I pulled the aura away from the behemoth, raising my hands and shouting, “I didn’t mean to fight. I surrender. Please, don’t hurt me.”
The Sentinel slammed its spear into the ground, quaking the entire cave. It announced,
“I accept your surrender. I will not do so again.”
The violet prisms of energy waned before dissipating from around it. Its presence waned from overwhelming to merely oppressive. It stared forward, ignoring my existence entirely. I pace up,
“So…what are you exactly?”
“I am a Sentinel of Schema.”
I frowned before spreading my hands to it, “So uh, is that all you do or?”
“I guard the entrance and exit of this rift. Schema deems certain dungeons as highly dangerous, giving extra rewards for the extra danger within them. Anyone who enters is ‘gambling’ as your species calls it. You have gambled, so now you will pay the price for the risk you’ve undertaken.”
I frowned, “Uh, no I didn’t. I was just warped here. Is that the exit? Because I would really like to leave right about now.”
“No. The only way to leave this dungeon is by killing the riftkeeper. The guardian here is and has been Baldag-Ruhl, of Many.”
My assumption was right. That thing was way stronger than me. I waved my hands, “How strong are you compared to that thing?”
“Stronger than it or you will ever be.”
“Huh…We’ll see. Either way, can you let me out?”
“No.”
“The thing is, I didn’t actually want to enter this dungeon. I was warped in when reality warped a while back.”
“That cannot happen. Schema automatically spawns all members of the dominant, sentient species of newly acquiesced planets to tutorial zones. You cannot spawn in a dungeon, therefore, you are lying.”
I blinked before locking eyes with its facemask, “That doesn’t make sense. I warped into here.”
It kept its gaze facing forward,
“If you did, you didn’t, since it cannot be.”
I spread my arms, “But, I’m here without ever entering the tutorial.”
“No you are not. You are here, meaning you passed the tutorial.”
“Man, ok, asshole. How about this, can you see my menu screens?”
“I am not the defecatory duct for releasing solid waste matter. And yes, I can see them.”
“Then that’s enough to prove it to you.”
I open my perk menu, showing the grayed out screen with the Beginner perk unselected. An awkward silence passed over us before it stated,
“There is no known way of spawning outside of Schema’s tutorial zone.”
“Then there shouldn’t be any way to leave the tutorial without selecting these perks, right?”
“Affirmative.”
I rolled my hands, “So I’m out of the tutorial zone without selecting these perks. See how this isn’t adding up?”
Another strained silence passed over us. It turned its head to me, “You may leave my proximity.”
I pointed at the door, “Does that mean BloodHollow?”
“No.”
I facepalmed before pointing both my hands at him, “Now wait a minute. I’m not trying to break any rules or anything. What you just said is what I’m working with. An error occurred and I’m just trying to get it fixed, alright?”
The Sentinel sighed, “Schema didn’t make a mistake.”
I threw my hands up in frustration before changing the subject, “Ok, can you at least tell me what the Schema is and what it wants?”
“All fundamental knowledge of Schema is given out during the tutorial. I will not repeat it for you.”
I closed my eyes, holding them shut for a second. This was ridiculous.
“So…in other words, you can’t do anything but stand there?”
“I am capable of many other functions…but yes, all I do is guard this gate currently.”
I let out a long sigh. I tilted my head at it, “Then can you tell me what you think of the Schema?”
“It is a construct benevolent beyond measure.”
“How?”
It opened its menu, letting me see a video feed from a far off place. It showed a picture of the Milky Way. The Sentinel pointed at the image with his spear,
“What you understand as the universe is an unstable entity. Within the infinity of it, there are cracks formed from its expansion. These cracks will rupture, letting things out. Horrors, abominations that should not exist and don’t…as long as they stay within those cracks instead of here.”
The guard glanced up, “Schema stabilizes these cracks. It prevents the fissures and allows assimilated worlds to fight against the incoming tide of horrors. Your world is lucky we found you before you were consumed utterly.”
My brow furrowed, “Wait a minute…consumed. What do you mean consumed?”
“You’ve seen the weakest spawns from those cracks. Know this – what you see is merely the beginning. These monsters will pour forth in an unending tide, a torrent dark and brimming with hunger. An unstoppable hunger, a ravenous starvation that your flesh and blood will satiate.”
He tapped my chest with the hilt of his spear, “If you allow them. Those things have no form before coming here. Once they have manifested, they eat, and they never stop. Even I struggle against the most advanced among them. As is, your world is nothing but an easy feast.”
My heart raced in my chest. This dungeon wasn’t the first or the last of these places. Wanting more info, I raised a hand, “Then the Schema, or Schema is here to help.”
