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BLAIR | Chapter. 18: Tepid
🕑 Added 2022-08-31 01:37:33 +0000 UTCChapter. 18: Tepid
‘Lootboxes,’ as Glim decided to call them, were very useful. So far I had found two more chests, one was on top of a tree, and the other was inside a small crevice under a river. The first box contained a small vial that was in the shape of a tear, one that seemed to contain no more than a drop of liquid; it was ethereal, sometimes it was pitch-black and other times it shone in a multitude of colors.
[Guidance Of The Stars: 1 minute (Epic item) — Seek the guidance of the stars themselves to show you the path of your Prophecy.]
The vial was always carried in the yellow backpack that I took from the humans, in spite of it not being leather it was impossibly tight-knit and awfully durable. I was glad it was given to me in their own accord. A day had already passed and I was already in love with its convenience. The second box contained something interesting, something that I needed, but not quite. It also contained a mana potion which I stowed away.
[Glove of the Lightless Legion (Uncommon Item) — A single glove of the standard outfit of a Lightless Legion Soldier. +2 to Racial Stat.]
The glove was sleek, made out of some thin fabric with red-lines running throughout it. I put it on my right hand and that was it. It gave me +2 points to Perception. Which moved it to a grand-total of 38. It was nice, but it wasn’t enough.
Glim had suggested continuing north in order to find stronger beasts, but I didn’t want to. Considering the distance that I’d have to travel to kill the snake once I was stronger, I didn’t see the worth in it. I didn’t want to travel days and nights to just kill the snake, when I could do so before moving on.
Which brought me to two problems I had found, one was the lack of level 6 and above beasts. Most of them were Everwood Moose, and there was a new one that I rarely found, a type of two-legged bird that was as big as me with plumage filled legs and body called Kame. It was nice that it was just a single word compared to all the other animals.
The other problem was Explosive Shot, even after dumping each subsequent level up into Wisdom and feeling the mana increase, I could still shoot it about twice max, there was still not enough mana for a third shot, not without puking blood at least. Sure it was a rare grade skill, and it was very powerful, I couldn’t help but feel a bit short-charged. The recoil of it was a great movement tool, and I wanted to be able to use it more.
Name: Blair | Level: 8
Race: ??? (E-Grade)
Feats: [Lone Survivor], [Bottomless Ambition]
Basic skills: Universal Understanding (NaN),
Universal Inquiry (NaN)
Free attribute points: 0
VIG: 31 | END: 36 |
STR: 30 | AGI: 41 |
PER: 38 | WIS: 18 |
Skills: [Proficient Archery (Passive Uncommon)], [Explosive Shot (Rare)]
Attunements: Dark plants (I)
Prime Currency: 100
I closed my status and looked at my quests. I had completed the distance one twice.
[Active Quests:
[Land Reconnaissance (Common F): In order to conquer, one must first grow familiar. Reward: Small Territory Claim. Condition: Travel 20km (3/20) (Repeatable)
Ecology Dissection II (Common F): When in a strange land, one must first investigate. Reward: 3 Shards of Ambition. Condition: Kill Beasts of equal or greater level than you. (9/10)
[A Dream Of Stars (Rare D): Once upon a time the stars seemed so distant, but with the Inspiration of the Universe, constellations interconnected to create a unique fate. One to soar above the stars. Reward: Trial Pass. Condition: Claim a Prophecy to call your own. (0/1)]
[Dynamic Quests:
[Visions of Power (Uncommon E): It is said that the peak exists for a reason. Power to overwhelm, power to surpass the peak; Power Overwhelming. Reward: Guidance Of the Stars (10 minutes). Condition: Reach Level 20 before the Incubation period ends. (8/20)
I chose to ignore all dynamic quests but Visions of Power, which I estimated I should be able to complete by the end of the seven days. Finally I stared at the time.
[Incubation Period: 4 days 22 hours 39 minutes]
I couldn’t help but sigh, my progress felt slow, on the first day I reached level 6, and another day had passed and I had only gone up 2 levels. Though, it seemed that killing things of my level or lower just rewarded bad xp, or well, it took multiple kills per level. For level 6 to 7, I had to kill five more Everwood Moose, which I had to avoid using Explosive Shot on due to the fact that I only had about sixteen arrows. Level 7 to 8 was composed of three Level 7 Kames, a lot of Loa Vulpes, and a Level 5 Everwood Moose.
A sigh escaped me as I finished taking a short nap, the sun was up but the time of the day was unknown. In the Skirmish space the days just worked differently, which well— I didn’t really care about something like sleeping at the right time, everything just consisted of naps. Glim served as an alert to wake me up. At the same time, hunting at night time was much less annoying than I had anticipated. Glim—being a source of light I could only see myself—would just make everything easier, and if I struggled with target acquisition I could just ask him to go hover near the target.
Glim was much more useful than I had initially assumed—no, he was more useful than whatever I could’ve imagined, of course, such a thought got me an instant ‘praise me’ comment from Glim, which I reluctantly did.
[Wakey, wakey! Blair!] Glim buzzed. [You’ve been pondering for the past minute! You said you wanted to go kill stuff, and I am here for it—I however, am not here to watch you sit on a tree!] it paused. [That was a joke! I am your personal assistant, how could I not be here? Your one and only Glim!]
