It has been a few weeks since I started to level up within the grove.
Everyday was a bit annoying.
I wake up, I fight.
I go to exercise, I fight.
I take a piss, I fight.
Well, I did ask for more action however this seemed a bit to come unnaturally often.
I learned many things within this unique, other realm-like place.
Firstly, the fauna here have been more dangerous than any beast. It was almost like the land itself was alive. Even the grass here would try to pull someone under if they weren't careful.
Secondly, since this was inside a tree trunk, night and day more or less blended into each other. It was hard to tell the time or how long I've been here.
Thirdly, my natural lycanthrope hunger pains seemingly come and go occasionally. I haven't figured out how to control the urges and hold back my stomach growl, but it's not like there is anyone here who'll be harmed because of it.
〈Isn't this the perfect place to test my lycanthropy? The issue would be that I have no idea how long the transformation would last nor if my beast form would even stay in the grove.〉
For the time being, I just continued to slaughter the wildlife here as there were too many unknown variables that would come from turning.
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Another week passed by. I was already accustomed to surviving in the grove almost like it was second nature to me.
My level went up by six since I started which is very slow considering my initial jump in levels after defeating the spipents. It was weird that I leveled up so fast when dealing with them. That only could occur if their level was far more than my own.
〈What if they were high level too? But then, how was I able to perceive their movement?〉
I kept trying to wrap my head around the issue. Could it be similar to Rak's situation? A high level but the inability to allocate stat points? If that is the case then I'd understand because even in RTM, mobs could level up just like players could. The issue with that would be the fact that monsters have no ability to apply stat points.
I thought a little longer on this topic. It almost seemed like there was a glitch in the game that allowed everyone to level up, but no means to increase their power. I couldn't even begin to understand what that would mean.
With the extra six levels and twelve stat points, I was able to get a lot faster and stronger.
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King; level 21
EP: 12 -> 0(50)
Strength - 30 -> 32
Dexterity - 26 -> 32
Constitution - 16 -> 16
Intelligence - 8 -> 11
Charisma - 10 -> 10
Luck - 20 -> 21
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My eyes locked onto the words "EP" for a brief moment. This would be my stat points, but that would be "SP" instead, what does the e stand for?
I gave up thinking about it after a few minutes. Even in the game, I never questioned it and simply thought it was a weird typo. Something strange about it keeps running through my mind however.
I went back to fighting beasts, but it was clear that this area was lower level than my own. I wiped out most creatures in here with a couple hits.
Standing under the large cliff that I was pushed into, I yelled out Rak's name.
"Hey you fucking lizard! Get me out of here!"
〈Is he coming?〉
I yelled again.
In about five minutes, I saw a silhouette from the light that shined through the opening of the tree.
I waved at what I presume to be Rak, but instead, I was greeted with a large bolt of electricity.
The bolt exploded underneath my feet, faster than I could perceive or react. It burnt the ground beneath me as the shockwave blew me back dozens of feet.
I slam into multiple trees as they shatter upon impact. Finally a much older tree stopped my path causing a crater in the tree that sits there while I fell from being pinned onto the trunk.
The impact was far more than I could handle and I immediately blacked out.
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I woke up after an unknown amount of time.
I looked around while my eyes still sagged with fatigue. Seems like I was chained up in a cage outside of the grove.
My eyes dart around. Trying to figure out what issue I found myself in.
The cage was inside a carriage. It was a metal box with barred windows around it so I could see outside. A low monotone voice was speaking to himself like he was on the phone.
"The target has been apprehended."
The distorted voice came from a tall cloaked being who wore a black mask that only showed glowing red eyes from behind it. In fact, all five kidnappers were wearing the same getup. The man who was talking had more of an official feel to his uniform, making me assume he is in charge.
The leader took two of his minions aside to converse. After a few seconds, the two disappeared out of sight and the last three people began to crowd around the cart and began to get ready to depart.
Holding my aching left side, I blurted out without thinking, "So you fucks got something planned with me? You don't look like tourists."
I smirk trying to play it cool, but they seem disinterested to play along.
