The second half of Nenn’s sprint towards the Denver Obelisk was much less exciting. There were not any large, insurmountable bodies of water to cross. No hidden alligators to chomp down on him. Come to think of it, it's super embarrassing that I, as an ambush predator, was caught by another ambush predator without knowing it. Maybe I shouldn’t tell other people about this, Nenn thought.
Nenn continued his tactic of sprinting, killing a prey animal or two, then continuing on after his reserves had replenished. He was getting surprisingly good at it now. Rather than wait for his reserves to hit the 30% mark, Nenn would start the hunting process earlier, and continue his sprint right into his target. It was almost as effective as sneaking up on them, as the non sentient animals did not stand a chance of detecting Nenn’s quiet footfalls.
Nenn encountered a few more bears in his hunts, but rather than engage them in melee combat he stuck to ranged attacks, using his [Entangling Roots] to spear his targets. When combined with [Rot] most targets could not manage to break free before their torso caved in releasing a pool of bubbling, inky-black liquid.
There was the matter of Nenn’s newest ability [Osteomancer’s Control], it was not the most useful tool at the moment. He used his new found ability to turn the bones of his first post-alligator kill into mana. The mana itself pooled into a ball that rested inside Nenn’s torso, it was located roughly where his stomach should have been. Absorbing the bones turned out to be a tedious process. It turned out that he could only absorb the energy of one bone at a time. It took a lot longer than expected to integrate the unlucky deer’s entire skeleton structure, but Nenn did it for the sake of experimentation.
The bone mana reservoir inside of him seemed to have an intrinsic sense of fullness to it. There was no fancy number, or status page for it, but Nenn could feel it. Just like one could feel their own stomach (or the muscles surrounding the stomach), after eating a large meal. After consuming the deer he felt almost completely full.
The next deer was the unlucky target of Nenn’s attempts to weaponize the stored bone energy. He snuck up on his target using [Ambush Predator] then began to create a bone spear using [Osteomancer’s Control]. A stream of bone mana exited Nenn’s body and began to form the spear. It was slow going and the process itself reminded Nenn a lot of a 3D printer as it printed out layer by layer.
The deer must have sensed Nenn’s creative process. It bolted the second he began making the spear.. Nenn made the split second decision to abandon his creative process, and instead returned to the traditional method of running down and pouncing on his prey. This is a skill that I need to practice before I bring it out to the battlefield. At least the creation portion of it, Nenn thought.
On a whim Nenn tried using [Osteomancer’s Control] on one of the freshly killed deer’s bones. He focused on the bone and felt a string of his own mana reach out and attach to the bone. It was a neat process to experience that reminded Nenn of [Nature’s Absorption]. There were differences between the two forms of mana manipulation, but they were subtle.
Using [Osteomancer’s Control], mana flowed from Nenn into the bone, allowing it to be manipulated by the string of mana. Nenn was able to float the bone around without much trouble. He could pull it, push it, throw it, and hold it in any position he wanted to. There was a lag time between the order, and when the bone responded. There was resistance when Nenn tried to make the bone move faster, or when trying to strike with it, but there was some progress on that front.
Nenn took the time to practice smashing the deer’s femur bone into the side of a tree. Everytime he hit the tree his connection with the bone would break, and he would have to recast [Osteomancer’s Control]. But after a couple of attempts he managed to figure out that he had to account for recoil, and somehow he managed to keep control of the femur. The usage of abilities and the System’s fuckery worked in mysterious ways. Nenn wasn’t sure half the time how his actions were being interpreted as actions, such as when he had experimented with extending [Ambush Predators]’s uptime, but it still managed to happen.
As much as Nenn wished he could spend the time to master his new bone-twirling ability, he needed to get a move on. At least I found something to do the next time I’m on firewatch duty, Nenn thought.
The whole not sleeping thing was beginning to seem like not the best thing. Sure it let one get more done, but Nenn, and a great deal of other people, quite enjoyed sleeping. But then again, the person on the figurative expressway to waging an asymmetrical genocidal campaign of terror should not have the right to complain about a lack of sleep.
There were some interesting things that Nenn encountered along the way. There were some infrequent ruins in the forest. They were the crumbling remains of stone buildings that nature was busy reclaiming. Any other time Nenn would have stopped to explore, but he was on a tight timeline. If he delayed a day, he would have to fight 40 more newly integrated naga, and the rest of the naga force would continue to get stronger as they leveled.. He made a note of where the ruins were, and some helpful landmarks to try and navigate back to them, but he had to keep moving.
