When August woke, the omnipresent pain, aches and exhaustion were just about gone, eroded by the natural regeneration he’d been granted. Even clenching his hands together did nothing more than bring out a kind of dull stiffness that would probably disappear within the next half hour. What hadn’t vanished was a series of blue text that was doing its best to block his vision.
Survive – Act II
Survive for one week on Devil’s Nest – 1/1
“There was a part two?” August murmured, rubbing at his eyes.
August swiped a hand through the words, and that was all it took to dissipate them. His acknowledgment of the completed quest came with another surge of bluetext.
You have levelled up.
Considering just how far away from the next level he’d been, that was a significant chunk of [EXP].
Runecrafter Unlocked
Rune Blueprints Learned.
Etch Learned.
We’re the same Learned.
The first [Survive] quest had given him [Leadership] and [Survival]; this one had given him [Runecrafter]—he was starting to see a trend. Last time, it required him to accumulate the basic necessities needed to survive; water, fire, shelter, and food. Now the requirement only seemed to be one of time, and it left him wondering if there would be a [Survive III].
Two weeks on Devil’s Nest—or would the time period increase? A month? A year? It was hard for him to picture what a whole year in this place would even look like or what the reward for living that long might be.
Skill Points: 1
180/1200 EXP
August nodded at the numbers, confirming that, yes, it had been at least a thousand experience for the quest. He skipped through the menu until he’d located the new skill tree—[Runecrafter]. The three skills he’d seen before revealed themselves.
Rune Blueprints
Learned runes, systems, and the associated experience will now act as blueprints.
We’re the same
You may now interface with runes directly.
Etch
You may now use mana to carve runes into surfaces.
August furrowed his brow at the first one before closing his eyes and turning his mind towards one of the runes he’d learned—that amorphous cloud of experience he’d come to associate with all of the other blueprints washed over him.
[Energy Storage I] was used for all sorts of things, and storing mana was only one of the uses possible. Carving it into a clay tablet would work, but he’d have no method of withdrawing the mana again afterwards. Batteries without a device that could use the energy stored. The second skill—[We’re the same]—might help with that, depending on what exactly interfacing with runes directly meant. [Etch] was interesting and listed as an active skill.
Etch(Lv1)
Use mana to carve runes into surfaces
Proficiency – 0/1000
Cost – 1 MP per 5 seconds
“[Etch],” August said.
August glanced down at his hand as a white spark of light appeared at the tip of his index finger. He carefully moved it away from his leg, not willing to chance to carve a line through his skin, and then ran his finger across the dirt. It left a perfectly smooth line behind, a few centimetres deep—he let his hold on the mana go, and the white light vanished from his hand.
At [1 MP per 5 seconds], it was the cheapest skill he’d learned so far and potentially used as a weapon or a tool depending on how deep he could carve with it—if it worked on metal, then he’d be able to use it to slowly cut through the chain spikes or even carve the Otrogon’s teeth into a better shape for an axe.
“An actually useful skill,” August murmured, “Who would have thought?”
He turned his attention back to the [Runecrafter] skill tree, investigating the skills he could potentially place points in.
0/5 – Cost Effective I
Transformation of energy from one type to another is more efficient. +10% efficiency per level.
0/5 – Storage I
Your storage runes gain a higher capacity. +10% capacity per level.
0/1 – Foundation
The Runecrafter Job is now unlocked.
0/1 – Troubleshooting
Analysis passively detects and highlights errors in rune systems.
More or less what he’d come to expect. [Foundation] was entirely reliant on unlocking the Job System before it could be used, which meant putting a skill point in [Taskmaster] first. [Troubleshooting] seemed like it would be incredibly useful in the future, but right now, there were better options. [Cost Effective I] and [Storage I] were point sinks that weren’t immediately useful.
