Luke’s eyes became focused on the multitude of notices before him. Before he dove into the details, he had Sooty come over and sit on his shoulder. A smile betrayed his feelings. He was happy to have his feathered buddy recover from the heat.
Getting comfortable with his seated position, he was near the former campfire spot. It had become something of a habit to check his gains here. Finally, he read each notice carefully, prioritizing Sooty’s changes first.
[Your companion, Sooty, has gained a level, reaching level 14. Acquired 1 skill point.]
[Your companion, Sooty, has acquired the special stat, fire resistance. Granting ten points.]
Luke then sorted out his changes. This part after the struggles helped keep his motivation and drive up.
[You have looted 9 Silver]
[You have looted 8 Scarlet Cores and 8 Corrupted Flame Cloth.]
He already had a few of these from the two groups he and Sooty took out, bringing the total to 12 of each material. Silver was lovely but still useless in the current situation. Luke wondered what would be helpful to buy in the outside world. What was outside this tomb? There had to be other people, right? At least something friendly. His eyes shone with hope.
[You have looted a Crimson Hood]
[You have looted a Scarlet Tunic]
Luke gestured to Sooty to pour some water into his trusty wooden cup. Gulping down the water, he continued.
[You have stolen 10 HP, 3 Intellect, 2 Agility]
[You have gained 2 levels, reaching level 13. Acquired 4 skill points]
[You have earned the special stat, fire resistance. Granting 10 points.]
Luke had hoped for more stat stealing, but without Sooty around, his real chance of stealing stats per target lowered by a large margin. Even so, for Luke, to make it out that fight against the undead alive was enough to be happy about. He had plenty of other gains. He took out the Crimson Hood and Scarlet Tunic and put them on. The tunic was a soft cloth. Luke enjoyed its feel. Honestly, he was happy not to run around without a shirt. He looked over the information of his two new pieces of gear.
[Crimson Hood]
Quality: Uncommon
Armor: 3
Stats: +6 Intellect
Required Level: 8
Only fanatics and the desperate would wear this.
Well, Luke was desperate, so the description was apt. He moved on to the Scarlet Tunic.
[Scarlet Tunic]
Quality: Uncommon
Armor: 7
Stats: +4 Agility +1 Strength
Required Level: 7
Both were good gains for him. He couldn’t say no to more stats. Luke wasn’t too worried about his agility anymore, but his other stats needed more work. Then again, with only Sooty to compare to, he didn’t have any idea if the stats besides hit points were low or not. As for hit points, Luke knew they were far from enough. Moving on, he went and used his skill points. Essence Lance came to his mind first to upgrade, and he tried to, only to receive a surprise.
[Must reach tier 1 to upgrade this ability further.]
“What? Why can't I upgrade Essence Lance?” Luke’s voice grew confused and irritated.
"You've caught on, have you? Aye, some of your grand maneuvers have their bounds. Can't say I know the why of it, being my abilities are bound differently. Might want to pick a different tack, or bide your time. Everyone has a wall," Wayfinder said.
Seeing that complaining to the interface would be useless, Luke continued his original plan, Upgrading Essence Bond. Three skill points drained from him, and the ability went up a rank. The buff went up to 17%, with a 20% bonus if his target had Infusion. The debuff's duration also mirrored, going up to 17%. The ability now made its victims 80% more vulnerable to stat-stealing. This meant a strike backed by Infusion for him had an 18% to steal a stat now, assuming the target had Essence Bond on it. Just as important, Essence Bond lasted for 24 seconds now, meaning keeping it up was almost permanent.
Luke took a moment to breathe. He had a short peace to enjoy. Today was exhausting him. Even with the level-ups letting him heal, his limit would be hit soon. He decided to try and continue to clear the cave with wraiths, leaving the vampire-infested entrance last. His gut told him that was the most dangerous of the three. Part of him was glad it was. Who knows what would’ve happened if he hadn’t come back to solve the Unholy Flame? Thinking further about it, what if the shadow cave also had some big issue? When that idea crossed his mind, he knew the cave had to be cleared before sleeping today, to be safe.
“Ok, let’s go clean out the wraith cave. We can’t risk having something like the Unholy Flame grow in that one too.”
