So it took me a while—actually it took me two days and two nights in-game, where the hours are comparable to real world hours—but I finally did it.

I have conquered the shroomlets.

I’ve farmed them almost non-stop all this time. In my real body such a thing wouldn’t have been possible, but neither my body nor my mind seems to require rest inside of Tetra Chronicles. I don’t know if it’s because my real body is actually sleeping inside the capsule or what. As that first day wore on into sunset and then into night, I kept expecting to grow fatigued, but that never happened. My energy levels remained consistent, and my focus stayed sharp.

Thus, uninhibited by physical restraints, I proved my own incredible mental fortitude by remaining unwavering in my determination to master my fight or flight response to the shroomlets.

First I became an expert at stalking them, isolating the little buggers from the herd, taking them out one at a time. Then gradually, I deliberately aggroed more and more to get used to fighting crowds of them. Now I’m so confident I can easily take on ten or more at once, utilizing my shield to block the majority of the damage, leveling up my Block and Shield Proficiency skill in the process.

[Block level 3: Uses the shield to block the next enemy attack.

Blocks 100% of the next physical attack, damage inflicted redirects to the shield’s durability.

Cooldown: 14.4 seconds]

[Shield Proficiency level 4: Reduces damage done to shield.

-33% Damage to shield]

Thanks to my time spent on the edge of Tenderfoot Slough, single-mindedly conquering my fear of fungus, my inventory is overstuffed with shroomlet caps, spore pouches and shroomlet stems.

In two days I’ve been to town only once, to repair my shield. While at the blacksmith, I noticed he was selling a common skill book, Shield Repair.

[Shield Repair level 1: Restores shield durability.

Spend 1 minute to repair 25 shield durability.]

Most skills are class based, but some like this one are universal. As a low level character, I have a limit of ten skills I can know at a time, meaning that with Block, Shield Proficiency and Shield Repair, I still have seven empty skill slots. According to posts I’ve read in my downtime in the Tetra Chronicles forums from people who’ve already advanced much farther in the game than me, skills can level up, and evolve. They can also be saved over at any time, so no skill selection is ever set in stone.  

For me, the common skill Shield Repair is invaluable. The investment has probably saved me three silver pieces in blacksmith fees. And I’ve even leveled it up.

[Shield Repair level 3: Restores shield durability.

Spend 1 minute to repair 75 shield durability.]

“Hey, Mister,” a filthy faced urchin looks up at me from the corner of the street. “Ruffy’s stomach’s in a bad way. Did you manage to get the shroomlet caps?”

In my zeal to conquer the shroomlets, I almost completely forgot about the fetch quest, and I feel kind of bad for Ruffy and the boy here who’ve been waiting on me all this time, even if they are just NPCs.

[Would you like to turn in the quest items for quest: Shroomlet Caps, No Cap!?]

“Yeah,” I say, and I give him the caps from my inventory. The boy turns to the small black dog in the alleyway. In the space of a second the sick dog lights up and hops to its feet, pink tongue lolling happily out of its mouth as it ruffs up at me.

“It worked!” the boy cries, elated, and I can’t help but smile in spite of knowing the whole instance is contrived.

“Thanks, Mister! You saved my dog! I don’t have any money, but you can have this. Ruffy brought it home just before he got sick.”

[You have acquired Skill Book: Shroomlet Aura]

[You have reached character level 4]

Ah, yes. My character level. Is it finally time to do that?

After selling the rest of my inventory to the general goods merchant, I take myself to the local tavern and have a seat by the sunny window. A man appears wearing a clean looking apron.

“Welcome to the Groggy Hobbit. What can I get started for you?”

I glance through the menu on my system screen and put in an order for black coffee and an orange roll. Like sleeping, eating is not a necessity inside the game, but it’s something of a novelty to enjoy a virtual meal, and people online have been raving about the feature, which allows for even the simulation of nuanced flavors when sitting down to eat. Doubtless there are foodies who, upon discovering this, will devote their entire game experience to sampling all the tasty items this fantasy world has to offer. For me, though, I’m content to just relax for a bit, and enjoy this kind of treat from time to time.

As I enjoy the ambiance, fully immersed in this comfortable fantasy tavern setting, I pull up my character screen.

[Character name: Revelator

Level: 4

Race: Human

Class: Defender

Subclass: None

HP: 385

Constitution: 16

Strength: 4

Agility: 8

Intelligence: 2

Luck: -

Skills: Block (3), Shield Proficiency (4), Shield Repair (3)

Unallocated stat points: 9]

It’s not that I was unaware my character had been leveling up all this time, accumulating unspent stat points. It’s just that I didn’t want to level out of the shroomlet’s area. I was determined to master my fear of combat by facing a familiar opponent until I became truly confident fighting them—so confident that I wouldn’t despawn no matter what they threw at me. But the time has come. I’m ready to move on from the shroomlets, and face more formidable opponents.

Till now I’ve had a general idea of the direction I wanted to take my character. I wanted more strength, enough that I could cut a mushroom in two with one swipe! Seven points into the Strength stat, two more in Constitution for survivability. My ideal heavily armored fantasy warrior was taking shape in my mind. But I’ve become curious since the boy gave it to me, this reward for saving his dog…

[Skill Book: Shroomlet Aura]

[Shroomlet Aura level 1: A cloud of mushroom spores follows you, damaging your enemies.

