Arnold led the fight, as always. But this time, Lily prepared to exert herself fully. Massive vines crept on the floor from behind, lending him their support. Wooden thorns grew and detached from the surrounding trees, assembling themselves into his armor. Longer and thinner thorns lined up behind her like javelins, ready to soar. Caesar stood to the side to keep an eye on the situation.

The skeletal squire met Arnold’s charge with its bulky tower shield. Lined with hard wooden logs and reinforced with metal, it deflected his greatsword with relative ease. The skeletal brute stepped up from behind and swung its huge iron greatsword at Arnold’s shoulder, but vines crawled onto its feet and arms to prevent the attack. Eight drowned zombies stood up and hobbled their way to the group, blocking direct spellfire from landing on the ranged skeletons. The skeleton mage faced away from the group to hide its spell light and began casting.

Mary shot a bright blinding fireball into the horde. It exploded with the force of a small sun, amplified by her ability. Light seared at the skin of the zombies and burned away their flesh. Those closest to the blast center disintegrated, while the rest lost their legs. The opening gave Lily a chance to shoot her thorn spears at the skeleton mage to interrupt it. But the skeletal squire turned and bashed with its shield, sending out a spectral shield to intercept.

It shattered all the thorns and hovered in place as a barrier. The group’s eyes widened. B-tier?

An arrow came flying at Lily, but her vines blocked it. Caesar tried to move in with his skeleton to attack the mage, slicing their spears into the three zombies who impeded his path. Too late. An immense fireball descended from the skeleton mage’s staff, aimed toward Lily. Horror struck Arnold’s face as he screamed in frustration. Somehow, his greatsword bypassed the squire’s shield and struck at its knee. He disengaged and charged at the skeletal mage, who backed up in response.

The fireball detonated early, absorbed by Caesar’s skeleton warrior who moved to shield Lily.

[Notice]: Your Skeleton Warrior has died.

He felt the essence core dissipate, and the corpse disappeared. However, the fire still burned away her vines and incinerated her skin. She did not falter, though. Mary’s healing made sure of that.

Lily grimaced and continued growing her thorns away further behind. The skeletal archer began rapid firing shots toward Arnold, but no arrows pierced the thorn armor. The lack of screaming reassured him. He lunged at the archer and bisected it cleanly. Each step became more confident, rigid, and serene as he continued toward the mage.

Mary and Lily distracted the melee skeletons. Just as Arnold poised himself to deal the finishing blow to the mage, Caesar noticed a minute, burning ball fly towards him.

“Look out, Arnold!” he shouted.

Surprise flashed over Arnold's eyes. But then, rage replaced it as he jumped and rolled away from the skeletal mage. The firebomb landed in front of the tree, burning away his thorn armor and the tree with it. Caesar closed in and speared the flaming mage, finishing it off before he went to check on him.

An imperceptible smile twitched on his face as he felt himself absorb a black wisp. He took out the healing vial in his pouch, popped out the cork, and splashed it over Arnold’s body.

Caesar looked over at the melee skeletons. Lily’s vines held down the squire and thorns riddled the brute’s entire body. Mary’s fiery light burned away at both their skulls. With no zombies or ranged support, it was only a matter of time before they fell.

With Arnold healed up and the skeletons destroyed, the group rested and discussed the battle.

[Notice]: Congratulations! You have leveled up to Level 6! +2 Free Stat Points

“What was that all about?” Mary asked.

“Somebody likely hired to mess with me, slow me down.” Arnold’s stare chilled his spine. “Probably my brother. Sorry about this, Mary, Caesar. Lily and I will deal with this ourselves.”

“Are we letting that man go, then?” Caesar asked.

“He’s just a lackey. Not important at all and probably won’t try anything again.” Arnold said. “Caesar, you’d better stay safe while we take care of this. My brother may cause trouble for you next. What do you want to do?”

“I’ll stay here and continue leveling.”

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Mary shook her head. “Why don’t you go back and hide at my place?”

Caesar stared at her, expressionless. Mary blushed. “Look, I know my parents don’t like you, but since your life is in danger, I think they’ll make an exception. And I can’t stay here with you; my parents want me back soon.”

Arnold nodded and took out three potion vials. “Don’t worry. Here are three Iron rank potions for your protection. They should suffice.” Uncommon potions of healing, haste, and strength were included. Caesar stored them in his pouch and nodded in thanks.

Mary still looked a bit uneasy but assented in the end, giving up an uncommon healing potion to him as well. The three of them headed straight towards the dungeon’s exit and kept a wary lookout for more attackers.

