A Tyrant, Sort Of

[Starvine Stalker - Lv. 6]

In the brief moment before the cat-like predator was on her, Sable paused and reconsidered whether she wanted to get into a brawl. Thorns as long as her finger protruded from each of the thick green vines approximating muscles, resulting in a porcupine look. Two flowers, one blue and one red, made makeshift eyes on the plant-beast, and there was a surprising amount of emotion in its alien features. She could tell exactly how badly it wanted her dead.

It moved as if in slow motion, her senses far surpassing the lower-level creature’s speed. She could practically see the path it was on, and she read its intentions plain as day.

Trusting that a four level gap along with being stronger than most humanoids would mean that she wouldn’t be torn to ribbons, Sable accepted her prickly fate and caught the beast in two hands as it lunged for her throat. She grunted but otherwise held her ground; it didn’t even make her take a step back.

The long, sharp thorns lining its body dug into her hands, painful enough to nearly make her drop the thing by reflex, but she ignored the sensation. Using the cat-like vine monster’s momentum against it, she turned and swung, throwing the beast—which was about half her size—into the wall. It rocketed forward and impacted with a loud smack, then slid down slowly, trailing green ichor, in a nearly comical display.

Sable glanced down at her hands. As the pain had indicated, she had indeed earned a few shallow gouges and scrapes; she was bleeding. Seeing how the prickly defenses of the monster were probably one of its defining characteristics, which meant Sable had done the equivalent of trying to catch a swinging blade with her hands, it means she wasn’t invulnerable to level six monsters, but they would be hard pressed to hurt her, even if she closed her eyes and let them have at it.

Well, that might be exaggerating. She doubted her eyes and throat were places she could simply allow to be attacked for long. But she’d gotten a rough idea of her durability, which had been her goal.

The beast staggered to its feet, but Sable arrived to its side and finished it off with a kick. The momentum of the strike meant a thorn embedded into the top of her bare foot and snapped off, and Sable cursed. She plucked it out and flicked it away, staring at the trickle of blood with a disdainful look.

Maybe once upon a time, the sight of her own blood, or being injured in even a mild way like this, would have given Sable pause, but the only emotion it really produced now was irritation. She definitely preferred her impervious dragon self. Not just for the safety, but because being injured by such pathetic creatures was far beneath her.

She looked at Aylin, who had watched the encounter with a not-so-subdued amusement. Sable narrowed her eyes at the goblin woman, and Aylin quickly wiped the expression away and coughed.

“Handled that well,” Aylin said.

“Hmph.” Sable knew she hadn’t. While she’d picked up some small amounts of martial ability during her hunts, it had been in magic and using her claws, teeth, and tail—not a human body. She had displayed no prowess, just raw strength, and strength wasn’t even her specialty. Still, she accepted the conciliatory statement for what it was. She had tested her rough physical limits and knew what extent of a lackadaisical attitude she could bring into dungeons. Which was to say very little. While not as vulnerable as a real level ten adventurer, she could still be hurt.

“Your skill is refreshed? You can lead.” Sable waved her two minions forward.

The adventure continued. Granite and Aylin worked together to clear their way through the dungeon, and Sable occasionally interjected, sometimes with spells and sometimes physically, to keep getting a feel for her abilities.

Soon, they found their first loot chest. The boxes filled with magical goodies weren’t exceptionally common, but a group could expect to find a few a floor. The real loot came from the boss fight at the deepest point of the dungeon, but when it came to magical items, it wasn’t like people would turn their nose up at them. Most could be sold for a decent profit, if nothing else.

Sable, of course, was in a position where the low level trinkets weren’t even worth carrying around, but perusing the winnings of their adventure came with excitement nonetheless. If nothing but for the intrigue of seeing what shape each item took and the effects they produced on the wearer.

***

Ring of Feather Fall

Type: Accessory - Ring

Level Requirement: 6

Rarity: Mundane

Durability: 20/20

 

Stats:

Defense: +1

 

Effects:

Feather Fall - Once a day, reduce falling speed by 90%.

***

“There’s an eight item cap, right?” Sable asked. “And if you go past that, you stop receiving the item’s bonuses?”

“Yeah. Only eight.”

“And you’ve maxed that out?”

“Of course. No reason not to. Not all of it’s a perfect fit, though.”

“But something’s better than nothing.”

“That’s the idea.”

“I considered putting together a set of my own gear, earlier,” Sable said. “But decided against it. I figured I ought to ask more about how it worked. Is there cursed gear? Can items bind themself to you somehow? Or are there any other reasons I shouldn’t take my pick of Skatikk’s armory?”

Aylin considered this. “You know, I have heard of cursed items, but I’ve got no clue how it works. I wouldn’t think the items Skatikk gave you wouldn’t be, though. So, yeah, should probably gear up. Like I said, there’s no reason not to.”

“Except for being cursed, possibly,” Sable said dryly. “Even with the odds being low, I’m not sure if it’s worth the risk when the benefits are so minor. A few stat points might be a lot to you, but they’re negligible to me.”

Aylin huffed at that. “Yeah, I guess. A full set of gear nearly doubles my stats. It’s important for us mortals.”

Sable’s lips quirked. “Some of the effects seem useful, though,” she conceded. “Items focused not on stats but other abstract benefits could still be worth my time.” Like the ‘Ring of Feather Fall’—or at least similar, since Sable obviously wasn’t in dire need of reduced fall damage. “Like that shield with increased block chance we got a while ago. And are there items with percent stat bonuses? Those would be strong too.” But she’d yet to see one if they did exist.

“Again, not sure,” Aylin said. “But maybe? Especially in the higher levels. Items get crazy at the higher ranks from what I’ve heard. There’s artifacts that can take you up whole tiers in power.”

