NOVEL NEXT Chapter 10
The great cat's gaze lingered on Logan for a heart-stopping moment before it blinked unconcernedly and groomed itself, licking its paw.
Logan didn't look away, lest the beast make a sudden attack.
Name: Black Prowler
Type: Beast
Level: 17
Lore: The Black Prowler is the dominant predator in the Gnashridge Valley. Masters of stealth, they target smaller creatures but are otherwise lazy.
Analyze is level 9!
The prowler was larger than a tabby cat, but only half Logan's size. He took offense at the creature's lackadaisical demeanor.
"Shoo. Go away!"
It didn't acknowledge him, let alone give him space.
Logan blew at his hair. He was only level 4. "Who am I kidding? I couldn't intimidate the squirrel, and that was higher leveled than me, too." He should just be grateful the prowler had no interest in devouring him.
Unbothered as the prowler seemed, Logan still found it unsettling to sit underneath it. "Fine, I'll get my own tree."
The next one over was just as healthy as this one, anyway. The dimming sunlight peeking through wilted foliage signaled the long day's end. He would need a safe place to rest, and if the tree was a good enough bed for an apex predator, he would make it work for himself. The blight's effects didn't reach the higher limbs.
Already covered in bark and sap, he walked to an unoccupied tree and shimmied up with care. After reaching the third bough, solid footing was easier to find. "I might as well go to the top and get a good look at the surroundings."
When his head emerged through the canopy, all his frustrations with Gnashridge Valley melted away. Golden sunlight bathed the landscape, casting a warm glow that made even the wilted trees appear vibrant and young. Below, the river serenely reflected a twin of the rich, earthy brown mountain.
To one side, the mountain jutted out into a sheer cliff face, its edge facing the setting sun. Great stalactites hung from an overhang, mirrored by jagged spires rising from the ground below. That must be where the cavern he woke in lay. Nearby, a thin waterfall cascaded gracefully, feeding the river. He recalled hearing the waterfall, although it had been out of sight while up there.
On the other side, the mountain sloped gently downward, its shadows deepening into cool blue hues as the evening sky stretched behind it. Further along, the mountains extended endlessly into Gnashridge Valley, their jagged peaks disappearing into the distance.
Signs of blight were stronger in that direction, with patches of the canopy missing where fallen trees had collapsed into decay. Closer to the cliff face, the forest thinned naturally, giving way to an open edge. That was the direction he needed to go to leave this place. The thought of visiting the spikes that killed him twice filled him with a bittersweet resolve.
Congratulations! You have learned a new skill!
Climbing (Common), Level 1.
+1 to Strength, Endurance, and Agility
You don't need to walk around obstacles if you climb them instead.
Congratulations! You have gained a title!
Intrepid Explorer II
+5 to Intelligence, Perception, and Willpower
New horizons await you, and you will find them. Improves the pull of sites of power.
Newfound energy filled Logan. "Oh, that's good." Invigorating as it was, it paled compared to his experience leveling up. "That's right, I leveled up!"
For the first time all day, he felt safe. Logan took stock of all the changes he had undergone since leaving the mountain.
He opened his status and studied it. He didn't like the asymmetry of the text next to his stats, but after a wild stab, he had the status show the stats as abbreviations.
Name: Logan Vitali
Race: Human, Exalted Kin (Masked)
Level: 4
Trait: Measured Touch
Heritage Boon: Forked Gambit
Affinity: Unassigned
Health: 82/82
Mana: 164/164
Stats:
STR: 12
END: 22
DEX: 9
AGL: 6
INT: 22
PER: 27
WIL: 29
CHA: 5
Free Points: 16
Skills:
Analyze (Common), level 9
Climbing (Common), level 1
Heat Resistance (Uncommon), level 5
Meditate (Uncommon), level 1
Pain Resistance (Common), level 7
Running (Common), level 3
Titles:
Giant Slayer III (+8 END, +5 STR, WIL)
Intrepid Explorer II (+5 INT, PER, WIL)
Talent:
Missing
His eyes fixed on the distribution of stat points, and his 16 free points. While his two races and the heritage boon granted consistent gains with each level, the skills and titles provided one-time benefits.
