I looked at the silvery necklace I got from the guild. Silver rank is not that great to be honest, with it being above copper rank. Classic fantasy scheme, wood, iron, copper, silver, gold, platinum and mithril. Maybe there are other metals, but meh. I mean, they didn't use bronze. Today was supposed to be my first assignment to prove my worth, and I was fine with that. Simple patrol of the sewers, kill a few mutant rats, and other sewer inhabitants, like slimes, get proof, and get back. Not much to say, but it's going to be one hell of a walk.
Also, now that I am a hunter, I can start plotting some minor crimes. Funniest thing, the pendants have no tracking magic, according to Archibald, which made me thinking. Then why the fuck not do some minor crime? I mean, it's quite easy commiting crimes in medieval cities. No CCTVs, no microchips, the one I had was external instead of internal, so yeah, no DNA testing, nothing. Well, there might have been some sort of magic stuff, but after the deed is done I can just convert whoever crossed my path, like some drunkard yesterday, and be on my merry way.
Anyway, the contract I am issued also has a reward of 5 silver, with extras for providing proofs of rats, mutated rats other creatures, which, as far as I remember, cost about a copper for five rats, kinda lame and irrelevant for my magic gold, so I could convert them immediately, or store them in my inventory and try raising dead rats. Yeah, undead rats, unleashing an undead plague on a city would be nice way to get some loot, but I should hold my horses, even if I used motorcycles more than horses or cars. If only I had a gas mask or hazmat suit, but it's just one mission, and I am not keen on spending money on something I will need only once.
Once I descended to the sewers, I found out that it was way darker than I expected it to be, and way bigger than it should be. At least I didn't have to go crouching. Found a couple of rats, killed them, stored them and moved on. Occasionally I met with a weird slime thing, or the regular fantasy slime that bounced around, which were a bit too smelly, but they didn't melt anything they touched, or left a trail. They did get on fire easily though.
Entered Sewer Dungeon.
Cool, a dungeon... Wait, a dungeon? In the sewers? I look around and notice a small staircase leading down... well... sigh. I drop down the spiral staircase, and start looking around. Sewer dungeon. Why? Why would something like this esxist in the first place? My boots are all icky, slime on the floor, walls, even ceiling, and it drips down... I think I'm gonna be sick. And of course more slimes are here, and some rats, and some... spiked rats? One fireball, and everything is lit on fire. Just... why? Whatever... oxygen... I need oxygen, shit.
Quickly blinking back to the surface, I start dropping fire bombs down the staircase, hearing sizzling, and occasional whines. After about an hour of waiting from the initial bombardment, I went back and noticed that the place was charred, with little to no smell emanating from it. I was also surprised to have my experience go up quite a bit, though I only got what, five points out of everything?
Exploring the sewers isn't what I would call a lucrative business, though I did find a few 'secret' tunnels with a chest inside, which was of course trapped with poisonous gas. It did have some weird trinkets, like copper rings, or a couple of coins, or a club, but... let's be real, you can't trust a dungeon in any world. So I turned those items into sweet credits, and moved on.
Second floor was less sewagy? I mean, it still had some weird algae, fungus and other stuff, but less of this liquid, which seemed to be recovering from my blasting session. I tried to manipulate it with water magic, and eventually I got a grasp on how to do it, even made compressed balls of this vicious thing. Mushrooms and algae were converted and blueprinted, and the few enemies that were alive in there, or respawned, were easily dealt with by fire magic, except fire breathing rats, which were those spiky rats, which were dealt with extreme prejudice, by experimenting with death magic, like death bolt. It was messy to say the least, the rat spewed it's guts out, before dying. Eventually I got into a dead end, but with a room on the other side, according to my map, so, I smashed it open and saw a rather big crystal. Of course once I smashed the wall, I got assaulted by all kinds of slime, rats and... fungi people of sorts? One wave of fire dealt with most of them, and the spiked rats that were still alive by the end of the spell, were stomped on with extreme prejudice once again. I also smashed the big crystal, just for the gig of it, which resulted in a smaller, but brighter crystal dropping from it. Of course I tried to convert it immediately, and the blue screens started to show up.
Congrats on conquering your first dungeon.
