Frost congealed in a halo around the sinister spellbook. Crackling power coalesced above my hand into a brilliant shard of glacier-blue ice. It spun languidly for a moment before rocketing out and striking the massive moss giant in the chest.
The ice strike didn’t shatter as expected but drilled right through the powerful enemy. Mushroom-like flesh erupted from the bullet wound, covering the far wall in ichor. The moss giant teetered, struggling to remain standing as I struck it with a moonstone-enhanced strike right to its shin.
The giant stiffened, letting its huge club clatter to the floor before its body melted into a pile of gel. I ambled past the goop toward the vein of iron ore, idly kicking aside the majority of the gunk to pick up a pitch-dark seed on the way.
A Charwood Tree seed. It was the highest tier seed dropped by the monsters in the ancient dungeon and the key to solving the chunk objectives. Charwood required 35 farming to grow and harvest. Not that leveling farming was necessary anymore.
I pulled up my stats for what felt like the umpteenth time, shaking my head at the enormous changes that had appeared overnight.
Combat level:47 Health:48/48 Attack:74/59 Defense:64/49 Recovery:57/57 Magic:52/52 Woodcutting:52/52 Firemaking:48/48 Crafting:33/33 Mining:49/49 Smithing:49/49 Cooking:51/51 Hunter:47/47 Farming:68/68
My health, attack, recovery, magic, and farming levels had increased during my time in the strange city. The former three were sort of expected with how much fighting I’d been doing. Magic was also a surprise, but farming was the ridiculous one. It was my highest stat by far and was the greatest indication of how long I’d unwittingly spent in my mindscape.
Somehow, I’d gained 380,000 experience in farming, which was... it was... A lot of time. A month. Maybe more? Probably more. It had taken me days to get the 30,000 experience required to bring mining and smithing to the end of tier 5. I got a headache just trying to figure out how much time I’d lost.
I could only conclude that time in the mindscape was...different. That and that sitting on the throne allowed control over my body, which Thrun had enjoyed for far too long. I shook my head to clear the train of thought. Honestly, I kind of wanted to put the whole fiasco behind and finish the current chunk objective.
Returning to the present, I hefted the huge magic tome that enabled magic and some iron ore before I headed back to the safe zone. Ice strike was the only available spell in the book. It was a level 50 spell and dealt a respectable amount of damage. It was less than what my adze could do, but I did have 74 attack fully buffed. On the other hand, the attack was ranged and trivialized the moss giants who couldn't crawl through the narrow tunnels. Overall, I couldn’t help but be impressed. Even if I was slightly sad that I hadn’t gotten to make any spells myself.
At the safe zone, I dumped my loot into a ramshackle sled I’d constructed recently, then started chopping down the huge charwood tree growing from one of the garden beds. The ashy black bark of the gnarly tree crumbled with each blow of my axe. Unlike the normal trees on the surface, this tree stiffened after two dozen blows and melted away to reveal several charwood logs.
I combined the logs with the pile of iron ore from the tunnels. Melting the two together required extensive pumping of the bellows, enough to build up a sheen of sweat on my brow. The furnace pulsed as the bricks composing it glowed with incandescent heat. Things were so hot that the iron started throwing off sparks like a firecracker. That level of heat couldn’t be good for the furnace, but I’d done this enough to be patient.
After nearly thirty seconds of pumping at max heat, the furnace hiccuped and out came a room-temperature steel ingot. I ignored the anomaly in the laws of thermodynamics and went to the anvil to make what should be the last steel knife I should need.
I smiled as I crafted several steel chainbodies that would complete my now steel ensemble. Before equipping the chainbody, I opened my status and smiled.
Attack:77/59 Defense:66/49
Upgrading to steel increased my attack and defense by three points but meant I couldn’t use my moonstone equipment anymore. I hadn’t yet figured out a way of opening a gem slot in regular weaponry. That didn't matter all that much since I still hadn't figured out how much of an improvement a moonstone granted. It shouldn't be more than upgrading a whole tier, though, surely.
I’ll figure it out later, I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Right now, I needed to head back to the overworld with my sled of loot and tuck it into my stash for the next iterations. I would have stashed my stuff earlier, but leaving would have wiped the huge pile of materials I’d accrued.
But now with only one chunk objective within moments of completing, it was time.
The sun blinded me as I stepped through the portal, and I couldn’t help but bask in the light for a few minutes. I should probably go say hi to Fang first, but I was eager to finish this chunk.
At my stash beneath the oak tree, I quickly pulled out all the outdated gear and repacked the deceptively large wooden chest with my new spoils. I had several sets of steel, all sorts of seeds, and plenty of high-tier food in case of a rainy day. I also tucked the spellbook in there.
