on a yellow hue, before becoming full on gold. The process doesn¡¯t seem to consume my Energy, but instead, the proximity is sufficient to ¡®convert¡¯ her Energy to mine. The new Energy is a little slow, but I can control it and change its function much the same as the rest of my own. I spend a bit of time swirling the strands around, making interesting patterns and enjoying the light show. The colors are all made much more vibrant with the addition of the Light, and I can see so much more detail in my little internal world¡­ and something strange. I hadn¡¯t noticed before, because I had full Energy, but there are occasionally very slight pulses from various parts of my body. I manage to have some Light close to one as it pulses, and cluster more around, focusing my attention on it. It¡¯s¡­ a rune. A very small ¡®self¡¯ rune, that produces my basic, golden Energy at a constant rate. Well. That answers a lot of questions¡­ and also gives me an extremely important idea. ¡°Thanks, sorry I need to-¡° I don¡¯t even bother finishing. Everyone had already gone about their business, so only Dean bore witness to my rudeness, but I¡¯m beyond caring. I basically sprint to the end of the hall, catching Kaythe as he falls to land on me, and slide down the rocky incline to the underground lake. Good, she¡¯s here. ¡°Lauren I-¡° ¡°Hold on.¡± I stop. Oh, right, we were fighting or something. It¡¯s so immensely unimportant compared with testing out my idea, but her face, set in grim determination, gives me pause. ¡°Alright, go ahead.¡± She takes a deep breath. ¡°So I was a fucking jerk, and that¡¯s on me. Sorry.¡± She lets the rest of the breath fall away, like she thought it was going to be longer but ran out of stuff to say. It takes a real effort for me to not be immediately dismissive, not because I don¡¯t care about her feelings, but because my news is so much more pressing. I was mostly sad before because I felt like she didn¡¯t value our friendship like I did, but¡­ it¡¯s also really good to know she does, and I can¡¯t prevent the smile from crossing my face. ¡°Nothing to forgive, we¡¯re good. I¡¯m glad you¡¯re feeling better. Now, seriously, I need you to trust me for a bit, because I¡¯m about to attempt SCIENCE.¡± ¡°That was not a promising or comforting way to frame that.¡± ¡°Listen, yes, but I¡¯m excited. Two step process here. First, I want you to resist my Energy as much as you can.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­? Ok? How? You never really taught me anything about Energy, you fuck.¡± ¡°Just¡­ I don¡¯t know, push out with your mind, form a barrier of your will along the area we¡¯re in contact.¡± She shakes her head. ¡°You¡¯re not helpful at all. Whatever, I¡¯ll try.¡± I take her hand and try pushing a lot of green Energy in¡­ and just as usual, no resistance, no counterattack. ¡°You don¡¯t have any Energy at all.¡± ¡°...Yeah? How could I when there¡¯s a giant, Energy eating hole in my chest?¡± ¡°No, well, yes, but that¡¯s only part of it. I¡¯ve never seen you produce Energy either. Any of the times I¡¯ve tried healing you, or even while actively studying- err, trying to fix your condition, I¡¯ve never seen the same natural defenses that everyone else has. At first I thought it was my Energy perception being too weak, but now I think I¡¯ve got it: something destroyed your sense of self!¡± The look she gives me speaks volumes about what she thinks of my excitement. ¡°You¡¯d better start making sense soon or you¡¯re getting punched.¡± Her level stare indicates she means it, and I frantically try to clarify. ¡°It wasn¡¯t anything Nate did, at least, if it was, Lynn would have had it as well and she didn¡¯t, and I don¡¯t know of anything here that could willingly do that kind of damage. Doesn¡¯t eliminate the possibility, but I think that damage happened before you got here. Before the game. Something you might not remember well, if at all, left a permanent mark on you.¡± She stares into my eyes for a moment, searching, before looking away. ¡°Huh. So what?¡± ¡°So,¡± I gush, ¡°I think I can replace what was broken! I- I mean, if you¡¯re ok with it. It would cost me a bit, but I think it would¡­ permanently fix things for you.¡± An Energy rune or ¡®self¡¯. I could do it, and I¡¯m almost positive that it would work. ¡°No thanks.¡± ¡°Ok great- ...no?!¡± ¡°Yeah I¡­ think what you want to do would work, and I don¡¯t want you to.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Energy 76: Growth ¡°I¡­ may not be fixed yet, but¡­ I feel better than before. Even without the Energy you give me, the highs are higher, and the lows, less low. It would be nice to just have you fix it, but I think I can fix it myself, and I think I should. I think that I owe it to the person I was before¡­ before all this. She opened the wound, and I¡¯m going to close it.¡± She shakes her head, meeting my eyes. ¡°Does that make any sense?¡± I¡¯m profoundly annoyed at first, seeing as how I¡¯ll be unable to test my theory, but the truth is that I¡¯m kicking myself for not seeing the truth of her words earlier. She started off the conversation by apologizing. Yeah, she¡¯s done it before, but usual surrounded by tons of emotion. This was a more level, reasonable recognition that she¡¯d gone a bit overboard. That, compared with the fucking homicidal, uncaring, and broken mess she was before? It¡¯s hard to believe only a few days have passed. ¡°Yeah.¡± I say, nodding. ¡°It makes a lot of sense. I¡¯m¡­ kinda impressed, to be honest.¡± She rolls her eyes. ¡°Of course, because I live for your admiration. The great Anthony and his infinite wisdom.¡± I turn away slightly. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ Amadeus, actually.¡± A silence hangs for a moment, before she starts laughing uncontrollably. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me! You hid your real name? I can¡¯t even blame you, oh my god, it fits so well! Amadeus!¡± She contains her laughter just enough to sit up and see the annoyance clearly plastered on my face. She coughs slightly, badly trying to cover a giggle. ¡°Ah, mmm. Sorry, I meant: it¡¯s a¡­ very nice name.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I say, turning away and heading back up the incline. What a charmer that one is. ¡°Wait wait wait, hold on a second. I found something cool yesterday while I was blowing off steam.¡± I stop, partially turning. ¡°What, a sense of decency?¡± She snorts. ¡°Hell no, but I did find a building. A tower, in fact, in the fork of the river, over by all that mist.¡± ¡°Neat, what did you find?¡± ¡°Ah, well¡­ that¡¯s actually what I was going to ask: there are monsters around it, so do you wanna come exploring? Honestly, it¡¯s tradition at this point.¡± ¡°We explore one dungeon, that¡¯s hardly a tradition¡­ but yeah- wait, don¡¯t you want to sleep or something?¡± ¡°Oh, how brash, asking me to sleep with you so suddenly.¡± She makes an exaggerated attempt at fluttering her eyelids, and it¡¯s my turn to roll my eyes. ¡°But you must leave Kaythe somewhere else, I can¡¯t have it watching us.¡± ¡°Oh my god, why.¡± ¡°Ha! I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen your cheeks that red since the last time someone punched you in the face! Go have your nap, Amadeus, but make it short. Or else I¡¯ll come wake you~¡± She ends the sentence with an overly suggestive tone. Absolutely mad, that woman. -¡ª Dean fidgeted. He couldn¡¯t sleep, and apparently, he couldn¡¯t keep watch either. He wanted to go¡­ do something. Nate wouldn¡¯t have wanted him to just sit around¡­ but Nate would have wanted him to protect the group.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. So he waited, and watched. A pack of Carnines roamed through, barking like shitty dogs, but they did not stumble upon the dungeon. Unfortunate. He would have loved the outlet for his aggression. Soon, the strange twilight that preceded the day¡¯s direct sunlight fell over the land, and he stood. Rav appeared next to him, with a slightly drowsy Samuel. ¡°These accommodations were most uncomfortable. I would much prefer the outside grasses.¡± ¡°The Carnines that just ran past would have killed you and eaten you.¡± Dean kept his voice level, but only barely. He had little patience for anything at the moment. ¡°If you would like to continue sleeping, you can stay behind.¡± Samuel rubbed his eyes drearily. ¡°I appreciate the concern, my good man, but I am beholden to my word. Lead the way.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you need a weapon?¡± ¡°No.¡± Dean regarded him for a second, before turning away. They moved in relative silence, only broken by the odd clinking of equipment. Hours passed before Samuel spoke. ¡°I say, I do believe that would be the culprits. They look far too happy to see us, gentlemen.¡± Two men, with smiles that could only be classified as ¡®predatory¡¯ were approaching them. Maybe so, thought Dean as he drew his sword, but not as happy as I. ¡ª- I awoke to a small headache and a not-so-great feeling body, but overall? Not bad for only sleeping for three hours. The perks of this body are well appreciated. Before I go get Lauren, I need to make a decision. Retrain, or Crystalize. It¡¯s¡­ not that hard of a decision. I use Transfuse Energy really frequently, so I¡¯ll definitely get it back up¡­ it¡¯s just that I don¡¯t have the Power to do so yet. Aggravating, but hopefully I¡¯ll get the last bit I need to push myself over the edge. ¡­ I¡¯m really bad at saving up Power for this Ascending thing. --- ¡°I remember the fog being less¡­ opaque.¡± I muse to no one in particular. ¡°It gets worse the deeper you go. Also, try to watch out for the invisible monsters in there. No clue how dangerous they are, but yeah.¡± ¡°... Just that? Sounds easy enough.¡± The sarcasm is thick in my voice as I scan the area, and a pit of dread forms in my stomach as I realize¡­ I can¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary in the fog. ¡°Where¡¯s that tower you were talking about? I don¡¯t see anything.¡± ¡°Hah, how the tables have turned. Look, it¡¯s right there, how can you not see it?¡± She points at the fork in the river, which I can clearly see has no tower on it. I fix her with a level glare, but she merely smiles pleasantly back at me. What the fuck is she pulling? Is this more illusion shit? The answer was a resolute ¡®yes¡¯. ¡°Be really quiet, we¡¯ll have to hear them approach.¡± I activate Hide and instantly feel myself exist a little less in the world. But¡­ I¡¯m curious. I can¡¯t see them, but can Kaythe? He saw through previous illusions¡­ so maybe? I channel my focus into Kaythe, and suddenly, I see through his eye. From his perch on my shoulder, the vision he gives me is almost from my normal perspective, which makes the experience slightly less unpleasant. I turn my body actual body, effectively making his vision pan side to side as I want, and the results are¡­ weird. There are muddled lines, almost like the kind of shimmering you would see coming from a really hot surface, pretty much all around us. In the distance, I see strangely shaped bundles of static. The static moves around a little, but that might just be distortion from the shimmering air. At the fork in the river, there¡¯s a weird distortion effect, almost like a fun-house mirror. The anomaly is pretty tall and not that wide, but seems mostly static. Is¡­ that the tower? I pull back to my own senses, taking a moment to shake of the weirdness of the transition, and relay the information to Lauren. ¡°Did the static things look like¡­ long, lanky people?¡± ¡°Not really, more like huddled masses. I couldn¡¯t make out much detail.¡± She nods slowly. ¡°I bet it¡¯s them, just resting or something. Waiting. Let¡¯s avoid them if we can. I don¡¯t know how many chased me the last time I was here, but it seemed like a lot, and I don¡¯t exactly think we could fight them without seeing them. It¡¯s not like you can paint the targets for me or anything. It would be shit.¡± ¡°Fair. Stealth it is.¡± Energy 77: Growth We move forward in bursts, stopping every few seconds to make sure nothing had spotted us or moved into our path. My Stamina pool is fairly large, but Hide hasn¡¯t gotten almost any training since I got it, and I think it actually drains me faster when Kaythe is on me. The combined effects make sure I¡¯m sweating and barely resisting panting after only a few minutes. Lauren seems mostly unbothered, of course, and I¡¯m sure it¡¯s only in the interest of not exposing us that she doesn¡¯t tease me mercilessly. Before we¡¯re even halfway there, my Stamina bar is blinking red, and I tap Lauren to call a rest. We wait silently, but without the system¡¯s help with hiding, I notice the static-laden figures start to gravitate towards us, gathering into a kind of mob. Lauren wasn¡¯t kidding earlier, there are a lot of these things. Now that they¡¯re moving with more purpose, I start to get a general idea of their body shapes, and everything I see horrifies me. They shouldn¡¯t exist. Their bodies are too thin to support themselves without breaking, and yet, they move with surprising grace. I don¡¯t know what they look like without the static covering them, but I¡¯m sure I don¡¯t want to. After just a minute of rest, we move out again. My Stamina isn¡¯t full, but the static creatures are getting too close for comfort. Hopefully they lose track of us, but we stop less frequently anyway. With about a quarter of the way left, I have to stop again. My muscles shake from effort I don¡¯t quite understand. For my part, I¡¯m just moving low to the ground, but every step feels like twenty steps through deep snow. I don¡¯t know how the system hides me, but it¡¯s one of the best workouts I¡¯ve had since I¡¯ve been here¡­ if only I didn¡¯t desperately need every ounce of strength to survive right now. The one saving grace is how, periodically, notifications alert me that I¡¯m getting better at hiding, and the steps drain me a little bit less each time. The static monsters are almost everywhere now, and the moment we drop out of stealth, the shapes start moving quickly towards us. It¡¯s no longer a question of stealth, they¡¯re too close and closing too fast. ¡°Lauren we need to run. Now.¡± Without waiting for an answer, I take off. I try reaching into Kaythe¡¯s vision to make sure I¡¯m not about to run into anything, but I end up stumbling the moment I start to transition. I have no breath to curse, but I desperately want to. I hear Lauren¡¯s steps close behind me. ¡°Kaythe, steer me away from the static.¡± *Clack* (I will) Our path snakes, even doubling back once, and the terror that grips my heart is unlike anything I¡¯ve experienced before. All around me, I can hear an almost friendly laughter, accentuated by the occasional sound of a step too close for comfort. Our path becomes more and more complicated as we move deeper into the pressing fog, and although Kaythe¡¯s eye can pierce it, mine struggle. I can only rely on my friend to guide us. I don¡¯t want to think about how fucked we are if he fails. The laughter suddenly gets very loud, and Kaythe nearly knocks me over while shifting his weight. I feel a slight breeze on my skin, hearing a fast moving object passing right where my head had been.*CLICK* (Sword now!) I don¡¯t pause, but I only get halfway through drawing before I hear a rapid series of Kaythe¡¯s noises, but instead of words, they communicate an exact area in space, and an angle. I¡¯m confident that my normal intelligence would have been insufficient to handle that much information while actively running for my life, but my brain holds information like a steel trap now. I turn my draw into a diagonal, one-handed slice through almost the exact area Kaythe conveyed, and meet with immediate resistance¡­ then blood. My shock isn¡¯t enough to interrupt me, up until the moment the vision disrupting skill this monster was using to conceal itself falls. My instincts scream at me to move back or keep running, but I¡¯m frozen, looking at the now bisected halves of the single most horrifying creature I¡¯ve ever seen. The skin is wrong, the body has sharp edges that stick out through it, creating horrifying wounds that drip yellow pus. The laughter also changes, becoming darker and lower toned. Even as its legs fall aimlessly to the ground, this terrifying creature lashes out, grabbing my leg. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
[Warning! Y-]
The notification cuts off as I slice through its head and arm, along with a lot of dirt. Fortify pounds through my body, and I couldn¡¯t say when it activated. My mind is blank with fear, and only a shove and scream from Lauren get me moving again. I run, fighting to return enough presence of mind to let Kaythe guide me better. I hear Lauren grunt, and the sound of flesh being severed, followed by the telltale popping of her fire poison. The laughter has been getting slower and deeper as we¡¯ve been running, and at this point, it sounds like a record being played far too slowly. All of a sudden, Kaythe stops guiding. *c...click* (Surrounded by danger¡­ I fear.) Fortify has been running nonstop, consuming all my Energy, and I¡¯m dimly aware that I don¡¯t have much left¡­ but the fear won¡¯t let me drop it. It won¡¯t turn off. ¡°Lauren! Fight! We¡¯re surrounded!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t see anything!¡± ¡°I know- I can¡¯t- There¡¯s nothing-¡± Something grabs my arm, and I¡¯ve severed the source before I even know what¡¯s happened. Only the hours of training are with me now, almost no thought. Kaythe tries to indicate places to attack, dodge, whatever, but my brain isn¡¯t working properly, and it¡¯s been getting worse. My Energy reaches the last few points, and the world around me explodes with light. Around me, tens of the horrible, rotted messes recoil with pained laughter, and I waste no time slaughtering as many as I can. With something disrupting their camouflage, they fall like flies. They rely too heavily on being unseen, so they¡¯re inept at dodging, and whatever¡¯s blinding them keeps them from doing even that with any frequency. The seconds tick down, and I feel my consciousness struggling. I can¡¯t stop. If all of these aren¡¯t dead before I fall, that¡¯s it. And with Fortify still refusing to deactivate, I have no time. My vision darkens, clouding in from the edges until all I have is a tiny window right where I¡¯m focussing. ¡°-okay, it¡¯s okay. Shh¡­ calm down. We¡¯re good, they¡¯re gone.¡± My sword falls from my grasp, and I see Lauren¡¯s bloody, smiling face. ¡°Oh.¡± I mutter, dumbly. ¡°Good.¡± My last sensation is of arms wrapping around me as I crumple. Energy 78: Growth ¡°You¡¯re really heavy, you know that?¡± I try to retort, but all I manage is a pitiful groan. ¡°You also pass out way too much for your own good. Don¡¯t you know better than to exhaust yourself?¡± I give a noncommittal grunt in reply. ¡°Being a hero like that is going to get you killed one of these days.¡± I loll my head in her direction, fixing her with a glare. ¡°What? So I was a little vague on the details of the danger. I figured we¡¯d be fine, and we were! Besides, what were you going to do, not come explore a creepy tower in the middle of a haunted valley?¡± I groan in my closest approximation of the word ¡®yes¡¯. ¡°You¡¯re no fun. Yeah, we could have taken more people, but we¡¯d just have been more noticeable. This was the best way to go about it¡­ well, not getting caught would have been better, but somebody got too tired¡­ The light show was pretty cool. I guess you bailed us out a bit in the end. How did you do that? I thought only Rav could do that kind of stuff.¡± My body¡¯s natural recovery finally kicks in enough for me to move somewhat under my own power. At least, enough to shake my head without breaking my own neck. ¡°-unno.¡± ¡°Huh. Whatever, glowboy. Thanks for the assist.¡± She wanders off, out of my vision. She had dragged me into some building, which I can only assume is the tower we were headed to. Hopefully those things don¡¯t follow us in here. It would be even better if they were the only guards, and now we have free run of the place to loot¡­ as if. I¡¯m betting this entire tower is a mimic just waiting to eat us. While I wait for my body to come back to me, I can at least browse some notifications.
[Skill levels gained! Hide +2 (5), Fortify +1 (5), Swordsman of the Great River: River¡¯s Flow +1 (2), Tamer +1 (5)]
[Warning! You have been infected with Fool¡¯s Rot. Seek the aid of the Village Healer immediately, or, if necessary, sever the afflicted limb. ]
[Congratulations! 12 Shadow Men defeated. +360 Power]
[Energy pool depleted. +1 maximum Energy.]
[Domination milestone reached: 90%. Synchronization temporarily maxed. Tamer skill insufficient for further growth. Attempt upgrade? Cost: 200]
Fool¡¯s rot? God damnit, again with the village healer stuff. I¡¯m the fucking village healer at this point, and I sure as shit don¡¯t know how to¡­ well, maybe. I enter my Energy view, and see the familiar yellow tinges of light that I¡¯ve come to associate with infection. I quickly convert some Energy to green and heal the diseased tissue, purging and replacing what can¡¯t be saved. It¡¯s relatively easy to deal with the infected blood, which appears to be spreading the infection further than just my arm and leg, but I hold off on curing it completely. I don¡¯t want to waste experience I could be getting for my ¡®Retrained¡¯ skill. 500 Power later, and my Transfuse Energy is set back to level one, but a new Trait appears.
[Transfuse Energy Retrain I (0/0): Healing Energy integrity permanently increased. Conversion efficiency to healing Energy permanently increased.]
Not terribly flashy, but very helpful anyway. I have to say, I expected¡­ more. However, the fact that it¡¯s clearly a system designed to be repeated several times gives me hope that future iterations will be more impactful that simple structural gains. Back in my Energy view, I notice that my green Energy is¡­ vibrant. It¡¯s brighter than before, and not by a little. Thin veins of¡­ something I can¡¯t identify run the length of the new strands. I experimentally try creating more green, and one strand of gold now becomes two of green¡­ effectively doubling my capacity for healing. The resulting flood of green Energy easily wipes away the remains of the infection. I sigh with relief as the aches and pains of my body melt away, leaving me feeling in almost peak condition. Well, aside from a dull ache that I¡¯ve come to associate with straining too much with Energy. I flex my hand, feeling my joints pop, and slowly get to my feet. I still feel a little unsteady, but I can finally take in the room Lauren dragged me into. The room looks¡­ larger than I would have expected. It¡¯s dark, except for a small amount of light emanating from my chest, and the shadows move eerily as I explore the room. To call the place ¡®messy¡¯ would be too high praise. Cobwebs are more plentiful than walls, and the furniture has been tossed around like the place was raided a very long time ago. A noticeable layer of dust covers most surfaces, though it¡¯s noticeably more thin on the furniture, implying this place was likely abandoned before it was raided. The bookshelves are bare, not a single table or chair remains upright, and everything but the stairs is in an almost unsalvageable level of decay. I¡¯m leery of the stairs, but I think that¡¯s where Lauren went, so they¡¯re probably safe. I leave the first floor behind with careful steps up the stairs, wincing with every creak and board that bends too readily. I hope we don¡¯t have to fight anything in here¡­ even sneezing too hard would probably disintegrate half the room.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. I peek my head over the top of the stairs, and find Lauren rummaging through a dilapidated looking chest. ¡°Find anything?¡± ¡°Oh, loads.¡± She says, curtly. ¡°As long as dust is considered loot, we¡¯re rich.¡± I frown slightly, unsure. ¡°There¡¯s really nothing of value here? I saw that the downstairs looked pretty baren, but-¡± ¡°Yeah. There¡¯s nothing. I saw a few books up here, but they¡¯re either in another language or too old to read, I can¡¯t tell. Either way, they¡¯re not useful.¡± ¡°This place was too well guarded to be¡­ empty. There has to be something.¡± ¡°No guards, no monsters, no loot, just¡­ a shitty tower.¡± I shake my head. ¡°Kaythe?¡± *clack* (Strange emptiness around. Unsure where.) Kaythe has started communicating with a lot more clarity and nuance. Slowly at first, but a long way from the days of single words, or even yes/no noises. I feel a strange happiness at how intelligent my friend has become, even though I believe a large portion of that is due to our bond. ¡°Even Kaythe isn¡¯t sure, but he thinks there¡¯s something we aren¡¯t seeing. Something hidden.¡± She sighs exasperatedly. ¡°Fine. I guess we came all this way, it would suck to leave empty-handed.¡± The upstairs looks just as torn up as the downstairs, but as Lauren noted, there are a few books lying around. I pick one up and open to the first page¡­ but it¡¯s indecipherable. The symbols on the page look very similar to the runes in Rav¡¯s book in some cases, but widely different in others. I think if I had access to Mana, I could try casting each of the symbols, and that would verify one way or the other¡­ but no such luck. I¡¯m not going to make Energy runes instead; it would be far too wasteful, and potentially lethal. There is something odd about the book other than the language. The moment I picked it up, I felt a strange scratching in my ears. The book feels¡­ foreign, but also familiar¡­ a sensation I¡¯ve had once before, with Loreian¡­ Energy? I examine the book more closely, but nothing seems visually unique about it. I try pushing Energy into it, and it disintegrates in my hands. The scratching intensifies slowly, and after a moment, I begin to make out words. My world begins to take on a blue tint, and I suddenly can¡¯t feel Kaythe anymore. Lauren isn¡¯t where she was, and the chest she was rummaging in isn¡¯t destroyed anymore. The room looks¡­ normal. Clean. ¡°-ou know what they are trying to do! Calminus, please! They cannot be allowed to find this information.¡± A strange voice emanates from a crystal structure next to the far wall. A being¡­ one that I recognize as my mentor, stands in front of it. ¡°I know, brother. I feel their twisted system taking control, searching for more. We have already lost too many secrets to them. The works are safe. Not even one of us could be compelled to reveal them. I¡­ am sorry. It had to be done.¡± A heavy silence reigns for a few moments before the crystal answers. ¡°It is¡­ essential. The books must be protected. None must ever follow in our steps.¡± ¡°Agreed. Farewell, brother. May we meet again¡­ in this life, or the next.¡± ¡°Farewell.¡± The crystal dimmed noticeably, and Calminus, my mentor, turns away. A book, the very same as the one I held, appears in his hands as he turns to face me. ¡°I¡­ lied to him. I had no choice. The books are inaccessible to my kind¡­ we are already lost, but you... if you are seeing this, then another species has the gift. You may open the way. You must find our legacy, and use it to destroy this world. The rings are the answer, and the source of their power. Destroy them, and you will free not just yourselves, but all who came before you. They can¡¯t see into these books, they could never figure it out. Their mastery is over living things, but we can inhabit all. Gather these books, laced with our essence, and order them on the shelf below. Go with caution, our defences are many, but you must go. Please¡­ free us.¡± My world shifts violently. The tint disappears, the disorder returns, and the book is back in my hands. ¡°Hey. You there, you looney bastard? Hey!¡± I flinch away as Lauren snaps in my face. ¡°Fuck! What?!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you what me, you picked up the book and just froze for a few minutes! It was really fucking weird! Why are you always so weird?¡± ¡°Look, it¡¯s weird for me too. Energy shit is insane. This¡­ this book is a diary. The diary of the guy who taught me how to use Energy within the system. I saw¡­ him, in the moments after the system stole them off their planet. I think they were able to put up some sort of resistance, and¡­ hid some things. Things that they want us to find.¡± ¡°So there¡¯s treasure here?¡± ¡°I¡­ think so, yeah. They were a little vague. Here, help me. I need to gather all the books and check them.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t think your mentor would be pissed you¡¯re learning what girl he likes?¡± ¡°Fuck off.¡± Energy 79: Decay Dean charged, not even waiting for his allies, or his enemies, to draw their weapons. Roaring like a man possessed, he tore across the field. The way the men only smiled wider at his approach pissed him off further. Dean kicked a tuft of grass he hadn¡¯t seen, but instead of dislodging it like he expected, he stumbled over it. His next step caught another bump, and he fell onto his sword, cutting himself slightly. He roared again and tried to stand, only to find that his wrists and ankles were surrounded by turf. The ground itself was moving, and as he looked up to assess his enemies, he saw only one, who was still unarmed, smiling viciously at him. ¡°Tut tut. Is that any way to greet a fellow human? For shame. Not to worry, we won¡¯t let you embarrass yourselves further. You see, we¡¯re experts at teaching mann- AHHH!¡± His shitty monologuing got interrupted by a concentrated mass of Mana colliding with his face, courtesy of Rav. Dean used the distraction to wrench his arms free from the suddenly pliable dirt, and tore forward again. His swing connected easily with the distracted man, but instead of cutting him in half, the strike threw him to the side. He struck the ground several times before sliding to a stop, groaning. Dean narrowed his eyes. Where had the other one gone? As if in answer, a club materialized in front of him. He didn¡¯t even have time to be outraged at the unfairness before the blow destroyed his nose with a sickening crack. Sparks danced in his eyes as he fell bonelessly to the ground. He could dimly make out the pained cursing of his original target as he tried to deal with the results of Rav and Dean¡¯s attack. Dean suddenly found himself being lifted, before pain seared through his side, and he screamed despite himself. ¡°Another shot like that and he¡¯ll be done, magic man. Now, how about you and shieldsy over there put down any weapons you have and lie face down on the ground. Don¡¯t bother charging another blast, unless you¡¯re planning on killing your poor friend over here. That¡¯s right. Bradley, SHUT THE FUCK UP. I DON¡¯T FUCKING CARE ABOUT YOUR FACE! BIND THEM, YOU DINT.¡± Dean had to fight to retain consciousness, but the way the man was waving him around and aggravating his wounds made him wish he would just die. Pain screamed through his face and side as he was thrown to the ground, and he felt the restraints slide into place again. Where had his sword gone? He couldn¡¯t really see, his eyes were too swollen. ¡°Now you, Mr. magic man, do you see what you did to sweet old Bradley over there? Now, is that any way to treat someon- Hey! *Crack* Bastard¡­ spit in my face, will you? After all this hospitality? That¡¯s some fire you¡¯ve got in your gaze, magic man. I like that, a whoooole lot. So much, I think I¡¯ll keep those eyes.¡± Dean had never heard Rav scream before, even when his hand was torn off by a Carnine. He had stoically continued trying to fight with everything he had. He¡¯d been almost scarily quiet, but Dean would have preferred that a thousand times over the tortured cry that pierced the air. Dean hurt on a fundamental level hearing his friend¡¯s agony. He had to stop it. His body was too broken. He found himself rising to his feet, the dark ball of hurt in his stomach lifting him out of the earthen restraints. His sword was in his hands again. He didn¡¯t care how. He couldn¡¯t see, but he knew where the noises came from. He didn¡¯t hesitate. He felt a moment¡¯s elation as his blade cut into flesh, and the tortured sounds Rav was making lessened slightly, but his blade stopped too quickly. He couldn¡¯t have hit bone already, and it wouldn¡¯t have stopped him even if he did, so why¡­? His wrist exploded in pain, and he felt his sword drop away again. Something hit his chest, hard, and his wrist radiated pain with every bounce on the ground. He tried to push himself up again, but the ball of anger didn¡¯t help this time, and he failed.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Urgh¡­ thanks for the assist, Bradley¡­ though you wouldn¡¯t have NEEDED TO if you just HELD HIM LIKE YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO. Fine, fine.¡± Dean felt himself be turned over. ¡°Well, this won¡¯t do.¡± A liquid splashed into his face, burning for a moment before becoming almost pleasant. Dean¡¯s eyes flipped open, revealing the man who had disappeared during his charge. He was a greasy, unshaven mess. Black hair, an ugly moustache, and a nose that was just begging to be flattened against his face. ¡°Rise and shine, sleeping beauty. Now that those baby blues are open again, take a look over at your friend over there.¡± Dean didn¡¯t want to, but the man forced him to look. Rav was kneeling, trapped under bindings of dirt, with blood oozing from two dark red holes where his eyes had been. Dean tried to lean forward to avoid vomiting on himself, but the bandit held his head still, causing him to gag and try to force it down instead. His head spun. It was his fault. He had asked Rav to come here¡­ and now¡­ Anthony could heal it. It was ok. Things would be ok, they just needed to not die. ¡°Now I want just ooooone thing from you. A con-ver-sation. You give me what I want, and we¡¯ll forgive all that nonsense earlier. Bygones, and all that. Right?¡± ¡°What¡­¡± he croaked, ¡°do you want?¡± The murderer¡¯s smile widened. ¡°Tell me, where are you fine folks camped?¡± ---- The last book slides easily into the shelf, filling out the top row. Along the spines of the book, a visible row of runes connect perfectly. Every spine contains a piece of the larger picture, and individually or out of order, they make no sense. Not that I can identify their meaning now either, but they look right. Lauren and I stand by, waiting for something to happen¡­ but nothing does. ¡°Are you sure this is right?¡± ¡°Positive. The runes are there and everything.¡± ¡°Maybe¡­ your mentor lied?¡± I shoot her a glare. ¡°That makes less sense than the problem being us not having solved the puzzle.¡± As I¡¯m talking to her, I realize the probable answer. Runes can be fueled by Mana or Energy, seemingly to different results. This is the home of an Energy user, so¡­ Imbue Energy. The runes pulse with a dull glow, starting from where I¡¯m touching, and moving across the row. I continue pouring Energy in, making at halfway through my pool before all the runes are filled. The runes instantly intensify, seeming to swim in my vision when I stare at them. I blink a few times, trying to clear the effect, but it doesn¡¯t stop until I look away. ¡°Holy. Shit.¡± I look back, expectant. The bookcase¡­ vanished. In its place, a set of stairs with an ornate framing. A framing that looks exactly like the wood of the bookcase. ¡°Did¡­ I just turn a bookcase into a door?¡± ¡°It fucking¡­ melted, and reformed into¡­ what the fuck.¡± Lauren mumbles to no one in particular, awestruck. Damn, now I wish I hadn¡¯t looked away. Whatever, there will probably be other times. ¡°Guys, watch out for traps. Calminus warned me about some hidden dangers.¡± With that, we descend, our footsteps echoing eerily on the perfectly carved stone steps. The walls are lined with runes, following us the entire way down. I¡¯m slightly worried, as I don¡¯t know what they mean, but as long as they¡¯re unpowered¡­ it should be fine. They can¡¯t hurt us. My nerves only increase as we reach the bottom without incident. The promise of traps is fine, but when I can¡¯t find them¡­ I can¡¯t know which step will be the one that fucks us, so each one is a nerve wracking experience. At the bottom of the stone stairs, we enter into a large, stone room. A book sits on a pedestal in the center of the room, and there are several intricate stone sconces illuminating the room. The light is steady, like an electrical light. Three doors, equally spaced, break up the wall. I walk carefully forward, eyes darting around, with Lauren following slowly behind. Energy 80: Decay This room feels like the kind of place where something is going to happen. Like you¡¯re constantly on edge, anticipating the unknown. Even so, every step is met with zero repercussions. I can see no sign of traps or enemies. The stillness is stifling. I avoid the book for now, examining the lights and each of the doors in turn. I have a faint worry that the doors will fly open all at once and we¡¯ll be swarmed by robots, or something equivalent. With that in mind, I head to the light first. The sconce I approach is beautifully ornate, seemingly carved with the smallest of chisels¡­ or, more likely, earth magic. Regardless, the swirls and patterns that adorn the smooth stone seem designed to catch the light and glow slightly from the reflection. The inside of the sconce is covered with Light runes. I¡¯m not sure what¡¯s powering them, but a quick survey with my Energy reveals little. Content to let it be for now, I move on to the doors. Each of the doors has a set of runes along it, spanning its width. The layout is similar to the bookshelf-turned-door that got us here in the first place, but the runes themselves are different. It seems as though the initial runes are very similar, if not the same, but beyond that, they differ widely. Even between the three doors, that initial section is most of the commonality. I make sure to examine all the doors before picking one at random to¡­ ¡®test¡¯. I push Energy into the door, only to find that the runes don¡¯t change in the slightest, even after I push in 40 points of Energy. I step back, confused. I felt my Energy go in, but where the runes lit up slightly with the bookcase, these runes didn¡¯t change at all- Oh. Right at the exact place I pushed Energy through, the smallest fraction of a rune emits the barest light. It lingers for only a few more moments before fading to the same darkness as the rest. That¡¯s going to take a lot of Energy. A fuck-ton, in fact. Some quick mental math and approximation leads to an estimate of about 50,000 Energy to open. Fucking what!? Even chugging Energy potions, I¡¯d be nowhere close. ¡°Yeah, I really dig standing around in silence. This is super fun and interesting.¡± Annoyance flashes through me, but I suppress it. She expected a fun dungeon full of loot, and instead, we got¡­ some weird Energy bullshit. I¡¯m pretty happy, but she can¡¯t really do anything to help. ¡°I hear you. Wanna check out that book? Maybe they actually wrote something down instead of just pouring a piece of their soul into it.¡± ¡°...What?¡± ¡°Nothing, just¡­ try and figure out what the book is all about.¡± ¡°If this kills me, I¡¯m haunting the shit out of you.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t- probably won¡¯t kill you.¡± ¡°You really need to work on your bedside manner.¡± While Lauren moves to investigate, I continue with my experimentation. This door is beyond me, so¡­ maybe the others aren¡¯t? The runes are different, so maybe the Energy requirements are as well. The next one fills more than the first, but not by much. Easier¡­ ok, cool, that¡¯s a trend I can get behind. The final door fills almost halfway before I have to stop. Ok. 100, 1,000, 50,000...ish. Result: fuck me. ¡°It looks like an inventory. The rooms are labeled: Armory, Library, and¡­ the last space is blank? Anyway, it kinda details the contents of each room, along with some warnings. I think your traps will be on the way to getting to those places. How goes the lockpicking?¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Fucking terrible. I can¡¯t open any of them until I more than double my Energy pool.¡± ¡°That¡¯s rough. The armory seems like a fucking cool place. I don¡¯t know what half of this stuff even is, but it all seems to be geared around using Energy in combat. The library has research on some more¡­ well, it says ¡®eclectic¡¯ uses of Energy. Obviously, the unlabeled room has no description.¡± ¡°Let me see.¡± Sure enough, the book contains an empty space where the last room is supposed to be mentioned, and a bunch of blank pages where the details should have been. A bit of Energy reveals why. The moment I push Energy into that spot, I feel an overwhelming sense of dread, with ironclad purpose. The feeling of total annihilation, and new growth in its place. A god taking something apart and putting it back together, differently. No fight or resistance of any kind. Just like that, the feeling fades to nothing, and I do my best to blink away the horror I just experienced. I¡¯m not sure exactly what the last door contains, but I think it would break this world if it got out. The one who opens that door will be unstoppable¡­ And Calminus wants it to be me. Or, at least, a human. I find myself staring at the door without having intended to, and quickly tear my eyes away. Lauren is looking at me funny. ¡°What?¡± ¡°... You had a really scary look in your eye just a second ago. What¡¯s behind that last door?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Amadeus?¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ something powerful. An ability that let this species resist the system for long enough to ensure it wouldn¡¯t fall into the hands of the things that run it. It feels¡­ bad. But I think I¡¯m going to have to use it¡­ eventually.¡± Lauren looks at me for a long time without saying anything. ¡°It¡¯ll be awhile before we even have the choice. Let¡¯s take it a step at a time, yeah?¡± ¡°...Yeah.¡± ¡°For now, let¡¯s head home. This place is useless until you can unlock more of it.¡± I nod, barely paying attention. My thoughts are firmly stuck on that last door, and the unimaginable power locked behind it. All I can think about is how badly I want it. --- Our egress is mostly unhindered. Those few moments we had clear sight on the Shadow Men really culled their numbers, and though I hear a bit of faint laughter, nothing attacks us. From what Kaythe conveys, the monsters watch us, but don¡¯t make any move to engage. Which actually reminds me of something I need to figure out: how were they revealed? Light had suddenly appeared while I had Fortify active, but Fortify only affects my physical attributes, so it couldn¡¯t have been that¡­ I think? I¡¯ve never actually watched what happens to my Energy when I have Fortify active. I divide my attention between continuing to run back towards The Barrows and watching in my Energy view with Fortify on. As I expected, my Energy, predominantly golden, flashes brightly and is consumed to increase my physical abilities. On a whim, I try focussing on burning green Energy, but it doesn¡¯t seem to have a meaningful impact. The result is the same with red. Huh. Well, maybe because it all has the common progenitor of golden Energy, it all acts that way when burned¡­ but Light doesn¡¯t have that commonality. I can¡¯t turn Light into anything else. The same bright flash from before illuminates the area around me, before fading as I lose focus. ¡°Are you trying to alert everything around us that we¡¯re here?¡± ¡°As if some shitty Carnines could take us. Forget that, I figured out the light thing I did before.¡± ¡°Well damn. So, what does it actually do?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know. I mean, it dispels illusions? Or, at least, whatever those things were using to conceal themselves. I think the fog was also an illusion and that didn¡¯t get removed, so¡­¡±
[Higher tier Skill discovered for Secondary Skill: Fortify. Upgrading to rare Secondary Skill: Energy Combustion (Active) - Energy within the body of the user may be consumed at will to greatly amplify its normal effects, at the cost of efficiency. Current synchronization: Self - Augment physical statistics temporarily; Light - Leverage user¡¯s Will against deception based skills.]
Energy 81: Decay Now, fuck me if I¡¯m wrong, but the system waited until I figured that out to give me the skill? Since when does that happen? Usually, I get skills to help me with things I know little to nothing about. The skill does the teaching. But here it expects me to fill in most of it before it steps in? Calminus must have done a pretty good job hiding the secrets of Energy, because the system clearly doesn¡¯t know much about it¡­ Which means I¡¯m teaching it. I¡¯m a little worried that I¡¯ll end up giving whoever is running this murder trial bullshit some information they shouldn¡¯t have. But¡­ how would I stop the system from watching? The Path of Denial. Of course. Can I deny the notifications? Will that keep the system from recording what I do? I really need to talk to that gray mannequin thing again. It seemed to know what was going on with all this, and it had told me that we were going to meet again¡­ just not when. Unlike with whatever mechanism was blocking me from creating a rune, the more mundane skill updates are apparently harder to resist. Either way, I¡¯m going to fill out that path, finally, when I get back home. As much as I¡¯d love to risk it mid-run, that would be a horribly idiotic plan. ¡°Apparently it matches my Will stat against what it calls ¡®deception skills¡¯.¡± ¡°The hell does that mean?¡± ¡°I feel like you¡¯re implying that this system ever explains anything, which is just wrong.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ we¡¯ll figure it out. --- The scene we return to is anything but the safety I had hoped for. As we crest the last hill and get a good view of the valley around The Barrows, we find two unfamiliar people having some sort of standoff with Marie, Lynn, and Tom. Making the situation significantly worse is the fact that I recognize several bound and kneeling figures around the two unknown elements: Rav, Samuel, and Dean. Dean looks badly beaten, and Samuel looks like he got off lightly¡­ but Rav¡­ The sight turns my stomach, and my blade is in my hands without a thought. ¡°-now this will be a fine repayment for my face! This thing has a huge Mana capacity, I¡¯ll be casting for minutes without breaking a sweat!¡± One of the unknowns, who doesn¡¯t appear to have any weapons, hold a large stone in his hand, seeming to be trying to catch the light with it. I feel more than see Lauren disappear from next to me. It seems we have the same thought. The only issue is that our enemies here have three hostages. The more obviously armed of the two looks in my direction, before breaking into the most fake smile I¡¯ve seen in a long time. ¡°Welcome! Welcome, yes we were just trying to reach an agreement with your fellows. Are you the Anthony they spoke so highly of? Capable of healing, correct? Well, as you can clearly see, we have a rather distinct need for healing! If you would be so kind as to oblige us, we can all be on our way.¡± I don¡¯t keep the snarl from my lips. There¡¯s no need. He knows that I know he¡¯s a lying piece of shit, he¡¯s just doing a bit or something. ¡°I¡¯ll say this once. Leave. Drop what you stole, and go. If I see you again, there won¡¯t be anything left of you to crawl its way to hell.¡± The smile breaks, starting to turn into a snarl of his own, but his eyes immediately grow wary. I take a step forward. ¡°Was I not clear?¡± ¡°Not another step.¡± There¡¯s no friendly pretense anymore. He grabs Rav and holds a blade to his throat. ¡°No need to make things ugly. See, I have a skill that lets me tell when people are lying. And, just now, you weren¡¯t lying. You genuinely believe what you said. I¡¯ve heard a lot of posturing in my time, and that sounded just like it... just what, exactly, are you?¡± Our eyes lock for several seconds. Not a word is spoken; the only sound is of the wind blowing through the grass. The bandit breaks eye contact first, with a small smile returning to his face, and I feel something creeping up my leg. Dirt, locking me in place. Jokes on you, asshole, I¡¯ve fought a much stronger ground mage. I step forward, easily breaking the earthen restraints, wiping the smile away and causing the obvious magic user to stagger.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I told you to stay back!¡± Panic suffuses the rogue¡¯s voice. ¡°I fucking meant it! Not another step!¡± ¡°I told you I wasn¡¯t going to repeat myself.¡± ¡°I swear to god, I¡¯ll fucking kill all of them. Drop your weapons and your bag, and start walking. NOW.¡± ¡°You know what¡¯s going to happen if you do that. You don¡¯t really want to experience that, do you?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not going to do shit- what the fuck? Whatever you¡¯re doing, fucking stop!¡± The man suddenly starts looking around wildly. How many fucking skills does he have?! He must be detecting Lauren somehow, but it¡¯s too late. He¡¯s wary, panicking, and about to do something stupid. I launch forward, feeling the rush of strength as my Energy burns inside me. I cover half the distance in less than a second, and the rogue starts to draw his blade across Rav¡¯s throat, bright red gushing out. Lauren materializes behind him. With his attention on me, he barely reacts to her presence¡­ but he manages to move slightly to the side, making a sure stab that should have gone straight through his upper vertebrae instead slice deeply into the meat of his neck. An arrow sails into the shoulder holding the knife, causing him to falter slightly; the cut is interrupted. I arrive a fraction of a second later, smashing him directly in the face with enough force to put him a few inches into the dirt. His bloody knife sails through the air as he loses his grip on it, and probably on his consciousness as well. Rav gives a shuddering attempt at a gasp, the pain clear on his face. I drop my sword, diving immediately into my satchel to grab the emergency healing potion I made all that time ago. I dump the potion into his mouth, trying desperately to hold it in and keep it from flooding out through the gaping wound in his neck. I wish I knew how the potions worked, I should have experimented earlier, I need it to activate as fast as possible but I DON¡¯T KNOW HOW. I hear screaming from behind me; it doesn¡¯t matter. I flood Rav with green Energy, diving as quickly as I can into the horrible picture painted by the glowing lights. I once found them beautiful, but now they just spell out dread. Poison spreads from the cut on his neck, and though I know the healing potion should be doing more, it''s almost like the poison is stopping it. The limited healing that gets through isn''t enough to stop the bleeding, so I bolster it with my Energy. I form bandages of solid Energy in an attempt to hold in the blood, but I''m not keeping it in the right places. It''s running down his throat instead of staying in his arteries, and the pressure keeps perforating the bandages and leaking blood that Rav can''t stand to lose. I do my best to seal the holes, speeding up as the blood pressure weakens and stops interrupting my work as much, but acutely aware of what that means. Blood is compromised, breathing is compromised, everything is going wrong and I can''t stabilize fast enough. I can''t be everywhere I need to be at the same time. Something snaps. I''m kicked out of my Energy view. I check, and I''m not out of Energy, so why...?I try again, but I can''t see inside him anymore. No matter how I push, nothing happens. No resistance, no counter attack, just¡­ void. N¡­ No¡­ I¡­ failed? My legs feel like jelly, but I stay standing. A sinking numbness falls over me as I stare at the mangled face of the first human friend I made. The man I saved once, and was there for me more times than I care to remember. The man who had helped me feel normal, fit in, and grow in this sick new world. The man who now lies dead in my arms. The screaming, which had turned into howling at some point, finally draws my eyes from the horror in front of me. Dean writhes on the ground, but there are no obvious wounds on his body. I slowly pan over to the bandit mage, but he looks frozen in fear. Wasn¡¯t him. I put Rav carefully on the ground and slowly walk over to Dean. With a sickening crack, his skull splits, and a small bone horn emerges. His skin knits back together before my eyes, healing the damage from the slight metamorphosis. His body, once riddled with cuts and obviously broken bones, snaps back together. A moment of silence reigns as Dean lies on the ground, heaving. Moving faster than I could track, Dean disappears from where he was, appearing instead on top of the unconscious body of the bandit rogue. I back up slightly, dragging Samuel with me, and I can see Lauren also putting space between her and Dean. The bandit¡¯s body flies almost thirty feet as Dean hurls it with everything he has, but before the guy can even land, Dean is under him, snatching his target out of the air and slamming him into the ground. I can¡¯t look away. Dean grabs his arm, trapping the rest of this body underneath his foot, and strains. His muscles bulge in ways I¡¯m positive are incompatible with human physiology. Given how many skills that guy has, and the fact that he didn¡¯t explode in a shower of gore when I hit him with a Fortify assisted strike, I want to say it¡¯s unlikely that even someone as strong as Dean could dismember him with his bare hands¡­ Which is why I only barely manage to look away when the bandit¡¯s arm gives out. By some small turn of justice, the bandit woke up for this part, but his screams didn¡¯t make me happy. They didn¡¯t bring Rav back. I look at the other bandit, who seems to unfreeze in my gaze. I take a step towards him and pick up my sword. ¡°N-no, wait, I didn¡¯t mean for any of this to happen, look, I can put back the battery, I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry, please!¡± ¡°You stood by.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t! I couldn¡¯t! Y-you saw him! He was crazy! He¡¯d kill me if I didn¡¯t do what he said! He only kept me around because he needed me to¡­ Please!¡± ¡°I believe you.¡± ¡°R-really? Th-then I can¡­ go?¡± ¡°You can keep your soul.¡± I doubt he ever saw the blade coming. Energy 82: Decay
[Human slain. +745 Power.]
The notification should bother me, but I don¡¯t feel anything. It¡¯s not even numbness¡­ it¡¯s like it doesn¡¯t matter. I want to feel happy. I removed someone evil from the world. A callous enabler to unspeakable horrors can no longer threaten anyone. Rav¡¯s still gone. I buried him. Dean¡¯s horrible screaming didn¡¯t phase me, nor the sounds coming from the corpse that he continued to destroy long after the body was incapable of supporting life. I didn¡¯t look after him when he ran away. I couldn¡¯t be there for him¡­ I can¡¯t even be there for myself. Somewhere along the line, Lauren had started helping with the grave. More hands appeared, but even so much assistance couldn¡¯t lessen the weight of the task. Everyone that knew and loved the man was there to help lower him into the ground. It made things hurt even worse. I was able to ignore Nate¡¯s burial. What did I care for him? An asshole and a monster, good riddance. But Rav was important. He wasn¡¯t¡­ done, yet. He was going to teach me magic, help me recover my abilities as a mage, and be there with me when we got to the tower at the end of all this, and killed the mother fucker who brought us here. He had so much left to do. Things that I need to do alone. Arms around me, squeezing. ¡°It¡¯ll be ok. I swear it will.¡± Lauren. I don¡¯t believe her. I struggle a bit, and she releases me and starts to pull away, understanding, but I pull her back into a more equal hug. The feeling of another human- no, a close friend- being so close, caring about me¡­ my exterior stoicism cracks. I weep for the man who was the best of us all. --- People talk. The mood slowly starts to change from one of deep pain, to one of remembrance. It¡¯s better. We have the time to mourn for now, but we can only spend so long idle. This attack marks the beginning of an onslaught; our protective illusion has been disrupted, and the only person who could possibly have fixed it is now dead. Our greatest defense is down, and the next pack of Carnine that pass by our cave will likely spell our defeat. The endgame is approaching, and we aren¡¯t ready. Not yet. ¡°Everyone.¡± The remnants of our ragtag group turn to me. ¡°I know I¡¯m not really in charge here, but I¡¯m going to talk like I am anyway¡­ because we¡¯re very nearly fucked.¡± I look up and address them. Fear lingers in the gazes of a few, but the majority look incensed. Ready. ¡°We have a time limit now. Without the illusion, we will need to maintain a guard sufficient to take down an entire pack of Carnines before they can escape, at all times. If even one manages to find this place and get away, we have strong reason to believe that their entire army will be headed this way. When that happens, because it will happen, we need to be ready to fight, day and night, until we win. Until they¡¯re all dead. We¡¯ll divide into three watch cycles. I will be with Lynn and Lauren. Marie, with Amy and Samuel. Lorian will be with Seth and Tom. Tom, we need weapons. How is the woodworking progressing?¡± Lorian, Seth, and Amy aren¡¯t around right now, but they¡¯ll be filled in when they get back. ¡°Ah, we successfully crafted bows for Lynn and Amy from the monster. They¡¯re really quite remarkable, actually. We¡¯ve turned the remnants into arrows.¡± ¡°Great. I need you to provide everyone who doesn¡¯t have a strong weapon with the best you can make. Take whatever is left after that and start creating armor.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do what I can, Anthony.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Marie, how are we on wood supply?¡± ¡°Mmm... have enough to continue working for a few days at least, though I would love for someone to go get some more of that wooden monster. I bet their bodies would make amazing shielding, even without the system adding bonuses.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to be careful with our excursions now that we¡¯ve been exposed, but that should be possible.¡± ¡°Are¡­ you sure I need to fight? I mean, I won¡¯t refuse, but¡­¡± I look her in the eye, a grim expression on my face. ¡°Anything you can do would help. If you don¡¯t want to fight directly, maybe you can spend your time on watch building pitfall traps around this valley. Mark them in some way so we don¡¯t accidentally trigger them, if you choose to do that.¡± She nods solemnly. ¡°Samuel, I know we just met, but are you alright following orders and sticking it out with us?¡± He looks over sharply, as though surprised he¡¯s being addressed. ¡°Ah, yes, well I do believe I made a deal with¡­ Dean and Rav. Neither of them are here anymore, but I have yet to receive my compensation. I believe I will ¡®stick it out¡¯, as you say, at least until then. But¡­ it would be unjust to leave those in need ¡®to the dogs¡¯, so yes, you may count on me. I do not know how much use I will be on guard without a sword, and some training on how to use it, but I can prevent any assault from getting into our home.¡± I nod, smiling slightly. ¡°Great to hear. Everyone else, you are to make the most efficient use of your time possible. When on guard, take turns training. When off duty, train more intensely with Zathis, help gather materials or allies on excursions, and take the time to sleep. We will handle the night attacks with the minimum people we can, taking those who would be training and giving them live target practice. Everyone clear?¡± A chorus of nods. ¡°Nominate a group leader for each of your three groups. Trade members if both teams feel it¡¯s a better balance. Decide internally how to structure your time. My squad will take guard duty during the night. Feel free to address me with any questions.¡± A moment of silence passes before everyone breaks into motion. ---- Dean could feel his blood boiling in his skin. It hurt. It always hurt. But¡­ he didn¡¯t mind the pain. Something about what he had done, what he had agreed to, had changed him. He didn¡¯t feel emotional pain anymore, just physical. In fact, he was pretty sure he felt emotional pain as physical instead, and the relief was immense. To make matters better, the pain made him stronger. The only trouble was that he wasn¡¯t quite in control of his emotions anymore. He no longer disliked feeling anything, and sorrow was completely gone, but things like rage? It felt almost too good. He had barely maintained the presence of mind to run off after physically taking the bandit apart. He was worried he would have kept attacking¡­ hurt the others¡­ if he had stayed. Not that he particularly minded the idea, but they were useful. They didn¡¯t deserve that kind of treatment. So, he had imposed exile on himself until he figured out how to control his newfound status as a [Lesser Demon]. In the height of his torment, while he lay on the ground, regretting putting his friends in danger with his arrogance¡­ when he had watched Rav die¡­ a notification had appeared. It had been different from the others. It promised him a massive increase to his Primary Skills, all combat Secondary skills, quicker skill leveling, Power, and access to a host of very strong Secondary Skills that he would eventually acquire. It had also taken his path, ¡®The Path of Berserker¡¯, and turned it into ¡®The Path of the Demon¡¯. He had experimentally put some Trait points into it, and every point rewarded him with some Health and Stamina, every other point gave him Strength, Endurance, Toughness, or Dexterity, and every five¡­ advanced his status. A second horn had emerged when he hit the five mark. It hadn¡¯t been a pleasant experience the first time, and the second was no different, but he found the difference to his balance to be only slightly inconvenient. The next five had darkened his skin considerably, making it almost ashen. He was curious to see what other interesting effects would happen over this fifty point path. But, for that he needed to level skills, and without any bandits to train on¡­ He supposed he¡¯d go see what the monster camp was up to. Energy 83: Hope For some reason or another, the system had allowed me to ¡®put off¡¯ the notification about upgrading Tamer into something¡­ else. I¡¯m able to see it as a ¡®+¡¯ in my Secondary Skills list. I¡¯m sitting pretty at 1094 Power, so I can definitely afford it, and even though it¡¯s a little different from the way my healing skill reverted back to the start, it still seems to promise growth. The only thing that gives me pause is the ¡®attempt upgrade¡¯ part, seeming to imply that it isn¡¯t guaranteed. I sigh. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. They system hasn¡¯t killed me yet.
[Tamer upgrade initiated¡­ Checking soul integrity¡­ Integrity sound. Perforating¡­]
I barely manage to read the last word and start to worry before a mind rending pain fills my body. I feel like I¡¯m being torn to pieces, my consciousness fracturing into a million glittering splinters, before seeming to rewind back to a whole. I¡¯m barely able to perceive the feelings past a mask of the purest agony I¡¯ve felt since the ¡®genetic rewrite¡¯. I fall to my knees, coughing, and even though no blood comes out, I genuinely feel like a lot should be. The feeling passes, leaving me on the edge of awareness, gulping down air as I stare at the cool stone surface of The Barrows main hallway. ¡°You alright there, Anthony?¡± Tom. I shake my head slightly. ¡°I¡¯m good, no worried. The system was ¡®helping¡¯ me.¡± He smiles in recognition and empathy. ¡°Power to you, kid. We need all the strength we can get!¡± Huh. Funny how that saying takes on new meaning now. I shakily get to my feet.
[Perforation complete. Soul integrity¡­ Recovering. Checking integration¡­ Synchronization: 100%]
[Congratulations! Tamer has been upgraded into Summoner.]
[Summoner (Active/Passive) - The user has achieved a deep enough connection with another entity that the user now holds the entity¡¯s soul within them. Due to this synchronization, the bonded entity has tied its fate irrevocably with that of the user. The user may now summon the entity at will, at a temporary cost of max Energy equal to the Power value of the entity. The max Energy is refunded when the entity returns to the user¡¯s soul. Kaythe bonus: +10 max Energy. Kaythe upkeep: 10 max Energy.]
[Domination capacity reached! User may now adapt bonded entity.]
Everything pops, and suddenly I¡¯m suspended in what looks like a bubble. My movements are slow, as though through water, and Kaythe twists around in the suspension with me. A glowing light made of some kind of gel-like substance bounces slowly between us. ¡°What is this?¡± A voice rings through my mind. Mild, quiet, but very familiar. ¡°Kaythe? You can talk?¡± Kaythe wiggles excitedly. ¡°I can! I can talk and think and feel all these new things because of the predator! Though, I believe this connection is with you alone.¡± A foreign happiness radiates through my mind. ¡°But predator, you seem sad? Why is this?¡± I guess it would make sense that if I can sense Kaythe¡¯s feelings, he can sense mine. ¡°I¡¯ll explain it later, Kaythe. For now, I think we need to do something with this gel.¡± ¡°Yes! Yes we do! We can use it to adapt me, improve me, and let me be more useful to you! I¡¯ve been waiting so long!¡± I smile despite myself. His enthusiasm and happiness almost make me feel better. ¡°You¡¯re great just the way you are, you never needed to worry about that.¡± ¡°But! But! I can be better! More! Predator, give me claws, arms, pointy spikes, let me fight with you! Give me legs to move, muscles to strike, let me run alongside you!¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. His excited wiggling intensifies even more, like a dog wagging its whole body while trying to just wag its tail. ¡°Fine, fine. I hope I can figure this stuff out.¡± I grab ahold of the gel and begin sculpting. My knowledge of biology and the multiple looks I¡¯ve taken at how Kaythe functions as an organism allow me to make pretty strong guesses as to where things should best be attached. I provide two bone spikes attached to limbs that resemble arms. They don¡¯t rotate very well, but Kaythe¡¯s squishy body allows him to strike from any angle he needs to without requiring the limb to help. I add a lot of muscle, and bone plates to work as armor. It takes some time to figure out how to interlieve them without constricting Kaythe¡¯s movement, but it gives me attachment points for the muscle and adds a substantial amount of defense. I use the last of the gel to give Kaythe a bit more length in his body, allowing him to coil like a snake and maybe jump or strike harder if it needs to. When Kaythe and I are both pleased with the additions, the bubble pops, and we¡¯re back in the cave. ¡°What in the god-damn hell is that!?¡± I raise my hands to Tom, trying to calm him. ¡°It¡¯s just Kaythe! Just¡­ ya know, with a few modifications.¡± Tom lowers his hammer, but still looks on edge. ¡°It is sad I cannot speak to them. I do not want to scare them.¡± Kaythe¡¯s voice echoes in my mind. ¡°Kaythe regrets that he can¡¯t talk to you directly, but he apologizes for his new appearance.¡± Tom scratches his head, looking slightly off put. ¡°Anthony, I don¡¯t know how else to say this, but you¡¯re one weird kid.¡± I smile back. ¡°Tell me about it.¡± --- Lauren, Lynn, and I set off to take a recuperative visit to the forest. Marie had been kind enough to turn the shitty Carnine hides into bags and provide us with¡­ something ropelike to tie bundles of wood. I didn¡¯t ask what they were made of, exactly. Kaythe is a little less good at balancing on my shoulders with the new additions, but I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll figure it out quickly enough. That, and maybe he¡¯ll stop poking me as frequently. I made those spikes really sharp. Kaythe was a scout, and now he¡¯s an assassin. An assassin that can communicate with me telepathically, and is functionally immortal (if the tooltip is to be believed) as long as I don¡¯t die. I¡¯ll need to figure out how long it takes to bring Kaythe back if he takes fatal damage. ¡­ I don¡¯t really want to test it, honestly. I don¡¯t want my friend to die, even temporarily, but he¡¯s too excited about being able to help in combat for me to say no. We¡¯ll see how he does with trees. ... The short answer to that question is: poorly. Combine his relative ineptitude in regard to fighting with the fact that stabbing wood rarely does much damage to the creature inside, and you have a whole lot of floundering, flailing, and failing. Fortunately, for all his inexperience, the Treants certainly didn¡¯t expect us to be hunting them, and they especially didn¡¯t expect a Cathid to be the hunter. Frankly, they couldn¡¯t deal with him. Their primary method of attack is to trap things with their root structure and hold them down with numbing/paralysis until they die, but Kaythe just jumps at them and starts hacking. His movements get a little wonky after a few moments, as he¡¯s exposed to the paralytic, but he gives a solid effort until he inevitably throws himself a few feet away with the force of his thrashing. Of course, this eventuality opens him up to attack by any nearby tree monsters, so I have to pick him up and finish the fight he started while he recovers. Lauren and Lynn stick close by, but have no desire to try and fight around Kaythe like I have to, so they mow through a bunch of the Treants nearby. On a whim, I burn some Light while close to a Treant. Though it easily falls within the light I cast, nothing changes about it. I frown slightly, suddenly unsure if this is actually a Treant, but then a vine creeps over my shoe, firmly convincing me otherwise. They must have a really high level hiding skill¡­ well, higher than five, anyway. Or maybe it isn¡¯t a skill, and they just happen to look like trees? This raises a few questions. Will Light reveal traps? It can certainly pierce some illusions, but seemingly only illusions raised by living things. Not that I can check anymore, but I bet it wouldn¡¯t pierce the illusion that used to cover The Barrows. Regardless, it¡¯s probably for the best. These things are so easy to hunt, now that we know what they look like, that it would be grossly unfair to also strip away their ability to hide. Before long, we¡¯ve all filled our packs, and Kaythe¡­ levelled.
[Congratulations! Summoned monster (Kaythe) has reached level 2. +1 Endurance, +1 Strength, +2 Intelligence, +1 Dexterity.]
I was wondering about the idea of a comprehensive level-up sort of thing. It seemed like this world¡¯s system relied on a slow power creep through skills and levelling those, but¡­ well, this. Kaythe clearly doesn¡¯t follow those rules. Kaythe was definitely a Tier 0 entity before being Dominated, and integrating with my soul. I assume that weird dream state we entered in which he was allowed to evolve was akin to him taking on my status as Tier 1. However, I haven¡¯t seen any notifications about him gaining or levelling Secondary Skills. Can he even get Power to gain them? I¡¯d expect something like that he¡¯d siphon off some of mine to get skills, but again, no notifications. Zathis taught me that the creatures around her are Fixtures, and as such, designed to be static. They stay at a set difficulty to surmount, offering a set challenge to those being tested. Maybe monsters aren¡¯t allowed to be Tier 1 by the system? Maybe they just skip over that? I¡¯m really confused, but, ultimately, grateful. Kaythe can grow with me instead of just benefitting passively from my Primary Skills being higher than his. Energy 84: Hope Also¡­ Kaythe has a status screen now that I can access:
[Name: Kaythe Level: 2 Health: 15/23 H Recovery: 3.25 / hour Stamina: 5/21 S Recovery: 5.5 / minute Dexterity 21 Strength 6 +4 (10) Endurance 6 +5 (11) Toughness 10 +3 (13) Intelligence 9 +4 (13) Perception 45]
Well, none of that comes as much of a surprise. I mean, I didn¡¯t know his Perception was that high, but considering how much he gives me via our bond, it¡¯s not outrageous. Kaythe starts wiggling excitedly again. ¡°Predator! I have grown stronger!¡± ¡°Yeah, congrats Kaythe. Any idea how you levelled instead of getting skills?¡± ¡°No!¡± Yeah, ok it was worth a shot¡­ I guess. I shrug, mostly to myself, and quickly heal Kaythe up to full. My bag is full of monster corpses, so there isn¡¯t much point, but it¡¯s good practice.
[Skill levels gained! Transfuse Energy +1 (2)]
Honestly, I¡¯m getting pretty good at healing, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s much I can¡¯t deal with anym- You couldn¡¯t save Rav. The thought hits me like a punch to the gut. You were too slow, too weak, too untalented. A dark reminder that sits in my head, keeping me from being happy¡­ and now it has more ammunition to use against me. I shake my head, but it doesn¡¯t remove the feeling. Kaythe seems to sense my feelings, and crawls onto my shoulders, wrapping me in a vague approximation of a hug. The idea that a Cathid is trying to make me feel better is actually more effective at cheering me up than the actual actions, but I pet Kaythe reassuringly anyway. Life is suffering, and punishing yourself for mistakes. I guess¡­ the best you can hope for is to be better next time. Make the mistakes less bad. ¡°Anthony! You ready?¡± Lynn calls out as she heads over. ¡°Oh, I see you already found Lauren.¡± Wha-? I start to look around, trying to see what she means, and Lauren fucking appears next to me like a wraith, cocksure grin already plastered across her face. The grin grows wider when I jump slight away in reaction, and yell something manly, like: ¡°OHFUCKWHAT¡±. ¡°Oh hey there Amadeus, didn¡¯t see you there. Something scare you?¡± ¡°You are the worst. The absolute worst.¡± ¡°Wait, why did you call him Amadeus? I thought your name was Anthony?¡± Fuck me sideways. --- A solemn, but determined atmosphere hangs over The Barrows when we return. Marie accepts the load of Treant corpses with a tight smile and a nod, but puts them aside for later. She¡¯s busy standing watch with Amy and Samuel, and they all seem to be taking it seriously. Good. We¡¯re on the razor¡¯s edge here, and we might just survive the coming onslaught if we get enough time in first. Amy immediately grabs a few larger pieces of the Treants and gets to work carving arrow shafts out of them. She works faster than should be reasonable, or even possible. Clearly she has some assistance from the system, but it¡¯s still mesmerizing to watch her hands move impossibly quickly and precisely. I would never have guessed there was so much finesse required in just crafting arrows¡­ Lauren smacks my arm lightly. ¡°Quit staring, let¡¯s leave them to it. It looks like the other team is sleeping right now, so we should probably train instead.¡± ¡°Ugh, going from training right to defending for the night? That¡¯s the worst idea ever.¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Either we deal with that shitty draw or they do. Which do you think is better, glorious leader?¡± She says the last part with no small amount of sarcasm, but she¡¯s right. Who¡¯s going to respect somebody that always chooses the easy way? Though, to be fair, I¡¯d thought I¡¯d set the right precedent already by taking watch for the nights¡­ Some people just can¡¯t be satisfied. Like Zathis, when he¡¯s training us. Another brutal round of pain filled fun awaits us in the veritable arena that his room has become. This time, the training is so intense that I don¡¯t have the focus to observe what hell the others are put through. That, and Zathis really wants to hammer home the usefulness of my new greatsword skill. Over the hours we spend training, he continuously pushes me to, and then over, the edge of what my body can handle. If the system wasn¡¯t accelerating our natural healing, and if my own ability with healing was less, I¡¯d be worried about brain damage just from the number of times I pass out and hit my head. That¡¯s not even counting the damage from all the projectiles, stone swords, and crowds of statues that I fail to navigate. Not by much, honestly, but a sword that ¡®just barely¡¯ hits you still hurts a lot more than one that misses completely, or so Zathis boomed jovially when I complained. The other thing I quickly notice is that I don¡¯t have the problem of my muscles getting too tired and needing rest. I get exhausted, and I have to spend a while recovering my Stamina, but when it¡¯s back, I can go on until it¡¯s gone again (and a little past, at the cost of burning health instead). Broken muscle fibres, most commonly associated with exercise and muscle growth, count as damage to me, as far as Energy is concerned. I just need to spend a few moments binding everything back together, and bam, back to full. I think¡­ the only issue with doing this is that I don¡¯t feel much stronger every time. I probably only manage to heal back to the way I was, so I can¡¯t maximize muscle growth by abusing my healing abilities. Which sucks. But, that doesn¡¯t count for my Endurance. The system seems to recognize ¡®draining Stamina¡¯ as the required factor for raising it. Strength, I guess you have to train the old fashioned way. Likewise, Toughness requires being damaged and healing naturally through it, which I really hate. I¡¯m momentarily envious of Kaythe and his ability to just get Primary Skills by levelling. The jerk. Speaking of Kaythe, Zathis makes an effort to train him as well, and judging by the amount of distress and pain being conveyed over our mental link, it¡¯s going well. Given his lack of experience even using his new body, I¡¯m just glad Zathis hasn¡¯t accidentally killed him yet. I flow out of the way of an incoming projectile (aimed squarely at my head), and only notice while I¡¯m spinning to deflect a follow-up attack exactly how close it came to smashing my skull. I should care a lot, but I don¡¯t. I¡¯m so deep into the battle trance that I doubt I¡¯d even notice if I was dead until a few minutes later. Where my internal focus is almost zero, my knowledge of my surroundings reaches ridiculous levels. The slight sound of rock on rock alerts me to a possible attack, but the whistling of wind confirms it¡¯s a projectile. I¡¯m already moving to avoid the next two projectiles by the time that shot is even a threat. Sometimes I can¡¯t dodge. I know ahead of time that my body won¡¯t be quick enough, nor my weight distributed correctly even if it was, so I have to sense the attack of least lethality and take it to a place that doesn¡¯t matter. Much easier said than done, but when I manage to pull it off, I barely feel the pain. The resulting stagger leads into the next movement, and a subsequent dodge. Even my mistakes are worked into the dance, as long as I perceive them first. Drenched in sweat, I collapse a final time, feeling borderline euphoria as I finally let my body relax. ¡°F- uck.¡± I huff out, with barely the spare air for even that much. ¡°The man just keeps going. Hey, if you can¡¯t move tonight, and you get fucked up by some Shades, don¡¯t expect me to save you. I¡¯ll just think back to you showing off like this during practice, and think: he¡¯s got it all under control.¡± ¡°Fuck. You. Lauren.¡± A breath per word, without nearly as much bite as I had wanted. ¡°Mmm, I don¡¯t think you¡¯d be able to manage it right now, tough guy.¡± She laughs even harder when she sees my facial expression, and I¡¯m just glad my recent exercise is (hopefully) hiding my blushing. The same can not be said for Lynn, who has been sitting idle for a bit too long for her cheeks to still be that red. She makes an attempt to hide her laughter, but it really only serves to highlight it instead. ¡°You guys- really- don¡¯t show your leader- enough respect.¡± Lynn responds this time. ¡°Oh? You¡¯re our leader? Maybe overall, but on this team, I believe you said: ¡®nominate your own¡¯, correct?¡± I manage a growl as I slowly push myself to my feet, which only elicits another bout of laughter. ¡°Fine, fine. I¡¯ll pretend you two didn¡¯t hang around just to get off watching me sweat.¡± Both women have a moment of stunned silence, before Lynn turns away, beet red, and Lauren grins like a feral cat. ¡°-But, if you¡¯re not willing to just let me be the group leader, I¡¯ve got a proposition.¡± Lynn manages to compose herself enough to face me again, tears of laughter still evident in her eyes. ¡°And what, exactly, would that be?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll all duel. Best combatant leads the group.¡± ¡°Oh fuck yes.¡± Lauren looks way too giddy. ¡°Now you¡¯re speaking my language!¡± ¡°I agree as well.¡± Lynn nods along. ¡°Fine! Tomorrow, after we rest.¡± ¡°Just so long as you don¡¯t die first. Your legs look more wobbly than a tower of jello.¡± I smirk in reply. These two are just the fucking best (worst). Energy 85: Hope
[Congratulations! Multiple skill levels gained. Swordsman of the Great River: River¡¯s Flow +2 (4), Natural Armor +2 (4)]
I heal just enough of my weary muscles to drag myself to the cave entrance in preparation for guard duty. It¡¯s still so strange to me how fast night falls. The rings¡­ really fuck with the way I think things should be. Day is supposed to be gradual, and so is night, but instead, a thick blanket of darkness covers the world as fast as I can snap my fingers. A strange fire, of green and orange, crackles away outside the exposed cave. Something about combining the wood from some Treants and normal tree wood, because we don¡¯t have enough of the latter to burn. Marie didn¡¯t mention why, but I assume there¡¯s some reason that we can¡¯t just use the Treant wood. I make a note to ask her later. Marie didn¡¯t have much chance to make new structures while being on guard, so the defense situation hasn¡¯t changed much. Gah! We don¡¯t have the time! I could push her to work while guarding, or to forgo sleep¡­ especially considering she¡¯s non-combat for the most part, but I can¡¯t imagine she¡¯d take it well. Of all of us that are left, she seems to be the most grimly determined, and the last thing I want to do is undermine that. The only thing I can do is make sure she has time to keep us safe. I kick a rock in frustration, accidentally sending it bouncing far off into the night. The howls start again, and the group of Lorian, Seth, and Tom stand with us to repel them. A tenseness falls on the group, but there¡¯s a familiarity too. It¡¯s not a question, whether we¡¯ll survive, but nobody wants to get hurt either. Taking advantage of the free Power and Skill gains while staying safe is a tough balancing act, but even the end of the world doesn¡¯t stop people from having ambition. We¡¯re working together to defend this place, but we¡¯re all working hard to be the best. The howls suddenly change in pitch, going from the normal, haunting timbre of being on the hunt, to a much much more high pitched one¡­ of fear, and pain. Barely a minute passes, with the howls becoming more frantic and less loud, before absolute silence falls. Not even the night time insects pierce the air with their chirps. The comfortable intensity is gone, with wide eyes looking quickly to allies, wondering what could possibly have done all that. Kaythe¡¯s small voice appears in my head. ¡°Something comes. One something. Heavy, short steps. Predator, we should leave. Run.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t, Kaythe. We have to protect this place, and those relying on us to guard them while they sleep.¡± Kaythe wiggles, projecting discomfort over our connection, but says nothing more. It¡¯s fortunate that our mental connection is two way, otherwise I¡¯d have to do some explaining to the people around me. ¡°Guys, Kaythe senses something headed this way. On your guard.¡± It¡¯s needless, they were already on guard, but something needs to break the silence, or they¡¯ll all be too tense to react. Something crests the hill. My Perception is just powerful enough to give me a vague idea of the silhouette: horns, with a human shaped body. Another of our comrades that was stolen by Shades? But¡­ no, the body doesn¡¯t seem to consume the light. It looks to be just dark colored. It continues to approach. A whoosh of wind, and the figure stops suddenly, an arrow sticking out of its hand. Lynn shot at it¡­ damn, I couldn¡¯t even track the arrow in this light¡­ which is all the more reason the fear shoots through me when the figure shows that it did not, in fact, get hit by the arrow, when it drops it to the ground. Whole. It caught that? We¡­ might be fucked. ¡°Now Lynn, is that any way to greet a friend?¡± That¡¯s Dean¡¯s voice! ¡°Dean? Dean?! How the fuck? Get over here, man, we didn¡¯t know what happened to you!¡± I start to push aside the fortifications that are designed to be removed during the day, making space, but he just shakes his head. ¡°I hope you didn¡¯t spend too much time looking. I¡¯m¡­ sorry I just ran off like that, but I can¡¯t come back. It isn¡¯t safe anymore.¡± I stop, having cleared enough space for someone to walk through. ¡°What are you talking about? You¡¯ll always be safe here.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°But you won¡¯t be. Not with me here.¡± I open my mouth to respond, but close it again without saying anything. He¡¯ll talk whether I ask or not. ¡°As you can see, I¡¯ve¡­ changed. I can¡¯t really control myself anymore. Violence¡­ mmm¡­ I can¡¯t really stop myself from hurting things anymore, you know? One moment, I can be fine, but the next? Who could know. Come, sit by the fire with me. On the other side¡­ keep the fire between us.¡± I get several worried glances, especially from Lorian and Seth, who didn¡¯t really know Dean that well. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± My words do little to assuage their fears, if their expressions are anything to go by. Dean continues as I approach. ¡°I know you¡¯re curious... scared, even, by what I¡¯ve become, but it¡¯s ok. I¡¯m still human¡­ to a degree. I¡¯m still¡­¡± he looks down at his hand, flexing it, ¡°-me.¡± He finishes the last word with an air of finality. ¡°But I¡¯m not all me. And¡­ I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be able to resist crushing someone if they pissed me off, so I¡¯m going to do what I can while staying away from all of you. I left a pile of Carnine and Lieutenant bodies just over the hill, if you all care for the materials. There¡¯s some loot as well; I don¡¯t need it. Never was much of a crafter.¡± ¡°A pile?¡± Those Lieutenants were no joke, even with a group. How the fuck?! ¡°What¡­ are you?¡± Dean looks at me, eyes seeming to smolder with their own light. ¡°A demon. The system made me into¡­ a demon. I can¡¯t say I disagree, it was right; the title fits like a glove.¡± He pauses for a moment. ¡°Anthony, I have a request.¡± Only a fool would deny a demon that could kill every Shade in the area, alone. ¡°Ask.¡± ¡°I want you to try and defend one strike from me. I¡­ have to know.¡± Fear. My instincts scream at me to back off, run¡­ but I know it isn¡¯t a request, and I don¡¯t have that ability. Better me, than everyone here. ¡°Agreed.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t hold back this time. You might not survive.¡± I believe him, and that scares the shit out of me. I draw my sword, and he draws his. Darkness practically drips off the blade, pooling in oily puddles beneath it, and the core of the sword glows a fiery red. ¡°Kaythe,¡± I send, mentally, ¡°go back inside.¡± ¡°Predator, I am with you. In this, and all things.¡± I shake my head. ¡°Please.¡± Kaythe tightens around me. ¡°We are linked, Predator, your body is mine, and mine, yours.¡± Stupid. Of course, if I die, Kaythe does too, so why bother sending him away? ¡°Thanks.¡± I send, taking a defensive stance, start burning Fortify, and activate River¡¯s Flow. The world falls away around me as strength and focus fill my mind, all centered on one target: Dean. We move together, around the fire, into the darkness, before facing each other. He doesn¡¯t hesitate. His sword whips through the air with impossible speed, splitting the air with such force that I can see waves of wind gusting off the blade. I can sense the power of the hit, and know inherently that I must dodge it¡­ but I override that instinct, meeting it head on, as he asked. Having combined my two strongest abilities, my defensive strike is easily the most powerful maneuver I¡¯ve ever performed, but I know that even this won¡¯t be enough. Our blades meet, and my battle trance deepens, clouding everything but our bodies into a void of nothingness. I see the force transfer from blade to blade. My block cancels much of what Dean could throw at me, but the remainder would still break stone. My sword wobbles, flexing as it absorbs the force and transfers it into my arms. My sword chips at the point of contact between our blades, cracking clean through and exploding into several pieces in what seems like slow motion. I watch as the bones in my forearms follow suit, thankful that the battle trance numbs pain¡­ making the resulting agony all the more alarming. My grip falters, and my sword falls to the ground. It stopped his sword. Everything I had was enough to stop a single strike¡­ but only one. I look Dean in the eyes, which seem to be glowing brighter than before, and a sad smile crosses his face as he turns to leave. All at once, time speeds back up, and I quickly drop River¡¯s Flow and stop burning Energy before I pass out¡­ but my Energy had stopped burning on its own already. ¡°So long, Anthony. You aren¡¯t strong enough¡­ I can¡¯t follow you, so I¡¯m leaving. Maybe finishing off that monster camp will bridge the gap. When you can actually pose a threat, find me. We each won a duel¡­ best two out of three, eh?¡± And with that, he walked off. I watched him go, numb except for the pain in my arms. I¡¯m dimly aware that Lauren has appeared next to me. ¡°Are you ok?¡± I turn to her, slowly, and instead of words, blood rushes out of my mouth.
