Isabelle stood there in the dark cavern, locked into combat mode with the malicious orc.
“Any last words, Isabelle?” asked Grul, menacing flames dancing around in his palm.
“What the fuck, Grul?!” said Isabelle, clutching her long bow tightly. “Weren’t you getting out of prison days ago? What’re you doing in here?”
“I only said I was getting out,” said Grul. “But I never told you how. That day I discovered the hole in my cell wall I was overjoyed, I was certain I’d found my way to freedom. However, the longer I walked through these dark, snaking caverns the less and less sure of myself I became. I’ve been wandering in circles for days, Isabelle. I’m lost, and I can’t get out.”
“Well why do you want to kill me?” Isabelle asked, taking a step forward.
“Back up, Isabelle!” Grul commanded, shooting a pillar of flame at the ground near her foot.
She retreated with a dash.
[Stamina 95%]
“That’s better,” said Grul. “Now, Isabelle, I want you to listen to me carefully. I need to get out of here. I’m not a dangerous criminal, unlike yourself. I’ve got a family waiting for me. Hand me the map and maybe I’ll let you live.”
[Grul succeeded in a speechcraft attempt]
“How do you know I have a map?” Isabelle asked.
“I know because you just told me,” said Grul with a crooked grin. “Now hand it over!”
Grul raised both his hands and shot plumes of flame at Isabelle. She was barely able to dash out of their way in time in the cramped tunnel. Isabelle readied her bow and arrow and fired at Grul’s chest.
[8 damage dealt]
[Stamina 93%]
Grul growled, and then he raised his right hand and started firing a barrage of sharp ice shards at Isabelle, battering her backwards.
[-6 hp]
[You’ve taken 2 frost damage]
Isabelle suddenly felt deathly cold. She could see a faint, white outline growing around her body. Her teeth chattered. She raised her bow and fired an arrow at Grul, but he ran back and it missed him completely.
“You’re no match for me!” Grul said. He raised his left palm in the air and it illuminated with fire once again. He did the same with his right palm. Then, he leaned backwards, preparing to rush forward and punch her.
Isabelle opened her inventory.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 7.5/50
Item
Traits
Map of Prison grounds
+ 0.5 carry weight
Steel Gloves
+1 str, +3 damage, +1 carry weight
Steel Dagger
+5 damage, +1 carry weight
Longbow
+3 damage, +1 carry weight
Standard Arrows x8
+8 damage
Steel Mace
+7 damage, +4 carry weight
Gold (10)
n/a
Isabelle wasn’t sure whether the steel dagger or the steel mace was the better pick, but she didn’t have much time to consider it.
[Steel dagger equipped]
[+5 damage]
Grul rushed forward with a cackle, flaming fists ready for attack. Isabelle did everything in her power to focus on his movements, hoping he hadn’t noticed that she’d equipped her dagger. If only she could move a little faster than him, she might have a fighting chance.
[Notice: use stamina for extra battle focus?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle had no idea what the system was talking about, but Grul was about to reach her. She thought yes.
[Extra focus activated]
[Stamina 90%]
Time slowed down. Isabelle was standing there watching as Grul and his flaming fists slowly got closer and closer. She could see beads of sweat dripping from his mouth. Perfect.
[Stamina 37%]
Stamina 37%? Already? Maybe extra focus wasn’t so perfect. Still, Isabelle was happy to use it at this point. She readied her dagger and, just as Grul was about to reach her, thrust it up between his jaw and his neck.
[Stamina 11%]
While she still had stamina, Isabelle then whipped the dagger to the left and right around Grul’s neck, just in case the first stab hadn’t gotten him.
[Extra focus deactivated]
[Stamina 0%]
[Critical hit]
[345 damage dealt]
[‘Grul the Mutilator’ is dead]
[Combat mode deactivated]
Isabelle fell of her knees in a huff, absolutely exhausted. She watched as Grul staggered and fell onto his back, blood spurting from his head and neck as his last bits of life twitched away.
[Stamina 5%]
[Stamina 10%]
[Stamina 15%]
[Stamina 20%]
After her stamina had reached 20%, Isabelle felt well enough to stand back up.
