Chapter 266: Learning on the Job (Patreon)

William Oh took an apprentice under his wing. Within minutes, the student became the master.

-          Jazon Salazar

The predator sensed something was wrong. It had been eating beetles along the shores of this boundless ocean for half its lifetime, and yet, somehow each beetle it ate left it feeling hungrier than it had been before. Mere insects could no longer satisfy.

The predator did not know what could be done to solve this problem. It lacked even the cognition to realize that there was a problem, let alone what it was or howto solve it.

But hunger has it’s own intelligence.

The predator changed its strategy as its hunger grew. It began making bigger nets, woven with fine silk created from the tasty water, wandering further out into the harsh light of day.

It felt exposed and doomed under the sun, but desperate hunger conquered all its doubts as it spun the biggest net it had ever created. If nothing came of it, the predator would die. It didn’t feel much about it, not knowing what death was, simply obeying the demands of its hunger. But it vaguely felt it would be better to eat than not.

The predator’s body and senses were shutting down just about to expire when something massive came along. A planet-sized monstrosity so large that the predator could only see the enormous chunk of it that came into contact with its net, stretching into infinity beyond.

The creature caught on the predator’s net. The physical portion of the net tore away instantly, bearing the predator along for the ride, but the other side of the net immediately went to work on the creature, infecting its miasmatic structures with potent magical venom, trapping it in a web of causality. Reality warped for a brief instant before the planet-sized monster toppled over, it’s heart stopped.

To the predator, it was as if the entire world had suddenly jerked before turning on its side. Large changes like that weren’t terribly uncommon, so the predator thought nothing of it. The predator thought nothing of much, anyway.

The land beneath it began to simmer and sizzle in a strange, hypnotic fashion, glowing with raw miasma.

Something about the glow stimulated the predator’s hunger, and it knelt down and sunk it’s fangs into the land below.

Sweet sustenance flowed into the predator, unlike anything it had ever experienced.

Merely being able to remember if it had experienced it before or not was a miraculous increase in cognition.

In a matter of minutes, the delicious miasma had been sucked out of the world below the predator and it began crumbling to ash, prompting the predator to scuttle away before it was buried in the resulting avalanche.

I did it! I sated my hunger! The predator thought, more in feelings and vague concepts than words, a hint of pride coloring its newly born thoughts.

I! Am! The devourer of WORLDS!

Floor-Wide announcement! A new Raid boss has spawned: The Devourer of Worlds.

The predator, not being able to read, was alarmed by the sudden intrusion into it’s newly birthed thought process, and retreated back to the safety of a nearby dark crevice.

The predator idly nibbled on a beetle as it considered its next move. Then it considered the fact that it could consider its next move. Then it had a mild panic attack as it considered why it could consider its next move.

Four floors below, Will was teaching his new apprentice, who was already better than him at hunting.

“Did you scrub your body with the grass I gave you?” Jorn asked.

“Sure did.” Will said.

“We’re downwind, so it shouldn’t be a problem, but a single gust could be enough to startle them,” Jorn said, his face a mask of concentration.

They were perched high in the rocky hills above a path that the local monsters liked to travel. Jorn was wielding a loaner bow, with several dozen bone arrows in several dozen quivers beside him. Each quiver was embroidered with an image of the monster it specialized in killing, thanks to the local seamstresses.

Will had explained to Jorn that before they decided on any more Abilities and upgrades, they should first get some experience working with the current setup. It was best to get a practical feel for the uses and limitations of a build in real combat before  going crazy with upgrades.

Without testing step-by-step, they might overlook some critical weakness or choose some methods that didn’t suit Jorn’s personal style.

For most Climbers, this process happened naturally, since there was a lot of time and combat between Ability upgrades, but Jorn had been power leveled to 32 as a side-effect of the bus. He had no idea how to use his abilities, and Will had a responsibility to make sure he got the most of the sudden power spike.

“There’s one.” Jorn whispered, slowly and carefully grabbing the bag of razor-lizard arrows as one of the lizards hopped along the trail.

A razor-lizard looked a bit like…Will had no comparison. It had massive thighs that it used to hop around when it was relaxed.

It’s forelimbs were smaller, mostly used for stability and grabbing prey. It had sharp teeth, sharp claws, and a massive blade on Its tail.

When moving at a relaxed pace, it was relatively upright, but when it sighted a prey it wanted to slice a piece off of, it put it’s head down, burst off the ground and began shooting through the air so quickly there should have been an audible sound.

