As the attribute points from my level up to ten fell into place within my body, I felt them for the first time. Not the physical effects, which I had come to understand and expect, but something else. I could sense myself, the vessel for this power, grow around the changes. It wasn’t unpleasant exactly, but it made me acutely aware that I was performing the magical equivalent of mad science on myself by accepting what was in front of me and blindly pushing buttons.
It wasn’t like I had a choice. The dungeon was brutal and I expected it to only get harder and harder. Maybe my luck would turn and Master Thorn would end up being the strongest Claimant but I wasn’t holding my breath.
The source of my new form of perception was my skills. Some of them tingled as the accompanying attribute was strengthened. Sprint vibrated as my Agility and Dexterity increased, while Manasight, Stealth and Tracking all had reactions to the points in Perception. The largest reaction was Manasight, which I put down to the higher skill level. Using this moment, I activated my other skills and got a sense for where they sat within my internal system.
The skills were like runes, or perhaps tattoos, in my mana channels. To me, they appeared as small tangles of confusingly complex pathways which, when the mana moved through them, activated the skill. When the skill was inert, mana passed through these knots easily. A tension appeared when the skill activated, a pressure which made it more difficult for the mana to travel through like a blocked vein. This, I realised, was the mechanism which controlled mana costs. Meditate was slightly different in that when mana passed through the skill runes, more came out than went in.
While I had no real way to interact with this information, as was often the case with the System, I still memorised the design and layout of these intriguing hidden nodes within my body. Heavy Blow resided within my wrists, Mana Bolt was in my navel. Sprint was naturally in my feet, as was Stealth.
I wondered how the method of my practice, namely using mana while performing mundane tasks, created the sigils together and thus the skills. For now, it seemed entirely governed by the System. Would there be a way to know if something was creating a skill? I would have to check. Though, not right now, as when I opened my eyes my body ached and I fell back from my seated position.
“Damn, damn, fuck shit pissing oww,” I moaned. How long had I been sitting still like that? Between the healing my body had undergone from Master Thorn’s beating and the changing attributes, I had probably needed to stretch for a while. Getting lost in my skills must have taken much longer than I thought. To drive in the point, a whining Naea appeared in the air before me.
“Finally,” she said, rolling her eyes and pushing my face gently as she landed to sit next to me. She smelled like pine, something I hadn’t noticed before. That higher perception came in handy, apparently. “I’m glad you listened to my advice, considering the migraine I got to give it. Didn’t expect you to get so scared you closed yourself off for a whole day, though. It’s been boring, Grant.”
I could only shrug apologetically. “Was it really a whole day?” From the way my muscles ached and my stomach rumbled, it wasn’t farfetched. After wolfing down a sandwich, kept fresh by the Xaverweave Pouch, and downing a bottle of water, I felt more like a human and less like a crash test dummy after its work was done. The stiffness receded as I hydrated myself and the tension ebbed away.
Naea confirmed her words again. “I don’t lie, Grant. I play jokes, but I don’t lie.”
“What about the illusion you trapped me in?”
“That’s not me lying, it’s the magic. Your mind did all the heavy lifting.” Naea had a smug look on her face, and while I could continue arguing I dropped it and stood, continuing my stretching. I didn’t feel the slightest bit tired, which was nice. Meditate was probably better for my body than getting a night’s rest. Naea buzzed around my head. “Can we go and find something worth eating?” She asked, doing her best impression of puppy dog eyes.
She looked more like a dragonfly than ever as she bulged her eyes out trying to look cute. I could pretend the attempt was endearing, but the result was ghastly. I hid my revulsion with a shaky smile and a nod. The annoyance caused by the Aspect of the Dragon itched like a scab and I wanted to deal with it before I attempted to take on the Claimant again. A traitorous part of my mind said with a draconic voice that I was delaying because I was scared but I ignored it.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Walking in the opposite direction to Master Thorn’s last location, I strode towards the forest once more, my hands shaking the whole time. While I was undoubtedly stronger than when I faced my first enemies in this world, the stark reality that I was barely more than a kitten amongst tigers was a harsh one. It was going to take some work to remove the fear it set in me.
