[You have dealt 315 damage to Draugr Lvl. 109.]
[You have slain Draugr Lvl. 109. You have absorbed 2300 Essence.]
Adam continued his assault on the draugrs. Previously, he was using archery and various items to tip the scale in his favor. Now, the scale was blasted to smithereens by the ring that converts half his damage output into holy attribute.
Fireball!
Firebolt!
Fire Breath!
His AoE and missile-type spell dealing enormous damage is one thing. But even the un-upgraded Fire Breath is now staggering the draugrs.
Having a holy-attribute attack in a place crawling with undead is like having hot water poured onto a small slice of butter. The butter just doesn’t stand a chance.
[You have dealt 359 damage…]
[You have dealt 351 damage…]
Fire Enchantment!
A fire with an intense red and majestic gold color erupted in Adam’s dagger and sword. His melee attacks not only dealt enormous damage to the unfortunate draugrs, but even the mere wave of his weapon seemingly struck fear in his targets.
And that fear caused a brief hesitation that Adam capitalized on.
[You have dealt 341 damage…]
[You have slain Draugr Lvl. 112...]
Ever since he left the chamber with the mimics, he had partially cleared 3 floors already. Adam decided to deliberately leave half of the dormant zombies in hopes that they would evolve in the next few days as newly-arisen draugr.
Then, when he’s on his way back up, there will be some treats waiting for him to dispatch.
Unfortunately, other than the rare and unique items from the mimics a few floors back, there is nothing of note that he found. At this point, the weapons and armor of the undead are completely beneath his notice.
There are the usual crypt-growing herbs that he’s regularly picking up. Although it’s not in great quantities, what he’s collecting is starting to pile up into a decent number.
But as far as items, weapons, or armor go, there is nothing worth mentioning.
“This is borderline boring,” said Adam amusingly. “But this is good boring, of course. Come on, you freaks!”
"COME HERE!"
Just barely a day ago, he’s strategically moving and fighting with every bit of caution. Now, he can afford to taunt the enemies in the area simply because it’s easier and faster for him to dispatch them in groups.
His yell was heard clearly by all the draugrs and every single one of them went to where the source of the sound was- a hallway with a sharp turn.
And on the other side of the sharp turn is the man who’s yelling at the top of his voice.
Now, the draugrs will keep on coming to him. But since they need to make a quick turn first, they'll be slowed down at a single point in the hallway due to the sudden turn they need to make.
This isn’t unlike the obstacle he created during his fight with the five necromancers, albeit this one is much simpler in nature.
Eventually, the draugrs started coming in droves.
Oil!
Fireball!
Firebolt!
Fireball!
Firebolt!
[You have dealt 259 damage…]
[You have dealt 259 damage…]
[You have dealt 257 damage…]
No matter the draugr’s number, no more than 3 or 4 can fit in the hallway's sharp turn. And so, the draugrs were systematically dispatched.
With his increased mana recovery, Adam rarely ran out of MP. But in the rare instances that he does, he can always just chug a mana potion.
[You have dealt 255 damage…]
[You have dealt 258 damage…]
[You have dealt 251 damage…]
Rather than a Pyromancer, Adam seems more like a Trap Master; where he leads enemies, and they die horribly.
He is now encountering draugrs Lvl. 120 with increasing frequency- it is the same level as the Cryomancer that tried to ambush him when he first arrived on the second floor. Yet his holy fire is making quick work of these otherwise tough enemies.
The essence he has earned so far is outrageously high, yet he has not yet leveled up. This is because he intends to use the essence for upgrading his Ignition Gloves.
The reason for this is simple: he is close to becoming an Adept Pyromancer.
Intermediate Pyromancer 97.56%
With the rain of fire that is engulfing every floor he visits, it is no wonder his proficiency is growing at an abnormally fast rate. Since the ring made it so that Adam’s spells hurt undead more, it is considered an extra progression of his proficiency.
As a testament to this, he earned a high percentage of proficiency within just 24 hours. And now, he is close to reaching 100%.
