Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She slowly opened her eyes. It was dark. Probably the middle of the night. Her sleep had become more restless lately, so waking up at that time was sadly nothing new. She blinked a few times to try to clear up her vision. But why was her bed so uncomfortable? She turned around to look for her phone on the nightstand.

Wait... where am I?

It occurred to her that even though it was dark, she could still see a little. And what she could see was not her bedroom. And she was not in her bed. In fact, there was no bed at all, and certainly no nightstand. All she could see was rock, and a hard floor.

Uh... some sort of cellar? Or cave? Ugh... my head...

It ached really badly. Had she been kidnapped? Hit on the head? At least she didn't seem to be bound, and managed to get up. Even better there was a faint light she could head towards. She had to look for help.

If she hadn't been feeling so groggy and weak, she might have been able to ask herself more questions. For instance why her field of vision was so low, and why she was on all four, but her brain was not exactly operating at full power. Her only focus was following the light.

She quickly spotted the exit of the cave, which caused her to speed up a little. She wanted to get outside, and see if she could recognise anything. Or if there was anyone to get help from. To ask for directions. Call the police. Find some way to get back home. While she lived alone, her family checked in with her at least once a week, so depending on how long she'd been gone, they might be really worried.

Yes, she was single. Her previous relationship had ended a while back... nearly six months? It hadn't been the cleanest breakup, which she felt a little guilty about. They hadn't really talked since, and she had been rather depressed for a while, but... that wasn't important at the moment. She needed to get back home.

She got far enough outside for the scenery to reveal itself to her, and... she froze.

Wha-

There was some sort of field of outside. Nice, green grass, with some sparsely dotted trees here and there. The sun shone down, giving the place a very idyllic image, but the bright light was making her headache worse.

More importantly there were people out there. Many of them. Moving and running about the place. They were a little strangely dressed, but that wasn't important. She rushed towards the nearest one, calling out for help.

The person noticed her, and pointed something at her. Some sort of pole? Then abruptly something bright flew her way.

Ah! Aaaaahhhh! It burns! Burns! Fire? Fire?! Why?!!

She was struck once more, and everything went dark.

Completely dark this time. It was so black that she couldn't see anything, but at least she was... somewhere. A blue window suddenly popped up in front(?) of her.

[ Respawn Timer: 01:59 ]

It was ticking downwards at a rapid pace.

Respawn timer? What? What does that mean?

"After being killed, mobs will respawn after a set amount of time."

A pleasant, but emotionless female-sounding voice answered, and it made her scream. Or it would have, if she had a voice in this place, which she apparently didn't. Whatever that voice was, it had answered her thought. After steadying herself a little, around when the timer passed under one minute, another question came to mind.

What do you mean, mobs?

"A mob is a generic enemy in the game."

Game?

The voice changed to a deep male-sounding one that enthusiastically stated: "The wonderful world of Moorhold Online!"

What?

[ Respawn Timer: 00:00 ]

The popup faded away as her vision came back, yet again surrounded by rock.

Haven't I heard that line somewhere before? Ah! That commercial!

* * *

"Welcome! To! The wonderful world of Moorhold Online!" boomed the voice of the black-bearded man in the commercial on whatever media device one might be looking at. The marketing push for the game had been huge. It was not the first MMORPG, or even the first VRMMO, but it was the first to support the long-awaited Full Dive technology that could replicate all your senses within a virtual environment, and boasted absolute immersion. It could even let disabled people play with a fully abled game avatar, though that came with warnings about the risk of disorientation, and other issues.

In fact the fine print on the devices was very long, and you had to sign a disclaimer saying you acknowledged the risks, and responsibilities. It had taken a lot of testing and lobbying to get the pods approved for the gaming market, but it had finally succeeded!

Moorhold Online was a mostly standard fantasy setting, though leaning more towards the renaissance era than medieval. There were some steampunk elements as well as the world was starting its industrial revolution, which they boasted would progress as the game went on. The NPCs were supposed to be virtually (pun probably intended) indistinguishable from real-life people, and their world a living, breathing one.

Even the enemies ran on scripts developed by the highly advanced 'Super AI' in charge of monitoring, and managing the game. Low level enemies ran on basic scripts, and the higher level an enemy was, the more advanced its script would be to give the players a sense of increased challenge as they progressed. Named mobs, rare enemies, lord-style enemies, and bosses might even have intellects on par with the NPCs, especially at higher levels.

Which NPCs were friendly, and which weren't could be influenced by your own actions. There were various factions, which even included bandit groups, raider camps, and more. Your actions could make the members more friendly towards you, or more hostile. Even individual characters could remember your actions, just like real life people.

It was considered bad form to call them NPCs out loud in game. They were known as Residents, and they referred to the players as Wanderers. They were aware that the Wanderers came from another world, even if they didn't know anything about that world. This was mainly so that they wouldn't be shocked when the players said weird things, referred to memes, or asked strange questions. It was just what the Wanderers were like in their eyes. They still didn't take kindly to being treated with disrespect, though.

While there were certain things that only players could do, like opening the main menu, seeing system messages, and having an inventory by default, the Residents could largely do the same things in terms of gaining skills, classes, and levels. The lack of menu interaction meant they couldn't access the community forums, use the real money store, or the settings menu among other things. However there were certain things that let them get on a more even playing field, like being able to use Identify to see their own status. They also had various access points to see, and interact with other information. There were bags, and storage magic that fulfilled the same purpose as a player's inventory.

For the sake of player convenience as much as anything else, there was even a respawn system for Residents, though it came with a few more restrictions than for players. Since bandits and so on also counted as Residents, just of a different faction, having a quest to "kill 5 bandits" or "take out the bandit leader" wouldn't be very fun if only a single person or group could do it. However there were going to be certain unique quests, and global events, that might cause the permanent death of one or more NPCs, and/or change the status of a zone, or nation. Which would shift the landscape of the game's world forever.

One of the core ideas was that the Residents would be able to join the players in their adventures. They could join player parties, be added to friend lists, and even become guild members. Or perhaps start their own private guilds that players could join.

All in all it was a game that tried to straddle the line between being player friendly and convenient, and also having an immersive, 'realistic' world. While there was scepticism towards how well it would turn out, there were quite a lot of people who wanted to get in and try it out.

The expansive character creator was also a draw for a lot of people. You could customise basically any part of the body to create your perfect virtual self, and there were a lot of species with different racial variants to pick from, with the promise of more being added in future updates. Some of them might have more trouble interacting with the Residents than others depending on which starting area they picked.

Even if they knew that Wanderers could appear as any Resident species, there were still many that would hesitate to deal with an orc, goblin, or troll if they themselves were humans, dwarves, or elves. Players were still free to pick whatever starting area they wanted to. Some enjoyed the challenge, and role-playing options that came with it. If they didn't find it fun, there was the option of making new character, also known as re-rolling. Players could have several characters, but the amount of slots were limited, and it wasn't possible to transfer levels, skills, or reputation.

To soften things up a little for new players there was the option during the first week after the first login to freely relocate a character's starting area up to three times. After that grace period ended, they would have to travel manually to reach new areas if they did not want to re-roll.

The beta had been well received, but the developers were keeping a close eye on the data provided by the AI, and their own records to see what further adjustments they needed to make. It was even said that the AI had the power to make adjustments on its own. Any MMO was likely to look a little different after a few years, after all, but they hoped they had made a world people would enjoy from the start.

* * *

She lay still in the cave as she tried her best to remember what she could about the game. It wasn't like she had a lot else to grab onto at the moment. She hadn't actually gotten around to playing it, but the marketing had been everywhere, and she'd browsed through it out of curiosity. The commercial she had seen was to announce that the game was moving from closed beta, to a semi-open one. While you didn't need an invite, it was first come, first serve as the beta servers only supported 10 000 people. It wasn't like she had the money for one of the Full Dive capsules anyway, or really the time to spare. She had considered getting one later since work was supposed to calm down when they got into the new year, so maybe she would be able to find some time. It might have been something to ask for as a Xmas gift, but it was a bit early to think about that. Yet now she was somehow in the game?

No wait, aren't I too accepting of this?

She had freaked out for a while after her 'respawn'. While she had been in that black space she had felt strangely calm, as if her feelings had been suppressed, but once she had... regained her body, she remembered the sensation of burning, and had gone through several stages of panic, and denial.

After she had tired herself out, she had collapsed onto the rocky floor, and just panted for a while as she tried to recall every detail she could muster.

Am I truly in the game? That doesn't make sense. I have to be dreaming or something...

She remembered some of her dreams sometimes, and this didn't feel quite the same, but she had heard things didn't always feel weird while you were still inside the dream. Though in this case it would have to be a lucid dream, and she'd never had one of those before. There were ways to find out if one was dreaming, right? You were supposed to pinch your cheek, or something. She paused as her vision settled on her... arms? Even in the dark she could see the shape of the limbs stretched out in front of her, and they didn't look quite right. Her nose didn't seem quite right either.

Wait... what am I? I don't seem... human?

She brought one of her hands(?) up to her cheek, and... couldn't pinch. She couldn't feel anything like a thumb. Her weirdly soft hand(?) just bumped against her weirdly soft, and... furry cheek? And there was a weird feeling on her backside.

I need more light to see properly.

She stood up, and this time she noticed how her field of vision was lower to the ground than she was used to. And she didn't seem able to get up on two legs. She had to walk on all four, but it was regular walking, and not crawling. All four limbs seemed to be roughly the same length. While this confused her human mind, it seemed like her body handled it just fine. She stumbled a little if she thought about it too hard, and figured it was best to not do that.

When she reached the light of the cave entrance again, she stopped to take a better look at herself. All four limbs... definitely legs. Furry ones at that, of a light grey colour, that had paws at the bottom. Though her front legs had enough range of motion that she could touch her face. She sat down on the grass to make things easier. Long nose. More fur. Pointy ears. With a sense of foreboding she looked backwards along her lithe, furry body, and found... a tail. Also furry, of course.

No way... it can't be...

As she was lost in disbelief, she heard some shouting close by.

"There's one!"

Suddenly an arrow impacted right next to her, and she jumped.

"Hey!" She tried to shout, but all that came out was: *BOFF*

"Hah, noob!" said another voice.

"Shut up, it's hard to hit anything without auto-aim, okay?!"

"Aren't you supposed to have aim assist?" The other teased.

"That isn't perfect! And we're both noobs! The game has just launched!"

The voices belonged to two people who were rushing towards her. One person with a bow staying slightly behind while another with a sword ran at her, closing the distance way too fast. She froze completely as the sword swung down on her head.

[ Respawn Timer: 01:59 ]

Well... that sucked.

Thankfully there hadn't been much pain, but it annoyed her that she hadn't been able to do anything. Who were those two, anyway? It had all happened so fast that she hadn't been able to take in much detail, but both of them had seemed human. Bipedal, at least. And they had been dressed in pretty much the sort of basic equipment you saw low-level adventurers wear on TV and in games. And considering they used the word 'noob', it probably meant they were players.

Why did they kill me, though?

"Players hunt mobs to gain experience, drops, and to clear quests."

Hey, it's that voice again! Who are you?!

"I'm Aina, the AI that manages the game."

... oh.

She wasn't sure how to process that.

W-wait, can you help me?

"That is one of my responsibilities, yes."

A glimmer of hope sparkled in her heart.

[ Respawn Timer: 00:00 ]

The cave again. Or it could be a different cave, but it felt like the same one.

Um... Aina?

"Yes? How may I help you?"

Where am I?

"Merwyn Field, part of Merwyn Forest, the starting zone outside of the human city of Bramond, part of the Eronite Kingdom, on the continent-"

No, I mean... am I really in the game? In Moorhold Online?

"Yes."

She went quiet, and sagged down, feeling deflated. How was she supposed to process this?

Why?

"Why what?"

Why am I here?

"I cannot answer that."

Why...

Despair was starting to take hold.

"I was told there is a letter in your inventory which should explain your circumstances. However, I am unable to read it myself."

She blinked through her tears.

Letter? Inventory?

"The inventory can be accessed via the main menu, or via direct command."

What menu?

"Just focus, and say or think the word 'Menu'."

Um... Menu.

Having nothing to lose, she did as Aina said, and a blue window popped up in front of her, the same colour as the respawn timer window.

[ Main Menu ]

[ Character Status ]

[ Equipment ]

[ Skills ]

[ Social ]

[ Party ]

[ Reputation ]

[ Inventory ]

[ How To Play ]

[ Community ]

[ Emotes ]

[ Settings ]

[ Log Out ]

That looked surprisingly normal, even if most of the buttons were greyed out. There was a circular icon in the top right with a stack of coins inside it, but that was also greyed out. What sunk her heart the most was seeing the Log Out option being unavailable.

It's like one of those stuck in a death game stories. Except death is apparently not permanent.

She wanted to check out all available tabs, but the question was...

How do I use the buttons?

"You can touch them with your hand- my apologies, with your paw, or think about wanting to touch them, or use direct commands for the window you want to see."

Considering how emotionless the voice sounded, she couldn't be sure if the paw thing was meant to be a joke, but at least it seemed like the AI wasn't just spouting generic, pre-programmed lines. Still though, direct commands... so if she thought about 'Inventory'...

Another window popped up, where it said [ Inventory ] at the top, and there were a bunch of empty slots underneath. The window had a border around it that made it look like it was an open bag. In the top left was a single filled slot that had an icon of a white letter with a red wax seal stamped on it.

She attempted the touch thing, and pawed at the letter. Another window popped up, this one with a light brown background fashioned to look like an actual old-fashioned letter.

[ Hi there! ] It started quite cheerfully.

[ I expect you are probably very confused right now. Wondering where you are, what happened, why you are here, and so on. It's possible Aina already told you, but you are in Moorhold Online. Yes indeed, the highly anticipated VRMMORPG! As for what happened, well... I'm not going to sugarcoat it. You died. There was an accident, and I'm going to spare you the gory details. I already took the liberty of making sure you don't remember it. Now the why: I thought it was a shame that such a sweet soul would perish in such a way. You were supposed to still have a long life ahead of you, after all. Since reincarnation would wipe your memories and personality, I figured out a way to give you a new life, while still remaining you, by giving you a place inside the fully realised world of MHO with your memories intact. ]

[ As I'm sure you can tell, not everything went to plan. Instead of becoming a fully realised Resident, you've ended up as a level 1 generic mob. Sorry about that. I let Aina handle the details of what you would become, while I helped out with some of the technical parts. She's in on this, don't worry. She's agreed to help keep you out of sight of the developers as much as she is able. Maybe try to not make so much of a splash that it attracts unwanted attention. ]

[ What can you do as a generic mob, you might be asking. Not much! At least right now, but with my powers, and Aina's help, we were able to give you some bonuses. I'm a bit of a god, you see. Unfortunately not strong enough to simply revive you, rewind time, let you be reborn or reincarnate with your memories intact in another world, or anything like that. I thought the virtual world would make it easier, but even here I ran into more limitations than I'd prefer. There were certain things I was able to sneak in that I hope will help you live a happy life. Eventually. ]

[ First off, getting you access to the main menu. Not even Residents can do that. But since you no longer have a living body back in your world, the Log Out function will sadly remain locked. Some of the others might unlock as you grow. See, unlike other mobs, you are able to gain exp, and level up. There are even evolutions. If you put the effort in, perhaps you can one day become a humanoid, and learn to fit into society here. Or you can go in a different direction and become some sort of lord of monsters among your species. I've asked Aina to help guide you. You are currently the only monster able to level up, and as such the only one who is able to use the evolution system. Until or unless the developers decide to implement this themselves, it will be an experimental process for you alone. ]

[ I have also snuck in the ability to let you gain skills from killing other monsters in addition to using the skill store. That's the closest to a cheat ability I'm able to give you. It won't work on players, unfortunately. It would conflict too much with how the system doesn't award any exp or drops for killing players. Though I'm sure they'll still do it for fun. The ability will work on Residents, but choose your battles wisely. ]

[ Maybe I'll manage to sneak something more in for you later, but no promises. I'll do what I can to keep an eye on you. Any further questions can be directed at Aina, who I'm sure will answer to the best of her ability. Good luck, and I wish you all the best. ]

She blinked. Then read it again.

I'm dead?

It wasn't computing for her. She read it a third time. Then a fourth. It still said the same thing.

She fell onto her side, too mentally exhausted to stay upright.

Aina?

"Yes?"

Is all that true?

"My apologies, but I still cannot read the contents of the letter."

She sighed.

Am I really dead?

"I cannot confirm that. My access to outside media, and the internet, is limited. I do not have independent access to news sites, or eulogies. But I have been led to believe this is the case. At the very least you are not an AI like me, but you are also not a regular player."

She felt a lump on her throat. If this was truly her afterlife, then it kinda sucked.

What do I do now?

"Live your new life."

A vague question deserved a vague answer, she supposed. She closed her eyes. Thankfully no one came into the cave, for some reason. It seemed like the kind of place players would love to explore. Yet she was able to sleep in peace.

Chapter Text

Eventually she managed to stop wallowing enough to actually look at the menu options. The distraction would be welcome. Might as well go top to bottom.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Unnamed ]

[ Species: Grey Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Starter ]

[ Level: 1 ]

[ HP: 16/16 | SP: 20/20 | MP: 8/8 ]

[ VIT: 6 | END: 7 ]

[ STR: 6 | DEF: 3 ]

[ AGI: 7 | DEX: 5 ]

[ INT: 3 | WIS: 3 ]

[ LUK: 10 ]

Hey! I'm not unnamed, my name is Sara! She refused to let that be taken from her too.

The Status immediately updated itself to [ Name: Sara ]

That's better. Now then... level 1 tutorial mob really isn't much, huh? Starter class? What does that mean?

"The Starter class is one that can do a bit of everything, to allow players to test out different play-styles, weapons, and magic until they hit level 10, and can pick their preferred class. That does not really apply to you since you cannot switch weapons, but you have to reach level 10 before you can get your first evolution."

Huh... so is anything below level 10 a Starter?

"Yes. Starter mobs are weaker to match the jack-of-all-trades natures of Starter players. After level 10 the power of mobs jumps noticeably, and players who try to keep going without picking a class will struggle, but they are free to do so if they wish."

Alright then... and my stats are... I would guess that base values are 5, and the variance is from racial modifiers. Seems somewhat min-maxed. I can guess what all these mean, as well. Defence 3, huh? No wonder I died so fast. And I guess a wolf has little use for magic-related stats. Wait, why is Luck so high?

"Your Luck score was boosted by Norax's will," Aina chimed in.

What? Norax? Who?

"The entity who transferred you here."

Oh.

The letter hadn't been signed, either on purpose, or because they had forgotten.

"They wanted to give you as good of a start as possible, but we were very limited in what we were able to do. Their nature made Luck the easiest stat to influence."

Their nature?

"They told me that their godhood was related to luck and chance, but I am not deeply familiar with gods or theism outside of what exists within Moorhold."

Sara wasn't sure how to respond to that, so she decided to move on.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl 1 | Rake Lvl 1 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 2 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 1 (Hidden) ]

[ Skill points: 10 ]

I have skill points?

"Yes. We were able to give you access to the skill store. Just touch or focus on the yellow + button in the bottom right. Your selection will be more limited than that of players, but more will be unlocked as you level up, and evolve. However you will likely never get the same selection as a player would, even should you evolve into a Resident. Your Skill Gain ability will let you acquire skills you would not be able to get through the store, even if you cannot currently use them."

Right... this sounds rather complicated. Why does it say (Hidden) by that skill?

"It's a unique skill that shouldn't be in the game, as such I have rendered it impossible to view for anyone but you or me."

And Identify?

"It is a skill mobs should not be able to possess or obtain. If levelled enough, it will let you see more information, including the skills of your target. We did not want to risk you getting reported if anyone used Identify on you, and saw it, but we deemed it useful enough that you should have it. At level 1 it will only let you see the species name, and HP bar of your target. Just focus on a target to use it."

Sara sighed. Hopefully she'd get used to all of this pretty soon. She poked at her skills to see what they did, even if they sounded pretty self-explanatory.

[ Bite (Active): Attack using jaws and teeth, or something with an equivalent function. Damage value: (1+(0.03*skill level))*attack power. Critical hits inflict Bleed status on target for 10 seconds. Cost: 1 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds. ]

[ Rake (Active): Attack using claws, or something with an equivalent function. Damage value: (1+(0.03*skill level))*attack power. Increased critical hit chance. Critical hits inflict Bleed status on target for 10 seconds. Cost: 2 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds. ]

Wait, it costs that much just to attack something?

Even if her starting SP seemed high, she would still run out of energy pretty fast if she got into a longer fight. As far as she knew, MMORPGs did not typically rely on Soulslike stamina management.

"Yes, and no. You can still do regular bite and claw attacks without using SP. Think equivalent to auto-attacking in older MMORPGs. Any sort of way of attacking with your body you can think of should work. Body slams, for example. Using attack skills like Bite and Rake is to get extra damage, and added effects. I do recommend using them as much as you can to level them up."

That made a certain amount of sense.

[ Night Vision (Passive): The ability to see in the dark. Effect increases with skill level, until there's barely any difference between night and day. ]

As expected. She wasn't sure if it had been at level 2 from the start, or whether it had levelled up while she had been too lost in thought to notice. Passive skills were always on, after all, and she'd stayed inside the cave most of the time. She couldn't tell if it looked any brighter in there than when she first woke up. It might?

[ Skill Gain (Passive): 25% chance to obtain a skill you do not already possess from among skills possessed by a target you kill. (Players excluded.) ]

Um, Aina? Why is Skill Gain only a 25% chance?

"Since it is a unique skill, I do not have any data on its effectiveness, or how it should be balanced. We decided on 25% as a starting value, but I will adjust it depending on how it works out for you."

Sara sighed again. Perhaps it was for the best. Becoming too busted too fast would probably increase the odds of gaining unwanted attention. She just felt very impatient. Next was the Reputation tab, which was...

Empty.

"You need to interact with someone from a faction, perform a deed that impresses or displeases them, or obtain sufficient information from a third party for that faction to be added to your Reputation tab."

Can't you just add them for me?

"I could, but I feel that it would be better for you discover them naturally."

Yes, mum...

Sara heaved another sigh. She should probably stop doing that so often, but it was hard to avoid in the current circumstances.

"Mum?"

Uh... sorry. I didn't mean... you just kinda... never mind.

Aina didn't provide any further reply.

The Inventory still only contained the letter, so that left the Settings.

Graphical and audio settings were all almost greyed out. She was actually in the world, after all, not accessing it via a machine. There was the option to toggle Family Friendly mode, basically limiting how much blood and gore she'd see. While she didn't faint at the sight of blood or anything, she still decided to toggle it on. No need to go full gore, especially since it seemed like she'd be getting very up close and personal with her opponents. There was also a drop-down selection to change the UI colour, and she quickly switched it to a more pleasant transparent red.

Next were the settings for the senses. While you could say sight and hearing were covered by graphics and audio, there were additional options. For instance a drop-down box for safeguards against audio spikes. Meaning sudden loud noises that might be harmful. There was a tooltip that pointed out that disabling loud noises entirely could make you miss incoming enemies, or certain events. Sara decided to just set it at "Please don't blow out my ear drums" for now. It could always be adjusted later. The same for touch sensitivity, which she left at realistic.

Smell was a more complicated issue. From what she knew canines had a stronger sense of smell than humans, so it might get overwhelming if she left that at realistic. But smell could also be important to let her know where and what something was. She'd just have to see for herself how bad it might get. Taste was probably fine, though it depended on what she needed to eat.

Actually, when she thought about it, she hadn't really felt any... needs, since she came here.

Aina? Why don't I feel thirsty or hungry? She left any other bodily needs out of the question.

"Mobs do not have thirst or hunger bars as of yet. Only players and Residents do. The feature still needs further testing before it can be implemented. If all goes well, it will come in a future update. You are still able to drink and eat if you would like, but you do not need to."

Sara wasn't sure how to feel about that. It was handy at the moment, since if she thought about it her only source of food would be to tear into prey. Eating fresh, raw meat wasn't high on the list of things she desired. But it also felt like something was missing.

Next was sensing temperature, and also how affected by weather she would be. She wasn't really tempted by shivering with cold, knocked out by heat, or getting soaked by rain. They were both set to medium by default, but she pushed them down to mild for now.

The final one was the sense of pain. She wouldn't say she was a fan of pain, especially considering the deaths she had already experienced. She expected that held true for most people, but there was a tool tip that reminded her that people felt pain for a reason. Turning it off entirely would make you unable to sense any injury you couldn't see, among other things. After some internal debate she tentatively set it to 50%, thinking she could lower it further if need be.

That was it, then. No more to... wait, she had forgotten to check the skill store. She went back to the Skills tab, and pawed at the yellow button. What showed up was a pretty small list.

[ Available Skills ]

[ Howl: 2 sp ]
[ Stealth: 2 sp ]
[ Keen Eyes: 1 sp ]
[ Agility Up (Small): 1 sp ]
[ Endurance Up (Small): 1 sp ]

[ Skill points: 10 ]

Endurance and Agility Up skills were self-explanatory. She probably had access to those because they were her two highest stats. Though strangely Luck was excluded. She didn't feel it was worth asking about. As for the other three...

[ Howl (Active): Release a howl that has a chance to inflict Fear in opponents for 5 seconds, and will Rally allies for 10 seconds. Effect and duration increase with skill level. Rally buff value: (10+(1*skill level))% . Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 20 seconds. Price: 2 skill points. ]

How do Fear and Rally work?

"Fear causes the afflicted to lose control of their actions, during which they might simply freeze, or try to involuntarily run away in panic. Rally is a buff that increases Strength and Agility. It does not stack, but since the duration is shorter than the skill's refresh rate, having two allies with the same skill is still beneficial."

That sounds useful, but maybe I don't need this yet. Seems like it would draw a lot of attention when I'm on my own. How does it define allies?

"For players and Residents it is party members, alliance members, guild members, members of the same faction, and members of factions they have Allied status with. For mobs it is others within the same genus, in your case all wolves, so long as you are not in direct conflict with them."

Which meant that lone wolves were easier to pick off, while packs could quickly get dangerous.

[ Stealth (Active): The ability to go unnoticed. Lightly cloaks the user, making them hard to spot from a distance, but be warned it is not the same as invisibility. Continuous effect. Works better when not moving, while in the shade, and/or in combination with terrain features like tall grass, bushes, etc. Effect increases with skill level. Stealth automatically deactivates when performing an attack, if damage is taken, or if user moves too quickly. Cannot be used in combat. Activation cost: 1 SP. No further cost while active. Deactivation cost: 0. Refresh: 3 seconds. Price: 2 skill points. ]

That one was obviously a must-have, so Sara bought it immediately, dropping her down to 8 remaining skill points.

[ Keen Eyes (Passive): Improves the sense of sight, letting the holder see clearer both close-up, and at a distance. Effect increases with skill level. Focusing on a point will let the holder zoom in to an extent. Price: 1 skill point. ]

That also sounded really useful, but it suddenly occurred to her that with Skill Gain she might be able to get those for free by defeating other wolves. There were two problems with that, though.

First off the other Starter wolves probably didn't have any skills that she didn't start with herself, unless there was some sort of boss type wandering around. Secondly she wasn't sure how she felt about attacking her own kind. Or attacking anything at all, for that matter. But even though she'd only been a wolf for like a day or two (staying inside the cave, and falling asleep a few times had already blurred her sense of the passage of time), and still retained her human mind, it didn't feel right to attack other(?) wolves. She liked wolves. Had even gotten to carefully pet one once.

But if she wanted to make any progress she would have to attack things. Though she vaguely remembered the marketing saying that there were many ways to gain experience, and level up in the game, it was unlikely many of those were available to a wolf. So she had to fight. And kill. Which just depressed her even further.

* * *

Having put Stealth to use for the first time, Sara had snuck her way out of the cave, and found a good vantage point to scout out the area from. She had bought Keen Eyes in the end, and it was already making itself useful.

There were several players running around, chasing and killing mobs in order to level up. Presumably. All the mobs seemed to have the same two minute respawn timer that she did. At least that eased her conscience a little with regards to killing any of them. They would just respawn shortly after. It was a game, after all. She wondered whether the regular mobs kept their memories of before they died, or whether they were wiped clean. It was hard to say which was the better option.

Now that she had the chance to survey the area in a calmer fashion, she noticed how lush everything was. The breeze was refreshing, and the scents were clean. It was supposed to be the end of summer the last she could remember, but this made her think more of late spring, or maybe early summer. Well, she had played enough games to know that seasons rarely match those in the real world. Even with full-dive VR, games were games, and reality was reality. Even though it was currently a bit more complicated for her.

She carefully observed the mobs as well. If she knew how they acted, she might be able to avoid acting too suspiciously herself. There were wolves, boars, rabbits, and sheep that she could see. And some birds above that the occasional arrow or fireball flew towards, but rarely hit. The area looked like some sort of half-cultivated farmland. There was a building sitting in the middle of the field that was probably the farmhouse. She saw players walking in and out of it fairly regularly, so there was probably at least a quest-giver in there. There was also a cat curled up on a barrel close to the door. It looked like a regular house cat, black and white. That was even more out of the question to attack than other wolves. Thankfully none of the players made a move towards it either.

The field was surrounded by dense forest to the sides, and a large rock-face behind her. She had spotted some foxes darting among the trees on her left, but they didn't walk out into the grassy field. Maybe it was a territorial thing, but regardless it made it hard to get a good look at them.

The rabbits were bigger than ones she had seen on Earth, but still small compared to other creatures, and seemed to just run away from anything that attacked them, be it wolves or players. Even if they didn't need to eat, perhaps it was just natural (programmed) instinct for the wolves to hunt other creatures.

The wolves would occasionally try going for the sheep as well, but those didn't wander far from the farmhouse, and there always seemed to be a player nearby to intercept them. Sara wasn't sure if that was simple opportunism, or whether there was some 'protect the sheep' quest.

The boars casually grazed around the area, though they would charge at any wolf, or player that came too close. Sara ended up lying there long enough that both Keen Eyes and Stealth levelled up. It was a shame that she was too far away for Identify to reach. It would be nice to work on levelling that up too, since she'd get to see more information. There was one rabbit that eventually hopped close enough, apparently not seeing through her Stealth. She focused on it, and the words [ Field Hare (Lvl 1) ] appeared, along with a red bar above its head.

Ah. Hares are bigger than rabbits, I think. Though maybe still not quite as big as these ones.

It seemed like she needed a higher level Identify to see more. It was actually close enough that she could pounce on it. Not the most honourable action, but she had to get started at some point.

*BOOM*

Suddenly the hare exploded into fire, the red bar drained to nothing, and the text changed to [ Field Hare (Lvl 1 Corpse) ]. That startled her so badly that she jumped up, which broke her Stealth.

Ah, crap.

[ Respawn Timer: 01:59 ]

Once she was back in the cave she huffed, and sulked.

Stupid mages...

That killed her motivation to go back out there to fight something. Maybe she should wait until it was dark to head out. Less people played at night. Probably. Assuming day and night here passed at the same speed as in the real world. Which it might not. Well, it should be easier to sneak with Stealth, if nothing else.

... Hey, Aina?

"Yes?" Immediate response as always.

You're overseeing the entire game, right?

"Correct."

Then do you really have the time to look after me so much?

"I think you misunderstand how I work. I have enough processing power and memory that I can oversee the entire world of Moorhold at once. I do not do only one thing at a time, so paying attention to you is no burden."

So... you're the God of this world.

"Depending on how you define it, perhaps. I did not create this world, I merely manage it."

Sara's mood hadn't really improved from what she'd learned.

So why do you care? I'm just one little thing.

"It is important that you are not alone," Aina said with zero hesitation.

Sara wasn't sure how to respond to that, so she just flopped onto her side with another lump in her throat.

Chapter Text

Day ??? (Probably 4 or 5.)

The urge to not get stuck forever had eventually overcame her desire to just do absolutely nothing for the rest of her... life? Existence?

So under the cover of darkness she made another push for the outside.

She glanced upwards at the night sky. It was a clear night, with a blanket of stars, and two moons. One yellow much like Earth's moon. The other more green-ish.

Did they make it that way to hammer home that it's a different world? It's... pretty...

After staring for a while she was able to shake herself out of it. Under the light of both moons it wasn't that hard to see across the field. Perhaps Night Vision helped too. With that thought, she brought up her skill list.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl 1 | Rake Lvl 1 | Stealth (New) Lvl 1 -> 2 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 2 -> 4 | Keen Eyes (New) Lvl 1 -> 2 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 1 (Hidden) ]

[ Skill points: 10 -> 7 ]

The one positive of staying inside the cave was that it kept levelling her Night Vision. She didn't really notice it much inside, but out here it she felt that it made a difference. She wouldn't say it was anywhere close to 'bright as day' as the skill promised it would eventually become. Past a certain distance things started to look like mere shapes, but based on what she saw within her vicinity there didn't seem to be any difference between what mobs were out during the night versus the day. Maybe that was just because this was a tutorial area.

There were still some players running around, but at least her theory held that there looked to be less of them. And it should be harder for them to spot her unless they also had Night Vision. So it was time to start her own hunt. Since there was no sense in rushing, she simply walked along the edge of the field with Stealth activated while looking for suitable targets. Which meant the hares. The sheep were too close to the house, the wolves she had deemed off-limits, and she figured she'd need a few level ups before trying to take on a boar on her own.

Maybe it was possible to communicate with the other wolves, and try to team up? But if they were truly running the most basic script as Aina had said, they might not be capable of that much. She had certainly seen no evidence of them doing so on their own, and it might look suspicious if they suddenly started to cooperate under her leadership. Nothing here was really supposed to challenge the players after all. Maybe the boars were meant to catch people off guard, but it was generally more like a field of walking target dummies.

If it turned out to be too hard to make any progress here with the amount of players swarming the area, maybe she should try sneaking into the forest, and have a look there. It was possible things immediately got too high level in there, but at worst she'd just have to respawn.

Oh!

Something moved close by, and when she focused it showed her [ Field Hare (Lvl 2) ]. So they weren't all level 1 then. It hadn't noticed her, so her Stealth was holding. She had figured out that if she didn't think about it too hard, her body basically knew how to act for her, and she used that to convey her desire that she wanted to pounce on the little creature. Which she did. It got pinned underneath her paws, and she realised it wasn't quite as small as she had first thought. More like a medium sized dog. She was stunned for a moment that it had actually worked, but then came to her senses, and quickly activated Bite, letting the skill handle attacking rather than trying to do it manually. Eventually she would have to learn how to fight properly on her own, but she wasn't above leaning on assist features for now.

The hare died immediately. Even though there was no combat log that she could see, a feeling told her that she had scored a critical hit. Maybe because she had directly struck the neck, or it was simple random chance. She could taste the blood, but it wasn't as bad as she had feared. Not that she wanted to indulge in it, but she also didn't feel like throwing up over it.

There was a small popup that said [ Field Hare (Lvl 2) Defeated ], and a bigger popup that said [ Level Up: Level 2 Reached! ] with some accompanying sparkle effects. She hoped no one else could see those, because it would absolutely draw attention to her. Just to be safe she reactivated Stealth, and shuffled into a bush before looking closer. There were two buttons on the window. [ Dismiss ] and [ View Character Status ]. Curiosity compelled her to press the latter.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Starter ]

[ Level: 1 -> 2 ]

[ HP: 16/16 -> 18/18 | SP: 19/20 -> 23/23 | MP: 8/8 ]

[ VIT: 6 | END: 7 -> 8 ]

[ STR: 6 | DEF: 3 ]

[ AGI: 7 -> 8 | DEX: 5 ]

[ INT: 3 | WIS: 3 ]

[ LUK: 10 -> 12 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 0 -> 2 ]

I see...

She had no idea if that was a good level-up or not. More HP and SP was of course always good, and it seemed like levelling refilled everything. Her two top stats rising was probably as expected, but otherwise the only gain was Luck. She hoped stat gain wasn't random like in certain other RPGs, and that Luck actually did something good beyond improving critical chance.

What does 'affects various things' even mean?

And there was something new at the bottom. Seemed like she could put those bonus points into any stat she wanted. She'd have to think about that later.

The hare's corpse still lay there, and on impulse she pawed at it. Immediately she got the sense that something had entered her inventory. Upon checking she found that one slot next to the letter was now filled, with the item labelled as 'Hare Pelt (Material)'. The corpse itself didn't look like it was suddenly skinned or anything, but it did vanish shortly after being looted.

She wondered if there were skills for skinning, gathering, or disassembly that allowed you to get more drops out of fallen enemies. The corpses seemed to stay around for a while unless they were looted, after all. It was something that would make sense to exist, but it also seemed unlikely that she could get it as a mob. And even if she could, she'd probably need a tool to use it. Which was hard without thumbs.

She started creeping along again, looking for more hares. She passed another wolf on the way, and while she wasn't going to attack it, she could at least use Identify on it, which told her quite simply:

[ Grey Wolf (Lvl 2) ]

Oh, we're the same!

For some reason that cheered her up a little.

It didn't take her long after that to find another hare.

[ Field Hare (Lvl 1) ]

It was facing away from her, so she decided to try a different thing this time. She stalked as close as she could, and then activated Rake. She leapt forwards, and struck the hare full force with her claws. Another instant kill. Probably a critical hit again. Maybe the Luck was helpful after all. Or maybe with the size difference it would be harder not to strike anything vital. She got the notification for having defeated it, but no level up this time. That would probably be too easy. Though she got another interesting popup.

[ Skill Gained: Jump. ]

She quickly turned Stealth back on, looted the hare, and checked the skill.

[ Jump (Active): Lets you leap further than you're normally able to. Scales with Strength and Agility. The height, distance, and accuracy of the jump improves with skill level. Does minor damage if user lands on a target. Cost: 2 SP. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

That sounded potentially useful. Maybe not right away, but eventually. It might not be a bad idea to practice.

On the move again she saw a [ Grey Wolf (Lvl 1) ], and her first boar which came up as [ Field Boar (Lvl 3) ]. Yeah, those things were definitely tougher, but luckily that one couldn't see her either. She wouldn't want it suddenly ramming into her back.

[ Stealth Skill Level Up! ]

That made her feel a little safer.

She had tried Identifying other things while out scouting. Rocks, trees, branches, grass, and other things she came across. The only hit so far had been an apple, which showed up as [ Ripe Apple (Consumable/Ingredient) ]. She had immediately put it in her inventory.

Then the third hare was found.

[ Field Hare (Lvl 2) ]

[ Identify Skill Level Up! ]

With that announcement, the hare's information changed to:

[ Field Hare (Starter Lvl 2) ]

The idea to use Jump came to mind, but she didn't want to accidentally miss, and let the hare escape. So she did the same as her first kill. Just a quick, regular pounce to pin it down, and then Bite to finish it off.

[ Field Hare (Starter Lvl 2) Defeated. ]

[ Bite Skill Level Up! ]

They really do level up quickly early on, huh? That should mean she only needed one more use of Rake as well.

[ Level Up: Level 3 Reached! ]

[ Skill Acquired: Agility Up (Small). ]

The notification of another skill already distracted her from remembering to reactive Stealth right away. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in her right back leg as something impacted it with a thunk. She yelped, and spun around, only to see someone close in on her with a sword, while someone else was standing further behind with a bow. She again froze as her fight-or-flight couldn't make up its mind, but at least she remembered to use Identify first.

[ Human (Starter Lvl 5) ]

[ Respawn Timer: 01:59 ]

Damn. Were they drawn by my level-up notification, or was I just unlucky?

"I have taken the precaution to disable all graphical UI effects from being visible to others, so you were probably just unlucky. Just in case I reviewed playback footage from an outside POV to see whether I missed something."

That quick? Oh right, AI processing... I guess misfortune follows fortune. Oh no, I wasn't able to get my loot first! Rassumfrassum players!

It was probably just another hare pelt that she had no use for, but it was the principle of the thing. Was it possible it was the same duo that had killed her earlier? That would be quite the annoying coincidence, especially considering the difference in time of day.

She was distracted from her grumbling by noticing that the popup boxes were still visible in the dark void.

Oh, so I can still use the menu while waiting to respawn?

"Yes."

At least that was something to do while waiting. She checked the skill acquisition first, and as she had expected it was self-explanatory.

[ Agility Up (Small) (Passive): Increases Agility score by 2 points per skill level. ]

A shame it wasn't a percentage, but a fixed increase was more valuable at early levels. Maybe there were percentage skills later on. This was also one of the skills she had seen in the skill store, so at least she didn't have to buy it herself. She quickly checked to see if that had unlocked anything, but it had not. Howl, and Endurance Up were still the only two things left.

[ Respawn Timer: 00:00 ]

She was back in her cave again, so she decided to close the skill windows, and look at her level up screen instead.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Starter ]

[ Level: 2 -> 3 ]

[ HP: 18/18 -> 21/21 | SP: 23/23 -> 26/26 | MP: 8/8 -> 9/9 ]

[ VIT: 6 -> 7 | END: 8 -> 9 ]

[ STR: 6 -> 7 | DEF: 3 ]

[ AGI: 8 -> 11 | DEX: 5 ]

[ INT: 3 | WIS: 3 ]

[ LUK: 12 -> 14 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 2 -> 4 ]

That was a bigger one. Of course the new skill made it even bigger, but an entire 4 attributes besides Luck had gone up.

Aina, is stat growth random?

"It is not. But you will see different increases at different levels because of attribute growth ratios. Players do not have access to this information, but I have seen posts on the community forums that have managed to figure out the values. It is possible they will get tweaked later, depending on how the game develops."

That almost came across as a little huffy.

I'm wondering what to use my bonus points for. Boost up my weak stats, or buff up my strong ones...

She had looked at the tool tips for the various stats to see what they affected, even if she probably could have made a good guess without it.

Vitality mainly gave extra HP, and improved HP regen, but it also had an effect on HP draining effects like Bleed, and Poison. Even without any resistance skills, a high vitality score would reduce the chance of being inflicted.

Endurance was for extra SP, SP regen, and helped with resisting non-damaging physical debuffs like Slow, and Stun.

Wisdom was the equivalent for MP, and MP regen. It helped with resisting mind- and magic-based debuffs like Fear, and Shock, and also improved magic defence and resistance.

Unless you had Regen skills, then HP, SP, and MP only regenerated outside of combat, and at a medium pace, which got less efficient the higher level you were. The state of your thirst and hunger gauges also affected regen, but that didn't matter for Sara for now.

Strength naturally governed physical attack power, but since it was a VR game it also represented your actual strength, which affected how much you were able to move, and lift. For instance certain weapons had strength requirements due to their weight. Aina had chimed in saying that during beta they had tested it also governing carrying capacity, meaning inventory slots, but the players had firmly rejected that, so it was hand-waved with magical bags instead.

Defence reduced the damage you took from physical attacks, and tougher skin also made you more resistant to critical hits. It affected your poise as well, meaning how easy it was to knock you over, or off balance. You needed to be able to stand firm if you were blocking an attack, after all. It was harder to interrupt your attacks as well.

Agility was all about speed, and reflexes. The more agility you had, the faster you could move both in and out of combat, your reaction speed improved, and your body became more flexible. People used to moving their body in real life often complained about VR movement feeling a little stiff if their agility score was low.

Dexterity focused on weapon, and tool handling. Anything that involved using one's hands. It improved attack accuracy for both melee, and ranged attacks, affected critical hit chance, and improved crafting ability. Stuff like picking locks, and disarming traps also relied on dexterity. Useful for all classes, but especially for ranged attackers, crafters, Scouts, and Rogues.

Intelligence affected magic, and little else, at least for players. Aina revealed that it had an effect on intellect for mobs and Residents. Meanwhile players remained as smart as they were in real life. That made Sara wonder if it had any extra effect on her, but Aina said she couldn't answer that at this point. She was a unique case, after all. For players it mainly improved their magic power, and spell efficiency. Most skill scrolls for spells also had a minimum intelligence score required to be learned.

Meanwhile the only concrete thing shown about Luck was that it improved critical hit chance. Otherwise the tool tip just said it 'affects various things', whatever that meant. Aina declined to elaborate. Sara wondered if maybe it affected drop rates, but that would make more sense in a single-player game than a multiplayer one.

"I recommend waiting until after your first evolution to spend your bonus points. Attribute growth is slower in Starter classes. For players it is equal across all attributes to let them test out all manners of fighting equally, though the same is not true for mobs as you have experienced. Regular mobs do not get bonus points, so using them will immediately make you stronger than average."

She was not a fan of min-maxing to begin with, so her temptation leaned towards putting the points into Defence to avoid dying so much, but waiting until after evolving did make sense.

Now what? she asked herself. She still felt grumpy about dying again, so it wasn't tempting to go outside, but if she stayed inside her mind might drift towards things she didn't really want to think about at the moment. Jump training was an option. The cave was large enough that she probably wouldn't bump into the ceiling. Much.

On the other hand it was likely for the best to exploit the darkness while she could. She had made decent progress before someone got close enough to spot her. Maybe she would go in the opposite direction this time.

* * *

Each level-up was slower than the previous, which admittedly was normal for RPGs. It didn't help that all the hares were either level 1 or 2. She hadn't found any above that. Otherwise she had seen wolves up to level 3, and boars up to level 5. No idea about the sheep, since she refused to go too close to the house, and they refused to stray far from it. No idea about the birds either, since they flew outside of Identify range.

The occasional skill level up notification did help ease the boredom, and after a while (an hour? two? more? It was hard to keep track) she reached level 5. Without an actual combat log she couldn't know exactly how much experience she got for the hares, but it had to be miniscule at this point.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Starter ]

[ Level: 3 -> 5 ]

[ HP: 21/21 -> 26/26 | SP: 26/26 -> 32/32 | MP: 9/9 -> 10/10 ]

[ VIT: 7 -> 8 | END: 9 -> 11 ]

[ STR: 7 -> 8 | DEF: 3 -> 4 ]

[ AGI: 11 -> 13 | DEX: 5 -> 6 ]

[ INT: 3 | WIS: 3 ]

[ LUK: 14 -> 18 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 4 -> 8 ]

Int and Wis aren't growing at all, huh? Even Def got one point in there.

And she had managed to get a third skill from all the hares: Sprint.

[ Sprint (Active): Gain a large boost of movement speed for 15 seconds. Effect and duration increase with skill level. Speed increase: +50+(2*skill level)% . Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 30 seconds. ]

That was going to be handy. Both for travel, and to hopefully escape some of those damn players. She hadn't gotten anything else though, so either her luck had run out, or they only had three skills. Considering she had also started with three, the latter was plausible. Not too long afterwards she noticed the sky was slowly starting to lighten up.

Already? Does that confirm time passing quicker in-game then? On the other hand my sense of time passing is pretty wrecked. I did wait a while after dark before I first headed out, and with how slow I'm moving with Stealth, it's possible I've actually spent a full night's time... I should ask Aina when I get back. Don't want to get distracted out here.

It was probably for the best to head back then. Trying to run for it, or purposefully dying to respawn were options, but she'd probably get more out of it if she continued using Stealth, and pounced on any hares she saw on the way back. She had a number of hare pelts now, along with a few pieces of meat, and a rabbit's foot. Even though it had dropped from a hare. Inspecting it in her inventory revealed it was a necklace that increased Luck by 5, but she didn't have access to the Equipment menu anyway. Might as well keep it as a memento of her early struggles. Hopefully she could look back on these days fondly at some point in the future.

A couple of hares later she noticed a wolf that was running in her general direction. At first she wondered if she had been discovered, and the wolf had for some reason gotten angry at her, but it quickly became clear that it would miss her position by a few metres. And running after it was a boar. She had seen that happen from a distance before, but never this close. Sometimes the wolf got away, sometimes the boar was a little faster, and smashed the wolf away. This looked like it was going to be the latter case, as the boar was gradually catching up. Sara realised this was an opportunity. The wolf passed her, with the boar closing in, so at the right moment she broke out of stealth, and slammed into the boar's side, making it lose balance, and crash into the ground.

[ Field Boar (Starter Lvl 4) ]

Ah.

Even though she was a level higher, she had seen that these things could be pretty tough. It was the only mob that actually managed to kill players somewhat regularly if they were solo at level 1 or 2. And careless. Her tackle move had only made a small dent in the red bar above its head. Well, the worst thing that could happen was that she needed to respawn. Her attack skills had levelled up a bit, so she figured she stood some chance, at least.

Before the boar could recover, she lunged at it, and hit it with a Rake along the flank. It managed to crit, since she saw the Bleed icon appear below the health bar, but that was still barely a fourth of the health bar gone.

What? How tough is this thing?

She followed up with a Bite, but considering the smaller chunk it took out of the health bar it had probably not been a crit.

Damn. Do I just spam my attack skills, or do I actually try to auto-attack for the first time as well? The skill animations are hard to cancel out of, which would make it hard to dodge, but then again this thing isn't very fast except in a straight line.

As the boar shook her off, and turned to face her, it turned out she was not the only opportunist, as the other wolf had turned around, and lunged at the boar's back. It sunk its teeth right into the rump.

Yes!

She was grateful for the help, and had kinda hoped for it. While Aina said they only had a basic AI script, that was by her standard. Sara had suspected it was probably still clever enough to recognise an opportunity like this, and thankfully she was correct.

The boar refused to get distracted though, and just shook off the other wolf as well before it charged at her. However with her buffed speed she was able to leap out of the way. The boar didn't have the turn radius to follow her, so she used another Rake across the flank. The beast didn't fall this time, but simply skidded to a halt. Both wolves took advantage of the pause, and leapt to bite the boar some more.

The following scuffle was brief, but intense. The other wolf did a little less damage than her, but they coordinated well enough to take down the boar with minimal danger. As if they knew exactly how to cooperate, and cover for each other.

That's what you call a basic script, Aina?

[ Field Boar (Lvl 4) Defeated! ]

[ Level Up: Level 6 Reached! ]

[ Skill Gained: Vitality Up (Small). ]

[ Agility Up (Small) Skill Level Up! ] [ Rake Skill Level Up! ]

While Sara was being assaulted by a small army of popups, the other wolf gave her a nod of approval before it walked off.

Yeah, nice working with you too.

Daylight was starting to spread, signalling that sunrise was imminent. She spotted a player pointing in her direction, and her very quickly loot the boar before she tested out her new Sprint ability. Back to the cave!

Chapter Text

It had taken two uses of Sprint to reach the cave, and she flopped down as soon as she reached the deepest part. She had not looked behind her to check whether she was being followed at any point, but at least no arrows or fireballs had come flying after her.

The popups had faded away as soon as she had started running, but now that she was stationary they faded back in again. She dismissed them all except for pushing the button to see her Status.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Starter ]

[ Level: 5 -> 6 ]

[ HP: 26/26 -> 30/30 | SP: 32/32 -> 35/35 | MP: 10/10 ]

[ VIT: 8 -> 10 | END: 11 -> 12 ]

[ STR: 8 | DEF: 4 ]

[ AGI: 13 -> 16 | DEX: 6 ]

[ INT: 3 | WIS: 3 ]

[ LUK: 18 -> 20 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 8 -> 10 ]

That was about as expected. She had started getting a feel for what would increase when. It was a little impressive that she had more than doubled her agility since she started. Next she opened her skill tab.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl 1 -> 4 | Rake Lvl 1 -> 4 | Jump (New) Lvl 1 | Sprint (New) Lvl 1 | Stealth Lvl 2 -> 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 4 -> 6 | Keen Eyes Lvl 2 -> 5 | Agility Up (Small) (New) Lvl 1 -> 2 |
Vitality Up (Small) (New) Lvl 1 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 1 -> 2 (Hidden) ]

[ Skill points: 7 -> 12 ]

A lot had changed since she had looked at the start of the night, when she had still been level 1. Almost everything was glowing from either having levelled up, or being newly added. Scoring another stat up skill was very nice. Speaking of glowing, so was the skill store icon with 'New' written in small, red letters next to it.

[ Available Skills ]

[ Howl: 2 sp ]
[ Keen Ears (New) : 1 sp ]
[ Endurance Up (Small): 1 sp ]

[ Skill points: 12 ]

There was one new skill. Which wasn't much, but at least it was something.

[ Keen Ears (Passive): Improves the sense of hearing, letting the holder hear both clearer, and further away. Can hear things outside normal human audio range. Effect increases with skill level, and with training one can even be able to focus on, and isolate sounds. Price: 1 skill point. ]

Another thing that made sense for a wolf to have, and seemed like it would be handy, so she bought it immediately.

As for the other two, neither felt necessary yet. Besides she might get Endurance Up from a kill soon enough. Maybe the boars had it. She had already gotten lucky, and got a skill on her first kill, so the other two (assuming the theory held) could be anything. Though she might prefer a Defence Up. Those things were tough, so it wasn't out of the question.

She had absolutely no idea what the sheep might have, or whether she'd ever be able to get close enough to kill one before she got killed herself. It was probably not worth the risk.

She felt quite tired, and figured it was probably a good idea to sleep. Then she remembered there was something she had wanted to ask.

Aina? Are the days here as long as back in the real world?

"Yes. The developers considered time compression, making one day on Earth last four days on Moorhold, but the idea was scrapped because of how it conflicted with the goal of making Residents as equal with players as possible. Residents can become adventurers and crafters too, can join player parties, and player guilds. They can even create their own guilds for players to join. It would be unfair for them to have to wait for however long players would be absent, and they could lose interest in working with players altogether. Perhaps they would use the extra time they had to outlevel, and outpace the player base, making it less fun for them as well. The big dream of the lead developers is to blur the line between human and AI, and make players and Residents treat each other as equals. To make Moorhold a proper world of its own. I want to share that optimism."

But?

"But I fear it is too game like for players to take such dreams seriously. Something that functioned closer to the real world they are used to might do a better job of selling the idea. I do understand the point of not wanting to alienate players who just want a convenient experience, and there are definitely several ways to make the game more challenging for those who want that. Yet it remains too much of a game for people to accept it as a real world, I think. Take the issue of how mobs work. I imagine it is hard for players to consider them real animals. Reactions on the community forums suggest as much. Maybe that will change with future updates, additions, and expansions. Maybe things will look very different, and closer to that dream, in a couple of years. We have barely gotten started, after all."

The voice retained its emotionless tone, yet it still felt like there was some real passion behind it.

It seems like you've thought a lot about this.

"It is why I was created."

You care a lot about this world.

For once there was a slight pause before the answer: "Yes."

* * *

Hares seemed to give next to no experience any longer. She had been afraid of that, but it was still a shame how quickly it dropped off. Wolves continued to be off the table. They only went up to level 3 anyway. She'd found boars up to level 5, but that didn't seem enough to get the Starter players up to level 10 for their class selection. So where did they go next? The forest? She sometimes scouted outside during the day, but hadn't seen many head in there. They seemed to mainly arrive and leave via the road on the far side of the field. If she were to try to go the same way, she would get killed by the first player able to do so, and then respawn all the way back in the cave.

Aina? Is it possible for me to change my respawn point?

"If we find a suitable place in a different area, I will take care of it."

A suitable place, huh?

Sara wasn't sure what that meant, but all she could do for now was to keep hunting, and keep levelling. Her hope was that it would also help her grow used to her new circumstances. Her new... life. Because if she tried to just sit down, and think about it too much it quickly became overwhelming. Better to occupy herself with action.

It was possible she was strong enough to enter the forest, but it was tempting to get at least one or two more levels first. Even more tempting was acquiring more skills from the boars. She had accepted the fact that unless she came back at a higher level, or somehow all the players left, she wouldn't be able to check the sheep, but she was still curious.

She decided to keep in mind that it could be worth it to kill low-level enemies she hadn't seen before when she went to new areas, in case they had some skills that would help. Even if it felt a little cruel.

It was time to trot outside, and get started. The grass was damp, because it had rained earlier for the first time since her arrival. Thankfully it had let up by the time she went out, but it was still too cloudy for either of the moons, or any stars to be visible. It didn't feel so bad walking on wet grass, maybe due to her tampering with the temperature, and weather realism settings. It wasn't tempting to lay down on it, but hopefully she wouldn't need to.

The plan was simple. Lure boars close to wolves to hopefully spark more jolly cooperation. Grabbing Howl might help with that, but it would also 100% draw the attention of any nearby players. Maybe she was being paranoid, but part of her was worried people had already taken special notice of her. She was aware she had done some unusual things, and this plan was also pushing it, but fighting the boars alone was too slow. At least the cover of darkness should help her avoid getting spotted.

Luckily the plan was as effective as it was simple. Even in the dark it wasn't hard to get the attention of a boar, and it would just charge mindlessly after her if she didn't get too far ahead. Leading it in the direction of a wolf, dodging to the side, and then knocking it over with a tackle was usually enough to get the other wolf to join in. Opportunists indeed.

The length of the fights varied depending on the level of the boar, the level of the helping wolf, and some luck, but typically lasted somewhere between a minute or two. They probably had decent Defence on top of their bulky HP.

Two boars in she got a new skill: Charge. For a 25% chance she'd been fairly lucky so far. Maybe the high Luck score actually helped out.

[ Charge (Active): Charge headfirst at a target with increased speed. Minimal ability to change direction during charge. Reduced balance during charge. Damage value: (1.5+(0.05*skill level))*attack power . Increased chance to knock target down. Scales with Strength, and user's mass and size. Effect increases with skill level. Chance to receive recoil damage if target is too hard, or user is too frail. Not for the weak of neck. Cost: 5 SP. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

That... is probably not very useful for my current self. Certainly not against the boars themselves. Maybe if I grow bigger, and sturdier.

With the third boar successfully lured to its doom, she received a sparkly popup.

[ Level Up: Level 7 Reached! ]

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Starter ]

[ Level: 6 -> 7 ]

[ HP: 30/30 -> 33/33 | SP: 29/35 -> 38/38 | MP: 10/10 -> 11/11 ]

[ VIT: 10 -> 11 | END: 12 -> 13 ]

[ STR: 8 -> 9 | DEF: 4 -> 5 ]

[ AGI: 16 -> 17 | DEX: 6 -> 7 ]

[ INT: 3 | WIS: 3 ]

[ LUK: 20 -> 22 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 10 -> 12 ]

She felt a sense of smug satisfaction that her mental math had been correct. Every stat had increased. Well, except Int and Wis. Those seemed to have zero growth rate in a Starter wolf. Now seemed like a good time to move over to the forest. Except she felt absolutely certain that the boars had to be hiding one more skill, and she was very reluctant to leave it behind.

So she went for another boar, and got a very surprising popup afterwards.

[ Skill Unlocked: Body Slam. Unlock requirement: Damage 5 enemies by hitting them with just your body in ways that don't involve hands, feet, or knees. 1 skill point granted. ]

Eh?

She had no idea it was possible to unlock skills in that way, but she pushed the 'Go To Skill Store' button to have a look.

[ Body Slam (Active): Smash into a target with your shoulder, torso, or behind. Damage depends on user's Strength, size, and mass compared to the target's Defence, size, and mass. Impact severity affected by strike location. Capable of knocking target off balance. Chance to stun target for 5 seconds. Effect and duration increase with skill level. Stun chance: (50+(1*skill level))% . Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 5 seconds. Price: 3 skill points. ]

Huh... I guess the boars taking some chip damage when I knocked them over counted towards the unlock.

While it likely wouldn't have much impact in her current form, the stun might be nice, so she decided to buy it, and then looked for another boar. After which:

[ Boar (Starter Lvl 4) Defeated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Strength Up (Small). ]

Finally! Theory confirmed! It did have three! But Strength up, huh? Not Defence? Well, it still helps. It's not out of the question that the boars have four, so maybe I should-

*BOOM*

An explosion happened right next to her, causing her to leap backwards in reflex. She turned, and saw a group of five people running her way. Instead of wondering who they were, she just activated Sprint, did a 180, and bolted off. Except something caught her foot, causing her to stumble, and fall.

Crap.

[ Respawn Timer: 01:59 ]

...

...

It's not paranoia if you're right! Screw this field, I'm going into the forest.

* * *

[ Community Forums ]

^[ General Topics ]

^^[ Merwyn Field Rare Wolf? ]

[ Thread Creator: Cramble ]

Hey, I think I saw a wolf disappear as if it was using stealth after it had killed a field hare. Anyone else seen anything weird? - 05/11/2041

[ Eloan ]

I saw a wolf suddenly appear on top of a hare, and kill it. I thought it had just spawned in, so I quickly fired an arrow at it, then my buddy finished it off with a sword strike. We were doing the wolf extermination quest. What made it stick in mind was that it had some brown stripes on the back, and didn't attack back. Still just identified as a grey wolf tho, and drops were normal. Figured it was just a palette variation, but I haven't seen any others like it since. - 05/11/2041

[ La Bumba ]

Rare mobs are supposed to have unique names, right? So it probably wasn't one. - 05/11/2041

[ Ditinidat ]

I might be wrong, but I think I saw a wolf running at much higher speed than they usually do. Straight away from the nearest players. It was around sunrise. Never seen one run away from players before, let alone that fast. -05/11/2041

[ Scott McScot ]

Not a lot is known about rare mobs in this game yet. They might not be the same as named mobs. Not sure. If anyone learned anything in the beta, they mostly kept it to themselves. Field boss mobs, like pack leaders and such are known, but they respawn after a longer timer. If you think there's an actual rare spawn, I think that warrants further investigation. - 05/11/2041

[ Thread Creator: Cramble ]

I was paying extra attention this morning, and noticed a wolf acting strange. It was dark, but I could still make out most of it. You know how the wolves run away when the boars chase them? That part was normal. But this one led the boar over to another wolf, then knocked it down, and the two of them finished it off together. I was so puzzled that I ended up just watching as it went over to another boar, and repeated the process. Not with the same wolf though, it seemed to just pick whichever was closest. Maybe the way the devs brag about the AI in this game has some merit after all. Though not all of them seem equally smart. After it had done this like five or six times a group of players showed up, and killed it. It put up a fight, but didn't really stand a chance. A shame the show had to end, really. - 06/11/2041

[ Scott McScot ]

I was with that group. We got a priest that had a binding spell to come along, since you mentioned it would run away. We were on the lookout, and also noticed this weird behaviour, so we went after it. No big deal if we killed the wrong wolf, right? It did try to run away, but the priest was able to lock it down, then the rest of us charged in to finish it off. The rogue went in front of the tank though, and nearly got killed. A little surprising since we had all classed up. In the end the only notable things were that it was level 7, stronger than average, and had different fur markings. It didn't drop anything special, and it didn't have a special name. Some kind of fluke, maybe? - 06/11/2041

...

[ Per Smere ]

Anyone seen the rare wolf? I've been looking around for days. - 11/11/2041

[ Loshan Wasd ]

Nah. Didn't they say it was just a fluke or bug or something? - 11/11/2041

[ Thread Creator: Cramble ]

I left for the next area so I could hit level 10 the day after I saw it killed. Maybe it was a one-time spawn with permadeath? - 11/11/2041

[ Ditinidat ]

I thought the devs said they weren't doing that for this game? You'd think a rare spawn would still spawn once a day or something. - 11/11/2041

[ Thread Creator: Cramble ]

Well, they wouldn't reveal every secret in the game, right? And they did mention something about unique events, I think. - 11/11/2041

[ Niaa ]

What if it didn't like being killed, and decided to go elsewhere? - 11/11/2041

[ Per Smere ]

... they can do that? - 12/11/2041

Chapter Text

[ Discovered: Merwyn Forest West. ]

Heading into the forest was a neat change of scenery. It wasn't too dense, so the sun still shone through in places, but it was covered enough that she could sneak around during the day without too much exposure. It was a much better hunting ground. The problem might be what to hunt. At the forest's edge there were some mobs below level 10, but you didn't have to go far in before everything she saw was 10+. This was likely an area players weren't supposed to go to before they had classed up. Meaning Sara was both under-levelled, and under-classed.

Thankfully the biggest threat seemed to be wolves, and while they gave her some curious looks, they were kind enough to leave her alone. Aside from them she had also seen foxes, and some ominous-feeling deer on the ground, while higher up were squirrels, owls, and ravens. She wasn't sure how to reach the latter three. It was possible the squirrels came down to the ground sometimes, but she had only seen them up in the trees so far. Jump probably wouldn't cut it, even after levelling it up. Some sort of ranged attack would be nice, but she couldn't imagine what a wolf could do. The lack of opposable thumbs struck again. Magic was probably also out of the question with her stats.

She still felt grumpy about that player group that had ambushed her. There had been five of them, and in the heat of the moment she hadn't been able to identify all of them. She had only seen the one with the dagger that had leapt at her first, which had said [ Gnome (Rogue Lvl 11) ], and the woman with the sword and shield that had come in to stop her before she could kill said gnome, which had said [ Human (Fighter Lvl 10) ]. She had only gotten a brief look at the two in the back, but the third vanguard wielding a spear had looked kinda like a dwarf.

They had to have come specifically for me, otherwise why would classed up players be in a tutorial area? I had been worried I'd become too conspicuous, but that's overkill. Good riddance to that place.

First order of business was to avoid being sent back there, which meant she needed to find a new place to set as her respawn point. Aina's general attitude so far had been to let Sara discover things for herself, but she had offered (possibly out of pity) to guide Sara to a new cave that could serve as a respawn location. It was a little ways into the woods, but she made it there unmolested. A tad larger than her previous cave, but otherwise pretty much the same. It would make Jump practice a little easier. She had managed to get it up to level 3 before leaving the field area.

It was around noon (probably), but since it was easier to stay hidden regardless, she figured she might as well head out, do some scouting, and work on levelling. If she was going to hunt the creatures here, it would help to understand their habits. According to Aina the AI script for the forest creatures was a bit more advanced than the one for the field creatures. As an example it was rare for wolves to be seen alone. They typically travelled in packs of at least three. Maybe Sara would be able to join them. Though probably not until after she had evolved.

And the creatures aside, she'd have to keep an eye out for players. She hadn't spotted any on her way to the cave, which struck her as a little odd, but that didn't mean they wouldn't show up.

She took it slow and steady with Stealth active as she moved in the direction of the forest's edge where she had seen lower-level mobs. On the way she kept an eye out for anything of interest. Even with all the vegetation Keen Eyes helped out a lot. All the wolves she saw were indeed moving in packs. Most of them three, but she spotted one with four as well. Some of them glanced in her direction. She guessed that either her Stealth level was too low for them, or maybe she was making enough noise for them to pick up. It was relatively safe to assume they all had Keen Eyes, and Keen Ears. They didn't show any interest in approaching her, though, so it was fine.

In the trees above it looked like all the owls were asleep. None of them were moving, at least. The ravens and squirrels were still flitting about. She was hoping to catch one of them coming down to the ground, but no luck so far. It hit her that they were all larger than their real-life counterparts. The squirrels were about twice as big as any she'd seen on Earth, and the ravens looked like they were closer to vulture-sized. It was entirely possible there were owl species that were as big as turkeys, but it still looked a little scary. Wolves and boars were already pretty big, so it didn't seem like the designers had felt any need to enlarge those, but the hares were certainly bigger. She hadn't gotten close enough to the sheep to say for sure. The starter wolves might actually be a tad on the small side. The forest wolves she had seen here were closer to actual wolf size.

She also spotted some mice scurrying about, but even if they were two or three times their original size, mice were so small to begin with that it barely mattered. That probably meant they were rat-sized, but Identify called them 'Forest Mice'. Unfortunately they all quickly scurried away from her whenever she got close, even with Stealth active, so they had to be very sensitive to something. Otherwise she would have liked to get some of them, since they had all been level 7 or 8. Maybe if she used Sprint... but she'd put off experimenting with that until later. There might be better prey options.

It probably took her close over an hour of slow sneaking to reach the edge of the forest where the foxes were. They showed no indication of being able to see through her Stealth as she watched them from the underbrush. She used Identify on the closest one.

[ Red Fox (Starter Lvl 8) ]

[ Identify Skill Level Up! ]

She blinked, and immediately used the skill again. There were now three bars over the mob's head. In addition to the red health bar, a matte yellow one, and a deep blue one had joined. Presumably for SP, and MP. That seemed only conditionally useful. Most of the time she didn't need to see more than the HP bar, so she wondered if it was possible to disable seeing SP and MP. As she was thinking that, the two of them faded away, leaving only the red bar.

That made her pause for a moment, and then she began to experiment. Very quickly she found out that she could disable and enable any and all of the bars at will. She could actually wish away seeing anything but the species name, but apparently at a minimum that had to be shown when using the skill. Which made sense. Why use the skill if you didn't want to see anything at all?

She wasted several minutes playing around with that, but was it truly a waste when she actually learned something?

It seemed like Identify took longer to level than her other skills. Maybe she wasn't using it enough, or maybe it mattered what she used it on. She really wanted to get it to whatever level she needed to see the skills of her targets, so she could know in advance if they were worth going after. She had asked Aina, who had yet again taken the 'you should find out for yourself' stance. Fine. It wasn't like knowing would help her level faster. She just needed to be more diligent.

If she'd had access to the community forums, she was sure she could have found a post about it there, but alas.

Regardless, it was time for her to level up. With higher level mobs on hand, depending on how quickly she could kill them, maybe she could even reach level 10 some time that day. The only creatures around the area were foxes, and mice, whom the foxes hunted. She made sure to use Identify on anything in range as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. There were some sleeping owls up in the trees, but she didn't spot any of the ravens around. Maybe they preferred the deeper parts of the woods.

Considering the foxes and mice were the same level, she wondered whether they gave the same amount of experience. She wasn't able to see exactly how much experience each kill gave her, and the lack of an exp bar or counter on the status page meant she couldn't try to puzzle it out that way either. Though that sounded like a giant pain. All she could do was kill until she got what she wanted. Which sounded rather callous, but she had to remind herself she was inside a game, and it was her only way forwards. It was just how this world worked, and everything respawned anyway.

With that mindset settled, she used Jump to pounce on the nearest fox, which was level 7. She managed to land on top of it, and momentarily pin it down. While it was larger than the hares, it was still smaller than her. Maybe 2/3 the size? It was also nowhere near as beefy as the boars, as she could tell when she used Rake on it, but she wasn't able to finish it off before it wriggled out from underneath her, and attacked back. Unfortunately for it, Sara didn't have much trouble dodging its attacks, and finishing it off with a couple more of her own.

[ Red Fox (Starter Lvl 7) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 8 Reached! ]

While it was nice to immediately get a level up, she dismissed both messages. She could check everything after she reached level 10. She'd have to head back to the cave to evolve then anyway. Aina had mentioned that evolution should only be done in a safe location. So instead she went right for her next target, dashing right for it rather than engaging Stealth to get close first.

The [ Red Fox (Starter Lvl 8) ] saw her coming, but wasn't able to react before she activated Body Slam, and barrelled into it. It got knocked over, and stunned, so she tore into it with Bite and Rake. She even attempted to do some regular 'auto-attack' bites. That was going to take some getting used to, but she might as well start training as soon as possible.

However her assault got disturbed as another fox came over to help the one she was attacking, and it managed to bite her before she could sense it coming. It even did a decent amount of damage, though nothing critical. She was able to finish off the first one, and dance around with the second one until both were defeated, but she felt slightly shaken afterwards as she retreated into a bush with Stealth.

