Alright, it was time to make a plan. Attacking this orc pack without one would be suicide, and they seem pretty dug into these ruins. I could take on ten or so at once, but there were at least fifty here that I could see, not to mention any more that might be in the ruins below. For now, I decided to retreat deeper into the forest. A thirty-minute flight at max speed brought me far out of any possible mobilization range of the orc pack, and I was probably safe.

Unfortunately, I would have to settle for tying my leg to a tree in order to keep from floating away, but I didn’t really mind all that much. I settled down and pulled out a container of beans and rice from back at the apartment for a late dinner. The beans were cold, but I didn’t really mind all that much. Before I went to sleep, I decided to allocate my upgrade points. I had been stalling, but now that I had five of them, I thought that waiting to allocate them was altogether a bad plan. I should allow myself to grow as much as possible.

I decided to allocate two into strength and agility each, and then put one into charisma. Having a stat to increase likeability was one of the most supernatural things to happen to the world, to begin with, and not taking advantage of that was foolish. I guess looking better was a plus. I suppose I would have to suffer through it.

Alert! Unassigned Points Spent! Maximum Status Increased!

+2 str

+2 agi

+1 cha

Excellent. This brought strength and agility up to 21, and charisma up to a 15. I would work on increasing those stats to their maximums tomorrow as I hunted down some more orc packs. I planned on assaulting the orc camp tomorrow at midnight, then head back to the apartment before people started to worry. Ideally, I’d like to hit max level by the time I got back, but the gains in skill power and status have already been incredibly useful. I doubt anyone besides a beta tester at or near my level could compete with me. I tied my foot to a tree branch on a five-foot tether and floated into the air. Opening my skill sheet, I started to glance through it, reading more info on specific skills and their derivations, but before I could get anywhere in my search, my eyes began to feel heavy, and I fell asleep.

My watch alarm woke me up at 8 am with its incessant beeping. Lucky for me, there was no ceiling to hit this time, only open air. Today makes it 7 days since the first wave happened, and my life got sent down a track I wasn’t really ready for. Though if someone had told me 8 days ago that they were actively preparing for a video game-style apocalypse scenario, I would probably either laugh or punch them in the face. Maybe both.

Considering the way the waves have been arriving and changing erratically, I couldn’t say for sure when the fourth wave would happen, but I was feeling confident that it would happen today at some point. I would hunt some orcs for a while, and when I felt ready I would head to the camp. Every orc I killed while roaming was one less orc to deal with in the camp. Hopefully they didn’t respawn overnight. I took to the skies again, ready to find some more enemies to fight.

I flew back to my main hunting ground, the areas about two miles in radius from the orc camp, and started looking around for more patrols to wipe out. I wanted to try and level my quiet movement skill, but it seemed to only increase in level when I was on the ground actively hiding. I suppose flying through the air negated the need for creeping around quietly, but last night I checked some of the skill derivations from it and I wanted one of them pretty desperately.

Quiet Movement:

You have shown some skill in moving unheard by others. This skill grants insight into how to reduce personal noise while moving, and also provides a decrease in the max amount of noise generated while sneaking at every level. Derivations: Intermediate Quiet Movement, Poise, Ranger’s Stride

I knew about rangers from D&D, and they were always incredibly useful to have. I suspected that the higher end quiet movement skill would have even more general stealth options later in its tree, but at the same time, I also literally glowed white. Not helpful when you were trying to be secretive, and I learned pretty early on that while I could close my eyes to hide their glow, the glowing markings on my skin, the gem in my forehead, and my hair were practically impossible to hide without great amounts of effort. What I really wanted was to get the Ranger’s Stride ability. I suspected that it would give bonuses to moving while in nature, and would hopefully help me find a tracking skill.

My plan was to find a pack of orc, then try and sneak around them, hopefully leveling up Quiet Movement in the progress. Personally I thought it was a good idea, but I quickly ran into a problem. I couldn’t find any orc roaming the woods. I guess they must have realized that there was someone hunting them and decided to stay in the camp, though I needed to do more recon before I determine that to be the case for certain.

I approached the camp from the ground, attempting to be as silent as absolutely possible. The camp had little to defend it aside from a basic fence made of smaller logs. It seems like the orc didn’t have ready access to tools, as the pieces of wood appeared as if they were ripped off of the cedar trees in the area. I used a spare shirt to try and cover the majority of the shine off of my hair and face, but I didn’t have high hopes for it. Looking around the area, I attempted to get a good count on the number of orc, as well as try and inspect as many as I could.

