Elijah spent the rest of the day preparing his mind for what was coming. Nerthus couldn’t tell him much about what he could expect to find on the other side of the dimensional portal, so he’d chosen the route of pessimism. Judging by his experiences with the Voxx and the corrupted bear, he thought expecting the worst was likely appropriate.

That night, he slept fitfully, and not just because he still wasn’t used to sleeping under the open sky. Instead, his imagination had gone wild, conjuring one terrible setting after another until he felt like he was going to go mad. So, when morning dawned, he was more than ready to get things over with.

First, though, he had to find the portal. So, he returned to where he’d fought the bear, only to find that it had almost entirely rotted away during the night. All that was left were a few clumps of black fur and a couple of puddles of a semi-solid slurry of flesh, blood, and corruption. The sight nearly made Elijah vomit, but he barely managed to keep his breakfast of berries and mushrooms from coming back up.

From there, he began his search. The island was only so big, but even with its limited size, the search proved frustrating, and it didn’t bear fruit until four hours later when he felt something amiss. One With Nature was a versatile spell, giving him augmented physical ability as well as giving him a watered-down connection with his surroundings. And it was via this sense that he found the first tendril of seeping corruption.

Pinpointing it was difficult, but the general direction was not. So, he picked his way through the forest, keeping that sickening corruption firmly in his senses. And when he stumbled across it, he once again felt the need to vomit. This time, though, he didn’t manage to push through it, and he soon found himself heaving the contents of his stomach onto the forest floor.

The tendril wasn’t all that noticeable – not to mundane senses. However, to the feelings that had come with his archetype, it was like bathing in raw sewage. To call it disgusting would have been underselling the repulsiveness to an extreme degree. When he looked around the meandering tendril of black rot snaking across the ground, Elijah felt like he had maggots burrowing into his skin.

But he pushed his disgust aside and followed the trail for a few dozen yards, and with each step, he felt the corruption more keenly until, at last, he found the source. It was a gaping rip in the very fabric of reality. With jagged edges of glowing purple light and a center of pitch black, it looked completely out-of-place amidst the verdant forest.

Elijah took a deep breath that he regretted after being assailed by another wave of nausea. He wanted nothing more than to simply turn around and flee the alien thing. But he couldn’t. He refused to back away. Not only because he really didn’t have a choice, but also because he didn’t want to be the kind of man who ran from his responsibilities.

He never had been, and he wasn’t going to start now that the world had changed, either. So, after resolutely squaring his shoulders, Elijah stepped forward, his staff at the ready, and strode through the portal.

When he used the teleportation function of Ancestral Circle, it was no more uncomfortable than blinking. So, he’d expected that going through the portal would be somewhat similar. However, that expectation couldn’t have been further from reality. For an instant, Elijah felt like he was being ripped into a million pieces and from every direction. Then, suddenly, the pain ceased, and he fell to the ground.

For a long moment, Elijah knelt on one knee, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Even the memory of that agony was enough to spike his heart rate. But over the next couple of seconds, even that faded away until he felt completely normal. That’s when he took a moment to study his surroundings.

The ground was bare, black stone, jagged and so shiny that it reminded him of obsidian. He looked up and when he saw the alien landscape, Elijah couldn’t stop himself from gasping. Huge peaks of grey rock stood against a black sky crisscrossed with rivers of deep purple energy. By itself, that alien atmosphere was enough to tell Elijah that he was no longer on Earth. But the terrain was just as peculiar. The obsidian-like rock extended for thirty yards in every direction, but beyond that was lifeless grey stone. The only color came from what looked like purple anemones, their appendages waving in the motionless atmosphere.

But Elijah only had eyes for the hulking creature twenty feet away. In some ways, it resembled the scaled monster that had attacked him what felt like a lifetime before. However, where that creature’s scales had shimmered with a green-blue luster, this new monster was black with purple markings running along its muscular shoulders.

It was also much smaller, only topping Elijah’s compact frame by a few inches. But with its bulging muscles, it was much heavier than him.