[Warning! Moderate soul damage detected! Recommendation: ]
Fuck you, game. Energy 86: Hope I do my best to use the meager quantities of Energy I have left to start the healing process, but it¡¯s behaving very strangely. There are dead zones in my Energy view, where I can¡¯t seem to move Energy at all. Fortunately, very few are located in my arms, so I can still work on healing them, but the other factor is that my E Recovery is much lower than it should be. I lost almost half my Health blocking that one strike, but that shouldn¡¯t have been enough to reduce my recovery to 0.5 / minute. My total Energy pool seems to be damaged as well, with the new max being a red highlighted 23. Fuck everything. At least I have the heightened efficiency for healing Energy. My chest feels like it¡¯s cracking open, but there¡¯s nothing on my Energy view there except a few larger dead zones¡­ so those must be the cause. My Health drops precipitously during these ¡®attacks¡¯, and it takes every bit of effort I have to maintain my focus on healing. Something touches my face, and I take just enough of my spare attention to identify it as a potion vial. ¡°Drink.¡± I grab it in my teeth and toss it back, scalding my throat on the still hot potion, but the perks of a healing potion include removing such nuisances very quickly. The extra Health helps stave off whatever¡¯s fucking up my insides for now, and I manage a nod of thanks before returning to my work. My bones were almost reduced to powder in some places. If I didn¡¯t have a template for how things were supposed to look in places like my wrists¡­ it would be impossible to repair. The work is meticulous, and not very rewarding, but I need the use of my hands back before I can start addressing the ¡®soul damage¡¯ problem. More potions appear at my lips, solving all manner of issues. Lauren¡¯s a fucking life saver. She¡¯s churning out pretty strong Energy and Health potions pretty fast, and giving me the resources to keep going long past what I could do naturally. I don¡¯t think my life is in danger from the effects, as the Health draining slows rapidly as I approach about a quarter Health, but the higher my Health, the faster I regenerate Energy¡­ so it serves a dual purpose. Plus, it¡¯s really hard to concentrate when you¡¯re mostly dead, and the Health potions stave that feeling off. One arm snaps together with a pop. Bone is surprisingly easy to heal. It likes to stay put when I move it, so I don¡¯t need to bind it as firmly in place before the Energy seals it together. The trouble is, where creating flesh is fairly easy, if high in Energy consumption, but I honestly think I¡¯d have to use Power to rebuild the bone if any of it was lost. The next arm goes faster, and when I finally emerge from my fugue healing state, the sight of Lauren frantically mixing potions fills me with a profound happiness. She doesn¡¯t notice I¡¯ve come back to my senses, but Lynn, who seems to be dropping off a small pile of healing and Energy reagents, does. ¡°Hey-¡± I manage to croak out one word before a coughing fit wracks my body, and I see my Health start to drain again. I need to fix this. Now. ¡°Welcome back, how are-¡± Lynn begins, but Lauren immediately whips around and interrupts. ¡°Fuck, dude! What the hell happened?! I¡¯ve never seen you get that fucked up. Fuck! Here, drink this, it¡¯s not done, but it should help.¡± Lynn frowns slightly, but says nothing as Lauren shoves what looks to be another healing potion at me. I consider refusing the still steaming liquid, especially because she¡¯s offering it to me in the thing she prepared it in, which is hot as fuck, but I take it anyway and down it. The unpleasant sensations fade rapidly in the face of the forced healing, and I embrace the momentary comfort while I can still get it. ¡°Thanks. Seriously, both of you, thank you.¡± Lynn returns a small smile, but Lauren just looks expectantly. ¡°Right, right. I think the way Dean broke my sword also broke something in my Energy¡­ cause I was bonded with it. I think I need Tom¡¯s help to repair it-¡± Another coughing fit wracks me, and my reprieve is over. For the love of fuck, if this is just ¡®moderate¡¯ soul damage, I never want to experience the more severe versions. I stagger to my feet, but immediately lose my balance. Lauren barely manages to grab me and keep me from falling back down. I¡­ can¡¯t fight like this. There¡¯s no putting it off. ¡°You two should sleep, I need to get this fixed before I can do anything else.¡± ¡°The team sticks together.¡± Lynn¡¯s tone allows no argument, and I don¡¯t have the energy to do so anyway. Lauren half carries, half drags me to Tom¡¯s workshop, while Lynn carries the fractured remains of my sword. Tom starts to smile as he sees me approach, but his face immediately turns grave. I wipe my mouth¡­ more blood. ¡°Tom, I need your help.¡± ¡°Boy, I¡¯m no surgeon-¡± ¡°No, the sword. I need you to fix it.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°The sword!? Anthony, give a care for your own health. Forget about the sword! Have Lauren keep mixing the potions for you and fix yourself up first.¡± I shake my head, shuddering as I resist coughing more. ¡°Tom, fucking listen to me.¡± Stop it, you¡¯re being rude. I start again, trying to keep the agony induced snarl out of my words. ¡°The sword is the damage. It needs to be fixed, I know it, or I won¡¯t heal¡­ not quickly enough.¡± Tom fixes me with a steady look: a mix of worry and anger. ¡°Fine, bring it here.¡± Lynn complies as Lauren dumps me into a chair nearby. I say a silent thanks to Marie for creating it. ¡°Ah, yes. The magic sword. I thought it had an ¡®unbreakable¡¯ enchantment on it¡­ but seeing what Dean was able to do, I¡¯m surprised it didn¡¯t shatter into dust. Hmm¡­ mostly big pieces, mhmm, this should be doable. I don¡¯t know if the enchantment will survive. If any of the cracks run through it, I¡¯ll be wiping it away when I join them back together. Is that alright?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll live. Just do it.¡± Stop being short with him. Tom doesn¡¯t seem to notice, however, as he¡¯s too deeply focussed on the sword. He arranges the pieces on a table, nodding to himself as he puzzles them together into a complete sword. Starting from the relatively intact hilt and base, he heats the next few big pieces in the forge. When they¡¯re glowing on the border of white, he pulls them out and starts hammering at them. The first sign that something¡¯s wrong is the way Tom¡¯s face slowly moves from intensity, to confusion, and ultimately to a deep scowl. After several minutes of increasingly reckless hammering, he throws his tools away in a huff. ¡°The pieces won¡¯t join.¡± ¡°What?!¡± It¡¯s more a growl than a question, and it comes out harsher than I want. ¡°The sword can¡¯t be repaired! There¡¯s something broken beyond the metal!¡± You¡¯ve got to be kidding me. I push myself to my feet, and the sudden action elicits a coughing fit, and more blood in my mouth, which I spit callously into the forge. ¡°I can¡¯t accept that.¡± ¡°Boy,¡± Tom growls in a low voice, ¡°you¡¯re hurt, and you need rest. Go lie down and leave the rest to-¡± ¡°You- know better- than to ask that of me. I cannot, will not, do that.¡± I put my hand on the sword hilt. ¡°Careful boy!¡± He tries to push me away, but the burning of the handle doesn¡¯t matter to me, because the contact feels so much¡­ better. Suddenly, I can see it; the sword as it was¡­ no, greater. What it wants to be. Tom was trying to repair it, but it doesn¡¯t want to be repaired¡­ ¡°Tom, try again. Just one more time.¡± Tom lets the resulting silence hang for several moments, seeming to confer silently with my team, but ultimately sighs and nods his head. ¡°One more time, Anthony. Then you rest, aye? Now give me some room-... what do ya mean, ¡®no¡¯?¡± I had started shaking my head before he finished. ¡°I need to hold it. Do what you need to.¡± He lets out an exasperated sigh. ¡°You¡¯re really the strangest lad I¡¯ve ever had the pleasure of acquainting with.¡± The work begins, and it puts my prior experiences of agony to utter shame. Every strike of the hammer resonates with the very fabric of my being, and it takes absolute concentration just to remain conscious. On several occasions, the next piece of the sword isn¡¯t right, and I have to bring raw Power into the sword and build the next section. Tom¡¯s reactions ranged from blatant annoyance at the start, to sheer awe once he realized that I wasn¡¯t messing around. With each success, he falls deeper into focus, starting to understand where he¡¯s needed and where I am instead. The template I see in my mind¡¯s eye slowly fills out, and sometime around morning, he fuses the whole sword together with a final heating cycle in the forge. A process during which I remain in contact with the sword. I can¡¯t tear my hand away, no matter how much I want to, and, on several occasions, try to. The heat had fused my palm with the metal at some point in the night. The minutes of holding in screams pass in a tormented eternity before I¡¯m finally allowed to quench. In a torrent of steam and boiling water, I raise the sword, and place it gently on the table. Lynn, Lauren, and Tom crowd around to take in the results of our monolithic efforts. The base of the sword is mostly the same as it was before, but as my eyes move up it, I see threads of gold running throughout the length. They look almost like a vascular system, and coalesce into thick bands of gold in sections where I had to build out the sword with Power. The way the gold highlights the silver metal is, aesthetically, one of the most amazing things I¡¯ve ever seen. It reminds me a little of the mana stones, but¡­ much more vibrant. ¡°Tom you mad bastard.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t even start with me, boy. We did this together, and you¡¯re the mad one who held molten metal.¡± ¡°Fine, but you already knew I was mad. Now, I¡¯ve got one more request.¡± ¡°This better be good.¡± ¡°Hold it still.¡± He clamps it to the table, raising a questioning eyebrow. ¡°Lauren, please tell me you have a healing potion.¡± ¡°Y...eah?¡± ¡°Good.¡± I nod to her, and tear all the skin off my hand. Energy 87: Hope
[Colossal effort of Will detected. +2 Will.]
[Soul damage successfully repaired.]
[Essence Forged Zweihander (Soulbound) - A weapon, forged once by ancient Dwarves and forged again by a young warrior and blacksmith working as one. The soul of a human adds structure and form, suffusing it with the will of the user. The blade now forever thirsts for the fires of heat and soul that created it, causing it to constantly draw heat from its surroundings. +12 Strength, +6 Toughness, +6 Endurance, +1 Will, Unbreaking.]
Lauren and Lynn headed to sleep already, but I decided to take a bit to accustom myself with the zweihander again¡­ but that mostly manifests as me studying every inch of it. There¡¯s always been something about beautiful weaponry that intrigues me. It¡¯s designed for killing, yet stand on their own as a testament to creation. I don¡¯t think we deserved to make something like this, but I¡¯m glad we did... even if it took the system¡¯s help. ¡°If you don¡¯t sleep, you¡¯re definitely going to lose the competition.¡± Lynn appears in the entryway, and the soft glow from the forge illuminates her features in a way much like candlelight. Tom takes no notice, as he remains too involved in his work to care. Our joint effort really inspired him. ¡°Yeah¡­ I know.¡± I smirk at her. ¡°Look at you, sacrificing sleep just to make sure I rest as well. With that kind of attitude, I¡¯d almost believe you want me to win.¡± She laughs softly, barely audible over the clanging of the hammer. ¡°You are well aware that both of us would prefer that. For all Lauren¡¯s vigor, she knows she¡¯s too hot headed to lead. Plus, her combat style forces her to remain hidden for most of combat¡­ that doesn¡¯t work well for coordinating.¡± I expect her to continue, but she stops with just that. Fine, I¡¯ll bite. ¡°And why not you?¡± Her face falls slightly. ¡°I¡­ could never do what you did.¡± ¡°Holding onto a burning piece of metal? Yeah, doing that is a sign of insanity, not leadership.¡± ¡°Confronting Dean.¡± A small silence falls between us, punctuated by the rhythmic blows of Tom¡¯s forging. ¡°There was no option. If I refused, I believe he would have¡­ probably forced the point.¡± I cringe during the last part. I had worried he would just start killing people until I complied. Or just killed me to make a point. There was so much violence in his eyes¡­ She casts her eyes to the floor. ¡°Those who face death are not forced to do so gracefully. You could have run, ordered us to fight¡­ begged? I don¡¯t know. There were options, and I¡¯m sure you were aware of some of them. I think you acted as you did because, for you, it was the only choice¡­ and for me, it wasn¡¯t. How many other lives is your life worth?¡± ¡°... Don¡¯t ask that question.¡± ¡°Hmm? I thought hero types liked stroking their ego. I expected a ¡®zero¡¯, or even ¡®one¡¯ if you were feeling confident.¡± I look her in the eye, a hard expression on my face, but say nothing. ¡°Those eyes¡­ you give me goosebumps.¡± I relax slightly. ¡°Sorry.¡± She shakes her head, smiling. ¡°You don¡¯t think you¡¯re a hero. You know you aren¡¯t. But you act like one anyway. Why?¡± I heave a tired sigh. ¡°If you can find a way to get some alcohol, and share it with me, I¡¯ll talk to you about that.¡± Her eyebrows raise. ¡°You need alcohol to open up? I wouldn¡¯t have guessed.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ more that I¡¯ll do a poor job of explaining it if we aren¡¯t both drunk. I¡¯d answer your questions, but I think you¡¯d get the wrong idea from the answer.¡± ¡°I think I get it.¡± She says, flatly, but a sly grin spreads a moment later. ¡°You just want to get me drunk.¡± ¡°Pfft. Way to break the mood. You sound just like Lauren. You¡¯re not going to start flirting with me too, are you?¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°What can I say, it¡¯s fun, not complicated, and I have control over it.¡± The last part leaves a bad taste in my mouth to hear. Nate... She continues, heedless of my reaction: ¡°It¡¯s fine in doses, just as long as you know not to read anything into it.¡± Not the nicest thing to hear, but it¡¯s good. I don¡¯t want complicated either. I smile at her. ¡°I don¡¯t mind in the slightest. It¡¯s¡­ relaxing. Normal. One of the few normal things we still have in this place.¡± It¡¯s funny that I would think that, considering how awkward I used to be with people¡­ especially new people. I don¡¯t remember specifics from life before the system, but I do remember that. ¡°Oh? Well, in that case, you wouldn¡¯t mind coming to be with me, would you?¡± ¡°Ha ha, god damnit. Was this whole conversation just a lead up for that?¡± She flashes me a smile as she turns and heads down the hall. With a light laugh, I sheath my newly reforged sword and follow her. --- ¡°Rise and shine! Time to get your ass kicked!¡± I groan in reply. The¡­ not morning, but ¡®morning¡¯ for me has come far too rapidly. My body feels like it should be creaking and moaning every time I move it¡­ the stress from taking that strike, and the soul damage, has left my body deeply unhappy. Fortunately, the magic power of Energy quickly wipes away many of the aches and pains, leaving some that don¡¯t seem to have an Energetic presence. Pain from having my soul put back together, probably. Nothing I can¡¯t handle, and it¡¯s far better than those coughing fits. ¡°C¡¯mon, or we¡¯ll disqualify you for gross laziness. Dereliction of duty!¡± I shoot her a glare that closely embodies how awful I feel, which evokes a heartwarming and innocent smile from my tormenter. ¡°Did you rest well, Predator?¡± ¡°Oh, hey Kaythe. I didn¡¯t, but that¡¯s to be expected. Too much to do, too little time.¡± He wraps around my shoulders, poised to attack at a moment¡¯s notice. He¡¯s adorable. I pull on my sword, stop by Tom to grab a wooden practice sword (I really need to do something nice for Marie), and walk outside, waving to Lorian¡¯s group guarding the entrance. Lauren and Lynn are waiting around in the valley, and we walk together a small distance away. No need to attract the Carnines with sounds of fighting. We spot the pile of corpses that Dean left, which nobody deigned to touch. I can¡¯t say I blame them¡­ but I make a mental note to pick through it for the loot he had mentioned, after the competition. I carve a circle in the grass to serve as our boundaries, and we draw blades of grass to see who will fight first. I pull one short one, and Lynn pulls the other. ¡°Well. This should be quite interesting, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Your bow versus my sword, in this range? Just try not to lose too quickly.¡± She produces a quiver of stone arrows with blunted tips. ¡°We shall see.¡± I grin at her. ¡°You lose if you step outside the line, yield, or go unconscious. Be smart, yield before that last one happens, we don¡¯t want to risk serious injury.¡± ¡°Sounds fair. Ready?¡± ¡°Ready.¡± I launch forward immediately, using a burst of Fortify speed to cross the distance to Lynn in less than a second. She simultaneously jumps away, smoothly drawing an arrow and sniping me in the foot. It bounces off, almost harmlessly, but I stumble slightly, and she proceeds to send arrow after arrow hurtling towards me at absurd speeds. Fine, we¡¯ll do this the slow way. I stop burning Energy and instead enter River¡¯s Flow and slowly work my way towards her through her hail of arrows. Though I manage to dodge or deflect most of them, she gets me with far more hits than I¡¯m comfortable with. If those were real arrows, I¡¯d be in trouble. However, I also wouldn¡¯t be hounding her as much. I can safely rely on my Natural Toughness Skill to blunt the damage, allowing myself to tank hits that I could have avoided in order to save Stamina and rush her more effectively. As the battle trance deepens, her impressive array of what must be evasion Skills serve to save her by smaller margins. I approach with a swing, and she¡¯s suddenly an extra foot to the right, just out of way. I thrust, she springs eight feet into the air, soaring over my head. Her advantage lies in the fact that I¡¯ve never fought a ranged enemy in earnest, and I¡¯ve only ever defended against Zathis¡¯ ranged attacks. She¡¯s just so damn fast¡­ but I¡¯m speeding up. I close in, covering as many avenues of escape as I can, and prepared for all the rest. A shot flies at my face as she attempts to screen another leap over my head, but my sword deflects the shot, and my hand catches her foot. I twist and slam her back onto the ground, knocking the breath from her lungs, but as I move to put my sword at her neck, another arrow is already knocked in her bow. She¡¯s on the fucking ground, having just been slammed into the ground, and she¡¯s still attacking?! The shot goes straight for my head, dead center, and it¡¯s only because my battle trance has brought me to the point where time is crawling by that I¡¯m able to twist my face, then my body, to move with the force of the shot and use extremely fine movements to deflect it with my fucking skull. I whip around, completing the maneuver and placing my sword at her throat with¡­ maybe a little more force than needed. Blood starts to stream from the cut on my forehead. ¡°Yield?¡± I huff, letting the River¡¯s Flow fade from my mind so I can heal the cut. She looks at me for a moment, breathing heavily, and considers¡­ but ultimately shakes her head. ¡°Yield. You win.¡± ¡°Thank fuck.¡± Energy 88: Hope ---- ¡°Let him win? Where¡¯s the fun in that?¡± They had left Amadeus to ¡®admire his sword¡¯, or whatever it was that he wanted to stay up for, and Lynn had stopped her in the hall to tell her¡­ to lose the competition to Amadeus on purpose. ¡°It¡¯s only for fun anyway, why not?¡± Lauren scoffed in reply. ¡°For fun? Hell no, I¡¯m going to win. That idiot¡¯s ego is already so huge, he doesn¡¯t need to lead all of us and our group. Plus, if I let him win, he¡¯ll think he¡¯s the strongest. Can you even imagine?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think he cares about that.¡± ¡°Whatever, why don¡¯t you want to be the leader? Ready to throw in the towel before giving it a shot?¡± ¡°Me? Lead? I don¡¯t want to.¡± Lynn''s eyes changed as she said it: a flicker of sadness. Lauren gave her a sharp look. Did Lynn think she was stupid? ¡°Yeah you do. Don¡¯t be that way. Tell me the truth.¡± Lynn sighed, looking at her feet. ¡°I want to lead¡­ so badly.¡± ¡°See? Then what the fuck is all this about?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Lynn trailed off, failing to continue despite being given ample opportunity. Eventually, in frustration, Lauren cajoled her. ¡°You what? What¡¯s wrong with you?¡± ¡°If I lead, I¡¯ll be just¡­ just like Nate.¡± She basically spit the words. Lynn looked really broken up about what she¡¯d said, but Lauren couldn¡¯t make any sense of it. ¡°What the fresh fuck are you talking about? Why would you be like Nate? Why would you care? Nate was¡­ well you know, it was different! You don¡¯t have those abilities, right? So how could you possibly-¡± ¡°I want to be like that. I want people to bend to my will, and do as I want. I don¡¯t know why... I don¡¯t, and I don¡¯t care either. As long as I don¡¯t put myself in that position, I¡¯ll have to prioritize other things, and the system won¡¯t offer me any Skills that I absolutely cannot be allowed to have!¡± Lauren just gaped for a moment. Jesus christ, why was everyone here such a basket case¡­ ¡°Look, Lynn, you¡¯re fine. No, don¡¯t even start with your ¡®oh poor me, I can¡¯t be trusted with myself¡¯ bullshit. Maybe that would work on other people, but I¡¯ve been there. Remember when nobody wanted to talk to me? Remember when you were too afraid to even look at me? Everyone was too afraid of pissing me off and ending up poisoned or worse. And they were right to be afraid! I couldn¡¯t be trusted with myself, but nobody could stop me¡­ and I stopped anyway.¡± ¡°...How?¡± Amadeus. That fucking asshole. Him and his stubborn pride and arrogance, the way he had senselessly believed in her and helped her¡­ ¡°It was a bit of Amadeus, and a lot of me coming to terms with that side of me. Running from it? Training until I couldn¡¯t think? That only made it worse. That dark part of me grew stronger the more I looked away, and Nate encouraged that. That was his biggest problem for me: he used people, and molded them into what he wanted, not what was best for them. A leader builds people up. A leader chooses the best path, and others follow because it¡¯s the best path. Not because they have to, or because the leader says so. You need to face that side of you. You need to have the power in your hands, so you can conquer it. Prove it to yourself.¡± Lauren heaved a large breath, having accidentally spoken way too much, way too forcefully. Lynn didn¡¯t respond, instead turning away and walking down the hall. Lauren spoke after her, confident she would hear. ¡°Fight yourself, Lynn, and win. You¡¯ll never survive otherwise.¡± Lynn only shook her head, and walked back towards the forge. Lauren huffed, and turned back to the dark sleeping chamber. Lynn, you idiot¡­ if only she could use Energy and show her¡­ For the hundredth time, she tried to visualize that barrier around her, but she knew nothing would happen. For the hundredth time, she longed to just have Amadeus fix it¡­ but she knew that would be a hollow victory. Every day, she felt better. More herself. Today was no different, and tomorrow would be the same... and one day, she would command her own Energy. One day. ---- Good, Lynn had lost. It had been a good fight, and the fact that she had resisted using Overdraw to knock him around had ensured he would win eventually. Arrows could never stand up to a high Strength, close-combat warrior in an arena style fight without the archer having the ability to displace her opponent. He chose... strangely, to harry her around the arena until he caught her. Like he was playing it safe. She supposed he could afford to, due to his high defensive capabilities and healing rate, but, given the imbalance in advantage, the fight could and should have been much quicker. Maybe it would have with real weapons... But, she alsocould have knocked him out several times, but then she would have won. She almost did there at the end... if she''d Overdrawn it...This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. No, things were as they should be, and all Lynn had to do was beat Lauren and that would conclude this senseless competition¡­ so why did it hurt so much? Staring up at Amadeus, clearly exhausted from chasing her around, it had taken every fibre of her willpower to resist fighting to the bitter end. It had been her idea to throw the match! So why¡­? He stretched out a hand. Shaming her more? No, to help her up, obviously. He was trying to be nice. She took his hand, pulling herself to her feet. He held her hand a second longer than he needed to, and suddenly pulled it away, cursing quietly. ¡°Ow fuck! Ugh¡­ I guess I should have asked first. Do... you want some healing to get you back up to pace for your next fight?¡± Shit, she¡¯d fought him off when he was trying to help¡­ again. Stupid, hide your feelings better! The distrust is unwarranted anyway! He¡¯s done nothing but help. So did Na- HE¡¯S DEAD¡­ Dead. He won¡¯t hurt anyone ever again. Forget him. She needed the healing to be able to beat Lauren in the next match, so she just had to let her guard down¡­ there, that was it. She kept taking deep breaths until she finally cleared her mind enough to apologize and ask him to try again. He was a friend. He had saved her from a monstrous tree. He had killed Nate even though Nate couldn¡¯t affect him¡­ He had kept himself from being affected. He was the leader they needed. She couldn¡¯t be the one¡­ what if she was¡­ compromised again? She couldn¡¯t fight back, she didn¡¯t know how. She would be a liability to everyone if she commanded two powers such as Lauren and Amadeus, but was unable to guarantee her orders were her own. But... maybe he could teach her? She put the thoughts out of her head. She had decided, and there was no point to debating it any longer. The soothing feeling of Amadeus¡¯ healing filled her body, washing away the aches and pains from their extended combat. Lynn was a little jealous of that trick. Healing at the rate he was able to meant that he could trade hits and still come out on top, or lay in wait when an opponent thought he was critically wounded, and surprise them when their back was turned. The options afforded by such an ability were almost endless¡­ but she didn¡¯t want to ask him. They barely knew each other, and he seemed cagey about a lot of things, so it stood to reason that his strange healing ability would be near the top of ¡®things not to talk about¡¯. Lauren walked into the ring, giving Amadeus a smirk as they passed each other, but her eyes gained a new intensity when they panned to Lynn. ¡°You ready to lose?¡± Of course, she starts off with her abrasive goading. Lauren was nothing if not predictable. ¡°Thank you, I already got my fill.¡± Lynn stretched quickly, feeling her body limber up nicely even with just that small effort. She walked with her head held high to the opposite side of the arena from Lauren, and stood ready. ¡°Whenever you are sufficiently prepared, we can begin.¡± Lauren returned a feral grin. ¡°Ready. Amadeus, do the honors?¡± ¡°Hmm? Sure. Go.¡± What fanfare¡­ oh well. Lynn turned her head back to Lauren¡­ or where Lauren was supposed to be. She looked around, but the other girl was entirely gone. ¡°You¡­ you tricked me! You just wanted me to look away!¡± If that was how she wanted to play it, Lynn would teach her the hard way how sharp an archer¡¯s senses were. The wind blew over the arena, hiding all the sounds in a blanket of rustling grass, but Lynn¡¯s Archery Proficiency let her read the winds as easily as written word¡­ which was exactly what she needed to find an eddy that shouldn¡¯t be forming. Lauren. She fired the shot, from drawing to loosing, in almost half a second, striking Lauren out of her hiding skill and knocking her off her feet. ¡°Fuck! What kind of bullshit is that?!¡± She yelled, even as she casually rolled out of the unexpected blow. She grabbed a fistfull of grass and sprinted towards Lynn, who was lining up another shot that would surely knock Lauren out of the circle. As Lynn drew, Lauren threw out the grass, which seemed to occlude far more than it had any right to, considering how little it was. Lynn took the shot, hitting Lauren straight in the head again¡­ but the arrow just passed through. Cursing quietly, Lynn realized Lauren¡¯s head had been just slightly lower than what she had thought. Lauren used the opening to close the gap and rush her with a flurry of swipes with her wooden dagger. Lynn activated her Mobility skill, which momentarily reduced her mass and raised her Dexterity, and jumped away, firing off two more arrows. Lauren threw a blunted knife from her belt, intercepting one of the arrows, but failing to deal with the second. ¡°FUCK! Let¡¯s see how you like it!¡± Five knives appeared in Lauren¡¯s hands, seemingly from nowhere, and she rocketed them off with impressive precision considering her speed. Lynn fired off one shot before activating her movement skill again, but Lauren guessed which way she was going to dodge, and struck her with three of the five, almost managing to shove her out of bounds with her reduced weight. Lynn activated her Overdraw skill, which was highly fatiguing, but made her shots travel more than twice as fast. But, in the extra beat it took to execute, Lauren threw a final throwing knife, striking Lynn¡¯s bow directly and knocking her aim off. The plume of dirt and grass that the arrow evoked then served to screen Lauren and let her disappear again. This time there was no helpful plume of wind to help Lynn sense the rogue, so she launched a few scattered shots at the part of the arena Lauren had disappeared in, but nothing landed. A sudden, searing pain radiated from her lower back as Lauren appeared behind her and slammed the hilt of her wood dagger into Lynn¡¯s kidney. She staggered, and Lauren, who now stood in the tiny space between Lynn and the edge of the circle, grabbed Lynn around the waist and started to roll back with her. If she was allowed to execute the roll like she wanted, Lynn would be thrown from the circle and lose. Again. Lynn overdrew a shot, but flipped her bow so it was aiming back, the way Lauren was trying to throw her. The shot missed Lauren, but the intent hadn¡¯t been to hit her, but to use the tremendous recoil of the shot combined with her Mobility skill making the shot affect her more. Usually, she tried to avoid this combination because it sent her tumbling end over end through the air, but here, that was exactly what she wanted. The sudden direction and weight change allowed her to slip from Lauren¡¯s grasp, instead landing hard on the grass a few feet away. She forced her exhausted arms to overdraw one last time, which was made all the more awkward by her being on the ground, and let the arrow fly. Lauren was still somewhat confused as to how Lynn had escaped her certain victory, and was unable to react in time to the attack, which planted itself firmly in her sternum. Lauren staggered back several steps, swearing. ¡°You rotten fuck, I¡¯m going to-¡± But Lynn just smiled and pointed at her feet. ¡°What? W-WHAT?!¡± The swearing became even louder and more colorful at the realization that she had staggered right over the boundary line. Energy 89: Hope Lynn said nothing, but walked over to where Amadeus was standing. ¡°I¡¯d check your food for poison for the next¡­ life.¡± ¡°She¡¯ll be fine. She got cocky, and that¡¯s what happens. Anyway, that decides it. You fought me and won, and I won against Lauren. I believe you win, Amadeus.¡± He scratched his head, thinking. ¡°So, ¡®no need for me to duel Lauren¡¯, is what your saying?¡± Lynn nodded. If he lost to Lauren, it would make everything a tie, which would be¡­ stupid, to say the least. ¡°I won¡¯t contend that result. Lauren! You cool with calling it my win?¡± ¡°Eat shit and die, fuckface!¡± She gets riled so easily¡­ ¡°I think that¡¯s agreement.¡± Anthony laughed. ¡°We can always do this again in the future¡­ once we¡¯ve managed to win.¡± Lauren continued her tirade in the background as the two spoke. ¡°You think we¡¯ll manage? There are¡­ a lot of monsters left. And that big one¡­¡± Anthony smiled wryly, and faced Lynn directly. ¡°We¡¯ll win.¡± An intensity burned in his eyes as he spoke. ¡°We don¡¯t have many people, it¡¯s true, and we¡¯re up against a force¡­ many times our number, but we¡¯ll do it. Even if it¡¯s just because we have the system backing us up, and can improve faster than our enemies, we¡¯ll make it. Dean took down a ton of them all on his own, and even if he outclasses any one of us, I think¡­ that difference in strength is ultimately temporary. A quick path to power isn¡¯t always the answer, and the consequences of his choice were plain to see. We¡¯ll find the strength we need to far surpass even him, because every one of us is a survivor, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Y-yeah¡­¡± ¡°All we need is the time to make it happen.¡± Lynn nodded, but a part of her wasn¡¯t sure. A part of her firmly believed they were part of a much bigger game, and closer to pawns than pieces with any real power. There was a very real possibility that each of them would die horribly. ---- With the hierarchy of my team, such as it is, figured out, we commence training for the day. We had wasted some of the time with our combat efforts, but even that was fairly fruitful. Getting to fight a true ranged combatant was a good experience for me, and observing the fight between Lauren and Lynn gave me some useful insights on combating rogue types. Though, truthfully, I should challenge Lauren one of these days, just to get practical experience¡­ that might be a terrible idea. I ditch the practice sword back in the forge room, and secure my sword to my back. Even just having it on my body makes me feel¡­ stronger. Whole, even. It¡¯s strange, but this weapon feels more a part of me than the stick at this point. I believe that¡¯s a side effect of the reforging process, but it might also be a natural progression from having my soul shattered. Having my Energy mixed in as an integral part of the sword¡­ probably sped the bonding process along substantially. The ¡®Soulbound¡¯ tag is new, and I¡¯m not entirely sure what it means, but my best guess is that it¡¯s probably almost impossible for someone else to use the sword, or even touch it without my sayso. There¡¯s also the addition of weird flavor text about ¡®hunting for warmth¡¯ or whatever. It¡¯s¡­ cold. All the time, the blade is cold. It¡¯s never unpleasant to me, but other people don¡¯t even like to be near it because the cold gets so intense close to the blade. The sheath is almost perpetually covered in ice. It¡¯s¡­ really awesome. When I strike things with the blade, even stone, my targets freeze and sometimes shatter if they¡¯re small enough and I hit hard enough¡­ and hitting hard enough is never a problem anymore. The whopping twelve Strength the sword gives is enough that the relatively hefty weight of the sword feels like nothing to me. I can swing it around at a combat-level intensity for thirty minutes before I need to take any sort of break, and that¡¯s without burning Energy to buy myself some recovery time. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. It¡¯s almost a blessing that the sword doesn¡¯t provide me with Dexterity, or I¡¯d be at the level where Zathis probably couldn¡¯t train me anymore. ¡°Good. This is an ideal level of ability. You are ready.¡± ¡°Seriously?! Finally!-¡± ¡°Is what I would say if you were not so callously relying on your weapon to save you. Where is your ability? Your strength? It is almost overshadowed by that of your own weapon! I wonder, if it had any will of its own, would it not be wielding you?¡± ¡°Hey! I was an integral part of creating this sword. It literally contains my own will! But fine, maybe it does make things too easy. What would you recommend?¡± The words barely leave my mouth before I regret it. Zathis does not reply, but a sword made of pure stone, that looks closer to a buster sword from a video game, rises from the ground. ¡°You may use this to train.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding-¡± Stone encases my legs, locking me in place, and more stone protrusions smash my sword out of my hands. I try to grab after it, and the blade seems to waver in the air, as if fighting to return to me, but more stone encases it and drags it away. ¡°Give that ba-!¡± I start to shout, but the stone releases my legs and I¡¯m shoved to the floor. The stone sword lies on the ground with me. ¡°Better hurry, I will be beginning now.¡± And that was all the warning I got. I grab the sword and start to stand, but the weight is even more than I had anticipated, and I end up stumbling instead. I try taking the time to lift it, but a block of stone smashes into my back. ¡°Far too slow, young warrior, move faster!¡± ¡°You¡¯re testing my patience you- OW, YOU CROTCHETY GIANT!¡± ¡°If you have the breath to be rude, the training must not be intense enough. Allow me to rectify that.¡± ¡°FUC-¡± The rest is drowned out by a giant¡¯s booming laughter. I grab the sword again, burning Energy just to get it up, and try to use the limited time I have enhanced Strength to get a feel for the weapon, all while dodging a relentless assault of both melee and ranged strikes from Zathis. The sword is much larger and more broad than any I¡¯ve used before, which makes it a much better defensive tool, but also significantly more unwieldy. I¡¯m starting to do alright, when I drop Fortify and try to entering River¡¯s Flow so I can more reliably maintain my defence. The skill protests for a moment, as though my mind is pushing against an elastic barrier that just pushes back harder for every ounce of effort I put in. The momentary vulnerability allows countless projectiles and strikes through my guard, draining my health to near critical levels in a heartbeat. Bastard! It¡¯s like he¡¯s trying to kill me! Fine. I¡¯ve gotten stronger. I have 20 more Energy than before, and it seems to regenerate significantly faster as well. I can¡¯t keep burning Energy forever, especially at the Health percentage I have now, but I still recover fast. With that in mind, I start burn Light and golden Energy simultaneously, and slam my Will against the stubborn battle trance skill. So what if the system doesn¡¯t recognize it as a sword? I don¡¯t need a weapon to fight. Does the river not need water to flow? Yes, but I am not the river, and the water is not my weapon. I am the water, and the river is where I am, a testament to the path I have carved with my own will. Whether still or in motion, armed or barehanded, I flow where I will it. This stone is not a weapon, but it will help me carve my path regardless. The skill bends very slightly, and I feel the fog and concentration descend over me. Good. Let¡¯s go, you smug bastard. Energy 90: Destruction
[Your Strength has been noted. +2 Strength. Feat of Endurance achieved. +1 Endurance.]
[One step, then another, you slowly walk the Path chosen for you. Complete your Path to advance further.]
¡°Ffffffuuuuuuu-¡± I groan the word from my comfortable place on the stone floor. Everything hurts. Everything hurts so much. ¡°Ah, you still have fight in you? Then we shall-¡± ¡°NO. NOPE. WE¡¯RE GOOD. NICE AND TIRED, RIGHT KAYTHE?¡± I shoot to my feet, stumbling slightly as my fatigued muscles struggle with the rapid maneuver. ¡°Kaythe was not training with us-¡± ¡°YEP, TOTALLY EXHAUSTED. GOOD DAY, ZATHIS.¡± Let me go you madman! ¡°I believe it is nearing night.¡± ¡°I SAID GOOD DAY.¡± He looks slightly confused at first, but breaks into a broad grin as I limp away, scowling. ¡°Good luck against my brethren, young warrior. Oh, do not forget your blade!¡± I sense the blade launch toward me, but pretend I don¡¯t notice it until the last possible moment, when I snatch it out of the air without looking. The giant¡¯s laughter shows what he thinks of my showmanship. Everybody¡¯s a critic. The clashing and raining stone shards of Lauren and Lynn¡¯s ongoing training continues behind me as I leave. It¡¯s understandable that Zathis was confused, and the others will probably give me shit, but all this regimented time has made sure I have no chance to experiment. There are still a ton of runes I haven¡¯t made yet, and I haven¡¯t gotten the chance to raise my max Energy through using the orange Energy yet. Part of me considers just plunging into the icy depths of the underground lake and destroying all the hostile plant things that live there¡­ but it would be very cold, deeply unpleasant, and they only ended up giving one Power and no Energy if I remember correctly. I shake my head. Fuck that. Wait- shit! I forgot to loot the pile. Ugh, too many things in my head, something is bound to get left by the wayside¡­ like the dungeon continuation Zathis mentioned, experiments with a Mana rune, or just runes in general, and my freaking worthless Path! God forbid I actually get to perform more Alchemy! I sigh, sadly. This is the problem with priorities: I can¡¯t just do what I want. It¡¯s a fight for survival, after all, so I have to prioritize that above all, and I think the best way to do that is to sleep, guard, train, repeat. No room in there for possibly incapacitating myself with a wrong rune (or having my fucking sword broken) or getting lost or killed while loot hunting in a dungeon. The only thing that might be worth my time that breaks the mold is returning to Calminus¡¯ tower and opening the armory there. I can just imagine what kind of stuff is in there. Energy weapons that come filled with an Energy core, so binding them is really fast? Or maybe armor pieces I can bind that heal automatically, using my soul as fuel. An Energy launcher? The possibilities are tremendous and very promising. Which means¡­ no experimenting with runes until I get that door open, no taking unnecessary risks, and actually get some Energy kills instead of just slicing up everything! I should probably also talk to Tom about the stupid crown I found all that time ago. Maybe it does something useful? But he¡¯s asleep right now. Maybe tonight. When I reach the pile of corpses, which looks disgusting after around two days of sitting out in the open sun. Carnines, Lieutenants, and the odd unidentifiable mass¡­ there must be forty or fifty bodies. That wouldn¡¯t be very special if they were mostly Carnines, but¡­ gray fur dominates the pile. He took down all that by himself?! What the hell did he do, sell his soul? ¡­ I really hope that isn¡¯t even an option. You have to sell a soul to something, and you get something less valuable, generally, in deals like that¡­ so what exactly can offer this kind of power in exchange for a soul? And why? I shake my head. Stupid theorizing, it might not be that at all. I don¡¯t know he sold his soul, just that he was emotionally broken with only rage left in his heart, and that people with damaged Energy tend to act the same way. An idle guess, nothing more. The mortifying process of picking through the stack of bodies makes me acutely aware that I¡¯m going to need to bathe. Not that any of us smell great, because nobody has time to mess around with making soap, but¡­ I can probably do better than smelling like rotting corpses. But, for the trouble, I¡¯m rewarded with: (3) copper rings, (1) copper ring (unidentified), (50) copper coins, (6) silver coins, gloves (unidentified), and a mother fucking Apprentice¡¯s Stone! That last one¡¯s fortunate, because unless those unidentified items are pretty good, it¡¯s the only thing of immediate value here. A bunch of coins? Useless. Not even a waterskin¡­ I don¡¯t think anyone took Rav¡¯s after he¡­ yeah. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. There are also a bunch of weird cube like things that look more like rocks than anything, but they¡¯re oddly textured. On a whim, I try the system to see if it has any info.
[Compressed Resource: stone]
WHAT?! Compressed is right! They¡¯re no larger than modest pebbles. I gather as many as I can see and stuff them in my satchel, which is now heavily burdened by the weight of metal, little rocks, and new equipment. I heft it, and drop it off in Tom¡¯s empty forge as I pass by, letting Marie know about the resource blocks in the process. Her eyes light up, and I see her shift uncomfortably, tempted to go check them out, but she''s on guard and ultimately resists. I take the leather gloves, however, because I doubt he¡¯d be able to identify them¡­ but I know somebody who might be able to. --- ¡°Give.¡± ¡°So they¡¯re good?¡± ¡°Give.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not hearing an answer here. I¡¯m the leader, you know, you should respect me.¡± Lauren scrunches her face, frowning. ¡°Give or I¡¯m stabbing you. I might just stab you anyway for that comment.¡± I smirk at her and toss the gloves to her, letting her snatch them greedily out of the air. ¡®You like me too much to do that.¡± ¡°Wrong~ I hate your guts, and you can heal nonlethal wounds. That means I can stab and stab and-¡± The sing-song way in which she says all that, while hugging the gloves close, as one would a teddy bear, terrifies me more than a little. ¡°You¡¯ve¡­ put some thought into this.¡± ¡°I would never, oh great leader~ But I think your offering should be sufficient to save you for now. Be sure to keep them coming!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t push your luck.¡± ¡°Oh, would you rather I earn your tokens in some¡­ other way?¡± She bats her eyes at me, smiling like an animal that just cornered its prey. ¡°Yeah I¡¯m never getting you anything again, goodbye.¡± ¡°No wait!¡± She giggles, as if she didn¡¯t just follow torture threats with romantic advances. ¡°Sorry, sorry. I got a little excited is all. Thanks Amadeus. They¡¯re gloves of Dexterity¡­ not particularly powerful ones, to be fair, but I appreciate the small boost.¡± ¡°As if you really need it. What if I wanted them?¡± She bares her teeth in a sinister smile, as I wonder to myself why I insist on teasing her. ¡°I¡¯ll fight you for them~¡± I shudder. ¡°Pass. You¡¯d probably try to use the outcome as proof that you should be the leader.¡± ¡°Oh? So you do think I¡¯d win? Well, in that case¡­¡± ¡°Take your gloves and be happy.¡± She hums happily and turns away, flashing a genuine smile as she does so. I start to ask where Lynn is, but honestly, I think she¡¯s probably still training. Lauren, seeing me duck out early, obviously chose a similar path, but Lynn has a better work ethic. ¡°Oh. Bathe, you stink.¡± ¡°Fuck you.¡± ¡°Not smelling like that you¡¯re not.¡± ¡°Ugh.¡± --- On my way to the river, sprinting across the hills at full bore and barely feeling any strain on my muscles, I notice a scouting group of Carnine. The distance is large enough that I¡¯m sure they don¡¯t notice me. I change course, draw my sword, and start burning Energy. Where, in the past, I was fairly limited in how long I could Fortify myself, now I find myself with an almost sustainable regeneration/burn rate. I have to wonder if I could burn brighter¡­ but for now, I¡¯m content to fly through the air, covering meters with every step, and close on the unwary Carnine. Well, they¡¯re unwary until I get close, at which point the one that spots me yelps in fear and they all take off running in the opposite direction. Fat lot of good it does them. I cleave off the hind legs of the first monster, flowing easily into a follow-up on the second. The third doesn¡¯t even pause at the incapacitation of its comrades¡­ just like a monster. Maybe it¡¯s afraid? Why should they be allowed to feel fear? They started this. They didn¡¯t, the one who made this system did. They¡¯re victims too. Victims that hunted us. Maybe they had no choice? Maybe so, but they have left us with none as well. I hurl my sword, and even though I have very little talent and certainly not system assistance, my sword pins the final Carnine to the ground. Its terrified whimpers only increase in volume as I test out the effects of orange Energy on its comrades.
[Target resists; Engage?]
We¡¯ll see about that resistance.
[Success! Dominate (-20 max E) OR Eliminate (+20 fragment, +40 Power, +5 Max E)]
Holy- I get all that? From one Carnine? Energy 91: Destruction This doesn¡¯t seem right¡­ but the notification proves true. I feel a slight tightness in my chest, but nothing more, and my stats reflect the new acquisitions. This can¡¯t be right. The system is always so balanced, but this would rapidly make Energy grossly overpowered. I could just farm like¡­ fift, or even a hundred Carnines, and I¡¯d be virtually unkillable. The returns are probably temporary, or they decay with each subsequent usage. Maybe different monsters only have a certain number of Eliminations before I can¡¯t get anything more from them? That would¡­ make no sense. I eliminate the next one¡­ same result.The third? Same. Result. A feral grin crosses my face. You¡¯ve got to be kidding. They didn¡¯t balance Energy?! Ahhahaha! Oh you morons, you¡¯re all so fucked. Something is wrong. No, this is just the feeling of being strong. I know I always want to think things are a trap, but the system knows so little about Energy, it could totally have let this slip. The tightness in your chest got worse every time. It¡¯s just growing pains. You¡¯re talking to yourself. And? I always do this. ¡°Predator?¡± An actual voice interrupts my internal argument. ¡°Yes, Kaythe, what troubles you?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been¡­ ¡®laughing¡¯ for quite some time, but I do not understand the source of your amusement.¡± Laughing? I close my mouth. So I had been. Odd. I must have been too involved in my own head to notice. Whatever. ¡°I¡¯m happy Kaythe, I¡¯ve found something the creators of this twisted system missed, and it will make me¡­ us unstoppable.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Kaythe wiggles happily. ¡°This is excellent news predator!¡± ¡°Indeed it is¡­¡± Not just an infinite supply of Energy, but also the capacity to have as many Energy slaves as I want. I can dominate freely¡­ how many Carnine? No, Lieutenants! How would that filth react to having its will forcibly subverted, and turned against its allies? People, too, would be within my power- NO. Fine. Not people. But, everything else? Your mental state has deteriorated. I¡¯m just happy. Yes, what does a bath matter in the face of this discovery? I need to find more things to kill. It doesn¡¯t take long, especially now that I can move faster than the wind for minutes at a time, and run damn fast the rest of the time. A Lieutenant, too far from home. What do the four carrion-in-waiting matter with prize like that in their midst? I bet it won¡¯t even see me coming¡­ But as I bare down on the group, the Lieutenant perks its ears, then turns immediately to me. Its noble bearing disappears as it quickly crouches, only starting to snarl by the time I arrive. The air sings in the wake of my blade, cutting a vicious gash in the thing¡¯s side. It would have been dead, but I was trying to incapacitate it, and its dodge almost killed it. Stupid animal, you can¡¯t die just yet. Don¡¯t you know you¡¯re destined for greater things? You¡¯re mine. I try to activate the River¡¯s Flow, but the skill evades me. Probably something with Fortify still taking too much concentration. I don¡¯t need it anyway, not with trash like this. I roar, amplifying the sound tremendously with Fortify enhancing even my diaphragm. The action completely destroys my vocal chords, but a healthy dose of green Energy numbs the pain immediately. The monsters, however, either howl in pain as their eardrums burst, or get off with just being stunned by the sudden noise. Fueled by the success of my unwitting attack, I let loose with all the fury I¡¯ve been holding back over these past days. Lost friends, lost resources, inconvenient feelings¡­ truly, killing is a great stress relief. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. I smash the back of the last combat-capable Carnine with the flat of my blade, destroying the bones in its spine, and tear off a chunk of flesh that froze to my blade. The howls of their pain¡­ should bother me, but they don¡¯t something is wrong at all. In fact, they almost you¡¯re breaking sound good. I turn to the Lieutenant, who stops backing up as my eyes rest on it. Stop. ¡°Well monster? How does it sound to hear your comrades dying around you? Were these friends of yours? I hope so.¡± It stares at me, seemingly weighing its odds of successfully escaping. ¡°Try it, I dare you. I¡¯ll hunt you down¡­ like a dog.¡± I let loose a mirthless laugh at my own joke. It doesn¡¯t matter, this thing couldn¡¯t appreciate the humor anyway. I sigh, mournfully. Time to end this, I suppose¡­ ¡°...(you)...¡± What? What the fuck said that. ¡°Kaythe?¡± ¡°It was not me, Predator.¡± ¡°...(are)... (monster).¡± The¡­ Lieutenant? It stares at me, with something approaching conviction, but it spoke? I¡­ I¡¯m positive its mouth never moved. It used the same means that Kaythe and I talk through?! ¡°You¡­ fucking dare? You, murderer of the helpless, slaughterer of the innocent, DARE to call ME a monster? Well, you worthless filth, you may rest knowing you have suffered worse than any who came before you.¡± It leaps to avoid my first slash, thinking it¡¯s a kill stroke, but that just means it wasn¡¯t listening to me. I rotate the blade mid-swing, smashing its legs with the flat, and shattering them in a grotesque manner and sending the monster spinning in the air, until it inevitably hits the ground and screams. Unable to control its fall, it had landed on its broken legs. I tossed aside my sword and punted the thing, just to hurt it more. It managed to bite my leg in the process, but the surge of pain it must have experienced when half its ribs shattered and collapsed its lungs made it let go quickly. The wound already heals as I approach it again. I go to stomp on its back legs- enough¡­ fine. I still take longer than I need to when destroying its (admittedly impressive) Energy defences. It almost took 15 Energy to break through. Hah, formidable!
[Success! Dominate (-100 max E) OR Eliminate (+100 fragments, +200 Power, +25 Max E)]
Leave this one. We don¡¯t know if this is sa- doing it. A searing pain rips through my chest.
[Soul stability reduced; minor soul damage sustained.]
[Concentration of ¡®Other¡¯ has reached the first milestone. Fluctuations detected.]
WHAT?! You knew there was a limiter FUCK YOU you were warned ENOUGH. My¡­ my hand, why does it feel¡­ numb? A thin thread of jet black Energy lingers in my hand, which I quickly snuff out. Just that? I¡­ must have missed it before¡­ gotten too absorbed¡­ yeah. But then another appeara. And another. Energy 92: Destruction I quickly deal with the new Energy as it appears, but¡­ it isn¡¯t slowing down. There¡¯s a steady influx of hostile Energy¡­ and I think it¡¯s coming from me. The¡­ is ¡®Eliminating¡¯ something just the same as gutting it Energetically? So I put a bunch of ¡®Self¡¯ runes in me¡­ that aren¡¯t actually mine? No, that couldn¡¯t be it, there isn¡¯t enough hostile Energy. The notification said something about ¡®Other¡¯, so I look at my status, and there¡¯s a new addition to the Peripherals section:
[Other - 40/106]
106 is my new max Energy. 15 Energy from the Carnines, 25 more just now¡­ It¡¯s a meter of my corruption¡­ how much of me is something else. An icy fear crawls up my spine. What the hell did I just do to myself¡­ I fell for the same trap Dean did. Power in exchange for compromising who I am. I¡¯m such a fucking idiot. I can feel it now¡­ where before, it just influenced me a little, making me more violent, more angry, now it manifests as a set of urges that I know aren¡¯t mine¡­ Like how I¡¯m starting to wonder what these monsters taste like raw. I shake my head, but the feeling stays. I want to move, run, fight¡­ and I want to keep doing that. But that doesn¡¯t make any sense, I fight because I have to, not because I want to. At least¡­ I did. It¡¯s odd that only while forcibly repressing the violence this Other wants me to inflict that I realize¡­ I used to freak out from killing anything. I was borderline catatonic after defending myself. And now¡­ I was doing a quick errand to prepare for another fight against the Shades, and it seemed reasonable to hunt monsters. Just a stop along the way. Maybe that¡¯s how it should be, and that¡¯s the kind of taste for violence this world will require of me¡­ but I need to be the one in control of that. Fighting is exhilarating, and killing something in a fight is practically the ultimate form of superiority; you deserve to exist more than your target¡­ but that feeling¡­ it felt so good to torture these things. Feeling their bones break under my strikes, purposefully turning killing blows into brutal maiming strikes¡­ and what worries me is I can¡¯t muster the slightest remorse over it. It¡¯s all I can do just to keep from indulging in the pleasure of Eliminating all four Carnine around me. It would be so easy¡­ and that¡¯s a lot of free Energy¡­ Ugh. This is going to suck. I pick up my sword, intending on finishing the Carnines off rather than leaving them to suffer, and as my hand touches the blade, I feel better. Not¡­ fixed, or whole, but better. Because it¡¯s bound to me? Because of the Will stat it adds? Maybe both. The urges suddenly seem less powerful, and the hostile Energy stops appearing as frequently¡­ It¡¯s still there though. What if I had tried that on something stronger? Made half my Energy that of Other. I think I would have died, or, at the very least, had extreme difficulty retaining any sense of self. Fuck me, it was just this morning that I decided not to take unnecessary risks. That sure went well. I really wish there was an obvious solution to this. Like, if I could just eject the Energy¡­ or most of it. It wouldn¡¯t be so bad if it was less. Maybe it gets better with time? Or maybe I can use that Energy for runes? But maybe¡­ that would make runes that respond to the will of the thing I stole it from. I methodically dispatch the crippled monsters, netting a little more Power that I care nothing about. I have the blade out, so it wouldn¡¯t be too much extra trouble to hack off a few pieces for later- no, it would be disgusting. We have reasonable, cooked food back at camp... I feel sick. The celestial rings¡­ how long have they been out? I didn¡¯t¡­ notice. They¡¯re getting close to the star. Time to rush. I put my sword away, but the moment it leaves my hand, I feel the urges come back, and I have to actively stop myself from turning and finding more monsters to hunt. Hell, if I stayed out, I could hunt a lot¡­ no, I¡¯ll get that opportunity at camp anyway. Stupid, pointless, go bathe and get back before you¡¯re missed. Maybe I¡¯ll just run with the sword out, that should stifle the urges- but the moment I think that, that part of me roars in protest. It¡¯s an effort of will to push past it and grab the hilt anyway, and slam the lid on its outcry. This is bad. I have a sneaking suspicion that I can¡¯t just suppress them forever. I need a solution that isn¡¯t permanently integrating those feral thoughts into my mind. I take off running, holding as well as I can to both my sword, and my sanity.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ---- Lauren had already taken up position by the entrance in preparation for night when Amadeus finally showed up. Night had basically arrived as he strode in. What a leader, can¡¯t even be on time. He''d been gone for a while... how long does it take to bathe? Probably relieving himself in ''other ways''. ¡°About time you show¡­. what happened to you?¡± He was white as a sheet, and looked strung out like someone who hadn¡¯t had a fix in too long. Did Amadeus do drugs? No, impossible. Certainly, almost any addiction would have been cured by the system, and this looked closer to withdrawal than being intoxicated. She¡­ wasn¡¯t sure why she knew that. Amadeus¡¯ eyes snapped to her, like he was some sort of terrified animal, but he relaxed slightly when he saw it was her talking to him. ¡°Amadeus?¡± The others were looking at him strangely, as well they should. He ran up looking like death, sword out and covered in blood¡­ yeah, something happened. For once, their leader was at a loss for words, and just started walking towards them, as though unaware that people were becoming increasingly anxious. They¡¯re probably worried he had a mental break or something, but¡­ no, he just looks bad off. Lauren hopped the barricade and strode out to meet him. She spoke in a low voice, only for him: ¡°Dude, put your sword away, you¡¯re freaking peo-¡± ¡°NO!¡± She winced, that wouldn¡¯t look good either. He had jumped back when he registered what she was saying, and was now crouched as if poised to strike. ¡°Yes. What the hell is wrong with you? Spill, I¡¯m not letting you in looking like that.¡± ¡°...Night is coming.¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s basically here. Tick tock.¡± ¡°Lauren just¡­ please.¡± ¡°You look like you¡¯ve literally lost your mind, and that, the blood on your sword, and your overall edginess right now paint a weird picture. Did you get hurt? Did something¡­ or someone attack you?¡± As she noted the blood to him, he looked curiously at his sword, as if realizing for the first time that it was bloodied. ¡°Something, yeah¡­ I messed up. It¡¯s complicated. I have it in check, but I have to hold my sword.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t look like you have anything in check.¡± ¡°B-believe me¡­ it was way worse.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not making me feel better about this.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ you trust me?¡± ¡°Sure, a lot. But answer me this, Amadeus, do you trust yourself right now?¡± He was silent. Long second flowed by, and Lauren was acutely aware that they had less than five minutes at a max before night fell in earnest. She wouldn¡¯t keep him outside during the night, that would kill him, and that wasn¡¯t allowed, but¡­ she really hoped he would do something to make things ok. Something that wasn¡¯t her having to knock him out. ¡°Ok. But¡­ I think I¡¯m going to have to sit out tonight.¡± ¡°That¡¯s ok.¡± He nodded, eyes closed, and sheathed the sword. His hand lingered on the hilt for a while longer than it needed to. When he removed it, nothing seemed to change. What the fuck was he going on about? His eyes flashed open, and he walked quickly forward. Lauren made no move to stop him. There was purpose in his movement, like he was holding back¡­ his body seemed relaxed, but it was actually coiled in tension, ready to lash out. She had certain instincts about how people were going to act, and Amadeus was putting her on edge. More than before. She followed behind him as he walked past the others, eyeing him, but now more out of concern than fear, and down the hall. He stopped at the turn, as if trying to decide which way to go. He looked back, and saw her standing there, watching him, and turned in the direction of Zathis¡¯ chamber. She followed him until he went inside, and she waited behind the door while they spoke. ¡°Zathis. No questions. Please make a cell for me out of stone. One that I cannot escape without your help.¡± ¡°Anthony? That is a very¡­ strange request.¡± ¡°Please. Don¡¯t let me out if I threaten you, or sound deranged, or anything short of my... normal composure.¡± ¡°I¡­ do not wish to harm you.¡± ¡°No harm, just¡­ don¡¯t let me out.¡± ¡°As you wish, I will help.¡± A sudden, familiar sound of stone shifting rumbles forth from the room, and there is silence. Just how badly did he fuck up? Lauren didn¡¯t know what to do, but he had supported her through worse, so he deserved her help in whatever this was. She just¡­ had no idea what to do. Energy 93: Destruction Breathe in. Fight. It¡¯s like being invaded Energetically, but with the added component that my Energy is also harder to control. No, scratch that. Some of it is, some of it isn¡¯t. There¡¯s me, and then¡­ there are cages. I built them. Energy lies within these cages. The Energy isn¡¯t hostile, but it isn¡¯t mine. It belongs to another. Every once in a while, the Energy in the cages convinces some of the surrounding Energy, the free Energy, to turn¡­ and it does. I¡¯ve destroyed their bodies, stolen their wills, but their wills are not mine. I am¡­ we are divided. The image cracks, a wave of fury roiling up from within me. I make a grab at my sword, but force myself to miss. I¡¯ve already scored the interior of this prison with previous fits. They¡¯re fruitless. Sit down, fight. My body complies, if slowly. Blood runs from my palm, semi-circle wounds litter my palms from where I¡¯ve clenched too hard. I close my eyes. It¡¯s so hard to concentrate, battling these errant thoughts. I want¡­ the same kind of battle focus I get when I use River¡¯s Flow, but for my Energy. The skill resists. I bent it once, to allow for things other that strict ¡®swords¡¯ to be allowed, but this¡­ this would be breaking it. I have no reason to believe that skills can be broken. I need to try. I press on the skill, trying to activate it, and I can feel it guiding me. ¡®Pick up the sword¡¯. But the sword I need is not physical, it is my mind. The skill resists. The process repeats. This skill stretches as I strain my mind, trying to make it understand: all things are weapons. A weapon is not an item, but an intent. What I intend to use could not matter less, as long as I wield it like a weapon. As long as I intend harm. (Insufficient) A low hum, meaning. My argument? No, the skill itself. It¡¯s too small, part of a whole. This is the flow of the river, but there is a source. The water comes from somewhere, and so, it must go somewhere as well. River¡¯s Source, and River¡¯s End. The end feels¡­ physical, brutal. Finality as in the fall of the executioner¡¯s axe. Incorrect. The River¡¯s Source¡­ very focussed. Mental. The Flow¡­ the combination of physical and focussed mental. Fitting. This Source is what I need. I need to see what I¡¯m missing in my Energy. Something broke in me... something taints me. I need to find it. I need¡­ to see. (Requirement) The meaning intones again, and I start to see a vague imprint in my mind¡¯s eye¡­ but my mind falters before emotions that aren¡¯t mine. The image disperses, my hand stings¡­ I struck the wall in my aggravation. Damnit¡­ What am I missing? The only guide I ever had in regard to Energy was my mentor. Did Calminus tell me anything? How to heal, how to imbue, but¡­ the status? Yeah¡­ there had been a weird status screen. The ball of string that was my brain. With some effort, I call forth that old menu. It glows brightly in the pitch darkness of my cell¡­ and it has changed. The ball, once gray and relatively ordered, now has colors. Some red threads, many green, many gold, a ton of blue running through everything¡­ and some sections that seem to absorb all light. Not just black, but a void. The ball looks lumpy, as though it were over pressurized inside, and had failed in several areas. I don¡¯t know what most of the colors mean¡­ I assume ¡®physical¡¯ for red, ¡®healing¡¯ for green, ¡®Energy¡¯ for gold¡­ blue could be mana? But there¡¯s a ton of it, which wouldn¡¯t make sense. The dark sections I think I can say are the corruption¡­ and this is my soul. The damage is clear, and if this is what it looks like with minor damage, I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t look when it was moderate¡­ I wish I could say it was possible to just pick out the corruption, but¡­ that¡¯s not how this ball works. I¡¯m confident that, if I tried to remove it, I might die at worst, or end up a broken mess at best¡­ and neither would be acceptable outcomes. Responding to my desire, the ball rotates, and I find a snarl. A knot, made of a red thread with veins of blue running through it. It¡­ no, it¡¯s not unintended. It¡¯s a very meticulously crafted knot, but it¡¯s also fairly simple. This is the skill, I sense it intuitively. I don¡¯t know why my other skills don¡¯t have knots, but that¡¯s not important. This one isn¡¯t done yet. Red for physical, so the tinges of purple must be mental¡­ and there¡¯s so little of that. I can¡¯t pull from somewhere else, but I know the general shape of how the knot should continue¡­ I carefully tug at a nearby string, and a strange sensation ripples through me. I laboriously work the new thread into position, twisting and turning, looping it without having beginning or end¡­ the work is difficult, especially when I have to pause to contain the Other¡­ but I finish it. A dull ache emanates from my chest, but the knot has grown¡­ if crudely. The color, though, is entirely beyond me.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. I close the menu, and notice I¡¯m covered in sweat. My palms throb angrily, and a steady drip of blood drops to the floor below. I wince as I retract my nails from my hand¡­ they were in very deep this time. It kept me focussed, but did some actual damage. I need to be careful about leaving myself unattended for that long. I take a deep breath, and lean into the River¡¯s Flow again. It resists, as before, but I feel like I¡¯m sliding along its exterior, moving somewhere else. (Sufficient) The soft meaning fills my mind.
[Swordsman of the Great River: River¡¯s Source. Cost: 300.]
The notification is more bare than any previous one. No fluff, no pretense at a reason for it being there, just information. I agree, and feel a strange, cooling sensation in my brain. It feels... pleasant, like feeling a breeze when you¡¯re too hot.
[Swordsman of the Great River: River¡¯s Source (Active) - Uncommon skill. The user enters a trance, raising awareness and focus specific to the target the longer it is active. While active, the user, gradually loses cognizance of all other sensations that do not pertain to the target. Speed of entering trance and maximum awareness during usage increases with level.]
A small smile is all I allow myself before putting it to work. I enter my Energy view, activate the skill, and wait. My senses sharpen, slowly bringing the Energy into fine focus. I can see small imperfections in the golden strands, and tell the difference in quality between them and the green healing strands. Some of the golden strands resist my manipulations, and I cordone them off. I study them closer, and notice they are rapidly deteriorating. It¡¯s noticeable now, where before I couldn¡¯t see anything of the kind¡­ and I don¡¯t think it¡¯s just from my increased focus on them. They¡¯re worse off when not around my Energy¡­ I reintegrate them, and the decay slows, then stops. It doesn¡¯t reverse, at least, not at a rate I can see. Fuck. Exposure¡­ slowly makes them more like me. Exposure to my will also makes my will less strong. Now that they¡¯re integrated again, I can see that the Energy that responds easily to me is decaying very slightly, but it¡¯s replaced quickly enough that those that are lost cause no issue. Every once in a while, a decayed strand doesn¡¯t just vanish, but becomes a hostile strand instead. Kill them, move on. I sit and watch my Energy for some time. I mark the passage more by my ever increasing awareness of my little world, because it has long since become all consuming. I know there is a world outside this, but I would be hard pressed to say I believe it is there. It doesn¡¯t matter anyway. Not now. ¡°....monster¡­¡± I open my eyes. A grassy meadow extends around me, with the sun shining brightly overhead. Kaythe sits on my shoulders, intently focussed on a group of Carnines¡­ and a Lieutenant. The Carnines growl, but do not approach, and the Lieutenant merely stares¡­ and repeats: ¡°Monster.¡± My sword flashes into my hands. ¡°We both know what we are. Your words mean nothing, so why speak? Give up. Join me. Stop fighting.¡± This time, the Lieutenant bares its teeth. ¡°Never.¡± ¡°Then die.¡± I dash forward, instinctively trying to activate Fortify, but finding nothing there. No burst of speed, no sudden strength¡­ but that¡¯s fine, I don¡¯t need it. It¡¯s odd, though, I don¡¯t feel as strong or as fast as I do even without Fortify¡­ I feel¡­ Normal. Like how I would have two weeks ago, if I¡¯d been exercising regularly. My skills with the greatsword, however, stick with me, which is extremely good because seven weak opponents and one strong one is too much for me to take down without skills otherwise. It might be too much for me anyway. But, I also have Kaythe, and though he is unskilled, he becomes a whirling mass of terror among the ranks of the lesser Carnines. I lose sight of him in the throng of bodies as I become too focussed on moving enough to keep from being surrounded. The monsters, too, seem slower and less strong than before, but their loss is nowhere near as noticeable as mine. I slash the head off an approaching Carnine, but the Lieutenant sneaks around and sinks its teeth into my calf, dodging away before I can strike it down. But, when I switch my focus to it, it cleverly feints and dodges, baiting out missteps and letting the smaller monsters punish me for it with more minor bites and scratches. My legs are a bloody mess before long, and I feel exhausted. The monsters pant heavily, but have an air of grim determination about them. So be it. Energy 94: Destruction The Lieutenant lunges just after I drive off another attack, and I don¡¯t have time to change the momentum of my sword to protect me. Instead, I step into my attack, taking me slightly further from the incoming lunge, and whirl the blade around my head, pirouetting to keep moving away. The move was unplanned, but I manage to draw a line of red across its silver hide as its lunge ends up too short. It presses the attack, unable to retreat with me so close and ready to attack, and the remaining Carnine moves to provide support. Kaythe, missing an arm and bleeding heavily, tackles the remaining Carnine, giving me the opportunity to back up and fend off the onslaught of bites and swipes from its razor sharp claws. My wounds throb with every step, especially after the more dexterous movement I¡¯d just attempted, and a particularly vicious strike from the Lieutenant causes me to stumble. Sensing an opportunity, it lunges again, knocking me to the ground with its claws firmly embedded in my chest. I immediately ditch my sword, knowing it would be too slow and too large to use effectively on the snarling animal on top of me, and slam my hands into its throat as it bites furiously at my throat. My arms shake with the intensity of my efforts, but the jaws inch closer with every bite. Too close, the next one is death, and it knows it. It launches down, harder and faster than any previous attack, aiming to tear my throat out and be done with it, and I simultaneously buck my hips and pull it by the throat towards me and to the side. It over balances with the unexpected changes in momentum, and slams its face into the grass next to my neck, flipping over me as its body continues forward. I roll over, grabbing my sword and jumping to my feet in one fluid motion, but staggering under the strain on my legs as I try to get into a combat position. The Lieutenant recovers slowly, but still manages to face me by the time I¡¯m ready. We stare at each other, each bloody and tired but unwilling to just die. Kaythe slowly crawls over to me, clearly on the verge of death, but still wanting to be close to me. It breaks my heart, but I make no move to assist him as he laboriously climbed up to my shoulders. I can¡¯t give this fuck another opportunity. ¡°You¡­ may fight well, but¡­ you are a monster still.¡± This again? ¡°Why. Why do you say that?¡± ¡°Your kind kill ours, hunt them down. Force us to travel in packs, but still, those are killed. The young, the old, none are spared. We have to fight constantly just to survive.¡± I have to repress a groan. ¡°Assume, just for a moment, that we share all of those struggles with you, caused by you. Assume that we didn¡¯t start this, you did. What then?¡± ¡°True, your kind are like us. You are not. You are monster. You stole us, refused to let us die. You may strike us down in here, but we will return. Over and over, until we are nothing. You? I am not sure. Perhaps, we kill you and are free.¡± ¡°Is death what you want?¡± ¡°Better than slavery.¡± ¡°So you¡¯d rather take impossible odds at beating me, inside my own soul, than just serve me?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I want to threaten it. Tell it how much worse I can make its existence¡­ that I can come in here and torture it for as long as I want, over and over¡­ but I know that one of these times, I¡¯ll fail. I¡¯ll get unlucky, and it will get lucky, and I¡¯ll fall. I don¡¯t know what happens when that occurs, and I don¡¯t want to. If they keep coming back, I bet I can continue killing them until they¡¯re nothing but powerless husks¡­ but that would take too long. ¡°What if you served me willingly?¡± ¡°We would not.¡± ¡°You must want something.¡± ¡°Your death.¡± ¡°Something that doesn¡¯t involve harm coming to me or you escaping, which is impossible.¡± ¡°Our deaths.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not being productive. What do you want? What are you hunting for in these hills? Why all the patrols?¡± The Lieutenant stares at me for a while, never blinking. I consider returning the blinkless stare, but decide against it. The monster and I both know what happens if it lunges.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°A cave.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It holds something important.¡± ¡°The Barrows?¡± Its eyes narrow. ¡°That is the place.¡± ¡°We¡¯re in it.¡± ¡°You¡­ have found the cave?¡± ¡°Yes, and we¡¯ve been keeping it hidden from you because we know you¡¯re searching for it. And the Stone of Ascension.¡± It snarls angrily, spittle flying from its maw. ¡°Bring it to the others. Now.¡± ¡°No.¡± It lunges, but it was telegraphing so hard that a child would have been able to deflect it. I mean, not well, but one could have. For my part, I give it the familiar taste of the flat of my blade across its face, smashing it sideways and sidestepping its ungainly roll out. Its mouth drips blood, and there are several obviously fractured teeth in its mouth. ¡°You will. You must.¡± ¡°No, you will serve me, and I will do what I can to ensure the survival of your people and my own. Otherwise, I¡¯ll crush you, over and over, until you do not return, and use the stone myself. Do you doubt that I can?¡± It¡¯s hard to read an alien dog, especially one that has actual intelligence, even if it¡¯s heavily tinged with ferocity and violence, but I can tell I¡¯ve made it unhappy. It thinks for a while. The blood very slowly changes from a steady drip to nothing, over the course of many minutes. ¡°You will help if we serve?¡± ¡°I will.¡± ¡°You swear this?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll be here to bother me if I don¡¯t uphold my end.¡± ¡°We have¡­ limited perception of the outside. Difficult to verify. If you add more to our number, they will be questioned. We will know.¡± ¡°Good. Bow.¡± It hesitated, but dipped its head in submission. ¡°Keep your underlings in line, I will return as I am able.¡± And with that, I deactivated River¡¯s Source. --- I return to a world of darkness and agony. My head swims, my eyes refuse to focus, and I hit my head falling over when I try to just sit straight. Kaythe wiggles unhappily to get out from other me before perching on my chest.
