Profession Challenge Dungeon
Objective: ?
Reward: Alchemist Profession, ? & ?
Requirements: Tutorial Participant & Must not have a profession
Would you like to enter?
Oliver stared at the system notification that appeared in front of him with interest. He already had an Alchemist profession, the same one everyone received who learned from the Alchemist assistant.
Choosing the Alchemist profession was the easiest choice among the ten other Professions offered within the assistant village. His deep familiarity with chemistry and biology made it a natural fit. His various awards and certificates could attest to his superior prowess overall within his field.
And then there was the allure of mana’s applications within alchemy.
The act of controlling magic felt… euphoric, to say the least. It was difficult for him to recall what life had been like without it, even though it had been less than a month since he first began wielding it.
When he was summoned in front of the system aspect, within moments he realized something had changed fundamentally within him. He felt lighter, fresher, pain-free… healthy, for the first time in years.
When he asked the system aspect about his Glioblastoma, he was told how it was removed upon his integration. Every being during the integration of the universe into the multiverse would be cured of all physical ailments and disabilities that they’ve had before integration.
When he asked why, the system responded, “A gift to those whose Journeys might have ended before the integration.”
That moment was one of the very few moments throughout his life where he felt some sort of warmth in his chest. Gratitude, he reminded himself. He’d only felt that way towards his mother, but ever since her death, it had been effectively erased from his vocabulary.
When he asked how it was possible to cure everyone from their illnesses the system aspect did not respond. Pushing further only provided him with a similar response.
When looking through the classes he was offered, the Mage class stood out to him. Magic had been something that was missing on earth. When asking the system aspect about the limitations of magic he was told there were none. The response only reinforced his choice to pick the Mage class.
The last part of the integration was picking either the Group Tutorial or the Solo Tutorial. The choice was honestly one of the easiest ones he’d made, where would he get human test subjects in a Solo Tutorial?
Before leaving the integration, he asked about the purpose of the system and was met with some generic badly written prompt about how it always existed and had no enemies.
He didn’t believe it.
Why would you give random people power? He understood why he was given the opportunity to gain power, but giving power to those lesser than him? To be fair? Unfathomable.
Nevertheless, he thanked the system aspect for curing him and entered the light green rectangular portal in front of him.
Focusing back on the system notification in front of him, he felt amused. The mana surrounding the seemingly random wooden door within a cave full of mutilated rats was different.
The viscosity and potency of the mana surrounding the door was far more overwhelming than anything he’d felt before, even the mana he felt from Cyric the Mage Assistant.
Curious, he decided to accept the dungeon’s invitation, his thin smile widening at the new notification.
Relinquish Profession:
Do you wish to relinquish your Alchemist Profession? If so, you shall experience a major loss in your records as well as the removal of several skills.
Whatever the dungeon held was something that surpassed that of a higher Grade Mage like Cyric. Using that logic, that meant the reward it held was far more valuable than what it seemed. The alchemist profession it offered was most likely a higher tier than its base counterpart. “Yes.”
You have relinquished your Alchemist Profession!
Skill Lost: [Alchemical Flame (Initiate)]
Skill Lost: [Potion Brewing (Initiate)]
Skill Lost: [Poison Brewing (Common)]
Skill Lost: [Herbology (Initiate)]
Oliver trembled, nearly collapsing onto the ground before catching himself. He took a deep breath and glanced briefly at the three notifications. The sudden loss of the stats he’d grown accustomed to shook him greatly, more than he expected.
“I would like to enter the dungeon,” Oliver declared, licking his dry lips and gripping his wand tighter as his vision wavered. The door sealing the dungeon flickered dark purple for a moment before swinging open. This had better be worth it, Oliver grumbled as he hobbled into the dungeon.
Entering through the door revealed a large cavern, which seemed to act as some sort of main hub. He considered it to be a main hub due to the various tunnels that were connected to it, with various signs atop their entrances. Some tunnels were made of stone, while others were entirely composed of glass.
The glass-encased tunnels revealed various greenhouses containing various herbs and fungi. One in particular holding various insects.
