The nature of ascensions is often debated by many scholars. It is commonly accepted that there are ascensions between each star rank, however there can also be more. Everyone knows of the ascensions that can occur for certain individuals within the lower ranks. For some reason the System allows certain individuals the opportunity to advance their classes at certain level milestones within zero star.
One can advance a Mundane class to Lesser at level 10, A Lesser class to Greater at level 20, a Greater class to Superior at level 40, and a Superior Class to Legendary at level 60. We aren’t sure exactly why the System gives these extra chances at ascending a class, however it is without a doubt a very useful aid. Ascending a class during a Star ascension is far harder than doing so with the systems help in zero star.
* An excerpt from `The Might of Ascension` by Guildmaster Lina Lei of the Talway Branch
Ava’s Own
Third Floor of the Eternal Dungeon
Layer Nine, The Wyrmscale Caverns
“On your left!” I shout.
My warning comes just in time for Hal to maneuver his shield in the way of the kobolds blade. Sparks fly as the enchanted steel of the Kobolds Axe-Pick grinds against Hal’s shield. Luckily we learned our lesson about lacking equipment three tries ago, this time Hal’s shield is one we stole from the previous Layer’s warden and it’s strong enough to withstand the blow.
Hal empowers his shield arm with an enhancement skill and knocks the Kobold Warriors’ weapon out of position. He quickly exploits the opening to run his shortsword through the monster's neck. Unfortunately for us, these creatures are far more skilled than their kin from the higher layers. The Kobold Warrior manages to use its tail to push off of the ground, turning its backwards stumble into a confident roll and stopping the sword from leaving more than a small mark.
“Skreee!”
The death throes of the Kobold Shaman echo out in the cavern drawing the attention of every combatant. Z had managed to reach the Shaman during the frenzied melee and dispatched her while Jay held her guards in place. The largest remaining Kobold Warrior shouts out something in their tongue and all the remaining Kobolds start pulling back towards the exits on the west side.
“Hal, protect Z and Jay! Lia with me!” I shout my orders and pursue the retreating Kobolds.
Hal moves to guard our two exhausted teammates while Lia uses her movement ability to quickly reach me from the other side of the cavern. We move together chasing after the retreating monsters while throwing ranged attacks at them. We harry the kobolds until they reach the tunnels and only return to the group once we’re sure they’ve fully retreated.
“Did you manage to get any this time?” Z asks from his position sprawled out on the moss.
“No, they were too quick. All the damage we managed to do was superficial, nothing their Shaman’s can’t fix in a few spells.” Lia responds for us.
Z frowns before laying his head back down onto the ground. Exhaustion is clearly presented on the determined faces of my friends. We had been down here for days and our supplies were dangerously low. We needed to find the boss room or a safe area soon or else we would be forced to go back and lose all our progress.
“Look on the brightside guys, we’ve only got three more areas to check.” I say as I open up the map in my system.
Making attempts at the third floor hadn’t been all disappointment. We had completed several quests and found lots of loot, we had made a lot of EC over these past weeks. All of us had managed to acquire a few pieces of class gear from the special shops in town and we had gotten deeper than any other group. Well technically other groups had gotten deeper, but they all died so it doesn’t count.
After finding a safe room with a world tree connection near the end of the seventh layer we had been steadily mapping out the last two layers. Z’s intel from the Spiritkin informed us that the tenth layer was almost entirely filled by the boss room, so for the past weeks we had been trying to find a way down. Unfortunately the only way down we had found so far involved jumping down the dropshaft, something that was known to be guaranteed death.
Even with our newly increased levels, there was no chance of us surviving. Even a group of level 40’s had been killed trying to go down the dropshaft. There was little chance that our group of mid 30’s could make it. Although we had all agreed to make an attempt at it if we were still stuck after our next class ascensions.
I took a quick look at my party's status as we rested.
Ava’s Own:
Ava Brahm (Party Leader) | Druid (Greater) Level 36
Status: Healthy (98%) [Moderate Exhaustion] Mana:430/516
Jay Lore (Sub-leader) | Blizzard Wizard (Greater) Level 34
Status: Healthy (92%) [Moderate Exhaustion] Mana:210/532
Zarik ‘Z’ | Shadowsneak (Greater) Level 38
Status: Lightly Injured (83%) [Heavy Exhaustion] Mana:140/365
Hal | Steelforged Protector (Superior) Level 31
Status: Healthy (100%) [Moderate Exhaustion] Mana:30/196
Lia Lex | Paladin (Greater) Level 37
Status: Healthy (95%) [Moderate Exhaustion] Mana:400/484
The Party System had only grown better the more we used it. It’s even able to directly interface with our own personal statuses allowing it to display everyone’s names, relative health, and mana levels. I even learned that I can directly feed it information from my diagnostic spells which means that it can even display special conditions such as paralysis or exhaustion. The party interface has been integral to much of our success since it allows me to see the team's condition without needing them to report in or me having to cast a diagnostic spell in the middle of combat.