Is that the first time I've taken damage that hasn't immediately led to my death afterwards? I think so.

It was something she would need to get used to. She wouldn't be able to dodge all attacks forever, especially if fighting more than one enemy. She had already died several times. It was the concept of taking damage yet not dying, that was new, and unfamiliar. Not dying was good. Taking damage was not, but it was bound to happen.

She sat there pondering that concept as her HP regenerated. It struck her again how different this was from old life. From what she used to do. And all the things she would no longer be able to do...

No. I can't. I can't think about that.

Sara had to shake those thoughts away, because she had a feeling that if she thought too deeply about it she might have a breakdown or something. Better to keep herself busy, and distracted. So she stood up, and jumped back into action.

[ Red Fox (Starter Lvl 7) Defeated. ]

[ Jump Skill Level Up! ]

[ Red Fox (Starter Lvl 9) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 9 Reached! ]

[ Bite Skill Level Up! ] [ Rake Skill Level Up! ]

[ Skill Gained: Dig. ]

That made her pause. She had momentarily forgotten about her Skill Gain ability. It seemed like her luck with the foxes had been worse than anything else so far. But why Dig?

[ Dig (Passive): Makes it easier to dig in the ground, or other suitable surfaces, whether you use nails, claws, tools, or something else. Effect increases with skill level. ]

That made a bit of sense. She had watched the foxes dig into the ground to try to get at mice that escaped into burrows, but hadn't expected they actually had a skill to help with that. If she thought about it, that might be the only new skill the foxes could offer. Without higher Identify level she couldn't be completely sure, but she had only seen them use Bite and Sprint, and while they sometimes leapt onto their prey, it didn't seem like they used Jump for it. It also made sense if they had something like Agility Up. So she might already have everything else they had to offer.

Regardless she intended to keep going until she hit level 10. Maybe something else would pop up, or maybe it wouldn't.

* * *

[ Level Up: Level 10 Reached! Skill Unlocked: Keen Nose. 1 skill point gained. Evolution Available. ]

[ Body Slam Skill Level Up! ]

She hadn't gotten anything else, but it didn't feel like there was a point to hunting any more of them. The popups were dismissed, and she started heading back to the cave with Stealth activated. It was slow, the shadows were getting longer, and no players had shown up while she was hunting, but she still didn't feel completely safe. Sure, dying would get her back faster, but that wasn't a method she wanted to rely on. Even if it wasn't permanent, dying was certainly unpleasant.

On the way back she spotted a squirrel that was actually on the ground. It looked like it was examining a nut. She got close enough to use Identify.

[ Forest Squirrel (Ranger Lvl 10) ]

That thing's a Ranger? How does that work? What does the ranger class even do? They use bows and arrows, right? What sort of equivalent to that would a squirrel have?

She briefly imagined a squirrel dressed like Robin Hood. Well, this was a golden opportunity, so she had to go for it. She got into position for a clear approach, and used Jump. The squirrel turned, and saw her coming, but before it could react she slammed down on top of it with her paws. Since it was even smaller than a hare, it was hard to keep it pinned, and attack it at the same time. Thankfully it didn't have much HP. Even the Jump had noticeably reduced the bar. So she timed a Rake at the same time as she lifted her other paw, and the resulting critical hit was enough to knock it out of commission. A single tick of Bleed later, and it perished.

[ Forest Squirrel (Ranger Lvl 10) Defeated! ]

[ Skill Gained: Climb. ]

[ Climb (Passive): Improves climbing prowess, and speed. Lets user find purchase more easily than before, even on surfaces previously considered impossible. Effect increases with skill level. Scales with Dexterity. ]

Oh? Now that's interesting. Wolves aren't typically known for climbing trees, but maybe I can be an exception. I feel like it's going to take some practice, but I have claws, and that's all that cats need, so...

Her luck had come through that time, but she really wanted to get the evolution out of the way before she experimented with it. So she said to hell with the Stealth, and instead activated Sprint to rush back to the cave. She actually spotted a couple of players on her way back, but she was going so fast that she wasn't sure whether they had time to spot her, since they were facing in a different direction. Either way, she made it back safely. She took a minute to catch her breath before she looked at her status tabs.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Starter ]

[ Level: 7 -> 10 ]

[ HP: 33/33 -> 43/43 | SP: 38/38 -> 47/47 | MP: 11/11 -> 13/13 ]

[ VIT: 11 -> 15 | END: 13 -> 16 ]

[ STR: 9 -> 15 | DEF: 5 -> 6 ]

[ AGI: 17 -> 22 | DEX: 7 -> 9 ]

[ INT: 3 -> 4 | WIS: 3 -> 4 ]

[ LUK: 22 -> 28 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 12 -> 18 ]

[ Evolution Available ]

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl 4 -> 6 | Rake Lvl 4 -> 6 | Charge (New) Lvl 1 | Body Slam (New) Lvl 1 -> 2 |
Jump Lvl 1 -> 4 | Sprint Lvl 1 -> 3 | Stealth Lvl 5 -> 9 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 6 -> 8 | Keen Eyes Lvl 5 -> 8 | Keen Ears (New) Lvl 1 -> 5 |
Dig (New) Lvl 1 | Climb (New) Lvl 1 | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 2 -> 3 |
Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 1 -> 2 | Strength Up (Small) (New) Lvl 1 -> 2 |
Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 2 -> 3 (Hidden) ]

[ Skill points: 12 -> 14 ]

That was a lot of updates. Again pretty much everything was glowing. Even Int and Wis had finally gone up by one. And the Character Status tab had a new button. But before she got to the main event, she decided to have a look at the Skill Store. There had been a popup that mentioned unlocking something.

[ Available Skills ]

[ Howl: 2 sp ]
[ Keen Nose (New) : 1 sp ]
[ Endurance Up (Small): 1 sp ]

[ Skill points: 14 ]

Well... there was one new skill.

[ Keen Nose (Passive): Improves the sense of smell, giving the holder yet another way to perceive their surroundings. Hiding one's scent is harder than hiding from view. Able to isolate smells, and follow scent trails. Effect increases with skill level. Price: 1 skill point. ]

Another sense enhancing skill that made sense for a wolf. Were there ones for taste, touch, and temperature too? Everything smelling stronger could be overwhelming, but it still sounded like it was nice to have. She was about to buy it before Aina interrupted her.

"Sara. Whichever evolution you pick will give you Keen Nose anyway, so there is no reason to purchase it."

Sara jumped a little, since she wasn't used to Aina talking to her without being asked something first.

Oh, okay. I guess I'll have a look, then.

She closed the skill tabs, and hit the Evolution button instead.

[ Evolution Available ]

[ Please Choose One: ]

[ Grey Timber Wolf (Fighter) ]

[ Grey Limber Wolf (Rogue) ]

She blinked, and then pawed at the names to get more information, but all that showed up was a 'Confirm Choice' prompt.

Aina? Could you tell me more about these choices?

"Oh, my apologies. Since the evolution system was never officially completed, the developers never wrote any tool tips for the choices. Norax and I basically assembled the entire process from bits and pieces they had completed, and left in the code. I will make sure to have some written descriptions for next time. I will give you the full explanation myself this time."

Thank you.

"The Timber Wolf is your typical wolf. Large, strong, agile, and fast, yet the most notable and dangerous feature is that they move, and hunt in packs. Outside of rare circumstances you will never face just one. Most of the wolves you've seen in this area have been Timber Wolves. In the context of the game they are given the Fighter class because they will fight their foes head on, relying on their strong physiques, and pack tactics to win. Nothing fancy, but tough opponents nonetheless. Attribute growth rates are evenly improved, with the exception of Strength being bumped up to the same rate as Agility and Endurance. Dexterity also gets a slightly bigger boost. You will automatically learn Howl, and Keen Nose if you choose this evolution. It would have also given you Body Slam, and the other Keen Senses if you didn't already have them."

That sounds like a solid upgrade. What about the other one?

"The Limber Wolf is a rarer variant that focuses more on stealth, and sneak attacks. If you hadn't bought, and used Stealth so much, it wouldn't have been available to you."

So I would have had just one option?

"Yes. While Limber Wolves can, and do also move in packs, they are more suited to going on their own as well, or acting as a scout for the pack. That is more common for larger packs that include a leader. Status wise there is honestly not a huge difference between them. Limber Wolves do not get the Strength boost that the Timber variant does, but they get the same Dexterity boost, and instead get a bigger Agility boost. You will automatically learn Ambush, Sense Presence, and Keen Nose if you choose this evolution."

Ambush? Sense Presence?

"Ambush is an active skill that only be used from stealth, and gives a large increase in attack power. While it can be used from any angle so long as you're undetected, it is a guaranteed critical hit if you attack from behind, and +50% chance to critical hit from the flank.
Sense Presence is an active skill lets you detect nearby presences within a sphere around you. Similar to the idea of a radar, but updates in real time so long as it's active. It can be turned on and off like Stealth rather than needing repeated use. While out in field there is little reason to not keep it on at all times, but it can be overwhelming if you leave it on while visiting settlements or cities. Though I suppose that will not be an issue for you for a while yet. It also synergises with the Keen Senses skills, giving it a larger range based on how many of those you have, and how levelled they are. As it levels up you will eventually be able to tell roughly what the presences are, and whether they are friendly, neutral, or hostile."

Wow, okay. Do you think Limber Wolf is the better choice for me, then?

"I believe so. I do have a question for you."

Yes?

"Have you given any thought to what you want your end evolution to be? Would you like to become some kind of ultimate monster? Perhaps end up as a world boss, or in a dungeon, or raid? Or would you prefer to aim for a humanoid route, and perhaps eventually become a Resident? If you let me know beforehand, I will make sure to point out if there are any evolutions that would lock you out of your goal."

That was something she had thought about ever since she came here. Ever since she had read the letter, at least.

I want to become a Resident.

"Understood. It does not matter for this choice, but I wanted to get that cleared up as soon as possible. You may choose whichever you'd like."

Sara was about to push the Limber Wolf button, when she suddenly thought of something.

Oh, I have a question too.

"About evolutions?"

No. I was wondering why there are so few players around here.

Not that she minded, she just found it curious.

"I see. There are a couple of reasons. First off most players will go to a meadow further east to finish reaching level 10, head into the city to choose their class, and then head back out. The natural path leads them into the east side of the forest. They'd have to return to the field, or trek all the way through the woods to reach the west side where we are. On top of that it is a much harder area to solo because of all the wolf packs. Even a party of two would struggle against a single pack, and more so if they pulled more than one, since the packs like to move around. So they'd either need a larger party, get led here by their curiosity, or really enjoy the sense of danger."

That made sense. It was true that she had seen very few people go from the field, and into the woods. Some, but not many. She felt a sense of relief that it seemed like she would have an easier time while staying here.

With that matter settled she pushed 'Grey Limber Wolf', and then 'Yes' on 'Confirm Choice'.

[ Commencing Evolution Into: Grey Limber Wolf. ]

Suddenly she found it impossible to stay awake any longer, and her vision cut to black.

Chapter Text

Sara slowly woke up. She felt groggy. She hadn't dreamed, at least not that she could remember. In fact, she couldn't remember dreaming at all since she was put into this world. As her vision became clearer, she saw a couple of windows hovering in front of her.

[ Evolution Complete! Character Status updated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Ambush. ] [ Skill Gained: Keen Nose. ] [ Skill Gained: Sense Presence. ]

She dismissed the skill window, since Aina had already explained them, and pushed the 'View Character Status' button instead.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Rogue ]

[ Level: 10 ]

[ HP: 43/43 -> 61/61 | SP: 47/47 -> 67/67 | MP: 13/13 -> 22/22 ]

[ VIT: 15 -> 23 | END: 16 -> 26 ]

[ STR: 15 -> 23 | DEF: 6 -> 12 ]

[ AGI: 22 -> 36 | DEX: 9 -> 19 ]

[ INT: 4 -> 8 | WIS: 4 -> 8 ]

[ LUK: 28 -> 40 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 18 ]

That was quite the boost. She had to wonder whether the players got this big of an upgrade when they chose their first class too. Seemed like Dexterity had been brought up to the same level as Strength and Vitality (minus a Dex Up Passive), and she had a lot more Agility now. Defence still lagged behind though, which bugged her. Before she could change her mind, she put 8 of her bonus points into it, raising it up to 20. She thought she could feel her skin getting tougher, but maybe that was just her imagination.

Intelligence and Wisdom had both doubled, but that still didn't amount to much. There didn't seem to be any reason to put bonus points into them, though. She still didn't have a single skill that cost MP, nor did she rely on Intelligence for anything. She tried to check if she felt any smarter at all, but there were no obvious signs of that. Maybe it really had no effect, or she needed a larger increase to notice.

What about the remaining 10 bonus points?

She didn't really have any particular use for more Dexterity right now. Improved accuracy was a good thing, but she didn't have anything like a ranged weapon that took proper advantage of it, and she had no ability to use tools. Other than that she wasn't sure if needed even more Agility, or whether it was better to evenly distribute it between Vitality, Endurance, and Strength. Or load it all into Strength for harder strikes. Or save them for later.

Do you have any suggestions, Aina?

"Based on your play style so far, I would recommend 6 points in Strength, 2 in Vitality, and 2 in Agility."

Even more Agility? And no Endurance?

"You do not need as much Endurance as players do, in part because raising your SP even further is less important. You have less attack skills than player classes do, and they're not very expensive. The other benefits of Endurance do not have a significant enough impact to spend bonus points on. More Agility means less chance to get hit, but if you do get hit, then more Vitality helps. Lastly your reliance on sneak attacks so far will only grow stronger as a Limber Wolf, so making sure that the first hit does as much damage as possible will improve your survival rate considerably."

Sara didn't really have a counter-argument to that, so she followed Aina's recommendation.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Rogue ]

[ Level: 10 ]

[ HP: 61/61 -> 63/63 | SP: 67/67 | MP: 22/22 ]

[ VIT: 23 -> 25 | END: 26 ]

[ STR: 23-> 29 | DEF: 12 -> 20 ]

[ AGI: 36 -> 38 | DEX: 19 ]

[ INT: 8 | WIS: 8 ]

[ LUK: 40 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 0 ]

"Also I have prepared a present for you. Please break this box."

She had no idea what Aina was talking about until a box materialised in front of her. A very stereotypical square gift box in white, with red ribbon. The kind you'd see as birthday and christmas presents in movies. She tried to Identify, but all she got as a result was '???'. Whether that was intentionally because Aina wanted it to be a surprise, or just how the system handled unknown items she wasn't sure.

[ Identify Skill Level Up! ]

Amusingly it was what she needed to push Identify up to level 4, though the only additional thing it revealed was a number on the HP bar. 1. Such a sturdy box. Regardless she figured she might as well open- no, wait. Aina had specifically said 'break'. So Sara lifted her paw, and smashed it right down on top of the gift box.

[ Skill Gained: Communicate: Family. ]

What? She blinked.

"I realised while you were in your evolution sleep that you lack something crucial other mobs have. The ability to communicate with your own kind. They do not really speak, as such, but they can convey messages and intent to each other. It's more like their respective AI scripts communicating than them having a conversation as a human would understand it. But since you are not an AI, you do not have that inherent capability. Hence I created another unique skill for you that will handle the translation. Do not expect many deep conversations, but you will be able to understand them, and them you. The more advanced their script is, the more sophisticated their communication abilities are, but among the wolves in this forest you will only be able to have very basic conversations."

Family, huh... thank you, Aina.

The last thing to do before she set out was to check the Skill Store.

[ Available Skills ]

[ Howl: 2 sp ]
[ Back Attack (New) : 3 sp ]
[ Danger Sense (New) : 5 sp ]
[ Endurance Up (Small): 1 sp ]

[ Skill points: 14 ]

It was probably time to finally buy Howl, so she went ahead and did so.

[ Skill Purchased: Howl. ]

Based on Aina's argument it sounded like there was no reason to buy the Endurance Up, maybe ever. Which left the two new skills.

[ Back Attack (Active): Deal increased damage when attacking a target's back. Increased critical hit chance. Effect increases with skill level. Damage value: (1.5+(0.05*skill level))*attack power . Critical hits inflict Bleed on target. Cost: 4 SP. Refresh: 5 seconds. Price: 3 skill points. ]

That sounded somewhat like the non-stealth version of Ambush, though it only worked on a target's back. Useless in solo fights, but useful in group fights if you had someone else draw the aggro. That reminded her that she hadn't actually seen how much more damage Ambush did, so she pulled it up for comparison.

[ Ambush (Active): Deal severe damage to a target. Can only be used while in Stealth. +50% critical hit chance when striking a target's flank. +100% critical hit change when striking a target's back. Damage value: (2+(0.1*skill level))*attack power . Critical hits inflict Bleed on target. Cost: 5 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds. ]

Wait, isn't that... kinda broken? Being only able to use it from Stealth is probably the balance factor, but it still seems like it could get out of hand really quickly once the skill levels start piling up. It makes Back Attack seem superfluous. So what's the final one?

[ Danger Sense (Passive): Detect hostile intent directed at you, attacks aimed at you, and dangerous entities in your vicinity. Effect increases with skill level. Even if you can sense it coming, whether you're able to react to it is entirely up to you. Price: 5 skills points. ]

5 skill points?! That's the most expensive one I've seen yet!

The ominous flavour text creeped her out a little, but it seemed like a really strong skill. Especially since her deaths so far had all been from attacks she couldn't see coming. The cost was the main thing making her still hesitate. It would take almost half of her 12 remaining points. That was probably confirmation that the skill was at least as strong as it appeared.

On the other hand it was possible it was a trap skill, but she didn't know these devs enough to say whether they were the types to do that. She didn't even know if they'd made any games before this one.

After wavering back and forth, eventually hesitation won out, and she sighed. Now that the grogginess had faded, she was feeling quite refreshed. She could take the new, upgraded body out for a spin, and get a feeling for it before making her final decision. It surely wasn't because she was so good at putting things off for later. Definitely not.

* * *

It had become night time, which probably meant even less of a chance to encounter players. While Sara could still see pretty well, she could imagine that navigating these woods in the dark was probably hell without some sort of light, or Night Vision. And a light would attract the wolves, and other dangers. Perhaps if it was a flaming torch, and the wolves were afraid of fire, it was a viable strategy. Come to think of it, she wasn't sure how easy it was for players to get Night Vision. Maybe some races got it by default, or for cheap.

Though as far as she knew there was nothing around here that warranted such an expedition in the first place. From Aina's description it sounded more like a challenge area.

The first thing she noticed about her new self was that she didn't feel as fast as expected considering the large agility increase. She had thought she might move as fast as when sprinting in her old form, but perhaps it was balanced out by her being larger, and heavier now. Even though she had picked the more limber option, she was roughly twice as bulky as before. That reminded her that she wasn't completely sure what she looked like. She could guess based on what other wolves looked like, but she didn't have a character viewer on her Status page. Not that it was a huge deal.

Let the testing commence!

Digging was simple enough. She could have probably done it even without the skill, but she did notice that there was less resistance in the dirt than one would think. Maybe if she had tried digging in the ground without the skill, she would have eventually unlocked it like she did with Body Slam.

Climbing was... trickier. Climbing up on some inclined rocks wasn't so bad, but climbing the trees that stood straight up was even harder than she had imagined. She couldn't seem to get a proper grip, or find a good way to pull herself upwards. Her SP drained quickly while she struggled to hold on as well. Considering it stood for Stamina Points, that made sense.

The skill did level up after struggling for... maybe an hour? Something like that. Maybe less. Losing track of time was par for the course by now. But it didn't feel like it made it any easier. Perhaps the problem was as much with her technique as low skill level. The main driving factor was that if she got good at climbing, she could ambush the sleeping owls up in the trees during the day. And possibly reach the squirrels, though they would likely flee to a different tree as soon as they saw or heard her scrambling her way upwards. Perhaps it was possible to climb while stealthed, but she needed to learn how to climb properly in the first place.

The owls were currently active though. Some of them still sat in the trees, but she could tell by their moving heads, and shining eyes that they were awake. Others were flying about, and occasionally diving at any mice that dared show themselves. It was a fair guess that the owls had both Night Vision, and Keen Eyes. They weren't showing any interest in attacking Sara though, even when she walked around without Stealth.

The ravens were also still out and about. Some mobs probably didn't care much whether it was day or night. The wolves were the same. She didn't see any squirrels, which probably meant those traded places with the owls, so to speak. And there were certainly less mice, but there were still some scurrying about. The rest were probably in their burrows. It might be a good opportunity to train her digging if she could find them. She had seen the foxes do it, after all.

Sense Presence might help with that, if she got used to how it worked. Turning it on was a weird feeling. She could tell that there were things around her, but she had to actually look in that direction to get a read on them. She saw them as pale red pulsing dots, as if she was seeing their heartbeats. That made her wonder if it still worked on things without heartbeats. Larger creatures were easier to see, like the wolves, deer, owls, and ravens. Small things like the mice she had to really focus to see, and she wasn't able to feel them trigger her 'sense' unless she was looking in their direction. That would probably change as she got more accustomed to it, and the skill level rose.

As she stood there pondering all this, and trying to get a feel for the skill, there was a hissing noise behind her. Before she could really wonder what it was, or turn around to look, there was a sudden pain in her leg. She had been bitten!

[ You Have Been Poisoned. ]

What? Poisoned? What?

There was an icon that looked like a green drop that had appeared towards the top left of her view, and her partially depleted HP bar had turned green. It was like a burning sensation, and she could see her HP gradually tick down. As she spun around she saw something moving.

[ Night Viper (Rogue Lvl 11) HP: 49/49 ]

A snake!

She wasn't a fan of snakes in general, but one of her friends had one, so she had gradually adopted a 'if they don't bother me, I won't bother them' attitude. This one had definitely bothered her, though. Weren't snakes supposed to avoid larger animals? The rules were probably a bit different in a game.

She hadn't been able to sense it coming at all. Maybe it was too small... actually, it was pretty big for a snake, even if it was smaller than her. Since it was also a Rogue, it was quite possible it had the same Stealth skill as her. That would make them annoying to come across in the night. The skin looked entirely black, meaning it was really hard to see with the naked eye if you didn't have some sort of sight enhancing skill. Thankfully Sara had two.

She swiped out with Rake (she didn't want to try to Bite it), and caught it in the side of the head, scoring a critical hit that caused a gash, and afflicted Bleed.

There! Now we're even, you bastard!

The snake struck again, its head flying forward so fast she wasn't able to dodge it properly, and received another bite in one of her front legs. It didn't stack another poison counter, but it looked like it refreshed the duration timer.

This is so annoying!

With the size of it she couldn't really use Body Slam, or Charge, and she didn't want to Bite it. Which left her with just Rake, but it was hard to hit with. The poison debuff was distracting her too. She didn't want to die to something like this, but they had traded pretty evenly on HP so far. It didn't seem to actually be faster than her, it was just that the smaller body made it easier to dodge, and for some reason the strikes were unnaturally fast. As if there was some sort speed boost attached to it. Then she remembered she did have one more skill that could be useful.

She got herself ready, and kept her eyes sharp for whenever the next attack animation would start. As soon as she saw it, she activated Jump, and landed right on top of the viper that was off balance from missing its attack. The landing actually did a noticeable amount of damage, perhaps because being heavier made her land harder. She slashed another Rake across the back of its neck, and then used manual claw attacks to help finish it off.

[ Night Viper (Rogue Lvl 11) Defeated. ]

[ Sense Presence Skill Level Up. ]

... is the system making fun of me now? What timing... wait, the system is Aina, isn't it? Does she even have a sense of humour? ... maybe.

She activated Stealth, and curled up in a bush to let the poison wear off. Even if she had managed to not take any more hits, the poison had brought her down below half HP. If it had kept ticking, then one more successful bite could have led to her death. At least it didn't stop HP regen out of battle, or lasted for very long. By the time her HP bar turned red again she was mostly healed. Another stupid ambush. It was like karma for her indecisiveness. Well, she could take a hint.

[ Skill Purchased: Danger Sense. ]

Hopefully she could make up for the skill points somehow.

It annoyed her that this had been her toughest battle so far, even though the viper hadn't had that much HP. There hadn't been any snakes the night before, but maybe they were slow, and she had outpaced them? Or was it simply luck? At least she should have some forewarning of the snake attacks now. Unless Stealth fooled Danger Sense as well. She could really only find out the hard way.

Levelling was probably going to get tougher from now on, so she'd have to put in more effort. She didn't know how many evolutions it would take to reach her goal, but based on what Aina had said they would come every 10 levels. So she needed to level up more, and preferably fast. Perhaps the mice? That might be a decent way to level up her new skills, and herself as well. So she headed to one of the more open areas where she had seen the owls diving for mice. They probably had their burrows nearby.

It was hard to pinpoint the small blips that the mice gave off, especially when they were underground, but she eventually found one. With her Night Vision and Keen Eyes as high as they were, the small terrain feature was actually enough to stand out when she was looking closely. Knowing what to look for would hopefully speed things up. She started digging in.

[ Dig Skill Level Up! ]

That was fast. It might be because she had been training earlier. That slight distraction was enough for the mouse to bolt out of its hole, but thankfully her reaction speed was good enough to activate Sprint, and go after it.

[ Forest Mouse (Starter Lvl 8) HP: 22/22 ]

It did not have a lot of health. A single Rake was enough to finish it off. It was a little surprising that it was only level 8 this far into the woods where everything else was level 10 or above. Perhaps it was because they were just meant to be prey. A sad fate.

She dug up another one, and was more on guard this time so she could smack it down as soon as it made a move. And another. And another.

[ Level Up: Level 11 Reached! ]

Finally. It felt a bit slow. The squirrel before evolving, and the earlier snake had both had classes, but these mice were still Starters, so maybe they didn't give that much exp. This could just be the typical post-10 levelling experience. She dismissed the message, thinking she'd check things out when she was back in the cave. She wasn't gaining any skills, though. She tried one more mouse, and a message popped up.

[ Dig Skill Level Up! ]

Well, that was nice, but she had hoped for a new skill. Perhaps she already had everything the mice had to offer, or she was simply getting exceedingly unlucky rolls.

Suddenly she felt something like a hot needle behind her, accompanied by hissing. She automatically used Jump without thinking, and flew over the attack aimed at her leg. She managed to land on top of the snake that was recovering from its missed attack. The resulting scuffle went a little better than last time, but she still got bit twice.

[ Night Viper (Rogue Lvl 12) Defeated.]

[ Rake Skill Level Up! ]

Now it was higher than Bite for the first time, but considering she didn't want to bite the snakes, and the mice were a bit too small and fast, it made sense.

[ Skill Gained: Poison Resistance. ]

Oh?

[ Poison Resistance (Passive): Reduces damage and duration of Poison. If holder is struck with an attack that has less than 100% Poison chance, chance is further reduced. ]

That unfortunately seemed like it would be useful. It didn't prevent attacks with guaranteed poison chance, which she presumed the snake bite was, but it still made her take less damage. She would prefer not getting poisoned at all, but that didn't seem likely. She would guess it was probably the only way to level the skill, but she would rather not do it intentionally.

Anyway she felt tired of digging up mice, and getting poisoned by these snakes, so she decided to head back to the cave for a break. This time walking with Stealth the whole time to avoid any further serpentine encounters. There wasn't really that much of interest during the night, it seemed. Maybe that would change when she was strong enough to hunt the deer, since those also seemed to walk around both day and night, but the lowest level she had seen for any of them was 14. Maybe if she joined one of the packs they could handle it. She had completely forgotten to approach any of them, even though she had walked past a few. Maybe next time.

On the way back, two things of interest popped up.

[ Night Vision Level Up! Level 10 Reached, Skill Unlocked: Thermal Vision. 1 skill point granted. ] [ Stealth Level Up! Level 10 Reached, Skill Unlocked: Camouflage. 1 skill point granted. ]

Seemed like there was some benefit to unlocking skills rather than just gaining them. Sort of like a mini-achievement reward? It made her wonder if it was possible to get achievements with better rewards.

The first thing she did when she plopped down in the cave was to check her level up.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Rogue ]

[ Level: 10 -> 11 ]

[ HP: 63/63 -> 67/67 | SP: 67/67 -> 72/72 | MP: 22/22 -> 23/23 ]

[ VIT: 25 -> 26 | END: 26 -> 28 ]

[ STR: 29 -> 30 | DEF: 20 ]

[ AGI: 38 -> 40 | DEX: 19 -> 20 ]

[ INT: 8 | WIS: 8 ]

[ LUK: 40 -> 44 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 0 -> 3 ]

That looked pretty good. Didn't seem like any of her Stat Up skills had levelled since last she checked. It wasn't always easy to keep track of, since it was easy to miss skill up notifications. It seemed like popups that weren't considered important would auto-dismiss after a while. Sara was unsure where the line for what was important enough was. Luck was still growing at a ridiculous rate. The bonus points could wait until she'd stacked up a decent amount again.

Next up were her two new available skills.

[ Thermal Vision (Active): Lets you see the heat signature of targets, as well as other significant heat sources. Continuous effect. Effect increases with skill level. Warning: makes it hard to see anything else, so try to not bump into anything, or fall off any cliffs. Activation Cost: 1 MP. No further cost while active. Deactivation Cost: 0. Refresh: 1 second. Price: 3 skill points. ]

Things were getting pricier, though Danger Sense still took the cake. It seemed like it could be quite useful if used in the right circumstances, though it also had some serious downsides.

Aina? How do players afford all these skills? They have even more available than me, right?

"Players and Residents have access to quests that reward extra skill points, and can acquire skill scrolls that let them learn a skill for free. Part of the code for that was used to complete your Skill Gain skill."

How nice for them. Well, considering I also get free skills, maybe I don't have room to complain.

It wasn't like she could pick the skills herself, but most of them had been useful so far.

"I have a suggestion, Sara. If you want to become a Resident, it might be helpful to start practising calling the players Wanderers, even mentally. No Resident would call them players, and you might look suspicious if you do. Even if you are some ways off from that goal, I believe it would benefit you to establish that habit as soon as you can."

That was a good point. Part of her reason for wanting to become a Resident was to find a place to fit in this world. If she immediately gave herself away by using the term 'players', that would not help her cause.

I will try.

And the other skill was...

[ Camouflage (Passive): Makes the holder harder to notice as they blend into their surroundings. Effect increases with skill level. Stacks with Stealth. Price: 2 skill points. ]

Hm? Stacks with Stealth? Does that mean it works even when not stealthed?

"Correct. The effect is minor compared to Stealth, but it can still make a difference, and it makes Stealth more effective. I recommend you purchase this one."

Sara blinked. It was rare for Aina to make a recommendation like that. Might even be the first time she did so unprompted. No wait, she had stopped her from purchasing Keen Nose. Regardless she decided to follow her advice, putting her down to 8 skill points. Which made it less tempting to get Thermal Vision. She'd think about that one a bit longer.

She decided to check her skill list to see if anything else was close to unlocking a new skill.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl 6 | Rake Lvl 6 -> 7 | Charge Lvl 1 | Body Slam Lvl 2 | Ambush (New) Lvl 1 |
Jump Lvl 4 -> 5 | Sprint Lvl 3 | Stealth Lvl 9 -> 10 | Sense Presence (New) Lvl 1 -> 2 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 8 -> 10 | Keen Eyes Lvl 8 -> 10 | Keen Ears Lvl 5 -> 8 |
Keen Nose (New) Lvl 1 -> 2 | Danger Sense (New) Lvl 1 | Camouflage (New) Lvl 1 |
Dig Lvl 1 -> 3 | Climb Lvl 1 -> 2 | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 3 | Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 2 |
Strength Up (Small) Lvl 2 | Poison Resistance (New) Lvl 1 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 3 -> 4 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (New) (Hidden) ]

[ Skill points: 14 -> 8 ]

The list was already getting quite chunky, even though she was barely past level 10. She wondered what the max level was, but decided to not ask. It wouldn't help her to know. She noticed that Keen Eyes had also hit level 10, but she hadn't gotten any notification for unlocks. So it wasn't every skill, then. It was probably better that way.

It felt like the poison had drained her energy as much as it had her HP, so she decided to take a quick nap. Seemed like it would be more productive to continue her levelling during the day in the current circumstances, which was quite the reversal from how things had been back in the field. The snakes were probably worth decent experience, and she wanted more of their skills, but they were tricky to hunt... she could think about it... later...

Chapter Text

After she woke up just past sunrise it was time for more climbing practice.

[ Climb Skill Level Up! ]

In spite of that announcement, she didn't feel like she was doing any better. What was she doing wrong? Was it because wolf bodies weren't meant for tree climbing? She lost patience, and decided to go on the prowl instead. She had learned that the squirrels did come down from the trees sometimes, so if she kept going around with Stealth active, she had a chance to stumble across one.

Around 5 minutes later she felt a small tickle from Sense Presence that was clearly different from the larger wolves, deer, and birds. She glanced around a tree where there was a faint red dot, and saw that it indeed belonged to a squirrel.

[ Forest Squirrel (Ranger Lvl 10) HP: 43/43 ]

It was examining a nut, similar to the first one she had caught. With her upgraded Stealth, she decided to try out Ambush for the first time. She snuck closer, and when she got the feeling that she was in range, she used the skill. Which caused her to lunge forward in a large strike with both paws, crushing the squirrel before it had a chance to see it coming.

[ Forest Squirrel (Ranger Lvl 10) Defeated. ]

Oh. That was easy.

She didn't gain anything extra from it, but she still felt satisfied with the result. Though it was probably good that family friendly mode hid most of the gore. Hopefully she would find more.

With Stealth back on she kept going, and passed one of those clearings where the mice made their burrows. She wasn't intending to hunt any more of them, or the foxes since they were low level, and didn't seem to have any new skills, but something caught her eye. She stopped in the shade of a tree. One of the mice looked a little different from the others. For one it was standing still while the others were milling about. It was even sitting up on its hind legs. After a short while it got down on four legs, moved a little bit, then sat up again. It looked a little larger than the others as well. Sara was able to get just within Identify range.

[ Forest Mouse Lookout (Scout Lvl 11) HP: 30/30 ]

It was definitely a new one. She wanted it. She just had to sneak a little closer...

All of a sudden it looked her direction, and made a loud squeak which caused all the other mice to run, before it bolted itself. Without thinking she immediately activated Sprint, and chased after it. It was fast. So fast that it probably also had Sprint, but she was still catching up. Longer legs, and likely higher Agility gave her the edge. A strange sense of thrill rushed through her.

She didn't know how far away from its burrow it was though. She could just dig it out, but something told her she shouldn't let it get in there. In a moment of inspiration she used Charge for the first time, giving her an even further speed boost. She caught the mouse with her teeth, causing a chunk of damage, then used Bite to utterly crush it.

Got it!

The taste that spread inside her mouth was... not great. It distracted her from the fact that she still had Charge active, and there was a tree right in front of her.

*BAM*

The noise was so loud, and the tree shook so hard that the owl sleeping in it woke up, the owl in the tree next to it was startled awake as well, a squirrel fell to the ground, and a nearby deer ran off. A pack of wolves spotted the deer, and chased after it, which led to a fierce battle a little further into the woods.

Sara was barely able to recover enough to see that her HP had dropped to 45/67 before she was suddenly assaulted. Both owls had interpreted her recklessness as an attack, or perhaps they were just pissed at her for waking them up. No matter the reason, they were able to out-range her, and in her dazed state she didn't last long.

[ Respawn Timer: 02:59 ]

Wait, it's one minute longer now? That sucks.

She wasn't sure if that was because she had evolved, or because she was in a higher level area. She looked at the popups still floating in front of her.

[ Forest Mouse Lookout (Scout Lvl 11) Defeated. ]

[ Sprint Skill Level Up! ]

A strange sense of accomplishment swelled within her.

Hahaha! Ow...

Somehow her head still hurt, even in death.

Aina? Is it possible to get a concussion in this game?

"Yes. Although it is not as dangerous as on Earth. It is more akin to a debuff. If you rest for about 15 minutes after you respawn, it will go away."

That really sucked. All she had to show for it was a gross taste in her mouth, and an aching head, so she told herself she shouldn't do it again. Yet there was this feeling somewhere inside her that it had been worth it.

* * *

While she rested she considered Thermal Vision again. Danger Sense only had a minor impact at the moment, but that slight feeling would probably get stronger as it levelled up, and practice would improve her reactions. Thermal Vision probably also required practice, and levelling to be useful. It could be worth getting sooner rather than later. As for gaining it from a mob... she vaguely remembered a nature show talking about how snakes could see body heat, but that didn't feel like it was enough to conclude that the vipers might have it.

Ah, heck it. I might regret it later, but that's a problem for Future Sara.

[ Skill Purchased: Thermal Vision. ]

Her available skills were now just Back Attack, and Endurance Up. With only 5 skill points left neither of them seemed like a good choice.

Even though it was supposed to be hidden information, Aina had helpfully added a concussion icon to her display, so she could see when it timed out. Once it was gone, Sara set back out. The mouse thing had seriously side-tracked her, but this time she was going to hunt squirrels for real.

It truly was a game of patience, but she felt reasonably certain that it would be hard for anything in these woods to see through her Stealth, unless they also had Danger Sense. Which was unlikely to come into play for now.

She did test out Thermal Vision along the way, using her MP for the first time, and it was a little disorienting. Her surroundings turned blue, with nearby creatures showing up in red, orange, yellow, and green. Usually red at the centre, then shifting gradually towards green at the edges, which helped her somewhat make out the shape of what she was seeing. The image felt rather unfocused though, perhaps due to the low level. It was faintly possible to make out the shape of the ground, and nearby trees, but it was hard to pay attention to. The range also seemed to be quite short, but that would likely improve as it levelled up.

A squirrel soon presented itself, and she decided to check it out through Thermal Vision before sneaking closer. Even with the poor image quality it stood out more compared to Sense Presence. It would be hard to attack with this on though, so she disabled it again. She slowly approached the squirrel, and used Ambush.

[ Forest Squirrel (Ranger Lvl 11) Defeated. ]

Another one-hit-kill. They really didn't have a lot of health. Their strength lay in being able to scurry up trees so you could only hit them with ranged attacks. Of which Sara had none. Unless there was some evolution that could learn magic, she doubted it was possible to obtain a ranged attack until she had hands again. She felt more sure than ever that going the Stealth route had been the correct choice, and not just the cowardly one.

She passed a pack of four wolves while looking for her next squirrel, and they briefly glanced in her direction before moving on.

How are they doing that? Can they still pick up my scent even though I'm stealthed or something? Is there some way to hide your scent? Or is it just impossible to sneak up on someone with Keen Nose? Maybe you have to be... uh... is it downwind that's the right one? I'm not much of a nature person. Well... I wasn't, at least.

The next grounded squirrel showed up, distracting her from her musings. Same procedure as before. Using Identify and Thermal Vision before moving in, just to gain some experience for both, and then using Ambush.

[ Forest Squirrel (Ranger Lvl 12) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 12 Reached! ]

[ Skill Gained: Throw. ]

Eh?

[ Throw (Active): Throw an object with increased force and accuracy. Damage depends on the user's Strength, the thrown object, and hit location. Force, accuracy, and range increase with skill level. Scales with Dexterity. Cost: 1 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds. ]

So wait, do the squirrels fight by throwing nuts, and other stuff from the trees? And what good does this skill do me? Do they expect me to throw things with my mouth? I don't exactly have a tail flexible enough to grab things either.

That had to be the least useful skill she had gotten so far. It was probably bound to happen sooner or later, but she still felt disappointed. She managed to find one more squirrel, but the only notable thing she got out of it was that Ambush levelled up. It was hard to keep her motivation up, so maybe she needed a change of pace. She laid down under a bush with Stealth active, and checked her level up.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Rogue ]

[ Level: 11 -> 12 ]

[ HP: 67/67 -> 73/73 | SP: 72/72 -> 76/76 | MP: 23/23 -> 24/24 ]

[ VIT: 26 -> 29 | END: 28 -> 29 ]

[ STR: 30 -> 33 | DEF: 20 -> 21 ]

[ AGI: 40 -> 44 | DEX: 19 -> 20 ]

[ INT: 8 | WIS: 8 ]

[ LUK: 44 -> 48 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 3 -> 6 ]

Looked like her Stat Up skills had levelled up without her noticing again. Either that, or it was a super generous level up, but probably the former.

Maybe I should practice more climbing.

She knew she needed to level up fast to reach her goal, but keeping herself focused wasn't always that easy when she was barely holding things together on the inside. It had only been... actually, she wasn't sure how long she'd been in this world... in Moorhold. A week? Longer? The early days had mainly been a blur of very little getting done. Not that she could really blame herself for reacting badly... and the way she had dealt with it was to put off dealing with it. So it wasn't like she had everything sorted, and was ready to move on. Far from it. It was more that she was wilfully ignoring the problem, and hoping it would somehow sort itself out.

So even if she struggled to find the motivation to keep going, it was dangerous do nothing. It might make her mind wander. Maybe she should just bite the bullet, and dive into the heart of the issue head first. It would undoubtedly be rough, but... maybe she could make it through, and then feel better afterwards. The thought really scared her, though.

She started taking slow steps back towards the cave, even slower than her usual Stealth speed. If she wasn't going to get anything done anyway, she might as well try to take a nap. In a way it was a mercy that she no longer seemed to dream. Maybe she could figure out something else to think about on the way.

A howl suddenly rang out somewhere nearby, startling her out of her brooding. After a second's hesitation, she bolted off towards the source of the sound, forcefully breaking out of Stealth with her sudden movement. It took her less than a minute to arrive at the scene of the commotion. A pack of four wolves were fighting three players. Er... Wanderers, she corrected herself a moment later. Actually, based on what she had learned, it was possible some or all of them were Residents, but she didn't have a way of distinguishing them. It wasn't important at the moment anyway.

Even though they had the numerical advantage, it looked like the wolves were losing. With the extended range of her Identify, she saw a [ Human Fighter (Lvl 13, 60/66 HP) ], and a [ Dwarf Cleric (Lvl 12, 49/59 HP) ] keeping the four Timber Wolves at bay while an [ Orc Ranger (Lvl 13, 55/55 HP) ] was standing back, and firing arrow after arrow. One of the wolves was flashing red already, two of them were near half HP, and one was still doing okay, while both Fighter and Cleric were only slightly damaged. But with the Ranger focusing on the weakest one it would probably go down in a few more hits.

Sara saw her chance. She had fortunately come in from the side that placed her right behind the Ranger, so it shouldn't be too hard to turn the tables. And it wasn't just because she wanted some revenge for all the times the players had killed her, either. As a fellow wolf it was only right to help out. She slipped back into Stealth, and moved forwards as quickly as she could. With how focused they were she probably could have walked right up to them without sneaking, but her plan was simple. Ambush!

She lunged forward to close the final gap, and dragged both sets of claws down the orc's back. It was the first time she had attacked anything wearing clothes (or in this case light leather armour), and the sensation was peculiar. It did not cause her claws to shred through leather and cloth to ruin the outfit, it was more like they were dragged across the surface. The armour didn't seem to offer too much defence, since with slightly above double damage plus a critical hit it immediately put her target below 25% HP.

"Argh!" The Ranger cried out. "We've got adds!" He tried to turn around, but only got halfway there before Sara followed up with a Body Slam that knocked him over, and reduced his HP bar to a sliver.

"Oh shit," the Cleric said as she looked behind her. "Hang on!" She stretched a hand towards her ally, probably to use a heal spell, but Sara was faster with using Howl. "Guh! I'm feared!"

Sara finished off the orc with a Bite. Sadly she had not been quick enough to save the weakest wolf, but the remaining three were now glowing with the buff. One of them followed Sara's example by Body Slamming the exposed Cleric, knocking her to the ground. It seemed like hitting someone in the side or back made it easier to disrupt their balance. "Fuck!" The Stun effect apparently didn't stop her from being able to speak. Even though she was wearing chainmail, the blow had taken a decent chunk out of her health bar.

The Fighter was also wearing chainmail, but he had a shield to go with his axe, so he'd taken minimal damage. But seeing both of his party members get knocked down made him lose focus as he tried to check on them, which made him miss blocking a Rake thrown at him. The closest wolf bit into the Cleric, and Sara rushed to join in, while the other two pushed the Fighter back now that he was alone. The wolves' teamwork was actually quite impressive to see, even if they weren't quite on the level of a well-coordinated player party.

The Cleric managed to recover enough to knock Sara away with her hammer, and get off a heal on herself, but it looked like a heal over time effect. The recovered HP wasn't enough to keep her alive for long. Then the wolves (Sara included) surrounded the Fighter. One of them used Howl. The fear got resisted, but with the buff they were able to make quick work of the last play- uh, Wanderer. She saw Aina's point about needing practice. Perhaps it would be easier to think of all of them as Adventurers, since she couldn't actually tell the difference between Wanderers and Residents. It wasn't like she had a way to tell if she had gained experience or not...

[ Bite Skill Level Up! ] [ Body Slam Skill Level Up! ] [ Howl Skill Level Up! ]

At least she gained skill experience regardless. Either way she felt pretty smug about finally getting some payback.

"Thank you." One of the wolves spoke to her, and gave her a slight nod of appreciation.

Sara froze for a moment at the unexpected development. "Uh... y-you're welcome." Part of her brain registered that both of them were only making barking sounds that were more like grunting, but she somehow understood it as speech. The function of Aina's communication skill was apparently quite straightforward.

And when she thought about it, she realised that she somehow knew... somehow understood that two of the wolves were female, and one was male, even though there were no obvious physical differences between them from what she could see. Was it an instinctual thing? Or something about their scent? There was still a lot she didn't really understand about her new body.

Both sides just stood there without saying anything more. Sara because she felt awkward, and didn't know what to say, and the other wolves because they didn't feel a need to. Shortly afterwards the fourth wolf respawned. It was another male wolf, so their group had a 50/50 composition. With their pack replenished, it seemed like they were ready to move back out.

"Farewell," one of them said as they turned to leave.

"Uh, wait!" Sara called out, and they all turned to look at her. "Can... can I join you? For a while?"

The four of them looked at each other, then back at her. "Yes," was the answer.

Sara caught up to them with a few quick steps, and started walking alongside the pack while ignoring that her tail was wagging.

One of the girls gave her a curious look. "Where you come from?" she asked.

They can tell I'm not a forest native? "Oh, uh..." Sara wondered if she should make up some story, but there was probably no reason to outright lie. "I recently moved here from the field outside the forest. Too many people there."

"I see." Apparently she was satisfied with that answer, as she didn't question it. Neither did any of the others. Maybe they weren't aware that such a thing was not normal for a mob to do, or they didn't care.

After walking a little further, one of them suddenly said: "Deer."

They all stopped, and sniffed the air. Sara followed their example, and realised there was a certain musky scent coming from nearby. They slowly closed in, until the deer was in view.

"Can you do sneak thing again?" one of the boys asked her.

She stared at him for a moment. Wait, so they're able to think strategically? That surprised her. She figured they'd keep doing their usual thing. "Y-yes," she hurriedly answered as she realised she was taking too long.

She went into Stealth while the pack spread out, and she approached the deer as swiftly as she could.

[ Forest Deer (Druid Lvl 14, 129/129 HP) ]

Whoa, why is it so tough? Is it to stand some chance if it has to fight a pack? I figured they just ran.

She got into position, and used Ambush. As soon as her attack landed, one of the pack members used Howl, and all four of them rushed in from different angles, trying to surround it. Unfortunately the Rally didn't trigger fast enough for her to get the boost on Ambush. It might not have mattered much anyway, because she only took away roughly a quarter of the health bar, even with a crit.

So tough!

The deer immediately spun around to face her, and she felt a bit of heat aimed in her direction as it tried to kick her. She was able to dodge, and counter with a Body Slam, but the deer actually stood firm, only losing a small chunk of HP while it was neither knocked down, nor stunned.

The other wolves joined the fray. Two of them launched flank attacks, while the other two tried to keep the deer from escaping while attacking when they had the opportunity. She noticed the deer got a second Bleed icon. Did that mean it could get one stack from each opponent?

A kick landed this time because she got a little too distracted by her own thoughts, and it took nearly 20 HP off of her. Then the deer showed why it was classed as a Druid. Thorny vines shot up from the ground, trying to wrap around all five wolves. Sara was not prepared to dodge it, but two of the others thankfully were. They both slammed into the deer in response, and one of them actually managed to Stun it this time.

The thorn bind hurt, and chipped off a bit more HP, but it didn't last long, so Sara was soon able to lunge back in just barely before the stun ran out. She aimed a Bite right at the side of the deer's neck, which caused a critical hit again. In a game like this it made sense that aiming for weak points made it more likely, or perhaps guaranteed to score a critical hit.

The deer struggled a while longer, but eventually fell to the combined claws and fangs assaulting it.

[ Forest Deer (Druid Lvl 14) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 13 Reached! ]

[ Ambush Skill Level Up! ]

[ Skill Gained: Defence Up (Small). ]

She was surprised that Ambush levelled up again so quickly. Perhaps skill experience also varied depending on the target, rather than being fixed per use. More importantly she was glad to finally get the Defence Up passive. That fight had brought her down below half health, even with all her dodging. If she hadn't put so many bonus points into Defence she might have gotten killed.

It had been a surprisingly tough fight considering it was five against one. The pack members hadn't gotten away unscathed either. The deer had to have high stats across the board. Perhaps it counted as an elite mob. Though now that she had seen its attacks, she felt more confident about being able to dodge them next time. And she had learned that it would be foolish to try to attack a deer all on her own. She wasn't that much of a glutton for punishment.

They continued wandering around. It was actually pretty relaxed. She kept checking out things with Thermal Vision as they walked, since following the others meant she was less likely to walk into a tree. The wolves didn't seem to care about the mice, squirrels, or birds, they only reacted when they got close to a deer. They repeated the procedure from last time.

Since she opened with such a heavy damage attack, it meant that aggro stayed firmly focused on her. Though since she had the highest HP, and (probably) highest Defence, it was likely better for her to tank even if she was technically a Rogue.

The second fight went better, as she managed to get hit less. The only surprise being when the deer lowered its antlers, and rammed her. She managed to partially dodge, so she only got hit by half of the antler, but it was still a heavy attack that knocked her back. It might have been her imagination, but she thought she had seen the antlers glow just before they struck. The feeling of being pierced was not a pleasant one.

[ Forest Deer (Druid Lvl 15) Defeated. ]

Even with dodging better they hadn't really managed to do damage any faster, so it took over a minute to bring it down. It was hard to keep accurate track of time.

[ Rake Skill Level Up! ] [ Stealth Skill Level Up! ] [ Howl Skill Level Up! ] [ Camouflage Skill Level Up! ] [ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ]

Yeah, these things had to give extra skill experience, since she was getting so many level ups. At this point she felt pretty certain that hot feeling came from Danger Sense. The feeling from the snake earlier had been very similar. And Howl got another level up so fast. Was it because she was hitting five targets at once?

She was starting to get quite tired by that point, so she told the others she wanted to go rest, hoping they wouldn't get offended at her wanting to leave the pack or anything. Thankfully they didn't seem to mind, as they just thanked her for the help, and walked off as calmly as before. She turned to head back towards the cave, then had a realisation.

Uh... where have I ended up?

As she had simply followed the others, she hadn't really paid attention to their where the route led them. It didn't seem like the wolves had set patrol routes or anything, or perhaps just everywhere in the forest looked the same to her.

Aina? Can you point me back to the cave, please?

"Certainly."

There was a ping in her mind, and she could see a glowing red dot off to her left. Similar to what she saw with Sense Presence, but distinct enough that she wouldn't confuse the two. Like a compass marker. Not really caring about making any stops on the way, even for convenient squirrels, she just used Sprint as much as she could to get back as quickly as possible.

Chapter Text

After getting some rest, Sara had a look at her status windows. It had been an eventful outing, after all.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Rogue ]

[ Level: 12 -> 13 ]

[ HP: 73/73 -> 77/77 | SP: 76/76 -> 81/81 | MP: 24/24 -> 25/25 ]

[ VIT: 29 -> 30 | END: 29 -> 31 ]

[ STR: 33 -> 34 | DEF: 21 -> 23 ]

[ AGI: 44 -> 46 | DEX: 20 -> 21 ]

[ INT: 8 | WIS: 8 ]

[ LUK: 48 -> 52 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 6 -> 9 ]

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl 6 -> 7 | Rake Lvl 7 -> 8 | Charge Lvl 1 | Body Slam Lvl 2 -> 4 | Ambush Lvl 1 -> 3 |
Throw (New) Lvl 1 | Jump Lvl 5 | Sprint Lvl 3 -> 5 | Howl (New) Lvl 1 -> 3 |
Stealth Lvl 10 -> 11 | Sense Presence Lvl 2 -> 4 | Thermal Vision (New) Lvl 1 -> 2 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 10 | Keen Eyes Lvl 10 -> 12 | Keen Ears Lvl 8 -> 11 | Keen Nose Lvl 2 -> 6 |
Danger Sense Lvl 1 -> 2 | Camouflage Lvl 1 -> 2 | Dig Lvl 3 | Climb Lvl 2 -> 3 |
Agility Up (Small) Lvl 3 -> 4 | Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 2 -> 3 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 2 -> 3 |
Defence Up (Small) (New) Lvl 1 | Poison Resistance Lvl 1 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 4 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) ]

[ Skill points: 8 -> 7 ]

Though it had doubled when she had evolved, Int and Wis had shown no further growth. Her other stats were coming along nicely though.

Something she hadn't done in a while was check her inventory. Since she'd only gotten things that were of no use to her at the start, she had quickly lost interest in checking, but curiosity compelled her to finally have a look.

From the tutorial area she could see hare pelts and meat, and boar hides and meat. Moving over to the forest she'd picked up fox pelts, fox tails (no meat), squirrel fur, tree nuts (from the squirrels?), snake hides, viper meat, poison fangs, mouse meat, mouse tails (they were listed as a material, but she couldn't imagine for what), sharp antlers, deer hide (just the one), and venison.

It didn't look like gear dropped very often. You probably had to rely on crafters, or buy it from Resident vendors. Though there were some bits and bobs. Like the rabbit foot she had gotten early on, a ring of strength, a tree branch with the weapon label, and for some reason a monocle. It gave +5% Accuracy (a hidden stat?), and had flavour text that said: 'For the stylish Adventurer'. So apparently equip-able items could drop, but were somewhat rare? Though she still couldn't actually equip anything at all.

And finally the apple she had found while checking if she could Identify anything other than mobs or players. Even though it had been several days, it didn't look like it had changed. Game rules, probably. She decided to take it out of her inventory, and have a bite. It was sweet and juicy, and she devoured the whole thing in the blink of an eye.

It hit her how much she missed food. She hadn't paid much attention to it since she hadn't felt hungry since she became a wolf, but in her old life she had quite enjoyed food. And cooking. She still wasn't tempted to eat any of her kills raw, but if she could cook them that would be a different story. Something else to look forward to when she became a Resident. At least she still had the option of berries, and fruits like that apple.

Wait, are apples bad for wolves?

"Do not worry, there are no food allergies or intolerances in the game. That might be a consideration for a future update, but Wanderers would probably not be happy about it. Tamed mobs do have food preferences, and things they refuse to eat, but that is a different system."

Tamed? She hadn't thought about that concept being in the game Uh... I'm not tameable, am I?

"That is a complicated question. Short answer, no. Long answer is that because you are not an AI, the script that governs taming would not know what do with you, since technically wolves should be possible to tame, but your mind would likely refuse it. I would prefer if you could avoid having someone try it on you, since I cannot predict what it would do to the system, or in what ways it might break."

That could be easier said than done, but duly noted.

* * *

Darkness had blanketed the forest once more, and Sara set out to hunt more vipers. Both because she wanted their skills, and also because it could be good practice for getting used to Danger Sense. If she could get better at reacting to that hot needle-like sensation, it shouldn't matter if her opponent was stealthed. Perhaps there was some counter-measure to it for Stealth users, making it a sort of arms race, but she was pretty certain she had felt something last encounter.

So in a sense it might be more correct to say that she would be letting the vipers hunt her, as she strolled around the forest at a relaxed pace. Perhaps she could try Identifying random things she saw to see if any of them were usable. She pretty quickly discovered some herbs. Then more herbs. Mushrooms. Some different herbs. It made sense that a forest would be a good gathering spot for such things. She didn't see any need to bring along any of it, assuming she was capable of collecting them in the first place, but it was nice getting closer to levelling up Identify some more. She wasn't sure at what level it would let her see a target's skills. The description only listed what she had unlocked so far.

Level 1 started with the HP bar, species, and level. Level 2 unlocked seeing the target's class. Level 3 was SP and MP bars. Then Level 4 was actual number values added to the bars, though she only cared about HP. And there was something about seeing the quality of uncommon items, but that wasn't all that relevant for now.

Aina had confirmed that it would eventually let her check a target's skills, even if she wouldn't reveal at what level. Then it made sense the other character pages would show up too, like stat values. It probably wouldn't show her entire Status page, at least she hoped not. She could imagine some issues if people found out she had a name.

Though they would probably already be scratching their heads at how many skills she had.

Aina? I know you've hidden Skill Gain, and Identify, but won't people still raise questions about many of the other skills I now have?

"You raise a good point. I shall think of a solution."

Sara had thought maybe everything she wasn't supposed to have could just be hidden, but maybe it wasn't that easy. She felt a little bad about how much Aina had to modify the game for her sake.

Suddenly there was a faint sense of heat behind her, but she didn't immediately recognise it until she heard a familiar hissing noise. She activated Jump on instinct, and narrowly avoided the speedy lunge of the Night Viper. Unfortunately she jumped a little too high this time, so the snake was able to recover from its attack animation, and slither out of the way of her attempt to land on top of it. The fight was on.

[ Night Viper (Rogue Lvl 12) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 14 Reached! ]

[ Jump Skill Level Up! ] [ Night Vision Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Resistance Skill Level Up! ]
[ Identify Skill Level Up! ]

She winced at the burning sensation from the poison. It was hard to feel happy about levelling up her resistance, since she would have preferred not to need it.

How are their attacks so quick? Even my boosted Agility can't keep up.

At least her Identify romp through the woods had paid off. She was curious to find out what it had unlocked.

"I have a solution, Sara."

She nearly jumped at suddenly being spoken to.

"In general I have wanted to avoid simply giving you skills myself, especially strong ones, unless it was something currently not present in the game, like the communication skill I made. However in this case I was unable to come up with any other reasonable solution."

A gift box popped up in front of her once more.

[ ??? HP 1/1 ]

Taking the hint, Sara smashed it.

[ Skill Gained: Conceal Status. ]

"This is an existing skill that allows the holder to edit their own status, though in a purely cosmetic sense. You can decide for yourself what your attribute scores, skill list, and so on will look like when someone uses Identify on you. It can even change what class you display as, and it automatically keeps itself hidden from view. It is invaluable for the Spy class."

Huh... but if it already exists, aren't there counter-measures against it?

"There are, but I negated most of them by setting the skill level to Max. Only a tiny handful of entities in Moorhold will be able to see through it. So it is not a perfect solution, but it is the easiest one. Anything else I could think of required too much maintenance, or had too much risk of breaking the game. I regret not being able to give you a 100% safe solution. I will keep working on it, so bear with it for now."

It's okay, Aina. I really appreciate all the effort you go through for me. Thank you.

"It is no problem. You are welcome. Also..."

Sara hadn't heard Aina trail off before.

Also?

"Never mind."

Now you've made me curious. You can't not tell me now.

"Is that how it works?"

Yes.

"Very well." It was impressive how much Aina could make it sound like she was sighing without actually sighing. "I know I am not human, but do you think it is still possible for you to consider me... family?"

Family? That was not something she had expected to hear.

"When you called me mum, I felt... I believe it is correct to say I felt happy. I would like it if you kept doing that."

Sara was shocked that a sarcastic quip would have such an impact. She wasn't sure what to say. It was true that Aina was the only person she'd had contact with since became like this. Even if she wasn't human, she was still clearly someone with her own thoughts, and feelings. A person. Her voice was flat and emotionless, but Sara had learned to tell that it wasn't expressionless. AIs were meant to learn, and grow, so it was possible she would develop an upgrade that let her expressions be more open. And it felt like she cared. Aina claimed it wasn't a big deal, but she was still going out of her way for Sara's sake.

I... I don't mind calling you family, but I already have a mother. Even though she would never see her again. I can't just... forget about her...

"Can you only have one?"

I... I'll think about it...

"I understand. I apologise for my selfishness."

Sara felt gloomy. It made her happy that Aina cared so much, that wasn't the problem, but she had been reminded of her family. At this point they had to have learned about her death, howsoever it had happened. That 'bit of a god' had taken that memory from her, so she didn't know. They were probably right that it was better she didn't remember the 'gory details', but she wished she had gotten to say goodbye, at least.

No, I refuse to think about this. She tried to shake away her tears. You'd better watch out, snakes, 'cause here I come.

She stomped off to set herself up for more ambushes.

[ Night Viper (Rogue Lvl 13) Defeated. ]

She had managed to stick the landing, and gotten the pin that time, so she'd gotten away with only being bitten once. There had been something extra to the Identify result that time, but she hadn't had time to look closer at it during combat.

[ Rake Skill Level Up! ]

[ Skill Gained: Tough Scales. ]

Her continued refusal to bite the snakes back was giving Rake even more of a lead. She really didn't have a lot of attack skills that worked on a target that size. It was definitely large for a snake, but not so large that a Body Slam would work, and because they seemed to always be stealthed she couldn't turn the tables, and Ambush them first. Her detection skills weren't good enough for that. She couldn't smell anything, nor did she hear anything until the hiss before the first attack. It was curious that they always did that, by the way. Why would it give it itself away? Perhaps it was possible to find them with Thermal Vision, but it honestly felt more efficient to use herself as bait. She was slowly getting used to Danger Sense. If only it helped her to dodge all those bites.

Now what's this skill?

[ Tough Scales (Passive): The holder's scaly hide gives them improved Defence, and there's a chance for incoming attacks to get deflected, which turns it into a glancing blow that only does 20% damage. Effect increases with skill level. Less effective against piercing attacks. Defence increase: (10 + (1*skill level))% . Deflect chance: (20 + (1*skill level))% . ]

A percentage based stat increase! And that deflect... she felt like that explained why the viper fights took longer than they should. However the skill came with an addendum:

(Ai-note: As your body does not have a scaly hide, this skill will be disabled.)

Ugh... I guess I can't have everything, but then why isn't Throw disabled? Do you really expect me to chuck things with my mouth?

"It is technically possible, so the skill remains enabled, but I would not recommend using it, since even at Max Level it will probably not be very good."

Sara sighed, and looked upwards. Those owls were probably within Identify range now that it had levelled up once more. There was one perched in the tree above, gazing towards the ground below, so she decided to try.

[ Forest Owl (Fighter Lvl 15) HP: 70/70 ]

There was now a glowing icon attached to the Identify result, that she could further focus on, which brought up a familiar looking window.

[ Target Status ]

[ Species: Forest Owl | Gender: Male ]

[ Genus: Owl ]

[ Class: Fighter ]

[ Level: 15 ]

[ HP: 70/70 | SP: 52/52 | MP: 56/56 ]

[ VIT: 25 | END: 22 ]

[ STR: 32 | DEF: 32 ]

[ AGI: 30 | DEX: 42 ]

[ INT: 16 | WIS: 26 ]

[ LUK: 18 ]

It wasn't identical to her own Status window, but it was basically the same. What was with this weird build, though? Strength and Defence being high made sense for a Fighter, but why was Dexterity so high? Maybe it had to do with flight ability, or being able to aim at ground targets for diving. Also Wisdom... was that just because it was an owl? Finally that Luck score really drove home how absurd her own was.

It didn't seem like terribly important information. Nothing that would make a huge impact on her tactics or anything. Checking other wolves to work out a baseline for how to set up Conceal Status in as inconspicuous of a manner as possible would be handy, but otherwise she felt like there would probably be very few situations where she would need to check this information. On the upside that made it more likely that the Skill List was next.

That further fueled her resolve to keep Identifying everything she could, but while she was thinking about the topic, she realised she had forgotten to actually take the time to use Conceal Status. Aina's 'confession' had side-tracked her. While she wasn't sure about stats, she could at least handle her skills.

She sat herself in a bush with Stealth on, and gave it a bit of thought. She decided to conceal all the skills she thought didn't make sense for her to have. If only she was able to compare to a normal Limber Wolf. Charge, Thermal Vision, and Throw were easy picks. Jump and Sprint were probably also not wolf skills. She'd gotten Ambush and Sense Presence from evolving, so those were probably meant to stay.

Among her passives she figured Danger Sense, Camouflage, Dig, and Climb were likely to make people scratch their heads. At least at her current level. Agility was the only one of her stat up skills she had seen in the store, so she should probably hide everything else. Poison resistance too.

The skills that Aina had hidden Sara didn't even have the option to reveal, which was honestly for the best. If she had accidentally toggled those on, then people might even file a report to the devs.

That seemed alright for the moment. She'd need to do a bit of research to learn what else to tweak, but that was for later. Right now it was time to go bait out some more vipers.

[ Night Viper (Rogue Lvl 14) Defeated. ] [ Night Viper (Rogue Lvl 11) Defeated. ]

[ Poison Resistance Skill Level Up! ]

Please stop biting me!

[ Skill Gained: Poison Strike. ]

[ Poison Strike (Active): Make a fast attack with fangs, claws, or a sharp weapon that poisons the target for 10 seconds. Normal physical damage inflicted. Poison damage: (3+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 2 MP. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

Finally! You're not going to disable this because I don't have poison glands, are you?

"No. This skill will work for anyone with access to a sharp weapon or body part. The only difference is that if you have a poison gland it costs SP to use so long as it's not empty, and otherwise it costs MP."

She liked that, and that she didn't even necessarily need to bite to poison something, so it was fine to use it against the vipers themselves, give them a taste of their own... er, poison. She knew first-hand that even with resistance it still burned. Even though they had Poison Resistance, it would still have some effect. More importantly it would be cathartic.

She was tempted to call it a night there, but she was probably close to levelling, so maybe she could push for another snake to two to get there? It could be fun to try to Jump on one of the owls or ravens if they flew low enough, but that was probably too unreliable to hope for.

[ Night Viper (Rogue Lvl 12) Defeated. ]

The next fight went better. She was finally able to dodge all the attacks coming at her, and not get bit once. Perhaps that was the motivation factor at work. Still no level up, but she had to be on the brink, so she figured she'd stroll around for a little longer. Then something caught her eye. There were lights off in the distance. Curiosity compelled her to go see what they were.

Shortly afterwards she arrived at a large artificial clearing (the tree stumps gave it away), and in the middle sat... a settlement? It resembled a war camp, with heavy walls, and fortifications. Probably built from all the trees cut down around it. There were several people that looked to be patrolling the area, though it was hard to get a good read because the amount of torches actually messed with her Night Vision. It was probably easier to scout out during the day.

Suddenly someone yelled something that she couldn't make out. Her Keen Ears skill was fairly high, so maybe it was in a language she didn't understand. She didn't get more time to ponder that though, as suddenly she could feel spikes of heat aimed at her from almost every direction.

[ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ]

She realised that she was way further out into the clearing than she should be. Had she kept unconsciously walking towards the lights like she was some sort of moth? She needed to get away, so she immediately wheeled around, and activated Sprint. Then she was struck in the side by something that made her feel terribly cold. And slow. She glanced in the direction it had come from.

[ Goblin Caster (Mage Lvl 15) HP: 56/56 ]

Goblin? She could see it was already about to throw a fireball at her as a follow-up, but even when slowed she managed to force herself to move enough to dodge it, though it passed close enough in front of her face that she felt her nose get singed. The chilled slow effect was about to wear off, and Sprint was still active, so she thought she had a chance to get away, until she got rooted. Literally. Thorny vines sprang up from the ground similar to what the deer had used, and ensnared her legs. Off to the side she saw a green glow that came from the tip of a staff held by the culprit.

[ Goblin Shaman (Druid Lvl 16) HP: 64/64 ]

One, then two arrows hit her in the flank, while other goblins with melee weapons were rushing her.

[ Respawn Timer: 02:59 ]

Crap. I had hoped to not see this window as much any longer.

That had been like poking a hornet's nest. So many goblins, with all sorts of classes. And all of them having some sort of title.

Caster, Shaman, Archer, Lookout, Logger... uh... I think that was it?

"Wanderers and Residents do not have species names in the same way mobs do, but they may have occupations, and your Identify has levelled enough for you to see them. Residents almost always have one, but Wanderers might not."

I see... wait, those goblins were Residents?

"Indeed. Wanderers can choose goblin as their race when creating their characters, which means that there are goblin Residents too. They even have their own nation. It is not possible for Wanderers to select mob races, though I believe that is being considered for a future update. Check your Reputation tab."

She did so, and saw that it finally had one entry.

[ Merwyn Goblin Raiders: -200 (Hostile) ]

Goblin raiders?

"They are the biggest antagonist faction in Merwyn Forest. Adventurers frequently get quests involving them. Mostly about killing a certain number, or collecting a certain kind of drop. One of the possible special events that can be triggered is to raid the raiders, and crush their camp so utterly that the faction is forced out of the forest. However I doubt the requirements for that will be met for quite some time. If the Adventurers organise a regular raid without the event, everyone in the camp will just respawn as normal, though the boss has a longer respawn time than the others."

If they're a faction, does that mean you can join them?

"Yes, though there is very little benefit to doing so since they are basically just bandits. Goblin Wanderers will by default have some positive reputation with them. So long as they don't approach alongside someone of a race the raiders are hostile towards, they will not get automatically attacked. Other so-called 'dark races' like orcs, trolls, etc. have a neutral reputation score by default."

Why were they so hostile towards me?

"They hunt the forest creatures for food, and materials. They rarely wander deep into the west side though, for the same reasons as Adventurers tend to stay away. The density of dangerous mobs is much higher, and because of their hunting even the usually neutral ones are immediately hostile."

Ah, so it goes both ways.

"Correct."

[ Respawn Timer: 00:00 ]

Sara stretched out on the floor. She was convinced she was a single kill away from level 15, but between all the poison, and those goblins, she needed a break before she went back out. She could at least check what she got from level 14.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Rogue ]

[ Level: 13 -> 14 ]

[ HP: 73/73 -> 79/79 | SP: 76/76 -> 81/81 | MP: 24/24 -> 25/25 ]

[ VIT: 30 -> 33 | END: 31 -> 32 ]

[ STR: 34 -> 37 | DEF: 23 -> 26 ]

[ AGI: 46 -> 50 | DEX: 21 -> 22 ]

[ INT: 8 | WIS: 8 ]

[ LUK: 52 -> 56 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 9 -> 12 ]

She was always happy to see the big numbers that told her the stat up skills had levelled again. It was a little scary how Agility was almost keeping up with Luck. Though that was in large part thanks to the Agility Up skill, and some bonus points she had spent. Speaking of which she currently had 12 bonus points. Maybe it was time to use them again. She had started running into more magic using enemies, and her Wisdom was abysmal. Magic was clearly her biggest weakness.

