He glanced to the blinking notification icon. He’d left it alone as he’d worked.
Active Skill: Surveyor
Level: Novice level 6
Effect: 15% chance to see resources within your range sight.
Range: 680 m
Cost: 5 Stamina/second.
Reward: 500 XP
Active Skill: Stealth
Level: Novice level 3
Effect: 9% chance to remain undetected (reduced in direct light).
Cost: 5 Stamina/second
New Active Skill: Sneak Attack
You’re not just another creeper in the shadows. When you strike from the darkness, you aim to kill (Bye-bye, mister snake).
Level: Novice level 3
Effect: When you are undetected in Stealth, attacks will hit with 212% increased damage (Massive increase when hitting Critical area). May your aim be true.
Cost: (Attack 50 Stamina)
New Active Skill: Archery
So, you can hit the broadside of a barn, bravo!
Level: Novice level 2
Effect: Critical Hit chance increases by 2%.
Cost: 10 Stamina
Active Skill: Builder
Level: Novice level 6
Effect: 19% speed
Required: Tools and Materials
Reward: 500 XP
Active Skill: Maintainer
Level: Novice level 3
Effect: 9% chance to restore durability; at higher levels, possible to increase durability, quality and gain Sharpen bonus to items that have been cared for.
Active Skill: Lumberjack
Level: Novice level 8
Effect: 19% increased speed and damage to cut down trees
Cost: 10 Stamina/second.
Stat Increase
+1 Strength
+1 Intelligence
+1 Agility
+2 Willpower
+1 Endurance
“Looks like things increase the more than you use them.” Dave looked at the Endurance modifier, as if the game was mocking him for burning his hands.
The more I go up in points, the slower it is to earn them.
He’d been casting Touch every time he had the Mana for it, but his Intelligence had only gone up a point, while his Willpower had gone up 3.
Level 5
You have reached level 5; you have 10 stat points to use.
The want to put points into his various categories was tempting. He really wanted to try that smithy out. Though, he didn’t have any other magical spells and if he was right, power leveling himself up with points would make it increasingly harder for him to gain levels through work. He already had a respectable character—bit weak on the whole Health thing, but otherwise progressing well.
Character Sheet
Name:
David Grahslagg
Gender:
Male
Level:
3
Class:
-
Race:
Human/Dwarf
Alignment:
-
Unspent points: 10
Health:
1100
Regen:
0.20 /s
Mana:
200
Regen:
0.90 /s
Stamina:
170
Regen:
1.05 /s
Vitality:
11
Endurance:
10
Intelligence:
20
Willpower:
18
Strength:
17
Agility:
21
He tapped his chin in thought. His previous thought to train up his stats instead of just investing the points he got every level won out.
He waved the screen away; it was too tempting to just take the easy route and put the stats directly into his attributes.
His stomach growled. “Well, I can leave that to later, but I need something to eat in the meantime!” He licked his lips, thinking of having something better than his rations. They weren’t bad, but he knew in a few days they’d get old, really fast.
A check on his map showed eels in the river, a few varieties of fish, and then there was a bear wandering around somewhere. A group of elk, Bosal and Fire Foxes. Fire Foxes were feisty but their pelts were a brilliant red and black and their eyes crystalized upon death. Both good items to trade, but apparently, their meat was divine.
Bosal were a badger-like creature which liked to burrow down deep and only exited in the daytime to eat. They had some control over light; their pelts blinded any enemies that they saw. They sometimes had soul gems and their pelts were rare.
Dave put markers on all the locations, numbers appearing on their arrowheads. He checked his bow and quiver. “Time to go huntin’!” Dave said in his best Southern accent.
He pulled on his shirt and headed into the forest further down the hill. Dave went into Stealth, his eyes open to the world as he looked for his meal. He looked around; he was just a bit from where he’d seen the Fire Foxes’ warren. He wished he could know where the darned things were. He would have cast Touch but he couldn’t put his hand down.
Wait a minute there—Touch. It didn’t say nothing about what had to be touching the ground.
Like he had done so many times before, he pushed his consciousness out around him and through the ground. It was a bit odd not using his hand, harder to concentrate, but then he felt a familiar ripple expand around him.
Two targets appeared just a few meters away. Two foxes, eating their prey.
Dave moved slowly to get a clear view. They were on opposite sides, eating what had been a rabbit.
Level 13 Fire Fox
Level 7 Fire Fox
They weren’t paying any attention to their surroundings.
Dave remembered the videos he had watched that night. He rose, breathing in and drawing the arrow back in one smooth motion. He took a second to aim; he released, the arrow taking the level 13 fox in the neck.
The second fox turned as Dave tried to grab another arrow. He found the real reason a Fire Fox was so hard to kill.
The little bastard spat flames.
Dave fell backward, holding his hands out to protect himself.
