Elemental brawler

Chapter 2: first hunt

part 1

JB came out of the capsule and went to prepare his meals. Once swallowed, he did his housework then go in the shower. He practiced some physical exercises and stretching and then returned to the capsule. He entered it, closed the access, then launched the connection.

Cilerius reappeared near one of the gates of the city. He thought for a moment to verify if he forgot anything, then walked with a firm step towards the outside. This city of the West continent was for the most part, the playground of a multitude of small Western guilds. Therefore, there was no big Guild ruling on the region and therefore no tolls charged. It was a big advantage for beginners, but ultimately it was to be feared that this lack of organization would be fatal in the event of invasion. But in the immediate future, Cilerius had to appreciate the situation. He would not have to reserve, for guild taxes, part of his booty.

Once the door passed, he was able to discover the prairie which stretched between the wooded hills outside the walls. He could see the numerous groups of 3 to 6 per-sons in general who hunted. He noticed an area where there seemed to be no one in particular and walked to it. There, he thought:

'Well, now, it is necessary for me to try and train my new magical talents.'

In this mindset, he targeted a rabbit at a short distance and recited:

“ethers cripple my prey: magical Restriction!”

The rabbit was locked. Then Cilerius, toward the area where his prey was blocked, continued:

"From the Earth to mud, sand to stone and vice versa: alteration of soil!”

A small area, 50 cm in diameter, of prairie liquefied and rabbit sank a little in the mud. Satisfied with his essays, he continued:

"my feet are as light as the feather in the wind: wind walk."

This spell had no real use for this fight, but Cilerius wanted to both test and exercise it. Get to know oneself, there began the road to success. Then, he waited while walking in circles to time the duration of action of the various spells. Two steep in suspension were just what the wind walk allowed him for the first test. He immediately renewed the spell again and again, each time that the effect was waning. After 30 seconds, the rabbit began to move and attempted to emerge from the mud where he was entangled. Memorizing this result, Cilerius repeated the spell and the rabbit ceased to struggle. Whenever the restriction mustered, he renewed it. At the same time, he found no change on the altered ground and thus confirmed that the effect lasted for a very long time or until the cast of the same spell on the same area, thing he did and immediately, the mud froze, trapping the legs of the rabbit in the now dry land. Cilerius continued this repetition of three spells on the same rabbit, taking care, when finally he used nearly all of his mana, to block the rabbit in the earth before meditation. After an hour of this routine, he reached level 2 of each used spells, as well as in magic mastery, air and land elemental mastery, preservation of mana and meditation. This done, he decided to finish his Guinea pig:

“ether arrows pierce my enemy: Magic Missile!”

The tip of his index flashed and a little ball of light focused there, then it launched, in the form of a short ray of light, in the direction of the rabbit. Stuck, it could not but be struck without hope of escape. Normally, a wizard at this level ought to repeat 2 or 3 times this spell to kill a rabbit. However, the stats of Cilerius provided a surplus of damage which ended by a 1-shoot. Cilerius had a satisfied smile then targeted an-other rabbit who ran at short distance and repeated the same process as for the first. And even then. And again after, until he reached the beginner level 5 for the 7 used skills. He earned little experience and loot, but for now, his concern was to improve the mastery of basic spells. He took the time to cook the obtained rabbit meat, then, the night coming, braced for a much faster hunt. It was time to bump up mastery for other more offensive spells.

He threw a stone in the direction of a rabbit to get its attention, that com quickly, and he cast:

"the earth awakens and demands its due: mineral needles!” aimed at the area where should be the rabbit at the time assumed the spell activation. Obviously, the first test was not that conclusive, missing the target by more than one meter, the rabbit having been faster than expected and making leaps in his race. Cilerius had time to cast:

"may winds restrict my prey: Zephyr of restriction!”