It let out a hissing growl, staring at him with all four of its eyes. Had the other one possessed four eyes? Elijah couldn’t remember. His fingers tightened around the Staff of Natural Harmony, and he held it before him. If everything went right, the monster wouldn’t get anywhere near him. He just needed to keep his wits about him, and everything would be fine.

But as much as he wanted to believe that, it was difficult to keep it in mind when facing off against a monster out of his worst nightmares. It shifted forward, its muscles rippling beneath its scales as it dropped to all fours, like a gorilla.

Then, without any further delay, it sprang forward.

The thing exploded into motion so quickly that Elijah had no time to channel Ethera into Grasping Roots. Instead, all he could do was dive to the side, narrowly avoiding the monster’s pounce. Even so, jagged rocks ripped at Elijah’s bare shoulder as he rolled to safety. He managed to keep a grip on his staff, and by the time he reached his feet, he’d channeled enough Ethera into the spell.

Roots, thick and purple, with three-inch thorns erupted from the ground and snaked around the monster’s legs. It yanked its limbs free, tearing the roots from the rocky ground. However, the moment one root was destroyed, three more took its place. And after only a second, the monster’s entire lower half was mired in a quagmire of alien vegetation.

That was the difference his Soul cultivation and the Staff of Natural Harmony had made. Before, the roots were flimsy and easily broken, but now, he could pour enough Ethera into the spell that it was a much more formidable obstruction.

But Elijah knew it wouldn’t last forever. So, he switched his focus to Storm’s Fury, channeling as much Ethera as he could into the spell. In the second it took him to saturate the spell, the monster had begun to break loose. And if it managed that feat before he released the spell, Elijah knew he was doomed.

Just as it freed one leg, he loosed the spell, and purple lightning ripped forth, tearing a path from his staff to the black-scaled creature. With a crack of thunder, it punched the monster so hard that it was sent staggering backward. But even more importantly, that purple lightning raced through its body, leaving devastation in its wake.

Elijah wasn’t finished, though.

Even as the monster convulsed, he charged another spell, releasing it just as the effects of the first faded. This time, the results were even more destructive, and by the time Elijah finished casting his third spell, the creature’s flesh was smoking.

But Elijah refused to let up.

Seven more times, he cast Storm’s Fury, never letting the monster recover or regain its feet. And when his Ethera ran dry, it was completely still.

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It wasn’t dead, though.

Elijah still hadn’t gotten any sort of notification from the System, which meant that, for all the punishment he’d sent its way, it wasn’t dead.

And that was a problem because Elijah’s core was almost completely empty. He had just enough Ethera to fuel a heal, but not enough to use Storm’s Fury. And that meant he’d have to do things manually.

Elijah drew his stone-bladed knife before stalking forward. The jagged ground threatened to cut into his feet, but months of walking around barefoot had inured him to such discomfort. So, staff in one hand and knife in the other, he slowly approached the prone monster. The closer he drew, the worse it smelled, but he steeled himself against the disgust bubbling in his stomach.

Once he got close enough, he levered his staff under the creature’s stomach and flipped it over. And for his trouble, he got a claw to the stomach.

It happened so quickly that Elijah had no chance to react. One second, the thing was completely inert, and the next, it was springing forward with flashing claws. Elijah stumbled, and the monster pounced on top of him. Luckily, Elijah had kept a grip on his weapons, and he managed to get his knife up just in time. Even more fortunately, the hardened scales on its stomach had been melted to such a degree that they offered little protection against even so pitiful a weapon as his knife. It sank deep even as Elijah blocked its snapping jaws with his staff. The wood held firm, and the knife bit into the creature’s vitals, ripping them apart without issue.

Elijah’s arm pumped, repeatedly stabbing into the monster’s stomach. It wasn’t idle, though. No – it flailed and bit, ripped and clawed – but Elijah had steeled his will and cultivated his Body, which barely allowed him to survive long enough to destroy something vital. And then, suddenly, the Strength went out of the creature’s powerful muscles and it collapsed atop him.

