As soon as Jasper stepped completely into the circle, he felt a warm comfortable feeling cover his entire body. The warmth entered his body seeping into his veins, muscles, and bones. As Jasper sank into the feeling the warmth gradually turned into an itch. He sank to his knees as the itch grew in strength ripping at his clothes and screaming in agony as an almost mind-breaking itch continued its work. Soon a yellow and green sludge began beading on his skin and being drawn toward the shield that surrounded him on all sides. As soon as the disgusting mixture hit the shield it immediately vaporized.
More and more sludge poured out of him, and as it did the itching slowly started to withdraw leaving him with just the warm pleasant feeling he’d had when he first entered the circle. Once he’d calmed down from the experience, he checked his notifications again.
NOTICE: You have imbued Runic Ambulance with mana at 10% proficiency. +100 XP. +2 Magic. +1 Control. +0.01% Imbue Runes skill.
LEVEL UP! +1 All stats!
NOTICE: You have recovered from the status effect radioactive x3. +3 Vitality.
NOTICE: You have recovered from the status effect poison x2. +2 Vitality.
A lot seemed to have happened in a short period of time, and Jasper couldn’t help but smile at his gains. It was his first level up so of course he had to check his stat sheet.
JASPER CARTWRIGHT LEVEL 1 STATS
STRENGTH: 11
VITALITY: 15
DEXTERITY: 12
CREATIVITY: 11
MAGIC: 18
CONTROL: 17
His magic stat was definitely his highest stat now, which was definitely exciting, but he couldn’t help but wonder why his control hadn’t gone up as much. His physical stats had gone up as well, but he didn’t feel much stronger. “You learned this in school you won’t notice much until you break the mortal limit on physical stats.” Jasper thought. Most people learned about physical stats in school because everyone seemed to have those from the moment, they received a class.
Jasper closed out his status window and looked around the inside of the barrier. The notification had called this a Runic Ambulance. Jasper wasn’t sure what an ambulance was, but he did know that it removed his status effects and most likely saved his life. Even now he could feel the ambulance working on him to improve his health and as he watched his health bar it ticked up slowly but surely as well. He let out a small chuckle and silently thanked Pirka for her gift.
“Does this thing do anything else?” Jasper wondered aloud. He knelt to take a closer look at the runes that encircled the outer edge of the ambulance and went to touch one. As he did, he felt a little jolt of power from it but aside from that, nothing happened. He went and touched each one, but aside from the same jolt nothing happened. “Maybe it has something to do with how low my proficiency is?” Jasper wondered before pausing and facepalming. “I’ve only been abandoned out here for?” He checked the time. “A little over 8 hours!”
Jasper composed himself once more before he continued. “I’ve got to stop talking to myself already. I’m pretty sure it’s a sign of insanity, and I haven’t been out here long enough to go insane yet.” He paled at the thought that there was a chance that he could wind up going crazy one of these days being alone out here. Would he even know when it happened? Or would it just seem like a normal day talking to his buddy the wind? Jasper didn’t know for sure, but he did know that if he wanted to find out he’d need to survive long enough to make friends out of the wind.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that one of the runes had stopped glowing. The barrier got slightly smaller and as more minutes passed by other runes began blinking out. “My Journal, this seems like something I should probably make a note of.” Jasper instinctually activated Summon Journal, and a small silver book with thousands of runes carved into its cover appeared in front of him. It was only then that he realized he had nothing to write with. “The gods wouldn’t give me a journal without a pen, would they? Please tell me they wouldn’t.” Jasper grabbed the book in his hand and opened it, but when he attempted to flip the page, it wouldn’t budge.
Unfortunately, no matter how much he tilted, flipped, tapped, or spoke to the book no writing tools appeared. “Writing tools huh?” His errant thought made him consider his final skill and he face-palmed for the second time today. “Summon Tool Belt.” He said out loud exasperatedly. What appeared wasn’t what he expected. Instead of strictly a belt with a couple of pouches for holding tools it was a single leather bandelier. Within the bandelier was a silver pen with a crystalline tip. When he thought about pulling it out the pen floated out on its own towards the book, and as Jasper spoke the book took a spot floating along with it.
“From what I can tell, my Imbue Runes skill only lasts for the amount of time that equates to how much Magic I put inside it. As the magic fades whatever ability, the runes create loses its power. The control I’m able to exhibit in regard to imbuing runes with magic affects the proficiency of the item. So, based on what I’m witnessing, and pure guesswork with more magic and control this runic ambulance could have more abilities that I haven’t unlocked yet. Record runic pattern Runic Ambulance.” As he spoke those last words the pen worked in a frenzy as it sketched the entire design on what was now just the same circular rock that had come with him down to the surface.
NOTICE: You have used Summon Journal to increase your understanding of rune crafting. The information detailed is 25% correct. +250 XP. +2 Magic. +1 Control. +0.03% Summon Journal skill.
