Gregory slammed his shield against the giant mole, knocking it back to give himself some space, and an opportunity for Trezic to strike. A golden bolt shot from the goblin's outstretched hand, covering the dozen yards between them in a moment. Like all the others they had fought since venturing to the sixth floor, it was silent even as golden light burned into its chest.
The quiet fighting had unnerved Gregory at first. It wasn't right that something attacking him didn't howl in anger, or cry out in pain. Without those sounds to let him know he was fighting for his life, he almost felt like the moles didn't want to fight. It was a foolish thought. Like everything else in this infested mine, they were monsters.
The mole fell back, not yet beaten, but damaged enough to need a moment to recover. Gregory focused on his newest skill.
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Imbue Rune
* Spell
* Cost: 5 mana + Rune Creation Cost
* You can temporarily empower non-living things with the power of a Rune. Effectiveness of Rune scales with your level in Rune Crafting and skill with a given Rune.
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Guided by his power, he was quickly able to draw out a force Rune. The glowing green symbol sank into his weapon and the sword hummed in his hand, the slightest motions enhanced by the rune's force multiplier.
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Rune Crafting: Level 4
Force Rune Proficiency: 67% (42% base + 25% Rune Proficiency bonus)
Imbued Rune Effectiveness: 27%
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As best he had worked out while practicing his new technique on the shambling monsters on the first floor, the now twenty-seven percent effectiveness for his imbued rune let him hit roughly that much harder. Where it might have taken a dozen blows from his blade to take down one of the creatures, he could now do the same in around nine.
Paired with the negligible mana cost compared of even two Mana Bolts, it felt like he was cheating.
He darted back in, swinging at the monster with a force enhanced blow coupled with his Strike Skill.
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Strike
* Special Attack
* Cost: 7 stamina
* Empower a strike with extra force.
* Deals extra damage.
* Works with or without a weapon.
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As it worked out, Strike worked as a straight force multiplier, coupling perfectly with Imbue Rune. The result was a blow that would have cut the Troll at the end of his first dungeon run in half.
The downside was he had neither the strength nor dexterity to control his blows. It wasn't an issue now, the mole before him was twice his size and not an evasive opponent, but it was something he'd have to keep an eye on.
The mole put up a token effort, but once Trezic used his magic to mask the creatures senses, it wasn't able to fight back, and they finished it off quickly.
Gregory stretched and turned to the goblin.
"I think we're getting good at this!"
"Good enough for floor seven?"
Their first foray onto the sixth floor had been too easy. The moles were tough, but ultimately weak enough to Trezic's manipulation that fighting them could be made trivial for the pair. Clearing the floor without real resistance left them too confident. They had ventured down to the seventh floor and found a single opponent. Passage to the eighth floor was locked, Trezic discovered when he had used his skills to sneak around to check it out.
They had also found out that the creature that guarded the seventh floor didn't seem to be affected by any of Trezic's illusions. In an effort to save the goblin, Gregory found an opponent that didn't seem to care that he was a Guardian with a strong shield and a power to reduce damage. No, the metallic, golem-like monster had simply punched him and taken away a third of his health in a single blow. Fortunately, it allowed them to flee.
Since then, Gregory been considering how to implement his plan.
He had been playing it safe, not knowing if he wanted to specialize, or if he would rely on magic or sword or shield. Once possibilities beyond his father's skills had been opened to him, he had questioned his long held dreams. He followed Olivander's advice, investing in Mana and Stamina to ensure he could keep fighting. It had made sense when his new skills consumed so much of his resources. After fighting the creature on the seventh floor, he had shifted his focus and made his decision. Magic was useful and he would continue to invest in it when it made sense. When he could use it to shore up his weaknesses.
Gregory didn't think Olivander intended to impart one particular lesson when he sent Gregory here on the brink of collapse, but he surely had. The most important thing he could do was endure. Survive. Outlast whatever the world threw at him.
Maybe he was an idiot. Maybe Olivander would disapprove of his methods. Olivander wasn't here though. It was finally time to commit.
