[Lvl. 2 Zombie defeated.]
[+40(20x2) EXP.]
...
[Level Up!]
[1 Free Attribute Point!]
Since dumping points into my Luck wasn't an option, since it costs 2 AP, I opted to putting another point into my Intelligence. With my Max MP was 300, I felt my options were increased tremendously, and that's not even with my increased damage.
I took out some jerky I had stolen and began chewing on it while going through my notifications. I had skipped two perk selections, the end of stage reward, and a new one I had never seen before.
[Ascension Tree Unlocked!]
[1 Ascension Tree Point!]
I opened a new screen and this won was a doozy. These were much more impactful and changed me in major ways. The ones I could select now were modifiers to the way I dealt damage.
They were split into different paths, and they seemed to be focused around the different classes while branching into others at times.
The first choices were things that began defining the classes. For the Warrior I could increase my defense while reducing my power, or increase the damage I dealt while reducing my defense.
For Rogue I could increase my attack speed while reducing my critical strike chance, or increasing my critical strike chance while sacrificing my attack speed.
Mages were given the choice between casting speed at the cost of mana efficiency, or vice versa.
Archers had the choice between gaining attack speed but dealing less damage, or deal more damage but attack slower.
Priests were given the option between dealing more healing but the spells taking longer to cast, or shorter cast times with less healing power.
While these choices were basic, as I read the choices further down the trees, I realized that the choices quickly became scary powerful.
For now I decided to increase my cast speed for the cost of fire power. It doubled my casting speed, but doubled the cost of my spells. I chose this because I would be able to kill much faster, and by putting points into my Intelligence the mana costs would become much less problematic.
[Short Fuse Ascension chosen.]
I then turned to look at the end of stage reward before making my choice for perks, because I was somewhat limited to choosing things that immediately helped my combat ability because of the Hubris perk.
[Stage 2 complete. Moving to Stage 3.]
[Choose one of the following:
Mage's Robe - Increases Max MP by 100.
Warrior Chest Plate - Reduces damage taken by 3.
Archer's Leather Armor - Increases Attack Speed by 10%.]
I chose the robe since I didn't have any other option.
[Choose one random perk:
Water Affinity - Water damage increased by 1.5x.
Fleet Footed - Movement speed increased by 25%.
Explosive Power - Fire spells explode, dealing an additional 10 damage to enemies within 3 feet of fire spell impacts.]
"I'll pick Fleet Footed. Moving 25% faster can help me dodge attacks."
I then opened my final perk selection.
[Choose one random perk:
Evolutionary Hunter - Killing creatures allows you to adopt a trait from them.
Mirror Image - Creates a 10 HP clone to confuse enemies. When destroyed it will go on cooldown for 90 seconds.
Lesser Regeneration - Restores 1 HP every 30 seconds.]
"My health is still at 80, I'm not exactly in danger of dying immediately but even if I was it takes so long to regenerate... Not useful in combat for now. Mirror Image is interesting but I'm just going to choose the Evolutionary Hunter since it can help me snowball my run."
[You gain 50 Gold.]
After selecting the perk I took a moment to rest for a bit before I finally stood up and entered the portal.
After stepping through the portal I found myself in a somewhat creepy manor entrance. I was wondering what monsters would be here but my question was soon answered when I heard two dozen screeches. The closest came from a nearby horse stable as a pale figure rose from a pile of hay.
The body looked incredibly human. As it stood up I became more uncomfortable at the prospect of fighting it. I had been okay with the idea of fighting monsters, but they hadn't really looked like humans. There were those weird humanoids with gills but they didn't look human.
The pale creature whipped it's head towards me and I saw it better.
"Oh thank god... It's a vampire or something like that. I am okay with this."
The creature had two protruding canines as per usual with vampires, but this creature didn't look like it possessed the intelligence that vampires usually would. This made me think it might be a ghoul. Ghouls were a lesser version of a vampire only moving on instinct and hunger.
As if to confirm my suspicions the creature sprinted at me and screeched while reaching towards me with its claws. I immediately moved to dodge and found that Fleet Footed was a much bigger impact than I thought it would be. I moved easily to dodge the attack, but I had to admit that if I didn't have Fleet Footed I wouldn't have been able to move quickly enough.
I went to cast a fireball, but I then realized a critical mistake I had made.
[Insufficient MP!]
"I forgot to meditate!"
I then saw over 20 more ghouls burst from the manor doors and I realized now that I was doomed.
