Unbalanced a litrpg adve.., p.5
Unbalanced: A LitRPG Adventure (Class Shift Book 2), page 5
Finally, he found what he was looking for. There was a quiet house that was half burnt-out and appeared to be completely abandoned. No one was working on it, and it was off of the main streets. Tim walked up and looked around. This had been someone’s home, and the myemar had taken that away, but he couldn’t let himself get worked up about it. For the moment, he simply had to focus, so he walked into the house and sat down to pull up his Soul Interface.
Soul Interface
Bag
Traits
Skills
Evolutions: Locked
Interchange: Unlocked
Commune
The categories were the same as before. Tim skipped past Bag and took a look at Traits. He hadn’t intended to, but something was bugging him.
Traits:
Ephemeral
Dungeon Shaper (Blade Grim, Shield Grim, Leech Rat, Spawn Rat)
Consumption (+4 Dur)
Before, he had only had two traits and two empty slots. Now he had the same setup as before, except that there was a fifth slot, and it had the Consumption ability in it. Apparently, that was a trait, yet he hadn’t gotten a notification that he had gained a new trait. At least it showed him the bonuses it was granting him. The bigger deal was that it seemed to put Quint on the same level as the patrons. That was sort of terrifying, but there was nothing to be done about it now. If he was stuck in a battle between godlike beings, then he would collect the power he could and try to weather the storm.
That was, after all, the Circle of Oak. He felt a peace settle over him. What would be would be. The tree didn’t fight against the storm. The tree simply was. It endured. Tim knew those thoughts were part of the way the naturalist class was affecting his personality. While he didn’t like feeling tampered with, it was likely better than the feral instincts which with the beastial class had infused him, or the fascination with blood that came with the blood mage.
The dungeon shapes he had available were listed, but he pulled them each up to inspect his options.
Blade Grim: +10 Flexibility, Attack Synchronicity, Blade Spurs (2 mana per minute to maintain outside of the dungeon).
Shield Grim: +10 Hardiness, Armored Hide: +4 defense, Staff Mastery (3 mana per minute to maintain outside of the dungeon).
Leech Rat: +5 Flexibility, Touch drains HP from target at rate of 1/Sagacity every 12 seconds. Only affects intended targets (8 mana per minute to maintain outside of a dungeon).
Spawn Rat: +100% Hardiness, Allows you to split into 4 versions of yourself. Each will be 20% smaller and have 25% of your Hardiness. Duration of Split: 1 minute. Cool Down: 4 hours. (16 mana per minute from each version to maintain outside of a dungeon).
The first thing was to think about his mana usage. His current mana regen with gear was at 37 per minute. That seemed to provide him with all the power that he needed, but some of these forms would take a significant bite out of it. So he had to think about the cost of his spells. Ice Blast was the spell he was using the most. It cost 20 mana, so he could cast it sixteen times before running out of mana and then regenerate enough to cast three more every two minutes.
If that was all that he had to worry about, he might have gone with the Leech Rat for the HP drain, but he knew he needed access to other spells. More importantly, though, his style in this form didn’t feature him getting up close more than he had to. He had his Grandmaster Sword skill, but this form wasn’t nearly as hardy as his beastial form had been. No, he definitely preferred blasting things from a distance.
Barkskin was a useful buff that he would probably keep running on both himself and Mischief all the time at the cost of 2 mana per minute. The rest of his spells had low mana cost. His heal only cost 10 mana. The unique buff for his pet was worth the 75 mana and only had to be recast every hour. So it was worth barely more than two minutes of his mana regen.
No, the real mana hog was his Extreme Plant Growth and Control. It could drain his mana dry in seconds but had proven its worth more than once. That alone made the decision for him to avoid taking any of the expensive dungeon shapes, but that still left the two grim forms. Shield Grim was tempting. The extra HP and strength it would give him would be worth a lot, not to mention the armored skin, which would enhance his defenses. But in the end, this mission was a scouting mission, and it was better that he travel fast and light, so he decided to hit up the Grinder and then try to grab the Blade Grim form, as it would give him a sizeable boost to his speed and agility. Perhaps, if he used it correctly, it would even enhance his stealth.
Next, he double-checked his list of transferrable skills. It had grown to include a number of naturalist skills.
Transferable Skills:
Advanced Dagger
Life Tap
Greater Stat Hex
Grand Master Swordsmanship
Heavy Armor Proficiency
Shield Adept
Bow Mastery
Master Assess
Explosive Leap
Night’s Eye Domination
Barkskin
Extreme Plant Growth and Control
Nature’s Lesser Heal
Ice Blast
T’nar’s Speedy Bulwark
Even as much as he would have liked to have added a movement skill, such as Explosive Leap, or the dark vision he would gain from Night’s Eye Domination, he simply couldn’t trade out any of his current spells. So he got up and headed as he was to the Grinder. This time, as he walked through the city, he paid attention to any patrols he saw. At one intersection, a patrol broke up a few people who were yelling at an old man.
Not that the old man didn’t have it coming in light of what had just happened. He was standing on the corner yelling. “He comes. The wolf comes.”
