Ch.9 Strategy

‘I have an Idea.’

‘What is it?’

‘I would be exhausted after fighting even a few rabbits anyway. It would be of no use to put aside the entire day to hunt them.’

‘Right.’

‘And I don’t even have all the skills the slimes can give yet, they seem very useful.’

‘I see what you’re saying.’

‘Exactly, we should continue hunting slimes for skills, even if they dont give a lot of levels or stats and hunt rabbits every evening for those.’

‘That seems like a good plan.’

‘We should start now, the sun is not even at its highest point yet and we might be able to get a few skills out of the slimes.’

Right before going out Cinis had another thought.

‘The cursed flame skill never said that I could only use it as a breath right? It was only an instinctual use that I used in a rush.’

‘Right, you could probably use it in other ways as well.’

‘But what else could I do that you can’t also do?’

‘Yes, I’m better than that skill, but it’s also a bit like me so it has some use after all. So first of all the weakening attribute that it has is useful and it is also able to spread out more than me, see?’

Aiden contorted their shape into a flat shape, nothing like the grand breath the cursed flame had shown to be able to accomplish.

‘So the benefit of the flame over can be said to be able to affect multiple enemies with weakening.’

‘Everything you said makes sense, but why are you giving so many concessions to it? Just recently you were competing with a regeneration skill.’

Aiden felt a little embarrassed.

‘Well, that skill is like a part of me, so I can at least say its uses. It feels like I have more knowledge about it.’

‘Alright, so what I should try is something that can affect a large area and doesn’t need charge up time. So maybe something that expands?’

Cinis was able to make a sphere quickly, but it only burned in place and Cinis was unable to expand it, even when straining their mind. After a while of trying Cinis gained a level in the skill and was able to make it grow very slightly. It was now obvious to Cinis that they would need to use the skill more often and experiment with new ways to use it.

After a few more not very successful experiments with increasing the flames size or changing its shape they decided to test the only new application of the skill they had found on a few slimes. The small flame had the same weakening capabilities as the breath attack, but wasn’t as effective in dealing damage. After some time Cinis earned yet another level in the skill and was now able to contort its shape better. It seemed as though even though it was at the start worse at this than Aiden it would grow faster in the future. Due to this new ability Cinis could now shape the flame to have a point which actually acted similar to a solid and was able to pierce the slimes. Whether it was able to pierce the rabbits’ hide was uncertain.

On this day of hunting Cinis gained another point in constitution and two skills, both resistances. One was slashing resistance, which unluckily wouldn’t help against the piercing horns of the rabbits and the other was poison resistance, which would probably be useful in the future.

Then Cinis and Aiden went to the rabbit fields.

‘Now, how do we approach this?’

‘Last time far too many rabbits got angered at the same time, maybe we can make one rabbit charge at us and into the woods so the other rabbits don’t notice?’

‘Good Idea.’

With that plan in mind Cinis approached one of the horns spiking out of the ground and sent a flame towards it to immediately weaken the rabbit. As soon as the flame touched the horn the rabbit burrowed out and oriented itself. Cinis was already ready to run, so as soon as they were spotted they ran for the trees. Speeding up every now and then with conservative use of their dash skill they quickly got into the woods. Only after going out of hearing distance of the rabbits that were left behind did Cinis stop and turn around. Even before adding another point to Agility, Cinis slightly outpaced the rabbit. This divide was further increased by the weakening effect which also slowed it down.

‘Damn it, there are two of them.’

It seemed that one other rabbit had also been alerted and followed after them. This rabbit wasn’t weakened yet so Cinis sent a small flame to accomplish just that.

‘Can you distract one while I defeat the other?’

‘I can.’

Aiden flew towards the one that was further back and blocked its path. Meanwhile Cinis created a spike of cursed fire and attacked their rabbit with it and their claws. They got a few good hits in but lost track of the rabbit at one point and got pierced in the side for 37 damage. After that they were able to get a hold of the attacker in their mouth and held it down while repeatedly stabbing its head with the spike. Eventually the rabbit stopped moving and Cinis turned to look at Aidens opponent. The rabbit Aiden was fighting was littered with burn marks that seemed to weaken it further but didn’t seem to have dealt substantial damage. Cinis strengthened Aiden by infusing mana into them and felt their MP drain away. While also attacking from afar with the Flaming spike the Fight got far easier and They quickly defeated the rabbit. Then Aiden absorbed them.

“Stats gained: 1 Strength (STR)”

‘Far better stat gains than from the slimes. We had to fight slimes for an entire day for the same amount!’

‘Right, let’s take a look at what we have.’

Name: Cinis

Species: Red Lizard (1)

HP: 93/130

MP:32/80

Strength (STR): 12

Agility (AGI): 12

Dexterity (DEX): 12

Constitution (CON): 13

Intelligence (INT): 15

Magic (MAG): 8

Skills:

Hungering Flame (1); Lesser Flame Resistance (1); Instinct (1); Lesser Ice Resistance (1); Lesser Blunt Force Resistance] (1); Lesser Plant Resistance (1); Lesser Swimming (2); Lesser Regeneration (1); Lesser Mana Affinity (1); Lesser Dark Resistance (1); Lesser Cursed Fire Manipulation (3); Lesser Dash (1); Lesser Slashing Resistance (1); Lesser Poison Resistance (1)

Traits:

Sapient Monster; Evolution

Titles:

-

‘Less than half mana? We can’t pull this off like this again for now. If we pull more than one rabbit away again I will run out of mana before we finish and I don't know what will happen if I do, but it surely won’t be good.’

‘Fine, then we can rest. But tomorrow you will have to try to conserve your MP.’

‘I will absolutely try to.’

They went back to the burrow they slept in. Upon arriving Cinis noticed that if they grew any larger they wouldn’t fit inside anymore but put it aside for later to worry about since they were quite tired. After only a short while they passed out.