by Aleron Kong
It was a powerful weapon, though nothing compared to his elementum blade and its thirty-three to thirty-seven damage range. Still, Richter had decided he’d been ignoring his education. It was time that he started learning to use other weapons. Now that he could dual wield a normal-sized weapon without an extra penalty, he wanted to learn blunt weapons. The Dungeon, surrounded by some of the most powerful people he’d ever met, seemed like a good place to start training.
Richter stepped up to the outer ring of his party, joining the tanks. He bashed at an approaching tusker with his mace. The beast dodged to the side, but he still clipped one of the bony ridges on the boar’s side. It didn’t do much damage, but the tusker was put off-balance. It nosedived into the grass floor, listing to one side. Richter used his short sword to stab the prone creature in the neck. Once again, the green glass metal was coated in blood. It slid in easily, the tusker’s actual skin having almost no defense. Once, he had marveled at how easy it was for a weapon to enter a body. Now, sometimes it felt difficult not to kill. A spurt of arterial blood flew in the air when Richter removed his weapon. He moved on to his next target.
Though there had been nearly a hundred creatures in the cavern, in the space of minutes they were all dead or dying. Richter called out to his party, telling them not to deliver any more killing strokes. Alma had already attached herself to one of the nearly dead creatures that had been Psi Crystallized. A look at Sion was all it took to get the sprite to help her deliver the death blows. While Alma seemed to greatly enjoy the process of using her special attack, Brain Drain, she only needed to be attached at the time of death to absorb the creature’s experience and solidify a psi crystal.
While everyone else checked their weapons, or continued to scan the gloom, Richter began a mental exercise that Alma had taught him. He visualized his mindscape, seeing his mental avatar standing atop of his mental fortifications. He regulated his breathing. Two seconds later, he was ready. It was a strange phenomenon, but he greatly appreciated the time-slowing effect that occurred once he was within his mental construct. The passage of time didn’t actually change of course, just his perception of it. For Richter, that was enough. He and his familiar had had what felt like a twenty-minute conversation with only two to three minutes having passed in the real world. With his mental defenses in place and his mind focused, Richter knelt beside a juvenile koran tusker and began to cast Blood Mana.
The incantation had come from the Bloodstone and been unlocked when he had progressed to the initiate rank in his Blood Magic skill. Now he could use the spell to siphon blood from freshly killed creatures. Each ten points of health that he stole, or whatever the blood equivalent was, would be converted into one point of mana. The Dungeon was already beginning to absorb the blood spilled on the ground, but the blood in the bodies was slower to ooze out.
Richter stepped into the center of the mass of creatures’ bodies that had been devastated by the imbued arrows. As he cast the spell of Deeper magic, ruby-red light began to surround his hand and he felt the now-familiar power rise within him. Though he didn’t notice, the crystal in the center of the chamber began to shine a bit more brightly. A word of Power issued from his lips and his fist clenched of its own accord. Richter’s arm bent in front of him and his hand trembled, as if he were holding a rope that was being pulled away from him.
Blood began to rise into the air from every dead creature within five feet. As it flowed towards him, it changed into light that was the same ruby color as the magic surrounding Richter’s fist. The transfer rate was limited by his own skill level in Blood magic. Every second, he could absorb two mana per level per blood source. With twelve bodies within his magical reach, his mana was filling up at a rate of twenty-four MP per second. Blood flowed out of the bodies towards the swirling disc of blood-red energy in front of his hand. When it touched the magic, it was converted to pure mana.
His lips twisted into a fierce grin. The power of it all! The blood of the enemies he had slain was literally converted into energy that was his to command! He started to marvel in his own glory, but then stopped himself. Raw emotion was the hallmark of Blood Magic, and he had led his people into danger before because he had become unbalanced by it.
Focusing on his mental fort, Richter forced those impulses outside of his construct. The feeling of megalomania eased. He still felt a bit euphoric at the blood energy he was feeding on, but the impulse didn’t come close to unbalancing him again. Less than a minute later, his entire mana pool of six hundred and fifty-four points was refilled. The spell cut off and blood that had been streaming towards him from more than a dozen creatures fell with a splat onto the ground. Some splashed Sion’s boot. The sprite favored his friend with an irritated look. Richter didn’t care. He also didn’t notice the uncomfortable glances from some of his other party members. He loved Blood Magic!
Alma continued to drain anything that was left alive. With Sion stabbing the creatures as soon as she locked on, she was able to kill several per minute. Richter for his part walked towards the body of the largest prowler that had attacked. Now that it was dead he couldn’t use Analyze, so he couldn’t see its stats. Then again, he thought, sometimes bigger is just better. He touched a patch of fur that wasn’t matted in blood and focused on his Symbiosis Boon. A table appeared in his view, the dark red color of Blood magic.
Through your sSymbiosis Boon, you may absorb 10% of one of this Level 16 Jenit Prowler’s primary stats at a cost of 50 points of your maximum mana. Which do you choose?