Sable’s thoughts went to black gem the cultist had wielded to draw on a goddess’s essence. Yes, she’d learned that fact first-hand. She assumed those were once-in-a-lifetime drops, though, or artifacts of such value that they were protected by entire kingdoms. She still wanted to know how something like the Gem of Hunger had ended up in Nexr’s hands—who, by all accounts, was a nobody on the grand stage. Sheer chance, she supposed. Such things did happen. For example, a random girl being pulled from Earth and being stuffed into a dragon’s body. She had to assume that was a cosmic fluke of some sort.

***

Amulet of Reflection

Type: Accessory - Necklace

Level Requirement: 5

Rarity: Mundane

Durability: 20/20

 

Effects:

Spell Reflect - Gives a small chance to reflect a portion of a spell back to the enemy.

***

“That seems useful,” Sable said. “Even for me. Though, being level five, I doubt it can do much. The reflection would probably be quite weak.” An idea hit her. “Can items be improved, somehow? Or anything like that?”

“Sure,” Aylin said. “One of our allied clans had a [Reforger]. He could melt down items and store their effects to put on something else.” She frowned. “Usually made the bonuses worse, though, not better. But he could put a bunch of good effects on one piece of gear, following a specific theme, which made them more valuable than random loot. What can be done depends on the person’s class and their level, but artificers can do some interesting things with dungeon items. Or even forge entirely new ones with the right materials.”

“I’d expected as much.” So she could have gear made as well, if she so desired. She wondered whether that dragon scale that had been nearly carved off of her could be repurposed into something worth her time. “Might be worth looking into.” Skatikk surely had some magical item-workers in their employ if even an ally of Aylin’s southern clan did. Or even more certainly, Wastehaven would. She’d need funds for that, though.

“Maybe,” Aylin said with a shrug. “Think most people just take what the dungeon gives them. But that’s probably because it’s cheaper and easier. Not so much a problem for you.”

Sable hummed in agreement.

They finished up looking through the chest of items. There wasn’t anything else interesting. As was standard, there were simple items scattered among the far more intriguing magical loot: a small pouch filled with copper and silver coins, a healing potion, a gray-and-black unidentified potion which would need to be either tested or looked at by a professional, and even a few utilitarian items like torches.

Afterwards, they continued their dungeon dive. It didn’t take long to reach the second floor, where the monsters took a small step upward in difficulty. Aylin held up admirably with her massive stat boost during skill activation, better even than Granite—but Granite could hold his own as a matter of his standard strength.

During Sable’s experimental fights, she paid attention to something that had been bugging her throughout the delve. Ever since she’d come into contact with the goddess of consumption, a [Seed of Hunger] had been planted inside of her. Whether because it wasn’t potent by default or thanks to her [Sovereign Mind] ability, it had been mostly easy to ignore—though she had still been aware of it.

However, during her fights today, the tiny pocket of hunger seemed to be rousing. It had sensed Sable’s killing, perhaps. She had been wondering whether the seed would remain inert, and the answer was no. Not just that, it almost seemed to want something from her.

Against her better judgment, and with morbid curiosity guided her, she tentatively quested out to the seed, trying to discern what it was asking of her. There was a tug in her stomach, and, after a brief hesitation, she loosened her mental control over the seed. Whatever was happening, she was almost certain she could control the energy—the seed had been a muted presence since the start. That was a dangerous mindset, another part of her warned. Arrogance did tend to be the downfall of dragons. Still, she was curious.

Allowed to do as it pleased, the seed awakened. Familiar black ribbons of energy streamed from her and toward the recently killed [Bark Ambler]. Horrified, and fascinated, she watched as the dark brown roots compromising the monster’s body dissolved into black globs, which subsequently flew toward Sable, absorbing through her robes and into her skin. She had to resist the urge to swat the black essence away.

***

Seed of Hunger (0.02%)

***

Sable took control of the seed, and as she’d expected, she was easily able to cut off the ribbons of darkness dissolving and—eating?—the [Bark Ambler]. The monster was left half digested.

So, it hadn’t been entirely arrogance to think she had, for now, strong control over the seed. Still, she wondered whether she should have let her curiosity get the better of her. This was really something she ought to speak with an expert about before experimenting with. But maybe there were no experts on the topic. Roman had seemed confident that the Primal Energies were extraordinarily rare, so even experts might have no idea what was going on with her.

And, Sable figured, nothing ventured meant nothing gained.

She shook that dangerous idea away, though admittedly she couldn’t wholly refute it.

“Huh,” Sable said.

Aylin was, naturally, watching the display warily. Even seeming unsettled. To be fair, Sable herself was slightly unnerved, despite being the one in control of the situation.

“I didn’t expect that to happen.”

“The seed of hunger you mentioned earlier?” Aylin asked. She had been there when Sable had talked the subject over with Roman.

“Yes.” Sable pursed her lips. “I felt it react, so I released my control on it. I’m not entirely sure what happened, though.”

“Right,” Aylin said slowly. She seemed like she wanted to say more on the subject, but thought better of it. Sable could infer what it would have been. ‘Messing with the powers of a dark goddess is probably not the best idea, Sable’.

Sable hummed. That was mostly true. Dangerous things could be made useful. But she really ought to hold off until she knew more.

Still. 0.02%. What did it mean? What would happen if she allowed this seed to feast itself, and it reached a hundred percent? Would it evolve? Unlock new powers for her to use? Undoubtedly with some downside or detriment if so, but power nonetheless. Or would something else entirely happen?

Shaking the curiosity off, she focused on the task at hand. Dungeon diving today—meddling with dark powers at some point in the future. After she had a single clue what was going on.