image [https://i.postimg.cc/MGSsTNvt/Tornado.png]
Tornado
Increments of 25 Anima
Creates a localized tornado that sucks up the environment and creatures, bashing them against each other and the objects sucked up.
Lasts for 5 seconds per 25 Anima
image [https://i.postimg.cc/y6TSFTvB/51-1-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Anima 95 / 120
Vigor 69 / 220
The air whipped into a light-green and gold as it wrapped around the water creature, spinning faster and faster until Felix squeezed his hand by instinct. The wind responded to his command, and he felt resistance as his grip encountered resistance. The tornado compressed inward and the creature thrashed against it. But its watery mass was moved enough that Tinuriel – in that span of five seconds – unleashed a trio of slashes against the object seemingly anchoring its base.
The creature writhed as the object under it shattered, and Felix’s spell faded as Tinuriel jumped backward. The creature’s body began to ice over and became solid as the once water-elemental looking thing became one of ice. Something that he and Tinuriel could actually fight. It reared back as the floor became coated in a thick sheet of ice, and ice crystals hung in the air; instantly chilling Felix and causing his teeth to chatter from the intense cold.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/CLLnJfQ8/51-2-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Health 235 / 240
image [https://i.postimg.cc/pXGhSXw6/51-3-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Health 265 / 270
“The cold is dealing five damage every ten seconds. We gotta make this fast!”
Tinuriel’s body flared with the blue, crackling energy. “I’ll be fine. Just stay alive. Bastion.”
image [https://i.postimg.cc/XY02gz9Y/Bastion-WEBP.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/DwSJ33Fy/51-4-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Vigor 30 / 270
Temporary Health 50 / 999
She rushed forward and stabbed, skidding along the ice as if she was born on skates. She ducked under a horizontal swing and swung her blade into the creature, carving a notch into it’s body as the ice chipped and fell away. Her swing took her off balance, and she ended up falling onto her behind as she skittered across the ice and towards the other side of the room. The creature flung several ice shards after her that made contact. She stood up, and as soon as she did so, the ground under her feet froze her in place as an enormous spike of ice was launched from the center mass of the creature, crashing into her abdomen, and slamming her into the wall. She coughed up blood and sagged, temporarily stunned.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/N0TKL853/51-5-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Health 170 / 270
Felix ran in front of the creature and shot several arrows at the eyes – the still-circled weak spots. The arrows made impact and chipped off chunks of the ice covering the two, red orbs. The creature turned to him, and he felt the ice begin to crawl onto his boots. Netherlight Arena.
Shadestep.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/vmstywDJ/Netherlight-Arena.webp] image [https://i.postimg.cc/nzQ7gHJb/Shadestep-WEBP.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/Vk2SYZL9/51-6-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Anima 45 / 120
Vigor 64 / 220
The silver-white light exploded into the room, golden flecks arcing through the air. The combined shadow and light gave him free reign to use Shadestep, and he teleported four feet to the side – avoiding the encroaching ice that had begun to creep up his body. “Fallen Flight.”
image [https://i.postimg.cc/FHmZSJQf/Fallen-Flight-WEBP.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/XJbp5Z5p/51-7-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Vigor 54 / 220
His spectral, crimson wings manifested, and he willed himself up and away towards the roof. The creature flung several ice shards after him, but thanks to his increased maneuverability and the Netherlight Arena – all of them missed. He continued to unload arrows into the weak spots, chipping more and more ice away until he finally revealed one of the red orbs. More ice spikes shot out in his direction, and he continued to nimbly dodge them. The biting cold sapped the two of them once more, but this time for even more Health.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/ZRx0xTPj/51-8-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Health 225 / 240
image [https://i.postimg.cc/prVr0gqv/51-9-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Health 160 / 270
It’s doing 10 now. It’s ramping up. Lucifer was in his fast-talking, almost-panicky lawyer-speak mode.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Just keep Tinuriel topped off with Health Elixirs.
