A terror had begun to stalk the forest. In patches here and there, with seemingly no connection to each other, families of deers, reputedly territorial, solitary creatures, began to die off like a mystical, deadly plague had attacked.

One moment, they’d be standing upright, their bodies strong and full of energy. The next, they’d be broken, dead and half buried amongst the leaves.

There were never any visible injuries--no cuts, slices, impacts; nothing. They just dropped dead.

By the time the third pack of deer fell, over ten individual ones in total, this new apex predator thought upon this strength disparity.

This woman, emerging from the bushes to look over their prey--that of two adult deer and a fawn--silently thanked them for their life as she began to think retrospectively upon this encounter.

An issue creeping up on her, a lingering worry as her power continued to grow unabated, was her essence pool.

She could regenerate 100 points of essence in a matter of minutes as it was; for now, her essence regeneration was sufficient to satisfy her needs. But her pool itself, however… She believed she needed to improve that by now.

So, as the woman climbed up a near tree, like she had done before, she settled herself down for some meditation.

With how powerful [Maximise Mastery] had gotten, she knew that to regenerate the 15 points of essence she had just spent wouldn’t take long at all. However, she appreciated the tranquility of mind the skill offered her and so would stay in the state for longer than necessary, additionally levelling the skill by doing so.

Why was she doing this? To browse the possible skills she could purchase.

Straight away, she ignored any skill tree she hadn’t yet bought a skill in. From what she could see, tier 0 skills were roughly equivalent in power; getting more wouldn’t make her stronger but, rather, provide her with a more diverse skill set. That in itself was tempting but skill points were hard to acquire; if she bought a skill that seldom saw use because it wasn’t objectively more powerful than other things she could do, that would drive her frugal mind mad.

Only if the skill was independently powerful and unique--and useful, such as cleanse--would she purchase it.

After she had killed that white monster, she received a notification that her level cap had been raised to level 7. That meant she only had one more level up until she raised it further. Somehow.

This presented it’s own dilemma; should she prioritise immediate strength, choosing a skill that confers the most benefits now or should she plan for multiple levels in the future?

Ideally, they’d both intersect but she prepared herself for that to not be the case.

So, limiting herself in such a way, she began her perusal.

Life

0th Tier

[Heal] (1/10)

Restore 10 points of health to a living entity

Cost: 1 es/sec

[Leech] (5/10) -Learned

Drain 60 points of health from a living entity

20m range

Cost: 5 es/sec

[Cleanse] (1/10) -Learned

Cleanse an entity from any toxin, disease, or contamination

Casting Time: 1 sec

Cost: 1 es

1st Tier

[Sapping Curse] (1/10)

Prevent a living entity from recovering health for 2 hours

Casting Time: 1 sec

Cost: 5 es

[Animate Critter] (1/10)

Raise a corpse smaller than yourself into a level 0 zombie

Casting Time: 5 sec

Cost: 5 es/sec

[Life Sense] (1/10)

Scan for either a general or specific form of life

2m radius

Casting Time: 1 m/sec

Cost: 1 es

[Last Words] (1/10)

Extract thoughts from an entity that died within 2 hours

Casting Time: 1 min

Cost: 5 es

Primordial Magic

0th Tier

[Well of Essence] (1/10)

Essence is multiplied by 1.4

[Well of Spirit] (4/10) -Learned

Spirit is multiplied by 2.6

1st Tier

[Knowable Essence] (1/10)

2% of Essence contributes to Spirit. 2% of Spirit contributes to Essence

Requirements: [Well of Essence] (5/10), [Well of Spirit] (5/10)

[Essence Manipulation] (1/10)

Manipulate essence to some degree of acuity.

Metamagic

0th Tier

[Alteration Mastery] (1/10)

Control the strength of an active essence skill with finesse

Cost: Variable

[Seeker Mastery] (1/10)

Multiply range of an active essence skill by 1.4

Cost: Variable

[Maximise Mastery] (10/10)+ -Learned

Multiply intensity of an active essence skill by 5

Cost: Variable

1st Tier

[Distinguish Life] (1/10)

Extend a continuous, single-target skill to affect 2 more entities. Additional entities experience 10% of the skills effects

Cost: Original skill cost per additional entity

[Double Cast] (1/10)

Activate a discrete skill 3 times simultaneously

Cost: 190% of original skill

Blood

0th Tier

[Essence Transformer] (10/10)+ -Learned

Convert health into essence

Conversion rate: 20 hp/sec

Efficiency: 10%

[Ichor Manipulation] (1/10)

Manipulate 2kg of blood

2m radius

Cost: 1 es/kg/second

1st Tier

[Ichor Calefaction] (1/10)

Modify the heat energy of 2kg of blood by 2K/sec

Cost 1 es/K

[Pestilent Wound] (1/10)

Convert your blood into a poison to entities that deals 2 damage every second per 100g for 10 minutes

Casting Time: 100g/sec

Cost: 5 es/100g

Ka

0th Tier

[Meditate] (2/10) -Learned

Regeneration is multiplied by 1.4 while senses are subdued absolutely

[Concentrate] (1/10)

Subdue emotions while simple processing speed is multiplied by 1.2

Cost: 1 st/sec

1st Tier

[Ruminate] (1/10)

Multiply complex processing speed by 1.02

Cost: 5 st/sec

That seemed to be all the pies that she had stuck a finger into. When she had searched for [Meditate] and [Essence Transformer] before, she had seen the trees that they belonged to but hadn’t paid them much mind; her focus was on essence regeneration at that point.