The man with the low distorted voice calmly says, "If I were you, I'd just get comfortable until your inevitable demise."
"Ooh, scary man over here." I mock him. "Look you fucking masked prick. I don't give a damn where you take me. I have friends who'll go to the ends of the earth to follow after me. Plus you won't get much out of me."
"We will be able to get what we need out of you, wanderer."
At the sound of that label, I froze.
I collected my thoughts. They wore dark colors and had masks that are almost pure black like a shadow. They found me and called me a wanderer.
"I assume you are the religious freaks capturing wanderers? How'd you know I was here?"
"Just sit there and be silent."
At his protest, I got a bit annoyed. It sucked that I had no ability to move as I was pretty injured, which is weird considering I should've regenerated anything that was damaged. Seems like he has some way of halting my lycanthrope regeneration.
A single thought ran across my mind. If I was only surrounded by people who are going to cause me harm, then why not use this chance to transform?
With that in mind, I began to concentrate deeply. I tried to peer into my psyche or mind, where the "other me" was at.
It took some time finding, but I suddenly was inside my own mindscape. It was a dark forest of a mental landscape as howls were heard off in the distance. I stood there as the dark dead trees around me began to flicker into flames.
The forest bursted out into a sea of flames that tore everything down. A bird of prey's caw echoed throughout the fire that roared
I couldn't understand why I was witnessing these phenomenons but one thing was for certain, these landscapes are what my inner beasts are best acquainted with.
〈Why did they show me this?〉
The flames subsided slightly as a wolf appeared through the fire in front of me. It stared at me, like it was peering into my soul.
Behind me, a large bird on fire soared into the sky, illuminating the night. It dove down and crashed into the wolf as the canine jumped at it. A large magical explosion occurred between them.
The combination of the two creatures formed together to create a unifying monster. Mostly resembling a wolf but with a more bipedal form, and a fire within its chest that seemed like a furnace of unending flame.
This creature born from the combination of the two hearts I have acquired seemingly coexisted in perfect harmony like they were made for each other.
I couldn't tell what the significance of this event was, but something seemed to mark a new era in my evolution.
Just as I was raising my hand to approach this new creature, a force pulled me away and everything disappeared.
I opened my eyes, noticing a spark of mana erupt from the cage and shock me.
My body was blasted backwards towards the end of the cage. I slammed into the wall with force that seemed like it would break down the carriage itself.
"Ah, so it seems you tried transforming huh?" A snarling, hyena-like snicker came from the front of the carriage.
A man with red hair and an almost sinister looking mask looked back at me. The eyes of the mask showcasing an eerie laughter with a smile spread wide across the face.
"So sad! HEHE! You won't be doing that. Aw poor poochie!" His jester mentality makes him sound clinically insane.
"How much do you know about me?! Where are you taking me!"
Anger ensued within me as I charged the front of my cage and bashed against it. I was more than just annoyed now, I was angered. At first, I had a little bit of confidence that I could get out, but the conflicts have proven otherwise.
"Oh, we know everything about you… Enel."
My heart sank into my chest.
〈How does he know? My real name?〉
"How?" I ask in utter disbelief.
"You think you can hide from our gods? You wanderers were all part of the pla-"
"Carter!" He immediately was cut off by the leader. "You know how grave it is to speak of such matters outside the church."
Carter knocked on his head in a silly manner. "Oops, my bad! Just thought a dead man should hear it."
"Dead man? Well, that's if you can keep me dead, plus you'll have to find a way off this gigantic tree."
I ate my words immediately. The carriage ran straight towards the edge of the leaf and I felt the wheels drop as the connection to the ground was severed.
It felt like the gravity was switched around. It lifted the carriage in a bizarre way, almost like I was floating in space.
The horses in the front were metallic and began to run through the air as they gripped onto footholds within the sky itself using nothing but air.
"What the hell is going on here?!" I asked in confusion.
"Oh right, hehe heh you don't know a sing-le thing!" As the jester almost Sang a tune. "Well if you kno-ow! This land is completely DAMAGED! The great divines fought here, and the ecosystem crumbled beneath their mighty power. The god of space magic's divine mana was too much for the earth, and the trees absorbed that mana into their roots and began to shift."
