Rayna wasn’t sure what time it was when she woke up, but the cavern was just as dark as it was when she went to sleep. She groaned, casting Basic Heal. She sighed in relief as the spell eased the soreness in her muscles.
You shouldn’t do that, you know.
Rayna yawned. “Shouldn’t do what?”
Heal every ache and pain you have. It can stunt your recovery. Muscles need to recover naturally to become stronger. If you heal everything with magic, you will weaken your muscles to the point that your injuries will be worse next time.
Rayna shook her head. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She frowned into the darkness. “This safe zone is good for a week, right?”
Six and a half days.
“Close enough. I can come back if I need a place to sleep.” Rayna pulled up her Menu. “Also, it means I can pick my new spell in peace.”
Thankfully, Rayna didn’t need light to see the Menu. She guessed it was some sort of telepathic thing, since it didn’t give off light like her portals.
She checked her Character Sheet first.
Name: Rayna
Level 18 (Exp: 5,186/16,499)
Class: Warrior
Race: Lerian (Essence: 0/54,000)
Core Status: Recovering (Progress: 20%)
HP: 1,690/1,690
MP: 490/500
Stat Points
{C-7} Str: 63
{C-5} Dex: 77
{C-3} End: 82
{C-1} Vit: 169
{C-6} Int: 50
{C-1} Wis: 50
{C-1} Luck: 10
[Free Points: 6]
Spells
Basic Heal — Proficiency: 100%
[Spell Choices: 1]
Skills
Rage — Proficiency: 30%
Meatshield — Proficiency: 50%
[Skill Choices: 0]
Titles
Volunteer — [+10 to all stats]
Traps Expert — [+5 Dex, +2 Str]
Masochist — [+5 End, +5 Vit]
Quests
Tutorial II — Completion Rate: 0%
Special Traits
Immunity to Poison [Species Trait - inherited]
Immunity to Paralysis [Species Trait - inherited]
Immunity to Confusion [Species Trait - inherited]
Magic Sight [Species Trait - inherited]
Telepathy [Species Trait - inherited]
Low-grade Empathy [Personal Trait]
Calm [Personal Trait]
Her core recovery status had jumped a whole nine percent. Rayna suspected it had something to do with using all of her Essence the night before.
She navigated into the spell choice section and got a message similar to what she had seen with her skill choice.
You may choose one new spell from the list below or you may upgrade an existing spell if you have met the requirements. You currently have 1 spell that meets the requirements for upgrade.
Basic Heal —> Heal (Upgrade) — Heal minor to mid-level injuries such as cuts and stab wounds with one cast, and heal more serious injuries such as broken bones with multiple casts. Additionally, the spell can help regrow limbs over time. The number of casts required to fully heal a wound depends on the severity of the injury and the vitality of the subject.
Cost: 20 MP
HP Regeneration: 400/cast
It took all of Rayna’s self-control not to upgrade her healing spell immediately without bothering to read the rest of her choices. She used Basic Heal constantly and it even added the part about regrowing limbs—though Rayna was hoping she would never need that.
She forced herself to keep reading, just in case there was something even better in the new spells.
Firewall — Summon a wall of flames (maximum three feet by three feet with a thickness of three inches) that will last ten minutes unless dispelled by an attack or other means. The strength of the wall scales with your Intelligence stat and is stronger against fire and wind attacks. Additionally, the wall can be repositioned with Mana (10 MP per reposition). Repositioning will not affect the wall’s duration.
Cost: 30 MP
Wall Strength: 200% Intelligence
Duration: 10 minutes
Nature’s Friend — Encourage plants to grow at a faster rate.
Cost: Variable
Growth Speed Boost: 10% per 10 MP
Duration: 24 hours
Chameleon — Blend in with your surroundings, making yourself more difficult to detect. If the skill is cast a second time during the duration, the second cast’s duration will be added to the remaining time (up to 30 minutes)
Note: This spell requires concentration. If the caster loses focus, the effect will be dispelled, and the remaining duration will be lost.
Cost: 20 MP
Duration: 5 minutes
Calming Aura — Cast a soothing aura on yourself or another player to heal a small amount of HP per second for 60 seconds. This spell can be used on multiple people simultaneously. Casting it again on the same subject within the duration of the previous cast will refresh its duration. The healing scales with your Intelligence stat.
Cost: 20 MP
Healing: 20% Intelligence
Duration: 60 seconds
Shield — Create a shield around yourself that moves with you and can absorb incoming damage. The strength of the shield scales with your Intelligence stat. Casting it again within the duration of the previous cast will refresh its duration.
Cost: 10 MP
Duration: 15 seconds
Damage Absorption: 500% Intelligence
Outer Shell — Harden your skin against physical attacks to reduce incoming damage. The effectiveness of the spell scales with your Intelligence stat. Damage reduction can only be triggered once per second.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Cost: 20 MP
Duration: 60 seconds
Damage Reduction: 100% Intelligence/hit
Rayna was glad she hadn’t been hasty. All of the spells sounded fantastic, though some were more immediately useful than others. Rayna read the descriptions several times, ensuring that she understood what they meant before trying to make a decision.
Firewall, Shield and Outer Shell were all defensive spells.
Firewall could block an attack or absorb some of its damage. It wasn’t clear if it could do damage to the enemy as well, but Rayna noted it as a possibility.
Outer Shell looked like a body modification of sorts, assuming that the hardened skin was literal and not metaphorical. Rayna ruled it out immediately. She wasn’t keen on messing with spells that had ambiguous descriptions.
Shield was just a shield. It had a good amount of absorption; five times Rayna’s Intelligence was 250, which was 50 HP more than she would heal with Basic Heal. The difference between the two spells was that Basic Heal was reactionary, while Shield was preventative. Also, Shield scaled with Intelligence, while Basic Heal seemed to scale with the subjects Vitality.
Calming Aura was a healing spell that was stronger than Basic Heal—or even the upgraded version, Heal—but it spread the healing out over sixty seconds. The fact that it scaled with Intelligence made Rayna more inclined to choose it, since she planned on going into a magic Class of some sort after the First Ascension, so it would have better scaling than the Vitality-scaling spells.
Chameleon was a stealth-type spell that would help her blend in, but Rayna ruled it out for the same reason she wasn’t taking Outer Shell; the description was too ambiguous. She didn’t know if it would just change the color of her skin, or if she would suddenly become a rock when trying to blend in with the cave wall. The truth probably wasn’t that extreme, but Rayna didn’t trust Ember to follow logic.
Nature’s Friend was the odd one out in this list. Rayna wasn’t sure if she would need a plant growth spell any time soon, but it might help if food became scarce. She could pump a ton of Mana into a plant to have food grow on the spot.
That isn’t recommended. Food grown through magic has less nutrients. It is only used in emergencies and famines.
“I wasn’t planning on getting it anyway,” Rayna said. “I don’t have the luxury of picking a spell just because it might be useful in the future. I need one that’s useful now.”
It came down to three options: Shield, Calming Aura and Firewall.
She was only really considering Firewall because of her inability to see at the moment. She hoped that the wall could give off some light, and she had to admit she liked the idea of never having to start a fire with sticks again.
After a bit more consideration, she ended up ruling it out. She didn’t have enough information about the walls that the spell created and the fact that they were stationary made their usability limited. On top of that, she had no desire to refresh her light source every ten minutes.
Shield sounded like a good option if it weren’t for its short duration. Rayna refilled Mana at a rate of 5 MP per minute. That meant with a cost of 20 MP, the shield would only be active once every four minutes, and that was assuming she didn’t use her MP on healing while she was waiting for the spell to be useful again.
That left Rayna with only one viable choice. She selected Calming Aura from the list. It was a better option than Heal, since it would be added to her spell list instead of replacing her existing one. If she needed to heal a chunk of damage, she could turn back to her Basic Heal spell, if she needed more gradual healing for something like Azutin mucus, she could use her Calming Aura.
And if she got her Intelligence higher, Calming Aura might eventually outpace Basic Heal as well.
Next Rayna turned to the reward chests dropped by the mini-boss.
She pulled the three chests out of her Soul Realm.
The two uncommon chests looked like standard treasure chests with metal latches and an iron lock. The rare chest was slightly larger than the other two and it was made with bronze instead of iron.
When Rayna touched the lock on one of the uncommon chests a description popped up.
Uncommon Chest — Once unlocked, the chest will spawn an item of uncommon quality or higher. The probability of spawning higher rewards scales with a player’s Luck stat. Note that chests can be saved and opened at any time. The probability of higher rewards will be adjusted to match the player’s current Luck stat, not the stat that the player had upon receiving the chest. Chests cannot be traded or sold.
