As soon as Ray was out, the rockfall began again. He had known it would be coming. That was fine.
Ray had positioned his independent eyeball in such a way that it would be able to warn him just how the rocks were coming down the mountain. He wouldn’t find them too difficult to dodge.
He also wouldn’t find it too difficult to find the time between the rocks crashing down to gather his own rocks.
All this while, that damn monster had been flinging pieces of the mountain at him from way out like some nasty kid chucking stones at passing cars. It was annoying. Ray was determined to give it a taste of its own horrid medicine.
With his independent eye warning him just how the boulders were falling, Ray didn’t need to look up with his regular eyes. As such, he could have his back turned to the windstorm and keep the eyes on his face a lot more open than if he was facing the other way. Much needed, since he had to find a rock that he could use.
He could have attempted to brute force his way up the mountain. Use the third eye to climb higher and higher, dodging everything coming his way until he got close enough to attack.
Except, he had a sinking suspicion the monster wasn’t going to be so obliging.
There were other peaks nearby. What if the Windbane went to one of those and started throwing rocks from there? Nothing about the dungeon’s description had stated the monsters couldn’t leave the dungeon they were in, especially with how open it was.
Ray could certainly attempt to fly in its trail and attack, but why bother playing its game? Much better to bring the monster down to his level.
It wasn’t hard finding rocks in and of themselves. After all, the Windbane had chucked down a lot already, and was continuing to throw more in Ray’s direction.
The problem lay in finding one that his True Enhancement Shatterclaw arms could both raise up and throw. It reminded him of that Stoutmen dungeon. If only he had lifted more, he wouldn’t have had trouble finding the right broken boulder to chuck back at his offending foe.
It was made harder because he had to constantly dodge and keep moving. Stupid monster kept throwing—
There.
Ray rushed to the perfect chunk of stone. The shattered piece of the mountainside appeared just right for what he needed to do.
He dashed towards it with a little boost from Primal Summons calling up his wings, a giant boulder exploding behind him. Ray ignored the shrapnel tearing at wings and pinging off the back shield. His Recovery was topped up enough to deal with the ones that got past them easily.
As soon as he reached his target, Ray grabbed it with both of his magical arms burning with chaotic energy.
That was the point he would have needed even more True Mana. There was no time to condense more. Not if he wanted to avoid being crushed by another rock sailing straight at him courtesy of his friendly neighbourhood Windbane.
But that was where the Silver True Mana Bracelet came in. All this time, it had gathered the True Mana he needed. It came to his rescue.
Ray applied the True Mana from the Bracelet into Lifeblood Crucible. Immediately, the wings on his back transformed. They expanded, golden energy outlining them as they burned red.
Next, Ray took to the air. At the same time, he pushed out a Mottling Membrane. The spell wasn’t strong enough to stop all the effects of the gust around him, but it did slow down the storm. Just enough for Ray to control the motion of his flight. Just enough for Ray to rise high in the air and set his aim true.
He twisted, pulling both arms and the rock they held as far back as he could. His real eyes were closed. That third eye was his entire guidance.
Then Ray slammed his arms forward and chucked the massive chunk of rock up the mountain.
It was definitely a lucky throw. Ray was fortunate it didn’t hit any of the stones the monster was flinging at him, fortunate that the Windbane saw it coming too late to dodge. At the very last moment, it tried to take flight and evade, but Ray’s rock crashed in too quickly.
He saw it all through the third eye. Part of the monster’s right wing was crushed entirely. Its attempt at taking flight had made it lose its balance, and now it tumbled down the mountainside like an avalanche, screaming as it left a trail of scales and dark blood. Ray would have winced if he wasn’t annoyed.
And if he wasn’t looking forward to ending this fight and this dungeon.
No time to waste. Ray had perhaps a minute or so left of True Mana enhancing his Shatterclaw, though almost twice that for his Soaring Wings.
He shot straight towards the dust cloud that had risen at the spot the monster’s crash landing had stopped. It was such a blessing that the windstorm had stopped, that he didn’t have to mind any debris flying in like anti-air missiles. In a few heartbeats, Ray was right at the spot he needed to be, just outside the big dust cloud.
