Chapter Thirteen

  Three days after the visit from Ethel, Alex visited the section of the chasm where the bloats had killed her. The flying critters used the cliffside cave as a base to harass the people on the Plains side of the divide.

  The creatures usually left in the evening and returned by morning, plumper from their expedition. Using the proboscis hanging from their bodies, they sucked blood from people and creatures alike during the night.

  While the bloats were away, Alex collected multiple armfuls of firewood, piling them in five different locations surrounding the area. Next she climbed into the trees, setting up nets that she'd woven from the local grass. Her fingers were stained green from weaving, but she was getting faster at the task.

  When it neared morning time, Alex lit the fires, pouring magic into them until they were crackling. The flames had burned through their first round of wood when Alex spied the bloats on the far side of the chasm, bobbing back home with bellies full of blood.

  She quickly ran to each fire, throwing a pile of wet grass on the flames. Smoke billowed up until visibility in the trees was less than ten feet.

  With a cloth mask around her face, Alex crouched behind a pile of logs.

  The first critter came hovering through the smoke, its too-small wings beating to keep its bloated body in the air. When Alex confirmed that it was separated from the group, she stood up and threw a rock at the bloat.

  You have hit the bloat for 0 damage!

  The creature bobbed towards Alex, who backpedaled through a gap between two trees. As the bloat passed between them, Alex yanked on a rope, which released a net on top of it. She threw herself on the net, pushing away the squirming proboscis trying to attach to her skin, and scooped it up.

  Behind the next tree was a cage she'd built out of the bamboo-like reeds near the pond. She threw the bloat, net and all, into the cage, and barred the door into place before returning to the smoky forest.

  When she was finished, she'd captured six bloats, each in their own separate cage. The creatures didn't seem happy about their confinement, bumping against the sides like mosquitoes trying to get through a screen door, but there was nothing they could do about it.

  Alex stacked the cages near one of the fires after putting out the rest. She wasn't worried about being attacked, since other creatures avoided the location as if they knew what lurked below.

  Waiting through the long day was restless for Alex. She would be putting phase two of her plan into action later that night, and if it didn't work, she'd be out of ideas, which was daunting since the larger foes in the forest were level 10 and higher, making tangling with them nearly impossible.

  She'd also been spending time thinking about her mom, wondering what she was doing back in Kentucky. When she'd joined Gamemakers Hall, Alex had expected that she'd be able to talk to her mom on a regular basis, but being stuck in the game made that impossible, and she wasn't about to pop out for a quickie, incurring an experience penalty.

  It'd been especially difficult when she was weaving the grass nets. Her mom had been the one to show her that trick on camping trips. She liked to show off her weaving skills, making grass baskets or other natural items. Once when they were on a camping trip, her mom had caught a huge catfish using a grass net she'd positioned in the rapids beneath a fallen log.

  Her mom liked to remind her that weaving, knitting, and the other crafts of creation were all mathematics based. She knew her mom was just trying to connect with her, since Alex loved her math classes, but sitting and working the knitting needles was too slow paced for her. Alex liked the idea of those skills, but hadn't wanted to put time into learning them. But now that she was using nets and rope in Gamemakers Online, she wished she'd paid more attention.

  Right after night fell, Axo the shrew showed up, little nose twitching in anticipation of an insect snack. Alex threw the creature a pair of beetles she'd caught under her furs the previous night.

  After Axo gobbled them up, the little shrew stared at the bloat cages with wide eyes.

  "Yeah, yeah, I know. It's creepy with them right there, but better in the cage than floating around sucking blood."

  She squinted at the way the shrew was shivering, realizing that they must have hunted little Axo in the past.

  "Don't worry, I won't let them feed on you. Even better, what birds spend a lot of time on their knees?" She paused. "Birds of prey? Haha. Well, not really. That one was pretty bad, but I thought it might cheer you up."

  Axo squeaked and disappeared into the grasses. "Everyone's a critic."

  When the nightly noises had died down, suggesting that even the predators had returned to their home, Alex prepared for her hunt. She gathered three cages, placing them on a wooden travois, which she hooked to her shoulders. Using a makeshift torch, Alex ventured into the darkness of the forest. It was the part of her plan that was most fraught with danger. Normally, she'd kept to her palisade camp during the night when the Warped Forest was most dangerous. She'd waited until the horizon had a faint nimbus of morning before heading out.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  She followed the markings she'd made on the tree trunks, leading her deeper into the forest. The torch was a necessary risk, since she had no way to see in the dark yet.

  A few times she had to find a new path, since she'd scouted the area without a travois attached to her back, but she made it to her intended location without incident.

  She knew she was in the right area when she saw the "X" marked on the tree trunks. Alex put the torch out and unhooked the travois from her back. She waited in the undergrowth until her sight returned. There was enough morning light that the trees were faint parallel lines around her.

  Dragging the travois as slowly as she could to not make noise, Alex crept through the brush. When she reached the edge of the small clearing, she set the travois down and grabbed a cage. The bloat's proboscis snaked through a hole, trying to attach itself to her, but she trapped it with her hand.

  "You'll feed soon enough," she whispered.

  Every crunch of her boots against the leaves brought a cringe, but she managed to make it into the clearing. Ahead of her, lying on its side in a makeshift nest it had created by rooting in the dirt, was a massive creature with a big horn and two tusks sticking from its mouth.

  Brutal Rhinoboar, Warped Animal, Level 13

  Her analyze skill had gotten high enough that she could finally see its level. Not that she'd had any doubts that it was a much higher level than her.

