Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Den, Road, and Encounter

[ Discovered Nyolund East Depths. ]

[ Level Up: Level 24 Reached! ]

Huh? Wait, what did I level up from?

"There are several ways to gain character experience in Moorhold, not just combat. For instance a certain amount of experience is granted every time someone discovers a new zone, or area. For you it has been steadily building up as you've been travelling."

Oh...

That put her one step closer to her goal, even if she had conflicted feelings about it. It felt a little unearned, but the journey could certainly be described as an ordeal, so maybe it was how things should be.

But the depths, huh? What kind of place is this?

"Each Ildhena zone is roughly divided into three parts. The edge, the main forest, and the depths. There is one depths area on each side of the road through the area."

So the path should be just west of here?

"Yes. Also, I believe this would be a good place to make your new home. There is an outcropping with a large cave that would suit your needs while you stay here."

Sara headed in that direction while reviewing her findings so far. In addition to the raccoons she had also found some speedy hedgehogs as another small animal.

The wolves she had seen started at level 24, and went up to 28. If there were any at level 29 or 30, she had not seen them yet. And they all seemed to be either moving alone, or in pairs. No 3+ packs that she had seen.

The deer were only called 'Noble Deer' if they were level 25 or above. The ones below 25 were simply 'Nyolund Deer', and were missing a couple of skills.

She had not seen any birds aside from the ravens being active during the night, and those seemed to have the same level range as the wolves. She'd have to see how things changed during daytime. And it seemed like she hadn't even explored half of the zone yet, since she'd only stayed east of the road.

What she found at her destination was a small hill, on the front of which sat a large cave entrance. She took some cautious steps closer as she sniffed the air.

You're sure this is empty, Aina?

"Yes."

She trusted Aina enough to let down her guard, and head into the cave. It was quite large, indeed. The word that came to mind was 'den'.

That's what wolves have, right? Dens? At least the fantasy ones often do.

"Correct."

But why would there be a large, empty den like this in the depths of the woods? It almost felt like it was foreshadowing something. There didn't seem to be anything to investigate inside the den. It looked entirely empty, so Sara headed back outside.

[ Firm Grip Skill Level Up! Level Max Reached, Bonus Unlocked! 1 skill point gained. ]

[ Firm Grip (Passive): Increases holder's ability to grab, and hold onto targets, objects, and surfaces. Decreases SP drain if applicable. Increased balance when holding onto something, or if all limbs are on the ground. Effect improves with skill level.
Max level bonus: Immune to disarm skills. ]

That seemed like a pretty good bonus, except it was currently absolutely useless for her. But once she got to wield a weapon she would be unstoppable! Or maybe not. She hadn't even known disarm skills were a thing in the first place, and the description didn't say anything about preventing her from dropping a weapon due to her own mistakes.

Since she was looking at boxes anyway, she might as well check her level up too.

[ Character Status ]

[ Name: Sara ]

[ Species: Mystic Wolf | Gender: Female ]

[ Genus: Wolf ]

[ Class: Druid ]

[ Level: 23 -> 24 (25) ]

[ HP: 155/155 -> 163/163 (135/135) | SP: 159/159 -> 168/168 (125/125) | MP: 135/135 -> 147/147 (112/112) ]

[ VIT: 59 -> 63 (52) | END: 68 -> 73 (55) ]

[ STR: 60 -> 64 (51) | DEF: 47 -> 51 +2 (29) ]

[ AGI: 85 -> 90 (67) | DEX: 56 -> 60 (38) ]

[ INT: 72 -> 78 (46) | WIS: 68 -> 75 (49) ]

[ LUK: 130 -> 138 (38) ]

[ Bonus Attribute Points: 12 -> 16 ]

Yeah... even though my stats are boosted, I think I way undersold how strong I am supposed to be at 25. Not that anyone else would know either. I might be better off if people underestimate me.

With her new home established, she decided to head west.

* * *

[ Discovered Area: Komeron North Way. ]

The sun was just about to crest the horizon as she reached the road, so she got to see it in better light.

As roads went it wasn't much of one. At least you could tell what it was, even though it was clearly not maintained, or travelled much. There were no scents or visible tracks of anything other than the forest creatures. Surely someone must have at least tried going through here in the time since the world started up, but if they had there were no traces of them left. It didn't seem so bad that you couldn't run a horse-drawn cart through, but it probably wouldn't be a pleasant ride. And going on foot you'd have to deal with the wolves, the deer, and...

She sniffed the area some more.

