"Speaking/speaking"
'thinking/thinking'
"flashback"/'flashback'
"Skills/skills"
items/items•
-D-O-T-E-
Trying to level up as a mage is proving to be quite difficult for Eremes. He's been stuck at the first floor of the dungeon, trying to come up with ways to bypass the restriction put by his system, by the looks of it.
It's not like the game restriction where he couldn't use weapons unsuitable for his class, no, he is able to use any weapon type he wants. The problem is, he isn't gaining experience while using them.
So here he is, stuck at the 1st floor. Tinkering with his equipment to see if he could bypass the restriction because as a level 1, even if he puts all his stat points into int, he would only be able to cast up to 4 lvl1 spells
Seriously, he regretted selling his beginner leveling gears when he finished making all his classes. The leveling process would've been much less tedious than it currently is.
As he plunged the only dagger that he could use on a goblins neck, he released a heavy sigh.
The knife only has an attack point of 17 and it shows on the sharpness, or the lack thereof. It's similar to using a butter knife to cut a piece of steak, when he tries to cut into a monster's skin, it only scratches them. The only reason he can kill the monsters is because of its tip.
It looks like he would have to relent. The other option was to use the limited non Eternal spell scrolls that Keyron gave him but that would be overkill on these monsters.
Begrudgingly, he relented and took out a •Rod• the most basic of weapons for Mage to replace the basic the knife he is using
A simple magic wand.
Class: One-Handed Staff
Attack: 15
Magic Attack: 30
Property: Neutral
Weight: 40
Weapon Level: 1
Requires Level: 1
But it will do.
Currently, he doesn't have access to any spells so he would have to do it the old fashion way.
D-O-T-E
"Graah!" a goblin gasped as his eye was pierced by the staff on my hand, it pierced through its brain matter and the back of the skull, splattering brain matter on the floor of the dungeon.
*Base Level Up!*
A fanfare rang in my head. I reached base level 5.
"This is too much" I muttered loudly, my "excitement" at grinding slipping out..
I could've been leveling up using the spells I could unlock with my skillpoints but doing that would mean nothing and would only slow me down as my stats were as low as they can be. Meaning i would deal little to no damage against the monsters of the upper floor no matter what unless i level up to at least 10,
Opening the skill window for the first time in a while, I allocated a skill point into my first spell.
"Fire Bolt"
Calls forth bolts of pure flame from the skies to strike at a single target, where each bolt will inflict 100% Fire property magic damage.
I opened my stat and allocated all my acquired points split between Int and Dex equally, getting both of them to 22.
With my int at 22, my total Mana is up at 72, the level 1 spell "Fire Bolt" costs 12 mana to use meaning I only have 6 uses of the spell before I would have to rest for 2 minutes max to fully regain my Mana. My Eden Equipment wouldn't even be able to help my case since the third grade Eden Gear would only give me an additional 30 mana… desperate, I turned to my Kafra Storage once more to search for something useful, and i know there should be because if I remember correctly, I have some Shadow gears for mage that i didn't bother upgrading.
There it is.
Full Tempest Shadow Armor•
Ignore magical defense of all race monsters by 5%.
------------------------
For every 2 refine levels, ignore magical defense of all race monsters by additional 1%.
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When refined to +10 or higher, increase magical damage against all race monsters by 3%.
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Set Bonus:
Full Tempest Shadow Armor
Full Tempest Shadow Shoes
MATK + 2%.
And its combo
Full Tempest Shadow Shoes•
Ignore magical defense of all race monsters by 5%.
------------------------
For every 2 refine levels, ignore magical defense of all race monsters by additional 1%.
------------------------
When refined to +10 or higher, increase magical damage against all race monsters by 3%.
Now, instead of completing the whole set by using its corresponding shadow accessories, I found something that would help this early into my journey but would be obsolete once I am strong enough.
+4 Magician Shadow Earring•
A sacred earring which is believed to protect its wearer. It also draws the wearer's potential abilities.
Reduces variable casting time of Fire Bolt, Cold Bolt, Lightning Bolt by 20%.
For every upgrade level of Magician Shadow Earring, reduces variable casting time of Fire Bolt, Cold Bolt, Lightning Bolt by an additional 3%.
Magician Shadow Pendant
MATK +1%,
MaxSP +1%.
If combined upgrade levels of entire set are +10 or higher:
MATK +2%,
MaxSP +2%.
And its set
+4 Magician Shadow Pendant•
A sacred necklace which is believed to protect its wearer. It also draws the wearer's potential abilities.
Class: Shadow Pendant
Weight: 0
Requires Level: 1
Usable By: All Jobs
Increases the damage of [Fire Wall] by 20%.
For every upgrade level of Magician Shadow Pendant, increases [Fire Wall] damage by an additional 5%.