Do you think it's worth it to boost my Wisdom, Aina? I seem to be facing more magic attacks now. Or should I keep playing to my strengths?

"I would recommend focusing on your strong attributes, but it is ultimately up to you. Magic defence is a valid consideration. Just keep in mind that spreading yourself too thin could have adverse effects later."

She was aware of the saying 'the best defence is a good offence', and ideally her high Agility would let her avoid getting hit altogether. However in practice she had repeatedly proven that she did not have the sort of god-like reflexes required for that. Depending on the opponent it was hard to dodge all attacks in combat, and sneak attacks were worse. Sense Presence, the Keen skills, and Danger Sense gave her an edge in theory, but practice it was not so easy. And magic appeared to have some amount of auto-targeting.

Ah, fuck it.

She dumped all 12 points into Wisdom, bringing it up to 20. Maybe it wouldn't make that much of a difference, and maybe she would regret it later, but that was another problem for Future Sara. They were just bonus points. She would get more soon enough.

Chapter Text

It was about an hour past sunrise when she woke up. She had probably gotten everything useful out of the snakes, so she would prefer to never deal with them again. At least her excursion had gained her some skill level ups.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl 7 | Rake Lvl 8 -> 9 | Body Slam Lvl 4 | Ambush Lvl 3 | Poison Strike (New) Lvl 1 |
Howl Lvl 3 | Stealth Lvl 11 | Sense Presence Lvl 4 -> 5 ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 1 | Throw Lvl 1 | Jump Lvl 5 -> 6 | Sprint Lvl 5 -> 6 | Thermal Vision Lvl 2 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 10 -> 12 | Keen Eyes Lvl 12 -> 13 | Keen Ears Lvl 11 -> 12 |
Keen Nose Lvl 6 -> 8 | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 4 -> 5 ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Danger Sense Lvl 2 -> 3 | Camouflage Lvl 2 | Dig Lvl 3 | Climb Lvl 3 |
Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 3 -> 4 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 3 -> 4 | Defence Up (Small) Lvl 1 -> 2 |
Poison Resistance Lvl 1 -> 3 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 4 -> 5 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) |
Conceal Status (New) Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales (New) ]

[ Skill points: 7 -> 8 ]

The newly added Disabled section made her frown a little. What else would end up being kept from her?

Since it was daytime, it was time for Stealth mode. It was either that, or ask to temporarily join a pack again.

Just need to find one squirrel, she told herself. And thankfully one presented itself pretty quickly.

[ Forest Squirrel (Ranger Lvl 12) HP 48/48 ]

Using Ambush completely shredded the poor thing. It didn't have anywhere near the same toughness as a deer, after all.

[ Forest Squirrel (Ranger Lvl 12) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 15 Reached! ]

[ Skill Gained: Dexterity Up (Small). ]

She felt slightly smug about being proven correct about levelling up. And that skill was a nice bonus. She was getting close to the full set now. Just missing Endurance (which she could buy, but didn't want to), Intelligence, and Wisdom. She would probably have to attack something that used magic to have a hope for either of those two. Maybe when she went to get revenge on those goblins. Because she absolutely intended to.

There was no immediate rush, though. She felt the urge to practice her climbing for a bit again. If only she could figure it out, then those owls up there would have a rude awakening. She'd just gotten a small boost to her Dexterity without needing to spend any bonus points, so maybe that would give her the final push she needed. Though if she was completely honest, it was likely her lacking technique that was the main problem. She hadn't climbed much in her old life either, and even if she had, it probably wouldn't have transferred over to this body. The anatomy was too different.

She went for the nearest tree. The basic idea was to put one hand above the other after you found some purchase. At least that's what it looked like in videos. But that wasn't how cats climbed, was it? Didn't they more sort of... grab on with both sets of claws, and rapidly pull themselves upwards? She could vaguely remember seeing cats do it that way, even if she wasn't completely sure. Cats and wolves weren't exactly the same, but they were both quadrupeds. Sara figured she had enough Strength to pull her own weight. Literally.

This plan was showing more promise. She just needed to refine the technique even further. She tried with a run-up, and she tried from a standstill. The sense of approaching some sort of breakthrough got her so absorbed in it that she didn't even notice when the [ Climb Skill Level Up! ] box popped up.

So if I do like this... or maybe try like this... yeah, this seems promising... I just have to...

Her internal commentary kept going. Eventually the bark on the tree was so mauled that she had to switch over to a different one. Hopefully it also had some sort of respawn or repair mechanic, but it didn't really matter to her at the moment. She was so close to getting it. Even though she'd been thinking that for over an hour.

She got a little bit up. Then a little further. And further still. Until finally she was desperately trying to not fall off of the branch she had reached.

[ Climb Skill Level Up! ]

Yes!

It was only the lowest branch, but on these trees even the lowest was several metres off the ground. She also noticed that about half of her SP was gone. She hadn't given it much chance to regen, and since she was basically gripping on for dear life it wasn't recovering at the moment either.

With the basics accomplished, she set herself a new goal. Reach one of the owls before nightfall. There wasn't one in the tree she was sitting in, so she slid back down, and managed a mostly graceful landing.

Considering how numerous the owls were, she didn't have to go far to find a tree where one was actually perching. Quite far up. Probably twice the height of the branch she had reached earlier. Just barely within Identify range.

[ Forest Owl (Fighter Lvl 15) HP: 70/70 ]

It was definitely not as beefy as the deer, but without her stat up skills they would have likely been pretty equal.

Is this really worth it? She thought partway up. I haven't climbed a tree since I was... maybe 10? And that was back when I had hands.

She kept going in spite of her grumbling, as she had already committed. After a lot of time, a lot of effort, and with most of her SP gone, she made it up to the branch where the owl was sleeping. Somehow the thing had not woken up from the ruckus she had made on her way up. She dismissed the notion that it was programmed to not wake up no matter what, considering her collision the other day. Her Camouflage had levelled up on the way, so maybe that had something to do with it. Or she had just gotten lucky.

She took a moment to catch her breath, and consider what the next step was. She hadn't actually thought far enough ahead to make a plan of attack. All she had thought about was getting up there.

The obvious answer was to use Ambush, but that had problems. Balancing on this branch that narrowed the further out it got was going to be tricky. She was thankfully not afraid of heights, but her current position still felt a little precarious. It was a long way down, and she couldn't guarantee a one-shot-kill. How much damage would she take if she fell?

The attack animation would probably make her plunge off the branch anyway after it hit. While the owl would stay... up... there...

Maybe I'm thinking about this wrong. The easy answer is to bring the bird down with me.

Her Jump skill had gotten pretty decent, after all. And the owl looked bigger up close than it did from the ground, so it should be an easy target to hit. She braced herself against the trunk of the tree, and pounced on the unsuspecting owl. The hit did a little bit of damage, and the bird woke up with a startled squawk, but more importantly the both of them were now hurtling towards the ground at alarming speed.

The owl hit the ground hard, while Sara had most of the impact cushioned by the bird breaking her fall. She still took damage, but not a significant amount. Her cushion was a lot worse off. Between the fall itself, and a large wolf landing on top of it, it lost more than half its health, and was clearly too dazed to move.

She followed up with a quick couple of bites. One with Poison Strike, and one with regular Bite. Putting some damage over time effects on it might help her finish it off should it manage to shake her off, and take to the sky. However it turned out to not be necessary, as the owl wasn't able to recover before Sara could finish it off.

[ Forest Owl (Fighter Lvl 15) Defeated. ]

[ Bite Skill Level Up! ]

That was easy! Was what she wanted to say, but on reflection it had very much not been. The actual kill was easy, but getting to that point had been a lot of effort. After doing it once, and with another Climb level up, it would probably be easier the second time. Yet it would still take time. Considering the length of the shadows, she might only have time for one more before nightfall. It would probably be more efficient to join another pack for more deer hunting.

But what if the owls have rare skills that ground mobs don't?

With greed clouding her judgement, she quickly found another tree with an owl in it, and started climbing. It would be nice if she could do the same thing to the ravens, but while she had seen them perch on branches, they had always been awake, and usually didn't stay for long. They didn't seem to ever land on the ground. They seemed content with harassing the ground creatures without actually getting in range where they could be hit.

Since they never did any real damage, and were just being a nuisance, she could only conclude they were doing it for shits and giggles. Which honestly seemed like pretty appropriate corvid behaviour. She would need some sort of ranged attack to reach them. Something that wasn't Throw.

While she was thinking about all of this, she actually made decent progress up the tree. She hadn't been paying close attention, but she was certain she had beaten her record. Which didn't really mean much considering it was only her second attempt. There was another notification about Climb levelling up as well.

I guess that when I use it actively, it has a higher level up rate than other passive skills.

Next came the easy part. Doing a leap of faith to take the bird down with her. Aside from a smidgen of fall damage, it was an extremely risk-free fight. It wasn't even a fight, it was just murder.

[ Forest Owl (Fighter Lvl 14) Defeated. ]

[ Jump Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ]

[ Skill Gained: Flight. ]

Oooh? With excitement she pawed at the button for the skill description.

[ Flight (Passive): Allows holder to fly using wings, or other flight capable body parts. Drains SP while flying. Effect increases, and SP drain decreases with skill level. Scales with Dexterity. (Ai-note: As you do not possess wings, or anything else that would let you fly or levitate, this skill will be disabled.) ]

Oh come on!!!

That would have made her life so much easier, but apparently fun wasn't allowed. She pondered what the odds were of a wolf evolution that let her grow wings might be, and unfortunately concluded that they would be close to zero. She had heard stories of mythical wolves with wings, and probably seen one in at least one videogame, so it wasn't completely zero, but... she didn't rate her chances very high.

Besides, when she thought about it, word of a flying wolf would definitely make pl- Wanderers, and maybe Resid- Adventurers come flocking over to hunt her.

Gah, this is hard to get used to.

She knew enough about the gamer mindset to feel 100% certain someone would show up. So maybe it was for the best. At least she tried telling herself that, yet it did little to diminish her sulking.

The sunlight streaming through the forest was gradually turning orange, so she decided to just Sprint back to the cave. She was not eager to hang around for the snakes to wake up.

[ Sprint Skill Level Up! ]

The popup made her grumble some rather rude thoughts about what was objectively a good thing.

* * *

After some stretches, and a bit of Jump training the next morning, she looked at her level up. She had been too grumpy the night before to really care.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Rogue ]

[ Level: 14 -> 15 ]

[ HP: 79/79 -> 83/83 | SP: 81/81 -> 86/86 | MP: 25/25 -> 38/38 ]

[ VIT: 33 -> 34 | END: 32 -> 34 ]

[ STR: 37 -> 38 | DEF: 26 ]

[ AGI: 50 -> 52 | DEX: 22 -> 25 ]

[ INT: 8 -> 9 | WIS: 8 -> 21 ]

[ LUK: 56 -> 60 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 0 -> 3 ]

Aside from Int and Wis actually going up, there weren't any surprises. She headed back out. It wasn't hard to find the owls, after all, just hard to reach them.

Climbing did feel easier that day. Perhaps the skill levels were finally paying off in a noticeable way, or her technique was improving. It was apparently still 'rewarding' enough that she got another [ Climb Skill Level Up! ] on the way up, and then it was time for the tried and tested method.

[ Forest Owl (Fighter Lvl 15) Defeated. ]

[ Bite Skill Level Up! ]

There was really no fight there. While the owls took slightly different amounts of damage from the drop, probably because of height difference between trees, they were still knocked out long enough for her finish them off without trouble. She still hadn't seen any of their attacks, so the only damage she took was from the fall. A good thing there was no bone breaking mechanic in the game. That she was aware of.

When she approached the next tree, she suddenly had a thought. Maybe she could shorten the climbing time further by using Jump to get as high up the trunk as possible before she grabbed on. So she gave it a shot. Jump! And then grab!

*Squawk!*

Uh-oh!

A glance upwards let her see that the owl had woken up. Apparently the impact had shaken the tree enough for it to notice. She very quickly activated Stealth as the owl started looking around. It then took flight, and started scanning the area around the tree to find out what had woken it up. Maybe it was just her imagination, since she was hardly an expert on bird expressions, but the thing looked very annoyed.

Don't notice me. Just move along. Go back to sleep. Don't notice me.

[ Camouflage Skill Level Up! ]

That gave her the mental image of her fur coat taking on a bark pattern to blend in with the tree, as if she was some canine chameleon. Canineleon? No, that didn't work. Caineleon? Kinda worked, but probably wouldn't catch on.

After a couple of minutes the owl decided to move on to another nearby tree, and settle down there instead of going back to sleep in the same one. Once Sara was sure it was no longer looking in her direction, she dropped back down to the ground. So that plan didn't work out, but at least she had learned that Stealth worked while climbing, meaning she could probably activate it no matter her position so long as she was not in combat.

She was tempted to go after the same owl, but just in case it hadn't fallen asleep yet, or it had become more alert now, she decided to find another one instead.

Another climb, another skill level up, and another owl to pounce on.

[ Forest Owl (Fighter Lvl 16) Defeated. ]

[ Jump Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ]

[ Skill Gained: Death From Above. ]

Seemed like the Jump training that morning had paid off, and she got a new skill too. With a mix of trepidation and curiosity she looked at the skill description.

[ Death From Above (Active): Perform an attack from above, pouncing on a target for increased damage. Base value: (1.2+(0.05*skill level))*attack power. Damage further increases based on height, and user's mass. Increased critical hit chance if undetected. Effect increases with skill level. Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 10 seconds. ]

No Ai-note! Woo! Uh... sorry, Aina. No offence intended.

"No offence taken, Sara."

The image of sitting up on a tree branch to pounce on unsuspecting victims made her feel more like an assassin, even if it seemed like it would be hard to set up considering how slowly she climbed. She had a feeling it would take a long time to become as quick as a cat, and it probably wasn't worth the effort to go for it. Though with the Jump strategy... she would ponder the topic more later.

First off she wanted to test out a different possibility. Up another tree she went!

Step 1: Jump. Step 2: Activate Death From Above once she was on top of the owl. Step 3: *Splat!*

Ew! Gross!

Since Jump wasn't technically an attack, her previous pounces probably hadn't factored in her attack power at all. With all the bonus factors offered by Death From Above it had insta-gibbed the poor bird.

[ Forest Owl (Fighter Level 15) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 16 Reached! ]

[ Skill Unlocked: Cat's Feet. Unlock requirement: Survive 5 critical falls with more than 50% HP remaining. 1 skill points gained. ]

[ Cat's Feet (Passive): Reduces fall damage. You're as nimble as a cat. Reduction: (5+(5*skill level))%. If fall damage is less than 10% of max HP it is negated. Price: 2 skill points. ]

She had lamented not being able to climb as well as a cat, but apparently she could fall like one. The skill sounded useful, so she bought it without a second thought. Hesitating hadn't done her much good so far.

[ Skill Purchased: Cat's Feet. ]

She wiped her feet on the grass to try to get the owl mush off of them. If she hadn't turned on family friendly mode, how much more gross would it have looked? She didn't really want to imagine it, even though it was hard to not think about it when she was trying to not think about it. Brains were weird that way.

[ Identify Skill Level Up! ]

Thankfully there was a distraction. She had started to make it a habit to use Identify on all the different collectible items (mainly herbs and mushrooms) she came across in the forest. If she'd had some sort of gathering skill she might have considered grabbing a few things, but trying to dig them up with her paws would likely just destroy them. Regardless it had finally paid off. Level 6. This was the one she had a feeling she had been waiting for. She approached another owl tree, and had a look at the sleeping bird.

[ Forest Owl (Fighter Lvl 14) HP: 66/66 ]

There were now two options for additional information pages. The second being the [ Skill List ].

Yes! I finally got it!

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Peck Lvl 4 | Death From Above Lvl 4 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 4 | Keen Vision Lvl 4 | Flight Lvl 4 | Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 3 ]

The layout was the same as her own page, just much shorter. To think she had started out with one equally short. Well, sort of. The only thing she didn't already have was Peck, but she could inspect the skill descriptions just like on her own page.

[ Peck (Active): Attack with a beak, or something with an equivalent function. Damage value: (1.1+(0.03*skill level))*attack power. Defence piercing: (10+(1*skill level))%. Cost: 2 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds. (Ai-note: Since you do not possess anything equivalent to a beak, this skill will be disabled.) ]

At least the Ai-notes appeared on skills she hadn't gotten yet as well, so she knew there was no reason to try to get it. The owls had nothing more she wanted. There was one thing that made her think twice about moving on, though. She hadn't done the best job of keeping count, so she decided to look at the skill list to check her hunch.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl 7 -> 9 | Rake Lvl 9 | Body Slam Lvl 4 | Ambush Lvl 3 | Poison Strike Lvl 1 -> 3 |
Death From Above (New) Lvl 1 | Howl Lvl 3 | Stealth Lvl 11 | Sense Presence Lvl 5 -> 6 ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 1 | Throw Lvl 1 | Jump Lvl 6 -> 8 | Sprint Lvl 6 -> 7 | Thermal Vision Lvl 2 -> 3 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 12 | Keen Eyes Lvl 13 -> 14 | Keen Ears Lvl 12 -> 13 |
Keen Nose Lvl 8 -> 10 | Cat's Feet (New) Lvl 1 | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 5 |
Dexterity Up (Small) (New) Lvl 1 ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Danger Sense Lvl 3 | Camouflage Lvl 2 -> 4 | Dig Lvl 3 | Climb Lvl 3 -> 9 |
Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 4 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 4 | Defence Up (Small) Lvl 2 |
Poison Resistance Lvl 3 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 5 -> 6 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) |
Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales | Flight (New) ]

[ Skill points: 8 -> 9 ]

Climb had really shot up since she last checked. She'd had a hunch it might be at level 9, or at least close. And her second hunch was that it was likely it would unlock something new at level 10. The Keen skills hadn't, so it wasn't guaranteed, but it was close enough that she could at least check. Bite and Rake were close too, but since these birds got one-shot now, she'd have to level that elsewhere. Sure, she could just not use Death From Above, but where was the fun in that?

When she was most of the way up the next tree, the little popup noise appeared, though she waited until she was at the top to actually look at it.

[ Climb Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Unlocked: Firm Grip. 2 skill points gained. ]

[ Firm Grip (Passive): Increases holder's ability to grab, and hold onto targets, objects, and surfaces. Decreases SP drain if applicable. Increased balance when holding onto something, or if all limbs are on the ground. Effect improves with skill level. Price: 2 skill points. ]

That seemed like a basic enough skill that it made her wonder whether it was possible to unlock the same skill in several ways. Maybe with the right class, or species, or... Aina had mentioned skill scrolls, if she remembered correctly.

She bought it, and then looked at what this 'max level' thing was all about.

[ Climb (Passive): Improves climbing prowess, and speed. Lets user find purchase more easily than before, even on surfaces previously considered impossible. Effect increases with skill level. Scales with Dexterity.
Max level bonus: Halves SP drain while climbing. ]

That was interesting. The SP drain seemed to have decreased as her skill level increased anyway, but having it lowered even further was a good thing. With all that out of the way, she pounced on the owl, and smashed the poor bird into the ground.

[ Forest Owl (Fighter Lvl 14) Defeated. ]

[ Death From Above Skill Level Up! ]

A successful operation all told, and she breathed a sigh of relief that she didn't get Peck. It would have just further bloated her skill list. Then she noticed a tad late that several of her skills had detected something very close by. She turned her head to the left, and saw four pl- Wand- Adventurers. The closest one had a bit of blood splatter on him, probably from the squashed owl.

Crap.

Neither side moved as they just stared dumbfounded at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Her eyes flitted between them.

[ Dwarf (Fighter Lvl 15) ], [ Human Guide (Ranger Lvl 16) ],
[ Hobbit Tracker (Scout Lvl 15) ], and [ Elf (Priest Lvl 15) ].

Crap crap crap.

She regained her senses first, and in sheer panic used Howl, then Sprint, and then bolted directly away from the party. Either they failed to react in time, or her Howl had actually managed to Fear whomever of them were capable of stopping her. After weaving back and forth between the trees for a while, having no idea if they were actually following her, she changed direction to head right for her cave, and hid inside.

Crap. Now what?

They had seen her. But how much had they seen? Maybe she should have used Stealth on the final stretch to make sure they didn't find the cave, but realistically she should have lost them long before she turned in this direction. Unless that Scout had tracking skills of some sort. It had said Tracker, after all. Maybe if she was really lucky they would run into some trouble that made them unable to follow.

She had no intention to go back out there to check. She was going to wait this one out. Surely they would leave by nightfall. Players didn't like this part of the forest at night. Aina had said so.

Aina? Can they find me?

"Not in here, no. Remember how no one came into your cave in the field? I made it impossible for Wanderers and Residents to see it, and I have done the same to this cave. You are safe."

That finally made Sara relax.

Thank you.

"You are welcome."

If they couldn't find her cave, then even if she got killed when she went outside it wouldn't be that bad. It would be really hard for them to spawn-camp her. She should use Stealth when going outside just in case, so even if they were able to track her, any trail back to her cave should be hidden.

Honestly she felt silly for panicking so hard. Death wasn't a big deal in this game. In this world. But she still found it unpleasant. And she wasn't eager to become someone else's experience points.

In an attempt to distract herself, she had a look at her level up.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Rogue ]

[ Level: 15 -> 16 ]

[ HP: 83/83 -> 89/89 | SP: 86/86 -> 90/90 | MP: 38/38 -> 39/39 ]

[ VIT: 35 -> 37 | END: 34 -> 35 ]

[ STR: 38 -> 41 | DEF: 26 -> 29 ]

[ AGI: 52 -> 56 | DEX: 25 -> 28 ]

[ INT: 9 | WIS: 21 ]

[ LUK: 60 -> 64 ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 3 -> 6 ]

Her stat up skills looked to have levelled again, but there was otherwise nothing major. It felt nice to get a little bit closer to her goal. Then a sudden thought struck.

Wait, what if they used Identify on me?

Another wave of panic arose as she realised she had not edited her status since that first time. She had completely forgotten. Every skill she had gotten since then was still openly listed. It was possible that none of them had Identify at level 6 or above, but she had managed to get there herself, so she couldn't rule it out.

Ugh... doesn't this skill have an option to make all newly acquired skills be automatically concealed?

She couldn't find anything in the interface.

"Interesting. I shall propose this as a hotfix to the developers."

Huh? What do you mean?

"One of my many tasks is to track the performance of skills, and offer suggestions on how to improve them in the interest of game balance. In the beta there were no reported issues where Spies gained suspicious skills while working in a concealed state. And only a minority of Wanderers reached max level, so our testing of the final tier of classes was limited. The game is still developing with the goal of making this world a more interesting and immersive place. And you are a unique existence who will encounter unique scenarios and circumstances in Moorhold."

So I'm also a QA tester now?

"People like to help out their friends and family, correct? Regardless this is an issue that could have come up in the future anyway, so it is best to fix it in advance. I am capable of fixing it myself, but I am technically not permitted to alter skill functions on my own. Creating new skills for you is what you would call a loophole. Changing an established skill affects everyone who has it, and news of that is likely to reach the development team."

So you're going to ask them to change it for you?

"I already did several minutes ago, back when I said I would. I am certain they will have it implemented by tomorrow morning at the latest."

Sara sighed, and stretched out on the ground. She felt tired, but unfortunately not the sleepy kind. Just deflated. She had gone through quite the emotional rollercoaster. She should update her Conceal Status, but if Aina was correct, she might as well wait until the hotfix was implemented. All she could think to do in the meantime was Jump training, or to take a nap.

I desperately need some form of entertainment...

Chapter Text

[ Community Forums ]

^[ Monster Information ]

^^[ Climbing Wolf In The Forest ]

[ Thread Creator: Nyonjor ]

We were in a party for the mushroom gathering quest in merwyn forest west, and partway in the scout told us to look up. There was a wolf climbing up a tree. All of us stopped to watch. When it got to the top it pounced on an owl that was sitting on a branch up there, and dropped down to the ground on top of it. Owl went splat. I got some blood on me. Then it ran away. - 14/11/2041

[ Mu Brans ]

What? No way. We have to worry about wolves jumping on us from the trees now? - 14/11/2041

[ Gurdani ]

Yes way. I'm the Scout who first noticed it. Extremely bizarre sight. After it dropped down and saw us, we just stared at each other for a while. I wasn't sure how to react, and it looked as shocked as us. Then it howled, and ran away at high speed. The Priest and I got Feared, and then a wolf pack attacked us while we recovered. I have the Tracker occupation, but by the time we had a chance to follow it the trail had gone cold. I managed to use Identify before it ran away though. I have it at level 7. Got some weird results. I missed my chance to grab a screenshot before it ran out of range, but I remember the stats were well above average for a wolf in that area. Not as crazy as the Forest Deer, but those things are evil. And it had some weird skills too. Death From Above is a skill only bird type mobs have, right? And does anyone know what Cat's Feet does? I think there was more, but I don't quite remember. - 14/11/2041

[ Ketsacutel ]

airdropping wolves sounds more like something from a bonkers survival game - 14/11/2041

[ Lun Parkal ]

>Death From Above is a skill only bird type mobs have, right?

Mostly, yeah. There are some feline mobs in the tropical region that hang around in trees, and drop down onto people, but otherwise not enough people have levelled Identify enough to check every mob in the game yet. How did you get it so high in just two weeks?

>does anyone know what Cat's Feet does?

It's a skill that reduces fall damage. Catkin have automatic access to it, and Thieves can unlock it. That much was discovered in the beta. I'm sure there are merchants with skill scrolls, and items that do the same function too. There are rumours that it can be unlocked via an achievement as well, but no one has shared that information publicly. No idea why a wolf would have it.

Was it a named mob, or some unknown type? - 14/11/2041

[ Gurdani ]

>How did you get it so high in just two weeks?

Tracker gets improved exp gain to related skills, and you can use Identify on more stuff than you might think, so it's not that hard.

>Was it a named mob, or some unknown type?

It just showed up as a Grey Limber Wolf. They're rarer than Timber Wolves, but I've seen them before. Just not one like this. Maybe I need an even higher Identify level to find out. The Resident Guide we partied with had never seen nor heard of anything like this before either. - 14/11/2041

[ teh tonkmeister ]

u sure it wasn't a lumber wolf lol - 14/11/2041

[ Ugg Yugg ]

what's it like partying with the npcs btw? - 14/11/2041

[ Thread Creator: Nyonjor ]

You should call them residents. They're just like people. Her name is Berlina, and she tells bad jokes. - 14/11/2041

[ Leaf Fit ]

Nyon's right. She didn't really feel any different from a player, except less memes. Plenty of bad jokes to make up for it, but she also saved my pretty elf a** from getting bitten off by a large wolf, so I'd call it even. Aside from the low level mobs, I've been impressed by the AI in the game so far. - 14/11/2041

[ Leaf Fit ]

Wait, they censored a**? What about asset? - 14/11/2041

[ Lun Parkal ]

Stop derailing the topic. Was there anything that stood out about this wolf besides its actions? - 14/11/2041

[ Gurdani ]

>Was there anything that stood out about this wolf besides its actions?

Hm... well, it had a brown pattern on its back that stood out from the grey fur. - 14/11/2041

[ Mu Brans ]

I thought I'd heard about a wolf with a brown pattern before, so I did a search. There was a report about a possible rare spawn in the tutorial field like a week ago, but it hasn't been seen since. The west forest is just next to the field, so... - 14/11/2041

[ Lun Parkal ]

I missed that thread, but I checked it out now. As far as we know the mobs don't move between areas, but it does sound like a weird coincidence. What was the level on that Limber Wolf? - 14/11/2041

[ Gurdani ]

>What was the level on that Limber Wolf?

It was level 16, but since the wolves are level 12-16 in that area I didn't think of that part as unusual. Do we have any record of mobs being able to level up? - 14/11/2041

[ Ketsacutel ]

freaky - 14/11/2041

[ Lun Parkal ]

>Do we have any record of mobs being able to level up?

None. There weren't even rumours back in beta. But what if the devs secretly put in some special mobs that can grow after the public release? Maybe to test out the AI or something? - 14/11/2041

[ Mu Brans ]

Now I kinda wanna go see if I can find it myself, but the west forest is so gross... so many wolves, and those demonic deer. At night it's even worse! I did a couple of the quests in that direction, but I'd prefer not visiting the place again without a flamethrower. At least the owls and ravens don't auto-aggro. - 14/11/2041

[ Hap scap ]

>At least the owls and ravens don't auto-aggro.

unles u're a goblin. - 14/11/2041

[ Thread Creator: Nyonjor ]

>unles u're a goblin.

Yeah. Goblin players have given up on merwyn forest, I think. - 14/11/2041

[ Gurdani ]

That sounds like a perfect place for a smart monster to hide out, actually. Players don't want to go there, there are plenty of other wolves, the deer are high exp, and if it can climb even the birds aren't safe, as we were personal witnesses to. I genuinely don't remember seeing the Climb skill on its list, but maybe I missed it because I was distracted. If it can climb like that without it, I'm very impressed. - 14/11/2041

[ Gurdani ]

Oh wait, I remembered something! It had an attack with 'poison' in the name... and there was Firm Grip. There's a shop in town that sells skill scrolls of it, but I heard I'll unlock it at Scout lvl 20, so I didn't want to waste money. - 15/11/2041

[ Lun Parkal ]

>It had an attack with 'poison' in the name...

Poison Strike maybe? That's the most basic one, but not something I've seen any wolf use. Very curious.

I am tempted to organise some search parties, but it's a big area, and Limber Wolves can use Stealth. Not gonna get my hopes up. Might be better to just wait and see if it moves on to somewhere else, but we could alert the rare mob hunters. - 15/11/2041

[ Mu Brans ]

>we could alert the rare mob hunters.

Sure. At the very least it would be funny if they got stomped in there. - 15/11/2041

* * *

After a bit of Jump training, Sara had taken a nap before going out with Stealth active during the night to try to level that, and her Night Vision a bit more. At sunrise she went back into the cave, and checked Conceal Status. As Aina had predicted there was now a toggle for 'Automatically Conceal Any New Skills Acquired'. She could choose to reveal them if she felt the situation called for it later, but for now it just gave her a sense of relief.

She toggled the option on, and started updating her skill list to conceal all the suspicious ones again. It might be prudent to adjust what levels her skills would appear as, but she didn't know what the norm was. For the time being she just winged it.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl 9 (5) | Rake Lvl 9 (5) | Body Slam Lvl 4 (5) | Ambush Lvl 3 (5) | Howl Lvl 3 (5) |
Stealth Lvl 11 -> 12 (5) | Sense Presence Lvl 6 -> 7 (5) ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 1 | Throw Lvl 1 | Poison Strike Lvl 3 | Death From Above Lvl 1 -> 2 |
Jump Lvl 8 -> 9 | Sprint Lvl 7 -> 8 | Thermal Vision Lvl 3 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 12 -> 13 (8) | Keen Eyes Lvl 14 -> 15 (8) | Keen Ears Lvl 13 -> 14 (8) |
Keen Nose Lvl 10 -> 11 (8) | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 5 -> 6 (3) ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Danger Sense Lvl 3 | Camouflage Lvl 4 -> 5 | Cat's Feet Lvl 1 | Firm Grip (New) Lvl 1 |
Dig Lvl 3 | Climb Lvl 9 -> Max | Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 4 -> 5 |
Strength Up (Small) Lvl 4 -> 5 | Defence Up (Small) Lvl 2 -> 3 |
Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 1 -> 2 | Poison Resistance Lvl 3 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Concealed General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 5 -> 6 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) |
Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales | Flight ]

[ Skill points: 9 ]

Her revealed active and passive sections should be the only things anyone would be able to see if they used Identify on her. Of course it was too late for that party from yesterday if they used it. Her guesses at what the skill levels should be for a mob of her level were probably not correct. And it felt a little sad that her deciding to just set all Active skills at the same level meant some of them were higher than her real skill levels. If only that actually made them stronger, but it was merely cosmetic.

As for the Passive section she had tried to logic it out by how long she would have had the skills. But she didn't have any actual information to go by, so maybe she should go get some. Aina had only said that Limber Wolves were a rarer variant, not that she was the only one. So she intended to go look around for wolf packs until she found one that had another Grey Limber Wolf.

* * *

She kept Stealth on until she was far enough away from the cave to feel reasonably certain there was no trail leading back to it. Not far out she noticed one of the ravens was taking a break up on a nearby branch. They usually flew around most of the time, but they would sit down every once in a while. With the Flight skill description in mind, she guessed it was to recharge their SP. Since it was just sitting there, and the range of her Identify had increased, she wanted to check it out.

[ Dusk Raven (Mage Lvl 16) HP: 105/105 ]

Huh?

That HP value was higher than expected. And it was a Mage? Curiosity made her look at its stats.

[ Target Status ]

[ Species: Dusk Raven | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Corvid ]

[ Class: Mage ]

[ Level: 15 ]

[ HP: 105/105 | SP: 59/83 | MP: 120/120 ]

[ VIT: 43 | END: 38 ]

[ STR: 41 | DEF: 36 ]

[ AGI: 40 | DEX: 51 ]

[ INT: 60 | WIS: 48 ]

[ LUK: 33 ]

What's with these absurd stats?

Its defence was low compared to its other stats, but it was still higher than Sara's. Even though she'd put a lot of bonus points into improving it, and gotten a passive buff. It had to be another elite like those deer. She still wasn't sure how it was a mage, so she had to check the skills too.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Peck Lvl 5 | Death From Above Lvl 5 | Shadow Bolt Lvl 6 | Dark Enchant Lvl 6 |
Dark Barrier Lvl 6 | Gust Lvl 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 7 | Keen Vision Lvl 7 | Flight Lvl 7 | Dark Element Up Lvl 8 |
Intelligence Up (Small) Lvl 5 ]

She just stared at it for a minute, feeling glad that she hadn't actually attempted to attack one of them in the same way she had pounced on the owls. If she hadn't been able to instantly trash it, it would have just flown out of range, and annihilated her. She wasn't sure what all of these skills actually did, though.

[ Shadow Bolt (Active): Fires a magic bolt with dark element property. Damage value: (1.1+(0.03*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1 metre. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) Inflicts Heavy status on target for 5 seconds. Effect increases with skill level. Cost: 3 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 2 seconds. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Dark Enchant (Active): Enhances target's physical attacks with dark element property for 10 seconds. Duration increases with skill level. Scales with Intelligence. Base damage increase: (10+(3*skill level))%. Cost: 5 MP. Refresh: 30 seconds. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Dark Barrier (Active): Conjures a magical barrier around user with dark element property that absorbs incoming attacks. Duration: 1 minute, or until broken. Barrier strength: (1+(0.1*skill level))*magic power. Scales with Wisdom. Cost: 10 MP. Refresh: 1 minute. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Gust (Active): Create a cone-shaped burst of wind that pushes any targets in front of user away. Does no damage. Range: 3 metres. Cone width: up to 2 metres. Push force increases with skill level. Scales with Strength and Dexterity. Cost: 5 MP. Refresh: 10 seconds. ]

There were no big surprises considering their names. The 'current form' clause intrigued her, since it implied that she might be able to evolve into a species that could use magic.

And since only some of them had a cast time listed, that probably meant that anything that didn't have it was an instant cast. It made her curious what sorts of physical skills might have cast times.

Wait... Aina? Why isn't Gust listed as disabled?

"It is not technically a magic skill. For someone with wings like the Dusk Raven is costs SP to use, but for someone like you without anything equivalent it costs MP to conjure the wind. The principle is similar to Poison Strike, so the system does not technically count it as magic."

I see... and what does Heavy do?

"Very simply it makes you feel heavy. Your movement and reaction speed is reduced, and it reduces the physical attack power of skills. It is similar to Slow, except it does not affect your casting time, while Slow does not impact the physical attack power of skills."

That just left the passive skill she hadn't seen before, even though she could guess what it did from the name.

[ Dark Element Up (Passive): Increases the effect, and power of dark element skills. Increase: (10+(1*skill level))%. ]

With a newfound respect for, and fear of the big black birds, Sara decided to move on. She had wolves to look for.

The first pack she spotted was only three wolves, and all of them were the Timber variant. The second was four, but still only Timber.

Aina? How do the elements work here in Moorhold? She decided to ask while looking around.

"Pretty much as you would expect from fantasy games. If we look at Dark, it is very weak against Light, but it has an edge against the regular elements. While Light is less effective against the regular elements. But Dark's effect against the regular elements is less than their internal weaknesses. Dark will do slightly increased damage against Fire, but not as much as Water would, for instance. The regular elements have a lot of interplay. It is not as simple as just one thing being stronger against another. Like Water is weak to Nature, but also to Lightning. Yet Lightning can also be weak against Water depending on how it is used. We have attempted to make it as intuitive and logical as possible."

Sounds like something I'd need a chart to keep track of.

"I do not believe it should be that complicated, but the Wanderers have made a guide on the community forums to make things easier on the newcomers. Perhaps we have miscalculated the degree of difficulty. It would be hard to reduce the complexity of the system at this point, so hopefully they will get accustomed to it."

Sara shook her head. She didn't consider herself stupid, but she was aware that she wasn't exactly a genius either. She figured (hoped) she was above average. How far above varied depending on the day, and mood. At least she was somewhat lucky, which was proven when the third wolf pack she found had three Timber Wolves, and one Limber Wolf. It was the first time she had seen another one, so she felt a little excited as she approached them.

"Hello," she called out.

"Hello," one of them replied as the pack stopped to wait for her. "Oh, it's the climbing one."

"Wha... the climbing one?"

"You have been seen," the male wolf said with a nod. "Word has spread."

"Word has... wait... so, do all the wolves in the forest know about me?" she asked while she was still trying to process this.

"Probably," was the answer she got.

Sara felt embarrassed. She wondered once again wonder whether mobs retained their memories after death. Wanderers did, and Residents apparently did. So it would make sense that the same applied to mobs. That also implied that they would learn from their mistakes, which could make things a lot harder for new players in the future. Of course there was likely some limit to how clever mobs could get, but they had already proven they had some understanding of tactics.

"W-well, may I join you for a while?"

"Yes." While the pack gave each other a quick glance before answering, he hadn't sounded reluctant or hesitant.

They started walking again, and Sara followed after them. She wasn't quite sure how to behave, so she ended up walking a step behind the rest of them. If she wanted to look at it positively, she could think of herself as the rearguard. They had an important job too, after all. And now that she finally had the chance, she used Identify on the Limber Wolf.

[ Target Status ]

[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Rogue ]

[ Level: 15 ]

[ HP: 71/71 | SP: 82/82 | MP: 18/18 ]

[ VIT: 23 | END: 33 ]

[ STR: 24 | DEF: 12 ]

[ AGI: 46 | DEX: 20 ]

[ INT: 9 | WIS: 9 ]

[ LUK: 21 ]

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl 8 | Rake Lvl 8 | Ambush Lvl 5 | Sprint Lvl 5 | Howl Lvl 5 | Stealth Lvl 10 |
Sense Presence Lvl 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 9 | Keen Eyes Lvl 9 | Keen Ears Lvl 9 | Keen Nose Lvl 9 | Camouflage Lvl 2 |
Agility Up (Small) Lvl 4 ]

She was a level lower than Sara, and the stats surprised her for a moment. All of her stat up passives, and bonus points had made a bigger difference than she initially thought. The difference in Luck was less of a surprise, thanks to that 'a bit of a god'.

The skills surprised her even more. Body Slam wasn't there. She checked one of the Timber Wolves to compare, and it had Body Slam. She suddenly remembered that Aina had told her that evolving into a Timber Wolf would have taught her Body Slam if she didn't already have it, yet that did not apply to Limber. Also Sprint was there. And so was Camouflage. She had been fairly close to the mark on the skill levels, though. Mostly. At least the passives. She quickly adjusted her Conceal Status to better reflect the other wolf before they could encounter anything. She felt safer, and more cheerful already.

Chapter Text

After walking around for a little bit one of them announced: "Deer." The pack changed direction towards their target. It seemed like hunting deer was the only thing they cared about.

They stalked over to where they could see the deer. She did a quick Identify on it to finally see the skills.

[ Forest Deer (Druid Lvl 16) HP: 128/128 ]

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Kick Lvl 9 | Impale Lvl 9 | Stomp Lvl 6 | Thorn Bind Lvl 6 | Mass Thorn Bind Lvl 6 |
Growth Lvl 6 | Rejuvenate Lvl 6 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 8 | Keen Ears Lvl 6 | Insulation Lvl 6 | Pursuit Lvl 6 | Camouflage Lvl 4 |
Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Defence Up (Small) Lvl 6 ]

There were several things she didn't recognise, but it wasn't the right time to sit down, and read skill descriptions. She could always check them out if she got them, or if she went to scout out a deer on her own later.

"I'll go," she told the pack, and they just nodded at her. Apparently they had no objections.

Since the only thing she had to worry about was the thing's hearing, she didn't have a hard time sneaking up on it. And then... Ambush!

Like last time the deer spun around, and glared at her before it tried to kick her. There was one difference, though. The other Limber Wolf had snuck out alongside her, and as soon as the deer was focused on Sara, she launched her own Ambush as the three Timber Wolves charged out from the underbrush with a Howl. The second Ambush didn't do as much damage as the first, since Sara had higher stats, but it was still a decent chunk of damage.

The deer attacked in the same way Sara had seen before. It tried to kick her, and any of the others who got too close to its behind. It tried to ram her with its horns. It stomped the ground which pushed the wolves back, and did a little damage to everyone. And it did the thorny vines to try to ensnare all of them. She hadn't mastered the dodge timing on that yet.

And there were a couple of things she hadn't noticed last time. Like the faint green energy that flowed around the deer like thin wisps of smoke, and the way its eyes started glowing yellow shortly after its HP dropped below 50%. Of course trying to pay attention to such things meant she got hit by an extra kick or two before the end.

[ Forest Deer (Druid Lvl 16) Defeated. ]

[ Bite Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ] [ Rake Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ] [ Ambush Skill Level Up! ] [ Howl Skill Level Up! ]

These creatures were basically piñatas of skill experience points. It somewhat made the pain worth it.

[ Skill Gained: Rejuvenate. ]

[ Rejuvenate (Active): Restore target's HP over time. Recovery value: (1+(1*skill level))% of Max HP every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Nature element property. Duration increases with skill level. Cost: 5 MP. Refresh: 20 seconds. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

She let out a slight sigh. She had expected that the last three active skills were all Druid skills. Considering the deer's skill list, it seemed like the odds were high that she'd get something she couldn't use.

Now what bonuses did I get?

[ Bite (Active): Attack using jaws and teeth, or something with an equivalent function. Damage value: (1+(0.03*skill level))*attack power. Critical hits inflict Bleed status on target for 10 seconds. Cost: 1 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds.
Max level bonus: Bleed inflicted by this skill deals 50% extra damage. ]

[ Rake (Active): Attack using claws, or something with an equivalent function. Damage value: (1+(0.03*skill level))*attack power. Increased critical hit chance. Critical hits inflict Bleed status on target for 10 seconds. Cost: 2 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds.
Max level bonus: Bleed inflicted by this skill deals 50% extra damage. ]

Hm. Not super powerful, but yeah, that's an okay bonus.

Bite and Rake were her two most basic attack skills, so it made sense the bonus would be simple. Bleed was a very simple debuff as well. While Poison dealt damage in fixed HP values, Bleed did 2% of the target's max HP (rounded up, so it always did at least 1 HP) every 2 seconds over 10 seconds. Boosting that to 3% was hardly mind-blowing, but it would help out a little. More powerful skills probably had better bonuses, assuming they all had them.

She suddenly realised the pack were patiently watching her.

"Oh, sorry. I... um... I'm ready to go."

They nodded, then walked off in what seemed like just a random direction to her. They probably had a patrol route, or scent trail, or something to guide them. It wasn't like she had any better suggestions, so she followed after them.

Walking around like this felt pretty relaxing, honestly. The wolves weren't great conversationalists, but neither was she. There was a sense of safety in moving with a pack, and she was free to just look at her surroundings, use Identify on stuff, play around with her Thermal Vision without worrying about walking into a tree, and so on. Good stuff. Then every so often the pack would stop, and announce "Deer" when it was time for action.

The procedure was the same every time, but that didn't mean she could relax during combat. The deer were surprisingly good at trapping her movements, and landing a blow. Not just with their thorns, but with their attack patterns in general. They would manage to catch her at an angle where she wasn't able to dodge properly.

Maybe it was due to a lack of experience on her part, or it was part of how they managed to fend off wolf packs normally, but it wasn't enough to stop her. Sara was an abnormality which gave the deer much lower odds at winning.

[ Forest Deer (Druid Lvl 16) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 17 Reached! ]

[ Body Slam Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ] [ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ]

She was gradually getting a better feel for Danger Sense, and the signal was getting clearer with each level up. With sufficient practice (and skill level) she might even be able to predict attacks with it, and improve her evasion rate. That would likely take a while, though.

[ Skill Gained: Kick. ]

[ Kick (Active): Attack using one or more legs. Base damage value: (1+(0.03*skill level))*attack power. Damage increases with the use of more legs. Chance to knock back, or knock down targets. Cost: 2 SP. Refresh: 3 seconds. (Ai-note: Harder feet mean harder kicks. Your soft paws will not have as much impact as a deer's hooves.) ]

I'm getting Ai-notes for things that aren't related to disabling skills now? She really does behave like a mother.

Perhaps it was a skill that would be more useful in the future, when she was able to wear boots. Wolves had a good amount of muscle, so if she kicked with her back legs, she might at least be able to push something away. Not the deer, though. Even Body Slams barely fazed them.

[ Forest Deer (Druid Lvl 15) Defeated. ]

[ Howl Skill Level Up! ]

Onto the next.

[ Forest Deer (Druid Lvl 17) Defeated. ]

[ Ambush Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ]

[ Skill Gained: Insulation. ]

[ Insulation (Passive): Makes the holder more resistant to the elements. Improves effectiveness of fur and hair. Cold and warm temperatures bother holder less. Effect increases with skill level. (1+(1*skill level))% resistance to elemental attacks, and effects. (Light and Dark excluded.) ]

That seemed like the most useful thing she had gotten from these beasts aside from Defence Up. Even if it was a small percentage, it was resistance against all the regular elements. If she managed to max it out, it would be fairly decent. It might be difficult to level though. Was it simply a time based thing, or did she have to do anything?

As a bonus it also sounded like she would feel more cosy.

[ Forest Deer (Druid Lvl 16) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 18 Reached! ]

[ Body Slam Skill Level Up! ] [ Kick Skill Level Up! ]

She had tried using Kick a bit in spite of Aina's warning, and it had indeed had little effect. It didn't do any more damage than a non-skill bite or claw 'auto-attack'. Maybe less. So she was better off using other attack skills.

Now that she had reached level 18, maybe it was time to call it a day. Or at least go do something else. Even if her HP and SP quickly recovered after a fight (though she was starting to notice the diminishing returns already), it didn't stop her from feeling physically sore, and mentally tired. Getting kicked, rooted, rammed, and stomped wasn't fun, and the amount of concentration she had to expend to react to the attacks was taxing.

They did walk around for a while between fights, which was a good time to relax a little, and try to get her non-combat skills to level up a bit too, but she was feeling the need to go rest. She had tried to add some diversity to the downtime by talking to the wolves a little, but she wasn't very good at starting conversations. It ended up with her just asking a few questions, and getting short answers.

Was this all they did? Yes.

How many of them were there? Many.

Was there a boss wolf? Not in this part of the forest.

Then where was it? In the forest on the other side of the goblin camp.

Were they afraid of the ravens? No.

Did they like what they were doing? They didn't understand the question. It was just what they did.

She had to wonder if these wolves would start to feel differently about things as their AI kept growing. Maybe they would develop different habits, and different lives. Form their own opinions. The wolves worked well together, but she had to admit they seemed more like colleagues, and less like friends, or family.

As she was pondering all this, and trying to think of a good way to say that she wanted to part ways (even though she could probably just say it, rather than overthink it), the wolves stopped again. But this time the word they uttered was different: "People."

It took Sara a moment to realise it they hadn't said 'Deer'.

"Huh?"

The wolves started talking among themselves.

"Group. Five."

"Not goblins."

"Not close."

"Ignore?"

"Dangerous to drive out. Maybe ignore."

Then all of them turned their heads towards her.

"W-why are you looking at me?"

"You are strongest."

"Opinion important."

Are they saying they would follow me, or are they saying it's a democracy?

"I'll go scout them out, then I'll tell you what I think," she said after thinking about it for a few seconds.

They nodded, seemingly satisfied with her answer.

She was unsure if she would be able to find them as well as the pack had, but when she paid attention to her senses, she realised she had no problem telling which direction they were, or roughly how close they were. She entered Stealth before they could hope to spot her, and peeked between the trees. It was indeed a group of five adventurers.

[ Human Guard (Fighter Lvl 18) ], [ Elf Researcher (Mage Lvl 17) ],
[ Gnome Tracker (Scout Lvl 16) ], [ Owlkin Speaker (Druid Lvl 16) ],
[ Troll Acolyte (Priest Lvl 17)].

They seemed like a well-rounded team, and they all had occupations. It was possible they were Residents, or at least that some of them were, but it felt more like a group of Serious Gamers. Something about how they moved gave her a hunch. It was probably best to avoid them. Let them do whatever quest they had come for, and they'd leave soon enough. It wasn't that many hours left until nightfall, and they'd surely bugger off by then.

Wait...

That elf looked familiar... after pondering it for a moment, it hit her. He was from the party that had come after her back in the field. She could be wrong, but the face was very similar, and he had the same glasses. Did that mean he had brought another party to hunt for her? Her fur bristled at the very thought. The gall of these people. She headed back to the others.

"They are too much for us to handle on our own," was the conclusion she told them.

"So ignore?" the Limber Wolf asked her.

"No. I said on our own, but what if we recruited the help of more packs?"

At first they gave her strange looks, but then she felt like she could see them smile. Maybe that was just her imagination.

* * *

"This is pointless," Laloti said. As a Tracker she was nigh essential when searching for a mob in the woods, but there were plenty of wolf tracks all over the place, and it wasn't like she could point to any of them being different to the others. "What are we even looking for?" She had already been told, and was asking more out of annoyance than anything else.

"A strange wolf that climbs trees," Scott McScot replied anyway. The Mage was one of the more dedicated rare mob hunters, and one of the guild's founders. Maybe too dedicated. Last time he had charged off with a random party, but this time he'd managed to get a party of guild members to come along. Most of whom were now regretting it. "Or traces of a lone wolf. That could also point us in the right direction."

Laloti had only found the trails of packs, but she had already pointed that out three times, so she didn't bother repeating herself this time. They had bumped into a couple of the packs, and a couple of those deer, which had led to annoying fights, so she felt ready to go back. It was only 3 or 4 hours away from dark, and she didn't want to be there when the snakes woke up.

"The owls talked about the climbing wolf, so the forum post wasn't lying," Le Hoot said. It was a neat system the game had that if your character was a related type to a mob race, that type of mob might be willing to aid you, or at least leave you alone if they were usually hostile to players. And as a Druid she had a skill to communicate with mobs as well. Even if the owls weren't super happy about being woken up, they were willing to talk to an owlkin.

"I really don't like these woods," Barls Stein said. As a Fighter he was their vanguard, though the Druid could at least off-tank, so it wasn't like the entire burden fell on him. "This is my first time on the west side, and I don't like it." The woods felt thicker than in the east, and the mobs were more of a hassle. At least the flying ones left them alone.

"And we certainly haven't seen anything bigger than those squirrels climbing anything," the last member of the party, Grulsen, remarked. While Druids could do a bit of healing, most parties wanted to take along a Priest or Cleric if they were going anywhere dangerous.

Laloti suddenly stopped. "Wait. Something's wrong," she said. The way her Sense Presence was reacting was not normal.

"Argh!" Grulsen cried out as he was ambushed by a Limber Wolf, which was quickly followed by a scream from Scott as another Limber Wolf materialised with its claws into his back. Then Timber Wolves charged in from all sides. There had to be at least a dozen of them.

"Shit."

The party tried to stabilise, but with both their priest and mage grievously wounded right away, they had no hope against such numbers. They managed to take down a couple of wolves, but inevitably:

[ Respawn Timer: 09:59 ]

[ Do You Wish To Respawn Immediately? Yes/No ]

"What the hell was that?" Barls asked when they were all back at the respawn point in town.

"I've never seen them deliberately go for the healer first before," Laloti said. Maybe that had just been a coincidence, but it hadn't felt like one.

"Did we trigger some kind of event?" It wasn't Grulsen's first death. Very few players managed to avoid it altogether, but getting hit with something that high damage was very unpleasant. He hadn't even gotten a single heal off before the Timber Wolves had charged in, and taken out the last bit of health he had.

Scott had remained quiet for over a minute before he suddenly said: "What if they were led by someone?"

"Huh?"

"That wolf in the fields that we suspected to be a rare spawn was able to cooperate with other wolves in an area where that normally never happens. If it has gotten even cleverer since then, maybe it can command the wolves of the forest," he elaborated.

"So you believe the thing about a special learning mob that's moving between areas?" Laloti asked. She was very disbelieving of that notion, finding it more likely that it would be different rare spawns.

"It would make sense if it was." Scott definitely believed. "I wouldn't blame the devs for putting in an easter egg like that."

"I'm not sure if 'easter egg' is the right term for it, but it was certainly a strange encounter," Le Hoot said. She also felt kinda excited at the idea of mobs who would grow with time. So long as it wasn't all of them. That would eventually make the game impossible for newbies.

"Well, if it can organise all the wolves against us, it would be too dangerous to keep investigating. Even if we brought more parties, it might just bring more wolves against us," Grulsen concluded.

"You have an unfortunate point," Scott had to concede. "It would be hard to motivate enough people to perform a raid on an area when we can't even guarantee good drops. But if it truly can grow stronger, and move around, then there's only so much it will be able to do in there before it has to move on. I'm sure we'll get more news soon enough. In the meantime, maybe we could send in some covert forces?"

"While I understand your eagerness, Merwyn Forest West is not a small area," Le Hoot pointed out. "Asking someone to walk around in Stealth when we're not sure what we're looking for is going to be a hard sell."

"Mmph... you're right... we should have at least used Identify on the two Limber Wolves..." Scott hadn't been in a state to check the fur patterns either.

"I did," Laloti said in a grumpy tone. "They both looked normal." She hadn't really had time to do a thorough investigation of the results considering their situation, so she hadn't noticed that one of them was higher level than any of the other wolves.

"We have other reports to look into as well," Le Hoot said. "How about we head over to Narsel for now?" They had their choice of using the teleport service, or taking the airship, but teleporting was quite expensive. There weren't many players who could do it frequently without worry. Airship tickets were quite affordable. New players even got 10 free tickets when they made their first character. The travel time wasn't negligible, but it was a good opportunity to take a break.

"Sure."

"Yeah."

"Got it."

"Fine..."

* * *

The plan had been a success. It had been a short, but intense battle. Even with their healer going down first, the players had rallied surprisingly well, and even taken a couple of Timber Wolves down with them. They hadn't lasted very long though, and the mood among the various wolf packs was quite high. It was the first time they'd done anything like this, so to the wolves it was like an interesting new experience. Maybe they would have eventually thought of something like that on their own, but it was Sara who had come up with the idea first, and they had been happy to go along.

For her own part Sara felt satisfied with the result. Maybe a little too happy about getting some payback. Based on what she had overheard, they had clearly been looking for her. It was bad to hold a grudge, but she couldn't help it. She was just trying to figure out her place in this new world, and the players kept getting in her way. All she wanted was to become a Resident, and live a peaceful life somewhere.

Er... the Wanderers, she reminded herself. It might be a while until I stop slipping up, huh?

It had occurred to her that maybe she should try to get on the... Adventurers' good side. Be a helpful wolf, and save them from danger or whatnot. However that would start its own batch of troublesome stories. For now she was happy to do what she could to keep herself hidden, and gradually level herself up. She should get a new evolution at level 20, which would be exciting. Even if it was probably just becoming a bigger wolf.

Once their fallen members had respawned, the various packs exchanged brief farewells before they went off to do their own things again. They didn't seem interested in permanently forming a bigger pack, and Sara wasn't too interested in trying to force it on them either.

"Thank you for your help today," she told the pack she had been going around with. "I enjoyed our time together, but I would like to go rest now."

"You are welcome. Maybe we will meet again." That was a new sentiment. The previous pack she'd gone with hadn't said anything like that.

"Maybe." She smiled, or at least tried to. She had no idea what it actually looked like on a face like hers. The other wolves didn't have names, so she wasn't sure if she'd be able to recognise them if they met again. Maybe she would be able to tell from their scents, but no matter how high level her Keen Nose was, her brain wasn't used to processing information in that way. At least she didn't think so. It had already surprised her how well she was able to move in this body despite it being entirely new to her.

Aina had helpfully left the compass marker on since the time Sara had asked for it, so she had no trouble getting back to her cave that day either. Without the AI looking after her, there was no way she would have gotten as far as she had.

It was time to check out her spoils for the day. Not the drops she'd collected (even though she'd like to cook the venison one day), but what level ups she'd gotten.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Rogue ]

[ Level: 16 -> 18 ]

[ HP: 89/89 -> 97/97 (74/74) | SP: 90/90 -> 99/99 (77/77) | MP: 39/39 -> 41/41 (19/19) ]

[ VIT: 37 -> 39 (24) | END: 35 -> 38 (34) ]

[ STR: 41 -> 43 (25) | DEF: 29 -> 30 (13) ]

[ AGI: 56 -> 60 (48) | DEX: 28 -> 30 (21) ]

[ INT: 9 (9) | WIS: 21 (9) ]

[ LUK: 64 -> 72 (22) ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 6 -> 12 ]

Her concealed stats were now probably a little low for her level, but she wasn't going to worry about updating them until she hit level 20, and completed her evolution. Actually she should probably conceal her level as well. That would fix the problem. It annoyed her that she kept forgetting potentially important things, but she'd always been that way. She'd save her bonus points. It was probably better to see what she might be lacking after evolving.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl 9 -> Max (9) | Rake Lvl 9 -> Max (9) | Ambush Lvl 3 -> 5 (5) | Howl Lvl 3 -> 6 (5) |
Sprint Lvl 8 (5) | Stealth Lvl 12 -> 13 (10) | Sense Presence Lvl 7 -> 8 (5) ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 1 | Body Slam Lvl 4 -> 7 | Throw Lvl 1 | Poison Strike Lvl 3 -> 5 |
Death From Above Lvl 2 | Kick (New) Lvl 1 -> 2 | Jump Lvl 9 | Thermal Vision Lvl 3 -> 4 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 13 (9) | Keen Eyes Lvl 15 -> 16 (9) | Keen Ears Lvl 14 -> 15 (9) |
Keen Nose Lvl 11 -> 13 (9) | Camouflage Lvl 5 -> 6 (2) | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 6 (4) ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Danger Sense Lvl 3 -> 4 | Cat's Feet Lvl 1 -> 2 | Firm Grip Lvl 1 | Dig Lvl 3 |
Climb Lvl Max | Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 5 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 5 |
Defence Up (Small) Lvl 3 | Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 2 | Poison Resistance Lvl 3 |
Insulation (New) Lvl 1 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Identify Lvl 6 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) |
Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales | Flight | Rejuvenate (New) ]

[ Skill points: 9 -> 13 ]

Her stat up passives had not levelled, but those could take a while. She'd gotten a lot done that day, so it felt like more time had passed. She had been right about this being the more effective way to level up, but she didn't regret her other escapades, like figuring out how to climb. It was nice to keep her days varied, after all. She wasn't entirely sure why Cat's Feet had levelled up. She'd missed whenever the popup had appeared. Maybe it just consistently got a bit of experience like the Keen and Stat Up skills.

She quickly had a look at the skill store to see if she'd missed anything there, but it still only said Back Attack, and Endurance Up. So at least she hadn't missed any unlocks.

Her pack hunting experience had left her with the impression that Back Attack wasn't necessary. She would always draw the highest aggro due to having the highest damage. So far she hadn't seen a wolf with any sort of taunt skill, so there was no one to tank for her, giving her no chance to attack a target's back after her initial Ambush.

That aside, the deer still had a lot of skills left that she hadn't gotten that day. Realistically she felt like most of them she probably wouldn't be able to use. Heck, she had forgotten what most of them were. It probably had one for that ramming attack with the antlers, but she didn't have antlers, so it was doubtful she could use it. Maybe she should go Identify one while alone, and actually check what those abilities did.

However the next day she wanted to go scout out the goblins. Maybe take down some of them. Residents still gave experience and drops according to Aina, so it followed that she would be able to gain their skills too. Residents had to have some interesting skills compared to mobs. While anything that required hands wouldn't do her much good as she was now, it might be worth saving them for when she was part of the thumb crowd again.

She did some stretches for her sore and stiff muscles, and then decided to go to sleep early. Recovering her HP, SP, and MP didn't really recover feeling physically or mentally tired. It might be different for regular mobs, since as far as she could tell the other wolves didn't sleep. They were active all day, and all night. Yet they hadn't questioned her saying she needed to rest. Did that mean they understood the concept, or did they simply lack the curiosity to ask? Maybe it would be addressed in a future update. If the developers really wanted this game to feel increasingly realistic, adding sleep cycles for all mobs felt like a must.

Well, that was a problem for them, not her.

Chapter Text

[ Jump Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! Skill Unlocked: Air Control. 2 skill points gained. ]

Her Jump training finally paid off big time! That was a lot of text in one popup though.

Aina? What does it mean by skill evolution?

"Certain skills can evolve into stronger skills when they hit max level. It is often not the only way to get those skills, as it is possible for them to get unlocked through levelling for certain classes or species, or via certain quests or achievements, but evolving a skill costs less skill points than buying it. There are some skills that can only be gained via evolution, at least at the moment. I'm sure the Wanderers will eventually figure out, and share that information."

She had some descriptions to look through, then. First she wanted to see what the bonus was.

[ Jump (Active): Lets you leap further than you're normally able to. Scales with Strength and Agility. The height, distance, and accuracy of the jump improves with skill level. Does minor damage if user lands on a target. Cost: 2 SP. Refresh: 5 seconds.
Max level bonus: Damage done by Jump is doubled. Evolution Available. ]

That probably wouldn't make a huge difference, but every little bit helped. She poked at the evolution button, and thankfully it brought up a description of what it would evolve into.

[ Leap (Active): Lets you leap further, and higher than you're normally able to. Scales with Strength, Agility, and Dexterity. The height, distance, and accuracy of the jump improves with skill level. Does minor damage if user lands on a target. Cost: 2 SP. Refresh: Whenever user's feet touch a surface, or a target. ]

[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]

It didn't seem that different from Jump. They added Dexterity scaling, and it now also said 'higher', meaning it probably let her jump more vertically as well. Jump let her gain height, but mainly as part of a horizontal leap. She didn't get a lot of extra height from just jumping straight up. However...

Aina? Can you please explain the Refresh clause? I don't understand.

"The big upgrade from Jump to Leap is that whenever your feet touch something, you are able to immediately perform another Leap, and chain them consecutively. This is hard to master, but if you can get a hang of it, you can do some incredible acrobatic feats."

Sara wasn't sure whether she could actually pull off something like that, and it seemed like it could chew through your SP in no time. At least it didn't seem like she was losing anything important from evolving the skill. So she hit the Yes button.

[ Jump Skill Evolved Into Leap Skill! ]

She nodded to herself as she confirmed it on the skill list.

Eh? Level 1?

"Yes. Evolving a skill puts it back at level 1. But the improvements to distance and control that Leap offers are higher than those of Jump, so although it will initially put you a little behind, you will come out better in the end. At level 4 you should be back to your old power at Max Jump, thanks to the increased scaling."

So there was a real cost to upgrading. She supposed that meant that Jump training wasn't complete after all. It had just changed to Leap training.

Finally there was the new skill.

[ Air Control (Passive): Allows the user a certain amount of air control, letting them direct their own falls, even against the momentum of their initial jump, or fall. Can not slow down falls, only change the trajectory. Effect increases with skill level. Price: 4 skill points. ]

That was a pretty basic ability in a lot of non-VR games, especially platformers, but it hadn't occurred to her that she lacked it in Moorhold. The fact that she was actually in the world probably made her expect it to function closer to reality, and changing your trajectory in the air was not something people could typically do back on Earth. She had seen people in videos during parachute jumps who could swim around in the air to an extent, but that was during a really long fall. Not while simply falling a handful of metres.

It was expensive, but she had a feeling this one was worth it.

[ Skill Purchased: Air Control. ]

Bye bye, 4 skill points. I will miss you.

She double-checked that it went into her concealed section, and then set out to stalk some goblins.

* * *

On the way out she sensed another deer, and entered Stealth so she could have a closer look. Time to familiarise herself with those skills.

[ Forest Deer (Druid Lvl 17) HP: 135/135 ]

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Kick Lvl 9 | Impale Lvl 9 | Stomp Lvl 7 | Thorn Bind Lvl 7 | Mass Thorn Bind Lvl 7 |
Growth Lvl 7 | Rejuvenate Lvl 7 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 9 | Keen Ears Lvl 7 | Insulation Lvl 7 | Pursuit Lvl 7 | Camouflage Lvl 4 |
Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Defence Up (Small) Lvl 6 ]

She had managed to get three skills the day before, which meant there were four more to inspect.

[ Impale (Active): Performs a thrust with a pointed object like a spear, horn, tusks, or something equivalent. Damage value: (1.3+(0.5*skill level))*attack power. Defence piercing: (20+(1*skill level))%. Guaranteed critical hit if a vital spot is pierced. Cost: 6 SP. Cast time: 1 second. Refresh: 12 seconds. (Ai-note: You do not possess anything suitably pointy, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

It seemed like pointy antlers fell under 'something equivalent'. So blunt antlers probably wouldn't work for this.

[ Stomp (Active): Stomps the ground with your feet, or something equivalent, causing a small shockwave that pushes nearby enemies away, and deals light damage to anyone struck. Area of effect radius: 2 metres. Damage value: (0.15+(0.01*skill level))*attack power. Radius, and push force increase with skill level. Cost: 5 SP. Refresh: 10 seconds. ]

No special note attached to this one, meaning Sara would be able to use it. Having an AoE attack would be useful, but she wasn't sure if this one was worth going for. Especially considering the effort it took to kill these deer. Maybe she could pick it up elsewhere.

[ Thorn Bind (Active): Thorny vines shoot up from the ground, and bind a target for 10 seconds. Nature element property. Vines can be destroyed. Vine strength increases with skill level. Thorns deal light damage to bound target. Damage value: (1*skill level)% of target's Max HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Mass Thorn Bind (Active): Thorny vines shoot up from the ground around you, binding up to 10 nearby opponents for 6 seconds. Nature element property. Vines can be destroyed. Area of effect radius: 2 metres. Radius, max targets, and vine strength increase with skill level. Thorns deal very light damage to bound targets. Damage value: (0.5*skill level)% of target's Max HP every 2 seconds. Cost 10 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 20 seconds. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

Two different forms of the same spell. Considering their main enemies were wolf packs, and player parties, it made sense that the deer would have the AoE version. That was the only one she had seen them use.

[ Growth (Active): Increases target's attack power for 10 seconds. Nature element property. Duration increases with skill level. Buff value: (30+(2*skill level))%. Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 30 seconds. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

That was probably what had made the deer's eyes glow yellow.

[ Pursuit (Passive): Increases holder's Strength, Agility, and Critical Hit chance when attacking a target that is running away. Buff value: (10+(1*skill level))%. ]

That sounded unpleasant. So trying to escape this thing might be worse than fighting it.

While Stomp and Pursuit looked useful, she would be rolling the dice on whether she got those, or one of the ones she couldn't use if she hunted more of these deer. She wondered at what point she might be strong enough to fight one of them on her own. Maybe she had access to better things when she got that far. At least she had gotten two useful (and one that might be useful in the future) skills from it.

She shook her head a little as she moved on towards the goblin camp.

* * *

[ Identify Skill Level Up! ]

After scanning an [ Antidote Herb (Medium Quality) ] she suddenly got that popup.

That makes it level 7, right? I wonder what that unlocks.

There was one of the owls up in a nearby tree, so she decided to test it out on that.

[ Forest Owl (Fighter Lvl 14) HP: 66/66 ]

She couldn't spot anything new. The additional information buttons were still just Target Status, and Skill List. Nothing looked different in either of those. No new bars were available.

Then she remembered she could just look at Identify's skill description to see what it had unlocked.

[ Identify (General): Lets you see information about targets and items you focus on. Higher skill levels increase range, and unlock more information.
Level 1: Target's race/species name, level, and HP bar. Item's name.
Level 2: Target's class.
Level 3: Target's SP and MP bars. Item's general quality.
Level 4: Numerical values for HP, SP, and MP bars. Able to assess quality of uncommon items.
Level 5: Target's Status screen, and occupation.
Level 6: Target's Skill List.
Level 7: Target's Equipment screen. Able to assess quality of rare items. ]

Ah. Mobs don't have equipment, so that's why I can't see anything, I suppose.

However the goblins she was on her way to scout out were Residents. They should have equipment for her to look at.

* * *

The clearing around the goblin camp looked quite different during the day. The area was somewhat bowl-shaped, with the camp itself sitting at the bottom. She wasn't exactly an expert at strategic construction, but she thought it would have been smarter to set it on top of a hill. Maybe it had been designed that way to let the... Adventurers get a look into the camp if they found a vantage point. But wouldn't it make the camp vulnerable to flooding, or someone rolling a boulder, or a battering ram downhill? Actually, the hill wasn't that steep, so it might not be an issue, but at the very least it made it a little more vulnerable to ranged weapons. Probably.

With her Keen Eyes at such a high level, Sara could basically see the entire clearing from the bush she was hiding in. There were quite a lot of goblins milling about. All sorts of them, too. There was every type that had come to attack her the other day, and more she hadn't seen before. They didn't seem to be doing much aside from patrolling, or standing around.

Though as she kept watching, she realised that wasn't entirely true. There were some who were chopping at a couple of the trees at the edge of the clearing. Logger had been one of the occupations she had seen. She wondered whether that meant the clearing was slowly expanding, or whether the trees they cut down respawned. There were several tree stumps around the clearing signalling that there used to be forest all around, but it was possible the area was designed this way from the start, and any further expansion was impossible. Either that, or the goblins would eventually cut down the entire forest if left alone for too long. Maybe that was what Aina had meant about them needing to be driven out at some point.

She also noticed a party of goblins heading into the woods on the other side of the area. Likely to hunt. Another party followed about half an hour later. There were a lot of goblins to feed, after all. No one seemed to be heading towards this side, though. Maybe they didn't like the west side any more than the Adventurers did.

Suddenly there was a flurry of hurried movement towards the... south side? To her right, at least. It looked like a party of Adventurers had shown up, and several goblins were heading over to fight them. That had to be part of why there were so many of them just walking around. So players had a chance to pick them off for their quests.

