Unbound

Chapter Ten - 010

The sword looked like it was made of bronze, and had a weird curved shape. It was straight near the hilt, then it bowed outward in a distinct curve. Like an axe, or something. The hilt was a simple cross guard, and the handle wrapped in dark wire and capped with an oblong pommel. The whole thing was in surprisingly good condition.

Name: Unknown Sword

Type: Slashing

Lore: Unknown

Interesting. No damage range or anything. This was the first time Felix had Analyzed a proper item. All of the improvised weapons and tools he had made offered nothing to the Skill. The details were both more than he expected and less than he wanted. Noticing there was no sheath or belt to put this sword in, he set it down at his feet and moved on.

The corpse was wearing the tattered and rusted remains of clothing and armor, but unlike the satchel, they were utterly ruined. Time and weather had rotted away the organics, and rust had done in the rest. This person had to have been lying here for months or years; honestly, Felix had no idea how fast metal armor rusted away like that.

Turning back to the satchel, Felix found several interesting items within it. A small, thin rope called a brightweave coil, made of a slick, silky material was of particular note.

Name: Brightweave Coil (50ft)

Type: Tool (Enchanted)

Lore: Brightweave is the process of weaving Mana into a material, typically silk or something of similar quality. This rope was woven with an enchantment for durability, and with a limited ability to obey commands. It can tie itself into a knot upon command, and release said knot as well.

"Wow," Felix was stunned. "A magic item." It was an extremely useful item, though he shook his head. Was it strange that his first thought was that his Free Climbing Skill wouldn't level if he used the rope?

Additionally, there was a hard leather case in the satchel. It had a simple catch, and was made of boiled leather plates. When he opened it, he found ten small loops filled with glass. Six of the ten loops held only shattered remnants, but four had intact vials capped with a blackened cork of some sort. Two vials were red, one was blue, and the last was a strange silver. He Analyzed them, and they were Health potions, a Mana potion, and the silver concoction came back with nothing.

Name: Unknown Potion

Type: Consumable

Lore: Unknown

The Health and Mana potions each cured 50 points per dose. A huge amount, especially in the middle of battle. Felix grinned and hugged the hard leather case to his chest, gently, careful not to smash the fragile vials. Excited, he reached back into the satchel and rooted around, looking for anything else.

His hand hit a hard, heavy object. Felix pulled it out and inspected it. It was a slightly blunt and very heavy iron spike. One end was a blunted tip and the other was flattened out, like a tent spike or something. A hole was formed into the flat end, as if it were meant to be threaded in some way. Felix looked around, expecting to see the rotted remains of a tent or something, when his eye snagged on a dark shape up on the cliff face. He stepped closer, walking to the base of the cliff and looking up. There, nearly ten feet up, a black iron spike had been hammered into the cliff face. Felix looked back at the corpse and the pile of rope at its feet.

"Why were you climbing this cliff?" Felix scratched his chin, his stubble irritating his usually clean shaven skin. His eyes roamed over the cliff face, trying to pick out any more black spikes in the harsh late afternoon light. One, two, three more pitons could be seen, all together making a meandering path toward the waterfall itself. Stepping closer to the waterfall and rocky bank, Felix peered upward through the haze of chill mist. After nearly a minute, he caught a glimpse of a darkness behind the waterfall.

"A cave!" He gasped, excitement and relief flooding him. A cave meant shelter, and the out of the way location meant he didn't have to worry about any beasts in the area attacking him. He grinned.

"Time to level up Free Climbing."

It took him a few minutes to gather up everything he would need. The satchel was a decent size and could hold plenty of herbs, roots, and Kelaar fruit. He packed it to the brim, just barely securing the clasp on the front. A few leather straps on the top of the satchel were convenient to tie down the strange hooked sword. Slipping the rope around his shoulder and the satchel around his chest, he began to climb.

His Stamina bottomed out shortly after he made it past the first iron piton. Dropping back down, Felix fell into a seated position and Meditated. As his Stamina ticked back up to full, Felix considered his options. His Free Climbing Skill was only level 3, and this cliff was obviously much more of a challenge than the Kingsap tree. But it stood to reason that if he just kept trying his Skill level would increase and his Stamina consumption would drop accordingly. Nodding to himself, he got back up.

After an hour, he had fallen six times, but Free Climbing had risen to level 6. He could now make it past the second piton, and the fall was beginning to pose a significant danger. The sandy embankment helped cushion his falls, but he was pushing past forty feet and it was extremely easy to break a bone if he landed wrong. Luckily, his Acrobatics Skill took this time to shine and a lucky tumble allowed him to reduce the damage a little. Acrobatics had risen from level 8 to level 10 quickly, and as before, Felix felt a portion of the Skill's power flow into him; he felt more graceful and flexible than ever before in his life.

After two hours, he made it up to the third piton. At this point he was being showered in a constant icy mist. Still without protective garments or even a shirt Felix had to keep activating Fire Within to force away the cold. The main problem was that he couldn't really move while he used the Skill, he had to hunker down and hold tight for several minutes each time. Luckily, the cliff was craggy and had plenty of handholds that he could rest at; not quite as luckily, the mist began to thicken into watery spray as he neared the final piton. He was forced to keep Fire Within activated constantly, pushing himself to keep climbing as he did so. His Mana continually dropped, the Skill taking approximately 3 Mana/second and reducing him to zero in a little over a minute, which meant a spiking headache that made him pause his climb.

Three hours later the sun had almost completely set over the treetops, and Felix pulled himself up onto the final ledge. He lay there, panting and heaving and letting the icy spray settle over him. He was so tired, so drained of Mana and Stamina that he didn't even activate any Skills. He just laid there, seeing the sunset through a curtain of water. He toggled his notifications.

