by Jakob Tanner
I turned around, unsheathing my sword, ready to face whatever had attacked me. Crawling at my feet was a spider as big as a football. It had grey fuzzy hair and thick legs. It must have been napping in the shade of the apple tree when I disturbed it. I took in its caption and full red health bar.
Spider
Level One
Let’s get this over with. I charged up an energy ball and knocked it back, taking off a fifth of its HP. I ran up to it and swung my sword like I was wielding a hammer and did another couple of damage, dealing blows to its abdomen. I charged up another energy ball and blasted it at the spider close range. The arachnid shot back across the road, digging its claws into the ground to slow the momentum of the blast.
The close-range attack had done quite a bit of extra damage. I’ll try and remember this against other arachnid enemies. The spider spun around and hurried away. Oh hell no. It didn't attack me and start running when the battle went bad. Those experience points were mine. I fired up an energy ball and swung it at the creature. It crumpled to the floor.
+35 EXP!
I ran over to its dead body and looted its remains, gaining eight spider legs. I went back to the apple tree—and without shaking it this time—picked up the apples already on the ground.
I wiped the dirt off my pants. Through the branches of the apple trees loomed the windmill in the distance. The wings spun in a gentle circle, providing, power and energy to the attached home. The windmill was actually one of three sections, connected by brick hallways. There was an octagonal building with a thatched roof which must have been the mage’s living quarters. Attached to it was a small tower with a domed glass roof, with the lens of a telescope built into it. Thin metal pipes crawled up the building like vines.
Despite its shabbiness—crooked pipes and worn walls—the building had a wondrous and majestic quality. The dirt path through the apple orchard led directly to the front door. It was painted red and had a carving of two half-moons and a star. I took a deep breath, raised my back straight, and knocked on the door.
Silence.
I knocked again and this time someone yelled: “Go away. I’m at work.”
This was a test, I kept telling myself. A test to see how determined I was to unlock the mage class. I knocked again.
A loud clang and clamor echoed from inside the home. There was the noisy blast of a small explosion. Angry footsteps got louder and louder until the door swung open, revealing a stocky old Rorn, the veins on his forehead pulsating with irritation. The man had grey hair tied back in a tight pony-tail and a braided beard. He wore an impressive red velvet coat with gilded edges. A long metal staff was slung behind his back. At its tip were four pillars, where an orb crackled with mana-filled energy and snaps of lightning.
Over the mage’s shoulder was the entrance to his home: scrolls strewn on the floor, beakers full of murky liquid substances, shelves and shelves of old archaic books full of lost knowledge.
“So you’re going to gape at me and my stuff then?” sighed the Rorn. “Is that why you’re here?”
He crossed his arms and peered at me with his faded blue eyes. There were lines all across his face. The man was tired and grumpy. Of the five different races Arondale’s practicing mage had to be, it had to be the kind who hated the Aeri’s guts. I really needed to put more attribute points into Luck.
“No I’m here because,” I stammered. My voice cracked. I was nervous. Theobold had the air of the professors I’d had at college; the ones who listened to you with so much precision it made you uncomfortable to go on. I don’t think he meant it in a bad way, it was who he was. He was serious. The words finally came to me and I said them: “I’d like to become a mage.”
The tiniest quiver of a smirk appeared on Theobold’s face.
“Oh really,” he said. “What makes you think you have what it takes? Do you know any magic?”
Now it was my turn to smirk. “Actually, I do.”
I closed my eyes and gathered all the energy inside myself and funneled it to the palm of my hand. I held up the glowing orb of light and power in front of Theobold and shot the ball out into the clear blue sky.
Theobold nodded his head, satisfactorily. “Good. Basic internal mana manipulation. What else can you show me?”
Wait—a goddamn energy ball wasn’t enough to impress this guy!? I scratched the back of my head and nervously said: “Um, actually, that’s all I know. I hoped you would teach me more.”
