Magnus spasmed in the now familiar puddle of spider blood. A burning pain slowly spread from his stomach to the rest of his body while his [Danger Sense] tingled inside him. Frothing from his mouth he thought,” If I don’t get Poison Resistance now then I won’t ever get it.” He closed his eyes to focus inward.
Feeling the pain intermingle with the tingling, he mentally scratched his head as he wondered if he could somehow influence the process. Just then he felt it, contrasting with the scalding hot burning pain in his stomach. A cold big tangle of something above his stomach.
He mentally poked it and chaos ensued. The ragged tangle formerly the size of his fist condensed into a perfect ball the size of his pinky fingernail. The ball started pulsing and the cool energy making it up started spreading farther and farther throughout his body. The cold energy slowly extinguished the burning pain in his veins until the only pain left was in his stomach.
Magnus emptied his stomach’s content. The ugly blob of flesh seeping with blue blood along with a bucket full of disgusting blood with a green tint fell to the floor. Breathing heavily and sitting in the puddle he felt the pulses slow down and the remaining energy in his veins settled down.
*DING*
[Common Skill gained – Mana Perception]
[Mana Perception – Common] – Level 1
Allows you to feel Mana. Perception of Mana increases with Skill Level and Perception.
[Common Skill gained – Poison Resistance]
[Poison Resistance – Common] – Level 1
Negative effects from poisons and venoms are weakened. Weakening increases with Skill Level.
[Quest Completed]
Fighting the Corruption I
Goal Completed: Gain the Common Skill [Poison Resistance]
Reward: Common Skill [Identify]
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[Common Skill gained – Identify]
[Identify – Common] – Level 1
Gain information about a visible target. The information gained increases with Skill Level, familiarity with the target, and Intelligence.
[Quest Received]
Fighting the Corruption II
Level the Skill [Poison Resistance] to Level 10
Reward: +5 to Endurance
Magnus’ head started to hurt from all the information sent into his head. After processing it all, he touched his left side. The improvised bandage was wet with blood. He removed it to see that the wound was still bleeding heavily. Instinctively he knew that it would not heal without enough food.
He eyed the spider’s corpse again and thought,” It can’t be that bad with [Poison Resistance], can it? That said I should cook it first.” Magnus looked around him but found nothing flammable.
Despairing over the lack of fuel, he cut a very thin strip of flesh from the abdomen of the spider. Whispering a silent prayer, he threw the strip into his mouth and swallowed as quickly as he could. It burned less on the way down than last time.
Thankfully, he didn’t start convulsing when it settled down into his stomach. Magnus breathed a sigh of relief. With the mental floodgates preventing him from eating the spider released he started feasting. He only stopped when his [Danger Sense] started tingling and he started feeling a slight burn in his stomach. Checking his left side again he saw that the bleeding started slowing.
Tearing off more of his pants he bandaged himself and rolled up his old makeshift bandage, storing it into his jacket’s pocket. He cut more strips of meat from the spider, letting them sit on a rock for a while to drain the leftover blue blood. When he judged that the done, he put them in a pocket.
Preparing to set off to find water, he heard another Ding.
[Poison Resistance is now Level 2]
The remaining burn in his stomach weakened slightly and Magnus mumbled,” Huh, neat.”
Sneaking away to look for water and an exit from this cave, he watched carefully for any threats, spider or otherwise. He made sure to never keep his knife far. Ten or so minutes later he found the wall of the cave, marked the wall with a bit of his blood, and started walking left next to the wall. He figured this was the best way to find an exit.
After half an hour of fruitless searching, he came upon what seemed to be an underground spring. Only now realizing how thirsty he felt he drank as much as he could. Cursing the lack of a bottle or something similar, he had no choice but to continue to look for the exit.
Creeping near the wall he looked around a bend and there it was, the exit. Just when he was preparing to enter, his [Danger Sense] screamed and he stopped instantly. Magnus looked at the ceiling and saw two spiders, one bigger with stripes and one smaller without stripes. That was not good. He slowly backtracked hoping the spiders wouldn’t notice his presence. Only when he was hidden again behind the bend, did he let out the breath he was holding.
When fighting one on one Magnus was confident but fighting against two was a bit too much. He had to get stronger. Magnus started returning back to the center of the cave, this time not as the prey but as the hunter.