18 Broka 10,391
Six had spent the last few days grinding. He woke, stretched, worked on his weapon forms and his two new maneuvers for a bit. His stamina dropped with each mental activation. Precise Strike was dope, he was kinesthetically aware and his treework career demanded precision so Six was alright, but Precise Strike brought his accuracy to a whole nother level. He practiced some wild strikes while periodically weaving Precise Strike into the movements and marvelled at the sudden increase in his ability to place weapon to target.
Double Strike was simple. He landed a blow and with some mental intent the skill activated and his limbs immediately followed with another strike. The second blow was near instant, so fast Six had a hard time even internalizing what his body was doing. He could barely see it. Simple and effective, blocking the second strike would be difficult.
He ate with Nibbler and then went hunting with the little raccoon. Six had analyzed Nibbler and saw her at level 1, which was almost fatally low. So he had been carefully powerleveling Nibbler like a useless pokemon, allowing her into the fight just long enough to produce some experience and through this tactic she had already gained a level and now sat at level 3. He couldn’t risk it with all the fights he had but she was growing. He didn’t know what attributes she had invested in but he had already noticed a sharpness in her eyes and a defined deftness to her movements.
He would then check his traps, which is where he found the sasquatch. A towering furred humanoid, extremely long arms and blocky, robust hands. That had been a brutal fight. He had caught the thing wrecking his traps, a clear sign of intelligence but Six didn’t appreciate his shit being broken and with a quick Analyze checked the creature.
When the skill had failed, Six hesitated for only a moment. Weighing his next move, forward or retreat? Six had killed things stronger than him before but he felt the thing’s fury. Six tried to talk to the massive ape-like humanoid but the beast just choked out some guttural grunting language that Six did not understand, Unbound Comprehension did nothing so Six could not communicate with the sasquatch. It didn’t matter in the end.
The sasquatch began to move towards him and Six threw out a few Stone Spears, the beast deftly dodging out of the way of the erupting spikes while advancing on SIx. Then they were in melee and Six lashed out with his glaive, breaking the momentum of the towering ape. The two of them danced about each other until the sasquatch slipped under Six’s glaive strike and came in close throwing a thunderous hook into Six, who had positioned his body so the strike landed on the ridge of his breastplate, the concussive blow ringing the plate and leaving a slight mark. Six was lifted from his feet and had the wind knocked out from him but the sasquatch yelped as its hand broke.
Simultaneously Six had crosschecked the haft of his glaive into the face of the beast and had produced a satisfying crunch.
The sasquatch had continued the assault through the pain of its broken hand and landed many more blows, some even impacting Six’s flesh. The sasquatch was relentless and the glaive was hard to use effectively so Six switched out to his sword of force and its more immediate killing potential lent itself to this battle. The sasquatch move back and was soon held at bay while Six kept the fight dynamic and mobile, trying to force stamina expenditure. The sasquatch peppered him with thrown stones but his armor protected him from damage.
It came to a crumbling stop for the creature when it was suddenly yanked from its feet and suspended in the air by one leg. The sasquatch screeched in fury and flailed, attempting to pull at the bright corded climbing rope that held its leg
Six had slowly brought them here and had centered the fight around this trap in particular. He had hoped it still set and his effort to relocate the fight had been fruitful.
The sasquatch reached up and attempted to snap the thin rope but found it impossible. Six would have been fucked if it had the strength to snap a rope that was rated for 7000 pounds.
The beast struggled to free itself, it tried to gnaw on the rope but that failed it too. It went to try and lift itself on the rope but by then Six was right next to the creature.
Six had his glaive again and loaded up almost like he was swinging a baseball bat, and then he sliced and stabbed the sasquatch like it was a blood pinata. The first strike caused the beast to convulse in pain and fall from its attempt to free itself, the blood began to run. Six saw a prompt.
You have afflicted Sasquatch with the condition Bleeding1.
Their condition will persist until healing or medicine is performed.
He had applied bleeding, neat. He continued to slice and stab, experimenting with Precise Strike and Double Strike. It took a surprisingly long time for the sasquatch to die. As he cut into it, it began to panic. Only once more did it try to free itself from its caught leg and Six applied even more martial pressure to its face. It screamed and used its arms to cover its head. Six could hear its fear.
