Chapter 34: Reflections (Patreon)

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--

Cayden didn’t hesitate to accept [Hardiness] in place of [Inspect], and the world jumped back into focus as his unsteady stride solidified.

His injuries didn’t heal, at least not any faster than what they already were from the health potion. The healing effects of increased vitality, at least at his level, wouldn’t be enough for him to notice any changes for at least a few hours. No, he could still feel the muted pain of his injuries plaguing him, but those injuries didn’t hinder him in the same way they previously had: his vision no longer split, the earth didn’t jump beneath his feet, and his stomach no longer threatened to spill its contents with every breath. The second effect of [Hardiness] was already showing its worth.

Cayden ignored the offered second skill. After a quick read-through, it didn’t give any benefits that would help with his current situation. In fact, Cayden couldn’t see the benefits of the skill at all, but he would check with Elise before he rejected it outright. He returned his focus to the zepples surrounding him and sprinted for all he was worth.

The zepples were increasing as time went on, the continuous explosions drawing the monsters from across the entire dungeon. It was harder to maneuver, but thankfully not impossible. Cayden still hadn’t recovered enough mana to reactivate [The Moment] for any length of time, but another of his class skills showed its worth as he dipped, ducked, and dodged around the tentacles of the swarming monsters.

Enhanced Flexibility (passive) (lvl 1): Increases the user's flexibility.

Once he gained a bit of distance from the site of the previous explosion, he once more slashed at an isolated monster, hunkering down to survive the following blast. His increased vitality helped but wasn’t enough to escape unscathed. He chugged another health potion, wincing as it slid down his throat.

He had never experienced potion backlash before, but Elise had warned him of it enough for him to recognize the early signs. How quickly someone would face a backlash could vary depending on the person and the type and quality of potions consumed, but he’d already drunk three health potions in very quick succession; he could take one more before he’d have to stop or risk even worse effects than what the potions were fixing.

He slid his tongue over his teeth before he once again pulled himself to his feet. One more health potion meant one more zepple explosion. One more, and he could return to his teammates to help fight off what he was sure were still swarms of zepples attacking them.

Although…

Cayden looked in the direction he believed his teammates to be. It was a bit hard to keep track, between sprinting and dodging for his life, the disorientation from the explosions, and the sameness of the grassy plain that stretched in every direction, but he was fairly sure they were off to his left. The direction that had decidedly fewer zepples.

Hopefully, that meant his strategy was working. Every zepple his explosions drew was one less zepple for the siblings to deal with, and for there to be fewer zepples floating in from that direction meant that they were at least somewhat culling the herd.

He resumed his sprint. After what felt like so long dodging tentacles as he ran past zepples, he felt he should have been getting comfortable with it. But even with [Hardiness] and the health potions, his injuries were accumulating, and Cayden was forced to give it his all lest he trip or lose focus at an inopportune moment.

Fifty yards later, he killed another zepple, hunkering down under the explosion and then drinking another potion.

He’d done as much as he could. It was time to return to his teammates.

He ran directly towards the area that had the least zepples as his heart beat heavily in his chest. He hadn’t heard any explosions coming from where he thought Elise was still working on her enchantment, but he could have easily missed one in the wake of his own explosions. At the time, he’d trusted the siblings with Elise’s defense, but now he was second-guessing himself. Had that been a mistake?

Cayden dodged between two more zepples, and then breathed a sigh of relief as he saw his companions.

Jerome and Xavier stood on either side of the verdant grass, Xavier with his spear and Jerome wielding his rapier. They stabbed out at approaching zepples like machines, yelling out to mark the different monsters. Neither of them ever stopped moving, always just barely circling clockwise around Elise, Xavier’s hooves digging up clods of dirt with each step.

One of the zepples closed in on Jerome’s side, and the air elemental smoothly stepped forward to meet it. It seemed as if he stabbed too early, the rapier unable to reach the core from the same distance as Xavier’s spear, but at the last moment his arm extended, swirling clouds bursting forth around his elbow as the zepple was pierced through the core.

Even more impressive, though, was Andy. She had abandoned her position on her brother’s back and stood next to Elise near the center of her brothers’ formation. Around her the grass was patted down in a small circle, enabling her to see and use her bow even from her lower perch. And make use of her bow, she did.

Almost every second she drew and released another arrow, never hesitating to find a new target and never missing her marks. Cayden was sure it helped somewhat that, now that the zepples were swarming, her targets were closer than they had been during the first half of the dungeon run, but it was still impressive. For being such ‘amateur’ adventurers, the siblings were handling the emergency with calm competency.

