In the dead of night, while everyone else seemingly slept, Zalroth sat on top of his silver fur futon in his tent as a gentle breeze rustled the leaf covers; he rested his chin on his clasp fist, a single thought running through his mind, as he listened to the pair of voices swirling above him.
"What are you sitting around for? You should be out slaying monsters to increase your level," the snarky female kid voice voiced.
"Even if levelling up would remove his fatigue it would still be a chore to the point of boredom," the more relaxed, but still snarky, female kid voice stated. Zalroth groaned as the voices continued their discussion, finding himself the subject of the discussion annoying, and glanced up at the two magic swords circling the roof of the central support beam of the tent.
"You Imperiou sure talk a lot despite not having mouths," Zalroth remarked with a frown. The dark purple greatsword poutfully huffed and angrily thrusted through the air until the tip of her blade reached Zalroth.
"That's only because we're stuck in our weapon forms until you're strong enough to handle making a soul link with us," the longsword complained as they bounced through the air. Zalroth pressed his chin into his fists, a sigh escaping his mouth, as he swatted at the greatsword.
[Activated Skill: Apprisal(Level: 3)]
[Gnawraul: The Ravanger Blade][Level: 550]
[HP: 5000][Hexa: 5200(-5148)/52]
[Class: Ravanger Destroyer]
[Vitality: 500(-400)/100][Stamina: 500(-400)/100]
[Attack: 20(-16)/4][Hexa Attack: 550(-440)/110]
[Defence: 666(-532.8)/133.2][Intelligence: 520(-416)/104]
[Agility: 1(-0.8)/0.2][Speed: 1(-0.8)/0.2]
[Gnawraul's Status Effects]
[Restriction]
-All of the user's stats are reduced by 80%-
-User's Hexa is decreased to 1%-
-User cannot use any skills or abilities using Hexa-
-User loses levels whenever they use skills or abilities-
[Peuonie: The Eternal Blade][Level: 550]
[HP: 10][Hexa: 6000(-5940)/60]
[Class: Eternal Beacon]
[Vitality: 1][Stamina: 355(-284)/71]
[Attack: 1000(-800)/200][Hexa Attack: 1]
[Defence: 1(-0.8)/0.2][Intelligence: 300(-240)/60]
[Agility: 500(-400)/100][Speed: 600(-480)/120]
[Peuonie's Status Effects]
[Restriction]
-All of the user's stats are reduced by 80%-
-User's Hexa is decreased to 1%-
-User cannot use any skills or abilities using Hexa-
-User loses levels whenever they use skills or abilities-
"Although I can understand why you'd be impatient to get such a status effect removed, don't you think your approach is a bit gnawing, Gnawraul?" Zalroth asked as he used a finger to push the dark purple greatsword away from his face. Gnawraul the greatsword angrily huffed as she fluttered back up to Peuonie.
"Be that way, don't come crying to us when the nearby dragon lord decides to attack!" Gnawraul exclaimed in a fit. Zalroth went silent, gazing at the ground as he closed his eyes. He briefly pondered to himself before he rose to his feet and stared down the Imperiou duo.
"Very well, and I take it you two have a plan in mind, to rapidly increase my level?" Zalroth asked, a mild hint of annoyance in his voice. A faint snicker emanated from Gnawraul as she and Peuonie descended to Zalroth's eye level.
"It's nice to see we're all on the same page, and even your... friends... can do the same thing in the future to level up," Gnawraul uttered, her very core shuttering as she said the word friends, while Peuonie snickered and teased Gnawraul for still getting hung up on such words. In the tent next to Zalroth's, Ardentus stared up at the tent's roof, passively listening to the nearby conversation, as he led in his sleeping back. He closed his eyes before contently smirking and mulling over an idea brewing in his mind.
The following morning, Zalroth placed the Imperiou duo behind his back. He repeatedly tapped and pressed his face to psych himself up before the sound of metal clashing outside caught his attention.
"Why does silver have to be so difficult? Zalroth could head out at any second!" Nagami whined as the metalic banging became even more ferrous and intense. Zalroth sighed disheartenedly, lowering his head slightly as he realised his conversation from the previous night was overheard.
"It seems your companions are more eager than you are," Peuonie's voice remarked inside Zalroth's mind. He clicked his neck, thinking it was for the best if he didn't respond to Peuonie's remark, before rising to his feet and exiting his tent. Zalroth glanced at the area around his tent, searching for the source of the clanging metal, before spotting Nagami and Yai by a slightly hollowed-out bolder.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"Perhaps, you're being too aggressive. Silver is a soft metal after all," Yai remarked as she fired a constant stream of small flames from her hands into the hollowed rock filled with molten silver. Nagami huffed in frustration, raising the crooked silver sword to Nagami before sighing and dropping it into the molten silver.
"I guess that's why silver isn't used to make swords," Nagami whined, kicking her shoe against the tufts of grass, as she grabbed a stone ladle. She dipped the ladle into the molten silver, scooping a clump of it, and poured it into a stone mould of a hunting knife. The duo watched as the molten silver rapidly cooled, its brightness fading as it turned from orange to silver.
"These energy-absorbing stones sure are convenient," Zalroth remarked as he stood behind the girls. Nagami mildly nodded, disappointment etched on her face, as she lifted the mould and shook it until the cooled silver combat knife popped out. Nagami hurried over to the stone protrusion on the side of the hollowed bolder and placed the silver knife on it before raising her iron hammer and repeatedly striking the knife.
