An alarm blared in his head playing something from Lincoln park. It was nice that the creator of this dungeon grabbed a few songs from his dimension. He pulled a string on the tent flap blinding himself with the duel suns.
“Good morning master what are we going to do today?” Salome asked. He waved a hand at her. Nobody was in little move to contend with his summons right then. He relieved himself in a rabbit burrow and created a massive dumbbell.
The chunk of dense mana weighed about 450kg. Roughly 925lbs from his own measurements. Bending down, he began his morning warm ups. The heavy weight strained his muscles but wasn’t quite enough to hurt him.
At 81STR, he should be significantly stronger than any human ever born. That wasn’t the case. Every day he worked his muscles and increased the weight a little more. A week ago, he wouldn’t have been able to lift his morning workout. This little experiment taught him the limits of attribute points. Attributes represented potential, not actual power. He could potentially reach the heights of intelligence someone with 400INT could reach. Nobody was still human and would have to learn, make mistakes, and fail like everyone else.
Learning that he couldn’t just level himself beyond humanity was comforting in a way, just as it made his goals debilitatingly far away. It was the little things in life that really proved to piss him off.
He threw the barbell against the ground and it shattered into mana shards. Another thing about strength, he was learning. Anger could increase his strength. The higher his potential the larger the anger buff could give him.
He had a pleasant example of just what could happen yesterday.
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He was on his last legs, it had been a long day of travel. They were miles from the skeleton cave still and he was running on empty stamina. Just as he wobbled past a burrow, a rabbit leapt out and headbutted him in the solar plexus.
He crumbled like a soda can and hit the dirt. Salome burst out laughing and Jenny warbled in good humor as well. The world turned red at the sounds of laughter and Nobody leapt to his feet. The long-eared varmintm tried to repeat its attack, only for Nobody to catch it one handed.
His hand closed like a vice and the creature shrieked then burbled blood and brain matter covered Nobody’s hand. The world slowly returned to its normal colors. He had a rabbit to skin and meat for tonight's stew.
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Things like crushing a three-foot-tall rabbit with a skull thick enough to dent iron wasn’t something he was capable of without anger. Since discovering the power anger could give him, he didn’t feel the need to control it.
“Master are you done with your morning routine? We are only a few miles from the cave now.” He nodded his acceptance and they began walking towards the cave.
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Nobody felt doubts about facing the skeletons. What if, even with all his power, he was still no match for the skeletal mage? With its dispel, archers, and warrior caste skeletons, it was formidable. He couldn’t tell his summons of his doubts. They wouldn’t understand, or they would see it as weakness and try to kill him again. He never felt more alone.
The skeleton cave hadn’t changed much. Nothing lived around the cave, it still had a single skeleton guarding it, and the door was the same old slab of wood. He ran at the skeleton, before it could react, he jerked off its head, and slammed it against a boulder. The head shattered, and the skeleton fell in pile of bones.
He picked them up as a memento and kicked in the door. The skeleton warrior turned to him and raised its sword covering its body with its shield. Nobody covered the distance between them in a step. His hand wrapped around the shield and a quick jab dazed the creature. Skeletons were light creatures. He picked the skeleton off its feet and bashed it against the wall. Bones broke under his strength, but he wouldn’t stop until this pile of bones was dust. “Master, enough its HP is gone, it can’t fight anymore.” Nobody looked over at Salome then back at the skeleton.
“So, it can’t. When did it die?” He asked unsure of himself.
“When you punched it. It died after the first blow.” Nobody nodded.
“Thank you, Salome. We have a whole next room to clear be ready.” She looked at him with her eight purple eyes. Two spears crackling with flames appeared in his hands. They weren’t like mana arms weapons. No dispel could cancel their magic. Nobody had carved them himself and enchanted them to absorb mana and transfer the heat to anything that touched their tips. He named the white spear Chad, and the Black one Tyrone.
They were both lv1 and would need than a few wins to reach lv100. He walked through the tunnel. The room was just as he remembered. Bookshelves filled with old tomes, writing desks, and even a platform with a pentagram in the center of it. In sneak mode he spotted the skeletal mage. It moved about and ground its teeth. He took careful aim with Tyrone. He would only get one throw before the creature launched a dispel, removing his summons.
His hand shook around Tyrone’s shaft, the long shaft of the spear hummed with power ready to unleash its terrible bursts of flames. Combined with his throw skill, the weapon was formidable indeed. Taking a breath, he calmed his nerves for the throw, Chad leaned against the wall as a backup.
