Might as Well

The stump was like every stump that ever existed. It was so generic that it looked positively wrong in a game that strived for such perfection in graphical fidelity. It was as if somebody placed a stump from a game from the past into Magic Unbound. The look just didn’t fit. Despite that, and the odd thoughts it generated in his head, Sam’s attention wasn’t on the stump, but on the presence next to said stump. A presence which before now had been invisible, but now the outlines were slowly emerging thanks to the slowly falling silvery mollusc powder.

It was an odd shape and thanks to it being well, invisible, Sam couldn’t make out much, but at least he could see that it had antennae. Or very weird hair…

He stood there silently, hiding his triumph, and stared at the monster just as the monster stared at him.

Despite not seeing the being's eyes, he could feel their intense gaze on him.

Slowly, the silvery powder finished falling, settling on the ground, on him and Lucky (the wolf sneezing and setting off clouds of sparklescale explosion with it) and on the monster. Sadly, even with that, he couldn’t even tell what kind of monster it was.

Slowly, he readied his magic, just let it brim under his skin, his Mana Shield almost shining with the potential of the mana he was channelling into it, and his hand was almost white from gripping the handle of his sword.

Sam didn’t want to fight; he didn’t need to fight, and he was pretty sure if he tried to fight it directly, he would die within a second. This was at least a boss-level monster. You needed to be either overpowered beyond belief or with a group to defeat it.

But that was him. The monster could still decide to kill him…

As he was ruminating about the possibility of a solo boss fight, and glancing around the clearing looking for spots to hide behind or otherwise use for the fight (and finding almost none), a quiet sound was heard.

A sniff.

Then a musical voice, gentle but with an undercurrent of steel. It was as if a zither came to life (which Sam only recognized because one of his friends decided one year to really get into zithers) and decided that from now on it would be capable of speaking.

“So crude, child of man…”

Before Sam could even open his mouth to answer, the form next to the malformed stump shimmered, the sparklescale powder lifting off of it falling to the ground, and finally revealing the monster.

‘It’s a cricket,’ was Sam’s only thought. ‘A giant. fricking. cricket.’

It stood on two legs, which looked exactly like one would expect a cricket’s legs to look like, but weirdly humanized, yet not. Its body, colored black with red accents, was covered by a weird yellow shawl, almost see-through, yet not. Its hands were segmented like an insect’s yet ended in weirdly segmented but human-like hands. On its head were antennae jutting up high in the air. And one of them had a cute yellow bow on it. Its face was the weirdest. Instead of an insect’s face, it was like someone mixed human and insect together but moved the slider towards human more. It had a mouth, nose, eyes and even a slight chin, yet the teeth were sharp, almost shark-like and the eyes were giant and it had no sclera instead it was all yellow.

Sunshine yellow.

It wasn’t the weirdest monster he had seen in his inherited memories, but Sam had to say it was up there.

“Oh, my… soooo forceful with your gaze, child of man,” she spoke again, turning away slightly, acting demurely. “I think I might fear for my… innocence!”

There was a silence following that, and Sam could only hear crickets in the background.

Throwing a deadpan gaze at the monster, he spoke up.

“Really?”

The giant cricket monster turned back, and with a slight smirk on her face (based on the voice) answered.

“I stay true to my roots, child of man,” then her entire demeanor shifted. Gone was the playful smile, or airy personality. Instead, it was replaced by a look hard as a diamond and a threatening aura. “Why have you come to my little slice of paradise? Why have you wrought destruction on my beautiful creations? Why should I not erase your pitiful song from this world? Answer me, child of man.”

Taken aback by the rapid change, Sam took a moment to consider the questions. Fighting was absolutely out of the question. Now that she wasn’t hiding anymore, he could feel the monster’s monstrous mana. He would be squashed in seconds, just as he suspected.

So, he did the only thing he could.

He bowed.

“My apologies, er… your majesty?”

A flash of humor ran through her face, but in an instant, the cold look was back.

“I’m no monarch, child of man.”

“Understood, ma’am,” he replied, swallowing hard. “I’m here looking for an artifact to lift a curse most foul.”

“A curse most foul you say…” came the melodic words from the monster. “And you need my adorable self for this artifact? How curious…”

“No, ma’am,” spoke up Sam before the monster could get the wrong idea.

“Oh? Do elaborate, child of man,” came the calm order. Though Sam was relieved to hear that the threatening steel was finally absent from her voice.

“I’m looking for something called Chalice of Restraint. It can be used to safely remove the curse from the person afflicted with it. According to my sources, it is hidden around here.”

Sam hoped his honesty would allow him to continue on his journey, and as he carefully watched the monster, he knew he made the right decision.

“I see,” said the monster, slowly considering his words, tilting her head slightly and putting one hand up to her face with the other supporting the first hand. A very picture of a fine lady. “And was I hindering in your journey, child of man?”

