The first thing I realized, a week into the System when I finally decided to try some homework was that it was easy. So easy. I had always liked school just fine, though it had initially revolved around the happenings of my friends and I, special events and of course the promise of having time away from it. Certainly I had looked forward to activities like soccer, which was just more play time with my friends. I missed it all dearly. Besides the obvious of the people I had lost or who were for now lost to me I missed a lot of things. Things that made me take my dear goddess’ name in vain. By Hecate I missed toilet paper. Why couldn’t she have given me an endless roll of toilet paper instead of water? Water was so easy to find, easier than literally anything else I wanted. I found it on the first day.
Having to use leaves the first time went without mention, just a thing that had to be done until a better solution came along. Except it didn’t. And how about soap? I stank for months before I learned how to rend animal fat. And even then it took a while to air out the tent. I couldn’t even make myself smell pretty because it had been winter and there were no flowers! I corrected that as soon as spring came around, you can bet on that.
But I digress. Learning about stream of consciousness was dangerous for me, unlearned in the art of great writing as I was. Barely out of the mental stage of a series of “and then” statements I took to talking aloud as though telling a friend of my progress. I liked to think Hecate was somehow watching me and listening raptly to every word. Especially when I pointed out how helpful some toilet paper would be.
Sorry, back to schooling. I quickly blew past my grade and several after it, understanding came quick and easy. Some topics meant little to me, statistics had no use in my current situation that I could find and I skipped it entirely. Sometimes I would skip things only to have to come back to them when they were needed to understand something new. Why would I need to understand the industrial revolution? Because so many things that I missed were only available because of it. You would think electricity or medicine would be the most difficult to recreate mechanically. As it turns out, not at all. A magnet and some copper wire for electricity and medicine was somewhat irrelevant at this point outside of health potions and antidotes for poisons. Both things a high enough vitality could take care of on its own.
You know what’s really hard to make? Bread. Baking powder and baking soda are nearly impossible to make without specialized equipment and industrialization. Oh how high my heart had soared upon finding wildwheat. Only to be dashed upon the rocks when I realized how many ingredients I needed to make something other than tack bread. I could only hope that one day upon rejoining civilization I would find that wonder again. I still made the tack bread of course, I would take any variety I could find. My jerky and Ramen were long gone at this point, and while I was hoping to try and make some pasta with the remaining wild wheat I knew it was gonna suck in comparison. There are surprisingly no packets of flavor growing in the woods.
My biggest discovery though, was that it was ok to live. Have you ever experienced existential dread? The only cure I had found was the fact that the System provided a path to avoid death altogether. This didn’t make up for the family taken from me though. That was, I don’t know that I’ll ever get past that entirely. It’s a little easier to breathe every day, and I try not to dwell on it. Which leads to my progress.
Issue one was how to stay on task. I was fine in short bursts but would get discouraged easily and want to give up without some kind of positive approval. While the System was consistent internally it didn’t feel that way to me. I had gained several points in various stats between the tutorial and the first day and therefore assumed it was easy.
It was not.
The progress of the first point was easier than the next. The good thing was that the points were based on your progress and not the amount you started with. Which meant it was easier to gain intelligence than strength because I was heavily relying on it. Forcing myself to use my strength and dexterity gained me some points but I quickly reached a level where I wasn’t getting any gains on either. That I could not tolerate.
If I had learned anything in my media crawl it was that progress was important. The system provided me a way to progress of course, outside of those few precious points gathered from hard work. Killing everything I saw. All the knowledge I had gained prepared me to fight, but not to kill. My heart had not hardened so much that I could see every living entity as a bucket of XP. In fact, it took me weeks before I stopped crying every time I had to kill something cute. I still hadn’t stopped wanting too.
Luckily the system provides. Far from the empty forest of a singular squirrel I had found myself absolutely surrounded by enemies from the insect world. My first level, insect kill, and a highly anticipated skill came the third day when a centipede the size of my arm decided to fall from a tree limb to try and claim me as a mid morning snack.
…..
I had been practicing my lighting, or tiny static equivalent and was getting better at not shocking myself. If that stupid bug hadn’t landed on my face I probably could have gotten it without shocking myself too. Instead I gained a backhanded compliment from the System when I zapped it and my face.
LVL 3 Centipede defeated
EXP Awarded
Level Up
Stat points awarded
Pyrrhic Shock
Why are you hitting yourself? Most mages aim their magic at their enemies, you’re just happy they get hurt too. Enemies take double damage, damage to yourself is further reduced by vitality.
OK that wasn’t exactly what I was after but it was a start. I was going to ride the lightning! Unless that had something to do with drugs like chasing the dragon. I swear I kept finding cool phrases ruined by their definition. It took everything in me not to start hugging everything I found and yelling “Shazaam!” Probably for the best, the last thing I needed was to be found by magic IP lawyers. Honestly it wasn’t too hard to resist, ants that were as tall as my knees, acid spitting butterflies, and centipedes were none too cuddly.
