I sat there in my little safe zone watching the activity, napping on and off until the sun came up. Now that I thought about it, I was not even sure that it was a sun or a star since from inside the forest of giant trees. I could not see the sky. For all, I knew I was inside a giant bubble, that someone flashed a light over sometimes. I also realized that daytime was a lessening of the dark, not a full-on bright day.

“Today I choose violence. Anyone or thing that attacks me will be met with overwhelming violence” this is becoming my daily affirmation.

I get up and deactivate my stones preparing to move on for the day. Looking at my map and tracking the dots. The area across from me was hard hit, over the night there were only a few dots ranging about.

“I guess there is no time like the present," I say preparing myself to move.

The first thing I notice as I cross into the new zone is that the air seems heavier. It is also more energized.

High mana area detected…High mana areas are considered highly dangerous avoidance of high mana areas is recommended.

Good to know, as if I have a choice. Once I cross over into the new zone, I can see that the area that I was in had been a small drop of a more massive area. Even if I wanted to travel in a safer area, I could not. It also explained the difference in the areas. The one I had arrived in had been too low density for the other beasts to want to take part in so they left it alone. Which was why the squirrels were the main beast in that section. I kept a wary eye on my map, and the dots it contained. Knowing this area was way more dangerous than the one I had traveled the day before.

It was not long before I started to approach a set of dots on my map. I dropped into full stealth mode moving in measured amounts in shady and dark areas, hoping to remain unseen. After a few minutes of carefully moving into a shaded area. I came upon the three dots I was approaching.

Greater Dire Rat lvl 32.

Greater Dire Rat lvl 36.

Dire Rat Alpha lvl 17.

Rats were not so bad I could deal with this, they were of course hell rats. But they were still rats nonetheless. The two greater rats were large being the size of mastiffs back home. The alpha was the size of a small bear, I mean if I had a saddle, I could ride the fucking thing. The beast was also different, because of the color it radiated when I looked at it. It was framed by a bright crimson with a gold ring. Most of the beasts in this place were all red to me I had gotten used to it. This one also had a gold color. I was guessing that it meant that this one was an elite. That usually meant that it would be harder to kill.

I noticed that another dot was moving into the area. I decided to wait to possibly see what else this zone had to offer. I was both glad and horrified that I did, as a massive spider wandered into the area.

Wandering Weaver lvl 19.

As soon as the rats saw the spider one of them squeaked loudly. I had expected that the rats would evacuate the area but the opposite happened. The two smaller rats charged the spider. The rats easily had the speed advantage and swiped and bit at the spider. The other surprising thing was the rat’s coordination, one rat would attack and when the spider turned the other would attack. They were basically keeping the spider in a spinning battle. I also saw that the rats were not doing much damage to the heavily armored spider. I mean the rat's attacks were getting through, but not by much. From what I could see, the spider had not taken more than a few hundred HP damage. The spider would keep turning and rearing up, while the two mice would attack it. The surprising thing was that the largest rat was not really participating.

I continued to watch thinking that they would tire of each other, and the fight would come to a stalemate. I thought that would be the outcome until one of the rats made a mistake and overcommitted to an attack. The rat bit into one of the spider’s legs, and the spider surprised me and the rat. The weaver was an explosion of movement as it lunged over the overcommitted rat sinking its two huge fangs into the beast. The rat squealed and struggled as the spider pumped venom into the bite. That rat was done for as I watched its health bar start to drop nearly bottoming out in a matter of seconds.

I was also surprised, as this was when the Alpha rat decided to get in on the fight. The alpha charged in and tore one of the spider’s legs off. The other rat also started doing more damage to the spider. It was at this point that I realized what had happened, the alpha had sacrificed the smaller rat. The damn thing had waited until the spider had its fangs in one of the other rats to attack neutralizing the spider’s biggest weapon. That one thing terrified me more than any other thing. It meant that these beasts, at least some of them were capable of strategizing. I watched as the alpha darted in and tore off a second leg, while the other rat was able to incapacitate the leg it was attacking. The spider was becoming desperate it was still turning trying to attack the mice. But could not lift itself high enough to get its fangs out of the now-dead rat. That didn’t mean that the spider was helpless, as the smaller rat soon found out.