The main area contained a singular ornate, circular stone table, a similar-looking chair, and various similarly ornate golden candles that hovered around the room. Held by some type of magic, Oliver deduced as he enveloped a candle with his mana and sent some sort of barrier.
Why would a class that emphasized mana control have normal strings hold candles up? Oliver dismissed.
He initially thought it was an invisible string, before vanishing the idea as he had to remind himself that magic existed. The only reason why he thought of it as such was the subtlety of how mana was used to hold the candles, as the only subtle magic he'd done was imbuing his mana into his cauldron and lifting small objects with his Telekinesis.
As Oliver took a few steps in, the door behind him produced a loud bang as it slammed shut. The noise made Oliver slightly flinch, still affected by his loss of stats. With a deep inhale, Oliver made his way to the door and tried to pull it open but found it unbudging.
He hadn’t expected the dungeon to be one of where he was trapped once entered. Turning back, Oliver found four bright purple, large spheres atop the stone table.
Profession Challenge Dungeon
Objective 1: Simultaneously manipulate all four spheres using only your mana to lift above the table for a period of time.
Reward: Alchemist Archetype Profession
I knew it, Oliver mulled as he took a swig out from his leather water pouch, that he then stored into his robe’s pocket. This was some sort of higher-tiered Alchemist profession.
Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Oliver calmed himself before flexing his mana. He formed many strings of mana, cording them with one another to form four human-like hands.
The hands moved towards the four spheres and wrapped themselves around them. Once firmly wrapped, Oliver manipulated his mana to lift them into the air and stared at them as they hovered.
Around twenty kilograms each, Oliver noted as he held up the spheres and slowly made them fly around him. As always, this feels…euphoric, Oliver smiled as magic rippled across his skin and filled him with a sense of serenity.
He had gotten his Mana Manipulation to Uncommon a few days ago, and it had felt as though color had been reintroduced into his life. As though the life he lived previously was dull and colorless.
Not to mention the experiments he was able to do with his improved mana manipulation capabilities.
Initially, when he arrived in the Group Tutorial he was grouped with two warriors, a vanguard, a healer, and an archer. He recognized them as his neighbors, the vanguard, and the two warriors were related to one another, father and his two sons, living in the house to his right. The archer and healer were living in the house to his left.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Their names…unimportant, but he stayed with the group for three days before he got bored. Within the first few minutes, he cast his first spell; Manabolt. At that moment, he experienced mana flowing into his body for the first time.
The Manabolt was a light blue color that shot in a straight direction towards a tree, creating a baseball-shaped indent.
When casting Manabolt, mana traveled through his left arm and into the wand until it reached the light blue crystal tip. From there, a small sphere of mana was created and increased in size until it reached the size of a baseball. After it reached that size, it immediately shot in the direction where the crystal tip was pointed.
By the end of the first day, he had begun experimenting with how to improve his Mana Manipulation skill. He noticed the limitations of Manabolt; it could only fire in a straight line, it took five seconds to cast, and it took far too much mana for it to be viable to use as often as he wished.
Mana Shield was a bit different when cast it; a light blue twenty by twenty centimeter 2-D square appeared from the tip of his wand. The shield had no weight and when moving the wand, the shield followed. Unlike the Manabolt, Mana Shield required mana to constantly be channeled into the shield. The only issue that he noticed was that it was very fragile, a level 4 boar’s charge shattered it with ease when he attempted to block one that escaped his vanguard.
But during his experiments, he learned that he could control the rate at which the mana flowed from him and into the spell. By doubling the amount of mana used, he could increase the durability of the shield by one and a half times.
By the end of the second day, he gained a skill called Meditation, when he was analyzing how his spells worked. From there he learned how to manipulate the mana within his own body and slowly exuded it, producing his first mana string.
He advanced his Mana Manipulation skill to Common that day. That day he learned that skills could be upgraded, but at the same time, he was peeved. He’d spent two full days studying and practicing his mana control but was received with an ordinary rarity? Unacceptable.
It was that night that he began to experiment on his ‘team’ with his mana. He learned a great many things that night; you can cover a person’s body with your mana and nothing would happen, however, injecting a concentrated amount of your mana into another being’s body is akin to poison.
