Walking into the burrow I realized once again I was no longer just a human. My vision in the tunnels where there wasn’t supposed to be any light easily extended passed the range of the makeshift torch I was carrying. I decided to hold onto the torch anyway, the warm glow coming from it helped calm me down as I walked around in the darkness.
My anxiety was through the roof right now. My heart pounding in my chest, the shadows constantly playing tricks on my eyes of monsters so great and terrible. As I walked through I realized I didn’t have my defensive skill up and so I cast [Natures Protection]. That was a mistake. As soon as the skill went off I heard a screech in front of me and I heard the skittering of a large creature. I was only realizing now that I was probably not the most comprehensive of circumstantial evidence. The Receptionist had only said moles, but for some reason, my dumb ass did not think about the fact that the entrance to the burrow was 10 feet wide. As I comprehended my own stupidity I saw the first of the creatures.
[Level 7]
It was massive, it stood roughly a foot taller than I was. I felt the rest of my [Natures Protection] manifest around me in the form of a relatively weak-looking wood. It looked like something shoddily put together in my spare time and barely managed to cover my chest and legs but left my arms and head bare. I took a stance with the sword held forward ahead of me to deter the creature.
I felt nauseous looking at the creature, it was completely hairless and had no eyes, and its teeth were massive, like most rodents consisting of 4 teeth set in the center of its mouth. Except the teeth easily looked like they could chomp me in half with minimal effort. I wasn’t entirely sure how I was supposed to fight this thing, but it hadn’t pressed the attack yet so I took a quick second to reorient myself with my skills.
I had 5 main offensive skills that required active use. [Jolt], [Shocking Grasp], [Paralyzing Shock], [Slash], and [Parry]. I now realized I had never tested how much and what resources they consumed per use. Well. Trial by fire I guess is how I was gonna have to roll.
Despite the fear running rampant through my mind I forced myself to act. I threw the torch at the Giant Mole and then brought my hand up activating [Paralyzing Shock], maybe you didn’t have to say the skill names in this world. But saying them out loud helped me focus on what I was trying to accomplish and orient my mind in the right direction. A flash of purple blasted it out of my hand and hit the Mole. The mole rushed forward completely unaffected by the skill. I didn’t have time to think about it failing and instantly started moving backward to avoid getting run over. As the creature closed the distance, it lashed out trying to bite me but missed me as I leapt backwards. I stuck my hand out again trying another skill instead.
I cast [Jolt] watching carefully as a bolt of electricity shot out of my hands and smote the Mole. The Mole screeched in anger and pain as its skin turned black where I had hit it. It rushed forward again and because of the creature's size, there wasn’t much I could do except keep backing up. With a screech, it closed the distance between us in a heartbeat its teeth lashing out to bite me, and in a moment of panic I activated [Parry]. My body moved on its own grabbing my sword with both hands and correcting my stance and connected with the teeth of the Mole and began to try and redirect the attack.
Just as I was about to succeed my arms slipped, unable to compare with the size and strength of the Mole and its teeth closed around me. I was crushed mercilessly within its mouth as it shook me around like a dog with a chew toy before throwing me further into the burrow.
I had never broken a bone before in my life and now I had several broken ribs. It hurt like hell, every breath I took just further aggravated the wounds I had. My legs were trembling underneath me as I barely managed to keep myself standing while the mole approached me. Why was I doing this? Why was I here fighting? What had I been thinking? I had been so caught up in my need to keep myself moving that I never once stopped to consider ‘did I know what I was doing?’ Everywhere I had gone I was surrounded by things that were stronger than me, things less afraid than I was. And somehow I thought I could compare.
I laughed out loud at my completely horrendous situation. Here I was in a fuck-knows-where world with magic, and I was about to die to a [Level 7] Mole. Awesome. My arms fell limply to my side and I just practically gave up, I was tired anyway. No longer did it seem worth the effort.
“Maybe I should’ve let him come along…” I whispered to myself, thinking back about how Garrus had politely offered to assist me, and I had arrogantly turned him down. I get what I deserve I guess.
I stared down the Giant Mole as it lunged forward lashing out to deal the final blow
[Close The Gap!]
