Chapter: Harvesting Rewards

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Harvest Failed!

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Again that merciless notification appeared.

"You fucking goddamn mother fucking Creeper! I will harvest you if it's the last thing that I do!" Erik declared, kicking the wall.

He brandished his knife once again but he didn't attack the creepers again, instead he once again thought on what the had done with the two previous attempts and cross checked it against what he remembered in the book.

He opened the book once again, muttering dark thoughts about the Yellow creeper.

After a few moments he put it away and then looked at the yellow creeper.

"Defeated by a goddamn creeper, thank god Rugrat isn't here," Erik grumbled as his blade moved, freeing the yellow creeper from the rock slowly, then he got the to root buried in the wall, he used his knife and hand to gently pry the root from its home.

He finally pulled it all out from the recess, the base of the plant and the roots were easy to seperate, if they were destroyed then the potency would be lost as a best case, and it would be destroyed as a worse case.

Erik pulled it out and got a notification.

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Skill: Alchemy

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Level: 9 (Novice)

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

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Instead of the cold blooded one from before this one put a smile on his face.

Using what he had learned he continued to harvest as much yellow creeper as he could reach.

There was only a few tufts left on the rock surface as he rushed over to the leopard's sleeping area.

He cleared the area around the different ingredients and started to get to work, slowly extracting them from the ground.

He worked slowly taking every precaution as the noises from outside of the ravine got quieter as the leopard finished off the animals Rugrat had lured into its territory.

Even as Erik knew that his time was running out he didn't panic, he knew from the yellow creepers that panic would only lead to him failing to harvest the ingredients.

He didn't know what the ingredients were but seeing that they were around the Leopard's sleeping area hew knew that they wouldn't be ordinary.

Sudden silence fell over the area as the Leopard had defended its home. There were five different plants but Erik had already harvested four of them.

He grit his teeth his knife moving slowly as he loosened the glowing bulbous plant from the ground, it was latched onto a collection of rocks with odd runes that surrounded a bone with runes engraved into it.

Erik pulled it all away from the ground and placed it into his storage ring.

With them all secured, Erik didn't dare to stick around, he rushed away from the cave and out of the Ravine, he ran towards where Rugrat and he were supposed to meet up.

He entered the area when a furious roar ripped through the forest.

"Time to get to running," Rugrat said, coming out of the underbrush.

Erik followed him out, they heard the noises of the Leopard's growing anger, increasing their speed as they didn't want to leave any sign behind.

The entire area seemed to be in fear as the king had gone into a rage, creatures rushed to hide and others finished off their fights and lowered themselves to the ground to show that they weren't a threat.

Erik and Rugrat only increased their speed as they left the area.

They left the Leopard's region behind, letting out a sigh as nighttime descended and darkness started to set in.

Erik felt odd as if there was something watching them, he put it off as just his fear as they looked for a place to stay.

After some searching, they climbed a set of trees and set up hammocks, securing them to the trees.

Rugrat took first watch as they ate rations, not wanting to light a fire in case they draw more attention, with each of the different search areas they were moving deeper into the Beast Mountains.

Erik quickly checked his gains from the day.

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Skill: Stealth

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Level: 16 (Novice)

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

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Skill: Alchemy

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Level: 13 (Novice)

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

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32,000/48,000 EXP till you reach level 9

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His Alchemy skill had increased greatly, with his stealth jumping up as they'd evaded detection from the Leopard.

Erik relaxed as he checked his mana system, there looked to be less mana in his veins as it was further compacted now. The power in that compressed vapor was much more terrifying than before.

Erik hoped that it would be what he needed to reach the Vapor stage, then he could use the compressed mana with the information that was contained in the manuals he had received to open another mana gate.

It was a big undertaking but the rewards of doing so would put him well ahead of everyone else in the first realm.

If people in the higher realms heard his thoughts they would be shocked.

Erik settled his nerves down and started to circulate his mana through his channels according to a rhythm written in the manual.

It was slow at first but he increased its speed as time went on.

The effect was similar to a centrifugal system, the faster it moved in a certain path, the more compressed it would become.

Sweat started to fall down Erik's brow as he concentrated on circulating his mana properly.

The Vapor started to agglomerate as it was picked up in his mana channels, as the circulations became faster, it started to congeal together, its power increasing step by step.

Finally Erik couldn't compress it anymore, his head felt like it was going to burst as he needed to concentrate for so long.

The Vapor went under a change as it moved through his channels, still at great speeds but it was compressed into a new form.

A sense of power rushed through Erik's body as he let out a breath, nearly collapsing back into his hammock as notifications filled his vision.

He looked at them with a tired smile as power flooded his body.

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Quest Completed: Mana Gathering Cultivation

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The path of a mana gathering cultivator is not easy, to stand at the top, one must forge their own path forward.

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Requirements:

Reach Mana Mist level

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Rewards:

+2 to mana pool

+10,000 EXP

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Quest: Mana Gathering Cultivation

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The path of a mana gathering cultivator is not easy, to stand at the top, one must forge their own path forward.

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Requirements:

Reach Mana Drop level

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Rewards:

+4 to mana pool

+100,000 EXP

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42,000/48,000 EXP till you reach level 9

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Erik went on to check on his stats to see how his character sheet might have changed.

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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 5) +0

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50

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Mana Regeneration (Base 3) +14

4.15/s

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Stamina Regeneration: (Base 7) +12

4.55/s

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Seeing the rewards for reaching the Drop stage and his new stats, Erik felt a deep sense of satisfaction, the mana gathering system was much easier to develop than the body cultivation system, both held their own power.

It would be easier to only walk down one path, but Erik didn't want to have regrets, he wanted to at least try out both systems, the worst that could happen was that he would fail to increase his power in one system but his overall strength would be greater than someone that had only attempted one system.

The other issue was that the energy required to train two systems would make him work two times harder compared to others, but the rewards would be much greater.

He didn't waver from his decision in the slightest as he quickly recovered.

Once again he calmed himself, ready to move onto the second part of his plan and attempt to open another mana gate.

He gathered up his mana, a new sense of power rushed through his body as he directed the mana through his veins, concentrating on the mana gate in the base of his right foot.

Erik's body shook as the sound of someone hitting a door rang through his mind.

Unseen by Erik a pair of cold eyes looked through the trees at the two people that were in their hammocks.

A cold glint passed through these eyes as it sniffed the air, the scent from its lair, the same as that on these two men.