Dissonance a litrpg adve.., p.19
Dissonance: A LitRPG Adventure, page 19
part #1 of Unbound Series
After four hours traversing the deep dark caves, they had delved into most of the tunnels and were on track to reach the end of the cavern system within thirty minutes, if Balfur's Memory was to be trusted. They had gathered a total of twelve cores out of fourteen Rockstrikes, and he fed all of them to Pit. Each core was like a mini level up, granting a smattering of stat points in Strength, Agility, and Endurance. The points were often only 1 or 2 per stat, and it was a crap shoot on whether all stats would bump up or just some of them.
Felix wasn't sure how it all worked, but he was glad it did. He was finally able to increase Pit's Strength by a significant margin, and now his Rake and Bite attacks actually had some oomph behind them.
Health: 135/135
Stamina: 195/195
Mana: 115/115
STR: 30 PER: 25
VIT: 27 END: 36
INT: 20 WIL: 21
AGL: 57 DEX: 34
Pit also leveled up three times, which not only boosted his stats, but also netted him a new Skill.
Your Companion, Pit Has Learned A Skill!
Wingblade, Level 1!
You have learned to shape the ambient Air Mana into weapons. Increases range and accuracy moderately with Skill Level, damage increases slightly with Skill Level.
Beasts, it seemed, gained preset Skills as they grew. It was a welcome addition to their growing arsenal. Pit was becoming a formidable creature, though he hadn't grown any larger, being a little smaller than a medium-sized dog.
The hunting was good for Felix, too: he had gained another two levels. He also put his Gourmand Title to the test and tried Rockstrike blood six times. It was gross. Their blood was a rotten orange color, like something had gone wrong with it, and it made him gag every time. It wasn't until Felix had a moment of inspiration and bit directly into a fading shadow tendril that he had results. The shadowy flesh burned on the way down, but Felix immediately felt his Fire Within begin to grab and digest the power. The pain was excruciating, radiating from his throat and belly and into his limbs, as if acid was being pushed through his channels.
Pain Resistance is level 16!
Felix watched his Health begin to drop as he circulated the caustic Mana, but he restrained his panic. It hurt when I ate the Wisp, too, he reminded himself. Just circulate it. Push. Through. It.
A few more excruciating minutes and the burning stopped.
Congratulations!
Your Title Gourmand Has Garnered You Insight!
You Have Fully Digested Your Opponent's Mana!
You Have Learned A New Skill From A Rockstrike!
Shadow Whip (Rare), Level 1!
Manifest a tendril of pure elemental shadow. Range, accuracy, and damage increases with Skill Level.
Felix grinned. With this spell, he now had another offensive skill, and he finally had five spells for his quest.
He was still celebrating inwardly when he turned a corner and found the end of the caverns. His grin faltered, and Felix took a quick glance behind him, making sure he hadn't gotten lost. Balfur's Memory was particularly clear here, and there weren't any branching tunnels for a mile. Then it came to him. Balfur had used his earth magic to seal the cavern.
Just as Felix realized this, his enchanted ring guttered and cut out, plunging them into darkness.
"Shit."
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Felix stood in the darkness, chewing his lip.
He'd encountered this flaw with his Keen Mind Trait before. His head was like a computer with a huge amount of memory, but his RAM was limited. Keeping track of all those memories had started to feel exhausting, and this was the result. He had "forgotten" that the cavern was sealed behind Balfur.
"Okay," Felix reasoned. "Not the worst outcome. I just have to figure out how to drill through solid stone." He reached out and touched the rough surface of the cave wall. He could find no opening or flaw in the rock. "Right. Easy."
Then he heard it.
Skittering.
The sound of small stones clattering against bigger ones, but softer, as if a rock slide was attempting to be stealthy. It was all around him now, moving quickly in the darkness. Felix put his back to the wall, Pit sidling up to his right. It was pitch black, and the movement echoed in the cavern. Felix’s pulse jumped, adrenaline pumping into his limbs as he readied to run or fight.
Wafts of brownish-black smoke drifted all around, and it took Felix a moment to realize what he was seeing. There was no light, so it wasn't smoke. It was Mana. Flexing his Manasight, Felix suddenly saw a dense cloud of Mana all around him. Deep shades of brown covered it all, but grey-black smog choked the brown tones of earthen Mana, something he could only recognize as shadow.
But within the clouds, he could just barely discern shifting movement. Bundles of black and brown twitched and flowed from one spot to another, the clack of their limbs following them.
Manasight is level 12!
Manasight is level 13!
Rockstrikes. They surrounded him. Their shadowy tendrils lashed angrily in the air, even as they focused on him with their beady eyes. They were here for vengeance; he could hear it in their seething silence. It was so strong, it felt like the earth itself was shaking.
Wait. Oh, that sucks so much.
The earth was shaking. The ambient Mana began to swirl, like a breeze in heavy smoke, churning it wildly. The Rockstrikes shifted and several began to run away, their panic as palpable as their rage.
Then the ground split open, and the earth itself engulfed them all.
