“She’s awake!” Someone shouted and I winced. “Sorry, Dani.”
It was Deacon.
“Ow.” I said eloquently.
I heard a bunch of things going on in the room, but ignored them, instead pulling up my status.
Name: Danielle Rosecrest
Age: 18
Race: Human
Class: Royal Sneak 5
Total Level: 56
Class EXP: 652/1500
Experience Bank: 4,214/128,000
Unspent Attribute Points: 15
Statistics
Physical
Strength: 24
Dexterity: 25
Agility: 31
Endurance: 22
Constitution: 21
Mental
Intelligence: 42
Insight: 40
Charisma: 35
Perception: 22
Magic
Mana: 30
Mana Control: 30
Mana Power: 30
Skills
Assessment: Tier 2, Rank 4
Cheap Shot Tier 1, Rank 4
Dancing: Tier 1, Rank 8
Deception: Tier 0, Rank 3
Gardening: Tier 0, Rank 1
Fire Manipulation: Tier 0, Rank 4
Freerunning: Tier 1, Rank 1
Light Armor: Tier 0, Rank 4
Mana Sense: Tier 3, Rank 14
Mathematics: Tier 2, Rank 13
Riding: Tier 0, Rank 2
Small Blades: Tier 0, Rank 3
Speed Reading: Tier 1, Rank 2
Sprinting: Tier 1, Rank 2
Staff Combat: Tier 1, Rank 2
Swords: Tier 1, Rank 6
Throwing: Tier 1, Rank 6
Tonfas: Tier 2, Rank 7
Traction: Tier 1, Rank 7
Two-Weapon Fighting: Tier 2, Rank 2
Wind Manipulation: Tier 0, Rank 5
Unarmed Combat Tier 2, Rank 6
Traits
Attentive Student
Aura of Authority (Disabled)
Backpacking
Bullet Hell
Experience Absorption
Experience Conversion
Extrinsic Mana Manipulation
Flight or Fight
Honor thy House
Intrinsic Mana Manipulation
Juggernaut Charge
Mana Bank (.5 EXP per hour)
Mana Conduit
Mana Control Range Increase
Misdirection
Moderator’s Veil
Monstrous Force
Night Vision
Noble Birth
Noble Pursuits
Overcharge
Personal Armory
Personal Library
Regeneration
Second Chance
Second Wind
Seven League Gait
Spatial Closet (Tier 1)
Treasury (56 EXP/Day)
Spells
Gravity Field: Tier 0, Rank 2
Healing: Tier 1, Rank 7
Scan: Tier 1, Rank 2
Shadowbolt (5%)
Functions
Calculator
Encyclopedia
Inventory
Local Map
Map
Notes
Quests
Classes: (Total: 56)
Noble - 30 (Max) (Temporarily Set to 26)
Outdoorsman - 20 (Max) (Temporarily Disabled)
Sneak - 5 (Temporarily Disabled)
Trainee - 1 (Temporarily Disabled)
Titles
Royal
Insecticide II (Levels Acquired: 12)
There was also a message from Zeratus:
Oh great. I annoyed a god. Wonderful. I did take his advice, and sent him a thank you message while I listened to people moving about the room. I still didn’t bother getting up, I felt more sluggish than usual, which didn’t make sense since all of my stats were still fairly high for a normal person.
“Dani! Are you still awake?” It was Deacon, followed by him shaking me slightly.
“No.” I grumbled, lowering my arm and opening my eyes reluctantly. “Where am I?”
“A room in the Quintius temple.” Deacon said, a relieved smile on his face, though there was still concern in his eyes. “What happened.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“I just had 30 levels torn out of me.” I said, slowly sitting up. It felt like pins and needles were prickling me all over my limbs and I tried shaking my arm to get rid of the feeling. “My Constitution and Endurance dropped by… ouch, 21 points.” I’d done some quick math and I’d lost almost half of both stats.
The bard’s eyes went wide, and I looked over when I heard someone else swear under breath. It was Toren. “Hey, Gramps. What’re you doing here?”
“Well, you stopped breathing long enough that Porter and Samuel almost crashed their carriage into the front door getting you here.” He walked over and a light appeared over his finger tip. It was bright, but not painful to look at. His hand went up to hold my head still as he flashed it into my eyes. “You lost more than physical stats, didn’t you?”
I looked around to make sure it was just us. Calmar was asleep in a corner chair, and I was guessing Porter was outside. “Perception. I think it was mostly physical stats, though.”
“Well, you’re lucky then. Some of those who fell ill are essentially brain dead. Mental stats are harder to recover from than physical, since physical you can exercise to recover some functionality.” Toren said, pressing his hand to my head as a gentle pressure went through me.
“How bad is it from your side?” I asked.
“Your whole body shut down for two minutes. I was told you have Regeneration, which is likely the only reason you’re as good as you are.” The man wasn’t smiling. It was one of the few times I’d seen Toren serious. He didn’t even have his flask in sight.
I nodded, wincing as the pins and needles flared along my neck and down my spine. “I’m surprised it still works, since I got it from my stats going up.”
“Traits don’t go away, usually. Skills either. It’s why churches still allow class resets, even though people often require medical attention after.” He motioned me up and down, “Like now.”
“Is she going to be okay?” Deacon asked, looking over at Calmar who was slowly stirring.
Toren stood up and stepped back, motioning for me to try and stand, “I’m not a healer, Deacon. I’d say yes, but she needs to be checked out by someone who knows more than basic healing and diagnostic spells.”
I slowly stood up, pushing against the bed. “I’ll…” I was going to say ‘be fine’, but my legs didn’t want to support me as the pins and needles made a fierce return and turned them to jelly. I fell back onto the bed. “Shit.”
