Jake sneezed, looking around in mild confusion before shrugging it off and finishing his last Fang Arrow.
Skill [Crafting] has levelled up.
He smiled at the notification, having made thirty of the purple shafted arrows in the last hour, the process only getting faster as he’d grown more familiar with the actions. All he really needed to do was slip the fangs onto the ends of the wooden arrows, but he’d found that would often leave them embedded in his targets. While that could boost the Bleed effect, Jake had gotten annoyed at having to constantly dig the fangs out to retrieve them for more arrows. So, instead, he’d wrapped the ends of the wooden arrows in twine and sap melted over his fire before pushing them into the holes. It had made for far more sturdy arrows, and he was happy with the results.
On a whim, he opened his Character Screen, looking over his Skills and Stats.
Character Profile
Name
Jake Grey
Class
Champion
Level
12
Reputation
Unknown
Health Points
250
Mana Points
220
Stamina Points
300
Fate Points
5
Power
21 {+7}
Intellect
20 {+2}
Agility
24 {+6}
Wit
22
Vitality
20 {+5}
Charisma
19
Skills (17/20)
Titles
Combat
Evasion [2]
Hunting Bows [2]
Medium Armour [2]
Short Swords [2]
Utility
Aim [2]
Free Movement [4]
Inspect [6]
Hide [6]
Observe [6]
Creation
Alchemy [5]
Butcher [3]
Cooking [3]
Crafting [7]
Gathering [6]
Skinning [3]
Magic
Nature Magic [1]
Shadow Magic [1]
Owner of the Dark Woods (Conditional)
Frontrunner
Giant Slayer V
Pioneer
World Breaker
Touched by Corruption
Champion of the Wilds
His Skills had been levelling slowly, especially the Ascended ones, each of his Combat Skills having only gone up a single level despite his numerous fights against the Hungry Pot Flowers and even a few boars, even [Free Movement] having levelled up far slower that [Sprint] had considering how much he’d been using it. Neither of his Magic Skills had levelled up yet, but that was probably because he wasn’t really using them all that much, something he should probably change. Shaking his head, Jake just put it down to all of them being more powerful Skills, figuring that was what Andy would say about the situation as well.
Blinking, Jake realised that he hadn’t actually messaged Andy in a while, and now that they wouldn’t be able to catch up outside of the game, he would need to get more into the habit of doing so. Nodding his head, Jake opened the Message Screen, sending off a quick message to the man. The reply came a moment later, Jake chuckling to himself as he read it.
Hey Jakey! Hope you’re doing well out there in the sticks. How’re Luna and the pups? Hopefully growing up strong. I would 100% be down to get one off you if you can, but no biggy. My party members are still going on about how you don’t exist, so try to get to Dusk Keep asap, kay?
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Jake sent a quick confirmation, getting back to his feet and walking to the edge of the clearing, pausing as Luna growled.
“What’s up, girl?” he asked watching the wolf approach him, “You want to come with? What about the pups?”
Luna just barked, the pups immediately stopping their play as they all turned to look at her. A series of growls and barks later, the seven of them nodded, quickly returning to their play fighting as Jake chuckled.
“Okay, you ready?” Jake asked, the wolf nodding as they stepped through the barrier of the Safe Zone.
------
Bertram growled under his breath.
He was bored.
And in a forest.
The same gods forsaken forest that he’d been sent into too many times already. He was a city man, not some pathetic hunter, though he did enjoy a good hunt, just not of the usual kind. That was why he’d jumped at the opportunity Machie had given him, find the rumoured mad man that was apparently running through the forest. Machie’s forest. And if Bertram was good at anything, it was finding people.
He flexed his [Locate] Skill, one of his three Ascended Skills, a feat for any native to have achieved, let alone a street rat from the slums of Eversun. He almost missed that city, sometimes, the press of people, the stink of sewage and bodies, even if that was only in the slums. And while he was used to familiar faces, there were always new ones in the city. New marks for the picking.
Until he’d picked the wrong mark and ended up grabbed by some grey-skinned mountain of a man. Bertram had thought he’d be an easy mark, half-giant by the looks of it, so probably slow on the uptake and not very perceptive. Oh, how wrong he’d been.
It was a miracle the man hadn’t just killed him there and then; Bertram had been expecting it. Instead, he was taken to a church in the market quarter, scrubbed of the dirt and grime of the slums, and given fresh clothes. Then the damn Priest had come. Pereion Machie, a Priest of Ignis, god of fire. He had given Bertram an offer far beyond what he could have ever hoped to refuse. Become his hand in the dark or suffer the consequences of his actions.
