Uther continued searching the jungle for prey to hunt and test himself. During that time, he worked on informing Damemnos on the basics of his profession. The next thing he discussed was how to track. “You need to rely on all your senses,” he said to the kraken. “Let’s start first with sight.” He then stopped at an area where four thorn-laiden bushes were lined up across from them. “Tell me, what do you see?”
Damemnos squinted his one large red eye at the bushes before them. “I see..leaves, thorns, and berries.”
“Good. Any differences between the bushes?”
The tips of the kraken’s tentacles wiggled slightly as he re-examined the bushes. Eventually, he had an answer, “The two on the right appear partially damaged.”
“Correct,” Uther said, like a school teacher then pointed at the affected area. “In between these two bushes, there is a gap that’s wider than the other ones. You can also see where most of the leaves have been damaged and many of their branches are broken too.”
Damemnos nodded intently.
“Next, take a look at the ground here,” Uther pointed to the wet dirt between the bushes. “You see these two parallel sets of indents?”
“Indeed,” Damemnos answered.
“These are tracks, and judging by how recent the bushes appear to have been damaged with the broken branches still having green leaves, the tracks are relatively fresh too,” Uther said. “Whatever creature went through these bushes has to be rather durable too as there is no blood on any of the sharp thorns,” he explained.
“That makes sense, Uther,” Damemnos said excitedly. “What type of creature do you think went through here?”
“Hmm, I have a hunch, but let’s see if we can find out if it’s correct or not,” he said, then climbed up a nearby tree to go over the prickly bushes. It didn’t take them long to find their quarry. It was not quiet.
As they neared, they could hear the sounds of plants being knocked down and the telltale cracks of branches breaking. Damemnos tapped him on the shoulder, and Uther gave a warm smile when he saw the young kraken put a tentacle by his face and go, “Shh.” The kraken was learning. That was good.
Uther stealthed over to a nearby tree and looked around to see what he had thought, one-hundred feet away from him was a bug. The small, almost square-shapped tracks appeared insectile to him, and the creature before him was clearly the culprit. It was a massive beetle, standing about three feet tall on six legs that ended in small, sharp blocks. Its shell was a mix of black and green and looked to be completely unblemished. The most notable thing was its head. On its head were two large, slightly curved horns, one where its nose would be and the other on the very top of its head.
The gigantic insect was in a grassy clearing that surrounded a solitary tree that was covered in dark purple bark. The beetle was promptly munching on said bark, its large mandibles crunched loudly as it chewed on a mouthful. Uther could see multiple orange divets pockmarking the purple bark, clear evidence that the bug had already done some damage to the plant.
Eye of the Kraken.
Name: Heracles Beetle
Tier: 0.5
Race: Beast Type: Insect
Pact Status: None
Pools & Resistances
Health: 300/300
Mana: 50/50
Stamina: 250/250
Your eye has revealed to you the truth of this being. Heracles Beetles are abnormally large insects that have evolved to sacrifice their ability to fly in exchange for a top outer carapace harder than steel. It is because of that evolution, that the beetles are not very quick creatures. Despite their lack of speed, their size and durability are so remarkable that only the cleverest of predators are a threat to them. Simple-minded and tough, they use their strengths to their advantage and engage their foes head-on
Uther’s eyes widened slightly as he absorbed the information his skill gave him. Tier 0.5 beasts were no joke. While Tier 0 and 0.25 opponents were lethal opponents, Uther had dealt with countless numbers of them while with the Fettore. Tier 0.75 had almost always required multiple Fettore to handle. For Tier 0.5, Uther had handled them on his own in the past. However, they were seriously tough opponents.
For most of them that he had hunted or took a bounty on, the doomed had prepared with a strategy as to how to find them, their habits, and how to take them down. He would also have a plethora of specific items such as health and stamina potions for safety precautions. To suddenly have a Tier 0.5 creature less than one-hundred feet from him without a plan or emergency items, it made Uther feel a bit uneasy.
The hunter moved back behind the tree he was using for cover before the beetle could notice him. He closed his eyes and exhaled through his nostrils. He thought about leaving the large beetle alone and finding another target.
“We are out of sight and have made it up on the creature quietly, Uther. What do we do next?” Damemnos asked, keeping to a whisper.
Uther looked over to the innocent little creature and was reminded of the promise he’d made, the pact they’d formed. He promised to keep Damemnos safe. Though he’d prefer to have an in-depth plan first, he could do this. He needed to do this, to push himself to become stronger. That’s what he’d argued for in the first place. Uther couldn’t take hours to make a precise plan of attack, but he could still come up with a good strategy. Locking eyes with the kraken, something came to mind to the doomed.
