[Sleeping…]
[Notice: You’re ready to level up]
[Sleeping…]
[You’re fully rested]
[Notice: You’re ready to level up]
Isabelle opened her eyes. Apparently she had decided to snuggle up next to the near-naked prince in the night, which was a bit of a questionable decision. Isabelle had been spooning him, with herself as the big spoon. She backed away from the near-naked prince’s pale back and stood up. Isabelle noticed that Tahsi and Sir Jingles were also waking up at this same moment. What a funny coincidence.
[Clarification: It’s not a coincidence. They are your party members. They sleep and wake in step with you. You can change this by thinking ‘Manage Party Sleep Settings,’ which will allow you a number of sleep-based options for your party.]
[Notice: You’re ready to level up]
Huh. Isabelle was a little offput by the amount of control the system allowed over her party members. Then again, that did explain why Tahsi hadn’t slept despite being extremely exhausted throughout their entire trek through the woods the other day. Isabelle figured she ought to manage her party’s sleep and let them sleep when they wanted to. Then again, it was kind of nice being able to keep having use of them until Isabelle herself was ready to sleep, and it was nice that they were waking up now. Isabelle was glad Tahsi had stayed awake and directed them so far into the woods the other day. Maybe she’d just save managing the party sleep settings for later.
“What’re you thinking about, Isabelle?” asked Tahsi. “Whew. I sure did sleep well last night. The system told me I was a whole three-fourths rested! I almost feel like my old self again.” Tahsi equipped a loaf of bread and took a large chomp. He looked at Isabelle, looked at the bread, and raised it forward. “Want any bread?”
“No, I’m fine. Thanks, Tahsi,” said Isabelle.
“Whew, I’m so glad I’m finally fucking awake,” said Sir Jingles. “I tried to wake up fifty fucking times last night. I kept seeing all these obnoxious system messages, too. ‘You’re fully rested,’ ‘You’re fully rested,’ ‘You’re fully rested.’ Well, if I’m fucking fully rested then why in the fucking hell couldn’t I wake the fuck up? Fully rested my fucking ass!” Sir Jingles slapped himself in the face a few times. Then, shaking his anger out, he looked at his party. “Oh, hi Tahsi, hi Isabelle. Good to see you guys.”
Isabelle made a tentative frown-smile at Sir Jinglers and gave him a nod. “So, are we about ready to head out?” she asked.
“Well, I’d like to see about cooking up some breakfast first,” Tahsi said through a mouthful of bread.
“Isn’t your bread breakfast enough?” asked Isabelle.
Tahsi only laughed in response. Then, he walked out of the tent. Isabelle found it odd that Tahsi’s sleep cycles were apparently intrinsically linked to her own due to the system, but the second she insinuated he did anything other than eat, he just walked away from her.
[Clarification: To manage the will of your party members, you will need to raise the level of your confuse magic. At higher levels of confuse magic, you can confuse an NPC to the point that they will act on your will alone. The system, while in charge of sleep/waiting, is not directly in charge of any NPC’s will. You can also have an NPC act on your will alone through necromancy. For example, you could kill one of your party members and then use your Staff of the Undead to raise the dead and command them that way. However, if you take this route, you’ll never be able to bring the party member truly back to life, at least not with your current abilities.]
[Notice: You’re ready to level up]
Isabelle rolled her eyes. The system seemed to take her thoughts so literally, and sometimes it was rather silly.
[Clarification: The system does not discriminate between literal and figurative. This is a feature, not a bug, for things thought in jest could eventually become things that you would like to know and/or make use of. And, especially considering you’ve never completed a tutorial, this is the easiest way for the system to communicate its uses to you. If you would like to stop receiving clarification notices from the system for a maximum of sixty days, think ‘Hide system clarifications.’]
[Notice: You’re ready to level up]
Isabelle didn’t want to hide the clarifications. She’d just been making an observation, is all. Isabelle walked out of the tent and looked at the rising sun. It was a little cool and misty outside. She shivered a little. Tahsi was stoking the still-burning embers of the last night’s fire. Couldn’t she just use draw flame to start a fire? Isabelle felt a little guilty at that moment that she’d let Tahsi make the fire from scratch the last night.
“Hey, Tahsi, if that’s not salveagable, I’ve got an easy way to do it,” said Isabelle.
“What do you mean, Isabelle?” asked Tahsi.
Isabelle thought, ‘Draw flame.’