I nodded with a slight chuckle, and did a quick check up on my things. Namely the bow, arrows, knife and backpack with all the extra potions on it, which was stuffed with grass to prevent them from breaking each other. With all of that in mind I hopped down the tree and landed on the grassy ground with a crunch from the dead leaves.
The first thing I did was choose a random direction to head off to, the beasts seemed to wander around kind of randomly, so no real direction was picked. Glim would give me the general direction for monsters, but wouldn’t exactly pin-point where they were unless he just made me follow it, which was— well it was annoying to hear Glim feel important. Which, it was, but hearing it from itself was another thing entirely.
An hour passed as I arrived atop a small downwards slope of rock, the sun shone bright on the small clearing amidst the surrounding trees, and at the base stood two animals pecking at the wood, the hollow sounds of the wood disturbing the peace of the forest. Their bodies were white, muddled with dirt, elongated necks reminiscent of their stick legs, and a line of protruding spikes running through their spine into a tail made out of them, akin to a lizard’s.
[Kame. Lvl. 7]
[Kame. Lvl. 7]
I had found a target. I smiled and nocked an arrow into the bow, as I aimed at their neck something strange happened. The spikes on their spine rattled and they stared into the forest with slightly lowered heads, each took one step back making way for something. With a gust of wind, the greenery and branches moved, and in the gaps I saw a shadow moving forward.
The Kames bowed, and a short second later another Kame showed up, it was taller than the two, and its plumage a blueish frost, the scales on its back red like magma, its gaze conceited and full of contempt for the two birds in front of it.
[Boreal Kame. Lvl. 9]
Better prey had shown up. My smile widened as I made an appropriate battle plan in my head; I doubted I had the strength to kill the Boreal Kame quickly, at the same time I had never seen something like it before, it was better for me to fight it one on one than to risk trying to kill it first and die in the attempt. I took a deep breath as the Boreal Kame walked forward and eye’d the two Kames as if it were contemplating something.
Perfect. I pushed mana onto the string, in an instant it shone in a verdant hue. With a pull it creaked and with a heavy hand, I let go of the string. Dust billowed around me, the arrow whispered death to the rightmost Kame, as if had been smacked by a hammer, its neck cracked, its scales broke, and the arrow nailed its neck to the ground. Its legs flailed in panic as another arrow was drawn.
The other Kame panicked, and the Boreal Kame seemed to have a moment of pause before looking up and meeting my eyes. The string snapped the arrow forth as the Kame turned with confusion the arrow hit its head; through its eye and into the tree. The Kame died.
[You have killed: (E) Kame. Lvl 7.]
[You have killed: (E) Kame. Lvl 7.]
I smiled before being interrupted by an unexpected notification.
[Skill Learned — Power Draw (Uncommon) — Use your mana to enhance the bowstring for a more potent shot (Self Learned).]
Huh? I stared at the fading light of the string— it had been recognized as a skill? That was unexpected, but not unwelcome. I smiled and stared at the Boreal Kame who looked at its now dead companions with shock.
Its scales rattled as it opened its black beak towards me and shrieked, its shriek shook the trees and I felt the air itself tremble from the sound. The sharp sound sent a spike of pain through my head, almost as if I could see it, it tunned out as it became nothing more than a ring in my ear. My earring became muffled and instant as warmth ran through my ears.
I brought my hand in surprise to my ear only to see blood. What? The sounds of the forest became nothing but dullness. I turned to the Boreal Kame whose spikes trembled, its claws lit up. As if it was doing a light trod on its spot, it rose each of its feet before bringing it down, warming up to something. Its feet became a blue hue, as it spun with a kick in my direction. Three lines of frost were shot towards me, the air in their wake glittered with ice crystals.
A skill? I frowned and rapidly nocked an arrow, feeling a sudden ease to enhance the string I did so in an instant. The effects of my skill came handy as I simultaneously charged the arrow with my green mana. I moved out of the path of the skill, the string was let go with explosive power as it collided with the immaterial line of frost at the forefront. The arrow went through it, the line vanished midair and the arrow streaked with the wind.
The two lines of immaterial frost reached me, as a muffled verdant boom went off in my vision. One of the lines passed by my head and the other one hit my waist. The Boreal Kame got hit in its chest as a distant squeal resounded in my ears, the dust engulfed its body. Dull and blunt pain passed through my waist, as I looked down I saw a small line of ice on my sides, the skin underneath turning purple. Frostbite?
I frowned and quickly grabbed a potion before downing it in an instant. I grabbed my bow once more and with an arrow ready to be shot, I waited for the dust to clear. Slowly a silhouette emerged, its body dripped with blood. I shot another arrow in an instant, its feet shone in a blue hue, and it kicked a line of frost into the arrow, the arrow splintered into all directions as the bird spun another kick. It sent three more lines that I had to hurriedly dodge. I shot one more arrow, and the Boreal Kame ducked out of the way, with a small swipe from its talons it sent another line of frost.
It screeched towards me before turning around and running into the forest.
It was running away? I frowned. It was higher level than me!
I quickly chipped the ice away from my body and gave chase to the bird.
I wasn’t going to let it run.