A gust of wind got up and turned into a whirlwind enveloping the rabbit, totally disorienting it and wounding it slightly through particles, sand twigs and other herbs, borne on the wind. Cilerius took then distance between him and the rabbit and prepared to launch again the spell of Earth. The operation was repeated several times, until the estimates and reality meet and that needles touch the rabbit in his race. Only taken by the edge of the zone of action of the spell, it was not killed on the spot and Cilerius decided to finish it using his offensive spell of ice:

"cold grabs my prey: glacial Palm!” In his palm gathered a hand-like form of icy energy that went in a straight line toward the target. The rabbit, a paw impaled by mineral needles, was hit by the attack, appeared stunned a moment and then collapsed, stiff.

Cilerius continued the same pattern a long time, seeking to adapt his estimates to the behaviour of his prey while improving his mastery of the 3 spells. So that, in addition to his growing mastery, a new competence was created:

* Ding! your understanding of animal behavior allows you to better anticipate the actions of your prey. Acquisition of competence hunting, beginner 1. Lines of movement will appear in your sight. From expertise, the number of line will decrease and the accuracy of the trace will increase, including the ones responding to external events.

To use, this competence drew 6 more or less brilliant golden ribbons from the rabbit that he observed. These ribbons, 5 departing front and one towards the rear, were as brighter that the possibility of the movement of the prey in this path was great. The visible length of the ribbon seemed to indicate the distance which would be covered in a period of time.

' a skill that could be very interesting, but it will need training, otherwise, this assis-tance could be more a handicap, neutralizing my instinct. If I am to systematically rely on the highest probability, I would be tricked by the irrational behaviour and this could be very dangerous.'

Then he resumed his hunt, multiplying the trials and combinations. Thus, he realized that at low level, ice and fire spells married badly with the zephyr's restriction, because its powerful swirling dispersed their effect. Cilerius imagined, however, that at higher level, the combined effect could however be multiplied. Reluctance towards magic of Earth or air at the Academy of magic, had to come from a lack of diligence in the practice of combined spells. He continued his hunt, using all the spells in his book, even drawing nocturnal inflamed arabesques on the prairie with fire steeps. The performance in experience and loot remained low throughout a week while he only made raise his expertise in various skills. During the day, this resulted in a comical scene. Several groups of players, noticing his behavior and especially the speed to finish the prey once had decided it, were to recruit him:

"C'mon, go invite him, we will hunt much faster.”

“Hurry, I see others who look at him ".

"If we make him join, we can expand our hunting area and progress faster than oth-ers.”

Meanwhile, Cilerius stopped a rabbit and then ran toward to kick it like the clearance from soccer goalkeeper and send the rabbit in the air then targeted it with a spell of fire, burning it in the air. A charred body fell on the ground, while Cilerius burst in a great laugh, which in these circumstances, seemed very cruel.

"come back, he must be crazy."

"let's move away, we know not if it is contagious.”

“This is a psycho, if we associates with him, everyone will avoid us”

And all those who had seemed interested by him turned away and even wandered to avoid him seeks to join. For Cilerius who did not realize this behavior, this resulted in an expanded hunting area and bias looks when he left his hunting ground or re-turned.

"they must wonder how I became so strong" thought Cilerius, without realizing that he was building a bizarre reputation.

At evening, he posted himself at the gates of the city and then began to cook the meat that he had received from his hunting day. He obtained the desired effects: while cooking for himself, he attracted the olfactory attention of groups returning from their day of hunting. When a fair number of players had been thus baited, he began to shout:

"for a honest compensation, I cook your meat. Don't just eat rye bread. Sell no more your meat to then buy expensive bland rations. Benefit the fruit of your work and enjoy the product of your hunt! “

The assembled players looked at each other, wondering who would be the first to talk, then one of them decided:

"what is an honest compensation? ''

"the cost of seasoning, meaning two copper coins for the preparation that I propose, as well as one copper coins for the labor provided."

"it seems indeed honest, but what tells me that you're not going to just take my meat?''

"this could be a risk, but what use for such low income, to ruin my reputation? ''

"it's not wrong... here, cook me that, please" he said giving him a piece of rabbit and 3 copper coins.

Cilerius took it and put it in a pot, added a little bit of seasoning, then put all to heat. Finished, he gave the result to his first customer:

“bon appetit”.

