Getting out of the cave ended up being an ordeal on its own. The cave I had arrived in was at the bottom of a steep incline. I had to climb up a tube and then crawl to the end of the tunnel.
You have learned the skill Climb. lvl 0 < lvl 10.
You have learned the skill Crawl. lvl 0 < lvl 10.
At the end of the tunnel was the first point I got to a point where I could stand. The end of the tunnel was blocked by a large boulder. The notifications started to pile up for all of the actions. They had wished they would stop and I would only see them when I wanted to. The notifications stopped showing up in my line of sight
I pushed on the bolder and was amazed that the rock moved. I could tell that the rock was heavy, but it moved. My new strength kicked in and the rock slid out of the way. On the side of the rock was another cave. This cave was about ten feet deep, and the entrance was covered by brush. Once I pushed through the brush to get outside of the cave I was met with a new notification.
You have discovered the Forgotten Forest. Would you like to mark this spot on your map?
You have learned the skill Cartography. lvl 0.
I could see why this one was different because it required me to act. I placed the marker and labeled it as the arrival. At this level of the skill, I didn’t have much available to me.
The forest was amazing the trees were huge, almost twice the size of the giant redwoods. The forest looked like it was right out of avatar. The plants were a riot of different colors some were blue, green, and even pink. I wandered through the forest looking for water. I could see new notifications piling up. I also noticed that my stamina at the start had begun to yo-yo at first. The longer I walked the less stamina I used. It got to the point where I started to gain stamina even as I walked. I walked for about thirty minutes before I started to see signs of water.
I walked for ten more minutes before I heard the bubbling of water. I slowed down considerably as I walked toward the sound. I remembered watching many Nat GEO shows that said that waterways were some of the most dangerous places in nature. That predators would normally stalk them because their prey needs to drink. Right now, I did not know if I was the prey or the predator. I watched the stream for a bit before I moved to approach the water. The stream was clear and was only ankle deep. I could see some large fish in the clear water. I dipped the water bottle into the water and watched the water level dip slightly. I left the bottle in the water for a few minutes, I was wary looking around the whole time. I felt kind of like a deer.
I noticed rather fast that the forest had become way too quiet. This was the sign that a predator was around. I pulled the water bottle out of the stream and secured the lid while continuing to look around. I could feel a tensing in the air. Once I was sure that my bottle lid was fully secured, I backed away from the water. As I was backing away, I kept my head on a swivel and moved slowly. I caught some movement to my side. When I looked, I noticed a large green-blue tail that matched the color of the trees. I looked to the opposite side and saw a second tail blended in with the foliage. I could tell they were trying to flank me, but I had caught on too fast. They must have realized I saw them because they gave up all attempts at stealth and came out into the open. I was honestly amazed at what I saw. They looked like giant Squirrels. The biggest difference was their size, each was the size of a large dog. Or, at least I thought that was the biggest difference. One of them turned to face me, and I saw the teeth. These things had two large saber teeth jutting from their upper jaw. I stared at them hoping to get an identifier of some type.
???? lvl 24.
???? lvl 24.
I guess identifying them was out of the question. But I did learn something they were both way higher level than me. So much so that when I had stared at them, they had outlined as red. From what I knew that was bad red meant they were way out of my level range. I did what anyone who was not lying would do. I turned and ran. I knew I had one chance at this. So, I bolted. I watched as my ST bar started to drop initially. It was plummeting rapidly, I also seemed to stumble ever so often. As I continued to run the stumbling stopped and my gate started to even out. I also watched as my ST bar leveled out and then started to gain. I hit a rough patch of terrain but I did not want to slow down, so I tried to do my best ninja warrior impression. It was the same as with running at first my ST bar dropped and I slipped and almost fell. But after a few seconds that even improved. I was able to incorporate the forest into my run of terror, I could see the rocks and the fastest path. I ran for ten minutes before it hit a run of bad luck. I hit an area with a deep ravine and a cliff. The cliff had a path but it had no strait path up I was going to have to run some switchbacks to get to the top. I took off up the cliff and I was on the second switchback when the saber squirrels caught me. Unlike me, they had just climbed straight up the hill. The two of them had climbed ahead of me. When I saw them, I turned and was going to go back the way I came. I saw the last one.
???? lvl 12.