There were 46 of them in total moving from tent to tent. Of that number, 8 of them were warriors like I had already seen before, though these were slightly higher in level, the highest being a level 18 warrior orc.

Now that I was closer to the camp, I could better make out the entrance to the ruins. Honestly, the orc were useful for increasing my personal strength, but the ruins seemed far more interesting than some simple mobs to kill. I remembered the original alert for the ruins during the second wave, declaring risk and reward in equal measure. Hopefully that reward was in the form of sweet, sweet loot.

There was a lot of orc here, though. I would definitely need to try and use my trump card if I wanted to have any chance. There was one skill that I had been unable to use until just recently, and I wanted to try and use it to wipe out as many of the fat bastards as possible. Hopefully, I could just mop the rest up using unarmed fighting without a storm fist.

Storm Aspect:

The inborn ability of storm elementals to become storm incarnate. After activating the skill, you become a being made of pure lightning energy, scattered about in a large 15 ft. circle around you. This naturally grants you resistance to physical attacks, as you no longer have a physical form. After the end of the skill, the user is put into a state of exhaustion where using other magic skills is impossible for some time. Gains strength and increases possible active time as the skill level increases, and backlash reduces with increased storm resistance. Derivations: Enhanced Storm Aspect, Heart of the Storm, Storm Presence

Alright, that would work. I just needed all of the orc in the camp to try and gang up on me, and the AOE would tick them down to nothing before the skill expires. The whole area of the camp was only about 100 feet in radius, and I could fly and use Storm Aspect at the same time. I was really excited to try out this ultimate skill, but I would be next to useless when it was done, at least magically. I was definitely nervous about this fight though. I had been through a few different scuffles at this point, but there was definitely something daunting about facing the unknown. I guess there was nothing for it but to put my game face on and get ready to fight.

Psyching myself up a bit, I rose into the air and soared into the encampment through the main gate. I stayed only about five feet off the ground at any moment.

The guards at the entrance to the camp immediately saw me, letting out squeals of agitation and rage as they ran after me back into the encampment.

I shouted at the top of my lungs, “HEY PIGGIES, COME AND GET ME!”

They might not have understood my words, but they definitely understood my intent, and I began to kite the group around the encampment, weaving around columns and broken pieces of stone that made up the ruin. They piled after me like lemmings, and I could tell that something about my challenge invoked a part of their instincts. Before I knew it, there were arrows flying towards me and I had the whole camp out and about chasing after me. I heard a particularly loud guttural oink behind me and turned to try and see what it was. There was a large orc standing above the rest by about three feet. He had metal armor plates across his upper chest and shoulders, and he wielded in two hands a massive hammer made of some kind of strange bronze material.

Orc War Chief; level – 26; Hammer-Wielding

I decided to test out my new ability to Identify and see his highest level skill. Seeing that his highest level was in a combat type, I wasn’t particularly surprised, but I knew for certain that avoiding contact with that hammer was an incredibly good idea.

It was time. I had all of the orc in a big angry rush coming right after me.

I sensed for my magic drawing on it deeply and activated Storm Aspect. My senses faded as I knew them, and I was placed in a strange state.

Replacing all of my senses was a 3D map of the area around me. I could sense the airflow and the water in the earth and sky, and it was mine to command. I expanded myself, until I was humanoid no longer, nothing but a 30ft. circle of lightning and storm clouds. And then I attacked.

It didn’t take long for the orc chasing me to realize that they had been baited, but it was too late. They had no magic with which to strike me, and in order to do damage they would have to reach my core at the center of the maelstrom. I did take a few arrows, but they had virtually no effect, while the lightning damage I did to my surroundings tore the very earth to shreds and reduced the orc to quivering piles of slag. -8, -8

I moved through the orc following me with precision and grace, an arbiter of death collecting her due. There were none who could come close to the pure chaos of the storm that I had embodied. What an ego trip. Before long, even the orc warriors fell to me. There were only a few seconds of Storm Aspect remaining, and I was hovering over the Orc war chief, doing all of the damage I could while the ability still remained.