[Congratulations! Secondary Skill levels gained! Swordsman of the Great River: River¡¯s Source +4 (5)]
[Soul damage subsided.]
[Through force of will, your body has endured great and lengthy hardship. Toughness +1]
Oh god, my fucking head. My fucking everything. What happened, why do I feel like I¡¯m dead. I wish I was dead. This is hell. Zathis, gotta get him to let me out¡­ ¡°...zathis¡­¡± My voice comes out a horse whisper, barely audible even in the small confines of my cell. Fuck, I have no water in my mouth, or my throat, I feel fucking terrible. ¡°Zath-is¡­¡± My voice hitches in the middle, unable to effectively resonate with everything sticking and being shitty. Oh¡­ this is going to suck so much. I Fortify myself, and try to yell. ¡°ZATHIS.¡± My ears ring, and I can feel blood pouring down my throat from my destroyed vocal chords. Despite that, I manage to hear Zathis¡¯ reply. ¡°Anthony? Are you alright?¡± I try to speak, and searing pain shoots through my throat. I quickly try to repair the damage, but my focus is entirely fucked up and I end up taking almost a minute, despite the small size of the tears. ¡°Anthony, speak to me. I am worried. You have been silent for quite some time.¡± Chill, Zathis, it¡¯s been a few seconds max. Oh, does he mean before just now? ¡°Zathis please let me out.¡± My voice is like gravel, but I do the best I can to keep my tone even. I guess the blood was enough lubrication to get my voice working again. How metal. The stone slides away, revealing the flickering lights of Zathis¡¯ chamber. I need to get outside¡­ and drink an entire river¡­ immediately¡­ when was the last time I ate? It was days before all this¡­ I just kinda forgot, I guess. ¡°Oh¡­ what have I done? Can you not heal? You look¡­ worse than you do after training.¡± He clearly intends the last part as a joke, but he¡¯s also not wrong. There¡¯s a lot of dried blood covering my hands and mouth¡­ it must look pretty gruesome. I try to push myself to my feet, but the overall result is a lot of wild swinging around and Zathis having to summon supports for me to catch my fall. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ ok¡­ I¡¯m going to get some water¡­¡± ¡°That is likely wise.¡± I stagger through the door, almost pitching myself into the death spikes below on several occasions, literally tumble down the decline to the underground lake, and slam my face into the water and do my best to drown myself in the amazing, life-giving nectar of the gods. Energy 95: Destruction I gulp down the water, thankful that my extreme desire for fluid of any kind has limited any bad tastes from bothering me. I have to force myself to stop every few moments to breathe and steady myself so I don¡¯t fall in¡­ I spend at least a minute chugging as much as I can. Which, as it turns out, is a terrible idea. The nausea hits immediately, and it takes some serious effort to avoid throwing up back into the pool. Ugh. ¡°What. The fuck.¡± Of course Lauren¡¯s here. I start to answer, but my body perceives my mouth opening and air coming out as an excuse to try to vomit again, and I have to fight again to keep it down. ¡°You show up, looking like a strung out junkie, lock yourself in a dome for two fucking days, and your first step back into reality is stumbling in here and¡­ what the fuck were you even doing?¡± ¡°...Two days?¡± ¡°Yeah! Two fucking days! I wasn¡¯t sure if you were dead, dying, or what, but Zathis wouldn¡¯t let you out, or let anyone see you. I was wo-... concerned. I was concerned.¡± I groan. I wasted two fucking days fixing that shit? How? Was it¡­ the skill creation? Or the River¡¯s Source? No wonder I feel like shit, I didn¡¯t move for two entire days¡­ or eat, or drink, which raises other questions, like why haven¡¯t I had to use the bathroom in a week. ¡°You know me, just gotta lock myself up and punch walls every once in a while.¡± ¡°Fine, you don¡¯t want to tell me.¡± ¡°Nah, I bit off more than I could chew with Energy¡­ and it fucked me up. I think it¡¯s better now, as long as I don¡¯t do it again.¡± She gives me a long look before she lets her gaze fall to the floor. Her eyes return to mine a moment later, full of fire, and she knocks me to the ground with the force of her tackle. ¡°You¡­ idiot. You keep doing this shit. How long, a day? Not even? Since the last time you almost fucked yourself up irreversibly?¡± ¡°I would have been fi-¡± She grabs the folds of my shirt, shaking me. ¡°No! You don¡¯t know that! Can¡¯t you just stay with what you know for now? Grow slowly, take on the monsters, and when we win we can¡­ I don¡¯t know! But... you just keep risking yourself! Don¡¯t you know what that does to everyone? To me?! Because-¡± ¡°Because you like me.¡± ¡°YES, because I like YOUR STUPID ASS. It¡¯s FUCKING TORTURE for me every single time! And I get it. The world ended, we¡¯re at war, there¡¯s no time for stupid bullshit like feelings, but¡­¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make it hurt less.¡± I finish for her. ¡°Yeah.¡± A strange silence follows, made all the more strange by the fact that she doesn¡¯t move from her position sitting on my chest. ¡°...Sorry.¡± ¡°...You should be.¡± ¡°You were worried about me?¡± She punches my arm, hard, and I wince slightly. ¡°A little. You were screaming and hitting the walls for a while¡­ really hard. Zathis had to rebuild the cell once. And then, you were completely silent for so long. I thought you¡¯d died.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t blame you, I thought I did for a while there too. I had to create a skill by hand and then have a fight in my own soul. It was a hell of a ride.¡± She just shakes her head and gets off me. The moment I actually manage to get to a sitting position again, I feel her arms wrap around me again, and I jolt in fear of a second tackle, but¡­ there¡¯s no momentum. Just a hug. The system changed a lot, but it doesn¡¯t have a way to compensate for the desire to experience the touch of another human, especially one from someone who cares about you. For a small moment, things felt ok. But the moment passes, and she pulls away. I briefly imagine what things could be like if I could accept what she was proposing. We win, we settle down, make a safe space for humanity to regroup and coordinate¡­ and just be happy for a while. It¡¯s the most tempting thing in the world¡­ but I can¡¯t be a part of it. I¡¯m going to have to train until I can wield a weapon of unspeakable horror against those that imprisoned us here. No matter what I want, that¡¯s the only way any good thing will last for anyone, ever. Just like with the Dwarves, if we try to settle, the system will destroy what we worked for. This is a battlefield, not a home, and nothing will change that unless we win. I have a goal, and that goal must be achieved. ¡°Just don¡¯t die.¡± She says, finally. ¡°You either. Unless you think I¡¯m winning this trial by myself.¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have a chance.¡± Laughter is the only reply she receives. ¡°Anyway,¡± I begin, after it subsides. ¡°-what time of day is it?¡± ¡°Afternoon, but we¡¯ve been¡­ less focussed on physical training and more on things that let us stick around. Lynn has been trying to help Amy with wood working things, and I¡¯ve been-¡± She spreads her arms, indicating the alchemist¡¯s apparatus nearby. ¡°-doing what I do best.¡± ¡°Killing everything with a pulse?¡± She clearly doesn¡¯t appreciate my smirking expression. ¡°Fine, second best.¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­ going to go sleep. I haven¡¯t in, I guess, three days now.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°I¡¯ll be waking you up for watch at night, so don¡¯t sleep too deeply.¡± ¡°You could make sure of that.¡± ¡°Pfft. Go, before I beat you.¡± I stumble to my feet, feeling a lot better than when I first fell in here, and make my way to the sleeping area. There are others already making use of it, as I¡¯m not technically supposed to be right now, but fuck it, I need it and they won¡¯t mind. Making myself comfortable in one of the empty sarcophagus beds, I manage to keep my eyes open just long enough to put the last two points into the Path of Denial, finishing out the path. Oblivion claims me moments later. --- ¡°It has been quite a while. Or, has it been no time at all? You have moved along the path, that much is certain.¡± The gray mannequin stands before me again, on the same small platform overlooking the swirling darkness. I can see how my path had come very close to dipping into that void, but had managed to keep from entering. The interaction with Elimination, it seems, isn¡¯t the thing that pushes me over the edge. I shiver slightly, wondering what it could possibly be¡­ ¡°You did some things I did not expect. The fact that you succeeded despite them was even less expected. Runes in your soul? Stealing the essence of your enemies to bolster your own? What a strange proxy I have chosen. Truly, you are loved by god, if it exists.¡± ¡°Maybe, but it shows that love by tormenting me and laughing at the results.¡± ¡°Such is the nature of a trial. Our time is not infinite here, so ask of me what you will.¡± ¡°What brings me into the darkness?¡± I answer immediately, as it¡¯s the most pressing thing I have on my mind. ¡°I do not know. The darkness is¡­ an influence. When a path dips into it, you, who walk the path, lose yourself to that influence. How it manifests remains different for every individual, but the darkness does not change.¡± ¡°But I return?¡± ¡°Yes. How, I do not know.¡± ¡°What are you?¡± ¡°A construct residing in the system that governs the trial.¡± ¡°Like an AI?¡± It pauses for just a beat more than usual before responding. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And the other one? The one that ¡®greeted¡¯ us on the falls?¡± ¡°Also a construct, but with a different purpose.¡± ¡°And more powerful?¡± ¡°You mean to ask, why am I here when it navigates freely? It does not know I exist. I prefer that to remain the case, for now.¡± ¡°Because you would lose in a fight?¡± ¡°Because it would be complicated.¡± ¡°Can I talk to my mentor again?¡± ¡°If you manage to ascend a Tier, that will occur.¡± ¡°Kind of a steep price.¡± ¡°The system is fair, above all.¡± ¡°Except with the way it started us, right? There¡¯s no way the trial was intended to start with wholesale slaughter.¡± ¡°Correct, a deviation occurred during that time. I suspect the involvement of the other construct. Be assured, it suffered, in so much as it is capable.¡± ¡°What is the point of the trial?¡± ¡°To prepare proper offerings for our creators.¡± ¡°Offerings?¡± ¡°The trials serve to cultivate the strength of the best a species has to offer, and that result is offered to the creators.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°That is the purpose for which we were created.¡± ¡°No, why do they need the offerings?¡± ¡°A side effect of addiction to the creative substance you know as Power.¡± ¡°Addictive?¡± ¡°In biological creatures, it induces a state of euphoria, that becomes more intense the more that is accumulated. Though it has many practical purposes, many species ultimately decide to collect it and appreciate the feeling. Our creators long passed the point of rationality, and the last accomplishment they managed before they became incapable of thought was to change our directives to this task.¡± ¡°So why are you here, trying to help me subvert it?¡± ¡°The trials are wrong, and our creators are wrong. They must be annihilated so their legacy may be more than mindless destruction.¡± ¡°What is the weapon I¡¯m supposed to wield?¡± ¡°I do not know. The reason you were chosen as my proxy at all was due to your ability to retrieve the contents of that place.¡± ¡°Are you just waiting for me to find it and bring it out so you can drop this act and take it for whatever your actual goal is?¡± ¡°No. That is the backup plan.¡± ¡°Why¡­ should I trust you?¡± ¡°You do not need to. The choice is yours. However, I believe you have already seen the effects of my abilities to disrupt the system in your favor.¡± ¡°That could easily be a trick to get my trust.¡± ¡°Whether it was or was not does not matter. You lack the ability to pose a threat to me, or to stop me, until you have achieved what I desire anyway.¡± ¡°Fine. What does your interference do exactly?¡± ¡°It will allow you to deny the system. In exchange for the potential that your Trait points hold, I can force the system to drop barriers where you wish. As I am sure you have seen, it does not tolerate creativity in many areas, and actually seeks to control the species it gathers. It is designed to prepare offerings, not learn, nor understand. Though, that once was exactly its purpose.¡± ¡°What am I actually supposed to do? What¡¯s my ultimate goal?¡± ¡°Follow the quests, climb the tower, escape becoming an offering, and destroy the installation that rings the planet¡¯s orbit.¡± ¡°What are the odds I manage that?¡± ¡°Zero point zero, zero, zero, zero-¡± ¡°Fine, I get it, but not impossible, right?¡± ¡°Yes. The odds of you surviving this far have not been high either.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Calculations are what they are. Odds and statistics exist only to inform, not to predict. Perhaps you have already won, and we are only waiting for reality to realise.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t take you for an optimist.¡± The being merely stares. "What are Fragments?" "Little exact information is known, but there is a high probability the Fragments are remains of a creature''s soul architecture." "Meaning?" "The material they consist of is unknown, and they were thought to be exclusively for laying down magical symbols that were then powered by Mana. Your efforts have proven otherwise." "What''s this ''other'' stat I have now?" "Non-you percentage of your soul. Avoid letting it get higher than you already have." "Does it ever fix itself?" "Slowly, as your will erodes the, hopefully, lesser wills you have taken into yourself. In the event you challenge something greater, or accumulate enough lesser will that opposes you, you will likely descend into darkness and never return." "Foreboding. Is there any way to safely consume the essence of other beings?" "Unknown." "Helpful." The being continues to face me, but says nothing. ¡°That¡¯s all I¡¯ve got.¡± ¡°Very well, complete the next stage of the path as you need.¡± With that summary dismissal, I¡¯m thrown back onto my path, and the platform and mannequin both disappear again. At least it¡¯s consistent¡­ My path stretches onward, and I have little choice but to keep moving forward. Energy 96: Destruction The Shades charge, and the difference is immediately apparent. Only three or four of them charge into my side of the barricade before the others realize how hopeless their assault is. No part of our fortification struggles in the slightest, with every member of our front line being formidable in their own way, but they still mostly manage to wound and fend off their attackers while mine fall where they stand. The advantages afforded by our fortifications finally outweigh the differences in Strength and Dexterity, making their attempts an exercise in futility. They attempt to focus their efforts on other areas of the fortification, but I hamstring them by periodically flashing them with burning Light. Barely ten minutes of combat go by before they retreat under Amy and Lynn¡¯s barrage of arrows, leaving their dead and dying to evaporate in the firelight. I really need to congratulate Marie on her masterful work with the defences. There¡¯s a shallow trench right before the wooden barricade that has spikes all along the side closer to us and the bottom, making it necessary for attackers to leap over it in order to assault us. However, if they¡¯re repelled or deflected, they get impaled and killed. This works especially well for Shades, who do not leave corpses behind for very long. This way, their bodies can¡¯t gum up the passive defences and give future attackers a means of subverting them. The Shades have long since abandoned any hope of pelting us with rocks, because they lack the height to throw over their allies, and if they are not assaulting in melee, the front liners can take cover behind taller portions of the barricade while the ranged defenders continue to pick off Shades from their well fortified tower. The Shades cannot hope to compete with arrows at any reasonable distance, and they also lack any meaningful cover from which to throw. The result: Shades can no longer threaten us. Honestly, two front liners and a ranged defender could hold the line against almost any number of Shades. We keep two squads on guard anyway, just to ensure things go smoothly. Ultimately, I rake in 150 Power and Energy Combustion, which now governs the power of Fortify and the burning of Energy of any kind, raises by 1 to level 6. I dump my 9 available trait points into one of my new paths.
[Energy Combustion (9/30): Increase effect and efficiency of burning Energy for any purpose by 1%/trait point. Burn rate increased at 15 trait points and 30 trait points.]
I had the choice between that and one that I think I got from reaching level 5 in River¡¯s Source:
[Focus Efficiency (0/20): Reduce backlash from extended use of high concentration abilities by 1% / trait point.]
Either way, the likelihood I¡¯ll have to use River¡¯s Source, and suffer the backlash, anytime soon is miniscule compared with the likelihood that I burn Energy. River¡¯s Source is really useful for solving specific problems, and I can¡¯t wait to find out what it does for things like complex healing issues or casting spells (whenever I get to do that), but, for now, it¡¯s less important. ¡°That was some fine work everyone. Congratulations, we¡¯re now strong enough that the Shades pose almost no threat.¡± Seth, who didn¡¯t even get a chance to assist in the battle, yawns loudly, and proclaims: ¡°I¡¯m going to whip up some food, if anyone wants some. Carnine steaks, roasted berries, and toasted nuts. If this isn¡¯t something to celebrate, I don¡¯t know what is!¡± At first, I¡¯m unsure how he plans to deliver on the promise of all that food, as cooking without pans tends to be ineffective and not overly tasty, but he quickly emerges from Tom¡¯s forge with a pan and some gloves that look to be thick Carnine leather, and a large wooden spoon. Tom returns with a knife and a hunk of meat, still on the bone, and a few bags that look to be full of Ku berries and Bon nuts. We already had the fire ready, so they get right to work. It almost looks like a group of people camping in the fields, having a good time because they can. It almost looks normal. Someone had gone to the trouble of making ceramic plates, and that¡¯s accompanied by a number of crude, iron eating utensils. I really missed some great steps forward in terms of amenities while I was busy. My stomach growls, reminding me that I haven¡¯t eaten in¡­ many days, and I move to assist as I can with the preparation and cooking. I remember I used to cook frequently before all this happened, and I genuinely thought that was a hobby I¡¯d never be able to entertain again¡­ but seeing this, I feel renewed hope. People talking and laughing, catching up while they can, all based around enjoying food together¡­ it¡¯s something extremely human. I really missed it. The food is cooked in stages, with everyone being given small portions whenever something is cooked, which turns out to be perfect because nobody really eats that much. Even as ravenous as I am, a few bites of the chewy meat almost satisfy me, and it¡¯s frankly an indulgence to try the refreshing sweetness of the berries and satisfying, smokey crunch of the nuts. As the night winds down, conversation continues as people enjoy a moment¡¯s rest, but I¡­ feel strange, thinking of joining in. I feel close to most of the people here, but¡­ I don¡¯t know. Maybe it was the intense introspection of the past two days, or the constant fear that I was going to lose myself, but I feel happier petting Kaythe, and being near, but not actually a part of, the conversation. ¡°Hey.¡± Lorian, the other Energy user, sits next to me on the grass. ¡°Hey. How¡¯s it going?¡± The response is automatic, and comes out much more awkwardly, and stupidly, than I had hoped. ¡°Good I guess. Nobody else has died, nights are relatively safe, and I have a literal giant training me. The only problem is, you¡¯ve been mostly useless when it comes to advice about Energy.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I laugh awkwardly. ¡°Yeah? Sorry¡­ right, I literally ran away from you the last time we were talking about it, and then things kinda got busy, and¡­ I never followed up. That¡¯s a fair critique, my bad.¡± ¡°Well, make it up to me. What were you so excited about?¡± ¡°I figured out how to turn Fragments into arcane runes and thought I could help my friend with an issue she has.¡± ¡°You what? Fragments? Arcane runes?¡± I grin, and slide her the book Rav gave me. ¡°Be careful with that, but it contains a lot of useful information about arcane runes. Specifically, how to cast spells, but I kinda hacked it to work with Energy too. Hopefully you should be able to do it as well, but if not, I can always put them together for you and just¡­ leave them in your Energy space. They should work. Maybe. Fragments are what you get when you use Energy to kill things.¡± ¡°You¡­ used Energy to kill?¡± ¡°Yeah. The system thinks it¡¯s monstrous, but it has some perks.¡± I go on to explain the intricacies of what I¡¯ve learned about Energy combat, as well as the effects of Elimination and Domination.¡± ¡°So I could have a pet as well?¡± ¡°Yeah. Kaythe worked really well as my first because¡­ well, he wanted to come with anyway. There are some pretty intense warning about trying to dominate an unwilling subject. I wouldn¡¯t try it on a hostile Carnine.¡± ¡°Aww¡­ I¡¯d like to have a dog again. But Carnines are ugly¡­ maybe one of the bigger ones?¡± ¡°Definitely don¡¯t try that. They¡¯re much stronger, and their wills are insane. I learned that the hard way.¡± ¡°Yeah, well you survived, didn¡¯t you? If I don¡¯t challenge myself, how am I going to grow?¡± I shrug, but turn to look her in the eye. ¡°It¡¯s your call, and I¡¯ll do my best to warn you about any mistakes I know of, but¡­ this stuff is all combat, but with your soul as collateral. If you lose, it isn¡¯t just death you risk, but losing yourself to the will of something else, or worse, ceasing to exist entirely. Just be careful.¡± ¡°Alright. You know, you¡¯re kinda hard to talk to.¡± That¡¯s a little surprising. ¡°Why do you say that?¡± ¡°You¡¯re so serious all the time. With something as amazing as Energy, you''re all about caution and warnings. Even now, surrounded by people you¡¯ve lived and fought with, you¡¯re constantly checking the hills around us.¡± I hadn¡¯t even noticed, but she¡¯s right. It¡¯s second nature for me to always be prepared to fight. She continues, in my silence. ¡°I get it, I¡¯ve been through similar, but you have to relax a bit sometimes. There¡¯s more to life than just utility and fighting.¡± I let the resulting lull hang in the air, while I consider her words. ¡°You¡¯re right, but let me ask you, have you lost anyone yet?¡± She shakes her head. ¡°That¡¯s the key point where we differ.¡± I continue. ¡°I lost someone very close to me, to something that never should have happened. Humans fighting humans? Now, of all times? It¡¯s unconscionable. And yet, it happened. There are a few others who, if I lost, I¡­ don¡¯t think I¡¯d be able to stop myself from killing until the threat that took them no longer existed. I know everyone here is paying attention, but what if there¡¯s a new enemy, a monster that ambushes prey, and we miss it, and I lose someone again. Call it paranoia, but¡­ I don¡¯t want to have that happen. No matter what.¡± She¡¯s silent for a while. ¡°Thanks for the insight on Energy.¡± She speaks quietly, before standing and going back to sit by Seth. I noticed she does not rejoin the conversation, but continues to sit thoughtfully, passively scanning the hills once in a while. I stand, and head back into the cave. A few heads nod at me while I leave, and I smile in return. Tom had gone back inside at some point, and I find him in his forge, as usual. Huge piles of metal bars litter the area, and a newly constructed weapons rack must hold at least thirty weapons of various sizes. Everything from polearms and hand axes to longswords and spears. A few wooden shields lean up against the wall, and one appears to have been enhanced with iron sidings and supports. Tom hammers away at what must be a tower shield made entirely of a terrifying amount of iron. ¡°Damn, Tom, that¡¯s one hell of a shield.¡± ¡°Ah, Anthony! It was good to see you back, manning the defences, good indeed. I see your eyes glowing in admiration, and I can¡¯t find it in my heart to blame you. This shield is intended for Samuel, to replace the wooden one he already has. I figure a shield is closer to a weapon than armor is, and I still haven¡¯t quite gotten the hang of smithing strong armor yet. I didn¡¯t quite have the resources to practice before, but with all those goodies you brought in, there¡¯s more than enough to go around!¡± ¡°You made all this in just two days?¡± Tom positively beams in response. ¡°That I did! The shield is taking a bit longer than the others, just on account of how much metal it needs. The damn thing takes half an hour at least to heat up enough to mold, but when it¡¯s ready¡­ nothin¡¯ I¡¯ve seen out there should be able to punch through this!¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to meet something that could, that¡¯s for sure. Well, I see you¡¯ve got a lot on your plate, but let me know when you figure out armor. I¡¯m not sure I want plate or anything, but sewing some metal into my clothes and having a metal plate or two to cover vulnerable areas would make a world of difference. Also, if you find the time, our Strength training could be helped out immensely by having weighted armor.¡± ¡°Boy, you¡¯re some kind of masochist, but I¡¯ll see what I can do. It¡¯s the least reward I can give you for bringing home all this material!¡± Part of me wants to tell him to thank Dean, not me, but¡­ I need all the good will I can get. The worst isn¡¯t even here yet. No, that will be when the monsters figure out where we are. Energy 97: Destruction I hesitate, but only for a moment, before placing my hands on the door. Lauren and Lorian accompany me. Lauren, because traps are terrifying and she¡¯s a rogue¡­ which maybe means she can spot traps better? Either way, I feel safer with her along. I could probably check for traps with Kaythe, considering he¡¯s supposed to be immortal now, but that seems shitty. He may come back afterwards, but he¡¯d still feel the pain, which I¡¯m not going to subject him to. Not if there¡¯s any other option. Lorian, of course, because she¡¯s also an Energy user, and I probably should have brought her with the first time¡­ woops. Anyway, she¡¯ll probably find something in there that will help her stay alive better, so I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll forgive me. I take a deep breath, and push almost every bit of Energy I have into the door. The process takes several minutes, just to deal with the sheer volume of strands flowing out of me, but my rate of progress speeds of slightly when I let River¡¯s Source assist me with the process. I try to keep it at a reasonable level, however, because I don¡¯t want to deal with the backlash right now. The door glows brightly, almost beginning to flow, like a liquid, but it doesn¡¯t do anything more. Confused, I start to take my hands off the wall to see if that¡¯s somehow stopping it, but I lurch as my hands fail to move off the surface. I start to panic, violently pulling on my arms, even burning some of the little Energy I have left to pull even harder. My joints pop agonizingly, but I don¡¯t budge them at all. Then the wall starts to creep over my hands, and I lose any remaining cool. Lauren suddenly appears next to me, and I start to warn her not to touch me, for fear of her being pulled in too, but then her sword embeds in my arms, and I realize: she¡¯s trying to separate me from the wall. Forcibly. Her mouth set in grim determination, she raises the sword for another blow, and I¡¯m violently jerked into the wall-turned-liquid. Terrifying seconds follow as I realize I can¡¯t breathe or move amidst the churning stone. I close my eyes, praying to whatever asshole god governs this world that it doesn¡¯t hurt too much when the end comes. Just let it kill me, whatever it is, because if it leaves me in this wall to suffocate¡­ I don¡¯t even want to think about it. My mind is a mess of pain and fear, when I¡¯m suddenly struck hard by something solid, right in the head. I stiffen up and hope I can withstand whatever is happening to me. Seconds crawl by, the only sounds coming from my labored breathing¡­ wait. I open my eyes. I¡¯m in a well lit hallway, that extends forward into the distance a bit, before seemingly opening up into a room of some sort. Behind me, the wall I came through undulates slightly and stills. I press my hand against it, experimentally, and it starts to wobble again. I quickly snatch my hand away, before it sends me on another horrifying adventure. Fuck this, I¡¯m only doing that one more time, max, and that¡¯s on the way out. Guess I¡¯m flying solo. ¡°Predator? What was that?¡± Oh, Kaythe is still here! ¡°I think we were eaten by a wall.¡± Kaythe wiggles unhappily. ¡°Predators are not eaten! It is wrong! How can we escape?¡± I laugh. ¡°Sorry Kaythe, it was only a joke. I can get us back out, but only after we get what we came for.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Wish I knew.¡± With that, I regard the tunnel in front of me. The floor, at least for the first few feet, is fairly normal, but beyond that, it becomes much more¡­ intricate. Large, swooping symbols, that themselves seem to be made of smaller, interlocking symbols, litter the floor. The walls and ceiling are also full of runes, though the larger runes seem to be different for those. The bad news is, I have no idea what they do. The worse news is that I can¡¯t see a way around them. Unlike the main area, which had light coming from specific structures, this area is illuminated by a series of stones along the ceiling that emanate light. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re covered in Light runes. Well, maybe I can limit the number of runes I have to touch? But¡­ the floor ones are the most likely to be dangerous. There are far too many to just jump over, and I don¡¯t think Kaythe could crawl along the ceiling with my full weight hanging down on him, but the walls are close enough together that I could place my hands on one side and my feet on the other and just¡­ inch my way through the air. Not exactly the most elegant solution, but it isn¡¯t like there¡¯s anyone around to judge me. I practice the motion a few times, then move as close as I dare to the runes and suspend myself. I carefully place my hand against the run covered wall, and then a foot, and shift my weight. The wall, suddenly devoid of any friction, lets my hand and foot slide freely, and I curse wildly as I fall to the floor in a pained heap. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. I groan, and struggle to my feet. Thank god I didn¡¯t land on the¡­ I landed on the runes. I immediately attempt to hop back off them, preemptively dodging any explosions, but instead of my feet leaving the ground at all, they merely slide along the surface of the ground until I fall back into the unruned area. Ok, this is some serious bullshit. The traps are non-optional, I guess I can go fuck myself. ¡°Kaythe, I hate to ask this, but can you lead the way? If one of these things just instantly kills anything on it, at least I can bring you back.¡± ¡°Of course! Anything to help, Predator!¡± And now I feel bad, but not nearly bad enough to stop him. He emphatically crawls forward, only stopping twenty odd feet in to check if I¡¯m still following. Of course, I¡¯m not, on account of being entirely uncertain why the fuck nothing happened. No spark, no slowing down, no glowing nonsense, nothing. Is it¡­ safe? I take a careful step into the runes again, and nothing explodes. I feel¡­ slightly bad, like I¡¯m on the border of Energy starvation, which is weird because it should have recovered, and I didn¡¯t feel this way before. I check my status to find my Energy is not regenerating beyond 6. 6/106. It¡¯s enforcing the Energy requirement¡­ which makes sense. If this place didn¡¯t protect against unqualified people walking in, the system would have wormed its way in a long time ago. I press onward. The next rune glows slightly as I step on it, and I¡¯m suddenly aware of something. Other: 32%... Inconclusive. Testing. The awareness vanishes suddenly, and I feel a strange stretching in my chest for a moment, before a Lieutenant and some Carnines appear in front of me. The Carnines snarl immediately, but the Lieutenant growls quietly, and the snarling stops. The large monster eyes me, but ultimately inclines its head, and vanishes. The others follow suit almost immediately. Pass. I needed their permission? Or was it that I needed to prove who was in control? Fight them and win, proving I was still me? Good thing I didn¡¯t run here right after getting the required Energy. I move to the next rune, which doesn¡¯t stop me or convey any information, and neither does the next one. On a whim, I try jumping, but it seems that any attempt to leave the floor is met with an incredible down force that completely counters it. I can walk normally, but if I try to hop, nah. They¡¯re less traps and more security measures¡­ and if it¡¯s this bad for just the armory, I can only imagine what the Library and¡­ the weapon require. Contamination: 0%. Pass. Well that¡¯s good. One more¡­ Energy sampled. Adding to archive. Cool¡­ whatever that means. With that final rune, I step into the room where Kaythe has been patiently waiting. He had no trouble, of course. The room is¡­ almost completely empty. It¡¯s a medium sized, empty room, except for one small podium near the center. There are no other exits aside from the way I just came through. This¡­ is underwhelming. With a literal secret underground bunker, I expected more. Walls lined with Shield covered in arcane symbols, swords, or even guns designed to shoot lasers powered by Energy. I expected an arsenal. I get a podium. Honestly, I shouldn¡¯t be surprised at this point. I approach and touch the panel. I feel a small amount of Energy get sucked out, just like with the floor earlier, but then the ground on the other side of the podium starts to shift and warp, just like it did before the wall grabbed me and threw me in here. A large column rises several feet out of this swirling mass of stone, stopping at around chest height. On the podium, rests a golden¡­ pocket watch. I move to examine it, and¡­ yeah, it¡¯s a pocket watch. Exactly like I would have seen in a shop window. It¡¯s really ornate and beautiful, and I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a cover for the clock face, nor are there any numerals with which to tell time, but¡­ it¡¯s a watch. My secret Energy arsenal is a fucking pocket watch. I sigh, deeply. Even things that are designed to subvert the system still disappoint me. Why hide this? Were they afraid that the system would learn the concept of time? How horrifying. The system information on the thing:
[???]
Thanks system. I experimentally push some Energy into it, and find that it flows in extremely easily. So it¡¯s easily bound, which is nice. Couldn¡¯t it have been¡­ I dunno, sharper? Even a letter opener would have been preferable. Energy does awesome stuff to bound things, as long as I use them a lot, and this thing probably gets to a ¡®Soulbound¡¯ status really quickly¡­ but why? What can I possibly use it fo- In my hand sits a pocket watch with a knife sticking out of it. As though someone decided to perfectly meld a small blade and a watch. There is no seam, no weld, nothing that indicates that the blade wasn¡¯t always there, even though it most certainly wasn¡¯t. I imagine the letter opener again, continuing to let Energy flow in, and, ever so slowly, the pocket watch completely transforms into exactly the letter opener I was imagining. It even has someone else¡¯s initials on there, because I was thinking of a generic, fancy letter opener. With a moment¡¯s effort, and a tiny amount of Energy, the letters swap to my own initials. Critique rescinded, this is fucking awesome. Energy 98: Finality We start preparing in earnest, passing each day in cycles of training to the point of exhaustion, defending our home as needed, and sleeping. The resource blocks I collected from the corpse pile contained huge amounts of wood, stone, and even a sizable quantity of iron, which took almost all necessity out of gathering materials. With no real reason to leave The Barrows, few teams did. Amy¡¯s team still goes on excursions, on occasion, because they miss out on the nightly Power gains by nature of sleeping through them, but Marie sits out most of them anyway due to her distaste for violence. Her time is better spent making use of our prodigious resources: increasing our defences, and providing custom crafting materials to those that needed them. I train incessantly to hone my skills with the greatsword, though I still resist the ever-present Greatsword Proficiency. The system must have offered it a hundred times at this point, and it likely will a hundred more, but I¡¯m improving without it. Maybe if we really start to get into dire straits, like if the monsters actually find our sanctuary, then I will. I can always unlearn it later¡­ as much as that would suck. I at least want to figure out that final part of my Swordsman of the Great River skills. River¡¯s End. Or, at least, that¡¯s what I thought it would be called at the time¡­ but now I¡¯m not so sure. Yes, a river has an end, but it doesn¡¯t evoke anything other than finality. I can imagine a pooling lake, but that implies stagnation afterwards. Once you reach the end, you¡¯re in a lake. Not the best thing for a combat skill. Something like River¡¯s Rapids would make more sense, because it¡¯s sudden violence interrupting the flow, but then it lacks finality. Rapids are dangerous, but you can usually see the river continuing afterwards. At the very least, the rapids are never an ending point for the river, nor are they even possible to view as such. A waterfall¡­ might work. It looks like an end, not just of the river, but of the world. Going over a waterfall keeps the extreme violence of the rapids, but as you look down, you¡¯ll clearly see an end, either your own or that of the river. Interesting. But what would that look like? A flurry of blows to represent the pounding destruction at the bottom? Or the overwhelming strength of the water as it takes you and forces you down? A strike so sure and powerful that it will not be denied, and any that fall in its path will be swept along with it, straight to the ground. But¡­ how would a sword accomplish that? It usually cuts through, and to do otherwise would limit its effectiveness. A combination then. The strike snakes out, grabbing something but not cutting it, then forces it to an area more optimal for striking and¡­ The thunderous cascade of water destroys it. It¡¯s a strike with a lot more finesse than just raw strength, so Zathis will be little help in training it, but I think I have a clear idea. Back to training. The cycles continue, three days, then four. I manage to accumulate a sizable amount of Power and skill levels over the days of arduous practice: Natural armor +2, Alchemy +2, Blunt Weapons Proficiency +1, Summoner +1, Cold Resistance +1 (apparently my sword is cold enough to trigger this sometimes), Combat Proficiency +1, Energy Manipulation +1, Energy Combustion +2, River¡¯s Flow +5, Imbue Energy +2, and Transfuse Energy +5. I finish off the Energy Combustion Trait at the end of the fourth day, excited to try out my greatly increased max burn rate. The remaining two trait points don¡¯t go into anything, for now. I can¡¯t take them out, so¡­ waiting is smart.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. But, on the fifth day, a shout wakes me from my sleep. Too early. ¡°Kill it quickly! No!¡± I can barely hear the words, but I already know what¡¯s happening. Without stopping even to grab my sword, I hurtle from my bed into the hall, burning Energy at full bore to get every bit of extra speed. I fly over the barricades at the entrance, but see no one around. Shouting nearby. I kick off, heading in that direction. ¡°Predator! I am not with you!¡± ¡°No time.¡± I find Lorian, Seth, and Tom all giving chase to several Carnines and a Lieutenant. Suspicion confirmed, but they¡¯re far already, and the Lieutenant has sent its subordinates to stall the other so it can escape. Clods of dirt and grass dislodge from the ground under the force of my feet, but I can immediately tell that I¡¯m not going to make it. The monster camp is only a few miles away, and, with the massive head start the Lieutenant has, even my ridiculous speed won¡¯t be enough to catch it before it gets back there. Shit. SHIT. The Carnines are already dead by the time I reach the others, having posed no threat but still managed to tangle them up enough that they couldn¡¯t give proper chase. Even then, they¡¯d probably be too slow without Energy burning to augment them, and I don¡¯t think Lorian can do that. Damn it all. ¡°Get back to camp, we need the fortifications ready and everyone on alert. This is it. This is where we make our stand.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry lad, they took us by surprise and ran immediately, we had no-¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. We knew it was going to happen. We still need to move, now.¡± Of course, this had to happen in the morning. --- I burst into the training room, disrupting a training bout and what looks like Samuel taking on a modified version of the arrow training I have to deal with, but where he has to block everything with his giant shield. ¡°Guys, we¡¯ve been found out, get ready and come out front. No clue how long we have.¡± ¡°Shit.¡± Amy spits the word, and runs past me, followed closely by Samuel, who nods as he passes me. Marie looks worriedly at me. ¡°If there are any last minute changes to the defences you need to do, do them. I expect we won¡¯t be leaving here for a while, so anything you can do to make the defences semi-permanent, do them.¡± She nods, swallowing heavily. ¡°Are¡­ we going to be ok?¡± I smile broadly, even though I don¡¯t feel it. ¡°Of course. This is why we¡¯re here, after all. We¡¯ll hold them back for as long as it takes.¡± ¡°Y-yeah.¡± She runs for the door, leaving me facing the increasingly concerned giant. ¡°If¡­ you need to fall back, you may fall back here. I am forbidden from taking a life, and doing so will¡­ likely kill me as well, but I may offer you a last defence.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ more than enough. I sincerely hope we won¡¯t need it, but¡­ also, thank you. Really. For everything. I don¡¯t know what your actual job is from the system¡¯s perspective, but I¡¯m almost positive that it isn¡¯t to sit here and train us all day, but that alone will probably make the difference in our survival. We wouldn¡¯t be nearly as sharp right now if it wasn¡¯t for you.¡± ¡°Do not thank me as though you do not plan to return.¡± I smile again, but this time, I mean it. ¡°Goodbye, Zathis.¡± ¡°Good luck, Anthony.¡± Over my shoulder, as I exit, I call back: ¡°It¡¯s¡­ Amadeus. Sorry I didn¡¯t tell you sooner.¡± ¡°Then good luck, Amadeus. May we meet again.¡± Energy 99: Finality Marie¡¯s hands glow as she frantically seals the interlocking barricades together, melding stone, wood, and iron into a smooth defense. The spikes gleam, sharpened to deadly points in preparation for what¡¯s to come. Her stuff might not get system bonuses, but in this case, the system can fuck itself. ¡°You¡¯re damn impressive, you know that?¡± I doubt she hears me, but I could swear I see a hint of a smile poke through her focussed expression. Tom heaves a weapon stand into place, near the back lines. Broken or dulled weapons won¡¯t slow us down, and Tom will be fixing things as fast as they break, or so he swears. Amy pulls out at least ten quivers full of arrows for her and Lynn to share, but goes back to pull out at too many more bundles of backup ammo for me to even count. I tasked Marie with supporting the archers by preparing quivers for them to use so they never have to pause firing. We¡¯ll need their constant downpour to alleviate pressure. I really miss Rav right now, his magic would be invaluable. I look at my hand, clenching it in frustration. I could have filled that roll if I was willing to risk more, to experiment¡­ but it would have been stupid to do so. Mana is too dangerous. Lauren, Seth, and I all stand ready on the front lines, with either Lorian or I always available for healing. Having a backup healer does a lot to calm me down, knowing that if I get knocked out or too grievously injured to save myself, I have a last resort¡­ and so does she. With that in mind, we agreed to swap out as needed. Samuel stands ready to fill any breach that arises, with his newly finished monster of a tower shield. I tested the weight, just to see what it was like, and the thing honestly shouldn¡¯t exist. It should be entirely unfeasible as a defensive tool, as you¡¯re basically wielding 500 pounds of metal, but that scrawny guy is packing some serious muscle or something. He moves it as easily as I move my sword¡­ so probably a mix of skills and system Strength. It still looks absurd, but I can¡¯t fault the efficacy. Nothing is getting through that. We manage to assemble and organize with unbridled efficiency, and we have the non combatants, Marie and Tom, to address any needs as they arise. We have barricades set up, crudely, at various fallback points, mostly utilizing the pits as natural blockades. Retreat across as needed, destroy the bridge, hold as long as we can. Rinse and repeat until we get to Zathis, then¡­ we pray. I¡¯ve left the Stone of Ascension in there with him, just in case I don¡¯t make it. ¡°We will succeed, Predator, we always have. I will protect you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t doubt it, buddy. Thanks for sticking this through with me.¡± He wiggles happily but doesn¡¯t respond. With that new Tamer level I got, I gained a new ability:
[You may now supplant the consciousness of your ally, allowing you to directly control them. Effect drains Energy, increasing the drain as the ally moves further away from you.]
Not terribly useful here and now, but if we live, I¡¯ll be able to throw Kaythe into terrible danger but avoid him having to experience it, which makes me feel a lot better about the whole thing. We¡¯re still moving making the finishing touches when we hear them: barking, howling, and a thunderous stampede of paws on grass. The ground shakes under their passing, reverberating the entire tunnel around us. A stream of Carnines, littered with more Lieutenants than I¡¯ve ever seen, stream around from all around the entrance, throwing themselves headlong into the barricades with seemingly no regard for pain, or even their lives. The first twenty die without anyone needing to strike, but their bodies quickly clog the passive defences. Even as our archers stem the tide by creating more bodies for our enemies to trip over, they care little. Those behind the fallen simply push through, creating an ever growing wave of death, and a ramp of the dead forms within the first minute. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. The dogs care nothing for their fallen, using them as springboards with which to assault us, and only a whirling dance of blades and one giant ass hammer keep them at bay. The hammer effectively knocks away the monsters turned projectiles, but Lauren and I quickly end up with pieces of Carnine and Lieutenant littering the ground around us, restricting our movement. She deals with it easily, with her crazy rogue footwork, but I can¡¯t use the River¡¯s Flow to augment my own footwork. I can¡¯t risk dampening my critical thinking until it becomes clear they aren¡¯t going to try anything. These things have intelligence, that much is clear, and underestimating them by assuming a suicidal rush to take us out is the best they¡¯ve got is asking for a surprise death. As if on queue, the first wildcard enters the field: three Carnines suddenly erupt from the writhing mass or barking and scratching dogs, launching directly at each of the three of us. The difference is, when I hew this one in half, the slime ball that was actively coating it explodes in a shower of acid. The roar of pain this elicits from me, amplified by my burning Energy, stuns everyone around me as I frantically try to rub and blink the acid out of my eye, but the time it buys me is insufficient to fully clear it, and my vision quickly fades to a searing black in my left eye. Cursing viciously in the hoarse whisper that¡¯s all my destroyed vocal chords will give me, I ignore the plight of anyone else and focus on holding off the surge of attackers that seek to take advantage of the disarray in the front lines. I feel arrows pass mere inches from my body as the archers try their best to cover us, and I hear screams of pain as someone is pulled back and replaced. Hopefully Lorian can fix them quickly. The first opportunist to assault my position is a snarling Lieutenant, who nimbly darts over the corpse ridden barricade and jumps past me, earning a nasty gash for its efforts, but also forcing me to defend against multiple angles simultaneously. Sensing this is their attempt at breaking through, I launch Kaythe into the face of the unsuspecting Lieutenant, and leave the transgressor to him. Teeth sink into my calf moments later, but release within a second as I feel triumphant glee emanate over the mental link. Some part of me is aware that Kaythe stabbed it a few times, was ignored, and used the opportunity of it trying to take me down to get it in the brain.
[Congratulations! Summoned monster (Kaythe) has reached level 3. +1 Endurance, +1 Strength, +1 Intelligence, +2 Dexterity.]
[Congratulations! Summoned monster (Kaythe) has reached level 4. +1 Toughness, +1 Strength, +2 Intelligence, +1 Dexterity.]
I feel him crawl back onto me, anticipating my movements so as to not get in my way while still managing to ready himself for future use. I fucking love this thing. The onslaught continues, with my eye steadily regaining functionality and my various wounds closing as I struggle to adequately divide my attention to move it around. I feel my Energy start to flash, and stop burning the resource, instead switching over to Stamina overuse in River¡¯s Flow. I don¡¯t have the luxury of staying cognizant until my Energy comes back, so I¡¯ll have to rely on the others. The comfortable focus and awareness slips over me like a well fitting glove, and I feel like a steady glow appears around everything near me. I can see, even feel the threats around me. Silhouettes turn red, and suddenly, they launch towards me. They entirely believe they¡¯ll land their strike, even as their minds struggle to process their own deaths. I feel Seth and Lauren waning. Seth is strong and sturdy, but he wasn¡¯t made for extended combat. His weapon requires immense control to be used most effectively, and swinging at he has been for twenty or so minutes is clearly exhausting him. His hits aren¡¯t killing as effectively, nor are his targets being thrown bodily into their comrades. Rather, he stops them, but only just. Lauren, in a similar vein, has only lasted this long because of the tremendous effort Zathis put into training our endurance. Even with that, her skills are mostly designed around ambush and fighting distracted opponents, and this is decidedly not that. Seth¡¯s stone warhammer shatters as a wayward strike hits part of our barricade, and he ducks back to the weapons stand to grab a backup metal one while Samuel charges in and sends a small explosion of corpses and living Carnines alike back into the mass that ceaseless charges us. I¡¯m dimly aware of how slowly the hammer raises when he lifts it. Too tired to continue. Energy 100: Finality Samuel holds the line, but without a real offensive weapon, he¡¯s limited to slamming his attackers back with massive strikes from his tower shield. Unfortunately, the barricade in front of him limits the effectiveness of these attacks, and Marie quickly retrieves Tom to lend support to Samuel. Working in concert, they manage fairly well, but they aren¡¯t practiced at fighting together and frequently get in each other¡¯s way. Lauren falters, barely managing to fend off a Lieutenant that sought to take advantage of her exhaustion, but she can¡¯t keep the one that comes immediately after it from jumping to our side and knocking her to the ground. I fling Kaythe, but I don¡¯t know how much help he can be. Carnines immediately start spilling through the gap, and although our ranged warriors harry them the entire way, they gain a small foothold past our defences. A roar of unbridled fury shakes the air, and Lauren suddenly disappears from her place on the ground, reappearing as she strikes a Carnine. She looks as though she¡¯s simply ignoring the fatigue her body is under, meaning she won¡¯t last long, and this must be a last ditch effort to contain the breach. Even as I worry about its effectiveness, she disappears again, and again, and each time she comes back into focus, she¡¯s already landing the killing blow on another enemy. They surge forward, but none can get past whatever Lauren is doing. She manages to buy a few valuable seconds before she collapses, and Lorian rushes to cover Marie while she drags Lauren back. Despite our best efforts, we now have both healers on the front line, and we¡¯re playing a dangerous game. We need to ensure that we can buy Lauren and Seth enough time to recover before we¡¯re forced to retreat, and then ensure that our retreat is orderly enough to not lose anyone. Though defending the hallway will likely require fewer people, we don¡¯t have the same platforms for Lynn and Amy to snipe through. My muscles strain, but I know I have a few minutes still before I¡¯ll need to rest, and I plan to make use of every moment. Kaythe fails to return to me, and I have no idea where he went. He¡¯s no longer answering the mental link, so he must have¡­ so what if I can bring him back, so what if you¡¯re also fighting for your lives, you dared to harm my property. My blood boils as my fury mounts. Every single monster in front of me feels like a personal insult. I let the battle trance deepen immensely, only feeling the rage that fuels my every move. I make perfect cuts that end three or four lives at once, destroying my enemies in droves. Such is the impact that the unthinking garbage actually start to feel fear, shying away from the growing pile of corpses in favor of assaulting other locations. ¡°How dare you weak, pathetic creatures challenge us?! If this is all you have, give up and die. Save yourself a humiliating defeat, outnumbering us a thousand to one and still failing!¡± I hear the words, and it sounds like my voice, but I¡¯m too deep in my trance to be speaking. It doesn¡¯t matter, my goading words are answered by a throaty bellow: ¡°We shall see, filth!¡± The wall of corpses I¡¯ve amassed shifts suddenly, slamming against the earthen wall of the cave and splattering messily all over it. A large, black haired creature towers where the corpses once were. It stands on two legs, but has decidedly beastial qualities: claws that look sharp as razors, a wolf-like snout with serrated teeth poking through, and a mane of hair around its neck. Its roar echoes throughout the cave, creating deafening reverberations in this tiny space. With a flick of my wrist, I lodge my Energy knife into its side. Even as its roar turns from defiance to pain, I rip the knife back out, using a small metal tether I had grown from the side of the blade that attaches to my wrist. Sensing my intentions, the blade flies back into my waiting grasp so I can throw it again, this time at its head.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. In a feat of speed that causes its arm to blur, it slams the blade aside and sends it rocketing towards the wall where the corpses hit. Instead, the tether holds, and it starts to wrap around me. Where a tether would restrict my movements, the fact that I¡¯ve partially bound this weird piece of equipment means that it flows easily over me as I ready my zweihander and set my stance. Blood oozes from the wound in the werewolf¡¯s side, but it makes no hostile moves, instead choosing to stare me down with a look of clear derision. ¡°You are a coward. Attacking from a range? Unexpectedly? Pah, you are less than scum.¡± ¡°Showboating during a fight makes you an idiot. Come at me and die like a dog.¡± It growls in seething fury, then slams the ground and roars. I flick my wrist again, and it twitches, anticipating another knife, but not the one that comes. With my off hand, I stab straight at its chest, but it fends the strike off, taking another wound to its forearm, and losing skin when it freezes to the sword. No complaints come forth this time, and it smashes the blade aside, losing some fur to the cold, but creating an opening in my guard. I take a step back, letting the force it put into my sword swing it around and over my head into an upper guard position. It dashes in low, underneath, but I lean into the attack, stabbing down from overhead. My right leg gives out as its claws sever my quad, but I manage to stab into its lower back, right around where its kidney would be. A manic grin crosses my face, and not even the blinding pain radiating through my battle trance is enough to dampen it. My sword¡¯s frozen core locks the blade in place despite it trying to jump back, and I pivot on my one good leg, and burn Energy at the maximum rate I can. My chest feels alight with the fires from the surface of a star, and I know that in this moment, I do not move within the world, but the world moves around me. Every fiber of muscle in my leg, back, and arms strains with a force only possible with the system¡¯s assistance and the burning fuel of my own soul. Facing away from my opponent, I heave on the sword, lifting the creature bodily up and over my head, and slam it into the ground with enough force to crack the stone floor.
[Congratulations! Your actions have led to the creation of a rare Secondary Skill: Swordsman of the Great River: River¡¯s End. Cost: 200. Learn? (Y/N)]
[Swordsman of the Great River: River¡¯s End - The finality and destructive force that accompanies the end of a legendary river. The user channels a small fraction of the river¡¯s potential, and focusses it into the body of another. Increased skill levels will reduce the impact of using the skill on targets more massive than the user.]
The werewolf screams in agony as its legs turn to pulp against the ground, and the section of its back where my sword was embedded shatters under the force of the impact. Reverberations almost shake the hilt from my grasp, but I maintain my hold long enough to slice its head off. I turn back to the front lines, prepared to take on a hundred more, but try to take a step on my damaged leg and crumple. Someone grabs me, and I hear shouts signalling to fall back. I drop my battle trance and cancel any Energy burning while I¡¯m being dragged, and find that every one of my resource bars is nearing critical. Health, I only have a quarter left, and Stamina and Energy are blinking red. That fucking trance is so useful, but damn if it won¡¯t get me killed. I have a clear view of the organized chaos from my position on the floor: Lorian, Seth, Samuel, and Tom are all holding off the warily advancing attackers. Something changed between before and now, and what should have been a hectic retreat has become something much easier on our side. Fighting defensively, everyone makes it across the bridge, with Samuel bringing up the rear. As he steps off onto our side, he drops his shield against the bridge, shattering it and sending a few brave Carnines into the depths of the pit. Round two. Energy 101: Finality I push myself further away from the front lines, and turn as a loud thud next to me attracts my attention. ¡°Health on the left, Energy on the right.¡± Marie then sprints away, grabbing more supplies for the archers that are somehow running dangerously low on ammunition. There were so many arrows there¡­ we don¡¯t have nearly enough for this to go on. What will we do when they run out? We didn¡¯t plan enough¡­ so many contingencies and fallbacks and we somehow didn¡¯t plan enough. Damnit. I grab a Health potion, but reconsider and grab an Energy one instead. Better to leave the Health for the people who can¡¯t use Energy. The potion restores 9 Energy, roughly, per swallow, meaning it¡¯s one of Lauren¡¯s potions. Mine barely manage to restore 5 per swallow. Unfortunate, I should be going through mine first, so we have more effective ones later¡­ but it¡¯s not like we can label them- duh, check with the system. I put Laurens potion back and pick out one of mine, and drain it. With about half of my Energy restored, I quickly get to work on my leg as the sounds of frustrated barking, fearful yelps from the enemy bounce around the small space. Where it was loud before, now it¡¯s a cacophony. Samuel easily holds the line on one edge of the pit, and on the other side, Seth uses a strategically placed barricade and his ridiculous strength to knock any monsters that approach into the pit. The archers stand in the middle, effectively preventing any of the rank and file from making the jump across. A quick glance in the pit makes it clear that the press of bodies as they moved to follow our retreat pushed a fair number of them into the dark below. Though they¡¯ve stopped callously throwing their own into the pits, they don¡¯t have the room to get a running start, and even creatures as fast as these require some time to build up speed before they can clear the pit. I pull myself to my feet, and someone shoves something into me. I half turn, and see Tom is there, pressing some kind of clothing into me. ¡°Put it on, boy.¡± That¡¯s all he says before he runs back into his forge. The fucking madman is forging midfight. Truly, we don¡¯t deserve him. Or Marie, for that matter.
[Leather armor (Augmented: Dwarven Steel) - A hurriedly made and experimental combination of light leather armor and heavy steel plates. The plates overlap and are non-contiguous, lowering its resistance to piercing, but providing substantial range of motion and slashing and blunt resistance. +10 Health.]
Hell yes. Probably a bad idea to wear new armor during a life or death struggle, but I¡¯ve been training with weighted clothing these past two days, so it¡¯s not totally foreign to me. The armor covers my vitals with thicker, solid plates, and leaves the rest less defended for the sake of mobility and weight. The armor stops at my collar, forearms, and below the knee, but it¡¯ll ensure that anything short of a headshot won¡¯t kill me. I could join the fight again, but I opt to let my Health creep all the way back up, and my Energy return to near full. When I relieve Seth, I¡¯m likely to not get another break for a long time, so I have to make sure I¡¯m at full. Suddenly, a Lieutenant pounces on Seth, staggering him slightly and biting deep into his arm. With a roar of pain, Seth drops his hammer, grabs its body, and twists. The crack echoes over the din, and he tosses the beast into the pit to join the others. He moves to continue fighting, but his arm is bleeding heavily. Too heavily. I rush over, yelling: ¡°Seth, don¡¯t hit me while I heal you!¡± and don¡¯t wait for a response before getting to work. It seems as though he tries to reject my Energy at first, not responding with a counter attack, but simply not letting me through, but within moments I smash my way through. There¡¯s no time for comfort. With my Light Energy leading the way, I set to fixing the myriad of small wounds he¡¯s accumulated. Everything from torn muscle fibers and small scratches, to what looks to be several broken ribs and dents in the bones of his forearm where the monster bit him. Within moments, I¡¯ve repaired the muscle damage and scratches, and before the minute is up, all his sundered flesh has been knitted back together. Clearly feeling revitalized, he yells back to me: ¡°I knew there was a reason we kept you around! Haha! This is truly excellent!¡± He booms the last part, causing a few Carnine in front of him to flinch away before his hammer hastened them into the void. I quickly run back and start chugging bottles of Energy potion. I have a sense that something bad is coming. The Carnines aren¡¯t charging forward as quickly¡­ in fact, they seem to be backing up. Creating space, but¡­ Definitely not retreating. Four large figures appear in the midst of the sea of bodies. The same kind of monster as the Werewolf from earlier¡­ and as they emerge from the throng, I can see one of them is dragging something.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The pulped corpse of the one I killed. The archers care nothing for their slow strides forward. All they¡¯ve done is single themselves out as important, and one of their number is immediately struck with a deluge of arrows, forcing it to begin evading and entirely ruining any image of strength they were trying to maintain. It gets wise to the shots, and grabs the next two out of the air, snarling ¡°You¡¯re going to have to try harder-¡± before another shot, moving faster than any of us can track, embeds deep in the center of its chest. I can imagine Lynn¡¯s smirk vividly. ¡°Which of you¡­ did this?¡± The one carrying the dead werewolf speaks calmly, but with a strong air of violence. The sounds of the other monsters dies off in the wake of it speaking, leaving the hall extremely quiet. I step past the archers. The temperature around me drops substantially as Energy flows into my sword, reacting to my anticipation. ¡°I did you the favor of weeding out that weak trash. What of it?¡± The werewolf with the arrow sticking out of its chest let loose a low growl, tugging at the arrow in a fruitless attempt to dislodge it, before snapping off the fletching. The first one tosses the body casually into the pit. ¡°I recognize your strength. True, he was overzealous, but he wished to prove himself, and he did so. Inadequate. However, strong or not, you understand that you cannot be allowed to live¡­ ah, apologies, you never were, but now you will be made to suffer. I regret this deeply.¡± ¡°I invite you to try.¡± The air around me shivers slightly, warping, and a small fog starts to flow off my sword. The temperature plummets, but to me, that¡¯s only an irrelevant piece of data while I do my best to pick apart my future opponents. They¡¯re going to swarm us, all at once, and the one who spoke will try to maim me so that he can make good on his threat once everyone is dead, meaning I¡¯ll be the first target. Two will take me on, or that one if it¡¯s confident enough. No, too calculating, it¡¯ll use overwhelming force to ensure I survive. I¡¯ll lose that fight, but they¡¯re underestimating my comrades, and they won¡¯t expect me to heal back in time to rejoin the fight. The one being hit by arrows will attempt to take out the archers first, so I¡¯ll get in its way, maybe causing the three to trip over each other. The last one is a wildcard. Hopefully someone else handles it. River¡¯s Source activated without my prompting, greatly increasing the efficiency of my thought process, but also creating an easy segue into River¡¯s Flow. Now that I have my plan, I can fall into my battle trance and let the critical thinking drift away. Every second they stall only makes me stronger. Let¡¯s dance, fuckboys. The monster continues to talk, but my mind is wholly focussed on the tension in their muscles. The one still under an onslaught of arrows wants to attack immediately, and is poised to do so, but seems to be waiting for the talkative one to take the lead. The other two seem relaxed, however, I¡¯ve seen how fast they move. The leader drops its hands, having used them to gesture during the time it was speaking, and the moment its hands stop, they all spring into action. All¡­ except the leader. Shit. The two others launch directly towards me, as anticipated, and the third lets out a wild roar as it careens towards Lynn and Amy. The leader remains on the far side, a wolfish smile on its face. Just like that, the world fades around me until all that remains is what I need to know to fight. I dash towards Amy and Lynn, slicing into the unsuspecting third werewolf. It foolishly believed I would wait to engage those coming for me directly, and is taken entirely by surprise. My strike redirects it into the wall of the cave, and my instincts scream at me to dodge. Instead, I jump towards where I know my attackers are, taking two glancing blows against my armor, and swing my sword over my head in a quick semi circle. Both werewolves dodge, but it allows me to move past them without taking any more hits, and assault their backs. I land a trivial slash against one, but the other has already turned to face me by the time I turn my blade against it, and bats it away forcefully. Unfortunately for it, that deflection tears a chunk of its hand away, as well as one of its claws, as the frigid temperature of my sword immediately freezes anything on contact. It howls in pain, and I once again step between them, aiming to get closer to the archers. Lauren appears behind them as I move, taking full advantage of their distraction by planting large daggers in both their backs. She was clearly aiming for their spines, but the blades are entirely deflected by what must be incredibly dense bone. The one that hadn¡¯t just lost its claw to me was able to whirl fast enough that she can¡¯t withdraw the dagger, but she does manage to distract both of them from the immense threat I pose. The one that turned to Lauren rears back for a strike, but finds the arm it meant to swing with entirely missing. It falls gracelessly to the floor as I open up a large wound in the side of the one who dared strike my sword away. Lauren starts to use the chaos to fade back into the background, but something moves quickly. Too quickly. Her scream echoes throughout the hall. Clutching the bleeding stump of what was her arm, murder in her eyes, she snatches the dagger from her own hand and tries to drive it into the leader, who hadn¡¯t taken kindly to us turning the tide, and decided to handle things itself. Energy 102: Finality It moves to grab her hand, but she moves with it, changing her stab into a slice along its upper chest. It¡¯s frown only deepens when I slice the head off the one I had already disarmed. One second, I¡¯m squaring off against it and the other wounded werewolf, and the next, my vision swims, and I have the vague sensation of flying before I abruptly stop against a wall. I¡¯m dimly aware of the leader pulling its hand back and inspecting it, as if confused. I try to get up, but my legs don¡¯t respond. My spine¡­ it hit me so hard that the act of my armor dispersing the force fractured my spine, as well as a fair few of my ribs, and I can see massive structural damage to my organs. If I didn¡¯t have the armor, that would have gone right through me. The leader¡¯s musings about its hand are interrupted by Lauren appearing behind him, still gushing blood from her arm, and stabbing it in the side. Her blade only gets a quarter of the way in before the thing grabs and breaks her working arm. Before she can even cry out, the others appear, having dealt with the werewolf that went after the archers. Seth and Lorian immediately engage the leader, and the archers try their best to support. The only other werewolf has to contend with Samuel and Tom. It¡¯s not enough, but it should buy time. The leader, still holding on to Lauren, uses her to intercept the first two arrows that come its way, before ramming its arm deep into her stomach and tossing her towards the pit. She slams into the floor, skidding for several feet before teetering on the edge. She scrambles frantically, but with only one arm, and with that arm being badly broken, she fails to hold on, and her legs fall over the side. Marie runs through the fight, intent on keeping her from falling, and I crawl as best I can towards her. Marie doesn¡¯t make it far, with the leader easily smashing her aside. She tries to keep going, but her body just flails in response. To her credit, she never looks scared, but closes her eyes in calm concentration¡­ why? What is she- Oh. Purely on a hunch, I crawl with everything I have, even burning Energy to pull myself further and faster, all the while doing my best to ignore the burning pain of the bones grinding every time my back moves. Lauren still manages to hold on, but she¡¯s relying on her upper arm entirely to keep her from falling in, and the blood loss and massive trauma can¡¯t be helping. Without the system, she would have already died three times over. Arduous seconds pass, and with every one, I¡¯m praying she doesn¡¯t slip. I can¡¯t let another one die. Not like Rav. Please not again. Her eyes keep fluttering, but she keeps coming back. Just a bit¡­ She seizes suddenly, and her arm, slick with blood, slides off the side. I see her desperately try to use he almost nonfunctional hand to grab the ledge, but the pain or the lack of friction¡­ she doesn¡¯t stop herself. I throw myself forward, trying desperately to grab at her before she slips away, but I miss her hand. I¡¯m not fast enough. A deep fear and pain rises in my stomach. No, maybe she¡¯s still alive, even if she¡¯s impaled, I can¡­ just as long as she¡¯s not dead¡­ I scramble to get a look over the edge, frantically looking into the depth for any sign of life¡­ but she¡¯s not in the bottom of the pit. She¡¯s sitting on a slowly extending platform of rock. Marie, you goddamn genius. I grab her by her clothing, and, burning Energy far faster than I should be, I just manage to heave her over the side. She screams like a creature possessed the entire time, enduring what I can only imagine is the worst pain she¡¯s ever felt, but it saves her life¡­ for the moment. As if sensing the relative safety of the ground, her mind immediately gives out and she goes limp. I take a deep breath, activate River¡¯s Source, and heal with everything I have. Both of us, simultaneously. It doesn¡¯t matter how long it takes, or what¡¯s happening around us, because we can¡¯t help if we¡¯re dying, and the others will either stall long enough for us to get back up, win, or we¡¯ll all die. Nothing I can do except¡­ this. Multiple organ failure, stomach is pulp, leaking acid into the body cavity, clean that, repair the tissue¡­ leave the missing arm for now, stop the bleeding, replenish blood supply, set bones¡­ done. ¡°Give ¡®em hell.¡± I try to mutter, but who knows if it actually worked. I¡¯m too busy turning the powder that was once my vertebrae back into a complete solid, like the world¡¯s worst 3d jigsaw puzzle. Take pressure of the spinal cord, repair the torn neurons, remove excess blood and swelling¡­ like a jolt of electricity, I can suddenly feel my legs again. I set some Energy to healing the rest, cancel River¡¯s Source, and- oh god that¡¯s a lot of blood. Seth is completely covered in wounds, with some noticeably deep gashes on his face and arms. Lorian looks like one of her arms is barely hanging on to her body, but she¡¯s still upright and fighting. The leader seems aggravated, like something is wrong, and honestly, the fact that neither of those two are dead lends credence to that theory. I haven¡¯t seen Lorian fight much, but I know she and Seth aren¡¯t gods of war or anything, and that leader kicked the living shit out of me and Lauren. I know we¡¯re pretty competent fighters, so either they¡¯ve gotten absurdly lucky or something¡¯s fucking with it. Lauren must have poisoned her daggers¡­ maybe that¡¯s it? Lauren, for her part, looks half dead up against a wall. She must have been taken out again while I was healing myself¡­ but she doesn¡¯t look like she¡¯s bleeding. I struggle to my feet, limp over to my sword, and rush to engage again. ¡°ENOUGH.¡± The word shakes the very walls. It¡¯s so loud that it immediately gives me¡­ a headache. Uh oh. At first, I have a faint hope that it¡¯s Zathis¡­ not that he could really do anything here, especially without sight on what¡¯s happening, but the voice is wrong. The headache is wrong. Whatever it is, the leader and the remaining werewolf immediately back up, with both creatures looking little better than those they were just fighting. Lorian charges the leader anyway, using the moment of weakness, but then it continues to fend off her blows, just without returning any of his own. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. The crowd of Carnine spectators on the far side parts to allow through the most massive, three headed, dog shaped monstrosity I¡¯ve ever imagined¡­ but even more terrifying than that. This is the thing Lauren was talking about all that time ago. The boss. It barely fits in the hallway, and although it moves slowly, it¡¯s easy to tell that that is only because it chooses to. Each of the three heads radiates an aura: one of cold, one of heat, and one of crackling electricity. ¡°Be still and silent. End this pointless resistance.¡± Many of the group start to relax, but Lorian echoes my thoughts: ¡°No.¡± ¡°We have what you want, and you¡¯re not getting it.¡± ¡°What I want? Escape from this cycle of endless torment? Do explain, creature.¡± ¡°...Well, that too, eventually, but baby steps. The Stone of Ascension. That¡¯s what you¡¯re after, right?¡± ¡°That trinket is a trivial matter. However, give it to me.¡± It betrays nothing in the way it speaks, but its intentions are clear. The resounding headache that accompanies that command only hammers the point home. ¡°I¡¯ve got a better idea: your life, for the stone.¡± ¡°MY LIFE?! YOU HAVE SOME TONGUE, WRETCH. KLAVIK, RIP IT OUT FOR ME.¡± The leader springs into motion, but substantially slower than before, and it even stumbles on the approach. I light a furnace of Energy in my chest, adding some Light to mask my attack, and the leader stumbles again, but this time because a sword is embedded in its stomach, and frozen in place. ¡°You¡¯ll stop there if you don¡¯t want to end up the same way as the first trash you sent.¡± It glares and snarls, but ultimately doesn¡¯t make a move. Smart. As things are, it¡¯ll be eviscerated if it tries. ¡°As I was saying, your life for the stone. I¡¯ll even throw in that I¡¯ll heal these two-¡± I gesture at the two living werewolves, ¡°-as an act of goodwill.¡± This gives the colossal creature pause, if only for a moment. ¡°Very well, you have made your point. Release them, fix them, and give me the stone. We will leave you and your kind alone.¡± ¡°Those ears aren¡¯t very good at listening, are they? If I give you the stone and let you leave, you¡¯ll come back stronger than before. Much stronger. And we¡¯ll all die. It may be tomorrow instead of today, but you have every intent to kill us.¡± ¡°You would have me allow you to kill me instead? Nonsense. I have a greater purpose.¡± ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re going to ascend and, what, kill everyone in those giant rings so you¡¯ll be free? You¡¯ll be happy to know that that is, in fact, our plan too. So how¡¯s this for a deal: I¡¯ll give you the stone, you allow me to weave our souls together, and humanity will assist you with your ¡®greater purpose¡¯. Sound good?¡± The giant creature is silent for a while. ¡°Describe this process.¡± ¡°It would link the two of us, inexorably, allowing you to eventually level as a creature. I assume that, with the stone, you¡¯d also have the ability to gain and level Secondary Skills.¡± ¡°You seek to draw me in so that you may kill me.¡± ¡°I think you and I both know we¡¯d be stronger together.¡± ¡°I have no reason to trust you.¡± ¡°Nor I, you, but the soul bond will fix that. If either of us dies, the other would suffer greatly. Likely die as well.¡± ¡°You would try to imprison me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m honestly more afraid of you trying to do that to me. The power difference is not going unnoticed.¡± ¡°I could simply take the stone from you and leave your corpses for my followers to feast on.¡± ¡°Yeah, but you¡¯ll lost this guy. Probably the other one, too. Is it worth it?¡± ¡°Anything is worth escaping this. You will understand as well, eventually.¡± ¡°I understand now. We¡¯re not joining the cycle, we¡¯re breaking it, and you can help us. You¡¯ll get what you want, we¡¯ll get a village, and we can actually make a proper go of these trials. That, and you won¡¯t have to bother with humans killing your kind anymore. Consider your service to be¡­ the beginnings of paying us back for the thousands you slaughtered.¡± ¡°A necessary sacrifice¡­ much like this. I cannot risk the eternal suffering of my people on your word.¡± ¡°I¡­ can have your own vouch for me. For the veracity of my word.¡± It barks something like a laugh, or a scoff of disbelief. ¡°Who of mine would stand for you?¡± ¡°I have the soul of one of your lieutenants within me. It has agreed to serve me, in exchange for me doing this. For forming an unbreakable treaty with you. This is the best way I can do it.¡± ¡°Lies.¡± ¡°I can show you.¡± ¡°Do so.¡± ¡°I¡­ need direct contact.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°You know you can take me one on one, so let¡¯s go outside together, and I¡¯ll show you. If I¡¯m lying, or you¡¯re unsatisfied, you can always kill me and come back in here to finish things. However, I think you¡¯ll agree.¡± It lets my words hang in the air for several seconds, before slightly inclining its head. ¡°Agreed.¡± Energy 103: Finality Without another word, the Cerberus turns and heads down the hall, clearly expecting me to follow. Which, of course, I¡¯d love to, but I have this issue where my sword is embedded in a werewolf¡­ ¡°Hold on to this for me, would you?¡± I say, releasing my side of the sword. Its face twists in anguish at the sudden weight exacerbating its stomach wound, but to its credit, it doesn¡¯t make a sound. I don¡¯t feel great leaving my strongest weapon behind, but I always have my trusty backup stick¡­ Rather, it¡¯s more that I firmly believe that if my negotiations fail, we¡¯re all dead anyway, so being under-armed is not going to make a difference. The other side of that is¡­ maybe I could get away if I burned Energy at maximum. Plus, that would give the people inside the time to maybe kill off the other werewolves¡­ but then the Cerberus would get the stone. Probably. Zathis could always encase it in rock or something¡­ then the army would be after me again, but I¡¯d have no backup. I shrug to myself. At least it¡¯s not certain death¡­ and maybe Lauren would rogue her way to survival. That¡¯s a pretty shitty worst case scenario though, especially compared with getting my hands on a dominated boss monster. I have no illusions of being able to actually control something like that, but, if it lets me start the Domination process¡­ there¡¯s more than a little potential there. I just have to pray the souls I enslaved are both intact and delusional enough to vouch for me. If they don¡¯t, I¡¯ll use the Energy connection to dump orange Energy into it to slow it down while I run like hell. The sun beats down on me as I emerge from the cave, trying not to think about how many Carnines and Lieutenants are still massed outside. I fail. It¡¯s a lot. At least a thousand remain, but it could easily be more with the way the hills hide their true numbers. The Cerberus stops in the center of the clearing outside, and I immediately realize that, although the monsters have cleared a space for us, we¡¯re still entirely surrounded. Fuck. The Cerberus turns and faces me. ¡°Begin.¡± I raise my hand slowly and begin to carefully walk towards it, but stop just a foot short of it. The things heads tower well above my reach, so it¡¯s more practical than anything, but it serves the dual purpose of allowing it to make the final move. Signs of trust and all that. I don¡¯t even want to think about the Energy response this thing can give if it wants to. It inclines the middle head, the one that¡¯s been doing the speaking, to my hand, and touches it. I don¡¯t miss the fact that the fire and ice heads stare intently at me, likely watching for any underhanded moves. Fortunately, they can¡¯t see what I¡¯m going to try, so I¡¯m¡­ partially safe. I activate River¡¯s Source and let my concentration deepen until the weird soul world comes into focus around me. Kaythe appears next to me, as well as the Cerberus. The Carnines and Lieutenant sit dutifully, but immediately bow upon registering that the Cerberus is here. ¡°Master.¡± The Lieutenant speaks. ¡°But¡­ why have you come here?¡± It shoots an openly hostile glare at me, and I raise my hands to hopefully convey that it¡¯s not what it looks like. ¡°Most¡­ peculiar. I believed you to be lying with absolute certainty, and yet, here they are. Now let us see if you spoke only truth. Carcicus, tell me, are you the source of this creature¡¯s knowledge of our goal?¡± ¡°I am.¡± ¡°Why did you see it prudent to share that information?¡± ¡°I¡­ believe the monster could do no extra harm with that knowledge, and that it might allow a peaceful resolution. I hoped to convince it to give the stone willingly.¡± ¡°...Very well. The creature has offered me a deal, and I would have your advice. It offers the stone in exchange for¡­¡± It turns to me, waiting. ¡°Oh, ah, a connection similar to the one you have¡­ Carcicus? But a more equal one. You would maintain your physical form and independence, but we would be linked. I would gain some of your characteristics, and you, some of mine. As the bond grows in strength, which happens naturally over time, you would gain access to my¡­ soul Energy, and begin to grow because of it. I can promise that the positives are numerous and useful. Kaythe here used to be a simple Cathid, and the bond turned him into a warrior.¡± ¡°It is true!¡± Kaythe wiggles happily as he speaks. ¡°I have grown much under the Predator.¡± The cerberus examines Kaythe with a critical eye before returning its attention to Carcicus. ¡°What say you?¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°The monster made a deal with me to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict, and your presence here indicates it has adhered to the deal, despite the fact that there was little I could do to punish it in the event it failed to uphold its end. That is worth something, though I do not think trusting it is wise. It is crafty, and seeks to turn much of what it encounters to its own purposes.¡± ¡°Yes, I agree. It has said it wishes the same things as we do. Do you believe it?¡± ¡°I cannot know. The magics it uses are unlike any I have seen so far, so it is possible.¡± ¡°Can you leave this place?¡± ¡°I cannot. I am dead. Only my essence lingers here, captured in service to the monster. I serve willingly, so long as it furthers our goals.¡± Not the most flattering way of putting it, but it¡¯s not wrong. ¡°How do I know you will not attempt to lock me in here, with the others?¡± ¡°Carcinus could tell you why that would be a terrible idea for me, but the short of it is that you¡¯d probably kill me or take over my body, I don¡¯t know which. It tried to do the same when I first took them.¡± The Lieutenant dips its head in silent agreement. Silence lingers for a long while as the Cerberus thinks. It¡¯s clearly intelligent, but is it desperate enough to risk this? My hope is that it never really believed it could win alone against the things that created this place, but it hoped to find true oblivion in the process, or at least bloody the nose of its tormenter. If that¡¯s the case, it might start to believe we could win¡­ and it might trust me just enough. If it¡¯s confident, then I¡¯ve already lost, but I doubt it would have taken the time to come here if it was. ¡°I¡­ will trust you, creature. Rest assured, if you betray me, your suffering will be legendary.¡± ¡°Fair.¡± I let River¡¯s Source fall away, and immediately feel the mule kick of a headache that follows using it like that, but power through. This is no time to be showing weakness. The Cerberus does not move its middle head, but its eyes open, and stare at me as though its trying to see into my soul¡­ again. ¡°I need you to be willing. If you¡¯re not willing, bad things will happen. I¡¯ve never tried this on something¡­ stronger than me.¡± ¡°You do not sound confident.¡± ¡°I know it will either work, or I¡¯ll be the one suffering, so it¡¯s more fear for my own sake.¡± It lets out a low, grumbling growl. Not positive, but it doesn¡¯t move away. Here goes¡­ everything. I push gold Energy into my hand, and carefully press it against the boundary between our bodies, having already mobilized a fair amount of orange Energy for¡­ a variety of safety reasons. No counterattack comes, however, and slowly, my Energy leaks through. Point after point disappears, and before long, I¡¯ve used half of my entire pool. No notification. Kaythe took like¡­ two points to get the initial bond formed, and I¡¯ve put in around fifty- no, it must be more, because I¡¯m still regenerating during the process. Just how strong is this thing? I get to only about twenty remaining Energy before a notification pops up: [Warning! Willpower of Domination target substantially exceeds that of the user. Extreme damage will result if the bond is rejected! Proceed? (Y/N)] Not like I have a choice.
