Morning sunlight filtered through autumn leaves as Zaro followed the winding path back to Everlight. After his meditation session and stats upgrade, he decided to branch off the path and take the scenic route. Partially because he wanted to test his new stats, but mostly because the regular road was probably full of merchant caravans moving slower than Chad's casting speed.
The forest path cut through rolling hills dotted with ancient oaks. Their branches twisted toward the sky like gnarled fingers, probably with some deep symbolic meaning about reaching for your dreams. Or maybe they just grew funny. Hard to tell with trees.
His enhanced agility made every step feel lighter, like gravity had decided to take a coffee break. He found himself bounding over fallen logs and weaving between trees just because he could. Thirty stamina meant he could probably run all day without breaking a sweat. Though knowing my luck, saying that out loud would summon a rampaging troll herd. He said to himself and chuckled.
Void sense showed him hidden details he would have missed before. Small creatures scurrying through underbrush. The faint shimmer of morning dew. Even the remnants of old magic lingering in the stones of a crumbling wall. This place had history, layers of stories buried beneath moss and memories.
He started looking through his inventory and remembered about that piece of Aetherium that he got from the whispering caves. He forgot he had stashed that in his void storage. He pulled it out and fed it to the system. He still had a few void gems and a bunch of void shards left over. He fed two of the void gems to it as well.
System functionality 25%
Updated user functions.
Void energy consumed. Brevity upgraded. Brevity function at 33%.
Now when Zaro accessed the system the world slowed 33%. It was noticeable and allowed for strategic planning. Very useful.
He wondered what other secrets these woods held. As if answering his thought, the system pinged.
SYSTEM ALERT Nest Detected.
Warning Spider Den Located.
Level 8 through 12 Void Corrupted Spiders.
Estimated Count 24
Threat Level Medium.
Potential Experience 50 per kill.
Suggested Party Size 2 to 3.
He skidded to a stop, dirt kicking up under his basic explorer boots. A cave mouth was noticeable between two ancient oaks, dark webs glistening with an unmistakable purple tinge. His void sense lit everything up like a Christmas tree.
This is much more information than the system has ever given before. He thought.
Perfect farming spot.
Why are they corrupted? I don't know. Maybe there is a corrupted or overcrowded dungeon or something. He would have to figure that out later.
Zaro activated analyze and the system fed him a breakdown.
Void Corrupted Cave Spiders.
Level 10 average.
Health 200 or 300
Notable Features Void infused webbing, poisonous bite, claw swipe.
Weakness. Direct void energy disrupts their corruption. Void drain is super effective.
Twenty four spiders at 50 experience each. That is around 1200 experience points. Just about what he needs for level 11.
This is a perfect opportunity to level up void drain and get my overcharge on, he thought. Oh. I almost forgot about the cloak. I can start leveling this up too. Zaro thought about the cloak and the system pulled it up in his vision. He thought about charging it up and the square lit up green.
He summoned his void fang and approached the cave. Three spiders the size of large dogs scuttled out, their eight eyes glowing with that familiar corrupted purple. Their mandibles clicked in what he chose to interpret as a dinner bell.
Time to test these new stats.
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Zaro relied on his new stamina and ran as fast as he could to the group. He changed directions so fast if it were basketball, their ankles broke.
Then he stabbed his dagger in the first one's side and activated Void drain.
5% loss of stamina for the overcharged mana was worth it.
He used that dog spider as a stepping stool to leap over it and its friends and get behind them. The stabbed spider was leaking a green liquid and toppled from the force of being used as a launchpad.
Zaro stabbed the next spider while spamming void drain then put his hand on its head and hit it with a level 2 void bolts point blank and its head exploded green all over his hand. It burned and a status update. Poisoned. Popped up.
Shit.
Zaro kicked the corpse at the spider that was running up to strike as the first shot webs at him. He void stepped back to it and shot a double charged void bolt which blew a hole straight through it for a critical hit.
He heard and felt the last one leaping toward him and rolled out of the way while launching a dagger at it which caught it in the throat. It fell over and was dead.
Zaro willed the daggers back to his hands and tucked them in void storage as he checked his hand. The skin was red like it was infected and it hurt but really not too bad. It was taking 2 health per second but his vitality was healing 3 per second with the upgrade to level 2, so it was negligible.
System alert, muted. No time.
Four more spiders emerged from the cave. He had a stupid smile on from excitement. Time to get creative. Let's see how far we can push this tank thing, he thought deviously.
He activated temporal dilation, the world slowing to 90%. The spiders moved like they were swimming in molasses. Minus 50 Mama per second, but with this overcharge? Worth it.
His new plan to not get covered in poison was to eliminate all threats but 1 and void drain that one then introduce death. After these 4 there shall be a new plan, probably. He thought.
One leap and he was at spider number 1. A double order of void fang to the head and a void drain overcharged his mana and put him in position to dash left and punch spider number 2 until the inner highlight turned yellow, that was 3 regular punches.
