NOVEL NEXT Chapter 14- Lefpool
Joe's new level in Mage gave the usual +2 Intelligence, +1 Agility, and +2 Unassigned attribute points, but it did not give any new ability or spell options, although he could still choose a new spell to learn. He decided to learn the Cold Snap spell. The Minor Levitation was still very tempting, but he might face things that can't be hurt by electricity, so he needed another way to hurt things, just in case.
Cold Snap (Level 1). This spell sends out a pulse of freezing power into the caster's immediate vicinity. The maximum range of the spell is 1 meter for every 100 points of the caster's Intelligence. The caster can exclude 1 creature within range from the effects of the spell. The number of potential exceptions doubles every level. The damage is the caster's Intelligence score multiplied the spell level.
Mana cost: 25 mana
Joe was glad he didn't pick that as his first spell as he wouldn't have been able to cast it at first. Its high cost makes sense, though, as it can affect a lot more targets than his touch-based Lightning Jolt. It should definitely be interesting to use if he finds himself cornered by more of those oculasauruses. At least, he hopes cold affects these lizards the way it does ones on Earth. Speaking of the lizards, though, Joe decided it was time to Harvest the four of them.
Joe needed some more meat and hoped they were edible, so for the first one he made lizard jerky from all of its meat, made a nice sized scaled satchel to carry it in, and also collected preserved eyes. They could be useful to someone or at least sell as a curiosity. For the other two he made more satchels and collected the rest of their tough hide as well as their teeth and claws. The last one he decided to go random and he couldn't think of anything else that he needed at the moment, at least, not from his current options.
Results of Harvest spell:
2 pouches bone marrow powder
3 kilos lizard jerky
Rare result produced:
Gambler Hat of Keen Visions
Harvest spell has advanced to level 5.
Whoa! He gained not one but two levels to his Harvest spell.
Harvest (Level 5). This spell allows the caster to target a fresh corpse of any non-CWEST species. The ambient magic in their body, directed by the spell from the caster, will collect potentially useful materials and package them in a convenient form. Processed items can also be created via an advanced CWEST interface. Additional mana can be fed into the spell to create items with magical properties. The corpse itself will then dissolve.
Mana cost: 10 mana per casting (base), variable costs for magical item creation.
That's a nice level 5 upgrade. It also means Joe will need to start meditating before he harvests his kills so he has full mana to possibly invest. Joe looked at his newest acquisition. It was a brown hat that looked like something a cowboy would wear. It had a pair of goggles with multi-hued lenses on them. Oddly enough the goggles didn't look like they could be moved over his eyes, instead they were affixed above the brim of the hat, like the hat was wearing the goggles.
Joe used Read Aura before Inspecting his new hat.
Gambler Hat of Keen Visions (Rare). This hat was designed to look like the hats worn by frontiersmen of another world. Despite being made from oculasaurus hide, it looks like rough cow leather. Each of the oculasaurus's ten eyes had their inner lens removed and condensed into two lenses fit into a pair of goggles. While the goggles themselves aren't functional, simply wearing this hat allows the wearer to utilize the magic in the lenses and use one or more of the special vision abilities that make the oculasaurus a great predator. Ongoing stamina costs must be paid to activate and maintain any of the vision modes.
Telescopic Sight: 10 stamina per minute
Thermal Sight: 15 stamina per minute
Target Sight: 5 stamina per minute
X-Ray Sight: 50 stamina per minute
Weakness Identifier: 20 stamina per minute
Joe gathered up all of his throwing knives and Spell Knives and climbed back up a tree. He wanted to make sure his fight didn't attract even more oculasauruses or even something else. He put on his new hat and immediately noticed it gained holes for his ears as he put it on. Joe guessed like in the video games his boys played, magic items adjust to the wearer's body when needed. Twenty minutes were spent keeping an eye and ear out for trouble. Joe was on high alert, just to make sure he could be safe tonight. Meditation was out of the question for now as he needed to focus on his surroundings, not the manachlorian flow. Joe unlocked a new skill from his efforts.
Listening skill unlocked, +1 to Wisdom.
Listening (Level 1). This skill allows you to pick up on audio clues about your surroundings, making it harder to catch you unaware. Higher skill levels let you hear more sounds, and from further away. To level up this skill spend more time focusing on the sounds around you.
Key Attribute: Wisdom
Over the next few days Joe killed seven more oculasauruses. The new function of his Harvest spell allowed him to make potions right from the corpse of each lizard. He made all Telescopic Vision potions. He didn't need them himself, but if the map Ferric gave him was correct, he would soon come upon a town, where hopefully they could buy a lot of these lizard skins and the potions.
When Joe entered the town he heard the familiar CWEST chime, but per Ferric's advice he didn't open it to examine it as he was literally on the street in public. Before long Joe was at a general store and trying to remain modest as the shopkeeper praised him on the quality of lizard hides he was trying to sell. The merchant wouldn't buy the potions, but suggested he travel to Mankerin for that. Still, Joe was able to make enough money to buy some well received luxuries like two changes of clothes, soap, a travel cooking kit, and some good rope. Joe went to the local inn and spoiled himself with a bath and washed out his clothes as well.
The last of his coin was spent on a private room where he could catch up on the latest notifications still pending, as well as see what, if any, skills he could practice without arousing suspicion alone in his room.
E- Entered the town of Lefpool!
You have received CWEST experience for finding a new settlement.
Attention! Discovery of two settlements plus advanced CWEST interface unlock a map option in your interface.
A map? That was interesting. This CWEST Guidance Service constantly reminded him of a video game. A lot of them had automatic mapping of areas you've explored. This was the same. A new window popped up which showed the land he traversed between Rust's Edge and Lefpool. He could even bring up local maps of Rust's Edge or the mine tunnels.
Joe had leveled up more of his skills in the days since he gained his new Mage level, it was good to see how much growth his attributes had received from that.
Individual Statistics:
Name: Joseph Pinkerton
Age: 18
Race: Felinoid
Class: Mage Level 4
Profession:
Hit Points: 210/210
Stamina: 320/320
Mana: 146/146
Strength: 46
Agility: 39
Vitality: 105
Toughness: 55
Intelligence: 73
Wisdom: 20
Unassigned: 6
Joe's Vitality was his highest stat thanks to all of the skill training he'd been doing, and thanks to the choice of skills the guys back in Rust's Edge picked out for him. He decided to put his unassigned points into his Intelligence to improve his spells' functionality.
Skills:
Reading 4
Climbing 4
Mana Channeling 8
Cooking 5
Endurance 8
Mining 6
Stamina Growth 9
Stealth 2
Defense 7
Focus 4
Pain Tolerance 6
Smithing 3
Heat Tolerance 2
Throwing 5
Punching 1
Kicking 1
Meditation 4
Regeneration 3
Logging 2
Running 4
Chemistry 1
Alchemy 1
Listening 1
Joe decided to try to improve his Listening while he had distracting sounds of a town, trying to see if he could identify individual sounds. He also used the X-Ray Sight from his hat to try to find targets to listen in on, as well as to drain his stamina without any noticeable actions to arouse any notice of his passing. Since his Listening was still level 1 this focused training was able to get it up to level 2 before he decided to go to sleep.