Chapter 33: Aftermath

Chapter 33: Aftermath

We had killed the Infernal, but now I was pinned underneath it, the beast’s giant body completely smothering me. I pushed up against it, trying to lift the Demon up so I could get out, but the damned thing was too heavy.

“Erani!” I yelled. “Help me get out!”

I heard a muffled response, and after a few seconds of waiting, I felt her struggling to lift it. I pushed with her, and, with our strengths combined, we managed to get the corpse up for long enough that I could slide away. The corpse crashed to the ground the moment we let go.

I got to my feet, breathing heavily from the fight, and immediately noticed something different about the way I could move. My muscles felt more limber, like I had a wider range of motion, and I felt more aware of my surroundings. Then, I remembered the Level up I had gotten, and how Recursive Growth had activated, giving me an extra point of Dexterity. I wasn’t used to such a feeling, having only ever raised Endurance, Conjuration, and Intelligence from Levels. Sure, I’d gotten my 10 base Stats back when I was Unclassed – everyone got 1 in each of their Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity every two years until they turned twenty – but it felt very different when there wasn’t a seven-hundred-day buildup to the Stat increase.

I looked down at my body, but all I saw were my completely ruined clothes. Dirt, mud, and blood – both my red blood and the Infernal’s blue goop – coated them.

“Damn it, these were new,” I muttered to myself.

Erani snorted at my comment, but then suddenly looked worried. “I, listen, I’m really sorry.”

“What? No, I’m not actually upset about the clothes,” I laughed.

“No, I mean, I was the one that needed to take a break, and I was the one that fell asleep. It’s my fault we got caught.”

“Oh. I mean, you didn’t know they would find us. We took a risk, and got unlucky. It happens. The wilderness life takes some getting used to, anyway, so it’s not like I don’t understand needing to sit down for a bit.” I looked around and found a ledge to the trench that wasn’t as steep as the others, and began to crawl my way up. “C’mon. We got pretty far away from those other Infernals, so I don’t think they heard us, but they’ll probably get suspicious once they realize this one isn’t coming back. We need to get out of here.”

“Uh, yeah. Okay.” Erani began climbing up behind me.

Once we got to the top of the miniature ravine, we immediately left the area of the fight. “We just need to get away from the roads for a while,” I said, “at least until my Health isn’t so low.”

“Oh, what are you at?”

“29.”

“Oh my gods, you’re almost dead,” her eyes widened. She immediately rushed over and began checking my bruises and cuts. I felt a sharp pain when she poked at my chest. “Where’s the worst of it?”

“Right there,” I winced, “Ribs. System said they’re fractured.”

“Oh!” She immediately drew her hand back, “I’m sorry!”

“Stop apologizing so much,” I laughed, but the chuckles quickly turned into a pained groan.

“We need to get you rest,” she said worriedly.

“I am not resting after what happened last time,” I smiled. “Besides, we need to find water. We should stay away from roads for a while, so this’ll be a good time to do it. Waterskin’s still more than half full, but our supply wouldn’t last forever. We should keep moving until we get to a river. Then we can rest and–”

While I spoke, I tripped over a rock, failing to catch myself and tumbling to the ground.

You have agitated an open wound. 3 damage.

Your Health is 26.

I gasped and clenched my fist tightly as my ribs screamed at me. Breathing heavily, I struggled back to my feet. I’d gotten an additional point of Dexterity from my Level up, and I certainly felt better for it, but it obviously wasn’t enough to help out much if I fell. It was only one point, after all.

“Yep, that dealt damage,” I groaned.

“You really need to rest,” Erani said, helping me up.

“Fine. But not here. We have to get out of danger first.”

After another hour of agonizing walking, once we were deep into the forest, I felt like we were safe enough to sit down. Or, rather, to collapse onto the ground, as that’s what I did the second we stopped.

“Alright, I’m gonna be out for a few,” I said, breathing heavily. “I gotta manage a Level up.”

“Oh, you gained a Level?”

“Yeah. Spell Choice. I’ll let you know what I get.”

Clearing my mind was difficult, considering the pain I was in, but eventually it died down and I was able to enter a mindset where I could manage my Level up.

To start with, I looked at my Spell Choice options.

Choose one Spell to learn:

Ray of Frost

School: Cold, Curse

Type: Activated

Cost: 20 Mana

—

Shoots a beam of icy energy from your hands, traveling up to 25 paces and dealing up to 40 damage, depending on where it hits, on a direct collision with a being. Upon being hit, targets are cursed with frostbite for 5 seconds. While they are frostbitten, their Dexterity score is lowered by 5.