Fireball!
Firebolt!
Fire Breath!
[You have dealt 259 damage…]
[You have dealt 259 damage…]
Ding!
[Intermediate Pyromancy has reached 100%.]
[You are now an Adept Pyromancer]
[Willpower stat conversion increased by 4.]
[Pyromancer-related Traits have noticeably improved.]
[Adept-tier spells are now available.]
[You are the first player to reach Adept rank. The title and achievement ‘First Adept’ has been added.]
At the Adept rank, his Pyro traits have noticeably improved. His Fire and Frost resistance started off as just 10%, but they, each are at a much respectable 25% resistance.
Most importantly, he can finally upgrade his Ignition Gloves that had been stuck at Lvl. 9 for so long. Currently, it provides him a Damage Boost of 25% and a Cost Reduction of 25%.
And since he doesn’t know how many essences are required for Adept-grade Ignition Gloves, he decided to postpone leveling to ensure he will have enough for upgrading his gloves.
He began upgrading his gloves.
Level 10… Level 11… Level 12.
Then the leveling stopped; it took around 200,000 Essence for the upgrade.
But as far as Adam is concerned, this is well worth the price. Besides, he has accumulated over 400,000 Essence from the past several floors since he hadn’t leveled up.
Ding!
Ignition Gloves Lvl. 12 (Unique)
Restriction: Adam
Description: A medium designed to enhance fire magic abilities. Can be upgraded, but the user must at least be an Expert Pyromancer, and needs essence to improve this equipment.
Details: Damage Increased by 34%. Casting Cost reduced by 34%. Spell Cooldown reduced by 20%.
“Very good.” beamed Adam. “This is worth more than the level I could have earned from the same Essence.”
“It looks like I get three upgrade levels at the Adept level. Maybe there’s another three for Expert-level?”
His fire damage, casting cost, and spell cooldown had all been improved considerably.
Taking into account that Adam’s fire spell is starting to become potent in its own right, an added 34% is a serious boost. And with the holy attribute taken into the equation, Adam’s Pyromancy became the most powerful undead-killing spell amongst the current player base.
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Take Firebolt for instance.
Firebolt 4
Description: Shoots a bolt of fire that deals 65 points of damage.
Cost: 30 MP
Cooldown: 3 seconds
At its base, it deals 65 points of fire damage, but with his Harmony stat at 25, a bonus of 37 points of damage is added. Then the gloves’ bonus of 37% damage, the new total becomes 140 points of damage.
And that was just half of the equation.
With the Sanctified Ring’s effect added, half of the 140 points are converted into holy-attribute damage. And since the undead are weak against holy, the damage inflicted ranges from double or even triple!
That is 200-250 total for a spell that originally deals 65 points as its base damage!
With the gloves' boost, Harmony’s increase, and the damage-over-time factor taken into consideration, it is no wonder that the crypt with enemies over level 100 suddenly became a walk in the park for him.
He contemplated whether he should now use his remaining essence to level up but ultimately decided against it. He’ll just wait until he earns more essence for another massive leveling.
As for the newly unlocked Adept-tier spells, there are three spells that were unlocked: Flame Wall, Aura of Fire, and Pillars of Fire. While each can be a good addition to Adam’s arsenal, it wasn’t the spells that caught his interest.
Other than spells, there is an unlockable trait that became available.
Flame Augmentation (Trait)
Description: The fires of an Adept burn hotter than a lesser pyromancer. Damage increase of 50% to novice-tier spells, 30% to apprentice-tier spells, and 10% to intermediate tier-spells. The trait will evolve as the user reaches the higher ranks of Pyromancy.
Although the trait costs 3 points compared to the usual 1 point for a Pyromancy spell, Adam immediately purchased the trait.
The advantage this would give him is enormous.
Flame Augmentation would further improve upon his existing spells. This is the equivalent of him using his previous skill points to painstakingly upgrade each spell. But with this single trait, all spells by category had a corresponding upgrade. Now, even if he upgrades his spells no further, they would still be powerful. This is well worth adding to his repertoire.
