2 to Mana pool
10,000 EXP
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Quest: Mana Gathering Cultivation
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The path of a Mana Gathering cultivator is not easy. To stand at the top, one must forge their own path forward.
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Requirements:
Reach Mana Drop Level
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Rewards:
4 to Mana pool
100,000 EXP
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42,000/48,000 EXP till you reach Level 9
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Erik went on to check on his stats to see how his character sheet might have changed.
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Character Sheet
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Name: Erik West
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Level: 8
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Race: Human
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Titles: From the Grave
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Strength: (Base 7) +6
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130
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Agility: (Base 6) +8
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70
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Stamina: (Base 10) +1
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165
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Mana: (Base 5) +0
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50
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Mana Regeneration (Base 3) +14
4.15/s
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Stamina Regeneration: (Base 7) +12
4.55/s
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Seeing the rewards for reaching the Drop stage and his new stats, Erik felt a deep sense of satisfaction. The Mana Gathering system was much easier to develop than the Body Cultivation system, but both held their own power.
It would be easier to only walk down one path, but Erik didn’t want to have regrets. He wanted to at least try out both systems. The worst that could happen was that he would fail to increase his power in one system but his overall strength would be greater than someone who had only attempted one system.
The other issue was that the energy required to train two systems would make him work two times harder compared to others, but the rewards would be much greater.
He didn’t waver from his decision in the slightest as he quickly recovered.
Once again he calmed himself, ready to move onto the second part of his plan and attempt to open another Mana gate.
He gathered up his Mana. A new sense of power rushed through his body as he directed the Mana through his veins, concentrating on the Mana gate in the base of his right foot.
Erik’s body shook as the sound of someone hitting a door rang through his mind.
Unseen by Erik, a pair of cold eyes looked through the trees at the two people in their hammocks.
A cold glint passed through these eyes as it sniffed the air, the scent from its lair the same as that on these two men.
Chapter: Complications in Opening a Mana Gate
A roar cut through the night’s quiet, startling Erik as his Mana spear hit the edge of his Mana gate. The rampant Mana rushed through his body and ravaged his foot.
He let out a cry as he started healing himself. His eyes snapped open. Cold fear ran through him. If one failed in opening their Mana gate, then it could be sealed forever, or they could suffer a backlash with the power ravaging their Mana channels.
Even the small backlash had nearly crippled his foot.
“Leopard!” Rugrat yelled, grabbing onto the tree next to him and jumping off as he pulled out his pistol, firing at the leopard.
“Shit.” Erik tried to keep the flow of Mana going to his Mana gate. If it was stopped, then his gate would be sealed.
Erik pulled everything into his storage ring as he jumped for the tree as well.
The leopard tore through where Rugrat had been but missed and landed on another tree. Erik and Rugrat snapped off shots. The leopard’s roars had a sense of pain in them. Their rounds had hit the creature but its natural defense meant that the bullets, although they’d done damage, weren’t enough.
The leopard jumped off the tree and sailed toward Erik. He dropped from the tree, trying to keep the Mana flowing right as he slammed into the ground. He let out a groan as he landed on his feet and rolled. The Mana in his foot missed again, tearing apart his foot as he had to divert Mana to heal his foot.
The leopard didn’t spare him another glance as it charged Rugrat, who had pulled out his personal rifle.
He was hit in the arm, his rifle spinning as his arm was opened up. “Fuck!” He tried to get away from the leopard but its claws were buried deep in his arm.
Erik fired into the leopard’s back and unloaded his magazine. Rugrat finally got free, dropping to the ground below as Erik reloaded his pistol.
The leopard charged Rugrat again. Erik rushed forward, hitting the leopard in the side and pushing it away from Rugrat.
The leopard let out a growl as it turned on Erik. Its claws ripped into his chest, raking against his ribs as he screamed. Putting his pistol against the leopard’s chest, he pulled the trigger again and again. The leopard’s strength started to quickly leave it as it let out a roar. Knowing that it was about to die, it was going to take Erik out with it. Its head shot forward to rip out Erik’s neck with his jaws.
A silenced rifle went off, hitting the leopard in the face. Its head sunk in partially as the light went out of its eyes. Its weight fell on Erik as he was stuck under it.
Rugrat hobbled over. He put his rifle away as a tombstone appeared above the leopard.
Its claws had ripped through Erik’s chest. The damage to his body wasn’t simple.
Rugrat’s arm was in a bad way as well.
Erik couldn’t move his hands and there was no space for him to pull out items from his storage ring. He focused on healing and attacking the Mana gate in his foot. With the strain and trying to keep himself from falling into Mana fatigue, he had to be extremely careful.
Rugrat struggled with the leopard before clicking on its tombstone and looting everything from it. It started to dissipate as Rugrat grunted. He could move the lightening load of the leopard. He got to work assessing Erik’s wounds and started to pull out the priceless healing powders, using them on Erik’s wounds.
