“Level Eighteen! That is higher than me Does that mean there is someone out there that is already level twenty eight? Stupid natives with their cheat abilities. Someone out there must have gotten something overpowered from the start.” He growled while waving to dismiss the message even though the hand gesture wasn’t necessary. Glancing over at Ren who was already using some of her silk thread to saw through the joint to the dead crab boss's giant claw arm. She was certainly going to try and cook it, of that he had no doubt. Dren wished he could just store the whole thing.
His pouch had a storage space of five cubic meters. Which had seemed like a lot at first. More than enough to carry all the stuff out of the Profane Ruins Dungeon. But it wasn’t near enough to store something this massive. Grumbling he went back to check his messages and found that there wasn’t anything other than the notices of his competency going up. Hopping over to the chest he opened it and was excited to find they had gotten the Prime Kill.
Not only that he got a secondary loot item. Which at this point was to be expected. They should have a ninety percent chance now. Opening the chest he grabbed one of the items before even looking at the others. “A DAGGER!” He howled in excitement as he held the thing up into the air over him. Unlike the wide bladed daggers he had started with and that the Life Bane dagger resembled. This one had a very narrow stiletto blade, though the blade was a bit thicker than he expected. It lacked hardly any edge at all meaning it wouldn’t cut. But that wasn’t its point he guessed considering the name.
“Armor Piercing Dagger”
When there isn’t a gap in your enemy's armor. Make your own.
Short and simple. It had an active ability. Pierce Armor. That consumed stamina to let it punch a hole in armor. The amount of stamina it consumed was proportionate to the armor it was trying to pierce. Walking over to the crab shell he picked just a main point on its back. He hadn’t been able to even scratch it before. Stabbing with the new ability the point of the dagger shone with a crimson light as it streaked down to punch a clean hole in the shell.
“Five hundred stamina!” Dren winced in shock. The dagger worked as advertised but a quarter of his stamina just to do one hit seemed a bit much. It would even be worse on something with more defense. Still, it beat not having it as an option. Examining it with his Enchanter menu he found it had a base capacity of seven hundred. That made it worth everything. Almost giddy he couldn’t wait to finally get to use one of his Profane Runes on an actual weapon. But which one to use?
Shaking himself out of his daydreams he checked the box for the rest of the loot. There was a skinning knife which was ok. It increased his skinning level by one when using it. Not too bad as he was up to level four. This should get him to count as level five.
For the Prime Reward? It was a small potted plant. Well, not that small it was nearly a meter tall and very bushy.
“All Fruit Tree”
Generates random fruits and nuts at the rate of one per hour when exposed to sunlight.
“Um, shouldn’t it be the all Fruit and Nut tree then?” Dren asked and looked at Ren who was eying the tree. “Yeah Yeah you get to use the stuff for your cooking.” He sat it down on the ground hoping the daylight in the dungeon counted. They had a few hours until nightfall so should get to see.
Sitting down in the lotus position next to the tree he looked at Ren. “Now let's see what we can do with you. Are you excited to evolve?” Ren looked up from her work on the claw of the giant crab to just gaze back at him. Before turning back to her work. ‘She is such a hard worker.’ He thought to himself. Ren as far as he knew. Never slept. The closest she had come was when he woke up to find her laying next to him. But she was just staring into his face seeming to be more imitating him sleeping than actually doing so. He had freaked out and she hadn’t done anything like it since.
Shaking his head he focused on Ren and sure enough, a new menu appeared.
“Evolution available. Your companion has unlocked two evolutionary branches.”
“Branch one. House Aranea.”
“Branch two. Stalker.”
“You have two paths.” Dren announced. Ren actually stopped what she was doing to come over and stand in front of him. “Can you see these?” He asked. Her response was to shake her head.
“Ok ok. Let me read them to you.” He cleared his throat before starting to read the first option.
“House Aranea. Focused on support, crafting, and domestic duties the house aranea is the homebody of the aranea species. While they focus more on supporting their chosen nest mate.” Dren paused to frown at that. But soon resumed. “They are still capable of combat when needed.”
He glanced at Ren to gauge her reaction. She just looked at him impassively so he continued. “Attribute growths per level. Ten Agility. Ten Dexterity Ten Intelligence. Five to all other attributes. Holy cow. That is some gains.” He eyed Ren wondering who would be stronger in a few levels. And that was the noncombat version.
“Skills gained. Plus ten to cooking. Plus ten to butchering. Plus ten to web weaving and silk production. Hmm says you gain level ten in tailoring and a craft of the owner’s choice to level ten.” Dren made humming noises of appreciation.
“Ability gained. One type of Medicinal Venom at random.” Dren’s brows knitted. “So, you can bite someone for healing or something?” He glanced at Ren, she pressed her lips together tighter. Dren was almost certain his original reaction to her mandibles had scarred the spider girl. But then again it was so hard to tell with her.
“So what do you think Ren.” He asked and she shrugged.
“Ok. Let's look at the other one.” He again cleared his throat before starting to read.
“Stalker. Focused on stealth, ambushes, and captures. With increased stealth abilities the Stalker is capable of capturing or killing enemies of their master. Focused heavily on combat they still retain any support abilities already gained. But growth in them is heavily penalized.” He paused his reading. “I guess your cooking will slow down.” Dren glanced up and thought he saw her make a face. But if she did it was gone by the time he fully focused on her.
“Let’s see. Attribute growth. Fifteen to agility and dexterity. Ten to vitality and Toughness. Five to strength and just two to the others. Hmm, I think that is more attributes than the House version.” Dren said before going on.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“Skills gained. Stealth increased from Advanced to Expert. Skill Trapping level ten unlocked.” Dren made a face. “Not as many skills as the house one but that increase of stealth alone is powerful.
