‘Awww they're so cute!’ Ember thought to herself while she watched two fluffy, short haired, cat sized critters that looked oddly like a mix between a chinchilla and kangaroo due to their back feet being more visually prominent and instead of the thin and curly chinchilla tail it had a thick straight tail covered from base to tip with the same dense and fluffy fur that covered the rest of its body. They were play-fighting with one another. She watched them run around the bases of trees and dart in and out of bushes until one would tackle and pin the other, a small scuffle would break out until one would break free from the tussle and shoot off back into the brambles.
‘Best spot for a lunch break ever!’ She thought happily with a cute smile on her face. She then stood up and took a glance around at her picnic grounds. ‘I can’t believe I ran across the perfect break spot out here. The fallen tree I get to use for a seat and its stump that works great as a table were good enough but the end of meal entertainment was more than a girl could have asked for.’ She lifted her hands to the sky and leaned from side to side to stretch her muscles after sitting for too long. ‘That was a good break, now, Metatron vitals please.’
[Lifeforce: 50
Mana: 52/90
ki: 60]
‘Excellent, so around two hours since I last checked I think. I’m definitely boosting my regen more, on the next level up I get. With fifty two points of mana regenerated I think I can afford the mana draw to play around with a one square foot area for my new ensnare skill.’ Ember thought to herself. Now that she has decided on her next task Ember started off once again in search for more jackalope to fight.
After another hour of walking around in search of any signs of more jackalope Ember finally had some luck. While sneaking through a dense area of undergrowth she heard rustling and squeaking coming from a bit farther in ahead of her. To keep her approach as silent as possible she started moving even slower and more deliberately than she was before. With the extra time allotted to her she decided it would be a good idea to try and focus on the new skill in her mind and try to have it precast or on the edge of casting so when the jackalope came into view all she would need to do is release the hold on her ability. The feeling of precasting a skill was not a pleasant feeling in the least, to her best comparison it felt like if the skill was a sneeze her holding it at the ready was akin to the feeling of a sneeze on the edge of happening but never fully reaching the breaking point to cause you to actually sneeze.
‘Hold…hold… this freaking sucks, but hold…’ Ember kept repeating this in her head to help her maintain concentration on her held skill. ‘Finally!’ She saw a small brown furred jackalope munching on some berries growing on the brambles spread out through the underbrush. ‘NOW!’ She yelled in her mind, finally allowing her mental mana sneeze to be released.
In an instant Ember witnessed two things happen that took her by complete surprise. First, she felt her mana drain from her faster than she has ever experienced. The difference between a five mana per second drain and a ten mana instant draw was ridiculous. If a five mana draw was like a steady stream running through a creek then the ten mana pull was like the rapids found before a waterfall. The experience was so new to her that she wasn't sure if the sensation was closer to pain or the good sore you feel after a workout, but the feeling being in her veins, or mana channels, instead of her muscles. The next oddity to catch her attention was the ground below her target. As soon as she felt the last threads of mana being drawn out of her body and into the soil she could see the ground below the jackalope begin to crack and roil as thousands of tiny thin white filament like roots shot out of the dirt to encase the rabbit in a cocoon of white threads. Once she could tell the skill had the animal trapped she walked closer to see what it was that jumped out of the ground to fight for her. ‘It looked like a bunch of thin white worms crawling out of the dirt to crawl all over the poor thing.’ She thought. ‘I guess it's like flower roots maybe? Maybe I’ll need a high skill level to manipulate tree roots.’
“Nature?!? Really?!? This is a nature based skill and not a rot based skill right?” Ember shouted. “It's just more mushrooms!!! I was expecting roots and vines, maybe grass and weeds… but no, it looks like the jackalope was caught in a spider web of mycelium growing out of the soil.” she complained to herself as she grew closer. “At least the skill works though. I can actually walk up and hit it with my staff instead of chasing it all over the forest just to get lost, tired, and frustrated without anything to show for it.” She let out the rest of her aggravation on the rabbit. One good whack to the noggin and with a small crack the jackalope's body fell limp within the mycelium cocoon. ‘Metatron, vitals please.’
[Lifeforce: 50
Mana: 52/90
ki: 60]
“Oh!” Ember exclaimed, ‘Metatron my am I not missing any mana after I felt all that mana get drained from me?’
[Baseline Regeneration Rates
Hp - 50/8h 6.25/H 0.10/M
Mp - 100/8h12.5/H 0.20/M
Ki - 50/8h 6.25/H 0.10/M]
‘Okay… i didn't ask about my regenera… ah… it's been about an hour since i last checked. So I must have regenerated around twelve points then. But I only spent ten… Metatron! How much was spent on the last skill I used?
[Calculating]
[Previous Mana Draw: 11MP]
‘Eleven? Why eleven and not ten? It was only a single square foot.’ She complained.
