“Arthur, could you help your sister with her homework later tonight?” Arthur looked up from his computer to look at his mother, Julia Clive, who was standing at the entrance to his room.
“Okay, I’ll be back around five as usual… oh, and could you buy chicken strips for dinner?” Arthur asked as his mother nodded with a smile, walking away from his door as he turned back to the computer, seeing Sidhe sleeping on his desk.
It was the ninth of May, six days since starting the fifth Area, the Ruined Kingdom, and Arthur was a bit more aware of that Area of the Dungeon now.
The Ruined Kingdom was not a ‘straight shot’ to the next stairs unlike what they first assumed, but it clearly had much less paths compared to previous Areas, not only that, but all the monsters seemed stronger than they should be.
The Ruined Kingdom really was interesting to look at in Arthur’s opinion, it was dreary, but it also contained hints of what a beautiful place it might have been, lost to the ravages of time and decay.
The enemies they encountered were also varied, at one point they encountered these shadows that seemed to grow out of the ground, throwing knives and appearing at close range to stab out at team Einherjar, they were weak defensively though.
Then there were these assassins who were next to impossible to hit, it took Arthur grabbing one out of irritation and throwing it before they realized that grabs could work on the assassins.
In order, they were Wraith Peons and Wraith Assassins, and they were only on floor forty three after six days… it took time to move through the Ruined Kingdom after all.
As he sat at his computer though, Arthur was reading multiple forums about the Dungeon, and another internet tab was dedicated to the Adventurer Killer as a topic.
Arthur was still weary of the stronger Killer, knowing from reports from Shaun that the Killer was going to be aiming for Arthur at some point…
But Arthur also couldn’t find it in himself to care for too long. It was always in the back of his head, he even placed little reminders for himself such as the aforementioned internet tab to remember that someone was after his life…
But that was something Arthur always had trouble doing, maintaining an emotional state for a period of time longer than a few hours was nigh impossible to him, he’d always revert to his standard boredom or curiosity after a while.
There were also the cases where he started feeling a bit… violent, for lack of a better way to explain it.
Arthur was quite good at ignoring those urges by now though, everyone got angry once in a while over little things, Michael even suggested that he might be stressed out and need a break now and then.
Arthur used said breaks to play extremely violent video games and relax… better than the alternative of attacking other people.
Granted, being an Adventurer and going into the Dungeon to fight monsters and level up was much more interesting than fighting imaginary monsters for imaginary levels, but Arthur wasn’t going to be going into the Dungeon alone for any extended period of time.
In all truth, he felt that he would actually be able to survive in the third Area alone, but facing Despair alone was another story… he didn’t feel up to task for facing even Willow alone.
“Time to go…” Arthur mumbled to himself as he checked the time, pausing for just a moment to check out his emails, seeing a few new ones…
He didn’t really go on social media, though he did have an Instagram account and Facebook account, he didn’t like going online and having hundreds of people he didn’t know messaging him.
Even with that in consideration, he had over fifteen million followers on Instagram, and the only things he really posted on there were anecdotes on the Dungeon and answering questions about skills and stats.
Arthur felt he was essentially at a point in-between celebrity and athlete with how people gave him attention… he was more like some obscure athlete that only a few people knew.
Made little sense to him as he was never the most confident in his looks… he had never considered himself ugly, but Arthur always placed himself firmly in the ‘average’ category.
He just wasn’t one of those people you’d recognize walking down the street unless you looked twice or thrice.
“Send, send, send, deny, okay.” Arthur was quite the fast typist on a keyboard, and after responding to some technical questions, Arthur was off on his motorbike, but not before tossing his younger brother Dennis into the air and greeting his father who was glued to the television waiting for news on soccer.
Arriving at the Dungeon, as usual Arthur walked inside, greeting the doorman, Dante Vasquez, and waved at the man’s sister who worked behind the counter of the Guild.
Arthur would then take a seat at the new ‘bar’ while waiting for his team, or whoever got here first would keep their seats.
When it was first made, there were people who tried to actually force Arthur or other members of Einherjar to leave for them to take a seat…
That stopped after a few people got warnings from the Guild, or beatings when the Guild decided to just let Einherjar take care of themselves.
