Like Dirk's earth attribute, Dirk's fire attribute had a specialization. It was lightning, and just like when he was forming his earth mana heart, Dirk needed to condense the fire mana heart with equal amounts of fire and lightning.
So he attempted to bring in both lightning mana and fire mana. However, perhaps because this was a water type dungeon, Dirk found that these two elements weren't so prevalent around him. It took a while to condense enough to even begin practicing, and with only a thin amount of mana, the results wouldn't be great.
Because of this, he stopped after a couple of hours with a sigh. It didn't seem like he would be able to cultivate at all, and he didn't have any mana crystals to supplement with either.
Thankfully, magic wasn't all he had to practice. Thinking, Dirk started to draw runes in the air, practicing his enchanting. He didn't need much mana to engage in elemental comprehension, so for a while, runic symbols flashed within the tent. Not only that, but because Dirk had a large earth mana pool, he could practice his Earth Guard magic, conjuring plates of rock around his body. Like with his rock arrows, all the pieces of earth armor took on metallic properties.
Getting to this point, Dirk thought a bit and tried injecting some metal mana into his earth spells. When this happened, his formations became stronger and heavier. However, when he injected enough, the spell started to fall apart. Metal mana was still different than earth mana, so it operated by different rules. Dirk couldn't use the same spell with earth mana.
But he could try tampering with it. Engaging his AI, he went on to try and form his own runes, bridging the gap between earth and metal in order to utilize metal in his spells.
Surprisingly, Dirk was able to garner small success. Going little by little, he learned how to subtly change the runes in his spell responsible for moving mana and adapt them to metal. With that, the spell became a bit more complex, but he was able to increase the metal content in his formations. This pleased him greatly. With metal, his spells would jump greatly in lethality and defense.
Only, the success took him until the end of the night, and his energy had been sapped at. When Ava called it a night, he also decided to go to sleep. Like that, the two fell asleep under a single blanket, Ava getting more and more comfortable with using Dirk's body as a pillow.
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Over the next two days, Dirk and Ava didn't spend all their time idling about and practicing. After sleeping in every morning, they would get up and go out to hunt.
While hunting, they got progressively more proficient at fighting the elementals. Taking turns, they would fight against groups of high Tier 3 elementals by themselves. This posed its own challenges to both of them, but it was the best way to get ready for the battle with the king.
Of the two, Dirk had the easiest time. His metallic arrows were the perfect counter to these elementals. Their spread and liquid attacks couldn't concentrate enough to totally repel his arrows, especially with his greater magical strength behind them. Like that, he was able to break apart every core he came across. The only thing he needed to worry about was his accuracy and the attacks that came at him. Thankfully, Dirk also learned how to use Earth Guard as defense, providing another layer of security on top of his armor. This could resist water blades and explosive balls of water that the elementals launched at him.
And unlike Dirk, Ava had a harder time. As she said, fighting the elementals was a battle of brute force. She had to punch through water with her own concentrated attacks of water. Each lone battle would take quite a while. However, her gains from these battles weren't just in the form of combat experience.
Ava had an almost perfect affinity with the water element, only a bit lesser than Rita who had a perfect affinity with the dark element. And like Rita, Ava was turning out to be a bit of a genius when it came to the water element.
During her battles with the elementals, Ava was constantly watching the movement of water mana within the elementals. She saw how they gathered it and ejected it. Unlike people who formed magic circles and spells, these elementals were one with the element, and they displayed a fluid and silent way of moving water mana, manifesting its effects.
While she couldn't totally copy their techniques, Ava was able to garner some inspiration from them. Over the course of two days, her casting time was reduced greatly and her spell formation became much more efficient. She even learned how to cast her low level water ball and water wall spells silently, showing no magic circle in the process. This was true silent casting that boasted near instant casting speeds.
Dirk was surprised to see this. Not even he could silent cast so well. After all, silent casting involved the direct manifestation of a spell's effects. In the words of several teachers, silent casting was basically the direct manipulation of mana, transforming it without the assistance of runes. Runes were the language of magic, so casting things without them meant you were communicating directly with mana. It was the difference between writing a letter and getting a response and talking straight to another person.
It was a difficult thing to do, requiring a deep comprehension of one's element. Seeing Ava do this though, Dirk started pondering how he would do it too. He didn't want to fall behind, and silent casting was very appealing to him who sought subtlety and speed.
Of course, this required him to form spells himself and learn their secrets. If Dirk kept using his AI to cast, he wouldn't learn much. So he made a resolution to only use instant casting in times of necessity. Otherwise, he would cast things himself.
