Chapter 018 - Stygian Apex

Anna returned to consciousness in a puddle of blood. Everything hurt and it felt like someone was standing on her chest. Her eyes fluttered briefly until her vision came back. Something stank to high heaven. She wrinkled her nose and looked down and met a single dull-orange eye staring back at her. The unflattering scream that ripped from her lungs only lasted for about a heartbeat before she realized that the body the eye was attached to wasn’t moving. She could feel the buzzing of notifications in the back of her head as it finally processed for her.

The Alpha Prowler was dead, collapsed on top of her with her mace sticking out of its eyesocket by the haft. Nausea hit and she coughed, struggling to pull herself free and failing. She fell back onto her back and groaned, wondering why she couldn’t summon up the strength to lift the damn thing despite how strong she’d gotten. She checked her resources and immediately found the answer.

Resources:
HP: 23/110 | SP: 1/99 | MT: 61/93

“That’ll do it,” she grumbled, her eyes fluttering again as drowsiness washed over her. She bit her lip, “Nope! Stay awake!”

She shook her head to clear out some of the cobwebs and with a frown of irritation she slapped her palm on the beast’s side, initiating the looting process. The rancid smell of the creature’s dissolving corpse heralded her ability to at the very least pull away from the spot and sit up straight, brushing the fine powder left behind off of her pants.

You have received: 341 Iron Coins and 136 Essence Points

Dungeon Loot Token (Alpha Stygian Prowler) (Mortal-Uncommon)
Crush this token to acquire an uncommon piece of loot from the Alpha Stygian Prowler intended for your class. This token may be traded.

That’s a lot more than I was expecting, was it because he was level 8? Hell yeah Loot Token. She pulled herself to her feet, picked up her club, and glanced around, her eyes finally falling on the pile of corpses and a pair of tangled-up Prowlers struggling in the remains of her trap. From their positions it looked like they were trying to get to their boss when they fell for the same thing he did. They’re obviously nowhere near as smart as the big guy was, she thought groggily and forced herself to walk over to them. 

When she finally arrived at their sides she realized something unsettling. She didn’t have enough stamina to swing her club. Not wanting to lose out on any essence, she set her jaw in a grim line and turned it around. Five bloody minutes later she looted the corpses.

You have received: 18 Iron Coins and 34 Essence Points

It took a few more minutes to loot the deer corpses and collect the remaining bone-seizing arrowheads. It looked like only two survived the encounter with one gone - likely disappeared with the corpse of the alpha - while the other was crushed and bent. She sighed, It could be worse. 

You have received: 4 Iron Coins and 36 Essence Points

Satisfied, she checked her progress to the next level.

Class: Warmage - 4 (2774/3000) 80.2% 

So I’ve got around what… almost four hundred essence unrefined? Three hundred something, she glanced towards the illuminated exterior of the forest. She wasn’t far from the door to the lobby. She could retreat there for now and rest. It would also be a good opportunity to break her latest loot token. Opting for that she trudged in that direction while she checked her backlog of notifications.

Quest Complete!
Forest of Blood

You are now the apex predator of the outer forest.
Leave the Forest of Blood to complete this quest. 

Clear Condition: Become the Apex of the outer forest.
Stage 1 Bonus Condition: Slay 10 Creatures (10/10)
Stage 2 Bonus Condition: Slay 3 Alphas (3/3)
Stage 3 Bonus Condition: Enter the Deep Forest and Slay its solitary inhabitant.

Anna stopped walking.

“Huh,” she mumbled and read the notification a second time to make sure she wasn’t confused. The quest is complete so I can get the token thingy for the lobby now if I want to. Or I can keep going into the deeper part of the forest and see what’s in there. She frowned and looked towards the trees. Her palms itched. Solitary inhabitant, huh? Must be a pretty big guy. Her eyes turned towards the torn up ground where she’d fought the Prowler Alpha.

She felt something that scared her a little. A pounding in her chest that wasn’t fear. Her carnivorous blood warmed in her veins but didn’t go rampant, that lukewarm sensation only drove home that what she was feeling was all her. No weird magic bloodline instinct egging her on. Excitement. The fight had been bloody and painful, but it had been so much fun too. She hadn’t taken a moment to really drink in the fact that she had crushed a hated enemy like that.

