Chapter 112

I pulled up the first two notifications while the stream continued to flow around me.

Achievement Acquired! Slay a third Classed Individual while not possessing a Class.

Assessing engagement and environment.

Determining physical assistance rendered — No assistance provided.

Determining equipment assistance rendered — User succeeded with a mundane weapon, no enchantments were used, spells were cast by user, no other aether-related assistance found.

Determining capability of opponent — Opponent was in an optimal state.

Determining distance in development between user and opponent — User is still three years from Class Unlock while opponent was a Fourth Tier Adept following a Lifestyle Class Path.

Determining risk of engagement — Risk of death high.

Reward determined.

Reward: 500 Steps on any Basic Path OR 50 Steps on any Advanced Path. Additionally, 10 Steps on the Path of Exceptionalism.

Achievement Acquired! Slay a fourth Classed Individual while not possessing a Class.

Assessing engagement and environment.

Determining physical assistance rendered — No assistance provided.

Determining equipment assistance rendered — User succeeded with a mundane weapon, no enchantments were used, spells were cast by user, no other aether-related assistance found.

Determining capability of opponent — Opponent was in an optimal state.

Determining distance in development between user and opponent — User is still three years from Class Unlock while opponent was a Seventh Tier Adept following a Lifestyle Class Path.

Determining risk of engagement — Risk of death high.

Reward determined.

Reward: 750 Steps on any Basic Path OR 75 Steps on any Advanced Path. Additionally, 10 Steps on the Path of Exceptionalism.

The readouts were similar, except for the part where Hodge was apparently on a higher tier of his Adept Class Path — which made sense as he had looked a bit older. Comparing it with the last Achievement I got made it clear that the rewards were reduced because the danger level wasn’t deemed to be as high as it was against the soldier in the mountains.

Still, the extra steps were going to be helpful. I had a pretty good idea where I would put them, but first, I wanted to check the rest of my notifications. I pulled up the next one.

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Ambushing I (45/10)

Reward: +1 Coordination, 2 Unallocated Stats

That one at least was simple enough, and without a thought, I dropped the Unallocated Stats into Gifted and moved on to the next notification.

You have entered a Rift from The Echoing Depths.

Rift Paths Unlocked — Close the Rift (0/1), Defeat the Rift Champion (0/1).

Just as I had suspected, the Rift was from The Echoing Depths — not like I needed the reminder since I recognised the bamboo and the big bastard of a spider waiting at the entrance to ambush anyone who entered. Confirmation, in this case, was nice to have if utterly redundant.

The Paths offered showed up on my Status in their own section, and I knew from my Compendium that they would vanish if I left the Rift. There would be other Paths available too, but I would need to actually go encounter their sources to make them appear. Not that I planned to do that — as much as I would have liked to milk such an opportunity, I was on the clock. If I didn’t get out of here before the cultists returned, then Nazim was dead and I would probably follow in short order.

The fleeting thought of letting the cultists deal with the Giant Eyeless Spider while I slipped out under the cover of Cloak of Shadows flitted across my mind and was instantly discarded. I would not leave my family behind, and the wolfkin had proven he was family. More than once, now that I thought about it.

Turning back to my rewards, I debated where to invest the extra steps from my Achievements. Using them for a Basic Path would net me a hair over twenty-two-hundred steps. For an Advanced Path that number became around two-hundred-and-twenty-three. In ideal circumstances, I wouldn’t have even considered anything other than Path of the Completionist — but these circumstances were at the opposite end of the spectrum to ideal. I needed an improvement that would help me now! Not one that would pay off in a year or more.

With those limitations, there were only three Paths that I could invest the rewards in and see an instant return on. I could put them in Path of Ambushing and cross both the second and third Tier thresholds. If it followed the same sequence as other Advanced Paths, that would get me a few more Stats and a Minor Skill Seed. A Skill Seed for Ambushing that I could actually slot would be useful. My eyes drifted up to the black, bulbous monstrosity hunched over the Rift entrance. With my sword, strength, and an ambushing Skill, I still didn’t think I could pierce the carapace of the giant spider. Not to mention, getting that close to it would see me dead in a flash. It was just too fast, and I was ten years too early to be facing something on its level in a direct confrontation.

The next option was my Path of Obscuring Shadow. The rewards would get me to the third Tier. Unlike Ambushing and Stealth, I had no idea what the reward might be for Obscuring Shadow. The other two were both physical Paths, whereas Obscuring Shadow was an Aether Path. Would it reward me with a Skill Seed as well, or something else?

Without being confident in the outcome, I was hesitant to make the investment. Which left the Path of Aether Manipulation as my last option, and the one I was going to take. With the completion of the Path, I would finally unlock the Aether Manipulation attribute. Being able to reliably cast Shadowblind could be useful right now, plus the extra Unallocated Stats would get me to two-hundred in Gifted.

Decision made, I took one more check around the area to make sure nothing was sneaking up on me before mentally telling the Myriad Paths my desire. A new notification appeared.

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Aether Manipulation X (10000/10000)

Reward: 2 Unallocated Stats, Advanced Attribute Unlocked: Aether Manipulation, Advanced Path Unlocked

Free Advanced Attribute Slot available. Would you like to select Aether Manipulation as an Advanced Attribute?

I immediately agreed and then added the Unallocated Stats to Gifted. At the same time I saw my Paths of Exceptionalism go up by five and Completionist by seventeen. Two new notifications flashed in the corner of my vision.

