Diven stood up from the pool of yellow pus that had melted the snow keeping him captive. He was covered in the nasty substance.
Fighting the urge to puke, he climbed out of the hole and tried to clean himself. Where was this coming from?
His lack of education was showing. He’d heard of attuned skills before. After all, with all their sun attunements, skills like Sun Spear skill were common in the Leios clan. It’s just that he didn’t know they could appear like Echoes of the Rot Heart just did.
It wasn’t good. Not good at all. As he rubbed snow on his body, trying to get rid of the stench, he wondered if his other skills were susceptible to change too.
In his garden Spear, Shield, and Spearfishing were located away from the rotten tree. But Trap Detection and The Fifth Direction were right next to it. Could it be a sign?
He couldn’t imagine how the dirt path of The Fifth Direction might rot, but Trap Detection’s ivy was another story—he could easily see it being contaminated.
With no more information, he could only hope nothing happened. He would have to seek out people who could teach him how these things worked. Maybe the guardians? But they would demand payment, something he wasn’t sure he was willing to pay.
He didn’t even know if he would find them back at the stone.
Diven put aside this line of thought. First, he needed to figure out what had happened to Echoes of the Heart. The new, rot-attuned version was disgusting, but it had helped him survive.
He focused.
From what he could gather, Echoes of the Rot Heart would have similar effects to the original skill. A small healing in exchange for being lost in a trance for a moment. The difference was that instead of a pleasant illusion, Diven would be thrust into a world of rot.
Not ideal. But in a way, it was reassuring for Diven. At least, he wouldn’t lose himself in a bliss-inducing reverie. He would just have to endure the stench and stickiness of decay.
As for the yellow pus, Diven had no idea. He wasn’t getting any hint from his inspection of the skill.
Having mostly cleaned himself up, Diven had to decide on a new destination.
Even after taking a shortcut into the new valley with the avalanche, he was still far from the foot of the mountain. He briefly considered going back the way he came, but he figured there was no real reason to do so.
He wanted to explore this new valley.
The first thing he did was to look for his spears and his shield. While he had saved his bag, the rest of his items had been lost in the avalanche. The strength of the disaster was too much for him to hold on to them.
Looking for a lost item in the aftermath of an avalanche was like searching for a needle in a haystack. All he could see was snow with torn branches and rocks popping out of it. Unfortunately, a spear was just a piece of wood with a pointy metal head. It would be hard to find. His shield was more of the same. What were two pieces of wood compared to the sea of debris around him?
Still, Diven didn’t have much choice but to search. He could do without the shield, but he would be defenseless if he didn’t have his spear.
After turning over countless stones, digging up plenty of branches, and scouring the entire area, he had to come to his senses. They were lost forever.
He was about to give up and start exploring the valley when he stumbled on a stick he didn’t notice. Turning back, he noticed it was the frostcrawler’s spear. Ivory white, it blended perfectly with the snow.
Overjoyed, Diven picked it up. It wasn’t quite the same as his old spear, but it would have to do. At least the shaft, though slippery, was solid and reliable. He would have to get used to the new weapon. But, who knew? Being familiar with different types of spears might help level his Spear skill.
As ready as he could be, Diven continued to climb down the mountain. His goal was the river deep in the valley. He wanted to see if he could fish in the stream. He couldn’t be sure there would be frostcrawler spearfishes on this side of the mountain.
As he got further and further away from the aftermath of the avalanche, he noticed the valley’s vegetation was different than on the other side. The few pine groves were replaced by a continuous forest of large coniferous trees.
Very large trees.
Larger than he had ever thought possible for a tree.
They were so large he doubted ten people would be able to encircle the tree by holding their hands together.
He felt like an ant walking between the trunks and roots bigger than the tallest buildings in Kheiron.This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Despite his awe at the wooden giants, Diven remembered where he was. He was in a rift, he needed to stay alert, ready to react at the instant he detected any sign of life.
Even with all his good intentions, he was surprised when a pinecone fell right in front of him. His Trap Detection activated and, as he trained himself to, he stepped onto the fifth direction to avoid what was coming.
Yet, it was the pinecone itself that exploded into a myriad of fragments propelled at high speed in every direction. It wasn’t an attack the fifth direction could protect against. Several fragments reached him, piercing small holes into his skin.
Cursing the loss of his shield, Diven scanned the canopy and located a group of small rodents jumping from tree to tree all around him.
Squirrels? They looked similar and he would have considered them so if not for their distinct lack of ears.
One of them dropped another pinecone in his direction.
Determined not to be caught by the same trick twice, Diven rushed behind a tree for cover. But the rodents kept dropping pinecones at a gradually increasing rate.
