You have gained [Pull] Apprentice 1
Apprentice - half as much stamina used when pulling things
Gain 2 exp
Neat.
“You seem pleased.”
“Oh, just got apprentice in pull.”
He raises an eyebrow at me.
“You've been pullin’ the cart without issue, I would of assumed the skill was higher.”
I shrug.
We got past the axens, they only had to kill one. It's in the cart now. We arrive at the floor guardian.
40 Hydra
Four heads. The deep purple does look rather lovely. One of the heads was asleep while the other three were looking in different directions. Eliminating any avenue for sneak attack.
“Why is one sleeping?”
“Thats just how hydra are. They never truly sleep, they just rotate which head needs sleepin’.”
“Seems to be a rather scary prospect, it is level forty.”
“Ah don't worry missy, each head only ten, the system just adds it all up to be forty.”
I sit back and watch the group fight. Each member of the party takes a head. I watch as the fight progresses. Seems each head is independent. The fourth head wakes up when they engage, but still seems slower than the other three heads. When the warhammer crushes the sleepy one, the fight quickly turns in favour of the adventurer party. They don't stop attacking the beast even after all the heads have been disabled. Its body writhes for a good long while. They actually start taking shifts at thrashing the damn thing.
“Surpised it's not dead yet.”
“It's the blood, damn shit is great for healing potions but it makes the damn things unkillable until they run out of magic.”
I flick my life mana sight on. Its body is seeped in life mana. Looks like it will be a while yet.
You have gained [Life Mana Sight] Apprentice 1
Apprentice - your eye is stretching again, meow
Gain 6 exp
I wince a little from the stretching. The man next to me notices.
“Oy, I didn't know you had life magic. Mind taking care of some of my bruises.”
I look at him and walk over and heal his various bruises. I take care of his companion after. He was rather eager. When they switch off they tell the other two of my abilities. They don't approach me though. If they don't want to bug me about it, that's their thing. They bring a familiar container to the hydra and fill it with the creature's blood when it's dead.
One of the men places the anti-spoil jar on the cart. He pats it lovingly. There are three more jars that are filled. Twelve more are waiting for blood. They place sixteen fangs in the cart as well. They are the size of my forearm.
“A good five small gold that is.”
Nothing to me, I will only get six small silver for my effort.
-----
They start a fire and cook the axen. Smells like beef. I walk over to the dead hydra body taking a good lung full of its smell. Dungeon monsters don't smell exactly like their natural counterparts but it will do.
“Interested in the creature?”
“Oh, just the first time sm…seeing it.”
“I wanted to thank you for healing the other two, you shouldn't empty your reserves so in a dungeon like this.”
I can smell his wound he is too proud to admit. I nod and walk by him, patting him on the arm.
“I'm fine.”
And now he is too.
I ate my share of the axen, there was plenty to have. They all retired to their tents while I sat by the fire. The first watch was mine, I volunteered. I let them sleep. Not like it was a hard day for me. I only wish I could try killing one. It will have to wait.
-----
“Good morning.”
“Girl, why didn't you wake us for our turn at watch.”
I shrug, “Figure you could use the sleep. I'll nap while you guys fight the next one.”
“Thats not the point, there roaming packs of goblins out there.”
I smile, my blood skin is full again. A decent meal if still bland. My robes have liquid repellent embroidery stitched into them. The blood on my neck and chin simply got absorbed. What evidence remained is in the grass.
“You mean those packs?”
He looks over and sees a pile of bodies. Their heads cleanly cut off. Nine in all.
“Why didn't you say anything?”
I shrug, “I handled it.”
He is getting rather annoyed, “Damn it they may not be as smart as regular gobs but the dungeon still likes to ambush ya in the dark.”
No sun, but a day night cycle all the same. It was pretty amusing when the duo tried to sneak behind me when I was decapitating the first three. I wasn't trying to be reckless or anything. I just still had seventy percent of my mental core left. Nice guiltless ninety exp. Maybe that's why he was angry.
“GIRL.”
“Sorry, I'll make sure to switch off next time. I just realized, you must be angry cause I took your group exp chance. That was unfair of me, I understand if you withhold my pay.”
“What no, that not the point at all, damn it—”
One of the other adventurers showed up. “Gil”
Gil spins around fuming, “WHAT.”
“There's no scuffle, they all died standing in place.”
Gil turns and looks at me again, the anger leaving him.
“What, I'm a basic mage with obvious illusion magic going on. Or do you really think my nails are galaxy purple. Or wait did you not know that illusion magic meant mental mage.”