There was also a board on the other side of the Guild which had requests from the crafting guilds or other Adventurers for items which could be retrieved from the Dungeon.
Team Einherjar hardly if ever completed any of those ‘quests’ due to being busy journeying far beyond where most of them were for, the deepest into the Dungeon quests required would be around the third Area at best.
To put it into gaming lingo, Einherjar was working on the story-centric main mission and those quests were side missions.
In addition, near said quest board was a wall for any ‘achievements’ of Adventurers who frequent this particular Guild building, it was constantly dominated by one piece of paper in the middle claiming the Guild as the one which Einherjar used.
There were a few other ones, but the most common ‘achievements’ were for when an Adventurer team slays a particular Demon Lord for the first time.
And finally there was the Guild Ranking, which was accessed using the Adventurer Card issued to each Adventurer as their identification, it also kept track of furthest floor, level, team, and they were working on adding a ‘monsters killed’ tally, but it was apparently unfeasible at current without a complete bestiary.
For the record, Einherjar dominated those rankings as well, with Arthur’s name right at top of the lists for ‘highest levelled’ ‘furthest ventured’.
Those two weren’t always the same, as some ‘grinded’ on one Area for a while, being higher levelled than they should be for their floor, Einherjar did that to a certain extent by accident due to needing to figure out what was the correct path to the stairs.
“Hey Arthur.” Arthur looked up and smiled as he watched Emilia walk over to the table, setting down an apple juice for him while she had her own orange.
He hated orange juice, mostly because of the pulp… and even when it was removed, he was sceptical.
“Hey Emilia, you’re here a bit early.” Arthur observed, as he had arrived at the Guild much earlier than the actual meeting time.
He just used the extra time to laze around while reading things on his phone, so he was usually the first person to the Guild for team Einherjar for this reason.
“Yeah, I got dressed a bit earlier than expected so I figured I might as well come here… though I didn’t know you sit here for this long.” Emilia said while checking the time as she glanced back to Arthur who shrugged.
“I like having time to think… about what, I never know until I start.” Indeed, for this day it seemed Arthur was getting lost in thoughts about the Guild in general, and his thoughts would just jump from one topic of the Guild to the next.
“I can understand that… though you’re zoning out again.” Emilia added as Arthur chuckled, acknowledging the statement as she apparently walked past to get to the bar to get those drinks.
No actual alcoholic drinks were sold unless a person was not going into the Dungeon for a while by the way.
“Sorry. You know I don’t mean anything by it…” Arthur felt bad about it, his habit of ignoring the world around him when he dropped into thought…
It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that he did this even in the presence of others, even around his friends… and Emilia.
Emilia was… something more, to Arthur. Saying she was a friend wasn’t saying enough, but…
Arthur really wasn’t certain about relationships, having never dated a girl and never truly liking someone enough to pursue a relationship.
There was a case of a girl that confessed to him, but he had felt that dating at the time wasn’t something he was ready to do…
He was of the opinion that dating casually to test the waters wasn’t something he could do.
There was a term online, Demi-romantic described Arthur, he wouldn’t enter a relationship unless it was with a girl he was already friends with…
Case in point, the only women he ever felt any sort of ‘maybe we can date’ feeling was with Emilia, another friend from high school and to an extent, Alice.
Alice was a friend, Arthur wasn’t going to be doing anything there, his friend from high school didn’t really keep in contact, even now with his new fame, and well…
That wasn’t to say that Emilia was his ‘last choice’. She was brilliant.
She made him laugh, they could be with each other for hours without tiring of each other, they liked similar things in books and movies, and they truly cared for each other.
Her being beautiful was a non-factor to Arthur, who cared more for how nice a person was when compared to their looks.
You could be the most beautiful/handsome person on the planet, if you had a horrible personality, Arthur wouldn’t want anything to do with them, that’s just how it was.
“I know you don’t mean anything by it, and besides, it gives me an excuse to get lost in my own thoughts too.” Emilia giggled as she took a sip of her juice.