Bertram, of course, had accepted. Who wouldn’t, unless they were an idiot who’d rather die. But not Bertram. Oh no, not Bertram. So, he had trained. Been trained. Reforged, as the Priest so liked to put it, into a tool, a weapon of ‘justice and hope’. Bertram didn’t really care about all that though, he just wanted to live.
Shaking his head, he shoved the thoughts and memories back, looking back down at the ground. The trail was obvious, painfully so, in fact, the mark not having tried to hide their presence at all. They’d just…run in circles, probably covering damn near the whole forest in the process. It was the work of seconds for Bertram to figure out their origin point, somewhere in the centre of these damned woods.
Of course, Bertram could have gone to the centre and waited for them, but he didn’t particularly want to spend hours sneaking through the woods just to have to spend a night or two waiting. So, he just found the freshest tracks, and waited. It didn’t take long, thankfully, for him to hear the sound of running, the sound of heavy breathing and feet hitting wood and earth echoing between the trees. Shaking his head at the idiocy of his mark, Bertram faded into the shadows, employing his second Ascended Skill, [Sneak], to all but vanish from even the sharpest of eyes.
He watched as the cloaked figure darted out from between the trees, almost whistling in appreciation of the armour he was wearing but stopping himself long before. The mark suddenly stopped, looking around in confusion, Bertram freezing as he heard the low growl, glancing into the shadows behind the man as a wolf, easily four or five feet tall, coalesced from the darkness itself.
“What’s wrong, Luna?” the mark asked, “Is something there? Another Hungry Pot Flower?”
Bertram almost laughed at that. He was a hell of a lot more dangerous than a simple weed. He quickly used [Observe] on the man, blinking at what he saw. The mark was only level twelve. How the hell had he managed to end up in these thrice damned woods? And with a level twenty-eight Shadow Wolf at his side? Shaking his head slightly, Bertram remained still, watching the pair as they looked around, before the wolf finally let out a gruff bark, stalking away.
“Nothing?” the mark hummed, “Well, if you say so. Let’s get going, I have less than ten more percent left before this Quest is done.”
Bertram froze at that, staring at the mark in surprise as the man vanished into the woods once again, Bertram actually losing sight of his after a moment as he seemed to fade into the shadows.
“Well, shit,” he whispered to himself, “Mark’s a gods forsaken Traveller.”
------
Jake ran through the woods, glancing at his notifications as he went.
Skill [Hide] has levelled up.
Skill [Hide] has levelled up.
Skill [Hide] has levelled up.
The first of the three identical notifications wasn’t much of a worry for the man, having gotten it almost an hour ago while sneaking past a group of Shadow Boar, the problem lay in the latter two. As far as he could tell, he’d been as quiet as he could be while running through the woods, keeping his [Hide] Skill on a low burn of sorts as he moved. Yet he felt like he’d been spotted not long ago, receiving the notification just before the feeling started, and then again just after it faded.
That meant that there was someone, or perhaps something, in the woods that was watching him. Scowling at the thought, Jake checked the progress of his Quest, seeing that he only had probably one or two more laps of the Dark Woods to go before he had covered everything. At least, he hoped that was the case, worrying that he had missed some small part that would keep the Quest at ninety-nine percent until he either stumbled across it by accident, or actively spent hours searching for it.
Shaking the thoughts from his head, Jake continued to run, occasionally catching glimpses of golden grass between the trees as he neared the edge of the woods as the moon rose above the horizon. It didn’t take him long to finish another loop of the woods, earning another level in [Free Movement] for his trouble, and he drew near to the location where he’d first gotten the feeling of being watched. Pausing, he waited a few moments to catch his breath, before doing something he had yet to do.
He cast a Spell from his [Shadow Magic] Skill. The magic enveloped him, crawling across his body in seconds and sinking into his cloak, Jake suddenly vanishing from sight almost completely. He blinked as he looked down at himself, surprised by the combined effect of the Shadow Mantle Spell and his cloak’s Ability, just shrugging it off as he approached the area from before as quietly as he could. With his current Mana Points, Jake only had forty-four seconds of apparent invisibility, but it would have to do.
Glancing over at Luna, the wolf also almost invisible in the darkness of the night, she pointed to a branch with her muzzle, Jake nodding as he jumped. He landed on the branch just beside it, looking around for who, or what, had caused his [Hide] Skill to level up so fast. It took him a moment, but he managed to spot a form crouched at the base of the branch, apparently relaxing as it stared down at the path he would have taken.
