Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Mystic Wolf Waking Up

Ever so slowly Sara's consciousness returned. She felt more out of it than after she had evolved the first time. It was more comparable to when she first woke up. A popup was hovering in front of her.

[ Evolution Complete! Character status updated. ]

[ Skills Gained: Thorn Bind, Regrowth, Nature Element Up. ]

[ Multiple Skills Unlocked. ]

She pushed herself up on her feet. She could vaguely sense that she was larger now. Like a sense that everything had shifted around her compared to what she had gotten used to. And the fur on her legs was indeed brown now. She still didn't have access to any sort of mirror, but she assumed all of her had gone brown, as the description had said.

"Good morning, Sara. Well, it is actually evening, but what is that saying? It is always morning somewhere?"

Mm... morning, Aina. Wait, how long was I out?

"A little over a day. Roughly 28 hours."

That's... more than last time, right?

"Correct. Your next evolution is likely to take even longer. I say 'likely' because the system was never tested that far, but I have good reason to believe it to be the case."

Ugh...

Sara had already come to the conclusion that there wasn't much point in hurrying her journey through Moorhold too much, so it didn't really bother her to be asleep for a while, but she wasn't looking forward to waking up in a daze that was at least as bad as this one.

Putting those thoughts aside, she did a big stretch, and then brought up her Status window.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Mystic Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Druid ]

[ Level: 20 (16) ]

[ HP: 105/105 -> 135/135 (74/74) | SP: 118/118 -> 138/138 (77/77) | MP: 55/55 -> 105/105 (19/19) ]

[ VIT: 41 -> 51 (24) | END: 51 -> 59 (34) ]

[ STR: 44 -> 52 (25) | DEF: 35 -> 41 (13) ]

[ AGI: 62 -> 74 (48) | DEX: 38 -> 48 (21) ]

[ INT: 20 -> 40 (9) | WIS: 32 -> 52 (9) ]

[ LUK: 90 -> 110 (22) ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 18 ]

While her physical stats had gotten decent boosts, about similar to her first evolution if she remembered correctly, her magic stats had grown much more. Though Intelligence was still her worst one, ever after going up by that much.

Wow, my concealed status is way out of date, huh? I wish it had some sort of auto-grow feature...

"I would like to carry your suggestion to the development team, but I fear the timing is not correct. There are currently only a few Wanderers that possess Conceal Status, and it has not been an issue for them, nor do I have sufficient data from the beta to support such a suggestion. I fear I may have already pushed it by suggesting the automatically conceal option that early, but I have yet to see any reaction to that, so it is probably fine."

She could attempt to conceal her entire status as that of a Grey Limber Wolf, but she was no longer grey, and she was too big, so that would not work. She didn't have any other Mystic Wolves to check for comparison, and if the 'very rare' thing was true, she might never meet one. Though that also meant that maybe no one else had either, so she could just wing it.

What about my bonus points?

"If you intend to continue playing as you have, I would suggest equal distribution between Strength, Agility, and Dexterity, but my guess is that you picked a magic class because you want to use it. All your magic skills are now enabled, but if you want them to actually be a threat, you will need to increase Intelligence and Wisdom more. Primarily Intelligence."

All? So wait, I can use Frost Bolt even though I'm a Druid?

"Correct. There are some magic skills, for instance Bear Form, that are exclusive to one class tree, but not too many, and even less restricted to only one class. For most magic the only rule is that if you can learn it, you can use it as any magic class. However it is harder for them to make the most out of magic native to a different class tree. So a Druid would not be as good with Mage skills, and vice versa. Additionally the basic skill scrolls are locked to the class they are intended for. If that was not the case, then why have a class system at all? It is possible to find unlocked skill scrolls, but they are rare. You have to either get them from rare merchants with limited inventory, special Residents willing to teach them, special quests, certain bosses, or dungeon loot. Your Skill Gain grants you a unique advantage."

