Barry sat and enjoyed watching the cascade of bright colours shining through the forest leaves brought on by the light of a new day. Overnight he’d cried, he’d wallowed, he’d reflected, he’d planned, and occasionally he’d slept. But with the dawn of the sun, he felt ready to restart his journey. His main stats weren’t fully recovered, but they were all above fifty percent and he didn’t want to wait here any longer. He had briefly wrestled with the idea of staying put nearby the wall, waiting for Knob and possibly Swirly to pass through in their own time. But he quickly quashed the idea, realising that him sitting idly wouldn’t be helping anyone. The best thing he could do was to continue to move forward and grow. Plus he found it uncomfortable to be so close to this barrier. This shimmering structure was like a symbolic divide between the old and the new in Barry’s life. On the far side of the wall was his past. Every mistake, every failure, and every loss. Each time he glanced at it he could feel his emotions welling up. But on this side of the wall was his future. It represented the new, the opportunities, and the adventure. And it was time for Barry to seek out his next challenge. With that he got himself up and started walking deeper into the forest.
Fairly quickly the regular pine trees were replaced with small, dense shrubbery. These plants had petite leaves that were dark green in colour with a tinge of purple along their edge. Each bush was around the height of Barry’s chest, and he was forced to wade through the thick greenery blindly, having no idea what was below his feet. Luckily, the plants were soft and easily pushed aside, nothing like the spiky shrubs he had come across way back at the start of the training grounds. One unexpected similarity to that previous shrubbed section of forest was the presence of leaping snarlers. These little furry demons were a bit larger than the small rabbit-like rodents from before. Instead, these variants were around the size of a medium sized dog. They had the same razor-sharp teeth, furry white coat, and the strange beacon extension from their posterior that signalled their location to their comrades. However, these critters were no longer level one, instead they, like Barry, were now level ten. But Barry knew his stats were quite good for a level ten, a far cry from how he was when he first entered the training grounds. So when the first ravenous beast locked onto his leg and started gnawing down he didn’t panic, instead he smiled and went to work.
Solid steel slammed into the furry figures of the leaping snarlers without restraint. Growls and snarls echoed across the forest as his aura chain bruised, battered and bested the rodents. Blood splattered out from his strikes, covering his chest in red spots. As more snarlers arrived on the scene he welcomed the challenge. Like the hopstrikers had done before, the snarlers locked on to his limbs and attempted to tear at his flesh with their teeth. But Barry was a walking tank, and he’d just survived a war. His durability was enviable, and the snarlers damage wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. When the jaws of the snarlers hooked onto his leg he simply bent down and wrapped his chain around their necks and swung, either strangling them or sending them flying into the air. He may have been left with some small cuts and bite marks, but overall the damage was minor. If at anytime it appeared he would be overwhelmed by a larger group of the monsters, Barry would lengthen his aura chain and spin it around in a low horizontal swing, knocking down the shrubs to create a more open, circular area around him. With the added vision Barry could use his clones as a distraction, or his remote chain to entangle or strike some of the beasts. After more than an hour, a sweaty, blood-stained, tired, yet satisfied Barry emerged from the bushes and strolled into the next section of forest.
Barry spent many days progressing through the different realms of the training grounds forest. He got into a pattern of battle, rest, eat, repeat. The constant danger and challenges kept his mind away from the ever-creeping feelings of regret and sorrow. The beasts in this second section of forest were all at least level ten, meaning at times he was tested. But overall, his impressive stats for his level kept him fairly safe. His high vitality meant he could tank shots that would be deadly for others, and his health regenerated quite quickly. His willpower helped with his decision making and battle tactics, and his mana stores were generally sufficient for the straightforward battles. He found most creatures easy enough to dispatch using his various skills in addition to the blows of his chain. However, the beasts he found most difficult to defeat were in fact those that specialised in vitality. He was unable to deal sufficient damage to the tougher opponents, and the fights often ended up being a drawn-out battle of attrition until Barry finally prevailed, or it simply ended in a draw. A prime example of this was when he came across a level twelve hulking ratbear that was too slow to hit Barry, but too sturdy for Barry’s chain to cause it any damage. So eventually Barry was forced to lock it in place with a remote chain and walk away dissatisfied.
