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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/itsdirector on 2025-12-29 10:31:41+00:00.
Chapter 134
Nick Smith
Adventurer Level: 18
Human – American
"Dogfodor tsac!" I shouted.
A sharpened steel rod formed above my head and launched itself toward the Nahalim as fast as I could imagine it moving. A sonic boom snapped through the air surrounding us, and the gigantic red and yellow beast paused in confusion. It turned to look at the long, steel cylinder that had passed clean through it. Then, it fell over.
I drew my sword and approached it, poking it a few times to make sure it was dead. When my stabs didn't cause it to flinch, I carved a chunk of its skin off to prove its demise. I nestled it inside a pouch that I'd bought at Yulk's suggestion, which was specially made to contain still-wet pieces of monster.
Even with the pouch, it was a messy task. I wiped my hands off on my clothes, getting them as clean as I could in the process. By the time I was done, my outfit was absolutely disgusting.
"Sehtolc naelc tsac," I muttered.
My clothing immediately became clean, and I grinned in satisfaction. A grin which faded as I began to travel back to the city. The job hadn't mentioned what kind of monster had been terrorizing the area, and I kind of wanted to complain to the guild about that. How exactly could something that was both red and yellow as well as absolutely huge go undetected? It wasn't like it was tip-toeing through the forest.
"Thanks, Nick!" a couple of fairies shouted at me as I passed.
I returned their gratitude with a nod and a wave. The wylder were a peculiar bunch, but fairies were more so. The jobs I'd been taking on had brought me steadily closer to the border of Bolisir, which had forced a familiarity between us.
They were probably going to approach my camp and offer me various trinkets as a reward for killing the Nahalim. Flower crowns, pendants made of bark, a ring made of teeth, that sort of thing. Then they would make a big show of how the trinket was useless to me and how rude they were by imposing it upon me as a reward for a good deed, and offer to trade it for some sort of food or drink, which we would all share.
It was a confusing sort of dance, but thankfully the first encounter I had was with Hul, the King of Bone Fairies. They were kind enough to explain that this was how fairies indicated that food or drink was safe for mortal consumption. Apparently, the fairies had a reputation for poisoning whomever accepted their offers of free consumables. The trade of trinkets showed that the consumable wasn't free, and thereby wasn't poisoned.
"Never take a cookie from a fairy unless you've already given them something," I recited with a chuckle.
Hul and I had also talked about what I'd found in the Delver's Dungeon. They claimed that most of the named wylder were aware of humanity from before the incursion. I didn't bother asking why they didn't tell me, it was obviously because the higher ones didn't want them to.
Hul told me a familiar tale about how the wylder and humans used to coexist somewhat peacefully, but that steadily changed as humans became more technologically advanced. Once we began to use iron on a daily basis, the wylder began avoiding us as much as possible.
The King of Bone Fairies talked about this with a deep sadness in its words, as if it were speaking of a friend who had passed away. Then it chuckled and spoke of fonder memories with humans. Like how it used to trade with children for their old teeth, and how human parents had kept that tradition alive well after the wylder had cut contact. It laughed for a few minutes straight after I admitted that my parents had done the same.
As I continued walking, I decided to check on my skills. The main reason I had been taking jobs was to get stronger and increase my skill levels. I brought up the list and read through them.
Time Dilation IV
Increases the user’s speed to 400% for a limited time
Cooldown: 4 minutes
Dash IV
Move forward up to eight feet at 500% speed.
Cooldown: 1 minute
Breathtaker Strike
A strike that robs your opponent of their ability to breathe.
Cooldown: 1 minute
Power Slash
Amplifies the users striking power by 100%.
Cooldown: 1 minute
Slide Slash
Slide along the ground and strike with double your normal striking power.
Preternatural Evasion V
Allows a user to automatically dodge for 2 minutes.
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Toxin Resistance II
Allows a user to resist 30% of the negative effects of a poison or venom.
Spear Punch III
Fly three feet forward and punch with triple your normal striking power.