That lukewarm feeling in her veins felt like the purr of a well fed cat.

She licked her lips, I could check it out and then fuck off if it’s too much, she rationalized. She knew she was rationalizing. A mixture of bloodlust, euphoria, and greed tinting her thoughts. She couldn’t help herself, though, it felt good to win. It felt good to conquer and it felt good to get stronger. She made her decision and walked over to the nearest tree, plopping down, pulling up her helmet and pulling out her canteen. She drank deeply of the medicinal water and felt some of the aches in her body begin to slowly soothe, her injuries closing just a little bit faster.

Mild health and stamina regeneration, not bad, she thought. I definitely need to stock up on this stuff if I can before I leave. Better than wasting healing potions. No idea how those are made or where I can get a regular supply.

She rested her head against the bark of the tree and pulled the loot token out next. There was still at least one more notification waiting for her but she really wanted to clear her head for a moment. She turned the tiny reward over in her palm only once, appreciating it before she cracked it under her fingers. The item dissolved into powder and she opened her inventory.

Ring of the Stygian Prowler (Mortal-Uncommon)
This ring is made of carefully engraved Stygian Bloodwood and fitted with a crystalized prowler eye. This ring provides a moderate of internal body temperature control, making the wearer more comfortable in hot and cold environments. It also provides the wearer with a +5 Bonus to Awareness.

“Woah,” she breathed, “Not bad!”

The ring she pulled out of her inventory was a bit on the large side but she assumed it would be a bit smaller if she equipped it straight from the inventory. It was made of the same discolored wood as the helm on her head. The gemstone set into it was crystalline and about the size of the tip of her pinky finger. It had an eerie black and orange coloration to it made up of numerous concentric rings. She slipped it onto her finger and let out a gasp as the slight warmth of the forest faded into room temperature. The faint rustling of leaves over her head came in a bit sharper as well, clearer.

“Oh this is nice!” she said. It wasn’t a new weapon or armor but of all the things she’d gotten out of the loot tokens so far, this one had to be her favorite. She hadn’t forgotten about the kind of environment waiting for her outside of the dungeon. The ruddy heat of the savannah was not something she was looking forward to going back into and this would make living there far more comfortable.

I wonder how many I can wear, she thought absently and turned her focus to the last notification.

Title Unlocked!

Stygian Apex (Mortal-Uncommon)
You have passed the trial of the Forest of Blood.
Effect: +3 to all stats. New Ability: Stygian Endurance

You have acquired a new Ability:

Stygian Endurance (Mortal-Common-Base)
Your Endurance is increased by +5

The tell-tale rush of essence flowing through her body announced the improvement to her stats. It was so sudden it took her breath away. She stared at the notification with wide eyes. This one one hell of a reward. She frowned a little at the description of the title though, her mind working through the hidden meaning. Is this… a part of the inheritance? She glanced in the general direction of where that cave where she found the bones were. There were people who came here before me, I can guess then that they were doing the same thing I am. If that’s the case then this place is what… a training ground? 

She pursed her lips, she wasn’t sure how she felt about that theory but it did explain a few things. The whole dungeon was set up in such a way that participants could come and go, working their way through despite the crushing difficulty. Evidence presented to her had made it pretty clear that there were other worlds out there with other cultures. Perhaps this place had been transplanted somehow? Something that would have been insane to think before the integration but now it was the only conclusion that made sense.

Why here? Why is it available to me at all? She frowned, Obviously my old man has something to do with it. But if that’s the case, either he stole it or he’s important enough in this group that he could just do this.

She shivered, she wasn’t sure which possibility was worse. Either her estranged father had a leadership position in some kind of cult that threw their members into forests of death and mazes filled with toxic pools, or, he stole from such a group.

Her expression went deadpan, I hate that guy.

Still, what ultimately mattered was she was benefiting from it now. She took another sip of her restorative water and leaned back to rest. It took several hours for her body to feel like she was in any shape to do any real fighting. While she did that, she refined the essence she had collected a few times and let her mana tolerance cool off back to zero. 

