Broka 24th 10,391
Morning came and Six overlooked his routine to enchant instead.
The creations were simple but purpose built for the known task at hand, killing spectres. He had yet to explore the rest of the leyboratory but would bet on there being more undead to find.
He made a little life cape for Nibbler, he would have to talk to Ravna about getting barding made for the raccoon.
Six then waited amongst his garden, tending his various vegetables, and a few sizeable smokeweed bushes. He waited for Charles who arrived early in the morning as discussed the night previous. The young muldstanii looked good, his roughed up fine clothes now repaired and sporting several patches. A bow on his back and a sword at his hip.
Six felt conflicted asking Charles to join him fighting the creatures of the leyboratory as he was just a teenager but Zarmul was different and fighting was a part of life. Charles had clearly been raised and trained to fight, and even if he was young, he was someone that Six knew he could trust and rely on.
“Morning Six. So, we have some fighting to do?” Charles asked
“We do indeed but first, here I’ve created a few things for you,” Six said, passing over a dark blood red bow and a quiver full of arrows. He explained what they were-
- Life Arrow -
Rank: Mundane
Rarity: Unusual
Weight - 0.1 KG
Durability 200/200
Traits: Upon impact releases stored life energies into struck target, adds +5 healing. Charge 1/1.
There was also an unattuned life golem and a sword that was very similar to the spear of vital surge but geared towards Charles. Six explained their function as he handed each piece over and Charles’ face became more and more surprised and uncomfortable.
“If you don’t want these, that’s ok dude.”
Holding the treasures in his hands the kid was speechless. “Six… I can’t accept this.
“Sure yah can, at the very least you can use it for this raid. At the most I can sell it to you at cost. Meet in the middle and you can owe me cool? I’m just trying to get this task done and you’re willing to help.”
“But something like this is worth thousands of gold. Each of these arrows probably cost around fifteen gold themselves! How could I ever even pay you back?”
“You could come work for me I guess. I’m about to do some work for the village pretty soon and I could use some extra hands.”
Charles looked mystified, as if Six was an idiot. “Construction wages, while good, would never pay for this in a timely manner. And sorry but with how things are going with Amog I may be needed at the village more often. Working directly for you may be an issue.”
“Well, I don’t need the money right now. Now, this is my job and the observed hazards would indicate that this equipment is necessary for personal protection. Now I’m going in there with or without you but you are not coming in without the proper personal protective equipment? Do you understand? I will provide all of this for your use and you can return it after if you wish, Quartermaster style.”
Charles looked a bit more comfortable with this arrangement and took the offered items then he bonded to the already orbiting life golem.
Six then pulled a pie out of his spatial and cut a slice with his belt dagger.
“Whoops, it's blueberry. Ah well,” he took a bite and held the pie out towards Charles. “You want a slice?”
“No, I'm fine, thank you. I had breakfast before I came.”
“Good lad, you’re still growing. But your still you’re gonna have to have a slice of the other pie.” Six scarfed the first slice down in a few quick bites, then he inhaled another slice of blueberry pie. “Fuck, thats good pie.”
Six switched it out for an unblemished pie, a full golden brown crust dotted with coarse sugar. Delicious smelling purple filling oozed out of the five venting cuts. He inspected it.
- Empress’ Appreciation Pie-
Quality: Enhanced
Rarity: Rare
Weight - 0.9KG
Durability 2/2
Traits: Can be eaten to provide a minor boost to experience point income. 25% more gained experience points for the next 24 hours. Material, Reagent.
He wasn’t sure if the increase of ten percent to the boost was worth it. The pie had used a lot of berries to produce and it may just be more effective on a longer timescale to ration the berries to one a day.
He wasn’t in a rush.
Or was he? Would there not be someone or something always stronger? Would not reaching the peak as fast as he could be the tactic that would lead to a position of safety? Or would rushing cripple his foundations or something like that?
His mind leapt to the evolution experience deficit. Stumbling and rushing could definitely ruin your progression. He needed to be a bit more intentional. Anyways, the pie was here and he wasn’t about to throw it out. He handed a slice to Charles.
