Michael walked toward the Blacksmith shop to get rid of the excess equipment.
After a short conversation with Helen, they decided on keeping his current boots on, as they provided a level in Corpse Tendrils. In the near future, though, he could exchange them for something else when the attributes and armor added by the respective item are worth it.
As for why Michael was alone, it was because Helen hadn't cleared the Tormented Ruins Dungeon in a very long time and wasn't clear on its exact details. Therefore, as the Necromancer went to get rid of the junk in his Inventory, his girlfriend went to the City Guards' office to check the records.
'It's good to have a girlfriend in a high position. I probably saved some good hundreds of gold coins this time around. I still need to save up for a mount... it's exhausting to keep walking back and forth between cities or Dungeons. Mentally more than physically.'
Zivek was in the midst of wrecking stuff with his huge hammer when the new 'customer' walked in. Seeing Michael, the bear-like man grunted in acknowledgment and continued pounding for another three to four minutes.
Then, finished with his task, the Blacksmith grabbed a clean towel and wiped his sweat. After all, it was still winter, even if the shop gave off summer vibes.
[What now, newbie? Don't tell me you're here to repair stuff again?](Zivek)
"Not really. I need to get rid of Magic and Rare equipment again, so I thought I should visit you first before going somewhere else. Worst case, I can just salvage everything for materials."
[Mhm. Show me what you got.](Zivek)
Ultimately, Zivek agreed to buy everything Michael had and give him back similar crafting materials.
His gains were somewhat decent.
19 Magic Items - 24 Iron Chunks, 12 Rawhides, 4 Superior Leather, 2 Sliver Ore.
8 Rare Items - 9 Rawhides, 2 Superior Leather, 6 Veiled Crystals, 5 Iron Chunks, 1 Silver Ore.
Overall, with 3 more Lifesbane and 4 Reddamine, his inventory holding materials was shaping up quite nicely.
-6 Blightshade
-5 Lifesbane
-16 Gallowvine
-15 Biteberry
-9 Reddamine
-1 Howler Moss
-12 Veiled Crystals
127 Iron Chunks
76 Rawhide
20 Silver Ores
17 Superior Leather
1 Crude Skull
1 Crude Amethyst
9 Emerald Fragments
7 Saphire Fragments
Satisfied, Michael opened his status page, curious to see the changes after wearing his new equipment.
[ Attack Power: 373
Armor: 1010
Life: 380
--------------
Strength: 74
Intelligence: 91
Willpower: 86
Dexterity: 112 ]
Unsurprisingly, Dexterity was still the only triple-digit stat, but the other three were catching up quickly.
'All I need to do now is hurry up to Level 25. After my first Class Awakening, I can gain five stat points per attribute every time I level up. Not only that, but according to Helen, some of my most used Skills will also be buffed. Then, I need to figure out the Quest for my Golem summons. Even if I end up sacrificing it in the end, I need to have it first before being able to use it in any way.'
There was a very good reason for which Michael was set on the sacrifices rather than having a few meatshields take the brunt for him.
The new tier in his Skill Tree didn't just open up three new Ultimates but also some rather interesting passive skills.
Two of them were of utmost importance to his current build.
[Stand Alone
--------------
Increases the Damage Reduction by [6%] when you have no minions. Each minion summoned reduces this bonus by 2%.]
On its own, it wasn't anything too crazy, but its upgrade was very tempting.
[Memento Mori
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Sacrificing both Skeletal Warriors and Skeletal Mages increases their Sacrifices bonus by [20%].]
Looking at the two Skills, Michael's breathing turned heavy. After all, each of these Skills could be upgraded twice.
That meant that, based on previous Skills, he could get up to an 18% Damage Reduction and a 60% increase in his Sacrifices bonuses.
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At the moment, he has gained two bonuses through this method.
[Reapers
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Sacrifice - +10% Shadow damage; unable to summon all types of Skeletal Warriors.]
[Cold Skeletal Mages
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Sacrifice - +15% damage against Vulnerable enemies; unable to summon all types of Skeletal Mages.]
It didn't seem like much, but a 60% increase in these two would do wonders for his damage output at higher levels.
Helen also agreed to his suggestion. After all, his build was based on stacking up Shadow damage and survival. Overall, every slight increase would be helpful.
Returning to the Pink Palace, Helen awaited Michael to share the details. The Tormented Ruins Dungeon was very interesting.
[Basically, it's a combination of undead Skeletons and demons. Furthermore, their numbers are relatively high. The Dungeon Quest is to kill a powerful Elite that will drop a key, which you'll then use to travel further down to the Chamber of Calling. There, you'll have to kill all monsters in the area before being able to travel to the Boss room. The Boss's name is 'Scourge of the Land'... weird name, I know, but it's likely a low-level demon noble masquerading as such.](Helen)
"What about its skills?"
[According to my information, it's a melee fighting demons. Huge guy hauling a long blade. Since you're alone, you'll have to be careful, especially since your attributes are probably not on par with his. Better to evade than to block its hits.](Helen)
"Understood. It reminds me of my first Dungeon in Nevesk... it feels oddly similar."
[What's the plan? Do you still want to go today?](Helen)
"Mhm. I'll try to level up to 25 within the next two days. Based on which Dungeon in Nevesk has more monsters to grind, I'll focus on it."
[So, you're planning to go through the Class Awakening path? Are you sure? The monsters will get progressively stronger. Honestly speaking, I'm at the third Awakening, and it feels like even common monsters can kill me if I don't pay attention. And I'm a high armor Class...](Helen)
"Mhm. But it's the only way to get more experience and to become stronger. If I stay as I currently am, I'll die before being able even to understand how I died. Especially now that I'm somehow caught in the middle of this shitstorm with Lilith and Inarius. If I don't get stronger, I'll probably die just from the aftershocks caused by their squabbles."