Furthermore, the common skills had given him 2 to 3 stat bumps, and the uncommon skills provided 4 or 5 each.
Mrs. Bixby from his statistics class would frown on him if he thought his current spread was anywhere near enough a sample size to determine a pattern, but Mrs. Bixby wasn't here and it was a theory worth testing.
He would keep an eye out as he gained more skills, which he didn't doubt he would. But if he wanted to learn more, he needed to survive. He was grateful to have at least some Endurance, but most of that came from the one-time bonuses. From his gaming experience, Strength, Dexterity, and Agility would likely be the next most helpful for survival and general weapon-wielding, and they all looked pretty dismal. "At least my Dexterity will go up with each level. Still, not by much… Maybe I should have chosen that aerudine race, after all."
To complain about his poor chances of wielding weapons was probably just as useless as being glad he had decent stats for casting spells. Right now, he had neither spells nor weapons, so survival should be his primary focus. Higher-level animals surrounded him, and he didn't know how long his luck would last before he encountered one that didn't factor its prey's size into its meal plan.
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As a test, he resolved to put one free point into each stat and watch for any notable changes.
Endurance raised his stamina by 4. Intelligence gave him 4 more mana. Strength added 2 to health and 2 to stamina. Dexterity did the same, splitting its boost between stamina and mana. Willpower split between mana and health. That made three stats with split benefits, and two with single-pool increases.
Charisma, Agility, and Perception didn't touch any of the bars at all.
Each little boost tingled differently. It reminded him of that one time he and his friends got acupuncture. Dexterity made his hands prickle, Agility felt like someone blowing against his skin, and Endurance felt the same, but somehow more internal. Strength was a weirdly pleasant pain in his arms and legs.
Perception, Willpower, and Intelligence were difficult to tell apart with how they all localized in his head, but they differed slightly in how they felt like sharp jolts or a more abstract expansion of awareness.
He couldn't even tell what Charisma did. Maybe it made him more self-confident? Doubtful. It was his lowest stat, but he hadn't made it this far by huddling in a corner and ignoring the world. If his father were here, he would probably disagree and point out Logan had apparently missed out on killing the Infernal Slug Mother and had never actually confronted the Dreadmaw Beetle. Screw him.
After his experiment, Logan glowered at his status. "You know what? This is a load of garbage. Why don't I have a stat that governs a single-pool increase in health? That is easily the most important focus for me right now."
Also, where was his Bounty of Silence? That had caused him the most trouble to get, but didn't warrant a place on the list? It had to be hidden somewhere. His Meditate skill showed, and he had only learned that one as part of receiving the bounty. He opened the descriptor for Meditate.
Meditate (Uncommon), level 1
Amidst chaos, you have discovered the art of sitting still and pretending everything's fine. With practice, you might even believe it. For now, focus on not falling asleep. Improves regeneration rates while in meditative stasis. May not be used while in combat.
> 1.5x meditation effectiveness
> Multi-focus concentrations at 1.5x higher costs
Logan pursed his lips. "Okay… It's there… But that's pretty hidden." It didn't even name the bounty.
The last glimpse of the sun dipped below the horizon and Logan shook his head at the status. He wished he had more answers, but it felt good to have figured out a little about how his stats worked. It gave him a stronger sense of control.
He considered holding onto the eight remaining free stat points, but ultimately put them all into Strength because it was the only one that increased both his total health and stamina, and he didn't get gains in it every level. If he died, what good would the points serve?
He saluted the beautiful vista and then descended to a lower branch. It was wide enough for him to curl up comfortably in a fetal position with his back tucked against the tree. He stripped a few twigs from the upper branches, sharpened their ends, and speared them into the thick branch. He admired his makeshift picket fence. That ought to keep him from rolling off in the middle of the night. He tested each hand-fashioned spoke and pushed against it, making sure it didn't give way in case he rolled against it in his sleep.
As tired as he was, Logan wasn't ready for bed yet. The amount of information he had taken in today had overstimulated him, and his legs were restless. But he didn't think it wise to go for a nighttime stroll in a foreign, blighted forest. And this rare moment of quiet was the perfect opportunity to try out meditation.
