"Good job, you got the alpha couple that lead this float of tygalos. That's what you call a herd of them, by the way," Sej spoke in the stunned quiet. "The rest of the float will now feed on their dead, and fight to see which couple will rise to take the leadership."

"And they won't attack us again until then," Kur said. "Which should give us a while, right?"

Sej nodded as she stored her gun, and that, more than her nod, was confirmation that they were safe for the moment.

"Alright, healers, check around the party!" Kur said. "Jul and Jaz keep your senses up as we harvest these beasts. They're part of our list. The rest of you split between the stream and the jungle, just in case we get attacked again, but you can take a breather."

Conversations slow spread across the party, and Nar crouched to have a proper look at the alpha he had downed. Powerful muscles were coiled beneath its scales, and its snout and teeth were much longer and thicker than his counterparts as well.

"Our first uncommon…" he mused, rubbing his chin as he glanced back at the other alpha. The burned marks across its scales were clear indication as to what brought it down, and the brawler was now staring with empty eyes as Gad and Tun discussed the uncommon beast at their feet.

[Heart of Loss], Nar thought, grimacing at the brawler. Hopefully, he would learn the necessary control to use his active skills in battle, and spend his instances of [Burning Anger] in order to, if not fully avoid, at least lessen the consequences from enraging.

"How are you?" Rel asked, kneeling at his side.

"I'm all good!" he said, grinning at her. "Already healing from the rest of it."

She heaved a sigh of relief. "Radiants! You have no idea how hard it is to watch you fight like that! Heal faster!"

He chuckled and ducked away from her punch.

"Working on it! And don't worry, I'll get it sooner or later," he promised, his own eyes sparkling with excitement. "And then… I'll be invincible!"

"Yeah, yeah… Whatever," she muttered. "More importantly, was fighting it? It looked faster than the other ones."

"It was," Nar said, returning his eyes to the gutted beast. "Stronger too. And its hits cause some sort of status effect infection as well, though my aura burned it too fast for me to even see what it did."

"Nice," Rel said, twisting her lips as she considered the spilled guts. "But that was just two uncommon… Imagine a whole herd of them."

"We're in for some big gains," Viy said, stopping behind Nar and taking in the downed beast. Then she grimaced. "Oh, wait… The first level up in here sucks! Ugh! Stupid easy dungeons!"

"They'll come. My concern is that they barely look different from common ones," Kur said, approaching them as well to have a look at their first uncommon. "This guy just looks a bit bigger than the others."

"Sometimes it's very easy to tell them apart, sometimes it's not," Sej said, also joining them. "Look here. The snout is longer, and the teeth are bigger too, and there's a lot more musculature even if size wise, it's not that much bigger than the common variety. And if you look here on the sides of its head, you can see two bright green lines on either side of its jaws. That marks it as uncommon without a doubt."

"Is that even possible to spot in a fight?" Viy asked her, frowning.

"It's hard, but you have to do it," Sej said. "But the best strategy is to just always be ready to face a stronger rank, as you never know when you're going to come face to face with one. If you're not paying attention, the sudden difference of attribute densities will catch you off guard, and it could be the end of you. And the uncommon attribute density can go up all the way from twice as strong as the common variety, to five times."

"Damn," Kur whispered to himself. "I already had that in mind, but I'll pay extra attention now."

"You just can't ever relax or lower your guard in the Brightnight," the Sej told the party leader. "Do that, and you'll be fine in here."

"I won't forget it," Nar said, his cheeks and neck burning.

"We'll pay attention," Kur said, for everyone. "And speaking of paying attention… Tuk, Jaz and Lim! You guys got too close to the damned water!"

"I-I'm sorry," the ring tosser whispered.

He, and the ranged from Row's party were the perfect picture of utter regret.

"Did we cause the attack?" Jaz asked, eyeing between Kur, Row and the injured Teb that was still being healed.

Kur glanced at Sej, who shook her head to confirm his thoughts.

"They would've attacked us anyways, so what happened is not your fault," Kur said, relenting a little. "But you three were still too close to the water!"

"Won't happen again," Lim vowed, downcast.

"I know it's all pretty and exciting here, but this domain is unlike anything we've ever faced. It's not like our first dungeon and sure as the Pile is not like those easy dungeons we were training in!" Row added, after a heavy sigh. "From now on, think of it as being back on the Climb. We're facing that level of danger here, if not more!"

"Will do," Jaz whispered.

And chastised, the three ranged huddled together in the center of the party, and kept their eyes on the water and the trees, ready for any signs of attack.

"Still, how deep is this stream?" Viy asked, eyeing the waters. "There must have been a hundred of those things!"

