Jean struggled to defeat the last seven infected before falling to her knees, unable to get back up. The corruption was preying on her. She needed to do something as soon as possible.
“This isn't going to beat me!”
She placed her hands on the nearest corpse and stored it in her inventory. It was time to put the Maker to work.
“Research!”
A sudden and intense dizziness forced her to get on all fours. The skill demanded stamina, and a significant amount of it.
Gasping for air after spitting out a disgusting green mucus. "No, no, no! I can't fall now! This body is incredible! I've never felt like this before! Hold on a little longer, for God's sake!"
She closed her eyes tightly and thought about the strange woman, as if she believed that would make the woman hear her. Perhaps the fever and hunger made her delirious.
“I cannot fail! She believes in me! She asked me to protect her!”
After a while, the research results came in. Jean impatiently searched for a sample of the affliction to study, however, all she found was bones, flesh and entrails. The current range of the skill was insufficient. The only remaining option was…
“Devour!”
Jean fell on her face from the effort, but didn’t lose consciousness. The cold water made her whole body shiver, preventing her from fainting. She remained in that position for thirty long seconds, thinking of her imminent death.
“[You have devoured your first enemy and started your progress towards the next level: 102/1100.]”
Her terrible hunger was mostly satisfied now. She also felt a little better; less tired and sick. She crawled to the next corpse, stored it, and devoured it as well.
The hunger disappeared completely. She smiled and went for the third, but couldn't devour a finger. The whispers reminded her that she needed to be hungry in order to devour, and so she did. She butchered the corpse and researched the bones first.
“[Knowledge acquired:]
◦ [»Bone Sword«]
◦ [»Bone Dagger«]
◦ [»Bone Greatsword«]
◦ [»Bone Arrow«]
◦ [»Bone Shield«]
◦ [»Bone Chest Armor«]
◦ …”
The extensive list brought bad news. The bones weapons were more fragile than the bronze weapons, making their crafting a waste of time. Annoyed, she focused on the flesh.
“[Knowledge acquired:]
◦ [»HP Rune«]
◦ [»Linked Essence«]
◦ [»Small HP Potion«]
◦ [»Food Ration«]
◦ …
◦ …
◦ [»Linked Bone Sword«]
◦ [»Linked Bone Dagger«]
◦ [»Linked Bone Greatsword«]
◦ …”
This time the list was much, much larger, but also more interesting. The linked essence seemed promising. With it, she could create linked weapons and give meaning to the bone weapons.
[Linked Essence]: It’s the result of mixing your mana with the flesh of your victims. Necessary to create and improve the linked weapons.
[Linked Weapon]: Upgradable weapon made from the bones of your victims and the linked essence you create. Only you can wield it.
However, before continuing, the price of hunger had to be paid. She quickly reached for two other corpses and devoured them. After that, she was able to stand up again, but not without great effort. Time she spent investigating the entrails.
“[Knowledge acquired:]
◦ [»MP Rune«]
◦ [»Small MP Potion«]
◦ [»Small SP Potion«]
◦ [»Special Food Ration«]
◦ [»Minor Antibiotic Potion«]”
New possibilities, but no cure. Just an antibiotic for colds and minor infections. What she was suffering from was something complicated and magical that she could barely counteract by devouring.
She spent the next few minutes creating as many potions as she could. That consumed twelve corpses and brought more hunger. She also created a bone weapon of each, along with enough linked essence to transform them all into linked weapons. However, when she tried…
“[The rank of the Maker skill is too low.]”
After devouring the tenth corpse, the sensation of discomfort was less intense, but the effects of the corruption still persisted. If she wanted to avoid a similar situation in the future, she would need to have backup corpses.
“[You are ready to »Level Up«. Do you want to do it now? You must be sure, the process cannot be canceled and you need at least a few minutes of sleep.]”
After making sure there was no audible sound in the area, Jean climbed onto the rock to avoid succumbing to the cold water. Darkness enveloped her, taking her to a place full of stars with a nebula at its center. It reminded her of Skyrim in some ways.
The nebula simulated a neural network intimately connected to a center; the Devourer. It spread three-dimensionally in nodes throughout. Each one carried information of a magic skill or mutation yet to be discovered.