  With the cage in her hands, Alex crept forward, hoping her stealth skill was high enough to evade the sleeping creature's senses.

  Alex reached the sleeping rhinoboar, wondering if a coup de grace would be a better tactic since she was sure to get a critical hit, but decided to stick to her original plan. She nestled the cage next to the creature, making sure it was close enough the proboscis could reach it, then she waited with her breath in her throat to see if the rhinoboar would wake when it attached.

  Her theory had been that the bloats survived by feeding during the night like vampire bats or mosquitos, which meant they could do it without waking their prey. She hoped their blood taking wouldn't wake the rhinoboar.

  Once the first bloat had attached itself, Alex returned to the travois to retrieve the other two cages. She hated having to make the trip one by one, since every step was a chance to wake the sleeping creature.

  After ten long minutes of creeping back and forth, the three bloats had attached themselves to the rhinoboar. Alex didn't know how much damage they would do from their feeding, but she needed to make sure they didn't kill it before she could do the final blow.

  It was possible that her tactic might be nullified if experience was given based on percent of damage inflicted, rather than the killing blow, but there was only one way to find out.

  With her whip in her hand, Alex waited as the bloats fed, keeping an eye on the horizon. Morning was coming fast, as colors had filled in the trees and the insects were waking. Soon, the rhinoboar would wake.

  Alex kept analyzing it, hoping she might get a sign when she should strike.

  As she watched, the rhinoboar deflated, and the bloats expanded, pushing against the sides of their cages as they filled with warm blood. Alex realized she was going to need bigger cages if they were going to feed on larger foes. She pulled them away so they didn't explode like a tick, setting them away from the sleeping rhinoboar.

  Steeling herself for the eventual reprisal, Alex lifted her Vicious Thorny Whip. She cracked down at the Brutal Rhinoboar.

  Critical hit! You deal the Brutal Rhinoboar 32 damage!

  The Brutal Rhinoboar is affected by Bleed!

  An agonized groan came from the now awake creature, but Alex kept striking it for as long as it was prone. She hit it three more times in quick succession.

  As the Brutal Rhinoboar struggled to its feet, Alex realized she wasn't going to be able to kill it outright before it was able to attack her. So she grabbed her climbing rope and scurried up the nearest tree.

  The Brutal Rhinoboar crashed into the trunk right as she ascended above it.

  You have gained a skill point: +1 Climbing

  Alex made a perch on the lowest branch, which was higher than the rhinoboar could reach. But her whip was long enough that when the enraged creature attacked the tree, she hit it.

  You deal the Brutal Rhinoboar 11 damage!

  The Brutal Rhinoboar takes 2 damage from Bleed!

  You deal the Brutal Rhinoboar 14 damage!

  Using one hand to hold on while leaning out to use the whip made her unprepared for the impact when the rhinoboar hit the tree. She was thrown from her perch, landing in the soft grass.

  You have taken 2 damage from falling!

  The Brutal Rhinoboar sized her up, pawing at the earth, preparing a charge. Alex had nowhere to go and she'd dropped her whip in the fall.

  With no other weapons at her disposal, she prepared a fire spell, knowing it was likely to fizzle.

  The Brutal Rhinoboar surged forward in a charge, and Alex closed her eyes, preparing for impact.

  So she was surprised when her death didn't come and she heard a heavy thud as the Brutal Rhinoboar fell over dead.

  She opened her eyes to see a variety of messages scrolling through her vision.

  Critical hit! The Brutal Rhinoboar takes 5 damage from Bleed!

  You have slain a Brutal Rhinoboar!

  You have gained experience: 1,800 XP

  Special Achievement Reached: You have killed a creature more than ten levels above yours!

  You have gained bonus experience: 5,000 XP

  You have gained a skill point: +1 One-handed Whip

  You have gained a skill point: +1 Devious Device

  You have gained a unique skill point: +1 Cunning Strategist

  Luck favors the prepared!

  A weight lifted from her shoulders that it'd worked. Her hands shook.

  "That was too close," said Alex, her mind whirling with thoughts on how to improve her tactics for next time.

  The bushes beneath the tree had been trampled to dirt. She worried that the bloat cages had been damaged until she realized she'd climbed a different tree than where she'd set them.

  "I need to keep that in mind for next time," she said.

  Alex looted the Brutal Rhinoboar carcass, which disappeared afterwards.

  You have received: Rhinoboar Hide x5

  You have received: Rhinoboar Meat x12

  She put both items in her Handysack, hoping she could make better armor out of the hide. The meat was a nice boon considering she was getting low on supplies.

  Alex opened up her stat sheet and examined the unique skill she'd gained.

  Unique Skills:

  Cunning Stra*tegist: 1

  Receive a luck bonus at crucial moments

  The pop-up had a text error embedded in it. There was an * stuck in the middle of the word strategist. Alex poked it and the * disappeared.

  "That was weird," she muttered before letting her thoughts return to the fight. The critical hit from the bleed effect had probably saved her. Alex imagined that if it hadn't had crit, then she would have been trampled.

  With the battle complete, Alex placed the bloat cages on the travois and started marching back to where she'd left the other ones. After grabbing a nap, she planned on moving her camp to the cave since it would give her more access to the higher-level critters. Once that was done, she knew the locations of a half dozen other creatures like the Brutal Rhinoboar.

  A secret smile bloomed on Alex's lips.

  "Let the hunt begin."