Each of the six members shook their heads. A couple let out a sigh as they did this.
“Your focus on crafting is on a whole other level,” Mercer said with a slight concerning, slight pitying tone of voice. “Are you going to need some time to regain any lost mana before we head out?”
“You mean before Liam decides to get lost in another crafting spree?” Roman snickered.
Mercer glared at him before turning back to Liam.
“Sorry guys, I just got in my own zone when I tried to attune the enchantments,” Liam said with an apologetic tone. “I should only take a few more minutes to replenish my mana. While I do that, pass these potions out. They are Average Quality so they each give two hundred with a sip. Everyone should get two apiece.”
Liam pulled out twelve of the Health, Mana, and Stamina Potions and placed them in front of him.
“Alright,” Mercer said as he started passing out the potions.
While he did this, Liam decided to check out the notifications he had waiting as he drank a Weak Blueberry Mana Potion.
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“Congratulations! Body Stat Constitution Sub-Stat Resilience has reached level 16! Progression to level 17: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Constitution Sub-Stat Resilience has reached level 17! Progression to level 18: 51%!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Constitution Sub-Stat Vitality has reached level 11! Progression to level 12: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Constitution Sub-Stat Vitality has reached level 12! Progression to level 13: 7%!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Dexterity Sub-Stat Agility has reached level 19! Progression to level 20: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Dexterity Sub-Stat Agility has reached level 20! Progression to level 21: N/A! You can now move an additional 5% faster while in stealth. Your attack speed has increased 5%!”
“Warning! Due to Tutorial Restrictions, you cannot level this stat any higher. Any and all experience gain while still in the Tutorial Area will accumulate after leaving the Tutorial Area!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Dexterity Sub-Stat Fine Motor has reached level 19! Progression to level 20: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Dexterity Sub-Stat Fine Motor has reached level 20! Progression to level 21: N/A! All thrown weapons and/or arrows shot have an additional 5% success hit rate. Thrown weapons are easier to curve when throwing!”
“Warning! Due to Tutorial Restrictions, you cannot level this stat any higher. Any and all experience gain while still in the Tutorial Area will accumulate after leaving the Tutorial Area!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Dexterity Sub-Stat Reflex has reached level 19! Progression to level 20: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Dexterity Sub-Stat Reflex has reached level 20! Progression to level 21: N/A! 10% chance to dodge surprise attacks! 5% chance to counter or defend surprise attacks!”
“Warning! Due to Tutorial Restrictions, you cannot level this stat any higher. Any and all experience gain while still in the Tutorial Area will accumulate after leaving the Tutorial Area!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Dexterity Sub-Stat Speed has reached level 19! Progression to level 20: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Dexterity Sub-Stat Speed has reached level 20! Progression to level 21: N/A! 10% increase when running or sprinting! Decreases Stamina Drain when running by 5%!”
“Warning! Due to Tutorial Restrictions, you cannot level this stat any higher. Any and all experience gain while still in the Tutorial Area will accumulate after leaving the Tutorial Area!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Endurance Sub-Stat Stamina Endurance has reached level 19! Progression to level 20: 10%!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Endurance Sub-Stat Body Endurance has reached level 17! Progression to level 18: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Endurance Sub-Stat Body Endurance has reached level 18! Progression to level 19: 1%!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Endurance Sub-Stat Crafter Endurance has reached level 17! Progression to level 18: 7%!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Strength Sub-Stat Power has reached level 17! Progression to level 18: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Strength Sub-Stat Power has reached level 18! Progression to level 19: 0%!”
“Congratulations! Body Stat Strength Sub-Stat Body Strength has reached level 14! Progression to level 15: 0%!”
“Congratulations! Mind Stat Intelligence Sub-Stat Perception has reached level 20! Progression to level 21: N/A! Can pick up on the slightest changes in your surroundings! When assessing enemies’ levels can now be seen!”
“Warning! Due to Tutorial Restrictions, you cannot level this stat any higher. Any and all experience gain while still in the Tutorial Area will accumulate after leaving the Tutorial Area!”
“Congratulations! Spirit Stat Luck Sub-Stat Lucky Break has reached level 19! Progression to level 20: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Spirit Stat Luck Sub-Stat Lucky Break has reached level 20! Progression to level 21: N/A! 10% to get a lucky break during a crafting session, a fight, or learning something new while training!”