Not to mention the effects that happened when injecting them into different parts of their bodies, it even differed from person to person.
Oliver glanced at the system notifications that appeared in front of him before dispersing the mana around the spheres and letting them crash onto the ground below.
Profession Challenge Dungeon
Objective 1: Simultaneously manipulate all four spheres using only your mana to lift above the table for a period of time. ✔
Reward: Alchemist Archetype Profession
You have obtained the Alchemist of Lilith Profession!
Alchemist of Lilith:
An alchemist brews potions, poisons, elixirs, and a myriad of other concoctions that provide a myriad of effects. The alchemist archetype: The Alchemist of Lilith, specializes in brewing elixirs and poisons. Abilities Granted: Alchemical Flame (Initiate), Potion Brewing (Initiate), Poison Brewing (Initiate) & Elixir Brewing (Initiate). Stats per level: +2 Int, +2 Wis, +1 Vit, +1 Free Point.
Skill Gained: [Alchemical Flame (Initiate)]
Skill Gained: [Potion Brewing (Initiate)]
Skill Gained: [Poison Brewing (Initiate)]
Skill Gained: [Elixir Brewing (Initiate)]
Oliver smiled at the system notifications, glad to see that he was correct in his assumption about the dungeon containing a higher-tiered Alchemist profession. While the stat points looked the same, the skill he gained caught his eye. He’d been offered the Elixir Brewing skill when he reached level 10 in his previous alchemist profession but opted to choose the Herbology skill instead.
After reading through his new skill description, Oliver read his next objective.
Profession Challenge Dungeon
Objective 2: Brew two different poisons and a singular elixir (Common+) and place them atop the table 0/3
Reward: Cauldron of the Journeyman
"Where do I...?" Oliver mumbled, scanning the cavern for an alchemy set. His gaze shifted to the various tunnels branching off from the main hub, and he spotted a sign with an image of a cauldron brewing.
The end of the tunnel revealed an alchemy set— a single cauldron, a mortar and pestle and a few hundred glass bottles. With his alchemist equipment now found, all he needed were ingredients. From what he'd seen in the greenhouses, he had more than enough.
----------------------------------------
Skill Upgrade: [Potion Brewing (Initiate → Common)]
Skill Upgrade: [Poison Brewing (Initiate → Common)]
Skill Upgrade: [Elixir Brewing (Initiate → Common)]
Cytotoxic Poison (Common):
A Cytotoxic poison brewed by Oliver Blair, an F-Grade Alchemist of Lilith. Brewed with Nerium oleander, Digitalis purpurea, and an F-Grade Witherfang Arachnid. Upon contact with biological material, the poison rapidly spreads, destroying tissues and cells. The bottle is indestructible to anyone below E-Grade.
Neurotic Poison (Common):
A Neurotic poison brewed by Oliver Blair, an F-Grade Alchemist of Lilith. Brewed with Conium maculatum, Aconitum napellus, and an F-Grade Dire Scorpion. When injected into the bloodstream of a being, the poison will cause paralysis for a period of time. The bottle is indestructible to anyone below E-Grade.
Elixir of Endurance (Common):
An Endurance-based Elixir brewed by Oliver Blair, an F-Grade Alchemist of Lilith. Brewed with Rhodiola rosea, Pfaffia paniculata, and Ironbloom. The bottle is indestructible to anyone below E-Grade. Effects: +10 Endurance when consumed. Requirements: Lv 35+.
Oliver placed the third and final brew atop the table in the center of the main hub, it had taken him around four days, but he completed his task. Oliver waited a moment before the poisons and elixir disappeared and in its place was an ornate cauldron.
Profession Challenge Dungeon
Objective 2: Brew two different poisons and a singular elixir (Common+) and place them atop the table 3/3 ✔
Reward: Cauldron of the Journeyman
Profession Challenge Dungeon
Objective 3: Meeting with Lilith
Reward: ?
Just as Oliver began to read the last system notification, everything went dark. His senses became muted, and useless as all he could see around him was darkness. He couldn’t even tell if he was upright. He was helpless.
The feeling was sickening.
