All of his options were good, each of the skills he was presented with had tangible benefits that he could easily and effectively take use of. Something about this round of skills was different to Lloyd, three of them related to the mana bolts he had been summoning.

  Usually, his skill choices would be taken up by a bunch of trash skills the system based off of his exploits to give him more options, but this time it didn’t. what this meant, was that Lloyd was beginning to earn his skill options like with his profession, starting to branch away from the compensational trash the system had initially offered him.

  This was great for Lloyd, as since he didn’t have to choose the only good one, his new skill would get to be purely based on preference. Lloyd could see good reasons to choose each of the different skills, but a lot of those reasons didn’t suit him.

  The first option, bolt swarm, would be great for culling hordes of weak enemies that would try to overwhelm you with pure numbers –like the common miscus solders. What bolt swarm wasn’t as good for, was piercing the hide of the massive, durable opponents Lloyd had to fight, making it an ill fit for him.

  His second choice was a very interesting concept, the description said that it would create a small radius around him where any weapons would be charged, making it dangerous to engage him in close melee. The problem with this was that if anything managed to engage him in close melee, he would be in more danger than them, charged weapons or not. Melee just didn’t suit his mage class, making it another bust.

  Plasma mines was more promising, a skill that would let him summon floating lighting bombs that would wait for an enemy to walk into them sounded amazing. This addition to his skill set would greatly improve his chances when fighting opponents with overwhelming physical advantages, allowing him to more easily kite, and manipulate the movement of his opponents.

  Lloyd was tempted to disregard the last two choices and take it immediately, but he ignored his impulses and examined the remaining skills. The light and heavy bolt skills were extremely similar in design, but their functions were polar opposites.

  The light variant was well suited for assassin-like classes, opting for one or two fast strikes to quickly incapacitate the enemy. On the contrary, heavy bolts was designed for doing a lot of damage over a drawn out period, perfect for large, slow beasts like the lizard titan.

  Neither of these options were objectively better than the other, and Lloyd didn’t have a favourite, in fact, he disliked both. Lloyd was unwilling to part with either damage, or speed to make his mana bolts better for a certain task. Choosing one or the other would effectively be picking what kind of enemies he wanted to kill, as getting better at killing one would mean being weakened when fighting the other.

  The light and heavy bolt skills weren’t necessarily bad, they just didn’t fit Lloyds needs, as he would rather be a jack of all trades than a specialist when it came to survival. Disregarding these two skills, Lloyd went back to the one that suited him best, plasma mines.

  It would go well with his strategy of bombarding foes with mana bolts while engaging in melee when he had a clear advantage. The new addition would allow him to take control of the fights tempo by manipulating where his enemy could and couldn’t go.

  Lloyd wanted to test the skill out immediately, but something about using a skill with ‘deadly explosion of lightning’ in its description in a small, confined space like a hollow tree sounded astronomically stupid. While he could just go outside to test the skill, the oppressive silence outdoors was just too creepy, the way everything had started hiding, and avoiding the water as soon as night fell just wasn’t natural.

  The way the creatures acted was induced by fear, that much was obvious. The situation reminded him of the way remote villages would act when a notorious maneater was stalking the area. Those stories had always been terrifying to him, a monster outside your home waiting for you to come out, with no way for you to kill it, often being stuck with the beast for months if not years before a hunter killed it. It was a truly horrific situation to be stuck in.

  This was how the creatures of the swamp were acting, afraid to even move at night, hiding as best they could while avoiding the water. The weirdest part was that he hadn’t heard anything, it’d been hours since night had fallen, and Lloyd was yet to hear a single noise from outside.

  Despite his scepticism, Lloyd didn’t feel like putting his doubts to the test against something that had a whole ecosystem fearing it. It wasn’t like the animals were just sleeping either, even the nocturnal fireflies had hidden themselves on tree trunks when it got dark.

  Something was wrong here, and Lloyd couldn’t explain what it was. Nevertheless, he wasn’t going to do anything about it in the middle of the night, it could wait till morning.

  Lloyd was lying on the ground trying to get some rest, while he reminisced on his experiences in the guild hall. It had been an amazing experience where he’d learnt so much, and the armour it had allo----------—

  CRASH!

  A deafening cacophony of sounds roared outside of the tree, water was sent cascading in all directions, beasts screaming from up in the trees. Lloyd felt the ground shake as he heard a nearby tree get destroyed and he even saw some water splash in through the entrance to the hollow, which was over ten meters above water level.

  Shit was going down.

  Lloyd wanted to see what was happening, and went to peek through the entrance, until a cloud of wood chips fell from the ceiling as something slammed into the tree. Debris covered his body, and Lloyd tripped over backwards coughing as the dust invaded his lungs.

