*Day 086*
“Sooooo,” Erys said, drawing out the word like a kid who wasn’t terribly happy to bring up something.
“So?” Joram prompted when it was evident that Erys needed encouragement to keep going.
Before continuing, Erys took a deep breath, then gave him a small smile.
“So, we should probably get to that new Dungeon I sealed off before it goes into overflow,” she said quickly, looked away, then back at him again.
Joram was at a loss for a moment before remembering the dungeon they’d found at the hero summoning site well over a month ago. Thinking about it, it was closer to two months ago, actually.
Still, he gave himself a mental kick in the butt for having forgotten about it.
“Wasn’t it a troll dungeon?” he asked, regretting not having gotten the details when she’d initially told him about the dungeon.
“Yes, though by now it has likely expanded to include other variants, as well as other species,” Erys said casually, not seeming to care if more things had shown up in the dungeon or not.
Joram, though, wondered if he could use that [Dungeon Core] to add another level to the existing farming dungeon. On the one hand, it would provide a wider variety of challenges for those delving the dungeons. On the other hand, trolls sucked. There was a reason why the term “trolling” was a thing, after all.
He looked around their little camp, taking in the last group of refugees that they’d rescued. Not because they’d decided to no longer hunt bandits/slavers, but because he was reasonably sure that whoever was behind the groups they’d eliminated had decided to cut their losses. Or something.
Either way, it’d been getting much harder to find new targets in the past day, so they’d decided to lay off for a while. Which opened-up his schedule somewhat. Well, his schedule, anyways. The others, the [Fission]s, were still hard at work doing their own things.
“Yeah, let’s do that,” he said, causing everyone to perk up more than a little bit.
For as fulfilling as it was to eliminate bandits and illegal slavers, one really could get tired of the bloodshed faster than one would think. Well, not that jumping into a dungeon would be any different, but at least they were monsters, and not other sapients. Well, non-monster sapients, anyways.
So, Myra- who’d joined them that morning, relieving Asami- got up and started organizing the refugees. This batch had been from a small elven village at the edge of one of the eastern forests in Murym. Unfortunately, their village had been one of the ones that had been burned to the ground by the bandits. The only survivors had been the “younger” adults and the children.
He really had to wonder just how much control any ruler truly had over their domain. Because, if groups of bandits could go about pillaging almost at will, then there was certainly something wrong. Heck, it could even be the local gentry being too lazy to do anything about it, not having enough guards, or even being complicit in what was happening. Really, any number of reasons could be picked. He just wished that anyone would just get the job done.
Because what was the point in having the gentry rule over you if they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, make sure their subjects were kept safe?
He watched as the refugees discussed what they wanted to do. Though, because they were speaking in Elven, he had no idea what they were saying. Sure, he could have probably used a Power to understand them, but it seemed as though they wanted their privacy, so he let it be.
As the elves presumably discussed their options, Avi and Erys began cleaning up camp. A few [Cleanse]s later, and a few applications of [Pyrokinesis] to extinguish the campfires, then [Hydrokinesis] to make sure the goals wouldn’t cause any unpleasant surprises after they’d gone, and the once-upon-a-time camp looked almost as though no one had stayed there.
And because the elves were still discussing things after all that, Joram started wandering around, now a bit bored. Looking at the spot they’d pulled a dead tree down for firewood, he decided to [Grow] a new one in its place.
Not really knowing the names of the local trees yet, he just picked one that looked like a willow. After taking a clipping from one of its branches with a mind dagger, he made his way to the stump. Then, after using a quick [Decay], a power that quickly did what its name suggested, he stuck the clipping into the now soft mulch-like stuff left behind then used [Grow] on it.
He always loved to watch as a tree grew. The small twig quickly elongated, growing taller and taller as more branches sprouted from its trunk. Soon, it was a good twenty-five centimetres in diameter, and a good seven metres tall. He let [Grow] lapse at that point, content with giving the tree that much of a boost.