In mere moments, Oliver’s senses returned. He looked around, finding himself not within the cave, rather he was in a room that radiated luxury. What was once stone flooring was now decorated with carpets of gold and velvet, with ornate symbols and sigils laced within the carpets.
The stone walls were replaced with galaxies, planets orbiting around their suns aimlessly throughout the walls that surrounded him. Ornate furniture decorated the vast room he found himself in, their colors richly meshing with the colors that pulsed throughout the room.
In the center of the room was a luxurious deep velvet bed that covered the room and seemed to span infinitely. And atop the bed lay a being whose presence captivated him almost immediately. Oliver's heart skipped a beat, taking in the being in her entirety.
From her head, a waterfall of hair cascaded, spilling across the velvet, like liquid midnight. Hidden within its strands were delicate, scaled tendrils that constantly intertwined themselves with her hair.
Her eyes were twin pools of rainbows, constantly flickering between colors with every passing moment. Her lips, a deep, bruised purple that made Oliver subconsciously focus on them.
Her clothes-
Suddenly Oliver snapped out of his stupor and released a growl of disgust. “Get out of my head!”
The being stared at Oliver with surprised interest, the color of her eyes turning gold. The being produced a hum that sent shivers down Oliver’s back, as her lips parted to reveal sharp predatory teeth. “Oh?”
The being crossed her legs, parting her midnight-colored robes aside and leaning towards Oliver. “I am not actively doing anything.”
How dare she, Oliver seethed as he glared at the being in front of him. It obviously did something to him; how else would it explain how he reacted? “What do you want from me,” he demanded, while he knew obviously this being was powerful, he in fact did not give a damn. Nothing was to touch his mind.
“Me? Why would I want anything from you?” The being questioned tilting her head slightly backward whilst brushing back her hair. “You, on the other hand, want something from me; you entered my dungeon after all.”
Oliver bit back his immediate response and controlled his emotions. He was acting unlike his normal controlled self, most definitely something due to the being, Lilith, in front of him. “Why am I here? I already received the profession I was offered.”
“Hmm?” Lilith smiled, amusingly as though she read right through him. “You have, but it seems as though you have gone above and beyond to complete the goals set for you as a new denizen of the multiverse. Thus, as the dungeon’s creator, it falls upon me to reward you.”
Oliver looked at Lilith with a wary look, whatever she could offer was something that was dangerous. Every mention of a being called Lilith was that of a temptress, one that made others kneel before her and suffer. It would be best to just decline and leave. “I want nothing, I have received satisfactory rewards already. Just send me back.”
“No, that will not do,” Lilith dismissed, a few of her hair tentacles moved from behind her hair and wrapped themselves around her body and face, alluringly so. “I am not one to…not reward someone for their actions,” Lilith replied, her long purple tongue glazing over her sharp teeth, making Oliver visibly grit his teeth and restrain his body.
“I shall reward you with…” Lilith smiled, enjoying the reactions she gained from the mortal in front of her. He was trying his hardest to not react in the way his body commanded him to. Which was admirable to say the least, considering even the gods themselves would prostrate themselves beneath her for the attention she was giving to the mortal in front of her.
Albeit he was protected by the system from the aura she exuded. Nevertheless, her physical form should have made him grovel and become unresponsive. So, to see one, with a budding manipulative mind, react as such. It caught her attention, even more so when she first took notice of him on the third day before the integration of the system began.“…A better way to command mana.”
Oliver’s eyes widened fractionally at her answer, but he knew there had to be a catch to her reward. The way she teased him with her long response and her constant actions…there had to be a catch. “What’s the catch?”
“Oh? Why would there be a catch?” Lilith smiled, her eyes turning a deep blue as she tilted her head slightly. “I promise you a way to become close to mana itself, no strings attached.”
“How,” Oliver demanded as he stared at the being. If she did provide him a way to become closer to mana, the thing that made him feel alive, with no strings attached, then he’d be stupid to throw away the chance.
Lilith leaned towards Oliver, her face mere centimeters away from his own, breaching the gap between them faster than light itself. “Become my consort,” Lilith smiled, staring deeply into Oliver’s eyes, her own turning a deep pink color. “Shed your inferior human form and become that of a demon, a being intimately tied to mana itself, second to that of an elemental.”