With every increase of Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, my ability to buff these stats to their 10,000 bonuses was getting cheaper and cheaper. Constitution was the most important at the moment since it was easily the most expensive to buff, and also was more important to improve my survivability. I’d made notes as to what mobs gave me what kinds of stat improvements and would focus on Constitution next.
I couldn’t overlook the increase in mind stats either. The 212 Intelligence gave me an extra 100,000 base mana and 500,000 once I’d refined it all. It would take a while to complete that process, but not too long. While watching the battles of the Hallow Amphitheater I’d continue the refining process.
Those were all good overall improvements, but the most obvious difference came from surgically implanting the enhancement jewels I’d bought into my upper abdomen. It wasn’t as bloody as it might sound. The idea was far worse than the reality. As a Blue Mage, I actually had the ability to manipulate my human body in a way I’d never dared consider. Shamash had only hinted at this in the past.
Back in our hotel room, I was directed to open a hole in my stomach. The very concept was mad, but as I tried following the lich’s instructions, I found the process far too easy. My skin hadn’t broken, but literally willingly parted at my command. The next part of making sure the jewels were placed a few inches from each other and at least three inches from my Mana Core was more strange than difficult.
After closing up the skin and muscle of my stomach, a whole new world of possibilities opened up for me. My Light Magic Buffs were 50% more powerful than before and my Dark and Fire Magic had doubled in power. It seemed like it was a long time since I’d used In the Buff to enhance all of my stats, but it was now well worth the cost. For 76,800 Mana Per Minute, I buffed everything by 4,800 to give me the 10,000 stat bonuses that I’d been missing. I was no longer limited to Advanced Ascendancy for a few minutes at a time. It was now mine for as long as I wanted it.
Light Magic Synergy
As a being who is already one with the Light, your body’s progression is funneled through its Light Magic nature. Aspects of your Solar Mage and Light Surgeon True Forms have merged with your physical body, giving you greater access to their abilities.
All Solar Mage and Light Surgeon abilities have doubled in strength while in your Ascended Human Form.
Their limitations do not apply.
Even if I couldn’t take full advantage of this synergy in my Vampire Form, it still greatly improved my Light Magic if I needed access to it. If there was an emergency, I could always switch to my human form and gain its full advantage.
The list of changes was all encompassing, forcing me to reexamine everything and also recalculate the buffs I’d use when going into my fights in the arena.
Advanced Ascendancy
Your mind and body have reached full maturity.
Permanent In The Buff
+1,000 Strength
+1,000 Dexterity
+1,000 Constitution
No mana cost
Note: These are in addition to past Ascendancy buffs.
Permanent Regeneration
+3,000 HP Per Second
+2,000 Endurance Per Second
No mana cost
Note: Unlike Permanent In The Buff, this is your total HP and Endurance Regeneration Per Second gained from your ascendancy.
Variable Physicality
Every one of your physical skills and synergies have merged together and taken on Light Magic characteristics.
You will now receive +400 HP per point of Constitution.
You are now able to Focus your body’s makeup on Life and Solar aspects of Light Magic at will.
The most obvious jump in my stats was my HP. Instead of +100 HP per point of Constitution it was now +500. I’d gone from 500,000 to over 5,000,000. I’d thought it would allow me to breathe easy, but now I wasn’t so sure. The 80% improvement to Strength and Dexterity couldn’t be overstated either. Shamash said that I should now be on equal footing with a Trueblood vampire of my level when casting, but if I compared my physical stats to theirs, only the very best of them would stand on equal footing with me.
Not to be forgotten, I’d finally ranked up my Vampire Form’s Bloodline.
