Broker

Chapter 016 - Domination

Added 2025-04-01 12:00:10 +0000 UTC

It took a few minutes to figure out how to refine the energy inside of the stones. She tried just using the item, hoping that maybe the system would finally give her a bit of assistance. That proved to be pointless. Concentrating super hard on the crystal didn’t accomplish anything either. So she tried the most obvious approach next. She started to attempt to refine energy inside her own body while holding the crystal. That had the desired effect.

The only problem was that the refined energy came in fast and dissipated with relative ease. Like the bone pill, there was loss and quite a bit of it for the first crystal. She only managed to get about seventeen essence out of it before it went dim. She blamed the failure largely on being unprepared for the experience. She was proven correct when she pulled out the second crystal and went into the process a bit more mindfully.

What followed was a rollercoaster of successes and failures as she kept an eye on her essence to see if she could figure out exactly how much was in each of the crystals. In the end she concluded that each petite essence crystal contained fifty essence and her efficiency rate was somewhere between sixty and eighty percent at best. It didn’t seem like much but as he chewed through the entire bag it started to sting.

Throughout the entire process she experimented with using the energy to refine her bones as her new Stygian Bones trait suggested but didn’t really feel any changes, nor did any windows pop up. Despite the lack of immediate gains there she decided to keep with it, figuring it was something that took a while. Ultimately, when she hit the cap for her level, she simply leveled up with that same delightful rush of energy through her body.

Level Up!
You have refined your body to Level 4.

You gain a base +11 Attribute points for this level.

Anna grinned and kept going, wanting to get as much as she could out of this sitting. She refused to go back out there without being fully prepared. Unfortunately the rate of loss versus her gains proved significant enough to cut her off before she could hit level five.

She sighed at the class line on her character sheet. It was good progress but losing almost a thousand essence to her own shitty refining technique hurt.

Class: Warmage - 4 (2407/3000) 80.2%

Tch, so close, she thought before shrugging and pulling up her stats.

Resources:
HP: 110/110 | SP: 61/61 | MT: 0/85

She rubbed her chin as she sat there next to the pond, the noisy waterfall had become nothing but background noise at this point. “That’s a lot of points,” she muttered, “My agility is shit right now. I should bump it up a little.”

She spent three points on agility and seven on endurance which rounded it up to twenty with her percentage bonus. It’s nice that it rounds up, she thought. With how shit the system is I figured it’d round down. That left her with twelve more points to play with. She eyed her stats and grinned, dumping ten points into strength and two into presence as always. Anna took a moment to appreciate her gains.

Resources:
HP: 110/110 | SP: 99/99 | MT: 0/93

“Now that’s some progress,” she said and got to her feet, stretching her arms and working out the tightness in her muscles. She felt even lighter than before. Every point in strength going towards every aspect of her body. Energized, she moved on to further preparations. She made her way to the center of the space and pulled her club out of her inventory. Practicing with putting it in and pulling it out as well as equipping and unequipping her gear. It took a few seconds for armor to pop off and on but she found that it appeared on her body with all straps applied correctly.

“Nice,” she chuckled and took a fighting stance. Now to get some practice in, she thought and turned her proficiency on. She felt her entire body tingle with the sensation as before and began to work through the various swings and strikes that the proficiency seemed to want her to learn. Some of the positions and stances were still a little hard to maintain and that uncomfortable feeling of wrongness in the spots where she messed up flared up now and then.

Over the course of a day, the feeling gradually diminished until she felt more confident in applying her newfound strength. Throughout her self-imposed training she made yet another discovery. The water wasn’t normal.

Medicinal Spring Water (Mortal, Common)
This flask contains several doses of medicinal spring water. The water of this spring has been infused with various medicinal plants, giving it a natural healing effect. It can be consumed to encourage a steady but slow minor regenerative effect and saturating thirst for a longer period. This water can be used as a crafting ingredient.

I need to figure out how to store as much of this as I can before I get out of this place, Anna thought before tilting her head as another idea occurred to her, Can I come back after I’m done?

She sipped at the water and let out a satisfied sigh, “It’s good too, I’m glad I didn’t decide to take a bath in it,” she thought. I could really use one though. I stink. It’s not going to be easy to hide from monsters smelling like this.

Unfortunately for Anna, there weren’t a lot of options available to her. She ultimately decided on collecting water with the flask and pouring it over herself while scrubbing with her old shirt. It was not hygienic in any way but it managed to get a lot of the superficial grime off which had accumulated throughout her suffering in this place. When she was as clean as she could be she took some time to rest on the bedroll she’d laid out where the last occupant had placed theirs and took a food pill.

With nothing more left to do, Anna equipped herself and made her way to the exit of the chamber. It was a perfectly vertical rocky surface going up to the tunnel above. She rubbed her hands together. I’ve never tried rock climbing before, she thought and reached up for one of the protruding stones, grabbing hold and looking for another. She secured her grip and pulled only to let out a gasp as she rose quickly. She slipped, fell, and landed on the grass below.

Oh, I’m much stronger, she thought and examined her fingers. This might take some getting used to, shit.

Her next attempt went far more smoothly although she took significantly more time than was necessary, trying to get a feel for how much strength she needed to apply as she pulled herself up. After a few minutes she was walking out the tunnel and towards the dark forest beyond. Her wraithsight scanned the trees around the exit as she drew closer. I don’t see anything, she thought and turned her attention to the sides, Nope. I figured that asshole would follow me here too. Not that I left much of a trail.

She crossed her arms at the exit. Is he afraid of coming into the deeper forest for some reason?

