The darkness around my consciousness slowly receded. The sensation of my bruised and bloodied body sharply took the place of the emptiness that I had feared would never pass. The image of the behemoth boss barreling at me dominated my thoughts. Sharp spikes lanced in my chest as I took deeper breaths, several bones cracked. Thankfully, none appeared to be too broken as I raised myself to my elbows. Dirt and caked earth clung to my back as I propped myself up. I must have been thrown into one of the mounds as the boss monster blew into me, though I couldn’t remember exactly what had happened.
My head ached, a pounding monsoon of a migraine splitting my skull. A raised hand found an absence of blood thankfully. Trying to come to my knees was wasted as my vision swam when I tried to get up. It would be some long minutes before would try that again. The thick layer of gunk plastered my body, mostly on my backside, but the impact must have been so powerful that it was as if I had been rained on by the viscous mix of mud and dirt. Clearing as much of the disgusting stuff from my front, I was greeted by Stella floating down to my face, her expression a mix of worry and relief.
In my daze, I had forgotten about her so jerked back in surprise at her canine features so close to my face. Sadly, the motion slammed the back of my head back into the destroyed pile I was laying back against.
“Sorry,” Stella said with a soft tone. “I wanted to be sure you were alright. I had thought you might have been killed by her last attack.”
The pain in my head spiked once more at my struggles to at least come to a sitting position, and a muffled grunt escaped my lips.
“You need to heal yourself,” Stella said, her worry lessening as she glided around my head. “You had a couple of ticks of your regen spell remaining after the boss collided with you, but it has since worn off.” Stella’s eyes glowed white for the briefest of moments before she continued, “I sense multiple internal injuries, you have internal bleeding so your natural regeneration is barely keeping you alive. You need to cast another healing spell on yourself and stop the internal bleeding.”
The words barely registered in my addled mind. Still, after several long moments, her words reached me and I tried to focus enough to cast my spell. My hands clunkily responded to my commands and the words to the spell fumbled inside my skull. I couldn’t cast the spell and my health bar was growing lower. With a flash of red at the edge of my vision, it became dangerously low.
“Help,” I could barely muster the word as I brought my hand up to my lips while mentally calling forward a healing potion. I knew I was in no condition to cast a spell at the moment, but a healing potion might get me over that hurdle. The bottle formed in my hands but instantly slipped through my numb fingers. Stella moved to help, her canine arms grasping around the potion. With her help, I was able to stabilize my hand enough and keep it from falling. Stella bit down on the cork, tugging it out before spitting it to the side. I finally had a firm enough grip on the small glass vial and, with Stella’s assistance, was able to bring it to my lips.
The liquid splashed past my lips, some of the healing fluid running down my chin, but I was able to get a large enough swallow. The instant it reached my throat, healing power radiated outwards. When it touched my stomach, that power swelled and propelled my health points up by close to fifty points. My eyes closed as the warmth helped soothe the countless aches throughout my body. It wasn’t enough, but it dulled the migraine enough that I could focus enough to pull another bottle out. It was quickly downed along with the last.
When both potions had run their course, the words of my regeneration spell formed far easier in my mind. Sitting up, my hands waved in arcane patterns as the matching syllables called forth the healing magic. It completed and the radiant magic coursed into my body, knitting torn flesh, and mending cracked bones. In short order, my health was topped off though lingering phantom pain kept me on my butt.
“Thanks, Stell,” I said as my migraine finally faded to a distant memory. “Clearly, I’m alive, but… when I saw her charging towards me, I felt my end milliseconds away. I should be dead.”
“You nearly were,” Stella said with a shake of her small head. “You were just able to cast your minor deflecting shield in that last instant. Had your spell been a fraction of a moment too late, you would be.” Stella moved and rested on my legs. Her weight brought a sense of comfort and ease with it. She chuckled, “You should probably rename it ‘oh shit, please-save-my-life shield.’”
My mind went back to the moment of impact. The bulky and grotesque body of the boss inches away, the flare of red magic surrounding her body blazing in my vision. I had wanted to cast the spell, had tried calling to it, but… it was like I hadn’t been fast enough. Like my mind had been too slow to call upon the magic in that desperate moment. “I don’t think I actually called the spell,” I said as my eyes narrowed at the memory. “I mean, clearly the spell came forth to save me by the smallest of margins, but…”
My eyes moved to Stella with worry playing across my face, “I didn’t… How did… How am I alive?”
