NOVEL WEB 12th | Cartography
Day 9 | Cartography
I should make a map.
This idea comes with a few flaws, however. First of all, I have no paper, or pencil. Also, drawing a map is really hard. Mainly because I have no artistic skills, but also because I've never done it before. And who could blame me! This is the modern day, we have google for that. Plus, even in medieval times, it's not like some peasant would just decide to make a map, and then do it! Just thinking about how to scale stuff is giving me a headache.
Forced into a corner by my dilemma, I revisit my old friend, the skill shop. While there is a cartography skill, I find another one that will serve me much better.
< Terrain sense- allows for easier navigation. As familiarity with your location increases, so will your sense of direction. >
Knowledge skills are for the weak, sensory skills are where it's at. In my experience, the more vague the description, the better. I haven't been let down yet!
Seeing as I don't really understand what the skill does from the description alone, I'll just buy it and see what happens. What could go wrong? And even if it sucks, I have points to spare.
< [Terrain sense] purchased. -1 skp >
And~ nothing happened.. It did say I needed to move around to use it, so once I go for a supply run I'll see its usefulness.
Before I do anything else, I think it's about time I max out my reinforcements.
Total reinforcements- 18 | Total Modifications- 0 | Souls- 171 7 0
Body systems-
Muscular-2 Skeletal-2 respiratory-2 reproductive-2 nervous-2 immune-4
Circulatory-2 Integumentary-2 Digestive-
Let's see. To get it to four I need seven souls, hmm I don't know, is 171 enough?
Total reinforcements- 32 | Total Modifications- 0 | Souls- 122 7 0
Body systems-
Muscular-4 Skeletal-4 respiratory-4 reproductive-4 nervous-4 immune-4
Circulatory-4 Integumentary-4 Digestive-
And then it'll be ten for digestive, which I unfortunately neglected.
Digestive- 4
Total reinforcements- 36 | Total Modifications- 0 | Souls- 112 7 0
I hit accept and wait for my fate. By that I mean I immediately get on the ground, belly up. As expected, the reinforcement hurts immediately. Yeah, it hurts. The others were more weird and uncomfortable but this one feels like molten lava is being flushed throughout my organs.my entire outside is super itchy, like a swarm of ants are crawling across every inch of me.
As I realized just how severe the pain truly was, my resolve shattered.
The pain neither dulls nor increases, I am simply swamped in agony for a time. Whether it took seconds or hours, it all seemed meaningless in front of the raw misery I had subjected myself to.
The pain was so extreme I immediately let go of my earlier carefree attitude. I started grinding my teeth and flexing my entire body to deal with the pain. Tears started streaming down my face as I began to seriously regret what I had done.
I'd rather die than endure this!! I'D RATHER DIE!!!!
I twitched and coiled, screamed and begged for mercy, but none was granted. I suffered in solace as my body was torn apart and remade. I forgot why I was here, why I did this to myself. I hated myself for doing this to me. I thought of my carefree attitude until this moment. I hated that weak and naive me. I wanted to rip him apart for putting me through this.
My mind was ripped to shreds, as pain greater than humans should physically be capable of feeling, continually rent my will to shreds. The pain broke my limiter, I surpassed my humanity, I ascended beyond what I once was. And at that thought, the agony stopped all at once.
<[Sense of Self] Experience threshold Reached. Lv6 -> Lv9>
<[Pain resistance] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> L5v>
< Achievement Attained >
I lay panting on the scuffed ground, piles of sand and divots in the ground lay scattered across the sandstone clearing. My hands are covered in dust, my nails are bleeding, some of them had been torn off in the earlier thrashing.
“ Well that fucking sucked. “
I lay panting on the ground, and check my status notifications once I know my fingers have stopped bleeding.
“Five levels in pain resistance at once! That's wild. But I bet if the level ceiling was higher it would have gone straight past ten.”
It really was that bad.
“ rank up [pain res] and.. tell me about this new achievement?”
I haven't gotten one of those in awhile.
< [1st] Tier [Pain Resistance] Has ranked up into [2nd] tier: [Greater Pain Resistance]- Increased level ceiling, adds pain tolerance as well as resistance.>
What's the difference between [resistance] and [tolerance]?
