Royal Road
SomethingOtherThanRain
Path to Transcendence - [Isekai/Litrpg] by l-Ryn-l
Chapter 24: That's a Lot of Trolls
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Julius stood there, just taking in the wondrous view for a long time. He had been fighting and training so hard that he almost forgot that he was in another world surrounded by magic. It was times like this that reminded him of his hopes to explore the continent and the world beyond.
This was a rift that was in the middle of nowhere and it still contained indescribable beauty. Julius could not help but wonder what other places in the world might hold.
He carefully made his way down the cliffside, walking around the outer rim of the valley to examine it. He was looking for any clues on how to clear this rift. Because until he did, he was effectively stuck in here. However, there were worse places to be trapped if he was being honest. He could have been stuck in a volcanic rift with nothing but heat and the smell of sulfur as a companion. Instead, he was in a scene straight from a fairytale.
The one thing Julius was worried about, was that except for the weaker monsters he found in the caverns, he hadn't seen any other monsters like the trolls. According to the notification, this rift was at risk of entering an overflow state. Which should mean there is an overabundance of mana and monsters.
"I have no idea where they would be. If I didn't know better I would think this was just a normal rift." Julius said to himself with furrowed eyebrows.
"It's not like I haven't seen any trolls either. I know they are out there, I just need to—." Julius paused. Right when he rounded the corner he spotted a large settlement camp next to the side of the lake, filled with a sea of figures. " –find them," He finished.
In front of him was a large campsite that was completely covered with trolls. There were several dozen beat-up-looking tents and campfires littering the encampment. Several large creatures were mounted onto some spits, being roasted over the flames, with most of the trolls just lazing around the camp. He hadn't seen it from where he entered the valley because it was tucked behind several large hills and trees. However, it seemed he found where they were hiding.
He could see why the rift was at risk of overflowing now. There were at least hundreds of trolls down there and there were probably even more scattered around. It would be any day now that the rift will overflow into the normal world. And Julius didn't know what would happen to him if he didn't clear it by then.
He hadn't read or heard about any accounts of people who were in his circumstances. For all he knew, he would be allowed to leave when the trolls were. In that case, he could just hide away until that happened. Or maybe the rift was locked down until he either cleared it or died.
Looking down at an entire army of Tier 3 trolls with ridiculous regeneration abilities, Julius didn't exactly like his odds. If it was any other monsters like orcs or hobgoblins, he wouldn't be as nervous. When he first saw the trolls, he had been hoping they weren't the main monster of the rift. However, trolls were notoriously hard to put down, and an entire horde of them even more so.
It wasn't like he had much of a choice though. The notification said he wouldn't be able to leave without clearing it. And he doubted he would be able to leave if he just waited, that would not make any sense after that message.
So he needed a plan. Julius needed to somehow come up with a strategy that would allow him to take down hundreds of trolls before they swarmed him and ripped him apart. It wasn't an easy task for sure.
The first thing was that he needed to get stronger before he even thought about taking them on. That was obvious. He was thinking that he would be able to pick small groups off at a time, simultaneously ranking up his skills. [Thermal Compression] and [Firebolt] were the closest to advancement, and he believed he would receive some good options for them. [Restoration] and [Kinetic Reinforcement] were not far behind either. Both were over a third of the way there. If Julius could get all his skills up to rare, he would have a much better chance.
He also considered tiering up to Tier 2, but even after suffusing himself with fire, kinetic, and life mana by the barrels, he hadn't made that much progress. He could feel there was much more he would need to do before he was ready.
If only he had exceptional affinities. Affinities affected how fast skills ranked up but more importantly, the higher your affinity the faster your body was able to adapt to your mana. Which in turn, accelerated one's advancement to Tier 2. With the amount of fighting and stress he had been experiencing for the past couple of weeks his progress was already really impressive. However, if he had higher affinities he would have probably doubled his gains, both in skills and in regards to achieving Tier 2.
