On the Trail: The longer a monster is tracked, the easier it will be to track them at a later time.
Navigator Tier One:
- Cartography: Unlocks the Mapmaking ability.
Navigation Tier Two:
-
Secret Passage: Hidden doors, passages and basements will glow, revealing themselves
-
Expedition Leader I: Reduce group travel time by 25%.
Acrobat Tier One:
-
Leap: Grants a running jump distance of 20 feet.
Acrobat Tier Two Completed
Acrobat Tier Three:
-
Wall Run: May move alongside flat vertical surfaces for a distance of ten feet at a time
-
Acrobat’s Grip: You may hold onto a rope, chain, vine or other swinging apparatus without losing your grip, regardless of the circumstances
-
Safe Fall III: You may fall up to 40 feet safely, reduced damage for higher falls.
Alchemy Tier One Completed
Alchemy Tier Two:
-
Miscibility: May convert Estoan to Firnin or Firnin to Estoan at a rate of 2:1
-
Apprentice: May brew Level Two Potions
-
Nourishing: Potions now feed and hydrate you.
Magician Tier One:
-
Mana Boost: Gain 50 additional mana
-
Mystic Recovery: May enter state of trance for 1 hour to regain full mana
-
Memory Trick: Reduce memorization cost of spells by 25%.
Tier 3 abilities cost a whopping 1,000 Bloodpoints, but they certainly looked worth their price. The ability to run on walls? I wouldn’t have to climb trees anymore; I could literally run up them, keeping my hands free to shoot at my enemies. But before I impulse-purchased any more acrobatic abilities, I considered what I would be facing ahead of me. A vicious and powerful beast that was slowly waking up. Once the Dread Beast was fully awakened, it would be extremely hard to fight. So I needed to pick abilities that would give me an edge over this vulnerability.
The first choice was Focus Breaker for 500 points. Hitting weak spots would interrupt the beast’s special attacks and I had plenty of time to figure out what those weak spots were when shooting at the monster. This purchase immediately unlocked Archer Tier 3 and I looked to check what I could buy.
Archer Tier Three:
-
Rapid Shot: May now shoot two arrows in the time it takes to shoot one (Cannot be used in conjunction with Multi-shot)
-
Multi-Shot: May string multiple arrows, up to four, and fire them at once (Cannot be used in conjunction with Rapid Shot)
-
Explosive Shot: Grants recipe for Explosive Arrows.
Interesting. It seemed that this Tier allowed me to develop a new style of shooting, either rapidly peppering targets with arrows, or firing a few at the same time. Explosive arrows were nice, but I suspected that the Enchantment school of magic would have something for a Spellbow that could cause explosions.
Rapid shot seemed to be the best choice for my style, since I preferred mobility and quickness. Firing two arrows within seconds of each other was quite appealing. I might take Multi-Shot later and switch between the two styles, but that would be for another day, when I had the points to spare.
With those two decisions made, I was down to 1,200 points. I had to take Mystic Recovery from the magician pool for 300, since my mana had not regenerated in the weeks I had been resting. Well, technically I saw it go up by one measly point in that two weeks, meaning that mana was not a fast recovering resource. Mystic Recovery would solve that issue, and hopefully get me closer to a better spell list in the future. This dropped me down to 900 Bloodpoints left.
What to choose? There were a lot of unknowns here and, frankly, I was out of my depth in facing the Dread Beast. There was one thing I did know though; traps were extremely useful. If I had not built those spear traps, I never would have killed the Ur-beast. Yet, this branch was the most neglected out of all the others. Maybe the second Tier would provide me with even more options for blueprints. So, I selected the Snare Trap Blueprint, opening up Tier 2 for me to examine.
Trapper Tier Two:
-
Arrow Release Trap: Allows for the creation of arrow releasing traps
-
Advanced Beartrap Blueprint: Allows for the creation of advanced beartraps
-
Reset Cord: Traps can be reset remotely with the use of a cord.
The advanced beartraps intrigued me. Now that we had access to metal, thanks to the miners of Olmstead, I could make a few steel bear traps that could trap an enemy in place. The Dread Beast had four legs, from the looks of the tapestry, meaning it would be vulnerable to a well-placed trap. 500 points made this a hard decision, but in the end, I decided to go with it. Portable traps would be useful in this situation.
Down to only 400 points left, I decided to grab Leap in the Acrobatics department, just to finish out the category, and then saved the rest for books later on. After all, a bunch of journals would be transported here as soon as the tunnel was open. Maybe I’d be able to learn a few weaknesses of the Dread Beast, if there were any mention of it.
I gazed at the Hunter’s Profile, pleased with my new abilities and ever-increasing skill list.
