Chapter Fourteen
The next three weeks, Alex kept a steady schedule. Sleep during the day and hunt at night. The cave had been converted into a comfortable living space using the materials she salvaged from the creatures she killed and a new spell she learned while weaving new ropes. When she added a bit of faez to the creation, the grass rope turned into a solid hemp rope.
Spell: Minor Creation – Tier 1
Faez: Varies ? Duration: Permanent
Base Skill: Devious Device
Effect: Create new magic items or copy mundane items.
The spell was a huge boon as it freed up the time she'd been spending reweaving her grass ropes since they tended to fall apart after a few hours. She quickly leveled the skill up in making her cave homier.
On the morning she hoped to reach level 3, she woke nestled in her pile of tigersloth furs. Alex lit the torch on the wall with her fire magic, then went about her waking routine, which involved a quick meal, washing her face and pits in a wooden basin, and putting on her cloth armor.
She hadn't yet been able to make anything with the rhinoboar hides. That skill or spell had evaded her, and she'd used up two of the five attempting it. She didn't want to try again until she was sure of success.
When she was ready, she pushed aside the covering that blocked the remaining daylight and used the hemp rope to climb up the cliffside to the upper camp.
She'd built palisades around the spot above the cave, where she usually spent the evening making new gear while she waited for her time to hunt.
"Good morning, my disgusting little bloodsuckers," said Alex, touching the four remaining bloat cages. "Did we enjoy last night's chianti and fava beans?"
After the battles with the Brutal Rhinoboar, she'd lost the other two bloats. One to overfeeding, which had been a mess, and the other when a raticore had eaten it during the day, which was why she'd built the palisades.
The critters no longer tried to feed on her when she picked up their cages, which didn't make them any less creepy, but at least she didn't have to fight with their proboscises.
While she waited for hunting time, Alex made new ropes and nets. She had a pile of them already, but wanted the skill ups. None of her spells or skills were tier two, and she really wanted to know what that got her.
When it was time to go, Alex placed the four bloat cages on her travois, which had a fur shoulder harness and made almost no noise as she dragged it through the forest.
She was particularly excited about the evening's hunt because it would level her, which also brought concern, because she didn't want her nerves to affect the fight. With the travois dragging behind her, Alex went deeper into the Warped Forest than she'd ever been.
After this hunt, she'd have to pick a new area, which would lead her further into the middle. Alex reached the spot without incident due to her stealth. First, she found a solid tree in case a quick escape was needed. Then she placed the bloat cages next to the sleeping dreadful bearcat.
The creature had the body of a bear with the squished face of a snaggle-toothed cat. While it slept, it snored with a growling purr.
Dreadful Bearcat, Warped Animal, Level 12
As the bloats fed, they expanded in their larger cages. Alex used the time to prepare the rope restraints. She tied one end of each rope to a sturdy tree, while the other ends she carefully slipped over the massive paws of the dreadful bearcat. The bloats filled their prey with a sedative that kept them from waking during the feeding, which also gave her an opportunity.
Once the ropes were set, Alex removed the cages. The bloats had a faint glow around them, which was odd, but she didn't have time to investigate because the Dreadful Bearcat would wake soon. The sedative that the bloats used wore off as soon as the proboscis was removed.
Alex pulled out her Vicious Thorny Whip and took position near the head of the warped animal. If it were a real creature, she would have felt bad about hunting it in such a devious manner, but since her progress in the game required it, she took a deep breath before making her attacks.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Critical hit! You deal the Dreadful Bearcat 37 damage!
Critical hit! You deal the Dreadful Bearcat 28 damage!
You deal the Dreadful Bearcat 13 damage!
As she laid into the creature with her whip, the dreadful bearcat woke and immediately lunged towards her, but came up short as the ropes tightened around its limbs, restraining it completely.
"Sorry, sweetie, I don't fight fair," she said, before hitting it again.
It took another ten strikes but eventually the Dreadful Bearcat succumbed to her whip.
You have slain a Dreadful Bearcat!
You have gained experience: 1,800 XP
You have reached level 3!
Alex thrust her whip in the air in victory. It'd taken nearly six weeks to make level 2, but she'd hit the next level after only two weeks.
Her excitement continued when she saw a new round of messages in her view.
Bloat has upgraded! Do you want it as a minion? [Y/N]
Bloat has upgraded! Do you want it as a minion? [Y/N]
Bloat has upgraded! Do you want it as a minion? [Y/N]
Bloat has upgraded! Do you want it as a minion? [Y/N]
"Whoa," she said, hitting yes right away.