No my real bane were the mammals. Cute little bunnies that were terrifyingly quick and seemed a lot less vegetarian than I had expected. One thing I had learned from an archived internet were that most herbivores were actually opportunistic omnivores. They’d absolutely eat meat if it was easy. And what was easier than a slow human who had convinced themself if they cause you they could make you their friend. Hello, my name is Marie and I’m addicted to trying to get animals to be my friend.
I don’t know if this is a kid thing or a me thing but having the wisdom to know better does not mean you have the willpower to listen to reason. Do you know how maddening it can be to know that you’re being impetuous because you’re still maturing, see a terrible mistake, and then make it anyway because you’re still too immature to think that consequences apply specifically to you? The worst part was that the System would mock me constantly.
Lvl 2 Little Bunny Foo Foo
Not your friend
That first bunny was terrible. There I am, middle of the woods, going “Here bunny bunny bunny, cute bunny bunny” and the thing runs up and clamps on my arm. Right through my coat, which I have no way of repairing. Well, at the time. I eventually had to start using sinew and bone needles to fix my falling apart clothes, and later to make clothes from pelts. You can stop imagining Tarzan, I’m way classier than that. Full on leather armor, fur still attached. Like Etsy but better. I did however make a skirt to go with my leggings, there’s nothing to say I can’t be an adorable little monster covered in dead animals. Including little bunny Foo Foo
Honestly I hope I never stop wanting to be cute. To take time to make flower crowns, or blow dandelions. It makes me feel like there’s still some me in here and I’m not just an amalgamation of difficult circumstance. I worry sometimes that one day I’ll be this predator devoid of all hope and empathy looking down on wriggling bags of experience with disdain, knowing that they’re all fodder for my path.
So far so good!
…..
Back to today.Today’s my birthday and I have something special planned for later. But first my routine. First a quick look at my status.
Name Marie
Species Human LVL 0
Class Basic Mage (Range) LVL 18
Stats
Strength 25
Dexterity 26
Intelligence 88
Wisdom 79
Vitality 52
Health 104
Mana 172
Skills
Class Quick Learner
Greater Mana Manipulation
Free Form Identify
Mana Sense
Water Magic
Pyrrhic Shock
Mana Walking
Flame Magic
Basic Air magic
Basic Earth magic
Blessings
Permanent Disciple of Hecate
Temporary Boon of the Newly Integrated
Titles World's Weakest
Child Prodigy
How’d I get those other skills? Don’t worry little chicky I’ll feed you. Sit back and enjoy the ride. The first thing I do when leaving the comfort of my tent is to open the door to my treehouse. Well I call it a treehouse, it’s more of a hideout I carved into a tree and then used my Mana knife to create wooden hinges so it closes back into the shape of a tree. This is my eighth one, and by far the best. Even I have a hard time seeing where it is and if not for this banger System assisted memory I probably would have lost it forever. Don’t worry though I haven’t let the others go to waste, using this as my central hideout I’m slowly working on making an expanding circle of hideouts to use when necessary. The only issue is that it’s getting harder and harder to carve. As it turns out the ambient mana is still rising and as it does a layer of difficulty is added to using my mana on any living thing. At this point that lvl 1 squirrel would have survived my mana knife. It’s not a great weapon unfortunately. Luckily, thanks to my practice and diligence my mana constructs are very dense and hard to break. Having them hit doesn’t even cost much mana at all anymore. At least from the critters I’ve faced.
As I open my treehouse door I step out on a limb roughly ? the way up a 400 foot chestnut oak tree. This bad boy can fit so many nooks in it. Normally after ensuring there are no active threats I would climb down to use the bathroom before returning. Then I would close the door and work on my homework. Homework here being code for anime, cartoons or whatever else included super powered beings doing super powered stuff. Using visual or audio media meant that I could eat breakfast and work on mana manipulation. Often this started with some fire magic, now upgraded to flame magic for my constant use in warming myself up.
Flame Magic
Fireball! Fireball! Fireball! Create and control medium sized fires. Size and heat dependent on intelligence. Upgradeable
…..
A lot of fiction seems to think fire is a great attack element. I think it might be nightmare fuel. So, remember little bunny Foo Foo? Turns out he had a burrow and a family. I had been working on fire for a couple of weeks at that point, thrilled to no longer be freezing all day. At that time it was just Fire Magic, passing Basic Fire Magic in only a couple of days from use. Zero regrets there. That first bunny attacked me while I was setting up my evening fire, not yet lit. It died a shocking death if you get my meaning. I extricated it from my arm and placed it on the ground. I was close to running out of food.
I made the fire as the sun was setting, used to spending a little time outside every night before bed. I’d made sure not to push myself so hard seeing as I had almost killed myself a few times that first day, or at least it felt like it. I didn’t want to eat the bunny. I imagined myself growing up on a farm and becoming attached to the animals only to one day have to turn on them for food. I didn’t like the feeling but I thought maybe I could use this fake scenario to push myself into something I was going to have to do eventually.
Match lit, fire up and I hear the air being let out of a balloon. You ever think there’s one more step walking up a set of stairs? Or you’re reading something while walking and take a wrong turn and now you’re wondering why you’re facing the closet? It was very much like that. One balloon was joined by another, and another and one more on top of that. Surreal is the word.
