Novels2Search

Chapter 5

Xane awoke on the beach. He had an odd sense of deja vu. His mind was much slower than it usually was. Where was- Yes he started to remember. He was stuck on an island, check. Tried to find a weapon to explore the jungle, the rapier was next to him, check. A water creature named Yug found him and took memories for his life. Another fat check. Xane took a moment to try and find what memories were taken. Being able to remember it all really help but there was a lot to get through. Deciding to instead he looked at the blinking light.

Your mind is heavily damaged. You are under the effect of Mind Melt stage 3.

Mind Melt: When someone takes enough psychic damage or exhausts themselves mentaly to the point of inhibition they go under the effect of Mind Melt. There are stages to Mind Melt.

Stage five: 99% loss to intelligence. Permanent -5 to intelligence.

Stage 4: 80% loss to intelligence. Permanent -3 to intelligence.

Stage 3: 60% loss to intelligence. Permanent -1 to intelligence.

Stage 2: 40% loss to intelligence.

Stage 1: 20% loss to intelligence.

Xane had lost 1 intelligence. It didn’t really hurt him stat wise but did hurt his pride. He was starting to like the numbers going up. It was fulfilling. It going down even one was really not cool. Xane moved on.

You have gained a boon. Boons come in many forms and vary in strength. Boons are part of the strength of those who give it so it isn’t given lightly.

Minor Boon of Yug:

Plus 5 to intelligence.

10% to movement speed while in water.

10% resistance to mental and psychic damage and affects received.

10% increase to mental and psychic damage dealt

What is the difference between mental and psychic? Again he wished he had more information. The lack thereof was starting to get to him. He had hopped to maybe ask Yug somethings after she took 2 of his most cherished memories. But he was now back on the beach near where he left his things before swimming out to the ship.

Looking out he couldn’t actually see the ship. It was odd he knew it was right there just before. He thought about swimming to it again but decided that it wasn’t the best idea. He could see seagulls circling like vultures. The fact they hadn’t attacked yet was odd, but he didn’t let that strand of luck go to waste.

Xane re-holstered his colt and grabbed his things rapier in hand. He did a couple practice swings feeling its weight. The rapier was much heavier than a foil but with his increased stats he knew it was no problem. He did a test and swung it against a coral. It sliced neatly into it. He knew though the real power was the thrust. To another thicker one he thrust forward with ease and pushed the entire thing down to the hilt.

A coral wasn’t the best test however Xane felt it worked. He was also able to quickly take out his colt whenever necessary. A few practice draws were done like he was a cowboy. Using his left to aim felt odd but he knew he could get used to it. He also was never the best with his left but he felt way better about it. He presumed that it was due to the dexterity stat.

Xane wanted to test his new weapon on something living but decided heading back and resting till the mind melt debuff went away. He was attacked by not one, not two, but six seagulls by the time he got back. It was easy work with his new rapier. Any attacking bird just got punctured or slashed through them. He also got good at picking up and throwing rocks at them. It was oddly a great ranged weapon if a bit unwieldy

In totall of purposefull kills and them straight up dive bombing without having to do anything Xane killed fifteen birds. It gave him negligible experience. It was, however, a good combat experience. He now kept a few rocks on him just in case. And also that holding it backwards looked dumb and was dumb.

Xane wasn’t physically tired when he got back to the ship. He wanted to head back out and hunt more seagulls but the sun was going down. He must have been down there much longer than he had hopped. Whatever Yug had done either took a while or he was passed out for hours. He decided the first option was probably correct since the seagulls were relentless in their assaults.

Xane hit the hay the moment he got to his bed. He didn’t even take off his still basically wet clothes.

Xane woke up and did his morning ritual of food and exercise. He did need to do slightly more than last time but in the end he got one to each physical stats as he was going to call them. He also found out something new. He had an energy drink afterwards and got buff.

Stamina Recovery:

You have increased recovery!

Time remaining 9:57 remaining.