“Only if you survive the Culling.”
I winced, “So, uh, what do you mean by the Culling?”
“Your questions tire me. Read the data entries in your codex regarding basic, fundamental details of Schema owned space.”
I opened my mouth for another question, but the Sentinel raised a palm to me, “Silence.”
We waited there for a bit before I pointed at the wall, “Can you at least help me out of this hole then?”
The Sentinel loomed over me before stabbing its spear into the ground. The behemoth cracked its knuckles,
“Gladly.”
The Sentinel wrapped its hands around my torso. It reared me back like a ragdoll before slinging me through the air. I flew with the grace of a bird, but, you know, with both its wings broken. I landed on my legs, but the bones of my shins snapped like twigs. I cringed, suppressing a scream.
Within five minutes of waiting, my legs rejuvenated. After that undertaking, I gawked at the Sentinel guarding the dungeon’s exit. At least it gave me someone to talk to, even if only for a few minutes. It gave me some info to work with as well, like some kind of culling going on outside BloodHollow.
If that sounded as bad as it was, I needed to get out of here and find Michael and Kelsey before someone else did. I may even check on my dad. Taking a breath, I went about slaying bats while slinging obscenities around about the Sentinel’s mother. If it had one, of course. Petty, maybe, but so was breaking my damn legs. After an hour of cursing, I reached another pool with another crimson bear.
The level seventy six beast slumbered just like the last. I pumped myself up with a couple pats to my cheeks. Once revved up, I charged straight at the bear. I smashed my fist into the bear’s nose, breaking it like the last one. With my new gauntlets and my extra constitution, the bear no longer felt as hard as iron.
It mirrored wood instead. The difference may not sound substantial, but punching a rock versus a tree makes a huge difference. Stone bites back like a cobra against a fist. It outright crumbled the bones to fractured fragments. Wood resisted more like punching a forehead. Hard, but it gave a little.
Sometimes, a little meant a lot. It made keeping my eyes open a lot easier since I didn’t want to close them each time I punched. That let me see this bear attempt another quick ground slam to blow me back. Seeing it coming, I jumped up. The shockwave and rumble passed under me, only sending me back a foot or two.
My feet dragged on stone before I dashed forward. Slicing claws shaved the top of my head while I slammed a fist into its side. It gnarled its teeth, but I turned sideways, uppercutting its jaw. Another swipe of its paws, and I ducked under them once more.
I was ready for its tricks this time. As Agony burned the beast down, it realized it wasn’t ready for mine. The grueling battle lasted another hour, but I stayed standing while it fell. With only scrapes and bruises, I rolled my shoulders over the beast as it died.
During that fight, I noted the extra heft constitution gave me. That was why its ground pound didn’t send me flying. The bear even headbutted me in my chest at one point, yet I kept on my feet. Sliding a ways back, sure, but I wasn’t sent tumbling off into the distance.
A notification gave me a satisfying, dopamine releasing ping, and I gained another level. It was addictive, in a way. Wanting to see how much exp I had left for my next level, a little bar of yellow appeared under my hp bar.
It was over 3/4’s the way full. A few more bat’s and I’d be level 45. I ate some bear, turned off Agony, and called good old Baldag-Ruhl. He at the bear in the most terrifying way possible, and I went to sleep after he left. Hiding in the leftover bear skin, I rested well with Agony on for once.
**********************************************
I rose in the skin the next day, my head clear and in control. After a few swallows of water, I trekked out into the day. After an hour of traveling, I caved in a bat’s skull with a stomp before I gained another level.
Things were on the up and up. I placed another point into constitution before the perk screen appeared.
[Willful(Willpower of at least 10) – Your willpower is good. Doubles mana regeneration.]
[Disciplined(Willpower of at least 20) – Your willpower is excellent. Willpower adds an extra 1% mana regen for every 1% missing max mana. Your mana can form a shield around you, blocking 1 damage for every 2 points of mana.]
[Hulking(Constitution of at least 20) – Your constitution is excellent. Doubles mass and density gain from each point in constitution. Doubles the hardness of bones.]
[Fledgling(Reach level 5) – You’ve just started learning. +10% to experience.]
[Beginner(Reach level 10) – Now you know a little. You can step out of the tutorial zone now.]
The perks this time didn’t give me an easy choice like the last couple times. Of course, I only had two options, but I was still torn. The mana shield sounded amazing. I mean, it effectively gave me my mana at extra hit points when I needed them. Hulking, on the other hand, gave me an excellent way of increasing my damage potential.
