Digging was what Ray needed. If those monsters could swim their way through the earth and jump out at him like sharks from monster fish movies, then he could use the same trick to get away from them.
More monsters rushed in, but Ray was already excavating his way out of there. Giving the Imps a taste of their own horrible medicine.
It was strange. The rocks parted as though they were soft, packed sand. He had to expend more effort than swimming, but it was a very similar sensation. Unlike water, they didn’t squeeze in from all sides, which he was thankful for, though the shifts caused by Tectonic Theft were definitely worrying.
The Imps tried to follow him into his hole, but Ray managed to swipe his arm back with another Shatterclaw. It flung the Imps back and collapsed his entry point to boot. Double win.
Then he kept digging.
Ray’s breaths came in sharp and fast. He might have been dealing with a bit of claustrophobia ever since he had entered the Marauder’s Caves, but this was something else. It was almost laughably ironic. He had been so worried about being buried alive that he had gone on and interred himself inside the earth on his own.
Breaths. That was right. Inhaling and exhaling was getting harder. His lungs rebelled at the lack of air. Ray dug, faster and faster.
Strange how the skill made the earth part like it was soft clay. Ray didn’t feel as squished as he ought to have. Maybe the skill just granted natural proclivity to being a mole.
Tectonic Theft got worse. Maybe because he was nearing the epicentre. The Map Fragment confirmed it. Ray was digging through the earth in a direction that led to the largest open area within the cave system. Was that where the Fiend would be?
With his Recovery so low thanks to Lifesteal, he couldn’t afford to take care of any of the wounds. They weren’t serious enough.
At least he could bless the fact that none of Imps burst in on him while he was digging through solid rock. He really didn’t want to be fighting while he was already fighting himself to keep going. The lack of air was burning his chest from the inside.
Ray’s consciousness was starting to dim a bit. He couldn’t pass out. Not yet. He wasn’t going to make it to the big chamber. Shit.
A quick look at the Map Fragment confirmed that there was a smaller room nearby. It didn’t matter what was there. Didn’t even matter if it was jam-packed with Imps like action figures on a toy store’s discount shelf. Ray needed to breathe.
His hands broke through to open air. Lifegiving breath filtered in through his lungs. Ray sucked in hard, letting his lungs climb back down to normalcy. He was alive. He was conscious. Everything else came second. He could keep going. That was all that mattered for the time being.
As his thoughts turned away from immediate survival, Ray realized he hadn’t checked his new spell yet.
[Information Request—Spells]
Primal Summons [Summoning] [Tier 1]
A summoning spell that calls forth primal energies to bring up Soul Aspects stored by Lifeblood Crucible upon the caster. Each Soul Aspect integrates directly upon caster’s original body. At Tier 1, summoned Soul Aspects are also at Tier 1 and last 1 minute, and the spell costs 50 Mana.
Ah, so Ray could only hold a Soul Aspect for a minute at a time, until he upgraded the spell. He must not have been digging for that long. Panic must have caused him to lose breath early.
Ray’s attention turned to what lay ahead of him. He sent out a pulse of Lifeblood Sense.
Crap. The chamber was inundated with more Imps, just as that other one he had run away from had been. Thankfully, they were all positioned in such a way as to leave him free to strike them down from above. It was too dark to see, when Ray pressed his eye against the hole he had dug, but Lifeblood Sense told him their exact position.
There was also a glimmer at the very bottom of the room—around thirty feet below him, as far as he could tell. Quite a few glimmers, in fact. What was that?
Oh. He blinked. That description had stated something along the lines of the Imps being thieving creatures that liked to steal anything that shone and glittered. Could that be a pile of their thefts? A hoard of treasure Ray could possibly find something useful in?
Definitely worth investigating.
With a decent helping of care, Ray dug around himself to make the hole bigger. It was a lot harder now that Primal Summons had run out. But eventually, he had room to manoeuvre better.
He grinned down at the unsuspecting monsters. A heady sensation of control possessed him. It was silly, stupidly so, but it was exhilarating to understand that, if he performed everything correctly, he wasn’t going to suffer any damage.
Forget taking damage, he wouldn’t even have to spend much effort.
“It’s over, you little Imps,” Ray said. “I have the high ground.”
The range of Shatterclaw was ten meters. That was almost exactly thirty feet, which was the lowest point of the chamber, as far as Ray could tell. There were no Imps that far down anyway. Lifeblood Sense assured him of that.
In other words, all his targets were well within reach.
