“This was easy once you figured out that slash spell,” Savantha said as she looked around the dungeon floor covered with destroyed trees. “How much of the wood are we taking with us?”
“I’m not planning to take much,” Pear said as he cast another Earth Slash at the log and sheared the larger limbs away. “Maybe enough for a wand or something.”
“Looking to replace your starter gear?” she asked, watching him use his spells to carefully cut away a piece of wood the size of his arm from elbow to fingertip.
“And to see what exactly this stuff can do for me,” Pear nodded as he tucked the mana-dense wood into his bag and hoped the piece he’d taken wouldn’t lose the mana inside. “Let’s go see if we can’t find the exit.”
You’ve completed a Dungeon Quest!
Prune the Water-Drowned Cypress Forest: You’ve managed to remove enough Water-Drowned Cypress that the Water Elementals are finally able to filter the mana from the lower floors once more. As you have removed the maximum number of the trees from the forest, your rewards have been enhanced.
Rewards: Passage to the next floor;
Perk: Water Skin: You have been bathed in massive amounts of Water mana. You will benefit from faster MP regeneration in areas thick with Water mana. You will have a natural resistance to Water spells, hot temperatures, and dehydration.
Any Water-Drowned Cypress you wish to keep will not decay its internal stores of Water mana.
Enchanted Monk’s Clothes.
“You get your clothes?” Pear asked Savantha as he read through his new Perk.
“And a pretty nice Perk,” she answered as a small chest appeared in front of them. “Let’s see the goodies!”
As Pear watched the dead spot move toward the chest that he could see clearly, he wondered if this was the chance he’d have to see what his companion looked like. He tried not to slump in disappointment when the dead spot moved in front of the chest and he still couldn’t see her.
With a musical chime, the chest opened in a flash of sparkling light that fell down around the two and Pear couldn’t stop himself from peering into the open chest. Nothing appeared to be inside to his odd sight and he couldn’t help but be confused.
“It’s empty?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking.
“Nope, they're in there,” Savantha said, though she sounded disappointed. “They aren’t my usual style either. Think I can rip the sleeves off and still have the enchants work?”
“I wouldn’t risk it,” Pear told her, “at least not until we know more about how the enchantments work with this sort of stuff.”
“Fine,” she said with a long-suffering sigh. “Give me some privacy?”
“Of course,” Pear said, hoping his voice wasn’t suddenly squeaking at the mental image that had appeared in his head. “I’ll just go this way.”
As he walked away from his Party member, Pear did his best to keep his head and eyes straight while he read through the information his Examine had given him about the clothes that Savantha had been given.
Elemental Monk’s Padded Shirt: A shirt made from fibers that are heavy with Elemental mana. This shirt will naturally absorb Elemental mana from the world and form a shield that will block Elemental attacks and spells until it is broken. It has been enchanted to self-clean, self-repair, and resize. Part of the Elemental Monk’s set.
Elemental Monk’s Padded Pants: A pair of pants made from fibers that are heavy with Elemental mana. These pants will absorb Elemental mana from the world and form a shield that will block Elemental attacks and spells until it is broken. They have been enchanted to self-clean, self-repair, and resize. Part of the Elemental Monk’s set.
Elemental Monk’s Sandals: A pair of sandals styled for a Beastkin Monk, made from materials heavy with Elemental mana. These sandals will absorb Elemental mana from the world and form a shield that will protect the wearer’s feet from large changes in temperature. They have been enchanted to prevent soreness, self-repair, resize, maintain footing in difficult terrain, and maintain dryness. Part of the Elemental Monk’s set.
Elemental Monk’s Padded Clothes: This set of clothes will compound its effects together and strengthen those effects greatly.
2/3: The shield will cover the entire body and be strengthened by half. Has a small chance to absorb Elemental Spells and add their mana to the shield.
3/3: The shield will cover the entire body and be strengthened by one and a half. Has a medium chance to absorb Elemental Spells and add their mana to the shield. Shield will now also block extreme temperatures from reaching the wearer.
“Holy shit!” Savantha’s voice broke Pear from his reading and made him whirl to face her, wand readied. “Check it out, Peary-winkle! I can change how it shows up on me. I’m in a bikini, I’m in a tank, I’m in a hoodie. This is so cool!”
“Happy to hear it,” Pear said, heart thudding in his chest. “Maybe try to not sound like a Water Elemental just grabbed your leg though? I nearly had a heart attack.”
“You’ll be fine,” she assured him. “Give me a minute to adjust this thing to my usual clothes and we’ll be going. Oh, and I’m keeping the cloak.”
“The robe is pretty much destroyed anyway,” Pear muttered under his breath as he turned around and nearly stumbled back with a yelp.
“Dammit!” he said loudly as he observed the spiraling doorway that had appeared in front of him. “Looks like our ride’s here.”
“Oh great,” Savantha said with a grin that he could hear. “Let’s get to it.”