The third one was much larger being the size of a large pony. It also had much larger upper teeth and a set of smaller teeth poking out from its bottom jaw. This one’s name was outlined in gold while the beast was also outlined in red. I could tell this one was the male and it from what I could see was an elite. The good thing was this one was not as fast as the other two and it seemed to have to stop every so often to get more stamina.
I knew I was trapped and that I was going to have to fight at this point. The odds did not look good for me, the creatures were all much higher level than me. I was hoping that some magic would even out the odds or maybe scare them off. I reached up to my bandolier and pulled the wand out of the top slot. It felt as different as it looked. It was much heavier than it had once been and as I held it, I could feel goosebumps on my arm from the power it held. I pointed the wand at the two in front of me, and they seemed to be highlighted like I was targeting them.
“Magic Missile” I yelled pointing the wand out at the two in front of me.
Fourteen blue-white balls formed and shot out in an instant the sound like a machine gun from an action flick. I felt no recoil but magic missile was a low-level spell. I didn’t expect it to do much damage. Each one of the missiles hit the two Sabre Squirrels and they both screeched before they both fucking exploded along with a large chunk of the trail behind them. Chunks of Squirrel started raining down with bits of dirt and rock. The spell had dealt with the two Squirrels, but it had also made the hill impassible taking a large chunk of the hill with it. I heard the last Squirrel screech and hiss as the other two died. I turned to that one and point the wand at it.
“Magic Missile” I yelled again more confident this time.
But nothing happened. I pointed and tried again and nothing, when I looked at the wand there was a timer counting down from twenty minutes. I learned something there, the wands didn’t have charges they were on a timer. I also saw that I had used five hundred mana. So, my wand let me cast a spell with my mana but they were on a timer. Good to know but none of that was going to help me with the giant angry murder Squirrel, charging up the hill to eat my face. I put the wand away and reached for the second one before I thought better of it. If a magic missile did that, I didn’t want to take a chance with a fireball, or lightning bolt. I might just kill both of us they might destabilize the hill or start a fire that I might not be able to outrun. I was going to have to fight this thing.
I drew my sword while watching as the last one climbs up the hill. My sword seemed eager I could feel that it wanted to cut something. The beast would lope up the hill three or four steps before it would stop and walk a few. It would screech at me and then its tongue would flop out of its mouth. I could tell that it was low on ST by the time it got to me. I remembered something I had heard before, it was called persistence hunting. It meant that we as humans had chased our prey to death. Unlike other animals, we can cool ourselves off while we run. Here in this place, I also started to regen ST as I ran, I was guessing it was not so for the murder Squirrels.
I stood in the wide space trying to give myself some room to maneuver. I waited there with my sword at my side. When the saber Squirrel made it to the same level, I raised my sword. I had watched Kill Bill multiple times, so I tried to imitate what I have seen there. It was the same stance I had used larping for years and it just felt comfortable. The beast must have just come off of its walking stage because it charged at me as soon as it was even with me. I was just able to dodge to the side as it charged me. As I was sidestepping, I chopped down with my sword hoping to cut its spine and maybe cripple it. I miss-timed my swing the sword moving faster and being lighter than I remembered. The blade impacted in the middle of the Squirrels head. I thought the blade would stop once it hit the bone of the skull. It didn’t, the blade did not stop until it had cut into the rock below the skull. The Squirrel stopped as its face fell off its eye and brain plopping out onto the trail. I immediately threw up upon seeing that. The sight was horrible! I found myself glad that I had water as I now was using some to rinse out my mouth. I also used some water to wash out my hair and rinse my face. I had a sickening amount of blood and matter in my hair. I looked at trying to clean my armor but surprisingly it was mostly clean I saw a few spots but it was not as bloody as the rest of me. As I watched some of the blood disappeared, even some that had splashed from when I washed my hair and face.
I checked my map and started seeing moving dots in the surrounding area. None was close but I did not feel confident taking any chances. I was close to the cave where I started. So, I started to head back. This time I was even warier, none of the dots was close to the area where the cave was. Maybe there was something about the cave that kept them away. The walk back to the cave took longer than my walk to the stream. I had to sneak around a few red dots. By the time I make it back to the cave, it has been a few hours. I had a close call at the end where one dot seemed to be coming in my direction, but I must have crossed some invisible line. Because the red dot heading my way stopped and then went away slowly. Once I was back in the cave, I set my bags down and go to gather some firewood. The whole time I am gathering wood I am on edge, one hand on my sword and I watch my map. I gather a good amount of wood and head back. I pull my fire striker out of storage and light the fire, none of my lighters made the transition. The spark from the fire striker behaves weirdly the spark burning longer than normal.