Charles took it with a grumbling, “but I’m not hungry.” Yet dutifully chowed down and when the buff revealed itself he looked at Six in surprise. “What? How’d you?”
Six nodded. “That's good pie.”
Six gave Nibbler some pie too and the three of them left his cave and traveled up to the mountain alcove, getting into a few fights along the way.
Giant goats, goblins, cats, bears, and bristle hounds. All fell to the trio. Six appreciated the extra damage that Charles provided even at the expense of raw experience gain. The shorter fights made the trades much safer, taxing his health far less than usual.
It was good to fight with Charles again. They quickly brushed off any rust and hammered out any issues, soon working together seamlessly again.
When they arrived Six took a moment to blast the Empress bush with Plant Growth. Nothing happened, no response whatsoever beyond a reduction in his mana pool. So perhaps he wasn’t capable of affecting magic plants. But the blood tree had been sure it would have worked on it so perhaps there was something Six was missing.
They made their way into the initial cave. Six paused before the door and took a relaxing breath.
He nodded to himself before he unsealed the leyboratory entrance and once again the door melted away to reveal the dimly lit corridor.
Charles looked at Six in disbelief.
Six smiled. “Right?”
They made their way inside, golden life wisps orbiting all of them. This time at the section hub Six went the way of “Living” and it led into a large open atrium. What looked like apartment doors and catwalks lined the walls of the three story chamber.
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They slowly edged in and made their way to the first apartment, opening the door to reveal a simple domicile, human bones littered the floor in a few small piles. Most of the textiles had crumbled to unrecognizable debris but the frames of stone and metal were still there. Charles looked at much of it mystified but Six could see this for the modern studio apartment it was, more like a hotel room.
“Who do you think they were?” Charles asked in wonder.
“K’gan researchers.”
That got Six a look of derisive skepticism.
Six chuckled “Yo bro, just telling you what my skills are saying.”
Charles raised an eyebrow, considering. “You’re not joking?”
“No, I’m not.”
At that Charles looked at his surroundings with a new found fear.
“Come on dude it’s not that bad.”
“The K’gan’s destroyed themselves. Extreme caution is required. I understand why this place is filled with spectres now.”
“I guess… that makes sense.”
Six went to dig through the bones but Charles hissed.
“I just said be careful. Do not disturb the long dead.”
Six waved him away. “Noted, but the whole reason we are here is to fight the undead. We are literally here for a fight.” He dug through the bones and found some more of those gold and silver tabs.
Nice.
He also found his first crop of spectres.
Nice.
They rose from the floor and came from the walls but all they entered into was the glowing life auras of the wisps. The edges of their incorporeal forms burned away under the healing energies and the spectre’s pain was immediately clear, a strange trait in bodies that were unused to any feeling at all.
Six lunged forward with his spear and triggered its effect on touch with the floating shadow. The golden energies of vital surge crackled forward like a lightning bolt and painted the inside of the shadow with a vibrant light. Yet it held together for an instant before the grinding auras of his life golems crushed the remaining bits of its health and the spectre fractured before fading away to nothing.
Six slid across the room to the exit. “We must get to more open terrain. Come.” He lashed out while casting Vital Surge himself, staggering the cooldowns between himself and the spear. The golden energies arced through the new spectre, growing deeper with each thrum of the heal over time spell. He took a moment to toss some rootbust and reachleaf into his mouth for the minor regens they offered.
Nibbler bounced along, pulling her cape and golem through spectres she passed.
Charles had his sword out and was having a harder time with only one life golem. Its sustained effect was far weaker when not stacked. He ran towards the door and stood next to Six as they made their way out into the atrium. With five stacked life golems the three of them were essentially unkillable as any small icy burns the spectres were able to inflict were healed at the same time the spectres took continuous damage that they were vulnerable to. It did not deter them from flying in screaming rage and immolating within the golden mist in a futile struggle to kill the living who kited them about.
It was kinda sad.
But there was a large movement from the floor and something rose
It was indeed a spectre but a titan amongst its smaller brethren. Its form seemed like an unending cloak of night, stitched together from disparate spectres, yet even within this amalgamation the trace of humanity was still there. It released a thunderous hiss that shook the room’s dust loose and the attack of the spectres ceased. They flew away to hover next to this icon of theirs.
