Welcome to floor 4: Kobold Caves

Reach the bottom of the caves.

The darkness of the stairway does not give way to a new environment as it usually does upon entering a floor. Instead, I am enveloped in the pitch dark of a cave, not at all unlike that of the blind faith trial of the previous floor. Since I’d already gone through that, I knew to simply make a bead of light on the end of my wand to light the way.

All around me were stone walls with paths leading in every direction. A few seemed to branch of pretty quickly, and for a moment I was worried that I’d have to navigate it like a maze. After a few minutes of walking however, I realized that the right direction to go was towards which ever one was sloping downwards. If it really was a cave system, the exit would probably be towards the bottom accompanied by a boss fight.

After only about ten minutes of walking, I ran into my first monsters. Each one had red scales with clawed feet and hands. Their mouths were long like that of a dog, and their teeth looked pretty damn sharp. All together this probably would have been pretty menacing, if it weren’t for the fact that they were only about three and a half feet tall.

The four of them simultaneously rushed at me, with all of them wielding spears. It made sense to use those as a primary weapon in the caves, as anybody using a sword or something else that you’d have to swing would be at a disadvantage with the cramped space.

I used my mana to summon a small shield with a spike on the end. I limited it’s size so it wouldn’t be too expensive, and opted to not make a weapon as I felt mana bolt would be enough to handle these enemies.

I parried the first spear that came my way, catching the second with my hand. Another spear slid off my mana shield as I cast mana bolt in the direction of the nearest two kobolds. They both dropped dead instantly as I spun the spear around and stabbed it into the head of the third enemy.

The last creature seemed to have some sense and turned tail, running away like Satan himself was after it.

You have slain kobold (level 7) x 3

No experience awarded for defeating enemies of a lower evolution tier

With that difference in level they hadn’t really stood a chance. I almost felt bad for them, but they had attacked first. I continued walking, fighting off more and more groups of monsters as I went. I kept one of their spears in one hand, with my conjured shield in the other. As long as I didn’t use my mana on anything else, I was just barely able to outpace the drain of it with my mana regeneration. That allowed me to stay pretty much topped off between each fight.

The levels of the kobolds steadily rose the further I made it into the caves. At first it was just one or two of the groups would be stronger than the rest, but soon every single enemy I faced was level nine. It had yet to throw a level ten enemy at me, but I suspected that would be happening pretty soon.

Sure enough, the caves opened up into a larger chamber after a lot of walking. In it were 6 kobolds in total. two of them were taller than the rest, being closer to 5 feet tall than the three and a half of their brethren. These were almost certainly the evolved versions of the kobolds.

I readied myself, ready to fight. The larger versions of the monsters wielded hammers now instead of spears. They weren’t as restricted as they otherwise would have been thanks to the more open chamber.

The big two were the ones to reach me first. Their higher stats caused them to be quite a bit faster than the others. Instead of trying to block the hammer swings, I instead dodged around them. I had a guess that kobolds tended to have strength as their focus for their body stat, and that meant that trying to outright block an attack with a hammer would not go very well for me.

I did my best to keep space between me and the monsters. Firing off one mana bolt at a time was enough to slowly chip away at them, and soon it was just the weaker four remaining. They were all pretty inconsequential to the fight, and I was reluctant to kill them at all, but it had to be done. I didn’t bother even looking at their kill notifications, knowing I hadn’t gained any experience from them.

You have slain kobold (level 10) x 2

Bonus experience earned for fighting while outnumbered.

The next half a day was spent with me making my way through the caves and defeating just about everything in my way. This floor was unlike any of the ones that had come before it. It seemed like it was almost tailor built specifically for gaining levels. The nonstop fights and increasingly powerful enemies was evidence enough of that.

One other thing was also becoming more and more clear as I went further, and that was the simple fact that my level was not increasing as fast as the level of the kobolds. It felt that soon, I would be reaching a point where I simply stood no chance of defeating whatever lay ahead.

That point was not one I had reached yet.

As I slay the last kobold in the most recent group, I check my notifications for all the experience I’d received over the course of my time on the floor so far. I’d realized it was something I could do after I’d been trying to find a way to condense all the notifications I’d been receiving.

You have slain kobold (level 10 to level 19) x 100!

You are now level 16

To say I was a little disappointed would be an understatement. Previously I’d been gaining a level every couple of kill, but that number was rising higher and higher. This most recent level had required me to take out 25 enemies, all of a much higher level than myself. This most recent squad had been comprised entirely of level 19 kobolds.