I heard a voice roar out a skill and underneath I saw someone wearing a full set of armor appear under the Mole in its mid jump and thrust the greatsword they held straight up impaling the Mole to the ceiling, killing it instantly. I stood there completely shocked as I stared at the person who had just saved me as they threw the Mole of their sword before approaching. It looked like there were several people in a group, the light from the torch made it hard to see their faces at first but as they got a little closer I recognized the two at the front.
It was Garrus and the Archer from the guild.
“Ho there, looked like you could use some help lad!” Garrus spoke and had a large friendly smile on his face. It was very clear he had followed me out here, and while I had specifically said I hadn’t wanted to help and a part of me wanted to be angry about that, I knew that was just the unreasonable and embarrassed side of my brain trying to take control.
“You definitely look like you got put through a wringer, that’s for sure. Not that I’m all that surprised considering you came here alone.” The archer, whose name I had yet to learn, looked me over with a disapproving look. For the moment I ignored them, my chest was in way too much pain for me to speak at the moment.
I slowly raised my hand and cast the one healing skill I knew, [Healing Blossom]. A small flower bloomed out of the ground and cast a soft light around and I could feel my health slowly rise back up, I had been sitting around 15%. One attack had nearly killed me. I let the flower do its work and felt my bones shifting around in my chest. It seemed like it should’ve hurt but I felt nothing from it, only a soothing calm washing over my mind bringing down my adrenaline and helping me relax from my near-death ordeal.
“A healing skill? And a combat class? Strange combo, not necessarily recommended for starting out, you’d probably be better off resetting it and getting two purely combat classes, even if you plan on running solo.” Garrus, inspected the little flower as it finished bringing my health back to max.
“Garrus, I-”
“I know what you want to say kid, but face it. You’re gonna need help. I couldn’t let you go out here on your own and get yourself killed, it just wouldn’t sit right with me if I didn’t even try. And until you're as strong as me it’s not like you’ll have much choice considering you won’t be able to outrun me.” Garrus quickly spoke over me. I let out a soft sigh at his declaration.
“I was going to say thank you.”
“Oh… Well, as I said it wouldn’t have sat right with me lad.” He seemed slightly embarrassed now.
“I’m sorry for how I acted earlier, and I really appreciate you for saving my arrogant ass. Would’ve sucked to die in some tunnel to a Mole.” I stopped for a moment observing the group that had come with him, besides the obvious two, there was another melee fighter and a mage of sorts.
“I never introduced myself, did I? My name is Alexander, feel free to just call me Alex though.” I stuck my hand out to Garrus.
“Right you are Alex, it’d be a shame for any adventurer to die down here. Glad you’re wise enough to admit when you’re wrong too, too often I see people that don’t wake up to their mistakes and it costs them.” He gripped my hand in an extremely firm handshake.
“Garrus, you should probably introduce the rest of us.” The one to speak was the mage standing behind him.
“Ah, great idea!” Garrus let out a hearty laugh, he definitely had an amenable personality. “This is our archer, Penny. The sword and border is George, and the mage is Karif.” Garrus gestured to each person as he introduced them. “And together we form the adventurer group known as ‘Earth Raiders!’”
I raised an eyebrow at the name of the party. “Earth Raiders?” I glanced around the tunnel in a bit of an exaggerated way. “A bit on the nose you think?”
Garrus laughed before throwing his arm around my shoulder, “See? This one gets it.” The rest of the group did not seem nearly as amused, but it seemed more of a good-natured exasperation.
“If we’re going to stand around we should probably head back up to the top before another Mole comes around,” Karif said while peering further down the tunnel.
“Indeed, while we’re up there we can talk about a plan of action for you,” Garrus responded, looking at me as he said the last bit before leading the way back out of the burrows.
“So you’re telling me you have, not two, but three classes at level 1? And that the third one you have is a purple class? Elves really get it all don’t they?” Penny grumbled off to the side while I explained my thought process, and in some cases, my lack thereof.
“As I said, unique circumstances. I really doubt all elves start off the way I did.” I tried to placate her, but she didn’t seem to be having it from me.
I glanced over the notification I had gotten when Garrus had killed the Mole.