Most of his clashes were more fruitful than his pointless class with the ratbear, and Barry found his levelling speed picked up with all the battle practice he was getting. Pretty soon he had reached level fourteen in his soul magic, and level twelve in item soul item stats. Barry found it intriguing that his soul magic levelling had suddenly started to eclipse his soul item progress, a complete reversal of how things had started in the training grounds. With plenty of time to ponder, Barry wondered why this might be the case. When he thought back to his original soul item levelling earlier on in the training grounds, he remembered hitting new levels after either big battles or when he found a new way of using his item. The same could be said for his soul magic. Often the best experience he got was by using his skills in new and unique ways that then lead to success in battle. Perhaps creativity and unique strategies were the key to fast levelling. Barry felt there was some truth to that theory as in order to succeed in his clashes in the past few days he needed to use his clones, his illusion chains, and his clone transfer in many different ways to give him the edge over his foe. He had started to work on increasing the distance away from himself that he could summon his clone to be used for a surprise attack, which was currently around ten metres. His favourite trick was to summon a clone onto a nearby tree branch and then jump down and use clone transfer in a surprise attack. Sometimes he would simply summon a clone midair above a creature which would completely shock them as a falling person seemingly appeared out of nowhere above their head. Another tactic he had started to use for the faster opponents was to form a barrier around them with illusionary remote chains to narrow the battle area and make them easier to hit. Most of the beasts weren’t smart enough to understand it was all smoke and mirrors, so it became a useful trick in his arsenal. Additionally, he could now manage up to four clones at a time with relative ease.
When it came to his aura chain on the other hand, he basically just used it to wallop or strangle his opponent as he had done for some time now. It was still a successful strategy, but not exactly mentally taxing or inventive. Barry made a mental note to start to come up with new ways of using his aura chain to help him progress more quickly. As his mind was already on the topic, Barry opened his soul stats page and thought about where to allocate his free points from his most recent level up. Barry was continuing to maximise vitality and wisdom, as his class basically guaranteed that. However, he had recently found that some of his other stats were lagging significantly, namely stamina, dexterity and strength. He needed more strength to be able to cause more damage. He needed the stamina to be able to keep fighting for longer. And he needed some dexterity to be able to land a hit, or dodge a blow, from the faster enemies when his tricks failed. This meant he was forced to throw some of his free points into these less favourable stats. Thankfully, his clone ability and the extra vision it provided from various angles seemed to remove the need for perception, as he figured it basically did the same thing. And he still refused to put a single point into manipulation. After distributing the points, Barry decided to spend some time studying his current levels as he lay with his back resting against a large tree.
Status Screen:
General stats:
* Race: Human
* Power level: 13
* Class: Phantom protector (rare)
Magic stats:
* Magic level: 14
* Primary affinity: Illusion
* Secondary affinity: Earth
Item stats:
* Item level: 12
* Item name: Aura chain
Soul stats:
Physical stats:
* Vitality: 44 + 10 = 54
* Strength: 10 + 1 = 11
* Stamina: 6 + 1 = 7
* Dexterity: 5 + 1 = 6
Mental stats:
* Mana: 15
* Perception: 2
* Manipulation: 1
* Willpower: 29 + 3 = 32
Titles:
* Early specialist (vitality)
Other:
* Free points: 0
Skills:
* Expert linguist
* Inspection
* Item duplication
* Rapid recovery
* Retraction
* Heavy fortification
* Duplication
* Remote chain
Satisfied with his progress, Barry closed his status screen and bit down on a cooked drumstick of some large bird monster he had slain. As he enjoyed the charred meat and stared at the flickering flames of the fire, his mind flashed back to Peltra’s village, and he came to a sudden realisation.
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“Of course! That’s why the village was built there, it was as deep into the first section as possible. It seemed weird at the time, but now it makes total sense,” Barry exclaimed to himself, mumbling through bites of the meat.
As he chomped away, he tried to think of ways he could improve his aura chain usage but he was struggling to come up with anything new. There’s only so much you can do with a chain. He lay down atop his makeshift bed and closed his eyes, deep in thought. All he could do with his chain was swing it, hook it around things, and retract or protract it.
“Maybe that’s something I can play around with a bit more,” thought Barry as he pondered ways of better using the retraction and protraction feature.
He opened his eyes back up and summoned a few links to his chain whilst swinging the chain up and down overhead. As he brought the chain down he added more links to the chain mid swing, greatly increasing the reach of the attack compared to what it looked like at the start of the swing.
“That might work,” smiled Barry, as he made a mental note to keep practising this later.
But for now, sleep and recovery were the priorities, and he quickly drifted off.