I stood up, wide eyed, barely able to peer in the direction of the sound over the fire. The fire I’m directly mana connected to. So I lower the flames to see four sets of red eyes looking back at me from the darkness. Two of them run straight at me making little hiccups in their cry as they hop along at an alarming pace.
I panic. All the mana I’ve gathered around the fire gets dumped in the fire in front of me lashing bursting out at the two attackers. Their screams send shivers down my spine as they land in front of me smoldering and disfigured. They half roll around, dying at my feet with one still somewhat on fire. I’m too busy staring in horror at what I just did to even realize the other bunnies are still out there. Ding, ding goes the system and a dry leaf alerts me to something on my right.
Shield up! It hits and falls back. Sudden pain on the back of my neck, biting stabbing. I think this bunny is trying to break my neck.
ZAP! Pyrrhic Shock locks up my limbs for a second but the bunny is toast. One left. Not really liking my options I make a mana sword on my left hand while keeping the shield up on my right. “Here bunny bunny,” I say, feigning emotional stability. I catch movement in my periphery and swing the shield, not trusting my aim with the sword for something not right in front of me. Down goes bunny, in goes the mana sword, actually taking my full weight to go all the way through. Ding, ding goes the system and the bunny stops writhing. Yay experience? I even got to level 4.My lip quivers and I hadn’t yet mastered not crying every time I kill something.
…..
I learned something else that night. Anime is a dirty liar. You know how the protagonist will get attacked by a big monster and then one fireball later they’re eating crispy critter? Absolute nonsense. Do not bite into something you just fireballed, it’s still mostly raw in the middle. Once again, wisdom of a sage, impulse control of a me. I thought yeah I’ll just bite into it like chicken. Barf. Literally. Needless to say those bunnies went to waste, I threw them into the woods so I wouldn’t have to look at them anymore. That was dumb. Lvl 4 and all it cost was some sleepless nights, and emotional devastation. The cherry on top? Using magic to attack makes it upgrade faster, so I was rewarded for my trauma yet again.
Anyway I make my way down to the lake and use water manipulation to wash my hands and face. There’s a little lye soap left. The good thing is that I’ve been able to render fat and create soap with my pot, mana, and a little ingenuity. The bad part is 30 dead bunnies, and the fact that it still takes a couple of days for it to actually be usable. Either way I’ve learned that just like fire I can control the temperature of the water. It is, however, much easier to control the temperature of the fire to make it boil. I still haven’t quite made ice yet, but I’m working on it. My issue is that I’m not good at displacing the heat without using too much mana.
I assume things will be easier if I can get it to the level of flame magic. I look at the skill wondering what the next name will be. Probably Aqua something.
Water Magic
Splish splash you can make your own bath. Create and control water with your mana. Amount based on intelligence. Upgradeable
Sometimes the System is definitely reaching with its descriptions. I try not to use water for combat, I’m not great with it. Of course I’ve done the classics like water whip and bubble over their head so they can’t breathe. I only did that last one once, I still have nightmares about it. Avoiding strangling or suffocating enemies is a priority. It just feels bad.
…..
The first time I used it as a weapon was actually on purpose. That’s right, I’m capable of planning and following through. A couple days after the bunny extermination I’m hungry and out of food. The bodies of the bunnies are not on the menu, trust me I checked. So I have to go hunting. This is still early days and I haven’t made any hideouts yet, so I’m a little concerned as I step out of the tent and see a butterfly or moth or something about half my size fluttering on the other side of the creek. It’s big and purple with yellow swirls and a fuzzy body.
Great, I think to myself, maybe this will be my friend! I’m kidding, two weeks in and I’m up to about 7th grade, I don’t expect a butterfly (as I choose to label it) has the ability to understand what friendship is. This of course depresses me. I also know that they aren’t predators and use their proboscis to get nutrients wherever they can find them. I cautiously approach the creek, shield up, hoping for the best.
The butterfly takes one look at me and vomits. I hope this is not a recurring issue I have to deal with. I block most of the substance with my shield but some lands on my leg and immediately starts eating through the fabric. Keeping the shield up I grab my water bottle and dump it on my leg. This dilutes the acid, but also spreads it. Because I can’t learn anything without something terrible happening. The butterfly comes closer and the aforementioned proboscis comes flying out at my leg. Really? You go around melting things and then sucking them up. I kinda hate you a little.
I could zap it, but I might zap me too. That’s a bad idea. If I lock up it could shoot me in the face with acid. I could throw fire at it but of course the tiny screams of bunnies past makes me wanna cool it with fire for a while. There’s water right at my feet though. I have a little more MP at this point, I’ve used water, I’ve seen cartoon characters whip it about with great success. I gather up a bubble of water about the size of my head and WHIP IT! The water hits a wing and makes an inch long tear in the top of it. That cost me 10 mana. I also realize I didn’t really whip it, like it didn’t snap back. I don’t understand the physics at this point well enough to actually whip it and I can’t trial and error my way out with how much mana I have.
