Chapter 3: Glowing Moss

‘ding’ ‘The Bluemoon Grass has changed your body permanently.

You grow more resilient +10 Vitality.

The flow of your mana was changed +10 Intelligence +10 Wisdom.

You recharge Mana at a faster pace +100% mana recovery rate.’

“Holy, this is pretty good for two hours of the worst pain in my entire life.” still breathing heavily Ilea sat up and checked her stats.

Name: Ilea Spears

Class 1: None

Class 2: None

General Skills:

- Elos Standard language Lvl 5 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

- Identify Lvl 1

Status:

Vitality: 15

Endurance: 8

Strength 7

Dexterity 8

Intelligence 15

Wisdom 15

Health: 4/150

Stamina: 12/80

Mana: 0/150

‘That explains why I feel like dying. I need some clarity...heh’ walking to the fountain she started to drink. Her health reached 150 in a matter of minutes. ‘Wow this is great...still have the worst headache...the mana maybe?’

It was slowly recharging, yet apparently the change used all of it up initially. ‘No class nor skill hmm...well I’ll find out why tomorrow. First is sleep.’ laying down on the floor she immediately slept, only waking up two days later.

The blue glow was still in the air as Ilea woke up, her head heavy and her whole body hurting. ‘There was a room with a bed you idiot...thirsty’ getting up slowly, she went and drank some more of the fountain water.

‘Why don’t I have the class yet though...hmm. Let’s check some of the diaries.’ None of them mentioned anything about not getting the class after eating the grass. “What’s different then?” she looked around her and her gaze fell upon the books still laying on the ground.

“I haven’t read them...they all probably have...well let’s start then.” grabbing some of the grass off the wall, she ate it ‘let’s just hope it doesn’t hurt again...’ nothing happened this time and Ilea started to read through the books she had available.’

The books on stances were what one might expect. A detailed description of the fighting style used by the order. Some of it seemed familiar to Ilea and other things looked rather weird. ‘This is impossible...no human could do that...’ finishing up the books on stances, she started reading the books on Azarinth healing and Mana conversion. The basic ones she understood but the advanced books went over her head.

Finishing those seven books took her the better part of two weeks, taking the necessary time to understand what she was reading. She ate grass and drank from the fountain. In between she trained her body but didn’t get any notification about stat changes. In addition she slept on the very old bed. It was barely a bed anymore but still better than the stone floor. Finishing up the book on Advanced healing, she grabbed the first book on history but was interrupted by a

‘bing’ ‘You have met the requirements for a class change: Azarinth Healer – Knowledge about the basics of Azarinth fighting stances and Azarinth healing, Survived the change invoked by the Bluemoon Grass.’

‘The Azarinth Healer is not exactly what the name might portray. A close quarters fighter that chooses an unarmed style of combat to both heal and destroy. Enhanced by an ancient technique of magic their bodies become resistant to even the strongest of attacks and heal at a rapid pace.’

‘Would you like to change to this class. Bonuses and skills will be applied after doing so.’

“Oh fuck yeees!” nothing happened ‘yes.’ she thought and more messages appeared in her mind.

‘New Class: Azarinth Healer

Vitality +10

Strength +5

Dexterity +5

Intelligence +10

Wisdom +10

Body enhancement magic is improved by 100%

All healing magic skills are improved by 100%

Natural regeneration increased by 1% per minute

Skills gained in Azarinth Healer:

Active: Destruction – lvl 1:

Send a destructive pulse of mana into your enemy with every punch or kick. Your Intelligence stat enhances the damage potential.

Category: Healing

Active: Reconstruction – lvl 1:

Send a healing pulse of mana into yourself or your ally with a touch. This skill can be channeled.

Category: Healing

Active: State of Azarinth – lvl 1:

Your body glows with the power of Azarinth, increasing your resilience, speed and strength by 35% [after bonuses 70%].

Category: Aura – Body Enhancement

Passive: Body of Azarinth – lvl 1:

Your body was changed by magic. All pain is reduced by 25% [after bonuses 50%]. You heal even fatal injuries without help of healing magic. Your natural regeneration is improved by 50% [after bonuses 100%]

Category: Healing

Passive: Azarinth Fighting – lvl 1:

You are familiar with the fighting style of Azarinth. Damage inflicted with your own body and related skills is 75% higher [after bonuses 150%]’

Category: Body Enhancement

Reading all of the notifications, Ilea was stunned. ‘Well I don’t know how other classes in this world are but this seems fucking amazing. I’m like a mix of three different classes. I hope it’s strong enough to fill any of those roles in a group...or maybe the common composition of teams is different in this world. I’ll see. I must say for a solo thing this is fantastic. Can’t wait to try all of those skills.’

