Survivors Remaining: 4685/5000
Miriam shut the dialogue she’d been habitually checking since the start of the Tutorial. Over 300 dead. It was tough to reconcile that with their own experience. The flight from the forest creatures had been deadly and dangerous, yes, but it looked like whatever force had placed her in the middle of a coyote pack had been merciful today.
She watched as John dragged another tree into place, the pair of him and George working quickly to place a new tree every hour and a half. At this pace, they’d at least have a barrier to denote their space, which should prevent at least some intrusion by animals as they took the path of least resistance. The afternoon sun was hot, and she lifted her hair off the back of her neck - thick black waves trapped the sun's heat a little too well for her liking.
Enjoying the brief break, she again bent over the tome that had been granted to her as a part of her class. It was written in odd, geometric symbols, with esoteric diagrams, but she read it like a picture book, the language barrier non-existant to her. Currently she was studying up on mental spells, as even the book said it was the hardest:
Of the eighteen forms of magic, mind magic tends to be the most complicated and least useful to the average practitioner. Mind magic is not inherently weak, rather, it is strong. However, the principles of mind magic require that aspect to be channeled with precision, not volume. Using the third YYzik Equation, arcane energy is aspected in accordance with the target: Severity, Flow, Resonance, and Intent must all be carefully balanced in order to create any sort of personal or specialized effect - rather, the most common usage of mind magic is to overwhelm an enemies defenses or to guard your own mind against hostile influence.
Knowing the eleven attributes of your target, one can begin performing the required calculations to create the framework of the spell. Taking the Hertz Physical Coefficient, utilize a Gantz-Neumman array of radius c where c is the total Constitution score of the target multiplied by their Fortitude, then divided by their Leveled Weight Average. Note that this does not apply to multi-levelled species, and…
Miriam managed to keep at it for two entire hours, taking a brief break to watch the next log get placed, before she started gaining a bit of a headache. She had to constantly flip back and forth to the glossary at the back and her spot, and was finding that mind magic was going to be very difficult, but she kept at it. She was on a timeline, after all, and after tonights dose she would be out of medication. She had to heal herself before then.
As the sun began to set, George went off to look for the other two. Miriam wasn’t too worried - Mitchell knew his limits. Giving herself a break, she flipped back to the front of the tome, thin sheets of paper fluttering in the miniscule breeze. Another reference had her flip to the third chapter, which was about spell modifications. She decided she wanted to have at least a little bit to show for her day of effort, besides for a headache and a mind full of equations that made no sense. Maybe that's why mind magic existed? To help you cope with learning mind magic?
With the wand in her hand, she cast a dart at the river, sending a small plume of water a few inches into the air and rejoicing at the reminder that she was an authentic acolyte of the arcane.
Not a minute later she could be seen with a frown on her face. She invoked the instrument again watching as the arrays formed around the tip and as the energy accumulated in the lines and power crackled in the spaces. She squinted, noticing a large amount of the gathered energy - mana, maybe? Magicka? Her status just said ‘MP’- dissipating when the dart left the confines of the array. A new problem on her mind, she dove into her study once more, squinting through the fading light.
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“Are we going back soon?” Sarah asked for the third time, meticulously untangling her robe from a bramble that had caught her. As the light faded, it was getting harder and harder for her to follow the path Mitchell was setting.
“Not without my class.” Mitchell answered easily, as he had twice before. He waited patiently for her to untangle herself, then continued leading the way deeper into the forest. With the shadows growing longer and the sounds of creatures loud in her ears, Sarah was jumping at the slightest rustle.
She followed closely. “Did you even bring a torch?”
Mitchell’s step hitched. “I… may have thought it wouldn’t take this long.”
“When you said that this direction felt good?” She teased.
“Honestly, Sarah? I was just going to walk through the woods until the animals got me or I got a class. Either way, burden removed.”
Sarah resisted the urge to whack him with her staff in frustration. She thought he was doing better, then he went and said something like that. While true, in the most disgusting and inhumane way, it was also wrong. “You’d just leave Miri behind because you feel bad about yourself? You honestly so bad at math that four and a half is less than four?”
“When the half is only propped up by the four, then yea. It’s less. Or, mathematically, if we each contribute one person to the group, and I contribute half of a person, that makes our average drop lower. Now we all provide, what, like four-fifths of a person?”Mitchell pushed under a branch and stopped so quickly, Sarah stumbled in an attempt to not run into him and ended up on the forest floor. Grumbling and casting, the dirt once again fell from her body in a wave as she stood.