Heart beginning to pound hard with a mixture of excitement and anticipation, Ray began.
He leaned his arm through the hole and slashed. A Shatterclaw managed to knock down an Imp before the rest of the group was aware of him. The one he had hit wasn’t dead—it had to be the level five variant—but Ray shot a bolt of Chaos Chymify to end it.
The other Imps started coming after him. Several climbed along the walls in an attempt to reach him. Others jumped fruitlessly. Idiots acting ineffectively.
Ray was tempted to whistle as he took out another of the Imps. The continued deaths kept his Mana filled up.
Things got a little hairier when they started to dig through the walls. His Shatterclaw pot shots had flung the climbers off the rock wall. The monsters had finally come around to one way they could reach Ray directly. Digging through the rock.
He tutted. There had been a faint hope that they would be too stupid to recall their digging ability before he took out all of them, but it seemed he wasn’t that lucky.
Tectonic Theft was shaking everything again, and the entire chamber started to crack apart. Ray was almost vibrated out of his little hole. He was ready for it, though. Plus, the next step of his plan required him to get out of the hole anyway.
Ray dropped down to ground. It was pretty big fall, but a quick use of Shatterclaw along the wall slowed his plummet down enough for the landing to not injure him.
He bit down on a scream anyway. His leg was already wounded. Just before he had escaped the other Imps, they had scratched and torn through his feet and shins. Curse those ankle-biters.
There was only one of the Imps left nearby. The rest of those that had survived his initial onslaught were attempting to dig through the rock wall to get to him.
Ray killed the monster with one Shatterclaw. The two in the wall reversed course, but they were slow. As they emerged, they got a Shatterclaw to the face, before falling victim to Chaos Chymify. One of the Imps actually managed to clamber out to leap at him, but his spell combo took care of it long before it reached him.
[Enemy Defeated—Feathered Imp]
Tier 6 Monster: Feathered Imp [Level 5] x2
Tier 6 Monster: Feathered Imp [Level 3] x3
Essence: +1,140
Mana Restored: +190
Essence to Level 10: 2,280/2,700
Ray stood there and breathed, declining the Lifeblood Crucible prompt. His racing heart slowly calmed down. Even Tectonic Theft was receding.
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Nearly at the next level too. Good.
He still had his Objectives too. Surely, he’d be getting some Essence as a reward too, when this whole tutorial was cleared. Were there other sources he could take advantage of later? He’d have to see.
The more interesting fact was that Mystic Knowledge was once more acting up. He looked ahead. Ah, right. At least some of the items glimmering in that hoard had to be using Mana.
[Mystic Knowledge]
Mystic Knowledge indicates there are items nearby interacting with Mana. Some of these items can be looted and added as gear.
* Bronze Ring of Physicality: Boosts Strength and Agility by 5% [Tier 3]
* Gold Mana Infuser Ring: Allows raising spell Tiers with Mana infusion [Tier 5]
* Bronze Fur-lined Shield: Reduces up to 80% physical and 80% cold damage [Tier 3]
* Leather Dimensional Bag: Dimensional storage with 4 large slots [Tier 4]
* Silver Old Arcanist’s Finger Band: Boosts Talisman in the same hand by 20% [Tier 4]
* Iron Manaforged Sword: Deals extra 20% Soul damage [Tier 2]
* Gold Wyvern’s Helm: Raises Resilience by 30 [Tier 5]
* Dried Mana Fruit: Consume to replenish your energy
* Mana crystal: Crush to replenish 200 Mana [Tier 2]
* Mantle of Despondence: Inflict Minor Despair upon foes engaging you [Tier 3]
Ray whistled softly. No need to alert anyone nearby. Although Lifeblood Sense confirmed that no one was within ten meters, whistles could carry farther.
But more importantly, could he take everything in that little pile that had Mana? Ray decided to methodically go through everything he could put on himself. The dragon-head-shaped Wyvern’s Helm fit snugly around his head, like it was custom-made for him, as did the rich blue mantle. Much nicer than his torn robes.
Next came the rings, bedecking three of his fingers. Nice. Now he could flip things off in style. A few more and he could start pretending he was a pimp.
[Warning!]
As you are still under Level 10, you may only equip one Accessory. If you have equipped more than one Ring, all but a single, randomly-chosen Ring’s effects will be nullified.
Ray tutted. Seriously? The System didn’t want him becoming overpowered with a few pieces of equipment. Muttering some unsavoury curses under his breath, Ray decided to pick the Old Arcanist’s Finger Band since it was boosting all his spells by improving his Talisman.