Vampire Form
Bloodline: Minor
Next Rank: 13%
Level: 46
Cost: 3,160 Mana Per Second (316 with buffs)
Strength: +770
Dexterity: +770
Intelligence: +770
Special Abilities: Vampire’s Might, Night Vision, Shadow Step, Bat Form…
Next Level:
Cost: 3,120 Mana Per Second (312 with buffs)
+6 Strength
+6 Dexterity
+6 Intelligence
To be honest, it wasn’t a large jump in power compared to everything else. The only real obvious change was that the additional stats I received per level went from +5 to +6. At the form’s level of 46, it didn’t make too big of a difference, since the form itself leveled separately from its Bloodline rank. Once it reached 100, it would make a bigger difference. If the stats per level continued to increase with each Bloodline rank, then eventually it would be one of my top forms. Shamash promised new abilities would also come with the higher ranks. I’d just be happy to be able to stop flying around as a giant bat when it was necessary to fly.
There was no denying that I’d just had an enormous jump in combat prowess. My stats seemed monstrous, but I still couldn’t help but feel small when standing in the midst of the Hallow Amphitheater.
Character Sheet
Level: 10,013
Health Points: 5,771,816
Current Mana: 30,111,995
Base Mana: 8,855,500
Mana Per Minute: 500,240(8,337.33 Per Second)
Attributes
Strength: 13,641
Dexterity: 13,381
Constitution: 11,485
Intelligence: 17,711
Wisdom: 50,024
With In the Buff only costing 76,800 Mana Per Minute, I would still have 423,440 MPM available at all times not including the 18,960 MPM it cost to keep my Vampire Form active and hide my Light Magic signature.
The 404,480 MPM wasn’t the only thing I had to work with now though. Since my MP enhancement came from my Light Mana Buffs, technically it was mana I could refine, but if I ever dropped my buffs then that refined mana would dissipate into nothing. So I could work on refining the 2,743,101 MP I’d received from my buffs or keep it as a reservoir that I could tap into without having to worry about constantly refining.
I decided to not refine this new MP, so that I’d have 404,480 MPM and 2,743,101 MP to use for my fights. Then if I needed to tap into my 30,000,000 refined mana in an emergency, I could.
We stopped near the middle of the arena and touched down on the forcefield. This allowed me to change back to my Vampire Form and not have to hang out as a bat.
“Stay here for today,” Shamash voiced in my head. “Take in as much as you can and don’t look down on those that you could easily defeat. You must learn to defend as well as attack. During your first couple fights, I want you to defeat three of your opponents’ moves before you go on the offensive. And when you do, I don’t want you winning your matches with overwhelming force, but well-placed spells.”
“What happened to giving everything?” I replied, holding back a well-deserved eye roll.
“For a child, winning requires everything. It’s time for you to grow up.”
I could tell from his tone that he didn’t mean it as a critique, but that it was the simple reality. I had to admit that after razing a number of vampire outposts to the ground, he was right. Just knowing what I knew now, I could make easy work of the Vampire Gate if everything went the same way. All that that would require was simple spell placement.
“You’re leaving?” I said.
“I’m going to gather information about your possible opponents, among other things. Killing
is allowed in the arena, but it isn’t always a good idea. I’ll do what I can to make sure you don’t accidently kill some noble whose family will come looking for you. There are also tournaments held every so often, which provide rewards that are superior to anything you’d ever win in normal matches. Don’t worry. There is nothing we’ve done so far that should draw the attention of any real trouble. Even if we had, if they were to attack you here, even Mistress Nava would have difficulty making it out of here alive. 10,000 guards stand ready to deal with anyone stupid enough to disrupt the harmony of the Hallow Amphitheater. To many, this is a house of worship. It may be a cult of death, but strict adherence is expected from every visitor.”
“That makes me feel a lot better, thanks.” I said, my sarcasm as thick as dried bacon grease.
“If it makes you feel better, I can arrive here within three seconds from anywhere in the city. Mind-speak isn’t as secure when using it for long distance communication, but if you’re calling for help, that doesn’t matter. Now get to work.”
Without another word, he spun around and shot toward the entrance.
