by Phoenix Grey
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
Congratulations! You are now Level 5! Your base stats have been boosted. You have earned 3 points to assign to your characteristics. Please note that adding points to some characteristics(Vitality, Intelligence, and Strength) will further boost your base stats. You may also advance any 1 skill of your choosing by 1 level.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
For fucks sake, when will this end? Azure thought in exasperation.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
Congratulations! The skill: Two-Handed Weapons has reached Level 2. This skill enables you to use all manner of two-handed weapons to defeat enemies. Increasing your Strength will make them easier to wield.
Azure took notice of the fact that it was the first time that a skill offered him a clue on how to use it the most efficiently. But he barely had time to think about it with the relentless barrage of bats assailing him.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
The bats were doing far more damage to his stamina than his health. A foe that wasn't designed to kill them but to weaken them until they couldn't fight anymore.
Sixteen more bats later and the fight was finally over. As Azure took a deep breath, prying the last bat from his bloodied arm and squashing it under his heel, he could feel the trembling in his body once more from the loss of stamina.
Turning to his companions, he could see that they were all a bloody mess, the appearance of the damage much worse than the health points actually lost.
"I bet we all leveled up from that one," Lonnell commented with a chuckle.
"I didn't level up." Uden scowled.
"Well, I guess now we're the same level." Azure jabbed the half-imp in the side with his elbow to add insult to injury.
"I don't know how," Uden huffed. "I'm pretty sure I killed more than you."
"Shall we tally it up?" Azure suggested, already scanning back through his list of kills to take count. He liked that he could bring up these details just by thinking about them.
"Thirty-six." Uden gave him a pointed look.
Now it was Azure who was scowling. Would the half-imp be able to tell if he was lying? “You win,” he grumbled.
"Nope. You don't get out of it that easy. Tell us how many you killed."
"I killed thirty-four, so I wasn't far behind you, brother," Lonnell chimed in.
"I killed less than both of you," Azure replied stubbornly.
"Clearly," the half-imp said.
"But at least I leveled up." Azure smirked.
Uden's expression twisted in annoyance. “Oh, fuck you.”
"Stop it," Lonnell chastised them. "This isn't a competition. And we all got pretty messed up in the stamina department on that one."
"We did," the half-imp agreed. For having the most kills, he had also lost the most stamina, though he wasn't anywhere near at a critical level like Azure was.
"I think I'm going to need another stamina potion," Azure confessed.
The two brothers looked at each other as if carrying on a silent conversation. Then Lonnell put words to his thoughts. “Should we go forward or move back a bit? I think we've all had enough adventure for one day. We should camp for the night. I could see in your stats, Azure, that your stamina increased twice by 25 points. That means you used two stamina potions. You're pretty bad off right now, and I don't want to use another potion since we're only on the first floor of the dungeon and who knows how much further down it goes.”
Uden let out a long sigh. “I really don't like the idea of camping in a dungeon.”
"It can't be helped," Lonnell told him with an air of sympathy.
The half-imp looked toward the direction they were headed in, then looked back at where they had come from. “We don't know what lies ahead, but I really hate the idea of losing any of the ground we gained today.”
"Why would we go back?" Azure furrowed his brow.
"Because it's safer," Lonnell replied plainly. "Moving forward without your stamina restored could put us in great peril. And we can't stay here because the bats will respawn after some time."
"So what you're saying is that if we go back and make camp in an area that is safe, we will still have to face the bats again tomorrow." Azure didn't really like that idea.
"That is exactly what I'm saying."
"What are the odds that another foe waits not far up ahead?" he asked.
"There's no way to tell without venturing forth," Uden said. "Even attempting to proceed forward a little bit holds its own dangers. We don't know how far the bats' reach extends. If we don't go far enough, they could respawn right on top of us. If we go too far, we could encounter an even greater threat.
"If you hadn't noticed, all of those bats were level one. The foes will only get stronger the further in that we go."
To be honest, Azure had used the goblins outside as a starting mark. He was relieved to know that inside the cave, things were easier to some degree. If they had all been at max health and stamina when they had entered the dungeon, there would be no question about pressing on.
"If we retreat back a bit, is our safety guaranteed?" he inquired.
Lonnell shook his head. “No. But the odds of an attack are much less, and even if we are attacked, it shouldn't be as great as the swarm. Maybe one or two straggler bats who happen to find their way to our location. It shouldn't be anything stronger than that.”
"Shouldn't be?" Azure snorted. He wasn't very confident in that, especially given their luck with the goblins.
"Or you could just feed him another stamina potion, and we could get on with it," Uden suggested, impatiently tapping his foot.
"No. We all need rest," Lonnell insisted. "It's better if we face whatever comes tomorrow fully healed. Besides, since Azure and I both leveled up, we'll be in a better position tomorrow. And I'm fairly certain that if we go through the bats again, you'll level up, too. Maybe we all will."