Advanced Path available. Please select a single Advanced Path from the following:

Gramps had talked me through all the options I had available. Any one would upgrade my Aether Manipulation attribute in the future. Aether Control was the Path Gramps had taken, which was the direct upgrade of Aether Manipulation.

Aether Disruption focused on the ability to disrupt the spells and skills of others — more useful against external aether usage as internal disruption was far more challenging.

Aether Binding was a specialisation that made external spells last longer as aether would dissipate in time unless housed in an appropriate medium, like silver, with an aether resistor coating it.

I felt a twinge of temptation to take Aether Disruption, but I was more interested in improving my ability to cast spells than messing up the spells of others. Messing up enchantments could be useful, but first, I would need to actually understand enchanting. Besides, I could still do those things without the Advanced Attribute — just far less effectively. I chose the Path of Aether Control.

Opening the last notification, I glanced at it and smiled — I had been right.

Achievement Acquired! Minor Improvement — Reach two hundred in an Attribute before unlocking your Basic Class Path.

Reward: 100 steps on any Basic Path. 5 steps on the Path of Exceptionalism.

The bonus was small, and I only had three Basic Paths in my Active List, so I applied the reward to Path of Shadow Magic and watched it advance a Tier as Gifted boosted the reward to one-hundred-and-eighty steps.

You have advanced the Tier of your Path! Path of Shadow Magic VIII (2612/2500)

Reward: +1 Aether

With all the notifications handled, and my aether core slowly refilling, I started to consider how in the hells I was going to get out of here. All I had to my name was a sword, a dagger, and a couple of injuries. My chest still ached from where Hodge had struck me, while my ankle throbbed in time with my heartbeat. Thinking about the blood pumping in my veins made me wish I had something like the Blood or Life affinity. Healing spells might not act fast, but they were still a force multiplier in terms of how quickly someone could be restored. A decent Life spell might have reduced the initial recovery time of my cracked ribs from weeks down to days, or maybe even hours. As for my ankle, well, it might have healed by the time I escaped this Rift — and I would escape!

My gaze returned to the dark woods off to my right. With my Cloak of Shadows, I would be almost invisible beneath those trees — but this was the Echoing Depths. Invisibility was less important than silence and Muffled Aura guzzled aether like a town drunk. My reading of the Compendium told me that any number of monsters could make such a place home. More importantly, there were none I considered myself capable of detecting, let alone defeating.

I turned the other way and looked at the bamboo forest. The Compendium stated they were common on the first and second floor of the Echoing Depths Dungeon. There were also only two monsters that made their homes among the bamboo. Shrieking Mantises were taller than I was and ridiculously fast. If one or more of them called the bamboo forest home, then I would be dead before I knew it. Even without the sound based attack that was capable of stunning opponents, their razor sharp forelegs could probably cut me in half.

The other monsters, and the one I hoped was among the bamboo, were Fluted Forest Spiders. They were supposedly a hive species of spider with a Queen that ruled their domain. Standard Fluted Forest Spiders were only a little bigger than my head, while the Queen should be around the size of my torso. Unlike the Shrieking Mantis, the Fluted Forest Spiders were ambush predators. Silent as a grave, they would descend from the tops of the bamboo forest on silken strings to land on their prey.

Unfortunately, they were also horribly venomous. The Giant Eyeless Spider’s venom would slowly turn an individual's insides to jelly over the course of a few days. That was how it liked to feed. The gigantic beast’s web wasn’t even used for traversing an area, unable to support its bulk and the heavy weight of its carapace. Instead, the webbing was purely for wrapping up its victims to eat later. A memory surfaced of an adventurer being carried into the outpost after being bitten by just such a creature. The leader had said the Giant Eyeless Spider had been the Rift Champion. I had some strong suspicions that was the case for this Rift too.

The poison of the Fluted Forest Spiders, on the other hand, would kill their prey within minutes, melting flesh and even softening bone. Their use of sound had nothing to do with hunting prey — at least not directly. Instead, it was how the little vermin communicated. Small holes on their abdomen could emit a variety of sounds by squeezing air through them, much like a flute. The spiders would use this to signal to other members of the hive when they had killed something, as the spiders could take down prey far larger than themselves. They would then gather and drag the dinner back to their Queen.

That alone didn’t present a huge problem for most Adventurers. What did was what would happen when you killed one of the spiders. Unless you managed to down the vermin instantly they would use their fluted abdomens to call upon the rest of the hive. Fighting a single Fluted Forest Spider wasn’t much of a challenge. A whole hive of the little ambush predators when a single bite could spell your doom was a good way to die. Fortunately, they didn’t hunt using sound. So, while I was scared to death, I was hoping it was the Fluted Forest Spiders and not a Shrieking Mantis.

Behind me, further down the stream, was just more of the same, and while the curious part of me begged to explore, the part of me that valued mine and Nazim’s life demanded I stay close to the Rift exit. Looking at the bamboo fronds, and then up at the Giant Eyeless Spider, an idea began to form. It was a risky idea — but in my situation, there was no such thing as an idea without risk.

Gritting my teeth against the pain, I began to shuffle down the stream back towards the waterfall, all the while hoping I wasn’t just hastening my death. A morbid part of me whispered that, at least if I died, I wouldn’t need to face mum’s anger for getting caught up in this. The realist part pointed out that better she be angry than have her heartbroken while never learning the fate of her son.

Standing near the base of the waterfall, my legs half submerged, I picked up a stone.

Time to find out how smart you are, I thought as I watched the chitinous black monster.