Excerpt from Spell Proficiency Across Hollowcrest, scholarly study

The majority of people across Hollowcrest never reach above Tier 2 spells. While the different education systems in the city have the ability to teach students to move above Tier 2, only a few of the students ever manage this. And only a small portion of people are eligible for education.

However it is worth remembering that someone able to cast above a Tier 2 spell is not always more powerful than someone with high reserves of an essence. This is why people often focus on improving their essence capacity and not always just on essence control.

Monsters are also capable of casting spells and these are generally between Tier 1-3. Their general capacity is higher than the civililsed races and this means that they are potentially very powerful and dangerous. Combined with physical attributes, this is why some types of monsters are considered only to be hunted by the very elite of the Monster Hunters guild.

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“We need to move!” Silt cried, staring at the figure. She threw a lightning javelin at the creature, not hanging around to see what happened.

“What is it?” Drak asked, peering around the corner.

A hail of small, sharp projectiles came flying towards Drak, making him rapidly push himself back around the corner. They impacted the wall, gouging out small sections with the speed them were moving at.

“I don’t know but I don’t think we should hang around to find out,” Silt replied. She stood and moved quickly to where Drak and Ell were sheltering.

Jake glanced at the figure then at the Prismatic Beetle. He reached around the shell and snapped off one of the spikes, shoving it into one of his pockets. Then he headed around the corner to where the other three were already moving down the tunnel.

Behind them, the strange cracking noises started up again, indicating the creature was following them.

Silt glanced around and headed to their left. She wasn’t running but there was definitely more speed in her step.

Jake glanced back and was shocked to see that the creature seemed to be closer than he had expected. Whatever it is, it had a good turn of speed and seemed to be intent on catching up with them.

“Get a move on,” Jake said urgently. “This thing is catching up with us.”

Silt took another turn when the tunnel reached a fork. Jake took out the final vial of wyvern blood and threw the content into the tunnel behind them, not stopping to see if slowed the creature down.

The creature didn’t seem to stop. But at the same moment, another roar came from the opposite fork of the tunnel. “Not that way,” Silt said, making an abrupt turn to the other fork.

“My turn,” Drak said, raising his hand and grasped the light from the portion of the tunnel they were in. A ball of light appeared in his hand, creating a wall of darkness.

“Will that stop them?” Ell asked.

“I hope so,” Drak replied.

It didn’t stop the creature but it did seem to get pause and by the sounds, one creature had encountered the other one. They didn’t waste time hanging around to find out.

Ahead of them, Silt made a turn then another. “There’s an access ladder here,” she said. “But it goes down.”

“There’s another level down below us?” Ell asked.

Silt shrugged. “No time to overthink it.”

“Go down,” Jake decided. “This thing is still coming.”

They headed down the ladder, Silt taking the lead then Drak, Ell and Jake at the rear. At the bottom of the ladder, they were in another tunnel similar to the one they’d just left.

They continued to walk for a short distance when they realised that, ahead of them, the light levels seemed brighter but with an eerie blue glow.

The four continued along the tunnel until they reached the area. Jake was shocked to see the tunnel opened to a much larger cavern that was filled with strange mushroom-like plants. They had a dull blue glow that lit the cavern to a surprising level. In the centre of the room was a pillar that was covered with a light yellow-brown ivy plant which had grown to massive size and reached all the way to the ceiling. The room felt like an essence-rich area.

“A node room,” Silt said, glancing around. “Heard about these but I haven’t seen one before. Don’t touch anything!”

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They continued to walk on the path that could just be made out among the rocks and uneven ground of the node room. They found they were getting closer to the central pillar and the mushrooms were getting larger.

Jake moved closer to one of the mushrooms which was about knee high. Some were almost as tall as Drak while others were tiny. A few closest to the pillar were easily four times the size of a man. He crouched down to inspect one of the smaller ones.

“Be careful,” Silt warned.

“I think I know what they are,” Jake replied.

“Dangerous like everything else down here,” Silt replied. “Just assume everything will kill you in the tunnels.”

“These are hookah mushrooms,” Jake replied. “They are used for lots of different potions. I could really do with taking a supply while we are here.”

“I need a break,” Ell said sitting down on a smooth rock.

Silt stopped for a moment, looking tired herself. “Okay we’ll take a moment. It’s light here that nothing’s going to creep up on us. Well, it shouldn’t.”

Jake reached out to pull out one of the mushroom.

“Jake!” Silt snapped. “Leave it alone.”

