by Jakob Tanner
“I’ll hop over to the branch on the other side,” said Kendara. “I’ll rain down arrows while you blast out energy balls. We will take them out with ease. Follow my lead.” She hopped over to the tree on the other side of the mushroom patch. The ranger pulled out an arrow from her satchel on her back and nocked the arrow in her bow. Her arrow took on a silky luminescence. It was a coating of her own mana. She released the magic arrow, landing a critical hit on the central mushroom. Purplish blood spurt out of the creature’s head.
The mushrooms sprouted out of the ground, angry faces appearing on their stems. Their captions came into view. All the same.
Plagued Mushroom Monster
Level 8
I charged up an energy ball and whipped it down towards the group of mushrooms. It hit two of them, dishing out damage to both. Kendara kept a steady stream of silver arrows flying down to the patch of unsuspecting mushrooms. Puddles of purple blood filled the forest floor. It was a fungi massacre.
I didn’t realize how powerful our height advantage was; focusing on the same targets. We killed two of the mushrooms straight away. Experience prompts stacked in my HUD and I even got a notification for leveling up. I waved the information away.
The three remaining plagued mushroom monsters all crouched beside each other. Uh oh. The purple smoke oozed out of their bodies, filling the forest area in a poisonous mist. The three of them created such a thick cloud of smoke, it hid them and shielded them from our blasts.
“Keep firing,” said Kendara, as the purple smoke billowed higher into the air, approaching us on the branches. The poison debuff prompt appeared on my screen.
Poisoned (Debuff): You have been poisoned! You lose 2 HP per 3 seconds until poison wears off (Duration: 1 minute)
I ignored the debuff and kept charging up energy balls and throwing them below. But none of our hits landed.
The three mushrooms gathered around the tree. All three of them placed their hands on its trunk. The wood slowly turned purple and the branch I stood on sagged beneath my weight, the whole trunk shaking. I had barely enough MP to hop across the open air to Kendara’s branch. The tree toppled and crashed to the forest floor, making a massive tremor. Dirt rippled through the ground as the roots of the tree were pulled out and left off to the side.
“We have to jump down there and fight them up close,” I said. “Otherwise they’ll keep plaguing the trees and we won’t even have a forest to save in the end.”
“Alright, stay close, and we’ll focus on one target at a time.”
She jumped down making a small platform for herself right near the edge of the forest floor to cushion her fall. I followed suit and unsheathed my sword. I’d have to fight with it as my mana replenished.
I ran through the poison mist as Kendara’s silver arrows flew past me into the eyeball of one of the mushroom creatures. I stabbed it with my sword. I swiped one way and then another, slowly chipping away at its health.
The three mushroom creatures surrounded me. A fungi fist smashed right into my face, followed by a swarm of kicks to my legs. I squirmed and lifted my arms in defense. I kept close track of my MP but I still didn’t have enough to fire off another energy ball. Then I remembered the MP potion in my bag. I multitasked: swiping my sword in self-defense as I scrolled through my HUD opening my inventory window and selecting MP potion. The glass bottle of blue liquid materialized in my hand. I yanked out the cork and guzzled the potion down. Mana replenished, I charged up an energy ball and blasted it into the weakest mushroom’s face, shooting fungi flesh onto the neighboring trees.
+280 EXP!
With the opening, I rolled out of the way. I was below 50% HP and the poison debuff was nearly over. But I toggled through my buffs and saw the duration still ran at 1 minute. What the hell--? It’s because the mist still hasn’t cleared, meaning as long as I stood in the mist, the poison duration didn’t go down. I received a renewed debuff of poison every time I breathed.
I ran out of the purple cloud and joined Kendara from where she was firing her arrows. The mist had faded enough so our enemies were visible.
“Let’s fire all we got from here,” I said. “Let’s get them before they unleash another plume of smoke.”
