Chapter 20 - Hard Choices

Nate woke slowly with a pained groan. Everything hurt and his vision was so blurred he could barely see. Trying to sit up he immediately rolled to the side and vomited the lobster onto the stone next to him. He was so tired, he should just go back to sleep. But there was an incessant gentle tapping on his cheek. Suddenly his vision turned blue. Must’ve been the sky.

“You can’t sleep, boss man. You’ve banged your head. Stay awake big fella. Your meat sack took a beating.”

The voice was insistent and slowly his vision returned enough for him to see it was Frick standing over him, slapping his cheek gently. Unwilling to try and sit up again he reached for his mana. The mana kept slipping through his grasp, unwilling to be guided to his ring. He hadn’t struggled this much with his mana… well, ever. Even when he’d first started using his mana it had been easier than this.

He was too tired to tell but he knew he took way too long to finally open his spatial storage, extracting his hoodie. Frick immediately bunched it up and put it under his head gently so he wasn’t lying with his head on stone. That gave him enough comfort to start feeling where the worst of the damage was. He was pretty sure his right wrist was broken. Definitely a cracked rib or three. Too hard to tell if they were broken while lying down like this, but it hurt to breathe. The dizziness, vomiting and pounding headache almost certainly meant a head injury, most likely a concussion.

He spoke softly, trying to keep from making the pounding in his head any worse, “What happened Frick?”

“Well boss man, I only saw the start of what happened. Your plan worked, again. It’s starting to become annoying honestly. Not because I want you to fail, boss man, but because holy shit stop blowing shit up when you’re so fucking close to blast, yeah?! Your barrier may have held, fuck knows how, but you were being bounced around this room like swimmers in the ball sack of a stampeding bull. I didn’t see how long that went on for. The mana blast banished me as well,” Frick ranted, pacing back and forth.

“But I did win, I am guessing?” Nate said with a satisfied tone.

“Yeah boss, you won. Serves that crazy bitch right. That’s what happens when you delve into Soul Enslavement. If the real one is still alive then she’s the luckiest witch alive. There are very few things that violate The System's rules enough for a direct intervention but Soul Enslavement is one of them.”

Nate looked at Frick curiously, not following what he was ranting about but his Familiar just shook his head.

“You’re too messed up to delve into that topic right now boss. Ask me in a few days. When no one is around by the way. For those who know about the topic they might not take kindly to you even asking,” Frick said, waving long clawed fingers at him. “Anyway, you get some levels and rewards for all your efforts?”

Nate could see the Notifications flashing in the corner of his vision. He wasn’t sure if he was in any mental state to be making decisions about his levels but at the very least they could look at what was on offer. Deep down he knew he wasn’t going to wait, but at least he might get Fricks opinion before deciding. That seemed like a reasonable compromise. Bringing up the first Notification for the two of them he looked from it to Frick.

You have completed a Dungeon.
Dungeon: The Temple of Q’ival
The Dungeon will cease to exist in two hours after which you will be ejected from the spatial pocket.
Countdown: 00:58:32

“Pretty standard stuff. Dungeons are one and done, boss man. Least it tells us how long you were out roughly. Almost an hour,” Frick said.

“What happens when it ejects us?” asked Nate.

“We’ll appear wherever you were when you got into this place. That was where the spatial anchor must be. Every Dungeon has one,” Frick responded.

“All Dungeons are like this? Spatially expanded spaces that vanish after you do them?”

“Yep. And if you want to know, boss man, ask a scholar. I never cared enough about the ‘why’.”

Shrugging Nate moved to the second Notification. Looking it over as he realised he still hadn’t spent his Free Stats from his last level up.

You have completed a Dungeon solo.
Your achievement has been recorded.

Accrued Mana applied to Primary Class.
Level up…
Level up…
Level up…

Stats adjusted: +6 Dexterity, +3 Endurance, +6 Intellect, +6 Creativity, +3 Perception, +6 Mana Reserve, +15 Free Stats

Runic Intent Level 7 > 8
Runic Replication Level 1 > 2

Walk your Path. Reach your Goal. Become One with Mana.

“I got so caught up in getting out of here I forgot to invest those other Free Stats. I’ve got twenty five now, Frick. Thoughts?” asked Nate.

“That’s a pretty polite way of saying you nearly died with Free Stats floating around, boss man. Well, if we’re discussing your development and not how dumb you can be for an Intellect build… it really depends if you want to focus on the short term or long term. Short term, you’re all kinds of fucked up and your meat sack is leaking a bit from your head which is never a good sign. So a heavy dose of Constitution will help you get better faster. Long term, if you intend to go deeper down the Mage path, which you’re firmly on, then you need more in your Magic Stats.”