Both were tempting choices. In the end, I went for Hulking since I would still be investing points into constitution past this. When I finalized the selection, the change was immediate and dramatic.
I steadily built up my constitution over several days, making the increase in weight subtle. When I selected finalize, my weight doubled.
My bones turned to steel. My skin turned like wood. When I slammed my hand into the stone floor beneath me, my gauntleted fists made a thin sheen of powder. I could crush stone with my hits.
I waved my arms around, their heft like hammers. My legs acted the same, making me feel slow and awkward. With over twenty four constitution, I got over 50% damage resistance. I was over twice as tough now, and it showed. Compared to my pre-Schema self, I was over ten times bulkier. That wasn’t even factoring in my hp regen or Agony either.
The only problem was that my body fought back each time I moved. I couldn’t jump as well anymore, and trying anything remotely technical became an impossibility. When I checked out my status screen, a debuff showcased my feelings precisely.
Overencumbered – You are carrying more than is reasonable for your current strength. Stamina consumption doubled.
The Determinator paths almost eliminated this weakness with all my stamina regeneration. Without them, I’d burn through my stamina in a few minutes. It made me wary of constitution, as the attribute could start causing problems. I kept that in mind when planning out the rest of my build. Killing Baldag would require mobility, after all.
That was a pipe dream at the moment, so I picked up my pace before finding another pool in the distance. It glistened, a yellow star amidst a sea of gloom. Once upon it, the center of it carried a giant eel curled in a charged loop. Vibrant crescents of lightning radiated from its skin. The water mirrored liquid gold with how it shined.
I gawked at the beauty, stunned by it for a second. The eel locked eyes with me, knocking me out of my daydream. Its bottom jaw carried several curved teeth like tusks. It opened and snapped the jaw like a crocodile’s mouth.
If it bit something, it wouldn’t let it go. The cheeks of the eel hung off it in wrinkled humps, just like a bulldog’s. Schema recognized the eel once I got closer.
Bloody Bolt Eel | Level 80 – An evolved version of the Bolt Eel, the Bloody Bolt Eel lashes out at adventurers trying to come near its pool. With tremendous biting strength and powerful, long range electricity for attacks, this beast shouldn’t be underestimated, or else you’ll face electrocution.
As I got closer, the eel uncoiled and turned towards me. A deafening, blinding streak of lightning passed over towards a nearby stalagmite. Finding a thick pillar of stone, I darted behind it as streaks of energy crackled through the air. Goosebumps formed over my skin as my hair stood on end.
From behind that pillar, I closed my eyes with glowing marks lingering from the flash of blinding plasma. The eel thrashed in the water, launching dozens of arcs of electricity towards me. The sheer volume of bolts riddled the cavern with dark streaks. The single eel created a thunderstorm in this tiny hall.
The lights left every bat fleeing in terror, and I’d have joined them if I could. If I stood out from behind the rock pillar, I’d have died in an instant. But, you see, I was behind the rock. The eel remained in Agony’s range, and over time, it melted into a black ether.
Level Up! One Level Gained.
The leveling had really slowed down since I got past level forty, but each point mattered more now than before. I placed a point into constitution, bumping up my heft and durability further. After calling Baldag-Ruhl, the beetles swarmed up. They found me finishing some eel with my hair standing on end.
“Yo, what’s up?”
The beetles formed a mouth, “What are you eating?”
I gestured to the beast, “An electrified eel. It’s tastes way better than the bear.”
“And you wish for me to indulge on this as a replacement for the bear meat?”
“I was hoping so, yeah.”
It raged into the eel’s maw, insects bursting out of the thin hide. I scrambled from the monster before Baldag’s voice radiated,
“These will do nicely. You’re doing well. Very well.”
“Any rewards?”
“Not yet, little lamb, but soon. Soon, I will give you much.”
He kept an ominous touch to his voice, but pretty much everything out of his mouth sounded malevolent. Trekking onwards, I found other pools of vibrant yellow. These yellow pools made for easy, simple gains compared to the bears.
I ran up, hid behind a boulder or thickened stalactite, and then the eel died over time. It only took about thirty minutes a pop. Getting to each pool was more difficult than the fights themselves, actually.
I reached level forty nine in a flash before I reached another set of pools. The first pool glowed a bright, steel gray. In the pool’s sheen was a giant cluster of rocks that moved in a tornado kind of formation. Passing close, Schema identified the creature.
BloodHollow Golem | Level 90 – These are golems given life by ambient energy from nearby pools. This mana produces a golem as a guard, mimicking acts of sentience. Many philosophers have debated whether or not these sources of ambient mana are actually sentient. While never coming to a consensus, what they all agree on is that the golems are extremely dangerous.
