We started the next day much like we started the last. We packed up our camp and started running. I surrounded myself With an Arc of 4 Mana Bolts that had been split from an empowered projectile, and 1 Mana Bilt that was its own casting. It was an odd feeling, holding the two spells at the same time. I’m sure it would’ve felt worse if I hadn't gotten practice with the split projectile modifier first.
As I got my Arc set up, Grifith angled us to head further east. As he knew more of what we were doing, I felt it perfectly reasonable to let him lead.
We were in mostly Hobgoblin territory yesterday, so we aimed to deal with more Skeleton spawns today. The few stray skeletons we saw yesterday were coming from a more eastern direction, so it made sense to me to go a few miles east.
We went 5 miles before Grifith stopped. He pointed towards the woods, and I followed his direction with my eyes. There was a horde of at least 20 skeletons just walking aimlessly in a circle.
“So, what’s the plan? I can take them all out at once, but it’d be loud if I do. Or we can slog through it the old-fashioned way.” I looked towards the top of the trees and saw there weren’t any webs in the canopy above us. “I doubt anything would come running at us if I go the Arcane Explosion method. We had to go pretty far yesterday before we found anything.”
Grifith considered for a minute before deciding to go the safe way and continue running for a few more miles.
“You should know I found yesterday to be odd. There’s very rarely that few monsters out. Even the wave of monsters that came at us from the Hob yelling was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I was expecting to be fighting there for at least 30 minutes.”
“How do you know so much about the Dark Forest? Have you been here before?”
It’s like he's hunted here for all his life, instead of farming that goblin spawn.
“No, I haven't. But I have heard many, many stories from the master about this place. The skeletal horde we just saw is a lot closer to what I thought we’d see yesterday.” He shook his head slightly as we ran.
We kept going until we were about 15 miles east of our last entry point, when Grifith finally conceded to turning towards the forest again. We had found another skeletal horde at the 10 miles mark, but he didn’t want to deal with it.
Kinda defeats the whole purpose of us being here, but whatever. I guess he knows best.
I summoned the Ball of Light again and set it to be about 30 feet forward and 10 feet off the ground. There was still plenty of light where we were, given there weren’t any webs yet, but it also has no maintenance cost other than mental effort, so I wasn't worried about having it out.
We walked into the forest and kept going straight in until we saw the first spider. It looked a bit larger than the ones we fought yesterday, so I asked Grifith if it was a Dire Spider.
“No, they’re supposed to have a purple stripe on their abdominal areas. It should be obvious when we see one. This spider probably has a few monster kills under its belt. I’d wager it takes out the occasional lone Skeleton to make itself grow stranger.”
“Ahh.” I said as I killed the spider with one of the Mana Bolts from my Arc.
These monsters are starting to feel trivial almost. They don’t really pose a threat to me as I am now. I almost wish we could find a Troll.
We kept going until we found another horde of Skeletons.
“Grifith, I really think we should be taking these smaller circles out so they don’t all form into one giant Skeletal horde. There’s only around 20 in there. I can take most of them out at once. And we can deal with the wave of Skeletons as they come. I seriously think that’s a pretty good bet. Besides, we’ll still get paid for any extra over the 10 kills each we need.”
“I know, I know. I just don’t like the feeling of being swarmed. Can you just do the Barrier thing so we can call it good with this group?”
Why the hell haven’t I been doing that?!
I face palmed and was about to drop my Arc when I wondered if I could cast Barriers while maintaining it.
I pulled the pattern up to surround the horde of skeletons, and added the three draining effects to it.
“I’m not sure how well the draining effect will work on the undead, but I can definitely try. It should only take two to three minutes for them all to fall. Care to wait and see?”
He nodded and told me of a spider in the tree above them, so I took that out with a Mana Bolt then went back to watching the Skeletons. From what I can feel, it’s sort of working, but not as well as it should have been. Hmmm… I wonder… Ah! That's it.
“Skeletons don’t have mana. At least not these ones. I thought all creatures had the same three resource pools, but I guess I was wrong.”
“You guessed correctly.” He said in his lecturing voice. “Most Undead type monsters don’t have mana. They don’t really need it. Instead, they have a higher-than-normal Stamina pool. They also don’t heal, as they don’t have Health regeneration. Again, it was exchanged for Stamina regeneration. So essentially, they can go nonstop without needing sleep, but once they're damaged, that damage remains on them until they die. Or re-die. Whatever you want to call it.”
“So, this should be quick then. It is odd though that they don't seem to react to the Barrier like most monsters do. They just keep on walking their circle, ignoring everything else.” I said as I watched one Skeleton’s arm fall off out of seemingly nowhere
“Quick indeed. They’re already falling apart.” Grifith looked relieved at not having to fight the whole swarm.
