Chapter 5: 5
The jungle of Dromund Kaas was cold.
The rain, the powerful Dark Side energies, they seeped deeply into Varrus's bones.
Yet the chill was like a breath of fresh air compared to the depressed Capital city.
A damp fog coated his surroundings, and hugged the side of the trees. The way it swayed with the wind almost had Varrus believe it was alive.
Within the treetops, marshy waters, and surrounding hills, constant sounds, and emotions traveled across the airwaves. Insects, birds, amphibians, and massive reptiles constantly buzzed, producing a cacophony of sound.
Everywhere Varrus looked, massive trees possible only in fantasy settings blocked his line of sight.
The already permanently dusky planet only grew dimmer underneath the broad leaves, and lengthy branches.
There were no roads, no pavement so to speak, civilization had taken one look at this dreary locale, and politely said 'no thank you.'
Only the barest hint of some well traveled animal trails served as Varrus's method of transit.
Otherwise, he would be like the stereotypical explorer of old, cutting through foliage with a machete.
Light rain pelted Varrus's face as he journeyed toward the unfinished colossus. For the first time, he regretted his decision to go without a helmet.
Scowling, and growing more irritable, Varrus took out his anger on the first living thing he came across.
The creature was a Yozusk.
It was a squat green chitinous quadruped with large mandibles, and a head shaped somewhat like a triceratops. Overall, it was the size of a bull, but only reached Varrus's chest.
The Yozusk were a nocturnal species, it was rare, but not impossible to spot them in the daylight. This one moved about sluggishly in the dim, early dawn.
Varrus didn't give it any second thought, and fried the beast with a blast of his lightning hands.
The animal roared, and charged at him.
Angered that the beast didn't go down in one burst, Varrus put more of his emotion into the attack.
'You will die.'
The lightning seemed to increase two fold, and halted the Yozusk's forward progress. It stumbled, and crashed into the swampy mud, churning up great clods of black mud.
Varrus released the lightning, and stabbed it through the head for good measure.
[+55 EXP]
The notification confirmed his kill, and Varrus moved on.
Sadly for him, there was no inventory, or automatic loot feature. He had eyed the corpse, but he was no Sith Biomancer, the Yozusk was good only for its EXP.
The fight was quite loud, because Varrus could sense the rapid approach of a pack of raptors.
This wasn't a game where enemies ignored the sound of combat happening 10ft. away. Likewise, encountering single foes everytime was highly unrealistic given how many pack animals existed in the universe.
Prepared for such an eventuality, Varrus quickly jumped up a tree, and began to actively use his Force Concealment. The ability was at such a low level, that it would stop working the second he entered combat, so he had to consciously engage in the stealth mode after a fight.
Five colorful raptors, each larger than a horse bounded up to the corpse. Three of them sniffed the air, and scanned the area.
Varrus took in quiet, shallow breaths so as not to startle them. Several times, one of the raptors would 'look' directly at Varrus, but because they used the Force to see, he was all but invisible.
[Force Concealment lvl 1 -> 2]
The raptors took a few bites, when, as one, they all raised their heads in a certain direction, then bounded away at an increased speed.
Varrus wanted to curse in anger, that was probably 200 EXP that ran away!
However, he wasn't fool enough to mistake their action for cowardice.
Whatever sent a pack of five raptors away had to be dangerous.
It was then that he felt it in the Force. A constant aching hunger that could never be satisfied entered his psyche.
The dim hum of the Force signaled danger and opportunity.
Beyond that metaphysical sensation, an incredibly loud buzzing sound began to echo throughout the forest as the enemy approached.
The birds had gone quiet, and the amphibians retreated into their holes.
Over one hundred pale-yellow insects, about the size of a man's arm came swooping down, and devoured the dead Yozusk.
They ate so quickly, Varrus was reminded about the movie version of piranhas. He watched in sickened fascination as all that remained of the once mighty creature was its green exoskeleton.
He recognized the insect as a Mailoc. Their stingers were powerful enough to penetrate both shields and armor.
Varrus's eyes dilated, and his hands twitched.
Today he chose greed!
Channeling his avarice, Varrus poured lightning from his fingertips.
