ShanDeRad
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Chapter 27
🕑 Added 2024-04-20 17:57:09 +0000 UTCAs he was searching for a place to settle down and get some sleep he felt a monster through the furthest reaches of his echo, different from the Boars and it also had a different vibration to the people he had come across. As he kept moving the monster seemed to be getting closer to him, he didn’t know how but it was like it was following him, tracking him through the forest. He decided to change directions and for a while it continued on until it got to the point where he had made a turn and then it continued the same way that Shaun was going right now.
It’s definitely tracking me, but what is it? There were a lot of animals that could be found in a forest on earth ranging from snakes to spiders to bears, but this didn’t follow the pattern of any of them. When Shaun got to a clearing in the trees he stopped and waited. Being in the open like this may not be the best decision but he knew the monster was coming and he planned to set up a trap. He threw two of his daggers onto the ground closest to where the monster was going to come from and waited. If he was right and the monster was coming for him he would be ready.
As he felt the monster get to the edge of the clearing it stopped, he hadn’t heard its approach but he could feel it. Shaun still didn’t move, he had his sword in hand and dagger in the other, but he just stood still, waiting for his time to strike.
When he felt the monster get closer to him he made his move. He had made sure to set this up in the hope that it wouldn’t attack until it got close enough that it could get to him without having to announce its presence, and luckily he was right. While Shaun was waiting in the clearing he had connected to the daggers that he had thrown to the ground, at his level of ability he was only able to control one at a time, that didn’t mean he couldn’t prepare by forming the connection to both though.
Without turning around Shaun took aim with the dagger and willed it to punch straight into the monster's side, this caused the distraction he needed as he quickly turned around and came to face the monster.
*Morphic Jaguar – Lvl 15*
What the hell is a Morphic Jaguar? It looks like a normal looking cat to me. Shaun thought before he moved in to attack with his sword. He sliced towards its head and managed to get a cut onto its face but it had moved too quickly for him to do any more damage. Instead, he connected to the second dagger on the ground aiming to send this one through the underside of its stomach, while he threw the dagger in his hand directly at its head. The Jaguar seeing him about to throw the dagger leaped out of the way and he missed while the one he was controlling he was able to redirect and send into its side.
Before he had a chance to move in for another attack the Jaguar let loose a roar that shook Shaun to his bones, and right in front of his eyes the Jaguar started to change. Its claws elongated to twice their length, the same for its fangs, the muscles on its body started to convulse and double in size until it looked like it had been pumped full of steroids. Guess that’s what it meant by Morphic.
What now stood in front of him was a muscle bound forest cat that looked like it could rip him to pieces in seconds if it got the chance. Shaun couldn’t turn his back to it to run, it would be on him in seconds, so instead he started to edge closer to where he had thrown his dagger, moving slowly so as not to come across as easy prey to the cat.
Before Shaun had a chance to get closer the Jaguar lunged at him, much faster than before and covering a much further distance. He didn’t have a choice but to jump out of the way, not even considering trying to fight it in close combat. He had made a mistake in fighting it here but he had made his choice and just like the Alpha he would die trying to win.
The Jaguar quickly made another leap at him, this time Shaun wasn’t quick enough to get out of the way and was quickly pushed down to the ground by its clawed paw, he tried to stab at it with his sword but before he could get in more than a scratch the monster bit down on his arm and dug its claws into his shoulder.
The situation he found himself in was very similar to when he fought the Alpha except this time he had something he didn’t have then, his Affinity. He knew he wouldn’t be able to beat this beefed up cat easily, so he decided to put a contingency in place in case things went south. When he had gone to get closer to the dagger he had thrown he was able to bring it back under his control, but instead of using it right away, he instead decided to try something he had never done before, use Empowered strike on it. The skill never said he had to be holding the weapon for it to work so he took a gamble and hoped it paid off.
As the Jaguar was biting down on his arm he had moved the dagger to be directly above him and in turn the Jaguar, he focused on throwing every bit of mana and Earth Affinity that he could spare, the dagger had started to glow when he combined the two, forcing them into the metal of the dagger, making it as strong as he could.
When he had nothing left to give, he shot the dagger right down into the Jaguar releasing his Empowered Strike in the process. The attack wasn’t quiet, a massive boom sent waves throughout the clearing and into the surrounding forest while the dagger tore straight through the Jaguar, quickly ending its life.
*You have defeated a (Morphic Jaguar – Lvl 15). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 150 TE awarded*
*Class: Rouge has levelled up by +1 levels. [Basic] Rogue has reached Level 22. +1 Str, +3 Dex, +1 End, +3 Per gained*
*Race: Human has levelled up by +1 levels. Human (F) has reached Level 11. +4 Ap gained*
Shaun couldn’t believe that it had actually worked, so many risks and unknowns went into that last attack and he actually pulled it off. He was hurt, yes, but alive, and that’s what mattered most. He pushed the Jaguar’s body off of him but didn’t make a move to stand, instead he took out his health potion and drank it to help heal his wounds. He didn’t know if left untreated if he would eventually die but he still had to move through the forest before he could rest and didn’t want to risk having to fight something like the Jaguar again without being at near full health.
While he was on the ground he sent out an echo, confirming there was nothing around him, probably scared everything even remotely close off with the last attack. Thinking of the last attack, he still had notifications that had been left unread, but he wasn’t expecting anything as he had already seen the ones declaring his defeat of the monster and the level ups.