Avery Lorn
Stats
Skills
Traits and Abilities
Health: 22%
Strength: 2
First Aid: 5
Clean Retrieval
Mana: 31
Dexterity: 4
Stealth: 1
Dodge Reflex
Total Bloodpoints: 7,255
Intelligence: 4
Tracking: 2
Light Step
Current Bloodpoints: 250
Perception: 2
Ranged Weapons: 6
Safe Fall (20 ft)
Firnin Points: 0
Charisma: 1
Navigation: 4
Fast Movement
Estoan Points: 0
Equipment:
Trapping: 3
Search I
Kaos Points: 0
Bone Bow
Slots: Weak Fire Affinity
Acrobatics: 6
Pit Trap Blueprint
Light Scale Leather Armor
Slots: 2
Alchemy: 4
Archer’s Eye
Piercing Shot
Spells
Home Territory
Dazzle
Skilled Extraction
Phantom Sound
Perfect Balance
Weak Elemental Affinity
Acrobatic Training
Return Arrows
Magician
Physiological Examination
Enhanced Mixtures
Focus Breaker
Rapid Shot
Mystic Recovery
Snare Trap
Advanced Beartrap
Leap
Hopefully that health score would increase over time, sparing me the need of permanently weakening myself. Only time would tell.
Chapter 31
“Do you want the good news or the bad news?” Dr. Jace asked once he finished examining me with his various tools. Most of the shiny metal items were useless, at least in my medical opinion, but the man liked to poke and prod with all sorts of strange shaped gizmos, to at least look professional. The truth was he, like myself, had been raised mostly by medical text books and the ranting of a senile old man who was the last of the healers in Hunter’s Hope. His only edge over me was that he had no problems cutting people open and performing actual surgery. That was simply something I never had the nerve for (mainly because we lacked any formal books on the subject.)
I swatted away the spiral metal prod he was using to poke my right ear. “Get that corkscrew away from me,” I said, frowning. “Let�
��s skip the bedside manner, do I drink the potion or not?”
Jace grimaced, sinking down on the chair across from me. “Well, Aves, you’re not breathing so good. You and I both know that I won’t find out anything until I get you open and, frankly, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“Why do you always immediately jump to exploratory surgery?” I asked.
“I don’t know how magic works,” he said. “I don’t know if it fixes tissue damage, if it evacuates fluids from lungs, or if it ensures that there is no internal bleeding. All I know is that without having some way to look inside of your organs, I can’t tell you what’s going on.”
“So what’s the good news?”
“That was the good news,” Jace said, wryly. “You’ve got something in your lungs. The fact that you were brutally impaled leads me to believe that it’s most likely blood.”
That made sense why I was able to walk now, but still grew winded almost immediately. “That’s not good,” I said. “Not at all.”
“So, we have two options. Option A, I cut you open like a bag of rice and try to get the fluid out, or Option B, you stop whining about losing a little muscle mass and drink the actual miracle potion on your bed stand,” Jace said, shaking his head.
“What’s the level of risk in the surgery?” I asked.
Jace scoffed, eyes wide. “Are you for real? Aves, I don’t know why you haven’t consumed the damned thing already. How long have you been laid up? Three weeks? You could have gotten an infection in this time, or worse.”
“It’s not so simple,” I replied. “My next target is extremely strong. I have to be in peak physical condition to fight it.”
“Well, then the potion is the better way to go,” Jace said. “Because I barely know how to treat the injuries we’re talking about here. And I don’t have you as an assistant during the surgery, so frankly, I’m out of my depth here.”
I gritted my teeth and looked at the shimmering bottle. My health had maxed out at 25% and nothing was getting better with the passing days.
“Losing those points might be the death of me,” I whispered. “I can’t afford to lose my edge in combat.”
Jace nodded sympathetically. “There is no easy decision here. But there is a smart choice and a stupid one. From what you’ve explained to me, you can always find a way to get more strength and dexterity. But you can’t find a way to avoid dying on the table, especially when I’m in over my head on the subject.”
“It’s not so easy,” I mumbled, leaning my hand against my head. “I’ve got a timer here. If I gain any more Bloodpoints, the Dread Beast will awaken before I’m ready. Once I’m recovered, I’ll have to go straight for a fight with it. I might have time to kill one or two Kinru, but…I can’t increase my power level any more without it waking up.”
“So you said,” Jace replied. He stroked his beard for a few moments, pondering the circumstances. “I think you’re putting too much stock in your strength and speed,” he said after taking in the situation. “I will freely admit that you are much, much smarter than me. These monsters are no joke, that is for certain, but…in the tales I was told growing up, it was the intelligence and cunning of a Venator that overcame in the end. What’s a little muscle mass compared to the power of the mind?”
“You really think I’m smarter than you?” I asked, looking at the old man. He had never been one to pay me a great deal of compliments in our work together, other than the occasional ‘great job.’
“Of course,” he replied, winking at me. “They call me doctor because I wear the coat and have no problem performing any number of gruesome tasks, but that’s just my personality. You were always the backbone of my work, always studying, always researching. If I had some kind of procedure planned, I could count on the fact that you had the steps memorized. I have no trouble admitting that.” He leaned forward and furrowed his brow. “You’re too damn smart to be killing yourselves over two measly points. Drink up and then use that brain of yours to figure some way to win.”
