Standing without haste, I leaned my spear against the wall and readied my mace.
I circled around the monster. My fear of it had passed. Letting it swing at me, I examined its speed. There was no doubt it had gotten slower.
To further my experiment, I cast Decay again. With sheer joy, I watched as the Decay stacked with the Decay already present and the skeleton slowed even more.
It might be considered cruel, but I cast the spell three more times until the skeleton could barely stand on its own two feet. Decay leveled up!
The skeleton was finished with no effort at all.
Too bad Lesser Heal wasn't leveling as fast.
I added two points to intelligence to bring my MP to 200. With the cost of the spells I cast, this would give me an additional cast for very little cost. The rest of my points I would save until I was sure how I wanted to spend them.
Within an hour I had reached level 48 and the experience I gained started to slow. I now had 83 points total to spend! These skeletons had treated me well.
I was also able to confirm Mage's Toilet Paper was little better than the cheap stuff you find in gas stations. With a little leveling though...
My blue magic spell Pain I found was worthless against skeletons. They experienced no pain, so it didn’t affect them in any way. It bummed me because I couldn’t wait to see it in action. The suffering the imp had put me through had leveled the spell up through all 99 levels of Novice to level 4 of Intermediate. I couldn’t wait to test it. The description promised a 10 second stun for a single cast. It was basically overpowered.
From everything I had experienced I was now convinced it was worth focusing on becoming a mage character. I would no doubt be a hybrid of sorts because my magic was blue and light. This also meant Intelligence (Int) and Wisdom (Wis) would be my main attributes.
There were three ways I could proceed to spend my attribute points. First, if I added all my attribute points into Intelligence then it would increase my maximum mana and spell power. If I focused only on Wisdom that would increase my MP regeneration rate. Or I could also mix the two. Normally I was more of a regen fan, but this was just like a game. If I just did the math I would find my answer.
If I pumped all my points into Intelligence I would end up with 121 and a mana pool of 605. The drawback is that this would leave me with my current regeneration rate of about 1080 MP an hour. Altogether, I could kill about 33 skeletons with just my Healing spell in that time frame.
On the other hand, if I loaded up on Wisdom, I would only have 200 base MP, but I would regen 4248 MP in an hour. That’s approximately 132 skeletons I could kill with my heal spell.
After seeing the math there was no choice left to make. It was time to grow in awesomeness!
As I added all my points into Wisdom, something happened that didn’t surprise me, but I hadn’t really anticipated. My mind was more and more enlightened. Though my literal vision wasn’t better than before, I suddenly saw more than I ever had before. Everything had an equation behind it. Everything was logic.
When I hit 100 Wisdom a few pop-up windows appeared under my status window. Exhilaration filled me from head to toe.
I exited my status window as quickly as I could finish pumping my stats and what I found took my breath away. Though I really shouldn’t have been enjoying myself, I couldn’t deny that I was. New skills were given when I reached 100 Wisdom.
Novice Mana Flow Understanding
Sitting is no longer required for quick mana regeneration.
Total mana multiplied by 2. Your 200 mana has now increased to 400.
All spells cost 20% less mana to cast.
All spells are 20% more powerful when cast.
New skill: Meditation
Mana regeneration rate slowly ramps up the longer you meditate reaching a maximum of 5 times your current regeneration rate reached after 10 minutes of meditation.
Warning. Meditation can be dangerous because it requires your complete focus.
Note: The first minute of meditation is the normal regeneration rate.
Though I was thrilled, it also concerned me that I was progressing so quickly. This was just day one and it seemed I was already overpowered. Either that or the little bit of power I had now was only that of a newbie. How powerful were the old man and Mistress really? It was a frightening thought.
Now that I had completely outgrown the skeletons, I decided to move on and find my group. It was odd that they hadn’t come back to find me.
Chapter 5 - Regrouping
My group hadn’t gone far. I found them three rooms deep in the labyrinth from the room we first entered if you continued straight from our base. Basically, they had moved on from skeletons to the second enemy in the dungeon. Decrepit Zombies.
As I neared I got about a twentieth of my experience bar filled thanks to a zombie they finished killing. It had been level 55. Slightly higher than the skeletons, but it was still far less experience than I had been getting by myself.
It was the stench, not their decomposing mugs, that mostly repelled me from wanting to get close to the zombies in the area.
Olivia screamed as if I was a zombie when she saw me.
“He’s alive!” big boy Russ yelled out.
“You thought I was dead?”
Aeris turned to Olivia. “I thought you said you saw him dead?”
“I did! He was just lying there not moving!” she insisted.
“Why is he moving now?” Aeris demanded. “And I assume the imp isn’t guarding his body.”
“He’s a zombie!” Travis jeered, stepping up and grabbing my shoulder. “Sorry we left you, man. It’s true what Aeris says. We thought you were dead and didn’t want to face an imp yet so we took off. You missed a lot. We have all gained at least 6 levels.”