She shrugged, no point in dwelling on it. All that mattered was that she got payback. Fucker trying to fatten me up like a pig for slaughter, I’ll crush you next time we meet, she thought and stalked out of the cave towards the brighter portion of the forest. The sound of running water grew more and more distant as she passed the massive trees. While she walked, she took a moment to check the status of the forest quest. She’d spent far too long on it already.

Forest of Blood

You are at the bottom of the food chain. Change that.

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 (1/3)

What does Apex even mean? She wondered while she dipped beneath a low hanging limb. Do I just need to be the scariest thing here? I wonder why it specifies the outer forest.

She dismissed the window with a shrug and scanned her surroundings again and spotted the faint glow of life force off to the left, just at the edge of what she assumed was wraithsight’s range. Time to test out my gains, she thought eagerly and changed direction while activating her stealth skill and turning her presence down all the way. Her head was on a swivel as she drew closer, she was tired of getting surprised by the prowlers.

You just see what happens if you cross me again, little shits, she thought before pausing just within visual range of the creatures she’d spotted. There, in a clearing, she saw opportunity.

Stygian Buck Alpha - Level 7

Stygian Doe Consort - Level 4

The alpha was huge. At least a head taller than the monstrous mature buck she watched the alpha prowler hunt down earlier on. Its horns were tall and curved like a pair of rib cages jutting out of the side of its head. Spines ran down the back of its neck and its eyes glowed with what Anna could only describe as hatred. Its fur was jet black and flecked with tiny splashes of gold here and there.

The doe was equally imposing. Its fur was an ashy color that glimmered with every movement and its hooves looked like they were made out of some kind of metal. Fortunately there was only one. Though she got a bad feeling about the doe, more so than the Alpha. It gracefully moved in a slow circuit around what she assumed was its mate, occasionally stopping to eat before looking up and watching their surroundings.

Anna licked her lips. The prowlers hunted them pretty efficiently. What was their strategy?

She thought back to the shocking first encounter with the Alpha Prowler and crouched down a bit more, They went for the doe first. They obviously look more fragile than the bucks but, maybe there’s more to it. Some kind of support? She made a face, I really don’t know jack about hunting or the behavior of deer.

Anna slipped around the tree in an effort to get closer. Inching towards the trees surrounding the spot where the pair stood. Neither reacted to her but that didn’t mean they didn’t notice. The Alpha Prowler was evidence enough that they could pretend to be oblivious of her. She narrowed her eyes as her blood began to heat up in her veins in anticipation of what was coming. She took a shuddering breath and checked her inventory for anything that might be able to help her.

Her eyebrows rose, Now there’s an idea. I hope this works.

She plucked one of the bone-seizing arrows from her inventory and gripped it just beneath the arrowhead. Her eyes flicked up towards the Buck and the Doe as tension coiled in her legs. She waited, every heartbeat thundering louder and louder in her ears. Her blood grew hotter in her veins, a low rumble in the back of her mind like a waking beast. She didn’t even notice the grin that spread across her face as the doe stepped around the buck, just far enough that it couldn’t get in her way in time.

Anna sprang forward and both animals looked up. She crossed the distance at a sprint that would put some of her sportier classmates to shame. She drove the arrowed down into its side with a grunt of effort as the buck let out a terrible discordant cry of fury. She threw herself out of the way as it tried to turn and gore her with its horns and charged for the doe consort next.

The doe sprang back, trying to get some distance between them as it focused its attention on the buck. Anna heard the sound of heavy hooves striking the ground behind her as it moved to pursue only for the sound to abruptly cut off. A thrill rose all the way up through her as the buck stumbled under its own weight, its bones locked. She heard it hit the ground while she charged full bore towards the doe that was flickering frantically with light. It was using magic of some kind, Anna couldn’t let it finish what it was doing.

She brought her club over her head and swung as the doe reacted to her proximity and changed tactics. It turned its body to kick as Anna’s club connected. A sickening crunch of bone and tendon followed as the doe’s leg cracked beneath the force of Anna’s blow. It let out a shriek of pain and stumbled, its kick failing. Anna drove her shoulder into its side and sent it to the ground. It took three overhand swings for it to go still in a puddle of its own blood.

Anna let out a sharp breath and turned to the Alpha.

The massive beast was laying on its side, its legs twitching as it tried to move. Its eyes were fixed on the corpse of the doe. Anna took a few quick steps and stood over it, looking down as its eyes flicked up to meet hers. She raised her club over her head and swung.

Stage 2 Bonus Condition: Slay 3 Alphas (2/3)

Anna spat on the ground and wiped the blood off her face, looking down at the still body of the alpha. The bone-seizing arrow had certainly done its job. She was honestly a little shocked at how effective it was. Though it didn’t give me a lot of opportunity to test exactly how strong I am now. Hitting them while they’re down is probably a critical hit, she thought idly and let out a breath. The burning feeling in her blood cooling even as satisfaction washed over her. Dominating a fight like that felt good, no, it felt amazing.

She grinned and tapped her foot against the Alpha’s body. Gimme that loot token.

You have received: 161 Iron Coins and 75 Essence Points

She instinctively stepped back to avoid the falling item only for nothing to happen as the fetid smoke of the disintegrating creature rose into the air. She barely noticed it at this point and frowned before it occurred to her to check her inventory. There it is!

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

She chuckled and moved to the doe, looting it as well.

You have received: 12 Iron Coins and 22 Essence Points

As the corpse dissolved into powder, Anna pulled the token out and turned her hungry eyes towards the forest beyond. Just one more Alpha to go, smart guy. Here I come, she thought and crushed the token.