I was suddenly alone—a human surrounded by tens of thousands of vampires in a temple dedicated to violence and death. I could either freak out, which was probably the most reasonable response, or do as he said. Funneling mana to my eyes, I turned my full attention to the battles below. Right now, I might be little more than a snack to the predators around me, but given enough time, I’d feed on this place and eventually surpass them—one bite at a time.
Chapter 9 – Bloody Rumble
There was little delay between matches on each of the stages below. At any one time there were multiple fights going on. I could either focus on the smallest details of individual fights, or, with Mana Sight’s help, examine many fights at once.
The closest one was a corner arena that was also the one directly beneath me. It was too far away for Forced Learn to work, but Creature Observation worked just fine. On one side was a young vampire in dull black chainmail. He was in the 6,000s with a stat emphasis on Intelligence. His opponent was a female dwarf that had her chestnut hair braided down her back and wore a blue ankle-length dress. She seemed completely out of place. Her level was just over 5,800 with her stats spread evenly between Constitution, Intelligence, and Wisdom. As the first female dwarf I’d seen, I was able to confirm that there was at least one female dwarf that didn’t have a beard. She had a round face and a short stocky build.
No one seemed to find her presence odd, which led me to rescan the contestants and audience. I’d known that vampires only made up approximately 80% of Hallow’s population, but I’d thought the others would be limited to monster and beast races with maybe some dark elves thrown in. I had to look for them, but I spotted pockets of dwarves in the stands that were watching the girl fight. There were even some odd dwarves watching fights in other arenas, who didn’t look like they were involved with her.
The male vampire struck first. He didn’t bother moving from his side of the arena a couple hundred feet away. He threw out both hands, and I watched dark magic erupt from him. He smirked. What began as a stream built up until it became an enormous wave that crashed toward the dwarf.
It was a smart strategy for the vampire to use Dark Magic with such a wide range attack. With the dwarf’s Light Magic nature, if she came in contact with it there was no way she wouldn’t take damage. It was likely she would die. The reaction between the two magics would finish her long before she’d drown in the magic waves.
She remained unmoving as the tidal wave sped toward her, leaving no room for escape. She didn’t seem bothered.
When the wave reached the halfway point between them, I noticed that her right fist was glowing with green light. It glowed brighter with every moment that passed. As the wave neared, its speed increased. With less than fifty feet before it engulfed her, she tossed the light she held to the ground like she was throwing scraps to the birds.
A brilliant green gem hit the ground. It sparkled momentarily, before exploding. In the next instant, a tree sprouted, shooting up with its own radiant light.
The girl stepped forward and placed her hand on the tree’s trunk. Branches grew from the trunk from top to bottom at lightning’s pace, creating a wall to brace against the deadly wave.
I wasn’t sure if her defense would be enough, when the wall of branches suddenly changed directions from growing out to wrapping around her, creating a small round room with her safely in its center.
Resisting my urge to go down and help, I watched as the wave finally struck. Its face crashed against her defense and began to eat away at the tree’s bark like fire. After a few breaths of time, I watched as her defense held up without a drop of Dark Magic seeping through.
The vampire had a smug look as he watched his handiwork, and was preparing to cast another spell when a small sprout appeared in front of him, growing rapidly at his feet. It became the size of a small bush in an instant with a single flower as its crown. The moment he noticed it, a mist sprayed toward him, creating a pale green cloud.
Jumping back, the vampire dodged the mist while summoning something to block the way. His spell didn’t have time to form. Instead he tensed up, cringing. He’d jumped into a second cloud from another bush that had sprouted up behind him. Dark Magic jumped out of his body to create a protective aura, but it was already too late. There weren’t just two of the poison flowers, but half a dozen of them had surrounded him and quickly filled the entire area with the green cloud. The mist worked like a corrosive, dissolving his aura. Soon, his skin started to melt, and he let out a scream.