Yeah, there were bears around somewhere. It was the first trace she'd gotten of one in the north. Maybe they were only in a small part of the zone, or there weren't a lot of them to begin with. Though perhaps like in the hills, they weren't nocturnal. Meaning it might ironically be safer to travel at night.

On second thought...

Sara did a quick hop to the side, and activated Arcane Blast. Something that had been trying to pounce on her from above slammed into the ground close to her instead.

[ Stalker Jaguar (Rogue Lvl 24) HP: 101/120 HP ]

A completely black cat. Her Cat Form probably looked something like that. She had seen cat mobs in the east forest, but they had only been lynx sized. This was a proper big cat. It must have leapt at her from one of the trees, but Danger Sense had told her it was coming.

Before it could fully recover, she started casting Thorn Bind, and locked it down just as it tried to pounce at her again.

No fear in these ones, huh? Or did it think me easy prey?

She used Howl, which caused the Jaguar to break out of the vines in panic, and attempt to flee from her. She then mimicked what she had seen the bear do, and used Charge to go into a biting attack rather than a ramming attack.

It spun back around, having broken out of its Fear, and swiped at her. Then suddenly a couple of Dire Wolves came charging out of the forest, and barrelled into it. All Sara had to do at that point was finish it off with a Frost Bolt to the face. She didn't want to use a Fireball when the other two wolves were so close. She wasn't sure to what extent friendly fire was or was not enabled.

[ Stalker Jaguar (Rogue Lvl 24) Defeated. ]

[ Quick Feet Skill Level Up! ]

She hadn't gotten to do very much, so it hadn't given her much skill experience.

"Thank you," she said to her helpers, even though she hadn't needed them.

"You're welcome."

"We heard the howl," they said, as if answering the question she had decided not to ask.

"Can I ask you a couple of things?" Sara asked.

They gave her curious looks, but still answered: "Yes."

"Are there many of those cats?"

"Some. There are more further west, but some of them like being around this path."

"What about the bears?"

"Also west. They fight with the stronger deer a lot, but they will also occasionally come across the path to our side."

"Our side... so there aren't wolves in the west?"

"There are, but only in the south-west. The north-west is too dangerous for us."

"Okay... thanks."

They parted ways, and she decided to head south along the path. There was no real reason to see where it exited the forest, at least not yet. She was more curious about where it turned towards Komeron. She didn't use Sprint because she wanted to keep observing the woods around her, and the wolves had given her some things to think about as well. Though she kept up a brisk enough pace that it would be hard for any more of the jaguars to try to pounce on her. They probably used Death From Above, but she hadn't had the luxury to check out its skill list in the middle of combat.

Occasionally she needed to use Erase Presence to bypass a troublesome deer, but for the most part the trek went without issue. The road was definitely rougher in some parts than others. Maybe cart travel wasn't that viable after all, and she could see why going on foot wasn't tempting.

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* * *

Eventually she reached a point where it started to turn towards the left, and head in a more east, south-east direction. That was probably the point where it started circling around towards the Komeron gate.

[ Sense Mana Skill Level Up! ]

A mana presence came within range, or rather... it was apparently so powerful that she could feel it outside of her normal range. The skill description had said something about that. She was going in that direction anyway, so she intended to check it out. As she got closer she could tell it was a little bit off the side of the road. It was getting quite bright indeed.

She turned on Erase Presence, and skulked her way into the woods to find out what this was. After a short walk, she came across a glade. She saw a small path leading into it to her right, which probably broke off from the road.

It wasn't a huge glade. Roughly 20-25 metres across, and almost circular. In the middle of it was the source of the brightness.

[ Mirielle Sylvani - Elf Temple of the Moon Priestess (Priest Lvl 28) HP: 145/145 ]

What's a priestess doing out here alone? Is she a Wanderer? Can Wanderers join the temples and churches?

"Not in an official capacity as of yet. They can acquire some basic occupations, but the developers hope to include higher available ranks in a future update."

So she was a Resident then.

