Arcane kingdom online co.., p.11
Arcane Kingdom Online: Complete Box Set, page 11
I took in the information available off its caption:
Raptor Hatchling
Level 10
I backed away. Level 10! Last time I went up against monsters with a significant level advantage I had nearly died. Correction: I had died. I had to get away from this raptor hatchling. I hated to think what its full-grown mother was like. I took a step backwards, my boot snapping on a twig. My stealth buff disappeared in an instant.
The raptor hatchling’s eyes darted in my direction. Its mouth opened wide, the blood of the forest boar still dripping from its lips. Its long pink tongue stretched out and licked the crimson liquid off its teeth.
The creature took a step towards me.
“Alright now,” I said. “Let’s calm down.”
I gripped my sword and readied myself for the baby dino’s attack.
The raptor hatchling made a screaming war cry, hissing out blood and saliva. It charged at me. Fuck this. I ran. No way was I taking on a dinosaur, even a small one, in close combat.
I dashed through the trees, my heart thumping. Its clawed feet tapped against the ground as it chased after me. I made a quick turn around a large tree and charged up an energy ball and let it out, hitting the dinosaur in the stomach. I did about 20 HP of damage which took off a small sliver from its HP bar.
The attack only enraged the hatchling more. It wailed at me again and came towards me, mouth wide open, ready to chomp my arm off. I rolled out of the way and plunged my sword into its stomach. The raptor gave out a cry but the attack hardly did any damage. My energy ball was clearly the way to go. I needed to hit the creature in its critical spot, which clearly wasn’t the creature’s toughened rib cage.
Sharp teeth dug into my arm, tearing through my new apprentice coat and into my skin. The raptor jerked its head back, biting its teeth through my arm, attempting to rip it from my shoulder.
The initial bite took off 20 HP. This was better than I expected stat wise—clearly my new gear’s bonuses to defense were making a difference—but the chomp hurt as bad as anything else. A bleeding debuff flashed on my HUD.
Bleeding (medium) (debuff): You have an open wound. You will lose 3 HP every thirty seconds. You cannot regenerate health until you stop bleeding.
I jabbed my sword in its ribs over and over until eventually the raptor let its teeth out of my flesh and jumped back. I powered up another energy ball right as it opened its mouth wide and came at me. I fired the energy ball directly into the creature’s mouth. The creature swallowed the ball of light until a large implosion happened within the raptor’s stomach, the outside of its ribs ballooning.
Critical hit!
The raptor fell to the floor as its HP bar fell below half. It wasn’t dead, but my attack had crippled it. I think it was suffering from internal bleeding or broken bones. My energy blast had delivered a shockwave and tremor through its insides. Tears welled up in the creature’s eyes as it stood on its legs only to collapse back on the ground.
I approached it, charging up another energy ball. The dinosaur’s eyes went red and it jumped onto its feet. The sudden movement made me accidentally shoot my energy ball off into the trees. Damn—what a waste of MP. The creature was deranged. Was it going to mutate like the Skren bandit had? No. Its plummeting HP had triggered a last resort rage mode. It was ready to fight for its life. Kill or be killed.
I sprinted away from the enraged raptor while charging up another energy ball. One more critical hit in the esophagus was all I needed. I spun around to face the incoming dinosaur. Its mouth was wide open and I shot the ball at it. The dinosaur clamped its mouth shut and knocked the energy ball out of its way with its snout, taking barely any damage.
Oh shit.
The propulsion of my own energy blast had forced me to fall to the ground. Now the dinosaur loomed over me, stumbling its wrecked body towards me. I had enough MP for three more energy balls. Then I was done. Dead. Game over.
I let the mana soak up in my palms, the glowing orb growing stronger and stronger as the dinosaur stretched its neck out. It was evaluating me like a food critic, deciding which part of me would be tastiest to bite into. It opened its mouth, teeth on full display as well as the dark pit which led to its stomach. I fired off the energy ball but the dino knocked it away with his snout again. Even in its frenzy, the creature had smartened up. It wouldn’t be fooled by the same old trick again.
