Monster

by Sergey Belsky

  “Come on, we’ll practice a bit, and you can show me your attack,” I said, and started down the stairs, but I had to turn back. It looks like it will be hard to cope with these legs.

  We ran around this small dwelling a bit, and I gradually began controlling my claws much better. With these, I could even jump much higher than before, and I became very mobile.

  After a while, I could walk around Skal and he hardly kept pace. He would need to upgrade his mobility so that he can outrun the spikers or dodge their blows.

  When I finally felt I could control my new claws quite well, it was the time to try out the manipulation of energy. But I had no idea how to use this ability. Hmm... while I was thinking, Skal was also worming up and activated something strange that woke me from my daydream, which could be my undoing if it lasted too long.

  “What have you done just now?” I asked, looking at the stone, part of which crumbled.

  “My dissolving ability,” Skal replied. Obviously, this is how the gravedigger’s ability works. Interesting, very interesting. I want that too.

  “How did you activate it?”

  “I imagine the energy moving inside me, like water in a vessel, then I spit it out, and when it hits the nearest surface, it dissolves,” the gravedigger explained.

  “Interesting. I’ll try it too,” I stretched my wrists, and tried to do the same, making every possible effort, but producing nothing.

  However, there was an upside. I clearly sensed this same energy inside me, and it really somehow felt like water in a vessel, now if I could only whirl it around strongly.

  It seems I still can’t do anything remotely similar to what the gravedigger does, so I need to understand what I want from this energy and how I can influence the world with its help.

  And besides, what do I need from this energy? Probably, I need to somehow learn how to use it as a means of attack and defense. Well, first I’ll try to create some kind of protection from energy.

  I imagined how this water passes through the body and begins to envelop the shell, but again there was no luck. Well, let’s try it another way.

  “Skal, try to attack me, and I’ll try to defend myself.”

  “Hmm... do you think this will help you understand what energy is?” the beetle asked.

  “Hardly, but it’s worth a try,” I twisted my jaws in delight.

  “Then brace yourself!” the gravedigger lunged at me and tried to strike with his jaws, but I dodged. “You will not get away!”

  He tried to dodge in such a tricky way that he would somehow hurt me, but my mobility parameter was higher, and so I easily avoided all attacks, at the same time thinking about how I could use energy.

  This went on for a while, but Skal finally hit me with his skill and it was damn unpleasant. When he nearly missed me again, something unusual happened. I blocked his attempt, trying to protect myself from the impact of the gravedigger’s ability, and a dim translucent film appeared, absorbing the blow and then crumbling.

  “Wow!” Skal exclaimed and stared at me with interest. “What is this?”

  “It looks like I finally managed to create an energy shield.” I wasted quite a bit of it, but it does not matter, because I recently found out that turquoitus restored energy very well and considering that I have a dozen of them, I have enough energy.

  We practiced for quite a while, I kind of figured out this incomprehensible energy, and now the shield was working half the time. By the end of our long workout, I saw a very encouraging message.

  The ability “Simple energy manipulation” up! Current level 2!

  Shame that this ability grows so slowly, but nothing can be done because I already did my best. Perhaps the brain might help here, but I’d rather save up some experience in order to immediately transfer it to the new stage. I still didn’t understand how to use energy in attack, which got me terribly angry and frustrated, but I didn’t lose hope and experience.

  Chapter 19

  The Rebirth point. The Home. The enemy to get back at.

  On the second day, everything went much better, and it became more interesting to fight Skal, because this time he acted differently, trying for quick attacks and immediate retreats. He began to act more intelligently and had more success. I wondered how he had made such progress.

  “Skal, how did you learn so much so quickly?” I asked, puzzled. “After all, yesterday you acted quite differently.”

  “I used the experience gained,” said the gravedigger.

  “Hmm...”

  “And I improved my claws and brain,” he explained, and it immediately became clear that he was following my lead, trying to develop in a similar way. But I didn’t understand what he did to gain experience.

  “Where did you get it?”

  “I don’t know,” said Skal. “It appeared after our training yesterday.”

  I wonder why I didn’t get any. I’ll find out later, first, we need to figure out what to do next and how we can get better. It will take a lot of experience to show at least some resistance to the spikers and we need to somehow change the respawn point because I was getting tired of running each time I died, but it was completely unclear how to do it.

  “Skal, do you know how to change the respawn point after dying?” I asked, although I knew that it was foolish to ask the gravedigger because if he knew, he would have already long ago created a point in the city, which would have helped avoid many problems.

  “Not precisely,” the beetle puzzled me with his answer.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I remember some of my relatives changed the respawn point to cover certain areas of the cave, but I can’t figure out how they did it,” Skal explained.

  He still had very valuable information, namely that the location could be changed at all and it was good news, but it was also sad in a way because when I do change the respawn point, I won’t be able to see the graves of my relatives that often. I hoped they won’t be too upset.

  I decided to experiment a bit and went into the house. That water surface, supported by metal vines, helped me concentrate. I began by imagining that I was appearing in this house, but nothing came of it. In such a mood, it took a while for me to recall the way Skal appeared at the respawn point.

