Jeff slept for the first time in two days. As restless as he felt, with thoughts of his kids, his wife, and of his own survival, rest still took him quickly. Dreams took him soon after.

—-------

Hrashtel looked down at the axe embedded in the beast's skull. Her Spore brought up the familiar screen and she accepted the rewards. She waited for the Myst to do it's work. The familiar weight of the axe, no longer supported by the monster's dissolving body, fell into her grasp.

She looked at the battlefield around her. Hundreds of fellow Army Adepts squared off against various monstrosities. The telltale haze of Myst rewards obscured her view slightly.

She rushed to join the rest of her squad. A figure dove out of the air and landed atop her leafy hair.

"If you keep lagging behind there won't be any more monsters for you to fight." The usual banter came from above her. Plittlo was a small bird-like creature called an avianth and an Adept Scout just like herself.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to branch off like that." Hrashtel said with a smile. The avianth groaned at the pun. "I tried to leaf, but I was rooted by fighting that beast."

Plittlo flapped his wings at her head in disgust. His Tier 3 Body made the small flaps hit with enough force to rock her off balance. Hrashtel's long root feet made it hard for her to stumble. However, she did sway at the gusts her friend produced.

"I swear there has to be a pun Myst Connection for you to make. You could kill all the monsters here with a few sentences." Plittlo said from above then targeted their next foe.

Hrashtel smiled at that, "I just worry about collateral damage. That's why I need to help you get a pun resistance ability first."

The Avian didn't respond. He had switched to serious mode now that their monster target was close. He hopped off her canopy of green hair and flew in a large arc. He would soon divebomb the beast.

Hrashtel did not want to let him get there first. She brought her large axe up over her head and with her strength and might she Split the air.

The Split she created continued on in a chain reaction swiftly moving toward the beast. As though the splitting force of the axe moved through the displaced air like a missle. The devastating force struck the beast and parted its head in two as though her axe had struck point blank. She had killed the large monster from 80 meters away with a simple axe swing.

—------

Jeff knelt near one end of his tent and began to roll it up. He stashed his stuff in a small crevasse near the golden Pillar. He saw no reason to carry it around.

He grabbed some breakfast from the goo and sat to eat and think about the dream he just had. He was surprised to see through Hrashtel's eyes again. The dream felt extremely real and came with surprising benefits.

With a thought to Kazi he pulled up the new ability he got.

New (Rogue) Ability:

Split

With a mighty chop you may send the splitting force of your weapon forward in a straight line.

He brought neon-orange scrambled eggs to his mouth as he wondered about his experience.

Why was he seeing through Hrashtel's eyes again?

He had seen a vision from her when he received his quest rewards. Perhaps there was some lingering effects from his forced Myst Connection? Kazi informed him that the 'rogue' next to Split meant that the ability was not attached to a Connection. It was an ability he had gained through a sort of connection to the ability itself through the dream.

Jeff brought the Mighty Red Flower tea to his lips. He really didn't expect to understand much of anything at this point. He was resigned to 'going with the flow' until he had a better grasp on things. Today was day three of his journey into the multiverse. He was just focused on survival and getting stronger so he could keep surviving.

His thoughts turned to the discussion he had with his kids. He still had plenty of questions and concerns, but the Boschyan Army had proven to him that his kids were safe and taken care of. Summer seemed to be a responsible young woman. He was glad she was with Ammon and Ember. He worried about the children put with less responsible or even dangerous teenagers. The babies and infants… He hoped they were okay, and that was all he could do.

His drive up to this point was to find his kids. Now he realized they probably had a better chance of survival than himself. His goal now was to do whatever it took to see them again. He would take any chance to see Emily and his kids again.

Jeff was so lost in his thoughts that he barely noticed the coallesing of essence from the tea he was drinking. It formed within him and improved the flow of spirit within his body. The small screen that popped up startled him out of his thoughts.

+1 Might

“Huh,” he muttered. “Already off to a good start today.”

Kazi chimed in, reminding him that the Spore was always there. “The first attribute increase came from one cup of tea. This time it came after two cups, the one last night and now this one. If that same rate continues you should gain another point in Might after 4 more drinks. That’s a bit better than the typical treasures at this level.”

“Wow, this tea is powerful. One plus two plus four plus eight is fifteen. The fifteen I gathered should give me 4 points in Might altogether. And I got exactly fifteen pods from the tree. That seems a bit convienient. Maybe the tree was only able to produce that much at once? I should definitely revisit it soon. Maybe after a few days to let it recover. I might be able to just chug down the other twelve more cups of tea right now.”

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

Kazi interrupted before the he stood up to brew another batch. “Unfortunately your returns will diminish even further if you drink the tea too fast. Your body won’t be able to process all of that tea quick enough to get the full rewards. Three drinks a day is probably all you should do. Any more than that and you’d have to really focus on timing to make sure you get the full benefits. That’s not quite practical in your survival situation.”

So breakfast, lunch, and dinner, he thought. That would get me two more points within four days.