“You must have had just enough time, there’s no almost no other way. Her charge would have been enough to end you considering where your health pool was at,” Stella answered, though I could hear the same doubt in her voice that I was feeling. Something had happened. Something had spared my life though I had no idea what it was or why it happened.
“You’re alive,” Stella said in a sure tone. “So, let’s be thankful and keep going, yeah?”
I couldn’t argue with that. “So, after she crashed through me and my shield spell, what happened next? I only remember pain and darkness after that.”
“Well, Risqué turned back to you, looked to be able to do something… then just dropped dead. Just like that, it was as if every bone in her body turned to jelly. If you want, your damage notification log will show the last ticks of your spell as it finishes her off.”
I did indeed have damage notification pending if I so desired, along with several other messages that were flashing to grab my attention, though I wasn’t interested in going through them yet. Instead, I brushed myself off and got to my feet. Thankfully, I was able to dislodge most of the gunk that clung to my clothes though I was sure my back had several layers of the stuff that I couldn’t reach. Time would take care of that crap.
Finding my axe nearby, I returned it to my inventory and turned to find the matriarch’s corpse. It had to have some loot that would make that intense battle worth it, I hoped. It didn’t take long as the path of her final charge was longer than any other before it. She was lying face down with her four legs splayed to the side. The magical swords she had conjured were nowhere to be seen, sadly, though I wasn’t surprised as it seemed to have been a quick duration spell when she used it in our fight.
The notifications in the corner of my vision were still blinking at me, though for a moment the message seemed to grow brighter and more insistent. It was almost as if the message was demanding my attention without delay. “Weird,” I said to myself before turning to my companion. “Stella, there’s a notification that I swear the Game’s system wants me to open sooner rather than later. Would it be a bad thing to ignore it?”
“Yup, that can happen, depending on the importance of the message. I wouldn’t advise ignoring that when it happens. Sometimes, it can indicate something important is about to happen so putting it off could lead to bad times.” Stella floated over to the deceased boss, holding a paw to her nose, her other creeping closer as if she was about to touch the blubbery flesh, “Now that you’re awake, the system knows you have the opportunity to review it.”
“Gross, Stella. Don’t touch that, you’ll go blind,” I jested.
Stella looked at me with a coy smirk before moving ever so slowly, the tip of a toe touching the body of the boss. Stella twirled her head like a princess before noticing a glob of the gnoll fluid had transferred at the gentle touch. She looked down, confused, before jumping around in disgust as she vainly tried to fling the goop off herself. I tried not to laugh at her unfortunate situation, but couldn’t hold myself back.
“Told you,” I said smugly before shaking my head. Taking Stella’s advice, I mentally clicked on my notifications and was absolutely bombarded with notifications.
Congratulations! You have earned a new achievement, “Lucky Bastard.” You should be dead, yet, against all odds you are still breathing. In a moment of final desperation, with a mountain bearing down upon you, you called out for aid. Something answered. You have shown yourself to have the potential for one of the greatest Hunters this Game has ever known, so the Game itself responded. Please know that this achievement is rarely earned and never given to the same Hunter again. You have potential, but will you live up to that measure? Only time and your determination will tell. Good luck, Hunter!
Experience awarded!
Your Luck attribute has been increased by a significant amount! Luck plus 15!
Luck Threshold Reached. Benefits: Plus 5% increased chance to find hidden treasures and extra rewards.
“Damn, that’s a nice reward,” I said with excitement. “Though, if I hadn’t been doing so well, it sounds like the system wouldn’t have intervened.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Well, I’m glad it did,” Stella huffed. “It would have been too short for the likes of us. We’ll simply need to be more careful and grow stronger, a lot stronger, as quickly as we can.”
Nodding in agreement, I looked to Stella. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come close like that, at least for a really long time. And, about growing stronger? I’m pretty sure we’re about to get some levels from completing this nightmare of a quest, so we’ve got that going for us.” Sure enough, the messages continued coming, one after another.
Experience Awarded: Defeating Corpulent Gnoll Matriarch “Risqué the Massive” (Level 14 - Rare Boss).
Congratulations! You have successfully completed the quest ‘Cave of the Twitching Stalkers.’
Objective One: 18 of 18 Twitching Gnolls defeated.
Object Two: “Risqué the Massive” defeated.
Calculating Rewards…
Notice! Quest rewards have been increased due to completion with only a single party member.
You earned 6,000 experience points (Base 4,000).
Congratulations! You have earned a hidden quest reward, +2 to all Attributes.
Wisdom Threshold Reached. Benefits: Plus 5% increased mana regeneration and magical resistances.