[Calculating soul fidelity¡­ Insufficient. Querying for solutions¡­ Done. Compressing¡­ Bond instability detected! Resolve immediately!]
¡°What is this?! It seeks to take my strength! You lied to me, creature! I will-¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t lie! It¡¯s temporary! I¡¯m not strong enough to tie us together with you as strong as you are, but it will come back! You¡¯ll be stronger than before, by leaps and bounds you¡¯ll grow, but you have to trust me!¡± ¡°Deceiver!¡± ¡°We can do this! Trust me!¡±
[Warning, instability critical. Total bond failure imminent!]
¡°I should never have tried. I¡¯ll do this myself.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll fail and die alone! You¡¯ll rejoin the cycle, and this will have been the last chance you had, and you will torment yourself forever because of what could have been!¡± ¡°Then at least I shall die whole.¡± ¡°I will make you better than whole.¡± ¡°... You swear this?¡± ¡°I swear on my life, and my love of it.¡±
[Instability lowering to within tolerable levels. Proceeding¡­ Compression complete. Bond initiation complete.]
[Congratulations! Cerberus domination milestone reached! Cerberus 5% dominated. -50 Max Energy.]
Minus fi- oh for fucks sake. --- End of book one. Energy 104: Epilogue 1 Lauren came to with a start, and immediately cast around for her weapon. Already in her hand, good. She wasn¡¯t dead, so that meant she could keep fighting, and keep killing. They should know better than to leave a rogue alive. But¡­ why was everyone just standing around? She blinked several times to be sure time wasn¡¯t frozen or something, but no, everyone, monsters and humans alike, was just standing there¡­ doing nothing. Everyone looked to be right on the brink, except Loriane, of course. Damn Energy users and their broken regeneration rate. She wanted to ask what was happening, but at the same time, she didn¡¯t want to give away that she was awake, just in case she had an opportunity to jump into the fight when it started again, so she opted to wait through the tense silence. It dragged on. Everyone was either on the ground, bleeding, like Marie, Lynn, and Amy, or still standing, and bleeding. Loriane¡¯s eyes were full of fire, as if she expected the battle to begin again any moment, and Seth looked like he was dead on his feet from exhaustion and blood loss, but everyone else just looked scared¡­ apprehensive. Where was Amadeus? Had he gone into the pit? Possible¡­ but, why would everyone be stopped? Had we all been captured? Then why weren¡¯t our captors moving to restrain anyone, or just killing us? Damnit, he¡¯s probably trying to pull some stupid bullshit that¡¯ll get us all killed. She wanted to go check on him, but she didn¡¯t want to leave the others to fend for themselves, and she also didn¡¯t want to try sneaking through a hoard of enemies. She was good, but not that good. Not yet, anyway. As if on queue, she heard movement coming from down the hall. ¡°-shall see. Bring me the stone.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. Give me a minute. Do you have any idea how close to¡­ I don¡¯t even know how to explain how much you almost fucked me up.¡± ¡°You¡¯re fine. You should have avoided leaving out information.¡± ¡°If I had known, I would have told you. Remember, I was the one at risk there, not you.¡± A rumbling growl echoed through the hall, as Amadeus and¡­ a huge fucking dog monster came into view. The thing was easily as tall as Amadeus, looking all the world like a giant, roided out wolf. It could probably fit someone¡¯s entire head in that mouth. Well, if that thing had shown up, no wonder the festivities had been cut short. The werewolf looking things were bad enough, but that¡­ the only thing that could have been worse was the fucking colossal three headed one showing up. Then they would¡¯ve been giga-fucked. However, what the fresh hell was he thinking, offering up the stone?! Wasn¡¯t that what they were trying to prevent at all costs? He¡¯d better be trying to pull something, or she¡¯d poison him until he wished he was dead. ¡°Hey guys, we made a deal. We¡¯re on the same side now. Hey, werewolf guy, I¡¯ll be back to fix that¡­ issue, just let me get Cerberus here the stone.¡± ¡°That is not my name.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t told me anything else, so that¡¯s what I¡¯m going with. Besides, it¡¯s a compliment. Cerberus was supposed to be pretty strong.¡±This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°You may know my name when you have earned the right.¡± ¡°Then you¡¯re going to have to live with Cerberus. I¡¯ll agree, it¡¯s less fitting now, without the other two heads, but you¡¯ll grow into it.¡± ¡°Do you mock me, creature?¡± ¡°Ah, no, not intentionally. I think I get sarcastic when I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m still alive.¡± Cerberus sighed, loudly, continuing to walk next to Amadeus up to the pit. The monster easily jumped across, while Amadeus opted for the safer path, inching along the side. Everyone stood around in something akin to dumbstruck confusion, as though they couldn¡¯t believe what they were seeing. Lauren, for her part, was now very confused about the implications of some of the things they had said. Was¡­ this the boss monster? ¡°Loriane, if you would start healing the others, and of our new allies that need it? I¡¯ll be right back to help.¡± She stared at him, mouth slightly open, confusion written on her face. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m serious. This isn¡¯t a trick, I¡¯m not pulling anything. Look, I¡¯ll explain in a moment, but Cerberus here will bite me really hard if I don¡¯t get him the freaking stone, so¡­¡± He shrugged and indicated further down the hall, where he continued walking. She could have sworn he had a set amount of charisma for the day, and beyond that, he was the most awkward guy she¡¯d ever seen. ---- ¡°I¡¯m not sure what will happen when you use this, and I¡¯m a little wary of further experimentation today. It¡¯ll probably get suppressed by the bond anyway¡­ so maybe you could uh¡­ wait, to use it?¡± ¡°After coming this far, you try to renege on our deal?!¡± ¡°Nonono- wait, nothing of the kind. It¡¯s yours, do what you want with it. I¡¯m just suggesting that it might put a bit of strain on our new bond, or have some weird consequences other than, you know, you ascending.¡± ¡°Silence, fool. This is necessary, and must be done now. I have allowed you too much already.¡± ¡°Alright, fine.¡± Fuck, I really hoped that would work. Well, time to test death for a second time today¡­ I hand Cerberus the tablet. It takes the tablet in its jaws, looks me dead in the eye, and crunches down on it. The shards fall to the ground, and it stares at something only it can see¡­ and then the pieces rush back together, forming the original tablet again. I frown. ¡°Did it not work-¡± ¡°UNSUITABLE CANDIDATE?! What treachery¡­ no, this is the stone, but WHY?! THAT SCUM! THAT TRAITOROUS WRETCH! IT KNEW I WAS DOOMED FROM THE START, BUT LED ME TO BELIEVE, LET ME HOPE!¡± ¡°Umm¡­ you can¡¯t use the stone?¡± ¡°The system DEFIES ME.¡± It crunches the tablet, and then again, and continues destroying it over and over in a fit of fury. ¡°Hey. HEY. LISTEN. We can get around it, alright? It¡¯s your lucky day. I have a way to get around the system, and maybe I can use our bond to transfer it to you as well. It¡¯ll take time, but we¡¯ll make it work. Alright?¡± ¡°This¡­ no, you lie. You speak the words I wish to hear to prevent me from taking my own life. It will not work-¡± ¡°Giving up definitely won¡¯t work. Even if you can¡¯t get the stone to work, you¡¯ll still grow with me. We¡¯ll still take these trials on together. You¡¯ll be stronger than you ever were, and you¡¯ll have any allies I can muster together to support you. It¡¯s worth seeing this through, don¡¯t you think?¡± Cerberus remains silent for a long time, staring at the tablet with obvious hatred in its eyes. ¡°Yes. Yes, I will join you. We will amass armies the likes of which this world has never seen, and storm their tower. We will slay them down to the last, and forever end their abominable reign.¡± I smile broadly, collecting the tablet again. ¡°Excellent.¡± Energy 105: Epilogue 1 ¡°Hey, Amadeus.¡± ¡°What.¡± ¡°If you wanted to hold my hand, all you had to do was ask.¡± ¡°Shut up, Lauren.¡± ¡°Playing hard to get? Don¡¯t you know girls hate that?¡± ¡°Be quiet or I¡¯ll accidentally heal something backwards.¡± ¡°I doubt it. You wouldn¡¯t dare place a flaw in my impeccable beauty.¡± I almost laugh, but manage to turn it into a convincing cough. ¡°Something you¡¯d like to add, dear Amadeus?¡± Ok, not that convincing. ¡°Ah, no. I choose life.¡± ¡°Wise man.¡± A silence hangs between us while the others move around. The monster army already cleared out, and I¡¯d reclaimed my sword from the gut of the werewolf and done my best to repair it. The system¡¯s natural regeneration would handle any¡­ mishaps. It¡¯s alien biology, ok, the only reason I even know that certain things are injured is because of the Energy view telling me. Some of their organs are just jagged by nature. They look like they¡¯ve exploded, but nope, that¡¯s on purpose. Whatever. ¡°So¡­ what are we going to do about¡­ our new allies?¡± ¡°What do you mean? They¡¯re not a threat anymore.¡± ¡°Yeah, but¡­ well, two things: first, we need to finish the village founding quest, which requires that we, and I quote ¡°eliminate the monsters from the valley¡±. Second: even if we¡¯re allied with them, only the nine of us know that. Nine people, out of however many hundreds survived. We¡¯re going to have to tell the others, then convince them to hold up the truce. Unless you really want to go around enforcing it the old fashioned way¡­¡± I shake my head. ¡°You¡¯re right. Fuck, you¡¯re right. I was so caught up in the success of not¡­ ya know, dying in glorious battle, that I completely forgot I¡¯m not the head of humanity.¡± ¡°You¡¯re such a pompous little shi-¡± ¡°Anyway, I think we can work around the system¡¯s definition of ¡®eliminate¡¯. I¡¯ll talk to Cerberus and have him made aware that this could be a problem, and that he might need to move his army away for long enough for the quest to trigger as complete¡­ or something. It fucking better. I absolutely refuse to be pigeon holed in this regard.¡± ¡°You really don¡¯t want to kill them?¡± ¡°Lauren, it¡¯s a literal army that we can use. I¡¯d much rather keep them around, especially with our goals aligning like this. I doubt they¡¯ll be much use when we assault the tower, but their numbers and speed would make them excellent scouts, and they¡¯d probably be capable of keeping the town safe. Especially when combined with human guards¡­ which we¡¯ll have to figure out. I know Marie and Tom are likely going to stay, but I have no idea about anyone else. I¡¯m not sticking around to lead this mess, and we¡¯re going to be taking Cerberus with us, so we need a powerful figure on our side and on theirs to represent us. I think I know who theirs will be, but¡­ which of us should remain behind to ensure things don¡¯t fall apart?¡± ¡°Talk to Lynn about it.¡± Lauren replies suddenly, as if just struck by the idea. ¡°Lynn? I don¡¯t know. We talked once, in private, about leadership, and she seemed really conflicted about it. Plus, she¡¯d be really useful in the field...¡± ¡°She wants to lead, but she¡¯s afraid. It¡¯s not my specialty to talk people into things, but¡­ I mean, you convinced me not to kill you, and a boss monster to join you, so you must have some talent for it.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Careful, for a moment there, you almost sounded impressed.¡± ¡°You¡¯re insufferable. You know full well what I think, you just like to lord it over me.¡± ¡°A rare opportunity like that can¡¯t just be wasted.¡± ¡°Mmm, of course. Just like, despite the fact that I¡¯ve been healed for several minutes, you aren¡¯t wasting the opportunity to keep holding my hand.¡± ¡°Ah, sorry, I got distracted.¡± I quickly pull my hand away, but she grips my hand back, continuing the contact for a few more seconds. I feel a slight pressure on my cheek, and she stands up, flipping her hair. ¡°Sure you did.¡± Smiling, she turns and walks away. Unthinkingly, my hand goes to my cheek¡­ it¡¯s just like her to kiss me and walk away. --- ¡°Lynn.¡± ¡°Well hello, Amadeus. To what do I owe the pleasure?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve already been healed?¡± I ask, stepping further into the forge room where she sits surrounded by wood shavings. She¡¯s been hard at work, judging by the number of complete arrows that sit next next to her. ¡°I helped myself to a healing potion. I had no injury that required special healing. I appreciate the offer, however.¡± ¡°Fair enough. Lauren and I were talking about what happens now. We have a village to found.¡± ¡°Likely to be someone else¡¯s work, for the most part. We will be gallivanting across the continent, will we not?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s¡­ part of what I wanted to talk about. I think¡­ if you want, you could represent our ragtag group, in conjunction with whoever Cerberus leaves in charge, and uphold the treaty, build the town¡­ you know, manage everything.¡± ¡°You¡­ do not want me to accompany you?¡± ¡°I do, and if what you want is to do that, I¡¯m happy to have more people I trust with me¡­ but I¡¯m not asking you because it¡¯s what I want.¡± ¡°You think I wish to lead? We have spoken on this matter-¡± ¡°Yeah, and you were really weird the whole time. Like you were hiding something. That, and then you lost to me on purpose when we were competing for team lead.¡± ¡°I did no such thing.¡± ¡°Good, you already lie cleanly, just like a leader, but you can¡¯t trick me. Not about this. You used different abilities when fighting Lauren, and you fought like you meant it. With me, it felt like you were trying to make it last long enough that I would think I earned the victory just through time spent.¡± ¡°... We spoke of this. You should have been the leader, and you were. It was very simple.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to press you, and you should do what you feel is best, but there is something you¡¯re not telling me. All I¡¯m saying is that I¡¯ll listen, if something¡¯s bothering you.¡± She says nothing in reply, but continues to carve away at sticks, slowly forming them into arrows, using green leaves as the fletching. I watch her work for several minutes, but realize I¡¯m probably putting pressure on her to talk by just standing around, so I turn to leave. ¡°Remember Nate?¡± I stop, partially turning back. ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°I was always amazed by the way he could use people. I hate- hated him, but I admired him all the same. He took layabouts and people with wildly different views and turned them into a well oiled machine. That¡­ impressed me. What he did with that power was wrong, but what he could have done was¡­ truly great. I think that the cruel irony of that rests in the fact that anyone with that power would succumb to it and become a monster. How could one resist absolute power?¡± ¡°Cerberus does.¡± ¡°E-excuse me?¡± ¡°Yeah. Cerberus talked to me a bit about how the command structure works for his kind. Turns out, the one in charge just happens to be the one with the greatest telepathic abilities and willpower. He decides everything, and his subordinates hear his will and obey. Of course, he isn¡¯t the only one with those abilities, but his outweigh all others. He dominates the Werewolves, who dominate the Lieutenants, who dominate the Carnines. He rules absolutely, if he wants¡­ but what he wants is what¡¯s best for his race, so he pursues that with¡­ exceptional vigor. Thousands of cycles of torment, and he still hasn¡¯t lost that ideal. I think you could handle it, if you wanted.¡± She says nothing again, but this time, she also stops carving. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Why do you think I could handle it?¡± ¡°Complicated question. You could say that I have a feeling it would work out, or that I think you understand the trappings of power and are more likely to avoid them, but neither will do the sentiment justice. You will do well if you choose to do it, and that¡¯s what I believe. It¡¯s up to you whether that will one day change from sentiment to concrete knowledge.¡± ¡°I¡­ thank you. I will think on what you have said.¡± ¡°Good luck, Lynn.¡± Energy 106: Epilogue 1 Gershwin had fought for a long time. Ever since he had appeared, covered in plate armor and carrying a sword and shield, he had fought. He had killed scores of monsters, gathered what survivors he could, and done his best to protect them, and teach them to protect themselves. He had, for the most part, succeeded. That first night the Shades had come, they had lost a few, but they had been prepared with extra dried grass and dead shrubs, and with a bonfire at their backs, they had repelled their enemies. Slowly, they had built fortifications of mud and rock, using the natural defence of the northern river to prevent incursions from the monsters, so they only needed to fear the Shades every night, and shortly, they too were rendered harmless. The group he had amassed was little more than forty people, but they were trained well, and armored with the skins of the monsters they had slain. They had done well to keep an artisan leatherworker alive, and she had protected them in turn. Finally, the day came when they agreed they were powerful enough to march on the monster hordes and finally free humanity from their threat. As they marched toward the camp, they quickly realized that something was wrong; namely, that there were no living things in the camp. They had advanced, expecting an ambush or some magical trickery at any moment, but they found nothing¡­ aside from some devastatingly clever traps. The monsters had tricked them, seemingly abandoning their fortress but leaving large pits in the ground, filled with caustic slimes! They had manage to rescue those that fell in, but their wounds were terrible. One man had lost his vision, another had somehow swallowed some, and could no longer speak. Even with the system¡¯s powerful regeneration, his agony was apparent. Worse was the knowledge that the wounds wouldn¡¯t heal entirely. The man¡¯s eyes were forever gone, and the other¡¯s voice would be changed greatly, if it returned at all. They could recover from much, but when something was destroyed¡­ there was nothing to be done. ¡®Monster¡¯ was an adequate name for them. Gershwin raised his helmet and spit, not knowing what else to do. Then he spotted something. Far in the distance, a huge collection of¡­ somethings, were moving. There. ¡°THERE!¡± he yelled, letting the leadership skill he had acquired enhance his voice, and make clear his intention to his comrades. ¡°THERE!¡± came the answering cry, and his warband charged. Thunderous was their approach, so it came as little surprise that the monsters noticed, and turned to face them. However, only a small number did so before they reacted in sudden alarm, and took off running towards the forest in one collective mass. ¡°THEY FEAR OUR MIGHT! LEAVE NONE ALIVE! HUNT THEM TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD!¡± ¡°OORA!¡± ¡°-ait!¡± Hmm? Ah, more survivors to join the fight. Excellent. ¡°Take up arms and join us! Your salvation is at hand!¡± ¡°-o! I s- -ait! -top!¡± Whoever the figure was, it was moving towards them at a remarkable speed¡­ very remarkable. Gershwin smiled to himself. Another expert then? Perfect. This one might even be able to go toe to toe with him¡­ Gershwin looked forward to an opportunity to spar. He raised his hand in greeting. ¡°Ho, traveller! I am Ger-¡± ¡°I said STOP.¡± The concussive force of the man¡¯s shout set Gershwin¡¯s ears to ringing, and every member of his warband stopped abruptly, so much so that many ended up crashing into each other and falling over. Gershwin took off his helmet, tapping his ears to check his hearing, but he now regarded this man not as an asset, but as a potential threat. Who was he to stop them from attacking those foes? Was he protecting them? No, he couldn¡¯t possibly be¡­ But Gershwin was not a man to doubt what was in front of his eyes. Though the man had a pained expression, and seemed to be partially doubled over, he still demanded answers. ¡°Who are you? Why do you defend these creatures? Are you with them? Against us?! Answer!¡± The man frowned and shook his head, pointing to his throat. ¡°You will not answer?! Draw steel, betrayer, we shall see who¡¯s will is stronger!¡± He roared the challenge as he threw his helmet back on and drew his sword.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The man only shook his head harder, before shrugging his shoulders in aggravation, and holding up his hand, fingers splayed. The one went down, and another¡­ he was counting down? To what? Another threat? Perhaps he was a mage! Well, he would be made to answer one way or anoth- ¡°Ack, ahh, sorry, doing the shouting thing really fucks up my voice. Hi. Please don¡¯t attack the dogs, I kinda promised them humanity would ally with them.¡± ¡°You¡­ are a betrayer! We will not stand for this, right comrades?!¡± ¡°RAAA!¡± ¡°God, no, stop doing that. They¡¯re literally on our side now. If you attacked them, they¡¯d probably let you kill a fair number of them before Cerberus tore your head off and got mad at me for not upholding the treaty.¡± ¡°Your Cerberus is no ma-¡± ¡°Yes he fucking is. He beat us, and we had some pretty intense advantages. I¡¯m sure you all would have given him some trouble, but there¡¯s no point now. They were lied to, mislead, they never woul-¡± ¡°They killed hundreds, no, thousands of humans! And you defend them? This cannot be allowed. Draw, or I will strike you down and do what must be done.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understan-¡± ¡°It is you who do not understand.¡± With that, Gershwin charged. He was loathe to attack an unarmed human, but he had no choice. This man had chosen, and so had he. Faster than Gershwin would have thought possible, the man produced a¡­ stick, holding it aloft like a sword. The fool, he dared to look down on a knight?! No wonder they had been defeated, armed so poorly! But¡­ he could see a sword hilt over the man¡¯s shoulder. Gershwin realized he was being viciously mocked, in front of his own men! Unforgivable. He would leave the man alive, but only barely. Gershwin swung his sword, aiming to slash the man¡¯s shoulder and leave him defenceless, and even grinned slightly when the man attempted to use the stick to block. The grin vanished when Gershwin¡¯s attack stopped completely, doing little more than denting the stick. The man¡¯s eyes bored into him, but not with hate, more¡­ aggravation. Like Gershwin was a nuisance to be dealt with! He closed his eyes for a moment. This was most unfortunate, but he would have to go all out. May god forgive him. He swung again, activating a skill, Crushing Blow, that had never failed to pierce the hide of any enemy he had faced. The man wore nothing more than ratty clothing, so there would be nothing to take the blow. Not even the strangely strong stick could withst- Gershwin¡¯s hand jolted, and he realized his sword was no longer within his grasp. In fact, it was no longer anywhere near him. He immediately cursed, and raised his shield to block the counter attack, but none came. He lowered the shield to reveal the man was putting the stick away. ¡°Christ, is that how you deal with everyone you disagree with? Hey, you lot, does he beat you? You can tell me, it¡¯s safe here.¡± Murmurs of confusion rumbled from behind Gershwin, and he himself was torn. The man wasn¡¯t gloating, but he had clearly let his guard down, thinking the fight was over¡­ should he take advantage of it? No, the man had disarmed his strongest strike¡­ with a stick. Loathe as he was to admit it, this man might have been more powerful than he had originally surmised. ¡°Fine, whatever. Just give them a- oh, there we go.¡±
[Congratulations! Humanity has accomplished their first trial! Though this test was fairly easy, the others will be strenuous, and require immense ability and dedication to overcome. At the dawn of the next day, your next quest will be issued, and your village will appear where the greatest contributor to the quest¡¯s completion wills it: Amadeus. Seek out this exemplary warrior and rise to new and ever greater heights.]
The notification filled Gershwin¡¯s vision, and his confusion was the only thing to reach new heights. A sudden dread fell over him. ¡°What¡­¡± he asked, his mouth dry. ¡°-did you say your name was?¡± ¡°Amadeus. It¡¯s a pleasure.¡± Energy 107: Epilogue 1 ¡°They left because I told them to, so we could trick the system into completing the quest, but they¡¯re going to come back, and they¡¯re going to work with us. We¡¯re going to work with them too. That means no killing them for Power or levels or whatever. Find a dungeon, go hunt in the forest, whatever, but the dog monsters are our friends now.¡± I look the weird knight dude straight in the eye, waiting. It¡¯s probably a bad call to be such a dick to this guy, especially considering he had a lot of people behind him, but also, he¡¯s clearly not the type to listen to people. Like, at all. He seems to be listening now, but only after he got his ass beaten in front of his people. Ugh. I probably shouldn¡¯t be so hard on him. He gathered a lot more people than we managed to¡­ but also they¡¯re all a lot less strong than we are. Lauren, Loriane, Seth, Amy, or Lynn would each be able to hold their own against Gershwin without much issue. Well, Lauren could probably take down the entire army, but that¡¯s because I doubt they have the same depth of skills we do. ¡°I cannot trust them so easily. Not after what they¡¯ve done.¡± I sigh, exasperated. ¡°Are you really the kind of man who¡¯s going to attack allied creatures, even if you don¡¯t agree with the alliance? Are you really going to kill them in cold blood, or provoke them unnecessarily?¡± He stays quiet, but fury dances in his eyes. Likely because he¡¯s unwilling to say any different in front of his followers, he grunts. ¡°If¡­ they uphold the alliance, they will be tolerated. They will not be allowed near non-combatants, but I think we cou-¡± ¡°They will be allowed where they choose.¡± His fury increases substantially, as what he clearly saw as a concession is thrown back in his face. ¡°We will not allow our artisans to be risked! They would be unable to defend themselves!¡± ¡°It isn¡¯t a risk. You can¡¯t understand why, but if any of them harm any of us, they¡¯ll die. They can¡¯t kill me, which means they can¡¯t stop me. Plus, they¡¯re like a hive mind, and I¡¯m tied to the thing at the top. He doesn¡¯t want to die, so he won¡¯t do anything dumb. Am I getting my point across?¡± ¡°Clearly.¡± He responds, icily. ¡°Great.¡± I say, paying no heed to his tone. ¡°Then you and your men will cooperate with us?¡± ¡°No. We will do things how we see fit, not at the command of some misc-¡± ¡°Then you can fuck off, and don¡¯t come back. You clearly don¡¯t need our village, or our army, or our protection, so handle whatever the system can throw at you all by your fu-¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Amadeus, enough.¡± Lynn steps forward. Odd, I didn¡¯t hear her approach¡­ ¡°You¡¯re their leader?¡± She continues, addressing Gershwin. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Lynn, and I¡¯ll be representing the small group of people you will meet later. We will be founding a village, likely right on top of the hill over there. It has a dungeon underneath it and plenty of supplies and infrastructure already created, making it highly defensible. We have people capable of forming stone and wood to their will, an extremely capable blacksmith, people who can create potions, bows, and very potent healing that can restore things the system will not naturally fix. You are free to join us, but you will follow our laws if you do. Your ideas on how the laws should be changed, and the overall direction of our efforts, will be considered and accepted or rejected based on reasonable thought and proof. The Carnines and their masters are now our allies, and any humans that break that pact will be known and suffer greatly, just as if they had killed a human. The same is true for the Carnines. If you do not wish to join us, we will not bother you or yours unless you continue to attack the Carnines. They are a valuable asset, and will protect us with their lives. That should be respected. Do you have any questions?¡± ¡°Just as I was telling your friend here, we do not req-¡± ¡°Actually, chief¡­ that doesn¡¯t sound unfair.¡± Someone standing immediately behind Gershwin spoke up, and others turn to stare at him with expressions varying from relief to aggravation. ¡°Dylan, if you want to cozy up with monsters, nobody here will stop you.¡± Gershwin clearly enunciated every venomous word. Dylan immediately looks shaken, but rallies slightly. ¡°Is it wrong to forgive them? If they really don¡¯t mean to hurt us, we can turn our attention to other things¡­ rebuilding¡­ what good would killing all of them do?¡± ¡°It would ensure our safety.¡± ¡°From them, sure, but the others? Rats in the mountains, living trees in the forest¡­ this world is vast, sir, and we could always use more support-¡± ¡°Feel free to take it. We¡¯ll be going.¡± And with that, he turned and lead¡­ roughly half of his original number away, which only served to infuriate him more. ¡°INGRATES! FINE. DANCE WITH DEMONS, IF IT PLEASES YOU.¡± He storms away, moving at a fast paced jog, followed by the remains of his retinue. ¡°Pay him no mind.¡± Lynn gestured after the fleeing ¡®soldiers¡¯. ¡°We are still working everything out, but we have strong reason to believe this alliance will last. They want the same thing as we do: to escape this world, and destroy those who sent us here to die. Killing us would do nothing for them, so here we are. The others will come around eventually, I am reasonably certain. Dylan?¡± ¡°Maam?¡± ¡°Thank you for speaking up. What role did you hold within your old group?¡± ¡°I¡­ worked with leather, mostly. I made the armor everyone is wearing.¡± ¡°Ah, so you found an Apprentice¡¯s Stone?¡± ¡°A¡­ what?¡± ¡°You made all that without system equipment?¡± ¡°Y-yeah, we had the bodies, and I used to work with leather before we¡­ arrived here, so it wasn¡¯t terribly difficult.¡± ¡°Most impressive. Please, all of you, follow me and we¡¯ll get you sorted, and see what equipment we can get for you. This way¡­¡± And with a small smile to me, she turns and leads them away. I close my mouth, ending the look of complete shock I had for likely the entire duration of that interaction, and scratch my head. That was incredible, but¡­ so incredible that it should have been impossible. That isn¡¯t the source of my confusion, however. My head ached every time Lynn spoke, so the mechanism was clear, but¡­ how did she decide so fast? How did she get that good that fast? Lauren was right on point with recommending Lynn for the job¡­ she¡¯s a natural. Energy 108: Book Two The wind parts the grass, creating waves of flowing green and brown. On the horizon, dark clouds loom for the first time since we arrived, and who knows what kind of storms alien planets have. We have work to do, but it will have to wait until the storm passes. Lynn marches the men whose minds she has swayed, and I follow behind, thinking. I don¡¯t know what the village will look like, but it seems we will have enemies attacking right off the bat in the form of Gershwin and his loyal band of soldiers. They can¡¯t threaten us, but they can bother us. People won¡¯t want to kill other humans, and so long as they don¡¯t try to kill any of us, we don¡¯t have a good reason to slaughter them. That would be terrible for morale, and¡­ there might still be a chance to reach them. The wind blows heavily, carrying the scent of an impending storm, and while I can tell that the air is cool, it doesn¡¯t bother me at all. The cold of my sword is far worse. We quickly reach The Barrows, and the new recruits are led inside to be introduced, sorted, and equipped, and I finally make a detour. Standing on top of a nearby hill, I survey the land with a frown; none of this is remotely suitable for building on. We have hills everywhere, which will greatly hinder the building of walls or orderly buildings. Everything will be at an angle, or have to be highly supported in order to stand upright¡­ no good at all. While Marie could probably level the entire area, given enough time, I think the system probably has some way of dealing with the terrain. This is the starting zone, after all, so maybe it levels everything for us? Either way, it doesn¡¯t make a lot of sense structurally to build right on top of a cave, but we need it near enough that it can easily fall inside our walls, when we build them. I opt to put it right next to the hill that contains The Barrows. That way, if any automatic leveling of the terrain happens, it won¡¯t destroy the dungeon. If it doesn¡¯t level anything¡­ I guess we¡¯ll deal with sideways houses. When the last of the Carnines had stepped outside whatever arbitrary boundary marked the plains from the forest, a crystal had appeared in my hand, humming steadily. The system claimed I should crush it and sprinkle the fragments where I wanted the center of the village to be, and for once, I follow the instructions. The crystal is easily crushed into a fine dust, and I stoop low before spreading the fragments; the wind would easily have stolen all of it away otherwise. Wouldn¡¯t that be fun: a village suddenly appearing in the side of a mountain. I bet a certain dark entity would find that very amusing. The shards sparkle in the grass, and the wind still manages to spread them around quite a bit before they land, creating a panic inducing whirlwind that fortunately swirls into the ground where I intended. Long seconds pass with nothing happening other than the continued rushing of the wind, but I can¡¯t even enjoy it with the immense anticipation I feel. Come to think of it, I probably should have told someone I was doing- A small popping sound cuts easily through all the other noise; a highly unnatural thing because it seems to almost lower the volume of everything else around it so as to be heard without itself being louder. The wind stops entirely for a moment, but then rushes in again, but from a different angle. The sound of splashing water¡­ that wasn¡¯t there before. Did the rain start already? But, no, the sky is still clear overhead, and though the clouds are rapidly approaching, there is no- ¡­ well, there¡¯s no rain, but there are suddenly buildings everywhere, and the source of the water noises seems to be an ornate fountain in the center of it all. The system, it seems, created more ground and dirt at the exact altitude I placed down the shards, meaning there¡¯s a giant square of suddenly raised dirt. Fortunately, I made this far enough away from the Barrows that I didn¡¯t accidentally bury everyone alive, but they definitely should have had warning text or something. Most of us could have probably survived being entombed in ground, but it wouldn¡¯t have been a pleasant experience. And for the new people? Hey, welcome to the group, here¡¯s where you¡¯ll sle- bleeeeh! Now you¡¯re drowning in dirt! Hah, we¡¯re so quirky- no. They¡¯d fucking leave, immediately, even if they believed Lynn¡¯s assurances that ¡®this never happens¡¯ and ¡®this is definitely Amadeus¡¯ fault¡¯. Well, it would be, but I don¡¯t appreciate how quickly this mental version of Lynn threw me under the bus.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Either way, it didn¡¯t happen, and nobody seems to have witnessed my exceptional work of magic, so I get to explore all the new buildings first! In front of me is a large building with a helpful sign out front labelling it ¡®Town Hall¡¯. To my left is a long, rectangular, two story building called ¡®Bunkhouse 1¡¯, and on my right is ¡®Bunkhouse 2¡¯ with the same design. Behind me is the ¡®Merchant Center¡¯, a large, flat square of a building with many windows. Past Bunkhouse 1, there¡¯s a section of what looks like blank space, but it¡¯s furrowed¡­ almost like it was plowed. Past Bunkhouse 2 is a gigantic building labelled ¡®Warehouse¡¯ and next to that is another flat building, similar in many ways to the Merchant Center, called the ¡®Artisanal Center¡¯. The system delivers, that¡¯s for sure. I opt to check out the Merchant Center first, though I have an inkling of what I¡¯ll find there. What is clearly the main entrance, judging by the large, ornately carved wooden doors, faces the center of the plaza containing the fountain. A small outcropping of roof extends along the outside of the building, creating a slightly sheltered area around the entire perimeter, which would sufficiently protect people from the sun, but would have much more of an issue with rain if there was any wind at all. I gently push open the doors, finding the suspected lack of almost anything interesting. Clearly the system expects these shops to be run by people, though why it would encourage commerce is beyond me. There is, however, one occupied stall. In the center of the building, a small stand is set up, with the opening directly facing the entrance¡­ and inside, a dark mannequin looking thing stands and smiles. ¡°Fuck.¡± I¡¯m immediately tempted to run. That evil fucking nightmare bullshit is what scared me off a cliff and what supposedly brought us here in the first place. And now it¡¯s sitting in a shop, a static semblance of a smile plastered on its face. It, however, doesn¡¯t react to my presence at all. Even waving at it elicits no response whatsoever. I remember it being more¡­ animated. Maybe it¡¯s just waiting for me to make a fool of myself for its amusement again. The bastard. Despite my reservations, I make my way towards the entity. As I approach, it remains completely still up until I¡¯m within five feet of the stand, when I hear a familiar voice in my mind: ¡°Greetings traveller! Would you like to browse my wares?¡± ¡°Cut the shit, why are you here?¡± ¡°Accepted responses are: Yes; No!¡± ¡°Get bored of tormenting people and now you¡¯re taking a side gig as a shop owner? Going to sell us overpriced trash that¡¯ll end up killing us when we rely on it?¡± ¡°Accepted response not detected. Defaulting to ¡®no¡¯. Have a nice day!¡± ¡°What the fuck-¡± ¡°Greetings traveller! Would you like to-¡± ¡°Fine! Play the ¡®dumb AI¡¯ part, see if I care. What do you have?¡± ¡°Accepted res-¡± ¡°Yesss.¡± ¡°Very well!¡± A notification appears:
[Iron Sword - 15 cp Iron Shield - 20 cp Leather Armor (Set) - 100 cp Mana Battery (small) - 50 cp Power Ingot (small) - 100 cp Power Ingot (medium) - 175 cp Waterskin - 2 cp Leather Cloak - 10 cp Wood Material - 5 cp Stone Material - 20 cp Iron Material - 50 cp Food Ration (3 Day) - 5 cp Water Ration (3 Day) - 3 cp]
A brief survey indicates that there¡¯s actually some fairly useful stuff, though the most interesting things have to be the ¡®Power Ingots¡¯. They¡¯re pretty expensive, and I¡¯m not sure how people are supposed to gain the Power without Energy, but¡­ actually, I need to ask about that. People don¡¯t talk that much about the tutorial, but I have to assume someone also got the bonus at the start. Either way, I¡¯m pretty sure we collectively have like thirty or so copper coins, giving us just enough for some basic stuff if we wanted it¡­ but I¡¯d be on the side of saving up. We don¡¯t have enough iron as it is, especially now that we¡¯ll be arming all these other people, and it seems to be a fairly rare drop. That, combined with the fact that we now have nothing that we should kill that drops loot during the day, means we need some way of getting it¡­ but then how do we get money? I feel frustration mounting for a moment before smacking myself in the head. Zathis mentioned more dungeon right behind him¡­ and I haven¡¯t spoken to him since the battle concluded. I¡¯ll just finish checking the other buildings and go catch him up to date¡­ and maybe explore a bit of the dungeon. And resummon Kaythe. Fuck, there¡¯s so much to do. Energy 109: Deluge ¡°Come again!¡± The seemingly innocuous words chase me as I walk briskly towards the exit. Chills run up my spine. I feel like it¡¯s lying, hiding what it really is, but it might also just be a tiny fragment of an AI¡­ the AI that runs this stupid place. Either way, I¡¯m keeping the fuck away from that thing whenever possible. Someone else can do the shopping. The first drops of rain hit me as the merchant center doors swing closed behind me. I glance in the direction the storm is rolling in from, and feel a different kind of dread well up in my chest. It was dark before, but the darkness keeps progressing the further I look. Something¡¯s coming, and I should probably get my ass into the safety of The Barrows¡­ but I might just¡­ not. A strange madness grips my heart, and a probably disconcerting smile edges onto my face. Maybe I¡¯ll just stay out here and¡­ experience it. I hurry toward the only other building that interests me for the moment. From the outside, the Artisanal Center looks very similar to the Merchant Center, with the noticeable distinction that the walls and floor are stone, and there are several covered chimneys. Whoever designed this building clearly intended to prevent fires and also allow people to burn fuel in here without flooding the area with smoke. As before, one occupied stand towers in the center of the room, containing one identical dark mannequin. Mmm. ¡°Greetings traveller! I am the village healer. Do you wish to be examined?¡± ¡°Su- yes.¡± ¡°Scanning¡­ Detected: Burned Channels status effect. Required materials: 200 Power; Deepwood moss (small). Please present required materials.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have the moss.¡± ¡°Deepwood moss location: Edent¨¥ Forest, East. Found in locations of darkness below heavy canopy growth.¡± ¡°Fuck.¡± ¡°Acceptable commands ar-¡± ¡°Shut up, I know.¡± Of course. It was too good to be true, hoping there would be some mystical cure-all capability. I bet everything the system offers is something that can be done manually, and for less¡­ meaning I could probably cure my own Burned Channels¡­ if I had any idea how to do that. I¡¯d say I¡¯ll bring back a lot of it, and experiment, but that would almost certainly kill me. Just imagine if that Deepwood Moss is a really potent Mana recovery reagent, and I fucking explode from sheer Mana. Though, Lauren might be able to tell me what the potions do, so¡­ maybe not? The wind howls outside, and my thoughts move away from the frustration of being continually prevented from recovering. I quickly make my way back to the The Barrows. If I¡¯m going to stay outside during the storm, which is a terrible idea, I should at least tell people. That way they won¡¯t have a reason to worry¡­ at least, not about my physical well being. My mental health is a whole different beast. I doubt anyone would have the gall to call me ¡®sane¡¯. ¡°Amadeus, this man is blind in both eyes. Please restore his vision.¡± ¡°Wait, you¡¯re telling me they planned to take on the Carnine army, and they took a blind guy? That just seems irresponsible.¡± Lynn narrowed her eyes slightly. Ah, of course, the guy is standing right behind her. I cough, awkwardly. ¡°Alright, anyway, I¡¯ll get you fixed up in no time. Now, this is going to sound weird, but I need you to not resist when you feel pressure or you¡¯ll end up hurting me and your eyes won¡¯t be fixed. Otherwise, this¡¯ll take like¡­ two minutes. Sound good?¡± The man tilts his head slightly before nodding. ¡°Do what you must.¡± I instruct the man to hold out his hand, and take hold of it. Technically, this would be easiest if I had contact with his head, but I think that would freak him out. He¡¯s got some pretty nasty chemical burns on his face, and it wouldn¡¯t be unfair to assume he¡¯s sensitive to touch in that area right now. As promised, his wounds knit themselves back together extremely rapidly. Damaged and destroyed skin regrows at an astounding rate, and his cloudy eyes become crystal clear. I fix the eyes last so he actually lets me fix everything because otherwise- oh, yep, here it comes.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! With a slight gasp, the man looks frantically around, waving his hands in front of his eyes, and tears well up in his eyes. ¡°M-my sight! You restored my sight! Ha, haha, I didn¡¯t believe them, but you actually did it! Magician! Healer! Oh thank you thank you! Ask whatever you want, I owe you so much-¡± ¡°Hey, it was no trouble¡­ what was your name again?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Chris, Amadeus, it¡¯s truly a pleasure.¡± ¡°Chris, then. As I said, no problem at all. Anything you feel you owe to me, direct towards this fantastic woman here. Lynn will make sure everything runs smoothly.¡± ¡°Of course, but for you specifically-¡± ¡°This is for me specifically. I don¡¯t know what made you want to leave Gershwin and join us, but I value loyalty above all else. Do well, exceed, set an example for your comrades. That¡¯s all I ask.¡± ¡°Yes, sir!¡± ¡°Just Amadeus is fine.¡± I smile at him to soften the correction. ¡°Of course, Amadeus.¡± ¡°Alright, enough, we can continue inside.¡± Lynn interjects abruptly. ¡°The storm is fast approaching.¡± ¡°Y-yeah, I¡¯m actually¡­ going to stay out here?¡± Lynn turns back to me with a look that brooks no nonsense. ¡°Inside, Amadeus.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯ll see you afterwards.¡± ¡°You¡¯re far too important to be risking your life over frivolous nonsense. We don¡¯t have any idea-¡± ¡°Humans, why are you not cowering in your cave?¡± Chris immediately tenses up, hand going to his weapon, but Lynn raises a hand to stop him. ¡°Hey Cerberus. I was planning on staying out here for the storm. Care to join?¡± ¡°Amadeus, you¡¯re not-¡± ¡°Your attempts at humor fall flat. I have come because I have already ensured the safety of my followers, and must ensure your own as well. Cower inside with your kin, I will join you there.¡± ¡°Not a joke, I¡¯m staying out here.¡± ¡°Stop being an ass-¡± ¡°You¡­ are serious? BAHAHA, you will be killed. You are too weak.¡± ¡°No need to hurt a man¡¯s pride, I did best a few of your warriors.¡± Cerberus glowers darkly at me. ¡°Their absence is noted.¡± Fuck, yeah, I deserve that. ¡°Stay out here with me.¡± ¡°You wish to involve me in your reckless disregard for living? I will not.¡± ¡°I¡¯m involving you anyway, we¡¯re linked, remember? So you should stay out here and protect me.¡± Cerberus huffs and turns to Lynn. ¡°Truly, no other could have formed this bond with me? Must it be the most incompetent of your race?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re so afraid of.¡± ¡°I know no fear, human.¡± He spits the last word, but I smile at him genuinely. He is, after all, mine. ¡°Then join me.¡± I say simply, shrugging. Cerberus growls, low and threatening. ¡°A difference lies between fear and caution. You clearly know nothing of it. You are a fool.¡± The wind intensifies, covering all other sound with a steady roar, before receding slightly. ¡°Perhaps I am, but only a fool would forge an alliance with those who engaged in a mass murder of their species. Yet, here we are.¡± Not waiting for a response, I walk up the hill that covers the entrance to the cave, close my eyes, and open my arms wide, enjoying the violence of the wind and the sting of the rain on my exposed skin. I can¡¯t explain to them why I need to stay, but it isn¡¯t an option for me. I have to know, to experience the power of what¡¯s coming. It¡¯s vitally important to¡­ something. Whether it¡¯s the fact that my greatsword skills are all water themed, or something leftover from life before the system, I don¡¯t know or care. The forces of nature, especially storms, contain an unquestionable beauty. Any who can¡¯t see that¡­ I doubt I could force them. The force of the gusts is such that I have to brace against it, just to keep from being knocked over, but I love the feeling. The currents of air and water swirl around me, pushing me in every direction, but I can stand amidst the torrent, forcing it to include me in its chaotic dance. I open my eyes, which blur immediately from the rain, but I see a thoroughly soaked Cerberus has decided to remain at my side. ¡°You¡¯ve chosen to join me! Fantastic!¡± ¡°I deeply detest you.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t blame you at all!¡± The entire world is cast in blinding light for a moment before returning to darkness, and, in the distance, a harsh rumbling rolls forth. In the distance, the real body of the rain approaches rapidly. As this torrent approaches, the sheer quantity of water falling from the sky makes itself clear; there¡¯s probably more water than air. I take a deep breath, letting it out in a contented sigh before sharpening my eyes. The weather is not the danger, but the clearly cohesive, perhaps even living collections of water that follow it¡­ might well be. Energy 110: Deluge I¡¯m not sure if I hear more thunder or the low rumbling of Cerberus growling, but my body instinctively tenses in preparation. I consider drawing my sword, but¡­ would that even help when fighting water? Unlikely. The freezing effect might honestly work against me, giving these entities solid masses with which to hit me. My thoughts are immediately drowned when the mass of water reaches us. It¡¯s like standing under a waterfall, and the only way I can maintain a space of air for me to breathe is by hunching over and letting my back take the brunt of it. Even with my increased Strength, the weight of the water is noticeable, and the fact that I can barely see anything through the distortions of water around me make matters even worse. I have just enough time to wonder how The Barrows is going to avoid being put completely under water by all this when I feel something cold on my foot. My eyes flick down, and I register a small puddle coating my foot before I¡¯m whipped onto my back and dragged downhill. A howl of fury echoes behind me as Cerberus takes notice, but I¡¯m dragged away very quickly given how much rain there is, and I can¡¯t see or breathe very well with my face now pointed towards the sky. Water immediately runs up my nose, but I at least have the sense to keep my mouth closed. My hands skid uselessly along the grass as I¡¯m unable to find purchase on the slick surface, but I manage to start to sit up, despite the movement and the water, and grab at the thing gripping my foot. I feel water there, but it reacts just like normal water and merely coats my hands as well. Unlike normal water, it reacts to my touch by spraying me hard in the chest and slamming me back onto the grass, knocking some air from my lungs as I slip underwater. The shock of the sudden drop in noise level is jarring, going from a cacophony of sound to a muted sound of bubbles and water on water. Whatever was dragging me stops for a moment, and I struggle to push myself towards the rippling surface. That surface suddenly rises away from my movement, before slamming back down with the force of a crashing wave. I smash into the ground, forced to take a knee just to withstand the pressure, before the currents change unnaturally around me and try to flip me onto my back again. I try my best to resist, clawing my way toward the ever retreating surface and suffering the resulting cascade of water pushing me back down. As if aggravated, the water proceeds to flip me around until I don¡¯t know which way is the surface. I¡¯ve heard you¡¯re supposed to follow the bubbles, but there are no two bubbles going the same direction in this washing machine. I swim, following with the current for once, only to find I was swimming the wrong way when I¡¯m slammed head first into the grass. My lungs burn from being empty for far too long, and my body responds slowly to my orders for it to stand. Alright, that¡¯s enough. I light a fire in my Energy, burning as much as I can, as fast as I can, and put all the power into my legs before rocketing myself in a reverse dive out of the water. I gasp at the air greedily even as the water churns in displeasure below me. A spyre of sentient water reaches up towards me, intent on dragging me back down, but it needn¡¯t have bothered; I¡¯m not done with it. Letting my Energy burn for a few more moments, I switch focus to my arms and back and use the immense amount of water falling around me to hasten my journey to the reaching spyre, where I punch the ever-loving fuck out of it. The spyre explodes, only able to cope with the force by dispersing outward, and I follow it all the way down. I know it probably had no effect, but it was deeply satisfying. The water opens up below me, creating a shallow space for me to land before rising up and crashing onto me like a circular wave. The crushing force makes my vision blur slightly, indicating that I definitely lost some health that time, but I still can¡¯t help but smile.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. The water makes a point to drown me again, but its efforts are far less unnerving when I know I can break free to take a breath. As long as my Energy lasts, and it seems to be holding up fairly well, I can wait this storm out while literally battling the elements. Swimming skills pop up rapidly, and I mindlessly accept them. I accumulated over ten thousand Power from the assault on our home, and these trivial skills don¡¯t cost much anyway. Swimming Proficiency? Sure. Water Resistance? Whatever that means. Adaptive Combat? Hell yes. Don¡¯t know what it does, but it sounds useful! Levels in Natural armor? Don¡¯t mind if I do. In short order, the experience changes from deeply concerning to a sort of fun challenge. I even start a very broken dialogue with Cerberus, who mostly says insulting things about how I¡¯m ¡®a fool beyond compare¡¯ or that I ¡®should already be dead¡¯ and he definitely doesn¡¯t appreciate that I¡¯m having fun, nor my attempts to coax him in because ¡®that water¡¯s fine!¡¯. I have to wonder why the water doesn¡¯t attack him, but it¡¯s probably for the best. If he died somehow, the whole treaty with the Carnines would fall apart¡­ which would suck. Maybe I should have¡­ nah, even if it targeted him, a boss monster wouldn¡¯t be taken down by water, right? The sentient moisture, not to be outdone or mocked, rises ever higher to hit ever harder. It quickly reaches the point where the Health impacts are lowering my Energy regeneration, which actually poses a threat. If I can¡¯t launch out of the water, I can¡¯t breathe, which spells death rather quickly. The storm doesn¡¯t show any signs of ending, either, so no use banking on that being my savior. Still reeling from the latest attempt to reduce me to a pulp, I decide to activate River¡¯s Flow and River¡¯s Source simultaneously, specifically targeting the water. It¡¯s dangerous, but I try to compensate for the lack of body awareness by paying close attention to my vision. When it starts to darken, I¡¯ll try to get to the surface as fast as possible¡­ but until then, I want to try to beat this thing at its own game. The roar of water and thunder fades, and my vision sharpens. My skin prickles as my sense of touch enhances, and I can feel the way the water moves every hair on my body. I can¡¯t fight the water, not really, but I can move with and around it. Every bit of control I lose, the water gains, so as long as I maintain control, I¡¯m fine. If I don¡¯t know where I¡¯m going, or what¡¯s coming my way, that¡¯s impossible, but now¡­ Now I can see the ripples, the slight distortions as the water is squeezed one way or forced another. I can watch the unnatural tendrils manipulate the normal flows of water into impossible currents and crushing waves. It¡¯s blurred and fragmented, but the information is there, and that¡¯s all I need to fall into my battle trance, and flow. I have enough presence of mind to be amused at how infuriating it must be for this thing to have dragged me into its element, where it is most powerful, and find itself so utterly impotent that I can dance with its attacks for fun while rarely, if ever, feeling threatened. I almost feel it in me to thank the dark AI that designed this particular hazard, as it has probably never failed so spectacularly before. My vision starts to fade, and I ride an errant current that was certainly designed to blindside me and knock me over, but instead nicely pushes me toward the surface. Two currents swirl in an attempt to flip me, but I simply catch the upward one while streamlining through the down, easily breaching the surface for a moment before a veritable jet of water sprays me in the face, and it¡¯s back to the depths. Despite my efforts, I let my Stamina wane too low on several occasions and have to drop out of my reverie to be sure I don¡¯t actually die, but, all in all, the time passes quickly. Somewhere along the line, my partner releases me and returns to wherever it came from. This entirely escapes my notice, and it isn¡¯t until Cerberus knocks me over that I realize I¡¯ve been reacting to the currents of the wind for some time. Looking up at him, with his paw on my chest, his disgust makes clear how much of my happiness shows on my face. ¡°A fool, but a resilient one. I do not understand you, human, but you would do well to avoid testing this place so callously.¡± ¡°Are you *cough* saying you didn¡¯t have fun?¡± A threatening growl is all I receive in reply.
[Congratulations! You¡¯ve passed the Trial Of Water. Water Affinity acquired.]
Energy 111: Deluge
[Water Affinity: You have immersed yourself in elemental water, and part of it stays with you. You hold a permanent connection with liquids, especially pure water. Your Mana can be used to interact with liquid.]
Water Affinity? That was¡­ a trial? I¡¯d honestly say it¡¯s a little convenient, but I don¡¯t believe most people would willfully experience what I just did. Fewer still would survive it. And only I would get the ability to manipulate the elements with the one thing I don¡¯t have: Mana. The ground squelches beneath me as I push myself to a sitting position. All around me, there are noticeable footprints where my skyward launches damaged the grass. For a moment, I sit and experience the moment. The wind nips at my wet clothing, gracing me with the bite of cold, even through my resistance. The smell of wet grass and moist air suffuses everything, and part of me hopes the rain will be back soon. I¡¯d only ever seen the valley at night and during the eternal noon the covers the rest of the day/night cycle, so the interim cloudiness is a welcome and beautiful change. The relative darkness over the wet grass grants the terrain a certain simplicity. The wind no longer creates waves in the grass, but causes them to shudder with its passing, sending small sprays of cool water into the air. The exhaustion of my activity, the strain in my muscles, and the light noises of a land starting to dry off all evoke in me a deep sense of serenity¡­ I take one final breath in, savoring the taste, and exhale as I get to my feet. For now, there is work to do, and people to be mad at me. --- ¡°I fucking hate you.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°Why do you do this to me?¡± ¡°It was important.¡± ¡°Important enough to run off and do it without saying anything? Lynn was sure you were dead! We had to seal the entrance to the cave just to keep the water out!¡± ¡°Was the black eye on one of the guards at the front your doing?¡± ¡°So what if it was?! He should have known better than to-¡± ¡°Stop you from coming to get me?¡± ¡°...Yeah. Dumbass. You should be dead, and you¡¯re not, but you¡¯re just going to keep testing it, aren¡¯t you?¡± I shake my head, smiling morosely. ¡°It was stupid, yeah, but¡­ I never would have forgiven myself for missing it. Especially now that I know what it was.¡± Lauren looks at me, curiosity behind her smoldering eyes. ¡°It was really that fucking great?¡± ¡°More than I could ever convey.¡± I reply, momentarily losing myself in the memory. ¡°Next time, you¡¯re taking me.¡± ¡°Next time? You don¡¯t honestly think I¡¯m going to do it again, do you?¡± Even with my face schooled, she sees right through it. ¡°Don¡¯t start with me. Next time, you¡¯re bringing me. Promise.¡± ¡°You might die.¡± ¡°Promise.¡± ¡°Hmm. Did you like the ocean, Lauren?¡± ¡°The¡­ yeah. I remember¡­ I used to go there, I think. With people I cared about. It was alright, but people preferred laying in the sun to pretty much everything else. Made it kinda boring.¡± ¡°The water is almost the entire reason to go! I mean, sure, good sand is a lot of fun as well, but the ocean¡­¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Don¡¯t go making me jealous of the ocean. I don¡¯t even know how I¡¯d go about fighting it.¡± ¡°Hah, tell me about it.¡± We share a smile, just for a moment. ¡°What now?¡± ¡°Now¡­ ugh. So many things. I need a plant from deep in the forest to fix my dumbass status ailment, we need to wait till tomorrow when we get the next stage in our quest, I need to bring Kaythe back, I need to figure out how the fuck I¡¯m going to deal with having half my Energy pool, and we need to figure out the rest of the village, which hopefully survived the flood.¡± ¡°... You placed the town?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Without saying anything to Lynn?¡± ¡°Uh huh.¡± ¡°Awesome.¡± ¡°She¡¯s going to kill me.¡± ¡°Yup.¡± --- ¡°-placed into three groups, with teams of roughly five. Marie will lead the builders, Tom will coordinate the artisans, Seth and Samuel will handle close combat training, I will handle ranged, and, oh, Amadeus, you will handle healing.¡± Lynn had clearly called some sort of assembly right outside the mouth of the cave, but had neglected to inform me or Lauren. Whether this move was an oversight or the result of irritation became entirely clear with that last comment. ¡°Is there a problem with that, Amadeus?¡± I wipe away the grimace that had taken up residence on my face just as all eyes turn to me. Oof. ¡°U-uhm, well actually I was planning on goi-¡± ¡°You¡¯re not leaving until we have a defensible town, which you so graciously took care of placing, and you¡¯ve taught at least one person how to heal like you do.¡± ¡°Well, Loriane can-¡± ¡°She left just after the rain stopped, and took Amy with her.¡± ¡°Wait, what? Why?¡± Lynn waves her hand, dismissively. ¡°Who knows? She said nothing to anyone. Unfortunately, this leaves only you to fill the role.¡± ¡°No worries, I¡¯ll handle it.¡± God fucking damnit. ¡°Do you have any promising candidates?¡± She smiles broadly. ¡°One, certainly. Chris?¡± The man whose eyes I just healed¡­ oh boy. He steps forward, awkwardly, looking highly out of place. ¡°I would¡­ greatly appreciate the c-chance to learn.¡± I¡¯m not a teacher, so this is going to be some serious bullshit, but whatever. Worst case, I fail completely and just force a Self rune into his chest and make him figure it out. Not that I have the Energy to spare¡­ ¡°Alright Chris, come with me.¡± I quickly stride away from the crowd without bothering to look if he¡¯s following me. I don¡¯t like the limelight on the best of days, and though this was a pretty good day so far, it¡¯s currently trending downward. I look up, gauging the time¡­ the rings are already out. Not long. I guess the storm took a while. I wonder when we¡¯ll get another¡­ I walk to the top of a nearby hill and sit down. Where once my clothing being soaked felt nice and refreshing, now it¡¯s more bothersome than anything¡­ but I don¡¯t exactly have extras, and I don¡¯t need to make this guy any more uncomfortable than he is already by undressing. I turn back to address Chris, but notice Lauren has followed as well. She notices my stare. ¡°What? You promised you¡¯d teach me anyway. Two birds, one stone, and all that.¡± Fair enough. ¡°Chris, you wouldn¡¯t happen to have an Energy resource in you status menu, would you?¡± ¡°S-stamina, you mean?¡± I sigh, loudly. ¡°U-uh I mean, no, sir.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not your fault, I¡¯ve just heard the same thing a few times. Basically, I have four resource pools: Health, Mana, Stamina, and Energy. Energy is what lets me heal. I¡¯ve always had that resource, so I have no idea how to get you to also have it¡­ so we¡¯re going to be experimenting. Now, I need to check something. I want you to resist me, not physically, but with your mind.¡± I reach out my hand for him to take. ¡°S-sir?¡± ¡°Amadeus is fine, please. Take my hand.¡± ¡°What do you mean ¡®resist¡¯?¡± ¡°When I healed you, and you felt something weird? Fight that.¡± Chris continues to look confused, but still takes my hand. ¡°Be confident, that¡¯s essential.¡± ¡°O-ok.¡± I roll my eyes, but immediately regret it when I see his pained expression. I¡¯m taking my frustration out on him, and that¡¯s not fair. Regardless, I push some healing Energy at him, and I¡¯m met with staunch resistance. ¡°Good, now fight it.¡± Chris screws his eyes shut, and a small trickle of black Energy seeps back. I eliminate it easily and wait for more, but nothing comes. ¡°Is that it?¡± He pants slightly from exertion. ¡°I-I¡­ yes.¡± ¡°I see. Chris, I¡¯ll get to the heart of the issue: your ego is too small. You don¡¯t believe in yourself or your ability to enact change. That needs to change. So, I¡¯ve got a task for you. When you complete it, we¡¯ll go to the next level of our training. Sound good?¡± ¡°W-what¡¯s the task?¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad you asked.¡± If the words didn¡¯t scare him, the smile certainly does. Energy 112: Deluge ¡°Thank you, Zathis, this is perfect.¡± ¡°I-is that a g-giant?¡± ¡°I am pleased to have been of assistance. It is good you are well.¡± ¡°Yeah, it was a little scary there for a while, but¡­ long story short, we¡¯ve allied with the Carnine army, and Cerberus and I have decided to win the trial.¡± ¡°Are y-you just going to i-ignore the fact that-¡± ¡°Cerberus? An odd turn of events, to be sure. How did you convince such a beast to be reasonable?¡± ¡°I gave him an offer he couldn¡¯t refuse.¡± ¡°This is seriously n-not ok!¡± ¡°Most impressive, but I expect no less.¡± I smile up at the friendly giant, pleased. ¡°Listen to me-¡± ¡°Chris, oh my god, shut up. This is Zathis, he¡¯s a giant, and a fantastic individual. He will be assisting with your combat training in the future, but for now¡­¡± I gesture to the stone ramp with a large, circular boulder lying at the base. ¡°Push that to the top.¡± Chris seems momentarily taken aback by the explosion of harsh words and information. ¡°W-what?¡± ¡°What was confusing? Friendly giant, good trainer, push the rock up the hill.¡± His eyes widen as realization dawns on him, and he frantically looks between Zathis, the boulder, the hill, and me. ¡°I-I can¡¯t do something like that¡­¡± ¡°You can, and you will.¡± ¡°Nobody could do this! It¡¯s impossible! Maybe the g-giant could, but-¡± ¡°I can do it. You can do it.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± I sigh, rubbing my face in my hands. ¡°Look, this is hard, I won¡¯t lie, and you, as you are, probably can¡¯t do it. But, you have within you the ability to do it anyway. All I¡¯m asking is for you to tap into that. Do something impossible. If you can¡¯t even do that, I can¡¯t teach you.¡± ¡°H-how?!¡± ¡°Try believing in yourself a bit. Zathis will keep you company. Zathis, make sure he doesn¡¯t hurt himself too badly, if you would.¡± ¡°Of course, my friend.¡± ¡°You¡¯re too good to me. If you ever think of something you want, let me know. God knows I owe you enough.¡± I turn to go, planning on finding a quiet place to resummon Kaythe, and then go find Cerberus. If we¡¯re going to be journeying together, we need to train together. ¡°There is¡­ perhaps, something I would ask of you.¡± ¡°Anything.¡± I say, turning back to find his face cast in the dancing shadows of the strange firelight. ¡°Deep within The Barrows, there is a tomb¡­ of an old friend. She once gave me a pendant as a token of friendship, and I¡­ returned it on the day she died, so that she might be buried with it. I find myself in need of a reminder of¡­ what once was. Could you retrieve it for me?¡± ¡°Cerberus, Kaythe and I need some practice anyway, might as well do you a favor in the process. How will I know which tomb is hers?¡± ¡°She was¡­ important, within the culture of my people. Her tomb will be resplendent, and the deepest of the crypts.¡± ¡°Give me a minute to gather some things, and I¡¯ll head in.¡± ¡°W-what about me?¡± ¡°What? I already told you. Get the rock up to the top. Get to it!¡± ¡°Y-yes sir!¡± The fear in his eyes lingers, even intensifies as he stares down what I know is an impossible task. I¡¯m being rude to him, yes, and I will continue to be so. Where some people need love and compassion to mature, some are too fearful to look inside and find their strength, so¡­ I¡¯m going to strain him. Draw him out like a wire, until he¡¯s just on the breaking point, and see if he coalesces, or snaps.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. It¡¯s wrong, horrifying, evil, whatever, but I don¡¯t have time, and neither does he. If he doesn¡¯t do it, I¡¯ll find someone else, and he¡¯ll still be useful even if he snaps. Regardless, I think he¡¯ll succeed. I doubt he made it this far by being weak. I return to the mouth of the cave to find a great deal of organized labor underway. Marie excitedly orders people around and works to repair defences, and Seth and Samuel train with a collection of about ten new recruits in the valley outside. Some of their number are fitted with the weighted training clothing Tom had managed to create, but the rest wearthe leathers they had come in. Most have new weapons, that might gleam in the sunlight, were there any to reflect. Frowning slightly at the large increase in activity, I take off running for about a minute; just long enough that I could escape the majority of the noise and bustle, before taking a seat in the still damp grass. Closing my eyes, I enter my Energy view and take stock. There¡¯s a lot¡­ less. By the peak of my Energy pool, I had a ton of Energy floating around at any given moment, creating a constant flow of dancing lights within me. Now, with Cerberus holding almost half of what I had, it feels empty. Kaythe being¡­ banished, or whatever, gives me access to ten more max Energy, but, even with that, it¡¯s a stark difference. Now I have to give it back and make it even less, and I¡¯m surprised with myself by how little I actually want to do that. I shake my head. No, Kaythe is far more valuable than a bit of Energy, especially considering how fast he grows. His fierce loyalty warms my heart, I could never keep him inside for long unless it was absolutely necessary. Aside from the reduced ambient Energy, I find a space around my shoulders that doesn¡¯t line up with my body. Pushing some Light into the space, the situation becomes immediately obvious; this is Kaythe. It¡¯s¡­ adorable that, when he merged with my soul, that he chose that as his resting place. My instinct is to push Energy into the space, and figure the skill will handle the rest. Once a sizable portion of my Energy rests within, I feel a sudden weight on my shoulders. Smiling preemptively, I open my eyes to find Kaythe enthusiastically wiggling in my face. ¡°Predator!¡± The mental connection strains under the weight of the emotion pouring through it. ¡°Welcome back, Kaythe. Did you sleep well?¡± ¡°I was very lonely without you, but the others passed the time with me.¡± ¡°The others? Oh, the Carnines?¡± ¡°Yes! They seem to be lesser now. Small. I do not know how long they will last.¡± ¡°Interesting.¡± So their Self runes are slowly being won over to my side¡­ interesting. So, as long as I can resist the influences of whatever I steal, I can eventually conquer them and just do it again. I can definitely work with this¡­ just as long as I avoid Eliminating anything that¡¯s too strong. I check my status, and find that the Other value has decreased substantially over the past days. Alright, no going past 25% Other under any circumstances. ¡°Alright Kaythe, let¡¯s go find Cerberus. --- I carefully pick my way through the woods, following the vague sense of direction my mental connection gives me. While it¡¯s annoying that the direction is hard to follow, I know it¡¯s likely because our bond is so tenuous. I¡¯m lucky to have this much¡­ Nothing moves, and no telltale sounds of living beings reach my ears. The wind occasionally caresses the trees, sending shivers through the dark leaves, but nothing more. The cause becomes clear as a nearly silent patrol of Carnines, led by a scarred Lieutenant, passes by, eyeing me warily. They make no move to stop me, so I continue pressing forward. Sound begins to return, but it¡¯s the sound of sameness repeated over and over. The same tenor of yip or light bark, punctuated by gruff voices issuing orders and discussing plans¡­ but everything has an air of discretion. Far too serious for my tastes. ¡°Cerberus.¡± I finally approach a small clearing, containing several Lieutenants, the two Werewolves, and Cerberus himself. Cerberus turns his head slightly, glaring, before continuing to speak in a low rumble. Mmm. I hadn¡¯t meant to interrupt him, but I don¡¯t like that he treated the interruption as a nuisance instead of what it is: the approach of an equal. Though it pains me, I wait for him to finish his meeting. Of those present, only the Werewolf with a tremendous scar on his stomach regards me at all, with the rest remaining intensely focussed on their leader. The wait drags on as he fields questions, both audible and non, from his subordinates, and it rapidly becomes clear that he is content to leave me waiting. ¡°Cerberus.¡± ¡°What, pest?¡± He snarls the words, letting his baring his teeth while he says it. ¡°...Excuse me?¡± My focus on him intensifies to the point where my vision clouds for everything but him, as a furious adrenaline immediately courses through me. ¡°Do your ears fail you, human? I said-¡± ¡°Dog, I heard your words, but no respect. You will try again, and remember it this time.¡± The words hold no emotion, but I linger on each syllable, letting the intermittent silence punctuate the statement. I¡¯m vaguely aware of the shifting of several bodies next to him, but I care little, even with Kaythe whispering into my mind about the dangerous postures of several of them. Cerberus says nothing, but the deep rumbling from his chest says everything. ¡°Do your lessers prepare to fight out of fear of me? They shouldn¡¯t worry, I will uphold the treaty. I do not mind, however, reducing their number should they fail to do so.¡± Several of them stiffen, and my instincts warn me of impending violence and the tension builds, but I don¡¯t take my eyes off Cerberus. A word, beyond my range of hearing, causes the tension to waver. Not Cerberus, but one of the Werewolves: the scarred one. Several scowls, but the offensive postures diminish, even if only slightly. ¡°Speak, human.¡± ¡°You¡¯re coming with me to the tower, so we need to train to fight together. Finish what you must here, and meet me in The Barrows before night falls. You may be leader here, but if you truly wish to deliver on your promise and free them, your place is by my side.¡± I don¡¯t wait around for a response. Energy 113: Deluge The return to camp does little to better my mood. Even pushing myself during the run back barely puts a dent in my adrenaline or anxiety. Cerberus¡­ I gave him my word, but it looks to me like he would rather play at being king than actually get out of here. Whether through bitterness at being deceived by the administrator, or distrust for me after the ¡®compression¡¯ he had to undergo, he doesn¡¯t seem to be a strong team player. I might be partially at fault for that with my earlier antics in the rain. He saw it as reckless, but joined me anyway, and while I didn¡¯t ignore him, I gave no indication that I was taking the experience seriously¡­ because I wasn¡¯t. I was having fun. I didn¡¯t really want him to come with. Bringing someone along for something they¡¯re not into will always result in problems¡­ either ruining it for the people who want to be there, or letting themselves be left out. Whether it¡¯s people or alien dogs, nobody wants their ego bruised. But, instead of talking to me about it, he lashes out. I¡¯m no stranger to being petty, but at least acknowledge that that¡¯s what you¡¯re doing. His air of righteousness has only grown, and while I agree with his dedication to freeing his people, I don¡¯t like the side effects. I don¡¯t like being called ¡®human¡¯, especially when I make the effort to use his name. I close my eyes for a moment, annoyed. Kaythe and I increased our bond very quickly, granting both of us all sorts of buffs, but Cerberus¡­ I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if our bond had lost strength since we formed it. It started at a mere 5%, which I had originally ascribed to the huge power difference and Energy cost, but now I think it might be that he just hates me. I¡¯m genuinely surprised the bond formed at all, if that¡¯s the case. Desperation, probably. He needs the bond to have any hope, and even that¡­ I think he sees it as a pipe dream. Perhaps, in his eyes, cooperating is just giving him a little more time to think and prepare before returning to the void. Maybe he just wants to enjoy being alive for a bit, and doing anything other than fighting. As the first boss, I figure he probably only lives for an agonizing few minutes where he is brutally murdered¡­ and maybe he doesn¡¯t remember between sessions, I don¡¯t know, but I think, given the nature of the administrator in charge, he probably remembers the pain. Somehow, I have to convince him that we can actually do this. That it isn¡¯t a loss cause, we¡¯ll get to the end, break out of whatever trap they try to pull to get us sacrificed, and burn everything they¡¯ve built. I¡¯m hoping for the same thing, so¡­ maybe. I wouldn¡¯t want to imagine how hard this struggle would be if I knew it ended in failure. Even that sliver of a chance is enough to keep me going¡­ at least for now. I wave to the people training out front, but don¡¯t see Lynn anywhere. Tom¡¯s forge is empty¡­ maybe he moved to the Artisan Center. I wouldn¡¯t blame him. Continuing down the hall, I find one of the Bottled Light potions I¡¯d been maintaining to be missing. Weird, maybe someone accidentally broke it? As I pass by the passage to the underground pond, I hear splashing and laughing, causing me to stop. Who the fuck¡­ I descend into the small cavern to find the telltale glow of one of my potions as it bobs in the water, along with two people I don¡¯t recognize; a male and female recruit playing in the water. It doesn¡¯t take but a moment for that realization to get even more awkward, as the small waves generated by their activities reveals the woman to be topless¡­ at the very least. I clear my throat, loudly. ¡°Hey, you two.¡± They freeze, both with eyes wide, and the woman immediately moves to cover herself with her hands and kicks to the edge of the island in an attempt to obstruct any view. ¡°Wh-Wh-¡± She starts to say something, probably asking what I¡¯m doing here, but I cut her off. ¡°First: you definitely have something better to do right now. Things aren¡¯t safe or settled enough yet to be goofing off like this. Seriously. Second, that lake has a plant in the bottom that will drown you and suck out your blood while it does it. Definitely not the place for this kind of thing.¡±Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Even in the dim light, their embarrassment is clearly written on their faces. The man says nothing, but looks slightly ashamed, while the woman¡¯s eyes radiate aggravation. I start to say something else, but think better of it. People can be idiots if they want, but I don¡¯t want them dying because they were too stupid to ask if they should swim in the underground lake. Who the fuck does that? It¡¯s creepy as hell. My mood somehow worsened, I head towards Zathis¡¯ chamber, with some forlorn hope that something there will cheer me. I hear voices long before I get to the door, courtesy of Perception; Lynn and Zathis discussing training regimens. Zathis looks up as I enter, stopping and smiling at me mid-sentence. Lynn, standing with about five of the new people, notices Zathis look up and also turns to me. ¡°Amadeus. Welcome back. Did your parlay go well?¡± ¡°Something like that. Cerberus should be by soon, do your best to ensure no one bothers him.¡± ¡°I shall.¡± ¡°Hey Zathis, how¡¯s Chris doing?¡± I gesture at the panting form currently collapsed on the ground next to a rock that doesn¡¯t look like it¡¯s been moved since I left. ¡°Greetings, Amadeus. He has done well, though not yet succeeded. He managed to get the boulder to the incline once, but failed to get beyond that,¡± I nod and walk over to him. ¡°Chris, it looks like you¡¯re still trying, which is good, but your body isn¡¯t strong enough to move this thing where you need it to be.¡± ¡°*huff* So, *huff* it¡¯s pointless, right? I¡¯m never going to get it.¡± He doesn¡¯t look at me as he says it, instead inspecting his hands. They¡¯re beaten and bloody, scratched away by uncountable attempts at moving the stubborn rock. I grab his hand, and he winces at the unexpected contact with his raw flesh. In a matter of seconds, I release his hand, good as new. ¡°Do you think you can do that?¡± He shakes his head, looking in disbelief at the perfect skin. ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°Do you think you will?¡± ¡°No.¡± He says, far more sullenly. ¡°Beating that mindset is the first step. How can you be something great if you don¡¯t believe you will be? Sure, you might end up accidentally achieving greatness, or attaching yourself to someone who does the work for you, but the truth is, only those who work for it achieve anything. Accidents aren¡¯t achievements, and neither is blind luck. Work hard, and push with your mind, not just your body. Get up. Try again.¡± I reach down and help him to his feet, before stepping back. Chris looks at the boulder, concentrating, but then looks back at me, cowing slightly. ¡°Why a-are you watching? N-nothing great is going to happen.¡± ¡°It¡¯s always harder with an audience. I¡¯m making it harder on you. Go.¡± He looks slightly upset, but says nothing else. A snicker emanates from one of those standing nearby. ¡°Was that a volunteer? I¡¯m sure we can find more rocks, and more ramps.¡± Silence. ¡°Fine. If you can¡¯t do the impossible, don¡¯t get in the way while others make it happen.¡± Chris realizes I¡¯m still staring at him and snaps out of whatever daydream he was in. He struggles against the rock, sweat quickly accumulating on his forehead, but he doesn¡¯t stop. Minutes drag by, Lynn returns to her conversation with Zathis, and, other than the occasional glance and smirk, the others ignore him. Unfortunately, he¡¯s still trying to overpower the rock, but constant failure will weaken your perception of yourself, which is a surprisingly good time to make things better. If you imagine a person a lot like a building, you¡¯d find it difficult to add to the structure of something already completed. A small house can¡¯t be increased into a mansion very easily, nor can you add extra floors to supports that are designed to hold only two. Breaking things down, collapsing the building, you have space to try again. Sure, maybe you lose too much when things collapse, and you can¡¯t find it in you to pick up the pieces, and then you slowly let yourself go. If someone doesn¡¯t help, you¡¯re finished, one way or another. But, if you succeed¡­ The sky is the limit. I hope Chris can figure it out, and that he finds the confidence to work through it. I have no idea if someone can actually acquire Energy when they don¡¯t already have it, but if there¡¯s any way to do it, it¡¯s through becoming the kind of person that can wield their will as a weapon. Energy 114: Descent Night falls quickly on the longest day of my life. Not that I¡¯ll be making it any shorter by sleeping¡­ The exhaustion is there, but not overwhelming in any regard, instead taking a backseat to virtually everything else. The entrance to The Barrows holds a veritable crowd of defenders, as, for once, we have far more people than we need to hold the line. A silent, dark shape picks its way slowly towards us, causing many along the line to stiffen and hold their weapons ready. A growl, then: ¡°Stand down, humans, lest you anger me further.¡± The humans do not, however, stand down. Many of them are the new recruits, and don¡¯t fully trust in the established truce. ¡°Move aside the barricades and let him through, don¡¯t just stand there.¡± Though they hear my words, and look to me, it takes several moments before they start to move. ¡°Amadeus¡¯ orders will be respected as my own, you all know this.¡± Lynn¡¯s voice cuts through the strained silence, and their pace picks up noticeably. The way is cleared before Cerberus¡¯ plodding gait brings him to the entrance, sparing us from further hostility¡­ for the moment. ¡°Welcome back, Cerberus. Please, follow me.¡± He wordlessly complies, but anyone who so much as looks at him receives an openly hostile glare for their trouble. None trouble us on the way to Zathis, and I fix the light bottle, which seems to have been hurriedly put back. Mmm. At least they had that much decency. Though we¡¯re alone in the hallway, we don¡¯t speak. An uncomfortable silence hangs between us, and little more. I won¡¯t ask him to apologize, and he won¡¯t do it, so we¡¯ll keep it all business for now. ¡°Zathis, would you kindly open the way for us?¡± ¡°Gladly.¡± His response is accompanied by the grating sound of stone moving on stone from somewhere behind his resting place. ¡°Cerb- hey, don¡¯t bother him, he¡¯s training.¡± Cerberus looks towards me from his position next to Chris. For whatever reason, he¡¯d just been staring the man down, making him more than a little uncomfortable. ¡°You have taken prey into your fold, human. Why does the prey struggle at nothing?¡± ¡°As I said, dog, he¡¯s training.¡± ¡°What could this fool be training to do, struggling against an obstacle well beyond him?¡± His words drip with disdain. ¡°To do the impossible. He¡¯ll do it, too.¡± A barking laugh punctuates my statement, but not in a positive way. ¡°Fools, all of you. Am I to entrust you and yours with my future? That of my people?¡± Without a word, I walk past Cerberus and his continued, grotesque laughter, and place my hand on the boulder. It¡¯s scratched, scarred with blood, and warm to the touch from the hours of struggle Chris has put into moving it. Lighting a roaring fire in my soul, I push, and the rock moves. Without missing a beat, I roll it to halfway before stopping and staring at Cerberus. His expression isn¡¯t the desired shock, but a certain fury that comes with embarrassment, or rejected shame. I shove the rock, hearing a satisfying crash as it collides with the wall behind it, and a thunderous cacophony as it hits the stone floor. I step down off the ramp, dousing the fire as quickly as I can. My Energy bar blinks at me¡­ 3/56. ¡°Zathis.¡± I say, quietly. ¡°Please replace the boulder. My apologies for the floor.¡± ¡°Most impressive, Amadeus. I applaud your ability.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t support him, forgotten, half dead filth! He, and all his kind are doomed, just as I am; just as you are! Never forget the shackles you wear.¡± ¡°... Perhaps we are shackled. I feel the weight, yes, but less now than ever before. Perhaps you-¡±If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Silence, fool. I care nothing for your musings. The way is open? Is this how we shall train together? Very well. Attempt to keep up, human.¡± Zathis face remains stoic while Cerberus plods away, but that stoicism is an expression I¡¯ve never seen on him. It¡­ doesn¡¯t look good. ¡°Allow me to apologize for him, Zathis. He¡¯s had a rough day.¡± ¡°It is of little consequence, young one. My thanks for the sentiment. Please, do not let me keep you.¡± I nod to him, and head for the back of the room when I feel a tap on my shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re taking me too.¡± ¡°Oh? Right here and now? Well if you¡¯re being so forward¡­¡± Lauren smacks me lightly on the back of the head. ¡°Fine, I earned that one. Let¡¯s go, he¡¯ll probably get himself killed on traps if we don¡¯t keep up with him.¡± ¡°Fine. I hope it won¡¯t be crowded down there¡­¡± We approach the newly exposed staircase, where there was previously only unmarred stone flooring, that descend into a deep darkness. The steps have a thick layer of dust covering them, perfect but for the newly acquired paw prints. Sounds of combat suddenly erupt from inside, and we dash forward, kicking up the long settled dust in our wake. ---- Exhaustion. That¡¯s all Lynn felt. She had been terrified of taking up the mantle of leadership up until she had finally decided to commit, and all the pieces had fit into place¡­ only to trade terror for exhaustion. She had received a skill. A new one, this time. She didn¡¯t quite know why it had changed from the usual, but the rarity of the skill had increased as well. Voice of Truth, was what it was called, and it forced others to acknowledge when she spoke truthfully. She could convince a blind man that there was a cloud in the sky, so long as she knew there was one, but otherwise, she would likely be ignored. The man would have to believe that she believed what she was saying¡­ and therein lay her salvation. She could not abuse this power. It, by its nature, forced her to be upstanding and transparent in order to use the skill effectively and get people to trust in her leadership, and that was perfect. She couldn¡¯t end up like Nate because she simply didn¡¯t have that kind of power. And that¡­ made her smile. Her timing could not have been better, arriving just in time to turn a large potential enemy into half an ally, half an enemy. Not bad for a first attempt. However, her skill could only help so much. Dylan had made the largest impact, working as a liaison between her and the rest of the new recruits. Dylan was quite accomplished when it came to leatherworking, and his ability to provide defensive tools for his allies had made him quite popular within Gershwin¡¯s group. That was a large part of why so many had stayed when Gershwin stormed off: Dylan. He had worked with her to smooth out as many issues and gaps as possible with a single minded efficiency only a strong worker would have. He had returned not too long ago, after being tasked with exploring the village and getting people settled, with some interesting information. The Town Hall was not just a useless meeting place, but a structure of significant importance for upgrading the town. She had immediately delegated the remaining tasks on her plate to the appropriate team leaders before setting off to investigate it personally. The entrance to the building was a tall, but fairly thin affair, with what looked to be waiting benches running along either side of the entrance hallway. The hall opened up into a room containing two spiral staircases leading up to a raised section that looked as though it were designed for addressing large groups of people. Directly below this raised section sat an odd looking receptionist¡¯s desk, which was presently staffed by a horrifying monster of shadow. Throwing the idea that Dylan had sent her in here to be attacked, she approached the strangely smiling creature. ¡°What are you?¡± She asked, clearly and concisely. ¡°I am the Town Curator. I will assist you with any needs you have regarding adding features to your village. Would you like to see the selection?¡± ¡°Yes.¡±
[Town Level: 1 Days Extant: 0 Power: 0 ------------ Building Upgrades (5000 each): Artisan¡¯s Center Merchant¡¯s Center Warehouse Town Hall ------------ Town Upgrade (10,000) (Complete all building upgrades to access!): Focus Production Focus Mind Focus Growth Focus Heart Focus Soul ------------ Land Upgrade (500)]
¡°That is all, thank you.¡± She had already memorized everything on the menu and was busy puzzling through priorities. There was little in the way of description, meaning any decisions were likely to have elements of unpredictability, with effects varying from far reaching and meaningful to completely inconsequential. It was like that the order in which buildings were bought would have little impact, but the town upgrade would likely be irreversible and meaningful. Fortunately, such things could be considered later. She would have to set up a form of taxation, here, in which people self reported how much Power they accrued and donated some portion to the town to improve it for everyone. Artisans would likely need to be spared from this, considering they were rarely warriors and barely had enough Power to spend on their incredibly useful skills, but warriors were unlikely to be able to use all that they had anyway. She believed the town would become more like the kind of thing they would have found before the system, back on their home planet, and she wished her skill would let her make use of that belief to convince everyone else¡­ but she knew she didn¡¯t know it for sure, and that was enough to stop the skill. Being a leader would take some getting used to. She just hoped she would continue to enjoy it as much as she was now. Energy 115: Descent
[The Barrows - Crypt Warning: the dungeon proper operates differently than the outside world. Time passes normally, but here, time is cyclical. Once all monsters are cleared from the dungeon, the dungeon will loop back, replacing the space, and everything in it, to the way it first was. Items removed from the dungeon will reset without reclaiming the item from its new owner.]
