Azarinth Healer: Book One - A LitRPG Adventure, page 5
I’ve been itching to try out these new moves.
The golem threw a stony fist at her face, and she only just managed to pull out of range of the strike. The thing was faster than it looked. She tried a sweeping low kick and struck the golem solidly in the shin, but it was only off balance for a split second. Next, she threw a few combinations, but the stone man blocked most of the attacks with fluid motions.
Not bad, as far as sparring partners go. Let’s try the new stuff. Seems like the golem is using it too.
A grin came to her face as she mimicked its stance, the first Azarinth stance she had learned.
Let’s see who’s better at this.
Her abilities slowly improved as she trained both with and without the help of the statues. The mana cost to activate them was considerable. When Destruction reached level 3, she received an unexpected message.
‘ding’ Azarinth Healer has reached level 2. 5 stat points awarded.
So I can level without having to fight anything. That’s good then. Guess I’ll stay down here for a while… a long while. Especially considering I have no idea where I am or how I’d get out…
She had read about monsters, wars, and the wilderness. Apparently forests here were more dangerous than the average forest back on Earth. Her survival before had been more luck than anything else. She didn’t plan on testing her luck a second time.
Playing around with her status, she figured out that the points she had gotten could be used to improve her stats. For now, she focused on Vitality. Her health went up by 10 for each point she spent. When she got out of this hallway, she would need everything she could get, and being harder to kill was the first thing she wanted to focus on.
The weeks passed, Ilea’s days were spent eating, fighting the more and more worn-down statues, and reading diaries. She studied the stances in detail and tried to use her healing magic. Punching the walls didn’t hurt her enough to use Reconstruction though, and the golems didn’t seem to count, so the skill didn’t level. But her other skills kept improving. She could keep up her Aura skill for longer and longer as time went on. According to the diaries, it would normally take weeks, if not longer, of constant training to improve a skill even by one level. The Bluemoon Grass helped speed up the process a lot.
I’ll just get as strong as I can down here until I can get out. There doesn’t really seem to be a downside to it. Even if it might get boring. I’d rather stay a couple months longer in boredom than die immediately out in the forest.
There was no map or any geographical information in the remaining books whatsoever, so she still knew as much about where she was as she had when she’d arrived. It was frustrating, but she found herself caring less and less about what this world was as time went by. The constant struggle to improve felt far more rewarding than anything she had experienced back home. She generally felt less strained, less exhausted. The lack of human interaction didn’t bother her either, which she thought a little strange. Normally she’d get a little grumpy after about a week. She attributed it to her magical changes, unsure how else to interpret the circumstance.
Three weeks of constant training later, she had exhausted all the books, and the days became slightly more tedious. Without anything to occupy her mind apart from physical exercise, boredom was now a real danger. Sitting down, Ilea again read through the mana conversion book, but her mind was wandering.
The main problem here is that I’m bored while I wait for my mana and stamina to recover…
Reading through the whole book again, exactly what it was about was still a mystery to her. It talked of regulating the flows of mana, but her understanding of mana itself to begin with was nothing. The concepts were foreign to her even though she understood the words. One constant was the mention of trance-like states and magical concentration. Coupled with a few other ideas, it led to a theory. The methods all sounded a little like something she’d done on Earth. Meditation.
Might as well try to meditate, maybe I’ll gain some sort of clarity…
Looking suspiciously toward the fountain, she sat down and tried to clear her mind. Nothing happened at first. She tried repeating the meditation in every break between training for the next two days. It felt relaxing, and she really had nothing else to do while her body recovered. At the end of the second day, she received a message that woke her from her meditative state.
‘ding’ You have learned the general skill Meditation – lvl 1. While in a state of meditation, you cannot move. Your base mana and stamina regeneration are increased by a factor of three. This factor is improved upon leveling up the skill.
“Well, this’ll make my days a lot less boring.”
Even though she was mostly just punching walls, fighting stone statues, or practicing stances, it was fun to her. Her body had an incredible strength that she’d never even dreamed of. Even on Earth, she had enjoyed simply attacking a punching bag for hours on end. The only reason she hadn’t spent longer on such training sessions were her annoying responsibilities, other interesting hobbies, and her bodily limitations.
She didn’t have the internet or even new books here, so this was what was left, and it wasn’t bad. With the level 1 Meditation skill, her training speed improved threefold. After another month, she had improved her Destruction skill to level 8, State of Azarinth to level 6, Body of Azarinth to level 2, Azarinth Fighting to level 7, and Meditation to level 5.
With her last advancement in Azarinth Fighting, she received another level up, bringing her to level 5.
‘ding’ Azarinth Healer has reached level 5. 5 stat points awarded.
Initially, she had decided to focus on Vitality, but she also wanted to boost Intelligence and Wisdom. Part of this was simply because those three stats were the ones that had been focused on by her class change bonuses, so they were likely the most important ones for an Azarinth Healer. Destruction scaled with Intelligence after all, and her Wisdom seemed to boost her mana regen rate – which helped with her training.
