Archie exited Nature’s Meditation
Archie deactivated Thornscourge Expansion
Looking at his right hand Archie saw it was bare, the gauntlet protecting it was missing. But, at the same time, he faintly felt as though the glove was still attached to his hand, just invisible.
, Archie noted.
Curious, Archie channeled some mana atop his hand and started to visibly see the gauntlet start to regenerate itself. Archie concluded, his mouth slightly agape.
“Maybe it's this good because of the Soul-Bound rune attached to it?” Archie wondered aloud, trying to make a connection between Self-Repair and Soul-Bound in an attempt to justify what he was witnessing. “Soul-Bound, binds items to your soul making you the only one to be able to use it. Doing so, I assume creates a connection permanently between you and the item. And using that connection, Self-Repair could repair the item if it was destroyed completely so long as the connection between you and the item remains.”
Archie took out his silver carving knife and stared at the Soul-Bound and Self-Repair rune on its hilt.
“Hmm… There is a connection between the two,” Archie said, activating Gaze of the Forgefather
Looking closer, Archie realized something, causing his eyes to go wide. “All runes on an item feed off the other!... If one creates a connection with something, another rune can jump onto the connection if it needs that connection to fulfill its purpose…Holy crap! This changes everything that I know about rune connections.”
After taking a few minutes to come to terms with his realization, Archie deactivated Gaze of the Forgefather
*[Ironhide Crocodylidae Lv 85] has been slain – XP has been given. 1105 Tutorial Points given*
****[Ironhide Crocodylidae Lv 85] has been slain – XP has been given. 1105 Tutorial Points given**[Alpha Ironhide Crocodylidae Lv 86] has been slain – XP has been given. 1118 Tutorial Points given*
*[Ironhide Crocodylidae Lv 85] has been slain – XP has been given. 1105 Tutorial Points given**[Shadowhawk Lv 81] has been slain – XP has been given. 1053 Tutorial Points given*
***
*[Shadowhawk Lv 81] has been slain – XP has been given. 1053 Tutorial Points given*
*Your Class has reached Lv 67– Points allocated, +4 Free Points*
Skill Evolution: [Basic Rune Scribing (Rare) → Advanced Runic Mastery (Uncommon)]Advanced Runic Mastery (Uncommon):
Runes opens the door to enchanting and imbuing objects with various properties, surpassing the object's inherent properties. This skill allows for the creation of simple runes with various effects. Grants the ability to better comprehend low-leveled runes when studying them. Appropriate materials and tools are necessary for etching runes. Adds a low increase to the effectiveness of runes based on Intelligence.
“Yup, it seems as though it’s getting harder and harder to level up now,” Archie murmured to himself. Looking at his upgraded runic skill, he smiled. Even though it dropped in rarity, it felt far better than the previous skill.
It granted him a passive ability to better understand runes while he studied them. But reading the skill description once more he noticed another thing, the mention of scribing was gone. Archie wondered.
Jumping off the tree, Archie found the six dead Shadowhawks on the ground looking as though they were crushed and punctured all over.
Looking at them Archie remembered how he got attacked by one of them and surrounded himself in a sphere of thorns. He then shot out his vines to wrap around the hawks that got too close and crushed them.
With his silver knife still out, Archie collected the beastcores within the hawks and tossed them into his spatial storage before making his way towards the crocodiles.
Archie looked around and saw the crocodile corpses still where he had killed them last night, but he also noticed that the giant Venus flytraps’ roots were inching towards one of their corpses.
Archie ignored it and cut open the crocodiles and took out their cores, their hide a bit harder to cut into compared to when he punctured them with Thornscourge ExpansionLooks like it was more durable against physical attacks than magic ones, even after death. Archie thought as he tossed its core into his spatial storage.
After collecting the crocodile cores, Archie walked towards the pond and threw a rock in its middle, trying to see if anything was still in it. With the sun above him, he was able to see a small rectangular object at the bottom of the pond.
