Fulcrum Ipodex
Fulcrum's army of giants, undead, elementals, orcs, devils and lizardmen tore through the numerous monsters within the diamond rank dungeon. He had been going around dungeons all day since Yolen departed, low level dungeons, as many as he could manage. He'd ridden his ice wolf from dungeon to dungeon and had a giant carrying a bag of the cores he had salvaged.
Finally he had decided to try his luck as a one-man raid party, the total number of creatures that he had taken as remnants was the number he had slain in the dungeons he had cleared, upwards of three hundred. Their green skin and golden armour provided a low glow that let him know exactly which units were his even if he was fighting in the dark. In total, he'd cleared four iron rank dungeons, two copper rank and a single silver rank. His level had shot up to 184, mostly through skill points, his total number of summons, including remnants was 1,064. He had numerous greater summons, just over eighty as he had reached max level in the skill. It had also given him the ability to summon an even more powerful creature, something that was the equivalent of a gold rank dungeon boss by itself. He had yet to summon one.
A Flesh-Eater, a slime like monster leapt at him, Fulcrum drew the flame dagger, its black glass blade glowing with an orange light from within. He focused as he swept the blade through the beast's neck, it was mostly a mass of muscle with red blood dripping from it, but it did have a clear head and neck, where it fed on its prey. The flesh on the neck sliced open like butter under the edge, steaming with heat and then bursting into flames. The rest of the beast went up in flames as Fulcrum turned his attention towards the battle.
The cave he was fighting through was made from a flesh like material and stunk of rotten meat. It was lined in ribs of bone that acted as struts to keep open the tunnel. The dungeon's name was The Abyss of Flesh. It had some insane rewards if Fulcrum could clear it alone or even if he teamed up with Yolen again. Though he suspected that the dungeon wouldn't feel nearly as fulfilling if Yolen had a hand in beating it. Fulcrum always felt as if Yolen was holding back for the fun of it, after all, he had reduced monsters to dust with a touch of the finger.
Another Flesh-Eater leapt at him, this time he teleported behind it in a cloud of ash and flame, raking the dagger along its back and setting the hideous creature aflame. His army was destroying the things as well. He decided that now was a good time to bolster his numbers with the foes slain.
The corpse next to him jolted as he activated his skill with a phrase, vines of green pouring from the corpse. They formed a pile of green muscle with golden bones poking out from within, a green Flesh-Eater. He looked around and the floor was filled with them, Fulcrum sent them a silent order to progress through the dungeon with the rest of his army and the mounds of vine moved off, undulating with terrific speed across the bloodstained ground.
Over half an hour passed with no noticeable change to the cave's layout, until Fulcrum noticed something, the cave ahead was glowing. Wait, the blue light was coming closer. He had to shield his eyes as the light grew to hard to bear and it swept over him.
The stench of rotted meat disappeared, replaced by the smell of ozone. He opened his eyes and a strange place, made from shattered chunks of glowing blue crystal with a dark sky filled with purple glowing clouds of dust, lay before him. A being materialised ahead if him, from a glowing blue mass of light, it darkened to purple, to black and then gained the pale skin and white hair of someone he knew.
"Yolen?" Fulcrum asked.
"Hey, it worked." Yolen looked happy about something, though he wore plainer clothing than he usually did, no Artifacts that Fulcrum could see.
"What did?"
"I brought you to the source." Yolen waved his hands about, a feint trail of purple light, like that in the sky drifted off of him as he moved.
"What source?"
"The source of mana itself, one of my skills lets me own it." He said, a chair of crystal coming into existence the same way he did. Yolen sat down.
"You own the source of mana?" Fulcrum could hardly believe what he was hearing, yet this place did feel familiar. Yes, it felt the same as when Yolen had fueled his MP reserves.
"Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, I hardly understand myself. But not much is known about the ascended, so I don't think you can really rule this out." He held a hand out, face down and a small table made of wood appeared. "Sit, have a drink with me."
Fulcrum looked behind and, much to his surprise, there was a chair behind him, made from the same blue crystal. He sat, it was surprisingly comfortable. Yolen held out a hand and a mug of ale appeared atop it. In his other hand was another mug and he gave the first to Fulcrum.
"Thanks, but why the drinks?" He asked, taking a drag.
"I would like to ask you something." He said, leaning in, his yellow eyes glowing slightly.
"What?"
"Do you have a quest to do with leveling up?" Yolen asked.
"I don't, think so. I'll have a check." Fulcrum brought up his quest log and looked over the quests. There was a quest. "There is one." He scanned it's contents.
"What is the objective?" Yolen asked, clearly very interested.
"I've got to level up my job to its maximum level."
"What do you get?"
Fulcrum turned his sights to the rewards and breathed out softly. "I get over a thousand ability points and fifty skill points just for that, an I get a 'final job'? What does that mean? Oh, also an unknown skill."
"Does it say what level is the last one?" Yolen asked.
"No, it just says the maximum level." Fulcrum was incredibly excited for level two hundred now, what would it give him?
"Damnit." Yolen muttered.
"You alright?"
"I'm just trying to find out what level I need to reach to get this final ascention." He sighed.
"Well I'll tell you after this dungeon." Fulcrum grinned, he could feel the ascention nearing.
"It's not level 200." Yolen said flatly.
"What?"
"It's not level 200. I'm level 260, almost, and I haven't hit it yet."
"What?" Fulcrum said in disbelief. "It's not? Well then when is it?"
"I don't know, like I said, I've been trying to figure it out."
"Damn. Damnit." Fulcrum downed his drink in anger.
"Yeah, well, I'll put you back in the dungeon."
"Alright, wait, if it's not at two hundred which I ascend, would you mind partying up with me?"
"You sure?" Yolen asked.
"Sure."
"Sweet. I'll be there when you get back." He grinned and then the whole place melted away to black, everything but what Fulcrum was wearing and his actual body. The blackness faded back out into the dungeon and the smell of rotting meat hit his nose.
Without Fulcrum there, his army had continued to fight, no, they were fighting in the same way. They hadn't moved from the spot. Suddenly, there was a low hum and the Flesh-Eaters in front of Fulcrum's army disintegrated, then Yolen materialised like he had in that other place, only now he was wearing all of his Artifacts.
"Hey." He said. "Ready to destroy this dungeon?"