by Sergei Katz
Night came, but we continued our training. The goats rejoiced in the new practice. It appeared that they hated being inactive for so long stuck so much that it felt like a lump in their throats. At one point, the Satyr took on control of the second team. He constantly changed the strategy of the battle, and whenever he found the gaps in my defense, he took a complete advantage of them. I didn’t have enough time to instruct my fighters with voice commands to even consider attacking back. After another total defeat for my team, I remembered a huge number of military films that I had watched: all sorts of action movies about Special Forces and many more in the same genre. In these films, they constantly used different hand signals instead of voice commands, so the enemy couldn’t hear orders and could only react after the changes had already occurred on the battlefield. I used some commands that I remembered from some films I watched some time ago, and the rest I made up and explained them to my team.
You have created the ability of “Tactical Sign Language”, Beginner level (1%).
Thanks to you, there was a small change in the world: the inhabitants of the world have the opportunity to learn the new ability of “Sign Language”. Previously there had been 45 small changes.
You have the achievement of “Extraordinary”. You are the first Newcomer to give this world a new ability. This achievement can be improved upon: create a new ability or agility.
+1 to create personal spells.
“What does this mean? Is it possible that I now have the ability to create another “Wild Magic” spell?”
As soon as I learned a quick way to give commands, things got much better for us. I was already more or less equal to the Satyr, but there were always more members in my team than he had in his.
As soon as I won three matches in a row, the rules changed again. Now each side had the same number of participants. The fighting smoothly flowed from the tree to the water and back to the tree again. Morph and my Copper wing added to this attack from the air. Eventually, the Satyr stopped being only a leader and also joined in the melee. Running here and there, and constantly inventing new strategies, I sometimes caught myself thinking that the programmer who was behind the creation of my instructor might have watched too many Kung Fu films, because as the goats were jumping from branch to branch, they very much resembled characters in those classic creations.
The Satyr constantly came up with new rules, and demanded us to overcome the difficulties presented to us. By the end of the practice, my eyes were already sticking together from tiredness, I was getting a bit dizzy, and I was giving many commands on auto pilot or based on my intuition. I reached the Craftsman level when it was already daybreak, and as soon as it happened, a heap of messages poured down on me.
You have received the one-off achievement of “Brilliant Student”. You are the first Newcomer to receive the level of Craftsman in both Ability and Talent.
+15% chance of persuading a Grand Master to teach you something new.
+ 5% increase in the chance of persuading a Grand Master to take you on as a student.
+1% increase in the possibility that you can persuade a Grand Master to teach you a spell, technique or ability that will rank as “super-rare” or higher.
You are on the way to achieve the ability of “Miracle Worker”. The world did not believe that this was possible, but you proved it wrong. Surprise the world 4 more times to obtain this achievement.
The happy and excited Satyr was jumping around me, but my exhausted brain demanded rest so, ignoring his bleating, I dropped to the sand and fell asleep.
Someone shook me by my shoulder and said:
— I’m afraid that it's time for us to part company, Alder. The Oasis has already made a short jump and will jump again in 10 minutes. Pan told me that that this was as close as we could get to the edge of the desert, which is where we needed to get to.
My dreams seemed to blow away in the wind. I quickly jumped to my feet, said goodbye to the Satyr and his flock of goats, and we left the Oasis. As we walked off, Alex told me where we had to go, and it was about half a day away.
— What are the dangers and interesting things we are likely to come across? — I asked Alex.
— He didn’t tell me anything about that, — the boy was embarrassed and stared at the ground. — He said that we must decide for ourselves how to deal with these things.
— So, will all the mirages be butterflies? — I was surprised.
— Most likely so, — a smile returned to the boy's face. — Nothing but butterflies. All the rest are just ordinary mirages, well, or monsters, disguised as mirages.
— So, there will be monsters here as well? — I remembered with horror how rashly we had behaved when face to face with a mirage.