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OK time to cheat. I summon water around its head. It.. doesn't seem to care. I start covering the whole body and a little after mid way it loses its mind. It starts thrashing trying to get the water off. Doing this makes its fluttering erratic and it falls into the creek. Got you now, I think. Using my mana I push it down with the water keeping it submerged. Pretty or no its just a stupid bug and I’m not going to feel bad about killing it. It threw up acid at me. It takes several minutes, with me eventually summoning a shield to stand on above it holding it down. Its thrashing slowed after a while, finally leading to the inevitable.
*DING*
Lvl 3 Butterfly Defeated
EXP awarded
Only level 3. It made me wonder how dangerous that centipede had been. Remembering the flavor text of the bunnies I made my third mistake of the day and examined the body.
Dead Butterfly
You wanna destroy something beautiful?
I hated the system sometimes. I went out of my way after that to learn about whips, and practiced until I could do it. The problem was aiming. If I saw another butterfly like that again I could try it but no way was I hitting a bunny with that attack, they were too fast. Which meant either flambe or letting them try and gnaw on me. I needed something else, a way to slow them down or stop them.
Maybe something with my constructs? Definitely a possibility and I had been working on making a claw or a hand. I could cover my hand with mana but making a moving hand was just too exhausting and mana consuming. The claw worked but I still had to catch the things. I was tempted to make a big hammer to bop them as they hopped through the forest, but the issue of speed and aim still stood in my way. The bigger issue was that I hadn’t eaten in two days. So I went hunting.
My vitality dropped a couple points that morning and I got scared. Not eating was bad. I could go a while without eating, I knew that in theory. Not the full week an adult could manage, but several days. I had to find something. I knew the butterfly was a no-go, anything that spits acid is bound to be poisonous.
“Here bunny bunny.” Don’t judge me, it worked before. I had the makings of a plan. You see I had not been lazy the previous two days, oh no. I had been slowly figuring out how to use a little air magic. I even got the skill.
Basic Air magic
Take my breath awaaay. Make air and exert minor control over it. Amount per mana based on intelligence. Can also exert minor control on existing air. Upgradable.
My thought was I could keep something in the air long enough to grab it and then skewer it with my mana blade. Looking back I think not having food makes thinking hard. Me no learn good with no good food. Regardless I hunted on.
At this point I’m as fast and strong as a pre-System adult. I have some health, I figure I’ve made it out of the early danger zone. I probably have enough mana to make it to a low limb in one of the trees though I hadn’t tried it yet. Regardless I’ve been able to take anything I ran across so far with no issue. Trying to keep a bare amount of mana outside my body to grab air while I walk along eyes on the lookout for dinner. I mean enemies.
There! Movement under a firethorn, something rustles. I stop and extend a shield with my right hand, reaching out with my left to gather a bubble of air. I call out again, “here bunny…” The rustling stops. Suddenly something bursts from the bush. It's a super fat mouse, although its eyes are centered a little weird. Oh I know this, it’s a vole. A big vole, this thing has to weigh at least 40 lbs or so.
Well no use wasting good magic, I push the air under the vole to lift it. Time to put my plan in action. It raises about six inches and falls right back down. Uh oh. I hunch down and push my shield right in front of me. It looks at me and then starts burrowing down at an alarming speed. Dammit.
That’s when the ground in front of it started rising, barreling towards me underground. “Nope, nope, nope.” I drop my shield and start stepping into the air, placing mana under my feet as fast as I can. Just in time for another skill unlock.
Mana Walking
You're walking on mana, oooh oooh ooh, and don't it feel good? Hard mana constructs appear on your feet allowing you to step anywhere you like. Mana cost dependent on weight and intelligence
No time for celebration as the vole burst from the hole, teeth snapping at where my feet used to be. That was close. This is a rare opportunity though, I can hit the vole but I don’t think it can hit me. I point a finger and concentrate as hard as I can on getting the formation right. Zap. The Vole gets hit right in the face with a bolt of electricity and I’m shrinking my hand trying to make the numbness go away. I swear I did it right that time. The vole makes a high pitched whine, clearly still alive. Then it does something scary. It raises a foot and the ground rises to meet it. What is this thing? Identify!
Lvl 4 Vole
That’s the same level as me. Can’t I get more information though? I take another step while concentrating on the mole trying to further identify.
Lvl 4 Vole (Earth Attuned)
Earth attuned? What does that mean? Obviously the thing had some earth magic but did that effect damage resistance? Is this rock paper scissors? The creek was a ways back and while I had gained MP there was no way I could stay off the ground for that long. Checking my mana I still had 2/3rds left. The volt had obviously hurt the thing so it wasn’t immune. Maybe my attack was just weak? It kept trudging upward towards me. It was slow enough that I could stay ahead of it until I ran out of mana but that was a bad idea. I lifted my finger again, maybe I could at least knock it down.
That’s when it decided to show some intelligence. As soon as my finger was pointed, compacted dirt formed a shield in front of it. That’s my move! Zap. Dirt goes everywhere and I manage not to shock myself. Or the vole. I needed another idea. Something the vole would never expect. ELECTRIC HUG ATTACK!
