When Duke returned to the cavern system within the dungeon, he was greeted by Ophirian, “You have been gone for nearly ten days. In that time, I hunted well and have grown much stronger, but these creatures are no challenge for me. Either we go elsewhere, or we find something more challenging in here.”
“Well, you certainly seem to have grown some.” The serpent was now almost ten meters long and as Duke checked his stats, he saw that Ophirian was on the verge of hitting Tier Two. Duke’s smile deepened. You want it more difficult? Sure. Here goes.
Duke met Ophirian’s gaze, his smile growing broader and perhaps a bit more sinister, “As you wish.” He loosened the restrictions on the caverns, allowing up to Tier Four creatures and adding elementals, golems, and undead to the mix. “Enjoy your hunting.”
Ophirian cocked his head to the side, studying Duke’s response and body language but eventually gave the equivalent of a serpent’s shrug and went back to hunting. He was determined to surpass his bondmate in hunting skill and prowess. Having been separated from his community, he had no sense of where he or his bondmate stood in the order of beasts. He just knew the beasts he had been hunting were too weak to offer a challenge. He slid away in near silence to return to hunting. His belly was full despite needing more food than he had expected to fuel his growth. Still, he needed to hunt, to grow. It was an imperative that drove from his soul.
Duke dismissed his construct and proceeded to rebuild it over and over again. Each time, his speed and accuracy increased until he finally got the notification he was hoping for.
*** Congratulations, you have shown your prowess in crafting runescript. You have gained the exceedingly rare Ability RUNESCRIPTING at Untrained level 1. Continue to practice your Ability and it will continue to improve. You are now capable of creating basic runescripts based on your own thoughts and capabilities. As your Ability increases, you will be able to create and modify more complex runescripts.
In addition to this new Ability, you have gained the Skill Runescript Knowledge. This Skill is a compliment to the Ability and represents your knowledge base on various runescripts. Increasing your knowledge of runescripts will accelerate the growth of your Ability. The Ability and Skill will not grow in lockstep, but growth in one will affect the growth of the other. ***
Duke whooped, pumping his fist into the air. Only took me three weeks of concentrated work to get the Ability. Well, that and however long I have been casually studying the runescripts I have run into. Still, Baslin is going to be so pissed at me if I surpass him in this. Guess that’s even more motivation to work even harder then.
Ophirian slithered through the tunnel, sneaking up on his latest prey. This prey was different than most every other he had stalked. It was a stalker itself. It moved quietly and stayed hidden in the shadows. Unfortunately for it, the serpent’s senses were far better than any normal creature’s, especially as Ophirian continued to pour his Characteristic Points into his Intuition. With the boost he received from his bondmate, he was approaching four hundred. There was little that could escape his senses at their base, but his natural Ability enhancing his senses multiplied the effect. He could sense the heat of his prey’s body, the scent of its organs, the stink of its breath, even hear the sound as it adjusted its feet ever so slightly with each careful step.
The serpent that had come to be known as the Terror of the Tunnels to the newly raised communities in the caverns and had become the focus of all their greatest hunters. To hunt such a monster was the height of their prowess. None who had hunted the serpent had managed to so much as land a blow on the legend. There were few who even lived through an encounter – all by fleeing the moment one member of their party was attacked. With each hunter that never returned, the legend of the Terror grew, completely unbeknownst to the actual Terror.
As Ophirian closed in on the Twilight Stalker, he noticed that something was slightly different than what he had come to expect. He could sense other scents and heat signatures ahead in the tunnel. They were not moving – perhaps this Stalker was hunting them? Ophirian closed the distance to his prey slightly, still just out of striking range.
His prey unexpectedly sped up, sprinting down the corridor, even running up and along the walls in its haste. It bounced off the walls past the prey that the serpent was sure that the Stalker was hunting. Ophirian was not about to let his prey escape him and launched himself down the corridor. He was the superior hunter, and his prey could never escape him! He sped down the corridor, bursting through the prey scattered against the walls.
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Pain! Blades sliced into his belly scales and spears stabbed into him from below.