“What gives, jerk?” Sarah knew, in the back of her mind, that the whole purpose of this was to help him, but couldn’t help herself. His attitude was grating on her.
Mitchell took one more step forward and promptly vanished into thin air. She took a step to follow, only to flinch when a bright blue screen popped up in front of her face.
You have discovered the Burning Building Cave System (Dungeon Level 10)
Warning! Advancing in this location will place you in the dungeon. Dungeons may not be escaped until they are completed. Completing a dungeon grants substantial rewards, and can even affect class evolution or acquisition.
“Oh balls.” Sarah swore as she dashed after him without a second thought, her perception of the forest swirling into shadows and darkness until she stumbled, hitting her knee against rough stone in the confines of a cave.
The cave was rough, clearly not manmade, though it seemed there was some sort of lichen in sporadic patches on the wall that glowed with a faint amber light. Without that, she’d have been blind. The sound of screeching metal interrupted her observation, and turned her head up to the source.
Before her, Mitchell held his shield steady against a pair thrashing mandibles each the size of a machete. Her face paled as a second creature skittered over the first, ignoring Mitchell and scuttling straight for her. With her knee already dropped, she kicked out her leg and pushed herself to the side in almost a daze. Later, she would tell everyone it was like instinctively dodging a bus you saw out of your peripheral, but in the moment she just acted.
Rolling to her feet, she shot the end of her staff out to Mitchell, dumping him with an Adrenal Response spell. The spell itself wasn’t too hard, just a quick breath and a flick of the wrist and the golden orb sped off to phase into Mitchell’s back. That was all she had time for before her own staff was the only thing keeping the snapping jaws of the ant - that did appear to be what it was, though it was still hard to tell in the dim light - away from her face.
Unbidden, a scream rose from her throat as she felt the wood in her staff begin to creak and groan, and the mental image of the mandibles locking around her skull and squeezing panicked her even further. Her legs kicked out and scrambled against the smooth, tough chitin of the insect, and for each leg she pushed away, there were two more landing to hold the creature steady.
Her arms strength started fading, being driven to its limits by the jerking and thrashing, and just as the tip of one of the mandibles scratched her cheek, the pressure released.
Sarah didn’t look at the cause. Sarah scrambled back until her back hit something hard and held out the staff at arms length, brandishing it like a pistol. That was too tiring, so she propped the back end against the wall and held the blunt point outwards, eyes wide and breath coming in ragged gasps. It was then that she saw him.
Mitchell, the same look on his face as when they were walking through the forest, was manhan- er, anthandling the thing. A quick glance saw the other carcass stuffed up into the hole they’d come through, and as she watched, he kicked the live ones leg from underneath it and slammed his shield downwards with the one arm he could use. Connecting right where the legs met the body, there was a wet crunch and the leg fell to the floor.
Mitchell didn’t react to the success. Coldly, almost methodically, he moved around the ant and removed its legs, making her flinch with each crunch. By the second leg, the ant had clearly gone from attacking to trying to flee. By the fourth, it had curled in on itself, and Mitchell had to pry the legs out to get at them. When he finally removed the last, the ant shuddered in on itself and went still.
Silence reigned over the small cavern, broken only by the dripping of ichor from the shield and the duo's ragged breathing. Mitchell broke it first.
“So…”
Sarah, as if responding to the confirmation of safety, threw up.
Mitchell sighed. “Yea, pretty gross.” He idly kicked the legless corpse, which slammed into the wall. “But really, they’re light as a feather. How did that one manage to keep you down?”
She continued retching against the wall.
“Right, well, I’d be pretty terrified of the bites too, but these are carpenter ants. No venom strong enough to get us, in fact if we could dilute it down we’d make vinegar. The bite is literally the only thing to worry about, and if you’d kicked it, it would’ve hit the roof. Even with your Strength.”
Sarah spat repeatedly, trying to get the taste of half-digested rabbit out of her mouth.
“Well, I might as well try and get those glands then. You wouldn’t happen to know how to process an ant carcass would you? No, I suppose you wouldn’t. Shame it wasn’t George that followed me. Speaking of, did he get a forced study session too?”
Sarah wiped her mouth with the back of her robes sleeve, stood to her full height, and glared at Mitchell. To her credit, he appeared to flinch.
“You irresponsible, smooth-brained boor. You byproduct of a monkey with a brain and a dead stump. You-”
“You didn’t have to-”
“I am not finished.” She dared.
