The next day was for everyone roughly the exact same as the one before. Several of the groups would be selected to go into the fortress, all on the same layer for safety reasons. Those that were not remained in the small area in the stairwell where an assortment of fortifications were set up in the event that anything dangerous were to appear that any of the groups couldn’t handle on their own.
Arthur and his group were assigned to guard duty on this day. While everyone else was either training to maintain their skills or making small talk with people outside their group Arthur was looking at his hud and the changes from the day before.
/- - - - - -\
+ 50 Exp
+ 50 Exp
+ 50 Exp
+ 50 Exp
+ 50 Exp
+ Longblades Level 7
+ Heavy Armour Level 5
\- - - - - -/
/- - - - - -\
Name : Arthur
Level 4
Exp : 950
Next Level at : 1400
Mana : 6/6
\- - - - - -/
Arthur had figured out how to change the layout of the HUD at will so he only needed to look at the bits of information he needed to.
‘Where should I put those points I currently have? My dexterity is still at ten so that may be useful for fighting with weapons. But if I increase my intelligence I will have more mana to use. I suppose I could do both, screw it. I'll try out five points in dexterity and see how It affects me tomorrow and go from there.’
It took almost all day to clear out the second floor which was a fairly large increase in the numbers of the goblins compared to the first floor which only took half a day to clear.
Thankfully no one was hurt in a serious way and everyone was ready to start again tomorrow.
On the third day Arthur and his group were chosen to take part in clearing the third floor. Arthur’s group were selected to clear all hostels down the southernmost hallway, so far none of the hallways had connected to each other, but Lyra and the higher ups expected that to change as the expedition claimed more floors. They were right to as all the groups dispatched discovered the hallways did in fact intersect forming a square with a cross in the middle.
The rooms that Arthur and his group entered were from what he could tell based on his limited experience with Theo were kitchens and many of the others based on all the old barrels that were lying around, breweries and food stores to preserve the food they produced.
‘From what I heard at dinner last night there were several old taverns and temples on the second floor. This was likely where the food and alcohol was stored before it was transferred up.’
Much to Hambel’s disappointment all the alcohol was long gone, either drank long ago or the barrels broken. Most likely by goblins.
Arthur during this delve into the fortress killed another ten goblins giving him 500 Exp.
/- - - - - -\
Name : Arthur
Level 5
Exp : 1450
Next Level at : 2000
Mana : 7/7
\- - - - - -/
During this time Arthur also noticed the changes adding five points in dexterity did.
‘My strikes are cleaner and I think I used less stamina than before. It might not have been much but now but in the future that might be a good investment if I want to continue developing my skill with the longsword.’
During dinner Arthur asked Cassia about what he should put his points into.
“Hey Cassia.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Yes Arthur?”
“I want your advice on what I should invest my points into.”
“Well that depends. What level are you currently at?”
“Level five.”
“Level 5 already?” Cassia looked at Arthur as if he grew another head. “How? It should have taken you more than twice the amount of time than what you are telling me.”
“Remember my passive skills?”
“Yes.
“One of those skills is called Advanced Learning.”
“Oh right. I forgot that you gain double the exp as everyone else.” Cassia was silent for a while before she turned to Arthur with an inquisitive look on her face. “What do you wish to learn more of in your future?”
“Well I think magic is really cool so I would like to learn more about that.”
“Any specific types of magic or just magic as a whole?”
“I would say magic as a whole.”
“Alright.” Cassia wrote something down on a piece of paper that Arthur somehow hadn't noticed. “What about your training with the longsword? Is that just a temporary crutch until you learn enough about magic or do you wish to continue training with it?”
“Well I enjoy the feeling of swinging it and I enjoy training with Hambel so I expect to continue training.”
“Not the worst decision, most mages have a bit of skill with a weapon aside from magic. Typically either a dagger or a mace but a sword can work too.” Cassia wrote down more on the paper. Arthur assumed it was most likely just his answers. “And what about your armour?”
“My armour? What about it?”
“Do you intend to continue wearing armour even after learning magic that can protect you from physical and magical harm?”