‘Ping’ [Tunnel Mole - Level 7] has been slain - experience divided amongst the group.
‘Ping’ Identify has leveled up 1 > 2
The only thing to level up for me from the encounter was identify. Although it didn’t seem like class skills had levels and it’s not like I particularly did a whole lot against the Mole. It was mainly Garrus who killed it.
“Alright, I think we should get a plan of action going here. The rest of us don’t have much to gain by being here so we won’t be doing a whole lot of damage to avoid taking the majority of experience away from you, but we can still-”
I raised my hand interrupting his strategizing, “Ah, I appreciate it. But I would still rather kill them completely by myself. Even if you don’t do a whole lot of damage, the system can still gauge how valuable certain levels of assistance are and will act accordingly. Along with that, I’m sure the achievement of doing the fighting alone will be great for my next classes. If you are genuinely willing to offer me help I wouldn’t mind having you watch my back as I do this, but I’d rather do the actual fighting myself.”
Garrus took a moment to look me over, studying me hard. “Alright… I see what you’re saying. The least I can do is make sure you have a basic understanding of how to use that weapon then.” He nodded towards my wooden blade. “Mind if I take a look at it.”
I shook my head and handed the weapon to him, hilt first. Safety is definitely important after all. He took it and dragged it across the palm of his hand and very quickly pulled his hand back, blood flowing freely from his hand.
I didn’t even think twice and cast my healing skill causing the little flower to pop up between us. Garrus observed the wound silently as it slowly closed before handing my sword back to me.
“That thing is dangerously sharp. I put no strength into it, yet it still cut cleanly and deeply into my hand. My greatsword can’t even do that, in fact, most blades can’t even do that. Did you make that yourself?” His voice was calm despite the fact he had nearly cut his hand off.
“No, I didn’t make it… It was given to me by someone who saved my life.” I thought back to Illesea, she was more than likely dead now. It made me sad to think about it.
“Well whoever they are, they must be extremely powerful to create something like that.” Garrus gave an approving nod, “If you have something that sharp, then as long as you know how to use it you should have an easy time against these Moles! Come on, let's test your skills.” Garrus clapped me on the shoulder before standing out, he held out his hand to help me up as well.
For the next couple of hours, Garrus tested my fighting, while I had quick reflexes and caught on quickly, I was still sorely lacking in the technique department. That was going to take time to accumulate though, I’d get better technique over time so long as I kept practicing it along with improving my class skills. If I put in enough work I could even get a general skill to help with it.
“No!” Garrus called out, “Don’t use your parry. As you are now you’re not strong enough to push back the Mole. Maybe once you hit level 10 you will be, but until then just focus on dodging.”
I nodded while keeping my focus on George as we slowly circled each other. George was holding back quite a bit, which made sense considering how much stronger he was than me.
[Level 10^3]
If he hit me with his shield hard enough he could probably kill me.
I ran forward as George stood up behind his shield and raised my sword in a feint making him raise it up before I charged [Shocking Grasp] and punched around his shield aiming for his arm. He pushed back quickly, moving faster than I could track with my eyes. When my sight caught up to where he was, he had put 30 feet of distance between us.
Garrus let out a bellowing laugh, “Impressive, you actually managed to make George back up. You may not be able to actually beat him in a fight, but for what you need to be able to do today, it’s good enough. I think you’re ready to head in.”
“Fucking finally. Was getting tired of sitting around doing nothing.” Penny complained from where she had been lying down, she stood up and brushed herself off.
“It’s not like you’re going to be doing any fighting,” the mage next to her retorted, ”even if you were, these aren’t exactly opponents you’d care about anyways.”
“It’s the thought that counts.” She said, waving her hand dismissively. “Come on, let’s go.”
As we walked through the tunnels I began to feel something itching in the back of my mind. I could feel something wasn’t right, but I wasn’t sure what it was. It wasn’t Garrus or any of his party. They were an agreeable bunch. No, something else wasn’t sitting right with me I just couldn’t place it. Eventually, we came across a more open area, it was a large circular junction that branched into multiple different tunnels, and sitting smack dab in the center was a Mole.
