Ethan was suddenly standing at the entrance to the room. Both his health and mana had been restored to full, and Luca was gone. The fire was gone, the room reset to its original state. All except for the carpet of tiny goblins, giggling to themselves and casting various looks up at the Caller.
[Giggling Goblin Rush]
Defeat as many tiny Rank 0 Level 1 goblins as you can within the time-limit!
Ready?
3…
2…
1…
GO!
Ethan wasn’t sure what it said about him that he didn’t hesitate. His staff moved in a sweeping motion across the ground, scooping up tiny goblins and sending them sailing into the wall. He stomped with every step, watching as a counter filled the top-center of his vision. Each swat of his weapon saw five or ten creatures dead, and he fell into it like a kid at a carnival game.
Even as the goblins died, splattering against the wall or underfoot, they giggled. The timer ticked down with hundreds of goblins dead. When it hit 0, there were almost 1,000 of the poor, witless creatures smashed in various states of death.
[Silver Bonus Chest]!
Congratulations! You’ve defeated 895 [Giggling Goblins], earning yourself a [Silver Bonus Chest]!
You defeated the [Big Goblin] solo, earning yourself a [Gold Sub-boss Chest].
Defeating a sub-boss has extended your time within the dungeon by 1 day.
The room shifted again. Each splattered goblin vanished, and two chests fell from the ceiling. They clattered onto the hard stone ground, one silver and one gold. Ethan fell onto his ass. His mind couldn’t catch up to the current moment, leaving him feeling numb. But whatever fears and reservations he had melted away as he looked at those bonus chests. Rubbing his hands together, he approached the silver one first.
A single ring sat at the bottom. It had a silver band with a single red gem set in the face. Ethan brought it up, inspecting the craftsmanship and nodding with approval. He inspected the ring before slipping it on.
[Mana Tap Ring]
[Ring]
Rank 0
Rare
Description:
Invest your mana within this ring, allowing you to restore it at will.
Effects:
Use your current mana to charge this ring.
At your command, restore the amount of mana you’ve invested.
Maximum of 50 mana.
Now that was a ring worthy of smashing 895 [Giggling Goblins]. As he was appreciating how the ring looked on his finger, he noted that all the damage to both himself and his gear was reversed. Happy with that change, he charged his ring.
While the silver chest was nice, the golden one had an aura of power around it. Ethan couldn’t deny that whatever was inside would be amazing. Remembering his days playing those old games, perhaps a little late, he summoned Luca before approaching this chest. Perhaps there was another bonus wave where the chest came to life and ate him. But as he popped the lid open, he experienced no such issues. The chest simply popped open, revealing the contents.
First was a single pulsing metal cage, energy swirling within. Ethan inspected it.
[Sub-boss Monster Core]
[Monster Core]
Rank 0
Rare
Description:
The core of a sub-boss.
That was simple enough. The bright side here was that he didn’t need to use his [Bracelet of Looting] to get the core. Saving even a single charge seemed worth it, seeing as the dungeon was dense with goblins. Next was something that might just help him clear the dungeon without dying.
[Evoker’s Subcore]
Epic
Support Mage Style Subcore
Rank
0
Level
1
Description:
Evokers are support mages dedicated to aiding their allies with ability-enhancement related skills
Abilities:
[Echo]
The core itself didn’t seem very useful, and he might dump it later if he didn’t like the way it worked. But with his [Healer’s Subcore] unable to affect Luca, the attached ability on this core seemed awesome.
[Echo]
Evoker Ability
Cooldown
30 minutes
Description:
Echo the last ability used by a selected party member, including yourself.
It required testing, of course, but if this applied to any ability, he could use it to great effect. [Rapid Summon] was something that came to mind. With effort, he removed the [Healer’s Subcore] from his chest and inserted the [Evoker’s Subcore]. His mind expanded as it wrapped itself around the [Echo] ability. The gold and silver chest vanished after they were looted. There was also a scatter of silver coins at the bottom, which the Caller placed in his bag.
Falling into a seated position, Ethan rested against the wall. The fight had been intense enough to exhaust him, although he didn’t know how much time had passed within the dungeon. He gained another day within those mossy walls, although it was hard to tell if that was a good thing. The sub-boss had also provided a decent amount of experience, almost pushing him over the edge to level 9. One more level, and he’d find himself with a new ability and a chance to ascend to Rank 1.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Ethan removed dried meat and a waterskin from his bag. He sipped on the watered-down fine wine, tearing into the length of meat to sate his hunger. Once he was rested enough, he poked his head into the connecting room to the north. Four level 8 goblins waited in that one, so he back-tracked to the room with the weird ooze-creatures. Inspecting them once again, he found no desire to fight them. Fire might be a solution, but he wasn’t ready to choke on fumes again. Not yet, anyway.