< Resistance: decreases the effect of the resistance target
< Tolerance: increases the user's ability to withstand the effects of the resistance target without being {disabled}
< { }: represents conditions
< {Disabled}: renders the user unable to act due to extreme amounts of a/ multiple {condition(s)}
I'm going to assume that by ‘resistance target’ it means the pain part of [pain resistance]. It couldn’t be anything else. So, resistance would make me feel less pain, and tolerance would help me fight through the pain. Which means that the reason I was thrashing on the floor before from the pain was because my pain tolerance was too low.
As usual, this is alot to take in. Plus three for all stats is super good, and I'm excited to see what charm will do, but uhh I have no clue what the ‘eligible reward’ is? Or does? I'm confused.
What was the 4th achievement again?
I'm kinda nervous..
Open.
This seems suspiciously generous. Im suppressing my dumbfounded shock in order for a little intellect to slip into my mind. Unless.. I only get one of these? And I have to pick? Could I get a reason for why I have so many options? I fully expected to have this question ignored, like all the others, but strangely, the system responds instantly.
< You seem to be misunderstanding something. You will be granted all three rewards. >
< Reward 1: We hope your next face off with the world guardian will have a more entertaining end. We look forward to your growth.
< Reward 2: For surviving so exceptionally, despite being in your… current predicament. This reward would be given eventually, we have chosen to move that date to today.
< Reward 3: for surviving the {[{Sovereign of Solace}]} which has never been done before, except for those imbued with divinity
Once again, the text radiates emotion. Instead of warning, it almost feels more.. Personal.
I think one of the admins logged in.
I thought jokingly at first, but as I read the status over and over again, the idea started to cement in my mind. The text actually looks a bit different, it feels different. Instead of the cold, machine-like feeling I've felt and ignored everytime I read a status message, this one radiates something else. I can almost feel the vitality of something else behind these words. I can envision someone typing this message.
Even without [sense of self] I would be able to tell from the attitude of the words. I think the official word is ‘tone’? I should have paid more attention in English class.
The reward boils down to three things. First, one free skill or modification, on the house. Second, one singular question towards.. Whoever made the system. Or more likely, whoever wrote that last paragraph. Third, a random ability of the.. ‘Sovereign of Solace’. Which must be what the wolf is actually called. I was gonna name it ‘shadow stalker’ or something, but that name is even cooler! Something interesting, is that it doesn't say a skill of the sovereign, but an ability. What exactly would that entail?
Rewards 1 & especially 2 will require some thought behind their use. So for now, I'll just select the 3rd one.
I mentally pick the third reward. It doesn't do anything, so I reach out to the screen to physically touch it, before the entire thing ripples and I drop my arm. The golden border of the status screen disappears, and the dark purple starts to leach out into the sky. The world blurs and darkens around me. I assume this must be tunnel vision, as suddenly I am unable to focus on anything except the growing status screen.
The screen darkens and begins glitching, like an old tv, the center where the original status was before it started growing, started screen-tearing. In an indiscernible instant, the color pallet changed. Now like a tv with no signal, it became a chaotic aura of white and black. Fading in and out, almost tearing at themselves and each other.
I felt something down my face, and I realized I couldn't look away. I became entranced. Words formed within the chaotic void that entrenched my view. Unlike the words of the previous status, which glowed with neutral faceted white light that glimmered slightly with rainbow, this one was made of just the rainbow aura, faded and flickering. Swirling and expanding, It was another language, words etched like runes beyond mortal understanding, but they screamed in my head.
CHAOS POTENTIAL
And everything winked out.
---
The sun is directly overhead when I stirr, collapsed on the ground at a strange angle.
That was.. Uncomfortable. Chaos potential huh..? That's weird, just saying the word holds weight in my mind.
Chaos potential. Chaos potential? Chaos potential!
Huh, what's up with that? Why is this system so WEIRD! Why can’t it just make me stronger without meddling with my mind? On another note, just how many times am I going to pass out today? This is already the second time! I'm wasting daylight, it's time to do something productive.
Immediately ignoring my last thought, I dive into my menus.
