He gave the idea of ransacking Hubert’s area a deep thought before entering the secret lair. After all, monsters did not respawn. In theory, cleaning up his rival’s area should benefit him in the long run. However, Theron had other things higher on his priority list; if his zone operated similarly to the other zones, then yes, he’d consider doing so. But that wasn't the case. As he recently found out, the resources—and by extension, his zone, overall—possessed resources that other zones simply did not have, and it’d be a mistake to focus on other things before finishing up every single inch of stuff available here.
The beetle’s empty lair brooded with complete silence. Nothing resembling anything alive existed within and outside—only the whoosh of warm, humid air permeated around its vicinity. From the position of the sun, Theron surmised he had about five to six hours left before night replaced the day, to which he planned to tackle the Troll’s lair directly after.
Theron entered said lair with his mind still sitting on the conversation with Selena prior. First, he thanked god that his eastern neighbors were the amiable ones, not the absolute headaches Hubert’s men posed as. From the way she explained it during their conversation, it appeared some form of a hidden rule had been imposed in this queer world—everyone had to respect the boundaries and the bounties laid within each checkpoint zone—a rule Theron wholeheartedly agreed with.
A light shake from the damp cave roused him from his thoughts, his eyes gaping when he heard the cry of a monstrous beast—deep and grisly, like a half-dead creature screaming. He stood behind the entrance of the secret lair, its black path leading inwards to a place Theron could only describe as dangerous. The smell of damp dirt and most hung thick as he dared to slide his head in, then pulled the other aspects along.
No warnings this time?
[You entered a secret lair. Monsters in here possessed higher attributes than usual.]
Whoops… That is not a good sign. Theron scratched his head, resisting the invisible force forcefully shoving him back to the bright chamber outside. He squinted and frowned as his eyes gradually adjusted to the sheer darkness, uncovering what was hidden by the lack of light; the presence of an otherworldly cave with soil colored not brown, but with a pale shade of teal and the light layer of green moss. He’d missed this detail due to the darkness before, and the revelation didn’t spur his heart to a joyous rhythm. Of course, all the things he’d encountered until he got here were anything but alien, yet, parts of the cave screamed for him to leave and never come back. And had Theron not been so pressed for experience as he was, he’d probably heed their warnings.
And his broaching of the lair caused the beetle resting in his pouch to jitter awake.
[The golden beetle stirs.]
Theron pulled out the glinting insect hibernating within his satchel, exposing it to the humid air, hoping it’d lead him somewhere. The insect woke up and twirled about for a few seconds, then rested again once it lost interest, eliciting a dazzled look from Theron.
What?
[Golden beetle did not sense its companion. Find the silver beetle.]
Oh… I get it, I think… A silver beetle, undoubtedly similar in appearance to the golden variant, must be waiting somewhere in this winding cavern. He stored the limp beetle in his satchel, turned his head up, and pushed himself to continue.
He followed the walls as he ventured deeper with uneasy steps. Luckily, the passage was wide enough to support all his aspects walking together, with Berys occasionally having to duck here and there. The path diverged into multiple holes after they reached the first branch in the cavern, each route curving and twisting to hide where each road led with a wall of teal and green. A frown tensed on Theron’s brows as he studied each road with a wavering stare, unable to make out any differences from the road presented. He ended up picking the leftmost route out of habit. Again, only the presence of moss greeted him upon his traversal, and only after they reached the end of where this burrow led them did Theron spot one of the many denizens of this cave.
Well, as the name suggested, it was just another beetle, but this one appeared different at a glance. Its once jet-black carapace had been speckled with dots and particles of moss; green splotches clinging to its shell as if they were glued toward it. It whirred its giant wings, threatening them to leave with its lurching stance. At first, Theron thought little of its warnings since it was just another beetle—none of them had caused him to worry in the past—but when Borys’ swipes only caused it to jitter and for Lux’s horn pulses to pierce thinly within its hard shell did he begin to sweat.
This thing is way stronger than its usual counterparts.
However, no problem couldn’t be solved by Berys’ almighty slam. It pancaked the poor beetle with its giant fists, earning a kill within a single punch.
[Your aspects earned 80 experience points!]
[Aspect: (Elite) Savage Metal fist Bear gains reduced experience: 40]
Double its usual experience… not bad. A swarm of these would pose him problems this time around; their increased resiliency warranted him extra caution as he scoured the tiny space housing three more of the mossy beetles. Two were killed with Borys’ buffs and Lux’s rain of projectiles, and Berys took care of the last one with another slam. None granted him anything new in terms of aspects or materias; it appeared the system considered these as the same beetles he’d met outside, just twice as strong and thrice as annoying to kill. Well, the increased experience was appreciated, regardless.
[Your aspects earned 80 experience points!] x3
[Aspect: (Elite) Savage Metal fist Bear gains reduced experience: 40] x3
[You obtained a materia: 1x R-2 Black-chrome beetle]
Outside of the beetles, nothing in this chamber drew his attention. He retreated and reached the impasse of multiple paths, again turning left to scour the next route, only for him to enter a room with a slightly different subset of monsters; here, mossy treants laid limp, each appeared to be slumbering at first, then roused upon their entrance. Creaks of hardwood croaked as Theron prepared for a long battle—the increased attributes and the treant’s general toughness made his bears a less threatening force—and he relied on Lux to deal most of the damage this time.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Also, the short distance allowed Theron to use his upgraded Necrotic aura. In an instant, he regarded the reduced power of their whippings, and combined with Berys’ staunch figure, defended most of their attacks significantly. Of course, Berys still suffered bruises as it tanked the brunt of their assault, while Borys slid to each treant, dealing poisonous damage which stacked with Theron’s aura, killing them off with the passage of time and relentless icy horn projectiles.