Late afternoon approached as Nenn made it to the foothills leading to the mountain chain.The forest extended over these hills without missing a beat, but to Nenn, it became a lot more taxing to sprint through. He made the executive decision to slow down. If he was getting close. Now was the time to be mindful of his kills.
The illusion that I’m a night predator won’t work if I kill fauna that is only around in the daytime. I’m sure the telltale signs of rot puddles, and perfectly clean bones will be a dead give away once they know what to look for.
Nenn entered what he had termed ‘resource conservation mode’, and ran only at the rate of replacement. There would be no practicing of skills, or unnecessary expenditures for the time being, at least until well into dusk.
The slower pace seemed to drag, but in reality Nenn was still moving at a rapid pace compared to a human. The hills grew larger, and soon bonafide valleys began to appear between them. The forest was dense and vibrant in the valleys, making the process of traversing it harder.
The hills gave way at last to the barrier mountain. The Denver Obelisk was somewhere in the valley on the other side, if Sarah the named rogue’s geography had been correct. Nenn didn’t doubt her sense of direction one bit.
Out of caution, Nenn entered in [Ambush Predator] and took advantage of the extra stealth it provided. He was slowed down to a pedestrian speed, but it was worth it. There was no way he could afford to get spotted this early if his plan was to work.
The sun continued to lower in the sky and finally it began to hide behind the mountain chain. That’s one more advantage for me, Nenn thought. The nights are longer in the valley. The valley was now coming into view as Nenn rounded the mountain. Smack dab in the middle of the valley was the Denver Obelisk poking up proudly. There was a clearing around it, much like the Ottawa Obelisk had. A clearing that had since been filled by the busy work of its occupants.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
The Obelisk’s occupants had been hard at work fortifying the position, and the forest was definitely seeing the effects of clearcutting. The fortress around the Obelisk was robust. There were three walls, the outer wall was sporadically manned by mobile glinting blue-green specks of creatures that Nenn assumed to be naga. Nenn was still too far away to get a detailed look of his foes.
Nenn closed in on the fortress, circling around it carefully, making note of the entrances, and how they would close. The outerwall had two large gates, one pointed towards a well-packed and established path that went around the mountain with the particularly sharp side on the valley’s far side.
On the topic of mountains Nenn finally looked up, and he saw just how enormous the mountain really was. It must have ascended upwards for kilometers. It wasn’t just a vertical slope of rock, but a diverse ecosystem with plenty of space to explore.
The mountain was also pretty wide, with most of its width being hidden by the angle at which Nenn and the Denver group had spotted it from. The mountain itself was without a doubt bigger than any Earth mountain in Nenn’s mind. I can see why Sarah was upset that no one else had managed to look upwards while they were at the Obelisk. The sight was breathtaking. The mountain transitioned from a glistening snow covered cap, to bare ragged rock, then transitioning to sporadic patches of greenery, and then devolving to the forest cover Nenn was all-too-familiar with at this point.
The other gate faced towards Nenn’s direction and the paths leading from there were a lot more varied. There was no set path for that the naga had beaten down yet.
Good, it looks like this is probably their most forward settlement, Nenn thought. He would not have to worry about getting pinched in between settlements and their spheres of operation.
The gates themselves were barred just as the sun began to set. The naga, being trialborn, were almost certainly aware of the dangers of night predators and acted accordingly. It was unfortunate for them that while their appropriated fortress was sound from the ground, it was not nearly tall enough to stop Nenn from leaping over it when it was time.
The sun was now hidden behind the mountains proper, and the valley was cast in the deep shadow of dusk. The sound of the forest around Nenn had been changing for a little while now, growing quieter and quieter as the random noises the daytime fauna made died down. Around the fortress little pockets of light shone in the darkness like red flickering gems. These were Nenn’s first stop for the evening.
Nenn crept towards the closest encampment and found it occupied by a small party of naga. Most of them were wearing what looked to be clean and crisp armor, indicating that they had recently emerged from the Obelisk as a newly integrated naga. It was almost a shame that Nenn had to put them down. He empathized with them, he truly did. But he was about to reward the naga for their actions. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, as the saying goes.
The occupants of the camp were settling down for the night, as all but one of their numbers turned in for the night. The lone watcher stared at the fire, looking for some kind of hidden wisdom to be found within it.
That thought process, and any other ones the naga could have possibly had in the rest of its life was rudely interrupted as Nenn leapt from the shadows and severed its head with his claws. He caught the decapitated head in his jaws and set down the dying, but not quite dead, naga’s head, which had a shocked expression on its face.
