Armed and ready, I proceeded to get a better understanding of my current location. With me being an ancestral dark elf, I can see in absolute darkness as though it were day, so visibility was not an issue. Still it doesn't hurt to be extra cautious, especially with me being on my own.
I evoked black lightless flames around my head like I normally do and proceeded to head towards the highest point nearby to get a lay of the land. After 30 minutes, I reached what appeared to be a steep rock face, I evoked wind magoi and flew to the top of the rock face. Once at the top, I stood still and beheld the cavernous floor.
Off into the distance, I spied a spot which seemed to look like a lake of sorts. Given the danger between me and there, it should take me about 5 days to reach it undetected. As I continued to search the area, I noticed a giant creature curled up atop another giant boulder. That must be the floor guardian. Luckily, the thing is sleep and shouldn't be a problem as long as no one messes with it.
Not wasting any more time on the floor guardian, I dropped down and made haste to the rendezvous area. As I pressed forward, my path was halted by the local denizen of the dungeon, Night Creepers. They are insect-type monsters which are completely blind but can detect prey via sound and vibrations. I had run through a few nests of the things, swiftly killed them before they could so much as wail for help.
If I wasn't fighting Night Creepers, then I would face Crypt Stalkers which are undead-type monsters only found in dark caves infested with insects and the like. This floor was the perfect place for them since, unlike what their name may imply, these things by no means stayed in graves but roamed around swiftly. Once they caught the smell of their prey, they would follow it until their death.
I decided to use this time as a means to fine tune my combat and movement abilities. It's a blessing in disguise, another chance to develop. I enhanced my senses with neutral magoi and fought solely with my sword.
I already knew this would be a bloody marathon in which everything would attack me. My only choice would be develop a means to travel soundlessly and blend into the environment without the use of magoi. The reason; the floor guardian will be able to sense even the faintest of foreign magoi, and I seem to have been followed by an even more annoying monster, Arachne Moths simply called Spider Moths.
Their appearance is exactly like the name implies spiders with moth wings. Not just any spider but flying spiders the size of a full-grown horse. These nasty critters are blind, deaf, and numb to all normal senses.
However, they are able to track prey by using a 6th sense meant for sensing magoi and aura. Even worse, the monster is silent and stealthy, if you don't locate and kill them swiftly, you will find yourself stung with paralytic venom and wrapped in silk. Their wings also release a paralytic dust which once inhaled will spell your doom.
I had noticed my most recent stalker after having killed a small horde of Crypt Stalkers, but I was hoping the creature was not what I thought it might be. Seems my bad luck is starting to show itself now. The monster followed me for a solid hour before it furiously began shooting silk balls at me. Their silk when shot out flies at a fast enough speed which will break bones when struck. I guess this means I will need to fight it…uuhh…
Annoyed, disgusted, and tired I decided to make a very rash move. Spotting another batch of Crypt Stalkers, I ran towards them with the flying spider in tow. As I approached, I forsook not using magic, and evoked Nether Flarebolts, Earth Spears, and Wind Blades. I cast all 3 spells at the Crypt stalker gang and watched them explode with dust, and black flames everywhere.
Diving towards the flaming hole, I evoked another Nether Flarebolt and cast it at the Spider Moth. This caused its wing dust to catch on fire, but no harm was done much to my disbelief. Luckily, the creature followed me into the fire which would seal its doom, or so I thought.
Once it closed in, I threw a plasma spear packed with enough magoi to fell a mountain, causing a massive explosion which shook the floor. It may seem like what I did was overkill, but one should understand a single Spider Moth is capable of devouring both a Grand Blademaster stage fighting alongside a Master stage with no issue. This creature completely outmatches me.
Although my attack landed on the fiend, all it did was disorient it enough to allow me to slip away, hopefully. As I ran into a new direction, I heard a disgusting wail come from the direction of the spider,
"Skkkrrreeeeaaa!!"
Great, now I really pissed the thing off. The wail of the spider had caused more Spider Moths to wail in response. Nonetheless, I ran like hell not sparing any effort to get away from this ensuing giant death cloud. I guess the noise I was making with the spider was enough to work in my favor as an even louder roar was heard,
"RRROOOOAAARRR!!"
The noise had woken the floor guardian. Luckily, instead of going to the site of the commotions, it roared in our direction. That roar was infused with magoi that shook the air as it drew closer.
I had to create a thick wall made of elemental magoi to prevent myself from turning into shreds from the roar. Yet, I still coughed up blood from the internal damage taken. Still, I kept running not daring to look back. On the upside, the spider moths stopped chasing after the floor guardian's roar.