The monster was rising, the dust dissipating with its motion. Its other wing seemed to have broken thanks to the tumble, several of the spikes and ridges on its back now shattered. It was bleeding from the mouth too.
But despite all that, it wasn’t down and out for the count yet. The Windbane wasn’t giving up that easily. It still wanted to fight.
“Now this is a real battle,” Ray said. “Wouldn’t you say?”
The enormous Windbane answered him with a screeching roar. The noise actually hurt. He had a feeling it was an actual skill, which was confirmed by Presence of the Primordial.
[Warning!]
Presence of the Primordial has failed to nullify the effects of Rending Screech [Tier 5]. The effects have been slightly mitigated.
Ray didn’t know what exact effects it was talking about, and he didn’t particularly care. Nor was he interested in diving into its list of abilities when it most likely just had amped up versions of what the smaller Windbanes had possessed.
Especially not when he was going to kill it.
The monster’s gullet began glowing.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Ray said, countering immediately.
He dashed forward, though not for long. Just five steps or so. Close enough for one of his True Mana Shatterclaw arms to reach forward and grab the monster’s snout.
Ray had made sure to encircle the maw so that it was completely covered up by clawed fingers of his arm. Even if it wanted to spew the concentrated energy that it was no doubt pulling up, it couldn’t do so. Not when its mouth was forcefully closed.
The Windbane struggled. Its wings and arms were too broken to attack Ray’s limb directly but it was still strong. It pulled its head back, and Ray felt himself being dragged forward against his will. The creature’s innate strength was incredible.
But Ray wasn’t about to struggle against it. He was here to win.
So, pulling his other arm back, he punched right into the enormous Windbane’s midsection.
The impact was just as he had expected it to be. An explosion of chaotic energy preceded the monster’s guts exploding out of its body. The Windbane fell forward, its dying groan coming out muffled from within its throat. Ray blasted it with a Chaos Chymify to kill it for good.
[Enemy Defeated—Windbane]
Tier 6 Monster: Greater Windbane [Level 18]
Essence: +1,080
Knowledge: +3
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Mana Restored: +180
Knowledge to next Threshold: 158/250
Essence to level 15: 3,630/10,000
[Lifeblood Crucible Activated]
Chaos Chymify has stolen the soul of a defeated a Greater Windbane. Please select which Aspect of the targeted soul to retain.
Soul Aspects
* Gale [Tier 4]: Send out a moderate windstorm that incorporates surroundings, debilitates foes, and enhances your movement speed. At Tier 4, speed is enhanced by 20% and windstorm lasts 2 minutes.
* Scaled Wings [Tier 5]: Large, reptilian wings that enhance flight at higher altitudes.
* Greater Windbane Maw [Tier 5]: Head of a Greater Windbane with crushing jaws and the ability to apply Intimidate on foes.
* Scouring Eye [Tier 4]: Slit-pupiled eye that can locate objects at great distances.
* Float Sac [Tier 4]: Inflatable organ that draws in air while breathing to expand and improve aerial buoyancy.
* Razing Talons [Tier 4]: Oversized Talons of a Greater Windbane that land hard enough to leave footprints on solid rock.
Oh alright, so this wasn’t just a regular Windbane. It was a Greater Windbane. Well, that explained why it had more enhanced abilities compared to the ones Ray had faced so far. Also interesting that its improved version of Gust—Gale—was what had allowed it to chuck those rocks.
Ray ignored most of what was on that list. He already had functioning claws, wings, and eyes. It just sounded super fun to add a giant draconic head to his growing collection.
So, he went with the Greater Windbane Maw.
Thanks to having upgraded Lifeblood Crucible with the last Tier point, Ray could slot in the new Greater Windbane Maw alongside everything else he had without sacrificing anything. Oh, he was going to have to test out this Maw at some point.
For now, Ray recalled his Dungeon Objective. Head for the peak. That was what he had to complete to end the dungeon run.
It wasn’t a difficult climb. The farther Ray went, the more he kept expecting something to happen. Another Greater Windbane flying in from somewhere—he would have loved more Essence—or perhaps a clutch of smaller, regular ones. Nothing of the sort occurred. Ray’s ascent to the peak was uncontested.