He whittled away the time until he felt his [Rapid Summon] ability come off cooldown. With everything at his disposal, he should make quick work of the four goblins. But that was the problem with his current build, even with the new [Evoker’s Subcore]. Long cooldowns that left him vulnerable if everything didn’t go his way. The deep sense of loneliness would have affected him, if not for his time spending nights at Aquarium Warehouse Bonanza. This was just like one long, unbroken night shift.
Ethan stood at the entrance to the four goblin room. He summoned Lucantele and sent the squirrel in to fight alone, intending to use his new abilities to their fullest. The four goblins were armed. One held a spear, the next had a dagger, and the last two seemed to have no weapons at all. The unarmed monsters were the easiest for the summoned spirit to dodge, allowing him to foul their approach as he dealt with the spear wielder.
The Caller stomped his feet, activating [Caller’s Sprint] and shook his staff for [Spur]. The room filled with the sound of jingling bells and Luca grew twice his normal size. Ethan took the chance to dart into the room, bonking the two distracted, unarmed goblins before retreating to the entrance. [Claw] tore into the spear-goblin, sending the creature stumbling backward, affected by [Stun]. The Symbol took the chance to tear into the monster’s throat, dealing massive damage in a short period of time. But the other goblins sensed the attack and moved in, tearing into the spirit.
Ethan could have retreated to the tunnel, gaining enough distance to summon Luca without using his ability. But he wanted to test the power of [Echo], so he simply popped [Rapid Summon] and called a new version of Luca once the first one died. The silver squirrel sprung from his circle, barreling down on the goblins with abandon. He tangled them up near the mouth of the tunnel, weaving between their strikes and inflicting passing blows. The Caller watched as his mana ticked down. Down to 90, which put him in a dangerous situation.
Smiling to himself, Ethan activated the [Mana Tap Ring], restoring 50 mana in an instant. With 140 mana, he watched as the Symbol whittled the creatures down. Luca took down one unarmed goblin, mortally wounding the other, by the time his health reached 0 again. Ethan activated the [Echo] ability on himself, feeling the power of [Rapid Summon] flood through him. Down to 90 mana again, and with a fresh version of Luca the Caller hooted with excitement.
His longevity in battle had nearly doubled, assuming he couldn’t get away to resummon. With the remaining three goblins wounded, Luca had little trouble killing them. Something swelled within the summoned spirit, and Ethan sensed it was close to hitting bond level 10. Something else came with that feeling, though. An urgent halting which told him the truth of ranking the spirit up. Because why wouldn’t the spirit need a ranking ritual? If people needed to upgrade themselves to get more powerful, so would the summoned spirits.
Ethan looted the monsters, finding only a few coins and Rank 0 [Monster Cores]. And the next room was a disappointment. Two level 8 [Viscous Ichor] rested in the center of a swamp-themed room. The Caller let out a sigh of disappointment. The dungeon wanted him to fight the damned living globs of ooze, forcing him to consider a strategy. He sat on the ground, employing the first part of his plan. Drinking his watered wine and waiting for his hour-long cooldown to expire. That gave him enough time to think and observe.
Assuming the oozes were moving at maximum speed, they were slow. They weren’t not fast, they were ponderous. Their bodies moved in an undulating way, seething from one side to the other to get across the swampy terrain. During his hour of observation, he saw one perform a sudden roll. But even that was slower than the Caller’s running speed, leading to an obvious solution. No matter how long it took to kill the monsters, he could always outpace them on mana regeneration. A slow kite through the entire dungeon, assuming they weren’t sub-bosses, was the only solution. During his wait, he made sure his [Mana Tap Ring] was charged.
Tiredness was wearing on Ethan by the time he stood to engage the monsters. After this fight, he’d need to take at least a nap. He placed his pack on a nearby shelf, not wanting to drag it around the dungeon for hours, while he outpaced two murderous slimes. Luca darted into the swamp, taking a tentative strike at the first slime before retreating. As expected, the slime did a quick roll, gaining five paces of distance before returning to the normal slow method of movement.
Ethan sent Luca in to take a hit, groaning as he saw over 10% of the summon’s health drop. They were slow, but tanky as hell. They attacked by changing parts of themselves into weapon-like appendages before swinging. Luca found the strikes easy enough to dodge, turning the fight into a battle of attrition.
The result was a five-hour-long fight. It was a test of endurance where Ethan ran up and down the tunnels, kiting the monsters. [Echo] was useless for resummoning Luca, so he used it every half-hour for an extra [Claw]. The first slime fell at the three-hour-mark, and the pair used what they’d learned to whittle down the second one over the course of two hours. It was arduous. By the end, the Caller couldn’t even prop himself up against the wall. He drew ragged breaths, crawling toward his pack without looting the downed monsters.
With no care as to what found him there, Ethan placed his bedroll on the ground. He climbed inside and welcomed the exhausted sleep.
----------------------------------------
It was impossible to tell how much time had passed. The dungeon didn’t care to give Ethan a countdown on his remaining time, but it felt like he’d slept for a week. His muscles were stiff, especially in his back, but he rose to have breakfast on the mossy stone floor.
