Jimmy and Corrul were rounding up the corpses of the Meckstras into one pile near the entrance of the den. Corrul wore a makeshift facemask to try and cover up the smell eventually giving up and leaving, but Jimmy braved it bare faced. The normal Meckstras only gave up white or green mana crystals, so they were still valuable, but nowhere near what the evolved Meckstras were giving out.
"Uh Jimmy, can you explain to me what those crystals are for?" said Donis, trying to buy himself time before he had to actually go into the den.
"Sure lad. So we have 6 different colours that represent the uh, quality or grade of an item right?" said Jimmy as he tossed another corpse onto the growing pile.
"Yeah, but the Gisbir we killed gave us a red one, and these guys are giving us white or green ones. Whats the difference?" said Donis as he pulled out a small red crystal.
"Ooh, that's a nice one. Gisbirs normally don't give out red ones but maybe you found one that had actually been quite old – which doesn't happen in their community often. Growing old I mean hahah," laughed Jimmy.
"So, it goes like this. White, then green, then blue, then red. Those are the Mana Crystals we'll see normally. They're what concern us the most, because the two above are so exceedingly rare, that even the monsters who are known to "have" them, don't always drop them upon death. They're purple and gold," continued Jimmy.
"Why don't they always drop them though?" said Donis as he helped throw another corpse on the small hill that was forming.
"Well, to make a Mana Crystal, it takes time, Mana, and a strong life force. I ain't know much more, but if you get a chance, ask the cap'n. All this sober talk is getting to me," grumbled Jimmy as he threw the last corpse on the pile.
Striga had been laying down the entire time, admiring the handiwork of the two guys that did the least in that fight. Corrul was trying to recover some of the least water damaged traps he'd laid down.
"Alright lads, works done. Donis, get your ass to that den," said Striga as she stood up.
"Wait, I'm going alone?" panicked Donis.
"Gods no, you've just been stalling with Jimmy for far too long now, we need to get a move on, the mission wont complete itself," retorted Striga.
Comforted by that answer, Donis let out a deep but grateful sigh. He wasn't sure if he could keep up, or if his personal practice would be enough to let him get through this solo. He would still try, but he didn't particularly expect himself to really clear everything himself.
The dens entrance was closer to a cave. It was a carved out and slimy rock that seemed to delve deeper underground. The only light entering seemed to be the slime that shone along the rocky surface. Somehow it carried along some of the light deeper, illuminating their passage.
Preparing himself mentally for the fight ahead, Donis wanted to test out a few different things since he never got to kill any sort of monster yet.
Firstly, he summoned the swords. He was going to test his actual fighting prowess and skills he gained from when he was a child, and then maxed out. Seeing his sword choices, Striga just smiled. To her it was near impossible that this kid would be any proficient at swords since he was so heavily invested in magic.
Donis was the one walking in front, swords in a relaxed but ready grip, and his mind sharp. He summoned Etheria too, and told her mentally to not make a sound, as they're in enemy territory. Etheria only chirped in Donis's mind as confirmation.
The trio continued descending downwards, passing lots of empty holes that looked like rooms. Eventually they rounded a corner and came across a small group of 4 unevolved Meckstras. They were huddled around a corpse of another unidentifiable monster, happily munching away. Etheria was still too weak to fight them, but Donis wanted to try out another idea he had.
He cast Trackless on all of them, which surprised Striga once again. She had no clue the boy could have already maxed out the skill.
'Just what sort of life did this guy have?' she thought to herself.
After sneaking up to the Meckstras, Donis used Aura Rework to create himself a floating shield that was made of golden light. He had no idea about how fast these critters would be in a close quarters fight, and he wanted to take no chances. He arced back the Khopesh sword, and with a slight tremble in his hand, hacked off one of the Meckstras heads.
The other 3 didn't even notice the 4th one dying. They were too engrossed in eating the corpse in front of them.
A weird sensation washed over Donis. He suddenly felt like this was the most natural feeling in the world. His slight trembling stopped and a new confidence brimmed from within.
-Donis, I am detecting a new memory being uncorrupted. Shall we force it, or wait it out?-
'Wait it out, I don't want to lose control of myself right now,' thought Donis.
He killed the next two with relative ease, decapitating both of them. His strength stat far outmatching the sturdiness of the unevolved Meckstras bodies. He left the last one as is, because he wanted to see if he could help Etheria level up. She had been with him nearly his whole life, yet he couldn't teach her anything, he couldn't help her become strong and fulfill her own wants and needs.
