Chapter 12 [More Learnin’ | Kyle]

Kyle walked toward the rightmost hill, stomping on any lower Stage Slimes he passed along the way. Down by the foot of that rise was a Slime whose size was only matched by those closer to the Domain’s entrance… and he wanted it.

Damned Energy… Kyle griped inwardly. He still wasn’t tired, but his Energy seemed to be dropping faster than it had been before. With Iroh still being limited as he was, he didn’t have any way to determine what was causing it. Haulin’ Rowan out here won’t all that bad, but it still drained nine o’ it. Now I’m losin’ another’n fer every two or three o’ these Slimes. There ain’t no way we can get to that cave ‘fore I’m out.

He glanced at the experience gained from his last kill. It was a Stage One Slime, and he’d only gained three, and gotten a Core worth seven. Least that answers a couple o’ my questions. Decimals round down an’ xp is cut in half fer every Stage lower’n ya. Don’t seem to work like that with the Cores here. Still says I can crush it to get its value in xp.

Looking back, he saw Leah jump to the side—likely dodging a projectile too small for him to see from this distance—then step up and cleave the offending Slime in two with that stick of hers. He shook his head. Looks like a Stage Two interrupted her fight with that other’n. She’ll be caught up with me ‘fore too lo—Yup, reckon so. She’s already headin’ back up the hill. Damn. I ain’t been walkin’ that long, have I?

[Around 7 minutes now… give or take.]

“Thanks, Iroh.” Kyle chuckled. Reckon I oughtta stop wastin’ time with these here small fries. Made a bit o’ progress at least.

[Exp | 2,832/3,300 | 9/cycle]

[Health | 382/440 | 15/cycle]

[Energy | 94/190 | 15/cycle]

[Mana | 90/240 | 45/cycle]

He skirted around the Stage One and Two Slimes that were creeping up the sides of the hills and made his way closer to the center. As he approached, Kyle noticed a new Genus of Slime in the crowd that he wasn’t familiar with—a milky, white colored creature that almost seemed to glow. Unfortunately, they were farther in, and his Appraisal still didn’t have the range required to get a read on them. On the other hand, he finally came into range of his target, and what he saw made him grin.

Ooh boy, this is gonna be a tough’n.

[Slime | Stage 4]

[Genus | Mire]

[Tier | 1]

[Health | 196/200]

[Energy | 87/105]

[Mana | 123/155]

That critter’s stacked. An’ there’s two Stage Threes an’ a bunch o’ Twos ‘round it. Least ain’t none of ‘em a Mineral variant. Maybe I oughtta go back an’ borrow that stick from Leah… nah. It’ll be alright. Kyle rolled his shoulders. “Right, Iroh. Take the Health o’ all o’ them there slimes an’ keep up with ‘em, if’n ya don’t mind. Prioritize them’s got the highest Health. Perfect.”

[Slime | Stage 4 | 196/200]

[Slime | Stage 3 | 122/125]

[Slime | Stage 3 | 79/80]

[Slime | Stage 2 | 62/75]

[Slime | Stage 2 | 58/65]

[Slime | Stage 2 | 41/65]

[Slime | Stage 2 | 32/50]

Now just hit ‘em from the bottom up! Kyle jogged forward, targeting the small Heat Slime that had the least amount of Health. The top of his foot met with the gooey membrane and kept going, cutting through the substance and only slowing just before it met the core. It took twenty-seven damage, and barely had a chance to shudder before he brought his foot down on top of it, finishing it off.

“I said war… huh… good god, y’all,” he cried out in his best Jackie Chan impression and leapt on top of the Slime with the second lowest Health. “What is it good for… absolutely nuttin’! Say it again, yeaaahhhh!”

After only a few stomps, the membrane crumbled, and he was off to the next—still not having taken a point of damage. “Listen to me! It ain’t nuttin’ but a heartbreaker! Waaaarrrr!”

Kyle skipped to the closest of the larger Slimes, spun awkwardly on one heel, and lashed out with his other leg. He hopped back and inspected the damage. Only thirteen..? Well, I ain’t no Chuck Norris, that’s fer sure.

Before it could target him with one of its mud ball attacks, Kyle circled around the creature and continued pummeling the smaller Slimes until it was just him and the three higher Stages left. All of them had noticed him at some point during the minute or two skirmish, but thanks to their poor perception, he’d managed to go mostly unmolested—only having been struck by two of the several ranged attacks that had been launched toward him.

The Heat ain’t much o’ a threat so long as it don’t get close… but its Health’s a lot lower’n the other’ns. Few quick jabs oughtta take care o’ it an’ get it out the picture. Gotta watch my back. That there mud shot from the Stage Four actually hit a lick. Only three damage… but that’s ‘nuff to know I ain’t ready to run right through the pile o’ ‘em.