You would be wise to heed their words.
To be honest, I didn’t know if agony would affect a bunch of floating rocks. That and its high level scared me off. Instead, I hunted bats between each cavern while training my skills. I found that the harder I tried, the more skills I gained. Willpower worked hand in hand with this, allowing relatively rapid gains for my skills.
I wasn’t so lucky with levels. By now, the bats yielded minimal experience. Even after five hours, I gained zero levels. I killed over a hundred bats before I finally got the notification for level fifty. Grinding the bats turned into a tedious, mind-numbing chore by now. If not for my enhanced willpower, I wouldn’t have stomached it.
Still, I wanted that juicy constitution perk. I put yet another point into that attribute, and the next set of perks appeared once more.
[Willful(Willpower of at least 10) – Your willpower is good. Doubles mana regeneration.]
[Disciplined(Willpower of at least 20) – Your willpower is excellent. Willpower adds an extra 1% mana regen for every 1% missing max mana. Your mana can form a shield around you, blocking 1 damage for every 2 points in mana.
[Titanic(Constitution of 25 or higher) – Your constitution is incredible. Half of damage resistance is applied to other resistances. 1/10th of your constitution is added to strength.]
[Fledgling(Reach level 5) – You’ve just started learning. +10% to experience.]
[Beginner(Reach level 10) – Now you know a little. You can step out of the tutorial zone now.]
Titanic floored me with how incredible and timely it was. The perk patched up my strength problem while making my defenses more well rounded. It reminded me of the upper tiers of the endurance perks.
They both had the theme of rounding out their attribute’s innate weakness. For example, if I invested heavily into endurance, but lacked willpower, I couldn’t use endurance effectively. It required tremendous will to get the benefits of endurance, after all.
The extra willpower from the endurance perks helped with that. Investing heavily into constitution made strength an issue, but once again, the perk trees helped alleviate the issue.
I’m sure the strength perks would help with dexterity, since greater strength required greater control to use it. That kind of foresight was appreciated, especially since it helped patch some of the numerous innate problems with my build.
After thinking about it, I finalized Titanic and the constitution point. I took a step back, my flesh writhing as energy shifted through me. The matter and even my mind reorganized into stable, powerful chains, locking me in place. The air around me turned lukewarm. I walked over, putting my hand against rock.
It wasn’t as cool to the touch. Even more, my body expanded. The ground didn’t press against my feet. My feet pressed into the ground. The cells across my body thickened, adding strips of mass and muscle onto my frame. My weight evened out a bit as my gaunt limbs filled out some.
When I clenched my fist, a new power returned from my fingers. As if exploding with energy, I leapt, rolled, sprinted, and punched with abandon. Endurance was hard to notice. Constitution had been a slow, gradual process. By comparison, strength, well, strength was like liquid power. Every single point made a monumental difference.
You could even say the difference was…titanic.
Poorly placed puns aside, I finished jumping off the walls and raced off to test my newfound strength against the golem. Of course, I prepared myself for a tough fight. The perk gave me confidence, but my days of struggle wouldn’t be so easily forgotten.
By then, I had came close to dying many times, from the first bat to the first bear. Both took me to the edge of my abilities. Despite that fear, gaining levels had slowed down to an abysmal crawl. Killing over a hundred bats over eight hours may have sounded fun…Oh wait, that’s right; it didn’t.
It was even worse living through the process, let me tell you. It had the effect of making me sloppy instead of sharp, like smashing a sword against a rock. I had to push my limits for any real results, and that would keep me on my toes too.
Speaking of results, I checked out my treepoints and found fifty-seven points unallocated. With a few quick presses, I had nearly 400 points in Determinator. A little quick grinding would get me the next notification.
With a bit of brainstorming, I gained and leveled up a few skills, like Swimming, Climbing, and Jumping. I got five skill levels worth of them before putting the points in Determinator. A quick notification sounded out like music to my ears.
There is no stopping a Determinator. They don’t understand surrender or compromise. This stems not from stupidity but from defiance. They are resolute in their faith. They worship their own wills, feeding them fuel for the returning fire. +10% to endurance. +10% to willpower.
With the extra damage added onto Agony, I moved towards the earthen golem with a slow sneak. Once I reached it, I found a thick shield of air surrounding it. Closer to water, this thickness permeated near the pool. When I tapped it, the golem flew towards me.
Angry as a hornet, the golem’s boulder body turned into a set of arms and legs as it landed near me. Placing a palm against the thick air, I pushed through when a jumbled voice gurgled back,
“Leave me. I am. You are. Not kill…me.”