Nodding in satisfaction, I equipped the steel chainbody.
Defense:67/49
My world went dark. I melted into the void sea, simply floating as I basked in the sense of victory. That chunk had been far more challenging than I expected. Mostly due to the added stress of Thrun randomly raining on my parade. Also, I was steadily falling behind in combat levels. I really needed to dedicate a couple of weeks to grinding monsters for both magic and general melee levels.
The system hummed and my world opened up. The first thing I did was snap open the chunk objectives.
1. Equip a tier-4 hood, gloves, boots, and cloak
2. Acquire all drops from Iroth Grimskull
“Nice,” I smiled to myself. The chunk objectives were simple and to the point, with the system forgoing the vague naming system in favor of generic goals. The first goal required 36 crafting to be able to craft the tier-4 cloak. It might also need 39 hunter to get the materials, but not necessarily. Either way, I had that already, so it should be a piece of cake.
The second objective of taking down Iroth Grimskull was even more appreciated. I couldn’t wait to test out my skills against the boss again. The fight should be much easier with tier 4 equipment. With a real possibility of killing Iroth the hundred or more times it would take to get all of its drops.
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I switched to my status and sighed as I saw that my combat level had changed again.
At least this time, it had buffed me, though what it had done to the monsters, I didn’t know. Nothing for it but heading out and figuring it out. I regeared from my stash and set out to find Fang so we could explore the next chunk together.
I went south first since it was closer and saw that the ancient dungeon hadn’t changed. Spotted Snufflers and Spined Silverbacks still wandered the chunk, but no tier-4 creature I could hunt. The update added thin white text that hovered over the monsters' heads. It displayed their name and combat level, though appeared unchanged from previous updates.
The hemogris fort to the west showed more potential as I could see rocky foothills rising to the north of the muddy chunk. I skirted the edge of the muddy chunk with no intention of interacting with the hemogris in their fort. I stepped out of the mud and onto the gravelly stone of the new chunk—
A terrifying snarl ripped through the air.
I flinched, spinning to the fort to see a huge gray wolf bolt through the mud toward the forest. Its coat was splattered in red blood. Before it had made it a dozen feet, a titanic silver blur flashed from underneath the hemogris fort and bowled the smaller wolf over. It yelped in pain as the larger wolf tore its head clean off with a single, dissatisfied jerk of its head.
Fang rose slowly from the corpse of the gray wolf, his chest rising as his majestic hackles ruffled in the wind. At nearly 6 feet at the shoulder, Fang had grown massively during my time in the dungeon. His huge claws dug furrows in the earth as his red-painted teeth glittered in the sun. Above his head, viscerally crimson letters marked his growth.
A shiver rolled up my spine.
I suppressed the irrational fear of the massive predator and called to my friend.
“Fang!” I smiled, waving my hand over my head like a lunatic. “Congratulations! You’ve leveled so much!”
Something dark and hungry passed over Fang’s expression, and for a second, I thought he didn’t recognize me. Then he straightened and his tongue lolled happily out of his mouth. In that sweet, awkward way, he nearly tripped over his own legs as he rushed toward me.
“Hey there,” I giggled, dodging out of the way of his charge and receiving a hefty thwack with his wagging tail in the process. “I’m glad to see you too. Sorry, I kinda disappeared out of nowhere. The dungeon, and yeah. Things happened.”
Fang responded by throwing his head back and howling. The sound blasted out like a foghorn, nearly rupturing my eardrum with its intensity. I winced but then grinned and let out a small howl of my own just because I could. Fang quickly let me know the greeting was over by snuffling rather aggressively at my pack for food.
“Want some food?” I asked, chuckling as I tried to prevent the big lug from ripping my handmade leather pack. This close to the wolf, I could feel the intense heat rising off his immense body. “Guess what? I found some tier-4 food in the dungeon. Required some finagling to make, but I think you’ll like it.”
Turned out Fang loved the meat stew, though it took some convincing for him to wait long enough for me to make some. He loved it so much that he ate the bowl and all after I’d cooked a fresh batch for him. I made him another but then set off again.
Time to explore the new chunk.
The muddy ground of the hemogris fort rapidly transitioned to rough, jutting stone. A chill wind rushed over the rough terrain in an almost continuous stream. It drained the air of its warmth, making the chunk far colder than any of the previous ones I’d explored.
I pulled my spined cloak tightly around me as I looked around. There were five long-tailed birds floating lazily in the sky. The cold wind buoyed them, so they barely needed to flap their cerulean wings.
A flash of dark movement caught my eye, and I instantly snapped up my shield. A huge segmented tail erupted from behind one of the rocks and slammed into my shield. Before I could react, a huge scorpion rushed out from behind the rock and jabbed at me with four cruelly curved pincers.