Getting up, Ilea felt powerful. The stat changes increased her capabilities by an incredible amount. Walking into the library that now only collected dust, she went to the far wall. ‘Now let’s see what I have...’

Taking proper form Ilea threw a solid punch, resulting in a sharp crack that briefly echoed. Checking her hand, it was fine and she didn’t feel anything wrong. Looking at the wall she realized the sound came from there. ‘Aww shit. I’m awesome.’

Continuing to punch, the noise reverberated through the chamber of awakening. Pieces of the stone wall started to collect at her feet. ‘Hmm let’s see if destruction does anything to inanimate objects.’ activating the skill with a simple thought she punched the wall.

The noise was the same as before but this time spiderweb like cracks immediately formed in a one meter radius. It didn’t even use a lot of mana. Checking her stats the punch had taken only 5 Mana. ‘Which means with my current supply I can use it 50 times in a row...nice.’ using the skill a couple more times she wondered if that was how the other members of the order got out. ‘Nah I can’t see dozens of holes in the walls around here...except maybe they had an earth mage to fix it again? If such a thing even exists here...’

“One more thing to try….” Ilea’s body started to glow in a faint blue. It looked like she had blue tattoos on her body written in runic symbols. They could be seen on her torso, arms and legs. One tattoo went along her spine up to her neck and under her hair. They shined faintly through her pajamas. Slowly breathing out, she formed a fist with her right hand and punched.

The walls shook, dust falling from the ceiling and her fist formed a dent roughly the size of a basketball. ‘I’d be pretty good at basketball with this body I’d think...’ still with the active Aura of State of Azarinth, she ran all the way to the room with the bed. “This feels absolutely amazing.” exhausting her Stamina on the poor library wall.

She couldn’t stop, her power and excitement overwhelming her completely. She read the remaining books and some of the diaries in the next four days while eating Bluemoon Grass and using her skills. They slowly improved. When Destruction reached level three she received an unexpected message.

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 2. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘So I do level without having to fight anything. That’s good then. Guess I’ll stay down here for a while….a long while. Especially considering I have no idea where I am or how I’d get out...’

The weeks passed, Ilea’s days spent with eating, fighting the library wall and reading diaries. She studied the Stances in detail and tried to use her healing magic. Punching the walls wouldn’t hurt her enough to use Reconstruction though, so the skill didn’t level. She could keep up her Aura skill for longer and longer as time went on.

According to the diaries it would normally take weeks if not longer of constant training to improve a skill even by one level. The Bluemoon Grass and fountain of clarity helped speed up the process a lot. Ilea didn’t have anything to measure her progress against though so she couldn’t be sure.

‘I’ll just get as strong as I can down here until I can get out. There doesn’t really seem to be a downside to it. Even if it might get boring at some point I’d rather stay a couple months longer in boredom than die immediately out in the forest.

There was no map or any geographical information in the remaining books whatsoever, so she knew as much about where she was as she did when she got here. Three weeks of constant training later there was nothing new to read anymore and the days became rather tedious. Sitting down Ilea again read through the Mana conversion book and thought to try something.

‘The main problem here is that I’m bored while I wait for my mana and stamina to recover...’ reading through the whole book again it was still a mystery to her what it was about exactly. It talked of regulating the flows of mana but her understanding of mana itself was nothing to begin with. The concepts were foreign to her even though she understood the words.

‘Might as well try to meditate, maybe I’ll gain some sort of clarity...’ looking suspiciously towards the fountain, she sat down and tried to clear her mind. Nothing happened at first. She tried in every pause for the next two days. It felt relaxing and there was nothing better to do anyways. At the end of the second day she received a message that woke her from her meditative state.

‘ding’ ‘You have learned the General skill Meditation – While in the state of meditation you cannot move. Your mana and stamina regeneration is increased by a factor of three. This factor is improved upon leveling up the skill. - lvl 1’

“Well this’ll make my days a lot less boring.” even though she was mostly just punching walls or practicing stances it was fun to her. Her body had an incredible strength that she’d never even dreamed of. Even on Earth she enjoyed simply attacking a punching bag for hours on end. The only reason she didn’t do it longer were responsibilities, other interesting hobbies and her bodily limitations.