"It's really, really deep," Nar said. "I couldn't even see the bottom. And speaking of which, good planning with the ropes, Kur."

"Yeah," the party leader said, nodding with a grimace. "I knew that not being able to swim was going to be a pain in the ass."

"I recommend getting that skill ASAP, though not while here," Sej said. "But the ropes were a very good idea. The Jungle Tops area provides 80% of all the water in the Brightnight, and either from the Water's Birth or from the heavy rains, it all flows along these really, really deep channels carved in the jungle. Even if it doesn't look wide, it will always be very, very deep."

"I should have thought about that," Row muttered, clenching her jaw.

Kur shook his head. "There was too much to prepare for, and I'm sure you'll have prepared for something that we missed. As for the water, we've got plenty of rope to share around."

"Thank you," Row said, though her expression did not soften, nor her eyes leave the now tranquil looking, blue and green waters.

"Everything's a learning opportunity," Kur told her. "And we're all about to learn a lot here."

Yes we are, aren't we? Nar thought, eying the quiet, glowing jungle around them.

And he could only hope that none of those learning experiences came with a deadly price tag attached to it.

**********

 

You have leveled up!

 

You have gained:

Strength 35 -> 37

Constitution 41 -> 44

Stamina 50 -> 53

Vigor 9 -> 10

Speed 55 -> 56

Agility 53 -> 54

Reflex 55 -> 58

Awareness 16 -> 17

Aura*** 634 (256 + 378 Mod.) -> Aura***: 668 (266 + 402 Mod.)

Instinct 41 -> 42

 

Hmm… As expected, the first level up is only alright, Nar thought.

He had cleared a log by the tree line, and keeping his senses up for any threads, he now sat quietly as he mulled over his gains.

We're carrying our crappy gains from those easy dungeons, so it's expected, Nar thought. But, from here on out, hopefully, Tys will be right, and all the gains will be something else, Nar though. In addition to that, according to the prep files, they should expect an explosive growth in attribute density during the Jungle Tops, as they adjusted to the almost purple category beasts in the Brightnight. Once the apprentices acclimated to that, the gains density should become more sedated as they traveled to other areas, though the gains should remain really, really good. Crystal, given the fight we just had, and that it's gonna get tougher, they damned better be! Still…

He rubbed his chin as he mulled the numbers on his status.

 

NAR293457741235645XAV

Champion Aspirant 15

(Aggr. 40)

Rare

DPS/Tank

Aura: 4323/6680

Health Points: 343/440

Stamina: 498/553

 

Stats

● Strength: 50 (37 + 13 [The Aspiring Champion])

● Constitution: 44

● Stamina: 53

● Vigor: 12 (10 + 2 [Combat Cycling] (while in combat))

● Speed: 89 (56 + 13 [The Aspiring Champion] + 20 [NPC])

● Agility: 96 (54 + 13 [The Aspiring Champion] + 29 [NPC])

● Hearing: 60 (34 + 26 [Senses of the Champion])

● Sight: 54 (28 + 26 [Senses of the Champion])

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

● Smell: 38 (12 + 26 [Senses of the Champion])

● Dexterity: 14

● Reflex: 123 (58 + 13 [The Aspiring Champion] + 52 [NPC])

● Accuracy: 8

● Awareness: 16

● Perception: 10

● NPC: 18

● Ego: 66

● Aura***: 668 (266 + 402 Mod.)

● Instinct: 86 (42 + 13 [The Aspiring Champion] + 26 [Senses of the Champion] + 5 [???])

● Endurance: 21

● Might: 16

● Presence: 1

● ???: 32

These bonus effects really are something… For example, I gained 3 points in [Reflex], but [The Aspiring Champion] and the [Senses of the Champion] bumped that up by another 4 points. And [Hearing], [Sight] and [Smell] gained a point from the [Senses of the Champion] going up, even though I didn't make any direct gains on my senses.

His eyebrows rose gently on his face, as he scanned the list of his status.

As long as I keep increasing my [Aura***], I'll gain points even if not directly from combat. Damn… I knew they were good, but these passive skills are only getting better and better, he thought. Tys really is onto something with her decision to focus on passives.

He closed the status tab, but a glance at his bars made him wince.

His stamina was okay, and ready to go at it again for a few more rounds if need be, and while his HP had gone a bit lower than he'd wanted it to, thanks to his self-healing, the protective shielding was already filling back up.

Real issue is how much aura that one fight took me… Nar thought, pressing his lips. Between the [Aura Blades], the other skills, and above all, the self-healing, that was quite the hit to my little gray bar… I better get to meditating soon. Who knows how many more fights we're going to go through today?