“Next, we find its weakness,” Uther answered Damemnos’s question. He then pulled up the information on it that Eye of the Kraken had brought up and shared the info to Damemnos via their pact.
“Hmm, the information states the insect is slow. We could keep our distance and you can attack it with your spells,” Damemnos suggested.
“That’s a very smart idea, but I don’t know how viable it is right now. Ebyssian Grasp has a range of twenty-five feet while Mind Spike has a range of forty-five feet. While that’s good, I don’t know how well they will allow us to keep our distance enough in this dense jungle,” Uther said. “From what I’ve learned so far, Eye of the Kraken is subtle. It will give slight hints as to how we can defeat our opponents.” He thought about the description of the beetle the skill had given him.
It said the top outer carapace was harder than steel, but what about its underbelly? He thought. That’s when an idea came up. “Okay, next lesson,” he whispered. “Sometimes when an opponent has an overwhelming strength, sometimes that is covering for a significant weakness.” Then, without ceremony, he rushed out and activated Airborne Polearm Precision, hurling his hefty trident at the beetle. The outer carapace of the beetle showed its worth as the trident struck it with a “ting” sound of metal on metal.
The trident bounced off the beetle and landed on the grass nearby it. The Heracles Beetle let out a harsh squeal followed a series of angry clicks as it turned to regard Uther. They locked eyes for a moment before it charged the hunter, its two horns ready to impale him.
Uther summoned his trident back to his hand, and it teleported to his palm. He activated Mark Prey then lowered his weapon, baiting the beetle to come in closer. Once it got within range, he cast Mind Spike.
The simple-minded bug could not resist the power of the mental-focused eldritch spell and succumbed to the secondary effect. It let out a grunt as its body went rigid mid-charge like it had been frozen in time.
Not wasting time, Uther casted Ebyssian Grasp, only this time a little differently. From directly under the beetle, a thick black tentacle surged upward, striking the stunned creature on its underside and knocking it on its back. Uther ran forward and leaped into the air with his trident at the ready. The weapon easily bit into the beetle’s belly a mix of blood and thick green ichor oozed out of its wound.
This time, it let out a shrill cry of pain.
Uther winced as he was literally struck by the force of that cry and was knocked off the bug, taking his weapon with him. He rolled on the ground and stood as both a headache and a notification suddenly hit him.
You have been stuck by a Heracles Beetle’s Desperate Screech Ability.
Desperate Screech forces all things hostile within five feet of the user to be forced back until they’re ten feet away. All spellforms within that radius are dispelled.
Your will resists the urge to flee.
Uther grit his teeth. He was glad he resisted whatever fear-inducing effect the screech had, but he was in a bit more of a predicament than he intended. The Heracles Beetle flipped itself back on its feet and was staring straight at the doomed. Its mandibles clicked angrily as blood and ichor continued to flow from its abdominal wound. It was much closer to Uther, and it was pissed!
Uther readied his trident though. The bug hadn’t been killed like he had hoped, but it was clear that it was seriously injured.
“What do we do now, Uther?” Damemnos asked.
“We finish it,” he answered.
The beetle charged again letting out a battle cry.
The hunter recognized that the attack was purely out of desperation, and while he still didn’t have access to the Ebyssian Grasp, Mind Spike was at the ready. He casted the spell once again.
The beetle grunted in pain, but resisted the chance to stun this time. Still, it caused a minor hesitation which allowed the doomed to move out of the way of the incoming charge. The beetle thrashed through some vines angrily, and it turned about to glower at the hunter.
Uther gave a smirk in reply. Ebyssian Grasp was off cooldown. Just as the bug started to charge once more, he conjured the spell again. With his mind, he guided the tentacle to wrap around the beetle’s body instead of just bluntly slamming into.
It’s momentum was halted, and it began to flail about trying to slash at the spell form with its horns.
Before it could succeed in that endeavor, Uther directed the tentacle to pull back, keeping the beetle on its side. It was no longer on its back, but its large would was exposed. Uther nearly activated Thrust of Gungnir on instinct, but upon feeling the weight of his trident and Damemnos squirming on his shoulder, he was reminded that was no longer possible. So, like before, he charged forward, leaped and pierced the beetles soft underbelly.
There was a loud squelch as the trident passed easily into the already open wound and pierced various organs. More of its lifeblood and ichor burst out from there permeating the humid jungle air with a foul odor. The beetle gave a harsh grunt before its body went limp.
Tier 0.5 Heracles Beetle defeated!
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
You gain 285 Experience (300-15 experience sent to your patron)
Experience to next level 50/800
Level Up!
