Chương 5: Chapter 4

As a seasoned professional I immediately run through a hundred or so scenarios and seem to come to one that makes the most immediate sense right off the bat. Namely, I run. Turn tail and ran away completely. From everything this seems to be the best course of action as the combat sentinel didn't seem to have any of the long-distance weaponry that I have come to associate with the Ancients.

While I might have misjudged my efficacy of proving my proficiency with the Ancient's Arcane power system, I do know how to run. Namely with spells. Almost out of habit, I begin chain casting my Combat Support spells, just as I would in the real game, even while on the run. Beginner's Dexterity Beginner's Stamina Beginner's Strength Honestly, the entire thing both feels nostalgic and extremely meaningful at the same exact time.

I know for a fact that this is my first time casting both dexterity and stamina buffs in this lifetime. I also feel the bonuses, without being able to read their effects. Mentally I go through a list of where I think I should be after each buff. Strength was originally F, but I got it to E+ after the initial perfect casting. This was of course before we applied my now affinity bonus that would bump this up another Ranking going from E+ to D+ in strength.

By that same logic with my dexterity starting off at a C, I would be bumped first to a B+ and then an A+ once my affinity bonus would apply. Mentally pausing I try to remember my natural maximum and realize that there might be an issue with muscle tears occurring as my body would not be meant to deal with the strain and tears of running so quickly. While the bonuses can push my body past its natural maximum, which I believe is a B, this doesn't come without a slight problem.

Beginner's Regeneration There we go, that should fix any future problems coming from my moving so quickly that I might actually rip apart my muscles by running too quickly. Next is stamina, which was at a D, so that would be C+ for the perfect cast, and then B+ for the affinity bonus. That will also be above my body's natural maximum, but it's okay, as an overly large stamina doesn't actually have any major side effects. At least not like strength and dexterity will cause.

With those mental precautions out of the way, I feel that I can… Wait? Where is the sentinel? Pausing to peer over my shoulder I look around only to find that more and more rows of trees are getting in my way, and all I can hear is the silence of the forest. No stomping of metallic feet as an overly large mechanoid monster comes my way, no sounds of advanced gears whirring. Slowly, I decelerate my speed and then turn around to try to look out of the woods.

There off in the distance I see the shiny white form of the sentinel robot moving away from us. No wait, there is no us, as it is just me. No harem members, no snobby princess. Actually, she isn't snobby, Princess Claudia is actually great, which is why I feel even more apprehensive for what I will need to do as Karen. My natural inclination will be to help her, as she is the heroine of this story.

Yet, I can't help but feel that this will only trap me into a set of circumstances that as Karen and only Karen I will otherwise want to avoid. Silence. Yeah, I'm alone in the woods, watching a sentient death machine that has marked me as an enemy retreat back to its boundary of protection and here I am thinking about what I might do when or if I get to the Love Academy.

"Priorities Karen, priorities," I say pounding my fist into my hand. I do that only to realize that I am not Karen, but that is how immersive this new reality is. Shaking my head, I try to think about why this is so out of place. Thinking back, I try to remember the robot, but for the life of me I know it wasn't there. That means that it must either be a new feature, or something between now and two years from now something happened to disable the robot.

With that thought in mind, I try to remember anything and then think back to the random robots that were covered in dirt.

"Yeah, that's it, part of the entry way was blocked by broken or fallen rocks," I say, remembering the minor detail that is suddenly playing a key role in what I should do to proceed. Looking up, I see that the dirt and rocks that are overhead are still as loose and breakable as ever. That's when I decide to act. Beginner's Far Viewing Again, the spell only gets me to be close to where I actually want to be, as it acts more as a telescope than anything right now.

But I am able to get a better visualization point of the rocks. Then looking around I see the first rock layer, then a breakaway point. Focusing on the breakaway point of the rocks, I focus my mind, aim, and then let loose a barrage of my most highly charged attack spells. <UNKNOWN> Bolt <UNKNOWN> Bolt <UNKNOWN> Bolt In a second, I release three deadly blasts that all land with precision and accuracy. Then nothing.

I pause, wondering if I need to do another round or find a different weak point within the rock structure, when I see it. Or at least I think I see it; tiny cracks and fissures begin to erupt and dart out from the concentrated impact area. Holding my breath, I look on excitedly as I wait for the eruption to happen. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Snap.

The nearby snapping of a twig breaking is enough for me to realize that I might have overlooked exactly how safe I was here. Breaking my Far Viewing spell, I am momentarily stunned as my vision tries to catch up to what my eyes can see. Thump, thump. The monster that is around me and is trying to stalk me while I am distracted moves.

