"Tits," I croaked out. I felt like I was underwater in every way except breath, and pain was its undercurrent. My throat was parched and my arms felt impossibly stiff as I tried to move. Without much success, I tried focusing on my other senses. My nose picked out the very clear scents of blood and sweat, and the must of the cave. My tongue was less useful, feeling more like a waterlogged sponge inside of my mouth. "Alive," I managed to let out.
A bit of disgusting mess rose from my throat, and without opening my eyes, I turned my head and spat... something onto the ground. I was on my back, though my head was slightly elevated.
"Disgusting. Also, tits alive?" a voice rang out. Smooth. Male. Young. Nathan, my memory told me.
"How... augh, hurts. How long have I been out? Water?"
"Here," a more measured voice came, much closer to my head. With effort, I pried my eyelids open and blinked away the nauseating spin as I put my sights on a young woman with piercing features, who was holding the waterskin down to me. Rachel, myhead dredged up. Without a second thought, when it was brought down to me, I quaffed the thing, resulting in me choking slightly and sputtering some of the water out.
"Shit," I coughed, "sorry."
"We have plenty," the raven-haired beauty said. I gazed up at her, and the soft lights of the cave almost created a halo over her.
"Fuck, you're pretty," I said between swallows.
Rachel blushed slightly, and raised an eyebrow. "I know, but perhaps this isn't the best time?" Confident, too. Damn.
"That line might work better when you're not covered in blood," Nathan said. I managed to raise my head a little this time, looking over at him. He sat nonchalantly against the wall in a rickety wooden chair. He wasn't all unharmed, however. His left arm was cradled in a makeshift sling, stained slightly with blood.
I narrowed my eyes. Was that one of my cloaks? "You're one to talk, Nathan. How's the arm?"
"This thing?" He responded, poking at it with his good hand. "Scythe bastards got it good. Hoping it'll heal up like my leg, but hoping you'll be better quick too. You took a nasty hit."
I looked around, trying to shake off the fog in my mind. "What is this place? What happened after I dropped?"
"I finished my foes and assisted Nathan with his enemies," Rachel responded, sitting back from assisting me. "I saw you down, but he was actively in battle, and losing."
"Hey!"
"So, I helped him finish those off, and stabilized you by binding you in one of the cloaks you had. It probably won't survive much longer, but it stanched your wounds, and I'm sure you'd rather be alive than have one more thin sheet."
"Fair," came my response. "Help me sit up?"
"Take it easy," Rachel's response came, but nonetheless helped me get to a sitting position.
Once settled, I looked around more. We were in an actual room, that looked properly carved and that had some space to it and furniture. Several large wooden barrels were stacked on one end, with two doorways on opposite sides. There was only one chair available, taken by Nathan, and a pile of wooden detritus next to it.
Rachel continued. "We looked for a place to hide. With you incapacitated and Nathan wounded, proceeding would be ridiculously foolhardy. One of the two exits from that chamber went on, further in, but the other one came to this stopping place. We discussed it and decided to take a full rest here and take advantage of this strange room."
"Can we afford to stop? We're gonna run out of food and water," I worried, feeling a little guilty about my spitting up some of the precious liquid.
"Hah," Nathan said, and stood up to walk over to one of the barrels. He reached in, and tossed something at me. Trussed up as I was, I couldn't catch it, but it landed close enough for me to grab and bring closer by bending my elbow. It was a long piece of brown substance, curved in odd ways, with stringy veins throughout. "Jerky," he said. He slapped the barrel next to it. "Water. Somehow not shitty."
"I guess this place is some sort of outpost then? What do you call a partway point in a mine? Fuck."
Nathan laughed. "Doesn't matter. We need rest, and here's a place to rest. Even better, there's the thing over there," he said, pointing to the doorway on my right. I looked over. "Stats thing. Lets you look at your stuff and level up?"
"A Lens?" I asked in response. Here? Labyrinths were odd.
"Yeah, if that's what they're called."
"That is indeed what they are called," Rachel added. "We didn't want to risk going in and leaving one of us out here unable to assist if trouble came knocking, but we can go in one by one with you awake. How are you feeling?"
"Well enough to point at a bug and knock it on its ass with magic," I responded, trying to stir more properly. "Probably got a concussion, though. A long bit of rest wouldn't hurt, if we indeed heal faster than normal."
"I certainly hope so," the woman responded. "I am not really trained, but I do know that internal injuries, especially head ones, can become very problematic if left alone in a bad way."
I tried to shrug, but found my shoulders too bound to do so. I was glad, it probably would have been a bit painful. "True, but what option do we have?"
"You're the shittiest off, so you go in there first," Nathan sounded. Rachel nodded in response. I was helped to my feet, and guided over to the entrance, feeling slightly lightheaded and in pain but otherwise not the worst in my life, surprisingly. I had to be healing faster for sure. Between blood loss and my head injury, I shouldn't have been capable of walking, let alone standing, but here I was. I nodded to her my compatriots and stepped inside.
