Chapter 12 - Swallow them whole and hope for the best.

“You’re a Runemaster? That’s quite impressive.”

“Not quite a master yet. I still have a bit of a way to go before making any real money from the class.”

Mason woke up, hearing two voices that he recognised. He felt rough. Checking his HP bar showed it to be full. Revealing that HP was more a reflection of how close to death he was as opposed to how injured he was. He lay for a moment listening to the girl speak.

“Oh yeah? I saw the runes on his door. That was some pretty decent work.” She said, pointing at Mason.

“You’ve been to his room?” Nays said, looking slightly down suddenly, “yeah, I take on commissions now and then, but I don’t know… I still have a lot to learn.”

Mayry smiled, saying sweetly, “Yeah, we were just getting to know each other a little better.”

Mason groaned in pain and cut off the conversation before it could go any further.

Both girls got out of their seats and came over to his bed. Mayry got in a bit closer and slapped him.

“Getting eaten? Getting eaten was your plan? That is the dumbest thing you could ever have done.” She ranted. She leaned in and hugged him, then let go, turned pink and slapped him again. “I thought you died.” She finished sheepishly.

Nays came over and hugged him, too, thankfully without the slaps. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You’re the hero who killed the monster, so it’s the least I could do. But I better get going!" She turned and left before Mason could say anything.

Mason looked up at Mayry, asking, “What was that all about?”

She ignored him, saying, “Did you get much Chaos Energy from the basilisk? I got a little, but you must have gotten the biggest share. “

“XP? Yeah, I think I remember levelling up a few times.” He replied before opening his menu and reading out what it said for Mayry’s benefit.

Notification 1/6

You have slain – Monster - Level 43 Kethulhu Basilisk

You have received a share of 430 XP.

For your contribution, you have received 330 XP

Level up

Level up

Mayry interrupted, saying, “Damn! You really did get a lot of it. A few of the other hunters were annoyed they got so little.” She briefly considered, then added, “but I guess none of them was dumb enough to get eaten so….” She shrugged.

He continued running through his Notifications.

Notification 2/6

You have reached level 6.

Stats allocated

Before moving on, Mason said, “I’m going to put all 6 points into Intelligence. I really want to advance Magic Bolt as soon as I can so it’ll be less useless. “pausing, he looked to Mayry and asked, “unless you think it would be better elsewhere?”

Surprised he had even asked her, she thought about it and replied, “Yeah, I think that would probably be the best use of the points. You might not have needed to have gotten yourself eaten if you had strong enough abilities.”

Mason rolled his eyes, “A yes or no would have been fine.”

Notification 3/6

Quest Update! He did the mash. He did the Monster mash. -

Objective: A monster is heading towards town. Bash it, mash it put it in a stew. Just kill the damn thing. Complete.

Reward – Magic ranged weapon (Uncommon) or Magic armour (Uncommon)

"Go with the weapon," Mayry said immediately. "Magic weapons are rarer, and I suspect you'll be getting pretty decent armour made soon anyway."

With a mock salute, he chose The ranged weapon box. By the time he had closed his menu, the long box the weapon came in was already in Mayrys arms, with her attempting to rip it open.

"Why won't it open, dammit!" she said through gritted teeth pulling on the string and paper it was wrapped in.

Mason walked over and, with very little effort, opened the box. Giving Mayry a questioning look, he looked inside and found a Bow.

Bow of the Dreadwood Tree (Uncommon) - In a distant land, there exists a graveyard. In this graveyard, a single tree grew. This tree absorbed all the hatred and sorrow of the dead buried around it. From a branch of this tree, this bow was crafted. Landing a hit on an enemy with this bow will either cause rapid necrosis or spontaneous depression. Undead are immune to these effects.

"A bow that can cause depression? What the fuck?" Mason exclaimed, getting a strange feeling of melancholy while holding the bow.

Mayry nodded, agreeing. "Can you even shoot a bow?"

"Not even a little bit." Mason shrugged.