Having come to a decision, Kyle moved so the Heat Slime was between him and the others, then drove his fist into its membrane. As predicted, it deflated after three hits, but…

Only one o’ the cronies left an’ I can—oh shit! Kyle nearly collapsed when he tried to step toward the two Mire Slimes. He looked down and found that his left foot was being swallowed by a thick puddle of bubbling mud. What the hell is this?

He yanked his leg, weakening the mud’s grip on him but not bursting free entirely. It only took him a second to see a thin trail leading across the dead grass linking the offending puddle to the Stage Four Mire Slime, whose Mana was draining rapidly. Oho, so that’s it, is it? Got yerself a new Ability?

With a more forceful yank, he extricated himself from the hold and stalked forward, ignoring the shot of mud from the weaker Slime and heading straight for the big one. Its membrane shook and Kyle could feel multiple tiny, muddy tendrils attempt slow him down, but he didn’t stand still long enough for any to take hold. He hit the creature with a quick right and danced back to look at the damage.

Only eighteen… still a hunnerd seventy-eight Health, gonna take at least ten more. He took a few steps to the right and threw another jab, then noticed the other Slime’s Mana drop—a sign it was preparing to spit a mud ball. Kyle put the larger, chest-high Slime between them and threw a kick while he waited. With a nasty phluck, the projectile left the smaller creature and slammed into his opponent, dropping its Health by two.

He grinned. Nineteen. Eighteen. Two. Eighteen. Twenty. Twenty. One.

Swiftly, his attacks and those of the other monster wore down the Health of the larger Slime until it hit zero. Interestingly enough, it was still moving, and he had to hit it again to kill it. After swiftly adding that bit of information to his notes—along with the fifty-six experience it granted—he approached the now Mana-less Stage Three Slime and quickly put it down, then started hunting for the Cores with a massive smile on his face.

Lost a lot o’ Health there, but it was worth it. That big’un woulda been twenty-eight xp if it weren’t fer the double time. That’s five more’n the most I got from the Stage Threes. Means there’s four Semi-Stages to get to Stage Four… that’s one more’n the three fer Stages one an’ two. Don’t tell me a helluva lot, but now I know how far I am from the next Stage. Ought to hit it at six thousand total xp. Let’s see here… He pulled up his notes and plugged in the new numbers and did a bit of rearranging.

[Experience to Level: Human]

[Awakening | 5 Attributes]

[Stage 1 | 100 | 200 | 6 Attributes]

[Stage 2 | 300 | 700 | 1,100 | 11 Attributes]

[Stage 3 | 1500 | 2400 | 3300 | 4200 | 5100 | 17 Attributes]

[Options 1 and 2 for possible xp requirements were both wrong. With this information, I think that I can comfortably assume the formula for Semi-Stage xp is simply Stage². This would put Stage 4 requiring 1600 xp between each Semi-Stage… but I still don’t see a pattern in the number of Semi-Stages per Stage. It’s certainly not three per Stage. I feel like moving the xp required to reach the next Stage to the next set of brackets will help unravel this one. That shows 2, then 3, then 5… all of the prior amount of Semi-Stages added together? I can only hope not.]

[Stage 4 | 6000 | 7600 | 9200 | 10800 | 12400 | ??? | ??? Attributes]

Well, I ain’t got but nine more AP to earn in Stage Three, an’ I’m getting’ pretty close after that tussle. Hunnerd ninety-two xp from the seven o’ ‘em. Almost ain’t worth it to be fightin’ the lower Stages anymore. Damn things givin’ less an’ less. Anywho… nine more plus the five fer Stage Four… reckon I’ll put the nine in Resilience an’ toss the five from rankin’ up in Acuity. Really need to see them damn Abilities ‘fore I go pushin’ so far.

Kyle picked up the closest Core and tucked it in his sqwallet, then looked up over the squirming sea of colors. Just too many o’ the darned things. Only way I can see us getting’ there ‘fore anyone else finds this place is to barge straight through… I ain’t quite figured it out yet, but I’m definitely hittin’ the lower Stages fer more an’ the higher Stages fer less, an’ it ain’t cause o’ Resilience or some o’ ‘em’s Health wouldn’t be so low.

Gotta be that lower Stages can’t cause as much damage to higher Stages. If that’s right, then getting’ Leah an’ the kids to higher Stages as soon as possible is even more important. Also, I ought to be able to walk right through this crowd at Stage Five… or Four with ‘nuff Resilience. Maybe I oughtta toss all the AP in there an’ get it to fifty quick. Whole hunnerd percent o’er a base Human ought to gimme somethin’…

He kicked at a Stage One Slime that had squirmed close to the Stage Four carcass, then stomped on it to finish it off. After scooping its Core out of the mess, he started searching for his greatest prize. Damned thing was way bigger’n the others. Them Threes ain’t but as tall as my thigh, yet this one was just a hair under my chest. How high’s that? Gotta be at least four foot’r so. Five might be as tall as me, an’ that—now hold up a darned second. What’s this?