[Your aspects earned 160 experience points!] x3
[Aspect: (Elite) Savage Metal fist Bear gains reduced experience: 80] x3
[You obtained a materia: 1x R-2 Ghostwood Treant.]
[Your aspect core - Full-grown horned Gray Brute Dire wolf leveled up! It gains +3 might, +2 speed, +4 magic, and +1 toughness. +2 free attribute points.]
[Your aspect core - Full-grown horned Gray Brute Dire wolf reached its maximum level! Further experience gain is stopped. Evolve this aspect to allow it to progress further.]
[Your aspect core - Sable Metal-clawed Bear leveled up! It gains +4 might, +4 speed, and +2 toughness. +2 free attribute points.]
[Your aspect core - Sable Metal-clawed Bear reached its maximum level! Further experience gain is stopped. Evolve this aspect to allow it to progress further.]
[Your aspect core - (Elite) Metal-clawed Bear leveled up! It gains +6 might, +4 toughness, and +2 resistance. +4 free attribute points.]
Well… That’s a lot of messages. Theron skimmed through each line with a passing interest, now debating whether to venture further and complete the lair or leave and evolve one of his aspects, unwilling to waste more experience points. The first would be a waste of his time, especially if he’d gunned for Berys’ evolution, but the next one hampered his progress since the extra experience could go for his other aspects.
At the end of the day, Theron opted for a plan he thought best; to conjure up two new rank-two aspects—the troll and the Basilisk—to replace Lux and Borys. This would be risky, especially with the reduction in his overall strength from losing both of his strongest part members, yet Theron believed Berys could tackle most of the encounters here with Theron’s aura and support. Besides, it wasn’t as if the rank-twos paled so far in comparison to them. Sure, the treant existed within his compendium, but with its glacial walking speed, training it was such a pain in the ass.
Theron unsummoned his old allies, waving a gentle goodbye while he picked up the four common aspect cores in his inventory and crushed them.
[Four common aspect core is crushed. You have four cores available to use.]
[Select the following materializable aspects:]
Rank 1
Forest black boar
Rank 2
Silver-back beast troll
Black-chrome beetle
White-scaled basilisk.
Let’s see… First, the troll. Theron pictured its overwhelming strength, giddy that he’d have something of its ferocity on his side. If he were ever to possess a troll, he’d name it…
[Silver-back beast troll selected.]
Aspect - Silver-back Beast troll | Health : 25/25 | Mana : 0/0
Level: 5 | Next 600 xp
Rank: 2 | Max Level 10
Mana cost: 7 | slot cost: 2
Element: Normal | Affinity: Melee
Class: Troll | Type: Beast
-Attributes-
Free points: - (+2/level)
Might: 35 (+5/level)
Speed: 20 (+3/level)
Magic: 0
Toughness: 15 (+1/level)
Resistance: 0 (+1/level)
-Abilities-
Furious fist
-Troll’s regeneration-
Regenerates 10% health per minute. This effect is stopped if the troll is under a status condition(poison, paralysis, etc) or is burned.
[Furious fist[Melee]: Deals damage in a small area equal to 1x[1.2x] the troll’s might. For the next 10 seconds, the troll gains 10%[12%] bonus might. Cooldown: 1 minute.]
Okay… An even more offensive version of Borys, with a sick regeneration to boot. No wonder they fell after Theron inflicted poison on them; his aura and poison helped without his express knowledge about them. Compared to the bears, Trolls had slightly less toughness than he preferred; with their low Toughness growth, he had to exercise caution upon unleashing this beast later.
Next… The Basilisk.
Aspect - White-scaled basilisk | Health : 20/20 | Mana : 25/25
Level: 5 | Next 600 xp
Rank: 2 | Max Level 10
Mana cost: 6 | slot cost: 2
Element: Ice | Affinity: Magic
Class: Basilisk | Type: Reptile
-Attributes-
Free points: - (+2/level)
Might: 5
Speed: 15 (+2/level)
Magic: 25 (+6/level)
Toughness: 15 (+2/level)
Resistance: 5 (+1/level)
-Abilities-
Icicle spear
-Ice body-
Passively, generates a thin layer of ice encasing its body, shielding the basilisk from the next attack. Max damage block: 20%(max mana). Once shattered, it takes 20 seconds before another layer of ice is regenerated.
[Icicle spear[magic]: Conjure a spear of ice, then launches it at the specified target. Deals 1x[1.2x] magic as damage. Cost: 3 mana.]
[New elemental type found! Ice.]
[Ice types: Weak toward any heat-based element, takes 50% bonus fire damage. Creatures with ice type will deal a portion of its attacks as ice damage. Ice-type aspects passively gain 1 resistance per level. Deals extra 20% ice damage. Immune to most cold environment effects.]
Okay… that’s a lot of text. The bit about the ice types intrigue Theron for a few reasons. First, of course, this thing feared fire damage—or in this case, heat, implying there was more than one type of element ice was weak too—but the passive gain in 1 resistance/level did cover up some of the weaknesses it possessed. This meant the basilisk should shy from some of the drifters who’d thrown fireballs at him before, a grim reminder to never use this basilisk against them in the future.