“Warning! Due to Tutorial Restrictions, you cannot level this stat any higher. Any and all experience gain while still in the Tutorial Area will accumulate after leaving the Tutorial Area!”
“Congratulations! Non-Combat ability Mana Sight has reached level 18! Progression to level 19: 10%!”
“Congratulations! Non-Combat ability Mana Control has reached level 15! Progression to level 16: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Non-Combat ability Mana Control has reached level 16! Progression to level 17: 1%!”
“Congratulations! Non-Combat ability Mana Channeling has reached level 17! Progression to level 18: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Non-Combat ability Mana Channeling has reached level 18! Progression to level 19: 0%!”
“Congratulations! Non-Combat ability Mana Manipulation has reached level 15! Progression to level 16: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Non-Combat ability Mana Manipulation has reached level 16! Progression to level 17: 1%!”
“Congratulations! Weapon Skill – Daggers has reached level 18! Progression to level 19: 87%!”
“Congratulations! Weapon Skill –Throwing Weapons has reached level 17! Progression to level 18: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Weapon Skill –Throwing Weapons has reached level 18! Progression to level 19: 12%!”
“Congratulations! Field of the Shadows has reached level 11! Progression to level 12: 80%!”
“Congratulations! Focus Point – Shadow Control has reached level 11! Progression to level 12: 80%!”
“Congratulations! Ability Grasp of the Shadows has reached level 11! Progression to level 12: 80%!”
“Congratulations! Focus Point – Utility (Shadow) has reached level 10! Progression to level 11: 0%!”
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“Congratulations! Ability Shadow Hand has reached level 10! Progression to level 11: 0%! Can now make a 2nd Shadow Hand. When making a Shadow Hand the cost of Shadow Mana needed to produced has decreased.”
“Congratulations! Ability Shadow Swarm has reached level 5! Progression to level 6: 8%!”
“Congratulations! Ability Shadow Step has reached level 5! Progression to level 6: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Ability Shadow Step has reached level 6! Progression to level 7: 0%!”
“Congratulations! Ability Lunar Swarm has reached level 4! Progression to level 5: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Ability Lunar Swarm has reached level 5! Progression to level 6: 10%!”
“Congratulations! Your Control over Mana Type - Gravity has reached level 8! Progression to level 9: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Your Control over Mana Type - Gravity has reached level 9! Progression to level 10: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Your Control over Mana Type - Gravity has reached level 10! Progression to level 11: 0%! Damage and effects made from Gravity spells has increased 5%! Your Understanding over Gravity abilities has increased!”
“Congratulations! Your Control over Mana Type - Lightning has reached level 9! Progression to level 10: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Your Control over Mana Type - Lightning has reached level 10! Progression to level 11: 0%! Damage and effects made from Lightning spells has increased 5%! Your Understanding over Lightning abilities has increased!”
“Congratulations! Your Control over Mana Type - Shadow has reached level 9! Progression to level 10: 100%!”
“Congratulations! Your Control over Mana Type - Shadow has reached level 10! Progression to level 11: 0%! Damage and effects made from Shadow spells has increased 5%! Your Understanding over Shadow abilities has increased!”
“Congratulations! You unlocked Enchanting! You reached Level 1 in Enchanting! Progression to level 2: 100%!”
“Congratulations! You reached Level 2 in Enchanting! Progression to level 3: 90%!”
“Congratulations! You have unlocked Mana Attunement in the Enchanting Craft! You reached Level 1 in Mana Attunement! Progression to level 2: 100%!”
“Congratulations! You reached Level 2 in Mana Attunement! Progression to level 3: 90%!”
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Jesus! That was a lot! Liam thought with wide eyes. I knew I had a lot of level ups, but I wasn’t expecting that many. Especially some hitting level twenty.
Liam looked at the notifications on Enchanting and Mana Attunement. He still didn’t know much about Enchanting and didn’t expect to get the craft from attuning a Mana type to the weapons, but it was a welcome gift he wasn’t going to complain about.
He pulled up the description on the two to see if he could get some idea on what to expect with the craft.