I am really envious of those with perfect affinities. I cannot even imagine how fast they can advance, even without having to fight for their lives, Julius brooded to himself. Yet, there wasn't anything Julius could do about that and it wasn't worth griping about. He could only focus on what he could do in the present with what he had available to him.
Julius hid behind some cover and observed the settlement for a while. It seemed like some groups would come and go on a regular schedule. Those who came back usually had some sort of meal in their possession. Some had extremely large prey that took a couple of trolls to carry, while others had smaller but still quite large prey slung over their shoulders. He deduced that these parties were sent out to collect enough food for the rest of the settlement. The group of four he fought before probably were doing the same. On second thought, Julius wondered if the other trolls in the group had noticed their absence yet.
He observed that most of the groups were in parties of four to six. Most of them were carrying the same clubs he had seen before and only a small amount were carrying proper weapons like axes or the occasional hammer.
It was getting close to dusk now and he was planning to stalk after one of the smaller parties if they went out. Just as he was going to head back to his ravine, Julius got lucky and spotted a group of four leaving. He quietly followed them as they made their way through an opening back into the mountains. Julius was aware of their sense of smell being better than most monsters so he kept a liberal distance from them. Thankfully, they didn't move quietly. With [Spatial Perception] to help, it was easy to track their movements.
Soon, they exited the cave which led to another valley. This one was much more bare than the first one he saw. It was a simple flat grassland with a large river splitting it in half. On the grassland were many large creatures that resembled buffalo. They were probably the large creatures Julius had seen being cooked on the fires back at the camp.
They were similar to buffalo in their general shape, but their size was much larger than any buffalo Julius had ever heard about. They were the size of a small truck whose heads were about the size of his entire body.
Julius saw the four approach a buffalo slowly and once they got close enough charged right at it with their stone clubs. The buffalo noticed their attack and tried to immediately flee. However, it seemed that as big as they were, speed was not their specialty. The trolls quickly caught up to it and started to lay into the beast. It was a brutal beatdown that displayed no technique, just pure violence and strength.
The buffalo itself put up a valiant fight. It was slow and probably only a high Tier 1 or low Tier 2 at most but its size made for an impressive show of its endurance. It tried to kick or smash into the trolls, but whatever damage it did was immediately regenerated due to their skill.
The result was inevitable. The buffalo fell, but not without giving a fight, something Julius respected. He had considered trying to intervene, but he thought better of it. While he could have saved the buffalo, it was still a rift monster, and he needed to clear the rift. Therefore, he allowed the buffalo to tire out the trolls as much as it could before he stepped in.
At that moment, Julius could hear some loud grunts from the group of trolls standing over the carcass. Based on their body language and sounding like they were arguing. Julius suspected they were trying to decide on who was lugging the buffalo back.
After some intense arguing and a small scuffle between them, two trolls were chosen to carry the buffalo back to camp. Julius waited by the entrance back into the cave. He was simultaneously creating four enhanced [Firebolts] in front of himself. The two who were carrying the buffalo were far behind the other two who were walking ahead. It was perfect.
Julius managed to create the constructs within a couple of seconds, an impressive feat that spoke of his diligent practice. Then once they walked past his line of sight, he unloaded two of them into each troll's face.
The two trolls didn't even have time to react. One moment they were walking, the next their heads were gone in a smokey ash. Julius was able to make the explosions less noisy than before by absorbing some of the excess kinetic energy from the blast. However, it still resounded with a solid boom, alerting the other two trolls.
The other two just stood there for a bit, confused as to what had just happened. All they heard was an explosion and then they saw their friend's headless bodies fall to the ground. They looked around to figure out who had done it.
Julius could have just continued to hide and finish them off like the others, but he was out here to train his skills in real combat. So he came out of his hiding spot and walked directly at the trolls staring them dead in the eyes the entire time.
