Runes swirled around RJ's body. One dragged in more mana, while the other consumed more health. She gained two more skills that didn't require a skill slot. She didn't even know what smoke orbs were, but she sure was glad to have them.
RJ planned to snatch the humans, no, her pets' latest creation, but they were the same artifact and it wouldn't be worth the tantrum that followed.
Sure, she can grow a level and the stats are always welcomed, but she also wanted to show her pet what a great master she could be, in the long run.
Poke at your pet too much and they begin to rebel. Only with a proper leash, they can be trained and RJ created the perfect invisible leash, made up of carrots and sticks.
"Dance little monkey, dance." RJ gurgles menacingly.
Poor little Tetsu concentrated on his missed notifications, oblivious to the many schemes being woven right beside him.
[Ding! Progress to Vampiric Fangs level 02: 2.4%]!
[Ding! Progress to Vampiric Fangs level 05: 4.7%]!
[Ding! Progress to Vampiric Fangs level 09: 7.7%]!
[Ding! Congratulations, Vampiric Fangs have reached level 12. Progress to level 13: 0.0%]
"Finally, something that levels. I'm almost tempted to become a vampire." Tetsu chuckles. "Now you go bye-bye." He deletes a mental note, wanting to experiment on his teeth.
It wasn't much. Just his masochist side wanting to rip a tooth out and check the regeneration rate, the possibility of regrowing an arm, chances of death, and a few other experiments tied to his tooth.
One theory can solve the rest, but he wasn't going to lose his racial ability to stupidity, and the only thing that leveled.
[Ding! Progress to Artificers bonuses. Level: Initiate. Progress: --> 50% <--]!
[Ding! Progress to Artificers bonuses. Level: Initiate. Progress: --> 88% <--]!
[Ding! Progress to Artificers bonuses. Level: Warrior. Progress: --> 1% <--]
[Ding! Congratulations, your class Artificer has expanded your health and mana pool by two percent.]
Out of shock, Tetsu does the math, and it all adds up. Except for the hour he wasted over simple percentage calculation, the percentage amplifier boosted his health and mana pool.
If he continued down this path, calculation aside, he would be unkillable.
"Is this how gods are formed?"
Loopholes filled with percentage amplifiers can make one's health pool infinite.
Unkillable = godhood.
Tetsu's skeptical mind smelled something fishy, but he ignored the ridiculous math and percentages required to reach such a level.
He ain't going to live that long, so why bother with the math? All he can do now is bathe in what-ifs and so he does.
Almighty Tetsu was sleeping, eating, and no math. A paradise indeed.
Checking his goth fangs next, he didn't notice any huge changes. But smacking his head over a rock revealed its improvement. I mean, he bled and spooked RJ, but it also proved he had an improved skull.
Also, watching a jelly wobble in fear is priceless.
"Time to hunt." Tetsu flashes a toothy smile, spooking RJ even more. "What?"
Deep within the forest, creatures fought over territory, their next meal, and the next level. Until now, none of them noticed a weak human stealing their hunt or crossing their territory. But from now on, he shall steal more than what his budget permits, which has nothing to do with his math, and cross boundaries even they steered clear of.
Pride, overconfidence, fangs, or just his superior intellect. Tetsu left the wording to you. Choose whatever while he conquerors this forest first and next hires the maker to make a harder game.
With an over-inflated head, Tetsu strode into the forest. Before the timer ticked, he would start and finish the game.
'Expert Deceit' was on full display, with his first step into the forest.
What? He is daydreaming, but ain't delusional.
Tetsu stalks the 'Booger.' His top priority is food and planning on overstocking for what's coming.
"One? One isn't enough."
Tetsu stalks three 'Boogers' with his pants marking the positions of two while he stalks the last one himself.
With less weight to carry, Tetsu zoomed from place to place, keeping track of his surroundings and an eye over all three boogers.
As an extra safety measure, he learned and placed Ru'nic formation around the forest. Some gathered pure mana in a bubble, while others siphoned vital energy from living creatures that didn't strike.
[Ding! A new Ru'nic creation 'Syphon' with the condition (limited source/intent) has been created.]
Getting notifications for creating a rune was new, but the artificer class required a well-organized desk to work on, so Tetsu guessed the notification was it, or his doing.