He had other questions, but he reminded himself to just ‘go with the flow’. It was time to be pushing himself to the next level.

Jeff finished his meal quickly then started his trek back into the dense foliage of the cliffside forest. He spread his spiritual senses out feeling for anything nearby. He felt he was right on the edge of the threshold to level 5. He was hoping to find some low level creatures to push him over the edge. That would give him a bit more comfort before he journeyed deeper into the woods.

He decided to trek along the right side of the cliff face this time, heading toward the ocean and following the curvature of the mountain. Within minutes he felt the familiar dissonance within his Sense field. He felt the Myst within the dormant trees around him. He could feel the beginnings of a mental map appear in his head, but he couldn’t quite process all the information coming in.

Jeff felt the distinct lack of stats. If he raised his Sense, Processing, and Cognition attributes he could probably throw his disc through the trees and strike monsters from afar. It seemed like he needed every attribute to be stronger than it was. Having nine attributes to split between meant that his progress would be slow. Finding natural treasures like the Mighty Flower Pods were a high priority to create faster growth. Already that one discovery was basically worth an entire level.

His sense field showed the monster right around 80 meters away. The dense foliage blocked his vision of the monster. Still, it would be better to try and attack from a distance first. Reaching out with his spirit he created a golden energy disc. It seemed to glow slightly brighter, probably due to his increased Might. He looked up at the canopy of trees above him and found a break in the trees.

He set up to throw a high hyzer shot. It was a common shot in disc golf that could fly high above trees and fly down at a target on a sharp angled descent. Kind of like his first throw that cut through a tree. He brought the disc across his body with his right arm, like a typical frisbee throw. He released the disc up through the gap he saw above him. The disc had a sharp angle that began to bring it back to the left after traveling nearly 50 meters off target.

He felt a bit of strain as his ability allowed him to form the shape of the discs flight to go where he desired. He had lost sight of the disc long ago, but he guided it with is willpower. He heard a loud crash as the disc slammed into the ground with concusive force. He readied his halberd and another disc thinking that he had missed his shot. Then a familiar screen appeared before him.

You have defeated:

Horn Crowned Beetle - Level 4

Accept Rewards Yes/No

“Kazi, don’t accept that yet!” Jeff yelled the moment he saw the screen. He ran toward the beetle’s carcas to see the damage his throw had done.

“Alright, but hurry,” the Boschyan Spore said. “The monster will dissolve to Myst before too long on it’s own. If you don’t accept the reward in time then you won’t have the Myst directed towards you by the System.”

He arrived on the scene in moments and saw the damage his projectile caused. The beetle looked completely untouched. He dropped into battle stance in case it moved toward him. There was a hole in the canopy above where the disc sliced neatly through several branches. Then he could just barely see the edges of a thin hole on the back of the massive monster. Sickly yellow blood was dripping out from its under belly.

Jeff laughed out loud with a deep hearty laugh. He had already done some amazing things with his disc throws, but this really hit home how magical his ability was. What he had just done was like getting a hole in one in disc golf. The distance was very typical for most par three holes.

He had never got a hole in one before. If this had happened back on Earth he would be cheering like crazy. Now it felt like something he could do again right now. His abilities truly were magical… or Mystical he supposed.

“Okay, you can accept the rewards now.”

The beetle quickly began to dissolve. It seemed to dissolve a bit quicker now that it had been left for a bit. That struck Jeff as curious. There may actually be some strategy to accepting the rewards at the right time. He could keep a carcass between him and other monsters then dissolve it when he felt ready to strike.

You have leveled up to Level 5!

The incoming energy broke through his threshold and Jeff quickly began distributing his attribute points. He decided to keep going for balanced stats. He put one point into Dexterity, Cognition, and Imagination bringing each of them from two to three.

Stats: Level 5

Body: Tier 1

Strength: 4

Dexterity: 3

Vitality: 4

Mind Tier 1

Cognition: 3

Processing: 3

Imagination: 3

Spirit Tier 1

Might: 4

Sense: 4

*Depth: 8

Available Points: 0

The Stat Screen showed his attributes with the bonuses included from his helm and vambrace. Part of him wanted to ask Kazi to change it up so it would show where each ‘extra’ point came from. Then after a moment he realized he actually liked how clean it looked. He could go looking for the added points if he wanted to. Kazi could probably just create a screen specifically for that when needed. It was nice having a organic AI of sorts running his gaming experience for him.

Not a game, he reminded himself. I don’t get save points and redos here.

He also noticed that his Depth had increased by one point.

“When did that happen?” He asked his fused companion, knowing that the Spore would understand the context through his thoughts.

“Oh right. I was going to show you this earlier, but your race to the beetle made me forget,” Kazi commented. “You’ve improved your mastery on Throw Disc. I’ll show you now.”

Throw Disc - Middle Mastery

Create a disc to throw and control its movement as you desire. A thrown disc may home in on a targeted creature.

“Homing discs?! Now that’s what I’m talking about!”