Pain filled Singers' entire body as he hit the ground for the forth time. This time he had nearly made it to the ledge where the doorway was before he had lost his grip again. Singer eyed his health which now flashed wildly at 2 HP. That last fall had done 98 damage to his health in one go. If he had've been even a foot higher he surely would have died. The interface seemed to be mocking him as he eyed his notifications.
Falling Rank 3 Achieved
Flying is just falling with style. But you clearly have no skills beyond making face imprints in the earth.
---
Landing Rank 1 Achieved
Super Hero landing this is not.
---
Climbing Rank 2 Achieved
Congratulations you can perform basic climbing.
Once again Singer wondered if his notifications were being made on the fly or if they were generated from a pre-made list. Slowly he set the thought aside and sat up before downing another small potion. It was his last one, so he considered whether he wanted to give it another go climbing or try looking elsewhere. With a heavy sigh he made up his mind and started climbing again as the health potion finished topping off his health. A short while later Singer growled under his breath as he gripped the ledge and pulled himself up. He collapsed at the foot of the door sucking in huge breaths of air as he grinned widely. He had made it. Not only that but he felt like he had truly just climbed up a cliff. While extreme pain was turned down he still felt the aches and pains of the effort he had just put forth. It was far more accurate than he had expected, feeling exactly like he had just spent hours in the gym.
He sat up and his grin faded as he stared straight down a gentle trail that went down to the floor he had just climbed from. "Seriously."
He couldn't help but feel slightly irritated as he took out his frustrations on the door. He had burned through all his potions and wasted hours climbing to the door. In the end there had been a simple trail up if he had only taken a bit more time to look. Sure it was cut into the cavern side in such a way to be invisible from the ground, but still. He cursed again as he finally knocked the last lock off the door pinching his hand between the broken lock and the door frame.
After a few seconds of wallowing in his pain Singer pushed the door open. His jaw dropped as he got a full view of the interior. He had expected a treasure room or ancient hidden ruins maybe. But this, this was unexpected. A small study that looked like it came straight out of a London bookstore was warmly lit by a fireplace in the corner that seemed to burn magically. Everything in the room screamed Victorian England. The decor, the furniture, the lighting; all of it felt vastly out of place. As he looked over the room a set of three leather bound books stacked on a small desk caught his eyes.
Upon closer inspection he found the books had locks still clasped shut. All three books were of a small pocket book size. They appeared to be bound in some sort of strange whitish metal wrapped in brown leather. The leather had all sort of damage to include what looked like acid burns fire burns claw marks and blade marks showing the undamaged metal through the leather.
As Singer picked up the first book he yelped and dropped it on the ground as a sharp pain seemed to go through his thumb. On closer inspection he noticed his thumb was bleeding slightly. He sucked it for a bit as he carefully picked the book back up. The clasp was undone now, he suspected the drop had likely jarred it open or something. Opening the unlocked book he was shocked to find that the pages were made from a soft black cloth and white letters glowed on the pages. Strangely they did not appear to all be in the same language. As he flipped through the book he noticed a strange symbol that caught his eye. As he stared at it for a moment another sharp pain went through his thumb on his other hand followed by another yelp from Singer as another notification popped up.
Congratulations! You have unlocked a unique ability.
Upon foolishly feeding blood to unknown rune you have been gifted with the ability Language Cipher!
Good thing it wasn't a death rune!
Language Cipher
You are innately gifted at deciphering new languages!
Warning: Will not help you understand women.
"Heh..." Singer's mouth twitched at such a blatant description. Seemed that whoever was creating his notifications was getting even more brutal with the notifications. It wasn't like he had even intended to do that either. As this thought ran through his head another three notifications popped up as he flipped the pages of the book.
Ancient Dwarven Language Learned
Elven Language Learned
Orcish Language Learned
Congratulations You have Learned two civilized languages beyond all expectations!
Congratulations You have learned one simple language! You can finally communicate with your peers!