-30, -30, -30, -30

After four ticks, Storm Aspect expired and I reformed in the middle of the maelstrom. I could sense that the magic that made a part of me was fatigued and was in a place that I was unable to access for the time being. It was a distinctly unpleasant feeling, but I didn’t allow my mind to settle on it. There was still one more orc, and while he was injured, he definitely was not out of the fight just yet.

In a rage, he swung his hammer at me. I instinctually attempted to activate elemental flight but found myself incapable of it in my fatigued state. I managed to throw myself backward instead, but the hammer came down between my legs, scattering rubble up at my face. -8

I checked over my status to observe my health and stamina.

Current:

Maximum:

Regen:

Health:

161

200

34/day

Stamina:

204

225

170/hour

Mana:

10

110

200/hour

Current Affect:

Time Remaining:

Mana Fatigue

30 min

Quickly rising to my feet, I clenched my fists and pounced towards the orc. He swung his hammer horizontally in a sweeping blow, trying to crush my legs, but I jumped back again at the right time to avoid it. In the brief opening he made with his sweeping attack, I moved in, unleashing four quick strikes straight into his unarmored side.

RESIST: -14, -14, -14, -14

I guess he had resistance to melee damage. A fight like this was definitely not ideal, but at least he was slow. This would have to be an exercise in time and patience.

I danced around him as he wildly swung his hammer about, trying to smash me into the dirt. I could tell that my stamina was decreasing, but his was as well, and at a much faster pace. He had managed to hit me with a glancing blow dealing a staggering 54 damage, but I was able to hit him countless other times. He was getting bloody and bruised, and the lengthy fight was weighing on him.

Current:

Maximum:

Regen:

Health:

109

200

34/day

Stamina:

113

225

170/hour

Mana:

10

110

200/hour

Current Affect:

Time Remaining:

Mana Fatigue

18 min

It was finally time to try and end this. I moved closer, baiting an overhead blow into the ground. The hammer rocketed down onto me, but I dashed backward quickly, leaving it to slam into the earth. I immediately dashed forwards again, ramming my fist into the big orc’s face. I jumped back as the orc boss finally fell dead at my feet.

Holy crap that was a fight and a half. I could tell if I just waltzed in here and tried to take them out with my fists I would be toast. The whole thing lasted only about 15 minutes, but it felt like forever. It goes to show how fast things like this can happen. I was itching to explore the ruins, but I wanted to make sure I got rid of the mana fatigue. I also wanted to go over all of the upgrades for the fight and the experience I gained.

Combat Complete! Experience Calculated!

Opponents Defeated:

Rank 1:

11x Orc – level 5 – 825

9x Orc – level 6 – 810

8x Orc – level 7 – 840

5x Orc – level 8 – 600

5x Orc – level 9 – 675

3x Orc Warrior – level 13 - 585

4x Orc Warrior – level 15 - 900

Orc Warrior – level 18 – 270

Boss: Orc War Chief – level 26 – 1,170

Enemy lair cleared! +1000 exp, +1 luk

+20% for solo kills. +20% for lone wanderer. +10% for First!

Total experience gained: 11,513 exp

Level Up! Lvl 22 -> 30(MAX) (1000/1000), surplus experience lost. Race upgrade required.

Race Upgrade Alert!

You have reached the pinnacle of Lesser Storm Paraelementals, and your current form can no longer sustain an increase in energy. You must upgrade your race in order to continue to level up. Any experience gained while in this state is lost, so find a safe place to upgrade. The upgrade will take two days to complete.

Race Upgrades Available:

- Minor Storm Paraelemental

- Lesser Ice Paraelemental

- Lesser Wind Elemental

- Lesser Water Elemental

Skill Alert! Level Up!

General Skills:

Dash – lvl 6 -> 8 – Expend 12 Stamina for rapid forward sprint 30ft. (+50% speed)

Quiet Movement – lvl 4 -> 6 – Reduces noise generated by movement by (6%)

Race Skills:

Elemental Flight – lvl 50 -> 58 – (126 miles/hour, 126 ft.)

Magic Skills:

Storm Aspect – lvl 1 -> 3 – Convert your body into a living storm. Gain (50%) resistance to melee damage while converting. Contact deals +33 lightning damage per second. 100 mana for 33 seconds. 15ft. radius. 27-minute mana fatigue.

Electrokinesis – lvl 19 -> 27 – cost of controlling electricity for general use greatly reduced. Electroreceptivity already unlocked.