Barry got up and moving early the next morning, quickly crossing over into the next area of forest. This section was full of large cacti. What was strange though was that instead of being some arid, desert area like one might expect, the climate was bitterly cold and snow was falling from above. Piles of snow were covering the ground below his feet, and he was forced to stomp awkwardly forward with high steps. Progress was slow, and strangely Barry had yet to come across any beasts. Almost as soon as that thought entered his mind, he lost his footing and fell into a hidden pitfall trap around a metre and a half wide. With only darkness below him he spun around mid-air and reflexively summoned a clone back up on the solid ground where he had just stood. Immediately, he used his clone transfer skill to change places with the clone and he found himself back standing in the snow. Barry watched through the eyes of his clone as it fell down the deep black hole until he saw the glinting of giant teeth as a huge mouth nearly the width of the pit opened and attempted to swallow the clone whole. Barry inspected the frightening creature and kept watching as the clone fell through the beast’s entire cylindrical body and he caught a glimpse of a strange white shining door hidden behind the creature that lit up the otherwise dark space. As he dispelled the clone Barry examined the messages.
Inspection:
Beast: Trapdoor ice worm
Level: 17
Stat: Strength
Inspection:
Hidden dungeon discovered: Snowstorm peak
There was a lot to unpack with all that information. Firstly, that creature was utterly terrifying. It was a huge, disgusting worm thing that was basically all maw and teeth. Not only that, it had been completely hidden under this thick layer of snow, and without his clone transfer skill Barry would be laying in its stomach right now. To make things even worse, this monstrosity was level seventeen, easily the highest level creature Barry had ever come across. Barry peered down over the edge of the now gaping hole in the ground and couldn’t see anything but darkness. His other senses however, provided him with some sign of the beasts presence. He could hear it’s heavy breaths, and he could feel the warm air pushing up onto his skin as it breathed, and there was a low, faint growling sound audible between the breaths. But the most obvious sensation was the smell. It smelt like a dead animal and some off food got together and made a love child that grew up on a bed of trash. Barry gagged and stepped away from the hole to get some fresh air and fight down the vomit that threatened to explode from his stomach. It turned out to be a fortunate move as the worm came flying upwards suddenly with impressive speed, rumbling the ground, and chomping away repeatedly at the air where Barry had just been standing. Shocked, Barry fell back and skittered backwards on all fours like a crab, whilst breathing out a sigh of relief after seeing the worm refusing to fully exit its pit. At least three metres of the chunky invertebrate protruded upwards, looking for its meal, whilst the rest of the creature’s body remained within the pit. After realising there was nothing within its reach the slimy monstrosity slunk back into the darkness of its den.
“Well fuck,” said Barry as he caught his breath whilst getting up and dusting the snow off his bottom.
He was in a predicament. He wanted to get into that dungeon badly. The last one he’d located and completed had provided him with some incredible rewards for his level at the time, and he had high hopes that this dungeon would do the same, especially with how well hidden it was. But in order to get to the dungeon he would need to get past that worm. He toyed with the idea of sending another clone down and just swapping places with it so he could quickly open the door, but he quickly quelled the thought. Although it might work, he was concerned that if and when he did pass the dungeon challenges he would then just appear back here in this hole along with the worm. And he knew that in order to escape he would need to have vision of the land to be able to place another clone correctly, but with the worm taking up basically the entire space of the hole that would be impossible. No, the only real way he was going to get into the dungeon was to coax the worm out of the hole and kill it. But how to do that was the real dilemma.
After some deliberating Barry came up with the best plan he could think of. It was crazy and more than likely not going to work, but he had nothing to lose so he decided to give it a go. Vitality wasn’t the worm’s strong suit from his inspection so he assumed his chains would be able to deal at least some damage to it. When it had extended itself out of the hole to attack Barry had estimated that it was about three metres in the air, and when he recalled the moment his clone fell through the beast he estimated it to be no more than five metres long in total. That meant that most of the creature would be out of the hole at the peak of its attack, and he would try to use that moment to get it out. He had considered using his aura chain as a lure, getting the beast to chomp down on it and then attempting to pull the creature with him, but he feared he wouldn’t have the strength to do so, possibly slipping in the snow or simply being dragged into its mouth from its superior strength. No he needed to get behind the creature and push. With his mind made up, Barry summoned three clones and got one of them to step forward to the edge of the hole and peer down as he had done before.
Within a few moments the worm shot upwards, it’s mouth open and ready to swallow his clone whole. At that time the second clone stepped forward from behind the worm and fell through its body and into the hole. At the exact moment the clones vision cleared, and he exited the worms body Barry activated remote chain twice, forming a chain on either side of the hole just below the clone, with each chain separated by around ten centimetres. Barry then instructed the hanging chains to shoot horizontally forward and stick into the far side of the wall, forming a pair of sturdy tightropes. Just before the clone fell through the dual line of chains Barry used clone transfer and swapped place with the falling clone, causing him to slam down heavily on top of the chains. Immediately, he dispelled the clone to save mana and he spun around onto his back, well supported by the sturdy chains underneath him. He grasped the chains firmly with each hand for extra purchase and brought his knees to his chest whilst placing his feet on the muscular rear of the rotund worm that was just above him. With all his might, Barry pressed his feet forward in a speedy yet powerful movement. His additional force added to the upward trajectory of the worm and provided enough momentum that the worm was propelled forwards, further than it had expected. Through the eyes of his clones that were still standing on the snowy ground above him, Barry saw the worm fly out of the hole and crash heavily through the snow a few metres away from the hole entrance.