"Maybe," he finally replied to Trezic. "Let me assign some stat points first."
"Hold on, what?"
"Oh, I forgot people can't normally do that. I have this ability."
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Will of the Sculptor
* Ability - Passive
* You can manually assign attribute points as you earn them. You cannot reassign already spent attribute points.
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Trezic whistled. "That could get out of hand."
Gregory nodded. "I've been playing it safe so far, splitting my focus. I think if we're going to go all the way in here, I need to take whatever advantage I can squeeze from it."
"So what are you going to do? Dump all your points in strength so you just blow through enemies? It doesn't seem like you have very powerful spells, so focusing on intelligence is out. How many points do you have?"
Gregory smiled and opened up his stats so they could take a look.
Gregory Temerin, the Resolute
Age: 19
Race: Human
Standardized Level: 35
Combat Class:
*Lesser Guardian (Uncommon)
Level 11 (61%)
Magician’s Apprentice (Uncommon)
Level 9 (40%)
Non-combat Class:
Rune Crafter (Advanced) Level 6 (17%)
Health: 150/150
Stamina: 140/140 (120 + 20)
Mana: 120/120 (110 +10)
Strength: 26 (18 + 8)
Dexterity: 10 (11 -1)
Constitution: 23 (10 +13)
Wisdom: 10 (8 +2)
Intelligence: 11 (10 +1)
Skill Points: 1
Free Attribute Points: 33
Skills:
Endure
Strike
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Shield Bash
Abilities:
Will of the Sculptor
Magician’s Quest
Rune Proficiency
Spells:
Mana Bolt
Healing Touch
Imbue Rune
Trezic simply stood with his mouth hanging open, too stunned to do anything but stare for a minute.
"How-how did you level up so quickly?? THIRTY-THREE ATTRIBUTE POINTS?"
Gregory shrugged. He was a little embarrassed. He'd been working hard, but he'd also been lucky. Unlocking the Rune Crafter class had given him some quick levels, and the constant fighting he'd been doing had helped even out his combat classes.
"But seriously. You've been fighting this whole time with all those points unused? It doesn't make sense. You should be ground meat."
"My class is really built to endure. It was honestly a little easier and faster before I unlocked my Lesser Guardian proficiency bonus. When I could instantly heal myself I felt unstoppable. That delay is rough. It's definitely worth the trade in stats, but I've had to be more careful."
"Sure. I guess that makes sense. Your constitution is higher than mine, but your health sucks, so I guess that skill of yours picks up the slack. Still, I'm an illusionist and have two hundred health."
"Don't worry, I'm going to shore that up right now."
Before he could change his mind or about it any much more, Gregory spent all of his free attribute points.
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Health 150 -> 300
Stamina 140 -> 200
Constitution 23 -> 30
Dexterity 10 -> 15
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The change in stats was slightly uncomfortable, but the sensation faded quickly. He showed Trezic his changes.
"Wow, you went for something, I guess. I get health and stamina, and constitution to a lesser extent. Your ability really makes stamina work better than constitution, but the passive effects should be pretty noticeable with that higher health pool. No, what I don't get is dexterity. You're not really built for dodging and quick blows. Why not invest in more strength?"
"I can already swing pretty hard between my runes, abilities, and current strength. It's hard to control though. Anything smaller than the moles will be hard to hit when I stack up everything. Dexterity should let me manage that a little better. Hey, if I can dodge a few hits too? All the better."
Trezic shrugged, leaning against the tunnel wall. "I guess that makes sense. I'm not sure if people really pay too much attention to what each individual stat does. They're just representations of how power is invested in our bodies that we have little control of. I think abilities like yours are pretty rare."
"Yeah. The problem was I just hung onto a ton of points. That could have gotten me killed. I'll be assigning them as I get them from here on in."
"Going to spend your skill point?"
"No, I think I'm going to save up for a few skills that cost more points."
"Not a bad idea. The one point skills are a nice quick feel good investment, but if you spend all your skill points on one point abilities you'll end up with a variety of weak junk."