“…Emilia, go out with me.” It sounded like a statement, but it had Emilia actually choke on the orange juice for a moment as Arthur looked to her, and she in turn stared at him with wide eyes and a new blush.
“Uh, um… excuse me?” Emilia asked, just to clarify what she had heard at that moment.
“I basically asked you to go out with me. As a girlfriend.” Arthur didn’t quite understand where this sudden calm came from, but he was quite appreciative of it.
Some say emotions are like a circle. You go so far into the emotion that you end up right back at apathy, and that was the case now, Arthur’s mind finally saying ‘fuck it’ and blurting out the first words that came to mind.
“…That was awfully direct and not expected from you… don’t you usually edge around situations which could mess with a status quo?” Emilia asked with a raised eyebrow, leaning forward as Arthur leaned in just as much.
“I gave up. I stopped thinking of excuses to not ask and just decided to ask. If you say no, I’d understand, we could still be friends hopefully… if you said yes though, I’d be very happy.” Arthur’s statement was punctuated with a small smile, leaving Emilia with a smile of her own.
“…I’d like to go out with you, though you’re picking time and place.” Emilia leaned back, exchange over as simply as that, leaving Arthur blinking as he slumped in his chair.
“…I made it such a big thing…” Arthur mumbled to himself as he considered the oddity of the situation.
It was a few minutes later that the other members of Einherjar walked in to see an amused Emilia and a despondent Arthur.
“So… what happened to him?” Michael asked as he thumbed towards Arthur, leaving Emilia to smile at Arthur attempting to meld with the table.
“He cracked.” Emilia said, and that left the entire group looking at Arthur, and only one seemed to immediately jump to the correct conclusion.
“He finally asked you out?” Alice asked Emilia, getting wide eyes from the rest of the group.
“Yeah… it was weird and just a quick ‘yes or no’ question, but he did. He’s like this because of how easily I agreed and moved past the topic.” Emilia’s smile, unseen by Arthur due to him blinding himself with the table top, hinted that she had purposefully withdrawn so neutrally.
“Women are scary.” John said, looking at the mighty ‘strongest Adventurer’ lain low by a woman who was better at the ‘it’s only weird if you make it weird’ tactic.
In a social situation, it was rare to find a man that won using that tactic against a woman…
New thing to celebrate aside, the group entered the fifth Area of the Dungeon once more, rushing through the forty first floor to the forty second floor in record time.
The forty second floor had its first half similar to the previous floor, a straight line, starting with a huge staircase into the citadel entrance.
The entrance then split into three paths, two of which led to dead ends, and a third which led into the forty third floor. All three paths were long enough to waste almost a day searching completely and thus Einherjar had their time wasted going down said paths.
Emilia was also inwardly complaining that the money made off her maps was going to be pointless in this Area as no map was needed beyond ‘pick this path’.
If there were paths with many branches like previous Areas maybe the map would be needed, but in this case it wasn’t.
The attacks, while dangerous, were monotonous due to how long a period there was before battles, back in the second Area there would be a fight every two to ten minutes, whereas now there was only a fight every fifteen to twenty.
It was frustrating and confusing to think that where once any one of them (bar Matt) would shy away from conflict, now they were getting annoyed at not having enough.
When they entered the forty third floor, the layout was back to a normal Dungeon, though unlike those there were identifying factors to know where they were to an extent.
Coming through the doors to enter the forty third floor, Einherjar moved forward for a while, going only where they hadn’t before to complete Emilia’s map, minimal though it was due to the small amount of paths.
They soon turned a corner and found themselves facing a group of all Wraith creatures, three Wraith Soldiers, two Wraith Assassins and a single Wraith Peon.
Peons, weak as they were, still caused problems in the middle of a fight by distracting them, or at least attempting to.
That didn’t last long with Michael being a better long range fighter than all the Peons.
“Six-six, Michael on Peon, Matt, you can survive the longest against two Soldiers, deal with them until we support.” Arthur ordered as he rushed an Assassin, Emilia rushing on of her own while Alice dealt with the final Wraith Soldier.
