{Elder Troll Spider slain! Soul increases by 30}

{Achievement Reinforced! Spiderbane: 25% increase to all skills and damage against spiders. Bonus increases to 50% versus Mantrap Spiderlings, Troll Spiderlings, Mature Mantrap Spiders, Mature Troll Spiders, and Elder Troll Spiders.}

Clay straightened up from the elder spider corpse, a feeling of satisfaction spreading through him. It was his third kill in three days; the prospect of getting hunted and ambushed had helped him decide it would be better to attack the elder creatures while they were still on alert than wait for them to come find him. He’d been tempted to even wait for the reinforcements to come after each kill, but he’d decided that was overambitious.

At the very least, the spiders had shifted their patrols to account for him. They no longer flew in the air unless they were responding to the death-screams of their friends. Instead, they were crawling through the treetops, obviously having decided that the skies were dangerous for them now. It was a wise decision, but it just meant that he’d been able to wait in the top of a tree for one of them to come crawling by, and then use his spear and Cycle of Return to wound them brutally before they knew what was happening.

The spiderling frenzy had calmed down by the time he returned to the forest, which meant he had been able to get all the way back to the valley without being bogged down in too many corpses. He’d pushed as far as he could each day, not wanting the elder spiders to come past Scout’s Hill anymore. Better for the killing to happen on their territory than his.

Now that he’d finished killing his tenth elder troll spider, however, there was only one other place he could go to continue to improve. He turned to stare through the forest, where he could see just the barest hint of the groves of webbed trees he assumed marked the territory of the elder mantrap spiders.

It would be best to begin with them another day, after he’d scouted around the area a little. He didn’t want to be too hasty, after all, and he could already hear the scuttling in the trees that signaled the elder troll spiders were coming for him.

So, leaving the corpse behind, he made his way back to Scout’s Hill. There was other, less bloody work waiting for him at home.

He’d been so preoccupied that Clay almost missed the signs that summer was nearing its close.

The heat had already started to fade from the afternoons, and the sunlight was retreating from the mornings and evenings. By the time he made it back to the farmhouse, the sun was already setting behind the trees, casting a warm red light over the clouds in the sky. He grimaced as he realized that the change in seasons would mean that he would have that much less time to fight the monsters each day, unless he wanted to hunt at night. Something told him it would not be a good idea to fight the spiders by starlight.

Of course, the time was also going to be running short for his small farm as well. He had plenty of space cleared so far, at least to grow enough to feed himself, but he would need to start planting soon if he wanted a decent crop to come in before the snows came. Ignoring that was not a good idea; if hunger didn’t get him, then his father certainly would.

Clay was still chuckling over that thought as he stepped out of the Tanglewood. He eyed his farmhouse in the fading light, somewhat relieved that it didn’t look like anyone was waiting to surprise him. As he looked it over, however, it occurred to him he was still living in a building that leaked like a sieve when it rained. It was probably something he’d need to fix before the real autumn storms came.

With a put-upon sigh, Clay went to set aside his weapons and take up his hammer and nails. He was sure that he had enough shingles in place; they just needed to be better aligned. Clambering up on the roof was easy enough; he’d been climbing enough trees lately that a simple farmhouse was child’s play. Maybe a couple of hours’ work would give him a house that wasn’t going to half-collapse at the first gust of snow. He’d have to see.

The elder mantraps were going to be…complicated to approach.

After two days of scouting, slipping between the elder troll spider patrols to reach the edges of the webbed area, he’d concluded that the elder mantraps had somehow gotten far better at disguising their tunnels, or they had some other trick for ambushing their prey. He had not been able to identify a single trapdoor in any of the areas, even when he carefully peered at the ground beneath the webbing. There were webs there, hidden beneath the more obvious ones; he assumed they functioned like the ones outside of the mantrap nests, alerting the spiders inside to intruders and possibly yanking them off their feet. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see where the spider was intending on coming from this time.

He assumed the more obvious webs worked the same way too, allowing the elder mantraps to communicate with each other. Spread much farther, they would prevent an enemy from hiding in the tree branches within their territory and popping out to assault them. It was a smart way to prevent ambushes from above.

Of course, Clay wasn’t planning on going into their territory, so hopefully that would ruin their plans.

He settled into the branches of the tree outside the webbed area, testing the strength of his new bow. It was far heavier and stronger than his last one, a fact that he hoped to use to his advantage now. Clay glanced up and around, trying to make sure that there was no sign of an elder troll spider nearby, and then began to whisper the [Chant] of the Spontaneous Spark.

