[Lair cleared. No more additional creatures will spawn in this lair. This cave is now flagged as a safe zone. No monsters will pry into this cave unless provoked.]
[Access the locked room for your random reward.]
A rumble reverberated throughout the entire cave structure, followed by the rasp of an opening dirt-filled gate. Pebbles fell as the rocky parts of the lair cracked. Theron floundered his steps, struggling to keep his balance as he leaned on a solid wall for support, releasing his grasp when the aftershocks ended.
Reaching out to the dead bear, he extracted its aspect with a frown. How can I survive without any summonable aspects? Well, that wasn’t true, Theron knew he had an empty aspect core waiting in his satchel, and he had a perfect target to use it on. The metal-clawed bear. Sure, an unoriginal and ultimately dull name, but it described those ursine entities perfectly.
[Rank 1: Metal Clawed Bear(elite) learned. Progress: 50%]
[You gained: 120 essences.]
He feared the possible adversaries awaiting behind the opened door. More bears? Or, worse? With a hesitant sigh, he pulled out the tiny pebble from his pouch, studying its surface under the light, blinked a few times, then crushed it between his palm. His compendium opened, and out came options available for him to choose from.
Forest Black Boar
Metal Clawed Bear
Green forest tiger
His eyes squinted at those options, studying the text to ensure he didn’t make the wrong choice.
[Metal-clawed bear selected.]
Aspect - Metal clawed bear | Health : 25/25 | Mana : 0/0
Level: 1 | Next 100 xp
Rank: 1 | Max Level 5
Mana cost: 5 | slot cost: 1
Element: Normal | Affinity: Melee
Class: Bear | Type: Beast
-Attributes-
Free points: - (+2/level)
Might: 10 (+3/level)
Speed: 3
Magic: 0
Toughness: 8 (+3/level)
Resistance: 7
-Abilities-
Theron did a double take upon witnessing the bear’s status page. This thing… dwarfed Lux’s power at level one. It had twice Lux’s toughness and might—no, more than twice, actually—with a sick resistance to boot. He mulled over the 25 base hp, affirming the theory that each aspect—and by extension, him—had different base values from hp. The same rule could be applied for mana, but he wouldn't know for sure until solid proof reached his hands.
Sure, its mana cost doubled Lux’s, but it was a price worth paying. Theron realized that despite being in the same rank, that didn’t mean they had the same stats or growth. He’d love to summon it immediately, but his depleted mana pool dispelled that thought, and he retreated into the darkness, waiting.
A gentle glimmer of red light gleamed from within the opened chamber. Inside, a tiny pebble hovered a few feet above the air, submerged by the thick darkness surrounding it. He peeked his neck into the room to scour for any potential harm lurking within, only to see nothing but columns of dirt walls and floors. His eyes turned to the floating gem amidst it all, drifting up and down as if beckoning him to approach. With hesitant steps, he trotted sheepishly toward it, eyes darting about.
[Summon slot gem: Crush to obtain 1 extra summon slot.]
Wow…
###
Theron sat beside the cave opening, ogling at the approaching sunset outside. A few hours went since he obtained the additional summon slot, yet without any mana to play around with, all he could do was wait. Every once in a while, he’d reopen his status page, tracking his mana with anxious eyes.
Theron Gray | Class: Novice | Rank: Unranked
Class: Novice| Level: 5 | Next 485 xp
Mana: 6 / 14
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Summon slots : 1/2
Essence: 865
-Attributes | Free points: - (+1/level) -
Might: 6 (+1/level)
Speed: 5 (+1/level)
Magic: 9
Toughness: 6 (+1/level)
Resistance: 10
Abilities - Active
Abilities - Passive
Necrotic aura - lvl 1 | Summon Aspect
Extract Aspect | Unsummon Aspect
Necrotic touch - lvl 1
-
Finally, just enough for the bear…
He roused from his seat, stretching while he located a space large enough for a bear to sit on. Extending his hands, he closed his eyes and opened his compendium, its pages flipping until the image of the bear appeared. A bolt of light flashed in front of his shut eyes, molding into the shape of the bear he recognized, then the radiance faded, swapped by the silhouette of the many bears he’d killed in the past. It roared in a triumphant growl, then rested beside him, docile. Theron gave it a few good pats, rubbing its lustrous hair, smelling all the typical odor wafting from an animal such as it. He scrunched his nose as he thought of a proper name for the bear.
“Borys. That’s your name. Got it?” The bear responded with a quick nod. Theron gave the bear another short glance, noting its impressive size, unsure if this thing would get any bigger once it leveled up, akin to Lux. I hope it doesn’t get too big, or else, it’ll be pointless to traverse tight spaces with this guy out.
Stepping outside to the wilderness, Theron breathed in all the fresh air brushing the forest floor with a smile. His bear stomped the floor as it followed; stealth wouldn’t be an option with this thing beside him. With such a long time spent within the cave, scavengers had roamed the field of carcasses nearby. Bushes swayed and rustled as they chewed and fought for the right to free food. The green tigers, Theron surmised with a measured look, regarding their numbers carefully. Lux could’ve taken them on by itself at its level, but Borys…
His eyes roamed Borys’ body once more. Sure, he believed the bear could survive a fight against two of them, but by the off-chance it couldn’t, Theron would lose access to all of his summons, a… terrible situation, to say the least. A sigh and a veer toward the other direction later, he found a much more favorable situation; a lone tiger gnawing on a meatless bone, merrily minding its own business. Borys’ massive steps garnered its attention, and it sneered at their presence, eyes frowning, and its tail curled right up. First… let’s see what you can do, Borys. Go ahead.