It didn’t tell him how much it gave in recovery but he felt better. Felt spry. He decided to keep one in his bag for emergencies. He hasn’t really ever gotten too low on stamina but noticed that it naturally started to slow on replenishment as he got tired. Doing exercise made him tired faster but not by much.

Something that was starting to get worrying though was the amount of food he was having to eat. He had only really been here for a few days but his weeks of food stores were quickly dwindling. The food also just didn’t feel as nourishing as before. He didn’t want to but eating either the seagulls, boar or fishing was becoming more and more necessary. He decided boar was the better option. Xane never really cared for bird meat in the first place.

With his rapier in hand he needed to really test it. The rim of the jungle was a haunting place. If he strained his hearing he could hear a few muffled caws and chirps. Rustling of leaves and snapping of twigs. But he couldn’t see anything but the occasional bird. Xane was starting to hate birds.

Xane started using stealth as he methodically moved through the foliage and vines. Slashing through particularly tough sections. The vines felt stronger than the coral; it seemed impossible. Well impossible till he felt a tug on his right foot.

Xane was pulled directly upwards by his right foot as if he stepped into a snare. He banged his shoulder into a tree, the pain erupting a yelp. Xane almost dropped his blade but managed to hold on and desperately looked around. It was disortenting being upside down but he saw the vine gripping his leg. Xane slashed the blade whilst pulling himself up to reach. It was the correct choice but didn’t feel like it as he slammed into the ground hard.

Again he felt a pull as another vine wrapped around his arm. This time he was ready and slashed it with green ichor spurting out burning his bare arm. He realized that it was acidic. The ground sizzled as he saw more of the dark green ropes crawl towards him. He saw where the main batch came from and saw a mass of wiggling vines. A new prompt came up.

Vine Creeper:

Race: Plant

Level: 19

Basic Information: Vine Creepers are the bane of jungle dwellers. They are a trap based monster setting plant based detection and ensnaring traps. Their main body is a composite of vines and other plant matter holding in a ball of acidic substance. They use that acid to dissolve flesh and bone alike. Their vines are also holding small amounts of the acid. This monster, like most plant based ones, is susceptible to fire damage.

Xane was happier than ever to have that minor burn enchantment. The monster didn’t agree. A swarm of vines shot out. He couldn’t believe how many were coming for him. He dodge, rolled, slashed and was in turn burned by the acid, gouged by surprisingly sharp vines, and grabbed by many many vines. Xane couldn’t handle this much at once and soon was being pulled in.

Xane didn’t think that his colt would do anything to a creature like this and left it as is. He could tell that he was stronger than the thing even being much lower in levels. It was the fact that there were so many vines that he was having trouble. Xane struggled against the plant, managing to snap some of the acid dissolving his clothing more than his flesh.

He was mere feet away before he was able to yank free his sword arm and did a wide arcing slash cutting the majority of the vines. The ball of mass shrieked in a gurgling pain. Xane assumed that it couldn’t even make a noise but he was shocked. In a more literal sense he was as well as a sharp pain hit him.

Shocked:

You are under the effects of Shocked. This is a debilitating debuff.

You are slower to react and move.

Time Remaining: 4 seconds.

Four seconds didn’t seem like much but the vines were able to start wrapping him up again. He did notice that the ball did shrink as the vines came out of it as well as less went towards him.

This information with the fact that he didn’t at all want to be melted gave him strength to break free from the dwindling vines right in front of the monster. The shriek would have worked if Xane didn’t have the Boon from Yug. The few second difference gave him enough time to pull free.

The monster did however have one last defense mechanism that Xane felt the full brunt of standing right infront of it. The ball condenses a bit as a hole appears. A stream of acid was squished out as it condensed itself. Xane tried to dodge but a single vine made him fall to the ground. His health plummeted as the acid burned him and his clothes. Sizzling and screams could be heard throughout the jungle. The smell of chemical burns was overpowering.

Still Xane wasn’t dead. He was badly injured, his health below 30% but he didn’t take much damage in the first place, the vines doing minor cuts or blunt damage. He only went down 9% before the acid.