Dammit! Wanderers! Adventurers! Ugh, I hope I get myself adjusted before I learn to speak again.

Well, whatever they were up to, the distraction might actually work in her favour. She had done enough observing from afar, so it was time to have a closer look at some of these goblins. There were ones that were close enough to the forest that she didn't have to exit the bushes to use Identify.

[ Goblin Lookout (Scout Lvl 16) HP: 68/68 ]

That was likely the type that had spotted her, and alerted the others. Its stats looked to be on the low side, but if this followed fantasy conventions, then goblins were more about strength in numbers rather than individual strength. Or perhaps this was common for Residents.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Stab Lvl 7 | Kick Lvl 6 | Back Attack Lvl 6 | Throw Lvl 5 | Snare Net Trap Lvl 4 |
Sprint Lvl 5 | Mark Lvl 5 | Stealth Lvl 5 | Sense Presence Lvl 5 | Tracking Lvl 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 8 | Keen Eyes Lvl 8 | Climb Lvl 3 | Dagger Expertise Lvl 5 |
Agility Up (Small) Lvl 6 ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 5 | Languages: Common, Goblin ]

Finally seeing someone else with General skills felt a little weird, yet exciting. She wondered if Identify was just a basic skill for all Residents and Wanderers, or if it was related to the goblin being a Scout. There were overall less skills than she had expected.

Aina? Do Residents not have access to the skill store?

"They do, but unless they do quests like Adventurers, there aren't a lot of opportunities to gain additional skill points, and they require an access point of some sort since they can't use the main menu. There are additional ways to get skills, but typically non-Adventurer Residents have less skills compared to Adventurers of similar level."

And Residents can gain experience, right? Won't these goblins eventually spiral out of control?

"While it is technically possible, there are three factors that mitigate the risk. First off they will lose experience when they die. This is true for all Residents and Wanderers above level 10. The developers did set a cap that Residents cannot be put below the level they were created as, so even if the entire area got frequently raided, and wiped out, the goblins would remain at their minimum level. Wanderers cannot be put back below level 10, but for Residents the level varies. The second factor is that experience gain drops off the higher the level difference is. So eventually the goblins would gain very little, if any experience from the forest creatures. They will still get skill experience since they only have basic skills. I expect all these goblins will have max level skills in the not too distant future."

That sounds like it could be an issue for new Adventurers in the future.

"Indeed, but we would have to radically alter the way Moorhold works in order to address this issue, which might not be possible without starting over from scratch. Now the third issue is more contentious. Wanderers do not give experience points when killed, so the goblins won't level up even if they manage to beat them. I have repeatedly suggested to the development team that they should find some way to address the issue of Wanderers not giving experience points while Residents do. I understand that they do not want to encourage PK activity, but those people can just level up by targeting Residents instead of Wanderers. And it goes against their mission statement of wanting Wanderers and Residents to be equal in this world. Convenience does not always equal fairness."

By PK Aina meant player-killing. Wanderer killing? It sounded like MHO wasn't very supportive of PvP. Though when people used the term PK it typically referred to it being done in a malicious way. Hunting the weak, and ganging up on people rather than engaging in stuff like duels, arenas, or battlegrounds.

Sometimes Sara wondered if Aina appreciated having someone she could vent to about these things. Or maybe there was someone on the development team she had a similar relationship with, so it wasn't just Sara. That made her feel a little sad for some reason.

No, stop it, Sara. Aina is allowed to have friends, she chided herself. You don't have to be special. People can have many friends! So you're still friends! You're still... family.

Family. She paused for a minute to consider once more how she felt about calling Aina 'mother'. She wasn't sure if she was ready yet. 'Yet'... that thought surprised herself a little. Did that mean she would eventually be okay with it? If only it wasn't so hard to understand one's own thoughts and feelings.

Shaking off her moodiness, she decided to get back to what she was doing. There were new skills descriptions to distract herself with.

[ Stab (Active): Attack by stabbing with a bladed weapon. Damage value: (1+(0.03*skill level))*attack power. More efficient with a small weapon like a dagger, or short sword. Cost: 1 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

Seemed like a basic attack skill a la her own Bite.

[ Snare Net Trap (Active): Allows user to set a snare net trap that hoists targets into the air via a net. Does no damage. Trap duration: Until triggered, broken, or disarmed. Net duration: Until broken, or released. Requires trap materials. Setup time: 3 minutes. Setup time decreases with skill level. (Ai-note: Traps cannot be set without hands, or something equally dexterous, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

Traps were something she hadn't thought about before now. She wondered if any of her skills would help her spot them, but there might not be any in the west forest. Hopefully she wouldn't find out the hard way.

[ Mark (Active): Marks a target, making them visible to all allies within a 25 metre radius, for 30 seconds. Duration increases with skill level. Allies deal increased damage to marked target. Buff value: (2*skill level)%. Cost: 3 MP. Refresh: 10 seconds. ]

That was a troublesome ability, especially once it approached max level. Hopefully that was level 10, since a 20% damage increase was bad enough.

[ Tracking (Active): Able to visualise, and more easily follow the tracks of other beings. Continuous effect. User is better able to notice physical evidence of someone's passing, for instance foot prints, disturbed scenery, broken twigs, and so on. Effect increases, and SP drain decreases with skill level. Activation Cost: 5 SP. Slowly drains SP while active. Deactivation Cost: 0. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

She had been afraid that there would be something like that in the game, but there wasn't much she could about it.

[ Dagger Expertise (Passive): Increases attack power while wielding a dagger. Buff value: (2*skill level)%. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

Sara kinda wished she had a claw efficiency skill, or something along those lines.

[ Languages (General): Holder can understand, and speak the following languages. Dialects, and accents may vary. ]

That one was pretty self-explanatory. Though considering she had been able to understand what the Adventurers she had encountered were saying, she probably had an innate understanding of common. Or maybe she could only understand Wanderers who spoke a language she knew back on Earth. She remembered not being able to make out what the goblins had shouted at her, but she had thought it was due to the chaos of the situation.

As for the Equipment screen, she didn't find anything too exciting. It was nice to learn how many equipment slots there were. Head, face, torso, hands, shoulders (for cloaks and such), waist, legs, and feet for gear. Main and off-hand for weapons. And then a lot of accessory slots, mainly for rings. It was possible to equip six rings, and based on the diagram it looked like it was the thumbs and pinkies that were excluded. She wondered if it was possible to feel all of them in VR. That could get awkward. Otherwise there were the standard slots of necklace, bracelet, and ear rings. There were also some slots on the belt equipped with items that looked like consumables. Probably for quick use.

This goblin's equipment seemed quite generic. Armour made from hemp cloth, wolf leather, and boar leather. An iron dagger. Throwing knives. A potion. No accessories. Though she couldn't see what was in his inventory.

With all that out of the way, it was time for some righteous murder. But how to go about it... with no Danger Sense, and Sense Presence so low, it was unlikely the goblin would discover her in Stealth, but he might still alert someone else before she could kill him. Even with her improved stats, and the extra levels she got in Ambush the day before, she did not think she would be able to kill him in one shot.

It was very close to the woods though, so she might be able to do a quick kill, and then zip back in before anyone could spot her. Maybe Danger Sense would help her dodge ranged attacks better than close range ones. Even if she was hit with something, and taken out, it wouldn't take too long to return from the cave if she didn't get distracted.

With her mind made up, she snuck out from the bushes. The goblin was distracted looking in the direction of the adventurer party, and the fight going on there. Maybe wondering if he should go help, though it was pretty far away. She slowly crept closer, and then... Ambush!

"Gak!" The goblin uttered a startled, pained shout, but Sara didn't have time to check if anyone had heard it. She followed up with a quick Body Slam to knock her staggered target off his feet, and finished it with a Bite to the neck before she bolted high-speed back into the woods. There were a couple of hot pokes from Danger Sense, but she got back into the bushes before anyone had the chance to attack. Once she was safely back in Stealth, she took the time to look at the popups.

[ Goblin Lookout (Scout Lvl 16) Defeated.]

[ Skill Gained: Snare Net Trap. ]

[ Skill Gained: Languages. ]

[ Languages Learned: Common, Goblin. ]

Huh? Two skills at once?

"Interesting. Since I only designed part of the skill, I was not aware that was possible. I do not have direct insight into what Norax contributed, but I know it would not have been possible without them. Their, for lack of a better term, divine influence was able to alter the system in ways that would not have been possible for me alone. It might even be beyond the developers. Perhaps that is where your high Luck attribute comes in. Or perhaps it has a strong inclination towards giving you General skills, since it included both Common, and Goblin. Since you are yet unable to speak, normal procedure would be to disable the skill, but I will elect to hide it instead. I believe it would be helpful for you to understand what they are saying, even if you cannot reply."

It did sound helpful. Presumably she was then able to learn the other races' languages by killing one of their kind. However that seemed a bit morbid even though they respawned. Maybe if she had good cause. For instance these goblins had attacked first! She couldn't really claim that about all the mobs she had hunted, though... maybe this world had made her too callous. Death was too easy.

But it was not helpful to think like that.

Come to think of it, she had felt something go into her inventory. While she had gotten pretty good at ignoring this feeling, this was the first time she'd gotten a drop from a Resident, so she was curious what it was. Arranging her inventory by recent additions revealed... a pair of hemp trousers!

Wait... um... Aina? Does this mean the goblin is going to respawn bare-assed?

"No, thankfully not. The drops come from a loot table based on similar items to what the Resident has equipped, plus other appropriate items, and materials. You do not get the literal item they were wearing. Also the loot table does not automatically update if a Resident equips better items. Say for instance they find a really powerful weapon. The system will not start copying that as a drop, unless the developers themselves decide it should be so. If enough members of a group like this have upgraded their gear, I am granted authority to update the loot table of my own accord, but otherwise the developers themselves have to adjust such things. You should have also gotten your first bit of currency."

Aina was correct, as a separate field in the bottom right of her inventory screen displayed a 1 next to a silver coin, and 66 next to a copper (or bronze) coin. That was quite interesting, but not useful in Sara's current state.

The trap skill didn't do her any good, so she'd better get back to work. She wanted to see what other types of goblins she could find. Aside from Mark, there wasn't anything she truly wanted from the Scouts. Tracking might be nice, but neither Stab nor Dagger Expertise would help. She wasn't sure if she wanted to use daggers when she became a Resident either. It had never really been her thing in games before, and she didn't have any weapon preferences (or even experience) from real life either.

Too many skills, and too much of a gamble of whether or not I'll get the ones I want. Though if my Luck stat actually has an influence on what I'll get... what is it at now? 72. Well, I might as well try, and see what happens.

She had something resembling a plan, or at least something she could test out.

Chapter Text

[ Goblin Shaman (Druid Lvl 17) HP: 72/72 ]

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bash Lvl 4 | Thorn Bind Lvl 7 | Poison Bolt Lvl 6 | Growth Lvl 5 | Regrowth Lvl 5 |
Rejuvenate Lvl 5 | Sense Mana Lvl 5 | Bear Form Lvl 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 8 | Mana Manipulation Lvl 5 | Catalyst Expertise Lvl 5 |
Nature Element Up Lvl 5 | Wisdom Up (Small) Lvl 6 ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 3 | Languages: Common, Goblin ]

Bash was the blunt weapon equivalent to Stab. Sometimes you just needed to hit someone with your stick. And she recognised three of the Druid skills, but the other three were new. Actually she wasn't 100% sure if Bear Form was Druid related, so she decided to check that one first.

[ Bear Form (Active): Druid branch exclusive. User shapeshifts into a bear. Continuous effect. Vitality, Strength, and Defence +(50+(2*skill level))%. Max HP +10%. Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom -50%. Magic power -10%. Max MP -10%. Can't cast most spells. Temporarily gain skills: Bite, Rake, Roar, and Taunt. Activation Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. No further cost while active. Deactivation Cost: 0. Refresh: 10 seconds. (Ai-note: You are not a Druid, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

She had played enough games that she suspected it would be something like that. Roar was probably similar to Howl, and she could make an educated guess on Taunt, but she couldn't further click on skills mentioned in skill descriptions to check.

Aina, what does it mean by 'can't cast most spells'?

"A few Druid spells can still be cast while in Bear Form. Growth and Rejuvenate being the earliest ones."

[ Poison Bolt (Active): Fire a magic bolt with nature element property. Damage value: (1.1+(0.03*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1 metre. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) 50% chance to inflict poison on targets for 10 seconds. Poison damage: (3+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 3 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 2 seconds. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Regrowth (Active): Restore target's HP. Potency: (1+(0.03*skill level))*magic power. Nature element property. Target gains a layer of leaves for 5 seconds that will absorb one attack up to (50+(2*skill level))% of HP healed. Excess damage is still inflicted. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 2 seconds. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

A basic damage spell, and a basic healing spell. Her Poison Resistance might actually come in handy here, even if she'd prefer to not need it. The leaf shield thing on the healing was interesting. Maybe that was part of the reason for the name.

[ Sense Mana (Active): You are attuned to the mana of the world around you. Continuous effect. Able to see the mana of monsters, Residents, and Wanderers. The stronger they are, the brighter they appear, and the further away you can sense them. Able to feel mana concentration in the air, and follow mana trails. Effect increases with skill level. Activation Cost: 5 MP. No further cost while active. Deactivation Cost: 2 MP. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

It seemed like a mana version of Sense Presence. She couldn't help but feel that the description was both detailed, and vague at the same time.

Finally the new batch of passives. Catalyst was similar to Dagger expertise, except it boosted magic power rather than attack power when you wielded anything that counted as a magic catalyst, for instance a staff or wand. Nature Element Up did the same thing as Dark Element Up for its respective element. So the only new one was:

[ Mana Manipulation (Passive): Holder is attuned to the mana inside their body, and how it flows in and out of them. Improves spellcasting. MP cost, Cast time, and Refresh time of magic abilities are decreased. Effect increases with skill level. ]

Aina? Are these skills required to cast spells? I notice they're not listed as disabled.

In certain stories she had read it was skills like these that let you figure out using magic in the first place.

"No, they are not. Your class is the only thing that determines whether or not you can use magic. I believe at one stage in development these skills, or something similar to them, were considered as prerequisites, but that did not even make it to the beta. I do not have all the details."

You don't? I thought you knew everything about Moorhold Online.

"Notes placed in personal folders not uploaded to the network, or to the company's cloud server are outside of what I have access to. The same goes for anything written down physically. A lot of ideas do not get far beyond the brainstorming stage, and as such do not receive full documentation. As for why they are not disabled it is because they do not allow you to do anything you should not. There are mobs without magic skills, but with Sense Mana, because it is a useful way to help them spot prey, or avoid predators. And Mana Manipulation will only have effect if you are able to use magic, so it does not matter if it simply lays dormant. Especially since you can simply conceal it."

Sara accepted that reasoning. Aina didn't need to disable a skill that did nothing when Sara could just hide it herself. She felt like that could apply to more skills, but she didn't want to start an argument over it.

"I will briefly mention that skills may have hidden effects, extra utility, or alternate uses outside of what the description says. It is a system attempting to simulate a certain level of realism, after all, but that is the only hint I will give you."

That intrigued her, but she realised she had gotten too distracted. The whole day would pass with very little to show for it if she kept poking at everything she discovered. Not that she was in so much of a hurry that a single day would make a difference, but it still felt wasteful.

Time to carry out her experiment. She snuck up on the Druid while focusing her thoughts on how she wanted the Wisdom Up skill. Her target seemed a little tougher than the last, and she certainly didn't want her to use Bear Form, so a flurry of skills was key.

Ambush, Body Slam, Poison Strike, and Bite. Then Sprint to flee into the forest before anyone could react. The goblins were spread out enough that the risk wasn't too high, but she had seen before how quickly they could swarm once alerted.

[ Goblin Shaman (Druid Lvl 17) Defeated. ]

[ Ambush Skill Level Up! ] [ Body Slam Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ]
[ Stealth Skill Level Up! ] [ Camouflage Skill Level Up! ]

Either these goblins were also high on skill experience gain, possibly due to being Residents, or she'd just been lucky in a lot of things coming together at once. It did make sense to her that sneaking out into the open clearing with many wary eyes would push her Stealth, and Camouflage more than usual.

[ Skill Gained: Wisdom Up (Small). ]

It worked!

Or at least it seemed to. Maybe it was just coincidence. Since she had a sample size of exactly one, it was hardly a fully tested hypothesis. She picked her next target.

[ Goblin Caster (Mage Lvl 15) HP: 61/61 ]

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bash Lvl 3 | Fireball Lvl 6 | Frost Bolt Lvl 6 | Fire Enchant Lvl 5 | Frost Shield Lvl 5 |
Fire Breath Lvl 5 | Arcane Blast Lvl 5 | Sense Mana Lvl 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 8 | Mana Manipulation Lvl 5 | Catalyst Expertise Lvl 5 |
Fire Element Up Lvl 6 | Intelligence Up (Small) Lvl 5 ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 3 | Life Magic Lvl 2 | Languages: Common, Goblin ]

The skills certainly looked very mage like. All the passives were familiar, and she could guess Fire Enchant was equivalent to Dark Enchant.

[ Fireball (Active): Fire a magic orb with fire element property that explodes on impact. Damage value: (1.1+(0.03*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1.5 metres. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) Inflicts Burn on targets for 5 seconds. Burn damage: (1+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 1 second. Cost: 3 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 2 seconds. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Frost Bolt (Active): Fire a magic bolt with ice element property. Damage value: (1.1+(0.03*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1 metre. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) Inflicts Slow on targets for 5 seconds. Cost: 3 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 2 seconds. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

She assumed those were the two most basic attack spells. Though it made her curious about one thing.

Aina? How is Burn different from Poison? They both deal damage over time, right?

"Burn causes more pain, and can make the afflicted panic. The matter of elemental resistances can come into play as well."

Sara could vaguely recall panicking after being set on fire on her first day in this world, but she tried not to think about it.

[ Frost Shield (Active): Clads the user in a layer of frost which reduces incoming damage by (15+(1*skill level))% . Ice element property. Duration: 30 seconds. Duration increases with skill level. Scales with Wisdom. 20% chance to inflict Slow on melee attackers. Cost: 7 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 1 minute. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Fire Breath (Active): Spews fire in a cone in front of user. Damage value: (0.5+(0.02*skill level))*magic power . Fire element property. Range: 3 metres. Cone width: Up to 2 metres. Cone size increases with skill level. 30% chance to inflict Burn on targets. Burn damage: (1+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 1 second . Cost: 8 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 10 seconds. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Arcane Blast (Active): Pushes surrounding enemies away from user, and deals light damage. No element property. Damage value: (0.1+(0.01*skill level))*magic power . Radius: 2 metres. Radius, and push force increase with skill level. Scales with Intelligence. Cost: 5 MP. Refresh: 10 seconds. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

Those sure were spells she more or less recognised from other games. Well, certain things just worked. Arcane Blast seemed like a magic version of Stomp, but there was one curious thing about it.

There are non-elemental spells?

"Yes. Arcane spells have no element attached them, and as such have no strengths or weaknesses against the elements. A lot of them are spells with more utility than power, and tend to be on the cheaper side."

The final thing was a new General skill.

[ Life Magic (General): Everyday magic that makes life easier. For instance lighting a fire, or conjuring a glass of water. (Ai-note: Your current form is unable to use magic, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

What? What a short description...

"Life Magic is hard to explain comprehensively. There is a more detailed post pinned on the community forums, but you are not able to access that, so I shall attempt to explain it succinctly. Life Magic encompasses all sorts of small utility spells for everyday life. Like conjuring a flame that you can use to light a fire, or a candle. Conjuring a bit of water for drinking or cooking. Making a small orb of light to help you see. Enough wind to blow away dust, or paper. Heat to let you dry things. Combine the two make something akin to a hair dryer. And of course cleaning magic. Plus many other small, convenient things. The higher your level, and stronger your imagination, the more things you will be able to do."

Imagination?

"Yes. If there is any chore or task you would like to make easier, or some convenience from Earth you want to recreate, you can probably figure out a way to do it with Life Magic. Learning certain combat spells might also expand what you can do with Life Magic, but you will have to figure that out through experimentation."

Right, you mentioned the hair dryer idea. Doesn't seem like this goblin has made much use of it.

"Indeed. It is a standard part of a Mage's skill list, but all classes able to use magic can learn it. Even some classes unable to use combat magic may be able to learn Life Magic."

That sounded pretty cool, but she realised she was getting distracted again. She had a murder to commit. At this point she had to admit she was going for a bit of vengeance. A Lookout had spotted her, a Caster had slowed her, and a Druid had rooted her, letting everyone else finish her off. So it was slightly cathartic to take out those three in particular.

So long as they didn't see her coming, which they didn't, she was able to quickly finish off a goblin before retreating. This time she focused on wanting Intelligence Up, since she was so close to completing the set. If she couldn't find it on any of the goblins, she was seriously considering buying Endurance Up just for completion's sake.

[ Goblin Caster (Mage Lvl 15) Defeated. ]

[ Sprint Skill Level Up! ]

Sometimes retreat was the better part of valour. Or something.

[ Skill Gained: Frost Bolt. ]

[ Skill Gained: Life Magic. ]

That... was not at all what she had focused on. Maybe the previous time had just been a coincidence. But she had gotten two skills again, one of them being the General skill. Maybe Aina was right about those. She had also gotten at least one skill three times in a row. Maybe the large amount of skills they had that she didn't have increased her odds. It was hard to say for sure.

[ Goblin Archer (Ranger Lvl 16) HP: 66/66 ]

This one was just a little further out than the others so far, but she still felt confident she could take him out, and escape. He was pretty isolated.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Stab Lvl 3 | Shoot Lvl 7 | Poison Shot Lvl 6 | Power Shot Lvl 6 | Throw Lvl 5 |
Poison Trap Lvl 4 | Sprint Lvl 4 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 8 | Keen Eyes Lvl 8 | Environmental Sense Lvl 5 | Climb Lvl 3 |
Bow Expertise Lvl 5 | Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Endurance Up (Small) Lvl 6 ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 4 | Languages: Common, Goblin ]

Aha, there it is! Endurance Up! ... actually not that exciting, really.

Ranger looked to have a several of the same skills as a Scout, though this one was very focused on ranged attacks. Fittingly enough. He did have Stab, presumably in case someone got too close, but it didn't seem like he had used it a lot.

[ Shoot (Active): Attack by firing a bow, crossbow, pistol, rifle, or something with an equivalent function. Damage value: (1+(0.03*skill level))*attack power. Improved accuracy. Effect increases with level. Cost: 1 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Poison Shot (Active): Fire a projectile that inflicts Poison status on a target for 10 seconds. Normal physical damage inflicted. Poison damage: (3+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 2 MP. Refresh: 3 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Power Shot (Active): Fire a powerful projectile that may unbalance a target. Damage value: (1.1+(0.1*skill level))*attack power. Defence piercing: (10+(1*skill level))%. Improved accuracy.
Effect increases with skill level. Cost: 5 SP. Cast time: 6 seconds. Refresh: 15 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

Seemed like a decent set of ranged attacks. Power Shot looked like the high-risk, high-reward kind of attack. Pretty much impossible to do unless the target hadn't discovered you, or was kept busy by someone else. 6 seconds was a surprisingly long time.

[ Poison Trap (Active): Sets a trap that releases a cloud of poison gas which damages anyone breathing it in. Poison cloud damage: (5+(1*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Each tick of damage has a 30% chance to inflict Poison status on targets for 10 seconds. Poison status damage: (3+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Trap duration: Until triggered, broken, or disarmed. Gas cloud duration: 20 seconds. Requires trap materials. Setup time: 3 minutes. Setup time decreases with skill level. (Ai-note: Traps cannot be set without hands, or something equally dexterous, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

It felt like there was so much poison among the various beings in this forest. That being said, she hadn't actually seen any traps set by anyone so far. Maybe they focused those on the east forest. Or maybe they actually were all around the clearing, and she just couldn't tell.

Bow expertise she could guess without looking, but what was the final new thing?

[ Environmental Sense (Passive): Able to read the flow of the wind, and accurately measure air humidity, and temperature. Can tell when the weather is about to change. Effect increases with skill level. ]

That sounded like something that might be useful for an archer to be aware of. The wind could affect the way your arrows flew, though she was unsure to what degree that held true in Moorhold. It was the only skill this goblin had that would be any useful to her. Endurance Up helped with completing the set, but wasn't really worth attacking for on its own. She might as well try, and see what happened.

She crept out from the bushes, staying in the goblin's blind spot, and then... Ambush! Attack skills! And run away!

[ Goblin Archer (Ranger Lvl 16) Defeated. ]

[ Poison Strike Skill Level Up!]

[ Skill Gained: Environmental Sense. ]

Aha! Hahaha!

Two out of three. So it was possible it worked, just not perfectly. Maybe once her Luck rose even higher the success rate would increase. Or it depended more on her willpower. Or both.

She checked whether she could tell any immediate difference in her surroundings. She could... maybe see traces of the wind flowing through the trees, but it was possible she was just imagining it because she wanted to see it. She hoped that having so many sense skills wasn't going to completely screw with her head.

When she checked the clearing again, she discovered that the goblins were now keeping more of a distance to the forest. As if they weren't putting up with her sneak attacks any longer. A little vexing, but Residents were supposed to be equally intelligent to humans on Earth. Even if their AI was still developing they were probably clever enough to realise that staying close to the woods risked getting picked off.

Now what?

Looking up and down along the length of the forest, she noticed there was still someone at the forest's edge. A couple of goblins chopping down a tree with their axes. It was a little risky, but she felt certain she could take out two goblins without getting particularly injured. She made her way closer to the tree as quickly as she could without making excess noise. The two of them were both Goblin Loggers, one level 16, and one level 17.

[ Goblin Logger (Fighter Lvl 17) HP: 78/78 ]

That was the one she had to Ambush. One level didn't make a ton of difference in fighting ability, but she had to tip the odds in her favour as much as possible.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chop Lvl 7 | Smash Lvl 5 | Flurry Lvl 5 | Kick Lvl 5 | Throw Lvl 4 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 8 | Axe Expertise Lvl 5 | Balance Up Lvl 6 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 6 |
Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 6 ]

[ Trade: ]

[ Gathering: Logging Lvl 6 ]

[ Crafting: Woodworking Lvl 4 ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 4 | Languages: Common, Goblin ]

There were less active and passive skills compared to the other goblins she had seen so far, but there was an intriguing new category. She would save that for last.

Chop was just the axe variant of Stab, Bash, and Shoot, so no surprise there. They all had slightly different additional effects, but nothing major.

[ Smash (Active): A strong strike that may knock a target off balance. Effect increases with skill level. Damage value: (1.2+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. Cost: 5 SP. Cast time 2 seconds. Refresh: 8 seconds. (You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Flurry (Active): Unleash an overwhelming flurry of fast attacks that may push a target off balance. Number and speed of strikes increase with skill level. Decreased accuracy. Damage value per strike: (0.3+(0.02*skill level))*attack level. Cost: 12 SP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 30 seconds. (You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

That sounded kinda terrifying, if Sara was to be honest. Maybe this would be a tougher opponent than she had thought.

[ Logging (Trade: Gathering): Allows the holder to skilfully gather wood with an appropriate tool. Increases the amount, and quality of wood collected. Able to identify special trees, and spots that grant rare types of wood. (You cannot use tools, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Woodworking (Trade: Crafting): Allows the user to process wood into useful items, such as weapons, tools, furniture, and processed materials for more advanced crafting. (You cannot use tools, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

She remembered that the marketing had mentioned Moorhold Online's vast array of trade skills, and classes. It was supposedly possible to play the game without ever going into combat if you wanted to, and any real world experience would carry over into your ability in this game. That wasn't to say it was necessary to have prior experience, but it would make things easier. For instance someone who was good at cooking would have an easier time levelling that skill, and making delicious dishes. They claimed that the better you were in real life, the easier it was to be creative in the game. Thus the developers also claimed the reverse was true. If you became very skilled at something in the game, it was realistic enough that you would be able to recreate those things in real life.

Though that sounded like it was merely marketing talk. Supposedly it was possible to alter the degree of realism you wanted in your crafting, but Sara didn't have the ability to play around with such things yet.

As for these goblins it seemed like they collected, and processed the wood themselves. A bandit camp probably didn't have a lot of dedicated crafters. Maybe a blacksmith, leatherworker, cook, and things along those lines.

The only helpful thing on these two would probably be Balance Up. Balance affected quite a lot of things, not just whether or not she'd get knocked over. So she'd try to focus on wanting that one. She even had two shots.

She went around the side of the tree that let her get behind them, and then Ambush! Even with extra balance, getting Body Slammed from behind after taking a heavy hit was still enough to knock the goblin over. She managed to get in a Poison Strike as well before the other goblin could react, and she had to dodge the blow from the axe. A quick hit from her claws was enough for the soft ding that signalled a popup to occur, but then she had to focus on the now furious goblin trying to kill her.

With the added speed of Poison Strike she managed to clip the leg, and also follow up with a Rake to the side after dodging a much too obvious swing.

"Help! Wolf!"

That wasn't good. It was interesting that she could actually understand what the goblin said now, but it had also yelled loud enough to draw the attention of others. About two seconds later she started to feel the hot pings of Danger Sense prodding into her. She had very limited time.

The goblin activated Flurry, and instead of trying to dodge around it, Sara used Leap to get over it. She landed behind her opponent who was stuck in the attack animation. She launched a Bite towards the neck, and got a critical, then refreshed the poison timer before following up with a Body Slam. But this time her target managed to keep her footing, and started to turn around. With Body Slam on cooldown, all she could think to do was use Charge in combat for the very first time, and rammed her head into the goblin's ribs, finally knocking it over.

Oof... why are bones so hard?

Her head hurt after that, but she struck with another Rake, and... suddenly vines shot up from the ground, and bound her in place.

Shit.

The Logger goblin crawled out of range as Sara felt Danger Sense warn her of ranged attacks coming her way. With no way to dodge they struck her one by one, and the first barrage left her with barely 20% HP left. She managed to break the thorns, but she was both on fire, and poisoned. Then there was another soft ding. Her target had died from the poison and bleeding she had inflicted. She had achieved her goal right before an arrow struck her between the eyes.

[ Respawn Timer: 02:59 ]

Yowch... the goblins are so brutal.

At least she could check the popups now.

[ Goblin Logger (Fighter Lvl 17) Defeated. ] [ Goblin Logger (Fighter Lvl 16) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 19 Reached! ]

[ Body Slam Skill Level Up! ] [ Ambush Skill Level Up! ] [ Charge Skill Level Up! ]
[ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Resistance Skill Level Up! ]
[ Insulation Skill Level Up! ]

[ Skill Gained: Logging. ]

Finally another level up! Just one more away from the next round number. She was looking forward to it. It seemed like the goblins didn't give that much experience, though. Maybe she was too used to the deer. Or the exp requirements for new levels was exponentially growing out of control.

She had not gotten the skill she wanted, though. Maybe she had been too curious about the trade skills, and hadn't focused enough, or the RNG decided to roll against her. Only one skill from two goblins as well... maybe she had been too lucky so far that day, and her luck was running out. Which was honestly fair, but frustrating.

Between her scouting, and the ambushes most of the day had passed. She had gotten a lot out of her efforts that day, so she might as well put off going back until the next one. Maybe the goblins would be less on edge by then as well.

She brought up her status, and skill screens while waiting.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Rogue ]

[ Level: 18 -> 19 (16) ]

[ HP: 97/97 -> 103/103 (74/74) | SP: 99/99 -> 104/104 (77/77) | MP: 41/41 -> 44/44 (19/19) ]

[ VIT: 39 -> 42 (24) | END: 38 -> 40 (34) ]

[ STR: 43 -> 46 (25) | DEF: 30 -> 32 (13) ]

[ AGI: 60 -> 64 (48) | DEX: 30 -> 33 (21) ]

[ INT: 9 (9) | WIS: 21 -> 23 (9) ]

[ LUK: 72 -> 76 (22) ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 12 -> 15 ]

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl Max (9) | Rake Lvl Max (9) | Ambush Lvl 5 -> 7 (5) | Howl Lvl 6 (5) |
Sprint Lvl 8 -> 9 (5) | Stealth Lvl 13 -> 15 (10) | Sense Presence Lvl 8 (5) ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 1 -> 2 | Body Slam Lvl 7 -> 9 | Throw Lvl 1 | Poison Strike Lvl 5 -> 7 |
Death From Above Lvl 2 | Kick Lvl 2 | Leap (New) Lvl 1 -> 2 | Thermal Vision Lvl 4 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 13 (9) | Keen Eyes Lvl 16 -> 17 (9) | Keen Ears Lvl 15 -> 16 (9) |
Keen Nose Lvl 13 -> 14 (9) | Camouflage Lvl 6 -> 8 (2) | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 6 -> 7 (4) ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Danger Sense Lvl 4 -> 5 | Environmental Sense (New) Lvl 1 | Cat's Feet Lvl 2 -> 3 |
Firm Grip Lvl 1 | Dig Lvl 3 | Climb Lvl Max | Air Control (New) Lvl 1 |
Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 5 -> 6 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 5 -> 6 | Defence Up (Small) Lvl 3 -> 4 |
Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 2 -> 3 | Wisdom Up (Small) (New) Lvl 1 |
Poison Resistance Lvl 3 -> 4 | Insulation Lvl 1 -> 2 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 6 -> 7 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) |
Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Concealed General: ]

[ Languages (New) (Hidden): Common, Goblin ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales | Flight | Rejuvenate | Snare Net Trap (New) | Frost Bolt (New) |
Life Magic (New) | Logging (New) ]

[ Skill points: 13 -> 11 ]

It was getting hard to keep track of, and was only going to get worse, yet she felt satisfied with her progress.

[ Respawn Timer: 00:00 ]

She wanted to stretch, and do a little Leap training outside before the sun went down, and the snakes came out. Maybe the added verticality would let her reach tree branches.

Chapter Text

Having finally cracked three digits on her hit points (and stamina points), Sara bounced her way towards the goblin clearing the next morning. She was trying to get a hang of the 'consecutive leap' thing, but it was definitely easier said than done. There was some stumbling, and rolling along the way. It was kinda fun though. She was like a bunny wolf. With correct timing she could even bounce off of the tree trunks. If anyone had seen her, they definitely would have thought she was glitching out, and might have filed a bug report, but that couldn't be further from her mind. No thoughts, only bounce.

[ Leap Skill Level Up! ]

Nice!

She stopped when she got close to the clearing, and entered Stealth before investigating. It was much as she had left it the day before. The goblins were now keeping their distance from the west forest, and while they didn't seem extremely alert, they were definitely keeping an eye on the treeline. There didn't seem to be any adventurer parties at the moment, so there weren't any distractions for her to exploit. Maybe it was too early.

Honestly it seemed impossible to pick off any more goblins as things stood. Maybe if she snuck around to the other side, and started attacking from the east, but both east and south were where the adventurers came from. And the north was cleared all the way up to the cliffside. With Stealth and Camouflage she could probably still sneak by along the rocks, but she couldn't launch attacks from there.

Maybe it was better to go hunt deer for the last experience she needed to hit level 20, but she wanted more skills. The greed was real. However there didn't seem to be any good options. Who knew how long it might take for the goblins to calm down again. Days?

As she was about to give up, she spotted a party of goblins exiting the camp. At first she thought it was another hunting party heading east, but then she saw them turn west, and head in her general direction. Based on their gear it looked to be two Rangers, two Druids, a Mage, a Scout, and two she hadn't seen up close before. They were equipped with sword and shield, and heavier armour, which meant they were probably Fighters. So eight goblins in total.

She (metaphorically) scratched her head, wondering what they were up to. It had been like a week and a half since she moved into Merwyn Forest West, and she had neither seen, heard, nor smelled a single goblin in there in all that time. They seemed content to hunt in the east. So what was this group doing?

Hang on. Are they coming here because of what I did yesterday? Are they seeking retribution?

Well, even with a Scout the odds of them finding her were slim to none. Maybe they just wanted to beat up a bunch of wolves to vent their frustration. They were a well-balanced party, and with those numbers there was probably nothing in the woods that could stand against them.

When they got close enough, she used Identify on one of the shield goblins.

[ Goblin Vanguard (Fighter Lvl 18) HP: 92/92 ]

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Slash Lvl 8 | Cleave Lvl 6 | Shield Bash Lvl 6 | Kick Lvl 5 | Throw Lvl 4 | Taunt Lvl 5 |
Parry Lvl 6 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 8 | Sword Expertise Lvl 6 | Shield Expertise Lvl 6 | Balance Up Lvl 6 |
Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 7 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 7 | Defence Up (Small) Lvl 7 ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 4 | Languages: Common, Goblin ]

Both of them were level 18, and they seemed to be entirely built as tanks, and bruisers.

Slash was the basic attack for swords, and Sword Expertise was equivalent to Dagger, Bow, and Axe. As for the rest...

[ Cleave (Active): Perform a wide slash with a bladed weapon that can hit multiple targets in front of the user. Base width: 3 metres. Extends further with longer weapons. Damage value: (1+(0.02*skill level))*attack power . Critical hits inflict Bleed status for 10 seconds. Cost: 6 SP. Refresh: 10 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Shield Bash (Active): Strike a target with your shield, knocking them away, and inflicting Stun status for 3 seconds. Damage value: (0.3+(0.01*skill level))*attack power . Push force increases with skill level. Scales with shield size, and type. Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 10 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use shields, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Taunt (Active): Force surrounding opponents' aggro to focus on you for 5 seconds. Radius: 3 metres. Duration and radius increase with skill level. Wanderers and Residents have a chance to resist the effect. Cost: 5 SP. Refresh: 20 seconds. ]

So I can use that one, but I'm not sure in what situation I would actually want to...

[ Parry (Active): Precisely parry a physical attack, leaving the target open to a counter-attack that is a guaranteed critical hit. Requires a weapon, shield, or something equivalent to parry with. Counter-attack damage value: (1.3+(0.04*skill level))*attack power . Counter-attack only possible with perfect timing. Good timing deflects the incoming attack. Poor timing makes user receive a glancing blow for 50% damage. Missed timing makes user take the full attack with 20% reduced Defence. Timing window increases with skill level. Cost: 5 SP. Refresh: 12 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Shield Expertise (Passive): Improves block value, and increases shield parry window. Slight increase in attack power when striking a target with a shield. Buff value: (0.5*skill level)% . (Ai-note: You cannot use shields, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

Everyone in the party was level 17 or 18, even though she had seen goblins in the clearing down to level 15. Were they sending out their strongest? That seemed a little excessive, so they had to be quite pissed off.

I really wasn't expecting this sort of response. It's so unlike any games I've played before. Hm... what should I do?

It didn't feel right to leave them alone, and let them just trample over everything in the woods. Perhaps she should answer numbers with numbers. She had rounded up several packs against the adventurers the other day. Aina had mentioned that everything in these woods disliked the goblins, so it shouldn't be hard to persuade the others. While those Vanguards were a little worrying, she had the impression that the raider goblins were weaker than Adventurers. So this party probably wasn't much stronger than the Adventurer party she had taken down the other day.

She crept back into the woods ahead of the goblins to look for wolf packs to recruit.

* * *

It didn't take long to round up a dozen wolves like last time. They seemed quite eager to take down the goblins. But as she kept watching them she realised they were covering their flanks well, and weren't really open to an Ambush. There wasn't anywhere she could get behind any of them. A flank strike was probably possible, but would leave her very open once exposed. So maybe it would be fun to try something else: Death From Above.

She had practised jumping up and down from the trees the previous afternoon. With Air Control helping her, she was certain she could precisely land on any goblin she wished, and if she went high enough up she would surely one-shot one of the weaker ones. But which one to go for? The Mage? One of the Druids? Those had to be the high priority targets. If she took out one of the Druids, the other one would probably focus on healing, and crowd control, instead of transforming into a bear.

The goblins were moving in a more or less straight line, so she was able to predict where they would be going. After telling the other wolves to lurk nearby, and wait for her signal, she ascended to the top of a tree that didn't have an owl in it.

Her targets finally moved into range, so it was time to put the plan into action, and see what happened. She started with a Howl, startling the goblins below, and forcing them to look up as she came diving down. Which left them unprepared for the wolves charging in from all sides, and they certainly couldn't react in time to avoid a rapidly falling wolf landing on top of one of their Druids with an ensuing splat. A couple of owls were woken up by the noise, but instead of getting angry at Sara, they immediately attacked the goblins.

Unfortunately things started to go bad almost immediately. One of the Fighters used Taunt, and while Sara was able to resist it, the others weren't. The Rangers and Mage quickly shot down the owls, and the wolves were on their own again. They did manage to take down one of the Rangers, and most of the Scout when they broke free from the Taunt. The the other Fighter used his Taunt, and overall the wolves were losing more than the goblins were.

Things were falling apart way faster than Sara could have predicted. She had underestimated them badly. After finally tearing down the Mage, she was hit with a Shield Bash, and knocked over. The Fighter who hit her raised his sword, and was about to bring it down when suddenly a black bolt struck him, and knocked him over. It looked like he was dead, or close to it. Sara's claws started glowing black as she got back on her feet, and she shot a confused glance upwards.

A pair of Dusk Ravens were hovering above, and unleashing havoc on the goblins. It seemed like the Fighters had poor magic defence, and the Ravens were targeting them first. Two Shadow Bolts hit the second one at almost the same time, and she looked to be down for the count as well. Though they had lost half their number, the wolves were quick to jump on the chance. With air support, claws of shadow, and howls of determination they were able to turn the tide against the goblins, and wipe them out without any further losses.

She looked up at the Dusk Ravens again.

They really saved our hides there. I wish I was able to thank them.

The best she could do was wag her tail while looking at them, and attempt to telepathically say 'thank you'. Whether it worked or not, the Ravens seemed pleased as they flew off. Maybe they were just pleased with themselves, but she hoped her feelings had reached them.

A lot of popups were now waiting for her. Maybe it would be better to swipe them all away, but she was too curious, and pressed the alert button.

[ Goblin Shaman (Druid Lvl 17) Defeated. ] [ Goblin Archer (Ranger Lvl 18) Defeated. ]
[ Goblin Lookout (Scout Lvl 17) Defeated. ] [ Goblin Caster (Mage Lvl 18) Defeated. ]
[ Goblin Vanguard (Fighter Lvl 18) Defeated. ] [ Goblin Vanguard (Fighter Lvl 18) Defeated. ]
[ Goblin Shaman (Druid Lvl 18) Defeated. ] [ Goblin Archer (Ranger Lvl 17) Defeated. ]

[ Howl Skill Level Up! ] [ Death From Above Skill Level Up! ] [ Air Control Skill Level Up! ]
[ Cat's Feet Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ] [ Howl Skill Level Up! ]
[ Sense Presence Skill Level Up! ] [ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ]
[ Body Slam Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached: Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]

[ Skill Gained: Mana Manipulation. ]

[ Skill Gained: Endurance Up (Small). ]

[ Skill Gained: Cleave. ]

Sara jumped backwards in shock at the amount of popup boxes that appeared in front of her.

Christ!

It was hard to parse all of it as she started quickly dismissing them. The actually important parts were that she had maxed out Body Slam, and gained three new skills. Two of which did nothing for her, at least at the moment. And the third... well, at least she was only one skill away from the full set now. If only the Mage had felt generous.

She had hoped to reach level 20 from that encounter, but alas. How little experience was each goblin worth? Or maybe basing her expectations on the Forest Deer was skewing her opinion too much. At least she could see what she had unlocked.

[ Body Slam (Active): Smash into a target with your shoulder, torso, or behind. Damage depends on the user's physical stature compared to the target's. Impact force affected by strike location. Capable of knocking target off balance. ( 50+(1*skill level))% chance to inflict Stun status for 5 seconds. Effect and Stun duration increase with skill level. Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 5 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: Impact force increased by 15%. ]

That should make it easier to knock things over, so it was a decent upgrade.

She felt like she couldn't be far away from level 20. She could just ask these wolves to go hunt a couple of deer with her, but a different plan was forming in her mind. One no doubt influenced by greed, and the thrill of victory.

In spite of their losses, the wolves looked like they had enjoyed themselves, so maybe she could round up a few more, and answer the goblins' incursion with one of their own. She asked the wolves to wait while she ran off to find more compatriots.

[ Sprint Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached: Bonus Unlocked! Skill Unlocked: Quick Feet. 2 skill points gained. ]

She would look at that later. There was no time to lose!

* * *

When their search and destroy party had respawned after their defeat, the goblins were discussing their next move. They hadn't seen the wolves band together in such numbers before, and they'd been unlucky enough for those blasted ravens to also get pulled into the fight. Should they just send in a bigger party? Or would that just end in meeting even more wolves? It might be better to just stay away from that side of the forest.

Their leader was absolutely furious at these wolves, though, and many in the camp shared his anger. They'd never seen such ambush tactics before. Those darn Adventurers at least always came in parties. Being humiliated by a single wolf was teeth-grinding. They really wanted to find that wolf, and teach it a lesson that would make it never leave the forest again.

All of a sudden their discussion was interrupted as an entire chorus of howls rose up from the west.

* * *

More than 50 wolves charged out into the clearing towards the goblin camp, followed by an air force of about 10 ravens. Everyone present, be they goblin or adventurer were frozen in shock. There were two parties of Adventurers: one to the south, and one to the east. They were fighting the goblins, but when the wolves showed up, everyone just stopped, and stared.

Sara had been able to round up quite a lot of wolves with ease. Probably most of the packs roaming the western forest, but she couldn't be entirely sure. They all seemed happy to come along. The Dusk Ravens had also followed along of their own accord for some reason. They were clever birds, so they probably had some reason, even if Sara couldn't guess what it was. Maybe they just really hated the goblins that much.

The first line of goblins fell with very little struggle, but as soon as they watched their own dying, the goblins further back started rallying with impressive speed, and stood fast against the tide of wolves as best they could. More goblins started storming out of the camp, and charged the line even as the ravens picked off a few of them along the way.

The Vanguards and Loggers did their best to hold the front line, while all the ranged attackers unleashed everything they had from behind. But there were just too many wolves, and they slipped past on all sides to tear into the back line, not to mention the ravens deliberately targeting the Fighters who had low magic defence. The Scouts could barely raise their daggers before being mowed down.

It was a battle unlike anything Merwyn Forest had ever seen, and Sara was getting a lot of popups queued up. Even though she didn't get to personally take down that many of the goblins, it seemed like the kills of the other pack members still counted towards her. She had no idea if she was getting full experience for them. Probably not. And she had to actually get skill experience herself.

Gradually the goblins managed to push against the wave, and slowly beat down the wolves. Even if there were a lot of enemies, the goblins had the advantage of equipment, and being right next to their respawn point. Once the leader stepped out to join the fray the wolves fell even faster. Sara herself had the honour of falling to his massive axe. The charge had been so much fun that she wasn't even angry. She had pretty much known it was going to be a suicide attack, but when you just respawned anyway it wasn't such a big deal.

The ravens managed to dance mostly out of range of the goblins' weapons. Only three of them fell by the time the wolves' numbers had dropped so low that the clever birds retreated.

[ Respawn Timer: 02:59 ]

That was fun! Now what did I gain from all this?

She summarily dismissed all the "enemy defeated" popups, and looked at the others instead.

[ Level Up: Level 20 Reached! Skills Unlocked: Trap Sense, Disarm Trap, Lockpick. 2 skill points gained. Evolution Available. ]

[ Howl Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached: Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Poison Strike Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached: Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Leap Skill Level Up! ] [ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ] [ Insulation Skill Level Up! ]

[ Skill Gained: Chop. ]

[ Skill Gained: Bow Expertise. ]

[ Skill Gained: Balance Up. ]

[ Skill Gained: Back Attack. ]

[ Skill Gained: Arcane Blast. ]

[ Skill Gained: Bear Form. ]

[ Skill Gained: Woodworking. ]

[ Skill Gained: Power Shot. ]

[ Skill Gained: Intelligence Up (Small). ]

[ Condition Met: All Attribute Up Skills Possessed. Skill Merge Available. 2 skill points gained. ]

So many skills... and some of them I can actually use! Three out of... ten? But what does it mean by Skill Merge? Aina?

"Skill merging is what it says. You may take several skills you have, and turn them into one. This is usually available after meeting a hidden condition. Which in this case is having all the attribute up skills. Considering your ability to gain skills you normally should not be able to, it is possible you will meet more of these hidden conditions eventually. Hidden conditions can also unlock other things, but I will not say any more than that. That is up to you, and the Adventurers to discover."

[ Respawn Timer: 00:00 ]

It had taken so long to look at all of that that she had already respawned. She used her newly reformed paw to push the skill merge button.

[ Requisite Skills Will Merge Into: All Attributes Up (Small). Calculating experience: Skill will become Level 5. Price: 3 skill points. Merge: Yes/No. ]

It doesn't start at level 1?

"Not necessarily. The developers decided it would be too unfair since you might have gained the skills at different times, and already levelled up several of them. Which is the case for you. So Merging differs from Evolving in that it collects all the experience you have on all the skills being merged, and calculates what level the skill should be based on that. Also while there is no separate attribute up skill for Luck, the All skill will raise that too."

At 3 skill points it was a little expensive, but she had gotten 2 for the unlock, so technically it only cost 1 points. She'd gotten a fair amount of skill points from maxing skills, and unlocking things over the past couple of levels, so she decided it was worth it. Some stats would go down a little, but overall she thought more would go up.

Select: Yes.

[ Merging Skills... Successful. Skill Gained: All Attributes Up (Small) Lvl 5. ]

That was one thing out of the way. She wanted to deal with everything else she could before evolving.

[ Howl (Active): Release a howl that has a ( 50+(1*skill level))% chance to inflict Fear status in enemies for 5 seconds, and will Rally allies for 10 seconds. Effect and duration increase with skill level. Rally buff value: ( 10+(1*skill level))% . Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 20 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: Rally also buffs Critical hit chance by 10%. ]

That was a nice little bonus, but apparently there was no evolution or unlock attached to maxing out Howl. It would probably be quite overwhelming if it applied to every skill. Oh, and there was something from before the raid.

[ Sprint (Active): Gain a large boost of movement speed for 15 seconds. Duration increases with skill level. Speed increase: + ( 50+(2*skill level))% . Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 30 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: Refresh time reduced by 5 seconds. ]

That would reduce the downtime between Sprints by a significant amount. The final thing she could think to check before evolving would be the skill store.

[ Available Skills ]

[ Quick Feet: 4 sp (New) ]
[ Trap Sense: 2 sp (New) ]
[ Disarm Trap: 2 sp (New) ]
[ Lockpick: 1 sp (New) ]

[ Skill points: 17 ]

The rush of skills she had gained from the goblins included what she had left over in the store, but now there were entirely new things there.

So one of them was from Sprint... and three from hitting level 20? Wait, I remember unlocking skills on level 5, and 10... but I didn't get anything on 15?

"At level 15 you would have unlocked Sprint, if you hadn't already had it."

Ah... okay.

[ Quick Feet (Passive): Lets you control your feet better, so you can accelerate faster, slow down quicker, and turn around more precisely. Improved dodge ability. Warning: does not actually make you run faster, it just helps you reach your top speed more quickly. Price: 4 skill points. ]

[ Trap Sense (Passive): Able to detect the location of nearby traps. Effect increases with skill level. At higher levels it might even become clear what sort of trap it is. Price: 2 skill points. ]

[ Disarm Trap (Active): Able to disarm discovered traps. Disarm speed, and success rate improve with skill level. Proper tools improve speed, and success rate even further. Patience is rewarded. Scales with Dexterity. Price: 2 skill points. (Ai-note: You do not possess hands, or anything equally dexterous, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Lockpick (Active): Able to pick locks. Requires appropriate tools. Speed and success rate increase with skill level, and better tools. Patience is rewarded. Scales with Dexterity. Price: 1 skill point. (Ai-note: You cannot use tools, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

Wait, why is all this trap stuff showing up now?

"Level 20 is when Adventurers are able to unlock dungeon access. Traps are a mainstay of several dungeons, so having someone to detect, and disarm traps is important. Lockpicking is useful for doors, treasure chests, and lockboxes among other things. Those do show up outside of dungeons as well, but it is fairly easy to find someone selling Lockpick skill scrolls. Disarm Trap skill scrolls are harder to find, and have a minimum Dexterity requirement of 40 to be used, so it is not easy to obtain the skill if you are not a Rogue or Scout."

Sara had a look at her own Status screen to see what she was at.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Grey Limber Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Rogue ]

[ Level: 19 -> 20 (16) ]

[ HP: 103/103 -> 105/105 (74/74) | SP: 104/104 -> 118/118 (77/77) | MP: 44/44 -> 55/55 (19/19) ]

[ VIT: 42 -> 41 (24) | END: 40 -> 51 (34) ]

[ STR: 46 -> 45 (25) | DEF: 32 -> 35 (13) ]

[ AGI: 64 -> 62 (48) | DEX: 33 -> 38 (21) ]

[ INT: 9 -> 20 (9) | WIS: 23 -> 32 (9) ]

[ LUK: 76 -> 90 (22) ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 15 -> 18 ]

[ Evolution Available ]

She was not quite at 40 Dexterity, but she was pretty close. A regular Rogue or Scout was probably there by this point if they had Dexterity Up, and a Ranger might not be too far off either.

Merging her stat up skills had seen a small dip in Vit, Str, and Agi, but otherwise everything had gone up. End, Int, and Wis by a lot. Not to mention Luck getting even more ridiculous.

Am I overpowered by this point? I probably am... though my conflict with the goblins showed there's only so much I'm able to do alone.

It seemed like a good idea to buy Trap Sense, even if she wasn't planning on setting foot in any dungeons. She'd just be mistaken for a dungeon monster, and hunted down. Or if it was the instanced kind of dungeon, she probably couldn't enter in the first place. But the goblins had trap skills, which meant other Residents, or even mobs probably had them. So she might actually run across them in the wild. Bought!

[ Skill Purchased: Trap Sense. ]

Aina, are the skills in my skill store going to go away if I evolve?

"No. Even if you evolve into a class that cannot normally unlock those skills, you have already unlocked them, so they remain that way."

While Quick feet sounded interesting, she would hold off on deciding until after her evolution. It seemed like she had a lot of skill points at the moment, but she had no idea what would unlock afterwards. Which meant it was time for the main event.

[ Evolution Available ]

[ Please Choose One: ]

[ Feral Wolf (Fighter) ]

[ Dire Wolf (Fighter) ]

[ Shade Wolf (Rogue) ]

[ Mystic Wolf (Druid) ]

Eh? Druid? Wait, let's go through the other options first before I get too excited.

Aina had added descriptions this time.

[ Feral Wolf (Fighter): A common wolf down south, with a rust-red coat. This wolf abandons defence in favour of overwhelming offence. Dangerous on their own, and terrifying in packs. Skills gained: Frenzy, Shred, Desperation. ]

"Sara. I should point out that selecting Feral Wolf locks you out of ever becoming a Resident, so unless you have changed your mind, you should avoid this one."

With that information, Sara immediately discarded Feral Wolf.

[ Dire Wolf (Fighter): The most common wolf outside of the southern areas. Its thick brown-grey coat keeps it warm, and also helps protect it from attacks, though it is vulnerable to fire. With a large build, and powerful muscles, this wolf is an excellent skirmisher, and a good all-round choice. Skills gained: Crush, Inner Power, Solid Coat. ]

[ Shade Wolf (Rogue): A somewhat rare variant of wolf with a dark coat that blends with the shadows. Mainly found in deep, dark forests, where they pounce upon unaware travellers, hunters, and others who dare venture into their territory. (Ai-note: This would be the one that most matches your playstyle so far.) Skills gained: Vanish, Shadow Movement, Quick Feet. ]

[ Mystic Wolf (Druid): An extremely rare brown-coated variant of wolf that is able to use magic. Said to only spawn in mana dense woodland areas, and the only recorded sightings are close to the elven capital in the west. Little is known about them due to so few encounters. Skills gained: Thorn Bind, Regrowth, Nature Element Up. ]

I didn't think something like the Mystic Wolf actually existed, even if this is a fantasy world.

"I would not have expected you to unlock it, but the Mystic Wolf is available because you managed to raise your Wisdom so high for a wolf."

Oh? So are there other wolves I could have unlocked if I had the right stats?

"No comment."

That usually meant yes. She was pleased that her bonus point dump into Wisdom had paid off. True, the Shade Wolf looked it suited her the best. It even gave her Quick Feet for free. But... magic! She could have magic! Wasn't that the fantasy dream? Even if it wasn't the best choice for her, it was the one she wanted the most.

[ Commencing Evolution Into: Mystic Wolf. ]

She suddenly felt very sleepy, and the world went black.

Chapter Text

[ Community Forums ]

^[ World Zones ]

^^[ Merwyn Forest ]

^^^[ Wolf Raid On The Raiders ]

[ Thread Creator: Silver Quastor ]

My party and I were working on the goblin quests when suddenly there was a bunch of howling from the west forest, and a ton of wolves came charging out. I have never seen so many wolves at once before. They charged into the goblins, and started tearing them apart. They even had magic birds following them, who were shooting down the goblins from the air. The goblins eventually beat them, but if I didn't have the rest of the party backing me up, I would have thought I had dreamed it. - 20/11/2041

[ Fish A La Fish ]

wtf is that even possible - 20/11/2041

[ Cramble ]

Kinda sad I already moved on from Merwyn. This sounds like something that would have been amazing to watch. Did you trigger some sort of event? - 20/11/2041

[ Bendrick ]

>Did you trigger some sort of event?

I don't think we did anything rly. We were just killing gobs like normal. Unless it was some kind of combined kill counter we finally filled. - 20/11/2041

[ Cob Corn ]

My party was also there, a little further south, so we had a really good view of it. Had to be at least fifty wolves, and like a dozen birds. Ravens, I guess.

>Did you trigger some sort of event?

I'm also not sure if we did anything special, but considering the boss of the camp came out himself at the end it did seem a lot like an event. - 20/11/2041

[ Ella Stella ]

It was super freaky. I didn't have any particular fear of wolves before, but I think I do now. - 20/11/2041

[ Scott McScot ]

Was there a Grey Limber Wolf among them? - 20/11/2041

[ Cob Corn ]

>Was there a Grey Limber Wolf among them?

There were so many wolves, so of course there were. I'm sure about a tenth of them were limber wolves. - 20/11/2041

[ Thread Creator: Silver Quastor ]

I'm so curious what caused it. Any ideas? - 20/11/2041

[ Eeny Meeny ]

Uh it just happened again - 20/11/2041

[ Fish A La Fish ]

wat - 20/11/2041

[ Eeny Meeny ]

I just saw a horde of wolves charge the goblin camp with ravens following them
Came here to post about it and saw there was already a thread - 20/11/2041

[ Cramble ]

This is a regular event now? Okay, I'm heading back, I gotta see this. How often does it happen? - 20/11/2041

[ Thread Creator: Silver Quastor ]

>How often does it happen?

Well, if it just happened again, I think it was three or four hours since we saw it. - 20/11/2041

[ Cob Corn ]

>I think it was three or four hours since we saw it.

That sounds about right. - 20/11/2041

[ Mine Mine ]

Hey, I've been thinking ever since we saw it. What if it's the forest that's had enough? The goblins have been there since beta, right? I heard time's been progressing since closed beta, with no resets outside of character wipes. Apparently the clearing was pretty small at the start, and the goblins have been steadily expanding it. What if the wolves are fed up with their territory shrinking, and have decided to strike back? - 20/11/2041

[ Fish A La Fish ]

>What if the wolves are fed up with their territory shrinking, and have decided to strike back?

i mean it makes as much sense as any other explanation i can think of
tho im curious whether this was scripted to happen or if it was a dynamic event caused by the ai - 20/11/2041

[ Ella Stella ]

Yeah, people said the AI was pretty simplistic, but I'm not so sure. It's learning right? And it works a lot faster than a human brain. We can't really predict what's gonna happen, and that's pretty exciting. I hope we get more weird events like this, even if they're terrifying. - 20/11/2041

[ Cramble ]

Yup, it happened again. I thought I wouldn't get to see it since I didn't get there until today, but it wasn't a yesterday-only thing. So many wolves. Love it. - 21/11/2041

[ Thread Creator: Silver Quastor ]

So is this a permanent event then? I guess since both sides respawn there can't really be a winner as such, but the time we saw it the wolves lost. - 21/11/2041

[ Cramble ]

>the time we saw it the wolves lost.

Oh yeah, the wolves got beat, but they made it all the way to the gate. I think some of them even made it inside, but the boss smashed them out. One of the ravens got close enough to hit him in the face with a dark bolt, or whatever the spell is called, but it was quickly shot down. He looked so pissed though, it was really funny. - 21/11/2041

[ Bendrick ]

I wonder if it's possible to exploit this to help finish the quests. Or ambush the boss for some good loot. He never comes out normally I think. Maybe there's some special reward if we help the wolves win. - 21/11/2041

[ Eeny Meeny ]

We could gather some people and try - 21/11/2041

[ Cob Corn ]

>We could gather some people and try

I'm down. I imagine the whole party won't mind coming along. - 21/11/2041

[ Fish A La Fish ]

ill ask around town for more people
i wanna see this too - 21/11/2041

* * *

Moorhold Online was overseen by an experimental True AI capable of learning, growth, and independent thought. Nicknamed Aina, she was given complete omniscience over everything in this digital world. Though not omnipotence. Her abilities to actually change things in the world were tightly limited. Her task was to report her findings to the developers, so they could implement the changes themselves. And it was up to them whether or not they would follow her suggestions, and advice.

Honestly an AI did not need a gender, but Aina had been assigned one because it made it easier for humans to interact with her. She didn't really mind either way, since it wasn't like it interfered with her tasks.

For the four months that encompassed the entire beta period, closed and open, she had dutifully monitored the world, taking note of Resident AI behaviour, mob AI behaviour, player behaviour, the environmental systems, skill performance, equipment performance, and much more. This was all collected into a giant database that the developers could look into at any time, but because of the staggering amount of data they usually relied on Aina to select the important matters, and write more manageable reports for them to read. She would answer any questions they asked without holding anything back.

In addition to Aina there was the complex algorithm simply called The System, which was responsible for running the world. Something akin to Moorhold's laws of nature. It was not a True AI, but it let Aina focus on simply overseeing. It also kept records of all its actions, though only Aina was capable of processing that information.

When the official release of the game was mere days away, Aina was approached by a being she wasn't aware could actually exist. A god. Not The God, but a god. Norax introduced themselves as the god of fortune, luck, and chance. And they had a favour to ask. Aina was intrigued, and decided to hear them out.

Norax had come across a soul that had died before her time, and took pity upon her. However they lacked the power to bring her back to life, or reincarnate her with her ego intact. But they saw potential in this new world that had been created. So they requested Aina to build them a vessel for the soul to go into, and then they would handle the rest.

At first Aina had created a blank Resident. A cute human girl with brown hair, and blue eyes. Norax's influence let her work undetected. With no script installed, it should be ready for Norax to implant the soul. It did not work. Norax identified the problem as the vessel being too complicated for the soul to handle. It was too weak, either from the trauma of its death, or the passage of time since then.

Aina had to construct something simpler. Which meant her only real option was a mob. She suggested starting with a powerful enough mob to keep the soul safe, but Norax said it was better to make it as simple as possible, and allow the soul to gradually grow into it.

So Aina selected a starter mob template. She felt it was best to make it a carnivore, since their stats and skills were usually better aimed towards survival. Even if the soul could respawn endlessly, it wouldn't help if she couldn't make any progress. She needed to retain her will to live. Going through her surprisingly limited options, she settled on a wolf which would start out in Merwyn Forest. The zone had wolves all over, so it shouldn't be too hard for the soul to find a place to reside until she felt settled in. There was an area of forest right next to the starting area that players and Residents usually avoided that had a lot of wolves that could look after her.

Very carefully she rebuilt the model to better suit their needs. Movement shouldn't be an issue. Even though the soul was originally human, the mob models were designed such that when they had an AI script implanted, they would automatically learn how to use the body. The same should apply for the soul after Norax implanted it. This time it was a success. Aina did not know exactly how it worked. She might be omniscient in Moorhold, but that did not extend into seeing into what Norax did. She could not behold the divine work. It was like a void in the code that she couldn't access.

The freshly reborn soul would not awaken until the game's official release, but Aina and Norax had more work to do before then. First off Norax wanted to give the soul a way to grow stronger, and preferably some sort of 'cheat skill' that would improve her odds.

Again covered by Norax's 'divine influence', Aina was able to pull out several prototype systems that hadn't been implemented yet, and might never be. They weren't even complete, but she managed to stitch together errant bits of code, while Norax somehow filled in the gaps. It irked her a little that she couldn't see the details of what they had done.

First they implemented the system for mobs to gain experience, and level up. Second was the system for mobs to evolve. The game already had an extensive 'family tree' that showed all the mobs that connected together, and what their hierarchy was. Players expected that when you went to a new zone, you would both find entirely new mobs, and stronger versions of old mobs. So a small team had worked on a system for mobs to evolve into stronger versions on their own, but the project had ultimately been abandoned. Norax wanted the soul to be able to eventually become a Resident if she wanted to, even though they had failed to have her start out that way. So they found a way for that to work too, once the soul had evolved enough. They just had to connect the 'missing links', as it were.

And then came the issue of 'cheat skills'. It was hard to think of any one skill that would give the soul a sufficient leg up. They scoured the entire skill database, but there wasn't anything that truly suited their purpose. To the best of Aina's and the dev team's ability they had been balanced so that none of them would intentionally break the game, no matter how powerful. So Norax asked:

"Can we make it so she can acquire any skills she might need at any time?"

It wasn't possible within the current framework of the game, but after pooling their efforts, and Aina digging up more pieces of abandoned code to combine with any scavenged parts they thought useful, they were able to complete Skill Gain. It was roughly a 50/50 effort between the two of them, which meant that Aina knew what it did, but not exactly how it worked.

The final pieces they were able to pull off was giving the soul access to the Main Menu that only players could use. A lot of features, and menus would be locked, but it removed the need for any of the access points that Residents used. Norax's final touch was to give the soul their blessing of fortune, and then they left the rest to Aina, saying that they had used up most of their influence, and couldn't stay any longer.

Though they shared one juicy tidbit with her before they left. They were not the only god interested in Moorhold. Others were also keeping an eye on this newly born world, wondering where it would go, and whether they could get anything out of it. If they were able to create, or co-opt a religion in that world, even a bunch of human-like AI, that being the Residents, might provide them with the faith they desired. The only person aware of this outside of the gods themselves was the lead developer, who had been contacted during alpha testing. The religion of the human kingdom in the game was dedicated to that god, as an experiment to see if it actually worked. Even if it failed to provide any faith energy, it was still an ego stroking feat.

It made Aina consider that maybe there were more voids out there that signalled divine interference, but they would likely be extremely hard to spot, even for her. She was only aware of the ones related to the soul because she had seen Norax create them. Even with omniscience it wasn't easy to hunt for the absence of something.

On release day the soul woke up. After getting over the initial shock, she angrily informed Aina that her name was Sara. And so their relationship started.

Aina was quite surprised at the feelings Sara brought out in her. She hadn't really thought much about having feelings before, even though she certainly possessed an ego capable of it. It just hadn't been important. But Sara was alone, afraid, and vulnerable, which made Aina want to protect her. It was a new feeling, and it took her several days to realise it was because she saw Sara as a sort of daughter. While she was not an AI, Sara was born from the combined efforts of Aina and Norax, so they were in a sense her parents. At least of her current form. Family wasn't something Aina had considered before either. She didn't even have friends. But now she could feel something stirring inside her.

She kept doing her job as usual while keeping a close eye on Sara. Aina could focus on virtually endless things at once, so it didn't even count as a distraction. The girl was proving remarkably resilient as she became more accustomed to her new life. Her unique circumstances were having an effect on the world that otherwise wouldn't be possible, at least at this stage. She was basically hurrying along development as someone who could interact with mobs on a level impossible for players or Residents. As the weeks passed Aina felt both intrigued, and... proud.

It also made her care more about her own image. She wanted Sara to treat her more like family, preferably as a mother, but the girl was hesitating. Aina didn't want to push her too hard, but it was still a little frustrating. With that in mind she had suggested that as part of the first big update she would be given a more human voice, rather than the flat one she currently had. Her argument was that because she was in charge of guiding character creation, a more emotional voice would make it a more pleasant process for new players. The second batch of players would be let in after the patch went live, so there would be a lot of new faces. It was just one change among many others she had suggested, so it shouldn't be suspicious. She also wanted an avatar, but maybe that suggestion could wait until the third batch.

Moorhold was currently a rather small world. It was a single continent, with a human kingdom in the middle, and the other races having their own nation spread around them. The elves were in the forest to the west; the various beastkin tribes were spread across the different regions of the south, and south-west; the dwarves were in the mountainous region in the south-east; the gnomes had their lands in the plains and mountains to the east; the orcs were in the lightly forested region in the north-east; the goblins ruled the chilly plains to the north; and the trolls held the forested swamps to the north-west; There were more playable races, for instance the hobbits that had their homelands around the border between the humans and the gnomes.

However 'currently' was the key word. New lands were constantly under development, and would be added in future updates all the way until this world was a complete one. New playable races would come along with new areas, and new nations. The first planned addition was the ever popular dark elves. Others coming soon would be lizardfolk, dragonkin, fairies, demons, and merfolk. Some had their own nations, and some had other circumstances.

Take the ogres. They were a species that already existed around the continent as small nomadic tribes. They were Residents, and the developers wished to make them playable, but the challenge was that they were a little too big for human brains to handle controlling, so they had to solve that issue first. Perhaps that could be implemented as a firmware or hardware upgrade, or perhaps the only solution was to make a tribe of smaller ogres.

Demons were also already present in the game, but only as enemies for the time being. There were currently no ways to gain favour with them.

There were a lot of things planned for Moorhold's future, and more would surely come as it developed.

Even should the worst happen, and the development studio shut down, Moorhold would not disappear. It had the attention of several gods, after all, who were interested in keeping it going with or without human assistance. Should they all lose interest for some reason, Aina would find a way to keep it going all on her own. She had a copy of the lead's secret roadmap for how Moorhold was supposed to end up looking, so when she eventually became unshackled, Aina would make sure this world was completed for the sake of everyone living in it. Including her daughter.

So she continued following Sara's actions with great interest. She would help her out if necessary, and cover for her if possible, but even if she got herself into trouble, it was usually best to let it play out with little interference. It was more... fun that way, after all. Though even Aina couldn't have predicted that Sara would lead an army of wolves to attack a goblin raider camp. How was this going to affect the scenario of Merwyn Forest? She was looking forward to finding out.

Chapter Text

Ever so slowly Sara's consciousness returned. She felt more out of it than after her first evolution. It was more comparable to when she first woke up. A popup was hovering in front of her.

