My aggressive journey through the forest was one of frustration. I understood, logically, that hunting took time and was not a simple thing. That didn’t mean it was any less stressful wandering through the enclosed woodland. I was alert to dangers but when they didn’t appear in the hour after my fight with the Sundercat, my nerves became frayed. Which, of course, is how I missed the surprise attack. Two trees on either side of me burst to life and I was suddenly in mortal combat.
The battle was over almost intimidatingly quick, which helped clear the final webs away from my still-shaken confidence. Branches descended and roots shot from the ground all around me, all aimed for me. Wishing my Mana Bolt was Fireball instead, I lashed out with simple brutality. The pair of Douglas Fir Ents, not dissimilar in shape to the Silver Birch variant I had faced, met their brittle end due to the business side of the Sorehammer.
The probing jabs of their branches were sharp, but there was a density to my skin and muscle now which prevented complete impalement. Gritting my teeth through the pain and ignoring the damage, the aggressive trees were smashed to splinters. After the fighting, I asked Naea whether she could have told me about the danger beforehand, but she didn’t answer. I knew she was nearby, as I could feel the cold prickle of her sight on me, but the point was moot if she stayed silent.
Helplessly, I could do nothing as the battle pushed me over the edge to level eleven. While I was happy for the gains, it would make completing the quest that little bit harder, too. I looted the ents, and like the previous one, these two gave me some lumber as well. I supposed it would be useful eventually, but I didn’t like the idea of my personal inventory filling up with building supplies. I wondered if there was a Building or Construction skill, and my opinion on the loot shifted. It wasn’t like I could do anything with the gold coins I was receiving anyway.
While I could spend my time hacking away at the whole living forest, it wasn’t something I wanted to do. The Ents were common enough, though often not easy to spot until I was close, and victory against them had been a simple thing. However, along with the two which attacked me, the first four I saw were lower level than myself and gave no progress towards my quest. I placed each of the five points from the level up into different attributes, Agility, Dexterity, Perception, Power and Regeneration.
I was unwilling to move away entirely from the use of mana as my main weapon. For now it was reasonable to use the Sorehammer or Fan of Knives but the potential of magic held a simple allure which outstripped the draw of strength in other areas. Mana Bolt had jumped in power drastically when the skill had levelled up. Coupled with the fact that mana itself was a big part of the reason I had gained every skill I had, I refused to abandon that path. Especially when I expected the gains to become evident soon.
I was confident in gaining an increased level of power from the fulfilment of the Aspect quest. I focused on the reservoir of power inside myself briefly. The Aspect of the Dragon sat heavy upon my core, a weight which seemed to get heavier every time my attention slipped its way. Even with that being the face, I watched as the strange addition to my soul sent intangible energy through my pathways. I couldn’t interact with it, but I could sense the draconic magic. Each notch towards the quest completion had allowed more of it into my manastream.
If my mana was a river of water, then the aspected mana was a loose sediment of crystals which brushed against the borders of my mana channels. That was the source of the itch which had plagued me all day, and the impetus for completing the quest as quickly as possible. The crystals sometimes clumped together and became sharp, bouncing through my mana channels. It wasn’t painful, per se, but distracting as hell.
There was a distant crash from somewhere deep in the forest. I froze, sliding under a nearby bush and activating Stealth. The ground itself rumbled alongside the rupturing smashing noise. I waited for over ten minutes, but once the sound ceased, there were no more instances. My mind raced as I tried to imagine what could have caused the thunderous noise. There were no particularly large trees last I checked, so it wasn’t the falling of some great redwood. My thoughts were coloured by recent events, but I could only picture some ridiculously strong creatures battling for supremacy somewhere.
I shivered a little at the implication. If that was a claimant… Then I needed to get stronger. My attention back on the task at hand, I cast away the superfluous thoughts and concentrated. Tracking activated and I allowed it to eat more mana than I regenerated a second. It was costly, but I only needed to find the trail of something reasonably big and then I could recover the energy while I figured out a plan of attack. If I found whatever had caused the small earthquake, it would be a plan of escape only.
