《Vermin Lore》4. Choosing the wrong brand of pesticide
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"Because witnessing a thousand dead insects wasn’t reason enough for some single vermin to rise."
-Book of Vengeance: 2nd chapter, The System
4
Green goblin blood against Bast’s already filthy attire didn’t bother him as much as it should. He quickly searched for more enemies in the perimeter. Finding none, he quickly hurried towards the underground subway after looting what appeared to be vials with scarlet liquid.
Potions, no doubt!
As he run, he checked his previous notifications. It was a short reprieve from the constant near death experiences this new world offers. It might be a shock to some people specially psychologists to take note on how people like Bast quickly adjust to such a circumstance. This was not a proper behavior of a person who just experienced a traumatizing day of reckoning.
But people would still fail to notice that aside from the dead bodies, the blood and the other bad things, this was practically an adolescent’s dream. Monsters? Abilities? Items of Power? Bast chortled as the great SYSTEM would undeniably be surprised that more like him would gladly raise their banners.
Sure, the humans are now considered as endangered species. But the SYSTEM chose a wrong generation of humans to punish, humans who were influenced as a child by stories, folklores and video games.
A generation of gamers!
And Bast is one of them. Give gamers powers in the real life? You’ve got to be kidding. They would absolutely abuse such benefit! That is the worst deal ever in written history, Trump would agree. They will grind it.
Grind and grind and grind till the Game consider the skills as game Bugs!
You have discovered Blacksmithing! Skill tree for blacksmithing is now available! Declare it as a skill? y/n
“Yes”
Congratulations! You are the first human to create a named weapon! And on the first try!
Choose your reward!
-Map of the fused world
-A random skill
-A random item
-Archangel’s life feather (1)
Announce to the World? y/n
“The Map”
“No”
Level up! x1
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You now have access to Yygdrassil, the tree of wisdom. Skills are now paths of strength, you are now able to access their higher tier subskills.
Choose the right trail and race to the top! Skill trees are now available.
You have Picked up Minor health tonic (3) Name: Sebastian Bonifacio Titles: [E] Slayer [UE] Reckless Pioneer, Idiot Opportunist Level: 2 Age: 15 Status: Slightly Injured, Exhausted, Curse of the skies, Curse of the serpentine blood Health: 153 /204 (+%20, 0.0071rps) {8h, 2h till full regen} Stamina: 98 /277 (+%20,.0091rps) {8h, 2h till full regen} Mana: 39/228 (0.0068rps){9h} Str. 17 (+3.4) End. 22 (+4.4) Vit. 16 (+3.2) Def: 14 (+2.8) Agi. 21 (+4.2,20%) Ctrl. 25.5 (+5.1) Int. 32.5 (+6.5) Wis. 18.5 (+3.7) Lck. 11 (+2.2) Unallocated: 5 ; 38 STP Skills: {Active} {Passive} [/] Phantasm- Movement skill [L] Novice 1 [/] Physique of Attor [R] Novice 1 [/] UUU-Blink Spell [L] Novice 1 [/] Scales of Apep [R] Novice 1 [X] Nagendra’s Aura [R] Novice 0 [/] Nagendra’s Aura [R] Novice 1 [X] Symphony of Adarna [L] Novice 0 [/]Yybon’Adarna’s plight [R] Novice 1 [/] Sprint [C] Novice 1 [/] Language Comprehension [C] Novice 9 [/] Synthesis, Fragmentation [U] Novice 0 [/] Mana Manipulation [U] Intermediate 0 [/] Identification [C] Beginner 4 [/] Blacksmithing [C] Beginner 1
“Allocate all to Agility”
Bast wondered what SPT meant but he was in no hurry to understand. Eventually along the way to finding strength he will eventually know. But now’s not the time or the place to experiment. He glanced at Apophis and chuckled at the irony. His earlier experimentation was well worth it anyway.
Bast knew he was cursed earlier. He didn’t fight the 2 named boss monsters, he killed them without honor.
But maybe it was considered mercy killing for he can’t feel any effect nor discomfort from the curses. Bast knew he can’t be blamed for what he did. He didn’t cheat the System, he took the opportunity that was given. Only a few can look the powerful in the eye and spit on it.
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And those few are big idiots.
The world’s firsts, the titles, the skills with legendary potentials. He didn’t lucked them. Bast earned them. But not all will see it this way. Bast can feel the changes in his body clearly. as if he was being filled with foreign power.
He felt different.
He felt lighter, stronger, smarter. And much faster. The extra addition to Agility and his equivalently stronger control (Dex) are displaying their effects. He was also impressed with his incredible regeneration. He can close his wounds and regenerate himself in half a day. Bast promised to grind his passive skills to the very limit.
Imagine how monstrous his regeneration would be in the future!
The average human survivor would have 0.0001 regeneration per second. Let’s say they have an average of 5 points in vitality, which will be averaged along with half of strength and endurance. Say they have 50+ Health points (HP). Calculating all of this, it would take, more or less 6 days to fully regenerate 51.84 HP compared to him which would only atmost take 2 hours.
As he glare at his status, he can’t understand why two of his skills cannot be used. He must’ve not unlocked the requirements to use them. He also understood why his mastery towards identification and Language comprehension skills to be high but cannot comprehend how his Mana Manipulation to have his highest mastery. Bast used Unbound, Uncaged, Unchained which uses a fuckload of mana but not enough to earn himself Intermediate mastery in Mana Manipulation.
Even though lost in thought, his increased evasion and detection skills prevented Bast to slip, fall down or collide with objects on his front. Another thing to think about as evasion, grace and lithe wasn’t included in his status plate.
He was now located outside the tunnel going downwards. His new strength helped in covering the tunnel with debris to look inconspicuous. He then entered after placing a large wall fragment of a café nearby to block the entrance.
It was dim, humid and smelled of metallic blood. His eyes adjusted to the dark. Even though he cannot see, his innate skills are enough to make up for it and move around. He checked the train’s interior and control room only to find dead bodies and smoking non-functioning machinery.
On foot then.
Bast started sprinting. The tremble of the war drums now heard above his head. The horde was occupying the city. It was a no brainer to think that after today, the city would become a goblin stronghold. He need to get out of the city. And get out fast.
The underground rail now splits into two similar passageways.
The left path has emergency lights that lessened the darkness of the halls. He can see a ball of light in the far-off distance. Must be the end of the tunnel.
The right path reeks of death. The smell was concentrated and there are no lights to guide the way. Pitch black darkness like miasma that shivers the very corners of your soul can be felt there. The flowing air along with stench discouraged Bast to go along with his gut.
“Well then. All that’s left is to go left.”
Bast treck the left passage. The moment he entered the tunnel he was greeted with a notification and a cave-in. his back was covered with grime as he sidestepped the avalanche of soil and stone.
WARNING! A dungeon has Spawned in the area! Pettigrew, the Rat King’s Lair Dungeon difficulty: Very Difficult Description: I have foreseen the urban above to be a place of the dead with none the living. For dead mortals tell no tales. And you, are neither unlucky or dead…yet
Bast considered himself lucky, killing 2 bosses, acquiring awesome powers and items. But he guessed his luck has to end somehow to fix the balance of the universe.
And it ended in an ill-timed manner.
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