You have killed level 12 Sasquatch. Experience gained 2867.
When he butchered the sasquatch SIx found a mana core within the beast. This discovery did not make him feel any better about the gristly culling. It had been clearly intelligent. He kept the pelt of the creature but left the flesh behind. Six felt it too humanoid to bring back to Jebbedo.
Six fought with packs of bristle hounds and he found and cleared another goblin village of the intolerably violent ones. He hunted and gathered, trained and fought. He made the effort to stop off at the village and drop off his kills, enchant, blaze, eat some dinner and talk a little. The days had been full.
Earth Magic - Initiate - 13
Athletics - Initiate - 13
Stealth - Initiate - 10
Traps - Initiate - 11
Polearm - Initiate - 13
Swords - Initiate - 8
Heavy Armor - Initiate - 15
Meditation - Initiate - 9
Survival - Initiate - 8
Analyze - Initiate - 10
Herbalism - Initiate - 9
Butchery - Initiate - 9
Blood casting - Initiate - 6
Blood magic - Initiate - 5
Taming - Initiate - 10
Perception - Initiate - 9
Enchantment - Initiate - 10
The objective representation of his growth was addictive. He was also noticing the direct effects of the improvements and bonuses.
On the 18th of Broka Six had been exploring to the west, moving higher up the mountain and searching for any clues related to the ley node, his search had not provided anything useful thus far but Six found that following his gut always led to something interesting.
Six was taking a break after bringing down a level 4 Tinder Moose, it’s corpse stank of sulphur so Six just harvested the mundane mana core and Enhanced Tinder Antlers.
He sat regenerating with Earthen Endurance and meditation when a rustling from behind him caught his perception. He turned and scanned the mountainous forest, seeing nothing but the surrounding nature. He watched for a bit longer before relaxing again.
It wasn’t long before another rustling caught his attention and he swiveled about eyes scanning about. Nothing.
He swiveled, sat in the opposite direction and appreciated the nature that was once behind him. Six breathed deep and meditated, when he was fully regenerated he would move out. Perhaps one more encounter before making his way down to the village. But a familiar rustling from behind put Six on alert and he leapt to his feet, spinning about to see a knee high shrubbery come to a halt.
That ferny bush moved, Six was sure of it. Keeping his eyes on it Six pulled out a small enchanted hatchet of earth and walked up on the bush. It didn’t shake one leaf.
When Six hacked down with the hatchet the last thing he expected was the high pitched screech of pain the bush emitted. It pumped some sort of white chlorophyllic liquid. Its two cleft halves quivered before it fell limp like a plant without water.
You have killed level 0 Awakened Shrub. Experience gained 2.
Still there was no time to wait as the surrounding flora moved against Six. The shrubs moved all at once and quickly shuffled their way forward, mobbing Six. Six hacked away with the hatchet and warded off a few but the lashing leaves, and the constricting roots and vines pulled him down under the weight of numbers. Still Six hacked and tore, whittling them down one by one as he was dragged through the forest. The transport slowed as he lowered their numbers and it was barely a crawl when Six heard a creaking voice speak within his mind.
“Food.” It was a demand, an expectation.
“No, no, no!” Six exclaimed, hacking and tearing away the last few shrubs. He came to a halting stop and quickly stood to scan the area. It was pretty clear what was speaking to him telepathically. There was a blood red tree, almost forty feet tall so not too old, maybe a few decades at most. The bark and leaves were a deep crimson and it stood alone, dominating the area, almost drawing in the nearby light and creating a halo of darkness.
It stood some seven meters away and it shivered slightly and Six could see more shrubs begin to gather near the tree. It spoke again, “Hello fleshling.”
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“Yo.” Six waved at the tree.
“You dare intrude in my sanctum?” It sounded well spoke, almost haughty.
“Bro, I was dragged here by your little things. I’m sorry but I’ll leave right now.”
“You may not leave until you first provide restitution!”
“But I was brought here against my will.”
