Jem felt.
He felt.
He didn’t know how he felt.
He wasn’t sad, happy, angry or depressed. Though maybe just a little tired. A little drained.
He felt like a fishing village that had weathered a storm. You weren’t happy one had passed through and things were damaged in the lingering squall, but, it was all repairable and for a couple of days everything was fresh and there was purpose driving him.
It felt like a new beginning of sorts and it was probably for the best anyway.
Sebastian hadn’t been wrong that Jem didn’t have the right class. Either way Jem wouldn’t have been in the capital for long. It’s probably for the best, long distance relationships suuuck. Hey maybe if I don’t die we can try again. No. Don’t think like that Jem that’s just how you set yourself up for disappointment. He shook the thoughts from his head.
Jem got out of bed and walked over to his closet, gently hanging Sebastian’s blazer up inside. One week til I start university. Again. That meant there were a few things he could be getting on with, and with no training, he had the morning to himself and he knew just how to spend it.
He just had to find Karim first.
Jem moved through the servant's corridors, towards the administrative section of the castle. Karim was over level 200 and Jem was fairly sure that he’d be in his office, even if he wasn’t actually working.
Jem snuck past Nessa’s office and got to Karim’s.
He knocked on the door and it opened a moment later.
Jem attempted to refrain from judgement, but it really did look a lot like a bomb had gone off inside. Karim didn’t seem like the right kind of person to run an empire.
“So Jemmy Jem Jem what can I do for you today?”
“Well I was wondering if you wanted to blow off your work and come help me fight some monsters. I’m le–”
Karim picked Jem up in a bear hug and spun him around. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.” Jem tried in vain to push himself out of Karim’s grasp. He couldn't breathe.
“NESSA SOMEONE ELSE IS GOING TO NEED TO DO THAT REPORT. I–”
Argh my ears.
Jem twisted to look around and the reason for his respite quickly became apparent. Nessa was standing behind him with a sickly sweet smile on her face. “Jem why are you putting silly ideas in my husband’s head?”
“I need to level up and I figured Karim might be the perfect person to help me.” Jem gave her his best puppy eyes. Oh, I am so fucked.
“It seems to me that it's only fair that you help him finish his work. You can both go out to play once the report is done.” Nessa walked out of the door closing it firmly behind her.
Jem turned back to face Karim and whispered. “We could run.”
Karim shook his head. “No, she’ll be checking up on us now.”
“Why did you tell her then?”
“Last time I let a report go unfinished she didn’t let me go on a hunt for weeks.”
Jem narrowed his eyes. “Did you just do that so you could get me trapped too?”
“Yes. Absolutely.” Karim grinned. “I do actually focus better when there’s someone else in the room with me though.”
Jem sighed and pulled a chair around the desk. Karim grabbed a sheet of paper and started reading over it, writing out a summary of the information but stopped writing and put the pen down when the next question of his checklist came up. What are your recommendations for actions going forward?
“Karim, get back to it come on, you’ve only been doing it for five minutes.”
Karim turned puppy eyes on Jem. “But this is so boring.”
“Sooner it’s done, the sooner you won’t be bored anymore.”
Karim picked the pen back up and went over his summary, then put the pen back down and stretched.
“Okay,” said Jem. “Karim, seriously?”
“I’m trying, I just can’t focus. Writing this stuff down is so hard.”
Jem sighed. “Do you know what you want to say?”
“Yes.”
Jem rubbed at his face. “Just give me the pen.”
Jem took over writing things down while Karim focused on telling Jem what to write. About half an hour later they were done.
“Jem you’re a lifesaver. I need to get your help more often.”
“I didn’t even do anything,” said Jem, “but why don’t you just hire a scribe or something to do that for you?”
“All of it’s confidential information. Nessa wouldn’t let me.”
Jem rubbed at his face. “How long would that normally take you?”
“Most of the day.”
“I see. Well monster hunting?” asked Jem.