[Ensnare - Send your mana into the ground to have nature spring forth to trap and/or slow your enemies. 10 MP Per 1 square foot of area affected up to 100 square feet. Additional costs based on toughness of the terrain (EX: Soil, clay, stone, ect.) up to an added 10MP. Highest toughness material currently able to be penetrated: sandstone.] (Nature, Rot, Area)
Ember reread the skill information three times over before the reasoning clicked in her mind. “AH!” she exclaimed upon realization. ‘Additional costs for terrain.’ She mused. ‘I guess that cracking I saw below the jackalope before the skill completed meant the dirt wasn't quite as soft as the skill would have liked it to be. Well no point in letting the parts go bad laying here lets collect the horn and… Where is the horn? D…did I murder an innocent bunny? Uh… metatron… kill log please?
[Kills Log:
Jackalope lvl 1 - 5 exp
Jackalope lvl 3 - 15 exp
Jackalope lvl 3 - 15 exp
Jackalope lvl 1 - 5 exp
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Jackalope lvl 2 - 10 exp
Jackalope lvl 2 - 10 exp
Jackalope lvl 3 - 15 exp
Crystal Jelly lvl 5 -25 exp
Jackalope (variant: Earth) lvl 3 - 15 exp]
‘Wait a second. Hold up. Jackalopes have variants? Was this one an earth variant because it had brown fur and no horn? I have too many questions to try and remember all of them. I should ask about buying a notebook to keep everything written down in.’ With that realization out of the way, Ember then proceeded to collect the earth variant jackalope. With the earth variant not having a horn to remove as proof of its kill she decided to bring the entire body back with her this time instead. ‘I wonder what they would even ask for as a proof for this type of jackalope?’ Ember froze in her tracks.
‘I won't get in trouble for killing a brown one will I?!?’ She questioned herself in a panic. “Bah!” She yelled out in complaint. ‘I should have just asked Thorn to tag along again today. Or at least until I have a basic understanding of the do’s and don'ts around here.’
She continued her way back to town stopping to collect a few more jackalope horns along the way. Five out of the six additional jackalopes she hunted went down quick and easy but the last one gave her a headache. After it saw how she captured its companion in a mycelium net, every time the ground under or around it would shake or shift it would jump straight up into the air or launch itself to the side. The only reason she was able to capture the last one was due to her plan of sneaking around to the side while she kited the rabbit with her new skill and the jackalope being too occupied with avoiding her ensnare skill to notice her staff swinging through the air right at its head.
----------------------------------------
“Good Afternoon Ms. Ember!” Sable greeted Ember energetically. “Was your morning hunt a good one?”
“Yes and no.” Ember replied. “I Got a couple of jackalope kills and I even got a level up out of it. But I only took down a single slime and when I found the pond it had so many crystal jellies living in it I ran away screaming…” she said bashfully grasping the back of her neck.
Sable slammed her hands onto the countertop in front of her, instantly catching Ember’s attention and pulling her out of her downward spiral. “You found a spawning pool?!?” Sable shouted, loud enough to catch the attention of the other hunters lingering around the guild hall. “I’m sorry!” She quickly apologized. “I didn't mean to get so excited or to shout… I am very happy to see you back in one piece though. Crystal jellies are great for farming experience at lower levels, as long as you are fighting them one on one or in small groups. They may be a passive species without any active way to defend themselves but if enough of them gather and go after the same target they can overpower and kill foes much stronger than any one of them on their own.”
“Wait! First… Crystal jellies don't have any offensive skills?!? And secondly, how can they kill in large numbers if they can’t fight?” Ember asked incredulously.
“Oh, okay so first yes they do not have any offensive skills at least at their common base levels. If a tamer decides to waste their time as a slime tamer they can eventually teach the crystal jelly some water based magic after it reaches a high enough level that consuming mana doesn't consume its lifeforce.” Sable explained. Seeing the confusion building across Ember’s face she explained. “So most of the jelly species, like Crystal Jellies, Acid Jellies, and Frost Jellies don't have a body like you and me. They are more closely related to that of an elemental. Elementals are manifestations of a specific flavor of mana, while a Jelly is a collection of unspecified, left over, or neutral mana. All of that basically boils down to this, unlike us flesh and blood lifeforms they are mana based lifeforms. So if a low level slime uses too much mana it starts to burn its own slime mass as fuel. It's interesting but painful to watch. The only time I have ever heard a jelly monster make any form of sounds was a while back when i was still traveling with my friends, at that point i saw one used its slime mass to cast a skill, when it did its entire body shivered and started to release a hiss of steam as the membrane shook and shivered releasing a high pitched, pained, shrill screeching noise.” Sable shook her head in an attempt to shake those memories from the forefront of her mind. “I will be happy if i never have to hear that sound again ever.”