You’ve reached Level 4! (Experience to next level: 170/400)
As a doomed, you gain 1 in Agility, 1 in Discernment, 1 in Dexterity, 1 in Perception, 1 in Will, and 1 in Luck.
As an Occultist, you gain 5 in Intellect, 2 in Discernment, and 2 in Will
As a Hunter, you gain 3 in Perception and 3 in Fortitude
Sanguine Progenitor Activated
-Heracles Beetle (+1 Strength, +1 Vitality)
Eldritch Magic has reached Level 4!
Uther couldn’t help but chuckle a little. He didn’t know how fast pact-wielders progressed, but he had a feeling it wasn’t this fast. Is it because we’re fighting so often, because this place is so dangerous, or both? He thought.
“I see now what you meant, Uther,” the small kraken said, his cadence of speaking now becoming fast familiar to the hunter.
“Yep,” the doomed said as he yanked out the trident. The blood and ichor dripping off it was quickly absorbed in a matter of seconds. Uther directed the tentacled to force the beetle on its back before the spellform dissipated. “When the description talked about how durable its outer top carapace was, I figured that the bottom was where it was weak,” he explained. “I was surprised that it had that Desperate Screech ability though. I should’ve figured it had some kind of mana-based skill since it had a mana pool of fifty.”
Uther thought about trying to harvest the thick outer chitin, but he had no way to store it, and it was much too large and heavy for him to carry throughout the jungle. So, he left the beetle, letting the jungle reclaim it in due time. One thing that had caught his eye however, was the strange tree the beetle was munching on. He walked towards it, and as he neared, the smell of citrus grew stronger. He quickly realized it was coming from the tree itself and used Eye of the Kraken once more.
Name: Ripelayer Tree
Tier: 0
Race: Plant Type: Tree
Pact Status: None
Pools & Resistances
Health: 150/150
Mana: 0/0
Stamina: 0/0
Your eye has revealed to you the truth of this being. Ripelayer trees are one of the most treasured plants in all of the Okar Jungle. Instead of producing fruit from its branches, the stalk forms a thick outer layer of juicy fruit all around it, essentially making the plant both a tree and a large fruit at the same time. The center of the tree is covered in thorns and is considered the true tree. So, even if all the fruity outer layer is consumed, predators are deterred from destroying the plant altogether.
“Interesting,” Uther said then his body promptly let out a large growl. Due to the craziness, novelty, and danger of the situation he’d been thrust upon, the doomed hadn’t eaten since before the Fettore Ship had made port back in the Nilelands Empire. Deciding to make the most of this opportunity, he walked over and dug hishand in one of the open wounds of the purple bark. He reached in, grabbed a handful of juicy fruit, ripped it out, and shoved it in his mouth.
Uther had never had ripelayer fruit before. It was somewhat a cross between an orange and a cherry. It was amazing! Uther let out a child-like smile and began shoveling handfuls into his mouth making him moan with joy.
That’s when his companion spoke up, “Um, Uther?” Damemnos asked warily.
“Oh, sorry,” he said as he wiped a layer of juice off his mouth with his forearm. “You want some?” He asked, offering a handful to the small kraken.
Damemnos wriggled his tentacles up and down nervously. “What is it?”
“It’s a fruit. It’s food.”
The small kraken didn’t look convinced. “My mother fed us fish, crustaceons, shellfish, seaweed, and sea cucumber. Do you have any of those?”
“There might be some fish in the river, but I don’t have a pole or net. So, that might be hard. Just think of this as like as like a land version of a sea cucumber.” Just then, a notification appeared in Uther’s vision.
Buff Gained!
You have eaten a ripelayer fruit.
You gain: +10% Stamina Regeneration for the next hour, +10% Health Regeneration for the next hour. +10 Temporary Health for the next hour
After seeing the buff, his smile grew even wider. “I just got some temporary buffs from it too. Now, you have to try it, Damemnos,” he said excitedly.
“If you say so. I trust you, Uther,” the small kraken said then took the proferred fruit and shoved it into his mouth underneath his tentacles and hidden from sight. Damemnos did loudly smack though. His already large one eye widened in surprise. “This is..quite delicious! Thank you!”
“You got it,” Uther replied. Then, the two ate their fill of ripelayer fruit. The buffs didn’t stack unfortunately, but it did refresh with every new time they ate more. Damemnos, to Uther’s surprise, ate voraciously. The small kraken appeared ravenous with how much he consumed of the tree. Once their appetites were both sated, They decided to look for more things to hunt, Uther continuing to train his patron about his profession.
