Chapter 3: New Spells and More Fighting
Gram checked his status panel, usually when a player level ups, they will get five free status points. But with the passive ability of [ Nature Gift ], he won't be able to allocate points as it will automatically allocate all free status points to his INT while VIT had a 1 to 1 distribution against his INT.
Knox
Level: 2
HP: 125/125
MP: 230/230
[ STR 0:〈＋10〉]
[ VIT: 105 ]
[ AGI: 0 ]
[ DEX: 0 ]
[ INT: 210〈＋20〉] ]
Equipment:
Head [ーーー]
Body [ーーー]
Right hand [ Beginners Short Sword ]
Left Hand [ Beginner's Disciple's Staff ]
Legs [ーーー]
Shoes [ーーー]
Accessories [ーーー]
[ーーー]
[ーーー]
Skill:
[ Transcendental Meditation ] [ Perception ] [ Sensory Enhancement ] [ Mana Sensing ] [ Nature Gift ] [ Spell Creation ] [ Fire Manipulation ]
The next plan he had was to learn spells and probably try to get gears, especially those that can improve his stats.
To be honest, he already missed Kaede at this point. It would be much better if his girlfriend can accompany him. He knew her in-game name, which is 'Maple' but his pride didn't want to get left out so he really needed to get stronger first so he could protect her. While she didn't need protection, she might need someone to attack on her place.
"Yo〜sh… let me level up first before inviting her. Wait, I should probably learn another skill, although it might take some time again." Gram thought eagerly while he patiently sat on the ground.
He wanted to create another skill. He thought, even if he was invulnerable because of his high VIT. But might be a little powerless if he gets groped up by a crowd of monsters. Surely, he could take all the damage but there was the 'what if'. Currently, he didn't have any spell that could be used to a crowd of enemies, a spell type usually known as an (AoE) Area of Effect.
Finalizing, he initiated the [ Spell Creation ], the mana around him circled, a spell that could hurt a crowd of enemies but anchored towards himself.
Sitting in the ground, Gram rubbed his chin and thought contemplatively. "Should I make a fire or gravity one, surely gravity is an element since it's a natural phenomenon?"
Closing his eyes. He subconsciously sniffed and smelled a burnt taste in the wind coming from the ground.
"Shit! I can still smell the rabbit roasted innards, ugh why is that so realistic!?" Gram thought of the developers implementation of everything before he silently cursed, he stomped on the ground and moved to another place away from the place.
Sitting crossed legs in the ground, he closed his eyes and started imagining an area of effect fire spell that could potentially cover around him.
Already, the mana around was disturbed, while during the creation of his fireball, he didn't notice the blue mana circulating around his body but now he could see it clearly. A bluish color of wisp emerging in his hands dancing like a flame, the crystallization of mana points into mana.
Some time had passed, it fell back and merged into his body. The bluish coloration disappeared but what replaced it was red-like ignited hands. The surroundings felt 'hotter' to him but it wasn't hot as only felt it warm. Before his hand turned back into normal, it had left his body again, as around him suddenly felt it was burning on fire. It encompassed a circle around him. After a moment, it vanished as its fiery wisp turned into nothing.
"It's a good thing as it doesn't feel hot, or I won't even touch fire at this point." He looked at his skill list.
[ Spell [ Fiery Aura ] had been acquired ] ( Requirements to gain: Spell Creation. Fire Mage Quest Reward..., etc.)
[ Fiery Aura ]
Around the player with 5 meter radius, a fiery flame aura that applies burning damage to the enemy that enters it. MP consumed 50 per cast and lasted for 5 minutes. 6 minutes virtual cool-down.
[ Fire Manipulation ]
The ability to wield fire and its fiery countenance. Spells magical damage is derived from user INT, applying more MP to the spell to deal more damage. Fire spells will always cause, [ Burning ] effect on enemies, debuff's damage is equivalent to the 1% of the user's INT and lasts for 3 seconds, 1/3 stacking effect. Attacking continuously with fire spells would make the debuff longer.