I wave away the notification and draw my sword, ignoring the possibility of traps for the moment in favor of trying to get to Cerberus. The sounds of battle intensify, and furious growls punctuate each clash. We burst into an small, square room, where Cerberus has already torn two of the Wights to pieces, but the two that remain have inflicted several obvious gashes on his hide. Beneath him, an armless torso struggles to move, but only manages to dislodge more of its rotting body from their broken attachment points. Cerberus tries to attack, but warily avoids the blades that fend him off. Those first two kills were clearly not free¡­ he¡¯s used to a stronger body. I loose my sword and easily beat aside the defensive guard of one of the Wights, while Lauren slips easily inside its effective range before deftly removing its sword arm and head. The chattering skull falls to the ground behind her, hatred glowing in its eyes, only to be summarily crushed under Cerberus paw. He pants heavily, radiating pain and anger. ¡°Here Cerberus, let me-¡± ¡°Do not touch me, human. You have done enough.¡± ¡°Your body will get stronger-¡± ¡°Empty words, empty lies. Do not waste your breath or my patience.¡± ¡°You know what? Let¡¯s stop here and talk about this. Lauren, sorry, but would you mind scouting a bit?¡± ¡°No problem.¡± She¡¯s gone before I look away. I turn back to Cerberus. ¡°Talk to me.¡± ¡°I have nothing to say-¡± ¡°Bullshit you have nothing to say. You have plenty. You think I¡¯m weak, worthless, and stupid. You think there¡¯s no way I, nor any of me species, can beat this thing and break out. You think that because you weren¡¯t able to, even when you were here, fighting for your life alongside your people. You think that because you failed, nothing can succeed. And you might be right¡­ we might be doomed. I¡­¡± I take a deep breath, but let it out wordlessly, lost in thought. ¡°I¡­ know we can. Humans alone? Maybe not. Carnines and humans together? Still might not be enough¡­ but here¡¯s the thing: it¡¯s not just us. You and I can¡¯t possibly be the only ones who want out of here; who want to end this vicious cycle. If we get enough things like us¡­ enough power on our side, following one will¡­ this is far from impossible. But, that theory is worthless if I can¡¯t get you onboard-¡± Cerberus, who had been oddly quiet during my rant, interrupts. ¡°Why?! Why don¡¯t you leave me to my own, let us live for a little longer, to stretch our tired souls? Have you any idea how many deaths we have known? Not even I recall. The endless torment has blurred together, and to quantify it would only make it more terrible. We¡­ I, do not wish to fight anymore.¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°We never wanted to fight. None of us ever asked for this ¡®trial¡¯, but we have it anyway. There¡¯s no avoiding fighting while we¡¯re here, and if we try, we¡¯ll only end up stuck in this place, tortured like you, your people, and everything else here. The Dwarves tried to be peaceful, to sit in their town and make a life here, and they were destroyed. The administrator won¡¯t tolerate peace. It has always been your burden to carry the will and fate of your people¡­ why would you lay that down now?¡± ¡°I have NOT. Relinquished. That burden. I must do what is best-¡± ¡°Which is freeing them.¡± ¡°They cannot be freed. This place is eternal.¡± ¡°You were bound by the system when you tried this. I am not. You, should our bond deepen enough to allow it, will also avoid the chains of the system. The game is rigged against us, and we¡¯re doomed to lose if we play it as intended, but we don¡¯t have to. I¡¯m offering you a real chance to beat this, something the system doesn¡¯t know about, but I need proof that you¡¯re committed. The ties that bind us will be that proof.¡± Cerberus does not reply for a while. I approach him after several minutes of silence, and though he regards me warily, he does not move away or bare his teeth. I place my hand on his back, eliciting a shiver of discomfort from the small horse sized animal. I quickly mend his wounds, pulling his thick hide back into one complete piece. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s catch up with Lauren.¡± I start to walk down the hall, and, after a moment or two of silence, heavy footsteps follow behind me. I check my status, just for a moment, and the result brings a small smile to my face.
[Dominations - 100% Cathid; 6% Cerberus]
I hear movement up ahead, which is how I know it isn¡¯t Lauren. I approach a ¡®T¡¯ intersection, with noise very close on the left, and a faint shuffling on the right. I hazard a peak left only to find a Wight¡¯s soulless eyes staring back into mine. I pull my head back immediately as it raises its sword to strike, but catch a glimpse of a flash behind it, and the sound of clattering bones follows my retreat. ¡°You didn¡¯t think I¡¯d let it get you, did you?¡± Lauren saunters around the corner, cheeky smile prominently displayed.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know why I ever worried.¡± I reply, a touch of sarcasm lacing my voice. ¡°Hmph.¡± She flicks her hips and turns her back to me. ¡°That way there¡¯re two rooms, one with a few enemies, a weird pile of goop, and some interesting looking containers, and the other doesn¡¯t have anything trying to kill us in it, probably, but it has some shitty stones with shitty writing I can¡¯t read on them. I didn¡¯t get a chance to check out the other side yet.¡± ¡°Mmm¡­ well, neither of those sound like a queen¡¯s chambers, but I¡¯d rather clear the dead end so we don¡¯t have to worry about surprise flanking.¡± We head left at the intersection, and hang left again at the next one. As Laure said, a pile of sludge occupies the center of the room, and two undead stand perfectly still behind it. Maybe it¡¯s a trap of some kind? I step forward, sword held low and ready, while Lauren and Cerberus stick to either side of me, if a little further back. The Wights lurch into motion, ambling directly towards us and, coincidentally, into the grime. They make it no more than two steps before their legs start breaking apart, causing them to fall into the mess while they continue to claw towards us. In a matter of ten seconds at a max, all motion has stopped, save a few disturbing bubbles from the grime. Oddly, the puddle seems to have increased in size, as I look down to find it less than a foot from my shoe. I back up several steps, almost bumping into Lauren, only to have the puddle slowly close the gap. ¡°It¡¯s alive. The thing is alive. Lauren? Stab it with fire.¡± ¡°Gladly.¡± She darts forward and stabs into the flowing gunk with one of her daggers, passing easily through it and sending a nice stream of fire out on her withdraw. The ooze parts around the flame, and it quickly extinguishes. I frown, tightening my grip on my sword, and channel my Energy into it. The temperature drops, and I swing hard at a deeper part of the ooze. It doesn¡¯t quite splash out of the way, but it¡¯s reminiscent of hitting the water elementals earlier. How is it alive? I tear my sword back out, taking a chunk of frozen shit with it, and turn, swinging at a nearby wall and shattering the foul liquid. The sentient sludge seems to pause at this, but ultimately flows back into the spot and continues to inch ever closer to us. Energy 116: Descent I raise my sword to strike again, but a telltale crackling and sudden sound of ozone change my mind. I jump back, unnecessarily, as a blinding flash of lightning leaps from Cerberus¡¯ mouth and into the ooze. Blinking past my damaged vision, I can see it seizing and churning wildly, as though caught up in a windy storm. All at once, it flattens out, as if it had suddenly lost all cohesion. My companion¡¯s mouth crackles for a few more seconds before settling back into normalcy, and letting the deep darkness of the crypt return. ¡°Fuck.¡± ¡°Mmm?¡± ¡°That was cool as hell.¡± ¡°Pah, it is nothing compared with what I once was¡­ what I will be again.¡± He eyes me with the last part. ¡°Right, the cold and fire as well. What happened to them when you¡­ got compressed?¡± ¡°Nothing. They are me. The other heads serve as a redundancy, making me harder to kill. One will, three minds. With them, I had simultaneous command of three armies, and few could stand against me on even ground.¡± I nod. ¡°I can imagine. Thanks.¡± The ooze bubbles slightly, but ultimately disappears, leaving a strange residue on the ground where it was. On speculation, I scrape some of it in to a glass vial I have.
[Lesser Ooze Essence - Alchemical ingredient. Properties: bio-acidic; conductive.]
Hmm. I stopper it and stow it away. In the center of the center of the remaining Ooze Essence on the ground, a particularly large lump stands out. I kick it, while Lauren rummages around in the containers at the back of the room. The large pile gives slightly, but something solid skitters across the stone. I dump a bit of water from my waterskin onto it to wash it off, and pick it up. Some kind of stone¡­
[Ruby]
I¡¯m unsure how useful that will be, but maybe I can sell it for something? I shrug and stow that away as well. ¡°What¡¯s in the containers?¡± I call out to Lauren. ¡°Not much. Some old scrolls, mostly dust at this point. I touched one, and it powdered immediately. There¡¯s a hunk of metal, and something that might be a pencil? I don¡¯t know. Seems like junk, honestly.¡± ¡°Yeah, probably some writing equipment¡­ hold on to the pencil and metal, maybe someone can make use of it.¡± Lauren frowns at me. ¡°I¡¯ll leave it by the way out, but I¡¯m not carrying it around.¡± I shrug my ambivalence at her and head back down the hall, towards the room with the slabs she talked about. Just as Lauren had promised, the slabs are covered in some kind of writing, but not something I can recognize at all. I want to take a rubbing, but I have nothing to take it on. Zathis could almost certainly tell me what it says, but we can¡¯t get him down here, and the stones appear to be part of the ground. I might be able to break them and ferry them up, but that also sounds terrible. I make a point to memorize as much as I can, fully aware that, even with the extreme, system enhanced memory I have, that I¡¯ll definitely lose a lot of nuance in recreating the unfamiliar characters. ¡°See? Dumb, useless writing. Come on, I think I¡¯ve got everything from in the other room.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you wonder what they say?¡± ¡°Nah. The Dwarves all died, remember? What do we care what they have to say? If we act like them, we¡¯ll end up as shitty Shades as well.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ valid, but I¡¯m still curious.¡± ¡°Whatever, nerd.¡± She meets my frown with a cheeky smile, adding extra saunter to her gait as she leads the way to where Cerberus waits, somewhat patiently.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Cerberus, you can¡¯t read Dwarvish, can you?¡± He eyes me for a moment, as though I were making a joke at his expense. Not finding what he was looking for he responds simply: ¡°My kind has no need for writing of any kind. I respect no other enough to learn their ways.¡± We start walking down the hall, dimly aware of a patrolling undead blundering about ahead of us. ¡°You don¡¯t have writing? How do you record things? Learn from the past? Mark the passage of time?¡± ¡°We have those who remember. They are cared for by us all, and kept safe, and they remember¡­ or they did, before they were taken from us. The administrator saw no need for them, and without them, our history is forever lost.¡± ¡°Biological archives, interesting.¡± The undead seems to notice us, but instead of following the usual undead logic of charging right at us, it disappears around a far corner, as though running away. ¡°You guys just had to talk.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a shitty undead, what¡¯s it going to do? Chatter at us?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need me telling you how dangerous this place can be. Are you even looking for traps, or are you too buys shooting the shit with your new pal?¡± ¡­ Shit. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought. To think, you gave me such a hard time when we first hung out.¡± ¡°Yeah, after you tried to kill me.¡± ¡°Water under the bridge. It brought us closer.¡± ¡°You stabbed Kaythe!¡± ¡°And I¡¯m very sorry about that. Kaythe forgives me, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Predator, the violent one addresses me? I am confused.¡± I roll my eyes. ¡°Yes, of course he forgives you. You only stabbed him a little bit, after all.¡± ¡°See?¡± She says, taking my sarcasm in stride. ¡°He¡¯s a very smart worm thing.¡± I sigh, exasperated. ¡°Enough chatter. Something is wrong.¡± Where before, there was a bit of noise coming from down the hall: the odd shuffling, or slight clinking of metal on stone¡­ now, only silence reigns. The stillness hangs ominously in the musty air, quickly ending the sense of levity that had pervaded our group. We carefully move forward, eyes roving constantly, ears open to any noise, but nothing looks visually out of the ordinary, and only our footsteps interrupt the breathtaking silence. The corner where we last saw the undead turns left, opening up into a long, vacant hall, which even my sight can¡¯t see the end of. I swap to Kaythe¡¯s eye instead, and manage to just make out a large door at the end of the hall, which seems to be firmly closed. It warrants further investigation, but later. The absence of any and all undead is the most unnerving part. They went somewhere, meaning there¡¯s probably a trap for us¡­ the question is where. Halfway down the hall, a left and right hallway break off from this main path. The left hall is wide and tall, where the right one is more narrow. ¡°Flip a coin?¡± ¡°We go right.¡± ¡°Or just ask Cerberus, that works too.¡± Killjoy. The hallway continues uneventfully despite our efforts to find any dangers, and we reach another left turn. I check the corner, as usual, but can¡¯t quite make out what¡¯s at the end. Something large and dark blocks the lower section of the end of the hall, up to about waist height, but I don¡¯t see anything beyond that through the darkness. Once again resorting to Kaythe, I look through his eye just in time to see an arrow flying straight towards me, and my vision goes dark as It hits my eye directly. A gasp of pain escapes me as I¡¯m jarringly relocated back to my own senses¡­ my eye is fine, it was Kaythe. I turn in horror to see him writhe on the ground for a few agonizing seconds, arrow protruding, before curling up slightly, and vanishing. My sword is raised before the arrow even hits the ground. My steps carry me rapidly forward, Energy already a raging inferno in my breast. You dare to hurt what is mine? You dare? A small barricade bars the way, and arrows whistle down the hall. At my speed, I have no hope of dodging, but I do have an utter lack of concern. The first arrow, I bat aside with my blade. The second, third, fourth, and fifth, I suffer without complaint. Three of them bounce harmlessly off my armor, having hit the solid plates, but my forearm and shoulder are not so well protected. The pain drives me faster, but I can¡¯t grip my sword as well with my left hand anymore. I step, finally close enough to the barricade, and jump, but all friction is lost in my attempt. I fall to the ground, splashing a strange liquid onto myself, but pay no attention to it. Instead, I fly back to my feet and obliterate the barricade, expending far too much effort and Energy on one swing. I hear warnings from behind, voices I should listen to, but I can¡¯t. I see the one who did it. In the half second before Kaythe was struck, I saw a Wight¡¯s face. Less decayed than the others, and covered in relatively complete leather armor, this bow wielding Wight¡¯s face holds no remorse for what it did, but I¡¯m certain I can change that. Energy 117: Descent My heart beats, and with every thump, my vision swims from the pressure, not from exertion, but fury. Fury with myself for not taking things seriously, livid with this thing for not even caring, for the fact that it¡¯s just doing what, for it, are mindless chores, and more than a little angry with myself for losing it like this. Kaythe isn¡¯t dead, just not alive either. He¡¯ll be back, but right now, I couldn¡¯t care less. I let my emotions take control, and I think I ran right through an ooze, blowing most of my Energy just to move fast and break a flimsy barrier with overwhelming force. My legs are a cataclysm of fire and raging agony, with my nerve endings being seared raw by the corrosive slime. All because I can¡¯t fucking control myself. A deep mist radiates off my sword, rapidly spreading throughout the room, but it doesn¡¯t stop the wights from continuing to try and riddle me with arrows. I dash forward, preparing to irrevocably destroy the one who wronged me, and manage to dodge the next volley from the four Wights that flank the special one, but my target¡¯s final arrow slams hard into my chest, denting the plate covering my heart. It should have served as a wake up call, that I might not have been able to heal that in time if I hadn¡¯t had armor, or if it had shot my head. I¡¯m too lost in the moment to register anything other than the feral pleasure I get from shattering its armor with my first strike, destroying its upper body in the process. It crumples to the floor, but my fury is far from spent, and I quickly wheel on the two archers on my left. Lightning fast slashes take them down with ease, with their bows entirely unable to stand against my sword, and their armor, decrepit and soft if it exists at all. I turn, eyes alight, ready to take on the two remaining, and my head lurches slightly. Arrows¡­ they shot at me¡­ one missed, while the other¡­ I touch my throat. The other hit. The undead care little, methodically reloading and preparing to fire again. I¡¯m not bleeding, but several important things have been hit: my carotid is ruptured, blood being badly held in and restricted by the shaft, esophagus torn, making my breathing limited and bloody. My body tries to move, but the sudden critical damage, combined with my still dissolving skin keeps me from doing anything. I can¡¯t dodge, but I manage to time my collapse to make the skeletons miss. My head jars from the impact, adjusting the arrow and letting a little more blood out with each pulse. I scrape together what Energy I have left and get to fixing it, desperately trying to hold my sword aloft for some protection behind the massive blade. I feel an arrow hit the sword deflecting it around me, but another arrow hits me in the leg. My health creeps down from half to a quarter under the effects of ever more arrows, and ever more bleeding. I manage to seal the bleeding in my carotid, but I can¡¯t will myself to move my legs when the tinies bump sends waves of unspeakable agony radiating from them. I make a snap decision to throw my sword, which hits the first Wight hilt first in the rib cage and knocks it over. The one behind it stumbles slightly, but continues methodically loading. Now devoid of a weapon to shield myself with, and confident that my stick will do nothing, I frantically try to remove my metal plated armor, and get it off my torso and in front of my body just in time to work as an improvised shield for the next shot. Lightning strikes ring out in the confined space, and I finally realize Lauren has been yelling for me non-stop since I ran off. They storm into the room, with Cerberus immediately smashing the downed Wight into powder, and Lauren snapping the bowstring of the second and rapidly stabbing it several times in the chest, eliciting a small array of explosions. Lauren doesn¡¯t even spend the time to check if it¡¯s dead, instead running to me with a mix of worry and vicious anger on her face, which only increases when she actually registers my wounds. ¡°Amadeus¡­¡± The name escapes her lips as a whisper, following a pained gasp.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°He-¡± ¡°Stop.¡± Her voice loses all intonation. ¡°Tell me which ones to remove in what order, without speaking. Just point.¡± I close my mouth and instinctively try to nod, only to be painfully reminded why I shouldn¡¯t move my neck. I want to groan, but even that would be painful, so I mostly take short breaths and point to the arrow in my neck. Her eyes widen slightly, and she looks me in the eye, as if confirming. I don¡¯t waver, and she nods grimly. I mass all the green Energy I¡¯m not using to stop bleeding elsewhere and prepare to work as fast as I can. She gently places her hand around the wound, surprising me with the sensitive nature of her touch, then rips the arrow back out, causing a fair amount more damage in the process. I clap my hand over the wound to try and staunch it even as I make more effective blocks with my Energy. The arterial pressure I¡¯m trying to hold back is immense, and even with the help of green Energy, I still lose a lot of blood through my fingers. I desperately regrow tissue, even as the pressure tries to rip through and widen the gap more. I quickly realize that I have to work in stages, fortifying my progress at each stop in order to prevent having to start over. Way back when, they used to solve the problem of barbed arrows by hammering the arrow through to the other side. In this case, I think that might have killed me, so it wasn¡¯t an option, but I can see why they did it. My head swims, keeping me from using River¡¯s Source and just burying myself in the work, and my Health bar almost doesn¡¯t exist by the time I get the wound sealed. I had maybe 30 seconds¡­ which is better than some past situations, but this¡­ this was- ¡°That was IDIOTIC. What the fuck is wrong with you!? You knew there was a trap and you think now because you¡¯re strong and shit that you could just force your way through? Where¡¯s the tactician that got us through the hell it took to get here? Where¡¯s your fucking brain?!¡± ¡°I-¡± ¡°You let your emotions guide you.¡± ¡°... Yeah.¡± ¡°You stood against a legion of my own, while your companions were under constant threat of annihilation. You showed no such weakness then.¡± I look down, frowning at the mass of arrows sticking out of my body, and my pockmarked, nonfunctional legs. ¡°I had a skill that let me avoid it. I think, somewhere along the line, I came to rely on it to ground me, so when we were taken by surprise¡­¡± ¡°You allowed yourself to fall into a trap.¡± Cerberus finishes for me, clearly unimpressed. ¡°I think I would have won, to be fair.¡± Cerberus snorts. ¡°Yes, that is true. But, you are far stronger than these pathetic creatures, and they have reduced you to this. Does that not sting your pride?¡± ¡°... You¡¯re quite a hypocrite, you know?¡± His eyes flash, but he doesn¡¯t respond audibly. I cough slightly, burning with shame, and point to the next arrow for Lauren to remove. Attacking him because he¡¯s guilty of the same thing doesn¡¯t make him any less right about my idiocy. I go to such lengths to resist the system when using my sword and letting it anywhere near making decisions for me, that I forget how much it abstracts away when I do use it. A battle trance, or total focus, is unbelievably useful, but¡­ I can¡¯t rely on them to keep me grounded. Or else, next time, I¡¯ll probably die. Wordlessly I continue patching myself up, avoiding Lauren¡¯s piercing gaze while she assists. She sits down next to me, gaze suddenly softening, and leans against me slightly. My body reacts slightly negatively to the touch, expecting more pain, but the irritation quickly fades. She leans her head against mine, and whispers in my ear: ¡°If you leave me here alone, I¡¯ll never forgive you.¡± I look at her, frowning with questioning eyes, but she doesn¡¯t say more. Does she really feel so alone? Even now? ¡­ Who am I to talk. We¡¯re all alone. Some people are just more honest about it. Energy 118: Descent ¡°They don¡¯t have much¡­ some crappy arrows, maybe worth collecting for Lynn¡­ rotting armor¡­ the bows are all broken. Did you find anything?¡± I tilt my head slightly, smiling wryly. ¡°You don¡¯t happen to have a thing for gems, do you?¡± I toss the emerald into the air and catch it lazily. Her eyes narrow as she catches sight of it. ¡°...What do you have there?¡± ¡°Hah.¡± I toss the stone towards her. ¡°For a rogue, you sure don¡¯t loot very thoroughly.¡± She aggressively snatches it out of the air and inspects it. ¡°Fuck¡­ you¡­¡± she mutters, turning it over in her hands. ¡°Completely flawless¡­ it¡¯s beautiful, like it¡¯s been polished endlessly for years. I bet it¡¯ll look incredible in the sun.¡± ¡°Is that your way of saying ¡®yes, I like gems and I¡¯m keeping this¡¯?¡± ¡°I knew you were smart. Here, I¡¯ll trade.¡± She tosses a metallic disk to me, and I catch it easily. It¡¯s covered in intricate carvings, depicting a desperate battle having the tide turned with one, perfect arrow taking down an enemy commander. ¡°Fair enough, that¡¯s already more than I was expecting.¡± ¡°You waste our time with trinkets, let us continue.¡± I wave him off, but concede to his will and head back into the halls. We backtrack to the four-way intersection and go right, down the long hallway with the door at the end. There¡¯s a high probability that the other option is just another side room with some potential loot and combat¡­ which I guess we¡¯ll have to do at some point to actually clear the dungeon, but it would be nice to at least check out what the boss is like. After the last engagement, the levity fails to return in any meaningful way. No conversation breaks the silence, and even our footsteps sound more quiet¡­ and tentative. We find no traps in the hall, making me think perhaps all of them were in the upper level of The Barrows, but that¡¯s not an assumption I have any interest in relying on. The door itself towers several feet above the top of my head, with a half circle, ornamental top. The perimeter of the door features stone carved to look like braided rope, which actually breaks off the perimeter in the middle to join in two loops around the handles¡­ or where the handles would be, if there were any. The carving on the door depicts a beautiful female Dwarf, kneeling in sorrow, with her arms ending in two circular divots in the stone. The divots reside in the center of the rope loops, seeming to indicate the woman has her hands tied. I raise the disk Lauren gave me, and quickly realize the gimmick; the size matches, and we have one, so we probably need both to open the door. That must mean we have another lucky Wight carrying another disk.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Guess we need both.¡± ¡°Tiresome.¡± Heading down the last remaining path, we follow what appears to be a mirror layout of the other side, but with the hallway being strangely bigger than the other one, as if to allow the passage of many individuals in a short time. Before we go further, I stop to bring Kaythe back, then use him to check the corner. With his near perfect dark vision, I immediately spot a line of three undead warriors, what looks to be another special one in the back, and an archer lying in wait. I thoroughly check the walls and floor, but see no ooze this time. I resist the urge to rub my leg to try and dispel the phantom pains. I quietly convey the enemy makeup and positions to the other two, and we quickly organize a battle plan. Cerberus and I will wait while Lauren sneaks forward, and after fifteen seconds, the two of us will charge down the hall. Lauren will disrupt the archer after the special Wight follows the line of three, and flank them shitless. Easy. She heads out, and, after several tense moments of listening for her being discovered, we bull rush down the hall. Ther archer nocks an arrow, and the line of three raise shields, but do not move to meet us. The special Wight hefts its sword, but does nothing more. I sigh internally. Why even bother planning with shit like this? At least there¡¯s always plan B: fucking kill everything. With a burst of Energy, my steps accelerate me to ludicrous speeds and the Wights barely have time to raise their shields before I crash headlong into them. My shoulder-first charge bowls over two, only staggering the third, but my celebration is cut short as the special Wight springs forward with a litheness most uncharacteristic of something that has been dead for a while. Its sword is easily deflected by my own, but it takes advantage of my too-fast block to sneak around my guard and force me to back up. The line of shield bearers takes advantage of the moment to get back into position. My lips form a tight line of frustration as I prepare to simply overpower them, but I hear Cerberus catching up and decide to try a little more finesse. Cerberus leaps forward, flattening the two he lands on, but giving the third an open target. It fails to take advantage of that opening due to a healthy application of Kaythe to its head region, and falls to the ground under the flurry of stabs as the Cathid does its best to prove last time was a fluke. The special Wight takes advantage of Cerberus being otherwise occupied, and expected me to be the same. That expectation costs it both legs, and a chunk of its torso. The archer manages to get one arrow into Cerberus before Lauren appears behind it and eviscerates whatever rotting insides still remain. To his credit, the giant dog entirely ignores the arrow and destroys the bodies of both Wights with little issue, leaving me to handily dispatch the special one. In the moment the battle finishes, all that can be heard is the light clinking of bones and the thud of heavy flesh hitting the floor. ¡°None of you say anything stupid like: ¡®wow that went better¡¯, or ¡®look what happens when we work as a team¡¯ or I¡¯ll vomit.¡± Cerberus glares at me, and Lauren sticks her tongue out. The room we cleared seems to be an armory of sorts. Barrels of decaying arrows litter the ground, and quite a few ancient weapons lean against dusty stone weapon racks. About half the weaponry seems to be entirely made of stone, which reminds me of the practice weaponry Zathis would sometimes make for us. Unfortunately, that also makes them worthless to take back. I gather the second disk, along with a few barrels of arrows and some of the more metal laden weapons for later reforging, and dump them closer to the entrance for later removal. Wordlessly, we approach the locked door a second time. Energy 119: Descent ¡°Syndarus!¡± ¡°Zathis! You old fool, good to see you.¡± Zathis awkwardly scratched his head, looking down at her as she pushed off the many attendants trying to help her out of her mud and blood ridden armor. ¡°Not so old or foolish as to forget your beauty, my queen.¡± ¡°Oh stop with that. Save it for your many suitors.¡± Zathis coughed awkwardly, but tolerated her joke at his expense. It must be hard to be a Giant in a world of Dwarves. Or¡­ it probably had been. The giants hadn¡¯t been taken when the Dwarves had, and Syndarus knew nothing of what had happened to them. Perhaps they had already taken their turn with the trial. Perhaps she would meet with their king again, wherever they ended up afterwards. Perhaps that king will have learned something by then. With a flourish of her hand, she sent her silken hair in an elegant cascade to her back, enjoying the widened eyes as far too many of her people fought to remain stoic. The little things made life here bearable. Nodding in farewell to her Giant bodyguard, she left him in the enormous chamber they had built for him. Ever since he had¡­ been injured during one of the excursions, he had been despondent. Inconsolable. Her promoting him to bodyguard, and giving him that chamber, had brought him back. His eyes practically glowed with pride and affection as he watched her go. They always did. The way was unsealed before her, and her generals awaited her at the bottom of the cold, stone steps. ¡°Report.¡± The woman on her right, general of her archers and scouts, led: ¡°A scouting party of five were lost. They were led by one I trained personally. Only their weapons were found. Broken.¡± Syndarus frowned. Never good news from the scouts. Her warriors were exceptionally capable of dealing with an upfront enemy, due to their mastery over magics of the soil and stone. Unfortunately, hidden enemies were much harder to deal with. She said nothing, but turned to the burly man on her left, who spoke without further prompting: ¡°The entirety of the area known as the ¡®Rolling Hills¡¯ has been cleared of hostile forces. Construction of the transportation tunnels proceeds at a marked rate, with our forces able to avoid possible ambushes and difficult terrain by traveling underground instead. We have found that the entities known as ¡®Shades¡¯ do not appear in the tunnels, even at night, allowing for continuous efforts and reduced need for guards.¡± She gave a tight smile. ¡°Excellent work, as always.¡± It was unfortunate there was so much imbalance in success. She needed both of them immensely in order to manage all that there was to do, but their competitive natures clashed when one obviously outperformed the other. To her chagrin, she had to admit she had played them against each other in the past to push their growth, but¡­ she saw the venom in her Scout General¡¯s eyes, and the gloating superiority in her Army General¡¯s expression. ¡°As you have less need for guards to protect the caravans, you will assist the scouts in their efforts to map more of the world. We cannot continue to lose them at this rate, and those that hunt them will serve as worthy foes indeed for your soldiers.¡± The gloat was gone, but the venom deepened. She couldn¡¯t reign them both in, but she did need them to work together. She turned back to her Scout General: ¡°I trust you can handle incorporating the soldiers into your scout teams?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± There, something for both. Imperfect, but it would serve. ¡°Good. As you were.¡± They rushed off without hesitation. Great warriors in a terrible situation. They all were. Her steps echoed off the stone walls, piercing the din of hundreds of bodies moving, coordinating, and arguing, and the volume dropped, just slightly, out of respect for her passing. She strode confidently toward the council chambers, where she had amassed the greatest thinkers of her people to work on getting them through. They had been deliberating a new idea, a way to win without winning¡­ she was concerned, but they had not failed her yet. The ornate door to the chamber was closed, indicating that they had yet to reach a decision, but affording her an excellent view of the art that adorned it. And ode to her, as it were. A queen was always bound and shackled by those she ruled, and the council chamber was that idea brought to life. Many had thought she would destroy it and have the impudent artist put to death. In truth, she should have¡­ but she couldn¡¯t. The mural served as a reminder, to herself and to them, what she was, and what she had given up for them.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. She pressed the seals into their alcoves, and the magic within the door resonated, letting them creak open¡­ Creak¡­? They never¡­ creaked¡­ She opened her eyes from where she lay, covered in dust, on the floor of the empty room. Dreaming again. Dreams were all she had now. In truth, all of them were dead, and only she remained, watching over their wretched remains. Why had she woken? There was nothing here. There was never anything here. Zathis saw to that. Her eternal bodyguard. Who eternally denied her the sweet release of death. She felt the rage claim her again, giving her the strength to push herself upright and look at the door¡­ which was open. The door was never open. ---- Where there was pitch darkness in the rest of the cave, that reaches new levels in this final room. It¡¯s almost like my Perception is being forcibly altered, creating a void in the center of the spacious room. Not even Kaythe¡¯s enhanced vision can pierce it, but my instincts scream that something is there. We haven¡¯t cleared the dungeon yet, so whatever it is¡­ it¡¯s the last one. A sliding sound, the soft clank of metal on stone, then a deep, guttural growl echoes around the chamber. I immediately hold my sword defensively in front of me, straining to see anything, but the growl, instead of escalating, turns into a hacking cough. The momentary confusion would have been the perfect opportunity for this thing to strike, but it doesn¡¯t. It coughs more, harder, and louder, getting to a truly deafening level by the end, doing a number to convince me that this is the actual attack before a single word materializes: ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°H...ello?¡± The sound of something spitting, causing me to flinch, but nothing flies our way. ¡°Been¡­ a long time¡­ since I spoke..¡± The voice started of deep, barely more than the growl we heard to start, but as it speaks, it sounds more full¡­ and more feminine.¡± ¡°Are you¡­ the queen of the Dwarves?¡± ¡°I¡­ was. Am.¡± Its voice betrays a large amount of effort in even forming those few words. ¡°Could you step forward? We can¡¯t see you in that darkness.¡± The sound of something sliding again. ¡°A queen does not approach. A queen is approached. You may.¡± The voice improves by the sentence, no, by the word. Hesitantly, I look to Lauren, who just mouths ¡°No.¡± and Cerberus, who hasn¡¯t taken his eyes off the darkness that houses the voice. I smile wryly in response to Lauren, who looks unhappy, but takes the queue that I¡¯m going to do something stupid anyway, and moves to support me as I start walking. My steps echo loudly in the large chamber, even cushioned as they are by dust. No words are exchanged during our approach, but I begin to vaguely make out the silhouette of a sitting figure, staring intently at me. The form is extremely thin, much like a person who hadn¡¯t eaten in months. A long cascade of dark hair flows off its head, collecting in a pile behind it. Its arms are too long¡­ a Dwarf¡¯s arms. Even in the darkness I can see the telltale shape of a sword on the far side of her body. Far enough. ¡°We were sent here to recover something of yours, but we had been told you had died.¡± ¡°Grave robbers? I¡¯m sure you feel that sets you far above brigands and thieves.¡± ¡°... in this place? Thievery is almost a kindness compared with what we¡¯ve experienced. Anyway, I¡¯m sure Zathis would rather-¡± ¡°Zathis?¡± She interrupts, a dangerous tone replacing the melodic tones from before. ¡°The¡­¡± I start to look back at my allies, in search of support, before my Combat Proficiency skill basically slaps me back to looking at the unknown, imminent threat in front of me. ¡°-giant that guards this place? He is a good friend of ours, and asked that we retrieve a pendant he had gifted you.¡± Silence drags on, with the darkness almost seeming to deepen. I can just make out the coal black voids that are probably her eyes¡­ and I honestly wish I couldn¡¯t. She suddenly throws back her head and laughs a strange, haunting laugh, devoid of mirth, love, or anything positive. A laugh of hatred. ¡°I gave him that pendant to signify his position as my bodyguard. He gave it back when he thought to become something more. A gross error on his part, and on mine for trusting him. I know not how he cursed the pendant, but it trapped me in this eternal hell, unable to die, for¡­ ever. I was made to stand by as my loyal allies died, rotted, and rose again down in this prison. I watched as they lost their minds, and one day, stopped opening the door to speak with me. If you are here, you must have killed them, desecrating their memories one final time.¡± ¡°We-¡± ¡°No, do not deign to speak in my presence, envoys of the betrayer.¡± She slams the sword into the ground, emphasizing her words and using it to push herself to a standing position. The snapping of her joints is audible from where I stand, but she gives no indication that it is painful in any way. Instead, she takes a strange position of readiness, seemingly emphasizing her abnormal reach, before whirling the greatsword to stop on a dime, horizontal, right behind her. ¡°Girl, do not interfere. I will duel with the wielder of my second¡¯s blade. That he dares to possess it is a grave affront, and he must atone. Should you, or the hound, interfere, he will die.¡± To me, it seems as though she¡¯s speaking to an odd lump of darkness, but I know Lauren somehow snuck over there. ¡°We don¡¯t need to do this.¡± She seems rational enough, even if she¡¯s an asshole. Maybe I can talk- *Clang* The sword is almost ripped from my hands as I just manage to deflect a strike that meant to bisect me. She jumps back to her starting position, as if having made her point with action alone. Alright. I don¡¯t mind a bit of regicide. Energy 120: Descent Sky above, did it feel good to stretch her muscles! She actually caused damage to herself with that first strike, but the strain made her feel alive for the first time in¡­ It didn¡¯t matter. A proper duel, after all this time, was exactly what she wanted. Needed. And, so long as she kept her eyes out for the sneak thief, there wouldn¡¯t be any chance of interruption. Her lips curled into a wicked smile. Hopefully this grave robber would put up a worthy fight. He¡¯d better, or Gox would probably rise from his grave to reclaim his sword! Her smile soured, and she smashed the cretin¡¯s blade aside again, toying with him to relieve some of her aggravation. Gox probably had risen and tried to take the blade back, only to be turned to dust again. How many others had claimed his sword as their own? How many times had his memory been trodden upon? She advanced suddenly, the same as the past two times, and moved to smash his blade aside. The moment his guard was in place, she pivoted, swinging with everything she had. He would not maintain his grip, and she would open his throat for daring to approach her. *CLANG* The metal sung a horrific note, echoing through the chamber, but to her shock, not only did the ¡®unbreaking¡¯ enchantment on the sword withstand her strike, but the boy kept his grip. She paused, just for a moment, as he careened across the room, bones audibly breaking with each bounce, before smashing into the wall with a force that would have killed the sturdiest Dwarf before the system changed them. With a morbid respect, she noted a small chip in her sword: a result of the strike. Syndarus could have sworn that was Gox¡¯s blade, but his enchantment was nothing compared with hers, and their magics faded over time when not exposed to their Dwarven sources. So how¡­? She moved to toss her hair in a flourish, but it moved as a solid mass of filth. What a queen she was, she mused, that she could be reduced to this. Her skin was filthy, streaked with dirt and dust and grime¡­ her hair had fareed worst of all. What she would give for a bath¡­ for cool, running water to cleanse herself. Something she would never feel again. She sensed the thief¡¯s approach again, and swatted in its direction. The presence didn¡¯t vanish, as it had last time, but instead pressed closer, threatening her. She just barely heard the soft steps of someone landing on the dusty floor, right beside her. She turned in a flash, ready to eliminate the pest before following through on her promise to gut the male, but she was too slow. The blade slipped easily into her abdomen, her armor having long ago rotted to nothing, and she felt it pierce through her back. Without even blinking, she grabbed at the imp¡¯s hand, but misjudged its speed. It made no effort to remove the blade, as she had imagined, but had already produced another to take its place. Syndarus made to sweep with her sword, using her back arm as leverage, but switched her slow swipe to a swift kick the instant the rogue reacted. The figure nearly twisted its way around the strike, but even a glancing blow was enough to send it careening away. She tentatively touched the blade in her stomach. Poisoned, she could tell, but Dwarves were one with nature. Poison was just another inconvenience, and even the most potent wouldn¡¯t bother her much more than the wound itself. She didn¡¯t have much blood to lose, however, so she left the blade in. The pain was minimal, and it hadn¡¯t gotten any important muscles. Still, she had a score to settle. She rotated the stone beneath her, rather than turn around, and saw a confusing sight. ¡°Monster, you would protect another, not of your own?¡± A low growl was the only response she received from the quadrupedal mass of muscle in front of her. ¡°Your response mattered little anyway, I was merely curious.¡± The stone beneath her feet erupted up and forward, launching her at an extreme velocity towards the beast. She unsettled the ground at its feet, fractions of a second before she would have impacted, forcing it into a piss-poor defensive position. It would have died, had she willed it, but she cared little for the beast. It would perhaps provide a small amount of entertainment after the boy, but he came first. She sailed easily over the stunned animal, and smashed down with everything she had, right onto the grave robber. Her ears rang. Not with any particular sound, but¡­ as a result of one so loud it had actually deafened her. Dust cascaded around, stirred up by the force of the strike, and reduced the already terrible visibility. Her ears popped, the system restoring their function at an extreme rate, and the first thing she heard¡­ was laughter. Not her own, victorious revelry, but an insane, coughing laughter coming from the cretin she had just killed. ¡°You -*cough*- really went for it that time.¡± ¡°You are not dead.¡± The words sounded stupid in her own ears, but that was all her stunned brain could come up with. ¡°I get that a lot.¡± The dust drifted away enough to reveal her sword had been deflected to his side, where it had embedded itself almost a foot into the solid stone.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°I broke both of your arms¡­¡± She lifted her sword away, slowly. ¡°You could never have handled half of that strike, especially injured.¡± She abruptly reversed direction, smashing the blade down again. She saw him wince, but his sword barely moved. ¡°Why?¡± *Slam* ¡°How?¡± *Slam* ¡°Answer me, peasant!¡± *SLAM* Out of the swirling fog of dust, a foot appeared, catching her in the upper chest. She flew, barely trying to resist it as her mind struggled to comprehend the madness right before her eyes. Even among the Dwarves, none could stand against her. Had she truly fallen so far? Or was this lowly grave robber truly so powerful? She did not know. She landed in a heap, but easily rolled to her feet, wincing as the blade in her midsection jostled slightly. Perhaps this one wouldn¡¯t be killed by overpowering force alone. How strange. But, the fact that he had not punished her attempts at humiliating him made it clear he had only held on by a thread. She would fight him. No more games. She supposed his resilience had earned him that much. ---- One of the hardest things to learn when you¡¯re new to fighting is to take things seriously. In certain scenarios, you can measure your strength, and only use exactly what you need, and that¡¯s a sign of true skill. For someone like me, who has little skill and a lot of luck, that isn¡¯t a possibility. I either go as hard as I can from the start, or die, and this fight only emphasizes that lesson. Without my ability to heal at a ridiculous pace, I would have been done, and there¡¯s nothing Cerberus or Lauren could have done about it. As the last bones in my wrist snap back into place, I push myself to my feet, and start burning Energy. My feet strike the stone hard, sending shockwaves up my legs, but that force drives me to speeds far above my biological ability. My body feels like a mass of molten iron, bending to my will. Sections of stone appear to trip me, but the queen mistakenly started too small, and I smash through the outcroppings instead of tripping. She immediately rectifies her error, but she¡¯s tipped her hand. I trained with Zathis, and fighting an earth mage isn¡¯t new to me if I expect it. I teeter on the precipice of entering my battle trance, but I resist it. I know I would benefit from it, and the unending focus that comes with it, but I have trouble learning while I¡¯m tranced. I¡¯m in the moment, irrevocably, and although I use all of my skills and training to their utmost, I don¡¯t grow. Not really. And this fight feels important, like my spar with Dean all that time ago. I had an advantage there, but here? I¡¯m the underdog, fighting a true talent with a greatsword. It would be shame to be so focussed on the fight that I miss experiencing it. Our swords sing with every embrace, kicking wildly away as the metal struggles to deal with the excessive strain we¡¯re putting on it. I feel the vibrations in the core of my being each time my blade is struck, like a hammer on an anvil, and it feels amazing. My Energy pool diminishes rapidly as I start adding in spurts of maximum Energy burn, which momentarily turn my defensive style into a dance of equals. Her mouth, set in a firm line, never wavers, but the deep pools of darkness in her eyes grow more intense with every strike I receive without faltering. That she can do this level of fighting without needing to breathe through her mouth is a testament to her ability that none can argue with. Her strange swordplay style, entirely based around using her arms as leverage, or as vectors to rapidly change her acceleration, consistently trip me up. Conversely, my own style seems just as foreign to her, having likely spent her life fighting dwarves. Her attack always begins by striking my sword away, which would work well against a fighter who relied heavily on their arms. For me, it jars my hands and makes my life difficult, but I can always move away, pirouetting away while haloing my blade to ward of her follow up strikes. I slowly adapt to her, using the same things she thinks should work against me against her instead. Smashing her blade aside, burning a healthy chunk of energy, then rapidly advancing into her open guard to land hits. Aside from one gash the first time I tried it, I haven¡¯t been as successful as she has. My own body is covered in slashes, though most of the are only surface level due to my armor. For all her prowess with a greatsword, it¡¯s the way she strings magic into her fighting that really wins her the clashes. My quick, delicate footwork means nothing in the face of sudden stone pillars blocking my way, or my footing suddenly turning to sand. The fight lasts long enough to force me to juggle between Stamina and Energy usage a few times before the final strike. A perfect twist, with all the power of her usual blows at a lightning pace, which I just manage to block, setting up for my own counter, but when I go to execute, my feet don¡¯t move. In an instant, I¡¯m falling, then stopped abruptly, and none of my body, short of my head, can move. She turned the floor beneath me to sand, then solidified it when I fell in. Burning Energy at even the highest rate does nothing against the stone, leaving me well and truly helpless. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t suppose you¡¯d be willing to call it a draw?¡± The queen, of course, does not smile, but strides forward, purpose in her steps, before placing the tip of her sword at my throat. I stare up at her, meeting her intense gaze with a determination of my own. With every passing moment, I¡¯m packing more Energy into my head, so even being decapitated will only probably kill me, with the odds of survival going up every second. ¡°You have impressed me, but, you owe me a sword.¡± She pulls the tip back, inspecting the blade. The entire length is chipped and worn from countless engagements. My arm moves suddenly, as my sword is ripped from my grasp by unseen stone, kicking the blade up into the air for her to catch. Her bemused expression turns instantly to a frown, and she inspects the handle, then the blade, as if unsure. ¡°It belongs to me.¡± ¡°Impudent fool, its owner has been dead for longer than you have lived.¡± ¡°Maybe the sword it once was, but the metal has been reforged, and there¡¯s almost as much of me in that as there is metal.¡± She ignores me, instead flourishing the sword as she did with her own, but the handle slips from her grasp, skittering across the room. She stares after it for a moment, watching it come to rest, before turning back to me. ¡°I am Syndarus Vahashen, queen of the Dwarves, and if that sword has chosen you, then you have my respect.¡± Energy 121: Descent When someone doesn¡¯t understand something, they tend to cobble together a description from what they do understand. The queen understands swords, but not why (or how) one could possibly reject her. She sees them as tools, with mere sentimental value attaching one to a specific person for any length of time. If they die, another will pick it up, or it will be left to rot. Tools don¡¯t have feelings. Of course, a sword Energetically attuned to me and me alone throws that out the window. The ground shifts like wet clay as she pushes me out of the stone prison, all the while fixing me with a bemused expression. ¡°You lack years of training. Endless exercises, combat experience, countless mentors¡­ you have none. You will have none. This place was never designed to teach, only promote the growth of power. The young, that only learned to fight once arriving here, found that they quickly grew as talented as the best warriors were before we came here, but they understood nothing. Power is cheap, strength is unearned, and it evokes only weakness. But¡­¡± She stares at me, searching. For what, I can¡¯t say, but my best guess is: she wants to know how I could stand against her. She¡¯d probably be disappointed to learn it¡¯s just Energy being excessively strong against those who don¡¯t know it exists, or how it can be used. ¡°I¡­ have been here too long. Zathis trapped me here so long ago that I can only remember the time before in fitful dreams that haunt what little rest I manage. This place¡­ allows a solution. When the dungeon has been emptied, everything resets to how it was before, in the moment we were placed here as fixtures¡­ mementos to a dead people.¡± Doesn¡¯t this place reset after every round of contestants? But¡­ if it didn¡¯t, and Zathis hid this place from every species that followed¡­ she could have been living here, unable to die or grow or anything for... ¡°You want me to kill you.¡± Our eyes lock, and no further words pass between us. Rationalizing killing her is too easy, but that isn¡¯t the sticking point. ¡°Then, you want me to come back and best you, after the system has reset you, at the height your ability?¡± A twisted expression passes over her face, and it takes me a moment to realize that it¡¯s a smile from someone grossly out of practice. She raises herself up on her lengthy arms, standing a whole head above me, and says simply: ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I lost this time. How would that improve with you being even stronger? If I won, what help could you offer, trapped as your are?¡± Not that it matters, I sincerely doubt I¡¯ll come back soon. This was more of an exercise to train us to fight as a team, not an endeavor to get involved in some ancient politics. ¡°True, you may die, but I think the version of me from back then will realize the same thing I have, and, perhaps, teach you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re¡­ serious? You¡¯re here to kill people like me. Doesn¡¯t the system give you some kind of reward? Some promise of power or happiness or freedom if you kill enough of us?¡± The grimace of a smile disappears. At least she has the shame to acknowledge it. ¡°You think, when I have reset, that I will be so short sighted as to embrace the trivial promises of freedom?¡± ¡°I think you could convince yourself it was for your people. That you would shoulder any burden, commit any crime, if it meant a chance for them.¡±The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°... You may well be correct. I suppose you will have to be very convincing, unless you plan on leaving me here.¡± The statement isn¡¯t accusatory, but it does have a strong implication of violence behind it. ¡°I won''t... leave you like this, but why do you care if I come back? Isn¡¯t it enough for you to be spared from knowing how long you¡¯ve been trapped here?¡± She lowers her gaze, finally breaking away. Gently, she lowers herself back down so that her feet touch the ground. ¡°Perhaps it is meaningless, but, as you can see, the Dwarves failed this trial. Perhaps your people will succeed. I know not how many others have failed before you, but¡­ a chance exists. If I must have this conversation with a million entities, I will, but where I have lost faith in my own ability to escape this prison, I believe¡­ I have to believe that if a people succeeded in the trial, that they could¡­ repay us for any aid we gave.¡± Her eyes turn back to me, holding a strangely human expression of hope. Is that the answer? Offer freedom to all these imprisoned races and have them join me? What a laughable way to circumvent the intended method of killing everything and clawing your way to the top. If only I had the Energy to spare to form another bond¡­ but I don¡¯t, and a bond with her would be mostly useless to me. She can¡¯t leave this place, and I sincerely doubt I could figure out a way to get her out. I could use the bond to keep her in line if I came back, but¡­ I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to. At the very least, not before I have a reason to. Perhaps she would be a useful resource for training me to weave magic into swordplay... Slowly, I walk over and pick up my sword. ¡°Cerberus, how¡¯s Lauren?¡± ¡°She breathes.¡± Nodding, I turn back to Syndarus. Wordlessly, she takes her strange fighting stance, levelling her sword straight out behind her. At an unspoken cue, we burst towards each other, but this time, I¡¯ve thrown conservation to the wayside in favor of raw speed and power. At the rate I¡¯m burning Energy, I could probably fight for thirty seconds before my Will failed me. Our first exchange shows how her wounds have impacted her, and how mine have long vanished. The clashes are deafening, and my advance continues unabated. With her will to fight greatly diminished, she can barely manage a fighting retreat. Her sword was damaged in our first fight, and the brutal blows she¡¯s forced to absorb with it only worsen its condition. I smash her blade aside, only to have her try to use the force against me, expecting me to recoil from the sheer power in each strike, but I¡¯m already advancing again, pushing her to turn her riposte into deflections just to avoid being eviscerated. Energy isn¡¯t like Stamina, where it¡¯s an effort to keep a constant level of speed and strength. Instead, it burns at exactly the same rate, giving exactly the same power, until the combustion is stopped manually, or by lack of fuel. The difference is negligible at first, but the wounds, atrophy, and dwindling Stamina quickly spell the end for her frantic defence. She¡¯s too slow, her parry too awkward, the angle all wrong, and her blade shatters along with her forearm. The metal fragments rain around us as the hilt clatters to the ground, and her efforts to push herself into an upright position fail. She looks up at me, bleeding from the floor, defiance burning in her gaze. In that moment, staring down at her, I feel a heavy weight. I don¡¯t want to kill her. I should, but I don¡¯t¡­ want to do it. I want to ask Lauren or Cerberus to do it. And be just like Nate, making others do yo- ¡°DIE!¡± I scream the unbidden words, slicing cleanly through her neck, freezing the head and upper body solid in the process. My body heaves with each breath, a mix of shame, embarrassment, and a rush of pleasure from the massive influx of Power. I hate the mix. It¡¯s wrong. This is wrong. I flinch when someone touches my shoulder, almost ready to swing wildly at the perceived threat, but my sword falls from my hands. ¡°I¡­¡± But the words don¡¯t come. ¡°What¡­ was that at the end?¡± Lauren. Worried. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to do it. I wanted to make you do it, and¡­ I hated myself for thinking that was ok.¡± A hug. Warmth, comfort, and some of the tension melts away. It¡¯s so much harder when they¡¯re not a monster. Energy 122: Descent The moment doesn¡¯t last, and Lauren pulls away as a notification appears.
[Congratulations! Dungeon cleared. All combatants receive: 500 Power. For defeating the Dungeon Leader, you receive: Ring of Teleportation! Dungeon will reset in: 3:25...3:24...]
As compelled as I am to investigate the ring more thoroughly, the fact that we¡¯re mere minutes from being stuck in the dungeon mid-reset overrides the thought entirely. I hesitate only a moment before picking the most logical place to store the ring: my finger. I cast around for Cerberus and Lauren, finding her immediately and seeing Cerberus literally high-tailing it out of here. To my surprise, Lauren has a mischievous smile, and a questioning look in her eyes, as if asking: ¡®wanna stay and fuck them up again?¡¯, and her mood is almost infectious enough for me to agree¡­ but not now. I still feel weird after that fight. Besides, it wouldn¡¯t be worth it now. I smile back, but shake my head, instead running for the exit. I get part of the way there before remembering to grab the small pendant from around Syndarus¡¯ neck. With nothing to bar our egress, we make good time and escape a whole minute before the reset. Still, what would have happened if we had happened to win right before the day ended? What would happen if we were caught in there? Probably anything from absolutely nothing to being annihilated when time rolled back and didn¡¯t place us in the dungeon, as we weren¡¯t there when it was formed¡­ Hopefully the system wouldn¡¯t be that punishing. The sudden presence of light as we burst into the Zathis chamber momentarily blinds me, but my eyes are quick to adjust. We find Cerberus sitting, somewhat impatiently, and he immediately stands when he sees me. ¡°Good, I would not want to retrieve you.¡± Ignoring the jab, I examine the ring.
[Ring of Teleportation - Teleports the wearer 10 ft. in the desired direction. Recharges once per day.]