"Is Artificer an, it, or a, he? He or it can't be she, right? They, them...?"
Problems of an overthinker.
On the plus side, his 'OT' brain helped create his first Ru'nic skill. 'Syphon' along with the runes, overload, swirl, and escape created 'Quantum Harvest.'
[Ding! Sian Ru'nic Skill: 'Quantum Harvest' is available: Commandment: (Har/Mev/Slu/Dal). Command a Ru'nic formation to gather resources of your choosing. From normal water, fire, and wind, now you've concentrated on the basic constructs of life. Gather up reserves of mana, health, and any other resources of your choosing. This benefits not only you but everyone that finds the bubble. Cost: based on resource and bubble size. Level: Warrior Rarity: uncommon.]
Yeah, baby, he has an uncommon skill to boost his uncommon ego.
With it being a skill, the Ru'nic symbol counted as one rune, still giving him four slots to work with, if he was in a fight.
Info was either way too low leveled or Tetsu didn't have all the pieces of the puzzle to know anything more. What is a Sian? The typos in the condition and every other doubt had to wait as he graciously accepted the gift.
Tetsu had to draw the runes before activating the skill, and so far, he could only do that with touch. You see, the touch part is a bit tricky.
Tetsu had his class and 'Etched Rune' but he lacked the required speed and there's only so much they can help when you have vines trying to smother you or flowers that enjoy spanking. The level of spanking only helped in deflating his ego. A bit.
With many failed attempts Tetsu rethinks his approach. "I need to find a better way to draw my runes," Tetsu grunts as he rubs his red bums.
Today was his day. Maybe he will learn it before it ends. The spanking wasn't that bad when you compare it to being buried alive or strangulation or other people stealing your progress. This was still his day.
Tetsu planned to make floating runes or shoot runes. Yet his big brain couldn't make any theories to experiment on and make one.
Since day one, he allocated time for rune magic. It was his only bread and butter of sorts, and he had full intentions of pushing it to the next level.
Yet the only scenarios he cooked up so far were to track his opponent beforehand and drug him unconscious so that he could draw runes over them.
Creepy first weird next.
And If they find him first, then many years of running practice should come in handy. All of his skills revolved around running away, anyway. Pun intended.
"Common you stingy saint... Give me some advice to at least get me started."
As always, the saint ignored Tetsu like a cat ignores a human. Tetsu was certain he only helped when it suited or profited him the most.
"Fine! Be that way. Just know if I die, you die. Oh, wait. The all-knowing should be knowing that." He screams, then ducks into a pit.
This was one of the many pits he dug and covered to escape from an unfortunate situation.
Like that huge ass bird that heard Tetsu scream and dove closer to inspect.
Back to the topic at hand. Tetsu wanted to fully embrace rune'ism or fight with runes. They are bond-free and even encourage a conflict-free lifestyle. Something Tetsu loved even more. But if he can't land a straight hit, he would have to shift to a different affinity.
"Maybe I can make an artifact that throws runes?"
He punched himself for even thinking of such an idea. The complication of convincing one rune was hell. Now imagine convincing a whole damn language.
"Fuck me. There's gotta be a way."
Exiting his thoughts and the allocated Rune time for the day, Tetsu gets on with tasks he can complete.
Those minor victories keep him sane. They also are the ones that somehow boost his ego way too much.
I doubt even his maker can solve his puzzle.
Tetsu initially drove other creatures toward the 'Booger' for fast kills and faster food sources. The waiting and, more so, his own thoughts were driving him crazy.
He enjoyed the hit-and-run tactics until he stopped and reflected on his actions.
He might not be involved directly, yet he was the primary cause of their deaths. Reflecting on his actions, he again shifted his tactics to waiting for their death. A part of him nagged him about bystanders also holding responsibility. He ignored that like his crush ignored him, or like Saint ignored him.
After storing two months of rations, including RJ's appetite, Tetsu moves on to his next goal.
Explore the Forbidden Forest.
He already made several safe zones, meat pits, booger slime pits, and resource bubbles around a large area.
His territory expanded with the mind tree still serving as his strongest stronghold. Half of his food supply and strongest resource bubbles are stashed and buried near the mind tree.
A single thought to activate the skill and an hour's dig to eat some tasty-tasty booger. Their meat was growing on him.
