Back in the study, Wyatt was continuing to record his journey through this new world thus far. He didn’t know how he would end up turning the loose paper into an actual book, but for now he wasn’t too concerned. He needed a distraction, and with nothing better to do, this was it.
Wyatt had also decided to keep another journal that focused on the various creatures he had encountered. His memory was better than it was before the integration, but it wasn’t perfect. He also assumed the Earth based creatures, having most likely integrated with the humans, were largely unknown to the locals.
When he received the notification that his Calligraphy skill had reached level two, he decided to take a break. His stamina was full, and his health was above 110 points. His mana was at 150 of 200 after being used to fuel the strange quill. Since he wasn’t at all tired, and his mana should be full before he needed it, he decided to head back into the dungeon.
Hopefully I can level quickly, if only to limit how often I need to come back here.
He made his way back down into the dungeon, making sure to drop the four remaining corpses into the pit on the way. It looked bottomless and was the best idea he could come up with to prevent the carcasses from going bad. He had kept one of the chameleon bodies in his storage to study later.
Wyatt stood at the bottom of the next set of stairs. The door in front of him was closed, and he could hear scratching on the other side. Cracking the door, he saw several large badgers.
That seems like a rather generic enemy Wyatt mused as he watched them.
He couldn’t see the entire room, so he didn’t know how many there were, but he could see three of them. They came up to his hips, making them significantly larger than they should have been. As he stood watching the large animals, he received a notification.
You have gained a new skill:
Stealth – Level 1
That seems pretty self-explanatory. The human turned his attention back to the room as he planned his strategy. With his limited bag of tricks, he decided on the tried-and-true strategy of freezing as many as he could before engaging the rest.
He entered the room as he cast Daze, managing to use it on two of the badgers before being noticed. Glancing around the room quickly, he counted five of the things. He quickly cast Rock Spike on the nearest one, hoping to take it out of the fight fast as a huge spike stabbed it in the stomach. With his mana now at half, he turned his attention at the two approaching enemies.
They moved towards him cautiously, hackles raised, and growled at him. Wyatt slowly moved with them, positioning himself between them. He had precious little time before the others woke up from their stupor, but he preferred to react to their attack, rather than attack first. Come on, take the bait.
Then, his window opened.
As the two animals positioned themselves on either side of him, directly across from each other, they moved in to attack. Wyatt saw in his peripheral both of the badgers prepared to leap at him simultaneously. He quickly cast Haste on one, causing it to launch faster than anticipated. Immediately after, he cast Shift, teleporting out of the way of the attack.
He turned and saw they had collided, just as he had planned. He quickly launched two Rock Spikes at the two, not aiming at all, and managed to knock one of them to the ground. The other turned and ran at him.
Unfortunately, this was the hasted badger.
Wyatt was barely able to bring up his staff to block the attack and landed on his back with the creature on top, his staff firmly in its mouth. Wyatt pulled his dagger from his cloak and began frantically stabbing the thing as its hind legs raked his own. Finally, it stopped moving.
The mage heaved the body off of him but wasn’t able to get to his feet as Daze wore off of the first two. They came at him, still prone, and tried to attack him. A quick application of Subtle Manipulation stopped the coordinated attack, and as expected, the two began fighting each other, giving Wyatt the time he needed to stand.
They stopped fighting, turning towards their prey. Knowing he couldn’t fight a two on one battle with his staff alone, he again used Subtle Manipulation, this time on the other one. The claws originally meant for him ended its ally, as blood poured from its now open neck.
Wyatt attacked the survivor with his staff before it was able to turn its attention back to him. Under the constant barrage of staff strikes, the creature was never able to attack, and eventually it, too, died.
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As Wyatt was about to celebrate, he was hit from behind by something heavy, causing him to drop to the ground. He realized he hadn’t killed this one with his Rock Spikes like he had thought. Trying to catch his breath, he struggled to roll over and face his attacker as his back was scratched over and over. His health was dropping steadily, and he knew he needed to do something, or he would be killed.
Wyatt let a blast of air magic underneath him, sending him and his attacker straight up in the air. The badger on his back hit the ceiling, and they landed shortly after. For the second time, Wyatt’s breath was knocked out of him, but it worked.
As Wyatt stood, he used the last of his mana to summon a spike of earth from the ground. He grabbed it in his hand and leapt onto the back of the stunned badger. Using the rock as a makeshift dagger, he stabbed the creature in the eye, ending the creature’s struggles.
Wyatt, thoroughly injured, decided to rest there a bit.
These fights are getting harder.
When he was finally able to breathe, and when his mana had regenerated slightly, he stood and placed two of the corpses into his storage space. His mana drained again; he began the ascent to the tower.
Wyatt lied down on the couch as he examined the combat report.
Combat Report
You have slain:
Dire Badger x5
Rewards:
Experience earned
Your class has leveled up: Mage – Level 8
You have gained Attribute Points
Your skills have leveled up:
Earth Magic – Level 7
Air Magic – Level 5
Enchantment Magic – Level 8
You have gained a new ability:
Earthen Creation
Ability:
Earthen Creation
Cost:
Variable
Skill:
Earth Magic
Cast Time:
Variable
Duration:
-
Description:
Focusing your Earth Magic, you are able to form the rocks into an object of your choosing. Durability of the object is based on level of Earth Magic. Complexity of the object is based on Intelligence.
All in all, not a bad outcome.
The fight was a difficult one, but Wyatt felt he had gained quite a bit from it. The obvious was his levels in both his class and skills. He was starting to get the hang of combat in this world. The application of his abilities was becoming second nature to him, even being able to shift between magic types much faster than he could before.
His free points were distributed the same as before, with minor variation: two in willpower; one in intelligence, toughness, and agility. He knew he would have to put more points into strength soon. His staff mastery was based in agility given how he had to handle his weapon of choice with dexterous movements, but he knew from his time playing games, and from simple logic, that increasing his strength would increase the damage he could deal in melee. He had fought in melee more than he thought he would have to, and if he wasn’t able to keep enemies at a distance, that wasn’t likely to change. He hoped that with his increased agility, focusing on spellcasting would become easier.
He was also hoping the increased mental stats would give him a deeper understanding of magic in general. He could already tell that with increased intelligence, his understanding of his own mana was increasing, and the increased willpower was helping him control that magic. With enough practice, and a creative mind, he could even create more spells and abilities.
He was just now starting to understand the system, but already he could tell the possibilities were limited only by his own mind. He would need to apply his knowledge to more offensive-based abilities, given he only really had one.
With his attributes distributed and his health slowly returning, Wyatt decided to try his hand at cooking the badger meat. The process took him quite some time, but he wasn’t complaining. After burning the meat several times, Wyatt was finally able to produce something he considered edible.
Your skill has leveled up:
Cooking – Level 2
He ate the badger meat, which wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. It was much better than the lizard meat, and he had managed to properly analyze the spices in the cupboard, which definitely helped. This even earned him a level in analyze, bringing it to level three. The health regen that came from the food also lasted for ten minutes, doubling what the lizard meat had done.
Wyatt decided to spend some time in the study, analyzing the corpses of the animals he had slain and updating what would become his bestiary. During his time skinning and cooking the animals, he had learned quite a bit about their anatomy, the primary point being that they weren’t simply larger versions of the animals from Earth. There were small variations in their internal workings, which, Wyatt realized, was necessary given the radical change in size.
When his calligraphy skill increased to level three, he finished the page he was on and went to the couch to sleep.