"Would you look at that? I didn't even bother upgrading it to get the final bonus."
I did not have something that I could use as a mage this early on, most of my equipment was locked until I reached base level 40 or higher as a mage. Which sucks but I guess it's only a matter of time before I would get slowed down.
Roll with the punches.
D-O-T-E
It takes less than a second for him to cast as a single Fire Bolt. The bolt, instead of coming from the sky as the description says, comes from the head of the staff instead, flying forward with great speed that catches enemies off guard. Despite the great power it possesses it is also quite difficult to properly use, it shreds through his reserves and he has to constantly rest before he could return to casting his spells.
He's base level 7 now and after allocating 3 more points into his Int stat, the amount of time he could cast his spell has increased by measly 1. But it would do. It's not like he doesn't have a way to increase it at the moment
Blue Herb
A very valuable medicinal herb whose unique aroma gratifies one's spirit.
Class: Recovery
Weight: 7
Restores 15 to 30 Mana.
At least that's what it does in the game.
But here, the herb seemed to have gained a buff of some sort.
Blue Herb
A very valuable medicinal herb whose unique aroma gratifies one's spirit.
Class: Recovery
Weight: 7
Restores 15 to 30 Mana every 5 seconds until the taste runs out.
The Mana regen is insignificant at later levels, but right now it's godsend. The herb has a slight mint flavor, making it quite pleasant to chew.
He began walking deeper into the dungeon, it's about time to move to the 2nd floor where monster appearance becomes more frequent.
—
Soon, the 2nd floor wasn't even enough for him. It was taking too long to get the necessary Exp to level up. He went down to the 3rd floor and when that wasn't enough he went even deeper at a much faster rate than he did when he was a thief and swordsman. Perhaps it was due to how slow the process of killing the monsters when he was using his spells paired with how slow his mana is regenerating, but the leveling process wasn't going as fast as he would've liked.
In his 8 hours of slaying monsters, he only got to level 14 on his mage. His job level is at 17 leaving him with only 15 more points as he already used one on fire bolt.
Before he went deeper, he made a smart choice of investing 10 of his skill points into a passive skill that would help him by increasing his mana recovery.
Increase Mana Recovery
Max Lv : 10
Skill Form : Passive
Description: Enhance natural Mana Recovery.
MaxMana affects how much Mana restoration is
increased by this skill. Increases the efficiency
of Mana recovering items for 2% per skill level.
Description : Additional Mana every 10 seconds while the character is not moving.
No Mana is restored if normal Mana/HP regeneration is not permitted or the character is moving.
_
[Lv 1] : (3 + 0.2% of MaxMana)/10 sec
[Lv 2] : (6 + 0.4% of MaxMana)/10 sec
[Lv 3] : (9 + 0.6% of MaxMana)/10 sec
[Lv 4] : (12 + 0.8% of MaxMana)/10 sec
[Lv 5] : (15 + 1.0% of MaxMana)/10 sec
[Lv 6] : (18 + 1.2% of MaxMana)/10 sec
[Lv 7] : (21 + 1.4% of MaxMana)/10 sec
[Lv 8] : (24 + 1.6% of MaxMana)/10 sec
[Lv 9] : (27 + 1.8% of MaxMana)/10 sec
[Lv10] : (30 + 2.0% of MaxMana)/10 sec
Lastly, he raised the level of his firebolt to level 5, allowing him to increase the amount of firebolts that he could conjure up to 5 by increasing the cast time and mana consumption,
With that, he went lower until he reached a new floor. He went down to floor 6 of the dungeon, where new monsters that are much stronger than the previous floors appear.
D-O-T-E
In hindsight going deeper into the dungeon with a class that he is the least familiar with and also the lowest level while having little to no gear was not a good idea. But Eremes' overconfidence and impatience led him to make some bad decisions that he is just now realizing.
More than a few times he was forced to switch into either Swordsman or Thief due to close calls that almost led him to getting severely injured, leaving him nearly out of fumes for another switch.
Currently, he's trying to make some distance between him and the monsters that are chasing after him.
'My mana is at half. But it should be enough to deal with these 4 if I just get some distance.' The Blue Herbs were in his inventory and he didn't really have the time to go through them since he was being ganged up by the kobolds.
Seeing a corner, he sped up just a little bit and made the turn, he readies his spell, waiting for the monsters to pass through, but it seems like the lower one goes the smarter the monsters get as only one Kobold rushed forward as he released his spell.
"FireBolt!"
A bolt of solid fire hit the Kobold in front of him on the head, the power was enough to kill it and send it a bit backwards where its comrades noticed the situation. There's 4 of them. Now 3.
His spell has about a second of cooldown after he casts it. He managed to land another skill, lowering their number to 2, before the group made it to him.