The tree ignored him and wriggled in annoyance. “You will provide me with the flesh and blood of living creatures, I will provide you with a familiar contract and you will tithe a portion of your experience to me.”
What? “No.”
It continued ranting, “You will- No? You dare intrude and refuse my demands? Do you not understand how beneficial a partnership between us would be? I have already gleaned your statistics and your spells would be ideal for me. I will teach you the blood magic that I know, give you strength for ten percent, a pittance! Not only that, you could improve my growth speed and I could grow fruits of power for you, our strength would improve in tandem by orders of magnitude.”
“I can imagine a person like myself would synergize well with a blood tree in many ways. But, you seem a little demanding, maybe even evil? Like do you want me to bring you animals or people.”
“People are preferable. So I may absorb their memories along with their experience and blood.”
Six took a step back, nodding. “Seems a bit evil. I feel like making a deal with you would be kinda foolish. Linking myself to your chariot, or like accepting a faustian bargain, or something like that.”
“I care not for morality, nor for your musings. Decide now or I will eat you. Join me and we will rise together!”
Six received a prompt.
You have been offered an indefinite familiar contract from Vostialkanoko.
If you accept this contract you will gain
Respective increases equal to 20% of Vostialkanoko’s maximum health, stamina and mana
The Minor spell Summon Shrubbery
The Minor spell Blood Reservoir
Potential Blood Fruits
In recompense you must
Continually apply the Plant Growth buff
bring Vostialkanoko 3 living sentient sacrifices at at least level 6 per month.
Tithe 10% of all gained experience to Vostialkanoko
Do you accept? Yes/No?
He took another step back, he was too close. This didn’t seem like the best contract. Six definitely received benefits but any reduction in experience points gained was terrible. Also, no defined quantities and timelines related to the fruits made Six even more dubious. Also, it was evil. “Hmm, so no convincing you to not kill indiscriminately?”
“If you bring me enough to keep me sated in flesh and experience I will allow you to choose what I eat.”
Six couldn’t commit to any of this, it just wasn’t sustainable, he had other things to do. He decided this tree was a hazard and would have to come down. “Go fuck yourself eh.” He refused the contract prompt and took another step back.
The tree instantly lashed out and its branches whipped towards Six, but he had worked around trees for years and had slowly positioned himself just outside the range of the reaching limbs. The tips cut the air but their range, while long, was fundamentally limited. He had been dragged into the critical root zone though so Six scanned the earth while taking a step back and was barely prepared for when three roots erupted from the earth at blinding speeds. The first impacted with the haft of Six’s earth glaive, an audible crack was heard and the weapon broke as Six was pushed back. The next two roots impacted his body in quick succession, multiple snaps emanated from inside Six as he was thrown five meters away, falling to the forest floor and gritting through the pain of his new internal injuries.
His red health bar was almost empty and his focus flashed to the logs.
You have been struck with a Root Strike for 227 damage (290/517)
You have been struck with a Root Strike for 223 damage (67/517)
You have been inflicted with the condition Broken3.
A little blinking icon appeared in the corner of his vision and with just his focus he understood the emblem. The broken condition reduced the speed and accuracy of any movement, the higher the rank of the broken condition the worse the debilitation. Broken3 bought a twenty percent reduction but there was no time to waste on pointless worry, he could hear the high pitched rustling of the incoming shrubs.
Six made a shambling retreat when the shrubs rushed forward. He worked through the pain of his damaged body to maintain distance while continuing to diminish the blood trees' shrubberies. He chewed on rootbust and worked to stay safe, using Double Strike with his enchanted hatchets and machetes to cull the trickle of greenery. Stomping and hacking and tearing, Six fought until there were no more that stood against him. Six stood amongst the shredded remains of plant and he sighed. His health had regenerated somewhat during the shrub cleanup and Broken had been reduced by one rank. He moved just close enough to regard the tree and looked upon it quivering in anger.
Six heard its voice within his mind, creaking with insistence. “Serve me, and we shall rise together!”
Six shook his head, “No.” There was no room in his heart for compromise.
He hit the tree with a Stone Spear and was surprised when for the first time, the stone shattered upon the crimson ridged bark of the tree. Two more Stone Spears produced no effect. He rotated to a different strategy.