As for the rest of my rewards, after that experience, I'm afraid of touching them for now. Tonight, I'll look through my skill and modification list, to see which one I can get the most use out of. I'm already leaning towards free modification, but I haven't taken a deep look into it yet.
The modification menu has three options. One for small, medium, and large souls. The small souls are exclusively used for reinforcement. The medium souls can be used to get modifications, which upgrade your body in more specific, yet drastic ways.
As an example, one modification I saw was for the integumentary system, which is the skin, hair, and nails. [Enchanting cellular structure]- makes the skin more resistant to all magical or energy attacks, and makes magical healing more effective.
There's actually quite a few of them for every body system. Some add something new like that example, while others build on what is already there. Like this one: [Compressed bones]- thickens and compresses the skeleton into a higher quality material, strengthening its durability and shock resistance.
As for the use of large souls, it can do two things. One is called [reconfiguration] which adds new functions from existing parts. I have no clue what that could mean, I absolutely do not want to touch it. The second option is even more interesting, and ominous. It lets me.. Add new body parts….
Bruh.
The second option is called [Annexation] and it literally lets me reconstruct my body. It does have a warning at the bottom, that using it will actually make me go into hibernation, and that I don't have enough nutrients to initiate the process. So even if I wanted to use [annex] I can't. Which is for the best, this is pretty creepy.
Okay. enough standing around! I need a plan, what should I do?
I stand up and take stock of my camp. Dead center of my little clearing is my campfire. The sticks were originally in a teepee formation, but now they’re nothing but black and broken flakes. Despite that, it still gives off light, as the fire source is only thinly buried under the ash.
Despite how long I've been kicking in this forest, I have yet to find another source. It seems they are exceptionally rare, the fact I even found one the first time is seeming more and more like extreme luck. Which isn’t assuring, as my luck has been pretty dog shit throughout my whole life.
About 12 feet away from the fire, is my home. Much to my dismay, a little bit of it actually did get burned despite the distance I put between it and the fire. Nothing a little [simple crafting] can't fix.
To my far left is still the pile of wolf carcasses, only barely showing any signs of decomposition.
Yes, yes. I know, okay? I really need to finish them off already. But cut me some slack, there's over a hundred of them! But if that was all, I would have powered through it already. No, the real problem is my knife. It sucks, cause it's made out of rock. In my defense, there's nothing else to use and even if I did manage to find metal out here, how would I process it? I'm in no position to make a smithy. For this reason, I'm just going to look for better rocks via [tracing], maybe grind a level or two. “Status”!
Class - Survivor | lv 21/25 2006/2100 xp *
Race - Modular Human m
Achievements- The Special | Self indulgent | (+3)
Name - Maximilian Condition- Curse of Soul Fray
Hp- 1800/3600 (1/2)
SkP- 4 Stp- 0 Souls- 111 7 0
Special Skills -
Sense of Self || lv9/10
Death Resistance \ lv1/99
Passive Skills -
Simple Crafting || lv9/10
Multishot || lv5/10
Tracing || lv4/10
Int Dismantling || lv3/10
Grinding || lv5/10
Greater Deft || lv3/10
Toxicology || lv3/10
Targeting | lv1/10
Stride | lv4/5
Body Strengthening | lv3/5
Acrobatics | lv1/5
Regeneration | lv1/5
Greater Pain res || lv1/10
Terrain Sense | lv1/5
Stats- (+5 phys)(+3A)
Strength 32
Speed 36 (+5A)
Stamina 33
Dexterity 44 (+23)
Intellect 33
Sense 56 (x2)(+10)
Vitality 18 (½)
Charm 11 {Locked}
Active Skills -
Dash | lv2/5
Leap | lv2/5
Power shot | lv1/5
Class Skills-
Desperate Endurance | lv2
Emplacement 2/3 | lv1
High Hound | lv1
Defense Orientation | lv1
Modularity-
Nervous 200% | Immune 200% | Integumentary 200% | Muscular- 200% | Skeletal- 200% Circulatory 200% | Reproductive 200% | Digestive 200%
[Tracing] lv4 huh? Btw, what does [defense orientation] do again? I feel like I already got an explanation, but I don't remember it at all.
That's kinda boring, but sweet nonetheless.
