Shaun repeated this process over two days, he would craft, kill one of the lizards, retreat and repeat. He hadn’t gained any levels in his class during this time but did manage to get one in his profession, repeating the same process over and over wasn’t getting him enough experience to level up more which frustrated him to no end.
When he got to the last monster he was glad that he would just be able to move on and do something different, he had been in here for 3 days so far and had barely made a dent in the dungeon, at the rate he was going he wouldn’t be able to finish three before the stage had completed. As there was only one left, Shaun didn’t even bother taking his time to get in position; he just strolled right out of his cave and straight towards it, sending arrow heads out as he walked; it barely got the chance to move before it was riddled with wounds.
The good part about spending so much time working with his affinity was that he was now able to easily control two things at once, being limited to only controlling one had been bothersome so being able to wield two was a boon. This also had an impact on one of his skills which he was also very grateful for, his Dual Wielding skill had upgraded.
*Your skill [Basic] Dual Wielding (Level 25 – MAX) has evolved into [Advanced] Enhanced Mind (Level 1)*
*[Advanced] Enhanced Mind: This passive ability allows for parts of the mind to be enhanced when performing a task if enough concentration is focused on the task at hand. This applies to both combat and non-combat tasks, sufficient Willpower needs to be dedicated to any given task. Scales with Intelligence*
The skill had changed a lot and no longer just applied to using two weapons but encompassed everything he did, he could still wield two weapons without issue but now he could apply enough Willpower to his affinity and skills and do two things at once. This had saved him from injury a number of times while he had been fighting off the lizards, especially when there were more of them around.
The lizard died when he sent two arrow heads at once into its skull when he was close enough, it hadn’t even had a chance to attack yet, when he stood above its body he was able to concentrate and pull out the arrowheads and put them back where they belonged before looting it.
“Finally, time to see where the exit to this cavern leads.” He said out loud, it was the first thing he had said anything in days and it felt rather odd, talking to himself was weird, yes, but not talking at all was kind of uncomfortable. He wasn’t the most sociable person in the world but he didn’t want to lose what little social skills he had.
Shaun started walking towards the exit when he felt something change in the cavern, with his echo he was able to pinpoint that something had entered the area, bigger than the lizards, and stronger. Turning to the middle of the cavern, where the large pool of lava was he could feel something rising up from it, and quickly. With the little time he had before it would appear he readied two of his arrow heads in the air and started to infuse the dagger in his hand with an Empowered Strike, he wasn’t going to leave this up to chance and would make sure he threw everything he had at it right from the beginning.
It took only seconds before the monster appeared out of the lava with a roar, it looked similar to the lizard but much bigger, it had a frill around its neck that vibrated when it roared and spread out around its head.
*Frill-necked Lava Lizard – Level 21*
Shit. Shaun thought, and without hesitation sent his attacks straight at the monster. The arrow heads went first then his dagger, they all did some damage, especially with the mana he put into the dagger but it wasn’t enough to give him the edge he needed, not even close.
As the monster turned to face him its frill started to glow red, showing veins that ran all across it towards its head, when it opened its mouth fire appeared within and the next second, started to spew from its open mouth right at Shaun. As quick as he could he jumped out of the way, not quick enough to avoid all of the flame, some hitting him on his right arm, instantly giving him severe burns all the way up his side.
How the hell does it breathe fire? It is a lizard not a damn dragon! Distance was going to be the only thing that saved him here, so he turned and ran as far as he could away from where it stood. It didn’t give immediate chase but watched him move around, every time he got to the safety of another rock it would breath fire at where he hid until it got so unbearably hot that he would need to move to the next rock and then the next.
He was very quickly running out of places to run, he continued to launch his weapons at it but he wasn’t able to do as much damage as he would have liked. The lizard did start moving to his location, cornering him against the edge of the cavern, he only had two more rocks that he would be able to hide behind before he was truly screwed and would end up burnt alive.
Spending the time he had, he empowered another dagger and sent it towards the lizards open mouth when it opened it to send more flames at him, that did some damage, causing it to roar out into the cavern, but too quickly did it recover and continue to heat the rock he was hiding behind. With a rush he ran straight to the last rock, he was hurt, the skin of his arm was burnt and when he moved would split in places causing so much pain that Shaun had to concentrate on not passing out. The only place on his arm that seemed to be better than the others was where his Earth Strengthened Bracer was, it was damaged but still there, practically melded to his skin, but underneath it his forearm was a lot less damaged, more to the degree of spilling hot water on yourself than getting burnt by open flames.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Crouching behind his last defence he tried to think of anything that would help in his situation, his bracer had helped against the flames but that was only due to the fact it was imbued with his affinity. There was no way he had time to cover his entire body with his spare salamander skin let alone have the time to attune it to his earth affinity. That did give him an idea though, it was a long shot and probably doomed to fail, but he really didn’t have anything to lose.
