They returned to silent steps, as they made their way to what was likely the dungeon’s final room as guessed by Axilya. According to her, even E or D rank dungeons could vary in size, but tutorials didn’t tend to take too long for anyone involved. Leo felt thankful for that. Even though he had seen a measure of success in fighting skeletons, in no small part due to the help of the other tutorial-goers, he had no desire to go through a long dungeon crawl. He couldn’t help but think of what he did actually want to do after he got through the tutorial. Hopefully the Mixer that Axilya knew could give him some direction.
One thing at a time, Leo had to focus on getting past this boss and clearing the dungeon before anything else. As before, he held his weapon and shield out in front of him as they approached the final chamber. It opened up into a room notably larger than the previous two that they’d been in. While the last two had been carved stone, the walls of this one looked like they’d stepped back into the cavernous area from the entrance. The walls were damp, glistening in the light of blue fire torches, and the entire area had the smell of something that had been left damp for entirely too long.
Movement caused Leo’s eyes to focus on the opposite side of the room, where a figure on some kind of throne moved, leaning forward as if looking over the visitors into its domain. It had a vaguely humanoid form, only one that stood nearly eight feet tall, with bulbous and bloated gray skin. As it began to stand, Leo saw something dripping from its form, causing a small puddle to form underneath it. He immediately used Appraise.
[Warning! The difference in rank is too high! Some information is restricted.]
Name:
Oorden
Title
The Drowned
Element
Dark, Water
Total Rank
C
“Axilya - it’s rank C.” He announced
“And it’s water, probably. Shit.” Axilya muttered, stepping forward and drawing her sword. Leo hadn’t said anything about the element, but she probably guessed from the dripping water. “Don’t get too close to it, a bad hit might outright kill you.”
“I’ll place the barrier on you once more, but do retreat back if it falls. I’m not confident I’ll be able to maintain it if you are hit more than a couple of times.” While Koren worked on putting the barrier up, Axilya rushed forward to engage Oorden.
“It might come after me after I hit it with my magic.” Mada said to Leo. “So after you see it hit, could I trouble you to stand between it and me?”
“Will do.” Leo said, although he didn’t really want to, but maybe he could distract it enough for Axilya to gain its attention again. Speaking of which, as Leo moved to join the fight, with Koren’s barrier around him once again, he got a chance to see Axilya in action when she was actually fighting seriously and not mowing down skeletons. Her dark skin had a metallic sheen to it now, and she swung her sword to deflect Oorden’s blows, bringing it back around in wide arcs to cut into it. The big zombie man himself didn’t have any weapons, but Leo could feel the force when Oorden’s fists and Axilya’s weapon collided.
He moved up, and Oorden barely noticed him, he could move to the side with the zombie paying him no mind, as if he wasn’t even there. Once he was sure he could move it without getting swatted, he rushed forward and tried to cut across its arm with his shortsword before backing off. It left a cut so shallow and ineffective that the boss didn’t even retaliate, continuing to duke it out with Axilya. He tried again, putting more small cuts across its other arm, its back, and on the back of its neck before he seemed to finally draw its attention. It turned from Axilya to swing at Leo, and it was slow enough that Leo could deflect with his shield, but the blow itself rattled Leo, had his teeth clacking in place, and sent him stumbling back. If he didn’t have Koren’s barrier, it likely would have crumpled his shield and broken his arm.
Okay, yeah, that was about what he imagined getting slugged by a gorilla felt like. A salvo of fireballs slammed into its side, causing it to stumble forward as Leo moved back, and as it turned to the source, Axilya stepped in between Oorden and Mada before the boss could start heading after the mage. They then started their round two, and as Leo recovered from the single hit he actually took, it became apparent that Axilya was struggling. He couldn’t comprehend why at first, but the answer came to him when Oorden spontaneously fired off a blast of water, like from a high pressure fire hose, which caught Axilya right in the chest and sent her flying back.