I still can't see the creature, but I know its general direction and the look of the forest immediately around me as such I begin charging forward and slightly to the right, towards the open clearing that I remember being there. Then almost on reflex I reach down grab my crude dagger and wield it in my dominant hand, my left. I spin around to face the monster just as my eyesight comes back. There in front of me is a rather large panther.

I say large as anything over waist height is huge and this one comes up to my stomach at least, maybe higher with its muscular back muscles bulging under its bristling fur. It is a good thing that this is the day time, as I would have no chance of seeing this creature at night. Yet, even as it moves, I see the coiling muscles. The way it twists and tilts its head slightly to the left. Seeing it move, I smile to myself as I have done this dance a hundred times before. <UNKNOWN> Bolt It dodges to the right.

It was always planning on going to the right, I just forced its hand, or paws. Fortunately for me all my buffs from earlier are still active meaning my counter attack to launch and strike with the dagger right where the beast would be was accurate. THUD! I strike out with full force using by my A+ dexterity and its heightened speed and dexterity to lodge the blade deep within its neck. Critical strike. I know it is a critical strike.

The only problem with such a strike is that in the real world, unlike the game, when you make a critical strike in the game you keep your weapon. In the real world the stupid blade gets stuck deep within the fur of the beast causing a wrenching and torque on your hand that all but snaps your hand off unless you release the blade.

Fortunately, the remains of my first Beginner's Regeneration are still going and active, as despite there being a sting on my wrist and hand, I feel a slight dulling sensation coming in to alleviate some of the pain. I think about recasting the Regeneration spell but realize that while mana is not quite an issue, especially with every spell only casting one mana, I do need to make sure I put down this beast quickly.

So rather than going for the immediate gratification of healing myself again, I instead go for the kill. Dual casting I first cast one <UNKNOWN> Bolt, knowing that there is no way I can hit the creature with its evasion skills. Instead, I use the first one to once again get the creature to commit to running, where I've already released the second <UNKNOWN> Bolt, right in its evasion path. A path that will have gone to my right this time, as it will no doubt try to sideswipe me with its massive claws on its way by.

BOOM!

"GROWOWOWW!" The beast hisses as it sputters and is blown away from me. Unfortunately for the beast, I am an expert in overkilling a monster first and asking questions from books. <UNKNOWN> Bolt <UNKNOWN> Bolt <UNKNOWN> Bolt The beast is shaking and staggering up to its feet, as I fire off three successive <Unknown> Bolt s right at it. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! All three strikes land with such force and precision that I can all but feel the electricity in the air.

If I focus, I can even feel the slight tremors as the ground shakes with each concussive blast. Pausing I hold my breath, waiting for the kicked up dirt to disperse. I expected a really pissed off panther to come out of the mist and attack me again. Dark silhouette on the ground. As the smoke clears, I see just the faint silhouette of the panther on the ground. Pausing I wait for a kill notice, something to let me know I killed it, but nothing.

This is why I mentally have two more bolts ready to be released in short order. Fortunately, it doesn't take long to confirm the kill. Unfortunately, I might have gone a bit overboard with my overkill as once the dust clears, I see not one but four burst marks in the beast that show how the spell landed, impacted, entered the body of the beast, and then proceeded to expand before releasing on the other side. I would honestly be impressed if it wasn't so overly gory and violent spectacle.

Going closer I try to see if there was anything salvageable from the creature, but nope, nothing. What had been a very shiny black fur coat was now little more than disproportionate mesh patches of fur. Worse, I know I need my dagger to cut up the fur of the beast. Then, seeing the blade still sticking out of the neck of the beast I try to grab it. Wince.

"Yep, definitely broke it," I say, clutching at my left wrist as I apply another dose of Beginner's Regeneration to my wrist. Clutching my left hand tight to my chest, I decide to try to retrieve my blade with my right hand. Either this was extremely bad form, or the blade was already shattered, but all I am rewarded with is a handle with a one-inch stump of a blade.

"Yeah, go me," I say, as I mentally take inventory of the fight.

"Well, you managed to survive a blind side attack from a stalking predator. All it cost you was your wrist and your only nonmagical weapon," I say to myself as I go through everything. From a perfectionist standpoint, this grates on me, losing my dagger in the first battle seems like a bad omen. Injuries are part of the course, though I think with this level of pain realism, I will try to avoid these types of unnecessary attacks in the future. Dropping the broken blade to the ground I decide to move on.

With that I think about casting my Beginner's Far Viewing once again, to see what happened to the cavern entrance but then decide against that. I am far too vulnerable to my surroundings when I cast that spell. Fortunately, the world gives me a sanity check, otherwise I might be mauled to death before I can do anything to protect myself. As it is, I still lost my weapon and got seriously injured in the attack.