We came across monsters more often in this part of the desert, and while we never met the same type twice, as if the desert, noticing our new abilities, was testing us. First of all, we were attacked by a group of a dozen Sand Asu. These were small sand men that looked like children. They were incredibly aggressive, and they belligerently strove to drive their spears into our eyes. They always attacked as a pack, choosing just one target. After finishing with one target, they moved on to the next one, repeating the same method of attack.
Quickly developing tactics to fight the Asu, I ordered Morph to become one of them in order to confuse them. While the evil creatures were trying to figure out which of the two identical leaders was the real one, we knocked them out one by one. As soon as I dealt the final blow to the last monster, I received new messages:
Your “Possession of the sword” ability has reached 20 points. The current bonus for each unit of ability is: +2% for sword damage;
+0.5% for independent development of a new fighting system;
+0.5% to the chance to learn from this new system.
“That's good news! As soon as we leave the desert, I need to study my profile in detail, because I haven’t had time to check it out for a while!”
The bodies of the Sand Asu decayed, and in their place were bottles full of strange red sand.
After another five minutes, Osot thistle plants rained down upon us. They looked like carnivorous bushes that rolled back and forth and were about a meter and a half in diameter. The plants were leaping into the air and firing thorns at us. I was of no use in this battle. The bushes were able to successfully avoid the “Falling Leaves” spell and I couldn’t attack them in the air either. So, I simply invoked the “Wild Defense” spell and commanded the fight from the sidelines, instructing Alex, Copper Wing and Morph, who had transformed into a black raven. Following my instructions, they easily cut the bushes down to their nuts. In this case I wasn’t using a metaphor: the dying bushes left behind a handful of Quartz Nuts.
The forest belt was already lying ahead of us, if there were no delays, then in fifteen to twenty minutes, we would exit the desert zone. We could already see from here that the forest was incredibly dark. If I had a choice, I would most likely had circled around this forest, because I felt that there was something terrible hiding in there. I didn’t see any logical explanation for my fear, but the presence of the Black Forest was literally putting down my spirits.
— Are you sure that we need to go in there? — I turned to Alex.
The boy, also examining the forest belt, jumped to his feet and, turning around, he nodded silently in affirmation. Morph climbed onto my shoulder fearfully, as if it was safer there.
— Are you afraid? — I stroked my pet.
My Phasm nodded in fear.
— Me too. Perhaps, it's just an aura of the forest, and we'll soon get used to it.
Doubt showed in my pet’s eyes.
— Well we do or we don’t, — I sighed.
Morphy whimpered softly.
— Come on, — I tried to reassure the cowardly creature. — What’s your problem? If you die then I’ll resurrect you.
Morph's gaze cleared up. He considered my words a little, and then he calmed down, but he still rem
ained on my shoulder. Well, I decided to let him sit there, as long as he didn’t bother me. My Copper Wing was not at ease either. Usually he was happy to fly on reconnaissance, but at this moment, he flew almost above us. We were no more than 500 meters from the forest, and we all were peering ahead.
Then Alex fell. The Satyr taught me how to monitor the health of my team. I was able to see that Alex had been stunned. Turning sharply, I started searching for the enemy. I couldn’t see anyone, but my intuition kept telling me that someone was close by. I actually understood this even without my intuition’s help. My nose detected a strange smell, and from time to time I could hear a rustling of sand, but I couldn’t determine where the sound was coming from.
Suddenly, a two-meter tall creature appeared out of nowhere, made of the bones of different animals, looking very much like a tank. The creature rushed at me at an incredible speed for its size. I didn’t even have time to see its name above its head; the only thing I could think of to do in such a situation was to apply a “Crippling Blow” and roll off to the side. While I was doing this maneuver, I realized that I was making a silly mistake. If this creature was really so heavy, then it would go straight through me like a knife through butter, or even bury me into the sand.
