Arriving on the sixth floor of the Tomb of Lilith, I felt a bit disappointed. I had hoped we’d run into Elizabeth at some point, I wanted to check in on her and see how she was doing. We hadn’t met her, nor had we really come across many others.
“Well, that’s just how it is. She may not even be here, Bloom might’ve taken her to one of the dimensional dungeons or out to a hunting zone. She knows Summoning magic right? She may even be learning while he tries to teach her. There is more to training oneself than just killing monsters, training your body is just as important.”
Nodding with her words, I thought over the spells I had and thought about the ones that weren’t complete spells yet. Opening my magic and spells Status, I saw the two that needed to be completed.
Magic
Alisha, the Aspiring Hero
Lunar Magic: Astral Ice Magic: Wind Magic: Lightning Magic (Incomplete): Moon Glow Astral Glacial Spikes Wind Explosion None Star Dust Fist Astral Ice Wind Gale Armour Lunar Blessing (Incomplete) Lunar Barrier (Incomplete)
“Lunar Blessing or Barrier…hmmm” Muttering to myself, I decided to focus on figuring out Lunar Blessing. Currently the spell only affects my arms and legs up to a certain point, and not my entire body. It provided an additional 10% to my Strength and Agility at the cost of 1,000 mana. Perhaps if I could figure out how to weave it throughout my body, applying it to all my muscles, would it become stronger?
Thinking over Elise’s words, I wondered if it would be better to be under a lot of pressure, be on the edge of life and death while fighting while trying to use it. Would that make it easier to complete? My current problem was that there seemed to be something stopping me from spreading it throughout my body, the magic sort of hit a barrier or something. Shaking my head, I decided to figure it out later.
As we’re walking down the sixth floor, Aubrey brought up facts about the monsters on the next floor, their weaknesses and their abilities or spells. Mimics were found more commonly on the seventh floor and onwards so we would have to deal with that constantly.
We started running into monsters, but they were very easy to defeat, in fact most times I dealt with them in one or two blows. The only monster that gave me trouble was a Deviant Mimic that transformed into Sally again, but that was only due to how ridiculously tough Sally was. I defeated it without getting injured or using much magic though, so in the end it just took a bit more time.
Aubrey didn’t collect any materials except from the Mimics. She explained that the monsters from floor fifteen onwards were worth a lot more, saying if we filled all our bags we could earn about 3 or 4 Platinum coins. Feeling my right leg get sore, I asked if we could find a safe zone to rest. Aubrey nods saying there is one near the entrance to the seventh floor, and after a few more fights, we arrived at the safe zone.
Looking over the experience I’d earned, I was getting half the experience for anything one level below me than I did before, and anything two or more levels was halved again. In total, I had only gotten 30,000 experience from about ten monsters. I knew this was due to me being much higher level than anything here, nothing higher than level 26 had appeared before us.
As I sat down, Aubrey offered me a healing potion, saying that this was the only thing she could do to assist me according to the Branch Master. Waving my hand, I told her I had something better and grabbed a bottle of the foul medicinal drink and pinching my nose, I downed the contents.
While the medicine did its work, I leaned back and turned to Aubrey. “I remember you told me you levelled differently, how does it work?”
Crossing her arms and pondering for a moment, she looked at me. “Lifeforce. I told you in the past I ate monster cores for experience, that’s because they contain a small amount of lifeforce. I have to absorb it directly from either the cores or a monster itself. If the monster is uninjured, I can gain more experience than if someone at the same level killed it, since it would have a lot of lifeforce. If it’s injured, it will have less lifeforce, thus giving less experience.”
Leaning back on the wall after hearing this, I wondered if I could help her by trapping monsters. As if she knew what I was thinking, she spoke up again.
“Don’t worry about me. You need the levels more…” Looking a bit sad, Aubrey looked down after saying this. I knew why as well, if what she said was true about the twentieth floor, once we came out of the dungeon I would be about level 45, but she’d still be level 24. I knew this because I had been thinking about it as well, I quite liked Aubrey and enjoyed spending time with her, if possible I didn’t want to leave her behind. I decided I’d use my Astral Ice Wind to see if I could freeze some monsters to the spot so she too could gain experience.
