Chapter 6 - Stats and Plants!
Tutorial World #336: Day 1
As Doc strode forward, Grizz trekking along beside, he started to take stock of his surroundings for the first time. The forest was massive, in a way that made him feel insignificant. It was as if he was a single ant in the middle of a massive cornfield if the corn were green and leafy. Everything around them felt ancient and wizened like a sanctuary to nature. Doc still couldn’t shake the unease of how quiet the forest felt. He could occasionally hear the rustling leaves above as the branches shifted in the wind, but because of the stale, stagnant air underneath the canopy, all the sound was muted. This made the sound of Doc’s steps all the more obvious.
Doc looked over at his silent companion with a scowl on his face. “How are you being so quiet? You make no noise. I am over here and I feel like I’m an elephant stomping around.
You got no finesse, man, Grizz chuffed. You’re walking around on two feet with weak body control, just praying that nothing finds us. Maybe next time you change up those stats you can add to that Dexterity stat.
“Hmmm,” Doc thought. The different stats were something he had been thinking about after having gotten his different skills. His normal gaming rules both helped and hindered his new worldview. “I need to figure out what all these stats do and how to get more CPs. I haven’t seen a way to level up or increase my stats.” Doc pulled up his Status screen and started focusing on the different characteristics that quantitatively described everything about him.
Strength (STR) - The measure of a body’s physical presence. It affects physical damage and how much weight an individual can carry. Every point of STR gives 10 kg of carrying capacity.
Vitality (VIT) - The measure of a body’s physical health and well-being. This affects the body’s overall health pool. Each point of VIT gives a base 10 HP.
Resilience (RSL) - The measure of a body’s resistance to negative effects. This affects the body’s HP recovery and resistance to physical injuries or nonmagical ailments. Each point of RSL provides 0.1HP/1 minute outside of combat.
Dexterity (DEX) - The measure of the body control an individual has. This affects the body’s movements and attack speeds.
Intelligence (INT) - The measure of a mind’s capacity to learn and manipulate information. This affects the mind’s overall mana pool and the strength of magical attacks. Each point of INT gives a base 10 MP.
Wisdom (WIS) - The measure of the mind’s ability to process information. This affects the mind’s MP recovery and resistance to mental and magical attacks. Each point of Wis provides 0.1MP/minute outside of combat.
Charisma (CHAR) -The measure of a mind’s ability to manipulate others. Affects the ability to tame monsters. Each point in CHAR increases the likelihood of tame occurring by 1%
Perception (PER) -The measure of the mind’s ability to interact with its surroundings. Affects the range and strength of the senses.
Luck (LUCK) - The measure of everything…or nothing?
Next to the Characteristics Points to Assign box in his status screen, Doc noticed a small plus sign in a circle. He clicked on it to see what it would do. A small notification popped up in front of his eyes, causing Doc to nod his head in understanding.
You have purchased a Characteristic Point for 5 XP. You may distribute this point to one of your characteristics within the next two days. If you do not, the experience of gaining this Characteristic Point will disappear and you will not get XP back in its place.
Doc was beginning to understand the system. You couldn’t level up like in all of the games that he played throughout his life. Rather, he gained experience points from killing monsters and finishing quests and used the gained XP to learn or “buy” extra things like Skills or Characteristic Points. It seemed if he didn’t utilize the points that he spent, then he could lose the experience. He decided to put the point into Dexterity, hoping to move faster and quieter. Immediately he felt like he understood how to control his body a little better.
Besides the last characteristic description for Luck, Doc felt he understood the different characteristics a little better. He could definitely see how his previous DEX of 8 would make him significantly less stealthy than Grizz who had DEX as his best stat at 15. It seemed like Grizz instinctively knew where to put each of those 12 limbs to creep up on an unsuspecting victim. Once again Doc was appreciative that Grizz was on his side. If any other monsters were anywhere close to being as dangerous as Grizz, Doc was going to be in a world of hurt.
“Thank you,” Doc said, looking at Grizz. “You saved my life. Everything moved so fast and I am honestly still in shock. You were ready and I owe you…something?” Doc had been just about to say that he owed his summon a fancy meal, but realized two things. One, what did ursarachnids eat and two, did summons even need to eat?