Wayfinder gave his two cents, "The trial's not apt to pull the same trick twice, but it's wiser than a kelpie in a loch to clear it out. You'd only be spending a bit of time, not much else."
Something I don’t have a lot of right now. Luke thought.
Tapping on Sooty to let her know it was time to move, Luke shook himself off, getting up. The suffocating darkness and icy cold soon enveloped the trio. Luke grew more grateful to Wayfinder’s Vision passive. He’d genuinely be helpless in this cave without it. Growing alert, Luke placed Infusion on Sooty and Whispering Edge. He’d grown tired of standing in the back when Sooty did most of the upfront fights. The trio walked past where the original horde of wraiths were. When Infusion was off cooldown, he also refreshed the stacks on himself, bringing it up from three back to five. The speed made him unconsciously walk faster down the abyssal darkness of the cave.
No markings were on the walls, even this far in. By now, Luke was sure there were none. Either that or it was at the very end of this cave. Suddenly, he heard a crunch. Bone dust came up, and Luke was at the beginning of a boneyard. Some figures were walking upright around the area. Luke had been saved by Whispering Edge yet again. That crushed bone absolutely should’ve gotten him noticed.
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Noticing the situation, Wayfinder whispered. “Lad, you may be gaining strength, but best not rush up, especially with no real footing to speak of. Let the birdie go in. She’s even rearing to go.”
Wayfinder was right. Luke noticed Sooty holding back as she waited for him to strike. Luke backed up a few steps and closely observed the walking figures. With a second look, he saw hounds accompanying each one. The interface wouldn’t come up. So he took in what information he could; the figures were likely skeletons, each with quivers on their backs. The cave around him didn’t have a closed spot. With several around, he’d, at best, only get Essence Fissure on a little over half of them. The quivers almost guaranteed they were archers.
Counting for a while, he saw ten groups. Each skeleton had two hounds with them. They were spread out enough that pulling them out in two groups should be possible. Luke picked up a bone, backed up, and then threw it at the nearest pair of skeletons and their hounds. He used Reaver’s Link to communicate with Sooty. They would run back some, then fight when what they pulled was out of range of the rest of their friends.
One group of hounds alerted the next, each making some alerting noise. The hearing of each hound was sharp, and soon, Luke had a larger-than-expected group coming after him. Still, a significant minority of the Skeletons and Hounds didn’t go after him. His plan worked somewhat, at least. Gaining a suitable distance, he only turned to find some arrows striking behind him. Not wasting a moment, he released an Essence Fissure, and Sooty shot forward. He missed a few archers this time. All of the hounds, however, eager to come after him, were currently pressed up against the cave’s roof. Luke took what he could. Sooty already had an idea of what he wanted.
Luke put Essence Bond up, and Sooty let her screech do the rest. With all the hounds weakened, they wouldn’t be running after them so quickly anymore. Sooty flew off, deciding to pick off the two skeletal archers Luke managed to crowd control.
But the poor hounds had much more in store than being weakened. Luke took his time. He was beginning to enjoy all this. The Lance formed, powered by his Infusion. It shattered over all of them. He hadn’t used Temporal North for this situation yet, wanting to keep an ace in his back pocket. Most of the hounds died to one strike either way. Using the icy mist as cover, he rushed to the nearest skeleton archer he didn’t catch with essence fissure, side-stepping an arrow. With Whispering Edge, he cut the skeleton in two strikes as the few remaining hounds were being let down.
Sooty had finished the two skeleton archers Luke caught in the Essence fissure. She sped off to finish the other one, which was harassing Luke. Leaving him an Iron Feather, apparently sure she wouldn’t need it by now.
Luke had miscalculated in this fight, making a deadly mistake.
An arrow shot right through his shoulder, the one that he wielded Whispering Edge with. Iron Feather had made the arrow less deadly, but its momentum was enough to shred his shoulder open. Blood rushed down his arm. Ignoring the pain, he switched Whispering Edge to his other arm, running toward the hounds, going in zig-zags to avoid another arrow. None were coming after him, though. Sooty must’ve either dealt with them or taken their attention.