[Level 9]
Higher level than the last one, but this one was asleep. I looked back at the other group and put a single finger up to my mouth before slowly approaching it. I went all the way up to its head, my heart pounding violently inside my chest. I took a stance in front of it, my sword poised. I didn’t think I could cut all the way through its neck with a single stroke but maybe I could cut into its head and hit its brain.
I raised my sword and activated my skill with a soft whisper
[Slash]
My blade flashed downwards in a smooth arc and cut into the mole head, it instantly awoke with a screech. My blade hadn’t gone far enough, its skull was a lot harder than I had imagined it would be despite how sharp Garrus said my sword was. I guess this was the power difference between levels at the low end.
I held on tightly to my blade at first, it was lodged within the skull of the Mole and I wasn’t able to yank it out. It stood up to its full height before thrashing around wildly eventually flingling me off leaving my sword lodged within its head. I slammed into a wall, getting the air knocked out of me. I could hear the party yelling off to the side, but I quickly raised my hand to stop them while I coughed. The Mole was still screeching and thrashing around, not focused on me.
While it was distracted I cast [Healing Blossom] to top off my health. The use of the skill caught the Moles's attention and it turned to face me. I don’t know how it noticed the skill despite the fact that it had no eyes. Creepy. I slowly stood up, watching as my health quickly filled back up. This healing skill was absurd. 3% health per second meant my health capped back up in a little under 34 seconds from 0 health. The mole and I slowly circled each other. It was a whole lot stronger than me, but it wasn’t necessarily faster. It was quick, but I had always just barely managed to keep up with its movements.
It also had to be hurting from the sword in its skull, surely that had to count for a lot of damage right? It seemed to be pretty deep in there. The Mole stopped for just a moment before exploding into action, it launched forward trying to bite me like the first one I had encountered. I dove to the side, rolling to my feet and coming back up in a low stance as I prepared for the Mole to turn back around.
“Use your agility, Alex! You can move faster and jump further than you think!” Garrus yelled advice from the side. The Mole turned towards his voice and was about to target him instead when I raised my hand casting [Paralyzing Shock] this time I didn’t even wait to see if it affected the Mole and ran forward preparing two spells. This time it seemed like my paralyzing attack actually did something, I grinned maliciously seeing the sparks of electricity arc over the mole and it froze in place. With my left hand, I shot out [Jolt] with me following closely behind it. As it connected sparking into the side of the Mole I crouched down and pushed back up as hard as I could jumping higher than I ever would’ve thought possible. I easily cleared five feet without even trying, I reached out with my right hand which was coated in electricity. The paralyzing effect from my skill wore off as the mole turned back to me bringing my sword in range of me while I was mid-jump. I reached for it and grabbed it, and my spell did something I hadn’t been expecting it to. I had hoped to grab the sword and pull it closer to its head to then deliver my [Shocking Grasp] but instead, the ability discharged as soon as I touched the sword. Instead of just dissipating against the sword, I saw the arcs of mana flash down the length of the blade before discharging straight into the skull of the Mole. The Mole let out a horrendous screech as it jittered in place for a few moments before it collapsed to the ground smoke coming out of the ear holes it had on the side of its head.
I was bombarded by a deluge of notifications while I sat there stunned by where I had fallen after it had died.
“Congratulations on your first kill, Alex,” Garrus said placing a hand on my shoulder.
‘Ping’ [Shock Enthusiast] has leveled 1 > 2 - +4 Vig, +1 End, +1 Str, +3 Dex, +2 Agi, +4 Int, +3 Wis.
‘Ping’ [Shock Enthusiast] has leveled 2 >3 - +4 Vig, +1 End, +1 Str, +3 Dex, +2 Agi, +4 Int, +3 Wis.
‘Ping’ [Blade User] has leveled 1 > 2 - +3 Vig, +3 End, +2 Str, +3 Dex, +4 Agi, +1 Int, +1 Wis.
‘Ping’ [Blade User] has leveled 2 > 3 - +3 Vig, +3 End, +2 Str, +3 Dex, +4 Agi, +1 Int, +1 Wis.
‘Ping’ [Blessed by Nature] has leveled 1 > 2 - +10 Vig, +10 End, +10 Str, +10 Dex, +10 Agi, +10 Int, +10 Wis.
