We woke up unaccosted. Schedule today is to try hunting in the area, discover new spells as I go and hopefully level up.
We don't live in the capital city, but close enough, what used to be Jakarta is only a few hours drive away. So, there should be no wilderness around, maybe some parks or gardens. The things I find should be the occasional city pets or stray animals gone mana-buff.
Conversation over breakfast tells me the couple would be skipping this first foray and I can't agree more.
"Search your CredStore for maps," Henry advised me. Following the advice, I can see several options for system maps. "Is that a map interface? Minimap?" I asked.
"Map interface, yes probably. Not sure about minimaps." He answered me, "you should get some of that before you leave for your adventure."
I nod in agreement.
I spent some time after breakfast making a belt for my dagger and then recovering the mana spent. Attaching the sheath to it was as simple as manipulating the material itself and getting them to stick together; I've now got it attached to my left hip. The baseball bat hangs on my right, the belt made to loop around its handle, taking it out is as simple as pulling at it while willing it to let go.
Eager to depart, I set out by noon, after an early lunch, better dine in safety and all. Soon, sneaking is gonna get to show off, I hope.
As the two bid me good luck. I fixed the position of my mostly empty backpack -- only containing some bottled water and snacks -- and slowly move out of the closing gate onto the main road, which runs straight from left to right. Various residences and housings are built all through this area of the street, there is a small hospital to our left if we drive for about 20 minutes, along the way there are plenty of restaurants, mini-markets and various stores.
Left then, hospital, duh. Right is mostly more residents and small stores for quite a long way. The mall I work at is another 10 minutes drive from the hospital. Let's see if I can get that far for now and hunt what I can find along the way, need to unlock those maps.
A mental nudge activated sneaking, the skill would assist me with walking and moving quietly and as out of sight as possible. For example; Slow down, faster is fine, don't step on that cracked cement, hiding there is good, there instead to hide from this direction. Small hunches that aid any creatures sneaking at each moment.
Being sneaky is slow business.
I had covered barely ten meters before spotting some Giant Rats through the broken door of a small mini-market. The store has its cashier table to the side by the entrance with some empty space for people to que. It only has an aisle in the middle, dividing the store into two lanes. An open door to the far right, definitely storage.
Stealth mage time.
I need a less flashy spell. Note to self, ask Henry about his light one. For now, maybe something simpler. Sneaking closer to the door, I only spot two rats nibbling on crackers off the floor. The place is a total mess.
Staying outside the door to use it as a choke point, both targets confirmed busy, I conjure the familiar sphere of mana and separate them into two smaller spheres for each rat. Then compress-willed them into sturdy and very thin plates -- each about 3cm in diameter and barely 1 mm thick -- with sawed edges, a pinch of mana to spin them and some more to direct them on a straight line.
Each disk was aimed at their own rat, already spinning with a slight sound of cutting wind. Happy with the setting. 'In tribute to D&D's magic missile and DBZ's destructo disk', I shout in my mind then let loose and see them fly true.
** DING **
The disks were too small to cause instant kill even on smaller targets unless a vital organ was hit but the sawed edges and the way it spins causes enough damage for the wound to rip open and bleed, a lot. Not to mention the smaller mana cost would hopefully trump through quantity over size-y… whatever.
I'm positioned to the left of one, while the other rat has its back to me. Both rats are on the left lane though one is closer to the cashier, barely in the lane at all. The one further back got pierced from back to front, dropped and twitched for a while before stilling.
** DING **
The other one got hit on the lower half of its torso. That one shrieks in pain, it's lower half crippled. Unfortunately, some answering shrieks called back from deeper inside. Damn!
I ignore the notification and the dying rat for now. Being caught unprepared, my lack of experience is biting me on the ass. Not sure how many called back, so I went through a similar process to ready the magical disks with my left hand, spending more mana to produce four this time. Then unsheathe my dagger with my main hand. Keeping the door between me and them to act as a funnel.
Three rats came out through the back door, they split two to one for each lane. In response, I positioned my four disks to fly low and approximately spread out then send them on their way to the lane with two rats -- please hit. Then focus on the last one, it's gonna jump at my face!
It didn't.
Getting caught off guard allowed the lone rat to bite at my right leg, Earning it an attempted stab from above. Which missed, on account of a second rat biting me on the left shoulder.
"Son of a"....
I got pushed back from the second rat's momentum, falling on my butt. The dagger falling off my hands.
"Arhhh!" The pain! I pulled mana into my hands, out into the shape of another dagger but unlike the first time, I just willed it to interact with matter, rather than change itself into matter. Without any delay, I stabbed it into the one on my shoulders, then again, and again, and again till I felt it go limp, dead. Leaving it there attached by its teeth for now. Several system dings were ignored.
Taking in the situation, it seems the crippled one has died from blood loss and another from the second group also lies dead, its head pierced by my desperate cast of the four disks, earlier. Thus, I focused on the remaining healthy rodent, it had let go of me during my fall.
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Standing there amidst the corpse of its fellow rats, the last Giant Rat seems to hesitate. Which gave me the chance to spam Disinfect on my legs and the area around my shoulder. Though the gestures from casting the spells startled it into action, it rushed at me.
I made sure to keep my eyes on its movement this time, bite me twice, shame on me. Which is why I saw the moment it jumped for the injury on my shoulder, yeap, I stabbed it. Simply by positioning the magical dagger on its path. Good riddance!
So much for stealth mage.
I waited for a while in the silence. After a few moments of nothing else, dropped the mana dagger which dissolves into the air. Then limped to check behind the back door, storage it is. A short break sounds like a great idea, so I closed the door, latched it up and hoped for the best as I sat on an available chair... Meditation.
