The tunnel outside, now appearing even more dark, damp and uninviting after the weariness brought on by our battle and our time sleeping in comfort these past days but before we consider our next moves, our notifications come streaming in like the veritable tsunami I expected.
The first is the title Burgess awarded us for our grueling final victory.
Congratulations! For being given an exceptional passing grade in the Training Dungeon you utilized you have been given the title: Dungeon Trainee I!
Dungeon Trainee I: Defeat the highest tier of enemy assigned to your or your group by your trainer. Grants 5% increase in ability advancement and a minimally higher chance for growth of your chosen Martial Style. Will notify Player when within 1 mile(s) of a Training dungeon in the future and by succeeding further in them, the Player will increase the tier of this title and its effects.
“You all get the title? Should be pretty useful, assuming we can travel around enough to find them, I know he mentioned they were in hard-to-reach places. What do you think?” I ask my companions, taking a seat on the hard stone ground beneath us for the moment.
Belina, thinking for a moment, responds optimistically, “Well, we just need to keep advancing and traveling, I know we can do it! Probably not before the Contest but afterward, definitely!”
Smiling at the exuberance of our younger member, I turn to our final, furry, companion with a raised eyebrow for her input.
“Woof!” she barks with a somewhat hilarious attempt at a canine shrug before thinking to me, “We will see the whole world together! It shouldn’t be too hard to find a pesky dungeon or two.”
Amused, and proud, of my positive-thinking team, I suggest, “Would you like to go through our notifications here? Then we can travel back to the surface and catch up with our Levels after our mandatory hiatus?”
They both give me a nod of assent and I let the rest of my lingering notifications appear.
First, appears my Skill increases.
And boy, are there some doozies!
Wilderness Survival(App): Lv.16--18
Animal Companion(App): Lv.12--21= Journeyman Tier up!
Journeyman Bonus: May now increase the depth and scope of bond in a truly unique fashion. Further growth, battle and teamwork with bonded companion will reveal Player’s bonuses in their own way.
Huntsman’s Athleticism(B): Lv.5—15= Apprentice Tier up!
Apprentice Bonus: Grants higher knowledge of bodily movements in conjunction with the world encompassing the Player. A oneness with nature and the entire natural world will allow for elements of said world to reach out and assist you in small and subtle ways.
Wild Rampage(B): Lv.1–8
Wow, two tier ups??
It would seem our dungeon stay is making more and more good sense, considering how slow the level progression for abilities had become in the Apprentice tier, to suddenly jump to 2 Journeyman tier Skills now?
Very much worth it.
Next, I eagerly await similar results as my updated Spell levels now fall into place in front of my eyes, further revealing how much our 2 week stay has paid off.
Natural Reinforcement(App): Lv.12—20= Journeyman Tier up!
Journeyman Bonus: May now store a chosen Reinforcement permanently. Once chosen, may use as often as desired for traditional cost but it can only be changed once per day.
Blood-Fueled(App): Lv.10–13
Eco-Missile(B): Lv.3—10= Apprentice Tier up!
Apprentice Bonus: Spell cost is halved. May now cast in half the time for the starting Basic cost.
Not quite as dramatic as my Skill increases, but the Natural Reinforcement tier bonus more than makes up for it!
My Skill tier ups gave incremental increases, mostly, highly critical once, but still small in the scheme of things….but this?
Being able to hold the Reinforcement from one of the healing flowers or a higher quality material for armor, should I come across any that I can’t easily take with me is a complete game changer!
But the fun doesn’t stop there…
Next, pops up the piece de resistance:
Congratulations! Through your hard work, determination, and complete dedication to your dungeon training, you have unlocked a hidden slot in your PAID:
Martial Style: Natural Disaster(Journeyman): Lv.1—Lv. 22= 2 Tier ups!