“thank you”, and the player tasted the received stew. After a first cautious and curi-ous bite, he continued engulfing the rest as if he had not eaten anything for days. Having finished his stew, under the eyes of assistance, he opened his bag and asked:

"can you prepare me these pieces of meat?''

"of course, there is for 5 servings, this will do so 15 copper coins.

“here”, hastened to answer the client by drawing into his purse.

Assistance observed the scene with interest and then someone asked:

"was it so good? ''

"I would not say it was a 4 stars meal, but frankly, there is no photo with rye bread!”

And the rest of the players began to ready meat and copper coins, awaiting their turn.

Thus, Cilerius gathered a customer pool for his trade that, while failing to be very profitable, allowed him to slowly but surely increase competence of cooking. This first evening, it took him 3 hours to satisfy all present customers. Tidying up his material, he cried:

“my shop will open every evening from 7 till 9, see you tomorrow”

He didn't intend to do only that and in addition, it ensured so to have during this limited time slice, a maximum of work and thus to improve his competence fast. And indeed, every evening at the opening of his shop, a host of players was present to have their meat prepared. The increase in the number of clients and the compression in time to perform the work allowed him to increase his competence throughout the days. So after 2 weeks, it reached level 3 in cooking and 5 in handicraft. As a bonus, he acquired the ability to distill liquors, something that he immediately put into practice.

All these activities, did little to gain experience, so that after 4 weeks of all these activities combined Cilerius was still only lvl5. It was frankly very low if you only thought in terms of level, but it was ignoring the tedious work provided to increase his skills. Indeed, since long ago, Cilerius had found that one of the big problems of the moo's was that progression on low level was so fast that it was usually not possible to raise quickly enough the skills and that one reached high lvl, with skills of limited effectiveness compared to the then confronted opponents. Having spells that fizzled at high lvl, it was like to invite Death to have a drink. In fact, often, it was far more complicated to raise skills at higher level than if it had been gradually made so. The reverse was also true. Skills more proefficient than normal, gave at any level, advantages far from negligible. The few people who bothered to prepare so, were often confused with cheaters, because their powers were far more destructive in comparison with the other players of the same level.

Knowing this basic principle, it was not so amazing that JB, lover of effectiveness that he was, made Cilerius a perfectionist in all areas where he could.

That said, at lvl5, rabbits and other rodents did not result in effective skills raises anymore. He therefore sought prey from a higher level, the foxes. He observed a moment their behaviour, both when calm or in combat with players, and then, when he thought to have sufficiently learned their habits, he targeted one and began his usual assault, hold then targeting with his various offensive spells. All this while using the “utilities” spells and meditating. Foxes, or rabbits before them, never posed a serious problem to Cilerius. His mastery in the spells increasing, the destructive power of those increased and fights shortened, this even while he was taking his time. He also continued his habit of targeting in their race his future victims. In doing so, he further increased his hunting competence. So that upon reaching level 4 thereof, he received in addition a secondary skill: track.

Track: your knowledge of the prey now allows you to recognize and follow in, the footsteps of potential prey. Increased competence will let you track traces older and on less suitable grounds.

One more utilitarian skill, which properly used, could prove to be very interesting.

Hunting day and night, cooking at evening and sleeping in the morning, Cilerius quietly reached the lvl10 in 2 more weeks. Above all, he managed to reach level 10 in each of his magical mastery, transforming them into intermediate level 1, winning numerous small improvements in each of the competences. The more obvious was a marked improvement in the destructive power of the spells and their differentiation. For exemple, the arrow of ether could now be multiple, up to one by finger and be guided more precisely, until an equivalent at a right angle trajectory correction. His finger of fire him became a fireball that exploded on impact, adding further damage.

Late at night, when nobody was hunting nearby anymore, he tried yet variants, at-tracting his target by groups, circling them in the flames with his fire steep, then fin-ished them according to his inspiration, with one or other of his spells.

He subsequently attacked the wolves who learned quickly that it wasn't because he was alone that Cilerius was a prey for them. It was the opposite, they were prey hunted without any mercy by a man who left nothing to chance.