It had been another of Olivia’s ideas, one that he hoped would give him the edge here. The spell was supposedly used to light campfires, but it could start a stubborn little blaze near him no matter what. When he neared the end of the [Chant], Clay drew the wooden arrow back on his bowstring, and focused on the tip.

Fire guttered to life at the tip of the arrow, beginning to consume the projectile, starting at the tip. He smiled and loosed. The flame didn’t flicker or fade one bit as it sped into the webbing draped over the forest ahead.

The arrow thudded into one thick trunk, and he focused on the power of the [Chant], trying to make the flame flare a little. There was a bit of resistance, given the distance, but a moment later the webbing caught, and fire spread throughout the thicket, eating away at the dead wood. Dry branches and drifting webs burned easily, and soon enough, flames and smoke were rising from the nearest trees as well.

It wouldn’t kill the thing living beneath them, but it would rile it. Clay turned and began tossing a handful of stones out. They thumped into the ground in quick succession, hopefully sounding like a retreating set of footsteps. The elder mantrap could probably sense vibrations far better than a normal spider; at this distance, it would hopefully not be able to tell the stones apart.

His smile faded as he heard a rumbling, scraping sound. He turned back to the fire, in time to see a…shifting…in the ground. Leaves stirred and branches shifted, all in a straight path for the stones. Was the thing invisible? How was he supposed to kill it if it was?

Clay shook the question off and picked up the next item. It was one of the old boots he’d picked up from Adam during his most recent visit to town. The merchant had been driven to the edge of exasperation, but he’d handed over four pairs of shoes, too old and worn to do anyone any good, in exchange for a bit of coin. He’d carried two of them into the Tanglewood with him, and he lifted one and tossed it, just past the foot of the tree, where the next fleeing step would have landed.

Whatever was disturbing the ground accelerated, almost unnoticeable as it closed in. Clay’s frown grew, and he carefully tossed the next shoe. If the thing really was invisible, it would see it and come straight for him. If it wasn’t, then how…

His questions were answered in the next moment, when a massive spider erupted from beneath the ground, right where the shoe had landed. Its fanged maw engulfed the boot immediately, and spiked legs slashed inwards, impaling the air where its prey would have been.

Then it froze, a horse-sized monster of armored carapace and deadly venom, obviously baffled by the lack of fresh meat in its maw.

Without thinking, Clay drew the next arrow in his quiver as far as he could. Then he shot the monster in the neck, just where he usually aimed for the younger mantraps.

The broadhead shaft sank deep into the thing, and it made a noise of outrage and pain. Then, before he could draw the next arrow, it vanished, dirt and stone flying up as it burrowed down again.

Clay drew the arrow back anyway, trying to watch for the disturbance. It wouldn’t run, not with its home burning and prey in the area. Could it sense him in the tree? Had it managed to see him?

He heard the ground break behind him, and something heavy struck the tree. The branches shook, and he nearly lost his balance and fell. Wobbling, he regained his balance and turned just in time to see the dirt settling in place again, the monster once again underground.

Thinking quickly, he released the tension on the bowstring, grabbing another slingstone again instead. He threw it as hard as he could at a nearby patch of soil, where a person falling from the tree might have hit. Then he drew the arrow again, ready to fire.

The spider struck an instant later, fangs clashing in the air. He shot it straight in the head, hitting the monster in the middle of its venomous maw. As it thrashed and hissed, Clay put another arrow into it, this time smashing into it under one of the shoulder joints for a forelimb. It tried to draw back into the tunnel again, but this time it was moving too slowly, letting Clay put a third arrow directly into its eye.

It gave a keening howl, one that was trailing off as Clay finally abandoned the tree, his spear in his hand. He ran forward, desperate to reach the thing before it could pull back underground. As he drew close, it turned on him, its remaining eyes filled with rage and pain and hate.

He ignored the glare and drove the spearpoint straight into it. The impact knocked the spider up and away from its hole. Its limbs thrashed at him, but he kept the thing at a distance, hoping that the crossguard would hold against the weight. It screamed and thrashed harder, fighting to get closer.

Then Clay wrenched the spear from side to side, feeling things crunch inside the monster. It shuddered, spasmed, and then went still.

{Elder Mantrap Spider slain! Soul increases by 60}

He freed the spear with a yank and stepped back from the corpse. It slumped to the side, still bleeding ichor. The broken carapace flickered in the fire's glow that was continuing to spread a short distance away.