I had my suspicions that this problem was similar to the one Blair had been having. She had mentioned that working with the same material constantly had led to her gaining less and less experience with each creation. Me killing over a hundred kobolds with no noticeable jump in difficulty probably caused me to run into the same wall. If I wanted to level up at the same pace as before, I would need to either fight a different type of enemy, or a much stronger kobold.

Luckily, my prayers were answered just a few minutes later. I was in another large opening in the caves, much larger than the one I’d fought the level 10 kobolds in. It had plenty of space to move around, which meant I was probably expected to do a lot of dodging. Unlike when I’d fought those other monsters, there were only two kobolds in the room. The first was a mage of some kind. It wore dark brown robes and had a staff as tall as it was. The second had full leather armor and a bow in one hand. I didn’t see a quiver nor any arrows, but I wasn’t about to write it off as a non-threat because of that.

Stolen novel; please report.

I was starting to get a pretty good idea of why the room was so big now.

Both kobolds split apart from one another, with the archer headed for the far left of the room and the mage headed for the far right. I decided to handle the archer first. My mana shield would allow me to get close without needing to worry too much about the arrows, and an archer was far less likely to pull some trick I wasn’t expecting.

I throw a few mana bolts it’s way as I sprint, hoping to get some early damage in. I had been right in thinking that the archer could use it’s bow without a quiver, but I’d still been surprised when it summoned arrows that glowed a faint blue. It shot each one in my direction rapidly, loosing 3 arrows before I could reach it.

Through some miracle of luck, one of my mana bolts had hit the first arrow mid-flight, halting it’s momentum. The other two sailed right past my volley, and I stepped to the side before they reached me. One of them went right past me, having missed entirely. The second arrow hit me dead on, bouncing off my mana shield.

At least, that is what I had expecting to happen. When the second arrow hit me, it sunk right into my shoulder, penetrating to the bone. I let of a small scream of pain, having not expected it to pass right through what I thought was a pretty good defensive spell.

It took a moment to realize what had happened. The arrows had been conjured from nothing, meaning they were conjured from mana. My shield was built for physical blows, and not magical ones. The arrow had been slowed enough to not pierce the rest of the way through me, but it had been unable to be stopped entirely.

Despite the pain of the hit, I kept running, reaching the kobold before it had the chance to summon more arrows. It pulled a dagger from it’s belt, but that was a least something my shield could handle. I here something fly through the air behind me, and dodge to the side just in time to avoid the bolt of mana shot by the mage. Those would be pretty devastating to get hit by, as my mana shield wouldn’t do a thing to protect me from them.

I decide to take a bit of a risk as I get close to the archer. Staying at a range would be preferable, but I need to get on the other side of it so that my back wouldn’t be towards the bigger threat.

It swipes it’s dagger towards my stomach as I step in, and it scrapes against my shield as I push past it and give it a mana blast to the chest. The impact sends it stumbling, but it recovers quickly. I have to spend some attention dodging several other bolts of mana, which prevents me from taking further advantage of the fall.

The archer attempts to retreat, seeming to have come to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be able to win a close range fight. I have no hope of keeping up with it, so I just send a few extra powerful mana bolts at it. The impact knocks it over, and this time the monster is unable to recover quickly enough to prevent me from running up and delivering a double blast of mana directly to it’s face.

Right as the archer dies, the arrow in my shoulder disappears as well.

“Shit.” I mutter, putting a hand over the injury. I’d been hoping to keep the arrow there to prevent me from bleeding too much, but it seems that wasn’t going to be an option any more. Blood starts flowing out at a slow but steady rate. As I dodge side to side to avoid the incoming spells, I try to spare as much attention as I can towards picturing a gauze strip.

With a burst of mana, one appears in my hand, and I do my best to hastily pack the wound. Right as I am about to start trying to get closer to the mage, it suddenly stops throwing spells my way. Instead, it’s eyes and hands glow for a brief moment, as does the corpse of the archer. In that second I realize that this wasn’t just a mage, but a shaman. Using what remaining energy must have been left in the body of it’s fallen ally, it launches an far more powerful mana bolt, this one moving far faster than before and being at least triple the size of the others.

I don’t have time to dodge, so I crouch down and summon a shield in front of me, hoping that it will take the brunt of the blow. It thankfully absorbs most of the damage, but I am still thrown back a full two meters, sliding a short distance before coming to a stop.