I guess this is the only upside about appearing in a dungeon with the floor guardian this close by. I continued to run in an obscure way towards the lake for another 4 hours, then I decided to find a place to hide and rest for a while. Even though it hasn't even been 13 hours since I entered the dungeon, the Spider Moth issue was draining to say the least.
After not detecting any hidden traps or monsters, I carved a hiding place in the nearest giant boulder by evoking earth magoi and once the cave was big enough, I covered the entrance just enough to only allow air inside. Sitting down in a meditative position, I viewed my stats while recharging my mental energy.
"Man… there should really be stats representing mental fatigue." I moaned to myself. As a response, the system recalibrated my stats.
~User Info~
Location: 1st Floor: Lightless Cavern – Baronac Dungeon – Monarchy of Duxley…
Incarnation: Yuriy Markov XV
Age: 10 Sols Race: Mixed +
HP: 1550/1700 // Stamina: 600/645
(New) Fatigue :30/100
MP: 2250/3000 // SP: 175/175
Stage: None (Endowment: Hatched Godling – Heaven domain)
Attributes
Str: 95.33 // Chr: 70.66 // End: 257.33
Dex:210.33 // Vit: 210.33
Int: 320 (325) // Luck: 10(83)
Moral Affinity
↓
Good-------------Neutral--------------Evil
Elemental Affinity:
Earth: 10 // Fire:10 // Water:10
Air:10 // Light: 10 // Dark: 10
Lightning: 10 // Nature: 10
Ice: 10 // Null: 10
Special
Soul of the Doom Bringer // Guardian Angel(?)
Divine Vessel // Soul concussion
Living Artifact // Curse Eater (Locked)
Ancestral Blood // Clover Peach mandrake, Ivy's lover
Fearsome Vestige
Well…this will help in the long run. Selecting fatigue, a message box popped up saying,
"Fatigue: A quantification of mental stress. Fatigue stats do not change, but the consumption of fatigue may drop depending on age, training, and mastery over the mind."
In other words, when I either age, go up in stages of power, or develop a technique which reduces my overall fatigue, I will have less mental burnout. In addition, after 3-sols, and constant work (slaughter), my moral affinity headed towards evil. I never killed or harmed innocent people.
But apparently, my bloodlust towards bandits and other evil creatures has in turn made me evil. That and my armor as well as my head shroud of flames add more to the evil vibe. As a result, I gained a new special condition, Fearsome Vestige which provides the following,
"Fearsome Vestige: You are the embodiment of death! Physical and magic damage increased by 80% when fighting bandits, monsters, and other evil doers. Unlocks the arcane arts, Hell Shroud which covers the caster in a colorless, lightless fire that instead of consuming the user's magoi, it consumes the blood and flesh of your victims. Warning: With every use of Hell Shroud, user's moral affinity adds 1 to "Evil"."
This was an added bonus for me when facing my enemies; however, I was not going to use that ability unless I had no other option. The reason is related to the system messages that are in bold red. These messages also do not disappear from my notification inbox regardless of what I do,
"Warning: User's moral affinity has reached "Evil" 55. Physical features will reflect the darkness that hides within. User has fulfilled the moral affinity conditions for Gem of the Doom Bringer (Mythical), Armor of the Doom Chaser: Full set (Mythical), and Sword of Forlorn Demise: One-Handed (Mythical). The user may now modify and equip the latest items. Please note, items with a "Light" affinity will no longer be accessible."
"Notice: With user's ancestral blood, user's physical appearances will not change; however, user's spiritual markings, magoi tattoos, and curse markings will reflect their evil nature. As a result, user has unlocked racial abilities Ancestral Bloodlust, Curse removal, Wrath of the Ancestor, and Rite of Absorption."
Happy I could finally use one of the quest rewards from the inheritance realm, I tried to equip the armor and weapons, but was met with another notice,
"User has not fulfilled all requirements to equipped Armor of the Doom Chaser: Full set (Mythical), and Sword of Forlorn Demise: One-Handed (Mythical). Final requirement: use the Gem of the Doom Bringer (Mythical) to absorb the souls of evil found on Ohmdorra (10,0000). Current progress: 1034.6/10,000".
In the 1 sol I was able to use this quest item, I have been killing bandits and monsters alike. Even still, I have thousands more to kill and to add insult to injury, monster souls only count as .1 of a soul, whereas bandit souls count as .5 of a soul!! Anyway, I stopped focusing on my stats, and solely focused on recovering my mental prowess.
-End of Chapter