Carefully, Kyle wandered up and down the edge of the creek for a while until she noticed another of the unusual vines not far from the water’s edge. Kyle reasoned the vines probably grew close to the water where there’d always be prey coming to the stream to drink – and she was quite happy to see she was right. Since these monsters had a limited range of movement, they were something which she could fight safely, even with her limited skills.
This time, before trying to engage the vine, she focused on it and gave the command, “Identify.” Kyle was happy to see a few small blue windows pop up in response to her command.
Creature Identification: Tangleroot Creeper
Level: 3
HP: 25 / 25
** Other information unavailable due to insufficient skill in Identify.
Congratulations!
You have uncovered a new creature for your bestiary! (Tangleroot Creeper)
You have been awarded 50 experience! You need 930 more to the next level.
Tangleroot Creepers will now be counted for “Plant Slayer” achievements.
“Hot dog!” Kyle nearly jumped with excitement!
The last time she’d checked her status, she’d noticed that the description for identify read, “Allows identification of basic items or creatures.”, but she’d never tried to use it while in combat on a creature – she had a hard enough time just trying to fight at all, with her talents. That was something that was definitely going to have to change!
For one thing, by identifying the creatures, she got free experience from them. Even though the information she’d learned was very limited at the moment, it was worth fifty experience to her – and that was as much as she’d earn for killing five of the creatures at her level! For another thing, they got added to her bestiary; which was something which she didn’t even know she had before! And then, on top of all that, it allowed the creatures to count towards some sort of slayer achievement.
Now, she was beginning to think that maybe spending several hours earlier working up her identify skill a few times wasn’t a complete waste of time.
Grinning exuberantly, Kyle slowly advanced on the vine and attacked it. She’d considered simply standing back out of the vines reach and beating it to death, but in the end decided against it. Simply practicing identify over and over had eventually led to her uncovering a skill for the ability. As long as she was careful and only got within a single vine’s reach at a time, it should be safe enough to practice dodging and striking. Kyle was hoping that, with enough tries, she could learn some much needed combat skills. Simply standing back and bashing at a range probably wouldn’t be the best way to improve her overly weak self.
Combat with the tangleroot creeper was a slow and laborious task for her. As long as Kyle was dodging, the vine wasn’t a prone target attached helplessly to her leg, and she missed as often as she hit it. In some ways, their battle seemed almost like a dance between the two opponents. Dodge left, spin and strike as the vine recoils. Dodge right, thrust and jab as it recoiled for another attack. Dodge left, spin and strike again. Over and over their dance continued as Kyle slowly tried to beat the vine down.
Several exchanges back and forth occurred, and then the creature finally managed to grab hold of her ankle and knock her to the ground. Pain rolled through Kyle’s ankle, and the smell of smoldering elven flesh was ripe in the air again. At this point, the dance changed to a different tempo of bash, heal, bash, heal, bash, heal, until the creature finally disappeared in a shimmer of light, leaving a single green leaf behind.
Congratulations! You have defeated a Tangleroot Creeper!
You gain 20 experience.
You need 910 more to the next level.
You need 9 more kills for the Beginner Plant Slayer achievement!
“Oh yeah!” The experience for this kill was twice what it was when it was simply an ‘unknown vine’, and she now only needed nine more kills for an achievement! “I take back what I said earlier. Identify rocks!” Buoyed by her sudden good fortune, Kyle healed herself to full life and then bounced off to seek her next opponent!
Several hours, and eight slow kills later, Kyle was finally able to find the last vine needed for her achievement. Slowly, as she’d done several times before, she advanced on the creeper to make certain no others were close enough to where they could fight at the same time. Once close enough, Kyle bashed out with her staff and struck the first feeble blow against her opponent, which immediately lashed out at her like a whip. Dodging left, Kyle struck out once again and missed, as she began the now familiar dance with the vine.
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This vine was either quicker than the others, or else it was just lucky, as it struck and wrapped itself around her ankle on the second attack. The now familiar smell of smoldering flesh assaulted her nose as pain burned into her right leg, and Kyle healed herself while bashing. Somewhere along the way, she’d started casting the heal spell without needing to stop her attacks, and now it was something that she did almost automatically as soon as she got injured. Heal-bash. heal-bash. heal-bash. Kyle continued to heal herself just as quickly as she could swing her staff, and several swipes later, the creature blinked out of existence.
Congratulations! You have defeated a Tangleroot Creeper!
You gain 20 experience.
You need 730 more to the next level.
Congratulations! You have unlocked the Beginner Plant Slayer achievement!
You gain 1 strength.
You gain 1 endurance.
You now have a 5% bonus to hit and damage plant-type monsters.
You gain 100 experience.
You need 630 more to the next level.
“Yeah!” Kyle squealed with excitement in her gentle elven voice. “Almost halfway to level. If I keep this up, I might be able to get my level tonight!” Half bouncing with excitement, Kyle looked around for the green leaf which the vines normally dropped, and was surprised to see a red one instead. Picking it up, he studied it carefully before saying, “Identify.”
Name
Damage
Durability
Notes
Sturdy Red LeafNA20 / 20A very durable red leaf of unknown properties.
This item may be used in crafting.
“Hmmm….” At first glance, it didn’t seem much different than the green leaves, except for the durability. Red leaves were twice as durable as the green ones – and a whole heck of a lot more durable than his flimsy silken clothes. Maybe the leaves could be used in crafting some sort of elvish armor?
In a way, she hoped not. If so, then she might not be that far away from the elven city after all, and the people trying to have her killed might find her easier. She was thinking she’d ended up somewhere far away from where she’d started, but now she wasn’t so certain. Worrying about how close she might be to elven lands, the world suddenly faded away and Kyle found himself staring at the inside of his helmet.
“Bed time, young man!” His mother’s voice was loud and firm.
“Aww man!” Kyle pulled the helmet off and looked around to see his mother standing over near the doorway now. She’d came in, hit the power button on his V-RIG, and turned it off.
“You know, you don’t have to shout mom. I can hear you just fine with the helmet on. It’s not like they’re soundproof or anything,” Kyle moped.
“Well…” His mother just shrugged her shoulders as she headed out the door. “It’s late, I just got off a double, and I’m needed back early in the morning. Get yourself in bed; you’ll need to get yourself up in the morning. I’ll probably be gone by the time you wake up.”
“I will.” Kyle laid the helmet down on the floor beside the bed and pulled his covers up. It was a little earlier than when he usually went to sleep, but he didn’t want to cause his mother any worry over him. Two of the nurses were out on maternity leave, it was the middle of winter and people were sick with colds and flu like crazy, and the hospital was insanely busy.
His mom had enough to deal with at work; she didn’t need to worry over him at home also.
Even if his grandfather was paying him to play it, Winter’s Tale was still just a game. Thinking that it’d still be there tomorrow when he got back home from school, Kyle relaxed and thought about the view Sera had unintentionally shown him at the dinner several times, before going to sleep with a contented smile on his face.