Minute Mage: A Time-Traveling LitRPG

Chapter 36: Stripeks

As we ventured deeper into the Stripek territory, the signs of their presence grew stronger and stronger. More random cuts in logs and trees, and more deep holes in the ground from their quick sprints. We kept our eyes sharp, peeking in all directions to ensure we wouldn’t get ambushed.

A flash of movement to my left. I whipped around and immediately shot a Ray of Frost at the target dashing toward me.

You have struck Level 4 Stripek for 38 damage using Ray of Frost.

You have cursed Level 4 Stripek with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.08.

22 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 358.

The Stripek stumbled as it ran and I leapt back, barely dodging the charging monster. As it tried to turn around, I shot it with another Ray of Frost, dealing an additional 44 damage. Then, Erani shot a Firebolt of her own, which collided with the monster and exploded, blasting it into a tree.

You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 4 Stripek.

You have earned 13 XP. Your XP is 120.

The entire fight took place over the course of a couple seconds. Stripeks had very little Health, luckily, but they were fast, and packed a punch with their attacks. It helped that this one was lower-Leveled – Stripeks appeared between the Levels of 1 and 10 – but even the higher-Leveled ones probably wouldn’t survive much longer than this one did.

Then again, the higher-Leveled ones would probably also be faster and deadlier. Plus, the fact that we were attacked by a lone Stripek was more an exception than the rule. Normally, Stripeks stuck to their packs, rather than going off alone.

The Stripek itself was a monster defined by its toned, sinew-y frame. Their semi-transparent skin made the inner parts of their bodies completely visible. I could see the still-twitching muscles of the monster that lay before me. It was a bit bigger than a Wood Wraith, and from its two front legs protruded long, sword-like claws. They were flat blades that shined like metal.

We continued venturing further in, eager to get away from the Stripek’s corpse. Eventually, we would find the main pack that owned this territory, and then it would be a real fight. The monsters were pack animals, after all, so if the others saw that we’d killed one of their own, we’d get attacked immediately. Well, not that they’d leave us alone either way – we were intruding on their home.

Eventually, we arrived at a cave that seemed to be near the center of the territory. It was an unnatural hole in the ground – probably something formed from a powerful Classer during a fight long ago – that seemed to lead into a small cavern. There were shuffling and scratching sounds coming from within. However, I couldn’t see inside, the hole going deep enough that it was too dark to actually identify what was causing the sounds.

“What do you think?” Erani asked me.

“...I think there are Stripeks in there?”

“No,” she rolled her eyes. “What should we do? We obviously wouldn’t be able to see if we went in, so we won’t be able to just waltz up and kill them.”

“Think we could lure them out? Or maybe we could just shoot projectiles wildly inside.”

“I don’t think we could kill them just by shooting from out here. If the cave curves at all they’d just hide around a corner while we ran out of Mana. If we could lure them out, though…”

Eventually, we had a plan formed. We’d gone back for the corpse of the Stripek we had killed earlier, dragging it over to the cave entrance. Erani took her place behind me as I placed my foot on the dead monster.

“You ready?” I asked her. She nodded.

I took a breath, then kicked the corpse of the Stripek straight into the cave. I listened to it tumble through the rocky passage, leaving my sight and sliding down into the darkness. The scraping sounds from inside the cave stopped as the Stripeks listened to the object falling into their home. Eventually, with a fleshy thud, the corpse came to a stop at the bottom of the cave.

There was a pause.

And then, a chorus of screeching roared out as the angered Stripeks charged out of the cave, eager to avenge their fallen brethren. The moment they came into view, I began firing, and so did Erani. Rays of Frost beamed through the air as my Mana shot downward. I tried my best to ensure every last Stripek that exited the cave was covered in frostbite, lowering their Stamina to a manageable level. System damage notifications flew through my mind, but I ignored them, focusing on my task of casting.

Every time a Stripek got too close to us, Erani shot it back with an Explosive Firebolt. I could feel the waves of heat from where I stood. Soon enough, the weaker of the monsters began dying off in waves.

You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 2 Stripek.

You have earned 7 XP. Your XP is 127.

You have offered minor contribution toward the slaying of Level 5 Stripek.

You have earned 8 XP. Your XP is 135.

You have offered minor contribution toward the slaying of Level 3 Stripek.