– – – – – –
Haywood favoured teleportation and Aoife prefered walking but Karim had a more novel approach to moving around.
Karim and Jem were flying through the sky on a metal disk engraved with glowing runes. Periodically Karim fed it with a chunk of crystalised experience. I didn’t even know you could do that.
Before long they were descending towards a clump of ruins mostly obscured by the treeline. “There’s an entrance to the dungeon in that building there,” said Karim, pointing it out. “I used to come here all the time before I was level 100.”
The disk touched down and they both hopped off. A moment later it crumpled up into a small ball that Karim pushed into a spatially expanded pocket of his shirt. Karim’s outfit couldn’t have been more different than Jem’s. He looked like he was dressed to go for a peaceful stroll on the beach, while he’d made Jem dress up in some kind of magical artifact that conformed to his body shape.
It seemed as though Karim’s style of fighting was more willing to take advantage of the resources ot hand. When Jem asked for an explanation Karim said that fighting with better equipment meant you could fight up levels.
When they descended down through a trapdoor and the first thing they saw Identified as [Rat Lvl ??], Jem started to wonder if he’d made the right choice. From nowhere Karim pulled out a dart, which he threw at the rat killing it instantly.
“I hate rats they’re awful experience and they scurry everywhere.”
Jem just followed behind Karim looking around for any sign of danger. With how unconcerned Karim appeared Jem wasn’t sure if he should be relaxed or hypervigilant. None of the things in the dungeon were going to be a threat to Karim but to Jem many of them could be more than a little problematic.
Jem watched Karim’s antlers trawl through another spiderweb. At least I’m not walking into those. Jem wasn’t sure if he could be nonchalant if his horns were covered in spiderwebs.
As they walked the floor seemed to grow steeper taking them deeper below the earth, while the ceilings grew taller. “When we get to one of the larger halls I’m going to let you take the lead Jem. I’ll take care of anything that tries to sneak up on you. The truth is your skills are a bit underdeveloped for proper dungeon diving. The swordplay Ayo has you doing is far more suited for Alcan or other humanoid combatants. Beasts just don’t fight the same way.”
“I hadn’t realised you were paying attention to my training.”
“Of course I was. It will take some years but you’re my best prospect for getting to go adventuring again, even if that’s as a babysitter at first.”
Jem glared at the back of Karim’s head.
“Whoa now, don’t get mad. I’m just saying it how it is. You need levels and practice before you can stand on your own feet– Hooves.”
“That correction was entirely unnecessary.”
“Was it? Oh look we’re here.”
Their little tunnel opened out, about half way up the wall of a massive one that ran perpendicular to theirs. Karim stepped aside and Gestured Jem forwards down some crude stairs chiseled from the rocks.
“A stone mage did it,” said Karim.
Well that answers that.
As Jem stepped down onto the first step he activated a rune on the side of the lantern which changed its mode. Instead of acting normally the light cut off abruptly at a radius of around four and a half meters. In exchange for the abrupt ending any creatures outside the space were unable to see the light.
Jem knew that if he were to delve a dungeon alone, he’d need to have come up with a solution to the light issue. The ideal would be some kind of eyesight modification, but there were probably also spells which could do the trick. I am going to learn so much magic at uni. Fuck that’s an amazing sentence.
Something wrapped around his ankle and yanked. Jem yelped as his hooves slipped out underneath him, sending him crashing down. Assistance would be super great right now Karim. Karim? Yeah who am I kidding.
Jem leaned forward as another tentacle came at him. It was a sickly orange and mottled with purple flecks. With one swipe Jem cut through both offending limbs. A moment later he was standing again and chasing after the two tentacles. He used identify. [Juvenile Devourer ??] Again above level 22 but below 50.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
The tentacles were weak. Sure, strong enough to knock him over if surprised but weak overall. He supposed it made sense. It was why you didn’t really see things like octopuses on land for any extended period. Tentacles might be great at grabbing things, but they just aren’s strong enough. But that’s probably different with stats.