[Stamina 25%]
[Stamina 30%]
Isabelle walked over to Grul and looked at his body. She wondered if he had anything in his inventory she might want. After all, he’d been wandering in the caverns for a while. Maybe he had something good.
[Loot ‘Grul the Mutilator’?]
Isabelle thought yes.
Inventory: Grul the Mutilator
Item
Traits
Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic
+5 carry weight
Gold Locket
+0.5 carry weight
Sapphire
n/a
Gold (45)
n/a
Well, that wasn’t too bad. Isabelle took all of it.
Inventory: Grul the Mutilator
Item
Traits
n/a
n/a
Isabelle wanted to learn a little more about that Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic. It sounded useful, but she also had no real idea what it was. So, she opened up her own inventory.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 14/50
Item
Traits
Map of Prison grounds
+ 0.5 carry weight
Steel Gloves
+1 str, +3 damage, +1 carry weight
Steel Dagger
+5 damage, +1 carry weight
Longbow
+3 damage, +1 carry weight
Standard Arrows x8
+8 damage
Steel Mace
+7 damage, +4 carry weight
Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic
+5 carry weight
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Gold Locket
+0.5 carry weight
Idlungie x2
+0.5 carry weight
Sapphire
n/a
Gold (55)
n/a
Isabelle focused on the Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic and thought ‘Learn More.’
Item: Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic
Traits: +5 carry weight
Description: This spell Tome is one of the most widely sold beginner books for fledgling casters of destroying magic. Contained within it are the basics of spellcasting four simple spells that anyone with mana can eventually master and use for combat:
Draw Flame
Ice Blast
Flame Blast
Shoot Lightning
Note: You can learn one spell from this Tome per day. Once you’ve learned a spell from this Tome, you can level the spell up twice from this Tome.
Well, that was interesting. It also seemed quite useful. Maybe Isabelle was going to start using her mana now. She decided to go ahead and equip the Tome to see what she could learn from it. It looked like a huge, heavy book, so she wasn’t looking forward to all the studying.
[Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic equipped]
[Would you like to learn a spell?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
[Please select a spell]
Isabelle wasn’t sure how to continue. Despite being equipped, the Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic wasn’t actually in her hands.
[Clarification: While a spell Tome is equipped, think ‘Get Spells List’ if you’d like to see a list of its spells]
Isabelle thought ‘Get Spells List.’
[Spells: Draw Flame, Ice Blast, Flame Blast, Shoot Lightning]
[Please select a spell]
Hmm. Isabelle needed to think a little. She figured Draw Flame was the spell Grul had used to have fire in and over his hands, and Ice Blast was obviously the spell he’d used to batter her with ice shards. Flame Blast must’ve been the other flame attack he’d done, where Grul had fired a plume of flame at her. But, Isabelle wondered, what was Shoot Lightning? It sounded cool.
[Clarification: Think ‘Learn More About (spell name)’ to learn more about a specific spell.]
Isabelle thought ‘Learn More About Shoot Lightning.’
Spell: Shoot Lightning
Cost: 5 mana
Description: Crackles of lightning shoot from your hand, shocking your foes. Shoot Lightning is a fast (difficult to dodge) attack that has a 70% chance of dealing extra electrocution damage to your target. Cast from both hands for a stronger bolt.
Okay, that sounded awesome. Isabelle was sure she wanted to learn Shoot Lightning after reading that description. But, how did she choose a spell again? Hazarding a guess, Isabelle thought ‘Choose Spell Shoot Lightning.’
[Learn Spell: Shoot Lightning?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
[Learning Spell Shoot Lightning]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[Spell Shoot Lightning Learned]
[You’ve already learned a spell today. Unequip ‘Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic’?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
[Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic unequipped]
Was that it? Did Isabelle just get the benefit of reading what was essentially a textbook about magic without even opening it thanks to her system?
[Clarification: Yes.]
Now Isabelle just had to try and cast Shoot Lightning. Of course, casting it at nothing would’ve just been wasteful, but hadn’t the system said she was going to have to go through a dungeon? She’d already run into two attackers, there was no reason why Isabelle wouldn’t run into anyone or anything else that might try and kill her on her way out. So, Isabelle kept her newly learned spell in the back of her mind and walked forward, following the guiding green arrow of the system.