Probability
Uncommon: 95%
Rare: 4%
Epic: 0.9%
Legendary: 0.1%
On impulse, Rayna popped five Free Points into her Luck stat, just to see how the numbers would change.
Probability
Uncommon: 92.5%
Rare: 6%
Epic: 1.35%
Legendary: 0.15%
“All right, so each point takes… 0.5% chance from uncommon and distributes it between the remaining three rarities. That’s not bad.” Rayna pulled out her notebook and jotted this information down for future reference.
She checked the rare chest and found the probabilities were similar, but some had been shifted down to account for the smaller number of options.
Probability
Rare: 92.5%
Epic: 6%
Legendary: 1.5%
Rayna did some quick math. She would need two hundred points in Luck to guarantee an upgrade and if the ratios remained consistent, that would still make her 80% likely to only receive one upgrade. Those odds weren’t very good.
“Hey System, are there any ways to increase your Luck stat besides Free Points?”
Even if she got more Free Points per level after the First Ascension, that was a lot of points to spend just to upgrade her chest rewards.
Equipment—such as armor and certain potions—can offer stat boosts, either temporary of permanent. These will be counted when calculating the probability.
“Really?” Rayna activated her Rage skill and rechecked the probability of the uncommon chest.
Probability
Uncommon: 92%
Rare: 6.4%
Epic: 1.44%
Legendary: 0.15%
Rayna had forgotten how low her Luck stat was. 10% of 15 was only 1.5, and judging by the change in the probabilities, the System rounded down.
That trick wouldn’t be useful until she got her Luck higher.
Rayna decided not to bother waiting. It might be more strategic to wait for the future, but right now, she needed every advantage she could get to help her clear the dungeon. She opened a small portal to give herself some light to see by and grabbed the lock on the first chest.
Are you sure you want to open your chest now?
Rayna accepted the prompt, and the lock disintegrated.
Rayna peeled back the lid.
You have received a Butcher’s Knife (Uncommon). This item has no special effects.
Rayna pulled the plain knife out of the box with the glee of a child opening a Christmas present. Who cared if it didn’t have any special effects? It was a weapon! A bladed weapon!
She pulled a piece of paper out of her journal and cut through it like she had seen on some videos on the Internet. It cut through the paper like warm butter.
Rayna grinned, putting the knife aside. If she got stuck in a spider web again, she would have a way to cut herself out now.
She eagerly reached for the second uncommon chest.
Inside, she found a vial of red liquid.
You have received a Low Grade Stat Potion (uncommon)!
Low Grade Stat Potion — Raises one stat at random by five points. There is a 5% chance that the effect will be doubled and a 5% chance that the potion will have no effect.
Rayna grabbed the potion and drank it, hoping for Endurance or Intelligence.
Instead, she was reminded why she didn’t gamble.
The potion had no effect.
Rayna’s mood soured. She glared at the empty vial. The item only had a five percent failure rate, and she still managed to lose. Rayna resigned herself to the fact that she would probably never get an upgraded chest item.
She put the potion vial in her Soul Realm, planning to reuse it. As mad as she was about the failed potion, the vial was quite nice. She wondered if she could recoup the vials from her Azutin mucus as well.
Rayna hesitated when she got to the rare chest. The way her luck was going, she wouldn’t be surprised if she got a rune-enhanced handkerchief or something equally useless. Did the chest have a downgrade function? Uncommon wasn’t listed in the probabilities, but Rayna didn’t trust the description.
You’re overthinking this.
Rayna shook her head. “I know.”
She took a deep breath and opened the chest.
A ball of fire sprang out of the open box, nearly setting Rayna’s hair alight. She yelped and jumped backwards.
The fireball made a circle around the cavern’s interior and dipped to attack Rayna again. She dove out of the way, scraping her arm on the stone floor.
“This damn game sucks!” Rayna snapped, ducking another pass from the fireball.
She needed to stop it somehow. Could she trap it with the canvas from her tent? The material survived the explosion from Arodra, a little fireball shouldn’t be a problem. Or maybe she could douse it with her waterskin.
Rayna prepared to try the second option.
Wait!
Rayna lowered her water skin and ducked the next pass from the fireball instead, glaring at the screen. “What?”