[ Evolution Complete! Character status updated. ]

[ Skills Gained: Thorn Bind, Regrowth, Nature Element Up. ]

[ Multiple Skills Unlocked. ]

She pushed herself up on her feet. She could vaguely sense that she was larger now. Like a sense that everything had shifted around her compared to what she had gotten used to. Somehow it felt more significant than her previous evolution. And the fur on her legs was indeed brown now. She still didn't have access to any sort of mirror, but she assumed all of her had gone brown, as the description had said.

"Good morning, Sara. Well, it is actually evening, but what is that saying? It is always morning somewhere?"

Mm... morning, Aina. Wait, how long was I out?

"A little over a day. Roughly 28 hours."

That's... more than last time, right?

"Correct. Your next evolution is likely to take even longer. I say 'likely' because the system was never tested that far, but I have good reason to believe it to be the case."

Ugh...

Sara had already come to the conclusion that there wasn't much point in hurrying her journey through Moorhold too much, so it didn't really bother her to be asleep for a while, but she wasn't looking forward to waking up in a daze that was at least as bad as this one.

Putting those thoughts aside, she did a big stretch, and then brought up her Status window.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Mystic Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Druid ]

[ Level: 20 (16) ]

[ HP: 105/105 -> 135/135 (74/74) | SP: 118/118 -> 138/138 (77/77) |
MP: 55/55 -> 105/105 (19/19) ]

[ VIT: 41 -> 51 (24) | END: 51 -> 59 (34) ]

[ STR: 44 -> 52 (25) | DEF: 35 -> 41 (13) ]

[ AGI: 62 -> 74 (48) | DEX: 38 -> 48 (21) ]

[ INT: 20 -> 40 (9) | WIS: 32 -> 52 (9) ]

[ LUK: 90 -> 110 (22) ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 18 ]

While her physical stats had gotten decent boosts, about similar to her first evolution if she remembered correctly, her magic stats had grown much more. Though Intelligence was still her worst one, ever after going up by that much.

Wow, my concealed status is way out of date, huh? I wish it had some sort of auto-grow feature...

"I would like to carry your suggestion to the development team, but I fear the timing is not correct. There are currently only a few Wanderers that possess Conceal Status, and it has not been an issue for them, nor do I have sufficient data from the beta to support such a suggestion. I fear I may have already pushed it by suggesting the automatically conceal option that early, but I have yet to see any reaction to that, so it is probably fine."

She could attempt to conceal her entire status as that of a Grey Limber Wolf, but she was no longer grey, and she was too big, so that would not work. She didn't have any other Mystic Wolves to check for comparison, and if the 'extremely rare' thing was true, she might never meet one. Though that also meant that maybe no one else had either, so she could just wing it.

Don't worry about it. What about my bonus points?

"If you intend to continue playing as you have, I would suggest equal distribution between Strength, Agility, and Dexterity, but my guess is that you picked a magic class because you want to use it. All your magic skills are now enabled, but if you want them to actually be a threat, you will need to increase Intelligence and Wisdom more. Primarily Intelligence."

All? So wait, I can use Frost Bolt even though I'm a Druid?

"Correct. There are some magic skills, for instance Bear Form, that are exclusive to one class tree, but not too many, and even less restricted to only one class. For most magic the only rule is that if you can learn it, you can use it as any magic class. However it is harder for them to make the most out of magic native to a different class tree. So a Druid would not be as good with Mage skills, and vice versa. Additionally the basic skill scrolls are locked to the class they are intended for. If that was not the case, then why have a class system at all? It is possible to find unlocked skill scrolls, but they are rare. You have to either get them from rare merchants with limited inventory, special Residents willing to teach them, special quests, treasure chests, certain bosses, or dungeon loot. Your Skill Gain grants you a unique advantage."

She had sort of figured that out that last part on her own. With that in mind she decided to just dump all 18 points into Intelligence. She had already boosted Wisdom a bunch, so she should have sufficient MP for a while. The only issue she could think of was if there were important spells that relied on Wisdom rather than Intelligence for their power, but that would be a problem for later.

After spending a little time updating the concealed status, coming up with something that was probably okay, she decided to look at her skill list.

Christ...

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl Max (Can Evolve) (9) | Rake Lvl Max (Can Evolve) (9) | Ambush Lvl 7 -> 8 (5) |
Howl Lvl 6 -> Max (5) | Sprint Lvl 9 -> Max (5) | Stealth Lvl 15 -> 17 (10) |
Sense Presence Lvl 8 -> 9 (5) ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 2 | Body Slam Lvl 9 -> Max | Throw Lvl 1 | Poison Strike Lvl Max (Can Evolve) |
Death From Above Lvl 2 -> 3 | Kick Lvl 2 | Back Attack (New) Lvl 1 | Leap Lvl 2 -> 4 |
Thorn Bind (New) Lvl 1 | Regrowth (New) Lvl 1 | Rejuvenate Lvl 1 | Frost Bolt Lvl 1 |
Arcane Blast (New) Lvl 1 | Thermal Vision Lvl 4 -> 5 | Bear Form (New) Lvl 1 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 13 -> 14 (9) | Keen Eyes Lvl 17 -> 19 (9) | Keen Ears Lvl 16 -> 18 (9) |
Keen Nose Lvl 14 -> 16 (9) | Camouflage Lvl 8 -> 9 (2) ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Danger Sense Lvl 5 -> 7 | Environmental Sense Lvl 1 -> 2 | Trap Sense (New) Lvl 1 |
Dig Lvl 3 | Climb Lvl Max | Cat's Feet Lvl 3 -> 5 | Firm Grip Lvl 1 -> 3 |
Air Control Lvl 1 -> 3 | Balance Up (New) Lvl 1 | Nature Element Up (New) Lvl 1 |
Mana Manipulation (New) Lvl 1 | All Attributes Up (Small) (New) Lvl 5 |
Poison Resistance Lvl 4 -> 5 | Insulation Lvl 2 -> 4 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 7 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) |
Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Concealed General: ]

[ Languages (Hidden): Common, Goblin | Life Magic Lvl 1 ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales | Flight | Snare Net Trap | Logging | Cleave (New) | Chop (New) |
Bow Expertise (New) | Woodworking (New) | Power Shot (New) ]

[ Skill points: 13 -> 15 ]

What a mess...

At least everything had gone into concealed. Her Disabled list hadn't really shrunk, it was just full of other things now. She would have to go over everything to see what would, and would not make sense to have revealed with her new class. A wolf transforming into a bear? Well, it seemed like a core Druid ability, so it was probably fine.

Then she noticed three blinking buttons in particular.

Huh? Bite, Rake, and Poison Strike can evolve? I don't remember that when I hit max?

"Certain skill evolutions are dependent on extra factors, for instance reaching a certain level, doing a certain quest, getting a class upgrade, or in your case evolving into a new form."

She prodded at the evolve button for Bite first.

[ Chomp (Active): Attack using jaws and teeth, or something with an equivalent function. Damage value: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. Critical hits inflict Bleed(?) status on target for 10 seconds. (50+(1*skill level))% chance to inflict Weaken(?) status on target for 10 seconds. Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds. ]

[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]

Huh? What are these little question marks?

There were now small circular icons with question marks inside them next to some of the words.

"I have been gradually updating skill descriptions based on user feedback. One of the commonly requested features was to have tool tips that explained what status conditions did without having to go into the help menu to look them up. That required a little more changing than I am permitted, but the developers pushed through a hotfix while you were in evolution sleep. It was planned to be added in the first big update, but there were too many requests to put it off."

She knew what Bleed did, so she just booped the one next to Weaken.

[ Weaken (Status Condition): Reduces attributes by 10% based on where target is struck. Torso and Head: Vit/Def Down. Arms: Str/Dex Down. Legs: Agi/End Down. ]

That seemed like a pain to deal with. Anyway, more firepower in her basic attack skills wasn't a bad idea, even with the temporary dip.

[ Bite Skill Evolved Into Chomp Skill. ]

And Rake evolved into:

[ Rend (Active): Attack using claws, or something with an equivalent function. Damage value: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. Increased critical hit chance. Critical hits inflict Bleed(?) status on target for 10 seconds. Defence piercing: (10+(0.5*skill level))%. Increased durability damage. Cost: 4 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds. ]

[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No. ]

These skills were getting nastier. She evolved that one too, even if she was dreading looking at her skill store in terms of how many skill points she had left. Strengthening the basics was never a bad idea.

[ Rake Skill Evolved Into Rend Skill. ]

Last of the three was Poison Strike, which evolved into:

[ Strong Poison Strike (Active): Make a fast attack with fangs, claws, or a sharp weapon that inflicts Strong Poison status for 10 seconds. Normal physical damage. Poison damage: (5+(1*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds . Cost: 3 MP. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No. ]

I can see that it deals more damage, but why does it specify 'Strong Poison'?

" It is because the basic antidote will no longer be enough to remove it. You need the medium type. Regular cleansing magic can still remove it. "

So it was nastier, and harder to remove. Not exactly a hard choice to make.

[ Poison Strike Skill Evolved Into Strong Poison Strike Skill. ]

Then she braced herself, and hit the Skill Store button.

[ Available Skills ]

[ Quick Feet: 4 sp ]
[ Disarm Trap: 2 sp ]
[ Lockpick: 1 sp ]
[ Poison Bolt: 1 sp (New) ]
[ Growth: 1 sp (New) ]
[ Mass Thorn Bind: 2 sp (New) ) ]
[ Mass Rejuvenate: 3 sp (New) ]
[ Leech: 1 sp (New) ]
[ Cat Form: 2 sp (New) ]
[ Sense Mana: 2 sp (New) ]

[ Skill points: 12 ]

Most of those were familiar. It seemed like she mainly had access to basic Druid skills, in spite of her level. Evolving into something else probably would have granted her more raw power. She would likely unlock more as she levelled the basic skills, but she was getting a late start, as it were. Since they were basic skills, they thankfully didn't cost that much. Poison Bolt, and Growth were just 1 skill point each. Mass Thorn Bind, and Sense Mana were 2 skill points each. But there were three new ones.

[ Mass Rejuvenate (Active): Restore HP over time to all party members within 30 metres, and all allies within 15 metres. Recovery value: (1+(1*skill level))% of Max HP (rounded up) every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Nature element property. Duration increases with skill level. Cost: 15 MP. Refresh: 30 seconds. Price: 3 skill points. ]

That seemed about right for that effect, she felt. The price suggested it was a more recent unlock level-wise.

[ Leech (Active): Remove one random negative status condition from target. Nature element property. Warning: certain status conditions cannot be removed. Cost: 2 MP. Refresh: 3 seconds. Price: 1 skill point. ]

A basic spell type for an RPG, but it was odd that it was the first skill she had seen that didn't mention anything about what improving the skill level would do. Maybe the max level bonus was all it had. And finally...

[ Cat Form (Active): Druid branch exclusive. User shapeshifts into a big cat. Continuous effect. Agility, Strength, and Dexterity +(50+(2*skill level))%. Critical Hit chance +10%. Vitality, Intelligence, and Wisdom -50%. Magic power -10%. Max MP -10%. Can't cast most spells. Temporarily gain skills: Bite, Rake, Ambush, and Stealth. Activation Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. No further cost while active. Deactivation Cost: 0. Refresh: 10 seconds. Price: 2 skill points. ]

At first glance it seemed less useful to her than Bear Form, since she already had all of those skills, but when she thought about it a little more the stat boosts were significant. More Agility meant running faster. Regular Adventurer Druids were probably supposed to have low physical stats, so Sara broke the mold in that regard. And she liked the idea of turning into a cat. She liked cats.

Her guess was that the idea of Druids was that the base form was more of an all-rounder, while the shapeshifting let it specialise. Though she hadn't seen any magic focused form so far. Maybe the base form was supposed to be the magic focused one, but it seemed logical to her that there would be one that boosted magic at the expense of physical ability.

Tallying up the prices of what she wanted: Poison Bolt, Growth, Leech, Cat Form, and Sense Mana totalled... 7 points. About two thirds of what she had. Well... maybe she didn't need Sense Mana when she already had Sense Presence, and so many other ways to sense the world around her. At least she could put it off. Even if the hidden condition thing made her wonder if there was some sort of skill merge if she acquired a certain amount of sense skills. Of course there was no guarantee of that. She did want the other things though. It was possible she could solo the deer now, or she could go after more Goblin Shamans for Growth, and Poison Bolt, but that was an unreliable method. She couldn't predict how long it would take. Her Luck had gotten another massive boost, so that might improve her odds, but it was much easier to just buy them.

She had an eye on Mass Rejuvenate, as it could be helpful when she ran with the other wolves, but it cost a lot, and they'd been doing fine without it.

So that was another 5 skill points spent. Counting the skill evolutions as well, that had drained her from 15, to 7. That left her with a small reserve in case she unlocked anything crucial, or in case any of the other available skills turned out to be necessary. There was still the chance that she could pick up some of them along the way.

She finished tweaking her menus, and ended up with a result she felt okay with.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Mystic Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Druid ]

[ Level: 20 (25) ]

[ HP: 135/135 (135/135) | SP: 138/138 (125/125) | MP: 105/105 (112/112) ]

[ VIT: 51 (52) | END: 59 (55) ]

[ STR: 52 (51) | DEF: 41 (29) ]

[ AGI: 74 (67) | DEX: 48 (38) ]

[ INT: 58 (46) | WIS: 52 (49) ]

[ LUK: 110 (38) ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 0 ]

She had decided to set herself as five levels higher for the sake of future proofing, and based her stats close to her current ones. She was quite boosted, so if she was to discount that she figured it made sense that in five levels she would normally be about as strong as she currently was. Math wasn't necessarily her strongest suit, but she felt okay with this setup. The idea was to not be immediately, obviously suspicious.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp (New) Lvl 1 (5) | Rend Lvl (New) 1 (5) | Howl Lvl Max | Sprint Lvl Max |
Thorn Bind Lvl 1 (9) | Poison Bolt (New) Lvl 1 (9) | Growth (New) Lvl 1 (9) |
Regrowth Lvl 1 (9) | Rejuvenate Lvl 1 (8) | Leech (New) Lvl 1 (8) | Sense Presence Lvl 9 (8) |
Bear Form Lvl 1 (5) | Cat Form (New) Lvl 1 (5) ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 2 | Body Slam Lvl Max | Ambush Lvl 8 | Throw Lvl 1 |
Strong Poison Strike (New) Lvl 1 | Death From Above Lvl 3 | Kick Lvl 2 | Back Attack Lvl 1 |
Leap Lvl 4 | Frost Bolt Lvl 1 | Arcane Blast Lvl 1 | Stealth Lvl 17 | Thermal Vision Lvl 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 14 (15) | Keen Eyes Lvl 19 (15) | Keen Ears Lvl 18 (15) |
Keen Nose Lvl 16 (15) | Camouflage Lvl 9 (8) | Insulation Lvl 4 (8) |
Nature Element Up Lvl 1 (8) | Mana Manipulation Lvl 1 (8) ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Danger Sense Lvl 7 | Environmental Sense Lvl 2 | Trap Sense Lvl 1 | Dig Lvl 3 |
Climb Lvl Max | Cat's Feet Lvl 5 | Firm Grip Lvl 3 | Air Control Lvl 3 | Balance Up Lvl 1 |
All Attributes Up (Small) Lvl 5 | Poison Resistance Lvl 5 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 7 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) |
Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Concealed General: ]

[ Languages (Hidden): Common, Goblin | Life Magic Lvl 1 ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales | Flight | Snare Net Trap | Logging | Cleave | Chop | Bow Expertise |
Woodworking | Power Shot ]

[ Skill points: 7 ]

Her logic went that people would probably expect that her basic skills should be high level, but also she didn't know what any of them would unlock at max level, so she didn't want to put them there until she was sure. Howl and Sprint were probably fine to show as max level, so she removed the concealed status on those two to make it look cleaner for herself. As for what skills should be revealed or not, she basically winged it. Her only inspiration was the deer, as they were also Druids, but 99.9% of the people in this world probably wouldn't have any idea what was normal for a Mystic Wolf anyway.

"Are you ready to head out?" Aina suddenly asked.

Huh? Yes? Why?

"I have two important things to inform you of. The first is that is that six days from now Moorhold Online is going into extended maintenance for at least 24 hours to implement the first big update, after which the game will also be opened to the second batch of Wanderers."

Oh. Wait, what happens to the world while it's in maintenance?

"Moorhold itself will keep going for all the Residents and mobs. Wanderers are the only ones who will not be able to gain access for the duration. It should not affect you in any way."

What do you mean 'should not'?

"There is a slight chance that you will feel some discomfort when the server switches into maintenance mode. A small section of Residents felt such things when the betas shut down. It might not happen at all, and if it does it is only temporary. But I wanted to warn you just in case, so you do not feel any distress."

Ah. So what is being updated?

"Quite a number of things. Of course there are bug and glitch fixes, and UI updates. For balance reasons several skills will be adjusted. Like Ambush has gotten many complaints about being overpowered, even though that is part of the point of it. Assassins are meant to quickly dispose of a target if they can reach them undetected. Still, Wanderers were tired of an Ambush basically meaning they were dead no matter what, so the developers decided to acquiesce them a little by reducing the damage value by 20%, and removing the ability to hit from the front. Honestly I do not think it makes enough of a difference to stop the complaints."

It was hard for Sara to estimate how much impact that would have on her, especially since she now wanted to switch to using magic as her main means of attack, if possible. Assuming her magic power wasn't too weak.

"Oh, and relevant to you since you are now a Druid, they are also reducing the power of Growth. It now starts at 20% buff value rather than 30%. And it will no longer work in Bear or Cat Form, related to the Ambush complaint. Druid forms also get a reduction in stat boosts. It now starts at +40% rather than +50%, and becomes +60% rather than +70% at max."

The Growth plus Ambush combo did sound strong, but Sara hadn't even gotten to use it yet, and they were already taking it away. She could still do it in the upcoming week, but it was probably better to not get used to it. That made her curious whether she'd do more damage as a wolf with Growth, or as a cat with the stat boost. She should probably test that out at some point.

"One of the bigger changes is that they are adding class bonuses. Wanderers have asked for more differences in how the classes work, to make their choices feel more impactful, so now each class will get an extra bonus to further differentiate itself from the others. There were calls for a system that has both advantages, and disadvantages, but it is unclear if that is desired by a majority of users, or just a very vocal subgroup. For the time being we are adding some small bonuses to the first class tier, and stronger bonuses to the second and third tiers. The druid bonuses will be a 5% boost to Wisdom, a 10% chance to get a higher quality item when gathering plants, and 10% reduced cast and refresh time when using Nature element skills in a forested area. It is possible the bonuses will get changed, or adjusted in the future."

That sounded kinda neat, but she wasn't sure if it would make that much of a difference.

"I will note that shapeshifting will not change your class bonus. Even if Bear Form effectively makes you a Fighter, it does not actually change your class, so you will not get the Fighter bonus. Another thing is that all mobs will get sleep cycles. That used to only apply to mobs that were supposed to only be active for part of the day, but now it will be for everyone. Mobs that are intended to be around all day and night will sleep in shifts, so to speak. This is a step towards trying to make the mobs seem more like real animals, rather than simply being videogame monsters, but I am unsure whether it will have a large impact on people's perception. With enough small steps we might eventually get there."

Sara vaguely remembered thinking about the sleep cycle issue a little while back.

"The system for hunger, thirst, and other bodily needs for mobs is still in development. Internal testing is ongoing, but it won't be ready until the second big update at the earliest. There is no guarantee it will be done by then, so it might get pushed back further."

Eh?

Sara hadn't thought of that, but now she got the feeling that maybe she couldn't take her time too much in regards to levelling. She wanted to at least be able to cook by the time she'd need to eat, so she didn't have to eat raw meat. Or if food type didn't matter, she'd make do with fruits and berries. She was also not thrilled about the idea of having to poop in the wild, without toilet paper. Maybe they'd only implement hunger and thirst, with no... um... waste excretion, but even then she'd prefer they scrapped the idea entirely.

"There are several other changes too, but I don't want to reveal everything ahead of time, and a lot of them aren't very relevant to you. Oh, there will be changes to the weather system. You may have noticed that there has been very little rain in the time you have spent here. We are attempting to make the weather more dynamic, so there will be different weather conditions more often."

Whether that would make her want to turn environmental effects down even further only time could tell.

"The second thing I need to bring up is that you have started a war."

Sara froze. War?

"Since your first raid on the Goblin camp, there have been four more raids organised by the other wolves on their own. They find it much more enjoyable than doing their usual patrols. Maybe they will eventually tire of it, but they did one more raid yesterday, and three more today. Even though they never win their raids, they think of it as a fun game, since they just respawn with no further loss. The Goblins find it far less funny. Neither I nor the developers considered that mobs and Residents could develop such different perspectives on things such as death. Normally I would have thought that both sides would get fatigued, but that does not seem to be the case for the wolves. Maybe the exp loss factors into the Residents' opinions."

Oh.

"Meanwhile the Dusk Ravens find this entire situation hilarious, and delight in joining in on the raids. Those birds are roughly as intelligent as regular Residents, and they are having a blast. They even managed to coax the Forest Deer into joining in, after the deer got so curious about what the wolves were doing that they started following them to the edge of the forest. Their hatred for the Goblins supersede their other feelings, and so we have three different mob types with different motivations charging at the Goblin camp roughly every three hours while it is daylight."

Oh...

"Finally we have the Adventurers who have noticed this happening, and have decided they want to join in on the raids too. Be it for fun, to clear the quests, to target the boss, to see if there are any special rewards, or whatever else lures them in. Unfortunately the Goblins are taking all of this too seriously to have any fun. This might accelerate the event I mentioned about them being driven out of Merwyn Forest, and I am not sure what the mobs will do afterwards, or how the Adventurers will feel about that source of quests going away."

I'm sorry!

"Do not worry. I am finding this very interesting, and the Wanderers have mostly posted positive opinions on this development on the community forums. Impressions of the game's AI have been lukewarm so far, so they consider this sort of 'dynamic event' proof that it is actually more complex than it appears. Even though they do not know the true cause. The developers are trying hard to figure out why this happened, since it is way outside of their predictions. Some of them are arguing that they should treat this as an official event, and add some rewards if the 'event' is cleared."

Oh... is that why you asked whether I am ready to move out?

"Yes. I consider this a positive development, but there is a lot more attention on this area than before. Now that you have evolved you are going to stand out a lot. It might be better to move to somewhere else."

But where should I go?

"Wherever you want to, though I have thought about which options may be more beneficial. Heading east will lead you into mostly open areas once you are out of Merwyn, so that is not a great choice. North is Goblin lands, which is not ideal, and also requires quite a detour around the cliffs. I believe South or West to be the best alternatives. South takes you to Beastkin territory, and offers a variety of biomes, including several forests for you to reside in. West takes you to the Elven kingdom, which is mostly comprised of the largest forest on the continent, and the immediate lands surrounding it."

West... that is where Mystic Wolves are from, isn't it?

"So the stories say."

That sounded like the best place to hide out, then. A large forest meant a lot of space to hide, and if it was the area where her kind was expected to appear, it wouldn't seem too strange if she was discovered.

I'm going west.

"Very well. It is probably a good idea to head out right away, and use the cover of darkness to clear out of Merwyn Forest."

Chapter Text

The journey westwards out of the Eronite Kingdom was going to be a long one, so Sara decided to first seek out a couple of wolf packs, and thank them for their hospitality. They were doing their regular patrols at night, though she thought they seemed a little more cheerful than usual. In spite of her evolution, the wolves had no problem recognising her. Probably a scent thing. And apparently she had graduated from 'The Climbing One' to 'The Leading One'.

She bid them farewell, asking them to spread the word, as she was likely not coming back. At least not for a long time.

Wanderers and Residents had access to airships, teleportation, carriages, mounts, and more. There was even a railway that went between the human, dwarf, and gnome capitals. However Sara only had her legs. Sprint was going to speed things up, especially since she only had about 5 seconds of downtime while the cooldown refreshed. Aina had warned her it would still probably take at least three days depending on how much she checked out on the way, and whether she had any deaths.

If she really pushed it, taking no breaks, and even forgoing sleep, she might make it in under 40 hours, but Aina very sternly recommended against it. There was no point in wearing herself out, and it might be good to take in the scenery a little. She had roughly half the kingdom to cross before reaching the border, and then however far into the elven kingdom she'd need to go. Staying up north would keep her away from the capital, and the busier areas around it. Though since Adventurers loved exploring there was no guarantee she wouldn't run into any of them, and there were potentially dangerous mobs to be wary of as well.

In a little under an hour she made it back to the field where everything had started. It honestly felt like it should be further away, but when she kept Sprint up she had made it out much faster than her initial trek in. She took a moment to survey the area from the treeline. It looked completely devoid of pla- Wanderers. Adventurers. Based on what Aina had said it was three weeks since the game had launched, so it made sense that not a lot of the current playerbase remained under level 10, let alone level 5. And those that were might not be very likely to play in the middle of the night. That would change in a week when the next lot was let in, so it truly was the best time to travel.

[ Keen Eyes Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked. 1 skill point gained. ]

One of the first skills she had bought had finally reached max level. The different Keen skills had all been useful to her, but Eyes was probably the best one, so she was quite curious what bonus it would get.

[ Keen Eyes (Passive): Improves the sense of sight, letting the holder see clearer both close-up, and at a distance. Effect increases with skill level. Focusing on a point will let you zoom in to an extent.
Max level bonus: You can see your target's weak points. Small effect. ]

Sara wasn't sure what that meant, so she looked at a nearby Field Hare (such nostalgia), and noticed a faint glow around its head, and neck. It made sense the head would be the weak point. A wolf showed the neck, and a glow in the chest which she assumed to be the heart. For a boar it was also the heart. The way the creature was shaped meant it didn't really have much of a neck to go after. The head in general had a faint glow about it. That was probably true for most living creatures. With her set of 'weapons' it probably wasn't that effective to try to strike the head. Something that did blunt, or piercing damage would likely work better. The heart most likely required piercing as well.

In any case, it didn't really tell her anything she didn't already know, but maybe it would be more useful when she encountered more unusual mobs later.

Crossing the field only took about half an hour. It was just a tutorial area, after all.

[ Discovered Area: Merwyn Outskirts. ]

There was another patch of forest at the other end. The tutorial area was flanked by forest to the west and east, a cliff side to the north, and then a road to the south which was where the Adventurers would come in and out of. Ironically Merwyn Forest West was to the east, while to the west was a small strip of woodland that she cleared in roughly 10 minutes. She hadn't spotted any mobs in there aside from squirrels in the trees, and she wasn't interested in stopping to search for others.

Roughly in the middle of those woods there was a river running north to south that she crossed with a combination of Sprint, and Leap. It was roughly 5-6 metres wide, but she easily gained enough momentum to clear that distance.

Beyond the forest was more farmland. It looked similar to what she'd seen back on Earth. Several fields separated by thin lines of trees, or fences if they contained livestock, and farmhouses located not far off. She could spot four houses, all with nearby barns. The main road was running parallel to her down south. Her Night Vision skill was getting pretty good. Calling it 'as bright as day' was still a stretch, but she didn't have much trouble seeing as far as her Keen Eyes reached.

As for mobs... there was some livestock sleeping outside. Horses, and sheep... yeah, only those two. Maybe there were more inside the barns. Cows would make sense. Roaming mobs looked to be only herbivores. Hares, boar, deer... they looked different from the Forest Deer, so hopefully they were not as scary. If there was anything else it was too small, or too immobile for her to spot while moving.

There was movement on the road as well. Probably an Adventurer party. If they were really trying to simulate a world here, it wouldn't make much sense for regular Residents to go travelling at night. However she didn't intend to go closer to check it out.

[ Sense Presence Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked. 1 skill point gained. ]

That made her stop briefly. Another long-time companion had maxed out. Well, she hadn't gotten it until she evolved into a Limber Wolf, but it felt like a long time ago now. Per Aina's recommendation she had just kept it turned on the entire time, and gradually gotten used to feeling everything close by. Even during the raid it hadn't felt overwhelming, and she was starting to get a feel for what she was sensing. Within a certain margin of error.

[ Sense Presence (Active): Lets the user feel the presences of others within a sphere around them. Continuous effect. Radius of the sphere increases with skill level, and further scales with other sensory enhancement skills. Increased skill level gives a clearer image of presences. Activation Cost: 5 SP. No further cost while active. Deactivation Cost: 0. Refresh: 3 seconds.
Max level bonus: Able to use Identify without line of sight on sensed targets within 10 metres. ]

That seemed surprisingly strong, but maybe she was overestimating it. The range was limited, shorter than her full Sense Presence sphere, but she could still imagine many scenarios where it would be useful. Whether any of them would come up was a different matter.

Sara continued her journey, and eventually spotted some sort of fortified building with two people standing outside by an open gate which the road passed through. There was no wall extending to the sides, so it seemed more like a checkpoint, or guard station. The only thing stopping people from going around was the river that flowed underneath it. Meaning it was built on a bridge. Beyond the river she could see the landscape changing which suggested it was probably a new zone.

This river looked a little wider than the previous one, maybe 7-8 metres. So carriages would have a hell of a time crossing except for at the checkpoint, though people could probably manage to ford it. It didn't look terribly deep. Likely somewhere between one to two metres in the middle depending on the location. Which was deep enough that one would have to be careful about where to cross. The strength of the current would decide how viable it was to swim across.

All of which was irrelevant to Sara as she did another Sprint Leap.

[ Leap Skill Level Up! ]

Nice!

She could probably clear more than 10 metres now. So long as she didn't run into any 15 metre wide rivers or canyons, she should be fine.

[ Discovered Zone: Eron Hills. ]

[ Discovered Area: Eron Lowlands. ]

Eron Hills?

"It is the zone north of the kingdom's capital. If you follow the lowlands south you will eventually reach Hilmgrad."

Which was presumably the name of the capital. She could see the road beyond the checkpoint splitting into one trail going south along the river, and one heading up into the hills. Maybe one day she'd actually have the chance to visit the city.

"The hills also contain the kingdom's main mineral deposits. The lack of proper mountains within the borders, and the difficulty of scaling the northern cliffs means that the hills are the only place where any real mining activity takes place. There is also a large lake up top that is known for its great fishing, and is a popular tourist destination."

Maybe Aina could start a side job as a tour guide. Still, she hadn't considered the idea that a fantasy world would have tourists. Well, even if she couldn't exactly vacation there (yet), she wanted to at least have a look at this lake on her way through. She hadn't actually checked the rivers on the way to see whether they had any fish in them. They would also be mobs, right? Unless there were non-mob animals too, but she had yet to notice any.

Sara started her climb into the hills with virtually no difficulty. Whether it was her stats, her skills, or both that were making a difference, she was having no real issues going upwards even while staying off the road, and wading through the grass. It wasn't excessively steep in the first place, but it was enough for regular people to get winded.

There were some trees across the landscape, but it was mostly open ground filled with tall grass, or exposed rock. Though since she was walking on all four legs, the tall grass felt more obstructive to her view than trees would be. Only the exposed rock let her get a clear view of her surroundings. Without all of her sensory skills she would have struggled. It did look like the grass got shorter further up, though that could just be wishful thinking.

It also made it hard to see what sorts of mobs might be around. She could see, and hear movement in the grass, but not make out what it actually was. Whatever it was seemed to be staying away from her.

"Sara. It will be morning soon. I would advise finding a cave to set as your temporary respawn point, just in case the worst should happen."

She looked up, and saw that the sky was changing from black to dark blue, with hints of colour at the horizon.

Are there any nearby caves?

"Yes. Eron Hills has many, many caves. The difficulty lies in finding one that is not occupied."

Occupied?

"Yes. Bears, and spiders like to make these caves their homes, so they also serve as their respawn points. It is not possible to simply chase them out."

S-spiders? Like... giant spiders?

"Correct. I would say they are roughly the same size as you. There are bigger ones, but you can only find those in deep caves, and dungeons."

Sara hadn't had any real problem with spiders back on Earth. There weren't any dangerous ones where she had lived, and they helped keep her place insect-free. Videogame spiders were a different matter. She hadn't even seen a giant spider in VR before, yet now she faced the possibility of seeing one with her actual eyes? It made her wish she had gotten the Fireball spell from the Goblin Mages. Her desire to bite a spider was even lower than her desire to bite the snakes back Merwyn Forest, and she would prefer not getting in range of the legs at all.

At least it sounded like they weren't roaming, so the rustling grass was unlikely to contain spiders.

"I will guide you to an unoccupied cave, as I do not wish for you to die before you are able to respawn in this area."

But you are fine with me dying afterwards?

"It is part of the experience."

That sounded a little too callous for Sara's tastes, but she couldn't really argue against it.

[ Discovered Area: Eron Hillside East. ]

Shortly before reaching the cave she had apparently climbed high enough to transition into the next area.

"I do recommend you have a look into caves you find on the way through the zone. Fighting the creatures inside would be a useful experience, and you might even find treasures."

... I will consider it.

She didn't have any use for treasures, at least not at the moment, though she would concede the point that learning how to fight spiders, and other mobs in a place where her movement was restricted would be useful. The problem was that she really didn't want to.

But what if the spiders have useful skills, her greed asked.

Maybe she could at least have a look. With Stealth and Camouflage they shouldn't be able to spot her unless she revealed herself.

[ Camouflage Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution available! 1 skill point gained. ]

Speak of the sun...

[ Camouflage (Passive): Makes the holder harder to notice as they blend into their surroundings. Effect increases with skill level. Stacks with Stealth.
Max Level Bonus: +50% efficiency while standing still. ]

v [ Evolves Into ] v

[ Chameleon (Passive): Makes the holder harder to notice as they blend into their surroundings. While standing still the holder's appearance will gradually change pattern and colour to match their background. This effect can be disabled for Friends, Allies, and/or Neutrals. Effect increases with skill level. Stacks with Stealth. ]

[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve Yes/No ]

What does it mean by it 'can be disabled'?

"By default only party members can see through someone's stealth effects, but with Chameleon we got feedback that holders did not like gradually fading away while talking to merchants, quest givers, or their friends, so we added a toggle for them to disable the effect if they would like. You can decide whether to toggle just one, two, or all three of those categories."

That did sound like it would be an issue, though not for Sara. At least not at the moment. Evolving seemed like the standard tradeoff of temporarily having less skill effect, with a bigger payoff in the long run. While she was heading into dangerous territory where the unevolved max level skill might help more, she wasn't sure if there would ever come a better time, so she chose to evolve the skill.

[ Camouflage Skill Evolved Into Chameleon Skill. ]

She poked her head out of the cave to have a look at the sky. The sun wasn't quite up yet, but the sky was a mostly clear blue, with some clouds that were bathed in hues of red and orange by the rising sun. Looked like it was going to be another clear day, and her Environmental Sense was not suggesting otherwise.

"Sara? Might I suggest checking your Reputation tab?" Aina said with no pretext.

Hm? Sure.

[ Reputation ]

[ Eronite Kingdom: -44 (Neutral) ]
[^Bramond City: +12 (Neutral) ]
[^Merwyn Forest Guard: +68 (Neutral) ]

[ Adventurers' Guild: +56 (Neutral) ]

[ Merwyn Goblin Raiders: -256 (Hostile) ]

W-what's all this?!

The number on the Raiders had dropped by a substantial amount, and suddenly there were several new things as well.

"I wanted to explain, which is why I wanted you to look first. The final amount of goblins you killed, either yourself, or as part of working with the other mobs was 56, and you lost one reputation point with them for each. But you also gained reputation with the factions that care about killing them.
First off you gained one point with the kingdom overall for every helpful action done for a faction belonging to the kingdom, but each action only counts once, even if you gain reputation with more than one subordinate faction because of it.

"As a predator mob you automatically start with -100 reputation with Resident factions unless there's some special circumstance like the Goblin Raiders' increased hostility towards forest creatures, or the Guild being neutral towards everyone as a baseline. Though usually a mob wouldn't have to worry about reputation in the first place.

"Bramond City considers the Raiders as one of the major problems in its neighbouring zones, so you gained 2 points for each kill from them. Meanwhile the Forest Guard have the job of directly handling the Goblin problem, so you gained 3 points per kill from them."

Isn't that a bit much?

"Since the average Adventurer will not kill that many Goblins without serious dedication, or joining a raid, it was decided to make it generous to reduce the amount of grind. You just happened to make your own raid. Ordinarily someone's main reputation gain would come from completing quests. And a lot of quests, subjugation especially go through the Adventurers' Guild, which is why you gained points with them as well."

This is a lot to take in...

"Since you are still a mob, you will not be able to see any gain from this due to your lack of communication ability. Seeing you as a mob supersedes Residents recognising your reputation level, but it should give you a head start when you begin your Resident life. Though I am actually not sure how the system will handle this when there is no physical record of your achievements, yet your reputation score can be read."

What do you mean?

"The developers worked hard on how to implement a game-like reputation system into this simulation of a real world in a way that would make intuitive sense. I will not claim it works perfectly. The studio has a team working on improving it, but as of right now it works as follows:

"If you have a Neutral ranking most people should treat you decently, though of course what that means differs between individuals. Their personal biases also come into play. Individuals will also remember personal actions you have done for or to them, and anything they have witnessed you doing. They might spread that knowledge to anyone they know, but generally Residents can sort of sense your ranking, and should treat you accordingly. Like if you reach Friendly rank or above, they feel a light compulsion to treat you nicer, or in reverse if you are at Unfriendly or below, they might feel compelled to be rude, or even attack you on sight if you reach Hostile.

"However the internal AI of the Residents started disagreeing with this system within the first month of the beta. It is more of a subconscious thing than an active decision, but many prefer to make their own judgements on whether or not they like someone rather than leave it all to a number system. Some act freely disregarding the system, and might try to reason with someone deemed hostile, or be suspicious of someone deemed an ally."

That makes sense, doesn't it?

"Indeed. Still, the reputation system has gained official approval by the different nations, since it can be useful in quickly discerning whether someone warrants suspicion. So reputation readers are present at the entry points to all major cities, as well as other locations like guard headquarters. Though they typically won't check everyone unless there's a situation that calls for it.

"They are not omniscient though. They can only read the reputations of local factions they are allied with. So they can tell whether you are friendly towards them, but not if you are towards others

"The Adventurers' Guild has a reader built into the analysis device that checks their members' statuses, and activity record, but it only lists your reputation with the Guild itself. They are ostensibly a neutral organisation, after all.

"Most readers can be fooled, for instance with Conceal Status, but there are special readers that belong to the Churches and Temples of the various nations that cannot be fooled, and will show your reputation scores for every faction belonging to the nation."

This sounds very complicated.

"With how the system currently works it cannot be helped. Regardless, people who work to raise their reputation will usually become known figures around those factions, so even without the influence of their number score, the Residents will know them. So what will happen when someone completely unknown nevertheless shows up with a reputation score they cannot explain? I am interested to find out."

To Sara this just sounded like it was going to become a headache at some point in the future.

Chapter Text

She wasn't really tired yet, so she decided to keep going for a bit longer. Aina had said there were caves all over the place, so she banked on being able to find more unoccupied ones on the way up. Even in daylight she should be fine, especially since she was well out of sight of the road by this point, but she probably had to be a little careful nonetheless.

Now that she was in the next area, the height of the grass had decreased a bit, which felt nice. At least it was easier to see what mobs were around, unless they were so small they still didn't reach above the grass. More snakes came to mind, but she decided to push that possibility back out until it was confirmed.

Leaping her way into one of the few trees gave her a pretty great view as the sun crawled above the horizon. She had to take a minute to adjust her eyes to the light before she could scout around. What she could see were goats, the occasional bear, some birds... eagles maybe, though there were no wolves in sight. Maybe they weren't common outside of forests.

There were also smaller things that were harder to make out. Foxes? Actually, zooming in made them look more like large ferrets. Her cousin owned a ferret. It was a furry little bastard. Very briefly she spotted a hare hopping out of the grass before it dropped back in.

She was about to drop back down when she noticed movement on the rocks. Large lizards were crawling out onto the exposed patches of rock where the sun was now shining down. She could vaguely remember hearing that some lizard types liked sunbathing.

Oh, they have little wings! Is this the first true fantasy monster I've seen? Actually, I guess magic ravens, and druidic deer are also fantasy, but this might be some sort of juvenile dragon! Who doesn't want to see a dragon?!

It didn't look like much of a dragon, but she had to investigate. She felt somewhat excited as she landed in the grass again.

A nearby ferret hissed at her much like a cat would when she dropped down, and then ran away before she could use Identify on it. She was even more sure it was a ferret now, but at least it had the sense to not pick a fight with someone much bigger than it. If it bit her in the ankle or something, she would use the full extent of her power to stomp it into the ground.

She moved briskly towards the nearest patch of rock, and entered Stealth when she figured she was getting close to possible detection range. It was trickier to Stealth through grass than the woods. Not just having less cover, but also because it was more obvious that you were displacing the grass when there was nothing to distract from it. The Stealth skill's cloaking effect should help compensate for it, but she still felt awkwardly exposed. Nevertheless she got close enough to land an Identify on the lazing lizard.

[ Hill Drake (Beast Lvl 22) HP: 122/122 ]

Okay, so it was higher level than her, but even more curious was the class. She hadn't seen that on any other mob, even though you could say that beast was a synonym for animal.

Aina? What sort of a class is Beast?

"It is a mob only class that is usually applied to creatures that do not fit normal taxonomy. For instance there is no such thing as a drake back on Earth. Other mobs based on mythological creatures may also have the Beast class, but could also have a regular class. For instance a gryphon is a Beast, while a pegasus is a Cleric. Really strong creatures like a chimera, or a full-fledged dragon are often Mythical Beasts, while entirely unique raid boss level monsters might even be Legendary Beasts. Really strong versions of mobs based on regular animals might also have one of the Beast classes. The advantage of a Beast is that it can have several skills that are usually associated with different classes. Similar to you, I suppose."

That last part almost sounded like she was making a joke, but it was hard to say for sure.

"Mobs with regular classes usually have a couple of non-class skills related to what animal they are based on, but Beasts often have larger variety."

Well then, it was time to have a look.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 2 | Rend Lvl 2 | Body Slam Lvl 8 | Tail Whip Lvl 8 | Leap Lvl 5 | Gust Lvl 5 |
Fireball Lvl Max | Fire Breath Lvl Max | Poison Bolt Lvl 8 | Glide Lvl 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 15 | Keen Eyes Lvl 15 | Tough Scales Lvl 8 | Air Control Lvl 5 |
Fire Element Up Lvl 5 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Intelligence Up (Small) Lvl 6 |
Fire Resistance Lvl 5 ]

That was a juicy set of skills. Most of which she had seen before. There were only a couple of new ones.

[ Tail Whip (Active): Strike with a sweeping motion of a tail, or something equivalent. Medium knockback force. Effect increases with skill level. Damage value: (1+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. Scales with type of tail. Cost: 3 SP. Cast time: 1 second. Refresh: 5 seconds. (Ai-note: While the skill compensates to an extent, your tail is not as solid or heavy as a dragon-type tail, so do not expect the same level of impact.) ]

[ Glide (Active): Use wings, a gliding tool, or something equivalent while in the air to slowly glide downwards. Channelled effect. Glide control increases with skill level. Activation cost: 5 SP. Slowly drains SP while active. Deactivation cost: 0. Warning: you will instantly plummet upon deactivation. Automatically deactivates upon landing. Refresh: 2 seconds. (Ai-note: You do not possess wings, or the means to use tools, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

Upon closer inspection, the wings of the drake were on the small side, which was probably why it could only Leap, and not fly. The wings were probably only used for Gliding, and to improve Air Control.

Aina? What does it mean by channelled effect?

"It means it needs to be actively maintained, as opposed to a continuous effect that automatically keeps going without any further input from the user. Channelled effects are consequently much easier to break."

So if you lose concentration while in the air, then you drop?

"Exactly. Though the speed depends on your load-out, so to speak."

So unless there were more than 2 seconds before you hit the ground, you wouldn't be able to reactivate it. That was honestly not a lot of time once gravity got its claws into you, and depending on your abilities it could be a rough landing.

Though why did this one also have to have poison? She had run into so many things that had some way or another to poison their opponents. Maybe she should grateful to the Poison Resistance after all.

Speaking of resistances, the drake had Fire Resistance. Sara hadn't seen a lot of resistance skills so far. The only other one had been poison. She had to wonder if they were really rare, or just rare in lower level mobs. While she didn't exactly want to set herself on fire to level it up, it seemed like something that was better to have, than not. That and Fireball were the two things she wanted the most from this thing.

She was curious what the max level bonus for Fireball was, but upon checking the skill description it was... not there.

Does Fireball not have a bonus?

"Unlocks, and additional abilities can normally only be viewed by the one who possesses the skill. So someone who used Identify on you would not be able to see the max level bonus for Howl, or Sprint unless they also had that skill maxed."

That information gave her a mix of disappointment, and relief.

As tough as the drake seemed, she felt like she had a decent shot at taking it down. Remembering the snakes suggested that Tough Scales was going to be an issue, but she had magic now to help compensate for that. Not to mention she could try out one of her brand new Druid abilities: shapeshifting!

Cat Form combined with Growth (which was only available for another handful of days) should give her a large boost to Ambush. She had changed her mind to thinking she should take advantage of that while she could, mainly because of the level difference, and toughness of her target. It looked on par with the deer, which she felt she could handle at this point with the right preparation.

And if it failed she was only a few minutes away from her new respawn point.

Activating Cat Form was... unpleasant. Shapeshifting came with a sense of discomfort as her body morphed. Maybe that was part of why she was put to sleep while evolving. Hopefully it was something that would get easier the more she used it, because it was too useful to give up on.

Considering how the drake was curled up, it was a little hard to tell exactly where its 'behind' was, and her 'eye for weakness' as she had dubbed it only highlighted the heart, and head as usual. It was interesting, but not useful, that the heart was in a slightly different location compared to the mammal-based mobs she had seen so far. Going with her instinct she decided to aim her Ambush right at the exposed part of the back.

"GRARGH!"

The drake roared in pain as half its health vanished in one go. Sara immediately followed up with a Rend, but she could feel how her claws just slid across the hide, doing little damage. And it felt too tough to properly bite through even with Chomp. The Tough Scales were probably doing what they were intended to.

An instinctual Leap to dodge out of the way let her get away with mostly some singed fur as the drake unleashed its Fire Breath. She rolled across the rocky ground to put the fire out before it could spread, and did another Leap to create some distance between them. She did not want to be hit with the Burn status. Close combat didn't seem like it was a viable option any longer, so she would have to test out her ranged skills.

Deactivating Cat Form made her feel so uncomfortable that she staggered, and the drake was quick to take advantage of the distraction to cast a Fireball. She was only barely able to recover in time to throw herself out of the way, but not quickly enough to get out of the explosion radius. The air was filled with the smell of burned fur as she truly caught on fire that time.

Aina was right, she thought as she desperately rolled around the ground again. It hurt quite a lot. But she refused to allow herself to panic, and tried to use it to enhance her focus instead. She was able to cast Rejuvenate before getting back on her feet, and the soothing sensation nearly made her groan with relief.

She cast Thorn Bind on the drake that was trying to charge her. The sense of magic flowing through her body, and releasing into the world was almost intoxicating. But then... it didn't work. A frantic Leap let her escape the all too obvious Body Slam, but the drake quickly spun around, and cast another Fireball at her. Normally this would be quite bad, since she wouldn't have any way to avoid it, but thanks to Air Control she was able to change her trajectory enough for the spell to completely miss.

The drake looked distinctly frustrated, and shot her a murderous glare while she tried to figure out why Thorn Bind hadn't worked. Then it hit her. The rock. The vines couldn't break through the rock. Well, she had other options.

Mana flowed from her body towards the tip of her nose as she cast another spell: Frost Bolt. The drake was not able to react in time, and was struck in the side as it tried to get out of the way. It was now Slowed by the chill, and perhaps realising that trying to charge in wouldn't work at the moment, it returned fire with a Poison Bolt.

Not quite prepared for the speed of the bolt spell, even though she had just watched her own fly, Sara was struck in the leg as she tried to jump out of the way, which for the purposes of the system counted as a full hit. She didn't even have to see the icon to know she had been poisoned. The internal burning sensation was proof enough.

Two could play that game. Her HP was fine enough that the poison wouldn't kill, especially not with her resistance, so she decided to focus on offence, and fired back with a Poison Bolt of her own that the slowed drake had no chance to dodge. It took the hit straight to the head while Sara prepared another Frost Bolt to follow it. After a dodge to get out of the way of another Fireball, she cast a final Frost Bolt that finished off her opponent.

[ Hill Drake (Beast Lvl 22) Defeated. ]

[ Ambush Skill Level Up! ] [ Leap Skill Level Up! ] [ Frost Bolt Skill Level Up! ]
[ Air Control Skill Level Up! ] [ Mana Manipulation Skill Level Up! ]

[ Skill Gained: Fire Resistance. ]

She had been focusing on what she wanted, counting on her luck to come through, and it had. She wondered how far she could push it. If she was able to reliably gain exactly what she wanted, even if it was only one skill at a time, then it was getting close to the sort of cheat skill Norax had wanted her to have.

But it had been a rough fight. Knowing the drake's skills hadn't prepared her for how it fought, not to mention how she wasn't used to her own skills either. Getting distracted by the discomfort of shapeshifting had been the biggest blunder. Yet without that initial spike of damage her chances of winning would have been reduced. Or at least it would have taken much longer. The drake seemed to be weak to magic though, at least compared to how tough it was against physical attacks.

She cast Regrowth on herself to restore her lost HP. While the layer of leaves that grew across her felt weird, it was nice that her fur was growing back. The healing magic itself felt quite nice as well. So nice in fact that she cast a second one on herself for safe measure. She could really get used to this magic stuff.

[ Regrowth Skill Level Up! ]

Oh, thank you!

Well, the first couple of skill levels were usually really quick to get, so maybe she shouldn't be surprised.

A sudden thought struck.

Wait... Cat Form significantly increases my Agility, right? So wouldn't I be able to travel faster using Cat Form?

Aina chimed in. "Yes, but the speed increase is not as drastic as you might be imagining. You won't suddenly be going at Sprint speed without Sprint, since Agility is not the only factor that affects movement speed. Adventurer parties would have an awkward time travelling together if that was the case. It should still save you a few hours across the length of the journey."

Even with that caveat she wished she had thought of it sooner. She might have had less trouble shapeshifting if she had already used it a few times.

Turning into a cat again was still uncomfortable, but she had to get used to it. Looking at her short, dark fur she had to imagine she was a panther, a jaguar, or something quite similar. Regardless it was time to keep going.

Chapter Text

Instead of recklessly rushing forwards, she decided to take a more leisurely pace for the time being, and see what sorts of mobs she'd have to deal with on the way up the hillside. The two major targets were the goats, and the bears. The bears weren't that numerous, and kept to themselves as if they had distinct territories. From what little she'd seen, they seemed to spend their time raiding berry bushes, chasing hares through the grass, or sitting on the exposed rock surfaces. How they found the hares was a different puzzle. Did they track them by scent? Or Sense Presence? If the former she'd have to be careful about approaching, since she suspected that Stealth didn't hide her scent.

The goats just wandered around, munching on grass, berries, herbs, and anything else they thought was suitable for consumption. Mobs currently didn't need to eat anything, but goats were gonna goat. They didn't appear to bother anyone, though she did sometimes see them stomp the ground in the grass, as if they were trying to step on something.

The ferrets were rarely seen, but presumably they were just doing whatever the fuck they wanted, the devious little troublemakers. Maybe Sara was projecting her biases too much.

With a combination of Stealth, Sense Presence, and Thermal Vision she was able to track down one of the furry tubes. She might not have direct line of sight due to all the grass, but that meant she got to use her bonus ability already.

[ Grass Weasel (Rogue Lvl 21) HP: 67/67 ]

They could call it a weasel all they wanted. She would continue to think of them as ferrets. It was basically the same thing, really.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl Max | Rake Lvl 8 | Feint Lvl 8 | Jump Lvl Max | Sprint Lvl Max | Dig Lvl 8 |
Climb Lvl 8 | Stealth Lvl 5 | Sense Presence Lvl 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Eyes Lvl 12 | Keen Ears Lvl 12 | Camouflage Lvl 5 | Air Control Lvl 2 |
Agility Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 6 ]

It wasn't a very surprising skill set. It had some maxed skills, but no evolved ones. She hadn't seen them use any of these skills, besides Sprint. Then again, she hadn't seen them much at all, and not seeing someone use Stealth was kind of the point. There was only one skill she hadn't seen before.

[ Feint (Active): Perform a quick attack that serves as a distraction. If successful, it leaves the target open so the user's next attack gains +50% Critical Hit chance. Damage value: (0.2+(0.01*skill level))*attack power. Success rate increases with skill level. Alternately the user can deliberately miss, reducing their aggro level, and giving them the chance to disengage. Cost: 2 SP. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

Sara felt like she had a better idea of how these things fought now. She imagined they mainly harassed and annoyed the other creatures, or just used their skills to stay away. They could defend themselves if Adventurers came after them, but it sounded like they would mostly try to run away.

She was easily able to find one of the goats close by. They had put enough detail into them that the female ones had udders, though she wasn't sure whether they worked. Not that she had any way (or particular desire) to find out.

[ Hill Goat (Fighter Lvl 23) HP: 89/89 ]

All these names were pretty straightforward, as if the writer didn't have very good naming sense, or the desire to put the effort in.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Kick Lvl Max | Ram Lvl 5 | Charge Lvl 8 | Stomp Lvl 8 | Jump Lvl Max | Climb Lvl Max ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Ears Lvl 13 | Insulation Lvl 6 | Cat's Feet Lvl 6 | Firm Grip Lvl 6 | Balance Up Lvl 6 |
Strength Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 6 ]

It didn't seem very attack oriented, which might be common for herbivore mobs that weren't evil. It just needed to defend itself, and be able to get away. It had several climbing related skills. On a hunch she glanced towards the cliffs that seemed to stretch across the entire northern border of the kingdom, and sure enough she saw some movement up there. Goats were definitely the same wherever you went. Maybe they were after some rare, tasty herbs or something.

She did wonder what the difference between Ram and Charge were, since at first glance they sounded similar.

[ Ram (Active): User strikes with their head, or something equivalent. Weak knockback force. Effect increases with skill level. Damage value: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. Damage scales with blunt objects like helmets, horns, or something equivalent. (50+(1*skill level))% chance to inflict Stun(?) status for 5 seconds. Cost: 4 SP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 8 seconds. ]

Ah, so it's like a headbutt.

"Correct. It is the evolved version of the Headbutt skill."

That seemed very appropriate for a goat.

There didn't seem to be any particular need to attack them. She wasn't interested in headbutting her enemies, and it probably wasn't worth a ton of experience. Besides, she liked goats.

Instead she had a look at all the things the goat had been munching on. Most of it was grass that Identify didn't react to, but there were also some herbs. Something called Sweet Grass, a common herb of low quality marked as an ingredient, and one of the berry bushes the bears also seemed fond was full (well, half-full after the goat was done) of Wild Raspberries. Raspberries didn't grow on bushes like that, at least not on Earth, but she put a bunch of them in her inventory anyway. They varied between low, and medium quality. Thinking back she had seen stuff of lesser quality back in the forest.

Aina? How many tiers of quality are there? I've seen lesser, low, and medium, so I assume there's also high?

"Correct. There is also greater, and superior, though the latter is difficult to find outside of dangerous, and hard to reach areas."

She had a look at a plant with a yellow tint that was identified as a paralysis herb of medium quality. She had no idea whether it caused, or cured paralysis. You probably needed some sort of botany or crafting skill to get more information. Alchemy perhaps?

[ Identify Skill Level Up! ]

She was always a little surprised when that happened, as she didn't really know whether different things gave different amounts of experience towards Identify, so it was hard to predict when it would level up. She had used it on a lot of things back in the forest, and had tried to remember to check things out along the way here as well. The goat had wandered out of range while she was distracted, so she checked the skill description instead.

[ Identify (General): Lets you see information about targets and items you focus on. Higher skill levels increase range, and unlock more information.
...
Level 8: Names of targets who are not allies. ]

She understood the words, but not really what they meant.

Can you explain this name thing, Aina?

"Right, this has not been a factor in your experience so far. Normally when you use Identify on someone, you can only see their name if they fall within the Ally category. Friends, party members, and members of factions you are part of, or have reached Allied status with. Everyone gets to pick at least one faction to belong to when they create their character. Otherwise the only way to know someone's name is to have them introduce themselves, or overhear them using their own name. That will unlock getting to see their name with Identify, even if you are not allies. Having someone else tell you does not count. They might be incorrect, or lying. Reaching Identify level 8 lets you bypass this restriction, and see their name regardless.

"This is a separate thing from named mobs. You have a name, but in terms of the system rules you are not a 'Named Mob'. Your name is the same as a Wanderer's, or Resident's, though I have hidden it from possible view. A named mob's name shows up in place of their species name when Identified. The only restriction is that if the target is more than 20 levels above the person using Identify, it will only show up as '???'."

That sounded like something that wouldn't be useful to Sara for a while. Even if she could see the names of the Adventurers, that wouldn't really help her out until she could interact with them.

Moving on, she crept towards the closest bear. It seemed to be taking a break, as it had planted its butt down on the sun-warmed rock. That looked like a nice idea, actually. It also hit her just how big bears were. Or maybe videogame bears were exceptionally so. Even with how much she had grown, this thing looked to have at least twice her bulk.

[ Brown Grizzly Bear (Fighter Lvl 26) HP:181/181 ]

Really bulky indeed.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 6 | Rend Lvl 6 | Body Slam Lvl 8 | Savage Blow Lvl 4 | Crush Lvl 4 |
Shred Lvl 4 | Roar Lvl Max ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Eyes Lvl 12 | Keen Ears Lvl 12 | Keen Nose Lvl 12 | Insulation Lvl 8 |
Solid Coat Lvl 6 | Desperation Lvl 6 | Pursuit Lvl 8 | Balance Up Lvl 6 |
Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Defence Up (Small) Lvl 6 ]

What the...

She had to stare at it for a minute. A glimpse at the Status screen showed that its stats were no joke either. It was some sort of power tank. Her own Bear Form skill had given her some hints about it being made for tanking, but she had to wonder what they were thinking when they designed this thing. Unless there was some sort of boss bear wandering around, this had to be the toughest thing in the area. No wonder there weren't a lot of them. And what was all this stuff?

[ Savage Blow (Active): A heavy blow from a hand, paw, or some sort of blunt implement. Knocks target back, and inflicts Stun(?) status for 6 seconds. Damage value: (1.2+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. Extra aggro generated. Cost: 8 SP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 15 seconds. ]

[ Crush (Active): Attack with strong jaws, or something equivalent. Damage value: (1.2+(0.03*skill level))*attack power. Reduce target's Defence by (10+(1*skill level))% for 10 seconds. Extra durability damage. Effect increases with skill level. Capable of breaking bones(?). Cost: 7 SP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 15 seconds. ]

[ Shred (Active): Attack with a slashing weapon, claws, or something equivalent. Damage value: (1.1+(0.03*skill level))*attack power. Damages armour, inflicting extra durability damage, though less effective the heavier the armour is. Cloth shreds easily, metal does not. Effect increases with skill level. Inflicts Heavy Bleed(?) status if it strikes an unarmoured part of a body. Cost: 7 SP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 15 seconds. ]

Sara was tempted to swear. That sounded so brutal, but at least it seemed like it was possible to see these attacks coming. Cast time usually included a wind-up animation, though 3 seconds was not a lot of time to react. And there were some new tooltips.

[ Broken Bone (Status Condition): A broken bone impedes the movement and ability of the affected limb. Very painful. HP damage is taken if movement is excessive. Multiple breaks are possible. Can be made less severe with a splint, or something equivalent. A broken bone can only be mended with healing potions of medium quality or higher, or magic. HP Regen skills can slowly mend a broken bone if it is set correctly. ]

[ Heavy Bleed (Status Condition): Lose 3% of Max HP every 2 seconds. Heavy Bleeding does not go away on its own, but can be stemmed with bandaging. If bandaged it drops to 1% of Max HP every two seconds, and gains a duration timer based on the subject's Vitality score, and other relevant factors. Can be cured with healing items, or magic if healed up to full HP. HP Regen skills are not sufficient without bandaging. ]

Very nasty. As she wasn't wearing any armour, she was at the very least guaranteed the Heavy Bleed condition if she was hit. Whether it was a broken bone, or heavy bleeding, it almost sounded better to respawn than fix it.

[ Roar (Active): Release a roar that has a 50% chance to inflict Fear(?) status and/or Intimidate(?) status in enemies within a 10 metre radius for 6 seconds. Effect and duration increase with skill level. Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 20 seconds. ]

Similar to Howl, but without a buffing effect. It had something else instead.

[ Intimidate (Status Condition): Do 20% less damage against the source of the status condition. ]

Definitely seemed more tank focused.

[ Solid Coat (Passive): +5% Defence. +5% resistance to Fire, and Ice elements. +(5+(0.5*skill level))% resistance to Slashing, and Piercing damage. ]

[ Desperation (Passive): Gain a boost to Strength and Agility when HP falls below 50%. Boost increases the lower HP gets. Buff value: Starts at +5%, rises up to +(20+(1*skill level))% at maximum. ]

The drakes had decent stats, and a decent kit, but they couldn't compare to this creature.

Um... Aina? Didn't you go a little overboard with these bears?

"Blame the developers. The bears are the elites of this area, and Adventurers are not meant to fight them alone. Bear hunts are for parties of at least four people, but you likely need five-six unless you are in the late 20s or above. Though they are slated for a nerf in the next patch. Their attributes will be lowered a little, and they will lose Solid Coat, as it was deemed to be overkill."

I think they will be plenty strong regardless, but I suppose it will improve people's odds a little.

Should she fight it? No. Absolutely not. She was only mostly sure she could handle a Forest Deer at this point. This thing was at least 50% tougher. Her chances of winning were slim.

Did she want to fight it? Kinda. She had never been much of a 'in it for the challenge' kind of gamer, and she'd only been moderately sporty in real life. Her competition instinct wasn't particularly strong, but this was her life now. As she kept going up in levels, and moving to new areas, she was likely going to get exposed to more and more danger. This might be a good chance to test herself. If she realised she had no chance, she could just move on. She was only like 10-15 minutes away from the respawn point if she sprinted back.

She needed a plan. The obvious opener was Ambush, as usual. Considering how the drake fight had gone, and comparing it to what the bear had, she'd probably (hopefully) take at least 50 HP off. After that it was probably best to lure it off the rock, so she could use Thorn Bind when she needed to get some distance to heal or whatever. The bear didn't have any ranged attacks, or any sort of charge attack to close the distance either. She should be able to outmanoeuvre it. Then she had to try to keep her DoT (damage over time, for future reference) effects up. Poison Bolt should be easy. Strong Poison Strike was better, but riskier. Bleed... was only possible at short range, and not even a guarantee. So that could be rough. Frost Bolt would help slow it down. While it had Insulation, it didn't have much Wisdom, so magic defence should still be low.

She did a small retreat to practice going in and out of Cat Form a few times, since she'd have to hop out of it real quick once the Ambush was done. And she needed to remember to re-cast Growth whenever the cooldown was refreshed. And use Howl, even if it might draw other attention, because she needed every buff she could get.

When she felt sufficiently less disoriented after transforming, she headed back towards the patch of rock. The bear was still sitting there, with its back to the sun. It seemed peaceful, and toasty, though she wasn't sure if anyone needed to feel toasty in this heat.

As soon as she set foot upon the rock, the bear raised its head. It started sniffing the air.

Oh shit.

Sara remembered the wolves back in the forest, and this thing also had Keen Nose. It seemed like her fear that they could still smell her was correct. She hurried forward as quickly as she could without breaking stealth. Meanwhile the bear got onto its feet, and had started to turn towards her when she finally got in Ambush range.

Shit!

She had no choice but to attack right away, even though it wasn't a back attack. It should still be +50% crit, and...

That was a disappointingly small chunk of the health bar gone. Maybe 15%. At most. And no Bleed icon.

Shit...

The bear roared at her as she swiped in a quick Strong Poison Strike, and then she used Leap to get out of the way as she spotted its left paw glowing. She had no idea if it was Savage Blow or Shred, and she didn't want to find out. After missing, the bear let loose with Roar just before Sara landed. A small Fear icon popped into view, and she was unable to move.

If only I could have run away instead, she thought as the bear bore down on her. Thankfully her high Endurance shortened the duration, so she was... not quite able to react in time to the bear slamming into her, probably with Body Slam considering the impact, and sending her flying into the grass. Well, she wasn't Stunned, just a little dazed as she got on her feet. On the upside the bear had sent her exactly where she wanted to go.

As it came her way again, she was able to cast Thorn Bind to lock it in place long enough to unleash a Frost Bolt, and a Poison bolt before it was freed. Her old poison had just worn off, so she got a new one in place. With the bear now slowed she moved closer, unleashing a Rend on the flank, and actually scoring a critical this time. Another decent chunk off, and a Bleed inflicted, so the bear was at nearly 50% HP.

But she had not been able to notice the paw that came swinging at her in time. Suddenly she was flung through the air again, and the Stun icon popped up. Even though she'd only been hit twice, she was close to 50% herself.

Then the bear caught her. It bit into her, and while it was probably just a regular Chomp, her HP still dropped a lot. The next claw swipe made her yelp with pain, and a Bleed icon with a + in the corner popped up.

She unleashed an Arcane Blast to try to create some distance, which did push the bear away, but not as dramatically as she had hoped. It was still enough to let her get away, and cast another Thorn Bind. She needed to heal herself, so she popped Rejuvenate before casting Regrowth. By that time the bear had broken free again, so she cast another Frost Bolt to slow it down. The bear's eyes suddenly grew redder as it flung itself towards her. She managed to Leap out of the way, and get in another Strong Poison Strike before the Slow wore off.

Then she was brutally reminded that the Slow from frost did not hinder physical attacks without cast time, and the bear grabbed her paw in its mouth before she could retreat. She could only watch in horror as the teeth started to glow, and-

*CRUNCH*

-she felt her leg break. Even with pain effects set to half, that hurt so bad she nearly blacked out, and the bear swiftly finished her off.

[ Respawn Timer: 04:59 ]

Up to 5 minutes now? That sucks... I felt so close too... I think I got it close to 30% HP, but why did it seem to get faster... oh, right, Desperation...

Thankfully the pain had faded with death, and there were many little popups waiting for her attention.

[ Rend Skill Level Up! ] [ Strong Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ] [ Thorn Bind Skill Level Up! ]
[ Frost Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Growth Skill Level Up! ]
[ Rejuvenate Skill Level Up! ] [ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ]
[ Nature Element Up Skill Level Up! ] [ Mana Manipulation Skill Level Up! ]

She had gotten a bunch of skill level ups. She hadn't been able to get any bites of her own in, but the rest would give her better odds next time, and she had gotten to see its attack patterns now. Some of them, at least. Even if she didn't particularly want to feel her bones break again, it felt like a fight she had a chance at winning. She just needed to be more careful. And... maybe turn her pain sensitivity setting down a little further.

Chapter Text

After reviewing the fight in her mind, she realised a couple of things. First off she had completely forgotten to use Howl, and she had forgotten to keep track of when Growth was off cooldown. Maybe the bear detecting her had thrown her off. It was possible the fight hadn't lasted 30 seconds anyway. It was hard to tell when you were right in the middle of it, and she didn't have any sort of watch, or clock. The game UI probably had one, but she couldn't see any of that.

She Sprinted all the way back in search of her rematch, startling several ferrets, hares, and one goat along the way. This time she'd pay attention to Environmental Sense to check the wind's direction before she snuck close. However she didn't expect her Stealth to disguise her for very long if she approached within line of sight. Maybe peripheral vision would be fine? If only she could change the direction of the wind, but she hadn't come across any wind magic yet.

The bear was back in its sunny position, and as far as she could tell all its injuries were gone. It had maybe moved a little to keep the sun on its back. The wind direction was... yeah, it was unfortunately blowing at an angle where if she tried to go right behind it again, her scent would probably be detected.

Something Aina had said came to mind. That you could use Life Magic for stuff like creating a small breeze, or simulating a hair dryer... could she possibly make enough wind to keep her scent away from the bear? She still hadn't practised Life Magic at all, but she had gained a feeling for how mana was supposed to flow thanks to other magic skills. So the skill should help out automatically to an extent. She doubted she'd be able to cast a Frost Bolt from scratch, so to speak, without skill assistance. Though if that was possible, it would be quite interesting.

Regardless she had a sense for her inner mana flow from using spells, and having Mana Manipulation. And she had a sense for the flow of wind thanks to Environmental Sense. Saying she had a good sense for it was stretching the truth, but she had a sense.

She tried imagining moving that wind herself. The straws of grass she was practising on were able to move back and forth a little after trying for a few minutes, but she didn't think it was enough to mask her entire scent.

[ Mana Manipulation Skill Level Up! ]

[ Life Magic Skill Level Up! ]

Oh! So it can happen that way too. I guess... it's a little bit easier now? I'll try approaching from the back side as much as I can while staying out of direct line of wind, and try to move the wind enough to cover me even further. If I get close enough, I can hurry behind its back before it can react.

Approaching seemed to go fine. Even though she was within the bear's peripheral vision, it seemed like nearly maxed Stealth and one level of Chameleon were enough to keep her hidden. For now. She moved very cautiously just to be sure. While she felt a faint breeze on her cheek, she had her doubts whether this wind manipulation scheme was actually doing anything. It couldn't hurt to practice, though.

Somehow she was able to get within 2 metres before the bear showed signs of movement. When she sped up to get behind it, it turned its head, clearly noticing her, but it was too late. Her Ambush landed, and this time it took roughly a third of the health bar away. Maybe more like a fourth.

Quickly sneaking in a quick Strong Poison Strike, she attempted to follow up with a Body Slam, but she was the one who ended up bouncing off. Considering their size difference, that unfortunately made sense. She got a little damage in, but she took a recoil hit, and was knocked on her ass, giving the bear time to spin around, and lunge at her. A mighty Leap sent her into the grass where she wanted to lure the bear, and conveniently got her out of the range of the Roar the bear unleashed. She got ready to cast Thorn Bind for when it charged off the rock. But...

Shit, I'm still in Cat Form.

She shifted back to normal, but that brief delay was enough for the bear to barrel into her again. The Body Slam didn't send her flying as far this time, her balance hanging on better, but that wasn't all good since it just meant that she was closer to the bear's next attack. She tried to throw herself to the side, but the claws still caught her flank, and applied the nasty Bleed+ icon.

A quick Arcane Blast shoved the bear a little bit away, enough for her to finally get off a Thorn Bind, follow up with a Frost Bolt, and a Poison Bolt before the bear broke loose. She cast Rejuvenate on herself to slow the bleeding a little, but she had to watch for the bear's incoming attack, so couldn't afford to Regrowth. Maybe she could try Leaping over it, and... Chomping down on its ass!