“Yeah,” Pear agreed as he tried not to blush at the grin that he knew was because of his totally-manly-not-at-all-afraid, yelp. “You want me to lead the way? Last time you did, you kept pissing off elementals.”
“It might be a good idea,” she agreed. “You want to cast a spell before we go?”
“A Water Shield empowered by all this Water mana might be a really good idea,” Pear agreed as he pulled his staff from his back and channeled more power into the pair of spells he made for them. “Onward we go.”
“Onward!” Savantha agreed, enthusiastic now that she had new clothes.
Pear stepped into the bright doorway and felt himself appear somewhere else.
“Visitors?” a voice greeted them as dense black, cloying mana swirled through the floor and smothered all attempts at normal sight. “So wonderful to see you both! To what do I owe this pleasure?”
You’ve stumbled onto a Dungeon Quest!
Send the Devil Home: The Light Devil imprisoned on this floor has prevented Dark Elementals from forming. Form a deal with him and send him home.
Rewards: Passage to the next floor; Dark Perk; Claw of the Greater Demon, Viskragi, Lord of Shadows; Monk Weapon.
“That’s our quest?” Savantha hissed as the notification appeared before them. “Free a Devil?”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“It’s not that bad,” the voice said amicably. “As a Devil, my word is my life. Form a deal with me and I’ll honor it forever. Provided we can come to acceptable terms.”
“We have to send you home,” Pear said. “How do we do that?”
“It should happen naturally when we form a contract,” the voice, the Light Devil, answered. “I am well aware that I have overstayed my welcome. Additionally, I can’t help but hope that some upstart little spawn has decided that if my territory is empty, they can move in. Abusing them of that notion will be exquisitely delightful.”
“So if all we have to do is make a contract with you and you’ll go home, how do we do this?” Pear asked.
“It’s not so easy, I’m afraid,” the Devil said. “I am bound here by the claw of Viskragi, Lord of Shadows, a Greater Demon. As long as I possess the claw, Viskragi is unable to tear a hole into this world and bring his armies to bear against it all. I cannot go home with the claw, and I cannot leave it here.”
“Can we have it instead?” Pear asked.
“If it was that easy to remove from myself, I’d give it gladly,” the devil said. “I can’t tear it from my chest without an infusion of Light mana to suppress it, and I can’t bring my powers to bear until it is removed.”
“Then let’s make a deal,” Pear said. “I’ll infuse you with Light mana, you’ll pull the claw out and bind it so that the Demon can’t use it, and I’ll take it off your hands so that he doesn’t somehow break the binding and go after you. You’ll go home after we’re done with that. Deal?”
“Simplistic, to the point, and offers no chances to be exploited by either side,” the Devil said. “I suppose that as far as deals go, this is one of the better ones for me. We have a Deal.”
Pear opened his mouth to speak before he felt a burning sensation sear itself into his arms as his words became screams. As suddenly as it began it was over and in his eyes, he could see the angry, golden lines burned into his arms.
“That’ll go away after we’re done here,” the Devil assured him. “Shall we begin?”
Shuddering from the pain that had gripped him, Pear pulled his staff from his back and supported himself against it as Savantha gripped his shoulder and hissed in his ear.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” she demanded. “Whatever the hell is going on, this thing just burned something into you! In my book, that’s a sign of bad faith. What did it even do to you?”
“I don’t know,” Pear said in answer to both her questions. “I didn’t get a notification yet, but something tells me if I try to back out now, then we’re dead. Can you watch my back? Please?”
Savantha was silent for a moment before she let out a sigh and released his shoulder.
“I’ve got your back,” she assured him. “Let’s just finish this before something else happens.”
Nodding in thanks, Pear drew himself to his full, unimpressive height and gripped his staff with determination.
“I don’t know how much you’ll need,” he said, pulling his mana through his channels, scraping their still raw and tender walls as he did. “Just let me know when I’ve gathered enough.”
As the mana burn tore through his arms, Pear grit his teeth and pushed more mana through his arms as the notifications flashed before him and alerted him to the fact that he’d just achieved the Mana Scorched debuff. Pear didn’t care about that as he turned his eyes to his MP and watched the percentage number begin to rise.
MP: 124%
“Not enough,” he muttered, pulling more mana from his still rising stores, forcing the percentage to fall and rise wildly. “Still not enough.”
As his mana swirled around him, his channels burning from the forces and amounts he was pushing through, Pear was forced to close his eyes as his multi-colored mana began to push back the black Dark mana and made the dizzying, dancing swirling more pronounced.
MP: 262%
“I’m getting close to full,” Pear warned the Devil. “Are we getting close?”
“Yes!” the Devil said, voice betraying the smile that was splitting its face. “Very close! Soon we’ll be ready for you to make it into Light mana!”
“Good,” Pear said, as the percentage finally ticked itself over 300. “I’m at my limit!”
“It’s not enough!” the Devil said. “Keep going!”