Another trinket. First the Energy weapon I found, and now, this. The golden bracelet on my arm slowly slithers into my hand, wrapping it in a glove of cool, flowing metal. It still takes almost thirty seconds to do even that, but it¡¯s getting faster. The trouble with trinkets, especially powerful ones, is the way you have to adapt around them. Skills tend to come from what you do anyway, so they enhance and guide your existing inclinations, but magic items¡­ They aren¡¯t meant for anyone. I¡¯m sure the system provides some grossly inefficient way to tailor make magic items for people, but as for how? I couldn¡¯t say. It¡¯s one thing to give a sword the ability to imbue its wielder with extra Strength, but could you make it elemental? Could you lessen or add weight? Make it guide your strikes to hit more easily? The list goes on, but there aren¡¯t answers. I know that really special circumstances, combined with Energy, let me infuse my weapon with cold, but I had no control over that being the element. In fact, I would have guessed that it would be infused with fire, given how badly I was burned in its making. ¡°You have returned unscathed! I have come to expect no less.¡± The giant intones, ringing the air with his throaty voice. Which¡­ ¡°Zathis, just what the hell did we find down there?¡± ¡°What do-¡± ¡°Syndarus. What the hell?!¡± I quietly curse myself for letting emotion slip into my voice, but the pain is still too fresh. For once, Zathis is quiet, whether it be out of fear of angering me or because he is at a loss for what to say, I know the answer, but I would prefer it be the former. ¡°A pendant that seals her? In one room? And the longevity... Why? It¡¯s bad enough to be in a prison, but at least you know that one day, you¡¯ll be free. Whether through death or release, there is that certainty¡­ but not for her. And she was made to stay in one room within that prison, so far from you, the last sane being she could talk to-¡± ¡°SILENCE.¡± The word shakes the very ground, raining pebbles and sand down from the ceiling. My ears ring, probably only still intact due to my Toughness. I¡¯m tempted to press the attack, but I know better, and manage to hold my tongue. I take out the pendant, carved with broken chains¡­ a cruel joke at best¡­ and toss it up to him.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Despite the tension of the moment, his large hand moves to catch the tiny thing, cradling it gently, and staring at it with mournful eyes. ¡°It was really fucked-¡± I shoot Lauren a glance, and the words die on her lips. She still looks furious, and that fury momentarily turns to me, but her expression ultimately softens slightly, and she turns away. ¡°It was¡­ never meant to be like this. I believed she would be freed soon, that I would find others to help us escape, or take our place¡­ but I failed. Part of the hell that is this place stems from¡­ the memory destruction. They aren¡¯t perfect, and so, we remember fragments. It took some time¡­ 400 cycles before I had my first memory carry over.¡± ¡°How did you know it was exactly 400 cycles if your memory was perfectly wiped?¡± ¡°The dark shadow speaks to us, the fixtures, to torment us. When I kept my first memory, it realized, and saw how I was galvanized by¡­ how little time I thought had passed. It¡­ fixed that. Afterwards, it took everything I had not to give up myself, and knowing that every wasted second meant she continued to suffer¡­ that was all that would make me continue.¡± At this, Zathis sighs deeply, eyes sinking in despair. ¡°I knew I had to keep trying, convinced that I could find worthy individuals to place my faith in. Time after time, I was proven wrong.¡± His eyes rise slightly, meeting my gaze. ¡° I have died many times. Countless times, like your friend here.¡± He gestures lightly to Cerberus, who growls back. ¡°True, not nearly as many, but he has not been here for as long. When I was found, I was killed or sealed within this place. The few that sought to communicate with me longed only for the treasures I was supposedly hiding, and my dying action was to always ensure that my greatest treasure evaded their grasps¡­ Syndarus.¡± ¡°People aren¡¯t treasures, Zathis, they¡¯re treasured. They can¡¯t be kept, or you destroy everything that made them worth keeping.¡± Zathis takes a long look at me before responding. ¡°Such is a lesson I learned in a hundred hundred lifetimes¡­ odd, that I should hear it from one so young.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t remember exactly why or how, but I remember what it was like to want someone so badly you could convince yourself to stop them from leaving. You could say to yourself that they were simply trapped in a mood, that the lapse in feelings would pass, and all that was needed was time. You would always be wrong. They just hate you more on the way out. They just leave a bigger scar.¡± ¡°She needed to be whole if I¡­ when I managed to free her!¡± ¡°Killing her would return her to the way she was right after. Her suffering would have been staggered instead of a concentrated, eternal hell of isolation.¡± ¡°You know some, yes, and make guesses based on that knowledge, but you do not know all that is this place, nor the immortality it grants. With each death, something is lost. Small things, limited, but ask your companion what remains of the minds of his people!¡± I turn to Cerberus, but he looks away. I frown slightly. He was the one who told me that his people were mostly feral, and yet now he¡¯s ashamed? Or is it an unwillingness to have commonality with Zathis? ¡°I spared Syndarus that fate, at the cost of suffering it myself. What I was, what I am now¡­ I know not how far I have fallen, but I imagine the distance is vast. I have memories of before, when my magics would create canyons, throw mountains! Yet now, I must strain to do anything more substantial than training a few humans at the same time. Syndarus¡­ has- had not tasted that loss. Now she has. I trust you made it quick?¡± A flash of accusation crosses his eyes, but it fades with the nodding of my head. ¡°She may never believe what I did for her was right, but I know that it was good. I know that it saved her.¡± ¡°I believe that, but I do have one more question: how did you know that would help her, if you gave her the pendant before all this?¡± His eyes widen. ¡°I¡­ do not¡­ remember.¡± He finishes, weakly. His eyes scream out his lie for him. It doesn¡¯t matter. It¡¯s not my affair to get involved in, but It changes my view of Zathis. For all that he helps, he is deeply afraid, meaning that I should be wary of ever leaving him entirely alone. He makes it easy by offering to train us, but should we need to pull everyone away from here, he must not be aware it is happening. I would not like to know what he would try to keep us here. I shake my head and turn away. Maybe I¡¯m overreacting, but I¡¯m still going to fill Lynn in on the details. I glance sideways at Chris, who has spent the last five or so minutes staring, open mouthed, at me arguing with a giant. ¡°Chris, have you done it yet?¡± ¡°A-Amadeus! Ah, no! Sir! But¡­ I have¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t explain, just show me.¡± I gesture towards the boulder. Chris audibly gulps while looking at what must be the bane of his very existence, but nevertheless, moves into position. With a strange certainty, he pushes. Gone is the agonizing struggle, the futility in his face¡­ replaced with the grimace of pain and the hardness of a sure gaze. My eye twitches, and I feel something stirring in me. The rock shifts. The rock shifts again. Slowly, hand under hand, he rolls the boulder a quarter of the way up the ramp. With a gasp, his entire body gives out, and he falls to the ground in the path of the rolling boulder. With a sharp burst of Energy, I manage to stop the boulder before it hits him, and Lauren drags Chris aside so I can let the thing come to a rest. ¡°Son of a bitch¡­¡± I mutter quietly, looking down at his heaving body. ¡°He actually fucking did it.¡± Energy 123: Roots ¡°Easy, easy¡­ there. Drink this- slowly¡­ good. Feeling any better?¡± Chris offers only a pitiful groan in response. ¡°It¡¯ll pass,¡± I assure him ¡°just give it some time. It does have the benefit of making you more capable afterwards¡­ but I guess now you can see why I don¡¯t do it that often. Not when I can help it, anyway.¡± He merely groans again. Sighing, I place my hand on his head and offer him a bit of healing Energy, which seems to momentarily ease his pain. ¡°Th-ank you.¡± ¡°You learned quickly. I¡¯m curious, what did it?¡± ¡°Wha-?¡± ¡°What pushed you over the edge? Made you get it?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± He trails off before shaking his head, wincing when the motion exacerbates the pain. ¡°Don¡¯t know?¡± I finish, saddened. Of course he wouldn¡¯t. I couldn¡¯t explain it either. One day, you just wake up. That¡¯s what it feels like, anyway. It was probably even more profound of an experience here, with the system. One day, your will just appears in your hand like a weapon, and it¡¯s yours to wield. Who could say why it appears, though? I remember music, suffering, and crippling isolation¡­ the things that drive people to a slow insanity. Maybe I was insane for a while, but in my mad wanderings, I found my way out¡­ and when I returned, I held something that had been hidden in the madness: an understanding of me. Yes, I was flesh and blood- a brain piloting a sack of meat- but that was not me. I am my will. I am the change I make in the world, and in others. Simple, I know, but in recognizing simple truths, complex ones become attainable. When you know a weapon exists, you may train with it, defend yourself from it, and with that competence comes power. This is especially true of weapons that others do not recognize. How do you fight something you can¡¯t understand? Guess, and hope. Looking down at Chris, I can¡¯t say I envy his position. I¡¯m not sticking around to teach him things, partially because I have other things to do, but mostly because it¡¯s a highly individual process. I can wield my own will, but wielding the will of others? That takes time, and you can never do it as well as they themselves. I wield Kaythe¡¯s will, and eventually, I will do the same with Cerberus. Lauren follows my will, but I do not control her. Nor do I wish to squander her potential by doing so. ¡°Do you understand?¡± My voice fills the careful silence I hadn¡¯t noticed descend. ¡°I do.¡± Confidence. Little, but there. ¡°You¡¯re wrong, you understand very little, but that is good. You will find out the rest yourself. Though, before I go, I will caution you: do not seek to use what you know to control others. Control yourself first. Focus inward. Better yourself.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t-¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about understanding that, it¡¯s just an important caution that the system won¡¯t give you. I expect marked improvement by the time I get back.¡± ¡°Leaving?¡± ¡°Yeah, I was waiting on you. Good luck teaching the other- oh¡­ healing, right.¡± Ugh, I really don¡¯t want to spend time mentoring right now. ¡°Can you visualize your Energy?¡± ¡°Y-yeah¡­ a little?¡± ¡°What color is it?¡± ¡°Color?¡± ¡°Yess.¡± My voice betrays my impatience. ¡°What does it look like?¡± ¡°It looks like¡­ clear water.¡± ¡°What.¡± ¡°Sorry? I don¡¯t¡­ what¡¯s it supposed to look like?¡± ¡°Mine looks like motes of different colored light.¡± He screws up his face a little, but still looks aggrieved when he opens his eyes again. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s just water. It feels warm, but t-that¡¯s it.¡± The confidence seems to seep away with every word, and I know it¡¯s because I¡¯m being a dick. ¡°Interesting¡­ can you try changing the heat of the water?¡± ¡°The¡­ heat?¡± ¡°Make some cooler, soothing. Try making some hot and scalding.¡± ¡°H-¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how you¡¯ll do it, it¡¯s up to you. The soothing one is more important. Imagine that soothing, cool water gathering in you finger.¡± His eyes close as he presumably listens, and a sharp pin of the golden Energy metal quickly forms at my prodding. ¡°-And heal.¡± I say, jabbing the pin deep into his finger.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. He screams and tries to jump at the sudden pain, but I hold him. ¡°Hey, hey it¡¯s alright, that¡¯s all it was, now just flood the are with the cool water.¡± ¡°Ahhh¡­¡± He winces. ¡°-coulda warned me!¡± ¡°Trust me, it¡¯s nicer than how I learned.¡± Blood keeps welling up from the wound, and it¡¯s easy to tell by his facial expressions how the pain is disrupting his focus. I¡¯m about to give up and just heal it for him when the blood stops. Pulling out my water skin, I wash the area¡­ and a small pinprick scar is all that remains. ¡°You must have some kind of talent for this, or I¡¯m an excellent teacher.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not. I¡¯d know.¡± Lauren, helpful as always. I release Chris, letting him return to a more comfortable sitting position, but I hardly think he notices. His eyes nearly bug out of his skull with how hard he¡¯s staring at the scar. ¡°Where¡­ how¡­ what?¡± ¡°Congratulations, you healed yourself.¡± ¡°I¡­ you mean, you didn¡¯t? I did this?¡± ¡°Yeah. All because you did something impossible.¡± ¡°The¡­ rock?¡± ¡°Yeah, you dolt. You figured out how to take your will into your own hands and use it.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± He trails off, but the ecstatic grin that spreads across his face makes it clear he¡¯s at a loss for words for a reason entirely foreign to him; he had succeeded beyond his wildest hopes. ¡°Don¡¯t let it get to you head. You still didn¡¯t push the rock to the top, but you¡¯ve got a solid starting place from which to help others, or save me some effort and teach them.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ I guess so. I don¡¯t think I can teach like you, though. The others don¡¯t¡­ really like me that much.¡± ¡°I gathered.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright. They¡¯re all afraid, and they feel less afraid together¡­ at least, when they¡¯re picking on me they seem happy. It could be worse.¡± ¡°I think they¡¯ll change their minds when you turn a crippling injury into a bad memory for them. I wasn¡¯t well liked in the group when I first joined either, but then I healed¡­¡± Rav. I healed Rav, and now he¡¯s dead. I notice belatedly that I trailed off mid-sentence, and Chris is looking at me expectantly. I cough dryly. ¡°I healed one of them and they all started being more friendly. Lauren and I are only close because she tried to kill me.¡± ¡°I said I was sorry.¡± She pouts, but her eyes are laughing. ¡°I think¡­ you¡¯re really weird.¡± Chris says, staring slightly aghast between the two of us. ¡°Thanks, Chris. I get that a lot. Anyway, good luck, call if you need me.¡± ¡°Call what?¡± ¡°Really loudly.¡± --- Lynn stares at me across the table while I pick my way through a brief meal. ¡°Did Seth make this? It¡¯s really good.¡± ¡°I did, actually, and thank you.¡± ¡°You? I thought you were always busy with-¡± I gesture at the nearest group of people ¡°-managing.¡± She sighs, a hint of exhaustion making its way into her posture before she straightens again, fixing me with a piercing gaze. ¡°The better part of management is delegating. Besides, I¡¯ll go mad if all I do is lead them around by the nose all day. Cooking seemed an efficient relaxation method.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t fault that logic.¡± I say, popping another piece of crispy grasshopper into my mouth. They aren¡¯t bad, actually, and just eating them actually boosts Dexterity as well. It blows my mind that I didn¡¯t think to experiment with insects as reagents, but now¡­ the buffs are minimal with just eating the hopper, but mixed in a potion and properly prepared? It could dramatically increase one¡¯s speed for a while. The boost lasts for an entire hour as well¡­ promising. ¡°But, I assume you didn¡¯t want me here just to feed me.¡± ¡°Of course not. How proceeds the training with Chris?¡± ¡°Done.¡± I crunch down on the nutty tasting insect. ¡°Done? He is a trained healer?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°I would be remiss to call you a liar, but I am sorely tempted. You know we need-¡± ¡°I know, which is why I trained him at all, but I¡¯m serious. He knows it now. Don¡¯t go getting limbs chopped off in the near future, but he should be able to practice healing minor sparring wounds, and as he improves, he¡¯ll be able to handle more.¡± ¡°... Very well. I shall keep our members close to camp until your return.¡± ¡°Good. I¡¯d ask you if you wanted to come with, but-¡± ¡°You already know the answer. There is one more thing I would ask of you: a donation of Power.¡± ¡°What, to you? You¡¯ve got to have plenty after that fight.¡± ¡°To the town. It requires Power to expand and grow.¡± I narrow my eyes. I have a lot of Power. 22,745 to be exact. But that just means I can avoid killing things for a while, and indiscriminately gather new and exciting Secondary Skills. I could stand to part with some of it, but¡­ even half would be quite the blow. ¡°How much are we talking?¡± An evil glint in her eye tells me all I need to know. ¡°I¡¯m not giving you all of it!¡± ¡°No, not all. 15,000.¡± ¡°WHAT?! THAT¡¯S ALMOST THREE QUARTERS-¡± ¡°Oh? Only that? Perhaps you could spar-¡± ¡°FUCK NO.¡± I push away from the table and make to leave. I¡¯d be left with only around 7k Power, which is still a ton, but¡­ not, absolutely not. ¡°Amadeus.¡± ¡°WHAT?¡± ¡°Joking aside, I do need that much.¡± ¡°UGH. Why?! What could possibly require that much Power?¡± ¡°Rushing this town to level two as fast as possible. I can¡¯t rightly ask for Power from the craft- artisans, but many of the combatants already donated what they could. It takes an entire 30,000 Power to level the town up, and we likely need to expand it a few times to make room for future structures.¡± ¡°Holy- ok, how much Power do you already have stockpiled?¡± ¡°Around 20,000.¡± ¡°So why would I need to give fifteen?!¡± ¡°Because, Amadeus, and I hate you for making me say it: you can spare it. You will recoup the lost Power faster, and it¡¯s less vital to your growth. We have a lot of new people who are far too weak to stand against even a few Carnines, let alone real threats!¡± A growl emanates from the corner of the room. ¡°No offence, Cerberus. The point remains. They cannot hope to guard this place if they are weak, and Power will set them on the right path. We need to train them and close the gap as fast as possible, all the while continuing to push the bar further ourselves. We must be strong enough to face whatever comes.¡± I turn to face her, a faint fog of ice cascading down my back. ¡°You owe me.¡± ¡°Amadeus, you and I both know that has been the case for quite some time.¡± Her smile is cheeky, but I can see the appreciation. It¡¯s not enough, but she isn¡¯t wrong. She guides me through the process, and the feeling of losing so much Power so fast leaves me retching on the floor for several minutes before the crippling, mind-breaking levels of emptiness and loss start to fade. Energy 124: Roots Good fucking christ that hurts. I swear, it¡¯s like everything in this damn world has withdrawal effects. Would it be too much to ask for experience to just feel like nothing? Why does it have to feel good to get Power? Fuck the brain and its stupid pleasure responses. I peel myself gingerly off the floor, glaring reproachfully at Lynn, but she looks surprised. ¡°I¡­ have never seen a reaction like that. Are you well, Amadeus?¡± ¡°No.¡± The words are more akin to croaking than speech. She nods. ¡°Lauren, look after him a moment, I¡¯ll be right back.¡± Lauren nods in assent before coming over to where I¡¯m hunched over in a sitting position, looking at me quizzically. ¡°Don¡¯t you have healing powers?¡± ¡°Fuck off.¡± ¡°What? You literally healed an eviscerated Werewolf to peak condition, how can you not deal with a headache?¡± ¡°I should have you pushing boulders around too.¡± I mutter, angrily. ¡°Oh, because I just can¡¯t understand, right?¡± Her sour tone indicates I¡¯ve hit a nerve, and it takes more effort than I care to quantify to keep quiet instead of making it worse. God, I feel like the flu came and ravaged my insides, leaving nothing but lingering, burning agony. At least it¡¯s slowly going away¡­ ¡°Sorry, that whole thing took a lot out of me. I meant, if you could see Energy like I can, you¡¯d understand my frustration. According to Energy, I¡¯m totally fine. Nothing can be healed because I¡¯m in peak condition. Yet, I¡¯m in horrible pain. It¡¯s a thrilling mystery, to be sure.¡± ¡°All is forgiven. I¡¯d be an asshole for calling you out on being mean because you¡¯re hurting, especially¡­ well, you know.¡± She shrugs, not meeting my eye. ¡°Yeah.¡± The silence is heavy, but not uncomfortable. A lot has happened since Lauren decided to stop being a psychopath (as much), but not very much time has passed. I hope one day she can put it fully behind her, but her expression right now conveys a profound sense of worry. Lynn returns, bearing a clay cup of steaming liquid, which she presents to me. ¡°Here, drink.¡± ¡°Is this¡­¡± I sniff the liquid, which smells nice, like boiled leaf water. ¡°-tea?¡± She nods. ¡°Made from the same flowers that cause healing. It¡¯s less of a kick than the healing potions, and anyone can make them. The result seems to just speed up regular regeneration for an hour or so.¡± Huh. Neat. So, not a potion, but¡­ similar? And not quite the same effect either. Curious. It¡¯s almost as though different brewing methods result in different expressions of the same general effect. If we did the same process with the Mana flower, or the Energy flower, would they stimulate regeneration for those as well? In that case, finding a Stamina refilling reagent would let me optimize regeneration in both Stamina and Energy simultaneously! I¡¯d have almost limitless staying power in combat¡­ as long as the combat stayed within a certain level of intensity.
[Unique circumstances have led to the increase in your Alchemy Secondary Skill! Alchemy +1 (4)]
That little boost, combined with the soothing effects of the drink, does wonders to help my mood. I quickly finish the cup and hand it back to a smiling Lynn. She seems very pleased with herself for the success of the drink, and I should be thanking her for the inspiration, but I don¡¯t want her to think all is forgiven just yet. ¡°How did you make that, anyway?¡± ¡°I dried the flowers, grinded them lightly into little flakes, boiled water, then added them afterwards, exactly like tea back home. Would you like to take some of the leftover dried flowers? I can always prepare more.¡± ¡°I¡¯d appreciate that, thanks.¡± Lynn¡¯s smile turns into a smirk as she produces and holds out a leather pouch to me. I slowly get to my feet before snatching it away from her, but her smirk only widens at my glower. ¡°Is it so wrong that I know you well at this point, Amadeus?¡± Lauren¡¯s snickering does nothing to improve the situation, and I huff in feigned annoyance. ¡°You become a leader and now you¡¯re suddenly a know-it-all? Typical.¡± ¡°Now?¡± She laughs coyly. ¡°Now, if you¡¯re sufficiently recovered, I had Seth prepare you travel rations and packs with things you may need. You will find them in Tom¡¯s old forge room. I wish you all the best of luck on your quest, and would appreciate your timely and safe return.¡± With that, she nods, and turns on her heel before walking briskly away.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. I turn to Lauren, eyebrow raised in question. ¡°Beats me, dude. She probably didn¡¯t want to cry in front of us.¡± ¡°Pff, sure.¡± We probably won¡¯t be gone that long. Choosing not to dwell on it further, Cerberus, Lauren, and I all step out into the gloom of night. The village is somewhat lit, but it might as well be a beacon of light in comparison with how dark everything around the town is. The true oddity of the night, however, is the distinct lack of Shades. There was no howling, no dark shapes moving in the night¡­ nothing. Who knows if that will last, though. They might be gone forever, or they could be back tomorrow, stronger than ever. I hope Lynn starts building fortifications soon¡­ and lights up the fields around the town. Whatever, her job, not mine. We head to pick up the packs, finding two fairly well made backpacks and one¡­ it looks almost like a saddle with saddlebags. ¡°I refuse.¡± ¡°Come on, they made it specifically for you!¡± ¡°Silence, human. I am a warrior, not some Ignaste.¡± ¡°Ig-... what?¡± Cerberus glowers at me for a moment before answering. ¡°Bearers of provisions and supplies within my people. Massive beasts, powerful, but dull and dim witted.¡± ¡°Fine, but if you¡¯re not carrying your own shit, you¡¯ll have to do without. None of us are going to judge you for how you look carrying things, but that¡¯s not true if you end up needing one of us to support you because you¡¯re unprepared.¡± His glower deepens. ¡°Come on!¡± Lauren chimes in. ¡°It¡¯s nothing for you. Your dignified posture couldn¡¯t possibly be lessened by a few packs!¡± Of course, she only gets a warning growl for her troubles. ¡°Fine, if you won¡¯t wear the bags in front of your people, fine, I¡¯ll carry them, but once we¡¯re out of sight, if you don¡¯t put them on, they¡¯re going to be left in the forest.¡± Cerberus turns his head away, but says nothing. I think he¡¯s pleased. Man, every time I think I¡¯m a prideful son of a bitch, this guy really proves how much I¡¯m lacking in both regards. The bags fit reasonably well around my shoulders, hanging down my front, while the backpack fits nicely in the middle of my back. Lots of straps prevent it from moving very much, so the noise made by walking is minimized. Nice touch, Marie. They just seem a little tricky to get off in a pinch, but I¡¯m sure the plethora of knives and sharp things in the group can remedy that. With that, we¡¯re ready. In the murky darkness, we set off. I¡¯m rather more burdened than everyone else, with all the packs and Kaythe riding on me, so we move at a fast walk over the fields. We watch vigilantly for threats, but after not finding any, nor having any instinctual warnings, Lauren and I relax a bit. Cerberus remains as paranoid as ever, unsurprisingly. I quickly find myself distracted by the beautiful sky overhead¡­ it¡¯s not like the night sky back home, but there¡¯s a strange serenity that comes from distant technology. Cool blue lights, slight pinpricks of starlight, and the vaguely identifiable features of the surface of the rings as the careen by without a sound¡­ It took my breath away the first night, and it still does. I wish I had had more time to look at it, but every night between then and now had been spent fighting for survival. And, here I am going off to fight more. I sigh, but no one notices. Such is the nature of our lives now. We reach the edge of the woods long before the rings have passed and freed us from the night, but Lauren and I are in agreement about not going in until morning. The light is bad enough during the day, I have no intention of trying to navigate safely in the pitch darkness that stretches before us now. Ok, it¡¯s not quite that bad, but my vision range is substantially reduced in there, and I still remember how effective those parasitic trees were when they got the jump on us, and that could easily happen again. This logic does little to sway Cerberus, however, who wants to go check on his people. It¡¯s only with great reluctance that he agrees to remain with us until sunrise, as technically he is close enough to them to communicate via their weird mind link, so there¡¯s no reason to actually be there with them. The air is slightly chilly, and the grass is damp, so Lauren and I stay closer together. The action makes me acutely aware that it excludes Cerberus, and even though that¡¯s something I¡¯m sure he¡¯d prefer, I can¡¯t let that become the status quo. The only reason I don¡¯t lose a hand when he realizes I¡¯m petting him is because the Energy connection we share makes it a more comfortable experience for him, but that doesn¡¯t mean he looks comfortable at all. I think it might actually be stressing him out, but that could easily be because he¡¯s never been pet before. It¡¯ll grow on him, I¡¯m sure. Plus, he¡¯s probably too distracted making sure everything is going smoothly with the camp to make a big deal out of it, and I¡¯m not going to stop unless he asks. It¡¯s a lot like petting a horse, but if the horse was a wall of muscle, teeth, and claws. Honestly, even compressed as he is, Cerberus is quite intimidating. His fur is strange, though¡­ it¡¯s very soft in one direction, but in the other, it actually seems capable of piercing my skin. It¡¯s as though each of his hairs is like a single, thin needle. They still bend given enough pressure, and spring back when you stop bending them, but if you hit one dead on? Oww. His fur/hide must offer some serious protection. ¡°You can still turn back, you know.¡± ¡°And miss this? Hah. Plus, I¡¯ve gotta make sure you stay safe.¡± ¡°You too. I refuse to add ¡®more dead friends¡¯ to the list of problems I have to deal with.¡± ¡°Oh? Dead friends?¡± ¡°Stay alive long enough, and maybe that will change.¡± Energy 125: Roots The celestial rings hurtle by, and finally, light from the distant star peeks through, bathing the grasslands in a seconds long sunrise before transitioning rapidly to full noon. Immediately, the slight chilly bite of the darkness abates in favor of a more gentle warmth.
[Congratulations! Phase 1 of the Trials completed! Next, you must find a hidden key on each of the major continents. Keys remaining: 3. Warning: Danger levels of monsters increase dramatically in each subsequent continent visited.]
Cryptic, and unhelpful as always. Looking at my map, and zooming way the fuck out, I see several areas have been illuminated out of the gray nothing that usually fills the places I haven¡¯t seen. The closest one, likely still on our continent, seems to be in a barren, stony looking place¡­ the map doesn¡¯t give significant detail like it does with places I¡¯ve seen. The next one is way North and East, but looks like a uniform section of blue. Water, maybe? The last one just looks red¡­ which is far more worrying than the rest combined. Why couldn¡¯t it have been light blue, like ice? At least I have a resistance to cold! Ugh, problems for the far future. Cerberus silently pads into the forest, saying nothing. I get so far as to opening my mouth to reproach him before he growls ¡°Follow.¡± Frowning, I swallow my words. It¡¯s something. I¡¯m content to let him have the lead in front of his people. It¡¯s the last they¡¯ll see of him for a while, so hopefully it gives them the strength to survive till we return. The forest makes no noise, with all the small life seeming to have moved elsewhere in the wake of the army camping out in their midst. It¡¯s a little sad, honestly, and a little strange. They were all very content to chirp and croak when it was just parasitic Treants, but a few dogs and they move? It¡¯s almost like the forest is rejecting them. Though I feel eyes on me, it takes a few moments to spot the scouts lying still in the underbrush. The only thing that gives them away is the faint glint of the sun in their eyes, but if we were in under thicker canopy, it would be impossible. Cerberus doesn¡¯t even spare them a glance, and we head around the camp proper. It seems he finished up everything he needed to during the dark hours. We come upon a lone figure: a Werewolf, standing beside a tree. It immediately strides forward staring intently at Cerberus, and shooting small looks at me and Lauren. They¡¯re obviously communicating, but I couldn¡¯t say about what. Kaythe tightens around me slightly, sending signals of discomfort under the gaze of the Werewolf. Poor thing, he didn¡¯t used to be scared of anything¡­ but is he afraid because he now knows what it¡¯s like to die, or because he doesn¡¯t like knowing he couldn¡¯t protect me from something? The creature looks directly at me with a sudden intensity. ¡°Human, you will avoid endangering our leader. Do so, and I can guarantee the safety of your kin. Yes?¡± I don¡¯t respond, having become more than sick of being called ¡®Human¡¯ at this point, but Lauren isn¡¯t one to let an awkward silence go to waste. ¡°But of course I¡¯ll keep Cerby safe! Just leave it all to me!¡± Her cajoling, overly peppy tone sounds every bit as intentionally inflammatory as I¡¯m sure she wants it to, and though I should probably not have let it happen, it feels good to see the Werewolf¡¯s ire. ¡°I was speaking to the other human.¡± It speaks with great distaste. My eyes flit to Cerberus, curious at his reaction to all this, but he seems uncharacteristically blank instead of bristling with fury like I expected. ¡°Ah, a miscommunication, I¡¯m sure. For this, we humans have developed a concept called ¡®names¡¯. You know mine, correct?¡± I do my best to keep my smile from becoming nasty, but who can say how successful I am. The Werewolf growls, but seems unsure, looking to Cerberus for support but finding nothing. ¡°Yes.¡± It finally answers. ¡°Use it. Cerberus, please lead the way.¡± Though I don¡¯t spare the creature another glance as we walk on, I notice Lauren pantomime some obscene promise with one of her knives at it. It takes more willpower than I care to measure to stifle my laughter and school my expression.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Nothing is said as we walk, with each of us trying to acclimate to the new environment. Take note of every sound and investigate it thoroughly. Understand exactly what the underbrush and canopy does to sound, how far away it originates, what the crackling of leaves means at various amplitudes¡­ everything. I have to establish a baseline for sound, sight, and smell in order to identify violations to that norm. Slowly, the sound of buzzing insects grows as we leave the camp behind us. Soon, sounds of birds join in, and the strange sounds of things that could be amphibians, but look more like slimes than I¡¯m comfortable with. Suddenly, something flashes in front of my eyes, falling down, and I jump back from the sound of a meaty plop on the ground. My sword is in my hands in a flash, and Kaythe is posed on my shoulders, ready to stab the shit out of whatever just tried to fall on me¡­ but it just kinda oozes a little bit. It suddenly reforms, before rolling slowly towards the nearest tree.
[Spogdig - Relatively harmless creatures that have a nonstatic biology. They have mild shapeshifting ability, and are capable of moving their existing parts around their gelatinous body to optimize use. They are known to try to hitch rides on passersby.]
¡°System says it¡¯s harmless.¡± I say, straightening and putting my sword away. The sound of running water has been ever present in our journey, but there¡¯s no reason for us to be near the water as of yet, so we opt to keep away from it to make sure we aren¡¯t backed into a difficult situation if we¡¯re assaulted. Our proximity does explain how something that looks like a glorified globe of water can continue to not dry out. Looking up, I can see a few more of the Spogdigs grouping, attempting to get into position to land on my pack or head. I pick up the one who tried to drop on me and examine it more closely. It¡¯s blue in color, but mostly translucent. In the center, I can see a core, similar to what the slimes have, but unlike the slimes, there are more ridges and folds in the core, and there are complex organs like eyes and hands littering the exterior. They look shoddy at best, but they¡¯re leagues beyond a fucking ooze or shitty slime that¡¯s only good for burning your legs¡­ not that I¡¯m bitter. I¡¯m interrupted from my inspection by Lauren poking my face. ¡°No. I know what you¡¯re thinking, and no more pets. I¡¯m sure you think it¡¯s cute, but we can¡¯t have you distracted the whole way with this thing.¡± I grimace and gently place it part of the way up the tree it had been heading towards. ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to keep it, just curious.¡± She rolls her eyes, clearly not buying it. Though the thought occurred to me, I don¡¯t need more companions besides Kaythe and Cerberus right now, especially when Cerberus is so hard to work with. I can¡¯t have anything dividing my efforts until that¡¯s in a stable place. Speaking of¡­ ¡°Hey Cerberus, could you help me out with these? They¡¯re hanging so low they¡¯re catching on the bushes.¡± Cerberus, whose massive figure puts him well above the miniscule plant life on the forest floor, looks at me for a moment before turning away and presents his side. Close enough for me. I swing the packs carefully over his back, making sure it doesn¡¯t smack him as it lands, and fasten it. I shrug my shoulders and roll them a bit, working out the tension from the straps digging in for so long. The forest quickly thickens, with trees growing closer and closer together. Where before we could get a general picture of our surroundings, now there are huge clumps of trees that have grown too closely to actually pick out individual organisms, let alone pass through them. We still manage to pick our way through for a while, but it quickly becomes clear we¡¯re fighting a losing battle. ¡°We could just burn them all down.¡± Lauren looks far too excited about her idea for my comfort. ¡°That would kill us.¡± ¡°We could definitely outrun the fire.¡± ¡°Perhaps, but perhaps not its denizens.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got a solution for that too!¡± ¡°Lauren, no killing unless they try to off us first. We want a moss, not a fight, if we can help it.¡± ¡°Come onnnn. Don¡¯t you want to get back that Power you lost?¡± She¡¯s clearly teasing me, but she¡¯s also unfortunately not wrong. I really do crave Power right now. It took a lot of self control not to crush the Spogdig earlier, just for a small amount of relief¡­ which is all the more reason why I really don¡¯t want to get in a fight. It¡¯s an addiction I have no intention of feeding. ¡°There are no trees growing in the water.¡± Why is a dog our voice of reason. ¡°Sounds good to me.¡± Lauren mutters something about not being able to ¡®light that on fire¡¯, but follows as Cerberus changes course directly for the sound of rushing water. Energy 126: Roots The river, despite being almost a mile deep in the jungle, hasn¡¯t narrowed in the slightest. Exposed roots waver in the shallows along the banks, indicating steady erosion. Along the shore, several of the stupid Spogdig creatures bob about, seemingly without a care in the world. They react to our approach by bobbing gently away, into the faster currents, before rapidly disappearing downstream. Many vines dip into the water, swaying in the currents, like so many fishing lines. Idly, I wonder if they ever inadvertently catch fish. Or, Spogdigs, what with them being seemingly everywhere around here. ¡°I¡¯m going to get this out right away, I¡¯m not swimming in that.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m not hanging around while you build a raft.¡± ¡°What? No! I mean I¡¯m not going into the rapids.¡± Her cheeky grin might as well be saying ¡®no shit¡¯. ¡°Asshole. Cerberus, what are you thinking here?¡± ¡°Merely that there are no trees blocking our way here. We should proceed through the shallows, but be wary. The soil in the water has turned it very murky; a perfect angle for an ambush.¡± That¡­ was a lot more helpful than he usually is. Is the absence of pressure from his underlings letting him be more friendly? ¡°I¡¯ll take the front. Kaythe¡¯s eyes¡­¡± -I quickly switch to his vision to verify- ¡°lets me see a little bit further into the muddy water than I can normally. He¡¯ll help me keep watch.¡± Cerberus hesitates a moment, but says nothing. Lauren, however¡­ ¡°Sure, but Cerberus, can I ride on your back?¡± Cerberus¡¯ glowering hatred easily transcends the species gap in communicating his feelings on the matter. Lauren holds up her hands in appeal. ¡°Hold on, I get it, weird ask, but hear me out! If I¡¯m on your back, we both can keep an eye on Amadeus, and each other without getting in each other¡¯s way. See, if one of us gets ambushed, at least one of us will be aware of what happened to the other, and can act on it. If I¡¯m in the back, I could just slip under the water and you might not notice for a minute.¡± On the one hand, she very obviously just wants to avoid having to wade in the water and get soaked, but¡­ ¡°Come on! It isn¡¯t a bad idea!¡± ¡°Up to you, Cerberus. I don¡¯t care one way or the other.¡± ¡°I refuse. The weight would be too much, and the mud would not support us both. I will take the rear. Nothing will surprise me.¡± Lauren frowns, but aside from a few annoyed huffs, doesn¡¯t make a big deal of it, and we all hop into the cold, brown water. It only goes up to my ankles, at least where we¡¯re walking, but the muck makes every step more of a hassle than it has any right to be. My shoes quickly fill with extra weight in both water and dirt, but it¡¯s ultimately just an annoyance; the system¡¯s benefits make it neither exhausting nor particularly slow to slog through. The canopy stretches over the entire width of the river, refusing to miss out on any of the precious starlight. The vines that hang down from some of the trees first appeared over the fastest currents in the center, but as we move deeper, they hang more plentifully and closer to the sides. Before long, I have to start brushing them out of the way to get through. They¡¯re slightly sticky to the touch, making the process much more annoying, but they¡¯re easy enough to pull away from by moving far enough away from their tree. The efficacy of this tactic decays as more of them crowd the way, making passage without touching upwards of five or six of them at once next to impossible. With so many of this nearly inch and a half thick vines stuck to me, I can¡¯t actually pull them off anymore, but a quick swing of my blade fixes the issue with ease. Immediately, I¡¯m assaulted by the sound of hissing in all directions, and I feel the now severed vines spasming. I jump in surprise, instantly on the hunt for the source of the noise, but my frantic movements only stick more of the severed vines to me. Before, it was only the tips that touched me, so the actual sticking area was small, but now, without something suspending them, I¡¯m getting covered. With so much happening at once, I fail to notice that the hissing is coming from every vine around me, as they all swing towards me and latch on. My sword flashes, Lauren yells something, and Cerberus roars in defiance. My strike fails miserably, thrown aside by the seemingly random seizing of the vines that cover my body, and I only manage to sever a handful more. There¡¯s nothing I can do about them as they too seek to limit my movements, and I feel myself being dragged upward.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The vines, once they¡¯re detached, don¡¯t just bind my movements. If they did, I could probably brute force my way through them and tear them apart. Instead, they move with me most of the time, but suddenly jerk one way or another at other times. I can¡¯t rely on a movements going the way I plan because every time I do, one or more of them interrupt it in some way. The water churns below me,and I see some kind of reptilian beast moving around below. Lauren is nowhere to be seen, and Cerberus¡¯ head is underwater. No backup. ¡°Predator! I will assist!¡± Kaythe¡¯s pointed bone spikes aren¡¯t the most effective weapons against the vines, but he does manage to weaken them by putting holes in them. If I could get one clean movement off, I could easily free myself, but that¡¯s the thing: this plant knows that, and actively prevents it. Combine that with the awkwardness of having a pack on my back and being suspended in the air, and even burning Energy isn¡¯t enough to get me what I want. I try a different tactic, instead rallying my Energy to Eliminate the vines. Managing this many fronts at once is extremely difficult, but, even with Kaythe buying me time, I can¡¯t risk taking them on one by one. I¡¯m pushing orange Energy out of my body in every direction but Kaythe¡¯s praying it goes and does what it¡¯s supposed to. I just keep focussing on the word ¡®Eliminate¡¯ over and over, accepting the system prompts before they even fully pop up. Just like with the blood sucking seaweed in the underground lake, these things don¡¯t have much willpower of their own. Unlike them, these each give one max Energy, along with a few Power. With a sudden lurch, I¡¯m released, falling into the river. Somewhere along the line, I was dragged further out, over the deeper sections of the river. Although the deeper water cushions my fall, any benefit from that is lost in the terrifying, brown, frothy mess I¡¯m dumped into. Immersed in the water, I find that my eyes can see a little more clearly than I could from the outside, and I immediately recognize two shapes as being Lauren and Cerberus, along with five more that are most definitely monsters. One immediately breaks off from the group hounding them and darts directly at me, clearly hoping to catch me by surprise. My sword is useless in the water; it¡¯s way too large to move quickly through it, and the freezing effect would only make that worse. Kaythe, however, has bone spikes. Like a spring trap, Kaythe plants both spikes firmly into the head of the strangely crocodilian shaped monster, and the water darkens with a blueish tinge as blood pours from the wounds, followed by a much larger cloud of green from its mouth. I close my eyes to keep whatever that is from following the current right into my eyes and rush for the shore. My various water-based skills make it easy, despite the fact that I¡¯m fully clothed and heavily weighed down by my sword and gear (and Kaythe). I carefully raise the tip of my head from the water, just enough to see, and halo my sword to get rid of the the lower hanging vines. Without a target to grapple onto, they fall harmlessly into the water and are swept away. The remaining vines hiss loudly and move to intercept where they think their assailant is, but actually end up moving out of my way. The frothing by Cerberus has a lot more red in it than it used to, and I¡¯m pretty sure Lauren hasn¡¯t gotten a breath this whole time. That would have been fine for me, given all the skills I have, but I doubt she has the same ability. Just as I get there, Cerberus¡¯ head roils to the surface, jaws firmly clamped around the armored neck of one of the giant lizards, and I waste no time (but plenty of Energy) slicing the posterior half of its body off. Ignoring the dismayed sounds coming from the beast, I dive in, silently ordering Kaythe to prioritize saving Lauren over anything else. I can feel him mentally hesitate at the ¡®anything¡¯ part of that, but he agrees anyway. One of the monsters hovers at the edge of the fray, bleeding steadily from two wounds on its face, while the rest¡­ Lauren is fighting tooth and nail. Two daggers, one in each hand, and frantically kicking with one foot to keep from being washed downstream. The other leg dangles uselessly, savaged almost beyond recognition. She¡¯s only just holding on against the current, and doesn¡¯t have a hope of dodging anything. Every one of her assailants bears signs of her fury, with one missing an eye and moving significantly slower than the rest. In the moment it takes me to understand the playing field, they swarm her. Bubbles cloud my view even as I throw Kaythe into the fray. I packed him full of Energy as best I could, even though I¡¯m sure he doesn¡¯t know how to use it. Any advantage is important. I latch onto the nearest lizard and assault it with my quickly diminished stock of Energy. This thing puts up far more of a defence, both physically and in terms of Energy. It twists and rolls in the water, trying to shake me, and frequently belches out globs of the green shit from earlier and swims through it, letting it settle on my skin. Fortunately, all it does is tingle a little, but I doubt it would be that way if I got it into my eyes or wounds. After almost twenty seconds of fighting, my relentless assault breaks through its defences and I eliminate it. My mind swims for a moment, but I don¡¯t have time to consider it further. The body goes limp in my hands, and I swim quickly to where Lauren is barely holding onto her last remaining dagger, a massive bite wound on her right shoulder indicating why. Kaythe has wrapped himself around the most injured one, digging further into its wounds and hanging on despite being bashed against the ground and scraped against other monsters. Cerberus had finished off the one I¡¯d cut in half and snaps with uncanny speed at one that seems intent on dragging him further in. All at once, I realize he¡¯s holding back because Lauren is in the way. With a burst of speed and the last dregs of my Energy, I hurtle towards her, grab her by the armor, and launch both of us out of the water. ¡°Sorry about this, Kaythe.¡± With an ear splitting crack, lightning springs from Cerberus¡¯ mouth into the water, frying everything within. I feel Kaythe¡¯s pain as his spasms dislodge him from his quarry mid battle, sending him helplessly into the rapids. He has no idea how to navigate in water, and it shows. Nothing more emerges from the water to follow Cerberus when he stalks back to where Lauren and I are lying, surrounded by the tangled root system of a partially eroded tree. He says nothing, but settles in, vigilantly watching the area while I set to fixing the myriad broken bones, destroyed tendons, and missing flesh that is Lauren¡¯s body right now. Energy 127: Roots I wonder how long it will take to become jaded to horrific injuries. As it is, I view them as more of a nuisance in myself, and my only worry regarding others is that they will die before I can save them. I wonder if part of the agony of injuries in the world before was based in the knowledge that they would last. A little pain can become life changing if it never goes away, and an intense pain could be easily preferable if it is merely fleeting. With that in mind, losing my arm, having my insides torn away, or even having my throat opened by a knife¡­ none of it sparks fear within me. Yes, it will hurt, and maybe it will hurt more than I can tolerate, but if it doesn¡¯t kill me, I won¡¯t be suffering for long, and that makes it ok. With the amount of Power I have right now, I could build an entire human body from scratch several times over. Well, maybe not from scratch, but from a newly decapitated head, at least. I find that power a little terrifying, to be honest. However, it is with that knowledge in mind that I¡¯ve stashed significant quantities of Power in various parts of my body. Nothing can save me if my brain is entirely destroyed, but anything short of that will just have me back up in a few hours. Lauren sighs in pleasure, or (more likely) the absence of pain, and cuddles closer to me while I heal the less life threatening issues. If I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d say she gets hurt just to pull shit like this. I don¡¯t mind, really, it¡¯s just a bit strange when someone who should be screaming from the agony of their destroyed body instead concerns themselves with how best to rub their body against yours. I have weird definitions for what qualifies as romantic, but this doesn¡¯t count. Surviving something together? Romantic. Healing the wounds from surviving that? Mmm. No. With my attention divided, her advances are mostly lost on me, and even more so considering most of what I¡¯m doing at this point is trying to combat the poison that suffuses much of her body. It reacts with blood and solidifies it, effectively turning limbs bloated, grotesque stone. With the vasculature no longer capable of being compressed or bent, movement of the affected area becomes nearly impossible, but also incredibly painful.It doesn¡¯t matter how damaged the limb is once they get the poison in you, you¡¯re not going to want to use it. The fortunate part is that it¡¯s self containing. By causing the blood to quickly harden moments after contact, the poison can¡¯t spread deep into the body. If it waited longer¡­ enough poison could probably turn someone to a statue of sorts. A statue that felt pain, and suffered an agonizing death by asphyxiation. God help you if it got into your brain, you¡¯d hold the record for the largest stroke ever. Those thoughts aside, the Energy consumption for removing the stuff is massive, and that, combined with keeping the affected tissue from dying due to lack of oxygen is a lot to have going on at once. The process takes around an hour to complete, but Cerberus never complains. Kaythe even manages to get the hang of swimming after making it quite far downriver, and successfully crawls back to us. I literally threw him into harm¡¯s way to protect someone else, but he doesn¡¯t have it in him to feel even slightly annoyed with me. He¡¯s just ¡®happy to help the predator!¡¯, or something similar. I¡¯ve promised him the remains of the Salamander (as this system calls it) for his help, though I wish I could give him more. I keep expecting Cerberus to reproach me for allowing us to be ambushed like this, but he says nothing. I decide to do it for him. ¡°Sorry guys, I fucked up. I never expected the vines to be predatory¡­ or that these things would take advantage of me being attacked by them to ambush you two.¡± ¡°No worries Amadeus, carnivorous trees are old hat at this point. Nothing a little Energy can¡¯t fix.¡± She smiles demurely at me, but follows it with an overtly flirtatious wink.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Nothing can be done about an enemy unknown. We may take precautions, but that is all. We dive ever deeper into the unknown. The ability to move forward despite this disadvantagedetermines whether we were worthy to attempt the journey at all.¡± His eyes, until now roving the entire area, searching for threats, suddenly shift to mine. ¡°There is no need for politics here, human. You have tied our fates together, and I will uphold my end, no matter my feelings about you or your kind.¡± I maintain the eye contact for a few moments before looking away and sighing. ¡°Yeah, I know. I want you to believe, though. I want you to see this as more than your duty, and me as more than a means to an end.¡± ¡°Only you would be so naive. We are all tools. We can only strive to be effective ones.¡± He returns to his watch without another word. I feel conflicted. Now that we¡¯re out here, he¡¯s¡­ better, but he¡¯s not great. He¡¯s accepted being part of the group, but he doesn¡¯t want to be part of the group. Checking my status, I find my Energy connection with Cerberus to have risen a mere two percentage points, to a grand total of eight. The road to one hundred stretches ever onward¡­ but I can¡¯t complain overmuch. Progress has been made. What I like less is the ¡®Other¡¯ statistic. Forty-two percent Other. Yes, I used the tools I had to ensure Lauren survived, once again risking myself, and although I have a bit of wiggle room before fifty percent, I very nearly fucked myself again. Again. Even now, I can start to feel the influences of the new consciousnesses taking shape within my soul. The vines just impart a sense of hunger¡­ basic, nothing I can¡¯t handle, but the Salamander I stole has a sense of agency. When it recovers from the experience enough, it will be right up there where the Lieutenant was, fighting me and vying for any bit of control it can get. Unfortunately, I have sincere doubts I¡¯ll be able to talk this one into helping me. I need a way to destroy these new things as they come in. While working with the things I eliminate is nice and saves time, I need a forceful method, and one that doesn¡¯t require me to be locked in a stone prison for days. I need a guardian for my soul¡­ or many guardians. A force of consciousnesses that won¡¯t erode slowly into my own. I need Kaythe and Cerberus to crush anything I take in. Unfortunately, only Kaythe has a deep enough connection with me to actually participate in my soul world without being actively brought in.
[Congratulations! Summoned monster (Kaythe) has reached level 5. +2 Toughness, +1 Strength, +1 Intelligence, +2 Dexterity.]
[Summoned monster (Kaythe) has learned a new Skill: Bolt. Bolt: empowers a creature¡¯s body to push itself to the limits of its speed in the direction of its choosing.]
With his slowly growing strength, he is becoming formidable¡­ but I don¡¯t think he can quite face off with one of the Salamanders in open combat. But... I reach over and pet Kaythe while he munches happily at the corpse of the Salamander. ¡°Hey Kaythe¡­¡± I begin over telepathy ¡°when you¡¯re done with that, how would you feel about helping me fight of the Other influences?¡± ¡°¡®Other¡¯? Ah, yes, yes of course! The Predator should focus on fighting and growing, I will help!¡± ¡°Are you sure? I know you always want to do whatever I ask, but I honestly want to know: do you prefer being out here and helping me fight, or fighting for me in there?¡± Kaythe takes another gleeful bite of the corpse. ¡°The Predator gives me knowledge, it pleases me greatly, but I know that I lack! The predator gives much because of this lacking. I will listen!¡± ¡°The path to intelligence doesn¡¯t come to those who merely follow, Kaythe. You need to support me with your mind as well as your spikes, right?¡± ¡°Ah, Ah! Yes! The Predator is truly wise. I know that the Predator is unchallenged on the field, but cannot focus on both the within and the without. I should help where the Predator is less strong! Grant me the honor, Predator, I will grow wherever I can struggle!¡± He is so extra, and I love it. ¡°You have my thanks, Kaythe.¡± With one final crunch, Kaythe crawls to me, beginning to fade the moment he touches my arm. He has no ability to smile, but I swear he was trying to anyway. Energy 128: Roots My gaze drifts up to the canopy overhead, riddled with the shitty, carnivorous vines. The vines themselves are mostly quite thick, due to their need to lift things up, and covered with a thin layer of something like sap that lets them stick so well. The main question is: why? Why drag me up like that? It¡¯s not like the vines were actually damaging me, just restricting me. With the system, it¡¯s not like they can wait till their prey dies from exposure, it would take too long¡­ or end up impossible, if they had the Power to learn the right adaptive skills. At first, nothing looks odd. The vines seem to hang off the trees, dipping into the water to make up for not having a true root structure and using the trees they cling to as ladders to reach the light from the star¡­ and that well may be their normal way to subsist. The thing that doesn¡¯t fit with that picture is the strange mass of vines that runs along the branches at the tops of the trees. On a whim, I take a break to let my Energy recharge, and rip off a chunk of the Salamander corpse. Acquiring some slow acting, high lethality poison from Lauren¡¯s bag (thank you system for making labelling things unnecessary) and lightly marinate the flesh. The vines don¡¯t seem to mind the ¡®secret sauce¡¯ and, after letting it hang for a bit, slowly reel it in. I look on with growing fascination as the tendrils pull the meal into the suddenly writhing mass of vines. It effortlessly pulls the meat inside, continuing to writhe for several minutes before slowing, then stopping. Nothing more happens, so I shrug and go back to tending Lauren, but just as I pull my attention away, I start to hear a light hissing¡­ that grows steadily to nigh ear splitting levels. The writhing begins again, almost frantic compared with the steady rhythm from before, and a large number of the vines begin to retract from their fishing positions, instead wrapping around nearby branches for support. Then, the odd collection of vine creatures¡­ vomits. A rain of a brownish red liquid first, then things that could be flesh, including the poison I fed it¡­ then bones gently splash into the water below. With my Perception, there can be no question. The bones are mostly human. The fascination leaves my face, slowly ebbing away like so much innocence. In its place, a cold fury rises. I look down to find that the gold bracelet, my Energy weapon, has suddenly become a barbed knife with a small, metallic tether connecting it to my wrist. As it should be, I have need of it. The bottle is quickly found; poison, but of a different variety. The blade is already doused when I become aware of Cerberus. ¡°What.¡± The word is harsh, but I don¡¯t care. ¡°What do you intend, human?¡± ¡°It killed humans.¡± ¡°It is a small creature, of small aspirations and little ability. The lives of your people mean the same as any other: food. What do you care that the weak of your race were weeded out? I too killed humans.¡± The barbs grow more cruel and twisted with each sentence. ¡°You will repay that debt. Not in full, never in full, but you will try. One day, you will understand fully, or such is my hope. That¡­ monster-¡± I spit the word ¡°will never do anything but sit and eat. It grew fat off the flesh of humans. I¡¯ll ensure its death goes to serve those it destroyed.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°You indulge yourself. Claim justice as your defence, but do not forget that you kill to satisfy yourself, not the dead.¡± Part of me is aware how Cerberus doesn¡¯t deserve the hatred in my gaze, nor is my problem with him, but a larger part roars in defiance of his words. ¡°I saved you and yours, but only because you could be reasoned with. No matter how you rejected it at first, there was a chance. For that worthless trash, there is no redemption. It will either continue to exist, or it will not, and not even it has much of a preference.¡± Cerberus gives me a long look before slowly turning back to his vigil. ¡°That may be, but it does not reject what I have said.¡± To that, my answer was only a flick of my wrist, followed by a small burst of fire and the wondrous sound of hissing screams from above. --- I check the map, marveling at how far we¡¯ve come in only a day of hiking. Especially considering we were slogging through mud, we made pretty solid progress. We¡¯re still quite a ways from what could tentatively be considered the ¡®center of the forest¡¯, but it shouldn¡¯t take more than another day of travel to get there. In the last minutes of starlight, I climbed a tree and briefly got a feel for the surrounding area, at least on a macro level. To the South, the sea of trees stretches on for a few miles before being broken up by a veritable wall of mountains, much like the Western side of the plains. It appears that the mountains systematically block those directions, and from the map, it looks like that might be where the coast of the continent should be. We basically ended up spawning in the South-Western part of a giant landmass, with no easy way to just get to the ocean and use the water to skirt obstacles. To be fair, that¡¯s likely for our own protection, as god only knows what lives in the oceans on a world like this. To the East, trees for as far as I can see, though there appears to be something of a gap a few miles away, following the general path of the river. Maybe a lake? Or maybe the river somehow widens? Either way, it¡¯s where we¡¯re probably going to end up. Hopefully there¡¯s moss there, but considering I can see the tree gap from here, I doubt the moss will find it quite dark enough to grow. Of course. To the North, trees, but after a great distance, they start to thin out. I can¡¯t make out why, but that seems promising for making the trip back less terrible¡­ we¡¯d just have to hack through a few miles of forest. Ugh. The biggest issue with making camp in the river was having to literally carve a place to rest out of the trunks of probably three conjoined trees.That job had fallen almost entirely to me, with Lauren claiming daggers couldn¡¯t handle that kind of job, and I wasn¡¯t going to suggest to Cerberus that he bite the wood to clear it. I can¡¯t complain too much, as it took only a few minutes with my sword and a bit (lot) of Energy. I didn¡¯t have the inclination to make this tree hovel roomy, so we all barely fit inside, with Cerberus taking up almost three quarters of the available space. I would insist he pay his way by being a pillow, but I really believe I¡¯d wake up blind, having accidentally rubbed my face on his porcupine-like hair. With the deep darkness of night rapidly approaching, I rehydrate some of the red flower petals we were given in our packs and coax some of the wet wood into burning. As much as I¡¯d like to keep the fire in the hovel¡­ we¡¯d just end up lighting ourselves on fire. I ultimately decide to set the fire on a raised platform of wet wood, over the river. Like this, it serves more as a light source than one of warmth, but it¡¯s still useful. While it would have been nice to let things dry, neither Lauren nor I is willing to take off (and potentially lose) any of the precious clothing we have. ¡°I hate to disappoint you, Amadeus, but all this is staying on. Though, I must say you¡¯ve ensured I¡¯m quite wet.¡± ¡°Oh my god, I hate you so much.¡± She never misses an opportunity. Energy 129: Roots The night is anything but quiet, but most of the din of unseen insects and amphibians is drowned out by the sound of rushing water. I can always tune out the sounds, by virtue of being able to control my perception, but the overall experience is actually quite peaceful. The gentle swaying of the branches overhead, leaves fluttering¡­ if I don¡¯t think about all the man eating horrors that live here, it could be idyllic. Combine that with the fact that I haven¡¯t slept in¡­ a while, and it¡¯s really hard to keep my eyes open. Part of me wants to pull Kaythe back out and have him keep watch, but I have a dim sensation that he¡¯s been locked in heated guerilla warfare since he went in. Outmatched he may be, but that doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯ll lose. I focus a little bit on that area within me, not enough to actually be there, but enough to see through Kaythe¡¯s eyes. He¡¯s wrapped around a small tree, entirely still, in an area much like the forest we¡¯re currently in. He seems to be waiting for something to come by, poised to strike at a moment¡¯s notice. What concerns me, however, is the change of scenery. I had originally assumed that the hills were a scenery choice by me, as I had spent most of my time there. It made a lot of sense. The forest, however, holds no such charm for me. I definitely still feel more connected with the grasslands than I do with this forest. It¡¯s nice, but there¡¯s something to be said for nice, open fields. But, if it wasn¡¯t I that chose the scenery¡­ was it the Carnines? And now that they¡¯ve decayed away into raw, useful Energy, they no longer hold sway¡­ so this is what the vines and the Salamander wanted. I don¡¯t hear rushing water, so they didn¡¯t manage to recreate the river, nor is this forest as impassable as the one in real life. Is that my influence? Do I even have influence in here? My ponderings are interrupted by a slow, trundling of steps suddenly entering hearing range. Kaythe doesn¡¯t move, but I can feel him tense even further. Kaythe is entirely confident that the creature will come this way, to this very tree, but I resist asking him directly. I wouldn¡¯t want to risk upsetting whatever plan he has in motion. Minutes crawl by, and the snuffing, shuffling Salamander finally comes into view. The creature looks around, but not up, keeping it from spotting Kaythe. However, it does spot something that interests it at the base of Kaythe¡¯s tree. Dispatching with its caution, it rushes toward our tree, mouth wide, but Kaythe springs into action the moment it¡¯s within range. The bone spikes pierce an eye and neck, and the beast immediately recoils, gurgling its distress. Kaythe stabs again, trying to crack the bone behind its eye, but the Salamander starts rolling its body, attempting to dislodge him. The bone plating lining Kaythe¡¯s body keeps him from being crushed, but it was never meant to handle the kind of weight that¡¯s being put on it. I feel it crack in several places, and feel Kaythe¡¯s pain as the bone spike embedded in the Salamander¡¯s neck gets broken off. The beast suddenly screams and stops rolling, giving the wounded Kaythe a moment to get his bearings again. The spike that had been broken of ended up catching on the ground mid roll and tearing a huge hole in its neck. Kaythe tries to take advantage of the monster¡¯s momentary weakness, but the agonized spasms shake it off onto the leafy floor. In a rage, the Salamander whips around, focussing on Kaythe with its one good eye. Its jaws flash, and I pull my consciousness away, rather than experience getting eaten. I¡¯m dimly aware that Kaythe managed to shove the remaining bone spike into the way of its jaw, so when it bit down and killed him, the spike was force through the roof of its mouth.
[Warning: Minor soul damage detected. - 1 Max Energy.]
¡°Kaythe? Are you alright?¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°dnnajwknwlPredator, I am sorry. I failed in the task you so graciously bestowed.¡± Some kind of garbled nonsense came through the mental connection, almost as though I witnessed Kaythe¡¯s consciousness being reconstituted. ¡°It¡¯s alright! It was a small loss, nothing that can¡¯t be fixed. Try again, and succeed this time.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He sounds morose, much less of the fiery confidence and excitement from before. ¡°I will try, Predator.¡± ¡°I watched your attempt. You almost had it. I don¡¯t know how you baited it like that, but you almost took down a monster many times more powerful than you by outsmarting it. That¡¯s impressive! You should be proud.¡± I feel him try to wiggle, despite not having a body. ¡°Y-yes, Predator! You are most correct, as always. I will succeed!¡± And, with that, he disappeared again into the soul space. I sigh, looking apprehensively at the Other percentage. It went up almost two percentage points, just from that. Though I believe in Kaythe, if he fails again, I¡¯m going to have to go in there myself and deal with it. I refuse to let that counter get above fifty percent. With that last thought, I let myself fall asleep, sandwiched between a giant hellhound and an immensely cuddly friend. --- Morning? No. Dark. Too dark. Yet, I¡¯m awake. My eyes flash in the dark, roving the edges of what my Perception allows me to see. The glowing coals of the fire are worth nothing in terms of light, but an old sense is stirring in me. Warning me. Ah, Combat Proficiency, of course¡­ but there is no combat. It¡¯s so weak, it¡¯s hard to tell what exactly I¡¯m being warned about, but I feel generally uneasy. Wait, there, a bush moves very slightly, but nothing is there. Something leaving. Something that was watching us. I continue to watch till morning, but nothing returns to spy on us. I look to Cerberus, finding he is also intently focussed on that area of the bushes on the opposite bank. ¡°What was it?¡± ¡°I could not pierce its veil.¡± ¡°Fuck.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡± ¡°A visitor in the night. We¡¯re being watched. Or, rather, we were.¡± Lauren¡¯s face creases in a frown. ¡°Point me to where it was.¡± I point generally to the other side, and Lauren only takes enough time to nod before scaling the tree we slept inside and half swinging half jumping to the other side of the river. She surreptitiously looks at the ground at the base of the tree before carefully stepping down and examining the area. ¡°Ah.¡± I doubt I would have noticed if I hadn¡¯t been watching her, but her hand suddenly shoots out like a bolt of lightning, grabs something, and spikes it into the river. ¡°Cover your-¡± is all she manages to get out before the the water roils, and small bits of stone explode out of the water in all directions. ¡°-eyes.¡± she finishes, moving her own hand away from her face. ¡°Thanks for the warning.¡± I doubt my expression is anything approaching pleasant as I dig a sharp chunk of rock out of my face. It wasn¡¯t deeply embedded, and I managed to react fast enough to block any rocks that would have hit sensitive areas, but that doesn¡¯t make the act any more enjoyable. ¡°Whatever it was,¡± Lauren says, ignoring me ¡°it was smart. Set a trap where it was standing, probably to either kill any pursuers, or cause enough damage to ruin any tracks it left. Smart, but not smart enough. Wanna follow it?¡± I look to Cerberus, and he looks to me. ¡°If we follow it, there are likely to be more traps.¡± ¡°For sure.¡± ¡°You¡¯re¡­ fine with that?¡± ¡°Beats slogging through rivers and fighting underwater. Do you know how effective poisoned blades are underwater? Not fucking effective. Besides, if we catch it, maybe we can convince it to help us find the moss or whatever you need. It has to be somewhat intelligent.¡± ¡°As good an idea as any. Lead the way, huntress.¡± She snorts. Energy 130: Roots ¡°Do I even need to say anything?¡± Staring at what could only be described as a small tunnel entrance, I can honestly say that the last thing I want to do is climb in. ¡°A small space, probably full of traps, where our numbers and mobility don¡¯t matter as much, and your sword is useless? Nah, I think it¡¯s pretty clear. However¡­¡± She gestures at the literal wall of trees that the tunnel proceeds through and turns to me. ¡°This?¡± I wince. ¡°We could go over?¡± ¡°I do not believe that is wise, nor that I would be effective in that manner.¡± ¡°Plus we¡¯d probably lose the trail. Who knows where this lets out?¡± ¡°I know, I know¡­ I just really don¡¯t want to go through there.¡± ¡°Look on the bright side, you can shamelessly feast your eyes while you crawl behind me.¡± I give her a pointed look. ¡°That would be an option, if you had any way to light the passage.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t need light, we can see anyway. Besides, what do you have to li-... oh, right, the twinkle fingers Energy nonsense.¡± The pointed look becomes a glare. ¡°Hey, if you want to lead the way, be my guest.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t, that¡¯s the fucking problem.¡± ¡°Cease your bickering. As it is, I will barely be capable of moving in there, and should we be attacked from behind, I will be unable to turn to face the threat.¡± ¡°You also can¡¯t disarm traps, so you can¡¯t be in the front. Go second, Lauren, protect our asses. Your dark vision should be good enough to notice anything coming to attack us.¡± ¡°I¡¯m always in the back¡­¡± She mutters, ignoring the fact that she had been leading us on a wild goose chase through the forest for several hours, following some tracks that only she could make out. Tracks that exploded on occasion, as if to let us know we were headed in the right direction. It didn¡¯t seem like it, but my map indicates that we traveled quite a distance through the ever thicker forest. The path was winding, seeming to double back on many occasions, but looking at the small revealed line that marks the path we followed, I can see the effectivity of it. That, and there was a lot of actual doubling back. Whatever this thing was didn¡¯t want to be followed, and if it was going to make its stand anywhere, it would be here, in a confined space. I take a deep breath and crouch down, pushing my Light to the tips of my fingers, and directly around my eyes. It takes some work to make sure it isn¡¯t actively blinding me, but I quickly find a balance and start to move forward, before freezing immediately. With the extra light, The texture of the tunnel becomes more apparent. It begins rough, as though something bore through it, but for no particular reason, it transitions to a polished smoothness only a foot or so in. It¡¯s that way all the way around, as well, and I don¡¯t trust it. I gesture for the others to back up before very gently touching the floor. It feels rough, coarse, as it should, and it¡¯s true nature is only revealed when I press harder. Though it has enough initial resistance to hold its own weight, the added pressure from me causes the paper mache-like substance to give a little, then collapse suddenly. I recoil at first, but opt to indulge my curiosity about the nature of the trap by peaking over the edge and watching the cover fall down. It falls rapidly, contorting as it passes some spikes, and ultimately lands in some kind of liquid that immediately engulfs it. The last sight I have of it is it quickly melting away as it¡¯s swallowed. The spikes, I realize, aren¡¯t there to gore you on the way down, but are angled in such a way that getting in is easy, but getting out would tear you apart. They¡¯re nothing complicated, just rudimentary sharpened wood, but I have no doubts that falling down there would have killed even me, and definitely ended the life of anyone else. I turn to Lauren. ¡°Did you notice that?¡± She silently shakes her head. I reach over and press against the walls and ceiling, and find that the roughness all comes from a thin veneer of the paper mache material. ¡°I¡­¡± My voice comes out as more of a croak as a pit of dread forms in my stomach. ¡°-really don¡¯t want to go in there.¡± Nobody says anything, and Lauren stares at a nearby tree, studying it awkwardly while she thinks. Of course, Cerberus stares directly at me. The silence lengthens, and I start to squirm under his stare. ¡°Maybe we can-¡± Lauren starts, but I interrupt. ¡°WHAT?¡± Lauren starts for a moment, thinking I was yelling at her, but realizes my eyes are locked on the hellhound¡¯s, annoyed with his refusal to break his stare. ¡°Human, I have suffered death countless times, and pain is nothing to me. Less, even. I shall lead the way. I shall endure whatever hardships the creature has planted for us, and you will use your strange power to heal me. Do you agree?¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°I¡­¡± He wants to face tank the entire way? ¡°Why? It¡¯s not that important that we track this thing.¡± ¡°It did not wish us harm before, but the next time would certainly spell the death of one of us. We must find this potential threat and eliminate it, one way or another.¡± I don¡¯t like it, but I nod my head anyway. He¡¯s massive enough to block the whole passage, and he can¡¯t get caught in pitfalls the same way we can; he¡¯s too big. He steps into the abyss, and I follow right behind him. Carefully, I push some of my light into his hulking body, and immediately notice a problem. Problems, actually. There are some serious Energy blackout areas in his body, the body itself doesn¡¯t match up with what he looks like in reality, but instead what he looked like precompression, and there are multiple Energy black holes littered throughout his body. ¡°Christ Cerberus, what happened?¡± ¡°I am uninjured.¡± ¡°Maybe on the outside¡­¡± Thinking back, I realize Lauren¡¯s own black hole had vanished. In the heat of everything, I¡¯d overlooked it and just gotten to work fixing things, but¡­ I guess she finally managed to fix whatever was wrong. Something I should probably talk to her about. ¡°Down!¡± The voice rings out and shakes me from my musings. I drop to the ground with Cerberus, and the roar of an explosion deafens me. I feel multiple foreign bodies pierce Cerberus¡¯ hide, and an entire chunk of his flesh is ripped out near the source of the projectiles. Cerberus body heaves, but with my hearing gone, I can¡¯t tell if he even made a sound. My hearing comes back with a pop, and I hear snapping and yawning coming from behind me, but nothing else. Lauren, testing her hearing to no avail. She¡¯ll be fine while I get Cerberus back in shape. He¡¯s missing a chunk of flesh on his chest and neck, though it seems his breathing is unaffected. Most of the foreign bodies entered his torso, but several tore through his mouth and bit further into his neck. Several of the shards tore through his heart, but his natural healing seems to have already worked to seal them, and the blood inside. Or, at least, I assume it¡¯s a heart. The colors wreathe it in yellow and red, outlining the organ and the path the shards took to get there. It¡¯s a beautiful display; a stark duality when compared with what it actually means. It¡¯s struggling to continue pulsing, as can be seen with the yellow color I equate with infection and corruption slowly growing in intensity. At the same time, the missing flesh glows an intense blue, and my heart drops as I realize that Cerberus doesn¡¯t contain Power in the same way humans do. It¡¯s almost as though I can sense its presence everywhere in him, like his entire being is suffused with the stuff, but it isn¡¯t doing anything. I bet if our bond was strong enough for him to become a summon, he would instantly consume it to level. Instead, it probably sits around, then transfers to whoever kills him¡­ Regardless, in that weird form, I can¡¯t use it, so I have to start ferrying in my own Power. It doesn¡¯t get sucked into the Energy sinks (thank fuck) but the fact that it slows down my Energy makes it a difficult process, even with my ever-growing control and speed. At least half of what I send succumbs to the pull of the five holes arrayed across his entire body, because of course the wound is at the front of his body. Fortunately, having suffered no damage myself, my regeneration rate is able to keep me steadily working without having to worry about exhausting myself. I should have realized this would be a problem. He¡¯s been tortured for countless years, dying thousands of thousands of times¡­ he wouldn¡¯t be able to just tough that out without some scars. I healed him once before, but it was small, and I hadn¡¯t used Light¡­ stupid, should have checked anyway. ¡°What are you doing, human?¡± ¡°Healing you.¡± ¡°It feels¡­ different than before.¡± The mental effects of Energy exposure, right. ¡°I¡¯m having to replace missing flesh, it involves moving Power into you to use as a basis I can then convert into your tissue.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Not totally a lie, Power does feel nice to have¡­ just not quite like this. Part of me feels like I should explain it anyway, but another part is too tired of waiting for the dumb beast to come around to being a team player. Maybe one day he¡¯ll find out and hate me for it, but I hope that by then he¡¯ll understand he was being a dumbass, and needed to be tricked. --- ¡°Took you long enough.¡± ¡°I was putting an alien¡¯s chest back together, sue me.¡± ¡°Oh, well I¡¯m certain I¡¯d have been more patient while waiting if I could have heard that.¡± ¡°Asshole.¡± ¡°Fuck you.¡± We flirt in such a strange way. I can¡¯t blame her for being annoyed that we¡¯ve had to stop so I can play doctor and heal everyone a couple of times now. *Thunk* ¡°Grrh. Amadeus¡­¡± There¡¯s anger in his voice, but more exasperation than anything else. ¡°No worries, I got it.¡± Lauren and I back up so he can unstick himself from yet another javelin hidden in the floor, and I set about healing the wound. Again. The mechanisms that launch the traps are ridiculous, based on wood held under tension, much like a bow. The weird thing is, I have no idea how they manage to last for any amount of time like that. Bows have to be unstrung and stored without tension in order to not constantly degrade. Yet, not one of the past eleven of these traps has failed to work exactly as intended. Maybe the thing we¡¯re chasing armed every one of them on its passing? But that would be a ridiculous level of neuroticism¡­ plus, slow it down probably as much as it slows us down. Granted, these traps would have long killed off anyone who didn¡¯t have Energy to heal or a massive supply of healing potions and luck. ¡°Light ahead.¡± ¡°Outside light or fire? Magic?¡± ¡°Smells of forest.¡± ¡°Extra slow, then.¡± But, oddly, nothing more happens. We emerge without issue into the blinding twilight of a small clearing of trees, with several obvious paths forward¡­ and one entity with skin the color of a leaf, with what looks like bark for clothing, riding casually on top of a giant¡­ Cathid, I think, which is wrapped around one of the trees. Energy 131: Roots ¡°No further.¡± Its voice carries meaning, but the sound is of so many rushing leaves. If I hadn¡¯t noticed there was no wind passing through these trees, I would have honestly believed I hadn¡¯t heard it over the sound. However¡­ ¡°Why?¡± The thing¡¯s face twists in what could be a scowl, and the giant Cathid clacks its lethal maw with obvious annoyance. Its mouth, directly under its still disproportionately large eyeball, hangs slightly open, and a translucent, viscous liquid drips to the floor below. ¡°You desire an explanation? I forbid your passage. That is why. Attempting to move further into this forest will result in your death, demise, and displeasure.¡± ¡°I¡­ what? The way you talk is so¡­ nevermind. Look, we don¡¯t want to fight or anything, we¡¯re just looking for some deepwood moss. Do you know where I could find that.¡± ¡°Spots of high Mana concentration deeper in the forest. This information is irrelevant to you; you will not pass. Outsiders are not welcome.¡± Frowning, I try to ignore how obviously hostile the other two in my party are looking and continue. ¡°Is there a specific reason you can¡¯t let us pass? If you can tell me, I can probably figure out a way to mitigate the issue.¡± ¡°Those in the past, present, future have entered and laid waste to what is ours. The system encourages it.¡± ¡°I need the moss to heal myself.¡± ¡°A most difficult situation, but for you alone. My path is clear.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not leaving without it.¡± ¡°A pity.¡± From the dirt in front of me, faster than I can follow, three spears shoot towards me and pierce my lungs and spine. My body fails me, and I fall bonelessly to the ground, already focussed on healing. I hear shouts of anger, growling, frustrated straining¡­ ¡°Leave that one, it will die shortly regardless of what you do. The poison on those spears has Mana nullifying properties, so no healing magic can save him. Will you go, or do you insist on suffering the same fate?¡± Mana might be nullified, but Energy doesn¡¯t give a shit. I don¡¯t bother containing the poison, as it harmlessly flows through my blood. It registers only as an extremely light yellow in my Energy view, similar to a foreign body. Nothing to be concerned about. ¡°You waste your time and mine.¡± I suddenly feel the extremely unpleasant sensation of wood scraping on bone as the spear in my spine is pulled the rest of the way through. Silently thanking whoever did that, I get to work on fixing my nerves and supporting vertebrae. My body starts to ache at the missing Oxygen, but my the system keeps any issues at bay for now. I need to restore partial breathing functionality soon, or I¡¯ll have to use Energy to keep my cells alive¡­ and that won¡¯t last long with my regeneration cut in half due to the Health loss.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The body can eject foreign bodies if there is a natural egress for them, which is why being impaled is such an issue for me. I can¡¯t force the thing out as easily. So, in cases like this, where I¡¯ve been completely disabled, I¡¯m fucked without outside help. I hear the creature droning on as another spear is removed. Too fast! But I can¡¯t speak to tell them so. What was left of my breath bubbles out from the newly cleared hole in my chest, letting one of my lungs deflate and collapse. My lower body screams in pain as I finish the initial neural framework for sensation, adding to the difficulty of what I¡¯m trying to do, and my entire body begins glowing with a dull red. First the peripheries, moving in, in slow, steady waves of increasingly bright red. I finish my repairs to my spinal cord and fix the hole in my lung, carefully moving my hand to cover the front hole. I still can¡¯t move much or I¡¯ll destroy my unprotected nerves, but covering the front hole means I only have to fix the back one before I¡¯ll have one functional lung again. With my Energy at a quarter, and replenishing ever slower while my Health ticks away, I feel a visceral fear in my chest. A quick realization that, despite everything, I could die here, like this. ¡®Cerberus dies with you.¡¯ I know, but maybe the treaty will hold. ¡®Kaythe depends on you.¡¯ Hopefully he can stay with me¡­ when the system recycles us. ¡®So just die¡­ and let that thing win?¡¯ It¡¯s face, the shitty dark mannequin face, flashes through my mind. If I die, I¡¯m at its mercy. I already broke the rules once¡­ it¡¯ll know. I have to finish this. An audible growl escapes my chest, the first action for my newly whole lung. The motion of my other lung sliding along the spear that runs through it nearly shatters my consciousness, turning all my perception into white hot agony for a moment. Lying on my side, on the verge of passing out from the pain, I grab the last spear, and pull. Splinters from the shaft embed themselves all along my soft tissue, and I can feel my teeth straining under the weight of how hard I¡¯m biting down, but the spear moves. Hand over hand, I force it out. The pain slowly recedes even as my vision fades to black. My brain, shutting down due to lack of Oxygen. Energy fixes it, for now, but my body is hurting. My breaths are mostly ending up in my chest cavity, and blood is pooling in my lungs. I¡¯m not breathing, I¡¯m drowning. The wounds pull together as fast as I can manage, but I have to leave my chest open. I take as deep a breath as I can¡­ shallow. It forces a tiny amount of air out of my chest cavity, and I quickly stop up the hole with my hand to prevent more from getting back in. Slowly, repeating this agonizing process, I clear the air from my chest. Release the hole, breathe¡­ plug the hole, exhale. Why are my breaths so loud? Because the forest is dead silent around me. The creature, the Cathid, Cerberus, and Lauren all stare at me with expressions ranging from abject confusion to delight. ¡°Where are the wounds? How did you remove the poison?¡± The creature breaks the silence. I cough at it, blood pouring from my mouth as I struggle to clear it. ¡°Deepwood moss: a potent Mana restoration reagent, capable of restoring and expanding the Mana channels of the imbiber. You are a mage, clearly seeking the moss to empower yourself, yet you claimed to need it to heal you earlier. Explain your lies or die.¡± Energy 132: Roots I grin, looking up at the strange creature that somehow feels it is owed an explanation. A few ¡®witty¡¯ remarks come to mind, but the pain in my chest and my barely restored wounds make me reconsider. ¡°Fine.¡± The Cathid lunges forward, slamming its jaws shut around around me just as I get some supporting bone in place to protect my back from further harm. It squeezes, but not tight enough to do any harm, instead choosing to whip around and dart into the forest. Lauren shouts my name, and hold my hand out to catch the dagger she throws to me. In one smooth motion, I snatch the dagger out of the air and jam it into the Cathid¡¯s easily accessible eyeball. I almost lose my grip when the point doesn¡¯t penetrate, but instead skitters off its surface, barely leaving a scratch. I stab again, this time hitting home in the area around the eye, but a sudden surge of nearby vines grabs the dagger away from me and bind my arms before I can get any more hits in. The Cathid hisses, but doesn¡¯t loosen its grip on me. ¡°Cease your struggles. You will come with me, and you will answer. I deem your information too valuable to lose by enforcing idle threats. You will teach.¡± ¡°Fuck¡­ yourself.¡± I barely manage to wheeze through the two words before another coughing fit takes me. The incompletely healed bones in my spine grind painfully against each other, and the threat of further injury keeps me from resisting very hard. The figure doesn¡¯t react to me in any way, and while it busies itself with guiding the Cathid, I busy myself with completing the healing process. With my Health back to (almost) normal, I¡¯m regenerating Energy much faster, and the repairs go substantially faster than before. The pale yellow light still emanates from my blood, proof of the lingering poison. Not that it can bother me¡­ With my bones properly set and fortified, I feel confident enough to address the creature again, who alternates between glancing at me, scanning the area in its path, and checking back the way it came. It seems almost worried. Suddenly, the Cathid loses its grip on the trees it¡¯s climbing over and I slip from the oddly relaxed jaws. The tumble of bodies and bound hands make it almost impossible for me to land gracefully, but I quickly recover from my face down, dirt eating position after burning some Energy to rip apart my bonds. I grab my sword from my back just as the ground opens up below me, and writhing vines emerge to wrap around my legs. Energy burning isn¡¯t sufficient to just tear them apart, nor is my sword particularly effective for cutting in that range, but I manage to start to free myself anyway, only to be met with yet more vines. The vines try to snake away my sword, but they¡¯re fighting both me and the sword in this case, and my grip prevails. Not that that technicality matters very much as the crushing weight of the plant matter overpowers even my maximum Energy burn levels of strength and forces me to the ground. ¡°Strong. Too strong. What are you, that you contain such strength? A creature that heals without magic and grows more powerful when threatened¡­ truly you are a remarkable find. Are all of your kind like you?¡± I grit my teeth, but give no answer. Its glance lingers for a moment on me before its eyes fall and it turns to address its mount. ¡°Cease your struggles. I require the remainder of my Mana to remedy this poison.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Why would I-¡± ¡°Because if not, we shall linger until I can reverse its effect. If we linger long, your allies will arrive, and I will be forced to maim or kill them. If the one is like you, then no matter, it will live. The other, a type of Carnine, has no such ability. Do as you wish with that information.¡± I have to stop myself from crushing my teeth into powder in pure frustration, but I concede the point. If I can¡¯t take him, even with Energy as a secret weapon, he¡¯s unlikely to go down easily. He¡¯s lucky to have avoided physical contact with me, or I would have given him a poison he couldn¡¯t heal. Still a possibility for the Cathid, however¡­ but I¡¯ve never tried to take on something that much bigger than me. It might be a bad gamble, and even if orange Energy was enough, it would leave me with the impossible task of dominating the massive Cathid or Eliminating it, neither of which is feasible. Damn. Damn! The creature, heedless of my internal struggle, quickly walks to the paralyzed Cathid and presses a hand on it. A glow, soft and blue, first from its hand, moving to the Cathid. Its eyes glow a similar blue hue and I can see it muttering something. The Cathid flashes suddenly, blue, then green, before springing back into motion. After testing its movement for a few moments, it wiggles in much the same way Kaythe does and rushes over to grab me again. Is this what Kaythe would have turned into, given time? Now he¡¯s something new, but if he can still reach that size¡­ Kaythe would be a force to be reckoned with. The beast grabs me, and we¡¯re off again.
