Devon frowned when he climbed up the wall of the ravine outside his camp. The opening of the small cave he was stationed in, and therefore the way he climbed out of the ravine, was facing away from the mountain toward the plains, the forest, and the starting zone.
So it was weird that after the sound rest he'd had the suns were only slightly higher in the sky than they had been when he'd entered his camp. Then he smacked his head, feeling stupid.
A day? I slept a whole day?
Time was his most precious resource, and here he was wasting it on beauty sleep. Well, he supposed it couldn't be helped. He hadn't slept more than a handful of hours in the entirety of the memory dungeon, so it was probably better he have spent the time to fully recover both physically and mentally before he engaged in more life or death battles.
He made his way back up the mountain, killing several things that happened upon his path. When he made it back to the entrance of the mountain den he paused.
He had to admit, he desperately wanted to delve back in and get revenge on the apes. Looking back on it, his previous performance was embarrassing. He'd run through those tunnels like a headless chicken, completely forgetting to even check his map and then getting lost in his attempt to flee.
Also, now that he'd powered up through the memory dungeon he doubted anything short of the ape elites or the ape leader would pose any real threat to him. At least, on their own. The real danger of the apes was just how many of them there were in those ruins. He also wasn't confident he could beat the level 43 ape lord anyway. He'd gotten several power-ups, but fighting an enemy almost double his level without a plan still seemed like sheer stupidity.
And so he looked toward the peaks. Eve had said there was something for him to see, and the knight had said that the king had most likely left something behind. Devon wasn't sure what the king might have left that could have survived the eons that had passed since this world died, but it was worth checking out. If he could even find the king's resting place.
And so he climbed.
The climb up the side of the mountain became very angular. The slopes that existed here were far too steep to climb, any attempt he made just resulted in him sliding down in a hail of gravel when his handhold came loose. So he instead scaled the ruined buildings that jutted out of the mountain.
His climb became a pattern of rock climbing, gentle strolls across the roofs of the structures, and more rock climbing. Even so, it only took him another hour before he reached a point where the terrain leveled out, and a sprawling plateau expanded before him.
The 'peaks' he'd seen before were the tallest of the ruins, ones that had broken free of the mountain and rose skyward in defiance. It made Devon wonder just how this city had been built, because its elevation was truly staggering. There was no human-made structure that could tower towards the sky as these structures must have. And the plaza that had been the setting of the memory dungeon, that too should not have existed where it did. It was simply too high up.
I wonder if they created different levels between each of the towering buildings. It must have been quite the incredible superstructure. I wonder if those areas still exist deep within the mountain.
If he could find cave entrances to more places deep within the dead city he could potentially find more monster nests to grind exp.
But that was a matter for later. The plateau that expanded before him was covered by a dense thicket of trees, and he could already hear the cries of various animals within this small forest.
It didn't take long for him to stumble upon his first monster of the region. It was reminiscent of a prehistoric raptor, only it was built like a truck and twice the size. Its green leathery skin rippled from the countless muscles beneath as it moved along.
[Buff Raptor - Level 26]
[Discovery Bonus]
I swear, the names it picks out…
Still, that was how he saw the creature. It did look just like a raptor that had taken an obscene amount of steroids.
The raptor roared as it saw him, and it immediately charged. Devon had to throw himself out of the way to avoid its huge body. He tried to counterattack, but the raptor was excellent at controlling its weight, and leapt sideways to avoid the thrust of his spear.
Devon wanted to try out his new skill, but found himself reluctant to use it on the first creature he saw. His experience with store-bought weapons was pretty bad, and he didn't want to put too much stress on a spear using a skill that really wasn't meant for it. In principle, the spear and the quarterstaff were the same, but Devon had his suspicions that the system gave out weapons that were intentionally weaker in aspects they were not explicitly designed for.
The raptor was repositioning itself, so Devon took the initiative. He ran forward in a burst of speed and activated Quickstab. However, he didn't get the chance to attack as the raptor swung itself around, attacking him with its girthy tail.
If Devon had bought a sword he would have tried to Sever the tail clean off, but he could do little against the hulking mass with a spear. Even if he punctured a hole in the thing the full weight of it would still crash into him. And then he'd have to retrieve his spear.
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Devon stepped back, avoiding the tail swipe.
Let's go with that, since it wants to play hard to get. Activate skill; Shatter.
Next the raptor tried to step toward him and clamp its vicious jaws around him. Devon threw himself forward, sliding across the ground under the raptor's hulking body. He couldn't maneuver his spear from that position, but stabbing the thing wasn't his aim to begin with.
He twisted his body and braced himself against the ground with his arms as he kicked both of his legs straight up, into the dinosaur's stomach. He felt the weight of Shatter flow through his body as his legs impacted the creature, cracking several of its ribs and sending it soaring into the air.
This was something he had experimented with during the memory dungeon. The system seemed to consider the body to be a blunt weapon, so it allowed him to channel his blunt weapon skills through his flesh. Using Shatter like this hurt like hell to do though, so Devon wasn't keen on doing it very often. And he definitely wasn't going to try using Bone Breaker, as he imagined the stronger skill may actually break his body.