My body tried to compensate for my predicament. Somehow, I managed to push it away with my right foot. I was able to get around to the creature’s left flank on my hands and knees, and my sword tore into the creature’s side. The power of my weight and the effect of the movement ripped a long cut in the creature’s side. I slid sideways again, while still holding the sword in the monster’s direction. My “Leaf Sword” sucked out what the monster had in place of blood with pleasure. The furious monster started screaming and tried to turn in my direction, but my sword drove even deeper into its body. It hit me with a rear foot and I flew across the sand.
Little Morph, who had been sitting on my shoulder all this time, turned back into the shape of his favorite black raven and soared upward. My Copper Wing attacked the monster from behind. The monster began to quickly approach me and had already raised its huge paw up to crush the life out of me, when an arrow flew into its left eye. The creature, stunned by the pain, jerked to the right, and I managed to avoid imminent death. I was absolutely certain that if this blow had hit me then I would have been a dead man.
Jumping to my feet, I started dictating the fight. The quick-tempered creature turned out to be an easy target. Every time someone struck a new blow, the creature rushed headlong at the offender. So, running backwards and forwards, the monster died, without causing any of us any more serious injuries. Collecting the pile of bones left after the monster died, I added everything to the collection in my travel bag, and we quickly entered the Black Forest.
CHAPTER 24.1:
THE DARK FOREST
It took me ages to persuade Alex to stop for a break. We needed to rest and grab a bite. We had no idea what to expect from this forest, but it certainly wasn’t going to be anything good. While Alex and my Copper Wing were getting us fresh meat for lunch, I went over my characteristics: from the moment I almost completely turned off the messages, a lot had changed. Of course, I felt that I had become stronger. My weapons were causing more damage, and my reactions had become faster. However, the never-ending number of opponents gave me no time to determine how much my abilities had improved. It was well worth having a look at how much I had improved. Many of my abilities had passed beyond the 20 points mark.
So, the characteristics were the following:
“Strength”: 21 points per unit of ability: you can now carry an extra weight of 3 kilograms (63 kg). Physical attacks increased by 3% (63%), and damage from weapons has increased by 5 damage points (105 damage).
“Dexterity”: 24 points per each unit of ability. 1.5% evasion from standard attacks (36%). 0.5% evasion from deadly attacks (12%). 2.5% added to attack speed and maneuverability (60%).
“Endurance”: 22 points for each unit of 50 life points (1,100), 1% resistance to poisons (22%), 0.5% protection from organ damage (11%)
“Intellect”: 19 points for each unit of 20 mana (380), 2.5% increase against damage from magical sources (47.5%). The effect of combat spells acting less than a minute is increased by 0.1 second (1.9 seconds).
“Attentiveness”: 24 points for each unit of the ability, and an increase of 2% to finding hidden items (48%), 1% to finding something hidden (24%), and 0.3% to finding something that has been hidden with the help of magic or magical devices (7.2%).
“Accuracy”: 17 points; for each unit of this ability there is an extra 3% chance to strike exactly at the point originally targeted (51%). You have the ability to hit a target at a distance of an additional 25 meters (425 meters), and the ability to hit almost invisible targets at a distance of 5 meters for each unit of accuracy (85 meters).
“Reflexes”: 24 points for each unit of ability. 1.5% increase in the ability to avoid critical attacks (36%). 1% increase in the ability to avoid a conventional strike (24%). 0.5% increase in the ability to do what is needed during a battle subconsciously (12%).
“Luck” and “Uniqueness” did not change at all. It seemed that after 25 points further growth was difficult to achieve, or perhaps I had done nothing to promote the growth of these abilities. Uniqueness, generally speaking, was a mysterious creature to me. I had no idea how to develop it. As far as Luck was concerned, it was somehow easier to get a handle on: it’s a bit like playing roulette, if that even existed in this world, or a lottery. Any game where luck was more important than skill, basically. Anyways, I was going to figure it out. My Inventiveness ability rose to 13 points. Looking through the logs, I realized that while I was studying with the Satyr and inventing different combat strategies, I constantly received increases in this ability. So that was a nice bonus, but I was looking forward to it reaching 15 points. Then it was time to look over my Talents:
“Wild Magic: 98% beginner level.