Ethan enjoyed a meal of dried meat, dried fruit, and watered wine. It didn’t count as day drinking, since he was in a dungeon. For comfort, he summoned Lucantele to join him for a meal. It felt like talking to himself, but he verbalized his thoughts to the spirit.
“It comes down to time for me,” Ethan said, snapping off another length of jerky. “If a monster can’t catch me, I can fight it forever. Imagine a room with a split of slimes and goblins. That might be hard.”
Luca nodded, an action commanded by the Caller himself.
“Agreed. We should go back and clear that room with the other slimes. Yeah, totally. I got three levels in my [Evoker’s Subcore] from using [Echo] so much. No, I don’t think it’s going to be a useful class long-term. The hope is I can find something for different situations. Yeah, right? The [Healer’s Subcore] saved me in that boss fight. Might be worth keeping that equipped.”
Disturbed by the one-sided conversation, Ethan rose and made his way to the other slime room. While he had no desire to fight the slimes long-term, he wanted their experience. After fighting the other [Viscous Ichor], he had the confidence to get the job done. During his battle with the two oozes, he tried the old fire trick. Unfortunately, there was no way to lure the creatures inside. They just slimed around it, and continued attacking Luca.
Instead, he took the chance to kite the room of slimes up and down the halls. Using their strategy from last time, they shaved a few hours off the affair. But spending a day on the slimes was the least of Ethan’s concerns. After they fell, he hit level 9. More interestingly, Luca hit level 10. He placed his free point into [Mind], of course], then looked at the upgrades for his summon. While the Symbol didn’t hit Rank 1, as expected, new abilities popped up.
The new selections went in line with what Tel said. He could build Luca to be a support summon. He narrowed the list down, dismissing a few new abilities that did damage. They weren’t impressive, and didn’t offer the one thing he’d hoped for. Poison damage, or any damage-over-time abilities were high on his list of priorities. But the support abilities were amazing. He picked three as his top contenders.
[Light of Hope]
Summon Ability
Mana Cost
Low
Description:
Lucantele shines a light of hope over the selected party member, healing them for an amount of damage scaling with rank.
Effect:
Cure the wounds of a targeted party member.
Luca gained a heal with this ability. Being able to heal someone without a [Healer’s Subcore] was a big development, but would it be the right pick? If he couldn’t use this ability to heal the summon itself, it was no better than [Cure Minor Wounds]. It was a tough choice.
[Barrier of Hope]
Summon Ability
Mana Cost
Medium
Cooldown:
1 minute
Description:
Form a barrier of hope around the target, reducing the amount of damage they receive. Amount of damage absorbed scales with rank.
Effect:
Create a magic barrier around your target, reducing all damage taken for 5 minutes or until the effect is depleted.
Ethan was drawn to this ability right away. He had nothing that could reduce incoming damage, let alone something that didn’t need a subcore. It was also an extremely low cooldown, although it had a higher mana cost. The Caller estimated the cost to be around the cost of his [Summon Lucantele] ability. Between 40-50 mana.
[Mist of Hope]
Summon Ability
Mana Cost
Low
Cooldown
5 minutes
Description:
A soothing cloud of hope surrounds your targeted party member. Removes a poison, disease, or ailment from the target. Remove an additional effect for each rank.
Effect:
Remove one poison, disease, or ailment from target.
Ethan wouldn’t select [Mist of Hope] for this upgrade. While it was incredibly useful, he hadn’t seen status effects. He knew the moment he ran up against them he’d want this ability, but that was a problem for future Ethan.
By the end, Ethan went with [Barrier of Hope]. So long as he could use it on Lucantele, it was the most useful out of all of them. Even if he couldn’t, it would be an incredible support ability once he got back to his party. The only thing he could do was hope that he could use it on his summon. He felt the ability slot into summon, and he used it without hesitation, targeting Luca.
The squirrel jumped into the air, silver light flooding out from his body. It settled around him, forming a shimmering silver barrier. Hooting with excitement, Ethan pumped his fist in the air. More abilities were always better, especially when they helped Luca stay alive for longer.
Before continuing into the next room from the eastern slime room, Ethan took a rest. He prayed there were no more slime rooms, as they were the absolute worst to clear. While he couldn’t deny the massive experience gain, he was getting stir-crazy in the dungeon. The watered wine helped more than he’d care to admit.
With his latest upgrade to the [Mind] attribute, Ethan could almost support Lucantele out of combat forever. He was 1 [Mana Regen] away from making that a reality. With the effect of [Pact Upgrade 1], he had already achieved that and then some. He resolved not to stop putting points into [Mind]. Not while it brought him so many benefits. With 180 mana after his latest point applied, he was far from where he started.
But the dungeon sprawled on. Beyond the eastern slime room, there was another filled with goblins. Craning his neck, Ethan spotted a large goblin in the room after that. Another sub-boss that he was eager to kill. Without hesitation, he stowed his waterskin and pushed forward.