The level of these monsters in the direct vicinity of the city, not presenting a real challenge anymore, Cilerius approached the edge of the forest and began to attract some of its monsters. When he reached lvl15, he decided it was time to get looking for the golden key. His prey observation in general, of foxes in particular, proved so an asset because he could discern the behaviour of these when they succeeded in stealing an object. Indeed, instead of returning to the area in which they patrolled before, they fled into the forest. Cilerius then used track competence, following the trace of foxes to the forest then inside it. All tracks joined in one and headed off to the heart of the forest. Cautiously, Cilerius continued to follow the trail, attentive to his environment. He did not doubt that searching for the key would necessarily lead to face dangers probably otherwise more important than those encountered previously. He wasn't complaining, assuming that the quality of the reward depended on the difficulty of a quest.

The trail led him to a small clearing in the center of which it ended. At this point, other tracks converged and signs of battle remained. Cilerius stationed at the edge of the clearing, near which did not pass any track and he put himself on the lookout, hidden in a bush. It was finally after a wait of 3 hours that a fox exited the runway and came to stand in the center of the clearing. At this time, a noise came from the opposite side to where it was posted. The fox stood on his feet, a worried look on his face, but had no time to react when a gnoll arise. Gnolls are ferocious humanoids hyenas knowing how to fight with weapons. They are sometimes equipped with pieces of armor. The one running at this moment to the fox, wielding a club and was labeled: *young gnoll *.

The fox could only oppose symbolic resistance to the onslaught of the gnoll. At the fight ends, the *young gnoll* picked up its loots, including the object previously sto-len and carried by the fox, then turned heel and ran back from where it had come.

Cilerius spend a few minutes waiting as a precaution, then exited his bush.

‘This *young gnoll * must be approximately lvl20, seeing how he massacred the Fox. One would pose no problem, I think, but if I stumble on a pack or a more mature gnoll, this could be risky. For now, I will follow the trail and see where it leads me.’ This monologue completed, Cilerius began to stalk the young gnoll.

Carefully, he followed the trail left by the gnoll and after one hour of careful stalking, arrived near a burrow. Cilerius could spot the entrance at a distance of 100 m. Post-ed on both side of the entrance, 2 *gnolls guard*, apparently wearing a chainmail and armed with war-spears. It wasn’t possible to assess accurately their level, the only clue being that the level required to wear these chainmail, was 25. Carefully observing the surroundings, Cilerius eventually spotted several *gnoll scout*, dressed in leather tunics and armed with hunting-spears. These were posted between 50 and 150 m from the burrow entrance, more or less hidden, on the lookout. Cilerius counted 13 of them visible in the vicinity, but it was likely that they were on the entire area surrounding the burrow and near side entrances. So he set out to find additional sentries. It took him 2 hours to locate all of them as well as 2 secondary access, each of them guarded by a single *gnoll guard*. Having pointed the exact locations of every gnoll, be it static or on patrol, Cilerius could plan his assault. Not knowing the exact capabilities of his opponents, he had to make sure to fight only one at a time.

The fact that no information was available on these creatures was both a problem and a happy surprise. A problem because obviously, he would have to tackle mon-sters which he knew none capabilities. A happy surprise, because this meant that almost nobody had fought them and that certain benefits linked to their discovery could provide additional reward. Not to mention the value of this information if he unveiled it. He knew about the dark gamers system because of his preparatory re-search, therefore, he knew that information was a popular currency among them.

Cilerius selected for first prey, the *scout gnoll* both farthest from the other and nearest of the path by which he arrived. In the case of emergency, it was better to prepare an “exit door”. He waited then that patrollers themselves were all sufficiently distant and launched his attack.

First of all, attract prey away from others, to avoid the proxy agro during the fight. From the maximum distance, Cilerius casted:

“ether arrows pierce my enemy: Magic Missile!”

From each hand, 3 magic missiles left and went to pierce the *scout gnoll* who lost about a quarter of his life on this attack. It began to run towards its attacker but he was waiting for him.

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“the Earth awakens and demands its due: mineral needles!” The legs impaled by mineral needles, the *scout gnoll* let out a roar, was stopped and lost a further third of its life.