A loophole, Azure thought. The first opportunity he'd seen in the game to truly level grind. He had killed twenty-nine level one bats and earned 232 experience points for it. It was an immense amount of experience compared to everything else he'd done in the game. Definitely an exploit.
"I say we go back," he spoke up. "Go back, then go forward again. Kill as many bats as we can. Gain as much experience as we can. Then go back, wait for them to respawn, and do it all over again."
"Why would we want to do that?" Uden raised an eyebrow.
"I got 232 experience points from the fight with the bats. That is an insane amount of experience. We could probably all use a few extra levels for when we face The Dark One," he explained.
Lonnell looked tired. “I'd rather get this over as quickly as possible. We don't want to linger in the dungeon and give The Dark One a chance to emerge.”
"What do you think?" Azure asked Uden, hoping to appeal to his greedy nature. Even though he didn't trust the half-imp, they were often on the same page when it came to looting and gaining experience.
Uden thought for a moment. “It's not a bad idea. Who knows how strong the foes ahead will be. It would take a bit of time, but I'd rather gather strength while we can.”
Yes. At least the half-imp could be counted on for something.
"Fine," Lonnell blew out a breath, obviously not agreeing with the plan but willing to go along with it nonetheless. "Let's head back until we know it's safe and make camp. We'll go through the bats as many times as we can tomorrow. But we are only wasting one day on this," he insisted, his voice telling that ther
e was no room to argue.
"That seems fair," Uden agreed, turning to Azure for his reaction to the decision.
"That does seem fair." He nodded, quickly calculating how many times they'd be able to go through the bats again without having to waste potions on stamina. The number was three, by his estimation. That should be enough to level them each up once or twice. Whether they liked it or not, they'd have to use healing potions, but of those they had plenty.
"But first let's gather our loot." Uden knelt and placed his torch on the ground. Then he picked up one of the bats and cut off its wings, layering them together before moving on to the next.
Azure followed suit, assuming that the wings could be sold at the market for coin later.
You have received the following item:
Bat Wing
Quantity: 1/1
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0 kg
Uses: Loot. Sell for coin.
They don't sell for much because they're so common,” Lonnell informed him. “Only a copper a wing, if I remember correctly.”
"Any money is better than none. With this many wings, it equals a lot," Uden said, justifying his desire to pluck the wings from every single bat.
None of them could argue.
Once they were done looting the bodies, they walked back about thirty yards before finding a spot to bed down for the night. Much of the cave looked the same, and Azure couldn't tell if it was night or day anymore given the pitch blackness inside. All he knew was that he was exhausted from all of the fighting.
"Don't forget to allocate your characteristic points and level up your skills," Lonnell told him.
"Yeah," he replied nonchalantly before setting to the task.
Name: Azure
Race: Human
Level: 5, 36% of the way to next level
Health: 98 / 180
Mana: 150 / 150
Stamina: 17 / 160
Vitality: 13
Intelligence: 10
Strength: 11
Agility: 12
Dexterity: 11
Charisma: 10
Luck: 12
Skills: Archery Lvl 3; 36% of the way to next level
Stealth Lvl 3; 36% of the way to the next level
Analyze Lvl 4; 90% of the way to next level
Cooking Lvl 5; 40% of the way to next level
Alchemy Lvl 3; 0% of the way to next level
Foraging Lvl 5; 94% of the way to next level
One-Handed Weapons Lvl 4; 18% of the way to next level
Tracking Lvl 1; 70% of the way to next level
Two-Handed Weapons Level 2; 95% of the way to next level
Languages: Common Tongue, Sprite, Goblin-Tongue
This was the easiest allocation of points he had to make so far. If this quest had taught him anything, it was that he needed more Stamina and Health. Without a second thought, he put two points into Strength and one into Vitality.
Picking which skill to level up wasn't much more challenging. Normally, he would have leveled up Alchemy, since it was the furthest away from leveling. But he wasn't really in a situation where he needed it right now. The next skill furthest away from leveling was his One-Handed Weapons skill. Just from the fight with the bats, Azure had come to realize that the halberd wouldn't be his weapon of choice. The only thing keeping him from passing it off to Lonnell to hold for him was the fact that it did more damage than his crude goblin sword. As soon as he found a better sword, though, it would undoubtedly be getting sold.
Congratulations! The skill: One-Handed Weapons has reached Level 5. This skill enables you to use all manner of one-handed weapons to defeat enemies. What you do with your other hand is up to you. One-Handed Weapons now do 20% more damage.
Sweet! A perk. Twenty percent more damage was a pretty good increase.
Closing his stats, Azure settled against the cave wall, staring at the darkness across from them. It amazed him how little the torches illuminated. It made him feel vulnerable, and it almost made him want to stay up and keep watch with Uden. But he needed rest more than any of them. The only reason they had even stopped was because his stamina was so depleted.