The Vine Creeper however didn’t fair well. It was highly diminished and was slowly pulling itself away. Xane rushed forward and cut it down. It didn’t even manage to fight back. Xane felt a rush of energy and a new notification.

Xane should have lost that fight. A creature even 6 levels higher than him should be a challenge. Something 12 levels higher would be impossible for a normal person. However with the help of his rapier and increased stats from his feats he was more of something akin to level 14. The creature really didn’t have a chance.

Through pain you shall succeed. Plus 1 to constitution.

Congratulations, after trials and tribulations you have leveled up! You are now level 9.

You have gained a level, as a human you gain 6 attribute points per level.

Small Arms Combat(common) Rank 1

From wielding daggers to a gladius you know how to use small blades. You have increased damage and swinging speed when it comes to small blades. This skill is slightly affected by dexterity.

He got two levels from that fight. He felt like he was on the cusp of level 8 in the first place so killing Vine Creeper got him at least a level and a partial. The euphoria quickly evaporated and he felt tired and in pain. He started to head out of the jungle in haste. The sounds of battle and the smell of blood probably brought in other creatures of the jungle. It didn’t take long to sprint out and only a boar attacked but was far too slow to catch him at a full sprint. It helped that as he ran he pushed all points into agility. Was it a rash idea probably but Xane wanted to live to fight another day.

After leaving the protection of the canopy, seagulls attacked. They seemed more and more ferocious as he killed them? Were they trying to get revenge or something? It seemed odd but he didn't care as they were easy except the occasional falling rock. Easy experience even though they didn't give much. It didn't take long but he made it to his ship and started to rest. His wounds healed over time and stamina replenished. He still hasn't used any mana so that was always full.

When he was replenishing he also started cultivating. He found that his wounds healed faster while doing so but he felt his experience wasn't going as fast. That changed after he was full. He spent the rest of the day cultivating till he felt nothing left in the ambient air and progression basically stopped. He didn't know that was possible but after rereading the description it said that it pulled from his surroundings and like a container of liquid he drank it dry. He managed to again go up a level doing so.

Congratulations! After trials and tribulations you have gained a level.

Xane didn't read the entire thing after seeing it a few times he could say it even without his perfect memory. He put 3 in constitution and 3 in wisdom since he felt that stat was lacking. If almost every creature here was higher level than him he needed those extra points in constitution to survive. If something with a similar attack like the acid spew then he was a goner.

Something more important than food was water, that of which he was running dangerously low on. He assumed that if there was boar and other animals then there was water. But first he was going to do a simple yet effective trick of using the sun that beat down on him constantly. There was barely a cloud in sight.

Xane loved watching mythbusters when he was younger and in one of them they made a water filter that used heat to evaporate the water and it collected on a see through material. As the water gathered it slid down the material and collected below. The best thing he had to that was saran wrap, not much but enough for something.

It took hours to create. All in all it looked bad but would work passively so he was fine with it. He did need to find a better solution as his needs grew. He still had power and was able to boil water if need be. Even that was sort of spotty. The lights flickered sometimes and other times just went out for minutes at a time. The solar panels just weren't working as well as before. Maybe they were damaged or didn't work as well here. Xane didn't really care; he had a generator too. As well as sails to sail with. The power was just extra.

With that done the light was setting and Xane decided to go to sleep. He didn’t need to sleep as long as before but didn’t dare venture around in the dark. He also just felt better sleeping so long. And he slept till the morning. He did notice over the days that the night and day cycle was more of a 28 cycle. There just were more hours in the day.

He again did his morning ritual gaining more physical attribute points. Again it took more work and he had to spend almost 2 hours today. He knew that soon he wouldn't be getting much for his time. What he needed was heavier objects. Maybe tie some rocks to my legs? Or a heavy backpack? He would put that to the test the next day. Today he would kill a boar.

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He put on his second to last pair of clothes and went out. “Hopefully this pair will last longer.” Xane said to empty air. He missed Von. Really he missed people. And as long as he didn’t get attacked by more acid attacks then this pair would last longer.