This first target was to serve as a guinea pig to test the possible elemental resistanc-es. Cilerius used so his 2 other offensive spells in attempt to finish it:

"Cold grabs my prey: Glacial Palm!”

But then, the *scout gnoll* life decreased only imperceptibly.

‘strong resistance to ice magic, good to know. May be due to its hard leather and fur’.

In addition to not having done significant damages, the spell of ice had released the *scout gnoll*, which now pressed forward on Cilerius, the lance in front.

With a stroke of his staff, Cilerius deflected the spear and then struck his assailant to the throat, half knocking him out, interrupting its breathing and stopping it completely in its assault. At point-blank range, he recited:

“the purifying fire burns my enemy: fire finger, double.” Two flames appeared at the end of his first and middle fingers and then, Cilerius reached out violently in the face of the gnoll shouting:

"fire fork fingers in the eyes!" and indeed, the *scout gnoll* was struck in the eyes by 2 burning fingers and was totally blind, losing even a quarter of his life, either that gnolls are particularly susceptible to fire or that the blow to the eyes was considered very harmful.

!Ding! you performed a special move. Do you want to register it as a new skill?

“Not yet” rapidly answered Cilerius, busy with his opponent and unsure of the benefit of a new skill for a special move.

His prey blinded, Cilerius finished it with his fists. When the *scout gnoll* collapsed an informative window popped:

!Ding! you killed a gnoll of the Pride Blood pack. Number of Pride Blood gnoll killed: 1

It was therefore a first, at least for this particular pack of monsters.

His prey had dropped a patched leather tunic and a hunting-spear. He picked up his loots, put them aside and then observed his environment to verify if the fight had attracted attention. On the negative, he approached and waited for a patrol to arrive to lure and kill it.

“Ether arrows pierce my enemy: Magic Missile!”

Again, the target lost about a quarter of his life and rushed at his assailant time, Cilerius waited it without launching another long range attack. This did not mean, however, that he was staying idle.

"May the mermaids protect me: Ice Shield" and a silver glow wrapped him.

When the *gnoll scout* was at no more than 3 meters, he cast:

“The purifying fire burns my enemy: Fireball.” He caught with his left hand, the spear that was going to impale him, deflected it while pulling backward, attracting nearer his target, and then violently threw his full palm of fire to its throat. The * scout gnoll * was hit fatally, his throat exploding and losing all what it had left of life.

End bearing and well-targeted, his action had been devastating. However, he had to take the precaution to protect himself to both prepare the prospective of the gnoll shots and especially damage induced by the close explosion of the fireball.

For a first, the experience was conclusive. The combination of a point-blank spell, preventing any form of dodge, and the aiming of a specific vulnerable part of the body, had produced phenomenal damage.

Cilerius picked up his loots and continued to kill in this same way the *gnoll scout*’s remaining. Time to massacre all of them, he won 3 level. Now only the *gnoll guard*'s were left, before he could access the burrow. He walked to one of the secondary entrances where only a gnoll was on guard and attacked cautiously. Good thinking, because actually, the * gnoll guard * seemed about lvl30. It took him 5 fireballs to eventually finish it, not to mention damage caused by mineral needles he used once in the guise of immobilization. This single kill earned him 25% of his level xp. The level difference was sufficient for four of these monsters kills to raise a level. He approached the position of 2nd solo guard and attacked it in the same way as the first, killing him and collecting also a quarter of level. Now came the pair of *gnoll guard*’s posted on both side of the main entrance.

After making sure that there were no other gnolls in close proximity, including in the burrow, Cilerius targeted gnoll on the right side and whispered:

"Earth awakens and demands its due: Mineral Needles!”

And then targeting the one on the left who was pressing forward towards him:

"May winds restrict my prey: Zephyr of Restriction!” He continued on the same target with a ball of fire. But rather than the vortex of wind dissipating the spell of fire as was the case previously, it turned into a tornado of flames, inflicting enormous damage to the prisoner gnoll at its center. When he pulled away, it had lost the 2 thirds of his life. A burst of magic missiles and a point-blank fireball finished the gnoll. Remained one, who still impaled by the soil, was quickly shot down. Thus, Cilerius reached the lvl19. He took his loots and then slipped into the burrow.