He turned off his UI and scanned the fight scene.

Pockets of delvers lined the edges of the corpse-strewn stream margin, to offer a quick response in case of further attacks by beasts drawn over by the stench of death. However, the atmosphere was relaxed, and people were chatting about their gains and other topics while those trained in harvesting got themselves dirty over the corpses.

"Even the common one's were tough," Teb muttered. "I don't want to imagine how strong the uncommon are going to be. Or the rares…"

Nar eyed the quam. Between Leta and Jasphaer, they had quickly managed to put the four-bladed swordman to rights again, as fortunately, despite the horrific look, the bones had remained intact, and the major arteries of his forearm had been easy enough to patch up. His elbow had been twisted quite out of place though, and Nar winced at the memory of the quam's screams as they popped it back together. As Jasphaer had warned them all, healing was not always painless.

"Tygalos are usually between level 44 to 46, so they're higher level than you are," Sej told the still blanched looking quam. "And most things in Jungle Tops are at minimum level 43. You need to hang in there until you make enough gains to even the playing field a little, though it's going to happen again every time we switch areas…"

"Damn," Lim whispered.

No wonder they finally gave us healers, Nar thought, eyeing the nearly hundred corpses strewn around the stream's bank, lying in piles as high as him and spilling over into the darkness amidst the trees. After getting caught in that death roll, Teb was practically removed from that fight…

And that was a sobering thought, wasn't it? Any normal delver would've likely ended up the same way, with the exception perhaps of tanks like Gad and Tun… But he hadn't. He had gotten back up, started the healing process, and dived straight into that fight as though nothing had happened. All he had needed to do was compensate for his leg and severe drop in speed. And once he had healed…

He eyed the alpha tygalos he had disemboweled. Invincible…

It had only been a month and some, but building atop a lifetime of suffering at an aura machine, Tys merciless and accelerated training, with nightly tortures and the addition of the cilices which kept him wounded and healing throughout the day, he had to admit that he had made surprising strides towards his goals, and self-healing and pain resistance passives didn't feel so impossible anymore. In fact, they felt well within his reach as long as he continued his training.

He glanced down at his hand, flexing his fingers

But did I get better at ignoring pain, or did Tys just help me remember what I used to do on a daily basis? He wondered, his memory filling with the metallic taste of blood, and with the sensation of hot stickiness running down his nose and eyes, flecks of it clouding the air as he coughed weakly, struggling to breath… The Clean liked it when they screamed, and Nar had often denied him that satisfaction.

He clenched his fist, and shook away the memory of it. Sometimes it was easy to forget where he'd come from, and what he'd endured all his growing up… But it didn't matter where his upcoming pain resistance originated from, as long as he gained it. Pain resistance would keep him going when others would've long dropped, and he needed that, as shown by their encounter with the tygalos.

"... other than those increased HP pools and attribute densities, another thing I really didn't realize how bad it was going to be is the terrain! In our first dungeon, and that cluster, it was all flat!" Row was saying, as she and Kur harvested side by side. "And having the numbers we have is pointless if we can't make use of everyone properly! The ranged were mostly just waiting for openings during that whole fight!"

"Yeah," Kur said, wiping his brow his forearm, his white gloves soaked with dark brown blood. "Even the melee had to fight all cramped up in this tiny space… We were lucky there was enough room for Tun's skill. Crystal, we really need to talk about everyone's affinities and skills."

"And Gad's new affinity is so good at controlling the flow of battle!" Row said, holding a bloody aether reservoir. "You told me a bit about it before, but damn! That controller stuff is insane!"

"There is a good synergy between our two tanks, isn't there?" Kur asked. "And I think once we sit down and discuss our two parties properly, we'll be able to find other synergies and make everyone work well together too. For now, though, how about…"

And he moved on past that conversation, letting it fade to the background of his senses as he tuned into the one occurring by the harvesting operation around the unknown beast that had fought and ambushed them from behind. The nearly doubling of his [Awareness] after their fight against the corrupted illatrian had propelled him into a whole new reality of sense attributes utilization, and even after his master's tutoring, he was still getting used to it.

"Do I really need to grab that?" Mul asked, his tone filled with resigned disgust. It was the tone of someone who knew that yes, they were about to grab that, whatever that was.

"Well, yes… The sexual organ of the kijar is worth the most after its reservoir. You would be losing out on a good chunk of XP if you left it behind," Sarke explained. Her tone was neutral, but the wrinkling around her eyes showed that the stoic, professional gatherer, was not so emotionless as she had first appeared.

"Why do people even want that?" Cor asked, her lips twisted as she too, beheld that.

