Chapter 9: Chapter 8: The next Big Ape

“And this! Is why! I’m not! A vegan!” Drake huffed, bringing his staff down on the head of the final Ape of the group he had just ran into.

Drake leaned backwards, his hands at his sides and gasped for air in relief. He had thought he was nearly going to die again. Looking up at his health bar it was a little over 50% which wasn’t awful after having to run around and fight five Apes at once, but his Mana had run out mid fight so he was forced to kill the last two by sheer power of will with his low damage staff.

It was the morning of the second day of the tutorial and Drake had luckily found an empty cave before nightfall. He was a bit worried as there were a mountain of dead Ape corpses outside, but he didn’t really have a choice if he didn't want to sleep outside.

So he chose to move the corpses elsewhere and just had to pray that nothing found the cave during the night, and since Drake woke up luckily nothing had. He had killed a few more of the Vampiric Apes the day before when he finally found the cave, and now had just defeated five more this morning.

“Asshole monsters, didn’t even give me time to do my morning business. I thought I was going to piss myself running around.” He grumbled. “I haven’t eaten or had anything to drink since they dropped us off here in the tutorial like a bad parent dropping a kid off at the playground and saying they’ll be back at 3l.” Drake continued to gripe, opening up his inventory before he checked his notifications.

In one of the slots of his inventory he eyed two of something he wished he could make use of.

 

[Deer Carcass]

[The dead carcass of a deer.]

 

He had also found these yesterday on the way to the cave, but he had no way of cooking them. He had tried to light a fire with his Mana Bolt but it didn’t produce any heat, it was just like a dense lump of energy that was shot out.

He had found a couple of things out over the last day though. Items of the same type stacked. He had found this out when he had looted some more stones. He even found out that there were other ones called Skill Stones. He had picked up only two of those though as of now, but again it was just something he couldn’t use as of now.

 

[Skill Stone: Warrior] [Common]

[Unlocks a random Skill from the Warrior tree.]

[Requirement: Open Skill Slot and have at least 1 Warrior based Main Tree or Sub-tree Branch Unlocked.]

 

[Skill Stone: Body] [Common]

[Unlocks a random skill from the Body tree.]

[Requirement: Open Skill Slot]

 

These ‘Skill Stones’ seemed to contain the only way to gain more skills from what Drake could gather, but he had no way to use them yet either. It was like the system was constantly dangling a carrot in front of him that he couldn’t get to. And it wasn’t the only thing he wasn’t able to use.

After killing his fifth Ape a new line had appeared in his inventory underneath all the slots.

 

[Tutorial Points] 125

 

He had finally gained a line for his currency here but had no idea of how or where to spend it. Drake sighed as he went through his notifications and brought up his status.

 

[You have defeated Vampiric Ape Level 7] [400 Experience Points and 45 Tutorial Points have been rewarded]

[You have defeated Vampiric Ape Level 7] [400 Experience Points and 45 Tutorial Points have been rewarded]

[You have defeated Vampiric Ape Level 5] [300 Experience Points and 35 Tutorial Points have been rewarded]

[You have defeated Vampiric Ape Level 5] [300 Experience Points and 35 Tutorial Points have been rewarded]

[You have defeated Vampiric Ape Level 6] [350 Experience Points and 4 Tutorial Points have been rewarded]

[Congratulations! You have increased to Mage Level 5] [14 Free Stats have been awarded]

[11 of 20 Vampiric Apes Subjugated]

 

 

[Drake Wallen]

Tutorial Alias [Shot]

[Base Class: Mage] Level 5

[Vitality] 67

[Strength] 13

[Dexterity] 29

[Intelligence] 71

[Wisdom] 42

[Endurance] 12

[Free Points] 14

[Skills] Basic Mana Bolt [Level NA]

[Titles] First Blood, Two versus One, One vs Many, Monkey Slayer, Living on the Edge.

 

And this was why Drake was convinced that he could only gain skills through the ‘Skill Stones’ but had no way of using them. He was now level 5 but still hadn’t gotten another skill from his base class, which was troubling.

Am I doomed to forever put points into Vitality just to survive? He thought, as he dumped the free points again into Vitality for the health regeneration.

