The next two weeks to pass were not as eventful in terms of combat for William and his party. The Lynxes no longer ventured out of the woodland very often, and when they did, the weaker parties were enough to fell the beasts. William and Wallace had worked out a plan to practice multi-group maneuvers by sending two lower level parties out together to escort the logging work each day, alternating the groups to get a shared familiarity of parties throughout Greenwell. Two Groups of eight at Level four now on average were capable of dropping a couple Lynxes. William was both happy at less hindrances to the defense effort, and frustrated at the lack of creatures to fight. The past two weeks had no combat, but he had spent the time with Jane, Wallace, and the other enchanters to upgrade everyone else’s clothing. This unfortunately cost him all the Essence Cores that had been acquired since coming to GAEA.
It turned out that not all creatures dropped a Core, one Lynx in five was the typical number they had calculated. It was worth it however, as now everyone else was bearing at least one enchantment. William didn’t like that the Duncans also had an enchantment each. Fortunately, due to their refusal to cooperate fully most of the time, they got the benefits gained by Greenwell last.
William had not gained any enchanter levels from it unfortunately. It appeared that the EXP gain for enchanting items not intended for yourself reduced the gains. He didn’t understand why, surely it would benefit more, but he put it down to there being an unknown reason. He was eager to get both his classes to level ten for glorious milestone shenanigans but he would have to wait still. The total EXP for the others was better as they were lower level and did most of the enchanting as William felt it was more important that they got some levelling from it.
Greenwell’s palisade had been finished two days ago, and the single gate entrance, one day after that. The next step in the defense effort was to set up several small wooden stands where ranged defenders could attack the bandit attack force. William had also suggested two layers of wooden spikes and barricades spread out around Greenwell’s perimeter. The idea was to have the bandits either invest time removing the obstacles while under fire, or to hinder their movements by having them weave through the defenses, making their assault more arduous. Those defenses were being created with Wallace observing the process.
Once the devices were installed, William wanted the ditch before the palisade to have spikes inside them too, but only small ones. The purpose was one he picked up in an RTS game he had played. The spikes would act as a maiming tool and hopefully slow the assault further. The other thing that they had anticipated was that the bandits might decide to just target the main gate, and that was why the majority of defenders would be positioned around it. They would rotate around the settlement if attacked from a different direction.
A couple small side projects were done with the abundance of wood too. Several of the old tool storage sheds were moved and renovated to act as other types of storage. One was a granary, another was an armory, and the third was the intended tool storage. They had been moved nearer to the center of the settlement so that they were safer when the raid occurred. William had some ideas for inside defenses too, but those were shelved until external defenses had been completed. They still had a month but William had a feeling small groups would start cropping up testing the waters before hand. The event did imply that after all.
At present, William was considering the best way to get fighter levels but other than picking a direction and exploring, nothing came to mind. He couldn’t stray too far however, as he wanted to be nearer in case any bandits did crop up. After some deliberation he decided that he would venture a bit further into the woodland this time and hopefully fight something with good EXP gains for him. He did the responsible thing of letting the others know this time, and it still sometimes shook him that he had become...cooperative. The day was still just past dawn and William took that opportunity to set off.
It was after he had reached inside the woodland that he was far enough from his party that the list on his interface reduced down to just him. He now had a rough estimate of party range to work with; about twenty minutes walk at his pace. He worked his way through thicker foliage encountering several different insects, all Level one to his annoyance. After another hour at a slower pace, he encountered a group of three Lynxes.
They spotted him and hissed at him. William just shrugged and drew his sword. Identify told him they were all level six. “A good warm up,” he supposed as they charged at him. The fight was...mediocre. William’s dexterity was decent, buffed further by runes, and he had been practicing dodges and side steps more with others.
William side-stepped the first lynx, bringing his blade from a low guard, up through the neck, severing it’s head before rolling forward under the charge of the second Lynx. As he regained his footing, he thrust with a use of Mana Investment on his Swift Thrust, stopping the third beast in it’s charge, the blade burying to it’s hilt in the Lynx’s skull. He left it in place and drew both daggers. The last Lynx alive had already corrected its momentum and was almost upon William. As it leaped for a bite, William darted forward, moving underneath it and slashed with both daggers in an X shape on its underside. William felt the entrails and blood coat his head and shoulders as the still airborne beast wailed at the carving and slammed into a skid on the ground, leaving a trail of blood coated leaves and dirt behind it.
William looked around himself and observed the slaughter. He was still to break a sweat.
“Not even a suitable warm-up? Next to no worthwhile EXP either,” he mumbled with slight boredom.
William wiped the blood from his face on his sleeve then used that same sleeve to wipe his bloody daggers off before sheathing them. He did the same with his sword after using both hands to wrench the blade free. Enhancing a strike with Mana and skills was good, but it made removing the blade a bastard sometimes.
William checked for Essence Cores with no success.
He sighed then said in resignation, “Nothing of worth from this fight eh?”
William continued on his journey through the woodland and spotted a copse of trees with a peculiar bush growing out from it. The leaves were green but had bright yellow spots on them, slightly bumpy looking.
“That has to be poisonous surely,” William said before casting Identify.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
{Ascension_Protocol}
Poison – Yellow Terror
{Description}
A severe irritant. The leaves are not irritant to the touch, but if mixed in a liquid, will dissolve, forming a significant irritant that both itches and burns the flesh of those affected. Can be deadly in extreme cases. Has been known to impede healing in all forms.