One by one, Nenn made his way over to the sleeping naga and severed their heads cleanly using his [Nature’s Weapons] empowered claws. He did not want to attack using mana quite yet as he was afraid the naga might be able to detect it. That was one of the takeaway lessons Nenn had learned from his alligator adventure.
Mana was detectable. He had felt it several times now when facing bears in the forest. When they enraged their power spiked and their eyes began to glow red. During that time Nenn felt an oppressive force of something push against his being. After a couple of encounters he realized that it was the excess mana pouring out of the bear. It turns out that the body, as a vessel for mana, is inefficient at holding additional mana, such as during a body enhancement like an engaging effect. Or, more importantly to Nenn, during [Ambush Predator]’s power boost. That was how the alligator boss monster found him in the river.
The surge of euphoric joy from each kill was really starting to affect Nenn. One or two siphons at a time was tolerable. But now that Nenn was wholesale slaughtering sentients, it was an unbelievable kaleidoscope of pleasure. He shuddered as he lopped off the head from the final naga.
TEMPER YOURSELF YOUNG ACOLYTE.
The eldritch tree’s voice boomed in Nenn’s head, scaring him half to actual death once more. The ground split open and the ancient entity’s vertical slit eye emerged, staring at Nenn.
THE FORCES OF DEATH ARE EASY TO LOSE ONE’S SELF IN. INTOXICATING, TO SAY THE LEAST. DO NOT LET THE FEELING CONSUME YOU, OR YOU WILL BE CONSUMED IN TURN. THIS POWER IS MY INVESTMENT FOR YOU TO MASTER, NOT TO SUCCUMB TO.
The eye in the ground blinked and disappeared as if it had never been there. It was a sobering moment for Nenn as he felt the euphoric sensation of the siphons lessen against his psyche. Well at least the tree understood that I was trying to be stealthy. Everything would have been ruined had his louder than loud voice woken up the entire valley.
The camp had been cleared. It had been almost too easy. The only downside was that Nenn had to wait for the siphoning effects to end before proceeding, so that gave him some time to think.
If Nenn had to guess the naga on guard duty had been trialborn given its well-worn armor and weapon. Every other snake in the camp had been recently integrated. Their levels were low. Learning from Ortango’s experience, the trialborn would start at level 5 or so, even with a lifetime of wilderness experience and hunting.
The gap between a level 1, or 5 for that matter, and a level 25 was vast. And that was before taking into account skill mastery. There were very few instances where Nenn used an ability within the System-given definition without bending the skill to his will. [Entangling Roots] had been upgraded to match his usage of the control skill as a damaging spell.
[Rot] could be placed within a targeted area in the body, as well as controlling the density, and shape of the investment to have different results. A line across a joint to sever a limb, a dense sphere around the heart and lungs to quickly incapacitate and kill. It had a lot of uses.
[Shapeshift - Deathstalker] was a beast on its own with its own subskills, that Nenn was thoroughly using and abusing. [Ambush Predator]’s boost was easily the most exploitable part. Nenn’s trip across the river had proven its usefulness, and opened Nenn’s eyes to a potential upgrade path. With effort, maybe he could internalize all of the excess mana that would be pushed out and betray his presence.
[Nature’s Weapons] was a little harder to exploit as a passive ability. It was truly a passive ability. It could not be activated, or influenced in any way. The best change Nenn had been able to make with this skill was its inclusion with [Entangling Roots]. Nenn had noticed a large difference between his root's effectiveness before and after the update. The fact that he could lance the alligator boss monster so effectively in its own environment was proof of the change.
[Nature’s Regrowth] had been exploited since day zero as a pseudo mana sense, that had updated to actually function as a mana sense. It was the reason Nenn was still alive. The fact that he was able to use it to inflict his own will upon unattached mana before he had gotten [Nature’s Absorption] spoke volumes.
[Shapeshifter’s Mastery] had been updated to reflect Nenn’s advancements to master one of the marquee abilities of his class. He could finally change back to being human, whenever that became advantageous. I guess one day there will be cities and towns of humans to interact with. I’m sure I will have an easier time accessing them as a human rather than a deathstalker. The Denver group tried to stab me once, so I can imagine how meeting another group of humans would go, especially if I don’t have a heroic entrance to smooth things over.
The siphoning effect ended and Nenn reentered into [Ambush Predator]’s stealth state as he made his way to the next camp over. The valley twinkled with the glow of dozens of flickering red gems,it was a pale imitation compared to the stars in the night sky above. It was going to be a busy night for Nenn the night predator.