What surprised me more was he made his tone more serious.
The horses gracefully pranced down from the leaf as it surfed a wave of air and gravity. It was like the wind itself made way for the carriage to float down.
Upon reaching the solid ground right in front of a massive crater, the carriage darted off.
A road that leads into the wilderness is tread on by the horses. It continues on for quite some time.
Eventually, we pass by the treeline and enter a clearing. The road continues up the mountain as the road gets more winding and harder to traverse.
Not too long after we entered the mountains did the carriage start to slow itself into a halt. Out from the side, the jester-like maniac opens the door.
"Well, here we are!" He sings, almost like a lullaby.
"Oh boy, I hope I get a fair trial."
The jester snickers, "You? A trial? The gods already sentenced you, you have no trial to speak of."
The jester grabs my chains and drags me along. "Hey! A little easy on the grip there pal, you might scrape my skin."
I am taken to a massive castle-esque structure. Its doors were tall but they were seemingly only there for decoration as a smaller entrance appeared. It's like a laser cut away a piece of the door and the piece fades to non-existence.
I get pulled through the portal and step out into a grand entrance. Purple flames that rise from braziers and a carpet that leads down the hall.
This place was massive. It was like it was a castle underground for some uber wealthy overlord.
They dragged me down multiple halls and stairways until finally, they threw me into a huge cell.
The room itself was bigger than what I'd think a cell would be and the walls were made out of dark stone. Instead of metal bars, it was glass that separated me from the outside.
"Well, count your days. The transport will be ready to activate tomorrow morning, so get your final days rest while you can." The stern masked man walked away and left me in the dark cell.
I laid back on the side wall and stared into one of the corners. I couldn't believe I was not only captured, but by the very people I was supposed to never meet. This couldn't have gotten any worse.
Sitting there thinking about all the things I could've done more to take care of the situation, led my eyes to become heavy and fall asleep.
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I had a dream.
It was a dream about my past. About my parents.
My family was a normal one. My sister and I would constantly get on each other's nerves as our parents would to each other, but it was a good family.
We stuck together and we did everything together. We weren't rich, nor were we poor. We were a perfect blend of being well enough to enjoy life and the company of each other.
The issue was, my parents' past caught up with them.
My mother was a part of a major family within the states which had corporations scattered around the country. They were filthy rich. To say that they had power is an understatement. She apparently ignored the wishes of her father for an arranged marriage to an up and coming self-made billionaire that was from another major family, and then she ran away.
My father was the polar opposite. He was from a near homeless household, living at the end of the barrel with his four siblings and his parents. Supposedly, his parents got into heavy debt to a rotten company run by some gang members and couldn't pay it off. Father's parents passed away due to poor health and left him as the eldest of his siblings to fend off and take the debt onto himself. Having to drop out of school and get a job, he was able to take care of his family.
Fast forward to when we were a happy family, it seemed like both of them moved as far as they could, to Canada, in order to break away from it.
First came the gang that my father was still in debt to. They came in and took valuables from our house, and nearly emptied it out. We were stuck in a position of having to call the police which made a track of where my mother lived. It also was the time where we figured out our dad had criminal charges on his name.
Dad was sent back into the states which made my mother fall into depression, but before she could recover, her family came by to take her away. They used the fact that our dad was a deadbeat criminal who hid plenty of things away from us.
That left my sister and I alone to ourselves since mom's family was adamant on not bringing us with her. Instead, our "family" gave us a few hundreds of thousands of dollars to live our lives how we pleased.
I was fifteen when all this happened.
It was a time where I couldn't hold my emotions down, making me lash out more than I ever did.
To most people, I just tell them my parents passed away and I got the house and money from their wills. It's at least the easiest thing to say without explaining the complications.
I was able to figure things out on my own while helping my sister with her life as well.
Since that moment, I was never able to see my parents again.
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King; level 21
EP: 0 (122)
Strength - 32
Dexterity - 32
Constitution - 16
Intelligence - 11
Charisma - 10
Luck - 21
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