The spear stabbed into the body of the goat very precisely. It pierced the spine in a particular spot, so despite the small size of the spear and the massive horse-sized body of the goat. Its body collapsed, paralyzed, as Maximus took the chance to stab the spear the back of the goat's head. It got stuck in its skull for a moment, so the knight formed a fist and punched the spear deeper in.
The weapon disappeared in the monster's head as blood gushed out from the wound, but that didn't last long. The monstrous goat collapsed, and its body soon started to disappear. Ryan didn't even need to wait for the system message confirming it to know that the monster was dead. Though, there were a few more things that popped up together with said confirmation.
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[You have killed a level 8 -Giant Goat-]
[Maximus has levelled up!]
[Maximus has learned the skill -Knight's Nemesis-]
[You have attained a new Expansion kit for the Maximus Series - Crusader Model]
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Ryan grinned broadly as he looked at the system message. Maximus had finally reached level 10! And it looked like what Runar had said was true; every ten levels, the spirits unlocked something additional beyond just the skill that came when anyone levelled up ten times. In Maximus' case, that was another expansion kit, while for Gaia, it was most likely going to be seeds or saplings.
Ryan definitely did wonder what exactly the other spirits would end up unlocking every time. That being the case, he had to take a look at the expansion kit later, for now, it was time to check out Maximus' status.
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[Maximus]
[Knight | Level - 10(+1)]
[AP - 59(+4)]
[Stats]
-[Aura - 1.38(+0.09)]
-[Strength - 1.49(+0.08)]
-[Stamina 1.35(+0.08)]
-[Resistance - 1.49(+0.09)]
-[Physicality - 1.37(+0.08)]
[Skills]
-[Knight's Attack | Level - 12]
-[Knight's Guard | Level - 10]
-[Knight's Martial Knowledge | Level - 11]
-[Knight's Nemesis | Level - 1 (New!)]
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Quickly checking Maximus' status window, Ryan immediately widened his eyes, "Excuse me? 0.42 total increase? Maximus, this is insane."
The knight, currently picking up the spear that was revealed after the monster goat's body completely fell apart, looked over toward Ryan with a smug demeanour.
"Yeah, yeah, you're amazing, I get it," Ryan chuckled, before quickly pulling up the information of Maximus' new skill.
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[Knight's Nemesis]
[Level - 1] [Proficiency - 0%]
[By declaring a nemesis, all damage toward that individual will increase, but damage toward anyone else will decrease up until a certain point]
[Effect - 10% Damage Correction]
[Cost - 25 AP] [Cooldown - 24 Hours or 1 Minute after death of Nemesis]
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"Oh shit, okay, that seems like a pretty good skill... and it should work with your Attack skill pretty well too..." Ryan muttered. He didn't know how this skill would grow as it levelled up, but if it started out with a 10% damage boost, he could imagine that it got incredibly powerful very quickly. Though, at the same time, the fact that damage toward others will decrease was a little alarming. Especially here, where all enemies moved in groups, it could cause a lot of trouble if Maximus suddenly couldn't do damage to them anymore. That meant they needed to be a lot more careful about the situation they used that skill in. But at the same time, if this skill was levelled up a bit more, then it could turn the tide of a battle if used properly. Plus, the '1 minute after death of nemesis' cooldown option did open the possibility for consecutively using the skill as a last blow.
Ryan immediately started thinking about potential uses for the skill, though for the time being, he just had to hurry up and level himself up a bit more too. Any of the Spirit Keeper skills that Ryan knew about would only speed things up in the long run. Even the skill that allowed Spirits to be further away from him would be useful, since that meant that Gaia could stay in her garden while Ryan and Maximus were fighting in the dungeon.
"Maximus, let's find some monsters to try the skill out on," Ryan grinned lightly, and Maximus immediately nodded his head. The sub-golems were already looking for any nearby monsters hiding in the bushes or tall grass.