She didn’t have internet or even new books anymore here, so this was what was left and it wasn’t bad. With the still level one meditation skill her training speed improved threefold. After another month she had improved her Destruction skill to lvl 8, her State of Azarinth skill to lvl 6, her Body of Azarinth skill to lvl 2, her Azarinth Fighting skill to lvl 7 and her Meditation skill to lvl 5. Additionally her stats improved slowly over time too. Endurance especially improved every couple days.

With her last advancement in Azarinth Fighting she received another level up, bringing her to lvl 5.

‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 5. 5 Stat points awarded. You have learned the skill Passive: Magic Perception – lvl 1

This skill lets you see magic. Can be activated or deactivated on command.

Category: Body Enhancement

“A skill...hah...seems useful but I can’t really picture it.” activating the skill, she had to shield her eyes immediately from the radiance surrounding her. ‘Deactivate Magic Perception!’ she yelled in her mind.

“Well that was stupid...could’ve guessed the Bluemoon Grass was magical...” going into the library she activated the skill again and looked at the runes she had discovered on her first day in the chamber. ‘Interesting...they’re clearer. And they glow a faint blue. I wonder if all magic is blue with this sight.’ she kept the skill deactivated in the hallway but tried to use it sometimes in the library or when she was using her Destruction and Aura skill. The day came to an end and she checked her progress again, as she did every day before sleeping.

Name: Ilea Spears

Class 1: Azarinth Healer – lvl 5

Unspent statpoints: 20

- Active: Destruction – lvl 8

- Active: Reconstruction – lvl 1

- Active: State of Azarinth – lvl 6

- Active: Free Slot

- Active: Free Slot

- Passive: Body of Azarinth – lvl 2

- Passive: Azarinth Fighting – lvl 7

- Passive: Magic Perception – lvl 1

- Passive: Free Slot

- Passive: Free Slot

Class 2: None

General Skills:

- Elos Standard language - lvl 5

- Identify - lvl 1

- Meditation – lvl 5

Status:

Vitality: 26

Endurance: 16

Strength 14

Dexterity 17

Intelligence 27

Wisdom 32

Health: 260/260

Stamina: 8/160

Mana: 13/320

Another three months passed like this. The meditation being an actual skill helping to tremendously reduce the mental strain such a lifestyle would’ve had on her otherwise. Talking to herself still became the norm and she even started to miss her coworkers at the fast-food joint. Her goal also slowly shifted from becoming stronger to getting out of the chamber. ‘I can see how this is an incredible privilege to have, training with the Bluemoon Grass that is but I’d still like to see the sun sometime.’ A fourth of the Grass was already gone from one of the walls when Ilea reached level 10 in her Class.

‘ding’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 10. 5 Stat points awarded.

You have learned the skill

Active: Blink – lvl 1

Immediately appear at a distant place. Distance based on the level of the skill.

Category: Teleportation Magic

“This is it….I finally got my way out! Maybe...hopefully...” activating the skill with the will to move across the hallway Ilea teleported around fifteen meters away. “Man this is great...I’ll have to get used to the feeling though. Not as bad as when I was teleported down here but still...” holding her stomach she went and drank some water from the fountain. “Now the question is, can I teleport to places I can’t see and what happens when I teleport into something...” going into the library she tried teleporting into one of the shelves. Only her arm would theoretically be inside the shelf.

“Would still hurt like hell but maybe then I’d have a way to level up my healing...” The teleport worked, but her hand was pushed away from the shelf. No weird Human/shelf creature was born on that day.

“Which means...” trying to teleport halfway into the fountain she appeared next to it or above it. “Next step” halfway into the wall failed too, she always appeared next to it.

“Now the leap of faith...” blinking into the wall she found herself standing in front of it. “YES!!! It works! Now I just have to level it up and try to teleport out of here...” So she tried. Teleporting away from the chamber into any direction. There were a lot of ways to try and her skill slowly gained levels over the weeks, increasing the range and reducing the cost. After another month in the chamber Ilea was successful.

Appearing in a closed room, she was elated “FUCK YEAH!!” jumping up and down, Ilea looked around the room. It was a small room with only dust and stone in it but it was new. After months in her own box of stone this new one was a blessing to her. And there was a closed door in front of her.

“Well well well...now what’s a stone door against this...” raising her fist with her Aura spell activated she punched right through the thick stone door. Outside was a familiar room. The hall she had entered after being ambushed by the wolves outside the temple. “OH YES...YESYESYES!!!” not able to repress her excitement she ran outside.