Walking into the burrow I realized once again I was no longer just a human. My vision in the tunnels where there wasn’t supposed to be any light easily extended passed the range of the makeshift torch I was carrying. I decided to hold onto the torch anyway, the warm glow coming from it helped calm me down as I walked around in the darkness.
My anxiety was through the roof right now. My heart pounding in my chest, the shadows constantly playing tricks on my eyes of monsters so great and terrible. As I walked through I realized I didn’t have my defensive skill up and so I cast [Natures Protection]. That was a mistake. As soon as the skill went off I heard a screech in front of me and I heard the skittering of a large creature. I was only realizing now that I was probably not the most comprehensive of circumstantial evidence. The Receptionist had only said moles, but for some reason, my dumb ass did not think about the fact that the entrance to the burrow was 10 feet wide. As I comprehended my own stupidity I saw the first of the creatures.
[Level 7]
It was massive, it stood roughly a foot taller than I was. I felt the rest of my [Natures Protection] manifest around me in the form of a relatively weak-looking wood. It looked like something shoddily put together in my spare time and barely managed to cover my chest and legs but left my arms and head bare. I took a stance with the sword held forward ahead of me to deter the creature.
I felt nauseous looking at the creature, it was completely hairless and had no eyes, and its teeth were massive, like most rodents consisting of 4 teeth set in the center of its mouth. Except the teeth easily looked like they could chomp me in half with minimal effort. I wasn’t entirely sure how I was supposed to fight this thing, but it hadn’t pressed the attack yet so I took a quick second to reorient myself with my skills.
I had 5 main offensive skills that required active use. [Jolt], [Shocking Grasp], [Paralyzing Shock], [Slash], and [Parry]. I now realized I had never tested how much and what resources they consumed per use. Well. Trial by fire I guess is how I was gonna have to roll.
Despite the fear running rampant through my mind I forced myself to act. I threw the torch at the Giant Mole and then brought my hand up activating [Paralyzing Shock], maybe you didn’t have to say the skill names in this world. But saying them out loud helped me focus on what I was trying to accomplish and orient my mind in the right direction. A flash of purple blasted it out of my hand and hit the Mole. The mole rushed forward completely unaffected by the skill. I didn’t have time to think about it failing and instantly started moving backward to avoid getting run over. As the creature closed the distance, it lashed out trying to bite me but missed me as I leapt backwards. I stuck my hand out again trying another skill instead.
I cast [Jolt] watching carefully as a bolt of electricity shot out of my hands and smote the Mole. The Mole screeched in anger and pain as its skin turned black where I had hit it. It rushed forward again and because of the creature's size, there wasn’t much I could do except keep backing up. With a screech, it closed the distance between us in a heartbeat its teeth lashing out to bite me, and in a moment of panic I activated [Parry]. My body moved on its own grabbing my sword with both hands and correcting my stance and connected with the teeth of the Mole and began to try and redirect the attack.
Just as I was about to succeed my arms slipped, unable to compare with the size and strength of the Mole and its teeth closed around me. I was crushed mercilessly within its mouth as it shook me around like a dog with a chew toy before throwing me further into the burrow.
I had never broken a bone before in my life and now I had several broken ribs. It hurt like hell, every breath I took just further aggravated the wounds I had. My legs were trembling underneath me as I barely managed to keep myself standing while the mole approached me. Why was I doing this? Why was I here fighting? What had I been thinking? I had been so caught up in my need to keep myself moving that I never once stopped to consider ‘did I know what I was doing?’ Everywhere I had gone I was surrounded by things that were stronger than me, things less afraid than I was. And somehow I thought I could compare.
I laughed out loud at my completely horrendous situation. Here I was in a fuck-knows-where world with magic, and I was about to die to a [Level 7] Mole. Awesome. My arms fell limply to my side and I just practically gave up, I was tired anyway. No longer did it seem worth the effort.
“Maybe I should’ve let him come along…” I whispered to myself, thinking back about how Garrus had politely offered to assist me, and I had arrogantly turned him down. I get what I deserve I guess.
I stared down the Giant Mole as it lunged forward lashing out to deal the final blow
[Close The Gap!]