NOTICE: You have used Summon Toolbelt to practice a runic pattern. Runic patterns practiced inside Summoned Journal do not count towards class experience due to not being able to replicate the effect.
LEVEL UP! +1 All stats!
With a thought Jasper made the book, the pen, and the bandelier disappear, smiling to himself. He decided it was time to get going. Although the ambulance was great for recovering from status effects it didn’t count as real shelter. He also needed to find a weapon, some kind of water source, and food of course. As soon as he thought about food Jasper’s stomach began to growl, which startled him. The last time he’d eaten was last night before he’d even gotten his class. Jasper knew that if he didn’t get started moving and try to find something edible or at least some clean water he’d wind up dying eventually. Jasper began walking in a random direction doing his best to move quietly so that he didn’t draw in any monsters that might be hunting nearby.
A couple hours later he’d still not found anything that might be considered edible. He knew that there were still forests all over the world, plants that had adapted to the hostile environment that the monsters had set up thousands of years ago. He unfortunately didn’t know where one of them might be, or if any of the plants were edible if he managed to even make it to one of them. Even so he continued walking. Hours later his vitality must have failed because he received notifications about being affected by poison and radiation again. Jasper stopped to rest and imbued the ambulance once again.
He still only managed 10% proficiency and didn’t receive any experience this time. He didn’t receive any vitality from cleansing his status effects either, but he knew why that was the case. His status was only one stack instead of two or three this time so recovering from it wouldn’t provide him with any more stat increases unless he doubled those stacks. Jasper recalled one of the stories that Pirka had shared with him during a break one day in the crystal fields.
She had told him about her training vitality when she was younger spending more and more time without protective gear until she’d get sick from poisoning and radiation then taking potions to recover. She’d also go into fights without armor so she could stack bleeding and broken effects as well to train more vitality. Jasper gulped, nervous at the thought of having to do that. He looked at the dome around him and thought about how lucky he was that this had been the gift that Pirka had given him.
“Maybe I should take advantage of it.” He came up with a plan to make himself stronger. Hunger and thirst would be a problem very soon, but he had some time. The higher his vitality the longer he could stand the pain of any of the status effects including those. He couldn’t just sit and wait for himself to get sick though so as soon as the ambulance ran out of power, he pocketed the small stone medallion and continued walking. More hours passed and the debuffs started to stack including hunger and thirst even still he continued to walk. His stomach churned and his eyes watered from the noxious fumes that had continued to buffer against his eyes. His skin began to peel in places and clumps of hair fell out of his head and arms.
He became even more sick after a while and his strength continued to fade. Eventually, he had to sit down unable to continue. Jasper stayed on his hands and knees dry heaving knowing that there was nothing left in his stomach to push out. It wasn’t until he hit radiation x6 and poison x4 that he went ahead and charged the ambulance one more time. Crawling inside the burning and itching was ten times worse than it had been the first time he’d done this. He bit down on his wrist to keep himself from screaming, but when it was finally over, he’d gained another 10 vitality.
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While he was happy with his gains, there was no way that Jasper wanted to go through with that again. It didn’t look like he’d have too much choice here soon though. The light was already starting to fade from the sky, and he’d still not been able to find a defensible position to sleep or anything that he could use as a weapon to defend himself. It was starting to look more and more like he wouldn’t get any rest tonight.
That would indeed wind up being the case all night he sat huddled in the ambulance recharging it every chance he got. The wind howled outside his little barrier and the darkness felt almost overbearing as it pressed in on him from all sides. Every sound outside of the constant wind almost sent him into a panic thinking that he’d be mauled by some beast at any time. Using the small amount of light the barrier was giving off he started collecting stones from just outside thinking that if something did attack him he could at least have something to throw at the monsters.
“Not like that would save me,” Jasper grumbled miserably. To distract himself from the fear that the nighttime brought on him he studied each different rune that had been carved onto the ambulance and decided to run some tests. He picked a single rune at random and summoned his toolbelt. The pen was still the only tool in his arsenal but that was ok by him for now.
Unfortunately, the pen only seemed to float and write or draw for him if he was using it to do that in his journal. It was disappointing, but not enough to dissuade him. Instead, he continued to try to draw the single rune on the stone as best as he could. Jasper had never been the most artistic person, but by the end of his attempt, he’d managed to scrape together something that seemed to passably look like the symbol he’d been attempting to recreate.
NOTICE: You have crafted a poorly drawn rune of growth. The tool that you have used has low compatibility with the material used in this crafting. +100 XP, +1 Magic, +1 Control, +1 Creativity, +1 Dexterity. Would you like to infuse magic into poorly drawn rune of growth? Y/N.