She had sort of figured that out on her own by this point. With that in mind she decided to just dump all 18 points into Intelligence. She had already boosted Wisdom a bunch, so she should have sufficient MP for a while. The only issue she could think of was if there were important spells that relied on Wisdom rather than Intelligence for their power, but that would be a problem for later.

After spending a little time updating the concealed status, coming up with something that was probably okay, she decided to look at her skill list.

Christ...

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bite Lvl Max (Can Evolve) (9) | Rake Lvl Max (Can Evolve) (9) | Ambush Lvl 7 -> 8 (5) | Howl Lvl 6 -> Max (5) |
Sprint Lvl 9 -> Max (5) | Stealth Lvl 15 -> 17 (10) | Sense Presence Lvl 8 -> 9 (5) ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 2 | Body Slam Lvl 9 -> Max | Throw Lvl 1 | Strong Poison Strike (New) Lvl 1 | Death From Above Lvl 2 -> 3 |
Kick Lvl 2 | Back Attack (New) Lvl 1 | Leap Lvl 2 -> 4 | Thorn Bind (New) Lvl 1 | Regrowth (New) Lvl 1 | Rejuvenate Lvl 1 |
Frost Bolt Lvl 1 | Arcane Blast (New) Lvl 1 | Thermal Vision Lvl 4 -> 5 | Bear Form (New) Lvl 1 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 13 -> 14 (9) | Keen Eyes Lvl 17 -> 19 (9) | Keen Ears Lvl 16 -> 18 (9) | Keen Nose Lvl 14 -> 16 (9) |
Camouflage Lvl 8 -> 9 (2) ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Danger Sense Lvl 5 -> 7 | Environmental Sense Lvl 1 -> 2 | Trap Sense (New) Lvl 1 | Dig Lvl 3 | Climb Lvl Max |
Cat's Feet Lvl 3 -> 5 | Firm Grip Lvl 1 -> 3 | Air Control Lvl 1 -> 3 | Balance Up (New) Lvl 1 |
Nature Element Up (New) Lvl 1 | Mana Manipulation (New) Lvl 1 | All Attributes Up (Small) (New) Lvl 5 |
Poison Resistance Lvl 4 -> 5 | Insulation Lvl 2 -> 4 | Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 7 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) | Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Concealed General: ]

[ Languages (Hidden): Common, Goblin | Life Magic Lvl 1 ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales | Flight | Snare Net Trap | Logging | Cleave (New) | Chop (New) | Bow Expertise (New) |
Woodworking (New) | Power Shot (New) ]

[ Skill points: 14 -> 15 ]

What a mess...

At least everything had gone into concealed. Her Disabled list hadn't really shrunk, it was just full of other things now. She would have to go over everything to see what would, and would not make sense to have revealed with her new class. A wolf transforming into a bear? Well, it seemed like a core Druid ability, so it was probably fine.

Then she noticed the two blinking buttons at the top.

Huh? Bite and Rake can evolve? I don't remember that when I hit max?

"Certain skill evolutions are dependent on extra factors, for instance reaching a certain level, doing a certain quest, getting a class upgrade, or in your case evolving into a new form."

She prodded at the evolve button for Bite first.

[ Chomp (Active): Attack using jaws and teeth, or something with an equivalent function. Damage value: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. Critical hits inflict Bleed(?) status on target for 10 seconds. 50+(1*skill level)% chance to inflict Weaken(?) status on target for 10 seconds. Cost: 3 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds. ]

[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No ]

Huh? What are these little question marks?

There were now small icons with question marks inside them next to some of the words.

"I have been gradually updating skill descriptions based on user feedback. One of the commonly requested features was to have tool tips that explained what status conditions did without having to go into the help menu to look them up. That required a little more changing than I am permitted, but the developers pushed through a hotfix while you were in evolution sleep. It was planned to be added in the first big update, but there were too many requests to put it off."

She knew what Bleed did, so she just booped the one next to Weaken.