One might wonder, Arthur was capable of fighting a Wraith Soldier without even getting hit, though he still got injured from time to time, wouldn’t he be able to handle two of them?
Maybe he could, but Wraiths, at least the ones of the fifth Area, could all think logically, if they weren’t hitting their opponent, they’d simply go for another, easier target.
John paid for this when a Soldier moved away from Emilia and rushed the Healer, causing the Healer to dive out of the way lest he find a sword in his gut.
Matt, being a more stationary combatant, could stand strong against their attacks and keep their attention for much longer with his insanely high Endurance stat.
Arthur guessed that at level fifty seven, which everyone in Einherjar was, Matt had an Endurance stat of about one hundred and forty when counting his Endurance stat boosting skill, Stand Strong, which was the same level as Arthur’s own Tactician Skill.
There were six Stat Boosting Skills when one considered each stat, and the two rarest ones were Tactician and Regenerator, which worked for Wisdom and Vitality respectively.
The next rare grouping was Stand Strong and Computation, which was Endurance and Intelligence, and the two Skills for Strength and Dexterity were the most common, Hero’s Strength and Quick Reflexes.
Arthur was pretty sure that there was something more there, but he wasn’t in a position to know said things.
Michael, having heard Arthur’s order, immediately notched an arrow, activating one of his personal skills, Hawk Eye, which enhanced his vision in exchange for making him tired, and Focus, an Anima Skill which slowed down his perception of the world while aiming.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Seeing the Peon as it twirled its knives ‘slowly’ Michael waited for barely a moment, wincing internally at the pain he felt stabbing through his eyes and skull.
Using Focus was one thing, but combining Skills in an overlapping fashion placed stress on Michael’s body, though he was getting better with it, capable of lasting longer in this state, he was far from being able to keep it up for an entire fight.
Instead, he just used either many average, non-Skill assisted shots, or a single powerful one.
Peons had a low enough defence that he could afford a single powerful one…
Furthering his mental focus, Michael activated the basic skill of his Anima, Longbow of Skill, which allowed him to make an arrow purely out of an element.
Other archery Animae usually allowed for unlimited ammo, but it typically was purely physical until imbuing the arrow with mana was used, for Michael it actually cost no mana and happened naturally.
Also, as Arthur had learned, when the combined base stat total of Intelligence plus Wisdom increased above one hundred, one would gain another element to use.
Arthur wasn’t sure on how the next Element was chosen, though he estimated that it might be going in a descending order of what personality traits a person possessed.
For Arthur, that was Lightning, for Self-loathing, and then Darkness for Suspicion.
For Michael it was Fire for passion, a drive to act… and his second element was Light. For his ability to trust without question in those he believed in.
Was it any wonder that whenever a ‘man of the cloth’ became an Adventurer their element was typically Light? Michael quite enjoyed Sunday school in his youth.
Focusing the arrow to be Light, as it was elementally strong against the Wraiths, Michael aimed, activating another Anima Skill of his called ‘Nimble Fingers’ which doubled Dexterity for one shot, it had a seven minute cool-down.
Then he activated one more Skill, Power Shot which increased the penetrative force of his attack, it was associated with his Archery Skill.
Then, angling the arrow just slightly above the centre of the Peon’s head, Michael let loose.
Even with a wounded expression, Michael felt a smirk coming on, thinking to (what he believed to be) the motto of snipers.
One shot, one kill.
For Emilia, her Bloodletting Daggers were unfortunately not living up to their name, being blocked time after time by the Wraith Assassin she faced, they were annoying…
They were also ridiculously easy to face, it was just tedious.
They fought, learning the patterns of Einherjar fighters, and then when Einherjar fighters stepped out of that pattern they floundered.
A rare case of a Dungeon monster fighting like an Adventurer, only some Hobgoblins in the fourth Area acted like that.
This was a problem though, as Einherjar members were most certainly not mindless automatons, they could recognize when their tactics weren’t working and adapt… and that would suddenly surprise these Assassins and leave them open to being violently killed.
They were also pretty weak physically, even John could shove one away and he was the weakest in the group physically.
He and Arthur were still working on that project to give him some feasible firepower, but it was coming along slowly… John needed more Wisdom (the stat) to make it work.