!Ding! you are the first to enter the Lair of the Pride Blood gnolls. Twice the xp and the loots for a week. Each first kill of a monster will give one of the rarer loot it carry.

It was confirmation that Cilerius was the first to enter this dungeon.

Until then, Cilerius had been able to fight one opponent at a time and his expertise in certain competence as well as substantially higher than normal stats had allowed him to compete favorably with monsters up to 10 level higher than him. In a dungeon, it was common that monsters cam in groups and that in addition, trigger agro if fighting were not well carried out. It is therefore with great circumscription that he went forth in the burrow, controlling his steeps to do the least possible noise, sliding a look in the corners before committing further.

He eventually lead to a widening of the corridor in which 4 gnolls were posted. There were a *gnoll guard*, a *gnoll shaman*, a *gnoll evoker* and a *young gnoll*. The combination was dangerous and required to shoot targets with speed and in a specific order. Cilerius thoroughly established the sequence of his actions. An accurate preparation could often prevent a chaotic situation. Fortunately, the 4 gnolls were quite close to each other and could all be targeted simultaneously by mineral needles given his actual mastery for this spell. In addition to restrict the move of the target, the zephyr's restriction also strongly inhibited its motion, a small non-trivial benefit compared to the magical restriction, because this could greatly impede casts of spells for one who was stuck inside. Cilerius still threw a quick glance to make sure the position of every gnoll, took a deep breath then overstepping the corner of the corridor began to chant, targeting the center of the area where were the 4 gnolls:

"Earth awakens and demands its due: Mineral Needles!”

His 4 targets had been impaled, but the *gnoll guard* had only a single leg pierced by a needle and already began to break free. Time was pressing.

"May winds restrict my prey: Zephyr of Restriction!” The *gnoll evoker* was the first targeted, because his spells may be really devastating if it was not partly neutralized.

"May winds restrict my prey: Zephyr of Restriction!” In turn, the *gnoll shaman* was targeted. Cilerius continued on the same gnoll:

“The purifying fire burns my enemy: Fireball.” Then advising that the *gnoll guard* finally broke free:

"From Earth to mud, sand to stone and vice versa: Alteration of Soil!” On the area between the prey and him. The *gnoll guard*, free at last, began to move in his direction but sank into quicksand that came to form and could no longer move but only very slowly. Cilerius returned his attention to the *gnoll shaman* and casted a second time his fire spell. From the first swirl, he saw coming in his direction, an ice spell. Despite an attempt to dodge, he was hit on the left arm, losing 5% of his life and feeling numbness invade the affected limb.

"May the mermaids protect me: Ice Shield" It was to prevent the risks associated with other spells that the *gnoll evoker* may happen to cast in its situation.

A golden glow shone inside the other whirl. The *gnoll shaman* was clearly trying to heal itself. Cilerius casted a 3rd ball of fire on him then renewed his zephyr, which rekindled the tornado of fire. The *gnoll shaman* finally collapsed, defeated.

Other spells emerged from the first tourbillon, coming sometimes bounce on his spell of reflection, sometimes damages being only reduced. He casted a ball of fire on the *gnoll evoker* then renewed the zephyr, amplifying there also, the effects of the fire tornado. Meanwhile, the *young gnoll* had also broke free from the needles and was bypassing the sandy area. The *gnoll guard* was at no more than 5 m of our wizard explorer.

Cilerius, not letting himself distracted by the 2 melee gnolls that were closing to him, focused to finish the *gnoll evoker*, something he secured with 2 additional fire balls, just at the moment when the *gnoll guard*, arrived within reach, attempted to strike with its war-spear. Busy to finish the previous monster, Cilerius could only imperfectly prevent the strike and suffered a slash on the left flank. Cumulative damage caused him to lose 25% of his life up to now, but he now had to deal with 2 gnolls. It was now hand-to-hand combat, he would be able to judge the effectiveness of his preparation at the training hall.

