Theron half-expected a random encounter by the time he reached his checkpoint, but no one showed their face this time around. He pondered if he should check out Borys and Lux’s possible evolution paths right away, yet, he stopped last minute in fear of losing control of his will and opting to evolve one ASAP and forgetting about Berys’ priority in his mind. After all, even when it felt like it was light-years away, Berys was only 2 levels shy of its evolution.
Blades of thin branches and low-hanging grass slashed his figure as they perused the path leading to the troll cave; at this point, Theron had familiarized himself with the Ghostwood forest well enough to traverse it with little difficulties—he remembered the slight differences between the formation of trees, the inclines and declines of the path well enough to separate which path led to where—a feat he never expected to achieve this quickly. The clouds had darkened when he saw the cave’s entrance; the raucous calls of the trolls emanating from the cave signified that, yes, it was well populated this time around.
Theron stretched and went to work.
###
Trolgar matched decently well one-one against the common trolls; its might and speed just slightly edged the monsters peppering this cave. It didn’t escape the fight unscathed either, Trolgar suffered decent wounds on its stomach resulting from the first few skirmishes against its own kin, which urged Theron to swap it out with Berys and let the bear wreak some havoc. Cuby idled by his side; he opted to save its mana for the elite.
[Your aspects earned 120 experience points!.] x4
[Aspect: (Elite) Savage Metal fist Bear gains reduced experience: 60] x4
[You acquired: 1x R2 - Silver-Back Beast Troll materia.]
Theron noted Berys’ proximity to its next level and pushed further into the cave. He dialed down Trolgar’s aggression for the next set of battles, letting Berys do most of the heavy lifting. The trolls’ lower attributes made their attacks almost ineffective for Berys to be worried about, and after multiple usages of savage slam, the next set of fodder trolls perished under his bear’s weight.
[Your aspects earned 120 experience points!.] x4
[Aspect: (Elite) Savage Metal fist Bear gains reduced experience: 60] x4
[You acquired: 2x R2 - Silver-Back Beast Troll materia.]
[Your aspect core - (Elite) Metal-clawed Bear leveled up! It gains +6 might, +4 toughness, and +2 resistance. +4 free attribute points.]
Ooo… Finally, and a few materias too, sweet. Theron regarded the new message with a smile and brought up its status page, One more level… just… 2000 experience points away. Yikes. He briefly deliberated whether to focus all its points on might again, but the recent battles against the empowered monsters veered his mind toward upgrading its toughness even further. In the end, he conceded and split the four attribute points to both might and toughness equally.
Aspect - Elite Savage Metal-fisted Bear | Health : 41/82 | Mana : 0/0
Level: 9 | Next: 1950 xp
Rank: 2 | Max Level 10
Mana cost: 8 | slot cost: 3
Element: Normal | Affinity: Melee
Class: Bear | Type: Beast
-Attributes-
Free points: - (+4/level)
Might: 93 (+6/level)
Speed: 19
Magic: 0
Toughness: 67 (+6/level)
Resistance: 42 (+6/level)
-Abilities-
Embolden Claws
Savage Slam
Innate Trait: Pure Metallic Skeleton
Blocks 15 physical damage passively.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Cool. He breathed a sigh as he examined the path leading to the troll elite, then faced it with confidence in his steps. With Cuby’s support and Theron’s poison, the fight still ended up with Berys losing 30 points in health at the end; the Troll elite’s furious fist cleaved that much health when its strike connected, even after it was reduced by Theron’s shield. Berys’ empowered savage slam crushed its skull open clean in one hit this time, its growth granting them a swift kill, unlike their first encounter.
[Your aspects earned 300 experience points!.]
[You completed a quest!]
[Complete all lairs/caves in the Ghostwood forests. (4/4)]
And… the creme’ of the crop.
[Aspect of Silver-Back Beast Troll(elite) is added to your compendium. You can now summon it after materializing the aspect using an aspect core.]
[You acquired: 1x R2 - Silver-Back Beast Troll(Elite) materia.]
The troll’s addition also moved his other quest up by one, and if the secret lair held all the elite monsters within its second layer, then he’d finish up all the things in this zone by the end of the next day—safe for the treasure map shenanigans.
A quake shook the entire lair, revealing the final path leading to the treasure room. Theron regarded Berys’ gashed fur and swollen figure with a wary look, yet with its gargantuan hit points, he had little to worry of. Another treasure chest awaited as he entered the small chamber, and since this one came from the possibly hardest lair to complete, it contained more things than Theron initially expected.
First, the most valuable thing of the bunch; the class upgrade stone.
[Class stone upgrade-tier 3. Use during a drifter evolution to increase the rarity and power of your possible classes. Use in conjunction with a tier 4 upgrade stone to upgrade class rarity to unique. Otherwise, you will get an elite class. Usable once you reach level 10.]