“Not… really, ma’am.”

There was no answer, only the monster’s stare, so he hastily continued.

“My source, an old ranger, has asked me to check up on the area, as it is considered valuable – historically – to the city. Your existence came up in our discussion.”

“And what did this old ranger ask you to do with my exquisite form?” came the cheeky question as the monster ran her hand over her body.

“Nothing nefarious, I assure you. He simply wanted to make sure that the area with the ironwood trees is healthy and hale. No mention of extermination was made.”

“Hmm…”

Sam watched as the giant cricket considered him and his words.

They stood there in silence, occasionally broken by Lucky, who was playing in the silvery powder as if it was snow.

Finally, the monster nodded.

“I believe you, child of man.”

Sam’s shoulder might have sagged a little, hearing that. And based on the smirk on the monster’s face, she saw it.

“Then I think we should part here, ma’am. I don’t want to trouble you with my presence any longer!”

One hand moved onto her chin, and she shot him a mischievous smile, causing a shiver to go down his spine.

“I don’t think so!”

“Excuse me?”

The monster just ignored his question and continued to talk.

“I’d like to see this mysterious artifact.”

Sam could feel the dread pooling in his stomach.

“What?”

There wasn’t any answer, instead, the monster began glowing with eerie purple light, and before Sam could blink more than a few times, the giant cricket standing on two legs was gone from his sight, to be replaced by a normal cricket sitting on the weird stump, albeit red and black and slightly bigger than the average cricket.

Sam could only stare at it.

“It is an odd feeling, but I suppose that’s where whimsy took me today…” came the melodic sound from the cricket on the stump, accompanied by a zither-like giggle.

Sam just sighed.

Then, with a powerful jump, the cricket vaulted on top of his head. She spent a few moments getting comfortable, with Sam feeling some kind of magic anchoring her to his head, before exclaiming.

“Onward noble steed! Let us enjoy the songs of adventure!”

Sam stood there silently, trying to calculate how much success he would have convincing the monster that could crush him with a swipe of her finger to not come with him. He came up with zero.

“However, I will not fight your fights for you, child of man. This is your adventure. I’m merely an observer.” There was a slight pause, and Sam could feel the smirk on her face. “Do be entertaining, though. I have been somewhat bored as of late…”

Sam looked up at the sky, looking for some kind of divine help, but neither the gods nor the developers appeared. Though one of the clouds looked suspiciously like a smiley face. Finally, he just shrugged and spoke up.

“My name is Sam…”

After gaining an impromptu observer for the rest of his quest, Sam spent a few minutes taking stock of his equipment making sure nothing was too damaged, spent a few minutes patting Lucky’s head then squared his shoulders and once again stepped on the path that he tried so many times before.

Thankfully, this time he couldn’t feel the subtle shifts of an illusion constraining him.

Although, the cricket noises were still there.

Trying to ignore it, he turned his attention to something else.

Now that his ‘battle’ was over, he could finally review his gains.

And boy, were there a lot of screens. Thankfully, the game was nice enough to consolidate the notices, and he wasn’t bombarded with every little thing.

[Congratulations! You’ve leveled up!]

[You’re now Level 19!]

[Gained 4 unassigned attribute points!]

[Gained 2 MAG points for your extensive and creative use of magic!]

[Gained +1 AGI, DEX, END for going beyond what your body is capable of!]

Before continuing, he quickly opened his status screen and added two points to vitality and two to strength, just to make sure he was balanced.

[Name: Sam ‘Solar’

Level: 19 (37%)

Title: Magical Genius

HP: 240/240

MP: 1105/1260

STR: 12

DEX: 13

AGI: 12

VIT: 12

END: 14

PER: 15

MAG: 21

WIS: 15

LUCK: 11]

‘I really need to do something about my HP’ he scowled as he carefully bounded through the forest towards his goal.

Next came the skill gains.

[Advanced Mana Control is now level 10!]

[Thanks to keeping the flow of your mana during a stressful time, you gained the sub-skill, Stable Mana Control!]

[Stable Mana Control: Level 0/10 (0%) Passive Decreases the chance of outside forces disrupting your control over your own mana.]

[Mana Shield is now Level 26!]

[Controlled Mana Shield is now Level 8!]

[Sustained Mana Shield is now Level 4!]

[Mana Sense is now Level 20!]

[Pushing your senses to the limit, you gained the sub-skill, Detailed Mana Sense!]

[Detailed Mana Sense: Level MAX (Passive) The feedback from your Mana Sense is much more detailed. It also enhances information-gathering skills.]

[Focused Mana Sense is Level 5!]

[Mana Synergy is now Level 6!]

Sam checked the subskill with a satisfying feeling. Detailed Mana Sense was an excellent supporting skill that would pay dividends later down the line when intricate manaworks would become the norm.