The optimal path forward seemed pretty clear to him—[Taskmaster] would unlock an entirely new system, ‘unseen benefits’, and five basic blueprints for both him and anyone else who actually joined the faction could access. Once that was unlocked, he could either move to [Group Project] for the experience boost or [Foundation] to unlock the Runecrafter Job. Decision made, August moved to the correct menu and placed his point.
1/1 – Taskmaster
Allows members of your faction to choose or accept jobs. Jobs automatically grant five basic blueprints and many other unseen benefits.
Current Jobs: Gatherer, Builder, Tailor, Cook, Courtesan, Guard.
August waited a moment to see if anything was unlocked, but nothing seemed to happen. He frowned before going in search of a new menu—and found it inside of [Progression] > [Jobs].
Gatherer
Builder
Tailor
Cook
Courtesan
Guard
He opened the first one.
Gatherers collect plants, food, wood, stone, water and other useful resources.
Increased Stamina – 10%
Increased Stamina Regeneration – 10%
Increased Experience Gain for associated skills – 50%
Decreased Mana Cost for associated skills – 50%
August eyed the description for a moment; the inclusion of ‘plants’ meant that it wasn’t just the [Gatherer] role that would be included under the umbrella of ‘associated skills.’ If the skills from [Forager] also counted, then it might become possible for someone with that job to stack multiple skills without wiping out their entire mana bar.
Ameliorate: Intersect is now live! If you're interested in a first-person, apocalyptic urban survival scenario where 99% of humanity has developed superpowers and then gone completely insane, go check it out. It has sex, cool powers, and damaged characters.
Reroll: Shatter is now live!
If you like my work and want to see more of it, you can find links to all of my books on my website:
Elbowsnapper
If you want to show some support, go check out my Patreon:
Elbowsnapper is creating Original Fiction, NSFW Fiction, Web Serials. | Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Patreon Early Access:
Contention - Mondays & Fridays.
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 2 - Mondays and Fridays.
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 1, Audiobook.
When August woke, the omnipresent pain, aches and exhaustion were just about gone, eroded by the natural regeneration he’d been granted. Even clenching his hands together did nothing more than bring out a kind of dull stiffness that would probably disappear within the next half hour. What hadn’t vanished was a series of blue text that was doing its best to block his vision.
Survive – Act II
Survive for one week on Devil’s Nest – 1/1
“There was a part two?” August murmured, rubbing at his eyes.
August swiped a hand through the words, and that was all it took to dissipate them. His acknowledgment of the completed quest came with another surge of bluetext.
You have levelled up.
Considering just how far away from the next level he’d been, that was a significant chunk of [EXP].
Runecrafter Unlocked
Rune Blueprints Learned.
Etch Learned.
We’re the same Learned.
The first [Survive] quest had given him [Leadership] and [Survival]; this one had given him [Runecrafter]—he was starting to see a trend. Last time, it required him to accumulate the basic necessities needed to survive; water, fire, shelter, and food. Now the requirement only seemed to be one of time, and it left him wondering if there would be a [Survive III].
Two weeks on Devil’s Nest—or would the time period increase? A month? A year? It was hard for him to picture what a whole year in this place would even look like or what the reward for living that long might be.
Skill Points: 1
180/1200 EXP
August nodded at the numbers, confirming that, yes, it had been at least a thousand experience for the quest. He skipped through the menu until he’d located the new skill tree—[Runecrafter]. The three skills he’d seen before revealed themselves.
Rune Blueprints
Learned runes, systems, and the associated experience will now act as blueprints.
We’re the same
You may now interface with runes directly.
Etch
You may now use mana to carve runes into surfaces.
August furrowed his brow at the first one before closing his eyes and turning his mind towards one of the runes he’d learned—that amorphous cloud of experience he’d come to associate with all of the other blueprints washed over him.
[Energy Storage I] was used for all sorts of things, and storing mana was only one of the uses possible. Carving it into a clay tablet would work, but he’d have no method of withdrawing the mana again afterwards. Batteries without a device that could use the energy stored. The second skill—[We’re the same]—might help with that, depending on what exactly interfacing with runes directly meant. [Etch] was interesting and listed as an active skill.
