"So what happened exactly? The guards said ye left towards the Fungal Forest but other than that, I dunnae what happened. Just how the hell did ye saddle yerself with a wee kiddle. And a Netherling one at that?" Agha asked as the two sat in Tyler's new abode.
Like the rest of the buildings in the city, it was made from mostly stone and some, unfortunately, mushroom-themed furniture. It was a simple square building with a bed, a bath, and a small kitchen. Still, given Tyler got it for free, he wasn't going to complain. Hell, at least it was bigger than his Studio apartment back on Earth.
"Well," He began, taking a final bite out of one of the street tacos he had purchased for them all. "For the most part I just fought a bunch of shitty mushroom people..."
Tyler continued his tale, detailing how he had beaten up a bunch of plant elementals before he found the Marshland Stalkweed and killed it, finding the demonic item, and tracking it to the demonologists. Agha frowned visibly as Tyler told her about the fight with the cultists and their leader, the man who had used some demonic power to transform. He didn't go into much detail about the fight itself, since it was pretty much bog standard. But he did mention that the man had fled.
"An' ye just Let him get away? That seems awfully reckless fer someone like ye. Unless of course I misjudged yer personality." Agha mused, popping another mushroom-wrapped treat into her mouth.
Deciding to ignore the fact that Agha seemed to enjoy eating mushrooms, Tyler shook his head. “Not like I can follow a guy through teleportation magic, you know. If I could have finished him off, I would have.”
In all honesty the fact that the guy had gotten away still pissed him off. He was a demonologist for one, which he supposed was bad in and of itself for most. Tyler himself didn’t care one way or another where one drew their power from personally. He was pretty sure that, being Voidborn, he had no right to criticize one’s path. It was more the fact the guy had killed an innocent family and was planning to kill a damned child. That was just a big no go in his books.
“I know, I know. I’m just razzin’ ye really. Unless ye had a way to lock down spatial magic there was nothing ye could do. And getting items that do that is pretty much impossible unless ye go topside.”
That made Tyler blink and he turned to her.
“Wait, we can go topside?”
Agha gave him a quizzical stare, one of her eyebrows raising.
“Uh, yeah. We gotta sell our goods somehow. Not all of what we have here is sellable to the Drowm so we have Goblins take it outside and sell it to others. Dunnae tell me ye thought were were like, feckin’ stuck down here?”
“Well…” Tyler started, only to stop as Agha began laughing.
“I swear, yer the funniest tall-man I’ve ever met. But nae, seriously, we got a path up north that leads to the goblin lands and the wilderness they live in. Though most o’ the is ruins or has been cut down fer lumber. We just dunnae need tae go up all the time.”
“Wait,” Tyler said as he heard the word lumber. “If you have access to trees, why they hell don’t you have any paper aside from the books here?”
Agha shrugged and spoke between bites of her meaty treat. “No reason tae use paper. Stone works just fine.”
Grumbling, both at the audacity of using stone tablets for writing everything and at the fact he had dumbly assumed that the Duergar hadn’t a way to the surface, Tyler finished his food and stood up. After checking on Kelsie, who was still sound asleep, in HIS bed mind you, he returned to Agha.
“So what should I focus on now, do you think?”
Agha finished her food as well and looked up at him. “Well, yer about Level 34 now, right?”
At his nod, she continued.
“Get tae Level 38 and I’ll try to procure you a Body Elixir. While ye can take all three required elixirs at the tail end of Copper at Level 49, it’s best to take one at the end of each stage. Once ye break through to High Copper, which covers Levels 39 through 44, ye can shore up your skill weaknesses.”
Tyler nodded, he supposed it made sense. During one of his talks with Agha and the various other people he knew he found out that in order to breakthrough stages, such as True Copper into Low Bronze, he needed to not only have Hostirum and Divine Treasures, but also had to prepare the three aspects of himself, Body, Mind, and Soul. Otherwise the system energy that would push you past that tipping point would, quite literally destroy you. Speaking of divine treasures, he fished around in his backpack and pulled out one of the fruits he had been eating in the forest with Kelsie.
“Any idea what this is?”
Agha took the proffered food and looked it over before giving a shrug. “Never seen anythin’ like it, but weird stuff tends to show up in the Fungal Forest from time to time. Perhaps to keep people exploring it.”
“System Fuckery?”
“System Fuckery.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
With that said, Agha told him to go hunting until he reached Level 38, she would have the Alchemist, Jeff, take a look at the fruit. When asked what he should do about the Netherling he had rescued, Agha told him she’d get one of her cousins to help her out. Apparently this cousin was a mental class called a Mesmer, and could help with any PTSD or mental issues Kelsie had. It also helped that this cousin had six kids so she was well trained in handling children. Tyler sighed in relief at this news. He had no idea how to handle a normal kid, let alone one with demonic blood and PTSD.
Having nothing else to do, Tyler and Agha shared a quick kiss before he made his way to the General Goods store. Once there, he purchased enough rations for a week, then made his way to the Runesmithery. After checking in with his Gnomish teacher, he was given several books of runes and advanced equations and techniques to study and was tasked with creating a rune capable in combat.