The old Rorn shook his head. He uncrossed his arms and slid them into the pockets of his coat. “I cannot teach you anything until you discover the basic skills that exist inside of you. Only then can we truly discuss you becoming a mage.”
I slumped my shoulders and stared at the ground, the dirt welcoming me in my defeat. I wanted to blame the racial penalty. All Rorn hated Aeri. But I didn’t think that had anything to do with it. I was missing something.
A window appeared in my HUD:
New Quest Alert: The Magic Inside of You!
Discover the hidden abilities hiding within you. Maybe the Aeri in the Forgotten Forest nearby can help. Learn your main innate racial abilities (1/3)
Quest Type: Uncommon
Quest Difficulty: Hard
Reward: 100 EXP + ?
Accept: Yes/No ?
I nodded my head, eagerly accepting the quest. The 100 EXP sounded nice but I was really in it for the question mark. It had to be related to unlocking the Apprentice Mage quest chain. I checked the time on my HUD. This was taking longer than I expected. I still had about another two hours before I met Serena. Did I have enough time? I wasn’t sure. But I would keep pursuing it until I ran out. At that point I would use the waypoint teleportation system straight back to Arondale.
I was about to thank Theobold for pointing me in the right direction but as I opened my mouth, the door slammed shut right in my face.
17
The Forgotten Forest was a dark shrouded wood lying beyond the corn and wheat fields of west Arondale’s farmland. I cut across a path, heading towards the forest. Halfway there, I stopped and had a picnic on the ground. I pulled a jar of honey and an apple out of my bag. Next I cut the apple into wedges with my sword. I then dipped the wedges into the jar of honey. The taste of sweet deliciousness took over me as a prompt appeared in my HUD:
You have discovered a new recipe: Honey Drenched Apple Slices
Ingredients: Apple, Jar of Honey
A perfect afternoon snack. +3% faster HP regeneration while in combat (Duration: 30 minutes)
Your cooking skill increased by 0.3.
Oh wow—it clearly paid off to eat your fruits and vegetables. What an awesome recipe. Extra HP regeneration was a potential life-saver. It would be great to discover a recipe with MP regeneration as well. Cooking was proving to be a very useful craft so far. Plus, as with last night, I felt way better after eating. I wasn’t a teenager in my parent’s basement anymore; ten hour binge sessions online needed to be broken up with meals.
I finished my snack, got back on my feet, and continued towards the Forgotten Forest. The different trees with their thick trunks and gnarled branches shadowed over me as I got near and approached the edge of the woods. It reminded me of the forest I’d been in yesterday with Shade, scrambling through the giant roots in search of a safe refuge after a traumatic evening. This wasn’t those same woods but it brought back fresh memories.
Strange noises surrounded me the deeper I went into the forest. Sticks cracked. Bushes rustled. Unseen creatures snorted in the shadows. After a few minutes of walking, I turned around. No way. The passage by which I had come had all but disappeared.
Teeth chomped and swallowed something nearby. My head swerved. I unsheathed my sword and flexed my fingers, getting ready to charge an energy blast. I got on my knees, triggering the stealth ability, and poked my head from behind a bush. A small raptor with black skin and hard pink scales running down its forehead to its tail bent over a dead boar lying in a pool of blood. Flies
hovered over the fallen beast.
The dinosaur perked up, revealing its head and long snout full of tiny razor sharp teeth. It was clearly a young raptor yet it already had a mouth wide enough to gobble my entire head. Blood dripped from its mouth. Its yellow eyes sought more prey to feast upon.
I took in the information available off its caption:
Raptor Hatchling
Level 10
I backed away. Level 10! Last time I went up against monsters with a significant level advantage I had nearly died. Correction: I had died. I had to get away from this raptor hatchling. I hated to think what its full-grown mother was like. I took a step backwards, my boot snapping on a twig. My stealth buff disappeared in an instant.
The raptor hatchling’s eyes darted in my direction. Its mouth opened wide, the blood of the forest boar still dripping from its lips. Its long pink tongue stretched out and licked the crimson liquid off its teeth.
The creature took a step towards me.