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“Everyone knows illusion magic means mental mage, thats don't get fucked over at the brothel lesson number one.”
I place my chin in one of my hands while I sit crosslegged, the elbow propped up on my knee.
“Been to a lot of brothels, have ya?”
The other reason not to sleep. I just lack the trust. He blushes and walks off. I wave the other man over. He comes and I place a hand on his arm. Healing him too.
“Don't be fighting injured, it's not smart.”
“But your mana.”
“Is ready to heal the party after each hydra. Don't be reckless, I can't fix dead.”
Well not for anyone else that's not me. Best not to get conceited though. Those damn monks had plenty of time to reduce my body to ash.
After breakfast is done we head down the stairs. The entire party lifted the cart and walked it down. I would have helped but my height compared to theirs would have been a hindrance. So I sat at the bottom looking out at the various hydras. They aren't so close that it should be a worry but if any of them wander…I'll just have to keep a look out.
They seem well practiced though. They head to the most isolated one, I pull the cart behind them. It doesn't take them long to disable the heads again. The effort to kill the base body just takes forever. I sit and watch. The blurs keep on smacking the body. I yawn, then curl up and take a nap.
-----
“She weighs a bleedin’ ton.”
I open my eyes and look at, was it Gal, Gel… Gil. I seem to be in the cart.
“Sorry about that, next time just wake me up.”
“You watched all night. I just felt we should let you sleep so I picked you up to put you in the cart. Didn't expect you to weigh a ton.”
I stick my tongue at him, "It's not even half a ton.”
At least last I checked. I have been getting taller. Surprised I didn't wake up.
“Any injuries?”
One of the others step forward and I restore his arm. Was a pretty nasty gash.
“There you go, sorry I can't restore lost blood. I only have life magic, not sustainer.”
“It's more than enough…. Uh I actually haven't gotten your name yet.”
“I go by She who Mourns.”
“Oh uh My adventurer name is too embrassing, I'm Prin.”
I smile and nod. I jump off the cart.
“Who do you mourn?” Gil asks.
“My friends.” My daughters.
I grab the cart handle and am ready to follow. The party proceeds. We still have three more to kill if we go by empty containers. The same fight repeats. The sleepy head is broken first, then they cascade till its time to destroy the body. I can only hope mother was right about my blood curse being able to kill these things faster. Another one dead we trundle along after I take care of another injury.
You have gained [Life Magic] Competent 1
Competent - Death is just the flip side of life, you can now open wounds with life mana
Gain 8 exp
Other than fire, this might be my first attack magic. Was this what Mother used when she opened her arm to me? Would gaining resist life magic make one harder to heal as well. I wish I had my mage handbook. We get to the next hydra. It goes alright till a yet to be introduced party member takes a hit that knocks him ten feet away. I run to him. Still breathing. I stabilize him but he needs more time. Time the party doesn't have. The reverse of their strategy is starting to occur. Gil is buying time fighting two. I get up and draw my sword. It was quite decent at chopping goblin necks, I figure I should give a hydra neck a go.
The only problem is the damn thing's neck is too high. I have my second attention focus on the head I need to cleave, but I need to chop this tree down first. I swing my blade at its left foreleg. It cuts deep. When the blade clears, it's as if I had nicked an artery. I am coated in its blood. My skin absorbs it, and I start to feel the bliss come on me. But I must remain focused.
All stats increased by twenty temporarily.
You have gained [Vampire] Apprentice 5
Gain 10 exp
Oh I missed this. The head is in range, I take it off in one swing. More blood coats me. My stats increase more. I sever another hydra head. Only two heads left my stats inch towards sixty temporary and then the hydra dies. It's rather abrupt. The temporary stats flee me and I stagger a bit. It actually helps calm me. I walk back over to the injured man while the other members of the party are astounded. I'm just glad I wasn't the closest when it died. I wouldn't want to deal with any complaints on steal killing. Is that a thing here, it doesn't matter. I heal the man and return to the cart. I start to wring out my robe, the liquid repellent embroidery seems capable of only so much. I should have gotten a water wand.
“The fuck was that.”
“Are you not going to collect the blood?”
“Don't just act like nothing just happened.” Gil again.
“I prefer if you actually would.”
“What?”
“Act like nothing happened. That would be my preference.”
“What the hell was that?”
From fuck to hell. I tilt my head to the side. His rage increases.
“Sorry, was I wrong to step in? I'm confused. I was afraid your strategy was about to reverse itself. I'll just trust you to have it handled and get the team member up instead.”
This isn't going well. I suspect I'm out of six small silver. His rage hasn't settled at all. It's going to come down to violence. He is already in front of me.
“Stop all of you.”
They do. Damn, I touch up their wounds and fill four more of their containers. Then I head out of the dungeon. Going as fast as [Light Step] can take me. Which is slightly less than a jog. I thought porter work would be a viable thing but if I have to watch a party wipe it's a no go. I head to my forest abode.
They probably think I'm a monster. I cry till sleep takes me.
-----
This is a daily reminder: You have 4 unallocated stat points
I wake up rather crusty. Both my eyes and robes. I remove the crud from my eyes and head to a nearby stream. It's too cold for this but fire magic helps me stay warm as I thoroughly scour my robe. I really need to spend some time with water magic. I let my robes dry while I consider my options. There are multiple adventure halls in the capital. This one was just convenient being close to the gate with the forest. Play it by ear maybe. I think the best bet is to head towards the juvenile hydra. I will still need to turn it in at the old hall but I will know if any of Gil's party are there. I empty my blood skin and head into the city. My shed is still intact, nothing missing. Good, I fill my bloodskin, fearing more rabbits will need to die soon. I head out the east gate.
I can see the swamp and head in that direction. Maybe I shouldn't of cleaned the robe so thoroughly. It is getting drenched in this mire. I take in the various smells and then start coughing. Terrible. I don't smell any hydras. I pick a direction and head in.
-----
It's midday by the time I get a trace of a smell. Unfortunately there are like a billion spider webs in that direction. I don't know if my aura works on insects. Arachnids. They can't be that large right? Exoskeletons weigh so much they can't breathe. Then again, it's not like I know the oxygen mixture here or if skills just bullshit—
O system that's a huge ass spider.
16 Giant Maknor Spider
It's taller than me. I trip over its web and it instantly knows where I am. I try to back away further but my leg is stuck to the thread. As the spider rears I thrust my sword forward. The sword meets the spider face and it mandibles brush my sword away.
“Stop.”
It does. I breathe for a moment. I stab the sword into the space between its two largest eyes. It slumps over and onto me.
Gain 18 exp from Giant Maknor Spider
Great, I have a giant spider pinning me down and the damn thing has memories. I twist my sword and try to extract myself. I get blood on me, it's blue. Very strange but my body quivers from it. I mentally tell myself I have enough problems that I don't need to explain why I have blue blood. I only hope my subconscious listens. I finally escaped the corpse. I breathe in its scent and find others near me. But not close. Seems they are territorial.
I look at the spider corpse, and I have to know. I mean it would be a waste otherwise. I cup some of the blood and sip it from my hand. Better than dungeon goblin. A lot better than the rabbit in my skin. I sigh and drink my bloodskin dry. Then fill it with the spider blood. Then I drink as much as I can because I have a second stomach for it and it's limitless. I hope my gluttony will keep me from getting hungry for a while.
I step over every thread I see. Sticky indeed.
When I finally get past the webs the scent is stronger. It takes awhile trudging through the mire but I finally find one.
20 Hydra
It's bleeding pink. I just want to go home. No, no I came all this way out here. I need its regenerative blood. Just don't grow a second head Sara subconscious, there is no room for it and talk about awkwardness. Like extra limbs work in comics but Sara body needs to remain two legs, two arms, and one head. I repeat it in my head a few times. Like a mantra.
So time to take out the very pink hydra. One head is at least asleep. It's not nearly as tall as the dungeon version.
I approach the monster. My light steps might be decent but agility is my shittest stat. The slooshing of the water alerts the monster. It turns its body and heads towards me. Both heads are awake now. My attentions get one head each.
“Stop.”
One head momentarily stops moving but the rest of the monster keeps on proceeding. Before I can try again, the right head lashes out at me. My sword manages to graze its face. The wound bleeds more than it should. Not enough lands on me to activate the skill. The chest slash I follow up with does.
All stats increased by ten temporarily.
You have gained [Vampire] Apprentice 6
Gain 10 exp
As it slows, I get quicker. I sever one head, then the other. My bliss is great and it's not dead yet. I stick my face into its cut neck for a drink. Bliss. So much, and yet I can just keep drinking.
Gain 30 exp from Hydra
Thirty temporary stats become permanent.
I don't even see it. Unlike the dungeon hydra, this thing's blood continues to warm me. It was my kill and I will be satisfied. The moment it empties. I don't even have a chance to comprehend my thoughts. I blackout from three minor boons activating at once.
