Chapter 8: Payoff & Plan

Chapter 8: Payoff & Plan

I charged at the Wood Wraith that was drinking from the river. As I got closer and closer, I realized just how large it really was. Standing on all fours, it was already a bit taller than half my height, and length-wise, it was definitely longer than I was tall, not even counting the tail. It was colored a deeper, dirtier green than the one I had fought before, and its fur was more ragged.

Once I got close, it heard me approaching and quickly tried to turn to intercept me, but I was on it too quickly, pouncing and activating Noxious Grasp as I gripped onto the monster's back and tackled it to the ground. It flinched and fell, tumbling onto its side as it flailed at me and the poisonous fumes seeped into the beast’s skin.

The Wood Wraith quickly twisted its body, though, using its size and strength to kick me off of it and get to its feet.

You have struck Level 9 Wood Wraith for 37 damage and drained 19 Stamina over the course of 3.4 seconds using Noxious Grasp.

10.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 94.

I scrambled up, standing ready for a counterattack. I had my eyes closed – there was no doubt the beast’s gaze was directed straight at me right now, and I had no desire to be hit with its magical sickness. I waited for the sound of hoof falls, and... now!

I leapt out of the way of the charging Wood Wraith just in time to barely dodge its bite. I quickly opened my eyes and charged back to it, hitting it to the ground before it could turn to face me. I tried to wrestle it to the ground in a choke-hold like I did with the Wood Wrath I’d fought before, but this one was a much higher Level and much stronger than the other, and it managed to maneuver itself so that its sharp claws could reach me.

You have been sliced by claws. 26 damage.

Your Health is 53.

Its razor-tipped paws slashed through my leg. My Health pool protected me from the bulk of the damage, but a small gash still formed on my thigh. I held strong, though, and the beast roared as its Health continued to drain. I could tell the Stamina loss was getting to it, too, but it didn’t give up, fighting more fiercely as its situation got worse.

In a burst of strength, it ripped itself from my grip, taking care to get out of my grabbing distance and shooting me with a look that I failed to dodge.

You have struck Level 9 Wood Wraith for 54 damage and drained 27 Stamina over the course of 4.9 seconds using Noxious Grasp.

15.4 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 79.

You have been inflicted with sickness. 18 damage. 9 Stamina drain.

Your Health is 35. Your Stamina is 56.

I fought the urge to double over in nausea. I needed to stay alert to any counterattack; my Health was already low, and I needed to ensure I didn’t take any more clumsy hits. I squared off with the monster, readying my hands in a way that blocked direct eye contact, and then lunged in. It bit out, surprising me and grazing my arm, but I twisted out of the way to avoid any major damage.

You have been bitten by teeth. 12 damage.

Your Health is 23.

But my lunge succeeded, and I got a solid grasp on the already-tired Wood Wraith. My arms wrapped around its throat and my legs wrapped around its back, it had no solid way to get me off but to try and throw me. And it did try, bucking its body in an attempt to loosen my grip. But I held strong, using my trained arms and legs to keep myself fastly attached to the beast.

But soon, it began to tire, slowing down and eventually collapsing to the ground, resigning itself to its fate.

You have struck Level 9 Wood Wraith for 174 damage and drained 87 Stamina over the course of 15.8 seconds using Noxious Grasp.

49.9 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 29.

You have slain Level 9 Wood Wraith.

You have earned 47 XP. Your XP is 75.

I lay down, breathing heavily. I was never going to get used to that nausea glare. I was bleeding from a few spots, but it wasn’t too bad – certainly nothing that a little time wouldn’t fix. After killing that monster, I was resting at 76/100 XP, so I was almost to the next Level! I looked at my Health, though, and was a bit more discouraged. 23/120... I wasn’t going to be able to fight anything for a while. I wasn’t personally too hurt, but that measly amount of Health wasn’t going to protect me from anything; even a single claw strike from a monster would be enough to rip off an arm.

I didn’t regret my attack on the monster, but I wished it had gone a bit more favorably. Now that I was so low on Health, I’d have to operate very carefully for at least the rest of the day – probably longer.

