Second Skin Omnibus

by M Damon Baker

I left Holly by the road towards Morada, and I did my best to act like I was trying to sneak out of town, all while making sure that I was seen doing so. Once my final acts of deceptions were complete, I stayed on the road for a long mile before beginning my cross-country trek. For a while, I was able to make decent progress through the forest since the woods there were not overly thick.

  As I made my way cross-country, I resumed my practice of focusing in and out of Perception as I had on the way to Holly, and since I was under cover of the forest, I also worked on my Stealth and Tracking. I hadn’t been able to gain any XP for a while, so I also kept an arrow nocked as I traveled, just in case I came across anything worth shooting at. If I was able to take some game, it would not only help stretch my rations, but hopefully, it might also net me some much-needed experience.

  Before long, I could make out the form of some animal through the trees ahead of me. I crouched low, further reducing my silhouette, and advanced on it slowly. As I approached, I was able to determine that it was some sort of wild boar. While it was not an overly large one, with its tough hide and razor-sharp tusks, the beast was still potentially dangerous. After weighing the risks, I decided that it was worth taking the chance to earn some XP, so I carefully got into position to take a shot.

  Staying undetected, I reached a good location and drew back on my bow slowly, taking careful aim. If I missed or only wounded it, the beast would likely charge. I needed a clean kill or at least a mortal wound, or else I would be in some trouble. But when I released the string, my shot flew true, and the arrow sank deeply into the boar’s chest. With the arrow protruding from its side, the animal lurched and then sprinted several yards before collapsing lifelessly on the ground.

  I waited a few minutes before cautiously approaching, just in case it wasn’t quite dead, but my concern, while well-placed, was unwarranted—the beast was indeed quite dead.

  Ding!

  I was wondering if the kill would earn me any XP, and I assumed that the notification meant that I had. But when I opened my notifications page, instead of receiving a single message, I was hit with a flurry of information.

  Unlocked skill discovered! You have discovered the Blades skill tree and the Dagger sub-skill.

  Unlocked skill discovered! You have discovered the Dagger sub-skill Critical Hit.

  Experience gained – You have gained 350 XP.

  You have gained a level! – You have earned sufficient experience to advance to level 2.

  You have gained five Attribute points. Three of your points have been automatically assigned to CON, DEX, and CHA. You may assign the remaining points to any two other Attributes as you see fit.

  Your choices are final and must be made now.

  Holy shit! Killing Nedd had gained me a level. It should have been obvious that I would have gained some XP from that, but my mind had not exactly been thinking clearly and logically at the time. I hadn’t even noticed any icons when I regained myself later, so I assumed that they cleared from the UI after a certain amount of time had passed.

  After I got over the shock, I was a little pissed that most of my Attribute points were allocated automatically, and I was more than a little pissed that one had been placed in Charisma. While it was definitely a powerful stat, I was already far too conspicuous. If increasing my Charisma drew any more attention to me, it would only make things more difficult. As I remembered just how outmatched I had been during the fight with Nedd, I decided to put both my remaining points in Strength.

  When I attempted to assign my points, I focused on the Strength stat, but it only went up by one point. Shit! Was this broken too? I tried again, but nothing happened. Was the anomaly going to screw me out of Attribute points too? I reread the message again, searching for clues, and it finally hit me.

  ‘You may assign the remaining points to any two other Attributes as you see fit.’

  Fuck! I could only increase each Attribute by a single point. I tried to add my remaining point first to Constitution and then Dexterity, but it would not let me add a point to those stats either. Leary of success, I didn’t even attempt to add it to Charisma. It seemed that no matter what, leveling would allow me to only increase any given stat by just a single point at a time.

  Game-wise, I actually liked the limitation. I always hated min-max type builds that centered around a single insanely high stat; however, this was not a game anymore—it was my reality, and I really wanted the ability to increase my Attributes at least a little bit unevenly for the moment. When I finally resigned myself to the fact that I simply couldn’t put a second point in Strength, I considered my other options.

  It came down to a choice between Intelligence and Wisdom. Wisdom would be useful as it helped with both my Perception and Aura. However, what I really needed was to gain XP as fast as I could, and the description for Intelligence said it provided a bonus to gained experience, so I added my final point to Intelligence without hesitation. When I did, the level-up prompts continued immediately.

  You can now choose a new Ability. You must choose one of the following:

  Rapid Fire — After firing an arrow, your follow-up shot takes half as long as normal to be fired. Cost — 10 Endurance.

  Seeker – Your next single shot has an increased chance to hit. Cost – 10 Endurance.

  Body Blow – Your next dagger attack, if it lands, will cause your opponent to suffer an Endurance penalty. Cost — 20 Aura.

  Impale – Your dagger inflicts a damage-over-time bleed effect. Cost — 20 Endurance.

  Hamstring – The next arrow fired has a chance to cripple your opponent. Cost — 20 Aura.

  Block – You may attempt to use your bow to parry a single melee attack. Cost — 20 Endurance.

  Your choice is final and must be made now.