Isabelle walked through the tunnel, taking lefts and rights as directed, halfway hoping for something interesting. However, all she happened to see was the same old glowing idlungie covering the walls. She could scarcely believe she was getting anywhere. No wonder Grul had seemingly gone crazy wandering the tunnels alone.
Just when Isabelle thought nothing would ever happen, the tunnel opened up a little. She started walking faster as it got brighter, and it opened up a little more. Was Isabelle about to finally see the light of day?
Isabelle saw it. She saw sunlight beating down on the cavern floor. It was opening up more. She walked forward, stepping out into it.
Isabelle was immediately disappointed. The sunlight was only coming in through a couple of holes in the ceiling, and worse still, as she looked forward, Isabelle could see an increasingly expansive cavern in front of her. Then, her stomach lurched a little as Isabelle spotted dozens of the huge spiders crawling around. Isabelle looked up to the side of the holes bearing sunlight and she saw webs, enormous webs of intricate detail spanning the entirety of the cavern’s ceiling. What the hell had she just walked into?
Isabelle was sure she’d get more than enough chances to cast Shoot Lightning now. Then again, Isabelle figured the best course of action would be to try and not be detected by the spiders. There was no way she was walking all the way through this cavern as the system’s green arrow directed without bumping into one, though, unless Isabelle could’ve used her special ability to become invisible again. Since she couldn’t, Isabelle decided to go ahead and crouch, readying her longbow with an arrow for a hopeful stealth shot.
[Current visibility: 0/200]
Great. Isabelle would’ve been in bad shape if she was already visible to these spiders. She had no idea how to fight so many enemies at once, and she’d rather wait to learn until she had a little more armor and weapons than she did at the moment.
Isabelle observed the cavern before taking any action. She noticed she was on the cavern’s highest level, there was a bit of a drop off before her. To the left, there was a curving pathway that slowly ramped down to where most of the spiders were. It would probably be the easiest way to go, as to Isabelle’s right she saw what appearead to be a pile of rubble and boulders that looked ready to fall over at any given moment.
Wait a second. Unstable rocks and rubble? Maybe Isabelle could use that to her advantage. After all, she wasn’t really prepared to go slaughter a horde of spiders, but a bunch of rocks could probably do the job rather quickly.
Shit. Isabelle turned around to see a couple spiders crawling up the pathway to the left. She’d have to take them out quick if she wanted to keep her cover and try for knocking all those boulder over.
[Current visibility: 0/200]
Okay, they hadn’t seen her yet. Kind of surprising the spiders weren’t better at looking for enemies considering how many eyes they had, but Isabelle wasn’t going to waste too much time wondering about that. She pulled her arrow up and squinted, focusing on the closest spider.
[Combat mode activated]
Isabelle fired an arrow.
[Sneak attack]
[Critical hit]
It landed in the top of the spider’s head. The beast went limp.
[201 damage dealt]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[Achievement Unlocked: Perform a one hit kill with a bow and arrow]
[Archery increased to level 1]
Perfect. The other spider, looking alarmed, started scurrying faster, thought it was looking in the wrong direction. Isabelle readied another arrow and fired.
[Sneak attack]
This one hit the back of the spider’s thorax. It shuddered, but it didn’t stop squirming around looking for Isabelle.
[88 damage dealt]
[Current visibility: 35/200]
Shit. It was catching sight of her. Isabelle had to act quickly. She readied an arrow and fired it.
[Sneak attack]
This arrow hit the spider in the head as it was turning around to face Isabelle.
[95 damage dealt]
[‘Poison Spider’ is dead]
[Combat mode deactivated]
[Current visibility: 0/200]
Yes! Isabelle had done it. Now that her cover was protected, at least for the moment, she could focus back on the big pile of unstable rocks and boudlers and see if she might be able to knock them down over all the spiders on the cavern floor below.
Then again, something occurred to Isabelle. She’d never tried looting one of the spiders yet.
