The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  Chance to Learn Rank I Unknown Rune: 13.50%

  Chance to Craft Rank I Skill Book: +6.75%

  Chance to Craft Lesser Spell Book: +3.375%

  Professional Skill: Writing is the ability to communicate through the written word.

  Now, wait just a minute. My skill never said anything about ‘Rank I’ anything before or ‘Lesser’ anything either. “What’s going on here?” I demanded. “My profession changed. It now has a qualifier ‘Rank I’ for skills and ‘Lesser’ for spells.” I was answered not by Trinico but by a system message filling most of my screen.

  Greetings, a patch was implemented 2 days ago improving a number of tooltips for the following evolved professions: Runology, Enchanting, Instrumentation, Acting, and Building. Full Patch details are available at WorldTree.com for you to review at your leisure.

  Ah, that explained it. I wish they would have sent some kind of in-game mail or system message with all the patch notes at once. Now I had to wait a week and a half to log out of the game only to go online to check the website. What a pain.

  Trinico stood there with her eyes glazed over until I closed the message box. And even when she was animated again she seemed to have forgotten the question. It was a little creepy but at least I understood what happened. I reviewed my other skills quickly to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, but the rest looked much the same as before.

  “So, if I’m understanding this right, once I get Runology to Rank II and level 100 of that, I’ll have a 100% chance to craft a Rank I skill book?” I asked.

  “Assuming you are Rank II in that skill, yes,” Trinico answered.

  “Ah, see, that makes more sense. I thought if I got to level 100 that was it, I’d only have at most a 75% chance to make a skill book and a 62.5% chance to make a spell book.”

  “Then I am glad we were able to sort it out. Now, is there anything else I can help you with today?” asked the priestess.

  “Seeing as I am way behind on my spells, do you have any recommendation for leveling them up faster?” I requested.

  “The best way is to simply cast your spells on something or someone your level or higher,” she replied. “If you can tolerate the pain, you can even practice on yourself though I do not recommend it.”

  “What about the practice dummies? I can I use those?” I really didn’t want to light myself on fire.

  “You certainly can, but the experience will not be as high as it would be against a worthy opponent,” she advised me.

  “That’s okay, it gives me options. Anything else you can help me with today?” I asked hopefully. “Or anything I can do for you?”

  “Not today, but thank you, Bye-bye. Why don’t you go ahead and rest while you wait on your friends?” she suggested.

  Rest, who was she kidding, I had almost two free hours. I would definitely be taking advantage of the time. I have a number of books I am way behind on reading. It was past time, I got to reading them. I sat on the pew and open ‘Let NO-Thing Go to Waste’ and started reading.

  It was actually a pretty simple instruction manual for getting useful bits from critters and machines. From critters, it was about a good knife, capable of cutting through bone and tissue, and the basics of quartering an animal for the meat. There was a chapter dedicated entirely to the removal of viscera, as well as some information about which viscera were useful in crafting if you could successfully harvest them, without destroying them. Bones were mostly useless, but teeth had some value as did eyes and the brain. If I had to guess, at the lowest levels and ranks, you’d get meat and the occasional bit of crafting materials and common ones at that. For machines, you actually need a couple tools, specifically two wrenches, and a screwdriver, then it was just a matter of taking them apart without stripping the bolts or breaking the gears. Parts were apparently quite valuable to engineers, too.

  Thankfully, it wasn’t a long book, as when I closed it, I only had a 15-minute wait for my friends to finish their training for the day.

  I checked my system messages while I waited. I gained +2-Intellect and +1-Wisdom as well as the skill ‘Scavenging’

  You’ve learned the skill ‘Scavenging’

  Scavenging

  Level: 1

  Experience: 0.00%

  Skill Effect (20 Stamina): Scavenge useful materials from dead animals and broken machines. Chance to successfully scavenge something useful 1.00%. Chance to successfully scavenge something more useful 0.05%.

  This was a good day so far, I learned some invaluable information, gained a new spell and a new skill in addition to gaining a few points of stats. And I had the to hunt this afternoon too.

