Mel tried to pull the doors closed, but they wouldn’t budge.
“Typical.” She blew out a strand of dirty blonde hair and limped back into the room. Mel put her back to a corner that let her see the doorway without being immediately visible, in case some monster wandered in as she went over her spoils. Before she could open her inventory, golden lettering flashed in the air.
You earn the Blessing: [Wound Recovery]
[Wound Recovery]
(Blessing, Common)
Being uplifted is difficult. Even the most prepared races falter at first. To that end, the Shard provides a Blessing to all new souls once they take a wound. Minor and moderate wounds that would normally limit maximum health and healing will now recover over time, provided they are not afflicted. This Blessing only lasts until you reach Copper Rank.
Imprint: While Mundane rank, all wounds that are not severe, fatal, or afflicted, will slowly recover over time. Proper care speeds up recovery.
Holy shit, that’s pretty awesome, Mel thought to herself. My own invisible doctor to sew up all my ouchies. She chuckled, then winced and held her ribs. I sure as hell need it. I wonder if I’m the first person to get wounded? On that note, where the hell is everybody else?
She could feel her wounds knitting, further backed up by the slim red bar she took to be her health. What was odd, however, was that it had several jagged slashes at random intervals.
No, not random. Each one is a wound.
Instead of emptiness beyond the red filling heath bar as she expected, there was a cross-hatched design filling the remainder of the bar.
That can’t be good.
As her health ticked back up, it bumped into one of those jagged marks over her health bar at around 35%. The mark burned brightly, then fizzled out. At the same time, Mel could feel an intense itching sensation from her ribs.
The jagged mark over her health bar burned to ash and vanished, allowing her health to continue rising. Mel took her hand away, still tacky with blood, but when she pulled her coat open to look at the wound, all she saw was fresh pink skin. Her emerald green eyes widened in wonder as the pink scar tissue shrank and shrank until it vanished completely, leaving nothing but blood-stained skin.
All over her body, wounds vanished. Cracked bones knitted back together, cuts closed on their own, deep bruises disappeared.
I was more busted up than I thought…
During the rush of the fighting and her initial arrival, she hadn’t taken much interest in the other resource bars.
She did notice them appear during the fight with the monster, but only an idiot would have let herself get distracted at such a critical moment.
Now, however, Mel gave them a good hard look.
They were layered on top of each other in the bottom left corner of her vision. A red bar for health on top, a blue bar she guessed was mana since it was a sliver from being full, and a third green bar that was at half and filling fast.
“That has to be stamina, right?” Usually, Mel didn’t make a habit of talking to herself. But you try waking up in the middle of a crypt buried alive and then forced to fight a mist monster without anybody to talk to.
Hearing her own voice was vastly better than silence.
She looked at the three bars and concentrated, hoping she could adjust them somehow because their current orientation was confusing as hell.
It took a few moments. Her health continued to tick up slowly while her stamina and mana completely filled and disappeared, confirming her earlier theory.
Eventually, she got the hang of it. Mel placed her health in the bottom-left, her mana bottom-middle, and her stamina bottom-right. That way, when they appeared, she would know exactly which was being drained without having to even look.
Glancing around the boss room to make sure there wasn’t a new threat to her relative safety, Mel was startled by a flash of Shardscript.
You earn the Title: [Boss Rash].
[Boss Rash]
(Title, Legendary)
While others were duking it out with fluffy rabbits, cute hedgehogs from hell, rabid squirrels, and oversized lizards, you brazenly challenged a Boss monster as your first opponent before anyone else in the competition. For your rashness, your opening attack on Boss monsters now deals dramatically increased damage with a heightened critical hit rate.
As a Legendary title, it is eligible for additional growth should you satisfy specific requirements. Additionally, should you be slain, this title will be transferred to the victor.
Mel looked the title over closely. “Wouldn’t be surprised if people try to kill me for this.”
Then again, that meant if she killed somebody, she would get their Legendary titles. Which was definitely the silver-lining to a murderous incentive.
“Good to know that I’ll probably need to be wary of skilled people.” Normal people probably wouldn’t have a Legendary title. The title explicitly mentioned it could be transferred because it was Legendary. In Mel’s eyes, that meant she was probably safe around normies. She would need to keep a watchful eye on anybody who showed a modicum of skill.
“Assuming there are any people here,” she said, activating her silversteel ring with a thread of mana.
A blue bar flashed into existence in the bottom-middle of her vision and then quickly vanished as it filled back up.
