No tigers posed any danger to his party, not even their elite variants. He understood he wasn’t meant to be here at his level, and frankly, the resources would be better served to a weaker drifter. But with the threat of Kraven brooding nearby, altruism became an afterthought. He gazed upon the floating gem after the secret passage opened. Another aspect core. His eyes dimmed, disappointed. But the night hadn’t left the skies as he exited the cave, which prompted him to wipe the forest floor clean of any other elites.
###
Daytime arrived with little fanfare. Rays of morning sun bathed Theron and his party under its warm radiance, a sullen reminder of the ticking time bomb threatening to arrive any passing hour. Theron sat atop the cliffs, denoting the mists that once surrounded the land beneath him. Now, instead of a massive swath of smog-covered gray forest, splotches of holes dotted the landscape—holes where a checkpoint had been opened. To his left, one or two leagues away, a massive, expanding piece of clear land awaited, no doubt cleared by Kraven and Hubert’s men. The notion of how easy it was to determine opened checkpoints bothered him a little—all he had to do was find the spots where the mists didn’t exist.
He chuckled as he recalled the close encounter with the massive spike bear roaming the wilderness a few hours ago. It happened during the dawn of the day when the sun was orange and the clouds drifted listlessly above. A shuddering of trees shook the party awake, with Theron blaring retreat as soon as he saw the silhouette of that thing. Even after leveling up and evolving, Borys still paled in size compared to it. He shrugged that encounter from his mind while teetering over the cliff edge, someday, he smiled, Someday, I’ll take that thing down.
His progress with the elites went well, but when it came to hidden events, he encountered none. It seemed as if the starter aspects didn't count toward any progression, and their appearance was tied to hidden events, so far. Perhaps he'd meet Lux's kin in the future?
Descending the cliffs, Theron noted the results of his recent delve into the tutorial forest. He met another Bear, Boar, and tiger elite, completing the progress of all the elites existing in the tutorial zone, reminded by the Quest completed message. Both his rank-1 aspects reached level 4 from the intense battling Borys handled, and he allotted a split of Might and Speed to their respective stats per level. Moss gained Poison fangs ability, a skill similar to his necrotic touch, which after a period of testing, turned out to not stack with his ability. He sighed sullenly upon that realization.
Tels gained Hunter of the night, the same ability Borys had.
Loot-wise, the best would be the loot he found another summon slot gem from his excursion, a find rousing him off his lethargy. Now, he had five slots instead of four. He turned his gaze down and opened his status page, admiring his growth.
Theron Gray | Class: Novice | Rank: Unranked
Class: Novice| Level: 6 | Next 385 xp
Mana: 15 / 15
Summon slots : 0/5
Essence: 2705
-Attributes | Free points: - (+1/level) -
Might: 7 (+1/level)
Speed: 6 (+1/level)
Magic:10
Toughness: 7 (+1/level)
Resistance: 10
Abilities - Active
Abilities - Passive
Necrotic aura - lvl 1 | Summon Aspect
Extract Aspect | Unsummon Aspect
Necrotic touch - lvl 1
-
That, and he also acquired a shit ton of materias.
OBTAINED MATERIAS
R-1 Forest black boar x4
R-1 Metal Clawed Bear x4
R-1 Green forest tiger x5
R-1 Metal-bladed Dark panther x6
R-1 Green forest tiger(Elite) x1
R-1 Forest black boar(Elite) x1
R-1 Metal Clawed Bear(Elite)x1
R-2 Ghostwood Treant x2
I have another slot open now… and I can summon an elite with it free. With another glance, he reached out to moss and gave it a gentle pat as he unsummoned it. Then, he pulled his wand and used its stored mana to replace its presence with Lux’s gray figure. It whined as it rested atop the warm sward.
5/5 slots. A bear, a panther, and a wolf.
Theron had a clear picture about which elite he wished to get out of the rank ones. The elite bear, tall and imposing, being the sole monster to put his aspect out of commission that forced his hand to summon Borys. Well, the whole event ended up being a blessing in disguise in the end.
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But since Borys had a similar role as the bear elite, he wondered if emphasizing a single position would fare him better compared to having a variety of roles, the elite panther, for example, could fulfill a sneakier role, and its smaller size allowed it to traverse smaller spaces. Plus, he had its non-elite version ready in his compendium, and Theron theorized that having both the elite and common version ready to be evolved would grant him a special path of some sort—which he admitted was a costly theory to test. The perceived rarity of the elite core darted his mind between materializing an elite right way or sticking with his original plan.
If I can defeat it, that is. Can I clear the stuff in here without the help of an elite?
The aid of the system in the tutorial zone caused him to underestimate the true strength of unweakened monsters, their elites notwithstanding. The troll’s normal form caused him grave trouble on its own already. He doubted his chances of defeating one with his current strength, not even if both Lux and Borys attained max level.
I can’t be that greedy now. Opening the interface, his eyes drifted to the quests section. But I don’t want to make a hasty decision either.
[All elites: Complete the progress of all elites in the tutorial zone. Rewards: 1x elite aspect core.]
Now, I have one for free. Theron grinned, mirthful of his sudden, yet expected acquisition. One elite stone in his hand and the other waiting for his purchase, perfect. Raising his arms and smiling, he felt the breeze of warm air as the rock descended, appearing larger than its common counterpart as it rested on his palm.
He stored that in his satchel, then glimpsed at the store option and purchased a ration to fend off his hunger. A pill smaller than his pinky materialized above his open hands.