Though my initial feelings were to hold it against them, I genuinely had no idea what they would have been able to do if they had tried to fight the imp and save me. Logically it would have been a waste. They would have been attacked with Pain or worse. There also seemed to be more to their reaction than just running away. Why had they sent Olivia of all people to check if I was okay though? She obviously didn’t like me.
“I don’t blame you,” I replied.
Now to the present. How had they only raised 6 levels? What had they been doing all this time? Not that I said that out loud or anything. Perhaps joining them wasn’t a good idea after all. We couldn’t see each other’s levels so I’d keep my speed of leveling up to myself.
“Elorion. You can heal, right?” Russ asked.
Seeing he was favoring his shoulder, I didn’t wait for him to explain the details.
“Heal,” I commanded and the warm light engulfed him.
His eyes went wide. “You guys got to try that! Thanks, man!”
I gave in to the request and healed each of them in turn. It would benefit them even if they hadn’t lost any HP because it had the added benefit of healing fatigue. How much though I wasn’t sure. It’s not like there was a fatigue bar like mana and health that went down when you were tired.
It was no problem thanks to my increase in mana and Heal only cost 48 mana to cast now. It seems novice spells leveled pretty fast.
“That really is amazing,” Olivia said—the first time she had said something nice to me. “It’s like downing an energy drink without heart palpitations.”
Everyone else was just as surprised.
“You guys ready to get back to it?” Travis said enthusiastically, just like a true gamer.
With a grin, I joined the others as we pulled one zombie at a time.
It was a slow beginning.
Aeris had a spell called Gust that slowed the enemy down by blowing from the opposite direction they were coming from. The problem was that the zombies weren’t fast in the first place and it wasn’t strong enough yet to knock them off balance or to the ground. In time I was sure it would be a powerful spell, but right now it needed to be leveled.
Ol
ivia had the same problem. Her spell Under Growth was designed to slow a target down by growing a large patch of tall dense weeds in the monster’s path. It was mostly ineffective.
Russ and Travis were doing most of the work. Russ had a wood chopping ax and Travis a long sword he was trying to fence with.
I stayed back during the first zombie fight to watch. At level 55 it was much stronger than the skeletons from before. Their only real weak spot was their head or spine.
Before the next fight, I stopped everyone. There was nothing to be done about the girls. They needed to power level their spells and now was as good a time as any. To Travis, I offered the spear. He was talented in piercing weapons so that should translate to two-handed weapons as well. It took a little persuasion, but he finally agreed.
The next round I began to help. I first tested Pain. Though the result wasn’t as powerful as it would have been with a living creature, the zombie was still affected because it forced muscles to tense violently. I knew from first hand experience of the spell’s power that it forced all your muscles to tense up; even a zombie that didn’t feel the pain couldn’t move if he was stiff as a board. Even as a 3-second stun it was overpowered.
Russ stood there and stared at the effectiveness of the spell in awe. Travis didn’t hesitate and finished the zombie with a single thrust from the spear. Now, this is what I’m talking about!
“What was that?” Russ shouted overly excited.
“Pain. The blue magic that… the imp taught me.”
“Amazing! Do it again!”
“Okay, but I can’t cast it often.” There was no reason for them to know how often I could cast it. With my 400 mana I reserved 100 MP just for Pain, 200 MP for Heal to cast on players only, and 100 MP for casting Decay. This was all so I could power level my spells.
My heal spell wasn’t really needed often, but because it healed fatigue I kept casting it on Travis and Russ to keep them at peak performance. It worked wonders.
As things became repetitive and easy, I realized that up until that point I had been ignoring the severity of the situation we were all in. I allowed myself to be fully engrossed in the gaming aspects of this place. In truth, I was terrified.
Some crazy thousand-year-old chick that was terribly powerful and an old dude just as frightening made an imp kidnap me. Not to mention the flying shell-less turtle had tortured me with magic. I shouldn’t be okay. I wasn’t okay, yet I was here in a real-life dungeon casting magic like a real mage. This was the same thing I had always done to escape from my problems before, except back then they were really just games I escaped into.
I had to admit, this Mistress had really chosen wisely when we were picked for this evil magic. Just look at us. We were doing exactly what she wanted. Should I give in and play this dangerous game for the rest of my life? There was no way I could just ignore what happened.
First, I needed to become strong enough to survive. After that, I would look for a way to escape and take everyone else with me.
The monsters here were not what I was worried about. The imp said he was level 200. The way I was leveling so quickly when it was only the first day put the level of the imp within my grasp. I was sure leveling would start to slow eventually, perhaps after level 100. Right now we were still within the realm of what humans were normally capable of.
But what of the Mistress and old man? What were their levels? Was it possible that they would have put us in a position where we could become as powerful as they were? In time, could we defeat them? Or was that simply too much to ask? Would I die long before I could ever level up that much to defeat such long-lived monsters?
Either way, my only move forward was to fight. Mission Power Level initiated!
As we fought the zombies I only got 1 Blue Magic pop up during our entire time there. It was after the first 30 minutes of fighting.
You have begun to understand the Essence of the Undead
Once I reached Level 55, the experience gained here became a third of what it was. Ultimately I reached level 57 in the two hours we hunted before heading back to base.