"FireBolt!" The same thing happened to it like the first one. *Crack!* a crack was heard in the distance but he ignored it.
"GraHh!!"
The kobold from the right swung its claws down at him while the other swung its claw to his side. Instinctively, he brought his weapon to block it. His eyes widened as he did so, the rod was made of wood and the kobolds claws could pierce through armor with some effort. Time seemed to slow as he waited for the claws to make contact with his rod and it to split in two, letting the claw speed towards his face, leaving him helpless.
…
But none of that happened, the Rod didn't break, the claw wasn't heading towards his face and the Kobold was left trying to force the rod down. Eremes, with his full strength, pushed back, sending the Kobold a few feet behind. He was just fast enough to dodge to his side, the other kobold's attack only grazing him.
But all that effort was for naught as he failed to defend himself from another Monster's attack.
A war Shadow was birthed by the dungeon walls just a few moments ago as he was being relentlessly barraged by the Kobolds.
It managed to do what the Kobold failed to do.
With a swift slash aimed at Eremes' unsuspecting form, its 3 clawed hand made contact.
The flesh above his ribcage was torn, blood and flesh flew from his body as he was thrown to the side, he bounced on the dungeon floor a few times, before colliding against the dungeon. wall.
He looked up, the two Kobold were swiftly closing in, and the War Shadow, readying itself for another lunge. With a voice filled with desperation, he raised his staff. "Fire Bolt!" he wheezed out, the blast killed the first Kobol but that spell also drained the last of his remaining Mana, but he still has to deal with the other one and after that, the War Shadow. With no other choice, he lifted himself up despite the searing pain from his side. With a Groan, he pushed forward, meeting the furred abomination that is the Kobold head on, the bottom of his staff pointing forward.
He blocked a slash sent by the canine monster, but due to the pain on his body, he couldn't exert his full strength. The War Shadow, seeing signs of weakness, joined the Kobold and together, they began a tango of life and death with Eremes..
With his whole body aching, he tried his best to dodge the unrelenting tag team of the two monsters.
In his mind Eremes was feeling a bit silly. "Pride comes before the fall." A voice he didn't recognize rang in his mind. And it's right. If he hadn't been foolish enough to think that he could go lower since his time as a Thief and a Swordsman was easy enough, he wouldn't be in this situation.
Slash after slash, blow after blow, he barely manages to dodge each attack and would even fail to successfully do so sometimes, increasing the amount of injury he has sustained. Eremes waited for the right moment as his Mana slowly regenerated. But it's not doing it fast enough. The wounds on his body keep increasing, he can barely dodge each attack from the two.
An overhead swipe passed his head as he ducked under the attack of the kobold, it gave him the chance to plunge the bottom part of his staff into the monster's unguarded head, killing it.
But his struggle is not over yet. His moves are getting more sluggish as seconds pass. But he kept his composure despite the pain. "Getting distracted in the middle of a battle could lead to your demise." an advice that he once heard echoed in his head.
Hopeless, that's how someone seeing his situation would describe his predicament. But he kept going. This is his fault after all. He got overconfident.
Desperate, he tried to force himself to cast another spell as he was pushing off an attack from the inky-black abomination.
'COME ON!!!' his mind was set on something. Until finally, something responded, much to his surprise. A part of him responded to his call, one that he wasn't aware was there. His remaining mana was pushed into the spell and something filled the gap that was missing from its casting. With a shout he released his spells "BLAST EVERYTHING! Fire Bolt!!!!!"
The resulting bolt of fire was bigger than what he was previously throwing, much stronger too.
The upper half of the monster was blown to bits and the wall far behind it was indented by about a foot in by the ensuing explosion of flames.
He felt dizzy, blood continued to pour from his injuries and it is also as if his strength was sapped away by the spell.
There's no time for him to reach the surface. His body wouldn't make it.
He could feel himself slowly losing consciousness, but he pushed himself to open his inventory.
'Quickly!!!' he rushed himself.
Haze filled his vision, his stance shaky, and it seemed like he was beginning to hallucinate too as in front of him, he could see a beauty only a few could rival, watching from a corner. Her emerald hair seemed to glow under the dim light of the dungeon, the expression of her eyes. Cold and calculative. She looked ethereal in her green robe under her creamy white cloak. What caught his attention the most was the pointed ears that were keeping most of her hair from going to her face that looked like someone carved it straight from a pleasant dream.
She noticed him struggling to hold himself upright and sped towards him a bit to get closer.
He shook those thoughts off his head. With her present, he couldn't risk bringing out some absurd potions, and he certainly couldn't pull out an Yggdrasil berry. He doesn't know if these people could sense a divine item but he doesn't want to risk it.
So instead, he took out something that wouldn't heal him completely right away and would gradually do so in a span of a minute and a half.
