If there was one thing to his advantage, the spider rat had only one exit. It couldn’t jump, and although the tree trunk gave its claws traction, it was still at a sharp angle, and it had to climb.
Logan had seconds to act. Darting after the cleaver with every earned agility point, he grabbed it by the handle and then swung back to the cliff edge. As the first spindly spider rat leg crept over the top, Logan sliced it in half with one whack. Unlike its body, covered in chitin, the legs were vulnerable.
The tip of another spindly leg crept over the cliff edge, curved talon digging into the ground as it pulled itself up. Logan whacked it with the cleaver, cutting the tip right off, talon flying in the air like toenails in a blender. The spider rat let out a horrible cry full of rage and tried to use the same leg to clamber further, which only resulted in it collapsing and snapping in half.
Now, Logan could just wait, lopping limbs off like a chef chopping a carrot. But it still had nine other legs at its disposal. It had caught on that climbing with one leg resulted in chopped limbs and adjusted its tactics, using more than one leg at a time. After all, Logan only had two hands and one cleaver; there was a limit to what he could chop at once.
As the spider rat used one leg to climb the tree trunk, it placed two others on each side of the cliff edge, pulling itself up while snapping at him with razor-sharp teeth.
Logan sliced the leg on the tree branch, green ichor flying into his face, and then whacked off the two legs on his left.
That left the two on the other side. It shrieked, legs scrambling, rat tail swinging behind its body.
It still hadn’t pulled itself up, but it was close. He couldn’t let it out of the drop; he’d be outmatched on even ground.
A ticking clock may as well be providing sound effects in the back of his mind. Logan couldn’t resist looking down at his foot, convinced he could feel the start of the slice that would take his toe.
It cost him precious time.
The spider rat was able to pull itself farther up, just on the cusp of breaching the top of the cliff. Logan barely managed to chop in time, forced to whack at the top of its legs, close to its teeth and mandibles. It sliced into the top of his hand, tearing through muscle and going bone deep. That was the hand with the sliced finger! Logan gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain as he finished chopping off the remaining leg within reach.
The spider dropped back down with a slash of its tail.
This was taking too long. He needed to do something. Making a snap decision, he dropped the cleaver and then scrambled for his baseball bat. As the spider rat climbed back up, Logan hit its gleaming eyes as if he were lining up for a home run, using the nails to tear into them, blinding it on one side.
Click, click, click was its responding sound of rage, mandibles clacking. But he’d managed to do damage on one side, and now its vision had a serious blind spot.
This was his chance. He had one tactic to his advantage. It had worked before so why not try it again? Never change a successful strategy. Logan darted for the crowbar, lifting it and lodging it at an angle between the ground and a pivot. Then he whacked the spider rat on its blind spot, purposefully aggressive, trying to make it mindless with rage. It knew he was there, but it couldn’t see him.
Logan then let it climb. All of its front legs were severed, so it lurched, crawling lopsided using the legs on the side of its body. Had he cut off too many limbs? Would it even make it out?
His answer came in the way of the spider rat shrieking in excitement when it finally crawled over the cliff edge. Logan swung his baseball bat at its head to keep it motivated, then backed up behind the propped-up crowbar.
“Come and get me, ugly mother!”
At the same time, his timer went off, warning him that he only had ten minutes left. The phone blared from his back pocket like a foghorn.
That’s all the incentive it needed. With its remaining legs, it lurched onto the clearing, clacking as it ran at him.
“Here!”
It took a flying leap like a drunk person trying to crowd surf.
Right on top of the crowbar.
It led out an agonized scream as the metal tore through its softer underbelly, tail swishing like a whip, green ichor pouring onto the dead mycelium.
Ding!
[You have defeated a Level Ten Trapdoor Spider Rat! Extra experience granted for defeating an enemy above your level.]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
Logan pushed away the feeling of euphoria, screaming, “System, how much time?”
[Quest Progress: 14/20. 8 minutes remaining.]
Fuck fuck fuck. He had no margin for error. This either worked, or he was toe-less.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
[Intelligence: 27]
[Intelligence: +]
[Intelligence: 36]
Logan allocated all ten free points into intelligence, gasping as the change surged through him, brushing away the feeling of his mind opening to the world around him, only caring about one thing.
Karma 60/216.
It worked! Each intelligence point equaled six karma points. But could he grow six sprouts in eight minutes? Logan didn’t give it anymore thought, every muscle tight with tension. He tore through the dead mycelium, his broken fingernails scoring through brittle veins, digging the shallowest hole he could get away with before dumping in a handful of seeds. The soil he piled on top was a combination of dirt and brittle mycelium.
Logan had sprouting down to a science now, but this soil didn’t want to cooperate. He found the best seed, pictured it growing in his mind, but then hit a wall.
Oh shit, he didn’t have time to move out of the mycelium clearing. Squeezing his eyes shut, Logan bounced his mind against the barrier like hitting a hammer against a wall. This wasn’t a wooden wall, wasn’t brick. It was flexible. Like drywall. With an effort so great he started to grow a tension headache, Logan brute forced his way through the wall like pounding his fist through plaster. Something, some kind of pressure burst, and at the same time, warm blood trickled from his nose.