Mitchel shut his mouth.
“You are somehow the stupidest person I have ever met, and I am going to marry John. You will not explain yourself, because I do not want any excuses! You will say ‘ I am so sorry, Sarah, this is all my fault.’ and only then will I consider forgiving you.”
“For what?” He asked incredulously. “I didn’t ask you to come with me!”
“No, you just dragged me an hour away from camp and vanished into the woods, and when I tell John about that, he’ll kick your ass himself. If I don’t just let you get eaten by ants!” Spitefully, she knocked her staff against his shoulder a bit harder than necessary. A mandible had gotten around the shield, and a cut was oozing blood.
Yelping in pain, he stumbled back from her, his anger fading quickly as the magic soothed the pain. Thinking for a moment, he sighed and nodded. “I am so sorry, Sarah. This is all my fault.” He muttered something to himself afterwards and kicked one of the severed legs of the ant, which went crashing into the carcass that still plugged the tunnel.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Good.” Sarah rubbed her forehead to push off the incoming headache. “Now, I’m not certain if you noticed, but we’re stuck down here and neither of us has a weapon.”
Mitchell looked around for a moment, before he moved over to the legless carcass and gave a kick, then swore. After another kick, he bent low and picked something up. “Well I can solve that problem, for one of us at least. Ants fight ants. Ants have mandibles. Therefore mandibles go through ants.”
“Not going to grab the venom?”
Mitchell winced. “I… well thinking about it, I don’t want to end up with a secondary class of Antkeeper or something.”
Sarah hit him with her staff again, this time just for fun. It helped soothe her frayed nerves.
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When the sun truly set and Miriam could study no longer, she looked for Mitchell and became worried when he was nowhere close by. She could see all of the clearing from the door to the ruin, and it was empty, save for the firepit where George cooked something on sticks over the fire while John watched. No Sarah, no Mitch.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows across the clearing, Miriam's heart began to race with worry. The absence of Sarah and Mitchell was like a gaping hole in the fabric of their small community. She had tried to keep her fears at bay, focusing on the arcane symbols and complex equations of her tome, but as the light faded, so did her resolve.
She approached the firepit where George and John were gathered, the orange glow of the flames flickering across their faces. "We need to talk," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, yet it cut through the quiet of the encroaching night like a knife.
John looked up, his brow furrowed with concern. "What's wrong, Miri?"
"It's Sarah and Mitchell," she replied."They've been gone too long. We need to decide what to do."
The three of them sat around the fire, the crackling of the wood the only sound in the otherwise silent forest. They each knew the dangers that lurked beyond the wall they had built, the unknown threats that had already claimed the lives of so many.
George, ever the pragmatist, was the first to speak. "We should send out a search party. We can't just leave them out there. Mitch doesn’t have a chance."
John nodded in agreement, but his eyes were filled with hesitation. "We need to be smart about this. We can't risk more lives. Maybe we should wait until morning, see if they come back on their own." She could tell the suggestion pained him.
Miriam shook her head, her black waves catching the light of the fire. "We can't wait. Every minute could mean the difference between life and death. I say we go now, but we go carefully. We stick together and we don't take any unnecessary risks."
The debate raged on as the night grew darker and the stars began to peek through the canopy of leaves above. Each suggestion was weighed and considered, from using homemade animal repellant to ward off creatures to using Miriam's newly acquired knowledge of mind magic to dig through their memories and see if either had said when they would return. She suggested it, and was secretly glad when they seemed uncomfortable with the idea. Miriam wasn’t sure she could pull it off without irreparable damage, as she’d need to develop the spell here and now.
As they finally reached a consensus to form a search party, a voice called out from beyond the wall, halting them in their tracks. "Hello? Is anyone there?"
The three of them exchanged glances, the tension palpable in the air. Who could it be? Friend or foe? The voice sounded human, but in this strange and deadly world, nothing could be taken at face value. By unspoken agreement, they stayed silent.
“L-Listen, if there’s someone there, I’m in a lot of trouble. My wife is dead, my sons are dead, and I haven’t slept in two days. Please, if you have any humanity left after all this, please just let me come sleep in safety.” An old, haggard voice shouted over the small barrier, and to the east George could see a small stick with a scrap of white fabric attached to the top waving back and forth.
“Search after rescue.” John stated immediately, getting up to go check the wall.
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“That’s gross.”