Free Climbing is level 9!

Acrobatics is level 10!

Physical Conditioning is level 6!

Physical Conditioning is level 7!

Meditation is level 9!

Meditation is level 10!

Meditation is level 11!

Fire Within is level 2!

Fire Within is level 3!

...

Fire Within is level 9!

+4 STR

+1 END

+1 WIL

What a workout. With a groan, Felix rolled over and up onto his feet. He was exhausted from the river, the hypothermia, and the climb. If nothing else, he was excited to have a safe place to sleep again. As he stumbled forward, he saw the extent of the waterfall cave. It was perhaps fifteen feet deep by thirty feet wide, but that was it. Much of the area was wet and slick, but a sizable portion near the rear was quite dry.

"It'll do," he huffed.

You Have Learned A New Skill!

Exploration (Uncommon), Level 1!

Only by traveling into the unknown can your horizons expand. Skill gains related to exploration and information gathering are increased a small amount by Skill Level.

"That's...yeah, that's the weirdest one yet," Felix grunted as he sat in the back of the cave. The rock wasn't smooth but it wasn't uncomfortable either, not with him as tired as he was. He briefly considered Meditating before his eyes drooped closed and he fell asleep.

It was full dark when Felix woke back up. He knew that because he could see the stars.

Wait. He blinked and squinted. Were the stars moving?

With a grunt of effort, Felix stood up from his seated position against the cave wall. He could see a number of blue-white specks beyond the waterfall, even out of the opening to the side of the cave, where the water didn't distort everything. Feeling his sore body protest with every step, he hobbled closer to the edge. Had this been day, he would have been able to see all of the surrounding area, but it was night and has it had been the past few days, night meant utter darkness.

Except for the glowing specks of blue-white light.

They fluttered and flowed around the area, not so much illuminating as radiating. They moved like birds, flowing in and out of liquid seeming flocks of light. They were...beautiful.

Felix felt something inside him loosen as he watched them. A knot in his chest he hadn't noticed, something that had been growing tighter with every passing hour in this strange and deadly land.

"Mom would have loved this," he sighed. His mother had loved fireflies, back when she had dragged him and his siblings out camping each summer. She would spend hours on the KOA picnic benches, watching the light fail as lightning bugs floated between the wildflowers. He closed his eyes. He could almost hear the clicking of the cicadas as he breathed in the warm night air.

When Felix opened his eyes, a couple of the glowing creatures had floated closer to him. Now in range, he tossed out a quick Analyze.

Name: Wisp

Type: Elemental

Level: 9

HP: 10/10

MP: 345/345

Lore: Bewitching travelers with their alluring light, wisps are commonly mistaken for light elementals. They are in fact bundles of raw kinetic energy.

Strength: Unknown

Weakness: Unknown

"Huh, weak."

It was the lowest level creature he had seen so far. It's HP was extremely low too. If he tried he could really mop these things up and probably get a decent amount of experience--

Felix shook his head. Easy experience? That was a fucked up way to look at a world, no matter how tempting. What would that turn him into, down the road? Felix preferred not to find out.

He held out his arm as one of the Wisps drifted closer, appearing curious. The light they emitted was almost too bright to look at directly, but it was gorgeous. Felix watched, enthralled as another and another Wisp alighted on his arm.

Ha, alighted. Felix smiled, happier than he had felt in a long while. In fact, it reminded him of something--

Another three Wisps landed on his shoulders, their small bodies giving off a faint pressure. He could almost see something in the light, something twisting and twirling, casting a shadow within its bright center.

You Take 2 Damage From A Wisp's Pierce!

"Ow!" Felix recoiled, feeling a sting on his forearm. Quickly, he felt a half dozen more sharp pains on his arms and shoulders.

You Take 12 Damage from A Wisp's Pierce (x6)!

Frantic, he brushed off his arms and shoulders, spinning away and across the small cave. The Wisps drifted after him, their blue-white light pulsing slightly as they drew close. An invisible wave of force suddenly swept him off his feet, tossing him easily to his right, directly into the rough cavern wall.

"UFF!" Felix slid to the ground, winded. The Wisps pulsed and flowed toward him, and he counted seven in total. Bracing himself against the wall, he got to his feet and awkwardly drew the hooked sword from his pack.

"Why couldn't you just be pretty lights?" Then he stepped forward and swung. Again and again; but the Wisps floated away from the blade with preternatural ease. Like trying to catch a dandelion puff in your hand. A Wisp darted forward and bit at his shoulder before flitting out of reach. "Ah!"

Frustrated, Felix swung wide then brought his empty left hand up to point his palm at the nearest Wisp. Quickly, a ball of acid formed and launched itself in a steady stream at the creature.

You Have Hit A Wisp for 8 HP!

Acid Stream is level 2!

The glowing bug now disoriented, Felix followed up with a quick slash of his hook sword.

You Have Hit A Wisp for 4 HP!

You Have Killed A Wisp!

Experience Gained!

You Have Learned A New Skill!

Long Blade Mastery (Common), level 1!

Wield the blade to defeat your enemies and protect what is yours!

"Now that's more like it," Felix smiled as he turned toward the other Wisps. "Who wants some?"

The Wisps were floating in place now, obviously hesitant to face him. Or...Felix's eyes widened as he saw a river of lights begin to flow toward his cave.

"Oh no," Felix raised his left hand and let loose a gout of acid, spraying it in an arc over the cavern. The Wisps wilted and flickered, some dying, but the rest dodging the unfocused stream. But then it was too late. A torrent of blue-white lights flooded the cavern, and Felix felt a vast force rip him from his feet and throw him toward the back of the cave.