Notification 4/6

You have looted – Monster - Level 43 Kethulhu Basilisk

You have received:

Basilisk Venom

Basilisk Hide

Eye of the Basilisk

12 Basilisk scales

3 Silver coins

23 iron coins

Impressed by his haul, he used Identify on the first four items reading these to Mayry as well.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Item - Eye of the Basilisk (Unique) (One-time use item) - The greatest weapon a Basilisk has is its eyes. After a basilisk dies, the eyes become useless after about a minute. This item will instantly kill any being under Level 30.

Poison - Basilisk Venom (Rare) - While it rarely needs to use its venom, the Basilisk is the most venomous snake on this continent. Its venom can be applied to a bladed weapon and used to afflict the ‘Fucked’ debuff. Unless they have an incredibly potent healing potion on them, they’re pretty much dead.

Crafting Material - Basilisk Hide (Rare) - While no longer infused with magic, the Basilisk’s hide is still incredibly strong and flexible. It will also make you look like the pink Power Ranger.

Alchemical Ingredient - 12 Basilisk scales (Rare) - It is said that in the outer areas of the Mandeli Desert, the Mandeli people have developed a technique for preparing the scales of the Basilisk into a potent elixir which will increase the resilience of anyone who drinks it. Alternatively, you could swallow them whole and hope for the best.

“Wow,” Mayry said, “The eye alone is probably worth Silver. You should definitely see an armourer as soon as you can to get some armour made. I’d never heard of a Basilisk before yesterday, but if it’s anything like a dragon hide, it will be really strong. Do you think you could let Viv have one of the scales? I’m sure she’d love to experiment on it.”

“Yeah, no worries. Doubt I’ll have much use for them for a while… Where is the Mandeli Desert?”

“Haven’t got the foggiest idea, and if there are more Basilisks there, I don’t particularly want to know where it is.

Notification 5/6

Achievement Unlocked Spit or Swallow!

You have been swallowed whole by a monster; even more impressive, you survived!

Reward: Inventory has been upgraded to Inventory (Advanced)

Opening to check, he saw his inventory had far more space now. This meant he really needed to go shopping.

Moving on, Mason came to the notification he was most excited about. The Skill Selection was finally here. He was about to get a brand-new ability.

Notification 6/6

Level 5 skill selection available.

Available skills:

Camouflage (Basic) – Become one with your environment and become unseen to your enemies.

Active effect: While stationary, you will blend into your surroundings, invisible to all but the most observant enemies. While moving, the effect is greatly lessened. Attacking an enemy while undetected will deal more damage. Scales with Perception.

Scale Armour (Basic) – Seeing your enemy gets you hard.

Active effect: You can transform your skin into scales, significantly increasing damage resistance. Scales with Resilience.

Mana Drain (Basic) – Drain your enemies of their will to live, like you already do to anyone you speak to.

Passive Effect: Being close to an enemy will slowly drain their Mana, adding it to yours. Scales with Intelligence.

Before he could decide, Mayry jumped in and started breaking them down, one by one.

“The first one, camouflage, would be useful If you plan to be a hunter who stalks the monster instead of going in fists first. It would also work well if you ever needed to fight other hunters or people in general, and you’re a bit of an asshole, so you’ll piss someone off eventually.”

“The Scale Armour would be good if you were more of a battle of attrition kinda fighter, but I don’t get that feeling from you.”

“Lastly, the Mana drain would be decent if you plan on getting in close during fights. You can’t get much close than inside, so close kind of sounds like your thing. Does it also depend on what you want to do?”

Nodding, he said, “Yeah, It’s my choice, so please give me a second to think.”

She rolled her eyes and kept talking. “No, not what I meant. I mean, what do you want in the long run? Are you staying here? Trying to find a way home? Becoming a hunter? What?”

Mason was stunned. He hadn’t really thought about it. Did he even want to go home? Sure, he missed his mum and the few friends he’d had, but at home, he was just Mason. Receptionist, depressed, certain his life would never amount to anything. Here he had a chance to be someone and make a difference. He wanted to be like one of the heroes in the books he read, and if he got paid for it, then he wouldn’t complain.