Now, however? Maybe they could offer something of interest.

First, she laid out her priorities:

Number one; higher essence pool.

Number two; a way to decrease the cost of skills without decreasing effectiveness.

Number three; a skill offering unrivaled utility

Number four; something that piqued her interest.

With those clearly set in stone, she began by investigating the life tree.

[Heal] was redundant because of [Leech].

[Sapping Curse], she couldn’t see herself getting much use out of it. Perhaps if she had met other people, and one particularly got on her nerves, she’d be more inclined to take it then.

[Animate Critter] was really appealing in that it would help her fight against groups but that wasn’t high on her list of priorities.

[Life Sense] could help her avoid ambushes or aid her in hunting but neither were incredibly likely nor things she struggled with currently.

[Last Words] served no purpose for her, though that didn’t mean it didn’t interest her. Thoughts were merely electrical signals coursing through the brain; for remnants of them to remain even after death, that perplexed her.

Unfortunately, since the targets would be dead, she’d have no way of confirming whether their thoughts were actually thoughts they had before death; effectively, the skill would be indistinguishable from schizophrenia in terms of its accuracy.

Onto primordial magic next.

[Well of Spirit] has already been a tremendous aid while having no cost attached to it--both statistically as well mental load. Therefore, [Well of Essence] was looking really appealing at the moment.

However, [Knowable Essence] served the same purpose. As it was currently, her spirit value was 78 after the [Well of Spirit] bonus was applied. 2% of that was 1.56, which would translate into an additional 30 essence she could spend--three quarters of what [Well of Essence] would give her.

Although 40% was a lot higher than 2%, one was only three quarters than the other in actuality.

With metamagic, [Alteration Mastery] enticed her frugal mind but it didn’t outweigh the chance of straight-up increasing her essence.

[Seeker Mastery] she gave a little thought to but ultimately dismissed out of limited usability. So far, she hadn't met anything that necessitated a greater distance between her and her prey--[Leech] being strong enough to kill things before they reach her and the animals being strangely non-reactive to her approaches--and so prioritised more uses of [Leech] rather than uses over a greater distance.

[Double Cast] didn’t apply to her currently so that was off the table.

[Distinguish Life], however, presented the same benefit as [Animate Critter]; that of improving her combat abilities against multiple enemies. It would most likely be more effective than a forest animal but the essence drain was enormous; a skill to keep in mind but not one she’d be taking for a while.

The unexplored branches now.

Blood wasn’t a skill tree she was expecting to delve into but the very first skill listed was something she wanted, so here she was now.

The whole tree--or, as much as it she could see--presented perhaps the most interesting approach to combat she had found yet. Unfortunately, it seemed to be all predicated on the [Ichor Manipulation] skill; if she wanted more use out of it, it’d take multiple skill points and level ups before it could come even close to her current repertoire.

Not to mention the fact that it seemed to synergise the most with health regeneration, given the finite volume of blood in the human body. Her build just wasn’t optimised for it.

Finally, perhaps the most fascinating skill tree, ka. What did that even mean? She didn’t know.

The whole tree reminded her of ‘internal energy’ pseudo-science, where people believed in a mystical energy that regulated certain parts of the body. Complete nonsense, of course, but in this game, apparently not.

[Meditate] wasn’t that interesting by itself; it was effectively the same as [Well of Spirit], enhancing her regeneration. Outside of her stats, outside of the interface showcasing its effects, it didn’t really do much else other than regular meditation, something she was somewhat versed in already. It had minimal tangible presence.

[Concentrate], meanwhile, would be a step above that, most likely. Simple processing speed was just another word for reaction time of any sense. Visual reaction time, she recalled, was around a quarter of a second while auditory was even faster than that.

Taking a guess, at level 10, [Concentrate] would likely halve her reaction time, bringing it down to around a tenth of a second. At that point, it’d show similar effects adrenaline would have on a human body but amplified.

Such an increase would be a huge enabler for her if she was a competitive sports person but she doubted its effectiveness; after a certain point, the limitation wouldn’t be how fast she could perceive and process stimuli but how fast her body could physically move instead; something the skill didn’t improve.

Not to mention, she was moving away from a fast-paced, frantic fighting style by sticking at range and using [Leech].

The actual use of [Concentrate], when compared to other skills, was minimal, to say the least.

[Ruminate] was, arguably, the most revolutionary skill she had found so far. From her stats to her skills, they were so far additional in how they altered her; strength and stamina could be trained and improved--as well as reaction speed--while skills gave her things she wouldn’t have been able to do before.