He didn’t even feel that cold, nor did his breaths come shorter and shallower. There was no discomfort at all. Ray had a feeling it was less anything due to his own innate feelings and more because of how the dungeon worked.
Since there was nothing bothering him, Ray decided to check what exactly had been meant by that last Tier breakthrough he had received for his Spirit.
There was that sensation within him. It was as if one of his organs was suddenly something he could feel, sort of like sensing the beat of the heart if focused upon. Ray had used a bunch of spells since gaining access to his Mana Core, but it hadn’t changed. Nothing had felt different about the spells themselves.
Was he missing something? Or perhaps, he was looking at it all the wrong way. Maybe the Mana Core had a very different function he hadn’t identified correctly yet.
Well, he’d figure it out. For now, Ray checked his latest Lifeblood Crucible acquisition.
Since the Windbane head was an addition to the storage spell, he could call it using either Primal Summons or Lifeblood Construct. But which to go with?
Lifeblood Construct appeared to create the “summon” separate from him. A creature with its own body and autonomy, to the extent that he allowed. He imagined summoning up the head with Construct. A single maw, just sitting there… Ray was tempted to laugh at the image.
Although, if he attached wings to it—since he could call forth multiple Soul Aspects—would it grant the head a lot of mobility like the eyeball? That sounded like it had quite a lot of potential.
Meanwhile, Primal Summons always recreated the “summon” on him. For now, he decided to try the head via his first summoning spell.
That was when he received some surprising new information.
[Presence of the Primordial]
With your Mana Core now active, your Mana Imbuing has been hastened. Now that you possess a finer control of Mana, you can direct certain Soul Aspects to appear at a specific location upon yourself using Primal Summons while channelling their extended potential where applicable.
Interesting. So that was what Mana Imbuing was doing. Allowing him greater control over Primal Summons at a more granular level, an effect that had been sped up because his Mana Core was now unlocked.
Ray read the information a couple of times so that it made proper sense. He could now direct Primal Summons to act at a specific location upon himself.
Well, it said certain Soul Aspects. So clearly not everything. That made sense. It wasn’t like using Primal Summons to call on Hoard Defence could be specified to any single location. That skill didn’t work like that.
But the fact that he had received that information right when he had been about to try using the Windbane Maw made it sound like he could apply his newfound granularity right now. That made sense too. Wings went on his back. Hoard Defence was just an area-of-effect skill. But a maw… technically, Ray could summon that monster head anywhere he chose.
What in the world was this extended potential, though? Well, he would find out now.
Ray looked down. Holding out his hand, he focused on Primal Summons and on his arm. Moments later, chaotic energy started claiming his entire limb.
It was a little bit frightening. He had seen what it could do to other creatures. Hell, he had the Greater Windbane right next to him. Its head looked half molten, the flesh oozing and the blood congealed into gelatine.
Ray suppressed the slight panic when his skin began to change. There was no pain, so there was nothing to worry about.
Right?
But the strangeness of the change took his breath—and worries—away. Where he was supposed to have skin, he now had slightly shimmering golden scales. At the end of his arm, where his hand had been, Ray grew a complete, fucking dragon head. Gold-scaled, red-horned, blue-tongued, the maw filled with spiky teeth
The only difference was that it had no eyes. In the hollow orbits, all that burned were black-red flames.
Ray just shook his head. The fuck?
It still felt like his hand. When he moved his arm, the long, scaly neck and the head followed. When he closed and opened his fist, or felt like he had to, the maw opened and closed its jaws. It was like wearing an extra heavy oven mitten.
“This is so wild…”
Ray moved his arm around experimentally. There were certain new sensations attached to it. New… inputs, for lack of a better term. New things he could that his arm had definitely been incapable of. Like moving the tongue inside the mouth. And—
And breathing fire? The heck? Where did that impulse come from? Was that what the System had meant by extended potential? Could there be other “powers” he could unlock?
Well, nothing else came to mind. For the time being, he decided to try out the impulses.
Guided by slight hints from Presence of the Primordial, Ray held out his draconic arm. A single moment of focus later, energy began gathering at the head. Lots of it. Ray could feel it welling up from within, circulating at an incredible pace, turning his whole body into that livewire sensation just as it did when he used True Mana.