Etch(Lv1)
Use mana to carve runes into surfaces
Proficiency – 0/1000
Cost – 1 MP per 5 seconds
“[Etch],” August said.
August glanced down at his hand as a white spark of light appeared at the tip of his index finger. He carefully moved it away from his leg, not willing to chance to carve a line through his skin, and then ran his finger across the dirt. It left a perfectly smooth line behind, a few centimetres deep—he let his hold on the mana go, and the white light vanished from his hand.
At [1 MP per 5 seconds], it was the cheapest skill he’d learned so far and potentially used as a weapon or a tool depending on how deep he could carve with it—if it worked on metal, then he’d be able to use it to slowly cut through the chain spikes or even carve the Otrogon’s teeth into a better shape for an axe.
“An actually useful skill,” August murmured, “Who would have thought?”
He turned his attention back to the [Runecrafter] skill tree, investigating the skills he could potentially place points in.
0/5 – Cost Effective I
Transformation of energy from one type to another is more efficient. +10% efficiency per level.
0/5 – Storage I
Your storage runes gain a higher capacity. +10% capacity per level.
0/1 – Foundation
The Runecrafter Job is now unlocked.
0/1 – Troubleshooting
Analysis passively detects and highlights errors in rune systems.
More or less what he’d come to expect. [Foundation] was entirely reliant on unlocking the Job System before it could be used, which meant putting a skill point in [Taskmaster] first. [Troubleshooting] seemed like it would be incredibly useful in the future, but right now, there were better options. [Cost Effective I] and [Storage I] were point sinks that weren’t immediately useful.
The optimal path forward seemed pretty clear to him—[Taskmaster] would unlock an entirely new system, ‘unseen benefits’, and five basic blueprints for both him and anyone else who actually joined the faction could access. Once that was unlocked, he could either move to [Group Project] for the experience boost or [Foundation] to unlock the Runecrafter Job. Decision made, August moved to the correct menu and placed his point.
1/1 – Taskmaster
Allows members of your faction to choose or accept jobs. Jobs automatically grant five basic blueprints and many other unseen benefits.
Current Jobs: Gatherer, Builder, Tailor, Cook, Courtesan, Guard.
August waited a moment to see if anything was unlocked, but nothing seemed to happen. He frowned before going in search of a new menu—and found it inside of [Progression] > [Jobs].
Gatherer
Builder
Tailor
Cook
Courtesan
Guard
He opened the first one.
Gatherers collect plants, food, wood, stone, water and other useful resources.
Increased Stamina – 10%
Increased Stamina Regeneration – 10%
Increased Experience Gain for associated skills – 50%
Decreased Mana Cost for associated skills – 50%
August eyed the description for a moment; the inclusion of ‘plants’ meant that it wasn’t just the [Gatherer] role that would be included under the umbrella of ‘associated skills.’ If the skills from [Forager] also counted, then it might become possible for someone with that job to stack multiple skills without wiping out their entire mana bar.
Ameliorate: Intersect is now live! If you're interested in a first-person, apocalyptic urban survival scenario where 99% of humanity has developed superpowers and then gone completely insane, go check it out. It has sex, cool powers, and damaged characters.
Reroll: Shatter is now live!
If you like my work and want to see more of it, you can find links to all of my books on my website:
Elbowsnapper
If you want to show some support, go check out my Patreon:
Elbowsnapper is creating Original Fiction, NSFW Fiction, Web Serials. | Patreon
Love you guys, keep on keeping on!
Patreon Early Access:
Contention - Mondays & Fridays.
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 2 - Mondays and Fridays.
Recent Releases:
Ameliorate: Intersect
Reroll: Falling & Shatter
Systematic Soul Sorting - Book 1, Audiobook.