A sharp pain lanced through Jake’s head, making him check his Mana Points, seeing that it had already been about thirty seconds. That meant he had less than a third of his Mana left, so he ended the Spell. There was a moment of silence as he appeared directly beside the other man, before the stranger’s head snapped up, ending whatever effect or Skill had been hiding him, and staring at Jake.
Jake immediately used [Observe] on him, frowning at what he saw.
???
Human Assassin
Level: ??
Jake had somewhat expected the ‘Human’ part, but not the addition of ‘Assassin’ as well. Shaking his head, he spoke.
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?”
“Shit!” the man gasped, staring at Jake in confusion for a moment, before he let out a breath and grinned, “Well damn, didn’t think I could be snuck up on anymore. How’d you do it, Traveller?”
“I asked you questions first,” Jake growled, trying to appear as intimidating as possible as the man just relaxed against the tree again, “Answer them.”
“Bertram,” the man replied, “That’s my name, and I was sent here to find a madman running through the woods. There’re your answers, now where is mine?”
“Magic,” Jake replied, “Who sent you?”
“Pereion Machie, Mayor of the little shithole of a town just south of here,” Bertram said happily, “What kind of magic?”
“The powerful kind,” Jake half answered, the man obviously not accepting it as he raised an eyebrow, “Primal Magic.”
“Primal?” Bertram laughed, “That’s impossible, you expect me to believe that some piddly little Traveller like you has Primal Magic? That’s the stuff of the lost gods.”
“Lost gods?” Jake blinked, “What do you mean?”
“What do I…? Wait, no, course you don’t know, you’re a Traveller,” the other man sighed, standing easily on the branch, “Lost gods are just that, gods that are lost. Or that abandoned us little folk, not that I care. You’d learn more talking to Machie about that sort of thing.”
“The mayor?” Jake asked.
“Yeah, knows plenty about that kind of shit, on account of his Class,” Bertram shrugged, before smiling, “How about we head into town, and I can introduce you?”
“Introduce?” Jake stepped back slightly, watching the man carefully. He hadn’t taken the opportunity to actually look at him that much during their conversation, so he scanned over him now.
Bertram wore leather armour dyed in blacks and greys, just like Jake’s, but far sleeker and thinner. Jake wondered if it still counted as Medium Armour but pushed the thought aside as he looked at the long stiletto daggers at the man’s hips, a number of smaller knives scattered around his body, and probably even more hidden away, Jake was sure. Jake marvelled at the way the man moved, walking along the branch like it was flat ground, while Jake still had to concentrate at least slightly to keep his balance.
“Not yet,” Jake shook his head, quickly checking his Owner of the Dark Woods (Conditional) Title, seeing it still had several hours before it became official, “In the morning. After dawn.”
“After dawn?” the assassin snorted, “Why? You waiting on something?”
“Something like that,” Jake hummed, before dropping down to the ground, leaving the other man standing in the shadows, “I’ll see you then.”
Jake recast Shadow Mantle, the Spell once again sinking into his cloak and making him vanish, before he hurried off, his regenerated Mana Points only giving him about twenty seconds before they ran out. He gasped as he dropped the Spell a short distance away, pulling up the notification that had been blinking in the corner of his vision since the start of the conversation with Bertram.
Skill [Hide] has levelled up.
Skill [Hide] is level 10.
Ascend Skill?
Y/N?
Jake quickly confirmed the prompt, getting the next screen.
Skill [Hide] is level 10.
Please choose Skill Ascension:
[Sneak]
[Silent Movement]
[Shadow Meld]*
Cost: 1 Fate Point
Jake stared at the options in confusion. Poking the last option with his mind, he got a new screen.
*Available due to bond with a Shadow Wolf and Equipment.
Jake just shook his head at that option. He already had his cloak, which had the same Ability, so he didn’t need it as a Skill. Looking at the other two options, he scratched his chin. [Sneak] was obviously a direct advancement on his [Hide] Skill, which meant that the other Skill, [Silent Movement] was probably more of a passive Skill. Jake remembered Andy telling him about passive Skills and how they were usually more useful but tended to level up really slowly. Shrugging, Jake made his choice, opening his Character Screen to check the description of his new Skill.
Silent Movement:
Reduces the amount of noise you make as you move, increasing stealth. Also allows you to hide.
Jake smiled as he read over the description, before jogging back into the forest. After all, he only had a few more percent to go before he completed his Quest.