"ERRRRR!!! CURSE THESE ANNOYING FUCKS!!!!"
Cavilhaugh wailed at the top of his lungs. It has been exactly 5 days since we entered the 3rd floor, and as expected we were attacked by everything. Trees, grass, monsters… it didn't matter. There was even this mono-cellular monster which is as big as a frying pan but extremely transparent as it floats in the air. The creature's called Amebic Phantom and much to its name, it haunts and harasses you day and night.
The monster is mad weak, but that doesn't stop it from trying to infiltrate every available hole in your body, ears, nose, mouth… ass. Cavilhaugh was the one in our party to get intimate with one of the phantoms, Long story short, it caught him while taking a massive shit. Haha… hilarious!
Anyway, much to our expectations, we were under siege at every step. The upside: I was able to fine tune Ra's Domain, now I can create 3 stellar cores simultaneously which expanded the domain to 50-meters in diameter; creating a safe haven for us to at least rest while we advance. Not to mention, even though our pace wasn't extremely fast, I was burning through magoi like a bad gambler contemplating this month's mortgage.
With us now being able to stop for a few hours, I have been able to recharge my magoi stores. Additionally, I have slowly but assuredly found a way to naturally reduce my fatigue drain. Still, the whole thing sucks as it means I need to evoke Ra's domain every 2-3 hours.
Ever since entering the dungeon, we have all been improving in our combat effectiveness, even Cavilhaugh despite losing his butt virginity to a monster. Just 2 days ago, Cavilhaugh had adopted using an arcane art not a part of his particular arcane school, Sword of Retribution. The arcane art generates at most 20 autonomous elemental swords which act as sword domain. When used alongside Ra's Domain, we were able to increase our pace by 15%, bringing us 3 hours per day closer to our objective.
Most surprisingly, Anansi broke through to the Grand Blademaster stage last night. It all happened while fighting a horde of Defiled Wood Elves. It goes without saying, these thing are definitely monsters and can't be confused with the elven clan Arbor Elves.
Defiled Wood Elves are monsters made completely out of trees, grass, soil, and abyssal treant sap. The plant matter is defiled by the sap which causes the trees and grass to change into a putrid orange and brown color. During the defilement after changing color, all plant matter effected by the sap is reduced to a puss like states which acts as incubation fluid from which the defiled Wood Elves emerge forth like a sprouting trees.
In contrast, the elven clan Arbor Elves are what many authors and game creators from Earth wood call Wood Elves. They make their homes atop large trees, they're the best hunters, and for the most part use extraordinarily little to no magic. They're culture is vastly different from the other elven clans as they are very open to living with members of the other races.
I digress, Anansi faced this horde of monsters with little assistance needed. His movements were ethereal for lack of a better description. As one monster approached, Anansi would slip by him as if he was a mirage or something similar.
The man was leaving after images of himself all over the battlefield. Eventually it reached a point his "clones" began to be more lifelike as the battle progressed, until they were corporeal enough to cause harm to the monster horde. These clones were the result of Anansi fusing his own shadow with aura, causing the shadow to come to life.
With a Grand Blademaster in our party, the pressure on me was eased by a great deal. Not to mention, seeing Anansi's breakthrough has enlightened me on how to awaken my aura fully. It is only a matter of time before I can breakthrough to the Mana Bladesman stage in my path to power.
On a side note, I have been devising how my path to power will differ from the more common paths. Due to the quest from uncle, I will need to either make an organization with profound influence or establish a sovereign nation. Currently, I am leaning towards an organization since being a ruler of a nation would bind me to a particular plot of land, creating border issues.
Don't get me wrong, I did entertain the idea of being a king; wealth beyond measure, royal guards and armies using the path to power you provide, citizens who praise and adore you as a living god, a harem of beautiful suitors you can bed any day, multiple times a day… dying at the hands of your queen who is a fairyfolk with enough power to sneak into your chambers and strangle you with her thorny vines…
Yea, there's no future for me there. Which is why I have been considering the option of founding an organization, but what kind of organization I am not sure of at the moment. One thing I do know, if I go this route, I will need to be able to provide powerful arcane arts and meditation techniques for many mages and warriors; both are highly kept secrets for any powerful organization.
Going back to my way of the Arcane Warrior, I have already considered which stages are what and the requirements for each. The Chosen stage is when those who are the equivalent of a Fledgling mage and Fledgling fighter. The major difference is they will use mana manipulation as their meditation technique instead of this world's techniques. Arcane Squires are those who have fighting ability of a Pawn stage and are ready to create their mana palaces.
Further, Arcane Esquires like myself have created their mana palaces, have yet to awaken aura and have a high proficiency with the arcane arts Elemental Saber arts. Mana Bladesmen have awakened their aura and like their arcanist and Battlemaster counterparts have mastered multiple arcane arts and are able to fell thousands of Knights.
Which brings me to the Grand Blademaster and Expert equivalent, MagiKnight. In theory they should be able to mold aura and infuse it into their weapons, armor, and other objects, but what about their spells and possibly their possession ability? I will need to consider this once I reach the peak of Mana Bladesman. Anyway, all this will need to wait until I have cleared this god forsaken hellscape of a dungeon floor.
As a few days passed, we encountered more and more waves of Defiled Wood Elves. Each wave is more refined and life like than the last. I and everyone else knew eventually we were going to face the elites of the floor guardian, Abyssal Elves.
These monsters are Defiled Wood Elves that after their initial incubation like all the others, are then stored inside the floor guardian. They then are refined with the magoi, lifeforce, blood, bones and flesh consumed by the floor guardian until the sprout like fruit on the guardian's branches.
Although they look like a member of the races, they are in fact mindless husks, puppets of the floor guardian. The best thing to do for them is to end their tainted existence. Just the thought of such foul creatures mimicking an elven clan boils my blood. I must be careful though. These things bring out a fury I've never felt before. A deep darkness begs me to kill all that profanes life. (Get it together, old man!! Now's not the time to be swept by emotion!)
-End of Chapter