Uther made sure to not stray too far from the river since that was their best bet to eventually getting to the coast. He was still able to find plenty of beasts to hunt. The first thing he and Damemnos found was a group of about ten small monkeys with a mix of yellow and bright green fur. They were called Toxic Tossers and were very annoying. As their name suggested, they threw something toxic. Specifically, they threw their shit. It wasn’t just ordinary fecal matter either. No, it was acidic.
One of them got the jump on the hunter and hit his leather armor with some thrown feces. It nearly burnt a hole through the cuirass had he not rushed over to the river and splashed water on it. Both he and Damemnos could hear the tossers cackling in the trees behind them. The small monkeys were fast, and Uther had difficulty closing the distance with them due to their size, speed, and that they were high up in the trees.
They weren’t very durable, and one hit with either his thrown trident or a Mind Spike would kill them, making them explode into bloody bits. Despite that, he wanted to use Sanguine Progenitor again though. He eventually came up with an idea, imparting on Damemnos another lesson, “If you want to fight close up, and they won’t come to you, change the environment to make them,” he said before throwing his trident once more. This time, instead of targeting a Toxic Tosser directly, he threw it at the thin branch it was standing on.
The monkey gave out a surprise cry of fear as it fell. Uther was already running towards it before it hit the ground. He summoned his trident to his hand once more, and just as the tosser’s back slammed into the dirt, he rammed his weapon through its body impaling it. Some more tossers screamed in anger and began hurling acidic feces with abandon at Uther. Damemnos was able to see it and warn the hunter in time. So, he raised his weapon and used the dead monkey’s body as a shield taking the hits for him.
Once the initial anger wore off, the tossers realized they were no match and quickly scurried away across the tree tops. Tired of the annoying little monkeys and satisfied that he had been able to use Sanguine Progenitor once more, Uther didn’t pursue. His next opponent nearly caught him by surprise.
He was walking back to the river to clean off any gore and remaining fecal matter off his equipment. As he neared, Damemnos put a tentacle on his face, “Stop, Uther.”
“What is it?” The hunter asked. He could tell that the kraken was tense despite the small monster’s disembodied voice.
“Look down to the water below,” he said, whispering.
Uther looked down and saw a shallow pool of water with sand and rocks. Then he noticed that some of the rocks were a little more prominent than the others. As he continued to look, his right eye picked up on a pattern. If you looked carefully enough, you could see a circle of larger stones, most of them were brown, but some were a distinct white like a tooth. Acting on instinct, Uther took a step back, raised his trident, and thrusted it into the water and into the sand.
Sure enough, it hit something firm. Uther watched as the concentric row of “stones” shook all at once then went lax, the same time as the tension was gone from his weapon. Uther raised up his weapon which was notably heavier than before to reveal an ugly brown fish with milky white eyes impaled on it through its disproportionately large mouth. Sanguine Progenitor activated once again informing Uther that he’d killed a Lurking Mawfish.
“Thank you,” he said to Damemnos.
The kraken wriggled his tentacles side-to-side happily. “Of course. I promised I would keep an eye out for any potential threats.”
“Still, thank you. I didn’t have any fish before, but if you’re still hungry,” he said and offered the impromptu fish kabob.
To Uther’s surprise, Damemnos wrapped his tentacles around the trident and began consuming the mawfish like a parched man to water in a desert. In just under three seconds, the kraken had consumed the entire fish and let out a prompt burp.
“The fruit was good, but that was much better! My thanks, Uther.”
Uther gave a small chuckle, “No problem.” Another notification came up in his vision.
Your offering has pleased your patron.
+100 Significance
Uther still had no clue what Significance truly meant, and neither did Damemnos. When questioned about it, the kraken just shrugged and said he didn’t try to give any Significance, so he’s not sure how Uther got any. Damemnos did say that he would happily take more fish to test out and see if that led to a direct correlation.
Uther rolled his eyes goodnaturedly and said he would see the next time they caught a fish. Since gaining Significance didn’t seem like a bad thing from what Uther could tell, he put it to the back of his mind. After cleaning off his equipment in the now safe shallow river bank. He resumed hunting. Hunting remained eventful, but there were no other close encounters like with the beetle.
They found some deer tracks and followed them with Uther teaching Damemnos about moving quietly and gently placing feet, or in the kraken’s case tentacles, from back to tip. The found a small brown deer only reaching knee height with white spots grazing on a bed of grass in a small clearing. It had a a foot-long blunt horn extending from the center of its forehead. Uther readied his trident to attack, but a pair of raptors surged out from the other side of the clearing, flanking the cervid from either side.