But after a couple of minutes of waiting and nothing happening, Archie cautiously sunk himself into the pond.
Looking around, Archie saw a small lockbox at the bottom of the pond. However, its contents were saddening. A singular Upgrade Medallion (Uncommon).
To Archie this was useless, even though it worked for E-Grade items, Archie could easily forge Uncommon rarity gear.
, Archie thought while tossing the Medallion into his spatial storage.
Archie then continued his trek through the jungle, looking for more creatures to fight and keeping an eye out for any signs of Oliver’s camp.
Archie killed a couple more Rotfang Basilisks that he found along the way; they were surprisingly more common than he thought them to be. Pocketing ten more of their beastcores for later use.
As Archie continued his trek through the jungle, something felt different as he went past a tree. Stepping backwards made the feeling go away. Confusion colored his face at the sudden change.
Getting an idea, Archie spread out his mana all around him, making it act like a sonar. He barely got his mana to reach a bit more than ten meters away from him before disappearing.
When spreading out his mana, it really didn’t do much of anything other than waste a bit of mana. Archie sighed as he needed to figure out how to properly use his mana to act like a sonar.
Archie needed to find a way for his mana to touch the mana of another, grab a feel of it then relay what it felt to him. Of course, the sonar couldn’t stop at the first thing it touched, it would need to go through everything and relay information to him.
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Material Insightince literally anything could be considered as material if you really thought about it.
Archie wondered.
, Archie chuckled to himself, the irony of the pandemic he had to deal with for two years. That’s the answer, I need to send out a wave of mana infused with the skill. Once the mana touched an object and used Material Insight
Archie questioned, looking at the rock he touched with his mana previously and felt something from it…
Every mana-related ability or attack leaves behind an echo once manipulated or cast—it always lingers on the object.
, Archie thought.
Archie took out his chair and sat on it, pondering on how to make mana spread. He had no frame of reference on how mana could spread. It had been less than two months since his introduction to it and he was now just starting to get the hang of it.
The closest thing he had to a decent understanding of was runes, and that was because circuit components were pretty close to their rune counterparts. Mana is fluid, it isn’t as rigid as runes. Circuits and Runes are building blocks that when properly combined can do many things, but if alone, can only perform specific tasks.
The only thing that he knew was close to being fluid was coding, but coding doesn’t have anything to do…with…mana…“Oh shit!” Archie shouted, a sudden epiphany popping into his mind.
He could create a set of instructions for the mana to follow: send a wave of mana infused with Material InsightMaterial Insight
Which are to divide the mana that’s received by half and send another wave of Material InsightMaterial Insight
Archie visualized how he wished his mana to behave and tried to figure out a pattern for his mana to flow in such a way. His eyes scoured at the mana patterns within his own body, seeing them expand outwards as he pushed them out.
Hours passed by as Archie manipulated his mana within him, trying to merge his mana into producing a pattern that would be identical to his code. Periodically sending out waves of green mana into his surroundings, each wave pattern different from the last.
Suddenly Archie sent out a large wave of his mana into his surroundings, observing how the mana latched onto an object before jumping onto the next and so on until it infected all objects around Archie within a thirty-meter radius. Before coming back through the path it jumped from and back to Archie, then bombarding him with a barrage of system notifications about the materials around him.
Kapok Ironwood Tree:
An Ironwood tree native to the Emernigan jungles. Its wood is highly sought after by woodsmiths for its iron-like durability and deep red mahogany coloring.***
:
A scaly, golden-capped mushroom commonly found clinging to rotting logs in dense jungle environments, where humidity is abundant.
Skill Upgraded: [Material Insight (Uncommon) → Material Insight (Rare)]Material Insight (Rare):
The Forgesmith taps into their connection with nature to identify and locate materials for their crafts. By sending out a large pulse of nature-mana into their surroundings they are able to detect all materials around them. When Identifying and analyzing materials, additional information is revealed. The number of materials identified depends on how much mana is sent through the initial pulse.