“Alisha, if anyone tries to stop or block us, what do you plan to do?”
“Kill them.” Giving her an answer without hesitation, I looked at Aubrey. “Is there a problem with that?”
“Only if you damage their loot. Hold your punches next time, I had to throw away so many pieces of armour before because they had dents and cracks.”
Smiling, I hadn’t expected her to be so direct. “Kraa!” Hearing Alice cry out, she flapped her wings and flew over to Aubrey’s head, resting between her antlers. Aubrey tilts her head slightly, but doesn’t seem bothered. Looking at this raven of mine, I knew she only rested on the heads of those she liked and trusted, which meant it would take time for her to do so…except for Jessica, for some reason Alice had no issues with her.
After a few minutes, we got back up and exited the safe zone. After a short walk, we arrived at the stairs to the seventh floor. Aubrey had already told me about the monsters here, however we still made our way through the seventh floor with no problems.
***
Entering the eighth floor, I still felt completely fine. I had no injuries nor any fatigue. The monsters on the seventh floor hadn’t caused us any problems, in fact it had been like the sixth floor, they had died to one or two hits. Alice hadn’t gotten involved yet, not because I didn’t need her, but because she didn’t get a chance.
I was feeling bored. I know it was better to be bored than injured, but I wanted more from these fights. I remembered Aubrey’s words about the first nine floors being the beginners level so I understood that with how strong my stats were, I would of course be stronger here.
As we walked down the quickest route to the ninth floor, somewhere we’d stop and focus on getting myself to level 30 and Alice to level 10, a figure emerged from the wall. With my vision there was no darkness here, so it looked rather strange, but to Aubrey it would’ve looked like the figure emerged from the shadows.
With wavy violet hair, clutching two small daggers and the height of a human child, my eyes met Gray’s, or rather, with the Deviant Mimic’s eyes.
“A child? Must be pretty weak.” Smiling, I knew that comment was completely untrue. This was an opportunity however, I knew Gray’s biggest weakness.
He didn’t know any offensive or defensive magic, or at least when I had departed. Taking a side glance at Aubrey, I planned to help her level as well, I didn’t want her to be left behind.
Moving quickly, the Gray Mimic started sinking into the ground, and knowing he was planning to use shadow step, I waited. As the figure disappeared, I felt a presence behind me, not needing my smell to figure out its positioning. I pivoted, grabbed the hand that was attempting to stab me and spun the Mimic around, still gripping its hands.
Grabbing the other wrist, I pulled that behind him and stomped hard on both of the Mimic’s legs, breaking them with ease. Looking at Aubrey, I calmly said “Come, he doesn’t know any offensive spells. Easy experience.”
Looking surprised, Aubrey was about to shake my head but must’ve seen my face. I stared at her sternly, and I knew she knew I wouldn’t accept no for an answer. Nodding, she quickly walks up to the Mimic, and as she raises a hand, a bunch of vines sprout out from her wrist. Plunging down into the Mimic’s stomach, I saw the vines “gulping” like that had before.
The Mimic started panicking, a face filled with fear shouted out “STOP! DON’T KILL ME!” in a pleading voice, with Gray’s exact voice. Getting irritated, I punch down on its head, only hard enough to make it dizzy. It stopped struggling as Aubrey had a look of concentration in her eyes.
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After several minutes, the Mimic soon stopped moving and became melting as Aubrey withdrew her hand, the vines retreating. She stood with her eyes, that were flickering, closed. Soon, she let out a sigh filled with happiness as she opened her eyes slowly and muttered “It’s been so long…”
Looking at me, she gave me a smile filled with sweetness. “Thank you, Alisha. I levelled from that, it was a lot more experience than I thought…”
Waving it off, I told her it was no problem. Looking down at the Deviant Mimic’s remains, they seemed…lifeless.
“A side effect. I absorb everything, all the lifeforce in it goes. You don’t have to worry about giving me experience, it’ll lose us coins.”
Shrugging, I told her straight up “I don’t care for coins. I can eat monster meat if I need food. You need levels.”
