Given that I’d passed all of the thresholds for my stats, I wasn’t expecting anything too strange from the new level. Even so, I read through the notification first, curious to note what stats I’d gain this time around.
Congratulations! You have reached level 16!
+2 Constitution
+1 Strength
+1 Intelligence
+2 Wisdom
+2 Endurance
+1 Dexterity
+1 Perception
+1 Luck
Divine Synergy Activated
+1 Charisma
I was getting to the point where one level’s worth of stats -- even if I got far more than normal -- was becoming a drop in the bucket compared to how many I already had. In terms of my general fighting strength, I doubted all that much had changed.
That wasn’t to say that there weren’t stats I still wanted more of. The Wisdom in particular was a nice bonus, partly to augment my mana control for enchanting, and partly to offset my mana loss in rougher fights now that I was spending more mana during battles. With many of the monsters here having attacks that were meant to go up against teams of level 25s, I was glad to get any extra Constitution I could get, too.
Looking back a few lines, I was able to see exactly what had pushed me over the edge to the next level.
Quest Completed: Clear Skies II
+7500xp
It was a generous boost to begin with, but coupled with a smaller 2500 from Clear Skies I and a touch more from defeating Din’Ket, it was a massive windfall. As for the other quest rewards, it appeared that we would be left to examine them on our own.
My attention shifted first to the feather wrapped around my ankle, largely white with dappled flecks of robin’s egg blue. Despite what it was fashioned from, the anklet felt sturdy, its feathery bits thankfully not tickling me in the least bit.
Talon Guard of the Roc Lord
+3 Dexterity
+2 Wisdom
+1 Constitution
Stabilizes the air around the wearer, increasing aerial maneuverability.
While worn, all flight effects consume reduced mana.
Seeing no real reason to hold off on testing it out, I jumped up, taking to the skies with a few Jet Steps. The maneuverability effect was immediately evident, allowing me to push against the air as if it were partially solid. This enabled all manner of aerial acrobatics, and I hoped it would give me more leverage if I needed to attack from the air.
The mana reduction was the real winner, though, with my flight finally becoming something I could maintain throughout a fight without having to worry too much. If I went slow enough, my Jet Step usage was now covered by my natural regeneration rate, allowing me to stay aloft for as long as I pleased.
By the time I returned to the ground, the others had already examined their own personal rewards, with one party seeming much more pleased than the other. I struggled to fully understand their reactions, although I could admit that Cal had gotten the better end of the deal, even if her ring’s description was on the cheekier side.
Chicken Itch
+1 Dexterity
+1 Endurance
+1 Wisdom
Channeling mana into this ring will summon the sword Chicken Scratch. Any damage to the sword will be repaired on each summon.
Chicken Scratch
Boost the effects of all mana enhancement abilities. Mana channeled into this sword will increase its sharpness, adding cutting winds and air damage to all attacks.
While worn, birds may make fun of you behind your back.
A message has been appended to this item.
“I would have named it something far grander had you not called me a plucked chicken.” - Tal’Ket
If the name or the secondary effect bothered Cal in the least bit, she didn’t show it. Already, she had summoned her new blade, swinging it about. As to perhaps be expected, it took the form of a large feather, smaller than the greatswords used by the skeleton champions, but still looking oversized in her hands. As she swiped it through the air, gusts of wind followed, her sheer joy making her look far more like a child with a toy than a deadly warrior with an Epic blade.
For Verin’s part, the feather in her hair was a touch simpler.
Ornithological Ornamentation
+1 Wisdom
+1 Constitution
Releases a burst of wind whenever the wearer would suffer fall damage, arresting their downward motion.
Passively calm’s the wearer’s stomach, curing motion sickness and nausea.
A bit lackluster on the stat bonuses, and I wasn’t sure why Verin would care about motion sickness, but still a highly valuable trinket. Given that Cal could disperse into the air, that made Verin the only one of us who couldn’t survive a high enough drop. I felt far more relieved now that such a glaring weakness was shored up.
The experience and the items alone would have been a good reward for clearing this region, but the large chest before us promised even more. I wondered if this had anything to do with how thorough we’d been in grabbing all the feathers or eliminating nearly all of the fragments.
