Imperious 015 - Bones

Anna kept the glowing stone raised as she peered into the cavern beyond, squinting a little to try to pierce the overwhelming darkness. She didn’t see anything that had a presence so there was that at least, but she got the feeling this cave wasn’t empty either. She pursed her lips and took a few steps inside, following the sound of water as it grew noisier within the cave mouth. It’s further inside? She thought, resting a hand against the dry stone wall and lifting herself over a fallen rock. It sounds like a waterfall.

The cave curved slightly to the left and before long she completely lost sight of the forest outside. It wound back again before stopping at a sudden drop. The walls were now glistening and damp, humidity rising up to meet her face as she crouched down to look inside. There were still no signs of life but what she did see was grass on the ground below. She craned her head a little to see if there were any visible traps but ultimately gave up. Her eyes weren’t that good and she had no idea what she would be looking for anyway. She checked the sides of the drop, Plenty of handholds to get back up. Okay.

She squared her shoulders, No point in putting it off. If there’s water I need to get to it. More importantly it doesn’t feel hot nor does it reek like the mana tainted water in the maze. She pushed off the side and landed on the soft grass, brushing herself off. She looked up at the top of the hole and narrowed her eyes, “That was like a eight foot drop,” she muttered and tapped her feet a little to check for any pain, “Nice.”

She turned around and froze. “Holy…”

Faint blue light, barely enough to provide illumination to the grass below, covered the entire chamber. It wasn’t anywhere near as bright as the spider den but it was manageable. The room was dominated by a waterfall that poured down the far wall in a noisy cascade into a deep pond about thirty or forty feet across. The whole room smelled strange now that she was in it, the odor trapped inside somehow. She wrinkled her nose a little. It was a bitter plant odor that reminded her of powdered children's medication.

She walked further in, scanning her surroundings. Empty for the most part, the grass filled the majority of the chamber save or a raised spot on the left. She narrowed her eyes and walked over to it, stopping to stare at the old firepit dug into the elevated rock. There were old bits of charcoal laying at the bottom. She reached down and touched one and it disintegrated. She looked past it and spotted scraps of worn and rotted cloth that could have been a bedroll not unlike her own.

Huh… there were people here before me? She wondered and turned around. She squinted again, What’s that? 

There was something odd looking on the opposite side of the chamber between the pond and the wall. She rubbed her neck and sauntered over only to stop short when it finally became clear what she was looking at. A pair of skeletons. One lay flat on its back with its head looking out towards her while the other was on top of it with its bony fingers still wrapped around its throat. Something glinted on the ribcage of the one that appeared to have throttled the other.

That’s… grim. How is it still in that position?

She drew closer, readying her club in case the bones sprung to life. They didn’t budge at all. She crouched and gave them a once over. The guy on the bottom obviously was strangled to death while the one on the top she wasn’t so sure about. She noted the little glint in its ribcage and leaned in closer. Some kind of barb or arrowhead? She wondered. It was driven into the ribcage and stuck there. One end looked like it probably connected to an arrow shaft but it had long since turned to nothing.

She touched the smooth portion.

Bone-Seizing Arrowhead (Mortal-Uncommon) - Expended
This arrowhead was once coated in Bone-Seizing poison. It has long since been used.

“Yikes,” she murmured and looked at the bones again, “Guess that explains how you’re still upright,” she said and got back to her feet. 

She was shocked that there were other people here. She had been under the impression that the dungeon had been made by her old man or something but now she was having second thoughts on that. It was connected to a lobby, so did that mean it belonged to someone? If that was the case, who were they and what did they use it for before it ended up on Earth? She scratched her head. The better question was how it even arrived on earth, but at this point she was willing to just call it ‘System Bullshit’.

She snorted, System Bullshit is right, she thought irritably before stepping around the bodies. Now why were you fighting in the first place? 

“Aha!” she crouched again. There was a pair of pouches clutched in the bony fingers of the one that had gotten strangled. She snatched them up, “What’s in here?”

Disciples Petty Storage Bag (Mortal-Common) x2
This extremely rudimentary storage bag contains enough slots for five types of items. It may either be carried or converted into personal inventory slots. This storage bag was loaned to a disciple to be used during their trials.