'Mine. You will be mine! All your EXP belongs to me now.'
Torrents of electricity arced from one insect to the next. Powerful their stingers may be, but the bugs were more akin to glass cannons than an armored vehicle.
Dozens dropped dead, yet the swarm reacted quickly, and flew up to stab at Varrus.
Leaping off his tree in the opposite direction, Varrus ignited his lightsaber, and sliced into two Mailoc's that had come too close for comfort.
Varrus quickly slashed behind himself without looking, slaying another bug.
His heart was pounding as the thrill of death pierced deeply into the tree right above his head. The bark splintered and the Mailoc squirmed to free itself from the depths of the tree. It had come in with such force, it got itself stuck.
'How dare they!' Furious indignation at the close encounter only served to fuel Varrus further.
More and more lightning cascaded from his fingertips in a never ending stream, incinerating more than forty insects.
Yet the swarm seemed endless as it chased after him.
He wasn't a font of endless energy, and was forced to kite the enemy backwards. To supplement his weakened status, Varrus attempted battle meditation. He visualized the Sith Meditation Hymn in his mind, and hummed along as he jumped from tree to tree.
It wasn't half as effective as when he sat down, and gave the Force his full attention, but already he could feel the effects on his spirit.
Moving from tree to tree, Varrus whittled away at the Mailoc's numbers.
By the time he slew the last one, he was soaking wet, and covered in exploded pieces of tree bark.
He tiredly sheathed his saber, and grinned widely at his gains. Each Mailoc was worth 5 EXP a piece. He killed somewhere between 100-200 of the damn bugs, and his reward reflected that.
Stats/Gains[+1,050 EXP]
[Meditation lvl 2 -> 3]
[Force Sensitivity lvl 7 -> 8]
[Force Lightning lvl 1 -> 2]
[Lightning Hands lvl 1 -> 3]
He leveled up twice, and half his skills/Abilities improved. Most notably, his Lightning Hands skill had finally grown stronger.
However, Varrus was slightly confused as to why his Lightning Hands skill, and Force Lightning ability had a disparity in level.
The most plausible theory he could come up with, was that they improved at different rates. That, or the condition to level up Force Lightning differed from Lightning Hands. Which wasn't all too surprising considering Lightning Hands was an active skill. One that he had used judiciously in the destruction of his foes.
He was going to think on the topic some more when he heard a slight slosh in a nearby pool of water.
Varrus broke himself out of his pondering, and found himself at the border between swamp and forest. The chase was somewhat blind, and when he kited away from the swarm, he used the Force by instinct to follow the path of least resistance.
Now however, he wasn't so sure about that decision.
Directly in front of him was a long stretch of water within a narrow canyon. Small islands, and barely visible stretches of land rose up within the pond. However, the water was of an indeterminable depth.
The smell of the pool was that of death and decay. Bubbles would occasionally burst up from the deep. A small fog partially obscured his vision.
Seemingly, there were no life forms present.
Lacking any bird or other creature, Varrus felt a spine tingling sensation when he took in the extreme quietness of the canyon.
All the jungle life cut off at this border, only the occasional 'blub blub blub' of escaping air pockets would sound out with any kind of regularity.
Pulling out his communicator and consulting the map, Varrus found that if he traversed this canyon, he would cut his time in half, and arrive near the unfinished statue of Vowrawn.
The Force was of little help in this case. Whatever direction he chose, be it the jungle or the swamp, it flashed feelings of danger.
Varrus zapped the water while he was still near the treeline just to see if anything would pop out.
Nothing did, but he heard another slosh again.
Frowning, Varrus hardened his heart, and mapped out which islands he would jump to.
At the halfway point to exit the canyon, there was a tree on a decently sized piece of land, he made that his target.
The canyon was less then half a mile long. Although it was suspicious as all hell, his movement speed and agility surpassed the fastest Earth had to offer. If done right, he could surpass that distance in less than 4 minutes.
Varrus speedily jumped from one small island to another in an attempt to blitz past whatever danger awaited him.
When he reached the central island, he almost slipped on the viscous mud. His heart lurched when he came face first with the murky pool of water.