Six attempted to Analyze it and failed. He tried again, it failed. He tried again, it failed. He looked to Charles and saw the boy stuck still, gripping his sword far too tight. Six reached out and shook Charles' arm giving the boy a reassuring smile. “We got this. Get yer bow out.”
Six recharged his spear with a mundane core and then sent one of his wisps to orbit an injured Nibbler before casting Zephyr’s Embrace and Vital Surge on himself. Immediately a breeze picked up next to him as his body felt light and vibrant, powerful and strong.
He stood there meditating while he let the cooldown of his Vital Surge get down to a few seconds and then sprinted forward into the growing mob of spectres, his armor clanking with the pounding of his feet. “Time to die again, you dementor looking fucks.”
Six went straight for the big one. He waded into the incorporeal bodies of the spectres and struck at the titan. It felt like swimming through an icy lake. His lungs seized and his health began to plummet despite all the health regen he had stacked. But he focused on his objective and on observing the pain itself. He looked at it from inside his mind and created a sort of separation from the sensation.
Skill Increase: Mindfulness - Initiate - 4
Six ignored the incoming prompts as he struck twice. Once with his spear and once again with his open palm, drawing on his health slightly to complete the spell. Laying both strikes of golden lightning into the giant spectre and then dancing away with long loping strides. His mind pounded from the mana depletion but his life stabilized as he broke free from the swirling mass of ghosts and kited about the room while Charles laid life arrow after life arrow into the giant spectral form. Blasts of golden energies detonating as arrow after arrow penetrated through the spectre blowing away spheres of misty shadow.
Things became harder as the pursuing dark giant gestured with its arms and controlled the flow of flying ghosts, creating two coordinated streams of wailing spectres and trying to corral Six between the death energies.
Six could not wade amongst the dead forever. He was mobile but even with his constant kiting he was still taking too much damage. Vital Surge was almost off cooldown but it only worked on a single target at a time. Six could see the golden lightning proliferating throughout the massive shadow but the spectre still moved with violent intent. No Vital Surge wouldn’t protect him from the last of the flood.
Instead he did the only thing he could think of.
He burned half of his remaining blood sending him down to a meager 140 HP and gathered a fair jag of mana before transforming it into life energies. Then in a way similar to how he used his hand to emit mana during enchantment he ejected the accumulated life energies from his entire body all at once.
Spell Discovered: Mana Wave
He ignored the prompts as a sphere of golden mana extended from him, vapourizing the spectres that lay within his golems auras and disorientating the rest. It refunded a small portion of the life he used to cast it and created much needed space that gave him time to break off charging back towards the big guy and readying his Vital Surges again.
Charles was laying down fire and taking chunks out of the main spectre but it seemed to be able to replenish its form endlessly. It ceased chasing SIx and instead floated toward the boy, screaming it's senseless rage to the world.
Charles sent arrow after arrow but had only a few remaining and still the giant shadow loomed ever closer. The boy would not survive being immersed in he cold death energies, Six needed to pull that things attention immediately.
Six recalled all four of his life golems before him and sent them flying forward in a rotating dive that had them plunge inside the massive spectre. Their combined aura burning a swirling hole in the center of the thing.
It moaned, and began to sink into the floor from whence it came. The titan shade was fleeing.
Anger rose within Six as he roared, “No you fucking don’t.” His charge closed the distance and he leapt into the air, augmented by his enhanced strength and the ring of jumping, he nearly sailed nine feet into the air easily striking high and delivering a one two combo of spear and palm strike. The hits were imbued with Vital Surge and the golden energies reached down from above, spider webbing through the shadowy form of the huge spectre.
The golden threads reached for one another, pulsing with life until they connected and the spectre halted its descent for just a moment as the attacks became faultlines. A screaming hiss escaped as the shadow creature split into two. Black shadows roiled out from the exposed halfs, the darkness almost immediately filling the chamber and obscuring vision. But as fast as it came, it all dissolved into nothing.