She read the description and looked down at the bags again. “Inventory slots? Like, magic storage?” 

She sat down on the ground and stared at them. They looked like simple leather bags no bigger than a gallon-sized sack. Both had leather bindings on them to keep them shut. She pursed her lips and read the description again. So the reason they didn’t use them to expand their own inventory was because they were on loan. Disciples? Disciples of what? She scratched her head and groaned. “I find new information but it just leads to more questions! This sucks.”

Her lips curled into a smile, But if they fought to the death over them, there must have been a good reason!

She set one pouch down and opened up the first one, peering inside. All she could see was darkness. She grimaced, Do I just put my hand in? She wondered and started to slip her fingers inside when she felt a stinging cold brush against her fingertips. “Fuck! That hurt!” she flexed her fingers and scowled.

Would you like to bond with this unbound storage bag? Yes/No

Her face fell, “Yes, dickhead.”

She felt a brief flicker of mana go through her that took her by surprise. A sense of connection formed in the back of her mind and she looked at the bag again. It was instinctual. She tied the bag back up and concentrated. She felt something within the bag bubble to the surface and then the information presented itself.

Storage Bag Contents:

Potion of Minor Healing (Mortal, Common) x2
This vial contains a single dose of a minor healing potion. It can be consumed to heal flesh wounds at a rapid pace at the cost of a small amount of mana taint.

“Potions!” she gasped and with a thought they popped into her hand. She rolled them over in her palm, the two vials of red liquid looked no different from the one she had acquired from her starting kit. Relief flooded through her. This would be a huge help. She examined the bag again and smirked. I doubt whoever owned these bags will be expecting them back. How do I add them to my inventory? I didn’t even know I had an inventory screen.

Inventory Unavailable, Please convert a Storage Bag to unlock the Inventory function.

There you have it, she thought wryly before concentrating on the bag again. Everything with the system seemed to respond to mental commands so she figured thinking about converting the bag was good enough.

Converting a Storage Bag will destroy its contents. Would you like to convert Disciples Petty Storage Bag into storage slots? Yes/No

Good to know, she thought before nodding, “Yes,” she said and the bag dissolved into white powder in an instant. She didn’t feel any different but the moment she thought about her inventory a window appeared with five open slots in it. She plucked the two potions and with another thought they just disappeared from her hand and appeared as a single image in their likeness in the first slot with a little number two next to them.

She let out a groan, “Much better than a backpack!” 

Happy with her acquisition already she picked up the other bag. That was great but not enough to kill somebody over, I’m guessing. What’s in here?

She got the prompt to bond with the bag quicker this time, which annoyed her, and she examined it like the other.

Storage Bag Contents

Potion of Minor Healing (Mortal, Common) x1
This vial contains a single dose of a minor healing potion. It can be consumed to heal flesh wounds at a rapid pace at the cost of a small amount of mana taint.

Steel-Tip Arrows (Mortal-Common) x40
This is a simple steel-tipped arrow.

Bone-Seizing Arrow (Mortal-Uncommon) x10
This arrow is coated in Bone-Seizing poison. 

Petite Essence Crystal (Mortal-Common) x100
This crystal contains a small amount of essence. Used to assist in refining or as a crafting material.

Stygian Bone Pill (Rare-Grade)
Consuming this pill and refining it will grant a boost in essence and an enhancement to one’s bone structure and endurance. 

Anna nearly dropped the bag. She didn’t know where to even start. Another potion was nice and she quickly pulled it out before popping it into her inventory. The steel-tip arrows weren’t actually of any use to her since she didn’t use a bow. The bone-seizing arrows, though, might come in handy if she ever ran into that big ass skeleton again. She pulled the arrows out anyway and dropped them into her inventory. Then she poured the essence crystals out.

A pile of small, irregularly shaped, glowing rocks poured out onto the ground in front of her. She picked one up and turned it over in her hand. It had that same rainbow glow of essence to it and she could feel the energy thrumming inside. She wasn’t sure how much the stone held but it was more than a ‘small amount’ in her opinion. I am level two, though, so maybe it’s just a small amount compared to the more impressive crystals? Petite sounds pretty low tier.