Rolling to the side to avoid the follow up attack, I jump to my feet and start running.

The shield I’d blocked the attack with had shattered on impact with the powerful spell, but it had saved me from what could have very possibly been fatal damage. I was down to only a third of my mana pool now, and I was going to need to end this quickly if I wanted to win.

I send a single mana bolt towards the shaman, watching as it impacts a barrier of mana that appeared right as it got close.

I small smile appears on my face when I see that. It had a defense against magical attacks, which meant it probably didn’t have too great of a defense against my spear.

It takes some time to get close enough to attack, mostly due to being extra careful to not get hit by spells. When I do get close, I have to leap back to avoid a crescent wave of mana sent forward by the shaman. It seems that it really doesn’t want me getting close.

In a quick flash of inspiration, I grab my wand from my belt with my offhand, which up until now had been constantly producing light like a lamp, and point it towards the shaman.

I squint my eyes as I ramp up the input of mana. I use a bit of mana to make a reflective cone around the wand so that all the light is sent towards the shaman. As the light gets brighter and brighter, reaching a point that drawing a significant amount of mana, I chuck my spear at the shaman with all the strength I could muster.

Even with the light being mostly directed away from me, it was still pretty damn intense. I was sure that for the Shaman, it must have been like staring at the sun. There was just no way it would be able to see my spear coming in time to react to it.

Just as I had been hoping, my spear strikes true, penetrating the stomach of the kobold. I’d been aiming for it’s chest, but I hadn’t exactly practiced throwing spears.

I cut off the flow of mana, with the brief drain having reduced me to only having enough mana for one final spell. With a quick motion, I yank the spear from the chest of the shaman. It’s hands, staff, and eyes all begin to glow, probably about to cast a spell to make some distance between us, but I would never get to find out.

I stabbed my spear directly towards its neck. It tried to lean away from the strike, but failed. I had invested the rest of my mana into speeding the spear up with mana conversion, and it had led to it striking it’s target.

The glow disappeared from the hands of the monster as it began choking on its own blood, and I quickly ripped the spear free to sink it into the shamans head and put it out of its misery.

You have slain Kobold Archer (Level 23)

You have slain Kobold Shaman (Level 25)

Bonus experience gained for defeating an enemy of a higher level. Bonus experience gained for fighting while outnumbered.

You are now level 17

You are now level 18

You are now level 19

My breathing begins to slow and the adrenaline fades as I read the notifications. I’d definitely gotten my wish of wanting to fight tougher monsters, and I had been rewarded handsomely for my efforts with three entire levels. The fading adrenaline does mean I am starting to feel the pain again from the injury in my shoulder, and I quickly begin jogging towards the staircase that had appeared in the middle of the room. I’d packed the wound well enough to have it mostly dealt with for now, but I’d still like to see a healer sooner rather than later.

My jog slowly comes to a stop as I turn around to look back at the dead shaman. More specifically, the shamans staff and robe. The thought of wearing something I’d taken from a dead enemy gave me an icky feeling, but the thought of finally getting an upgrade to my gear was just too enticing to ignore.

I try to scrub the memory of stripping the robe off of the monster while I inspect the two items.

Shamans Staff (Uncommon)

Decreases the cost of any spell channeled through the staff. Allows the siphoning of a corpses energy more efficiently.

The staff would be useful, but I was pretty certain I wouldn’t be using that second effect. Being a shaman sounded cool and all, especially considering they would probably have near infinite mana on a battlefield littered with corpses, but dealing with the dead really turned me off of the class.

The robe was thankfully more general use, though still sounding like something that would be used by a cult.

Shamans Robe (Rare)

Allows the wearer to store mana in the robe for later use. Passively siphons mana from any nearby corpses and beings at least 10 levels lower than the wearer. Passively repairs itself using the mana stored within.

Well, I doubted I’d get much use out of the second effect on this one either. While it didn’t require a skill to siphon mana like the staff did, I was pretty much never going to be fighting something that much lower of a level than me. I was glad that I wasn’t level 15 before the fight, because that would have meant being slowly drained of my mana through the whole thing, and I’d already been cutting it pretty damn close.

I carry both the staff and robe to the stair case, not putting the robe on yet due to the blood still covering it. I would definitely need to give it a good wash before wearing it.

Can my mana-festation skill make detergent? Well, only one way to find out.