It wouldn’t take much to bring me to the level of Craftsman.
“Animal Trainer”: 54% beginner level.
This ability was growing slowly, but I didn’t understand why.
“Strategy”:1% increase in my Craftsman ability. You have a full understanding of any battle, regardless of whether you are physically involved in the battle or not. An increase of 20% in the possibility of coming up with a brilliant solution, and a 50% increase in protection against the psychological influence of an enemy over your team.
“I’m pleased with these results. I wonder how is it going to be when I become a Grand Master? Let's continue:” — I returned to the display. — “Now, let’s have a look at the rest of my abilities.”
“Herbalist” ability has reached 87% of Craftsman level. The chance of finding and identifying common plants, fruits and roots is now 100%, 50% chance of identifying rare specimens, 25% when it comes to very rare specimens, and 5% when it comes to extremely rare and unique specimens.
“Culinary Skills”: 9% of Craftsman level. The bonus for cooking food has increased by 50%, along with the ability to substitute ingredients in a recipe for other ingredients belonging to the same family of plants.
Other ones went up as well, but, alas, they didn’t give any bonuses yet:
“Scout”: 48% beginner level; “Star Reader”: 21% beginner level; “Pathfinder”: 5% beginner level; “Intuition”: 93% beginner level.
I wished that I had been able to increase my intuition to a Craftsman level. I had a bad feeling that something very unpleasant was awaiting us in this forest.
My “Intuition” ability has increased: +1% (94%).
Very funny, but at least I had been awarded an extra percentage point. When Alex was going to get back, I'd warn him to be ready for trouble. Although, I thought, only the dead ones wouldn’t be aware of this.
What did we have next?
“Tactical sign language” has risen as much as 77% of beginner level. I had done well. “Manipulation”: 37% (!) of Beginner level. That w
as a surprise! I quickly buried myself in the logs. As it turned out, during a battle, when I use strategy and force the enemy to do what I want them to do, this ability grew as well. Using the Satyr’s talents was just a cheat to increase the abilities of ingenuity and manipulation, of course, provided that you had them. So, what did we have for dessert then?
“Easy Pace”: 19%; for each skill unit and 1% increase in the chance to leave no traces behind (19%).
“Quiet Step”: 17%; for each skill unit and 1% increase in the chance not to be heard during slow movement (17%).
“Throwing weapon”: 16%; for each skill unit and 1% added to the ability to deal a deadly blow (16%), 0.5% added to critical damage (8%).
My “Internal clock” finally reached 20 points, so at this moment I was able to determine the hours, minutes and seconds. Plus there was the ability to feel the right moment to act. But this ability wasn’t explained in any way. So far I didn’t feel like worrying about it, but I mentally added this to the list of things to ask the Fairy book about.
“Camouflage”: 14 points.
“Well, right, we've been stamping around like mammoths all the time and I can’t remember when was the last time I used camouflage ...”
“Identification of objects”: 15 points; for each skill unit, 2% added to the chance to determine all the qualities of a rare object (30%), 1% for very rare objects (15%), 0.5% for unique objects (7.5%), 0.25% for legendary objects (3.75%), and 0.1% for mythical objects (1.5%), and 0.0001% for divine objects (0.0015%).
My “Possession of the Sword” ability had only recently reached 20 points, and I already knew the bonuses, while the “Identification of Objects” ability had only reached 11 points so far, so it didn’t come with a bonus.
The next thing on the list was to learn a new spell. I had already received a point for this, but I hadn’t used it yet.
At this point, I had a massive attacking potential, and an excellent personal protection, so it was unlikely that I could improve upon them. Therefore, I needed to create some sort of a disorienting spell, and a protective magic spell that I could use in combat, but this spell needed to be kept in reserve, since I had a limited number of ingredients for it. I also had to discover how to grow noisy mushrooms, as they appeared to be an essential base in creating an effective spell. So far, I could only create two spells. I needed something like a basic attacking spell, and some kind of controlling spell.