Anyway, Emilia waited for the Assassin to go for the kill, and that’s when she moved, dismissing her Bloodletting Daggers to the surprise of the Assassin.
Emilia stretched out, grabbing the Assassin’s wrist and twisting, tripping the Assassin as she did this, this caused the Assassin to practically flip and fall to the floor while Emilia summoned her Daggers once more, stabbing through the Assassin’s skull.
That was another down.
Alice, facing against a Wraith Soldier, found her case a bit more difficult than Emilia’s given that the Soldiers hit much harder than the Assassins, and they dealt with surprise better, and were more durable…
Really, they felt more like the late Area enemies such as the Forest Bears Einherjar faced in Area two.
But Alice felt she could handle it, with a bit of planning.
Alice’s Anima was a Skill, which allowed her to use any weapon as if she had a rank three Skill in its use.
Unfortunately compared to other Anima, hers gave less benefits, such as Arthur’s, his gave four or five Skills each, and she still had only two.
She had two powerful and useful ones, but still.
Alice was using an axe and shield, having requested an axe with a hammer point on the other side to have both ‘slashing’ and ‘striking’ damage options in one weapon.
It also had a pointy end for ‘pierce’… she liked a diverse damage option, and the only way her current weapon would be more diverse was if it could change lengths for the handle.
Alice was hoping that would be an option at a later stage for Blacksmiths to use.
Anyway, Alice was the ‘weapon expert’ for team Einherjar by default, though she could not defeat Arthur in swordsmanship she could compete with spears, axes and hammers, even her fists counted as a weapon to her Skill, and Alice used these facts to her advantage as she faced the Wraith Soldier.
The Wraith Soldier was quite dangerous to anyone facing them for the first time, they hit surprisingly hard for something so thin, and they had the sense of mind to block attacks coming at them and chase after easier targets, add onto that their deceptive speed and they were powerful.
To Alice, they were just a chore, as she blocked the slashes of the Wraith Soldier, turning her shield to deflect most blows, dropping to a knee when a heavier blow came to better resist being thrown back, and waiting for her chance to hit back.
Finally there was an opening and Alice could flex her strength, realigning her grip on her axe, she swung while spinning away from a blow, aiming for the arm of the Wraith Soldier.
The Soldier dodged some of the hit, keeping its arm in place, but it was clearly damaged and screamed at Alice in anger…
Alice ignored it, used to the sound by now, and then the Soldier swapped sword hands, attempting to attack Alice, but it was clearly much worse with its off hand, and Alice capitalized on it.
Moving forward with her shield, she managed to catch the Soldier’s bicep with the top of her shield, keeping it from completing its swing, and then she used her shield as a blunt force, smacking the monster in the chest with the shield, making enough space for Alice to attack, bisecting the monster from head to toe with her axe.
Alice had a good idea of how a shield was to be used thanks to Matt after all.
Speaking of Matt, he was facing to Wraith Soldiers at the same time, something even Arthur couldn’t really do.
Matt was the only one in their team with the Endurance and a strong enough shield to block such attacks, as Wraith monsters actually got stronger together.
It seemed that every Wraith monster, or at least the Ruined Kingdom Wraith monsters, could apply teamwork to their actions and get better in a team.
Hence why, despite being able to kill Wraith Soldiers without getting hit, Arthur could not deal with two at a time… Matt could on virtue of him never getting hurt.
He got hit, for certain, but he felt no pain when he placed his Shield of Immunity between himself and his opponents.
Even better, his Shield had a nice amount of spikes covering the front, they looked like decorations, but they were most certainly not.
Others viewed a shield as something to hide behind and Matt would agree… but a shield could also be an arrowhead, used to pierce forward, and that’s exactly what Matt usually used it for.
A shield charge done with a shield with spikes on it was horrifying for those hit.
Matt was amazing to see in action, the two Soldiers taking turns slashing at him, never hitting each other and always attacking with such a tempo that trying to get a hit in would require a resolve akin to ‘eye for an eye’ as it would only be a sacrificial blow.