[Mana 75%]
[Notice: You’re ready to level up]
Isabelle’s right hand ignited in fire. She walked over to the embers and lightly tapped them with her fingers. The fire reignited in a flash. Isabelle drew her hand away and shook it until the flames went away.
“Well damn, Isabelle,” said Tahsi. “I hadn’t even thought of asking you to use that spell last night, even though I’ve seen you use it before. Shows what I know.”
“Tahsi, what exactly were you planning on cooking this morning?” asked Isabelle. Earlier, she’d teased him, but she was finding out quickly that she felt rather hungry.
“Oh, I found these quail eggs in a tree while you were still in the tent,” said Tahsi. “Of course, I realize now I don’t have a saucepan, but I think one of us could probably craft one up with something in our inventories. Wanna give it a shot, Isabelle?”
Isabelle shrugged.
[Notice: You’ve reached level 14!]
Shit. Isabelle had forgotten that it was time for her to level up. The system notifications about it had almost blurred past her mind for a while there.
[Notice: You have attribute and skill points to spend]
[Would you like to spend your points now?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes. After all, this seemed to be a pretty good time to level up, nothing bad was happening.
Attribute Points to Spend: 9
Hp:
46
H-Regen:
3/50sec
Mana:
30
M-Regen:
2/min
Stm:
32
S-Regen:
0.5/sec
Isabelle wanted to keep improving her mana, even with all the mana-improving items in her inventory. Five points to mana would be good enough for now, she figured. Isabelle then put four to stm.
Skill Points to Spend: 9
Str:
17
Int:
21
Dx:
17
Wis:
21
Const:
18
Char:
20
Isabelle almost felt at a loss. What did she need to put into her skill points? She’d barely needed to fight recently, but she also didn't want to specialize only in half of her skills, because that felt like a slippery slope. She decided to put three to str, three to dx, two to const, and one to char. Just to make everything nice and symmetrical.
Character Status
Name:
Isabelle
Gender:
Female
Level:
14
Class:
Undefined
Race:
Human
Alignment:
Neutral-Neutral
Attributes
Hp:
46
H-Regen:
3/50sec
Mana:
35
M-Regen:
2/min
Stm:
36
S-Regen:
0.5/sec
Skill Points
Str:
20
Int:
21
Dx:
20
Wis:
21
Const:
20
Char:
21
Magic Ability Levels
Enchant:
0
Summon:
0
Heal:
0
Destroy:
4
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Transmute:
0
Confuse:
0
Normal Ability Levels
Crafting:
4
Sneak:
6
Archery:
5
Lockpick:
0
Armed Combat:
5
Melee Combat:
3
Speechcraft:
5
Sleight Of Hand:
3
There, she was all leveled up. Now the system could stop nagging Isabelle about it for a bit.
“Hey, Isabelle, I didn’t have to craft to cook breakfast after all!” said Tahsi. He was holding his Cloud Reach guard shield over the fire and frying eggs inside it. “I guess it pays to have a high wis and int.”
Isabelle started feeling a little uneasy about her decision to improve her wis and int. Sure, Tahsi’s was supposedly great, but he was always acting so stupid! Was Isabelle improving her int and wis actually making her stupider?
[Clarification: No.]
“When do you next level up, Tahsi? You’ve been level fifteen for a while.” asked Isabelle.
“Oh, I’ve already leveled up a couple times since you last leveled me up,” said Tahsi. “Now I’m level 18.”
Isabelle rolled her eyes. Of course.
[Combat mode activated]
What? Combat mode?
An arrow shot through the air and implanted into Tahsi’s forehead.
[Tahsi -11 hp]
“Ow!” said Tahsi. He dropped the shield he was holding and watched the eggs run and slide into the fire. “Oh, gods damnit.”
Another arrow shot through the air. This one hit Isabelle in the shoulder.