I heard a voice roar out a skill and underneath I saw someone wearing a full set of armor appear under the Mole in its mid jump and thrust the greatsword they held straight up impaling the Mole to the ceiling, killing it instantly. I stood there completely shocked as I stared at the person who had just saved me as they threw the Mole of their sword before approaching. It looked like there were several people in a group, the light from the torch made it hard to see their faces at first but as they got a little closer I recognized the two at the front.
It was Garrus and the Archer from the guild.
“Ho there, looked like you could use some help lad!” Garrus spoke and had a large friendly smile on his face. It was very clear he had followed me out here, and while I had specifically said I hadn’t wanted to help and a part of me wanted to be angry about that, I knew that was just the unreasonable and embarrassed side of my brain trying to take control.
“You definitely look like you got put through a wringer, that’s for sure. Not that I’m all that surprised considering you came here alone.” The archer, whose name I had yet to learn, looked me over with a disapproving look. For the moment I ignored them, my chest was in way too much pain for me to speak at the moment.
I slowly raised my hand and cast the one healing skill I knew, [Healing Blossom]. A small flower bloomed out of the ground and cast a soft light around and I could feel my health slowly rise back up, I had been sitting around 15%. One attack had nearly killed me. I let the flower do its work and felt my bones shifting around in my chest. It seemed like it should’ve hurt but I felt nothing from it, only a soothing calm washing over my mind bringing down my adrenaline and helping me relax from my near-death ordeal.
“A healing skill? And a combat class? Strange combo, not necessarily recommended for starting out, you’d probably be better off resetting it and getting two purely combat classes, even if you plan on running solo.” Garrus, inspected the little flower as it finished bringing my health back to max.
“Garrus, I-”
“I know what you want to say kid, but face it. You’re gonna need help. I couldn’t let you go out here on your own and get yourself killed, it just wouldn’t sit right with me if I didn’t even try. And until you're as strong as me it’s not like you’ll have much choice considering you won’t be able to outrun me.” Garrus quickly spoke over me. I let out a soft sigh at his declaration.
“I was going to say thank you.”
“Oh… Well, as I said it wouldn’t have sat right with me lad.” He seemed slightly embarrassed now.
“I’m sorry for how I acted earlier, and I really appreciate you for saving my arrogant ass. Would’ve sucked to die in some tunnel to a Mole.” I stopped for a moment observing the group that had come with him, besides the obvious two, there was another melee fighter and a mage of sorts.
“I never introduced myself, did I? My name is Alexander, feel free to just call me Alex though.” I stuck my hand out to Garrus.
“Right you are Alex, it’d be a shame for any adventurer to die down here. Glad you’re wise enough to admit when you’re wrong too, too often I see people that don’t wake up to their mistakes and it costs them.” He gripped my hand in an extremely firm handshake.
“Garrus, you should probably introduce the rest of us.” The one to speak was the mage standing behind him.
“Ah, great idea!” Garrus let out a hearty laugh, he definitely had an amenable personality. “This is our archer, Penny. The sword and border is George, and the mage is Karif.” Garrus gestured to each person as he introduced them. “And together we form the adventurer group known as ‘Earth Raiders!’”
I raised an eyebrow at the name of the party. “Earth Raiders?” I glanced around the tunnel in a bit of an exaggerated way. “A bit on the nose you think?”
Garrus laughed before throwing his arm around my shoulder, “See? This one gets it.” The rest of the group did not seem nearly as amused, but it seemed more of a good-natured exasperation.
“If we’re going to stand around we should probably head back up to the top before another Mole comes around,” Karif said while peering further down the tunnel.
“Indeed, while we’re up there we can talk about a plan of action for you,” Garrus responded, looking at me as he said the last bit before leading the way back out of the burrows.
“So you’re telling me you have, not two, but three classes at level 1? And that the third one you have is a purple class? Elves really get it all don’t they?” Penny grumbled off to the side while I explained my thought process, and in some cases, my lack thereof.
“As I said, unique circumstances. I really doubt all elves start off the way I did.” I tried to placate her, but she didn’t seem to be having it from me.
I glanced over the notification I had gotten when Garrus had killed the Mole.