Taking advantage of his physical strength, Cilerius tackled the *gnoll guard* manag-ing to topple it to the ground. He put himself in mounted position to immobilize it and struck it with all his strength. The gnoll, on the ground could no longer use his weapon or strength, but scratched, hit and tried to bite. Cilerius decided to finish his opponent and casting his protection spell then the fireball, thump it on the *gnoll guard*, powerless to avoid it in the position where it was. Its head exploded. Cilerius had still lost 45% of life into this fray, a lesser evil given his blatant disadvantage in this figure case, if one only look to his profession.

Remained to manage the *young gnoll* who in the meantime had arrived, wielding his club. Standing in one movement, Cilerius escape without problems the vertical movement of his enemy and used his unfair fighting technique, "fire fingers fork", blinding the gnoll. He had then only to hit as if it were a scarecrow, the gnoll could only try to hit randomly. It was so molested that it was reduced to the status of a mass of sores and bumps.

Cumulated xp made him gain another level and a half, passing to level 21 and 15% in this one. He picked up his loots and then sat down, pulling his bandages from his bag, undertook to treat his wounds. While he was grooming himself, he reflected on his previous fight. It was perilous, very acute... as long as one of his spells had missed, it would have been probably compelled him to 24 hours of pause, not to mention the loss of lvl and expertise in skills. Obviously, it would not be possible to continue this way. He should wait to be higher level, which would be wasting time and therefore the opportunity to take advantage of the bonus of discovering the dun-geon, or recruiting assistance, which would require him to share the fruits of his dis-covery and to lose the exclusivity on the information he had collected.

As often with JB, it was facing that kind of dilemma that he showed the most creative. Reflecting on the behavior of monsters, to his environment, he sought a solution when he noticed the area that he had transformed rock in sand previously. A plan began to sprout in his mind, pushing him to form a Machiavellian smile. Sadistic, that one word could describe what was Cilerius thoughts at this time. From the plan to the execution, there were a lot of preparations. Having recovered all his life, he headed for the exit, checked that the gnolls were not yet reappeared, then left quickly in the direction of the city. There, he quickly sold his minor loots and then went and bought some supplies. He purchased additional bottles, oil, rope, a shovel and a pickaxe. He also made a tour to the tailor stall, where, thanks to his high handicraft competence, he could learn basic tailoring skill. This done, he bought needles and thread in quantity. His purchases completed and evening arriving, he walked to the forest where he spotted many conifers. He practiced in diagonal notches on their trunks, which joined all at a point where he fixed bottles with drain that ranged from the trees cuts to the bottles neck. This DIY finished on around 20 trees, he returned to the gates of the city where, as every evening, he was expected. He installed his skewer, since he could now decently roast meats, prepared his fire and put in place a collecting dish for the fat that would discharge its contents in a bottle. The crowd surrounding did not lent attention to this last detail, rejoicing already for the grilled meat that they were going to enjoy. His installation done, he cried:

"tonight, roasted and grilled meat, seasoning 3 copper coin and preparation 2 copper coins, take advantage of new flavors!”

This slight inflation did not interfere with the regulars who thought first and foremost with their stomach. And during 2 hours, he prepared the meat from hundreds of players. So that when the closing of his improvised rotisserie cam, clients were satisfied and him the same, having made a little more important profit than previous days and as a bonus, he filled out 25 bottles of melted animal fat. He ended up packing his material and then left, as each evening, to his hunting area. However, after checking several times if he was followed, he veered off towards the forest. He recovered the bottles that he had set up on the trunks of conifers, now full of resin and replaced them. He then began to cut branches of conifers and other hardwood. Each had its own usefulness in his plan. Then he tanned the skins that he had collected during his first hunts and stitched several together to make a large surface. This work made him only marginally gain expertise in tailoring skill, but that wasn't the goal for now. These preparations completed, he walked to the entrance of the gnolls burrow. Stopping at reasonable distance, he was able to find that all gnolls, scouts and guards, were returned. He thought about he would he have to establish the time of re-spawn in the future, in order to not be taken aback. He did again a thorough cleaning of the surroundings of the burrow, both to break a passage and for the experience and loots these monsters meant. So upon entering the burrow for the 2nd time, he had won 2 more level, reaching the lvl23 and 52%.