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“Enchanting – Description – The art of adding Magical stats, increasing the power of different Mana Types, adding Mana Types, and more to weapons, armor, items, or any inanimate object.”
“Mana Attunement – Description – Through channeling a mana type, you can attune weapons, armor, or items; giving it a Mana Enchant. Through Mana Attunements, items will gain a Mana Type as well as an effect.”
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“Not much of a description, but then again it seems pretty straight forward,” Liam muttered quietly to himself.
“You ready to go yet?” Roman called out.
Liam looked at them and then at all the skeletal remains spread out. He grinned as a thought came up. He then called out and said, “I have one more thing I need to do before we go.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After ten more minutes had passed, Liam and the others were walking down the hallway. The thing he did before they left the area was use his Class ability Harvest on all the monster remains. He was able to level his ability up from sixteen to twenty.
Another thing that had leveled quite a bit that he had forgotten about was another Class ability called Item Understandance. It was one he always looked over whenever it leveled since, to him, it was just an ability that let him understand items, materials, and the like better. It had leveled to nineteen after looking everything over.
“I didn’t think we’d ever leave that room,” Roman jokingly grumbled. “I hope you got some good things from all that.”
Liam grinned as he looked at the Kitsune. “You have no idea. I got a lot of level ups and some good crafting materials.”
Avery, Blair, and Mercer eyed Liam as he spoke to Roman.
“Do we even want to know what level you’re at with some of your sub-stats?” Blair questioned.
Liam shrugged as he looked at her. “Don’t know, but I’ll just say that that last battle got six of my sub-stats to level twenty.”
Everyone stopped and turned to look at him. Some had a look of shock, a couple with a look of confusion, and one with a mix of shock and respect.
“I regret asking,” Blair said as she shook her head.
Before they started walking again, Blair, Liam, and Roman’s ears twitched.
Mercer and Avery caught it as Mercer questioned, “What is it?”
“I hear something up ahead,” Roman stated.
“Kind of sounds like people arguing,” Blair added.
Mercer looked at the them and guessed, “Might be the other groups that came in here?”
“Other groups?” Liam questioned.
“Yeah, apparently there is more than just us in here,” Ariyana informed. “Phorge looked into the dungeon. Apparently there’s three other groups of six and a group of two.”
“A group of two?” Liam questioned as he looked at them with some confusion. “Any idea who that group is?”
The others shook their heads.
“Hm…,” Liam muttered. “Maybe they are with the other groups? But then if there are others in here then why were there so many damn monsters at the entrance when I came in?”
Mercer shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Liam looked down the pathway they were walking in and said, “Maybe we’ll find out once when we get out of this hall.”
As Liam and his group approached the end of the hall they were able to hear people arguing loudly.
“We need to wait,” A voice growled.
“I don’t care!” Another voice shot back with some irritation. “I’m tired of waiting. Whoever it is that is supposed to arrive is taking way too fucking long!”
“I must agree with Mr. Aranis,” another stated. This one sounded more feminine. “Even if we wanted to move into the room, we cannot.”
“Of course, you’d agree with him,” the agitated voice growled. “You could care less what we do.”
Liam’s guard went up as he pulled out both of his daggers. He noticed Roman and Blair were ready as well, more than likely recognizing the same voice.
Mercer, Avery, Artem and Ariyana noticed this and gave them a concerned look.
“What’s wrong?” Mercer asked.
“I’m not one hundred percent, but I’m think I just heard Jude’s voice,” Liam stated.
Avery’s eyes widened as she asked, “Are you sure?”
“I heard the voice as well,” Blair nodded.
“Same here,” Roman scowled as he popped his knuckles.
“So, what should we do?” Artem questioned with a look of confusion.
“We should approach the area cautiously and see what’s going on?” Mercer suggested.
“Sounds like the only thing we can do,” Liam commented as he felt an uneasiness in his stomach. He took in a breath and slowly let it out before moving forward again.
As they walked out from the hallway they were in, they scanned their surroundings.
The room was a half-circle with a tiled floor and bricked walls. Along the curved wall were several doorways. Four doorways were sealed while the others were open, with no signs of doors anywhere.
Along the wall opposite the curved wall were hieroglyphs that ran towards a sealed door with a sinister looking lion’s head on it.
Liam and the others were walking out of a doorway that was on the end of the right side of the room.
