The creature that emerged from the surf was horrifying and Felix felt a tingle of fear course down his spine as the hairs on his neck stood straight and his flesh tingled with goosebumps. An enormous, black, and red-oozing monstrosity with a maw the size of a large school bus heaved its mass onto the beach below. It reared its head back and let out a screech that forced him to cover his ears and forced Tinuriel to her knees – not dealing damage but damn close to it. Large, black, and red spiked tentacles that were in places coated with metallic armored plates and red, oozing suckers pulled the mass further onto the beach.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/1XK6XGYm/50-1-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Health 200 / 240
Anima 98 / 120
Vigor 100 / 220
The golden circles from Detect Weakness appeared on the set of six eyes – three per side – that were next to the jaws of the creature. Felix fired several hardlight arrows at the eyes – but it batted the projectiles away. The hardlight arrows turned oozing-blood red and shot right back at Felix, impacting into, and piercing his armor. To his shock, the Netherlight Skills faded instantly – as if they were removed by force. What? How?
Querying System…It has no answer.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/N0C7ZJ2T/Invigorating-Charge-WEBP.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/44vpWG4D/50-2-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Health 240 / 270
Anima 30 / 30
Vigor 80 / 270
Temporary Health 142 / 999
Tinuriel dashed down from the cliff in the blink of an eye and blue sparking energy as she swung her blade down on the monster’s jaw, carving a gash into it. The creature swung several tentacles at her. She parried one, dodged another, and was impacted by three more. The blue barrier surrounding her – the temporary Health from her Skills – fizzled and became less luminous as the strikes rained down on her.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/jdsP91LL/50-3-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Temporary Health : 52 / 999
Felix tested with one more shot and saw to his dismay that the creature instinctively flicked it away with a tentacle – but he dodged this reflected projectile. Let’s see how it likes some Magic. Felix raised his palm, mentally instructing Lucifer to use Affinity Amplification. “Anathema Beam!”
image [https://i.postimg.cc/CMz6MDFS/Affinity-Amplification-WEBP.webp]
Affinity Amplification
Increments of 10 Vigor
Increases the efficacy, potency, or other variable of a Magic/Power effect. If the user has Affinity Empowerment also Equipped from the Animancer (Base) Class, then this is amplified.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/WzW5pWxM/Anathema-Beam.webp]
Anathema Beam
Increments of 5 Anima
Shoots a beam of Anathema that not only deals damage but also removes 1 Magic/Power affecting the target.
The more Anima used the more Magic/Power effects removed.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/15JwZKqM/50-4-result.webp]
Felix Bars:
Health 200 / 240
Anima 68 / 120
Vigor 70 / 220
The sparkling blue and black starlight cascaded out from his palm and slammed into the weak spot; one of its six eyes. The beam pierced through the creature and burrowed a hole. Felix saw several small ‘pops’ as if some Magic/Power effect was removed; a translucent sphere of some sort surrounding the creature was briefly visible the instant it was dispelled. The creature’s eyes fixated on Felix, and the tentacles whipped up towards the cliff edge. Felix jumped back out of their reach as he fired another hardlight arrow at the monster. It impacted the creature before fading out of existence, the black and red blood oozing out of the impact site.
Tinuriel used several Elixirs (3x Vigor) leaving only two in Felix’s inventory. Her blade ignited with the bright, blazing blue energy.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/447BRg53/Eviscerator-WEBP.webp]
image [https://i.postimg.cc/52yv9F5J/50-5-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Vigor 180 / 270
She brought the blade down on the jaw of the creature, carving the gash she had made deeper as the maw sagged slightly. She ducked as more tentacles came her way, but she was too distracted by blocking those to notice the maw descended on her. Crunch. The creature’s mouth closed around her.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/dVfChtny/50-6-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Health 150 / 270
She’s fine, Felix thought. She has plenty of Health and tons of Vigor left. We have this. What was Vicky worried about? The monster surged its body up onto the beach and began to climb the cliffs with its tentacles, going for Felix. He switched to his knives and activated Rogue and Silent Blade Skills.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/K8N5DvZ0/Ghostwalk-WEBP.webp]
Ghostwalk
1 Vigor per minute
Makes the user very difficult to detect if they can conceivably hide or blend into a location. Does not work if out in the open.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/YqxFJnJ9/Undetectable-Step-WEBP.webp]
Undetectable Step
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
10 Vigor per minute
Renders the user completely invisible. If combined with Ghostwalk, prevents any detection whatsoever.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/jjDJnsCw/Vital-Strike-WEBP.webp]
Vital Strike
20 Vigor
The user's next attack will hit a vital, critical, or important part of a creature or object. This will be a guaranteed hit, even pulling off improbably (but not impossible) actions to accomplish the feat.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/MZCtWFPm/Execution-WEBP.webp]
Execution
5 Vigor
Increases the damage of the user's next attack.