Spells:
Fireball - 25 MP
Fiery Aura - 50 MP
Gram stood up and tried out the skill [ Fiery Aura ], different during the creation. As his hand changed color to a fiery looking one, the second moment erupted a wave like heat around as his hand turned into a normal one again.
*Whoosh~*. His ears heard a sound of fire burning although it might just be the sound effect of the skill. He could tell that in 5 meter around him was 'burning' as fiery wisp kept appearing around wanting to burn that entered its radius.
The [ Fiery Aura ] ultimately had one minute cool-down since when used, it's effective duration is five minutes with a cool-down of six minutes when used.
Continuing on, he closed his eyes and leaned his body on a tree. He began imagining the earth getting crushed by a physical manifestation of natural elemental power called gravity. It made little sense of how he can explain in his mind, but at least he understood how it works.
There is a force in the center of the world, and it is the so-called gravity. Gravity encompassed everything in the world. Even if it's not the same principle in real life, the server should have implemented gravity to the majority of things that don't have magical properties.
A bluish hue appeared in his hand again as it turned light grey before it sparkled as him at the center in the whole 10-meter radius around him. The sparkly droppings of light grey mana transformed into tiny rays of light before it enveloped the surrounding with a feeling of the surrounding force. The surrounding stagnated by seemingly a formless power even though the grass and the ground weren't affected.
"Huuh~ it seems to be a success. I don't know its efficacy, though." Gram smiled as he looked towards his status panel.
[ Skill [ Gravity Manipulation ] had been acquired, Spell [ Gravity Downforce ] had been acquired. ] ( Requirements to gain: Spell Creation... etc. )
[ Gravity Manipulation ]
The ability to manipulate gravity, a natural phenomenon by which all physical bodies attract each other. With gravitons, hypothetical elementary particles that mediate the force of gravitation. Spells magical damage is derived from user INT, applying MP to the spell to increase damage, effectiveness and radius.
Spells:
Gravity Downforce - 50 MP
[ Gravity Downforce ]
Envelopes a 10-meter radius around the user the force of a natural gravity and increases the weight of all things 2 times for 5 minutes. Efficacy of the spell depends on the allocation of MP, affecting it's radius and power.
"Hey… I just made an impressive skill right." Gram grinned but at the same time realized that a Huge Caterpillar is currently squirming towards him.
"What the heck is that… ugh."
He focused looking towards the squirming mass of green abomination, his nose identified the smell; he felt his tummy spewing out his innards. Surely, there's no person out there who wouldn't think of this as not disgusting? Another one of the disgusting Huge Caterpillar that had green saliva flowing through its mouth, wriggling it's mass of little feet on the ground wanting to shoot it's green goo towards the player that had disturb it.
[ Huge Caterpillar Lv: 2 ]
As a sign that it reach its shooting distance, the huge caterpillars released it special delivery with a *Pshooot~~* The green poisonous goo headed towards him, but he wasn't able to move very fast so the first thing he did was cast spells towards the enemy. Since the Huge Caterpillar clearly doesn't attack melee range. The poisonous goo hit him, damaging him with a [ Poison ] debuff status. He used [ Gravity Downforce ] before casting out [ Fireball ] in succession towards the two caterpillars although it depleted his mana.
[ -1 HP ], [ -1 HP ] …[ -1 HP ]...
"Pew~" Gram heaved a sigh as he saw the huge caterpillar body turning into fragments before vanishing. Thankfully, the [ Poison ] debuff only damaged him for 16 points or he'll die early, before he died though, he used [ Transcendental Meditation ] and temporarily disabling his sense of 'smell.'
[ Huge Caterpillar had been defeated. ]
[ +25 HP ], [ +25 HP ], [ +25 HP ] …
Several *Dugoon* sounded out as the rocks, leaves, and grass made way towards the ground.