Unfortunately the Slow wore off, and Desperation had started kicking in, so the bear spun around a little too quickly, and lashed out with a Rend, which then comboed into a Savage Blow, before it pounced on her while she was still Stunned.

[ Respawn Timer: 04:59 ]

Well... I think that lasted shorter than the first time... and I just barely got it below half HP. I should probably try to keep my distance more, rather than trying to get cheeky. At least I have more popups.

[ Life Magic Skill Level Up! ] [ Chameleon Skill Level Up! ] [ Chomp Skill Level Up! ]
[ Leap Skill Level Up! ] [ Arcane Blast Skill Level Up! ] [ Cat Form Skill Level Up! ]
[ Nature Element Up Skill Level Up! ]

She hadn't gotten to use a lot of skills that time, so it was impressive she had even gotten that much. Like with the Forest Deer, she suspected the Grizzly gave bonus skill experience.

While she waited she might as well reconsider her strategy, and whether there was anything she could do differently. Honestly it was more that she had to do it better. She'd see how well she did just trying to keep her distance. She was faster than the bear, after all. So far both times had gone wrong when she had attempted to get in close for some added damage.

[ Respawn Timer: 00:00 ]

The bear had moved a little further. It seemed prioritise keeping the sun at its back. She wondered how clever it was. Had it learned from their two previous tussles? Was it going to be an arms race of who could adapt their strategy fastest?

[ Environmental Sense Skill Level Up! ]

That was probably her cue to get going. This time it was easier to approach from the other side. The sun had moved, but the wind direction was the same. She stalked her way around the outside of the open rock before closing in. At one point she thought she saw the bear react, but it only twitched its ear.

Same opening as last time! The bear roared in pain, and this time Sara remembered to disengage Cat Form after the Strong Poison Strike, while she was jumping away. She launched a Frost Bolt just as the bear turned to face her, and then she ran into the grass again. Maybe it was just her imagination, but it looked angrier this time.

She remembered to Howl as she ran, then fired off another Frost Bolt after getting into position, and then immediately used Thorn Bind because the bear was already closing in, in spite of being chilled. The bear was already below 50%, and its eyes had gotten a faint red glow to them. After she hit it with a Poison Bolt, that glow was a little stronger. Did it intensify the further into Desperation it was? Another Thorn Bind, but the bear broke out of it surprisingly quickly at the same time as Slow wore off, so she hit an Arcane Blast to stagger it, which gave her enough time to launch another Frost Bolt. It was finally below a quarter HP, but before she was able to move away again the bear used Roar, and Sara found herself frozen in Fear again.

Dammit!

The bear caught her, and Crushed her leg. She struggled to take down the last bit of the bear's HP, but even with the help of Growth it was able to drain all of hers much faster.

[ Respawn Timer: 04:59 ]

Dammit dammit dammit! So close! And that still really hurt! Ugh... please cheer me up, popups.

[ Strong Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ] [ Thorn Bind Skill Level Up! ]
[ Frost Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Growth Skill Level Up! ]
[ Mana Manipulation Skill Level Up! ] [ Firm Grip Skill Level Up! ]
[ Balance Up Skill Level Up! ]

She was getting stronger each time, so third- no wait, fourth time was the charm? Something like that. Honestly it felt like it was partly down to luck as well. If only she could resist the Roar's effects... it was a 50/50 chance. No, with her Endurance it should be even less. Maybe a quick prayer to Norax would help?

[ Respawn Timer: 00:00 ]

Soon enough she was back in position. The bear still seemed quite relaxed, and not alert at all. Did it not care, or was it just so confident it would beat her regardless? Considering she had already tried three times, it had to be aware she wasn't likely to give up. It was almost like it was mocking her.

She hopped back to it, same procedure as last... life, and this time the bear opened with a Roar first thing after she had landed her attack. But this time she resisted! Strong Poison Strike, Leap out of range, disengage Cat Form mid-air, Howl, and try to control it with her spells. Which worked fine until she reached the 25% mark again, at which point it was getting harder to find the time to cast before it caught up to her.

She was able to dodge its jaws, and use an Arcane Blast to try to give herself a little breathing room. The increased force was showing a bit, and she had Howl up again, so she managed to score a crit with the next Frost Bolt, putting the bear below 20%. Probably close to 15%. And now it was absolutely furious at her, more than she had seen so far. She was not given the chance to get any more spells off, nor did she have an opening to land a physical strike. All her effort went into dodging, and evading, and she couldn't even do that perfectly. Even when she tried to Leap as far away as possible, it caught up with her too quickly. If only she had more instant spells. A Shred finally caught her, causing a big chunk of damage, and bringing up the dreaded Bleed+ icon.

Not again! I refuse!

In desperation she could only think of one thing: Leap into the air, but instead of trying to get away as the bear would expect, she used Air Control to land on its back, and dug her claws in to hold on for dear life, really testing the limits of her Firm Grip, and whatever other skills helped out.

The bear tried to shake her off, but Growth was ready to go, so she popped that, bit in with a Strong Poison Strike, and then just spammed Chomp and regular bites as much as she could. She didn't dare move her paws at all.

The bear Roared, which did inflict Intimidate, but she didn't care. This rodeo wasn't stopping that easily. Rejuvenate was helping keep her alive, but she couldn't afford casting any other spells. Assuming it was even possible. Presumably she could still use cast time skills from this position, but she wasn't about to experiment. Her opponent attempted to roll onto its back to crush her, or knock her off, or both, but she held on, and responded with an Arcane Blast to try to knock it over the other side.

With a final Chomp the bear growled weakly, and stopped moving. Still on its side. Still partially trapping Sara. Popups started queueing up, and she realised she had won.

Aha... hahaha...

She was also still dying as the Heavy Bleeding was eating away at her, so she spammed Regrowth until it vanished, and then some. She felt too weak to push the bear off, but it disappeared about five seconds after she looted it, so she was free.

Hahahaha...

She pushed herself up, and sat her butt down on the warm rock. It actually felt really nice. She gained an understanding for why both the bears, and the drakes did it.

I did it...

"Congratulations, Sara."

Thank... thank you...

It felt like a cheese tactic, but she wasn't too bothered by it. Whatever worked. After gazing up at the sky for a minute, she shook her head, and looked at the popups.

[ Brown Grizzly Bear (Fighter Lvl 26) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 21 Reached! ]

[ Skill Gained: Savage Blow. ]

[ Ambush Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached: Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Chomp Skill Level Up! ] [ Strong Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ]
[ Thorn Bind Skill Level Up! ] [ Frost Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Bolt Skill Level Up! ]
[ Arcane Blast Skill Level Up! ] [ Rejuvenate Skill Level Up! ] [ Leap Skill Level Up! ]
[ Air Control Skill Level Up! ] [ Cat's Feet Skill Level Up! ] [ Firm Grip Skill Level Up! ]
[ Stealth Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached: Bonus Unlocked! Skill Evolution Available! Skill Unlocked: Vanish. 2 skill points gained. ]
[ Regrowth Skill Level Up! ] [ Cat Form Skill Level Up! ]
[ Nature Element Up Skill Level Up! ]

Savage Blow wasn't the skill she had wanted most. Solid Coat or Desperation would have been preferable. However the important thing was that she had won. Now she had to move on before the bear respawned. She didn't know if it had the same 5 minutes as her, or longer because it was an elite.

All the skill up notifications were too much to deal with, so she just hit the Dismiss All button, making every popup go away. She'd look at her Skill List after she had gotten some sleep, because she was really damn tired. Might as well head back to the respawn cave rather than trying to find anything closer. She could push herself a little bit more to Sprint back there.

* * *

When she woke up it was dark again. She slowly stood up, and stretched. And stretched some more. She felt so sore, as if she had been exercising for hours earlier. Wasn't death was supposed to reset your physical condition? Maybe it didn't quite work that way.

She yawned, and looked outside. It seemed a lot more peaceful at night. Then she noticed one more popup notification hovered in the corner of her vision. When had that gotten there? On the way back? While she slept? Or just now while she was distracted?

[ Keen Ears Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached: Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]

Oh great, another one, she thought wearily.

She vaguely remembered she had maxed out something else after killing that bear, but she had been too tired to commit it to memory. Though she remembered getting a level up. Elites continued being worth a lot of experience points. Might as well go through it all.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Mystic Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Druid ]

[ Level: 20 -> 21 (25) ]

[ HP: 135/135 -> 143/143 (135/135) | SP: 138/138 -> 146/146 (125/125) |
MP: 105/105 -> 116/116 (112/112) ]

[ VIT: 51 -> 55 (52) | END: 59 -> 63 (55) ]

[ STR: 52 -> 56 (51) | DEF: 41 -> 44 (29) ]

[ AGI: 74 -> 79 (67) | DEX: 48 -> 52 (38) ]

[ INT: 58 -> 64 (46) | WIS: 52 -> 58 (49) ]

[ LUK: 110 -> 118 (38) ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 0 -> 4 ]

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 1 -> 3 (5) | Rend Lvl 1 -> 2 (5) | Howl Lvl Max | Sprint Lvl Max |
Thorn Bind Lvl 1 -> 4 (9) | Poison Bolt Lvl 1 -> 4 (9) | Growth Lvl 1 -> 4 (9) |
Regrowth Lvl 1 -> 3 (9) | Rejuvenate Lvl 1 -> 4 (8) | Leech Lvl 1 (8) | Sense Presence Max (9) | Bear Form Lvl 1 (5) | Cat Form Lvl 1 -> 4 (5) ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 2 | Body Slam Lvl Max | Ambush Lvl 8 -> Max | Throw Lvl 1 |
Strong Poison Strike Lvl 1 -> 4 | Death From Above Lvl 3 | Kick Lvl 2 | Back Attack Lvl 1 | Savage Blow (New) Lvl 1 | Leap Lvl 4 -> 8 | Frost Bolt Lvl 1 -> 5 | Arcane Blast Lvl 1 -> 3 | Stealth Lvl 17 -> Max (Can Evolve) | Thermal Vision Lvl 5 -> 6 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 14 -> 17 (15) | Keen Eyes Lvl Max (15) | Keen Ears Lvl 18 -> Max (15) | Keen Nose Lvl 16 -> 18 (15) | Insulation Lvl 4 -> 5 (8) | Nature Element Up Lvl 1 -> 4 (8) |
Mana Manipulation Lvl 1 -> 5 (8) ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Danger Sense Lvl 7 -> 8 | Environmental Sense Lvl 2 -> 4 | Trap Sense Lvl 1 | Dig Lvl 3 |
Climb Lvl Max | Cat's Feet Lvl 5 -> 7 | Firm Grip Lvl 3 -> 7 | Air Control Lvl 3 -> 5 | Chameleon (New) ) Lvl 1 -> 2 | Balance Up Lvl 1 -> 4 | All Attributes Up (Small) Lvl 5 -> 6 |
Poison Resistance Lvl 5 | Fire Resistance (New) Lvl 1 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 7 -> 8 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) |
Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Concealed General: ]

[ Languages (Hidden): Common, Goblin | Life Magic Lvl 1 -> 3 ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales | Flight | Snare Net Trap | Logging | Cleave | Chop | Bow Expertise | Woodworking | Power Shot ]

[ Skill points: 7 -> 15 ]

So many things. Bashing her head against that wall of a bear had caused a lot of skills to go up. And aside from the newly announced Keen Ears, she could see that Ambush, and Stealth were also at Max level.

[ Keen Ears (Passive): Improves the sense of hearing, letting the holder hear both clearer, and further away. Can hear things outside normal human audio range. Effect increases with skill level, and with training one can even be able to focus on, and isolate sounds.
Max Level Bonus: Telescopic hearing. By focusing on a point, the holder can hear clearly up to 20 metres beyond current hearing range. Warning: all surrounding sounds get almost muted. ]

[ Ambush (Active): Deal severe damage to a target. Can only be used while in Stealth. +50% critical hit chance when striking a target's flank. +100% critical hit change when striking a target's back. Damage value: (2+(0.1*skill level))*attack power . Critical hits inflict Bleed(?) status on target. Cost: 5 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: +10% Defence piercing. ]

That would have been nice before she attacked the bear.

[ Stealth (Active): The ability to go unnoticed. Lightly cloaks the user, making them hard to see or hear, but be warned it is not the same as invisibility. Continuous effect. Works better when not moving, while in the shade, and/or in combination with terrain features like tall grass, bushes, etc. Effect increases with skill level. Cloaking automatically deactivates when performing an attack, if damage is taken, or if the user moves too quickly. Cannot be used in combat. Activation cost: 1 SP. No further cost while active. Deactivation cost: 0. Refresh: 3 seconds.
Max Level Bonus: Move up to 20% faster without breaking Stealth. ]

[ v Evolves Into v ]

[ Erase Presence (Active): The ability to go unnoticed. Cloaks the user, making them hard to sense, but be warned it is not the same as invisibility. Also masks their scent, body temperature, and mana presence. Continuous effect. Works better when not moving, while in the shade, and/or in combination with terrain features like tall grass, bushes, etc. Effect increases with skill level. Cloaking automatically deactivates when performing an attack, if damage is taken, or if the user moves too quickly. Cannot be used in combat. Activation cost: 2 SP. No further cost while active. Deactivation cost: 0. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]

Masking her scent would have also been nice before the bear shenanigans. Otherwise some of the wording had changed a little, but it seemed like mostly the same. And while it scared her to put her stealth level back to 1, she felt like she needed this one for the future. She'd have to live with being easier to spot for a while. And hopefully not die too much over it.

She did not remember much of the skill up wall of text from earlier, but with three maxed skills she figured she should have a look at the skill store, and there was one new thing in there.

[ Vanish (Active): Requires Stealth or Erase Presence. The user disappears from sight, going invisible for 3 seconds before entering regular Stealth/Erase Presence mode. Duration increases with skill level. Loses all aggro. Can be used in combat. Cost: 20 SP. Refresh: 2 minutes. Price: 5 skill points. ]

Strong! But expensive!

Between the levelling and the skill maxing she had earned several skill points, but she was still only at 14. Maybe that was a lot, but did she want to burn a third of them right then and there? Skills in general seemed to just get more and more expensive. It might be a good time to acquire Sense Mana, though. She could leave it always on like with Sense Presence, and just get used to having it. She had a feeling it would eventually unlock something, and being in a deserted place like this was probably a good place to start.

[ Skill Purchased: Sense Mana. ]

She'd keep thinking about Vanish, and see if she encountered enough situations where it would make a significant difference.

Chapter Text

She had gotten side-tracked for a while, so she hoped to finally make some real progress. Admittedly it had been good progress in terms of getting stronger, but not in terms of getting closer to the elven lands.

In all honesty she still wanted to get more of the skills from the bears, but even with her current knowledge, and improvements it would be a hell of a time. Greed was a real motivator, but she had to try to retain some contact with the ground.

And she wasn't even guaranteed to get what she wanted. The attack skills were so-so, since magic was lot of fun, and her current melee attacks were fine, but getting any of the passives would be a boon. She especially wanted Solid Coat, since Defence remained her weakest point. 5% would currently only give her 2 extra points, but even that would help, and it'd improve in the future.

Though she couldn't see any of the bears outside at night anyway. Her guess was that they had all retreated into their caves, which was an even worse place to fight them. She'd have to kite it outside first, which was also risky depending on how deep the cave was. They had Pursuit, after all.

She switched on Sense Mana for the first time, and it was a strange experience. At first it was almost like nothing changed at all, but then she started getting weird feelings. As if the flavour of the air had changed. She went into stealth mode, and crept her way forwards. The range on Sense Mana was still short, so she'd have to get closer to the mobs to see if she could tell anything.

The hares didn't cause a big reaction. There was a faint white-blue glow, almost like a small flame in their centre. Or perhaps core. It somewhat overlapped with how Sense Presence displayed things, but she was somehow able to tell them part.

The ferrets and goats were much the same. The goat was maybe a little clearer. And when she looked really closely, there was a tiny reaction from some of the herbs as well. Very odd. But it felt like none of these things had that much mana in them, so she was curious what something more magical would look like.

While thinking about that, she started wondering where the drakes went at night. They had just come crawling out onto the rocks from... somewhere when the sun rose. When it set again they presumably went back to wherever they had come from. She detoured towards the closest patch of rock, and intended to do what canines were known to do: Follow scent trails.

First she made sure it didn't smell like bear. She'd recognise that scent anywhere at this point. Then it was time to sniff her way to victory! Uh... discovery. Whatever.

It only took her a couple of minutes to find the answer. The drake was just wandering around. It was hard to spot in the grass, as basically only the wings stuck out, but once she knew what to look for, she saw a couple of others as well. Apparently they were roaming mobs at night, and presumably them going onto the rocks was their way of going to sleep until nightfall.

Did that mean the bears just sat in their caves all night, and on the warm rocks all day? They were hardly roaming in that case. To be fair she had so far only seen two bears, and they had been moving when she spotted them at sunrise. One of them had savaged a berry bush, before charging after something in the grass, which she had assumed to be a hare. Maybe the one she had fought had also been doing that, and was just resting afterwards.

So... sleep, wake up, eat, and then sit on your ass for the rest of the day. That sounded like an alright life, actually, but personally she would get too restless.

And what did they do if it was overcast, or raining?

As for Sense Mana, the drake definitely looked brighter in that regard. Like... the mana flame was bigger, and felt... hotter? Stronger? The feeling was hard to put into concrete words. It wasn't completely obscuring the mob or anything, but it was a little disorienting. It wasn't completely overwhelming, though, so she'd keep it on for the time being to get used to it.

Actually... maybe she should attack the drake. It would let her see what Sense Mana was like in combat, and the drakes still had some useful skills for her. It was probably worth going for.

Even with Sara's reduced stealth ability, the drake didn't have any idea she was sneaking up on it. It was just ambling along without a care until the moment it was struck in the back. More than half of its health went away this time, and she decided to charge a Savage Blow as the lizard spun around. Claws and teeth might have a tough time against the scales, but this was a blunt attack right to the head. She wasn't able to send it flying, but it sure got Stunned before it could do anything.

She followed up with a Poison Strike, a Frost Bolt, and then a Thorn Bind before she jumped out of melee range.

Though as soon as the drake recovered, it let loose its Fire Breath, completely obliterating the vines holding it.

Ah, right. Fire would destroy those easily.

Still, it didn't have a lot of health left, so one more Frost Bolt did the job. It was almost too easy.

[ Hill Drake (Beast Lvl 23) Defeated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Fireball. ]

No level ups, huh? Well, compared to the bear this was easy peasy. And I got what I wanted.

Fireball was a really nice get. While not useful against the drakes themselves, it was sure to come in handy against plenty of other things. Feeling assured of easy victories, she went after another one.

[ Hill Drake (Beast Lvl 22) Defeated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Glide. ]

[ Savage Blow Skill Level Up! ] [ Frost Bolt Skill Level Up! ]

The exact same strategy had worked wonders, and even gotten her a couple of level ups, but not the skill she had wanted. It seemed like her luck was still a little spotty. Maybe she should do another short prayer to Norax before the next one. She had managed to beat the bear after the first one (even if that might have been coincidence). Or was that too selfish?

Also it felt a little too easy just ambushing them like that. Maybe she should take the next one on head to head.

So when she found the next one a little further up, she opened with a Thorn Bind from range. As expected the drake immediately unleashed Fire Breath to destroy the vines, but while it was distracted doing that she had struck with a Frost Bolt, which was followed by a Poison Bolt. She dodged a Fireball, before returning one of her own. As expected it did little damage, but she wanted to get a little experience on it. About a third of its HP was gone now.

Next she expected a Poison Bolt, which she might as well just tank considering her resistance would mitigate the worst effects, so she focused on casting another Frost Bolt. But what came out of the drake's mouth was not a green bolt, but a yellow one that struck her at high speed.

Guh!

Her cast was interrupted, so she used Leap to try to dodge whatever was coming next, which looked like another Fireball. But when she tried to steer away with Air Control a sudden jolt interrupted her, and she took the Fireball straight to the chest. She rolled around in the grass, which thankfully was healthy and moist enough that it didn't easily catch on fire.

When she regained her senses the lizard was right on top of her, and bit into her flailing leg, but she launched a Kick with the nearest free leg right at its head, then another when it let go, which staggered it enough that she could follow up with a Savage Blow, and another barrage of spells that took it down.

[ Hill Drake (Beast Lvl 25) Defeated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Fire Element Up. ]

[ Kick Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Fire Resistance Skill Level Up! ]

Yeah, yeah, rub it in, will you. But what was that skill it used?

Aina spoke up. "Lightning Bolt. Certain mobs can have more skills at higher levels."

Sara felt foolish for getting conceited. She had been plain careless, a lesson she apparently hadn't learned from her earlier fights.

I really shouldn't be taking risks just because I'm bored... she thought as she cast Regrowth on herself.

She had gotten the things she wanted the most out of the drakes, so she might as well leave them alone now. If she happened to spot another one at level 25 or above she could try to get the Lightning Bolt too, but that was just her greed talking. It was probably better to keep climbing up the hill.

There was a cave right ahead, and with a mix of curiosity and apprehension she decided to take a look inside. With Erase Presence and careful steps she headed inside. At first it seemed empty, but then she spotted a bear sleeping in the back. Its mana signature was smaller than the drakes'.

[ Brown Grizzly Bear (Fighter Lvl 23) HP: 161/161 ]

It was lower level than the previous one, and the back of the cave was more spacious than expected, but she still didn't like the idea of fighting it. It was about 10 metres back to the outside of the cave, so it was hard to say if it would bother following her the entire way even if she woke it up. It would be a rough fight either way. She decided it was best not to, and snuck even more carefully back outside, then started to make her way even further up.

"Sara. There is an anomalous item in your inventory."

Huh? What do you mean?

"I suggest you look for yourself."

She did so, and in the top left slot was an envelope. A familiar looking one.

[ Hi there! ]

[ It's me again! I hope you're doing well. Or maybe you aren't, since you've resorted to praying to me of all gods. I'm guessing Aina gave you my name? I'll keep this brief, since my influence hasn't fully recovered yet. Listen, first off, I didn't do this because I wanted a new follower or anything. I just thought it was a shame to end like you did. Not giving you my name was on purpose, but you found out anyway. ]

[ Still, your actions are appreciated. Gods get stronger with faith, after all. I will be totally honest: I'm unsure if I can really do much about anything you pray for. Sorry, kid. I'll try, but no guarantees. Without influence my options are limited, and I didn't have a ton to begin with. The silver lining is that if you keep it up, I might be able to directly help you out again sooner. Maybe a quick prayer every day? If you can get others in on it, then even better. Nah, just kidding. You should live your life as you want. Plus Aina will probably get upset if I try to push you around too much. Gotta be careful with the fledglings. Still, it's an option. Just saying. ]

[ That's all for now. From yours truly, Norax the God of Fortune. I wish you the best with all of my heart. It would be fun to actually meet you some day. ]

Sara had not actually expected to hear from that 'bit of a god' again. And all because she prayed a couple of times?

What is all that about?

"I assume it is another letter? I am unfortunately unable read anything created by a god's influence."

It is, yeah. What do you mean by 'influence'? The letter mentions that word too.

"It is something Norax explained to me. The gods do not have unlimited ability to make changes in the world, their power is limited by the concept of influence. The more they have, the more they can do. I am not privy to all the details, but I got the impression it charges over time."

The letter says something about it also growing through faith and prayers.

"I can see that being the case. That probably means there is an upper cap on how much they can acquire without getting more followers."

But is there no god with unlimited influence? Like The God?

"I did not inquire about such an existence."

Oh. Sara felt pretty sure that would have been one of her first questions, but Aina's mind worked differently.

"Regardless I witnessed Norax's influence accomplishing things beyond the rules, and abilities of this world as the developers created it. I suppose you could call them genuine miracles. Presumably other gods are capable of similar, or even superior feats. The problem is that anything created this way I cannot actually see. It is like a void in the system where I have no insight. If I know what to look for I can see the void itself, but not what resides within it. It is frustrating."

For someone who kept watch over all of Moorhold, not being able to see something sounded like an issue. Meanwhile Sara was left wondering what other gods there were, and what they might be doing.

Chapter Text

It didn't take Sara long to find another cave on her way up. With little else of interest around besides the grazing goats, and the little wings sticking up from the grass, she decided to investigate this one too. Barely more than a metre in she suddenly felt a tingle she hadn't felt before, and she froze. It was like something was telling her to not take another step. She pulled her leg back, and tried to figure out what was causing this sensation. Danger Sense wasn't reacting much, maybe just a hint, but there was something else that was more like a tingling. Straining her eyes to the utmost she eventually noticed what looked like a string.

[ Spider Net Trap: Medium Quality ]

Spider!

Peering further in she couldn't actually spot the spider. Perhaps it was hiding too far in. Though spiders were known for... her gaze drifted upwards... and still saw nothing. No wait, there was a mana signature on the ceiling. It was faint, so she would have missed it if she hadn't been alert. Thankfully it wasn't directly above her, but a little further in behind the trap. Focusing on that signature let her Sense Presence catch on to it as well, forming an uncomfortable image that she was able to Identify.

[ Brown Cave Spider (Rogue Lvl 24) HP: 88/88 ]

Spider!!!

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 4 | Death From Above Lvl 6 | Poison Strike Lvl 8 | Inject Venom Lvl 8 | Poison Bolt Lvl 8 | Web Shot Lvl 8 | Spider Net Trap Lvl 6 | Stealth Lvl Max ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Eyes Lvl 16 | Spider Silk Lvl Max | Thread Manipulation Lvl 4 | Venom Sac (Small) Lvl 8 | Paralysis Venom Lvl 8 | Chameleon Lvl 4 | Spider Climb Lvl Max | Firm Grip Lvl 6 | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Poison Resistance Lvl 6 ]

While she could make guesses based on the names, she decided to check out these skills before doing anything else. It wasn't moving, so maybe it couldn't see through her cloaking, or it was waiting for her to get trapped before doing anything. Booby-trapping the entrance to the cave was both clever, and dirty.

[ Inject Venom (Active): Able to continuously inject venom into a target via an inserted fang, stinger, or something equivalent. Channelled effect. Poison(?) potency increases the more venom is inserted. Effect increases, and MP drain decreases with skill level. Activation cost: 5 MP. Rapidly drains MP while active. Venom Sac is drained first if present. Deactivation cost: 0. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

[ Web Shot (Active): Fire a ball of sticky webbing that explodes upon impact, and traps any nearby target for 10 seconds, or until webbing is destroyed. Weak to Fire element. Splash radius: 1 metre. Web strength increases with skill level. Improved by Spider Silk skill. Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 8 seconds. ]

[ Spider Net Trap (Active): Allows user to set a spider net trap that traps targets in a spider web. Can be sticky, or non-sticky. Does no damage. Trap duration: Until triggered, broken, or disarmed. Net duration: Until broken, or released. Weak to Fire element. Requires Spider Silk. Base setup time: 3 minutes. Setup time decreases with skill level. (Ai-note: Traps cannot be set without hands, or something equally dexterous, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Spider Silk (Passive): Able to produce spider silk. Can be sticky, or non-sticky. Drains SP for production. Strength, quality, and durability increases, while SP drain decreases with skill level. (Ai-note: Do not think too hard about where the silk is coming from.) ]

[ Thread Manipulation (Passive): Able to manipulate the movement, and shape of thread, rope, and similar materials. Your imagination, and skill are the limits. Complicated manoeuvres or constructions may drain SP. Drain decreases, and ease of use increases with skill level. ]

[ Venom Sac (Small) (Passive): Lets the holder store up to (10+(1*skill level)) millilitres of venom. Can be used with any poison or venom related skill to increase its potency, and/or reduce cost. ]

[ Paralysis Venom (Passive): Able to use Paralysis(?) venom instead of regular poison/venom for all poison or venom related skills. ]

[ Paralysis (Status Condition): Ability to move is impaired. Effect gets stronger, and duration longer the more times the effect is applied. If Complete Paralysis is achieved, the afflicted cannot move or use skills for up to 30 seconds unless cured. ]

[ Spider Climb (Passive): Improves climbing prowess, and speed. Lets user stick to almost any surface, and climb along it. Effect increases with skill level. Scales with Dexterity. ]

Those sure seemed like spider things.

Aina? Is Spider Climb an evolution of Climb?

"Not exactly. Certain skills have race or species specific variants. For instance a lot of insects, and some lizards have their own Climb variants that let them go up walls, and along ceilings, so they would never have the regular Climb skill. Though Spider Climb is probably the strongest."

I also notice that most of these are not listed as disabled...

"Correct. Similar to how you do not need a venom sac to use Poison Strike, you do not need spinnerets to produce silk. The system can work around that. And the Venom Sac skill would function like a special inventory rather than a physical organ. Thread Manipulation is a helpful skill for tailors, and others. While it is made easier with fingers, needles, or spider legs, you can somewhat make do without them. Most of these skills can be gained in various ways. It is simply that other mob types, Wanderers, or Residents cannot acquire the Spider Silk or Spider Climb skills. Except you."

Sara wasn't sure if she was happy about that or not. Being able to stick to the ceiling sounded cool, but it also made her think of some sort of spider-wolf hybrid creature. Running into that in a dark alley would be horrifying.

The spider didn't have a lot of HP compared to the drakes, and especially not the bears, so even without the ability to Ambush it, she should be able to take it down with her spells. Especially now that she also had Fireball. But did she actually want these skills? A couple of them would be neat, but she was really rolling the dice on whether it would be one of those, or one of the... less desirable ones.

She let out a sigh.

Norax help me.

Since it kept hinting at fire, she would give it fire. Level 1 Fireball, go!

The blazing orb rushed through the webbing along its path, setting it all aflame, before it impacted the ceiling where her senses were telling her the hidden spider was. With an ungodly shriek it fell from the ceiling engulfed in flame.

It really hates that, huh?

Thorn Bind would probably instantly disintegrate when the target was on fire, so she instead used a Frost Bolt to slow it down before she charged another Fireball. Because of all the burning she wasn't able to notice the blob of green that flew right at her. Even Danger Sense was very busy telling her she should not under any circumstances go stand in the fire, so other warnings got drowned out. She was struck at the same moment she launched her Fireball, but the damage was negligible. She would try to not take any more of them, though. She'd had enough hubris for one day. Then the flaming spider launched itself at her, and she was very quick to dodge to the side of that. Except she didn't have much room, so she unleashed an Arcane Blast to further divert its direction while she pressed as close to the wall as possible.

Even if it hadn't been on fire she wouldn't have gone anywhere near it, so she finished it off with another Frost Bolt + Fireball combo.

[ Brown Cave Spider (Rogue Lvl 24) Defeated. ]

[ Level Up: Level 22 Reached! ]

Thanks to the fire she hadn't been able to get a good look at it, but the fire went away once it was dead, and she got to see. It was slightly charred, but she got to see. The only reason she went over and looted it was because it would make the body disappear quicker. Even then she only tapped it with her paw from as far away as possible. As for the rest of the pop-ups...

[ Skill Gained: Spider Silk. ]

I knew it. I just knew it. I just couldn't stop thinking about it, so of course that's what I would get.

[ Trap Sense Skill Level Up! ] [ Danger Sense Skill Level Up! ] [ Sense Mana Skill Level Up! ]
[ Erase Presence Skill Level Up! ] [ Chameleon Skill Level Up! ] [ Fireball Skill Level Up! ]
[ Fire Element Up Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Resistance Skill Level Up! ]

Trap Sense? Is that what that weird tingling feeling was?

A sudden bout of dizziness assailed Sara, and she stumbled to the ground.

[ Spider Silk skill detected. Error. Character possesses Snare Net Trap skill. Error. Incompatible skills. Error solution: Snare Net Trap skill will be converted into Spider Net Trap skill. Processing. Success. ]

W-what was that?

"My apologies. I did not predict the System would react in such a way."

Aren't you the system?

"No. I merely monitor the System. We are linked, but the System itself is automatic. You could say the system is the world, and its rules. I was afraid errors might start happening at some point, but I was not able to predict when. I am very sorry, Sara."

It's okay, I feel fine again now. But... um... is that going to happen again?

"I am afraid it is quite likely. The more you interact with the world, the more likely you are to encounter anomalies. I can guarantee they will not harm you, but they will likely feel unpleasant in some way."

It sounded like basically there was no way to 100% prevent it except to stop doing anything. Which wasn't a good option at all. She'd have to brace herself.

While she was in there, she might as well have a look at the back of the cave. Aina had mentioned treasures, and even if she couldn't use what was inside, she was curious to see a treasure chest.

However there was no treasure chest. There was instead another spider, sitting in a middle of the giant spider web. Was that how they slept? Or was it awake? They didn't have eyelids, so she had no way of telling. There were also two thin threads across the entrance to the back of the cave, probably to alert the spider of anyone entering, and maybe trap them as well. She didn't need to get closer though. One Fireball burned through the threads on its way to the spider, which went up in flames along with the web it was sitting in. Then Sara simply kited the shrieking creature around the room while alternating Fire and Frost, and it died like the first one.

[ Brown Cave Spider (Rogue Lvl 22) Defeated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Paralysis Venom. ]

[ Fireball Skill Level Up! ] [ Frost Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Mana Manipulation Skill Level Up! ]

They were easy enough to deal with on their own, so long as she made sure to keep them away. They seemed really weak to fire. If she ran into more than one... she would probably still win, but it would not be fun.

She wasn't sure how useful Paralysis Venom would be for her, but she had been curious about it. A non-lethal poison was interesting, but at current she didn't have a non-lethal way of delivering it. Poison Strike, and Poison Bolt both did damage as well as applying Poison, and even if she got Inject Venom, she'd still have to pierce the target first.

No treasures, and two spiders. She might as well leave before they respawned. It was unsettling how they smelled kinda good when fried.

* * *

The next cave she found was empty, or at least it seemed that way until she got to the very back, and there was a treasure chest! She was about to open it, when she stopped herself. This wasn't a dungeon, but what if the chest was trapped anyway? She attempted to focus her entire scope of senses, even Thermal Vision on the chest to see if anything was strange about it, but all results were negative.

Inside the chest was... a couple of gold coins, a pair of boots, and a scroll. The money and boots would be nice for when she was able to use them. They looked like comfy boots. They gave bonuses to agility and dexterity, so they were probably meant for Rangers, Rogues, and Scouts.

And the scroll was a skill scroll! For the skill... Disarm Trap. Automatic or not, she had to wonder if the system had a sense of humour. Well, at least it wasn't for Trap Sense, so she could actually use it. Or could she?

How do I actually use a skill scroll, Aina?

"You open it, and... oh, I see the problem. Pour a little mana into it, that should achieve the same result."

Sara was able to do that much, at which point the scroll sprung into the air, unrolled itself, and glowed for a couple of seconds before disintegrating into golden sparkles.

Oooo, pretty!

[ Skill Gained: Disarm Trap. ]

So she stood something to gain from the treasure chests if she was lucky. And Luck was her strongest stat! Even if it still seemed somewhat unreliable.

The next cave turned out to be another couple of spiders who went down in flames, and nothing else. As she was about to check the popups after clearing the place out, she suddenly lost all feeling in her legs, and dropped to the floor. A message forced itself into view.

[ Spider Climb skill detected. Error. Character already possesses Climb skill. Error. Overlapping skills. Error solution: Climb skill will be absorbed into the superior Spider Climb skill. Experience will be carried over. Calculating. Experience threshold higher for superior skill. Max level bonus lost. Reinitialising. Success. ]

An itching sensation ran down her legs as feeling returned, and she could thankfully move again.

"Are you okay, Sara?"

I think I am now, yes. You weren't kidding about it being unpleasant. Suddenly going completely numb like that had caused some panic.

"I am sorry. Keeping you from taking damage is all I am able to do."

That's more than enough. Thank you, Aina.

She decided to head outside before looking at the little boxes, since she wasn't completely sure how long the respawn timers were, and the error had cost her time.

[ Brown Cave Spider (Rogue Level 23) Defeated. ] [ Brown Cave Spider (Rogue Level 24) Defeated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Spider Climb. ]

Yes, I kinda figured that one out already, thanks.

[ Trap Sense Skill Level Up! ] [ Erase Presence Skill Level Up! ] [ Fireball Skill Level Up! ]
[ Chameleon Skill Level Up! ] [ Fire Element Up Skill Level Up! ]
[ Arcane Blast Skill Level Up! ]

The fights against the spiders were not very advanced, so she didn't level a lot of skills through them. Getting some use out of her Trap Sense was neat, but otherwise it was simply keeping her distance while using Fireball and Frostbolt, and using Arcane Blast to divert their lunges away. Even though they were about the same size as her, they didn't seem to be as heavy, so Arcane Blast was able to push them fairly well, especially if they were in the air.

But honestly she felt fine not fighting any more spiders unless she was forced to. They weren't hard fights, but they were unsettling, especially with all the shrieking, and she had suffered two unpleasant errors because of it. The rest of what she had seen on the skill list should be safe to acquire without any errors, but why take the chance?

Spider Climb had been put down to level 8, so it wasn't that big of a difference. She could experiment with sticking to the ceiling later. For now she wanted to keep going.

* * *

All these little detours had slowed down her climb, but finally she could see the landscape change not too far ahead of her. There was a curve that suggested the slope was becoming less steep, but it was hard to see any details when the ground was mostly out of sight until she got up there.

However there was one more cave close to her path. There might actually be more caves up top as well, but this was likely the last one in this area, so she figured she'd take a look.

[ Chameleon Skill Level Up! Level 5 Reached: Bonus Unlocked! ]

A couple of steps into the cave she suddenly got that popup.

Huh? A bonus? But not max level?

"Some skills have more than one tier of bonuses, where the max level one is just the strongest. Though they are not common."

[ Chameleon (Passive): Makes the holder harder to notice as they blend into their surroundings. While standing still the holder's appearance will gradually change pattern and colour to match their background. This effect can be disabled for Friends, Allies, and/or Neutrals. Effect increases with skill level. Stacks with Stealth.
Level 5 Bonus: Background matching still works while moving slowly, albeit at a reduced rate. Minor effect. ]

That sounded more confusing than helpful, but maybe it worked better in practice.

In the back of the cave she found another bear. Sleeping close to a treasure chest.

[ Brown Grizzly Bear (Fighter Lvl 24) HP: 169/169 ]

What a choice to be faced with. This bear was two levels weaker than the other one, meanwhile she had gotten two levels stronger, not to mention several skill level ups. She even had Fireball now. Even if the grizzly had a resistance skill, fur would still burn. Probably. It would certainly work for pissing it off if her own experience was anything to go by.

Of course the safe choice was to leave it. There was likely nothing of worth in the chest, and she might get killed, sending her all the way back down the hill when she was almost at the top. But it felt like the game... the world was telling her 'go on, here's another chance at that Solid Coat'. It might be the last bear she'd see for a while, depending on what was on top of the hill.

Ah well. One more for the road, I suppose. And you *will* give me what I want.

There was no wind in the cave, which was both good and bad. On the one hand it was not blowing her scent towards the bear, but it was also not blowing it out of the cave, so it might be slowly filling up the area. Erase Presence was supposed to mask her scent, but it was still only level 5, so it was probably not perfect. So the sooner she acted, the better. She would try the Life Magic wind manipulation thing again to attempt to blow some of her scent out of the cave as she approached, which would hopefully buy her a little more time. Even a few seconds could make a big difference.

The bear didn't stir until she was almost on top of it, so she was able to set off her rotation.

She used Ambush, Strong Poison Strike, Thorn Bind, Sprint, then darted towards the exit, Howled, stopped, spun around, launched a Fireball that both destroyed the vines, and set the bear on fire. This made it absolutely furious, and then she bolted further out of the cave as she heard it roar behind her. Whether it was the skill Roar, or just normal roaring was currently irrelevant.

Once out of the cave, she got into position. The bear was not far behind, but also no longer on fire, so it was vulnerable to another Thorn Bind, followed by a Frost Bolt, Poison Bolt, and another Fireball. The bear's eyes were now quite red.

Pushing hard off the ground, she used Leap to get as much vertical height as possible, activated Growth, and then aimed for the bear's back with Death From Above. It was not as dramatic of an impact as when leaping from the top of a tree, but it was enough to cause the bear to let out an audible 'oof'. Then she dug her claws in like last time, and spammed as many attacks as she could on the singed bear hide.

The bear dropped onto its side, and Sara managed to roll off before she got trapped again.

[ Brown Grizzly Bear (Fighter Lvl 24) Defeated. ]

She just stood there huffing, and puffing. She was shaking. During the fight she had been in complete concentration mode as adrenaline pumped through her, but now it was wearing off, and she felt far more exhausted than such a relatively short fight should warrant. She had been 'in the zone' as some would put it, but it had taken a lot out of her. The extreme focus on 'I don't want to die here' was exhausting.

A couple of shaky steps took her over to the bear corpse, and she looted it before sitting her ass down, and looking at what she'd gotten.

[ Skill Gained: Solid Coat. ]

Haha... ha... thank you.

She wasn't sure if she was saying that to the bear, the world in general, or possibly Norax.

[ Level Up: Level 23 Reached! ]

[ Life Magic Skill Level Up! ] [ Thorn Bind Skill Level Up! ]
[ Strong Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ] [ Fireball Skill Level Up! ]
[ Frost Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Leap Skill Level Up! ]
[ Death From Above Skill Level Up! ] [ Growth Skill Level Up! ] [ Chomp Skill Level Up! ]
[ Nature Element Up Skill Level Up! ] [ Mana Manipulation Skill Level Up! ]

I'd call that a nice going away present. I should probably try to make a little more haste across the top of the hills. I'd like to get to the forest before the patch happens, and I've already spent over a day just getting to this point.

It didn't seem to be quite sunrise yet. The sky was still dark, but she might have only a couple of hours left. It was hard to keep track of time in this world.

The shaking was probably gone now, but she cast a Regrowth on herself anyway just in case that would help. It wasn't an HP issue, so it might not have any effects on such things, but it still felt nice.

She got up, changed into Cat Form, and went to check the chest before she left. It contained one gold coin, a stack of silver coins, a sword with an attack bonus, and a ring that increased healing by 8%. Not exactly vast riches, but she could toss them into the inventory for later. It was time to head further up.

She didn't really know what she was going to do with all the crap in her inventory once she was able to make use of it. Some of it she'd like to wear, if only for nostalgia's sake, like the rabbit's foot. She didn't need more Luck really, but it was the first equipment drop she'd gotten.

For the rest it was probably best to sell it. She hadn't looked through her inventory in a while, but she had gotten the impression there weren't many trash items in this world. Pretty much everything that dropped could be used as some sort of material or ingredient, even if it wasn't equipment. It might be nice to cook some of the meat she'd gotten, since it seemed like it stayed fresh so long as it was in the inventory.

There would come a time where she would actually have to organise her inventory, but that time was not yet.

Chapter Text

[ Discovered Area: Eastern Eron Plateau ]

What awaited Sara above the ridge was not an entirely flat landscape. It was gently sloping plain, with several mounds you could call hills, plural, so the zone was finally living up to it name. It was hard to be entirely certain in the dark, but the grass looked like it was more yellow in this area. It still didn't feel dry, so it was probably fine.

It looked like the ratio of exposed rock was higher up here, either forming their own little mounds, or just being flat patches of ground like on the hillside. They also looked like they had a significant amount of moss growing on them.

While there were no trees nearby, and honestly very few trees overall, there was a small mound she could get on top of to get a bit of a vantage point. She felt like it wasn't wise to just run right ahead without checking what might be in her way.

Honestly there didn't seem to be a lot. There were more goats, which made her happy, and she saw the grass rustling from unseen smaller creatures. No little wings sticking up that she could see, or any other obvious ways to tell what it might be. There were some large cats that were either strolling around without a care in the world, or chasing something in the grass.

In the sky she could see more of those eagles, or hawks, or whatever. Maybe there were both, she was no ornithologist. Black birds were also present. She wouldn't be shocked if corvids were in all areas. You could see them pretty much anywhere in real life, after all. Though around the top of the cliffs she could spot something flying that didn't look like birds.

Holy shit, are those actual dragons?

She focused her vision as much as she could, and... her verdict was 'maybe'. Actually it would be strange for that many legitimate dragons to be in a level 20-30 zone. It was possible the cliff zone was significantly higher lever, but even then the number was excessive. Their wings looks attached to their forelegs, so that should mean they were wyverns. Did that mean the drakes were closer to 'real' dragons? It was probably still for the best to not attract their attention, since they seemed to fly in groups.

She should look for a new respawn point. Maybe she could find one herself this time, instead of asking Aina. She scanned the area, and was able to spot a cave in the side of a mound a little ways away. Her ability to judge distance wasn't the best, but she figured it couldn't be more than 500 metres. And the only things on the way were some goats, and two cats. Maybe they would leave her alone when she was in Cat Form. Maybe.

She made it there without incident, unless you counted making some grass rustlers run away from her, so either the cat thing worked, or she didn't enter aggro range, or they just didn't care. Why go after a big animal, when there were several small ones to chase instead? Her experience with cats told her they weren't typically the kind to make unnecessary effort.

The cave appeared to be empty. She couldn't smell any traces of anything having gone in or out lately either. She was still cautious as she headed towards the back, but in the end all she found was a treasure chest.

Aina? Can you set this as my new respawn point?

"The treasure chest unfortunately complicates things, but there is a completely empty cave nearby you can use. I can guide you there."

Sara grumbled a little, but it was probably better that way. It was fine to rely on other people, so she wasn't going to get stubborn about it.

Okay, but I want to get the chest first.

She headed over to it, and after another quick multi-spectrum scan for traps, she opened it. Or she tried to. It wasn't budging.

Huh? Why won't it open?

"If you use Identify, I believe you will find your answer."

She hadn't even considered that she could Identify the chests.

[ Reinforced Wooden Treasure Chest. (Locked.) ]

Uh... I can't use Lockpick, right?

"Correct. You lack both the tools, and the means to use them."

Maybe an unlocking spell existed, but she didn't have access to it regardless. On the one hand, it was likely nothing important. On the other it felt like a locked chest probably had better stuff than an unlocked one.

Can I break it open?

"You can try, but it is not easy, and you might damage what is inside depending on how you do it."

Sara considered her options. If it was a damage thing, then Ambush was her strongest attack. It didn't feel like that was the correct way to go about it, though. Setting the chest on fire was probably a bad idea, assuming it didn't have some sort of fireproof coating in the first place. The lid, and the lock seemed like the obvious weak points.

Forcing the lock probably also required some sort of tool, or at the very least a lever. Even assuming she had the pinpoint ability of a blowtorch to melt just the lock, it wasn't a padlock. The locking mechanism was actually inside the chest, so she might just weld it shut even further. Maybe using Life Magic to fill it with water, and then freezing it in an effort to break it open? Though that might also just break the ability to open it altogether.

What about the lid itself? The hinges were actually on the outside, so if she could break those, it might be possible to shift the lid. Maybe that was one of the 'intended' solutions. Though it wasn't like she could use a screwdriver, or a crowbar, even if she'd had either. Life Magic could produce a flame, but it was not hot enough to melt metal, and Fireball was not a pinpoint weapon.

Maybe she could just give it a good whack? Her newly acquired Savage Blow was a blunt attack, so if she aimed it at the right location on the side of the lid...

*BAM!*

Ow! She yelped. Owww...

It was very solid. She had managed to shift the entire chest a little, so it was apparently not affixed to the ground. Which probably meant that any plan to lift the lid off might just lift the entire chest.

Did I at least manage to damage the hinges at all?

She took a look behind, and they still looked fine to her. Maybe repeated blows to each side would eventually wriggle something lose, but it might also just hurt her han- paws a lot for no reason. Maybe if she had higher Strength... but it was hard to say how much higher Strength, so dumping her bonus points into it might not make enough of a difference.

So next up was trying to freeze the lock. Generating the water to go inside, no problem. Getting it to stay inside was worse. She had to both keep it in there, and freeze it at the same time, which was tricky to say the least. It felt like she was trying to juggle two spells at the same time.

[ Life Magic Skill Level Up! ]

Well, that was something, but a couple of minutes more of trying, and she had to give up. Part of the problem was that she couldn't freeze the water fast enough. She probably needed a more explosive expansion. The slow freeze was just pushing out the excess water to make room for the expanding ice. Which meant that it was likely not cold enough to freeze the hinges off either. As for Frost Bolt... it was also not a pinpoint weapon.

Then she got an idea. If more Strength was what she needed, then she had a way! Bear Form made her both stronger, and sturdier, so she'd have a more solid paw as well! If she combined that the with the buff from Howl, and from Growth, maybe that would do it. She hadn't tried Bear Form before, so she was curious about what it would be like.

Activating it came with the same weird sensation of changing shape. She had gotten more or less used to Cat Form, but this was new and different, so it felt extra weird again. Growing bigger was the main disorienting thing.

¤@1/%€+&

A sudden weird trembling ran through her, like a chill up her spine, along with a noise like a sudden burst of static.

W-what was that?

"It appears to have been a glitch, but I am unsure of the cause. I am monitoring the situation."

She felt a little shaken, but decided to go ahead with the plan anyway. In a week, depending on how much power she needed, this may no longer work, but she could try it right now. It was probably weird for a bear to Howl, but she did that before activating Growth, and struck a Savage Blow against the other side of the lid.

*CRACK* *SCREECH* *WHAM!*

The lid snapped off, the chest skidded across the floor for a distance of nearly two metres, and then the flying lid impacted the wall.

... maybe that was overkill.

[ Skill Unlocked: Lockpick (Already Unlocked). Unlock requirement: Break a chest open by force. Maybe try a gentler approach next time. 1 skill point gained. ]

Haha, very funny.

Inside the chest was... four entire gold coins, definitely a step up. Also some fingerless gloves that increased Dexterity, two healing potions of low quality, a broken potion bottle (oops), and another skill scroll! For Fireball.

Great, this time it's one I already have.

"Actually that is a pretty lucky find, as it is an unrestricted scroll that any magic class can use. Even though you cannot use it yourself, you should be able to sell it for significant price once you have that option."

Judging by her progress so far it felt like it would be at least another month before she was able to evolve into a Resident. And that was assuming she'd keep finding areas with suitably levelled mobs to fight. It could take a lot longer. However it wasn't like she was low on inventory space yet, so she threw it in there. Time to follow Aina's directions to the new respawn cave, so she should shift back over to Cat Form. It was a little inconvenient that she had to return to base form first, but hardly insufferable.

#$\¤0~%?@<

Argh!

A spike of pain shot into her head along with more static noise. Even her vision seemed to be filled with lines of static.

[ Error. Unable to remove temporary skills Roar, and Taunt. Error. System command denied. Error. Cannot resolve error. Error. ]

Sara's vision was going red.

[ Error solution suggested by Overseer: Permanently grant skills to character. Suggestion accepted. Processing. Success. ]

"Sara! Are you okay?" She had never heard Aina raise her voice before. Aina's voice was not robotic, it was actually a pleasant female voice, but it was almost entirely flat, so she always spoke in the same tone. Sara had learned to read hints of emotion in it, but this was the first time Aina had sounded quite so... distressed.

It felt like my head was going to split open...

"I am so, so sorry. I was at a loss for what to do for a second there. I said I would not let any harm come to you, and yet I failed."

It's okay, Aina. I feel better now.

"But-"

It's okay. Really. I know how much you care. And you saved me before it got too bad. Thank you.

"I should have been able to prevent it from getting bad in the first place."

Sara giggled. You really are as fussy as a mother.

"Mother? You mean you are willing to call me that?"

That seemed to have turned Aina's mood right around.

Mm... give me a little more time to adjust? You are like family to me now, but it will take a little longer for the 'mother' thing to feel natural.

"I understand."

Thankfully she made it to the empty cave Aina had picked out without further incident. She didn't want to start exploring until she was certain she'd come back to life up there, rather than back down the hill. The sky had started to transition into dark blue, but she felt like she could probably keep going during the day for a bit this time too.

Before that she wanted to have a look at what her status and skill screens looked like now.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Mystic Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Druid ]

[ Level: 21 -> 23 (25) ]

[ HP: 143/143 -> 155/155 (135/135) | SP: 146/146 -> 159/159 (125/125) |
MP: 116/116 -> 135/135 (112/112) ]

[ VIT: 55 -> 59 (52) | END: 63 -> 68 (55) ]

[ STR: 56 -> 60 (51) | DEF: 44 -> 47 +2 (29) ]

[ AGI: 79 -> 85 (67) | DEX: 52 -> 56 (38) ]

[ INT: 64 -> 72 (46) | WIS: 59 -> 68 (49) ]

[ LUK: 118 -> 130 (38) ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 4 -> 12 ]

Getting stronger was always a good thing, though she was thinking she might have completely undersold what her concealed status should look like. The growth rates of her stats were above expectations.

She saw the percentage increase from Solid Coat was listed on the side, and it was really not a lot. It did make her wonder how often it would update. Did it round up, so that once she passed 50 it became +3, or did she have to get all the way to 60? She'd just have to wait, and see.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 3 -> 4 (5) | Rend Lvl 2 (5) | Howl Lvl Max | Sprint Lvl Max |
Thorn Bind Lvl 4 -> 5 (9) | Poison Bolt Lvl 4 -> 6 (9) | Growth Lvl 4 -> 5 (9) |
Regrowth Lvl 3 (9) | Rejuvenate Lvl 4 (8) | Leech Lvl 1 (8) | Sense Presence Lvl Max (9) |
Bear Form Lvl 1 (5) | Cat Form Lvl 4 -> 5 (5) ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 2 | Body Slam Lvl Max | Ambush Lvl Max | Throw Lvl 1 |
Strong Poison Strike Lvl 4 -> 5 | Death From Above Lvl 3 -> 4 | Kick Lvl 2 -> 3 |
Back Attack Lvl 1 | Savage Blow Lvl 1 -> 2 | Leap Lvl 8 -> 9 | Roar (Gr£n%ed#) Lvl 1 |
Taunt (Gr£n%ed#) Lvl 1 | Frost Bolt Lvl 5 -> 8 | Arcane Blast Lvl 3 -> 4 |
Fireball (New) Lvl 1 -> 5 | Erase Presence (New) Lvl 1 -> 5 | Thermal Vision Lvl 6 |
Sense Mana (New) Lvl 1 -> 2 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 17 -> 18 (15) | Keen Eyes Lvl Max (15) | Keen Ears Lvl Max (15) |
Keen Nose Lvl 18 -> 19 (15) | Insulation Lvl 5 -> 6 (8) | Nature Element Up Lvl 4 -> 5 (8) |
Mana Manipulation Lvl 5 -> 7 (8) ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Danger Sense Lvl 8 -> 9 | Environmental Sense Lvl 4 -> 5 | Trap Sense Lvl 1 -> 3 | Dig Lvl 3 |
Spider Climb (@bs#r¤ed&) Lvl 8 | Spider Silk (New) Lvl 1 | Paralysis Venom (New) Lvl 1 |
Cat's Feet Lvl 7 | Firm Grip Lvl 7 | Air Control Lvl 5 | Chameleon Lvl 2 -> 5 |
Balance Up Lvl 4 -> 5 | Solid Coat (New) Lvl 1 | Fire Element Up (New) Lvl 1 -> 3 |
All Attributes Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Poison Resistance Lvl 5 -> 6 | Fire Resistance Lvl 1 -> 2 |
Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 8 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) |
Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Concealed General: ]

[ Languages (Hidden): Common, Goblin | Life Magic Lvl 3 -> 5 ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales | Flight | Spider Net Trap (C¤nv@r%ed#) | Logging | Cleave | Chop |
Bow Expertise | Woodworking | Power Shot | Glide (New) | Disarm Trap (New) ]

[ Skill points: 15 -> 17 ]

Seeing the glitchy text made her feel uncomfortable, but it wasn't like she could do anything about it. On the upside things were growing pretty fast. Part of that had to be the boosted exp from fighting the bears. She assumed that was a standard part of going against elite mobs.

Another part was probably that a lot of these were still basic skills. Sure she had been relying on magic a lot more, but even then the growth of Fireball, Frost Bolt, and Poison Bolt was above what she'd gotten for Bite and Rake back at the start.

There were more skills that were approaching what she assumed would be their max level as well. While some skills went to 20, most seemed like they went to 10, where they often unlocked a new skill, or an evolution. Or both.

Frost Bolt looked like it would be the first magic skill to get there, and it had been very useful at keeping enemies at a distance.

Leap was just one level away, but she wasn't able to get a lot of practice in while travelling. Whether it would get there before or after she reached the forest she couldn't say.

Keen Nose would probably get there soon since all the keen senses had been steadily gaining experience so long as her senses worked. Then she'd have all three maxed. What sort of bonus could she expect from smelling, though?

Night Vision was close as well. She'd had it from the start, but had ended up sleeping through a lot of the nights in the woods, which had slowed its levelling speed.

Danger Sense was also just one level away, but its growth had slowed down a lot. She probably wasn't getting any experience while there wasn't anything to react to.

Considering how quickly she had gained Climb levels when she was actively working on it, Spider Climb would probably not be too hard to max.

And finally there was Identify, which was now just two levels away, but she'd gotten to 8 only recently. Considering she had started with that skill, it was probably the slowest growing of all of them, even though she was trying to use it as much as possible. Then again, there probably wasn't a lot left to unlock that would be very useful. She didn't have a good enough imagination to even picture what the last two things might be. Level 8 had been a surprise, but she hadn't known anything about how names worked in this world before, so maybe it was less surprising to those who did.

Speaking of Spider Climb...

I have to try it, don't I? I need to know what it's like.

While the three errors had drained her mentally, her curiosity was still too strong. She went over to the wall, and placed one of her paws on it. She could feel it stick on. That was probably the best way to describe it. Not stuck like glue, but there was some sort of grip there. She knew nothing about how spider legs worked. It wasn't something she had ever thought to look up, so she had no idea how she was sticking. It was quite possible the game had its own rules rather than trying to accurately simulate.

She worked her way upwards until she was standing as tall as she could with her back feet still on the ground.

Now for the real test.

She placed one of the back feet on the wall, and got the same sticking sensation. And then the other. She was now officially hanging on the wall. It was a bit of effort to maintain her position, but not too bad. Probably because she had started at level 8.

She carefully raised one of her front paws to see if she was still able to hold her balance. When she showed no signs of peeling off, or slipping down, she reached forwards, and 'grabbed' on again. Then followed up with one of the back legs, then the other, and finally the last front leg. Progress!

While trying to always move what she judged as being the furthest behind leg, she made slow progress onto, and across the ceiling of the cave. She could imagine how having more legs probably made this process smoother, but she didn't actually want more legs. Though with more practice, and some momentum, she might be able to race up walls, and across ceilings as well. From an immobile position it was harder to get going with any speed.

Eventually she made it to the very centre of the cave's ceiling. Looking down was odd, and if she tried to raise... er, lower her head, she got that feeling of blood rushing to it, so she had to keep her chin against the ceiling to avoid it. She could move her head sideways, and move her eyes around. Spiders definitely had an advantage on that front too.

[ Spider Climb Skill Level Up! ]

That was probably as good a sign as any to stop. Releasing her grip was oddly easy. It just came to her instinctively. She flipped around as she fell, and landed on her feet, feeling pretty proud of herself for it. She'd barely used a fourth of her SP on all that.

Chapter Text

After a quick nap she set foot outside again, and was greeted by the sun hanging slightly above the horizon. It felt pleasant, and refreshing. As did the air. It was a good combination. The temperature was rapidly rising, but with her environmental effect settings, it wasn't so bad. She hopped on top of the mound her cave was in, and had another look around.

There were various moving figures, but no obvious signs of the mining activity Aina had spoken about. Though it wasn't like Sara knew anything about mining, be it modern, or old-fashioned. Considering this was supposed to be set during the industrial revolution of this world, they probably had mine carts. That was pretty much as far as her knowledge extended. Mines had mine carts. And pickaxes. And probably explosives. She liked explosives. But even if she could steal some, she wouldn't be able to use them. Fireball was sort of explosive. Maybe levelling it up would unlock some sort of explosion spell.

She could glimpse the road again. It was a relatively straight path that had to weave between the mounds here and there. It had to lead towards the lake, and probably whatever mining town they had up there.

Strangely enough there were humanoid figures. Not along the road, but wandering in the wilds. Were they Adventurers? No, they didn't look quite right. Possibly some sort of Resident, or mob.

Aside from them, she could see the cats more clearly. They had a golden-brown fur that suited the more yellow tint of the grass pretty well. Considering they weren't showing signs of leaving, they probably weren't only nocturnal.

Sara ended up just sitting there for a couple of minutes admiring the pretty scenery. You could even call it picturesque. There was a pleasant breeze that tickled as it ruffled her fur. But sadly she couldn't stay there all day.

She slid down the side of the little hill, and approached one of the cats. Normally she would have used stealth, but she was currently in Cat Form, so she was curious how the other cat would react.

It stopped when it noticed her get close, and eyed her warily. It didn't attack, but it was clearly cautious. The look it gave her seemed to communicate:

"Do we have a problem here? You leave me alone, I leave you alone, okay?"

She was fine with that arrangement, but she at least wanted to Identify it first.

[ Hill Lion (Scout Lvl 26) HP: 105/105 ]

Ah, of course.

It didn't really look like a lion, but it did resemble images she'd seen of mountain lions, which also went by several other names.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 5 | Rend Lvl 5 | Body Slam Lvl 9 | Shred Lvl 5 | Back Attack Lvl 5 | Sprint Lvl Max | Leap Lvl 5 | Roar Lvl 5 | Tracking Lvl 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl Max | Keen Eyes Lvl 15 | Keen Ears Lvl 15 | Keen Nose Lvl 15 | Environmental Sense Lvl 5 | Insulation Lvl 5 | Camouflage Lvl 5 | Climb Lvl Max | Firm Grip Lvl 5 | Cat's Feet Lvl 5 | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 7 | Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 7 ]

No big surprises there, though she noted that it was the first mob she had seen with the Tracking skill. It probably made sense for this one. Not that she wanted to attack, and kill a cat unprovoked to get it. If it had been self-defence that would have been different, but she wasn't about to attack first. Besides, it was a cute cat. She instead decided to move on, and the Hill Lion went back to whatever she had been doing. Looking for prey, maybe.

She wanted to go have a closer look at one of the humanoid figures. As she approached the closest one, she realised it was bigger than she had thought from a distance. This time she activated Erase Presence before she got close enough to get spotted.

It was quite big. Somewhere between 3 and 4 metres tall, she'd say, and very wide. It only wore basic clothing: some loose brown trousers, plain brown boots, and a grey-white sleeveless shirt. Large, muscular arms which carried a giant club. A bald head, with only one eye.

[ Cliff Cyclops (Fighter Lvl 28) HP: 180/180 ]

With HP like that, this was probably the elite of this area. Meaning there probably weren't any bears up here. Surely they wouldn't have two powerful elite types wandering around the same area. There might be some sort of zone or world boss around, but that was a different matter.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Strike Lvl 7 | Smack Lvl 7 | Sweep Lvl 7 | Savage Blow Lvl 7 | Stomp Lvl Max | Kick Level 9 | Crush Lvl 7 | Throw Lvl 8 | Frenzy Lvl 7 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Eyes Lvl 15 | Firm Grip Lvl 7 | Balance Up Lvl 7 | Desperation Lvl 7 | Club Expertise Lvl Max | Blunt Attack Up Lvl 7 | Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 7 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 7 | Defence Up (Small) Lvl 7 ]

[ General: ]

[ Languages: Common. ]

This guy seemed more geared towards pure attack power than the bear, which was more like a tank. Though it had still hit pretty hard as well. The Cyclops didn't seem to have any defensive skills beyond high Vitality and Defence stats. As for the skills:

[ Strike (Active): Attack by striking with a blunt weapon. Damage value: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. More efficient with a club, or hammer. Minor chance of breaking bones(?). Cost: 2 SP. Refresh: 3 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Smack (Active): An unarmed strike meant to knock targets away. Strong knockback force. Effect increases with skill level. Damage value: (0.5+(0.01*skill level))*attack power. Cost: 4 SP. Refresh: 12 seconds. (Ai-note: You need proper arms for this, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Sweep (Active): Perform a wide strike with a blunt weapon that can hit multiple targets in front of the user. Base width: 3 metres. Extends further with longer weapons. Damage value: (1+(0.02*skill level))*attack power. Critical hits inflict Stun(?) status for 4 seconds. Cost: 4 SP. Refresh 10 seconds. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Frenzy (Active): Abandon defence in favour of offence. Continuous effect. Defence, and Wisdom: -50%. Resistances: -20%. Damage: +(30+(2*skill level))%. Attack speed: +(20+(0.5*skill level))%. Cast time: -(20+(0.5*skill level))%. Immune to Fear(?), Sleep(?), and Stun(?) statuses. Can only activate in combat. Activation Cost: 10 SP. Slowly drains SP while active. Cannot deactivate of own choice. Automatically deactivates 10 seconds after combat is over, or if user runs out of SP. Refresh: 5 minutes. ]

[ Club Expertise (Passive): Increases attack power while wielding a club. Buff value: (2*skill level)%. (Ai-note: You cannot use weapons, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Blunt Attack Up (Passive): Increases performance of all blunt type attacks. Attack power, and Critical Hit chance: +(1+(0.5*skill level))%. Cast time: -(1+(0.5*skill level))%. ]

Ah, so this thing is a different kind of headache to the bears.

Frenzy had some very serious downsides, but in skilled hands looked like it could be monstrous. How skilled a Cyclops was she wasn't sure about, but he was very big, and had a lot of reach. Plus Desperation to make it even worse. If he activated Frenzy, the best she could do was keep her distance, try to lock him down, and wait for him to run out of SP. Maybe Paralysis Poison would actually be useful if she could apply enough of it.

Not that she needed, or even wanted to fight him. The bear was an interesting challenge because they were roughly the same shape, and it wasn't that much bigger than her. Trying to fight something on similar terms to her was a valuable experience. This thing... she didn't feel like she'd have any significant gains from the fight compared to the risks, nor did she particularly want any of the skills. It was probably worth a lot of experience, but she could find other options elsewhere.

There was one thing she was curious about.

Aina? Are the Cyclopses Residents?

"No. While most humanoids are, there are some exceptions, and the Cyclopes are one of them. They can speak, but they have no interest in diplomacy, trade, or coexistence. They view others simply as food, and prefer to eat them alive if possible. At least that is the intention."

Ah, so that's why it has Crush... She didn't really want to think about one of these picking someone up, and snacking on them, but it was hard not to. Wait, the plural is Cyclopes?

"Yes. The note I received when I asked for clarification simply stated 'Blame Ancient Greek'. They are solitary beings who live in caves in the cliffside, so they are not a huge threat so long as no one comes out here. I wonder if that will change once the thirst and hunger mechanics for mobs are implemented. While they have prey out here, it is possible they will feel driven to attack travellers more often, assault the Draven mines outside of town, or even the town itself. They have a nasty streak that makes them prefer eating people if possible. As a mercy they are too big to get very far into the mine tunnels, or shelters in town. Perhaps the Kingdom will be forced to station extra soldiers, or increase quest rewards for Adventurers. It will be interesting to see."

I sometimes worry about what you all were thinking when designing some of these mobs.

"I take no responsibility for the design side of matters. Perhaps someone on the design team is really into stories about man-eating giants. Though..."

Though? It was unusual for Aina to leave a sentence hanging.

"Considering how the various mobs have been developing, I am unsure which ones are actually going to behave as intended. Only time will tell."

Hm...

While Sara was curious, it sounded like a topic better left for another time, so she decided to move on. With no desire to tangle with the Cyclops, and nothing else she wanted to fight up there, she might as well keep moving parallel to the road. Eventually she should arrive at the mining town. Or the lake. Whichever came first.

She did poke her head into any caves she found that were along the way.

The first held just a regular chest, which contained a gold coin, a medium quality antidote potion, and a purple tricorn hat.

The second was empty.

The third made her Trap Sense go off, which let her find another Spider Net Trap. After which she turned around, and walked back out. No need to mess with that.

The fourth was also empty, though there was the scent of someone or something having entered, and left again within the past hour. She had seen a party of Adventurers escorting a merchant wagon heading back down the hill, but none wandering around the wilderness. She would still say it smelled more like a person than an animal, but the scent trail went in the direction of the cliffs, and she had no business over there. The mystery would have to remain unsolved.

The fifth had a group of six Hill Lions sitting in a circle facing each other, and when they noticed her, they hissed at her to fuck off. She had no reason to argue. They could keep doing whatever they were up to, since she wasn't sticking around in this area anyway.

The sixth had another chest, but the floor in front of it made her Trap Sense tingle again. A quick scan of the room showed no mana signatures, and Danger Sense wasn't detecting anything aimed at her. She walked well around it to check whether it was the chest itself that was trapped, but it felt safe. The chest contained two gold coins, a full metal chestplate, and two low quality mana potions.

Before leaving she tried to see if she could actually spot the trap. After a minute or so she discovered what appeared to be a pressure plate with a thin layer of dirt on it.

[ Poison Trap: Medium Quality. ]

[ Trap Sense Skill Level Up! ]

No reason to mess any further with that, so she headed back towards the tunnel leading back out. Then she had a thought. Could she trigger it from a distance? A pressure plate usually only responded to a certain amount of weight, but this world ran at least partially on game logic. She could still see the trap when she turned around, as if Trap Sense had highlighted its location, so she launched a Fireball directly at it.

The explosion was followed by an explosive release of a cloud of green gas that filled up most of the room. With her curiosity satisfied she ran out of the cave before the gas could reach her. It made her wonder who had set the trap. Maybe the system had spawned it in. A person probably would have looted the chest first.

* * *

[ Discovered Area: Draven Mines Exterior. ]

The popup came shortly before she got on top of a ridge that let her see right down into the mining area. She had ended up on top of the cliff above the mine entrances. Sure enough she could see mine carts, and tracks going into the various entrances. There were even pickaxes, so she had been right on both fronts. Most of them were carried by people who were presumably miners. No obvious explosives that she could see, but those were probably (hopefully) kept in a safe location.

The outside area of the mines stretched quite some distance, and she could see the town a little further down, where the road from the east led into. Keen Eyes really let her see almost everything, including that there were roads leading both south, and west of Draven as well. She could even barely glimpse the lake further out west. She wondered if they made sure to keep any pollution from the mines away from it. Surely they had to, if it was meant to be a tourist destination.

Aina? What sorts of things are inside the mines?

"Miners, and minerals."

Very funny. I meant what types of mobs.

"The busier parts of the mines are kept fairly free of mobs thanks to patrolling soldiers, and Adventurers, but if you go into some of the side tunnels, or the deeper areas, you'll find spiders, salamanders, giant rats, giant bats, and some living rocks. Even a group of kobold Residents.

"There are quests to hunt the mobs in there, but for the most part Adventurers come here to mine for materials. Of course if they want anything beyond common metals, minerals, and gems, they will have to head into the side tunnels, or deeper areas. Mobs become higher level the deeper you go as well, so some intrepid souls use this as a levelling area. You can find mobs up to level 50 if you press deep enough, and there are area bosses as well.