With that in mind, she knew stamina was holding her training back a little, as she often grew tired more quickly than she would have liked. So she had decided to put points there too, though slightly less frequently.
‘ding’ You have learned the skill Magic Perception
Passive: Magic Perception – lvl 1
This skill lets you see magic. It can be activated or deactivated on command.
Category: Body Enhancement
“A skill… huh, seems useful, but I can’t really picture it.”
Activating the skill, she immediately had to shield her eyes from the intense radiance surrounding her. Even looking at the usually softly glowing moss was like looking into the sun.
Deactivate Magic Perception! she yelled in her mind.
“Well that was stupid,” she said to herself as the radiance faded. “Could’ve guessed the Bluemoon Grass was magical…”
Going into the library, she activated the skill again and looked at the runes she had discovered on her first day in the chamber.
Interesting… they’re clearer. And they glow a faint blue. I wonder if all magic is blue with this sight.
For the rest of the day, she kept the skill deactivated in the hallway but tried to use it sometimes in the library or when she was using her Destruction and Aura skills. Her day came to an end and she checked her progress again, as she did every day before sleeping.
Name: Ilea Spears
Unspent stat points: 0
Class 1: Azarinth Healer – lvl 5
- Active: Destruction – lvl 8
- Active: Reconstruction – lvl 1
- Active: State of Azarinth – lvl 6
- Active: Free Slot
- Active: Free Slot
- Passive: Body of Azarinth – lvl 2
- Passive: Azarinth Fighting – lvl 7
- Passive: Magic Perception – lvl 1
- Passive: Free Slot
- Passive: Free Slot
Class 2: None
General Skills:
- Elos Standard language – lvl 5
- Identify – lvl 1
- Meditation – lvl 5
Status:
Vitality: 30
Endurance: 18
Strength: 12
Dexterity: 13
Intelligence: 30
Wisdom: 30
Health: 300/300
Stamina: 8/180
Mana: 13/300
After spreading her stats from the last three level-ups across Vitality, Intelligence and Wisdom, the effect was clear – her abilities hit harder and she was able to fight for longer. She was tempted to boost Strength and Dex, but for now she wanted to focus on stats that would help her train for longer and level up faster. Those and Vitality – because drakes were fucking scary.
Another three months passed like this. Meditation was helping to tremendously reduce the mental strain such a rigorous lifestyle would’ve had on her otherwise. Talking to herself became the norm, and she even started to miss her coworkers at the fast-food joint.
As she got more used to her ability to perceive magic, she soon realized the statues had runes on their necks. If she activated them while touching the specific areas, the statues changed their behavior, became more aggressive, and even used more than one stance. It was a fresh challenge but one that was soon overcome as well.
As the days dragged on, she lost some of the peace she had found in repetition. Her goal also slowly shifted from becoming stronger to simply getting out of the chamber. Many of the diaries contained pages and pages of how thankful the past occupants had been to be granted access to the Bluemoon Grass and the chamber. Ilea was thankful, she really was. She knew her chances of survival were greatly improved. But…
I can see how this is an incredible privilege to have, training with the Bluemoon Grass and all that – but I’d still like to see the sun sometime.
A quarter of the grass was already gone from one of the walls when Ilea reached level 10 in her class.
‘ding’ Azarinth Healer has reached level 10. 5 stat points awarded.
You have learned the skill Blink – lvl 1.
Immediately appear at a distant place. Distance based on the level of the skill.
Category: Teleportation Magic
“This is it, I’ve finally got my way out! Maybe… hopefully…”
Activating the skill with the will to move across the hallway, Ilea teleported around fifteen meters away. Instantly.
Holy shit. How many times have I been sat in bed just wishing I could teleport to the fridge instead of getting up? This is my kind of superpower.
“Man, this is grea—”
A familiar feeling of nausea swept over her and bile rose in turn, but she managed to keep it down. The feeling wasn’t nearly as bad as before.
“I’ll have to get used to that.”
Holding her stomach, she went and drank some water from the fountain.
“Now the question is, can I teleport to places I can’t see, and what happens when I teleport into something?”
Going into the library, she considered teleporting into one of the shelves. Only her arm would theoretically be inside the shelf.
“Would hurt like hell, but maybe then I’d have a way to level up my healing…”
The teleport worked, but her hand was pushed away from the shelf. No weird human-shelf creature was born that day.
“Which means…”
Trying a few times to teleport halfway into the fountain, she either appeared next to it or above it.
“Next step…”
Teleporting halfway into the wall failed too, as she always appeared next to it.
“Now the leap of faith…”
Blinking fully into the wall, she found herself simply standing in front of it.