Congratulations! You have earned a quest reward, Axe Skill Book: ‘Roaring Sweep.’
Your reputation with the village, Nemmil, has substantially increased for defeating all Twitching Gnolls.
Level Up! You have earned enough experience to advance to level seven and eight. Tier 1 class characteristic attributes have been applied. You have 14 attribute points to distribute. Fight well, Hunter! Let none stand in your path, nor lay their filthy hands on you again!
Note – Having reached level 7, you are able to choose a new class-appropriate spell. Please connect with your accelerator for details. This option becomes available again when you attain level 9.
Those gains were amazing, to say the least. Gaining two whole levels would certainly boost my survivability to future potential. Our efforts were being rewarded, though that final batter was far closer than I would have hoped for. Now, though, I was happy to grow stronger and looked forward to the next battle. My eyes lit up at the mention of a new skill book, and a new spell to choose, but additional system messages awaited me.
Skill: Stealth has increased to level 5. Spell: Lesser Boil Blood has increased to level 6. Spell: Minor Flamethrower has increased to level 4. Spell: Minor Shielding has increased to level 3. Spell: Minor Regen has increased to level 4. Skill: Axe has increased to level 4. Spell: Minor Deflecting Shield has increased to level 4.
After the skill gains, the next notification I received was a surprising one. Reading the message, I recalled I had barely looked at the reputation section within my character page. Apparently, I was becoming somewhat popular.
Reputation Achievement: You have reached over 5,000 views. Wow, look at you go! All popular, with over five thousand views and still within your first 24 hours. Impressive. Most Impressive.
Congratulations! You have been rewarded by the System based on the contributing factor that has recently increased your viewership. You have received +2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence. Lesser Boil Blood has been increased by 1 level.
Spell: Lesser Boil Blood has increased to level 7.
“Well, that is certainly welcomed,” I said with a bit of surprise of tone in my voice. I had forgotten that reputation achievements were a thing, so I was curious how long those would last. The notification indicated about being within the first twenty-four hours, of becoming a Hunter I didn’t double, so perhaps they would disappear soon. While I didn’t approve of the Game and Hunter’s looking to make playthings out of its residents, I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth for getting rewarded for doing what needed to be done.
The next task would be to figure out where to put my fourteen new attribute points that came with these two levels. First, I needed to see where I was so I pulled up my attributes.
Strength: 15.
Dexterity: 17.
Constitution: 31 (*).
Intelligence: 32 (*).
Wisdom: 12.
Charisma: 12.
Luck: 29 (*).
“Hey Stell, why does constitution, intelligence and luck have those asterisks again? I thought those messages popped up automatically now?” I recalled seeing that small symbol back when two of my attributes had first reached the ten-point threshold, but after that the bonuses displayed showed up without my input being needed.
“Yes, that’s how it works, but for the first time you reach a new threshold you have to manually open it.” Stella’s reply made sense, though I wondered why I hadn’t noticed it earlier. Too busy fighting and trying to not die, I shrugged. “Fortunate for you, you’re getting both the twenty and thirty thresholds for constitution and our intelligence. Data come at you for each. Luck is coming your way too, but just the twenty-point update. You’re a single point away, so maybe put a point there to get the next threshold when you complete the level-up.”
Constitution Threshold Reached (20). Benefits: Each new point into Constitution now grants 20 health (up from 10).
Constitution Threshold Reached (30). Benefits: Each new point into Constitution now grants 25 health (up from 20).
Intelligence Threshold Reached (20). Benefits: Each new point into intelligence now grants 20 mana (up from 10).
Intelligence Threshold Reached (30). Benefits: Each new point into Intelligence now grants 25 mana (up from 20).
Luck Threshold Reached (20). Benefits: Plus 10% increased chance to find hidden treasures and extra rewards(up from 5%).
“Oh, hell yeah,” I was ecstatic and quickly pulled up my new health and mana totals. Those two bonuses combined should skyrocket both to new heights.
Health: 425. Mana: 450. Stamina: 230
“Yeah, that’s a very nice increase to both. Stamina is a little behind, but should jump similarly when both Strength and Constitution are above the twenty-point threshold,” Stella said next to me.
“So, let’s take care of that,” I muttered as reviewed my attribute points. “Fourteen points available feels like a lot… But what will give me the most right now?” I pondered the thought for a pair of minutes, Stella letting me mull over things in my head without interruption. “Okay, I’m thinking of putting five points into strength to help with my stamina, though I don’t put it into action much right now. I do love using my axe though.”