He remembered what she said about elements affecting each other beyond their ranks. Even if their Fortitudes were the exact same, if it had a dominant element it would come up on top. He racked his brain to remember how the elements work, and found that Water counteracted Earth and outright weakened Metal, so Axilya was at a severe disadvantage.
He needed something to actually draw its attention other than going for the neck, because as things were he wouldn’t be able to do any significant damage, and Axilya didn’t seem like she’d last that long if Oorden solely focused its attention on her until it killed her. He looked in his Storage, trying to see if he could find something to help. With the elements on his mind, he remembered that Wood and Fire were what he wanted to use against water.
He only had one of each, and he wanted to save the Wood bone in case he needed to make another healing salve or potion, but having something to heal wouldn’t matter if it killed them, so he went to [Combine] the Vine-Covered Bone and the Charred Bone, not having anything in mind but hoping it’d make something he could use against the boss.
Critical Combine!
Ashblood Oil (Rank C)
A poisonous oil that ignites and burns away vital fluids. Affects all that can be affected by Fire.
You have created a C-Rank item for the first time! Achievement Reward: C-Rank Unrestricted Karma
A critical combine? This skill could crit? He couldn’t even focus on that for longer than a couple of seconds, because he ran into another issue. The oily poison he just crafted hovered just above his hands for a moment before dropping, and he managed to catch a handful and let the rest fall on his sword just before it hit the ground. Note to self, keep some vials on hand. He might have been able to think of a more solid form for this to take, but he’d have to think of it later. He carefully cradled the oil in his hand, and glanced back up to find Axilya still fighting with Oorden.
“Mada, Koren, keep it busy for a second - take the barrier off of me if you have to. Axilya, come here!” He shouted. All three of them looked confused, but none of them raised any objections to the plan. The next salvo of fireballs caused Oorden to start moving toward Mada again. Leo saw the barrier disappear from him, and spring up over Mada as she began to run from the boss.
He ran over to Axilya as she similarly rushed over to him, keeping his hand as steady as possible so he wouldn’t lose any of the oil. “Hold up your sword.” He told her. Quickly as he dared to avoid spills, he ran his hand over the blade and rubbed the oil all along it. “That should help. God- gods I hope it helps, it’s C rank.”
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Axilya nodded, steadying herself before turning and rushing off back toward Oorden. Mada held up spectacularly, running away as fast as her legs would carry her from Oorden, who moved surprisingly quickly for its size. The zombie caught up to her, and she dodged a punch that slammed into a nearby wall which caused the entire room to shake. Mada ducked underneath and ran behind, passing Axilya.
“Koren, switch the barrier to Axilya, I don’t need it as much!” Axilya had taken a beating, but she was the only one who could really take its hits. Leo needed to avoid getting hit, but since some of the oil had fallen onto his sword, he wanted to try making use of it. Especially after Axilya reached Oorden and started swinging. Her greatsword, covered in the Ashblood oil, left a burning trail in the air when she swung, and when it cut across Oorden’s stomach, a burst of steam shot out from the oil making contact. Suffice to say, Oorden’s attention moved fully back to Axilya.
Leo put away his shield, he held the shortsword in both hands as he ran toward the fight. Axilya had turned Oorden, exposing its back while she carved away at it with more confidence. Leo moved behind it, and swung with as much force as he could muster, seeing the flaming trail left behind the path that his own sword took as it slashed across Oorden’s back and caused another heavy cloud of steam. He didn’t waste time and backed away immediately, all but sprinting to get out of its range because he knew a single hit would take him out, but the sight was dazzling.
Oorden did turn toward Leo, and looked like it was about to start running toward him, when it took a single step and cracked the stone floor beneath it. Behind it, Axilya had a hand raised toward it, curled as if she was grabbing on to something. Her long hair drifted upward and floated as if she was falling, or as if she was submerged in water. Oorden continued to make slow, heaving steps toward Leo, until another set of fireballs caused it to stagger backward and crash to the ground.