  “I am now one with the universe,” said Olaf, walking out of the hallway, a barely suppressed smirk on his face.

  I chuckled despite my best efforts, I wanted to make a joke, but the laugh ruined it. Thankfully Micaela was there to pick up the slack.

  “Okay your oneness, make me one with everything, I’m hungry,” ordered Micaela.

  Olaf’s smirk vanished, turned into a full-bellied laugh. “So, lunch before hunting?”

  “Works for me,” said Rose, coming out of the hall just behind him with Baby hovering near her shoulder.

  “Alright, let’s go eat. Then we’ve got a lion in need of killing,” I said excitedly.

  Chapter 27

  The trip from the village, to the river north of it, was relatively quick and uneventful. Crossing the river proved to be a challenge. The water moved quickly and was pretty deep. Swimming was too much of a risk, to even attempt it. Especially, considering we didn’t know if it required a skill or how our armor would affect us. We ended up walking east along the river until we found a shallow run, it was much wider than downstream, but thankfully only knee deep.

  As soon as we got to the other side of the river, we were set upon by three beasts and an . The attack patterns were the same as the lower level beasts surrounding the village, just more damaging. We made short work of them, having a full group of five. I also got the chance to use ‘Scavenging’ on the alpha wolf. I got a few rough looking chunks of meat and a ‘Sharp Tooth’. I also found out why Olaf hadn’t been using his own ‘Scavenging’ skill this entire time. It took almost 30 minutes to scavenge just the one wolf. To say my party was not happy with me might have been an understatement. It was quickly agreed, any ‘Scavenging’ was to be done on my own time.

  I was able to claim one of the bounty paws, leaving me just three paws shy of learning ‘Boar Charge’ whatever that was. Still, a free skill or spell was a free skill or spell.

  It didn’t take long to get those last three paws. As we walked, we were attacked every ten or so yards by another group of wolves. Then I got my last paw.

  Boar Charge Charm has become fully charged and shatters. You learn the spell ‘Boar Charge’

  I wanted to cry when I saw that message. My charm was gone . . . forever gone. Even if I got a spell from it, it was gone. No more stamina or endurance bonus, just gone.

  Then I read the skill.

  “Yes!” I shouted excitedly.

  Boar Charge

  Level: 1

  Experience: 0.00%

  Spell Damage: 25-200 per second

  Spell Cast Speed: 5.00 seconds Channeled Cooldown: 30 minutes

  Spell Mana Cost: 150

  Spell Effect (Active): Summon a stampede of spectral boars that will charge a targeted area dealing damage and knocking down anyone in the area of effect.

  Charm Earned Bonus (Passive): Blessing of the Boar Spirit - +10-Endurance, +10-Stamina

  “What?” asked Olaf.

  I shared.

  “Lucky blighter,” said Olaf, grinning.

  “I hate you,” complained Rose. “That is so unfair. I’m the tank, I need the stamina and endurance buffs.”

  “Yeah, but that is crazy expensive for a level 1 spell. And it’s unranked,” added Baby.

  Rose clicked her tongue in annoyance.
“I hate when you’re right.”

  It seemed I was the only one that didn’t know about spell and skill ranks, if the way they were all nodding, was any indication. Talk about a noob moment.

  “Yeah, but it could be a prerequisite to something even stronger,” added Micaela thoughtfully.

  I knew there was a reason I liked the excitable ogre.

  “You should keep an eye out for anything related to boars in the future Bye-bye. You might find something better,” Micaela added.

  “I will,” I answered, and I would keep an eye out. Even with that, I was excited to try the spell out. I had my first AoE. Area of effect spells were great for dealing with large groups, not so great for single target, but that was the point. Plus, this one had a knockdown effect, which was a pseudo crowd control ability.

  Anyway, with my exciting moment passed, we resumed our trek north toward the base of the mountain. The further north we traveled, the more the land started gradually sloping upwards. Eventually, we reached a point, where the slope became an impossible incline, we could no longer traverse easily. It looked climbable if you had climbing equipment, but we didn’t.