Inside the expanded space of her inventory, Mel found the new items. It was a nice touch that they went straight in without needing to be picked up, but she could see how it might cause inventory woes in the future.
There were only two new items in there. A pile of wispy-looking coins, and a black-iron lantern.
She reached into her inventory and took out a coin, turning it over in her fingers. Dried blood flaked off and fizzled against the coin’s slick surface.
[Mist Coin]
(Copper Rank, Item)
(Uncommon)
An overwhelming condensation of Mist mana in the shape of a coin. Exceedingly light, this coin is cool and damp to the touch, as if it might fade away at any moment.
Imprint: Use to reinforce the Grade of an attribute and aspect skills bound to Mist aspect, up to Copper Rank.
“Sure, that’d be great!” she said with forced cheeriness. “That’s exactly what I’d use, if I had Mist aspect !”
Mel chucked the coin into her inventory. The way it bounced around the gray space made it apparent how few possessions she owned. She probably could have put the coins in her coat, but she felt more comfortable using the ring’s inventory.
She took out the lantern next.
[Ghostflame Lantern]
(Copper Rank, Item)
(Rare)
An ancient, heretical lantern left twisted and disused for Ages at the bottom of a long-forgotten tomb. Ghostflame, birthed from burning the bones of the dead, retains a powerful link to the departed, reacting to the presence of the disturbed dead.
The ghostflame within burns with a cold, brilliant light. Its light grows when in unnatural darkness.
Imprint: Infuse with mana to ignite. Additional mana can be used to increase luminosity.
After using her ring a few times, she was more than comfortable using her mana on the lantern. The pile of suspiciously small bones at its center burst alight with a pale flame similar to the torches in the room she woke up in.
It took her significantly longer to find a spot on her coat to hook the lantern. Once she did, it magically attached without any further input from her.
“Now what?” She was clearly at the bottom of a tomb filled with more monsters. Her health was going up slowly, but…wait, what was that?
Squinting, though she realized she didn’t need to, Mel focused on her health bar. Without the other two bars cluttering it up, she noticed several small symbols beneath it. Each one was tied to a small thread linked to one of the jagged marks on her health bar. One was an image of a leg with an “X” on it, and a red blood droplet with the number 3 next to it.
Oddly enough, that was the precise area her health was stalled at. It didn’t seem to heal this wound on its own for some reason. Why was that?
Affliction: [Bleeding (3)]
“Oh, shit. No wonder.” Her blessing specifically stated that it only healed wounds that weren’t severe or afflicted.
Mel reached down to the hem of her dress and ripped off a strip. It wasn’t hard, even with her shaking fingers. She created a makeshift bandage out of the silky cloth.
The wound on her left leg was the most severe. It bled profusely, far more than it should have. Even considering it didn’t have anything to cover it when the monster clawed her calf, the cuts were pouring out an alarming amount of blood. She tied off the bandage with a practiced hand.
The pain lessened. She breathed a sigh of relief. It took focusing on her red-soaked bandage to bring up the Shardscript again.
Affliction: [Bleeding (2)]
“So I’m getting somewhere.”
After a few more minutes, her bleed affliction dropped off entirely. As soon as it did, the jagged line overlaid upon her health—the final wound marker—vanished.
Her health recovered at a glacial place, but she was confident she could get back to a full bar.
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Mel deliberated between opening up the Emporium or making her way out of this horrible place. She had earned battle points, but would it be enough for anything good?
I don’t even know how many I’ve earned.
A monster wandering in made the decision for her.
The walking suit of plate armor was held together with spectral glowing blue mist. Red burning eyes glared at her through a visored helm.
Mel rose unsteadily to her feet. “Sure hope you’re going to drop some good loot.”
The Mist monster’s axe chopped into Mel’s twinblade just as it appeared in a swirl of ash.
She blocked the blow with surprising ease. Mel pushed off its axe, then snapped a kick into its knee, and immediately regretted it.
Kicking armor with bare feet hurt.
Like any well-adjusted 20-something, Mel transferred that pain into unfettered rage. She yelled and twisted her twinblade around to cleave into its armor.
It was a shock at how easily the blade sheared through the spectral mist. The armored suit’s arm dropped to the ground, complete with the axe it had been holding.
Mel reversed the cut and sliced up into its midsection. The metal breastplate had clearly seen better days, because Mel’s attack cleaved halfway into the breastplate before it stopped.
Even then, Mel had more than enough leverage to twist and wrench the twinblade with all her might, cracking open the breastplate like a crab shell.
