"Are you sure you want to go deeper into Quintus forest, Grul, is there really anything that valuable to you that you'd risk your life to get? …No, forget what I said. You know more than I do in that matter. May you have safe travels."
As I tested out my new gear, I heard Silver mumbling something.
What was it?
Eh, probably nothing of note if he didn't repeat it.
I finished setting up, packing, and getting myself ready; acquainting myself with all the new doohickeys I have.
Red potions, surprisingly, don't heal but blinds enemies.
Grey potions, on the other hand, don't blind but heal.
And purple potions…still act as the 'poison' potion, with the skull and all drawn on it.
I also tested the daggers and axe I got—the axe was fine, but the daggers…they bent when I put considerable pressure on them.
I didn't tell Silver because I felt like I was asking for too much at that point, and also that I'd have to spend more time waiting in the camp, which I'd rather not do.
All the humies avoid me, wuwu~
Alright, seriously this time, time to leave.
"Safe travels, Grul."
As I left the camp, surprisingly, the silent old man spoke, wishing good luck on me.
Nice, I've made a friend~
The only ones who saw me out were Silver and the old man who Silver called Kael.
Turning my back to them, I grunted and left.
***
***
***
Runnin' around at the speed of sound~
Got places to go, gotta follow my way home—
Wait, were those the correct lines to that song?
I don't know, honestly, I've already forgotten.
I had been following the directions provided by my Survivalist's Instinct, letting the skill's passive awareness lead me to paths where there were the least amounts of danger as I headed straight forward into the forest.
Along the way, I made a quick stop at my cave and took and left some things.
Only the essentials will be coming with me this time.
For hours, the journey kept increasing in difficulty, like the game's difficulty had been swapped from 'Intermediate' to 'Hard'.
The animals I knew became bigger, and the new ones were a lot fiercer, but my XP bar was leveling up nicely.
126 XP, 344 XP, 257 XP
Those are the kinds of numbers I liked to see.
But then, the atmosphere began to change.
Slowly at first, but as I kept going, the changes became glaringly obvious.
The familiar green leaves of the trees were replaced with something deep, dark and moss-like.
Mist formed, and shadows grew larger.
It was as if the sun was blocked out entirely from the area.
The clean air, one of the very few things that I somewhat liked about living in the forest, now felt heavy and colder, like walking up a tall mountain and feeling the air change as the altitude got higher and higher.
The trees that were sturdy began to twist and turn into absurd shapes, their barks had a black, viscous shade that I don't even know the name of.
The ordinary ambience of the forest was gone, too.
Something eerie took its place.
I couldn't describe what I was feeling—a sort of haunting stillness?
It was something like that.
After what felt like 3/4ths of a day of running around, the creepy trees had finally given way.
I stopped dead in my tracks, boots standing on gravel.
Before me was a cliff, a sheer drop that formed a massive, circular chasm.
Something inside me told me that inside of that lower ground chasm was where the ruins were at.
I stood over at the edge, peering inside the chasm, only to find my view blocked by the dark foliage of the trees.
Even though my instincts told me going inside of that was truly dangerous, if I wanted to find that ruin, I had to go down.
I started walking along the cliff's perimeter, a massive natural wall encircling the depression.
I moved for what felt like an hour, it was probably already evening at this point, but the sky was blocked from view, leaving only an abundance of gray in its stead.
The thought of trying to rappel down with my limited gear was conclusively dismissed as suicidal (a skill I did not want to acquire).
Then, I finally spotted a way down: tucked into an alcove where the cliff face was steepest, was a set of stairs.
They were unnatural, smooth stone steps spiraling down.
No plant life clung to them; they looked like something randomly inserted into the world's geography.
I paused at the top, adjusting my equipment, gripped my axe, and took a deep breath.
Here goes nothing.
And so, Grul, the now level 20 Orc, began his descent.