"Thanks for saving me, by the way," he mentioned, wanting to smooth over any lingering tension between him and the half-imp.
"Don't worry about it." Uden waved his appreciation away. "You would have done the same for me."
"I would have." It wasn't a lie, Azure realized. The half-imp had left him behind once but had saved him twice as many times. Whether Azure fully trusted him or not, they were in this together now.
All for one, and one for all.
CHAPTER TWO
THE REALM – Day 30
There was a faint unease throughout the night. The strangest feeling. It was as if Azure's subconscious mind was trying to force a nightmare. The images that flashed through his head were always on the cusp, but not quite there.
When what he perceived to be morning finally came, Azure found that neither Uden nor Lonnell had gotten much sleep. That had impeded the recovery of their stamina, but not so much that they weren't both nearly fully charged.
"Sleeping in this place was definitely a bad idea," Uden said between yawning and stretching.
"I don't feel rested at all," Lonnell groaned.
Azure could only surmise that his Armor of Light had protected him from the bad dreams that had plagued the others. He was grateful that he had it.
"Did you guys run into any trouble last night?" he asked, thinking about how his watch had been silent. Eerily so.
"No," they both responded.
"And thank the Gods for that. We all needed every bit of rest we could get since sleep only came with unpleasantness," Lonnell added.
"Ah yes. The lovely nightmares," Uden remarked sarcastically.
"I think the armor kept me from having them," Azure confessed.
"It would." Lonnell nodded. "You're lucky you have it."
"You'll be lucky if I don't steal it from you tonight if we don't make it out of this forsaken place," Uden grumbled.
"I'd like to see you try and take it." Azure snorted in jest.
"Do not put it past me to undress you." The half-imp glared at him.
"If we follow your plan and don't proceed forward after fighting the bat swarm again, we will be stuck in here another night," Lonnell reminded them. "Is it really worth it?"
"I think so," Azure quickly replied.
"You would since you have the armor." Uden brushed Azure's shoulder, flicking up a few of the leaves.
"Our stamina did recover, but I'm not feeling it." Lonnell shook his head, looking exhausted. The dark circles under his eyes could be seen in the flickering light of the torches. Uden sported them as well.
"Let us get through the swarm one more time and then see how we feel," the half-imp suggested. "While I'm all for leveling up, I'd rather do what's necessary to make it out of here alive."
A soft huff passed through Azure's lips. Perhaps he hadn't found a loophole after all. There were definitely consequences for staying in the dungeon too long.
They shared a light breakfast of dried meat before heading back towards the bats. Already knowing what was coming, they were ready when they heard the flapping of wings headed in their direction.
"Here they come!" Azure shouted, fully energized and ready to earn some sweet experience points.
Again, the barrage of bats descended on them, and they all swung their weapons and pried the bats off of them that managed to get through. Again there was a rapid fire of notifications in Azure's vision.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
Congratulations! The skill: Two-Handed Weapons has reached Level 3. This skill enables you to use all manner of two-handed weapons to defeat enemies. Increasing your Strength will make them easier to wield.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
Defeated Level 1 Bat. 8XP rewarded.
Defeated Level 1
Bat. 8XP rewarded.
This time, it was more like a game to him. He desperately wanted to beat Uden's kill count for bragging rights. Both brothers seemed slower, somehow, but at the end of the swarm, Azure still only managed to garner twenty-nine kills, the same as the day before.
"Did you guys level up?" Azure asked as he knelt to start cutting the wings off of the downed bats.
"I did," Uden replied, though he didn't seem particularly excited about it.
"I did not," Lonnell told them.
"I didn't either, but my Two-Handed Weapons skill did. Maybe next round."
The battle had depleted nearly a quarter of his Stamina and Health. Uden was the worst off, having lost a third of his Stamina and Health equally. That meant they would only be good for one more round with the bats before they'd need to either heal with potions or rest up. Azure had miscalculated the day before by only factoring in his own Stamina and Health.
Glancing at Uden's stats in the bottom of his field of vision, he began to wonder if he might actually be stronger than the half-imp despite Uden's higher level. He doubted that Uden took the brunt of the attack. They had all been standing side by side.
"Thirty-four this time," the half-imp commented, obviously wanting to keep the game going.
"I beat you, brother," Lonnell said with a smile.
They both looked over at Azure.
"I don't want to talk about it," he muttered, which garnered a chuckle from Uden and thankfully no further prodding.
When they were done cleaning up the field, Lonnell distributed a healing potion to each of them.
"Don't you think we should disperse these in case we get separated from one another?" Azure suggested after downing his potion.
"You would probably waste them," Uden said, not bothering to hold back the harshness in his tone.