After trying many different ways to coat himself in ice mana, Kai didn't see any fruits of his labor.
'Somethings missing, just like that ice ball I first tried. What could it be?'
Moving on, Kai continued exploring the Catacombs, hoping to get more ice magic experience. Turning another corner, he saw another Skeleton. This time the Skeleton had its head on, moving around, inspecting the area. Almost like he was patrolling the area.
'Skeletons can survive without a head attached, and it seems the only way to kill them was by destroying the skull.' Kai decided to avoid attacking the skull; he didn't want to kill the Skeleton; he wanted to experiment with them.
This time he wants to try a new spell he had in mind.
Looking at the Skeleton's legs, Kai focused his ice mana on surrounding the legs; he then started concentrating on the ice mana to condense on and into the leg bones. Coating them, invading the bone itself.
{Learned, Tier:0 Ice spell [Freeze]-Condensing ice mana to a specific spot, the user freezes the target.}
Kai smirked.
The Skeleton's bone legs were frozen, ice covering its entire legs and feet. The ice even covered some of the ground where the feet were connected to the ground.
Kai tightened his fist, 'Break!'
The ice cracked, then broke. Ice shards were sent flying along the corridor. Forcefully breaking the ice also made the Skeleton's bones crack and break.
~Thud~
Without the support of its legs or feet, the Skeleton fell to the ground. The Skeletons whipped its head around, looking for where the ice came from. Not giving it a chance, he sent a [Ice Spike] through its skull.
{Earned 300 Experience Points}
{Level Up!}
"[Collect]!"
{Obtained, Skeleton Bone x12}
Now that [Freeze] has become a spell; its power increased while the cost decreased. Wanting to see how much he could freeze, Kai began to spread his ice mana, covering the entire corridor.
"{Freeze}!"
Ice slowly formed over the skull walls and dirt path, and ceiling. Only after a few seconds was Kia's spell done. For 10 feet, ice covered everything in its way.
{Freeze} was only a tier: 0 spell, so this amount of power from a tier 0 spell and tier 0 magic was already impressive. Once Kai manages to level up his ice magic, all of his spells will grow stronger, sometimes forming new spells.
"Break."
~Crack~
All the ice cracked and broke. Walking through the broken ice shards, he continued searching for either the exit or more test subjects.
'Mm, I must be getting close. I doubt my magic will work on the floor guardian, though it will be a good test for it.'
The yellow-red fire from the candles turned blue. Illuminated the long halls with a blue hue. The air turned cold, which didn't bother Kai anymore.
'If I had fire magic, would warmth not bother me much?'
Since he had ice magic, his body was comfortable in the cold; with fire magic, his body would adapt, making the heat have less effect. Higher-tier mages with high-tier fire magic would be able to live in volcanoes and not feel any discomfort.
This would also apply to any magic, even developing pseudo immunes to that specific element. Of course, only magic of the same tier or higher as that being would be able to hurt them.
'Three, no five.'
In the distance, Kai could make out five figures standing still. Like they were waiting for something or guarding something.
'First, I should use up my attribute points.'
Although it was nice having attribute points so he can level his stats up during a battle as a surprise, it would all be useless if Kai was dead. He could always get more attribute points, but he didn't know what kind of boss was ahead or what these five figures were.
If it were anything like the previous floor, then they would be an evolved version of the Skeletons. There was a high chance they would be higher level than himself. Kai was lucky to have fought the Zombie Warriors one-on-one, but here it would be a five-on-one.