‘Ping’ [Tunnel Mole - Level 7] has been slain - experience divided amongst the group.
‘Ping’ Identify has leveled up 1 > 2
The only thing to level up for me from the encounter was identify. Although it didn’t seem like class skills had levels and it’s not like I particularly did a whole lot against the Mole. It was mainly Garrus who killed it.
“Alright, I think we should get a plan of action going here. The rest of us don’t have much to gain by being here so we won’t be doing a whole lot of damage to avoid taking the majority of experience away from you, but we can still-”
I raised my hand interrupting his strategizing, “Ah, I appreciate it. But I would still rather kill them completely by myself. Even if you don’t do a whole lot of damage, the system can still gauge how valuable certain levels of assistance are and will act accordingly. Along with that, I’m sure the achievement of doing the fighting alone will be great for my next classes. If you are genuinely willing to offer me help I wouldn’t mind having you watch my back as I do this, but I’d rather do the actual fighting myself.”
Garrus took a moment to look me over, studying me hard. “Alright… I see what you’re saying. The least I can do is make sure you have a basic understanding of how to use that weapon then.” He nodded towards my wooden blade. “Mind if I take a look at it.”
I shook my head and handed the weapon to him, hilt first. Safety is definitely important after all. He took it and dragged it across the palm of his hand and very quickly pulled his hand back, blood flowing freely from his hand.
I didn’t even think twice and cast my healing skill causing the little flower to pop up between us. Garrus observed the wound silently as it slowly closed before handing my sword back to me.
“That thing is dangerously sharp. I put no strength into it, yet it still cut cleanly and deeply into my hand. My greatsword can’t even do that, in fact, most blades can’t even do that. Did you make that yourself?” His voice was calm despite the fact he had nearly cut his hand off.
“No, I didn’t make it… It was given to me by someone who saved my life.” I thought back to Illesea, she was more than likely dead now. It made me sad to think about it.
“Well whoever they are, they must be extremely powerful to create something like that.” Garrus gave an approving nod, “If you have something that sharp, then as long as you know how to use it you should have an easy time against these Moles! Come on, let's test your skills.” Garrus clapped me on the shoulder before standing out, he held out his hand to help me up as well.
For the next couple of hours, Garrus tested my fighting, while I had quick reflexes and caught on quickly, I was still sorely lacking in the technique department. That was going to take time to accumulate though, I’d get better technique over time so long as I kept practicing it along with improving my class skills. If I put in enough work I could even get a general skill to help with it.
“No!” Garrus called out, “Don’t use your parry. As you are now you’re not strong enough to push back the Mole. Maybe once you hit level 10 you will be, but until then just focus on dodging.”
I nodded while keeping my focus on George as we slowly circled each other. George was holding back quite a bit, which made sense considering how much stronger he was than me.
[Level 10^3]
If he hit me with his shield hard enough he could probably kill me.
I ran forward as George stood up behind his shield and raised my sword in a feint making him raise it up before I charged [Shocking Grasp] and punched around his shield aiming for his arm. He pushed back quickly, moving faster than I could track with my eyes. When my sight caught up to where he was, he had put 30 feet of distance between us.
Garrus let out a bellowing laugh, “Impressive, you actually managed to make George back up. You may not be able to actually beat him in a fight, but for what you need to be able to do today, it’s good enough. I think you’re ready to head in.”
“Fucking finally. Was getting tired of sitting around doing nothing.” Penny complained from where she had been lying down, she stood up and brushed herself off.
“It’s not like you’re going to be doing any fighting,” the mage next to her retorted, ”even if you were, these aren’t exactly opponents you’d care about anyways.”
“It’s the thought that counts.” She said, waving her hand dismissively. “Come on, let’s go.”
As we walked through the tunnels I began to feel something itching in the back of my mind. I could feel something wasn’t right, but I wasn’t sure what it was. It wasn’t Garrus or any of his party. They were an agreeable bunch. No, something else wasn’t sitting right with me I just couldn’t place it. Eventually, we came across a more open area, it was a large circular junction that branched into multiple different tunnels, and sitting smack dab in the center was a Mole.
