Stopping of the heart? You can’t be serious!’ Was the last thought to run through Synn’s mind as he did in fact black out. Luckily, he hadn’t had the energy to pull himself up too high when opening the chest, so he was still close to the floor as he dropped down.
Coming to, Synn realised he hadn’t been out cold for very long, maybe 10 minutes at most but he did have a notification going off in his mind that was desperate for him to read it.
Syphon Skill Successfully Restructured. Please review status screens to see all changes. Next upgrade to innate skill at level 15.
‘Okay. That sounds great. Status!’ He commanded in his mind.
Name:
Synn
Age:
16
Level:
1 (0/100)
Unused Exp:
0
Affiliation:
None
Class:
None
Subclass:
None
Professions:
None
Innate Skill
Syphon
Lvl
1
Stats:
Strength
16
Endurance
14
Vitality
18
Intelligence
17
Agility
15
Wisdom
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
18
Dexterity
14
Charisma
12
Skills
Lvl
None
Synn focused on his Syphon skill to gain further details.
Skill - Syphon: The passive ability to syphon stat points and skills from those around you, any stolen stats are a permanent gain. Stat points can only be stolen from defeated foes and are randomly syphoned at a random rate between 0.1-0.2 per successful strike up to a maximum of 3 strikes. Upgrading the skill will boost the syphon rate.
Skills are not stolen in their entirety and must reach Lvl 0: 100/100 for the skill to become useable. Maximum of 1 skill point per defeated foe.
Skill can be activated manually outside combat but only skills can be syphoned and must be in contact with the target to successfully steal.
Note that stealing skills from living targets doesn’t have any impact on their knowledge or capability to use the skill.
‘Finally. I have a skill I can level, and I can level up too although it doesn’t seem to be automatic. There is hope for me to get into an Academy or College.’ Cheered in his mind, elation giving him a slight boost in his very depleted energy levels. ‘Guess I’ll just need some dungeon time. Luckily, I have a bag of gold coins and a crystal that will hopefully help me to pay for it.’
Realising it was time to exit the dungeon he slowly put his hands on the floor and pushed himself to his knees and then gradually straightened into a standing position. He dusted off his tattered and scorched clothing, not that it did much good, and slowly limped towards the doors.
As he closed in he could hear a muffled thudding on the door like people trying to break it down but as though they were doing it with cotton wool. Placing his hand on the back of the door it reacted and steadily swung open.
In rushed Lance, Sophie and the rest of their friends with Sophie immediately wrapping him up in a hug.
“We were so worried about you. And then when it went quiet…” She sobbed.
“It’s okay. I’m alive, just a little worse for wear unfortunately.” He half returned the hug and half supported himself on her as caringly tapped her back to reassure her that all was now okay.
Behind this group was the Venomous Stingers led by Danika, who looked relieved to see him alive despite everything that had happened between them in the last few hours, and Brad. ‘Fucking Brad’ he thought when he saw him. He didn’t think of him as a nemesis as frankly he wasn’t worth his time, but he was akin to a splinter that got under the skin and annoyed you until it was taken out.
Bringing up the rear was a new group. From the matching emblazoned insignia Synn guessed this was the team that was deployed by Armageddon Academy at the request of the Rift Office.
“You’re supposed to be dead.” Brad snarled, getting right up close to Synn as he was supported by Sophie.
“Oh, I’m so sorry to disappoint you!” Synn laughed in his face. “I didn’t have the chance to run off peeing my pants like you did. Thought I’d defeat the drake while I waited around.”
“You defeated it?” A tall, lithe woman from the Academy group stepped forward brushing a strand of her loose auburn hair back behind her ear. She was beautiful, there was no denying it but she also put Synn on edge. Seeming to sense it she instantly tried to reassure him. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to take credit for your hard work. I just need to know the job is done so I can collect the promised fee and start our trip back to the Academy.”
“Well, I’m not aware of any other rooms coming off this one and what remains of the drake’s carcass is lay just over there so hopefully that is job done as I’m not sure anything but a hot bath is what my muscles demand of me right now.”