Toren sighed, “I was afraid of that. Your body needs time to adjust, just like when you gain stats. Losing forty physical stats at once will cause problems regardless what they are.”
“Fifty.” I corrected, trying to catch my breath from the effort, which had been far more than I was ready for.
“How are you conscious?” Toren said, blinking at me.
“Cause they’re all still over twenty?” I suggested. If he was right, Regeneration was also probably helping somewhere. “My Constitution and Endurance were both over forty.”
Toren let out a sigh of relief, “And you said thirty was the important number, right?” When I nodded slowly, “Then you’re going to be uncomfortable until you earn those levels back, but it isn’t fatal. Or even permanent, I’m guessing.”
I didn’t want to tell him it was more temporary than that. Even as we talked, I was going into the Moderator’s Veil menu and locking those stats to their current values, like Zeratus recommended. I didn’t know how long I’d keep them there, but I wasn’t going to turn down good advice.
Calmar finally woke up and the look of relief on his face made my heart hurt. He was really worried, wasn’t he? “Dani… I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“What happened with Severn?” I asked, trying to stand again. My limbs still tingled, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from getting out of bed.
“He left after we got you in a carriage. We don’t know where.” Calmar said, rubbing at his eyes.
“Think he’ll be back?” I asked, holding onto Deacon and Toren’s offered arms to stay vertical. I stomped my foot down on the ground a couple of times to try and get rid of the tingling.
Calmar shook his head, “He might send someone to arrest you eventually, but so far he has another crisis to deal with. Germaine is on a warpath.”
“Why?” I asked, brow furrowed in concentration as I slowly let go of Toren and Deacon’s arms, standing on my own two feet. My breath came out in a sigh of relief. Good, maybe I’ll actually be able to walk out of here.
“One of his chamberlains is dead. He was incapacitated while helping with party preparations, and he fell off a ladder and onto a statue.” Calmar grimaced, “Well, the spear in the statue’s hand.”
I winced, “Ouch. How bad is the aftermath?”
He shook his head, “We don’t know yet. The guards haven’t released any kind of statement, and I’ve been here. Porter found out about Germaine on his way back to the manor to pick up some things.”
“Is one of those things a drink? I feel like shit.” I grumbled and stumbled over to the wall opposite the bed, leaning against it for support. I waved off Deacon, who had moved to help me.
Toren chuckled, “She’ll be fine, I suspect. Get her checked out by an actual healer, even if they tell you the same thing it’ll look better.”
“Thanks for looking after her, Toren.” Calmar stood up and walked over to him. He reached out and put a hand on the priest’s shoulder, “If you ever need our help with anything, it’s yours.”
“I’ll take you up on that sometime.” Toren said, putting his hand on Calmar’s arm, “But for now just make sure she doesn’t push herself too hard.”
I looked at Deacon and noticed him giving me the side eye, and I rolled my eyes. “I take it that means no killing bugs.”
Toren laughed, “Actually, that’d probably be perfect, so long as you take it easy.” Everyone in the room turned to look at him. “What? The problem is she lost levels. The bugs are easy enough to kill, and the event gives a lot of experience. I’d even go so far as to recommend doing it.”
I blinked a few times and couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity. “Wait… so you’re recommending I go out like this? Instead of resting?”
“Dani…” Toren started, but Deacon held up a hand.
“Let me.” Toren shrugged and motioned for Deacon to take over. The bard sat down on the bed and looked at me, “Resting won’t fix this kind of injury. It’s the kind of thing that needs to actively treated by confronting more challenges. Octavia has a number of dungeons that do this kind of damage through curses.”
I caught Toren wincing. I ignored it and turned to Calmar who looked unhappy with the idea. “What do you think?”
Calmar took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He crossed his arms, hugging himself as he responded, “I’m… not comfortable with the idea. But… if Deacon is going with you…”
“We can pick up some more people at the guild too, probably.” Deacon suggested.
I shook my head, and when he looked at me confused I said, “I don’t want more people involved until we figure out our problems with Jason. I know he’s probably not going to do anything to me directly, but…”
Calmar and Toren looked like they wanted to ask me to clarify, but Deacon narrowed his eyes, “No.”
I looked at him, frowning, “It’s the perfect chance to…”
“No. We aren’t going after that guy, not now. As much as I hate the idea, he’s been stuck in that situation for a while now. It didn’t sound like it was going to change.” Deacon said as he shook his head.
“But…” I started to object.
“Dani, you just got hit with the equivalent of a major curse. One that we can fix with careful, emphasis on careful, hunting of monsters.” He looked over at Toren, “The old man is right that this is probably the best chance you’ll get.” Toren did a rude gesture to Deacon, but he had a smirk that I took to mean he wasn’t actually mad.
I sighed, “Fine. Maybe I can figure out how Gravity Field actually works while we’re out.”
“Gravity magic, huh? Thought your family was all about fire magic.” Toren rubbed at some stubble on his chin as he thought about it. “Careful with that. Gravity magic can be pretty volatile if you aren’t careful.”
I had a mental flash of a dark hole where no light escaped. There were strange lights glowing along the edges and strange metal vessels around it.
Then I was back to the present and blinking the vivid images out of my eyes. “Yea, I’ll be careful.”
“Sure. And I’m Quintius.” Toren mumbled as he headed out of the room. “I’ll send you all the bill later.”
I turned to look at Calmar, who shrugged. “We did interrupt him at work.”
Instead of responding, I walked over to lean on him as we made our way out of… wherever we’d wound up.