A few hours later a notification brought Joe awake.
Congratulations! You have survived the first day in a Level 100+ Zone! Exp earned, 20,000 (Banked).
Achievement Unlocked! One Day at a Time! You have survived the first day in a Level 100+ Zone! Rewards Unlocked! You and your companion gain, +3 Strength, +3 Constitution, +3 Willpower. Exp earned, 20,000 (Banked). Gold earned 5,000.
Title Unlocked! Survivalist! Survive a single day in a Level 100+ Zone. Rewards Unlocked! You and your companion gain, +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, and the Survival skill. Exp earned, 15,000 (Banked). Gold earned 5,000.
Only a single day and I’ve almost died twice. I really need to figure out how to get out of this area and find some civilization. He closed the screens and closed his eyes, but sleep decided to ignore him. He sat up and stretched without a twinge of pain. Furrowing his brows, he brought up his Status screen and noted that his Health Points were at maximum. Wow! Five hundred and thirty. Twice as much as I started with. He checked Bixby’s Status as well to see that his Health Points too were all full. Five fifty? Bix is healthier than I am. I know the healing water petered off after a while. I wonder if we have some sort of regeneration ability, or maybe sleeping promotes the healing? I bet the Medic skill helps too. Joe opened his status screen and focused on the Medic Tier Two skill.
Skill: Medic Tier 2. Wounds treated by you gain a 20% bonus to passive healing over time.
Ok. That explains that. Passive healing, why not. I can shoot energy out of my hand, so why not regeneration. Maybe I’ll turn into a superhero. Joe stood as Bixby stirred. Joes clothing that he had set in front of the fire were still damp, but wearable. He put on his torn t-shirt and after a bit decided to wear his nasty flannel as well. He did not have any other clothing and at this rate he thought he may be running around naked before too long. By the time he was dressed, Bixby was awake and grooming himself. Joe checked Bixby’s side but could find no indication of an injury. “Damn, boy! Not even a scar. How are you supposed to impress the ladies?” Joe scratched Bixby’s head and looked around the room.
“Ok, Bix. We need to be smarter about this. With goblin ambushes, worms erupting from the ground and gryphons dropping out of the sky we need to keep our heads on a swivel.” Joe walked over to the weapons rack and looked over the selection. The swords were rusty and did not seem all that sturdy and the leather fittings on the shield were mostly rotted away so that was useless. That left the spear, the haft of which seemed to be in good shape and the triangular steel point while rusty, was solidly attached. Joe grabbed that and his now empty canteen which could no longer be placed in his inventory and headed out the back door. “C’mon, buddy. We need to explore a bit and I have some things I want to investigate.”
Once outside, the first thing he did was refill his canteen from the creek and then he made his way over to the ruins of the stable. It took a bit of searching but he found his machete and walked over to the mass of worms. There seemed to be fewer, and some were tunneling back into the earth. Joe figured that one worm could feed him and Bixby for a couple of days, but he wanted to make ensure their survivability and he had a theory. The problem with some worms was that if you cut one in half, eventually the two halves will regrow their missing parts and then you have two worms. For Joe’s experiment, he needed a dead one. He made his way to the nearest one and with a swift chop from his machete, he lopped off one end. He then did the same for the other end and knelt down to touch the still wiggling three foot middle section which promptly disappeared. He opened his inventory and saw one of his slots now had Mana Worm meat stored in it. Satisfied that he was correct, he went about systematically chopping up the remaining worms and storing them away. Fortunately, all that meat went into a single storage slot.
Next came his other idea. He went to the back of the tower where there was more open area, and he pulled the gryphon out of his storage. Its enormous body appeared in front of him, and he took some time to examine it. His second theory also turned out to be correct. There was no sign of putrefaction. The body was in the same state as when he originally stored it. Putting it back into inventory, he was happy with the results. This meant that the worm meat would not spoil and with the amount he had just carved up, he and Bixby were set for at least a few weeks.