A minute later, all the Skeletons had turned to loot, though I wished they wouldn’t. They only dropped spare bones. Frankly, I didn't want to touch them.
Grifith gathered them all into one large pile, then I hovered my hand over it and stored them in one slot.
“Well, that’s all we need for Skeleton and Hobgoblin kills. Do you want to keep hunting them until we stop for lunch, or move on to look for the next monster type we need?” Grifith asked.
“I'd like to move on. Skeletons are easier to kill since they move so slowly, but I hate dealing with their drops, and the rattling noise they make is just disturbing.”
Grifith smiled but added, “Well, I'd say we should find a large body of water. If we keep going East for a while, we should find both the Giant Slimes and the Killer Kobolds near the river that runs down the centerline of the forest. The wolves will probably be easier to find to the west, so I think that should be the last group we go for.”
“Sounds like a plan. Let's go.”
When he said ‘for a while’, I figured he’d meant maybe another 10 miles or so. But no, we ended up jogging for the remainder of the day. We angled to get out of the Dark Forest first, then ran along the perimeter of the blue marker on our maps until we found the mentioned river, which I learned was called the Dark Forest River.
Real imaginative, Hagrid.
When we reached the river, the sun had just reached below the horizon. I had asked if we should make camp when it started to set, but Grifith insisted we continue. Afterall, how much further could it be?
We set our camp up like usual, and I played with my magic some more instead of eating. I was having so much fun learning new ways to control my magic, that the mental strain just didn’t bother me. It worked so well as Increased Mental Capacity training, that I almost got half of a level with just today. Whenever I got used to handling however many projectiles I had out, I added one more to keep things fresh.
I made sure to keep my mana equilibrium at around 900 for the entire day by firing and replacing a Mana Bolt whenever my pool reached the 900 mark. This way I earned another half level in Regeneration. I’d be gaining another level during my sleep, I'm sure, given I was at 98%.
I packed the usual Barrier with a full 800 points of mana and kept the last 100 for myself to play with. I did the same set of patterns as last night, though tonight I had split a 20 points Mana Bolt into 20 pieces. The lower powered bolts were so much easier to control than the higher charged bolts. I think it has to do with the concentration required to move mana around.
I continued my fun for another hour or so before having dinner. I had a meat filled sandwich and a good bit of water. Then I packed the remainder of my mana into the barrier and passed out. When I woke up, I checked on my Resources to see if I had leveled regeneration. I didn’t want to look at my skills yet because I was going to be tempted to waste too much mana on Arcane Magic to get it to 15 today if I did so.
Grifith and I packed up and delved straight into the forest, following the river. We went a mile before seeing the first webs in the trees.
I cast the ball of Light then loaded my Arc with a set of 8 multicast Mana Bolts. I didn’t empower any of them, allowing the regular pattern to be cast instead. This was my first time having a full Arc of multicast spells, instead of some variation of split projectiles and multicast. The mental strain was greater than it would have been for an empowered spell split 8 ways, but I also felt more in control of each spell than I did with the split.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Maybe because I can empower or moderate each spell individually now, instead of having a full array of one strength Bolts. I also feel like I can move them faster individually as opposed to split from one casting.
We kept a slow pace, constantly wary of whether we’d find a monster coming from the edge of the forest first, or if a monster would attack us from the bank of the river first.
I had a little flashback to when Grifith was telling me about the Killer Kobolds and Giant Slimes yesterday.
“Kobolds are basically a reptilian version of Goblins. They have long claws as their primary weapon, they’re about the same height as gobs, and they also wear a similar loincloth. The biggest differences between a basic Kobold and a Goblin is that the Kobolds have scaly armor that protects them from slashing attacks, and a tail that they can use to attack.”
“But we’re not facing regular Kobolds here, are we? What’s the difference between a regular Kobold and their ‘Killer’ counterparts?’ I asked him.
“I’m getting there. The Killer Kobold is a bit bigger than the less evolved form and also various shades of blue instead of green. They stand around 5 feet flat, their claws are sharper, and they are also semi-aquatic.” He got up and motioned for me to follow him to the river bank. The river bed stretches for a few feet and ends 15 feet from the edge of the forest. The river was flowing south, further into the Dark Forest and towards the monsters we needed to hunt.
“Look at the river. It flows slowly and steadily. There will be parts that slow down even further than this right here. That would be prime ground for Killer Kobolds. They hunt mostly fish and Giant Slimes. The Giant Slimes usually spawn in the faster flowing parts of the river and flow down until they can either escape the current and make it to dry land, or until they reach the pools that form a few miles in.”
“So, we need to look out for both the river and the forest then?” I asked as we started walking back to our camp.