I decided to take stock of the rest of my stuff. I find some of my LARP gear that I had not completed. Some bandages from a first aid kit, look quite different than they did before. There are two stones that I had made before we had left one was my hidden camp stone. I had made it to lower the chance of nighttime encounters. The stone was supposed to hide the signs of our camp. The other was an alarm stone, if someone crossed the barrier that is created without the password it would notify me. Both only lasted for eight hours so they were best set up when everyone was ready to rest.
The last things left were the two books. When I pulled them out, I was surprised by the size and the weight. My two journals were large, and four hundred pages. These two books were at least twice that size. I decided to open the first one. It was my book, but something drastic had happened to it in transit. The book I open had been the one I had called my character book. I had had it forever, I used it to keep track of my characters. All of my characters from the time I was fifteen were in this book. This included mostly my tabletop games since this was my first LARP game. This book had all of my feats and class features for five different characters. You would think it would be more but you would be wrong most full campaigns took multiple years. The reason there were five in the book, was that I had been like most gamers playing more than one game. When I first started, I had not even been all that interested in gaming like that. I more liked to play video games. One of my friends had talked me into playing with his other friends one night. One of his other friends was not going to make it so I had played his character. After that, I had been hooked!
I had then made my own character for that game. My first character had been a fighter. I had been told that it was a solid starting character. I open the book and find that the first page is greyed out. This is not surprising as it was my fighters character sheet, but as I turn the page, I learn just how valuable this book is to me. All of the following pages were dedicated to feats and class features. When I look at the page, I get a new popup.
Would you like to learn the skill Weapon Focus Y/N?
Would you like to learn the skill Power Strike Y/N?
Would you like to learn the skill Focused Strike Y/N?
Would you like to learn the skill Cleaving Strike Y/N?
Weapon Focus (Sword): Passive Skill lvl 0.
This increases your ability with the chosen weapon. This skill reduces all ST when using a sword.
Power Strike: Active Skill lvl 0.
When this skill is active you add half your STR to one-handed attacks (222) and double your STR to two-handed attacks (296). While active this skill halves your available DEX (72), and increases ST usage per attack. ST usage will lower as the skill increases.
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Focused Strike: Active Skill lvl 0.
This skill reduces the DEX penalty of Power strike by half (36) but increases the ST usage of the skill. ST usage will lower as the skill increases.
Cleaving Strike: Active Skill lvl 0.
This skill allows you to hit all enemies within reach with a single attack. This skill can be combined with other skills for increased ST usage. ST usage will lower as the skill increases.
A flood of information hit me at once, it took me a while to integrate all of the information. I had wondered about my lack of skills this book had been the answer the whole time. This discovery meant that the system here required you to either have access to a skill or a teacher. I had a full book of skills in my possession. I move to the back of the book where my current character is. The sheet here is active and shows my current status like I can see when I call it up in my head. There are a few special skills that are needed to make my class work and they are located in this section. When I find them I get the now-familiar notification.
Would you like to learn the skill Combat Casting Y/N?
Would you like to learn the skill Spellstrike Y/N?
Would you like to learn the skill Arcane Empower Y/N?
Would you like to learn the skill Enduring Empower Y/N?
Combat Casting: Passive Skill lvl 0.
This skill allows the caster to decrease casting time while in combat. This skill increases the MP of the skill slightly but decreases the casting time of spells. The decreased time is the sum of 10% of your INT (7.8), and WIS (6.4) %14.2. This skill also reduces the cooldown time of spells by the same amount %14.2. The decrease increases when this skill levels. Arch Spellblade bonus this skill is doubled %28.4.
Spellstirke: Passive Skill lvl 0.
This skill allows the Spellblade to deliver any spell cast through any weapon being wielded as part of an attack.
Arcane Empower: Active Skill lvl 0.
This skill allows the Spellblade to charge his weapons with elemental power. The use of this skill allows for one attack to be charged with one of the listed elements Wind, Water, Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Acid. This skill uses MP.
Enduring Empower: Passive Skill.
This skill changes arcane empower from one attack to upon dismissal. This skill increases the MP cost of the skill.
After this, I feel a lot better. I want to find out what happened in that fight. I know I got lucky but I feel like there is more that I need to know so I dig into the notifications that I had suppressed. The first thing I find is how my map no tells me where enemies are located.