Small Life Potion•
A small bottle of Yggdrasil Tree Sap that is effective in healing wounds.
Weight: 1
Restores an amount of HP equal to 5% of your Max HP every 5 seconds for a 10 minute duration.
Not effective in Berserk status.
If you are incapacitated, the item effect will disappear.
'Welp, it's still somewhat of a divine item. Whatever, I'm dying, surely whatever consequence this causes is better than dying.'
He drank it in one gulp and in that moment, energy flooded his body. Vigor that was previously nowhere to be seen filled him to the bone. Slowly, his wound began to regenerate. His clothes have already started to mend themselves but the bloodstains were still present.
"Ahhhh~ that's a lot of money down the drain" he feigned disappointment at the potion he just "wasted"
"Is everything alright?" asked the green-haired beauty, the one he could now confirm wasn't a hallucination. Her tone was flat, polite, as if she were asking only out of obligation rather than concern.
Eremes straightened up and pushed both the balls of his palm onto his lower back before he leaned back in a stretch. "Could be better~" he replied playfully."ahhhhh~ that was a close one."
"So, where are you headed?" Eremes asked almost too casually for someone who was just on the verge of death. It unnerved the woman and sent him a weird look.
D-O-T-E
Riveria Ljos Alf of the Loki Familia wasn't new to seeing adventurers on the verge of death. More than a few times has she helped someone from dying foolishly due to overconfidence in the dungeon. This time isn't any different, at least that's what she thought at first.
She watched a seemingly newbie adventurer with long spiky purple-blue hair that reached his lower back, struggling to fight against a couple of Kobolds.
'He seems to be a mage too,but it's strange. for a newbie, the firepower of his spell scales above an average level 1 adventurer, maybe he's not as new as I thought. He's most likely been an adventurer for some time now, maybe months.'
She did not expect to come across something peculiar when she let Aiz get ahead of her. They spent the past 3 days climbing from the 37th floor of the dungeon after she fought the monster rex of the 37th floor, Udaeus. She decided to take the climb a little slower since they are on the 6th floor of the dungeon now and no monster could pose a danger to her in the upper floors.
She continued to observe him, she watched as he turned to a corner and prepared an ambush for the Kobolds.
She was prepared to come in and save him when he was struck by the war shadow that just came out of the dungeon walls. He was laying in a pool of his own blood, breathing heavily and struggling to pull himself up.
But it seemed like his fight wasn't over yet so she went back to watching. With a sudden burst of determination, the adventurer stood up and continued defending himself. It was a struggle, she could tell, but each attack that he barely manages to block only seemed to make him more determined.
"BLAST EVERYTHING! FireBolt!!!!!"
The power of his last spell increased by several fold. 'Was it because of the chant? So he can do no chant and a chant spell.' She noted.
Seeing that the fight is over, she began making her way towards him, prepared to offer help.
He seemed surprised to see her though. A potion appeared on his hand without a chant once more. She schooled her expression at seeing another strange spell. First the chantless magic that could be empowered by a chant and now a storage spell of some sort.
The adventurer in front of her is beginning to become more and more interesting.
He drank the potion and she could see just how fast it takes effect. His wounds that she could see under his clothes that are also slowly being mended are slowly being healed.
'Enchanted equipment?'
She ignored his peculiar magic and asked. "Is everything alright?"
The adventurer smiled as if he wasn't just about to die. "Could be better~. aahhhhh~ that was a close one"
Before she could speak again, the Adventurer spoke once more, his voice filled with more energy than earlier. "So, where are you headed?"
"To the exit." Her reply was curt. There was no reason to speak any longer, he seemed to be fine so she decided to turn away and begin walking.
"By the way, what's your name?" the adventurer's voice cut through the silence as she was walking. Her name and appearance is pretty well known amongst male adventurers according to Tiona and Tione, so it's quite a surprise to come across someone who doesn't know of her. "Riveria, from loki familia." she answered without turning.
"I'm Eremes Guile, from Soma Familia~ nice meeting ya!~" his jovial response made her turn back, a wide smile on his face was present.
'Soma Familia, huh? A shame. It's only a matter of time before he turns into one of those crazed members of that familia. A lamb trapped inside the den of wolves' her final thoughts as she walked away from him was one of pity.
When she met up with Aiz on the 5th floor, she saw her looming over an unconscious form of a young adventurer with short white hair.
"Riveria, I want to compensate this person."
"...There are other ways of saying that." She let out a long sigh in response to Aiz's choice of words
-End-
Hey, this took a little longer than usual, I got a new job and my schedule has become hectic because of it. I barely have time to write but I will do my best to pump out new chapters when I can. No info dump this chap. if you have any question, feel free to ask, i will try my best to answer when i can, that's about it for this chappy~