Zaro realized he hadn't tested his strength yet without void abilities. If 30 strength was peak human physicality, he should be able to bench over 700 pounds and squat nearly one thousand.
If his strength augmented shadow strike, it should do nearly 120 damage. By rough estimation.
He focused and punched spider number 2 as hard as he could, for science. His arm went through it and he pulled his fist back covered in green blood.
Zaro immediately canceled temporal dilation and still had 150 mana left. He grabbed the body of his last victim and pulled two legs off, then threw the body at spider number 3 and immediately followed up by impaling it with its good friends legs.
Then he hammer fisted its head off using every ounce of strength and kicked that failed acupuncture trial at spider number 4 while void stepping to spider 1 and hitting it with void drain then point blank void bolt double charge converting it from living to worm food instantly.
The last spider of the 4 recovered from getting clobbered by its brethren and shot webbing at Zaro and he let it hit his left arm while calling a dagger to his right hand. After I killed your brothers, I guess it's only fair you get a hit in, he said to the spider, who probably doesn't speak English. But he didn't care.
That spider webbed his arm up and approached as fast as it could and bit his leg.
It hurt a lot more than he thought it would.
Zaro used the webbed left hand as a rope and wrapped the webbing around the spider's neck then pulled as hard as he could and the cracking sounds were disgusting.
It stopped moving and he muted the notifications.
He cut the webbing off with his dagger and popped a potion of healing from his void storage. That took care of the 100 damage he sustained while his vitality covered the poison status so it was technically nullified.
7 down, 18 or so left.
His wraith cloak had received 10% charge so far.
He entered the cave ready to kill everything.
The remaining spiders began coordinating, trying to web him into a corner. Clever girls. But Zaro had delusions of grandeur.
A spider dropped from the ceiling, mandibles aimed for his neck. He caught it with a vicious palm strike, then void drained its energy before it could recover. Then a void dagger knuckle sandwich turned it to mush. Another overcharge surged through his system.
MP back to full and then some. Time to really have some fun. He thought.
Zaro used a void step void drain combo on 9 more spiders not aiming to kill, just get the cloak charged up and level up his void drain skill.
He was overcharged 100 mana but down 60% on stamina. The trade off was putting him at risk of getting hit.
Wraith cloak 50% of the way there.
Two bigger spiders spit poison at him while another two shot webbing.
Temporal Dilation activated. Plus 90% speed. Everything became so slow he could have just taken a nap.
Zaro pushed the spiders that were in the air and drained them then forcefully pushed as hard as he could and they slammed against the cave wall and splattered. Painting that wall green
Then he shot void bolts at three other spiders, two shots each and jumped back to a safe spot in the room and resumed normal speed.
His stamina was at 15%, and mana at 210.
5 more spiders met their spider gods this day.
Then the recovery came that signified a level up. Renewed stats, stamina and a refreshed feeling.
The survivors retreated deeper into the cave. He followed, void bolts lighting the way. The fight became a deadly dance of void steps, void drains, and precision strikes. Each drained spider recharged his mana past maximum, letting him chain abilities that would normally leave him depleted.
Ten minutes later, he stood among many spider corpses, breathing hard but smiling like a maniac. 16 confirmed kills. His regeneration was already patching up the few bites that got through. He healed much more and faster out of combat.
The funny thing about corrupted enemies is that they seem to feed his mana and when he kills them some leave behind teardrop gems of corrupted void energy, which is how he gained brevity.
Also at times it's more like a shard of corrupted energy. It looks and feels like black shadowy glass. He used it to make the daggers.
This time he got 1 teardrop gem from the spiders. I'll make sure to come back when they build up their nest again. Zaro thought.
System Alert Experience gained 1800. System alert Zaro has reached level 11. 550 of 2700 until level 12.
Level up.
10 stat points and 5 skill points received.
1 stat point, 6 skill points and 1 skill upgrade point banked.
Zaro decided to bank all his points for now. He needed to figure out his build soon.
Zaro finally had an opportunity to use his ability, field dress on all the spiders.
He put the new crafting materials and the meat in his void storage.
Items Obtained Void Infused Spider Silk 16, poison gland, 16. Spider carcass, 16. Spider meat, 16.
New Crafting Materials Discovered.
System alert. Achievement unlocked. Eight Legged Freaks Minor. You have killed 10 arachnid enemies. Reward 2 stat points.
Skill field dress now level 3. Zaro moved faster and could harvest more materials with field dress.
He left a few spiders alive in the deeper tunnels. Always good to have a farming spot. Plus, who knows? Maybe they will evolve into something worth more experience, he thought.
All materials went into void storage.
Zaro exited the cave and stretched. Then he took a look at his clothes and they were tattered. He pulled them off and equipped the second set he kept in void storage.
He went through the notifications and found Wraith cloak level 2. Perfect. Zaro started back on the trail home. Jogging while smiling like a maniac.
Time to see what the guild has for him. But first, maybe he should invest in some bug spray.
The void infused kind, naturally.