One more idea came to him, and he went back to the worm farm where there were only a small handful of worms left alive. He again knelt next to one and tried using his Identify ability on it. He stared at the worm, but his ability refused to trigger. He changed tactics and began thinking words like, details and specifics but that netted him nothing as well. He thought back to when he gained the Identify skill and began studying the worm in more detail. He noted how it moved, what its skin texture looked like and even tried counting the rings in its skin. He was on the verge of giving up when a notice appeared.
Mana Worm (Level 2)
HP: 75
Status: None
Congratulations! You have earned the ability, Inspect Tier 1. This ability allows you to ascertain the properties of a creature or other sapient being. As this ability levels, you will be able to glean more information from a creature or being.
“Ha! I knew it! I knew there had to be a way to see information about monsters. Awesome!” He turned to Bixby who was sniffing the ground and looking at the same worm Joe had been. “Wait. Bix, can you see the info too? Does it show you something in dog or however you perceive things?” Bixby snorted and looked at Joe with a cocked head. After moment, Bixby began licking his groin and ignoring Joe. “Classy dude. Ok, so maybe I don’t have a real good grasp of this magic stuff, but I’m not ruling out anything from here on out. Hell, I won’t even be surprised if you start talking.” Joe eyed Bixby, but he remained engrossed in his ministrations. “Right.” Joe stood up. “What else is on the list?” He snapped his fingers causing Bixby to look up sharply at him, “The book.” Joe opened his inventory and brought up the book he had gotten from the gryphon.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Spell Tome: Blink Step
This spell allows the user to move up to 50 feet in any direction without traversing the intervening space. Mana cost 25.
“Oh, Hells to the yes!” exclaimed Joe. He pulled the book from inventory and opened it. The script on the page seemed to flow and move like liquid. The odd tingling at the back of his mind made an appearance and the book disappeared.
Congratulations! You have learned your first spell, Blink Step. Exp earned, 3,000 (Banked).
“Check this out, buddy.” Joe felt for the cool Mana flow within him like when he channeled to the ring and instead of pushing to the ring, he mentally activated Blink Step and immediately appeared thirty feet away next to the smithy. With a huge smile, he looked at Bixby who had stopped his grooming and looked inquisitively at Joe. “You don’t seem impressed. Dude, I just teleported! This is freaking cool!” Joe walked back over to Bixby. “Yeah, I know. It would be cooler if we weren’t fighting for our lives every couple of hours.” Joe hefted the spear and the two walked to the now destroyed gate. Joe gave it a cursory look and continued to walk down the road.
The road was lined on either side by dense forest which created a tunnel effect. They walked for a short while until Joe saw that the road ended with more forest with the difference being that the trees at the end of the road looked like they were on a hillside. Another five minutes brought them to the end of the actual road which abruptly cut off. There was a clear demarcation line where the road ended, and the slope of the forest floor began to go up. The trees were different too. Like someone had cut away the forest and replaced it with another. Deciding that elevation would be good to see the lay of the land, Joe and Bixby began climbing the hillside. Bixby ranged a short way ahead, alert and sniffing constantly. Joe kept a vigilant eye on everything. Every noise, every twitch of a leaf caught his attention. He was surely not going to get ambushed again.
It did not take long for the trees to thin out a bit and for the duo to reach the apex of the hill. Joes’ breath caught as he looked out at a bowl-shaped valley with a half circle mountain range on the far side. “We are not in Kansas anymore Toto.”
Since it was a straight shot down the hill to the road leading to the keep, Joe took a small bit of paracord and a strip from his ragged t-shirt and tied a marker to a lower tree limb. He then cut an arrow in the trunk before heading towards what he hoped was north. As long as the sun still follows its normal path. But who knows with the… What do I call this anyway? Pan-Dimensional Control System? PDCS? Nah, too many syllables. Out loud to Bixby he said, “We’ll call it the System. How’s that sound?” Bixby gave Joe a tail wag, but that could have been a reflex action for being spoken too and not an implication of understanding. “Fair warning, the moment you Scooby Doo me, I may freak out a little. Just saying.” But his words may as well have fallen on deaf ears as Bixby sped up to range ahead.