Seeing her eyes widened, she turned as her eyes started watering. “T-thanks.” muttering this, Aubrey walks to her bag and picks it up again. Smiling, I glance at Alice. Since she didn’t have anything to do, I decided to give her the stone Leon had given me. Digging through my bag, I pulled it out and placed it on Aubrey’s head, in front of Alice.
Alice tilts her head at it, then an excited feeling comes from her as she pecks at the stone. Flapping her wings, she picks it up with a talon then closes her eyes. A feeling of concentration came from her, the stone slowly turned pitch black. Scratching my head, I wondered what was happening. Leaving it to Alice, I turn and continue walking as Aubrey follows, humming a tune with each step.
Along the way, we ran into another pack of monsters. This floor had monsters at level 28, meaning I was gaining more experience. The pack we ran into were six Gale Ants. Raising my hand, I used Astral Ice Gale as they ran towards me, using wing magic to throw blades of wind at me. Dodging, I kept using the Astral Ice Gale and slowly they began slowing down as they froze.
Sensing my mana, I had used about a quarter of my mana doing this. I wanted to try freezing them for a short while, to see if Aubrey could absorb their lifeforce. Side stepping more wind blades and bites by the ones catching up to me, I soon completely froze four, while two were partially frozen. Throwing out punches to their heads, I easily crushed them, killing the two I didn’t freeze.
“Aubrey! Hurry!”
Turning my head, Aubrey seemed surprised again. Wanting to kick that hesitation out of her later, I watched as she dropped the back and pierced a Gale Ant with her hand once again with the vines.
Watching as the vines drank, I knew it was working. Keeping an eye on the other three, they were trying to break free but weren’t successful.
After finishing one, Aubrey quickly moved to the other. While she was busy, the ice around the three started cracking, but with more Astral Ice Gale they were refrozen.
After about ten minutes, she finally absorbed the last one. They had lost all their colour, collapsing into dust. Looking filled with joy, Aubrey had excitement in her eyes. She told me she’d gained two levels this time, meaning she’d reached level 27. Smiling, I checked on my own condition.
I had used half my mana for this. I couldn’t repeat it, Astral Ice Gale was effective on one target, but multiple targets meant I had to use a lot more mana. Looking at Aubrey, I knew she was trying to hide her excitement and happiness behind her serious face. Looking at my Status, I wasn’t far off level 29, I wanted to hit it before we arrived at floor nine.
As we continued through the eighth floor, I came up with different ways to incapacitate enemies for Aubrey. About every second or third monster was left to her, and soon she had levelled to 28. I found out she gained about 50% more experience from draining the lifeforce of a monster that was barely injured than if I killed it. The more lifeforce she absorbed, the happier she seemed to become. Previously she’d been either shy or serious, while being a bit withdrawn, but now she had a smile in her eyes and at some point she’d been humming happily.
At some point I wondered if this would count as Aubrey assisting me, but after seeing how happy she’d become I decided I wouldn’t care if Alexander used it to say I failed his task. I accepted his offer because he was strong, but I didn’t need him to become stronger.
As we reached the stairs to the ninth floor, I had levelled to 29, gaining new stats. The amount I gained changed.
You have levelled to 29!
Gained the following Stats:
Agility: +50
Strength: +35
Intelligence: +25
Toughness: +2
You gain 10% more Stats due to Aspiring Hero, you gain the following:
Agility: +5
Strength: +3
Intelligence: +1
Toughness: +0
Health increased to 2,600.
Lunar Mana Increased to 20,000.
Seeing my Toughness barely go up I wanted to cry. I knew if I were to be hit by an attack I’d be injured heavily, if not outright killed. While fighting, I relied on my sense of smell to sense attacks and dodge, as well as my vision. Truthfully, my Toughness was the reason I was still being careful while engaging enemies so as to not be overwhelmed.
But I knew at some point I wouldn’t be able to avoid attacks. I’ve seen monsters use attacks that attacked everything in front of them. What if an enemy could use something like my Wind Explosion and hit everything around them? A wall of wind would only go so far, and my Lunar Barrier was too slow to invoke to protect myself, and too costly too.
After talking to Aubrey about my concerns while we rested in a safe zone, she smiled at me. “You have that golden ticket right? Just find a dojo that teaches techniques or skills to avoid attacks like that. I’ll show you around when we’re out, we can spend more time together.” Giggling excitedly, Aubrey grabbed a ration cube, a blue one, and ate it.