“Yes! It works! Now I just have to level it up and try to teleport out of here…”
So she tried teleporting away from the chamber in any direction. There were a lot to try, and her skill slowly gained levels over the weeks, increasing the range and reducing the cost.
After another month in the chamber, Ilea was successful. On appearing in a closed room, the first new room she had seen in months, she was elated.
“Fuck yeah!”
Jumping up and down, Ilea looked around the room. It was a small space with only dust and stone in it – but it was new. After months in her unchanging box of stone, this new one was a blessing to her. And there was a closed door made of roughhewn stone in front of her too.
“Well, well, well… my old nemesis. We meet again. But what’s a door against this…”
Raising her fist with her Aura spell activated, she punched right through the thick stone. It exploded into shrapnel and shards as well as a cloud of dust.
Outside was a familiar room. The hall she had entered after being ambushed by the wolves outside the temple.
“Oh yes… yes!”
Not able to repress her excitement, she ran outside.
It was night. An ocean of stars was shining bright overhead, illuminating the sky. There were two moons, and they shone with a dazzling light. Ilea simply stood there stunned, her head held up to the sky. Tears fell from her face as she breathed her first breath of fresh air in months. The wind caressed her body, blue tattoos faintly glowing through her worn clothes.
Standing there with tears in her eyes, Ilea couldn’t help but laugh with sheer joy.
When the laughter ended, Ilea cracked her neck, then stilled. She listened to the forest around her. Nothing significant caught her ears.
“I want food… something other than that bloody grass…”
She couldn’t hear anything nearby, so she entered the forest. It would be easy to find the temple again as it was on a slope. Starting to run, Ilea crossed the forest at a speed she’d never dreamed possible, the muscles in her legs vibrating as her heels dug into the soft earth and grass. Her perception was even more surprising, as the light of the moon was more than enough to make out any details around her.
Trees rushed past in the dim light, small adjustments enough for her to avoid the trunks. Ilea found herself changing into the various stances she had learned, striking the air with a grin on her face as she ran and danced through the forest. It was quite difficult to contain her laughter, but she knew she had to because she knew there were monsters around.
Not long after, she came across a small creek.
“Food can wait. I need some non-magical water first.”
Jumping into the creek, she splashed around in the cold water and drank long, cool mouthfuls. She must have looked a rather curious sight to anyone watching, a grown woman splashing around in a creek in the middle of the night, laughing maniacally. Perhaps even scary, considering the magical world she was in. Did witches exist here?
Stopping after fifteen minutes, Ilea resumed her search for food. Soon she came across some appetizing red berries. They almost seemed to have a dull glow to them, like a dying fire.
Ilea ate one of them. Which was perhaps not her wisest decision.
Immediately, a sharp cramp in her belly made her double over. She took a step forward to steady herself. Her mouth burned. Her entire body burned.
‘ding’ You have been poisoned by Cinderberry, -3 HP/s for 5 minutes
Curbing her enthusiasm for another berry, her mind focused.
That can kill me like three times over. I need to heal. Shit. I don’t know enough about my Reconstruction spell yet.
Grabbing a handful more of the berries, she started to run back, occasionally using Blink while keeping an eye on her mana. The weird, warm, sickly feeling in her chest didn’t help her mind calm down either. She counted the seconds under her breath.
One and a half minutes later, she was back at the temple and had taken over 270 points of damage. Using Reconstruction on herself healed her considerably, which took the edge off the pain.
That ability should be enough, really. I have the mana to keep using it, but best to be safe.
She could feel her life force still slowly ebbing away. Going into the room she’d smashed the door in, she blinked in the direction of the chamber. Reappearing in her familiar training space or ‘prison of clarity’, as she’d started to call it, she immediately went to the fountain and drank. Without any possibility of external danger, she used her mana freely to power up Reconstruction.
It wasn’t long before she was back at full health.
“Man, this world is insane. One berry would’ve killed me if I didn’t have a fucking healing spell and a fountain of health…”
Looking at the berries, she wondered aloud.
“Maybe I’ve been a little overconfident… I don’t even know what level one of those drakes is. Even if I’ve grown stronger, there’s stuff out there that can kill me in one hit, like a bloody berry… wait, no, Cinderberry.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculous situation she was in. After meditating and recovering her mana, she looked at one of the berries… and ate it.
“Mhm… at least they taste great.” It was sweet at first, followed by some considerable spice.
‘ding’ You have been poisoned by Cinderberry, -3 HP/s for 5 minutes
Smiling, she started to use Reconstruction on her own body. The drain of the berry felt weird, but it didn’t hurt much.
“A good way to level up Reconstruction… and eat delicious berries!”
Repeating the steps for the other six berries she had, she leveled up Reconstruction and even received a special message at the end of her endeavor.
‘ding’ You have learned the general skill Poison Resistance – lvl 1. You are either a target of assassins or are not very good at distinguishing berries. By surviving, you have developed a general resistance to poisons.