Uther expected the beast to run, but it instead readied itself for violence. It turned and mule kicked one of the raptors with its back hooves then rammed its blunt horn into the abdomen of the other. Both raptors were knocked back, and the deer charged at the one in front of it. Both Uther and Damemnos let out a subtle gasp as they saw the deer’s mouth open revealing not only blunt teeth, but several large sharp ones too.
The deer bit into the raptor’s throat and ripped it open with a bloody squelch, killing it instantly. The other raptor hopped back on its feet, and the deer turned to face it. The cervid growled and bared its bloody teeth, still holding the other raptor’s throat in its mouth. The remaining raptor hissed and looked to move at the cervid before realizing what had happened. No longer having the numbers advantage, it let out a scared cry before turning tail and running back into the jungle.
Impressed by the deer, Uther used Eye of the Kraken on it. It was called a Bone Antelope, and it fortunately had no mana to speak of, meaning it hopefully shouldn’t have a surprise ability like the beetle. The description said their three biggest advantages were that they were prolific breeders, they were omnivorous, and they were extremely hostile to all other creatures.
Fortunately for Uther, it didn’t seem to have any ranged capabilities or abnormally tough hide. So, a combination of Mark Prey, Ebyssian Grasp, Mind Spike, and his trident made quick work of the beast. After that, he continued his hunt well into the day. He was able to level, use Sanguine Progenitor repeatedly, and improved his skills and abilities. He had taken out a firefly lemur, mossback slothling, and a fireclaw toucan along with a couple other creatures. The most annoying thing he fought was something called an Iron Fowl. Despite that, from all his fights, Uther tried his best to learn more about his new powers.
He learned that not always pure strength could overpower his Ebyssian Grasp spell from when the mossback slothling slipped through the tentacle’s grip. He discovered that the Mind Spike could be dodged such as with the firefly lemur. Uther also learned that the magic tentacle could indeed be destroyed as evidenced from the fireclaw toucan. Possibly the most important bit of insight was gained from hunting the Iron Fowl.
The damn bird was more annoying than a threat. The plump grey bird stood up high on a tall tree with very thick branches. It somehow shot out its feathers at the hunter like arrows. As the bird’s name suggests, the feathers were as dense as iron. So, while they didn’t pierce his skin or break through his armor, they still hurt. Uther tried to hit it with Mind Spike but it dodged out of the way. The branch it stood on was also too thick for his trident to break through like with the Toxic Tossers. To add insult to injury, the fowl would gobble like a turkey in what seemed to be laughter after Uther would get hit by a feather or failed to strike it in kind.
Uther really didn’t like the Iron Fowl. So, while he would admit it would be best to ignore it and move along, his hunter’s pride didn’t allow him to be mocked by the cocky fat bird. The fowl was out of range foir his Ebyssian Grasp, so Uther decided to close the distance. He began climbing the tree. The fowl continued to pester him with its feathers, but he hopped around to dodge. Uther also had Damemnos hid under his cloak to protect the small kraken.
Uther gave a predatory grin to the fowl as he continued to get closer. That did seem to disturb the fowl some based off it gobbling nervously like a turkey. It decided to change tactics after that. When Uther raised one hand to climb up higher, the fowl struck his other one with its feather. Uther let out a cry of surprise as he now didn’t have any grip. Damemnos really showed his value at that point. Before Uther could fall, the kraken shot its tentacles out and grabbed the tree.
Uther thanked his patron before scowling at the fowl.
The bird shuttered and began flinging feathers at the hunter with reckless abandon. Uther groaned under the constant assault. He wasn’t getting any serious damage, but he knew there would be some bruises. Feeling that he was close enough, he reached out to cast Ebyssian Grasp. Only then did Uther realize that there was no ground to summon the tentacle from. He didn’t know if it would work, but he didn’t have much time to think about it under the constant assault. So, he activated it once more, “Ebyssian Grasp.”
A large black tentacle appeared from the branch right beside the bird.
The fowl’s eyes went comically wide. Before it could do anything else, Uther directed the tentacle to seize it. The fowl shook and flailed, but couldn’t break free of the tentacle’s grip.
Uther couldn’t help but feel a sense of ironic justice. The bird liked throwing things at Uther. Now, Uther was going to throw it instead. The doomed mentally commanded the tentacle to throw the fowl at him, and he summoned his trident with his free hand. Eye of the Kraken had informed Uther that the fowl was flightless, but it still flapped its wings in desperation as it soared toward the hunter. It didn’t help.
With ease, Uther thrusted the trident forward and stabbed straight into the fowl, killing it on the spot. Uther’s body pulsed once as Sanguine Progenitor activated once more, giving him another point in both Strength and Vitality. Some hunts were just more satisfying.