Maybe I should consider tentacles. No more hooves just tentacles throwing me forwards. They have potential.
Jem came upon the main body of the Devourer. It was dragging a pair of spiders into its gaping maw, they kept trying to bite the tentacles but any damage seemed to instantly regenerate.
The devourer must have seen Jem because five tentacles moved in unison towards him. They were faster than the invigilators, but there was less of them. They lunged for him, but he sidestepped. A particularly zealous one tried to wrap around his waist but Jem cut it off before it could finish.
Like the ends that Jem had cut off before, it didn’t instantly regenerate. It seemed that any superficial wounds were instantly dealt with, but against full on severing it was powerless. A couple of the other tentacles reached down and quickly whisked away the dead parts to the gaping maw.
As they entered it, the body of the devourer grew larger. Anything it eats is converted directly into more flesh. The devourer shrank back to its previous size, a fleshy wave rippling up each of the damaged tentacles. Once it reached the end the tentacles regrew.
That’s not ideal, but I can work with it.
The monster would be an absolute pain to kill if it got too much food. Jem imagined a sea of tentacles grabbing every morsel in sight, and of course, the more it killed the more levels it would gain and the stronger the tentacles would become. I do not want to meet its parents.
The devourer finished eating the spiders freeing up another four tentacles and Jem waited for them to come to him.
He did not have to wait long. The tentacles moved around him creating an undulating net before closing in. In one quick motion, Jem spun, sword outstretched carving an upside-down v through the tentacles closest to the devourer. Jem jumped forwards into the space he’d created
The other tentacles tried to move to intercept but Jem swung out and down at the ones on his right side. They were all out of position and they fell to the floor lifeless. The stumps retreated back towards the main body.
With more than half of the tentacles injured Jem didn’t have to do anything other than protect his pile of severed tentacles.
The devourer seemed to understand this because instead of trying to attack Jem again it started to flee instead. Jem wasn’t going to allow that.
He ran forwards deliberately putting himself in a dangerous position and for just a moment the Devourer hesitated. It was all he needed. Jem kicked himself forward again, scything through even more of the tentacles.
This left the Devourer without a proper means of escape. The two remaining tentacles tried to go for the severed flesh but Jem was having none of it and he mercilessly sliced through them.
In a final gambit, the devourer used its tentacle stubs to launch itself at Jem, maw wide open. Jem dodged to the side and then spun cutting into the back of the devourer while it was in mid-air.
*Ding* You have slain Juvenile Devourerer Lvl 26
You have been awarded slightly increased experience due to the level disparity.
Jem felt the experience flood into him. He directed about half of it into his class core and then pushed the rest towards his bloodline core.
*Ding* The Lost Child has reached Lvl 20: +2 all stats, +4 unallocated stats, +1x4(r)(2V,W,I)
*Ding* Threshold reached. +1 Class Skill Slot +1 General Skill Slot
*Ding* The Lost Child has reached Lvl 21: +2 all stats, +4 unallocated stats, +1x4(r)(D,3I)
The changes pushed through him in a rush. That is never going to get old. His thinking speed increased marginally, and the sword felt slightly lighter in his hand. Though… Ugh. I should probably start leaving the unallocated stats. Just in case.
Jem left the 8 stat points alone. His wisdom of 140 was already more than double that of every other stat, barring dexterity which was sitting at 75.
Time to fight another monster.
“Hey, Jem, buddy, where you going?” Karim called out.
“To find another monster?”
Karim jumped in front of Jem. “Didn't Aoife teach you the first rule of adventuring?”
“Be prepared and don’t take unnecessary risks?”
“What no? That’s a load of bullshit.”
Jem raised his eyebrow.
Karim rolled his eyes. “Okay fine, it is important. But it’s not the first rule.”
“Okay, then what is the first rule of adventuring oh mighty emperor?”
“Always. Always, check for loot.” Karim walked over to the Devourer’s corpse and picked it up.