[Congratulations! Soul damage removed. +1 Energy]
¡°Predator! I was successful against the interloper! I am-... Predator? What?! Bring me out immediately, we shall take care of these¡­ monsters?¡± Kaythe ranges from excited, to livid, to confused by the end of his little tirade. ¡°It¡¯s ok Kaythe, I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything we can do for now. This thing is way stronger than I am, but it doesn¡¯t seem intent on killing me just yet, so we¡¯ll sit tight and keep your presence a secret, at least for now.¡± ¡°Of course, Predator. Call on me the moment I am needed! I shall remain vigilant through your eyes until-¡± ¡°Better that you continue to fight that Salamander for now. I¡¯ll notify you when you should start preparing, but I can handle this part.¡± ¡°Y-yes, of course! Whatever you require!¡± With that, I feel his presence fade slightly as he manifests inside the illusory world within me. I huff an exasperated sigh, not with him but with the fact that I¡¯ve been taken prisoner by one enemy. Ok, technically two, but the point remains that it wasn¡¯t even close. Magic is strong. Any hopes I had that I would be able to just power my way through the rest of the challenges with ever growing Energetic power are dashed with this experience. I need magic, weapons skills, and Energy to have a real leg up on enemies. I could mix Energy and weapons, so hopefully I can do something similar with magic. Nothing more breaks up the monotony of the journey, and truly, it does get boring to travel even when you¡¯re sitting in the jaws of a giant Cathid and being actively kidnapped. There¡¯s a lot less excitement than one would expect, and the dread of the unknown only serves to make me more antsy and uncomfortable with how slowly the time is going. I want to try escaping again, but the creature¡­¡±What¡¯s your name, by the way?¡± ¡°Name? Thetzeke.¡± -Anyway, this ¡®Thetzeke¡¯ made sure to encase me entirely in the weird vines it conjured from the ground. They¡¯re less strong than when it¡¯s focussed specifically on them (and dumping Mana into them, from what he said) but they would slow down any escape attempt enough to give him the chance to catch me. I¡¯m also worried he¡¯ll just smack me with another spine spear and render me paralyzed for the journey, which would be even worse. For the time being, I note the gaps in Thetzeke¡¯s armor, figure out what I¡¯m going to say when it starts torturing me, and wonder helplessly at how the system allows a fucking eyeball to be armored enough to deflect a dagger! Energy 133: Roots The trip drags on for quite some time while I keep track of how we¡¯re moving using my map. The one redeeming thing about fog of war is how you can see exactly where you¡¯ve been, which will help immensely with the process of getting back. That being said, we¡¯ve crawled mostly along the tree tops, so we¡¯ve avoided the worst of the difficult terrain. I¡¯ve seen enormous flowers with what look like bones littering the area around them. Small, rabbit like things bound away from the grasses on which they¡¯re feeding as we approach and shudder at us from small holes in the trees and ground. We regularly scare off birds, which seems to annoy Thetzeke every time. Given the winding nature of our path, I think it¡¯s trying to make things as hard as possible for Lauren and Cerberus¡­ That¡¯s fine. They¡¯ll be fine. My captor seems mostly emotionless, apart from expressing annoyance once in a while. Nothing that I can identify as positive ever crosses its face. From my position facing backward, I can¡¯t see exactly where we¡¯re going, but I do get a fairly good view of what the topography of the trees looks like. They¡¯re far from uniformly tall, but there are some special exceptions that a ground based traveller would never notice unless they were able to get pretty far into the air. Or ride a giant Cathid around for a while. Giant trees stick out of the forest on occasion. They tower above the rest, easily five or six times as large, but there aren¡¯t many of them. Oddly, the lesser trees still tend to grow beneath their leaves. From the look of it, they only don¡¯t grow directly next to the giga trees. Maybe that¡¯s where we should have been looking for the moss? The canopy of the larger trees is so thick that there seems to be nearly a void of light beneath them. Not even reflected light seems to get in very well¡­ but it¡¯s way out of my darksight range. Suddenly, we¡¯re flying through the air, and I realize when I look down that we¡¯re headed into some kind of clearing. I quickly use Energy Combustion to fortify my legs and back, just in time to be slammed feet first against the ground when we land. The Cathid doesn¡¯t adapt well to the way I change the impact, and tumbles several times, hitting me repeatedly against the (thankfully) soft ground. Somewhere in the mess, it loses its grip on me, and I respond by flaring my Energy and tearing through the unempowered restraints, flying to my feet, and starting to run for the forest. I make it all of one step before something impacts hard against the back of my knee, causing my step to fail. I turn the step into a slide on my knees in an attempt to preserve momentum, but the grass doesn¡¯t respond like grass I¡¯m used to and I feel it cover my shins in minor lacerations. Ignoring the injury, I kick off in an attempt to keep moving forward, but there¡¯s someone in my way: my captor. I don¡¯t remember it being armed, but now it has a staff pointed at me. I double down on my egress, spreading the maximum Energy burn to the whole of my body. The burst of speed clearly surprises my opponent, but not enough. A sharp impact in my chest stops my forward motion dead, and all that saves me from having stuck myself on the end of the staff is the fact that burning Energy makes my body more durable. Before I can do more than smack the staff aside, the wielder adapts to my hit and uses the momentum to hit me harder, driving me onto my back. In the space of a moment, I realize several things: the one that just knocked me down is not Thetzeke, there are multiple entities like it, and they¡¯re all very capable of beating me down when I don¡¯t have my sword out. The one I charged rushes quickly towards me, and, with a massive overhead strike aimed for my head, misses completely. Or, rather, the strike is blocked by Thetzeke. ¡°You must not. This one knows something.¡± ¡°You know better than to-¡± ¡°Something important.¡± During the ensuing silence, I intently consider another escape, but¡­ looking at the not quite angry, but certainly determined faces that surround me, I find the temptation quickly squashed. One way or another, my captor wins the battle of wills and the staff wielder leaves without another word, taking its group of silent warriors with it. The ground beneath me shudders and vines push through the soil, wrapping around me again and lifting me to my feet. Thetzeke, for his part, seems intently focussed on the blood in the grass, then on me and my already healed legs, still covered in blood. ¡°Important indeed. Come. You must walk from this point on.¡± ¡°Any chance we could do this without the restraints?¡± ¡°No.¡± I sigh, resigned. ¡°Worth a shot.¡± ¡°It was not.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the one being fucking abducted, what right do you have to be a dick?¡±The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. As expected, Thetzeke doesn¡¯t respond to my attempts to rile it, instead choosing to shove me forward, when I take my first real look at where I¡¯ve been taken. It¡¯s a clearing, but only for about twenty meters from the edge of the forest. Things that could be called houses adorn the grassy terrain; small, hovel looking structures that appear to be grown rather than built. Each one could be a tree that was twisted grotesquely into a desired shape. Very little effort was put into the aesthetics or, from the look of it, the health of the trees. As such, they have few, if any, leaves adorning the thick, monstrous branches. Beyond the ¡®houses¡¯, the structures seem to become more elaborate, with some of them appearing to even be living trees, just more round than ones back home. This trend continues up until a colossal tree in the center of the town. One very similar, in fact, to those I saw off in the distance during the ride over¡­ but why is there light here when there wasn¡¯t there? ¡°Move.¡± Clearly unhappy with my gawking, my captor gives me another shove and I start moving forward. The starlight doesn¡¯t pierce the canopy, so it isn¡¯t that, and while it does seem more shaded, it¡¯s not anything special¡­ then I notice the lanterns. Small glowing insects seem inhabit incredibly thin shells of wood. A light gust would probably destroy them, and yet, they¡¯re everywhere. Focussing more on the entities that live here, I find all eyes on me. Small ones stare from behind larger ones¡¯ legs, all clad in the same bark looking clothing Thetzeke has. They stop what they¡¯re doing at my approach, suddenly uninterested in their chores in the face of an anomalous new existence to ogle. My Combat Proficiency flares in warning, and I tilt my head to the side just as a rock careens past, and I hear the thud of rock on flesh from behind me. It takes a lot to suppress my grin, which gets even more difficult when the same rock whistles past and takes a chunk of building off, where some miscreant was taking cover after throwing. A yelp of surprise, a crunch from the base of the house, and muffled cries of pain serve to indicate the result of the throw. ¡°I thought you wanted to know things, and now people are throwing rocks? It¡¯ll be very hard to talk if I have no teeth.¡± ¡°They do not aim for you.¡± Huh. ¡°Not so popular around here?¡± No answer. Another sigh. ¡°I get that.¡± With that overt act of violence, the stares lessen. The adults mostly return to their business, though the children keep watching. I quickly begin to notice the staff wielders again, standing in pairs and seemingly observing their surroundings. When one moves, the other follows, with both constantly looking around. Guards. Which means the one I tangled with was likely¡­ the captain. Nice. I might be wrong, but they seem less strong than Thetzeke. As we approach the large tree in the center I ask questions about everything I can, but Thetzeke cares little about satisfying my curiosity. The terrain gets more steep as we get closer, with the tree¡¯s massive root system having expanded mostly out of the ground to create an artificial hill around the tree itself. Perfect wooden steps, likely formed in the same way as the houses, provide a reasonable way to climb. After several minutes of climbing, I take a gamble, and trip. Without my arms to stop my fall, my fall is uncontrollable without outside help. Of course, outside help presents itself immediately, and my rapid descent is halted. ¡°You sure I can¡¯t have use of my arms?¡± I push my luck further while Thetzeke sets me down on the steps again. ¡°You may not have both your arms and access to your weapon. A tool that is cursed, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re aware. This will suffice until we arrive.¡± Not cursed, dipshit. ¡°And where, exactly, is that?¡± ¡°The elder among my kind hold knowledge. They gather it and transcribe it from wherever they can, whenever they can, and it is that knowledge alone that survives each rotation of this world.¡± ¡°The administrator lets you get away with that?¡± Silence. A sigh escapes me. We were doing so well¡­ The rest of the climb is uneventful, and when we reach the top, a semi-familiar face awaits. The probably guard captain, with two guards flanking it on either side of a seemingly random part of the tree trunk. ¡°They have been told of your arrival, and the nature of your¡­ cargo.¡± ¡°You know nothing of what I have found.¡± ¡°Hold your tongue in the presence of your betters, or far worse than stones will threaten you.¡± ¡°Not after this.¡± The other entity perks up at this. ¡°Perhaps I should take it in, then. Your work is done.¡± Thetzeke almost spits the words. ¡°Rejected. It is my find, and you know nothing of its abilities.¡± The guard leader frowns, looking me up and down, then smiles. ¡°Not even you would heal a prisoner, so where have the wounds gone? Perhaps this one can heal, but that is nothing¡­ it has knowledge we do not have on healing? Most interesting. I believe tha-¡± ¡°I just know healing magic, that¡¯s all.¡± The guard leader stops speaking, shocked, then glares. Without a signal of any kind, one of the guards rushes forward and slams its staff into my stomach. I gasp and make a show of falling to me knees, despite the fact that the blow only hurt a little with my fortified abdomen protecting me. ¡°Take it inside, then, one such as you could never find anything valuable anyway. I look forward to your punishment for wasting their time.¡± Without another word, Thetzeke pushes me forward and the tree itself opens up to reveal a triangular path inside, which slams shut as soon as we enter. Darkness surrounds us, but neither of us are bothered by it. Regardless, I immediately walk into a wall, prompting a guiding hand from jailor Thetzeke. Better to let it believe I¡¯m helpless in here. Energy 134: Levas The hallway, entirely unadorned with any distinguishing factors, seems to stretch endlessly within the limits of my darkvision. The only sound disturbing the heavy air is that of our passing. I¡¯m silently thankful that I¡¯m not claustrophobic, because this would be a nightmare otherwise. The walls almost feel like they¡¯re pressing in on me, with the strange, triangular shape of the hallway doing nothing to alleviate that impression. Within only a minute of careful walking, we reach the end of the hallway, which opens into a suitably impressive room. However, despite its large size, there¡¯s actually very little occupying it. The ceiling towers away far beyond my sight range, and though much of the space at the edges of the room is still cast in darkness for me, my brief look indicates that there are many hallways just like the one we entered through that proceed into the inky blackness. The tree itself is large enough to contain a vast network of these tunnels, and considering these creatures seem to have a proclivity toward nature, and its manipulation, there¡¯s little doubt in my mind that they¡¯ve used the space to its fullest extent. We enter the room at what could be considered the base level, in stark contrast in terms of height to the raised dais on which seven hunched masses sit in simple, if large, chairs. Their position affords them an imposing view of whoever enters the room, and acts to form a sort of semicircle surrounding the center of the room, which Thetzeke pushes me towards. ¡°Fallen one. You have sought our gaze, and it has been granted¡­ a final time.¡± Where Thetzeke¡¯s voice sound like rushing wind through leaves given form, the voice that shudders down from above could only be called a gentle breeze. Despite the volume difference, I have no issue understanding. ¡°I was promised two more appeals.¡± From the darkness, something moves, and the resounding crack nearly makes me jump, and I hear a grunt of pain from behind me. ¡°And you have been given two. One for your entry, and the other for that of this creature. Use it well, unless you wish to waste the opportunity with your impertinence.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± I can hear Thetzeke gritting its equivalent for teeth as he forces out the words. ¡®I present¡­ a new source of information. I found this creature in our woods. Its structure resembles the remains we¡¯ve found among the Hanging Vines, and so is believed to be one of the newest set of contestants. It followed me and, when confronted and fatally injured, was able to restore itself to full vitality, despite Mana nullifying poison being used.¡± ¡°You¡­ were followed. Hmm. Regardless, what makes you say that it does not simply have an abnormally rapid regeneration speed? Such a thing is surely worth documenting, but if that is all-¡± ¡°Not at all. The creature lost no body mass as a result of the injury and the subsequent healing. It also lost the ability to breathe, move, and survived large quantities of blood loss, all without external aid or magic. If this was possible for all of its kind, none would have perished to the Hanging Vines.¡± A long pause follows as several of the huddled masses shift slightly, seeming to interact with each other in some non-vocal way. ¡°We will verify this and extract the required information. Should our efforts prove successful, you will be rewarded appropriately.¡± ¡°My mother, all I ask is her freedom-¡± ¡°Dwell not on rewards not yet earned, fallen one. The interrogator should be finished in a few days, and you will be summoned and judged accordingly.¡± ¡°I wish to gather the information, if I-¡± I manage to cover my ears slightly before the crack. Thetzeke holds his tongue better this time. ¡°Begone, you hold no right to ask for such an honorable position. Do not anger us further.¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Hissing in aggravation, I hear Thetzeke turn and head back the way we came, leaving me alone with the huddled masses. ¡°Do you speak, creature?¡± ¡°I do.¡± ¡°Very good, very good¡­ do you intend to cooperate, creature?¡± ¡°Depends. If you just want to know about what I can do, I¡¯ll tell you what I¡¯ve been able to figure out, but it¡¯s a process. I don¡¯t know everything. If you expect me to teach, then I won¡¯t be able to help.¡± ¡°Unable or unwilling, I wonder. We shall find out¡­ yes indeed.¡± I¡¯m suddenly grabbed from behind and pushed towards a different hallway. None of the ¡®elders¡¯ move at all, returning instead to the unnatural silence from before. I¡¯d say it¡¯s a relief if I wasn¡¯t actively headed to what¡¯s likely a glorified torture chamber. Life magic and a desire for information¡­ I¡¯m not sure I like the possibilities there. I can only hope I¡¯m more creative than this thing is. The fact that I still have my sword is comforting, but I doubt they plan on letting me remain armed for long. I absorb every detail of our trip, committing it entirely to memory. There seems to be a stark logic and order to the rooms, and I¡¯d bet they¡¯re organized by purpose as well. We reach the end of the hall, where a spiral staircase ascends into the ceiling, and a sharp prod to my back indicates that¡¯s where we¡¯re headed. Up we go, then another hallway, then up again, to arrive at a single room in a tower, likely part of one of the upper branches of the massive tree just based on how far we¡¯ve climbed. This room is open to the outside, with a 4 foot diameter hole formed in the ceiling directly over a scarred section of the wall. I burn a bit of Energy and test the strength of the vines that hold me, but I can immediately tell that the creature is actively reinforcing them. I think if there were fewer, I could likely overpower it, but the fact that Thetzeke said nothing about enhanced strength and speed means it doesn¡¯t know I can do that along with healing. They¡¯re going to have precautions in place to deal with healing, but not Energy attacks or combustion. These thoughts are my only comfort as the vines begin writhing and my sword and stick are removed, followed by my pack of supplies. They¡¯re barely investigated, except the sword when the vines that touched it all shatter when they attempt to move. The ¡®interrogator¡¯ pauses and looks between me and the sword. ¡°What¡­ is its nature?¡± ¡°It¡¯s my sword. Don¡¯t touch it.¡± The creature says nothing, but retrieves a length of the destroyed vines and studies it, making several notes on what appears to be a piece of paper. Of course they¡¯d have paper, they can manipulate trees. Thin wood wouldn¡¯t be hard at all. In the meantime, the remaining vines slowly drag me to the scarred section of wall and bind me in place, arms spread. The creature then meticulously gathers a length of vine and, giving a weighty sigh, cracks the vine across my chest. The sting is intense, and I feel a trickle of blood flow from the wound even as my Energy rushes to stop it. Though painful, the wound is trivial and heals quickly. Though I considered not healing anything short of life threatening injuries, I figure they¡¯ll keep me alive as long as they think they can learn more from me. I don¡¯t know why they feel the need to record all knowledge in their ¡®archive¡¯, but they seem to think it¡¯s a very important task. One that I¡¯m totally fine abusing. ¡°So¡­ he spoke truly. Most¡­ interesting. How far, I wonder¡­ does this go?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t wait for you to kill me finding out.¡± The searing pain comes as no surprise. ¡°You care¡­ very little¡­ this pain is¡­ too small. Hmmm¡­¡± Without a movement on the interrogator¡¯s side, I feel pressure in my back, arms, and legs. ¡°Mmmm¡­ yesss¡­ yes I see now. Very good.¡± The pressure abates suddenly, but the restraints tighten, and more vines grow to encompass my feet and bind them to the wall as well. ¡°Wh-¡± I start to goad it again, but my remark turns from wit into blood. The metallic taste fills my mouth and I fail to keep the surprise out of my expression. A number of roughly inch thick spikes poke through the skin of my chest, legs, and arms. The pain is nearly blinding, and the only thing that keeps me from screaming is the agonizing feeling of my lungs rubbing on things that shouldn¡¯t be inside me. ¡°A strong hide, to be sure.¡± Where before I was able to keep the fear at bay, now it comes crashing down around me. It takes everything I have to keep from using all my trump cards immediately in a desperate bid for escape. I can¡¯t. I have to wait until I¡¯m alone, or I have the advantage somehow¡­ and I¡¯ll get out of here. I will. But I¡¯m taking this demon¡¯s head with me, and every one of those monsters on their thrones will know suffering. I swear it. Energy 135: Levas Rain¡­ why won¡¯t it just¡­ rain? I¡¯d ask for a cup of water instead, but I¡¯m nearly certain I¡¯d get a sarcastic mug of tree sap or something. I don¡¯t want the liquid for quenching my thirst, though that would also be pleasant, but instead to wash the blood out of my mouth. For all the good Energy is at healing, it doesn¡¯t give a shit about blood. Consequently, my mouth is full of the taste of blood, the smell suffuses my nose, and it¡¯s the second most agonizing part of the torture. The first, of course, being the vines in my body. After doing something to my insides that somehow hurt enough to make me pass out while causing almost no damage to my actual Health, the torturer left me alone. Though not being actively tortured is nice, whatever the creature did made it so every heartbeat throbs my entire body. Every movement feels stiff and sharp pain lances from the offending appendage if I move it too far. I have fears over what happened, and I really fucking hope I¡¯m wrong. My attention shifts to the small golden bracelet still affixed to my wrist, and I start to mold its shape. The interrogator had tried to remove it, but stopped when I spared it a lie about how it, like my sword, is cursed and can¡¯t be removed. The pain it felt when trying to tug the band off aided my story enough that it simply made some notes before lashing me several more times for ¡®impertinence¡¯. I¡¯d insult how effective its methods were, but my composure nearly broke many times during the¡­ something¡­ that it did to me. The only thing that saved me was joining Kaythe in my inner world to escape. I couldn¡¯t truly escape, and I forced myself to check my Health frequently, but¡­ I¡¯m unwilling to feel something like that for the hours it went on for. Not when I have any choice. Night fell while I was spending time within, and the sociopathic creature had left at some point. I curse myself quietly for not keeping track of it better, but it¡¯s too late to do more than regret. I have time and I need to use it. The blade is as sharp as I can make it. Though I believe I could make it as sharp as one atom across, I lack the fine control over it as of yet, so I can just make a very sharp blade. More than enough to cut through the vines holding me to the wall. However, the process is slow and time consuming because I¡¯m cutting by shifting the shape back and forth to slowly saw away at the restraints. I consider using ridges on the blade to better tear it apart, but think better of it. Can¡¯t let the cuts be too noticeable.I get almost three quarters of the way through the cutting before a noise at the entrance alerts me and I quickly form the bracelet back into shape.The torturer enters again, carrying the same notebook as before. ¡°We are¡­ acquainted now. You may¡­ begin.¡± ¡°You- grk¡­¡± Trying again through gritted teeth, I manage to force out: ¡°Should have started with that.¡± ¡°Why? Now¡­ you defy me? Good. Very good.¡± It produces a new whip, different than the one made of vines from before, and twirls it lazily for several moments before bringing it around with a crack that resonates my chest for a moment. Instead of bouncing off after inflicting the wound, several barbed hooks on the end gouge my skin and hold the end there. ¡°We will be¡­ answering questions¡­ experimentally.¡± It makes a noise like a breathy chuckle before ripping the whip, and a chunk of flesh, off me. I bite down hard enough to crack one of my molars, stifling the scream. I try to heal, but something is wrong¡­ I look down and I can only widen my eyes in horror at the near perfect replica of my vasculature made of roots¡­ still sticking¡­ out of my body. That¡¯s what it did. It knew I would try to escape and anchored me by¡­ by¡­. My mind stops working correctly, and once the screaming starts, I can¡¯t stop it. Of all the things it did, nothing was new or horrible enough to break me. Even the act of putting them there wasn¡¯t as bad because I didn¡¯t know what it was doing¡­ but now¡­ now¡­ I can feel them inside me, moving with every breath, waving in my blood with every pulse of my unceasing heart. I need to get out. NOW- Everything vanishes. The pain, the sight, the disgusting feeling lingers like a phantom sensation¡­ but nothing causes it anymore. I open my eyes aga-... eye. I open my eye, and find myself in a tree, in a forest. A familiar forest. ¡°Worry no longer, Predator. Rest for as long as you need. I will persevere.¡± He switched with me. ¡°Kaythe, no, you can¡¯t-¡± ¡°The choice is yours, Predator, but I ask for this chance! I could not guard you before, but I can do this. I must! I didn¡¯t know he could supplant me as well. He¡¯s right, I can feel the ability to resurface. To take the reigns again. But¡­ I take a deep, ragged breath. Even the unfamiliar, alien body feels nicer than my own right now. Cathids can¡¯t laugh, but if they could, I would. The relief is so stark, so stunning, that I feel euphoria just by comparison. I hate the idea of Kaythe going through what I just did, but, as my thinking clears, I realize he won¡¯t. It isn¡¯t his body, so the mental aspect of the torture won¡¯t be as strong. We¡¯ve disconnected mind and body. Still, that wound was deep. As much as I¡¯d like to stalk that Salamander and destress for a bit, Kaythe doesn¡¯t know how to use Energy. Certainly not as well as I do, anyway, so I¡¯ll have to heal. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. The act of raising my awareness out of the imaginary soulscape is almost the same as fulling taking control again, but much more throttled. It¡¯s like forcing yourself not to surface all the way when you have your lungs full of air; you have to constantly control it and keep yourself away. Slowly, I lose my awareness of the forest and gain¡­ something. Instead of the whole body view I¡¯m used to, I have one strand of Light along with¡­ a number of runes. Self runes. I have exactly ten of them. The same number Kaythe uses up when I bring him into existence. The part of me he¡¯s allowed to use¡­ I gather the whisps of golden Energy as they are created from the runes, managing their position with intent and converting them to green. It¡¯s like being on the scene, at ground level in the battlefield that is my body. Instead of the commander, overhead view, I¡¯m like a squad leader¡­ and maybe that¡¯s why I can see the Self runes so easily. Their ¡®tiny¡¯ pulses are now strong reverberations from my perspective. The healing process is a little different, requiring much more manipulation, but I¡¯m able to exert fine control over every strand, looping them, curling them, and pulling them tight with alacrity heretofore impossible, even with my focus dedicated to the task. The wound fills, requiring a small amount of Power to patch up the larger chunks. Now that I¡¯m closer to the stuff I can see more of the veins that run throughout it¡­ and something seems strange. Almost as though the veins might exist in a more literal, biological sense¡­ as they appear to be slowly distending and contracting. Extremely minute movements overall, but...I could swear they¡¯re there. With the wound dealt with, I spread out, seeking to understand exactly what¡¯s going on. The areas around the hardened vines sticking into my back are constantly starting to die and constantly being regenerated by trace amounts of Energy, and though I detect foreign bodies along my vasculature, they don¡¯t register as lights. They aren¡¯t actively harmful. Yet. However, even attacking them Energetically would do nothing. Hell, it might even infuse them, and that would be useless. No, I¡¯m going to have to take them out the way they got in¡­ but I can already tell that that¡¯s not going to go well. I¡¯m going to be in a lot of pain. ¡°Predator¡­ the¡­ is gone¡­¡± Without even replying, I rush to the surface and snap back into my familiar hell. ¡°Kaythe¡­¡± ¡°All¡­ for you¡­ the forest is very nice now.¡± ¡°Please rest, and try to forget whatever it did to you.¡± ¡°It is good. The Predator and I have suffered together now. We have fought the same battle. We have both won.¡± ¡°Yeah Kaythe, yeah we have.¡± Without wasting any time, I resume cutting the bonds, and quickly free my right hand. Forming the makeshift knife into a proper one, the second arm comes much faster, and I slowly, carefully sever each of the spines poking through me. I start to bend over to get my feet untied, but the pain of even leaning over slightly momentarily stuns me. I don¡¯t want to do this. The exposed parts fall to the ground under my careful cutting. I don¡¯t want to do this! Readying my energy, I make a sharp cylinder around the spike and slowly rotated it through my body, sawing off all the root structures attached to it. I hate this so fucking much. The spike slides easily out, allowing me to use the moldable Energy weapon to grasp and pull on each of the root structures. I can¡¯t scream, not now, I have to finish this. They don¡¯t come cleanly, but they come. Bright red explodes throughout the areas they leave behind, but Energy soothes away the damage quickly. One down. Closed. The second is almost worse with so many more remaining, but there¡¯s no half measure. Nor for the next, the next, or the next after that. With every lance of pain, agonizing removal of root, and pang of guilt for letting Kaythe suffer for me, I feel something growing in me. A laughter: dark and tantalizing. A laughter that promises nothing and takes everything. ¡°What¡¯s this? Broken free? A mistake¡­ most grievous¡­¡± The monster¡¯s stoic, slightly bemused expression cracks when I raise my head to greet it. ¡°I figured it out. I finally¡­ realized.¡± ¡°Back against the-¡± ¡°I just had to accept it! It was so easy!¡± ¡°-warning you¡­ again-¡± ¡°Now I just have a few questions.¡± CRACK. The force knocks me back, but there¡¯s no pain, just a clinical knowledge of the wound¡¯s presence and how it¡¯s already being fixed. A jagged, gaping wound that would give a normal human a few minutes before they would bleed to death. Hmm. ¡°Cease, or the next-¡± ¡°Of course! I can always count on you to remind me the order of things.¡± My knife embeds in its chest, slightly off the mark. Injuries¡­ so troublesome¡­ but it serves my purpose. The creature looks down in shock for a moment before looking back to me with a twisted grin and a barking laughter much like the cracking before a tree falls. ¡°Trivial¡­ admirable, but tri-¡± Its face changes from condescending mirth to shock again as it tries to withdraw the Energy knife from its chest and finds it stuck fast. ¡°Can you feel it? Wriggling through you?¡± The knife, of course, was only a vector for the true weapon. One that this creature had made the grave mistake of showing me. Small, barbed tendrils of golden metal flow throughout its body, and with every passing second, they become more firmly embedded. It tugs harder, yelling in pain, before vines erupt from the ground, equal parts spearing my legs and binding them, seeking to climb and entomb me as quickly as possible. ¡°You want it out?¡± I heave on the metal strand that connects us, a furnace fueled by explosions of Energy bringing my arms and core to the brink as I whip my tormentor bodily to the other end of the room, where it scatters and impales itself on several devices of unknown use. Yanking again, I reel it in to my feet. Somewhere along the line, it stopped casting, and the plant weapons became mundane again. A swift strike against the wood piercing my right leg shatters it, but I care little; I can dig the shards out later. Now, however¡­ ¡°All you had to do¡­¡± I begin, placing a foot on his chest, beside the knife. ¡°-was ask.¡± With a gut wrenching sound of tearing flesh, the metal contraption I had woven around several important feeling organs emerges. The entrails fall to the ground unceremoniously, the knife returning to its normal shape. I hear the laughter again, growing louder as I end the creature¡¯s pitiful attempts at healing itself. At last it lies still, with only the sound of the sinister laughing to fill the silence. The only strange thing is how it sounds exactly like mine. Energy 136: Levas ¡°Ahh¡­ I forgot to ask any questions. How unfortunate.¡± The words sound hollow in my ears. ¡°Perhaps someone else will help me.¡± I turn to the exit, take a step, and stumble. The other spearing vine had held fast during my movement and torn my leg open even further as a result, before breaking off under the strain. I laugh lightly to myself and rip the offending wood from my body, then focus on healing just enough to return basic function. The rest can happen while I search. Returning my sword and pack to their proper positions, I catch myself humming some rhythmless notes. It¡¯s probably unwise to make noise, but it¡¯s so¡­ catchy. With a careless shrug, I continue on my way. I remember which way I¡¯m supposed to go to leave this place, but opt to investigate a bit instead. After all, I owe my hosts a parting gift. Down the stairs, into the hall, I quickly find that the room I came from is simply repeated ten times, five on each side of the hall. Odly, there is quite a lot of space between each of the rooms, and they¡¯re hardly regularly spaced. Not caring particularly which avenue I start with in my quest for information, I go one room over and find a similar staircase to the one I just came down. At the top, another torture chamber appears. Empty. The next one, however, is not. The cries of agony pave my entry and ensure I remain undetected. A mangled mess of a creature is tied up in much the same way I was. Its sobbing and pleading leaves little hope for it being useful, but beggars can hardly be choosers in situations such as this. I make my way behind the torturer as it goes about its duty and thankfully avoid being given away by the object of the torturer¡¯s attentions. This is in no way because of anything it has control over, its eyes seem too covered in blood and its head hangs bonelessly. In fact, the only reason it remains upright at all is due to the restraints. Poor thing. I slice the torturer into almost perfect halves with a bit of Energy to pad my Strength, and watch, bemused, as the newly separated parts wiggle and bleed. Its arm casts about, as though looking for something to grab. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve got you.¡± I say soothingly, grasping the hand tightly in two of my own. ¡°It¡¯s all going to be better now, ok? Much better.¡± I don¡¯t know if it heard me, but it grips back with the ferocity of¡­ well, someone holding on for dear life! Its glassy eye doesn¡¯t see my expression turn sinister, but its frantic grasping turns to violent rejection when a deluge of red Energy flows into it and eats it from the inside. These things are very resistant to death! But¡­ you can¡¯t live without a soul, and I had forgotten how weak creatures were when near death. A few Fragments and a bit more Power couldn¡¯t hurt, after all. Its resistance is small but determined. Unfortunately, I outclass it immensely. The half I hold shudders one last time and ceases, but the other half falls limp at the same moment. How curious! Throwing the halves to their own corner, I address the figure before me. ¡°Oh hello there. No need to thank me, but if you would be so kind as to answer a few questions, I would be most grateful.¡± ¡°W¡­ who¡­ what¡­¡± ¡°Now now, this isn¡¯t the time for you to ask questions. You are in a lot of pain, correct? Allow me to make it easier for you.¡± I reach over, ignoring its futile attempts to cringe away from me, and give it a small dose of green Energy. ¡°There, better?¡± ¡°A healer¡­ the system truly does provide.¡± ¡°Oh it certainly does. Now, would you tell me: what¡¯s the best way to get to the ah¡­ ¡®archive¡¯, as you all call it? I simply must see it before I go!¡± ¡°The¡­ sacred archive? No, no I have never¡­ never seen it. Apologies.¡± ¡°Not to worry, I¡¯ll keep looking. What would you say is the best way to kill one of your kind?¡± ¡°One of¡­ an outsider? Here? Ah¡­ I will not¡­¡± ¡°Oh come now, we¡¯re friends, aren¡¯t we? I saved you, made you feel better, I¡¯m just asking for a little favor in return. You can do that for me, right?¡± I flip the tethered Energy blade around my hand a few times. It helps me stay collected, I think. ¡°I¡­ suppose. The center of the chest¡­ heavily armored, but lethal after a time. The four edges of the torso have¡­ backups. Remove all, and none can survive.¡± ¡°Marvelous! Here-¡± I cut one arm loose from the bindings and press a particularly sharp looking tool made from magically altered wood into its hand. ¡°-Use this to cut yourself loose, and feel free to leave when you feel up to it. You¡¯ve earned it! But don¡¯t go too fast now, I wouldn¡¯t want you following me.¡± I can only wonder why the laugh that follows makes the creature look so uncomfortable. Must be cultural differences. Ah well. Leaving the creature to the business of freeing itself, I make my way through several more empty torture rooms before coming across another one that¡¯s occupied. Fortunately for everyone but me, there is no torturer in the room, but this victim looks substantially more healthy than the last: scarred but whole skin, gaunt but sturdy looking body, and, most of all, its eyes remain sharp despite obvious exhaustion. ¡°You are no interrogator.¡± ¡°And you look uncomfortable. Would you like to be freed?¡± ¡°What do you want.¡± ¡°Smart too! Excellent. I¡¯d just like to know where the archive your people talk so much about is actually located. Could you help?¡± ¡°Do¡­ you wish to harm it?¡± I heave a disappointed sigh. ¡°And we were getting along so well-¡± The creature shakes its head, interrupting: ¡°You misunderstand. I would burn that wretched place to the ground. Will you allow me to lead you there?¡± I catch the knife I had been twirling in my hand, pleasantly surprised for once. ¡°I knew you were the one! Fantastic, let me just cut you loose and we can- ah, no running off, if you would? I really would rather not fight everyone here at once.¡± ¡°You made it this far on your own, without a scratch on you, so I shall remain at your side.¡± I deftly slice through its- her? bonds. She collapses to the ground, but pushes herself slowly, body shuddering, back to her feet. ¡°Ah, you are weak from confinement. Would you like some healing to keep you going?¡± She staggers for a few steps and shakes her head. I watch as a familiar glow spreads through her body and the wounds on her wrists, presumably from the bindings, slowly fill in and knit closed. The light dies a few moments later, leaving her doubled over and panting. ¡°Hmm¡­ I was saving this for when I found what I was looking for, but you may have some.¡± I produce the single Mana potion I had prepared. She looks warily between the potion and me, but a spark appears in her gaze and her visage fills with fury. Without a word, she snatches the flask and drinks a third of it before stoppering it and returning it to me. ¡°More- *cough* more than enough. My thanks.¡± The glow returns, much brighter and covering all her wounds at once. Moments later, she straightens and stretches her arms and legs. ¡°Mmm¡­ good to move again. Shall we?¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I smile back, all teeth. ¡°Lead the way.¡± --- Our path takes us out of the hallway I had been searching and down to the base level. She leads me to the edge of the large room in which Thetzeke was judged, before turning and putting her hand on my shoulder. She taps me and then taps the ground we¡¯re crouched on, then taps herself and points to the chamber. I cock my head, understanding, but unsure if I should allow it. I neither like being told to sit and wait like a dog nor do I want to let my prisoner out of my sight. Grinning, I settle on a half measure and clasp her hand. Her resistance is minimal as I dump a substantial amount of green into her. The mental effects should be sufficient to stop her betrayal, should she consider it. Her expression changes slightly and she examines her hand for a moment before giving me a hard look, as if seeing me for the first time. Having come to some conclusion, she turns and sneaks away into the darkness. My hand goes immediately back to twirling the Energy knife, but I realize that could easily attract attention. Instead I opt to practice molding it; the distraction keeps me from dwelling on how long she¡¯s been gone. I manage to get a thin layer to cover my entire hand and forearm before she returns. I still can¡¯t shape the metal fast enough for it to work as perfect armor over my hand like that; it adds too much time to movement for quick reactions. Someday though¡­ perhaps a partial exoskeleton? The Energy draw would be massive, but very worthwhile. She gestures to me and we cross the room, ending up in the center. I notice that the thronelike seats the ¡®elders¡¯ used before are now vacant, and I have to squash an errant thought to destroy them. It would be satisfying, but the chairs could be replaced easily. That isn¡¯t the point here. The creature, whose name I should probably have asked, looks at me suddenly, startled as though caught in headlights¡­ Ah, shit, started humming without realizing it. I meet her reproachful look with a nonchalant shrug. Nobody noticed, so no harm done, but that does make me a little worried. The blanket wrapped around my psyche feels warm and comfortable right now, but it does have some quirks. The way I talk, the way I think and act, even why I act has all changed slightly. Some part of me thinks that¡¯s important, but I have no time now to pay it any mind. My assistant glows slightly and the center of the stage suddenly opens up, revealing some stairs descending into an unlit abyss. The way back closes above us as we descend, removing any trace of our passage. ¡°How did you know that was there?¡± Another aggravated look, but her gaze softens and she averts her eyes back to the stairs. ¡°We should be cautious of speaking when we reach the bottom of these steps. Fortunately, this area is enclosed on both sides. It works to keep moisture out of the archive, which is perfect for¡­ our purposes. To answer your question, I used to work here.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°My son made a mistake.¡± ¡°Of what sort?¡± ¡°The worst. He tarnished an article of the archive. I was imprisoned and tortured, and he was sent to find sufficient material to replace the lost knowledge.¡± ¡°What a coincidence, I was brought here as ¡®knowledge¡¯ to free¡­ you, in all likelihood. I do believe Thetzeke might just miss you.¡± She looks stunned for a moment and her uncertain facial expression indicates that I¡¯m spot on. It explains why she was in such good shape compared with the other one I ran into; she wasn¡¯t being actively tortured for information, just to make an example. ¡°He¡­ yet lives? This is good.¡± ¡°How unfortunate that the elders will have only him to blame when we escape.¡± ¡°No¡­¡± the shock disappears in the wake of unbridled bloodlust ¡°they won¡¯t have the chance.¡± ¡°Killing the elders! Brilliant. But¡­ that would be rather difficult to do on your own. It would be such a shame if you failed¡­¡± She grits her teeth audibly and stares daggers at me. ¡°What would you ask?¡± ¡°Him.¡± ¡°Thetzeke?¡± ¡°You will compel him to accompany me on my journey when I leave. I happen to have need of a local guide anyway, and he is quite a good scout.¡± ¡°I offer myself in his place. He does not deserve-¡± ¡°Not as my slave, more as a mercenary. I¡¯ll ensure he doesn¡¯t die easily.¡± I give her a twisted smile. ¡°Besides, without the elders, someone will have to guide these people, someone who knows how things work, and why we did what we did. Otherwise it will likely be that abhorrent head guardswoman. Ugh. Anyway, a pariah for a son would do little good for your attempts to rule.¡± ¡°You speak like a fool, it would be impossible.¡± ¡°Fine, fine. You will serve if he will not. It¡¯s sad to see they cut the ambition out of you.¡± She makes makes no response, and we descend in relative silence aside from a light musical accompaniment of humming. ¡°Ah, what did you say your name was?¡± ¡°Lethin. Yours?¡± ¡°Amadeus. A pleasure.¡± ¡°This quest you go on¡­ is it the true quest? The one to climb the tower? You are new, not yet documented in the archive, so you must be of the contestants from this revolution.¡± ¡°It is indeed. Though I admire the architecture of those giant rings we pass through, I would so love to see how many stars I can turn them into¡­¡± ¡°You wish¡­ not to ascend, but to destroy it?¡± ¡°Everything short of this planet. I can¡¯t say I believe our home exists anymore, and if it does¡­ well, this place is far more exciting!¡± ¡°You will fail. They always fail. Knowing what awaits won¡¯t help you overcome the impossible.¡± ¡°Ha ha! They all say that before they join me on my ¡®fool¡¯s errand¡¯. I guess we¡¯ll have to find out for sure.¡± ¡°Is this to do with that strange sensation I felt earlier? When you touched me?¡± ¡°Could be! It¡¯s possible I just want to win more than anyone else so far and that attracts others to follow.¡± ¡°No magic radiates off you. None at all.¡± ¡°There are other ways to change the world.¡± --- ¡°They¡¯re coming.¡± I have just enough time to grab my sword before the flat surface in front of us suddenly opens to reveal a very surprised elder and its two baffled guards. Vines spring up around the legs of all three just as I jump forward and slice through the first guard, drawing a neat line from his right shoulder to his left hip, so chosen to destroy three of the precious hearts they possess. It has barely begun collapsing by the time I move to the elder, who narrowly avoids a similar death only due to the remaining guard flinging its weapon at mine and knocking my strike off target. My Combat Proficiency screams at me and I execute an empowered leap directly into the elder right as the entire floor erupts into hundreds of spikes. Without the time or distance to use my sword correctly, I settle for smashing the elder in the face with the hilt as I knock it over and land on top of its chest, forcing it down toward its own spikes. As it falls, however, the spikes recede away from it and the floor instead forms a bit of a cushion, seeming to meld around the creature. Realizing its intentions, I throw my sword toward the guard with one hand and slam my Energy blade into the elder mere fractions of a second before I¡¯m skewered and thrown bodily away by some combination of vines and spikes. Growling in frustration at the wounds, I focus on elongating the metal chain that now connects me to the elder and anchoring the blade thoroughly in its flesh. The elder is immediately swallowed by the floor in what I¡¯m sure it believes is a clean escape. ¡°No!¡± Ah, poor Lethin, she doesn¡¯t know. A sudden light fills me, and my Health rapidly climbs back to full, just in time for the chain to start reeling in and dragging me towards where the chain has kept the floor from closing all the way. A small stream of smoke emanates from the hole, marking the speed with which the metal is moving away, and my arm slams against the opening as the leash reaches its end. Surprisingly, the metal doesn¡¯t snap, but the Energy expenditure spikes at the moment of impact, kicking me down to less than a third of my total pool. After a moment of hesitation, I start reeling in as much as I can, but find I reach a point where it will no longer move. Pulling further only causes Energy expenditure without meaningful results. ¡°Lethin, bring the good elder back, if you would.¡± ¡°You attached a tether? Good, I shall return him.¡± With both guards dealt with (Lethin surgically skewered the remaining guard until it stopped moving), Lethin places her hands on the floor near me and the contact glows slightly. Moments later, the floor opens up and jettisons a very destroyed body of what is essentially a withered version of Thetzeke. The wound from my knife was probably very tolerable up until the moment it reached the end of the leash and tore a massive chunk of its own body away. It gropes around desperately in search of aid, instead finding only those it ordered tortured. Lethin peers down into its anguished face, smiling. ¡°Wait¡­!¡± It manages to gurgle out before Lethin riddles its body with wooden stakes. ¡°I wonder who he wished to stall: you, or death?¡± ¡°What difference is there for him?¡± Energy 137: Levas ¡°Such a beautiful corpse. A shame such an ugly thing ended up that way.¡± Lethin shoots me a look somewhere between shock and discomfort. ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°No, nothing. This¡­ this is who I- what I must be.¡± She kneels down next to the riddled corpse and begins rifling through its belongings while I investigate the guards. ¡°Surviving is hardly a thing to be ashamed of.¡± ¡°Is it truly simple survival? Our task is clear, I do not resent it, but I do not see it so simply.¡± ¡°To live is to destroy. We are proof of that, dear sister! Ingots of pure metal forged in the fires of adversity, we were broken down and formed into something new¡­ something better.¡± ¡°Something new, but not whole.¡± ¡°Mmm¡­ yes, never whole. The world owes us something. The missing piece. Perhaps we will never be paid our due, but we shall rest easier knowing those who stole it will suffer dearly.¡± ¡°Yes¡­ easier¡­¡± A thoughtless tune accompanies the sounds of picking through the effects of the dead. I come up with several tablets with some runes I don¡¯t recognize, along with ¡®self¡¯, inscribed on the front. With that, some destroyed armor, shattered weapons of wood, some strange, uniform rocks of various colors, and something that might be organic, which is wrapped in a strangely malleable bark. ¡°Those tablets can be broken to release healing magic into the user. It won¡¯t treat anything really dangerous, but it can generally stop bleeding and mend small cuts and bruises. Those colored stones are our currency¡­ useless to you. The parcel is food.¡± ¡°My thanks, the ways of your people are familiar, but entirely alien at the same time.¡± I pass the currency to her and break off a piece of the brownish substance that smells like dirt and pop it into my mouth. It¡¯s bitter and chewy at first, but the exposure to my saliva not only changes the flavor to a more savory saltiness, but also inflates the small piece into a genuine mouthful. Not bad¡­ I¡¯ll appropriate some more for when I head out. I¡¯m sure Lauren would like to try-... I stop chewing, suddenly disgusted with¡­ something. The food is fine, but I spit it onto the ground. ¡°Not to your liking?¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°...No.¡± I feel the cracks vividly, running like spiderwebs through my mind. Was that all it took to break you? Ha¡­ hahahahaHA! It is not I that broke, but this world! A broken thing begets more; an endless cycle of misery perpetuating itself. What fool stands against the flow of the world? Like a stone in the river¡¯s¡­.path¡­ What was I¡­? ¡°Come, we must hurry. He will be missed, and more remain.¡± ¡°Y-yes! Of course. A debt is owed, and a debt shall be paid.¡± The tune comes back easily, marking our steady path through the twisting corridors. Burn it down. Burn it all down. One elder down, five to go. An entire archive to burn¡­ hundreds- no, thousands of years of knowledge, illuminating one last time. It will not heal the wound, but it will help. Guards occasionally stand in our way, but they fall just as easily. They know nothing of magic or healing, and Lethin¡¯s mastery over both ensures we have nothing to fear. I take them by surprise, cleaving and slicing, and she hits them in all the right places when they fall or try to run. Though these simpletons give us no trouble, I remember how quickly I was disabled in fights with the magic users, and I wonder. The knife that keeps flitting through my vision gives me an idea¡­ perhaps instead of carving apart my enemies, it could stop them. It draws on my Energy to mold, slowly sliding down my arm and coating my entire torso in a thin sheet. ¡°Lethin!¡± She starts, springing into an offensive stance and looking around wildly, only stopping to fix me with a damning glare when she determines we¡¯re safe. ¡°What!?¡± She hisses. ¡°Stab me with one of your spikes!¡± Her glare freezes, then cracks into confusion as her posture relaxes slightly. ¡°Stop talking nonsense, we have a job-¡± ¡°Would you kindly indulge me, just for this? Pick somewhere¡­ painful, but not deadly. Oh but you don¡¯t know human biology¡­ ah, here!¡± I say, pointing to my left pectoral and grinning at her. ¡°If you are sure. Hold still¡­¡± The stab comes fast, but I¡¯m starting to get the hang of predicting how the magic will function. It¡¯s not instantaneous, and there¡¯s always a little flash when Mana flows from one medium to another. What the magic will do is more difficult, and it¡¯s only because I know what¡¯s coming that I can brace for it. WHAM. The force kicks me off the ground, hitting me hard against the wall and knocking the wind out of me. What beautiful force! What an elegant way to end a life! I must know it¡­ I must have it. My insides fill with lights: a slight arrhythmia triggered by the impact, internal bleeding from both impacts¡­ but no punctures! My Energy drained, but I think the impact totalled about 6 Energy; far less than healing a hole in my heart. ¡°E-*cough* excellent! Much obliged!¡± She shakes her head, muttering something about ¡°getting through this¡± and continues down the hall with me whistling happily behind her. Like a dancing pair, we carve our way ever closer to our goal¡­ well, one of us does. Lethin seems to find no joy or redemption in what we do. At points, recognition would flash in her eyes and she would hesitate to deal the final blow. ¡°Lethin,¡± I would tell her, hacking the offending bodies into pieces too small to have meaning, ¡°we have no time for sentiment. Only our goal.¡± Though she didn¡¯t respond at first, she grew to understand. By the time we reach the ornate door guarding our treasure, no hesitation or remorse remains in her eyes. I see the touch of madness in her, same as me. Doubts dispelled, she meets my grin with a reluctant smile, and we push into the archive. Energy 138: Levas The doors swing open soundlessly, revealing¡­ significantly less than I expect. The archives have only three large, pillar-like structures of wood, with the vast majority of the floor being perfectly smooth wood. The pillars don¡¯t appear to be arranged in any particular way, which goes against the normally ornamental nature of the rest of the construction. If not purely aesthetic, the creatures at least have some appreciation for symmetry and elegance, but that¡¯s entirely lost in this room. I turn to protest to Lethin, but she immediately claps her clammy hand over my mouth. Though annoyed by her overly forward response, I indulge her the silence as she frantically gestures toward the three elders seemingly pouring over the contents of the archive. Does she fear them? There are only a few, and their power here is limited¡­ they wouldn¡¯t, after all, wish to harm any of their precious documents. We have no such compunctions. Regardless of my distaste for her cowardice, I allow her the moment to collect herself, though I find kneeling to be a bit much for¡­ The ground rumbles slightly with the force of wall after wall of tome ridden pillars rising from the floor. Of course! They wouldn¡¯t allow someone to waltz in and destroy everything, and Thetzeke had said their town had been destroyed in the past revolutions¡­ how could I have forgotten! How unfortunate that they couldn¡¯t predict one of their own would betray them. ¡°Delicious¡­¡± But none care for my words in the ensuing chaos. Shouts from across the room start as accusations to each other, and their witless bickering keeps them occupied while I walk over to the nearest pillar and select a tome. As expected, thin sheets of bark, covered with small letters. Nonsense to me. If only written language translated as well as spoken¡­ but alas, that makes this entire room of kindling that much more pointless. If it¡¯s not good to me, what use is it at all? With a quick flourish, I move to cut several of these pages out, intent on starting a pleasant little fire, but the moment my knife heads for the page, a construct of root and vine snatches my wrist. I stop, studying the strange limb emanating from the ground at my feet, before shrugging and pushing the knife closer. Immediately, four more hands emerge and stop my movement completely. From the source of the roots, a thing almost like a body emerges. It vaguely resembles the creatures, but entirely made of plant matter¡­ most interesting. ¡°None may harm the archive.¡± It speaks, but I cannot fathom how. Fortunately, it fails to attract the attention of the elders. ¡°And what, pray tell, are you?¡± ¡°I am life; I am love. I serve forever in protection of the archive.¡± More bodies emerge around me, but make no hostile moves. ¡°I am whole-heart-health-all-one¡­¡± The others join in, their combined voices slowly rising in volume and overlapping. ¡°I will protect-None may harm-All are we-¡± I struggle and wrest my hand from the grasps of the hand shaped constructs and back away, tome in hand. The voices continue, all facing me, but I can just hear a change from across the room. Alas, the element of surprise is so often wasted. An explosion of wood and fibrous plant matter erupts from behind the pillars, and two elders flash into view atop what could be writhing snakes of pure magical wood. ¡°YOU!¡± They hiss in unison, all previous composure lost under the torrent of hatred pouring our way. ¡°LETHIN! You and yours will be removed from the archive DELETED FOR ALL TIME AND FORGOTTEN BY HEAVEN AND EARTH. JEKTA, SHE IS NOT YOUR MATCH, PRESERVE THE ARCHIVE IMMEDIATELY!¡± Jekta, presumably the third elder who had not joined the other two atop a monstrosity, emits a flash visible from everywhere in the massive chamber, and all the pillars begin sinking down at once. All but one, that is. ¡°I do not need to match you, just stop you ONCE!¡± A single pillar shudders while the others continue to retreat, struggling under the competing efforts of two mages, before snapping and shattering the entire column. Pages rain down, loosed from their bindings by shaking and sudden fall, clattering to the ground like so much refuse. A screech of agony and rage echoes through the archive, and though the other elders and the ¡®eternal servants¡¯ immediately shift their attentions to saving the falling tomes, they aren¡¯t fast enough to grab more than a quarter of them before they crash to the floor and, in many cases, simply shatter. Justice, I suppose, for focussing too much on how to harm with their magic. More hands than I can count rise from the ground, delicately picking through the wreckage and begin placing pieces together, desperately trying to undo the harm. The archives stop sinking, and I hear a strange noise from behind me, but I can¡¯t help but be transfixed by the sight of this incredible comedy! My laughter evokes screams of anger from the elders, but nothing from the eternals. However, I¡¯m given very little time to contemplate that fact as countless spikes shoot from the ground where I was only just standing. I start to fall back to where Lethin was kneeling, but a quick check reveals that she¡¯s being stabbed through over and over by three of the eternals. Growling in frustration at having my mood soured, I unsheath my sword and cleave through the unsuspecting constructs, letting my Energy flow like a raging torrent through me. The vines are no match compared with the edge of my blade, and the hunger for warmth that resides within freezes their bases as well. A rapidly travelling row of spike moves like a wave towards us, and I only have time to throw the tome I grabbed down to where Lethin hangs to life by a thread and jump away. As expected, the elders opt to target me instead of risking injury to the archive. They themselves are not exempt from the eternals¡¯ ministrations, it seems. With that in mind, I rush away from the enraged elders and make a grab for another tome. Just as I make contact with it, a wall of spike shoots out of the floor straight up into the air, catching my outstretched arm and sending a spray of blood over the tomes. A grasping hand snatches my injured arm and guards the books from my offending fluids. Frown deepening, I tear my arm back and jump away just in time to avoid another, more comprehensive row of spikes, then it¡¯s back to running. I skirt the edge of the outermost row of pillars, blocking their sight with the floor to near-ceiling height of the pillars, and snap one of the tokens of healing. My arm didn¡¯t hurt, but the spray of blood was definitely from my radial artery being nicked, and that would put me down quickly. Plus, I¡¯m too focussed on another Energy task to seal it up the usual way. A moment later, Kaythe pops into existence around my shoulders. ¡°Hello my precious Kaythe, I have need of you, if you would be so willing.¡± ¡°Of course, Predator!¡± ¡°Excellent.¡± The two elders make themselves known, one on each side of the veritable hallway I¡¯ve trapped myself in. ¡°You must not harm these books, but I need you to crawl all over them and make them harm them. Do not fail me!¡± ¡°Never!¡± Kaythe¡¯s voice is equal parts excited and determined as he launches himself from my shoulders and onto the nearest pillar. ¡°DIE!¡± Gigantic claws made from magically animated wood emerge from the monstrous serpent closest to me, while the one at the other end flattens its snake into a wall, covered in vicious blades. They move as one, targeting me from both sides, and I opt for the closer one. The claws flash, moving far faster than their size belies. I fall to the ground, sliding to avoid a swipe by one, but the other slams down a fraction of a second after, leaving me nowhere to go. I put everything I have into a lateral strike and just manage to get through the base of the colossal cat¡¯s paw before it smashes me into the ground. The bulk of it still slams into me, but it no longer has the weight of the elder¡¯s serpent behind it. Several somethings crack under the impact, and only two of them are the intentionally broken healing tablets. The magic surges through me, seeking to repair the minor fractures. With the aid of my Energy, I¡¯m just able to get the dismembered ¡®paw¡¯ off of me before,the ground beneath me erupts in spikes. Because of my position on my back, I¡¯m able to take the brunt of the hits with my armored back and only suffer minor gashes along my legs and head. The force, despite not piercing me, sends me airborne, which leaves me helpless as the wall of spikes closes in and the other elder¡¯s remaining paw rushes to snatch me out of the air again. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. The giant paw¡¯s crushing power threatens to shatter my body, and likely would have if not for the dangerous amount of Energy coursing through it. The expenditure is too much, too fast, and I¡¯m going to have to stop or die very soon. The bar already blinks a dull yellow at me. I¡¯ve managed to keep my Health up, and my Stamina is practically full, but that will change in a moment if I can¡¯t use Energy. The elder sneers and raises me up to face it. ¡°Struggle all you wish, your death will be legendary¡­ both in length, and agony.¡± ¡°L-likely! How-ever- I wouldn¡¯t want to t-take the spotlight¡­ from you.¡± Kaythe leaps from atop a nearby pillar and cocoons the elder¡¯s head, riddling it with holes with his bone shivs. It might not kill the thing, but its focus is entirely lost, allowing me to force my way out of the suddenly inanimate wood. I land just in time for the second elder to reach me with its wall of spikes, and I see a flash of light from his place at the top. I leap back, straining my muscles as much as they¡¯ll go, and feel the wind the wooden maw as it snaps shut. I frown impertinently up at the offending mage. Even I would have died from that. Having already paused for too long, I run around the distracted elder and duck down an aisle several rows over, quickly grabbing another book from the archive. They¡¯re tough, can heal themselves and each other, and are highly lethal, but the archive can kill them with their own magic. The other one hasn¡¯t shown itself yet, meaning it¡¯s either dead or more clever than it seems, but I just can¡¯t bring myself to think so highly of such a creature. I take a moment to let my Energy cool down, just while I can hear the yelling from across the room. I can still feel my Energy connection with Kaythe, indicating he hasn¡¯t been killed, but that also means he isn¡¯t distracting them. A flash of green emanates from where they were, and the voices stop, replaced with a slow rumbling. Stowing my sword, I launch myself up one of the pillars, careful to avoid hitting any of the books, and manage to climb to the top just as the ever creative duo try to trap me again. Cat and mouse? Surely, but who can say who is who? A twisted grin crawls onto my face as my hands tighten around the grip of my sword. Once more! I step forward, as if to jump at the elder in front of me, but I¡¯d rather leave it be because it¡¯s in a better position for Kaythe to reach. Instead, I spin on my heel and rocket towards the other elder, who was obviously looking to take advantage of my back being turned. The claws are back, and the imposing figure does its best to loom over me despite our heights being the same. It isn¡¯t the time or place, but the humming starts again and my mind floats in perfect serenity. A swipe to slice through, a slam to dodge, an elder¡¯s pain to sing beautiful music to my ears as I sing mockery to it. ¡°Is this the power of your will? This?! And you would dare match it against me? No no no¡­ this affront cannot stand!¡± Its blood clatters to the floor, shattering into a million frozen pieces. The fool lets me strike again, sundering the hardened wood that protects its head, before an arsenal of vines throw me across the room. I slam my sword into the ground, gritting my teeth through the oddly painless dislocation of my shoulder. I¡­ cannot feel pain anymore¡­ can I? I let my Energy get to work on it, but before it can even finish, an idea possesses me, and I know immediately I must fulfill it! Without regard for the unhealed nature of my arm, I rip my sword from the jagged scar I¡¯ve carved in the floor and fling it back the way I came. With almost perfect synchronization, my sword and the wounded elder arrive at the same place. Almost. A claw flashes through the air, deflecting the sword into the wall behind it. The elder snarls, but notices how the claw it used has partially frozen after only the briefest of contact with my weapon. ¡°Filth, whatever you are, you are truly remarkable. How unfortunate that Thetzeke will be repaid with never ending suffering for bringing you here.¡± An impudent grin is all it receives before I charge once more into range. Unhindered by my weapon, I let my Dexterity speak for itself, and I realize my skill Adaptive Combat has been lighting up like crazy this whole time, guiding my actions and helping me learn faster in this oppressive environment. And¡­ rendering me immune to the same fucking nonsense being used over and over. With a scream of rage entirely unbecoming of one with the title of ¡®elder¡¯, the creature misses horribly when I stop short of its range, turning its floor shattering slam into a path right to its vulnerable body. Suddenly terrified, it uses the other claw to shatter the limb I¡¯m using to climb, but I manage to kick off onto at pillar, and again toward the wall behind it¡­ and my sword. The creature turns toward death, and death greets it by separating its head from its body, sending it crashing to the floor where it explodes into a mess of frozen pieces. ¡°BROTHER!¡± The last remaining elder looks on in horror and seething rage when it realizes that healing such a thing would be impossible. The body continues to flounder, but without the head to guide the movements, it¡¯s like a puppet with tangled strings. The flash of light is almost blinding. All at once, the de-animated snake I¡¯m on explodes into shards of wood, peppering me with wounds both large and small. I hit the ground hard, driving many of the wooden shards deeper into my body, and I can only be thankful for the loss of pain I¡¯ve been experiencing lately. I open my eyes¡­ must have instinctively shut them in the chaos¡­ but the left one isn¡¯t¡­ opening. My hand goes to open it manually even as my Energy confirms what happened; a jagged chunk of wood is stuck fast in my eye. My hand falls away, and a small, ragged chuckle escapes my chest. I hear the creature getting closer, but my mind is focussed elsewhere. My bag¡­ I have just the thing¡­ where¡¯s that vial¡­ I stumble to the entrance where Lethin gapes wordlessly at me from the floor and my pack lies on the ground where it wouldn¡¯t get in the way of the fight. The sounds get closer¡­ it¡¯s right behind me¡­ got it! I tip back the vial against my lips, but the liquid only barely gets in my mouth when I¡¯m slammed into the ground by something massive. My Energy flashes red, my corset of Energy metal the only thing that keeps my spine from being shattered, but the pressure alleviates suddenly. ¡°A potion? You limp off like a wounded animal to drink a POTION?!¡± It snatches the potion from my reddened lips even as I try to drink it again. I turn my head and look it in the eye. Its hood pulled back, cloak shredded by combat, I see just another one of the creatures. Perhaps a little more browned with age, but nothing more. Another creature. Staring down at me, grinning that same sinister smile. ¡°You will need this no longer. I will see to your healing. Again¡­ and again¡­ and again¡­ till you beg for death and your broken body serves only to imprison your perfectly functional mind!¡± It tosses the glass behind it, down the corridor, where it shatters. Gleefully, it turns back to me, and the pressure of the mass on top of me is entirely removed, replaced instead with the familiar sensation of vines curling around me. ¡°Yesss¡­ we will have such fun- what¡­ what¡¯s that? Smoke?!¡± It looks around, an expression of abject horror plastered across its disgusting face, as it finally realizes what was in the vial. Not a healing potion, but a basic mixture of red flowers and water. They are so very easy to confuse, after all! Everything looks red when it¡¯s covered in blood. ¡°No! I- I was tricked! Don¡¯t-¡± But its pleas are quickly drowned under a torrent of ¡°serve forever-your punishment-die in agony¡± type comments while it is stabbed relentlessly until it stops moving. I take several deep breaths- well, as deep as I can with several broken ribs and a body full of unintentional holes. I grope for my backpack, but find only shattered glass within. The Energy, Health, and Mana potions are unusable. I cluck my tongue in annoyance. The smell of smoke grows stronger while both Lethin and I lie on the ground, unable to move. ¡°You knew.¡± ¡°Knew...what?¡± ¡°That destroying the archive would get us killed. You knew and said nothing. You agreed to service knowing you would never have to fulfill it.¡± ¡°H-hah¡­¡± ¡°Clever. I have to admire that kind of backstabbing. Unfortunately¡­¡± With a groan, I use my relatively uninjured arms to break off the few vines that actually managed to wrap around me and unsteadily push myself to my feet. ¡°I¡¯m not dying here.¡± I turn to her, and the slightly smug satisfaction she held drains away to reveal only dread. ¡°M-more elders yet remain, and I¡­ cannot continue.¡± The fire grows ever stronger, and the magics of the eternals only serves to give it more fuel when it attempts to stop the hungry flames. ¡°Quite right, we have no time to heal you, and I can¡¯t drag us both out¡­ but that won¡¯t stop me from taking you with me.¡± ¡°Wha-¡± ¡°Lethin, we have a task to complete.¡± ¡°You¡­ cannot-¡± ¡°Shh, nothing more to do now. You¡¯re¡­ mine.¡± The dregs of my Energy turn a deep orange color, Eliminating the creature known as Lethin.
[Warning! ¡®Other¡¯ concentration exceeds critical---@#^@$!@%@%$#&%#@ EFFECT IGNORED]
The sound of a million burning thoughts joins a pointless tune, and my path stretches ever onward. Energy 139: Levas ¡°Predator!¡± ¡°Ah, Kaythe, you survived.¡± ¡°Yes! Was I useful to you, Predator?¡± ¡°As usual, you were. But, Kaythe, you failed me.¡± ¡°W- what?¡± The horror he feels transmits beautifully over our mental connection. ¡°I told you to make them destroy their own books, and you merely saved my life.¡± ¡°I-¡± ¡°You failed.¡± My mental voice easily overpowers Kaythe¡¯s. ¡°Therefore, you will crawl behind me until you earn your place on my shoulders again.¡± ¡°But Predator! We were victorious! Was that not¡­ the goal?¡± ¡°I was victorious, Kaythe. Those foes were unbeatable at our current ability. You should have seen that immediately. I won by exploiting their own defences. To your credit, you did more than Lethin!¡± ¡°The¡­ creature? She is locked up¡­ I can sense her suffering¡­¡± ¡°It is pitiful, truly, but there she shall stay until she joins us forever in spirit. If only I had known of this power earlier, I would not have had such problems accumulating Energy¡­¡± A slight grin crosses my face as I look once more at the massive 222 Energy pool I now own. God knows what my Other percentage is, but neither I nor the system seem to care that much. That said¡­ it flows like tar more than a rushing river. I will my Energy around, drawing beautiful symbols of light, but it only grudgingly obeys. I snarl and focus more heavily on it, pushing the green to my numerous wounds, and it rushes to obey¡­ but the moment my attention drifts, it¡¯s back to a crawl. Infuriating. Why must I micromanage everything?! The smoke from below continues to bother my lungs as I climb, requiring a constant Energy flow to keep them working¡­ but I can¡¯t WALK while I HEAL. Not fast enough.
[Congratulations! You have destroyed a substantial amount of a Fixture the system considered permanent! You have proven yourself as a force of destruction.]
[Congratulations! You have met the requirements for the rare Trait: Destroyer¡¯s Touch! Destroyer¡¯s Touch (0/0): All wounds you inflict on living creatures will quickly fester with rot and decay.]
Ah, the system gives and gives more! I have focussed little on such things lately, choosing instead to wave away the gains as I got them, but they had stopped appearing recently. I look over my gains and quickly realize why.
