Chapter 7: Ambition

Chapter 7: Ambition

After I had my fill of water, I sat and rested for a while. Just because I wasn’t so thirsty anymore didn’t mean I wasn’t exhausted. But, after my Stamina regenerated back up to double digits, I forced myself back up to my feet. I wasn’t in immediate danger now, but I was definitely too close to that Nymph to actually be comfortable resting. So, I moved a bit further downstream, following along until I felt like I was far enough away from Nymph territory.

And while I was moving along, I got an exciting message! This chapter's initial release occurred on the n0vell--Bjjn site.

Threshold reached. Noxious Grasp XP has reached 11.

Noxious Grasp Rank has increased to 2.

Due to Noxious Grasp Rank reaching 2, it has undergone the following changes:

Mana Cost: From 3.08 to 3.16

Health Drain: From 10.5 to 11

Stamina Drain: From 5.25 to 5.51

Nice!

I checked and found that the next Rank of Noxious Grasp would require 14 Spell XP, which wasn’t too much more. At this point, though, I wanted to focus on Leveling up. Increasing my Spell Ranks was good and all, but the main way I was going to get stronger was through getting more Levels; it would give me Stats, obviously, but Level-ups could also provide Spells, Talents, and other goodies. Unfortunately, due to the whole never-having-heard-of-my-own-Class-before thing, I didn’t have any idea when exactly I’d actually get, say, my next Spell.

Every Class had different things that they got at different Levels. For example, Wizards got a Spell every single Level, whereas Sorcerers only got one every ten Levels. This was balanced out by Sorcerers getting Spell Ranks much more quickly than Wizards, of course, but the point was that they got Spells at wildly different rates. So, I had no idea when I would next get a Spell. Obviously it wasn’t every single Level – I would have gotten one last time I Leveled up if that were the case – but was it once every two Levels? Every ten, like the Sorcerers? Somewhere in the middle? Maybe even longer? I had no way of knowing.

Some Classes even got them at irregular intervals. Warlocks, for example, got lots of Spells during their initial Levels, but those Spell rewards started tapering out and occurring less and less often as the Warlock grew more powerful.

Talents were another issue. Most Classes got to choose a Talent once every five Levels, but some Classes didn’t. Swordsmen were an example of this, actually; they got a Talent every three Levels, and in exchange, the Talents themselves were slightly less powerful than the Talents other Classes got. But would I ever even get any Talents? I had this whole Time Loop thing that seemed to get more powerful as I Leveled, so maybe that replaced them altogether.

I sighed. These were all questions for another time. For now, I just needed to focus on getting XP – preferably without risking my life. Now that I had a steady supply of water, I finally wasn’t racing against the clock, which was nice, so part of me just wanted to take a break. I opened up my Status, looking at my Health. It was at 56, so a bit below half. I really didn’t want to get into a fight like this, so for now, I was probably going to just rest.

Common knowledge was that it would generally take about two days to fully regenerate your Health, so since I already had Half of it filled up, it would probably take about twenty-four hours. So until then, I was just gonna sit back and relax!

My stomach grumbled.

Ah, right.

I guess I couldn’t relax just yet. First, I’d need to find some food. I hadn’t eaten all day, and the sun was already beginning to set. That couldn’t be healthy. I was so thirsty that I hadn’t even felt the hunger, but now it was quickly becoming apparent how much I needed to eat.

I looked around at my surroundings. There were plenty of plants, some of which had berries growing out of them, and I also saw some mushrooms growing out of the ground, but I had no idea what was poisonous and what wasn’t. And I certainly wasn’t about to just eat something random to check. There were plenty of things that would kill you even if eaten in small doses, and I didn’t want to risk it.

So, if not plants, that just left animals. Animals that I had no way to cook. Unfortunate, but overall, it was okay. Most animals were fine to eat raw as long as you didn’t do it often. The chance for disease was relatively low, so if it was just for now, it wouldn’t be a problem. Plus, I had a boosted Endurance – even if it was only slightly higher than an Unclassed person, that still greatly reduced my general chances of disease. In fact, most Classers of even a moderate Level pretty much never suffered from non-magical sickness.

So, if sickness wasn’t the problem, then what was? It was gross. I mean, really, I didn’t even have a knife or anything! What was I supposed to do, tear into a corpse with my teeth? Ugh, but I was so hungry... whatever. I’d solve that problem when it became relevant. For now, I didn’t even have any animals to eat. So, issue number one: kill something. That, I could do.

Well, at least now I could rest. I wanted to wait until my Health was back to full – or at least close to it – before I went out and started hunting for XP. So, I decided to use my time to make myself a little shelter by the river. A better one than the shitty little pile of sticks I made last time, hopefully.

