It took her the rest of the day to clear the entirety of Farrowhill of slimes, but she was extremely satisfied with the results. By now she was sure that there was some kind of diminishing gain involved when killing large numbers of the same monster. From some quick calculations in her head she’d expected to be well over level 30 by now given the sheer number of monsters she’d killed in the past week, but for some reason her actual level fell far short. It made some sense, at her current level defeating low level monsters was a walk in the park and if she was able to reach the hundreds just from killing weak goblins and slimes then nobody would fear monsters like they did.
Despite that, she was still satisfied to level up twice just by clearing the village of slimes, and quickly invested the two stat points she’d received into intelligence and dexterity. Her stats were extremely well rounded, but Elaria didn’t mind. Her current plan was simply to put stats where she wanted them at any given time and so far it hadn’t let her down. Maybe it wasn’t the most efficient path to power or a viable long term strategy, but she was rather uninterested in the minutiae of optimisation. Her mana pool had skyrocketed after reaching 5 intelligence and she could feel the difference in her internal flow of energy.
The previously viscous mana in her body was now much smoother and brighter, flowing through the perfectly constructed pathways given to her by her class. It hummed with power and even just thinking about using a spell made her fingers tingle as the mana desperately pleaded to be used. The description of Manablessed really wasn’t lying when it said she would be loved by mana, the stuff seemed ridiculously eager to be unleashed into the world. Once she reached Cloudvale Elaria decided to put aside some time to practise her manipulation skills; she’d need them if she wanted to become a powerhouse beyond the great wall.
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The residents of Farrowhill had been ecstatic after discovering their village had been completely cleared of the invasive pests, and Elaria was shocked to discover that they’d basically been barricaded inside their houses for almost two weeks, bar some of the braver souls who ventured around to deliver food and water between the residents. Many of the farmers were worried about their crops, not that a couple weeks untended would be enough to cause any damage, but slimes were notorious for decimating the land and eating everything they came across. Elaria had reassured them that the fields still looked in good health and the slimes seemed to be focusing on the village, although that strange behaviour was a mystery of its own.
The residents had gathered to thank Elaria and to point her in the direction they believed the slimes originated from, which was a cave just north of Farrowhill which apparently featured in some local legends about ghosts. She hoped that they weren’t true, because undead were just plain yucky. If she had to carve up some smelly, rotting zombies or deal with spooky skeletons this mission would turn out to be much more stressful than originally intended. There was a distinct lack of men in the village, which she’d commented on, only for many of the women and children to erupt into tears and dampen the celebratory mood they’d been in.
Apparently most of the men had gone to investigate the cave and yet not a single one had returned. Feeling rather awkward, Elaria simply assured them she would do her best to deal with the problem and try to rescue the missing men if she could before making her way to the cave. She’d never been great at comforting others and such depressing atmospheres had always felt rather jarring to her. It was why she avoided funerals; it wasn’t that she didn’t empathise with the pain of losing a loved one, just that she’d always felt out of place and awkward, never knowing what to say. It often came across in a bad way, so she’d got into the habit of simply not attending, unless it was someone extremely close.
It only took a few minutes to reach the cave, which wasn’t much more than a hole in a cliff barely the size of a door surrounded by moss and ivy. Elaria noticed that the mana flow around the area was extremely heightened compared to what an ordinary cave should feel like, so it seemed that the villagers were on the right track when they suspected the cave to be the source of the slimes. Along the way she’d encountered quite a few more of the annoying little monsters, although they didn’t delay her much. Luna’s fur bristled as they approached the entrance, nudging Elaria in warning of what lay ahead.
“Well Luna, looks like there might be more action than I anticipated. I know we only just made it out of the last fight alive, but what’s life without a little danger?”
The wolf gave her a strange look, seeming to agree but wondering why a human child had the mindset of a wild beast. Either way, they were partners now and whatever lay ahead was a challenge for them to face together. There hadn’t been much time for her to practise with her new bow, so she left it in the backpack for now, drawing her sword and advancing into the small entrance in the cliff, Luna following behind while keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings, lest something deadlier than a slime ambush them. The temperature dropped sharply just ten metres into the cave and Elaria moved closer to her canine companion in an attempt to stay warm. Wind whistled through the cave, echoing in eerie ways through the rock.