{Name: Kai Venator
Race: Mutated Werewolf
Class: Warrior
Level: Tier 1: 16/50 -> Tier 1: 17/50 - 190/1,100 Exp
Hp: 5,350/5,400 -> 5,740/5,740
Mana: 23,000/23,000 -> 28,500/28,500
Magic: Tier:0 Ice: Spells(Click To See)}
Mind: 235-> 235 (+25) -> 260
Vitality: 270->279 (+8) -> 287
Strength: 340 -> 350
Intelligence: 230 -> 235 (+50) -> 285
Agility: 300 -> 308
Dexterity: 275 -> 282
Resistance: 280 -> 289 (+25) -> 314
Attribute Points: 138-> 30
Equipment: (Click To See)
Inventory: (Click To See)
Skills:(Click To See)
Shop:(Click To See)
Balance: 0 SC }
By now, Kai's palm had healed entirely, and his Hp was full. He decided to add points into his intelligence to make his spells even stronger and give himself more mana. This way, he could hopefully last longer against the boss, only using ice magic.
Kai had a hunch on what Mind does and decided to add some points to it. He hoped to confirm his suspicion soon.
As Kia got closer, he could now get a complete view of the figures.
Three figures had long white swords, with bones for the handle and blade. The bone for the blade was sharpened to the extreme. Making even Kai wary of the blade. The three also had sharp edges on their elbows and knees.
Making even their bodies weapons, the sharp edges of their bodies were oddly familiar to the bone blades on the swords.
'It's like they used their own bones for the swords. Can they regrow bones?'
Since Skeletons believed bones to be superior to everything, they didn't wear armor but made their own bodies into armor and weapons.
"{Inspect}!"
{Skeleton knight}
{Level-18}
"Mm, I don't really see the 'Knight' part, though each race is bound to be different. But I don't get it; why is its name that? Do monsters not have names? Or are they named off their race? Maybe they are just basic evolutions of their races, so they don't have names, unlike the floor guardians. Maybe floor guardians are special evolutions of monsters."
Kai tried to make sense of it all. Ever since he stepped into a dungeon, he's noticed all the monsters are named for what they are. For example, this Skeleton Knight is called Skeleton Knight. Kai isn't called 'Mutated Werewolf Warrior' but his actual name.
The name of the system displays is based on what they consider themselves or the name they called themselves. Kai's name is Kai, so the system will show that as his name when someone {Inspect}'s him.
Monsters don't name themselves but call each other what they are. These skeletons have the 'knight' class and, therefore, are referred to as 'Skeleton Knight'.
Because of their lack of intelligence and conscience, monsters are rarely able to evolve or get a class at the lower tiers. Monsters in higher dungeons at a higher tier are born with knowledge either from their parents or the system.
That is also when monsters gain 'names.'
On the sides of the three Skeleton Knights were Skeletons with black pointy hats and wooden sticks in their hands. Each had a distinct color emitting around them. The one on the far most right had a red aura around it, while the far most left one had a blue aura. This blue was far deeper than Kai's lighter blue, almost cyan aura.
"{Inspect}!"
{Skeleton Mage}
{Level-19}
A smile crept on Kai's face, "Mages, huh? I finally get to fight against magic."
Looking at the wooden sticks in the mages' hands, he wasn't sure what purpose they could have.
Walking closer, Kai began to form his ice mana around the Skeleton Knights. He didn't want to take out the Skeleton Mages just yet. It would be best if he could get some experience with fighting magic.
"[Freeze]!"
In an instant, the Skeleton Warrior's legs froze completely, along with the ground around them. Unfortunately, his ice spell didn't last long when the Skeleton Knights started stabbing the ice with their swords. In only a few seconds, the Skeleton Knights were free. Looking at Kai, they let out a roar and charged him.
'How do they roar?'
Kai didn't panic seeing the Skeleton Knights charging him. He was actually happy. He was delighted because his spell was much stronger than before!
Previously his [Freeze] spell took a few seconds to compete, but now, it instantly activated. Looking at his mana, his spell even took less mana.
{Mana: 28,400/28,500}
His one spell only took 100 mana, and that number would continue to decrease as his stats increased or his ice magic tier increased.
'My spells should also be stronger, and those Skeleton Knights broke free fast.'
Looking at the bone swords, he knew they were dangerous.