Even so, Cayden rushed to join them. They looked like they had it well in hand, as the numbers of the approaching zepples were diminishing, but all it would take was one more mistake, a single extra explosion, for the swarm to renew its focus.

As he approached, Cayden grabbed Jerome’s spear from where it had been blasted and then abandoned after the first explosion. While his claws had served him well, a spear would be much more useful now that he once again wanted to avoid explosions.

“Cayden’s back!” Andy called as he approached, and the brothers glanced over before refocusing on their task. Cayden slipped into their formation without a word, and together, they resumed the defense.

“Done!” Elise called ten minutes later, and then she let out a whoop of excitement. “I can’t believe it! That was nothing like–”

“Explain later,” Cayden tiredly called, cutting her off, and Elise looked around with wide eyes as if finally noticing the situation. There weren’t nearly as many zepples swarming them as had been when Cayden first rejoined the team, but there were still many more than had been floating around when Elise had started enchanting. And that wasn’t even considering the veritable mountain of corpses that surrounded their encirclement.

“Collect as many experience crystals as you can, and then we’re out of here,” Cayden called to Elise, and she nodded resolutely. She fiddled with her backpack for a minute before she pulled free a pouch and waded into the kill-zone.

There wasn’t much to the zepples after they had died. Only the tentacles, membrane, and destroyed core were left of their corpses, but with as many as they had killed, searching through the piles for experience crystals was a disgusting prospect. Elise stoically accepted the burden, her arms up to her elbows covered with a slimy fluid within the first few seconds.

By this point, the pace of the approaching monsters had slowed considerably, and Andy remounted her brother’s back while Cayden and Jerome caught their breath, all of them taking turns to kill any zepples that still came. Honestly, Cayden was surprised there were still so many. It felt like they had killed thousands (though he knew that to be a gross exaggeration), yet there were still massive clusters of the monsters swarming the locations of the four explosions he’d caused.

Finally, after another few minutes, Elise collected as many experience crystals as she could easily find, and they prepared to leave. Through a stroke of luck, or perhaps subconscious genius, none of the explosions Cayden had caused were between them and the closest border of the dungeon, leaving a mostly clear straight shot to freedom.

Twenty minutes and four more dead zepples later, they stumbled out of the blue barrier, Cayden and the siblings flopping onto the ground in relief.

“Wow! I knew being an adventurer could pay well, but this is kinda crazy,” Elise, the only one left standing, said as she hefted a bag filled to the brim with experience crystals. “I would’ve quit my job at the library ages ago if I knew we could make this much so easily on a delve.”

Four exhausted and incredulous stares were the only response.

--

For almost an hour they simply laid there, exhausted. After thirty minutes Cayden sipped at another health potion, drinking it down after he verified it wouldn’t cause a backlash, and he breathed in relief as his injuries resumed their healing.

He and Jerome were the only ones who had been injured, but Xavier and Andy were just as exhausted. The dungeon hadn’t taken an extreme amount of physical exertion, but, like Cayden and Elise, the siblings were new to adventuring, and walking the knife’s edge of combat against swarms of monsters was its own type of tiring. Elise, somehow, was unbothered, but she allowed the rest of them to rest in peace, happy to fiddle with her new enchanted item and scribble notes in her notebook.

Cayden no longer had [Inspect], but Elise happily explained it to him when he’d asked. It had been a simple necklace, one of a few trinkets Elise had brought from home to potentially enchant, with blades of verdant grass woven around its cord. The enchanted necklace would boost the effectiveness of any potions concocted by the wearer by twenty percent.

Cayden didn’t know how good that was compared to other enchanted items, but he assumed it would at least be easy to sell. He couldn’t imagine an alchemist who wouldn’t want such a directly beneficial effect.

Regardless of how much the enchanted necklace sold for, they were sure to make a hefty profit. Now that he no longer felt as if he would immediately collapse if he tried to stand, he could better appreciate the amount of experience crystals they’d managed to collect: he wasn’t sure of the exact number, but his best guess was in the area of a butt ton

They weren’t the best crystals, unfortunately. He’d forgotten to [Inspect] the zepples back when he’d still had the skill, but according to Elise, every single one of the monsters had been level five. But even if they were the smallest experience crystals available, with how many they had collected they had a veritable fortune in their packs.

And that wasn’t even the end of Cayden’s gains. With a thought, he pulled up his status.