After he used, [ Transcendental Meditation ], more monsters appeared, Huge Caterpillars and White Rabbits appeared closing towards him but it hasn't started spewing out it's poisonous goo.
The Huge Caterpillar had only a five-meter attack radius before being able to spit and luckily his [ Gravity Downforce ] made them slower than turtles. The white rabbits were also at a disadvantage as it moved even slower than the Huge Caterpillars.
Gram found that the [ Fiery Aura ] had already finished it's cooldown earlier. He immediately casted it out while also hurling [ Fireball ] to the Huge Caterpillars. One [ Fireball ] seems to work for per huge caterpillar as they die the moment some damage of [ Burning ] debuff is triggered.
"Why is there so many of this worms! Ughh not so cute at all!" Gram cried out while using his spell left and right.
[ Huge Caterpillar had been defeated. ]
[ Huge Caterpillar had been defeated. ]
[ Huge Caterpillar had been defeated. ] … x4
As they could spit out poisonous goo, he already moved backwards since even if he had no movement speed, he was only faster than the Huge Caterpillars movement speed because of [ Gravity Downforce ] which was a boon.
The aura of fire surrounding him made it easy to 'vanquish' the White Rabbits to 'roast kingdom' as they lunged towards him. Even if they were encumbered were able to persist and lunge at him with their horned forehead towards him albeit doing no damage.
With the quick work of [ Fireball ], the remaining Huge Caterpillars had downed to the ground before de-spawning to the world.
He used [ Fireball ] spell 16 times and used [ Transcendental Meditation ] clearly; he was still not used to timing out casting spells but still he was able to kill the horde of monsters.
[ Huge Caterpillar had been defeated. ]
[ Huge Caterpillar had been defeated. ] ... x8
[ Your level had risen to 6. ]
[ Skill [ Spell Overkill ] is acquired. ]
[ Spell Overkill ]
If spells are consecutively cast towards an enemy, then its damage is boosted by 0.5 INT per cast. Stack up to 20 times and the skill owner will gain 10 INT that will disappear after getting disengaged in battle.
"Welp, it's not my fault that you guys were my target practice. It's the developers fault after all… hahaha." Gram prayed comically but as the cool-down of his sense of smell refreshed, he felt his nose scrunching up before quickly moving away from the place before he started virtually puking.
Gram left the area, as his skills had some cool-downs he looked for another monster to fight using his [ Perception ] but only saw nearby Huge Caterpillars and White Rabbits that he didn't want to fight.
He decided to create another spell, before moving away, he accessed [ Spell Creation ] and willed it again. He started imagining a fire bullet that penetrated armors or thick hides but also burned them from inside out.
[ Spell [ Fire Bullet ] had been acquired. ] ( Requirements to gain: Spell Creation. Fire Mage Advancement Reward... etc. )
[ Fire Bullet ]
A penetrative concentration of swirling fire that can pierce and burn the enemy inside out. MP consumed 70 per cast. Successfully hitting this spell will give the enemy double [ Burning ] debuff damage with a longer duration.
"This should do, as for now, I have little mana to use so adding more arsenal will make it harder for me to choose what to use." While he had more MP than other magic users, he didn't think it would be a good idea to make several more skills now and rather, he concluded to level up for now. While he could fight enemies nearby, there were only White Rabbits and huge caterpillars that didn't give much experience.
Gram moved deeper to the forest, and after a while, wandered into a forest area where trees seemed more packed, it might be the place where the strongest monster in the beginner area lurked around.
His skill cool-down had already refreshed, his MP full. His free status points automatically allocated into INT.
As he walked down in a seemingly walked path, one monster that appeared in front of him. It was a bee that flew with a noisy buzzing sound and it made its way directly at him. It's belly had a coloration that looked like holes, the antenna was longer than his hands while it's black stinger had some disgusting green fluid coating it.