In the next instant, the mist was blown back by an outside force and a much more powerful vampire touched down next to the dying youth. The man was over level 30,000. With a flick of his finger, a Dark mist fell upon the melting vampire, and his flesh began to reform at a visible pace. Without looking at the youth’s opponent, the elder vampire scooped up the defeated youth and flew off to the stands.
An announcer that sat at the middle of the arena called the match for the dwarven girl.
So it seemed that killing your opponent wasn’t always an option.
There were another couple of fights I kept track of at the same time. In one, two level 7,000 vampires faced off. It was a Fire Mage against another Dark Mage. It was noteworthy because the two vampires were so well matched. The fight with the dwarf had only taken two moves. This one had already gone over twenty and neither vampire seemed to have the upper hand. Fire and Dark Magic weren’t an obvious good match, but where Dark possessed superior force, the Fire Mage countered it by compressing his fire into projectiles a tad larger than baseballs. These fireballs canceled out the bolts of dark lightning. Because the Fire Mage had to use more mana to compress his attacks, I thought he’d end up running out of mana first, even if it would take hours if they continued at their current rate. They both had over 10,000 Intelligence, so it wasn’t going to be over anytime soon.
The Fire Mage suddenly sent out a volley of five fireballs. The Dark Mage met these attacks easily enough with his own bolts, but a sixth fireball, twice as large as the rest, followed behind the first five. As he blocked the enlarged fireball, it exploded in blinding light. The Fire Mage had been waiting for this. Dozens of fireballs flew out from his palms during the explosion. They took many different paths from all different directions. Once he started the barrage, he didn’t stop. All that the Dark Mage could do was react.
A full minute later, the Fire Mage finally stopped the assault and the explosions ceased. The Dark Mage’s form was slowly revealed. Standing beneath a radiant purple shroud, he had a trail of blood coming from his nose and the corner of his lips. His skin had darkened as if he’d been covered in an obsidian shell. He took a step forward, and the shell cracked. His aura seemed to be sucked back into his body the moment before he erupted in power. A beam of dark lightning as thick as my thigh sped toward the Fire Mage like a vicious beast.
The Fire Mage ha
d enough time to meet the attack with his own stream of fire, but his barrage of fireballs a moment before must have exhausted him. The beam of dark lightning punched through his counter like it wasn’t even there. He jumped to the side to dodge the attack, which saved his life, but he was too late to completely dodge it. His arm disintegrated in the blast.
No one came to protect him, but both vampires stopped attacking and the loser deeply bowed his head before turning to return to the stands. The winner let him go and the announcer called the fight. The loser had an older vampire in the stands that stood to meet him. Instead of healing him, he offered the youth a seat and watched as the Fire Mage used Dark Magic to begin healing himself.
I knew how painful it was to regrow limbs. Especially if Dark Magic weren’t his main alignment, it would take him even longer to make himself whole, which would prolong the pain.
Another pair of vampires were going at it that were closer to my level—just over 10,000. One was a male Ice Mage and the other was a female Lightning Mage. The Ice Mage began by encasing himself in a tomb of ice and summoning his spells to condense outside of his defensive husk. It was a smart move. The ice of an Ice Mage doesn’t contain the impurities that allow water to conduct electricity, so it completely lacks all conductivity.
The Lighting Mage shook her head. Was she giving up, or looking down on her opponent? At first, I couldn’t tell. Electricity began to crackle in her delicate palms, before covering her hands like gloves and spreading over her shapely scalemail vest to the rest of her body. She flashed to the side to dodge two incoming shards, then halved the distance between them in a blink. A globe-sized orb of electricity shot out to hover above the head of the Ice Mage. Lightning rained down in a constant torrent.
It didn’t seem to pierce through the Ice Mage’s defense, but the outside of the ice shroud developed a wet sheen. It was starting to melt.
The Ice Mage sped his attack, sending hundreds of Ice Shards piercing forward. With less space between them than before, it would make it difficult for her to dodge.
Underworld - Scorching Sun: A LitRPG Series Page 7