[ Skill List ]

[ Active: ]

[ Bash Lvl Max | Kick Lvl 4 | Blessed Ray Lvl 5 | Searing Light Lvl 5 | Holy Shackles Lvl 5 | Blessed Shield Lvl 5 |
Greater Heal Lvl Max | Advanced Cure Lvl 8 | Soothing Light Lvl 6 | Dispel Curse Lvl 5 | Diagnose Lvl Max |
Treatment Lvl Max | Fortitude Lvl 6 | Arcane Blast Lvl 5 | Sense Presence Lvl 6 | Sense Mana Lvl 6 ]

[ Passive: ]

[ Night Vision Lvl Max | Keen Ears Lvl Max | Catalyst Expertise Lvl Max | Swim Lvl 4 | Intuition Lvl 6 |
Light Element Up Lvl Max | Mana Manipulation Lvl Max | Intelligence Up (Small) Lvl Max |
Wisdom Up (Small) Lvl Max | Light Resistance Lvl 5 | Dark Resistance Lvl 5 ]

[ General: ]

[ Identify Lvl Max | Life Magic Lvl 8 | Decryption Lvl 8 | Languages: Common, Elf, Human, Beastkin ]

[ Trade: ]

[ Cooking Lvl 7 | Tailoring Lvl 3 ]

So that was what a proper Resident's skill list looked like. She was clearly focused on being a healer, but what did all of these things actually do?

[ Blessed Ray (Active): Fire a magical ray with light element property. Instant hit. Damage value: (1.1+(0.04*skill level))*magic power. Splash radius: 1 metre. (Reminder: Only direct hits have a chance to inflict critical damage.) Inflicts Blind(?) status on target for 4 seconds. Increase user's magic resistance by 5% for 10 seconds. Cost: 4 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

[ Searing Light (Active): Inflict target with a magical damage over time effect with light element property for 12 seconds. Instant hit. Damage value: (5+(0.5*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Double damage against undead, and dark element targets. Cost: 6 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 10 seconds. ]

[ Holy Shackles (Active): Chains manifest forth from nearby surfaces, and bind a target for 12 seconds. Light element property. Chains can be broken, but are stronger than other binds. Chain strength increases with skill level. Locks certain skills. Cost: 8 MP. Cast time: 3 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

So she had some combat capability at least.

[ Advanced Cure (Active): Remove up to three random negative status conditions from target. Light element property. Can cleanse more severe conditions than Cure, but certain status conditions still cannot be removed. Cost: 3 MP. Refresh: 3 seconds. ]

[ Soothing Light (Active): Eases pain, and restores HP over time. Light element property. Recovery value: (10+(1*skill level)) HP every 2 seconds. Duration: (10+(2*skill level)) seconds. Cost: 6 MP. Refresh: 10 seconds. ]

It seemed like Priests just had better healing, and support spells than Druids. Sara felt a little miffed about it, but she told herself that at least Druids had better offensive abilities.

[ Dispel Curse (Active): Able to dispel curses. Success rate depends on skill level, and strength of the curse. Scales with Wisdom. ]

Curses have different strengths?

"Correct. The status condition just called Curse is the one that cuts everything in half, which is a powerful effect, but is usually the easiest to dispel. The difficulty is influenced by how strong the caster is, but the effect of the curse stays the same. There are other curse conditions as well, and they are most often named the 'Curse of Something'. They will usually be tied to a specific boss, or a type of mob. There are also special curses that certain Residents can cast, but that typically involves a whole lot of quest, lore, and story related things I would rather not spoil, and we do not have time to get into regardless."

[ Diagnose (Active): Priest branch exclusive. Able to assess the condition of the target, and gain information on any status conditions they have. Channelled effect. Can also uncover conditions, and ailments that are not status conditions. Effect and accuracy increase with skill level. A good diagnosis of a patient's state of health will make treatment more effective. Activation Cost: 5 MP. Drains (6-(0.5*skill level)) MP every 5 seconds while active. Deactivation Cost: 0. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

[ Treatment (Active): Priest branch exclusive. Able to treat targets with more efficiency, and care than regular healing spells are able to. Channelled effect. Can deal with wounds, injuries, and scars left behind even after HP is fully restored. Can treat diseases, illnesses, and serious conditions even if they're not status conditions. Ability, and efficiency increase with skill level. Cost: Depends on what is being treated. Refresh: N/A ]

[ Fortitude (Active): Cast a buff that increases Vitality and Defence by (20+(1*skill level))%. Duration: 30 minutes. Target feels more energised, and motivated. Cost: 10 MP. Cast time: 5 seconds. Refresh: 5 seconds. ]

The buff was a step above any others she had seen, but Treatment made her scratch her head.

Aina? Can you explain Treatment a little more?