I thought about going back to kill the Wood Wraith again. The extra XP would be enough to get me another Level, and not only that, I would probably be able to guide the fight with my knowledge to avoid taking as much damage.

It would take the whole rest of the day to recharge my use, but with the amount of Health I’d hopefully be able to get back, and the additional Level helping me out, I’d probably be able to make things work. Besides, I had an idea brewing in the back of my mind that would hopefully protect me from danger – at least, protect me from the dangers posed by monsters.

Yeah, it was decided. I’d go back and do the fight again. I went ahead and used my Time Loop Talent, careful not to waste more time.

In the smoky, black ‘in-between’ space, I glanced at my two options. The one-minute return was in the middle of the fight, whereas the two-minute return would put me back in my shelter. I selected the two-minute option, and–

And I was back, sitting up in the middle of my little hut. I jolted as my consciousness was shoved into a different time, blinking as I got used to it. Slowly, I got up and out of my shelter, looking down at the Wood Wraith drinking down at the river. Mimicking my movements from before, I rushed down and tackled it, keeping near its back where it couldn’t reach me. But in its completely un-weakened state, it was still able to throw me.

You have struck Level 9 Wood Wraith for 41 damage and drained 20 Stamina over the course of 3.7 seconds using Noxious Grasp.

11.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 93.

It charged at me as I shielded my eyes, and leapt out of the way, tackling it and dodging the claw strike that had hit me last time. I maintained my grasp a bit better this time, the Stamina drain of my Spell quickly doing its work and weakening the monster. However, this time my grip must have been different, because it somehow maneuvered its head around to aim its glare at me, catching me off-guard with a flood of sickness.

You have been inflicted with sickness. 18 damage. 9 Stamina drain.

Your Health is 61. Your Stamina is 56.

In my moment of nausea-induced weakness, the Wood Wraith twisted from my grip, tearing itself away and attempting to bite me. But I dodged, leaving us separated.

You have struck Level 9 Wood Wraith for 59 damage and drained 30 Stamina over the course of 5.4 seconds using Noxious Grasp.

17.1 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 76.

I immediately went in for another tackle, not wanting to give the monster a chance to recover. I caught it in my grasp, and, like last time, managed to restrain it for long enough that Noxious Grasp drained away its Stamina. And, after siphoning away its Health for a bit longer, it died.

15

Stamina:

56/69

Stamina/Minute:

0.432

Intelligence:

2

Mana:

29/160

Mana/Minute:

3

Spells:

Talents:

Titles:

Noxious Grasp 2 - XP 2/14

Time Loop 2

Trailblazer

I gazed at my Status proudly. Level 2 in such a short time! I was sure that other people had gotten to my point more quickly – it was common for children of nobles to spend copious amounts of money hiring adventurers to escort them through fights, earning lots of XP without much actual risk to themselves – but they had money and people to help them along. All I had going into this were the clothes on my back and half a canteen of water, so I felt like my pride was deserved.

I was curious as to when I’d be getting my next Spell, though. Honestly, the anticipation of seeing what my options would be was killing me. Noxious Grasp was such a helpful piece of magic that I couldn’t help but get excited about what I’d get access to next.

I was also curious to see how Time Loop would evolve. I'd checked the new Rank of the Talent immediately after seeing it'd Ranked up again, but I didn't see anything unexpected – it could just take me back 3 minutes, instead of 2. Seemed like that'd be how it increased in power every Rank, then. But that didn't mean it would always be stuck like this. Spells, for example, every 10 Ranks, would let you choose one of three unique Upgrades to add to the Spell. Things like greatly increasing range or damage were common, but other Upgrades offered the option to add on completely separate effects – such as having a damaging Spell also restore the caster’s Health. So it was possible Time Loop could eventually receive an Upgrade like that.

Obviously, I was anticipating Noxious Grasp’s Rank 10 Upgrade and seeing the opportunities it would offer me, but I was also curious as to whether Time Loop would work the same way. I hadn’t heard of a Talent with Ranks like Spells before, but I imagined that if it paralleled a Spell’s progression path so far, it was at least possible it would continue to in the future.