Matt was the kind of person who was extremely spiteful when slighted, and he was patient as the enemy railed on him, waiting as he learnt the tempo of the blows, an important skill for any combatant was recognizing how your enemy attacked, and it was especially important for shield users.
Matt focused and moved, stepped forward, surprising the two Soldiers as he shoved his shield forward at one of the Wraith Soldiers, showing his back to the other.
Obviously an enemy showing its back was a vulnerability, so the Soldier attacked, stabbing forward with its scimitar, only to be met with a metallic ringing noise as it bounced back from the recoil.
Matt’s element was Metal, and he was a defensive fighter, so long as he didn’t run into an enemy with a Lightning element like Arthur, he’d be nigh invincible if he used it to coat his skin as he did now, completely ignoring the attack by the other Soldier.
He couldn’t move as quickly like that though, so he only activated at the moment of contact, despite not even looking at the Soldier.
He could do this because of his Rare Skill, Spatial Recognition, which allowed him to track things within a certain area of him, Matt once explained this to be like ‘looking down at a battle field while being in it’.
It was disorienting and actually hurt Matt mentally to use it for too long, but like his ‘metal skin’ trick, he could use it for a moment with almost no drawbacks.
Matt didn’t even look back as a sparking Arthur practically flew into the Soldier behind him, taking advantage of the moment it was parried by Matt’s metallic skin to land a decisive blow.
Matt, knowing that his back was covered, attacked the Soldier in front of him by slamming his shield into its torso, the blades on said shield hooking into its flesh when he twisted his grip on the shield.
With the Wraith Soldier screaming on his shield, Matt stepped forward, tripping the Soldier as he and the Soldier fell, with Matt landing atop the Soldier, said monster dropping its blade from the pain as Matt raised his weapon, a large hammer, and then he smashed its skull in.
“Well… that encounter is over… everyone pick up the drops?” Arthur asked as he looked at Matt, ignoring the fading Wraith Soldier behind him.
Picking up the Soul Stone, the only consistent drop item, Matt handed it over to Arthur who kept all of those items to himself.
John would later help Arthur with the splitting of the money, both checking over the work of the other, and that was how Einherjar earned most of their money…
It was also how Einherjar was only comprised of people inching onto the ‘millionaire’ title.
Adventurers, especially Chosen, earned a huge amount of money; it was a cushy job if you survived.
Their team kept progressing through the Ruined Kingdom, killing more Wraiths before coming across a slightly larger room, and floating within was the being they encountered the first time they entered the Ruined Kingdom.
“Ah, travellers, we meet once more… you travel further into the depths of this place, this Ruined Kingdom…” The being of shadows covered in black bandages was still eerie…
Though inwardly every member of Einherjar could admit it looked awesome.
“Of course we do… we wish to slay Chronos.” Arthur responded, getting into his ‘leader of men’ persona, as the rest of Einherjar called it.
This persona was used when dealing with people who didn’t know him in a personal stance, he typically spoke like this to other Adventurer teams or Demon Lords when the group encountered the latter.
…In private Emilia once admitted to Alice that Arthur was quite likeable when he got like that.
“Chronos… oh Chronos… The Ruler of Hell… he had slain the ruler of this place… oh where have you gone?” the spectre seemed to no longer look at Einherjar as it held its head in its hands before bursting into black feathers like before.
“Where have you gone, oh Ruined King?” Arthur and his group looked at the remnants of the being and looked to each other.
“…I vote we call it the Crow Spectre.” Arthur said, and thus an argument onto the name of the being started as Arthur and his friends turned around, noting that the door to the next floor was just a bit in front of their current positions.
Meanwhile, on the surface…
“Boss… are you sure?” Mourn looked over to Eddie with a raised brow, indicating how confused he was at Eddie’s questioning.
“It’s just… so far, we’ve only been doing crime that wasn’t really seen, drug dealing, weapon smuggling, so on and so forth, but this will get us on the map.” Eddie simply stated facts, facts that Mourn could agree with, and Mourn looked to the ceiling.