Hydrokinesis – lvl 18 -> 25 – cost of controlling water for general use greatly reduced. Can sense water within a small radius around your person.

Aerokinesis – lvl 26 -> 31 – cost of controlling wind for general use greatly reduced.

Enhancement Skills:

Enhanced Physicality – lvl 2 -> 3 – Health +30, Stamina +30

Rapid Regeneration – lvl 2 -> 3 - +15 health regen

Resistance Skills:

Intermediate Storm Resistance – lvl 12 -> 15 – (-35%) storm damage from all sources

Pain Tolerance – lvl 3 -> 4 - (20%) resistance to pain.

Archetype Skills:

Lone Wanderer – lvl 28 -> 37

Current Abilities Increased:

+1 Str

+2 Agi

+2 Dex

+2 Con

+3 Int

+1 Wis

+2 Cha

New Spells Unlocked!

Max level, get. The new skill upgrade readout was better too. I guess the patches are still coming in? I went ahead and pulled up my status to look at the changes to my abilities as well as the new spells. As much as I wanted to perform my race rank up, I wanted to go back home to do it so I knew I would be safe. The increases to my stats across the board were awesome though, and I was very happy about the increase to luck. That would always come in handy. The skill increases were fairly substantial as well. I guess that Storm Aspect does damage to myself as well as the surroundings though because my Intermediate Storm Resistance increased by three levels as well.

Name: Victoria (Vic) Gale

Age: 7 days

Gender: Female

Race: Lesser Storm Paraelemental

Class: n/a

Job: Unemployed. Good Luck!

Level: 30/30 (MAX), 1000/1000 to next level

Affinity: Hand-to-hand, Physicality, Wind, Water, Ice, Electricity, Electronics, Crafting

Character Archetype: Lone Wanderer

Current:

Maximum:

Regen:

Health:

111

200 > 220

34 > 41/day

Stamina:

76

215 > 255

170 > 190/hour

Mana:

28

110 > 140

200 > 210/hour

General Stats:

Current

Maximum

Affect

Strength

18 > 19

19 > 21

Physical strength; pushing, pulling, lifting. Affects health.

Agility

19 > 21

19 > 21

Physical speed; running speed, acrobatic ability, inertial control. Affects stamina.

Dexterity

16 > 18

18

Ability to move with finesse and skill. To move the body as the mind wills it. Affects stamina regen.

Constitution

24 > 26

26

The sturdiness of the body; ability to resist damage, poison, and magic. Affects health regen.

Intelligence

11 > 14

18

Your capacity to learn and remember. Affects mana.

Wisdom

20 > 21

23

Your ability to reason out the best choice. Affects mana regen.

Charisma

12 > 14

15

Your likability; Affects attractiveness.

Luck

10 > 12

18

Affects drop rates, and personal narrative.

Unassigned

0

Skill

Level

Affect

General Skills: Common skills across all races

Identify

9/20

Gives user information. Amount and clarity based on identify level. Can determine health, and highest-level skill from subjects.

Athletics

50/50

Increases efficiency of stamina use. (70%) reduction in stamina consumption performing athletic feats (+15 Stamina).

Acrobatics

1/50

Provides correction to acrobatic acts. (+10) stamina regeneration.

Dash

6 > 8/10

Expend 12 Stamina for a rapid forward sprint for 30 feet. (+50% speed)

Quiet Movement

4 > 6/20

Reduces noise generated by movement by (6%).

Crafter

70/100

User is skilled in crafting and has an esthetic eye. Increases dexterity maximum (+2), and growth of all design related jobs.

Enhanced Vision

17/20

Allows you to see objects at (+49ft) with clarity as if the object was 5ft away.

Meditation

5/20

While meditating in a stationary position, Stamina and Mana regeneration are bolstered by (25%) at the expense of movement or sight.

Craftsman’s Trance

9/20

Allows user to focus on a single task, ignoring distractions and outside influences. Increases proficiency with general skills (+ 9%).

Lumberjack

16/100

Grants enhanced technique and skill when felling trees. (+16%)

Race Skills: Skills gained from race type

Stormborn

11/30

Increases effectiveness of strength, athletics, constitution, and wisdom when in stormy conditions (+11%). Grants enhanced regeneration when touching water (+110%). Gain mana from enemy storm attacks. (+20% mana steal)

Storm Fists

14/30

Your fists contain the might of storms. You can use mana to fuel powerful physical strikes. (+14 lightning damage). 3 mana per strike.