The people who were yelling at him seemed to just be frustrated that he was shouting and not working, but Tim saw something feral in his eyes, something that wasn’t natural. Tim felt a cold chill go down his spine, and he held up his hand. The red mark of blood in the shape of a wolf’s head seemed to have faded.
Actually, maybe that wasn’t right. It hadn’t faded. It was more that it was fuzzy. He knew it was there and still almost couldn’t see it. One of the guards must have noticed Tim staring at his hand, because he walked over. “Is something wrong, sojourner? Were you injured?”
Tim felt startled by the questions, like he had been suddenly woken from a dream. “Uh, no. I’m fine.”
The guard frowned. “I thought all the sojourners were assigned stations. What unit are you with?”
Tim internally groaned. Why did he have to stop and look at his hand? “I don’t have a unit.”
That must have been the wrong thing to say, because the guard hollered, “Corporal, this sojourner says he doesn’t have a unit.”
The rest of the four-man patrol came over, but that was when Tim noticed her. She was short, so he hadn’t seen her before. The soldiers had been blocking her. One look at her told him she was a sojourner and not insignificant in power. Judging by the robes she wore, she must have been a caster of some sort. “I’ll handle this. It’s sojourner business.”
The man who must have been the corporal turned on her. “Listen up. How many times do I have to explain this? You’ve been appointed to my squad. That means you follow my lead. We are to report any sojourners not following orders.”
The little woman put her hands on her hips. She must have been at least 50, judging from her face. Her hair was mostly a dark black, but there was a white streak running through it. Tim suspected she might have been striking when she was younger, not exactly beautiful but with those sharp features that drew attention.
“I’d like to see you make me, Corporal Milton.”
Tim shook his head. It was getting bad already. The city had been attacked from the outside, but now, instead of drawing people together, the aftermath of the attacks was placing stress on the already-strained relationships that existed between sojourners and others. He hadn’t been here long, but even Tim knew the military didn’t get along with the guild very well.
As the four guards glared at the one little woman, Tim cast Master Assess on her.
Name: Ramona JuraRace: Human-Sojourner
Level: 12th
Faction: Terran
Gen: 9th
Class: Elementalist
Hit Points: 158
Mana: 364
Tim took the information in. He had never assessed Armon, maybe because the man was part of his team and it had seemed rude at the time. Seeing her stats, he worried about her low HP and wondered if that meant the guards would be able to overwhelm her, while at the same time being impressed by the amount of mana she had. She could probably rip this squad apart with a single spell.
Thinking about it, Tim realized that the guards could have non-sojourner classes, so he assessed the corporeal.
Name: Milton Davis
Race: Human
Level: 5th
Faction: Terran
Gen: 88th
Class: Soldier
Hit Points: 60
Mana: 0
One glance at the squad leader’s stats made Tim realize he didn’t need to worry about Ramona. The little woman would be able to take care of herself just fine. Besides, HP were only a general representation for normal humans. They could be killed with the right attack to a vital spot without having to exhaust this HP.
Since they seemed busy, Tim started to walk off. That was when he felt the air around him crackle with electricity. That put him on guard immediately. Without even realizing it, the instincts that had been shoved into him kicked in, and he found his hand on the hilt of his sword.
CHAPTER 7
CHAOTIC BUILD-UP
That apparently set all the soldiers off, because they all drew their swords or leveled their spears at him. Here, Tim had been judging them for being divided, and he was only encouraging it. He slowly pulled his hand back from his weapon and held his hands up.
It didn’t help that Mischief was yelling inside his head. “Bite, bite, tail whip. You can take’em.”
Ramona and the corporal both tried to speak at the same time, but when she glared at him, he at least showed a little wisdom and shut up, while signaling for his men to circle around Tim. He wasn’t keen on letting them encircle him. Nervous soldiers with pointy sticks aimed at his back didn’t make him feel comfortable. He would survive a thrust from one of them. It might not even make it through his custom armor and Barkskin, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt.
Ramona said, “I may not agree with these flats.” The guards hissed at that, but she ignored them. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to follow the guild rules. If you are high gen and tired of doing menial labor, I can sympathize, but the sooner we get done, the sooner things can return to normal.”
Tim spoke slowly, “I don’t want to cause any trouble, but I have some quests to complete and need to make a quick stop first.”
Ramona frowned. “The guild master himself ordered us to help out. Everyone has an assigned unit. Even the lowliest sojourner can contribute. Now, why don’t you tell me what unit you’re supposed to be with, and we can keep this from getting ugly.”
“I know. I heard him say it myself, but I’m not lying. They may have assigned me to a unit, but I didn’t stick around long enough to find out what their plans were. For this, I will do better on my own. Oh, and I agree. It would be best for everyone if we worked together, rather than fighting each other.”
The corporal bellowed, “So you’re a deserter. We don’t have patience for that type. We’ll give you a little beating then take you back to the guild. I imagine they won’t be any kinder to you.”
Ramona was a bit smarter and realized what it meant when Tim said he had heard the guild master’s orders directly. Her calm demeanor showed signs of cracking as she asked, “What gen are you, then?”