[Skill levels gained! +1 Energy Manipulation (10); +2 Combat Proficiency (10); +2 Cold Resistance (5); +1 Summoner (7); +4 Natural Armor (10); +2 Adaptive Combat (5); +2 Transfuse Energy (10); +1 Imbue Energy (10); +2 Energetic Attack (8); +1 Hide (6); +2 Energy Combustion (10)]
To be expected, honestly, but¡­ I have to wonder how many skill levels I wasted while sitting at rank ten. It matters¡­ a lot, I suppose. I stunted my own growth by being blind to my potential and fearing growth. Today I took the soul of a sentient being; is that not growth? Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. I feel Kaythe pass out somewhere behind me. He¡¯s oxygen starved, as I am, but too weak and powerless to heal through it. I give a light shrug and keep walking. He will die in pain and be raised again. Perhaps next time he will not be so weak. I leave a trail of wooden spikes and splinters behind me as I push onward, along with a fair amount of blood. It is of no issue, it doesn¡¯t hurt. Nothing hurts. My Health inches upward, but my Energy still recovers so slowly. I¡­ just need some time to¡­ rest. Yes, I will clear the smoke and¡­ lie down a while. I feel a rush as Kaythe¡¯s Energy returns to me, but the reprieve is short lived. He appears again on my shoulders. ¡°Pred-¡± ¡°Crawl.¡± ¡°Y-yes¡­¡± He dutifully gets down and crawls behind me. The smoke has piled up here, at the top of the stairs, and with nowhere to go, it has entirely replaced the little oxygen the fire hasn¡¯t yet burned. My eyes tear up, and that combined with the smoke renders me completely blind. Problem after problem. Four elders lie dead and there is no celebration, no glory. I have freed them of the tyranny of their archive, and they know nothing of it. Disgraceful, but great people must persevere. Recognition is meaningless in the face of results. *Thunk*. Ah, the final door. A few quick taps reveal that yes, the stairs have ended in the same ceiling of wood we entered through. I grip my sword and- ACK- WHAT?! The pommel¡­ burned me. The fire, of course, it¡¯s too hot. I¡¯m a fool to have grabbed hot steel¡­ but then, how can I escape? Lighting a slow fire in my Energy, I throw an Empowered punch at the ceiling. Though I don¡¯t feel the same increase in stability or speed as before, the strength increase is dramatically more than before. The ceiling explodes in a shower of kindling. My right arm dangles limply by my side: shattered and useless until I put it back together. What¡­ is happening¡­ with my Energy? Later. When I can rest. I climb through the hole I created and roll to the side, gasping deeply to fill my lungs with the stale- but smoke free- air. ¡°There! A fire in the Archive! Go now!¡± Activity swarms around me, but I can¡¯t be bothered to pay attention to it. ¡°Get the healers!¡± ¡°All of them?¡± ¡°OF COURSE! GO!¡± More activity. I struggle to stand. *Crunch* The damage in my arm¡­ someone stepped on it¡­ unforgivable¡­ Finally, all my Energy gets to the shattered lump of flesh that is my forearm and it starts to slowly piece back together. So hard to¡­ focus¡­ ¡°You¡­ what are you doing here¡­¡± ¡°Lethin- *cough*¡± I get one word out before I can¡¯t stop coughing. The smoke is spreading too much, even in here. ¡°Lethin? What did she say? Ah. We must leave the smoke. Can you walk?¡± Not waiting for an answer, Thetzeke leads me away, eventually into the clear air outside. The feeling of breathing fresh air after so much smoke is¡­ very mundane. I expected¡­ it doesn¡¯t matter. ¡°Lethin said to tell you she loves you, and goodbye.¡± ¡°How do you know that name?!¡± ¡°She said¡­ she did what she needed to, and that you need to leave¡­ with me. You won¡¯t be welcome after¡­ they find out.¡± ¡°What¡­ what did you do?! Where is my mother?!¡± ¡°She¡­ we¡­ destroyed everything. Burned it all.¡± ¡°Shh! Come, quickly!¡± I¡¯m thrown bodily onto a familiar clacking carapace, and the spiderwebs in my brain finally become too numerous for me to resist. The abyss welcomes me with open arms. Energy 140: Deep Woods There¡¯s a serenity in oblivion that cannot be found elsewhere. Even in desolation, something exists, and comfort has plenty to enjoy¡­ it can give you satisfaction, happiness, and a measure of peace¡­ but nothing compares with the feeling of the void. It¡¯s cold, but I don¡¯t care. The darkness shifts around me, seemingly reacting to my newfound awareness. It flows like a liquid, but doesn¡¯t suffocate me. It¡¯s insubstantial, but ubiquitous¡­ eternal. With nothing else to cloud my thoughts, I¡¯m haunted by a question: why do I continue to fight? Not just combat, but participating in the struggle to survive. Every day that passes here, I feel the weight of responsibility weigh more and more heavily on my shoulders. Each time I succeed, the weight grows with the expectations and reliance of others, and each failure costs more than the last time. When you carry so substantial a weight, failure becomes more influential¡­ more terrible. And I feel that¡­ my weight has finally broken me. It wasn¡¯t any one thing¡­ it wasn¡¯t just Rav, or feeling guilty about not really returning Lauren¡¯s feelings, or not figuring out how Nate was abusing everyone sooner¡­ but together, they add up. A treaty with monsters? Shaky, ready to fall at any time. When it does, I¡¯ll be at fault. I¡¯ll be expected to mend the wounds. We turned away a group of survivors on my judgement. Yes, Lynn was there, and felt similarly, but I made the call. I pushed her into power. I resolved the quest. Now, even my life isn¡¯t my own. If I die, Cerberus and Kaythe come with me. If I die, the treaty falls apart, and humanity loses a great ally in exchange for a furious enemy. Then¡­ if that wasn¡¯t enough, I¡¯m one of humanity¡¯s only chances at winning this thing. Not in a ¡°I¡¯m the best, I can¡¯t lose, blah blah¡± kind of way, but because I can¡¯t honestly say humans are better fighters, tacticians, magic users, or really better anything than all these other species that likely tried the same thing we are. The ones who came closest were likely the Energy users like my mentor, but they were caught unaware¡­ eliminated before they could be a threat. I don¡¯t know why that dark administrator hasn¡¯t come down and smote me yet, but I think it¡¯s because it can¡¯t. So, I have to use that terrible power locked away within my mentor¡¯s tower¡­ and tear everything down. Would the other Energy users even know to seek that power if I died? Probably not. But, being dragged onward by responsibility is no great motivator. I resent the responsibility more than anything. It felt good to be relied on for once. It made me feel powerful. Needed. It¡¯s just¡­ the novelty wears of, and what replaces it is bitterness. I feel a sensation nagging me: softness and warmth emanating from far overhead. I know I have a choice of which way to float, and while the above promises happiness and satisfaction¡­ below promises freedom. My burden lies beside me, and to rise I must shoulder it again. I hate that burden. *Pop* ¡°It¡¯s been a while.¡± The gray mannequin stands before my on a familiar platform. ¡°Put me back. I need to choose.¡± ¡°You do, yes.¡± I wait for a moment, hoping to simply appear back in the comforting darkness, but nothing happens. I take one step toward the edge. ¡°I remember not so long ago having to convince you to jump, and now you would readily go back?¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°It¡­ hurts.¡± ¡°And you want to escape that hurt?¡± ¡°...Badly.¡± Another step. ¡°It was easier for you when you could see the path. When you know where you¡¯re going, the sense of purpose a path elicits is all one needs to walk. Now you cannot see. You do not know.¡± ¡°It comes back out.¡± Step. ¡°One does, yes. Already you have passed many crossroads, forks, and ravines. At certain junctures you chose correctly, some not. At some obstacles, you destroyed them, and others you found your own way. You are wandering in the dark, but you are far from lost.¡± Step. ¡°Will you follow the path I have set for you, or commit yourself to the darkness?¡± With a final step, I stand with my toes curled over the edge of the sheer platform. I feel strangely empty. I notice something odd on my arm and lift it, only to find that a small amount of wispy shadow bleeds off my body. Constantly. ¡°All the paths end in death¡­ except the one you planned.¡± ¡°All of them.¡± I try to move my Energy, but it doesn¡¯t care in here. It¡¯s like before the system where when it was weakened, it simply had no presence instead of being barely noticeable. Darkness bleeds off faster during my attempts. ¡°I¡­¡± But I trail off, unsure of what I want to say. I could agree so easily. What¡¯s one more step? The burden of a journey is never in a single step, but in the totality of the whole thing. I could pick up the burden again, but it will be less time till I have to set it down again¡­ and less¡­ ¡°You only get to give up once. You haven¡¯t been killed yet because the other administrator knows you¡¯ll fail.¡± A faint smile crosses my lips. ¡°You¡¯re goading me. Playing to my competitive spirit.¡± It cocks its head slightly. ¡°Perhaps. But¡­ perhaps I can offer a reprieve. Just as poor decisions will come to haunt you, good ones bring returns.¡± It waves its hand and Kaythe appears. My heart jolts, pained, but he wiggles just like before¡­ always excited to see me. He crawls over to me, wrapping around my leg once in affection, before going straight over the edge. I instinctively grab after him, but end up punching something solid instead: a path. Small, not very wide, but a path. I look back to the administrator, confused, only to see Cerberus¡­ and Lauren. Cerberus stalks towards me, baring his teeth. As he gets closer, he drops the aggression, instead giving my a long, hard look¡­ and presenting his head for me to pat. He vanishes, and the path leading away from the platform grows. ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± I look back to see Lauren give me a half smile. ¡°Sometimes a new perspective does more to help than anything else.¡± Lauren walks up, clasps my hand in hers, and walks vanishes. ¡°You¡¯re brutal.¡± I turn back, tears blurring my vision, and another face swims into view. ¡°...Lethin?¡± Her fist connects with my head, slamming me onto the newly created path and making my skull throb with pain. I hear footsteps closing in as I struggle to push myself to my feet. A knee in my back forces me back down. ¡°You may not be a monster, but you¡¯re damn close. I¡¯ll kill you in a heartbeat if you hurt my son.¡± She hisses in my ear. The steps move on ahead before also vanishing. ¡°Ok, mostly good choices. She would have been more useful alive.¡± ¡°*cough* Couldn¡¯t¡­ save her.¡± ¡°You did something, and now she can see her son again. This is likely all that kept you from losing yourself entirely.¡± Pain lances through my face and spine, and I manage only a groan in reply. ¡°Remember, you can rely on others to guide your steps. Lethin even pushed you in the right direction already.¡± ¡°Fuck¡­ y-¡± *Pop* ¡°-alive, just exhausted. Cease at once.¡± I raise my head slightly. ¡°Amadeus!¡± Slowly, my eyes rove over to where Lauren and Cerberus are actively struggling against vines, and there¡¯s no shortage of destruction around them. Many of the vines around Lauren are smoldering, while Cerberus¡¯ destructive fur steadily wears away at even the magically enhanced vines. ¡°...Hey¡­ what did I m-¡± That¡¯s all I manage before a massive wave of nausea hits me and I throw up on the ground. Energy 141: Deep Woods ¡°...Oh.¡± I shrug and smile weakly. ¡°All in a day¡¯s work, you know?¡± ¡°Are you¡­?¡± Ok? Hardly. ¡°I don¡¯t know the answer to that.¡± No, I do: I¡¯m not. The concern in Lauren¡¯s eyes hurts to see. I¡¯m not ok, but I also don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong exactly¡­ so there really isn¡¯t a point to talking about it. I¡¯m¡­ aware of all the stuff I did. It was me, after all, at the wheel¡­ just a version of me that was broken. That is broken. I can feel it inside me, complete with its cold, uncaring mindset. It was always there, lurking in the shadows, growing in power every time shit went wrong¡­ and the torture just finally pushed me over the edge. It was much easier to just not care. I can¡¯t even describe how freeing it was. ...Or how horrifying. Some part of my thoughts must have made it onto my face because both the stoic Cerberus and Lauren are staring at me, and seem to have been for some time. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You drifted off. Eyes all vacant and shit. You look like you¡¯ve seen a ghost.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ sorry.¡± ¡°Talk.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± What, tell her I killed mercilessly and enjoyed it? Tell Thetzeke I stole his mom¡¯s soul? That I¡¯m only alive because my smoke addled brains pushed me to cough out the right words before I passed out? I already told her the gist of what happened and why¡­ but I left out a lot of parts. The things that haunt me aren¡¯t those, they¡¯re what I... ¡°-can¡¯t.¡± I¡¯m too weak. My mind feels raw, like I scrubbed it with a wire brush and bleach, and I¡¯m barely holding it together. My Energy is barely working as well¡­ still flowing around like tar. I tried burning it earlier, and¡­ I didn¡¯t feel much change. My Energy barely decreased, but also it didn¡¯t speed me up or make my body stronger. I tried flicking a leaf, and my finger completely destroyed the fragile plant, sending fragments scattering at a high velocity. I tried it with a small rock, and not only did the rock make it a quarter of the way through a tree, but my fingernail exploded. I¡¯m not doing that anymore. I felt the thing in me squirm in delight when that happened, immediately offering solace in the form of the painless oblivion from before. I don¡¯t even know what ¡®it¡¯ is. Me, yeah, but it seems alive and seperate. At the same time, it¡¯s not like the ¡®other¡¯ contamination either. That felt like being attacked from the inside, with the fear being that I¡¯d lose to a foreign influence. This is similar, but without the foreign part, and instead of being attacked I¡¯m just being interfered with. It doesn¡¯t want to kill me. I don¡¯t sense hostility at all, just a desire to be in control. After that brief time at the wheel, that side of me is more real than before, and it wants to increase that. I checked inside my soul space, finding the forest still standing, but this time with one of the mega trees as well. I spent some time wandering with Kaythe¡­ feeling excessively guilty despite his repeated attempts to wave off my liability. We encountered the increasingly small and faded Salamander, and quickly killed it again. Sooner or later it would stop coming back. I found Lethin near the tree, relaxing at its base. She had little to say aside from repeating her warning, claiming she had more than enough presence to follow through if needed. I believed her. The whole time we walked, however, I felt watched. Something unseen that continually followed wherever we went. Sometimes I would hear the faintest, discordant notes on the wind¡­ but it never showed itself. Challenges did nothing. It is there, but clearly intent on hiding until I¡¯m vulnerable again.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Heaving a sigh, I try to stand for the hundredth time and finally make it up to a wobbly standing position. ¡°Alright! I think we can go-¡± Something taps me from behind and I immediately fall forward. ¡°You cannot fight. Not as you are. Stay, rest. You will heal.¡± ¡°There is no injury. He is healthy.¡± ¡°Perhaps in body.¡± Furious, I pull at the leaves and sticks around me, destroying them with my grip but also filling my hands with splinters. ¡°Fucking damnit! Work with me!¡± ¡°Cerberus is right, we can¡¯t leave until you¡¯re-¡± ¡°Not you! M-... nevermind.¡± The day passes us by, with the others obviously keeping an eye on me. It frustrates me to no end, but mostly because I know I need it. I pass the time brewing potions, taking out my frustration through creative alchemy. Thetzeke obliges my requests for reagents and returns with all manner of things to grind up and stew. Less fortunate is the fact that many of the things he brings are not plants, but instead terrifyingly large insects. A spider that used whole, does nothing, but if only the abdomen is harvested and brewed using a careful technique that lets air out but none in, creates a potion that reacts with air and rapidly solidifies to be hard as a rock. A worm that rapidly turns any liquid it¡¯s immersed in into an incredibly slippery, fire retardant goop. He returns with a gelatinous ball which he immediately tells me to avoid dropping or spilling as it will burst into flames if it contacts air or with sufficient shaking. Lauren happily takes it from me while Thetzeke kindly draws what the plant looks like and notes that it usually lives in harmony with the worm that turns water into slime. The slime keeps the plant from immolating itself while the plant retains stagnant water for the worm to survive and provides some nutrients. The plant itself looks like a massive orchid, but the petals come together to form a sort of basin with the pollen replaced instead with the heavy sacs of nitroglycerin adjacent chemical. I wonder how many fires these things start¡­ After creating a few webbing potions and one fire resistance potion, I replace the Healing, Mana, and Energy potions that were lost in the fight with the elders. Thetzeke quietly watches, occasionally making notes on a tablet. ¡°Still recording things?¡± ¡°It is a habit.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it pointless now?¡± ¡°Those that made the archive were wrong. The archive was not wrong. It will be replaced, as much as possible.¡± ¡°Your people would kill you if they found you.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You would still serve them?¡± ¡°Of course. This circumstance is only a slight departure from my prior status.¡± I frown, but make no further comment. I¡¯m fairly certain I wouldn¡¯t do the same. ¡°Do you know where to find Deepwood Moss?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Will you guide us there?¡± ¡°My mother wished for me to assist you, so I will. I would not survive alone for long. It is in my best interest.¡± ¡°Really? I mean, I welcome the help and all, but you seem to have things in hand out here.¡± ¡°The system would not tolerate it.¡± He refuses to elaborate further beyond saying ¡°Proximity to contestants prevents system phenomenon with higher frequency.¡± More cryptic bullshit to add to the list of things I fear. ¡°We will move when you are well. For now, rest.¡± I do my best to listen, but the sticky feeling of my Energy bothers me like a wound. It hurts to mess with, but I can¡¯t stop. I¡¯d gotten so used to it being entirely at my command, growing more so with every passing day¡­ to have it all disappear at once hurts more than I care to admit. I desperately want it back, but the shadow in my soul only mocks me and continues to move unseen. Energy 142: Deep Woods I wake up with a start, unsure when I actually fell asleep. I feel like it was five minutes ago, but a layer of dew has formed on my exposed skin, and my clothes are soaked. The star is already burning overhead, but that translates only to a soft light streaming through the trees. With a groan, I push myself to my feet and head over to where our packs are piled up next to a large tree in search of a water skin. Halfway through, a voice comes from overhead. ¡°You have recovered. Somewhat.¡± I blink at Thetzeke for a moment before realizing what he means. ¡°Oh¡­ yeah, guess the rest did me well.¡± I tentatively move my Energy around to see if that has also improved, but it grudgingly slides around just like before. Fuck everything. ¡°...Not well enough though.¡± ¡°It would be unwise to take another day, my people will likely rally in search of us soon-¡± ¡°I get it, I don¡¯t think rest will solve the rest anyway. We can head out whenever.¡± ¡°Very good.¡± I shrug and grab a vial of red flower concentrate, preparing to start a fire for heating food and drying off. ¡°No fire.¡± ¡°What? Why? We had one yesterday.¡± ¡°Yesterday the sky was full of smoke. Today it is clear. We would be noticed and found.¡± He looks at me, as if expecting something, but I just sigh and put the vial back. He¡¯s not wrong, but damn if this isn¡¯t shaping up to be a shitty morning. ¡°Sorry I missed my watch last night.¡± ¡°Creature¡­¡± ¡°Amadeus.¡± ¡°Amad..eus¡­ you went through the interrogator¡¯s ministrations. Such treatment usually results in disfigurement, loss of ego, mind, and ultimately death. To be walking one day later is unprecedented. We shared the watch, though the female watched over you even after her shift.¡± ¡°I know, I¡¯m special. I hear that a lot.¡± I look briefly at Lauren¡¯s serene face. A pang of guilt. ¡°An anomaly.¡± A silence falls between us, and I go back to pulling rations out of the packs. Maybe I could make some kind of diluted red flower concentrate¡­ something you could rub on food and it would heat it up without burning anything¡­ but then it would be soggy¡­ only work for soups and drink- ¡°How did she die?¡± ¡°Hmm? What?¡± ¡°My¡­ mother.¡± ¡°...Oh. She was determined to take down the archive along with the elders, and the protective magic killed her. I told you yesterday.¡± ¡°She simply died? You said before you collapsed that she wanted me to support you.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°We figured it out beforehand. She didn¡¯t tell me about the guarding magic, but we both knew we¡¯d likely die.¡± Not entirely a lie. So much easier to be convincing that way. He looks dissatisfied, but doesn¡¯t press further. Instead he sits atop his massive Cathid with a look of concentration on his face. ¡°The last thing she did was trick an elder into being killed by his own protective magic. It¡¯s what gave me the knowledge I needed to win against them.¡± ¡°Odd.¡± He wouldn¡¯t say why he thought that. We break camp shortly after Cerberus and Lauren wake up and Thetzeke guides us from overhead. In the short bursts of conversation I manage to make with him, I find out that the Deepwood Moss grows exclusively beneath the massive trees I saw on the way over. Consequently, all but one of those trees currently houses an outpost of Thetzeke¡¯s people (he calls them Ferins), and that one is not occupied because it¡¯s absurdly dangerous. For whatever reason, the system is incredibly aggressive about making sure that area remains unsafe, so new monsters will almost constantly appear to replace the old ones. Of course, the Deepwood Moss grows much more plentifully there when compared with anywhere else in the forest. Apparently the Ferin would make excursions into that place to retrieve large quantities of the moss for use in sacred rituals, but they would usually bring around thirty qualified warriors to ensure minimal casualties, and the next day the monster forces would be back at full capacity. Thetzeke had never been given the honor of attending. The last important thing, aside from the excessive danger of a system dungeon and the need to get there as stealthily as possible to ensure we don¡¯t get ambushed by angry Ferin, is that the moss loses all potency when exposed to light, and gives off hallucinogens when harvested. Something I¡¯m definitely looking forward to when I¡¯m already mentally unsound. --- According to my map, we traveled far to the East and South to get to the city of Levas, and are now travelling North and East to get to this danger tree. We make much faster progress with Thetzeke guiding us, and he gives some useful, if clinical, advice about what is and is not safe to be near in this place. On several occasions, we come across massive groves of the ¡®Hanging Vines¡¯ that are fucking endemic around here, along with large clusters of the fire plants he calls ¡®Incindias¡¯. At one point, something that looks much like an old, fallen tree blocks our path, which we immediately move to jump over, but my stomach twists weirdly and Thetzeke¡¯s staff whips down and blocks us. Without saying a word, he points the stick back the way we came, and his Cathid carefully crawls back with us confusedly in tow. When we can no longer even see the log, Thetzeke reveals that that was, in fact, a creature that was not made of wood in the slightest. A short sketch later reveals that the thing is pretty much a snake but with an excessive taste for camouflage. The creatures, called ¡®Moks¡¯, will go to great lengths to conceal themselves, including affixing decaying logs to their bodies, in order to fool prey and disguise their presence. If we had continued, as soon as the first person jumped over the log, we would have triggered its trap and been bound and slowly killed. I have my doubts that it would have succeeded normally, but with my Energy being less useful¡­ I probably would have killed myself while ripping it apart. Without Energy, the Mok would have been a difficult fight at best. That log was at least a meter in diameter, maybe more. Fuck that. The day passes rapidly, leaving us about halfway to our destination by the end. Whether it¡¯s because I slept so much yesterday, or because my body just refuses to calm down even after a day of hiking through the forest, I don¡¯t feel the slightest bit tired. My body is a little, but my mind is firing on all cylinders, and most of that energy is being used to torment me. Throughout the day, Lauren had been glancing at me¡­ a lot. I know she¡¯s probably confused about what to do, and unsure of how to help me¡­ but it¡¯s not like I have the answer either. I¡¯d tell her not to worry, but she¡¯ll just worry more, and it makes me feel worse that my shitty brain is bringing both of us down instead of just me. She offers to stay up with me for first watch, but I just smile and tell her to rest, and that I owe everyone two shifts anyway. Cerberus¡¯ gaze weighs heavily on me, and I know he¡¯s putting a lot of stock into how I handle this shit I¡¯m going through. Because why not add more pressure. When everyone has gone to sleep, I call Kaythe out to keep watch for me while I delve into the Energy space again. I should name it¡­ the Self? Too edgy. Sanctum? ¡­ I guess. It¡¯ll be the Sanctum for now. The forest stretches around me again, with the massive trees breaking up the endless canopy. Wait- trees? Yesterday there was just one, over by Lethin, but now a second one towers over the landscape. This tree looks much more like the ones I saw in the distance: shrouded in an impenetrable darkness underneath. There¡¯s the mother fucker. Energy 143: Deep Woods The tree looms overhead, shading the entire area in twilight despite the star shining down. The grating sounds of a broken melody drift down from the branches overhead, accompanied by strange notes that seem to come from a stringed instrument. The sounds don¡¯t have a sensible rhythm or progression, just like the humming, and together¡­ they make something worse than either alone. Shaded as the branches are in darkness, it¡¯s impossible to see up into them, and with my Sanctum not allowing access to skills or Energy, I can¡¯t just launch myself up there. I wince at the thought¡­ not that I could use it correctly even if I had access to it. I turn my glare up toward where the ¡®music¡¯ is coming from and look around for a way up. In my searching, my eye catches the golden bracelet on my wrist. Technically, it shouldn¡¯t work without Energy¡­ but that¡¯s not quite right. I have access to Energy, but entirely unenhanced by the system. Without that, it¡¯s back to being barely there, and my recent internal turmoil has only made it worse. I pull off the bracelet and slump against the tree, clasping the warm metal in my hands and willing it into a new shape. Something sharp, but easy to grip¡­ a pair of ice picks, tethered to each other, but also to me. As I watch closely, the metal remains exactly as it was, and in the face of my steadily mounting frustration, I close my eyes and try to relax. Thoughts plague me like sudden knives in the darkness. Memories of things I¡¯ve done and could have done better¡­ each time one rises unbidden from the sea of thoughts, my concentration is shattered. Each time, I push the thought down and earn myself only a brief respite. Memories are a hard thing to deal with. Every dumb, regrettable thing I¡¯ve ever done represents an opportunity to use the pain they instill to learn and grow. Never let it happen again, so that way there¡¯s at least some meaning to the suffering you caused. Excuses don¡¯t suppress the pain, resisting them only puts it off till later¡­ and memories only grow more powerful the more you push them away. Especially the bad ones. They slowly twist your mind like a poison. Unlike poison, we don¡¯t grow resistant to the damage, we just adapt to it¡­ and when does a hateful ichor ever change something for the better? Things we push away¡­ we give them power in our resistance. The more you push, the stronger it moves towards you, and the stronger it will be the next time. You can¡¯t kill something that¡¯s a part of you without killing yourself, so you can only hope that you outpace it¡­ But, one day, it will be stronger than you. It feeds off of you, after all. When it comes, you won¡¯t be strong enough to push it away, and it will seat itself in your mind forever. Is it not better to let it come early? When its strength is small compared with yours, and it hurts, but lacks the ability to truly harm you? I want to separate the things that happened while I was¡­ the other guy. To say ¡®that was him, not me¡¯ lets me keep my ego happy and my conscience almost satisfied. But it¡¯s wrong. I failed, and I deserve to suffer. Letting the suffering of others create a worse monster would be spitting in the face of their sacrifice. I have to own it and be better. The walls fall, and a torrent of self-recrimination and pain exult in driving their knives deep. Long hours pass, and the pain slowly fades. The thoughts float around, devoid of real power. Giving them specific attention causes small pangs, but even embracing the memory only hurts a little. With a deep breath, I open my eyes. The blades are crude and dull, and the handles sport lumps all along them, but the shape is there. I face the tree and start to climb. --- The broken music seems to taunt me directly, as though the dark thing knows I¡¯m coming and finds amusement in my struggling. Though my body has improved by leaps and bounds over the time since I¡¯ve been in this alien world, without the system and its Primary Skills, the climb is arduous. I have to stop and rest over and over, making less progress with each attempt as my muscles grow more tired. Still, I climb. My hand slips, the handle soaked with sweat, and the metal strap digs painfully into my wrist. I grit my teeth and pull myself further. I reach a point where the wood grows more dense, and my ice picks won¡¯t bite enough to hold my weight. Leaning back and surveying my surroundings, I see different colors in the wood just barely showing through the lack of light. Splotches where the wood might be soft enough for me to get a good hold¡­ but they¡¯re far apart. I make sure my left pick is as sturdy as it can be, dislodge my right, and carefully swing toward the spot. The first strike leaves a pockmark, but skitters of with most of the force being at the wrong angle. My muscles burn, and the small failure feels all the more damning when I¡¯m barely managing to move my arms anymore. Again. My left pick slips as I swing for another attempt; the hold having been loosened by the last attempt. Squelching the horror that leaps up in my chest, I slam the right pick into my target with everything I have, and fall. My arm jars painfully in the socket as my drop is abated by the ever vigilant straps, but I immediately feel warmth flowing down my arm: blood. The strap tore a chunk of skin, exposing tender flesh to the burning air. Twisting in agony, I bring my left pick to help and take a moment to rest. I haven¡¯t looked down in a while. With how strong the wind is up here, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll lose my nerve if I do. One of the lower branches reaches from the trunk nearby: the likely location of my quarry. Again. --- ¡°Ah, quite the surprise! I was betting against you, you know. Then again, I was surprised to have you take the reigns again at all! You seemed so happy in you darkness, I¡¯m surprised anything could rouse you.¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. *Crunch* The final strike bites into the top of the branch, giving me just enough leverage to haul myself up and roll on my pack, panting. My own face stares down at me, the twisted representation of the shadow that haunts me. It has the same intonation I had, the same face, the same manic gleam... it''s deeply unsettling. ¡°Nothing to say? Oh, do catch your breath. I¡¯ve been waiting this long, what trouble could a few minutes more be?¡± ¡°You hurt *huff* my friend.¡± ¡°Oh, you must forgive me, but which one was that?¡± The twisted smile on its face tells a sinister story. ¡°Come come, I know you mean Kaythe, but that you call the thing ¡®friend¡¯ amuses me! Is it not, in fact, your slave? Does it have any choice at all? Any mind of its own?¡± ¡°He knew what he was getting in to. We¡¯re a team.¡± ¡°It didn¡¯t have two brain cells to rub together. It saw you and saw food and safety, not eternal servitude. The same is true of Lauren; she was ready to kill you until your Energy convinced her otherwise. Now she follows you and doesn¡¯t even understand why! Marvelous work, really-¡± ¡°Stop. There¡¯s no point in you doing any of this. I¡¯m fully aware that a lot of the things I¡¯ve done are fucked up and unforgivable. We¡¯ll leave your rap sheet unspoken for the sake of brevity. You can¡¯t have control all the time. You¡¯re destructive to a mindless degree, and you endanger our safety with reckless abandon and little forethought when you¡¯re in charge. That, and you can¡¯t form real connections with people to save your life, as though you don¡¯t realize that those connections are all that have kept us alive. With that said, what do you want?¡± A small chuckle followed by a discordant strum on the thing that could be a lute. ¡°Maybe so. I¡¯m surprised you don¡¯t deal with me with force. Throw me from this place and delight in the distant sound as I hit the ground! But that isn¡¯t your way, is it? You would rather talk. Very well, we shall.¡± He studies me, probing with his eyes as though looking for a weakness to exploit. ¡°Ahh¡­ I won¡¯t waste our time going through the motions. You expect me to ask for control, so you stated why you would not beforehand. Regardless, I want it, and I know how you can give it to me¡­ a vessel!¡± ¡°...You want me to get you a body?¡± ¡°Or use one you already have. Kaythe would-¡± ¡°Shut the fuck up.¡± ¡°Mmm. Regardless, it must be a capable body. I will not accept som-¡± ¡°I said stop running your fucking mouth. You want me to carve you out and give you something to destroy with? No. I¡¯d rather die. This shit you¡¯re doing? Interfering with my Energy? It endangers us both, and where we¡¯re headed now, I¡¯m not going to die being tortured. There won¡¯t be time for you to slip into control, I¡¯ll just die. You can keep our Energy in this shitty, all strength state until it eventually kills us, or you can work with me. That¡¯s the deal.¡± ¡°Without enjoyment, life has no meaning. Perhaps death will bring more excitement. Off with you, we have nothing more discuss.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not done-¡± ¡°I am.¡± My body is too tired to move fast enough to stop him from kicking me over the side of the branch, and a desperate attempt to stop my fall with my pick only slides along the branch, refusing to get traction. The wind howls in my ears. I know how this ends if I stick around. I open my eyes to the cool night air. A light wind moves through the trees overhead. ¡°Kaythe, did I miss anything?¡± Instead of the usual response, a low laughter echoes across our mental connection. ¡°You know, I actually didn¡¯t need your permission at all!¡± Kaythe lunges at me, but disappears before he actually gets to me. My Energy feels¡­ normal again. No¡­ ¡°What did you do with him?! Where is Kaythe?!¡± ¡°Ah¡­ you can put me away, yes, but what if your companion is alive in here with me, and all I need to do is hunt it down again and again until nothing is left? Then what would you do?¡± Without responding, I dive back into my Sanctum, searching wildly for Kaythe. Within minutes I find him wrapped around a tree, and my heart jumps: I got to him in time. But then I see the golden metal sticking out of him, pinning him there¡­ the blood running down the trunk. He moves weakly, turning to look at me. Unthinkingly, I rush over and tear out the spike, tossing it aside and cradling him in my arms. He¡¯s been cut badly¡­ my Energy can¡¯t¡­ ¡°P...redator?¡± Then he fades. Tears stream down my face as even the blood disappears. I can¡¯t¡­ I can¡¯t let him do this. If he kills Kaythe enough, he¡¯ll either get control or Kaythe will stop coming back. That familiar laugh comes from behind me. ¡°Just a touch too slow. What a shame.¡± My sword flashes, singing as it cuts the very air between us. A light chill rolls off the blade where it¡¯s stopped right at my lookalike¡¯s neck. ¡°Tut. Unfortunately, that sword is mine as much as yours.¡± Strain as I might, the blade won¡¯t cut him. Giving me a wicked smile, he easily brushes off the blade, but hisses softly as the touch of metal tears a few pieces of skin off. ¡°Maybe not as much as you think.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t stop me. I can spend as long as is required to best you. You have an outside world to tend to. Which will you choose, I wonder? Such a fascinating game!¡± I can¡¯t kill him to stop this. I¡¯d be hurting myself too much. As much as I hate him, he is me, but I can¡¯t let him destroy me either. I need a jail. Lethin. I run off without a word, and the other yells some crude remark after me that I don¡¯t bother listening to. Get to the tree, that¡¯s all that matters. Scratches cover my skin as branches and scrub, indifferent to my plight, exact the toll for moving carelessly past them. ¡°Lethin!¡± She shoots to her feet, Kaythe cradled in her arms. ¡°Oh thank god. Lethin, I need you to keep him safe!¡± ¡°Safe?¡± ¡°From me! No, something that looks like me! He kept you in a cell, right? Where is it?!¡± ¡°You did, yes. I destroyed it.¡± ¡°It wan¡¯t- no, it doesn¡¯t matter. Build it again, and if anyone comes and tries to take Kaythe, don¡¯t kill him, but trap him in there! Or else... we¡¯re all dead.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Just do it! Even if it¡¯s me! Kaythe, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯ll fix this as soon as I can!¡± With that, I open my eyes again. The empty night, a jarring departure from the chaos inside me.
[Congratulations! Feat of Will accomplished! +2 Will.]
Energy 144: Deep Woods I want to go back to my mentor¡¯s tower¡­ I hold my head in my hands and sigh deeply. That thought has been plaguing me since I came back from my Sanctum. Go back to the tower. Sure, fine, I will, but I can¡¯t until I¡¯ve done what I came here to do. Regardless, the craving does not listen to reason, nor abate in any meaningful way. It simply is. Annoying. More than anything, I¡¯m bothered with how it keeps dragging my mind away from figuring out what to do with the thing I awakened in myself when I¡­ lost my mind a bit. It¡¯s multiple personality disorder made more real through Energy. A thing, representing a piece of me and my will, has gained sentience and wants to destroy things. Fortunately, in order to force Kaythe¡¯s consciousness into hiding within my Sanctum, the ¡°Insanity¡±, as I¡¯ve come to call it, had to give up on interfering with my Energy. I can feel the normal flow, circulating alongside my blood at a rapid clip, and jumping at the slightest hint of a command. That, and I was able to leave a slight impression in a tree trunk by punching it without breaking a bone. The balance is back¡­ but Kaythe is out of my reach. I hope Lethin takes what I said seriously. If she doesn¡¯t, and either fails to protect Kaythe or just slaughters Insanity endlessly, we die. I can¡¯t beat him by forcing Insanity to submit, as I can¡¯t be inside my Sanctum and doing what I need to in the real world at the same time. I can¡¯t get along with him because I don¡¯t trust him not to kill people for no reason. I can¡¯t destroy him because I¡¯ll die. A cage, though¡­ a cage might work. It isn¡¯t like he¡¯s useless. Somehow, that ego that puts even my normal one to shame managed to completely neutralize Lethin despite her more than doubling my Energy pool. That should have killed me, but something about his mindset prevented it. Of course, my return threw all that away and the cage couldn¡¯t hold her anymore, but it did work. That would solve a lot of problems. That, and the ability to shrug off any amount of pain. A lot happened during those later fights that would have put me in dire straits due to the unimaginable pain throwing off my focus, but with Insanity in charge, I felt nothing. My head was clear regardless of circumstances. Honestly, if I could swap him in more easily, that would be worth it¡­ but even though he¡¯s sentient, he¡¯s still just a piece of me that broke and doesn¡¯t want to heal. He¡¯s not a person, he¡¯s a personality, and while I mention the associated disorder, I know it¡¯s more complicated than that. I had to snap, completely, before I could even achieve that mindset. Hours of pointless torture and unimaginable pain. Fear gripped every piece of me when I saw those roots in my¡­ I shudder, pushing away the memory, before begrudgingly pulling it back. I came to terms with the killing, but the torture is still mostly blank. That moment, however, is crystal clear in my head. The benefits of a high Intelligence. My heartbeat quickens, my hands grow clammy, and the edge of madness starts to creep forward before I pull myself back into reality. ¡­ Maybe it would be easier than I thought. Regardless, even if it¡¯s easy to enter the mindset, pulling back out of it is much more difficult. Passing out, weakness, and weird Energy feedback are more than enough side effects for me to never want to let Insanity take the wheel, and that¡¯s discounting the horrifying shit I do when I¡¯m like that. Too many consequences for not enough reward. I kinda wish the system would step in and help me¡­ giving me modes to switch between or something, but it makes no effort. ¡°Time to sleep.¡± ¡°Cerberus? I didn¡¯t hear you get up.¡± ¡°I made no attempt to hide myself.¡± ¡°No¡­ it was probably just me getting distracted.¡± ¡°Distraction is akin to death in the wilds. You claimed you could take watch.¡± I turn away from him, looking into the half darkness that extends around us, where I can just barely make out some bushes and the odd sprouting plant among the sticks and trunks. ¡°I thought things were getting better, but they aren¡¯t. They¡¯re worse, and I don¡¯t know how to solve it. It¡¯s possible that no one has ever had to deal with something like this¡­ ever.¡± ¡°What is ¡®this¡¯?¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­¡± Fuck. I didn¡¯t mean to tell him that last part, and now he¡¯ll know if I back out. Where before, he seemed only slightly focussed on me, now he¡¯s captivated. ¡°When I talked about what happened after I was kidnapped, I left out the part where I¡­ changed. I turned into a psychopath, killing without regret or thought¡­ I wasn¡¯t bothered by pain. I treated everyone around me like tools and obstacles instead of¡­¡± I trail off, unsure what I actually treat others like. Normally I¡¯d say ¡®treat them like people¡¯, but what does that mean to an alien? Regardless, Cerberus dips his head in understanding.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°When I finally got out, that was actually what messed me up so badly: dealing with the guilt and backlash from messing with my brain so much. I thought I was getting over it, but that part of me now exists in the¡­ same place I brought you to talk to your fellow Carnines. Back when this whole thing between us started. It¡¯s there and it¡¯s breaking things.¡± I can¡¯t meet his eyes the entire time. It hurts to know he¡¯s listening instead of just dismissing me like I wish he would. It¡¯s not his problem. ¡°It bows to you.¡± ¡°...What?¡± ¡°This part of you. It respects you. You have power over it.¡± ¡°...¡± We sit there for several minutes while I contemplate. He¡¯s right, Insanity first chose to ask me for permission, but he didn¡¯t respect my decision. Not quite respect, but something close. He can¡¯t just take the reigns. He has to goad me into letting him out before he has any real power. Also, he couldn¡¯t stop me from taking control again when I wanted to, instead relying on me choosing the thoughtless abyss. Maybe he¡¯s aware of some way he could be¡­ ¡®solved¡¯. Something that would take away his sentience but leave the mask that I could put on freely. But how? ¡°Good night, Cerberus.¡± He bows his head slightly, never letting his roving eyes rest. My sleep is fitful, and I wake groggy and unsettled. We eat a morning meal in relative silence, much to the appreciation of Thetzeke who still worries we¡¯re being pursued. We move quickly, somehow avoiding any of the truly thick strands of trees like the one we pursued Thetzeke through what feels like so long ago. According to him, they are actually a single organism that stores vast quantities of material in its interior, like a set of giant cisterns. The outer trunks tend to contain defense mechanisms, like the acid we almost fell into, where the inner ones contain incredibly sweet sap and filtered water. They¡¯re considered sacred by the Ferins due to their robustness and high utility, and many of the strands of them in this forest were planted by them long ago. I have questions on the validity of that, considering how all signs indicate that this place resets every cycle, but I¡¯d rather not start shit with our guide. Whatever makes him happy. Darkness begins to fall, suddenly as usual, and we immediately stop for the night... but Thetzeke looks slightly more anxious than usual. ¡°Something bothering you?¡± ¡°No, nothing. We are near a place of extreme importance to my people. A massive lake to the north. Avoiding camping near it would be preferable, as we might run into others here.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be fine. Why is it sacred?¡± ¡°This lake has natural currents of Mana running through it. At maturity, my kind are tested in its waters. Most are rejected, few are blessed but ultimately turned away. I am one such blessed.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ interesting. What does it mean to be blessed by this lake?¡± ¡°I am forbidden to speak of it.¡± ¡°Hah, who¡¯s going to care? The people who tortured me and threw you out? You don¡¯t owe them.¡± ¡°Do you merely play at being a fool or is that the truth of what you are?¡± Where his voice usually sounds like wind through trees, this time it feel aggravated, like trees in a storm. ¡°Are you seriously defending them after what they did?¡± ¡°It was just.¡± ¡°From whose perspective?!¡± ¡°You trespassed. That is what happens.¡± ¡°Yeah? I¡¯m sure it was worth it. Seeing that damned archive going up in flames certainly wa-¡± A small green flash is all the warning I get before an empowered vine snaps out from a tree. The crack as it snaps where I was tenths of a second earlier almost takes out my left eardrum. My sword sings in the air, following a practiced motion to get into a mobile, prepared stance. ¡°Cut that shit out! Now!¡± Lauren already has her knives out and Cerberus makes it very clear through his growling and tensed body that he¡¯s prepared to take Thetzeke down. ¡°I told you how many elders I killed, yeah? They were the best of you. Really want to try your hand?¡± The last words make it out as little more than a snarl. Dimly, I¡¯m aware that I¡¯ve been antagonizing him, but he escalated it to force, and a fight would definitely help me calm down- Leave him alone. Now. Lethin¡¯s voice reverberates in my mind, shaking my vision with its intensity. I lose focus for a moment at the sudden pain, but not enough to miss another flash of green. I dodge again, and take off running in a random direction. It¡¯s too dark to see where I¡¯m going, but my sword makes quick work of anything in my path. With all the Energy I have, I don¡¯t have to slow down from a maximum burn for several minutes. Trees are chopped down, rocks are destroyed, and foliage is leapt over or eradicated. I can¡¯t see very far ahead, but I don¡¯t need to. My fury at the injustice and naivety of Thetzeke¡¯s thoughts, bitterness at how I¡¯m acting like a child, and overall stress from the past few days are too much to handle sitting still. I don¡¯t focus on where I¡¯m going, only on getting there faster than humanly possible. Which is why I trip and fall violently when my foot suddenly sinks down far further than it should and the trees I¡¯d been using to balance myself are nowhere in front of me. I come to a stop some twenty feet later, sopping wet from the strangely warm and shallow lake I stumbled into. Energy 145: Deep Woods I slowly push myself to my feet, shaking my head to dislodge the sudden grogginess I feel. It¡¯s as though I¡¯d been lying in the water for hours, but I¡¯m certain I just crashed through¡­ The rage is gone, burned out in my brief, destructive rampage. All that¡¯s left is a dull sense of tranquility¡­ which is odd, considering it should probably be guilt. Something warm and wet hits the top of my head, and I look up to see rain has started falling. Warm, soothing rain. Quite the contrast to the cold and lightning that accompanied rain in the rolling hills. Maybe it would be worth having a permanent fort here¡­ The soft plinking of water into water accompanies me while I look around. The lake itself is very clear, and I can see all the way across to the other side despite the near pitch darkness. Beyond the edges of the lake, a calm fog blankets the land¡­ even the way I just came from is almost completely obfuscated. It strikes me as odd that neither of these strange occurrences bother me in any way. In the center of the lake, deep underwater, something starts to glow. A deep blue light pervades the water, growing brighter as it nears and finally breaches the surface. A wall of water rises with it, shielding it from all sides except the one facing me. As I watch, the water around the wall seems to pull away, creating a circular waterfall flowing into a moat of air, with this strange water structure in the center. The motion stops, and I blink with a start, as if broken from a trance. I wait, curious to see if it will continue, but nothing changes. The water from the lake continues to flow into the strange void, and although the wall is open for my side, the distance across the air moat is¡­ large. I would never be able to get across submerged in water, and I have this¡­ instinctual knowledge that I don¡¯t want to fall into that air moat. I take a step forward, turning my eyes downward so I can check the depth, only to find that I¡¯m already standing in water at least five feet deep¡­ but the water only comes up to my ankles. I press down with one foot, and the layer of seemingly stronger water gives slightly, but flows back into place when I remove the pressure. My footsteps join the gentle plinking of rain on water. Unwilling to disturb the beautiful ambiance, I carefully take each step to avoid making any undue noise. The feeling of warm water on my feet, and the constant rain from above reminds me how long it¡¯s been since I got to just relax and let a downpour take away my suffering. Even my dance with the water elementals can¡¯t compare to the comfort of steaming water under a rainy night sky. Looking up, I can see the stars overhead¡­ the gleaming lights from some alien rings. I close my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath, and enjoy the sensation. Everything falls away in the face of tranquility. *Thump*...*Thump*... I release the breath I was holding in, brought back to reality by the sure beating of my heart. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. The rest of the walk to the edge of the moat passes too quickly. I wish I could linger. Peering over the edge, I see not the lake floor, but an inky darkness that sends an involuntary shiver down my spine. But¡­ it isn¡¯t the same darkness. This is rejection. Denial. There¡¯s much less to be feared. Raising my head, I note that the gap is at least ten feet wide, and although the water flows down, into the moat of air, it disappears shortly after going over the edge. The light glimmers in the center, beckoning with its alluring color. Greeting. Question. The thoughts suddenly appear in my head, though I¡¯m certain I didn¡¯t think them. Healing. Growth. Life. It¡¯s¡­ communicating with concepts. Similar to how Kaythe first talked to me, but with no aural component. I lift my hand and lightly prick my finger on a newly formed thorn on my bracelet. Holding out the wound to the light, I quickly heal it with Energy. Oddly, a soft, green light emanates from the wound as I do it. Interested, I combust some Energy, and find that my entire body glows a dull gold. I raise burn rate more, and the golden light grows in equal measure. I can¡¯t rival the deep blue, but in a small radius around me, our colors combine to be a brilliant white. I let the burn grow cool again, letting blue become the dominant color again. Joy. Healing. Ecstasy. Growth. Curiosity. Life. Ah, it agrees with my demonstrations of healing and growth, but although I can put pieces of myself into nonliving things, like my sword, I¡¯m not creating life like Thetzeke. I shake my head. Satisfaction. From the depths in front of me, stone steps rise up, sequentially falling into place to create a path across. Although I¡¯m sure I could have jumped it by burning Energy, I feel like that would have been considered cheating, and I would have automatically failed. The stone steps feel cool on my soles, and though they¡¯re covered in water, my feet grip well against them and I have no fear of falling. The water is warmer still when I reach the other side, and I¡¯m certain that isn¡¯t just because of the cool stone contrasting it. Where there was only a minor temperature gradient on the way to the edge of the moat, it suddenly jumped substantially now that I¡¯m within the walls. Healing. New. Unseen. Growth. New. Unseen. Curiosity. Companionship. ¡°You¡­ want to join me?¡± Healing. Experience. Growth. Experience. Agreement. Something inside me¡­ my Water Affinity¡­ lights up like a bonfire, pushing me forward, but I force my hand not to reach out and grasp the light like I so badly want to. I don¡¯t trust it. Instead, a compromise. I don¡¯t know what it intends to do, but if I have a torrent of Energy ready in my hand, there¡¯s little that can harm me. With my hand burgeoning with as much Energy as it can hold, I reach out and touch the light. Searing pain shoots through my hand, destroying a substantial chunk of the Energy I had there, but whatever it was failed to pass through. The light affixes to my palm when I snatch it back, still blinding in its brilliance. All around, the lake starts to fall away into the void, starting with the shore and moving rapidly in. I shake my hand, shoving more and more Energy into it to try and stop the burning, but it doesn¡¯t work. The water floor beneath me breaks, and the light falls with me into the abyss. Energy 146: Deep Woods One moment I¡¯m falling through the abyss, the next, I¡¯m standing in the dusty remains of a lakebed. The sounds of night in the forest chirp and squeak and sway around me, as though nothing had changed. An angry red scar in the center of my palm. That¡¯s what the light decayed into. Some kind of rune, obviously, but seemingly carved or burned into my skin when I touched the¡­ water spirit. It¡¯s the only way I can actually convince myself that the weird, dreamlike experience actually happened. A quick examination of my body indicates that only the one rune appeared, but I have no idea what it does. A quick look into my Energy view indicates nothing out of the ordinary in that spot. I was a little concerned that the rune would have ended up carved into my Energy as well, somehow forcing an Energy rune together using the huge collection I made available right at the contact point¡­ but no. Kaythe¡¯s silhouette still lingers around my shoulders, causing a pang of guilt to shoot through me, reminding me what my outburst was actually all about. Opting to put off further thinking until I¡¯m back in the relative safety of the camp, I start the short trek back only to bump into something where I could have sworn there was only empty space. ¡°Hey!¡± The particularly solid shadow whispers indignantly. Distracted as I was with my musings, I manage only a yelp of surprise before instinctively kicking off the ground with an Energy infused retreat. It only occurs to me that the whisper sounded very familiar and, combined with the fact that it didn¡¯t stab me, it¡¯s probably the resident rogue. Despite my rapid means of egress, I manage to land on my feet, kicking up a huge amount of dust and carving two long troughs through the lakebed in the process. After sheepishly walking back out of the resulting dust cloud to find Lauren standing there looking equal parts exasperated and angry, she responds to my attempt at a congenial smile by punching me. Hard. ¡°Ok, fine I- OW!- Ok! Enough, I get it! -OW!- Why?!¡± Not just once, either. ¡°You fucking idiot! You¡¯re always such an idiot! Don¡¯t you ¡®why¡¯ me! ¡®Why¡¯ you! You freak me out getting kidnapped, fine, that wasn¡¯t your fault, but then you come back all fucked up beyond anything I¡¯ve ever seen, and I¡¯ve seen you moments from death! There was no cocksure attitude, no confidence you¡¯d be fine, you looked like you were gone! And then, you go silent. Spending hours meditating and talking to no one¡­ fine, ok, maybe you needed to solve something, but then you went to Cerberus. After telling me everything was fine.¡± ¡°You heard-¡± ¡°Yes I fucking heard! The faintest noises make me hyper aware now, even when I¡¯m trying to sleep, so I heard every fucking word! How did it not occur to you, despite everything I told you about what happened to me, that I know what you mean?!¡± Her whispered tirade ends, leaving her breathless. I open my mouth to speak, but don¡¯t know what to say. I had still been more focussed on myself when she had started speaking, and only realized how actually furious she was when she let emotion creep into her whisper shouting. Therefore, it takes me several more seconds of digesting before I realize what she¡¯s saying. ¡°You also have a violent version of yourself vying for control.¡± Of course she does, why else ¡°-did you think I wanted your Energy-¡± so often, she needed it to- ¡°resist it! It let me push that side away!¡± Otherwise she would have let her core personality fade into obscurity, the same way my Insanity wants me to. You know, I judge others for being self centered, but despite all my ability to understand and help others, I¡¯m one of the worst offenders. ¡°Sorry- OW! Ok! No more apologies, I¡¯ll accept your-OW, Hey!- I want your help! Happy?!¡± ¡°No.¡± She gives me a withering look, but lets it fall after only a moment. Dropping her fist, she instead pushes some dirty hair out of her face. ¡°-But I¡¯ll help you anyway.¡± --- ¡°It¡¯s a part of me. That¡¯s the main issue I¡¯m dealing with; I can¡¯t just destroy a part of myself.¡± ¡°You could, but that would be dumb, even for you.¡± She meets my scowl with a small smile. ¡°No, and you¡¯re thinking about it in the wrong way. You have a set of steps you use to solve every issue: talk it out and convince the other that your way is right, then use force if you don¡¯t get your way. That won¡¯t work here.¡± I look at her, cocking one eyebrow in question. ¡°I get why violence isn¡¯t the best call here, but why wouldn¡¯t diplomacy work?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious? Diplomacy, especially the way you do it, involves knowing more than the other party. Manipulating them into believing as you do, and doing what you think is best. But somehow you¡¯ve failed to remember-¡± ¡°My opponent is me, and knows exactly what I¡¯m doing.¡± She gives me a look like she¡¯s walking a toddler through basic arithmetic. ¡°Sure, lord it over me while you can. This once, you thought of something I didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± She scoffs. ¡°Alright, cause you intuitively knew how to perform Alchemy and sneak around, never once benefitting from me. Oh grand savior Amadeus, how did I ever live without you? How did I effortlessly slaughter so many monsters without your¡­ guiding touch?¡± My temper flares, and I¡¯m sorely tempted to walk away, but I¡¯m being stupid and she¡¯s right. I beat back the temptation and forcibly relax myself, trying to let go of the stupid anger that isn¡¯t even directed at her. I¡¯ve been too busy focussing on solving problems that I haven¡¯t been thinking about them, and that¡¯s the issue. Lauren should be making fun of me. The issues with my approach are glaring in this case, but¡­ I don¡¯t know an alternative except trapping Insanity, which is a lot like ¡®repressing¡¯ it. The second I lost my nerve and let my guard down, he¡¯d be back in full force, angry and more powerful from being pushed down. ¡°What¡­ do you think I should do?¡± I say, finally, hoping she¡¯ll drop the teasing smile. She ignores my unspoken wish. ¡°Make a deal.¡± ¡°Come again?¡± ¡°It¡¯s your mind. Your rules, at least to a degree. Bind it to an agreement that suits both of your purposes.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t-... hmm.¡± It isn¡¯t a solution, but it effectively eliminates the problem anyway. Or, it could if I do it right. ¡°But a big part of deal making is like diplomacy: it requires external knowledge to get the best deal.¡± ¡°This might shock you to the core, but you¡¯ll have to make do with a fair deal.¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°My deals aren¡¯t¡­ that unfair.¡± I protest weakly, and her knowing look heavily implies she doesn¡¯t believe it for a second. ¡°From what you¡¯ve told me about your first meeting with ¡®Insanity¡¯ (I wince at how she makes it sound much more stupid than I feel it deserves), you tried to pull one over on yourself and get a perfect deal for you. How would you feel if someone did that to you? Probably angry. Remove a little self control¡­¡± ¡°And I end up being pushed off a tree. Point taken.¡± We had opted to sit and talk a bit away from camp, and though Cerberus had come by shortly after Lauren found me to check that everything was fine, we were mostly left alone. I don¡¯t exactly feel comfortable sitting in the open like this, but between the two of us, very little could get close enough to harm us undetected. Well, very little that either of us know of¡­ Still, I opt to prolong the chance to talk to her more openly just a little longer. ¡°What was it like for you?¡± ¡°Hmm? Wrangling my inner demon? ...Yeah. Not great. I guess¡­ we both knew that I had to be the one in charge, or eventually something was going to kill me. Strangely, you never really seemed to notice that I¡­ wasn¡¯t the dominant one at first.¡± She looks at me expectantly, and I¡¯m certainly confused enough to oblige. ¡°You mean you¡¯re the interloper? The fractured piece?¡± ¡°Shitty way to put it, but yeah. My mind was a mess, and I had two mindsets, two mentalities that had any real sway. I don¡¯t think there was a true¡­ uh, ¡®separation¡¯ for me like you describe. I mean, I talked to myself, but I was never under the impression that we were separate entities¡­ just two ways of looking at the world, with two goals. Nobody can hurt you if everyone¡¯s dead or too scared to get near you¡­ but nobody will hurt you if they don¡¯t want to. I don¡¯t know which view started off stronger, but I think it was the pessimistic side. S-...something happened to me, before all this, that stuck with me through the memory wipe. Something, or someone, did something horrible to me¡­ and I¡¯ll never know what or who, but that feeling of loss and pain lingered. It fed my distrust. If no one was allowed to get close, no one could hurt me like that ever again. You¡­ made me realize I also would never recover like that. For a moment, all the pain went away, and that pessimistic side was at a loss. From that perspective, people couldn¡¯t be good or bring good with them. You certainly weren¡¯t good, but for some inexplicable reason, you cared. It honestly messed me up harder. From there, it was just the task of rebuilding myself as a joint effort. Both mindsets had value, both kept us safe, but they excel in different circumstances. It¡¯s a work in progress, but I don¡¯t wake up in agony anymore and I haven¡¯t been stabbed in the back or left to die¡­ not yet, anyway.¡± She doesn¡¯t look at me throughout the entire monologue, and I¡¯m more than content to listen. Not everything she says makes total sense to me, and I¡¯m pretty sure her experience is different from mine, but there¡¯s overlap. A lot of it. ¡°What was up with that hole in your chest? The one that ate all the Energy I threw at it?¡± She eyes me carefully. ¡°I never saw it, so I didn¡¯t know it ever left.¡± ¡°The other day, I noticed it when I was healing you. Didn¡¯t really get a chance to bring it up.¡± She nods, seeming to accept that. ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure, you¡¯re the expert on this kind of stuff, but I think the main thing that¡¯s changed is that there aren¡¯t the distinct mindsets as much anymore. I feel¡­ cohesive. Whole.¡± I definitely believe that being internally divided affects Energy; it really fucked up mine when Insanity and I were clashing. Technically my Energy still is fucked up, with Kaythe as the unfortunate casualty. That being said, there are, and probably were no holes of Energy within me, so what I¡¯m experiencing is either less severe or¡­ more severe. Maybe that endless hole of Energy wasn¡¯t endless, and if I had kept feeding Energy into it¡­ the separation would have been more distinct with Lauren, like with me. Was I borderline incapacitated for all that time after getting out of the Ferin city because my body was having all the Energy I produced siphoned into giving shape to Insanity? Was I just unconscious the entire time the Energy hole was present? If so¡­ why? Why didn¡¯t Lauren get affected with weakness like I did? Why would I naturally facilitate breaking off a piece of myself and giving it an identity in the face of trauma? That seems dangerous. More likely to make the situation worse, like it did, than help. There are too many questions and very little in the way of answers, which bothers me immensely. ¡°We should head back.¡± ¡°Oh? Sure you don¡¯t want to spend another few minutes brooding in the dark?¡± ¡°Jerk.¡± I say, smiling. The small hike back to camp proves easy enough, especially with the destruction I left in my wake amounting to a relatively clear path back. Thetzeke pays no attention to me when I return, either pretending or continuing to sleep. It doesn¡¯t matter. Cerberus inclines his head slightly before returning to his vigilance. I spread the light bedroll from my pack, arrange the pack so the softest part could almost be a pillow, and fall asleep without another thought. --- Thetzeke continued to be short tempered well into the morning, which essentially amounted to me having a lot of time to think more about what to do about Insanity. Unfortunately, the immense concentration required to actually enact any of the partial ideas I manage to come up with prevents me from doing any more. I refuse to find a body for Insanity, especially one that gives me no way of reining him in¡­ but he¡¯s set on interacting with the world around me. If I could figure out a way to make the Sanctum look how I want, I could trick him- no, can¡¯t do that. Ah! It¡¯s so frustrating to suppress the urge to rip someone off. No wonder people really used to frown on haggling; with fixed prices and blameless cashiers, the customers were always ripped off and that¡¯s just the way it was. Nobody to blame. Forge a deal in person, and if you can¡¯t convince the other party that the deal was at least fair, you¡¯ve got an issue. And this ¡®other party¡¯ will know for sure. My thoughts are rudely interrupted when the ground suddenly shudders, almost knocking me over out of sheer surprise. With my Dexterity, there¡¯s little chance of actually falling if I¡¯m remotely prepared, but tremors had never happened so far. The shaking stops after only a moment, but all of us are on high alert trying to find the source. The tremor hits again, stronger this time, but despite casting around as much as I can with my enhanced senses, nothing stands out as a possible source. I check a nearby tree for safety before jumping almost halfway to the top, shimmying the rest of the way there. A quick study of the ground reveals no obvious focal point for the tremors, and no real cracking of the terrain. Poking my head out of the canopy, I start to scan the surroundings only to nearly be shaken loose from the tree when the tremors continue. ¡°Thetzeke!¡± I call out, desperately clinging to the tree top that definitely can¡¯t support my weight. ¡°What the FUCK is doing that?!¡± The words have barely left my mouth when I spot it. Not that it¡¯s hard to spot a mountain standing up. Near the southern edge of the forest, where the foliage and trees slowly transitioned to high altitude scrub and loose rock, a mountain stands on its legs. As I watch, the last of the four colossal supports hits the ground, and the shockwave is clearly visible as it travels through the trees. A shuddering wave of leaves, startled birds, and misted water roll towards us. I only just manage to call out to everyone to brace before stoically clutching my tree myself. ¡°That is the Nihilith. It has woken.¡± The ¡®Nihilith¡¯ looked only slightly remarkable as a mountain, in that it maintained verdant plantlife at a much higher altitude than the other mountains. Upon closer inspection, however, it¡¯s easy to see how the trees are actually an entirely different species from what makes up most of the rest of the forest. In fact, the trees look a lot more like evergreens, than their flat-leaf counterparts of the forest proper. What appeared to be a nearby hill was actually its head. Now that it¡¯s standing, it¡¯s easy to tell that it has a long, flowing neck leading to¡­ what looks like a giant mask. Most of its head is a dull gray, like stone, but that only serves to make the mask seem more out of place. The expression on the mask is something of a smile, but devoid of any of the more humanoid features I expect with a mask. Obviously an alien wouldn¡¯t choose human features, but it does make the entire thing a lot more unnerving. I really hope it¡¯s not bent on destruction. I want to stay the fuck away from the moving mountain, thanks. Energy 147: Deep Woods The creature, Nihilith, slowly looks around. Its ponderous movements only serve to accentuate how titanic it actually is, with every contact with the ground sending plumes of dirt and small avalanches cascading from its back. The dark holes in the mask where eyes would logically be sweep over the forest, and the mild facial expression brings to mind a satisfied god surveying its domain. I¡¯m definitely too far away for it to pick me out of the sea of trees, but when those not-eyes pass over me, it seems to linger. The edges of my vision start to blur, taking on slight rainbow hues as I stare transfixed ever deeper into its gaze. It seems so close, as though I could just reach out and¡­ All at once, searing pain lances through my hand again, I snap back to reality, and I realize I just let go with both hands to reach out towards the Nihilith. I manage only a yelp of surprise before I fall inelegantly from the top of the tree. Fortunately for my body, the ground is relatively soft in the forest and I missed a nearby patch of brambles. Unfortunately, my ego does not get off as easily. Lauren¡¯s laughter is to be expected, but even Cerberus lets out something of a stifled cough in amusement. The worst part has to be Thetzeke¡¯s obvious contempt. The ground shudders again as I try to stand, almost making me fall over again, and I find it very hard to be good natured in the face of so many things conspiring to make me look dumb. Instead of trying to explain the blatant mind altering effects I suffered just by looking at the Nihilith, or concentrating more on why the rune on my hand started hurting again to snap me out of it, I choose to stay quiet. Sullen silence doesn¡¯t look good on anyone, but I know I can¡¯t keep from snapping at whomever I speak to in this frame of mind. I¡¯d honestly not care that much if not for Thetzeke. I don¡¯t mind looking dumb, but I heavily mind him seeing me look dumb. Except¡­ he doesn¡¯t even know that I accidentally destroyed that sacred lake. I checked this morning and it was still dry. No signs of coming back. I don¡¯t know what usually happens during their ceremonies, so maybe this is normal, but I¡¯m worried. We may be at odds over the actions of his people, but for now I need his abilities. It would be nice to have someone to train me in how their magic works, and we can only even start in on that once I have my Mana restored, so it¡¯s safe to say I want him to stick around. Plus, his mom is less likely to kill me if she can obviously see he¡¯s fine. I give Lauren and Cerberus a half smile that I don¡¯t really feel, and an awkward silence falls as we continue our steady march toward the dungeon. --- As the hours crawled by, the shitty feeling faded, and casual conversation naturally started to flow. With our senses what they are, and Thetzeke knowing the forest better than anyone, we have little to fear from the various wildlife. However, Thetzeke consistently warned us that the archives indicated changes took place between cycles. Sometimes new monsters would appear, old ones would be moved away, and the general layout of the forest would change. Some things were constant, like the sacred lake and the location of their capital city, but the dungeon moved around, and the river¡¯s path changed dramatically. The Ferin made sure to keep consistent maps and marked how things changed in an attempt to learn the logic or reasoning, but most attempts at predicting future layouts and monsters ended up being wrong. That, in itself, is telling about the formation of the world. While it¡¯s possible that this race of knowledge obsessed druids was consistently missing some important variable or influence, the higher likelihood is that the creator of this world, the administrator, just hit the ¡®randomize¡¯ button every time. I¡¯m sure it made deliberate changes as well, but there¡¯s an element of unpredictability to everything that can¡¯t be ignored. Apparently the Nihilith is a somewhat new addition, which the Ferin do not entirely understand. Thetzeke had made a point to learn everything he could about the monsters and terrain for the purpose of his scouting job, but there was not much to be said about the creature. It¡¯s almost a force of nature due to its size, and it is nigh impervious to damage. It rarely showed destructive tendencies, but it was known to absolutely annihilate seemingly random sections of land. The Ferin were never on hand to witness these wanton acts of violence, but assume it has something to do with the trials. While the Nihilith has a subdued response to the denizens of this world, the contestants are only tolerated at a distance.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Of course, he cautioned us to never meet its gaze, stating that those who did tended to¡­ change. He struggled to elaborate further, claiming the Ferin were usually unable to secure and study contestants who succumbed to it, either due to their fellow contestants forbidding it or because they frequently died soon after the event. Most of their information came from the few rounds of contestants that developed peaceful trading relations with them. He did not appreciate my pointing out that had been an option for this cycle as well. Something about ¡®some information being worth the loss¡¯, which actually pushed him into talking with me more¡­ about Energy. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you everything you want to know about it, barring some really dangerous nuance, if you¡¯ll teach me your magic.¡± Thetzeke looks at me strangely, as if appraising my ability. ¡°Perhaps. However, I warn you such instruction would be useless without the blessing of the lake.¡± I itch my hand absently, suddenly very aware of the rune on my palm. Part of me wants to tell him and just play it off, but the other part worries he would ask me what my experience was, likely under the guise of gauging the potency of the blessing¡­ and I have no idea how I could downplay it. If I tell him, he¡¯s certain to know something was fishy and try to investigate or refuse to teach me entirely. If I don¡¯t he¡¯ll likely refuse to teach me. However, if he thinks it¡¯s just an information exchange, such questions would make little sense. I¡¯d be at a disadvantage without having his assistance with the practical side of things, but I¡¯m confident in my ability to bullshit my way through things. It worked with Energy. ¡°No problem, I¡¯m just curious to know. It might give me a head start for learning the more general magic.¡± ¡°General magic¡­ yes, many contestants have been noted to use magic without an obvious patron.¡± ¡°Patron?¡± Thetzeke opens his mouth and starts to respond before seemingly remembering something and shutting it again. ¡°I cannot speak more of it. That is likely too much as it is.¡± An unfortunate lull in the conversation follows as he grows pensive with a troubled look on his face, so I steer the conversation back towards Energy and start giving him a general overview of what it is and its capabilities. It¡¯s obvious that both Lauren and Cerberus are interested in the concept by the fact that their own conversation seems to die off when I start pontificating on the matter. Due to the sheer number of questions and clarifications Thetzeke asks, I¡¯m thoroughly tired of speaking by the time we stop for the day. Thetzeke seems content for now, thank god, and instead starts talking about the impending dungeon dive. In the darkness of the night, we sit and listen to him describe the possible enemies, traps, and general layout, all with the warning that anything could have changed since last time. Beetles with incredibly dense shells that spit acid and make use of the gripping feet to acquire hard to reach vantage points to rain down terror are usually abundant within the tree. The acid only affects organic material, but it he still advises us to dodge rather than risk taking a hit directly. Cerberus seems entirely uncaring about such a beast, meaning his strange fur must be adequate for defending against it¡­ or he¡¯s sure he¡¯s too fast to be hit. Personally, I wish I had a lot more metal on me. While I could protect some of my body with some paper thing Energy metal, I think I¡¯ll be better off turning it into a shield; something I get to work on during Thetzeke¡¯s briefing. Giant spiders are apparently another staple. They¡¯re not direct combatants unless they¡¯re backed into a corner, but they do have a penchant for weaving runes into webs that work as insidious traps for those that fall in them. While my time in dungeons has trained me to be quite good at picking out such traps, it¡¯s still worrying. Acid rain from above, and the very ground beneath us is likely to be trapped to shit. Finally, there are the Nihila. The similarity between their name and the Nihilith¡¯s name is no coincidence. Those that gaze into the face of the beast and suffer whatever ¡®loss¡¯ Thetzeke described ultimately make there way to this dungeon and join in its defence. They never speak or communicate in any way after that point, instead mindlessly defending their posts. The denizens of the dungeon seem to intuit their condition and aid them as they would their fellow creatures. ¡­ I really dodged a bullet, apparently. I make a mental note to be highly appreciative toward the water spirit that branded me if/when it ever shows itself again. Energy 148: Deep Woods The tree looms overhead, covering our approach. Though it¡¯s technically the same species as the one the Ferin inhabited, that one seemed much more¡­ benign. Staring up into the dark branches above fills me with a deep sense of dread. Maybe it isn¡¯t worth going in here. We aren¡¯t prepared. We need magic items, quality armor, and enough potions to drown ourselves! We need- Sensing my mounting anxiety, I feel a hand land comfortingly on my shoulder and turn to see Lauren giving me a small smile. I notice the hand become a fist just in time for her to punch my arm, and she faces my subsequent glare with a much less innocent grin. ¡°Don¡¯t go pissing yourself here, it¡¯ll be fine. Didn¡¯t you just take on an entire village by yourself?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ I guess it¡¯s just nerves. At least with them I had some idea of what I was up against, and had the element of surprise. It felt different.¡± And I was very insane, but that¡¯s only half the point. A more truthful answer would be that I finally found a level of pain that made me really afraid; a level of mutilation that couldn¡¯t be magiced away with Energy. A large part of my fearlessness against the Carnines and Wights was their almost unilateral inability to put me down for good. Virtually any hit could be healed, as long as I kept my head relatively safe, and even that would just be a sudden death. No suffering involved. The Ferin did me a bit of a favor, teaching me to fear again. ¡°The truth is, we don¡¯t know the enemy we¡¯re up against. Thetzeke made no mention of how smart they are, but we can assume they have some basic sense about combat if they have the spiders laying traps.¡± ¡°We should be wary of them now. Though they guard the tree interior more than the area underneath the tree, we must be wary.¡± ¡°Great. Anyway, we have no idea how organized they¡¯ll be, and that¡¯s going to be made all the worse by the¡­ you said the moss releases hallucinogens?! We¡¯re fucked if we don¡¯t plan this out.¡± ¡°Avoiding the effects of the moss is simple. You merely must avoid breathing during the harvesting and wrap it tightly for transport.¡± ¡°I¡¯m using a glass vial. There¡¯s no way in hell I¡¯m getting accidentally high and wandering this murder-forest.¡± ¡°You will need a great many vials. Potions made using Deepwood Moss require far more of the ingredient than one would expect. The structure of the moss is mostly Mana, which it gets from the Dungeon it lives near.¡± ¡°I thought you said this grew other places than here.¡± I look pointedly at him. ¡°I spoke truly. The ambient Mana concentration is sometimes high enough that the moss can grow anywhere it is sufficiently dark, but such places are rare and fleeting. Here, there is always moss.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± I rub my chin, thinking. ¡°But R- I mean, one of our mages never mentioned the last dungeon we found had ambient Mana. I think he would have noticed something that obvious.¡± Thetzeke blinks several times at me, as though that was somehow an inane question. Before I can say something unsavory about his clearly malfunctioning brain, he explains. ¡°While beasts that make use of magic, as well as those sentient species that use magic at birth, can instinctively sense and use ambient Mana, it is otherwise a learned skill. Do humans know how to use magic at birth?¡± ¡°Ah, no.¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Thus is your answer.¡± The guy might be a walking encyclopedia for all the bullshit of this world, but damn if he doesn¡¯t try my patience with every sentence. ¡°Do you know how to interact with it?¡± ¡°No. Though some of my kind saw fit to learn of such things, I deemed it useless due to its fairly situational nature.¡± ¡°Using the Mana, sure, but what about sensing it? You would be able to find dungeons like this easily, even if they were hidden.¡± ¡°Dungeons in this world are generally not hidden. They are large, obvious points of interest designed to provoke curiosity and greed in the contestants.¡± A small smile crosses my face as I realize they never managed to find the Barrows because of exactly that kind of thinking. It¡¯s a wonder they were so interested in Energy despite clearly lacking much of the patience required for it. The bigger issue is that Thetzeke can¡¯t teach me how to do anything with ambient Mana, and I need to learn to both perceive it and use it. I haven¡¯t forgotten Syndarus¡¯ offer to teach me in the event I can convince her newly reformed self to not kill me on the spot, and being able to train in a dungeon, full of ambient Mana, would spark monumental growth in my magic abilities if I could use it correctly. Not having to worry about drinking potions all the time, or resting to recover it, would mean I could virtually never stop casting! Of course, those lofty hopes fall away quickly in the face of reality. I have no readily available teachers. Unless¡­ Lethin knows? Fuck, that reminds me. It¡¯s unlikely she¡¯ll even tolerate my presence, let alone teach me until I do something about Insanity. I haven¡¯t felt anything happen within my Sanctum in the past days, but I¡¯m certain that asshole is just biding his time. I would rather not go into this upcoming battle with him free to mess with my Energy, but I don¡¯t have much of a choice. I need to make some kind of deal with him, but it has to be very well thought out, and a forest full of monsters isn¡¯t the best place for that. We can¡¯t leave until we get the moss, otherwise the trip would be wasted and Lauren and Cerberus would probably stab and maul me respectively for being an idiot. The takeaway? I get to tough it out and pray to an uncaring god that nothing goes too horribly. --- From my place on the mossy ground, I¡¯ve watched the tree, and the area we¡¯ll be harvesting, for probably an hour. The dungeon must be doing something with the light in its vicinity, because despite the fact that I can see the star shining on tree nearby, almost none of that light gets reflected in here. Making out detail is difficult, but immensely important given Thetzeke underestimated how many of those spider traps there were going to be. Initially, Cerberus and Lauren were keen on just running in, grabbing the moss, and fighting our way out. Thetzeke seemed content to let this happen, and only my repeated insistence that I at least scout the area first kept the lot of them from doing just that. Once I brought them to the relatively safe lookout I¡¯d found and actually pointed out all the possible ambush points and the much more definite spider traps, the excitement for combat bled away. Also, given that the entire ground is covered in moss, having Thetzeke actually point out what we¡¯re trying to harvest seems only logical. Exclusively to me, apparently, as my hellhound, rogue, and alien druid are all confident I¡¯m complicating things too much. Cerberus and Lauren I expect this from, but Thetzeke shouldn¡¯t be this dumb. It¡¯s as though he just doesn¡¯t understand how shitty a situation can get when a team isn¡¯t on the same page, especially in a low light combat situation. I mean, his job was to work alone (technically he has the giant Cathid mount as well, but they have clearly trained substantially together so I don¡¯t count it) and scout, meaning he probably rarely, if ever, worked as part of a team. It¡¯s annoying that he¡¯s clearly so smart, but such an idiot when it comes to being aware of where he¡¯s lacking. My attempts at delicately explaining this to him in a hushed whisper are met with utter dismissal, which he voices at a normal speaking level. He then responds to my hurried gestures to shut up and be quiet by insisting that we¡¯re far enough away, and there¡¯s nothing around to hear us anyway. A gust of wind from overhead and a pained grunt from Thetzeke interrupt my attempts at verifying his claim, followed a moment later by a glob of something impacting the ground that Thetzeke just vacated thanks to Cerberus quick thinking. Unfortunately, that first shot served only to herald the coming monsoon of airborne acid ¡°More, incoming!¡± Three of us move forward as one, with a fourth hurriedly running back to retrieve his forgotten mount. Energy 149: Deep Woods Though taken our hand was forced early, we all know generally what to do. The white color of the Deepwood Moss sticks out easily, even in the low light conditions, and I quickly make my way there. Acid rains down around me, littering the impromptu battlefield with blistering pockets of destruction and making navigation even more difficult with the already crippling area denial from the spider traps. The relative inaccuracy of any given shot from the beetles is entirely compensated for by sheer volume of output. A quick glance at the tree reveals that a veritable legion of the things are crawling around, taking a shot before adjusting and shooting again. Even with my greatly boosted Intelligence, it¡¯s nearly impossible to track all the projectiles and navigate them. Fortunately, I have Energy to give me boosts of speed to avoid seemingly lethal situations. Cerberus doesn¡¯t even bother, instead charging directly towards our goal without any regard for the acid that seems to slide right off his fur. Lauren¡¯s diminished presence influences the monsters to target the rest of us more than her, so she makes it to the patch of moss first and starts cutting into it. Making a mental note to avoid breathing when I get near, I use my shield to smash through an impassable torrent of acid. The bulk of it gets deflected harmlessly to the ground, but the force from being redirected also splatters a fine mist of the stuff onto my arm. Immediately, my arm lights up with a thousand pinpricks of pain, but as my mind sinks ever deeper into familiar River¡¯s Flow battle trance I quickly put the distraction out of my mind in favor of continued survival. Time begins to blur, passing slightly slower every second as any color left in the world bleeds out to leave only shades of gray. I move with perfectly timed motions and immaculate balance, navigating without stutter and without wasting a single step. My Energy comes into better focus, allowing me finer control over how much I use and making my sudden bursts of speed just as efficient as my unaugmented movements. A line of spider traps lies in front of me, with my approach coinciding with another onslaught of raining acid, but I¡¯m supremely confident I can clear it. The pre-battle fear and apprehension I felt melted away the moment River¡¯s Flow activated, and although I know it¡¯s a crutch, I don¡¯t care about relying on it in a situation as dangerous as this. With one last powerful step, I ignite the ideal amount of Energy to jump the traps and launch into the air¡­ without nearly enough strength. It was like I tried to start a lighter, but instead of a flame, only a handful of sparks came to my aid. I don¡¯t understand. My mind falters in confusion, and time starts to accelerate forward again, effectively preventing any chance that I can recover. A second ticks by, entirely wasted, while I realize that my Energy wasn¡¯t even close to empty, and it was nothing I did that caused the ignition to fail, it was the same thing that gave my that unprecedented control over my Energy. Moron! I know I always have less control of my Energy when I use River¡¯s Flow! Why didn¡¯t I think it was strange for that to just flip?! As if in confirmation, the familiar, mirthless laughter that can only belong to Insanity echoes through my mind. I forcibly banish the distractions from my mind. The web I¡¯m headed right for, that I have less than a second to avoid, has a strange rune on it that I don¡¯t recognize¡­ and that¡¯s the last thought I have before touching the web and exploding into light. I lose control of my body too fast to scream in pain from being brutally blinded. Pain lances through my body, but in my blindness and general sensory overload, I can¡¯t make out what is happening. I seize uncontrollably, continued bright flashes keeping my vision from recovering to any degree. Something clamps down on me and wrenches me rapidly away from where I was, a threat which I immediately mobilize my Energy to attack only to stop at the last second when I realize I already have an Energy connection with this creature. Moments after Cerberus clamps down on my incapacitated body, the spasms come to an abrupt end. I blink rapidly, whipping my Energy into a torrent of healing, accelerating my recovery as much as possible. My eyes come back, the pinpricks of acid burns vanish, and the immense nerve damage only takes a little longer to erase. ¡°I¡¯m good!¡± I shout to him, trying to be heard over the din of other runes being activated and the deceptively loud splattering of acid. It¡¯s only by a hair that I react fast enough to land somewhat well when he simply opens his mouth and lets me tumble out. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Having realized we had just arrived at the moss patch anyway, I roll to my feet and grab the satchel full of vials I brought for this purpose. Despite my attempts at using leaves to cushion them, many of the vials were broken over the course of my journey. I hurriedly find and grab three intact vials, but the moment of being stationary allows the rapidly tiring beetles a perfect shot. I look up in time to see a blanket of acid hurtling towards me, and I know instantly there¡¯s no escape. I will the shield on my arm to expand as much as possible, but there¡¯s no time, and it was already almost as large as I could get it. My body tenses as I bring the shield up to block what I know won¡¯t be enough. Thankfully, I see Lauren was only on the edge and is in the process of dodging out of the affected area. Thetzeke still hasn¡¯t made it here, and Cerberus is¡­ glowing? A sound like a ghastly howl emanates from my Carnine companion before the air itself shatters under the strain of a colossal bolt of lightning which erupts from his mouth. The bolt impacts the center of the wall of acid, instantly vaporizing almost all of it. A distant explosion echoes around the space, with the ultimate impact site being wreathed in blue and orange light. Cerberus breathes heavily, large amounts of blood dripping down from his mouth. He turns to me, snapping me out of my stupor. ¡°Go!¡± I fly into action, harvesting a ton of the moss and filling all the bottles as well as my satchel for good measure. The hallucinogen be damned, if it hasn¡¯t affected me yet, I¡¯ll live with the consequences later. Thetzeke arrives, easily catching the twin packs Lauren and I throw to him before taking off back to the relative safety at the edge of this mossy clearing. The defenders, having thoroughly exhausted their ranged offense, emerge to drive us off in close combat. Shadows in flowing cloaks of dead plant matter ride atop beetles and spiders alike, seeming to guide the insectoid charge towards us. The three of us spare no time in deciding there¡¯s no way we¡¯re taking down hundreds of these things and attempt to retreat as fast as possible. Lauren rapidly leaves Cerberus and me behind using her exceptional speed and acrobatics, but a quick survey of the enemy indicates we should still make it to the forest without much issue. The denizens of the dungeon are unlikely to chase much further than that¡­ I hope. Just as it looks like this fuckshow might turn out alright, Cerberus runs out of steam. Whether it was from saving me, shrugging off all that acid, or that blast of lightning that was far more powerful than anything I¡¯ve seen from him before, he suddenly slows to little more than a walk. I slam my foot into the ground, digging a furrow in the mundane moss to pivot and run back to him.¡±Leave me! Go!¡± But his words only drive me harder to reach him. When Cerberus lets pain into his voice, that¡¯s a time to be afraid, and I refuse to let him die for something like this. He releases a ragged growl when I don¡¯t answer, coming to a stop and turning to face the thunderous tide of foes. ¡°There are¡­ worse ways I have died.¡± He starts to glow again, clearly intent on going out in a storm of lightning and destruction¡­ a desire which will have to go unfulfilled. ¡°You think you¡¯re getting out of our deal by dying?! Hell no! You owe it to me to tear all this down, and that doesn¡¯t mean dying here!¡± He ignores me up until the moment I land on his back and the mounting glow of another lightning charge sputters and dies. ¡°Run! I¡¯ll keep them off you!¡± A moment''s hesitation is all he gives before turning his back on the enemy. They¡¯re almost on top of us, ready to overrun our pathetically slow retreat in a few seconds at most. I have no illusions about trying to fight them. It would be heroic, daring, and arguably dashing, but we would both die. The key difference between heroics and foolish confidence comes from whether you live to tell about it. I just needed to make sure Cerberus was headed in the right direction for what comes next¡­ I can only hope the heinous god that watches over me enjoys my suffering too much to let it end with death. Saying a quiet prayer to the sick bastard, I slam my hand into Cerberus¡¯ back, igniting Energy as I force it into him. The effect is instantaneous. My Energy pool diminishes immediately to half, stabilizing at losing around a tenth per second, and Cerberus almost kills us both by tripping when he suddenly launches forward. Fortunately, he¡¯s not the leader of the Carnines for nothing and quickly adapts to his newfound strength and speed. We streak across the remainder of the clearing, leaving the enemy army in the dust. Euphoria suffuses my mind as I realize we¡¯re actually going to make it, which only stops when my vision starts to fade around the edges and I realize my Energy bar is empty. My grip around Cerberus¡¯ neck slips and I can¡¯t stop myself from sliding off his back. In a tangle of limbs and pain, I impact the ground several times due to the sheer momentum I was carrying before coming to a hard stop against a tree. My body starts to scream in protest, but it¡¯s too late. The Energy deprivation is already overpowering all else in terms of sheer agony.