After a couple minutes of trying my best to dodge attacks, I finally fell, and felt the consequences of my negligence.
[HP: 0/100]
[You have died!]
[Death Penalty: Become plagued by nightmares for two days.]
My eyes opened to the ever familiar ceiling of my apartment room. Cee Cee sensed my sudden appearance and turned around quickly.
"Oh, hello Master, you came back all of a sudden."
"Yeah. Sorry for suddenly appearing. I will usually appear in my bed after I finish what I was doing, but I'm about to leave again."
Cee Cee took a moment to observe me before saying something.
"I don't want to overstep, but I hope you don't forget what world you live in. Many warriors lose themselves on the battlefield, in more ways than one."
I glanced at her for a moment before nodding. I knew what she was trying to say, but right now I had nothing to do so I was throwing myself into the trials.
"I'll be careful. Thank you for your concern."
I stood up, and instead of immediately going into the trial, I walked to the kitchen. I quickly made myself a bowl of ramen and ate. When I was done I sat on my couch while looking at my gold.
[G: 898]
"Man... If only I had meditated I might have been able to reach 1,000 gold.. I'll go into the trial again and hopefully just this next run will be enough. But geez am I stupid."
Still feeling frustrated that I didn't do something so obvious upset me, but it was too late to change things. I just vowed in my heart to be more vigilant.
I spent a little bit of time sticking my head out of my window and calm my mind before I left.
I watched as my breath was visible as I breathed and thought absentmindedly.
"It's getting cold... If I don't figure out the money problem I will become homeless during the winter, and that will be dangerous... I also can't let us be homeless when I am Cee Cee's master."
Feeling the pressure of my situation, I decided I was wasting time sitting around so I immediately went back into the trials.
I was in a graveyard now and I felt like I knew what the monsters would be. After a few moments a rattling sound came from behind a tombstone. I immediately began casting a fireball. Soon a skeleton poked its head out but a fireball immediately hit it in the face.
[You deal 15 DMG.]
I began casting again when I saw a sword being thrown at me. My body began to move on its own when it saw the sword, but I still got clipped by it in the shoulder.
[HP: 95/100]
It hurt but oddly enough I had gotten used to moving on quickly from small injuries like this. I threw the fireball that was ready and with a rattle the skeleton fell apart.
[Lvl. 1 Weak Skeleton defeated.]
[+15 EXP.]
[20/1600 EXP to Level 6.]
[You gain 10 Gold.]
I looked at my experience with a bitter expression as I realized how it was no longer reasonable to think that I could level up at a moderate pace with my growing experience requirements.
"I need to clean up my runs. I can't be dying before at least Stage 3, and even then I need to be at least killing something. I guess this is where it gets really slow progression wise... But every run is an improvement."
After voicing my thoughts aloud I felt better about my situation, so I went forward looking for more skeletons, and cleared the stage easily.
[Choose one of the following:
Lesser Fire Spirit - Gain a spiritual companion that throws out Lesser Fireballs that deal 5 DMG.
Ice Spear - Spend 30 MP to create an ice spear from a surface within 10 feet of the caster that deals 25 Ice damage.
Reckless Swing - Empower your next physical attack to deal 1.5x damage. Goes on cooldown for 30 seconds.]
"Is it because the spirit's stats are separate from mine? That would explain why the fireball only deals five, when mine does 15, but would it deal more damage if I had higher Spirit? Most likely... There is so much I don't know about."
I chose Ice Spear because the other two I felt wouldn't help me as much as this spell could. With that choice made I moved onto the perk choice. I had decided that for the first stage it would be better to just finish the stage and select the random reward first.
[Choose one random perk:
Burn Baby Burn - Fire damage causes the target to Burn, dealing 25% of the initial damage over 2 seconds.
Freezer Burn - Ice damage causes a Damage Over Time effect. Deals 1*INT DMG per second for 10 seconds.
Tough - Take 10% less damage.]
I quickly chose Freezer Burn, since the damage would end up being a total of 30 damage, which could really help me conserve my mana.
"Status."
[Draven Franz]
[Class: Mage]
[Level: 5 (155/1600)]
[Gold: 998]
[HP: 95/100]
[MP: 11/300+100 (1 MP/min)]
[Stats:
STR: 1
CON: 1
AGI: 2
DEX: 1
INT: 3
WIS: 1
SPT: 1
WIL: 1
LCK: 2
CHR: 1
]
[Traits:
Quick Reflexes - F-Rank
Advanced Metabolism - F-Rank (Otherworld)
Artistic - D-Rank]
[Skills:
Basic Electronics - F-Rank
Basic Painting - F-Rank]
[Spells:
Lesser Fireball - Lvl. 1 - 5*INT DMG
Meditation - Lvl. 1 - 1 MP/min]
My status page was still looking really pathetic. Even with how much I had done so far, it was not enough. I sat down and meditated. When I fully replenished my mana I received a notification.