STAT
BASE VALUE
ADDED TO YOU
Strength
12
+1
Agility
39
+4
Dexterity
40
+4
Constitution
16
+1-2
Endurance
3
+0
Intelligence
4
+0
Charisma
6
+0
Luck
12
+1
Richter had already decided. He chose “Agility.” The end of his mana bar greyed out, now fifty points less. He didn’t care though because he was instantly much lighter on his feet. The four points he had picked up made him almost 13% faster than he’d been before. As far as Richter was concerned, the fifty mana was a small price to pay for the increased capabilities of his body. He started to get excited thinking about how stronger enemies would give an even greater boon. It was also awesome that his Symbiosis Boon let him know the stats of slain creatures. It had been a weakness of his Analyze skill that had bugged him from time to time.
He checked the other creatures, but only found three that would give him a plus four to one of his stats. In the end, at a cost of two hundred mana he increased his Agility by twelve and his Constitution by four. His body flooded with power each time. He couldn’t understand how he had ever had such heavy feet, and his higher Con made him feel like he’d injected redbull. Richter was almost bouncing in anticipation of trying out his new capabilities.
There were also prompts awaiting. A cascade of experience notifications showed up in his vision. Most of the creatures Alma had drained were below level ten and so only offered a modest amount of XP. He even saw that a few had been level one or two, clearly the juveniles. Those prompts were just ridiculous.
You have been awarded 51 experience (base 1,178 x 0.07 x 1.25 x 0.5) from Brain Drain against Level 2 Koran Tusker piglet.
Richter had gained more experience just from killing creatures in battle. Those fifty points would have been 5% of what he needed to level when he first got to The Land. Now it was a drop in the bucket. It just drove home that as wonderful as his familiar’s Brain Drain was, he needed to fight stronger enemies if he was going to keep power leveling. Despite the low levels of the monsters, he had still made progress against his experience debt.
XP deficit rema
ining: -121,162
Richter also gained a new skill.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Mace Wielding. Though bladesmen look down upon the wielders of clubs and maces, they are fools. Heavy armor matters naught if it is caved into someone’s chest. True masters of this skill can slay foes clad in adamantium plate. +3% Damage to equipped maces or clubs. Ignore up to 0.5% of an Enemy’s armor per level.
Richter looked at his weapon with new appreciation. The ability to ignore armor could be amazing in certain situations. His short swords were powerful, but it was only the mighty materials they were made of that let him kill most enemies. The rock giant had shrugged off almost anything he’d thrown at it due to its ridiculously high natural armor. If he leveled up in Mace Wielding though, heavily armored foes would be a lot easier to take down. The +3% bump to Damage didn’t hurt either. He resolved to learn other weapons as soon as he could.
An even better surprise was that having Companions once again proved to be a versatile benefit; the Dungeon still recognized his party as having only five people. Richter found that out at the same time as everyone else. Ten opaque blood-red spheres had appeared over the bodies of fallen monsters. It was loot! Randolphus assured them that rewards wouldn’t have been provided if the Dungeon thought they were cheating. As each orb was touched, the globes disappeared and treasure fell to the ground.
There were a smattering of coins that still didn’t add up to much.
You have found: 4 Silver Coins and 28 Copper Coins
And once again there were also a few low-level potions.
You have found:
Health Potion
Alchemy Class: Common
Alchemy Level: Tincture
Alchemy Strength: Clouded
Durability: 5/5
Weight: 0.1 kg.
Traits: Will restore 19 Health Points over 119 seconds.
You have found:
Stamina Potion
Alchemy Class: Common
Alchemy Level: Tincture
Alchemy Strength: Weak
Durability: 5/5
Weight: 0.1 kg.
Traits: Will restore 31 Stamina Points over 115 seconds.
The last potion was actually tainted strength, something Richter hadn’t come across before. The health restored was extremely modest and it came with a debuff.
You have found:
Health Potion
Alchemy Class: Common
Alchemy Level: Brew
Alchemy Strength: Tainted
Durability: 5/5
Weight: 0.1 kg.
Traits: Will restore 8 Health Points over 143 seconds. Will degrade your mana regeneration by 0.2/sec for the same duration.
Looking at all three potions, Richter noticed the points restored seemed to be right at the baseline for each alchemy level. He supposed that was because the Dungeon was new and there weren’t any Rooms to increase the potion strength yet. Maybe it was also because he was just in the first part of the structure. Richter shrugged. Time would tell.
There were two other drops: a high steel dagger, but of a much lower quality than the one he had dropped in the Well, and a soul stone.
You have found:
High Steel Dagger
Attack: 4-6
Durability: 23/23
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 1.0 kg
You have found:
Common Soul Stone
Durability: 12/12
Item Class: Common
Stone Level: Common
Status: Empty
Weight: 0.1 kg
None of the loot was game changing. Still, Richter looked around at the Dungeon, his Dungeon, and smiled. His boy would grow.