Just then, the sound of steps filled Ryan's ears. They were large and heavy, but they seemed to only belong to one animal. Runar had given him just a single warning for this area; if an animal appeared alone, then it was most likely the area boss. A bit curious, wondering what the area boss looked like, Ryan sent one of the sub-golems toward the source of those steps. The monster that walked there, crushing all the plants in its way, was a Moss Sheep.
Usually, these sheep were small, barely larger than a rabbit, and the reason they were popular was because they were so small and docile. That's why you barely saw a petting zoo without them, so Ryan was a bit surprised he hadn't seen any here yet. He thought that maybe they weren't as popular back when this place was still open. But if the area boss was a Moss Sheep, then it made sense he hadn't seen one here yet. Though, it did make Ryan a bit curious; why was the Moss Sheep, of all animals, chosen as the area boss?
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Being an amusement park, maybe it had something to do with popularity. It would be in line with the plaza's area boss. It was the park's headlining mascot, after all. And who knew what the dungeon considered important when it created the monsters and bosses? Though, Ryan did quickly realize another connection between the area bosses beyond just their popularity.
The Moss Sheep was carrying something in its mouth; a dead giant rabbit. Of course, the fact that the usually so tiny moss sheep was even larger than the giant goats was a bit of a shock in itself, but seeing the favourite animal of so many kids with sharp, blood-soaked fangs was even worse. In the first place, Moss Sheep were complete herbivores; rather, due to their nature of being hybrids with moss, they barely had to eat in the first place and could strive for weeks on just a bit of water.
Dungeons worked off memories. The memories left behind in a location, of what that place used to be. The significance of that area. That was why the abandoned copper foundry's monsters were basically those foundry workers, and copper was processed and melted despite the fact that the foundry had been out of use for years and years by that point.
Of course, those memories were always skewed to some degree. After all, those foundry workers didn't go around trying to kill everyone that entered, and they certainly didn't pour molten copper onto each other. Those 'settings' were added because the dungeon needed a way to protect itself. That's why monsters attacked intruders. And by using the copper to 'improve' the monsters, it could strengthen itself more effectively. But that shouldn't go to the degree of completely changing things to this level.
Ryan had a good idea as to why the monsters in this area were oversized. All the plants here had grown so much that the dungeon probably just scaled up the monsters as well. But why would it have such a docile, kind creature, of all possible monsters, turn into a vicious, blood hungry predator? Did the setting of the moss sheep mix with some other animal? Or was there more to it? Maybe there was something wrong with this place even before it had turned into a dungeon. Some sort of curse or corruption that made the moss sheep turn violent and blood hungry.
At the same time, something must have been going on with other places in the dungeon as well. The gift shop was probably a front for illegal weapon trade. Maybe the guy who used to wear the gorilla costume was a murderer who went around killing others, and that's why the area boss was actively killing other mascots.
Of course, Ryan had little ways to verify that now. Any sort of 'clue' couldn't be trusted anymore now that the dungeon took over and distorted everything. Instead of being a murderer, the guy in the gorilla costume could have just been a bit more violent or got in a fight with other mascots once or twice. Dungeons exaggerated everything and anything, so nothing could be trusted 100%, but it was a fact that something was completely and utterly wrong with this amusement park before it closed down.
Though, while Ryan was certainly curious, it really didn't matter anymore. Decades had passed, and it was impossible to really figure it all out now. And maybe Runar already knew everything about the history of the amusement park and simply didn't tell Ryan about it. There were a lot of things he was still keeping to himself, after all. At some level, it felt like Runar was just trying to seem 'mysterious' for no reason other than to seem cool to Ryan and his friends.
Whichever was the case, right now, it was probably still a bit too risky to face the area boss. Or at least, that's what Ryan's gut feeling was telling him. And at this point, he would trust his gut feeling even if it told him that 2 plus 2 equalled 5.
Luckily, the sub-golems were fully made of stone, so if they stood still, the monsters of this area tended to not even notice them. Ryan didn't want to risk drawing any attention toward them, so they would just let the area boss pass by them for now.