15ft radius

-0.1% HP/second

Stops enemy regeneration]

A poison aura. I’m intrigued. -0.1% HP/second isn’t a a lot of damage, but that will level up…

Curious, I access the forums from my menu, a handy feature I’m glad the dev’s gave us. I search for the shroomlet aura and find a single thread on the topic.

<cheesegirl51> posted: Just finished the ‘Shroomlet Cap, No Cap’ quest and received the shroomlet aura skill. Anyone try leveling it up?

   <mrpopopo> replied: were you drpoped as a baby? why tf would anyone level taht crap?

   <Dario> replied: I tired it as a joke. It took me 15 minutes to kill a starter area mob using just the aura. good thing skill selection isnt permanent, you can save over anyof them with a new skill without respeccing your character. Totally free.

   <ibemiming69> replied: kept it in my skills active, im lvl 15 and it never lvled up…the sneezeweed quest booster didnt help either. im only keeping it to stop enemyu regen but ill probably replace it when better skill becomes abailable

   <TrophyHusband> replied: It’s all part of the tutorial, just to show you how skill books work in the game. There are much more useful ones in the next area, such as Static Aura for mages which does 10 points of damage per second at level 1.

   <idontknow456> replied: Just sell the skill book, better to have 5 cp than a worthless item taking up space in your inventory.

   <FlatulousMaximus> replied: tf? ibemiming69 got to level 15 already? nolifer

   <mrpopopo> replied: vahhahahaahaha

The thread goes on without any more relevant information. I close the window and sit back in my chair, arms folded across my chest as I stare across the sun streaked tavern floor.  

Though it’s given to everyone who completes the starter area quests, it seems the shroomlet aura is not a popular skill.

‘TrophyHusband’ might be right when he says it’s simply awarded as part of the tutorial. The fact that it didn’t level up even when ‘miming’ kept it until level 15 shows that it doesn’t level simply by being active. But the skill said it was level 1, so that means it can be leveled. It must just have some kind of unique condition…

Maybe the mob has to be killed by the aura exclusively, without a single hit from a weapon. That’s a solid theory…and it would explain why no one else has been able to level the skill, since it’s doubtful an ordinary player would have the patience to conduct such an experiment more than once.

Someone mentioned it took them fifteen minutes to kill a single mob. At -0.1% HP/second, that’s one thousand seconds to completely drain their health, 16:40 to be exact. But killing one mob wouldn’t be enough to level up a skill. But if someone were to aggro a bunch of monsters at once, and run around like a lunatic for sixteen minutes while their HP slowly drained…

I can understand these players’ aversion to the seemingly useless skill. But they don’t have the history with shroomlets that I do. To them it was a passing quest, but I was raised by those mobs, molded by them, so it seems only fitting that I should proudly wear their unique skill as a badge of honor. Besides…

I check the skill book again.

[Shroomlet Aura level 1: A cloud of mushroom spores follows you, damaging your enemies.

15ft radius

-0.1% HP/second

Stops enemy regeneration]

The aura’s damage is not a static number, but a percentage of the mob’s total HP. Percentage is the key that would make it a viable skill once leveled up. Sure, it might take a long time to kill a monster at -0.1% HP/second, but it would take the same amount of time to kill a boss monster. Granted, surviving that long in proximity to such a monster would be a lot more difficult, but if I leveled my character up in such a way…

I remain at the tavern table long after the waiter clears my empty dishes away, staring at my class window.

Nine unspent stat points…

It’s stupid, what I’m imagining. Crazy. No one in their right mind would ever build a character in that way, so…why? Why do I want to do it?

Will it work? It’s too soon to say. Maybe I’m wasting my time, and all the effort I put in with the shroomlets. But I have to try.

[Character name: Revelator

Level: 4

Race: Human

Class: Defender

Subclass: None

HP: 425

Constitution: 20

Strength: 6

Agility: 11

Intelligence: 2

Luck: -

Skills: Block (3), Shield Proficiency (4), Shield Repair (3), Shroomlet Aura (1)]

I don’t have proof—only a theory about the way to level up the aura. And really, no idea if it will be useful even if I manage to do it. Still, the idea is stuck in my head now, and I already know it won’t stop tickling and nagging until I go all in on it.

For a character that does no physical damage, but relies entirely on an aura to kill mobs, survivability is essential. To that end I need health, agility and armor.

I’ve put four points into Constitution, three points into Agility. Two points went to Strength, not to swing a sword, but to equip heavy shields. Going forward I plan to allocate two points into Constitution, one into Agility each level. Strength I’ll level up only as heavier armor requires it.

Will I regret this build? Never. Maybe I’ve just made my character completely unplayable, but—I want to believe otherwise.

I know better than anyone else how formidable the shroomlet aura can be. Soon the whole world will know the fear I felt fighting the level one mobs!

With this level up, I, Revelator, vow to bring the terror of shroomlets to all of Tetra Chronicles!