Felix tumbled down, falling without sight,surrounded by the cacophony of an entire mountain crashing down. Thunder and darkness, his fear was electricity in his veins, even as his stomach lifted into his chest and his unseeing eyes burned with the rush of air. When he impacted the ground, it was almost a relief.
Almost.
Hitting the ground felt like a jolt of lightning, a shearing pain that splintered across his nerves. Agony was a red fire across his shoulder and chest, his vision black except for a few glowing status icons.
Status Condition: Broken Ribs (Major)
Status Condition: Dislocated Shoulder (Minor)
Status Condition: Shock (Severe)
"F-fuck," he groaned. It hurt to breathe, and his vision was hazy with brown and grey smudges atop the inky void of his surroundings. Thinking was hard, his mind stuttering under the pain. He forced through a single thought, however, and activated Meditation.
You Have Entered Into The Domain Of Another.
Beware!
It Approaches!
The darkness deepened as Felix felt his mind recede, reflexively pulling away from the ruin of his body. Everything faded.
Time lost meaning. Minutes, hours, days? Felix had no idea. A sense of red hot ruin coursed through him, pulsing like a second heartbeat. A slithering giant passed him, arcs of jagged light piercing the darkness, dancing across his wounds like knives of fire.
Suddenly, thunder crashed, carmine light galvanizing the sky as the nothingness all around him swelled into a roaring sea. His mind was abruptly afloat on a raft of blue light, tossed in a turbulent sea that threatened to engulf him at any moment. Beasts roamed these waters, twisting shapes beneath the acidic water, limbs thrashing and coiling. Serpentine bodies rolled beneath him, their dorsal fins raking against his raft, tearing holes and flooding his feet with dark water that burned his flesh. Terror gripped him harder than his pain, his mind filled with the image of vast jaws and innumerable teeth.
Somehow, Felix understood that if he didn't repair his mind, he would fall, never to rise.
Felix stiffened his Will, forcing the raft to repair itself. Gouges from innumerable claws filled in with a shimmering blue light, the gouges shining brighter than the rest of the raft. He wasn't sure how he knew to do that; it was like flexing a muscle he hadn't known he possessed.
That's not enough. Felix looked up at the oncoming waves, each reaching higher than a two-story house. He focused, shaping his Will in a way that felt both alien and utterly familiar. Blue light crackled as a hull rose up around him, a shape only vaguely boat-like, angled to cut through the dark waters all around him. Waves crashed over him, a deluge of fire and acidic lightning that made his nerves scream in agony. Trembling, Felix raised his arm, pushing his Will up and over him in a rough wedge.
The waters crashed all around him, and he was tossed into the air only to be slammed immediately back onto the deck. Felix gritted his teeth and held on.
Felix knew he wasn't here on this deadly ocean. Somehow, he was also underground, pinned beneath tons of rock and choking on darkness. He knew. Yet it did not matter. The world raged all around him, his Will a thin shell against the red lightning and corrosive waves. He tried to focus, to snap himself awake or something. But his mind ran in circles, thoughts chasing each other as all of his agonies this past week filtered through him, carried on the acrid gales.
Acid burns, slashed flesh, bludgeoning, sharp teeth on weak skin. Memories of pain, of torment, they piled against him and threatened to capsize his vessel. He fell to his knees, then onto all fours. Felix was tossed by the unending strength of the sea, and the crimson thunder shook his azure sanctuary. Whispers rose from the water all around, their voices soft and sweet as they offered surcease to his torment.
Just let go, they sang, their voices as smooth as silk and cold. You have done enough. It is over.
Felix's Will felt strained and brittle, little more than a wisp of fog against a hurricane. He ached, his body broken and his mind starved for familiar voices, familiar places. Their voices were a song he had never heard, but yearned for just the same. Your home is waiting, wanderer. We will take you there. You need only let go and let us in. Their voices twanged with a note of needful, hungry ruin.
"..don't give up yet..."
This voice was different. It was harsh, but warm. A face surfaced in his eyes, a smirking mouth and nondescript face from a dream, one that he couldn't quite remember. Except the eyes. Blue-green eyes like leaves against a summer sky.
"You have so much more to do, Felix...
"...others are counting on you..."
There was an ache in his chest, one quite separate from the ocean of pain that surrounded him. This was already there, something he'd been nursing ever since he had saved Pit. It hurt, throbbing like the memory of a sunburn, but inside his chest. Inside his soul, maybe.
Deep in that hurt, Felix could feel a thread of emotion; one that he identified as not his own. He could feel a stubborn, foolish anger. Anger that burned bright enough to risk attacking an Irontooth Ape, anger that would attack anything and everything that threatened him.
Because he knew his Companion would be there for him.
Companion Pact is level 8!
Let us in, wanderer!
Felix's eyes snapped open. "No," he stood up, shaky as a newborn colt. "Never." Their voices felt like teeth on his neck, like a discordant note in an orchestra. He knew, deep in his bones, that to let go would be to fall forever. Felix had made a promise to himself. He would survive. He would persevere, despite all the odds against him.
The voices howled, enraged at him. Memories of pain, escalating and unending, cascaded through his mind. Felix braced himself, drawing on his Willpower as never before. He might not be strong enough, or vital enough, or fast enough, but he was a tower of will. He reforged the ship around him, draining the water that had begun to accumulate, making the hull thicker and stronger. Azure light gleamed in the dark sea, and the creatures below retreated.