“So maybe a compromise? Ten in Constitution and Magic Power with five in Magic Control.”

“As good a choice as any,” Frick shrugged.

Nate took that as a tacit agreement and invested his Free Stats. Nate couldn’t be sure but his thoughts started feeling clearer after investing in Constitution. He knew it should help him heal faster but the relief for his focus was almost instantaneous. The last Notification beckoned and he opened it up, having a pretty good idea what it was going to be.

You have completed a Dungeon challenge!
Dungeon: The Temple of Q’ival
Challenge: Defeat Radinka, Last High Priestess of the Q’ival.
Challenge (Special): Defeat Radinka, Last High Priestess of the Q’ival as a party of one.

As a reward for completing a Challenge (Special) all reward options are enhanced.

Challenge Rewards (Select One):
1. Affinity Improvement
2. Skill Tome
3. Spell Tome

Please select your reward.

He took a moment to look over the offered Rewards. They were all new to him. Two were pretty obvious in what they provided. Still, it was best to confirm his assumptions and Frick seemed to know for the most part how Dungeons functioned.

“Mind taking me through the rewards, Frick?” Nate asked.

“By the gods you truly know nothing eh, Dead Realmer,” Frick said with a derisive tone.  “Whatever, okay. So, Affinity Improvement will, as it states, improve one of your affinities. I don’t know if you can choose which one though. Skill Tome will give you a Skill Tome which you can use or sell. Will grant you the skill it contains. Same for the Spell Tome,” Frick looked at Nate as he finished, waiting.

“....what’s an affinity?”

Frick facepalmed, shaking his head, his floppy ears flailing as he did so. “You’re impressive and impressively ignorant! Nine hells! Alright, affinity basics, because basics is all I know. Affinity governs your manas natural… ”, Frick stopped talking and Nate could tell he was trying not to use the word affinity again.

“Alignment?” Nate supplied.

“Yeah that’ll do. Your manas natural alignment. Higher affinity will make spells of that mana type stronger, or require less mana to cast. Effectively it increases your potency in a specific area. It also is required to get some Classes. Minimum Affinity requirements. Those Requirements go up for higher tier classes, to be clear. It’s only like five percent for a Common Class I think. Epic I think is over twenty percent. Which I want to be clear about, is an impressive Affinity. Most people probably have at best ten percent or so.”

“Oh I got offered one of those as my Primary Class,” Nate said with a grin, taunting his Familiar.

Frick rolled his eyes, “Was it fire? Or no, don't tell me, explosions!”

“Very funny asshole. It was space.”

Frick paused for a second, scrunching up his face in thought, “I suppose that would make sense if you were exposed to mana while transitioning between universes. That’d be pretty heavily spatially aligned and you would have had no mana so as your reserve filled it would’ve literally had nothing but the mana from the space, ha, between universes.”

“Yeah it was beautiful. Like the most vibrant painting I have ever seen. Colours merging together into this breathtaking backdrop. I’m going to recreate it when we finally get back to civilization. But we’re getting off track. Which reward should I take?” Nate asked.

“Affinity Improvement. You’ve probably only got one affinity worth improving so at least you’ll get the one you have. Which I assume you want? It would improve the likelihood of getting a more powerful Secondary Class that is focused on spatial magic. If that is what you want then definitely Affinity Improvement. The other two rewards would be a Rare Skill or Spell. Not really worth it for you, unless you don’t want a spatial mage class.”

Nate nodded, thankful to have the remains of his hoodie beneath his head. With a thought he made his selection and another System message popped up.

Congratulations
Affinity Improvement
Spatial Affinity +10% (30% > 40%)

Walk your Path. Reach your Goal. Become One with Mana.

Nate smirked and shared the Notification with Frick.

“Seems I am pretty amazing hey?” Nate poked at the Familiar.

“Jokes on you, boss man. With an affinity that high you probably already qualified for a Legendary Class in Space Magic. You should’ve gone for the Spell Tome. Probably would have gotten a Space Magic Spell,” Frick taunted him right back, cackling as he finished.

Sighing Nate cursed silently. He had no idea what he might’ve gotten but what if there was a teleport spell he could’ve gotten. He might’ve been able to find people even quicker with that. Still, there was nothing he could do about it now but regret his ignorance. Relaxing, he glanced at the timer until ejection. It wasn’t much lower and he still had over fifty minutes left. Looking over at Frick, the Familiar was just floating around, grinning like an idiot.

“Might just lie here and relax till it kicks us out Frick.”

