Debating on whether or not I was throwing caution to the wind I pumped the majority of them into my Vitality stat knowing it would increase as I digested the scorpion and that I would have to depend on it in order to survive being poisoned. I threw the rest into ‘Endurance’ and ‘Luck’ hoping they would help me to survive this somehow and leaving my stat page looking something like this.
NAME: Samuel (hidden: Jackson)
RACE: Human
AGE: 18
TITLES: DEMON’S BANE, TITAN HUNTER
SOUL TRAITS: Defiant(worn), Merciful(neutral), Kind(neutral), Noble(strained)
FATE: Demon Lord of Gluttony(hidden)
STATUS: System Champion
STATS:
Level: lv6
Experience: 17/21
Health: 80/80+270(reserved due to low resources)
Mana: 120/120
Stamina: 10/10
CP (hidden): 27/60
Strength: 10
Vitality: 8+27(reserved due to low resources)
Endurance: 11+2(reserved due to low resources)
Defense: 7+3(reserved due to low resources)
Wisdom: 10
Intelligence: 12
Agility: 10
Dexterity: 6+4(reserved due to low resources)
Charisma: 8+2(reserved due to low resources)
Luck: 12
Free Attribute Points: 0
SKILLS:
Active: Stealth, Identify, Analyze
Passive: Stealth, Mana Essence Reserve (55), Monster Wrangling, Exploration, Mapping, Enhanced Senses
RESISTANCES:
Mana Poison resistance I
AFFLICTIONS: Starvation (suspended due to ongoing Digestion of Allied Prey) Phantom Pain II (4:22)
BONUSES: None
OTHER: None
Hoping that would be enough to get me through this, I closed my status page and turned my full attention on the monster bug. I did regret semi-panic dumping the majority of my free stat points into Vitality as it brought my hunger pains back, but I regretted it even more when that same hunger made my stomach growl again. The scorpion heard that noise for certain that time as it sped up a little and had raised its tail so that its stinger hovered over its back in a ‘ready’ position.
I swore loudly and repeatedly in my head as it bore down on me, but I didn’t bother moving anything. I didn’t need the timer to know that Phantom Pain was still active and that any move I made would be clumsy and very possibly noisy which would only serve to draw it to me faster. Instead, I waited and watched…. and kept checking the timer anyways in the faint hope that it would run out before it got to me.
It was down to under a minute by the time it got within a few feet of me. It slowed then and brought its stinger down to ‘lead the way’ before inching its way closer to me. Since it was taking its time, I took the chance to check my messages to see if there was one that had a timer for the Phantom Pain Aliment that I still had. To my dubious joy there was, and it updated in real time. I kept it open and stared through it at the scorpion.
At the thirty second mark, it came within reach of my foot. It prodded it for several seconds and I had to resist flinching and giving myself away which was pretty damn hard. The pokey little bugger both tickled AND hurt and it took all that I had to remain still. I didn’t even dare to blink for fear it would notice the ruse.
Fifteen seconds to go and it decided to take a swipe at the bottom of my foot with the pointy bit of its stinger. It wasn’t an attack and I wasn’t poisoned by it but DAMN did that hurt. By some wonderful miracle, I managed not to react to it and for the first time since I was six, I sent a thank you to the powers that be that I was able to endure that. Meanwhile, the monster waited a few seconds before deciding to come closer and the timer reached 10.
9….
8…. it tapped both of my feet and legs as it came closer to make certain I wasn’t moving.
7….
6….
5…. It decided to start with my left foot first and grabbed at it gingerly with the tips of its claws before coming in cautiously for a bite. At this range I could see the horror show of small pinches that serve as its mandibles that it used to eat with.
4….
3….
2….
1….
When the timer hit zero, a lot of things happened practically on top of each other. The most important one was that I felt blessed relief from the constant ache I had been feeling from my Phantom Pain Aliment. Another was that I could feel its mouth parts come into contact with my toes. I also thrust my torso forward at the same time I activated my CONSUME skill in hopes of it increasing my chances of success and not getting stung in the process.
It worked as I felt the skill take control and target the scorpion monster. My mouth automatically opened and the space inside of it swell as the monster was sucked into it. It made a bunch of clicking noises as it was pulled in and I could feel it thrashing around in my mouth in the brief moment it was in there before I swallowed it.
I felt a sharp pain at the back of my throat instead of the fatal crush like I usually did when I gulped something down alive. It slid down my throat regardless and I felt another stab of pain when it reached my belly before sensing it die inside of me. Most likely killed by Salazar if the messages I got were any indication of what had happened. I had left them open so I could keep track of the debuff timer.
YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY INSTIGATED AN AMBUSH!
YOU HAVE CAUGHT WASTELAND SCORPION LV. 7 OFF GUARD! IT CANNOT USE DODGE FOR THE NEXT 5 SECONDS
YOU HAVE TARGETED WASTELAND SCORPION LV. 7
YOU HAVE USED CONSUME ON WASTELAND SCORPION LV. 7
SUCCESS!
YOU HAVE CAPTURED WASTELAND SCORPION LV. 7
WASTELAND SCORPION LV. 7 HAS RETALIATED WITH VENOMOUS STING!
WASTELAND SCORPION LV. 7 HAS FAILED TO ENVENOM YOU
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WASTELAND SCORPION LV. 7 ATTACKS THE INSIDE OF YOUR ‘GLUTTONOUS PRISON’ USING VENOMOUS STING
THE INTERNAL DEFENSES OF ‘GLUTTONOUS PRISON’ HAVE FAILED TO PROTECT YOU
YOU HAVE FAILED TO RESIST VENOM!
YOU HAVE BECOME ENVENOMED!