  Although I was able to choose two Abilities when I made level one, I only got one additional Ability this level, so I needed to choose carefully. The two Abilities I didn’t pick at level one were still there—it was good to know that I still had them available, should I need to reconsider. But with my relatively low Endurance still an issue, I focused on the Aura-based Abilities instead.

  Looking over Body Blow and Hamstring, I really wasn’t happy with either of them. I was hoping to not do too much close quarters fighting, and even if I did, I would still use my short sword primarily, so Body Blow had limited appeal. Hamstring, while nice, didn’t seem to provide any benefit over Stun. Then I remembered immunities—some creatures had natural or skill-based immunities to certain effects. Hamstring might be very useful if I ever fought an opponent that was immune to Stun effects.

  I was about to select Hamstring as a back-up to my Stun Ability when Block caught my eye again. I had dismissed it at first due to its Endurance requirement, but now I took a closer look. I had no defensive Abilities, and I was relying on my armor and sheer luck for protection at this point. While I had been lucky so far, I knew that at some point, I would have to deal with sharp objects being swung in my direction at close proximity, and Block could easily save my life under those circumstances. Knowing that the point I had put into Strength had just increased my Endurance, I decided to choose Block for its defensive potential.

  As I did, the notifications resumed.

  Locked skill discovered! You have discovered the Alchemy skill tree and the Herbalism sub-skill.

  Note – Most skills are locked and may only be taught by one sufficiently proficient in the art or gained via certain other magical means.

  Experience gained – You have gained 25 XP.

  Unlocked Bonus – Adding to your Intelligence Ability has unlocked its bonus to earned experience. Current bonus 3%. This effect may be increased up to a maximum of 10%.

  There was a lot to process after all that. I wanted to pull up my sheet immediately, but my attention had been diverted from my surroundings for longer than I was comfortable with. I closed all my windows and took a few moments to ensure nothing was encroaching on me as I surveyed my surroundings. Wh
en I saw that the area was clear of any danger, I settled into a more concealed location and pulled up my character sheet.

  Dreya Dae

  Human Female

  Level - 2

  1275/2700

  Health 130/130 Aura 290/290 Endurance 130/130

  Class – Warden – Wardens gain a 10% bonus to skills associated with nature or which have natural effects

  Specialization –

  Mastery –

  STR - 13

  CON - 13

  DEX - 15

  INT - 13

  WIS - 12

  CHA - 17

  Abilities

  Ignore Armor – Your next arrow will ignore a portion of the target’s armor. Cost – 20 Aura. 1%

  Stun – Your next arrow has a chance to stun its target on hit. Cost – 20 Aura. 5%

  Block – You may attempt to use your bow to parry a single melee attack. Cost — 20 Endurance. – 1%

  Spells

  Skills

  Bow – 15%

  Critical Hit – 10%

  Blades – 3%

  Dagger – 5%

  Critical Hit – 5%

  Armor – 4%

  Medium Armor – 5%

  Perception – 17%

  Environmental – 18%

  Identify Enemy – 5%

  Identify Person – 3%

  Subterfuge – 6%

  Stealth – 8%

  Manipulation – 7%

  Persuade – 9%

  Barter – 8%

  Survival – 7%

  Tracking – 6%

  Identify Creature (Beasts) – 2%

  Skinning – 2%

  Field Dress – 1%

  Alchemy – 1%

  Herbalism – 1%

  It wasn’t too bad—my Strength gain provided me with a little more breathing room in both combat and carrying capacity. The increase in my Endurance was also welcome, as I had nearly depleted it in my ‘battle’ with the worg. My skills were also growing nicely and thanks to Nedd, I had a decent amount of money. But what I was most excited about was the XP bonus I would now be getting from my Intelligence—3% might not seem much, but it would definitely add up over time, and I fully intended to raise my Intelligence at every opportunity, at least until I reached the 10% maximum bonus to earned experience.

  I took a quick peek around again to make sure the area was still clear before I crept up to the dead boar. But when I pressed my hand to the carcass to check for loot, there was only its hide. I guess that shouldn’t have been a surprise, so I took out my new field dressing kit and set about harvesting the animal. When I finished, the hide was not in much better shape than the one I had gotten from the worg, but I was content to at least work on my Survival skills. I cleaned off the blades and placed the meat and hide in my backpack before continuing on my journey.

  18

  I kept going in this fashion, traveling slowly cross-country while training my skills and taking any game that I came across. I skinned and butchered all my kills but left most of the meat and hides behind—I felt bad about it, and I would not have been so wasteful under normal circumstances, but I desperately needed every experience point I could get. The day was actually going quite well for me until late in the afternoon when I came to the edge of a small clearing. As I approached the area, I could hear growls and other strange noises, and when I was able to peer into the open space through the brush and leaves, I could see a pack of wolves slowly circling a lone... something.

  At first glance, it looked like an elk, but with a much more robust body, and its antlers were positively wicked looking. Not only did the vicious arcs culminate in barbed points, but the outer edges of them were as finely honed as my daggers. Those antlers were not just for mating displays—they could easily impale or shred any foe to ribbons.