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The only thing keeping his current damage up were the base stats from the Mage class that received on leveling. He had found out it was a total of 12 points, 8 going into Intelligence and 4 into Wisdom respectively.

Drake walked languidly off again as he finished dumping his free points, dragging his increasingly beaten up staff against the grass, wiping off the blood and other viscera. It was becoming laughable in a non laughing sense that his Vitality was still his highest stat as a mage.

He had no other choice though, he thought. Every fight had been against multiple monsters now and they were becoming increasingly stronger. Thankfully, his Mana Bolt was able to still one shot everyone of them of his level or one above so far still as long as he hit them in the head, but he wasn’t sure how long that would last.

If monsters received stats just like he did, eventually they would become tanky enough to just take his damage and one-sidedly beat his ass. Or he would just find a monster spec'd in health. He digressed but the other problem was actually his Mana Bolt and his class.

Because he was a Mage he would normally be standing behind the front line in games, freely casting spells, with a plethora of support classes surrounding him. But here in reality, because of his quick decision of going into the forest alone to get a head start had left him alone.

Meaning he was now forced to fight against multiple enemies, while standing still casting his spell. Making him perpetually vulnerable to getting ganked by any monster that was looking for a quick bite of his cake. Which in truth happened yesterday as he was fighting and had gotten flanked.

He rubbed his rear where the stupid Ape had taken a bite out of him.

Honestly he wasn’t having the best time of grinding. Every fight so far he would be injured, either having to tank a bite from at least one Ape as he blasted one with his Mana Bolt, or just being simply overwhelmed and not being able to blast the Apes down before they reached him.

This resulted in him being injured and having to wait out the time to regenerate his health back naturally, he must have an endless number of puncture scars and the other all over his body by now. This was why he had opted to put every level of free points into Vitality to increase that regen. Thankfully his Mana regeneration was able to keep up with it at the moment, but looking at his stats he wasn’t sure how much longer that would last.

Drake bitterly laughed to himself, wishing this was slightly more like the game he was thinking of when he picked the class. In that game there were magical potions a plenty, making it actually far more efficient and easier to level solo, as you didn't need the support classes until much later into the game. But right now there was no sign of any potions. And no weapons or armor for that matter.

Drake continued to walk while grumbling curses every now and then, checking his new titles he had just gotten, glancing at his health and surroundings mechanically.

 

[One versus Many]

[Fight and defeat 5 enemies alone. +1 to all stats.]

 

[Monkey Slayer]

[Defeat 10 Primates. +5% Damage to all Primates]

 

Oh a flat damage boost to a species. That’s going to be nice for a while. Wait, primates? Does that include humans technically, or would they specifically say humans? Drake thought, looked up, noticing that his health had filled up, his Mana around 70% now.

“It’s already lagging behind…” Drake mumbled.

Drake had walked a fair distance away from his last fight, and sat down to rest. Thinking about what he could do to break the cycle of him having to dump points into a stat he wasn't really utilizing except to not die.

Should he go find people? But there hadn’t been another soul nearby since he left, the only sign he had of people were the bodies from the cave yesterday. Or would he have to just stick it out until he completed the Ape quest and got to level 10 for his class upgrade?

Drake quickly stopped his musings when he heard a rumble behind him. The sound steadily getting closer, each thundering rumble increasing in volume and physical shaking of the surroundings. Whatever was coming it must have been pretty large.

“Am I in Jurassic Park now?! What is with this place?” Drake stammered out, looking at the hulking figure coming out from behind a tree several meters away.

Drake swore internally as he saw the jumbo sized Ape. It stood at least 2 and a half meters high. It had the same smushed bat-like face the smaller ones had, but this one had a distinct difference besides taking too many steroids. It was wearing armor, and holding a weapon.

The jumbo Ape was holding a large wooden club in its hand, a metallic helmet far too small for it resting on its head, a 17th century looking piece of armor around its chest.

“What B rated, high school movie club wardrobe did you walk out of?” Drake scoffed.

Apparently the large Ape heard him, as it raised its arms in the air and howled as it charged Drake with all fours hitting the ground.

“Shit! Manifest my power! Mana Bolt!” He quickly chanted. The bolt flying out from the tip of his staff, trained to the Ape’s head.