Cooldown: 4 minutes
Knife Hand II
Hardens the user's hand and strengthens chops by 50%
Cooldown: 2 minutes
"Not bad," I muttered. "Wait, how did I increase Toxin Resistance? Has someone been poisoning me?"
I glanced back at the fairies, who were busy playing tag in some flowers. Then I remembered that drinking alcohol was what got me the skill in the first place, and I'd been frequenting the tavern when I couldn't sleep. I hadn't been drinking, but the tavern stew was pretty tasty, and probably had all sorts of booze in it.
With a shrug, I put the thought from my mind and switched to the page with my spells.
Wind Spear II
Summon a strong spear of wind to strike your target.
Earthen Dagger II
Summon a blade of Earth.
Duration: 8 minutes Cooldown: 8 minutes
Fireball II
Summon a ball of fire to strike your target.
Cooldown: 4 minutes
Heal I
Heal your superficial wounds.
Minor Heal
Heal your target’s superficial wounds.
Ice Javelin II
Summon a javelin of ice to strike your target.
Cooldown: 4 minutes.
Light
Summons an orb that emits a moderate amount of light until the user dismisses it or falls unconscious.
Root Wrap
Immobilize a target with strong, sturdy roots. Lasts a maximum of ten minutes, or until the user dismisses it or falls unconscious.
Cooldown: 20 minutes
Rock Spears
Summon eight spears made of stone that erupt from the ground to impale your target.
Cooldown: 3 minutes
Bullet
Summon a ball of lead and fire it from your finger at supersonic speeds.
Steel Bullet
Summon a ball of steel and fire it from your finger at supersonic speeds.
Rodofgod
Summon a six foot long sharpened steel rod and fire it at your foes at supersonic speeds.
Clean Clothes
Removes undesirable material from cloth. Does not work on anything else.
I sucked my teeth in frustration. My spells felt as if they were much slower to level up than my skills were. I'd used Ice Javelin against that damned Nahalim four times before I resorted to the Rod of God spell. Or Rodofgod, as the list called it.
I'd come up with the spell while trying to improve upon my Bullet and Steel Bullet spells. I thought that adding some fire damage to them might be effective, but it didn't pan out very well. It wasn't like I studied ammunition and what chemicals cause bullets to ignite.
Then I thought about a napalm spell, recalling that a rudimentary form of it was made of just Styrofoam and gasoline. Then I realized that I didn't know the proper proportions, or what Styrofoam was made of. Plus, that would basically just be a sticky version of a fireball spell that didn't go out as fast. Which meant that it would be more dangerous to me, too.
Eventually, I stumbled on the thought of making the bullet bigger and remembered a theoretical weapon that fired massive metal rods from space. I'd even seen videos of it as a concept. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite get the 'from space' part to work, but I did manage to make a much larger version of the steel bullet.
After seeing High chief Ulurmak, Yulk and I had gotten our levels retested. Yulk had levelled up to eight, and when it was my turn he told me that I was level eighteen with a very confused expression. He read off my spells to me, and we realized that neither Bullet or Steel Bullet were on the list. The only real explanation that any of us could come up with was that they were spells that I invented, and the Curaguard hadn't synced them yet.
If that was truly the case, then my Rod of God spell likely wouldn't appear in the Curaguard, either. But who's to say that's the real reason. Since the Curaguard might be of human origin, at least in part, there's always the chance that it has some sort of block regarding spells that mimic firearms.
My thoughts were interrupted by the setting sun, and once it became dark I lit a fire and set up camp. Just as I had guessed, a few fairies came by and gave me a necklace that had a variety of small animal bones on it. Then they wailed about how the necklace was useless to a human such as myself, and offered to exchange the necklace for a muffin. I accepted and shared it with them, noting that it tasted a lot like cornbread. After they left, I chewed some jerky for protein and went to sleep.
The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful. I made camp two more times, went to the guild to get paid, then made my way to the archives. Yulk and Larie were practically buried in tomes and scrolls. After a brief greeting, I figured out which of the reading materials they had already been through and started carting things back to the front desk.
Hesma, the elderly master of records, gave me a knowing smile as I set the books down on her counter. When we first...
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