“Exactly. I think it would be better for me to focus more on the river and for you to focus on the forest. You can fire your magic at the monster in the treetops, and I can deal with killing anything that comes out of the water. Though I will probably need help with the Giant Slimes. They’re corrosive and-”
“The boss in the Slime Dungeon is a Giant Slime.” I interrupted him. “I know exactly how they work. Though they’ll run away if they come to be within 10 feet of me.”
He looked confused, so I explained my achievement and the ensuing reward.
“I can’t believe you got an achievement already. I don't think anyone has gotten one at such a young age before!” He was extremely impressed by my actions.
Grifith got me out of my head by telling me there was a monster approaching us from the river. I looked to where he was pointing but couldn’t see anything. That’s when I saw a bunch of rocks moving in the water.
Wait, those aren’t rocks!
A Giant Slime emerged from the water's surface and started squelching its way over to us when it got to dry land about 15 feet in front of us. I was starting to really hate the sound of slimes moving around.
When it reached the 10-foot mark, it squirmed and reversed direction. I trapped it in a minimal power barrier and added all 3 effects to it. It started flailing about, attacking the near invisible walls around it.
“This could take a minute. I can kill it, but the slime mass messes with my aim. I find draining it does the trick.”
Grifith nodded and stood guard while the slime slowly died. I counted the cores inside its body and found 12.
I wonder if I absorb these, will my bracelet grow? I know regular slime cores don’t work, but this is a Giant Slime. The same race as the dungeon boss. It should work, shouldn't it?
When the slime disappeared to its loot, I asked Grifith if he minded me trying an experiment that would destroy a core.
“Go for it, as long as it doesn’t draw attention to us and it doesn’t hurt either of us.”
I nodded and held a single core in my hand. I focused on the bracelet absorbing the core. I pulled up my resources to check the results.
Health 300/300 (315*/hr)
Stamina 122/300 (30/hr)
Mana 900/940 (609.8*/hr)
No change to capacity, damn.
“Bummer. It was a failure. I’ll store the rest.” I added the other 11 cores to my storage and continued watching the trees for monsters.
I found another 9 Spiders in the webs above us. These were a lot higher up than the ones that were further from the river though. The trees stretched at least 50 feet above us, and these spiders appeared to stay on the higher branches. There were a few Kobold corpses that I found hanging from some silk. I left them there, not interested in dealing with a spider’s leftovers
The only monster I found coming from the forest side of us was a single Killer Kobold. It was a darker shade of blue than I was expecting, and it hid in the shadow of a tree rather well. I almost didn’t see it, but when Grifith pointed it out to me, I couldn't see anything but it.
The Kobold looked like a shorter version of the Lizardmen I saw in the Dungeon. It charged us as soon as it saw us. I put up a barrier about 5 feet in front of Grifith and I and trapped it fully when it slammed against the wall.
I took a closer look at it before killing it. It was just as vicious as a Goblin, and a lot more capable too. Not to such a degree as the Lizardmen, but there was a definite difference in strength.
The monster used its claws to scratch the barrier and did a jumping spin to slam its tail into it. It was doing all it could to escape, but no matter how hard it tried, there was no way it was getting out alive.
I examined it for a few minutes before putting it out of its misery with a Mana Bolt through the chest. Grifith said nothing while I did my examinations.
These things are so cool. If my Arcane Magic wasn’t so freaking awesome, I definitely would’ve gone with a version of summoning.
I picked up a claw it dropped and we continued our slow walk.
I found a few more Kobolds in the shadows of the trees, but I ended each one before it could reach us. The spiders weren’t even trying to kill us anymore, since most of the ones I saw had at least one Killer Kobold in its jaws. I still made sure to exterminate as many as I could though.
Grifith was having more success than even I was. Kobolds seemed to jump out of the water every minute, whereas I was getting a monster every 2 minutes. I had to help him with two more Giant Slimes, but the majority of the kills for now were Kobolds and Spiders.
There was even one Dire Spider. I confirmed it was Dire with Grifith before killing it. He seemed a little disturbed at the site of the evolved monster, but didn’t say anything about it.
We had racked up a large number of monster kills by the time we decided to do lunch.
“I can make us a barrier to sit under for an uninterrupted lunch, but if I do, I'll need a full hour to recover the mana I use on it. That work for you?” I planned on putting an entire 600 points of mana into the barrier if we paused in the middle of the forest like we were about to.
No chance in hell am I risking a monster attack when I don't have to. And with my Regeneration, I’ll have it all back in an hour. I could do 300 points and take a half hour lunch, but if I do 600, I can get more practice with both regen and barriers. Two for one.
Grifith immediately agreed, so I put the barrier up and made sure to include under our feet.