Clay reached over to recover his arrows, but before he could, he heard those scraping sounds again. This time they came from multiple directions, converging on him. Apparently, the troll spiders weren’t the only ones to aid each other. He needed to go.

He took off running, hoping that he would gain enough distance to evade them. If not, it was going to be a long day before he reached home. Behind him, the fire continued to burn, sending more and more smoke up into the sky.

The mantraps chased him nearly as far as Scout’s Hill, only relenting as clouds gathered overhead. By the time he had descended the hill, rain was already falling. He struggled back home through the mud, fending off the occasional attack from a desperate spiderling, and idly hoping that his attempts to fix the house had been successful.

When he made it home, it quickly became clear that he’d only managed to partially fix the situation. There were only four leaks this time, which was a sad but marked improvement. Clay wearily set aside the weapons he carried and began plugging the remaining holes, or placing the pots beneath them when he couldn’t get to the hole itself. Spontaneous Spark lit the fire for him, and a candle as well; it made him chuckle to think that the same magic that had helped him kill a monster could light his simple home with a similar amount of effort.

He’d killed the elder mantrap, but he’d also lost four of his arrows. That wasn’t a rate that he could keep up for long, not if he wanted to kill another nine. It was even worse if he wanted to pick off as many as he could before getting past them and into the Lair.

With a sigh, he fell into his chair and stared at the pages full of [Chants]. He’d been trying to make his way through them for days now, but they all just seemed to blur together.

Then, with a grim sort of determination, he set himself to the task of memorizing them. A simple [Chant] had given him the chance to burn the elder mantraps out of their holes. Perhaps magic would provide the means to kill them as well.

The rain continued to fall on the roof overhead, and he continued to work to the sound of drips falling from above.

It was late in the afternoon the next day when he pushed himself back from the table in frustration.

The rain had continued through the night, and into the morning, keeping him bound within his farmhouse. There were a few chores he could tend to, and he’d already done them. Aside from that, he’d already set aside the foolish idea of trying to go kill an elder spider in the rain. He was fairly certain the raindrops wouldn’t distract the things, and the mud and rain would complicate everything else for him. Patience was needed, galling as it was.

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Besides, he was going to figure out these [Chants] if it was the last thing he could do.

Still determined, he leaned forward again and ran his eyes over the latest batch of [Chants]. He’d found four of them that Olivia had marked as beginner level [Chants] ones mentioned in the manual as being useful for new magic users. The Canticle of Ice was meant to throw spikes of ice; the Ballad of Air hurled a target backward. The Flame-Tongued Song burned a nearby enemy, and the Drums of Earth shook the ground. Any of them would be welcome to use against an enemy like the elder mantraps. None of them made enough sense to stay locked in his mind.

He sighed and lowered his head to the table for a moment. For some reason, the final point of [Memory] remained elusive for him. What was he doing wrong?

Clay went back to the syllables, running a finger over the ones for the Canticle of Ice. He made it about partway through before he changed his mind. The Flame-Tongued Song would let him light the webs ablaze without an arrow, so perhaps that was the better option?

He switched and started running through the syllables for that [Chant], his finger tracing the lines. Clay made it most of the way through the [Chant] before everything seemed to slip away from him. It was like the two [Chants] were blurring together in his mind; in fact, he could have sworn that he had just read the same syllables in the one before it…

Clay’s thoughts trailed off for a moment. He stared at the pages blankly, and then he placed the pages side by side. With one finger, he traced the syllables of the start of the Canticle. The other started at the end of the Song and worked backward.

They were the same. The Canticle and the Song were the same syllables, just reversed. That couldn’t be right, could it?

Yet as he progressed, the two [Chants] lined up exactly, with each mind-twisting syllable in the same, yet opposite position. He stared at the pages for a moment, and then sat back, his mind spinning.

Clay went and found the page with the [Chant] for Firm Step. He stood in the center of the room and read it, feeling the familiar spell work its way into his soul. A moment later, the magic settled over him, and he welcomed the feeling of solidity and permanence in it.

He let the spell go, and the feeling left. Then, slowly and deliberately, he started to read the [Chant] in reverse. It was hard; habit and instinct had drilled the pattern of Firm Step deep into him. Reciting it backwards was as frustrating as doing the same for the alphabet; it flew in the face of the natural order of things.

Yet when he finished the last syllable, Clay felt his eyes widen as magic settled over him again. This time, the spell seemed to buoy him up, like he was floating in a lake. He wobbled a little, his balance thrown off.