Axilya released her magic, rushing it, and Leo followed suit. Axilya wasted no time bringing her sword down on Oorden’s neck, separating the head from the body, while Leo jammed his sword down where he guessed its heart would be. Steam erupted in a heavy cloud while Oorden shuddered, giving a gurgling growl, but eventually falling still.
Everything fell silent for several seconds. Leo and Axilya stood, panting and staring down at the remains of the boss, while Koren and Mada made their way toward them. After a while, he finally saw the notifications appear.
You have defeated a C-Rank enemy for the first time! Achievement Reward: C-Rank Unrestricted Karma
Quest Complete!
Tutorial Dungeon - The Caves of Oorden (Rank D)
Reward
D-Rank Unrestricted Karma (2)
Auto Loot Activated
Items Obtained:
Drowned Heart (C-rank, Water)
Soul Husk (C-Rank, Aether)
Sigil of the Drowned
Seconds later, a brief flash of light caused all of their attention to move toward the throne Oorden was sitting on. A chest sat there now. A treasure chest, most likely. Leo looked toward Axilya, who gave an approving nod, and he walked over to open it. To his delight, it was filled with coins, but those coins started to disappear almost immediately after he opened the chest.
Earned 300 Credits!
“Credits?” Leo asked.
“You can go into most shops on worlds under the Labour’s protection and buy things with them. You can also use them to buy things other laborers put up for sale.” Axilya answered. Sheathing her sword, and pulling out from a bag a golden orb that fit in the palm of her hand. Grasping it, she crushed it in her hand, and the golden dust that flew out from it swirled around her briefly and disappeared. “300 isn’t bad for a D rank dungeon. Should be enough for an E rank to live off of for a few days at the very least.”
“What was that?” Leo pointed to Axilya. “In your hand just now?”
“That was my Karma. My reward for getting you through the tutorial.” She answered. “You should have got some too, but I’m told it looks different for different people.”
Strange. He supposed it did look different for him, in that he didn’t even have to touch his, as it all spent itself through the interface. That did make him wonder what her interface looked like, as well as Koren and Mada’s, but he didn’t ask. Instead, he thought toward the Karma he’d collected.
As he pondered, a low rumble filled the room, as a central section of it began to lift up and beyond the ceiling, revealing a set of spiral stairs. When the rumbling stopped, a pale light shone down into the chamber.
“I suppose that’s our exit.” Koren said, heading toward the stairs. “Let’s see where it leads. Are you alright to walk, Axilya dear?”
“I’ll manage.” Axilya retrieved her sword, sheathing it again in her metal straps. ”Good job, everyone, that was much more of an ordeal than I thought it would be, but we made it through. And good thinking with that oil, too.” At the end, she looked to Leo with a smile, starting to walk toward the stairs.
As they started to ascend, Leo spent his Karma. He put the first C rank into Intuition, his eyes widening when it increased by four points. It seemed like Karma worked exponentially when it came to lower ranks. He put the second C rank Karma into intuition also, watching the stat shoot up to E+ with an extra two out of ten. He then put the two D rank Karma to Intuition also.
Those C rank Karmas were a fantastic boost, but it seemed like the achievements only happened once, so he couldn’t rely on getting that many of them. After he raised his Intuition up to D-, he’d have to work on getting his Fortitude up.
Though he had more questions, Leo closed his screen as they finally reached the top of the stairs, and he could truly take his first steps, undistracted into this new world.
Name:
Leonell Bolden
Stats
Title
-
Fortitude: E- (0/10)
Class
Mixer
Reflex: E (0/10)
Element
-
Intellect: E (0/10)
Total Rank
E
Intuition: E+ (6/10)
Status
Health 100%, Mana 51%
Will: E- (0/10)
Skills
Combine, Auto-Loot, Appraise, Storage
Luck: D (0/10)
Storage
Animated Bone 11x (E-Rank, Dark)
Soaked Bone (D-Rank, Water)
Drowned Heart (C-Rank, Water)
Soul Husk (C-Rank, Aether)
Sigil of the Drowned
Basic Short Sword, Basic Shield
300 Credits