It felt like a sightseeing tour. A journey briefly interrupted by the attribute panel.
Name: Jean
Class: Child of Nimireth
Level 1
Seeing the name of her class, she guessed that Nimireth must be her. The woman who had kissed her and changed her forever. She really expected her class to be called Devourer or something epic. It was a bit disappointing.
Strength: 20
Dexterity: 6
Agility: 4
Toughness: 18
Resistance: 12
Wisdom: 4
Intelligence: 1
Willpower: 19
Perception: 6
When she saw her Strength, Toughness and Willpower values, she was stunned. Why were they so high compared to Intelligence?
"Shit! Goodbye to the possibility of conjuring a fireball soon…"
“[Remember that you can't learn magic skills like any other player. A child of Nimireth only gains skills by obtaining genetic material from what he devours.]”
“Right, I forgot! Thanks!”
“[This will slow down your progression in magic skills. However, you will be able to acquire many more than any other player, and also upgrade them faster. It all depends on how far you want to go and what you are willing to do.]”
Before became infected, she had felt powerful. She would have to find a way to stop the corruption from spreading if she wanted to get that feeling back. Maybe the answer was to upgrade her healing skill.
“[Even if you improved it, your skill rank wouldn’t be sufficient in your condition.]”
"What can I do then?"
“[You are doomed. Death awaits you.]”
Jean turned pale. "So I'll inevitably become one of them?”
“[If you just sit there, yes.]”
Hope returned to her face. "No! I'm not going to stand here waiting! What do I have to do to..."
[Whichever path you take, you can only devour.]”
“So devouring… Wait! Why haven't I copied anything from everyone I've devoured?”
“[The corruption of their bodies is total. It has gradually degraded them to an irreversible point. They have lost practically everything they achieved in life. Levels, knowledge, skills and even their souls.]”
“Their souls…?”
Jean realized that with only 4 Wisdom, she was missing a lot of obvious things. It was crucial for her to improve her Wisdom. Her chances of survival depended on the Maker. Additionally, a sharp mind was necessary to find a way out of her current predicament.
“Alright! I want +6 to Wisdom, +1 to Willpower and +2 to Toughness. I need 10 Wisdom to be able to upgrade the Maker, right?”
“[Correct!]”
“Okay! Then I choose to upgrade the Maker!”
“[You have upgraded your »Maker« skill. The »Advanced rank« allows you to create linked weapons, among other items. You won’t be able to upgrade this skill again before possessing 15 points in Wisdom and level 5.]”
“Understood!”
“[With your new values of »Toughness« and »Willpower«, you’ll be able to add »Advanced effects« to skills. The »Basic effects« are still available, as well as the new Wisdom effect.]”
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After accepting the changes, she fell into a deep sleep. When she woke up, she tried to get up, but an intense pain through her body prevented her from doing so. She attempted to descend from the stone gradually, but her lack of strength caused her to slip and fall.
Then it slowly crawled towards the other corpses. She stored them and began working on her first linked weapon. She kept the others on hand for when hunger returned.
She needed something that would allow her to kill faster and with greater range. Another spear and a shield might be good. If she managed to reach wider areas, possibly a two-handed axe or a greatsword would be a better alternative. Drunk with excitement, she imagined herself as Conan the Destroyer.
First she focused on improving the spear. She wanted to determine if it would improve upon the bronze one. The repeated process exhausted all her reserves and turned it red, as if it was bathed in blood. In fact, the linked essence looked like crystallized blood powder.
“[»Linked Bone Spear:]
◦ [»+1 to Dexterity«]
◦ [»Damage: 32-119«]
◦ [»Durability: 253/253«]
◦ [»You can embed 2 runes«]”
When compared:
“[»Bronze Spear«:]
◦ [»Damage: 103-218«]
◦ [»Durability: 226/402«]”
Despite the significant investment, the linked weapon was disappointingly inferior. However, it proved to be better in the long run. It could be easily repaired with more essence. Creating this essence would in turn make her hungrier, allowing her to continue devouring. All advantages. Additionally, runes could be embedded in it. The only remaining task was to figure out how to create high-quality runes, as the HP and MP ones sucked.