Then he looked down. His feet weren’t touching the floor.

Clay nearly lost hold of the spell; the shock of seeing himself suspended in midair was something he hadn’t been expecting. He stayed steady, but when he tried to take a step forward, he nearly slid, as if he was walking on ice. Moving carefully, he skated forward, eventually running up against the wall of the farmhouse.

He pushed himself back and slid for a while, thinking. Mostly, he was picturing the elder mantraps, listening for footsteps underground. Footsteps he no longer needed to have.

Clay smiled.

He released the spell and then turned to look at the candle on the table. A moment’s search found him the [Chant] of the Spontaneous Spark. Another few moments of careful, reversed reading, and the candle snuffed itself, as thoroughly as if he’d pinched it between his fingers or dowsed it in water.

{Insight increases by 1! Memory increases by 1!}

He grinned as the notification appeared. Finally, things were locking into place. Maybe those [Chants] would as well.

The rain continued to fall outside, but in here, it was starting to look rather bright.

Over the next three days, three different elder mantraps died.

The [Chants] he used made the work far easier. Drums of Earth, when focused correctly, made an excellent replacement for rocks and shoes. Ballad of Air could yank the mantrap spider out of its hole and flip it on its back long enough for him to put the boar spear into its belly. If it survived that, Floating Step—which was the name he gave the reversal of Firm Step—allowed him to move around the area undetected, while Cycle of Return brought his spear back to his hand. The ease of it all nearly made him angry; where had these tricks been when he was being yanked into the sky by monsters?

It was enough of a change that when the elder troll spiders closed in on him after his kill on the third day; he started to run for Scout’s Hill…and stopped. Clay turned back and examined the area. He was far enough away that the elder mantraps would not arrive any time soon; he’d discovered that they often spent more time extinguishing the fires he’d set before trying to hunt him down.

Maybe it was time to give the troll spiders a little bit more attention again.

Clay coasted a bit further away from the dead mantrap, skating along on Floating Step. Then he settled in and began the [Chant] for the Canticle of Ice. He hadn’t had the chance to use it against the burrowing mantraps, but an elder troll spider seemed like it would be an ideal target.

He kept his attention on the sky, waiting for the first spider. The Canticle took more time than the simpler [Chants], since it didn’t have the bonus from [Smallmage], but the rest of the bonuses would give it plenty of punch.

It didn’t take long before the spiders made their appearance. The first one appeared over the crown of a nearby tree. He saw it crawl in low through the branches, and then stand tall as it spotted him. Clay grinned; he felt the power build in him as he finished the [Chant]. There was a single frozen moment as it stared at him, and then it moved.

The [Chant] finished first. A sudden burst of shining power rushed through him; it gathered into a fistful of icicles that launched themselves at the spider. The monster had just enough time to rear back slightly before the jagged shards of ice crashed into it. Limbs shattered and ice gouged through spiderflesh. It folded backward and collapsed out of sight.

He didn’t take time to gloat. Instead, he began a new [Chant] and turned to face the rustling branches that were coming from another direction. When the second troll spider appeared over the edge of the tree canopy, he hurled his boar spear up and into it. The weapon struck it in the body, but failed to do nearly enough damage. It shrilled a warcry at him and then moved forward.

It had only started forward, its spear-limbs aching out to strike, when he finished the second, shorter [Chant]. The reversed version of the Cycle of Return—one he called the Pursuing Leap.

One moment, he was staring up at the spider. The next, the [Chant] had hurled him through the air, pulling him towards the spear he’d thrown. He pivoted in midair, aiming to hit the thing feet first. The spider reared back in surprise, but it couldn’t move fast enough. Clay hit it hard, his hands closing around the spear haft, and hung on as it began to buck and fight.

He pulled out the bush knife Herbert had given him. With one hand still on the spear, he hacked at the thing’s belly and legs, hitting it again and again as the spider fought to toss him away. It reared back, exposing its neck, and he slashed at it there instead. Two hits had nearly severed the head completely, and the spider actually slumped forward, the strength going out of its legs.

Clay jumped away, landing with a skid on the dirt. The spider crashed down next to him, and he yanked his spear free to stab it again.

{Elder Troll Spider slain!}

{Valor increases by 1!}

He nodded in satisfaction and then took a step towards where the other spider had collapsed. It took just a few moments to find it, broken-legged and bleeding ichor. A pair of spear thrusts finished the job.