The bear waddled on two feet forward, both eyes squinting at their adversary. The tiger squared up against it, growling, yet its trembling legs betrayed its facade. It lurched forward, feinting its move to bait an attack, but Borys simply stood still, unflinching. Its low speed meant this tiger outpaced it if it opted to run. Sluggishly, Borys trekked forward, every step mimicked by its enemy. Their distance shrank as the wall of trees prevented the tiger from escaping. Cornered, the beast had no choice but to fight. It bounced for his companion’s snout, attempting to bite its weakest part, but a swipe of its metal claws ripped its chest apart. Lines of blood painted the air before the dews of scarlet fell. Another slam robbed the tiger’s life.
[You can’t get more experience and essence in the tutorial zone! Only entities below level 5 can gain experience here.]
[Aspect: Metal-clawed bear gains 20 experience points!]
[Difference in levels found. Displaying a different field for your aspect’s experience gain.]
“That sucks….” Theron released the anxiety clouding his heart, the fear in his heart dispelled; anxious Borys would need to kill so many of them before catching up to Lux. While the lack of experience gain wouldn’t set his progress back too much, just thinking of the sheer effort he’d have to exert leveling his other aspects caused him to grimace.
Turning his gaze aside after extracting, he and Borys resumed their hunt.
###
[Aspect: Metal-clawed bear gains 20 experience points!] x4
[Your aspect core - Metal-clawed bear leveled up! It gains +3 might and +3 toughness. +2 free attribute points.]
Four more panther kills later, Borys shivered and blossomed in size. As he feared, this thing would be gargantuan at higher levels. Perhaps it would even grow to be as big as its elite form, which, in hindsight, made perfect sense. A grin left his lips when he wondered what Lux’s elite form looked like.
He put both free points to its speed, just enough to shore up its biggest weakness.
Aspect - Metal clawed bear | Health : 28/28 | Mana : 0/0
Level: 2 | Next 150 xp
Rank: 1 | Max Level 5
Mana cost: 5 | slot cost: 1
Element: Normal | Affinity: Melee
Class: Bear | Type: Beast
-Attributes-
Free points: - (+2/level)
Might: 13 (+3/level)
Speed: 5
Magic: 0
Toughness: 11 (+3/level)
Resistance: 7
-Abilities-
The sun had set on the horizon, letting fingers of brilliant red breach the roofings of leaves and branches above. Theron’s party headed back toward the cave, planning to stay within the safe refuge until the morning. Again, the lack of illumination stopped his plans on progressing any further, and Theron couldn’t figure out a suitable method to peruse the ensuing blackness smothering the forest whole. His stomach rumbled at the sight of the cave, a staunch reminder of his unfulfilled needs, another problem he needed to solve.
His eyes scoured the treetops for edibles, be they fruits or mushrooms, yet all he saw was green slashed by the branches. The prospect of consuming raw meat turned him off yesterday, but once his hunger voiced its demands, he mellowed on that idea. Scratch it, Theron grumbled as he picked up a few dry leaves and a solid branch, then asked Borys to grab one of the tigers by its maw. He wished to serve it as bait for more hunting later.
Sitting within the cave, Theron’s body was drenched in sweat after hours of kindling a flame, only to be rewarded with a whimper of smoke. He sighed, defeated, then plopped his body on the mucky soil, disregarding the stench in favor of resting. “I’m hungry…” He muttered to himself, answered by a concerned nudge from his companion. The realm of sleep clouded his mind a few minutes later, yet, the voices outside snapped him awake.
The trill of a familiar creature echoed, breaking the serene night with its quavers. Theron peeked his head outside, noting the gleam bouncing off the bladed tail of a black panther. Those things again… Is the elite with it this time? Searching the darkness for additional movements, Theron found relief once he was certain nothing else lurked within the veil of forest out there. Borys exited the cave with careful steps, its eyes watching the panther’s bobbing silhouette when its brownish fur glinted under the moonlight. The sable panther jerked when the skulking figure of Borys meandered in its vicinity, growling. Unlike the tigers, this one showed no fear, brandishing its fangs in its stead.
Its tail twirled as it pranced toward Borys, calculating their distance. Theron watched from the abyss, eyes wide open, tracking its dancing blade as he held his breath. Two jabs pierced the air, each glancing at Borys’ thick fur. It snarled when it retracted its tail, vexed at its lack of might. Yet, its eyes showed no intention of backing off. Splotches of drool trickled from its quivering maw, a clear sign of its overwhelming hunger, a feeling Theron knew well. It tried again; blades of sharp air curled as it launched another set of attacks at the bear’s snout, only to be answered by its metal claws shielding its face. Clanks of steel rippled the air, the recoil shook its stance as it winced, and Borys took no time to abuse that opening.
Night heralded Borys’ first day in this screwed-up world.