“Well truth be told when I take the armour off I feel very exposed. I know the armour won't protect me from everything but I know it will do its best. So I think for the time being I will be keeping the armour.”
Cassia wrote down more on the paper before she let out a sigh and put it down.
“Well Arthur, if your class wasn’t that all knowing thing you most likely would have been either a spell blade or a mage knight.”
“What are spell blades and mage knights?” This was the first time Arthur had heard anything about other classes aside from his own, he didn’t even know Hambel’s or Cassia's classes.
“A spell blade is an arcane spell caster that uses a bladed weapon with mostly self supporting spells to inflict large amounts of damage. Mage knights on the other hand are far more defensive focused, typically using shields along with a one handed weapon of their choice along with defensive magic.”
Cassia gave Arthur a moment to think. ‘So far I have been more of a spell blade than a mage knight but that is mostly due to not having any defensive magic at hand leaving attack as my best defence.’
“As of right now I am more like a spell blade due mostly to not having any spells that can protect me. In the future that may change.”
“That's alright, classes change for people all the time. When I was younger I was a farmer and had the class of farmer. Now I am a war mage.” Cassia beamed at the mention of her title.
“What is a war mage?” Arthur asked. ‘There appears to be a large amount of mage related classes.’
Cassia smiled upon hearing Arthur’s question. “A war mage is a mage that specializes in offensive magic, and are most known for the massive destruction they can bring to a battlefield.”
“Just how powerful are their spells?”
“The most powerful war mages can use their most powerful spells to siege castles all by themselves without any other siege weaponry. I'm not at that level yet though, but perhaps someday I will be able to do something like that.”
“Those spells you spoke of must require large amounts of mana.”
“They do, but for now you don’t need to worry about that. You should probably decide on what of the two classes you want to emulate.” Cassia changed the conversation so she didn’t need to talk about those powerful spells.
Only the most powerful empires and kingdoms share such information and they only do it to their most loyal mages. Also Cassia didn’t know all that much about them as she didn’t even have the mana pool to cast a half of one. Arthur of course noticed that Cassia changed the topic but simply assumed she had a good reason for not telling him more.
‘Perhaps she signed a legal document with the kingdom everyone here talks about that prevents her from talking about it with those not affiliated with the kingdom.’
“I suppose that for the time being I will be going down a path rather similar to that of a spell blade. I currently don’t have the time or knowledge to learn any defensive spells.”
“An excellent choice then Arthur.” Cassia smiled knowing she is helping her friend make a very important choice. “In that case the 5 primary attributes you will want to focus on are strength, dexterity, vitality, intellect, and arcane.”
“I know what the first four do, but what does arcane do?”
“Arcane is your body's natural attunement to the arcane magical forces in the world allowing you to more easily focus and improve your magic power. It is something every mage wants to have high alongside intellect.”
********
The following three weeks the expedition force slowly but surely secured floor after floor even claiming the fifteenth floor where Arthur found himself on that fateful day.
“So this is the hallway where you awoke in.” Aelia said to Arthur even though she didn’t look at him.
“Yes. I was in the room at the very end of the hall.” Arthur pointed to the open door at the very end of the hallway. A sense of eerie dread filled the group as they walked down the hall. Arthur noticed that the skeleton that he crushed to death with the door was missing, in fact several if not most of the skeletons were missing which Arthur pointed out to the rest of the group.
“What do you think it means, Aelia?”
“I don’t know. Goblins usually don’t use bones for anything other than trophies but this obviously isn’t that.”
The group remained on edge for the rest of their trip and when they retired they reported their findings with Lyra and her second in command Citro. Although they did express worry and informed their superiors about it, but untimely they needed to continue on.
This coupled with the fact that the goblins were getting stronger and better equipped was making things longer and far more dangerous for the expedition.
Another two weeks passed and while on the twentieth floor a group that was dispatched in the northernmost hallway came back with big news. They had discovered a cavern full of plant life.
According to what the group said there was a forest of mushrooms that were the size of trees and fungus that was like grass. But the most important of their discoveries and the most worrying was that several patrols of armed goblins that were seen moving around wearing bone and leather armour.