“Fix yourself,” Erik said.
“I’m using a healing spell already,” Rugrat said,
Erik looked at Rugrat’s arm. It was healing, albeit slowly, speaking to the damage it had gone through.
Erik let out a hiss as the powder went to work. A powerful healing energy went through his body, focused on the wounds. Quickly the wounds started to close up as the medicinal strength of the powder got into Erik’s veins, healing his internal injuries.
He coughed up blood as he focused on opening his Mana gate. The strain on his body wasn’t small. Thankfully, his tempered blood made his recovery much faster. Erik focused himself, feeling a jab in his side as painkiller flooded his system. He relaxed and the pain dimmed. But it became hard to focus the mind as he attacked the Mana gate.
Rugrat quickly pulled out a monster core. “Absorb this. It should give you the energy you need to open your Mana gate, or at least help out.”
Erik took the monster core in his hand as an option appeared in front of him.
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Monster Core
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Do you wish to absorb this Lesser Mortal Grade monster core?
YES/NO
You will gain 5,000 EXP
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Monster cores could be used for a great number of things. At their most basic level, one could craft powerful weapons, armor, and concoctions with them. They could also be used to recover one’s Stamina and their Mana, and heal while increasing a person’s Experience.
One could us
e monster cores again and again, but the power wasn’t clean. After some time of absorbing the same monster cores, a person would gain a debuff, lowering the amount of Experience that they could gain.
It was a short-term solution to power. If one was to take more powerful monster cores or to have the resources to clear the debuff, then they could rapidly increase in power. This was something that the elites of certain sects and families could enjoy.
Some might call this the “pay to play” method, where one used money to increase their levels and abilities directly. It was, but that was the truth in the Ten Realms, strength ruled, so what if you abused the system a bit here and there?
The monster core cracked as the cloudy and dirty-looking core shattered. Threads of energy wrapped around Erik, being absorbed into his body. Erik felt his Experience increasing as the strength in his body surged.
Erik took direct control of the Mana in his body that had now stabilized. He drove it toward his Mana gate. His body shook as the final glow from the monster core was absorbed into Erik’s body.
The sound of someone hammering against a gate filled Erik’s body. Cracks started to form on the Mana gate. It was a proud edifice—unassailable—but here it was being worn down again and again.
Rugrat watched over Erik, retrieving his weapons as he looked for the spent brass. Most of it had been caught by his storage ring, but he couldn’t waste one cartridge.
An hour and a half later, there was a breaking sound as the Mana in the area was stirred up. Threads of Mana were drawn into Erik’s Mana gates as power flooded through his body.
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Skill: Marksman
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Level: 25 (Apprentice)
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Long-range weapons are familiar in your hands. When aiming, you can zoom in x2.0.
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Upon advancing into the Apprentice level of Marksman, you will be rewarded with one randomly selected item related to this skill.
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You have received the Fine Arrows blueprint
10,000 EXP
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You have successfully opened 4 Mana gates.
1 to Mana Pool
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You have opened another Mana gate!
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1 to Mana Regeneration
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Quest Updated: Opening the Fourteen Gates
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Congratulations! You have opened your fourth Mana gate.
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Requirements: Clear all of your fourteen gates (4/14)
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Rewards: +1 to Mana Regeneration base stat
Undergo Mana Body Rebirth
1,400,000 EXP
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You have reached Level 9
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When you sleep next, you will be able to increase your attributes by: 5 points.
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13,750/64,000 EXP till you reach Level 10
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Erik couldn’t help but smile a bit. It had been a close call, but he had attained level nine, just one step away from becoming level ten, the threshold one needed to pass in order to ascend to the Second Realm.
His Marksman skill had also upgraded, giving him the benefit of increased magnification when aiming.
The hidden aspects of Marksman were also shown as his ability to shoot had increased steadily to the point where he could probably compete with the old Rugrat in terms of accuracy.
“Morning there, Sleeping Beauty. You good to go? We need to move,” Rugrat said.
“Yeah.” Erik got up.
Rugrat had changed his clothes and his wounds were healed with the combination of healing powder and his own healing spells.
“I thought that I would run a whole lot less once I got out,” Rugrat complained as they took off into the night.
“Quit your whining. You’re faster than anyone back on Earth,” Erik said.
“I heard that you can get tamed beasts—wouldn’t that be nicer?”
“Rugrat, the last time you had a ‘good’ idea, you made dinner for everyone on base and dosed it with so much hot sauce that even Rossy was left crying,” Erik said.
“Well, I thought you could handle it,” Rugrat complained.
“The bathrooms certainly couldn’t. Do you know how painful one-ply is in a blue rocket that’s so warm it’s almost combustible from static when you have to run to the bathroom every ten minutes with forty other guys doing the hokey-pokey don’t-let-me-crap-my-pants dance?”