I could see the spider’s spinnerets moving the spider was dropping webbing on the ground around itself. The rats did not seem to notice it until it was too late for the smaller of the two left. The smaller rat got trapped in the web, but not before it had injured another leg. The webbing was not enough to bind up the rat fully but that meant nothing to the spider. The weaver shot its abdomen forward and impaled the mouse, on a stinger that had been hidden up to this point. I watched as the rat's hp dropped. It was not nearly as fast as the one who had been bitten, but the stung rat also started to exhibit symptoms as it started to twitch. The stung rat limped for a bit and then fell over, its hp stopped dropping and held steady but the rat was fully out of the fight. At this point, it was just the spider and the big boy rat left.

It was at this point I decided to add myself to the mix. This situation was just too good not to test, first I would wait for the last rat to get injured. Then I would hit both the spider and the rat, to test just what kind of harrowing journey this was going to be. I needed to know if I could hurt and kill these things, or if I was going to be running and hiding the whole time. I waited for a little while longer and my chance came, as the alpha got a paw wrapped up in some webbing, before taking a glancing blow from the stinger. I could tell it was not a full envenomation, but it would have to do.

I got myself into position behind a tree and nocked an arrow and drew. Once the sight kicked in and settled on the alpha rat’s head I loosed. I reloaded, and drew again immediately and as soon as the sight was on the beast’s body. I let the second arrow fly. I would have marveled at myself if I had taken the time to think about it. I had just shot two arrows in three seconds. I loaded another arrow and leaned out to see the results. The alpha was dead, and the weaver had also taken damage from the second arrow as it had passed through the body of the alpha. The spider still had not seen me so I aimed in at its head. The sight did something new as it zoomed in on the spider’s head. The targeting got so precise that I could aim at one of the eight available eyes. I targeted one and fired, the arrow punched through the eye and out of the cephalothorax. The weavers remaining health disappeared and it stilled. I stowed the bow and drew my sword moving to finish the last comatose rat. I jabbed my blade into the last rat’s chest puncturing its heart. I was sure that the angle that I stabbed the rat at meant that I should have hit bone. But there was no resistance, I left it there and moved over to the main event.

I wanted to see what my weapons had done to the two major beasts. I should known have that when I got closer, I could see that it was absolute carnage. The first arrow had hit the alpha in the side of the head. It looked like the thing had been hit with a high-caliber bullet. On one side it was easy to see the entry wound it had been a small hole. The exit wound on the other side was horrific, the beast was missing that whole side of its skull. The spider was not much different, the entry had been clean but the exit was a massive hole.

It was upon inspection of the spider’s wounds that I made a discovery. When I was looking at the wound I noticed something sparkling inside the ichor just behind what was left of the beast’s brain. I reached into that grossness and pulled out a fist-sized blue core.

Skill Core.

Once I had it in hand I went back through the other bodies and found two more.

Skill Core.

Greater Skill Core.

Once I had them all together, I stored the body of the spider and the Alpha rat, just in case I had missed anything else. I had also figured that things like these probably had some worth. If I ever found a civilization, I would need money and the bodies of beasts I had already killed could be profitable. But these cores could be the real find. I had wondered about the lack of skills. Being able to learn by doing had helped, but this was the true find. The spider’s core was blueish black while the normal rats were green. The greater core was greenish-gold and glowed some I inspected the stones and received more information on the stones.

Skill Core.

This core allows the user to learn one skill. This skill will be pulled from the skills known by the beast it came from. The core will only select skills compatible with the user’s physiology. Mages can learn a spell reflective of an ability not physiologically compatible with the user. If the skill or spell is already known the core will add to the level of the known ability.

Greater Skill Core.

This core allows the user to learn up to three skills. These skills will be pulled from the skills known by the beast it came from. The core will only select skills compatible with the user’s physiology. Mages can learn a spell reflective of an ability not physiologically compatible with the user. If the skill or spell is already known the core will add to the level of the known ability.

LEVEL UP! You have increased your level. You have attained level Eighteen. You have received 16 attribute points you have 16 unspent attribute points.

LEVEL UP! You have increased your level. You have attained level Nineteen. You have received 16 attribute points you have 32 unspent attribute points.

