Reaper's Resurgence: A System Reset

Alexia Knight

I blink in shock as I stare at the open cavern in front of me, honestly surprised that this didn't lead to another dead end. But that shock doesn't last long before I end up firing off several Quantum Bolts at the several lesser venomous arachnids charging after me from the cobweb filled cavern.

The half a dozen creatures mostly manage to dodge the bolts, with the exception of one of them that is knocked backwards a few meters away. So I swing my polearm around a little before ducking under the rapidly closing jaws of one of the spiders the moment it reaches me. And after it sprays a bit of that annoying poison on my now-closed eyes, I grimace while cutting straight upwards with my polearm, splitting the creature in two with a screech. But I keep my eyes closed without waiting even a second to do a backflip out of the way of another spider who chomps down where my arm was, making me realize a very nice use of the Quantum Attunement skill.

It lets me know where the spiders are and generally what they're doing.

My feet slip a little before I catch myself after landing on the ground.

Although it doesn't let me actually see my surroundings.

I quickly reach up to wipe my eyes, but even with that I still feel some of the guck sticking on my lids. And I'm pretty sure it might get in my eyes if I open them.

Shit, this isn't good. I still don't know what that poison does, but I do know I shouldn't let it get in my eyes.

I raise an arm and begin sending Quantum Bolt after Quantum Bolt at the spiders who are rushing towards me, and by the sounds of it I manage to hit two of them this time. But the other three and the one I originally hit are all heading towards me again. So I swing my polearm horizontally towards them, managing to catch one off guard as I feel resistance from it along with the sensation of my polearm's magical energy passing through the magical energy in its head. Then the rest of the magical energy in the creature's body dissipates as I duck down, bending my legs and leaning all the way back to avoid what I'm assuming are claws of one of the spiders and the fangs of another.

Shit this is annoying!

With a grimace, I fling myself forwards, smashing headfirst into one of the spiders in front of me before I raise my polearm and bring it stabbing down straight into the creature's body. And after we land wherever we land, I stumble around off of its body till I regain my footing, only to duck down into a near kneel when another spider tries biting where my head was, which seems to be a common target for them.

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But this time I fail to dodge another spider as they bite my left arm, making me cry out in pain before I swing my polearm into them, cutting the blade straight into their side and killing them according to the System Message's chime sound, just like the other two I've killed thus far.

A warm and pulsating sensation fills my arm as the venom no doubt courses through it. But I pay it no mind for now, instead focusing on the remaining spiders and blasting the disoriented and – in some of their cases – wounded creatures with quantum bolts now that they're slower moving. And this manages to finish them all off, letting me drop to the ground as I continue wiping my eyes, even resorting to spitting in my hands and using that to wipe them.

Eventually I think I get all of the poison off of my eyes, letting me gradually open them up again with a sigh of relief.

A sigh that immediately turns into a scream when I feel a sudden stabbing pain in my arm, making me reach over and clutch it as I turn to find purple veins running under and around the bite on my bicep. But just as quickly as the pain came, it fades again along with the purple veins.

I frown.

A fast acting, non-fatal poison? Okay, that's not too bad actually. Although if it were to actually end up somewhere important, like my eyes, then it could be an… issue…

It's not healing from my soul.

That's what the venom does. It makes a wound need actual healing rather than just life energy.

Either that or it makes it heal a lot slower.

My frown deepens as I climb to my feet, still holding my arm.

To heal this naturally without soul, it would take at least a day. And this is just a minor bite from something a level above me.

My eyes widen as I remember Quantum Reversal. Then I grin like a madwoman.

I think I just realized what I can use as a replacement General Skill for one of the General Skills I can't get anymore.

Although my grin fades again when I use Quantum Reversal on the wound, and it makes it back to the active effect of the poison. But it ends just as quickly as before, with my wound vanishing without a trace.

That fucking hurt.

But it'll be worth it. Very worth it.

Now I'm a lot happier about this skill. And I have a good way to train it too, since reversing a small wound like that only took about three hundred soul rather than the thousand from before.

I look around at the dead lesser venomous arachnids around me before focusing on the other end of the cavern and beginning to walk towards it.

Although I should keep that I'm doing this from Astrid. She would probably stop me, calling me insane or something.

Yeah. It would be best to just either not tell her about Poison Resistance or tell her I got it by chance in the dungeon full of venomous monsters.

That should work.

I smile at that as I walk into the next tunnel, trying very hard not to think about the massive amount of pain I'll be in to do this.

It'll be fine.