Devon was glad to return to the sunlight and the crisp air after being in a cave with two corpses at different stages of decomposition.
He looked at the unexplored path down the ravine before deciding against going that way. He wanted to try and progress his weapon proficiencies, but the narrow passageway of the canyon made anything other than the spear less than optimal.
He climbed the same wall he had scaled only an hour or so ago, this time making the climb in less than a minute flat.
He marveled at his own physical ability. It wasn't just the familiarity he now had with the climb, his stats had more than doubled since he last climbed the ledge. He understood what Trey had meant when he had said it felt weird to suddenly be stronger than just an hour ago.
The increase in physical ability felt absolutely liberating, but Devon found he had to focus to control his strength. It was great that he could probably match every Olympic medalist in history, but he had to focus on his form or he lost his balance.
There was a small circle of trees near the ledge, so he decided to spend some time familiarizing himself with his new strength within the secluded clearing before he continued his climb. He also took the time to try out each of his new weapons, making sure to get a good sense of their weight and feel.
It took two hours for him to feel comfortable with each of his weapons and his new strength. He felt a little sad that simply going through practice swings didn't give weapon proficiencies, but he supposed that would be too easy.
Now, should I take my time going up the mountain or abuse the massive boost I got from those two titles to shoot straight for the top?
He decided on the latter. He felt confident he could challenge something at least 5 levels higher than his own, so he wanted to try to push himself. Even so, he didn't dare take the direct route of attempting to scale the cliff that loomed above his area of safety. Not only would a mistake on the climb still likely cost him his life, he would be far too exposed. He still had zero confidence he could take even the weakest overseer on his own, despite his advancements.
Instead he dashed along the edge of the ravine he'd been in, following its path from above. The formation of the growing number of ravines seemed even stranger from above, as he realized just how angular they really were.
After a minute he found where the sheer face of the cliff ended… at a sharp 90 degree angle corner, with a matching ravine heading around the other side of it. Devon felt like he was starting to get an idea of what was going on here, and pressed on to search for more clues.
The slope of the mountain was beginning to become extreme, with small plateaus separated by steep slides of loose gravel and sharp stones.
Devon was walking across one such surface when something burst out of the slope of gravel next to him. He frantically dived away, narrowly avoiding a pincer that attempted to close around him.
The creature dragged itself the remainder of the way out of the gravel it had been hidden in, letting Devon get a good look at it.
[Rockcrab?? - Level 18]
[Discovery Bonus]
For once the system had given it a name Devon could actually appreciate. The thing did look exactly like a giant crab with a stone shell encasing it.
If I'd been limited by my previous attributes I don't think I would have been able to avoid that trap.
Devon pulled the two handed warhammer out of his inventory. A stone shell would simply rebuff all of his bladed weapons, so he decided to just go with the strategy of smashing it open.
The massive crustacean swung its pincer at him, once again trying to crush it in its grasp. Devon knocked it aside with the shaft of the hammer before stepping forward to bring the maul down on the creature.
The thing's skittering legs backpedaled it out of Devon's range, and he cracked the stone underneath where the crab had been rather than its head.
It's a little more agile than it looks.
Devon pressed the advantage, rushing the creature. The thing seemed to realize it had made a mistake, as it swung its claw at him as what seemed like a desperate act of defense rather than an attack with killing intent.
Devon leaped over the stone claw, raising the hammer high above his head as he fell back down. The crab once again tried to move out of the way, but Devon wasn't aiming for something small like the head this time.
His hammer impacted the center of the massive shell on the creature's back, completely shattering it. Several large chunks of slate slid off the creature's back, revealing fleshy innards.
The rockcrab wasn't dead, though it was clear Devon had grievously injured it. He considered switching to a weapon better suited to piercing the crab's vitals and ending it, but he decided to stick with the hammer.
He had the feeling if he only used what weapon was optimal for a specific situation then he would never truly progress his proficiencies. He needed to challenge himself with each of his weapons, like he had challenged himself with the sword.
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He dodged back, avoiding the claw of the enraged crab. It seemed to have thrown all of its survival instincts aside, only caring about killing him. Though that wasn't anything unusual for Devon by now.
Devon danced with the thing for a little bit. The claw itself wasn't nearly fast enough to actually catch Devon as long as he was careful, so he toyed with his prey a bit as he got closer and closer to his target.
He knocked the claw into the air as it once again attacked him by bunting it with the end of the hammer's handle, then stepped forward and quickly jabbed the handle into the monster's face. The light blow seemed to stun the beast, giving Devon enough time to then swing the hammer around through the air and bring it down on top of the head, completely crushing the stone plated skull.
Kill - [Rockcrab - Level 18] - 149 Talons
[Level up. Level 12 obtained.]
[Hammer Proficiency obtained.]
[Level up. Hammer Proficiency Level 2 obtained.]
Skill [Shatter] learned.