The emerald reptilian guide shrugged. "Everything's worth something for someone out there. The reservoir is the most valuable thing in a beast, but there are uses for practically everything in a beast's body. Even their excrement is worth it for farming or other purposes. The fur of the kijar can be sold to gear manufacturers or just clothing makers in general, the eyes are good for dark sight consumables for those who haven't unlocked the skill yet, the tongue is a delicacy, the tails can be fashioned into wipes with homing capabilities, and the teeth, liver, heart and others can be ground down for potions, elixirs and the like."

"And the thing?" Mul asked.

"The sexual organs will be used as… Enhancers for performance," Sarke said, and this time a little grin did peak through her blank features.

"No," Cor muttered. "Just no."

"Do they work?" Jaz asked, arching an eyebrow at the guide.

"Why, you in trouble?" Cor asked him, sniggering.

"I wouldn't take them," Sarke said, shaking her head. "But, someone will. Therefore, whatever you gather or harvest in here, there will be a buyer somewhere out there. You just need to decide what's actually worth your time to pick up, and what you should keep and drop, as your inventory space is limited."

"Should've brought bags inside the bags," Mul muttered.

"Doesn't work like that," Cor said. "Will you help us decide what to take and leave?"

"Of course. That's a good part of what guides are here for," Sark said. "An easy rule of thumb, though? Always prioritize the highest rank. The two uncommon beasts there are worth more than all of these tygalos put together, as uncommon grade material sells for significantly more than common materials do."

"Because it can be used for gear with status," Jaz said, nodding to himself.

Sarke, Mul and Cor stared at the archer.

"What? I pay attention!" he muttered.

"Jaz! Stop messing around and go pull some of those floating bodies ashore!" Row snapped at the human archer.

"I was keeping an eye on the trees!" he cried. But he did pull an arrow with a rope attached to it, and Nar wondered if that was part of a Jaz's new affinity, or if it was just something the archer had picked up from the Ranged Hall.

A heavy sigh startled him, and the log shifted under him as someone dropped heavily over it.

"Tuk! You alright?" he asked, wincing at the double whammy of devastation and nausea on Tuk's face.

"Yeah… I just… I was so stupid," he muttered. "And right even after showing my butt to everyone, too. You'd expect I'd fucking learned my lesson…"

Nar squeezed his shoulder.

"Well, it was a bit careless," he conceded. "But everything worked out in the end. We killed our first uncommon and got to harvest all of these bodies too! And we got our first tokens with this fight, even if it was just two across the board… Plus, you get to see Mul harvesting that!"

Tuk snorted, and he pointedly refused to look in the direction where even now, Sarke and Cor were watching as Mul carried out his grim task. Cor looked like she was trapped between wanting to be sick and fascination at what the brawler was doing. And for his part, Nar had to hand it to Mul. The brawler wasn't even flinching as he carried out the deed.

"Thanks man. I appreciate it," Tuk said. "It's just, everything is so awesome and exciting, you know? It's so easy to lose focus…"

"No worries, Tuk," Nar said. "I get it."

Though as Tuk continued to lament his carelessness, Nar frowned as a sudden thought popped into his head.

His awakened affinity is the joy to live, manifesting as light… Could it be affecting his behavior? He wondered, a weight settling over his stomach. Tys did say that she didn't want me to have an affinity to grief, and the master was also happy that she wasn't risking that by training my [Presence].

So far, they had been told that affinities were like flavors of the soul, but maybe there was something else at play here… And perhaps, he needed to be very careful with whatever affinity he ended up unlocking.

"I didn't even hear anything," Tuk went on, sighing. "When I looked back, you had already killed that thing before it snatched Jaz! Ugh, this place is a mess for my senses."

"Everything here is good at sensing or at staying hidden, or both," Rel said, joining them. "And just pulling on your [Hearing] is useless unless you know what to listen for. I'm hoping Sej can start teaching us what to sense for, or our attributes are just going to waste in this jungle."

"Hmm," Nar said, nodding as he scanned the mix of glowing colors and shadows all around them. Anything could be hiding on that dense foliage, and just because they'd beaten back the float of tygalos, nothing stopped another, bigger, stronger beast from coming along and attacking them from the stream again.

Or across from it… Some of these beasts have ranged and AOE skills as well, Nar pondered, eyeing the tree line on the other side of the glowing river.

"Nar?"

"Yes?"

Leta, the cooline O-Nexian that had joined Row's party as their healer, smiled as she approached them.

"I saw you getting hurt, but Jasphaer said to not worry about you," she said, staring down at his leg. "Still, I thought I'd come check on you."