Staying at a safe distance he took some time to range about and gather some chunks of dry standing deadwood, he gathered it up just outside what he thought of as the tree’s new maximum Root Strike range. Just beyond from where his body had been struck down by the oppressive tree.
He pulled out his collected conifer sap and much of the lamp oil he kept to himself. Mixing them together he made what was hopefully a molotov cocktail, when all the ingredients were used he had ended up with twenty-five of the things, four of which were in large containers. Most of that oil was probably meant for the settlers and he was glad for his selfishness.
Six had been strong in his past life and the increases to his strength attribute had only made it more apparent. He was confident in his ability to lob the cocktails right at that messed up tree.
He stood next to the dead wood he’d gathered and hoped he wouldn’t start a forest fire but lit the fuse of the first molotov anyways, the blood tree stood alone so it should be fine. He heard the voice of the tree scream in his mind.
“What are you doing?” It asked, panicked.
“Fire,” Six said, and he tossed the first of the cocktails. He aimed for the base of the tree and it impacted near right on target. The glass shattering and the area becoming saturated with burning sticky oil. It was something small but it burned and Six began to throw more molotovs, stacking the fuel from afar.
The blood tree’s tune instantly changed and it wailed in Six’s mind. “Please! I will not eat people! I won’t! Just stop the fire please! I will give you my gifts freely, with no price! No price!”
“Nope, that’s fucking dumb,” Six said, switching out to hefting the dead wood and easily tossing it onto the sticky oil fire. The dry deadwood immediately took and began to add to the blaze. The blood tree reached down with its branches and tried to move the wood but it only served to coat its twigs in Six’s makeshift napalm.
There was a moment where eight more Root Strikes came lancing out of the earth but Six had picked the correct distance this time, their range was severely limited. The tree may be impossibly hard but it was lacking in offensive options. The shrubberies must have acted as its long range option.
Six tossed more Molotovs onto the dead wood and switched back to the wood. He built up a massive pyre and stood before the conflagration. The tree, screaming in his mind.
Six fed that fire for just over an hour. It took that long for the constant screams in his mind to fall silent. He twitched when his mind went silent, thankful that he didn’t have to hear that agony anymore. The tree had gone dormant or perhaps on autopilot as there was no kill prompt, so Six made sure to continue the blaze. Ten minutes later Six received the prompt.
You have killed level 22 Magic Blood Tree. Experience gained 4965.
Shit. That was alot of experience for what amounted to Six doing a fire watch on a controlled burn. It had not been the smartest of foes, yet its incredible strength was evident in the exchange of Root Strikes. If Six had been within the drip line of the canopy it would have most likely torn him apart. There was a part of Six that cried out at losing such a unique arboreal specimen but the larger part was focused on the level up prompt and the interesting materials that the tree represented.
You have reached level 8, advancement options available.
He took a moment to quickly level up. Three of his six free attributes went into Endurance, primarily for a larger stamina pool which would allow Six to make bursts of extreme exertion possible. Also, the improved health regen stacked with Earthen Endurance which made a strong advantage even more potent.
One point went into Strength and one went into Dexterity to actually increase the effect and grace of his exertions. The gradual increase into strength was already significantly noticeable, Six jumped higher and threw farther and lifted heavier. Thinking of lifting, He needed to make a gym.
One point went into luck to improve his gut feelings. His gut told him that was the right move.
He had those eight skill increases just sitting there but felt there was little benefit to using them now. Sure he could spend them on Earth Magic, Heavy Armor, or Polearms, it would bring the skills to at least twenty and that would prompt the skill to evolve but he was confident he would evolve them naturally soon enough. Besides, he wanted his enchantment skill to be the highest so pumping the skill ups into enchantment at level ten would be the best for his class selection. Skills seemed to take more time to level the higher they got, so waiting for as long as possible would maximize the benefit.
Most of the blood tree stood surprisingly unblemished. It was only the base of the trunk that fared the terrible fires. The bottom ten feet of the trunk had been burned and blackened away. It had been girdled by the flame, the life of its roots cut off from its canopy. Still, most of the wood was good and the charred pieces could be cut and scraped away, like burnt toast.