With Strength enhanced by the System, his Body cultivation, and One With Nature, Elijah barely managed to push the creature aside. And as soon as he did, he pulsed Touch of Nature, partially healing the wounds he’d taken. He tried to cast the spell again, but his core was entirely dry.

So, as he lay there, waiting for his Ethera to recover, Elijah considered the fight. He couldn’t think of anything he could have done differently, save for having better weapons or more Ethera. But even so, he’d only barely managed to survive. One less Storm’s Fury, and he wouldn’t have been able to punch through its scales. One misstep, and he’d have been ripped to pieces.

It was a grim reminder of just how little power he really had. Regardless of how much he’d advanced – and he felt that he’d done well with the situation he’d been given – he still had a long way to go.

But the notification he got after killing the monster was going to be a good start:

Congratulations! You have reached level eight, earning two free attribute points. Would you like to allocate free attribute points?

Elijah did, adding two points to Ethera. It didn’t seem like much, but if he’d had a couple extra casts of Storm’s Fury, he might not have had to kill the monster by hand. Or maybe it wouldn’t have made any difference at all. He had no way of knowing. Not for the first time, he found himself wishing things were a little clearer. Perhaps if everyone had health points, like in a video game, things would’ve made a little more sense. As far as he could tell, though, even things like the relative value of his attributes didn’t follow much logic. For instance, the points he’d spent in Ethera didn’t result in a linear progression in terms of how many times he could cast his spells. The only quantifiable correlation was that more points meant more casts. Perhaps his cultivation threw things off. Or maybe it just wasn’t linear. He had no way to know.

Such thoughts occupied his mind until he recovered enough Ethera to once again cast Touch of Nature, which, when channeled through his staff, was enough to push him to perfect health. After that, he pushed himself to his feet and looked around for the exit. The portal through which he’d entered was nowhere to be seen, but in its place was a floating white crystal. When he looked upon it, he felt a draw unlike anything he’d ever felt. He needed to touch it. The need was so overwhelming that it completely abolished any sense of choice. He never even considered resisting it.

Elijah walked forward and laid his hand upon its smooth surface. Instantly, the alien landscape disappeared, replaced by a void, as if he floated between realities. It would have been maddening if it didn’t feel so right.

Another notification bloomed in his mind’s eye:

Congratulations! By closing a Minor Dimensional Rift, you have done a great service to your world. Thus, you have earned a reward. Lesser Attribute Potion awarded.

Elijah didn’t have a chance to wonder what that meant before he was whisked away back to reality. An instant later, he was back in the forest, though when he looked around, the portal and tendrils of corruption were gone.

And in his hand was a small vial containing a glowing blue liquid. Without a doubt, it was the potion awarded by the System. Perhaps it would have been smart to wait. To investigate more. But the System had yet to lie, so he unhesitatingly popped the stopper off the vial, then upended the contents down his throat.

When he swallowed, he felt a budding warmth in the pit of his stomach, then received another notification:

You have consumed a Lesser Attribute Potion, receiving three free attribute points. Would you like to allocate free attribute points?

Elijah pumped his fist. It was precisely what he’d hoped for, and he quickly allocated his points, pushing two into Ethera and bringing it fifteen. The final point, he allocated into Regeneration, bringing it to thirteen total points.

Name

Elijah Hart

Level

8

Archetype

Druid

Class

N/A

Specialization

N/A

Alignment

N/A

Strength

10

Dexterity

10

Constitution

11

Ethera

15

Regeneration

13

Attunement

Nature

Cultivation

Body

Core

Mind

Soul

Wood

Unformed

Opal

Neophyte

His reasoning was simple. He fully intended to spread his attribute points across each category on his status. However, for now, his spells were his most potent means of survival, so he intended to enhance the relevant attributes until he felt comfortable with where he was. Then, he’d push points into his physical attributes.

Once that was done, Elijah headed back to the Grove. He wished he could use Ancestral Circle to teleport back, but the spell had a significant cooldown that still hadn’t lapsed. So, he was forced to go back on foot. Still, it wasn’t an arduous journey, and soon enough, he was back in familiar territory.