The Fire Fox was a breathing flamethrower. It burned through the bush that Dave was hiding behind, but it wasn’t making it past Dave’s hands. It seemed to roll away, as if hitting a shield.
Dave felt his energy stores draining. He looked at his stats. His Health wasn’t falling; it was his Mana. He glanced to his notifications.
New Spell: Magical Shield
You can stop spells with enough Mana, levels, and the right kind of Affinities. Now kill the damn Fire Fox before it gets you!
Level: Novice level 1
Effect: Ability to create magical shield.
Range: 1m from body or limb.
Cost: 10 Mana/s
Affinity: Air, Light
He felt the spell that was hitting him. It felt as if he knew it—it was like the heat that had burned his hands, but directed, thrown in a singular direction.
Dave’s grey eyes seemed to shine as a new notification appeared.
Dave rolled behind a rock. It took the blast of the Fire Fox as Dave imagined pouring power out of his hands like he had with Touch of the Land, but with the heat he’d felt as he burned his hand.
His Mana was down to 30%. He’d only get one chance. He rolled back out, focusing on the Fire Fox and let loose. Fire came out in a torrent. His stream and the Fox’s halted each other.
Ha-ha! Crossing streams! Try not to die, try not to die. Fuuuuck Fire Foxes! This reminds me of—No, it couldn’t be that simple.
“Come on. Goku did it—this shit has to work!” He pushed his hands together, focusing the flames with his fingers. They turned from two wild streams into a focused torrent.
It seemed to enrage the Fire Fox more than anything. Its health dropping slowly as it charged Dave.
Dave stopped spewing fire as the fox tackled him to the ground. He grabbed its head, keeping its mouth from chewing on him.
The fox’s claws scratched at him, opening up cuts in his stomach and chest.
“You little bastard!” Dave wrenched his hands in opposite directions.
There was an audible snap, like a dry branch, and the Fire Fox stopped moving.
Dave threw it off, panting as he looked at his Health. “Okay, Fire Fox—actually means fire spewing fucking bastards. Got it.” Dave rubbed his forehead. He was feeling pretty drained; his Mana was in the single digits. He was down to twenty percent Health.
He pulled out some food and started to eat; slowly his Health stabilized and started to grow. His Mana was coming back nice and fast, as was his Stamina.
One target at a time and don’t mess with the mobile flamethrowers.
He got to fifty percent Health. He grabbed the Fire Foxes and threw them in his bag. Items that were in his bag seemed to stay in whatever state they were in when he put them there until he retrieved them.
“Who needs a freezer when you’ve got a big ole bag of holding things?”
He went off in the direction of his nearest marker for elk, checking his notifications.
New Spell: Fire Blast
Look at you—a proper mobile flamethrower! You can shoot fire out of your hand. Higher levels might do some damage to enemies bigger than a damn rodent.
Damage: 5 pts/s
Level: Novice level 1
Effect: Ability to project fire.
Range: 15m (Increases with Level and Affinity).
Cost: 15 Mana/s. Higher levels and Affinity can give larger boost. Different levels or Affinities mean greater resistance or weaknesses to different magics)
Affinity: level 10 Fire
Active Skill: Stealth
Level: Novice level 4
Effect: 11% chance to remain undetected (reduced in direct light).
Active Skill: Sneak Attack
Level: Novice level 4
Effect: When you are undetected in Stealth, attacks will hit with 216% increased damage (Massive increase when hitting Critical area).
Cost: (Attack 50 Stamina)
Active Skill: Archery
Level: Novice level 3
Effect: Critical Hit chance increases by 3%.
Cost: 10 Stamina
He dismissed them and looked at his Affinity levels.
Affinity levels
Dark
14
Light
12
Air
12
Water
11
Earth
15
Fire
12
When I have a few minutes, I’m going to check out these Affinity level things.
He dismissed the notifications and looked around, an arrow on his string. The Fire Foxes would fetch a good price but he wanted to try cooking up some other items before he got to the fox meat. If it was half as good as it was supposed to be, he didn’t want to ruin it with bad cooking skills.
His sixth sense tickled the back of his mind as he turned his head, looking for whatever was disturbing him.
I could swear that someone was watching me. Probably just imagining things. There’s no way I could sense that in a game.
Dave felt a presence with his Touch. A smile spread across his face. “Looks like I’ll find out what elk tastes like.”
Dave opened his notifications, which were blinking at him.
New Passive Skill: Tracker
Well, look at you, master elk hunter. It’s not as if they’re as big as a damn ogre and impossible to miss or anything.
Level: Novice level 1
Effect: 5% chance to detect another creature’s path.
Dave waved them away, focusing on his Touch and feeling out toward the elk. He had a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the entire watering hole. Dave found a spot, disappearing into the bushes, and came out under the shade of a tree. He looked around the tree, watching the elk munching away at its lily dinner.