Singer sighed at the last one, but he couldn't do anything about it so he focused on the book instead. Though he had unlocked the three languages used as the books cipher it still wasn't making sense. It alternated every word switching languages with each one. However, there were strange symbols interspersed that still didn't make sense. After a bit of thought he decided to activate his new Language Cipher ability. While skills seemed to automatically apply their bonuses when in use, abilities seemed to sometimes have a similar effect but with the added capability of being activated as a unique power. As his Language Cipher ability fully activated years of personal knowledge and knowledge not his own merged before his eyes. He recalled Egyptian glyphs first, then sign language, followed quickly by knowledge of an ancient shadow sect from the Black Dessert that used a form of secret sign language to communicate.
Renshai Sign Language Learned
Congratulations! You have learned your first secret language.
Singer grinned at finally not getting an insult from the interface. Perhaps it was actually impressed for once. Looking back down at the book he could see why. This Language Cipher ability was incredibly powerful. Not only did it allow him to decipher languages and the like but also allowed him to learn secret languages just from reading them. While languages as a whole were generally fairly easy to learn in games like this, secret languages however were not. Often protected by threat of death, they were hard to come by.
As he continued flipping though the book his eyes widened further as he realized this was a grimoire describing various alchemy and magic techniques.
Knowledge flashed through his head as he flipped the pages. He didn't even have to read it. Just glancing at the pages as he flipped through them was enough. This seemed to be another assistance provided by the game system. Singer got excited as he went further in depth to the history of the world's magic. Much of it he already knew from reading the books. However, he was rather surprised by the level of complexity the game took regarding magic. There were multiple levels of categories. First there was the split of arcane, wild and divine magics. Generally speaking a spell-caster was restricted to one of those three. Each of these had their own individual categories as well. Some splits appeared to be based on cast styles others on elemental types while further categories were regional. The most evident was the split between Daldamer and Illinalta magic. These were the two major continents according to the book series. Magic had taken different paths on the two continents after the Mage Wars on Daldamer in ancient times. Above all of that however was the split between ancient and neo magics.
Most magic in the world fell into the latter category. They tended to have more restrictions than ancient magics did, but were also more reliable or rather predictable. Another bonus was they generally didn't cost some sort of resource as ancient magics did. A few ancient magics still existed however, despite attempts to eradicate them after the Mage Wars. Dwarves still performed rune magic, dark cults often used blood magic while green-skin shamans used words of power to reinforce their shamanistic spells. Though much of the full potential had been lost due to the mass destruction of knowledge, another factor had led to ancient magics decline. An individuals potential in ancient magic was fixed. It depended solely on their individual magical purity. Since the Mage Wars, races with pure magical bloodlines had taken a sharp decline making the use of ancient magics more and more difficult. While on the other hand neo magics could be learned and improved on no matter the purity of ones innate magical talents.
While some still held more potential than others and found it easier to learn magic, neo magics often had more means of expanding that were not related to ones birth. Divine casters could expand their powers based upon their relation with their gods, holy symbols and further means that were not listed. On the other hand arcane casters performed a form of cultivation that was similarly used by physical fighters, creating an inner energy core to store their power source as well as energy lines throughout their body to direct their magic. Though there were further means using magic focus items, or magic enhancing gear as well as magic ceremonies, cantrips and more. Honestly, the arcane path had more means of expanding than either divine or wild magics. Wild magics had the fewest on the surface being determined solely by ones connection and communion with their choice of nature path. There really were far more means as a whole for neo magics, some more common some less. They often determined what magical path one took as well. Singer wished to go further into it but his head was beginning to get dizzy from all the info.
Having decided to take a break from his self imposed magical history lessons Singer placed the three books in his inventory. The notifications that popped up both surprised and excited him at the same time.
Magii Tomes Of Inheritance
Unique Heroic
Soul-bound On Equip
Unlocks With Player Advancement
Provides in depth knowledge on magic throughout the world. Accessible knowledge increases with player ranking. Allows player to unlock new magic and combat styles as player ranks up. Appears to be the inheritance of a past member of the Magii Order.
Congratulations! Binding Magii Tomes of Inheritance has unlocked a new path. Please select one choice from the following Randomly selected options available at your rank.