While Jasper didn’t care for the systems calling his hard work poorly drawn, he’d already known it wasn’t very good. Still, it seemed like his experiment had some success. He quickly noted down the new rune and its title into his journal before selecting yes and beginning the process of infusing magic into the rune. This time when he went into the white space it was just a large copy of the symbol he’d written on his rock. Now that it had been blown up several times, he could understand even more why the system had labeled his work as poor.
There were small holes where it looked like the pen had skipped over an area and not had any of the ink touched it. The lines themselves were shaky and slightly crooked, not having any trace of the elegance of the one he’d attempted to copy from. Even so, if the system had recognized it for a rune, then it was a rune. As soon as the imbuement process started Jasper noticed that it wasn’t like the last time when he was controlling how the magic flowed through each rune using the patterns hidden inside the circle. Instead, his magic was just ripped out of his body in one go and he was tossed out of the white space so roughly he felt like his stomach may betray him for the third time in a single day.
He fell to his hands and knees dropping the rock with the now glowing rune. His body ached all over from the strain of having all of his magic torn from his body so quickly. Even through this though Jasper wanted to watch what would happen with his experiment, and if it would help him survive out here. A few seconds ticked by, and the rock pulsed as if it was attempting to expand but it couldn’t. Cracks appeared on the surface of the stone, and something in Jasper warned him that this was dangerous. As soon as the cracks touched the run the stone exploded with a loud boom sending shrapnel flying in all directions.
Jasper felt something hit him in his rear end and a searing sharp pain made him jump to his feet and cut what his mom would have once called an “ouchy dance,” rubbing the spot that hurt and yelling obscenities. He quickly clamped a hand over his mouth reminding himself that monsters would have already been drawn in this direction because of the explosion. Jasper stumbled over himself to scramble out of the area. Without a weapon to defend himself or at least a defensible area he’d be dead meat in a matter of minutes. He turned to leave but remembered that the ambulance still hadn’t returned to its original size. The device was his lifeline, his only way of healing himself when he got too sick to move. “I can’t just leave it behind.” He thought. He turned towards the device, hoping that it was close to completely running out of energy so that he could pick it up and run away. Unfortunately for him, it was still too large to carry, and at that moment a large beast emerged from the yellow fog surrounding them.
It stood at least eight feet tall; it was reptilian in nature with a head full of jagged sharp teeth that would make extremely short work out of him. The creature’s yellow eyes fixed on Jasper, and he felt his heart thudding in his chest. He still felt sore from having his magic drained from him and the small piece of stone that was buried in his backside. He could feel the trickle of blood running down his leg, and by the way, the monsters’ nostrils flared he could tell that he wasn’t the only one to notice it.
The large reptile bared his teeth in the semblance of a wicked smile and the talons on its feet curved menacingly. It began to circle Jasper who continued to move his body attempting to keep the beast from getting behind him. Jasper’s mind was going a mile a minute, trying to think of something that he could do to escape or fight this creature. There was no way that he could outrun it, he wasn’t strong enough to fight the beast, and he didn’t have any weapons.
“Unless you count my pen as a weapon.” He thought to himself. That was when he realized that he had already learned how to make a weapon. His failed experiment could work towards another goal. All he needed was enough time to make a new one. As the reptile circled him Jasper began slowly edging himself toward the pile of rocks he’d gathered before. Continuing to keep his eyes locked on the beast he finally reached his goal. He slowly bent down to grab a rock and had just barely wrapped his fingers around a stone when the beast flexed its muscles and charged directly at him.
Jasper dove out of the way quickly scrambling to his feet before the monster attacked again. He grabbed his pen out of his bandelier and began etching the rune onto the stone as quickly as possible pulling the shape out of his mind through the use of his journal. It was only another second before the beast charged at him. The fangs of the monster opened, and Jasper shrieked in fear as the massive teeth flew towards him. One more time he dove away from the attack once more this time not managing to completely get to his feet before he was smacked in the back by his enemy’s tail.
Pain radiated up and down his spine, and the breath was knocked out of him. Adrenaline pumped through him allowing him to get up again continuing his crafting while continuing to gasp for breath. He wanted to lie down on the ground and try to breathe, but Jasper didn’t have that option. Instead, he took off running scratching the symbol on his stone as best as he could while avoiding the monsters’ attacks.
When he finally finished writing on the stone, he looked at his work. It was even worse off than the first one he’d done. It made sense since he had written this one while running around and dodging the monsters’ attacks. The notification still appeared though letting him know it was “technically” still a rune of growth.
NOTICE: You have crafted what from certain angles might be considered a rune of growth. The tool that you have used has low compatibility with the material used in this crafting. Do better -T. Would you like to infuse magic into poorly drawn rune of growth? Y/N.