Got it. Using two on her now. Leaves us with three.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/NFNMZpzH/51-10-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Health 260 / 270
Tinuriel shook off the stupor from the impact – aided by the Healing Elixirs. She saw the opening in the ice and dashed forward in a blaze of blue as her blade was limned with the same color energy.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/N0C7ZJ2T/Invigorating-Charge-WEBP.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/MZCtWFPm/Execution-WEBP.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/mZVtcggg/51-11-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Vigor 15 / 270
Temporary Health 10 / 99
She stabbed down into the exposed eye, shattering the red core. The creature exploded in icy shards, blasting Tinuriel away and into the air. The ice shards also pelted Felix, carving gashes into him as some of the smaller, shotgun-like chunks found openings in his lighter armor.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/653TCx8L/51-12-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Health 170 / 240
image [https://i.postimg.cc/4NSy52tC/51-13-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Health 215 / 270
Felix caught Tinuriel. “Don’t get hit. I’m going to break the ice covering the other eye.”
“Then I’ll kill it,” Tinuriel replied.
Felix nodded and dropped her off. She took off on the ice, running over the slippery surface with ease as she stayed ahead of ice that now began to explode from the ground right behind her – as if she was being chased by the spikes. Felix maneuvered to the creature’s other side and began to unload shots into the ice covering the other eye. He chipped it away, bit by bit, as the two continued to evade the icy attacks. But, the bitter cold set in once more, and Felix could see his breath crystalize in the air in front of him – and it hurt to breathe.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/zGHBPwSy/51-14-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Health 150 / 240
image [https://i.postimg.cc/wBKvKt00/51-15-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
195 / 270
“It’s doubling every ten seconds.”
Not good. Use two Anima Elixirs. I’m doing a Hellfire Beam.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/y6QjZGrR/Hellfire-Beam.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/xdKd90ZY/51-16-result.webp]
Felix Bars
Anima 10 / 120
He held out his palm and the blast of black and crimson flames surged forward, consuming the icy exterior and melting away the shell surrounding the eye. Tinuriel took the opportunity to repeat her prior set of Skills. Execution followed up by an Invigorating Charge.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/MZCtWFPm/Execution-WEBP.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/N0C7ZJ2T/Invigorating-Charge-WEBP.webp]image [https://i.postimg.cc/hjctjkFm/51-17-result.webp]
Tinuriel Bars
Vigor 0 / 270
Temporary Health 10 / 999
She flashed forward and stabbed down into the other red orb as the creature writhed for a moment before shattering into thousands of pieces. She landed gracefully as the room returned to a decent temperature. The place where the Boss was once located shimmered as a purple film appeared on the ground.
“That’s this Dungeon level cleared!”
A treasure chest appeared next to the entrance to the next level. Felix gestured for Tinuriel to wait. After a minute, he saw his Vigor and Anima refill by one each. Tinuriel nodded and sagged down, touching her torso before taking off the armor and inspecting the bruising along her abs. “This is going to hurt tomorrow.”
Felix shook his head, “We loot, get a good night’s rest in the VBV – you’ll be good as new.” He sat down next to her and breathed a sigh of relief. “We’re doing good, I think. We burned through a lot of the Elixirs, but hopefully, we get enough ‘Verse Coins that I can restock.”
“And” Tinuriel smiled, “Enough Experience for a few levels.”
“Hey, Lucifer. Will we also get Dungeon Clear Stat Boosts for clearing each floor of these bigger Dungeons?”
“Nope. In fact, this Dungeon has been here for so long…well, you know how Invictus’ Dungeon had a powerful Core? This one is going to be even stronger. No Stat Boost, though.”
Felix smiled, “Well, I’ve got the Vigor for it. Let’s see what we got. For the Hoard!”
image [https://i.postimg.cc/Fs0p1Vw5/For-the-Hoard-WEBP.webp]
For the Hoard!
30 Vigor when Looting
Grants additional 'Verse Coins (VC)
image [https://i.postimg.cc/xC5Tb6Y4/51-18-result.webp]
Vigor 24 / 220
[Experience Awarded = 200]
[Experience Bonus from Execution alike Stacking Skills = 50]
[Congratulations! You have reached the Experience threshold to level up! Speak with your Versewalker Core when you are ready to Choose your next Class.]
[Loot Obtained]
· 15,000 VC
· Ice Elemental Dungeon Core
· Loot Forge Essence – Water
· Loot Forge Essence – Ice
· Loot Forge Essence – Mirror
[Loot Bonus from Execution alike Stacking Skills]
· Gloves of the Icy Embrace
· Rime Spike
[Loot Bonus from For the Hoard!]