“Abilities gained. Paralytic Bite. Silk Slash upgraded to Silk Cyclone. Binding Web. Carapace.” He read off the abilities and then nodded. “Four abilities instead of skills.”
After he finished reading the menu changed showing two images side by side. It took him a moment to understand. This is what Ren would look like after she evolved. On the House Aranea side, she looked… well the same. The image zoomed in to her face showing her six small eyes blinking. When she did other than her normal eyes being crimson she almost looked human. The hair didn’t help either but wasn’t as big a deal as the extra eyes. Next, it moved to the tip of her spider limbs. They looked no different at first until he noticed they opened and closed as if the sharp armored tip was a pair of tweezers for each. It would give her more hands effectively to work with.
He explained what he saw to Ren who just looked back at him. Then examined the other. This one was a much bigger change. First, this Ren looked older by a few years. Not a huge difference but noticeable mostly in the fact she would grow a bit taller and bulkier. Her body was covered in sections of a flesh colored hard carapace plates as was her face. Her spider-like mandibles were partially jutting from her mouth as they had grown larger. While her spider limbs were thicker, longer, and looked like they were armored. As if she had slid them into horns that got progressively smaller. Those sections curved and hooked back where they widened. Dren imagined if she stabbed someone with them that pulling them out would cause a terrible wound. Dren again described it to her. Then turned to her holding out his left hand. “House.” Then his right. “Stalker. It is you who is changing. So which do you want to be?”
Ren looked at his left hand and then his right before just looking back up at him. No expression on her face. “Nope don’t give me that crap. This is a big choice. You get to make it.” His tone broke no negotiation and he saw the spider girl show a bit of emotion for one of the few times. Hesitation and… fear?
“No rush Ren. We have time.” He just sat there holding his hands out while regenerating mana still. He had burned through a lot riding the back of the crab and had a new dagger to refine. Ren looked between his hands and his face. Several times she moved as if she was going to point to one hand or the other. Then would glance at his face and seem to chicken out. Dren for his part decided to do nothing and remain as blank as he could. Part of him thought it was only fair since she did that to him all the time. But mostly he wanted her to pick for herself, not based on what she thought he would like. In truth, Dren would be happy with either. Both had their perks.
The House Aranea would be a useful companion considering he was likely to need to be self reliant until the invasions started in full. Even then there would be many factions invading and it was just as likely for them to kill him as the natives. On the other hand, the Stalker was a powerful combatant that could easily punch above its weight. Not only with their ambush skills but as he inspected that Carapace ability was a passive that just added a flat seventy toughness. Which was sickening. It wasn’t enough for her to fully surpass him right away since he got double the benefit. But she wouldn’t be far behind.
Dren looked to the side when an apple appeared on the small tree with a slight popping sound. While he was looking at the tree he felt a small hand settle into his left one. Looking back he stared Ren right in her crimson eyes. “You sure? House Aranea?” She seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding. Her face was a mask of determination instead of being blank for a change. “Ok. Here we go.” He selected the House Aranea path. Ren’s entire body was engulfed in light for several long minutes then it vanished. Leaving her looking more or less the same. She unwrapped her spider limbs from her body and eyed their new tweezer tips before nodding.
Dren reached over and plucked the apple before tossing it to Ren who caught it easily. “Well. I guess I should be excited for Dinner tonight?” He grinned and saw a flash of excitement in her crimson eyes.
“Mana food, please. I want to finish my boots and work on this new dagger before this dungeon kicks us out. We have a monster surge to deal with now too.”
*****
With a chime Dren’s stealth went up to rank four. Yet he didn’t feel much joy. Crouched on the roof of a porch in the shade of an overhang he examined the horde of monsters below. There were scores of them milling about. Mostly silver fur wolves but he saw a few howlers and alphas. Not too far from him, a spitting spider moved across the roof unaware of him sitting nearby. Dren sharpened his hearing listening for any signs of survivors in the Village of the Lost. But all he heard was the gnawing of bones and the sounds of monsters. Looking from one bloody spot to another. From one shattered doorway or broken window. All Dren could think was how stupid this all was. He knew those fools that had refused to accept the system were doomed. But he hadn’t expected it to happen so soon or like this.
Still, this confirmed his fear of the Monster Surge. Even at level eighteen none of these monsters were a real threat. In a dungeon, he would slaughter them all easily. But in dungeons, they would come in manageable packs. He would get to close in on them and fight them when he was ready. Now the world was full of them, in large numbers. With no easy to prepare for pattern. Below two wolves fought over something. Focusing on them Dren watched as they pulled apart a familiar looking blood soaked shirt.
Turning away from the scene below he whispered to Ren sitting next to him. Her own stealth had gone up as they surveyed the destroyed village for the last few hours. Moving from roof to roof without engaging any monsters yet. The fact she was even harder to see annoyed him. He really needed to work on his own stealth more. But that was for another time. “Spiders first. Clear the roofs then we will start on the wolves. You can weave a net to pull them up one at a time right?” While she didn’t get the trapping skill. It being an option had given him the idea. It also hadn’t said she couldn’t learn it on her own. Though training in a dungeon would have been better.
Ren just nodded.
“Time to level.” Dren made it clear this was all about leveling and nothing more.
*****
Name: Dren
Race: Human (I)
Class: Assassin (17)
Profession: Enchanter (18)
Health: 2150/2150
Stamina: 2150/2150
Mana: 1725/1725
Agility 62
Dexterity 62
Endurance 80
Intelligence 63
Spirit 63
Strength 80
Toughness 80
Vitality 80
Dungeon Compentcy 50%
Solo Dungeon Compentcy 40%