Electroreceptivity

9/20

You gain a 6th sense to sense electricity in a range of 10ft around you. Grows more powerful with use. Can sense movement of creatures within your range. Can sense movement of specific muscle groups.

Elemental Flight

50 > 58/70

You gain the ability to fly. Flying speed and height based on skill level and agility. Intrinsic ability has no cost. (126 miles/hour, 126 ft.)

Combat Skills: Skills gained and leveled through combat

Unarmed Combat

10/10

You have started down the path of unarmed combat. You deal (+10) damage while unarmed.

Shooting (Pistols)

1/20

You gain increased accuracy when firing pistols (+5%).

Magic Skills: Skills used to control mana

Storm Aspect

1 > 3/30

Convert your body into a living storm. Gain (+50%) resistance to melee damage while converted. Contact deals +33 lightning damage per second. 100 mana for 33 seconds. 15ft. radius. 27 minute exhaustion.

Electrokinesis

19 > 27/50

Control electricity with your mind. How shocking! Cost mana based on skill level and action. Can now form large amounts of electricity and control it more effectively. Greatly reduces mana cost for general use.

Hydrokinesis

17 > 25/50

Control water with your mind. Bring the bath to you!

Cost mana based on skill level and action. Can now form larger amounts of water and control it more effectively. Greatly reduces mana cost for general use. Can now sense water within a small radius around your person.

Aerokinesis

27 > 31/50

Control wind with your mind. Blow your troubles away! Cost mana based on skill level and action. Can now form larger amounts of wind and control it more effectively. Greatly reduces mana cost for general use. Can now sense natural wind around your person.

Enhancement Skills: Skills which enhance physical traits

Enhanced Physicality

2 > 3/10

Grants Minor Proprioception. Health +30, Stamina +30

Rapid Regeneration

2 > 3/10

Enhances natural recovery. -50% damage from nonmagical sources. +10 health regen

Resistance Skills: Skills that grant resistance to a type of damage

Intermediate Storm Resistance

12 > 15/30

Resist lightning, water, ice, and wind damage from all sources. (-35% from all sources)

Pain Tolerance

3 > 4/20

(20%) resistance to pain. Does not remove pain, just makes it easier to ignore. Has diminishing returns. Is based on natural racial pain tolerance.

Archetype Skills: Skills granted via archetype

Lone Wanderer

28 > 37/100

Skill growth is increased while exploring new places alone (+25%). Increased experience gained hunting monsters alone (+25%).

First 1!

1/1

You were the first person to become upgraded. +10% exp for killing roaming monsters.

Spell Name:

Mana Cost:

Affect:

Duration

Spark

15

Fires a small bolt of electricity (30ft) for +15 damage.

Instant

NEW Lightning Ball

50

Creates a sphere of lightning dealing +10 damage per second in a 10ft area

20s

Purify

5

Cleanses water of impurities, making it potable.

Instant

NEW Aqua Heal

25

Restore +15 health to a target

Instant

Wind Shield

20

Creates a blockade of air granting projectile resistance (-50% damage)

60s

NEW Tempest Fists

25

Create spiraling tempests around your fists, increasing attack speed (+25%)

30s

NEW Wind Blade

30

Send a blade of wind at a foe dealing +30 wind damage

Instant

Well, that certainly marks today as a productive one. Now, there was only one thing left to do; investigate the ruins. Taking the boss orc’s large hammer made of strange metal so I wouldn’t forget it, I sat down in meditation in-between two large pieces of stone, and focused on regaining my stamina and mana.

I was tempted to wait until I had advanced my race so that I could take advantage of the exploration experience, but I decided that it would be better to go through the ruin now than wait the two days until I was rank 2. The longer I stayed out here, the longer I left James to suffer, and I wanted to make sure he was rescued before I was free to do as I pleased. I would feel terrible if I tried to rescue him, but I wasn’t strong enough, only to return to this ruin and find a magic item that could have helped. I could make up the loss in experience with more ruins, or with hunting some monsters. This was only a rank 1 ruin anyway considering the orc that were guarding it, and I knew that pretty soon the experience I needed to level up would increase even more. If there was one thing I understood about this system, it was that it was a fan of exponential curves.

It was time to explore my first ruin!