Randolphus took charge of the gear. He divvied it up according to the tax he had spoken to Richter about before. The sprites declined the coins, though Sion took the potions to hand out among the meidon sprites. Beyan was given a share of the coin, minus Richter’s 50% commission. Richter pocketed the empty soul stone.
When that was done, Randolphus turned toward him, “I checked the entire cavern, my lord. There are no other creatures here. I heard noises coming from each of the three tunnels branching off from this room, however. I recommend going down the entry to the far left. I noticed a great number of cloven hoofprints coming from that tunnel; I believe we are most likely to find the Lair in that direction.”
One of the surprises he’d had in viewing Randolphus’s skill list was that the man was an apprentice in Tracking. The Rogue’s affinity was reduced to 52% so he probably wouldn’t progress beyond his current skill level of twenty-six, but it still made him more advanced than Richter. When the chaos seed had asked him how he had advanced the skill while living in a city, he had expected to hear about how Randy hadn’t always lived in an urban environment. Instead, the man’s gaze had just become hooded and he had replied, “The hunting of a man is the same no matter where it occurs.”
That particularly creepy comment had happened the night before, when Richter had been about half a bottle of moonshine in. He’d decided against talking to Randy for the rest of the night. Besides, the Spy’s Tracking skill was coming in handy now. Richter led the group towards the tunnel mouth Randolphus had indicated and saw for himself the large number of tusker tracks. With a direction now decided upon, they journeyed down the tunnel. Behind them the bodies of the creatures began to degrade as the Dungeon reclaimed their energy.
CHAPTER 48 – Day 143 – Kuborn 33, 0 AoC
Randolphus stealthed and scouted ahead. While he did, Richter dealt with his very eager and, in his opinion, very annoying familiar.
*Master. Master!* She waited about one point two seconds for him to respond before saying again, *Master! The crystals! Can I have them now? Can I have the crystals? They are for me, aren’t they? Aren’t they?*
After the battle, Richter had found Alma cooing on top of six psi crystals like a dragon on her treasure hoard. Exactly like that, he had realized with a smile. She had shown absolutely no interest in gold or silver, but she was in love with the psi crystals. When he had picked them up, she had actually nipped at him. He’d literally had to growl at her to make her behave.
Once he had them she had leapt onto his shoulders and done her best impression of a mincing cat, picking her feet up and putting them down over and over. If he hadn’t been wearing armor it might have been very painful, as her claws weren’t exactly dull. As it was though, it was just very annoying.
Shutting her voice out as best he could, Richter examined the glowing blue-white crystals.
You have found:
Psi Crystal
Durability: 10/10
Item Class: Scarce
Level: 8
Weight: 0.9 kg.
Traits: This crystal is the captured psychic energy of a level 8 Koran Tusker. This energy can be utilized by Mental creatures to boost their growth and stats. The energy may also be used by anyone with access to Mental magic to greatly augment their spells. It can also be used by Mental creatures to augment their capabilities for a short time. Any usage will consume the energy all at once. Further uses of this energy may be possible and will have to be discovered.
Five more almost-identical prompts appeared, varying only by the name of the creature and its level. Two of the crystals were from the juvenile tuskers, which Richter guessed made sense. They probably had lower resistances to everything, which made the Psi Crystallization debuff much more likely to take hold. In total, the gems provided forty-five Psi Points. As much as Alma loved them, she couldn’t absorb the energy unless he willed it. Despite the fact that she continued her tirade about wanting him to respond, and even discounting the fact that she had now climbed on top of his helmet, he wasn’t about to waste the points in a rushed decision.
First, he examined her status page.
Name: Alma
Level: 38, 58%
Race: Psi Dragonling
STATS
Mana: 820
Regen/min: 49.2
Stamina: 180
Regen/min: 7.8
ATTRIBUTES*
Strength: 5
Agility: 33
Dexterity: 34
Constitution: 13
Endurance: 18
Intelligence: 82
Wisdom: 82
Charisma: 18
Luck: 18
SPELL POWER BONUSES
Air 50%
Life 50%
RESISTANCES
Air 50%
Mental 100%
Life 50%
ABILITIES
(Unused Points: 3)
Psi Bond – Lvl 6, points to next level: 5
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
She was halfway to the next level, which was great news. The problem was that while he could advance either Psi Blast or Psi Channeling, neither was the ability he wanted to advance most. Brain Drain had gotten an extra, and unexpected, perk when it had hit level seven. Now she not only absorbed experience, she also absorbed the memories of her prey. It seemed to only happen with higher level sapients, but it had already proven invaluable. If Psi Bond also developed a new feature at level seven, he wanted it.
There was something to be said for short term gains as well though. He accessed her psi traits page.
Name of Enhancement
Traits
Cost
Natural Armor III
Current Armor: 5
Increase the natural armor of your dragonling by +1