But [Ruminate]? It would change her mind. A person’s personality--their identity--was all in their brain. A person's intelligence helped to define who they were as a person and complex processing speed was an aspect of intelligence.

Even with all her skills, she was still recognisably her. But if she used [Ruminate], that could change.

[Ruminate] itself had relatively simple effects but the prospect of what it could lead to had her intellectual curiosity salivating at the possibilities.

That, as well, was something she needed to consider with her next skill point; it would unlock the next tier for her.

Drifting out of her meditative state, the woman’s decision solidified in her mind on what skills she’d take next:

[Well of Essence], [Knowable Essence], [Alteration Mastery], and then [Distinguish Life], in that order. That’d take her all the way to level 10.

Hopping down from her tree, she got right back to travelling as the same monotony once more consumed her.

The forest, for the most part, was as you’d expect it to be; tall trees, many shrubs and bushes, with the occasional stream here and there. For a woman who had spent the past many days in such an environment, as beautiful and majestic as it may have been, the sameness began to wear on her—her ability to appreciate the scenery deteriorated.

If not for her periodic hunting of animals, for both food and experience, her days would be filled to the brim of walking, grinding her skills, and more walking.

The days wore on. The woman’s body never ceased to ache, walking for over ten hours each day with little respite. She’d sometimes take a rest high up in a suitable tree, meditating the time away not only for the useful skill to advance in level but the sheer difference a calm, restful mindset was from her day-to-day experience garnered her some much-needed mental relief.

While she was down on the ground and walking, she’d always be following the stream, continuing to march uphill. She’d either be on the lookout for tracks, alert for any sounds, when the urge to hunt—and, sometimes, hunger itself—overtook her, or she’d be focused on alternating between [Essence Transformer] and [Leech], levelling up her sole offensive skill for no cost other than time.

Whenever she would encounter some wildlife, they’d range from the small and skitty squirrels or rabbits to the larger, less abundant deer. One rare moment, she found her long-time enemy again; boars.

It was a small den, only housing two adult boars and two boarlings. What once would have resulted in a hard-fought battle, with her life teetering on the edge of death, was rendered to nothing more difficult than breathing.

Hiding far away—so distant that all the foliage barely failed to completely occlude the boars—the woman only had to let the essence creep out of her, [Leech]ing the life from a boar, for two seconds before her quarry fell dead. She did the same thing for the other boar, killing that one just as quickly as well.

Meanwhile, the boarlings inside the burrow went down easily with her knife.

After the grisly deed was done, the last notification of its kind that she was getting for a while showed up:

[Level up]

You have gained 5 stat points and 1 skill point

Skill point acquired, she checked over [Leech]’s options one last time, seeing how that skill had been grinded to level 10 over the course of only a few hours.

[Leech] has reached level 10.

You can choose to spend a skill point to upgrade the skill or turn the skill into a passive.

Leech+

Drain 110 health, 2 stamina, 2 essence from living entities

40m range

Cost: 10 es/sec

[Leech](passive)

Constantly drain 20 points of health from nearby entities per second

4m radius

They were interesting propositions but she already knew what skills she was going to purchase; this revelation didn’t alter that path.

So, she purchased [Well of Essence] and subsequently checked her stat block.

Name Unnamed Level 7 Health 100/100 Stamina 43/100 Essence

087/140 Power 5 (5) Constitution 5 (5) Endurance 5 (5) Vim 6 (6) Essence

5 (7) Spirit

30 (84) Stat Points 0

Already, it was a nice boost to her power, and it’ll only get stronger from here. Unfortunately, it did mean that she wouldn’t get to see what the second tier had in store but she was okay with that.

What she wasn’t okay with, however, was her level cap. She wasn’t sure how to increase it further but her current, provisional idea was that it was based off killing creatures.

When she had killed that white monster, she experienced a similar feeling to the boon of consolidation—a sudden and transient feeling of energy overwhelmed her momentarily before disappearing.

She believed that, to increase her level cap further, she’d have to kill more white monsters.

The logical conclusion, then, on her road to getting stronger, would be to retrace her steps and hunt near the mysterious village. However, ignoring all the dangers that presented, even with her much improved power level, that was antithetical to her number one goal; finding civilisation.

Determined, the woman got right back to walking.

By the time she actually laid down to sleep, hidden in the densest foliage she could find, cloak tightly wrapped around her, [Well of Spirit] had levelled up once more.

With a soothing sense of joy running through her system, the woman activated [Meditate], sinking into that comforting darkness as she fell asleep, hoping to keep the skill active overnight.

Pleasantly surprised, she woke up to two notifications showing that [Meditate] had levelled up, her joy only becoming more subdued once she did the calculations and realised [Meditate] hadn’t been active overnight.

Nevertheless, the day began bright and cheery as the woman prepared herself for another 16 hours of long, gruelling walking, grinding out her skills wherever possible, and the occasional hunting.

Well, at least she was making progress.