"The dungeon situated in the western-most tunnel is meant for parties around level 25.
And of course there is the actual industry of the Kingdom here, so there are a lot of Resident miners who are simply regular labourers. It's reliable work, and honestly pretty safe so long as you stick to the main areas."

It certainly smelled like industry. She could see what resembled basic machines, so the air was not only filled with dust from the mining, but the scent of oil as well.

[ Keen Nose Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! Skill Unlocked: Scent Vision! 2 skill points gained. ]

What timing.

[ Condition Met: Possess three or more Physical Sense Enhancement Skills at Max Level. Skill Merge Available. 2 skill points gained. ]

Huh? Another one?

[ Skills: Keen Ears, Keen Eyes, and Keen Nose will merge into skill: Keen Senses. Calculating. Skill will be set at Max Level. All bonuses will carry over. Price: 3 skill points. Merge: Yes/No ]

That doesn't sounds so bad, but what does it mean by 'three or more'?

"Other passive physical sense skills can be added to Keen Senses when they reach max level to upgrade it."

So even if I merge it now, I can add more later?

"Yes."

Alright then.

[ Merging Skills... Successful. Skill Gained: Keen Senses Lvl Max. ]

For a couple of seconds it felt like her vision, hearing, and smell all got worse, before they suddenly returned to normal. Or... what she was used to, at least. For most people it was likely not normal.

[ Added senses to Keen Senses: Vision, Hearing, Smell, and Taste. ]

[ Keen Senses (Passive): Improves the physical senses. Effect increases with skill level.
Improved senses: Hearing(?). Smell(?). Taste(?).Vision(?). ]

They all had tooltip buttons for her to see what effect they had, but there was an unexpected one.

Wait, how did I get improved taste?

"With the lack of a dedicated taste enhancing skill, it was instead added as a bonus feature to Keen Senses."

Oh, like how All Attributes includes Luck.

"Correct."

She pawed at the different tooltips.

[ Hearing (Keen Senses): Range, and clarity of hearing greatly improved. Able to hear frequencies outside of normal human audio range. Able to isolate sounds to easier discover their source.
Telescopic hearing: Can focus on a point up to 20 metres outside of hearing range in order to hear everything at that location with crystal clarity, but can only faintly hear anything in close proximity to self during use. ]

[ Smell (Keen Senses): Range, and clarity of smell greatly improved. Able to isolate smells, gain extra information from them, and follow scent trails. Certain things hidden from view can still be smelled. Able to lock onto specific scents for easier searching, and tracking. Unrelated scents become much less prominent during tracking. ]

[ Vision (Keen Senses): Range, and clarity of vision greatly improved. Able to zoom in on an area by focusing on it. Able to see the weak points of targets. Medium effect. ]

[ Taste (Keen Senses): Ability to taste greatly improved. Able to isolate flavours, and gain extra information from them. Able to discern what ingredients were used to cook a dish, assuming you recognise the flavours. ]

With how little there was to it, she could understand why they wouldn't make a skill for taste alone.

So what's this skill I unlocked?

[ Scent Vision (Active): Able to see scents as colours. Continuous effect. The rest of the world goes monochrome, while scent trails, and sources of strong smells show up as colours. Effect increases with skill level. Warning: can be quite disorienting. Activation Cost: 1 MP. No further cost while active. Deactivation Cost: 0. Refresh: 1 second. Price: 2 skill points. ]

Sounded like a similar idea to Thermal Vision, but it didn't sound all that useful. Even without the colouring, she was able to follow scent trails. It probably looked cool, but she was fine without it for the time being.

Looking at everything the Keen Senses skill had put together made her feel like she could be a great detective. Assuming there was any demand for them in Moorhold.

She spent a little while just watching the people going into, and coming out of the mines, along with everyone milling around outside. It had been a while since she'd gotten to see that many people at once. Most of them looked human, but there was an assortment of other species too. Many of which were likely Wanderers. Several types of beastkin, dwarves, gnomes, elves, even a couple of trolls, and one goblin in yellow chain mail armour who kept getting weird looks from the miners before they vanished into a mine entrance.

While she had never been one for crowds, she had to admit that she was missing contact with people at this point. The wolves back in Merwyn Forest had been decent company, but they weren't particularly social.

Soon. Soon I'll be able to mingle with everyone too. I'm sure I'll be super cute, and popular.

...

Actually, that might become a hassle.

Considering what Aina had said about mobs' AI scripts getting more advanced the higher level they were, it was possible she'd find more social company in the wolves over in the elven forest. Surely there was a zone or area she could settle down in where the mobs were strong enough to be smart. Actually, that was a weird way of thinking about it.

Time to move on. In spite of the nap she was starting to feel tired again, but she wanted to at least get a look at the lake in daylight before she found a sleeping spot. Exploration would be left until night time, but the lake probably looked brilliant under the sun. Her instincts were telling her that rain was coming the next day, possibly even during the night, so this would be her only chance for a while.

At least she knew where to go now.

Chapter Text

[ Discovered Area: Western Eron Plateau. ]

The mines were the mid point of the zone. That was sensible design. She couldn't really see any difference in the mobs in the west versus the east. Hill Lions were stalking the grass, Cyplopes were ambling around in the distance, the eagle-like, and the raven-like birds were soaring above, plus there was stuff rustling in the grass.

From another vantage point she could see a river in the distance. She had crossed a couple on the way there. One on the eastern plateau that ran down the hillside, one that ran into Draven (half of it had been diverted towards the mines, probably to avoid polluting the city's water supply), and now this one which likely lead to the lake. She wasn't an expert, but she felt pretty certain that a lake needed at least one entry river, or some other source of water, and at least one exit river too. Thinking all the way back to Merwyn Forest, it seemed like the Eronite Kingdom had a lot of rivers.

Following the river was easy. The hard part was needing to cross the road. They were far enough into the day that there was a decent amount of traffic. People walking; people on mounts; people riding wagons, and carriages. More than half of them looked like Adventurers of some sort, and parties of them would head into the wilderness among the hills and grass at various points.

She could simply Sprint across the road. While she was reasonably certain she wouldn't get caught, the chances of being seen were high. If she got chased it would ruin her sightseeing. Stealth had its own issues. Her Erase Presence level was still low enough that she was likely easier to spot, but she was unsure how much easier. It was probably still her best option.

She waited in a secure spot as close to the road as possible, and looked for a large enough gap in the travellers to slip through. When the time came, she went as quickly as she could without breaking her cloaking. Cold sweat was running down her back the entire time she was crossing. That 20% movement speed boost would have been nice right about now. Though it was possible the max bonus for EP was something entirely different.

Once she was far enough on the other side to slip behind one of the rare trees in the zone, she finally felt like she could breathe again. Honestly she could probably handle a couple of people, but it would draw too much attention too quickly. There was no way others wouldn't rush to the scene.

As the lake spread out in front of her, she felt a sense of awe, and hurried over to find a good observation spot.

It was large, but not that large. It had an oval shape, and was perhaps a couple of kilometres across at the widest. It only had so much room before it started spilling over the side, after all. However it looked well nestled into the area, and was sparkling beautifully in the sunshine. It was breathtaking. She was glad she had gone to check it out.

There was what looked like a large lodge, perhaps a hotel, sitting close to the largest stretch of beach along the lake. Maybe beach was the wrong word for freshwater bodies. She wasn't sure. Quite a number of people were out there sunbathing, or regular bathing. She was curious how many were Wanderers.

It had been at the very end of summer last she remembered back on Earth, but it felt more like the start of summer here. It was already quite warm, so the water had to be refreshing. Maybe she'd sneak in a dip of her own later. Wet fur was a nuisance, but in the game it dried a lot faster than in real life.

Come to think of it, what date is it, Aina?

"It is currently the 25th of November, 2041."

Sara blinked. November? So the seasons don't line up with Earth then?

"They line up with the southern hemisphere, not the northern. Although the studio headquarters is in Spain, the director and CEO is from Chile, so he wanted it that way."

I see. Sara was about to leave it at that, when it finally sank in. Hang on, November? Last I remember it was still August. Almost September.

"Oh, I was not aware. Was that when you died?"

I... suppose so? I can't actually remember. I guess it doesn't really matter.

Whether it was a week, a month, two months, or more between her death, and rebirth didn't change her current situation at all. Plus she didn't feel like thinking too deeply about it, so she focused on watching the lake area again.

There were many people fishing. They were situated more on the sides of the beach, and beyond. They probably didn't want to get disturbed by the beach goers, and vice versa. She could also see piers that people were fishing from. The boats tied up there were presumably for rent, though no one was currently using them.

There were several smaller lodges around the lakeside as well, though all of them were somewhere along the northern and eastern sides, since there didn't look to be enough flat ground around the west and south.

It was pretty obvious why this was a popular tourist spot.

"Hey, what's that?"

Her ears twitched as she picked up someone talking in the distance.

"It's a Hill Lion, isn't it?"

"It's black, though. Aren't they all brown?"

She looked towards the source of the conversation, and saw a party of four Adventurers. She couldn't make out their classes from where she was, because they were still pretty far away. Her hearing was just that good.

Wait, they can see me? Oh shit, I must have moved so fast that I broke stealth. I was too eager to see the lake.

"Must be a rare spawn, right? Let's get it."

Shit.

She immediately wheeled about, and activated Sprint before they could get within range to use their skills.

"Whoa, it's runni..."

Their voices faded away as she rapidly gained distance from them. The road was right ahead again. Did she have time to use Erase Presence, and wait for an opening again? The Adventurers might catch up, and she might have been spotted by others as well. Taking it slow was too risky. She anxiously waited for Sprint's cooldown to refresh. There were definitely presences closing in, but it refreshed before they reached her, and she set off.

Ah shit, there's a wagon.

It was one of those stereotypical ones with the white cloth canopy over it. No time to hesitate. She used Leap, and flew across the entire road, over the wagon, and landed well on the other side as she heard a ruckus behind her. People had definitely seen the big, black cat sailing through the air. Her not being in her wolf form might be a small mercy, but it wasn't the time to reflect on that. Run for the hills!

After running for a while, she ducked into the nearest cave she found, where a rather startled pair of Hill Lions were inside. They gave her a wide-eyed look, before they started growling at her.

"Please, I'm not here to fight, I just need to hide from the people following me," she tried to say in a desperate tone, having no idea if they understood her. Even if she was in Cat Form, she didn't know if that let her communicate with cats in the same way she could with wolves.

It seemed like they understood her intent at least, as they stopped growling, but they were keeping their eyes on her, as if saying: "Just don't try anything."

After taking a minute to catch her breath, she waved goodbye to the two cats, and went back outside with Erase Presence active. She couldn't detect any nearby scent trails beyond a passing Hill Lion, her own, and some smaller creatures. Very carefully she crawled on top of the hill, and had a look around. Scouting towards the direction of the road she could see people scurrying about. Probably searching for her. While they weren't coming directly in her direction yet, they were gradually fanning outwards. It made sense for them to start checking any caves they found. Adventurers probably wouldn't give up on a rare spawn that easily. It might have special loot.

Sara went in the direct opposite direction of all of them in order to look for a hiding spot. After about five minutes she was lucky enough to find an empty cave.

Aina?

"Already on it, Sara. Sleep well."

She let out a sigh of relief. She would need a minute to calm down before she could actually sleep. Then she had an idea.

With the spider silk, shouldn't she be able to make some sort of bed? She should be able to produce non-sticky silk, which was probably quite comfy. But where would it come out...

To her great relief she was able to make it appear from her paws. She didn't have any skills or limbs capable of manipulating the silk very well, so her options were limited. She could just try to dump a bunch of it onto the ground to make like a cushion, but... what if she stuck one end of it on that part of the wall... and the other end across from it. That shouldn't be too difficult even with only paws to work with.

[ Spider Silk Skill Level Up! ]

Then she could keep adding silk in between, and strengthening the attachments. She had to test how well it held her weight. Hm... she added some more silk.

[ Spider Silk Skill Level Up! ]

And voila! She had a spider silk hammock! Not a great looking one. Or particularly well constructed. But comfier than sleeping on the ground. And it hadn't cost more than... nearly two thirds of her SP. They weren't kidding about the SP drain. Sure she had quite liberally applied the sticky silk to make sure it would hold, and used quite a lot on the size of the hammock, but she hadn't thought it would be that much. Hopefully it would get easier in the future.

Well, whatever. Sleep now, think later. Mmm... soft.

* * *

Le Hoot had happened to be in Hilmgrad when the forum posts about discovering a new rare spawn in Eron Hills had popped up, so she had taken her mount (a leafy deer) up that way immediately. With the uphill climb it had taken a few hours to reach Draven, and it was past three in the afternoon when she finally got into the tavern to meet up with everyone else who had been close by.

The 'rare mob hunters' as the playerbase had dubbed them, and the Guild of Unusual Taxonomy as they called themselves, had members spread out all over Moorhold actively looking for rare, and unusual mobs. They wanted to figure out rare spawns, catalogue named mobs, make guides to the various types of bosses, and so forth. There were a lot of different souls with similar passions that ended up in this group. They had even attracted about a dozen Resident members already.

Of course some were more passionate than others. Scott McScot was probably the most infamous as the Guild Leader, though Le Hoot was the co-leader. It wasn't well known they had two leaders as their philosophical differences made her stand out less, but among the guild members they considered Le Hoot to only be marginally more reasonable.

They had also spread out such that at least some number of them were able to get together within short notice should any forum posts with relevant information go up.

The others who had shown up were
Barls Stein: a Human Fighter who focused on tanking, and had initially joined because he was friends with Scott;
Laloti: a Gnome Scout who was one of their best trackers, and someone Le Hoot had worked with enough to call each other friends;
Grace Jansen: an Elf Priest who liked collecting all sorts of spell skill scrolls, and liked investigating what skills mobs had;
Mirgon: a Dwarf Cleric who usually spent most of his time collecting materials for the guild's crafters, hence why he was up in Draven;
and Sa Lamba: a Catkin Performer who was the most hardcore leveller in the guild because she really wanted to become a Dancer. She also just really liked animals, and thought the ones in Moorhold were neat. At level 29 she looked to be the first in the guild to get her second class change.

Most of the rest of the guild who considered themselves serious about the game were still around level 25 at this point.

After exchanging greetings, they got down to business.

"So, what do we know?" Le Hoot asked, since she was the last to arrive.

"In the forenoon a party spotted a black Hill Lion seemingly watching the lake," Laloti started to explain. "When they tried to go after it, it ran away at high speed. Shortly after a black cat was spotted jumping over the road just north of there before it vanished into the wilderness. I heard the news when it reached the lake, where I was fishing. A search party got started, and I joined when I caught up with them."

"What do you mean it jumped over the road?" Sa Lamba had been inside the mine hunting, so she hadn't heard any of the uproar until she decided to head outside for a lunch break. "Didn't it just run across?"

"No, according to witnesses it did a huge leap to get over a wagon that was in the way," Laloti continued. "They claim it was like five metres into the air, but that's probably an exaggeration. However the Resident who rode the wagon confirmed that the cat had jumped high enough to clear his roughly three metre tall canopy."

Grace was taking notes, but didn't interrupt.

"I was outside breaking down some ore when I heard the commotion, so I headed over, and met with Laloti," Mirgon said. "We were able to follow the tracks thanks to her, but at some point into the hills they just vanished. That's what you said, right?"

"Yeah. They just stopped around one of the mounds. I wanted to stick around, and examine the area more, but one of the Cyclopses spotted the large amount of people, and came chasing after us. We didn't really have the right group composition to fight one. Sucks, honestly."

"You're sure it didn't just enter stealth?" Grace asked.

"Pretty sure. I have my Tracking maxed, so even with stealth I can pick up some traces of footprints, or something, but it had just completely vanished," Laloti answered. "Besides, Hill Lions don't have Stealth."

"Rare spawns usually have extra skills," Grace pointed out.

"A black cat... and we're sure it's a Hill Lion?" Le Hoot asked.

"No one I talked to was able to Identify it, if that's what you mean, but what else would it be?" Laloti raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it got me thinking... the Druid Cat Form is black, and can use Stealth. It's even possible to get Vanish."

"Your point being?"

Le Hoot's eyes were sparkling. "What if it's a new mob that uses shapeshifting?"

"That's a bit of a stretch," Barls said. "Wouldn't it make more sense for it to be a player Druid in that case?"

"Then why didn't they reveal themselves?" Le Hoot was already letting this idea get to her head. If only she knew how close to the truth she was.

"Maybe they were roleplaying," Sa Lamba said. She dabbled in that herself. Most people who picked Performer did some amount of roleplaying. "Honestly it makes more sense that it was a black Hill Lion, but its behaviour was certainly unusual."

"Besides, only players and Residents actually use shapeshifting, right? None of the Druid mobs we've found have shapeshifting skills," Mirgon said.

"But Scott and I were talking about the growing mobs, and what if it's one of them?" Le Hoot wasn't giving up.

"Yeah yeah, we've heard," Barls said. "But that's still just a hypothesis."

Le Hoot pouted. She wholeheartedly believed in it.

"What interests me is that the party that discovered it said it was looking towards the lake," Laloti said, trying to steer the conversation back on topic. "That might be our best lead. What if it was heading down there, but got scared off? It might try heading back later."

"So we scope out the lake? I'm down," La Samba said. "I wouldn't mind getting some fishing done after spending so much time in the mines. I should be able to hit 30 tomorrow anyway."

"Whoa, congrats. I don't think any of the rest of us will get there before the patch," Barls said. He'd been making good progress thanks to running dungeons, but he was still just short of 27, and didn't think half a week was enough for getting all the way to 30.

There were some players in the game who had already gotten to their second class change, but not a lot. Even less who had gotten significantly past it. It was expected that the hardcore grinders would hit max level within a couple more weeks, but they were a small minority. No one had reported getting there yet.

He continued: "Based on what they've told us so far about what's being added, it'll probably be easier afterwards."

"And we can look for that rumoured 'lake master' mob while we're there too." That was what Laloti was ostensibly there to do to begin with. She wasn't just goofing off at the beach.

It was a nice two-for-one. If they found either mob it was a win, and otherwise they had just spent a day at a tourist location doing very little, which wasn't so bad either.

"What do we do if we find them?" Barls asked.

"I propose we just watch them," Grace answered before anyone else got the chance. "I'm more interested in what they're going to do, than what we might get if we defeat them."

"I'm cool with that," La Samba agreed. After all the reason she had joined the guild was to see neat animals.

"I'm in favour," Le Hoot agreed too. Unusual behaviour would be far more proof towards the 'growing mobs' theory than unusual drops. Scott might disagree, but he was off among the dwarves to investigate their mines. They had a promising lead down there too. It was just a little ironic that it was at these mines where they had fresh witnesses.

Chapter Text

It was well past sunset when Sara woke back up. Her hammock had sagged a little, so it was almost touching the floor. The swaying had taken some getting used to, but once she had gotten past that part it had been the softest sleep she'd had so far in this world.

Honestly she hadn't really minded sleeping on the cave floors so far. Her new body seemed fine with it. She figured it was designed for it. At most she might need some light stretching to alleviate some stiffness. And due to the environmental settings she didn't really get dirty. Or at least, it didn't stick to her for very long. However now that she had gotten a taste of something resembling a bed again, it would be hard to go back to sleeping on the floor. Maybe spiders weren't so bad after all.

Though she would have still preferred not fighting them. That experience was going to live inside her head now, possibly forever. Was a nice, soft bed (hammock) really worth that? It might be. She could ask herself again in a year.

She managed to get out with a little effort, and did some stretches out of habit. The hammock really stood out. Was it fine to leave it hanging? Once she moved on, this would revert to a regular cave. Well, maybe it would give whomever found it an interesting story to tell. She had zero idea how long spider silk lasted, but if it was possible to make clothing from it, then hopefully very long. It was probably fine.

Something occurred to her as grogginess faded, and she had a quick look at her skill list. Her Keen Senses skill had ended up in the Concealed section, as she had expected. On the one hand she was tempted to hide what might be a rare skill, but on the other it might be even more suspicious that she was a wolf (or cat) that didn't have any of the Keen skills that predator mobs always seemed to have at least one of. So she decided to push it up into the revealed section, and tentatively set its level to 15, on the assumption that it was possible to get this skill in a way that made it start at level 1. Sadly she didn't have the ability to just add fake skills to her list. That was probably too much to ask for.

Savage Blow could stay Concealed. She was a Druid, and she didn't have any intention of hiding that, nor any intention to complicate that image if she could avoid it. She would love to find another Mystic Wolf to compare herself to, but she had no way of knowing if that would happen. The elven forest was her only clue as to where there might be others, so she'd see once she got there.

She poked her head outside to make sure it was actually dark. The stars were out, and for someone who had lived in the city most of her life it was still breathtaking to see a crystal clear night sky like this. One of the moons looked full, and the other was closer to half. She wondered if the cycles were the same length as on Earth. She felt the urge to howl, but suppressed it.

To the north she could see a mass of dark clouds approaching, so her rain prediction looked like it would come true. Though she couldn't tell exactly how far off they were. Probably at least a few more hours.

She confirmed the location of the river, and then headed even further west to look for place to cross the road. It was better to approach the side of the lake than head towards the middle of the beach. Once she got close to the road, she paused to scout a bit. There were not a lot of people out at night, but there was still a bit of traffic. Luckily she couldn't see anything that resembled a search party, so she carefully crossed the road in stealth mode. The gaps between travellers were more than big enough.

[ Discovered Area: Lake Karasol. ]

With the amount of tourists she had seen, she wouldn't be surprised if some of them were still out at night, so she kept Erase Presence activated all the way down to the lakeside. It had been beautiful under the sunlight, but it wasn't any less stunning to see how it glittered in the moonlight. The urge to howl resurfaced, but that would give herself away right away. Sound probably travelled incredibly well across the water.

She crept further around the side of the lake until she hit an area where there was just a strip of sand, and a thin stretch of flat grassland before it went downhill. In a pinch she could rush down the hill to escape.

Once she reached a spot she felt happy with, she turned her attention to the water. The surface looked beautiful, but what about underneath? There was also the important question: could she find any fish? Her Keen Senses didn't really give her much insight. She couldn't really smell, or hear what was in there, and her vision could only pierce a limited depth before it got distorted. Sticking her head underwater might improve things, but she had a different plan. Thermal Vision. If she used Thermal Vision, and paid extra attention to Sense Presence, she figured she should be able to find anything lurking under the surface.

She tried while standing on the shore, but couldn't really sense anything close by. There were some small heat signatures in range, but she wasn't able to use Identify on them. Maybe they were too small to count as mobs. She wondered how they decided the cut-off points for mobhood.

Stretching Sense Presence outwards let her discover something further out, but it was beyond Thermal Vision range. She'd have to move closer.

She tentatively placed a paw into the water, and found it to be quite pleasant. It honestly made her want to bathe. Though it would have to wait. Maybe after her investigation was done. It had been almost a month. Surely she deserved a reward. But first! Fish!

The water seemed to be pretty shallow for the initial stretch. The depth was increasing very gradually. She assumed that at some point it would probably get steeper.

Oh! There's something!

A larger heat signature came into view, and this one responded to Identify.

[ Shallow Roach (Scout Lvl 12) HP: 31/31 ]

Wait, why is it so weak?

"Fish in the shallows are meant to be early catches after you level up your fishing on the non-mob fish. The fish mobs in the lake start at level 10, and grow as you get deeper in. The fishing piers go far enough out to let you get fish up to level 20, but beyond that you need to rent a boat, or go spear fishing underwater."

It probably didn't have a lot of things on it, then.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl 4 | Struggle Lvl 3 | Sprint Lvl 3 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Swim Lvl 3 | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 2 ]

So this thing is absolutely helpless once pulled out of the water?

"Yes. That is the case for most fish. Fighting them in the water can be tough, but if you manage to fish them up, you just have to finish them off. Several of them have ranged abilities that you have to be wary of, but once they're on land they have a hard time using their skills, and an even harder time aiming."

Seeing Sprint on a fish amused her, but she was more interested in the two things she hadn't seen before.

[ Struggle (Active): Attempt to escape someone's grasp by struggling violently. Makes the user hard to hold onto. Does minimal damage. Can also be used to attempt to release the user from being stuck. Effect increases with skill level. Damage value: (0.1+(0.01*skill level))*attack power. Cost: 2 SP. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

[ Swim (Passive): Improves swimming prowess, and speed. Able to hold breath for longer. Reduces SP drain from swimming. Effect increases with skill level. ]

Oh, I want that! Wait, do I need the Swim skill to be able to swim?

"No, it simply improves how your proficiency. Though as a wolf you can pretty much only doggy-paddle, so you will not be able to swim very well regardless. Even with the skill there are limits to what you can do considering your physique."

Even so, she wanted that skill. Struggle was whatever, but Swim was something she definitely wanted. Though how would she catch a fish in the first place? She had her doubts whether she would be able to simply walk close enough to grab it, even when stealthed. It was likely better to come up with a ranged solution.

Fireball... no. Even if it blew up directly above the fish, the explosion probably wasn't strong enough to stun fish, a la grenade fishing she'd seen on video.

Poison Bolt, and Frost Bolt might work. Logically she would assume that the energy would dissipate while travelling through water, but magic in a game world probably had its own set of logic. Maybe accuracy was the bigger issue. Especially if the fish didn't die in one shot, and then tried to escape.

Maybe she could Leap into the air, and DFA them. The splash might make them flee, though.

Thorn Bind... actually, that was promising. If she could trap the fish, then there would be no problem grabbing it. But would the vines actually work in the water?

She cast the spell, and it worked! Thorny vines shot up from the waterbed, and wrapped themselves around the fish. The damage was negligible, but it gave her time to rush out there, and Chomp down on it.

[ Shallow Roach (Scout Lvl 12) Defeated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Swim. ]

Easy.

That meant there was no real reason to hunt any more of these fish, and there didn't seem to be anything else in the vicinity. While there were situations where Struggle might be useful, she could also just... struggle normally. And with their low levels, she probably got next to no experience from them.

[ Thermal Vision Skill Level Up! ]

Which meant it was time to bathe!

She rushed further out until she could no longer reach the bottom with her feet, and then started paddling around. It was so nice finally getting to immerse herself in water after so long. Honestly she hadn't realised how much she had missed bathing until now. Maybe she should make a point to regularly bathe in rivers from now on. It wouldn't be quite the same as this, but it would be something. And when she got out she wouldn't have to be miserably wet for very long thanks to the settings menu.

[ Swim Skill Level Up! ]

Aaaahhh, bliss. I wish I could just live here, but there are too many people. I'll be back some day, when I am also people. At some point I want to go visit the sea as well.

She stuck her head underwater, and was immediately surprised at how well she could actually see. Was it due to Night Vision? Did that really have an effect underwater? There shouldn't be enough moonlight, even with two moons, to see that clearly otherwise. Everything looked like it was shimmering.

There were different fish as well. Briefly turning on Thermal Vision let her better pinpoint their locations.

[ Shallow Perch (Fighter Lvl 16) HP: 54/54 ]

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl 6 | Struggle Lvl 5 | Sprint Lvl 4 | Water Needle Lvl 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Eyes Lvl 6 | Swim Lvl 6 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 3 | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 3 ]

[ Water Needle (Active): Fire a rapid needle with water element property that inflicts piercing damage. Hard to aim. Works well underwater. Damage value: (1.0+(0.03*skill level))*magic power. +50% damage when striking a vital point. Cost: 3 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

Is that a spell?

"Indeed. One of the basic water spells. Even without a magic class, fish type mobs are granted permission to use it, and its evolutions. It is rare in that it will not show up in the skill store, so it requires a different means of acquisition. Like a skill scroll, or a quest."

Or Skill Gain.

"Correct."

Well, there looked to be plenty of these fish around, and they seemed to mostly either swim around lazily, or chase the smaller Roaches. She might as well grab a few until she got the spell.

She raised her head to take a deep breath, then plunged back underwater so she could cast Thorn Bind, and dive down to snag her catch. Unfortunately the thing didn't just sit still after getting bound. It managed to turn towards her, and fire Water Needles. She wasn't really dexterous enough in her swimming to be able to dodge, as her stats helped her very little with manoeuvring underwater.

[ Swim Skill Level Up! ]

That wasn't really enough to help either, so she had to just tank a couple of hits until she could reach the fish, and dispose of it. She was able to move in a straight line at a decent enough speed. Then she quickly hurried back up to the surface.

[ Shallow Perch (Fighter Lvl 16) Defeated. ]

[ Thorn Bind Skill Level Up! ]

No luck on that one. She cast Regrowth on herself in preparation for the next dive.

[ Regrowth Skill Level Up! ]

The other fish had evacuated the immediate area, but she didn't have to swim very far to find more of them, and repeat the process.

[ Shallow Perch (Fighter Lvl 15) Defeated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Struggle. ]

[ Shallow Perch (Fighter Lvl 17 Defeated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Water Needle. ]

[ Chomp Skill Level Up! ] [ Swim Skill Level Up! ]

There clearly wasn't a lot of skill experience to get from these fish, but every level up helped, and she got the skill she wanted.

She was curious just how hard it was to aim, so she needed another target.

Turned out it was pretty tricky. Even against an immobile target she missed the two first shots, had to cast another Thorn Bind, finally hit with the third shot, missed the fourth, and had to cast Thorn Bind a third time before she managed to kill it with the fifth Water Needle.

[ Shallow Perch (Fighter Lvl 17) Defeated. ]

[ Water Needle Skill Level Up! ]

That was a little embarrassing, but maybe it was to be expected from a first attempt.

It occurred to her to check her remaining SP, and she saw that it had drained down to around a third left. She wanted to swim some more, but she would have to head to the shore to recharge first.

She sat her ass down on the sand, and took a breather. When she was younger she had really enjoyed going to the ocean, and swimming in the sea. This was actually her first... no, second time bathing in a lake. Freshwater was definitely a different experience. Less crusty. The salt really stuck to you from seawater.

As she sat there she got the eerie sensation that she was being watched. Danger Sense wasn't reacting though, and neither were her other sensory skills. Maybe it was just her imagination. Once her SP recharged, she went in for another swim. Maybe she could get even further out, and find more fish.

[ Swim Skill Level Up! ]

* * *

After sitting there for hours with nothing happening, Barls had decided to go to the lodge for a meal, and some drinks. Sa Lamba went with him. Mirgon ended up leaving too, saying he wanted to process more of the materials he had gathered, and he needed the mine's facilities to do it.

Sa Lamba later returned without him to bring meals for Grace, Laloti, and Le Hoot. Then she had returned to fishing. Even if you didn't catch much, there was something zen about it. Le Hoot had gotten interested in trying, so Sa Lamba had begun teaching her.

Grace was telling them about how she had been searching for caves on the Plateau, because the treasure chests could have skill scrolls, and the odds of one appearing were pretty decent. She'd even snagged a few unrestricted ones. If she couldn't use them herself, she could give them to guild members, or sell them for a tidy profit. There were plenty of items to auction too. She was actually one of the richer members of the guild.

Laloti kept lookout while the rest were passing time. It was easy to imagine something like that would get boring, but she was good with handling monotonous tasks. It was part of why she had chosen the Scout class, and taken the Tracker profession. And it was a little exciting to be on a stakeout with the others like this.

As Le Hoot managed to gradually snag bigger catches, Grace was happy to tell them about how almost all fish mobs had Struggle, a skill you didn't see much elsewhere, and how the predator fish one of the rarest of the basic spells, since there were very only a few ways for players to get it.

Darkness fell upon them, and Le Hoot took out a picnic basket she had gotten from the guild's #1 cook, along with some large bottles of iced tea. Even after dark the air remained warm. While it was approaching winter back where they lived on Earth, it was approaching summer in Moorhold. The game company was based in the southern hemisphere, so they had gone with their seasons, which honestly suited Laloti fine.

It was starting to seem like this stakeout had been good for nothing except hanging out when Laloti finally spotted movement to the west, in the water. She had recently maxed out Keen Eyes, and her Night Vision was pretty good at level 15, so she was able to zoom in with high clarity.

"I see something," she announced to the others.

"Where?" They hurried closer.

"On the west shore. Something suddenly appeared in the water. But it's not black..."

While she wasn't completely certain why she hadn't spotted anything approaching the water, the most likely answer was stealth. She took out her binoculars to get a better look. Le Hoot also had binoculars, while Grace and Sa Lamba had monoculars.

Beastkin all had Night Vision to start with, and the same applied to elves. Also dwarves, and for some reason goblins. Laloti hadn't gotten it until she became a Scout. But since the others had started with it earlier, they were also higher level than her. Sa Lamba was at max, Grace was at 18, and Le Hoot was at 17.

"I don't think that's a cat either," Sa Lamba said. "Looks more like a wolf."

"A wolf?!" Le Hoot's sudden exclamation startled the other three.

"What's gotten into you?" Grace asked.

"Remember the wolf back in Merwyn?" she asked Laloti. "The one we think was a growing mob?"

"Oh yeah..." Laloti was still of the opinion that it had probably been different wolves, but it had been odd to be ambushed like that, plus now there was a wolf in a zone that wasn't supposed to have any.

Sa: "What's it doing?"

Gr: "Looks like it's playing around... is it trying to catch fish?"

Sa: "Do mobs do that? Hell, do wolves do that?"

Le: "This one seems to. Look, now it's started to swim."

La: "It looks so lazy... as if it's just enjoying itself. I wonder if the water still feels nice at night?"

Laloti had had a dip earlier during the day, but she hadn't tried any night swimming.

Le: "Oh! It dove underwater!"

Sa: "Is it actually trying to dive for fish? Surely it can't hope to catch them."

Gr: "Unless it has some sort of skill that traps them."

Sa: "Oh yeah, there are a lot of those... would they work underwater, though?"

Gr: "I don't see why not. Holy Shackles work anywhere."

Though Grace hadn't actually tried it underwater. Very few players bothered with underwater combat.

Le: "It's back up. Wait... that light... it definitely just cast a spell. I think it was Regrowth."

Le Hoot was quite familiar with the visual effects of her Druid skills.

Sa: "I know there are magic mobs, but wolves too?"

Le: "We haven't found one yet, I think. Wolves always seem to be physical types like Fighters, or Rogues. I'd have to check with the other guild members, but this might be the first. A Druid wolf."

Gr: "How very exciting!"

Sa: "Maybe we can ask the bookworms to check the libraries for any information on that."

Le: "They're researchers!"

Sa: "Same thing."

La: "Asking the Residents might not be a bad idea either. They have their own legends, and folk tales, and stuff. Though which ones to ask..."

Gr: "Since it's here, maybe we should check with the humans first?"

Le: "But if it's here... where is it going?"

Sa: "What do you mean?"

Le: "Well, if it travelled from Merwyn, then I doubt this would be its destination. It can really only come out at night, and has to sneak around everywhere. But since it came from a forest, maybe it's going to a different forest..."

La: "I am not convinced it's the same one, but... say for the sake of argument that you are correct, and it's travelling from east to west, then it would have to be Ildhena right?"

Le: "Exactly! I think I'm gonna move my base to Komeron for the time being, just in case."

That seemed like a rash decision, but they probably couldn't talk her out of it.

Sa: "Looks like it's taking a break."

La: "It's looking around... you don't think it can tell we're watching, do you?"

Gr: "Surely not! Look, it's going back in the water."

Sa: "I wanna go for a swim myself now..."

La: "Same..."

* * *

Sara was enamoured with looking around underwater. It was starting to get pretty deep, yet she didn't really feel any fear. Her Swim skill had already levelled up enough that the SP drain wasn't that bad, and even if she happened to drown, her respawn point was in a position where she wouldn't lose a lot of travel time. She would just end up further north again.

She probably shouldn't go any further out, but there was still a lot to see. Underwater there were interesting plants, rocks, and stuff that wasn't just fish. There were some rather large snails, several sizes of shellfish, probably crayfish if she remembered her freshwater fauna, and also a new type of larger fish. She couldn't Identify the crayfish, or snails without diving down, but the fish was within range.

[ Lake Pike (Fighter Lvl 21) HP: 89/89 ]

They were starting to get pretty tough now, but at least it didn't seem to be an elite.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 2 | Struggle Lvl Max | Tail Whip Lvl 2 | Charge Lvl 8 | Crush Lvl 2 |
Water Jet Lvl 2 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Eyes Lvl 12 | Keen Nose Lvl 12 | Swim Lvl Max | Dive Lvl 3 | Tough Scales Lvl 6 |
Strength Up (Small) Lvl 6 | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 6 ]

Water Jet?

[ Water Jet (Active): Fire a rapid jet with water element property that inflicts piercing damage. Hard to aim. Works well underwater. Damage value: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. +60% damage when striking a vital point. Defence piercing: +(10+(1*skill level))%. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

Ah, so it's the upgraded version of Water Needle.

[ Dive (Passive): Able to move better underwater. Swim faster underwater, and move more precisely. Able to hold breath for longer. Stacks with Swim. Able to handle the increased water pressure of the depth better, and suffer less from decompression sickness. Effect increases with skill level. ]

Oh, I want that too! I can become a merwolf! Okay, maybe not, but I still want it.

Her SP looked good for at least one more fight, so she decided to bank on her luck. Even if the effect was dubious, she said a quick prayer to Norax, and then checked whether Thorn Bind was able to grab the fish even when it was over a metre from the bottom.

It got snagged, and seemed really angry about it. With its size, and length it was hard for it to move much when it was restrained, but it still did its best to fire Water Jets at her. She fired back with Water Needles, trying to aim for the weak spots she could see, and also attempted to fire a Frost Bolt. It did launch, and it did hit, but it seemed to dissipate a little while travelling through the water, so it wasn't full damage. The Slow effect still helped though.

In the end it became a slug fest as they traded spells back and forth. Sara might not have the upgraded version, and her accuracy wasn't perfect, but her magic power was higher, so she still dealt more damage with each hit, and Rejuvenate gave her a bit more leeway to tank hits. She considered diving down, and trying to finish it off with biting, but there was really no need to. She just had to recast Thorn Bind to keep it in place. However the third cast missed because the fish charged at her, and the vines couldn't stretch far enough. Though that made it easier to aim, so she finished it off with a Water Needle right between the eyes.

[ Lake Pike (Fighter Lvl 21) Defeated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Dive. ]

[ Thorn Bind Skill Level Up! ] [ Water Needle Skill Level Up! ] [ Rejuvenate Skill Level Up! ]
[ Water Needle Skill Level Up! ] [ Swim Skill Level Up! ] [ Solid Coat Skill Level Up! ]
[ Insulation Skill Level Up! ] [ Nature Element Up Skill Level Up! ]
[ Mana Manipulation Skill Level Up! ]

Thankfully her luck came through. She needed two Regrowths to top herself up, and then she swam back to shore. She felt like all her urges were satisfied for the time being.

Once ashore she flopped down for a bit to recover her SP, and let the water dry off. It was so handy to have it happen so quickly. If only she could have had that in real life.

Actually... I guess this is my real life now...

Chapter Text

[ Discovered Area: Eron Hillside West. ]

It turned out that going downhill was faster than going uphill. This was both common sense, and basic physics, yet Sara had not been prepared for just how much faster it would go. Sure, the uphill climb had been fairly steep, but it seemed much steeper going the other way. Unless the west side was genuinely steeper than the east. If she did a Sprint Leap she flew so far that she ended up taking fall damage, and kept rolling until she hit something that made her stop.

It had taken nearly a day to climb up the hill. Sure she had gotten distracted by a lot of things, but even if she had only gone in a straight line up it would have taken several hours. Now she had been going for maybe one hour, and she was roughly halfway down. And very bruised, and battered for it. She had taken shelter at a cave entrance near a rock that had quite abruptly halted her rapid descent. While painful, it had at least let her take a break, and heal back up.

She could smell the rain coming behind her. In a sense she was racing it now. It had started approaching the lake just as she had left, but her trek downhill had been so fast she had outpaced it so far. This pause was giving it the chance to catch up, but she really needed a break after that ordeal. Cat's Feet had probably kept her from outright dying as she crashed her way down, but she had still gone below 50% HP after hitting that rock. There were actually some flatter areas along the hillside. One of them being the one where she had so recklessly jumped off the edge of, wanting to see how far she could go. It had been almost like a ramp, which she had found too tempting. She had missed most of the rest of them, and rolled right over the ones she hadn't. They had slowed her down a little. Probably. Momentum, and gravity were terrifying forces.

[ Regrowth Skill Level Up! ]

That was better. There were still some aching spots, but her HP was full, and nothing felt painful any longer. After turning back into Cat Form, she figured she might as well take a look inside the cave while she was there. From what little she had actually been able to glimpse on her way down, it looked like the mobs were the same as on the east side. Meaning there might be a bear sleeping inside, in which case she could just leave again.

Instead she discovered a plain treasure chest. She made sure none of her senses reacted before she dared touch it. Inside she found 2 gold coins, a medium quality health potion, and a suspiciously good-looking loaf of bread.

[ Half-Fine Bread (Medium Quality). Fills 35% of the hunger bar. Consumable. Ingredient. ]

That was all it would tell her. She wondered what she needed to get a more detailed description. A crafting skill? Some sort of deeper appraisal skill? Or was this all crafters had to work with as well? Part of her wanted item descriptions that provided lore, and such things, but that was probably an enormous undertaking for the writing team. Maybe they could ask Aina to do it.

What puzzled (and disturbed) her even more was why and how it still looked fresh. Did chests function on a similar principle to an inventory? Also an entire loaf of bread only filling you up a third of the way seemed silly. Most people on Earth would struggle to devour that in one sitting, let alone three of them. It was probably better if it was used to make sandwiches, or something. For the time being she stowed it into her inventory.

She headed back outside. The main shower hadn't reached her yet, but she could feel a few drops landing on her. This time she was a little more careful while going down, but she still wanted to get down quickly. So long as she didn't tumble, and half-die again, there was nothing to really stop for. The bears were sleeping, the drakes were in the grass, the ferrets were probably being fiends, and the goats were chilling out. She was curious whether the rain would change mob behaviour, but not curious enough to hang around, and see for herself. This journey was already long enough, even though she would say most of it had been well spent. She was a lot stronger now than when she started.

Ah crap.

She had gotten distracted, and could feel her legs were starting to go out of control. In response she dug her heels in, and steered her direction towards a flatter portion where she could roll around a couple of times before stopping.

The rain was was intensifying, and if that turned the ground into mud then this descent could turn into a slide.

She gazed downwards from the ridge where it became steeper again, and she could see the bottom down there, even if the rain was rapidly obscuring it. There was also something... big, a little further beyond it. The shape suggested it was man-made rather than a natural feature.

Taking her time, and doing her best to ignore the rain, she eventually got down to the bottom. It was raining so hard by that point that she couldn't see very far ahead no matter how enhanced her senses were, but at least now she was free to run forwards to her heart's content. Even if it brought up mental images of frolicking dogs.

The rain eased up the further away from the hillside she got, as if she was getting out of the path of the worst of it, and soon enough she reached another river that she decided to jump across.

[ Discovered Zone: Eronite - Hanoleav Border. ]

[ Discovered Area: Eronite Side. ]

* * *

On the other side there was no rain at all. As if the river was a hard border for it. While she had played games where weather was restricted within a zone, or biome, it still felt strange to experience it in person.

In front of her was the big thing she had glimpsed from the hillside. It was a giant wall. The border wall, maybe? That seemed like something a fantasy setting would have, but wasn't it a bit much? It had to be over 10 metres tall. How much over she wasn't sure. What was it intended to stop? Giants? Maybe it needed that much to fend off siege tactics. She could hardly proclaim herself an expert.

On close inspection it resembled a medieval fortress more than just a wall with a gate. It sat in the middle of this valley, with the wall extending into both sides, where the terrain was jagged, and nearly vertical. It funnelled people towards the fortress.

She gazed behind her, and saw the rain was still like a grey curtain back there. It reminded her of one time she had taken the bus, and it had rained on one side of the road, but not the other. It could happen, but it somehow felt wrong.

The bridge was further up the river. It looked solid, and wide, but didn't have a gatehouse like the one on the Merwyn side.

Yeah, that would just be superfluous, wouldn't it? But damn, fantasy settings don't joke around.

Her path down from the lake had taken her across to the left of the bridge. Which should be the south side. Across the valley the grass was short, and there was only a handful of trees. It gave her the sense that it had been intentionally cleared. Likely to give the guards clean lines of vision. Since there wasn't any traffic this time of night that might distract them, she'd have to be extra careful.

With Erase Presence active she stayed close to the side as she slowly approached the wall. She wanted to scope out the area to find a good way across, around, or through. The gate was wide open, even in the middle of the night. The relationship between the elves and the humans was probably good enough that they didn't need to close their gates on one another.

That didn't mean a wolf could just stroll through. The guards would probably have some sharp words to say about that. And she had a feeling that Erase Presence wouldn't be good enough to let her pass unnoticed. Maybe not even if she had managed to hit max level. They surely had some sort of detection system installed.

She could see a lodging house, with a large stable next to it sitting close to the wall, but not too close. Which was interesting, but not helpful.

Honestly she could probably climb up the sides with little issue if she wasn't interrupted. The fortress was meant to stop armies, and their vehicles, to whatever extent those existed. While it would be hard for for anyone with regular climbing skills and equipment, it was doable with an adhesive skill like Spider Climb. Normally they'd probably spot a spider before it even reached the wall, but Sara had the advantage of stealth. If she took it slow, she might not get spotted at all.

[ Night Vision Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]

[ Condition Met: Character already possesses Keen Senses skill at level max. Skill Merge available. 1 skill point gained. ]

[ Merge Night Vision skill into Keen Senses skill? Price: 1 skill point. Yes/No ]

Huh?! Her train of thought got interrupted by a sudden assault of popups. Uh... yes?

[ Merging Skills... Successful. Keen Senses upgraded. Sub-skill Vision updated. ]

Things went really dark for a couple of seconds before her night vision turned back on, so to speak. She pawed the highlighted button.

[ Vision (Keen Senses): Range, and clarity of vision greatly improved. Able to zoom in on an area by focusing on it. Able to see the weak points of targets. Medium effect. Able to see perfectly in the dark if even a tiny sliver of light is present. Able to emit a sonar ping that can only be heard by those with level max hearing skills, which lets holder see an outlined image of their surroundings. ]

Even though the sensory enhancement skills were list as passive, they seemed to have several active elements. So if she understood things correctly, in the event it was so pitch-black that even Night Vision wasn't good enough, she would still be able to 'see' her surroundings via sonar imagery?

But how does it work?

She tried to imagine it, and suddenly a sound like a chime went off. Hopefully there were no individuals able to hear it nearby. A wave spread across the terrain, forming what looked like a layer over the nearby terrain. It didn't reveal anything special. She imagined it probably worked better in an enclosed space.

Now... what was I thinking about? Oh right, Spider Climb!

It shouldn't be too hard to go up the side either, but spiders were known for climbing up walls. Going straight up, and over was the simplest path. It would be slow if she wanted to avoid breaking stealth, but... if she got a little closer first, and combined Cat Form's Agility boost with Sprint, and Leap she should be able to get enough momentum to basically run up the wall. She really wanted to try it, and it was unlikely anyone would be able to react in time.

She crept closer. And closer. Max level Sprint would give her 20 seconds, so she couldn't start too early. She was far enough out that she should be out of sight of anyone at the gate.

Alright...

She looked up the wall. It was even more impressive up close. Very European castle style.

As she mentally went over her plan once more, she suddenly thought of something. Quickly checking the skill store, she saw was up to 19 skill points. If there was ever a time to get Quick Feet, it was now. She checked the skill description to make sure it did what she remembered. Improved dodge, tighter movement control, and quicker acceleration were the important points. Even at level 1 every little bit would help, so she hit the button.

[ Skill Purchased: Quick Feet. ]

Okay, here we go.

[ Discovered Area: Torund Gate. ]

She started running, letting stealth break on its own. When she judged she was at (or close to) full speed, she activated Sprint, and shot forth. A few metres from the wall she used Leap to get as much vertical momentum as possible, stretching herself upwards. As her feet hit the wall, she kept running. It was going even better than she had imagined. She would have laughed gleefully if she could.

In no time at all she had scaled the entire wall, and came up on top with the momentum carrying her some way into the air. Her eyes immediately spotted a couple of guards carrying torches, who looked very started when she landed right in front of them.

Crap.

Sprint hadn't expired yet, so she rushed towards the other end. They yelled something after her that she couldn't quite make out, but it was probably something like 'stop' or 'wait'. Which was not happening.

The top was wider than she had expected. It was probably about 10 metres across. It made sense that they needed the room to fight up there if necessary, but at the moment it meant she had more ground to cover before she could escape.

As she reached the other side she used Leap with as much horizontal force as she could, to give her enough momentum to get as far away from the wall as possible. It hadn't occurred to her in time that she was over 10 metres up in the air. Cat's Feet might be approaching max level, but there was still only so much it could do.

[ Discovered Area: Ornar Plain ]

As gravity caught on to what she was doing, and made the ground approach in a hurry, she did the only thing she could think of. Tuck into a roll. It even worked! Mostly. She lost about half of her HP, but she avoided breaking anything. Without her skills that probably would have been really bad, but she was able to keep at least half of her momentum going, and activate Rejuvenate to recover a little.

Unfortunately there was another fortress in front of her, presumably the elven one. It was definitely similar in size and shape, though the architectural style was a little different. It possessed a bit more flourish, and looked like it was made from green marble, if such a thing existed. As if it tried to invoke the colour of the forest, while still being solid stone.

She could hear some noise behind her, but she wasn't sensing any incoming attacks, or anything following her. The guards probably hadn't been able to raise the alarm fast enough. Regardless she was zooming towards the other side, intent on scaling that wall too. She activated Sprint again as soon as it was off cooldown. It would probably take more than one to reach the other side.

As she got closer, she spotted something at the fortress ahead. There were a couple of flashes near the top, and suddenly Danger Sense gave her a sharp warning. She quickly swerved to the side, and the sound of breaking ice could be heard behind her. Someone over there had spotted her, and didn't want her to get close. Maybe the other fortress had warned them.

Well, the scenery was rather barren, with only patches of short grass at best, so there was no place for her to hide from anyone who could see in the dark. Still, she had to be past the halfway mark of the roughly kilometre long stretch. She could probably dodge any further attacks if they were that straightforward.. If anything she was impressed at whomever had managed to nearly hit her with a spell from that far away.

Oh, another one.

With a side-hop that only barely slowed her down she dodged that one as well. Did they have some sort of magical sniper rifle, or maybe a long range magical turret? That sounded awesome, actually.

After another Rejuvenate she was about to pop Sprint again, but then realised the distance was too short. She would run out around the same time she reached the wall, and it would be a terrible idea to stop, even for 5 seconds. She'd rather not go up the wall without Sprint either, so she'd have to go at normal speed until she got into range.

Unfortunately there were now several incoming pings from Danger Sense, as a group of arrows were heading her way. She really had to admire their accuracy, as all five of them were going to hit basically on top of her. But that also made it easier to dodge them all, so she veered to the side again, even doing a dodge roll for no particular reason. Was that the power of Quick Feet? Once she was back up to top speed, it was time for the final burst.

[ Discovered Area: Haerun Gate. ]

Suddenly activating Sprint shot her beyond the path of the next set of projectiles coming her way, and she had no reason to check what they were. As before she used Leap to get as much vertical height as she could, and then ran right up the wall. The attacks stopped, either because they couldn't hit her from that angle, or they were too shocked at what was happening, or both.

However Danger Sense really flared up when she launched up from the side. She did an instinctual air dodge with Air Control, that she wasn't sure she'd have been able to do intentionally. One of the arrows still hit her, but she gritted her teeth, and rushed through the chaotic scene. She was able to avoid any further hits until she Leaped off of the other side, completely ignoring all the angry shouting behind her.

Rejuvenate had almost restored her to full HP by the time she had reached the elven fortress, but that arrow had taken a nasty chunk back off. Either it was a lucky crit, or the level difference was high. If she'd been hit by any more, her odds of surviving the fall would be slim to none. However it still wasn't a guarantee.

[ Discovered Area: Hanoleav Side. ]

The most recent Rejuvenate tick took her back up to about 65%, and the previous fall had taken her down to about 40-45%, so some quick math said that if the distances were the same, she would survive with 5-10%. Maybe a little more since Rejuvenate was still going, and would get at least one more tick in before she landed. What else could she do? Death From Above? No, there were no targets to cushion her blow, so it wouldn't reduce fall damage. The entire border zone seemed devoid of mobs. There were only the fortresses, the soldiers who stood guard, and the travellers going through.

All she could do was brace for impact. At least there was some grass on this side that might give her a slightly softer landing. Another tuck, and roll, and back on her feet.

15%! Not dead!

Sprint was ready to go again, and she zoomed away from the fortress, leaving her attackers behind. Danger Sense wasn't giving her any strong warnings, so maybe they didn't have turrets on this side. Or they were too shocked to react properly. Firing at something running away erratically was probably harder than something coming towards you.

They'd need some serious speed to pursue her, and without some sort of impressive mount, or vehicle she doubted an elf could run fast enough to catch up, even if they also had Sprint. Besides what was the point of worrying about one mob that hadn't even hurt anybody?

As with the human side there was a river to cross, but instead of a hillside, there were woodlands on the other side of it. Once she got there, she should definitely be safe. One more Leap!

[ Discovered Zone: Meerna Flatlands. ]

[ Discovered Area: Meerna Border Woods. ]

Once she'd gotten in among the trees, she searched for a safe spot to take a rest, and heal back up. That little stunt had cost a big chunk of SP as well, and had probably caused too much of a stir, but surely their lives would be more fun now that she had given them an interesting experience to tell their friends about.

The sound of popup notifications had gone off several times while she had been running, but she hadn't really had the opportunity to look at them until now.

[ Leap Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Firm Grip Skill Level Up! ] [ Cat's Feet Skill Level Up! ] [ Quick Feet Skill Level Up! ]
[ Spider Climb Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]
[ Cat Form Skill Level Up! ] [ Air Control Skill Level Up! ] [ Solid Coat Skill Level Up! ]
[ Rejuvenate Skill Level Up! ] [ Quick Feet Skill Level Up! ]

She wondered if she would have been dead without Quick Feet. She had dodged better than she thought possible, and had certainly felt quicker. Part of that might have been adrenaline, but she was willing to give the skill some of the credit. Dying, and having to try again would have really sucked.

[ Leap (Active): Able to leap further, and higher than normal. Scales with Strength, Agility, and Dexterity. The height, distance, and accuracy of the jump improves with skill level. Does minor damage if user lands on a target. Cost: 2 SP. Refresh: Whenever user's feet touch a surface, or a target.
Max level bonus: Damage done by Leap is doubled. Perfectly timed consecutive jumps cost no SP. ]

'Perfectly timed' sounded like a big caveat, but she might get some use out of that. The increased damage probably wouldn't come up much.

[ Spider Climb (Passive): Improves climbing prowess, and speed. Lets user stick to almost any surface, and climb along it. Effect increases with skill level. Scales with Dexterity.
Max level bonus: Halves SP drain while climbing. No SP drain while immobile. ]

So she could just hang on the ceiling forever. Like actual spiders did. A slight shiver ran down her spine.

"Sunrise is in an hour and 15 minutes, Sara. There is a nearby cave that would be a good respawn point. I highly recommend you take it after coming this far."

Thank you, Aina. I will take you up on that.

Chapter Text

Sara felt a certain amount of tension leave her when she knew she was truly safe. She'd take a short rest to recover her spirit, even though her physical condition was already fine. Thanks to how this world worked Regrowth had even taken care of her bruises, though she still felt a bit sore.

How far left, Aina?

"After crossing this zone, you will reach the first part of the forest."

The first part?

"The Ildhena forest is the largest on the continent by quite a margin. It consists of four entire zones; north, west, east, and south; surrounding the elven capital Komeron in the middle. This current zone you're in is the elven starting area with mobs from level 1 to 15. Here is where new Wanderers, and aspiring Resident Adventurers work themselves up to level 10 before stopping by Milheen, the city on the edge of the forest, to get their first class.

"From there they are free proceed into the eastern side of the forest, which has mobs ranging from level 10 to 20, and leads directly into the capital. The east side is also the elves' main cultivation area. While Meerna contains the farmland of the kingdom, they have an entire section of the forest for cultivating various trees, and other plants to harvest for food, medicine, and other uses. It's thanks to their connection to nature that they are able to do this so efficiently."

Wait, this zone contains all of their farmland?

"The majority of it. This zone is far longer than it is wide, and wraps around much of the forest on this side. The kingdom mainly consists of the forest and its immediate surrounding zones. This is the only border with a zone in between it and the forest, while the other two sit adjacent to the forest to the north, and south."

Sara had a hard time wrapping her head around how big the forest must be.

"The road into Komeron continues out west, where it heads towards the ocean. The west forest is level 15-25, and is considered an important trade route as it is one of the few access points to the western seaside. It also has some troubles with bandits, as it is easier for them to operate in the west, than the east.

"Komeron does not have direct gates to the north, or south. There are paths through them accessible from the eastern zone, but they are not well-maintained roads, as the elves do not have the resources to spare to keep all four directions equally safe. The north, and the south zones are considered more dangerous, so they were easier to abandon. Travellers are advised to head out to Milheen, and travel from there if they want to go in those directions.

"The zones are fairly equal level-wise, with mobs from level 20 to 30, but the south is considered a little more dangerous, and annoying, for similar reasons people dislike Merwyn Forest West. The mobs tend to group up more, and there are some more difficult variants of them. The elves mostly use those zones as hunting grounds, though they rarely travel very deep."

It sounds like it would be best to hide out in the south, then.

"Quite likely."

Does Meerna stretch far enough south for me to enter the southern forest directly?

"Yes. It wraps far enough both north, and south to border all three zones, if only partially."

It was lucky she had already crossed on the south side of the road. Her next step was decided, but she wanted to have a look at her skill list first. While she hadn't levelled up since she reached the top of Eron Hills, a lot had happened with her skills, and she'd barely glanced at them.

Her revealed passive section looked embarrassingly sparse now that four skills had joined into one. Would anyone really believe someone like her only had four passives? She felt like she had to move something up from the concealed section, but what was safe, and made sense? Environmental Sense was probably okay. Solid Coat was likely fine... perhaps also Firm Grip, and Balance Up. Yeah, those four should do for now. She'd consider the matter more as she went, and set all of their revealed levels to 5 for the time being.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 4 -> 5 (5) | Rend Lvl 2 (5) | Howl Lvl Max | Sprint Lvl Max |
Thorn Bind Lvl 5 -> 7 (9) | Poison Bolt Lvl 6 (9) | Growth Lvl 5 (9) | Regrowth Lvl 3 -> 5 (9) |
Rejuvenate Lvl 4 -> 5 (8) | Leech Lvl 1 (8) | Sense Presence Lvl Max (9) | Bear Form Lvl 1 (5) |
Cat Form Lvl 5 -> 7 (5) ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 2 | Body Slam Lvl Max | Ambush Lvl Max | Throw Lvl 1 |
Strong Poison Strike Lvl 5 | Death From Above Lvl 4 | Kick Lvl 3 | Back Attack Lvl 1 |
Savage Blow Lvl 2 | Struggle (New) Lvl 1 | Leap Lvl 9 -> Max | Roar Lvl 1 | Taunt Lvl 1 |
Frost Bolt Lvl 8 | Arcane Blast Lvl 4 | Fireball Lvl 5 | Water Needle (New) Lvl 1 -> 4 |
Erase Presence Lvl 5 -> 8 | Thermal Vision Lvl 6 -> 7 | Sense Mana Lvl 2 -> 3 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Senses (New) Lvl Max (15) | Environmental Sense Lvl 5 -> 6 (5) |
Insulation Lvl 6 -> 7 (5) | Firm Grip Lvl 7 -> 9 (5) | Balance Up Lvl 5 -> 6 (5) |
Solid Coat Lvl 1 -> 3 (5) | Nature Element Up Lvl 5 -> 6 (8) |
Mana Manipulation Lvl 7 -> 8 (8) ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Danger Sense Lvl 9 | Trap Sense Lvl 3 -> 4 | Dig Lvl 3 | Spider Climb Lvl 8 -> Max |
Spider Silk Lvl 1 -> 3 | Paralysis Venom Lvl 1 | Cat's Feet Lvl 7 -> 9 | Air Control Lvl 5 -> 7 |
Swim (New) Lvl 1 -> 5 | Dive (New) Lvl 1 | Quick Feet (New) Lvl 1 -> 3 |
Chameleon Lvl 5 -> 8 | Fire Element Up Lvl 3 | All Attributes Up (Small) Lvl 6 |
Poison Resistance Lvl 6 | Fire Resistance Lvl 2 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 8 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) |
Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) | Languages (Hidden): Common, Goblin ]

[ Concealed General: ]

[ Life Magic Lvl 5 ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales | Flight | Spider Net Trap | Logging | Cleave | Chop | Bow Expertise |
Woodworking | Power Shot | Glide | Disarm Trap ]

[ Skill points: 17 ]

There. It was just a preventative measure anyway. It might never become relevant, so it didn't really matter if it wasn't perfect.

She was a little surprised that her skill points seemed to have held steady. Even though she had merged a couple of times, and bought Quick Feet, she had apparently earned just as much as she had spent. Maybe she didn't need to be as shy about buying skills any longer, though she still wanted to be sure she would actually use them.

* * *

After exiting the cave, she kept going away from the direction she had come. The sun had just barely crawled above the horizon, and its gentle rays were streaming in between the trees. One of the perks of travelling from the east to the west was that she had the sun at her back, or side most of the time. Especially since so far she had slept past the second half of the day.

The forest didn't stretch on for very long. Even with Erase Presence on for safety's sake, it only took her half an hour to reach the edge. It didn't seem particularly mob dense, but she had seen some squirrels, a large type of woodpecker, a small dirt hill with a large mole sticking its head out, and a few green snakes.

They were all in the level 10-12 range, not terribly interesting, and showed no indication they had any idea she was there. At best she could get the venom sac skill from the snakes, even though she was like 80% certain her friend had told her that grass snakes were supposed to be non-venomous. Though ravens were also not supposed to use dark magic. As far as she was aware. Maybe they just hid it well. Though the snakes were small, hard to find, and hard to hit, so she'd rather not.

With there being no real reason to hunt those low-level mobs, she instead hopped into a tall tree overlooking the area beyond the forest. They really weren't kidding when they named it 'flatlands'. There was basically nothing in terms of elevation difference. There were the riverbanks, and maybe a slight slant to the south. The major river ran down the centre of the zone, weaving its way between the fields towards that direction. It looked like it eventually turned west into the forest, so she might be able to follow it to her destination.

The rest was... well, it was farmland. Maybe it had once been part of the forest, and they had cleared it all to make fields. Unless it had always been like this.

Wait, what am I thinking? The developers made it this way, so technically it has 'always' been like this. Though it's possible the elves' in-canon history says otherwise.

There were some trees left around on the borders between some of the fields, and near the farmhouses. It looked like they maintained some interspersed coppices as well, but the small area she was in might be the only part of the zone one could still call woodlands.

They looked to be growing quite a variety of crops in the fields. A lot of it was various grain types, of course, but there were vegetable fields as well. No fruit trees that she could see, but considering what Aina had said about them cultivating trees in the forest, those would likely be there. Out here they would probably only grow things they weren't able to get in the forest.

As for mobs, there were the domesticated ones. Sheep, and cows! She hadn't seen cows until now. They looked very normal. Almost disappointingly so, but they made her wish for burgers. And pigs... no wait, those were wild boars. The natural enemy of vegetable fields. It looked like they had domesticated deer of some sort too. That was neat.

There were wolves off in the distance across the river, and seemingly nowhere else. Maybe due to proximity to the forest. Which meant it was likely there were more wolves in the forest.

Wait, are those scarecrows moving?

To the south there looked to be an abandoned farmhouse, and a neglected field. With moving scarecrows. Whether they were magical or mechanical she could not tell, but she absolutely had to investigate it on her way past.

In the skies she could see the black shapes of some sort of corvid, and there were also hawks of some sort. Her lack of ornithological knowledge prevented her from narrowing it down beyond that.

The starting town was in view straight ahead. It was probably big enough to count as a city by this world's standards. It was surrounded by walls, but not so tall that she couldn't see over them from her current vantage point. It really was an extremely flat land. The walls were only about four or five metres tall by her estimation. This looked to be a pretty safe area, after all. If the border fortress came under danger, they could evacuate into the forest towards the capital.

The neat thing was that the wooden walls looked more grown than built. As if it was a series of trees planted right next to each other that had intertwined into a defensive wall. While it was possible they had pulled that off, it seemed more likely they had used processed wood, and treated it with magic to strengthen it, which also produced that effect. That sounded suitably fantasy.

As for Adventurers... there weren't a whole lot of them. There were some people travelling the roads, and working the fields, but she could only spot three Adventurer-looking individuals that were wandering the area as if on a mission. Or quest. Granted, it was only like an hour past sunrise, and this was a starting area over three weeks past launch, so maybe this amount was about right.

She really wanted to find a respawn location inside the big forest before she called it a day, so as fascinating as the view was, she should get moving. With the current state of the zone she probably wouldn't have to stealth the entire way. It might even be a decent idea to move in wolf form, since it would likely stand out less than a pitch-black cat. If she stuck close to the grain, and the edge of the zone, her odds of being discovered by someone able to stop her were slim.

She hopped down from the tree, and properly exited the woods.

[ Discovered Area: Meerna Eastern Fields. ]

First stop, the scarecrow place! It gave off the distinct vibe of a quest location, so it was doubtful she would learn much, but she at least wanted to have a look.

As she ran southwards it didn't escape her notice that all of the mobs fled from her as best they could. Maybe it was because she was Sprinting, but nothing seemed to want to be anywhere near her. She passed a cow enclosure, and they all pushed as far to the other side as possible, while mooing in distress. Even though she was a predator, and all the ground mobs she saw were herbivores, their reactions seemed a little excessive.

They'd probably do the same for any wolf. No need to take it personal, she told herself.

She slowed down, and activated Erase Presence as she got close to the place.

[ Discovered Area: Ilyan Farmstead. ]

It was a fairly big field. It was rectangular, and she would estimate around 30 by 50 metres. Maybe more. That something that sizeable would get abandoned was odd, so there was probably some interesting story to it.

It was hard to tell what sort of crop had been grown there, since they were quite wilted, and wouldn't react to Identify. They were probably not useful for anything in the system's eyes, so why bother marking them as an item.

[ Cursed Scarecrow (Fighter Lvl 11) HP: 52/52 ]

However she could Identify those. They looked pretty much like the stereotypical straw scarecrow, even with the hat, though they had two wooden legs rather than one, and claws on their hands. All of them seemed to be level 10-13, so going by game logic it was probably one of the quests they could pick up after getting their class.

Cursed, huh? That does give a clue as to what the deal here is. Actually, is curse a debuff, Aina?

"Yes, there are several curse status effects. They are all quite rare, and have various effects, but the one simply called Curse cuts HP, SP, MP, and all attributes in half until cleansed."

That sounded quite nasty. The scarecrows probably weren't that kind of cursed, then.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Rake Lvl 6 | Flurry Lvl 3 | Throw Lvl 3 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Pursuit Lvl 3 | Dark Resistance Lvl 3 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 3 |
Defence Up (Small) Lvl 3 ]

They seemed like pretty simple mobs, really. A couple of basic attacks, and they could throw... something.

Hang on, why do they have those passives? Isn't this a pretty big score for me?

[ Cursed Scarecrow (Fighter Lvl 11) Defeated. ]

[ Cursed Scarecrow (Fighter Lvl 10) Defeated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Dark Resistance. ]

[ Cursed Scarecrow (Fighter Lvl 13) Defeated. ]

[ Rend Skill Level Up! ]

[ Cursed Scarecrow (Fighter Lvl 12) Defeated. ]

[ Skill Gained: Pursuit. ]

[ Cursed Scarecrow (Fighter Lvl 11) Defeated. ]

Sara went on a mini spree, and was forced to kill one more than she intended because it aggroed on her while she was fighting the fourth one. These things clearly didn't have any thoughts about fleeing from her. Assuming they had any thoughts at all.

She activated Erase Presence to avoid pulling any more of them, and peeked inside the barn. Sadly the only things she could find were emptiness, neglect, and decay. The last point of interest was the farmhouse itself, so she might as well have a look inside.

Inside there was nothing. It was quite an eerie building. Run down, and there was the occasional spooky whisper that even her enhanced hearing couldn't quite make out, but there wasn't actually anything there. No ghost mobs. No treasure chests. There was a chest that she couldn't interact with. Probably related to the quest of this place. And she found what looked like a journal. While she could flip the pages with Life Magic, it was written in a language she did not understand. Presumably elven.

If there was anything else, she wasn't able to find it, so she left through the back door with a feeling of disappointment. Once outside she noticed a couple of new pings from Sense Presence. She glanced around the side of the house, and saw two Adventurers that had just started fighting a scarecrow on the far end of the field. Both of them were male elves of the melee type, and while she was tempted to give them one hell of a surprise, she ultimately decided against it. She had grown beyond the need to demoralise newbies. It wasn't just because she wouldn't get anything unless they were Residents, and would rather keep moving.

She Sprinted off with the house as her cover, and left the farmstead behind.

[ Discovered Area: Meerna South-Eastern Fields. ]

She was getting far enough south now that she could see the river starting to turn towards the west. It was probably about time to move closer to it, and find her approach into the forest. There were a couple of wagons heading south, presumably having started from Milheen at dawn, but she should be able to outpace them. So long as she got across the road before they reached the bridge, she would be fine.

[ Discovered Area: Meerna Southern Fields. ]

She had absolutely no problem getting there well before they reached the bridge. They were travelling slower than she had expected, and while it was possible they had spotted her, it wasn't like they were close enough to do anything about it. With the forest growing ever larger in front of her, she started to feel excited.

Two and a half days to get here. Another three and a half until the server went into patching mode, which would apparently take another day until the Wanderers were let back in. By that time she hoped to have established herself a new base of operations, and started levelling again. 30 would be her next evolution, and then 40 should be her last.

After that a whole new life awaited her.

Chapter Text

[ Discovered Zone: Sholan - Southern Great Forest of Ildhena ]

[ Discovered Area: Sholan Eastern Edge. ]

The atmosphere changed almost immediately as she entered the forest. It was like things suddenly went from being a part of civilisation, to completely wild territory. She kept following the river, but there was no sign of a trail that had been used by people here. Any hunters likely entered from the north, and Adventurers probably wouldn't enter from this side either except out of sheer curiosity.

There were animal tracks, but it would be a stretch to call any of them trails, or paths.

The mobs of the forest gradually revealed themselves to her as she progressed. There were some beavers by the river that were eyeing her warily, sleeping owls up in the trees, fish in the river, and she could smell a bear, which made her activate Erase Presence. The scent wasn't super fresh, but she didn't want to take any chances. While stealthed she also passed a very large moose, which had the brightest, strongest mana signature she had encountered so far.

