As I put the finishing touches on my quickly sketched map, I felt my cartography skill increase again. Pausing in the air, I pulled my alerts up to check my training progress for the past hour. I was impressed with the results.

General Skills:

Identify: 2->3!

Cartography: 3->4!

Race Skills:

Storm Cloak: 2->4!

Archetype Skills:

Born to Roam: 5->7!

Nodding to myself in satisfaction, I tucked my journal away and pulled out my machete, summoning a storm cloak around the weapon. I had been trying to keep the skill active as much as possible to constantly drain my mana, hopefully making my training more efficient.

Cartography, on the other hand, had already proven a valuable skill, as I did manage to encounter a few survivors early in the day. The group of ten consisted of two travel-worn families wandering through the undergrowth. With my skills' assistance, I could draft them a rudimentary map with ease, pointing them towards the camp.

Beyond the increase in cartography, I was most excited about the rise in Born to Roam. Leveling that skill was finicky, and I felt gratified that I had finally managed to increase it.

I pulled up the skill info with a mental nudge, reading the skill description again.

Born to Roam

7/100

Skill growth is increased while exploring new places alone (+7%)

My morning had started early. I set off as soon as I awoke, deciding to work on some of my neglected skills, particularly Born to Roam. I had spent the first hour after leaving camp just flying around the ruined city, trying to get the skill to level, but had been entirely unsuccessful. It was only after I paused and considered the intent behind the skill that I realized I needed to treat the skill as Cindy and Taylor treated theirs.

The solution was obvious in hindsight, but I hadn’t quite figured it out due to the different wording. Cindy acted like royalty to level her skill. Taylor acted oblivious.

If our skills worked the same way, and there was no reason to believe they didn’t, I needed to explore and act like a Lone Wanderer actively. This time, I consciously tried to find new things instead of just flying around. I saw weird plants in some of the magical biomes, which helped bump my identity level, mapped part of the area outside of the camp, and searched for anything valuable that was small enough to fit in my backpack from a few ruined strip centers. The intention behind my actions seemed to be the key to getting Born to Roam to level.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

I breathed deeply in clean air and felt my whole body relax. The city was green with life and growth, the ruins peeking from the trees and vines, giving the place an austere beauty. Birds sang in the trees, and animals moved in the undergrowth. There was wild and untamed energy to the city now, contrasted by the burgeoning metropolis it was before.

I needed some alone time. I hadn’t realized it, but being around everyone in the camp had been a constant stress that I didn’t expect. My brief foray into the wilderness this morning took all the stress I’d been feeling and bled it away.

With a crash, a tree collapsed in the forest below, ripping me from my reverie. Looking between the boughs, I could barely see a large shape tearing through the underbrush.

Cautiously, I floated lower to the ground, stopping just beneath the canopy of leaves. The source of the disturbance was immediately made clear.

It was a monster deer. The animal was massive, though, several feet taller than normal. It had a vast set of pronged horns sticking out of its head that were about as large as the rest of the animal and were made from a coarse grey stone. Its flesh rippled with muscle.

The crackle of my cloaked blade alerted the monster to my presence. It whipped around to stare at me with twin black unblinking eyes.

I quickly used Identify.

Lesser Stone Deer: T1

A monster created by infusing stone mana with a whitetail deer.

With a bellow, the beast whipped his head, sending a shotgun blast of rock from its antlers toward me. The stone shards mostly missed but clipped my left thigh, leaving long scratches on my skin.

Diving towards it, I tried to get near the beast's back to chop at the neck, but the buck turned with me as I approached, keeping its massive horns pointed in my direction.

With a huff, the monster kicked off the ground barreling at me. It closed the twenty feet between us in an instant giving me little time to act, but at the last moment, I managed to throw myself to the side, narrowly avoiding getting impaled. The deer crashed into a tree behind me, its horns sinking into the wood like a hot knife through butter.

Now was my chance.

Before it could tear its horns free and turn around, I dove at the monster, slashing at its throat. The blade stuck, not entirely cutting deep enough for a lethal blow. Its flesh was tough, and the beast twisted away from the pain, trying to wrench the machete from my hands. Before it could, though, I set my feet and pushed the glowing machete deeper and deeper.

The deer struggled desperately to escape, but I wouldn’t let it go. Its head was still trapped in the tree, leaving me time to tear my weapon free. After a moment of struggle, the beast faltered, it’s legs collapsing, before it finally fell dead on the ground.

Mana bled from the dead monster, snaking through the atmosphere and entering my chest. My core greedily soaked the energy in, sending a warm glow throughout my body.

Mana Absorbed:

Core Quality 1->4

The sensation was cathartic and pleasant, the multi-level jump in core quality far more intense than when I killed the squirrel, and as it faded, I was filled with a sense of loss. I almost twisted away immediately to hunt for another deer to kill to chase that feeling but forced myself to stop at the last moment.

Instead, I took a closer look at the monster. Now that I was up close to it, I could see that its horns were made of stone, and its skin was impregnated with bits of rock. That was why it was so difficult to pierce and cut through. Stifling my disgust and looking into the wound I had created, I could see bits of rock scattered throughout its body.

This, unfortunately, dashed all hopes of returning the monster to the base and getting it butchered for fresh meat.

With a start, I twisted around at the sound of a branch cracking in the woods behind me. There, standing proudly, was another deer. Wrapping my hand around the handle of my weapon, I prepared for combat yet again.