I move over towards Z and give him a weak heal with an extended effect as well as an invigoration spell to help with his exhaustion. I smile in satisfaction as his status updates to [Moderate Exhaustion] and his health starts slowly improving towards Healthy.
“Ok everyone, get up. We need to move to a more secure location before taking a proper rest. You all know how dangerous these caverns can be if we linger.” I say, moving to help Z up from the floor.
“Right, right, I’m getting up. I definitely don’t want to deal with those bats again.” Z says with a slight shudder as I pull him up from the floor.
We had learned that while there may be no day or night down in these caves, the animals still follow a cycle. Every 16 hours the massive colonies of bats move from their roosts and relentlessly hunt for 8 hours straight. The monstrous bats only become more dangerous the deeper one goes into the caverns as the lower layers have better prey and more competition. My party had quickly learned to rest while the bats were out, as they made traversing the open caverns and larger tunnels impossible for both us and other monsters.
I checked the clock function in my system and found that we had less than half an hour to find proper shelter before the bats would start roaming. We may have more time so long as the nearby caverns were due to spawn aphids anytime soon. However, based on the amount of green I was seeing around us it wasn’t likely we would get lucky.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I led the team down one of the tunnels towards the unmapped area. If we were lucky there would be an area where we could take refuge. If we were unlucky then we should still have enough time to reach one of the previously discovered resting areas. If we are really, really lucky the unexplored tunnels will have a safezone in them.
Sadly, no one is that lucky, besides the Guild Leader maybe. She is famously lucky for some reason, probably her strange magic. I had only ever had a chance to see the Guild Leader once. It was at one of the few noble events that I was forced to attend when I was younger. The Guild Leader had a strange magic with colors I had never seen before and she seemed to be able to read people's minds with just a glance.
All the books and tutors I had ever had agreed that mind magic was impossible. The only ‘mind magic’ that existed was either incredibly weak to the point of being largely useless or required consent from the party it was used on. Still, I would believe that the Guild Leader had mind magic until I could figure out what she was actually doing.
As I navigated down another side tunnel I came across a large opening in the tunnel wall. It looked like a massive scar, as though some huge beast slashed through the rock. I ordered Z to scout out the inside of the opening, even with his exhaustion and low mana, he was the person most capable of stealth.
I watched Z slip in through the opening and disappear into the darkness. I waited anxiously, my eyes flickering between the surroundings and Z’s status on my party screen. If something were to happen to him I would need to know immediately so that we could either assist him or pull a retreat. Thankfully after only ten minutes of waiting he returned and I let out a small sigh of relief.
“It’s all clear. This opening appears to be the only one and the area on the other side is about the size of our courtyard back at base. It should be a safe enough spot to camp once Jay wards the entrance.” Z reports.
“Excellent. Let’s move in and set up camp. After we’re rested we’ll spend the next cycle exploring the rest of the floor and hopefully find a way forwards. If we don’t find anything tomorrow, we’ll be forced to head back.” I say.
Everyone acknowledges my orders with grim, yet determined looks. None of us want to go back before beating the boss. With the Guild opening up the dungeon to everyone the place has been flooded with people. While it's clear that the dungeon itself is limiting how many people can be inside at once, the numbers are still far higher than before.
If we don’t manage to defeat the boss on this run, then it's likely that we’ll lose the chance to be the first ones to clear it. Other groups have already found the boss room and even challenged the boss, yet no one has managed to kill it. And while other groups are willing to brag about finding the boss, no one is willing to divulge its location. It is well known that the first group to complete a dungeon milestone gets extra rewards for it after all. Something that is partially our fault, as even I’m not immune to bragging about getting good rewards.
Once everyone is inside the cave I move to help Jay ward the entrance. While I spend much of my free time trying to become a better leader, Jay spends it engrossed in magical study. He finally decided that he learned enough rune theory to start actually trying to apply it, thus we’ve been warding our camps.
The work Jay does is nowhere close to as good as an actual classed runemasters, but it is good enough to relieve us of needing to set a watch. The wards do the watching for us and if something happens they’ll delay the enemy long enough for us to react. They also have a feature to directly wake us up in the event of something activating them which means that we can have a silent alarm. Something that is necessary when any noise serves only to attract more monsters to us.
Speaking of noise, one of the other main features of the wards is to stop any sound from passing through them. It’s a feature that goes both ways so it’s not great if we want to observe what’s happening outside the wards, but it is excellent when you want to sleep.