[-6 hp]
“Fuck’s sake!” said Isabelle. She cracked her neck and opened her inventory. The noble robes she was wearing at the moment were great for speechcraft, but shitty for combat.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 84.5/91
Item
Traits
Ring of Improved Destroy
+3 destroy
Steel Gloves
+1 str, +3 damage, +1 carry weight
Orcish Longbow
+5 damage, +1 dx, +1.5 carry weight
Standard Arrow x3
n/a
Giant Spider Armor (human)
+4 hp, +8 str, +13 carry weight
Fang Blades (poisoned)
+3 poison, +8 damage, +1 str, +1 dx, +5 carry weight
Giant Spider Gauntlets
+4 damage, +3 stm, +1 dx, +3 carry weight
Giant Spider Boots
+4 stm, +2 str, +1 dx, +5 carry weight
Potion of Endless Stamina x2
+0.5 carry weight
Potion of Greater Health x3
+20 hp, +0.5 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
She had options. If only Isabelle knew who in the hell she was about to fight! She looked around, but she couldn’t see anyone. This was frustrating as hell. Isabelle decided she’d rather equip mana heavy items. She focused on her inventory to see them.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 84.5/91
Item
Traits
Necromancer Robes
+10 mana, +3 confuse, +3 enchant, +1 destroy, +4 carry weight
Ring of Improved Destroy
+3 destroy
Staff of the Undead
+5 mana, +2 carry weight
Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic
+5 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
Wait. Shit! Today was a new day. Isabelle could learn the last spell in her spell tome!
[Sir Jingles -13 hp]
“Me-oww!” said Sir Jingles. “Someone just shot an arrow into my butt! What’s going on?”
Isabelle needed to act fast. This mysterious archer obviously wasn’t going to stop their reign of terror any time soon.
[-4 hp]
Damn! An arrow had just struck Isabelle right in the neck! What an uncomfortable inconvenience. She sure was glad she had the system, where instead of any pain in the direct area of the hit, Isabelle only felt a brief stab of pain in her heart.
[Tahsi -20 hp]
“Oh my gods!” said Tahsi. “I’m so glad I’m in your party, Isabelle. If I wasn’t, that arrow that just hit would’ve neutered me!”
Isabelle thought that was a little too much information. Still, she needed to hurry up and learn that new spell before everyone had arrows in their crotches. The only problem was, well, she didn’t remember what spell it was that she could learn. Isabelle thought ‘Get Spells List.’
[Error: You do not have a spell tome equipped]
Damn, Isabelle had forgotten about that.
[Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic equipped]
[Would you like to learn a spell?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
[Please select a spell]
Now Isabelle thought, ‘Get Spells List.’
[Spells: Draw Flame, Ice Blast, Flame Blast, Shoot Lightning]
[Please select a spell]
So it was flame blast that she hadn’t learned? Well, today was the perfect day.
[Sir Jingles -11 hp]
“Ack!” said Sir Jingles. “Where are all these damned arrows coming from, and why are we all stuck in combat mode?!”
Wait a second. Isabelle didn’t even know what flame blast did! How could she spend her use of the spell tomb on it when she didn’t even know what learning it would allow her to do? Isabelle could always just level up one of her already learned spells. With that in mind, Isabelle thought ‘Learn More About Flame Blast.’
Spell: Flame Blast
Cost: 5 mana
Description: Burning flames shoot from your hand, scorching your foes. Flame blast imparts fire damage as well as normal damage.
That sounded pretty good to Isabelle.
[-6 hp]
Shit. Isabelle was taking a good amount of damage from all these arrows. That one hit her in the gut. Isabelle figured she ought to go ahead and get all these arrows out of her person and into her inventory, in case she wanted to use them later. Isabelle focused on the arrow in her gut.
[Add ‘Standard Arrow’ to inventory?]
Isabelle thought yes, and then focused on the arrow in her neck.
[Add ‘Standard Arrow’ to inventory?]
Isabelle thought yes, and then focused on the arrow in her shoulder.
[Add ‘Standard Arrow’ to inventory?]
Isabelle thought yes, and then—
[-2 hp]
An arrow through her open palm. Isabelle had been brushing her hair out of her eyes. She shook her head and focused on the arrow in her palm.
[Add ‘Standard Arrow’ to inventory?]
Isabelle thought yes.
Isabelle thought ‘Choose Spell Flame Blast.’
[Learn Spell: Flame Blast?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
[Learning Spell Flame Blast]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[Spell Flame Blast 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]
Great. Now Isabelle could get all her magic items equipped and prepare to fight, or at least search for with the intention of fighting, this mysterious archer.
[-16 hp]
“Ugh!” Isabelle said. This arrow had struck her right in the forehead.
“Hah!” said Tahsi. He pointed to the arrow in his forehead. “We’re twins.”