Of course, I also wondered if there had been better ways to go about the whole debacle. Tal’Ket’s words had me thinking that killing Din’Ket hadn’t been an inevitability. Were there more diplomatic solutions to what we’d gone through? And would they have rewarded us as well? It was impossible to say, but I would try to remember a broader perspective moving forward.
Regardless, seeming to need a distraction from her nausea curative, Verin was already en route to the chest, unceremoniously flinging it open as Cal continued to play with her sword.
“Riches,” was all she said. I hadn’t been aware someone could say that word with such unenthused disappointment, but admittedly, even had she not been rich, there wasn't much to buy around here.
I peeked into the chest for myself, confirming that she was mostly correct. Most of the contents were gold or the same jade-like substance this region seemed to pride itself on. A smaller section was for resources, with a bit of white ore and some seeds sprinkled in.
Still, I immediately saw something the high noble had missed. Having lost her first Perception threshold bonuses, Verin clearly couldn’t see that one item in the lot had far more mana than the rest. Appearance-wise, it looked near identical to the many aerial gems we’d used to pull up new islands. Its effects were anything but standard, however.
Tal’Ket’s Summoning Plate
Summons Tal’Ket, Lord of the Skies.
When summoned, Tal’Ket can carry up to five people across the dungeon. This form of transportation may only be used to travel between regions that all passengers have visited before. Additionally, Tal’Ket cannot fly over regions whose bosses have not been defeated yet.
Cooldown: 2 weeks
It was a game-changer, and I had a strong desire to use it right then and there. Both body and brain were begging for a return to our humble cabin, and I finally had the means to indulge them.
At the same time, I knew we would want more information before we went back. Specifically, we needed to know what the next region would be, either to prepare or to skirt around it in hopes of finding an alternative path forward.
I related all of this to the others, doing my best not to let my desire to return home bleed through. As equally dreaded and expected, they opted to push forward a bit more, Verin’s disappointment disappearing behind a mask of professionalism now that we had a new goal to pursue.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
A quick glance out our compass pointed us in the right direction, and as one, we set off. Thankfully, Tal’Ket had dropped us off at the proper elevation, and we weren’t forced to scale any massive cliffs or dive off of any floating islands.
Instead, the landscape underwent another of its characteristic abrupt transitions. In the distance, the grass beneath our feet vanished, replaced with a thick and chaotic treeline. The many trunks in sight were covered in creeping vines, and even from here, I could make out the chirping of birds and chattering of insects.
“Curious.” Verin scanned our destination with a slight frown. “I was made to believe that the dungeon would not repeat any biomes or mana types. Was I mistaken?”
It was an understandable confusion given the forest we’d already encountered. While we’d yet to find or defeat the boss of the woods near our cabin, Cal and I had both spent some time exploring it. Based on the Vitality Panthers and other wildlife, we’d assumed the forest was the dungeon’s life-mana region.
If so, though, what did that make the woods ahead?
Or, perhaps woods wasn’t the right word. As we neared, it grew increasingly clear that our next biome could only be described as a jungle. Even before we formally entered the region, the air grew far more humid, and I struggled to find a patch of ground not completely covered in vegetation.
The sheer abundance of life here had me second guessing whether or not this was the life biome. Any such confusion, however, was quickly dispelled the moment we crossed the treeline.
You are poisoned!
Take 1 damage every 5 seconds.
Each breath coated my tongue, fresh and invigorating save for an unpleasant, acrid undertone. I did my best to take in our surroundings, searching for any possible sources to the fumes I was inhaling, but I came up short. As best I could tell, the entire jungle would be more of the same.
“So it’s a poison region,” Cal surmised. “Not great for us, honestly. The toxic mud clouds were bad enough. If the poison covers the entire jungle, this is even worse.” As it stood, even with Cal watching over us, we wouldn’t be able to sleep here without constantly taking damage.
“That being said, there’s probably a way to make it through,” she continued. “Let me scout it out for a while, and depending on what I find, we can figure out if we want to continue or if we should go around this region.”
Neither of us voiced any objections, and as such, Cal turned invisible, presumably shooting off over the thick undergrowth.