I decided that I would test them later I did not want to have a situation and pass out in the open that would be a dumb way to die. I moved on watching my map I ran into more rats and three other spiders. There had been only one alpha all day though. I also noticed that while the rats were smarter none of them was as smart as the alpha. I had run into two different spiders at this point there was the wandering weaver and a normal weaver. The normal weaver was one of the stationary dots and was an ambush predator.

I was coming up to another stationary dot, this one had seen some action from the time I had been watching it. I approached the area slowly, and ultimately, I am glad that I do. I had taken to throwing stones to try to find the web for the spiders. The normal weavers had webs that ranged pretty far out from where they hid. I would take a stone and throw it out in front of me. This would serve the purpose of finding the webs and keep me from getting caught. This situation was strange because I had not located any webs. This caused my hair to stand on end, something was not right. I stopped my movement and even took a few steps back. I picked up a larger rock and cast minor telekinesis and used it to toss the rock into the area since this was the first time using the spell, I learned a few things about it. It stayed active for quite some time, as I picked up stones and threw them into the area. I had finally annoyed what lay hidden in the brush, as I heard some rustling. A huge fanged mouth burst out of the brush in my direction.

Forest Stone Viper lvl 33.

I was lucky I had backed up as this giant viper launched at me. I was outside of its strike range, I watched as its body recoiled. I launched an arrow at the beast’s head, only to watch it deflect off the snake’s keeled scales.

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“That’s not good,” I said to myself nervously.

I prepped and shot another arrow at the now hissing beast. The second shot hit the viper near its loreal pit, that’s the area where its heat-sensing pit is located. Why do I know that again, I owe that knowledge to the tube and having a lot of time on my hands. The snake is huge for a viper it has to be twenty-six feet or eight meters. Its head is large and diamond-shaped and the size of a snow shovel. Hell, I would be enamored with this snake if I was at a zoo or at home watching TV. Right now, though this one was trying very hard to eat me. This was also the first beast in this place not to fall easily to my weapons. My bow has done some damage but not much, I could see a few cracked scales.

I was going to have to change tactics. I saw a rock that might just be on the limits of what I could lift with my telekinesis and hurled it at the snake as it was rearing to strike again. I let go of my bow and drew my sword as it disappears into my inventory. I could feel the blades' blood lust as I drew the weapon. The blade had been agitated since I had been avoiding using it most of the day. The blade had begun to develop more and more bloodlust the more I used it. That had scared me some since it felt like the sword was beginning to develop a consciousness of its own. I had no real choice in this instance as my bow had been ineffective against this beast. I knew that to take a hit from this snake would be death as the snake reared back and hissed. The snake’s fangs were longer than my hands and they were dripping with venom. When it looked like it would launch at me, I would hit the fucker with the rock I had circling it. The only issue with that was I could tell I only had so long left with the spell. The beast caught me off guard with its next move as it struck out without rearing. The attack had been slower and without the power of a normal attack, but the snake almost caught me with it. The attack clipped my arm but there was no puncture therefore no venom got me. I spun back looking at the beast and hit it again with the fling stone. I figured I was going to have to provoke it to attack like that again but this time I would be ready.

Every time the snake would rear back, I would send the stone in. Until we got into a similar position as it had struck before. It launched out at me again but this time I was ready. When that attack came at me, I slid to the side and brought Sky Cutter down on its exposed neck. I felt little to no resistance and was scared that I had missed so I just back and turned to where the snake would have landed. When I looked the snake was now in two parts. Its head was in one place and the body was writhing in a different area. The head was still moving as well, I knew that the snake was still dangerous even after the head was severed. I knew it was dead because it had zero hp and I had the blinking notification. But if you looked at the thing you would not be sure as the body was writhing, and the mouth was opening and closing. I had read several stories back home about this exact thing. There was a man that had beheaded a rattlesnake, and even though it was dead it had bitten him and envenomated him. This thing was way more dangerous than a rattler.

Now that it was not lunging at me, I could take some time to look at it. The viper had grey and brown keeled scales that looked very dense. The coloration was perfect for this environment, if I didn’t have my map, I would not have known about the beast until it was too late. They had been enough to deflect my shots. The beast had a horn over its eyes as well, the snake seemed well suited for this environment. It seemed like it would be capable of killing anything that came this way. This would explain why some dots did move day or night this beast really would not care. It could probably kill anything that came it's way, and if it couldn’t it would just stay hidden. Venom tended to be the great equalizer in the natural world.

