Beastborne

by James T Callum

  117

  “Weak,” said a voice in the darkness.

  Hal and Besal crashed into something solid but Hal couldn’t make out what it was. Everything was darkness.

  “You would join yourself with a man of such weakness?” the rumbling voice asked.

  Besal pulled himself up and somehow found the strength to help Hal to his feet. “I would,” he answered. “His past is full of mistakes, failures, and being controlled by malicious creatures. I would not be one of them.”

  “He nearly fell back into the same patterns that trapped him before,” the voice said. “This one would have forsaken you to attain that level of self-loathing rather than assume a mantle of strength.”

  “But he did not,” Besal argued. “When he could have shut me out, he let me in. When he could not hear me, he heeded me still. His weakness is wrought of being caged. I have seen his strength when he lets himself free.”

  Hal looked at Besal then at the boundless darkness around them.

  “You, human,” the voice said, addressing Hal finally. “You would not prefer to return to a life of mundane drudgery?”

  It took him a few moments to reorient himself. A subtle intrusion tried to slip into his mind. It was the same feeling that pushed out the strangeness of being back in his apartment in Seattle.

  The same force that sealed away his memories of friends and adventure. Memories he held dear and, despite their surrealness, would treasure until the end of his days. With surprising force, he pushed at that intrusion and the darkness seemed to recoil a little.

  Those were his memories. He wasn’t about to forget them. Besal turned to him, a look of surprise and approval on his face.

  Hal reached out into the darkness. He felt [Emissary] out there and he focused on it. The blade appeared in his palm with a painful slap. “I will never return to that life,” Hal said resolutely.

  Rolling the blade over in his hand, he lunged forward and cut at the darkness. Light peeked out from the gash Hal had made. The rip in the darkness continued to stretch and yawn wide, pulling back until Besal and Hal appeared back in the clearing within the Shiverglades.

  A dark indistinct form floated above the pair. The shifting thing turned into a roiling pit of darkness the size of a small car. Somehow, the most surprising thing of all was that the floating roiling darkness spoke. “Close your eyes and hold your hands out toward me.”

  Hal looked over to see Besal shutting his eyes and holding a hand out toward the darkness. He shut his eyes and followed suit.

  The voice, rich and resonate, filled his mind. “Breathe. Slower… slower. Your past is part of who you are. You must accept this. The person you were does not dictate the one you shall be. Every day we are remade by our actions.

  “Let go of the past and take your first step freed from these shackles you once allowed to be chained to your person. They have no power over you if you do not permit them. Stand upon solid ground once more. Know your worth.”

  Hal felt a lightness enter his body with each deep breath. Strength surged through his limbs. When he opened his eyes, Besal was gone and so was the large roiling mass.

  He didn’t need the notification that followed to know that he had successfully completed his first Dark Communion. Something was different about him. He was still freezing, that hadn’t changed, but he felt lighter. Freer.

  Class Quest: Dark Communion

  You have passed the first Communion with Besal, and with your past. Two more Communions are required.

  Objectives

  Perform 3 Dark Communions with Besal.

  Perform Communion of Antiquity (Completed).

  Preserve Hal’s life.

  Preserve Besal’s life.

  Additional objectives available.

  Rewards

  Enhanced Strain limit.

  Enhanced Beastborne abilities, spells, and skills.

  Access to Beastborne Zenith: Delirium.

  Additional rewards available.

  Hal looked around at the clearing, his eyes finally fell upon the large beetle off to the side, still feasting on the Flytraps. It watched him but didn’t move closer. But Hal also noticed that it didn’t flee.

  Need to get warm first, he thought.

  A simple mental command had the bone claws on his hand melting away to nothingness. He hadn’t tried using something so simple before. For some reason, after he gained Bonecrafting, he didn’t seem to think too much of Blades of Bone or Bone Armor despite both having some interesting utility.

  Like many of his abilities, he needed to spend some time experimenting and testing their limits.