  Dark bundles of energy came gushing from the earth, intertwining and forming the figure of a beetle, but this time in my mind, they created not a gravedigger, but me. A message appeared before my eyes.

  Would you like to change the respawn point?

  Yes/No?

  The surprise slowed down my thinking, but I came to my senses and confirmed.

  The respawn point has been changed to “The House of the Ancient Sel Nurs”!

  Wow, unexpected information. Curious, very curious. It means that these big warrior-beetles in armor were called this way. But why did that statue call me that, I am Karkant! I must ask at the next meeting.

  “Skal, come here,” I called my companion and went on. “Change your respawn point to this place, it will make things much easier for us.”

  I explained how this is done, and he managed to do it surprisingly fast, so fast that I even felt jealous. Well, okay, in this case, one can only be joyful.

  We spent a few more days practicing, and I finally felt much more confident, so I decided that we would get the better of the winter elemental who killed Skal.

  “Skal, can you remember the place where that strange creature killed you?” I asked.

  “Yes, of course, but maybe we’d better not go there? He might be level 7, but I’m still afraid to fight him,” the beetle looked at me plaintively. “Besides, it’s so cold that my claws might freeze.”

  “Doesn’t matter, we need to defeat this enemy and gain experience, otherwise we won’t be able to develop normally, and the spikers will eventually find us,” I said. “And I feel that our fate will then be sealed.”

  “Good,” he agreed and led me to the place where this elemental lived.

  After wander
ing around the city for a while, we finally reached our goal. We could see the enemy from the distance, and he was more impressive than Skal described. A small crystal with a sharp end turning upwards, and there were two very angry eyes in it, radiating a bluish glow.

  The head rested on a much larger body, which was also crystal, only pointed at the ground. And several similar crystals made up the hands of this extraordinary creature, which levitated above the marble paving stones, leaving a frosty trail.

  Small Winter Elemental, Level 7

  It was level 7, but my attacks probably would not go through a solid crystal, as with the autumn elemental, but I don’t think that it is much stronger than us.

  Besides, I was now at level 10, and Skal at level 8. However, I still made a plan, if this creature should surprise us. Picking up a dozen rocks along the way, I raised the level of my spatial pocket by one, and at the same time, I replenished supplies for ranged combat.

  Taking a deep breath and exhaling, we began the fight. After stretching my arms, I threw a stone at him. The first one, as expected, went to the side, hitting the marble pillar and making the elemental turn towards the reverberating sound.

  But the second one struck him right on the head and left a couple of cracks. The Elemental made a strange noise and headed in our direction, immediately forcing Skal to retreat a few steps.

  I managed to throw all the stones before he came close, but unfortunately only half of them reached the goal. Snatching the spiker claws, I attacked the creature.

  The blow was strong, and the elemental’s health decreased somewhat, so I was happy, but the temperature suddenly dropped and my health also began deteriorating, but not as fast as the gravedigger’s.

  “Skal, retreat and keep your distance!” I shouted. “Activate your ability when the moment is right.”

  “Right!” - the beetle shouted back, and I continued to dodge the attacks.

  The fight was very difficult, even though I obviously had more strength, and spiker claws helped significantly. Without them, my hand would have frozen.

  This elemental was not a difficult opponent but for his frosty aura, which penetrated through the shell and threatened to freeze our insides. What I felt was indescribable and only occasionally I managed to get away from the cold, which wouldn’t let go.

  This bastard’s health gradually declined, and I relaxed a little. As soon as I allowed myself to make a single mistake, I caught a powerful blow, which threw me back several feet and overwhelmed me.

  The world was spinning before my eyes, the floor and the ceiling were trying to change places, the wind was humming in my ears, Skal shouted something, but I could not understand a damn thing. The debuff was just as fast, and I barely managed to stretch my hand out before the protection film flashed.

  Another flash came, the elemental flew back, and the shield fell apart. Skal, meanwhile, activated his dissolution and the enemy’s health sharply diminished, but the gravedigger ran off to the side, whining plaintively.

  I swung with both claws using all my strength and I hit the elemental on the head. The crystal couldn’t take the hit and broke, scattering across the paving stones.

  50 points of experience gained!

  Chapter 20

  The Experience. The Muscles. The Spawns.

  Having seen the message about the gained experience, I leaned against the pavement. Why is it so hard? And what if this elemental had also been level 10? Most likely, he would have sent us to respawn.

  I was crawling on the ground and moving away from the cold, which wouldn’t let up. It seems the armor should be made more cold-resistant, but how? I’ll think about all this later, by now I had overcome this wretched cold and headed for Skal, whose health continued to drop.

  Peering more attentively, I noticed a debuff icon indicating frostbite. I took a rubitus out of his spatial pocket and gave it to my friend. Yes, I think I can call him my friend now. I made him eat this mushroom immediately. His health crept up, and soon the debuff disappeared.

  “I h-h-hate cold,” Skal continued to shake.

  “Never mind, you’re gonna become cold resistant soon,” I encouraged my friend and asked him. “Did you gain experience?”