Satisfied with his new staying power, Gregory led Trezic down to the seventh floor, once more. The floor was a giant open cavern, and the single massive automaton stood at the far end of the room just in front of the stairs down.
"Ready?" Gregory asked.
"Yeah, but remember, this thing can see through my illusions. I'll basically just be hitting it with weak blasts from my wand."
"That's a big weakness, you have a plan to shore that up?"
"Yep. Once I complete this blasted ruin and become a shaman I'll have a lot more offensive power up for grabs."
"Nice."
The Automaton took a lumbering step toward them, its metal joint scraping and grinding. It was tired of waiting, but it walked slowly. That would change when the fight began, but for now, they had some last minute prep time.
Gregory imbued his sword with a force rune. He glanced at Trezic's wand.
"I can imbue your wand with a rune. Force or fire?"
"Force. My wand shoots bolts of force anyway. Not sure fire is going to help."
When it was done, Trezic sent a bolt of power hurtling toward the automaton. It struck the machine's shoulder, knocking it back slightly. It hadn't expected the force and nearly lost its footing, but it recovered before tumbling backward.
"Hell yeah," Trezic said.
Gregory charged with a signature yell at the top of his lungs. A bolt from Trezic struck just before Gregory's Shield Bash.
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Shield Bash
* Active Skill
* Cost: 10 Stamina
* Use your shield as a weapon, enforcing your body to inflict slight to moderate damage, depending on target, and your reinforced body takes slightly less damage for a short time.
* Knocks back smaller opponents and has a chance to interrupt actions taken by any opponent.
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The Automaton was too hard to take much damage and too large to be knocked back, but the combination of effects staggered it. Gregory struck with his a force rune enhanced Strike. A flash of green and the ringing of steel on steel filled the cavern.
Trezic and Gregory had been working together for a while at this point, and their synergy was excellent. The goblin formed a Solid Illusion spell right as Gregory's blow connected.
The Automaton stumbled.
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Solid Illusion
* Spell
* Cost 20 Mana
* Creates an illusory object at the target location
* The caster and their allies can pass through the illusion unhindered, but it will be solid to others
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A log appeared on the cavern floor right behind the automaton. It tripped and fell backwards. Gregory charged through the log, ignoring the illusion. They laid into the monster with strikes and wand blasts.
A shockwave from the machine tossed Gregory backward and made Trezic stagger. Gregory landed in a painful heap. He hadn't expected the blast or had time to react, so his endure technique hadn't activated.
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Health: 290/300
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Oh yeah. That's what I'm talking about.
The fight raged on. The Automaton only had three techniques. The shockwave was the most dangerous since it was unpredictable and left Gregory on his back. A blast of steam was another ability, but it was telegraphed and Gregory had no problems dodging. The last technique was a brutally powerful punch. Gregory tried to dodge obviously incoming blow the first time it came up.
The punch came out faster than he'd expected and clipped him in the side.
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Health: 200/300
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After the minor blows he'd been tanking, he'd been down to two-hundred and seventy-five health. Seventy-five in a single blow. He was lucky the creature hadn't used that the first time they'd come down. Gregory chided himself for being a reckless idiot.
When the powerful blow came again, he braced himself and caught it on his shield, activating Endure.
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Heath: 180/300
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Dodging is dumb, he decided.
After a few more knockbacks and tanked blows, Gregory triggered the healing spell in the spellforge. His body felt refreshed.
"You alright?" he called to Trezic.
The goblin was still hanging back and peppering the Automaton, but it wasn't doing much. His rune had worn off and neither of them wanted him to get close enough for Gregory to refresh it. Still, he was being hit by the knockback shockwaves.
"I'm good!"
A half hour later, Gregory panted over the downed form of the Automaton. It hadn't been a flashy fight, and it hadn't been clean, but they won without a major setback. Gregory had used just one of his three heals from the spellforge, glad to have it in reserve. He swapped to his Magician's Apprentice class and healed himself to full, and healed Trezic for good measure.
"Thanks. What did we get?"
They set up a looting ritual and were rewarded with a some actual items.