Now that I really stop and look, I'm noticing all of my class skills are for survival, which makes sense considering survival is literally the whole point of my class. [Desperate Endurance] is obvious, it keeps me from dying of hunger, thirst, or even asphyxiation for much longer periods of time.
Speaking of, what's the bonus at lv2?
< Hunger: 9 Weeks| Thirst: 9 Days | Asphyxiation: 9 Minutes >
[Emplacement] is a crafting skill, letting me master certain blueprints for consumable items, or things I make over and over again, like bind twine. I mostly use it for arrows though.
[High Hound] is by far the most useful one. Permanently doubling my sense stat. I'm very excited for when it levels up. Even if it doesn't go straight to x3, I imagine the bonus will still be pretty major.
Okay, I know what I'm going to do today. I'll look for a better mineral to make my knife(s) out of, then, I'll make the best darn knife there ever was, and cut up all those wolf carcasses.
The question is, where do I start?
“ [Tracing] find me a good rock! “
I feel the skill sigh at my bare bones order. Despite that, it still leads me in a direction. This makes an idea pop into my head. What if, whenever I find what I'm looking for, I just keep asking [tracing] for an even better rock? After all, tracing is somewhat of an omniscient skill. It has knowledge of this world that I do not. The skill itself is like a series of progressively taller and thicker walls. Behind the walls, is all of the knowledge the system possesses. Right now, I can only feel a trickle of the knowledge, seeping through the most unnoticeable of cracks. As I level up the skill, the wall cracks widen, and when I rank it up, a wall shatters. One day, I will reap all the knowledge the system has to offer. But for now, I will follow the whispers of its secrets, until I become its owner.
<[Stride] Experience threshold Reached. Lv4 -> Lv5>
Upon seeing that notification, I started using dash in an effort to level it up as well. I breeze through the forest, using my strategy to find better and better rocks. I end up going miles away from my camp, though I'm hardly tired at all. As I take a break, I notice the air quality has decreased, and the sky has become a dark, ashy gray. Reminiscent of a storm, but I know that's not what it is.
I decide to take a break, reading my level up notifications and upgrading [stride], which I probably should have done an hour ago.
<[Tracing] Experience threshold Reached. Lv4 -> Lv6>
<[Dash] Experience threshold Reached. Lv2 -> Lv3>
<[Terrain sense] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv2>
< [1st] Tier [Stride] Has ranked up into [2nd] tier: [Long strider]- further decreases stamina consumption, and increases speed when moving long distances. >
It should be noted, that everytime [dash] increases, both the speed and operation time increase, but the cooldown stays the same. I'm actually pretty excited for when the skill ranks up. Which reminds me, I should start using [acrobatics] more.
I prepare to [leap] onto a lower tree branch, and flit through the canopy using [acrobatics]. I stop right as I notice that the tree is dead, along with the rest of the forest. I continue following the traces as I notice a huge cloud of smoke rising balefully a few miles away.
The hair rises on the back of my neck, and soon, I come across a huge gash in the ground. It wasn't a trench, the ground actually rose slightly as the land transformed into dark, smoldering and smooth stone. It looked like some kind of volcanic rock.
Looking to my left, I found a huge spire of dark purple stone. Interestingly, the stone was like glass, it seemed clear about two inches deep before transitioning into this roiling mass. Like liquid, so dark purple I mistook it as black. Upon close inspection, there was some black in there, though mostly the super dark purple, as well as some royal purple, looking bright in contrast with the other dark colors. The spire itself was more of an outcropping, as if the purple stone had exploded out of the ground before flash cooling in a second, resulting in this chaotic shape. The bottom looked like thick sheets in the shape of an opal stacked next to each other like plates, though still connected. In the middle, it seemed to braid together until it exploded into a rose of colossal spines ten feet long.
As I got closer, I had two clashing feelings, both about the same thing.
Touch it
Don't touch it.
I inched closer before I put my palm against the cool stone, fingers outstretched. Instantly, the stone grew and captured my hand, before a cord of dark mist coiled around my arm. My adrenaline spiked through the roof, and I began struggling.