The pieces of metal fell to the ground, revealing a glowing core of light where its heart would otherwise be. Without hesitation, Mel stepped forward and stabbed her twinblade at the mass. The orb cracked like glass and shattered.
The spectral light of the monster vanished, causing its disparate armor pieces to fall to the ground with a clatter.
You defeat the [Wandering Mist Soldier (Mundane Rank)].
You gain runes of experience.
You gain Battle Points.
Quest Update: Tales From the Crypt
Objective: Defeat or sneak past every monster on your way to freedom (1/12).
Reward: [Aspect Gem (Rare)]
Additional Objective: Defeat every monster within this Hero’s Tomb (1/12).
Reward: Bonus runes of experience.
Mel couldn’t help but notice how much easier that fight was compared to the last one. Maybe the runes are beefing me up without changing my stats somehow?
She nudged the collection of armor with a foot, bringing up the loot option again.
(1) [Pair of Rustwing Boots] has been stored in your inventory.
(2) [Copper Rune Coins] have been stored in your inventory.
Wasting no time, Mel opened up her inventory and pulled out the pair of low-cut boots. She wasn’t thrilled about sticking her bare feet into a pair of boots previously inhabited by a ghost, but with her toes still hurting from the kick, she didn’t have much choice.
[Rustwing Boots]
(Copper Rank, Armor)
(Uncommon)
A pair of well-used boots belonging to the Rustwing Company of old. Known for their swift flanking maneuvers, the Rustwings served the Old Lord with grace and skill until they were betrayed and cut down by the very lord they served. An echo of the past wearer’s Deeds has been instilled in these boots, improving their parameters.
Imprint: Raises movement speed on difficult terrain.
“Uncommon rarity? Not bad.”
Not that Mel had a good grasp on the differences between rarities. Nothing so far had formally introduced them to her.
The boots were strangely comfortable, as if they were sized just for her. The soles were padded with a plush material most shoe businesses would make a killing from.
At least she wouldn’t accidentally break her toes now, and the imprint on them seemed interesting but tricky to test. What exactly counted as difficult terrain?
She looked back over the last message she received and frowned. “Still not telling me how many Battle Points I get, huh?”
Mel squared her shoulders and tightened her grip on the twinblade. Without any aspect, she didn’t imagine the Emporium was of much use to her.
She was tired of waiting for monsters to come and get her. With her health at over two-thirds full, she figured it was now or never.
Mel stepped out of the door and took the narrow bridge one step at a time. A pile of armor on the far side glowed with Mist magic, causing Mel to abandon all caution and sprint across the bridge.
She crashed her twinblade into the rising form and brutally clubbed it to death before it even had a chance to stand up straight. “One more down, ten to go.”
----------------------------------------
Caught between two ghostly stagecoaches rushing up and down the wide sloping avenues out of the tomb, Mel twisted and spun her twinblade to deflect the pair of approaching mist creatures.
The stagecoaches, right out of Victorian times, rushed past in a gust of frigid air, each moving in a different direction. She had seen firsthand what happened when something was in front of them. Though they looked like mist, they were as solid as a freight train.
And hit just as hard.
Mel raised her twinblade and blocked a rusty scimitar aimed at her neck. Sparks flew from the contact. She counted silently in her head, twisted on the balls of her feet, and held her twinblade up to deflect another blow from a different monster.
Just as she finished her countdown, with the first monster lining up its next attack, Mel mule kicked as hard as she could. Her boot connected solidly with the breastplate of the mist creature behind her. At the same time, she thrust her twinblade out, using it like a hockey stick to shove the monster in front of her.
The Mist monsters tumbled into the oncoming path of the speeding stagecoaches.
They broke apart into pieces.
Quest Update: Tales From the Crypt
Objective: Defeat or sneak past every monster on your way to freedom (10/12).
Reward: [Aspect Gem (Rare)]
Additional Objective: Defeat every monster within this Hero’s Tomb (10/12).
Reward: Bonus runes of experience.
As much as Mel wanted to retrieve their loot, the stagecoaches didn’t give her much time. It wasn’t worth the risk. Getting hit by one of those would be a death sentence.
Mel should know. She used them often enough to kill the creatures she came across.
Wounded and tired, Mel used her twinblade like a walking stick to make it the rest of the way to the upper section.
She had gone through three levels already, each one filled with a collection of monsters. They were always facing away, clearly expecting intruders to enter from above. It was one of Mel’s only advantages. Some wore armor–those were easier to kill–while others were more like the boss she first killed.