I went over to the moving body and placed it in storage. Once I was done with the body, I went over the head. I used Sky Cutter to touch the head not wanting to take any chances. Once everything was out of the way I moved on. For the rest of the day, I avoided any stationary dots if I got into the area and did not find webs. I noticed as I traveled the lack of biodiversity in this forest. All of the large beasts I came across were one of three types spiders, rats, or snakes. A forest of this size should have had tons of other animals and beasts. I could only guess that something happened to make it this way. By the end of the day, I found a secluded area that was mostly defensible and set into camp for the night.

Once I had my protections up and running, I decided to update my stats. Using my points this time was only slightly uncomfortable. It was like having something burrow under your skin for a few minutes. Once that was done, I pulled out two of the cores I had collected throughout the day. I wanted to test to see how the process worked. I took the core in my hand and concentrated on it looking it over. The core is more egg-shaped than round and is mostly smooth. The only place where the core is not smooth is where it was attached to the beast. The connection area has a sharp spur that sticks up from the core, and the spur is razor-sharp. I find this out when I cut myself and the core activates. The core starts to glow and I get a notification across my sight. I am glad I waited as doing this in the open would have definitely got me killed.

Would you like to use the skill core Y/N?

I select yes. This was one of the many cores I got from one of the many rats this day. I want to see what type of skill I get and whether it will be useful.

You have learned the skill Iron Gut.

Iron Gut

You can eat most flora or fauna without any gastric distress.

It is not what I expect but it can be helpful I reduce my worry about food a little knowing that I can eat what I come across. The next core was from the spider. I find the divot and press my finger into it.

Would you like to use the skill core Y/N?

I go through the same process.

You have learned the skill Improved Climb.

Improved Climb

You have learned how to move up down and around on surfaces others would not be able to. You can apply 50% of your STR score plus 10% of your DEX when Climbing. This skill greatly reduces the ST cost for climbing.

This time there is a knowledge dump I suddenly knew a lot more about climbing. I also felt that my body would react differently if I were to climb a tree or even some rocks. The skills were not overpowered but they were helpful, being able to climb confidently would greatly increase my survival. Being able to go vertical would also help with finding my way forward being able to climb and find a route. I decided to try two more cores and pull out the one from the alpha and the one from the snake. I go through the process again and get one of the skills I had been hoping for.

You have learned the skill Tremor Sense.

Tremor Sense

You are sensitive to vibrations in the ground and can automatically pinpoint the location of anything that is in contact with the same surface as you. This is effective out to 10 meters.

The skill Tremor Sense has been integrated into the skill Map.

The information floods my mind I also feel some discomfort and there are some small physical changes. It is mostly like a block is removed from my mind. At first, it is like drinking through a fire hose as I am flooded with information. It turns out that the forest is much more vibrant than I knew. I am hit with a large amount of information; my immediate area is teeming with movement. I find that there are insects of all types in the area surrounding my secured camping area. It seems that the enchantments work even on the bugs. Right outside of my immediate area, there is a nest of something that resembles termites. There are also other insects crawling around. For the first time, I see other animals now that I know where to look. While I am watching I see what I can only describe as a giant Hamster.

Cricetin lvl 23.

Most of what I was sensing now had never shown up. I realized that I had never noticed it because these animals and insects were not threats, so they never registered. Now I was beginning to notice the other life in the forest. This would help I could now find more food sources. I had not been looking forward to trying to eat any of the beasts I had killed. In the books I had read the meat from monsters was supposed to be a delicacy. Here I was not so sure plus I didn’t know how to prepare it. Most of these animals looked mostly normal if not for their size.

After that, I am hyped to try the alpha’s core since the last one had been so helpful. The process seemed to be RNG but I could live with that. I wondered if there was a way to up what skills were received. Just another thing to add to my list. I find the notch and repeat the process, and immediately pass out.

When I wake up, I can tell a few hours have passed it is much darker, but in some ways, it is not as dark as it had seemed before. I know there is a difference as I now see much better in the limited light. I also feel slightly different. I check my notifications and almost cheer.