Some of his spells also leveled up. Mainly Wind Blade and Earth Wall, as he made use of them generously during the fight against the horde of giant grasshoppers. They respectively reached Level 5 and 7 during the battle.

There were not many gains in any of his other spells, but Mana Strike shot up to 8 and Mana Slash was maxed out, gaining him another sub-skill.

[Mana Strike is now Level 8!]

[Mana Slash is now Level 10!]

[Using your mana efficiently and creatively, you gained the sub-skill, Efficient Mana Slash!]

[Efficient Mana Slash: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) Thanks to your familiarity and efficiency in the use of the skill it requires much less mana to execute a Mana Slash. Decreased the cost of the spell by 10% per level.]

Aside from that, Mage Sight only gained a level as he barely used it, knowing that looking at illusions at his level would be beyond useless, while Mana Body Enhancement also shot up.

[Mana Body Enhancement is now Level 17!]

Battling with a pet was always nice, and it increased his connection with Lucky, but sadly, no new sub-skill was created from it.

Though Lucky managed to gain a few levels, now sitting at a respectable Level 9.

He stopped for a moment, took a look around, checking to see if the landmarks guiding him were still where he left them, and of course, he also checked if he was in an illusion. Thankfully, the only thing that happened when he used his magic to disrupt any potential illusions around was that the monster sitting on his head let out a musical huff.

Not even commenting, he began running once again. He wanted to be done with the quest as fast as possible.

While keeping an eye on the forest, though with the monster snugly on his head, there was little chance that any other monster would attack him, he turned his remaining attention back to the notification screens.

[Multitasking is now Level 28!]

[Efficiency is now Level 4!]

[Pinpoint Accuracy is now Level 5!

[Intermediate Sword Mastery is now Level 9!]

[Stable Stance is now Level 3!]

[Calm Heart is now Level 10!]

Then came some of the most interesting ones.

[Shadow Cloak is now level 9!]

[You successfully broke through with two skills!]

[Basic Footwork has reached Level 10 and can be upgraded into Intermediate Footwork. However, thanks to dipping your feet into the shadows, you are capable of upgrading the skill into Shadow Footwork.]

[Upgrading it into Shadow Footwork will leave you with the abilities granted by Basic Footwork, but you will not be able to learn Intermediate Footwork and above, locking you into the path of Shadows.]

[Upgrade into Intermediate Footwork or Shadow Footwork?]

Sam didn’t even hesitate.

[Basic Footwork has been upgraded into Shadow Footwork.]

[Shadow Footwork: Level 0/50 (0%) (Passive) You have mastered the basics of footwork. Your stance is stable and hidden in the shadows. Observers will have a harder time figuring out your next action based on the movement of your feet. When traveling in shadows, your speed increases. Grants the Shadow Burst skill.]

[Shadow Burst: Level 0/10 (0%) (Active) Activating the skill will increase your speed by 100% for 1 second. Cooldown: 180 seconds.]

Nodding in satisfaction, he only gave a cursory read of the other skill that broke through.

[Basic Breathing Technique has reached Level 10 and upgraded into Intermediate Breathing Technique.]

[Intermediate Breathing Technique: Level 0/10 (0%) (Passive) You gained control over your breathing. The very air you breathe sustains you. Decreases stamina consumption during any activity and increases stamina regeneration when not in a fight.]

Sadly, none of them granted sub-skills. Not that he expected them to, they were basic skills that only the truly talented, or those under specific teachers got sub-skills for Basic Footwork and Basic Breathing Technique. And Sam was nowhere near talented enough for that or able to approach those teachers.

But instead of feeling sad, he was happy. After all, he had new skills to check out!

[Thanks to your accomplishment, you gained the skill Illusion Resistance!]

[Illusion Resistance: 0/100 (0%) (Passive) Thanks to your experience, you gained resistance against illusions. Makes it easier to resist and spot illusions. Each level increases the resistance by 1%.]

[Thanks to your accomplishment, you gained the skill Mana Disruption!]

[Mana Disruption: 0/20 (0%) (Active) Using your finely honed control over your mana you can disrupt mana constructs. Mana cost depends on the mana construct you are disrupting.]

Two very nice spells that will definitely come in handy. Especially the resistance skill. They were wicked hard to acquire. For example, the easiest way to get the Fire Resistance skill was by executing a ritual in a volcano. Apparently, the monster on his head (currently whistling an unknown song), whose name he still didn’t know, was a masterful enough illusion user, that Sam noticing the illusion was enough of an accomplishment to get the skill.

Giving one last look at his status screen, Sam gave one rather satisfied nod, closed it and began pumping his legs. He could see the trunks of the trees slowly changing into that of ironwood trees, as well as the mountain coming closer.

It was time for the next leg of his journey…