“Do you need to eat anything?” Doc went ahead and asked. He was starting to feel a little peckish himself.
Honestly, I am not sure. I know that I can eat and I love food, just like you, Grizz responded. But I haven’t felt hungry yet. If you were to put me into the box again, it would help me to restore any lost energy, though. I don’t recommend that currently as we don’t have anyone else to watch your back if I go get rest.
“Yah,” Doc responded. “I don’t really feel as though sitting around a campfire by myself in monster-infested woods is a great idea. Hopefully, our next chance at taming comes soon. Also, we need to find somewhere to hole up during the night. Something tells me that sitting out in the open at night is how we both become monster food.
Speak for yourself, old man, Grizz shot back. I won’t be anyone’s food. I will rip their heads off, and that is a fact.
The vehemence in that statement took Doc by surprise. Up until this point, he had been thinking of only the badass things that Grizz could and would be able to do for the team, that Grizz was only an extension of him. That response reminded Doc of the fact that this part of his soul had separated from the whole and became a monster. A monster that he worked with, but a monster nonetheless. The fact that a part of his own soul said something so violent made him wonder. Did he have those same urges? Was he no better than a beast himself?
They continue walking through the giant trees in silence after that small outburst. Doc wasn’t afraid of his Soul Summon, but the comment made him think about what things he would need to get comfortable with in the future. After having spent the better part of two decades standing in front of students or working behind a lab desk, he knew that he was going to have to change moving forward to survive. That relatively sedentary lifestyle would not work anymore.
To take his mind off such depressing thoughts, Doc decided it was time to play around with his new skills. There were so many plants around him that some of them had to do something. He decided to start with the biggest thing around; a tree.
You have identified: Bunyan Tree
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Common
Bunyun Trees are giant conifers that can grow up to half a kilometer in height. These trees are home to many monsters and other life forms. One Bunyun tree is considered its own ecosystem…at least until some ass-hole lumberjack decides to cut it down.
Alright, Doc thought to himself. I am starting to finally learn some stuff.
Doc started looking around at other plants he could see and identifying them.
You have identified: Wild Green Fern
Common
Wild Green Ferns are relatively small and innocuous plants. They sit on the forest floor and do nothing for anything. They are the dandelion of the forest.
You have identified: Short Fuzz Moss
Common
Short Fuzz Moss looks like it would be great for something, possibly even something medicinal. The reality is that Short Fuzz Moss is just a moss. Because of its short height, it isn’t even good moss for a pillow.
You have identified: Feral Flower of Life
Uncommon
The Feral Flower of Life has a life of its own. It wiggles its multicolored petals around to attract pollinators. This concentration of life has given the flower of this plant evolved attributes:
1. This plant can be used to make a healing potion
2. This plant can be used to increase a person’s vitality for a short time.
That last notification caught his eye. He had seen the vibrantly colored flower on a vine crawling up a tree. There was a set of five different flowers, all with different bright colors and he immediately moved forward to harvest the little flowers. Approaching the vine, Doc could feel the faint thrum of power coming off of the plant. If he hadn’t already identified the flower as having some uses, he knew that he still would have been drawn to the flower. Reaching out, his Herbology 1 skill kicked in. He knew that the flower was the source of all the life-giving properties of the plant. He grasped underneath the beautiful flower, feeling the soft and velvety texture of the petals, and twisted. The flower popped off the vine with a quick snap and glowed slightly. He pulled it up to eye level to get a good look at this powerful healing flower. It glowed a dim bluish light and continued to hum with the little bit of life magic inside. He put it into his inventory to experiment with later.
Doc quickly reached to harvest the other four beautiful flowers, but only two others came off in the same fashion. The other two didn’t have the same glow as the properly harvested flowers and seemed to wilt after being picked.
The Feral Flower of Life was not harvested successfully. The life magic it had collected has dispersed into the surroundings.
“I guess we won’t be able to harvest every piece of loot we find,” Doc mused out loud. “That makes sense, though, as I just “learned” how to pick magical plants.”