Like this, the duo fought until the day their battle with the king was planned. And on day number four, it was time.
"You two, it's your turn."
On the morning of, the mage who spoke to Dirk and Ava upon their arrival greeted them at their tent. By now, the two were already geared and ready. They had been up for two hours, waiting and settling themselves for the fight.
As Dirk packed items into his ring, Ava turned to the mage.
"Thank you. Is there any advice you can give us?"
"Advice? Hm..."
The mage rubbed his chin for a second.
"...Don't panic if you have to wear the king down. For many people, this king forces them into a battle of attrition. If you get worn out first, you'll be killed. That's why all the groups here have at least three people, so they can switch off and fight over time. Honestly, just the two of you is pushing things, but you're from the academy, so I can't say anything about your power."
"Mm. Thank you."
"Sure. The hall is open. Enter when you're ready."
"Then we'll be off."
With that, Dirk and Ava bid goodbye. The mage watched as the two headed for the black dungeon portal, sinking into that murky wall before disappearing.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
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After walking through the entrance, Dirk and Ava were placed into a large area with two rows of tall blue trees on the left and right sides. These rows that comprised the king's hall guided them forward to the doors of the king's chambers. In their way were 3 enemies. Enemies found in the king's hall were usually called the king's guards.
The three guards were all elementals. In the shallow areas of the dungeon, Dirk and Ava saw Tier 2 elementals that had bodies about 8 feet in diameter. These guards had bodies about 14 feet in diameter, and with three of them in the way, they seemed to seal off all paths forward.
Of course, Dirk and Ava weren't planning on trying to sneak past these guards. If they couldn't kill them, then they would die by the king's hand. So they moved forward, launching their attacks.
"They're stronger than the strongest enemies we found in the deep areas of the dungeon. Low Tier 4's."
"Alright."
Dirk nodded at Ava's evaluation.
In the lizard dungeon, they had faced high rank enemies around Rank 4. With their magic and strength, Dirk and Ava were able to face the enemies, even kill the lizard king despite being hurt. But these enemies were impervious to any physical attacks. Their rank wouldn't help them much and could only be used defensively. Thus, they had to use nothing but the power afforded to them by their Tier.
Both Dirk and Ava were low Tier 3's. Normally it wouldn't be feasible for them to fight enemies that were an entire Tier above them. But neither of these two people were normal. Dirk's magic was the perfect counter to these enemies, and Ava had great comprehensive strength with only her single element to focus on. They could fight monsters above their Tier.
The duo let out their attacks. Dirk raised his hand, and after two seconds, 3 gray arrows appeared above his head. These were the metallic arrows he had been working on.
Ava also brought up her two fingers, tracing them across her body. With that, a blade of water was created, and she attacked one of the three elementals.
Their attacks flew. Dirk threw one arrow with the power of his mental energy, the arrow flying at breakneck speeds. The targetted elemental reacted by shooting balls of water out that exploded on the arrow. This caused the arrow to diverge, still hitting its large body but clearly missing its core.
Seeing this, Dirk moved again before launching out his other two arrows. These two moved even faster, and while one was barely diverted, the other kept true, heading straight for the elemental's core.
*Ting!*
An acute sound rang out as the tip of the arrow poked the core. This caused cracks to appear on the surface of the core, but it wasn't lethally wounded. Some of the elemental's body flooded away, shrinking down as mana escaped the core.
Dirk jumped on this chance, conjuring three more arrows and launching them all toward the wounded elemental. But at that time, the elemental that wasn't being handled by Ava launched an attack, two blades of water flying at Dirk.
Normally this would be an attack to dodge, but Dirk didn't want to let up. Suddenly, he waved his arm, and a wall of metallic rock shot out of the ground. Dirk dodged one blade while the other crashed into the wall that Dirk retreated behind.
*Bang!*
The blade crashed into the wall, gouging out a huge chunk of it and almost slicing it in half. Dirk was surprised at the force before running out and continuing his attack.
Right after stepping away from the wall, Dirk threw three arrows out. The injured elemental released its own defensive attacks, and the second elemental launched even more attacks at Dirk, but the arrows were already gone. With an expected outcome, Dirk watched as two of his three arrows crashed into the core, shattering it directly.
With that, one elemental was dead. Dirk dodged one of the oncoming attacks from the second elemental before tanking another with a conjured plate of armor, his Earth Guard spell showing its defensive prowess. After that, he focused on the second enemy.
At the same time, Ava continued to battle her enemy. Blades of water were constantly created, slicing into the elemental's body and cutting it open. Only, the body was tough and would simply seal itself back up, not letting Ava reach its core.