Intelligence information:

If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:

Betrothed of Fire

Spiritual Guardian

Gravity Well

Bioshift

School: Alteration, Curse

Type: Activated

Cost: 80 Mana

—

Choose up to two beings within 3 paces of you (can include yourself). You may have those beings get either +10 or -10 to Strength, Endurance, or Dexterity for 30 seconds.

Intelligence information:

If you choose this option, your next Spell options will be:

Growth Spiral

Neoform

Battle Mastery

Bonfire of the Damned

School: Demonic, Fire

Type: Activated

Cost: 140 Mana, 25% of your maximum Health (45 Health)

—

Stamina/Minute:

0.558

Intelligence:

6

Mana:

350/380

Mana/Minute:

7.2

Spells:

Talents:

Titles:

Ray of Frost - XP 0/10

Recursive Growth

Trailblazer

Crippling Chill 3 - XP 1/20

Time Loop 6

Noxious Grasp 9 - XP 54/355

I opened my eyes and left the meditative state. My Soft Cap had increased up to Rank 4 when I Leveled up, which meant that Crippling Chill and Ray of Frost could both Rank up with minimal practice.

“I’m gonna test out my new Spell,” I said to Erani, who was sitting across from me in the small clearing we were taking a break in.

I found a tree that looked far enough away, held out my hand like I’d seen Erani do in the past, and closed my eyes, letting my Mana be guided into a new, unfamiliar pattern within my mind. After a few seconds, once everything had fallen into place, I felt a cool energy gather within my palm, and I expelled it. I opened my eyes to see a bright blue beam of icy energy shoot through the wilderness, colliding with the tree and covering the impact zone with frost. The tree shook slightly from the hit, and I could see pieces of bark flake off.

Threshold reached. Ray of Frost XP has reached 10.

Ray of Frost Rank has increased to 1.

Due to Ray of Frost Rank reaching 1, it has undergone the following changes:

Mana Cost: From 20 to 20.5

Damage: From 40 to 42

Dexterity Debuff: From 5 to 5.25

I closed my eyes and cast again, this time a bit faster as I got used to the pattern of Mana. The tree shook again. I repeated this over and over until the Spell got up to Rank 4.

Threshold reached. Ray of Frost XP has reached 11.

Ray of Frost Rank has increased to 2.

Due to Ray of Frost Rank reaching 2, it has undergone the following changes:

Mana Cost: From 20.5 to 21

Damage: From 42 to 44.1

Dexterity Debuff: From 5.25 to 5.51

Threshold reached. Ray of Frost XP has reached 14.

Ray of Frost Rank has increased to 3.

Due to Ray of Frost Rank reaching 3, it has undergone the following changes:

Mana Cost: From 21 to 21.5

Damage: From 44.1 to 46.3

Dexterity Debuff: From 5.51 to 5.79

Threshold reached. Ray of Frost XP has reached 20.

Ray of Frost Rank has increased to 4.

Due to Ray of Frost Rank reaching 4, it has undergone the following changes:

Mana Cost: From 21.5 to 22

Damage: From 46.3 to 48.6

Dexterity Debuff: From 5.79 to 6.08

Due to Ray of Frost Rank increasing to Rank 4, Ray of Frost has reached a Soft Cap.

Spell XP gain for Ray of Frost is 50 times slower until your Level increases past the Soft Cap.

Increase your Level to 8 to increase your Soft Cap.

Then, after that, I cast Crippling Chill, pushing my Mana through the familiar patterns of the Spell.

Threshold reached. Crippling Chill XP has reached 20.

Crippling Chill Rank has increased to 4.

Due to Crippling Chill Rank reaching 4, it has undergone the following changes:

Mana Cost: From 48.5 to 49.7

Health Drain: From 5.79 to 6.08

Stamina Drain: From 4.63 to 4.86

Dexterity Debuff: From 11.6 to 12.2

Due to Crippling Chill Rank increasing to Rank 4, Crippling Chill has reached a Soft Cap.

Spell XP gain for Crippling Chill is 50 times slower until your Level increases past the Soft Cap.

Increase your Level to 8 to increase your Soft Cap.

With that, all of my Spells had reached the Soft Cap. My Mana had gone down quite a bit from all the casting, now at 176/380, but it was nothing that half an hour of waiting couldn’t fix. I got up to my feet, my chest still hurting, but the pain offset by the sense of progress in my heart. I felt a lot more capable of handling fights like the one with the Infernal.

“Alright,” I said to Erani, “rest’s over. Let’s go.”