“Why don’t you add some of those arrows to your inventory already, Tahsi? You look like a pincushion,” said Isabelle. Before he could respond, she opened her inventory. Isabelle was sick of wasting time.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 84.5/91
Item
Traits
Necromancer Robes
+10 mana, +3 confuse, +3 enchant, +1 destroy, +4 carry weight
Ring of Improved Destroy
+3 destroy
Staff of the Undead
+5 mana, +2 carry weight
Spell Tome of Minor Destroying Magic
+5 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
[Necromancer robes equipped]
[+10 mana]
[+3 confuse]
[+3 enchant]
[+1 destroy]
[Ring of Improved Destroy equipped]
[+3 destroy]
[Staff of the Undead equipped]
[+5 mana]
Isabelle cracked her knuckles. It was time to fight.
[-11 hp]
An arrow plunged right into Isabelle’s left eye. She immediately felt horrible and lightheaded. She had tunnel vision. Shit. Was she almost out of hp? She hadn’t been keeping track. Isabelle thought, ‘Check hp.’
[You hp is currently 1/46]
Fuck’s sake. Isabelle opened her inventory.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 84.5/91
Item
Traits
Potion of Endless Stamina x2
+0.5 carry weight
Potion of Greater Health x3
+20 hp, +0.5 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
[Potion of Greater Health drunken]
[+20 hp]
[Potion of Greater Health drunken]
[+20 hp]
Isabelle felt much better. She did her best to focus on the arrow in her eye with her other eye.
[Add ‘Standard Arrow’ to inventory?]
Isabelle thought yes. Then, she jumped out of the way of an arrow just before it could strike her head.
[Stamina 97%]
Isabelle looked around. Damn, she still couldn’t see anyone. Then, she had an idea. Isabelle wondered if there was a way to track an enemy with the system while in combat mode.
[Clarification: While if an enemy is not visible to you, the system cannot change that, what the system can do is point you in the direction of the enemy. To use this functionality, think ‘Activate Combat Lock.’]
Sounded good enough. Isabelle thought, ‘Activate Combat Lock.’
Isabelle was surprised as, out of her own control, her body froze and turned around almost like a compass until she was facing a far corner of trees and bushes in the distance. What was more interesting was that, as Isabelle walked around, she realized she could not look away from this far point, and could not face away from it either. Isabelle could see how this would be useful in a fight, even if she could already see the enemy.
Isabelle saw another arrow headed her way. She jumped out of the way, noticing it was as much of a jump as it was a sidestep, no doubt due to combat lock. What a cool feature.
[Stamina 97%]
Isabelle dashed forward.
[Stamina 93%]
Suddenly, Isabelle was overcome with a slight vertigo as her combat lock readjusted and spun her around to face a different direction. What in the hell had happened?
Another arrow was headed her way. Isabelle leapt to the side.
[Stamina 91%]
Isabelle would have to move faster if she wanted to catch this weasley enemy before they darted out of her way.
[Notice: use stamina for extra battle focus?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle couldn’t say no to that.
[Stamina 84%]
Isabelle dashed forward through the slow-motion world around her, watching as an arrow slowly soared towards her. She easily skirted around its path, and even focused on it while it was sailing through the air.
[Add ‘Standard Arrow’ to inventory?]
Isabelle thought yes, because how could she pass up that opportunity?
Isabelle continued sprinting forward, finally seeing a muscular, hooded figure crouching behind a bush with a bow and arrows. There was no time for hesitation.
[Stamina 72%]
Isabelle raised her right hand and thought, ‘Cast Flame Blast.’
[Mana 96%]
Flames erupted from her palm and sprayed across the bush, igniting it.
[455 damage dealt]
[35 fire damage dealt]
[‘Mysterious Enemy’ has caught fire]
Fuck yes. That would show this asshole for raining arrows over Isabelle and her party.
However, the reaction she got from this attack was not what Isabelle expected. Instead of retaliation, the figure stood up from their crouch and cooly walked away from the burning bush. Isabelle watched as the flames covering the hooded figure quickly faded into the air. Then, the figure started to clap.
“Um, what the hell?” asked Isabelle.
The figure pointed a finger at her. “I was right! You are the player!”
Isabelle felt fear well up inside her chest. Who was this, and what was their game?
“Watch this,” the figure said. The bow and arrow quickly disappeared from their back and was immediately replaced by a scimitar glowing with green poison.
Isabelle was confused. This character wasn’t in her party. Were they?
“I can see you’re confused,” replied the figure. His voice was dark, deep, and gravelly, Isabelle noticed. “No, I’m not in your party. But I do have a system. And I’m here to gut you like a fish and present your head to the Overlord on a pike.”