A moment later, a powerful stream of black-red fire burst out of the Windbane’s head.
Ray just stared at for a while. He was breathing fire. From his hand. Calling this wild would be a severe understatement.
It took a moment for him to realize he was draining his Mana a lot by continuing to use that ability.
He tried to look at it a bit more critically. It was hard to judge just how far the stream of fire went from his current position, but he got the sensation that he could torch something at least twenty feet ahead of him. The stream itself was about as wide as a big watermelon. Not enormous, but nothing to scoff at.
Especially if he pulled it on people who had no idea it could do this.
Ray had no idea the head was able to breathe fire. He was almost giddy imagining how shocked anyone else would be when he used it on them.
The Windbane head disappeared as he let the spell go. Sheesh, that had consumed so much of his Mana. He crushed another crystal to keep himself topped up, though now he noticed that they weren’t filling up his capacity fully. So, he crushed another.
It wasn’t surprising, considering he was pumping his Spirit higher and higher. Though, it did make him wonder if there were more powerful Mana crystals that regenerated more Mana.
When he finally reached the peak, where a steady wind ruffled his hair, Ray stopped to look around.
It was gorgeous. He turned three-sixty degrees to take it all in. Ray had climbed high. From this point, it really shouldn’t have been difficult for him to observe the entire floor.
Unfortunately, it was impossible. There was the haze again, blanketing everything from his sight. When he turned behind, he did spot other mountain peaks climbing above the haze. Ray had to wonder if they held dungeons as well.
[Dungeon Cleared—Windbane Breeding Grounds]
Rewards
* 1 Accessory: Golden Windbane Scale Mantle
* +10 Windbane Scales
* 2 Tier Points
* +100 Mana Crystals
* +1,400 Essence
* Reputation: +20 Indomitable
Oh, interesting. The loot he was supposed to carry materialized before him, landing on top of the mountain peak.
[Presence of the Primordial]
Presence of the Primordial indicates there are items nearby interacting with Mana.
* Golden Windbane Scale Mantle: Cape fashioned out of the scales of a Windbane. Naturally imbued with Flight Mana, granting the wearer a 10% boost to movement speed, which increases to 20% when airborne. [Tier 5]
* Silver-gold Windbane Scale: Consumable scale that can be broken down into Flight Mana, which can then be used for Flight Mana skills or imbuing.
Hmm. Interesting loot, albeit not ones that would really benefit Ray. Of course, he hadn’t really come to this dungeon expecting loot that would rival what he already possessed. The Mantle—an accessory—was pretty interesting, and could be beneficial, but he wasn’t replacing his Bracelet or the Infuser ring with it.
His hunt had been for Essence primarily, and for Tier points secondarily. Those goals had been met, so he was satisfied.
Speaking of which, Ray decided to use the Tier points. He raised Lifeblood Crucible to Tier 6 and Lifeblood Construct to Tier 3. There, now he could create more combinations together.
He realized he was rather tired and drowsy after the dungeon run. The Mana fruit helped take care of a lot of that, but he felt it would be best if he took a nap. A cleared dungeon wouldn’t really present any danger, not while it was regenerating its contents for the next party to tackle it.
So, Ray took a nice, refreshing nap. It was always a little hard to tell how much time had passed once he was awake again. Nothing seemed different. He felt rested though, which was good enough.
Ray poked into the chat and hit up Randall.
Ray: Hey, Randall. Everything alright at the base?
Randall: Oh, hey! Yeah, everything’s fine. Nothing’s happened yet, weirdly. Where’ve you been?
Ray: Oh, here and there, clearing dungeons. Alright, I was just checking in, ttyl.
Randall: …bye.
Okay, good. Not so much time had passed that the Insurge Faction Base had been attacked and he hadn’t been there to do a thing about it.
Next, Ray decided to check up on Gritty.
Ray: He—
Gritty: Not right now, I’m busy.
Ray: Okay, I was just—
Gritty: I found out the Wild Tides’ secret.
Ray stared. Then cursed as Gritty closed the window. Argh, now he was going to have to find out what that secret was.