*(Basic) Rogue Dagger has been imbued and strengthened with the element of Earth, greatly increasing its resistance to being damaged and allowing for easier connection to those wielding the Earth Affinity.*
*(Basic) Rogue Dagger has become (Advanced) Earthen Dagger*
Reading through the notifications, Shaun didn’t quite understand the implications of what he had done, sure he channelled as much of his Affinity and mana into the blade as he could, but doing so to the point that it upgraded not only in rarity but also in the type of dagger it was? He didn’t think that was something just anyone could do with their Affinity, maybe it was because the dagger was linked to his Affinity already due to it being metal? He would need to experiment with other material he had to figure it out.
*Profession available: Through the use of mana in creating a new object from an existing one you have been offered the Mana Crafter Profession*
*Mana Crafter: Unlike most crafting professions the Mana Crafter relies solely on their Mana and what materials they have on hand to improve and craft items. Stats per level +2 Int,+2 Wil, +4 Soul*
This was unexpected, he hadn’t even been trying for a Profession when fighting the Jaguar and one just happened to fall into his lap. He hadn’t considered being a crafter and especially one that relied solely on their mana to actually craft but the more he looked at the description and the more he tried to find a reason to reject it, the harder it became to say no.
The upside was that this would provide increases to three stats that he didn’t cover with his class and the biggest increase to Soul was an upside as it was something he was using more and more now that he had an affinity and a skill that relied on his mana. The fact that it also relied only on his mana and the material he could find was another upside as he had wanted a class that would allow him to use materials he found from monsters and didn’t involve other people, which if he was reading the profession description right the Mana Crafter fit the bill. This was a profession that would also let him improve while on the move, not tying him down to any one place which meant that he would still have a lot of freedom to go and do whatever he wanted.
The downside though was what would he even do with everything he crafted? He didn’t want to have to deal with selling things to others although he guessed he could just do it in bulk every now and again and be done, but still that meant dealing with people eventually, not that it would have any impact on the profession itself as it was about the crafting itself not what he did with what he crafted afterwards.
He tried to think of any other professions that he could do that would be better than this one and came up with a blank. After a few more minutes of delaying he gave in and accepted the profession as he just couldn’t find a reason not to.
*Congratulations, you now have the Profession (Basic) Mana Crafter.*
*Skill Gained*: [Basic] Mana Meld (Level 1) – Using Mana the skill allows for materials to be melded together to form a seamless join between compatible materials. The amount of Mana needing to be used is dependent on the type, rarity and size of the material.
*Skill Gained*: [Basic] Mana Manipulation (Level 1) – The skill to manipulate the shape of a material using Mana. Used by the lone crafters the skill allows for materials to be bent and shaped into the needed size and form without the need of other crafters help.
*Skill Gained*: [Basic] Mana Attunement (Level 1) – Through the use of precious gems, cores and other resources the Mana Attunement skill can borrow different types of attuned Mana from these objects and imbue an item with different types of Mana, changing an item to take on properties from a specific element. Can also use Affinity to attune an item or object.
Just like when he had first gotten his class he had also gotten three basic skills for his profession, and they did not disappoint. The Mana Meld and Mana Manipulation skill were perfect for him, he would be able to forge metals together as well as monster skins and parts without the need of a blacksmith or another crafter which was perfect. Add that to being able to change the shape of these things using only his mana meant that as long as he had an idea of what he needed he just had to commit time and energy into making it happen.
The Mana Attunement skill was unexpected though, although it really shouldn’t have been, he had essentially attuned his dagger with his Earth Affinity and mana which is exactly what the skill said it did. What he didn’t expect was the fact that if he could find existing attuned material’s he would be able to use that skill and pretty much transfer whatever that attunement was into another item he had.
To say he was excited to try all these skills out was an understatement and he couldn’t wait to finally utilise all of the loot that he had in his inventory. But first he needed to get off the ground, finish looting the Jaguar and get somewhere relatively safe.
As he collected his daggers he couldn’t help but stop when he got to the upgraded Earthen Dagger, it was different to the others but not to the naked eye. When he picked it up and held it in his hand he could feel the energy that was now imbued into the dagger and he found it much easier to connect to than the others.
He looted the Jaguar and got claws and its pelt which was fine, now that he had his profession he figured he would be able to make use of them in some way, he was only limited to his imagination after all.
Looking down at himself he was a mess, covered in blood and his shirt was now little more than rags falling off of his body. Thinking back to the skins he had in his inventory he decided he might try and craft some clothes later on, just to see how it would turn out, he had enough of them that ruining a few skins in the process it wouldn’t really have a big impact on his supply.
Having finished everything he needed to do in the clearing he looked around trying to decide which direction he wanted to go. Apart from the forest around him he could see that there was a mountain not too far from where he was and decided to head in that direction to see if anything changed in the area. His number one priority was still dungeons after all and if each dungeon was different to the other he figured that would mean they would be in different parts of the forest.
He decided as he walked towards the mountain he would play around with his new profession while also keeping an eye out for monsters he could use to level up as he travelled. It was only his first day in Stage 2 and already he had accomplished more than he had in Stage 1 over any one given day, he was ready to see what he could accomplish in the next 30 days, he wanted to be in the top 10 when before moving onto Stage 3 and that meant he needed to dedicate himself to getting stronger in every way possible. Bring it on, he thought before setting off.