While the Skeleton Knights charged at Kai, the two mages were idly either. Their red and blue auras grew stronger, and mana gathered around them. The two wooden sticks started glowing with their respective elements.
'If they all attack at once, this won't turn out good.'
Not waiting for a combined attack, Kai readied three [Ice Spike]'s. The ice spikes appeared in the air instantly, emitting a lit blue color with a cold aura.
{-1200 Mana}
Each ice spike consumed 400 mana, a full 100 mana less than before!
Putting his hand out, Kai signaled the ice spikes to attack.
~Zoom~
The ice spikes flew through the air, impaling a knee of each of the Skeleton Knights.
~Thud~
The Skeleton Knights fell hard to the ground.
Before Kai could finish them off, two spheres flew through the air toward him.
One was blue while the other was red.
Fireball!
Water Ball!
'Damn'
Quickly forming an ice wall between himself and the two attacks, Kai kept enforcing the ice wall before impact.
~Boom~
The magic spells crashed through his ice barrier, hitting Kai.
~Thud~
Kai flew back a few feet, falling to the ground.
Fortunately, his ice barrier took most of the power away from the two spells, so Kai didn't take much damage.
"MMM, ahh" Getting up, Kai groaned.
'That's what I get for being careless.'
"[Freeze]"
Kai froze the Skeleton Knight's arms and legs. This way, they wouldn't be able to resist his main attack.
"[Ice Spike]"
Three more ice spikes formed above Kai's head. Sending them forward, the ice spikes flew through the air piercing the Skeleton Knights' Skulls.
Moving onto the Skeleton Mages, Kai sent two ice spikes at them, watching how they would defend.
The fire mage countered with a [FireBall], meeting his ice spike head-on.
~Boom~
The two attacks met head-on, colliding. Stem covered the area, and only after a few minutes could Kai see both attacks dispersed.
While the water mage decided to in case the ice spike with water, halting its movements.
'How interesting, while the fire mage likes to meet my attack head-on and overpower or equally match it, the water mage avoided attacking and only defended.'
'Let's see how they react to [Freeze].'
"[Freeze]!"
Kai froze the legs of the mages, watching how they would get out of the ice.
Just like last time, the wooden stick glowed.
The fire mage did what Kai thought he would. Igniting the ice on fire, the fire mage melted away the ice, freeing himself. Kai did enjoy seeing the red-yellow fire ignite out of nowhere.
While the water mage did something, Kai wasn't expecting. Instead of doing anything, the water mage did nothing, like the ice didn't bother the water mage or hinder its movements.
'Alright, well, I was hoping to see something else. This should be enough anyway.'
"[Freeze]"
Kai froze the wooden sticks and the hand they were connected to. He wasn't sure how or why, but he noticed the wooden sticks glowed every time they used magic.
"[Ice Spike]!'
Instead of one ice spike each, Kai conjured four ice spikes in total, two for each. Sending one ice spike first, Kai waited for the mages to counter.
The two Skeleton Mages glowed in their respective elements; breaking their hands and wooden sticks free, they conjured spells to counter the ice spikes.
Smirking, Kai had already predicted this. Sending the other ice spikes to the side, he waited.
Just like before, the fire mage's wooden stick glowed red, and a red-yellow fireball formed, flying toward the ice spike to meet it head-on.
While the water mage broke free, using his mana to overpower Kai's spell. The water mage conjured water, ready to absorb the ice spike.
"Haha." Kai couldn't help himself but laugh. The two Skeleton Mages fell for his trap.
~Boom~
The fireball met the ice spike head-on with equal power, causing the stem to appear. While the water mage surrounded the ice spike.
~Crack~
~Thud~
The two hidden ice spikes pierced the two Skeleton Mages, cracking their skulls. Both mages fell to the ground, and the aura around them also dispersed.
{Earned 1,650 Experience Points}
{Level Up!}
"[Collect]!"
{Obtained, Skeleton bone x30}
{Obtained, Tier:1 Wooden Wand x1}