Xane both times saw the boars closer to the edges. It didn't mean that that is where they stayed but it was the best he had. Xane never watched survival shows or other media. The best was the same mythbuster episode, but Xane highly doubted a care package of chicken tenders will be dropped to him after catching a chicken. Xane went back into stealth not knowing if it was doing much but knew it was getting close to ranking up again with his constant use. That did beg the question of how it ranked up. Did it do so with pure practice or did he actually have to sneak by something. It went on the list.

Xane spotted a colorful small bird hop around another cyan blue bird. It was kind of cute. The colorful one just hopped around and made small chirping noises as the other one watched and sometimes chirped or bounced along with. Xane was partially mesmerized by the sight. That was until a much larger owl swooped in and snatched the cyan bird. The colorful one just flew away. Xane stopped watching bird mating rituals. Like that cyan bird he could have been too distracted watching something else to see the danger coming from behind. Again.

Xane tried to track. He knew the concept and didn't think it would be so hard. What print was boar or other animal. He remembered something about snapped plants but quickly stopped trying. It wasn’t for him. Really the easiest way would be to trounce around till he found one or it found him. If it was as difficult as the previous one it wouldn't be hard at all.

It took him an hour to find one. When he did he felt like he was on the cusp of rank 3 of sneak. His attack from stealth was just enough to push him over. He attacked by throwing a hard sharp rock like a throwing knife. Something he had never really done before but worked fine in this instance, his dexterity making up for skill. It took a while but he finally got a skill for something he thought he would have gotten ages ago. He was assuming at this point it didn’t exist.

Congratulations after practice and study you have ranked up a skill!

Sneak(Common) Rank 3

Gives you the ability to hide from others' sight. Attacks from hidden positions slightly increase damage. This skill is slightly affected by dexterity.

Congratulations you have gained a new skill!

Throwing(Common) Rank 1

From tossing rocks to spears of lighting. This skill increases your ability to do so. Increase damage and accuracy of thrown weapons. This skill is slightly affected by strength and dexterity.

He really didn’t know why it took so long. It even said rocks in the skills description. At this point he pushed it from his mind as the boar rushed towards him. With ease he jumped over the pig and jabbed into its hind quarters. The rapier went in as smoothly as cutting butter. The boar squealed with pain as it came to a stop and turned around. Again the dumb creature charged. This time he let it slam into his blade stretched out. With its speed and the sharpness of the blade the boar died the moment it pierced the brain.

Xane felt oddly bored by the fight. Even though the fight with the vine creeper was insane and life threatening it felt amazing. This dumb creature just rammed into a stretched out blade killing itself. But food and experience was food and experience. He took it and went home. He needed to store it somehow.

The thing was heavy. Even with the increase in stats he had to half drag it towards the ship. A line was formed in the sand. Getting it up on the boat was a difficult task. He got some rope and tied it to the boar and had to pull with all his high strength to get it up on board. He tried using a normal knife to cut into it. It kinda worked. Like a bit. Instead he just used his rapier cutting the pig in honks. He didn’t have much saran wrap left but used what was left to store the meat and put it into his fridge. Not all of it though. He was going to cook a leg.

Grabbing wood for a fire was the most boring thing he had done whilst being here. He didn’t have an axe but again his rapier did fine work with cutting branches off. Soone he had a blazing fire and shoved the honk of limb on a sharpened stick. That also gave him an idea to make throwing spears. It felt normal…ish, to be sitting at a fire cooking something up. His dad when he wasn’t busy would take him camping and would make the best foods whilst roughing it.

The memory made him sad. But also happy since that memory wasn’t one of the ones that Yug had taken. He still hadn’t found which ones were taken. The food, though slightly burnt due to reminiscing, was really good. He ate the entire leg feeling fuller than ever before.

He doused the fire. He felt great and with hours left in the day decided to head back in. He wanted to make it to the center where he saw that building. Again he started to sneak inside the jungle. Not needing to find a creature he just went in a straight line. Watching out for suspicious vines and snakes.