[ Giant Bee Lv: 14 ]
"That looks totally gross. Thankfully, I don't have trypophobia." Gram thought if he should fight it, since he might die fighting it.
But, he could no longer hesitate, he wasn't given time to leave nor retreat.
He straightened himself as he pointed the staff towards the Giant Bee flying in a much dexterous way.
He used [ Gravity Downforce ], an invisible aura wrapped around the area as the Giant Bee who had been flying quickly became affected as it unknowingly crashed down the ground because of the added gravity around. But it quickly recovered, wanting to fly again but this time were only able to fly a little higher than the ground. With his increasing INT, the gravity could be amplified, while it did majorly affect the Giant Bee's movement in air, it didn't stop itself from using other moves it had.
Although slow and low-flying, it pointed its disgusting needle like stinger towards him and a green light spewed out of it; the venom in its appendages.
The venom reached him although he tried to move away but it was useless. The venom like goo had dropped in his body, as a eight seconds [ Poison ] debuff appeared on his status view. His HP started dropping.
[ Status, [ Poison ] debuff, losing HP for 10 second. ]
[ -4 HP ] [ -4 HP ] [ -4 HP ] [ -4 HP ] [ -4 HP ] .... [ -4 HP ]
[ -4 HP ]
[ -4 HP ]
He quickly activated [ Transcendental Meditation ] while he moved backward putting some distance to the slow-moving Giant Bee. Thankfully, [ Transcendental Meditation ] works as he expected as the skill would attempt to fill his health to full. The regeneration of [ Transcendental Meditation ] seems complementary to how many HP he had. Right now, he could recover 25 HP for his 125 HP for 5 seconds. The poison can only damage him for its last 3 seconds which counts for 20 HP drops which didn't really leave a mark to his hp.
[ + 29 HP ] [ + 29HP ] [ + 29HP ].... [ + 29HP ].
[ + 29HP ].
Gram removed the imaginary sweat on his forehead, "Geez~ don't surprise me like that pew~~. Thankfully, I used the skills on time. Let me try the new spell! You earned this [ Fire Bullet ]!"
Before his staff, a fire-colored bullet appeared as it quickly bolted towards its target. The Giant Bee who was slow and low-flying was able to spray another wave of venom towards him before his spell reached it.
*Puchi*
The [ Fire Bullet ] hits the Giant Bee's bald head, but hadn't died yet. He used another [ Fire Bullet ] before moving away to gain some distance. In that time, the [ Poison ] debuff took time to damage him again, so he quickly activated [ Transcendental Meditation ] disabling one his senses for the second time.
The sound of a stone hitting flesh erupted as the second [ Fire Bullet ] hit the Giant Bee, it wasn't able to use it's range attack this time as he had already put some distance to the slow moving bee. The Giant Bee was currently ignited by the [ Fire Bullet ] and continued to be burned by the [ Burning ] debuff damage it's innards like a parasite.
When it approached, he would move backward while he used [ Fire Bullet ] occasionally to enhance the damage as long as it was activated. In just twenty seconds later, it died disintegrating before disappearing.
[ Giant Bee had been defeated. ]
[ Skill [ Giant Killer ] had been acquired. ]
[ Your level had risen to 10. ]
Gram sighed in relief before looking for a relatively safe place by casting [ Perception ] for a moment and proceeded to look at his status panel.
[ Giant Killer ]
Activates when the opponent has a higher level and when four status attributes is higher than the user with the exception of its HP/MP. Then, status attributes other than HP/MP will double and will only be active when subjugating a target monster alone. The skill will disabled when in a party or disengaged.