Making sure to not put too much force into her strikes, Nagami managed to squeeze nine strikes out of the knife before her face winced in disappointment on the tenth strike as a pessimistic ding rang in her ears. She hopped away from her workstation and waved at it for Zalroth to grab the knife for her. Zalroth picked up the silver combat knife and brought it to his face as he used his Appraisal Skill on it.
[Silver Combat Knife(Rare)][Level: 9]
[Intelligence: 75]
[Hexa Attack: 60]
[Silver Blessing]
-Elemental attacks do 50% more DMG-
"This is certainly a step up from the stone knives I've been using," Zalroth stated. His remark made Nagami blush slightly and she swayed from side to side before stopping mid-swing as she recalled something.
"Oh yeah, Phimona was making some armour for the guys heading on the power levelling endeavour with you," Nagami mentioned. Zalroth rubbed his forehead as he sent the Silver Combat Knife to his Inventory.
"And how does everyone know about it?" Zalroth asked, making Nagami sway her head to the side in confusion.
"Ardi?". Zalroth sighed, an exacerbated frown on his face as he pushed his mouth shut.
"You don't say...," Zalroth remarked in agitation before something fluffy struck his back and flopped over his head.
"If anyone should be annoyed it should be us, Mr solo Leveler," Saria whined. Zalroth slumped his shoulders at Saria's remark, as he pulled the dark red object off his head to see it was a dark red direwolf pelt cloak, long enough to reach from his shoulders to his hips. Zalroth rolled his eyes with a smirk on his face as he put the cloak on.
[Direwolf Pelt Cloak(Rare)][Level: 12]
[Defence: 122]
[Vitality: 70]
[Wolvern Pride]
-DMG received from physical attacks are reduced by 25% and DMG from elemental attacks by 15%-
"I suppose there's nothing I can say to sway you from coming with me," Zalroth remarked amusedly. He turned to the group consisting of Ardentus, Lurioku, and Saria before sighing as he saw the smug look on all of their faces.
"Naturally," Ardentus stated as he readjusted the dark red direwolf fur gauntlets around his forearms. Zalroth turned away before abruptly walking off without a word, leading the others to scramble for their equipment and rush after him.
Later in the forest, before the group stood a towering archway cobbled together from bones of various creatures and purple marble, decorated with a collection of glowing gems save for a single empty socket.
"It's one of these things again, though this one is purple instead of blue like the other ones," Saria remarked as she poked the archway, jumping back as it made a crinkle noise from her touch.
"Ah! So, you've seen other dungeon arches have you?" Peuonie asked with glee. Saria and Chronia jumped from Peuonie's voice suddenly appearing in their minds.
"I still can't get over hearing voices in my head," Chronia grumbled in indignation.
"That would explain your thoughtlessness, Nai," Ardentus remarked bashfully. Chronia briefly nodded her head before she processed the insult directed at her. She puffed up her cheeks, turning red with rage, and swung a punch at Ardentus. Her fist collided with Ardentus, a shiver coursing through her body before she collapsed to the ground and clasped her bright red hand as a sharp pain overcame her.
"Ow-ow-ow, these stats really aren't superficial," Chronia grumbled as she rolled on the ground. Zalroth crouched down to Chronia and encased his hand in Frostbite Armament before offering his hand to her. Chronia desperately clung to Zalroth's hand, content and a relieved feeling washing over her as her pained expression turned to one of relief.
"Are you lot done messing around?" Gnawraul asked aggressively as she rattled behind Zalroth. With Chronia continuing to hold Zalroth's arm while dangling from him, Zalroth rose to his feet and glanced at the dungeon arch.
"How do we activate it then?" Zalroth asked seriously. Gnawraul happily chirped before she floated around and stopped in front of Zalroth.
"It's rather simple you only need to present it with a monster core matching its rarity," Gnawraul explained. The group stared at Gnawraul before slowly drifting their vision to the dungeon arch.
"Just like your equipment, monsters are divided into different rarities; common is green, uncommon is teal, rare is blue, very rare is deep blue, super is orange, legendary is red, unique is purple, and stella is gold," Peuonie explained excitedly, zipping around the group to keep their attention on her before flying straight into a bolder and shattering it as she pierced right through it. From the bolder's pieces, a baseball-sized opaque blue crystal rolled across the ground and bumped into Ardentus' foot.
"So... we need a purple monster core?" Lurioku asked, with Gnawraul bouncing up and down in confirmation.
"Indeed, and luckily for you lot you don't even need to worry about fighting a unique rarity monster since unique monster cores can drop as loot from completing very rare, super, and legendary rarity dungeons....". As she finished her explanation, Gnawraul noticed Zalroth and Ardentus sinisterly glaring at each other while both held a rare monster core. Before anyone could react, Ardentus snatched Saria off her feet and sat her on his shoulders before he and Zalroth blasted off for the rare dungeon arches.
"Loser has to give their share of Haruko's cooking to Nakamai!" Saria exclaimed cheerfully as she pointed in the direction the two should go. Lurioku exhaled pure pessimism and crossed his arms while Chronia cheekily giggled and Gnawraul's blade bent slightly.
"But... I didn't even tell them how to open the dungeon arches...," Gnawraul whimpered while Aoina and Kaigorou patted her on her guard to console her.
(Kaigorou Yuzora is a super short tanned male human teenager with obvious tank top tanlines; he has elbow-low red hair tied into three braided ponytails, and the physic of a twelve-year-old)
(Kaigorou is wearing the school uniform apart from being topless, has his school blazer wrapped around his waist like a skirt, and an oversized red fur ushanka with a white inside which covers the upper half of his head)