Still, I powered up another ball. If I shot it off fast enough, it wouldn’t expect it. But nope. It knocked it away.
Fuck. I only had one chance left.
The raptor was licking its lips and swaying its head, entranced by the potential feast my body would offer him.
I gripped my sword and lunged forward. The raptor whacked the side of my blade with its own head. The blow overpowered me and sent me stumbling to the ground.
It opened its mouth for a quick bite. I lunged my free hand forward, delivering my fingers into the jaws of the beast. My arm got sticky and wet as the monster’s teeth dug into my skin. Blood oozed from my flesh. As my HP plummeted, getting nerve-rackingly close to zero, I formed an energy ball in the very hand being chewed upon. I unleashed the blast right inside the monster’s throat.
Critical Hit!
The creature’s body exploded, flesh blasting out on the trees and drenching the shrubs in red. The monster’s teeth slackened out of my flesh as the head slid off my arm.
+350 EXP!
Congratulations you have leveled up!
You gain +4 HP
You gain +1 MP
You have (3) unused attribute points that can be applied to any of your five base stats.
My HP and MP replenished to full. My wounds disappeared though my new coat remained patchy and damaged, especially on the one arm where I’d been bitten. I’d have to get it repaired. Wearers of light armor really weren’t meant to solo this world. The material wasn’t made for physical attacks, especially of the flesh-eating variety.
I approached the dead raptor and scanned it for items:
New Item(s) Alert!
Baby Dino Bone (x1)
Slab of Raptor Meat (x1)
My mouth watered at the cooking potential of the raptor meat. The bone would be great for brewing my own stock as well. I dug through the remains and took the loot and popped it in my inventory.
Catching my breath, I applied my newly acquired attribute points to my stats. I had been going too intensely with putting points into Magic Attack Power, so I’d spread them out more this level. I put one in spirit, pumping my total MP to 30. Now from the start of battle I was guaranteed six energy balls. MP regeneration usually added at least one more. I was sick of having so little HP, so I put one point into Toughness, which gave me an additional 5 health. I put my last point in my favorite stat: Magic Attack Power. More than anything else, that energy ball had saved me in the fight with the raptor. I looked over my stats, feeling pretty pleased.
Clay Hopewell
Level: 5
Race: Aeri (Eldra)
Class: N/A
HP: 116
MP: 30
ATKP: 3
MTKP: 30
TGH: 5
SPIRIT: 21
LUCK: 3
I sheathed my sword. Where had I ended up? Trees went on for days in every direction. I didn’t understand how I was supposed to find the Aeri in here.
I continued to search the forest, admiring its beauty: from the old ancient trees to the beautiful exotic flowers. A large mushroom grew out from the ground beside a tree trunk. It had a big red shell and a beige stem. More crafting materials? I unsheathed my sword and approached the mushroom. As I crouched down and brought my knife to the bottom of the stem, it made a noise:
“Agh!”
I jumped back. Small arms sprouted out from the stem of the mushroom along with legs. What the--? A wrinkled craggy face emerged in the stem of the mushroom.
Mushroom Monster
Level 7
I charged an energy ball and blasted it at the monster. I did about 25 damage and took a nice chunk out of the monster’s HP. The hit made it confused until it screamed and ran at me. Weirdly it stopped a meter in front of me. I didn’t understand its movement pattern. What was it doing? It bent over, its whole body shaking, until purple vapor oozed out of its body from all directions. Next the mushroom monster sucked in a huge breath. Then it blew out a cloud of purple smoke towards me. A debuff flashed in my HUD.
Poisoned (Debuff): You have been poisoned! You lose 2 HP per 3 seconds until poison wears off (Duration: 1 minute)
40 HP gone in a minute so long as I didn’t get hit by the poisoned smoke again and the debuff didn’t stack. The mushroom monster at this point ran away. I chased after it until I realized—the clever monster bastard—wanted me to run through the smoke again. I backed off and ran around the plume of smoke until I had a clear running shot at the mushroom monster. He crouched down and prepared for launching another poison spray attack.