Practicing my casting while I worked, I found a nice, sturdy branch, and wedged it in between two trees, so that it held up on its own, around as high up as my head. Then, I took some other branches and sticks and leaned them up against that branch, creating a nice triangular little hut that I could enter from either side. As I worked, it began to rain.

I glared up at the sky.

Really? I thought. After that whole struggle to find water, you decide now is the best time to pour water all over me? Unbelievable.

I hurriedly tried to pile leaves and thick layers of sticks onto the walls of my little shelter to protect me from the rain. It worked well enough, I thought as I sat inside. A puff from Noxious Grasp arose off of me, and I took a deep breath. It felt like there’d been a weight on my chest, getting heavier and heavier as the seconds ticked on ever since I’d gotten stuck in this forest. And just taking the moment to rest here... it lifted it, if just a bit.

When had my life gotten so stressful? Well, I knew exactly what incident had caused this little bout of stress, but just... in general. It felt like for years I’d been running around, worrying about one thing or the other. Trying to save up as much money as I could, never allowing myself a penny extra for myself. Trying to spend every moment of my time efficiently, never allowing myself a second to relax. Trying to work my brain and body to the bone, never allowing either a minute to recover. It felt like, for the first time in a very long time, I was just... still.

Another puff from Noxious Grasp.

Well, not totally still, I laughed at myself.

It was a bit silly, but I was very proud of myself for getting so proficient with my casting. Well, I probably wasn’t any better than any of the students who studied all their lives to become Magic-Type Classers – I was probably still very behind them, to be honest – but I couldn’t deny that Noxious Grasp had become almost second nature. My Spell XP for it had only just recently ticked up to 1/14, but I wasn’t bothered by the relatively slow pace. I mean, I didn’t even think about casting it anymore; it was as if every time I was full on Mana, the Spell cast itself. So the Spell XP basically came for free.

I laid down on the ground in my tiny home, staring up at the sticks and leaves above me. I took a breath and, for the first time since I’d gotten myself stuck out here, I smiled. Sure, it sucked, but getting stuck out here was, in a way, fun. It was a challenge. Besides, once I got out, it’d make a hell of a story.

Without even noticing it, exhaustion took me, and I drifted off to sleep.

I awoke feeling incredibly sore, both physically and mentally. It made sense, considering the ungodly amount of walking and casting I’d been doing the day before, but that didn’t make it any less unpleasant. I groaned as I sat up, feeling as though my muscles were wound too tightly around my body. I also went ahead and cast Noxious Grasp again – my Mana was full, after all. It hurt my head to do so, but soreness was just a sign that I was making progress.

I crawled out of my shelter, standing and brushing the dirt off of myself. Then I looked up at the river, and almost jumped out of my own skin.

Shit! Monster!

Scampering behind one of the trees my little hut was built on, I hid from the beast by the river. It was another Wood Wraith, but this one seemed a good bit larger. And with monsters, larger normally meant higher Level. Unlike the one before, though, this one seemed to just be here to get a drink of water, paying me and my base no mind. So I could easily just ignore it and it’d probably wander off eventually.

However...

Its back was turned to me, leaving it perfectly open for an ambush. Sure, I could just leave it alone and stay safe, but how would I ever get anywhere if I never took a risk? I mean, this bundle of XP was standing right here, practically gift-wrapped just for me. Was I seriously going to just let it get away? Now, there was absolutely a chance of it seriously hurting – or even killing – me. Last time I fought a Wood Wraith, I’d taken a serious amount of damage – and this one was even higher-Leveled than that one. Plus, my Health still wasn’t full, resting at a somewhat precarious 79/120. But I really wanted another Level.

I was perfectly aware that this exact mindset was the subject of endless mockery in the adventuring community. In fact, people who got into fights with deadly monsters just for the XP had even earned the derogatory nickname ‘power-Levelers’ after their intense, borderline suicidal lust for System-given power. And it really was suicidal. Even if a power-Leveler only ever got into fights where they had a 5% chance of dying, and they only got into one of these fights a week, there was over a 93% chance that they’d be dead by the end of the year. Or, at least, that was the statistic always quoted to me by my trainer.

“A smart adventurer is one who only fights when there’s a 0% chance of death” was the phrase that seemed like a motto to most.

But I didn’t exactly have that luxury, did I? If I never got any stronger, one of these days I’d end up in the jaws of a Drake, or on the end of a giant scorpion’s tail. At least for now, I’d need to take those 5% chances, and hope that I could make up for the rest with pure determination.

I charged.