Ophirian hissed as he felt his momentum arrested by a combination of blades, spears, and spikes and then some strange thing that looked like woven-together intestines wrapped around him. The strange wrapping constricted around him. Him! How could this thing constrict him? Then, the height of insults! The creatures set upon him. More blows struck him, hurting him. He felt pain like he had never felt before in his life and to make it worse, he was trapped! Between the spikes, spears, blades, and the constricting thing, he was nearly unable to move.
He struggled against his bindings, but even his prodigious Strength was useless without any leverage. Every struggle just drove the spears and blades deeper into him. The pain was maddening! Already, his Health had been reduced by a third. This was more damage than he had ever experienced in his lifetime, and he was enraged and frustrated. Helpless! He could not move! His hisses of anger blew out of his squeezed-together jaws.
Blow after blow continued to rain down on him. One attacker blinded his left eye, and the pain ratcheted up to another level. His Health was starting to fall faster and faster as bleeding effects began to compound. Every thrash hurt him more and more. His every instinct called on him to fight but he was unable to do so. As his Health fell below 10%, he reached out to his bond.
His pain and rage reached across the bond and pulled him to his bondmate through the Ability he had been given with the bond. Ophirian TELEPORTED to Duke, leaving all the spikes, spears, blades, and that accused constricting thing behind. Still, he was bleeding profusely and in tremendous pain as he continued to bleed.
Duke reacted quickly, dropping his runescripting work and pulling his most potent healing potion from his INVENTORY. He fed the potion to Ophirian who swallowed the cool liquid on instinct, the mental and emotional urging from his bond pushing him to action. Immediately, the pain lessened, and his wounds stopped bleeding.
The relief was a complete blessing and Ophirian was finally able to speak again, “They hurt me!”
“Was that the first time you have been hurt?”
“First time I was hurt. Yes. I do not like it.”
“Not many do. What happened? Did you run into a high-Tier boss monster that was too much for you?”
“No. They tricked me. No honor from the prey. They trapped me in a thing with holes and had spears in the floor. Spears in the floor! I couldn’t move. I couldn’t fight! They are not supposed to do that!”
“What? Fight back intelligently? Just how many of them have you killed?”
“I did not count. Many.”
“So, they got smart and ambushed you. Let me guess, they had someone run away from you and lead you right into the ambush.”
“How did you know? Were you watching?”
“No, I wasn’t watching but that is how the weaker kill off the stronger, by being smarter.”
“I am smart!”
“You have raised your Reason score, but that doesn’t make you wise. You have to experience more in life to become wiser. This was a good lesson for you. No matter how strong you are, there’s always someone stronger and if not, there’s always someone clever enough to take you on in a way you weren’t expecting. I’m just glad you were able to TELEPORT here in time. Have you used the Ability before?”
“No, I hunt as my ancestors did with stealth and the power of my own body!”
“You are not your ancestors. Learn from this. Use all your Abilities and hunt like you should. You have advantages that they did not. It is foolish arrogance not to use them. Had you used your TELEPORTATION Ability at the start of the ambush, you probably could have killed all your attackers before getting seriously hurt. Remember TELEPORTATION can bring things to you just as easily as you can go to them. There is nothing stopping you from bringing your foe right to your fangs.”
“I will think on it. Thank you for helping me. I will go rest now.”
“Yes, think about it and get some rest. That’s a good plan. And when you’re done resting, go hunt down your ambushers and actually use your Abilities to kill them all. Every lat one of them.”
Duke felt a pulse of agreement from Ophirian as he returned to his runescripting experimentation, satisfied that he had gotten through to the serpent. He had hidden his concern as well as he could – Ophirian had been heavily wounded in that ambush and probably would not have survived if not for his intervention. It was a harsh lesson to learn but I hope he has learned that he is not invulnerable and able to just barge through things. We’ll see Like I’m one to talk on that front.
The runescript for the console was still challenging for Duke but he continued to tear it apart and reconstruct it in the air over and over. Each time, he tried to make the construct just a bit more compact and a bit smaller. Progress was excruciatingly slow, but there was indeed progress. He had managed to constrict the working construct down by a full centimeter so far. At this rate, I may be able to get it to the size I need in a year. With the time dilation here, that might actually be possible. Then again, I am hoping that I can advance the Ability sooner than that and that should speed things up.