When her resources were all green she pulled herself together and decided on her course of action. She was close to leveling up and while she was excited about taking on the bonus challenge, she wasn’t stupid enough to waste an opportunity to power up ahead of it. The alphas of the forest had been dealt with and that left only the ordinary mobs behind. Each individual wasn’t worth a lot of experience but it stacked up.

I need just over two hundred essence. That’s something like twenty-twenty five deer. Less if I can find some more spiders and prowlers. She grinned and pulled her helm back down over her face, adjusting her hood and her grip on her club. Time for a rampage.

It took the better part of a day to carve her way through the forest on a path of carnage. Every single living thing she found was crushed beneath her mace. She took the opportunity to grind out uses of her shield spell while she did so, a few times managing to get as many as ten uses on a single monster before it tried to retreat and she was forced to put it down. By the end she found herself back at the pond cave, immensely pleased with her gains.

You have received: 88 Iron Coins and 241 Essence Points

Quest Complete!

Warcaster
Cast 100 spells in combat. (100/100)
Reward: Warcaster Unlocked, Next Class Skill Quest

Class Ability Unlocked!

Warcaster (Mortal-Common-Base)
Spells and abilities used in combat have a slightly reduced mana cost.

Finally, that would be a huge boon for her, especially going forward. Mana Barrier didn’t inflict a lot of mana tolerance but it was enough that she stuck to using it only when necessary. Power Strike was far more valuable to her at the moment and she needed to maximize the number of times she could use it. Now it looked like she could use both more often which was fabulous. The good news stuttered a little bit at the end but she could only smile to herself as she read the notification.

Next Class Quest will be available starting at Level 5.

“Simple enough,” she said and closed out the windows, closing her eyes and getting started on refining the last bit of essence she needed to level up, concentrating on her bones to make sure she didn’t forget to refine them and improve that racial trait.

Level Up!
You have refined your body to Level 5. 

You gain a base +11 Attribute points for this level.
You gain access to your next Class Quest.
You may select a new ability.

A pair of buzzing notifications popped into the back of her head and she opened the first one.

You have acquired a new Ability:

Contingency (Mortal-Common-Base) [Locked]
You may set a single spell of common rarity as a reaction to a simple trigger or trigger word. The spell will invoke a higher mana cost upon casting. You may only have one contingency active at any one time. A contingency must be recast every time it is triggered.

Anna stared at the words on the notification, reading through it slowly. It was an amazing ability though it sounded like there were quite a few restrictions. If anything it would be a good way to save her own ass if she was caught off guard. If that kind of trigger counts, it might not since it says ‘simple’ trigger. It’s also a common ability too. I doubt it’s anything truly amazing.

Class Quest Alert!

Contingency

Parry 250 attacks. (0/250)

Reward: Contingency Unlocked, Next Class Skill Quest

She frowned, Well that’s a lot of work. I take it back, this thing better be worth it, she grumbled and moved on to the next notification.

You have reached Level 5! Please select an ability.

Crush (Mortal-Common-Base)
You may now expend extra stamina and mana to introduce a crushing effect to your attacks, increasing bludgeoning damage and dealing extra damage to solid surfaces and objects.

Shieldstrike (Mortal-Common-Base)
You may use a non-stationary shield spell or physical shield as a bludgeoning instrument, dealing additional damage for a small amount of mana.

Arcane Spell (Mortal-Common-Base)
Select an additional spell from your starting spell list to be added to your existing pool of spells.

Aura Snap (Mortal-Uncommon-Base)
You may project your aura at a target to deal a small amount of mental damage with a chance of briefly stunning them. Damage done is influenced by your Presence stat.

Rage (Mortal-Uncommon-Base)
You may enter a brief period of rage, physical stats are increased during this period while mental stats are reduced as well as cognition. You are more resistant to mind-influencing spells and abilities while in this state. 

Radiant Touch (Mortal-Rare-Base)
You may deliver a touch attack against your target Mana tolerance. You take on a small portion of the mana delivered to the target. Skin contact is required to utilize this ability. Damage is based on willpower.

Anna grinned, Oho! That’s more like it!