You know, I wonder what part of their magic prevents the hiss of displaced air. I wonder if it’s a physical trick or a magical one. Maybe I could match a fragment of it to my ring of traversal.

Will was always looking patterns in order to tease apart the language of magic.

Jorn, meanwhile was totally focused on the prey below them.

The kid was wearing a borrowed kit, mostly average gear. Will wanted him to get used to hunting with normal gear before he handed him an amulet that made everything else obsolete.

Jorn carefully poked four arrows into the sand beside him as the razor-lizard came closer.

He took a deep breath and swiftly drew the bow back, releasing an instant later.

The shot looked good, the small amount of accuracy correction on the ring Jorn wore was more than enough to make the shot accurate.

The razor-lizard was just too fast.

It spotted the shot and reflexively bucked off the ground, hopping several feet into the air, causing the bone arrow to bury itself into the ground.

“Shit,” Jorn cursed, knocking another arrow and firing it while the monster was still falling.

The bone arrow sank deep into the monsters shoulder an instant before it landed, sending it tumbling backwards.

A third follow-up arrow missed as the razor-lizard burst off the ground, the sun reflecting of it’s tail creating a shining streak across their vision as it charged forward.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Jorn muttered, drawing another arrow and firing it off, missing as the creature zig-zagged up the hill.

Jorn dropped his bow and whipped the last bone arrow out of the ground, holding it in front of the lizard’s charge.

The creature’s claws were spread wide, it’s tail slashing from a low, unexpected angle as Jorn met it with a strangled cry of alarm.

Will’s invisible hands caught the tail before it could go all the way through Jorn’s leg, keeping the wound manageable, and he tweaked the position of the creature’s claws so Jorn didn’t risk losing an eye, instead scraping along his scalp.

“GAH!”

Jorn tumbled to the ground and hastily shoved the creature aside, scrambling backwards, entirely unaware of his own wounds.

“Good job, you got it right through the heart!” Will said, gesturing to the silent lizard, bone feathering sticking out of it’s chest. “Make your totem!”

Jorn nodded, holding out a shaky hand.

Will saw the miasma flow out and capture the creature’s miasma blueprint, compressing it down into a little bone doll before delivering it into Jorn’s hands.

Jorn stared at the totem in awe as the blood from his leg pumped into the sand beneath him. Will tapped the kid on the shoulder to get his attention.

“You’re wounded. Drink this.” Will said, handing him a regular healing potion. Again, Will wanted him to at least be aware of how fatiguing a lesser healing potion was.

“I’m wha-Oh, OH! oh crap!” Jorn’s reaction to the sudden bloom of pain was to clench his jaw tight and press down hard on the cut in his leg.

He wasn’t even aware of the cut in his scalp.

Will waggled the potion in front of him.

Jorn grabbed the potion and tried to use his bloody hand to remove the cork, struggling for several seconds.

“The cork gets slippery if you get blood on it. There’s a loop on the side you can yank or-“

Perhaps ignoring Will in his panic, Jorn grabbed the cork with his teeth and yanked it out like a veteran before downing the entire bottle.

“Or you can do that. Yep.”

“Gods, I’m tired,” Jorn muttered, slumping back against the nearby rock. “That fight was long.”

“That fight was five seconds.” Will said.

“…What?” Jorn asked, eyes wide.

“Yeah, feels different when you’re the one doing it, but that was five seconds.”

“I feel like I got run over by a wild horse.”

“That’s the adrenaline fading along with the healing potion draining your body to fix the wounds. The wounds are also likely still a bit bruised under the skin, which adds to that run-over feel. I gave you a cheap potion.”

“Why!? You can afford a good one!” Jorn demanded.

“I can, but this is a lesson,” Will said. “I want you to know what a cheap potion feels like. It kicks your ass, and you should only use them when you’re already safe or absolutely desperate. Because you wind up like that.” Will gestured to the sprawled out kid.

“You suck.” Jorn muttered before clapping his hand over his mouth, horrified.

Will couldn’t help but let out a short cackle.

“Now you’re talking like a Climber.” Will said, clapping Jorn on the shoulder.

Jorn still looked horrified, so Will decided to put his mind at ease.

“I don’t actually care how you talk to me while we’re out here in the wild, as long as you learn well and follow my instructions.”

“But…You threatened to kill that guy’s kid sister, just for talking.”

“I did do that,” Will said, nodding. “But I’ll let you in on a secret: I’m not gonna kill the guy’s kid sister, regardless of what he does. Hell, I didn’t even have a ‘spy’ there in the first place. I sent someone to check up on his background when I heard he was coming up, then I made some shit up based on their report. Everyone knows I have the ability to send word instantly between Floors, and they’re absolutely terrified of me using it against them. That fear is front and center in their minds, so I took advantage of that in a way that they might believe.