I charged straight at him and lunged my sword at the top of its mushroom head. It lost focus, disabling the poison spore attack. It wobbled back towards its original cloud of smoke, seeking shelter there. But even the spray had dwindled. I charged up an energy ball and whipped it at him. He cried out as his HP decreased. The cloud of smoke disappeared completely and I ran up to the monster and held it down with my leather boot. It bit into my foot, taking off a piece of HP every second it gnawed its teeth into my flesh. I alternated between stabbing and shooting, again and again until finally I charged up my final energy ball and sent the creature to its death.
+245 EXP!
Congratulations you have leveled up!
You gain +4 HP
You gain +1 MP
You have (3) unused attribute points that can be applied to any of your five base stats.
This forest was driving me mental but at least I got good leveling and grinding from it. I quickly put all three attribute points into Magic Attack Power and did a quick scan of the mushroom monster, acquiring a “Batch of Mushrooms (x1)” to add to my inventory and crafting supplies.
I marched through the forest.
“Hello!” I yelled.
I passed more mushrooms. I left them alone and they did the same for me. I was done with the grinding. I’d been attacked by baby dinosaurs and mushroom creatures and I was sick of it. When it came to battling creatures in this forest, there was no end in sight. I was ready to continue my quest. Find the Aeri.
Off in the darkness of the trees, a flicker of light appeared. Somebody giggled. It pierced my ears. The tiny hint of laughter made my ears twitch like a bug buzzing right in the lobe. Out of nowhere appeared a tiny green girl with clear butterfly wings. She waved at me and then planted herself right on the bridge of my nose.
My HUD read her caption:
Forest Pixy
Level 9
It wasn’t antagonistic. I didn’t want to attack it if I didn’t have to.
The pixy giggled as it wagged its feet. It then pulled something out of its pouch. What was it doing? It pulled out a handful of powder and threw a whole pile of it straight into my eyes.
I screamed as the pixy blinded me with its magic dust. Jerk. I’d kill it. I unsheathed my sword ready to do battle. I swung it manically, hoping to hit something. The giggling disappeared. Had I killed it? But it didn’t make sense as I hadn’t received a notification for the experience bonus. What was going on?
When my sight returned, I was surrounded by cloaked figures from all sides. Each and every one of them held a bow with arrows nocked, ready to penetrate my skull.
18
“Explain yourself intruder,” spoke one of the cloaked rangers. She had a rough feminine voice.
I gently put down my sword, then stood and held my hands above my head.
“I seek the Aeri of this forest,” I said. “I need help learning the innate skills of our people.”
The bowmen pointed their weapons to the ground but the woman ranger—clearly the leader of this pack—wasn’t so easily convinced. She kept her arrow pulled back between her fingers, the tight string of the bow ready to release.
“I don’t trust you,” said the woman. “What kind of Aeri doesn’t know the skills he is born with?”
She had a good point. What excuses did I have? I was one of the Chosen? I didn’t want to make the situation more confusing. I then had an idea straight out of Shade’s charm playbook.
“I was told to come here by Theobold the Rorn,” I said. “From what I know Rorn are not known as great practitioners of magic. Yet, for whatever reason, he is. If someone such as he can exist, is it so hard to believe there is an Aeri who’s never learned his powers?”
The cloaked female ranger removed her hood, revealing a silver haired Aeri woman with pale skin and purple eyes like my own. Her ears angled into sharp points passing through her hair. She walked towards me and said: “You speak wise words. Perhaps you aren’t an imposter after all. Any friend of Theobold’s is a friend to the Eldra Aeri of the Forgotten Forest.”
Barter (Level Two) Success
You increased your bartering skills by 0.3
I assumed bartering would mostly be useful in terms of dealing with merchants, but negotiating your own survival was good too.