The knowledge that had come flooding into his mind after choosing the Skills made him feel weird. It didn’t seem to cause any painful issues, but he had a lot to sort through. Even Alchemy 1, a skill that should have come naturally to him, being similar to chemistry, still had many new facets to sort through. It wasn’t just mixing, heating, and waiting, but also a blend of magic and how to extract that magic from the ingredients to create the wanted effects.
Thinking about alchemy, he was getting excited about tinkering around with different ingredients. It had always been one of his favorite things to do while in the classroom. He would take out different chemicals and tools to show his students how to predict the products based on what and how reactants were being used. If he could find something that could act as a decent container, he was certain he would be able to try his hand at alchemy.
After about an hour of walking in the forest, a small hill rose in the distance and they decided to go check it out. As they drew closer, Doc began to realize it was no small hill, but rather they had just been far away. Despite all the trees in his vision, he could see the mass of earth rise far above his head. The peak of the hill was about even with the surrounding trees. Doc wasn’t sure why but he was feeling drawn to the large earthen structure.
“I need to see what is up there,” Doc said to Grizz. “There is something about this mound of dirt and rocks that is just screaming to my insides.”
You were given an ability that is all about instincts, Grizz responded. I think that means you should pay attention to yours. Also, your Luck stat is crazy high right now. I think we should trust your gut.
Doc nodded in agreement. Everything his summon had just said made a whole lot of sense to him, so they moved forward with conviction. When they reached the bottom of the mini mountain, the trees started to subside like the hair on the top of a balding scalp.
After another hour or so of traveling uphill, Doc sweating like a pig, they finally reached the crest. It was an interesting sight to see, but the peak had a small grove of trees that looked exceptionally dark, even though it was midday and light should still be filtering to the trees. The dark grove was hiding something. The trees in the grove were on the shorter side as well, especially when compared to the half-mile-tall trees they had just been walking through.
There are things in those trees. I can sense movement from inside, but I cannot tell you what they are, Grizz said. There are many, though, probably close to ten smaller creatures. We need to be careful moving forward. I know my previous attack was premature without much knowledge, but if we can get some information before getting into the grove, I believe that would be wise.
“That is a good idea,” Doc agreed. “Maybe we can throw a rock into the trees and see if we could pull one or two of the creatures into the light. Then I can identify from a distance”
Doc looked around for a good stone to throw. As they had moved up the hill, the surface had changed from forest floor to the rocky scree of a cliffside. Needless to say, there was plenty of ammunition to toss into the grove to try and lure any monsters out. Finding the perfect size rock to launch, Doc flung it toward the trees. The stone cut through the air, a clay pigeon shot up and away. It soared through the air and tumbled down to the base of the grove, clacking amongst the other rocks lying around.
From amongst the rubble lying at the edge of the grove, a small gray fluff ball emerged to check out the cause of the commotion outside its den. Doc quickly identified the creature before it could scamper away.
You have identified: Chinchillycorn
HP: 45/45
MP: 83/120
Uncommon
The Chinchillycorn is a mystical creature found in rocky dens. Not only is it beautiful, but its majestic small horn conducts ice magic for both protection and destruction. This speedy beast might not be big, but it packs a punch and is never alone. Watch out or you might be its next dust bathtub.
“What…the…hell?” Doc said, confused at the ridiculousness he had just witnessed. Who in their right mind would put a horn on a chinchilla? Doc took a deep breath and calmed himself. Obviously, he was in a new, magical world where ridiculous things like unicorn chinchillas and frog apes were going to exist to kill him and Grizz. His Soul Summon was just as ridiculous if he really wanted to think about it. It was time to buck up or shut up.
“I saw you making one of your web traps earlier,” Doc whispered, looking over at Grizz. “How many were you able to make?”
I was able to make all five for the day. Have a plan? Grizz thought back.
“Well, the Chinchillycorn looks pretty inquisitive, and I don’t think we want to give them space to cast any of their ice magic or jump around. If we can lure them out into a trap, it would give us a chance to get at all of them at once and probably tame one as well.”
Sounds like a plan, but what could we use to lure them? Only one of them came out to look at a rock and it's not like we know what kind of food they would want.
“Weeeeellllll,” Doc drew out. “I was thinking about that. And I have a possible thought. How much do you remember about my dad teaching us about fishing?”
The ursarachnid looked up at Doc’s face with a hungry, toothy grin on his face.