I dove at the vole wrapping arms around its midsection. Pyrrhic Shock. It still struggled. Pyrrhic Shock. One more for good measure. Pyrrhic Shock. Finally it stopped wriggling and I realize my mistake. The dirt falls away out from under us both and we hit the ground knocking the breath out of me.
*Ding*
Lvl 4 Vole (Earth Attuned) defeated
EXP awarded
Level Up
Stat Points awarded
I sit up and push the dead vole away, trying to catch my breath. As I finally manage to breathe in the smell of burnt hair hits me. It smells like burnt hair, so terrible. But just underneath that is something. A subtle hint I try to ignore. Burnt meat that makes my tummy rumble. I was prepared to eat bunny. I had set out to hunt them, read up and watched videos on how to skin and cook them. But this was a rodent. You’re not supposed to eat rodents right? I took a chance and brought up Legacy of Earth. Rodents were the staple meat of some cultures. I don’t know who I was fooling. I was so hungry I was basically just asking permission.
I brought the Vole back to camp on a shield, stopping to rest and recover mana twice. The saving grace to all of this is that mana constructs made the grunt work much easier. I don’t even want to think about what all this would have been like with a regular metal knife. Using a big flat rock I had found I removed the intestines and organs and cut the usable meat out. I didn’t even throw up! I did however dry heave through the organ removal. I don’t want to talk about how many animals I went through with this before making a mana mask with a long snorkel to help block the smell.
I cut the meat into usable blocks, cutting away the sinew to turn into thread. Next I went to work on the skin, cutting around the bunt parts and flattening it out on another stone to dry. I stored the brain for later, intending to use it for the process of treating the skin and making leather. That’s right I was thinking ahead! My education thus far had not been balanced, focusing on improving reading and comprehension. One of my reading assignments for the 4th grade work was Hatchet, which put me on the track of making what I needed. Unfortunately there were no tasty birds around yet. It was ok, but it led me to a lot of videos showing me how to make various things. I was really excited to find clay.
…..
After washing off I start exercising. Pushups, pullups, situps, leg lifts. All way too easy, so I ‘ve taken to carrying or putting a heavy rock on me to increase difficulty. It kind of works, and I’ve gathered a handful of strength points. The dexterity points come from my run afterwards between trees, uphill and around a circuit. Not carrying a rock for that, I don’t need to learn that lesson again.
I did eventually find more rabbits, and followed through with creating the things that I needed to make. Leather took me several tries , finally succeeding after I found a salt rock deposit. After getting Mana Walking I was finally able to climb to the canopy of the forest. I lucked out on the first tree being pretty tall so I didn’t have to walk across to another the first time. Mountains stretched far in the distance, the curvature of the earth flatter allowing me to view a horizon much further than pre-System.
The mountain ranges were far outside of walking distance for now. Luckily there were smaller mountains that had likely been small hills only a few days away. I decided that should be my first semi-permanent camp. Picking one that seemed to be in the same general direction I had headed out and without much trouble located not only the mountain but a tributary leading me to a small lake. A lake with the best surprise of all. Fish!
Unfortunately there’s no trying tale of heroism in either of these cases. The fish were easy to scoop up a mana net, the making of the net being the hardest part. They were all level 1 and as best I could tell barely gave any exp. I would sometimes see larger things further in the lake but as I had already been forewarned by multiple sources in the litrpg category, I wasn’t fighting under water unless I literally had no other choice. Gathering salt, which turned out to be a huge boon for almost all of my DIY projects, was also easy.I took some time to learn a little earth magic to help extricate the salt. Oh, and small copper deposit that will be important for my birthday party.
Basic Earth magic
Caught riding dirty. Make dirt and exert minor control over it. Amount per mana based on intelligence. Can also exert minor control on existing dirt. Upgradable.
My bag, as you might have guessed, functioned as extradimensional storage better than a refrigerator as time either wasn’t present or drastically slowed down within it. That was my life for the better part of five months. I hunted when I absolutely had too, more for hides than food unless I was just tired of fish. I only leveled up to 8 in that time. For those without an inclination towards math that means I’ve gained 10 levels in the last month. Why would I do such a thing? Because the System wasn’t exactly what I thought.
As previously mentioned the first couple of weeks there was barely anything to fight, and the stuff that did attack was barely a threat. Of course without being awakened I would have been dead day one. Using deductive reasoning I hypothesized that leveling and growing were a slow process and as long as I stayed one step ahead of the local wildlife I was golden. That makes sense right? The System was slowly adding more mana into the environment and animals would increase in danger until it leveled off and then increase from combat more slowly thereafter. All evidence seemed to support this. Until exactly six months after integration when I got an announcement telling me otherwise.
*DING*
System Announcement
Mana Threshold reached
Event Begins in - 183 Days 0 Hours
Event: Welcome to the Multiverse!
It’s a big universe out there, and you’re not alone. Unfortunately many planets with life are on the brink of collapse. Some have destroyed their own environments, some were victims of terrible calamities. Rather than let them perish they will be moved to habitable planets capable of sustaining them. Your planet has been designated a relocation zone for (6) planets. All viable plant, animal, fungal and other life will be relocated in six months. Try to survive!