He ran into nothing on his path. Xane was happy since he wanted the experience but didn’t want to waste any meat. Also having to go all the way back would suck. It didn’t take too long with nothing in his way.

Xane came across the edge of the jungle as a wide open flat ground formed from it. A tower sat in the middle. It seemed to have exploded as the top half was gone. It looked like an old medieval tower. It was stone bricks spiraling up to the top. A large glass window was shattered near the middle. Expect the fact it had grand designs of gold and silver running up the sides. And on top of that the fact it had other smaller room sized towers floating and circling around it. Arcs of yellow lighting conducting between them as they get close to each other.

A large pool of water also sat a bit away from the tower. There were tons of animals coming and going from the pool of water. None attacked as they drank. Birds flew down taking drinks. Boars took their fill. And what Xane knew was the same large snake slithered from the water taking a glance at Xane before going into the trees. Xane shuddered. At least he knew where the water was and hopefully they wouldn’t attack if he went to take some. He would first boil it but having a larger source would come in handy. The problem was lack of containers; he had only a few plastic bottles and a single steel canteen.

Xane wondered why none of the animals went near the tower. He slowly walked towards it. Only a foot away he saw a large fly go towards it and just evaporate. Shocked, he scrambled back. Deciding to take it careful he tossed a stone and it harmlessly went through. He needed to test so he went back and found a beetle the size of his foot. He had seen a few whilst going through but didn’t think them a threat. Going back bug in hand he tossed it watching it pop. Looking harder he noticed a faint sheen of wiggling lines.

“Note to self don’t touch wiggly lines.” He noticed that the grass was also burning at its touch and felt bad for the beatle. But after throwing a handful of pulled grass he was confused as it did the same as the rock. Did it only work on “living” things? He was going to go with that. And that he killed the grass when he yanked it. Concentrating he did feel the smallest amount of experience when he did so it would have taken probably an entire acre of cutting grass to gain enough for just a quarter of his first level. Safer but didn’t feel worth it at all.

Xane decided to just watch the wall of lines and started to walk around hoping to find an entrance. If this had half the amount of stuff as the boat it would be worth getting into. That's when he noticed the body. It was a human-like body in robes and a very large and ostentatious hat. He couldn’t see a face or any real features but his arm was stretched out past the barrier.

His hand was sheared off and pure bone. The rest of him looked like he was sleeping but his hand had decayed long ago. It was a strange site indeed. He noticed that the hand and part of his arm had shiny bits on it. He grabbed each being careful of the barrier and inspected them.

Akiad’s Ring of Temporal Major Storage

This ring has the capability to store objects inside it. The storage is temporal space allowing things inside to decay slower than the outside. Nothing living can enter the ring. This ring specifically was created by and worn by Akiad the Grand. This ring was Akiad’s magnum opus when he graduated his class, winning awards for its creation and power. Although not the first in Averinth he was one of the first in his continent to make a temporal spatial storage. He had made a better one later using this one for status as people knew of its status. Man, I love objects with such rich history.

Akiad’s Ring of-----(Broken)

This ring has a shattered gem. This means it is broken and the properties can not be seen. This ring can be repaired by a suitable enchanter. Sucks for you it might have been cool or something.

Akiad’s Bracelet of----(Broken)

This incredible bracelet has….wait oops can’t say that. This bracelet has a splintered rune. This means it is broken and the properties can not be seen . This Bracelet can be repaired by a suitable runesmith.

One of the rings and bracelet being broken really sucked but if the first one could truly store items then it was worth the trip. If it really slowed decay then it would be the greatest thing he had. Xane would gladly trade half his stuff for even something half as good as that.

He put it on feeling nothing. As he stared at it he had an odd sense from it. It wanted something from him. His life force? It was odd as if he always knew this information but he had no memory of learning it. He cut his palm and let the blood land on the ring and instantly he knew how to use it. Again as if he always had that information but it was previously locked away.