  Splicing shadow, eldritch, and aberration, Hal ventured into the woods to look for deadfall and kindling. He carried back an armload of the stuff and set up a rudimentary campfire with the supplies in his inventory.

  No longer needing his Shadesight, Hal swapped out shadow for insect essence. Both eldritch and aberration were far too useful - and powerful - for him to abandon in such a dangerous place.

  But he needed a terrestrial essence to tie himself to the world around him. It grounded his senses and expanded them far beyond what Shadesight could do. He could feel creatures out there and they were aware of him.

  Sitting in front of the warming fire, Hal finally started to thaw out.

  Your Survival has risen to Level 5.

  +5% Camping regeneration (225%).

  +5% Flora & Fauna identification. (+25%).

  +1% Well Rested bonus (+5%).

  You no longer suffer the effect of Exhaustion (Lv.1).

  You no longer suffer the effect of Biting Cold.

  Your synchronization with Besal has risen to 30%.

  You gain the effect of Camping.

  +225% HP Regeneration.

  +225% SP Regeneration.

  +225% MP Regeneration.

  +100% Healing effects.

  Duration: While Camping.

  Hal took out some seriously aged [Rations] from his lone [Adventurer’s Kit]. From it, he also took out a [Bedroll] but kept the [Tent] stowed away. He didn’t intend to sleep longer than was required.

  Which, for him, wasn’t long at all.

  Besides, from the way Besal spoke of the Dark Communion, he would need to find another area that contained a fight such as the one he was fortunate enough to just drop in on.

  It wasn’t like he would magically stumble upon a place replete with mana and ancient conflict. Any future site for his Dark Communion would no doubt need to be created.

  While he warmed in front of the fire, Hal looked over the deluge of EXP and Skill Level Up notifications he had gained from fighting the Thesps earlier, and the Flytraps and beetles just recently. He mechanically ate the [Rations] which kept him fed but didn’t provide any sort of benefit whatsoever.

  Your Improvised Weaponry Skill has risen to Level 17.

  +2% Improvised Weapon damage (+34%).

  +2% Improvised Weapon attack speed (+34%).

  Your Sword Skill has risen to Level 21.

  …

  Your Sword Skill has risen to Level 23.

  +1% Sword damage (+23%).

  -0.25% Sword durability loss (-5.75%).

  Your Parry Skill has risen to Level 10.

  Your Parry Skill has risen to Level 11.

  +1% Parry success (+11%).

  -1% Stamina cost (-11%).

  You have 1 Parry Perk point awaiting assignment.

  Your Evasion Skill has risen to Level 16.

  +1% Evasion speed (+16%).

  -1% Stamina cost (-16%).

  Your Enfeebling Magic has risen to Level 19.

  Your Enfeebling Magic has risen to Level 20.

  +1% Enfeebling success (+20%).

  +2% Enfeebling duration (+40%).

  +5% Enfeebling magic resistance (+20%).

  You have 1 Enfeebling Magic Perk point awaiting assignment.

  Your Tactician Skill has risen to Level 10.

  +1% Planning efficacy (+10%).

 
; +1% Ambush & Trap success (+10%).

  -0.5% CP cost of Building Schematics (-5.0%).

  +0.5% Building Schematic parameters (+5.0%).

  You have 1 Tactician Skill Perk point awaiting assignment.

  Your Beast Magic has risen to Level 26.

  …

  Your Beast Magic has risen to Level 29.

  +3% Beast Magic potency (+87%).

  You have 5 unspent Attribute Points awaiting distribution.

  Hal sat back and stared at it all. He had 3 total perks to spend, as well as 5 attribute points. Those, at least, he could easily decide upon without much deliberation.

  All 5 points went into VIT, raising it to 35. With his armor in tatters, he needed every defensive edge he could manage.

  That was something that, sooner than later, he was going to have to deal with. He had no ability to repair his gear. But, sitting in front of a fire his MP regeneration was more than doubled to 477.