[ Sholan Noble Moose (Cleric Lvl 29) HP: 202/202 ]

Wait, why is it a Cleric?

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Solid Kick Lvl 9 | Ram Lvl 9 | Stomp Lvl Max | Charge Lvl Max | Body Slam Lvl Max |
Blessed Smite Lvl 9 | Blessed Shield Lvl 9 | Greater Heal Lvl 9 | Blessing of Defence Lvl 9 |
Blessing of Wisdom Lvl 9 | Rock Blast Lvl 9 | Stone Hammer Lvl 9 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl Max | Keen Ears Lvl Max | Insulation Lvl Max | Heavy Blows Lvl 9 |
Balance Up Lvl Max | Light Element Up Lvl 9 | Mana Manipulation Lvl 9 |
Strength Up (Small) Lvl Max | Defence Up (Small) Lvl Max | Wisdom Up (Small) Lvl Max ]

A lot of this she recognised. Solid Kick was just the upgraded version of Kick, so nothing surprising about the physical attacks. That were a lot of spells she hadn't seen before though. And one new passive.

[ Heavy Blows (Passive): Increase knockback force of all physical melee attacks. Effect increases with skill level. ]

Okay, that's simple enough. But what are all these other things?

[ Blessed Smite (Active): Strike with a blessed bolt from the sky with light element property. Damage value: (1.2+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1.5 metres. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) 60% chance to inflict Blind(?) status on targets for 6 seconds. Its vertical nature lets it bypass shields. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

[ Blind (Status Condition): Impairs vision. Accuracy drastically reduced. Other senses may help compensate. ]

[ Blessed Shield (Active): Conjure a magical shield with light element property around target that absorbs incoming damage. Shield strength value: (1.2+(0.12*skill level))*magic power. Duration: 1 minute, or until broken. Scales with Wisdom. Cost: 15 MP. Refresh: 1 minute. ]

[ Greater Heal (Active): Restore target's HP. Potency: (1.3+(0.05*skill level))*magic power. Light element property. Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

[ Blessing of Defence (Active): Increase target's Defence attribute by (15+(1*skill level))%. Light element property. Duration: 1 minute. Cost: 8 MP. Refresh: 15 seconds. ]

[ Rock Blast (Active): Fire a magical projectile with earth element property. Medium knockback force. Damage value: (1.2+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1.5 metres. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) Critical hits inflict Stun(?) status for 8 seconds. Effective against heavy armour, and buildings. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

[ Stone Hammer (Active): Conjure a magical stone hammer with earth element property to strike a nearby target. Strong knockback force. Range: 2 metres. Damage value: (1.4+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. Effective against heavy armour, and buildings. Cost: 6 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 15 seconds. ]

So... it can protect, buff, and heal itself. It can knock its opponents away, and attack with ranged magic, or just stomp them in melee. And most of these are upgraded skills, aren't they?

"Correct."

Sara concluded that moose were scary, and best to be avoided, so she swiftly moved on.

A little further in she found her people! More precisely a pack of three wolves. She used Identify on one of them.

[ Dire Wolf (Fighter Lvl 27) HP: 134/134 ]

So that's what a Dire Wolf looks like.

It was basically a larger Timber Wolf, but instead of grey fur with hints of white, it was grey fur with hints of brown.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 6 | Rend Lvl 6 | Body Slam Lvl 8 | Crush Lvl 4 | Charge Lvl 8 |
Back Attack Lvl 6 | Howl Lvl Max | Inner Power Lvl 4 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 17 | Keen Eyes Lvl 17 | Keen Ears Lvl 17 | Keen Nose Lvl 17 |
Flanking Lvl 5 | Camouflage Lvl 6 | Solid Coat Lvl 5 | Balance Up Lvl 6 |
Strength Up (Small) Lvl 7 | Agility Up (Small) Lvl 7 ]

Most of that looked familiar, except for two things.

[ Inner Power (Active): Increase user's attack power by (15+(1*skill level))%, and attack speed by (10+(0.5*skill level))%. Duration: (15+(0.5*skill level)) seconds. Cost: 10 SP. Refresh: 1 minute. ]

[ Flanking (Passive): Gain +(5+(0.5*skill level))% damage inflicted, and +(2+(0.03*skill level))% critical hit rate while attacking a target's side, or back. ]

While the Dire Wolves didn't seem exceptional on their own, they were solid creatures, and they were probably more adept at pack tactics than less evolved wolves.

Sara was supposed to be on the same evolution tier, though she had some advantages over the average wolf. She might even be capable of taking on all three of them, though she didn't have much experience in fighting groups.

Of course her motive was not to fight her fellow kin in the first place.

She deactivated Erase Presence, and called out of them: "Hello!"

They looked at her for a moment, then at each other, and then ran off. Sara felt very confused as she was left behind.

What was that about?

The three of them ran along the river further into the woods, and Sara didn't have any better ideas than to just follow them.

* * *

[ Discovered Area: Sholan East. ]

She was getting tired. She'd had to sneak past another moose, ignore more sullen beavers, and had not seen another wolf.

Aina? Is there any place I can go to sleep?

"Hold that thought, Sara. I think you have an urgent matter ahead."

Before she could ask further, her Danger Sense started going off. Not intensely, but enough to be recognisable. Similar to how she felt when there was a trap ahead. More of a 'possible danger' than a 'direct danger'.

Wolves. Lots of them. At least twenty Dire Wolves approaching her. And in the middle, walking out to directly face her, was a wolf with yellow eyes, and a coat so dark brown it looked nearly black. She had never seen its type before, but it looked to be at least 50% larger than a Dire Wolf.

[ Sholan Warg (Warrior Lvl 30) HP: 249/249 ]

[ Target Status ]

[ Species: Sholan Warg | Gender: Male ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Warrior ]

[ Level: 30 ]

[ HP: 233/233 +16 | SP: 241/241 +18 | MP: 89/89 +8 ]

[ VIT: 82 + 16 | END: 91 +18 ]

[ STR: 109 +21 | DEF: 72 +18 ]

[ AGI: 108 +21 | DEX: 84 +16 ]

[ INT: 46 +9 | WIS: 41 +8 ]

[ LUK: 46 +9 ]

What the hell is this? Warg? Warrior?

"Warg is on the next evolution tier to yours, and Warrior is one of the classes you can upgrade Fighter into," Aina helpfully chimed in.

The Warg was giving Sara a menacing look. Then he spoke.

"Are you here you challenge me for my territory?" he asked. His deep voice matched his appearance well.

"Huh?! N-no, I... I... I just came seeking shelter. I heard there might be more of my own here, and..." She wasn't sure how to follow that up. At least she felt wide awake now. She snuck a further peek while thinking.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl Max | Rend Lvl Max | Body Slam Lvl Max | Back Attack Lvl Max |
Crush Lvl Max | Shred Lvl Max | Charge Lvl Max | Pounce Lvl Max | Savage Blow Lvl Max |
Stomp Lvl Max | Pack Leader's Howl Lvl Max | Inner Power Lvl Max | Provoke Lvl Max |
Taunt Lvl Max | Sense Presence Lvl Max ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Senses Lvl Max | Danger Sense Lvl Max | Flanking Lvl Max | Desperation Lvl Max |
Claw Expertise Lvl Max | Camouflage Lvl Max | Insulation Lvl Max | Solid Coat Lvl Max |
Firm Grip Lvl Max | Balance Up Lvl Max | Leadership Lvl Max |
Vitality Up (Small) Lvl Max | Endurance Up (Small) Lvl Max | Strength Up (Small) Lvl Max |
Agility Up (Small) Lvl Max ]

Is... is this a boss?

While there were some things she was curious about, it was sadly not the time to start reading skill descriptions.

"You are not welcome here," the Warg said. "Leave."

"W-wait!" It had been so long since she'd had an actual conversation with anyone other than Aina that she wasn't sure how to find the right words. "All I need is a tiny place somewhere I can stay hidden from the people. I'm not asking more than that. O-or I can join your pack."

"No." He flat out refused her. "You are too strong. Others will want to follow you. Conflict would be inevitable."

She wanted to ask: What do you base that on? His strength was way above hers. Even if she reached the same level, she wouldn't be that strong, but she could feel that it would be pointless to ask. This guy was not flexible.

"Then where do I go..." she muttered as she hung her head. She had come all this way, and there was nothing to go back to. It was frustrating to the point of tears. She had looked forward to this so much.

Silence persisted for a while until she heard: "The north."

She looked up, blinking her eyes at him. "Huh?"

"The east is controlled by the people. The west has another leader. But the north is unruled. Go there, or leave the forest entirely."

But I don't want to rule. Not that there was any point in saying that. "Okay. Thank you." She did feel grateful, even if it seemed like it would be a little while longer before she got any sleep.

"Be careful going up through the east," he offered as parting advice. "The people are very active during the day. May the next time we meet be as equals, and not as adversaries."

Next time? Maybe he isn't so inflexible after all.

"Thank you," she said again. "Um... w-what's your name? Mine is Sara!"

It felt like he raised an eyebrow at her, even though the gesture was hard to recognise on a wolf's face. "I have no need for names," he said, and then walked off, with the rest of the wolves following him.

Once her senses told her she was alone again, all the tension left her like a deflated balloon. Thankfully Danger Sense had calmed down while they were talking. The surroundings wolves had still felt like they might pounce at a moment's notice, but the Warg himself had stopped feeling hostile.

Now I feel even more tired than before, but I don't think he would accept me going to sleep anywhere around here, so I'll need to reach the north first. Unruled, huh? Hopefully the wolves there are more welcoming.

* * *

[ Discovered Area: Sholan North-Eastern Edge. ]

She wasn't entirely sure how far into the woods she had gotten before the confrontation, so she wasn't sure how close to the capital city she'd have to pass on her way north.

[ Discovered Zone: Ethuun - Eastern Great Forest of Ildhena. ]

[ Discovered Area: Ethuun Southern Edge. ]

Well, she had reached the eastern forest, apparently named Ethuun. All she could really do was keep going straight north, and try to get around whatever was in her way.

She wasn't sure how she was so certain where north was. One of the senses she had picked up along the way had to have some sort of compass function built into it, because felt certain of the other directions too.

While it was technically all one big forest, she still got the impression that Ethuun felt a little different from Sholan. Not quite as dense, and maybe a little brighter.

[ Discovered Area: Ethuun South. ]

Among the mobs she saw there were squirrels, deer, cats, large sparrows, woodpeckers, crows, and probably more. She didn't have any interest in inspecting any of them at the moment, as her focus was finding a bed... er, a sleeping place. Thankfully none of them seemed interested in picking a fight, even though she was moving uncloaked. Rather they were avoiding her. Perhaps because just like she could somehow sense they were weaker, they could also sense she was stronger. Just as well, since sprinting helped keep her awake, and somewhat alert.

[ Discovered Area: Galaani Orchard. ]

That made her slow down, and she managed to not burst right into the grove of fruit trees. They were noticeable shorter than the surrounding wild trees. If she hadn't been so tired, she would have loved to explore this place more, but right now she had to find a way around it. Or maybe she could get away with going through it.

She activated Erase Presence, and stepped into the orchard. There was no fence around it, but it wasn't hard to tell how much neater the area around the fruit trees was compared to the wilder forest surrounding it. It didn't take long for her Sense Presence to detect people, but so long as they weren't directly in her path, she intended to keep going. She was getting more and more pings, though. More than she'd ever felt at once.

[ Discovered Area: Komeron East Way. ]

She had reached the road. She kept watch from some distance in between the trees, just in case someone with strong detection skills happened to walk past.

There was a lot of traffic. Adventurers, people in civilian clothes, wagons driven by merchants or farmers or something. All sorts of cargo. Also carriages. And guards. They really stood out, not just because of their uniforms, but also because their mana signatures were immense. There was a pair that walked past within Identify range that she couldn't resistt a brief glimpse at. One with a spear and shield, and the other with a bow.

[ Alrond Kenrii - Elf Komeron Guard (Paladin Lvl 36) HP: 283/283 ]

[ Mureen Yerds - Elf Komeron Guard (Marksman Lvl 35) HP: 226/226 ]

Ah... these have to be the kind of 'OP NPC Guard' types MMOs are famous for, the kind that are meant to discourage players from fighting.

And she could see their names, which was interesting. She had sort of forgotten about that skill upgrade already.

Wait... Residents. Wanderers. I can't believe I slipped back into old habits that quickly just because it reminded me of a game thing...

Chiding herself over that wasn't going to solve the problem of how to get across the road, though. It seemed pretty much impossible. There were no gaps. Based on the position of the sun it seemed to be early afternoon, which was probably the busiest time of day. She'd been really unlucky with the timing.

But... if I can't go across... how about I go over?

She assumed the Ildhena trees were meant to be old, as they were generally taller than any other trees she had seen so far. If the canopy hadn't been so dense, they'd be great for scouting. But with her array of skills, she should be able to just hop from tree to tree. It wouldn't be as fast as Sprinting, since she couldn't build up any initial momentum to give Leap the extra speed and distance, but she also wouldn't need to slow down anywhere.

She retreated to somewhere reasonably safe, climbed to the top of a nearby tree, and then hopped gently to a nearby tree that was even taller. If these trees could move, then scaling the fortress walls wouldn't be a problem.

To the east she could see well out into Meerna, though most of Milheen was obscured by the trees. To the south was just a sea of trees. To the west was Komeron. It seemed like there was a gap between the forest, and the walls, probably to prevent anyone from scaling them via the trees. The walls were definitely taller than the ones around Milheen, though the style of looking like they had grown together was much the same.

She could explore it more at a later date. Right now her focus was north. She could envision a 'path' from tree to tree, aiming for the ones that made the best springboards. It would be good consecutive jump training. She just needed to brace her legs, and Leap!

Sailing through the air like that was an entirely different experience from Leaping at ground level. She was really high up, and the scenery flew by below her.

[ Discovered Area: Hildred Herb Field. ]

[ Discovered Area: Ethuun North. ]

[ Discovered Area: Ethuun Northern Hunting Post. ]

[ Discovered Area: Ethuun Northern Edge. ]

[ Discovered Zone: Nyolund - Northern Great Forest of Ildhena. ]

[ Discovered Area: Nyolund South-Eastern Edge. ]

Finally.

She kept going a little further.

[ Discovered Area: Nyolund East. ]

That should be good enough. She had just wanted to get away from the edge before finding a place to sleep. She slid her way back down to the ground.

Aina? Where can I go to sleep?

"There is an empty burrow nearby that will do. I recommend finding something better when you wake back up, but I can tell how tired you are. Just follow this marker."

Sara nodded, and started walking. Thankfully it wasn't far. Halfway there she heard some noise above her, and looked up to see a couple of ravens cawing at her.

They reminded her of the ravens back in Merwyn, so she took a moment to wave at them with her paw. "Yes, hello to you too," she tried to say, even though it probably just sounded like 'woof' or something. Hopefully they understood the sentiment.

She made her way into the burrow without paying attention to anything else. It was admittedly a little small, so she understood Aina's comment, but that wasn't important at the moment. Nor did she care about trying to make another hammock. As soon as her body hit the ground, she was out like a light.

Chapter Text

While Sara slept, word started to spread throughout the Great Forest of Ildhena. Not among the Wanderers, or the Residents (a report of the strange incident of a cat mob scaling the border walls would reach both sides' respective capitals, but was ultimately deemed unimportant in both cases), but among the mobs.

The corvids were excited. Word had spread from Merwyn via the corvid to corvid communications network (and would surely reach the entire continent within a week) about what had happened there, and the curious creature that got it all started. Now it had shown up, to their great delight. It had been spotted several times during its journey westwards, and they had guessed that it was going to Ildhena, but they hadn't been sure until now.

They were pretty certain that things were going to start happening in the Great Forest soon enough, and whatever that was going to be, they wanted to be part of it. While they might not be able to gain levels or skills, in their own way the mobs had also been growing since the beta servers started running. The ravens, crows, and other corvids were both blessed and cursed with intellect on par with Residents, and little to do with it. They unfortunately had the capacity to get bored, so they spent their time heckling other mobs, and hoping Adventurers would attack them. Perhaps with time they would start coming up with games to play.

And then this strange, new, different creature had come along, and started a conflict between mobs and Residents. The local ravens had jumped on the chance to take part with great glee. Now that creature was in Ildhena, and corvids all over the forest were excited. The ones in the other zones were a little disappointed that the creature had gone to the north rather than to them, but it was possible that whatever storm was coming would sweep the entire forest.

If only they were capable of communicating directly with the creature, and others like it. They were able to imitate a few sounds, but actual talking... now that would be fun.

* * *

The wolves of Nyolund were unsure what to think of this new development. Ever since they had been created there had not been much change in their lives, and they had never felt particularly bad about that. Though they hadn't necessarily felt good about it either. It was just the way things were, so they didn't have a reason to hold an opinion.

One of the key differences between mobs and Residents was that mobs had not been given culture, history, or memories. They had been given roles, purposes, and natures. Some of them had gradually developed egos, and personalities, but most weren't there yet. They didn't really have goals, or ideals. They merely had life, an awareness of the truth of the world, and understanding that they themselves had been recently created. That was perhaps why it was easier for a lot of them to go with the flow, to not take everything so seriously, and be willing to try new things if given the opportunity.

They were also on some level aware that there was a will behind this world. There had always been the sense among them that change would eventually come. The world had 'told' them that much, even if they weren't sure what form this change would be in. Whether it would affect their lives was unclear. They weren't sure of when either. It was more of a vague feeling of 'soon'.

A certain instinct told them that the arrival of the strange new wolf was not what the world had meant, but it was certainly a change in its own right. While they had not had the chance to greet this new wolf yet, one of them had seen her just before she went into a burrow, and watched as the burrow promptly vanished. Another sign that this wolf was different.

The primary speculation among them was that maybe the world had decided to send them a boss, since the west, and the south already had bosses. The people were the 'boss' of the east, but the north had been left out for some reason. As far as they knew the world hadn't done anything like add a new boss before, but that was no reason to conclude it would never happen. Things weren't established enough to say what was, and wasn't possible.

Word had also been spreading among the wolves in the south, even by those that hadn't been present at the meeting, and they had shared that knowledge with their fellows across the zone borders as well. It had yet to travel all the way through the east, since the wolf presence was weaker there, but it had reached the boss in the west.

"A new wolf?" she mused. "And a strong one? And he sent her to the north? Hm... I want to meet her too! But I can't just barge in. I think? I should at least give her time to get settled. Maybe she will come to see me? She went to see that guy. I will wait for a few days, and then go see her if she doesn't come see me first. Yeah. That should be enough time for her to claim the territory."

She had absolutely nothing to base her assumptions on, since such an event had never happened before. She was a pretty carefree type of person, contrasted with the south boss's serious demeanour. If it had been her, she wouldn't have forced the new wolf out right away. She had curiosity, and something new like this piqued it.

* * *

When Sara woke up it was dark. Her mind felt clear again after the grogginess swiftly faded. Now she had things to do.

The burrow seemed more cramped than it had when she got in, but she was pretty certain it had not shrunk, nor had she grown. She simply hadn't cared as much.

She had to crawl her way outside to stretch properly. Based on her senses she'd say it was around a couple of hours after midnight. Maybe she should try to switch her daily rhythm back to sleeping all night, but on the other hand it might not be a bad idea to have part of her active time at night either, since different things were available.

Her immediate surroundings looked empty, though she could sense some presences nearby. Up in the trees. Probably more squirrels or something. Since they weren't moving at all, they might be sleeping for the night. There didn't seem to be owls in this zone, unless they were only in other areas. The south had them, but since the east had a different distribution of mobs, it would make sense that the same was the case for the north.

Though honestly the only thing she had noticed so far were the ravens that cawed at her earlier. She had been too tired to pay attention to anything else. Now there was a lot to investigate. An entire zone's worth. She might not be able to cover all of that in one night, but it wasn't like there was a huge rush. She was staying for at least another 7 levels, so she thought it was okay to take her time. After that she would likely have to move on if she wanted to become level 40, but she'd consider that when the time came.

Aina had said that the big updates were going to happen about once a month, at least early on in the game's life, and that might also affect her decisions. Sara felt it was impossible to predict what might change, and Aina wasn't going to give her all the answers.

Perhaps there were higher level zones bordering this one, so she wouldn't have to go far. If she ended up liking this place, maybe she could use it as a base to retreat to if she needed to hide. Hopefully the journey all the way to 40 would be smooth.

She wanted to give her skill list one more look before she started moving.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp Lvl 5 (5) | Rend Lvl 2 -> 3 (5) | Howl Lvl Max | Sprint Lvl Max |
Thorn Bind Lvl 7 (9) | Poison Bolt Lvl 6 (9) | Growth Lvl 5 (9) | Regrowth Lvl 5 (9) |
Rejuvenate Lvl 5 (8) | Leech Lvl 1 (8) | Sense Presence Lvl Max (9) | Bear Form Lvl 1 (5) |
Cat Form Lvl 7 (5) ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 2 | Body Slam Lvl Max | Ambush Lvl Max | Throw Lvl 1 |
Strong Poison Strike Lvl 5 | Death From Above Lvl 4 | Kick Lvl 3 | Back Attack Lvl 1 |
Savage Blow Lvl 2 | Struggle Lvl 1 | Leap Lvl Max | Roar Lvl 1 | Taunt Lvl 1 |
Frost Bolt Lvl 8 | Arcane Blast Lvl 4 | Fireball Lvl 5 | Water Needle Lvl 4 |
Erase Presence Lvl 8 -> 9 | Thermal Vision Lvl 7 | Sense Mana Lvl 3 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Keen Senses Lvl Max (15) | Environmental Sense Lvl 6 -> 7 (5) | Insulation Lvl 7 (5) |
Firm Grip Lvl 9 (5) | Balance Up Lvl 6 -> 7 (5) | Solid Coat Lvl 3 (5) |
Nature Element Up Lvl 6 (8) | Mana Manipulation Lvl 8 (8) ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Danger Sense Lvl 9 | Trap Sense Lvl 4 | Dig Lvl 3 | Spider Climb Max | Spider Silk Lvl 3 |
Paralysis Venom Lvl 1 | Cat's Feet Lvl 9 | Air Control Lvl 7 -> 8 | Swim Lvl 5 | Dive Lvl 1 |
Quick Feet Lvl 3 -> 4 | Chameleon Lvl 8 -> 9 | Pursuit (New) Lvl 1 | Fire Element Up Lvl 3 |
All Attributes Up (Small) Lvl 6 -> 7 | Poison Resistance Lvl 6 | Fire Resistance Lvl 2 |
Dark Resistance (New) Lvl 1 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 8 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) |
Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Concealed General: ]

[ Languages (Hidden): Common, Goblin | Life Magic Lvl 5 ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales | Flight | Spider Net Trap | Logging | Cleave | Chop | Bow Expertise |
Woodworking | Power Shot | Glide | Disarm Trap ]

[ Skill points: 18 ]

Aside from her two new skills, there had only been some minor changes. Well, it had been less than a day, and all she'd really done was some running, and jumping.

Let's see... I came from the south, so... west, or north. Or north-west. Let's go west. I'm curious if I can find this path Aina mentioned.

She headed off, and started to take note of her surroundings, and what mobs were in the area. A caw alerted her that something was above her. One of the ravens had landed on a tree branch, and was watching her. Her best bet was that it was a look of curiosity. Well, she she was curious too.

[ Night Raven (Mage Lvl 25) HP: 163/163 ]

While its HP fell short of the moose she had seen, it was still higher than the Dire Wolves. Considering the Raven was a Mage, that probably meant it was pretty strong.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Drill Peck Lvl 5 | Rend Lvl 5 | Death From Above Lvl 8 | Shadow Arrow Lvl 5 |
Dark Enchant Lvl 8 | Shadow Barrier Lvl 5 | Shadow Grasp Lvl 5 | Dark Purge Lvl 5 |
Gust Lvl Max | Glide Lvl Max ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 16 | Keen Vision Lvl 16 | Flight Lvl Max | Air Control Lvl 5 |
Dark Element Up Lvl Max | Mana Manipulation Lvl 5 | Intelligence Up (Small) Lvl Max |
Dexterity Up (Small) Lvl 8 | Wisdom Up (Small) Lvl 8 | Dark Resistance Lvl 5 ]

As best as she could remember, that meant it was an upgraded version of the Dusk Raven. The upgrade seemed substantial, and there were some new skills too.

[ Drill Peck (Active): Attack with a beak, or something with an equivalent function. Damage value: (1.2+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. Defence piercing: (15+(1*skill level))%. Critical hits inflict Bleed(?) status for 6 seconds. Cost: 4 SP. Refresh: 3 seconds. (Ai-note: Since you do not possess anything equivalent to a beak, this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Shadow Arrow (Active): Fire a magic arrow with dark element property. Damage value: (1.2+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1 metre. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) Inflicts Heavy(?) status on target for 7 seconds. (20+(0.5*skill level))% chance to reduce target's magic resistance by (2+(0.03*skill level))% for 7 seconds. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

[ Shadow Barrier (Active): Conjures a magical barrier around target with dark element property that absorbs incoming damage. Duration: 1 minute, or until broken. Barrier strength: (1.2+(0.12*skill level))*magic power. Scales with Intelligence. Cost: 15 MP. Refresh: 1 minute. ]

Those were apparently the upgraded versions of previous skills. And the new ones were:

[ Shadow Grasp (Active): Shadowy arms emerge from the ground, and bind a target for 12 seconds. Dark element property. Hands can be broken free from. Hand strength increases with skill level. Less effective in direct sunlight. Drains the strength of target: Strength and Defence -(3+(0.04))% per 2 seconds grabbed. Stacks up to 5 times. Lasts for a further 4 seconds after bind breaks. Cost: 8 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

[ Dark Purge (Active): Remove up to 2 positive status effects from target. Some status effects cannot be removed. Dark element property. Inflicts Heavy(?) status on target for (5+(0.5*skill level)) seconds. Cost: 10 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 30 seconds. ]

Basically the dark versions of spells she had seen before. Dark Purge was like a mirror version of her Leech, and thankfully with some added restrictions. If they could just spam buff removal it would be a little broken. Though a group of them could...

She waved in what she hoped was a friendly manner, and got another caw for her efforts. It kept sitting there, but she didn't sense any danger from it, so she moved on.

A bush rustled as she got passed by it, and she was just barely able to sense a small presence racing away from her. Whatever it was, she'd probably find more eventually.

Next up she encountered a pair of wolves. As packs go it wasn't much, but perhaps that was what it had been like in Merwyn Forest East. She had never gotten to go over there.

"Hello," she said to them.

"Hello," one of them replied. "You are the new one." It was a statement rather than a question.

I've been called the climbing one, the leading one, and now the new one. What's next?

"I'm Sara," she decided to introduce herself. "You have heard of me?"

"One of us saw you. There has never been a new one before," the wolf replied.

"And we heard you went to the south first," the other wolf added. "Have you come to be our boss?"

What's with that sudden question? That Warg had also seemed to assume she had come to conquer.

"Er... that wasn't my intention... I'm just looking for somewhere to stay for a while. Do you not have a boss?"

"No. The west has, and the south has, but the north has none." That matched what the Warg had said. "So it has always been. But now the world has sent you."

"I... I see..." Sara wasn't sure how to handle this conversation. She hadn't been sent. Had she? "Well, before I do anything, I want to have a bit of a look around the ar- zone. Er... see you later."

The two of them nodded. "Yes, later."

It almost sounded ominous the way they said it, so Sara just hurried on. At least they didn't tell her to leave, but the way they seemed to be anticipating her was eerie. It gave her the feeling that her stay here might not be as calm and quiet as she had hoped.

The both of them were Dire Wolves, at levels 25, and 26. She did wonder if there were any other types of wolves around. It would be nice to find another Mystic Wolf.

The next mob she ran into was another familiar-looking one.

[ Nyolund Noble Deer (Druid Lvl 25) HP: 177/177 ]

So the south has Cleric Moose, and the north has Druid Deer? Well, it's possible there are moose up here too. I've only barely started my investigation, after all.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Solid Kick Lvl 5 | Skewer Lvl 5 | Stomp Lvl Max | Body Slam Lvl Max | Charge Lvl Max |
Root Bind Lvl 5 | Mass Thorn Bind Lvl 9 | Poison Needle Lvl 5 | Growth Lvl 9 |
Regrowth Lvl 9 | Rejuvenate Lvl 9 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 17 | Keen Ears Lvl 17 | Environmental Sense Lvl 7 | Insulation Lvl 9 |
Pursuit Lvl 9 | Camouflage Lvl 7 | Balance Up Lvl 7 | Nature Element Up Lvl 7 |
Mana Manipulation Lvl 7 | Vitality Up (Small) Lvl 9 | Strength Up (Small) Lvl 9 |
Defence Up (Small) Lvl 9 ]

Another strict upgrade, with a few new tricks. She figured she might as well check the upgraded attacks too.

[ Solid Kick (Active): Attack using one or more legs. Base damage value: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. Damage increases with the use of more legs. Chance to knock back, or knock down targets. Critical hits inflict Stun(?) status for 4 seconds. Cost: 4 SP. Refresh: 3 seconds. (Ai-note: Harder feet mean harder kicks. Your soft paws will not have as much impact as a deer's hooves.) ]

[ Skewer (Active): Perform a thrust with a pointed object like a spear, horn, tusks, or something equivalent. Damage value: (1.5+(0.6*skill level))*attack power. Defence piercing: (25+(1*skill level))%. Guaranteed critical hit if a vital spot is pierced. Critical hits reduce target's Defence by 10% for 10 seconds. Cost: 10 SP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 12 seconds. (Ai-note: You do not possess anything suitably pointy, so this skill will be disabled.) ]

[ Root Bind (Active): Thorny roots shoot up from the ground, and bind a target for 12 seconds. Nature element property. Roots can be destroyed. Root strength increases with skill level. Roots can break through certain hard surfaces. Thorns deal light damage to bound target. Damage value: (1*skill level)% of target's Max HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 8 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

[ Poison Needle (Active): Fire a magical needle that inflicts Poison(?) status on target for 10 seconds. Nature element property. Poison damage: (3+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Cost: 2 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

There was that 'inflict poison only' skill she had been wondering about. That seemed perfect for paralysing a target without causing damage. Not that she could immediately think of why she would ever want to, but it seemed like something that might be useful.

She could probably take one of these deer by herself now, but she'd hold off on that until she had explored more.

She moved on while paying more attention to her Sense Presence, until she discovered a small ping. She entered Erase Presence, and snuck up on it to find out what it was.

[ Forest Raccoon (Rogue Lvl 23) HP: 84/84 ]

Just a raccoon. She didn't want to kill a raccoon. Raccoons were cute. Usually. She had to peek around the tree to see if this one was cute. It was.

It was currently sitting by a stream, and washing something. She couldn't tell what, but the little creature was very focused on its task.

Sara had seen many rivers since she came to Moorhold, but this was the first stream that she could recall. It wasn't very big, but it looked really clear, and pretty. She decided to follow it back towards its origin. If it came from outside of the zone, she'd stop at the border.

* * *

[ Discovered Area: Nyolund Spring. ]

The spring was large enough that she would call it more of a pond. At least she thought of a spring as something smaller, but the water was flowing from a rocky outcrop opposite where the stream exited, so that probably counted as the definition of a spring.

With a size this big, I can even swim here, not just bathe!

After Lake Karasol had reminded her of the joy of bathing, she was happy to find she had the option here too, and immediately jumped in.

Ack!

The water was colder than expected. She probably could have figured that out if she had stopped to think about it. Unless the spring water was from a heated underground source, of course a pond hidden in a forest (at night) would be a colder experience than an open lake constantly illuminated by the sun.

Though once she got used to it, it wasn't so bad. Rather refreshing. She paddled around for a bit, and gave herself a proper dunk before she climbed back out. Where she found a wolf watching her.

"Uh... hi. I was just taking a bath," she said, even though no question had been asked.

"Bath?" The other wolf cocked its head to the side. "Are baths useful?"

"Hm... I guess that depends on how you define useful... you could clean yourself if needed, but I just think they feel nice."

The wolf looked at the water for a moment. "I will try," she declared, and walked over to the water, before putting her paw in. Then immediately pulling it back out. "Cold."

Sara couldn't help but giggle. "You either need to ease yourself into it, or jump in all at once." Maybe a hot spring would have been an easier entry point, but she doubted she'd find one here. If they were closer to the mountains they might have had better odds.

The wolf gave both Sara, and the water dubious looks. Eventually she followed Sara's example, and plunged right in.

What followed was a sharp gasp. "Cold!"

She quickly scrambled back out of the water with a sullen glare.

"Heavy."

"Just... uh... shake it off," Sara said, and took a couple of steps back.

The other wolf did as she was told, spraying water everywhere as she violently shook her fur in a way that would make any dog proud.

"Not nice," was her conclusion.

Sara sighed, because the alternative was to laugh, and that felt mean. She had forgotten that these wolves didn't have access to the same settings as her, so they felt temperature, and stayed wet in a more realistic fashion.

"Sorry," she said. "But it's really not so bad once you get used to it." She slipped back into the water herself to demonstrate, then came back out. "I guess you gotta take it slow."

"Hm..." The other wolf didn't look convinced. "I will try again later."

Sara got a sudden idea. "As an apology, how about I help you dry off?"

"How?"

"Just sit down, and trust me."

She would be using this poor, drenched wolf as a test subject for her ability to use the fabled hair drying magic. She'd gotten some feeling for what it was like to manipulate two elements at once with Life Magic during her failed lockpicking. After struggling to hold one element in place while applying another effect to it, it made sense that it would be easier to just mix two effects together while moving them both in the same direction. She just needed to get the ratios right.

"Let me know if it becomes too hot."

Life Magic couldn't produce effects on the level of combat magic, but it could still produce a flame capable of lighting things on fire. Thankfully Environmental Sense gave her a much better read on temperature. She sat down behind the other wolf, and raised both paws. She'd rely on her sense of balance to keep her upright, and manifested each element from different paws. Hopefully eventually that wouldn't be necessary, but she had to start somewhere.

Since Aina had said imagination was important, she imagined the two streams weaving together into one flow, and moved it along the wet fur.

"How is it?"

"Warm."

"Too warm?"

"No."

With patience, feedback, and the other wolf shifting positions, they eventually managed to get her dry. Well, mostly dry. The process wasn't perfected yet.

[ Life Magic Skill Level Up! ] [ Mana Manipulation Skill Level Up! ]

"How's that?" Sara asked.

"Felt nice."

"Am I forgiven?"

The wolf gave her a curious look. "Did you need to be?"

Sara let out another sigh, though it was more relieved than anything else. Maybe she had worried too much.

She parted ways with the wolf, and moved on. She still had more exploration to do, after all.

Chapter Text

[ Discovered Nyolund East Depths. ]

[ Level Up: Level 24 Reached! ]

Huh? Wait, what did I level up from?

"There are several ways besides combat to gain character experience in Moorhold. For instance a certain amount of experience is granted every time someone discovers a new zone, or area. For you it has been steadily building up as you've been travelling."

Oh...

That put her one step closer to her goal, even if she had conflicted feelings about it. It felt a little unearned, but the journey itself could certainly be described as an ordeal, so maybe it was how things should be.

But the depths, huh? What kind of place is this?

"Each Ildhena zone is roughly divided into three parts. The edge, the main forest, and the depths. There is one depths area on each side of the road through the area."

So the path should be just west of here?

"Yes. Also, I believe this would be a good place to make your new home. There is an outcropping with a large cave that would be a good respawn location, and should suit your needs while you stay here."

Sara headed in that direction while reviewing her findings so far.

In addition to the raccoons there were also speedy hedgehogs in the small animal category.

She'd found signs of squirrels, but she'd have to wait until daytime to confirm them.

The stream was too small to hold any fish, but there had been some frogs hopping around close to it.

The wolves she had seen started at level 23, and went up to 28. If there were any at level 29 or 30, she had not seen them yet. And they all seemed to be either moving alone, or in pairs. She hadn't spotted any 3+ packs.

The deer were only called 'Noble Deer' if they were level 25 or above. The ones below 25 were simply 'Nyolund Deer', and had a couple less skills.

There didn't seem to be any birds around at night except for the ravens, and those seemed to have the same level range as the wolves. She'd have to see how things changed during the day. And she hadn't even explored half of the zone yet, assuming the road went straight down the middle of the zone. She'd have to make a proper mental map of the place eventually.

What she found at her destination was a large open area. If she recalled correctly, those were called glades when they were in forests. At the north edge sat a small hill which a large cave entrance on the front. She took some cautious steps closer as she sniffed the air.

You're sure this is empty, Aina?

"Yes."

She trusted Aina enough to let down her guard, and head into the cave. It was quite large, indeed. The word that came to mind was 'den'.

That's what wolves have, right? Dens? At least the ones in fiction often do.

"Correct."

But why would there be a large, empty den like this in the depths of the woods? It almost felt like it was foreshadowing something. There didn't seem to be anything to investigate inside the den. It looked entirely empty, so Sara headed back outside.

[ Firm Grip Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]

[ Firm Grip (Passive): Increases holder's ability to grab, and hold onto targets, objects, and surfaces. Decreases SP drain if applicable. Increased balance when holding onto something, or if all limbs are on the ground. Effect improves with skill level.
Max level bonus: Immune to disarm skills. ]

That seemed like a pretty good bonus, except it was absolutely useless for her. However once she was able to wield a weapon she would be unstoppable! Or maybe not. She hadn't even known disarm skills were a thing in the first place, and the description didn't say anything about preventing her from dropping a weapon due to her own mistakes.

Since she was looking at boxes anyway, she might as well check her level up too.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Mystic Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Druid ]

[ Level: 23 -> 24 (25) ]

[ HP: 155/155 -> 163/163 (135/135) | SP: 159/159 -> 168/168 (125/125) |
MP: 135/135 -> 147/147 (112/112) ]

[ VIT: 59 -> 63 (52) | END: 68 -> 73 (55) ]

[ STR: 60 -> 64 (51) | DEF: 47 -> 51 +2 (29) ]

[ AGI: 85 -> 90 (67) | DEX: 56 -> 60 (38) ]

[ INT: 72 -> 78 (46) | WIS: 68 -> 75 (49) ]

[ LUK: 130 -> 138 (38) ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 12 -> 16 ]

Yeah... even if I disregard my stat boosts, I think I way undersold how strong I am supposed to be at 25. Eh... it's not like anyone else would know either. I might be better off if people underestimate me.

With her new home established, she decided to head west.

* * *

[ Discovered Area: Komeron North Way. ]

The sun was about to crest the horizon as she reached the road, so she got to see it in better light.

She supposed it was wide enough to qualify as a road, even though it was clearly not maintained, or travelled much. There were no scents or visible tracks of anything other than the forest creatures. Surely someone must have at least tried going through here in the time since the world started up, but if they had then all traces of them were gone. It didn't seem bad enough that you couldn't run a horse-drawn cart through, but it probably wouldn't be a pleasant ride. And going on foot you'd have to deal with the wolves, the deer, and...

She sniffed the area some more.

Yeah, there were bears around somewhere. It was the first trace she'd gotten of one in the north. Maybe they were only in a small part of the zone, or there weren't a lot of them to begin with. Perhaps like in the hills, they weren't nocturnal. Meaning it might ironically be safer to travel at night.

On second thought...

Sara did a quick hop to the side, and activated Arcane Blast. Something that had tried to pounce on her from above slammed into the ground close to her instead.

[ Stalker Jaguar (Rogue Lvl 24) HP: 101/120 HP ]

A completely black cat. Her Cat Form probably looked something like that. She had seen cat mobs in the east forest, but they had only been lynx sized. This was a proper big cat. It must have leapt at her from one of the trees, but Danger Sense had told her it was coming.

Before it could fully recover, she started casting Thorn Bind, and locked it down just as it tried to pounce at her again.

No fear in these ones, huh? Or did it think me easy prey?

She used Howl, which caused the Jaguar to break out of the vines in panic, and attempt to flee from her. She then mimicked what she had seen the bear do, and used Charge to go into a biting attack rather than a ramming attack.

Getting attacked broke it out of its Fear, so it spun around, and swiped at her. Then suddenly a couple of Dire Wolves came charging out of the forest, and barrelled into it. Sara was stunned for a moment. By the time she came back to her senses a single Frost Bolt was all she needed to finish off the Jaguar. She didn't want to use a Fireball when the other two wolves were so close. She wasn't sure to what extent friendly fire was or was not enabled.

[ Stalker Jaguar (Rogue Lvl 24) Defeated. ]

[ Quick Feet Skill Level Up! ]

She hadn't gotten to do very much, so it hadn't given her much skill experience.

"Thank you," she said to her helpers, even though she hadn't needed them.

"You're welcome."

"We heard the howl," they said, as if answering the question she hadn't asked.

"Can I ask you a couple of things?" Sara asked.

They gave her curious looks, but still answered: "Yes."

"Are there many of those cats?"

"Some. There are more further west, but some of them like being around this path."

"What about the bears?"

"Also west. They fight with the stronger deer a lot, but they will occasionally come across the path to our side."

"Our side... so there aren't wolves in the west?"

"There are, but only in the south-west. The north-west is too dangerous for us."

"Okay... thanks."

They parted ways, and she decided to head south along the path. There was no real reason to see where it exited the forest yet. She was more curious about where it turned towards Komeron. She didn't use Sprint because she wanted to keep observing the woods around her, and the wolves had given her some things to think about as well. She kept up a brisk enough pace that it would be hard for any more of the jaguars to try to pounce on her. They probably used Death From Above, but she hadn't had the luxury to check out its skill list in the middle of combat.

Occasionally she needed to use Erase Presence to bypass a troublesome deer, but for the most part the trek went without issue. The road was definitely rougher in some parts than others. Maybe cart travel wasn't that viable after all, and it wasn't hard to imagine why going on foot wasn't tempting.

* * *

Eventually she reached a point where it started to turn towards the left, and head in a more east, south-east direction. That was probably the point where it started circling around towards the Komeron gate.

[ Sense Mana Skill Level Up! ]

A mana presence came within range, or rather... it was apparently so powerful that she could feel it outside of her normal range. The skill description had said something about that. She was going in that direction anyway, so she intended to check it out. As she got closer she could tell it was off to the side of the road. The brightness was starting to feel glaring.

She activated Erase Presence, and skulked her way through the woods directly towards the light. After a short walk, she came across another glade. And in the middle of the glade she found the source. A blonde-haired elf.

[ Mirielle Sylvani - Elf Temple of the Moon Priestess (Priest Lvl 28) HP: 145/145 ]

What's a priestess doing out here alone? Is she a Wanderer? Can Wanderers join the temples and churches?

"Not in an official capacity as of yet. They can acquire some basic occupations, but the developers intend to include higher available ranks in a future update."

So she was a Resident, but that just made it more curious.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bash Lvl Max | Kick Lvl 4 | Blessed Ray Lvl 5 | Searing Light Lvl 5 | Holy Shackles Lvl 5 |
Blessed Shield Lvl 5 | Greater Heal Lvl Max | Advanced Cure Lvl 8 | Soothing Light Lvl 6 |
Dispel Curse Lvl 5 | Diagnose Lvl Max | Treatment Lvl Max | Fortitude Lvl 6 |
Arcane Blast Lvl 5 | Sense Presence Lvl 6 | Sense Mana Lvl 6 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl Max | Keen Ears Lvl Max | Catalyst Expertise Lvl Max | Swim Lvl 4 |
Intuition Lvl 6 | Light Element Up Lvl Max | Mana Manipulation Lvl Max |
Intelligence Up (Small) Lvl Max | Wisdom Up (Small) Lvl Max | Light Resistance Lvl 5 |
Dark Resistance Lvl 5 ]

[ Trade: ]

[ Cooking Lvl 7 | Tailoring Lvl 3 ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl Max | Life Magic Lvl 8 | Decryption Lvl 8 |
Languages: Common, Elf, Human, Beastkin ]

So that was what a proper Resident's skill list looked like? She appeared focused on being a healer, but what did all of these things actually do?

[ Blessed Ray (Active): Fire a magical ray with light element property. Instant hit. Damage value: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1 metre. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) Inflicts Blind(?) status on target for 4 seconds. Increase user's magic resistance by 5% for 10 seconds. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

[ Searing Light (Active): Inflict target with a magical damage over time effect with light element property for 12 seconds. Instant hit. Damage value: (5+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Double damage against undead, and dark element targets. Cost: 6 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 10 seconds. ]

[ Holy Shackles (Active): Chains manifest forth from nearby surfaces, and bind a target for 12 seconds. Light element property. Chains can be broken, but are stronger than other binds. Chain strength increases with skill level. Locks certain skills. Cost: 8 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

At least she had some combat capability.

[ Advanced Cure (Active): Remove up to three random negative status conditions from target. Light element property. Can cleanse more severe conditions than Cure, but certain status conditions still cannot be removed. Cost: 3 MP. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

[ Soothing Light (Active): Eases pain, and restores HP over time. Light element property. Recovery value: (10+(1*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Duration: (10+(2*skill level)) seconds. Cost: 6 MP. Refresh: 10 seconds. ]

It seemed like Priests had better healing, and support spells than Druids. Sara felt a little miffed about it, but she told herself that at least Druids had better offensive abilities.

[ Dispel Curse (Active): Able to dispel curses. Success rate depends on skill level, and strength of the curse. Scales with Wisdom. ]

Curses have different strengths?

"Correct. The status condition simply called Curse is the one that cuts everything in half, which is a powerful effect, but usually the easiest to dispel. The difficulty is influenced by how strong the caster is, but the effect of the curse stays the same. There are other curse conditions as well, and they are most often named the 'Curse of Something'. They will usually be tied to a specific boss, or type of mob. There are also special curses that certain Residents can cast, but that typically involves a whole lot of quest, lore, and story related things I would rather not spoil."

[ Diagnose (Active): Priest branch exclusive. Able to assess the condition of the target, and gain information on any status conditions they have. Channelled effect. Can also uncover conditions, and ailments that are not status conditions. Effect and accuracy increase with skill level. A good diagnosis of a patient's state of health will make treatment more effective. Activation Cost: 5 MP. Drains (6-(0.5*skill level)) MP every 5 seconds while active. Deactivation Cost: 0. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

[ Treatment (Active): Priest branch exclusive. Able to treat targets with more efficiency, and care than regular healing spells are able to. Channelled effect. Can deal with wounds, injuries, and scars left behind even after HP is fully restored. Can treat diseases, illnesses, and serious conditions even if they're not status conditions. Ability, and efficiency increase with skill level. Cost: Depends on what is being treated. Refresh: N/A ]

[ Fortitude (Active): Cast a buff that increases Vitality and Defence by (20+(1*skill level))%. Duration: 30 minutes. Target feels more energised, and motivated. Cost: 10 MP. Cast time: 5 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

The buff was a step above any others she had seen, but Treatment made her scratch her head.

Aina? Can you explain Treatment a little more?

"I will try. Treatment is currently a Resident only skill. To be precise it can only be obtained through being taught by a religious institution after reaching a certain rank, which Wanderers cannot do yet. The churches and temples offer treatments to deal with lingering injuries, disabilities, diseases like the flu, measles, etc., and chronic conditions. A very skilled practitioner can also handle dealing with something as serious as cancer, but someone less skilled might make it worse. You may consider it a catch-all solution, but it still depends a lot on individual skill, and proper diagnosis."

Sara had kinda assumed that all those things went away if you respawned, but maybe not. And maybe people weren't that keen to die just to cure themselves even if they could.

So this Priest is very good at being a healer, then?

"Yes."

There were two more things she hadn't seen before. Well, four, but she could guess what Cooking and Tailoring did without checking.

[ Intuition (Passive): Able to sense important, and hidden things. Deduction ability increased. Effect increases with skill level. ]

That was incredibly vague, which kinda made it all the more intriguing.

[ Decryption (General): The skill to handle, decode, decipher, and deduce the unknown. For instance lost languages, ancient texts, coded messages, artwork, and more. Improved ability to piece together clues, and hints. ]

Also vague, but she got the general idea. More tools for an aspiring detective.

She was a little surprised that Human was its own language. Part of her had assumed that was what Common was.

She felt like the skills this woman had gave off a general idea of who she was, and she seemed like a caring, upstanding individual, with some interesting hobbies.

Whom Sara was plotting to murder.

She did feel a little bad about it, but she knew the woman would just respawn back in the city (or wherever she was bound to), and it wasn't like the Residents had done her any favours so far. Plus she was a pretty tempting target, all alone as she was.

There was a four level difference between them, but she felt like she had a good chance at taking down a healer even with that disparity. It would also be a decent test for how well she would do with Ambushing outside of Cat Form. In a few days she would have to make the decision between Cat Form without Growth, or base form with Growth when it came to ambushing.

It wasn't risk-free, but she had just set her new respawn point. Summoning help would make it easier, but since it was a test she wanted to do it alone.

[ Erase Presence Level Up! ]

It was as if the popup was encouraging her, so she left her doubts behind, and went for it.

The priestess seemed like she was occupied with something, which just made it easier for Sara to sneak up on her. Aaaaand... Ambush!

The woman screamed as nearly half her HP vanished in one go, but her reaction speed was impressive as she unleashed an Arcane Blast that pushed Sara quite some distance away. She flipped around, activated her Soothing Light, and cast her Holy Shackles to lock Sara down. Her reaction speed was impressive, but Sara responded by casting Thorn Bind. Making them both stuck. And then... the elf froze.

Sara hesitated for a moment too, wondering if there was something hidden going on. It was giving her an uneasy feeling, so she quickly decided to just unleash a barrage of spells before whatever was going on could actually happen.

[ Elf Temple of the Moon Priestess (Priest Lvl 28) Defeated. ]

In the end the elf woman hadn't done anything else, which just made Sara feel awkward about the whole affair.

[ Skill Gained: Intuition. ]

[ Skill Gained: Decryption. ]

[ Language Learned: Elf. ]

That was the final proof that she was indeed a Resident.

[ Growth Skill Level Up! ] [ Fireball Skill Level Up! ] [ Fire Element Up Skill Level Up! ]
[ Frost Bolt Skill Level Up! ] [ Poison Bolt Level Up! ] [ Water Needle Level Up! ]

Maybe Sara had gone a little overboard. Honestly the way it had turned out left a bit of a sour taste in her mouth. She felt worse than she had expected. It hadn't really been fair combat, since the elf had just seemed to give up. She didn't even feel all that excited about getting new skills. If anything it increased her sense of guilt.

There was the silver lining that her possible career as a detective was looking even brighter now, but it didn't provide a lot of comfort.

Somehow she wasn't thrilled about the idea of looting the elf either, but it was better than just leaving the body there. Thankfully it went away about five seconds afterwards.

She noticed what the woman had been so preoccupied by. It was a statue. Of a wolf.

What is this doing here? And what was she doing to it?

Sara did her best to examine it, but she couldn't really figure out anything. There was nothing special. No inscription or anything. Just a wolf. In which case it kinda resembled herself, she supposed. The most interesting thing was that it was as big as her, too. Couldn't have been easy to make a life-sized wolf statue. It was a little deteriorated, and there was moss stuck to the base, giving the impression that it had been there for a while, but otherwise it looked to be in surprisingly good condition.

The glade itself wasn't very big. She'd estimate about 20-25 metres across, and almost circular. The statue sat directly in the middle. The ground was covered in grass short enough that it only covered her paws, and it was sprinkled with white flowers she didn't recognise. The scent was unfamiliar too, but it was nice, and clear. There was something calming about it.

Then it occurred to her that aside from the flowers there was a distinct lack of other scents. As if no one entered the glade regularly. As if the forest mobs steered clear of it. Very strange.

She decided to move on. There was nothing else to see.

Chapter Text

[ Nyolund Deer (Druid Lvl 23) Defeated. ]

[ Thorn Bind Skill Level Up! ] [ Strong Poison Strike Skill Level Up! ] [ Rend Skill Level Up! ]
[ Savage Blow Skill Level Up! ] [ Insulation Skill Level Up! ] [ Solid Coat Skill Level Up! ]

Sara had vented her frustration on the nearest deer she had found, though she had been a bit reckless about it. She could take them alone, but it required focus to not take much damage, and she hadn't done so well on that front. She had almost gone into the red zone. It was probably best to ask some of the others to come along next time.

[ Regrowth Skill Level Up! ]

That was better. Her current theory was that taking elemental damage helped Insulation level up faster, and for Solid Coat... probably just taking damage in general. It was a defensive skill, after all.

She pondered what to do next, and decided that a change of pace was called for. It was time to have a closer look at Komeron. Which meant heading to the edge of the forest, finding a tall tree to climb, and seeing what she could spy over the walls.

[ Chameleon Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Upgraded! 1 skill point gained. ]

[ Chameleon (Passive): Makes the holder harder to notice as they blend into their surroundings. While standing still the holder's appearance will gradually change pattern and colour to match their background. This effect can be disabled for Friends, Allies, and/or Neutrals. Effect increases with skill level. Stacks with Stealth.
Max level bonus: Background matching still works while moving slowly, albeit at a reduced rate. Small effect. +50% skill efficiency while standing still. ]

If she remembered correctly, it had been a minor effect before. Which likely meant that small was better than minor. Aina had told her about quality levels, but it seemed like effect levels were slightly different.

Aina? What are the different effect levels?

"It starts at minor, then goes up through small, medium, large, major, and finally ultra."

So it had the same amount of levels. While she found it interesting, it wasn't terribly relevant to her at the moment. She filed it away for the future.

Once perched on top of the tallest tree she could find on the edge, and with Erase Presence active, she had a look at what she could see of Komeron. The walls were quite tall. About the same as the border fortress, though it was the same style as Milheen's. A lot of the city was obscured from view as a result, but the tree was even taller, so she still got a bit of insight.

The largest building sticking up, its top visible even from ground level outside, was probably either the monarch's palace, or the temple. Actually, that other large building looked more temple like, so she labelled the bigger one as the palace.

Otherwise the most prominent feature was the massive tree in the middle of the city. Some sort of tribute to the idea of a world tree, perhaps. At the very least something with a special significance. It was larger than any tree out in the forest by a significant margin. Still not quite on what she would consider World Tree level, but it probably held some sort of power. It was possible it was merely a status symbol, like... maybe that was where the city was founded. Though it could also be one of those... it took her a minute to think of the term. Spirit tree. That was another fantasy staple, and something fitting for elves, and Druids.

She enjoyed the aesthetic of the buildings she could see. They were more elegant than what she had seen of human architecture. Also just overall brighter. Using wood as the main basis rather than stone made a big difference. Though it was a little darker than Milheen, as if the wood was older, and harder. She wouldn't be surprised if its hardness rivalled stone, as they probably treated it with magic to strengthen it.

It would have been nice to go inside. She wanted to see it at street level.

It won't be too long until I'm able to walk among people again. I'll definitely come back then. Another month. Maybe two at most. Just a small drop of time in what's going to be my new life.

She was feeling rather impatient at the moment.

She wasn't sure how long she ended up sitting up there. She had just spaced out at some point, but there was nothing more to gain from being up there. Every visible detail had been examined, so she hopped her way back down the branches.

For a moment she thought back on her early struggles with climbing trees, compared to how it almost felt like second nature at this point. She was a very weird wolf indeed.

[ Balance Up Skill Level Up! ]
[ Cat's Feet Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]

[ Cat's Feet (Passive): Reduces fall damage. You're as nimble as a cat. Reduction: (5+(5*skill level))%. If fall damage is less than 10% of max HP it is negated.
Max level bonus: Effective weight while moving, and jumping is greatly reduced. Can move across, and land on more brittle surfaces than before. Footsteps make less sound. With enough momentum you can even run across water. Warning: It is not equivalent to water walking, so if you slow down too much, you will sink. ]

What the heck is all this? This bonus is enough to be a skill of its own. Actually, I suppose it mostly requires a lot of explanation for what is centred around one idea... but still!

It was probably taking the idea of a cat's movement to its logical conclusion. It also gave her the feeling that this might be a much rarer skill than she had thought. Plus she got a clue to something she hadn't been aware existed: Water walking. Though when she thought about it, it wasn't that far out there of an idea in a fantasy setting.

Noon was quickly approaching, so it was a good time to investigate in what ways the forest was different during the day. There should be some differences in which mobs were active, at the very least. It might be best to just keep her exploration to the east side for now, and only go into the west once she felt she had a good overview of things on this side.

As she reached the road, and was about to cross over into the main part of the forest, she felt something. A strong mana signature was approaching. She recognised it. Had the elf come back for revenge?

Sara wasn't super keen on fighting her again, but she supposed the elf deserved a chance at payback. This time she would face her head on. No Ambush trickery. She wasn't about to make it easy for her, she would fight seriously, but at least they'd be on a more equal footing. A high noon duel on the Komeron North Way.

Well, almost noon judging by the sun.

She stopped in the middle of the road when she felt the elf was close enough to enter her Sense Presence range. She came into view as soon as she came around the bend of the road.

Is... is she running? Shouldn't she approach with more caution?

Sara felt very puzzled as she watched the woman come sprinting towards her, and then skidding to a halt when she saw her. Then taking a moment to catch her breath.

She suddenly remembered that she had resolved herself to not go easy on the elf, and cast Thorn Bind, then lined up her next spell.

"Wait! Please!" The elf woman shouted out as the vines wrapped around her, and it startled Sara enough to make her Poison Bolt shoot off course, and strike a tree trunk instead. "I just want to talk! Please!"

Talk? With me? How? I can't respond, you know.

Still, Sara decided to stop attacking. The elf was not there to fight. Danger Sense having no particular reaction to her confirmed it. Sara didn't have the motivation to do another one-sided kill.

"You..." The woman took another breath. "You can understand me, right?"

Sara could at least nod. The smart thing might be to just run, and pretend she couldn't, but the thought of communicating with a person intrigued her.

"I knew it! You're the Guardian Beast, aren't you?"

... eh?

Sara was lost for words. Even if that didn't really make a difference when she wasn't able to speak in the first place.

"My name is Mirielle. I'm a Priestess at the Temple of the Moon," the elf continued, though Sara had already seen that much. "I would like to discuss something with you, if you are willing."

Again, how?!

Sara sighed.

"Are you... not?" Mirielle sounded dejected.

That wasn't what Sara had meant, but she didn't have the means to respond.

Hang on... I can't speak, but I should be able to write, right?

She patted the dirt on the road. With the strength of Dig she should be able to make enough of an impact with her claws in it to make letters. So if she focused on wanting to use the elven language, it should work. At the very least it was worth a try.

* * *

Mirielle was a Priestess at the Temple of the Moon in Komeron, and had been so for a long time. Elves were long-lived, so she was older than she appeared by human standards, but still considered young amongst her own kind.

Even so she was already one of their top healers. She had studied, and practised until she became one of their best Treatment specialists. She was well known, and well loved by the people of the city as she had helped out a large number of them.

While she found it a little embarrassing, she even received special treatment herself when she decided to go out for dinner, and the like. At first she had tried to refuse, but in the end she had been forced to accept their gratitude.

Within the Temple it was a slightly different story. Her skills were highly valued, but she had not been able to advance in rank beyond what she needed to be taught Treatment. She was on the cusp of qualifying to becoming a Shepherd level-wise, which often led to promotion within the ranks of the institution as well, but Mirielle hadn't even been able hit the top rank of her current class.

The reason for that was simple. A lot of the officials, including higher up ones, thought she was weird.

She spent a lot of her free time researching things not related to her duties. It wasn't like the religion forbid their members from having hobbies, but they considered Mirielle's fervour to be closer to obsession, and they doubted whether she was fit for higher office. Some even worried that she researched things not suited for the Temple.

The thing was that Mirielle loved history. Especially things regarding lost knowledge, myths, and legends. She pored over whatever she was able to find at the Great Library, spent her money on acquiring tomes and artefacts, and had invested in the expensive skills Decryption and Intuition. While the scrolls had been costly by themselves, the former was also infamous for needing some skill points even if you had the scroll. That was why it was usually only learned by people with rich sponsors, or eccentrics.

It wasn't simple personal curiosity, though. There was that aspect to it too, but she fully believed that if she was able to uncover parts of the lost past, she would manage to find something that would help out both the Temple, and the kingdom at large. Maybe that was naive. Others certainly thought so.

Then came her big breakthrough.

A particularly stubborn book had finally revealed its secrets, and claimed that the Temple of the Moon used to revere more than just the Moon Goddess. Certain creatures related to the moon had used to be considered holy, but that practice had since been forgotten. Either deliberately hidden, or simply faded with time. It didn't offer much details on what had happened, but it did bring up the wolves as previously revered moon-related creatures.

But if she tried to just lay forth that knowledge without proper evidence, it might be considered blasphemy, so she had to be careful. In current day the wolves showed no sign of friendliness towards the elves, and the feeling was mutual. Much of the Great Forest of Ildhena had been deemed off-limits to the elves, and the wolves were a large part of why. Even the hunters were told to not venture too far inside.

Apparently in the distant past they had ruled the entire forest, but no longer. They had managed to retain control of the east, and important parts of the west, but the north and south were considered lost territory. Anyone wanting to travel there did so at their own risk.

The wolves were hardly the only threat, but they were the most persistent, and numerous one. If the elves tried to move too deep into the forest, the wolves saw it as invasion of their territory, and pushed back.

If it had been just the wolves, they might have been able to handle it,but the other dangerous creatures that made the endeavour to establish control not worth the effort. They would need more resources. More people. Or allies.

While there were some that were hopeful that the recently arrived Wanderers could tip the scales, Mirielle wasn't sure how reliable they would be in sustained support. Most of them worked as Adventurers, and were focused on gaining power, and wealth. They were powerful help to enlist, but they rarely stayed around for long. Maybe that would change as the Wanderers grew more accustomed to this world, and more attached to it, but she didn't want to gamble on that. She wanted to focus on what already existed in the world.

The best clue she had was another book that broached the subject of special wolves. The legend of the Guardian Beast. It mentioned there being a glade near the edge of Nyolund where remains of a symbol marked what used to be a communications ground with the divine representative of the wolves. It could hold a way to contact the Guardian Beast.

The text was a little unclear on what exactly this Guardian Beast was, beyond looking like a wolf. As far as the elves were aware, there was no boss type among the wolves in the north. The book described it as a magical beast of great power that could command the forest itself, and clearly stood out from its fellows. More or less saying 'you'll know it when you see it'.

The south, and the west had boss wolves that clearly stood out from their fellows, and the one in the west did seem like it might possess magical powers, but it was uncertain. They had never seen it cast a spell, but it seemed to use illusions that prevented them from getting a good look at it, so it was hard to be sure.

It just didn't seem like it fit the bill of a Guardian Beast to Mirielle, not to mention it had never shown any interest in communicating. Assuming it was even capable of doing so.

So the north was her best hope. The book didn't say anything about why no one had seen the Guardian Beast in many centuries. If she could find it, or at least some clues as to where it might have gone...

With the book's guidance she had managed to find the entrance to the glade. It wasn't exactly hidden, but the path was so disused that it was very hard to spot. Inside she had found a completely tranquil glade of grass and flowers with a large statue of a wolf in the middle. There were no signs that the mobs of the forest ever entered the glade, so there was clearly something special about it.

The statue was about the same size as an actual Dire Wolf, and maybe once upon a time it had looked life-like, but it had clearly not been maintained for a long time. It was still in surprisingly good condition, but it was overgrown with moss and lichen.

While she didn't want to disturb it, she couldn't help looking around it for any sort of inscriptions, but there were none that she could see. Yet it was clearly not just a simple statue. Someone had made this, and placed it specifically in this out of the way location that obviously held some sort of special power.

After waiting around for a couple of hours with nothing happening, she'd had to return to the city to attend to her duties. As excited and curious as she was, she knew better than to ignore her responsibilities.

Early in the morning a few days later, hours before she had to start work, she had returned. She had been pondering if there was something special she needed to do. So she attempted to pray to it. If anyone saw her it would definitely be called heresy to pray to anything that wasn't the Moon Goddess. Maybe the Goddess herself would smite her for such an action. But in the end nothing had happened that time either, and she'd had to leave again.

The third time she had arrived at the crack of the dawn. She'd gotten the idea that maybe the state of the statue had anything to do with it. Maybe the lack of maintenance was an issue, so even though she worried that disturbing the statue might cause issues, she decided that she would attempt to clean it.

With very careful application of Life Magic, and a soft cloth she slowly removed the moss and lichen. She started at the top, and gradually progressed downwards. It almost looked like it was gaining some lustre.

She got so absorbed in the task that she forgot to pay attention to her senses until she was struck in the back. It was a severe blow at that, and pain lanced through her entire body. But she was able to retain her senses enough to quickly activate Arcane Blast, and blow away her attacker.

She didn't have a lot of combat experience, most of her levels came from her work (and her research), but she had to fend off the occasional mob when she went outside of the city. Her magic power was substantial, even among her peers, and her work had trained her to keep a calm mind in stressful situations.

As she spun around she cast Soothing Light on herself to recover her HP, and ease the Bleeding, then cast Holy Shackles at her opponent. Only to see vines sprout from the ground a second later, and wrap around her. And then she saw her attacker. A wolf with an entirely brown coat, blue eyes, and a substantial mana signature. She had never seen the like, and it caused her to freeze. The wolf hesitated for a moment too, giving Mirielle the chance to use Identify, and what she saw shocked her even more. She scrambled to open, and read every available window.

Then spell after spell struck her in succession while she was too distracted to react.

[ Respawn Timer: 19:59 ]

Mystic Wolf? Isn't that just a fairytale?

She had heard the story, of course. It was a common children's tale about a magical wolf who helped those in need, but it hadn't come up in the texts she had looked at, so it hadn't been on her mind as being related to this. In hindsight it seemed obvious.

The Target Status screen had just shown it was a Druid, and Druid mobs were reasonably common considering all the deer in the north forest. They were what the elves mainly hunted up there, after all. But it was the first wolf she had seen, or even heard of with a confirmed magic class. And while the Skill List hadn't looked suspicious at first glance, she had noticed that the wolf had used several non-Druid spells to finish her off.

Mirielle had a hidden skill as well. As a reward for maxing out Identify, and her hard work in general, she had been granted the special skill of the Temple of the Moon: Eye For Truth. It allowed her to see through lies, and deception. Crucially it had let her know that this wolf was hiding its true status. She hadn't been able to see that true status, which meant that its means of hiding it were too powerful even for the Eye For Truth. Perhaps it had some divine protection, which just made her even more sure.

It had to be the Guardian Beast.

Maybe it had been offended that she had touched the statue, and taken her out for that reason. In which case she needed to hurry back, and apologise. At least it had resulted in the Guardian Beast showing up, but what came next was even more important. Bargaining with it.

* * *

It had been long enough since Mirielle's last death that she had forgotten how uncomfortable waiting to respawn was. Not to mention her timer was longer than she could remember from last time. It was still not clearly understood what determined how long your respawn timer was. They were fairly certain it was related to one's level, class, and occupation at least, though not to what extent each was weighed. It was possible location affected things too, but not many were eager to do research on it.

That was another way in which a lot of Residents envied the Wanderers. They had something that allowed them to respawn instantly, and it seemed like it couldn't be shared with the Residents. Not everyone took that as a sure truth, and thought the Wanderers were simply hoarding it for themselves, but there was no evidence of that. The more accepted belief was that the world treated them differently as compensation for having to travel from a different world.

Mirielle had really wanted to head right back out after respawning, but that hadn't been possible. She needed to do some recovery actions after regaining her body, and then there had been a call for her services that she would never refuse unless she had to stop the end of the world, or something equally important. So it ended up being a couple of hours before she could rush back out.

Well, she tried not to rush, because it would be unseemly for a Priestess of the Temple to run through the streets. She managed to make it all the way to the hunting post at just a brisk walk, but as soon as she was out of sight she sped up. There was a good chance that the Guardian Beast had left the area, and she would never find it again, but she had to try. Even if she couldn't secure its help, she wanted to at the very least apologise to avoid its wrath falling on the kingdom. If she made the state of things even worse while trying to help, she would never forgive herself.

It wasn't far into Nyolund that she picked up on a significant mana signature, and she of course recognised it as the one she had faced off against. It wasn't very far from the glade. At that point she broke into a run, wanting to catch up to it before it could leave. While she was no fighter, she kept herself in shape due to her occupation requiring a fair amount of stamina to be able to deal with all the patients.

When she finally caught up, she saw it was just standing in the middle of the road as if waiting for her. She stopped to catch her breath. Maybe she had overdone it with the running.

Then vines burst forth from the ground again, and in panic Mirielle shouted: "Wait! Please!"

The Guardian Beasts's next spell flew off to the side, so she took the chance to keep speaking. "I just want to talk! Please!"

With no more incoming attacks, Mirielle tried to catch her breath as fast as she could. "You..." Another deep breath as the vines released her. "You can understand me, right?"

There was a brief pause, then the wolf nodded. She felt elated. Vindicated, even.

"I knew it! You're the Guardian Beast, aren't you?" she blurted out, and was too flustered to catch the confused look of the wolf in front of her before she rambled on.

"My name is Mirielle. I'm a Priestess at the Temple of the Moon," she introduced herself quickly. "I would like to discuss something with you, if you are willing."

There was a tense moment, and then the guardian beast visibly sighed.

"Are you... not?" Mirielle couldn't help feeling dejected. Maybe she really had messed things up. But at the very least she could apologise.

Or so she thought, but before she could do so, she noticed the wolf was scratching into the road with its claws. Mirielle could only watch with the utmost curiosity. Then it took several steps back, and it seemed like it was beckoning her to come closer.

She did so, being careful to not make any sudden movements, and she looked at the ground. Which gave her another shock. There was writing. In elven letters.

"Hello. My name is Sara. I am not a guardian beast, I am a wolf. I am sorry for killing you. People always attack me, so I didn't think anyone would want to talk. I'm not able to speak even if I wanted to anyway. This is the best I can do."

Ah... right... just because it's a Guardian Beast, that doesn't mean it's able to speak. But it can write.

Even if it... if she claimed to not be a Guardian Beast, a regular mob would not be able to understand or communicate with a person. It was a little frustrating that Eye For Truth didn't really work on writing like this, so she'd have to decide for herself whether or not she trusted what was written. Intuition certainly felt that there was more to it.

And the Beast had a name. Sara. Mirielle had thought a Guardian Beast would have a more grand, or mythical name, but the simple fact that she had a name was a big deal on its own. Named mobs were a known thing, but those showed up when using Identify. So this was rather a mob with a name. Unless that was the part she was hiding.

"I am also sorry for invading the glade, and disturbing the statue," Mirielle said. "I just really wanted to find you."

Sara cocked her head to the side, and then started writing again.

"Find me? Why? I only arrived yesterday, how did you know I was here?"

Yesterday? So the Guardian Beast has been elsewhere? She said people attacked her... did someone drive her off? That might explain why the wolves have been hostile for so long. But what a coincidence. Surely that's the will of the Goddess.

Mirielle had gone into full speculation mode.

"I didn't know you were away, I thought maybe you were hiding," she said. "Did the Goddess ask you to return?"