Rather than try to attune the monster skin, what if it was possible to reinforce my own skin, not with the attunement skill but just with my affinity? Considering how that may work, he tried to replicate the skill he had and just use himself as material. Hiding behind his last rock he pulled forth his affinity, rather than direct it outwards though he focused on himself, letting it build inside of him. It came slowly at first, and with it a very foreign feeling, almost like he had something inside of himself that shouldn’t be there, but he didn’t give up. He kept going until he felt like he was going to explode, this was the same time that the monster decided to make itself known and started breathing its fire at the rock.
Trying to ignore the heat at his back, Shaun continued to just focus on earth, the feeling of hardened stone, the unyielding nature of metal, and with it he tried to direct all of the energy he had built inside of himself into his skin, his face, his hair, into any exposed part of his body. He didn’t know how long he had been crouching behind the rock, he had forgotten about the fire behind him and completely zoned out, using his new Enhanced Mind skill to do nothing but focus on the task at hand.
When he was starting to give up he felt the energy of his earth affinity start to move around his body, creating a circuit from the tip of his toes through his arms and around his head, he focused on that circuit, pushing harder until it was like a river of energy coursing through him. The energy started to branch off in places where some of its power was lost from the whole but still present in his body. It was an odd sensation, and Shaun lost himself in the feeling until he heard the lizard roar. That quickly snapped him back into the present, had the lizard stopped roasting the rock?
That hadn’t happened before, usually the lizard would let up on its fire until Shaun had run, so why stop now? Turning around the rock Shaun was hiding behind was glowing white, melting down in places, but he hadn’t felt a thing. It was hot, yes, he could feel the heat on his skin, but it wasn’t harming him like it used to.
*New Skill Created: [Advanced] Stone Skin (Level 1)*
*Skill Gained*: [Advanced] Stone Skin – Infuse one's own body with the element of earth to strengthen the skin as if it was stone. Provides moderate resistance to slashing and piercing attacks. Provides resistance to elemental attacks. Costs: Mana needed to be continuously provided for skill to activate.
The skill was everything Shaun had needed and more, he hadn’t been aiming at creating a skill, just to reinforce his body with his affinity, he didn’t even know it was possible, and to get it at advanced straight away was incredible. The only downside was that it continuously used his mana, meaning he couldn’t have it on all the time, and looking at how much mana was currently being drained by the skill, maybe 30 every 10 seconds, he only had about 1 minute before he was completely out.
Like a mad man, he didn’t even formulate a plan, he just rushed from around the melting rock and ran straight at the lizard with his sword in hand. He was going to need to do this the hard way, as he didn’t have the mana to spare, so using just his sword and dagger he went in for the attack.
He still tried to avoid the fire but Shaun’s main goal was to do damage, if he didn’t finish the fight in less than a minute it wouldn’t matter how safe he played it he would die in the dungeon. He aimed for the most vital parts of the lizard, mostly its face and neck, he would get in close and stab with his sword before backing away, throwing a dagger at the monster and then moving back in to attack with his sword.
He didn’t manage to avoid every attack, he took more flames to his body, it still caused damage but much less than before, he also got hit by the monsters claws at one point when he wasn’t paying enough attention, they sliced into his skin but only a by a centimetre, not enough to cause major damage. He slowly wore the lizard down, and when he only had 10 seconds left before he ran out of mana he dashed in, but this time made to finish it for good, he was out of daggers and only had his sword left, using the momentum of his movement towards the monster he jumped up into a leap at the last moment and landed sword first right onto the monsters back just behind its frill.
Using the different angle to his advantage he climbed up onto the lizard's back bringing his sword with him, it wasn’t able to get at him with its fire breathing and also wasn’t able to attack with its claws. Shaun stabbed down into its back, over and over again as close as he could get to its head and by the time the lizard stopped struggling beneath him he was covered in blood and sore all over.
*You have defeated a (Frill-necked Lava Lizard – Level 21). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 210 TE awarded*
The moment Shaun got off of the lizard's body he crashed to the ground, unable to stand, he had fully exhausted all of his mana, his health was barely at 10% and for the second time since entering the tutorial his stamina was near empty. He was relatively safe where he was, there was nothing else left in the cavern and he was confident that this lizard was like a mini boss of the area he was in.
*Class: Rogue has levelled up by +1 levels. [Basic] Rogue has reached Level 24. +1 Str, +3 Dex, +1 End, +3 Per gained*
Finally, after clearing the entire area of lizards, he had levelled up. He was still 6 more levels off getting another skill but he didn’t mind, he had just upgraded a skill and created a new one over the last few days so it wasn’t like he didn’t have others to focus on. The stats though were nice, not to mention that it made him feel just a bit less sore in that moment.
Without even moving back to his cave, he didn’t even know if he could at that moment, he let the fatigue wash over him and closed his eyes, he would deal with the body and everything else when he woke up, for now he just needed rest.