Then he pointed down the length of the corpse. “Cut in here.”
Jem did as instructed. The inside of the devourer was pretty gross.
“As I expected–” Karim shoved his hand inside “–there’re experience crystals in here.”
He looked to Jem. “You got a notification about an increased experience reward right?”
Jem nodded as Karim continued. “When you get extra experience like that, it manifests as crystals inside the body of the monster.” Karim pulled them out with a wet sucking sound. “Oh, it’s you’re lucky day. Very lucky. There’s a bioform here.”
Karim pushed the crystals into Jem’s free hand. Then he wiped his hands off on the magic armour Jem was wearing. And just like that, all my goodwill is gone. Jem put the crystals into a pouch on the outside of the armour and wiped his hand on Karim. Tried to wipe his hand on Karim.
“Too slow.”
Jem shook his head and just wiped the lotion-like Devourer juices onto a clean patch of his own armour. Blegh.
He took a step forward and his hoof slid out from underneath him. A pile of severed tentacles, the source of the slippery blood, made for a soft, if disgustingly squelchy, landing.
Jem rolled out of the pile and set out in search for his next monster. It’d better not be slimy.
– – – – –
The lantern’s halo of light only made the musty darkness more stifling. It was like there was absolutely nothing out there, but Jem knew that wasn't true. The omnipresent scent of rot had to come from something and Karim moved away sometimes telling Jem to do things like 'wait here,' or 'go up into that ledge for a moment' and Jem would hear the sound of nearby fighting.
The trudge through the darkness felt endless the only things of note the occasional, frigid drop of water that seemed to target his face and neck, or a distant wail. Every so often there might be a pinprick of light from a patch of bioluminescent moss, like a solitary star in the dark. Jem had been about to go over and investigate one when Karim pulled him away. Apparently nothing at all was nice in the dungeon because even the shiny moss was deadly if you stood near it for too long.
After a while they came upon an underground river, eerily silent as though it was afraid to be heard. Jem vindictively pushed a small clump of the bioluminescent moss into the water. It instantly disappeared from sight. Jem backed away from the fast frigid water and moved back to a fork in the tunnel, taking the other path. He didn’t want to get trapped in the tunnel with no choice but to retreat towards the deadly river.
The first sign of a living monster, or whatever passed for living where monsters were concerned, was the low grate of stone on stone. At first it was just background noise, like the hum of an air conditioning unit and he was entirely unable to tell where it came from. As he continued onwards the scraping grew pervasive and images of bones being ground to dust entered his mind.
Jem crept forwards towards the sound, the grinding growing louder and louder until it was a discordant screech and the crack of footfalls became audible. Just as he was about to turn back, unsure where the creature was, and unwilling to walk into it blind, a rock caught the lantern’s light and it drifted by.
It took Jem a moment to understand what he was looking at before he realised it was attached to the creature and he Identified it. [Rock Ithox Lvl 24].
*Ding* Identify(E) has increased to level 4. Identify will now show the level of beings where their level is below [Your Level] + 5.
That’s the lowest level thing I’ve seen since we got down here. Maybe everything runs from it because of the sound.
Jem crept onwards, bringing the ithox’s body into the light.
Unlike what he’d expected, a large stone golem of some kind, it was actually more like a 12 foot tall granite ostrich. The creature’s gait looked dainty but it moved slowly and each time its blocky talons made contact the ground shook. Is it bad that I want it as a pet? Maybe with some kind of sound muffling ward.
Jem ran forward sword outstretched. The only part of the ithox in reach was its legs. He lined up the sword and swung with all his strength at the knee joint of the leg planted on the ground.
Stone chips exploded from the point of impact. One narrowly missing his eye, instead carving a bloody line down his cheek and another pinging harmlessly off his left horn.
The ithox froze mid step and let out a surprisingly organic sounding squawk of indignation. Maybe there’s flesh under the stone? If there was Jem couldn’t see any. His strike chipped through around a quarter of the knee joint.