· 3,500 VC
“You have enough Experience to get Level 20!”
Tinuriel grinned, “That means I can max out Champion.”
“Let’s go to the VBV. Lucifer?”
“Already on it! Three hours and fifty-eight minutes.”
Felix sat down on the floor and pulled out the gloves and the odd icicle. He would have to wait a few minutes to get enough Anima for both; the Boss being defeated apparently allowed for it to slowly refill along with Vigor. After a bit of waiting, he identified both.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/cL8FZchn/Detect-Properties.webp]
Detect Properties
10 Anima
Determines the name of an object, and any properties it may have.
[Item Description: Gloves of the Icy Embrace]
[Any weapons held by the user deal additional ice damage, and when willed, can freeze water upon contact.]
[Item Description: Rime Spike]
[Used at the Loot Forge; allows the upgrading of an existing weapon to add ice damage, and the ability to freeze water upon contact.]
“Which do you want?” Felix asked.
Tinuriel looked at both items. “You switch weapons more frequently, so the gloves make sense for you. You can upgrade Valiant Edge with the Rime Spike.”
Felix nodded, “Smart.” He put the Rime Spike in his inventory, and took off his armored gloves, slipping the thin-as-latex gloves over his hands before he put back on the armored ones. He pulled out his Channeling Dagger and saw a faint, white-blue mist cascading from it as the air around it grew cold. He put it away and leaned against Tinuriel. She scratched the top of his head as he cuddled up next to her.
----------------------------------------
The VBV opened and the two went inside. The miniature realm was bustling – the two having to squeeze their way through travelers in the Portal Room. When they made it outside Felix saw – to his shock and subtle satisfaction – that the realm had expanded. Up on this plateau, he could see the various cities having expanded and off in the distance, even the minute traces of Magic through the air at the new Mage Academy.
Lucifer unmerged from Felix and stretched, “Well, I’m going to go deal with some management stuff-”
Felix grabbed him by the shoulder, “Not yet. We need to plan.” He gestured to the conference table and the three sat down. “We had discussed various Class builds. Tinuriel is going to cap out Champion. But I’m thinking of Respeccing.”
Lucifer leaned forward, “Having a little dip of multiple things is good.”
“I agree,” Felix said. “But some things aren’t as useful given my build. Like Netherlight Myrmidon for example – that would work well if I had, say, five levels of Animancer and Warrior each. But right now? It’s not ideal for my build.” He leaned forward and sighed. “I wish we had a dedicated Animancer.”
“You’d need another level,” Tinuriel stated bluntly as she cracked her neck. “And we’d have to find a good candidate for the role. Roy wouldn’t fit, and neither would Melanie. We don’t know Gina very well, either – and I doubt she’d be up for the Versewalker Escort lifestyle and the dangers that come with it.”
Felix nodded and leaned back in the chair letting out a deep breath. “We need to find a good candidate for when we do level up.” He glanced at Lucifer, “What are your thoughts?”
Lucifer tented his hands, “The best course, I believe, is to be prepared for multiple scenarios. Here’s my advice – save the Respec for now. When we find an appropriate person to fill that role, then you Respec, focusing on Fallen Angel, Rogue, Whisperfang, and Silent Blade. The whole sneaky stab and shooting shtick is working for you. Plus, it keeps you the safest – which is most important.” Lucifer’s voice became more dire towards the end, and the gravity of his implication spoke volumes to Felix.
He knew that Lucifer meant that if Felix needed to…he could flee and survive. It was cruel but made sense to him. After all, if Felix died – then who knows what happens to everyone in his VBV, or Tinuriel if they’re in some weird Universe and she suddenly lost her Escort designation. Would he want to abandon his allies? No. But, he was pragmatic and knew that even though he cared deeply for Tinuriel…he wanted to live even more. Felix nodded, “Alright. Let’s level up for now. I’ll stay versatile and take a level of Champion to get access to Invigorating Charge and Vim and Vigor. Then, one level each of Silent Blade and Ascended Animancer – try to keep my Stats somewhat level.”
Lucifer nodded and stood up, “To the pool!”
The trio made their way to the Recreation Room. Felix and Tinuriel stripped down, jumping into the pool as they started the Level-up process.