[Level 9]
Higher level than the last one, but this one was asleep. I looked back at the other group and put a single finger up to my mouth before slowly approaching it. I went all the way up to its head, my heart pounding violently inside my chest. I took a stance in front of it, my sword poised. I didn’t think I could cut all the way through its neck with a single stroke but maybe I could cut into its head and hit its brain.
I raised my sword and activated my skill with a soft whisper
[Slash]
My blade flashed downwards in a smooth arc and cut into the mole head, it instantly awoke with a screech. My blade hadn’t gone far enough, its skull was a lot harder than I had imagined it would be despite how sharp Garrus said my sword was. I guess this was the power difference between levels at the low end.
I held on tightly to my blade at first, it was lodged within the skull of the Mole and I wasn’t able to yank it out. It stood up to its full height before thrashing around wildly eventually flingling me off leaving my sword lodged within its head. I slammed into a wall, getting the air knocked out of me. I could hear the party yelling off to the side, but I quickly raised my hand to stop them while I coughed. The Mole was still screeching and thrashing around, not focused on me.
While it was distracted I cast [Healing Blossom] to top off my health. The use of the skill caught the Moles's attention and it turned to face me. I don’t know how it noticed the skill despite the fact that it had no eyes. Creepy. I slowly stood up, watching as my health quickly filled back up. This healing skill was absurd. 3% health per second meant my health capped back up in a little under 34 seconds from 0 health. The mole and I slowly circled each other. It was a whole lot stronger than me, but it wasn’t necessarily faster. It was quick, but I had always just barely managed to keep up with its movements.
It also had to be hurting from the sword in its skull, surely that had to count for a lot of damage right? It seemed to be pretty deep in there. The Mole stopped for just a moment before exploding into action, it launched forward trying to bite me like the first one I had encountered. I dove to the side, rolling to my feet and coming back up in a low stance as I prepared for the Mole to turn back around.
“Use your agility, Alex! You can move faster and jump further than you think!” Garrus yelled advice from the side. The Mole turned towards his voice and was about to target him instead when I raised my hand casting [Paralyzing Shock] this time I didn’t even wait to see if it affected the Mole and ran forward preparing two spells. This time it seemed like my paralyzing attack actually did something, I grinned maliciously seeing the sparks of electricity arc over the mole and it froze in place. With my left hand, I shot out [Jolt] with me following closely behind it. As it connected sparking into the side of the Mole I crouched down and pushed back up as hard as I could jumping higher than I ever would’ve thought possible. I easily cleared five feet without even trying, I reached out with my right hand which was coated in electricity. The paralyzing effect from my skill wore off as the mole turned back to me bringing my sword in range of me while I was mid-jump. I reached for it and grabbed it, and my spell did something I hadn’t been expecting it to. I had hoped to grab the sword and pull it closer to its head to then deliver my [Shocking Grasp] but instead, the ability discharged as soon as I touched the sword. Instead of just dissipating against the sword, I saw the arcs of mana flash down the length of the blade before discharging straight into the skull of the Mole. The Mole let out a horrendous screech as it jittered in place for a few moments before it collapsed to the ground smoke coming out of the ear holes it had on the side of its head.
I was bombarded by a deluge of notifications while I sat there stunned by where I had fallen after it had died.
“Congratulations on your first kill, Alex,” Garrus said placing a hand on my shoulder.
‘Ping’ [Shock Enthusiast] has leveled 1 > 2 - +4 Vig, +1 End, +1 Str, +3 Dex, +2 Agi, +4 Int, +3 Wis.
‘Ping’ [Shock Enthusiast] has leveled 2 >3 - +4 Vig, +1 End, +1 Str, +3 Dex, +2 Agi, +4 Int, +3 Wis.
‘Ping’ [Blade User] has leveled 1 > 2 - +3 Vig, +3 End, +2 Str, +3 Dex, +4 Agi, +1 Int, +1 Wis.
‘Ping’ [Blade User] has leveled 2 > 3 - +3 Vig, +3 End, +2 Str, +3 Dex, +4 Agi, +1 Int, +1 Wis.
‘Ping’ [Blessed by Nature] has leveled 1 > 2 - +10 Vig, +10 End, +10 Str, +10 Dex, +10 Agi, +10 Int, +10 Wis.