Blood Magic : Ancient Magic
82% Compatible
Elemental Spiritualist : Neo Magic
Error Incompatible
Flash Step : Advanced Martial Technique
Error Incompatible
Eldritch Magic : Ancient Magic
Error Incompatible
Singer's wanted to cry at that. These books were clearly endgame items. Yet despite getting them at such an early level he was only allowed to choose the weakest of the skills on the list. As he had suspected the Prime Mountain dungeon was intended to remain a secret til later in the game's life. The signs he had seen up til now were those of a dungeon just starting to form and rewards beyond what should just be lying around. It was something he would have to think on. While on the one hand it gave him the potential for quick easy advancement it was still likely a bug that he had spawned here. His inner competitive gamer won out and he decided to see if he could find a way to keep the benefits and still report the bug, but after he had gotten the most out of it.
For now the more important matter of a new path was still floating in front of his face. He sadly hadn't been given a choice being forced to take the one used in slow rituals and cost his own blood to use. Tears welled up as he selected his only option.
Congratulations! You have learned Blood Magic.
Though viewed with contempt by most civilized races you see the deeper truths of blood magic. While seemingly devolved to bloody sacrifices and rituals, the fact is that it simply uses the inherit magic in many species blood. Those with little to no magic in their blood have over the years turned to sacrifices and rituals to use the magic in others blood. Your bloodline carries a high density of magic however opening up more options to you.
Blood Casting Rank 1
You may use magic infused blood to cast spells you know in place of mana. Effects may vary depending on blood purity and blood amount used. Using your Blood Pool currently costs 1 Blood Point per 5 Mana.
Blood Spell Visualization
If no spell is used upon casting you may attempt to visualize basic elemental effects instead. Effects will be further randomized. Stronger visualization and more blood will increase spell strength. More complexity to visualization will reduce spell success chance. 5 Mana
Level up your Blood Magic to obtain more spells and abilities.
As soon as he finished reading his newest notifications Singer immediately ran outside the room to attempt a fire spell. Trying any magic in a room full of books would have been a rather foolish mistake after all.
His first attempts were rather embarrassing as he stood in various stances holding his hands in random poses while yelling out different words relating to fire. All the posing and leaping about eventually tired Singer out. As he sat down and pulled out some of his starting jerky to eat he took some time to think. His current form of spell casting relied on his Blood Pool. He had assumed it would be an automatic thing, but as he thought about how most blood magic users performed sacrifices to cast spells he realized he had been missing a rather integral ingredient. Stashing the remainder of his jerky back in his inventory he quickly pulled out his starting dagger and braced himself for his next test. With a deep breath Singer pricked his thumb with the knife and visualized a flame on the ground before him.
-1 HP
1 Blood Point Used
Blood Spell Visualization Cast
Spell Successful
A flame the size of his palm appeared on the ground before him burning for about five seconds. A massive grin forced itself upon Singer's face as he attempted the spell a few more times. He found that by visualizing different traits he could increase the size, shape, duration and even color of the flames. The numbers varied slightly as he attempted identical castings in succession, confirming the less predictable nature of ancient magics. Increasing the blood he used allowed him to either increase the traits of his spell or stabilize the numbers depending on how much blood he put into the spell. Before he knew it he had burned through half his health prompting a new notification to pop up.
Warning 50/100 HP remaining.
He sighed at that and decided to take some time to let it restore before experimenting further. As it stood now, it seemed to be a rather dangerous ability. A double edged sword so to speak. He wondered if there were ways to get around that in combat and made a mental note to try some new things in his next round of experiments.