This would allow him to purchase other spells for a wider variety of skills and talents he can use.
Aside from Flame Augmentation Trait, he decided not to purchase anything else for the moment; he wants to test how powerful his existing spells have become.
After finishing, he checked the rooms where the draugr were previously guarding to check for loot. But other than herbs for alchemy, there’s nothing else of note. If there’s any more treasure or valuable items, then it must be in the lowest sections of the crypt.
And so, he continued his raid.
“Next, 6th floor.”
Then, 7th floor.
Afterwards, 8th floor.
Then, 9th floor.
“Next, 10th floor,” said Adam happily. “Almost there.”
At this point, he had accumulated a massive amount of essence. He could immediately hit level 100 should he want to. It would require approximately 545,000 Essence to level-up from 91 to 100; he has over 650,000 now.
But he wants to test if there’s any special title or reward for reaching 1 million Essence.
His raid has long since stopped being a raid from the moment he equipped the Sanctified Ring, at this point he is just farming essence. The enemy is no longer a challenge or threat to him. He still made it a point to spare some of the dormant zombies for an extra essence yield when he returned to the upper floors.
Eventually, he reached the 11th floor.
Unlike the rest of the floor which is made up of hallways leading to various chambers, the eleventh floor is just a wide hallway leading to a dilapidated gate. There is no doubt about it: this is a boss room.
As nobody announced clearing the crypt during his previous life, Adam doesn’t know what lies ahead.
Should he turn back? Should he retreat back to the plains and forest to hunt lesser targets? No. Absolutely not.
In the first place, he went here to explore the crypt and to try and conquer it. Just because he doesn’t know what awaits beyond the gate doesn’t mean it is hopeless.
No, he knows what hopelessness is. Yet even then, he didn’t retreat.
There is no way he is retreating now.
He was about to open the gate when suddenly, he sensed an energy emanating from his bag. Adam took a step back and checked what was causing the phenomena in his backpack.
It didn’t require him to take a long search, the source of the phenomena was a small item he found back in the room with the mimics: it was the Soul Effigy.
And then, without warning, the Soul Effigy’s array lit up and a small white light within came into the form of a human figure- similar to a hologram in the real world.
And just as when it is about to open its mouth, clearly about to say something-
Ding!
[An ancient language has been detected: Rosetta Protocol is in effect.]
“Adventurer, if you found this, know that is my last will.” the figure began to say- or at least Adam’s system is translating the words in real-time.
“I am a disgraced Knight-Paladin from a land far away. I was banished due to my betrayal of my brother.” the voice continued. “My most loyal knights followed me to my banishment.”
“And it is here in this ancient structure that we found an ancient threat. While no one has set us to this task, and no one will give us any reward for succeeding, we chose to take on this task nonetheless.”
“However, the challenge proved too much even for us. And eventually, my brothers-in-arms fell one by one.”
“It would have been a form of honorable end had it been the case.”
“But they didn’t stay dead.”
“Whoever you are. If you find this, I beg of you, bring my brothers the death that they are owed!”
After the voice was done speaking, it reverted to its original spherical form.
Ding!
[Quest: A Paladin’s Last Wish]
Description: A soul effigy contained the last will of an unknown Knight-Paladin. His comrades had fallen and become undead. Eliminate the abomination that was once his brothers.
Instead of returning the Soul Effigy back to his bag, he instead kept it in his person while nodding in understanding.
“Thank you for the hint, Ser Knight Paladin.”
He then unequipped the Sanctified Ring and switched back to the Ring of Mana Amplification. However, he decided to keep the Sanctified Necklace on.
Ring of Mana Amplification 2
Details: +200 MP, increases MP regen by 15%
Sanctified Necklace of a Holy Knight
Details: +200 HP and MP, increases HP and MP regen by 20%
For the next fight, he will most definitely need extra mana. With over 400 extra MP, and a regeneration rate of 35%, his mana pool will be replenished faster than ever before.