Thank you dear system for providing much needed anxiety after I had felt like I was finally doing ok-ish. Needless to say this put a hop in my step. So why only 10 levels? Because finding stuff worth fighting, that I could reasonably stand a chance against was hard. Slaughtering a ton of lower level animals was also out as the experience provided seemed to be garbage. So I started making plans, and trying to figure out who or what I was going to be when I grew up.
So far I had come up with a set of rules to follow, based on the media I was consuming, my own thoughts and stuff I straight up stole from other people:
- Always have a goal. Don’t let yourself get stuck in your own head and emotions. If you’re always moving forward the past can’t catch you.
- Don’t let your guard down. This also means no showing off, no bragging, no letting anything know your full capabilities.
- Don’t get hit. Early warning system is preferable, stay ranged as best you can but if you have to defend then
- Deflect, never take hits full on.
- Make sure the enemy is dead, don’t start cleanup until you get the ding.
- Finally, be as self sufficient as possible, no one is coming to save you.
So I set my goals. I would learn as much about the system as possible, raise all my stats anyway I could, level up and become powerful enough to never get surprised like this again. I tried to work smarter instead of harder by setting pit traps and using magic to lure or push enemies into them. Turns out I only got EXP from killing them myself. That was ok though, it just meant traps I set couldn’t be lethal.
Part of my spare times in the evening before bed and the morning while practicing mana manipulation was spent investigating the system. I learned a few things by simply inspecting them from my status sheet. Inspect my class Basic Mage (Range) Told me that it provided two class skills and was upgradeable at lvl 20. I think if I had paid attention to any of that in the tutorial I would have known that. Add that to my goal list. Inspecting my species let me know it was upgradable every 50 class levels. Definitely a goal. No matter how I tried to ask I couldn’t figure out how much experience I had gathered or needed. I couldn’t determine if I was doing ok based on the average human, or if there were any humans near me. A System map would have been great but I guess I would just have to stick with the mental one I’d been working on. Hopefully with enough data or time it would turn into a skill.
Or maybe it didn’t need to. I had an eidetic memory courtesy of my high intelligence and I would remember anything, even things I wasn’t necessarily paying attention to. That didn’t make me omniscient or constantly aware of every single thing that I had ever learned all the time. It just meant if I tried to remember something I learned or make a connection I could. Meaning I might overlook having hid a cache while putting together an ingredient list, but as soon as I thought about it I would remember doing it, where I hid it and what it contained.
Which brings us all the way back to birthday preparations. Having reached level 18 I had decided I was ready to face what I thought of as a boss. The water wolf. Grinding as best I could I had finally hit this level two nights previous after fighting an ant big enough to snap me in two. I had seen it wandering around some fairly normal sized ant hives and came up with a plan to kill it and its entire hive. That’s right, I planned an ant genocide to pave my path. I refuse to feel bad about killing social insects that would have ended all life on earth within a week if they’d had the power.
Besides reading up on them in my science textbooks, watching some videos and checking out some articles I had also found mention of how dangerous social insects can be across nearly every bit of fiction I was currently studying. They could take over planets or solar systems or whole universes by working together. It was better to stomp them out now. I only hoped others were doing their due diligence. I thought maybe this would even push me all the way to my class upgrade.
I should add a rule that just says “you aren’t that lucky.”
…..
So I dug some pits, I lined them with bark that was now harder than rock, maybe even hard enough to be a soft metal. I filled them with dry leaves and twigs. I’d learned as long as I started the fire with mana and kept my mana present the kill would count. I covered the traps expertly, if I do say so myself. Then I got into position in a tree about ten yards back, in a straight line to the ant hills. The ant had stayed pretty close, snatching fish out of the lake and burying what it didn’t eat. I zapped it one good time, managing not to get myself for once but still not getting a new skill. It came running at me as planned and went right down the closest hole. Fire in the hole! A few minutes and loud popping later:
*Ding*
LVL 15 Soldier Ant defeated
EXP awarded
Level Up
Stat Points awarded
I waited anxiously for backup. That thing has to be spraying “help!” scents all over the place when it died. Several minutes pass. Nothing. An hour. Still nothing. Well this is unexpected. I would think at the very least some scouts would poke their heads out. What I want to do is go over and stomp on the ant hill and run. I don’t though. I’m still not very good at throwing things, I have the dexterity but not the muscle memory, better add that to my exercises. What I do have good aim with is mana. Coming down from the tree I walk over to the lake and grab three rocks that weigh about ten pounds apiece with my mana, then get into position in a different tree with still active traps in front of it. I make a cannon barrel with my mana and load a rock, pointing it at the ant hill. Unfortunately, there was no combustion for me. Instead I kind of make a mana railgun and fire the first rock pretty hard into the hill.
*DING*
Wisdom +1
I’d tell the System to stop making fun of me but I’m not turning down free stats . Nothing happens. Nothing happens after I fire the second two either. Then I see the limbs sticking out of the dirt. Smaller than the ant I killed by far but still pretty big. And no ding for me. I think I’ve been patient enough, if I have to go discover some life less the hard way it’s got to be better than all this sitting around. So much for wisdom.