Investing all the essence into the weapon was exhausting, but hunger allowed her to devour and alleviate the discomfort of the ever-growing corruption. She devoured two additional corpses and transformed three others into linked essence. The more essence she infused into the weapon, the darker it became and the more quantity it seemed to require.
“[»Linked Bone Spear:]
◦ [»+2 to Dexterity«]
◦ [»Damage: 52-196«]
◦ [»Durability: 385/385«]
◦ [»You can embed 2 runes«]”
Most of the discomfort had subsided, allowing Jean to stand up and look for more enemies. Maybe one of them had something useful to learn. Reaching Ian or helping Nimireth, seemed like an impossible task for now.
“Let's take a look at the effect of this corruption on me.”
Strength: 20 (-10)
Dexterity: 6 (-3)
Agility: 4 (-2)
Toughness: 20 (-10)
Resistance: 12 (-6)
Wisdom: 10
Intelligence: 1
Willpower: 20 (-10)
Perception: 6
Corruption was terrible for anyone, but much worse for a fighter. “Holy shit! -10!”
“[Condition: You suffer from an »Unknown Corruption«. You need more Identify rank to know how to combat it. Decreases can range from 50% to 80%.]”
HP: 390/390
SP: 185/185
MP: 360/360
Weight: 98 Kg
Height: 1,98 m
“1,98 m?! I'm a giant! No wonder everyone seemed so short to me… I hope Ian is tall too, or he's going to feel self-conscious. Hu hu hu!”
“Let’s focus! Skills.”
Core skills:
◦ [Magic Core] (Level 2)
◦ [Linguistic] (Basic)
Crafter skills:
◦ [Maker] (Advanced)
◦ [Work Inventory] (Basic)
◦ [Identify] (Basic)
Special Skills:
◦ [Devourer] (Rank linked to the Maker)
◦ [Reconstructive Healing] (Basic)
◦ [Everything is one] (Basic)
[Everything is one] (Basic): Magic skill that simplifies the process of crafting basic items by making perfect use of all the basic materials involved. It also enables the creation of the basic special items of a child of Nimireth.
[Reconstructive Healing] (Basic): Magical support skill that gives you a small HP, MP and SP regeneration after devouring. Mana consumption can be forced to obtain moderate HP regeneration and force the healing of any wound.
“Ok! Mutations … … Nothing? … Masteries.”
Weapon Masteries:
◦ [Ranged Weapons] (Advanced).
◦ [Throwing Weapons] (Advanced).
◦ [One-Handed Blade Weapons] (Advanced).
◦ [One-Handed Blunt Weapons] (Advanced).
◦ [Two-Handed Blade Weapons] (Advanced).
◦ [Two-Handed Blunt Weapons] (Advanced).
◦ [Block and Deflection] (Advanced).
◦ [Hand-to-Hand (Up)] (Advanced).
◦ [Hand-to-Hand (Low)] (Advanced).
Skills learned by the Basic Weapon Mastery Rank: [Punch], [Kick], [Thrust], [Slash], [Strike], [Stab], [Shot], [Throw], [Block], [Dash], ...
Skills learned by the Advanced Weapon Mastery Rank: [Side Hook], [Side Kick], [Stomp], [Sweep], [Jump], [Quick Shot], [Charged Shot], ...
“Knowledge.”
◦ [Crafter]: You acquire the ability to create formulas for the Maker.
◦ [Runes]: Material embedded in weapons, armor and other related items.
◦ [HP]: …
◦ …
“Map.”
A picturesque map with a full zenithal view appeared. It appeared to be hand-painted with a charcoal pencil in shades of brown. All very artistic. However, when zoomed out, everything began to blur until the outlines disappeared completely. What had not been discovered was still undrawn.
Above her location, there was another indicator in addition to the blue arrow that showed the direction he was facing. This second indicator was a yellow arrow that pointed in a different direction. The whispers indicated that this was her optional mission, and that there would be as many arrows as there were missions she wanted to complete.
"So, she didn't lie! Ian is here!"
A crooked smile appeared on Jean’s face. Nimireth's words echoed in her mind. She didn't want to admit it, but she was learning and improving without Ian. Although not without the desire to find him.
"No time to waste! Let's go!"