We had our meal and waited around for a bit. I was starting to get used to how quiet he usually was. It was a comfortable silence.
I really wouldn’t mind going on more extended quests with him. I really appreciate his knowledge about where we are. I get he said his ‘Master’ used to tell him plenty of stories about the Dark Forest, but the amount of information he knows about the monsters is honestly impressive. I wonder if his third skill is related…
“Mind if I ask a question about your mystery active skill?”
Grifith froze for a moment before slowly nodding. It seems it’s a bit of a touchy subject, so I’ll try to keep it brief.
“Does it have to do with monster information? I know you said you’ve heard plenty about the Dark Forest, but I still can’t seem to understand how you know so much about the monsters we’re fighting unless you’ve been here. And the fact that you knew about the Dark Forest River as well? I’m beginning to wonder if your skill is information related.”
Grifith closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Oh shit, did I ask about something sensitive?
“Well, you guessed it. The skill gives me information pertaining to monsters, spawn points, topography, and even someone else’s skills. The higher I level the skill, the more information it gives me. If you were to ask me what spell you’d learn for your next level in Arcane Magic, I could tell you.”
I was about to say something, but he held a hand up to stop me.
“Let me finish first. The reason I was so against doing this quest is because I'd have to tell Bran more about my skill in order to get fully promoted. I don't like talking about it because people get antsy when I say I already know what their skill does. I prefer to work solo because most people kind of freak out about whether or not I know how to ‘take them out’ or whatever. They always assume I use my skill to get above everyone else, despite me using it mostly to get the best hunting grounds.”
“Is that how you found the goblin spawn point you farm?”“Yes. I happened to be walking by the field when I saw a goblin spawn one day. When I activated my skill to learn a bit more about the spawner, it told me a whole host of information, including special circumstances to cause the goblin to respawn before it was supposed to.”
Okay, that’s extremely badass. I won't ask him to use it on me because I prefer the surprise of learning spells as they come, but the potential for learning so much about different monsters was insane.
“That’s pretty awesome, to be honest. I can see why some people would be skeptical, but I like it. That being said, I think I'd prefer the spells I'll learn a surprise for now, thanks though.”“Wasn’t an offer, but you’re more than welcome. Are we still good?” Grifith looked scared I'd drop him or something.
“We’re fine dude. I’d straight up be lost out here without you. If you want to do more quests together in the future, I'd be down for it. Not only is your swordsmanship pretty damn good, but so is that detection skill of yours. Hell, I'd keep you around for just information and detection. I’d gladly deal with the monsters myself if it got you to stick around.”He seemed relieved at that, and even smiled a little.
How often do people discriminate because of skill choices?
“So, what, am I not killing enough monsters to keep up with you now?” I punched his shoulder and we both laughed.
His face got serious for a second and he turned around. I looked to where his face was pointed and saw a group of 13 Killer Kobolds charge out of the water and start attacking us.
Grifith stood and brought his sword out while I sat patiently. I brought out my water skin and kept relaxing.
“Dude, there's no way they’re getting through that. Even if we were to sleep here for the night, they’d still barely put a dent in the Barrier I erected.”
He didn’t seem convinced, but he lowered his sword.
“How about this, try using your skill on the barrier and tell me what it says. I’d love to hear what it tells you.”
He looked at me skeptically and raised his right hand to touch the Barrier. His lips moved as if he was whispering something, but I couldn't tell what it was. When he turned around and looked at me, I could tell he was shocked.
“Okay, maybe we could actually defeat a Troll with one of these. It says you put 600 points of mana into it, and it would require at least a fifth-tier monster to destroy it. Though I'd wager these guys could take it down given enough time.”
Tier?
“Tier?”
“Claff, be honest with me, were you an amnesiac or something? The gaps in your knowledge are truly large. How do you not know what tiers are, yet you’ve already made it to both the Silver Rank Promotion Test, defeated a D rank dungeon by yourself, and got an achievement from an E rank dungeon, all without knowing what monster tiers are?”
“Arcane Magic is some good stuff dude. Don’t skimp on the power of a good explosion.”
Grifith shook his head and sat down, ready to lecture me some more. The hour we set aside for lunch was almost over though, so I interrupted him before he could get started.
“How about you tell me more about it tonight when we set up camp. I’ll deal with these guys first, then we can get back to hunting for the day.”
He agreed and I cast an 80-point Mana Bolt. Rather than split it into multiple parts, I guided the enormously powerful projectile to fly in a large circle around us, killing every Killer Kobold that had attacked the barrier. It was a total of 15 Kobolds, since 2 more had joined from the forest side while Grifith and I were talking. After we gathered the claws they dropped and added them to my storage, we went on our merry way, leaving a trail of death in our wake.