Chapter Ten
Ding!
Full Class Description is now available!
Ranger
A warrior and survivalist that utilizes weapons mastery and nature magic to survive in the wilderness. Has an innate connection with animals.
Class Points: 3 dexterity, 2 intelligence, 1 strength
Companion Animal: Duke Thompson (Dog) lvl 6
Moira looked over the full description, noting the additional class points. Six points per level seemed okay, but she didn’t really have anything to compare it to.
Ding!
New Class Skills available. One class skill will become available every five levels. Choose carefully.
Tracking
Ability to detect and follow trails. Limited to trails left within the past hour. Time increases as skill levels.
Source: Stamina
Minor Heal
Uses nature mana to heal minor cuts and bruises. Healing improves as skill levels.
Source: Mana
Creeping Vines
Grows vines that the user can control. Strength of vines and length of time increases as skill levels. Limited to 5 minutes at level 1.
Source: Mana
She disregarded Minor Heal. She’d received enough health potions from monster drops, it seemed a bit useless. Plus, a health potion was more effective than a spell that only healed minor cuts.
Tracking was more interesting, but she hadn’t really needed to track any monsters yet. She’d mostly just been focused on surviving. So far, monsters had found her all on their own, anyway.
That left the last option, Creeping Vines. Her skin itched at the thought of using magic. It was exactly what she was looking for, an offensive skill with flexibility.
Moira selected the skill, Creeping Vines.
The ground shook beneath her, and the trees groaned, shifting against the forest floor. Moira jumped to her feet and grabbed Duke’s collar. Light blinded her, she covered her face, squinting out at the forest.
The trees parted, revealing a plain of emerald grass. Moira looked up, confused. They’d been fighting the forest, walking for miles every day, trying to leave. What changed? The only thing she could think of was her class. And that she had a class. Maybe selecting her class skill had changed something?
Moira shrugged, just glad to be free of the Silivea forest. She’d be happy if she never stepped foot in the forest again.
She strode forward, out of the forest and into the world.
The trees watched as she left the safety of the forest. They’d guided her as much as they were allowed to. The trees whispered to the wind, a prayer to their god, for the girl and her dog. She could be exactly what they needed if only she survived her next challenge.
A gentle breeze fluttered against Moira’s face, bringing forth notes of floral and evergreen. The air smelled clean, unsullied by the toxins that infiltrated Earth’s atmosphere. Beautiful. She breathed deeply, letting the fresh air flow through her lungs. A perfect day for a run.
“Ready?”
Duke barked, wagging his tail in expectation.
They hadn’t been running in ages. Even before tumbling through the portal. She missed it. The feeling of her feet pounding against concrete, running down the skinny paths in Meadow Lane Park. Duke at her side, his red harness strapped tightly against his frame as the two of them broke out into a sprint, down past the playground and the lake. Through Juniper Circle, past the row of expensive houses, made of red brick and white columns.
She placed her right foot forward.
“Set.”
Duke arched his legs, nose forward.
“Go.”
They broke out into a run. Wind whipped by them as they raced through the grassy plain. Faster than they’d ever run before. Duke sped past her, and she pushed forward. Signs of wildlife and people flew past as their stamina slowly depleted, until finally, at the edge of the horizon, a city appeared.
Moira slowed to a stop. Gasping for air, Duke panted beside her. A gnawing hunger slammed into her. She clutched her stomach as a wave of exhaustion hit her.
Red flashing lights appeared on her screen. Her stamina had dwindled down to single digits. She collapsed to the ground, panting, as her stamina continued dropping. Duke laid down beside her, looking just as exhausted.
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Moira focused on her inventory and pulled out some rabbit jerky, demolishing it in seconds. She unloaded more and handed some to Duke. The hunger pains faded after several minutes, and her stamina began increasing.
Up ahead, far into the horizon, sat the proud beginnings of a city. Civilization, finally, just within her grasp.
Moira stepped forward, straining to get a better look at the city. Something glinted on the ground ahead, catching her eye. She turned her focus from the city and squatted down to examine it.
A crystal the size of a softball glowed red. She could feel the presence of something coming off the crystal. Something powerful.
Moira backed away, making eye contact with Duke. Whatever the crystal was, she was smart enough to know it meant trouble.
Unconsciously, her hand reached forward, grabbing the crystal tightly in her palm.
Ding!
Congratulations! A Dungeon has been found! Now transporting you and your companion to the Dungeon: Grow or Die.
Her mouth fell open. She hadn’t meant to touch the crystal. Before she could consider it any further, the world around her faded and disappeared.
This time, her body didn’t feel like it was being pulled apart, but whipped back and forth like the Slingshot at Holloway Amusement Park. She’d hated that ride as a kid. The sensation of being jerked around, unable to control your own body.
She lurched forward and slammed into the ground.
Ding!
Objective: Escape the Cavern.
