Uthred put down his copy of 'The Book of Eridoria' on the sunlit grass beside him and sighed.
"What's that lad up to in there? By the Twins, if he's tripped and knocked himself out…" he said as he chuckled, "Well, he'll never hear the end of it from me!" He finished chuckling and leant back into the comfort of the large oak he was propped against.
"Or maybe he just couldn't find it!" He thought.
"Bah," He scoffed "Either way, the boy is learning quickly "
The sun glistened down across the plains before him, the light of the holy sun granting life to all encompassed within its radiance. The Plains of Thedras were one of his favourite spots in the entirety of the Empire, it was where he would reflect on the more thought-provoking teachings of his Gods; Arwen and Arvos.
Alas, he had his fill of self-reflection these last few months… The boy had accepted every task set before him without hesitation—perhaps with some slight grumbling, but not once had he refused, even with the tasks reaching a point where his skills were truly put to the test. He fondly remembered watching Elias's shocked—and heavily scratched face—return to their camp after he'd sent the boy to get Rabbit for dinner. "If only the boy'd known beforehand that the only Rabbit in the area were 'Ripper' Rabbits." He thought as he recalled Elias's first experience with them:
"…Here…" Elias had said. It was the only word the boy had managed as he'd dropped the bounty on the ground beside him and silently walked over to his bedroll. He'd been ecstatic after finding out how simple the task would be. "Hah! Never as simple as it seems! Eh boy" Uthred said aloud, his thoughts prompting a response. "Well, apart from this one it seems…" he scratched his chin.
He had began to truly feel bad for the boy, three months of gruelling training and he'd never asked for a break. Never asked for a day to rest. He had never experienced such drive and dedication, he'd expected something from Jacob's charge, especially after dealing with the horrors he'd experienced, but… was the boy even human?! No, if he wouldn't ask for a break, he would had to give him one. So, he'd planted a small red gem in the bottom level of the catacombs. Shouldn't have taken the boy more than an hour. "What was he doing…?"
He had discovered the catacombs a long time ago in his past life, they had once contained treasures of the days before the collapse. Before the rising tide of Aberrations, Uthred had relieved the resting place of its trove—to aid his holy mission of course and all that remained was a dusty and cobwebbed crypt.
He'd pondered for a few more moments before deciding to find the boy. There'd be trouble if any true harm came to him during under his mentorship, Ironside had a temper…
As he walked through the Crypt, the memories of battle, bloodlust and valour returned to him. It was here he'd passed the pinnacle of Tier one. A momentous achievement for any Awakened. His smile quickly faded and was replaced by confusion. "No movement and no noise so far," He thought.
He bent down and picked the small red gem from behind a cracked and heavily dusted urn. "Well… there's one of two… Where are ya' boy?"
The minutes wore on and finally Uthred found footprints trailing off towards a corner of the room. He followed them until they reached a dead end, a solid wall standing in front of him. The footprints didn't stop, however. Uthred raised an eyebrow; "Oh dear…"
His hand raised nervously towards the wall, his fingers reaching the precipice of solidity, only, nothing impeded it as his finger, then hand passed straight through the illusionary wall. "By Arvos!"
His mind reeled, the memories of those abominable creatures he'd faced countless years ago. The poisonous tentacle-like tongues. His stomach turned. "I've killed him…Oh by the light of the order! I've killed the boy!"
-break-
"They were NOT friendly!"
The fleshy legs of the Urstok danced in front of Elias as the carapaced monstrosity made gurgling grunts at him. Its tongues flailed frantically, trying to entrap him in their toxic embrace. His small amount of mana dwindled as Mana Barriers were continually erected in an attempt to deflect the encroaching appendages.
He struck out with his sword, its sharp edge grazing across the armoured segment it had connected with. His momentum halted, he stepped sideways and tried to readjust; moving backwards against this creature wouldn't work, it's tongues gave it more reach than he could get with his blade. He coursed his mana from his centre to empower his Mana Barrier skill. The visible orange barriers temporarily flashed into view as the tongues were just barely deflected.
Luckily the Urstok seemed to have no other means of attack than its many fleshy whips. He dodged another couple as he regained his balance, drawing up to thrust in a gap between the carapace covering the Urstoks body and its muscled legs.
[Mana Points: 0 / 61]
He grunted as he felt his hold of his mana barrier begin to fade, his mana hitting zero. He pushed and tugged at the skill with his will. "Not now! Don't fail me!" he thought as two more yellowed tongues spurted out towards him. He tried to dodge. He wouldn't make it! Thump. The skill activated, two small barriers spinning up with a red hue, the yellowed tongues crashed into the visible energy.
He gasped, a stench of burning flesh seared into his nostrils as the attack was not only deflected, it looked as though the red energy barriers that he had conjured had damaged the Urstok, singing the ends of its tongues.
[Essence: 103 / 5]
"What?! What happened, I ran out of mana and--AH! No time!"
The Urstok reeled backwards, taken aback at the sudden retaliation, and he had no time to let up on his advantage, he pushed forwards, sword in hand and thrust into the yellow mass exposed between the carcass and leg. His sword bit in, piercing deeply. More gurgling noises escaped the maw of the beast. Yellowish ichor dripping from the fresh wound.
Both he and the Urstok stepped back, a brief pause in their combat, both sides planning their next move.
He made the most of the few moments given by the shocked Urstok and spent it contemplating the beasts composition: "It's so disgusting! Why is its blood so gooey and thick?! I hate this thing; why are the eyes dangling like that?!"