Now smiling, he turned and saw that the elves had stopped speaking. Unfortunately, they were all staring at him, with some of them even having their mouths open in shock.
‘Yeah, you just got a tonne of brownie points,’ Avi sent with a grin.
‘Ah,’ he sent back as he tried to shrug off how weird it still felt to have so many people stare at him like that.
After another moment of awkward silence, one of the elves cleared his throat. They all then exchanged looks before he nodded and stepped forward to speak.
“We would be happy to accept your offer of hospitality,” he said, sounding as though he was imitating someone. Likely an elder of his village or something, because even he could tell that the elf wasn’t very far into adulthood.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Joram said with a nod, then used [Teleport: 4], which produced a [Gate] effect.
He was happy with his levelling progress, as he’d now reached Level 12 in [World Architect]. Which had come with many amazing abilities. Like [Instantaneous Creations], which basically made anything he summoned or created that would normally have a duration, instead have a duration of “instantaneous”. Meaning, he no longer needed to pay extra Dust if he wanted to make something permanent. A great ability for Level 10!
Another was getting [Teleport: 4] and [Planeshift: 4] at Level 8, which basically granted him the [Gate] function of those Skills/Spells. He was pretty sure that if the spacing of his [Teleport]/[Planeshift] upgrades kept to what it was, then he’d get the 5th iteration of them at Level 15 or so. Which, really, would be pretty sweet, because 5th Level of those spells added more functionality. Like not having to touch someone to use either spell on them, or being able to do the same with inanimate objects.
Which, given that he could basically do that with [Spatial Manipulation] already, wasn’t a huge game-changer. It would just make things easier since he wouldn’t have to concentrate nearly as much when using the spell compared to having to do it manually.
A few moments later, the elves had followed Myra through the portal, soon followed by Avi and Erys. After another quick look around the now empty clearing, Joram stepped through the portal, letting it close behind him.
* * *
Cyd looked out from the cockpit, wondering if a new and exciting creature would pop out of the canopy. Thus far, he’d been attacked by those eagles, then a murder of crows almost as large as those eagles had been, then a few exceptionally ugly vultures called [Sinister Vulture: Greater], of all things. Then there’d been two birds he’d have called “Vermillion Birds”, but had been identified as [Crimson Emberwing]s.
They’d been smarter than the rest of the birds that had attacked him, though. Even though he’d spotted more than the two that had attacked him, the others had wisely chosen to leave him alone after he’d dispatched the first two. Which had led to him wondering if they were actually sentient, or even sapient.
Either way, they’d left him alone, so he’d left them alone after that. Live and let live, as it were.
Which led him to the here and now as he gazed down at the extra large [World Maple]. Not only was it more than twice as large as the others around it, but it also seemed to be the roost of a significant number of phoenixes.
Stolen story; please report.
[Azure Phoenix]es, to be exact. Quite stunning, really. He was even slightly mesmerized by the flickering flames of their feathers and impressive flight feathers. Rectrices? Either way, they reminded him a bit of a peacock’s impressive tailfeathers with how long they were.
And the two largest [Azure Phoenix]es were also looking up at him and his ride, the same dragonfly-like astral construct he’d been using the entire time. Not having any better ideas, he quickly used [Spatial Manipulation] to teleport himself outside of the cockpit, then used [Telekinesis] to keep himself aloft for a moment.
With another mental shrug, he slowly descended. As he did, he kept a close eye on the many phoenixes in the tree, as well as the many more still lazily flying around, though they did seem to keep a distance from him.
Once he was about a kilometre away, the two largest phoenixes that had been watching him took wing. It didn’t take them more than a few seconds to close the distance, making him wonder if he’d pushed his luck a bit too much.
Well, at least I have my buffs going, he thought with a wry grin, hoping that things would remain peaceful.
‘Hail, stranger,’ he heard in his head, pleasantly surprised that they could use [Telepathy].
Unfortunately, the [Azure Phoenix]es were a bit too far away for him to use his own [Telepathy] Power, so he opted to instead try inviting them into his Network.