Seeing this new, happy and excited Aubrey was strange, but I didn’t hate it. Looking up, I checked on Alice, she’d been silent and still ever since grabbing that stone. It seemed like she was having a dream, her beck would twitch while her eyelids would sometimes flutter.
We’ve been here for about half a day so far. We’ve had to rest a lot due to my right leg, even the medicinal drink wasn’t helping to manage the pain and stiffness. My entire body was sore as well, but not as much as my leg. Pursing my lips, I knew we still had a very long way to go, but we couldn’t just rush through here.
Aubrey had said since it was only recently regrown, I had to basically retrain it, the muscles themselves had to get used to me using it. She suggested doing different types of stretches and exercises to train the muscles and to help the soreness. According to her, she was simply ‘guiding’ me by teaching this, and shaking my head with a smile at her giddiness about it, I decided to leave her be.
After an hour of resting, we got back up and continued moving. We’d decided not to sleep until either we were completely exhausted or we had finished the task. It had taken us half a day to descend two floors, and this wouldn’t get easier according to Aubrey.
Entering the ninth floor, Aubrey stopped telling me the monsters at my request. She’d seemed rather confused, but after explaining I wanted to face the unknown she seemed to understand and nodded.
“In that case, I’ll guide you to the next floor when you’re ready. We don’t have the time for you to wander around and find the exit. Especially if we get lost on a mutated floor.” Agreeing with her, we made our way through the ninth floor. The floors hadn’t changed in design, they were simple dirt tunnels, winding around the entire place; some tunnels led to large basic rooms or small safe zones.
As we made our way down the tunnels, we came across a pack of monsters, five of them together. They looked like the hounds from all the way back in Hounds Hell, but they were walking on their hind legs, smoke coming out of their mouth and their fur was completely black. Their upper torso looked similar to that of a human, except slouched and very muscular.
Level 29 Hellfire Hound
Health: 20,000/20,000
The monsters noticed us as well, all six of them moving forward at the same time. They were slow, which meant it was likely they were tough. Stomping down my left foot, I sent a Wind Explosion in front of myself. The two beasts in front lost their balance as two in the back stopped and opened their mouths. Sensing mana from the two, I knew they were about to unleash magic.
Moving quickly, I arrived at the side of one of the ones I had knocked down and slammed my fist into its head, right between the eyes. Feeling my fist smash through, I dodged an attack by one of the two still standing. Sensing the mana hit its peak, I turned to the two and, surrounding myself with wind, moved as quickly as I could past the two, arriving behind them.
Slamming my fist into the back of the neck of one, I punched through with some effort, ending its life before the magic could go off. The second turned its head as I saw red hot fire about to spew forth. Quickly reacting, I reached over and placed my hands on its upper and lower mouth, slammed its mouth shut as the magic was invoked, causing it to explode in the beast's mouth.
Seeing it stumble, I put my left foot on its chest and ripped upwards, taking its head off. Aiming for the head of beasts made it easier to kill them. Turning to the three remaining, I quickly finished them off.
Breathing out, I looked at the beasts and knew I had played it dangerously. If they had gotten their magic off, or were able to keep me occupied until one of them did, the result may have been different.
Walking over to Aubrey, she nods with a smile. “Good work. Just…be careful, closing its mouth like that is dangerous, I’m surprised it worked.”
Smiling at her in return, I checked the experience I had earned from the beasts, 15,000 each. Massaging my shoulders, I looked down the tunnel frowning slightly. It felt like someone was gazing at us, but with my vision I couldn’t see anything. Surging starlight and mana into my eyes, my gaze travelled further down the path, yet I couldn’t see anything.
“Aubrey?”
“Mm?”
“Is it normal to feel like someone is staring at you?”
“You noticed it too? No, it’s not. What do you see?”
“Nothing, but I can only see so far, about another hundred metres, there is a wall there.”
“Mm, it branches off there. Alisha, be careful.”
Aubrey didn’t need to explain why, I already knew. Pursing my lips, I decided to ignore the feeling of being watched as we continued down the tunnel.