Once the moss sheep was far enough away that it wasn't an imminent threat anymore, Ryan pulled back the sub-golems and started moving into the opposite direction away from the moss sheep. Luckily, Ryan's intuition soon told him that they were fine to proceed as normal, though that really just showed itself in the fact that the hairs on the back of his neck finally calmed down. Though that didn't mean they were safe; rather, it was the opposite. They were walking straight into a larger group of giant rabbits, which Maximus quickly hurried to take out while Ryan was distracting them, as they had been doing for a little while now.
While that was happening, though, Ryan was continuously thinking about how he could possibly improve his own levelling speed. Maximus' class was specifically a combat class centred around the protection of others and the eradication of 'enemies', and since monsters were practically the incarnation of the concept of 'enemy' in situations like this, a dungeon was the perfect place for Maximus to level up.
At the same time, Gaia levelled up more by her simply being in her garden and interacting with her plants. Preparing the soil, getting rid of weeds, looking after freshly-sprouted seeds; all of that gave Gaia her experience.
Meanwhile, Ryan's class was all about supporting the spirits to reach their goals and help them grow, that was why he generally gained experience just by Maximus and Gaia levelling up, but the more he supported them in their endeavours, the faster he should level up. That was why Ryan carried Maximus' weapons and participated in combat to some degree, or why he helped with manual labour in Gaia's garden. But still, Ryan wondered if there was a more efficient way for him to help. Some specific method that he could follow that would maximize how fast he himself could level up while making sure Maximus and Gaia properly grew at the same time.
Maybe he would have a bit more leeway with these matters once he gathered more skills or became the keeper of more spirits, but right now, he really didn't know what else he could do to help the spirits out. That was why he was also doing the best he could to 'excite' Jester and wake up Gregor.
At least Gregor seemed to be reacting well to the models Ryan had been building recently, though they were annoyingly complex. Different to the plastic models that Ryan usually built, these ones had to be assembled in annoyingly realistic ways. He had to add oils, tighten screws, and balance parts in ways he never had to do before, so Ryan was struggling a bit. But he was getting better, so hopefully Gregor would respond soon. The real issue was Jester, and Ryan was getting a bit annoyed.
He was trying to do anything he could that may count as exciting, some of which worked, while others did not. Watching movies, playing games, going to locations that got Ryan's heart beating crazy fast like the rooftops of skyscrapers; he did everything short of skydiving, though he was considering that for a while too. Sometimes, Jester 'grew more excited', though that only seemed to be a small increase. The part that seemed to always excite Jester the most was combat. Fighting. Particularly when Ryan put his own body on the line. He tried sparring with Anders the other day, and while that sparked up a little something in Jester, it faded away pretty quickly. And Ryan also didn't want to jeopardize the time in the dungeon right now for something that probably wouldn't even work anyway.
So, there was just one more idea that came to Ryan's mind, though he would rather not. He didn't usually walk around to seek out fights, but maybe that was exactly what he had to do; get into real fights with others. The only reason why Ryan was even considering that was because he didn't awaken any additional stats, though, otherwise it would be morally more than questionable.
"Urgh..." with a loud groan, Ryan thought about going out of the way to get roughed up, just so that this obviously sadistic creep of a clown could get off on it. Actually, Ryan had already picked out something that he was going to try and get done later today, though again, he would really rather not.
But for now, he should at least focus on what was currently going on again. He was distracting some rabbits as Maximus took three of them down, one after another. And while the last one was left, the knight quickly activated his new skill. As he did, Ryan could see a pulse of Maximus' red, wispy aura flow toward the giant rabbit, enveloping it for a few moments. The aura practically seeped into the rabbit's body, before forming a small 'mark' that was hidden underneath the monster's fur.
Clearly, that was there to show the enemy that was designated as the 'nemesis'. Ryan wondered if others could see that mark as well, though they probably couldn't sense the aura in the same way that Ryan could. If this mark stayed around, then maybe this wasn't just a good way to take an enemy down faster, but also to keep track of a particular target like an actual 'tracking' type skill, even if that meant that Maximus was weakened against anyone else for a while.
Seeing that the skill activated, Maximus quickly began to attack the giant rabbit, hurrying to take down his new nemesis.