22.
Santi awoke quietly, his eyes darted around the dark room. The only illumination was the faint flicker of candles in the corner of the room. Bodies were sprawled out everywhere, soft breathing filing the room. Santi groaned as he got up, his wounds causing pain as he got to his feet.
“You shouldn’t be moving around. You got stabbed,” Tank drawled from the corner of the room. Santi hadn’t noticed him, just another shape in the room to him.
“Paulie told you about that?”
“Oh yeah. Said you couldn’t stop saying you got stabbed.”
“It was literally twice,” Santi said with a faint smile on his face. Tank couldn’t see the smile in the dark, but it felt good to banter with his friends.
“Not the way he’s telling it.”
“Well, Paulie can go fuck himself.”
Tank just laughed and surged to his feet in one smooth move. He walked over the Santi and grabbed his elbow gently. A pulse of warmth rolled through Santi as Tank used some type of skill to check him over.
“You get a new skill?” Santi asked. He hadn’t bothered to check his notifications yet, but knew it was going to have to be soon. He was interested in seeing how everyone else was doing.
“Yeah. Hit level five and got a new one. Called Diagnose, it helps me figure out what’s wrong and also lessens the strain on my other skills. Just need to get some other skills to help healing first.”
“That sounds useful.” Santi fell quiet for a minute. He didn’t want to ask the next set of questions.
“How many did we lose?”
“Seven died. Chloe and her friend Rayleigh are pretty hurt. Everyone in this room is just banged up. Don’t think Rayleigh will make it, and Chloe might not walk again.”
“My bag. There’s some red vials. They’re healing potions. Should get them back on their feet.”
Tank’s hand tightened painfully on Santi’s elbow, the big man’s eyes narrowing as his face clouded with anger.
“Those would have been very helpful to have, say hours ago.”
“I’m sorry Tank, I just forgot about them, and then I was hurt and just fell asleep. It wasn’t on purpose.”
“Damnit Santi, if we had lost anyone because of this oversight, I…I don’t know man.” Tank let go of him and walked over to Santi’s pack, which had been placed next to his sleeping pad. Tanks shuffled around it for a minute or so and then retrieved the vials. He walked out the room without another word, the aura of disappointment filling the space behind him.
“I fucked that up.” Santi promised to be better. He was so used to working by himself, that was the reason he had tried to unload leadership onto Tank. He wasn’t suited to think of others, he had spent nearly a decade as a solitary scout fighter.
Santi decided to open up his notifications and see how he had progressed. The goblins were weak, but there had been enough of them that he knew he should have earned a few levels. If Tank was already level five, he should be getting close as well. Using your class helped you gain experience, and Tank’s healing had undoubtedly boosted his levels more than the straight fighting would for Santi’s.
Congratulations, you are now Mage lvl. 2
Congratulations, you are now Mage lvl. 3
Congratulations, you are now Mage lvl. 4
Three levels from a single running fight had Santi’s eyebrows raising. The goblins had been weak and diseased, they shouldn’t have been giving him enough experience to level this many times. He only had the one clean hobgoblin kill, the other two would be split with Daniel.
He ignored it and started to allocate his stats. He instinctively wanted to dump the six free points into mana, but realized that wasn’t good short term planning. Right now he was a big deal because of the title, his stats were inflated which would allow him to punch above his weight. Until he leveled enough to gain some more offensive spells though, he was going to need to rely on his blade.
Santiago V. Silva
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Mage lvl. 4
Strength: 10 (20)
Durability: 10 (20)
Stamina: 12 (22)
Dexterity: 12 (22)
Vitality: 12 (22)
Perception: 10 (20)
Intelligence: 13 (23)
Mana: 13 (23)
Willpower: 13 (23)
Potential: G (29%)
Santi stared at his potential and started to piece it together. Monsters gave experience, the stronger they were the more experience they gave. They also gave potential. Potential was a weird stat, one that was more a measuring tool for the system than it was for the person. It was a measure of how much the system was willing to invest in you by helping you evolve. If you could acquire enough potential, mainly by robbing others of theirs, the system would help you evolve.
Potential was also real, rifts stole it as did some other monsters and items. They hoarded it, growing stronger and stronger in accordance with the potential they acquired. The younger you were, the easier it was to get potential. The more you were willing to risk, the more potential there was. It was confusing and took a while to get a feel for. Which is why Santi was staring at how his potential had only gone up four percent, even though he had leveled three times.