Then he headed for home, satisfied that no monster would be hunting him again any time soon.

Early the next day, he found himself regretting that assumption.

He’d made his way through the Tanglewood west of Scout’s Hill, the same as he had done for several days. The area had grown less and less dangerous recently, with the number of spiderlings falling drastically throughout the past week, which meant that he could traverse the forest at a much faster pace. Clay had set out early in an attempt to reach the valley quickly, the better to take his next target down. Just one more elder mantrap, and he’d be able to reach level six, which would hopefully bring its own benefits.

The weather was colder than it had been. A breeze with the edge of autumn blew by, rustling the branches and leaves, bringing with it the smell of rain. Maybe the clouds weren’t quite done yet. He’d have to be fast, in case the rain started later. That reason was part of why he’d gone hunting first instead of tending to the farm in the morning.

Then, partway up Scout’s Hill, he stopped.

Something was wrong. He looked around the hill, his eyes searching for signs of adult spiders attempting to set an ambush. They’d mostly disappeared from this side of Scout’s Hill, and in fact they were even growing rare in the valley, but he couldn’t discount that. He saw nothing in the branches, either; elder troll spiders would have been traveling that way, since they had stopped trusting in their ability to snatch him into the sky. Then what…

His thoughts trailed off as he noticed a patch of dirt in front of him. He had passed this way the day before, and he could still see traces of his own bootprints in the dirt. They led up the hill, on their way up past the crest of the hill.

At least they did until they were interrupted by a sudden blank patch of soil.

Clay stared at it, seeing how it had been disturbed. His footprints were gone, but something had torn up the ground, and then smoothed it out somehow. He drew in a breath and then let it out, his eyes searching the surrounding forest again. There was another patch a short distance away, this one only partially covered by leaves; one errant leaf was partially buried in the soft ground, standing up like a small flag.

So. Elder mantrap spiders, waiting in ambush. They’d likely already felt him walking towards them. The question was how much longer they would wait before launching their attack, and how he could prepare for them in the meantime.

He considered using Floating Step, but that wasn’t going to help against two of them; as soon as he came back to the ground, they’d both be on top of him. Climbing a tree wouldn’t work either, as the elders seemed to be able to sense him even through the tree bark at close range. They’d be more than capable of knocking over the tree and then launching themselves at him while he struggled upright.

Clay set himself, thinking for a moment. Then he began the [Chant] for Drums of Earth. He listened for the crackling, scraping sound of the mantraps’ tunneling. His magic wouldn’t help if the things popped out right below him to take their meal.

When the [Chant] activated, he focused on making footsteps trailing away from him. Moving carefully, he drew out his bow and nocked an arrow, watching the ground where the footsteps were going. It wasn’t the cleanest opening, but it was one that might help him survive the next few moments.

He drew the arrow back as the footsteps neared the farther patch of bare ground. The heavier draw of the new bow meant he had to work a bit harder than he had for the old hunting bow, but he wanted every bit of power behind the next shot. It was likely he’d only get one, after all.

A heartbeat later, the mantrap struck. It burst from the ground in a shower of soil, and Clay loosed in the same moment. He was drawing the second arrow back a heartbeat later, already switching [Chants] to the Flame-Tongued Song. The words felt clumsy, almost slow on his tongue, but it was the best option he had.

The first arrow hit the mantrap flat on its armored back. It stuck deep despite the thing’s hide, and the spider squeal-coughed in surprise. When it spun to face him, he loosed the second arrow, aiming low, and tossed the bow to the side. He hoped it would stay out of the way while he brought out the boar spear, holding it with both hands as the second spider tunneled straight for him.

He heard the first spider squeal-cough again, and spared a glance to see the second arrow had hit it in the shoulder. The spider vanished into its own tunnel a moment later, and then he turned back to face the nearer threat. It was nearly on him already, and he ran in the opposite direction, fighting to gain a bit of distance.

As he ran, he fished out a stone from his pouch. When the spider was nearly to him, he took one last long stride and then jumped skyward, hurling the stone at the ground just in front of him. The spider shot past him and burst out of the ground where the stone was.

Clay grinned in triumph as he fell on it from above, spear angled for the sweet spot where its armored head met the body. That gap widened slightly as the elder spider tried to duck a little, perhaps trying to dig back beneath the soil. He struck it hard, plunging the spear in up to the crossguards. His feet slid a little across its back as he landed on it, wrenching the spear back and forth as hard as he could.