Everything he couldn’t use went into the Dimensional Bag. As the description stated, it was indeed like a pocket inventory that allowed him to hold up to four pieces of loot.
Ray put both the sword and the shield in there. Both were way too heavy. He couldn’t swing the sword fast enough, and just lifting the fridge-door-sized round metal shield was barely possible. He also put in the Mantle and the Mana Infuser Ring.
If there was loot, there had to be some sort of currency and market system in place. He ought to be able to get something decent for the things he couldn’t use.
Ray picked up the Mana fruit as well. It looked like an overlarge chili that was indeed really dried. He got the feeling it should have been bright blue, but it was dull grey now, the hints of former cerulean barely visible.
Replenish energy, huh? Now that Ray thought about it, he did feel hungry. And thirsty, and weary, and… yeah, this was why people didn’t run around in caves being chased by monsters.
Ray wasn’t sure if there would be any negative fallout from eating it, especially since it looked kind of rotten. But there was no bad smell, so he took an experimental bite.
And immediately felt better.
His hunger abated, his thirst receded. Much of the aches all over his body lessened in intensity too. Miraculous.
Ray quickly ate up the rest of the fruit. Incredibly, it really did as exactly as the description had stated. He felt refreshed. Energized. There was still a lingering sensation of fatigue in his muscles, but he had a feeling even that would have disappeared with a fresh fruit.
He kept the Mana crystal tucked in his hand for now. There might be an emergency situation where he’d need an instant injection of Mana.
There were other things in the pile, of course. As they couldn’t interact with Mana, Mystic Knowledge failed to provide any information about them. Not that Ray was going to disregard them just for that. Hell, even for half the items he had just looted, he couldn’t tell how they used Mana. Did the Ring of Physicality need Mana to boost the stats it indicated?
The problem was that he was lacking any sort of identifying skill, or something along those lines. No tooltips popped up. There was nothing that helpfully described what the massive halberd on the ground or the pair of boots detailed with wings would do.
It would have been helpful to explain a lot of what he had read. How did a solid metal shield block only up to a percentage of damage? Would even a regular arrow pierce through and hit him with twenty percent of its original potency? No way. That was ridiculous.
There were other similar questions that popped up in Ray’s head, but he got the feeling he’d have to test things to get his answers.
[Warning!]
Mystic Knowledge indicates you have been detected by Hoard Defence [Tier 4] for stealing from the hoard. The wielder is now heading straight towards you.
Ray’s heart started hammering again. Hoard Defence. Shit. Was that a skill by the Feathered Fiend? He looked around, panicking just a bit, while continuously using Lifeblood Sense. Still nothing. Just a set of clacking noises getting ever louder. There was still time.
He quickly pored over the Map Fragment. The chamber he was in was very close to the main chamber he had seen earlier. Which meant the Fiend would be here any second now. But where was he supposed to go? There were no paths, no tunnels, nothing connected to his chamber besides the main room. The one where the Fiend had most likely taken up residence.
Maybe he could dig into the walls and make a getaway. He was supposed to defeat the Fiend, but the level difference between them might still make that impossible.
Then Lifeblood Sense picked up his enemy’s signature.
There was no time to run. Ray had to act. Now.
The Feathered Fiend rounded the corner into the chamber on blisteringly fast clawed feet. Ray had only a second to take it in. Basically a larger version of the Imps, except with what looked like a cloak of dark feathers streaming off its back and a huge spear in its hand. It screeched at him so fiercely, he physically recoiled.
[Warning!]
Mystic Knowledge indicates you have been inflicted with Marauder’s Curse [Tier 4]. Your movement speed will be slowed down so long as you hold any item from the hoard. Arcane Aura has reduced the impact.
As if things didn’t look bad enough. Now he couldn’t even run properly from the monster. He pulled his arm back—
[Warning!]
Mystic Knowledge indicates Lifesteal has reduced to [Tier 3]. Your Recovery is drained away at a slightly slower pace. You have no further Recovery to lose.
What? This wasn’t the effect of Arcane Aura reducing Lifesteal’s effect on him. No, the ability itself had suddenly gone down in strength for some reason.
Ray had no time to ponder as the monster screeched at him. Was it him, or was just the noise it was making shaking everything around them? Surely it wasn’t so stupid as to put itself in danger of being buried using Tectonic Theft.
The Fiend charged at him. Fast. So damn fast. It made the Imps look like snails in comparison.