“I think I want to stay, Maybe become a hunter? Can you tell me more about them?”

Mayry had a big smile on her face and said, “Of course. When someone spots a monster, they tell the association, and a contract is put up. Hunters find and kill the monster bringing in a trophy as proof of the kill. The reward varies from monster to monster, but usually, the more dangerous a monster is, or the more of a monster there is, the more you’ll get paid. You, of course, get to keep whatever you loot. The associations also have citywide, countrywide, continentwide and worldwide leaderboards, where you move up depending on how well you perform and the more powerful monsters you kill.”

“Is there one in Sparksford?” Mason asked.

“Yeah, a pretty small one. The leaderboard only has 50 or so hunters on it.” She sighed, then said, “probably a lot less now, actually.”

He lay there in bed thinking. Surely if he got powerful enough, he’d stumble on a way to get home eventually, and then he could make his choice then, right? This world seemed to have a lot of shit to deal with, the monsters, the ‘Others’ and maybe even the gods if he ever learned more about that whole situation.

“Okay, great.” He decided. “I’ll reach the top of the leaderboard in this town, and then I’ll just go with the flow.”

Mayry scoffed at him, “Go with the flow? You are going to go out hunting and killing monsters like the Basilisk, and you’ll just go with the flow?”

“Yeah! I’ve played thousands of hours of games like this, and the story usually ends up in the same place no matter what route you take, so yeah, go with the flow.”

Mayry narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. This isn’t a game! This isn’t a game! This is real life!” She was getting heated now and started to raise her voice.

“Can you prove that?” Mason replied, keeping his voice at a completely normal volume. “Can you prove that this is real life, and if I die right now, I won’t respawn or wake up in my world?”

Without thinking, Mayry replied. “Of course, I can! I’m real. I’m right here. I must be real! Surely if I weren’t real, if this were all in your head, I would be able to question whether or not I was real?” Starting to doubt herself, she continued. “You’re an idiot.” She crossed her arms and looked smug as if she had won the argument.

Sighing, Mason gave up the attempt and just said, “I’m going to pick the Camouflage. If the monster can’t see me, the odds are they can’t kill me. I want to try and clear out that cave Viv mentioned. I think the Camouflage will help with that.”

“Good choice; that will work as long as you don’t start running your mouth while trying to sneak.” Mayry gave him a dirty look as she spoke.

Mason mentally chose camouflage and got a rush of knowledge about how to use the ability.

Opening his menu, he took a look at his progress so far.

Name: Mason Hughes

Level: 6

Current XP: 631/750

Race: Human

Class: N/A

Health Points (HP): 220

Mana Points (MP): 190

Stamina: (SP): 155

Stats

Strength:20

Agility: 10

Endurance: 11

Vitality: 12

Resilience: 8(+1)

Intelligence: 21

Perception: 11

Willpower: 10

Free points: 0

Skills:

Identify (Basic), Magic Bolt - INT (Basic), Emotional Wreck - PER (Basic), Camouflage - PER (Basic)

Base Skills:

Universal Translator, Inventory (Advanced)

Current Quest:

* One quest or the 'Other.' There are others in this world who come from another place. Find out more.

* Exterminate Exterminate! You have been tasked with clearing out a cave full of giant stone-eater spiders, good luck! Those things fucking suck!

Thinking it would be funny to test out his new power now, Mason got out of bed on the opposite side to where Mayry was and pretended to stumble to the floor.

Mayry came running over to check he was okay but saw nothing.

She kicked him in the side, “You’re an idiot; I can sense magic remember? Dumbass.” She kicked him again and went back to her seat.

Mason chuckled to himself. He returned to bed and muttered, “Wish Nays was still here; it would have worked on her.”

Mayry’s head turned to face him so quickly that Mason was worried she’d get whiplash. “What was that?!” She said with venom in her voice.

Eyes widening, Mason squeaked. “Nothing.”

“Hmm, so what’s the plan now?” She asked.

“Now, we go shopping.”