Natural Disaster: Through your growing closeness to nature and your continued utilization of it, both in your strikes, abilities and class, you have touched upon a concept greater than yourself. Each attack you make, each movement you take, will now be infused subtly or overtly based upon your very will acting upon a counterpart from the natural world. Grants +3 to all stats as the Style naturally strengthens the wielder (1 per Tier). As you grow closer to nature and its capabilities, the violence, the death, the birth and life of all things will grow closer to you in equal measure. The wild cycle continues to ever turn….
Apprentice Bonus: The power of each strike you infuse now is only limited by your will and your understanding of the element you wish to infuse your strike with.
Journeyman Bonus: The very world itself bows to your will. Once per day, may utilize this aspect of your style to become the very embodiment of a chosen natural phenomenon, becoming that which lays waste in service of the greater world as a whole.
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“Damn….” slips from my wide-open mouth as I read the description of my Style.
Every word resonates inside me, as if I had already known what it provided even before seeing it spelled out, as if my familiarity with the style gained through hard work, the sweat of my brow and the blood I shed has given me more knowledge than I thought.
I had expected to receive notifications regarding my Style, I had felt them, for lack of a better word, even when they were withheld in the dungeon but I never expected them to be this amazing, by any means.
Pulling myself from my own wonder at my good fortune, I notice my companions moving around, having finished their own notification update; I pull up my full PAID quickly, both to refamiliarize myself with everything after 2 weeks away and to see the changes granted by my style.
PAID
Player: Nova
Age: 27
Race: Human
Class: Wild Huntsman(R)
Class Ability: Huntsman’s Duty
Level: 8
310/12,800 XP to Lv.7
Martial Style: Natural Disaster(J) Lv.22
Attributes (Human range between 1 and 5):
Strength 6--9
Dexterity 6--9
Constitution 12--15
Intelligence 6--9
Soul 6--9
Mana: 81
HP: 75
Skills: Wilderness Survival(App) Lv. 21, Animal Companion(App) Lv.21, Huntsman’s Athleticism(App): Lv.15, Wild Rampage(B) Lv.8
Unlock next free Skill point at Lv.11
Spells: Natural Reinforcement(J) Lv.20, Blood-Fueled(App) Lv. 13!!, Eco-Missile(App) Lv.10
Unlock next free Spell point at Lv.9
Items: Icy Soul Hatchet(U), Barely There Cloak
Titles: Natural Born Killer, Soul Searcher, Top Tier I, Human+, Dungeon Trainee I
I note, with no small amount of pride, that my Attributes now are equal to what I would have received after nearly a dozen further personal levels!
That is no small thing at all. After all, everyone and everything else has had 2 weeks to increase said level and stats while we only grew our Skills, Spells, our personal Styles and our teamwork. While our advanced abilities should level the stat playing field already, I admit to being a little more at ease knowing my attributes will likely match or even exceed anyone or anything we come across.
“Sorry for the wait. Ready to see the sun again?” I say, wiping off my dusty backside as I pull myself back to my feet, shaking out a few tight muscles from their previous overexertion as I do.
“Oh yes!” Belina says eagerly, her own desire to be back among the surface matched only by my own.
And, I notice belatedly, Artemis as well as she wags her tail in excitement and shuffles her forepaws around by the entrance to the tunnel leading back to the surface.
“Well, let’s be off then!” I announce, letting Belina take her position in the lead with myself and Artemis flanking her, our camaraderie and teamwork like a well-oiled machine after being put so vigorously through our paces as a Party for the past days.
We begin our hike with a pep in our step and determination in our hearts, only speaking to explain our individual advancements and our expanded capabilities to better work off of each other.
For we know, we have but one short week before we will be sent who knows where to battle for our lives, our System, and perhaps most importantly, our very world itself.
We make the walk through the tunnel, its environs unchanged, and arrive back once more at the school of Jubilant Jellyfish, although they seem a bit…different now.