Jay does all the actual rune work. Using a set of very expensive mithril carving tools to write the symbols of power into the wall and link them together. Once the carving is done he uses gemstone dust as a base and a few mana crystals to hold the power. The only thing I have to do is charge it all up with mana to make sure it lasts the night. Something that I’m more than willing to do considering how much mana I have left.
It takes me a few minutes to charge the entire warding array. By the time I’m finished everyone else has already taken out our camping supplies and started setting up for the night. Hal and Lia each put up a tent, one for the girls and one for the boys. Z has pulled out the fire stone to help warm the cave and give us a surface to cook on.
The firestone is a large circular disk with embedded mana crystals and an enchantment that makes it heat up like a fire. We use it in place of a normal fire so that we don’t have to worry about the air quality inside whatever cave we camp in. Z has taken to using it as a chance to try and cook the local monsters.
He convinced Lia to show him the ropes of cooking and managed to get a lesser chef skill surprisingly quickly. Ever since then he’s been determined to find out which of the dungeons monsters can be turned into delicious food. He even swaps recipes with the Spiritkin back in town.
While he does occasionally end up feeding us something disgusting, thanks to my detect contaminant spell he’s yet to poison us. Plus he does manage to make something actually good every now and then which means we get to save that meal's rations. It’s been helping us to extend our expeditions, even if only for an extra half day.
Tonight he plans on cooking with some kind of giant lizard creature we caught. It was tagged as a Metalguana (Greater) Level 32 and it had incredibly tough scales with a tail like a razorwhip. It was tough to kill, but its exterior pieces are all as strong as steel so we hoped to get some extra coin for it. Since we had no plans for the rest of the beast, Z is going to be cooking it.
When he experiments with a new creature he makes sure to try and use every part he can identify. After confirming with my spell that none of his raw ingredients are actually poisonous, he starts his cooking. It takes him two hours to cook half a dozen dishes over the firestone and everytime he finishes one he makes us try it.
“So how was everything?” Z asks with some excitement. He had been tasting it himself after all and was confident that it was pretty good even with his bias.
“It was better than the Giant Centipede but worse than the Wyld Lurker.” Jay answers and I nod in agreement.
Wyld affinity creatures always taste better for some reason and despite being a giant spider, the lurker was no exception. It tasted strangely familiar to crab, perhaps because they are both arachnids?
“Overall I would say the results were good. All of the dishes were edible and four of the six were actually good. I think the stew was the best overall, it cooked the meat enough to make the tougher parts tender.” Lia says. Her opinion is the main one that Z cares about since she has a higher chef skill than him.
“Yes!” Z exclaims with a pumped fist. “At this rate I’ll get my skill to the lesser cap in no time!”
We spend another half an hour talking by the firestone, enjoying one another’s company before heading to bed. Everyone is tired enough that I don’t have to force them to sleep. Even Jay who normally loves to stay up reading goes to bed.
Tomorrow, we’re going to be exploring the rest of the floor and hopefully we’ll be fighting the boss.
======================================================
Unknown?
“Oi! Grimsby, what’s the word?” I whisper-shouted to our scout upon his return.
“Looks like they set up camp for the cycle boss. They got some magical wards though, No way we can jump em’.” My scout informs me.
“Damn, alright plan B then. We’ll continue following from a distance. Make sure not to follow close enough for the target to spot us. He used to be a Silver Coin, so it's better to assume his perception is on the higher side with skills to back it.” I order
“Shit boss, you didn’t tell us they had a Silver Coin with em’!” Jacobs, my first knife, exclaims.
“Be quiet you moron! Didn’t you hear me say ‘used to be’. The man left em’, he’s no longer under their protection. Which means he’s free game, just like the rest of his party.” I say.
“Yeah, like the pretty one with the emerald hair. I can’t wait to get a piece of her.” Kenny, my second knife, says with a lecherous look.
I slam Kenny’s dumb fucking face into the ground, making sure that he can feel it though his stupidly high endurance.
“Kenny you dumb little shit. How many times do I have to tell you that we aren’t touching a noble brat no matter how disowned she allegedly is! Robbing and killin’ is one thing, but we aren’t a bunch of lowlife rapists!” I chastise him, slamming his head into the stone a second time for good measure.
I swear the only way to communicate with these fools is by literally pounding my orders into their skulls. The only other person with any brains in my crew is Grimsby and that’s only cause stupid scouts don’t live long.
Luckily I only have to deal with them for another few days. The minute this job is done I’ll make Grimsby a more permanent offer and ditch the rest before leaving town. The pay that we were promised is hefty enough for me to finally start my own mercenary guild. Then I won’t be forced into taking these criminal contracts anymore.
“I’m almost out, just gotta finish this damn job.” I mumble to myself as we bunk down, waiting for the target to move.