"Oh, it's okay, don't worry about it!" Nar said, his tone suddenly awkward.

"I insist! We're sharing the healing across the party, and it's best to heal any wounds no matter how small. The risk of infection and disease in this jungle is no joke!" she said, her spines bristling.

She raised a hand, demanding to see his shin, and Nar sighed.

"This should be good," Tuk said, laughing with Rel.

The healer cast a confused glance at the two ranged fighters.

"Sorry! Uhm, the thing is… You can't heal me," he told the healer. "I'm learning how to self-heal."

The cooline blinked at him.

"Here, you can see it for yourself," Nar said, extending his leg.

Frowning, Leta looked down at his leg.

"Genahu… You actually are healing yourself," she muttered. "But… But how?"

Nar scratched the back of his head.

"I'm the disciple of an Ascending One," he said, opting to just out the whole truth so as to not leave any room for confusion. "This is one of the passives I'm learning."

Leta looked up at him, her mouth dropping open. And beyond her, he caught similar reactions from Sej and Sarke.

"I-I…"

She sighed and shook her head.

"Okay. Okay... I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to lie about that, and you are healing," she muttered, staring at his leg with Nar assumed was her [Aura Sight]. "Radiants… How did you even learn to do this? You would've had to block your HP from healing you, and then you would need to hurt yourself so much and so often for it to even…"

She gasped, her spiky hands flying to cover her mouth. "You…"

"Yeah. It wasn't nice," Nar said, awkwardly. "But it will be worth it! And I'm all good now. I can even heal myself during combat, so just think of it as one less concern."

"I see…" she said. "Genahu All Benevolent, and you won't take any healing at all?"

"Not unless I'm dying."

"And meds?"

Nar shook his head with a pained expression.

"Damn… I admire your resolve," Leta said. "That's some skill to unlock, that's for sure! Damn!"

"You should have seen the first time we found him!" Tuk said. "He was soaked in blood and there was…"

"They don't need to hear that, Tuk!" Nar said, waving a hand in front of the truggers face.

And it didn't escape him that Rel was now frowning at him. Heavily. None of the girls had ever actually understood the extent of his injuries at Tys' hands, as they had done their best to keep it within the boy's room. But it seemed as though in his half-addled state, Tuk's lips were running loose.

"But that's the story, anyways," Nar told the healer.

"Got it. I'll keep my hands off you then," Leta said, smiling lightly. "But the moment I think you're in over your head, I'm stepping in! And your teacher can come talk to me if she wants. Ascendant One or not, I'm not letting anyone die under my watch!"

Nar chuckled. "That's fair. And thank you for checking in on me."

"It's just my duty," she said, taking another glance at his entire body. "Still, you're doing pretty well for yourself… Your aura is already doing a lot by itself! How long have you been doing this for? A year? Wait, didn't you just exit the Gates like a few months ago?"

"Eh… A month and a bit," he said, looking away.

Leta went deadly pale.

"Damn…" she whispered. "That's… Damn."

She shook her head. "Anyways, give me your suit tonight. It's a bit early for you to discard it. It won't be perfect, but I can at least patch up all the holes."

"Oh, uh, it's okay! I can do it!" Nar said.

Besides, he had forty-nine other such suits between his inventory and their bigger backpacks storage, so he wasn't in any rush to fix his shredded suit.

Leta chuckled.

"I'm good with needles," she said. "I'll fix yours too, Tuk. We don't want anything else crawling inside, do we?"

"Really? Yay! Thank you so much!" Tuk said. "I really, really don't want anything else crawling inside again…"

Leta burst out laughing, while Nar and Rel just shook his head.

"Thank you," Nar said. "And I'll watch you, so I can do it next time."

The repair kit came with instructions, and even though they looked straightforward, they had proved anything but in the hands of the party.

"We need people to go scout around for a campsite," Row called, loud enough for everyone to hear. "We took care of the float of tygalos for now, who should be the rulers of this area around the stream. It should be relatively safe for us to stay in for tonight, and given that we need to harvest all of this stuff, we might as well start setting camp nearby."

"Already?" Jaz asked. "We just got in here."

"Do you want to come help harvest?" the red-haired woman asked.

"Eh…"

"Then go find a place for us to camp!"

Leta smiled at the three of them.

"We're already a group, and we're pretty well balanced. Why don't we go search together?" she suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Rel said.

"Let's do it!" Tuk said, leaping to his feet.

Did he actually learn his lesson? Nar thought, sighing at the ring tossers beaming excitement. Though maybe that affinity theory had some merit to it after all…

"Alright, why don't we have a look around then," Nar said, standing up.

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