In moments the bolt struck home and blasted the Ape right in the head, forcing it to stop in its tracks, its head tilted back from the impact. The Ape’s helmet rolled on the ground, its head snapped back, patting its head as if looking for the armor. It quickly found the helmet on the ground next to it, a small smoldering dent in it.

The Ape locked eyes with Drake as it placed the helmet back atop its head, making sure it was safely fitted there. Its eyes thinned as it growled, looking at Drake like he had done the most insulting thing in the world. It swiftly howled again as it continued its charge right for Drake.

“Well, death flag collected, that's karma if I’ve ever seen it.” Said Drake surprised.

But his joking manner only lasted seconds as the Ape closed in on him with increased speed. Drake screamed another Mana Bolt, before he rolled out of the way. But it didn’t turn out as he hoped.

The Ape was attentive enough to see Drake jump to the side as the second Bolt hit it in the chest, its left arm stretching out sweeping Drake up into the air. As the large arm smacked into Drake's midsection, pushing him into the air and a few meters across the ground he finally landed into the side of a tree, coughing up blood. 

Drake groaned as he struggled to get up, feeling like he had just been hit by a bus and every bone in his body was broken. No, something was definitely broken. He grimaced as he touched his left shoulder. He didn’t have time to moan though, the Ape was following up already, running again at speed right at Drake.

Drake shouted out two more Mana Bolts before ducking behind the tree next to him, struggling to keep his staff in his good arm up to aim at the monster.

The monster charged through the Bolts as if they weren’t there, one hitting it in the shoulder, blood flying out of the impact, the other hitting it in its armored chest again. The Ape wasn’t able to stop this time from its charge, running right into the tree, and through it.

The large mass of the monster had run right through the cover Drake had hid behind, splitting the tree in half. Drake looked back in disbelief, this thing was way above his pay grade.

The Ape had turned right around after running through the tree, its mouth wide as it bared its large fangs and teeth as it howled again. Preparing to charge down Drake once more, it dropped to all fours and began galloping towards him at breakneck speed.

Drake was only able to fire off one Mana Bolt this time as the monster closed in. The bolt hitting the Ape in its shoulder a second time. Drake pushed off the stump of the tree he was against with as much force as his legs would allow to get out of the path of the massive bulldozer of an Ape.

The monster swung its club this time in an underhand blow, completely scooping the stump out of the ground, hurdling it into the forest. Drake gawked at the strength it displayed.

Before the Ape was able to turn around, Drake hurriedly shot off three more Mana Bolts as quickly as his words would allow. The beast turned towards him, and right into the stream of the three Bolts, all of them hitting it square in the chest.

The force of the Bolts opened up a small hole in the monster’s armor, a trickle of blood leaking out. But it wasn’t going to take the damage lying down.

Drake had nowhere else to run, the Ape was only a few feet from him, and there was no way he could out run it. He looked at his health. It was barely hovering above 50%, and his Mana was faring much worse barely filling up to the 20% mark.

He looked at the hole in the ground where the tree had been, as he nervously gulped. Drake had no desire to get hit but he steeled himself for what might happen. He only had enough mana for three or four more Bolts, and that was only if he could chant them out in time.

The Ape touched the wound in its chest and grew furious, walking only a few steps and raising its club in the air ready to strike down on Drake.

But Drake wouldn’t just sit there and be squashed. He managed to fire off a Bolt as the monster walked forward, hitting it dead in the center of its chest where the others had landed.

The Ape bellowed in pain this time as it brought down its club on Drake, but he was already jumping away, just barely dodging the club as it passed him. He rolled and got to one knee on the ground, aiming his staff at the center of the monster’s chest as it turned to strike him again.

Drake finished the chant for the Bolt and it fired point blank into the monster’s chest into its already grizzly wound, a torrent of blood flying out from it. The Ape was not finished though. Somehow it still had strength left in it as it hefted its club upwards, hitting Drake off the ground and into the air.

He wouldn’t be out done though, Drake had managed to survive the blow, the Ape evidently on its last legs. Drake gritted his teeth, willing himself to stay conscious and aim at the beast, using his last scrounges of Mana for one last Mana Bolt.

“Manifest my Power! Mana Bolt” He screamed while flying towards the ground. The last thing in his vision was the cold hard dirt, and then darkness.

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