For our parts, we took as many precautions as we could without outright leaving the jungle. Already having encountered airborne toxins before, Verin was quick to enter her backpack form, climbing onto my back and activating her defensive skill. With my own armor already summoned, I was optimistic that we’d be safe from most threats the jungle could throw at us, or at least have enough time to run away from them.
Without knowing more, I had little desire to wade into the depths of the jungle, and I trusted that Cal would be better at gathering the information we needed. Still, there were certain skills I’d picked up that the rogue-turned-warrior was lacking in. When it came to an area thick with so much plant life, the most relevant of said skills was my Herbalism.
As I paced along the treeline, I swept my gaze over the many herbs and vines, hoping to find anything worthwhile. Very quickly, I was rewarded. Unlike in the standard life forest where I had to hunt down any interesting plants, the poison region was teeming with them.
The cause of this difference was immediately clear, too, in the sense that all the plants I examined shared a single property.
Toxic Razor-fern
Dead Man’s Thistle
Stinging Tree Nettle
Everything I saw was in some way poisonous. Thankfully, those poisons were largely only an issue if ingested or applied topically, but the sheer amount of poison about me was still staggering.
Naturally, I wanted all of it.
For all sorts of reasons, I wanted to grab samples of the herbs around me. The poison could be a valuable training aid, both for my Poison Resistance and my Alchemy. On top of that, while Cal had eschewed her cloak-and-dagger routine, we could still use it to coat our weapons. On a lesser note, I was always looking for enough new specimens to warrant an extra section to my garden.
In truth, though, none of that was the primary reason I was so greedily eying the plants around me.
Odds are at least one of all these tastes good, right?
It was pretty much guaranteed! A lot of herbs, I’d discovered, often tasted like grass. When it came to the poisonous ones, though? So far, they had a shockingly great track record.
From an evolutionary standpoint, I was pretty sure that was very backwards, as your average poison was supposed to taste extremely bitter. Either the mana in them somehow ruined that assumption, or perhaps the dungeon had created them to be tasty in hopes of claiming more lives. Regardless, many had a lovely spicy, tingly mouthfeel that was a rare pleasure in this often flavorless dungeon.
With Cal gone and Verin still sealed up in her glacier, no one had anything to say as I summoned up a dagger and began to harvest whatever I could. Nearly everything I encountered was too advanced for my Herbalism to fully identify, but the skill still partially helped me collect them without ruining them outright. Bark, vines, mosses, and berries all went directly into my storage, one after the other.
Herbalism has reached level 13!
Oooh. Big mushroom. An exceptionally chunky toadstool sat a few paces forward, its sickly green color making no effort in masking its nature.
Burrowing Serpent’s Tongue
An admittedly odd name for a mushroom given its lack of resemblance to anything vaguely snakelike, but that was neither here nor there. I went in to slice the shroom at the base, confident that my dagger would make quick work of it.
As if to punish me for my arrogance, the ground chose that moment to erupt.
Five, chalk-white tendrils sprung forth, far thicker than fungal roots tended to be. Disconcertingly, each of them sported two black dots and an opening that could generously be considered a mouth. As they attacked in tandem, targeting different areas of my body, I reflected that perhaps I should have given more stock to the mushroom’s name.
Two of them wrapped around my legs while another bashed into my wrist. The fourth opened up its mouth to reveal tiny fungal fangs, attempting to sink them into my forearm.
A quick yank tore away the roots on my legs, while the other attempts were easily rebuffed by my armor. As the fifth root stood still, warily observing, I turned to face it with only a sense of pity.
“Sorry shroom. Maybe that would work on a squirrel or something, but you’ll have to try harder than that for me.”
The last root opened its mouth, and for a second, I thought it would somehow respond to my provocation.
And in a way, it did.
Just not with words.
From the mouth of the root, a stream of spores spewed out, directly into my face. My extensive armor, offering head-to-toe coverage from physical blows, did nothing to stop the airborne particles. Before I could stop myself, I breathed in the many spores even as they covered my face.
You have been poisoned!
Take 6 damage every second for 1 minute.
Motor coordination impaired.
-2 to Perception
Moderate hallucinogenic effects and cognitive impairment may persist for multiple hours.