Varrus flailed his arm randomly, and grasped a tree branch just in time.
Only, the tree branch felt kind of soft, and sinewy.
When Varrus righted himself, he came face first with a white serpent. Its body was a similar size to ancient Earth's Titanboa, and it stared at him from its coiled position on the tree.
The light layer of fog obscured most of its body, but its eyes seemed to hold some level of intelligence as it assessed him.
Varrus's senses were telling him that it was powerful in the Dark Side.
His fragmented memories had no recollection of snakes on Dromund Kaas. That could only mean that this was a Sith Alchemical experiment!
As if to confirm Varrus's theory, the white snake opened its mouth wide, revealing fangs coursing with electricity.
The Darks Side screamed at him in warning, and Varrus moved.
Not a moment too late either, because the spot where he had been standing exploded in a crater as if a mortar shell had pounded into the earth.
Somersaulting through the air, Varrus landed on the upper branches of the tree, above the serpent's head.
He wanted to wittily proclaim his mastery of the highground, but the beast didn't give two fucks. It sprang upward with unmatched ferocity. Its speed was so fast, it reminded Varrus of a Mantis Shrimp.
The only way he dodged in time was because of his precognition. He started moving a second before the snake started its attack, and only just moved to the branch below.
Varrus instinctively unsheathed his lightsaber, and scored a long, harrowing blow into the serpent's flank.
Charred flesh instantly melted into the water.
"Hsss." Its head turned around supernaturally fast, and it unleashed enough bolts of lightning to cover the entire breadth of the narrow canyon.
The dimly lit canyon became a focus of light and noise. Crackling thunder boomed to a deafening degree. Light, enough to blind any regular man, constantly streamed into Varrus's eyes.
With nowhere to hide, Varrus met lightning with lightning. Power to power.
Fear, excitement, and anger went into Varrus's attack.
Never before had he felt so alive in the face of death!
The Sith Hymn came unbidden to his mind. Different from the peaceful meditation, this one was full of sinister energy.
Wind, and thunder boomed within the canyon. The still pool of water thrashed and writhed along with the power of the Dark Side.
The planet, as if sensing this struggle brightened the skies with crimson lightning.
His anger had morphed into rage. His excitement into anticipation. His fear into dread.
Varrus pressed these emotions onto his opponents mind, his Hymn sang to the beast of its upcoming murder.
It seemed to work, and the beast faltered in its attack.
First one small bolt escaped the serpent's defense. Then, another. Soon, a barrage of electrical arcs burnt the snake's belly black.
The snake snarled in unwilling defeat, and dove into the water to escape Varrus's fury.
Jumping upon the tree once more, Varrus continued his meditation.
He projected thoughts of cowardice, pain, and loathing at the snake in an attempt to provoke the beast.
Nothing happened.
However, that familiar slopping noise from before caught his attention.
Unclipping a thermal detonator from his belt, Varrus used a Force enhanced throw at the position of that noise.
The concussion from the explosion parted the water, and revealed a section of pale scales.
Varrus immediately shocked the flesh while he had sight of the monster.
Roaring in angered agony, the serpent's head pushed up out of the water, directly behind Varrus.
"Come on then!" Varrus twirled around, and sliced his lightsaber directly into the roof of its mouth, and into the brain.
Lightning gushed out of its mouth/fangs, and Varrus was forced to leave his lightsaber behind, lest he lose his arm along with it.
He barely stumbled backward in time to avoid the crippling blow. The snake simultaneously ragdolled forward, and collapsed to the floor dead.
Stats/Gains[+250 EXP]
[Lightning Hands lvl 3 -> 4]
[Meditation lvl 3 -> 4]
The notification was a nice comfort considering the snake wriggled around for a few more minutes.
After it was done moving post mortem, Varrus angrily pried the beast's mouth open, only to discover his lightsaber was gone.
He kicked the side of the serpent's fang in frustration, only to receive a small shock to his foot.
[Force Lightning lvl 2 -> 3]
The discovery was a welcome revelation.
Varrus eyed the tooth, and decided to follow in the footsteps of the ancient Sith.
What was a warrior without his blade?
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone