Nathan did not waste any time. The light was fading quickly from the keeper’s cold eyes. It would be dead within the next few seconds. He wasn’t sure if his plan would work, but the opportunity was to enticing to simply pass up.
With the last bits of Moonlit Leap dissipating, Nathan streaked toward the soon to be corpse of the keeper. His feet landed lithely upon its chest, streaming with a silvery glow. The keeper’s blade protruded several feet out of its breast like a tree trunk made of iron.
Nathan wreathed his hands in glowing emerald fire, ignoring the questions coming from Saleh and Cleo behind him. They already knew the gist of his ability, they could piece the rest together themselves from this.
Like a drop of blue lost in an ocean of green, the keeper’s eye snuffed out as Nathan struck his hand into it. He put everything he had into this last attack, creating a small gout of flame that ruptured back out at him. If he had to be the one that got the last hit with his flames, he wanted to ensure that it died from this.
623 EXP gained
Level Up!
Keeper of the Crypt Echo gained.
Echoes Stored: [3/5]
“What now?” Cleo asked, pulling Nathan’s attention away from the keeper and the thought of what it would give as an Echo. Did the other two get any experience from the fight since Nathan had been the one to land the final blow?
“Now we continue,” Saleh said, stepping forward and inspecting the fallen body of the keeper. “It is difficult to tell if we are near the end of the dungeon or not, and we aren’t leaving until we complete it, so there isn’t much of a choice, is there? Judging by this fight, we can work fairly well together. I suspect none of us would have been able to defeat such a foe on our own.”
“So you want us to continue further into a dungeon when you don't know how long it is, what’s in it, or how strong the monsters will be?” Cleo asked, hands on her hips.
“Yes,” Saleh replied, smiling.
“That’s foolish.”
“It’s why we came here, is it not? You stepped foot into the dungeon while knowing nothing about it. You’d never even been in a dungeon before. Why does this change things?”
Cleo pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “The monsters only get stronger the further we go, yes?”
“A safe assumption to make.”
“How much stronger do you expect them to get than the keeper?”
Saleh pressed his hand to his chin, staring off into the darkness. “If I had to guess,” he mused. “Perhaps double.”
“We can’t beat something twice as strong as the last one,” Cleo said. She was blunt, but Nathan couldn’t help but agree with her.
Saleh had been visibly struggling to command the keeper, and it likely was no cakewalk for Cleo to either. If they encountered something that neither of the controllers could control, Nathan didn’t want to rely on just his strength to take it down alone.
I promised Arnold I’d help him, but he would understand if this proved too much for us. He wouldn’t want us to die trying to help him.
“Can’t we just push forward until we decide the enemies are too strong for us, then retreat?” Nathan said from atop the corpse of the keeper. “I see no reason why we couldn’t just turn around.”
“We could,” Saleh said. He leaned back against a headstone, sitting on it. The act seemed a little disrespectful to Nathan but Saleh looked to think nothing of it. Saleh set his jaw. “But I want to reach the end.”
“As do we,” Nathan said. He hopped down from the keeper, landing on the ground with barely a sound. “But we’re not going to be dumb about this. I value my life – and consequently Cleo’s as well – more than reaching the end.”
Saleh let out a heavy breath from his nostrils. He looked annoyed, but did not press the issue further. If the man wanted to go it on his own if Cleo and Nathan backed out, he was more than welcome to.
“Plus,” Nathan said, grinning and trying to lighten the mood. “We’ll only get stronger as we traverse through the dungeon. I don’t know about the two of you, but I’ve already leveled twice while in here.”
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Although he was in desperate need of a better weapon. If only the keeper of the crypt had been a bit more normal sized, he could have taken its blade. An ancient blade of a massive monster had to have something special about it, right?
Saleh perked up, locking eyes with Nathan. He looked surprised. “Twice?”
“Yes.”
“How much experience did you receive from the fights?”
Saleh appeared a little worried, but Nathan could see no reason to lie. So he didn’t. “Nearly five hundred from the maw, and a little over six hundred from the keeper. Why? Did you not receive the same?”
Saleh ignored Nathan’s question. “You received just over one thousand experience and leveled twice?”
Ah. I guess I’m a much lower level than he was guessing. It has been taking more and more experience to level up as I’ve grown.
“You got nearly five hundred from killing the maw? I barely got one hundred,” Cleo said, cocking her head.
So the amount you participate in the fight affects the experience gain as well. “Shouldn’t have run like a coward then,” Nathan said smugly, shrugging his shoulders, the turned to Saleh. “And yes, am I lower level than you were expecting?”
“I wouldn’t have had to run if you hadn’t sent the damn falling down in flames. You nearly crushed us.”
“Much lower,” Saleh said as the corners of his lips turned down to a frown. His eyes scanned back and forth in the air, likely looking at his own stats screen.
Nathan smirked and walked past the two, headed for the opposite wall of the room. If there was an exit that led deeper into the dungeon it would be there. He was fairly certain that could go significantly deeper into the dungeon before being forced to turn back. After all, he now had two incredibly powerful Echoes at his disposal. If they retained any significant portion of their strength, they should be more than enough to tip a fight in their favor, and that wasn’t even accounting for the power and ability he would gain from them.
Saleh quickly turned to follow Nathan. The assassin couldn’t help but notice that the man regarded him with a bit more reverence than before – or was that worry in his eyes? Cleo grumbled and reluctantly followed as well.
Their footsteps sounded hollow throughout the vast crypt-like chamber until they reached another doorway at the far end. The structure of the dungeon was odd. It couldn’t have formed naturally – not with all the pillars and statues and whatnot, but who would have created such a strange place? And why?
Nathan decided to leave the philosophical wonderings behind him. He was having quite a bit of fun in here, man made or not.
He opened his stats screen and nearly tripped over his own feet as he was assaulted by words.
You have Gained and Ushered sufficient Echoes.
Echo maximum increased from 5 to 8.
Upon Gaining and Ushering sufficient amounts, you will be granted the option of selecting a new skill or upgrading an already known skill.
Current Available Selections:
New Ability Options:
– Mists of the River: You journey across the waters, and they answer your call. You may summon the mists around you in a thick fog to conceal and obfuscate.
Upgrade Current Abilities Options:
– Flowing Flames (Echo of the Dead): What is a Ferryman without his oar? You usher most souls to their next destination, not with your flames, but with your blade. Your weapon becomes an extension of yourself, allowing you to channel your flames onto it.
And then another, even more interesting one.
Level 10 reached
Class Upgrade Available
3 Available Upgrades for Class [Ferryman]:
Once a Class Upgrade has been chosen, it cannot be changed and all other choices will become unavailable.
– Navigator of the Lone Ship: Echoes can no longer be stored or summoned. Upon killing an entity with Echo of the Dead, the user will instantly gain all bonuses they would have gained upon Ushering the Echo.
If the user slays an entity completely on their own – with no assistance from allies – a significant portion of their injuries will be instantly healed and the power they receive will be increased significantly. Also, while traveling without any surrounding allies, the user will gain an increase to all stats of 50%.
– Psychopomp: The user is no longer limited in what they can summon from the other side. Stored and Ushered Echo categories are removed. The user can summon spirits directly from beyond the grave.
Power and abilities will not be gained from these summons, but the ability can be trained to summon a greater quantity and number of entities from beyond.
– Shepherd of the Nameless: The user will retain all categories of Stored and Ushered Echoes, however the total amount of Echoes that can be stored will be reduced to four permanently and a third category will be added: Named Echoes.
Named Echoes are permanent. They can be summoned at will, however after being summoned will become unsummonable for a time. When a Named Echo dies, they grant the user neither an ability nor power.
To create a Named Echo, simply give them a name upon gaining their Echo.
He quickly selected the Flowing Flames upgrade and then focused on the Class upgrades.
It seemed each of the upgrade options fundamentally changed how his class worked. Each came with some incredibly powerful new ways to use his abilities, however also some significant drawbacks.
Navigator of the Lone Ship probably would have been his first choice – immediately gaining power and abilities from everything he kills, healing his injuries, and an increased rate of growth. It sounded perfect. Except for the small fact that he would almost never be able to truly travel alone.
Nathan side eyed Cleo as she walked, her eyes scanning every corner and shadow for a sign of movement. Ball and chain.
Psychopomp would slow his personal growth, which was certainly not ideal, but would likely allow for much more powerful summons. He could sit back and let others do all of the dirty work. That didn’t sound so bad.
And then Shepherd of the Nameless. Creating permanent Echoes that can fight alongside him multiple times. Being able to summon the maw or the keeper multiple times would be huge. But that would leave one glaring question. What would he name them?