It was hard to keep track of time in the dark sewers, but after what Brandon guessed was six- or seven-hours he had figured out the trick to dispatching dire-rats without getting injured. He desperately wanted to heal the dozens of scrapes and scratches with magic, but every time he thought of it the exploding rat returned to his mind.
Only one more rat had exploded after Brandon channeled too much mana into it. He lost count on how many had fizzled out and done nothing. Eventually something new happened. The creature Brandon had been experimenting with staggered to its feet, screeched, and tried to run. After a few feet it fell over and didn’t move again.
Bert promised Brandon that it was progress towards something and encouraged him to keep trying. Brandon placed the next three dire-rats they killed into his storage after Janet’s and Bert’s insistence, but the act of having them there made him feal uneasy.
“We have been at this for a while,” said Janet. “How have you progressed so far?”
“I guess I am getting the hang of it,” said Brandon. “I can’t keep my stone armor on for long but I am getting the delay timing down so I don’t get too injured.”
“I mean how have your stats progressed.”
“I have stats?” asked Brandon shocked. With a mental thought he tried to pull up the window and was immediately rewarded with a response.
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Brandon: Multi-Classer, Bag Man
Level: 1
Further Descriptions: Enabled
Stat
Current Points
Description
Strength
8
Physical Strength Rating
Dexterity
10
Governs physical agility and balance
Constitution
8
Controls how well the physical body can hold up to stress
Fortitude
10
Governs mental strength and resistance to outside control
Mana-Pool
3
Controls the density of your mana pool
Current XP: 873/1000
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“Everyone has stats,” said Bert. “Average human would have 10s in strength, dexterity, constitution, and fortitude, along with a 1 or 2 in their mana-pool. People that have interfaces have to manually assign 3 stat points when they gain a level. People without interfaces have those three automatically assigned to them based on the type of work they did to gain their last level.”
“Most are self-explanatory, but mana pool controls how much mana you have. Raise the stat on your mana pool and your spells and abilities will use a smaller percent of your pool. In turn you could force more mana into the spell for the same percentage and make it do more damage.”
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“All this is pretty vague if you ask me,” said Brandon. “How come I have xp and levels but my mana is a variable pool? All the games I have ever played that use mana have hard numbers to them. Use 10 mana to cast fireball. Kill a rat and get 3 experience.” So far Brandon had not seen Bert anything other than smiling or at least neutral. Now a stern frown covered the man’s face.
“For one, this is no game,” said Bert. “For all the resurrections the Facility does, don’t forget that if you die. You,” Bert pointed at Brandon. “This version of you is dead and gone, and there is no changing that.” Bert sighed and relaxed slightly. “The second reason is all the variables you are not considering that it takes to cast a spell. If I wanted to cast a fireball down here in the damp, I would need to push more mana into it here to get the same result as I would in the desert because of the moisture it would need to overcome. Mana is stored in our bodies, so if you are sick or injured, your body is not holding as much as if you were healthy.”
“It takes some getting used to,” said Janet. “But you can eventually subconsciously feel how a spell reacts while you cast and automatically adjust. Lucky for you, I have heard your type with the interfaces can overlay bars that give you a rough percentage of how much you have left vs your current total maximum capacity. The rest of us kind of just have to feel it out.”
“Huh, like a mana bar,” said Brandon already trying to figure out how to see it. Eventually Brandon was able to get a basic mana bar working. When he thought about it, he could make a translucent blue bar appear at the bottom of his vision. It currently was sitting at about a third full, but he could see it slowly filling.
Brandon was trying to get his head wrapped around everything he had just learned, when a large form burst from the water next to the group. Before he could process what was happening Janet was between him and the creature. Shield held in one hand shoving against the form; in her other a sword glowed with a faint black light.
Janet pushed the creature back and began attacking it in earnest. Each time she slashed the creature slowed slightly. At first, she was struggling to block each attack, a long scaley maw filled with sharp teeth grazed her once. But eventually it was slow enough that she was blocking every incoming attack.
“Is that an Alligator?” yelled Brandon trying to get farther from the humungous animal.
“It is,” said Bert as he took a step towards it holding up a hand. “Ready Janet.”
Janet jumped aside immediately. An ice lance the size of a spear shot from Bert’s hand skewering the beast through one eye.
Brandon inspected the alligator; he guessed it was at least 20 feet long.
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Sewer Alligator: Level 9
Killed By: Bert
Description: This alligator will live its entire life under ground in the sewers without ever seeing the sky.
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“Why are there alligators in the sewer?” asked Brandon. “I thought that was more of an urban legend than anything. As far as I can tell we are nowhere near the ocean or a place these things normally live.”
“Normal,” laughed Janet.
“You get this sort of thing a lot,” said Bert. “P.A.T. puts this type of thing everywhere. Alligators in the sewers. Chupacabra in the foothills. Dragons that fly through the sky. Someone once told me they saw a sasquatch but I’m not sure about that one. They probably think it will help us acclimate to the situation easier.”
Bert pulled a small pouch from his pocket. He grabbed a ring out of it and placed it on his finger as he walked up next to the gator. A dull white light emanated from the ring as he held it over the monster and a green glass orb slowly condensed in his hand. When he was done the gator looked like someone had started to mummify it. Bert handed the glass orb and the sack to Brandon as he pulled the ring off, placing it in his own pocket.
Brandon looked at the green orb.
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Medium Lesser Essence
Description: This essence can be used in crafting of magical artifacts.
Source: Sewer Alligator
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Brandon peered in the bag and saw that they all were labeled as Small Lesser Essences from the dire-rats he had been killing all day. With a thought Brandon tried to put everything into his storage. A popup appeared in Brandon’s vision saying he was out of space. He removed a small pile of assorted rocks he had been training with, trying to pull them in and out of storage without making any noise and placed the sack of essences in his inventory when he could.
“Don’t expect any more from me,” said Bert. “This is just to get you started.”
“Where do I get one of those rings,” asked Brandon pointing at Bert’s pocket.
“You don’t, unless you can make one. They are tightly guarded by the Crafters Guild in town.”
“Do they know you have that Bert?” asked Janet. “You might be hated even more than Brandon here if the Crafters knew you stole one of their rings.”
“I doubt anyone who knew I had this is still in the area other than you two. And if people find out now, I know where to start to find the source of the leak.”
Brandon killed three more rats before he got a new notification.
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Group Mission Complete
Into the Sewers
A member of your party must return to an official mission board to receive your reward.
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Brandon, Janet, and Bert all agreed that there was not much reason to stay down in the dark and damp anymore and returned to the surface.