Jasper selected yes as quickly as he could bringing himself into the white space. He quickly checked his magic to see how much he’d been able to regain after he’d had it ripped out of him during his prior experiment. He’d only rebuilt maybe a quarter of his magic, but it would have to do. Once more Jaspers's magic bottomed out and he was quickly thrown back out of the white space. He wanted to fall to his knees again and catch his breath, but the monster was almost to him with its jaws open.
Fighting against the pain radiating through his body, he stood his ground. He only had one chance to get this right, and he couldn’t afford to fall now. He felt the stone pulsing in his hand and worried that it might explode before the creature got close enough to hit its target, but just a second later Jaspers's target was close enough. His heart pounded and his arm flexed as he pulled it back and flung his makeshift weapon into the open maw of the attacking monster before flinging himself bodily away from it.
His body was too tired to get up from the ground this time, he was in too much pain and all he could manage was to roll himself over to watch his enemy. Jasper’s eyes bulged wildly, and his breath was ragged and panicked. If this didn’t work, he’d die, and he knew it. He might die anyway if another beast found him before he regained his strength. The creature turned and stared at its prey baring its teeth once more. It was clear that it knew Jasper wouldn’t be able to get away this time.
It took a single step in Jasper’s direction but then stopped with what he could only describe as a look of confusion on its face. The next moment an extremely muffled “boom” could be heard from the monster and without any warning, the beast fell to the ground dead. There was a new notification for Jasper to check, but he didn’t have the energy to open it. Darkness crawled in at the edges of his vision, and before he knew it Jasper passed out.
Again, for the second time in as many days, Jasper woke up not knowing exactly how much time had passed. The sun was already high in the sky and the heat beat down on Jasper making the cuts, scrapes, and bruises that littered his body pulse painfully. He dragged himself to sit on his bottom before being reminded painfully about the shrapnel that was still embedded in him. After adjusting himself to not sit directly on the sore spot he looked around and felt his heart jolt as he came face to face with the monster. It took him a second before he remembered that it was just a corpse, but in that moment he panicked.
Jasper let out a nervous chuckle before it turned into full-blown hysterics. He’d survived his first encounter with a monster and as the relief flowed through him his laughs turned into sobs. Jasper had always wanted to be a hunter, to be just like his parents. Now though he missed his room at the boy’s home, he missed the clerk who had given him his work papers, and he missed Perka and his friends. All the time he’d spent dreaming of adventure and now that he was on one, he was a sobbing mess who just wanted to go home.
Shame burned at him tinting his face and ears red as tears fell from his eyes and down his cheeks. He stayed like that for a few minutes, but eventually pulled himself together. “It’s not like I can ever go back. I can’t let myself crumble I have to survive.” He spoke to himself. A question popped into his head. “Why do I have to survive?” He thought before quickly shaking it off. For now, he had to survive because he didn’t want to die, any other reason would have to wait for later. He went ahead and checked the notification that he’d noticed before passing out.
NOTICE: You have killed a level 12 Ember-Eyed Raptor. As a crafter class, you receive 50% of the experience you would receive as a combat class from any monster kill. +150XP.
Level up! +1 All stats!
Jasper was happy about his gains and decided to check his stat sheet.
JASPER CARTWRIGHT LEVEL 3 STATS
STRENGTH: 13
VITALITY: 17
DEXTERITY: 16
CREATIVITY: 15
MAGIC: 24
CONTROL: 22
After taking in the changes to his stat sheet he slowly got to his feet and wandered over to the last place he’d remembered seeing his runic ambulance. It had shrunk back down to the pocket-sized round stone it stayed in when it was out of power. He began imbuing it again but this time when he went to the white space and studied the runes again, he noticed new patterns in the circle connecting each rune. He followed the patterns to the best of his abilities as he moved the mana throughout it, and when he was finally finished and exited the white space, he was shocked at the changes he could see in the ambulance.
The stone slab now floated a foot off of the ground, it was now large enough for four people to lay down comfortably and included sloping walls with the dome barrier still over it. Jasper walked slowly towards the ambulance and an opening appeared in the sloping walls allowing him to crawl inside. As soon as he got inside, he immediately began feeling the itching warm sensation spread through his body and healing him of his low-status effects. After that happened a screen appeared on one of the small walls around him. Most of the information appeared scrambled on the screen but there were a few things he could read.
&^%(&^$ to Runic Ambulance &^@#$ (*^&$%#!@$
&^%$#
$#@$%^%
Automatic Cleanse
^&*%$*) ^&*(&$!@
^&$%#(^#@ @$^$S% ^&*(^^$#@
Magical Sutures
Diagnose
*&^%$(!@ Hon(&^$ Beacon
Emergency Response Beacon
Bu3^&^ F1#$%
Jasper smiled as he read the following notification in his own interface.
NOTICE: You have imbued Runic Ambulance with mana at 23% proficiency. +230 XP. +2 Magic. +3 Control. +0.023% Imbue Runes skill.