Kyle dug away the vile ooze to expose… something. It wasn’t a Core… or, rather, it wasn’t what he’d been expecting. Instead of the normal, marble-sized piece of glass he’d come to be used to, the object that he exposed was the size of a golf ball. It wasn’t much different from the normal Cores, which looked like tiny pieces of glass that held a dense fog inside about the same color as the Slimes he took them from. This one though, there was a symbol deep within the fog, much like those etched on the pages of his Grimoire—and it was glowing. He analyzed the tiny orb and looked to Iroh for an explanation.

[Name | Aspect Core]

[Aspect | Mud]

[Value | 280]

[Description | A Core with ties to an earthen element. Can be traded in at Domain Shops, consumed to gain a new Active Ability Tree, or crushed to gain experience equal to the value.]

“I-Iroh… please tell me ya got somethin’ else on this?” Kyle asked, hopefully.

[That’s a treasure, young man. You’re lucky to find such a thing this early on… though, I suppose it isn’t luck as much as it is hard work. From my understanding, Hosts of all species have a base set of Active Ability Trees available that are unique to their Genus. Every Genus carries its own Aspect. These Aspect Cores allow every Host the chance to learn Active Abilities unique to another Genus, though the Tree is still tailored for whichever Host consumes the Core. Some species don’t have the claws of a wolf, after all, so Abilities in a Tree that requires claws are altered to fit the Genus. The more Abilities an entity has, the more likely their Core is to be replaced by one upon their death.]

“That’s… surprisingly insightful. Thank ya, Iroh,” Kyle responded respectfully. “So. How’s I go ‘bout consumin’ this thing? It don’t look like it’d go down easy.”

[I had no knowledge on the subject until you Appraised it. Remember, the more you learn, the more I can gather from the System. Now, I for one, wouldn’t eat that. You can only consume such items when choosing Abilities.]

“Got it.” He hurriedly pocketed the item, then looked around at the mess he’d made—the outskirts were already being devoured by Stage One and Two Slimes. “It just said Aspect Core. That mean it works on Active an’ Innate Abilities? Somethin’ I get to choose?”

[No. All Races have the same Innate Ability Trees available—each tree being tied to a specific Attribute or set of Attributes. Again, they may be the same Abilities at heart, but they are uniquely tailored to the Genus. Each Race also has its own unique set of Utility Trees, which are not so easily obtained by other species. Unfortunately, that’s all your discovery has given me. Perhaps next time there will be more, and we can discuss it over some tea.]

“Always more learnin’ to do,” he grumbled. “That sounds great, Iroh. Thanks fer teachin’ this ol’ dog a thing’r two.”

Kyle turned toward his family’s hill, where he saw Maeve army-crawling toward the peak to look over. He smiled, then frowned when he saw that Rowan was still asleep. Leah was sitting next to him, squinting and looking around. She musta just left her Core. Couldn’t o’ been more’n ten’r fifteen minutes. Everyone gonna have an easier time o’ it than me? Figures. Ahh well, let’s get on with it. New goal—get to Stage Four an’ force my way through this here mob o’ squishies. Oh… an’ find out what them white ones is. Don’t seem like none o’ the others are eatin’ ‘em. Both o’ those can be done easy ‘nuff, an’ I still got three hunnerd an’ sixty-five Health. That’s a plenty.

Armed with new knowledge, Kyle ventured to the bottom of the hill and made his way into the outer layer of Slimes, where he saw another tall one calling his name. There were more farther in, and a couple near the entrance even larger than them, but he wasn’t ready for that—not just yet. He didn’t rush, crushing smaller critters beneath his heels along the way and never forgetting to collect the loot. After a number of easy kills, he managed to spot a small white Slime at the edge of his limit, and he successfully Appraised it before it got lost in the crowd.

[Slime | Stage 1]

[Genus | Mitos]

[Tier | 1]

[Health | 60/60]

[Energy | 30/30]

[Mana | 60/60]

Mitos… The hell is that s’posed to mean? Health an’ Mana… kinda like the Mire, but less Health. Kyle squeezed the new information into his notes, then continued heading toward the Stage Four Heat Slime he’d spotted. It wasn’t the time for delving into theories and notes, not until he was sure he could protect his family. As he came into range of the Heat Slime, he glanced over to see Maeve back beside Rowan, and Leah down near the holler, swinging her stick at some enemy he couldn’t see.

They’re doin’ fine. Focus on what’s in front o’ ya an’ start clearin’ a path. Time’s a tickin’.