Coming out of my self diagnosis, I sigh in relief. My body is now free of any leftover poison from the bites. Between the bites itself and the poison, my health was below 20% by the time I checked. Stamina was at around 50%, and mana was undented at more than 90%.
Well now. To solve the health crisis, I can either buy the cheapest potion, which costs 10 Creds and heals 25 hp. Or, continue on as I have so far and try to discover a healing spell… Not much of a hard choice, who would waste 10 creds on 25 hp. Geez, ripoff much.
I decided to check the cheapest healing spell, an apprentice rank Lesser Heal costs 100 creds. Blehh.
Autodidact it is, let's see. These bites are clean, the wounds are only flesh wounds and not too deep. Fortunately. So the spell only needs to help close the wounds…
Maybe something like mend? For flesh.
Back under Meditation. I focus on the bite on my right leg, slowly covering the wound with mana as if to cast mend. Now what…
With no idea how to start, I observe the wound. A closer look shows my health slowly doing its work around the injury, but whatever it is they're doing eludes me. Let's make the mana support them, support buffs on the working healths! A muted ding pingged, the wound seems to be healing faster. Not daring to stay too long unconscious of the surroundings, I stop the skill. The skin is visibly healing slowly, one more manual cast on the leg and thrice on the shoulders, now to wait.
'Updates, thank you'. Lets see what all the dings been about.
Congratulations. You have created a new apprentice rank spell. As its creator, the spell will grow with you as your understanding of it grows.
Please name the spell. …
Title awarded Spell Dilettante
Slayed Giant Rat lv 2
2 Syscred and 16 exp rewarded
Slayed Giant Rat lv 2
2 Syscred and 16 exp rewarded
Hit by Rat's rabid bite. -10 hp.
Status condition: poisoned. -2 hp/mins.
Hit by Rat's rabid bite. -10 hp.
Status condition: poisoned. -3 hp/mins.
Apprentice spell learnt Conjure Dagger
Spell rank up, Conjure Dagger early > basic
Slayed Giant Rat lv 2
2 Syscred and 16 exp rewarded
Slayed Giant Rat lv 2
2 Syscred and 16 exp rewarded
Slayed Giant Rat lv 2
2 Syscred and 16 exp rewarded
Apprentice spell learnt Lesser Heal
Spell rank up, Lesser Heal early > basic
Woah, awesome.
A name for the spell? Conjure Dagger must be the one I used after dropping my created one… I rushed out to find the weapon, it was thankfully on the floor nearby where I got bit. So I sheathed it while walking back inside, locked the doors and sat back down.
So, name a spell must be the disk one, did nobody in all the multiverse manage to make a magical mini saw. They need to read more, play more, watch more anime. Anyways, Destructo Disk and Magic Missiles.
'Magico Disk'. I entered my chosen name into the system. Hmm, I never did inspect the various spells I got yesterday, now that I think about it. Maybe later.
** DING **
Name available, Magico Disk registered
Apprentice spell learnt Magico Disk
Would you like to make the spell available on the CredStore?
'Yes.' Because why not.
** DING **
Please set your price…
Oh please no. Hnm, whats a good price.
I ended up browsing the store for apprentice rank spells, cross checking their price in relation to their uses.
Conclusion, the people selling all these things are total nutcases, none of the prices make sense. Something useful like Produce Bread and Cheese cost 25 Creds to get, but a damn Increased Sensitivity spell cost 250 Creds. Idiots! That 25 Creds can solve the world's hunger problem!
'50 creds'. I answered.
Title awarded Pristine Peddler
As a bronze merchant and the owner of an item sold in The System's Store. Your sales are automatically charged a 30% handlers fee, in exchange the system will automatically administrate your marketing, delivery and finalize sales. Your profits may be collected from your store interface at your leisure.
WHAT A RIPOFF!! No wonder items sold there cost so much. 'Shame on you System'. I chided it wholeheartedly in my mind.
Oh well, that leaves me with 35 Creds per sales, not bad. If anyone buys, that is.
Checking my status shows all three resources are full. I'm now sitting on 14 Creds and 121 Exp, still a long way to go. It took all available willpower to stop myself from opening the store and getting the map interface unlocked right away.
The day is still bright. More hunting! Shopping later!
Now armed with a dagger, a spare dagger, the bat I forgot about, my various spells and a sneaking skill. The rest of the day went much better than that first encounter. The rats are easier to kill, the more I kill them. I had to ditch the bat somewhere along the way, it's no longer of any use now as it only serves to weigh me down and make clunking noises at the most ill-timed moments.
About two hour later, I finally set my sights on the hospital. The journey netted me 16 Giant Rat kills from five different encounters, 2 Big Rats, 5 Huge Mosquitos at level three and a small Slime inspect identified as a Slimeensy level one.
The mosquitos fly alone, but are the size of a cat, damn huge! I ran away and sniped them with Wind Arrows. The slime on the other hand started bouncing after me since who knows how long, it was unsettling.
Thats a whopping total of 50 Creds and 448 Exp. Sneaking also leveled up once.
I checked the store and bought a Mold Earth spell for 50 creds, not even bothering to check my sales on the merchants tab. Hopefully this will allow me to craft or reinforce shelters for longer journeys. It's been a rough ride, my mind is not in a state where it could effectively discover spells and this one feels It'll be useful long term.
I entered another Mini-Market across the hospital, there's a lot of them around here. This one didn't seem infested by any creature for some reason. So I took a 1.5 liter bottle of drink and some snacks, entered an abandoned car in the parking lot to take a short break. Better keep my supplies for emergencies, maybe even stock up on more later.
First recover, soon, I'll be scouting that hospital.