At first he got a pair of weird looks, then distrust and suspicion. As he just floated in the air, not looking terribly concerned about what was happening, their distrust and suspicion slowly faded away as curiosity grew too large for them to ignore anymore. That was when they both accepted his invitation, blinking as some basic information came through with the connection.
Information like 1) they could leave the Network whenever they wished, and 2) only the thoughts that they chose to send would be heard on the Network. He didn’t mention/send anything else, though, as they really didn’t need to know anything else.
The one on the left abruptly left the Network as the one on the right re-sent its greetings.
‘I apologize for the abrupt visit,’ he started as the one on the left looked back at him expectantly, prompting him to send another invitation. ‘But I am on a [Quest] given by the Great Protector to find the descendants of the [World Tree],’ he finished, leaving it at that to see what they had to say about that.
After another, long, look was exchanged between the two [Azure Phoenix]es- one that presumably included a telepathic conversation of their own-, they addressed him. A lot.
‘How is it that the Great Protector would choose… something like you?’
‘What are you planning when you find the various [World Tree]s?’
‘How did you find us here?’
‘What is that thing?’
And so on, and so forth. It took another fifteen minutes to get through their backlog of questions. During that time, several more phoenixes had shown up, though they kept a respectful distance from the first two. And since he thought that it would be more respectful to include more of them into their silent conversation, he decided to send them invitations to the Network as well.
After another minute or two of looks being exchanged amongst them all, they accepted. He now had twenty-three phoenixes in his Network, still well below his limit. Though, it then took another ten minutes to answer more questions, and more of the same that he’d already answered. It was actually stopped by the one on the right.
‘Enough,’ he sent. Well, Cyd was reasonably sure that it was a ‘he’ due to how different its mental voice was from the one on the left, let alone what he’d been hearing from the rest of the phoenixes.
‘So, what are your plans for our [World Tree]?’ the one on the left asked seriously, even going so far as to have a threatening undertone that implied violence should his answer not be to her satisfaction.
‘I was really just wanting to talk to it’ he sent with a shrug. ‘And maybe getting a leaf, or a cutting. Maybe a seed, if the other two aren’t possible. As far as I know, though, I just need to find each of the descendants…’ he sent, then checked his progress on the Quest.
Descendants found: 0 / 10
‘Huh, maybe I do need to speak with it…’ he sent. ‘Just seeing it doesn’t seem to count.’
Another wave of exchanged looks occurred as the flock seemed… agitated?
‘That is something that hadn’t traditionally been allowed,’ the one on the left sent with a shake of the head.
‘Is there any way to allow me to speak with it?’ he asked, deciding that a diplomatic approach would be better than him trying to sneak over to have a chat with the tree. Who knew if it would alert the phoenixes if he did so, after all.
Yet more looks were exchanged before the one on the right spoke.
‘If you’re willing to help, then we do have a request,’ Righty- a nickname Cyd decided upon just then- sent as he nodded. ‘There is a new Dungeon that formed recently, one that is specifically difficult for us to deal with.’
He paused there, making Cyd wonder if he’d need to prod more information out of the blue bird, but then Lefty took over the explanation a moment later.
‘They are known as Cryolisks,’ she sent, making him blink. ‘An ice variant of the Basilisk, one of our natural enemies.’
Cyd nodded, then wondered at just how a dungeon like that would appear so close to a nest of phoenixes. Then he idly wondered if the System hadn’t set that up for him, knowing that the [Azure Phoenix]es wouldn’t normally let him near their [World Tree] if he didn’t first prove himself somehow. With a shrug, he agreed.
‘Yeah, no worries. The cold doesn’t bother me anyways,’ he sent with a grin as he borrowed a line from his daughters’ favourite princess. Er… queen.
After more than a few thanks and well-wishes- well-wishes that he suspected were more veiled “have a nice trip to the afterlife” wishes-, he made his way north by northeast, following one of the smaller phoenixes. It only took a few minutes to fly there, which translated to being roughly five kilometres away from their nest. Once there, he understood exactly why it was a problem for them.