If this strikes a killing blow, gain additional XP or Loot.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/wMmVXXvN/Dragon-Dance-WEBP.webp]
Dragon Dance
10 Vigor per target
The user moves with rapid speed, dashing between targets within 10 feet of each other and performing a melee attack, dealing increased damage. If dual wielding, attack with both weapons.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/KYgMBSss/50-7-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Health 200 / 240
Anima 68 / 120
Vigor 29 / 220
He vanished from sight and blinked forward to the same side with a destroyed eye. He plunged his knives into the other two, twisting the blades before letting himself fall, spreading his wings, and swooping to prevent damage from falling. Where he had just been a moment ago – if he had stayed on the creature and kept trying to hurt it with his knives – the tentacles flailed about. He landed on the beach and turned to look up at the creature that swung its tentacles wildly. Can’t hit what you can’t see.
Look out!
Felix barely jumped back in time as the creature ripped rocks from the cliff face and hurled them directly at him. It can see me? How?!
The System…you’re in the same entity category as it is. It’s like you trying to hide from me, or from yourself. You can’t.
Felix dropped Ghostwalk and Undetectable Step. He saw a blue light under the surface of the creature’s stomach and noted Tinuriel’s bars fluctuating.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/768TNsFP/50-8-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Health 100 / 270
Vigor 30 / 270
Temporary Health 80 / 999
The creature dropped off of the cliff and roared once more – forcing Felix to cover his ears – as it closed the distance once again. Get ready to burn a bunch of Anima Elixirs here. I want you to use them as I channel.
You got it.
Felix flapped his wings to gain height and distance as he put his knives away. He put his hands together and channeled the coruscating power in his palms. As his Anima bar drained to fuel the Magic/Power, Lucifer used Anima Elixirs from his inventory (6 in total). I hope 368 Anima is enough to destroy this thing. A bead of shining blue starlight pooled in his palms and expanded rapidly in size. “Anathema Beam!”
image [https://i.postimg.cc/WzW5pWxM/Anathema-Beam.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/90cR64Xv/50-9-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Anima 0 / 120
Vigor 19 / 220
He brought his hands forward and had to squint his eyes as a galaxy of stars and radiant energy burst from his hands. It rocketed into the creature and bathed the entire area in crackling, dotted starlight – to the artificial edges of the room, bouncing off and rippling the markers of the space. The creature roared in pain as its flesh was seared away – the metallic plating vanishing as whatever Magic/Power effect that the Basilisk had used was cleansed. What was left behind was a Lovecraftian abomination – flesh, sea-creature parts, and tentacles. A body that Tinuriel easily carved her way out of.
She roared and swung her blade down onto the creature’s skull, splitting it in two as she huffed, and steam rose around her.
“I…can’t believe you beat it!” Vicky’s voice emanated around them.
Felix flew down to Tinuriel and put a hand on her shoulder as she continued chopping into the creature. After a few more swings she stopped and looked at him, then down at herself. “Why am I always covered in stuff? First the ink, now this…gah.” Tinuriel slowly scraped the slime off her body.
“That was Core Level 30?” Felix asked aloud. “That wasn’t too difficult.”
[Achievement Unlocked: Survived an encounter with an enemy rated for your Core Level + 10 in difficulty.]
image [https://i.postimg.cc/mkkXjm5y/Against-Overwhelming-Odds.webp]
(P/A) Against Overwhelming Odds
(P) When fighting against a foe who is rated your Core Level + 10 or higher, you will receive a System notification.
(A) Against a foe who is rated for your Core level + 10 or higher, you may use a Charge to halve the Vigor or Anima cost of a Skill or Affinity Magic/Power effect
3 Charges per day.
“Yes,” Vicky replied. “I didn’t know that you had Anathema as an Affinity. For some reason, it didn’t auto-update in the System when you were in the VBV last. Maybe due to its mere nat-”
“I got it from a god of Magic,” Felix stated.
“That makes sense. I’ll add it to the Sys-”
“Wait!” Felix shouted. “If you add that information to the System, then couldn’t this Basilisk use it to try and end your time lock and escape? Since we have some type of connection?”
There was silence for a few moments before Vicky’s voice came back, “It’s a remote possibility, but possible nonetheless. Alright, I won’t tell the Admin that you have Anathema as an Affinity and I’ll leave it off of your records. I could get a letter of reprimand for this…so don’t make me regret it.”
“You won’t,” Lucifer replied. “Anything else?”