YOUR ENDURANCE HAS REDUCED THE EFFECTS OF ENVENOMED. -1 HEALTH EVERY 5 SECONDS FOR 30 MINUTES OR UNTIL VENOM HAS BEEN RESISTED OR REMOVED.
USE STORED CP TO REMOVE ALIMENT OR DO YOU WISH TO ENDURE?
ALLIED PREY ‘DEMON WOLF KING SALAZAR’ HAS SLAIN WASTELAND SCORPION LV. 7
ALLIED PREY ‘DEMON WOLF KING SALAZAR’ IS OFFERING HIS KILL TO YOU TO CONSUME. DO YOU WISH TO USE THE PACK SKILL ‘SHARE KILL’ WITH ALLIED PREY ‘DEMON WOLF KING SALAZAR’? Y/N
The two questions and a timer for the ‘Envenomed’ aliment remained in my vision once I had read the rest and I began to feel ill from the effects of the debuff by the time I was done.
‘Is Master okay? I saw the Wasteland Scorpion sting your insides before I could kill it.’ He said with a whine, and I could feel the worry he had for me through our link.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I have a way to get rid of it thanks to you.’ I told him and sent him a few mental pets. I got a brief brush of confusion from him at the attention, but it turned to happiness when he decides he liked it.
I reacted with a smile of my own before returning to my remaining messages. I decided to go with the ‘Share Kill’ thing first since it seemed to be the simplest. I think I was wrong about it, but it wasn’t too much trouble to deal with. I went for an even split since we more or less shared the work equally. Well, that, and I couldn’t give him more than 50% for whatever reason.
YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO SHARE HALF OF YOUR KILL WITH ALLIED PREY ‘DEMON WOLF KING SALAZAR’
WARNING! EXPERIENCE CAN NOT BE SPLIT EVENLY DUE TO AN UNEVEN NUMBER OF POINTS
EITHER ACCEPT THE POINT FOR LESS FOOD OR GIVE THE POINT AWAY FOR A LARGER SHARE OF THE FOOD. OTHER WISE YOU WILL LOSE THE POINT ALL TOGETHER.
I debated with myself for a few moments about what to do before eventually settling for giving him the point in exchange for a slightly larger share of the edible bits. I did need it more than the points right now after all.
YOU HAVE USED THE ‘SHARE KILL’ PACK SKILL.
YOU HAVE RECEIVED 35 LB OF FOOD FROM WASTELAND SCORPION LV. 7
DIRECTED DIGESTION HAS AUTOMATICALLY SHIFTED FROM ALLIED PREY ‘DEMON WOLF KING SALAZAR’ TO ALTERNATIVE FOOD SOURCE DUE TO ‘ALLIED PREY’ STATUS OF ‘DEMON WOLF KING SALAZAR’
YOU HAVE RECEIVED 10 EXPERIENCE POINTS FROM WASTELAND SCORPION LV. 7
YOU HAVE LEVELED UP!
YOU HAVE AUTOMATICALLY RECEIVED +1 IN STRENGTH, DEFENSE, WISDOM, AGILITY, DEXTERITY, AND CHARISMA DUE TO YOUR STATUS AS SYSTEM CHAMPION
YOU HAVE RECEIVE +5 STAT POINTS
With that done, I returned my attention to my envenomed status alert. I had already lost a few dozen health points from it already and I needed to make decision about it. Fortunately, the digestion of a prey item that was closer to my level helped to ease some of that urgency as it came with the added bonus of visible regeneration.
USE STORED CP TO REMOVE ALIMENT OR DO YOU WISH TO ENDURE?
I glared at the question, half wondering why it hadn’t come up for the phantom pain I had earlier. If it could have used it earlier, then I wouldn’t have had to suffer through all of that pain and risked losing my toes on top of that. Then again, it might not have been possible to remove the aliment with cp either. I didn’t remember seeing it in the messages, at least.
Pushing that thought aside, I stared at the message, debating on which one to choose. I decided to take a gamble and choose to ‘Endure’ with the hope that I could remove it later if it proved to be too dangerous after all. If I managed to survive this, then there was a good chance I could get a resistance to it. Considering how sick I was feeling already from it, having the resistance now seemed like a good idea.
YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO ENDURE FOR NOW.
IT WILL TAKE 5 CP OR LESS TO REMOVE THE ALIMENT AT A LATER TIME. THE AMOUNT USED IS DICATED BY THE TIME ELAPSED.
SET CP TO AUTO RECOVERY WHEN HEALTH IS LOW? Y/N
I selected yes since more health was always good.
AUTO RECOVERY HAS BEEN SELECTED. CURRENT EXCHANGE RATE 1 CP FOR EVERY 6 HEALTH.
Doing some quick mental math in my head, my current CP minus the 5 I might need later would net me an extra 11 minutes of healing minimum. That was without factoring in the regeneration that came with the active digestion of a food item. With it, that time was doubled and, adding in my remaining health, it would get me 27 minutes, 3 minutes short of the fulltime frame of the aliment.
I bit my bottom lip in worried thought. That wouldn’t be enough. If I added in the five I was setting aside to be used as a cure, I would have enough but not enough to do much else with in case another monster showed up while I was waiting this out. Considering that it had been in a fight recently, chances were good that would happen, and I need them to heal me up if I could do that. With how things were, it was implied that I could.
Knowing what I do now, I made the decision to change my earlier one from ‘Endure’ to ‘Cure’.
YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO CURE YOUR ALIMENT.
YOU ARE NO LONGER ‘ENVENOMED’
YOU HAVE FAILED TO ACQUIRE ‘VENOM RESISTANCE’
YOUR CHANCES TO ACQUIRE ‘VENOM RESISTANCE’ HAVE INCREASED FOR THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE ‘ENVENOMED’ DUE TO YOUR FAILURE.