Singer headed back into the room to continue going through the shelves and chests as he let his health regenerate. Two of the chests were empty, however the third one had two short swords and a set of leather armor. As he pulled the armor out he found it was actually studded armor dyed an off black color. Or, more precisely brigandine armor which was when small metal plates were riveted between two pieces of leather, giving it a studded appearance. This quickly gave him a wave of nostalgia as well as excitement. For one he no longer had to wear his raggedy starter gear under his trench-coat and could finally wear something better. It was much preferred over the whole midnight snack in a bathrobe look he had worn up til now. Studded armor was something of an in between from leather and chain. The cost of crafting normally made it unpopular in most games however. In fact many games didn't even bother with labeling it as studded simply leaving it in the leather category. One of his favorite games however had listed studded as an upgraded version of leather for medium armor classes. This had given him his wave of nostalgia reminding him of his favorite childhood game: Shadow Era of Camelot. The two short swords had exasperated this feeling. They had a dark gray matte appearance, both sides of the blades were sharp despite the slight curve to them. It reminded him of his days playing an Elven ranger in that same game. One sword was slightly shorter than the other and they seemed to have a slight glow to them reminding him of the weapons he had bought in the cross realms dungeon in that game. He recalled the name was Dark Falls or something similar so he decided two name his new swords Dark and Fall. He strapped them to the back of his new armor with the crossed hilts just barely poking out from under his trench coat. He tested drawing them real quick and was happy to find both blade were short enough that with the curve angled downwards he was able to draw them easily. If they had've been any longer he would have had to strap them to his hips instead as he didn't have the proper sheath to draw a longer blade strapped to his back. That was a common fantasy trope that always made him chuckle. How could someone possibly draw a sword twice the length of their arm from their back when it was in a full sheath.
He gave a thoughtful look a short time later as he picked up some alchemy vials. As he used his Inspect ability he found they were designed to keep anything put in them as fresh as the day they were filled. Best of all they were empty. While he did intend to get into alchemy eventually Singer was instead eyeing his health pool that had finally finished filling up. Without further ceremony he cut a slightly larger gash in his thumb than last time and preceded to fill up the first vial. Once he had finished filling it he then waited for the cut to heal up again and for his health to refill.
A short while later having found nothing else but more books in the study room he left again to test his new blood filled vial. Uncorking it he found it was still as fresh as when he had filled it, even holding the warmth of freshly spilled blood despite sitting on the table the last few minutes. He then poured a few drops into his hand and cast Blood Spell Visualization. As the flames leapt up he checked his health to see it didn't go down. A grin flashed across his face.
Singer spent the next hour filling all five of his new vials to full. After some rest he decided it was time to finally take on that Chaos Parasite.
Taking the ramp he had missed before made the trip back much quicker, not to mention safer. As he arrived back in the main chamber Singer found little difference in the situation. Neither the root nor the Chaos Parasite seemed to have moved or grown. He wondered briefly how long this had been going on for. That thought only lasted a second as he intended to end it now.
Singer carefully uncorked the first vial and poured out a few drop like before and focused on visualizing flames consuming the Parasite. At first it seemed as if nothing had happened. Then pain suddenly filled his head as a keening noise pierced his thoughts. As the noise increased he poured out the rest of the blood in the vial visualizing hotter and hotter flames with each drop. The keening rose to a screech and Singer realized it wasn't so much a sound as a direct sensation to his brain. As the pain began to become unbearable he poured out each vial in quick succession till each was emptied out. He felt the magic fading and pulled out his old dagger slicing his palm open fully allowing his fresh blood to pour freely powering the spell. The noise stopped abruptly and Singer saw the start of a flood of notifications scrolling.
Quest Complete
You have completed the Dungeon Core's Quest and been granted the highest form of protection in its area of influence.
Title Earned
Dungeon Lord...
The pain in his head spiked heavily as Singer attempted to read the notifications. Suddenly everything went black as his body crumpled to the cavern floor.
Error...
Error...
Action not coded...
Error...
Attempting Disconnect...
Error...
Disconnect failed...
Forcing Disconnect...
Consciousness Disconnected...
Error...
Incoming Soul Detected...
Checking Hero Soul Database...
Soul Not Listed...
Preparing Soul Energy Recycling...
Error...
Rare Soul Energy Detected...
Checking Database...
Classified Soul Energy Identified...
Initiating ANUBIS Protocol...
Assigning ANUBIS AI...
Error...
AI connection detected...
Upgrading AI...
Upgrade Successful...
Mounting AI...
Success...
Initiating Wake Up Protocol...
Subject Activation Successful...