With two maybe three more strikes I can bring it down. Then it’s just a case of finishing it off.
The ithox was discontent with the idea and flared its wings out while twisting and dropping down. Jem hastily threw himself backwards, out of the path of the rapidly plummeting stone. Doesn’t fight like an ostrich. Got it.
Jem had a feeling that he’d just been a second away from being squashed into a pancake.
The ithox lifted its body back up and peeked under its wing. No feeling in its wings? Jem moved around to the side with the damaged joint. The ithox’s eyes locked onto him. He feinted a lunge forward and the bird dipped down once more. As it rose back up Jem ran in, and swung his sword again. This time scrunching up his eyes tight as the chips flew.
Jem opened his eyes and the leg was flying towards him. Jem tried to jump backwards out of the way, but one of the talons connected with his chest. The armour let out a blinding flash. And Jem was flung backwards, his sword lept out of his hands and clanged into the ground. Just barely audible over the ithox’s screeching movements.
“Careful Jem the runes have limited energy.”
Jem threw himself to his feet, his bruised ribs complaining loudly and ran for his downed sword. He swept it up in one hand and moved around to the side of the ithox. He saw his opportunity and ran for it.
The ithox was still turning around. He could get there before it could respond.
His sword connected a third time and cleaved directly through the weakened joint. The ithox’s upper thigh landed on top of the joint and then it started to tip. Oh fuck.
He dashed away from the falling stone. A wing slammed into his side sending him crashing to the ground. The armour flashed blue again.
The ithox swung its wing down on his legs. The armour flared blue resisting the crushing pressure for a moment before the light winked out and the wings full weight imbued with the ithox’s rage slammed into his legs.
Jem felt the moment his left ankle broke. A wave of nausea flooded through him overriding the sensation of his legs being pulped.
Detached he watched Karim jump forward and backhand the wing. A wave of force spread through the ithox’s body and it shattered.
Jem heard a couple of notifications, but he ignored them. He needed the pain to stop.
Jem reached for his bloodline core and activated the transformation. It had enough experience but not enough energy. His fat dissolved and flooded towards his core, and then his muscles shrunk. But it was enough. When sufficient energy gathered in his bloodline core, a wave of power flooded down his legs rebuilding bones, ligaments, veins and tendons as it went.
Oh, a point in toughness from damage smamage.
Jem lapsed into unconsciousness.
[Status] (Short)
Name: Jem Asterion
True Name:
Age: 21
– – – – –
Stats:
Vitality: 69 (+7.5%)
Wisdom: 140 (+7.5%)
Toughness: 61 (+7.5%)
Intelligence: 64 (+7.5%)
Strength: 65 (+7.5%)
Dexterity: 75 (+7.5%)
Unallocated Points: 8
– – – – –
Classes:
Starting Class: [The Lost Child S*] Lvl 21
Modifiers: [Uncapped], [+4 Stats(R)], [Enhance Class Skill: Emulate] and [Expert Skill Descriptions]
Stats Per Level: [All Stats +2], [Free Allocation: +4] and [Randomly assigned +4]
Class Skills 3/4: [Alcohol Immunity Lvl 0 (P)(L)], [Blade Dance Lvl 0 (P)] and [Emulate Lvl 0 (e)(L)]
Further Class Information Locked
– – – – –
General Skills 12/13: [Identify (E) Lvl 4], [Altered Presence (P)(L) (B) Lvl 3], [Damage Smamage (A) Lvl 1], [Stable Hoofing (C) Lvl 6], [Self Aware (D) Lvl 3], [Flame Retardant (P) (C) Lvl 6], [Thought Management(B) Lvl 1], [Lighting Resistance (P) (C) Lvl 5], [Attention Regulation(D) Lvl 2], [Unflinching (P) (D) Lvl 1], [Meditation (D) Lvl 0] and [Analyse Skill (D) Lvl 0]
– – – – –
System Presence: 1721