{End}
William grinned at the description. He was annoyed they had no tar or other siege like defenses from video games available, but he could picture buckets of poisonous water with these leaves added being used instead, potentially.
“Oh yeah, it’s all coming together,” He said rubbing his chin with a wicked grin.
William had been smart enough to bring an additional pack that was empty in case he stumbled on any other berries or the like. On this occasion however, poison was the choice. William didn’t take any chances however, and carefully stripped the bush of its leaves. The process took a couple hours, but the pack he had brought was nearly full.
His mind brimmed with other applications as he was collecting the leaves. It could be applied to the spikes in the ditch adding some spicy damage potentially for one. It could also be applied to arrows or blades, allowing for poisoned weaponry. Every application he pictured, would potentially shift the balance even more towards their favor.
He continued on his journey, and along the way got to see the woodland get thicker. The Canopy produced a somewhat dark shade now. He could see perfectly fine, but it was more like evening light now. William walked for about another mile before coming across something he had not anticipated in the slightest; a person.
A dead person.
William approached cautiously and could see that the...man? Had been shredded on his body by massive claws. At least he assumed it was a man. There was two reasons for this. The first was the crushed head had some short tufts of hair on what remained, and secondly the person’s chest was flat. At a glance the only way he could confirm such a decision would be do the same thing you would do to identify a dog’s sex. That would be fucked up in this case though so William nope-d the fuck out of that idea and decided to check the body for any information or useable equipment.
His search was interesting. The person had only a couple coppers on them, but after turning the body over, William noticed the overcoat the person had on was somewhat intact at the back. He figured that enchanting it with a Restoration rune would make it repair over time. William paused his investigation of the corpse and pulled out his enchanters tools. It made sense to do it while the jacket was on a flat surface.
“Sorry random dead guy,” William said, before carving the rune in mind.
The process was quick and that made the act a little less awkward for William. He then stripped the tattered clothing item from the body and was even more pleasantly surprised at what lay underneath; A bandolier of sorts strapped around the torso.
The Bandolier had three small sheaths on each side. Sheaths that held small daggers. The hilts protruded out the sides. William could picture the person reaching their hands behind their back to quickly draw a pair of daggers. William pulled one out to examine it. The metal had a faint shimmer. William’s eyes widened, this had potential. He checked the other five daggers and they were made of the same metal. Each dagger was one solid piece. Blade merged into hilt. There was no pommel nor guard, indicating that these were throwing daggers.
“Identify time,” William cheered, activating the skill:
{Ascension_Protocol}
Weapon – Mythril Throwing Dagger
{Description:}
A blade crafted from the purest Mythril. Mythril is a rare metal that is highly valuable and desirable. Known for its near indestructibility and unparalleled sharpness, it is one of the pinnacles of equipment used by the strongest of fighters and adventurers. Immune to permanent magical effects.
{End}
That description was fucking insane. Mythril in games was OP as fuck, William knew and apparently it existed and was OP as fuck in GAEA too. He giggled like a kid on Christmas morning. He considered enchanting the items but reviewed the description again. He had a hunch that the permanent magical effects part of the description included enchantments. It made sense, they would be even more OP with permanent buffs added. Mana Investment however was temporary. This brought a wicked grin to his face. It took him a few moments to equip the item and by the time it was done, the overcoat that he had enchanted had also began repairing. William put that on too and felt like a bona-fide badass. He drew one of the daggers and used Mana Investment with Dagger Toss. His target was a nearby tree, one with a thick stump, just in case he missed.
He definitely did not miss as a loud boom sounded as the dagger bore a deep hole through the tree before sticking into the one just behind it. The flutter of dozens of wings sounded in the canopy as he realized that he had probably just vibe checked a flock of something. He was stupefied at the damage. If that was a beast or bandit, then fuck. Just. Fuck. He chuckled in slight shock as he collected the blade. He examined it and not a single chip or even scratch was visible. He sheathed the dagger again then finished off looting. What remained was mediocre. The clothing was no better quality than William’s current attire. From the lack of a scabbard, sling, or any other sign of main weapon, He guessed that the man was a Scout and possibly Mage or Enchanter. Most likely Mage as the guy didn’t have any enchanter items on him. William didn’t want to waste any more Mana on Identify though. He did still have an MP and SP potion from entering GAEA, but those were for emergencies. He found some moldy rations, an empty water-skin, and some other trinkets in the pack but those were all useless to him. He did find two thick books about the size of a modern day paperback fiction novel, though the covers of these were firm and...leathery? William couldn’t tell but decided to check them out later. He threw them into the pack, then lay the man down on their back and gave them a moment of silence.
The silence lasted for only a couple moments as a loud thump sounded, twenty feet behind him, followed by a snapping of twigs and foliage. William turned and almost felt a little pee come out as he beheld the new presence. William witnessed the eight foot tall beast with four thick and muscular legs. Each with large claws at the ends of them. It had a head of carapace and thick, bony jaws, lined with three rows of serrated teeth. The entire body was made of jet black skin. The eyes were deep blue, and William guessed from the claws that this was what had trounced the guy he found. He had to identify it:
{Ascension_Protocol}
Beast – Fell Death-fang – Level 13
{End}
William felt cold.
Level fucking thirteen?
He drew his sword and it may as well have been a toothpick given the size of the beast before him. He readied a dodge for when the beast attacked, it would attack first, no doubt in his mind. Seconds later as the pair of them circled each other, the beast released an almost soul shattering roar and like a starting gun, their clash began.