Cilerius penetrated in the burrow, without hesitation toward the position of the first group of gnolls. However, he stopped at a certain distance and began to apply what he had planned. In a narrowing of the corridor, he targeted the central area of the ground and chanted:

"From earth to mud, sand to stone and vice versa: Alteration of Soil!” The floor of the tar-geted area had become sand. He took his shovel and started to dig, removing sand from the area and pile it on the sides, where the ground had not been transmuted. After emptying from its sand the bowl 30cm deep thus formed, he got out and, target-ing the same area, then repeated the same spell and began to shovel again. Be-tween 2 operations of digging, he targeted the pile of sand on the sides and using his spell, the re-turned into rocks. Thus, it reduced the width of the corridor space in which he dug his pit. Because it was a trench he was digging. At the 4th time he repeated his operation, the pit reached 1 m 50 deep. Before continuing, he made, using rope and branches of hardwood trees, a ladder in order to get out the next time. It would have been silly to remain stuck to the bottom of the pit. This was 2 hours that he was shoveling when 3 events occured almost simultaneously. The first 2 were not surprising:

! ding! You earn 1 point of strength. The constant physical work you did trained your strength.

! ding! You earn 1 point of endurance. Constant efforts improves your endurance to the effort.

The 3rd was more surprising:

! ding! New skill, mining: digging soil allows you access to the minerals it contain. The expertise increasing, you can discover rare ores and dig more effectively.

It was still an unexpected benefit. Certainly, Royal Road well incorporated the princi-ple of: it is by forging that one becomes a blacksmith. In other words, practice make the skill. Anyone who started in a manual activity, as long as some prerequisites are fulfilled, could develop a competence which he did not necessarily had access ac-cording to his profession.

At the end of 4 hour work, he managed to create a pit 3 m 50 deep. He coated the bottom with branches of conifers and then went up. On the sides of the pit, at ground height and on the exterior side of the burrow , he practiced 2 small holes. Then, he took a long hardwood branch and wedged it across the pit in the 2 holes made previously. He set then, perpendicular, other branches that he cut to make just the width of the pit. He consolidated this structure with some transversal and diagonal branches, then got the great skin that he had made earlier and the set it on this structure. On the unstuck side, he set a rope on each side in order to move this structure. He did go back on the interior side of the burrow, and prepared several points of support which should be able to withstand a little bit more than the weight of the structure, which indeed proved to be a hatch. With the ropes, he did tip the hatch to him and laid it in place. Then, he spread a thin layer of sand, that he had taken care to keep in anticipation, on the hatch to hide it. When he had finished his work, an event window is opened:

! ding! New skill, trap manufacturing: by your careful preparation, you learned to cre-ate traps. The expertise increasing, you can prepare more complicated and more efficient traps and faster. Prerequisites: skills hunting and stalking.

Cilerius hesitated between smile and wince. Indeed, he rejoiced to learn new and with interesting potential skills, but he also imagined the efforts that he would have to bear in order to raise them at a level that would make them effective. Many skills to advance, he would have to plan for everything.

His trap completed, he found himself on the wrong side. He just had to test the meth-od that he intended to use later:

"My feet are as light as the feather in the wind: Wind Walk." and he walked on the hatch whitch didn’t yield under his steps as light as a feather as long as the spell was ac-tive. Without additional charge, he could now do a thousand steps in this manner before the spell fades. Being ensured that it would work as expected, he walked away on tiptoe to the first group of gnolls. Its composition was identical to the first time and would therefore put as much problem as before if he had attacked conventionally. Taking advantage that they all turned their backs, he stepped a little beyond the corner to see what there was further. He saw another group of 6 gnolls approximately 100 m further than the first. In addition to the 50 m that separated him from the first group, they were just in range with his current expertise. He reflected a moment on how to attract them all, but especially in group. Then he decided to try a method.

"May the mermaids protect me: Ice Shield", he took the precaution to protect himselve before attacking this time.