“Ouch.” Something sharp sliced into her hand, and a sliver of blood dripped down her palm. Moira squinted, her eyes adjusting to the sudden darkness. A loud thud landed next to her. She scrambled backward. A gagging sound followed the thud. Duke. She crawled to his side, stroking his hair.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Duke wagged his tail limply, his whole body contorted, and partially chewed rabbit jerky spewed from his mouth, landing on the stone floor centimeters from her foot. The smell of stomach acid rose through the air, swirling around them as he slinked back up to her and leaned against her side.
Moira stroked his head with one hand and held her nose with the other. The scent of his vomit permeated through the cave.
They were in a cave, or maybe more of a cavern—high ceilings arched above them, with long stalactites that spiraled down. A strange blue moss glowed on the walls, casting an eerie glow throughout the cavern.
In the center of the cave sat a pool of water. It looked stagnant. Black against the blue glow of the cavern. Blood rushed from her head; the throbbing sound of her heart pounded against her eardrums. An internal sense that something was off about that pool. She backed away, taking Duke with her, and leaned against the rocky wall, putting as much distance as she could between her and the water.
She pressed her fingers against the rough surface of the cave wall, feeling for any deviation in the rock. Anything that could indicate an exit or secret doorway. She lapped the room, reaching the spot where she’d started. Nothing. The color drained from her face; they were trapped in a dungeon.
She strained to think of everything she could of dungeons. Dungeon diving hadn’t really been her thing. It was a part of Realm of Legends, but not something she’d done unless a quest forced her to. The last Dungeon she’d been forced to go down had involved a blood cult and a race of archaic vampires. She shivered, even through a screen, it’d been chaos.
From her limited experience, she knew dungeons were typically comprised of several floors with different challenges and monsters to face. All leading up to a final floor that held a boss. A monster much more challenging than any before. But who knew if Caelum followed the same rules? There had to be some way out of here. She just might not like it.
She looked back at the pool of water and grimaced. The murky water looked ominous. Like something from a horror movie, with a hidden creature just waiting to grab her and drag her under. But she’d felt the walls. There was no other way out.
“Water it is.”
She got up and moved closer to the water. A tittering sound echoed from above. She paused and looked up, bow raised and ready. Something small and brown rammed into her face, screeching loudly.
“Argh.”
She smacked her hands at her face trying to knock it off. It latched onto her face, sinking its tiny fangs into her cheek. Moira grabbed it and yanked it off. She threw it to the ground and stomped down on it with a sickening crunch.
Several more brown creatures swarmed her. She could hear Duke yelping beside her as he tried to tear them off his own body.
One grabbed onto her hand, biting in deeply. Another bit into her throat, causing blood to pour down her neck. She frantically pulled each one off, throwing them at the rock walls. The beasts recovered quickly, repeating their assault. Moira panicked, her eyes flicking back and forth. Each one didn’t do much damage, but together the damage was slowly building, and her health points were dropping quickly.
She inhaled, recalling her sword.
“I’m so stupid,” she muttered as she pulled it from her inventory. The sword glowed against the dim lighting of the cave. The beasts shrieked, charging toward her with renewed fury.
“Die. You. Dumb. Things.” She sliced through the air with each word.
They clawed and bit and screeched at her, but eventually, they died. She slid to the ground, panting. Amber blood dripped from her new blade. Scratches and puncture wounds covered her body.
Duke limped over to her, blood matted into his fur. A deep cut marked his face, stretching down his snout, and just missing his eye.
“Oh, Duke—are you okay?”
Duke groaned and slumped to the ground, resting his head on her lap. Moira opened her inventory; they had three health potions left. She pulled out two and poured one down Duke’s throat.
She drank the other and watched as her health points slowly restored, and the cuts and scratches healed, fading into pink skin. The cut on Duke’s face faded away, leaving no trace that it’d ever been there at all.
Able to breathe again, she realized she hadn’t received the standard ‘you’ve killed this congrats!’ message from the system.
Ding!
The notification interrupted. “Great timing.”
Congratulations! You have defeated The Hoard of Bataps.
Congratulations! You’ve reached level 11.
You now have 30 free attribute points available!
She groaned as she pushed herself to her feet. The little beasts wouldn’t loot themselves. She kneeled down to the closest one. It had oversized ears and reminded her of a bat. A layer of brown hair coated the tiny beast, except for it’s wings, which were covered in mahogany feathers. The creature had long skinny arms that ended in sharp claws, and a pig-like nose with broad nostrils. Moira’s nose scrunched at the ugly little monsters.
She poked it with her finger.
Would you like to Loot?
Yes/No
Moira selected yes, and the cave filled with black smoke. When it cleared, the Bataps were gone.
She glanced through the loot. No health potions. She sighed, she didn’t like the idea of only having one left. In the past, the system provided more as soon as her stock dwindled. None of the other loot was useful. Just a couple of hides and some monster meat. She was regretting overlooking the Minor Heal skill. It looked like her luck had just changed.