It was night, an ocean of stars shining bright, illuminating the sky. There were two moons and they shone brightly. Ilea simply stood there stunned, her head held up to the sky. Tears falling from her face as she breathed her first breath of fresh air in months. The wind caressing her body, blue tattoos faintly glowing from below her worn clothes. “Hahahahahaahaaa” standing there with tears in her eyes, the woman was laughing.

Snapping her head down suddenly she became quiet and listened “I want food...something other than that bloody Grass...” She couldn’t hear anything so she entered the forest. It would be easy to find the temple again as it was on a slope. Starting to run, Ilea crossed the forest at a speed she’d never dreamed possible. Her perception even more surprising, the light of the moon more than enough for her to make out any details around her.

Not long after, she came across a small creek. “Food can wait...some real water first.” jumping into the creek she splashed around in the cold water and drank mouthfuls. A rather curious sight, a grown woman splashing around in a creek in the middle of the night, laughing maniacally. Perhaps even scary considering the magical world she was in. Stopping after fifteen minutes, Ilea resumed her search for food. Soon she came across some berries. Immediately eating one of them.

‘ding’ ‘You have been poisoned by Cinderberry, -3 HP/s for 5 Minutes’

Stopping her enthusiasm her mind focused. ‘That can kill me like three times over. I need to heal. I don’t know enough about my Reconstruction spell yet.’ grabbing a couple more of the berries she started to run back, occasionally using blink while keeping an eye on her mana, the weird warm feeling in her chest didn’t help her mind calm down either.

One and a half minutes later she was back at the temple. Using Reconstruction on herself had healed her for thirty points. ‘That should be enough really...but I have to be sure.’ she was already at close to fifty health remaining. Going into the room she’d smashed the door in, she blinked into the direction of the chamber. Reappearing in her familiar training space or prison of clarity, as she’d started to call it, she immediately went to the fountain and drank. Without possible external danger she used her mana freely to power up Reconstruction.

One minute later she was back at full health. “Man this world is insane. One berry would’ve killed me if I didn’t have a fucking healing spell and a well of health...” looking at the berries she wondered “Maybe I’ve been a little overconfident...I don’t even know what level one of those Drakes is. Even if I’ve grown stronger, there’s stuff out there that can kill me in one hit...like a bloody berry...wait no...Cinderberry”

She couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculous situation she was in. After meditating and recovering her mana she looked at one of the berries...and ate it. “Mhm...at least they taste great...”

‘bing’ ‘You have been poisoned by Cinderberry, -3 HP/s for 5 Minutes’

Smiling she started to use Reconstruction on her own body. The drain of the berry felt weird but it didn’t hurt much. “A good way to level up Reconstruction...and eat delicious berries!” Repeating the steps for the other six berries she had, she leveled up Reconstruction and even received a special message at the end of her endeavor.

‘bing’ ‘You have learned the general skill Poison Resistance – You are a target of assassins or not very good at distinguishing berries. Surviving either of those you have developed a general resistance to poisons. - lvl 1’

“Man this is stupid...a general poison resistance? That doesn’t make sense at all….then again a lot of things here don’t seem to make sense and I’ve barely scratched the surface.” looking up she blinked outside again. This time she blinked again and found herself on the roof of the ruined temple.

Again she was stunned. Standing above the trees she could see for miles, even in the night. The forest was huge. ‘Beautiful...’ Ilea stood there for an hour and simply enjoyed being outside. ‘I’ll be more careful tomorrow. I can’t be overconfident. Although I’ve made incredible progress.’ Blinking back downstairs she made herself ready to sleep and checked her status.

Name: Ilea Spears

Class 1: Azarinth Healer – lvl 12

Unspent statpoints: 55

- Active: Destruction – lvl 14

- Active: Reconstruction – lvl 2

- Active: State of Azarinth – lvl 10

- Active: Blink – lvl 7

- Active: Free Slot

- Passive: Body of Azarinth – lvl 4

- Passive: Azarinth Fighting – lvl 12

- Passive: Magic Perception – lvl 3

- Passive: Free Slot

- Passive: Free Slot

Class 2: None

General Skills:

- Elos Standard language - lvl 5

- Identify - lvl 1

- Meditation – lvl 8

- Poison Resistance – lvl 1

Status:

Vitality: 29

Endurance: 25

Strength 18

Dexterity 21

Intelligence 34

Wisdom 42

Health: 290/290

Stamina: 233/250

Mana: 396/420

‘Tomorrow I’ll start to finally explore this weird world.’