The interior of the chamber was carved very similarly to the Lens room back at my Sanctuary, but much rougher. The walls were ground away by time, and it seemed like this place was on its last legs, at best. However, with the floating Lens waiting in the middle of the room, I sighed and reached out to touch the thing to get it started. Now, prepared for its antics, I closed my eyes for a moment and waited for my status to appear.
AdultHuman Allison Level 325 Yrs 0 Mos Class:Combat FocusMage Resilience: 25(-13)Mana: 30(-6)Endurance: 10(-7) Afflictions: Fatigued, Inj: Head, Inj: L. Shoulder, Inj: R. ShoulderAffiliations: NoneTraits: 1 PENDING 2 Level Pending Passive Skills: 0 Skill Factor Active Skills: Close CombatMana SenseDecisiveness Mana BoltBasic ParryQuick Cast Dash Okay. 2 Levels pending, but yeah, I needed rest, bad. I was useless right now, past three or four Mana Bolts. We'd been going a while, and it looked like my injuries were actually dragging down my overall stats. I especially didn't like seeing my Resilience down below half.
The obscurity of it all irritated me. Why couldn't I find out what any of this really meant?
Duh. I could ask my new acquaintances. A quick tap powered down the Lens and the exit door reappeared like it usually did, and I opened it. Both of them looked up at me, confused.
"Done already? Surely you have a level or two to ponder," Rachel asked.
"I actually have a question. Is there any way to find out what any of this actually means? Nothing gives descriptions."
The two of them shared a look. "You just... use the Lens," Nathan responded, sounding confused.
"I did. It activates and shows the stuff," I retorted, a bit annoyed. No shit.
"No, you, uh." He started.
"Pick up the Lens while the projection is active, and use it to tap things like a computer mouse," Rachel offered. "Were you not given that information?"
I frowned. "No. Hrm. Thanks." I stepped back inside before I could feel embarrassment from ignorance. It was stupidly simple, and I had assumed that all it did was activate and deactivate based on touches. This time, instead of just tapping it, I picked up the Lens and closed my eyes. After a moment passed, I saw the projection once again, but now had the thing in my grasp.
With an irritated grunt, I struggled to bring the thing up to the upper section with my arms bound. A bit of wriggling and a decent spot of pain later, I touched one of the points of the Lens to my Resilience stat.
Resilience Total: 12Resilience Maximum: 25
Modifiers:
Injured: Head (-5)
Injured: Left Shoulder (-4)
Injured: Right Shoulder (-4)
"Useful," I muttered. It still didn't give a proper definition, but it did show the breakdown of its current negatives. That would be good to know. Best to find out the others, too.
Mana Total: 24Resilience Maximum: 30
Modifiers:
Fatigued (-6)
Endurance Total: 3Resilience Maximum: 10
Modifiers:
Fatigued (-2)
Injured: Head (-3)
Injured: Left Shoulder (-1)
Injured: Right Shoulder (-1)
I was in rough shape for sure, but had a better understanding thanks to the new information. I used the Lens on my Afflictions, but all it did was give the longer versions of the truncated ones. There were more interesting things to find, though.
I held it up to the Traits.
TraitsActive:
None
Pending:
Daredevil
"Daredevil." I used the Lens again, poking it.
"No downsides? Well, damn." Instead of using the lens, I poked the Traits section with my finger, and it simply gave me the option to accept or reject the trait. Without much consideration otherwise, I took it. It's not like I planned to stick my head into the jaws of giant insects often, but it would be nice to have a bonus to survivability when it was necessary.
My skills came next. The levels could come after I better understood what I had.
Not really a Skill, but maybe not yet? Perhaps I had to train it more? I continued.
Okay, that one would definitely get better.
Hopefully quickly. Maybe.
That one was odd, but might explain why I was reacting faster than I should in combat. Especially against that big one, I had come to my plan of action oddly quickly for someone so green. I wondered how far I could take it, but for now, the boon had likely saved my life.
Nice to have the distance thing confirmed, but no cost? Still very barebones, and annoying, but perhaps it would be better for me to intuit how much magic I had instead of relying on numbers I couldn't see in combat.
The weakly thing popping up again was annoying, but it made sense. I was just starting off. Nice to know that it used Endurance, which meant I definitely had to pump it up.
"Oh, damn," I breathed. My silent Bolts were weaker? And I could only do it with weaker spells? An interesting idea though. Against things that couldn't understand me, I should use loud attacks, but sneak in the silent ones where I could and it would throw an enemy off guard. Not that I could really cast that much yet.
I hadn't tried it, but good to know now that up wasn't viable. It was, however, usable in the air, as I'd already demonstrated in our first fight against the mantises.
That was the entirety of my current skills, however, and it was time to go for my new levels. Four would bring me a new Skill, but five was bigger. Kastris had said that it would involve a class. That was admittedly exciting, something that broke through my dull pain. "Nothing to wait for," I urged herself, and tapped the Level Pending button.
Interesting choices, but I could actually find out more this time!
That made enough sense. It also confirmed that the little '1' by the new skills corresponded with the 'tier' of the skill, which I supposed would improve somehow. It wouldn't be the worst thing to have another offensive option.
