NOVEL WEB 16: Level up
A lone [Ankra Beast] peacefully feasted upon a patch of shrubbery, it’s beady orange eyes conveying an emotion akin to joy as it specifically plucked out blue flowers as if they were a delicacy, whilst ignoring the thick, veiny azure leaves. It’s black fur was long and unkempt, the rodent-like creature sashaying its fleshy tail as it enjoyed it's meal.
A concentrated jet of water streaked towards the [Ankra Beast] catching it in the abdomen, the blow sending it reeling for three or so odd meters. The beast let out a confused, panicked whimper as it swayed its neck from end to end, in an attempt to identify the threat.
Another jet of water erupted from a different angle, this time landing a blow directly upon the [Ankra Beast’s] small, delicate head. The squeal this time was one of agony, as the blow caused the beast to flop over its back.
A humanoid figure clad in what appeared to be a continually shifting cloud of shadows charged forth, his footfall sounding muffled and distant as he rapidly covered the distance separating him and the beast.
The pitiful [Ankra Beast] who had caught a direct blow to the head only had time to make out a writhing mass of shadows enter his field of vision. Before it could even begin to muster a response with its [The Flame] card, a white bone dagger slammed into its throat, causing fresh, yellow blood to spurt onto the grass.
Tom stood victorious over the Ankra Beast’s corpse, but his expression did not show any joy at his victory.
His motions almost seemed practised as he waived away the notifications, looted the corpse and skinned the beast all under five minutes.
A pleasant breeze washed over Tom and with that he was gone, once again seeking refuge in the shadows.
The last six, or perhaps seven hours had progressed in this manner, as Tom had gone on an assassination spree. Well, perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration, but during that time Tom had slain five level 1 [Ankra Beasts] and two level 1 [Symiril Tuskers].
If there was one thing he’d learned during this time, it was that fear had made his experience a lot more nightmarish than it could’ve been. The forest, as he was realizing, wasn’t all that terrifying as his mind had made it out to be— [Ankra Beasts] seemed to be the most common type of beasts that could be found within the forest, and Tom had even encountered a pack of three that he’d chosen to ignore.
The commotion wouldn’t have served his end-goal, which, after much deliberation, was to level his [Water Propulsion] and [The Shadow] cards to [Level 3] which only required six hundred soul experience each.
Each of the [Ankra Beasts] awarded experience in the 150-170 range, and the two [Symiril Tuskers] had afforded him another 230 and 260 soul experience, coming to a total of 1290 experience, this last kill finally pushing him over the edge.
[Water Propulsion [Common]: Level 3
Ability:
Torrent Level 3 [45/1500]: Release a linear, compressed torrent of water that drains 1 SP for every fired shot. Level 3 reward- Range increased by 4 meters.]
[The Shadow [Common]: Level 3
Ability:
Shadow Cloak Level 3 [45/1500]: Coalesces shadows around the wielder that muffles footsteps and reduces visibility, especially effective in low-light environments. Once inside the Shadow Cloak, allows the wielder to see perfectly in the darkness. Each Shadow Cloak costs 1SP to form and lasts for 1 hour and 10 minutes. [Level 3 reward- Duration increased by +10 minutes.]
‘Finally,’ Tom thought to himself, his figure concealed within a shadow cast by one of the tall trees.
He had also figured out how fast his SP generated, roughly putting it at around one point recovered every thirty minutes.
That was the reason why Tom didn’t want to engage multiple hostiles at once— he simply couldn’t justify the SP cost to himself, and preferred to wait between every assassination. That was also why he switched his combat style, preferring to stun his foe before taking the creature down with his blade.
Tom held the duplicate [The Flame] card in his hand, the fifth he’d received. It turned out that the [Ankra Beast’s] only seemed to own [The Flame] card as their soul card, which he’d come to see as the physical, or rather, a meta-physical manifestation of the soul. The beasts seemed to be instinctively able to utilize their abilities and they seemingly wished to kill him for his own [Soul Card].
All signs pointed to the [Soul Cards] being something the beasts were naturally born with, the most obvious one being that every [Ankra Beast] had [The Flame] card up until now.
“Feed it to my soul card,” Tom muttered aloud, and he silently observed as the crimson card slowly began to disintegrate, a wispy, translucent red energy flowing into his chest.
Tom smiled when he saw that 200 xp had been added to [The Fool] card. He’d finally found an alternative way of levelling,one that would allow both his [Deck Cards] and [Soul Card] to strengthen at the same time.
Of course, he’d experimented with the [Feed] mechanic, and there were heavy restrictions upon it. The first thing he thought of was to feed a duplicate [The Flame] card to his Level 3 one, but a warning had popped up when he’d tried that.
He could still go through with it, but feeding a [Common] card to another [Common] card came with a heavy experience loss. So one ideally needed a higher ranked card if they wanted to level via this method, though in truth Tom still saw it as somewhat of a waste. [The Flame] card was infinitely more valuable than 200 xp, but there was no way, or point, of adding a duplicate to his [Deck Cards].
Was that why these beasts were so low levelled? It maybe part of the reason why, but what about [Soul Experience]? Maybe most beasts were just not particularly inclined to hunt each other, but Tom, an outsider, was fair game?
The final restriction was that Tom could only feed cards from what the system called ‘fair kills’, which meant that he probably had to have it directly deposited into his inventory if he wanted to [Feed] a card. That rule really didn’t bother him, but Tom wondered if his opinion would be the same if or when he found an actual marketplace.
So far, he’d gained 1400 XP this way, the [Symiril Tuskers] turning out to be female, which meant another two duplicate [Earth’s Vitality] card.
[Soul Card: The Fool.
Rank: Ephemeral [Legendary Unique]
Level: 1 (1550/5000)]
He had successfully found a way to level [The Fool] card, but he feared that it would become too inefficient even from level 2— the soul experience demanded by the card simply rather insane.
The sun’s warm rays were beginning to dim, signalling that night, a phenomenon that normally would have made a worst situation horrific, was approaching. But with [The Shadow] card, the night was his hunting grounds.
His kills so far had indeed been committed out of a desire to grow stronger, but that was not the only reason— Tom stalked his prey each time, sometimes even as long as an hour, hoping that one of them would lead him back to their abode; at this point, any sort of shelter would do.
He did not believe that monsters would be thrilled at the idea of wandering around in abject darkness, so he figured that the time had come.
With that thought lingering in his mind, Tom’s resolve was stronger than ever.
His home base would become a reality.