“I would recommend an ice bath first. It will decrease any inflammation and reduce muscle soreness allowing a faster turnaround in our recovery. But before that, would you mind walking me through the battle and what you faced.”
“Never mind that.” Brad piped up. “He should handover the rewards he got for us to share.”
“So that’s why you came back? To leach the rewards?” Synn answered Brad with a mocking tone.
“I’m more than happy to take them from you. There is far more of us than you and your so-called friends.”
“Believe me Brad, I’d love for you to try. It would make me so happy if you were to try and steal from me now the rift is complete.”
Brad drew a dagger looking ready to attack Synn immediately, but Synn was ready, and he knew he wouldn’t have to lift a muscle as he fully expected the leader from the Academy to intervene and just as Brad pushed forward that was exactly what happened. A brief nod from the leader and two of the males from the group had grabbed one each of Brad’s arms, hoisted him into the air and then slammed him into the ground, forcing him to massively exhale, which left him wheezing, unable catch his breath.
“I appreciate your assistance… sorry, I don’t know your name.”
“Reagan, Reagan Starfrost.”
“Oh, any relation to Garrick Starfrost?”
“My great uncle and also my master as I’m considered his successor.”
“The Starfrost Legacy. Very impressive. No wonder you have the credentials to lead a team from the Academy.”
“You seem very well informed…”
“Synn, just Synn! And I have my sources although, everything I know is about 2 years out of date as it has been a while since I travelled near there.”
“Are you planning to come back near the Academy any time soon?"
"I wasn’t but after today I’m reconsidering.”
“Good, anyone who can defeat a void drake at level 1 is someone I well think worth recruiting," she leant forward whispering into his ear while giving his eyes plenty to avoid.
“You can see my stats?”
“No, just a family skill that allows me to sense the level and threat a person puts out.”
“That’s quite the useful skill to have.”
“Indeed. Now about this drake?”
Synn, quickly recounted his experience with the drake to Reagan while not holding back on details building up to it which fully exposed the actions of the Venomous Stingers. Something they hadn’t been very truthful about when they resurfaced earlier from what Synn was learning.
As he had been recounting, they had ended up outside the rift. After the last person exited it, the rift began to shimmer and shrink down until nothing remained.
“Thank you all for your help today. We at the Rift Office truly appreciate everything you do to protect those who live nearby.”
“Now I believe there were some rewards that need distributing?”
“I am keeping this crystal as is my right being the one to fight and slay the boss.” Synn stated while staring around the group almost daring anyone to step forward and claim it for themselves yet as he did, he continued. “And despite my fight with the drake ending up a solo battle I’m more than happy to share the bag of gold coins with all who entered according to contribution. I believe the pouch holds around 700 gold coins.” Each gold coin held value of around £10,000 although the old currencies had long since collapsed and now everyone dealt in the dungeon currency of precious coins, which also happened to be dungeons frequent reward - copper, silver, gold, and platinum were the coin denominations available.
Having counted the coins and heard from the leaders of each party the Rift Office finished her calculations and invited everyone over for the distribution announcements.
“Now good work again everyone. So that you’re all aware we have 727 gold coins to distribute, Armageddon has a minimum fee of 500 gold coins whenever they show up plus bonuses for those in the delve so they take away 650 gold coins today.
Up next was Lance and his squad friends. They were awarded 50 gold coins. Then came the Venomous Stingers who received only 20 due to their erratic delvers.
Finally, after what seemed like a ridiculously long wait Synn’s turn came and he was awarded 7 gold coins. Synn was so happy. He could clear all he owed in regard to his outstanding debts and start afresh with a new home.
The Venomous Stingers, disgusted, want a bigger cut of the pie but arguing with the Rift Office is a sure-fire way to be blacklisted from all future delves so they bite their tongues.
As the distribution was wrapped up Reagan came over to him. “Mind if we have a word in private Synn?”