Chapter 58 (2/2)
No explanations were provided. Randidly sighed. So it was going to be like this, huh…? The level ups for the plant were much more opaque than his own. On a whim, he clicked Hungry.
Thorn is now Lvl 2. Survivability has increased by 2. Physicality has increased by 1. It has learned the skill Strangle.
Congratulations! Your Thorn Lvl 2 is ready to level up. Due to absorbing the blood of The Smiling Tribulation, Ep-Tal, please choose whether Thorn shall absorb its Body or Mind.
After a second of hesitation, Randidly chose Body. After all, he didn’t really need a strange mage plant. Although having it be a little bit more intelligent would undoubtedly be useful…
Thorn is now Lvl 3. Physicality has increased by 2. Due to increased size, Particularity has increased by 2.
A gasp took his attention away from the notifications, and he turned to see that Thorn had swollen to be a fat bush, about 3 feet in diameter, bristling with thorny vine tentacles. The glass container cracked and fell to pieces. He felt Thorn’s pleasure as it stretched its new body, flexing its powerful muscles.
Lyra turned around and kicked Randidly in the shin. “Warn me next time, Jesus.”
Then she paused, tilting her head, and giving him a long look. “And also… I’ve known you for less than a week, Randidly. If you hadn’t come back… it’s not fair to make me cry over someone I’ve known for less than a week.”
Randidly scratched his chin awkwardly. “Why does it matter to you?”
Lyra promptly kicked him in the shin. Then she stormed off. Scratching his head,Randidly turned around shocked. He had received a new notification.
Congratulations! You Soul Plant Lvl 3 has absorbed enough blood to level.
He saw his plant some distance away, along the treeline, ripping through two or three imps.
Congratulations! Your Thorn Lvl 3 is ready to level up. Due to exposure to the forbidden tongue of Ep-Tal, he has gained profound insights into the world. Shall he have mastery of the Land or Sky?
Apparently Thorn had done enough with the tongue to get an extra bonus, huh? As for the choice… Although Thorn flying would be amusing, wasn’t this also a pretty straight forward choice…?
Thorn is now Lvl 4. Magical Aptitude has increased by 1. Brain Function has increased by 1. Particularity has increased by 3. Thorn has learned the skill Dig.
So now it could dig? Shrugging, Randidly looked once more at its Status screen.
Thorn (Blood)
Lvl 4
Survivability: 8
Physicality: 7
Magical Aptitude:2
Brain Function:4
Particularity:7
Battle Ability:11
Special Skills: Flexibility, Strangle, Dig
It had certainly been effective at Lvl 1, when it had grown within the skull of the sphinx, so Randidly was hoping for something similar in the future. What was pretty interesting was that its Battle Ability now put it on the same level as something Lvl 11, even though it was only Lvl 4, by its own standards. That was reassuring, although it was hard to tell how accurate that was.
Obviously, Randidly had no level and could handle 100 level 11s. It was a question of quality of the fighter, rather than level. But it served as a decent way to understand strength.
After playing with Thorn a bit, and impressing on it the importance of not eating humans, Randidly left, heading to talk with Daniel and Donny about what was to come. Better invite Sam too, and Decklan and Dozer, because they would be the ones on the front lines…
Randidly grimaced. Why did it seem like the stronger he got, the more people he had to talk to….?
Wasn’t this why he let Donny found the village in the first place….?
****
The group of 6 stayed after The Ghosthound left, Daniel, Donny, Sam, Dozer, Decklan, and Mrs. Hamilton. They stayed silent for several seconds as they listened to his departing footsteps.
The first one to speak was Donny, who turned to Sam. “Have you had a chance to look at the body he brought back?”
Sam grunted. “Yea, and what I’ve seen… Let’s just say that unless you have the strength of Dozer, it’s a real chore to cut the thing up, even the hide. And that was mostly turned to swiss cheese, almost useless now. The bones and claws are a different story, and I have a few ideas about how I can use them…”
Daniel coughed. “He means… if what Randidly says is true, and there is another one of these out there, waiting… can we handle it?”
After a few seconds of thoughtful silence, Sam said. “If we are there to meet it, in formation, probably. But out of all of us… Probably only Dozer, Clarissa, and Lyra can damage it. If we can keep it locked down for long enough, sure.”
The room fell silent at the unspoken truth of that statement; if it came upon them in the night, while they weren’t ready….
Decklan smiled crookedly. “We still have a day. Let’s up the training. Daniel, how much can we improve the dungeon?”
Daniel checked his notes. “...We are currently just short of 9000 SP. by noon, we will get there. If you would prefer we focus on the dungeon, instead of upgrading the Village itself… we can push it up to Lvl 14. That is an almost 3x increase in difficulty. Is that…. What you all want?”
Donny, Dozer, and Decklan made eye contact and nodded. Mrs. Hamilton closed her eyes and shook her head slightly.
“This might not be quick enough,” She said. “But if Ms. Northwind’s group joins us, a lot of them used to be nurses. They could be taught healing palm and become a healing corps. Having a designated healer with each squad would increase the success rate.”
“That’s a good idea,” Daniel said slowly, rubbing his chin. “In addition… I think we should initially just raise the Lvl to 10, to let most people go through it. Even still, I expect some casualties. You can’t account for everything. For the more elite troops… they can wait and head into the Lvl 14 dungeon.”
Donny laughed awkwardly, shaking his head. The rest of the group looked at him, confused.
“It’s not the dungeon plan. Well, not the method. It’s just…” Donny, looking suddenly like the teenager he really was, scratched his ear awkwardly. “Can you believe that we are talking about this? Risking our lives? If this had been two weeks ago…”
Everyone remained silent, as Donny continued to speak. “And yet… I can’t stand still. Because I know that if I wait or hide, something big and mean is eventually going to show up, and I won’t be ready for it. So I train, and risk, just to prepare. It’s like The Ghosthound says, ‘The only thing a spear can do is move forward, thrusting into the future.’ It’s just… strange, how much we’ve changed in such a short amount of time.”
After that, the group dispersed, slowly drifting apart, alone with their thoughts, considering how the world changed. And changed them in the process.