“My name is Kendara,” said the female ranger. “Come with us. I must show you to my grandmother—the eldest of our clan. Follow me.”
The ranger threw her hood back over her head and walked between the trees. The other rangers jumped in the air with a quick magical lightness reaching the high branches above. They followed Kendara, leaping from branch to branch, watching her every step, keeping an eye on the dangers of the forest below. I jogged to catch up with the ranger, stumbling over a large oak root in the process. As we trudged forward, this strange sensation overtook me: it was the clarity and relief of heading in a constant direction after the madness of wandering in circles for far too long.
“Is there a spell in this forest which keeps people from entering too deep?”
Kendara smiled beneath her hood. “You figured that out, huh? The Eldra Aeri of the Forgotten Forest don’t interact very much with the rest of Laergard. We leave outsiders to their concerns, we stick to ours.”
Kendara’s words confused me.
“You keep saying you’re Eldra Aeri—but I thought they all lived on the continent of Orenspar?”
“All of the first Aeri were born in Orenspar—but that was a long time ago. Before the great rupture separated us all apart. The Eldra Aeri are those Aeri who stick to the old ways and traditions of the forest and the mother tree Gaia. No matter what continent they may live on.”
There were so many blurred lines between the different races and factions, it was hard to keep track. At my next spare moment, I had serious research to do on the Wiki.
“But as you were saying about the forest’s spell,” said Kendara, as I followed behind her through a large shadowy crack in a tree. “Without one of us as a guide, you’d never be able to find Florentis.”
“What the heck is Flor—”
Kendara stepped through a crack at the bottom of an ancient tree and disappeared. I followed behind and, like a portal, the forested doorway led to a magnificent town made of tree forts and humongous flowers. We stood on a tree root the size of a normal road which led to the center of the town. There large orange and purple petals rolled out like tongues, offering stairways to different buildings and sections of the town. Everything in the place had a glow to it, from the flowers, to the vines and roots we walked on. I guess this was an alternative form of lighting from the manatech I’d seen back in Arondale.
The Aeri walked to and fro throughout the city. There were all sorts of craftsmen busy at work: carving bows out of elder wood, reigniting the innate mana in dulled magic stones, inscribing swords with powerful scripts. I imagined the Eldra Aeri’s economy here was mostly self-sufficient, but I bet they also imported a lot of basic goods and sold them back to the Haeren and other races after being magically inscribed and improved upon. Aeri children ran about, sliding down flower petals, laughing with glee.
What a beautiful place.
You’ve discovered Florentis! +100 EXP!
“Come with me odd Aeri man,” said Kendara. “I must take you to my grandmother. The rest of you are dismissed.”
The cloaked group of rangers nodded and all walked away. A group of them headed to a flower petal where there was a fountain of bright green liquid. Other Aeri sipped on the drink from wooden tankards. An Aeri tavern.
Kendara walked down the large root road to the center of the city where a long green stem shot out of the ground and through the canopy of the trees. A vine staircase wound around the stem. Kendara walked up and, after a few steps, paused to glare at me waiting at the bottom, hesitancy written across my face.
“Don’t tell me you’ve spent so long in the Haeren realms you’re weary of our architecture? Does everything really need to be stone and concrete to make you feel comfortable?”
This elf girl was throwing me pretty hardcore shade so I played it cool and said, “Sorry, my mind slipped. I got no problem with flower stairs.”
She rolled her eyes. She knew I was bullshitting but I think she enjoyed my failed attempt at coolness.
I followed behind her until we were atop all the flower buildings and the glowing Aeri town laid below. It was stunning and so different from the industrial and polluted Arondale. We passed through the branches and trees until we were above the entire forest. The bright blue sky surrounded us. Theobold’s windmill and the shadowy silhouette of Arondale stood in the distance like tiny specks. The vine staircase led us to a yellow tulip the size of a house.