They’re so caught up in whether or not I could hold people hostage across Floors, they’re less aware of whether or not I would.”

Will took a breath, shaking off the thought that people would so easily believe that he’d kill children.

“And about the ‘just talking’ bit. He wasn’t just talking. He was deliberately asserting as truth a dogma that has resulted in the deaths of many thousands of children. And more importantly, it undermines my authority by making people think I’m evil.”

“…Are you evil?”

“Eh.” Will waggled his hand. “I think I might be a force of nature. But that’s a long story.”

“You…think you’re a force of nature?” Jorn asked, his expression turning just a bit incredulous.

“I said it’s a long story. Back to your training!”

“Every Climber worth their salt masters some kind of advanced movement techniques, usually manipulating their Abilities in a way that allows them to fly across difficult terrain in some manner or another,” Will said, raising himself off the ground. “You may not have realized this, but your Class had the ability to fly from the very beginning.”

“What, I can fly? HOW?” Jorn demanded.

“Bag a flying monster and ride it, obviously.” Will said with a shrug.

“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.” Jorn said, cocking his head to the side. “Can I ride a razor-lizard?”

“I wouldn’t recommend it.” Will said. “But hey, one battle and we’re already coming up with new ideas. That’s why we do it! Let’s summon your razor-lizard and use it to find you some mounts.”

“…Okay.” Jorn nodded and levered himself back to his feet, touching the totem and concentrating for a moment.

A razor-lizard identical to the dead one manifested in front of Jorn. It was about as tall as Will, about a foot and a half taller than Jorn. Around it another six little ones spawned, each about the height of Will’s waist.

They glanced around twitchily, with animal intelligence, but whatever aspect of The System was controlling their behavior was able to mark Will as an Ally, because they didn’t immediately attack him for being human.

“Wow.” Jorn breathed, his eyes wide and unfocused, presumably exploring the mental link for the first time.

The alpha razor lizard raised its right leg, then its left, then turned in a quick circle, obviously following Jorn’s directions.

“…Let’s hunt something bigger.” Jorn said as his razor lizards turned and sprinted downhill, forming a rough line as they combed through the underbrush, aiming to flush out more prey.

It only took a few minutes before the razor-lizards returned, chasing a cloud ram.

This time, Jorn got it right in the heart on the first shot.

“I got a level.” Jorn muttered, reaching out and securing the ram as a totem.

That’ll happen when you’re punching above your level.

Alright, dismiss the lizards.” Will said. “I wanna show you something.”

“’Kay.”

Will reached into his pocket and  retrieved a standard ring of the Undead Horde.

“This is a regular ring of the undead horde,” Will said, handing it to Jorn.

Ring of the Undead Horde

+5 focus

Increases potency of Necromancer Archetype Abilities by 15%

Reduces Focus cost to maintain Undead minions by 2 each, cannot lower the Focus cost below 1.

“Whoah, this is so good for my build!” Jorn shouted.

Manifestation.

“And this is a throwaway version I made this morning.” Will said, handing Jorn the other one he’d tossed in one of his new slots. It was just a basic ring of the undead horde, but he didn’t know what Jorn’s final build was going to be yet, and this would be good enough for now.

Will could and would overwrite it later.

Ring of the Undead Horde

+69 focus

Increases potency of Necromancer Archetype Abilities by 209%

Reduces Focus cost to maintain Undead minions by 27 each, cannot lower the Focus cost below 1.

“Good gods!” Jorn cried. “Is that why you told me not to use a ring?”

“Yep. That’ll keep you going for now. In the future, once your build Is more settled, I’ll personalize something for you. Try it out.”

Jorn put the ring on.

“T-the toggle cost is one.” Jorn whispered.

“Excellent. Now summon them again and let’s see what happens.”

Jorn did so, creating one alpha and an additional sixteen smaller ones. Each of the monsters was radiating power an order of magnitude more than they had been before, likely as close to full-strength as Jorn’s Ability would allow.

Will nodded in satisfaction.

“Let’s get you some more totems.”

A moment later, the razor-lizards scattered and a full-sized cloud-ram manifested in front of Jorn along with its copies. He hung his arrows on the ram’s horns before climbing up on the monster’s back.

“Let’s go hunt something bigger,” Jorn said, the fires of mania beginning to burn in his eyes.

“That’s the spirit.”