“It was a good idea. It just didn’t turn out that well. You guys also force-fed me the rest of it!”
“It took us four hours to find you and we had to keep switching out people or else they wouldn’t be able to hold on!”
“Come on, that was pretty funny,” Rugrat said.
Erik let out a tired laugh, knowing that there was no winning against Rugrat. He hid the smile that was forming at the corners of his mouth.
Rugrat let out a muffled curse as he tripped on something and fell down a small ravine. “Great. I wasn’t looking for my exfoliating mud bath.” Rugrat got out of the mud, flicking his hand to try to get some more of the mud off him. “Hopefully the next spell we can learn is night vision.”
“Or a spell to clean or disinfect,” Erik said, looking around.
“Oh, the things I would do for a shower,” Rugrat said with a glow in his eyes.
Erik shivered slightly, not fully wanting to know what extent Rugrat would go to get a shower.
Chapter: Defined Roles
Erik hadn’t seen anything like it before. Erik waited until the next day before he gave it over to Rugrat.
“A blueprint?” Rugrat said breathlessly.
“There something wrong with it?” Erik asked. It looked simple enough—a rough drawing with notations detailing the different size and makeup of the combined parts.
“Blueprints are really damn rare. They’re also a big help in letting people understand how to build the item. Usually when you’re crafting something, you need to figure out what you want, the shape the form, all the different parts required. Unless someone has told you what is needed or you have a blueprint.
“Using this, the materials are broken down. The way to put them together is also revealed. With this it’s more like Lego than crafting, though you get a much better idea of how to craft the item,” Rugrat said.
“So, basically a building guide for dummies.” Erik grinned.
“Yes, in a way.”
“Well, this any use to you?” Erik asked.
“No, but if we took it to the Blue Lotus or maybe a crafter who builds arrows, we can get a lot for it. We might even be able to trade for a blueprint that is actually useful for us.”
“Take it. You know what to do with it more than me and I’m horrible with a bow,” Erik said.
“Yeah, you ain’t the best,” Rugrat agreed.
“I think that I’m going to try to work to become a melee fighter,” Erik said.
“You sure?” Rugrat looked at Erik with concern.
“Well, I’ve already been torn apart once. What is it to do it a few more times?” Erik laughed.
“Casual dismemberment—another sign that your friend has officially left the building,” Rugrat said.
“Look, you’re good at long range and if I give you Big Momma, then there’s little that could stand up to you. I run crowd control. I hold them back—you pick them off. Otherwise we have what we had last night: the two of us trying to do the same thing and the enemy getting among us and tearing us apart.”
Rugrat sunk into thought. Clearly he didn’t want his friend jumping into the enemy’s jaws so that
he could get more time to set up his shots, but Erik made a valid point.
“If you go melee class, then we need to try to increase your Body Cultivation, get you some training manuals to increase the power you can pull from your body and display. Then you’re taking all of the healing concoctions and increase your healing abilities,” Rugrat said.
Erik was touched by how much his friend was looking out for him.
Finally for the first time they had nailed down their roles: Erik would be the healer and close range; Rugrat would be the long-range rogue type. They would both be able to heal as support, with Rugrat specializing in smithing while Erik would seek out more information on Alchemy. Erik was interested in it, but the information and resources here were too limited so Erik could only wait until he gained more knowledge.
“Well, then, our two biggest goals should be to get as much gold as possible and level up as fast as possible.” Erik tossed Rugrat a petty Mortal grade monster core.
Rugrat looked up before sitting down, swallowing any words he might have said as the Mana core shattered and that rampant energy entered his body, strengthening it from the inside.
Erik stood guard, looking around the forest. Right now, potions and concoctions to increase the toughness of his body and go through the five temperings were incredibly hard to find.
If it’s impossible to find easy ways to do it, then the other way was to use poison.
Erik checked through the broach once again, looking over the healing potions and other potions contained within.
The healing potions were incredibly powerful, so much that Erik wondered how people could die in the higher realms. With the potions, he was more confident about walking down the path of poisons to temper his body bit by bit.
A powerful fluctuation emerged from deep within Rugrat’s body. He opened his eyes. The glow within made Erik shiver. It was as if he were looking at a slumbering beast, ready to attack at the slightest movement or confrontation.
Rugrat let out a slow breath.
“Congratulations on reaching level ten,” Erik said.
“Thanks.” Rugrat smiled.
“Want to take a nap and consolidate your gains? We’ve got the time.”
“All right.” Rugrat lay down against a log and closed his eyes.
Nothing happened for a few hours. Then, the breeze started to change as threads of energy from the First Realm were gathered into Rugrat’s body. His entire body went through a transformation, becoming more powerful.
The Two Week Curse Page 19