Mitchell shrugged, absolutely covered in the inner parts of ants, dropping the leg he had ripped off of the last living ant. “It’s working.”
Sarah rolled her eyes and hit him with the regeneration and cleaning spell, which she was still trying to name in her head. The brutish man had taken to stomping the ants and ripping off legs until they died, as they had quickly learned the mandible lacked the weight and reach to be any help as a weapon against these creatures. Given they’d come across at least 10 of the ants, she was at least happy he had some way to deal with them.
She did not relish the thought of holding off 10 giant ants with just her staff. “Yea, it’s working. You all good?”
Mitchell stretched, rolling his shoulders and bouncing up and down with a wince. “Knee. Must have impacted it with that jump.”
She whacked him with the staff again, dropping a trio of spells that should fix the problem. She was getting more used to her spells, finding it almost trivial at this point to weave the casting together so she could complete them all simultaneously. It was a bigger drain on MP and needed more concentration, but all of her spells cost miniscule amounts and she'd yet to go below half of her total.
The spells, in this case, were Skeletal Mending to heal any hairline fractures, Flush Toxins to help with swelling and bruising, and Align Humours, because she still had no idea what that actually did and was adding it to most of her 'spell-suites' as she liked to refer to them as.
Mitchell stretched out his leg. “There's that itchy feeling again.”
She scoffed. “Between removing radiation and accelerating natural processes, I think I'm happy with the spells I've got.”
“Fair.” He replied. “Shall we?”
She raised an eyebrow. “You want to keep going? First chamber had 2, the last one had 4, and this one had 8. You don't need intelligence to see where this is going.”
Mitchell nodded. “The only way out is through.”
Sarah understood, even if she didn’t like it. Not the ants, because she could see that Mitchell was having no problem with them. Even surrounded, he’d found it easy to hold the creatures at bay. It didn’t hurt that a shield bash could push them back with ease, and that once an ant lost a leg it would be hesitant to continue fighting.
“We could wait for the rest of the group.” Sarah suggested hopefully, but she expected him to refuse and he did.
“No, we can’t. We have no idea if or when they’d come, and we don’t have any supplies. I don’t know about you but I’m starting to get thirsty.”
Sarah sighed. “Just need to find a source of water, I’ve got my straw.”
“Well that’s something.” Mitchell answered, flexing his leg and nodding. “I’m ready to keep going, are you?”
“No. No, I’d likely have stayed in the first chamber.” Sarah answered honestly. “You seem like you’re enjoying yourself. You do know we could die down here, right?”
“Yes.” Mitchell answered easily. “Yes I do, and I’m going to do it anyways. That seems to be the new way of things.”
“Are you not scared of dying?” She asked incredulously. “How does the thought of leaving Miriam behind sit with you at all?”
Mitchell sighed and plopped down onto the carcass of an ant. “You gotta understand Sarah: I’m the one being left behind. We had to fight for our lives just to get to the mill, but as soon as George got his class, it went from a struggle to enjoyable. Don’t you notice how much happier he’s been since we got here?”
Sarah hummed in agreement. She wasn’t the closest with him, but the man had been downright chipper ever since he got his class.
“Well, that’s why I left camp. George found his class in a fight, Miriam found her class in a fight, you found your class across multiple fights. If I just stayed close to camp and let everyone else do anything dangerous, I’d not get a class any time soon, which would mean I need even more protection while you all are out gaining levels and slipping further and further away. It’s a slippery slope and I’m still at the top, with a chance to not fall down. Of course I’m going to take it. Of course I don’t want to be a burden.”
Sarah nodded. He had a point, even if she didn’t like it. “Well, let’s get you up to speed then.”
He dared look at her hopefully. “Really?”
Sarah shrugged, a mischievous smile on her face. “Sure. It’s just some ants.”
True to her prediction, the next chamber had 16 ants, though there were a few differences.
One of the ants stood much taller than the others - the size of a cow, not a dog - and its mandibles were serrated and sharp. Beyond that, rather than a dark cave lit by lichen, this room had multiple recesses in the walls filled with some sort of thick luminous liquid that was being fed on by the ants. This distraction let the pair stealthily creep into the room to a rocky outcrop and observe their quarry.
Giant Carpenter Ant Worker (Minor)
Level 3
Giant Carpenter Ant Worker (Major)
Level 5
“A level 5…” Mitchell muttered lowly. “What was the bear again?”
“I don’t think anyone scanned it.” Sarah answered. She’d wondered that too, almost right after the fight, but George’s attempt to identify the body didn’t grant anything about living level.