Explosions rang across the forest as Diven scrambled to hide from them. He was quick to realize he couldn’t fight them. High up in the canopy of the giant tree, he couldn’t even reach them. Even if he somehow found a way, there were too many of them.
He ran for his life. Taking a few hits as he fled.
Thankfully, the explosive rodents didn’t follow him. Otherwise, he would have been in trouble. It was like the swarmlings, he didn’t have the right skillset to take care of many opponents at once. especially against enemies armed with exploding pinecones.
Still feeling unsafe, he pushed forward despite his minor wounds. It wasn’t much, a few bleeding lesions all over his body. Nothing that prevented him from moving. Nothing that hurt too much. They were not severe enough to justify the use of Echoes of the Rot Heart. It wasn’t just about the rot. At least, that's what he told himself.
No, using the skill would shut out his perception of the world around him. He needed to find a safe place first.
The forest continued unchanged. His only way to orient himself was by following the slope down. He was nervous, not believing the rodents had stopped following him out of the goodness of their heart. There had to be something else scaring them away.
It was also possible the rodents were not interested in hunting him down, perhaps content to merely defend their territory. Every wild beast didn’t have to be a bloodthirsty monster. But Diven was in a rift, it wasn’t the same.
Here, he had to assume everything was out to get him. Including the guardians.
Just as he thought that, Trap Detection screamed in his mind. Hopping in the fifth direction, the wind brushing past his back.
Turning around, he didn’t see anything.
Yet, there was something. He was sure of it.
Trap Detection had never rung a false alarm. This wind wasn’t natural.
Bone spear ready to strike, he stayed as vigilant as possible.
Another alarm blasted in his mind and, once again, he used the fifth direction to get out of trouble. As he did, he walked backward to keep an eye on what was attacking him. All he saw were two blue dots appearing right where he used to be standing.
Sure enough, a monster was attacking him. But he didn’t know what it was.
The pattern repeated itself once more. Diven was praising the world for Trap Detection and The Fifth Direction. Those skills had already proven their worth. If he didn’t have them…
He didn’t have time to ponder the implications.
Diven dodged another attack, his eyes glued on the mysterious blue dots flying around.
Another dodge — this one too close for comfort — as he felt something brush against his leg while stepping away. He wasn’t hurt, but it wasn’t a good sign.
He had to find a solution. Whatever it was that was attacking him, he needed to make it stop. He couldn’t keep going forever. Sooner or later, he would fail to dodge and suffer a serious injury.
Looking right into the two blue dots floating in the air, he got the impression those were eyes. As soon as the idea settled in his mind, he started to see a vague outline form around the spot where the monster was standing.
Stealth. It was relying on stealth to repeatedly ambush him.
It moved again, vanishing into thin air, forcing him to dodge once more. Each time, he pushed as far as he could in the fifth direction. Just because the beast couldn’t sense what he could with his skill didn’t mean he couldn’t be touched while he was walking in that direction. The first frostcrawler spearfish was the proof of that.
Being in the fifth direction for an extended period strained his senses. It made him dizzy and disoriented, forcing him out after a few steps.
Each time he spotted the eyes, the outline of the beast grew slightly clearer. After two more attacks, he was confident it was some kind of panther.
“An invisible panther, great,” he murmured, feeling annoyed at what this new valley was throwing at him.
Still, he was feeling confident. If the panther was stealthy to the point of being almost invisible, it couldn’t have strong defenses.
Well, it shouldn’t. In theory, it could be both stealthy and heavily armored, but it was unlikely.
Having seen enough, he continued the deadly dance with the panther, but this time he went on the offensive. Catching the beast off guard, his spear pierced the panther’s throat, killing it in one hit.
As soon as he did, Diven was hit with a wave of dizziness unlike he ever felt before. His head was spinning as he tried to make sense of what was happening.
Then, he saw it. The fifth direction was clearer than ever before, his skills had leveled up.
Checking his inner garden for confirmation, he noticed both the ivy and the dirt path had expanded greatly.
Skill leveled up: Trap Detection lv2 -> lv4
Skill leveled up: The Fifth Direction lv1 -> lv3
Two levels each, no wonder the change hit him so hard. Both skills were directly related to how he perceived the world around him. Any progress to them would need some adjustment on his part.
Far from elated, a bead of sweat ran down his back as he considered the result of his fight. Four skill levels were too much. Sure, the skills were low-level and he used them repeatedly to triumph over the invisible panther. But they would not have leveled if there wasn't danger involved.
He couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if even a single of the monster's strikes had landed.