  “I suppose we should look for a path up,” suggested Olaf, his gaze also directed to the top of the ridge.

  “Do you think it will be so easy?” asked Rose.

  “Probably,” said Olaf. “Games are usually good about giving players a path to things. Just a suggestion though, keep an eye out for more of those damnable cats.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” said Rose, waving him off. “East or west?” she asked as an afterthought, looking left then right.

  “East,” I volunteered. Call me greedy, but my map would be completed if it killed me.

  We moved east, as I requested, finding the occasional path that would go a little higher, then dead end. It wasn’t until we were about a hundred yards from the waterfall, at the northeastern most point of the province, we found a path up. It wound back and forth a few times before we found ourselves standing atop the ridgeline.

  Talk about breathtaking. I could see the forest south of us stretching for miles. I saw white smoke rising from various chimneys and cook fires from the town. I could even see the top of the townhall and the Doghouse Inn, the two tallest buildings in town. Beyond that, I could see the forest thin and further still, the Rolling Hills of Evermore appeared emerald green and never-ending.

  I turned and looked to the north, it was all mountains and valleys, as far as the eye could see. I even saw a couple of volcanoes puffing black smoke in the distance. Part of me wondered if a dragon might call one of those home. Or maybe those were Dwarven forges puffing black smoke from lava forges. My imagination might have conjured up more endless adventures if an impatient Rose hadn’t called me back to reality.

  “You still with us?” Rose asked, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

  “Yeah,” I answered after a moment. “What a view!”

  “I know I’m something special to look at, but we’re up here for a reason, let’s get hunting,” countered Rose, grinning.

  “Like a car wreck,” I retorted. “I know I should look away, but I can’t help but wonder, what happened.”

  Olaf chortled a little but was quickly silenced by a look from Rose, and an elbow from his wife.

  “If I pushed him off, you’d all stay quiet about it, right?” asked Rose, looking to the others.

  “Honestly,” complained Baby. “Let’s just get going. We don’t have a ton of time if we want to find this before we have to turn back. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t particularly want to get stuck outside the village after dark.”

  I hadn’t considered it before, but I wasn’t too put out by the idea of camping out. I had the skills for it now. I could make a tent, cook the wolf meat I collected earlier, even set some traps to keep us safe. I was actually okay with us not getting back to town.

  “We could camp out,” I suggested.

  “We’ve still got our tent and sleeping bags,” added Rose.

  “Ugh, I hate camping,” whined Baby.

  “We can camp if we have to, but we should focus on the lion,” said Olaf, trying to herd us onward.

  He was right, we all acknowledged it and started walking the ridge line west. The top of the mountain ridge line was mostly flat, wide enough for two humans to walk side by side, but Olaf and Micaela had to walk single file. We must have gone a few miles before the path on top of the ridge, came to an abrupt end. A particularly jagged and tall rock preventing us from moving further forward. It did, however, have a path going down either side, north, and south. Given our quest was for ‘Hurlig Ridge’ province, we went south, though the north would be interesting, just to take a peek, at on our way back . . . if we have time.

  The south path zigzagged east then west a few times before ending on a small plateau. It was a mostly flat, circular area. The west end and around to the south, had a sheer drop off, promising death to anyone who fell off. To the north, the steep incline of the mountain was interrupted by a rounded cave entrance that seemed to be growling at us, probably an effect of the wind, but possibly the very thing we were here to hunt.

  “I think this is it,” said Micaela, stating the obvious.

  “So, do we go in after it or try to get it to come out to us?” asked Rose with her back to the cave entrance.

  I looked toward the cave in an attempt to study it, while the others discussed strategy. There was no telling how deep the cave was, but from what I could see, it was pitch black inside. Not an ideal place for someone without some kind of night vision. It was then I saw a slight waver of air, reminding me of heat on the pavement. I tried to focus on it only to realize what it was.

