by Aleron Kong
The fact that each zombie lasted a full hour made it far superior to the five-minute summoning times of most of his other creatures. When he used the spell for the first time, he didn’t feel any strain on his control of it. Richter had been worried that the “zombie” spell might not work on skeletons. His definition of zombies involved decaying flesh and a penchant for brains. Apparently, that was not the case.
To his supreme satisfaction, he found that the spell could target the deanimated bones of the skeletons. After they were reanimated, Akaton Evolution let him evolve the creatures. It also lengthened the amount of time the Death spirits could stay on his plane by +50%. What that translated to was Richter commanding an army of nine skeletons, levels seven to ten, standing behind him. Even with that number and the evolutions, Richter didn’t feel like he was in any danger of losing control of them. It was his first evidence of just how dangerous necromancers could be fielding an army of undead.
Not only had Richter increased the number of fighters in the group, but he had also learned that his earlier theory about the relationship between bodaks and rime bodaks was correct. It appeared that the bodaks had four evolutions. One was the rime variation they had already encountered multiple times, and they also evolved into cinder, flash and crag bodaks, which were associated with water, fire, air and earth respectively. They lacked any abilities or spells, but each had a natural resistance to their element and their attacks gave extra damage of that type. The one rime skeleton the warband had been able to destroy without shattering it completely had evolved into a frost bodak. Its bones actually radiated cold and were an intense blue in color. It had small ice shards studding its body and enemies struck were afflicted with Slow. Richter loved his Chaotic spell and the love was given right back to him when the skill advanced!
Congratulations! You have reached skill levels 2, 3, and 4 in Chaos Magic. New spells are now available.
That skill progressed faster than almost any other he’d gained, but it didn’t surprise him. Richter still had a feeling of intense “rightness” when he used the roiling grey magic. His other magics had advanced as well, especially Light magic. Fighting underground offered unique challenges, among them the lack of visibility. Without light, his entire party might as well have been blind. Torches were an option, but it was necessary to hold them, decreasing the effectiveness of his fighting team. Richter came up with a partial solution after the second battle. He took the time to summon two mist lights for each member of the warband. Then he affixed one of the glowing grey balls to the front and back of each of his men. It solved the problem of not running into walls, but the lights only banished the dark for up to five feet from each man or woman. Richter still had to cast Far Light again and again to ensure no skeletons rushed at them from darkened corners or the shrouded ends of the corridors they moved through. Coupled with his frequent casting of Mirror Image, he finally reached the initiate rank of his skill Light Magic.
Congratulations! You have reached skill level 13 in Fire Magic. New spells are now available.
Congratulations! You have reached skill levels 8, 9, 10, and 11 in Light Magic. New spells are now available.
Congratulations! You have advanced from Novice to Initiate in: Light Magic. +5% Resistance to Light Magic. +5% Spell Strength when casting Light Magic.
You have received 2,500 (base 2,000 x 1.25) bonus experience for reaching level 10 in the skill: Light Magic.
Life Magic leveled heavily as well, of course. Richter had pulled out all the stops with his Life magic during the battles. He had attempted to use Weak Banish Undead and Weak Charm. Both of those spells had done exactly dick against the high level undead. His Life buffs were much more effective and Weak Life Bolt had caused some pain. Time and again Richter cast Weak Static Life Shield, giving himself or his warband precious seconds of respite in the heat of battle. The one hundred hit points it could absorb never lasted long, but the extra defense it gave against Death creatures and their attacks increased its usefulness by a factor of three.
Congratulations! You have reached skill levels 12, 13, … 16 in Life Magic. New spells are now available.
His penchant to dual cast drained his mana at a prodigious rate, and he found himself pulling on Alma’s mana pool more and more. Richter had been operating with an almost constant headache for most of the dungeon dive, but it had paid off as well.
Congratulations! You have reached skill levels 13 and 14 in Dual Casting. Chance of spell miscast decreased by increasing this skill. This number is affected directly by spell level and caster’s proficiency in that branch of magic. Specific changes:
Level Changes
Current Values
Spell Power
Increases +4% from base +100%
+156%
Mana Cost
Decreases by 2% from base +300%
+272%
The constant sneaking required also let him level his Stealth and Trap skills.
Congratulations! You have reached skill levels 15 and 16 in Stealth. You now inflict 32% greater damage during stealthed attacks. +32% to Concealment.
Congratulations! You have reached skill level 26 in Pierce the Veil. +52% to perception.
Congratulations! You have reached skill level 26 in Traps. All traps +52% more effective. +8% less likely to be found.
Congratulations! You have reached skill levels 22, 23, and 24 in Trap Disarm. +48% more likely to disarm traps.
He was becoming a regular rogue. Best of all, the dungeon had been an insane boost to his experience. Between the XP gained from ranking up his skills, Alma’s Brain Drain and the high-level enemies, he had finally gotten a long-awaited prompt.
Congratulations! You have repaid the debt owed to your Specialty: Essence Enchanting. Long and bloody was the road you have walked to fulfill your obligation. Honor your Specialty and Profession to advance. Because of your diligence and devotion, you will be rewarded!