You have earned 5 XP. Your XP is 140.

You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 5 Stripek.

You have earned 18 XP. Your XP is 158.

You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 4 Stripek.

You have earned 14 XP. Your XP is 172.

I got at least a dozen notifications like those, informing me of our killing of the lower-Leveled Stripeks that were pouring out of the cave. By the end of them, my XP was up to 257/350. While these monsters were certainly powerful and fast, they didn’t seem to be smart enough to coordinate their attacks more than just all charging at once. However, my Mana was running low, having fallen to 72 after so many casts of Ray of Frost.

“Erani,” I called back, “I’m running empty. We might need to–”

I was cut off as a Stripek rushed past our defenses and tackled me into the ground. I managed to deflect its claws at the last second, pushing them off to the side, but allowing myself to get pinned in the process.

I immediately activated Noxious Grasp, draining away the life of the attacking monster. It didn’t relent, however, taking another stab at me with its fist of long claws. In my compromised state, I couldn’t fully dodge.

You have been stabbed by claws. 44 damage.

Your Health is 72.

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The claws sunk deep into my unprotected stomach, and an explosion of pain spread out into my gut. My ribs croaked angrily at the additional injury. I held out my hand at point-blank range and shot the monster with a Ray of Frost, the beam going straight into its skull.

You have struck Level 8 Stripek for 48 damage using Ray of Frost.

You have cursed Level 8 Stripek with Ray of Frost. For the next 5 seconds, its Dexterity score is lowered by 6.08.

22 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 44.

The monster fell backwards at the sudden impact, and I took the opportunity to get on top of it, wincing from the pain in my stomach, and pinning its two front limbs against its chest, keeping Noxious Grasp active. It fought against my grip, but with my entire body weight on the Stripek, it couldn’t get out of the pin. I watched through its translucent skin as the monster’s flesh deteriorated in real time from the effects of my Spell.

After a few seconds, I got a notification.

You have struck Level 8 Stripek for 97.7 damage and drained 48.9 Stamina over the course of 6.3 seconds using Noxious Grasp.

23.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 20.

You have slain Level 8 Stripek.

You have earned 52 XP. Your XP is 309.

I stumbled to my feet, Erani still holding back the Stripeks that were pouring out of the cave. Most of them were dead by now, but there were a couple of them that were smarter and higher-Leveled and had stayed back in the cover of darkness.

I walked forward, trying to ignore the pain radiating from the hole in my stomach.

“I’ll draw the rest out,” I said.

Erani frowned. “Be careful.”

I stepped into the cave, sure to stay well in the light so that I could still see. I could see the eyes of the cautious Stripeks hiding in the darkness of the cave. They stared at me with fury, but also fear. All I needed to do was get them to ignore their fear.

I looked down at the corpses surrounding my feet. Picking the closest one, I lifted my foot up, and stomped hard on the head of the dead monster.

Immediately, the Stripeks in the cave screeched in anger at their pack-mate’s body being desecrated. They charged at me. Erani shot at two of them, blasting them back into the darkness and giving me notifications of my contribution to their deaths.

One of them was faster, though, and reached me. But I was ready, and familiar with their fighting style by now. I leaned back, dodging its initial strike, and spun around, hitting its back as it passed by me. It lost its balance, tripping to the ground.

I tackled it, pinning its limbs against its body like I had before, as I heard Erani continue to blast away the rest of them. After a few seconds, and a few more notifications for the Stripeks that Erani was killing, I got the one for the monster I had pinned beneath me.

You have struck Level 8 Stripek for 63.6 damage and drained 31.9 Stamina over the course of 4.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.

15.4 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 5.

You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 9 Stripek.

You have earned 29 XP. Your XP is 369.

Threshold reached. 350 XP.

Your Level has increased to 7.

Due to achieving Level 7 in the Minute Mage Class, you have been granted the following benefits:

-You have gained 1 Endurance.

-You have gained 2 Conjuration.

-You have gained 1 Intelligence.

-You have gained 3 Stat Points.

-Recursive Growth has activated. You have gained 1 Strength and 1 Intelligence.

-Time Loop Talent Rank has increased to 7.

Intelligence threshold reached. 8 Intelligence.

Your Intelligence information rank has increased.

Due to increasing your Intelligence information rank, you have been granted the following benefits:

-You may now see the basic progression path of your Class.