The spider beneath him went mad, abruptly trying to roll to throw him off. He made an awkward half jump to escape the flailing limbs, coming up after a roll to see it thrashing in front of him. Clay set himself and thrust his spear in again, this time catching it in the side and crunching through armor a second time. When he ripped the weapon free, he heard the first spider coming and turned to face it.

The thing was burrowing fast, not bothering with subtlety. Soil and rocks were being thrown up in a bow wave as it ripped through the earth, and he felt a sudden burst of uncertainty. If it caught him too quickly…he looked around and found a small rock just behind him. Clay made it to the rock in a couple of strides, leaving the other, hopefully dying spider to bleed ichor and tear at the ground with its death throes.

He set himself on the rock again, knowing that the thing would probably come out of the ground early rather than trying to swallow the rock with him from below. The wave of dirt that marked its approach came toward him fast, and his mouth went dry as he tried to predict its attack. If he didn’t get the timing right…

Clay forced that thought from his mind and tried to focus on his footing and the [Chant]. Both would be crucial. He waited until it had almost reached him, and then he lunged forward.

The bleeding, enraged spider exploded out of the ground to meet him. It was mid-scream when his spear caught it in the face, a somehow more terrifying repeat of the way he’d fought the mantrap spiderlings so long ago. He felt the spear buck in his hand as the impact struck; the spider’s venomous fangs slashed and stretched towards him, but he held fast, trying to keep the thing away.

Fortunately, the crossguards didn’t break, but the spider wasn’t done yet. It reached out with its bladed limbs, trying to grasp and slash at him. Clay grunted and shoved the spear forward again, forcing the spider back from him. It took every ounce of strength he had to push it back, and the spider tried to rear up and bring all of its weight to bear on him.

Clay held fast, grunting again as the mass of the thing pressed down on him. One limb grazed his arm, and he felt blood drip down. He ignored it, pushing the spear a little further forward and seeing the spider rise a little more.

Then his [Chant] reached the end, and he opened his mouth wide with a feeling of victory. Flame welled up inside him and burst from his mouth like the spouting breath of a dragon. It washed over the spider’s belly, crisping the softer tissue there in a handful of moments. The monster screamed again, but Clay remained focused. He tried to aim for the bottom of the monster, keeping the flame from blackening the shaft of his own spear.

The flame eventually ran short, leaving the elder mantrap blackened and seared. He heaved it to the side and yanked his spear free; to his surprise, the thing simply curled up and twitched as it rolled on its back.

{Might increases by 1!}

{Achievement Unlocked! Paragon: All skills gain 10% effectiveness around fellow heroes.}

He blinked in surprise and then shook away the notifications. Where was the other one? The notification for either one’s death hadn’t shown up, so the battle wasn’t over. Not yet.

Clay turned to where he’d left it and found the space empty. He felt a chill, and then he heard the ground breaking behind him.

He didn’t bother turning. Instead, he leaped straight forward, past where the burnt spider was still fighting to move. The forest seemed to blur around him, and when he hit the ground, he spun around with the spear, moving in a brutal swing.

The wounded spider, still trailing ichor, had managed a far weaker jump than he’d feared, and it was still struggling to chase after him when the spear caught it in the head. This time, its already wounded neck wasn’t up to the task of handling the blow. There was a sickening crunch, and its entire head wrenched to the side. It collapsed, its rear limbs still in the tunnel, and the notification arrived a moment later.

{Elder Mantrap Spider slain! Soul increases by 60}

{Commoner reaches Level 6!}

{Maximum level for all Stats is now 21!}

{Experience gained (Valiant: Gain 10% bonus to all skills when facing multiple opponents.)}

{Experience gained (Warsinger: Gain Lyricist Skill. Can complete all Chants 20% faster.)}

Clay relaxed for a moment, feeling a burst of triumph sweep through him. He’d made it to another level. Then he turned to the last mantrap spider, which was still moving despite the horrific burns that covered it. Two stabs later, and a new notification appeared.

{Elder Mantrap Spider slain! Soul increases by 30}

He nodded to himself. Only four more to go, and he’d be about as ready as he’d ever be for the Lair.

Clay shivered a little as another gust of wind passed through the trees. It carried the scent of oncoming rain, and he regretfully abandoned the plan of attacking the valley again. Better to rest and recover, maybe even do a few last-minute repairs to the farmhouse before the leaks ruined everything again.

At the very least, he’d be able to enjoy a little peace and quiet.