As he walked towards them, he wove together a dozen of his new spikes out of fire mana compressing as much as he could within a short period. He wasn't able to weave mana into his [Firebolts] so he had to create these without any skill aiding him. However, he wanted to try them out. Unlike [Firebolt] Julius had more control over the trajectory of these constructs. [Firebolt] was only able to go in a straight line, but he was able to curve and control the spikes like they were homing missiles.
One of the trolls seemed to collect his composure before his friend and bellowed in rage as he charged at Julius. He just continued to walk calmly toward the enraged troll. [Savage Dance] was honing his mind to an extreme and he sent a dozen spikes spiraling toward the troll from multiple directions. The troll saw the spikes attacking it but chose to ignore them and continue to charge in a straight line.
The spikes weren't just constructs that were easier to maneuver, they were also harder, like an actual metal spike. Unlike [Firebolt] which was intended to detonate on impact, these were made for piercing. The spikes were shot out to surround the troll and then curved so that they were coming in to attack from all angles. About half of the spikes unfortunately missed due to Julius's inexperience in shooting them at a moving target. However, the other half managed to lodge themselves halfway into the troll's skull and neck.
That still wasn't enough to put down the troll. It had dropped its club but was still making its way toward Julius, albeit more slowly with several spikes impaled in its face and throat. It would seem nothing short of decapitation or destruction of their entire torso would kill them. However, just because the spikes didn't explode on impact, didn't mean they couldn't explode at all.
The spikes were still connected to Julius's control and he sent a small burst of mana to destabilize the construct and a concentrated burst of kinetic mana to blow them up.
While the piercing alone didn't kill it, the subsequent blast certainly did. It took its entire head off in a fine mist of blood. The last troll was charging its way to Julius as well. However, Julius just smiled at it with cold eyes.
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Royal Road
SomethingOtherThanRain
Path to Transcendence - [Isekai/Litrpg] by l-Ryn-l
Chapter 25: Experimenting
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Julius thought about just killing the troll quickly and being done with it, but he had a much dumber plan. He wanted to try out his new [Kinetic Reinforcement] skill. He wouldn't have chosen to try it out with all four alive, but now that only one remained, he felt like it was his best chance to test it out.
He didn't let it come to him, instead, he charged straight at it. He empowered his body with kinetic mana and whatever leftover kinetic energy he absorbed from his earlier explosion. Right as the troll loaded up a double-handed swing from its right, Julius burst stepped into the left side of the troll, absorbing all his momentum and stopping on a dime. He then uncorked a kinetic strike to the troll's ribcage.
The difference between the power of the strike before, and now that it was enhanced with [Kinetic Reinforcement] showed. The troll's skin was shredded apart, leaving a crater of missing flesh. The troll itself was blasted off its feet into the grass they were standing on.
Julius was surprised at the dramatic difference [Kinetic Reinforcement] had on his physical capabilities. The skill was still rated as uncommon, not even rare, and yet he felt like the impact of it was on par or better than [Savage Dance] or [Spatial Perception]. He couldn't help but wonder how much of a difference activating [Restoration] had on his transformation.
There was a small part of Julius that wished that the trolls were better fighters. It might have meant that he would have a much harder time killing them, but on the other hand, he would be able to test his fighting abilities against a skilled opponent. However, fighting something two tiers above him was going to do a lot for his skill progression regardless, so he didn't let it bother him too much.
For the moment Julius was going to use the troll as a sparring partner. Julius decided to fight but did not use any of his fire mana techniques to do so. He wanted to have a good old-fashioned brawl with the eight-foot gray behemoth.
It may not have been the safest or smartest decision, but he couldn't think of a better way to level up [Restoration] and [Kinetic Reinforcement]. He didn't know when it happened, but Julius had gotten comfortable endangering himself, all in the name of improvement. He had always been somewhat of a training nut, but his recent actions put the old him to shame. However, he could see that his new methods were working very well. In the years he spent practicing, he wasn't subjected to any real life-or-death situations. Even with Edwin brutally beating him down every day for years on end, Julius knew that he was never in any real danger.