  By the time Lloyd was able to get himself up and look, it was too late, whatever had done this was gone. The dim morning light glimmered across the water, and this was the first sign something was wrong.

  Mixed throughout the calm, rippling water was something that should not have been there. Blood, and lots of it. The red clouds billowed through the water and spread across the lake in a gory spectacle, not helped by the other remains littering the swamp.

  Floating all throughout the water were chunks of different creatures that hadn’t been finished. The water was riddled with bird feet, fish tails, wings, beaks, and countless shattered bones, and this was just what was floating, the swamp was full of other signs of the creature’s rampage.

  The canopy Lloyd had been swinging through the day prior was full of signs where the vines and branches had been torn apart, there were even a few trees missing compared to the day before. Whatever had done this must have been strong, not strong like the lizard necessarily, but strong nonetheless.

  Lloyd now understood why the creatures avoided the water at night, no sane creature would dare go near that thing.

  Soon enough, the beasts returned to their usual activities as if nothing had transpired the night before. The spiders swinging away across the branches, the fish and eels swallowing the bloody remains permeating the water, while the herons stalked the reedbeds.

  Lloyd sat on a branch above the water, snacking on some smoked eel while he looked at the perplexing ritual below. Normally, the giant water birds would devour the fish that stayed near the surface too long, but now they were just letting them clean the bloody water, like there was an unspoken agreement between them.

  After his quick breakfast, Lloyd got up gave the creatures one last confused look, and began swinging his way across the swamp like a confused monkey. The branches flew past as Lloyd clambered across the treetops, looking for anything useful down below, and to be honest, there wasn’t much. Except for one thing, the beasts.

  All of the animals in the swamp were potentially useful in one way or another, and even if he couldn’t find a use for them, it couldn’t hurt to expand his menu.

  The first thing on Lloyds chopping block was the spiders that were swinging through the branches, which were extremely easy to catch just needing him to grab one while it wasn’t looking. Catching the other creatures however, was less easy to say the least.

  Unlike the spiders which were completely oblivious to any threats besides the archer fish, the other creatures would actually put up a fight, or at least they would try to. While the water birds had unreasonably sharp beaks for something hunting fish, their powerful pecks were severely overshadowed by the glaring weakness that was their necks.

  While their build was great for skewering soft fish, the same could not be said for fighting a human with a very sharp halberd.

  Lloyd jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding a razor sharp beak before returning in kind with his halberd. The bird tried to dodge backward, but was too slow, its head fell lifeless to the ground before Lloyd snatched it up, along with its eggs.

  It had taken several of the birds corpses getting instantly devoured by fish and eels for Lloyd to realise he couldn’t kill them in the water if he wanted their bodies. Thankfully, the massive nests the birds perched in up above the mangroves were not hard to spot on account of the giraffe sized birds in them.

  The fish had been far easier to catch, and had come as a bonus to his bird hunting, as he was able to quickly skewer one when it came to snatch of the bird carcasses, he’d even managed to bag another eel.

  Doing all this hunting, as well as some foraging amongst the branches, had taken a good portion of the day away. In his search for fungus, Lloyd had made his way to the top of one of the mangroves, which was only about seventy meters tall, a far call from the several hundred meter behemoths of the forest.

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  The sheer size difference between the trees allowed him so very clearly spot where the forest ended, and the swamp began, and judging by his estimates, he was a little over two thirds of the way through. If he was lucky, he would be able to reach the other side by tomorrow, but there was no way he could make it today.

  Lloyd stared at the mushroom in his hand, it looked like it was okay to eat, but those were famous last words if he ever heard them, so he wasn’t willing to trust his instincts. He’d hoped identify would help him out, but the system wasn’t interested in helping him either.

  Common frogs tongue amanita (Inferior) – a common mushroom species that grows from frog waste, getting its name from the belief that a frog’s lick could grow these fungi.

  The description was informative but unimportant, and seeing as he wasn’t in need of trivia facts, Lloyd tossed them away, as he didn’t feel like being taken out by a plant after all he’d accomplished so far. Hoping to find a plant less likely to turn him into fertiliser, Lloyd clambered back down the tree, hoping to have better luck down by the water.

  As he’d hoped, Lloyd found far more edible vegetation at water level than up in the trees. He found plenty of water weeds, edible flowers, and roots, the last plant he had his eyes on was a lily pad, and not just any lily pad, one of the titanic ones native to the swamp.

  Their centres bore bulbous sprouts that were swarmed by fireflies, so even if the bulb turned out to be inedible, or taste bad, he would still get some snacks as compensation. With a slight grin, Lloyd stepped onto the boat-sized lily pad, finding it firm and solid, easily supporting his weight.