Devon gave a joyful laugh as he caught his breath. His theory had been correct, it seemed. He briefly looked over the skill description for Shatter, but it seemed to be in the same vein as Sever, so he didn't spend too long on it. He looked at his stat page and saw he had gained 3 in every attribute, confirming the mysterious bonus was still there after his class acquisition.
He was now a single point in all of his stats from his race bonus, class bonus, and the mysterious source. It was a massive step up to 15 per level from the pitiful 5 it had been before.
He felt the chill wind at his back and turned around to see the world unfurl itself before him. He realized for the first time just how far up the mountain he truly was.
Far, far below he could see the dividing lines between the forest, the mountain, and the plains so clearly. He could even see beyond the plains, where there were some strange formations that he didn't have a very good view of. They looked like sheer cliffs, but Devon wasn't sure.
He spent several minutes there, taking it all in before he moved on. When he did turn back around, he smiled. He was still only about halfway up the mountain.
If the view looks this good from here, just how will it look from up there?
He continued his ascent, fighting a couple level 10 creatures, but none of them posed any real challenge any longer, and none of them gave him a level. It seemed once a user broke past level 10 the amount of exp increased drastically. It was just another reminder of how absurd an existence Eve was on top of the ladder.
At a certain point the mountain started deforming completely. Slants and slopes disappeared entirely and only flat jutting cliff faces and plateaus remained. It was on top of one of these plateaus that Devon found his second cave entrance, but this one was guarded.
[Mountain Ape?? - Level 19]
[Discovery Bonus]
It really did just look like a large gorilla. It may have been twice the size of a normal gorilla, had flame orange fur, and wielded what looked like a stone quarterstaff in its hand, but it did just look like a gorilla.
Devon stepped up onto the plateau, spear in hand. He wanted to get the spear skill next, as he figured it should be easier than getting another skill up to level 2 in one go.
The ape spotted him immediately, but Devon wasn't exactly trying to hide. He needed a real challenge to elevate proficiency, so going full frontal was the best option in his mind.
The ape roared at him as he advanced slowly and steadily. He had come to adopt a stance that focused on anticipating the enemy attack and then dodging to counterattack. So while he was prepared for the ape to rush toward him in a frenzy, he wasn't prepared for the rock it decided to chuck at him first.
He avoided the flying stone with relative ease, but it threw him off balance, and that was when the ape rushed forward. Devon found his legs knocked out from under him right before a hairy fist crashed into his face and slammed him against the stone ground.
Devon bit into the flesh of the ape, causing it to cry out in pain and release him from the ground. Devon seized the opportunity to get back to his feet, spitting out a chunk of ape flesh as he tried to get the taste of iron out of his mouth. His nose was bleeding and his head hurt a fair bit, but other than that Devon thought he was fine.
It's so coordinated and fast.
Devon was coming to realize that a monster's level accounted for several factors that contributed to what the system considered its total strength. The spithound had been almost as weak as a mawbird, but the fact it could shoot globs of acid elevated it to level 8. The mountain trap spider used its webbing as a trap, and the rockcrab launched surprise attacks on unsuspecting prey. The system took those abilities as the primary point of their strength, and ranked them accordingly.
But the ape didn't have any special traps up its sleeve, it was just strong. Even so, Devon was willing to bet he could beat it.
He abandoned the passive stance he'd been using and rushed forward. The ape attacked him with its staff the moment he entered its range, but Devon was better prepared for its speed now. He raised his spear, deflecting the quarterstaff off it, sending the stone pole over Devon's head.
Devon then simply angled the spear down and thrust forward. His heightened stats allowed him to push the spear straight through the ape's skin and into its abdomen.
He released the spear as the ape made an awkward swing with its staff, dodging the clumsy attack before stepping back in and yanking his spear out. He'd learned his lesson about being too hasty in trying to retrieve a weapon from the trap spider already.
The ape grew even more enraged at seeing Devon so effortlessly poke a hole in it. It rushed Devon in a wild frenzy, swinging its staff back and forth like a baseball bat without even a hint of the refined technique it had shown before.
Devon took advantage of its loss of focus by doing the same thing it had done to him. He swiftly swung his spear downward, knocking the legs out from under the beast and causing it to topple over. He quickly pounced on it and drove his spear into its ribcage.
The ape tried to swing an arm at him to knock him away, but Devon simply kicked it aside before yanking his spear out and plunging it viciously back into the beast's torso. After about five more stabs the ape shuddered and died.
Kill - [Mountain Ape - Level 19] - 178 Talons
[Level up. Level 13 acquired.]
[Level up. Spear Proficiency Level 2 obtained.]
Skill [Quickstab] learned.
Devon wiped away the blood that had dribbled down from his nose. It didn't feel like it was broken but the ape's punch certainly hadn't been light.
Though if I didn't have the bonus stats from Ambitious and Giantslayer that punch may have shattered my skull.
He was running a very real risk by charging forward into encounters with enemies that were complete unknowns. Still, he found that he didn't feel like stopping now. He looked at the opening in the side of the mountain. That ape had seemed to be standing guard, which meant there may be something worth guarding inside.