After he nestled his back against the tree trunk and crossed his legs, he let instinct take over. Almost immediately, the discomfort from all the gritted bark glued to his bare skin drifted away. His dull dehydration headache faded, too, as a profound sense of peace overcame him.
The skill activated even with his eyes open, and everything grew more vivid. He felt attuned to the stars that danced into view through gaps in the wilted canopy. A flower even bloomed into existence right beside him, its five long white petals unfurling with grandeur.
As neat as the experience was, he had no visceral reaction. Calmness muted his emotions.
When a pale blue moon broke the horizon, Logan exited his trance state. The swell of awe hit him hard now. "That is some cool stuff."
He stroked the velvety flower petals between his forefinger and thumb as he Analyzed it.
Name: Moonbloom
Type: Ingredient
Lore: Invested with mana, Moonbloom petals serve as a minor mana restorative when mixed into poultices. Beware the raw pollen, which can induce mana poisoning.
Analyze is level 10!
He stopped caressing the plant and sidled a few inches away.
Despite feeling refreshed, Logan felt like he could sleep, which suggested the skill didn't eliminate bodily necessities like sleep. Tomorrow, he would test more, like going for a run and meditating afterward to see how it improved his regeneration rates. And so, lying in the safety of his bed railings, Logan counted the unfamiliar stars until he fell asleep.
When Logan woke, he checked the nub that the Moonbloom had blossomed from. It looked like a knuckle buried into the bark. Interestingly enough, it didn't respond to his Analyze skill.
"Huh. I mean, I already know it's not a part of the environment, but I wonder if the System lets it camouflage itself as a defense mechanism."
Even though Analyze didn't detect it, Logan noticed another nodule on a branch below. He climbed down and cracked it open, revealing the white petals. They wilted and burned in the daylight, releasing a pale blue mist. He plugged his nose, wondering if that dying plume could deliver the mana poisoning Analyze warned him of last night.
As Logan advanced through the forest, he paused occasionally to climb more trees and keep his bearings oriented, as well as running anytime he made it to a clearing. After an hour, Climbing rose to level 8 and Running to 9. But notably, despite leaving his Analyze skill active the entire time, it didn't pass level 10 until he encountered a Bristlewing Beehive. If his hunch about level ceilings was right, he bet the ceiling was now level 10 since he had chosen a race. Either way, he gave the hive a wide berth, not wanting to upset its workers.
He also encountered more flicktail squirrels. Their nests were easy to locate, with all the signs of scratching around the hollow knots in tree trunks. Plus, they appeared to hoard spare drakla pits balanced on the limb, partially blocking their little entryways.
He also saw two more prowlers. The first matched in size to the others he had seen, but the second was almost as big as Logan.
"Uh-oh. I hope these things don't get much bigger than that."
Anytime he noticed a creature, he put in extra effort to stay quiet. His intuition rewarded him.
Congratulations! You have learned a new skill!
Stealth (Common), level 1
+2 DEX, +1 AGL
You have learned the art of not being seen! Practice may not make perfect, but it can make less obvious.
He made full use of the skill on his journey out of the forest, raising it another two levels.
But despite all the gains, nothing increased his personal level. He figured he needed to kill things to make that happen.
Part of him wished he had fought that initial squirrel from yesterday, because everything since then had just been getting higher and higher in level.
That realization struck a nerve.
Was he right to keep going this direction, or should he take a less direct path to the forest's edge?
As he continued creeping quietly, he received the surprising notification that Stealth leveled up to 4. Sure, he was trying to stay preemptively quiet, but he hadn't actually seen anything specific to hide from. The fact he had gained the level, though, meant something was nearby. With a hard swallow, he paused and looked around.
Thirty feet ahead and facing away from him, a black prowler twice his size stalked along a limb, ears perked as it appeared to hunt for flicktail squirrels.
Logan could not let that thing see him. He kept his eyes fixed on the animal and took a small step back, securing himself flat against the nearest tree. But when a twig snapped under his foot, the big cat craned its neck and fixed on him.