[ Weaken (Status Condition): Reduces attributes by 10% based on where target is struck. Torso and Head: Vit/Def Down. Arms: Str/Dex Down. Legs: Agi/End Down. ]

That seemed like a pain to deal with. More firepower in her basic attack skills wasn't a bad idea, even with the temporary dip.

[ Bite Skill Evolved Into Chomp Skill. ]

And Rake evolved into:

[ Rend (Active): Attack using claws, or something with an equivalent function. Damage value: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*attack power. Increased critical hit chance. Critical hits inflict Bleed(?) status on target for 10 seconds. Defence piercing: 10+(0.5*skill level)%. Increased durability damage. Cost: 4 SP. Refresh: 2 seconds. ]

[ Price: 1 skill point. Evolve: Yes/No. ]

These skills were getting quite nasty. She evolved that one too, even if she was dreading looking at her skill store in terms of how many skill points she had left. Strengthening the basics was never a bad idea.

[ Rake Skill Evolved Into Rend Skill. ]

[ Available Skills ]

[ Quick Feet: 4 sp ]
[ Disarm Trap: 2 sp ]
[ Lockpick: 1 sp ]
[ Poison Bolt: 1 sp (New) ]
[ Growth: 1 sp (New) ]
[ Mass Thorn Bind: 2 sp (New) ]
[ Mass Rejuvenate: 3 sp (New) ]
[ Leech: 1 sp (New) ]
[ Cat Form: 3 sp (New) ]
[ Sense Mana: 2 sp (New) ]

[ Skill points: 13 ]

Most of those were familiar. It seemed like she mainly had access to basic Druid skills, in spite of her level. Evolving into something else probably would have granted her more raw power. She would likely unlock more as she levelled the basic skills, but she was getting a late start, as it were. Since they were basic skills, they thankfully didn't cost that much. Poison Bolt, and Growth were just 1 skill point each. Mass Thorn Bind, and Sense Mana were 2 skill points each. But there were three new ones.

[ Mass Rejuvenate (Active): Restore HP over time to all party members within 30 metres, and all allies within 15 metres. Recovery value: 1+(1*skill level)% of Max HP (rounded up) every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Nature element property. Duration increases with skill level. Cost: 15 MP. Refresh: 30 seconds. Price: 3 skill points. ]

That seemed about right for that effect, she felt. The price suggested it was a more recent unlock level-wise.

[ Leech (Active): Remove one random negative status condition from target. Nature element property. Warning: certain status conditions cannot be removed. Cost: 2 MP. Refresh: 3 seconds. Price: 1 skill point. ]

A basic spell type for an RPG, but it was odd that it was the first skill she had seen that didn't mention anything about what improving the skill level would do. Maybe the max level bonus was all it had. And finally...

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[ Cat Form (Active): Druid branch exclusive. User shapeshifts into a big cat. Continuous effect. Agility, Strength, and Dexterity +50+(2*skill level)%. Critical Hit chance +10%. Vitality, Intelligence, and Wisdom -50%. Magic power -10%. Max MP -10%. Can't cast most spells. Temporarily gain skills: Bite, Rake, Ambush, and Stealth. Activation Cost: 5 MP. Cast time: 2 seconds. No further cost while active. Deactivation Cost: 0. Refresh: 10 seconds. Price: 3 skill points. ]

At first glance it seemed less useful to her than Bear Form, since she already had all of those skills, but when she thought about it a little more the stat boosts were significant. Regular Adventurer Druids were probably supposed to have low physical stats, so Sara broke the mold in that regard. And she liked the idea of turning into a cat. She liked cats.

Her guess was that the idea of Druids was that the base form was more of an all-rounder, while the shapeshifting let it specialise. Though she hadn't seen any magic focused form so far. Maybe the base form was supposed to be the magic focused one, but it seemed logical to her that there would be one that boosted magic at the expense of physical ability.

