by Jamey Sultan
Imbue Darkness (3/10):
+30% shadow damage added to weapon damage
Your dark Mana flows through your weapons, imbuing them with some of your power.
Warrior of Darkness I
Arcane Armor (0/10):
Shadows flow freely through your armor, bolstering its defense.
Warrior of Darkness I
Pierce the Veil (0/10):
Your connection with the shadows allows you to see through attempts to hide.
Warrior of Darkness II
Ephemeral Weapon (0/10):
*Requires Imbue Darkness 10
Your weapons can take on the properties of shadow, completely passing through an opponent’s armor.
Warrior of Darkness II
Stronger Shadows (0/5):
*Requires Imbue Darkness 5
The bond between your shadow magic and weapon deepens, strengthening your ability to imbue your weapon.
Warrior of Darkness II
Knife in the Dark (0/3):
*Requires Imbue Darkness 3
Costs:
- 15 Mana,
- 10 stamina
Throw a weapon at your opponent, creating 2 shadow copies per skill level.
From what James could tell, Increased Damage had turned into Imbue Darkness, Immovable Object had turned into Arcane Armor, and Raging Bull had become Pierce the Veil. For his Tier II abilities, Split Weapon had turned into Ephemeral Weapon and Sharper Tools was now Stronger Shadows, but was functionally the same skill. He had also gotten a new Tier II skill branching off from Imbue Darkness, Knife in the Dark.
After looking over everything, James could see why so much changed at level 10. It was a huge milestone.
He had two points to spend. He could put both points into Imbue Darkness to continue with his plan, but he could also get Knife in the Dark and finally have a Tier II skill. In the end, James put one of his points into Knife in the Dark. He remembered his fight with the Moonshadow Moth and wanted a ranged attack.
He placed the other point in Imbue Darkness. As soon as he placed the point, he felt the Mana flow through his body change once again, extending past his hand to incorporate his sword, as if it were just another part of his body. Strands of umbral energy swirled across the blade.
Finished with his abilities, he turned his focus on his stats. Unfortunately, leveling to 10 hadn’t given him the bonuses that his class promised, so his Intelligence and Wisdom were still 18. James put two points in each, which increased his Mana enough to cast Shadow Step three times instead of two.
James placed his last four points into Strength and smashed his hand against the cave wall, shattering the solidified liquid-rock that encased it. He flexed his hand, then smiled.
He had corpses to study.
Chapter 17
Before moving on, James harvested the Lion-Ant crystals. Unfortunately, he’d wasted too much time playing with Abilities and Skills after the fight, and the energy in the crystals had almost drained completely. In total, he recovered three Weak Mana Crystals from the Lion-Ants before moving on to his new favorite hobby, studying monster corpses.
James had learned most of what he needed to know from the first Lion-Ant corpse that he’d taken apart. Now it was a matter of looking for anything interesting he may have missed on the others. In particular, he was looking for weak spots. This was a novel idea for him, but after the fight was over, James realized he shouldn’t test for weak points during a fight. It would be smarter more productive to find the weaknesses in a dead creature’s defenses, then apply it to the living.
On initial examination, James didn’t see any glaring weaknesses. No areas of thin armor, no automatic kill switches. Even the creature’s lion- head was tough, with extraordinarily thick bones. They’d been tough enough to take a brutal beating from his daggers. But when he started manipulating the Ant-Lion’s legs, he realized that the armor around their joints was much weaker than the exoskeleton surrounding their bodies. He could target their legs to cripple them, something he hadn’t considered earlier.
Looking for weak points was proving fruitful, and the system apparently agreed with him.
You have gained 3 levels in Anatomy.
You are now level 9.
James didn’t have long to celebrate before his enhanced vision vanished, leaving him in the center of the tunnel, unable to see. James conjured the next potion from his pouch and downed it, shuddering as the thick, foul liquid crawled down his throat.
James considered the three paths ahead of him. Normally he would choose the left one. Everyone knew the old trick—always pick the left turn in a maze.
But this wasn’t a maze, and there was a… presence… drawing him toward the central passage. He could feel an energy flowing out of the passage and knew he needed to go see.
James trekked down the featureless tunnels, lost in his thoughts. He’d thought dungeons would be more interesting and action-packed, but here he was, moseying through featureless rock rooms. There weren’t even any enemies for him to fight. No chests. Video games had led him to believe that even the most senseless, brain-dead creature would have barrels and boxes full of gold and rare items lying around, but the reality was disappointing. He hadn’t found a single copper, much less a barrel full of gold.
Busy commiserating about the lack of treasure, James tripped over a raised section of the floor. He careened forwards and caught himself just before he hit the ground.
What the…
James examined the stone floor. A raised section stood out in stark contrast to the otherwise seamless tunnel. He scowled. The ants hadn’t demonstrated enough brainpower to set traps.
