The Caverns, Near the Town of Eldor. Troug, 7th.

Olea Munroe

I watched surreptitiously for a small amount of time, never really looking directly at the man in red. Now, there were quite a few men in the cavern, and the reason I could tell this man was different is that he had an actual blade. I had bought a knife from the caravan back before the time of that stupid curse nonsense, it was a good knife. This man had a proper sword, and it looked expensive.

The other guards walking about the place all had short heavy truncheons, sure there was the odd man out who had a fishing knife, those small, jagged chunks of metal that can be right scary. They also lacked this new man’s perfect posture and his stance of eagerness; it was as if he were in a constant state of, I’m-going-to-kill-someone-soon. That may have been my new passive ramping us as I paid closer attention to the man though, and not my own deductive skills. I may be conceited but I know my limited weak points, I was rarely so observant.

All his clothes were dyed the same color of red, if you excluded the thick black boots, belt, and that ridiculous looking neck piece. It was not a tie, more a bandana of some black material hung loosely around his collar. I could not make out the hairstyle from here, but the color was also almost dark, though that could have been due to the horribly dim light down here.

Eventually the man left the cavern, and I saw not a single guard pay him any attention as he did so, some of them even seemed more relaxed in his absence. I was willing to bet I had just spotted the mini boss of this dungeon. Ok, ok, I know it is a little played out at this point. I mean it is obvious that he is quite a bit above my league, and I am sure I will not be doing a great amount of murder as I escape the clutches of this evil empire, but something told me that I’d have at least a minor conflict with that guy in the not-so-distant future.

Back to work! I had to spend some more points, before captain creeper came back to distract me again, or worse things happened. Let’s focus…

Health: 153/153

Mana: 153/174

Stamina: 176/176

Attributes:

* Strength: 10

* Dexterity: 13

* Constitution: 10

* Charisma: 16

* Intelligence: 13

* Wisdom: 10

Now, I have fifteen points to burn through for my attributes. I know what I want to do, namely waste them all in one attribute and be an all-powerful glass cannon, but I decided to go with something Doogan had mentioned the day I had met Camilla. He had mentioned that Couriers and people who used skills such as theirs would focus on Wisdom, Dexterity, and Intelligence with a splash of Constitution and Strength at the later levels to even out their stamina.

I knew that waiting until later to increase my physical attributes was not a great idea, being as I was basically a weak child in those attributes, I also know they would not serve me well as the focus of my horded points. So, let’s say I put a point each into them. I will also be putting two points into Dexterity and one into Charisma.

Ok, fine, no Charisma this time. Cannot I be a little vain… Anyway, I know Wisdom is my main regen and spell power attribute for most of my repertoire, so I can drop eight there leaving three to throw into Intelligence.

Attributes:

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* Strength: 11

* Dexterity: 15

* Constitution: 11

* Charisma: 16

* Intelligence: 16

* Wisdom: 18

I also noticed an increase in my Mana, Health, and Stamina pools. I had gained eleven HP, twenty-eight Stamina, and a whopping forty mana. Going a little further into the menus I found that my mana regeneration was no longer a sad, sad sixty-four but now sat at one hundred thirty-eight.

Impressed with myself for no small reason, I decided that I needed to go a little further. I knew I was stuck here, and I would be gaining no new skills and spells anytime soon, as I doubted any of the people in these cells with me could fill the role of teacher and give me access to some uber-awesome new shiny. The only logical choice then would be to throw the rest of my points into something useful to me in some other way.

First a point into Armor.

Rank Two: Increases the armor bonus applied to the target. Applies an almost insignificant chance to completely nullify the physical force of any impact.

Then a point into Water Breath.

Rank Two: At this rank Water Breath will work as increased depths, the gods are not at fault for the assumptions of mortals who believe one rank may get them to the bottom of the ocean while alive. Provides a slight increase in the body’s ability to resist changes in environmental pressure, again this is only a slight increase.

Ok, first off, armor seemed plain and meh outside of the random small chance to ignore a hit. That would be nice, though with a tag that saying almost insignificant I doubt I will be seeing it work much. Though truthfully as much as I use the spell that should make it much less likely. Secondly, what is with the line about spell assumptions, the thing reads like a disclaimer on a bag of Q-tips back home. Weird creatures, these gods be. Moving on!

Next a point into both Vigor and Water Walk, I’d best not see something saying overuse of this spell may cause… well Stamina issues.

Rank Three: At this rank your passive Stamina cost reduction is increased. Your spell will now replenish a greater amount of Stamina as well as restoring slightly more over time as the spell fades.

Rank Three: Increases surface tension of water even further, now in a wider area to support potential allies. Keep those friends close, or stop being stingy and share the spell. Due to the nature of this spell, swimming will become both more difficult and more effective.

So, yeah. Vigor is nice and simple. More stamina, more fun passive boosting. And then we get to Water Breath I get comments, likely aimed at me. I highly doubt anyone else on the planet gets these off-brand lines in their information packets. Nope, the gods have to be all serious for their devout followers, but their Heroes, the ones the abduct from other worlds have to suffer through random inserts into the skill that may indicate a total lack of belief in said Heroes ability to survive and think freely. Ugh!

Moving on… I can toss a point into Wind Walk, and then my last point will go to Create Food, because I want something better than mushrooms and potatoes. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I happen to like both; I just want more.

Rank Four: At this Rank you will see an increase in strength for your elemental constructs, allowing you to exert more pressure upon them before they fail. Your passive will now also give a bonus to your overall speed, and to be less bound by the forces of nature that would hold you back. Steps and other constructs created while making use of this spell now have their costs integrated into the upkeep of your passive ability and will not fail until you leave the range determined by your Level and Wisdom.

Jackpot! It seems as if I might be taking some flying lessons soon, or air-hopscotch. I will figure it out. The air around me felt a little less claustrophobic as the point disappeared into the skill, I was guessing that was some type of force pressing down on me other than depression in here. Smiles all around. I need to have some fun with those air steps soon too, they might be useful for some honest tomfoolery. The create food changes though, those were nice.

Rank Two: Food created with this spell is even more enjoyable. Food now contains more nutritionally useful components, though it still cannot fully allay the need for other sources of vitamins and minerals. The variety of food created is now more diverse, though one should never insult their food, or the one who cooks it.

I ignored the jibes that no doubt was put in place as I thought about needing better food, some people just cannot take a joke. Bah, to them I say. Bah! I had to use the spell; I know I had just eaten but I wanted to give it a go.

I cast the spell chanting the little lines and holding out my hand. Create Food.

In my hand appeared a Potato, wrapped in bright green, yet clean moss. What the…

“Can I have that?” came the voice of Derek, who was far too close to me.

I ate the potato and handed him the moss.