Cooper was alone, but he wasn't afraid. He felt determined. He had no doubt that Gregory was going through a trial just as bad as this.
Looking back out into the storm, he guessed it was about half a mile to the temple. Why Harvey hadn't set up the circle a little closer to his probably frequent destination, he didn't know. He had given himself a few minutes to think after Harvey left, but now that felt like a mistake. More lesser serpents were making their way back to the island. Maybe they were attracted to it now that the larger threats had been eliminated.
One serpent moved between him and the temple. It was an obstacle he would need to overcome. A second serpent closed in on the temple, and he would have to fight both if he left now. He had gained a level in his dog class and one in storm magician over the last two weeks — but no new skills. He would have to rely on his lightning bolt and bone breaker attacks.
He darted out of the ritual. He had nearly forgotten how wicked the winds and rain were outside of its protection. Still, he headed directly for the first serpent. He wasn't being sneaky, but with the wind and the rain, the beast would have to look directly at him to see him.
A dozen yards out, he blasted it with a lightning bolt. The serpent tumbled through the air, and Cooper could see the winds shift to support it as it fell. It used something to manipulate the winds around it. Even with the quick recovery, Cooper was moving at a quick dash, he covered the distance before the serpent had a chance to reorient itself.
He swapped classes and activated Bone Breaker, sinking his teeth into the beast. It was nearly as long as he was, but it was skinny and his mouth could get around it without too much trouble. The creature hissed with pain. A flash of light swept through the serpent's body, and a jolt of power not unlike his own lightning spell flashed into Cooper, he recoiled in pain, dropping the serpent.
Then the fight began in earnest. Teeth flashed in the serpent's wide open jaws as it lunged in. It swam circles around Cooper as it attacked. Cooper tried to keep the beast in front of him, but the rain would occasionally blind him, and the serpent seemed to know, changing directions in those instants to get more attacks in. Cooper paid them back. The serpent was nimble in the air, able to change directions and shift quickly, but it wasn't fast. Cooper's speed advantage allowed him to get the upper paw as he fought.
The serpent, beginning to panic, tried using wind blasts on Cooper, but they weren't strong enough to have a noticeable effect in the already extreme winds around them. Eventually the serpent fell to a bolt of lightning. Cooper panted over the creature, victorious, but more injured than he wanted to be. He didn't have healing magic like Gregory did, and without the man's presence, Cooper would need to wait for his own recovery to pick up the slack.
Since gaining a combat class, he noticed that he healed far more quickly from scratches and bruises. Soreness faded after only a few hours, and he was generally in perfect health after a night's sleep. So it wasn't as though he couldn't heal, it was just that the healing would eat into his precious time. He needed to be advancing, not waiting around to heal.
Fezzic had crafted and given him a few healing potions. They would recover about as much as one of Gregory's healing spells. He didn't want to use those for recovery when he wasn't in danger because he only had five or six.
He focused on his health. He wasn't in bad shape, overall. He could handle another one or two more of these serpents without too much trouble. His mana was still limited, but he had only used two lightning bolts. He could probably use three bolts in a fight with one of the creatures to keep it off him a little better. That would extend his longevity as long as he rested a little between fights. Health was more limiting than mana right now.
Now that he was focused on it, he thought he had too much mana left. Was he recovering faster? Was there something about the mana on the island that let him soak it up a little more efficiently, or was it the clearly magical storm that was aiding him? Maybe it was cheaper to use storm related mana here?
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Either way, he had enough strength and endurance to handle the next serpent. It was near the entrance to the temple, and he dashed in that direction to fight the beast.
When the beast was dead, he dragged its corpse to the temple entrance. These were natural beasts and Cooper would need to eat. He had taken to eating whatever someone in the party, usually Sous, was cooking up, but he was a dog before all else, and a some raw serpent wouldn't be the worst thing he'd ever eaten.
Something unexpected happened when he dug into the fresh meat.
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You have consumed raw Storm Serpent meat. Interaction with your Storm Magician class has triggered progress toward a latent affinity bonus.
Storm Affinity
* Progress: 0%
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He guessed that would be a very good thing to unlock, but it seemed a long way off. Once he had his fill, he got rid of the rest of the serpent nearby. He didn't want it attracting anything to the temple itself.
Ideally, he would use the temple as shelter from the wind and rain as often as possible. He expected that Harvey thought he would use the ritual circle for the majority of his first few days here. He intended to only use it if he was in a dire situation.
On the threshold of the temple, he sniffed the air. Scent was a challenging thing in the middle of a storm, but there were always threads to follow, even in winds like this. One in particular seemed like it was a part of the storm, and led straight into the temple.
The temple to the Storm God was a massive structure of stacked stones. While it was more pleasant than just being outside, there were openings high up on the walls to allow the storm into the temple. That made sense given the temple's deity.
Elaborate carvings adorned the dark wet stone walls, and near the holes where water flowed in freely from the storm outside, there were carvings of various animals. They were all worn by the time they had spent exposed to the storm winds and water.
The primary focus of the temple was an altar at its center. An effigy of a muscular man with storm clouds for legs stood above the altar. Set into the eyes of the statue were golden orbs that seemed to crackle with the storm's lightning.
Cooper touched the altar, but nothing interesting happened. He sniffed around it, and looked with his eyes, but again, there wasn't anything to be found. Harvey told him to come to the temple and figure out what he could, but so far, he couldn't figure out anything. He decided the best course of action was to visit a few times, maybe at different times of day, or if the storm changed. For now, he had a bit of energy left, and there were more storm serpents to fight.
As Cooper made his way toward the door, he felt his paw depress a tile. He pulled it away quickly, but the tile was set. It began to glow with the same crackling light as the god's eyes. He examined the tile, and noticed it had a symbol carved into the stone. It looked somewhat like blowing wind, if he had to guess.
An idea popped into his head, and he started scanning the floor for more of these tiles. It wasn't an easy search, because the carvings were faint. They were just barely carved into the smooth tile surfaces, and the tile's coloration didn't give them away. When he found the next one, he pressed it. It flashed briefly before both tiles went out.
Experimenting, he tried the first tile again. It stayed on. He clicked the second tile again, and they both flashed and went out. Then he pressed the second tile once more. It flashed and did not light up.
He searched around and found more tiles with symbols on them. He started depressing them, eventually finding a lengthy chain of correct tiles. There were about six more, but it would take him a few minutes to go back through the long pattern to depress the tiles up to this point. He paused to think.
He was wary of going down this path. Clearly he could find the right order for the rest of the tiles, and it wouldn't take that long, but then what? He didn't know what this might get him. It might even be something he wasn't prepared for. He felt like the storm affinity he had discovered was important. If he activated something only to find that he couldn't handle it unless he had a strong affinity with the storm, that would be bad.
Cooper would try the tiles, but only after he had grown stronger and come into the temple fully rested, and with a completed storm affinity.
In the meantime, he had more island to explore, and more storm affinity to obtain.