Name: Cayden Johannson

Age: 14

Race: Gargoyle

Racial Level: 5

Class: Athlete

Class Level: 1

Stats:

  Vitality: 21

  Charisma: 8

  Strength: 20

  Endurance: 18

  Agility: 18

  Dexterity: 16

  Perception: 11

  Mind: 15

  Magic Power: 9

  Magic Control: 8

  Mana: 87

  Mana Regeneration: 7 mana per min

  Free Stats: 0

Racial Skills: 

  Boost Passive

  Clawed Grasp

General Skills (max 6):

  Awareness (lvl 2)

  Claw Mastery (lvl 1)

  Endurance (lvl 9)

  Hardiness (lvl 2)

  Resistance (lvl 3)

  Spear Mastery (lvl 2)

Class Skills:

  Enhanced Flexibility (lvl 1)

  Physical Training (lvl 1)

  Recovery (lvl 1)

  The Moment (lvl 1)

His stats were much higher than they had been for his delve of the ratling dungeon. The vast majority of that improvement came from his assigned stats from leveling his race up to five, but he’d also gained two stats from his training in the weeks leading up to this delve. And vitality had gained a point naturally within the dungeon, a welcome benefit to enduring multiple explosions.

His general skills were the big winners, though. [Awareness], so recently reacquired, had already leveled to two along with [Hardiness] and [Spear Mastery]. [Endurance] leveled to nine, so close to the level ten breakpoint, and [Resistance] had somehow leveled twice in a single day to level three, something Cayden hadn’t previously believed possible. It was true that the early levels of the skills came much easier than the later levels, and most of his general skills, aside from [Endurance], were still low level, but that rate of skill growth was insane.

His class skills were all still level one, but that was expected. [The Moment] was the only class skill that directly applied to combat, and he’d only used it once in the dungeon.

Though his other class skills didn’t directly aid him in combat, Cayden was pleased with how useful they’d be in the future for indirectly supporting his combat capabilities.

Enhanced Flexibility (passive) (lvl 1): Increases the user's flexibility.

Physical Training (passive) (lvl 1): Increases the upper limit of the user's base physical stats by 30%.

Recovery (passive) (lvl 1): Increases the user's recovery rate from muscle fatigue by 50%.

The Moment (active) (lvl 1): Slow down the user's perception of time by 50% and increase vitality, strength, endurance, agility, dexterity, and perception by 30%.

[Physical Training] was an interesting skill. It didn’t directly affect his stats, but rather increased the upper limit of his base stats. Apparently, everyone had an upper limit that they could naturally train their stats to, which was the equivalent of someone’s maximum physical capabilities on Earth. For most, this was somewhere between fifteen and twenty (before adding the stats gained from leveling his race), but [Physical Training] would increase that maximum number by thirty percent. For example, though Cayden’s current strength was twenty, six of those points had come from his level-ups, which meant Cayden’s ‘base’ strength was only fourteen – still less than his probable upper limit.

He would have to work and train extremely hard to make use of the skill, but the stats he gained this way would be permanent: even if he lost the skill, he’d keep whatever stats he’d managed to gain that were above his natural upper limit. It synergized great with [Recovery], and frankly felt a bit like a cheat, considering he was already planning on eventually replacing or upgrading his [Athlete] class.

[Enhanced Flexibility] was the odd skill out in Cayden’s mind. Unlike all of his other skills, it didn’t give exact numbers related to the boost it offered, nor did its boost apply directly to a stat. Flexibility was certainly related to dexterity, but only tangentially, and wasn’t perfectly quantified by the system or with a stat.

Which highlighted a flaw in Cayden’s training: he’d been training to increase each stat individually rather than his entire body as a cohesive whole. Since flexibility wasn’t directly quantified by a stat in the system, he’d largely ignored it as an area to improve. The skill was a reminder that, though this world had numbers that represented seemingly every aspect of Cayden’s life, he couldn’t view himself as just those numbers. He had to remember that it was impossible for twelve stats to encapsulate everything about him, and that he needed to train in a way that also improved the gaps between the numbers rather than just the numbers themselves.

As for the vagueness of [Enchanced Flexibility], according to Elise, that level of vagueness was more common as one moved away from direct stat-boosting skills. After all, a [Fireball] skill would get stronger with each level-up despite not having an easily quantifiable method to determine how much stronger it became.

Cayden dismissed his status and laid back on the grass with his eyes close, enjoying the slight breeze that rustled the branches of the trees overhead.

There was still so much improvement to be made, but he was proud of his progress. It had certainly had its moments, but Cayden was confident with calling his second delve a success.

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