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Tenebris Anima
Volume 1: Chapter 7 - First dungeon(?)

Volume 1: Chapter 7 - First dungeon(?)

Volume 1: Chapter 7 – First dungeon(?)

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A week passed since the time Eve went outside the city walls for the first time. During the time there, she gained invaluable experience... no, I'm talking about numbers commonly called as EXPs, or even XPs.

That day she learned that vast... no, an enormous percentage of player base was incredibly stupid. And as much as they were stupid, they were also self-centred.

She knew that they openly ignored her. Especially the bigger groups, that were monopolising bigger spawn areas. Sure, after some time her looks would catch attention of some helpless romantics. That is, people who, instead on hunt, would focus more on flirting with team-mates of opposite – in some cases the same – sex.

Those people are inconceivably annoying, and if one treats such attempts seriously, then there is only disappointment awaiting them. Not only those 'romantics' have others on the side, they are only thinking of having sex with them and then leaving.

Eve assimilates such people with lowest of trash among people.

Of course, after her effortless hunt was noticed, she was immediately swarmed by players trying to get the better of her and use her ability for themselves.

Eve refused them all, however seeing how persistent they were, she had no other choice but to go into more difficult hunting area. That is, into the forest.

Having made up her mind, Eve sprinted in the direction of the wall of trees. Without looking back, she had no way of knowing that after displaying her speed, pests bothering her quickly gave up. They had no way of catching up.

Eventually some shrugged their shoulders, returning to the repetitive task of slaughtering rebbits with teams of 6 or more people.

Finally Eve was heading back towards the city. A week has passed, and during that time she encountered wolves, bats, foxes and by the end she even sighted an entrance to a dungeon. However her inventory was half-filled with various loot from the monsters she encountered. Thus, she headed towards the city.

On her way back, she started encountering players from the 'rebbit fields', but paid them no mind. Still keeping up their dignified act of ganging up on single monsters, only with bigger numbers this time, they made her want to throw up.

She saw no fun in such form of a hunt. No thrill, no adrenaline rush. Nothing.

- 'At least I'll have some enjoyment in that cave I spotted... Animals were getting really boring' – she thought, crossing the city gates.

Of course during hunt she levelled up a few times. By now she had level 9. Out of curiosity, she opened her status window once again.

Status WindowName:EveAlignment:NeutralLevel:9Class:NoneRace:Dark ElfGender:FemaleTitlesNoneFame:23Infamy:0. Health:1850 / 1850Health Regen:14 / SecMana:2050 / 2050Mana Regen:80/ Sec.Strength:80Agility:120Vitality:70Perseverance40Intellect:80Wisdom:40Leadership:0Unused Points:0Physical Resistance:0%Magic ResistancesFire:0%Water:0%Wind:0%Earth:0%Light:0%Darkness:0%

That was an impressive feat. Considering that each level up granted players 20 stat points free to use, she decided to even out the numbers so that they will look better and was left with 100. Then she distributed them in a 7:3 ratio between intellect and wisdom, which give more mana and mana regen respectively.

From the looks of it, each point in vitality and intellect grant 20 points of health and mana, with vitality granting health regeneration in a 2:1 ratio on top of it. Wisdom gives mana regeneration in a 1:2 ratio, as in 1 point in wisdom gives 2 mana per second.

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Of course such high regeneration was active only within cities, villages and camps. And in order to prevent abuse of camps, there were certain conditions to be made before camp was recognized.

Outside the cities, recovery speed was cut by a half. Which in case of mana regeneration, was still a ton. It was justified by having to put points in wisdom.

Effectively players had health regeneration per second equal to quarter of vitality, and mana regeneration equal to wisdom.

Because of the way mana amount and mana regeneration interact with each other, there are two general builds of mana-based professions. First is one with huge amount of intellect, commonly called 'cannons'. Because they had greatest firepower with slow recharge time. Of course it was the most popular one, because of potions existence.

Second one was wisdom-based and referred as 'machine gun'. That is because the mana regeneration of the build is so high that it enables one to fight for prolonged amount of time. Actually it was the only strength of such build. However it required exceptional skill of the user, as well as ability to focus throughout long periods of time.

Then there were some people who, undecided, tried to even out the ratio between intellect and wisdom. Such people are considered as 'hybrids' in the magic-oriented community.

* * *

Eve stood in front of the entrance to the dungeon she found earlier. While she was in city, nothing out of the ordinary happened. She sold loot acquired during hunt and bought some supplies in form of weak mana and health potions, as well as enough food to last a good while.

- 'At least it doesn't go bad while in the inventory... It really is useful' – she thought, while making her way through the portal. - 'Good, seems like no one made it this far...'

It must be said, that the area around where Eve entered at first glance didn't differ much from the surrounding natural environment. The keener eye would notice more regularities, but that is all.

The reason for that is the existence of fully-overgrown stone pillars, as well as stone wall embedded in the mountain cliff which was as well covered in the vines and leaves. However it was all regarding the person who didn't spend too much time in the wilderness.

If a person spent a few days in the wild, irregular forest then he or she would easily notice regularities in this area. Unless they were either idiots or people dreaming high in clouds.

Either way Eve was not such a person. Of course up 'till now one might have an impression of her being 'perfect'. However one ought to know that there is no 'perfect person', and that everybody has defects. Some might however take longer to show them, appearing only after deep analysis of their reactions.

Eve was walking for a quarter now. So far nothing has happened, and she couldn't hide her disappointment anymore.

- 'Really, only this straight path heading lower and lower, somehow irregular walls and occasional stalactites or stalagmites. What a letdown.'

Because of the monotony experienced over the course of twenty minutes, she failed to notice walls darkening, as well as the corridor getting wider.

Because of the ability to see in the dark, Eve had no need to learn 'Illumination' spell which created a ball of light providing sight in dark places, or buy torches for the matter. It was one of the pros of being a Dark Elf, being able to see in the dark. Although not as well as races with total Night Vision, Dark Elves were able to see to a degree nevertheless.

Because of the hampered sight, she failed to see spell engraved in the path beneath her feet. Without her knowing, she was fueling the spell as she made her way forward. Because the spell was very, very long, the amount of mana it stole from her went unnoticed. Why, one might ask.

The reason is the same that it was so stretched out in the first place. To lower mana absorption at a time, thus increasing the chance of it going unnoticed. Currently it stole mana at a low, yet stable rate of 10 every second. While it was one-fourth of total mana regeneration in this place, with the pool filled to 100% there was no way it would be discovered.

* * *

Two hours passed since the moment Eve entered the dungeon. Of course there was no notice appearing before her. It could mean two things.

First, there could be no notices appearing upon entering one.

Two, and more possible, Eve wasn't in actual dungeon. Just a passage.

Those were the hypothesis she came up with, however without having entered one confirmed dungeon before she wasn't sure.

That was when she heard something for the first time other then the sound of her footsteps, breathing or clothes rubbing.

Clack! Clack!

Eve immediately was put on guard, each hand holding mana pistol. If someone watched her from the sidelines, one would see a calm gunner with her weapons pointing down the – as she now noticed – completely straight hallway.

It was still made of stone, however right now walls were completely straight, with no room even for dust to catch on. They also emitted very dim bluish light.

- 'Now that I think of it, I had a feeling something changed since the entrance. I guess that because of the very slim changes it escaped my notice' – she thought, as she focused once again on the sounds growing louder.

Eve lowered her posture, as she slowly started heading forward.

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