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“I really don’t like this. I just know there’s going to be something really creepy down here,” she muttered.
Luna growled gently in agreement, but made it clear that there was no need to be scared. Between the two of them there shouldn’t really be any monsters within the boundary of the kingdom that would pose a serious threat unless they were caught off guard, and that was unlikely with how vigilant they were as they advanced through the dark. Elaria didn’t have any torches with her, and lighting an open flame to see by was extraordinarily stupid given the amount of flammable gases that built up in underground cave systems. She didn’t want to blow herself up along with her furry friend and any potential survivors.
“I’ll have to rely on you girl, I know wolves have great night vision. Just growl if anything gets close,” she said.
Strangely, there had been a distinct lack of slimes once they’d entered the cave. It was as if they were just appearing out of nowhere above ground. The strange mana flows made her certain that the source of the issue was down here, but everything about this situation bugged her. Luna stopped abruptly and Elaria realised why a moment later when she hit her nose on the rock in front of her. Thankfully the wolf’s warning had stopped her from doing any real damage, but it still stung. Feeling around, she realised that the cave came to a complete dead end. There were no further paths branching off, and even looking upwards she couldn’t see a way to continue.
She had a terrible feeling and turned around, fully expecting to see a horde of skeletons or zombies rushing at them from behind, triggered by some magical labyrinthine trap that had been set up to catch unsuspecting adventurers, but it was just the dark empty tunnel they’d come through that met her gaze. The wind picked up and a few rocks clattered to the ground somewhere, echoing through the caves in what sounded like laughter.
“Great, even the environment is mocking me now. Maybe we missed a turn somewhere behind us, let’s go back and check. You follow the right wall, I’ll take the left. Just growl if you find anything,” she said.
Right as she took her first step back the way they’d come, the floor lit up a bright blue, runes flashing in the air and all around them as the flow of the natural mana went haywire. Elaria didn’t even have time to ready a defence before everything vanished, her sight only returning a second later to give her a view of a gigantic cavern that was brightly lit in the glow of various deposits of blue crystals that shone radiantly through the space. She immediately got into a defensive stance with her weapon held out in front of her, doing a quick swivel to check there was nothing behind her. A pining growl told her that Luna had at least been teleported with her by whatever that strange light had been.
She didn’t need to worry about figuring out what had happened however, because a blue box flashed into her vision helpfully informing her exactly where she was. Calling Luna back over to her side, she couldn’t contain her excitement. Now she knew exactly where the village men had disappeared to and why there were so many slimes appearing outside the cave. While slimes could theoretically appear anywhere mana gathered, there were certain hotspots that they were drawn to and that tended to spawn them in large amounts. The first was large bodies of water such as lakes and rivers, the little blobs seemed to love bathing in them and fish were easy prey. The second place they often appeared, and which was pertinent to their current situation, was around the entrance to dungeons.
Dungeons never appeared outside of the demonic zones. Never. There was not a single recorded instance in the history of Teron that a dungeon had formed outside of the high mana concentration areas where monsters originated. Yet the Chain didn’t lie. Elaria had found the first ever recorded dungeon within the borders of the Erlich Kingdom. This was a tale that would be told for centuries, and perhaps the first major incident that brought her into the spotlight of fame. Reading over the message in front of her, she felt her heart pounding and blood racing in an equal mix of fear and excitement.
Dungeon Raid [Farrowhill Caverns]
Difficulty: Rare
High concentrations of mana crystal deposits and perfect tunnel shape to project and contain mana has led to a near thousand year build up in the caves beneath Farrowhill. In an unprecedented occurrence, a dungeon has formed outside the demonic zones beneath the picturesque village. It is populated mainly by kobolds, brocks and stonescale serpents and ruled over by a kobold lord.
Clear conditions:
Kobolds defeated: 0/50 Brocks defeated: 0/50 Stonescale Serpents defeated: 0/25 Kobold Lord defeated: 0/1