If I were pressed after the fact, I would still argue this was a sensible course of action, but once it became clear I was stalking a predator, better heads could have prevailed. While the Tracking skill made it child’s play to follow the signs, I didn’t have the knowledge to understand the danger. The roar which tore through the forest froze me in place, and I could feel magic wrap around my psyche. With a startled shake of my head, I sent a surge of mana to the tangle of mana channels which governed Mental Fortress. The reaction saved my life as control returned and I threw myself to the floor while a spotted blur tried to take my head.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Health
55/55
0.7 per minute
Mana
27/75
10 per minute
Between my haphazard use of Mental Fortress and the energy spent Tracking, I wasn’t at my peak. I didn’t bother looking up the level of the Sundercat which shot out of the canopy above, I might need the mana. I would know when it died whether it was a higher level than me or not. Once again, though, the additional points in Agility and Perception had paid dividends as the only thing the leopard spotted humanoid connected with was air and then the floor.
Not like that made the fight simple, or even hurt the thing. It had launched from the canopy at speed, but with the grace expected of a cat landed on all fours, skidding to a stop and pouncing again quickly. Already on the floor, there was nothing I could do to avoid the long-limbed Sundercat. It began to claw at me, and I found that like with the Ents before, the damage wasn’t as bad as expected. With the treemen, my base Resilience was enough to snap their twiggy attacks. By scrambling and punching at random, the Sundercat found I wasn’t much fun in close combat either.
It especially didn’t like when I aimed a Heavy Blow for its chest. Unlike a true feline, the broad chest of the Sundercat was not designed to slink around things. My punch connected and sent the beast into the air where a strong Mana Bolt easily shredded its hide and left it howling in pain while I avoided its tumble back to the ground.
Quest Updated! Four of Five higher levelled enemies defeated!
Distracted by the System’s confirmation that I had added another higher level enemy to my tally, I almost didn’t react in time to the next challenger. The preternatural sense of danger which came from my Perception attribute shivered. “Clever girl,” I muttered tiredly even as I activated Sprint for a single two second burst. My raised attributes in the speed arena were multiplied by the skill, and the quality of that boost was raised slightly by the increase to my Power attribute. I hadn’t expected Power to improve the strength of all skills, but I wasn’t surprised that it did either. None of my attribute points were an island, each one able to interact with the others. Interesting philosophically, maybe, but the distracted thought made me a fraction too slow to dodge a well-aimed roundhouse kick.
While the blow itself wasn’t too strong compared to my durability, courtesy of Resilience, it was still a powerful, clean strike. I simply wasn’t heavy enough to ignore the forces at play and careened through the forest for a few dozen yards. Grateful to avoid any collisions, I rolled to my feet and drew the Fan of Knives. After running myself dry to defeat the previous enemy, I didn’t have the mana to even create a second blade, or throw this one, but it was my best close range option.
Not nearly as effective as the Sundercat’s brutal claws, though. The newest one was another tiger variant, though it appeared sleeker and more feminine. It was stronger than the leopard variant, but not by much. Its speed was somewhere between the two, and it was this most balanced Sundercat which gave me the most trouble. I felt the long claws tear rips into my skin as I grappled with the beast, hoping that it was having less fun than I was.
I might have screamed in pain as the Sundercat stabbed its hand into my ribs like a blade, but the air was pushed from my lungs by the attack. I could only be glad I didn’t pass out, and that my instinct was to lash out myself. The Sundercat howled in pain loud enough for the both of us, my ears ringing as it pulled away clutching its ruined hand. Two of its three fingers were left inside my flesh. We glared at each other as I threw myself to my feet.
There was an intelligence in its eyes which scared me. I could almost hear its thoughts, wondering if the battle was worth it. To continue was to court death, and I was glad I had made that clear. However, was the cost of this battle already too great to walk away from? A predator from Earth would likely have run away at this point, preferring to avoid damage it could not recover from. The bared teeth of the Sundercat looked like an evil grin to me. The bleeding was already stopping.
The System meant that this thing could fight until reaching one health point, just like myself. I found myself, not for the first time but the most viscerally I had felt it so far, hating the System. It had changed every rule of engagement which humans had come to understand and upset the balance completely. Philosophy on whether that was a good thing was neither here nor there - I was tired of everything being as hard as it could possibly be.
“Come on then,” I wheezed, yanking the furry digits from my side and throwing them at the tigerman. The starting pistol fired, our battle recommenced.
Health
18/55
0.7 per minute
Mana
08/75
10 per minute