I blocked one with my battleaxe but grunted as the other three hit. The creature was only level 38 though, so the hits only drew a little blood. I shoved the pincers away and unleashed a quick flurry of three precise blows onto its red-patterned chitinous back. It stiffened, chittering quietly before melting away into goo.
“New monster,” I murmured, wondering whether it was worth using a smoked snuffler to patch up the three small scrapes that had only done one point of damage. Before I could, Fang growled.
I spun, not noticing anything off in the surroundings, before turning my gaze on the big wolf. He was looking directly at me with his hackles raised. No. Not at me. At my cuts. Fang’s nose crinkled, and a hungry shudder ran across his back.
“Woah,” I raised my hands, noting how Fang’s eyes had adopted a disturbing shade of red. “Easy, buddy. Just a little blood. No harm done. I’ll just eat this and, voila! See all better.”
Fang relaxed marginally as my cuts faded, but the bloodlust in his eyes didn’t. It only seemed to grow as he stalked closer while sniffing madly. I wiped the blood off hastily and backed away.
“Come on, Fang. What are you doing,” I said, mostly as something to say to try and soothe the big wolf. I sort of knew what was happening. Fang was higher leveled than me, and the scent of my blood must have triggered the aggression instinct set by the system. “Don’t make me fight you, please.”
Fang snapped at me, and I danced back, but that only enraged him. He blurred forward, far too fast for me to react, and took a bite out of my arm.
“Dammit, Fang!” I screamed.
He lunged again, but this time, I blocked with my shield and returned a hefty blow right to his snout. His face slammed into the ground, but instead of staying down, he popped back up and raked at me. I staggered back as his huge claws tore my shield from my arm. I dodged back, making some distance and blasting him with an ice strike.
The projectile shattered on his fur like it was made of steel, and before I knew it, he was on me again. I stumbled backward as he caught my arm in his mouth and shook his head violently. My world devolved into a blur of colors as he slammed me like a ragdoll to the ground. I’d fought many monsters in my time in this world, but I honestly never had the pleasure of being a chew toy to a 3-tonne mass of fur, teeth, and claws. Especially one with such a massive level disparity compared to me.
Needless to say, I soon found myself floating in the void.
The system buzzed in the background as I came to terms with what just happened. Fang had attacked me and the system...Was the system reducing the level of gray wolves in response? Barely a few seconds later, I respawned under the oak tree.
In the distance, I heard Fang howl. The sound was alien, full of hunger and rage.
I ran over and managed to glimpse the tag of one of the caged white wolves before Fang eviscerated it.
But Fang was still level 87, as if the system had overlooked him during the minor balance patch.
“What the hell?” I frowned, trying to understand what just happened. Fang found me moments later, but I didn’t even bother fighting. There was something strange going on, and there was also no point in general.
Even if I killed Fang in a duel, I knew for a fact that he would respawn within a couple of minutes. The same went for me. Killing me was pointless as the only thing I lost was my gear, which — while annoying — wasn't hard to replace. I could maybe try and kill him to see if it would knock him out of the bloodlust, but since the system reset hadn’t, I doubted death would. If anything, it probably would just make him angrier.
I respawned again and, just to double-check, ran over to the hemogris fort again. Yup, no change to Fang, though the gray wolves were down to 17.
Fang's apparent immunity to the system's meddling was deeply strange. Everything I’d come across so far had been modified at least a bit by the system at some point or other. Everything...except me, I supposed. The only thing changing in my status was my combat stats, which were really a visual representation more than an actual attribute, as far as I could tell.
Perhaps the system had mistaken Fang for a player? Perhaps all the levels he had gained exempted him from the updates? If that was the case, then why hadn't it exempt Fang from the mob aggression rules? I had no clue or any way to find out.
In fact, it seemed like something worse had broken in Fang's relationship with the system. Querying it while floating in the void gave me the distinct impression that the system wasn’t even aware of Fang’s existence. According to it, there were two gray wolves, who were somehow killing a level 56 player, so their levels were getting nerfed. I tried to tell it what was really going on, but I wasn’t sure the information got across.
I had to fix this. Luckily, I knew a way. If I could get to a higher combat level than Fang, he should revert to his peaceful — or at least neutral — disposition. From there, I was confident I could convince him to stop blindly leveling until I could find a more permanent solution.
I just so happened to know the perfect place to power-level my stats.
I reappeared back in the real world and winced at another pained wolf howl. I ignored it and extracted the bare minimum I needed from my stash. Then raced south to the ancient dungeon. The forest opened up to the rolling plains, and I heard Fang smash through the woods behind me.
I turned and waved sadly at the blood-maddened monster my friend had become, then stepped through the ancient dungeon’s dark portal.