{Jubilant Jellyfish, Lv.12-14}
That handy System identifier explains why, their physical appearance seems largely unchanged, the same glowing, colorful and nearly opaque skin filled with some truly awful variant of jelly but now, they are closer in size to a large dog instead of to a small one, as the pre-System jellyfish were, for the most part.
The sight is even more beautiful as well, their larger size dispersing a wider array and grouping of colors to reflect off of the crystal-like walls.
And, just like before, as we are taking in the scene, one of the Beasts attempts to drop down on us.
But this time, the surprise is on it…
Belina, catching notice of it at the same time as I do, raises her shield, centers herself beneath its trajectory, and uses said shield as a springboard, sending it rocketing toward a ready and waiting Artemis who pounces on the jellyfish with perhaps more vehemence than required. Maybe recalling our last visit here and taking her vengeance?
As my pup holds the Beast in place with her paws and an intimidating growl, I land a strike with my hatchet empowered by Wild Rampage, just in case the level disparity will affect its defense to my attack, but I easily split the thing in half and embed my weapon halfway into the ground!
As we turn from the first downed enemy to what will soon be the second, third and fourth respectively, I am even more pleased with our gains, even if these particular Beasts are at the lower end of average, our time away has most definitely not held us back.
A glorious killing spree later, the XP finishes streaming in with a notification from the System and the oozing gasp of the last jellyfish to go splat under Artemis’ weight.
Congratulations! You have killed a large number of Jubilant Jellyfish for a total of 10,000 XP!
Wow, that’s the highest XP I have earned in one battle yet by far! Guess being both lower leveled, and by a decent degree at that, is certainly helpful, especially with our additional resources making us stronger than said levels will suggest.
Although, it certainly is a bummer to not even level from it, later levels are clearly going be a serious grind.
After cleaning ourselves off a bit, those jellyfish sure make a mess when they pop, we head on to the next cave in our path, the former home of the Creepy Crustacean and as we return through it, we stay away from the pool, more eager to get back to the surface than fighting one giant crab.
The same is true for the Acrobatic Arachnid maze as well, we merely thread through the rocky outcroppings mostly at our leisure.
As for the Reaping Willows and Magic Mushrooms, each now levels 14 and 13, respectively, we merely slaughter the ones in our path, earning a tidy sum of XP to push Artemis and I up a level at last! Belina having reached her next level after the bloody jellyfish jubilee we threw.
Congratulations! You have killed an assortment of Beasts for a total of 4,000 XP!
You have leveled up!
You have 2 free Attribute points and 1 free Spell point!
Con +1
Seeing both my companions delving into their own notifications before we re-enter the surface world once more, I quickly do likewise.
After a few moments’ consideration, I place 1 point in Strength and 1 in Dexterity, bringing them both to 10. My Mana has not yet been too much of a concern, with my Blood-Fueled spell keeping me topped up in long battles.
Next up, I bring up the Spells list.
Spells List
Forest Fade (99%)
Claws of the Wild (98%)
Environmental Clean (94%)
Earth Tremor (93%)
Power Strike (91%)
…
Self-Cleanser (56%)
…
Environmental Agony(-15%)
Mostly, my nature-aligned Spells have jumped up in compatibility, the only new choice being Earth Tremor, but I feel that such a spell, even limited to a small area, will affect my allies and potentially even myself in the heat of battle. So, for now, I skip over it.
That leaves, for top choices anyway, Claws of the Wild or Environmental Clean, both filling some role I can see in my way of combat.
The first will add to my offensive abilities which are already substantial, but adding another ranged ability so soon after taking Eco Missile just seems wasteful, really.
So, I decide to go with Environmental Clean, its utility both for my particular class and even just for my interest in cleanliness as a person in general, too much to deny.
As the now oft-expected pain makes me squirm and grit my teeth, I return my awareness to the world, my companions both at the ready themselves.
And with no small amount of joy in hearts, we step back into the glorious open air after two weeks without the tender warmth of the sun’s light shining down upon us.