You have learned the skill Low Light Vision.

You have learned the skill Disease Resistance.

You have learned the spell infect.

The first two skills are self-explaining. The first one just allowed me to see better in the dark. The second one basically made me immune to most diseases. The last one was the one that made me the happiest.

Infect: Active lvl 3.

You affect a target with a disease-causing organism or virus. The affected target becomes ill and weakens. The longer the target goes without treatment the sicker it becomes until it dies from the illness. Creatures with high CON scores have a chance to ignore the effects of this spell. This spell will not affect targets with the skill Disease Resistance. Magical healing is required to remove the effects of this spell. 150 MP Cool Down 240 sec.

It was a single target DOT spell; non-gamers would not know what a DOT was. It meant damage over time. Most DOT spells targeted HP, this one was more significant since it targeted CON. CON damage was worse because it was responsible for so much. This spell was dangerous also because it didn’t just stop it would continue until the target was healed or died.

I thought back to my gaming days, a postmortem if you would like. We had set this up as gamers that after a session we would think about what we could do better. I realized that I had fallen into the trap I had in my LARP. I had relied on my weapons and not used my magic. In doing so I had limited my effectiveness. I needed to use my magic more alongside, and combined with my weapon use. I reviewed my status one last time before I called it a night.

Vandwon “Van” Moore

Race

Human 6ap MR2

Deities

Subrace

OutWorlder 6ap MR 5

Class

Arch SpellBlade 2ap MR 5

Class Type

Unique 2ap MR7

Profession

***** Hidden

Boons

Outworlder

Black Blade

Human Might 2

Human Regeneration 2

Arch Mage MR2

Storage

Insight

Accelerated Growth

Titles

First of my kind. MR 2

Class creation.

High magic. MR 2

Knower of the Lost.

Age: 26

Level: 19

XP gained 75% to next level.

+100% to Leveling XP.

HP: 5800

(Regen CON+STR per hour.)

MP: 6720

(Regen WIS+[INT/10]+15% per min.)x2

ST: 5920

(Regen CON+[2xSTR/10]+15% per min.)

Attributes:

Strength (STR): 118+20 (414)

Dexterity (DEX): 116+20 (408)

Constitution (CON): 115+20 (405)

Intelligence (INT): 188*

Wisdom (WIS): 174*

Charisma (CHA): 111

AP: 304, 00 Unspent.

MR: 29, AC: 3200.

Spells:

Read Magic.

Minor Elemental Orb.

Runic Mark (Active/Passive).

Dancing Lights.

Detect Magic (Passive).

Ghost Sound.

Light.

Minor Telekinesis.

Clean.

Identify lvl 0 (Passive).

Reduce Gravity lvl 0.

Lesser Elemental Touch lvl 3.

Blade Lash lvl 0.

Blur lvl 0.

Bladed Dash lvl 0.

Enhance Self lvl 0.

Glitterdust lvl 0.

Invisibility lvl 0.

Mirror Image lvl 0.

Sonic Scream lvl 0.

Storm of Blades lvl 0.

Fireball lvl 0.

Elemental Aura lvl 0.

Fly lvl 0.

Haste.

Locate Weakness lvl 0.

Lightning Bolt lvl 0.

Dimension Door lvl 0.

Weakening Blast lvl 0.

Infect lvl 3.

Skills:

Linguistics

Map

Pain Resistance lvl 5.

Climb lvl 10.

Cartography lvl 1.

Perception lvl 10.

Threat Detection lvl 4.

Wands lvl 5.

Weapon Focus (Sword) lvl 6.

Power Strike lvl 0.

Focused Strike lvl 0.

Cleaving Strike lvl 0.

Combat Casting lvl 0.

Spellstrike lvl 0.

Arcane Empower lvl 0.

Enduring Empower.

Bows lvl 7.

Unarmed Combat lvl 9.

Stealth lvl 6.

Move Silently lvl 5.

Survival lvl 5.

Animal Behavior lvl 3.

Iron Gut.

Improved Climb.

Enhanced Senses

Tremor Sense.

Low Light Vision.

Scent.

Black Blade: Sky Cutter