(Book 1 Complete!) Side Quest [Isekai / LitRPG]

Logan was glad monster bodies evaporated once they were killed because it would have been a messy business treading through severed limbs. Bromlin was certainly skilled with that axe, especially since Senna reinforced it with war-mana cores.

After the dwarf charged at the first group of combat wombats before Logan could explain they hunted in packs, it had brought a small horde on them. But Bromlin's war-mana upgraded axe thrived off his love of the battle. Logan had activated Arcane Attunement, and indeed a faint cloud of war mana had pooled from the ambient supply around the dwarf.

Nugget snorted a small puff of steam from his snout at the dwarf, who had accidentally taken one of the dragon's intended targets. Nugget was level 8 already and was targeting a level 9 wombat when Bromlin had stolen the kill.

"Sorry, little flameheart."

Nugget considered Bromlin's apology, then accepted it with a chirp and moved on as if nothing had happened.

Bromlin gathered the cores, handing one to Logan, which is all Logan would take, and storing the other 11 between him and Senna. According to the gardener, cores gained in the Ruined Wild ought to follow the rules of both regions. The monsters were too low-leveled to provide them with any gains, but Logan only needed one to finish his private side mission, and the other to test for skills. It still hadn't technically been a full day since he had last absorbed a monster core, but he wasn't planning on using it for that anyway.

"Okay, so just a little further and we'll make it to—"

A grating roar shook the air, so near Logan's skin buzzed as if he was standing by a subwoofer. A raw buzz of electricity kissed his skin and made his cheeks sting as he turned. The air rippled and something the size of a tree raced toward them.

It looked like a komodo dragon that ran on two legs and was covered in scales and wiry hair. It had four fingers on each hand and four toes, although the feet had the longer claws. Quills raised on its spine, making it look even more threatening.

Name: Arcstrike Thrasher
Type: Beast
Level: 59
Health: 614/614
Mana: 226/489
Lore: If you're looking for a high voltage experience, you found it. This predatory beast spends most its day feeding on lesser creatures and monsters. Highly territorial, it will charge at anything it thinks shouldn't be alive near it. Which is basically everything. Don't be shocked by its quills.
Strength: High Dexterity
Weakness: Field of Vision

Based on its partially spent mana and full health, it seemed like the beast had already fought something else and probably won.

Logan whistled at Nugget, then made a hand gesture to circle above. The little dragon flitted up in a golden glint, hidden by the shapeless haze that represented the sun here in the Ruined Wilds.

Dreambrand!

Pale fire rippled up Logan's forearms and cloaked his gauntlets.

As Logan crouched and watched for the right opening, Senna pulled an orb from her storage and hurled it at the massive beast. It exploded in a flash of shrapnel, and some kind of black splinters flew at the beast. It batted at its eyes and shook its head.

That opened up a spot on the left, so Logan rushed for it. If he could get within five feet, he would activate Mindmirror Sigil to disorient it.

Bromlin rushed in, too, surprisingly fast for his stubby legs. Speed wasn't his strong suit, but running downhill and whirling his axe overhead for momentum helped make up for that. The gemstone on his axe glowed copper as an arc of energy flew off the blade's tip, hacking into the beast's Achilles tendon.

As Logan rushed in, he kept an eye on Senna, who had pulled out another orb. As soon as she tossed it, he would run alongside the edge of the boulder nearest the creature.

The beast, eyes still clenched shut from whatever Senna had lobbed, thrashed its arms down at the dwarf. It had no way of knowing where the dwarf really was, but apparently beasts could get lucky too.

Bromlin was the size of an infant to this thing, and his body flipped three times in the air before he smacked into a jutting slab of stone, head down, then slid until his crown bumped the ground, and his body tumbled over like he was a sack of flour resting against a wall.

"Brummy!" Senna tossed the orb before aiming properly, her concern for Bromlin overriding her precision aiming, and she fumbled for something in her pouch as she raced toward the dwarf.

Her orb landed near the beast's chest, but it didn't flinch.

And its eyes were on Logan.

A four-fingered hand swiped toward him.

Meditate!

Two paths were open for Logan: dodge under the swipe, step in, and use its trunk-like leg to climb onto the beast's back; or hop onto a jutting bump in the boulder and leap off that to reach the thrasher's spine. It might be a tough distance to cover jumping, though, and he didn't have Null Pulse to aid with the height, so he prepared to take the first option.

Just before he did, though, his chest warmed as a golden glimmer drew Logan's attention to the boulder. Without a doubt, it was Nugget urging him to take the higher route.

All right, buddy.

Logan placed a hand on the boulder's bump out, then jumped, using his rigid forearm and locked shoulder as leverage to hoist his legs over the boulder's top. Right as he reached the top, the beast slammed into the stone, brushing against Logan's thigh and almost knocking him off balance. It seared Logan with an electrifying tingle and his health dropped to the halfway point.

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But Logan realized what would have happened if he had taken the other path. The creature had a third arm. No, not an arm. It was more of a spear. But he hadn't seen it from his angle, and the javelin-like appendage pierced the dirt where Logan would've positioned himself.

Thanks, Nugget! The little dragon's direction had probably just saved his life.

The beast turned its whole body with the motion of prying its blade-like appendage free, which halved the distance Logan needed to cover to jump at its head.

He took the leap. Only when he was midair did he activate Mindmirror Sigil. Instant disorientation struck Logan as much as it did the beast, but Logan was already airborne and couldn't misstep if he tried.

He only kept it up for a fraction of a second, but that was all he needed. He deactivated the skill just before landing to make sure he had proper footing and then swiped his flame-riddled gauntlet at the beast's head.

You have afflicted an Arcstrike Thrasher with Burning for 8 seconds!
You have afflicted an Arcstrike Thrasher with Confusion for 10 seconds!