Now, he could feel each fight had a risk associated with it, he couldn't afford to lose. That also meant his skills increased by leaps and bounds as well. He had made more progress in these couple weeks than he had in years of training. Admittedly, those years of training had built a foundation that allowed him to make such large increases. If it wasn't for that, he wouldn't be able to progress so fast. However, it wasn't until he was pushed to his limits that he saw such distinct growth.
Not to mention, Julius was having the time of his life. He kept telling himself he shouldn't be, with what happened to Lukas and Edwin. Yet, he couldn't ignore the way he felt when he experienced the wind of a strike that could take his head off missing by inches. Or how the world seemed to simplify and became so much clearer whenever he fought or trained past his limit. It was like he was finally experiencing the world for the first time and it felt right.
It appeared that Julius didn't have any more time to contemplate his psychological stability, because a very incensed troll was charging straight at him even more angry than before. Julius prepared himself, ready to go toe to toe with the monster; no tricks, no traps, just pure fist versus fist. Well, more like club versus fist if I want to get technical, Julius thought to himself.
He allowed the troll to attack him at its own pace. He didn't attack it in return, he just focused on evading its wild strikes. [Spatial Perception], [Savage Dance], and [Kinetic Reinforcement] complimented each other very well. One was able to give him unparalleled awareness, another allowed him to have exceptional control over his movements and decision-making, while the other gave him the power to take advantage of the other skills.
The troll was still vastly stronger than Julius, but his ability to use kinetic energy to accelerate and decelerate so quickly allowed him to keep up. Thanks to his other skills, he was practically dancing around the troll. Although, he still had taken a couple of small grazes from the club. Though he said small, the strength and brutality of the hits still meant he had to deal with several broken and fractured bones. Luckily [Restoration] was healing him with astonishing speed. It was much faster than before.
All in all, Julius could noticeably feel himself getting better as the fight progressed. He hadn't allowed himself to get hit in the past few minutes, transitioning each burst of kinetic energy to another movement better than the beginning of the fight. He was also using barely any mana. Though, he would have been close to exhaustion if not for [Restoration] taking care of it.
So far he had just continued to dodge, not making any attacks toward it. Julius was impressed at the trolls' tenacity. It was still going just as strong as when the fight first started. However, it made sense. If Julius was able to heal his fatigue, why wouldn't the troll be able to as well? After all, Julius's skill was heavily inspired off of the troll's healing skill.
With that being said, he was curious why the trolls needed to hunt for food. He hadn't felt the pangs of hunger in a while. It could be that his skill evolved differently from their own.
He was getting distracted by his thoughts, and almost took a club in a chest for his inattention. Julius shook his head at his behavior and then grinned like a madman. I think I got a handle on evading, let's see how I do with going on the offensive.
The entire fight Julius had been the one on the receiving end of the assault, now it was the troll's turn. Instead of stepping back, he slid closer to the troll's chest. He unleashed a heavy kick to the troll's kneecap, causing a loud crunch. The troll, on one knee, tried to sweep Julius off his feet with a wild backhand but he jumped over it and landed a clean punch right to the monster's temple.
He felt something crack underneath his knuckles and quickly delivered two more swift strikes to the troll. Unfortunately, it recovered very rapidly and Julius had to disengage. He continued this pattern for several more minutes, experimenting with new techniques. He was able to consistently get into a position to strike the thing's head, but he was unable to kill it in a couple of hits.
He was confident that if he was able to get it to stop moving for several seconds, he would be able to unleash enough strikes to put it down. However, it recovered way too fast for him to get such an opportunity.
Still, Julius had an idea. He had been inspired by seeing how his hardened fire spikes were able to penetrate the troll's skull and how much more effective an explosion was when it was released from inside the monster.