“Yeah… yeah it will. But Eddie, I’m only a crime lord now. My end goal is much more important… recognition is important.” Mourn said leaning back in his swivel chair with a smirk, looking over the six masked people, all standing next to a bullet proof van, each holding guns and possessing glowing left wrists.
“If I am to challenge the world, if I am to challenge the centre of the modern world… I need to be more than just ‘some criminal’.” Mourn snapped his fingers and his men rushed into the van, pulling away to go rob a bank.
“If I am to challenge the world, I must be feared.”
Arthur Clive
Level: 60 (C-Rank)
Class: Linked Swordsman- Grants one stat point to Strength and Wisdom per level
Gives Soul Sight (Unique) Skill
Anima
Dagger of Hunger
Cloak of Will
Anima Skills
Dagger- Devour- Increase Soul Gain by 20%
Dagger- Rend- Damage to living beings increases by 3.5%
Dagger- Void- can create a minor gravitational pull, 6 Wisdom per use a day.
Dagger- Feed- Absorb a magic attack from an enemy to be used against them, limited to Elements you possess.
Cloak- Defence- lowers damage taken by 4%
Cloak- Wise One- Increases Wisdom by 30% (total 150%)
Cloak- Rags to Riches- 7% of enemies drop two times the loot.
Cloak- Blink- teleport up to five metres away from your current position, costs 9 Wisdom per use a day.
Primary Element: Lightning
Other Element(s): Darkness
Personal Skills
Tactician III (135/150) - increases Wisdom by 20% (total 150%)
Sword Sage II (138/300)- Any bladed weapon deals 30% extra damage
Soul Sight II (272/300) - Allows insight beyond mortality
Dual Wielding IV (3/200) - Greater use of two weapons
Lightning Elemental III (19/300) - Use supplementary lightning spells
Quick Reflexes III (4/150)- Increases Dexterity by 20%
Stats
Strength: 75
Dexterity: 92 (110)
Intelligence: 52
Wisdom: 100 (150)
Endurance: 52
Vitality: 75
Michael Grave
Level: 58 (C-Rank)
Class: Bowman Surveyor- Grants one stat point to Strength and Dexterity per level
Grants Archery Skill and Hawk Eye Skill
Anima
Longbow of Skill
Anima Skills
Elemental Shift- Grant your arrows magic damage based on element
Focus- perception of time slows down with bow string drawn back.
Nimble Fingers- Double Dexterity for one shot, seven minute cool down
Skill Down- enemies hit with your arrows lose 5 Dexterity for a minute; stacks for a max of five stacks, stacks renew duration.
Primary Element: Fire
Other Element(s): Light
Personal Skills
Hawk Eye IV (35/200) – Enhanced vision, drains stamina
Archery III (142/150) – increases accuracy with ranged weapons
Hero’s Strength III (87/150) – Increases Strength by 20%
Quick Reflexes III (37/150) – Increases Dexterity by 20%
Stats
Strength: 100 (120)
Dexterity: 100 (120)
Intelligence: 60
Wisdom: 50
Endurance: 59
Vitality: 58
Notes: Michael possesses no Rare or Unique Skills, hence why his Skills are actually higher levelled on average compared to Arthur.
Emilia Vasilievna
Level: 58 (C-Rank)
Class: Hunter Thief- Grants one stat point to Dexterity and Intelligence per level
Gives Tracking Skill and Dagger Arts Skill
Anima
Bloodletting Daggers
Anima Skills
Shred- increases damage dealt to animal-type enemies, occasionally causes Bleeding
Armour Piercing- chance to bypass armour, weakens blows to flesh after bypassing armour though
Bloody Mary- life steal effect granted against living creatures, at 7% of damage dealt converted to health.
Cutback- as long as one Dagger is held, you can throw the other and summon it to your free hand, range is limited to 10 metres.
Primary Element: Water
Other Element(s): Mind
Personal Skills
Quick Reflexes IV (3/200)- increases Dexterity by 25%
Dagger Arts IV (12/200)- Increases Dagger-type weapon damage
Tracking III (31/150)- Allows tracking of wounded enemies, can be used to map areas, but is not designed to do so.
Martial Arts III (141/150)- increases damage dealt without a weapon.
