Chapter 10: Introducing Affinities_Wars, Massacres and Undeads

Both Elia and Elena were quite famished when they came back to the starting mine, and they didn't have any kind of provisions with them, with the exception of the water Elena ha gathered the day before.

So, they decided it was time to go hunting. Elia was quite uncertain about going back in the forest, but Elena assured him it was completely safe, as no monsters or dangerous animals had attacked her on the few occasions she had to venture into the woods. He decided to trust her, and so they set off.

Elena was really surprised when Elia took the lead and was able to recognize tracks and trails in the underbrush, and when she asked about it Elia told her the Paladins had been tasked to teach him the basics of hunting and other survival skills, among the other things.

They spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the part of the forest surrounding the mountain, placing traps and teaching Elena some of the survival skills Elia possessed.

In the end, they came back with a haul bigger than what Elena ever managed in her hunt and gather excursions. They then took their time cooking all of it and preparing the provisions for later.

That evening, they both stood before the Dungeon's entrance. Elena decided it was time to go back to the spider's nest, and Elia had come to the conclusion that if he wanted to leave the forest and go back he had to go with her and get some real combat experience.

This time, they were able to get trough the first zone in just a couple hours, accustomed with the path they needed to take as they were and being able to deal with whatever came to them in no time.

When they reached the second zone, Elena noticed it was completely devoid of Ants, though some of the other insects from the first zone were starting to set up home here ant there. She decided to ignore the changes and simply continued forward to the third zone.

As soon as they arrived at the entrance to the spider's den, Elena took out eight centipedes corpses and turned them into zombies, taking advantage of her completely restored mana.

That brought her total number of zombie centipedes to 23, an impressive force all things considered. And, together with her other undead, she would probably be considered a Tier IV threat, if the Adventurer Guild considered her existence a problem.

Looking in the cave, she noticed how the other spiders who were near the territory of the now extinct Poison Spiders, namely the Titan Spiders and the Dark Spiders, were slowly moving to said space and claiming it as theirs. Also, the tunnels which connected the main cave with the Poison Spiders nest was completely blocked off by a cave-in.

She decided to push for the Shadow Spiders, as the Titan Spiders seemed to be the most dangerous in the cave, even with their low numbers. She was pretty sure Ro wouldn't be able to defeat one in a one-on-one match.

This time the webbing of the spiders wasn't poisonous, so she and Elia followed in the middle of the main force, reducing the possibility of a surprise attack directed at them.

The Shadow Spiders surprised her though. She surely didn't expect them to blend in with the shadows and dark colored webs they produced, to then come back out and strike at their back or drop off the roof.

Though they weren't as numerous as the Poison Spiders, her minions still suffered a lot of casualties, she lost all of her remaining Ant Guards and a quarter of her Centipedes.

In the end, they managed to push them back in their tunnels after a half an hour fight and then proceeded to kill them off. The tunnels were similar to the Poison Spider's den, but there were only two rooms in this one, so it was faster to clean up. Also, because they were smaller than the Poison Spiders, Elena and Elisa managed to reach the end faster.

As soon as they killed off the last spider, some notifications came up.

[ You Leveled up! Because you reached Level 7, you have been awarded a Mind Point and a new Random Skill correlated to your class. ]

[ Uncommon Skill obtained! Evolve Zombie. ]

[ Your Skill Raise Lesser Undead Leveled up! ]

[ Raise Lesser Undead has reached Mastered Level (M). You may now summon Ghouls. You have been awarded 1 Wisdom Point ]

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As always, she was invested with a wave of knowledge about her new skills. Ghouls were an upgraded version of Zombies, who had some more Strenght and a lot higher Dexterity, but the same Vitality.

Also, her new skill let her mutate a Zombie into either a Skeleton or a Ghoul without any costs, but she had to wait up to 6 hours for the transformation to be completed.

Finally finished with revising the new information, she pondered where to put her new Mind Point and in the end decided to dump it into Intelligence.

She then took her focus away from her status, directing it to the other side of the last cave in the Dark Spiders cave, and sure as eggs another pedestal holding another object was there.

This time only a small blue pebble rested on the pillar, but this time she didn't move a finger to reach for it, pondering whether it was safe to take the bet this time.

Elia on the other hand, glanced at the pedestal Elena was eyeing, only then noticing what was on top of it.

"An Affinity Stone!" he exclaimed.

"... what?"

"It's a type of magic stone that let the person holding it see his Magical Affinities, it's pretty rare."

Even after the explanation, Elena continued to look at him in mild confusion. So he just shrugged and said, "It's easier if you try it for yourself than if I explain it."

Elena didn't say anything, and just ordered one of her undead to go get it and while it completed its task, she moved in position to start running in case something happened. Surprisingly, nothing moved this time, as the undead simply grabbed the stone and came back to its master, who grabbed it. Suddenly, a new screen appeared, similar to her Status Screen.

[ --- Affinities --- ]

Air: 2/100 | Water: 3/100

Fire: 2/100 | Earth: 5/100

Dark/Death: 8/100

Space (Dark + Air ): 5 + 1/100

Nature (Earth + Water): 4/50

[ End ]

[ You have discovered your Affinities. Because you possess the skill Analyze-Self, they will be added to the Status Screen. You may now see your own Affinities without the need for an Affinity Stone ]

[ --- Status Screen --- ]

Name: Elena | Class: Necromancer – Apprentice | Level: 7

Condition: Okay | Mana: 39/39 (17 Mana/3h)

[ --- Stats --- ]

Str: 6 | Cos: 5 | Dex: 8

Int: 9 | Wis: 8 | Per: 7

[ --- Skills --- ]

Common: Basic Farming III | Reading II | Writing I | One-Handed Combat III

Uncommon: Raise Lesser Undead M [Lesser Zombie, Lesser Skeleton, Lesser Ghoul]

Poison Resistance II | Evolve Zombie

Rare: Analyze-Self