  With that much MP, he might be able to cobble something together. As soon as he ventured away from the fire he would be too cold. He needed armor, but he needed insulation more.

  Venturing deeper into the Shiverglades without the ability to restore his HP, SP, or MP was simply suicidal.

  As for all the perks, he decided to wait until morning. He was bone-weary and the warmth of the flames was lulling him to sleep.

  Barely able to keep his eyes open, Hal crawled into his sleeping bag and pillowed his head on his arm. He drew [Emissary] and kept it within easy reach.

  Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that sleeping next to a campfire was dangerous. They attracted monsters after all. But he felt reasonably sure that the collection of plantoid corpses nearby would cause any curious creatures to think twice about interrupting his sleep.

  The last thing he saw was the oversized rhinoceros beetle inch toward the fire and rest nearby across from Hal. It was doing its utmost to remain unthreatening and so Hal dismissed it from his thoughts.

  Hal fell into an easy and deep sleep. One blessedly free of any dreams.

  118

  Well-rested - quite literally, as Hal noticed the buff appear upon waking - Hal stretched his arms toward the glittering canopy far above him. Leaves rustled on an unfelt breeze somewhere up above, their green edges catching and fracturing the sunlight in a brilliant display.

  Sunlight?

  Hal looked around, realizing that he hadn’t slept his usual few hours but much longer. It couldn’t have been much after midnight when he bedded down by his very rough estimation.

  And yet, he could see the sun peeking out, casting bright bars of light through the canopy to create pools of brilliance in the dappled shadows around.

  The fire was, somehow, still burning and kept him warm. A curious thing, since his Survival wasn’t high enough to do anything of that sort.

  His question was answered shortly later by a scuttling, shuffling sound off to the side of the clearing.

  Through the underbrush, the rhinoceros beetle scurried toward the campsite. Balanced upon its one unbroken horn was a set of logs and smaller branches. It was kindling, Hal noticed. In fact, it looked a lot like a discarded and disused nest of some sort.

  The creature didn’t so much balance its load upon the horn as pierce through the roughly woven material. It turned to regard Hal a moment, then continued on its scurrying way to the fire, shaking free some of the twigs and smaller branches to drop into the fire.

  Depositing its burden, the beetle regarded Hal with glittering black eyes. Hal could detect neither maliciousness nor aggression within. It was a wild animal, but there was something oddly docile about it.

  Wary of his new friend, Hal slipped out of his bedroll and rolled up to his feet easily. Only in the filtering light of midday did Hal realize just how poorly damaged his armor was.

  He let out a sigh at the state of things.

  Everything except for his [Leaping Boots], his [Lunette Ring], [Bomb Ring], and his [Mana-Tempered Circlet] was absolutely trashed.

  As soon as he stepped away from the campfire for any length of time, he would succumb to the cold. Without the heat-enchanted [Shardite], he would have been frozen in his previous outfit. Perhaps not to the point of gaining a debuff, but undoubtedly uncomfortable.

  That was when it hit him. How alone he was. His party list was still grayed out, which meant that they had not managed to get any closer. He still didn’t hear the keinse anywhere, and he doubted the wisdom of making noises to attract their keen ears.

  For all he knew, the others had gone in the opposite direction of his flight in search of him. It wasn’t as if they could have seen exactly where he went or where he landed.

  The keinse might have, but at best they could provide a general area.

  Shaking his head, Hal tried to dismiss the gloomy thoughts. They weren’t helpful. The beetle ambled over to one of the corpses of the monsters from last night and began to nibble on it.

  The bodies had been spread out in an irregular circular pattern around the campfire in something akin to a perimeter.

  “Did you do that?” Hal asked the beetle.

  It merely looked up at him. Perhaps it was a curious look, though Hal couldn’t really tell. This wasn’t like when he stumbled across Vorax. The beetle was far less intelligent.

  Still, it seemed kind enough not to gore him in his sleep or try to hurt him.