  Without thinking it through too much, I urgently pushed Rose out of the way, just as the attack was about to hit her. I took the hit in her place, thankfully only a glancing blow, but it still reeved -433-HP from my health pool.

  I didn’t have time to think too much about the damage, as the now visible , didn’t seem interested in stopping its assault on me. I flipped over the next swipe and rolled past the follow-up. Thankfully there wasn’t a fourth, as Rose saved me.

  Rose slammed her shield into the side of the beast then taunted him. “Here kitty, kitty. I’ve got a ball of yarn with your name on it.”

  Thank goodness for that. Thank goodness too for Baby, her healing spell restoring my health in an instant.

  We didn’t have much chance to buff before the fight, so I took a minute to ensure everyone had ‘Lesser Holy Barrier’, Lesser Mental Fortification’ and ‘Lesser Combat Blessing’, after which I renewed ‘Lesser Holy Imbuement’ on my spear.

  “Slow DPS to start,” called out Rose, her sword striking suddenly, followed by her shield interrupting the attack of the .

  “Watch your stamina,” warned Baby. “You don’t have to stop every attack with your ‘Shield Slam’. Target the double swipe attack if you can.”

  Rose didn’t nod or acknowledge the instruction but seemed to do as she was asked without hesitating.

  I hit the beast with my first stack of ‘Lesser Holy Fire’ allowing it to tick for a few points of damage before I moved in to fight.

  Once I had a chance to truly look at the , I had to say it was an impressive beast. It easily stood four feet tall at the shoulders, probably would have been five to the top of the head if he weren’t crouched in an attack stance. His fur was grey-white, except for the random splotches of reddish-brown in his mane, probably drying blood from his latest meal.

  I struck once with my spear, no skills applied other than my ‘Lesser Holy Imbuement’. I didn’t crit, but I was pleased anyway by the -161-HP the floated up from the beast’s body. I cast another ‘Lesser Holy Fire’ adding the second stack. Left it for a few seconds then struck again with my spear for -153-HP damage to him. A few seconds later, I dropped on the third stack of ‘Lesser Holy Fire’.
r />   “Okay, start ramping up your damage output,” said Rose, feeling more confident in her ability to keep threat on the beast.

  It was finally my chance to try out the combo, I’d been thinking about for a while now. I started with ‘Hamstring’, lowering its attack speed and increasing the damage it received by 12%. Then ‘Justice Strike’ triggered, dealing -183-HP damage. I followed it up with a ‘Lesser Holy Shock’, which stunned the and dealt -83-HP damage. And last, but certainly not least, ‘Power Thrust’ walloped it for -215-HP damage. I ended the combo with ‘Impale’, adding a bleed, then casting ‘Lesser Holy Fire’ just as my cooldown ended.

  That combo would have killed most beasts close to my level, but I knew, this was a tougher customer. Still, to see my combo knock out around 5% of its total health didn’t disappoint me. Then Olaf got a critical strike taking out 12% in one shot.

  “Oi, Olaf, take it easy” grunted Rose, as she used her shield to slam the beast and interrupt one of it double swipe attacks.

  “Sorry,” he said from about seven or so yards away from me, facing the right flank of the target.

  “Nice shot, love,” added Micaela, her duel axes hacking away from just to my left.

  Seeing I didn’t pull aggro nor did Olaf, I took that to mean it was safe to go a little wild with my attacks. It didn’t take long for the to drop to nearly 51% health. It hadn’t occurred to me, to be prepared for him to use a special ability, as so far, none of the beasts we had fought used any kind of special ability. And yet, when the beast’s HP dropped to the 50% mark, it halted its attack and bellowed out the loudest roar I’ve ever heard.

  It wasn’t only loud, but also, unlike anything I had ever heard before. Without realizing what I was doing, I turned and ran, much to my own confusion.

  “Hold Fast,” shouted Rose. I felt her words washed over me, and I was back in control of myself.

  “What the bloody hell was that?” asked Micaela, rushing back to attack.