  “Yes, eighty points,” he answered.

  Aha, so with a smaller difference in levels, you can get more experience and at the same time, your ally’s experience also grows. This is good to know. Now we need to continue cleaning the city of those bastards.

  We can rub them out, but there are those who could eat half of them in a blink of an eye. Not least that husky tree with yellow leaves, I can’t even imagine how to dig it out. But one bush, which I saw on the road, could be handled.

  “Skal, let’s go, we have another creature to defeat,” I said, unable to recall what the bush was called. Apparently, the brain still needs to be upgraded.

  “Oh, yes, I almost forgot. Your health level is low, Skal, you’d better strengthen your armor.”

  “Yes, I wanted to do that,” the gravedigger’s eyes glazed over, and soon his shell slightly changed and seemed to harden.

  “Oh, here’s an ability.”

  “Which one?” I asked, interested.

  “Fortification,” said the gravedigger. “It blocks one percent of physical impact.”

  “Not bad, not enough of course, but not bad,” I nodded and thought I should put some points toward my strength too. This time my choice fell on the muscles. I invested two hundred points in them immediately.

  Your muscles are evolving. You now have “Moderately developed muscles!”

  Stats: Strength +2, Mobility +1, Life +1, Health +30.

  40 points of experience gained!

  Level up! Current Level: 11.

  Not bad, I even felt stronger, just two points of strength, but the sensation is great. Yes, and all the other additions significantly improved my mood and self-confidence. Now my options were as follows.

  Character’s name: Tes Sel Er

  Race: Monster

  Class: -

  Level: 11

  Experience: 80 (Total: 1200)

  Health: 78/147

  Energy: 56/99

  Basic stats:

  Mind: 9

  Evolution: 6

  Structure: 9

  Complexity: 8

  Secondary stats:

  Mobility: 7

  Knowledge: 2

  Strength: 8

  Life: 7

  I was content, I seemed to be developing quite well, and as for the rest, we had to wait and see. Skal and I headed for our second goal and reached it shortly.

  Small autumn spawn, level 6

  Right, that’s what this bush was called. Now I was almost double its level, so we should defeat it effortlessly. Calmly, I grabbed my spiker claws and ran straight at the bush. But before I could even land a decent strike, I immediately received a couple of powerful blows.

  However, my attack was strong enough to do some damage to its health. Before I launched the second attack, this bush swung its branches again, whipping me a couple of times. I landed a few more blows to this spawn and Skal finished it with dissolution.

  20 points of experience gained!

  Not a lot, of course, but it was much easier than defeating the elementals. This day I received almost two hundred points, and Skal more than three hundred. These numerous battles were extremely exhausting, but I was pleased with the results.

  However, we had to flee several times, since we underestimated some opponents, who could restore their health. I also raised the spatial pocket level to eighth, gathering ice crystals from the winter elemental and yellow leaves from all these autumn spawns.

  Stocks were also slowly diminishing, and soon the question of getting something to eat would arise. The only thing left to eat was the emeraltus. It would be great to know what they provide since they cannot exist just to satisfy hunger. And the water in one of the transparentus was gone. Okay, I will see to this tomorrow, now I need to rest.

&n
bsp; ***

  The next day, having defeated one enemy, we began searching for the next one. However, as we were walking, Skal fell into a hole full of icy air.

  The gravedigger squealed, and I had to jump after him. It hurt me badly, but I managed to push my friend up and spent almost all the rubies on us since the debuffs didn’t want to disappear for a long time.

  Only one health restoring mushroom was left, so that was not good. That day Skal could no longer fight, so he just hid in a corner. He calmed down only after he ate a couple of emeraltus. I wondered why he was so afraid of the cold. I should ask him sometime.

  ***

  The following day we decided to play around with traps for a while and try to get some exploding balls to protect ourselves from spikers. After the fourth death, I got sick of it.

  I was furious because the balls exploded even before I could place them in my pocket. I can’t imagine how on earth I managed to do it the first time.

  Our enthusiasm was gone, but the dwindling stocks made me think about what to do next. And what was bugging me was why I couldn’t search through the spatial pockets of other creatures. That’s unfair, they might have something interesting there.

  We’ve already beaten the autumn spawns and our experience was slowly rising, but we haven’t yet come across the winter ones. They were these strange anomalies that quickly devoured health, and Skal avoided them.

  He couldn’t clearly answer my question, but I thought deeply and it occurred to me that something serious must have happened to my friend, before the spikers, that had to do with the cold.

  He couldn’t recall being afraid of any single trap, or even of those balls exploding. I decided I should learn how to open the spatial pockets of other creatures and continue upgrading my abilities.

  Chapter 21

  Precautionary measures. The spikers squad. The trap for enemies.

  The following day we went ahead looking for supplies that could only be collected on the other side of the cave-in, which means we needed to be extremely careful, otherwise, the spikers could catch us, and there’s no doubt they were searching for us. I left ice leaves, crystals and yellow leaves in the house of Sel Nurs, and gave three amanitas to Skal.