With that, he is as prepared as he can ever be. He then proceeded to open the gate and ventured inside.
***
Adam found himself inside a spacious chamber.
From the looks of it, he is in a lecture-hall-type room, where there is a pitched floor. So those standing in the rear can see above the ones in the front. And in the center of it is where Adam is standing.
And in each of the pitched floors lie several metallic coffins- a quick count would put the total number of coffins in the hundreds.
“Shit. This is way too many.” Adam nervously said.
And as if in a queue, several things happened at once.
First, the gate behind Adam closed shut with such force that he felt the shockwave despite standing several feet away from it.
Second, there are movements in several of the coffins- no doubt whatever lies inside has been awakened by his arrival.
And third, three doors opened from the topmost section of the pitched floors. And in each of them, several Skeleton Soldiers and Draugrs came rushing all at once!
“So, you want an audition first? “ asked Adam while addressing the coffins that had been shaking. “Let’s have it your way, then.”
He switched his ring back to the Sanctified Ring.
There is one reason why he originally took off the ring that converts half of his attacks into holy-attribute: the enemy he will be fighting against is highly resistant to holy attacks.
Or at least, he was expecting that type of enemy to greet him. But clearly, they wanted to check his skill first to see if he was qualified.
Fireball!
Firebolt!
Fire Breath!
It was a swarm of skeletons and draugrs. First, about a dozen came out of each of the doors. Then, followed by another dozen, and another.
Eventually, approximately a hundred undead came out of each of the doors.
And all died swiftly under Adam’s intense flames.
“Enough warm-up." declared Adam. "Come out!"
And upon doing so, he switched back his Ring of Mana Amplification. For good measure, he drank a mana-replenishing potion to bring his mana back to full.
It was then that coffins on the lowest level of the pitched floor opened- a total of twelve undead, heavily armored knights came out.
A single glance and anyone can tell these are a different breed of undead from all the rest.
For one thing, they were wearing the same Paladin’s Set that Adam found- though the ones they were wearing had been worn out and heavily rusted.
And for another, they appear to have some semblance of sentience.
They are under the category of a Revenant, where they died and were brought back due to dark energy. But what happens when someone who trained to wield holy magic dies and is brought back by dark magic?
The result is called a Heretic Revenant. There is one thing that sets a Heretic Revenant from the regular ones- they have an innate holy resistance. As a price for its resistance to holy magic, a Heretic Revenant can not use the holy spells it had back when it was alive. And this is why Adam knew his Sanctified Ring’s effect would be rendered useless against them.
Thankfully, the other weakness of the undead, fire, is still present so he still has a way of fighting them on his own terms. Luckily, he acquired the Flame Augmentation trait before he entered the room so his flames have a bit of an extra boost despite losing the holy attribute advantage.
But most importantly, these knights appear to have a strong sense of themselves- not unlike Vetius, his blacksmithing teacher.
And with a strong sense of self, perhaps they can recognize something in their previous life.
‘Good.’ thought Adam. ‘Then perhaps this will work.’
He pulled out the Soul Effigy and activated it.
The image of the man once again materialized. And upon his appearance, the Undead Knights all knelt as a sign of respect.
Initially, it was only the ones from the lowest level who woke up. But eventually, every other inhabitant began to rise from their coffins- all wearing the same worn-out and rusted Paladin’s Set.
And now, about a hundred Undead Knights stood before Adam, their attention locked onto the image of a man that came out of the Soul Effigy.
Once the message was done and it went back to its spherical form, one of the knights slowly made his way towards Adam.
“Gurrragg… gggggrrrrg... Ggggurraag…”
Despite his sentience, the ability to speak did not seem to return. However, his next action clearly relayed his intention.
The Undead Knight throws its gauntlet at Adam’s feet.
It was a challenge to a duel.
Ding!
[You have been challenged to a one-on-one duel.]
[No one will be allowed to interfere in your duel. If you win, any injuries you sustained will be restored at the end of the fight.]
[Do you accept? Y/N]