  In confirmation of my suspicions, I noticed three wolves already down and bleeding in the low grass of the clearing. While the elk-beast and the rest of the wolf pack continued their life and death struggle, I decided to capitalize on the situation. I took up a position near the edge of the clearing close to a tree that I thought I could easily climb up just in case things went bad, and then began picking out my targets.

  I put an arrow into each downed wolf first, wanting to do some damage before they died. When I scored a hit on the last downed wolf, I was rewarded was a satisfying ‘Ding!’

  Next, I put an arrow into the foreleg of the elk-thing, hoping to tilt the scales in favor of the wolves… at least momentarily.

  The wolves took full advantage of the wounded ‘elk.’ With the creature’s mobility limited, the wolves circling attacks began to score hits on its flanks and tore long gashes into its hindquarters. With the elk-thing wounded, it was time for me to even things back up.

  I carefully chose my target and let loose at a wolf as its maneuvering brought it out of the sightlines of the rest of the pack. My arrow struck true, and it fell to the ground with a sharp yelp. I continued observing the contest and alternated my shots between the elk-thing and the remaining wolves as conditions or the progress of the struggle dictated.

  When the ‘elk’ finally fell to the ground, the last two wolves that remained began viciously tearing into its fallen body. With the pack reduced to only two wolves, I decided it was worth the risk and attempted to kill both of them as well.

  I got lucky with my first arrow, as it dropped one of the beasts when the shaft pierced through its skull. The second wolf, finally alerted to my presence, turned to face me, and bared its teeth and snapped its jaws in a display of pure aggression as it charged towards me.

  The first arrow I shot missed, but not completely, striking the wolf high on its shoulder. It yipped in pain and surprise but quickly resumed its charge straight for me. I rushed a second shot, and again only wounded him, scoring a hit that merely grazed his flank. The wolf was close now, and I had to quickly decide what to do. I only had time to either scamper up the tree or fire one last point-blank shot. In a courageous display of valor, I scrambled my way up through the branches in record time.

  My tree-climbing skills were not good enough, however, and the wolf managed to rake his teeth across my calf before I could pull out of his reach. My Health bar flashed, but only dropped by a small fraction, as my greaves and the padding underneath absorbed most of the damage.

  Once I was secure among the branches, I tried to put a final arrow into the wolf, but the tangle of limbs would not allow me any decent position to fire. We were at a stalemate. The wolf continued to circle the base of the tree, but I was unable to get off another shot—then I came up with a very bad idea.

  There wasn’t enough room for me to use my bow, but perhaps I could throw a dagger. I hadn’t practiced throwing my daggers, but it seemed like my only option at that point, so I withdrew the blade sheathed on my belt and made ready to throw. I took careful aim and flung the blade at the circling wolf with all the skill I could muster.

  And then watched as it slapped harmlessly into the dirt at the wolf’s feet.

  The wolf jumped back a few steps, surprised but unharmed before he resumed his circling of the tree, all the while uttering a series of low growls as he glared up at me. I tried again, but my next throw was no better—throwing daggers effectively was obviously harder than I had thought. When I was down to my last blade, I paused.

  Perhaps I didn’t need to land a killing blow… Maybe if I could get him to just back off, I could get a better angle, one that would allow me to use my bow. The branches alongside me blocked a shot straight down but would be far less of a hindrance if I were firing at a more horizontal angle. I tested my theory and found that I could indeed maneuver just enough to attempt a decent shot if I could only get him away from the base of the tree. I just needed to get the wolf to cooperate and back off a bit.

  With a sudden burst of inspiration, I reached into my backpack for one of the hunks of meat from my earlier kills and cut it into several juicy strips. I threw a small piece close to the wolf and wa
ited to see if he would take it.

  At first, he ignored the chunk of meat, but then hunger seemed to get the better of him. After sniffing it carefully for a moment, he gobbled down the small morsel hungrily.

  I threw another small piece, this time just a bit farther away from the tree. The wolf hesitated, then limped over and devoured the second piece as well. Before he could resume stalking back to the tree, I threw a third piece even farther away.

  He had gained some confidence by then, so the wolf went straight for my third offering, and then the fourth. But by that time, I had managed to maneuver him far enough away for a decent shot. I lined up my shot carefully as he bent to pick up the fourth chunk of meat and shot him broadside through the chest. The wolf dropped to the ground instantly as my arrow pierced him through the heart.

  I sighed in relief as I stopped to look around at the carnage and saw that nothing but blood and death littered the entire clearing. The scattered bodies reminded me that I had earned some XP from the slaughter, so before dropping back to the ground, I checked my notifications.

  Experience gained – You have gained 26 XP.

  Experience gained – You have gained 26 XP.

  You have reached 20% proficiency in the Perception sub-skill, Environmental. Congratulations on reaching this milestone! Note that combat skills cannot be self-trained beyond 20% proficiency. Any proficiency gains beyond 20% can only be obtained via actual combat, through training with a mentor possessing sufficient mastery, or by certain magical means. Proficiency gains of non-combat skills will slow after achieving 20% proficiency.

  Experience gained – You have gained 26 XP.

  Experience gained – You have gained 52 XP.

  Experience gained – You have gained 52 XP.

  Experience gained – You have gained 52 XP.

  Experience gained – You have gained 52 XP.