Tallying up the prices of what she wanted: Poison Bolt, Growth, Leech, Cat Form, and Sense Mana totalled... 8 points. About two thirds of what she had. Well... maybe she didn't need Sense Mana when she already had Sense Presence, and so many other ways to sense the world around her. At least she could put it off. Even if the hidden condition thing made her wonder if there was some sort of skill merge if she acquired a certain amount of sense skills. Of course there was no guarantee of that. She did want the other things though. Even though she might be on the level of being able to solo a deer now, or she could go after more Goblin Shamans for Growth, and Poison Bolt, it was unreliable, and she couldn't predict how long it would take. Her Luck had gotten another massive boost, so that might improve her odds, but it was easier to just buy the two of them for 2 skill points. The rest she might pick up along the way, as they weren't immediately essential.

She had an eye on Mass Rejuvenate, as it could be helpful when she ran with the other wolves, but it cost a lot, and they'd been doing fine without it.

So that was 6 skill points spent. With the evolutions that had drained her from 15, to 7. That left her with a small reserve in case she unlocked anything crucial.

She finished tweaking her menus, and ended up with a result she felt okay with.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Mystic Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Druid ]

[ Level: 20 (25) ]

[ HP: 135/135 (135/135) | SP: 138/138 (125/125) | MP: 105/105 (112/112) ]

[ VIT: 51 (52) | END: 59 (55) ]

[ STR: 52 (51) | DEF: 41 (29) ]

[ AGI: 74 (67) | DEX: 48 (38) ]

[ INT: 58 (46) | WIS: 52 (49) ]

[ LUK: 110 (38) ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 0 ]

She had decided to set herself as five levels higher for the sake of future proofing, and based her stats close to her current ones. She was quite boosted, so if she was to discount that she figured it made sense that in five levels she would normally be about as strong as she currently was. It was possible she was underselling herself, but with no other point of reference that was the best shot she could give it.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Chomp (New) Lvl 1 (5) | Rend Lvl (New) 1 (5) | Howl Lvl Max (Max) | Sprint Lvl Max (Max) | Thorn Bind Lvl 1 (9) |
Poison Bolt (New) Lvl 1 (9) | Growth (New) Lvl 1 (9) | Regrowth Lvl 1 (9) | Rejuvenate Lvl 1 (8) | Leech (New) Lvl 1 (8) |
Sense Presence Lvl 9 (8) | Bear Form Lvl 1 (5) | Cat Form (New) Lvl 1 (5) ]

[ Concealed Active: ]

[ Charge Lvl 2 | Body Slam Lvl Max | Ambush Lvl 8 | Throw Lvl 1 | Strong Poison Strike Lvl 1 | Death From Above Lvl 3 |
Kick Lvl 2 | Back Attack Lvl 1 | Leap Lvl 4 | Frost Bolt Lvl 1 | Arcane Blast Lvl 1 | Stealth Lvl 17 | Thermal Vision Lvl 5 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl 14 (15) | Keen Eyes Lvl 19 (15) | Keen Ears Lvl 18 (15) | Keen Nose Lvl 16 (15) | Camouflage Lvl 9 (8) |
Insulation Lvl 4 (8) | Nature Element Up Lvl 1 (8) | Mana Manipulation Lvl 1 (8) ]

[ Concealed Passive: ]

[ Danger Sense Lvl 7 | Environmental Sense Lvl 2 | Trap Sense Lvl 1 | Dig Lvl 3 | Climb Lvl Max | Cat's Feet Lvl 5 |
Firm Grip Lvl 3 | Air Control Lvl 3 | Balance Up Lvl 1 | All Attributes Up (Small) Lvl 5 | Poison Resistance Lvl 5 |
Skill Gain Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl 7 (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) | Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]

[ Concealed General: ]

[ Languages (Hidden): Common, Goblin | Life Magic Lvl 1 ]

[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]

[ Tough Scales | Flight | Snare Net Trap | Logging | Cleave | Chop | Bow Expertise | Woodworking | Power Shot ]

[ Skill points: 7 ]

Her logic went that people would probably expect that her basic skills should be high level, but also she didn't know what any of them would unlock at max level, so she didn't want to put them there until she was sure. Sprint was probably fine considering she was a wolf, and the deer had both Camouflage and Insulation even though they were also Druids. 99.9% of the people in this world probably wouldn't have any idea what was normal for a Mystic Wolf anyway.