You have learned the skill Perception. lvl 0 < lvl 10.
You have learned the skill Threat Detection. lvl 0 < lvl 7.
The skill Threat Detection has been integrated into the skill Map.
That tells me that skills get much better as they level. Insight triggers and tells me that it is skill-based. Now that I know how I even saw the murder of Squirrels I am more interested in just how I was able to kill them. After reviewing the combat log. I found what I needed.
You have learned the skill Wands lvl 0 < lvl 5.
Wands: Passive Skill lvl 5.
This skill allows you to use wands to cast spells. The spell effect is multiplied by a factor of 5 when a wand is used. Usage of the wand also increases the mana usage by a factor of 5. Wand cool down 25 min.
The spell Magic Missile has done catastrophic damage to Lesser Dire Squirrel.
The spell Magic Missile has done catastrophic damage to Lesser Dire Squirrel.
You have defeated lesser dire squirrel.
You have defeated lesser dire squirrel.
Sky Cutter uses CUT.
The skill CUT does catastrophic damage to Dire Squirrel.
You have defeated dire squirrel.
The combat log had a lot of information. The creatures I had fought were Dire Squirrels. It seemed like there were also variants. Two were lesser versions while the last one was just a Dire Squirrel. I wondered how the system worked if I had to guess I would figure that once they hit a threshold they evolve. I was more surprised by a few other things. The first was the damage of the Magic Missile spell. That spell should not have done nearly that much damage. The combat log just listed it as catastrophic damage, I could probably figure it out if I dug into the menus deeper. The next surprise was that my sword had its own skill, and it was independent from mine. I had no way that I knew of seeing my swords skills or level. So as of right now, I don’t know how to trigger the skill. That is something I will need to find out later. At least I have that issue figured out.
LEVEL UP! You have increased your level. You have attained level Nine. You have received 16 attribute points you have 16 unspent attribute points.
LEVEL UP! You have increased your level. You have attained level Ten. You have received 16 attribute points you have 32 unspent attribute points. Level ten threshold met professions unlocked. Profession assigned ****** profession requirements not met. Profession is hidden until requirements are met.
LEVEL UP! You have increased your level. You have attained level Eleven. You have received 16 attribute points you have 48 unspent attribute points.
LEVEL UP! You have increased your level. You have attained level Twelve. You have received 16 attribute points you have 64 unspent attribute points.
The last thing was my new level. Killing those beasts had granted me four new levels. I assigned my points evenly again and sat down my back against the wall. I set in the changes this time I did not blackout, and it was only mildly uncomfortable. I felt the changes set in this time I could feel my muscles tightening, and my consciousness expanding. I started to feel like I was on the cusp of a few different things.
I decided to look at my last book. Now that I knew what the other book was, I had a good idea of what this book was. When I pulled it out of my storage it was twice the size of the last book. This book thrummed with power, the other book had an energy to it but this one was much stronger. It explained why other items were stacked but these two books did not. When I cracked the seams of the book the cave was flooded with power. I had written the runes for all of the recognized powers of magic in the book. These runes now crackled with immense power. When I turned the page, I was greeted with a new notification.
You have learned the spell Read Magic.
This spell was not really a surprise since it was given to all magic classes. I had been surprised that it had not shown up in my spell list prior. There must have been a trigger that I had to have something magical to read and now I had it. This is my spellbook from the last ten years. In every class that had spells, I had put all of the spells that I had learned or used in this book. I had a huge number of spells in this book. I had spells that were classified as the highest available for any caster. The fact that there was a huge overlap between my spellblades spells and my wizard’s spells were helpful. I even had a limited amount of cleric spells from when I had played a paladin. I didn’t know how those would interact here I doubted I wanted to use any holy spells. Magic was real here that meat that they might have actual entities watching and granting power. The last thing I would want to do is come up with something like that’s radar. I started to go through the spells picking what I thought would be useful.
Would you like to learn the spell Minor Elemental Orb Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Runic Mark Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Dancing Lights Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Detect Magic Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Ghost Sound Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Light Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Minor Telekinesis Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Clean Y/N?
I select yes and all of the information is burned into my head. I am glad I am still sitting because I am sure I would have lost my balance. The experience is intense but not painful. I now had some spells I loaded a small number of low-level spells to see what would happen.
Minor Elemental Orb: Active Spell.