Caesar waited for them to disappear from sight before he started to act. Safety? Hate tinged his eyes. He summoned Max and his new skeletal mage.

Skeleton Mage: Uncommon

Level 12: 12 Free Stat Points

Ability: Artillery Magic (B) – Rank 1

Skills:

Pyromancy – Fireball

Geomancy – Boulder

Mana: 80

Strength: 4

Agility: 5

Endurance: 4

Magic: 8

Willpower: 6

Spirit: 6

B-tier again? This dungeon may be more powerful than I thought.

Fireball

[Rarity]: Uncommon

[Memorization Cost]: 3

[Mana Cost]: 10 Mana

Boulder was almost the same, except it launched a large rock. Magic spells like these required enough Spirit to memorize, hence the memorization cost, and needed enough mana to cast. Each spell fell under a spell school, or a type of skill category, and the number of categories an individual could have was determined by Spirit. A third category would be unlocked at eleven Spirit, and the fourth at thirty-one.

“Max. I need you to smell out a stranger in this area.” Caesar patted his wolf, and it began sniffing around the area. Not long after, Max howled and motioned its head toward a specific direction. The three pursued the scent.

On the way, Caesar checked his skeleton mage’s ability and thought about how to distribute stats. Since his ability could reset spent stat points, it might provide interesting opportunities unavailable to traditional monsters.

[Artillery Magic (B)]: An ability that allows the user to increase the power and range of offensive Magic spells in return for increased cost and cast time. Ability use is optional. B-tier indicates 50% more power and doubled range in return for doubled cost and 50% more cast time. Requires full charge for positive effects to apply.

Caesar wanted to make sure his first manhunt went smoothly. The target’s level likely lay between ten and twenty but could not be rank two since dungeons blocked those of a greater rank from entering. Thus, his skeletal mage played a crucial role in this hunt and Max should only be used for scouting.

The enemy’s ability could be related to stealth or speed, but Caesar had no way to tell for sure. The best option would be to determine the location of the man and bombard him from a large distance away. With the skeleton mage’s ability, this task became much easier.

Magic thus became its most important stat for maximizing magic damage, and Spirit allowed it to learn more spells if he found any fitting skill books. But that might be a long ways ahead.

Caesar did not believe his mage should level up Strength and Agility. He had no plans of turning it into a melee fighter. But he did wonder how many stats he should put into its defenses. Undead creatures replaced their Vitality stat with Endurance, giving the monster improved physical toughness but removing its natural regeneration buffs and resistance to poisons – not that they needed it. Mental attacks were rare, so Endurance usually worked better than Willpower.

Eventually, he settled for an offensive spread with minor defenses, turning it into a true artillery mage. Bolstered by its Uncommon rarity, he believed its fireballs could annihilate its foes with much deadlier force than the skeleton mage they fought before.

Free Stat Points: 12 -> 0

Endurance: 4 -> 6

Magic: 8 -> 16

Spirit: 6 -> 8

Max led the group toward a grove of trees. Caesar tracked light footsteps going into the thickets and sighed. He pulled up his stat screen, raising strength and agility by one. But he saved the rest of his stats to try and hold out for as long as possible for good loot.

Caesar

Level 6: 12 Free Stat Points -> 10 Free Stat Points

Ability: (Essence Crown) Dominate (A) – Rank 1

Strength: 6 -> 7

Agility: 6 -> 7

Vitality: 7

Magic: 5

Willpower: 9

Spirit: 6

Caesar walked in with his skeleton mage, ready to give orders to attack at any moment. Max walked in front, leading the group into darkness. As their soft steps hit the mud, he began to feel a creeping chill down his spine. His heart palpitated faster and faster as he kept his eyes trained forward. Sweat dripped from his forehead as the group went further into the forest.

Max sniffed the air from side to side, walking in circles from time to time. His feet began to feel more like lead, but he pressed on. The skeletal mage noticed his difficulty and quickened its pace to overtake him. His trembling eased a little.

Then, a silhouette appeared in the distance. It hunched over, low on the ground, but still looked vaguely humanoid. Caesar watched for a few seconds and took a deep breath. He pointed his hand forward and the skeletal mage began charging its empowered Fireball. Red light gathered above his head and merged into a black crown.

Fire amassed in front of the skeleton’s hands while Caesar blocked the light behind his back. He counted down the time in his head then moved out of the way at the last second. A blazing ball of fire shot at the figure. Its visage reeled around; in an instant, he became calm.