He pulled out his dagger and chipped away at the rock, revealing hints of silvery metal. Excited, James dug faster, revealing a thin, shimmering metal chain. He tugged on it, releasing it from the rock.
The necklace was beautiful. A silvery-blue metal chain attached to a small crystal pendant that housed a sliver of blue and red opal. The opalescent shard shimmered, glowing with a pale blue energy that sent crackles of lightning dancing over the crystal pendant.
His hands shook in excitement as he examined the necklace clutched tightly in his hands. The information displayed in his interface was the telltale green hue of a legendary item.
Fragment of Syreus:
Rank: Legendary
Crafted from the remains of the God Syreus, this necklace allows the wearer to call down a storm once per day.
You have gained a quest: Splintered Past I
Splintered Past I: You have found the remains of a god. Find out what happened to Syreus.
Suggested level: Unknown
Reward: Unknown
Penalty for failure or refusal: None
The first thought that ran through James’ mind was disappointment. For a legendary artifact the effect was underwhelming.
It called down a storm. That was it?
He’d been hoping for invisibility or invulnerability or something. Something worthy of a Legendary rarity item. Still, thinking about the rewards he might get from a quest chain that started with a legendary item, James salivated. As soon as he placed the pendant around his neck, it heated up and he gained a notification.
You have gained the spell: Syreus’ Wrath
Syreus’ Wrath (N/A):
Range: Self
Cast time: 10 minutes
Cooldown: 24 hours
Cost: None
Summons a storm centered around the caster
The promise of future rewards put James in a great mood. Even the fact that the tunnel had looped around and led him back into the room with the fountain hadn’t dampened his spirits. Normally, he would have been pissed to realize that he had just spent almost an hour walking in a large circle through a gloomy cave and wasting his potions. Instead, he hummed quietly to himself as he skipped down the last remaining passageway until, remembering he was in a dungeon, he dropped back into stealth.
James really wanted to
try his new spell, but something told him that summoning a storm underground could go one of two ways. Either he would be successful, summon a storm underground, and drown when the deluge flooded the tunnels. Or he would be unsuccessful, wasting his only cast. There was no possible way anything good could come from using the spell here.
He’d also been itching to try Shadow Step, but was waiting for the right moment to use it. He was the type of video game player who waited to use all of his powerful Spells and items until the final boss fight—a strategy that didn’t necessarily work all the time. Still, it was a valid strategy. He didn’t want to end up stuck in a situation where he needed his magic but didn’t have any mana. Still, James admired his restraint in waiting to use his spell.
Over the course of the next few hours, James encountered six more Lion-Ants as he delved deeper into the dungeon. He dispatched them without incident, netting him a total of 68 experience, two Skill Ranks in Swordsmanship, and three in Stealth. Unfortunately, his anatomy skill hadn’t leveled. Probably because he was examining the same creatures repeatedly.
James frowned in annoyance as he looked at his experience bar again. His progress had slowed to a crawl when he’d hit level ten. Prior to level ten, each ant individually had given him almost enough experience to level up. Now he was six ants in and still hadn’t gained enough to level.
James was so focused inward on his thoughts that he almost tripped when the tunnel suddenly leveled out, bringing him back to the present.
Achievement Unlocked: Clumsy I
Clumsy I:
- 1 Dexterity
You really should be looking where you’re going.
He let out a small noise of annoyance—his ADHD would be the death of him if he couldn’t stop drifting into daydreams, especially in dungeons. To be fair, he hadn’t been able to take his medications with him into this world, but still, he should be able to focus in a literal deathtrap. It wasn’t his fault caves were so boring.
James shook his head to clear away the thoughts. He’d done it again. He needed to focus.
The surrounding dungeon was becoming less homogeneous as James passed bits of tile and exposed wall sconces. Interesting. Maybe the ants hadn’t had time to finish coating this area yet?
James turned a corner and saw the end of the passage. Two massive oaken doors lay shattered into splinters around the cavernous entrance to the boss room.
I mean, come on. A room at the end of a long passage, guarded with enormous doors? It’s practically screaming ‘boss fight’.
James activated Stealth and peered into the room. There was a large, misshapen, golden altar in the center of a raised platform, but that wasn’t what commanded James’ attention. He strained his eyes upward, trying to make out the art on a faded fresco on the ceiling. The details had faded with time… and ant-related damage, but he could vaguely see what it used to look like: an altar rising out of a rough body of water with a heavy storm surging overhead.
One thing James didn’t see was the boss, and that worried him. Maybe he’d been wrong, and this wasn’t the boss room. He would have to enter the room to find out.
Before entering the room, James checked the timer on his Darkvision buff. About an hour left. He didn’t want to risk getting caught in the dark again, so he pulled out the third potion and quaffed it. He’d have to head back to Nana’s and restock if this wasn’t the last room.
James would rather fail the quest than risk getting caught in the oppressive darkness of the tunnels with no light again. It wasn’t that he was claustrophobic. There was just something about being eaten to death by enormous ants with lion heads that James really didn’t want to happen to him.