  After snatching up a dozen or so fireflies, Lloyd turned his attention to the real prize, the massive, bright-white bud in the middle of the leaf. With a twist and a sharp pull, the flower came lose, only connected by a thin root dripping with water, no not water, what is that? Is that bloo--—

  Suddenly the firmness of the lily pad disappeared, the sides of the leaf folded up around him, sealing him in as it sank lower and lower into the water. Lloyd frantically looked around for a way out, but the seals were airtight, and he could see the light getting dimmer as the lily sank below the surface.

  Lloyd looked down at the bulb in his hands, it did not matter how good this thing tasted, it was not worth getting eaten by an angry leaf. Just as he was about to throw the bulb in anger, something changed, the yellow sphere in the centre which he’d assumed to be the stamen moved. The yellow ball rolled to the side, revealing a thin black pupil dilating inwards to look at him.

  He had been played. Lloyd had fallen for a trap meant for mindless beasts, and it did not feel good. It was so obviously a trap that a child could have spotted it, but he had remained oblivious.

  Irritated that his ignorance had got him into this situation, Lloyd took out his anger on the eye, crushing it between his fingers. The eye burst into a mushy yellow goo, and the rubbery plant membrane began writhing around him precariously.

  At first, it seemed like the plant was going to release him to avoid anymore unnecessary damage, but it was quite the opposite, it was just gathering energy. Lloyd flinched, dropping the flower onto the ground, his hand feeling like it had been submerged in boiling water.

  Gripping his palm tight, Lloyd looked down at the flower to see what had happened, but the flower was gone. In its place was the root which had originally connected it to the main body of the plant, but instead of leaking blood like it was before, it was gushing out another liquid.

  He couldn’t see what it was, on account of the dimming light from being dragged underwater, but he was pretty sure it was some kind of acid. Before he could figure out what to do about the acid, Lloyd yelled out in pain as massive thorns sprouted from the sides of his leafy cocoon, skewering him wherever his armour didn’t reach.

  Now that the plant had impaled him, it had effectively trapped him in place, waiting for the acid to rise and dissolve him. If he moved, he would tear open massive, gaping wounds along his arms and thighs likely bleeding himself out, but if didn’t move he would be slowly digested, not good options to say the least.

  This was where most creatures would be stuck, condemned to death no matter which choice it went with, luckily Lloyd was a little smarter than a non-sapient beast, and could use some critical thinking, just don’t move. It might sound stupid, like a good way to get digested, but Lloyd was a mage, not a warrior or archer, he didn’t have to move to do some damage.

  Lloyds hands wrapped around two of the brutal thorns, gripping down hard as he infused them with mana. The plant started to squirm again, trying to fight off the hostile force invading its body by pushing the thorns out further, and increasing the acid flow.

  While painful, a slightly deeper flesh wound was much more ideal than becoming plant food. More mana poured into the plant, filling its veins and taking control of its body. Before the plant could wrest back control of itself, Lloyd went to finish the job.

  Outside the capsule formed by the plant, a swarm of mana bolts appeared, one after another, they slammed into the side of the lily, breaking down its defences. Suddenly, the side of the plant was torn open. Water rushed in, filling the plant with murky liquid, and pressing Lloyd back against the spikes, pushing them deeper into his body.

  Blood poured from his wounds, but with his inhuman constitution it was nothing, he just pushed himself off them and started swimming upwards. Just as he was about to break the surface, he was thrown off course by an unseen force, undeterred, Lloyd pushed forward to the surface, breaking the water.

  Lloyd gasped for air, swimming over to the nearest root, he pulled himself up and tried to balance on his prosthetic leg. Without warning, a dark shape shot across the water beneath him, tearing apart the roots of the mangrove and nearly throwing him into the water.

  A sphere of mana shot from Lloyd’s hand floating through the air and solidifying just above the water. Pulling himself higher into the branches, Lloyd released a few more plasma mines, leaving a field of deadly charges across the waters surface in all of his immediate surroundings.

  Without so much as a ripple, the giant shape shot through the water, this time finding more than just a tree in its face. Leaves fell like rain, as the trees shook from the impact. Lloyd looked down with shock, as he saw a ginormous eel go reeling back from the lightning filled explosions.

  Its face was riddled with bloody wounds as it turned diving straight back into the depths, descending like an anchor. Lloyd shivered at the sight of the thing, it looked about a metre thick and went on and on for too long for him to accurately guess its length.

  While he didn’t think it was above level twenty, the fact that it was so well suited for an environment Lloyd was incredibly weak in made it much more imposing. If it had caught a hold of him and dragged him down, he would have near no chance of escaping, and if it used a movement skill or something similar, there was no way he could get away.

  The animals really had it down to a tee here, avoid the water. If you couldn’t touch the ground of the swamp, you probably shouldn’t be there, as there was always a bigger fish. He definitely needed to stick to this rule, as that encounter was way to close, Lloyd was strong, but not strong enough to fight a similar levelled opponent in a disadvantageous environment.