Ray barely managed to dive to one side in time. As he got back to his feet, he switched up the rings on his finger. No more of the Old Arcanist’s Finger Band. Instead, he pulled on the Mana Infuser Ring.
Now that he had no Recovery at all, he couldn’t risk suffering any damage. One hit from the Feathered Fiend and he’d probably be down for the count.
Another screech rebounded off the walls. Ray staggered but held his ground. Then he shoved as much Mana as he could into Shatterclaw. With a growl, he pulled his arm back. The Feathered Fiend charged. At the same time, Ray unleashed Shatterclaw.
A Tier 6 Shatterclaw, in fact.
It wasn’t just five random slashes joining together to form a clawlike shape. The spell now had at least a couple dozen of the black-red slices of energy mushed together at the head of a frothing, truck-sized torrent of the same colour. The entire mass rocketed out of thin air in front of Ray, slamming into the Fiend hard and crushing the monster against the chamber wall.
Shatterclaw was now so strong, Ray himself was flung off his feet. He flew backwards into the cave’s main and largest room.
He quickly righted himself, breathing hard, his blood dancing in his veins. Dust exploded out of the chamber he had been a second ago, the crash of rocks confirming that Shatterclaw had more or less destroyed the whole room.
Ray had buried the Fiend.
It wasn’t dead though. He would have received its Essence otherwise. He shook his head. Unbelievable. A Tier 6 Shatterclaw and that thing had still survived.
Hoard Defence. Something told him that the Fiend’s ability was what had allowed it to tank that spell head on and still come out alive.
Ray grimaced. He didn’t have much Mana left. The hope had been that he would have ended the Fiend with one strike after raising his spell’s Tier high enough. Things had turned a lot more difficult.
He looked around. The main room held a much larger hoard than the side chamber Ray had popped into. Mystic Knowledge was trying to give him information about the interesting stuff he could potentially make use of, but there was no time. He pushed the notifications aside. Lifeblood Sense informed him that the Fiend was clambering out of the rubble to kill him.
That was when he found it. The puppy. Kredevel’s lost dog. Ray blinked. That had to be it. It looked so much like a dog, yet so alien, that it had to be Kredevel’s pet.
Well, his lord’s pet. Whatever.
The little “dog” looked more like a monitor lizard, but with longer, canine legs, though still covered in black scales and spiky ridges like a little dinosaur. For its head, it was as if someone had chopped off the actual skull and stuck a facehugger there. Holy crap, that thing was a monster. He almost didn’t regret that it was dead.
With a screech, the Fiend reappeared. It was mad now. Ray’s attack had left heavy wounds all over it, and it was determined to pay him back.
He stared. The wounds… they were healing. What in absolute—did it possess some sort of healing ability? Wait, no. That was Vitality. That birdbrain had stolen his Recovery, had probably added it to its own store of Recovery. Alright, now Ray was pissed.
Although being pissed wasn’t going to help. He needed to find a way to subdue the monster somehow.
The Fiend shrieked at Ray, forcing him back again. Arcane Aura once more reduced the debuff from the noise.
But before the monster could attack, a different notification popped up.
[Warning!]
Mystic Knowledge indicates your presence has been detected by Total Perception [Tier 3]. Arcane Aura has been nullified by the presence of a stronger aura, Sylvan Pride [Tier 3].
The popup was immediately followed by a loud wail.
“No!” Kredevel stood at the other end of the large chamber, staring at his dead dog. Even in the gloom, Ray could see he was devastated. “Brick Licker! How could you leave me alone in this world?”
Brick Licker? Ray decided not to even internally comment on the name. Kredevel was an alien. For all he knew, naming anyone or anything Brick Licker was one of the highest possible honours.
He focused on the real problem of the Feathered Fiend. How was he going to deal with that—
Apparently, the monster that had been so bent on killing Ray had now switched its target to Kredevel. Made sense. He was clearly a lot stronger than Ray. The Fiend would be better off taking out the real threat.
Except, when it attacked its new target, Kredevel fought back. Furiously.
For a little while, Ray was tempted to just stand in awe at the sheer ferocity on display from both combatants. If he had been thinking of somehow fighting the monster head on before, those faint thoughts died pretty quickly. There was no way Ray would stand even a shred of a chance against the Fiend.
Unless…
His head slowly swivelled to the dead dog. His mind recalled the way the Fiend’s Lifesteal ability had changed Tiers. Hoard Defence.
Ray grinned. Maybe, just maybe, he had found a way to kill off the Feathered Fiend.