Paying back his XP deficit triggered even more prompts.
Congratulations! You have finished a Secret Quest of the Essence Enchanter, Debts Must be Paid III, by repaying 1,000,000 points of experience
Reward: 30 Talent Points.
Reward: 12,500 (base 10,000 x 1.25) Experience Points.
You have: 36 Talent Points remaining
Congratulations! You have unlocked a Secret Quest of the Essence Specialty: Debts Must be Paid IV
Success Conditions: Expend and earn back 10,000,000 experience points by using Talent Point Conversion. Total XP repaid 1,064,000/10,000,000.
Reward: 40 Talent Points
Penalty for Failure or Refusal: Cannot be refused.
Richter had been so caught up in administering and building his village that he had forgotten the pure joy of a well-executed dungeon dive. He’d forgotten the amazing allure of treasure. After looking at his haul, he wouldn’t be making that mistake again!
You have captured:
Soul of a Rime Bodak x8
Durability: 25/25
Item Class: Uncommon
Stone Level: Luminous
Soul Level: Luminous
Status: Filled
Weight: 0.4 kg
You have captured:
Soul of a Bodak x 49
Durability: 20/20
Item Class: Common
Stone Level: Common
Soul Level: Common
Status: Filled
Weight: 0.3 kg
You have found:
Ring of Fire Resistance
Durability: 12/18
Item Class: Uncommon
Quality: Above Average
Weight: 0.1 kg
Traits: +2% to Fire Resistance
You have found:
Wand of Healing
Attack: 1-3
Durability: 36/47
Item Class: Uncommon
Quality: Well Crafted
Weight: 0.8 kg
Traits: Allows user to restore 27 points of Health to any creature within 10 yards
Charges: 110/110
You have found:
Ring of Avoid Missile
Durability: 11/15
Item Class: Uncommon
Quality: Above Average
Weight: 0.1 kg
Traits: +3% to dodge projectiles
You have found:
Ring of Ghoul Touch
Durability: 22/28
Item Class: Unusual
Quality: Superb
Weight: 0.1 kg
Traits: Allows the user to make a touch attack equivalent to the spell Minor Ghoul Touch doing 21-27 Death damage and paralyzing the target for up to 5 seconds
Charges: 70/70
None of the items were good enough for Richter to equip, but they made fine additions to the gear of his war party. Each gift gave him a few hundred relationship points with the party member receiving it. They found several stashes of coins totaling up to fifty-four gold and five silver, which equated to over five thousand dollars back on Earth. Richter also found a small opal and a sapphire. One room they cleared actually had three rime bodaks. Richter found a secret compartment in that room thanks to his Pierce the Veil skill, and it had the greatest haul of the entire dive so far.
You have found:
High Tensile Wristshot Schematic
Durability: 3/9
Schematic Class: Unusual
Schematic Level: Superior
Weight: 0.4 kg
Traits: This weapons Schematic allows you to create a wristshot. Wristshots are primarily kindir weapons that allow for greater base damage (+1), faster firing (+10%) and greater accuracy (+10%) than a standard slingshot. The high tensile nature of the weapon further increases its damage by (+2). It is also easily concealed. If used by a Kindir: +10% skill progression to Slings
Base Damage: 6-8
The Schematic was a real coup! Krom had made it clear that obtaining any weapon Schematic was a priority. The fact that it was superior level made it even more valuable. As strong as the weapons made in the Forge were, his Smith had told him that they were actually all based on simple schematics. The techniques Krom used to forge blades were no different than those used in crafting most of the blades that were made daily throughout the entire River Peninsula. It was his skill in Smithing, Richter’s enchantments and the high-quality materials that made the gear of the Mist Villagers several cuts above average.
If Richter could obtain higher level Schematics though, extra capabilities could be added to the base characteristics of the weapons and armor that were made. +2 to base damage might not seem like much, but it actually made a huge difference when you factored in that the weapon’s final damage was determined by its base multiplied by both the weapon’s quality and the skill of the smith forging it. An initial increase of two could easily translate into a boost of four or five damage per hit.
So that Richter knew at least what to look for, Krom had told him that schematics were qualified by level. The lowest level was a simple schematic. After that it went advanced, superior, innovative, groundbreaking, ingenious, cutting edge, state of the art, revolutionary, masterwork and savant. The wristshot was level three!
Reading the Schematic description carefully had made it clear that the benefits of such documents were not limited to just extra damage; accuracy and rate of fire were increased as well. Krom had also told him that certain Schematic levels could only be understood by smiths or crafters of a certain level. Then he’d started talking about how Schematics required multiple people of varying skills to create the weapons, but Richter’s eyes had glassed over at that point. Besides, what mattered was that he’d found some awesome treasure!