I don’t know… something is wrong. I vaguely remember something about this, but I’m still trying to find the information. You need to stall it.
“Stall it how?!” Rayna jumped out of the way of another pass, banging her knee painfully against the wall. “This thing is trying to roast me alive.”
The system didn’t answer.
Rayna swore, swapping her waterskin for the tent canvas. When the fireball got close enough, she threw the canvas on top of it.
The fireball burned right through the material, hitting Rayna’s side on the way by.
She screamed, healing the injury immediately, but it took almost 100 MP.
“My Mana isn’t going to last at this rate. If you don’t come up with something soon, I’m going back to the waterskin idea!”
Energy! That’s it! Release Mana into the air!
Rayna jumped to the side, barely missing another burn on her leg. “Are you nuts?! I need that for healing!”
Trust me! That thing won’t stop unless you do.
Rayna hesitated a moment longer before giving in. Since reinitializing, the System hadn’t steered her wrong…much…
It was better than her plan to use the tent at least.
Rayna pushed twenty points of Mana into the air. It was just as natural as when she bonded with her artifacts back in the tutorial.
The fireball didn’t even slow down. Rayna ducked another pass, resisting the urge to try hitting it with her staff. If it burned through it, the only weapon she would have left would be the butchers knife.
No, not just a little bit. Push out all of your Mana.
“I need some to heal myself if that thing hits me again!”
Just do it!
“Fine!” She cast Calming Aura—it couldn’t hurt—and pushed all of her Mana into the air.
Rayna hadn’t realized how potent three hundred Mana was. The air was thick with magic. So much so that Rayna wasn’t sure where the fireball had gone.
She found it when it tore through her arm.
Rayna screamed and dropped to the floor. Instead of calming down, the fireball sped up, spinning around Rayna in a swirling vortex.
“Now slowly start drawing the Mana back into yourself!” the System yelled, trying to be heard over the roaring inferno.
“How do I do that?!” Rayna coughed, her lungs burning from the blistering heat.
“The same way you draw in Essence. Just feel it and call it to yourself. Hurry!”
Rayna closed her eyes, focusing on the magic in the room. She beckoned it toward her, begging it to come to her aid. The magic flowed into her and her Mana started ticking upwards.
“Good. Keep doing that.”
Rayna could barely hear the System’s voice, between the noise and the pain. Her HP was dropping rapidly.
When she hit 10 MP, the System said, “Now use Basic Heal!”
Rayna didn’t argue. It brought her Health up by a couple hundred points. Calming Aura was still active as well, which helped to mitigate the damage from the fire.
“Don’t forget your skills!” the System reminded her. “You need to outlast this thing. Do whatever you need to.”
Rayna activated Meatshield and Rage, boosting her Intelligence and her healing. Every time she hit 10 MP, she cast Basic Heal. When Calming Aura ran out, she waited a little longer to heal so she could refresh it.
The Endurance boost was helping Rayna think better, unfortunately, that just made her painfully aware of her skin as it burned and healed in a seemingly endless cycle.
After what felt like hours of agony, the Mana in the air ran out.
What do I do now?!
“Keep drawing it in. Use the fire.”
“That doesn’t make any sense!” Rayna snapped, coughing as the scorching air filled her lungs.
“It isn’t normal fire. It’s made of Essence.” The System sounded worried.
Rayna didn’t have a choice. She refused to die to a buggy rare chest. She drew on the fire, pulling it into herself.
Pain seared through her chest. Rayna cried out, her vision going white.
“I know it hurts, but you can’t stop. The fire will become Mana in your core, but you have to let it in.”
Rayna took a deep breath, regretting it when the scorching air burned her lungs.
Rayna slowly rebuilt her MP with the fire. She healed herself whenever she could and activated her skills whenever they were off cooldown. It became a rhythm and Rayna let her mind fall into it. The pain floated to the back of her mind as she focused on keeping herself alive.
Then finally, there was no more fire to draw in. Rayna blinked, staring blearily at the small white flame that hovered before her. It remained stationary, neither advancing nor retreating.
“Touch the flame,” the System said.
Rayna was too tired to argue. She reached out her hand and touched the flame.
It flowed into her fingers, healing her burns and soothing her pain.
Rayna collapsed onto her back, tears of relief and exhaustion rolling down her cheeks.