As soon as she did, a new message appeared.
You have gained a unique skill point: +1 Mastermind
Do you want to give Bloat a unique name? [Y/N]
"Hells yes," said Alex, thinking about what names would be appropriate for the flying bloodsuckers. "There are four of you, so what kind of game has four named critters?"
As soon as she thought about it, she had an answer. She quickly accepted the four messages and announced their names.
"Welcome my minions, Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde," she said.
When she analyzed them, she got a different pop-up than before.
Blinky, Minion, level 1
Pinky, Minion, level 1
Inky, Minion, level 1
Clyde, Minion, level 1
"Sweet," she said as she realized she felt a mental connection to the four minions. "That must be part of the mastermind skill."
Quest Offered: Earn an ability for a minion (+2,000 XP) [Y/N]
The bloats had been level 3 when she'd had to fight them, but now they were level 1, which suggested they could level up. Based on the timing of the quest pop-up, she assumed that if she leveled up them up enough they'd receive abilities, which would be useful during her hunts.
Knowing instinctively that she wouldn't be in danger, Alex opened the cages. Her minions lifted into the air, slowly at first since they hadn't used their wings in weeks, but then they gained height.
"This will be so much better than having to haul your cages everywhere," she said.
It was strange having a connection to them, as if there were a string reaching from the base of her neck to the bloats. They also looked a little different, as if changing to a minion had made them a different creature. Their proboscises weren’t so lanky and grotesque. She wouldn't call them cute, but looking at them didn’t give her the shivers.
Next, Alex brought up her character sheet. She knew exactly where she was going to put her new attribute points because she'd been thinking about it for weeks, especially when she hovered over the Cunning Strategist skill to find it was linked to her Cunning stat, not that it was a surprise given the matched names.
Character: Alexandria Duke
Level: 3
Strength: 1
Intelligence: 1
Cunning: 3
Agility: 1
Endurance: 2
Charisma: 1
Class: Undecided
Subclass: Undecided
Health: 30/30
Faez: 30/30
Fatigue: 55%
XP: 51,203 / 90,000
Skills:
Analyze: 5
One-handed Slashing: 1
Fire Spells: 3
Devious Device: 4
Sense Direction: 5
One-handed Whip: 3
Water Spells: 3
Cooking: 5
Stealth: 2
Climbing: 2 (+5 Ascending Boots)
Unique Skills:
Cunning Strategist: 1
Mastermind: 1
Spells:
Dewdrop Orb: 3
Minor Creation: 3
Like last level, she put two points in Cunning and one in Endurance. She was a little annoyed that her faez pool hadn't grown much, but she could deal with it as she hadn't been relying on her spells to win battles directly.
The dreadful bearcat dropped meat but no hides. She really needed to upgrade her armor.
"Let's head back, minions...actually, you fly back to camp. While I'm here, I should do some exploring," she said.
The dreadful bearcat was the last creature she'd scouted. Any more kills would come from foes deeper in the Warped Forest. Leaving her travois and cages where they lay, Alex stowed her whip, preparing to move stealthily through the undergrowth.
When she was scouting, Alex made sure not to move until she could confirm the way ahead was clear. She would climb a suitable tree for a proper vantage point, then after confirming no creatures were within sight, she would return to the ground.
As she went deeper into the forest, the leaves grew brighter, as if their colors had been turned up. The lushness was almost overwhelming in its starkness.
Back at the cliff, the leaves had faint blue edges, but nearing the center they radiated yellows and reds as if colors bled through them.
The trees grew more angled, making climbing easier. But the strange lines made it difficult to see ahead, as the undergrowth was blocked by awkward tree limbs filled with technicolor leaves.
Alex was climbing down from one such tree when she heard a strange buzzing behind her. She leapt from her perch, landing in a battle crouch with the Vicious Thorny Whip in her hand, ready to strike whatever was making the noise.
She scanned all around, seeing nothing but trees and empty air, but she still heard the buzzing, though she couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.
Then something dripped onto her shoulder. Alex craned her head back to see a creature with a long greenish-black scaled body, hooded head, translucent wings, and a glistening black stinger.
Ghostly Cobrawasp, Warped Animal, Level 15
Because a regular wasp wasn't asshole enough
"Oh shit," she said, the moment before the stinger impaled her in the chest.
You have taken 25 damage! You are affected with Agonizing Poison!
You have taken 19 damage from Agonizing Poison!
You have died!