Six landed and sprinted towards Charles bringing his life golems along and stacking all five on top of each other.
They stood together as the last of the spectres tested themselves against the auras emitted by the life golems. They burnt away in the wash of healing. Nibbler darted out and struck with her cape, activating the life energies within and dissipating a damaged spectre.
Spear and sword hunted with confidence. The true danger had been dealt with and the clean up was to be executed with typical site standards, safety first and then efficiency. Both of those led to that confidence. The swagger was from a battle well won.
The spectres had offered no mana cores nor materials but they were rich with experience, which is exactly what Six wanted.
You have killed 37 level X Minor Spectre. Experience gained 4896+(1224).
You have killed level 19 Expansive Spectre. Experience gained 1251+(313).
That battle had brought him close to level ten, sitting at 44924 experience he only needed an additional 576 experience points to level up.
“I leveled up twice,” whispered Charles.
“Good shit.” Six looked at Nibbler who gazed back, she licked her face. She probably leveled too. He analyzed her-
Nibbler
Raccoon
Level 5
Nice. Level five was stronger than most villagers, she didn't seem that strong but the increasing numbers gave Six some confidence in her abilities.
“How long you need to heal up Charles? Come back in a few days?”
Charles shook his head, no. “Not long, maybe a half hour or so. Didn’t take too much damage.”
“Oh? That sounds like your regen took a big bump. Ley Champion status?”
Charles nodded. “Alison was kind enough to offer. She saw my skill and thought I would make good use of it.”
“Don’t mistake kindness for pragmatism, she has you now.”
“I had to swear to fight to protect the town, yes. But, It's easy to trust a clear transaction.”
Six snorted. It made sense but he hated it. You had to keep people honest.
Charles lifted his bloodbow. “Freely given gifts are harder so.”
“Hey man I feel ya. Things that seem too good to be true often are not. You don’t want free shit? That's fine. I’ll take it back, but after we’re done.”
Now, they needed to find a few more spectres to grind through but before that happened this place needed a good looting.
They went through each apartment one by one, clearing each and ensuring no more threats were present. They looted as they went. Six found mostly the tabs of currency, totalling 313 gold tabs and 567 silver tabs.
But there were a bevy of magical items that had stood the test of time. Simple quality of life devices, a mana powered lamp, a rock that emitted heat when activated, a bladed standing fan. It was somewhat jarring to see the standing fan in this magical underground bunker but Six supposed it wasn’t the weirdest thing he’d see yet. He left most of it but grabbed one of each for study.
There were also a few more directly useful magical items.
- Bangles of Minor Dexterity -
Rank: Enhanced
Rarity: Unusual
Weight - 0.6 KG
Durability 421/450
Traits:
Dexterity +5. Requires attunement.
- Ring of Triple Strike -
Rank: Enhanced
Rarity: Rare
Weight - 7 G
Durability 350/350
Traits:
Upon landing a strike the user may activate this ring at the cost of 8 charges to perform the Triple Strike maneuver, immediately striking twice again within a greatly reduced frame of performance. 18/18 Charges. Requires attunement.
- Ring of Stone Skin -
Rank: Enhanced
Rarity: Rare
Weight - 8 G
Durability 550/550
Traits:
Users can activate this ring at the cost of 10 charges to cast the Stone Skin Spell. Increasing the user’s natural defense by 50 for ten minutes or until 700 damage has been mitigated. Charges 11/21. Requires attunement.
- Wand of Mana Spear -
Rank: Enhanced
Rarity: Rare
Weight - 0.38 KG
Durability 235/235
Traits:
Use can activate this ring at the cost of 12 charges or to cast the Mana Spear Spell. Creating a spear of force mana and launching it with great speed at a target. Charges 16/28. Cooldown 1s.
There were also five of the same type of amulet.
- Amulet of Unknown -
Rank: Enhanced
Rarity: Rare
Weight - 0.2 KG
Durability 450/450
Traits:
Increases the difficulty of gaining information from the Analyze skill or other means of divination by 436%. Does not affect skills Master rank or greater. Requires attunement.
Nice.