He stared at her. “It’s just a mushroom.”

“Not down here it isn’t,” she replied. “I’m not joking.”

“I really need these for my potions,” Jake replied. He was still sore after losing the Prismastic Beetle and now there was a chance he wouldn’t get any of the mushrooms either.

“Then there’s going to something else around here that is dangerous. Trust me,” she said. She sat down on the stone beside Ell, rubbing her eyes. The heavy essence use from earlier was still sapping her clearly.

Drak made his way through the mushrooms and looked at the ivy. He reached out one finger to touch one of the leaves and there was a sudden movement. He found himself gazing at a bright orange glowing eye that was looking straight at him at his eye level.

“Jake?” Drak called. “Want to come here a minute?”

Jake was still trying to see the best way to harvest the mushroom while keeping it intact. He glanced at Drak, frowning. “What’s up?”

“Come here,” Drak replied, a little more forcefully.

Jake looked up to see what was wrong with Drak when a series of eyes began to open all the way up the plant, all looking at Jake apart from the first eye which remained on Drak.

“Spying ivy,” Jake said quietly, looking up the length of the plant. “I didn’t realise they grew this big.”

“Are they dangerous?” Drak asked, gently moving his hand away from the plant leaf and the glowing eye.

“Isn’t everything?” Silt said from the path behind them. She was still watching the path towards the tunnel they had entered through in case the creature followed them.

“They can be and at the size of this one, I think it is better to be pretty cautious and move away from it slowly,” Jake said. “They are usually used for pest control. But the size of this thing, we could be the pests.” He slowly stood up, moving his hand away from the mushroom.

Drak backed off from the ivy, the various eyes following his progress. Drak’s heel caught one of the mushrooms and it made a slight craking sound. Abruptly another load of eyes opened and all of them focused on Drak.

“Be careful,” Ell said. “I really don’t think it likes the idea of anything interfering with those mushrooms.”

“I guessed that,” Drak replied.

Jake also stood up, facing the reality that he might not get some of the mushrooms after all. The two of them made it back to the path that ran through the middle of the node room with Drak giving a sigh of relief. The eyes on the spying ivy continued to watch them for a moment then all closed at the same moment.

“There’s movement in the tunnel,” Silt said, joining them and giving Ell a gentle push towards the other side of the cavern. “We need to keep moving.”

Jake gave the mushrooms a longing look. “I’d love to harvest some of these,” he said.

“And that’s why I told you to leave them!” Silt said, jumping up. “There’s nothing down here that’s simple and easy. The mushrooms might not harm you but that ivy sure will.”

Jake held up his hands. “Okay, I get it. No mushrooms.”

The four of them continued to walk along the path, only as quick as the uneven ground would let them. After another five minutes, they reached the far side of the cavern. From behind them, the crackling noise of the first creature could be heard.

Jake backtracked a few steps and couldn’t make out anything clearly but there seemed to be a new red glow from the creature. So it had red eyes, he thought to himself. Doesn’t really help us know what it is.

“Back into the tunnels,” Silt said, gesturing in the direction of the cavern entrance. Ell and Drak moved towards it and Jake joined Silt.

“I have an idea to slow this thing down a bit,” he said and quickly reached out to grab a couple of small ones. “Let’s see if what I know about spying ivy is right.”

Silt glared at him. “And what do you think you know?”

Jake slid the mushrooms into his pouch. “Let’s just get moving first.”

Abruptly, there was movement nearer to the spying ivy. With a burst of dust and debris, tendrils sprouted from the ground just in front of the ivy and started to unfurl in the direction the two were standings.

“Was this your plan? Get the ivy to kill us instead of the creature?”

“I know what I’m doing,” he replied.

Jake turned to run out of the cavern with Silt close by. They made it outside and he hestitated, glancing back. Dozens of tendrils were speeding towards them but as they reached the entrance to the tunnels, they stopped.

“They can’t leave,” Drak said with some relief.

“That’s something, at least,” Silt said. “But that other creature is still coming.”

“And now it has to get past those tendrils. From what I remember about the ivy, once it is in attack mode, it will attack anything moving in it’s territory,” Jake replied.

Silt sighed. “I still that was a massive risk. And you should leave those mushrooms behind, who knows what might track them?”

“Don’t worry, the ivy can’t leave the cavern,” Drak said gesturing to the waving tendrils behind them.

Silt sighed. “Okay but if it bites us in the arse, don’t blame me.”