Anyway, now that I had used up Time Loop for the day, I would need to be much more careful. Even though I hadn’t had the Class for long, knowing that if I died I’d get a do-over had given me a lot of peace of mind, and quite honestly, I’d gotten a bit too used to it. Now that I’d been stripped of this protection, I felt a very strong aversion to getting into any sort of fight. However, out here in the wilderness, there was always the possibility of some predator sneaking up and ambushing me.

But that’s where that idea I mentioned before came in. I would have to abandon my little shelter, but hopefully it’d be worth it. So, I got up and began heading out to my destination.

Since I’d spent most of my Mana in the fight with the Wood Wraith, it was going to take about an hour to totally recharge. And since I was waiting for it to recharge, that meant no more casting practice. It should have been a relief that I wouldn’t have to do it anymore, but, well, I missed it. The previously uncomfortable activity had definitely become a soothing habit that I took solace in performing, and it felt downright wrong to not be doing it. Not actively distressing, or anything, just... like I was forgetting something. I was antsy, fiddling with my hands and tugging at loose threads on my tattered shirt in lieu of the fiddling with my Mana that I was used to doing.

In fact...

A puff of poison fumes steamed off of my body as I activated Noxious Grasp for a half second.

Yeah, that felt so much better.

I was still going to let my Mana regenerate, but... maybe once every few minutes I’d go ahead and give myself a cast, as a treat. I was earning 3 Mana per minute after my most recent Level-up, so casting a second of Noxious Grasp would only actually consume sixty seconds worth of regeneration. In that sense, casting it once every three or four minutes just to calm my mind wouldn’t slow my regeneration down too much.

Oh, also, I was at my destination! It was a relatively short trip, so it only took about half an hour to walk here. And where was ‘here,’ exactly? Well... it was just another part of the forest, so it didn’t visually look all that different, just another stretch of river I’d parked myself next to, but the location was still significant! Specifically, I was now within the Nymph’s territory!

Yep, that scary monster that had killed me! I was now trespassing right in its own house!

Okay, it wasn’t as stupid as it sounds, I swear!

So, Nymphs had that whole ‘empathy’ thing, right? They felt the emotions of all nearby monsters, and monsters could feel the emotions of the Nymph. Well, the range on that was pretty far. Far enough that I could be within it without being at significant risk that the Nymph itself would actually find my little hideout. But all the monsters in the area would still be able to feel the Nymph’s emotions. And, as long as the Nymph wasn’t pissed off at me or something, it would probably be pretty calm, which would in turn calm down all the nearby monsters!

So, basically, none of the monsters around here would actually be in the mood to fight me. Wasn’t that sweet?

Yeah, yeah, the plan wasn’t all upside. First off, there was still some risk that the Nymph would find me. Now, I was in a lot better shape than I was last time the Nymph found me and killed me – I actually had some food and water in my body now, at least – so I’d hopefully be able to flee in that situation, but really, my plan was to just hope that didn’t happen.

At the end of the day, it was just a numbers game. Sure, if the Nymph found me, it’d most likely kill me. However, the Nymph was just one monster. If I went without its protection, then I’d have to hide from every monster in the whole forest. So, sure, I was exposing myself to danger by being here, but everywhere else out here was even more dangerous. I was just choosing the lesser of two evils.

The second downside was less obvious, but no less painful. While I was here in the Nymph’s sphere of influence, I’d be safe from monsters, sure. However, I also wouldn’t be able to kill anything, either. The minute I attacked something, the Nymph would certainly be alerted that something was up, and it’d be over for me. So, basically, it was a mutual truce between me and the monsters. They couldn’t kill me, and I couldn’t farm them for XP.

So I was mainly just planning on sitting out here and relaxing, regenerating my Health and practicing my casting.

And, of course, by ‘relaxing’ I meant desperately hiding from a being that could kill me in an instant! What fun!

But hey, at least while I was waiting I could get my Spell Ranks up!

Alright! Time for the highest-stakes game of hide-and-seek I’ve ever played!