“WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!”
Marcus slowly came back into consciousness to the sound of a feminine voice telling him to wake up and the sound of Peyton the Corgi barking. Attempting to sit up proved impossible and Marcus did his best to gather his thoughts while lying on the snow covered ground. He was no longer in pain, that was good.
The booming footsteps were now really close, probably too close to escape, that was not good. There was clearly someone else alive in town so that was good. Their constant shouts of wake up were not so good.
Finally feeling safe to do so, Marcus sat up and looked around. He immediately discovered two problems, there was no one there but the dog and the shouts of wake up were coming from the dog. Marcus let out a long groan, “Why can I understand the dog?” He asked of no one in particular.
Turns out someone had an answer as directly in front of him a display window appeared in his vision. “Oh, fuck me.”
CANINE AFFINITY
PASSIVE ABILITY
RANGER CLASS
“Due to your love of animals, especially canines, you can now understand and communicate with all species of canine. You also have enhanced olfactory and auditory senses. This is Tier 1, at higher Tiers your senses will improve drastically and you will be able to communicate with canines over longer distances.”
‘’You have got to be kidding me, a video game world… I want to go home now.”
“It’s coming!” The very feminine dog’s voice didn’t give him a minute to process.
“What is?” He asked the dog, “can’t believe I’m talking to a dog.”
“That!”
Marcus turned around to see a goddamn Ent coming down the street towards. Okay, it wasn’t exactly an Ent, it was a walking tree but it was not a plodding government official but rather a rampaging willow or an oak. Marcus wasn’t good with trees, he could tell birch, evergreen, and willows but that was about it.
“What the hell is that!”
Forest Elemental: The heart of the forest given physical form. They are strong, with tough bark, and bleed a concentrated plant energy. They are weak against fire and edged weapons.
“That is going to get annoying.” Marcus looked around at the corpses of people probably way better than him at this who had numbers and better gear. He had a sword machete and a Corgi.
Marcus pulled the painted sword from its sheath looking from the sword to the Elemental, the sword measuring roughly two feet long while the pissed off tree was just shy of two stories tall. Marcus looked over his sword, black handle, yellow and black swirl pattern, and the red painted runes. “I don’t suppose you’re magical in this universe?”
You can enchant Katana Machete with Enchant Weapon ability. Would you like to enchant Katana Machete?I
“Enchant weapon?”
ENCHANT WEAPON
SPELL
ARTIFICER CLASS
“Your affinity for modifying and customizing weapons has given you the enchant weapon spell. Cast Enchant Weapon on any weapon you are holding to permanently give the weapon a random magical attribute. Once a weapon has been enchanted it cannot be reenchanted or have its enchantment removed.”
“What are you doing!” Apparently reading these prompts was not a pause function.
“Enchant Weapon!”
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You have enchanted Katana Machete. Katana Machete has been imbued with Biting Edge. Biting Edge has enhanced the blade’s edge and wounds made by this weapon will take longer to heal without magical assistance.
Marcus turned the sword over in his hand, the edge taking on a sinister gleam. It was at this moment a tree hand the size of a car door slammed in Marcus, launching him into a nearby snowbank. Turns out being hit by a tree hard enough the throw you across a yard is surprisingly painful.
“That really fucking hurts.” Marcus groaned as he struggled to extricate himself from the snow.
Nothing felt broken but he was definitely going to be bruised in the morning. Thankfully, he had managed to keep a hold on his sword. Unfortunately, the Elemental was closing the distance quickly.
Marcus had no formal fight training, and even if he did, he doubted it would cover fighting giant, angry trees. He was looking over at his Jeep when suddenly inspiration hit like an AT-AT, this was immediately followed by the roided up tree hitting him like a Star Destroyer once again knocking him across the street.
Marcus was pretty sure he now had at least one cracked rib and his bell had definitely been rung. He would swear the dog was talking, then he remembered the dog really was talking.
“Peyton!”
“What?”
“Distract the tree!”
“How!”
“Bite him!”
“Why?”
“I have a plan, just keep it busy!”
“We’re both gonna die.”
“Probably, but do it anyway!”
“Fine!” And with that Marcus started running for the Jeep and Peyton the Corgi charged for the ankle of a two story tree god.
It turned out the little dog was both surprisingly fast and incredibly loud, crossing the distance to the gigantic bark covered ankle in the blink of an eye. Once there the now decidedly female dog began chewing on the tree monster's ankle and running around the thing in circles.
While the dog had Treenuts distracted Marcus dashed for the front of his Jeep, ribs screaming at him with every step. “This would be way easier if my ribs weren’t killing me.” Marcus wheezed.
Spell available:
HEAL MINOR WOUNDS
SPELL
RANGER CLASS
“Convert an amount of magical energy into healing energy, mana cost and healing are based on your level of injury and available mana.”
“I have Mana?”
In answer to the question a counter appeared in the top right on Marcus’ vision.
MANA 13/20
“Heal minor wounds.”
Instantly Marcus’ ribs began to feel better, his Mana counter dropping ten points. Without waiting another second Marcus unlocked the winch clutch and grabbed the hook. Peyton was still running rings around the Forest Elemental, so Marcus straight out from the Jeep and past the dog and tree battle.
“Peyton, get out of there!”
Without answering the dog took off running again and Marcus did the exact same thing, winch hook still in hand, he began running rings around the angry aspen. He managed to dodge several swung branches and after the third loop he clipped the hook onto the steel cable and started running for the Jeep.
Realizing it had been wrapped up the incredible tree was just reaching down to find out what was securing it as Marcus reached the Jeep. He locked the clutch on the winch as he passed and threw himself into the driver’s seat. With the push of a button the Jeep purred to life, and without missing a beat Marcus threw the truck into reverse.
As the Jeep’s off road tires threw snow up over the side and the engine growled the steel winch cable snapped tight. With an audible crack the cable cinched tight around a pair of woody legs, and promptly pulled them towards the Jeep. The tree made a very loud noise as it fell.
Felled like a tree the Forest Elemental hit the ground in an explosion of snow and noise, momentarily covering the street in a miniature white out. Not wanting to give the creature time to recover Marcus leapt from the Jeep, sword back in hand and charged towards the turtled tree. He slashed at a leafy arm, losing all momentum as the sword cleaved through the Elemental like a mall katana through a milk jug.
This proved to be a good thing as a fountain of forest energy poured from the severed limb, spreading greenery and the smell of springtime over the snow covered street. As the creature thrashed in pain Marcus did the only thing he could think of, he leapt onto the wooden chest and drove his sword directly into the center of it.
This proved to be both the correct and worst thing he could have done. As the creature died, several things happened all at once. For starters the creature immediately began to rot, along with everything that had sprouted from his blood. This had the simultaneous effect of covering Marcus’ boots which were sitting in rotting plant matter and producing a horrifically bad smell. Marcus immediately started gagging, discovering the wonders of his now enhanced olfactory senses.
He was attempting to flee the rotting wood carcass when he found himself blinded by several info screens. This proved to be his undoing as he tripped over a curb he couldn't see and went sprawling headlong into a front yard. He was annoyed to discover even with his eyes closed, laying face first in a snowbank he could still see the info windows. He sighed and started looking them over.