“Pear,” Savantha’s voice reached him. “Are you gonna make it?”
“I will,” he assured her through gritted teeth as he redoubled his efforts and pushed more mana from his body. He didn’t tell her that he wasn’t sure.
“We’re there!” the Devil crowed. “Turn it to Light! Let me return home!”
“Light Manipulation!” Pear’s voice drowned out every other sound that filled the room as he forced all the excess mana from his body. The Devil’s laughter, Savantha’s concerned questions, the smothering silence of the Dark mana, all of it was overcome by his roared spell before hushed silence filled the room as everything held its breath.
With a small spark of golden light, the massive swirling cloud of unaspected mana bloomed into a golden cloud of Light that pushed back the black Dark, revealing the emaciated form of the Devil for an instant before, with deep, pulling breath, it pulled in the Light mana and sent the Dark mana crashing back into the room with an almost physical pressure.
“That’s the stuff,” the Devil groaned in ecstasy, eyes filling with golden light. “Time to fulfill my part of the bargain.”
To Pear’s eyes, the Dark filled with a massive circle of golden lights that were met by the chanting voice of the Devil as it spoke in a language that Pear couldn’t understand. He didn’t care for that as he watched the circle spin around the shapes that filled its interior before a second circle formed around the first, writing filling the space between the two and another three, smaller circles, filled with shapes formed a triangle around the two circles and power flooded all of them.
“I didn’t expect you to do it all in one go!” the Devil’s voice came from beside Pear’s ear, causing him to jump at the Devil’s words. Turning to face the Devil, Pear nearly choked at the sight of golden Light mana running through the Devil’s body and filling its piercing eyes, clawed fingers, and sharp teeth.
“That was very excellent work,” the Devil said as its grin stretched wider. “As promised by our deal, I have removed the claw from myself and it will be bound in three… two… one!”
As the Devil finished speaking, the large magic circle flashed brightly and faded away leaving Pear to see a black claw the size of his fist glowing with golden light.
“Call for Refractus and I’ll answer,” the Devil said as it waved its arm and a tear filled the area, outlined in golden mana. “Perhaps we’ll make a deal again, one that’s better for both of us.”
As the Devil stepped into the tear, Pear watched carefully as the tear closed and the screams of pain from it stopped. Wincing as the feeling of his burned channels, he turned his attention to his notifications as they flashed before him.
You’ve completed a Dungeon Quest!
Send the Devil Home: The Light Devil imprisoned on this dungeon floor has been freed and returned home.
Rewards: Passage to the next floor;
Perk: Dark Skin: You have been bathed in massive amounts of Dark mana. You will benefit from faster MP regeneration in areas filled with Dark mana. You will have a natural resistance to Dark spells and a chance to see through Dark based stealth.
Claw of the Greater Demon, Viskragi, Lord of Shadows: A claw torn from the Greater Demon Viskragi. If not properly stored, processed, or watched the Greater Demon’s magic will allow him to channel his magic through the claw and tear a hole in the protected space of Astrana, allowing his armies through and bringing calamity from an Outsider to Astana.
Weapon for a monk.
“You want to carry that claw?” Savantha asked as a chest appeared in front of her. “I don’t want to touch the thing.”
“I’ll put it in my bag,” Pear said. “I’ll need to wrap it in something, but it’ll be stored.”
“Cool,” she said as she opened the chest and pulled out the weapon inside. “Maybe next floor I’ll be doing something useful.”
“You’re doing plenty of useful things,” Pear assured her. “Keeping me sane for one.”
“Doesn’t feel like it,” she said unhappily. “Last floor, you were the one using your new spell to cut the trees down, and I was trying to not step on the elementals. This floor, you made the deal with the Devil and got yourself hurt doing that while I stood there and did nothing. Hard not to feel like I’m not doing enough when that’s happening.”
“I get it,” Pear said with a wince. “But if you look at what we were doing on those floors, then it kind of makes sense that you couldn’t do much. The Water Elementals were pretty much immune to physical damage and the Devil couldn’t have been freed without Light mana. I’ll bet that when we hit the Earth Elementals, you’ll be able to tear through them with ease.”
“Thanks,” Savantha said, his words making her feel slightly better. “Are you good to keep going?”
“Let me check my debuff,” Pear said, turning to his last several notifications.
Your efforts have increased the size of your mana pool greatly. Your pool has expanded due to stress and pressure, doubling in size. Your Debuff: Sensitve Channels has renewed.
You have suffered from the Debuff: Mana Scorched. Your mana regeneration by unnatural methods has been halted
Your mana channels have been burned beyond recognition. You are no longer able to channel mana.
A last parting gift between business partners ;)!
-Refractus
Your mana channels have been renewed by the efforts of a Light Devil. You are now able to channel mana once more. All debuffs relating to your mana channels have been removed.
“Oh shit,” Pear swore, a tremor filling his voice. “Oh shit, that was almost so bad.”