“Let’s get to it,” I told Naea as I activated Stealth and set off into the darkness of the shadowed canopy. It wasn’t long before my mettle was tested. Stalking through the forest, my Stealth skill making it easy to carefully avoid anything which might make a sound. I was paying more attention to the feeling of mana moving through the skill than my surroundings, and I nearly walked right into danger. I actually did yelp in surprise, but some strange working of the Stealth skill muted the noise. Even as I analysed the creature, its nameplate appearing through the trees, I knew I was spotted.
Monster - Sundercat, Teegra - Level 14
Delicate, furred ears picked up the sound of my fear and a sharp nose sniffed to find my location. Two feline eyes bore through the space between us and I didn’t bother sinking back into the tree. There was no avoiding this battle. I removed the Fan of Knives from my pouch and flashed the second dagger into my hand with a flourish. I nearly fumbled the catch as the sound of the monster's approach caused the tremors in my hands to increase.
It burst through the nearby bushes at an odd angle, and I finally got a clear look at it. Muscular arms and legs, bowed at slightly strange angles, were attached to a mostly humanoid frame. If the human was a furred giant, it would be uncanny. As it was, it was mostly just terrifying to see. With a roar that split the air apart, the Sundercat lashed out at me with butcher knife-length claws.
And I dodged easily. It continued swiping, and continued to hit nothing but air as I deftly avoided each swing. Despite the speed of its initial charge, I realised the large thing was pretty slow. It was too big to properly use its best weapons, the claws and fangs. Compared to the speed I had experienced against Master Thorn this was… disappointing. A weight I had been carrying fell away as I began to counter instead of simply dodging.
A flick of my wrist brought with it a snarl of pain and a gash of blood opened in the orange-furred muscle of the Sundercat. Its assault returned with increased brutality as pain caused fury to overpower self-preservation. With its decently high level and intimidating appearance, it likely didn’t meet many things in the forest which fought back. I threw a dagger at its leg which buried deep into the thigh before reappearing into my hand for a few points of mana. With casual ease, I began to dismantle the enemy in front of me.
The rhythm of the combat was a fast paced beat full of percussion and screaming. I landed slash after slash on the tiger man, parting its skill and making it regret its aggression. A pair of Heavy Blows were used to finish the creature’s arms off with tactical swipes at its joints. Naea had beaten into me, quite literally, where and how to debilitate a foe. Tendons were the spot to strike, and my aim was true. Unyielding, it snapped forward with its nasty looking yellow fangs.
Even this killing blow was easily read by eyes. A slip to the side and a knife straight through the underside of the biting jaws and into the softer base of its skull. While the attack was lethal, I slipped the Sorehammer from the pouch quickly and used a final Heavy Blow to end its life completely. Both a kindness and a result of my tension. I wanted the fight over as quickly as possible, and it was only when the levelling energy entered me that I calmed.
The quiet of the forest enveloped me and I tsked in disappointment at the lack of a level up. Perhaps it was a blessing, as I would complete the Aspect quest quicker, but the growth was addictive in a real way. When it was clear I would only receive around half a level’s worth of energy, I actually cursed. I looted the body, receiving coins as well as two Sundercat Fangs, but I barely paid attention to it. I dropped to the forest floor and began to Meditate to recover my mana, which took around a minute in total.
The fight went better than expected, and I was relieved. Master Thorn was a boogeyman in my head, but it was likely that its power was from more than just its levels. Being a mini-boss might have something to do with it, but the potent magic in its staff was a likely culprit, too. I started to believe that the creature wasn’t unbeatable, but merely very strong.
Which was true for myself, within reason. It was clear as I handled an enemy four levels higher than me that levels weren’t a zero-sum situation. Attribute allocation, skills and a myriad of other factors were all important when it came to a fight. I had multiple combat skills which turned the tide in my favour massively, and I wanted to press that advantage. I wasn’t sure whether it was chance or time which had led to the higher level of the Sundercat than the Attack Animals I had faced. If it were time, then I couldn’t let myself fall behind the average level of the dungeon or I would be wiped out.
With that ominous thought in mind, and my mana refilled, I activated Stealth once more and continued looking for prey.