Kendara shot her silver arrows and I charged up energy balls. I made sure to knock the mushrooms before they let out their poison gas. They waddled towards us, but working together on one mushroom at a time, we made quick work of them.
+280 EXP!
+280 EXP!
Congratulations you have leveled up!
You gain +4 HP
You gain +1 MP
You have (6) unused attribute points that can be applied to any of your five base stats
I toggled to my stat screen and threw 3 points into spirit and another 3 points into magic attack power. Next I ran over to the plagued mushrooms to see if they had any loot. I acquired a crafting a material I didn’t see myself using anytime soon. Batch of Poisoned Mushrooms (x4).
“Do you think we got the source of it all?” I asked Kendara.
She shook her head. “These purple headed mushrooms can be found all over. We need to find the source of where the plague is coming from.”
The ground beneath us trembled. It cracked into jagged lines of dirt. A horrible smell infected the whole surrounding area. Kendara and I backed away from the swelling forest floor.
“Get ready,” said Kendara.
Emerging from out of the ground was a mushroom the size of a large elephant. It had a purple head with glowing green dots. It had angry red eyes and a million tiny razor sharp teeth. It shadowed over us as I read the caption:
[Plagued Mushroom Lord].
20
“How the hell do we fight this thing?”
I shivered at the sight of the horrible fungus monster. The others had been small and freaky but this guy was really awful. Green gas oozed out of the holes in its cap. It waddled around the surrounding patch of forest in a dazed stupor. Its arms and legs were shriveled and grey like withered branches. It headed towards us.
“We can’t let it unleash a vapor spray like its minions,” said Kendara. “Not only will it kill us, but it will destroy whole sections of the Forgotten Forest.” She nocked an arrow and let it glimmer with shiny silver light and launched it at the beast, hitting it in the stem. Its health bar lowered.
It crouched down and I worried it was preparing a poison spray attack, so I charged up an energy ball and blasted it at the creature. It did pittance for damage and it didn't do anything to knock the creature back. The magical blast bothered it immensely though. I prepared myself for a cloud of poisonous smoke but the mushroom lord did something different. It leapt in the air and came flying at me, mouth wide open with a million tiny pincer teeth.
I jumped backwards, created a mana platform and jumped again to dodge the attack. Holy shit. An instant death attack for sure.
Kendara strafed away and continued to fling arrows at it, whittling away at its HP. If she continuously shot at the creature unbothered, it would take awhile but we’d be able to kill it.
“Kendara,” I yelled to her as I dodged another leap attack from the mushroom lord. “Get onto the branches above and keep firing at it. I’ll keep it distracted as you whittle it away.”
She nodded her head and leapt to the canopy above. Meanwhile the mushroom lord kept hobbling towards me, eager to see me destroyed. I powered up an energy ball and shot it right at its eye.
Blocked!
What the hell? Its magical defense was through the roof. My fingers fidgeted around the hilt of my sword. My ATKP wasn’t high enough to deal much damage. It would be an extreme risk to get up close and personal with it. But what were our other options?
It bellowed and rampaged towards me. How did it become so fast? I turned around and ran. Kendara’s arrows swished past me, slicing through the air, knocking off bits of flesh of the monster. I had to keep running, keep the thing distracted until we killed it. It wasn’t the most valor
ous way to win a fight. But we weren’t fighting for valor now, were we?
I ran through the forest, hearing the stomping tremors of the mushroom lord behind. It squashed shrubs and bushes as it charged through the forest. My throat burned. My heart raced.
I darted past a large tree and spun around it, hoping to confuse the mushroom lord. Gaining a few meters on it, I stopped and sent an energy ball at its face. It still had over half of its HP left.
Kendara’s arrows shot down through the branches, creating open wounds on the mushroom lord, purple blood spurting out of him.
“Clay—we need to kill it faster,” yelled Kendara from up above. “The gas coming out of its head will only further corrupt the forest.”