[Ration: Fulfills any basic hunger and thirst needs. Packed with essential nutrition. Staves off hunger and thirst for three days.]
He swallowed that thing without an ounce of doubt, relishing the wave of soothing fullness spreading from his stomach. A smile crept on his lips as he traced the path to his left, opposite where he met the troll last night. If it followed the rules of his past encounter, then the troll should only appear at night, similar to how the dark panthers operated. Although he yearned to acquire their elite form, killing the treants and the lesser critters seemed to be the best option, for now.
Of course, running left meant he had an increased risk of meeting Kraven’s men, an encounter he wished to avoid, if possible. However, with his men broaching his checkpoint already, he wished to rummage everything he could on this side before they started hunting in his grounds, and he loathed having the spoils of his own being robbed by those he didn’t even know. As the bony trees pressed on him, the roots earthing the arid soil, he met the still figures of the treants posing as the trees.
The sight led him to an impasse; He could focus on empowering an elite now, to see what kind of evolutions an elite offered—or to stick with his other plan of waiting. In theory, the rank-two unevolved elites should be on par with the rank-1 evolved elites, so this decision wouldn't hurt him in the long run. Besides, he needed extra help against the elite rank twos roaming in this region, too. When the day was young and the monsters within the forest aplenty, Theron had enough experience waiting for his elite rank-1 aspect to reach level five before night-time. Tels’ figure dissipated as he drew the queer stone, wincing when the sun struck his eyes. A gritted crunch sent a pulse of power along his skin, goosebumps rousing from the invisible energy.
An interface revealed itself, granting Theron a selection of delightful candidates.
You crushed 1 elite aspect core. Select a rank-1 elite aspect to materialize.
Green forest tiger-Elite
Metal Clawed Bear-Elite
Forest Black boar-Elite
Metal-bladed Dark panther-Elite
Borys will get another friend, he thought with glee in his eyes, which winced once the compendium opened, flipping its aetherial pages until it stopped at the Bear elite’s outline. A pause and a blink later, its status page appeared, inciting a slight gasp from Theron.
Aspect - Elite Metal-clawed Bear | Health : 30/30 | Mana : 0/0
Level: 1 | Next 100 xp
Rank: 1 | Max Level 5
Mana cost: 8 | slot cost: 1
Element: Normal | Affinity: Melee
Class: Bear | Type: Beast
-Attributes-
Free points: - (+3/level)
Might: 15 (+6/level)
Speed: 10
Magic: 0
Toughness: 15 (+4/level)
Resistance: 10 (+2/level)
-Abilities-
So… strong. At level one, too? He did a few double-takes to dispel any chances of him hallucinating; the elite’s growth far, far superseded its common variant, and its base attributes dwarfed Borys’ level 1 attributes.
[You materialized an elite aspect!]
[Note: Elite aspects, and aspects of higher rarity, requires more materials and items to evolve. Their slot cost will compound along with their rank, with each rarity adding additional slot requirements per rank. E.g: Rank 1: 1 slot, rank 2: 3 slots, rank 3: 6 slots.]
[Elite aspects gain half experience points from monsters of lower rarities. This rule applies to all aspects of higher rarities.]
Price for power, huh? Half experience gain and 3 slots at rank 2… yikes. Theron scratched his chin, calculating the possible team composition with his 5-slot count. Once he evolved this elite, he’d have space for one rank 2 left; which meant only Borys or Lux had the chance to accompany this monster, and if he reached rank 3, then he stared at the possibility of only having his elite out.
Well, we’ll deal with that problem later, right now, let’s focus on leveling it up. Retrieving his wand and unsummoning his rank-1 aspect, he closed his eyes while pushing the new aspect out of the compendium. The breeze stopped once the elite sat in front of him, blocking the roaring gust with its hulking mass. The dark brown, desaturated coating of thick fur bristled against the sward as it stood. Borys and Lux stared at it with a measured composure, listening to its roar heralding its arrival in this fucked up world.
Theron grinned, confident of his decision, then trekked the forest to his left.
###
To his pleasure, it only took three bolts from Lux to kill a treant now. He stopped after murdering the first few treants when a level-up message appeared. Berys—his elite new bear with an original name—leveled up blazing fast, even with the reduction in mind.
[You gained 80 experience points!.] x4
[Aspect: (Elite) Metal-clawed Bear gains reduced experience: 40] x4
[Your aspect core - (Elite) Metal-clawed Bear leveled up! It gains +6 might, +4 toughness, and +2 resistance. +3 free attribute points.]
Borys’ presence diminished when they opted to kill things from afar, relegated to a defensive role instead. This zone teemed with treant life, life Theron snuffed by horn pulsing the treants the moment he caught their attention. The hulking figure of Berys nudged against the nearby tree as it rested, playing with Borys in the meanwhile. Theron opened the elite’s status, allocating more points to its strength, hoping it’d be a match against the trolls when the time came.
Theron crouched over the carcasses of the dead trees, extracting their aspects while observing the scene of waving trees orbiting around their location. The splashes of running water trickled from a distance, far and away to the west side of his checkpoint, presumably acting as a border between his region and the others. Caution lathered his face as he kept a constant watch for any movements heralding from that direction, which so far, none dared to show their faces in his supposed territory.
[You gained 80 essences.] x4
[You obtained a materia: R-2 Ghostwood treant.]
Yet.