[Congratulations! Quick Flash has evolved into 'Hyper Flash'!]
"Hyper Flash," I said with a hint of excitement in my voice. A translucent blue window then popped up almost immediately.
Hyper Flash: When this ability is used, the user's speed is increased by 350%. However, after this, the user's base speed is temporarily decreased by 30%. Duration: 30 Seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes.
This ability could be considered an upgrade from the Quick Flash ability, while it also has increased penalties. 'Maybe this can come in handy? I don't know, my agility stat is already way higher than normal...' I honestly don't know why I even have such high agility, but if there's one place I can use it to it's fullest, it's the dungeon! I soon ran into the forest, completely forgetting the fact that my agility is high.
After a moment had passed, I had already arrived at the dungeon.
'Ah, wait, I just thought about something, what if there's some kind of mana detector that can tell someone else the amount of mana you have or somebody has an inspect skill? Just to be safe, I'll use that new skill I got.' I never thought of that type of situation at first, but the 'Mana Limiter' ability I acquired can probably be useful. After casting the spell on myself, I walked through the portal and entered the dungeon.
After spotting my first target, I quickly cast the new 'Flame Pillar' ability on it. A fierce and blazing pillar soon erupted from underneath the Fire Bear, piercing it effortlessly through the stomach. I could tell that it was extremely hot, as I could feel the heat and I was 10 meters away from it. And it also looked like my casting range is 15, maybe 20 meters in my vicinity. Soon, after a few seconds, a notification popped up in front of me.
[You have defeated a Fire Bear!]
[+2000 XP!]
This new ability was certainly lethal, and it also had the element of surprise. While thinking about the ability, a glowing object that seemed to have dropped from the bear had shown itself. This shocked me because based on what I read in the books Angela had in her home, only [BOSS] monsters dropped anything when they died. After nearing the glowing object, I felt a familiar yet different aura and soon realized what had happened. I picked up what seemed to be a ring made of silver with a black gem embedded in the top of it, leaking a familiar yet different aura. There were also carvings that glowed a dim white light. 'I think I know what this is...' I thought to myself while staring at the ring
"Inspect," I said while staring at the ring.
Ring of Helplessness: A manifestation of a monster's emotions, keep in mind it takes a lot of emotions and energy to manifest in the material plane. These are the extreme leftover emotions of a now-dead Fire Bear. This ring exudes the feeling of being helpless and powerless. This ring enhances the wearer's magic attack power, but after use, the wearer's mind will be flooded with pessimistic thoughts. Because the emotions were only enough to manifest into a ring, the penalty isn't grave. Magic Attack Power Increase +10%, Duration 30s, Mind Invasion Debuff, Duration 1 minute.
After reading the description of the item, it now made sense why the Fire Bear dropped an item. Even though I killed the Fire Bear, I don't feel nearly as bad as I did for the [BOSS] monster that Angela killed. After thinking for a minute, I had an idea! 'Since fusing/combining abilities is possible, surely I'd be able to do the same for items right?' I thought to myself basically indirectly asking the system a question. The system then responded in kind.
[The ability 'Fusion' is listed in the 'Shop' window for 30,000 Credits, would you like to purchase it?]
[Y/N]
"Obviously not, I don't have nearly enough. But now that I know it's there, I know what I'm saving for!" I said while casting 'Fire Pillar' on 2 nearby Fire Bears. This time I could feel a little of my mana being drained as I limited my mana from over 30,000 to just 5,000. I checked my status window after getting the XP notifications and saw that my mana was currently at 4,600/5,000. I also noticed I had some unused stat points.
"System, convert all 320 of my stat points into credits, please," I said after collecting the rings from the Fire Bears and putting them in my inventory.
[All 320 stat points will be converted into 3,200 Credits. Are you sure?]
[Y/N]
"Yes," This was more than enough to keep me motivated to save up to 30,000 credits. Sadly, I also noticed after killing a few Fire Bears that I don't get quests for monsters inside dungeons. After an hour, I had made it to the familiar colossal doors. I also had around 15 'Rings of Helplessness'. I didn't realize at first, but even though the Fire Bears feel helpless as they die, some or most of them probably don't have enough energy leftover to forcefully materialize their emotions before they die. The entire process already sounds hard enough, but you have to do it as you die? I hope not, maybe I can find a way around that in the future, but for now, it's time to focus on what's ahead of me.
"I'm pretty sure the boss is way stronger than I thought, it's probably just because of Angela's abnormal strength stat that the previous battle was COMPLETELY one-sided," I said to myself as I put my hand on the door in front of me, it then soon opened. When it finally opened enough for me to see what was inside, I saw the same, huge bear with actual fire on its back. As I walked into what looked to be a throne room, the doors behind me quickly shut. Even though the [BOSS] monster wasn't something I couldn't defeat, I was still incredibly nervous as last time I didn't dare intervene in the fight.
I stared at the [BOSS] as it growled at me with saliva dripping from in between its teeth. I could now get a good look at it. It was way bigger than the Fire Bears and its claws were also larger, they also seemed to burn the floor as smoked rose from beneath. The bear's eyes were also a blood-red crimson, that also looked like they were just filled with blood, with the only thing distinguishing it from a ball of blood was its bright yellow pupils.
After a few seconds, the [BOSS] seemed to have grown impatient and rushed at me. I quickly dodged out of its path to the right and cast the 'Flame Pillar' spell at it. The Flame Pillar didn't do as much damage as I thought it did, but after a few seconds, I finally realized that the [BOSS] was of the fire element. Still, I was pretty confident that I could win this battle if I used my agility and mana to my advantage! Well, that was until 5 seconds ago, before a translucent, light red notification popped up in front of me.
[The monster nature within your body has awakened.]
This was the absolute worst time for that notification to pop up!!!
>>>
"What's the current situation?"
"My scouts have reported that the group has successfully located the dungeon, and entered it without being noticed."
"Good, since I'm in a bad mood today, tell them to kill all the people in that village and make sure the news doesn't spread and no one escapes."
"Yes, sir."