I yelled to the branches above. “My energy ball doesn’t do any damage to it. I don’t know what to do.”
“Use your sword!”
“What do you mean?” I said, panting as I ran away from the mushroom lord’s charge. “I’m weakest with my sword!”
“Infuse it with your mana,” she said. “Try it.”
I unsheathed my sword and as I ran I let the mana inside of me course up to my hand and next I let it spill out onto my sword. A silver glow enveloped my rapier. I stopped, enthralled by its beauty.
Innate Racial Ability Unlocked: Mana Infusion (Level One)
Manipulate the mana coursing inside of you to render other objects (weapons, armor, etc.) more powerful
Skill Type: Mana-Based
MP Cost: 5
I would study the new skill more closely later. Right now, I had to fight.
I spun around with my new silvery sword and swung the blade at the incoming Mushroom Lord. I drove a gash through it, chipping off thirty HP. The new magical sword must be combining both my ATKP and MTKP into a stronger attack. Wicked.
The creature slashed with its gnarled hands, scratching me across the chest. The pain rippled through me. Half of my HP dropped off in an instant. Fucking shit—when was I going to party up with a tank already? My build wasn’t meant to handle these kinds of hits.
I turned around and ran from the mushroom lord. I grabbed my health potion from my inventory and guzzled it down, returning to full health. One hit from this monster and I was toast.
I power jumped onto the branches above me. I quickly hopped over to others until the mushroom lord lost track of me. Kendara continued to shoot at the giant mushroom, attracting its hate onto her.
“Clay—what are you doing? This isn’t the plan!”
The mushroom lord turned its back to me and I ran across the branch and jumped off, swinging a silvery mana infused sword above my head, and dragging it downward on top of the mushroom lord, stabbing the monster with all my energy and force. I drained all my MP into the sword as it dug deeper and deeper into the mushroom lord’s skull. A long list of critical hits came one after the other until the giant mushroom collapsed like a deflated balloon onto the forest floor.
+455 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.
I walked away from the fallen creature and fell back against a nearby tree in exhaustion. Kendara jumped down from the branches, breaking her fall with a mana platform.
“Do you feel it?” she said. She raised her hands above her head, twirling her fingers in the air. “The forest is healing. We destroyed the source of the forest’s plague!”
I nodded my head. I was happy the battle with the mushroom lord was over.
“We must go speak to my grandmother of this fortunate news at once,” said Kendara. She walked over to me and stuck out her hand to help me out. “When I first met you, Clay Hopewell, I thought you were an imbecile, a disgrace to the Aeri lineage. But I now know I was wrong.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
We strolled through the Forgotten Forest in the direction of Florentis. The forest glowed with a new vivacity. I was happy to see it returned to normal health.
When we got back to Florentis, we went straight to Kendara’s grandmother at the the tulip tower above the canopy.
“Grandmother,” Kendara said when we arrived. “We succeeded at ridding the mushroom plague from the forest.”
The old Aeri woman nodded. “I know child; I sensed the plague relinquishing its stranglehold on the life of the forest as soon as you defeated the mushroom lord. Yet,” the woman’s voice took on a hushed tone. “There’s a darkness encroaching the surrounding area. An ancient evil. I can sense it. It won’t be long until it affects those of us in this forest.”
Was she speaking about the mutated creatures?
Her voice returned to normal: “Thank you, Clay Hopewell, for assisting us.”
A prompt appeared in my HUD:
You have successfully completed Quest: The Magic Inside of You!
+100 EXP!
You have gained status amongst the Eldra Aeri faction of the Forgotten Forest (Eastern Laergard). You have gone from “positive” to “respected” status.
“For your aid, please accept this gift from the people of Florentis,” said the old woman, and materializing in her arms was a long wooden mage’s staff.
New Item Alert! Apprentice’s Staff (ATKP: 15-20. MTKP: 20-40. REQ: 20 MTKP+)
Do you wish to add this to your inventory (Yes/No)?