The Schematic was also a clue for what had become a bit of a mystery. Here and there in the dungeon, they had found friezes and sculptures. The artwork had been severely degraded by time, but enough could be made out that Richter was pretty sure he was seeing depictions of kindir. A weapon that was tailored to their race had furthered his theory that they were in an ancient kindir settlement of some type. It was the door they were now standing in front of though that had dispelled any remaining doubt. Maybe because of the density of the stone or maybe because it was enspelled, but the carvings on the door looked as sharp as if they had been finished yesterday.
There were scenes of kindir laughing, playing, engaging in ceremonies and other normal daily acts. In the center was a scene of many kindir kneeling in front of an older kindir sitting atop a throne. The happy scenes seemed completely incongruent with the dark and foreboding feel of the dungeon. Unfortunately, as interesting as they were, the carvings didn’t offer any insight into what awaited the warband on the other side of the door.
Richter shook his head, focusing back upon the now. They didn’t have time to puzzle out the mysteries of ancient art. As this was the only door left to explore in the dungeon, it was a pretty safe bet that there was a big baddie waiting for him and his party on the other side. Every second they waited made them potentially weaker because his oldest zombie would be banished from their plane in under ten minutes. He gave an order for everyone to get ready and buff themselves as much as possible.
While they did, the chaos seed dealt with his final prompt. It was one he’d been waiting an age to see.
Congratulations! Your familiar has reached levels 39 and 40!
Eager, to say the least, Richter accessed his familiar’s status window. A broad grin crossed his face despite their dire surroundings. With the boost Alma had gotten from the Quickening fruit, she finally had enough Ability Points to increase Psi Bond to level seven.
His heart beating faster, Richter called Alma down into his arms.
*Are you ready to evolve your ability, my love?* he asked her excitedly.
*I trust you, today and always, master.* Her response was full of warmth and unconditional love. Smiling at her, he accessed her abilities and made his choice. A segmented prompt opened in front of him showing the upgrades to her existing capabilities.
You have chosen to increase your familiar’s ability Psi Bond to Level 7
Your familiar’s base Intellect is increased from 125% to 150%
The boost to your familiar’s base Intelligence and Wisdom has increased from 75% to 90%.
Your Mental resistance from Psi Bond has increased from 50% to 60%.
Your familiar can now verbally communicate in short sentences and psychically transmit images rather than merely communicating with single words, even with creatures lacking the Psi Bond ability.
Maximum distance of communication increased from 1500 to 1750 yards.
Tasks that once required great mental discipline are now laughably easy. Massively reduced risk of spell miscast.
Factoring in your familiar’s Psi Bond level 7 and personal level of 40, add 28% to the chances of Mind Fog, Stun or Psi Crystallization occurring when using Enhanced Imbue Arrow
Psi Bond has now advanced to the point that your mental connections with other creatures will enhance their intellect to a moderate degree.
You may now engage in Psychic Combat with other creatures
You may now undergo the Messeji
Psi Bond didn’t increase her attack abilities like Brain Drain or Psi Blast, but in some ways, it was her most powerful ability. It had made her smarter than most humanoids and had transformed her into a powerful magic caster. With the latest boost to her Intelligence and Wisdom, she had a staggering ninety-eight points in both attributes. That meant both her spell power and innate spell resistance were way over baseline. The bodak’s Water spell that she had shaken off before might only be a nuisance now. His familiar was powerful!
He took a look at her stats.
Name: Alma
Level: 40, 15%
Race: Psi Dragonling
STATS
Health: 137
Mana: 978
Regen/min: 58.65
Stamina: 189
Regen/min: 11.4
ATTRIBUTES*
*+5% Celestial Spark
Str
ength: 5
Agility: 36
Dexterity: 37
Constitution: 14
Endurance: 19
Intelligence: 98
Wisdom: 98
Charisma: 19
Luck: 19
SPELL POWER BONUSES
Air 50%
Life 50%
RESISTANCES
Air 50%
Mental 100%
Life 50%
ABILITIES
(Unused Points: 1.95)
Psi Bond – Lvl 7, points to next level: 6
Psi Blast – Lvl 3, points to next level: 3
Brain Drain – Lvl 7, points to next level: 7
Psi Channeling – Lvl 2, points to next level: 2
Richter also personally enjoyed seeing the change in her eyes, the primary reason he’d had her land in his arms. She gazed at him with greater comprehension than ever before. When he had first summoned her, she had basically just been a smart beast. The dragonling’s cognition had increased with every level of Psi Bond. She had gone from sounding like an animal to having the voice of a small child, then a young woman. Now when she spoke, there was an eloquence and confidence to her tone that he likened to the most self-assured and powerful women he’d met.
As excited as he was about her new stats, he was completely confused as to what psychic combat and the Messeji were. Before he could ask about either though, she looked deep into his eyes and spoke with pure love in her voice.
*My lord. My master. My love. I shall be with you until our souls bind in the Great Unity at the end of all things. Let our enemies bless us for the days we allow them to live until we snuff the decaying candles of their lives.* She leaned forward and stared him in the face, *Bond with me master. Let us truly be one.* Then, shocking him to his very core, she spoke aloud in a sibilant but still feminine voice, “Bond with me.”