Knox
Level: 10
HP: 165/165
MP: 95/310
[ STR: 0〈＋10〉]
[ VIT: 145 ]
[ AGI: 0 ]
[ DEX: 0 ]
[ INT: 290〈＋20〉] ]
Equipment:
Head [ーーー]
Body [ーーー]
Right hand [ Beginners Short Sword ]
Left Hand [ Beginner's Disciple's Staff ]
Legs [ーーー]
Shoes [ーーー]
Accessories [ーーー]
[ーーー]
[ーーー]
Skill:
[ Transcendental Meditation ] [ Perception ] [ Sensory Enhancement ] [ Mana Sensing ] [ Nature Gift ] [ Spell Creation ] [ Fire Manipulation ] [ Gravity Manipulation ] [ Spell Overkill ] [ Giant Killer ]
"This is so... Never mind having no loot, this is so amazing... It will make soloing dungeons easier! If currently I have INT 310 double it... my! INT 620 if I fight alone! Moreover, It also boosted my VIT 145 to 290! Nice.. nice... Let's find more monsters nearby." Though, it won't be as used in the future because he would have partied up with Kaede in her adventures to this VR world.
He grinned like mad and waited until his mana bar got full again before he walked and fought the monster in the neighborhood. Using his [ Perception ], hunting monster turned easier and because of his increased MP and his abnormal regeneration. If anyone saw him right now, he was like a madman mage with a concurrent fire wisp surrounding him as he wreck havoc in the forest beginner area, laughing like a demon while spelling deaths to those monster.
[ White Rabbit Lv: 1 ] [ Huge Caterpillar Lv: 2 ] [ Brown Bear Lv: 12 ] [ Wolf Lv: 13 ]
"[ Gravity Downforce ]!, [ Fiery Aura ]!, [ Fireball ]!, [ Fire Bullet ]!, [ Fireball ]!, [ Fire Bullet ]!
[ Giant Bee Lv: 14 ]
Fully maximizing the use of [ Transcendental Meditation ], he did a consecutive killing spree around the forest. As this time, he could already one shot Lv:12 monster while other monsters, if not dead on one spell, just had to wait until it's HP emptied with improved [ Burning ] alongside [ Fire Bullet ], while being encumbered pitifully with [ Gravity Downforce ]. Gram had gained 15 levels before he stopped because he found that there weren't many more enemies nearby and going to a higher level would be a better decision.
[ White Rabbit had been defeated. ] ...x4
[ Huge Caterpillar had been defeated. ] ...x2
[ Brown Bear had been defeated. ]
[ Wolf had been defeated. ]
.....
[ Giant Bee had been defeated. ]
[ Your level had risen to 15. ]
During that time, he also got poisoned many times, he gained it during one of the bouts while it was firstly just [ Poison Resistance (Small) ]. The damage he got in [ Poison ] debuff got lowered making it easier to hunt poison related monsters.
[ Poison Resistance (Medium) ]
Nullifies strong poison.
Unexpectedly, something from one of the brown bears he had killed and from a wolf.
[ Ring of Forgotten Knight [ Rare ] ]
STR: 5
Absolution: Gives a decaying shield equivalent to 50% of the user's health. After the decay, erupts a 2 second [ Blinded ] debuff and gives 10 seconds [ Slowness ] to the enemy nearby. No MP consumption. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
"Rare.. huh, ~." Gram was satisfied with the loot, since even one point in STR could be a good addition, at least five points. At least with this, he won't be that encumbered if he brought too much materials in his inventory. Nonetheless, he would like to use better equipment with better bonus stats. The [ Nature Gift ] downplayed other stats gain and made it 3 to 1 status. But at least his INT is getting much stronger, with a skill like [ Spell Creation ], it ain't bothering him.
[ Normal Boots [ Common ] ]
AGI: 2
"Let's just equip it for now… somehow, farming this much made me tired. I should take a break."
Killing monsters, the money loot directly transfers to him. While the default money given at the start is 3000 gold coins.
[ Gold: 3028]
Gram went out of the forest and then returned to the town. He logged out to eat some late-night snack and returned to the real world.
-
While currently, some of the AI moderators who had monitored his excursion set up a meeting in the account to him.
(What do you think about this guy?)