, Archie joked to himself.
“Oh well,” Archie shrugged as he continued on his way through the jungle, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling on his skin.
It didn’t feel malicious in any way. To give it an apt description, it felt like being covered in a cold slimy liquid…while nude.
Archie continued his trek inside the jungle, trying to find Oliver’s camp…
Archie sighed as he looked over the edge of a cliff overlooking a valley below. “They were 30km away from the Assistant Village…I walked over 100km in the wrong direction.”
Looking down into the valley Archie saw Oliver’s camp. It looked similar to Michael’s camp, but way smaller.
Archie noticed that the log walls looked very worn down. Especially in three separate places on the walls, three identically shaped circular holes were patched with random pieces of wooden planks.
The shoddy job of repairing the wall made sense to Archie, considering how they’d abandoned leveling their Professions and focused on their Classes. Remembering the notifications he’d received from killing the group of five who had tried kidnapping him.
Narrowing his eyes, Archie focused on trying to see what was happening in their camp. The darkness of the night finally receding back now that it was about to become dawn in a few minutes.
“Are those…cages?” Archie mumbled. His eyes narrowed onto the shoddily put-together cages, looking as though they would break apart with a blow of the wind. They were scattered all over the camp, but what he saw inside them filled him with disgust.
Some of the cages were filled with rotten and decayed body parts while others were filled with people, most were missing a limb or two while others were whole.
What confused Archie most was the fact that they were standing up, staring blankly in front of them, and some even twitching uncontrollably.
[Human Lv 46]
[Human Thrall Lv 52]
Looking to the north of the camp, just below a hill, it was completely different than the lower half of the camp. There were large tents made from animal hide and campfires in front of every tent.
Archie couldn’t see anyone within the tents due to their flaps being closed, hiding their residents.
At the top of the hill was a singular large tent. Next to the tent was a large wooden table covered in alchemical equipment and bottles filled with various liquids. Archie thought.
, Archie thought.
Archie mumbled before scoffing.
Just as Archie was about to turn away the tent flap at the top of the hill was pushed aside and revealing its inhabitant.
Crouching, Archie stared at the figure that was dressed in a baggy cloak, with equally baggy trousers, and simple-looking boots, all in a deep purple color. The wand on his hip having a similar color to his clothes and looked to be slightly larger than the ones he’d seen from both the jungle temple and Michael’s camp’s mages.
But what stood out the most was his body, looking nothing like a human. It had purplish leatherish hide, almost like that of a lizardman, but without any scales. Curved black horns emerging from its forehead, glowing amber eyes. Short and pointed ears, no lips or nose; rather its fangs were always present, and slitted nostrils slightly above its jaw.
Archie instinctively knew who this was, Oliver.
[Cambion Lv 63]
At the same moment Archie Identified Oliver, Oliver’s focus shot towards Archie, staring at him directly. Archie’s eyes went wide at being caught so suddenly.
Archie saw Oliver’s mouth move but saw no one around him. But looking a bit closer, he saw a small black magic circle floating next to his mouth.
Suddenly Archie heard a rustling sound to his right side, instinctually jumping backwards from where he was with all his strength and onto a tree branch.
Moments after he jumped, he saw it. The largest snake he had ever seen.
[Verdant Serpent Lv 87]
Quest: Group Tutorial Mid-Boss
You have survived the Hoarfrost Highlands, bested its king, and have moved on to the Emernigan Isle. Having killed the inhabitants of Emernigan Isle, The Queen of the Emernigan Isle is now actively roaming its territory, seeking to eliminate you and your fellow Tutorial Participants. Your reward will be scaled based on your performance.
Requirements:
Reward:
Note: This quest cannot be declined.
What made the snake grab his attention more than it already had was, the familiar feeling he got when he stood in front of Thalindra and Bralmir. But compared to the two of them, the serpent’s Nature Affinity was far weaker.
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