[Meditation Lvl.1 --> Lvl. 2]
[Meditation: 5 MP/min.]
[0/2000 EXP to Level 2.]
The time to replenish my mana was significantly reduced so I could consider spells that weren't as efficient in the future. Feeling better about myself I walked through the portal.
[Stage 2.]
Opening my eyes I was in a forest.
"Oddly enough I like these forest levels. They're kind of refreshing. It's so nice to take a break from the city, and the air is always fresh."
I walked forward while enjoying the fresh air. While I was walking I thought about drawing something from the stages I went to.
'I might not be able to see a forest as untouched as this one anywhere in my world... Yeah, I'll draw this when I get back for sure.'
I was brought out of my thoughts when I saw a grey wolf ahead of me. It hadn't noticed me yet, but I didn't want to lose my advantage so I quickly crouched down behind a bush.
Looking over the bush I carefully began casting Lesser Fireball and checked the surrounding. I didn't see any other wolves, but I knew they had to exist somewhere in the forest. Wolves are pack animals, and a lone wolf was somewhat rare.
With that and also how the trials worked so far, there had to be other wolves. While they didn't exactly act as a singular unit they existed.
'Gotta make this quick.'
Taking a deep breath I focused my mind and prepared my moves in my mind before acting. When I opened my eyes I immediately stood up and threw the fireball. Before it even hit the wolf, I immediately casted Ice Spear.
[-30 MP.]
[You deal 25 DMG!]
[-20 MP.]
[You deal 15 DMG!]
I was already expecting the wolf to still be alive but I didn't expect it to react so quickly to the ambush. I was going to cast another Ice Spear but the wolf had immediately turned towards me. It pounced with it's powerful legs and opened it's mouth wide.
"Sorry, but you're not the first one to try to kill me, I'm a little used to it."
[-30 MP.]
A clear blue icicle pierced up through the wolf's lower jaw, and passed through it's head.
[Lvl. 2 Wolf defeated.]
[20(+20)/1600 EXP to Level 6.]
[Gold: 998 (+5)]
I reached my quota for the day but I wasn't done. These wolves would soon smell blood, and I had just come up with an idea.
Climbing a nearby tree I began meditating in a tree.
[Meditation: 80/2000]
[MP: 400/300+100]
Just as I opened my eyes from the notification that I had all my mana back, I heard the slow pitter patter of wolves from below me. I looked down and saw that there were two wolves investigating the body of their slain ally. Taking this chance to ambush them, I quickly began casting Ice Spear, since I was above them I was close enough to them to use it.
[-30 MP.](x2)
[You deal 25 DMG!](x2)
One wolf met it's end as two ice spears impaled it's torso. The other wolf reacted fast as well, and ran off. It didn't know where the attacker was so I had to give it credit that it made the right choice within such a short amount of time.
"Animals have incredible instincts sometimes. Unfortunate that they will probably begin to group up, but what can I do about it."
[40(+20)/1600 EXP to Level 6.]
[Gold: 1003 (+5)]
I meditated for twelve minutes before pulling out a fresh sandwich from my inventory. I took a big bite and sat while enjoying the wind blowing my hair.
[Meditation: 140/2000]
I was about to reach into my inventory and take out a soda when I saw something out of the corner of my eyes. Turning my head I noticed a group of wolves were hiding in the bushed around the place where I had killed two wolves.
'I didn't even heard them sneaking up... Good thing I stayed hidden.'
I quickly turned my head around and figured that none of the wolves were looking up at me. Instead they were vigilantly watching their surroundings for any signs of an enemy.
Well... everywhere except for up above them.
Thanking them silently in my heart, I accepted the free kill and casted two Ice Spears on two separate wolves.
[-30 MP.](x2)
I then continued casting an Ice Spear at the other four wolves in my range. I had realized while eating that the wolves had to have less than 50 HP, which meant I could hit them with 1 Ice Spear and let Freezer Burn do the rest.
[-30 MP.](x4)
The wolves split up and began running away. However it was only a matter of time. I smiled as I watched the notifications pile up.