[Current visibility: 0/200]
Well, since she was still hidden, Isabelle figured now was as good a time as ever to take a look. She crawled over to the dead spiders and focused on the second one she’d killed, as it was closer.
[Loot ‘Poison Spider’?]
Isabelle thought yes.
Inventory: Poison Spider
Item
Traits
Poison Spider Venom x3
+0.5 carry weight
Poison Spider Fangs x2
+1 carry weight
Standard Arrow x2
n/a
Raw Garnet
n/a
Hey! She could recover her arrows! Also, what was a Poison Spider doing with a raw garnet? Isabelle found that curious, but she didn’t want to push her luck by questioning it too much. She took everything, figured she could poison some of her weapons in the crafting menu.
Inventory: Poison Spider
Item
Traits
n/a
n/a
Isabelle figured she might as well check the other spider, too. She crawled over to it and focused.
[Loot ‘Poison Spider’?]
Isabelle thought yes.
Inventory: Poison Spider
Item
Traits
Poison Spider Venom
+0.5 carry weight
Poison Spider Fangs
+1 carry weight
Standard Arrow
n/a
Less exciting, sure, but Isabelle could still use this stuff. Plus, she needed all the arrows she could get in case her plan to knock over the boulders didn’t work out.
Inventory: Poison Spider
Item
Traits
n/a
n/a
Isabelle thought some more about all the spider venom she had access to, and figured the best move would be to poison some of her arrows. With all those spiders down there, every little bit of extra damage would help. Isabelle thought ‘Open Standard Arrow crafting menu.’
Crafting
Item
Craftable
Standard Arrow x8
Standard Arrow (poisoned) x8
Standard Arrow (bioluminescent) x8
Isabelle failed to see the use of a bioluminescent arrow, but it did remind her that she had idlungie in her inventory. She could’ve poisoned her arrows forever ago! What a shame. Still, she had to get over it and get to work. Isabelle focused on ‘Standard Arrow (poisoned) x8.’
[Craft ‘Standard Arrow (poisoned) x8’ out of items ‘Poison Spider Venom’ and ‘Standard Arrow x8’? This cannot be undone.]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
[‘Poison Spider Venom’ taken from inventory]
[‘Standard Arrow x8’ taken from inventory]
[Crafting ‘Standard Arrow (poisoned) x8’]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[Crafting complete]
[‘Standard Arrow (poisoned) x8’ added to inventory]
[Crafting increased to level 3]
[Achievement Unlocked: Craft poison arrows]
Wow, it was nice to be increasing her level and to get achievements. Isabelle couldn’t deny to dopamine rush.
Isabelle turned to look over at the large pile of boulders and loose rock. How could she dislodge it? Her first instinct was to fire a couple arrows, but she’d just spent all that time poisoning them. Plus, could an arrow really knock over a big pile of rocks? There were a lot of interesting things about Beaubinte, but Isabelle had a feeling that hoping to achieve so much with so small a weapon wasn’t very realistic.
Isabelle had an idea. She could use her new spell! Shooting lightning would definitely be enough to knock the rocks over. Sure, it might blow her cover a little, but who knew? Maybe it would kill all the spiders the second the rocks fell! Maybe they wouldn’t realize where the lightning came from, and she’d still be hidden! Isabelle had to give it a try.
Isabelle raised her right hand to the pile of boulders and loose rock and thought ‘Cast Shoot Lightning.’
With an ear-splitting crackle bright white light shot out of Isabelle’s hand and exploded over the rocks and boulders.
[304 damage dealt]
[Mana 6/11]
The rocks and boulders moved. They moved a lot. But they didn’t move in the way Isabelle expected. They didn’t move like falling boulders. The moved like something alive.
[Current visibility 200/200]
Isabelle got out of her crouch position, wondering what in the hell was happening. She watched as the boulders took shape and form, and she realized what she’d thought was a pile of rocks and boulders had never been either of those things. It was a gargantuan spider, the biggest spider Isabelle had ever seen. And its horrible eight eyes, each as big as her head, were looking right at her.
How had Isabelle been so terribly mistaken?
[Clarification: You failed an int+wis check.]
The giant spider lumbered towards her. Shit.