I continued, “Then at least one into luck to get the thirty-point threshold. Finally, the last bit into constitution and intelligence, though more into intelligence as I don’t want to run out of mana in a prolonged battle. I’m thinking six into intelligence and the last two into constitution, what do you think?” I had been tempted to put some points into Dexterity but considering the last battle I preferred more mana and life. Without a word about my choice from Stella, I finalized my decision.
Congratulations! Strength and Constitution are both above the twenty-point threshold. Stamina has increased by plus 200 points.
“Better than I was hoping for,” I smiled. “Nice!”
Luck Threshold Reached (30). Benefits: Plus 15% increased chance to find hidden treasures and extra rewards (up from 10%).
Happy with the increases, I closed my character sheet with one final glance at my new resource pool totals.
Health: 475. Mana: 625. Stamina: 470.
Having a larger health pool meant that I would be far more durable than before the last battle. I would be able to take two perhaps three of the boss’s most powerful attacks. Combined with my new intelligence score, my regeneration spell, well actually all of my spells, would be that much stronger. I enjoyed the balance that I was building, safety and firepower. Like a glass cannon, but having replaced the glass with tempered, shatter-resistant glass. I grinned at the thought.
Stella eyed my smile and asked, “Something funny over there, chief?”
“Oh, just enjoying the improvements we just got,” I replied. “Have you ever heard of a glass cannon?” Stella only shook her head, apparently never hearing the expression. I shrugged, “Being a glass cannon means you can deal out a great deal of punishment, but shatter at the first touch. I’m like that, just far stronger than your typical glass. Oh, never mind.” At least it made sense to me, I thought.
There was another set of notifications waiting to be reviewed, but it wasn’t flashing urgently like before, so I decided to first loot the boss. From the notifications that first came through, I knew this last group was about choosing a new spell for my class, but depending on what the boss dropped, it could impact whatever choices were presented. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to see the new spells, but loot… loot was something altogether enticing in its own right.
Walking over to her bloated corpse, I had to consciously not try to breathe in. Whatever stench wafted off her body was growing fouler by the second, almost as if she was rapidly decaying before our eyes. Not only that, but the adrenaline goo was solidifying rapidly while also turning a shade of yellow. “What a disgusting creature. I hope we never have to run into one of these again,” I said willing her loot window to appear before me.
Congratulations! You have found {Initiate Necromancer’s Furtive Hood of Servitude}
{Initiate Necromancer’s Furtive Hood of Servitude}. Quality: Well-crafted. Rarity: Rare. Type: Cloth. Slot: Head. Durability: 1000/1000. Armor: 6. Effect(s): Plus 3 Intelligence, plus 2 Charisma. All pets and summoned creatures last 33% longer and deal an additional 10% damage. Secondary Effect(s): The wearer’s face is hidden behind shadows upon command until canceled.
The hood was made of a dark, shadowy material that appeared to pull in ambient light. The effect was eerie and made it difficult to discern any identifiable features of the cowl. For instance, I could feel the stitching that held the cloth together but couldn’t see it no matter how I held the hood. The hood was incredibly lightweight and had a texture that reminded me of velvet. When I equipped it, the hood connected seamlessly to my cloak, looking as if both had always been that way.
With a thought, a barely perceptible shadow dropped over my face. My sight and vision were not impacted in the slightest, but Stella quickly shared that even a foot away from my face she couldn’t make out who I was. With some quick testing, I discovered the ability could be turned on and off at will, nearly instantaneously too.
“Wow, that’s really cool. I know there’s a face there and, even though I know it’s you, I wouldn’t be able to say what you look like. Can I have it?” Stella asked with her tail wagging gently behind her.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I would look awesome in a hood. Plus, can you imagine me, all sinister-like, with people not being able to tell I’m really a dog? Hah, that’d be something.”
I raised an eyebrow at her, “They… wouldn’t be able to tell you’re a dog? Really?”
Stella looked embarrassed like she had been caught doing something incredibly adorable. “Well, perhaps with more than just the hood. Maybe we’ll find the whole set,” She exclaimed, clearly hoping for the best possible outcome.
“For now, you can have it when we next find an upgrade. How about that?”
Stella responded so fast, my question had barely escaped my lips, “Deal!”
Chuckling at Stella’s innocence, I turned off the hood’s secondary effect for the time being. We were going to be approaching another settlement soon, at least I thought so based on the earlier system message, so it probably wouldn’t be good if I arrived with my face hidden in shadows.
“I love it,” I rubbed my hands together and turned a mischievous grin towards Stella. “Now, what are my spell choices for reaching level seven?”