When his breathing calmed and the skeleton mage’s path was memorized, he threw the spear. Tyrone blurred through the air, the skeletal mage’s robes and the creature’s spine. Then the transfer started. All of Tyrone’s stored energy discharged as heat. The skeleton ignited then exploded sending shards of bone everywhere.
Quickly taking Chad in his other hand, he threw the white spear into the nearest skeleton archer. The quick discharge and explosion of was just a Chad thing to do. The spear worked well with Tyrone that way. Both weapons gained ten levels from the kills Tyrone a bit more from the stronger enemy.
Salome captured one of the skeletal archers using her web and dragged the undead to be dismembered. The other skeletal warriors were already inside Jenny. Their bones began to dissolve within the dragon slime. Seeing the battle was over, ihe let out his held breath.
Nobody retrieved his spears to inspect them. The wooden shafts felt denser and the spear tips were a bit sharper. Turning them over, he felt the runes. Each symbol played an important part in his weapon’s design. There were a few scratches, but the runic arrays on the weapons weren’t in any danger of collapsing. With a sigh, he put his weapons back in the inventory.
“From here on out, we are going to inspect the library. Any books that teach blue mana type skills or spells go on that table. Any other books are to be separated in stacks on the floor.” Jenny made a glopping sound, Nobody nodded to her. She went out to explore more of the cave. As a slime, she didn’t have eyes to read.
He began to look through the shelves finding research notes and few reference texts. “How does research on binding soul’s to weapons end with skeletons?” Nobody muttered as he glanced over the texts before tossing them in on the ever-growing research journal stack.
“I found something interesting master, come look.” Salome said. He walked over and caught a blue book. Studying Techniques, A Lesson in Neuro, the requirements were for any mana type which was good. The ability to learn faster wasn’t a bad thing.
“Thank you, Salome, what do you want in return.” She showed him something swollen and metallic. He looked over her blushing face and noticed the change in her body. Her spider half wasn’t silver anymore. Her whole body had taken up a black finish. The glowing purple eyes made her look more exotic. He could feel heat coming off her body.
“I’m not a golem with little feeling anymore master. I’ve become something not quite flesh or machine. Just think it over alright. I’ll work over there to leave you with your thoughts.” First Katara now Salome. Why were they all going after him now? Was it his charisma? Had such a low attribute really affected how other saw him?
“I’ll be over there while you work, thinking about what you’ve told me.” He said and walked across the room mechanically. Nobody went through the research and history texts quickly alphabetizing them and stuffing his inventory with them.
He found a red book on fireball, a yellow book on mana manipulation, and a purple book on feeding armies. After separating them, he continued to the next shelf. It was a large library he could tell it would take some time before they finished.
Hours past and he sat at the desk looking over the STALIN book. It was filled with little tricks to help speed read, remember important details, and find patterns. Not ten pages in he received a pop up.
New skill Study lv1 +3FOC +2PER
New Attribute PER(Perception)
Passive
Details: A skill used by all practitioners who are diligent in the study of any field of magic. This skill allows a user to not only study books, people, and conversations, but for blue mana types it allows them to study the skills of monsters and potentially copy the abilities.
Effect: +10% learning efficiency per skill level. Higher perception increases skill growth and the chance to learn monster skills 0.01% x PER.
Range: Perception limit.
“Master are you ok, you stopped reading and zoned out for a bit.” Nobody closed his eyes and opened them slowly. He felt his mind pick apart her words, while his concentration was preoccupied. She had genuine worry in her voice, whether it was for his own well being or hers, was unsure. He still couldn’t trust her, but if he found out what really owned her loyalty, maybe.
“I’ll be ok, lets find Jenny and get out of here. I have what we came for.” Nobody said. He really did have it. His vengeance upon the skeletons was his real reason for being here. Everything else was secondary to that task. With the skeletons destroyed, he felt better.
“Jenny hasn’t gotten back yet. Did something unsummon her?” He shook his head. “Then we have to go save her.” Salome said. Nobody nodded his head. Did she really have feelings for the slime girl, or was this all an act?
They walked through the corridor the same way Jenny traveled. Empty suits of armor covered the floor from skeleton warriors. After walking through an open door, the way lit up. Torches covered the place and the air began to get colder.
Eventually, they entered a room with a massive pillars of ice littering the place. Cold flames danced in lanterns illuminating the chamber in a blue light. Upon a throne of ice was a large creature made of skeletons and ice. Jenny was frozen solid behind his throne.