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Perfect Gear
* Crafting Material
* Rarity: Rare
* A single perfect gear from an advanced machine
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Automaton Oil
* Consumable
* Rarity: Uncommon
* The extremely flammable oil of an Automaton
* Can be used as fuel for starting fires or grease for intricate mechanisms that will never encounter fire.
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Gregory groaned. The thing had been weak to fire.
"Damn. Well. Guess that's on us for making assumptions," Trezic said.
The last item left Gregroy speechless.
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Automaton's Plate Armor
* Rarity: Rare
* Hardened Shielding designed to protect the sensitive internals of an Automaton Golem
* Constitution: +5
* High damage resistance in the covered areas.
* Hits against this armor store kinetic energy. Once full, the energy can be used to trigger [Shockwave]
Shockwave
* Special Ability
* Causes a small amount of force damage and knocks nearby enemies away.
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Trezic whistled. "I guess it was worth it though. That's a fine upgrade."
Gregory swapped out his magic chainmail. He'd gone all in on physical toughness, so losing a bit of magic power was a small price for the extra constitution and active ability in the armor. He found the armor was articulated, and he didn't feel any hinderance to his movements. That was reflected in the dexterity penalty from his chainmail vanishing from his stats.
With his dexterity at sixteen and his constitution at thirty-five, he felt more tougher and more in control of his body than he ever had before.
"Should we keep going?"
Trezic grinned.
The eighth floor was like the third. It was a safe area where they could set up their new camp and work deeper from. After discovering that, they decided to head back up and grab the rest of their things. Once they were established on the eighth floor, they tested out the ninth.
The narrow passageways of a mine gave way to yawning caverns filled with massive stalactites and other rock formations. The formations hid giant bats that ambushed them at regular intervals. The bats used sound to locate them, and Trezic said his illusion magic wasn't strong enough to hide their presence from the creatures. After a few battles, the regrouped on the eighth floor.
"The problem is that they listen for the sound bouncing back. If I just remove the sound, they'll notice the empty patch. I need to duplicate the echo off the stone behind us, but it's way beyond me right now. Maybe after I get a new illusion class."
"That's alright,' Gregory said, passing the water over. "They barely scratched me with this new armor. I think I took around fifteen damage over both fights? They shouldn't be a problem."
"Yeah. I guess you're right. They are annoying though. What should we do? clear the floor and try ten?"
"If you're up for it. We'll be careful and just take a look first. If it's single opponents, then I'll feel alright fighting one."
Trezic nodded, and when they were both refreshed, they headed down.
Clearing out all the bats took a while. They hid all over the space. It helped that one of Trezic's powers let them find hidden things. By the time they cleared the rest, they had both received some solid experience. Gregory gained another level, and added three more points to his constitution and ten more health. Constitution seemed to be where he was getting the best returns right now.
The tenth floor was filled with snakes. Big, ugly snakes. They had poison breath that complicated the pair's progress. They had no way to cleanse it.
"Gregory, let's head back. We need to see how long this lasts."
They disengaged from the beast. It followed them up a floor, but they killed it before they re-entered the eighth floor.
"Damn. The stacks refresh the duration," Trezic said.
Gregory swapped back to his Mage's Apprentice class and topped them off occasionally. The poison wasn't doing a ton of damage, but it added up to be more than their natural regeneration.
"Fifteen minutes. Wow, that's brutal," Gregory said when he felt the magic poison finally expire.
"Yeah. What do you think? Fight two, then come back to rest?" Trezic asked. "Or should we figure out how to neutralize this poison?"
"I don't have anything I could use. There aren't any runes related to that, and no available skills that will help."
"Hmm. Me neither. And I don't know anything about alchemy."
Gregory shook his head. "I've got the wrong goblin for that."
"What's that?"
"Nevermind. I guess your plan is what we'll have to do. I should recover plenty of mana during the fights to heal up afterward, but if we have to wait fifteen minutes between every pair, it's going to take us forever to clear the floor."
"Alright. New idea then."
"What's that?"
"Don't get poisoned."