"I will try. Treatment is currently a Resident only skill. To be precise it can only be obtained through being taught by a religious institution after reaching a certain rank, which Wanderers cannot do yet. The churches and temples offer treatments to deal with lingering injuries, disabilities, diseases like the flu, measles, small pox, etc, and chronic conditions. A very skilled practitioner can also handle dealing with something as serious as cancer, but someone less skilled might make it worse. You may consider it a catch-all solution, but it still depends a lot on individual skill, and proper diagnosis."

Sara had kinda assumed that all those things went away if you respawned, but maybe not. And maybe people weren't that keen to die just to cure themselves even if they could.

So this Priest is very good at being a healer, then?

"Yes."

There were two more things she hadn't seen before. Well, four, but she could guess what Cooking and Tailoring did without checking.

[ Intuition (Passive): Able to sense important, and hidden things. Deduction ability increased. Effect increases with skill level. ]

That was incredibly vague, which kinda made it all the more intriguing.

[ Decryption (General): The skill to handle, decode, decipher, and deduce the unknown. For instance lost languages, ancient texts, coded messages, artwork, and more. Improved ability to piece together clues, and hints. ]

Also vague, but she got the general idea.

And she was a little surprised that Human was its own language. Part of her had assumed that was just what Common was.

She felt like the skills this woman had gave off a general idea of who she was, and she seemed like a caring, upstanding individual, with some interesting hobbies. Whom Sara was plotting to murder.

She did feel a little bad about it, but she knew the woman would just respawn back in the city (or wherever she was bound to), and it wasn't like the Residents had done her any favours so far. Plus she was a pretty juicy target, all alone as she was. There was a four level difference between them, but she felt like she had a good chance at taking down a healer even with that disparity. It would also be a decent test for how well she would do with Ambushing outside of Cat Form. In a few days she would have to make the decision between Cat Form without Growth, or base form with Growth when it came to ambushing.

It wasn't risk-free, but she had just set her new respawn point. Summoning help would make it easier, but it was a test, so she wanted to do it alone.

[ Erase Presence Level Up! ]

It was as if the popup was encouraging her, so she left her doubts behind, and went for it.

The priestess seemed like she was occupied with something, which just made it easier for Sara to sneak up on her. Aaaaand... Ambush!

The woman screamed as nearly half her HP vanished in one go, but her reaction speed was impressive as she unleashed an Arcane Blast that pushed Sara quite some distance away. She flipped around, activated her Soothing Light, and cast her Holy Shackles to lock Sara down, but Sara responded by casting Thorn Bind. Making them both stuck. And then... the elf froze.

Sara hesitated for a moment too, wondering if there was something hidden going on. It was giving her an uneasy feeling, so she quickly decided to just unleash a barrage of spells before whatever was going on could actually happen.

[ Elf Temple of the Moon Priestess (Priest Lvl 28) Defeated. ]

In the end the elf woman hadn't done anything else, which just made Sara feel weird about the whole affair.

[ Skill Gained: Intuition. ]

[ Skill Gained: Decryption. ]

[ Language Learned: Elf. ]

That was the final proof that she was indeed a Resident.

[ Growth Skill Level Up! ] [ Fireball Skill Level Up! ] [ Fire Element Up Skill Level Up! ] [ Frost Bolt Skill Level Up! ]
[ Poison Bolt Level Up! ] [ Water Needle Level Up! ]

Maybe Sara had gone a little overboard. Honestly the way it had turned out left a bit of a sour taste in her mouth. It hadn't really been fair combat, the elf had just seemed to give up. She didn't even feel all that excited about getting new skills.

There was the silver lining that her possible career as a detective was looking even brighter now, but it didn't provide a lot of comfort.

Somehow she wasn't thrilled about the idea of looting the elf either, but it was better than just leaving the body there. At least it went away about five seconds afterwards.

She noticed what the woman had been so preoccupied by. It was a statue. Of a wolf.

What is this doing here? And what was she doing to it?

Sara did her best to examine it, but she couldn't really figure out anything. It looked fine. Nothing special. Just a wolf. In which case it kinda resembled herself, she supposed. The most interesting thing was that it was as big as her, too. Couldn't have been easy to make a life-sized wolf statue. It was a little deteriorated, giving the impression that it had been there for a while, but otherwise it looked to be in good condition.

Actually, it occurred to her that the glade smelled a bit odd. As if no one entered it regularly. As if the forest mobs steered clear of it. Very strange.

She decided to just move on. There was nothing else to see.

Sara lost karma points.

Did you know Elden Ring is a game? It is scary in that if I sit down with it, the entire day might vanish without a trace, and I won't get any writing (or anything else) done.

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