Without delay, Barry activated clone transfer again to swap with his clone furthest from the worm. At the same time he used the other clone at ground level as a distraction in front of the beasts maw. The worm wriggled and writhed awkwardly on the ground, struggling to move its heavy frame around, and clearly not used to being out of its den. It snapped angrily at Barry’s clone, as hunger and frustration fuelling its aggression. Barry formed his aura chain and walked up behind the beast whilst it was still distracted. Then, when he was close enough, he slammed down on its back with his chain and immediately stepped away in case the creature swung around to bite at him. The worm did exactly that, but it was so slow and awkward that Barry felt he could’ve dodged its strike with little effort. With his confidence now high, Barry stepped forward again and began pummelling the creature. Chunks of mushy flesh flew off its back as it tried in vain to slither away from him. But Barry wouldn’t let up as he kept smashing the worm, cleaving huge chunks of slimy purple meat from its frame. The worm shrieked in pain and fear as it did everything it could to escape. It tried to burrow into the ground by twisting its head into the snow and dirt, but Barry wouldn’t let it get away that easily. He smashed at the muscle behind its head when it tried this tactic, preventing it from completing the task.
Just as he was about to deliver a final barrage of attacks to the beast’s head Barry tripped. No trip wasn’t the right word, he fell. His eyes widened in horror as he realised he had just stepped into another one of these trapdoor ice worms hidden holes, this one even larger than the first. He tried to activate clone transfer, but he had run out of uses of the skill, a limitation of the skill he didn’t know it had. Fear gripped him as he heard the heavy breaths of another worm below him. He reflexively unleashed as many links of his aura chain as he could manage and launched the far end of his weapon upwards in the direction of the previous worm’s mouth. At the same time he instructed his clone to jump towards the rising chain and he prayed that the stupid worm would take the bait.
Thankfully, the dumb beast did exactly as he had hoped as it used the last of its energy to bite down on Barry’s clone, and subsequently his chain. Barry felt his arm pull upwards and immediately he reached his other hand up to the chain and started climbing his way out of the hole as quickly as he could. The task was tricky as the worm above the ground was shaking its head rapidly as it clenched the chain between its teeth. But Barry was fast, and his strength already well beyond that of a normal human prior to the commencement of the training grounds. He speedily completed the arms only chain climb and thrust himself out of the hole and onto the snowy ground. Barry had felt the warm air pushing upwards towards him and another low growl from below whilst he’d clambered out of the pit and the daunting noises fuelled his climb. He reflexively rolled his body along the snowy ground to put as much distance between him, the large worm still swinging his chain and the den entrance as he could. Within a second the new, larger worm emerged and attacked. But thankfully the beast did not target him like he had expected, instead it went for the easier target in its half dead kin. The new worm wrapped its giant maw over the head of the smaller worm, decapitating it in a single chomp, before retracting back into its hole and out of sight. Barry gazed up in horror as the headless corpse of the worm he had been attacking twitched whilst spurting gallons of purple blood. The warm liquid melted the snow around it, leaving a stinking circle of purple sludge around the body of the worm. At that moment Barry felt a rush of energy enter his body, and he smiled as his soul item levelled up.
You have contributed to the slaying of Trapdoor ice worm level 17. Percentage contribution 85%.
Soul item has reached level 13.
Barry quickly scurried to his feet and hurried over to the opening of the first den he had discovered. He would’ve loved to have stopped to relish in the fact that he had just discovered a new way of using his aura chain, just like he had hoped, but he was terrified of another worm attacking from nowhere. Not taking any risk he instructed his one remaining clone to enter and check that the coast was clear. Thankfully, it was, and Barry jumped down, landing on his aura chains. He instantly retracted them back into himself and fell the last half a dozen metres or so to the base of the deep hole, right in front of the shining white dungeon door. He hastily threw a free stat point into dexterity as it had helped him dodge the attack of the worms, and the other into stamina as it had allowed him to continue his relentless strikes without fatiguing. He understood how both skills had been invaluable in ensuring his survival. Then, without a second thought, he pushed open the door and stepped through into the blinding white light of the dungeon.