Chapter 12: Plains
The fight had been night and day compared to their last one with the Amanita Men. The open field had given Riley more options to dodge in and what few blows he took he was able to heal immediately after. Casey had dismantled her opponent almost single handedly. Her unnatural speed wasn’t just an effect of her increased Body score, she had gained a new ability from the trial, Furious Strikes, which allowed her to massively increase her speed for a short duration at a huge cost to her mana and energy. Just the short use she had shown in the fight had left her breathless.
Riley was most excited about his latest breakthrough.
Congratulations! Leech has been upgraded to Lingering Leech. You have attuned Lingering Leech.
Lingering Leech
Damaging creatures of flesh and blood will heal yourself for a small amount of the damage dealt. The healing energy can be stored for a short amount of time based on your Spirit attribute.
And with that update there was another one
Congratulations, you have unlocked your second ability slot and are able to progress in power.
The levels came shortly after raising Riley to level 13. It was the first time he wasn’t in eminent danger during his leveling and Riley was finally able to devote some time too understanding the other stats.
He had naturally asked the others about it while they were traveling but they had explained that it was something he needed to feel for himself.
Riley put 2 of his 8 stat points into his Magic score raising it to an even 10. He was focusing on his core as he did so and he felt as the power washed through him. The channels which the mask had carved into his body after he first equipped his Leech ability grew ever so slightly larger. Intuitively Riley knew he would be able to heal more with each strike. He also felt a deeper well of energy within himself. The energy was dormant for the moment, as Riley had no way to call upon it. But if he had an active ability he knew he would be able to use it more often as well.
Deciding to splurge a little with his stat points Riley put 3 of his remaining 6 stat points into Spirit also raising it to 10. This change wasn’t as quantitatively obvious to Riley. As he entered the points Riley felt a deeper connection to his mask. It had molded perfectly to his face previously but now it felt like the mask was a part of is face. Like an extension of his body that he could call at will. The others, with their active abilities, mentioned that they felt a greater control over the mana within them as well. Nermit had invested early in his Spirit score, having raised it to 18 during the tutorial which was what allowed him to evolve his ability first.
Riley put the final 3 of his points into his Body score raising the value to 39, a single point away from a nice clean 40. It was frustrating but there was no game dev for Riley to complain to. At least not that they had found so far. So he would just have to deal with it.
Riley marveled at his newfound power. He could feel the changes to his body, lowercase ‘b,’ as he raised his stats. He was faster, stronger, his reaction speed had been tuned through the roof. All of these changes had been simulated in virtual reality but there was something different when you knew it was real. When the power was inside of you in a way that was personal and intimate. Not the cold way of calculations and numbers. No game, no matter how well simulated, had created anything near what it felt like to have mana coursing through his veins. It was entirely unreal in a way which drove home the point that the world had changed. Probably for the worst if Riley thought about it too long. But it was exciting.
Riley was looking forward to see just how far he could climb. He really hoped the level cap wasn’t at 50 like the number of locked abilities implied.
Stolen story; please report.
Riley considered using his ability stone immediately. He definitely wanted Thorns as one of his abilities. But he thought better of it when he remembered not being able to take Charge ability from the bunnies. If he had to, he could always activate the stone later, but for the moment Riley wanted to keep the slot open in case he found something more interesting. For the moment both Riley and Scott absorbed the Spore ability from the Amanita Men.
Spore Breath
Breathe out a cloud of toxic spores which cause a moderate amount of toxic damage. You are immune to your own spores.
As a close-range fighter Riley saw how devastating the ability could be when used properly. He still remembered the burning sensation all over his body as the spores had stripped the top layer of skin off of him. Things were still early, and Riley and the rest of the group were still trying to find their play styles. As good of an idea as being an unstoppable-unkillable tank was Riley didn’t have the luxury to wait for his perfect build to come together. They were trapped in this raid dungeon until they could kill Tragnar and Riley needed to be realistic about what abilities they could find within the confines of this dungeon. If he was able to find the perfect build? Great. But he had to prepare himself for disappointment, and that started with testing out every ability he could.
“Guys, we should get a move on,” Casey said, looking back towards the Mushroom forest. The tall trees loomed more ominously now that they weren’t among the trunks. “We don’t know if they’ll come to check this place out, but it would be better to be safe than sorry.”
The group agreed and they left, chatting animatedly about their gains while they walked. The open sight lines doing wonders for the group’s anxiety. It had the opposite effect on Casey who was more on edge than ever. She left to scout almost immediately, running disappearing into the hills.
Scott bragged about his own gains from the fight, gushing over his new bow and the ease at which he had been able to shoot his arrows. Without having to reach down to the quiver on his hip and nock his arrow his attack speed had nearly doubled. He had also managed to attune his Rain of Arrows ability during the initial attack. He could now push more mana into the spell and overcharge it, increasing the number of summoned arrows. It didn’t upgrade formally like Nermit’s and Riley’s abilities had. But it was still an upgrade and Scott was eager to try out his new ability again.
The enemies of the plains were scattered but made themselves known quickly. A level 15 Trapdoor Spider attacked them from ambush earning Scott a nasty wound on his leg which quickly became paralyzed. Heather, who had been standing next to Scott, had reacted quickly and released a Mana Bolt in the spider’s face which is the only thing that saved Scott from being dragged underground.
The spider’s ability was called Ambush and gave an improvement to damage from unseen attacks. They told Casey about it and she was interested but didn’t want to lose her currently slotted ability. The spider was too large for them to carry with them to keep for later. They would have to come back to collect the ability when she had a slot free.
The group took the time to inspect the hole the spider had hid within. It was covered with what had appeared at first glance to be a normal looking rock. But that was only at first glance. The rock itself proved to be hollow and made out of a special sort of spider silk. Once the group knew what to look for the moved on, keeping their eyes peeled for any suspicious rocks.
Knowing what to look for the party adopted the strategy of blasting first and confirming if it was actually a rock later. This earned them two more kills on the spiders and a lot of false alarms.
Other denizens of the plains made themselves known. There were brown slimes, like in the tutorial, which laid themselves flat hoping their prey would walk right over them. Casey had been the one to recognize the trap and a few blasts from Heather was all it took to kill the creatures. Magic was extra effective against them, and Riley was glad he didn’t have to sacrifice his sword on the altar of their highly acidic body. There were carrion birds which showed as little interest in bothering the group as the group was interested in bothering them. A herd of deer crossed their paths as well, though they ran almost immediately. Their superior senses picking up on the presence of the Riley and company well before they were in range to do anything.
The group was making good time across the plain, they had all gained at least a little in levels. Riley discovered that the poison ability did count as magic damage and that it was effective against the slimes.
They had cut across what they estimated to be the center of the plains when Casey returned to the group letting them know that she had found both the Omnis and Tragnar the Terrific.