And just like that, the moment passed, the Urstok pushed with its eight unnatural legs, each one supported by a three-pronged-hook-like-foot. It travelled at a velocity Elias couldn't match. He dove to the side, his mind forcing itself to overcome his lack of mana and utilise the essence energies. The urgency and desperation prompted a response, the now familiar wave of energy pulsed through him.
Crimson light erupted from his body, encompassing him in a shell of power. The momentum of the Urstoks charge tore against it, the force behind the creature launching him back and tumbling across the rocky floor, stopped by a formation of crystals cracking against his body. Not without recourse however, where the Urstoks carapace and flesh had impacted, darkened flesh and chitin arose.
"That hurt!" he screamed internally, "Fuck!"
He pulled himself quickly off the floor, notifications popping into his periphery; he didn't need a line by line—he dismissed them for now. He looked over the beast, he was whittling it down, just… really slowly. He needed to find a way to kill the abomination.
He had mostly avoided the need to channel Essence for the next few exchanges. Dodging through his own agility and the more cautious probing attacks from the Urstok made it easier, it seemed to have a very justified aversion to its own burning flesh.
He landed a few more strikes on the gaps he could find in the carapace before he decided to adjust his strategy. He distanced himself quickly, the creature avoiding launching flurries of tongues towards him. He felt his back press up against a crystal formation behind him, he quickly glanced back—"That'll work!"
His eyes fell back towards the Urstok, its form taking on a familiar choreographed stance. It was ready to charge. As he saw the imminent surge, the creatures dangling sinewy eyes pulled away from the front of its maw, curving around and residing within the shielded carapace. As the eyes merged with its slug-like mass he jumped and pulled himself over the formation, the Urstok having committed fully to its charge.
A resounding crash echoed in his ears and he peeled around the now cracked formation. The Urstok was unable to see its surrounding when executing its charge, having to protect its eyes within its yellowed slug-like flesh and under the shelter of its hide. He once again pressed the advantage, the Urstok was stunned by its collision with the crystal, fragments of which splintered over the area. He utilised the brief moment that Urstok would remain blinded and ducked between a set of its legs, getting into range of its exposed maw, he reached with his sword and pulled it inwards, directly into the maw, he stabbed, disgustingly thick fluids squelching from its mouth. He stabbed again; gurgling noises mixed with an eerie choking. Again. The Urstoks legs flailed in desperation—Again, again and again—Until the wailing turned whimpering of the beast died out in a pool of gooey yellow ichor.
He released the sword and dropped to the floor, a wave of relief mixing and excitement engulfing the adrenaline pulsing through him. He felt a smile creep up on his face. He'd done it! This wasn't like fending off a level one rat; this was a real monster! He quickly scanned himself over. His life force was OK. He had no gaping holes or wounds across his body. "Hah" the laugh came suddenly.
"HAH! Yes, yes. Yes, YEA-H!" He rocked his head backwards, the laugh and affirmations escaping his throat. This felt like a victory. He had to check…
[Name: Urstok - Race: Urstok - Tier: 1 - Level: 8]
Level eight! And not just that, it was some kind of slug-spider-mix abomination. He'd barely taken any damage and…he checked his essence:
[Essence: 94 / 5]
Only eighteen Essence. "I-I can do it! I can fucking do it!" his laughing, merriment and excitement continued for a while, the adrenaline elevating his already heightened emotions. After the frustrating encounter with the rats he had dreaded the foregone fight, the slim spark of hope had ignited within him, the yellow ichor around him fuel for his previously starved flame.
Flashing notifications at the edge of his view finally surfaced.
[Mana Barrier - Tier 0 - Level: 4 has increased to Tier: 0 - Level: 5 — + 1 Willpower — + 1 Intelligence]
[Scan - Tier 0 - Level: 1 has increased to Tier: 0 — Level: 2 — + 1 Agility]
Mana barrier was very quickly becoming his most used skill, and for good reason. With his lack of skill, skills, and levels, it was difficult to compete with higher level opponents, or at least - more difficult than he wanted it to be, he wasn't quick enough to avoid every attack, nor was he skilled enough to adjust to every tactic, but most frustratingly he couldn't obliterate his foes with a wave of his hand - this was where levels came in. From what Jacob had told him, your overall level was the average of all skills that you had. This meant that a level eight creatures didn't just have one skill at level eight, it had a total of forty skill levels—provided it had five skills. He, on the other hand had a total of nine skill levels over three skills. Which should make him Level three. The problem was, it looked as though one of the downsides of his partial awakening was the inability to 'level' or be recognised for a level. It was also important to note that when learning new skills your average level could not drop, but would not increase until the average caught up with the rest of your skills.
He had travelled through the passage to the large expanse, and upon leaving the enclosed pathway he had realised the scale of the zone ahead. The flora, crystals and uneven rocky terrain created large areas of cover from other creatures, the sounds of the creatures creating a constant white noise, the Urstok seemed to be unfriendly with more than just him too, as other creatures seemed to fight and brawl with each other. The environment that surrounded his current position formed an almost arena-like area, the rocks on one side reaching up a dozen feet in the air. Crystals blanketed the ground and 'walls', flora permeating from any gap in the rock and crystal formation. If he hadn't known better from having gazed upon the land from above, he would have thought he was in a self-contained room, and it was perfect for what he needed, he would lure there creatures here and fight them. He knew how to defeat the Urstok now.
He glanced at his sword and found himself visualising the finishing blows, the thick ichor pooling over his hands, and the Urstoks throes of death, he found his body moving as if replaying the action again and again, his eyes focussed.
"I can do this." He said to himself as he moved to find his next prey.