It took her a while to realize she still had a source of fire, and with the [Ghostflame Lantern’s] help, she was able to burn them just as easily. In fact, the white flame of the lantern seemed eager to destroy the mist creatures.
She often used that to her advantage, twisting the hip with the lantern out front to force the wraiths to reposition.
The ghostly stagecoaches thundered past just like dozens of times before. She reached the flat rise where the stagecoaches turned around and raced back down in an eternal circuit. Instead of finding another level to the tomb, Mel found a door past the stagecoach’s path.
The entryway was littered with broken bones, rusted armor, and age-worn statues.
She waited for the stagecoach closest to the door to pass, then walked up to the entry. “It can’t be this easy.”
The doors were splintered and banded with rusted iron. Her lantern flickered fitfully, as if it could feel a strong gust of wind blowing into the tomb that she could not.
Mel grasped the two iron rings and pulled, bringing in a gust of deliciously fresh and humid air full of life and green things from outside.
Quest Complete: Tales from the Crypt
Objective: Defeat or sneak past every monster in your way to freedom (12/12).
Reward: [Aspect Gem (Rare)]
Additional Objective: Defeat every monster within this Hero’s Tomb (10/12).
Reward: Bonus runes of experience.
“Hold up. What about the last two monsters?”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Mel realized what they were. The two monsters had been rattling alongside her, racing up and down the tomb the entire way. Just because they weren’t attacking her didn’t mean they weren’t monsters.
The stagecoaches.
She looked up at the roof of the tomb. “Eat a buffet of dicks, tomb.”
(1) [Aspect Gem (Rare)] has been stored in your inventory.
Mel immediately opened up her inventory to see what all this aspect fuss was about. Waiting inside, next to a growing pile of both [Mist Coins] and [Copper Rune Coins], was a faceted gem the size of a softball.
She pulled it out, watching with interest as thin tendrils of fog drifted between her fingertips. The gem was nearly weightless, but she could feel a steady heartbeat of power within.
“Maybe this is what I need to defeat the stagecoaches?” She paused, then continued in a sarcastic tone. “Yeah right, Mel, mist is totally going to help with that.”
[Mist Aspect Gem]
(Aspect Item)
(Rare)
A distilled manifestation of Mist Aspect in the form of a raw gem. Tendrils of fog crawl beneath the rough surface, obscuring a hidden realm captured within the crystal.
Imprint: Use to bind [Mist Aspect] to an attribute.
Mel stared into the jewel’s depths for longer than she meant to. The thing was beyond beautiful. The fog was constantly moving as if it were alive.
It was a million times more captivating than those little incense waterfalls she remembered seeing in gift shops as a kid.
Do you wish to bind [Mist Aspect] to an attribute?
“I sure as hell do,” Mel told the system.
Please select an attribute to bind: Strength, Agility, Vigor, Sense, Arcane.
Mel had no idea what she should pick. There was no telling what binding an aspect did. Which, in a weird sort of way, freed her from deliberation. If she had no idea what it did, then there was no wrong move to make.
Aspects were clearly important, and she wasn’t going to waste her time trying to decide. “Anything worth doing is worth half-assing,” she announced to herself.
Mel selected agility. Not only because her class specialized in it, but because something about Mist being paired with agility felt right.
Are you sure you wish to bind [Mist Aspect] to Agility? This choice cannot be undone.
“Way to trigger a girl,” Mel said with a snort. “Yes, I’m sure!”
The gem dissolved into a pool of mist in her hand. She felt the cold, damp air of the first autumn morning filling her veins. She dropped her twinblade and fell to her knees, screaming as the pain ratcheted up to untold levels.
It felt as if her bones would shatter like brittle icicles. Miraculously, they held as her knees hit the floor. Her blood froze, agony crawling up and down her veins with icy dread.
Fighting to remain conscious, Mel snarled defiantly and spat out every curse she knew (and a few she made up on the spot) until eventually, the pain began to recede.
It felt like a year, but it couldn’t have been any longer than a few seconds. By the time she blinked her tear-filled eyes, the pain was gone. In its place was a wellspring of power.
You bind [Mist Aspect] to your [Agility] attribute.
Your [Agility (Mist)] advances to [Copper Rank (Grade 0)].
You awaken the [Hidden Mist] Mist aspect skill.
“Sweet,” Mel said, rising to her feet and taking a step forward.
That was all she was able to do before darkness closed in around her and the floor rushed up to greet her. She was out cold before she hit the ground.