  “Good enough for me,” he muttered to himself and took out another box of [Rations]. He chewed the bland food mechanically as he went through a series of limbering stretches.

  Sleeping on the cold hard forest floor - even with the meager padding of the bedroll - wasn’t enjoyable.

  As he flowed through the stretching forms Angram had taught him, he went over his perks.

  He had a lot to do. If his party hadn’t found him yet, it was likely he was much deeper into the Shiverglades than he thought.

  And that meant he needed to find a way to make himself capable of surviving the harsh climate of the Shiverglades without constantly stopping to create a campfire. One that would undoubtedly attract unwelcome guests.

  He took another look at the ring of plantoid corpses, wondering if that was why he was able to sleep through the night without being troubled.

  With a shrug, his arms reaching toward the sky with fingers spread wide, Hal turned his attention back to his perks.

  You have 1 Parry Perk point awaiting assignment.

  Riposte 0/1

  Counterattack a parried blow with one of your own, dealing Critical Hit damage and piercing armor.

  Divest 0/1

  Using your chain, ensnare an opponent’s parried weapon, ripping it from their grasp. If the weapon is incapable of being removed, weapon damage is reduced by 25%.

  Fencer 0/5

  While wielding a single weapon, your Weaponskill damage increases, and your chances to parry increase.

  Lv.1: +5% Weaponskill damage | +5% Parry chance.

  Lv.2: +7% Weaponskill damage | +7% Parry chance.

  Lv.3: +10% Weaponskill damage | +10% Parry chance.

  Lv.4: +15% Weaponskill damage | +15% Parry chance.

  Lv.5: +20% Weaponskill damage | +20% Parry chance.

  Hal’s preferred method of fighting was to use a chain in his off-hand and a sword in his main. With the [Chain of Binding’s] enchantment, it let him get in and out of engagements quickly, often to the surprise of his adversaries.

  He saw no reason to change that, which meant that Fencer was immediately out of the running. And while Divest sounded incredibly nice, Hal favored a more aggressive fighting style that a Beastborne was suited for.

  Riposte wasn’t terribly illuminating as to just how much damage it did or how Critical Hit damage differed from normal damage. In either case, it was the only way to turn a defensive move into an aggressively offensive one.

  Something he knew Besal would surely agree with.

  “And since when do you care what I think?” Besal asked curiously. Was it
Hal’s imagination, or did he seem… tired? Ever since their first Communion, Besal had been utterly silent.

  “Whether you care or not,” Hal subvocalized, “the point still stands.”

  “And that is?” Besal asked, his voice betraying a hint of amusement.

  “That Beastborne is not a defensive Class. It is aggressive, and attempting to do otherwise is to my detriment.”

  “You are learning.”

  Hal selected Riposte and looked over his Enfeebling Magic perks.

  You have 1 Enfeebling Magic Perk point awaiting assignment.

  Nemesis 0/1

  Deal 15% extra damage to the last creature you’ve enfeebled.

  Dream Thief 0/1

  Take the dreams of the sleeping, empowering your next enfeebling spell by 50%.

  Shatter 1/3

  Enfeebling spells apply a 10% MDEF reduction.

  Lv1: 10% MDEF reduction.

  Lv2: 15% MDEF reduction.

  Lv3: 25% MDEF reduction.

  Hal went ahead and picked up the next tier of Shatter. That was something he already knew to pick. The 15% MDEF reduction on enemies affected by Enchainment and Bloodrake was too useful compared to his other choices, and at the third level, it would jump another 10%. It would synergize very well with his Beast Magic.

  He had long ago learned that MDEF and DEF were not a direct 1 to 1 ratio of defense to damage. Raising (or in this case, lowering) MDEF a single point did not mean it reduced or increased damage by a single point.

  There was some deeper mechanic at play that Hal still didn’t quite grasp. But with magic as one of his primary means of dispatching threats, it would be insane not to increase his magical damage.