There were dark purple leafy herbs at the base of the tree. He picked one and gave it a wafting sniff.
Plant Identified
- Reach Leaf -
Quality: Enhanced
Rarity: Unusual
Weight - 0.1G
Durability 5/5
Traits: Can be chewed to provide a minor boost to mana regen. 1.5MP per second for one minute. Material, Reagent.
This was a mana herb? Nice. It gave what 40 MP over a minute? No that wasnt right… 90MP for a fucking leaf? This was really nice! Sure it didn’t regen like Indigo’s potions but this was still a gamechanger.
Six withdrew an enchanted axe and cut down the remains. He instantly noticed how sappy it was, crimson sap poured from the cut and Six shrugged, waste not want not. He pulled out more bottles and bottled as much sap as he could. The red liquid was mostly viscous but had congealed or crystallized into an amber like substance in some places, he collected it all.
- Concentrated Magic Blood Sap -
Rank: Superior
Rarity: Rare
Weight - 800 G
Durability 500/500
Traits: Material, Reagent
Superior? Well shit, if he needed to he could use the sap to evolve. He chopped off all the branches from the tree
- Magic Blood Branch -
Rank: Enhanced
Rarity: Rare
Weight - Variable G
Durability 500/500
Traits: Material, Reagent
As he went through the branches he found two seeds about the size of a peach, they were dark green and held a weighty power about them.
- Magic Seed -
Rank: Superior
Rarity: Rare
Weight - 100 G
Durability 500/500
Traits: Material, Reagent
Finally the log that his ring kept rejecting for being too large. Cutting it in half dulled his old timey bandsaw and still the ring rejected it. It was going to get dark soon and he didn’t want to spend the night milling such hard wood so he decided to leave the narrow section and come retrieve it tomorrow. He rigged up a set of rope shoulder straps that led to a running bowline knot, it would allow him to pull the lighter end of the log in an elevated manner as he made his way back to his cave, dragging it through the forest. It was heavy but with his enhanced strength and endurance it was quite possible.
- Fire Hardened Magic Blood Log -
Rank: Superior
Rarity: Rare
Weight - 232 KG
Durability 1500/1500
Traits: Material, Reagent
He had found the Mana Core embedded in the stump of the tree
- Mana Core -
Rank: Enhanced
Rarity: Unusual
Defense - 100
Weight - 0.025 KG
Durability 1599/1600
Traits: Crystalized Mana, Material, Reagent, Catalyst.
Skill Increase:
Inspect - Initiate - 10
Butchery - Initiate - Level 10
Herbalism - Initiate - Level 10
He carried the magic seeds on his person and stored everything else but the upper trunk section and began dragging the lower section back to his cave in somewhat of a daze. He quickly realized that while possible to drag the log, it was going to be a grind. He considered taking off the remnants of his armor but refused to diminish his constant training. There was a part of his mind that said put it down and go ask for help, he marched over that part of himself and retreated into a mental visualization of endless endurance. He conjured images to motivated himself into performing harder. Weeks passed in his mind, seasons fled and mountains crumbled, still he dragged.
He whispered to himself as he dragged, “yea buddy.”
Skill Increase:
Athletics - Initiate - 14 - 15
Heavy Armor - Initiate - 16
The grueling march had cleared Six’s mind somewhat. Nibbler came bounding out of hiding and scampered up onto Six. The fluffy contact was nice and Six sank into the comforting feeling as he went about his simple business, the raccoon settling into a scarf position.
Six stored the big log in his cave, tended to his garden, checking the new patch of wheat Six was experimenting with, and using Plant Growth to mature some potatoes and one of the smokeweed plants. He harvested the accelerated growth and blazed some of the last little bit of his purchased poostank smokeweed. What he was growing wouldn’t be any better really but Six might be able to breed better strains one day. He put the new smokeweed out to cure and stored the potatoes in his ring as a gift for the village. They fed him for basically free so some potatoes would be the least Six could do.
Six scratched Nibbler who sat upon him scarf style as he left his cave and they made their way down to the village, the sun beginning to set behind them.