Kinetic energy was really bad at creating a static construct, so he used fire mana. He wove a layer of mana around his right hand and compressed it into a sharp spike protruding from his knuckles, loading it with kinetic energy as well. The moment he saw an opening, he darted in and smashed the spike into the troll's chest. The spike was able to make it several inches deep and Julius detonated it.
It wasn't his brightest moment. He had completely overlooked that he would be caught up in the explosion as well since it was still attached to this fist. It predictably exploded and flung Julius off to the side, his arm mangled and badly burned.
It was healing, but so was the troll. The fist-sized hole in its chest was being regenerated faster than Julius's own skill. If he hadn't improved his physique, that move might have taken off his entire arm. He didn't know if he could regrow limbs yet, but he didn't want to find out anytime soon.
He tried it again. This time, he was going to leave the spikes in the troll's body before detonating them. The troll had become more wary over the course of the fight, but it was still a monster and continued to attack Julius with nothing held back.
Julius evaded a wide swing and slid to the side of the overhead strike following it. Then he released a small burst of kinetic energy at the troll's foot, tripping it. Instead of a single woven spike, Julius created two side-by-side on his fist. With the troll struggling to get back up in time, he slammed his fist down on the back of its head, breaking off the spikes into its skull. He swiftly used the troll's body as a springboard and kicked off it with a burst of kinetic energy. As he was retreating, he released the payload inside the spikes.
Two quick consecutive thumps later, the head was gone, and in its place was a red cloud of blood.
That might be the way to kill them without using all my mana, Julius thought to himself.
Kinetic energy was extremely mana efficient and reusable, and with [Restoration] keeping him fresh, he was able to fight for long periods. These new spikes were really good at killing the trolls. Compared to his enhanced [Firebolt], the spikes used a fraction of the mana. They were slower to create, but he could create a dozen of them at once and he would get faster with practice. The biggest advantage was that the spikes were able to penetrate deep into the flesh of the trolls and release a detonation, making the explosion much more potent than exploding on the outside.
He would save [Firebolt], especially the very powerful blue one he made against the troll leader for opponents that called for it. Otherwise, it was way way overboard for regular trolls. That attack had taken out a small piece of a mountain and a third of his mana. It was going to be a strategic weapon, not his go-to attack for the average troll.
Now that Julius was done with the fight, he left back toward his ravine. He took the time to collect the mana cores of the trolls but didn't really want to. He had no plans of using them for himself. It was well known that core users were oftentimes much weaker than those who didn't use them. But they might be valuable to others once he leaves and could sell them for good money. However, he had nowhere to put them at the moment and he already had to stash his others in a hidden spot in the ravine.
He sneakily returned to the valley and entered his secret spot in the ravine. It was already almost dark by the time he made his way back. He wasn't worried about the other trolls finding the bodies of their comrades, the rift should absorb their bodies by the time morning came.
He had dismissed the many notifications he had gotten during the fight. But now seemed like a good time to see how well he did.
[Spatial Perception lvl 18 -> lvl 19]
[Savage Dance lvl 4 -> lvl 7]
[Firebolt lvl 11 -> lvl 13]
[Thermal Compression lvl 10 -> lvl 13]
[Restoration lvl 7 -> lvl 10]
[Kinetic Reinforcement lvl 7 -> lvl 10]
The gains were better than he expected. Every single skill had leveled up, even [Spatial Perception] which was now a level away from advancing. He had a feeling that getting that one level was going to be really difficult. However, he already had an idea of what he was going to do if he got stuck, but he didn't want to resort to that quite yet. That was the last resort.
For now, he needed to concentrate on getting his uncommon skills up to rare. [Firebolt] and [Thermal Compression] were neck and neck. Julius wanted to get both of them up to rare by the end of the week if possible. His instincts were telling him that he was on a timer and he wouldn't like what would happen if he didn't clear the rift by then. So he didn't have any time to waste.
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