In the middle of the room were several people that were spread out in groups. A single person stood in front of each group looking like they were the ones leading them.
One group had a Goliath male wearing plate looking armor. A War hammer rested beside him. A male and female elf with blonde hair stood next to the tall Goliath. One wore a white robe with some green lining running along it while the other had a dark red robe with some blue patterns here and there.
A Tiefling also stood in the group wearing dark leather armor and a dark brown cloak. On the person’s hips were two daggers.
Standing in front of this group was another Elf with the same kind of armor Avery wore. By his side was a long thin sheathed sword that looked a lot like a katana. His facial features were sharp as he stared at the man he was arguing with and had short red hair. He looked different from the other two elves in the group.
The next group contained three beast-kins. They looked to have Lion-like features from their ears to their tails. The two males had enough hair that ran to their shoulders looking like it was more of a mane. They had little to no armor on them. Their chests completely bare. They had some leather leggings with some bones wrapping around the shins. Making them look like they were brawlers. Their hands had fingerless gauntlets allowing their sharp nails to freely be displayed.
The female Lion-folk had short blond hair. She wore a dark leather top with some chainmail that covered her chest and the top part of her stomach. Her bottom wear was a female version of a loincloth that covered her hips and ran freely to her knees with chainmail lining the inside of the cloth, leaving her legs bare and open. She held an interesting looking spear next to her.
Beside the female Lion-kin stood a man with red and blue fairy-like wings. He wore a leather armor with some skulls and bones designed around the chest and arms. Two daggers were strapped to his side as well. Standing next to him was a green skinned woman with long dark green hair. She wore a tight fitting robe with a dark brown wand in her hand. Her looks reminded Liam of Ariyana, but not quite as beautiful as her.
Standing in front of this group was a woman who looked the same age as Liam. She had long red hair that was braided in two running, down her green and brown cloth sleeveless shirt that matched her pants. Two branch-like antlers were sticking through her hair.
Her skin was tinged with a light green color. She wore red gloves that ran up to her elbows that matched the knee high boots and the short red skirt around her waist. The thing Liam was confused about was the vines that wrapped around her legs and boots as well as her bare arms.
In her right hand was a wooden staff that looked like it was made from a tree with vines wrapping around it as well. She had emerald-green eyes and plump red lips. She had a bored aloof expression as she stared at the guys who were arguing. She kind of looked like a plant-human hybrid.
The last group had members Liam and the others remembered with two others they had never seen before.
Henry’s race had changed to an elf. His pointy ears and sharp facial features stood out with his red leather armor and two daggers strapped to his hips.
Mia’s race hadn’t changed at all from what Liam could tell. She also wore leather armor except the color of her armor was a tannish one with some green mixed in. She had a quiver on her back with a bow in her right hand.
Theodore’s race had changed his physique a lot. He stood taller than the last time Liam had seen him. His muscles were also bulkier as well. His skin had darkened a bit revealing his Goliath nature. The broad axe he wielded during his fight with him had changed into two battle axes he was able to wield in each hand. For his armor he wore a single pauldron that cover his right shoulder, arm, and some of his right chest area. He also had plated leggings and boots. On his head was a Skull helmet in the shape of a snake head that covered his entire head except his face.
Standing next to him was a woman who wore a pure white robe that covered her entire body. She had long green hair and opal eyes. Protruding from her hair were pointy ears revealing she was an elf.
Next to her was a beast-kin female that had cat ears and a cat-like tail. Her clothing was a little more provocative than any of the members they had scanned. Her top piece was a cloth like shirt that crisscrossed around her neck and breasts revealing her stomach. She also wore a short skirt with purple leggings that ran down to her ankle high heeled boots.
Standing in front of them was Jude. His race didn’t look like it had changed at all. His armor set was interesting to Liam. He too had a snake skull helmet. The rest of his body was black leather with bones wrapping around him. He had tomahawk like axes resting by his side.
Jude and the Elf were arguing while the Plant-human hybrid stood there looking bored or aloof.
As Liam stared at them, he suddenly felt something…familiar coming from the three leaders. He couldn’t tell what it was, but he knew they had to be similar to him.
As he thought this, Eri commented in his mind, Now that’s interesting.