[I see...](Helen)
"Plus, I want to get to your level fast. I want to go Dungeon diving together."
[Keep dreaming! I told you that with each Class Awakening, the experience you need to level up increases. It will take you a good five years to get to my level.](Helen)
Seeing the beauty charmingly roll her eyes, Michael kissed her and departed for the Tormented Ruins before deciding to stay in bed with her for the rest of the day.
Shaking off the dizzying feeling after moving through the portal, Michael wondered how long it would take to get used to it.
'According to Helen, once my attributes are high enough, it won't be an issue anymore. So, overall, the main plan is still to level up. With a higher level, I automatically gain more attributes, have access to better items, and can select higher difficulties for the World Tier. That's why it all comes down to grinding experience!'
Bidding farewells to the same guardsmen duo he met this morning, the Necromancer continued on his way to the new Dungeon.
The road to it was surprisingly uneventful, with no monsters ambushing him. But that only served to make him more cautious. If he suddenly gets lucky like that, there's a high chance of the Dungeon being dangerous to him.
'Well... here I am. Tormented Ruins, huh? Looks pretty standard to me. It actually reminds me a little of the Dungeon in Nevesk, where I fought X'Fall. Let's hope everything goes without a hitch...'
Passing through the film and checking his surroundings, Michael noticed the dilapidated walls and further inspected the underground rooms, hoping to glean some sort of details about it.
However, after ten minutes of staring at the walls for 'something' to pop up, he gave up and started walking toward the door leading to the next room.
'Another small room... Leaving aside the pile of skeletons and skulls in the upper left corner, only some time-eroded shelves and kitchenware. Not the type of items one would expect to see in a Dungeon...'
[ Dungeon Event Issued - Tormented Ruins
Objective: Slay Adalgrim and collect the Tower Key ]
Based on previous encounters, he theorized that Adalgrim was a powerful Elite, similar to Lord Avitus in the Hallowed Ossuary, or hopefully weaker than Corik Trost in the Black Asylum.
After all, getting another super-strong Elite with a ton of modifiers would be quite the challenge now that he was all alone, with no meatshield to tank the powerful hits. For now, he would have to get accustomed to the old types of monsters, such as demons and Skeletons, most of which have physical damage.
Moving from the smaller room and opening a second door, he was surprised to see the same vast hall-like chamber with many pillars. It was very similar to the Nevesk Dungeon! To a scary extent.
'I guess at least I know what to expect. Still, this feeling of deja vu is bothersome.'
From the vast hall, the next rooms looked like winding corridors, some going left, others going right, until finally, he was able to encounter the first enemies in this Dungeon.
[ Bone Warriors (Minion) - Level 27 ]
[ Hell Spawn (Minion) - Level 28 ]
[ Hellion (Minion) - Level 26 ]
The new Skeletal monsters held tower shields and big two-handed swords, while they were probably a bit over two meters tall.
Seeing six of them advance in an almost formation-like manner while some creatures hovered slightly behind them above the ground, Michael examined the Hell Spawns a bit closer.
The creatures were females in appearance, with wings on their backs flapping in a slow and steady manner.
"If any physicists from Earth would see them, they would probably have a stroke. That's now how wings and gravity work... Furthermore, they look like Lilith's mini-me. Also, shouldn't they be 'succubus' instead of 'hell spawns'? Huh!? What the..."
Just as the Necromancer was lambasting the stupidity of the situation, two of the Hell Spawns pointed at the ground with their fingers, creating two summoning circles, while the other two pointed at him, shooting two 'fireworks' at him.
Seeing two Hellions spawn from the summoning circles while the electrical red fireworks were slowly inching closer to him, Michael was slightly stunned.
Taking a deep breath, he avoided one of the ranged attacks while allowing the other to hit him in the right shoulder. The impact was similar to getting punched by one of your 'bros' in high school.
Shrugging it off, Michael watched the Skeleton Warriors enter the two-meter radius distance, allowing him to swing his scythe and trigger Reap at the same time.
While the physical weapon didn't hit anything but air, the skill's phantom weapon passed through all six Skeleton Warriors at once, both damaging them and creating two Corpses under their feet.
"And now, for my next trick, I'll make you all disappear! Corpse Tendrils!"
Immediately after, all twelve opponents were grouped up by the slithering vines as Michael created fireworks of his own through Corpse Explosion.
Watching the damage ramp up with each tick of the Darkness afflicting the monsters, the Necromancer counted three seconds until all was left on the floor were some gold coins.
"I didn't check on the physical damage, but it should be only slightly higher than the magical damage from the Hell Spawn. It looks like game logic holds true: physical Classes have physical damage reduction by default, while magical Classes have magic damage reduction. Next, I should test the attribute difference between Minion monsters and me. I never did that properly before..."
Searching for a target, Michael picked up the gold coins from the floor and headed for the next room.
Just as he took his first step, a gruesome sight greeted his eyes.
[Oh, no! Please, do... *SQUELCH*]
The blade of an ax fell on the face of the struggling man, splitting his head and allowing a disgusting combination of brain matter, blood, and bone to spill on the floor.
The murderer was an almost three-meter-tall Skeleton. After accomplishing its deed, it brutally stepped on the split cranium with its bony feet, making any human features the corpse had, vanish.
A sense of discomfort formed in Michael's stomach, his body threatening to puke at the horrid display. Still, he advanced calmly and put the monster to rest.