Unique tier? It was a first for Theron to read such a word describing classes, which he assumed was how the system graded the rarities of… everything. From types of equipment to items, and perhaps aspects themselves followed this rule. Although he’d never stumbled upon an uncommon monster, unique monsters might be a rarity he’d see sooner or later. It just sounded right.
It sucked that to achieve his best potential, he had to wait and find the last piece of this upgrade, doubtless lying somewhere within the secret lair, or hidden behind whatever treasure the stone guardian protected. Either mandated a massive investment of time and effort on his part—the time he had, but the potential loss of his aspects necessitated extreme caution. He stored the stone in his pouch, then glanced over to the rest of the contents; two aspect cores and two more mana potions, along with another book.
This book he found differed from the last.
[Common-tier Rank 1 Ability book: Read to gain an Ability selected from a random list of selected, each of the common rarity. Disintegrates after use.]
Without waiting, Theron pulled the book out of the chest and shifted through the pages. Again, it was empty, but he supposed the gesture allowed the system to recognize he used the book in some form.
[Select a list from the abilities available below.]
[Imbue Attribute - lvl 1: Grants an aspect of your choosing 10 points of the desired attribute(Might, Magic, Toughness, Speed, or Resistance.) Costs 5 mana to use. Lasts 10 minutes. Cooldown: 10 minutes.]
Not bad… 10 points might not be a lot, but under certain circumstances, prudent usage might save an aspect’s life by injecting toughness into them, or increase Berys’ savage slam damage when necessary. All in all, a versatile ability, usable at all times.
[Taunt - lvl 1: Grants an aspect a 5 flat damage reduction from all physical sources. Causes all non-aspect foes within a 20-meter range to target the selected aspect. Cooldown: 5 minutes, duration: 1 minute. No manacost.]
A fantastic skill that synergized with Berys’ tool set to no end. Heck, he’d consider this skill even without its aggro-drawing capabilities. Although, it lost a lot of utility for his other aspects—the 5 points damage reduction wouldn’t be relevant in the far future. This would be amazing against ranged enemies, provided they stayed within a 20-meter range, which most of the pesky basilisks preferred to fight in. It didn’t affect aspect enemies, though, so its viability against human opponents was… well, limited.
[Imbue shield - lvl 1: Cast a protective barrier to surround a selected Aspect. It will block 1x magic damage before shattering. Costs: 3 mana. Cooldown: 10 seconds.]
A copy of his shield’s ability. To have both could prove beneficial, but it served a similar purpose with the imbue attribute ability. Of course, it had a lower cooldown and would grant better protection in a long fight, and he foresaw a few instances when that would be useful, but it lacked the imbue attribute’s versatility and broad usage.
Tough… Both taunt and imbue attributes captivated Theron’s mind. In the end, Theron settled on Taunt—believing its aggro-drawing abilities to be more… strategically useful in a fight. It saved a lot of hassle in micromanaging his aspects; with the taunt active, Theron’s second unit, be it Borys, Trolgar, Lux, or Cuby, would be given space to operate freely while the monsters railed on Berys’ massive frame. He foresaw some shenanigans possible if he used this skill outside of the box—like casting it on another aspect to allow Berys a free attack on a monster’s flank, for example.
Also… if the taunt’s effect worked as advertised, wouldn’t it reduce the damage from the treant elite brooding in the secret lair to zero? Yeah. I’m picking this.
[You acquired the ability: Taunt - lvl 1.]
Once he ensured everything was in order, Theron let himself out of the final lair, grin trembling on the corners of his lips, excited for the rewards awaiting beneath the cold steel checkpoint. The stars were lining up—with his lair quest completion, and the elite aspects arriving soon after, a lot of potential growth and loot brooded in the shadows ahead of him, ever so close to his grasp.
The forest loomed ahead as he trekked back to the checkpoint. Nearly all the roaming monsters had been slain by Theron at this point, random encounters being a delight Theron wished to meet with every step he took.
Beeps and boops of the scintillating lights hailed his return. This time, he had reasons to browse the things long due for purchase; the rank 2 to rank 3 evolution being the first in mind. But before that…
[Complete all lairs/caves in the Ghostwood forests. (4/4)]
[Reward: 1x Tier-1 Aspect revival stone.]
Aspect… revival?
[Tier 1 Aspect revival stone: Revives a dead aspect within your compendium. This only works for aspects between rank-1 to rank-5.]
There was a sense of relief only items like these elicited. It might not increase Theron’s power level directly, but the range of the risks he could take with this item in the back of his mind stretched much further than before. Sure, this never meant he’d act crazy all of a sudden, but the fear clutching his abdomen from the thought of the two final steep slopes of challenge relented, allowing him to breathe easier.
He scanned the other quests awaiting completion, then memorized the few remaining items waiting for completion and turned his attention to the rising moon in the skies, the night’s still young. I have time. With the recent addition in skills, he planned to head back to the secret lair.
I can do this.