There was a storm in my core. A roiling mass of energy, spinning within my gut. The mist receded, and the crystal retracted in the blink of an eye, like nothing ever happened. But something remained.
A feeling of acceptance, or subservience. It was not mine. A dark flash, and a huge pilon of the dark stone appeared from its base. A hand that both was and was not mine grabbed the crystal, and leveraged it off its base, easily breaking it off the dark spire. I cradled it in my? arms and walked home. Strangely, no creatures confronted me throughout the journey.
Soundless, and struck by an emotion not quite motivation, I worked the stone into a blade. A short blade, thinner than a blade had any right to be. I could not shatter it.
This crystal is not of this world. That is the only thought that was not muddled in my shattered mind. I worked tirelessly, bringing it to a perfection unknown to mankind.
Overtime, I recognised my state. I was corrupted. I could feel it leaching out of me, slowly. Until then, I would make use of this tireless, unwearying possession.
--- 8 Hours later
I blink, and my entire body sags to the floor, my muscles aching in unrested agony. My status floods with notifications all at once, as if they had been repressed somehow. On the bright side, my mind feels fresher than it ever has before, as if I just did a long overdue deep clean.
I remember the crystal, the knife. And I remember..
I cast a sidelong glance to the now neat row of butchered wolf corpses, organized in order of size, cut of meat, and material.
Apparently, touching purple crystals in this world gives you Mind control + post nut clarity x100.
I reluctantly look at my status, accepting that i'll have to read an entire paragraph of lvl up notifications, to look for the rank up ones.
<[Simple Crafting] Experience threshold Reached. Lv9 -> Lv10>
<[Body strengthening] Experience threshold Reached. Lv3 -> Lv5>
<[Greater deft] Experience threshold Reached. Lv3 -> Lv7>
<[Sense of Self] Experience threshold Reached. Lv9 -> Lv10>
<[Intermediate Dismantling] Experience threshold Reached. Lv3 -> Lv9>
< Class Skill: [Defense orientation] Has drastically leveled up due to prolonged use
Lv1 -> Lv4>
< Due to the influence of [Defense Orientation] Skill: [Corruption resistance] has been Acquired! >
< Acquired Skill: [Shadow resistance] >
Class - Survivor | lv 21/25 | 2006/2100 xp *
Race - Modular Human m
Achievements- The Special | Self indulgent | (+3)
Name - Maximilian | Condition- Curse of Soul Fray
Hp- 1900/3800 (1/2)
SkP- 3 Stp- 0 Souls- 111 7 0
Special Skills -
Sense of Self || lv10/10
Death Resistance \ lv1/99
Corruption Resistance ||| lv1/20
Passive Skills -
Simple Crafting || lv10/10
Multishot || lv5/10
Tracing || lv6/10
Int Dismantling || lv9/10
Grinding || lv5/10
Greater Deft || lv7/10
Toxicology || lv3/10
Targeting | lv1/10
Long Strider | lv1/10
Body Strengthening | lv5/5
Acrobatics | lv1/5
Regeneration | lv1/5
Terrain Sense | lv2/5
Resistances -
Greater Pain res || lv1/10
Shadow res | lv1/5
Active Skills -
Dash | lv3/5
Leap | lv 2/5
Power Shot | lv1/5
Class Skills -
Desperate endurance | lv2
Emplacement 2/3 | lv1
High Hound | lv1
Defense Orientation | lv4
Stats - (+5 phys)(+3A)
Strength 34
Speed 38 (+5A)
Stamina 35
Dexterity 56 (+35)
Intellect 33
Sense 56 (x2)(+10)
Vitality 19 (1/2)
Charm 11 {locked}
Modularity-
Nervous 200% | Immune 200% | Integumentary 200% | Muscular- 200% | Skeletal- 200% Circulatory 200% | Reproductive 200% | Digestive 200%
It's actually night time now, in fact, it's probably past 1:00 am from the location of the moon. Corrupted me didn't care about his, MY body, so now my everything is screaming for rest. Screw walking, I have to crawl over to my hut to sleep.
I'll upgrade my skills tonight and test them out tomorrow. I'm too tired to do anything else right now.
And what do you know, I was right. Because I fell asleep so fast I didn't even have a chance to upgrade my skills.