Level 15 Elk
Dave braced himself against a tree. Still in Stealth, he cast Touch of the Land through his feet. It passed through the ground, reaching the creature just over a hundred meters away. He didn’t just see what was in the ground, or the trees around him; he could see inside of the elk: its heart, its lungs, the veins, muscles, nerves and bones.
Dave felt a calm descend as he released a breath; inhaling, he brought his bow up and pulled on the string. He found his target, sensing the beating heart of the creature. He closed his eyes, feeling the air, the sunlight, the earth beneath his toes, the shadows under the trees. He didn’t need to look to see the frozen ripples on the water.
Time paused between heartbeats. The world was just one moment of refined peace before promised violence.
Dave released his arrow. As he opened his eyes; they were like granite. He didn’t need to watch; he’d known as soon as he released the arrow what was about to happen.
Still, he watched it flex and spin slightly.
A small breeze pushed it, but he’d anticipated it. The arrow hit the elk and buried deep into the creature. Before it knew what had happened, it fell over, its heart and lungs punctured.
It kicked for a few minutes and paused. Glassy eyes looked to the sky.
The serenity of the moment passed and Dave hiked his bow on his shoulder. He moved closer to the animal.
“How in the hell am I going to move him?” Dave looked at the elk and realized the damn thing weighed close to five hundred pounds.
“I hope this helps my Stamina.” Dave lifted the elk onto his shoulders. It was too big to fit in the mouth of his bag of holding. It was difficult, but not impossible; his strength had increased in bounds over the last couple of days.
Grunting, he started back for his hill.
He went through notifications, hoping to see Stamina increases as he carried the massive creature.
Active Skill: Sneak Attack
Level: Novice level 5
Effect: When you are undetected in Stealth, attacks will hit with 220% increased damage (Massive increase when hitting Critical area).
Cost: (Attack 50 Stamina)
Reward: 500 XP
Active Skill: Archery
Level: Novice level 6
Effect: Critical Hit chance increases by 6%.
Cost: 10 Stamina
Reward: 500 XP
Earth affinity
Increase: 15
Reward: 1000 XP
Level 6
You have reached level 6; you have 15 stat points to use.
Most people were around level 20 or 30; the higher tiers were in the 40s.
“Looks like your level only goes up when you’ve invested your 5 stat points.” Dave looked at his character sheet. It still showed him as level 3 while he had actually attained level 6.
My overall level only goes up when I have placed the five stat points associated with that level. So, level three needs to have invested fifteen stat points, level four, twenty. I could have fifty stat points but unless I add them, then I won’t actually increase in levels.
Dave was seriously thinking about investing in some Stamina but pushed it off, laboring with the carcass over his shoulders.
“My stat points are still increasing without investing the points I get per level.” He muttered to himself, deep in thought. “Might as well test this out a bit more.”
If his theory was right, then his hard work would allow him to build up his stat points so they were the same range as someone ten times his level. Yet he would only show as a level 3.
He might be a rank 100 but unless he invested the 5 stat points he got with every rank, then he would still appear to be level 3.
Remembering why he’d accessed his interface, he moved to the Internet browser.
He looked up how to skin and care for his fresh kill. After five minutes of wikis and videos, he put the deer back down
.
“Well, that’s nasty,” Dave said. Knowing what he had to do and how to do it would help him out considerably. He pulled out a blade, sharpening it, and watched a video playing in the side of his view. “This is not going to be pretty.” He looked for a good point on the elk and started to cut.
***
Deia still couldn’t get over the shock of seeing the halfling not only cast a magic shield, but then sending fire right back at its attacker.
Having someone who was skilled in one type of Affinity was rare for the People of Emerilia or POE, which made her think of him as a Player.
Yet he doesn’t act like many of the Players I’ve observed in this forest. He acts more like veteran Players at the end of their life cycle. She still sensed that his magic was very weak, but he might be able to increase his skills. Usually people who were skilled in multiple Affinities were weaker because of that.
Though it hadn’t stopped there; he’d gone on to hunt down an elk. He stopped, as if he could see the elk beyond the grasses he was hiding in.
He’d moved into position. Her anger at the waste of a rank amateur trying to kill an elk turned into confusion. They were hardy creatures and could run for days if the person killing them wasn’t highly skilled.
Then the man sighted his quarry and Deia felt something she’d never sensed before. The Affinities seemed to feed into the halfling. He fired too low, but a gust of wind came and tilted the arrow just so.
He must have calculated for that small breeze in the few seconds between pulling back his string and releasing his arrow.
The elk fell, stunned and confused. Blood seeped out, the creature dying from a hit to the lungs and heart. A hard hit, one that had taken Deia years to master.
The Trapped Mind Project (Emerilia Book 1) Page 8