You create orbs of one of the listed elements Wind, Water, Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Acid. These orbs rotate around you and can be fired at one or many targets. The number of orbs created is 1/3 of your MR(9). These orbs do Minor damage to the target. Additionally, due to your title of Arch Magus, these orbs do double damage. Cast time 10 sec. 50MP. Cooldown 45 sec.
Runic Mark: Active/Passive.
This spell allows the caster to create a runic mark. Once this spell is cast after the mark has been created the target will be marked with the rune. The caster can choose if this mark is visible or invisible. The caster can track the mark once it has been placed. Cast time 15 sec. 15 MP Cool Down 5 Min.
Dancing Lights: Active.
This spell creates globes of light that float around an area. These globes cast light like a lantern. The lights must remain within 50m of each other and within 100m of the caster. This effect lasts until dismissed. Cast time 6 sec. 50 MP Cool Down N/A.
Detect Magic: Passive.
You can detect magical auras and presences. This spell is made more effective by a high INT. Bonus this skill is integrated with the map function.
Ghost Sound: Active.
This spell allows you to project a voice or sounds within 50m. Cast time 2 sec. 10 MP Cool Down N/A.
Light: Active.
This spell creates a light upon a touched item. Cast time 2 sec. 150 MP Cool Down N/A.
Minor Telekinesis: Active
You can move items or creatures with your mind by concentrating on them. You can move 5kg plus 5kg for every 20 INT (30kg) up to 30m from you. Cast time instant 300 MP Cool Down 1 hr.
Clean: Active
This spell allows you to clean yourself of targeted items. Cast time instant. 50 MP Cool Down N/A.
Now that I had done that I went back to the book for more powerful spells. I pick the most useful and powerful spells I would have picked before.
Would you like to learn the spell Identify Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Reduce Gravity Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Lesser Elemental Touch Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Blade Lash Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Blur Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Bladed Dash Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Enhance Self Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Glitterdust Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Invisibility Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Mirror Image Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Sonic Scream Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Storm of Blades Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Fireball Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Elemental Aura Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Fly Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Haste Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Locate Weakness Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Lightning Bolt Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Dimension Door Y/N?
Would you like to learn the spell Weakening Blast Y/N?
I got to the last spell and hit a wall. The knowledge was there available, but I could not access it. This time there was a notification that was different from the others.
Spellform maximum met. Spellform integration required integration time of 719:58:16.
I looked at the list and if I subtracted read magic it was at exactly twenty-nine spells. The exact amount of my MR meaning that was my hard limit, I could learn up to that at a time. Minus any missing information. The countdown let me know that I would be able to learn again but it would be a while. I was glad I had picked a good selection of utility and offensive spells. But if I had known I would have picked a few more defensive spells. Well, they said the best defense was a good offense I would find out, hopefully not fatally. I would hope that with the spells that I had picked that I would be able to sneak past anything I did not fight. But after today I realized that fighting would become part of my daily routine. If I wanted to live, I would have to fight, at least until I found people, and even then. I reviewed some of my new spells.
Identify: Passive lvl 0.
This spell allows you to identify items and creatures. As this spell levels, it will grant increased information.
Reduce Gravity: Active lvl 0.
This spell reduces the effect of gravity by 33%. This affects you and anything you touch while casting the spell. Cast time instant. 150 MP/Sec Cool Down N/A.
Lesser Elemental Touch: Active lvl 0.
This spell grants you elemental touch attacks of Wind, Water, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Earth, and Acid. Your hands will glow with the energy of your choice. As a Spellblade, you can deliver these attacks with your weapon. Cast time instant. 150 MP Cool Down 120 sec.
The spells seemed to be close to what I knew them as the differences were the mana requirements for some of the spells. From looking at it I could hold spells like Haste or fly for a few minutes at this level. Today had been a long trying day. I had fixed one issue but more remained. Where was I, how did this happen, and could I get back home? They were all valid questions but the most pressing question was can I survive. Another offshoot of that was am I willing to do what I need to do to survive? It was quite obvious that this place was violent and feral. To survive I needed to be violent and feral as well. I decided that I would rest and tomorrow set out again.
“Tomorrow I wake up and choose violence,” I say with an exasperated sigh.
Now I have an understanding of what that means. If it is violence or death violence it will be. It had always been said that all humans had a capacity for violence. Tomorrow I would put that thought to the test. Plus, no I had something that no human back home or seemingly here had, magic. This world thought that it could terrorize me I would become the terror now.