Ratlings
Most of my time was spent focusing on my new spells. Black aura took a lot of focus to use and I liked the way roiling darkness surrounded me. It felt like a tightly fastened cloak.
After using up all of my aura I had to cultivate to recover. Refinery turned the power of heaven and earth into qi which diffused into aura. By cultivating, my aura recovered. The breathing technique was the qi to regaining my aura. If I didn't breathe, then I couldn't fight. It only took seconds to drain myself with spells.
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Quest Fire 5 Black Lightning Javelins
Reward +2 INT
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Quest Kill with Black Static
Reward +2 INT
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Quest Drain Aura 5 times
Reward +2 INT
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Quest Recover Aura from 0 5 times
Reward +2 INT
I was begging for some bad times with the number of quests I threw out. They were incremental, lazy and level grinding to the max. They increased my overall aura and damage and they could be finished in a day. I needed to complete the kills quest anyway. My body craved flesh.
Down further than I dared travel to west of the hill from my haven, the rats watched me. They had human like intelligence. I peaked at one of the scouts.
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Ratling Scout lvl10
The creature was huge, wiry, and ugly as sin. It had beady red eyes and fur blacker than midnight. It shrieked something unintelligible and reached for an arrow.
I knocked an arrow and pulled back hard on the string. When I couldn't pull it back anymore, I released it. The arrow flew and in all the excitement I didn't think to add Black Static. The fumble might have cost me a quest if the arrow hadn't hit nothing.
My senses strained to find the creature. It was a ling, so it was made by the scientists above. Somehow it had escaped even my system.
Why was it made? Was it an early experiment? What purpose did rats with human DNA have? Why splice monster DNA with humans at all? He could ask questions all day. The bottom line was I fired first and now the scout was gone probably to tell its tribe that I was hostile. That wouldn't go well.
My chances of tracking down the ratling scout before it reached its den was very low and the longer, I thought about it the lower my chances.
I focused on my perception and followed its trail. It was fast and wiry. It also stank like a latrine. This was the first time I'd thought to use my enhanced sense of smell to track something. It went as we'll as I'd thought it would. The ratling was long gone.
It was downhill. I knew that by the trail it made. When I focused on my ears, I heard the tiniest of rusty hinges moving. With my enhanced eyesight, I saw ratlings emerge. They weren't like the scout.
Ratling Berserker lvl10
Ratling Berserker lvl10
Ratling Berserker lvl10 ….
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Quest: Survive Ambush
Reward: +2 END +2 CON
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Quest No survivors
Reward: +5 INT
Putting up those quests was ballsy it increased my risk factor. Running away would have been a better choice. I could have given myself an agility quest by escaping and boosted my perception as well by making sure I wasn't followed.
That would interfere with my goals and this was set up by the ratling scout. I didn't think this was a spur of the moment retaliation. This seemed to be a hunting strategy.
"Black Static," I called activating the spell and attaching it to my arrows. Around the scalpel tip of my arrow black tendrils sparking with electricity writhed ready to hurt my enemies. I pulled back and fired. The first shot smashed into a buff ratling. The berserker true to its name kept moving while foaming at the mouth. Three arrows finally brought he monster down.
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Quest completed: Kill with Black Static
Rewarded: +2 INT
Intelligence 19
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Level Up
HP and AP restored
Jacob lvl11 Darkling
+10 HP
+10AP
+1 All stats
I emptied my quiver before they could make it halfway up the hill. My new arrows had a little more stopping power, but those berserkers took it. I pulled out my knife and prepared to use stronger magic.
Something heavy hit me in the back of the head. My vision went blurry, but I was more than this meat suit, I was an AI. Through my eyes, I couldn't see. That couldn't stop me. I reached for my combat knife while I fell.
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System message: -80 HP Status Knocked Out
Horribly greasy claws grabbed my ankle ready to drag me into some hole and finish me off. I pushed off with my free hand and used his own grip as leverage.
My knife found the gap in his armor and slipped into the soft tissues of the ratling scout's neck. I could feel blood ooze from my wound. It trailed down my back slowly clouting. By all accounts I should be knocked out or dead.
Blood began spurting from the wound I made. The ratling grabbed at its throat when I pounced. My teeth found and wound, and I bit into the ratling's greasy neck. A bloody elixir slipped down my throat filling me with vigor and restoring my health.
I pulled the ratling from my mouth and threw him at the incoming berserkers. "Black Aura, Black Lightning Javelin," my aura erupted around my body in a black cloak. It wrapped around me protectively and I formed three electrifying javelins from it. Each was crafted from the same shadowy substance as my black aura had been. Small tentacles of aura connected them to me still. Sparks of electricity flashed between the three javelins.
The Berserkers made it to my level of the hill, and I struck. Over 208DMG of both shock dark ripped through three of the berserkers. My aura was spent and there were two more only peppered by my arrows.
