Chapter 7: Basecamp

Kaius slumped onto the wall of the ruined church, sliding down until he sat somewhat comfortably. His heart still pounded from the excitement of going toe to toe with a full party of undead.

Beside him lay a pile of poor quality armour. Scavenged from the body of his slain foes, it had been gruelling and disgusting work. He did, however, have a need for them when he started working on his defensive legacy skill. So he had grit his teeth and done his best to ignore his slowly healing wounds as he had stripped the bodies.

To his great relief, the small stonework building had been empty when he had peered in through a shattered window. Its only contents some tattered tapestries, a few splintering pews, a large empty hearth and an unadorned stone altar at the head of the church.

With four thick stone walls, windows too narrow for most things to climb through, and a thick wooden door that seemed in relatively good shape, it was just about as good of a spot as he could hope for in the Depths. Plus, while individual rooms and regions did reset in a biome, it often took weeks or even months of no human presence at this shallow of a layer to happen.

“Which means I will need to return here even if I go on extended explorations, since finding the exit from this layer, and being strong enough to handle its defender, will take far longer than that.”

Kaius sighed, ignoring the slight burn of his now simply bruised ribs. His health had unfortunately burned itself out before they were fully healed, and now he had to wait for the slow trickle of his regeneration to fix the rest.

He closed his eyes, lightly thumping his head into the wall behind him.

To call the enormity of the problem in front of him ‘tough’ would be a grievous understatement. His dance with a single small group of undead militiamen had brought him close to the brink, and it was a near certainty that encounters of that nature would be common, if not more difficult.

He had to come to terms with the fact that he was going to be stuck down here for a long, long time. That if he rushed, was careless, or simply unlucky, he might not make it out alive. He didn’t want to. But he had to.

“Back to basics Kaius. You’re deep in some of the most hostile territory available. You need to make a plan.” he thought to himself.

If he was going to do this, he needed to be strict. Strict and smart. First step, securing a reliable source of food and water. He might have a few weeks worth of rations, but they were non-perishable and it would be far better if he could save them for emergencies and longer expeditions. They also weren’t exactly the most pleasant things, tooth-splitting hardtack and some hyper-nutritious pemmican that coated the mouth with cloying fat.

He also needed to merge his next legacy skill, Explorer’s Toolkit, as soon as possible.

There should, if his hearing was right, be beasts in the glade. Hunting them, truly hunting them, should both ensure his own safety and give him an opportunity to train Sense Weakness. The danger of stalking true beasts instead of mundane animals would more than likely super charge his growth. Plus the hearth that sat across the room from him seemed perfect to use as a smoker to start stockpiling jerky for longer term storage.

From there, in his down time, he would work on Physical Conditioning the old fashioned way. Gruelling effort, sweat, and tears.

If he devoted himself to the task, he might be able to finish them off in the next week.

Then it would be time to start collecting more skills all over again. He eyed the loose pile of armour next to him. The skills they represented would give him some measure of security, and once he had Adamant Body he would finally feel a little more confident in truly delving the Depths.

Kaius crouched on a sturdy tree branch, steadying himself on the trunk behind him with one hand. He was nestled in amongst the canopy, the long shadows cast by the soft lighting of the cave ceiling above cloaking his figure in darkness.

He had left his pack behind at the church, preferring to travel light for a simple scouting expedition.

With sharp eyes his gaze all but tunnelled a hole into the boar-like creature that rooted in the dirt not more than a few long strides below him. It was a strange creature, strikingly dissimilar to the common boars he had seen in the forest he had grown up in. Yet in many ways it was still a boar. Roughly the right shape, tusks, a snout. It just had a row of spines, no hair, and almost no fat on its freakishly muscled body.

It looked fucking frightening if he was entirely honest with himself.

Kaius frowned, suppressing a shudder.

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“At least it doesn’t seem to have the same sense of smell as a real boar. One of those would have picked me up long before it saw me”

His eyes roamed over the creature, its rippling musculature and thin skin hiding little from him.

There, just above and slightly behind its shoulder. In between a gap in its ribs. With each of the beast’s heart beats he watched as the spot slightly distended and pulsed. An artery, most likely a major one with its proximity to the heart. At least if the thing was built anything like a normal boar on the inside. Sense Weakness twinged.

Kaius smiled. “Perfect.”

Reaching over his back Kaius drew his sword with painful slowness. He’d already dulled the shine of his blade with ash from the church’s hearth, so the only thing that could give him away now was if he made too much of a racket.

The beast below dug its tusks into the ground surrounding the roots of the tree, flinging a soft shower of dirt into the air. Evidently it had found something worth eating, as it lowered its head and began to snuffle. All the while unaware of the predator that stalked it from above.