“Agh. Ach. Crap.” Instantly, I recoiled, the spores stinging my eyes even as they burned my airways. With my Charisma threshold bonus, I theoretically could have kept myself from coughing or tearing up, but in this case, I very much so wanted my body to remove whatever spores it could.
Rethinking my herbalism excursion, I rushed out of the jungle entirely. Despite my heightened Dexterity, I found myself stumbling awkwardly, nearly tripping over the dense underforest a dozen times.
The very moment I passed the treeline, I doubled over onto all fours, hacking up a lung as my body tried and failed to clear my airways through mundane means. A sharp crack signaled Verin deactivating her glacier skill, and she began to pepper me with all manner of questions.
Despite my excellent Perception, though, the words seemed garbled. Was something wrong with her mouth? I took a break from my coughing fit to more fully examine my companion, and just as I’d thought, her mouth was strange.
As I watched, her skin began to warp and turn purple, her lips widening out and curving in impossible ways. Parts of her seemed to vaporize, dispersing into the air around her which twisted and roiled in a dizzying dance. Her hair, normally a stark white, turned to snow and began to fall apart.
Unable to take in what I was seeing, I flopped to the ground, unable to close my eyes as everything started to spin. My thoughts were similarly jumbled, and it took me some time to grasp them firmly enough to speak.
“Verin! I didn’t know you could shapeshift.” Was that a new skill, or had she just never told me? “You look very nice. Thank you for showing me. That’s me lying, by the way. You look kind of scary, but I’m not going to tell you something mean like that. Ooh! Two!”
A second figure appeared to Verin’s side, though I found it hard to make out the newcomer’s identity. They were just as bizarrely jumbled as Verin, their skin a neon orange.
“Verin, did you learn a clone ability? Or is that Cal? I bet it’s Cal. Cal, why didn’t you tell me you had a shapeshifting skill too! Now I feel left out.” Evidently, their changes didn’t stop there, as the two of them began rapidly speaking in an entirely unfamiliar tongue.
Did they get together and learn a new language? Well, that was kind of mean. Not that I had anything against being bilingual or anything -- in fact, it was pretty cool! But why learn a new language except to talk behind my back?
Their words slowed down and grew louder, more insistent. At first, I thought they were rubbing in their secret language skills, but then it hit me! They wanted to teach me their secret language too!
I eagerly nodded to make it clear I understood, doing my best to pick up on each word they uttered. Most went over my head, but maybe the language was related to Common? They repeated a few words over and over, and I could have sworn that they sounded familiar.
Disk. Home. Home. Disk. Bird. Disk.
What a weird conversation topic! Who would ever think to talk about bird home disks? That was a neat coincidence though, wasn’t it? I was pretty sure I’d seen some sort of bird home disk earlier today, hadn’t I?
Oh! That’s right. Without much thought, I summoned up the relevant item, eager to show it off. Before I could so much as utter a word, Cal snatched the disk from my hand. That wasn’t very nice. I wanted to tell her that, but all such thoughts fled as some manner of commotion began.
With a great surge of mana, a massive white form appeared behind Cal and Verin. As I took in its wings, its tail, and its protruding, beak-like nose, I realized I knew exactly what I was looking at.
“Airplane!” I exclaimed.
Woah. They build an airplane. That’s so cool.
All the work that went into building it must have been incredible. The sheer scope of the task had my brain short-circuiting, and I found myself spacing out. When I came to, I’d moved, somehow finding myself lying on the back of said airplane. The wind rushed around us as we soared through the sky. I tried to move, but something was lashing me down.
Nice. Always use your seatbelts! Safety first.
Always a fan of nodding off on long flights if I could help it, I did my best to pass out. Thankfully, neither my mind nor my body fought that desire, and I nodded off in short order.
Nighty night!
----------------------------------------
An indeterminable amount of time later, I awoke in a familiar room and in a familiar bed. My head swam, as though suffering from a hangover on steroids. Blearily, I tried to recall how I’d gotten here, my fuzzy mind momentarily drawing a blank.
“What the hell happened to me?”
Hoping that the system could offer me some clarity, I scanned my notifications. With the very first one I read, everything came rushing back, and I groaned.
Poison Resistance has reached level 17!