“She must have been about to sneak attack him when he blasted her.” Salome said. Nobody nodded. He cupped his hands and she lowered her ear to him.
“No, shit.” He whispered back to her. Slowly taking Chad and Tyrone out of his inventory, the two spears began to hum with mana. He entered sneak mode and began to walk behind the pillars. The creature was making the air cold with its presence alone. Nobody targeted him.
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Maggoth The Ice Demon lv20
That was strange, why was such a low level monster able to freeze Jenny solid. Salome slowly lowered herself from the ceiling. She planned to kill the Ice Demon with a sneak attack. While that was going on, he took out his paint brush and began to paint fire traps all over the pillars.
“I know you’re there mortal, show yourself and your death will be quick. None kill quicker than Maggoth the Frost Lord.” Nobody leapt out of cover exposing himself just as Salome attacked. Maggoth raised his shield and blocked Salome’s axe.
Flaming piercing spears fired out striking the creature in the chest lighting him up. A smile stretched over Nobody’s face, as he waited for pop ups. “Aren’t you counting your victory’s too soon.” A mist covered the demon’s body protecting it from fire. Salome shrieked, as one of her arms froze solid when touching the shield. The limb broke off and shattered.
He thrust Tyrone forward and felt his weapon unleash a blast of flames in the demon’s mist field. The flames exploded and winked out. Frost leapt up his weapon, just as Nobody retreated. Daggers with fire trap appeared and smashed into the Demon.
“You underestimate the power of the 9th circle mortal.” Maggoth said and opened its mouth before spitting out a blast of freezing mist. He returned Tyrone to his inventory and threw a few firebombs. The small rocks exploded filling the room with heat.
Nobody stopped paying attention to Salome and focused only on the fight. He began to stride, dodging what attacks he could, and unleashed a payload of firebombs. Explosions shook the cave sending stalagmites crashing down.
“You're crafty mortal, I will give you that, but my victory is inevitable.” He weighed his options. This guy was strong sure, but he wasn’t invincible. Remote detonation unleashed the few traps Nobody was able to place before the battle. The demon fell to a knee.
Nobody sprinted sensing weakness. Holding Chad in both hands, he rammed it in the demon’s neck. The creature’s eyes opened wide as flames shot through its mist shield. The demon raised its sword, and Nobody leapt back as a pillar of ice exploded up from where he once stood.
“You hurt me, a mortal hurt me... This is unacceptable!” The demon shrieked and began to glow, the mist surrounding its body began to spin thickening. “Hell’s Blizzard,” The demon shouted. Nobody began to back track. He swapped to his bow and began to fire arrows enchanted with fire trap.
The slowly expanding blizzard threw his arrows off course. Arrows exploded sending flames at random, but Nobody didn’t feel any of it. The blizzard canceled out the flames before they could change the flow of battle. The demon began to cackle before it charged.
Nobody dodged to the side narrowly escaping the blizzard. His cloak froze and shattered in placed. Changing tactics, this time when he heard the demon cackle, he made a runway with fire bomb arrows. As the demon charged, Nobody detonated them. This time the explosions hit the blizzard throwing its rotation off course. He readied Chad letting the demon charge at him. He would only get one shot at this.
He took control of his own mana and began to force it into his spear. A pop up appeared but he paid it no mind, this was all or nothing. The runes glowed so bright they burned his palms. His movements became stiff from the cold, he couldn’t dodge at this point even if he wanted to. The explosions continued to go off timed with the demon’s charge.
Taking in a frigid breath, he braced the spear with all his might. He would use his own body to keep the attack on the mark. His MP supply ran dry just as what was left of the blizzard hit him. His health and stamina began to deplete at record speeds. He could feel himself slipping away, then the blizzard vanished, and cold blood covered his hands.
Nobody’s spear had pierced the demon’s blizzard, shield, armor, and through its eye the brain. A blast of fire shot out from the back of the demon’s head heating up the room. He stood there for a few minutes basking in his victory and unable to really move. His health was slowly regenerating. He had survived by 10HP. His stamina was none existent.
Slowly, he recovered. His HP increased by dozens a second. He looked at his spear. Chad was now at lv100. It was ready to evolve. The spear looked like a master crafted version of itself. The head was sharper than anything he had ever seen. The runes glowed with power all their own. He reviewed his options.
Fire Spear lv1
Item Rank: D
Requirement: lv100 fire enchanted spear
Description: A spear harboring an infant fire elemental. This spear can deal fire damage with the best of them and grants the user a small amount of fire protection. Its black shaft, ruby head, and glowing blue runes give this weapon a formidable appearance.