Everything set, Tyler headed his way to somewhere other than the damn Fungal Forest. Luckily he had managed to buy a map this time.
As barebones as it was, it still gave him the general layout of the land for several miles. In the center of the map was, of course, the Duergar Town, Dir Merdum. A bit to the north and east of the town was Smokesong Caverns. A path spread from the town and past the caverns which was labeled ‘El’varesh’ which he guessed was where the Drow would come from. Due east was Razorwind Plains, which was apparently home to high level creatures, as the warning said “DANGER”.
South and following the river there wasn’t much, but that was where had had fallen way back when and taken Yarla’s life. The river wound north and ran through the Fungal Forest. The furthest north part of the map read “Steamgear Encampment” which was probably where the goblins and the exit to the surface lay.
Looking over his few options, Tyler sighed to himself. Looked like he was going to have to fight creatures in the Razorwind Plains. That or go west more and try his luck. Not wanting to risk his life on a coinflip, Tyler decided to head east to see what these plains had to offer. It couldn’t be that bad? Surely.
----------------------------------------
Tsukiyomi flew high, or well, as high as the underground would let her without clipping her precious wings. She was currently observing her target, the man who had caused Aldous to flee. And honestly she wasn’t impressed. This man was barely at the end of Low Copper, so the fact that he had pushed Aldous into a corner was a bit surprising but one could just chalk that up to luck and Aldous being too arrogant.
She watched boredly, under the guise of an invisibility spell, as he walked towards some plains in the distance. Were she not in the True Bronze tier of advancement she would have fallen asleep in sheer boredom. Surely her Master didn’t see this low leveled human as a threat, right? Well he wasn’t a human, she could tell that much. Voidborns were rare but there were much stronger races. And given how the man stumbled across the plains and hit several jagged rocks on his path? Well this was probably the most bored she’s been in decades. Still, orders were orders. So for now she would just observe.
----------------------------------------
“Ow, dammit. Another jagged rock. Might as well call it the Razorpebble Plains instead.” Tyler grumbled to himself as he kicked another stone out of his way.
Seriously, what was up with all these stone shards? There was no way these were natural. Still, they didn’t piece his skin or deal any damage so they were annoyances at best. Looking around he didn’t see much of anything interesting. Just several large boulders and...wait. One of these boulders was moving ever so slowly as something attacked it. Moving around to get a better look at what was happening, Tyler froze in place, dumbstruck.
The boulder was actually what appeared to be an elemental of stone. It stood around twelve feet in height, its rocky arms and stubby legs blending in seamlessly with its rotund and nearly spherical body. That wasn't the strangest part. No, the stranger part was what was attacking it.
It was about the size of his head give or take a few inches, and extremely fluffy. It had two long, floppy ears on the side of its head and was at white as snow. In the middle of its head was a large horn nearly as big as its own body. It was a goddamned horned rabbit.
"What the fuck..."
Tyler HAD to use Analyze on it.
Name: Lesser Bunicorn
Level: 38
Lore: One of the most dangerous beasts in the multiverse. Trust me on this. They look cute and cuddly, but the moment you let your guard down, bam, they eat all your carrot cake. Oh and I guess the horn is dangerous too. When rabbits breed with too much mana, this is the result. Hope you like dodging.
"Well shit, thanks System."
The Bunicorn, seemingly alerted by his voice, turned its head and stared directly at him. For a second, they just stared at each other.
Then the bunicorn screamed.
Waves of visible force emanate from the creature’s mouth as it yelled out its attack and Tyler was buffed by enough decibels to make hisears ring like he had Tinnitus. Then, it ran. ANd when Tyler thinks ran, he means it. With a soft boom, the creature was on him and would have impaled him on its horn had Tyler not just barely managed to move out of the way and parry the strike with his horn. Of course the Bunicorn was not deterred, even as it skidded across the ground of the plains.
Kicking the dirt it launched at him again, this time slower and Tyler had enough time to cast [Geyser]. As always, a circle of bubbling water appeared just in front of the rabbit and shot upwards. The Bunicorn let out a squeak as it became airborne, before doing what Tyler could only call a really cool, if stupid and dangerous, maneuver. It aimed itself at him and began to spin head over heels, picking up speed as it got closer and closer. Tyler had no time to run and instead swung his staff at just the right moment to bat the spinning projectile of fluffy death away.
Staff Fighting is Level 15
Staff Fighting is Level 16
The furball let out a cry of pain and skid across the floor once again and shook its head, apparently dizzy from its own move.
Tyler breathed in deeply as he got his bearings and gripped his staff in both hands.Okay, this was a big change of pace when it came to fighting. But even so, with all the potential danger this situation presented…Tyler couldn’t help but grin as his blood began pumping.
“Alright fuzzbutt. You wanna dance? Let’s dance.”
Then, Tyler charged. The Bunicorn, almost like it understood Tyler’s words, got a very weird look on its face as it charged in turn and the two forces met with a resounding clang of metal against bone.