I got back up to my feet, looking around. It seemed like Erani had killed off the rest of the monsters, and the battlefield was finally silent. I flexed my arms once I got up, feeling the newly-gained point of Strength aid my muscles. It wasn’t dramatic, but any sort of change this sudden – even if it was small – felt incredible.

“You good?” Erani asked me, looking down at my bleeding stomach. In the heat of battle, I’d almost forgotten about that.

I pressed my hand against the wound to try and stem the leaking blood. “Yeah. It doesn’t actually hurt as much as I feel like it should. And it isn’t bleeding too much, either.”

“It’s probably because of your Endurance,” she said. “Your Class raises it every Level, right? So at Level 6, you should be quite a bit tougher than a normal person, and that includes a higher pain tolerance and a faster bodily response to injuries.”

“I guess,” I mused. “My ribs are still killing me, though.”

“Well, yeah. I’d bet those aren’t going to heal until you get some time to rest while at full Health.”

“So not for a while, then.”

“Yeah, I guess it’ll be a while until we get some time to rest,” She laughed, then sighed and squatted, leaning her head against a tree. “Speaking of rest, I’m going to need five or ten minutes. I spent almost all of my Mana during that fight, and combined with all the practicing I’ve been doing, the headache is really catching up to me.”

“Yeah, I need to manage my Level up, anyway.”

“Oh? Get anything good?”

“Mainly the usual stuff. But my Intelligence got to a new threshold, which means I get some more information. Something called a ‘basic progression path.’ I’ll let you know once I see it.”

I closed my eyes and began my meditation, focusing inward. After such a chaotic battle, I welcomed the quiet moment.

Once a few minutes had passed, I began looking over the changes I could make. First up was whatever the Trailblazer Title was talking about when it mentioned the basic progression path. I allowed the Title to guide my mind to what it wanted to tell me.

Minute Mage Basic Progression Path

-Every 1 Level: +1 Endurance, +2 Conjuration, +3 Stat Points, Time Loop Rank Up

-Every 3 Levels: Spell Choice

-Every 5 Levels: Talent Choice

-Every 10 Levels: Time Loop Usage Increase, Time Loop Upgrade

I looked over the information. Some of it was stuff I already knew, with the fact that I got Endurance and Conjuration every Level, and the fact that Time Loop Ranked up every Level, but other stuff was more interesting. It was good to confirm the fact that I’d be getting a Spell Choice every three Levels, and a Talent Choice every five. So, I wouldn’t get anything special at my next Level – 8 – but 9 would bring me a Spell, and 10 would bring me a Talent.

And speaking of Level 10, it also said something intriguing about that milestone. Apparently, at 10, I’d be getting a ‘Time Loop Usage Increase’, and a ‘Time Loop Upgrade.’

I could only speculate as to what that meant, but a few ideas immediately popped into my head. Maybe a ‘Usage Increase’ would mean I could use Time Loop more times in a single day, or it would refresh more often. Or maybe it would be able to take me back further. As for the ‘Upgrade,’ that was such a broad term that there was no telling what it would do. All I knew was that it would make the Talent better.

Seeing that made me even more eager to reach Level 10. Not only would I be getting an additional Talent, but Time Loop – by far the most unique and powerful thing about my Class – would be made even more useful. It‘d already saved my life multiple times, and I’d also found multiple ways to gain a huge amount of additional XP using it. After these two additions to its abilities, what would it be able to do?

After I did that, I assigned my Stat Points.

You have used 3 Stat Points to increase Conjuration.

Your Conjuration value is now 40.

Name:

Arlan Nota

Age:

20

Strength:

11

Class:

Minute Mage

Level:

7

Endurance:

19

Class Type:

Magic

XP:

19/400

Dexterity:

11

Health:

72/190

Health/Minute:

0.0702

Conjuration:

40

Stamina:

34/90

Stamina/Minute:

0.588

Intelligence:

8

Mana:

79/440

Mana/Minute:

8.4

Spells:

Talents:

Titles:

Ray of Frost 4 - XP 3/30

Recursive Growth

Trailblazer

Crippling Chill 4 - XP 0/30

Time Loop 7

Noxious Grasp 9 - XP 142/355

And with that, I finished my meditation. “Alright,” I said to Erani, “let’s rest up, and then kill some Drakelings.”