Luke cut the arrow off, giving some of his mobility back. His shoulder was still out of commission for the fight. He used Wraith Wail on the nearest hound, and with that, the hounds all slowed to a crawl. Doing some half-effective strikes, he began to finish each hound as they came. There were only four left in the first place. Having only a few skeletal archers left to deal with, Luke took a moment to rip the remaining arrow shaft out of him. His shoulder wasn’t looking too good. The arrow was poisoned.
He put an infusion back on Whispering Edge and approached the remaining skeleton archers. Even with their skills, they had difficulty landing a shot on Sooty. She tore them apart. Luke saw her Talon Strike one-shot, a skeleton archer in the back. The skeleton he was nearest to finally noticed him, but it was too late. Even when using his weak arm, Luke disarmed the skeleton, literally. With no way to wield its bow and shoot, the skeleton was dusted off with another thrust. Sooty eviscerated the leftover skeleton archers. Luke didn’t have to do anything. He was glad to have his pal back at his side.
They quickly looted the hounds and skeletons. His leveled-up body was fighting off the poison, but it was best if he stayed back. Even though he wanted to stop, Luke forced himself on. Sooty let out a worried noise.
"Ach, that poison's a wicked one, lad. Don't think you can turn a blind eye to it." Wayfinder said.
Clenching his teeth, Luke stepped back a few paces and took off his tunic. He hoped the levels he’d gained by now would be enough, but it wasn’t. They just slowed it down. He took out some wraith cloth and then had Sooty pour water from her Spatial Feather on it. The wound had a greenish tint to it.
He cleaned it as best he could. Luke hadn’t seen any healing herbs or anything of the sort on his way here. After tying the cloth around the wounded spot, he put his tunic back on. For a moment, he thought of going to the Unholy Flame, heating up Whispering Edge, and cauterizing the wound, but that was no guarantee to fix the injury. Instead, he gambled. Luke had Sooty attack the nearest of the remaining four groups of skeleton archers. Like last time, the hounds made a specific sound, and all four groups were pulled.
Rather than do anything, Luke and Sooty ran for a long distance, having the hounds get far ahead of their skeleton masters. Once the distance was more than enough, Luke turned around, and he and Sooty performed the Bond Screech combination attack that had become a standard tactic for them. Luke then had Sooty distract two other hounds but not kill them. Luke Infused both Sooty and Whispering Edge. He threw out an Essence Lance, getting all eight hounds to slow even further. He expected to finish a few with his sword, but the Lance cut the tensions short. All eight died, and the interface still wouldn’t show their stats, but the HP of the hound couldn’t be that high.
The healing effect of the blood ring was helping moderately with the wound. Sooty placed an Iron Feather on herself and then proceeded to put each of the four skeletons back in their grave. Permanently this time. She was even crushing their bows into pieces after they died. Letting out an angry caw and then looking over at Luke’s shoulder.
“That bird lassie ain’t one to mess with, that’s for sure.” Wayfinder would never admit it, but his voice had a faint trembling.
Luke still hadn’t leveled as he had hoped. He looted this group’s hounds and skeleton archers while returning to the boneyard. Hoping something dropped that may relieve the situation. Unfortunately, he didn’t gain anything of the sort. Everything he looted besides one quiver was either fangs from the dark hounds or bone meal from the archers. He looked at it to be sure.
[Shadow Quiver]
Quality: Rare
Stats: +8 Agility +3 Strength
Passive - Silent Shots: Silences your physical ranged attacks
Passive - Guided: Grants 5% precision with your shots.
Requirements: Level 7, Physical Ranged Class
“Interesting, regular mobs can drop a rare item as well? What are the chances even? If only I could use it, I still have a weapon slot open,” Luke commented on the drop.
Wayfinder saw a chance to comment. "Ah, you snagged that off them lowly skellies, did you? You're sitting on a gold mine if you manage to claw your way out of this cave, lad. Quivers like that are few and far between, so they are."
Sooty curiously looked at the quiver and pecked at it. She lost interest right after. You couldn’t eat it, and it wasn’t a feather, nor was it shiny. What use was it then? Letting out a silent laugh at Sooty, Luke’s expression soon turned grim. He let out a complaint. “When will I get out of this damn cave already?” Rare drop or not, it was dark, cold, and now, even the Interface screens weren't here. He wanted an actual bath, too.
This time, Wayfinder chose not to respond. They were about to reach the boneyard.