He concentrated and could see the vast storage. To him it looked like a large warehouse full of shelves.. He knew where everything was and could pull it out with just a thought. That was that there really wasn’t much in there compared to the space in it. Just piles of coins. A dagger. Some extra pair of robes and what seemed like a sorta business suit. Some food that Xane didn’t know of. A single scroll and 3 book. There were some random bars of metals 12 in total, powders of different colors, weird tools. And lastly a note. The lengthy description did say that another was made. This ring's space was huge and he didn’t want to know how much bigger another one would be.

The note read as,

To my disciple,

To complete my path you need to do the rest alone so here is my old ring I made so long ago. I hope the objects inside do you well. Trying to do so many paths at once is a challenge that only practice and hard work will achieve. Go forth and create wonders.

Akiad

P.S: I have put in an already completed spell book to base off of or sell for more materials down the line.

This Akiad dude doesn’t sound so bad.

He decided to test with a rock yet again. He didn’t even need to use the hand that had the ring on it. All he had to do was touch it and think about putting it inside. It at first just chose a random shelf but with thought he made quadrants for things to go in instead. He really didn’t need to since he just knew where everything was but it just looked prettier. With relief he put both his gun and rapier in his ring. He tried quickly summoning both weapons to his hands and it was instantaneous. And with a mere thought they were away.

He wouldn’t tell anyone but he played with it for far too long. He also wouldn’t tell anyone that he took the hand as well. Shoving it deep into a corner he had for body parts and corpses. Xane really didn’t know why he did but had a weird feeling of wanting to loot everything since it might just maybe have a use later.

He also now had a great way to store food. Speaking of food, Xane tried some of it. He pulled out what looked like a pastry. It was fruity tasting, similar to an apple with a heavy tang. He had seen some fruits around but hadn’t tried them yet fearful of poison. With how good this tasted he changed his mind.

The next test he wanted to do was storing liquids. He tentatively walked to the water. The animals around it looked at him for only moments before going back to their business. Sticking his hand in the water he tried to draw in water. It didn’t work. Not a drop of water went inside. He thought of a new tact. Inside the ring he imagined a simple bucket and tried again. This time water flooded inside filling it. He made a much bigger tank and pulled in.

The water visibly shrank when he did so and the animals looked around fearfully. Some others a cat like one hissed. Xane decided to put most of it back. Only taking about 250 liters of it. It wasn’t visible that Xane was the one who had taken the water but it only happening when a strange being walked up to it he decided not trusting the animals to be that dumb. Xane believed that it would be enough for quite a while. It also took up a bit of space in the ring, not even anything to worry about, but a lot more than the other objects.

With ring on hand he went back into the jungle now wanting to kill more meat. No need to carry it back so why not go crazy. Xane was still way lower level than most of the beasts that wandered the jungle. He needed more levels. On his way back he didn’t use stealth and just let things attack him. This was valuable and also a mistake. He killed a total of 4 boars and a weird tiger-like thing. The boars were easy, the patent let them ram into a blade and worked well. He did injure his shoulder on a fairly big one but was fine enough.

It was good as well since he gained a new skill out of the fighting.

The tiger though was a huge problem and the fight didn’t pan out well. Xane had just stabbed into the before mentioned big boar his blade lodged in its head. Before Xane had a moment to pull it out something leaped upon him, dagger like teeth digging into his shoulder. The pain was unbearable as he was tackled to the ground and yanked around. Xane barely had the mind to pull out his colt and unload into the flank of the beast. Most were just flesh wounds as he couldn’t aim but a few dug deep into it forcing it to let go and back off.

A huge chunk of his health was gone but he was still still standing. Well he was covered in blood on the ground but was still alive. Xane saw his blade still in the boar and rolled towards it grabbing its hilt and yanking. As he did so he put the gun away, the six rounds expended. And he took out the dagger. He had looked over it earlier and it wasn’t too interesting.

Lesser Gleaming Iron Dagger:

This blade is made of iron and is enchanted with a glow enchantment casting a small amount of light. This blade is more effective against dark based creatures.

It glowing was very useless in this situation and he didn’t think that this cat was as it said dark based but a blade was a blade. He had an idea of the fighting style he wanted to go for. It was a combination of dual blades and his colt if he could get more ammo. The ring being able to swap them out at will made it viable.