He also made several decoys and smaller pits to send RJ on a wild goose chase. Ah, talking about Goose Tetsu's stomach rumbles.
Images of a golden brown, juicy goose meat flood Tetsu's mind as he chows down on the booger meat. Thank Kile for tempting him during his vegan days.
"I would kill for some decent food right now."
To expand his territory, Tetsu always picked the opposite side of the sun. The grass thingy occupied the other side. He always explored at dusk with the sun at his back and before afternoon he would make a quick safe house, marking his new territory, then head back to the mind tree before dusk, with the sun still on his back.
With slight angles, he expanded the width, but they were mostly composed of a straight line, thanks to his class once again. At one end, you had the mind tree, and at the other, his latest discovery, a cave, which he planned on making his secondary stronghold.
Of course, he was still skeptical. If a tree still planned on burying him alive, what can a cave do?
In theory, much, much worse. By pulling on his remaining luck and imagining his ego as his actual truth, Tetsu steps into the dungeon for reconnaissance.
[Ding! Congratulations, you have found a Dungeonier's Dungeon. Enter? Y/N.]
Info on Dungeonier told Tetsu that Dungeonier is a race of beings who can create Dungeon.
"Of fucking course." Tetsu sighs. "So, they are different kinds of Dungeons?" This got him a nod from Saint. "Any information on Dungeonier, how to become one, or at least any info on other kinds of Dungeons?"
Tetsu waits for a while but doesn't receive any signal. "I'll take that as a fuck you."
"Can I come out again?" Still no reply. "I swear you'll be the death of me someday." This gets him a shrug. "Fuck you too." Tetsu accepts and disappears into his very first dungeon.
[Welcome to Xanvic's dungeon. Fight and find your way out of the dungeon to complete the challenge. Note that you can exit at any time, but the access permit is only granted three times. Hope you can find the hidden treasures within.]
"Sounds pretty straightforward forward I guess, except for the obvious gap in information."
Tetsu had a lot of hopes for his first anything. He didn't know what a dungeon was but a quick info filled in the gaps of his imagination.
He was glad no creatures could escape, meaning he, in theory, could make this cave his second stronghold. With some trickery, he can also trap a strong but dumb beast within.
Most of all, the biggest positive point is it won't try to bury him alive.
"Why isn't that my first stronghold again?" He questions himself. "Yeah! Because all my stuff is back at my first."
Prone to hacking, Tetsu first tried to hack his way out. Be it a dome or any structure, digging through the outskirts should lead him to the finish line. This way he can ignore all the traps, fights, and whatever the Dungeonier planned for him.
He dismissed the idea when his tooth cracked, trying to scratch the walls of the dungeon. In his defense, the strongest weapon he had was his fangs.
"See..." He scolds the saint. "You could've told me sooner."
Not wanting to trust the Saint any further, Tetsu prepares for what's coming from the entrance itself.
Ru'nic formations, along with his Quantum Harvest skill, manifested quite a lot of manas and health bubbles.
Every fifty meters, corners, curvature, and dead ends had safety pits. Not to pee, to hide, and maybe pee.
What? He had a jump scare bladder that jumped on everything and anything.
In no hurry and with a broken timer, Tetsu took his sweet time mapping out the dungeon.
"This isn't that bad."
Tetsu turns a corner and enters a huge cavern. The cavern stretched out fifty meters in all directions. With five new huge openings at the end, where the cavern caved in. Each entrance was wider than the next and curving at impossible angles.
It was a darn maze.
"Still not that bad."
He hears distant footsteps.
"I'm still positive."
His face falls when two short Imps enter the cavern.
"Not anymore."
Tetsu steps back and slips into his safety pits. Both peeing and peeping at his first hurdle.
They were short and resembled the devil in every way. A short pointy tail, sharp ears, crimson dark skin, horns, and butt naked. Not that Tetsu was in a place to lecture on dressing sense, while he was butt naked.
"I need to get my pants here." He covers his privates.
He lost connection with his pants when he entered the dungeon, and he hoped that exiting would bring back the connection.
"Do not give up on me now, luck."
The Imps carried around wing-shaped blades. They used it to poke themselves, scratch their butts, and occasionally stab their fellow Imp.
This definitely marked the end of Tetsu's luck run...
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