“Alright now,” I said. “Let’s calm down.”
I gripped my sword and readied myself for the baby dino’s attack.
The raptor hatchling made a screaming war cry, hissing out blood and saliva. It charged at me. Fuck this. I ran. No way was I taking on a dinosaur, even a small one, in close combat.
I dashed through the trees, my heart thumping. Its clawed feet tapped against the ground as it chased after me. I made a quick turn around a large tree and charged up an energy ball and let it out, hitting the dinosaur in the stomach. I did about 20 HP of damage which took off a small sliver from its HP bar.
The attack only enraged the hatchling more. It wailed at me again and came towards me, mouth wide open, ready to chomp my arm off. I rolled out of the way and plunged my sword into its stomach. The raptor gave out a cry but the attack hardly did any damage. My energy ball was clearly the way to go. I needed to hit the creature in its critical spot, which clearly wasn’t the creature’s toughened rib cage.
Sharp teeth dug into my arm, tearing through my new apprentice coat and into my skin. The raptor jerked its head back, biting its teeth through my arm, attempting to rip it from my shoulder.
The initial bite took off 20 HP. This was better than I expected stat wise—clearly my new gear’s bonuses to defense were making a difference—but the chomp hurt as bad as anything else. A bleeding debuff flashed on my HUD.
Bleeding (medium) (debuff): You have an open wound. You will lose 3 HP every thirty seconds. You cannot regenerate health until you stop bleeding.
I jabbed my sword in its ribs over and over until eventually the raptor let its teeth out of my flesh and jumped back. I powered up another energy ball right as it opened its mouth wide and came at me. I fired the energy ball directly into the creature’s mouth. The creature swallowed the ball of light until a large implosion happened within the raptor’s stomach, the outside of its ribs ballooning.
Critical hit!
The raptor fell to the floor as its HP bar fell below half. It wasn’t dead, but my attack had crippled it. I think it was suffering from internal bleeding or broken bones. My energy blast had delivered a shockwave and tremor through its insides. Tears welled up in the creature’s eyes as it stood on its legs only to collapse back on the ground.
I approached it, charging up another energy ball. The dinosaur’s eyes went red and it jumped onto its feet. The sudden movement made me accidentally shoot my energy ball off into the trees. Damn—what a waste of MP. The creature was deranged. Was it going to mutate like the Skren bandit had? No. Its plummeting HP had triggered a last resort rage mode. It was ready to fight for its life. Kill or be killed.
I sprinted away from the enraged raptor while charging up another energy ball. One more critical hit in the esophagus was all I needed. I spun around to face the incoming dinosaur. Its mouth was wide open and I shot the ball at it. The dinosaur clamped its mouth shut and knocked the energy ball out of its way with its snout, taking barely any damage.
Oh shit.
The propulsion of my own energy blast had forced me to fall to the ground. Now the dinosaur loomed over me, stumbling its wrecked body towards me. I had enough MP for three more energy balls. Then I was done. Dead. Game over.
I let the mana soak up in my palms, the glowing orb growing stronger and stronger as the dinosaur stretched its neck out. It was evaluating me like a food critic, deciding which part of me would be tastiest to bite into. It opened its mouth, teeth on full display as well as the dark pit which led to its stomach. I fired off the energy ball but the dino knocked it away with his snout again. Even in its frenzy, the creature had smartened up. It wouldn’t be fooled by the same old trick again.
Still, I powered up another ball. If I shot it off fast enough, it wouldn’t expect it. But nope. It knocked it away.
Fuck. I only had one chance left.
The raptor was licking its lips and swaying its head, entranced by the potential feast my body would offer him.
I gripped my sword and lunged forward. The raptor whacked the side of my blade with its own head. The blow overpowered me and sent me stumbling to the ground.
It opened its mouth for a quick bite. I lunged my free hand forward, delivering my fingers into the jaws of the beast. My arm got sticky and wet as the monster’s teeth dug into my skin. Blood oozed from my flesh. As my HP plummeted, getting nerve-rackingly close to zero, I formed an energy ball in the very hand being chewed upon. I unleashed the blast right inside the monster’s throat.