I was silent for a moment. Taking the hourglass-shaped bottle in hand, I pondered my decision. Or was there really any other decision to make? Jace certainly didn’t seem keen on operating on me and the other village healer had little else she could do other than to give me this potion. Grimacing, I pulled the cork off and raised the concoction to my lips. Scents of saffron and cinnamon wafted up to my nostrils, giving me a sense of relaxation.
“Here goes,” I mumbled, regretting the decisions that had led up to this action. Tilting the drink back, I drank deeply. At once, I felt a burst of energy, a jolt of electrical power surge through me. The pain was gone, I could breathe better than ever before and I felt amazing, as if I had been reborn entirely. My health shot up to 100% instantly and, for a moment, my body felt as if it were indestructible. Then came the moment of sorrow.
Strength Lost, Dexterity Lost . Those were the words that appeared in my vision, informing me of the consequences of the potion. My strength was back to a measly 1 and my dexterity was a 3. I shook my head at this cost. I’d have to be far, far more careful in the future when fighting monsters. Another victory like my last one and I might not survive long enough to even kill the Titan.
“It worked!” Jace exclaimed as I climbed out of bed and stretched out. It was nice to be able to get up without losing my breath. Three weeks had been a long time to do nothing. I had a list of things to prepare, craft and research. I couldn’t focus on what I had just lost. There was only the future ahead of me.
Chapter 32
Olmstead’s workshop was loud with the sound of men and women placing books on shelves. Boxes were being unpacked, shelves hammered onto walls and metal scrapped as some of the youth dragged boxes of iron to the new set up forge for Cranston. Working on the Ur-Beast Charm was engrossing work, and soon the sounds of construction and unpacking faded away into nothing as I purified the bone. I hoped that there was something special about the Ur-Beast’s Charm, that perhaps it would give me access to even more powerful magic, or even some way to recoup my lost strength.
I bound this charm to a metal bangle that one of the locals had given me as a token of thanks. A sturdy metal chain would let me carry multiple charms on my arm, helping me to swap out my current charm at a moment’s notice. All I had to do was remove the charm around my neck to make the Ur-Beast Charm on my wrist activate.
Aspect of the Ur-Harna
Please select one permanent bonus:
-
Regenerative: You take on the regenerative quality of the Ur-Harna, healing 1% per hour up to 50% max. Critical wounds are repaired in this process
-
Telekinetic Grasp: When activated, you gain 3 points of telekinetic strength for 1 minute. May be used once per day
-
Scenthound: Gain the ability to track through scent alone. Heightens olfactory senses.
“Now we’re talking,” I said, rubbing my hands together at the options before me. A permanent bonus? And three different but powerful abilities, all useful in their own right? Telekinetic Grasp was attractive because it would give me a high amount of strength in a short burst. Best of all, this was telekinetic, meaning I could manipulate objects from afar. I could knock charging enemies over, I could grab fallen logs and throw them or I could even pick up lighter monsters, all with a wave of my hand. Very, very tempting in case of emergencies.
And of course, the regenerative ability would ensure that I was never in a dysfunctional state for too long. After my recent bout of bedriddenness, and the general fact that one bad hit could upend me for days on end, I was seriously considering taking this ability. I wouldn’t have to worry about trade-offs with healing potions again. This wouldn’t heal me entirely, of course, but it would get me up and able to walk after a hard fight.
Scenthound was nice, but I wasn’t interested in tracking any better. My targets were relatively easy to find so far. Really, it came between offense or defense. Telekinetic grasp would be my
panic button, giving me enough of an edge to delay my opponent while I escaped. I could avoid serious injury this way. Not only could I defend myself with that power, but I could also use it to actively kill my enemies by manipulating the environment around me. Regeneration was the opposite; it would only be useful when my plans failed and things went wrong. It wouldn’t help me win a fight.
A tough decision, for sure. In the end, I had to pick Regeneration. It wasn’t flashy or exciting like telekinesis, but the fact was, if I took one good hit, I could be out of commission for days or even weeks. Maybe even permanently, if the injury was bad enough. I had been fortunate this far, but if I had the ability to speed up my recovery time without potions, I needed to take it. 24% health for a full day of rest was fantastic. Sure, it would only activate when I was below 50%, but who knows? Maybe I could find a way to augment the regeneration power.
I selected Regeneration and felt my muscles begin to uncomfortably writhe and twist with me, adapting to this new physical power. The charm on my wrist let loose a burst of green energy, enveloping me. Waves of green crashed over me for a few moments, until the light slowly faded. The chain around my arm loosened and clattered to the floor. The bone charm faded from sight, leaving only an empty silver chain. The Ur-Harna was gone for good and I held its power.
The busy world behind me seemed to return to life and, once again, the clinking of metal and scraping of boxes on the ground resumed. The forge was just about set up. I noticed that Cranston’s receiver device was set up, so that I could put in orders for new gear. I brought up the craft menu to find what my options were, now that I had unlimited access to Iron, as well as harvested material from the Fylk that I had butchered.
Monster Hunting 101: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure (Titan Termination) Page 20