Xane finally had a chance to see what he was up against and took it quickly reading.

Jungle Tiger:

Race: Feline

Level: 18

Jungle Tigers in their natural habitat are fearsome creatures. With the ability to smell prey from miles away and with fur that mimics surroundings they are natural predators. Those who go against them should be wary for even if they don't surprise them they still have high agility and a pounce skill to leap up to 30 feet when full grown. Long range is preferable when fighting.

If he had better long range he would use it but he didnt think that rocks would cut it. Before he could manage a proper response the tiger used its pounce skill launching at Xane. He barely got his blade up to block but the tiny thing wasn’t meant for that kinda thing as it was just knocked away barely deflecting the two claws bearing down on him. Huge gashes were opened across Xane’s chest as he was pushed down and back.

Xane rolled with the blow stumbling to his feet. Another 15% of his health was gone in one attack. He was now below 60% and the status of bleeding on top of that was ticking his health away. The attack wasn’t only one sided as Xane’s desperate maneuver to bring up his blade had sliced a claw off the cat, the pain making it stumble as it landed.

Xane didn’t waste the opportunity and pounced back slamming his rapier a foot into the beast and taking a slash with his new dagger across its shoulder hoping to slow it down. It did but not enough. A paw strike hit Xane and propelled him back but didn’t get the correct leverage to dice him. The rapier was pulled free from the blow, Xane holding on much better than when it was in the boar. Losing the weapon again wouldn’t do him any good.

His health ticked away from the bleed effect and Xane was feeling woozy. He had to finish the fight. Prepared he dodged under the next pounce and jabed his dagger across the stomach creating a huge gash in its belly blood soaking his clothes. This attack was deadly for the cat as it hit hard on the ground twisting the wrong way and slammed into a tree hard. Before it could get back up a rapier made its home in the tiger's skull. A few twitches the only fight it had left.

Congratulations! After trials and tribulations-

Xane ignored the rest and put 2 in agil, dex, and con. There was other notifications but he didn’t really care right now.

Xane quickly patched himself up with his old clothing, stopping the bleeding effect. He then gathered up the spoils, storing them in his ring. Xane then did the most sensible thing. He ran as fast as he could. That of which he was ever so slightly faster at with the increase in dexterity and agility.

Xane barely looked around while running, not wanting to trip in his weakened state. This was a mistake as he didn’t see the next attack coming. A blur from his left launched out a lengthy thick branch of a snake coiling towards him. Either his luck finally worked in his favor or the gods smiled upon him for he did indeed trip. His shoelaces of all things saved him as he face planted at high speed into the ground the moment the massive snake went right over his head.

Xane rolled to his feet looking at the snake. It had grown since he last saw it. If it was even the same one.

Boa Constrictor:

Level: 25

Basic information: Oh hot damn you are gonna die! This baby is 250 pounds of thick skin and even thicker muscles. With the strength to shatter a tree just by wrapping around it you don’t stand a chance if it gets a hold of you. With venom that can stop the pulse of even the healthiest of adventures you should really not let it bite you. This species has a decent stealth skill and patience to boot making it a great hunter. Your only saving grace is that it is real slow at chasing, preferring to strike from stealth.

Xane headed the words and just threw a larger rock he had gathered earlier and ran. The snake was confused at missing its target and was even more confused at having a head sized rock slam into its own head. The rock really didn’t do much but make it mad. It tried to coil and launch but wasn’t fast enough to catch Xane as he booked it for dear life.

He didn’t dare turn around to see if it gave chase but just hoped the prompt wasn’t lying to him. At least it never lied before. Xane was out of breath huffing for the first time in days when he got back. His stamina was bottoming out as he crashed to the deck. He thought after so many life threatening encounters he would get used to it. But he hadn’t. “I’m not made out for this.” Xane thought he would be fine not seeing or talking to anyone for a while but definitely was feeling the loneliness of it all.

Xane didn’t cultivate like he usually would before rest and just half crawled to his bed and slept for a few hours.