Damage: 100-160 Phys/Fire Dam +STR/DEX
Dark Fire Spear lv1
Item Rank: D+
Requirement: lv100 fire enchanted spear anointed with demon blood
Description: A spear harboring a corrupted infant fire elemental, in other words a demon. This spear can deal cursed fire damage at the price of some of the user’s HP. It will try to manipulate you and possess your mind. It has a purple shaft, black and orange head, and glowing yellow runes, this is a cursed weapon.
Damage: 150-200 Phys/ Cursed Fire dam + STR/INT
Holy Storm Spear lv1
Item Rank: C
Requirement: lv100 Fire enchanted spear used to slay a demon of the opposing element anointed with the demon’s corrupted element.
Description: A spear harboring a spirit that feeds on corruption, in other words an angel. This spear feeds on the curses of demons and uses its wielder’s MP to manifest itself. It has a white shaft, Blue/Red swirling head, and glowing gold runes, this weapon is formidable.
Damage: 200-350 Phys/ Holy Storm Dam + STR/WIS
He chose the Holy Storm Spear, the weapon hovered in the air. It began to spin glowing with a light that could only be called holy. A bubble formed around the spear as the weapon changed. Gone were the beautiful but amateur runes instead in its place was a script that Nobody had never seen before.
The shaft of the spear was white with beautiful golden runes, the head of the spear was a snowflake and a flame in a green amber. The amber looked like a tornado and ended with a very sharp point. Nobody hefted the weapon in the air. It hummed at his touch. Chad had become something Majestic. Now if he could only find an angel to slay with Tyrone.
Taking the Chad, he decided to perform some amateur surgery on the demon’s corpse.
Cutting a line in the demon’s chest was the easy part, cracking the rips wasn’t. When the bone armor was removed the demon was just a head taller than a goblin. It was much hardier, and it didn’t have gaps in its rips. With a lot of pulling and cutting Nobody got what he wanted, the heart.
The organ was a large black muscle still beating despite the demon’s death. Grasping the large organ in his hand he opened his mouth and took a bite. As it turned out a demon’s heart is very chewy. He shook his head like a shark then spun the heart like a reverse crocodile. After swallowing a piece of the demon, he felt something cold flow through him. He took another bite. His HP quickly recovered along with his MP, and SP.
You have gained strength from a higher race +5 to all stats. Trait: Demon Hunter +5% damage to all demons.
Name/Jobs Traits Skills Array/Spells Summons Nobody: lv60 +60VIT +60WIS +108INT , Sentinel: lv14 +70INT Transdemensional +10INT, TrailBlazer +5AGL, NPC Killer +5% damage to NPCs, MP Battery x2MP +50% Mag Dam, MP Hole x2MR -20% MP Cost, Demon Hunter +5%vsdemons +5 all stats. Dodge lv4 +12AGL, Throw lv10 +10STR +20DEX, Sneak lv5 +5AGL +15DEX, Magical Trap Mastery lv10 +40INT, Pain Resistance lv6 +18END, Remote Detonation lv5 +20INT +10WIS, Amateur Surgeon lv2 +8INT +2LUK, crafting lv4 +12WIS, Bomb Factory lv1 +2DEX +3END, Riding lv5 +10DEX +10END, MP Rage lv1 +3INT +2WIS, Siege Arts lv4 +13WIS, Rune Mastery lv10 +20INT +10WIS, Mana Arms lv10 +10FOC +10INT +10WIS, Summoning lv3 +6FOC +6WIS, Heavy Training lv1 +5STR, Gardener lv10, Dig lv1 +1STR +2END, Running lv10 +20END +30AGL, Climb lv10 +50, Calisthenics lv10 +10All Phys, Weight Training lv1 +5All Phys, Flattery +50CHA, Meditation lv5 +15FOC +10WIS, Poison Resistance lv3 +9END, Mining lv1 +3STR +2DEX, Turn Monster lv2 +2INT +2FOC +2CHA, Wood Carving lv4 +8DEX +4FOC, Study lv1 +2PER +3FOC Fire Trap, Electrical Trap, Frost Trap, Mana Pulse, Lightning Rod, Piercing Spears Salome Bitchtron/Biospider golem lv3, Jenny lv3 Dragon Slime Attributes Health 400(+6.7sec) Mana 4330(+27.4sec) Stamina 335(+3.7sec) STR 86 VIT 85 DEX 80 END 72 AGL 42 INT 438 WIS 149 FOC 45 LUK 22(27) CHA 57 PER 7