Had it been a real fight, or if I didn't already know all the healing spells in the game, this would have been terrible. As it is, I am already thinking about trying to cast the next level healing spell, but I know I am not proficient enough in my Combat Support affinity to be of any real use. As such I am stuck with Beginner's Regeneration, until I reach at least an E Ranking in my casting proficiency, and even then, it will be pushing the spell to its maximum.

As I move, I blessedly feel that my Beginner's Regeneration is having some effect on my injury, as it has gone from a screaming type of pain to only a dull aching throb. You know, progress. Still, this is better than nothing, so I decide to take this as the wake-up call that it is. This is hard mode, probably hell mode, honestly, I'm not sure, other than it is a lot more dangerous and open ended than I have ever seen in any of the previous releases.

As I exit the tree line, I see a dense layer of dirt on the ground and realize that the burial system worked. Exhaling, I let out a sigh of relief as at least something happened correctly. Namely that the massive pile of rocks came down and disabled the giant protectorate robot. Moving forward, I cautiously stroll forward, knowing that with my luck something terrible is likely to still happen if I am not prepared. Loose rocks.

My foot hits a shaky patch of rocks causing my foot to slip and for me to fall forward slightly. That small action was all that saves my life. PEW! A bolt of condensed Arcane energy shoots over my head, right where my skull would have been had I not tripped and stumbled forward. Just then I drop to the ground and look up to see yet another bolt of energy flying overhead. Crack. I land on my broken wrist, or at least my wrist that is very sensitive at this point and I can't help but wince in pain. PEW-PEW-PEW!

Fortunately, I have other things to distract me like the constant barrage of Arcane bolts firing just over head and missing me. I pause, realizing that I can't quite crawl, not with a broken arm. I definitely can't stand up and try to escape, as that would put me in the line of fire. So, all I can do is sit still and hope that I don't get hit. Which after a time appears to be the case.

Focusing forward, I watch the pattern of shots and realize that while I might not have completely disabled the security features of the base, the dirt that fell is doing one very important thing, and that is apparently protecting me just enough by creating a small berm that cannot be fired over or through, for the moment.

"Yeah, why I added that last part about the moment I don't know," I say to myself, as I cures the fact that I just put even more pressure on me.

"Go out and explore the world you said, it will be fun you said," I say cursing myself but realize that I need to get a better understanding of what exactly I am up against to figure out how to overcome this obstacle that is before me. As I can't even escape at this time, as I don't know what the range of fire is, nor why exactly I am safe right now.

Focusing, I do the only thing I can do, while hoping that unlike how vulnerable I was last time, maybe jungle panthers will not attempt to strike at me here in the open, while I am being held in position by a barrage of enemy fire. Beginner's Far Vision The view up ahead is just as I pictured, though apparently, I was too destructive with my bursts as I managed to knock away extra dirt from the sides that covered automatic defensive turrets.

Realizing that my features were now being marked as hostile, by at least the exterior guard units, I realize I need to try to disable everything. Focusing on the defensive turrets, I use Far Vision to help aim, and then fire. <UNKNOWN> Bolt Nothing.

"Of course they are immune to the unknown bolt," I mutter to myself remembering back to how many times I inadvertently fired off the stray bolt at both the structures and the insides of the building that I was now trying to forcibly enter. Each time there was a slight char mark, but nothing. In fact, the idea that these turrets could be injured by friendly fire was also laughable, meaning I need to come up with something else. PEW-PEW-PEW!

I didn't think it was possible, but somehow it was, as the bolts that are being fired overhead now sound even angrier if that was somehow possible. Then realizing that I had just attacked them, albeit to little or no success, and I could sort of understand how and why this was.

"Come on think, there must be something," I state, then groaning I feel like an idiot, for forgetting the major spell.

"Stupid," I say, but then I cast it, the ultimate and most powerful spell of the ancients. At least that is according to the ancients who left detailed records of the five great spells that they left behind records of. Surprisingly the <UNKNOWN> Bolt, was considered one of the weakest spells. Though to the Ancient's defense it was only an attack spell and the Ancients apparently thought down on people who only attacked.

"Yeah, you knew that and you still threw the first punch," I say, shaking my head at my own stupidity. Fortunately, I already know the other spells and their purposes. Otherwise, this would have been game over, at least as far as discovering the Ancient storyline would go as it was, I just need to apply a bit of finesse and hit the reset button, literally in this case.

"But first," I say, as I focus through Far Vision and then cast the ultimate spell of the ancients. <UNKNOWN> Disruptive Field Pausing for a moment, I stop and then see how all of the machines vibrate angrily once and then go to a concealed state. I almost get up, but then realize that this is just the start of what I need to do.

"You broke it, now you need to fix it," I say to myself, and that is what I set about doing. After I give myself time to exhale and let my wrist heal, the stupid thing still hurts.