Regenerator II (83/100)- increases Vitality by 15%
Aquatic Defence- Grants Water based defensive spells
Stats
Strength: 84
Dexterity: 84 (105)
Intelligence: 80
Wisdom: 60
Endurance: 60
Vitality: 60 (69)
Notes: Emilia has more pre-Dungeon experience with knives, tracking, martial arts and even a necessity for quick reflexes. Why she needed to know those things, is a plot point.
John Collins
Level: 58 (C-Rank)
Class: Shade Healer- Grants one stat point to Wisdom and Intelligence per level
Gives Sneak Skill and Light Scripture Skill
Anima
Enhancing Arts
Anima Skills
Hard Hitting- lets someone deal five times damage on their next attack
Tempo Accel- Increases movement and attack speed by 25%.
Protected- Increases physical defence by 20%
Grounded- Reduces knockback effect of enemy attacks by 5%
Primary Element: Mind
Other Element(s): Metal, Water
Personal Skills
Sneak IV (54/200)- grants the ability to erase ones presence
Light Scripture III (148/150)- Grants Healing Spells, lowers Mana cost
Computation III (2/150) – Increases Intelligence by 20%
Staff Arts II (61/100)- increases spell effects by 20%
Stats
Strength: 65
Dexterity: 52
Intelligence: 112 (134)
Wisdom: 96
Endurance: 52
Vitality: 52
Note: despite being an Intelligence/Wisdom focused combatant, John will never possess more Wisdom than Arthur due to how it is Arthur’s focus stat.
Matt Jacobson
Level: 58 (C-Rank)
Class: Wall of Steel- Grants two stat points to Endurance per level
Gives Spatial Recognition (Rare) Skill and Shield Arts Skill
Anima
Shield of Immunity
Anima Skills
Bulwark- ranged attacks against team are redirected towards the shield
Spikes- Parrying a weapon might result in its destruction
Primary Element: Metal
Other Element: Earth
Personal Skills
Stand Strong IV (3/200)- increases Endurance by 25%
Shield Arts IV (7/200)- decreases Damage taken when blocking
Spatial Recognition III (11/300) - Allows tracking of all things within a fifteen metre radius, causes headaches with long use
Lightened Load III (103/150)- Weight of carried items lowered by 15%
Quick Response II (2/200)- The more enemies you face, the better your reaction speed becomes.
Stats
Strength: 62
Dexterity: 62
Intelligence: 62
Wisdom: 62
Endurance: 119 (148)
Vitality: 62
Note: Matt is an especially good tank, in fact, globally he is considered an equal to Sheikh in regards to suitability as a tank, but when it comes to pure defence, Matt is better, when needing to do other actions, Sheikh is better.
Alice Grave
Level: 58 (C-Rank)
Class: Martial Berserker- Grants one stat point to Strength and Dexterity per level
Gives Pain is Gain Skill and Hero’s Strength Skill
Anima (Skill)
The World is a Weapon- grants use of any weapon as if holding a rank III skill of that weapon type
The World is a Shield- grants use of all defensive skills to the point of rank III
World of Magic- Lessens mana cost of elemental manipulation by a small amount
Primary Element: Darkness
Other Element: Wind
Personal Skills
Hero’s Strength III (138/150)- increases Strength by 20%
Pain is Gain III (17/150)- The more damaged, the more powerful the user becomes, causes intense anger
Calm Mind II (152/200)- Keeps a person calm and collected
Quick Reflexes III (91/150)- Increases Dexterity by 20%
Dark Juggernaut II (24/200)- Grants Darkness based Supplementary Spells
Stats
Strength: 87 (33)
Dexterity: 88 (31)
Intelligence: 65
Wisdom: 65
Endurance: 65
Vitality: 65
Note: Alice has a Skill based Anima, and it’s a slow growing one, but she does have as many Skills as Arthur does, not counting Anima associated Skills. Arthur has ‘three ranks’ of stats, from Wisdom and Dexterity, then Strength and Vitality, and finally Intelligence and Endurance, but Alice has ‘two ranks’ in Strength and Dexterity, with everything else below that.