“That… That's really good information to have, thank you.” Ember thanked Sable and started to unload all of the loot she had gathered on her hunt. She laid out seven jackalope horns of varying sizes, the metallic pink piece of what looks like pyrite, and lastly they corpse of the brown furred Earth variant jackalope.
“Ooooo… Very nice! And good quality as well, most folks end up putting notches or chips in the horns when they cut them free but yours all look to have come off fairly cleanly. Almost like you just pulled them off an old rotted corpse.” Sable joked before breaking into a small fit of laughter at the end.
“Actually…” Ember started but stopped.
“What?” Sable questioned, raising an eyebrow.
“Well… I… Um… maybe sort of rotted a corpse or two before harvesting them.” Ember replied quietly.
“Rotted them? Like in death magic’s bone cleaning spell or its festering miasma?” Sable asked, looking more confused.
“N… No. I, I um… my magic… or well my affinity that is… its… I promise it's not bad or anything!” She said defensively when she noticed Sable starting to give her an odd look. “I have a Rot affinity. I'm not some evil death mage or cultist. I'd show you if I knew of a way to do so.” Ember spouted out quickly.
“Calm down girl, I'm not questioning you on your moral choices or your natural born affinity. No one will judge you on that only on how you use it in the end.” Sable reassured Ember. “Now for the last part of what you said, we can actually share our statuses with others, you just have to give permission to allow the other to view. You can't just walk up and steal someone’s information by looking at them. Well… unless you have a crazy high level identify or inspect skill. But I'm starting to ramble… I’m sorry. For your seven jackalope horns and slime core we can offer you standard guild rates, which is one and a half shill per jackalope horn and two and a half shill for the slime core.” Sable paused to think for a moment before continuing. “Now… The variant pelt would be worth fifteen shill undamaged, but seeing as you didn't actually do the skinning there will be a processing fee added to the payout, if you agree that is. After the processing fee you would be getting eleven and a half shill with the remaining three and a half being paid to the staff member that performs the skinning. If all of that sounds good to you I can begin to finalize the payment and have the items collected.”
“Yes! Perfect! Please begin.” Ember answered excitedly.
“Alright, please wait for a moment while I carry the goods to the back and I will return with your payment. Oh! Also if you took a job for either of the jackalope or slime parts please have your slip ready when I return to have it processed as well.” Sable replied with her best salesman smile.
After what Ember assumed could have only been thirty seconds, Sable came dancing back out with a small twirl from the employee area behind her desk. She made her way back to the desk and before sitting herself she dropped a small sack of coins on the table for Ember to inspect. “Please,” She said with a smile. “Please count and assure that your payment is all there and completed to the agreed upon amount. If everything looks good then you may claim the coin sack and I'll begin processing your job tickets.”
Ember dumped the contents of the sack out on the counter and gave it a quick count to verify everything was there. Once she was happy with her results she collected all of their coins back into the sack and tied it onto her belt with the first coin sack she had. “It's all here. And these are the two jobs I took. I was only able to complete the one for the jackalope though. After one slime drained all my mana and caused me to pass out… I'm sooo not going back to see that thing ever again.
“Understandable.” Sable replied cheerily. “A spawning pool is no job for a level two, I would recommend being at least level 4 or 5 before trying them solo again.
“Oh. Most definitely. I'm planning to ask Thorn to join me tomorrow for the same thing. I figured his sparks could hurt the water balls.” she laughed while explaining herself.
“That's a great idea! And I just know he would be happy to go with you. He came in earlier this morning asking if anyone had seen you around this morning. I told him you were in pretty early and left shortly after. He just asked that I ask you to visit him before your next job.” Sable explained.
“CRAP BASKETS!” Ember shouted louder than she intended. “ Oops… Uh… I just remembered I kinda promised to meet up here this morning to go hunting with him again today… somedays i hate my short attention span and lack of the ability to remember things without them being in my face. Grr.” she growled out in complaint. “But I heard you, I'll stop by and invite him along to join me tomorrow. I bet he'll be pumped to shock slimes.”
“I'm sure he will. That guy has always loved a good explosion or seeing any new style of magic that he has not witnessed before. Well I wish you luck on your conversation later and look forward to your visit again in the morning.” Sable reached a hand out with a big smile on her face and Ember took it into hers to shake. “Have a great afternoon Ms. Ember and good luck.”
With all of their business finalized Sable gathered the remaining items on her desk and cleared it before she helped her next guest. Ember, on the other hand, turned to the door to make her exit. She was planning to make a quick stop by Thorn’s house to apologize for her slip up today and invite him out to the crystal jelly spawning pool tomorrow and then she can finally head home to Willow’s house for a much needed bath and a full nights rest.