  Climbing up to a safe height, Lloyd noticed that the animals in the area had started going quiet, leaving the water and hiding themselves. Lloyd had expected this as the animals around his first campsite had exhibited the same behaviour, but not so early.

  The other creatures had began hiding as the sun fell, but these animals were hiding with a good hour or so left before sunset. For a while Lloyd wondered why this might be, and soon came to the conclusion that whatever they were hiding from would arrive here earlier, meaning its origin was probably closer.

  With the creature likely approaching fast, Lloyd had to find somewhere to hide, or he could sit in the branches and watch. The unknown force that swept through the swamp every night leaving nothing but destruction in its wake, was both terrifying and intriguing, if he didn’t find out what it was, the question would plague him until he found the answer.

  If he concealed himself high up in the tree branches, whatever was in the water would be unable to reach him. Atop a branch surrounded by twigs and leaves, Lloyd sat in wait for what was coming, it had been almost an hour since the animals started hiding, it couldn’t be long.

  Time seemed to pass slow as Lloyd sat in wait, until finally, it came. Across the tree tops Lloyd heard the distant screams of birds, then before he knew what was happening, the water exploded upwards.

  An audible gasp escaped from Lloyds lips when he finally laid his eyes upon the beast. At the epicentre of the explosion was the giant eel, dead. Its titanic body was broken, covered in blood and viscera, caught in the jaws of the monster.

  He didn’t know what it was about the reptiles on this island, but they seemed to be morally opposed to being small, first the giant lizard, and now this fifty foot monster of a crocodile. As much as he wanted to move, he couldn’t, Lloyd was stunned by a mix of awe and terror as the croc violently dismantled the surrounding area.

  The ambient mana of the swamp was dragged towards the beast as it activated a devastating skill. A giant array of pure mana appeared in the air around the crocodile. the interlocking triangles and circles began rotating around the monster tearing apart anything in their way. The creature released unbridled destruction outwards, as the water itself rebelled, tearing apart anything within the domain of the sigil, something Lloyd was thankfully outside of.

  As quickly as it had come, the croc vanished, Lloyd only managed to glean one more thing before it dived into the depths.

  Profundi crocodile -lvl 19

  Its level was not surprising, if anything, it was concerning it wasn’t higher, with how easily it had slaughtered the giant eel he would have guessed it to be level twenty at least, having the boost of a fourth skill. Then again, with the raw power its body exhibited, and its sheer size, the beast would almost certainly get a huge stat boost from race levels.

  The most surprising thing about the beast was honestly its name, profundi was not a word he recognised, but he was willing to bet it was Latin. This was weird, why would a creature in a tutorial modelled on the Australian coast have a name with an origin from Italy?

  Perhaps the dead language held meaning, signifying that the beast was more powerful? Who knows, it could have infinitely interpretable meaning, there was no point in wasting his time thinking about it.

  What was more important was it couldn’t be that strong, it was only level 19, five levels lower than the lizard. With enough time, and the right preparations, Lloyd felt he had a decent chance at killing that thing.

  Worst case scenario, Lloyd would have to run, and finish the journey on the treetops instead of the lower branches. While it might be slower to move that way, it wouldn’t be by much, so there was no point in not trying.

  With his mind kicked into gear, Lloyd began contemplating ideas for how to kill the crocodile when it showed up next. How he would actually kill it was up for debate, but he figured he would manage with mana bolts and kiting, the real problem was bringing it to him.

  While it seemed the beast followed a long trail through the swamp, it didn’t surface very often, as he had only found signs of the destruction once every kilometre or so. These locations were very open to accommodate for its large size, but also only in areas rich in prey.

  This time, it had surfaced after catching the eel that had been stalking Lloyd was caught by the plant. Unfortunately, he couldn’t really mimic this situation, as he had no way to attract prey into a specific location, he would just have to hope it would show up.

  While trying to think of a way to attract the crocodile again, Lloyd noticed a disturbance in the water. The blood from the giant eel had spread through the water, and it had attracted a swarm of fish, and rather disturbingly, smaller eels. It seemed they were more than willing to accept a free meal now that the beast had moved on, which got him thinking.

  When the animals knew the crocodile would be coming, none had been bold enough to attack him even while he was injured in the water. None except one. The giant eel had been more than happy to snatch him up, even when the threat of the crocodile was imminent, and it looked like it hadn’t tried to hide at all, which was probably why it got eaten.

  So theoretically, if Lloyd could attract another one of the giant eels in the window where the animals were hiding, and the crocodile was yet to arrive, then he might be able to draw in the beast again.

  With the main hurdle for his plan down, the pieces of the puzzle started falling into place. He had a plan, now he just had to follow through.