“You do you, boss man. Your meat sack could probably use the rest. But no sleeping! Else I will give you nightmares! If you start to fall asleep just remember, you’ve got an incredibly impressive Spatial Affinity and absolutely nothing you can do with it,” Frick grinned evilly.

“What could you possibly do to give me nightmares Frick? You’re already hideous. Also, that is only for now. I’m level eighteen. Won’t be long now till I get my Secondary Class,” Nate said, smirking thinking he’d won this round.

“My last contract was with a guy who frequented a lot of brothels. Have you ever seen a donkey show?” Frick asked, showing pointy teeth.

“You’ve made your point. No sleeping. And let's never mention that ever again yeah? I think that’s already going to give me a nightmare. Or make me sick.”

Frick cackled and flew around as Nate relaxed, watching the timer slowly tick down and hoping his head wound would have improved enough by the time it hit zero for him to use his runes. Because it was back out into the world and that meant his nemesis, the cat, could be lurking. Nate closed his eyes to relax and tried very hard to forget Fricks last comment.

Fifty minutes passed in a blink and this time he got to feel what it was like exiting a spatially expanded space. It was an odd feeling, kind of like when you were playing hide and seek and tried to cram yourself into a spot too small for you. There was a sense of pressure and discomfort, but no pain, and the transition felt like it only took a second.

Not that he was sure he would’ve noticed if there had been pain. It was a constant now with his wrist and chest throbbing with his injuries. He had nothing to bind his wrist into place so he was being very careful not to jostle it. He couldn’t do anything about his ribs and it hurt to breathe but it wasn’t like he could stop doing that.

Arriving back in the cavity of the tree he’d hid in felt like seeing it for the first time. He’d been in such a rush the first time, completely frantic as he tried to avoid the paws of that cat, that he hadn’t taken it with his senses. It smelled musty and there was what looked like some small old spiderwebs littered around the inside. From within the tree he could see out into the forest and hear the sound of the flowing river and what he thought might be birds.

But most importantly he noticed that the prickling sensation was finally gone. It’d been in the background for so long that he’d just become inured to it. But in its absence he finally relaxed. He’d finally adjusted to this new reality.

Grinning like a fool he checked himself over. His ring was on his finger, boots were on tightly and seemed relatively undamaged, his robe was comfortable and he was desperately in need of a change of underwear. He debated just tossing them into the river but held off for now. He noticed on his robe a new star had appeared near his left shoulder. Focusing his mana through his Core he used Runic Replication to copy a second Barrier rune into it, the golden thread forming into the beautiful rune.

“Fuck I love magic,” he muttered.

“What was that, boss man?” Frick asked, floating in front of him.

“Nothing Frick. Let’s figure out what we’re doing and I am going to grab a drink.”

With those words Nate carefully extricated himself from the tree, doing his utmost not to bump his right hand. As he stepped out into the sunlight and the wind blew through his blonde hair he took a deep breath and smiled. Basking in being out of the Dungeon, he retained his cautiousness and put mana into one of his Barrier runes, creating a cylinder around him that moved with him. That should hopefully stop anything ambushing him.

Walking over to the river it was flowing decently quickly. The edges were all small stones and it looked like it got deep only a few steps away from the edge. Kneeling down he took a few long drinks, lamenting that he had nothing to store the water in. He figured he could carry it in a barrier shaped for it, but that meant he’d have to expend his second barrier rune on the task and he wasn’t willing to give up the flexibility it offered for the sake of the water.

That left only one option.

“Frick, can you fly up and see if we should follow the river downstream or upstream? If you can’t see anything that looks like civilization we’ll just follow it downstream.”

The little blue goblin floated up into the sky. It took a while as some of the trees were easily over a hundred metres tall. Nate waited, patiently watching the forest. He was less worried about being ambushed from the river. With such a fast flow anything hunting in there would have to fight the current, which meant whatever creature it was would have to be a good swimmer, which probably meant mostly just fish. Still, he stepped a couple of metres away from the waters edge.

A few minutes passed before Frick floated back down.

“Couldn’t really tell, boss man. Guess we’re going downstream.”

Nate shrugged and started walking. He had expected as much and besides, as long as he stayed near the water he had everything he needed to drink. His spatial storage had more than enough lobster meat to see him through a few days. Surely by then he would’ve encountered something resembling a settlement.

Glancing skyward he noted where the sun was. Depending on which way it was moving it was either still early in the morning, or almost night time. With a grin he supposed he would find out soon enough. It didn’t really matter in the end, because he was finally free! Free, maybe a little rich, and probably strong enough to make it back to civilization. Life of art and leisure here I come, he thought!