He was iron, his body unfeeling and cold. Unbreakable. He would survive this.
The water dropped all around him, bottoming out as a wave approached. Felix braced himself, his Will wrapping tight around himself. The wave was a tsunami, a mountain of dark water that crackled with red lightning. Twisted shapes coiled within it, each the size of jetliners.
Felix punched forward, his small ship suddenly accelerating across the water. If all this was a function of his mind, then he would make it his own. He forged the ship into a battering ram, slick and aerodynamic. He rocketed toward the wave, hull barely touching the sea even as it climbed up the face of it.
As he neared the crest, Felix grinned.
He would prevail.
The mountain dropped. And everything went dark.
You Have Survived.
The Challenge Is Incomplete.
Be Wary, Young Nym.
When he woke, it was to utter darkness.
A brief moment of panic set in as Felix scrambled up to his feet. He smashed his head against a rock as he stood up, and bright colors flashed before his eyes.
"Fuck!"
His voice was deadened, as if the darkness around him absorbed it.
Blindly, Felix cautiously stepped forward. He traced his hand along the wall behind him, his left arm out and swinging from side to side. Eventually, he hit another wall. And another, and another. The cave was maybe 10 feet square and was completely sealed. And he was alone.
Where is Pit? His mind conjured images of him being crushed and swallowed by the hungry earth. Of him being trapped somewhere like Felix, but hurt.
No no no no. A voice inside Felix started wailing, only moments from taking him over entirely. Felix slapped himself across the jaw, focusing on the pain. No. I can do this. I just...let's take it one step at a time.
He inspected his body, checking his Health and Stamina. Everything was full, and the dangerous status conditions had healed while he'd been unconscious. What was his regeneration at, now? How long did it all take?
A blinking icon distracted him, flashing in the corner of his vision. With a breath of relief, he toggled it.
Pain Resistance is level 17!
...
Pain Resistance is level 23!
Meditation is level 21!
...
Meditation is level 26!
Congratulations! You Have Reached Apprentice Tier in Meditation!
You Gain The Following:
+10 to all Mental Stats (INT, WIL, PER)
+10% to all Regeneration
You Have Unlocked A Harmonic Stat!
Resonance - Affects mental recovery. Confluence of Intelligence and Willpower.
Current Value: RES - 12
You Have Unlocked A Harmonic Stat!
Resilience - Affects physical recovery. Confluence of Endurance and Vitality.
Current Value: REI - 8
You Have Learned A New Skill!
Deep Mind (Epic), Level 1!
You have delved deeper into the mind than most, traveling upon a dark confluence of truth and perception. Increases Resonance per Skill Level, increases potency of mental Skills by a moderate amount per Skill Level.
Deep Mind is level 2!
...
Deep Mind is level 23!
You Have Learned A New Skill!
Mental Resistance (Rare), Level 1!
Gain resistance to mental assault, control, and other attacks of the mind. Increases mental defense significantly per Skill Level, increases mental flexibility moderately per Skill Level.
Mental Resistance is level 2!
...
Mental Resistance is level 21!
"Holy hell," he whispered, memories of his journey on the dark sea rushing back to him. "It was all real." Or real enough to affect the physical world, at least.
Apprentice Tier, huh? Felix smiled, finally able to cross that question off his list. Apprentice Tier happened at a certain level; he assumed level 25 based on his notifications. It could be 26, but that felt...wrong, somehow. Now, he just had to get his spells up to level 25 to complete one of his quests.
If I can even get out of here.
He slapped his cheeks again, focusing. That wouldn't help him.
What else did he learn? Felix went over the notifications again. He attained Apprentice Tier in Meditation, and that netted him some benefits, for some reason. Did this happen with all Skills when they hit level 25? That would be both amazing and insane. He had just gained 30 stat points in an instant. He had also gained a flat 10% bonus to his regeneration, which was huge.
Speaking of regeneration, he had also unlocked something called Harmonic Stats. Reading the prompt over again, Felix clenched his fists in excitement. He had been right! There was a hidden stat for regeneration, two of them in fact. Resonance and Resilience, for mental and physical recovery. The notification said they were a confluence of two of his main stats, but how did that affect anything? Felix's hands reached for his journal, even in the dark, but a thrill of terror ran through him as he patted his empty waist.
His satchel and sword were gone.
"God damn it," he swore softly. All his food and water was in that bag, not to mention his various herbs and last health potion. Everything he owned in this world was in there, and now it was probably crushed under a bunch of rock. Felix felt himself spiraling again, and wrenched himself back on task.
This high Willpower thing was paying dividends. He could practically feel the iron control he had over his mind and actions, his thoughts clear and firm simply because he wished them to be. Would I have survived that dark ocean without my bonuses to Willpower? Or would I have fallen into the depths?
Felix shuddered, unable to stop himself from recalling the serpentine shapes that flooded that violent sea. He still didn't understand why he had appeared there, or what it all meant, but he had survived. That was all that mattered.
