Chapter 4

After a few hours of grinding, Randidly had improved his Physical Fitness to Lvl 3, Running to 5, and both Mana Bolt and Heavy Blow to 2.

Surprisingly, Mana Bolt had reached 2 first. It seemed like the lower cost of Heavy Blow meant it took more to level it. Although that just meant it had taken 5 Heavy Blows, rather than the 2 Mana Bolts it had taken.

With the earned PP, Randidly had started down the P. Def path. His odd points, the 1st and 3rd, net him P.Def stats, that could only be used on Vit and End, which suited him just fine. The evens were regular stat points.

Randidly put one in each of Vit and End, and with the distributable ones, he put one in Int and one in Wis. Intelligence increases maximum mana by 2 and mana regen by .25. Wis increases maximum mana by .5 and regen by 1.

Another thing that Randidly noticed was that he was rather inaccurate with Mana Bolts. At around 10 feet, it became luck to hit a certain large cinderblock on the wall.

But he was out of berries, and with a determined face, Randidly once more left the room. Once more he snuck down towards the treeline, moving across the grass instead of inside the trees down to where the berries were. But when he arrived, he was stunned to find that the bush had been picked clean.

With nervous eyes, Randidly looked up, and sure enough, the lime green frog was still there, but it was looking quite a bit fatter.

It actually had the nerve to burp, looking at Randidly with a dismissive glance. Randidly glared back up at it. And, forgetting about his plan of remaining relatively calm in the face of danger, he raised his hand and channeled mana into his palm, preparing a mana bolt. He had discovered that he didn’t actually need to say anything out loud to use it, just channel the strange mana he found inside of himself.

The bolt slowly formed, taking almost 10 seconds to condense. The casting time was a problem, but it had already shortened a little bit, so hopefully that would continue in the future.

Surprisingly, the bolt that shot forward in a mostly straight direction, slamming into the frog’s bulging sides. Almost immediately, its eyes went wide and it seemed to be engaged in an internal struggle. Finally, after a few seconds, it opened its mouth and vomited a cascade of half digested berries and yellow goop that splashed on the tree next to Randidly. It then turned its eyes towards Randidly, which began to glow red.

But just as he noticed that, he noticed that his hand was burning, and looked down. Several small drops of the vomit had splashed on him. Then he heard a sizzling noise. He looked up to find the tree was disappearing before his very eyes, eaten by the strange vomit. Then his hand began to burn.

He turned and dashed away, setting his hunger aside for the moment, earning himself another level in running as he sprinted back towards a safe room. But then next notifications were much more foreboding.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill Acid Resistance Lvl 1.

Hearing a splash behind him, as if the frog spat again, Randidly redoubled his efforts, tapping into that hot energy inside of his heart.

Congratulations! You have learned the active skill Sprinting Lvl 1.

Congratulations! Acid Resistance is now Lvl 2.

Randidly broke out of the trees and crossed the ferns in a second. He then leapt, scrambling up the rest of the distance to the safe zone door.

Congratulations! Acid Resistance is now Lvl 3.

Congratulations! Sprinting is now Lvl 2.

Warning! Some of the acid has entered your bloodstream, causing you to be poisoned.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill Poison Resistance Lvl 1.

Randidly opened the door and scrambled through it, ignoring the continuing notifications. He was starting to get distinctly dizzy.

Congratulations! Acid Resistance is now Lvl 4.

Congratulations! Poison Resistance is now Lvl 2.

Congratulations! Poison Resistance is now Lvl 3.

Warning! Your health is extremely low. Due to being under level 10, arrows will be on the ground guiding you to the nearest safe zone.

Congratulations! Poison Resistance is now Lvl 4.

Not even stopping inside of the room, Randidly sprinted downwards, diving into the pool, frantically wiping at his hand, which now had a rather large hole eaten all the way through it. As Randidly gazed at his bone his resolve wavered, for a second. Then he snapped back to focus. His brow furrowing. He checked his status and saw his health was at 10, and as he watched, it ticked down to 9, and then 8. Frantically he opened up his Path screen, dumped the 6 points he had gotten on the trip into P. Def. Before he could switch back, he noticed another notification, but he decided to ignore it.

Then switched back to his status screen, dumping all 6 points into End.

Instantly, his health rose by 30 (Wait, why was it not 30, and 44 instead? Not that he was complaining...), The health continued to tick down, but it was obviously slowing.  It continued to slow as he rubbed at the wound and gulped down the cool water, until it stabilized at 12 health. Letting out a long breath, Randidly slumped back and considered the notifications.

He ignored the ones for getting points from the P.Def path, but looked at the final one.

Congratulations! You have completed the P. Def Path! +2 to all P. Def stats, +1 P.Def point per level. You have learned the skill Iron Skin Lvl 1!

Congratulations! Acid Resistance is now Lvl 5.

Congratulations! Poison Resistance is now Lvl 5.

Congratulations! Acid Resistance is now Lvl 6.

The healing pool has cleansed your body. You are no longer poisoned.

Congratulations! Acid Resistance is now Lvl 7.

Sighing, Randidly collapsed on the floor. That… was probably too close. The worst part was that he had only been splashed by a tiny drop, and it still ripped a hole in his hand and ate at his flesh, eventually poisoning him. If it wasn’t for this healing pool…

Shivering, Randidly once more realized how close he was to dying while he remained here. But…

He couldn’t help grinning slightly. He had survived. And as such, he had benefited immensely. Not only had he finished the P.Def path, but he now had 4 more PPs to spend on the next path. As well as the skill Iron Skin. Perhaps it would be helpful in defending against the acid…? But based on how quickly his Acid Resistance skill had leveled, Randidly doubted that he was at the level where withstanding a direct blow from the acid would be possible.

Randidly put the 4 PPs into the M. Supp path. As expected, he received two distributable stats and two M. Supp stats.

He hesitated, but put both into control, hoping that it would increase the accuracy of his mana bolt. For the distributable ones, Randidly struggled. He already experienced a huge boost in survivability with the End increase, but he was beginning to believe that it was just a drop in the bucket. A direct attack would kill him several times over.

So instead, one point went into Agi, and one into Per. Sighing, Randidly looked again at his stats.

Randidly Ghosthound

Class: ---

Level: N/A

Health(/R per hour): 12/98 (34.5)

Mana(/R per hour): 12/22 (9.25)

Stam(/R per min): 5/52 (14)

Vit: 9

End: 14

Str: 3

Agi: 9

Perception: 5

Reaction: 5

Resistance: 5

Willpower: 5

Inteligence: 5

Wisdom: 3

Control: 4

Focus: 3

Paths: Newbie 7/7, P.Def 10/10, M.Supp 4/10, Risk Taker

Skills: Running: Lvl 5, Physical Fitness Lvl 3, Sneak Lvl 2, Farming Lvl 3, Mana Bolt Lvl 2, Heavy Blow Lvl 2, Acid Resistance Lvl 7, Poison Resistance Lvl 4, Sprinting Lvl 2, Iron Skin Lvl 1

“Too close…” He muttered sitting down to recover. His stomach grumbled, but he ignored it. His life was much more important than going without a meal for a few hours. He was tired, and needed to rest and steady his nerve before he returned to the outside world.