Actually, would it be worse to be eaten by ants with regular ant heads? James shook his head no. Focus.
As soon as James stepped into the room, the ground rumbled and an enormous Lion-Ant burst out of the ground, showering him with rubble.
Lion-Ant Queen (Boss: Level 10)
Instead of a lion’s head on the body of an ant like the others had been, the queen looked more like a centaur, but with the head and torso of a humanoid lion and the lower body of an ant. The queen had no mane, but five long crystals jutted out of her head like a morbid crown. She clutched a long, thin lance in one of her massive paws and advanced towards him, the point of her lance pointed directly at his heart.
James drew his sword. “Let’s dance.”
The Queen halted her advance, staring at James with what he assumed was an incredulous expression. Her eyes narrowed in anger and she spoke, her words coming out in a low rasp. “You come into my home, kill my children and now you want to dance? How dare you!” She resumed her charge.
James was so surprised at her response that he almost forgot to dodge, but he barely avoided the lance. He landed awkwardly on his right foot and tripped, rolling to the ground. Luckily for James, he’d spent an entire day with Lamia practicing falling, specifically how not to impale yourself with your sword when you trip during a fight. According to her, it was one of the most common ways to die. James wasn’t sure he believed her.
Rolling to his feet, James held out his hand to stop the charging queen. “Wait!”
Maybe I can clear the dungeon diplomatically. Is that a thing?
Unsurprisingly, she ignored him, continuing her charge.
James spun to the side and repeated the move he’d used on the Rabban, slashing across her flank. But unlike the Rabban, the queen was armored. His blade skittered along her flank, flashing with sparks of dark energy as his Ability worked to penetrate the carapace. At the end of his swing, James brought the sword back, slicing through the middle joint on one of her legs.
The queen roared in anger as she swiped at James with her unencumbered paw and scored three deep claw marks across his chest. The force of her blow threw him hard into a nearby section of the cavern wall. It crumbled under the force of his blow, revealing an unexplored cavern, but James couldn’t focus on that. He needed to keep his head in the fight.
James stood up, coughed, and looked down at his chest. Three claw marks scored deep into the leather, but he was relieved to see that they hadn’t gone through to the flesh.
James prepared to dodge as the queen charged towards him, a little slower than before. As she closed in, she turned on a burst of speed, throwing off the timing of his dodge. Her lance scored deeply into his side and his health dropped precipitously, flashing around 45% in the corner of his vision.
Swearing, James grabbed his dagger and flung it at her face, activating Knife in the Dark just as she raised a paw to block it. The dagger flashed black, then two shadowy copies split off from the main dagger as it flew through the air. One dagger impacted her outstretched palm, another in her abdomen, while the original hit directly in her eye. The shadowy daggers stayed in her body for a second before disappearing with a flash of black light, leaving two bloody wounds.
You have gained 1 Skill Rank in Knife Throwing.
You are now Skill Rank 2.
James couldn’t tell who was more surprised by that throw, him or her, but he didn’t have time to think about it. He launched himself towards the queen, ready to deliver the final strike, when she roared.
A pulse of energy left her mouth and James changed his strategy, stepping back and bracing himself to block with his sword. The pulse passed harmlessly through James, leaving him confused. He didn’t see any status effects, so he wasn’t sure exactly what the queen could have done.
That was when the ground started rumbling.
Oh no.
Two enormous Lion-Ants scrabbled out from the rocky ground and charged at him.
Lion-Ant Royal Guard (Summon: Level 9)
Lion-Ant Royal Guard (Summon: Level 9)
Frantically looking for an escape route, James held up his sword to ward off the two new threats. Then he remembered his Shadow Step spell. Wishing he’d practiced, James concentrated on the shadow underneath the queen’s body and disappeared, reappearing in th
e darkness underneath her abdomen. Thankfully, the crystals on her head cast enough light for her to have a shadow in the dark cave.
James stabbed his sword upwards, straight into her abdomen. The carapace held strong for a second as the black energy around his sword burned at it, but it quickly gave, sending James’ sword deep into the queen. He yanked it backwards, coating himself in bloody ichor.
She shrieked, then collapsed. James rolled from underneath her, barely escaping in time as her full weight slammed into the ground, cracking the stone.
He spun, ready for the two guards to attack, but they didn’t react. They had collapsed with their queen.
James coughed again. It hurt to breathe.
That was a win in his book.
Chapter 18
After missing out on quite a few Mana crystals because he’d been too slow to harvest them, James went for the queen’s crystals first. Since he’d wasted so little time, he was able to harvest all five.
Average Mana Crystal (x5):
Rank: Unusual
You feel stronger pulses of energy coming from this crystal.
Each of the crystals he’d collected was average quality and gave off pulses of energy that even James, with his limited experience, could tell were much stronger than the pulses coming off from the weak crystals in his pouch.
