This high Willpower thing was paying dividends. He could practically feel the iron control he had over his mind and actions, his thoughts clear and firm simply because he wished them to be. Would I have survived that dark ocean without my bonuses to Willpower? Or would I have fallen into the depths?
Felix shuddered, unable to stop himself from recalling the serpentine shapes that flooded that violent sea. He still didn't understand why he had appeared there, or what it all meant, but he had survived. That was all that mattered.
Well, that and his new skills.
He had gained more Pain Resistance, which explained why his head didn't even twinge anymore, but more importantly he gained Mental Resistance too. It was a resistance Skill that he had been wanting, seeing how good his own Influence of the Wisp was at enthralling monsters. Remembering the deadly song of those creatures beneath that dark sea, Felix felt he had truly earned that one.
The biggest get was Deep Mind, his first Epic rarity Skill. Likely a result of his struggles against mental assault, it increased the potency of mental Skills and, much more powerfully, it increased his Resonance with each level. And he was now at level 23. Felix sat back against the wall, doing some mental calculations. He brought up his new stats.
Harmonic Stats
RES:
38*
REI:
8*
Resonance is 38 and Resilience is 8. So assuming each level of Deep Mind increased Resonance by 1, that means I started with a 15 in Resonance? That seems high, based on my other stats. Felix's eyes widened. Wait, I got a 10% boost to all regeneration, which means base values were 12 and 8, respectively. So then...
Felix's body was suddenly limned in blue fire, lighting up his tiny cavern. Influence of the Wisp quickly wore off, the Skill more designed for bursts than continued use. Felix checked his Mana, which had dropped 10 points. Counting out the seconds, he watched as it refilled. It took slightly less than ten seconds to return to full. It appeared that Felix's Mana regeneration was somewhere around 1 Mana per second.
Oh wait, I'm still Meditating aren't I? He barely noticed anymore. After hitting Apprentice Tier it was like the level 10 bump he felt before, but exponentially greater. Meditating was like breathing, even as he stood up and moved around. He cast another Influence and watched his regeneration without Meditation. This time is more like 0.5 Mana per second. So that means the Harmonic Stats are multiplicative with my base stats. In this case, that's Willpower and half my Intelligence. And then the whole thing is, what? Divided in half? Yeah that makes sense.
Huh, that's more mental math than I've done in a decade. It was so...easy.
Felix's Mana regeneration was formidable now. He didn't want to test his Health regen at this point, but it was likely good enough to restore him if given an hour or two. That would mean he'd been down here at least that long. He wasn't hungry or thirsty just yet, but he had to imagine that would be coming soon. Felix felt panic grip him again, and he forced it down.
He felt more centered after going over his notifications. The primal excitement over raised levels and new Skills helped him forget, for a moment, where he was. But it came back, unavoidable and inevitable. He was trapped.
He was trapped and Pit was gone.
Then the ground trembled. For a moment, dark anxiety gripped his heart, but he quickly recognized that it was nowhere near the same intensity as before. That was an earthquake, this was a tremor at best. But the tremors grew, until he could feel vibrations through his feet and heard the sudden and unmistakable sound of stone grinding upon stone.
Rushing to his feet, Felix activated Influence of the Wisp. As his body burned, he could see three yard-long worm-like creatures pouring out of the solid stone ahead of him. They were as thick as a two-liter and covered in an intimidating rocky carapace.
Name: Wurmling
Level: 14
Type: Wurm
HP: ???/???
SP: ???/???
MP: ???/???
Lore: Able to swim through stone like water, they sense their prey through vibrations. They prefer to attack in groups.
Strength: Agility and Endurance
Weakness: Unknown
Influence wore off in moments and the chamber was plunged into shadow.
Then they attacked.
Pain tore into his legs and arms as the Wurmlings snapped at him. An awful, sickly heat flooded his wounds, and Felix could see a brief reddish glow as they grabbed onto his limbs. He screamed.
You Have Learned A New Skill!
Fire Resistance, Level 1!
Through the fire and the flames, you come out stronger. Increases resistance to fire damage per Skill Level.
Felix whipped his arms up and out, attempting to launch the Wurmlings off him. They held on tenaciously, and wriggled their bodies to tear into him further.
"Fuck!" Felix ran directly at a wall, holding up his arms. With the Wurmlings still attached, they had nowhere to run, and he smashed them hard into the stone wall. They let out an nearly inaudible squark and dropped off of him. Felix stomped down hard on the last one at his ankle, and he felt something inside it give way. A kill notification populated his vision.
He was stronger than them.
Felix made sure Meditation was still running, and slowly circled the room. He still couldn't see in this lightless cavern, but he had other talents. He activated Manasight and his vision was inundated with clouds of dusty brown light and swirls of grey darkness. Earth and shadow Mana dominated the space, understandably, but within that fog were motes of orange. The motes blurred, each one whipping at him from a different angle. Felix ducked and dove forward, attempting to evade their attacks. Instead he smashed head first into a cavern wall.
"AHH!" Felix gripped his skull, feeling the blood pour out. Dizzy and disoriented, another set of jaws latched onto his thigh. With a muffled scream, Felix rolled over and grabbed the coarse armor of the Wurmling. His hands struggled to grip it, the monster's body undulating wildly. It suddenly flared orange in his Manasight as it's entire body became red hot, and Felix dropped it and fell backwards, bumping the cavern wall again as he fell to the ground.
Pain wracked him, but it was nothing. Compared to his fall and that ocean of monsters, these were mosquito bites. With a roar, Felix spun to his feet and tackled the still-glowing Wurmling. With his Manasight flaring, he smashed his hands repeatedly into the body of the Wurmling, knuckles bleeding as he cracked the rocky carapace. He grabbed its body and whipped it up into the air, feeling it crunch against the low ceiling before he brought it crashing to the ground. The Wurmling splattered into viscous goo, its orange glow snapping off in an instant.
Breathing heavy, Felix's Manasight pegged the other Wurmling off to his right, a faint orange glow in the brown-grey Mana-murk. It's glow was also dimming, becoming more diluted by the earth Mana all around. It was trying to run away, he realized. Screaming, he turned and lunged for it's tail. His fingers gripped the last few inches of the Wurmling, and he pulled.
The Wurmling fought, it's strange stone tunneling Skill attempting to pull it into the rock wall, but Felix overpowered it. Inch by inch, he pulled it out of its tunnel, and he could feel the stone carapace buckle and pop in his hands. Burning hot liquid coursed over his fists, scalding his skin; but he never let go. With a final grunt of effort, the Wurmling ripped free of the wall and Felix slapped it down onto the ground like a dirty rug. A final pop and splortch and he saw the final kill notification.
Felix sagged against a wall, almost too tired to stand. Numerous wounds littered his skin, and he couldn't tell what blood was his and what was the monsters'. He licked his dry lips, tasting blood as they cracked.
Blinking notifications flashed in the corner of his vision, but for once Felix swiped them away. He just...he was tired.
Then the ground began to rumble again. Felix grunted as he stood up, just in time to sense four more Wurmlings arrive.
"C'mon then," Felix rolled his shoulders and put up his fists. "Round two."