Ding!
[You have successfully deployed the skill, Life Cycle, at the sprout level! Calculating carbon reduction… 20 KarmaCoin awarded. Extra coin granted for creating life in an area saturated with death.]
[Quest Progress: 15/20. 6 minutes remaining.]
Yes! Logan shuffled, picking another spot, far enough away from the other sprout.
He pounded out sprout after sprout. After he breached that first barrier, he got the hang of sprouting a seed within mycelium saturated ground and the power flowed out of him. If he had the karma points to burn, he could grow it.
[You have successfully deployed the skill, Life Cycle, at the sprout level! Calculating carbon reduction… 20 KarmaCoin awarded. Extra coin granted for creating life in an area saturated with death.]
[Quest Progress: 19/20. 40 seconds remaining.]
This was the opposite of watching a kettle boil. Each second passed like the speed of light. It took every ounce of his mental fortitude to concentrate, trying to push away the phantom feeling of losing his toe.
Pushing through, latching onto the last seed and willing it to grow, he visualized the string-like roots burrowing deep and getting a foothold in the earth. A green shoot reached for the sun, winding through ground that was layered with dead fungus. Logan opened his eyes, staring blindly at a sprout the size of a wild strand of grass that just breached the dirt.
Ding!
[Congratulations! You’ve successfully completed the Quest: Tree Novice! 5 bonus points awarded to all attributes. Wow, cutting it close there, Idiot.]
As soon as he read the message, the mother of all trips made his world go sideways. His flagging energy got a boost as if he’d knocked back a cocktail of drugs, the pain from his injuries grew fuzzy and the headache he’d had since sprouting his first tree in mycelium ground faded. His strength exploded, making him feel like picking up another boulder and throwing it in the air, but the odd thing was that his bicep muscles hadn’t continued to grow. Instead, it was if his muscles had grown depth, a corded steel strength to them that he couldn’t help but admire.
The other increases were less powerful but no less noticeable. The agility and dexterity increases even made him feel like breaking out in complicated dance moves, and the perception increase opened up the world around him, giving him a higher degree of focus as his hearing narrowed on insects and the sound of birds squawking in the distance.
Once the high of the attribute boosts faded, Logan’s adrenaline took a nosedive. He couldn’t believe it was over. He kept glancing at his foot, still expecting something to come down from the sky to slice it off. For a System that believed in karma, he wouldn’t be surprised if it decided he deserved revenge for all the limb chopping he’d inflicted on the spider rat.
He blinked up at the blue sky, but nothing happened. Logan slumped down to the ground, tearing off his running shoes to make sure. One intact big toe, one missing one. All good.
But something told Logan that he had squeaked by with milliseconds to spare and that his luck attribute may have gotten a huge boost. Leaning against a tree trunk, Logan pulled up his stat sheet to review the changes. Viewing the full list with all the improvements was gratifying to see, but he wished there were a way to view updates only.
[Turn on the option: List stat sheet updates only?]
Damn. The creepy mind reader was back. The fact that an unknown person or entity had access to his thoughts made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. If it could read his mind, how could humanity strategize or fight back?
Logan confirmed the change.
Name: Logan Hart [Hidden Name: Idiot]
Rank: 99,989 out of 7,440,151,228
Level: 8
XP Progress: 8,400/16,000
Karma: 30/246
Intelligence: 41
Constitution: 26
Strength: 23
Agility: 15
Dexterity: 13
Endurance: 13
Perception: 12
Wisdom: 29
Luck: 30
KarmaCoin: 250
That consolidated list would make it easier to monitor his progress. For the first time, he’d broken into the 5-digit rank, right above those ranked in the low 100,000s. Again, he had to marvel. How was he only ranked that high after all the shit he’d had to go through? His highest attribute was intelligence, which gave him a feeling of smug satisfaction. With that, why hadn’t the System changed his hidden name? Would the sarcastic fucker continue calling him that no matter how smart he became? Evil ass.
As far as KarmaCoin, he wasn’t sure if that tally were good or bad, having no idea if that would be enough to buy something from the tree fridge. He was excited to find out.
Logan closed his stat sheet and then realized it was growing dark. The clearing was starting to become gloomy as dusk crept closer. He needed to get back to the resort. Logan glanced at his phone before getting to his feet.
His eyes widened. A text message had come in while he’d been fighting for his toe.
Jack: Tried to call. It didn’t go through.
Jack: We need to leave. Don’t like the looks I’m receiving. They might try to take the food. How far away are you?
Then ten minutes later, he had two missed calls followed by another message from Jack.
Jack: Logan???
Jack’s last text message had him scrambling to respond.
Jack: I’m leaving. I’ll drive the boat back across the lake first thing in the morning. Sorry.
Jack: Don’t die. Your sister would never forgive me.
Logan typed in a response. If Jack had just left, he could still swing the boat around to meet Logan at the dock. He’d already been crazy fast, and with the new boost to his endurance, he could power through the clearing in twenty minutes if he ran full out.
Just before Logan hit send, his phone powered off.
His battery was dead.