She had always been there, but she was never allowed to come out during tense situations, always acting as emotional support. He wanted her to become strong too, he needed her.
Checking Etherias status, when Donis killed the 3 Meckstras she didn't gain any [EXP]. This led Donis to the idea of leaving the last one alive for her to finish off.
He cast [True Inspect] on the last one and hacked at it, removing two legs, making the poor thing squeal. It still had half of its health remaining, so he hacked off another one, and eventually the last one. There was but a sliver of health remaining and it was draining quickly. He commanded Etheria to finish off the Meckstra to which she readily obliged.
Etheria cast Etheric Wings to harden them, and then used Ethereal Winds to give herself an extra push to generate more force on the hit. She was level 1, she wasn't going to do a lot of damage.
The hit from Etheria ended up creating a large indent in the Meckstras chest, and finished him off. Constantly looking at Etherias status, Donis noticed she went from level 1, to level 3 in one go! He found a way how to level her up!
Etheria noticed the sizable difference in strength after the level up and chirped loudly. Striga noticed what the two were doing and laughed at their clever little plan.
"Are you two going to be sharing kills now?" asked Striga while smiling.
"Yeah, she's wanted to help me out for a long time, and if this helps her, I'll do that," said Donis.
The three continued downward in this ever expanding cave system. The area they once thought of being a small hole in the ground, turned out to be a complex series of tunnels. These creatures clearly had been here a long time, or the evolution of the main queen did more than initially thought of.
Following the downward route, Donis and Etheria both killed a dozen or so creatures. Etheria leveling up to level 8 and gaining a substantial stat boost, and Donis edging ever so close to level 20. He was excited as to what the [System] would do for him, but not trying to jinx his fate once more, he didn't get too excited.
Eventually they came to an opening, where they saw hundreds of unevolved Meckstras, and a couple of evolved ones thrown in. They were all moving, digging, and getting slime everywhere. There were workers moving feces out of the quarters, ones using the slime to soften the walls, ones who were digging the walls with their teeth – ever expanding.
"Donis. I have an idea. I'm going to ask you to trust me on this one okay?" said Striga with a devilish smile on her face.
"Uh, okay Striga, what do you want?" said Donis as he instinctively took a step back.
"The room, can you smell it? It stinks of sulfur. Do you know what that means?" asked Striga.
"Uh, no?" replied Donis.
"It means this baby will light on fire the moment we spark it," Striga laughed quietly.
"That sounds like a horrible idea since we're enclosed in here, the fire'll have to go through us!" whisper shouted Donis.
"Yeah, but I'll cover us, trust me!" said Striga while patting Donis's shoulder.
Realising that there is no way to actually argue with her since she knows something he doesn't, Donis moved to the front of the opening.
Against his better judgment, he took a deep breath, infused his breath with as much fire elemental energy as he could and let it rip.
The flame emitted from Donis was so hot it immediately threatened to superheat the surrounding stale air. The flame breached the short distance required and engulfed dozens of the Meckstras, instantly igniting them. The slimy floor around them exploding into a blaze. The room became chaotic within the blink of an eye. The shrill cries of the hundreds of creatures filled the air, trying to distract Donis's mind.
He retracted Etheria back, and continued to spray the whole place down until he ran out of mana. As soon as he stopped casting Dragonfire, he was enveloped by Strigas water column. It kept out the heat and the soot from the surrounding air. Donis almost tried to take a deep breath out of shock, but stopped himself just in time.
Striga walked out of the column, and allowed Donis a safe passage too.
"Boy the shows not over yet. Keep watching," said Striga as she forcefully turned Donis around.
The flames burned brightly behind the wall of water, but something was wrong with them. They were growing dimmer and dimmer by the second. Donis couldn't understand what was going on, the slime wasn't even all burned up, how could the flames die so quickly?
"The air was stale, it stank of sulfur, this made me think that maybe there were no exit holes for air and we were in front of the only entry or exit. If you cover up a flame, it uses up all of the oxygen in the room and snuffs itself out. A quick and easy way to burn, asphyxiate and torture a room full of monsters, right?" laughed Striga.
Donis couldn't hear what she was saying right now. His mind was on the notification he just received.
-Level up!-
-Combat Job Acquired: Dragonfury Mage – The Crowned Void Soul -