That would definitely be useful. More perception could only be a good thing.
That was fascinating. I mused over it. It seemed like a very strong option for growth. Though it wouldn't really give me any benefit now (I assumed), it could build into something very powerful. I was so early into this... going for the long shot could really, really be worth it. It meant a little danger now, but everyone knows how tantalizing scaling abilities can be.
I really did not need to consider it for long. The Martial Style was absolutely worth it. I selected that.
That was nice! Hitting level 5 was big. However, I knew immediately my choices. The bigger bonus I pushed into Endurance, and the smaller into Mana. I needed more fighting capacity.
I exhaled in frustration. Though it was nice to have all this information, it was beginning to drag. I hoped this was the last thing, at least for now.
Berserker was out. Even reading the word sent a shudder through my body, and it was by no means my desired goal. Arcanist, though I couldn't be sure, seemed more magic-focused than anything else.
Mageblade sung to me. A gilded combination of steel and spell, a beautiful joining of violence. It was exactly my goal, what I'd already been working on. Without hesitation, I selected the class, and took a new look at my Status.
AdultHuman Allison Level 325 Yrs 0 Mos Class:Mageblade
- Resilience: 25(-13)Mana: 35(-7)Endurance: 20(-14) Afflictions: Fatigued, Inj: Head, Inj: L. Shoulder, Inj: R. ShoulderAffiliations: NoneTraits: Daredevil 0 Level Pending Passive Skills: 0 Skill Factor Active Skills: Close CombatMana SenseDecisiveness Mana BoltBasic ParryQuick CastMartial Style Dash The numbers had changed. That likely meant the injuries affected me on a percentage basis, which made sense. But I was done. "Like a bad infodump," I moped. I replaced the Lens on its spot, and as the displays disappeared, I found the exit and walked out.
Nathan seemed to be snoring softly while Rachel looked up at my approach. "Done now?"
I nodded. "Yep. Hit level 5, and upped my abilities a little. Once I'm more healed, combat will be that much easier."
"Good to hear," she responded. "If you do not mind then, I am going to do the same." She stood and walked past me, not waiting for a response. I raised an eyebrow as the door closed behind her, but said nothing as I sat on the ground.
It was interesting for me to see the door disappear from this end, just simply existing one moment and the next it being a wall. I settled in, too much in pain to relax while Nathan slept, so I just waited.
A few minutes passed, and before too long, the door reappeared and Rachel exited the chamber. She looked a bit disappointed, and shook her head before I even had a chance to ask a question. "No. Level 4. No class for me yet."
"To be fair, though the stat bonus was nice, the class didn't actually give me anything. Just a label," I offered. "Any new treats?"
"Hm. Just a passive skill. What about you?" She responded, walking over and taking a seat against a different section of the wall.
"Same here. Starting to refine a fighting style."
Rachel nodded. "Nathan!" She called. At her yell, the man shot awake and looked around, hand going to his axe. Upon seeing the two of us unharmed and not in combat, he let go of the weapon.
"No need to be so loud. My turn?" He asked, standing from the chair. Rachel nodded, and he headed inside the room as well.
As soon as he was out of sight, Rachel turned to me with a stern look on her face. "I do not like him," she said in a serious tone.
I bit my top lip. "He seems okay but... something about him puts me the wrong way. I don't want to judge him, though, without cause," I responded.
Rachel stared at me for a moment, before pursing her own lips for a moment. "I will not hold imagined wrongs against him. But I will not lower my guard completely."
"What, none of that distrust for me?"
"You are harmless," she huffed. "You keep showing your back to us and letting out all of your secrets. I said I gained a new passive skill, but not for what. You readily admitted that you gained next to nothing."
I frowned. "Well, that's... a bit insulting, but I guess it seems like you're being honest. Fine. I'll accept the trust."
She shook her head. "I do have one thing to note, however." I cocked my head, and Rachel continued. "I cannot reciprocate your attention, if your earlier comment was flirtatious in nature. I am afraid I am uninterested in women."
My cheeks burned. I remembered my outburst from after waking up. "I... okay." I couldn't admit I wasn't interested in Rachel, but it had certainly been a lapse in my filter. "Sorry, that was uncalled for."
The other woman smiled. "I am not offended. I simply wish to curtail any issues before they arise."
I took a deep breath and looked away. I'd been rebuffed worse before. "I'll keep in mind the feedback, then."
It was then that the door reappeared, and Nathan reentered the room. He was perceptive enough to notice the awkward atmosphere, but chose not to comment on it as he returned to his seat. "Got a new passive skill, hit level 4. Anything significant change for our fighting?" He asked as he plopped down. Both of us women shook our heads. "Then let's rest for a while. I just snoozed, so I'll take first watch."
I took a look at Rachel, and shrugged, followed by a flinch of pain at disturbing my injuries. He was injured, so I doubted he would try anything at the moment. Rachel seemed to take a minute to consider, and nodded.
Though it was tense, and though I still hurt, the oblivion of sleep eventually took me, peacefully instead of violently this time.