Being on the lowest side of the valley’s bowl, Joe and Bixby headed north towards the lower slopes of the mountain range looking for any signs of a road or people. Staying on the ridgeline afforded them a good view of the area except for some parts where the forest became thicker. The fact that many different woodland biomes had been mashed together was readily apparent from their vantage point. It very much reminded Joe of the game Minecraft that his little nephew Matty played where it was very clear when you walked from a desert to a forest to a snow field, only this was wildly different forests. There were plants and trees Joe was absolutely sure never grew on Earth.
An hour’s travel brought them to a more rugged landscape in the foothills of the mountain range. They stopped for a snack and drink, both still very much on alert. Joe was determined to never be ambushed again. That’s when they found the cave. Nestled in a naturally hidden alcove of rock, Joe was relieving himself when he realized there was a rather sizable cave entrance nearby.
“Hey, Bix, wanna check out this cave? If its shallow, maybe we can use it as a waypoint?” Joe made his way to the entrance of the cave and peered in. The cave opening was about seven feet tall and roughly four feet wide, but after about ten feet it looked like it opened to be a bit wider. At six feet tall, Joe had no worries about striking his head on the ceiling. He was about ten feet away from the entrance and scooted a few feet closer and a notification appeared.
Congratulations! You have located your first Dungeon! Please be warned that during the Pan-Dimensional Control System integration all new Dungeons will receive recommended minimum levels, however, during the transition period expect there to be significant variation in the levels and types of monsters in each Dungeon. All experience rewards are doubled in a Dungeon.
“Um…” Joe stepped back a few feet. “Dude, it’s a dungeon?” Joe decided to move even further back from the entrance. He looked down at Bixby, but he seemed indifferent to the cave. “Ok, we have a decision to make. Since we obviously aren’t gonna be getting out of the whole magic System any time soon, we need supplies and probably gold for once we find a town. When I played Dungeons and Dragons with my friends we went through a dungeon, and it had skeletons in it. There’s no telling what this has or how dangerous they are.” Joe crouched down next to Bixby and looked back at the cave. “Hold up, I have an idea.”
Joe moved back to the front of the cave, but no new notices opened. He studied the entrance and tried using Inspect but nothing happened, he then used Identify and he was rewarded with a new scroll.
Dungeon! Grey Mountain Goblin Burrows.
Status: Inhabited
Joe smacked his lips, “Well, it’s a goblin dungeon. If it’s the same horrible little goblin men that we fought before you think we can do it? I mean if we’re smart about it? Also, it’s only a few hours back to the keep, they could easily range that far out.” As Joe posed the question, Bixby trotted to the front of the cave, gave a few sniffs and let out a soft growl. “I agree. I don’t like these things at all.” Joe got a surprised look on his face, “Wow. I’m actually thinking about going into a cave to slaughter a bunch of goblins like I was trying to decide which pair of underwear to put on. Buddy, I think there’s something wrong with me, because I don’t really feel bad about it.” Is the System affecting my judgement and behavior? I feel like I could just walk in there and kill everything without giving a shit. Do I have to be that kind of person now? Is it really kill or be killed? It can’t be that black and white now, can it?
Ultimately, the decision was taken out of Joe’s hands as Bixby whirled in place and began to growl in earnest and even Joe could hear the distinct chattering of the goblins coming from the forest and getting closer. “Crap!” Joe looked for a way out, but they were boxed into the alcove, and it was either go in the cave or face the incoming goblins. Joe had no way of knowing how many were coming but the cave may give them a place to hide until the goblins passed by and the two of them could get back out. Joe whispered, “Bix, inside. We need to hide.”