Chapter: Midday moss

Erik closed the book in his hands gently, as if wary to damage the well worn book. It quickly disappeared into his storage ring as he rubbed the ring, his gaze thoughtful.

There were thirteen mana gates within one's body, Erik had always wondered where the fourteenth gate that was mentioned in the mana gate related quest came from, now he understood.

The thirteen mana gates created an array inside his body, all of them meeting up at the location of his core.

When someone's mana regeneration reached level fifty then they would be able to compress a mana core easily.

If they had resources and aides they could compress it earlier.

There was a third mythical possibility, once one opened all thirteen mana gates then there was a chance that they would be able to open their gate core.

Gate core, all other compressed cores were simply called mana cores. Once one compressed a core they would open another gate according to the mana gate quest, the elusive fourteenth gate.

If someone was able to open all fourteen gates, and open their mana core, then they would undergo a mana rebirth which would greatly increase their control and power over the natural mana around them.

This was however legend and the information stopped at this point.

The main information talked about how one could move from the Vapor, Mist and Drop stage, culminating in the core compression stage.

With these aides one would be able to advance through mana gathering stages easier.

Erik turned his attention to his mana system, his total mana regeneration was only at fifteen. He had 5 stat points to use when he went to sleep, but according to his plan he would increase his mana regeneration by 2.

It would take him to 17 mana regeneration, close to the 20-29 that was needed to advance into the mist level.

With this manual he was confident that he could compress his mana enough to reach that stage. Once he did then he could then attempt to open another mana gate. He felt that at his current strength it would take a day to open the next mana gate, he didn't have that time.

His reasoning was simple, the first gate took some 6 hours to open, the second nearly 12, based on this it would probably take up to 24 hours for him to break open his fourth mana gate.

If he was able to compress his mana further he felt that it was highly possible he could break open that next mana gate in less than a day.

"It would be nice to have some of these mana agglomerating pills or even some mana gathering powder," Erik complained, after reading about the different aids that were seen as common in whatever realm this mage came from, Erik could only sigh helplessly.

If he wanted those resources he would need to make them himself, or find other ways to push forward.

If his healing abilities had been stronger then it would have been easier for him to heal himself. Instead of hanging onto life with just a thread he would be able to easily conquer the poison and overcome his tempering of blood.

"With healing as a support, if I was able to find poisons for the different temperings then I could advance through quicker."

Since he didn't have the resources then he would need to rely on his own efforts, skills and abilities.

Erik pulled out a ration and started eating as the sun started to set. Rugrat was still reading over the entire maintenance scroll, he had rolled it out and was moving up and down, comparing the information and trying to gain greater insight. He was also noting down different important bits of information on his own pad of paper.

Erik took out the gift from Alchemist Tommins, the piece of paper with the different ingredients fell out. He checked his map and the marker listed as Possible Midday Moss Location opening the general compendium on alchemy ingredients and searching for Midday Moss.

Once he'd read through it, he checked the list of ingredients against the information in the book to gain a greater understanding on them.

Erik let out a short laugh, many of these ingredients were rare, for the simple fact that they were hard to discern, take the midday Moss, it was a simple looking moss that grew on Slastz rock, but it was only in the midday sun that someone was able to tell it was different from common moss.

Erik had gotten through a third of the book before he found himself unable to keep his eyes open.

"You going to be up for a bit?" Erik asked.

"Yeah, I've got first watch," Rugrat said standing up and rubbing his eyes.

"You might find some more useful things in there," Erik tossed him the warrior's ring.

Rugrat had a look inside as Erik pulled out his sleeping bag and quickly got ready for bed.

Rugrat started to pulling out different items that were collected inside the ring.

Erik got into his sleeping bag and went to sleep, only to find a screen greeting him.

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You have 5 attribute points to use.

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He quickly distributed the points with one to strength, agility and stamina instead of stamina regeneration as he had gained one point from tempering his blood already.

The last two went straight into mana regeneration.

He confirmed his selection and looked on his new character sheet.

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Character Sheet

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Name: Erik West

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Level: 8

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Race: Human

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Titles: From the Grave

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Strength: (Base 7) +6

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130

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Agility: (Base 6) +8

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70

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Stamina: (Base 10) +1

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165

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Mana: (Base 3) +0

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30

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Mana Regeneration (Base 3) +14

4.15/s

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Stamina Regeneration: (Base 7) +11

4.35/s

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Erik woke a few hours later, taking over for Rugrat, they kept watch throughout the night, sounds of fighting could be heard and alarms as creatures in the night snuck up on the sleeping adventurers or fought in the depths of the darkness.

Erik and Rugrat cleared up all of their gear in the morning making ready to move, the cave had been an unexpected windfall.

They leapt out of the cave and headed for the marked area on their maps.

They took their time as Erik waited for midday to come.

As the book said, there was a spot of moss that started to glow purple in the midday sun. Erik carefully peeled it back, a potent fragrance was released, making’ Erik’s muscles relax and feel energized slightly.

Creatures in the area, could smell the moss, howls could be heard as they rushed to claim it.

Erik and Rugrat quickly headed for the next location on the map.

As they were running out they caught the sight of an Omagree, it was a mutated monster with four powerful lower limbs and pincers that it used to cut its enemies apart.

It was covered in green chitin and looked similar to a praying mantis but about five times larger.

Erik and Rugrat split apart as the animal charged at them, they kept on running away from where the moss had been which was quickly turning into a battleground for the surrounding animals whose territories bordered the moss's location.

They drew their bows and fired their arrows.

Rugrat's arrows glanced off of the mantis while Erik's arrow missed completely, hitting a tree, he'd used one of his precious piercing arrow so it cut cleanly through the side of the tree.

Erik could only pull out another arrow as the Omagree skidded around, crashing into a tree to face the two who had run past it.

Rugrat's M40 appeared in his hands he raised the rifle to his shoulder and fired in one fluid motion. Grey blood splattered over the area as the Omagree let out a howl; half of its head was missing.

Rugrat was already working the bolt action on his rifle, as the Omagree made to move forward Rugrat fired again, his strength and agility making his action fluid and easy as the recoil barely affected his aim.

The Omagree's cries were cut off as it dropped to the ground.

Erik was closest to the creature as its tombstone appeared.

Erik took everything from the tombstone, the Omagree fading away in light as Erik's new storage ring glowed, the items being deposited inside as they took off again. Rugrat found the casings for his two rounds, putting them in his storage ring.

They ran on, not wanting to get caught up in the animals that were racing towards where the Omagree had died, smelling blood.

Two figures flashed through the forest before they came to a riverside, they looked around for threats, getting their breathing back under control.

It was Erik and Rugrat, the two of them had escaped the animals fighting over the midday moss.

They quickly checked their map and headed off in search of the next ingredient Tommins wanted.

"I hope that the reward is goddamn amazing," Rugrat said as they took off.

"Didn't you just make it to level nine?" Erik asked with a bit of jealousy, with killing the Omagree, Rugrat had increased his marksman and his experience greatly, becoming a high level apprentice marksman.

"Yeah, wish we could use our guns more," Rugrat said.

Erik grunted, each round they used was another one that they couldn't make, they could reload them, but they only had a limited amount of gunpowder, bullets and premade primers.

Erik opened up his notifications as his heart calmed down.

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Skill: Alchemy

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Level: 7 (Novice)

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No bonuses at this time. You must prove your skills first.

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10,700/48,000 EXP till you reach level 9

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