This dungeon wasn’t a convenient surface dungeon, one that sprawled above ground. This one seemed to have grown out of the ground, as its entrance was a yawning mouth of a cave that sprouted out of the ground like a hungry mushroom. He was especially sure that they’d arrived once the phoenix turned around with a quick farewell, then flew off as though the very legions of hell were chasing it.
He took a moment to make sure that his [Energy Immunity] was up and running, this time attuned to Cold. Once that mental check was done, he got out of his astral construct and flew down to get a better look at the place.
The surroundings really didn’t appear much different than anywhere else in the forest, though being on the ground and seeing trees with bases as wide as skyscrapers was a sight to behold. And those were the smaller one. The larger ones were closer to one hundred metres across, making him wonder just how old those trees were.
Cyd shook his head to rid himself of those extraneous thoughts, more wanting to get done with this side-quest as soon as possible than to nature-watch. Still, planning things out would certainly be more useful, and efficient, than just heading in half-cocked.
Then movement from the cave caught his attention. He watched as a lizard the size of a school bus made its way to the entrance of the cave. Aside from the ice blue colouring, and the spiky ice-like spines, it looked remarkably similar to an iguana. So, he [Analyze]d it.
Cryolisk – Level 43
HP: 1,231 / 1,231
MP: 832 / 832
- Racial Skills: [Gaze: Snap Freeze], [Aura of Cold: Greater].
He nodded at that, then had his M3 quickly look up [Gaze: Snap Freeze] as he kept an eye on the massive lizard.
Gaze: Snap Freeze
- Choose a target within line of sight. That target needs to make a Constitution Save. On a failed save, the target is frozen solid. Some creatures are not affected by being frozen, but most will instantly die. On a successful save, the creature will take [your level x your INT Mod] in cold damage.
Cyd blinked at that, then wondered just how smart those lizards were. Because, if they were smart enough, even the cold damage you received after a successful save could kill a person. Or a phoenix. He now understood more of why these things were so “bothersome” for the phoenixes to deal with.
Because, if they were anything like the ones from Earth’s mythology, then they’d certainly have a critical weakness to cold attacks.
Now grinning, Cyd seriously contemplated just tanking their gazes with his normal cold resistance. Besides, if he died, he could just come back and try again the next day….
Shaking his head, he decided against that course of action. Mostly due to wanting to meet with the [World Maple] as soon as possible, and partly because he didn't want to set his plans back any more than necessary. His other selves had enough to deal with already.
Nodding, Cyd stepped forward, catching the attention of the Cryolisk. A moment later, he felt the air around him cool down to sub-arctic temperatures, instantly freezing the surrounding flora. But that was it.
Now grinning, he stepped forward, making the Cryolisk blink in confusion. A moment later, it fell to the ground, twitching slightly as a chunk of its brain stem was teleported away. He once again felt the cold trying to freeze him, but once again shrugged it off with little difficulty.
Not wanting to deal with that over and over again, he quickly made his way to its head as he formed his long-distance mindbolt and aimed it at one of its eyes. A moment later, its head exploded, spraying blood, bone, and brain matter across the entrance of the cave, resulting in a kill notification from the System that was quickly glanced at before being dismissed.
It had certainly given a good deal of experience, but he supposed that the bonuses from killing something over ten levels higher than him added up. As he stepped forward to loot the Cryolisk, another notification popped up, stopping him in place.
Cryolisk Nest: Level 47.
Warning: This Dungeon is above your level. It is recommended to enter this Dungeon with a full party with an average level of 46.
Warning: This Dungeon’s capacity is at 99.8%. Overflow is imminent.
Cyd paused for only a moment before shrugging. Sure, it was an SS-Ranked dungeon. But. He wondered if he’d get extra cool- pun intended- rewards for clearing it out at his level. Surely he would.
Now grinning like a mad man, Cyd stepped past the threshold and entered the [Cryolisk Nest].