In general she was putting herself forth as significantly stronger than she actually was, but she'd get there eventually. Probably. Maybe.

"Are you ready to head out?" Aina suddenly asked.

Huh? Yes? Why?

"I have two important things to inform you of. The first is that is that six days from now Moorhold Online is going into extended maintenance for at least a day to implement the first big update, after which the game will also be opened to the second batch of players."

Oh. Wait, what happens to the world while it's in maintenance?

"Moorhold itself will keep going for all the Residents and mobs. Wanderers are the only ones who won't be able to gain access for the duration. It should not affect you in any way."

What do you mean 'should not'?

"There is a slight chance that you will feel some discomfort when the server switches into maintenance mode. A small section of Residents felt such things when the closed, and open betas shut down. It might not happen at all, and if it does it is only temporary. But I wanted to warn you just in case, so you do not feel any distress."

Ah. So what is being updated?

"Quite a number of things. Of course there are bug and glitch fixes, and several skill changes, mainly for balance reasons. Like Ambush has gotten many complaints about being overpowered, even though that is part of the point of it. Assassins are meant to quickly dispose of a target if they can reach them undetected. Still, Wanderers were tired of an Ambush basically meaning they were dead no matter what, so the developers decided to acquiesce them a little by reducing the damage value by 20%, and removing the ability to hit from the front. Honestly I do not think it makes enough of a difference to stop the complaints."

It was hard for Sara to estimate how much impact that would have on her, especially since she now wanted to switch to using magic as her main means of attack, if possible. Assuming her magic power wasn't too weak.

"Oh, and relevant to you since you are now a Druid, they are also reducing the power of Growth. It now starts at 20% buff value rather than 30%. And it will no longer work in Bear or Cat Form, related to the Ambush complaint."

She hadn't even gotten to use it yet, and they were already taking it away. She could still do it in the upcoming week, but it was probably better to not get used to it. That made her curious whether she'd do more damage as a wolf with Growth, or as a cat with the stat buff. She should probably test that out.

"One of the biggest changes is that they are adding class bonuses. Wanderers have asked for more differences in how the classes work, to make their choices feel more impactful, so now each class will get some extra bonus to further differentiate itself from the others. There were calls for a system that has both advantages, and disadvantages, but it is unclear if that is desired by a majority of users, or just a very vocal subgroup. Regardless the developers were not able to finish such a system in time, so only bonuses will be implemented for now. The druid bonuses will be a 5% buff to Wisdom, a 10% chance to get a higher quality item when gathering plants, and 10% reduced cast and refresh time when using Nature element skills in a forested area. It is possible the bonuses will get changed, or adjusted in the future."

That sounded kinda neat, but she wasn't sure if it would make that much of a difference.

"I will note that shapeshifting will not change your class bonus. Even if Bear Form effectively makes you a Fighter, it does not actually change your class, so you will not get the Fighter bonus. Another thing is that all mobs will get sleep cycles. That used to only apply to mobs that were supposed to only be active for part of the day, but now it will be for everyone. Mobs that are intended to be around all day and night will sleep in shifts, so to speak. This is a step towards trying to make the mobs seem more like real animals, rather than simply being videogame monsters, but I am unsure whether it will have a large impact on people's perception. With enough small steps we might eventually get there."

Sara vaguely remembered thinking about that issue a little while back.