So you’d think this is where I learn the lesson to always wait for the ding. But no, this is where I learn that social insects aren’t that big of a threat. Or maybe they are if the queen somehow levels up a lot without the others. But since the queen is basically a glorified baby factory she’s not doing a lot of killing, thus no gaining exp. Instead the soldiers and workers are killing. Then they’re getting smarter. Smart enough to think, hey why do I have to do all the work around here? I think I’ll go off and do my own thing. So I wasn’t able to commit insect genocide because the soldier ant I just killed had beaten me to it. There were maybe twelve ant bodies have the size of the one I killed and bunch more smaller than that. I stopped digging after a while realizing there was nothing to gain here.
Nothing but a little bit of knowledge. That ant was level 15 and huge, which means they must level up differently than I do. It also made me wonder how dangerous I was. I hadn’t really thought of myself as dangerous. Crafty certainly. Self reliant. But dangerous? I just wanted to make a woodland friend and craft a home in the woods. I was still kind of thinking of this whole thing as an actual video game. Gather some wood and stone and make a house, get some animals to eat, eventually maybe do some farming. I was mistaken. This was kill until nothing could compete with you. I had been hoping to eventually find humans who I could trade and barter with. Maybe even have a home with. Now the thought of humans was scary. If a level 15 ant was this kind of monster, what kind of monsters were humans?
…..
The trap was set. This was the biggest risk I had taken by a long shot but it had to be done. I had to get stronger and having a predator in my back yard that I had been avoiding for weeks wasn’t going to cut it. I had to be the predator. I had to be the hunter. The worst thing was that there were things I loved about the system. Like magic. I really wanted to just sit around and do magic for magic’s sake. Instead everything had to be about utility or attack power. I needed to advance my air magic to cut, my earth magic to stab. I had barely touched air magic since the failure with the vole, except to help keep the smell of my kills away while I butchered them. Earth magic I had only used to excavate salt and a little copper. As much as I hated it fire magic was my best element right now, not including constructs and I was still using surprise and traps to get the full effect out of it.
Today would be no different. There was no way I was facing what I had dubbed the water wolf head on. The thing stood as tall as me, if not a little more. It was green, algae taking the place of fur with a thin layer of water covering its entire body. Sometimes when it wagged its tail the algae would break free a little, which made me wonder if the water was a skill but two things made that unlikely. The first thing was that it would have to have a truly monstrous mana pool to keep it up at all times, I had watched it from afar for hours. The second thing was what I saw when I inspected it.
LVL 21 Aqua Wolf
That was all I could get from it. Likely because of the level difference. This thing had been through an evolution and that meant I was falling behind. I struggled sometimes, with the homework that Hecate assigned me. There was always a moment in the beginning when the protagonist almost died or maybe did die and that’s when they gained their overwhelming edge. I had almost died but all that resulted in was me getting to stay in the game. The blessing of Hecate was giving me about 8 extra points to intelligence and wisdom which admittedly did help my mana pool but I don’t think that made me an overwhelming force yet. No, I needed some feats, some titles, something that made me truly special. I needed to surround myself with mana that could detect incoming attacks. I needed an unstoppable attack. I needed a way to make my strength, dexterity and vitality catch up. To be more than just a mage.
I had the beginnings of a plan. Using a rock in my exercise had let me keep getting points, slow as they came. That wasn’t a long term solution though, I was already getting diminishing returns because the rock wasn’t heavy enough and anything bigger would be so unwieldy I would have to use mana to keep it attached which would defeat the point entirely. My first thought was weighted clothes, maybe a fifty pound turtle shell on my back. Unfortunately there were no giant turtles nearby or ancient martial arts masters to hand me one. The weighted clothes wouldn’t happen because despite my excellent craftsmanship my leather outfit wouldn’t be able to hold much weight without straining the sinew created thread that held it together. My materials just weren’t good enough for that. They weren’t even really armor so much as just clothes to protect me from the elements. Elements that bothered me less and less every level up.
My next idea was what led me to a mad dash to hit level 20. Space magic. Most of what I had seen of people using gravity amounted to walking on ceilings or forcing enemies to be unable to move. Sometimes this was a “no sell” situation as the protagonist revealed they already trained in high gravity. That’s what I needed, high gravity training. I had to hope that my class upgrade gave me a path to it. Luckily my intelligence training was still going ok, there was simply so much that I didn’t know that even with my increased capacity for understanding it would take me years to get to an acceptable level within Earth’s old education systems. I at least need some college level education. Then there was the new System which would have entire universe’s worth of information to devour. It honestly excited me. I truly loved learning. It was funny to realize my ultimate goal was to basically be so powerful I could read as much as I wanted without being interrupted. And maybe watch some old sitcoms.