Seeing this, she changed tactics. Both of her hands were raised. Above one, three small balls of water appeared. Above the other, two blades were created. She launched these attacks as fast as she could, staggering them.
In front, a ball of water was intercepted by the elementals defensive attack. The two took each other out. Then, one of the other balls of water behind that took the brunt of yet another defensive attack just outside of the elemental's body. However, then came a blade, and it sliced right into the body of water.
A large gouge was created in the elemental's body by the blade. Following it, the last ball of water came in and exploded within that gouge, opening it up even further until the core was exposed. Then, the final blade came down, crashing into the core.
The core cracked almost in half, the full brunt of the blade bearing down on it. The elemental's body instantly shrunk by a large margin, and its mana leaked out uncontrollably. Taking this chance, Ava pressed another attack with two more water blades. The two blades cut through any weak attacks the elemental threw out and chopped into its body, cutting down the core.
Ava smiled, feeling a bit tired. That chain of attacks had taken a lot of concentration, brute-forcing her way to the core of the elemental. It was this reason why she found fighting them difficult.
Turning, Ava went and joined Dirk in finishing the last one. After opening a path for him with her blades, Dirk's arrow sunk straight into the elemental, piercing its core. While the core wasn't split in half, it was still irreversibly damaged with an arrow through it. Thus, the elemental died.
"...Sheesh. That was a bit tougher than I thought."
Ava let out a long breath. She could already feel a bit of exhaustion creep in.
Dirk nodded as he went over to the cores and pried out the mana crystals. Although he had a much easier time, he still had to expend mental energy forming his new and improved metallic arrows. Just casting the spell took longer since he was now doing things by himself.
Dirk knew that the king would be a level harder than these guards. Going off of this difficulty, fighting the king was risky. Luckily, there was only one king. And if what that mage said was true and things usually became a battle of attrition, then Dirk felt they would be safe. At the very least, he had no trouble preserving their lives from such a monster.
But it would be another tough battle, especially given their lesser Tier. They were fighting an entire Tier above them, possibly higher. Just this fact caused Dirk to frown. If he had his fire mana heart, then he would be much more confident, but he only had his earth mana at his disposal.
After harvesting the crystals, Dirk and Ava took a seat by the large black doors to the king's chambers. They rested for a couple of hours until they were in peak shape. After that, they stood, facing the doors.
"...Are we sure?"
Dirk asked hesitantly. He truly hated how the king's chambers were a path of no return. What if they entered and immediately discovered that the king was beyond them? They could only wait to die then.
But those were the rules. Thankfully the guards at least served as a gauge to the king's power.
Ava was silent for a bit, thinking about the potential power of the king.
"...I think?"
"That's not very reassuring."
"Well you tell me! You're better at this stuff than I am."
"...Let's just make sure we're working together. Take it slow at first and learn its patterns. At the beginning, we can stick to defense. By any means, do not get injured."
"I won't. I'm not gonna hold you back."
Ava spoke seriously, looking at Dirk with determined eyes. He had already done a lot for her, and she wasn't about to become baggage.
"Then let's go. Full commitment."
Taking a shallow breath, Dirk put out his hand. Ava nodded and took it, the two walking to the door. With their free hands, they pushed, entering the king's chambers.
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Dirk's muscles went taut as a message reached his mind. Looking forward, they could immediately see their enemy. The doors closed behind them, sealing shut.
The two challengers looked at the king. In the middle of a ring of tall trees was a field of grass and mud. In the center of this field was a single blob of water. It looked just like all the other elementals that Dirk and Ava had faced before. However, this blob was only 8 feet in diameter. It was the same size as the weakest elementals in the dungeon.
But this fact wasn't comforting. Seeing the smaller size, Dirk frowned, as did Ava. Both knew that within that elemental was an explosive power.
Not long after they entered, Dirk raised his hand. Two seconds later, three of his metallic arrows were formed. He launched these three arrows at the same time, each one flying in a straight path at the elemental.
Only, none of them hit. As they flew, the elemental released three balls of water, each one intercepting an arrow. Upon collision, the balls exploded, sending the arrows spinning off in other directions.
"...That's not good."
Ava was intimidated. Each ball of water was pressurized, making their explosion that much more violent. And while Dirk might not understand the power it took to pressurize water, she did. If she tried, it would take a large portion of her power in order to pressurize the water that much. But that elemental had casually thrown out such attacks.
"Split up, and don't stop moving. Dodge attacks."
Suddenly, the elemental launched out a few blades of water. Dirk reacted quickly, throwing out those words and running to the side. Ava also took off in the opposite direction.
With that, the battle with the king commenced.