“Nope. I’m all good here. I’ll send you a message through the Mailbox if anything else pops up. If you’ll excuse me, I have a new Versewalker to walk through orientation.”
Felix crossed his arms and huffed, “Another Death World?”
Vicky sighed, “No, that was just for you and others like you. If you had died then we could have assigned another high Core Level Versewalker to fix your ‘Verse of origination. The System Admin was hoping you would die.”
“It’s not my fault!” Felix shouted. “I was held at gunpoint. They have my sister!”
“Hey, I’m not judging. I’m on your side in this,” Vicky sincerely replied. “Consider slowly scaling up the technology level of the worlds you are visiting. Your original ‘Verse is around .72 on the Kardashev Scale. You’ll want to experience using your Affinities and Skills in those ‘Verses. Have a good day!”
Tinuriel looked to Felix as she finished wiping the gunk off of herself, “What’s the Kardashev Scale?”
Felix shook his head, “Not sure.”
“It’s how you rate a civilization in terms of their technological advancement by measuring their ability to harness and use energy. It’s a hypothetical scale. A Type I civilization can access every bit of energy on their home planet and store it. So, being able to control volcanoes, earthquakes, and that type of stuff. It gets crazier from there.”
“What was Heficyre on this scale?” Felix asked.
“0.18 or somewhere around there.”
Tinuriel tapped Felix’s shoulder and gestured to the monster they had slain. Inside the husk was a small, stone totem. Felix walked over and added it to the inventory. “Last totem, we can go back to that central room and fight the Boss.”
He grimaced as he looked at their bars. “We should probably top off.” The two quaffed several Elixirs: four Health (3 for Tinuriel, 1 for Felix), three Anima for Felix, and one Vigor Elixir for each of them. This left them with no Vigor Elixirs, but five of the other types.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/MT7f30w7/50-10-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Health 270 / 270
Anima 30 / 30
Vigor 80 / 270
image [https://i.postimg.cc/wMFyg673/50-11-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Health 240 / 240
Anima 120 / 120
Vigor 69 / 220
They left the purple membrane and to their surprise, as Felix was about to use Air Bubble – the water did not touch them. The entire hallway was bone-dry. They cautiously made their way down the hallway and into the entrance chamber. The center cluster of crystals were humming softly, and the sockets for the totems were glowing gently with a dim, purple light. Felix pulled the totems out and handed them to Tinuriel as he backed off and pulled out his bow. She walked forward and placed each totem, which made a dull, booming thud when they were set.
As the last one was put in place, they sunk down and the black crystals grew brighter, the humming becoming more intense. A pillar of black energy surged upward, and the crystals shattered as the black became a deep, cerulean blue. Two large, red orbs appeared in the oblong, bulbous, watery shape.
“That’s the Boss,” Lucifer stated. “It won’t attack until we do something hostile against it. As long as we don’t leave the Dungeon, you can strategize all you want.”
Felix relaxed a bit as Tinuriel walked over to him, keeping an eye on the creature as she tapped Valiant Edge on her pauldron, “Would Detect Weakness be considered hostile?”
“Nope.”
Felix raised his hand and used the Magic/Power effect.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/SRsGPLjj/Detect-Weakness.webp]
The golden circles appeared around the red orbs that floated in what could be approximated as the head of the creature. “That’s not surprising,” Felix muttered. “It’s always the eyes and face.”
Tinuriel pointed to the base of the creature, “Look there. More of the circles around the well-thing it came out of.”
Felix squinted and Lucifer shifted his vision to better see in the red dark vision. He could see what she had pointed out; there was another glowing circle that surrounded the odd circular-shaped receptacle that the black crystals were housed in previously. The whole object was surrounded by it; but the waters seemed more concentrated there as well – as if that spot was heavily armored. He sat down next to the wall and leaned his head back, taking in the creature as he pulled up his knees and put his chin on them.
“What are you thinking?” Tinuriel prodded.
“My arrows probably won’t do much. Light is refracted by water, and hardlight arrows are light given physical form – so water will probably affect it even more. That means going in with knives. It’s made of water, so piercing and slashing attacks won’t do much to it – making our weapons useless.” Think, Felix. You have Affinities. Use them. Only one image came to his mind; an old elementary school science trick, where they swirled water to make a vortex. That brought a grin to his face. I can use Air to make a vortex. Maybe compress it enough that Tinuriel can get to that well-thing at its base.
He stood up and looked at her, “I have an idea. Be ready to dash in and smash that well-thing as soon as you see an opening.” She nodded and lifted her blade, closing to within reach of the creature as it stared down at her, its water form billowing in place as it endlessly cascaded over itself. Felix exhaled and held up his hand. “I hope this works…”