Critical Hit!
The creature’s body exploded, flesh blasting out on the trees and drenching the shrubs in red. The monster’s teeth slackened out of my flesh as the head slid off my arm.
+350 EXP!
Congratulations you have leveled up!
You gain +4 HP
You gain +1 MP
You have (3) unused attribute points that can be applied to any of your five base stats.
My HP and MP replenished to full. My wounds disappeared though my new coat remained patchy and damaged, especially on the one arm where I’d been bitten. I’d have to get it repaired. Wearers of light armor really weren’t meant to solo this world. The material wasn’t made for physical attacks, especially of the flesh-eating variety.
I approached the dead raptor and scanned it for items:
New Item(s) Alert!
Baby Dino Bone (x1)
Slab of Raptor Meat (x1)
My mouth watered at the cooking potential of the raptor meat. The bone would be great for brewing my own stock as well. I dug through the remains and took the loot and popped it in my inventory.
Catching my breath, I applied my newly acquired attribute points to my stats. I had been going too intensely with putting points into Magic Attack Power, so I’d spread them out more this level. I put one in spirit, pumping my total MP to 30. Now from the start of battle I was guaranteed six energy balls. MP regeneration usually added at least one more. I was sick of having so little HP, so I put one point into Toughness, which gave me an additional 5 health. I put my last point in my favorite stat: Magic Attack Power. More than anything else, that energy ball had saved me in the fight with the raptor. I looked over my stats, feeling pretty pleased.
Clay Hopewell
Level: 5
Race: Aeri (Eldra)
Class: N/A
HP: 116
MP: 30
ATKP: 3
MTKP: 30
TGH: 5
SPIRIT: 21
LUCK: 3
I sheathed my sword. Where had I ended up? Trees went on for days in every direction. I didn’t understand how I was supposed to find the Aeri in here.
I continued to search the forest, admiring its beauty: from the old ancient trees to the beautiful exotic flowers. A large mushroom grew out from the ground beside a tree trunk. It had a big red shell and a beige stem. More crafting materials? I unsheathed my sword and approached the mushroom. As I crouched down and brought my knife to the bottom of the stem, it made a noise:
I jumped back. Small arms sprouted out from the stem of the mushroom along with legs. What the--? A wrinkled craggy face emerged in the stem of the mushroom.
Mushroom Monster
Level 7
I charged an energy ball and blasted it at the monster. I did about 25 damage and took a nice chunk out of the monster’s HP. The hit made it confused until it screamed and ran at me. Weirdly it stopped a meter in front of me. I didn’t understand its movement pattern. What was it doing? It bent over, its whole body shaking, until purple vapor oozed out of its body from all directions. Next the mushroom monster sucked in a huge breath. Then it blew out a cloud of purple smoke towards me. A debuff flashed in my HUD.
Poisoned (Debuff): You have been poisoned! You lose 2 HP per 3 seconds until poison wears off (Duration: 1 minute)
40 HP gone in a minute so long as I didn’t get hit by the poisoned smoke again and the debuff didn’t stack. The mushroom monster at this point ran away. I chased after it until I realized—the clever monster bastard—wanted me to run through the smoke again. I backed off and ran around the plume of smoke until I had a clear running shot at the mushroom monster. He crouched down and prepared for launching another poison spray attack.
I charged straight at him and lunged my sword at the top of its mushroom head. It lost focus, disabling the poison spore attack. It wobbled back towards its original cloud of smoke, seeking shelter there. But even the spray had dwindled. I charged up an energy ball and whipped it at him. He cried out as his HP decreased. The cloud of smoke disappeared completely and I ran up to the monster and held it down with my leather boot. It bit into my foot, taking off a piece of HP every second it gnawed its teeth into my flesh. I alternated between stabbing and shooting, again and again until finally I charged up my final energy ball and sent the creature to its death.