Logan struck again, but it didn't add the Fear or Sleep options, although the skin by its ear burned with the fire. The length of time on the two afflictions seemed to be based on different variables. If he had to guess, the System had probably run background checks between Logan's stats and the monsters.

The creature bucked, knocking Logan off his perch. One of the spiny quills on its back discharged a surge of electricity and Logan writhed as it took another chunk from his health, but he swung anyway and landed another swipe at the beast's back. Flame lit there, too, but since he hadn't struck the head, that attack didn't have any chance of inflicting the bonus debuffs.

The arcstrike thrasher swatted at the fire, but it clawed itself with the motion, and Logan watched its health dip an extra 5%.

Bromlin was scrabbling to his feet, wiping his mouth with the back of his arm from something Senna must have given him, and ran right back into the creature's legs. It was too preoccupied to notice him, and Bromlin scored it with an X-shaped double-swing. The thrasher collapsed on its side.

Senna hurled a poisoned dart at it. It was a standard poison, but it seemed to be working, and Senna smiled as her eyes semi-glazed. Logan couldn't see an icon indicating it was poisoned, but he imagined she had just gotten the notification it had succeeded.

When Logan ran up to the fallen creature's head, the flame had snuffed out on the beast, but he swiped again.

You have afflicted an Arcstrike Thrasher with Burning for 8 seconds!
You have afflicted an Arcstrike Thrasher with Sleep for 15 seconds!

"Wait, hold off." Logan raised a hand to stop Bromlin before the dwarf could swing again.

Nugget flew down to Logan's shoulder as they watched the creature snore, still burning, and Logan explained how this was a special type of fire that dealt double damage to sleeping foes and wouldn't risk waking them, but additional attacks could. The tricky part had been getting it to a point where he could make the debuff kick in.

When it had only a sliver of a health bar remaining, Nugget jumped onto it and slashed it with a back talon.

You have helped kill a level 59 Arcstrike Thrasher! Shared experience gained!

You are level 29!
+1 END, +2 DEX, +3 INT, +4 PER, +2 WIL
You have 8 free stat points.

Logan put 5 points toward Strength and 3 toward Endurance. Then he turned to give Senna and Bromlin each an excited high five, but he stopped when he saw the concern on Senna's face and Bromlin's overly casual humor.

"That thing could've killed you, Brummy. Then who's supposed to watch my back?"

"Bah, you're the one always saving me."

Moodprint.

Logan startled at the two intense emotions. From Senna, he got a level of concern he'd never imagined before. From Bromlin, there was shame. They really went through an emotional ringer there.

These two were always so full of friendly jabs, even in the face of the Devouring Coil, that Logan hadn't really considered they might be hiding deeper struggles. And that was even with Perception being his highest stat. He knew he was getting good at picking up on some subtle cues, but there was still more to understanding a person.

Unexpectedly, he felt bad for getting them into that situation.

Bromlin cleared his throat as Senna straightened his shirt for him.

Her demeanor suddenly changed as she punched his shoulder. "Yeah, good point. That's a silver coin you owe me now for another save."

The dwarf scoffed. "You'll have to lower your cost. If people find out how valuable my life is, they'll whisk me away into nobility."

"Can't have that happening," Senna said with a nod. But their moods remained the same, and now that Logan knew what he was looking at, he saw the glimmer of uncertainty behind their smiles.

"Nice job," he said to break the tension. "You too, Nugget." The dragon landed on his shoulder with a purr and coiled his tail behind Logan's neck. "Sorry I pulled you into this."

They both waved Logan's apology away and turned to looting the beast's body.

Senna reached for the body, but pulled her hands back when static shock arced from the beast's wiry hair to her fingertips. "Whoa."

"You okay?" Logan asked.

She nodded and pulled out some gloves. In the moment before she put them on, Logan saw the Shock Resistant Gloves label, but it disappeared once she wore it. Even with his Hidden Gleams perk that detected greater parts of wholes, it seemed not to identify worn or wielded items.

"This thing is huge. Look at all this stuff. Thrasher Spine Quills… Jolt Claws… Conductive Hide Strip…" She tilted her head and scrunched her brows as she held up something that looked like a glistening green balloon. "Surge Bladder." She shrugged and tucked it all away. "I'm sure I can find a use for this."

She peeked into the gray light of her interdimensional storage space. "I've seen animal hides with properties, like toughness, that give an extra boost related to whatever trait the animal had. But there's energy almost completely engrained into the materials." She squished her lips to one side as she closed the bag. "I'm gonna run some tests when we're in Gnashridge. You said we'll have a few days, right?"

"We should. We'll lose some time just from traveling in here, but as long as we don't lose days, we have time to take a breather."

After they worked together to nab all the parts and pieces, Logan led them down the hill. They didn't encounter any other monsters or beasts, and as they neared the Boundary that would put them on the slope outside Gnashridge Heights, he led them to the thrasher's abandoned nest.

They also picked up some extra combat wombat cores that were strewn around the nest area, apparently from fresh kills. Logan added those to the group stash, and then ushered Senna and Bromlin out. The sky turned dark right as Logan passed through. His timer had reset on all his affinities, too.

He was glad it was evening. Although he'd been awake for what felt like only one day, despite it actually being two or three, but he could definitely go for some sleep.

The Senna-Bromlin mood had returned to the snark and jabs Logan was used to from these two, and even a quick check with Moodprint showed the tension had settled.

The town was in a state of repair, and chickens wandered all around. Logan chuckled and picked one up. This was the first chicken he had ever returned to Liorna here, named Louie. He was going to pass the coop anyway, so he might as well return the loose bird.

A vaguely familiar woman stepped out in front of them, one hand raised to stop them. "Excuse me. You're Logan, right?"