"The system for hunger, thirst, and other bodily needs for mobs is still in development, and will come in the second big update at the earliest, which is going live 1. January, followed by letting in the third batch of players. There is no guarantee it will be done by then, so it might get pushed until the third update, but the testing team are hard at work."

Eh?

Sara hadn't thought of that, but now she got the feeling that maybe she couldn't take her time too much in regards to levelling. She wanted to at least be able to cook by the time she'd need to eat, so she didn't have to eat raw meat. Or if food type didn't matter, she'd make do with fruits and berries. She was also not thrilled about the idea of having to poop in the wild, without toilet paper.

"There are several other changes too, but I don't want to reveal everything ahead of time, and a lot of them aren't very relevant to you. Oh, there will be changes to the weather system. You may have noticed that there has been very little rain in the time you have spent here. We are attempting to make the weather more dynamic, so there will be different weather conditions more often."

Whether that would make her want to turn environmental effects down even further only time could tell.

"The second thing I need to bring up is that you have started a war."

Sara froze. War?

"Since your first raid on the Goblin camp, there have been four more raids organised by the other wolves on their own. They find it much more enjoyable than doing their usual patrols. Maybe they will eventually tire of it, but they did one more raid yesterday, and three more today. Even though they never win their raids, they think of it as a fun game, since they just respawn with no further loss. The Goblins find it far less funny. Neither I nor the developers considered that mobs and Residents could develop such different perspectives on things such as death. Normally I would have thought that both sides would get fatigued, but that does not seem to be the case for the wolves. Maybe the exp loss factors into the Residents' opinions."

Oh.

"Meanwhile the Dusk Ravens find this entire situation hilarious, and delight in joining in on the raids. Those birds are not far from being as intelligent as regular Residents, and they are having a blast. They even managed to coax the Forest Deer into joining in, after the deer got so curious about what the wolves were doing that they started following them to the edge of the forest. Their hatred for the Goblins supersede their other feelings, and so we have three different mob types with different motivations charging at the Goblin camp roughly every three hours while it is daylight."

Oh...

"Finally we have the Adventurers who have noticed this happening, and have decided they want to join in on the raids too. Be it for fun, to clear the quests, to target the boss, to see if there are any special rewards, or whatever else lures them in. Unfortunately the Goblins are taking all of this too seriously to have any fun. This might accelerate the event I mentioned about them being driven out of Merwyn Forest, and I am not sure what the mobs will do afterwards, or how the Adventurers will feel about that source of quests going away."

I'm sorry!

"Do not worry. I am finding this very interesting, and the Wanderers have mostly posted positive opinions on this development on the community forums. Impressions of the game's AI have been lukewarm so far, so they consider this sort of 'dynamic event' proof that it is actually more complex than it appears. Even though they do not know the true cause. The developers are trying hard to figure out why this happened, since it is way outside of their predictions. Some of them are arguing that they should treat this as an official event, and add some rewards if the 'event' is cleared."

Oh... is that why you asked whether I am ready to move out?

"Yes. I consider this a positive development, but there is a lot more attention on this area than before. Especially now that you have evolved you are going to stand out a lot. It might be better to move to somewhere else."

But where should I go?

"Wherever you want to, though I have thought about which options may be more beneficial. Heading east will lead you into mostly open areas once you are out of Merwyn, so that is not a great choice. North is Goblin lands, which is not ideal, and also requires quite a detour. I believe South or West to be the best alternatives. South takes you to Beastkin territory, and offers a variety of biomes, including several forests for you to reside in. West takes you to the Elven kingdom, which is mostly comprised of the largest forest on the continent, and the immediate lands surrounding it."

West... that is where Mystic Wolves are from, isn't it?

"So the stories say."

That sounded like the best place to hide out, then. A large forest meant a lot of space to hide, and if it was the area where her kind was expected to appear, it wouldn't seem too strange if she was found.

I'm going west.

"Very well. It is probably a good idea to head out right away, and use the cover of darkness to clear out of Merwyn Forest."

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