I added the staff to my inventory. I was pumped to wield it.
“With that staff,” explained the elder. “You’ll now be able to draw mana from the world around you to help add extra power to your abilities.”
Kendara approached me and said, “Thanks again Clay. Please return to Florentis soon, so we can go hunting and,” she smiled, “I can teach you more ways to be a proper Aeri.” She then leaned over and planted a kiss on my cheek.
Any regrets I had for picking Aeri as my starting race vanished in an instant.
21
The time on my HUD said it was 12:50 p.m. Oh shit. I had ten minutes to get back to Arondale and meet Serena. For a brief second, I had a mild panic attack: I’m not going to make it back in time, Serena is going to think I’m a massive dickhead and disappear to another part of Illyria never to be seen again.
I sighed with relief when I remembered the ability to travel between waypoints. But I would need to get some gold first. I headed down the vine staircase and sold my newly acquired loot to an Aeri merchant, gaining hopefully enough money for the waypoint transfer.
Next I thought world map and the vision in my HUD was taken over by a transparent map of Illyria. Most of the map was fuzzy, only revealing the contours of the massive continents. When I focused on Laergard, the map grew clearer, revealing the small percentage of the world I had explored. A golden cursor represented where I was on the map and I moved my eyes to the right of there and found Arondale. I focused on Arondale; how do I trigger fast travel teleportation there?
Responding to my thoughts, a prompt appeared:
Would you like to fast-travel to Arondale waypoint for 10 gold coins (Yes/No)?
Yes, I said in my head and instantly I disintegrated into dust. A few seconds later, I rematerialized in a market square back in Arondale. My stomach lurched. My feet wobbled, disorientated from the teleport travel. I patted my cheeks down to my legs, making sure I was all still there. The midday sun shined in my eyes as I took in the busy streets. The market was throbbing with people—even more than there had been in the morning. Adventurers walked by with bowls of food, cooked fish wrapped in paper, and other mouthwatering snacks.
Serena had said to meet in the church square. This city was overflowing with squares and piazzas. I faintly recalled Shade pointing a Haeren church out to me at the center of town. The church’s blue dome hovered over the rest of the city and I headed towards it.
As I went down the streets, passing shopkeepers and travelling merchants, Serena filled my thoughts: her long brown hair she always kept tied in a ponytail and
her silver rimmed glasses, big and circular. It had been years since I last saw her. She had been incredibly studious, so I imagined she was like me and had gone for a spellcaster class. She would have tips on how to finally unlock the class.
I turned a corner, entering the church square. A massive cathedral with a blue dome hung over me. I searched the area for a fountain and saw a large stone watering hole with a statue of a Haeren god standing between two different planets. Above him was a stone vase on a column from which water sprayed out in a glorious fall. There was only one person sitting at the fountain. A young woman. But I wasn’t sure if it was Serena. The girl was clad in bright red bikini armor with a giant sword sheathed behind her back.
The woman jumped to her feet with a huge smile brightening her face. She ran up to me and practically tackled me with a hug. I almost fell back from the weight of her sword, but she held us both up. Her attack power stat—which effected one’s muscular strength—must’ve been super high.
“It’s so good to see you,” she said.
“You too,” I said, squeezing her tightly. I let go and found myself struggling for words. Where did I even start? Serena was the first person from home I was meeting here in this new world. All the frightening things on Earth—ZERO and its mutated form, the riots, the border shutdowns—rushed back to me, reminding me of how I ended up here. “If you’re here, you were infected with the—”
“Shh,” whispered Serena. “Let’s not think about what brought us here. At least not yet. Let’s be happy the two of us found each other.”
She was right. Somehow I felt more at home, safer now with someone I knew. Someone I trusted. Being with Serena felt right. A deep pang of guilt came through my chest. What if I had stayed in college? What would have happened to us then? I shook the thought out of my mind. We were here now. Focus on the present.