Enough stalling and thumb twiddling, it was time for my plan. Quick refresh of the materials and skills I was about to use. After learning some wood working I had come up with what I thought was a workable solution to killing the water wolf. Step one was containment. I created two carved out spaces in a tree close to the wolf’s territory. One at the very bottom and one directly above it. I then made a sliding door that would come down to close the entrance of the bottom. Inside the bottom space there was a hinged door for a ceiling, dropping this door also dropped the sliding door outside. On the underside of this ceiling door I had hung eight strands of copper wire all slightly protruding and nailed down to the other side. Basically I would lure the wolf into the tree, jump up using mana step and slam the ceiling full of copper on it, also triggering the sliding door outside, trapping the wolf in the tree. The next part was simple, hold down the door with mana and apply electricity into the copper until the wolf was toast. There’s also a little cubby in the top part for emergency, but lets hope I don’t need that..
But Marie, how did you make copper wire? Remember the deposit I found? I got it in my head I could make electricity using the nearby creek as a water source to spin a magnet inside of the copper wire and voila. Couple of problems with that. I didn’t have a magnet and the deposit that I had found wasn’t that big. It’s kind of amazing I even found copper to begin with to the point I wonder if Hecate had something to do with it. So even if I found a magnet I couldn’t really take the electricity far from whatever setup I made. What I could do is learn how to make the wire in case I needed it in the future. What did I use for tools? You guessed it: mana constructs. Heat the copper into an ingot, get it hot and push it through little holes over and over again, twist it around itself because this is the best I’ve managed. Voila, eight pieces of ten inch wire that would definitely reach the wolf’s back.
So here I am, mid afternoon standing in front of my trap making all kinds of noise slapping the bottom of my pot with a small rock. I know where the wolf is. I know which way it’ll come from. My eyes are open, I’m listening intently. I’m terrified. This is a real predator. Something that killed for a living before the System. I’m a little girl who likes to read books. It has to be enough.
The wolf doesn’t come barrelling at me like I expect, instead creeping around a tree about 30 yards at my ten o’clock. (Side note, we were supposed to learn analog clocks after winter break and I was surprised to learn that information could still be useful post System.) It looked at me and crept forward. I can’t let it get too close. I throw my pot to the side, not wanting to risk it in the coming altercation. I creep back a little as it shows its teeth. This can work. I frontload some mana in my left hand for a shield as I slide back finally partially in the tree. It leaps forward.
Oh it’s fast. So much faster than I expected. Shields up and slide back as it bites down on my mana. There’s a sound like breaking glass and I barely get my fingers out of the way of the snapping jaws as my shield disintegrates. I jump up as it snaps again making a buckler shield on my right arm. It snaps through this one too. Luckily I’ve wrapped mana around my arm. 50 points worth. It still cracks and so does my arm. I make hammer with left hand and bring it down towards the wolf’s head. It quickly pulls its head down to dodge. So fast. So stupid. I slam the ceiling down on its head and it’s trapped. I reach up into the cubby and grab the stored mana potion. It tastes like purple koolaid. My mana is back to 80% and I waste no time pouring electricity into the top of the door. I don’t even mind that I’m getting hit, my health going down about 20 points. Adding that to the broken arm and I’m looking at barely topping half health. Don’t stop Marie.
The wolf is howling in fury. It tries to get out the way it came in but that door is capital S SOLID. It starts slamming its head into the trap door and it rises before I remember to hold it down with mana. It’s strong but ramming it doesn’t even begin to approach the power of that bite. That bite that’s useless right now as it can’t open it wide enough to bite the door.
CRACK.
Uh oh.
The door starts to crack in the middle and move my hand a to the side. The wolf sounds weaker but that’s no consolation as the top half of the snout bursts through the crack and takes a chunk out of the door. Thankfully I’m standing on mana because I’m not an idiot. I see some of it’s face, blood is dripping out of its orifices and boiling on its fur. Keep pumping that electric juice! The smell hits me and in this enclosed area I almost lose concentration. I gag as my Mana hits half and my health is plummeting. The door is in shreds and my current is now traveling through the air to reach the wolf. It’s panting heavily, its back legs fumble and fall. It tries to push itself up and its mouth opens much slower than before. Oh I have a bad idea. I have to end this now, I don’t have much health left. I stop the current and it snaps pitifully at me. It regains its footing. I extend a long mana blade from my feet and wait. It snaps and I drop.
The blade goes through its open mouth and takes us both to the ground pinning it to the earth by its lower mouth.. It starts freaking out, shaking its head left and right. Making another mana blade in my left hand I stab it in the eye. We’re both breathing hard but it’s not done. So I keep stabbing and stabbing. Wildly, desperately I stab. Until finally:
*DING*
LVL 21 Aqua Wolf defeated
EXP awarded
Level Up
Stat Points awarded
Level Up
Stat Points awarded
Title Unlocked "Overachiever"
Class Upgrade Available
You know what I could really go for right about now? A nap. I want to just pass out but no way, not in this position. Never let your guard down. I wait a few minutes for mana to restore and then I half climb out the top. My bag is hanging from the limb above me and I retrieve it with a string of mana. Ducking back into the compartment with the wolf I hang the tent zipper, unzip and step inside.
I stumble to the bed, cradling my broken arm and all but fall onto the bed with my eyes closed. With a half smile I start singing breathily, “happy birthday to me, happy Birthday to me, happy birthday Marieeeeeee-”
“Happy birthday to you,” an unfamiliar voice joins in as the last of my strength leaves me and I fall unconscious.