[You deal 3 DMG.]
[You deal 3 DMG.]
[You deal 3 DMG.]
[You deal 3 DMG.]
...
[Lvl. 2 Wolf defeated.](x6)
[60(+120)/1600 EXP to Level 6.]
[Gold: 1013 (+30)]
[Choose one random perk:
Auto Cast - Automatically starts casting selected spells. Can be turned on and off.
Harvest (Mana) - Killing a unit replenishes 10 MP*Target Level.
Aim For the Head - Hitting a target in the head will deal double damage.]
I held my chin while considering my perks. While dealing double damage had a lot of benefit, I had a lot of damage already, and wasn't a priority. The same could be said about mana economy, it just wasn't a priority, so I chose Auto Cast. If I had this skill earlier, while it would probably use up more mana than I wanted, I would have been able to wipe out all the wolves by rushing at them.
It was time to continue the hunt though. Stage 2 gave me a perk choice when I had killed more than 40% of the enemies left, and another at 75% of the enemies defeated. With 8 kills that meant there were more than 16 wolves in total on this stage.
With a quick look around, I slowly lowered myself to the ground and began following the trails of blood the wolves left. I had to be careful as I hunted, but I was no longer afraid of a fight. I just hard to dodge long enough to kill my enemies.
****
*sniff sniff*
A long grey snout was currently stuck deep inside a torn up sneaker.
*snap*
The wolf snapped its head to look at what could have stepped on a branch but the last thing it saw was a young man with black hair smiling at it from behind a tree.
Two cold and sharp sensations pierced the wolf's neck. Ending it's life.
****
"Ugh this is taking forever... I even gave them my shoes to track my scent but they're sending one at a time to investigate... Almost like they're feeling it out..."
My eyes slowly grew wider.
"Is there a leader? That would explain the change in behavioral patterns from other trial runs, but why now? What changed..."
Although I was curious I definitely wouldn't be able to get any answer right now, and worrying about it would not benefit me in any way. Instead I collected my ripped up shoe and walked away from the wolf's corpse.
This was seventh wolf I had killed and I just received the notification I was waiting for.
[Choose one random perk:
Creeping Frost - Ice damage will slowly spread a layer of frost over a target's skin slowing the target for 15%.
Frostbite - When you deal ice damage 50% of the damage you deal cannot be healed.
Tip of The Iceberg - Kills with ice damage increase Max HP by 10 each time.]
"Number three! Number three!"
I shouted while quickly choosing the third perk. The fact that I could improve my HP was incredible, and it didn't have a limit? That meant it had infinite value.
"15 wolves, then that means that there should only be five left? 50 more HP is more than good. Let's go find them and see what Stage 3 is."
I walked with a bit of a skip in my step. I tossed the shoe at the bottom of a tree before climbing to a safe branch and meditating. I didn't expect any more wolves to come here but I might as well leave the shoe as a distraction in case something does come around.
However my trap was for naught, but at least I was able to replenish my mana. I did a bit of quick calculations to figure out if this was enough to deal with a boss.
"I can turn off Auto Cast when I spot the enemies... Four normal wolves is 120 MP... 400 minus 120 is 280. 280 divided by 30 is about 9? 9 Ice Spears is 225 damage total. Hm... As long as the boss doesn't have more than that I shouldn't have any problems."
Once I worked out the math I felt a lot more comfortable with the idea of just walking into the boss and having a brawl. Of course I wouldn't actually be fighting, I just had to dodge attacks until my Auto Cast killed the boss, but that was about the same thing to me.
I quickly climbed down from my tree and headed towards deeper into the forest. I didn't know exactly where the rest of the wolves are, but I was heading in the direction I had observed the previous seven wolves had come from. I came up on a small ridge and when I looked down I noticed five wolves taking drinks from a little river.
One of the wolves was significantly larger than the other wolves though. It was about 1.5 times bigger than the other four wolves and I noticed it was watching carefully around as the other four wolves drank.
'It's a little weird that they actually need to drink water. This is the longest I have spent in a single stage so I never saw anyone drinking water before... What a good leader though, it knows there is something out there hunting them and even in a situation where they would usually let their guard down he was still vigilant.'
I turned off Auto Cast and started to make my way down the ridge a ways further down the river.
I openly walked straight up the river. After a couple minutes I was standing straight ahead of the wolves. They growled and began to circle me.
I stared into the eyes of the alpha wolf, and we shared an understanding.
'Only one of us leaves alive.'