Killing three hadn't been enough to level up. I sucked in a breath, but it wasn't enough for another javelin. "Black static," I called and electrical tentacles covered the blade of my knife. I pulled an arrow from a dead ratling and stabbed it through the eye of one of the berserkers. The other tackled me from the side.
My first stab bounced off the ratling berserker's scrap armor. It bit into my shoulder with its gnarled yelled teeth. "Black Static," I called and felt the tendrils cover my claws. My claws tore into the ratling berserker's neck. Even so it held onto me like a pit bull.
I tore at its throat with my claws digging as my aura bottomed out again. It stopped moving but it didn't stop biting me even in death. Struggling with my other arm, I slid the blade between the ratling's jaws and began cutting. It took some doing but I managed to cut through the muscles holding the jaw shut.
The ratling was off of me but the wound it left was nasty. It looked infected and dripped with a horrid smelling green substance. Yellow puss dribbled from the wound while my own red blood dripped down my chest.
The ratling Berserker I stabbed with an arrow had tore its face into ruins trying to get the arrow out. With my knife I opened a vein and bit down on its neck. The blood was slimy yet satisfying. I felt the wound in my chest heal a little. The blood wasn't enough, I needed to eat.
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Level Up
HP and AP restored
Jacob lvl12 Darkling
+10 HP
+10AP
+1 All stats
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Quest Completed: Survive Ambush
Rewarded: +2 END +2 CON
Endurance 14
Constitution 15
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Quest Completed: No survivors
Rewarded: +5 INT
Intelligence 26
AP 463
A bunch of roaches began crawling out of the woodwork. One was already dragging a corpse away. I shrugged and snatched the scout and the berserker that bit me. They could have the rest. I didn't care. There wasn't much I could do with the bodies anyway.
I made it back to the safehouse dragging the two bodies. Star saw that I was covered in blood but no worse for wear. She quickly bit one of them with her fangs and strung up the body. I heard the tail tale sound of Gwen piercing the skull of one of the bodies.
"An interesting ambush tactic. You survived six Ratling Berserkers with only two spells." Gwen said.
"I thought you needed rest after a meal." I said.
"I was feral due to hunger before. Brains of the dead are hardly a snack. Living minds are far more palatable. This isn't about me. You survived an ambush by a superior foe. Well done, most would have panicked before six charging ratling berserkers." Gwen said.
I heard her but didn't see her point. With a sigh, I hung up my bow and returned my arrows to the stockpile. "They were charging up hill against a magic archer. If the scout hadn't gotten a drop on me, I'd have killed them before they reached me." I said. It was too close. That blow to the back of my head could have killed me.
"Before we can even think of challenging Dol, you need to reach the point where you can fire off ten Black Lightning Javelins at a time." Gwen said.
"Jacob," Star said. "I've been expanding the hideout, but our food won't last much longer. I think we should find a more permanent source of food. I've spotted some droppings from some gremlins. They are known to breed quickly and can eat nearly anything. I think we could use them as a stable food supply." Star said then turned away.
"What's the catch?" I asked.
"While they aren't intelligent, they do walk on two legs. Most feel odd about eating them." I looked over at the cocooned goblings. In this world everyone was food for something.
"How are we going to keep them caged?" I asked.
"Wherever you keep their females the males will stay. All we have to do is capture a few females and the males will come. We can seal the females into metal boxes and leaves holes in them only large enough for the males." Star said.
I stared down into the depths of the junkyard. "You planned this for a while." I noted.
"A girl has got to eat." Star said.
While star prepared to kidnap the females of the gremlin tribe down the hill, I checked my arrows and made sure they would fire true.
"There is a chance you'll run into another scout. Try to bring one back alive. Dead brains don't give me much knowledge." Gwen said.
"Gwen, what brought you down here?" I asked her.
"I came from lower actually." Gwen claimed.
"Those spiders on the hill were they a threat to you?" I asked.
"Of the many experiments of mankind. The spiderlings were the ones made to kill my kind." Gwen said.
"You don't seem to have any trouble with Star." I said.
"Yea, we get along fine. Its her instincts I'm worried about. She's designed to kill me just like I'm made to hunt humans." Gwen said.
"What about me, what was I made to counter?" I asked.
"I don't know. Darklings have fallen from the labs above since this ice age began. I'm sure there is another in your pod being constructed even now. I don't know what you were made to fight against." Gwen said.
I filled my quiver with arrows and checked the string on my bow. They needed power to fight Dol. As he was, he couldn't win. She claimed he needed over a 1000AP. What if he ranked up?
"How long does it take to change from Youngling to Plebe?" I asked.
"A week, even if you can change in time you'll be weakened from the transformation." Gwen said.
I pulled my bow over my shoulder and left the hideout. With every breath I neared the next stage of refinery. Another level in my cultivation was what I need most.