+====================================+
// STATUS SCREEN //
+====================================+
|NAME: Grul
|RACE: Orc
|CLASS: None
|LEVEL: 20
|XP: 398/650
+------------------------------------+
|HEALTH: [█████████] 100% |
|STAMINA: [████████--] 80% |
|MANA: [----------] 0/0 |
+------------------------------------+
|ATTRIBUTES:
|STRENGTH: 48 (+8 Racial)(+9 Armor)|
|DEXTERITY: 32 (+3 Gloves) (+3 Boots)|
|VITALITY: 46 (+9 Racial) |
|INTELLIGENCE: 20|
|WISDOM: 20 |
+------------------------------------+
|SKILLS:
|- Unarmed Combat (B+) (Passive)
| ↳"Everybody was kung-fu fighting!" - Carl Douglas … Increases effectivity of unarmed combat.
|- Sprinting (B+)
| ↳ Drastically increases movement speed at the cost of stamina.
|- Regeneration (B+) (Passive)
| ↳ Increases speed at which wounds heal.
|- Orcish Blood (A) (Passive)
| ↳"Orkz is made for fightin' and winnin'!" - Ghazghkull Thraka … Bestows a formidable constitution and innate combat prowess. Provides a significant bonus to physical attributes and combat effectiveness. Also changes your diction when talking to others.
|- Throwing (C+) (Passive)
| ↳ Increases the accuracy and force of thrown objects.
|- Iron Stomach (B) (Passive)
| ↳ A growing tolerance for poorly prepared, rough, or unappetizing food. Reduces the negative effects of consuming spoiled or low-quality ingredients. Also provides moderate immunity against status ailments like poison, venom, and paralysis.
|- Endurance (A) (Passive)
| ↳ The ability to sustain physical effort despite fatigue, hunger, or injury. Increases stamina regeneration.
|- Intimidating Aura (B+) (Passive)
| ↳ Beings feel a sense of pressure when they're around you. Makes people feel more inclined to agree with you or even submit.
|- Roar (B)
| ↳ "THIS IS MY SWAMP!" - Shrek … Potentially cause enemies to be terrified or confused. Probability proportionally increases with level difference.
|- Trap Making (B+)
| ↳ Allows the creation of exemplary traps using raw materials which could incapacitate, severely wound, or eliminate the one caught inside of one.
|- Axe Mastery (B)
| ↳ "Here's Johnny!" - Johnny Torrance … Considerably increases efficiency of axes you are using.
|- Heavyweight (C) (Passive)
| ↳ "Move 'em on, head 'em up, head 'em up, move 'em on, move 'em on, head 'em up, Rawhide!" - Frankie Laine … Causes all things with a weight greater or equal to 10 lbs. to have their weight value reduced by 35% when you carry, hold, or drag them.
|- Survivalist's Instinct (A+) (Passive)
| ↳ Provides a complete, intuitive mastery of fundamental wilderness survival techniques. Also grants a heightened awareness of the environment, allowing for the automatic detection of food, water, resources, and hidden dangers. Gives a huge boost to stamina regeneration and overall perception.
|- Shadow Hunter (A) (Active/Passive)
| ↳ "The predator's silence is the prey's oblivion." ... Seamlessly blends movement with the environment to achieve near-total concealment. Drastically reduces visibility and sound while moving. The longer you maintain concealment and focus on a target, the higher behavioral information you gather, or crit rate, should you choose to strike at the poor victim.
|- Brutal Intuition (B) (Passive) (New!)
| ↳ "The head is for thinking, the gut is for knowing." ... Provides an instinctive reading of an opponent's weaknesses. Provides a small bonus to critical strike chance and large bonus to perception.
|- Makeshift Fortress (B+) (New!)
| ↳ "*Home Depot theme starts playing*" ... Allows for the rapid construction of sturdy, yet temporary defensive structures, such as barricades and palisades, using raw materials with a 50% reduction in required materials and time.
|- Environmental Weaponry (C) (Passive) (New!)
| ↳ "Every tool is a weapon, if you hold it right." … Drastically increases the effectiveness and durability of improvised weapons, such as rocks, tree branches, and overall junk. Improvised weapons can also be sacrificed to stun or temporarily disable opponents.
|- Trailblazer (C+) (Active/Passive) (New!)
| ↳ "Where we're going, we don't need roads." - Doc Brown … Reduces the stamina cost of travel through wilderness. Actively allows the temporary creation of marked trails.
+====================================+