The sour stench of unwashed bodies mixed with burned cloth assaulted Kedryn’s senses as he, Riya, and Glade finally staggered through the entrance of their grotto. They had finally made it! Hours of gaming and months of military training hadn’t come close to preparing him for the nightmare they had just experienced.
Groaning in relief, the royal elf lowered himself to the ground. He couldn’t remember the last time it had felt so good to take the weight off his feet. It had taken them four long, intense hours of backtracking and a total of nine slime ambushes to make it to safety. Nine! Each of which had been a heart-stopping, life and death experience. Who knew slimes, the weakest of creatures in all the games he had ever played, could be so dangerous?
A loud clatter broke the relative silence, causing Kedryn to jump to his feet, a ball of flame instantly springing into existence in his outstretched hand.
“Apologies,” Riya said quickly, bending down to pick up the metal carapace she had been carrying.
“It’s ok,” A gruff voice responded from the relative darkness. Major Glade was moving methodically through their cave. “I doubt there is much in the immediate area that could have heard you. Feel free to rest. You both deserve it.”
Kedryn wished he could sound like that. Solid and steady, with a hint of kindness. Maybe he should say something too? Riya looked like she could use the reassurance. But no matter how hard he wracked his brain, his mind came up empty. Maybe a pat on the arm would help?
“You are too kind, Captain Glade, but I would like to check on the Matriarch before I meditate,” Riya responded, her voice heavy with exhaustion.
Kedryn watched as the beautiful elf walked over to the large turtle, picking one of the brightly glowing mushrooms along the way. He knew he was staring but was too tired to think of anything else to do. She really was a stunning woman in more ways than looks alone could account for. She was intelligent, brave, and voiced her opinions with equal amounts of respect and no-nonsense. Everything his father had told him to look for in women. Not that he trusted his father to have his only son’s best interests at heart.
Still, he liked Riya, and was certain she would have liked him in return by now if he hadn’t screwed up. He didn’t blame Captain Glade in the slightest for calling him out. He had been treating this experience like a game. But he had to wonder if he could have had a few more days with her, maybe she would have opened up to him. At least, that’s how it worked in most games, wasn’t it? The hot elf girl was always the one to fall in love with the hero.
He smiled to himself, imagining that very scenario. Yes, the setback of his initial impression with Riya was going to be a challenge, but this was just the beginning of his story. Afterall, heroes had to start somewhere.
Kedryn continued to watch as Riya coaxed the Fen Turtle Matriarch out of its shell by humming a hauntingly beautiful melody. When its head finally emerged, she held out the mushroom for the turtle to eat. The reptile looked a great deal healthier than it had before. He was glad about that, but still wondered how much XP he would have gotten for it.
Riya glanced up from feeding the turtle and locked her eyes to his.
Kedryn’s stomach lurched the moment he realized he had been caught and quickly looked away, his face burning with embarrassment. As if his earlier mistake in acting like a royal elf wasn’t bad enough, now he’d been caught staring!
Screaming internally at his own incompetence, Kedryn shifted his gaze as nonchalantly as possible to his commanding officer. Glade was still inspecting every inch of their cave, metal carapace ready in his hands in case of another slime ambush.
Again, Kedryn groaned internally. He should have thought to do something like that instead of just sitting in the dirt, resting. But he hadn’t. Which meant if he tried to help now, he would look even more ridiculous!
That, and the thought of picking up his own assigned piece of carapace kept him from moving. That thing was heavy!
Their success at having beaten the nigh indestructible slimes was more because of the strange properties of the Magma Beetle metal than anything else. Kedryn could still hear the splat when Glade had first thrown himself between them and the oncoming slime, smacking the airborne ooze with the silvery metal like Aaron Judge from the Yankees.
But instead of knocking the slime down the tunnel, it had splattered along the outside of the metal carapace. It was then they discovered that slimes became immobile once they made contact with the star silver alloy.
They still didn’t know why the metal paralyzed the slimes, but they weren’t going to complain. It took two more attacks for the group to develop a solid defense using the pieces of the star silver carapace. Riya had even been the one to suggest they walk back-to-back, forming a loose triangle. That way, they had a full range of coverage.
That’s not to say it had been easy.
