A Jaded Life Chapter 13

A week...

It took a week in-ga to co up with an idea how to manage the damn Snowbolds and I truly needed to. I had been stalking in the woods and quite often I'd co upon them. If they found , they attacked, if I got the drop on them, they retreated to their burrow and then struck back with overwhelming force. But my conflict with the Snowbolds and my vigorous hunting of wolves and even one bear, had paid off, as I was now level 9. Sadly, I only got 2 Attribute-Points on level 5, both went into Intelligence but the levels themselves increased my Health, Stamina and Astral Power, even if I had yet to care enough to figure out the formula. Similarly, the damage I dished out was increasing but I think quite a bit of damage was based on the enemy, for example a heavy bleeding was probably based on enemy size or health and other factors. Similarly, so enemies took more cold-damage from my frozen Icicles than others, especially the Snowbolds seed to be vulnerable to cold and always hid during the long nights.

My skills were also coming along nicely, Ice Magic was now 23, Ice Rune-Mastery was 19, Darkness Rune-Mastery 15 and Blood Rune-Mastery was 17. Sadly, Blood Magic was only 4, I had yet to get a good Idea how to use it other than finishing helpless opponents or risking Soul Injuries which sounded seriously scary. What I had been able to do with it, was using the Blood of a living enemy to fuel a spell for , at least until the enemy died. When Darkness Rune-Mastery had reached 10, I was able to infer another rune, this one Disorientation which then replaced one of the Concealnt-Runes in my Mist Barrier. When Blood Rune Mastery had reached skill-level ten, I had gotten Regenerate, an advanced version of the Clot-Rune I'd used before which allowed for smoother and better healing.

I had also formalized most of my stable spells, getting better effects for doing so.

But my idea for the damn Snowbolds was based on their cowardly behaviour and vulnerability to cold.

The next ti I'd run into two of them, I had used a new idea, a concealed darkness tentacle that would not damage but make them disoriented and chill their blood. It was a five Rune Spell and if I channelled it neither of my two victims realized it until both fell into hypothermic stupor. Then I simply walked up and dragged them with , towards their burrow. They'd be batteries. As soon as I was in the vicinity, I heard chatter and saw them scurry into it.

Now, I needed to close the deal. I walked as close as I dared and I stabbed my first battery, electing little response from it, and with one hand on the shallow cut, I didn't want it to bleed out after all, I drew a Rune-Formation for the spell I had called Frozen Mist. It was a rather simple three Rune Spell, made up from Mist – Chill – Ice simply creating a freezing cold Mist that would hopefully cause the Snowbolds to simply hide deeper into their burrow.

Then I channelled the life-force of my battery into the spell, using Ice-Magic to direct it into their burrow. After five minutes, my battery gave up it's ghost, literally in that case and I swiftly switched batteries, I wanted to have my full Astral Power in case sothing went bad.

But after another five minutes of forcing them down, I guessed and hoped that they were in the depths of their burrow. Then I closed the entrance and part two ca up, exterminate the burrow.

To do so, I had to risk quite a bit, I made small enclosure in the barrier that closed the entrance and sat down in it. Then I carved a small opening to get a spell inside but kept the piece to close it at hand. Then I cast a spell I'd called Mist of Death into the opening. Pretentious? As hell. Effective? Hopefully. It was a five Rune-Spell so to continuously channel it I had to get into a ditation-state which was the risk. I'd sit here, unable to react and hope that it worked.

The spell was made up from Mist – Concealnt – Disorientation – Devour – Blood. The idea was to create an almost invisible, dark creeping mist that made them disoriented and slowly killed them. Insanely evil? Well, to be honest, I had the idea when channel surfing one ti and seeing a docuntation about World War 1 and the use of gas warfare. This world had no Hague Convention after all. Maybe it would need one?

I finished my spell and closed the gap as I was unable to control the Darkness, not possessing the Dark Magic skill or whatever was needed to do so. Then I let my mind go blank, keeping only the twin sensations of channelling Astral Power out of into the spell and channelling the Power from the Astral River into my body. I managed to reach an equilibrium and held it. After about ten hours of continuous casting I got ssages in the form of blue screens so I guess the combat had just ended. There was a smile on my face as I started reading.

Snowbold diedYou gain 25 EXP.For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain 3 Bonus EXPSnowbold diedYou gain 25 EXP.For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain 3 Bonus EXPSnowbold died...Snowbold Chieftain diedYou gain 300 EXP.For killing an opponent 30 levels above you you gain Bonus EXPFor killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP

It was a long list. Then my mind suddenly felt as if it was dipped in liquid fire.

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You reached level 29

The fading pain and the elation combined and I burst out laughing.

Ok, I guess the pain is the price for rapid level ups.

Title gainedYou gained the titlel: ExterminatorFor single-handedly wiping out a tribal community to the last child, you gain the title Exterminator. People will look upon you in fear. May the Gods have rcy on your soul.

Ooops?

Title gainedYou gained the titlel: Magician of AnnihilationFor coming up with a new magical way of committing massacre, you gained the title Magician of Annihilation. Increases the EXP gained when using magic to annihilate large groups of opponents.Trait gainedYou gained a trait: Magician of MassacreThose who can use magic to kill large amounts of enemies are both revered and feared, depending which side they are on. When using magic to strike at large groups your skill-gains and the damage dealt are increased.Trait gainedYou gained a trait: Smiling CalamitySo beings are able to ruthlessly massacre other beings. Most of those who do so, see it as a last resort and only do so because circumstances forced them to. You are different. You have brought Calamity to others and done so with a smile. When committing massacre, you project a fear-aura.Trait gainedYou gained a trait: Combat ditationYou are able to clear your mind and enter a ditative state while around you, battle is waging. While in ditation you can only focus on few things which might be lethal in battle.Skill increasedYou increased your skill: Ice Rune-Mastery [25/100]Skill increasedYou increased your skill: Darkness Rune-Mastery [31/100]Skill increasedYou increased your skill: Blood Rune-Mastery [22/100]Skill increasedYou increased your skill: Blood Magic [5/100]Skill increasedYou increased your skill: Ice Magic [24/100]Skill increasedYou increased your skill: Astral ditation [20/100]

All in all, very nice. I still had to search through the burrow but first, the level-ups had given eight attribute-points. I decided to go with a placent of 4 Intelligence, 3 Intuition and 1 Vitality, that should give the best results, not going full glass-cannon and neglecting my own survival. With that my Status looked like this:

Basic Overview NaMorganaRaceFirn-ElfLevel29Health255/255Stamina92/261Astral Power224/763Divine Power-Strength9Agility13Dexterity12Intelligence23Intuition19Charisma9Courage13Endurance11Vitality12Special Ability gainedYou gained a Special Ability: Rune HeptagonFor being a Natural Mage and reaching 20 Intelligence, you gain the ability to link seven Runes into a single spell, increasing their possible uses and power.Special Ability gainedYou gained a Special Ability: Rune ProjectionFor having 20 Intelligence or higher you gained an ability, based on you play-style. The ability Rune Projection allows you to instantly project runes into a Formation, without drawing them. The Astral Power Cost to project a rune is double it's normal cost. The amount of runes you can project into a Formation depends on your Intelligence. Instantly projectable runes: 1

Shiny, shiny, I just got insane skills. Rune Projection, if I'd be sohow able to increase my intelligence far enough, this would be the jackpot for true instant casting. And the Rune Heptagon, I could do so many insane things with that. And if my guess on Rune ditation giving new runes or maybe new rune-sets every ten skill-levels I'd get even more goodies as soon as I had so ti.

But now, I should go and check out if those Snowbolds had treasure...