Tim thought about lying, but in the end, it wasn’t going to help anything, so he simply replied, “1st.”
All the guards tightened their grips on their weapons but took a step back at the same time. Milton apparently saw the wisdom of leaving this to Ramona because he said, “This is guild business, then.”
Tim couldn’t help but laugh. He shook his head. And Mischief decided that now was the perfect time to make an appearance. He shot up out of Tim’s pocket and landed on the corporal’s shoulder. From there, he danced from one to the other of the guards, making what would have been impossible leaps for a normal mouse. The guards scrambled, trying to knock the mouse off themselves or their comrades, while dropping their weapons in surprise.
“Mischief, cut it out. These men are just doing their jobs, even if they are mistaken.”
The mouse squeaked back, “I think this one shat himself when you said you were 1st gen.”
Ramona seemed to smooth her dress very deliberately. It was probably a nervous habit, so Tim said, “I don’t mean any of you any harm. My familiar is just being mischievous. He doesn’t know any better.”
Mischief started crawling all over the guard he had identified as having messed his drawers. The mouse never seemed to understand that Tim was the only one who could understand him as he said, “You smell… like chicken.”
Ramona said, “Corporal, why don’t you and your men continue your patrol. I’ll catch up to you shortly.”
Tim wasn’t impressed by the corporal’s bravery or commitment to duty as he readily agreed and moved away with his men. Ramona waited a second before asking, “Are you him? Tim Stein, I mean.”
Tim felt an almost overwhelming impulse to strike her down. It wasn’t really words but more of a feeling. It weighed on him, urging him to kill her because she knew too much. He tried to push the feeling down, but as he did, the image of biting into her neck and ripping her throat open popped into his head. The visual was gruesome, but there was a feeling of satisfaction that came with it. He pushed it away so he could answer her.
“One and the same. Now, I didn’t mean to cause this much of a ruckus, but I really do have work to do. I need to make a quick stop at the Grinder and then will be on my way.”
“I’m not supposed to let you go. We’ve all been ordered to capture or report any sojourner who isn’t performing their assigned duties.”
“Well, I wasn’t supposed to drink coffee right before bed, and I wasn’t supposed to stay up gaming all night when I had work in the morning. I sure as heck am not supposed to be in Iocusinte. I definitely didn’t ask for this. So, while level 12 is impressive, I’m level 19. It would be better if you just reported me rather than starting anything.”
She nodded. “I can see the wisdom in that.”
“Could you do me one more favor, then?”
“Uh, that depends.”
“It’s nothing big. I can tell you don’t agree with being ordered to work like a common soldier, but I actually do think it makes sense. There is no point in causing more divisions inside the city when we have a powerful enemy out there somewhere. That army didn’t just disappear, and it didn’t retreat because we overpowered them. No, it’s out there somewhere, and I need to find it. I’ve already seen firsthand the horrors the myemar are capable of.”
Ramona didn’t say anything, but Tim could see her tracking his words, so he continued. “As far as a favor, I’m just asking that you don’t report me until the end of your patrol. I really want to get outside the city before they realize it.”
The older woman stared back at him for a moment, then winked. Then she followed after the guards without a word. Tim continued on to the Grinder. When he got there, he was blown away again by the Mayan temple exterior. It wasn’t consistent with any of the rest of the city or even any of the architecture or social structure.
He stopped when he saw another squad of guards outside the dungeon. He looked around and couldn’t spot a sojourner anywhere. Apparently, they couldn’t be spared, but whoever was in charge felt it was prudent to put a squad of regular humans in place to make sure nothing came out of the dungeon. Tim chuckled at the thought of how quickly one of the monsters inside would be able to go through the guards.
Now, the question was whether they would stop him from going inside, or rather try to stop them. He didn’t have any great line to make up, so hopefully, it wouldn’t come to violence. If he didn’t think the extra Flexibility would be worth it, he wouldn’t even bother. Besides, if he could kill one of the creatures, he could use Consumption on it and gain another power-up.
He walked straight up to them without hiding. When he got close, he was ordered to stop and identify himself, so he did, but then he added, “I have a quest and need to go inside the dungeon.”
Tim hadn’t expected it to be so simple. The previous guards had been intent on stopping anyone out of place. Maybe these guys were just bored standing guard outside of the most dangerous place in the city. Then again, it might just be that they thought any sojourner crazy enough to march into a B-grade dungeon by himself was not someone they wanted to mess with.
When he walked up to the dungeon, he felt a resonance of energy coming from inside the dungeon. It was sorta like the way he found himself being able to sense the relative strength of people and monsters. It wasn’t as good as using Master Assess, but it still gave him some idea about others.
He had never felt it from a place, though. He stopped and took a step back from the entrance to the dungeon. The feeling of energy leaking out faded. Then he took a step forward and felt the tingling again. The vibration seemed to be most intense over the mark in his hand. It had a distinct feeling, but he couldn’t place it. He had felt it before, even if he wasn’t sure where. This was just fainter, more like an echo.