You earned 1 System Token.
Dungeon Dweller
(Trait)
You have conquered a dungeon, whether by destroying a core or by agreeing to the bargain. The dungeon mana now becomes a boon to you, rather than a bane.
Dungeon Conqueror
(Title)
You have conquered 1 dungeon. The following bonuses will apply as long as you are in the dungeon area and this title is equipped:
+5% to mana recovery rate, +1% to health regeneration.
Are you sure you want to convert a dungeon core?
Dungeon core converted.
You have gained 500'000 SC, 100 UP
New Skill acquired
Mana Shield I
You can create a thin protective layer made from your mana.
Shield HP 105%, Mana reserve: -10%
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Skills Leveled Up
Matter Manipulation I → Matter Manipulation II
Matter creation and manipulation is the skill of deities and dungeons. You for some reason managed acquire one without being either.
Skill lost:
Matter Creation, Matter Manipulation
Ability gained:
Creation
You can create anything out of mana, as long as you have enough that is. This ability is weaker than the respective skill you once had (courtesy of some bug no doubt). While costs for creating items out of mana increased, you are able to make them even of masterwork quality, and there is no difference in difficulty for creation items of low or high ranks.
Let's see, trait should be useful, to a degree. I don't understand what does it mean that the mana in the dungeon is a bane, but let's say that 'insert creature here'-slaying weapons are bane, so that means it is more harmful for the specified creature... wait, if I'm partially dragon, or phoenix, that means that if I were to be hunted by a moron with a dragonslaying weapon, I will get some weird debuff? That's bad, I think, considering that I don't get bonuses from transforming into a dragon, aside from increased damage resistance. What I really don't like, is that Matter manipulation is lost to me. I got ability called creation though, so I doubt it would be worse, but I really, and I mean Really, don't like how it was worded. It means it'll be a pain in the ass to actually make items, or something. Wait, let's make a gold coin again... hm... I think I used about 40 mana to make those the first time... now it's a thousand? So, increase in cost is about 2500%? Wait, it's more like 2400%, still it's a pity, on the other hand the items are of higher quality. Probably. This gold coin is.
Gold Coin (Superior)
A gold coin with intricate details on the surface, an art piece of a more civilized age.
Now that I finally got enough credits from the killings and consuming a core, I bought myself a Ravager enhancement... which didn't seem to do anything so far. I mean, 5% isn't that much.
Ravager Combat Enhancements I
400'000 SC
Ravagers are known to fully utilize any augmentations and or mutations that one could gain. Nerve signals transfer and interpret at much faster rate, which allows for better control of the body and body enhancements.
Passive. Synaptic acceleration +5% per level.
And my credits are gone. Placed some of the points in the summoning affinity and now I have...
Alias:
Jack
Race:
Homunculus
Variant: Prime
Class:
None
Titles:
Hero
UP: 3
SC: 111863
ST: 0
Level:
0/10
Experience:
98%
HP:
6000/18000*
MP:
500/10500
Traits
Stubborn, Unbreakable, Legendary Regeneration, Esper*, Survivor, Perfect Physique, Primordial Entity.
Abilities
Inventory, Grimoire*, Evil Eyes*, Soul Siphon, Elemental Possession, Transform*, Auto-Map, Minion Master*, Creation.
Bloodlines
Primary: High Human; Secondary: Dragon; Tertiary: Primordial Phoenix;
Superior Strength
100*
Superior Constitution
100*
Superior Vitality
100*
Superior Agility
100*
Superior Dexterity
100*
Superior Perception
100*
Superior Focus
100*
Superior Willpower
100*
Superior Attunement
100*
Charisma
100
Psyche
100
Luck
100
Spirit
100
Resilience
100
Fire
Water
Earth
Air
Light
Darkness
Life
Death
100
35
35
35
35
45
35
35
Summoning
Time
Void
Space
Soul
62
30
30
30
30
CQC I, Marksmanship II, Defensive Measures I, First Aid I, Survival II, Cooking I, Stealth III, Mana Manipulation II, Meditation III
… I know it is somewhere. Maybe it's part of some other skill then? Well, no matter, it's time to go back to the surface. I need a bath.