She put them into her inventory with a wave of her hand. I’ll refine with them in a minute, I don’t have a crafting skill and anything that can help me level up would be great.

She pulled the last item out and instead of a pill like she was expecting it came out in the form of a polished red-wood box lined with a gold trim. She turned the box over reverently. Now this seems valuable, I can almost see two people fighting over it.

She opened the box and she was inundated with a pungent scent that almost reeked of sulfur and spicy herbs. She wrinkled her nose at the jet black sphere set into a pillow within the case before picking it up and setting the case down. Is this it? It doesn’t look all that special and it smells terrible. Is this what I was smelling when I came in? Nah, it doesn’t quite match and how would I smell it if it was stored in some weird magic space bag?

“Do I just… eat it?” she murmured.

She rolled her eyes, What do I have to lose? I’ll take any advantage I can get. She popped it into her mouth and chewed. The taste was unholy, absolutely unholy, her eyes watered and she covered her mouth to stop herself from spitting it up, forcing it down as she hunched over and clawed at the grass beneath her. When she finally downed the last of it she gasped and scrambled for her flask, lifting it to her lips.

She didn’t make it past that.

Her entire body went stiff as an explosion of essence surged through her body, not just essence, refined essence. She could sense the mana already in it. Mana that she didn’t have to draw in and take on taint. Her eyes bulged when she felt a little bit of it leak out uselessly into the air and realized she’d lose all of the benefits of the pill if she didn’t focus. She squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated on the feeling, guiding it like she did before. 

POP!

Her shoulder jerked and cracked, pain shrieking through her. She squeezed her eyes tighter and clenched her fists, Don’t lose that essence, Anna! She demanded, pushing it through her veins and coating them. She let it pass through multiple times and it still didn’t stop welling up more and more as her bones creaked and shifted in her body. Her ribs groaned, her jaw clenched, her skull shuddered, it was like it was rearranging bones to suit its purposes.

POP! CRACK! CRACK! POP! POP! POP!

“AAUUGHHHH!”

She screamed as the pain intensified and fell onto her side, twitching as she forced herself to concentrate on keeping the refinement going. Don’t pass out, don’t pass out! She willed herself to remain conscious, stubbornly refusing to submit to a little pill. She wasn’t sure how long it lasted but eventually the agony stopped and the waves of refined essence rippling through her body ceased. She rolled onto her back, covered in sweat, and groaned.

“Ow…” she wheezed.

You have acquired a new Trait:

Stygian Bones (Mortal-Rare-Base)
The pureblooded denizens of the Stygian Realm possess an unnaturally rugged physiology. Your black bones are a cut above. You possess sturdy bones capable of resisting significant impacts. Continue to refine your bones to unlock further benefits. +1% to Str, Vit, and End.

Her weary eyes blinked and she rubbed at them, “Oh this is awesome,” she murmured before sitting up, “My bones are black now?” she looked down at her limbs and furrowed her brows before shrugging. 

Level Up!
You have refined your body to Level 3. 

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

Anna tilted her head to the right, “Eh?” She hopped to her feet, all of the weariness from the experience blasted away, “What? How?” She pulled up her character sheet.

Name: Anastasia Flitt
Race: Human - Terran
Class: Warmage - 3 (289/2100) 13.8%
Profession: None
Tier: Mortal - First
Heritage: Born in the Gray (Unknown)

Resources:
HP: 105/105 | SP: 61/61 | MT: 0/81

Attributes: Available Free Points: 11
Strength: 18 | Agility: 7 | Intellect: 15
Vitality: 21 | Endurance: 12 | Willpower: 16
Awareness: 11 | Insight: 12 | Presence: 37

She ran her fingers through her knotted hair, “Did that pill have like,” she ran the numbers, “Seventeen hundred essence in it? More? I lost a little so…” she frowned, “Two thousand total probably. Holy fucking shit!” she barked out a laugh as she pulled open her inventory and took out the first essence crystal. She clenched it in her hand as a wild grin spread across her lips, “Just you wait you furry bastard, next time you see me things are going to go very differently.”