Chapter 40: Learning More

Kaius trudged through a cave of shattered rock and spearing roots, Porkchop following close behind. It was dark, far darker than the grove had been. The cave moss that had provided them comforting light had grown sparse as they pushed deeper into the tunnels, leaving just enough light for him to use Low Light Vision to see by.

They’d left the grove weeks ago, pushing deep into the many twisting tunnels that had splintered off from the oversized cavern. The mineshaft that had caught Kaius’s attention turned out to be a dead end. All they’d found had been undead miners, rockfall traps, and a small pouch of depths-coin sitting on a plinth at the end. The gold coin had been nice, but it had been annoying to have to turn back so quickly.

In their downtime, he’d spent some time trying to recreate the inadvertent bomb that had blown up their house. Unfortunately, much to his dismay, all he managed to do was create formations that burned themselves out. It seemed whatever had happened, it had been due to some distortion of his runes thanks to working with charcoal and wood. He’d been expecting that; even with the higher than expected mana density, it should have simply burnt itself out.

In the end, his inability to recreate it was no great loss. He was leary of relying too heavily on environmental traps and fighting like a runewright. It could overly influence his class options, and prevent him from gaining recognition from the system for more direct forms of confrontation.

Every now and again would be okay, but it wouldn’t be too long until he could work on his spell casting formation, he could be patient.

The other tunnels they now explored were far more convoluted. They sprawled through the earth, intersecting and winding through each other in a confusing mess. Roots clawed free from rock walls, the monochromatic sight of his Low Light Vision making them seem closer to the petrified tentacles of some slumbering horror.

Two or three times an hour, the light would return when a tunnel opened up into a small cavern. Graves dotted the spaces, overgrown with lichens and dense brush. They absolutely crawled with depths-born, always a coinflip if they would be nearly overrun by beasts or undead. Unlike the cavern that held the groves, these spaces in the earth were much smaller. Small enough that engaging one of the dungeon spawn was enough to pull the rest down on their heads.

The beast caverns at least made for good campsites. Without the putrid smell of undead, and with the beasts providing a convenient food source, they were almost comfortable.

His armour had already shown its worth, deflecting claw and blade alike with ease. It dramatically increased the risks he could take in combat, now he only had to worry about the slow attrition of his Health as it expended to heal cracked bone and bruised flesh. Not that he was reckless.

Well. Not anymore.

A careless brush with a shadewolf had left his arm shattered, his armour doing little to protect him from the raw power of its jaws.

When they’d first entered the tunnels Kaius had been worried about straying too far from the glade, concerned about their supplies of water. Thankfully the caverns contained a source often enough that they hadn’t had to attempt a retreat for supplies. Whatever intelligence controlled the Great Depths, it seemed to disdain deaths as mundane as thirst and starvation.

In the tunnels themselves traps had become ubiquitous. Blanketing carpets of poisonous puffballs, ambush predators, rockfall traps and more were scattered through the gloomy corridors. Most were natural hazards, but not all. They promised death to the unwary, slowing their exploration to a crawl.

At the very least it had been fantastic for Kaius’s skill growth. Low Light Vision had capped itself a few hours ago, his range of vision increasing to a full fifty paces or more – not that he got the most use out of it in the tight confines. He had similarly managed to finish Inspect during one of their cavern skirmishes, now able to reliably identify all of the depths-born they came across. Appraise, Adamant Body, and Explorer’s Toolkit had all seen their own growth, with the first skill comfortably butting up against the cap.

Kaius pulled up his Status to check the changes.

Status:

Name: Kaius

Dynasty: Unterstern

Age: 18

Class Selection: 1 Year, 37 weeks, 3 days

Race: Human (Dynastic) – +1 free stats per level

Layer Reached: 2

Resources:

Health – 300/300 (2/min)

Stamina – 200/200 (2/min)

Mana – 140/140 (2/min)

Stats:

Endurance – 30

Vitality – 20

Strength – 20

Dexterity – 20

Intelligence – 12 > 14

Willpower: – 20

Stat Points: 0

Class Skills (0/10):

N/a

General Skills (10/10):

Rapid Adaptation (Heroic) – 15 > 17

Warforged (Unique) – 20

Explorers Toolkit (Unusual) – 6 > 10

Adamant Body (Unique) – 1 > 8

Low Light Vision (Uncommon) – 0 > 20

Mental Visualisation (Uncommon) – 0 > 18

Inspect (Rare) – 0 > 20

Appraise (Rare) – 0 > 19

Sense Illusion (Rare) – 0 > 20

Sense Mana (Rare) – 0 > 20

Bound Artefacts:

A Fathers Gift – Common Growth Longsword

Awakening Conditions–

Gain a class (0/1)

Acquire suitable materials (0/3)

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