POV - Tad

Advanced meditation was great. Not only was I able to cogitate more effectively, it also boosted my recovery of STA, HP and MP. Somehow this knowledge was imprinted on me. I had noticed that Recovery seemed to be a hidden Stat. I would need to delve into this more to try and unlock an understanding of it. However, in the meantime I was pondering my mystery Skills which had appeared on my Sheet yet were not acknowledged by the System. This was in distinct contrast to every other Skill I had unlocked. What made these two different? My meditations chewed over this unsettled question. It was perplexing and I worried at it like a dog with a bone. It was a hefty one and my mental paws were having trouble grasping it enough to get a good gnaw on.

I reviewed what I knew again. I had been knocked unconscious. I was trying to get away. TSB and RDF were super scary. Somehow I had ended up shoved out with the trash. Disposed of. Dumped. During that time I had a dream.

Sadly it wasn’t a Martin Luther kind of dream.

Aspirational, uplifting and inspiring.

No, it was a dream of running. Running from. Running to. Running away, running after. Run, run, run. Slow and getting faster. Fast and getting slower. But never stopping. Always running. I had never run so much in my life. In fact, I hadn't run since I was seven years old. I knew this for a fact. Because when I was seven I was running when I fell and sprawled my length on the pavement. Why was that memorable? Kids trip all the time. Yes I know. But they don’t often fall because they had dislocated their leg. And they don’t normally break a hip at seven.

That had pretty much put paid to my running.

But I remembered how to run. I remembered that exhilarating feeling of running. The wind on my face, the pumping of my blood, the pounding of my feet, the gasping for breath as I chased and was chased. I remembered it like yesterday. I had just experienced it all again in my dream.

Dreaming. I had dreamt my way through the Orientation Tutorial too. Except I didn’t really remember that dream. It had vanished, evaporating like mist and the harder I tried to remember the further away it felt. This dream was different. I had an epiphany. I had a Perk. Yes, that was the big difference between the two dreams. I pulled up my Perk effects.

And there it was. The second effect. ‘Allows higher level of control of the Dreamtime’. I had used my Perk. I had dreamed of running because I had desperately wanted to escape. I had manipulated the Dreamtime and I had glitched myself a Skill. And not only had I unlocked the Skill [Run] I had also unlocked the Skill [Dream]. And [Dream] was a rare Skill. This was it. This was what I had felt.

This was a turning point.

Now which way to turn?

Hmmm. That was a good question.

I was losing focus with my [Advance Mediation] so I drew it to a close.

And [Observation] was spamming me. Okay already. I suppose that answers that question. I needed to upgrade [Observation] if I wanted it to be able to break into my [AM].

There was movement. It was circling me. Like a shark. Interested and curious. And it was circling closer. I spotted the beastie. A sinuous segmented form looking like some sort of demented earwig. This was not good. However it was small. Maybe the size of a small dog. I was in a Zone where the minimum recommended Level was 100. I was Level 1. This little critter could out level me significantly. I cringed as I remembered my ineffective pummeling on Nige. And this menace was fast. Faster than I was.

I carefully flicked my throwing daggers out of the sleeve holsters. I dropped the left one. Good start Tad. I turned, keeping the monster in view. I couldn’t afford to take my eyes off it to locate the dropped dagger. I reached my left hand inside my coat and carefully extracted my right hand side dagger. Good job. I hadn’t cut myself yet. The critter was getting closer. It was going to lunge at me.

I could see it begin its skitter. Oh good, I had triggered my Perk. My perception sharpened. I threw my right hand dagger. It was a good throw.

It was a better dodge.

Missed.

But, it had made the monster abort its lunge. It returned to circling. Now I was down two daggers. I carefully got out the remaining one. This was intense.

And my perk ended. Bother.

I remembered my [Inspect] Skill. I didn’t really have much hope seeing it had been so underwhelming every other time I had used it. I triggered it anyway.

>CREATURE:

Insect Type Monster

>SPECIES:

Trashbug

>LVL:

3

[Improve proficiency to view more and unlock deeper insight]

Oh, That was more helpful than I expected. I had been anticipating a whole series of question marks. This critter was only two levels higher than me. That was weird. I thought this was a high level zone. I wasn’t going to complain though. This was good. I spammed my Skill. I needed to improve my proficiency and glean more info.

It lunged again. I activated [Dodge]. Huzzah. I dodged. And now the Skill was on cooldown. Curses. What next? I made some big swiping threats. A double Zorro. Take notice. I am dangerous with sharp objects. It paused and then resumed its circling. It was patient. I had failed to intimidate it.

My next [Inspect] gave me more info. Fabulous. I was pleased that this Skill didn’t seem to have a cooldown.

>CREATURE:

Insect Type Monster

>SPECIES:

Trashbug; Juvenile

>LVL:

3

>HP

120

>DESCRIPTION:

A patient scavenger, the Trashbug is frequently found anywhere that rubbish of any type accumulates.

Individually they can be easily dealt with however they can often be found in large numbers with a Trashbug Materiach often laying clutches of several thousand at a time.

Report any sightings of Trashbugs outside designated Dumps to the local Adventurer’s Guild.

[Improve proficiency to view more and unlock deeper insight]

Oh. Large numbers. That was definitely not good. At least there seemed to be only one. Hopefully they were all spread out and I wouldn’t get swamped. I refrained from shouting. The last thing I wanted to do was attract more of them. I would also need to be careful that I didn’t get a train of them if I had to run. And I might have to run. I checked my own HP. The health Potions were regenerating my HP at a rate of 0.8 per minute and nearly 2 hours had passed. I was back up to 119HP. My iAPD was empty. I refilled it with a thought. Even if it was only half as effective it could be a life saver. Could I assign [Run] as an Active Skill?

Okay, that was a no.

I started circling as well, carefully placing my feet so that I didn’t stumble on the uneven slope. I had a cunning plan. It was a scavenger. I had a handy dead companion. Scavengers consume dead organisms. My body board was a great distraction.

I hoped.

I waited until the monster was downhill from me when I stepped over the corpse, putting it between me and the Trashbug. As it followed me up the hill I flipped Mr Stiff over at it.

It lunged and tore into Mr Stiff. Its jaws were buried in his torso. It whirled its pincer tail up and over as well and anchored on. That was one effective attack. I was super glad it wasn't buried in me. I wasn’t going to let this opportunity go to waste. I threw myself down hammering one dagger in behind its head which was now almost fully buried, while slamming the other dagger in its belly up as close to the tail pincers as I could.

It was partially successful. My second dagger skittered off its belly scales leaving a shallow ineffective scratch. But the other one penetrated right to the hilt. The monster thrashed about in a frenzy. I was forced to retreat, leaving my dagger embedded in its headneck. That may have been a mistake. I was down to the single dagger. I swapped it over to my dominant right hand.

The monster was ignoring me. Curling in on itself violently, throwing itself around in a spasm, trying to dislodge the dagger. I stepped back warily. I fired off another [Inspect]

>CREATURE:

Insect Type Monster

>SPECIES:

Trashbug; Juvenile

>LVL:

3

>HP

26/120

Bleeding

-1HP/Sec

Waahoo. A bleed effect. This was great. And it didn’t have a time limiter either. I counted down 26 seconds as the monster shuddered and then with a final quiver it died. I was victorious!

I sat down next to my dead friend and my vanquished foe and put my head between my legs. That had been something else.

I was pooped.