Devon had to roll out of the way as the raptor came crashing back down. Then he quickly advanced on it as it was getting back to its feet and Quickstabbed it straight through its skull. It gave only a weak squawk before it collapsed and died.
Kill - [Buff Raptor - Level 26] - 264 Talons
Devon scowled. He had assumed the memory dungeon was giving him less exp for the kills there since the entities he was fighting had only been fabrications of the system, but it seemed like that might not have been the case. It did just take a rather ridiculous amount of time to level up as he ascended.
He quickly moved on and discovered that the forest was chock full of the raptors. He quickly got used to fighting the creatures as he advanced towards the tallest ruin he could see. His pace slowed as he fought the beasts, as each encounter had him using some skill or magic on the beasts as he tested them. He found that lightning imbuement worked exceptionally well, as he could simply touch them with the end of his spear and it would essentially tase them, allowing him to land a quick stab to the chest or the skull.
He also sucked one of their corpses into his inventory. He'd run out of leafstag meat and he needed a new source of food. The corpse had been on the very edge of rotting near the end of the memory dungeon and had been rather unpleasant to consume. It may have normally been completely inedible by that point, but Devon had a feeling the inventory somehow worked to preserve it.
He was getting close to the base of the tallest ruin, the thing he'd decided would be his primary goal. Just as he stabbed another raptor through the chest he got the notification.
Kill - [Buff Raptor - Level 26] - 43 Talons
[Level up. Level 25 obtained.]
Finally.
It had taken nearly two hours of hunting in the forest as he meandered towards his goal to level up a single time. The gap between levels was going to start getting brutal.
He walked into a majestic clearing surrounded by cliff walls as he approached the tower. He walked through the valley and marveled at the serene beauty of the place. A tranquil pond sat in its center, surrounded by a vibrant grove of trees.
He kept his eyes peeled for trouble, but didn't spot any as he made his way toward the pond. Even the stones were covered with a vibrant green moss. It was so lush it almost made him forget he was atop a mountain.
He was admiring the scenery from the water's edge when it moved. One of the things Devon had assumed to be a massive boulder shifted its weight, and a giant tail moved into view. Devon quickly took cover behind a tree as a gargantuan head lifted up to survey the clearing.
[Voltar Pura, Lord of the Mountain - Level 60]
[Discovery Bonus]
The creature was massive. It must measure almost twice the size of a T-rex, Devon reckoned. But that wasn't the thing that froze him in terror.
Level 60? That creature could kill me without a spare thought!
But it was more than just the creature's level. The name too was an indicator that this was no ordinary beast. If it had been ordinary the system would have simply called it giant trex or something similar. Instead it had a name and even a title, lord of the mountain.
Devon sat cowering behind his tree, thanking his past self he'd had the foresight to get the small presence ability. If that thing spotted him he would die. There was not even the possibility of survival in Devon's mind if that thing decided to make Devon its next meal.
After several tense seconds the monster seemed content that the tranquility of its home had not been disturbed, and lowered its head to continue resting. Devon took the opportunity to sneak back out the way he came, at a far slower and more cautious pace. It wasn't until he'd made a considerable amount of distance before he realized he hadn't breathed in what felt like several minutes.
Then, with a sense of caution that bordered on irrationality, he found an alternate path toward his goal. It took him an hour to go around that place, as he kept checking over his shoulder to make sure there weren't any enemies that could potentially give away his location. What few enemies he did find he killed from the shadows before they had a chance to make a sound and wake the sleeping behemoth.
Finally, he made it to the base of the towering structure. He entered into the nearest doorway he could find, and thanked the ancients for having the decency to leave stairs for him to climb. He was tired of having to climb the sheer faces of these buildings, and going up by way of stairs was a blessing.
Near the top he found a nest of large bird monsters. It was almost boring how standard they were. They could have been taken for hawks if they weren't triple the normal size.
[Tower Bird - Level 32]
[Discovery Bonus]
Devon didn't bother trying to fight them. He just walked right on past their nest as he made his way to the top. It seemed like it would be a massive chore to fight a bird, and he was desperate to get to the top.
Finally, he made his way out of what seemed like a fire exit on the roof, and gazed out in wonder as the world opened up before him. He instantly understood what Eve had meant, but even still the sight of it was so magnificent that it took his breath away.
Eons ago the fist of an errant god had descended from the heavens and broken this world. Devon simply hadn't had any idea how badly the world had been broken.
At the edge of the plains and the forest were not cliffs of stone as he had thought on the ascent. Beyond the boundary of their tutorial was nothing at all, simply empty space. But beyond that empty space were entire biomes suspended in the air, chunks of land so large you could fit entire ecosystems on them.
This world had been shattered and broken, that much Devon was sure of. But the energies left behind from that event had somehow reshaped it and cast all of the pieces of that broken land into the sky, where they remained to this day.
The cliffs Devon thought he had seen at the edges of their area were not cliffs at all, but the edges of the floating islands that bordered their own.