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The whole process was much harder than Glade made it look. It all came down to seeing the warning signs before the attack. A reflection of light or ripple of water were their only warnings before the slimes launched themselves at them. He still couldn’t believe how far they could throw themselves! But even if they had the luxury of spotting the slimes before their ambush, it didn’t mean they knew who slimes were targeting. The misses had been costly.
An involuntary shudder ran though him as he glanced at Captain Glade’s back. Two large holes exposed the officer’s newly healed skin, the fabric a poor barrier against the slimes acidic attack.
Fortunately for them, Kedryn had been close enough to fry the slimes before they had caused too much damage. Unfortunately, his intervention had the unintended side effect of causing significant burn damage.
The group had no idea how they had managed to avoid the slimes on their trip out. Riya had speculated it had to something to do with aura disruption, whatever that meant. Still, her explanation sounded like she knew what she was talking about.
Kedryn closed his eyes and leaned his head against the damp rock wall of their cave. The last 24 hours had blurred together. Their current circumstances were far from ideal, and based on his experience, this entire situation just didn’t add up. They had little in the way of actual weapons and armor. The location they were in was most definitely not a starting area, making any kind of grinding next to impossible.
Then there was the fact they seemed to have spawned in the middle of a dungeon, without access to a town or market. A death sentence for any gamer. None of this added up. Why had the Adjudicators placed them here of all places?
Kedryn sighed, realizing his mind had taken off down a path he had no answers for. Putting them out his mind for the moment, Kedryn pulled up his status screen and focused on something he knew would bring him a smile. There were notifications to read!
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Concealment! The art of concealing yourself in plain sight is a vital skill for both hunters and hunted. Which are you? You now understand the basics of how to use the terrain around you to hide. Due to your race, you gain an additional percentage point per skill level: +2% concealment per level. +2% chance to identify suitable terrain.
Congratulations! Through your hard work and diligence, you have achieved skill level 2 in Concealment! Total +4% to concealment; +4% chance to identify suitable terrain.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill Perception! Traps, treasure, and other secrets are now yours to discover! Be wary as some things are meant to remain lost. Due to your race, you gain an additional percentage point per skill level: +2% to perception.
Congratulations! Through your hard work and diligence, you have achieved skill levels 2 and 3 in Perception! Total +6% to perception.
Kedryn smiled. During the long trek, the group had to rest several times to replenish both their stamina and mana. Each time he had deliberately tried to blend into the environment, which had most definitely paid off.
His smile quickly soured. The truth was, he was the one doing most of the resting out of their group. His stamina had bottomed out far too quickly, resulting the others playing guard as he rested. He didn’t like being the weak link, but seeing as his endurance was a measly 9 there was little he could do until he allocated his stat points.
The perception skill was easy to understand, seeing as those slimes had been hard to spot!
Congratulations! Through your hard work and diligence, you have achieved skill level 3 in Fire Magic!
Kedryn’s smile returned in full force. He may not have been able to keep up with Glade, or even Riya, stamina wise, but he was gaining skill levels at impressive speeds! Thank you, Passionate Growth!
You have defeated a level 2 Slime (x3) and have been awarded 60 experience.
You have defeated a level 3 Slime (x4) and have been awarded 120 experience.
The XP was low for nearly indestructible monsters, but at least they gave some great loot!
You have discovered 7 x pure mana shards! Increase your Natural Lore skill to learn more.
Size: Unknown
Purity: Unknown
Charges: Unknown
Value: Unknown
He couldn’t see the details on the prompt yet, but Riya had explained the shards were a mix between fragment and diminutive in size, which meant they had anywhere between 1-10 points of pure mana within each one. She didn’t know the purity of the shards, but she had been beyond ecstatic when they had found them. According to her, pure mana shards were extremely rare and were highly sought after.
The shards were a tenth the size of the red one that came from the large magma beetle, taking them precious minutes to locate and dig them out of the remains. It agitated Glade every time he and Riya had taken the time to look for the shards. Which was great! Apparently, Riya was just as intense about loot as he was.
What was even better, if his math was right, and from his experience it always was, he now had enough XP to level! Kedryn excitedly opened the next prompt.
Congratulations! You are now level 2! Through hard work and sacrifice you have advanced along your path. Let the knowledge of who you are and what you stand for guide you throughout your journey.
As a Royal Elf you gain one attribute point in dexterity, intelligence, and charisma, with an additional three to allocate at your discretion.
Points remaining to allocate: 6.
Kedryn’s smile doubled in size. He had attribute points to spend!