“Well, it’s only two extra levels. Still, this may get messy. You might want to hide somewhere until I can thin them out.”
She looked at him. Despite the lack of weapon, despite the lack of class, despite his clothes being torn and tattered, he looked calm and confident. “Each one that’s coming for me isn’t coming for you, right? Go get the big guy, but please be quick.”
Jabbing her staff into his chest, she pushed him over, the crouch he was in not enough balance to resist. At the same time, she channeled a Adrenal Response spell, one of her more expensive casts, and then she stood.
“Hey ants! Come and get me!”
The response was more due to the sound then the actual words, but she succeeded in grabbing their attention, and she started running. The chamber was larger than the last, so she could make a lap every 30 seconds or so, but avoiding over a dozen dog-sized ants during that time made it a bit tougher.
For his part, Mitchell didn’t waste much time lamenting her plan, because it actually did make his life much easier. He rolled with his fall to his feet and took off running out the other side of the outcropping. The liquid fire of adrenaline poured through his veins, and he put on a burst of speed. The sooner he killed the Major, the sooner he could go bail Sarah out.
With a wordless shout, he channeled all his momentum and strength into an edge blow aimed right for the base of the head, hoping with the extra strength he’d be able to finish it in one hit.
He was wrong. The metal disc violently reverberated on his arm, and he even saw the slightest deforming of the edge where it impacted. The Major turned, it mandibles clicking open and shut menacingly, and lunged.
The creature moved faster than its brothers, Mitchell noted as the mandibles clanged against the shield. Stronger, too. His weight low and arm aching, he began to circle the ant, who seemed content to guard its food while observing him in turn. “You know, mister ant, this isn’t personal. I just need a class, and the system is making me kill things for it. You just happened to be here.”
The ant skittered to the side, then back to its spot. Mitchell frowned and lifted himself halfway out of his stance, muscles trembling from the adrenaline. “Look, I don’t speak ant, but if you can understand me: Get your workers, get your food, and leave. Else, die.”
The ant screeched, a grating, scraping noise that resonated in Mitchells skull, and over that sound, he heard Sarah’s muttered curses and exclamations be replaced with a “What in the…”
The Major stood before Mitchell as if guarding against him while the Minor workers scurried over and plunged their heads into the orbs of liquid in the wall recesses. One by one, each of the Minors took a small globule of the liquid and left down the next hallway until only the major was left, still staring Mitchell down even as Sarah came over, limping lightly. “What’d you do?”
Mitchell himself was not daring to stop making eye contact with the Major, as it had done the same, but not a couple of seconds he had realized that ants lacked eyelids, and he felt an acute itch in his eye. “I don’t know? It looked like it could hear me when I was trying to psych myself up, so I offered to let it surrender and it just… did.”
Sarah scratched her head. “You can do that?”
Mitchell gave an exasperated sigh even as fatigue fell over him. “Apparently.”
The Major moved slowly, but it bowed its head to the side, breaking the eye contact but waiting for something. Mitchell, running off of some instinct he didn’t understand, did the same, though he could still see the creature in his peripheral vision. Being larger than he was, it was hard to miss when it too grabbed its own globule of food and made for the exit, leaving the pair in a silent room with orbs of thick liquid nestled in the walls.
“Gross.”
“Yep.”
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In the darkness of a night untouched by light pollution, three figures stood, barely illuminated by the flickering light of a torch.
A man, dirt-smudged yet with eyes that gleamed with alertness, broke the silence. “I think we’re being foolish. Why not simply request to join them?”
The woman, shorter in stature and armed with a spear that spoke of elegance despite her disheveled appearance, replied with a scoff. “Singh is handling that as we speak.”
A third figure lingered in silence, his features obscured by a hood, an unstrung bow resting against his back. His stance suggested a readiness to follow the group’s lead.
The first man muttered in agreement, though with evident reservation. “Yet, I’m not convinced Singh’s approach is the right one.”
The woman’s voice carried a sharp edge as she recounted their grim history. “Every encounter has ended in bloodshed. Three strangers crossed our path, and each time, violence ensued. Can we truly afford to debate morals?” Her challenge was met with a reluctant nod from the man, whose hands were clean but whose mind was haunted by the ghosts of those they had encountered.
Meanwhile, the hooded figure slipped away, blending into the forest’s embrace. The act of taking lives seemed to weigh less on him, a fact mirrored by his growing prowess.