As we headed back, we split the fairly depressing monster drops. Zombie eyes, skin, ears, toes… There were only enough for each of us to have two drops apiece.
Stupendous! Torn flesh the size of my hand and a zombie's eye! Just what I always wanted! I moped.
“Dude. You don’t have to hold it. Use your inventory,” Travis said.
Looking around, everyone but me was already stashing their items. Seriously? If there was an inventory then why had it been a problem for me to grab four weapons earlier?
“Inventory,” I said while willing it to appear.
A window with something similar to a checkerboard came up. Holding the gross items up to it they magically disappeared from my hand and were added to two different slots out of the available thirty.
“Anyone have some sanitizer?” I teased.
A chorus of chuckles followed.
***
Three merchant stalls were set up in a tight room. Behind each was a long, deep room stocked with goods. The three wooden tables before each room had a strange assortment of goods on display and even stranger looking merchants behind them.
The first starting on the left was what I suspected was a dark elf due to the dark, dull silver skin and pointy ears.
Elves existed? Aeris had elegant elf-like features, but this was something else entirely. Why was the existence of an elf more shocking to me than the undead?
Stranger still, the first dark elf I had ever met just happened to have a potbelly. So Elves weren't automatically good looking?
Next was a dwarf with dark eyes and black hair. Minus the skin, he was dressed much darker than even the dark elf. Since when did dwarves go goth?
Finally, there was a Halfling? He didn’t have a portly belly, curly hair or carefree personality. His hair was slicked back, his eyes were sharp and he had well-toned muscles. Eh? What kind of world had I stepped into?
Of course, the first thing I did was activate Creature Observation.
Due to an unseen force, you are unable to use this skill at this location.
Bummer. The Mistress must have had some kind of magic use aura protecting this place. Oh well. Whatever.
“Anyone buy a zombie eye and flesh?” I asked aloud after taking in the room from the back of the group. My boldness surprised everyone, which let me step past them.
I had jumped in front of the others for two reasons. The merchants didn’t know what all we had, so I could take advantage of them not having a bulk of something they had already bought from us which might lower the price. Also by asking aloud for all to hear, now the merchants would have to bid if they were in the market for what I had.
“How about I give you the flat end of my blade on your rear?” the dwarf grumbled.
Not exactly the bid I had desired.
“3 copper a piece,” the dark elf replied, his arms across his chest.
“I only pay 2 for the skin, but I’ll give 10 for the eye!” the Halfling hollered.
After a moment of waiting to see if there were any new bidders, I called cheerfully, “Done!”
Even though I could have gotten an extra coin if I had split my items between merchants, they now knew I’d act kindly to any merchant that treated me fairly.
At least it was easy to understand how money worked. 100 copper equaled 1 silver, and 20 silver equaled 1 gold. Pretty standard setup in a gaming world as well.
As I walked out past my group Aeris met my eyes and smiled broadly in thanks. Olivia, on the other hand, was glaring at me. They had two vastly different interpretations of what I had just done.
I’m not sure I helped the matter when I winked at Olivia in spite. Oh, bother.
Being the first one done with the merchants made me the first one in line for food. The only reason I knew it was dinner time was that there was a big sign above the serving area that said, Serving Supper.
A blonde girl
wearing glasses was sitting all alone at the stone table staring at one of the free loaves of bread and a water bottle. She hadn’t taken a bite. It seemed she was taking all of this really hard. If I could afford anything extra I would get her something.
There was really no more than a long open window through which we could watch a few imps floating while preparing food in the kitchen.
When I asked what was available for 12 copper the imp said, “Bread.”
“What about all the bread there. That’s free!” I said, pointing to the table still fully stocked with bread from earlier.
“Fresh bread,” the imp replied, annoyed.
“What about butter or cheese?”
“A wedge of the cheapest cheese is 40 copper and a tub of butter is 25.”
Not happy at where this was going, I wondered, “How much is ranch dressing?”
“It depends on the brand, but 80 to 220 coins.”
“I’m going to die!”
“If you do, we could sell you for approximately 200 coins a helping. Human meat is a specialty dish.”
I looked at him blank faced.
“Give me the gruel. What is in it? Or wait! Don’t tell me!”
At least the bowl I got contained a good portion. Honestly, I wasn’t afraid of being poisoned or anything. The Mistress had already proven that she thought we were more useful to her alive. The grossness aspect to whatever was in the gruel did frighten me though. I’d be sure to heal myself a few times after I ate for good measure.
The others in my group didn’t fare better with their trip to the merchant. When the others started to trickle in, Aeris and Olivia came together, stopping to talk to the girl that sat alone in silence.
I don’t know what was said, but she joined them as they got their food.
We all sat down to eat our gruel gruelingly. There were now conversations going on as opposed the uncomfortable silence from before. The main topic wasn’t hunting, but what to do to escape.
“If we get strong enough we could probably escape somewhere else from inside the labyrinth,” Travis plotted.
Underworld - Level Up or Die: A LitRPG Series Page 4