If the goblins had been sick, as he had suspected, their weakened nature would have reduced the experience. He hadn’t killed enough of them to level three times, even if they were at full health. If they had been boosted though, then he would have. If they had taken some type of elixir or consumed a natural treasure to boost their stats, the experience for killing them would have skyrocketed. As evidenced by his levels.
If they were taking something, and Santi thought they were, then it would reduce their potential. Cause, whatever it was they were taking, was obviously killing them, trading the future for the present. If that was the case, then there was some type of boss monster around, or a full fledged Monster Den.
Santi moaned and rubbed his face. The first time through the apocalypse had been terrifying. Everyone focused on surviving the world ending. He had kept his head down for most of the first year, fighting only when he had to. He would have definitely remembered Monster Den’s though.
The boost to the planet’s mana and potential was rearing its ugly head again. He knew they’d have to find and clear it out. Den’s were nearly as bad as rift’s, except they grew much faster. Normally built around a corrupted Natural Treasure, or ley line, or anything in that same vein. The monsters inside the den grew smarter and stronger the longer the den persisted.
Almost as if summoned by his line of reasoning, the system sent out a round of notifications. Santi scanned them quickly, his tiredness evaporating as he stared at the notifications in horror.
Congratulations Survivors. You’ve made it 24 hours since integration. You should be proud!
A series of Monster Dens have developed around the world due to the increased mana flow.
New Challenge Issued.
Destroy Monster Dens over the next Ninety Days!
Rankings are Now Available.
Local
Regional
World
Rewards will vary based on performance.
Good Luck!
A worldwide bounty already?! It had only been a single day since integration! Santi kicked at a wall, swearing as he went to hunt Tank down. If there were enough of the dens that the system offered a quest, then they were going to be a serious problem.
“Tank, you see the notification?” Santi asked the bigger man when he found him in a little side room. Chloe and Rayleigh looked better already, color returning to their pale cheeks as their flesh knitted itself back together.
“Yeah. How serious is this?”
“Very. We need to get everyone together and organize. When I built this hideout, it was supposed to be a hideout. There’s too many of us now. We need to make it a real base, a place where people can take refuge and we can work out of.”
“What do you suggest?” Tank asked. He might be nominally taking charge, but he still relied on Santi, trusting him even though Santi couldn’t tell him why he knew things.
“Gather up everyone who is willing to fight. We need supplies, both food and water, but also building supplies. The wall outside won’t last against a determined monster and frankly, there’s way too many windows here.”
“Multiple raid teams then.”
“Yeah, need to find some leaders too.”
“You and me, Santi.”
“You’re a healer Tank. You can’t be risking yourself in supply runs,” Santi protested. Right now Tank’s healing wasn’t special, little more than a conventional nurse, but it would grow.
“Exactly. I’m a healer. I need to be where people are getting hurt, not waiting for them to be dragged back to me.”
“You’re one of what, like three?” Santi tried to argue with him.
“Yeah, there’s three of us. Two will stay here and I’ll lead a team to the safer destination. There’s a hardware store only a few blocks away. I can take some of the others and go and steal everything that’s not nailed down. The grocery stores are in the middle of town though. You’re going to need everyone who’s willing to fight with you.”
“I’m going,” Chloe whispered as she slowly rose. Her shirt had been removed earlier, but she was covered from neck to waist in bandages like a mummy. Her pants were discarded to the side and someone had pulled a pair of shorts over her to preserve some of her modesty. Her one leg was also wrapped up in stained bandages. She gave no indication of her former wounds as she stood up, her eyes serious as she announced her willingness to fight.
“Yeah, I planned on that. You, Daniel, Paulie, your friend there, and maybe a few others. No more than twelve though. We can set out first thing in the morning. Everyone should rank up, use your stats and figure out your new skills.” Santi ran out of breath as the two of them looked at him.
“Good plan, Santi. I’ll start asking around and getting people ready for it. I don’t know how many are willing, but I’ll see what I can do.” Tank left the room, leaving just Chloe and Santi there. Chloe raised an eyebrow at him as he stared at her.
“You going to stare at me while I change, or are you going to leave?” Chloe snarked at him.
“Ohhh. Ummm, just wanted to say, you were really good out there. Very fierce!” Santi gave her a thumbs up and slinked out of the room. He had a long night ahead of him preparing for the raid on the grocery stores.