Augustus knew that he needed more power if he was going to face the relentless onslaught of wraiths.
"Yeah, the wraiths are too much. I should get another summon that can deal with them," said Augustus as he opened the skill shop.
While scanning through the available summoning skills, Augustus made up his mind.
He didn't bother looking at 3-star summoning skills as they were too expensive, and he couldn't even afford to buy most of the 2-star summoning skills, let alone upgrade them.
"I hope that The Goblin can be upgraded into mage. It's the cheapest ones I can afford," Augustus thought to himself.
['Goblin Summoning' Learned]
['Goblin Summoning' Leveled Up]
['Goblin Summoning' Leveled Up]
…
…
['Goblin Summoning' Leveled Up]
['Goblin Summoning' Leveled Up]
Upon examining the Goblin branch nodes, he discovered that there were three different paths for Goblins: Goblin Warrior, Goblin Archer, and Goblin Mage. Augustus already knew which path he wanted to take - the Goblin Mage path.
['Goblin Mage Summoning' Learned]
['Goblin Mage Summoning' Leveled Up]
['Goblin Mage Summoning' Leveled Up]
…
…
['Goblin Mage Summoning' Leveled Up]
['Goblin Mage Summoning' Leveled Up]
As he fully upgraded the Goblin Mage path, more paths unlocked: Goblin Wizard, Goblin Shaman, and Goblin Alchemist. "Since I need pure magic for the wraiths, I should go for the Wizard," Augustus concluded.
['Goblin Wizard Summoning' Learned]
['Goblin Wizard Summoning' Leveled Up]
['Goblin Wizard Summoning' Leveled Up]
…
…
['Goblin Wizard Summoning' Leveled Up]
['Goblin Wizard Summoning' Leveled Up]
Compared to the Slime King's upgrades, the upgrades for the Goblins didn't cost that much. Augustus could afford the next upgrade as well. However, this time there was only one node available, so Augustus had no choice but to upgrade it into an Elder Goblin Wizard.
['Elder Goblin Wizard Summoning' Learned]
['Elder Goblin Wizard Summoning' Leveled Up]
['Elder Goblin Wizard Summoning' Leveled Up]
…
…
['Elder Goblin Wizard Summoning' Leveled Up]
['Elder Goblin Wizard Summoning' Leveled Up]
[Elder Goblin Wizard]
After many years of practicing magic, a Goblin Wizard may become an Elder Goblin Wizard, a title reserved for the most experienced and knowledgeable mages in Goblin society. Elder Goblin Wizards are often seen as wise sages who offer advice and guidance to younger mages.
[Elder Goblin Wizard Lvl 10]
STR: 37 (+5) CONS: 19 (+5)
AGI: 43 (+10) DEF: 23 (+40)
INT: 79 (+30) MAG: 52 (+30)
Unique Stats:
Mana Regen: 20
[Learned Skills: Teleportation Lvl 1, Meditation Lvl 10, Missiles Barrage Lvl 10, Mana Shield Lvl 10, Fireball Lvl 10, Blizzard Lvl 10, Thunder's Call Lvl 10]
After many years of practice, Augustus had finally summoned the elusive Elder Goblin Wizard. It had cost him a total of 120k points to fully upgrade it, but the final stats exceeded his expectations.
The Elder Goblin Wizard was at least a Three-Star Mage, with overall stats that were extremely good for a mage.
Augustus was especially impressed by the Mana Regen stats. "Why did I never see or hear about regen stats before?" he wondered.
The Elder Goblin Wizard possessed many powerful spells, among them Blizzard and Thunder's Call, which Augustus recognized from his previous life as some of the strongest magic spells.
He had settled on the Elder Goblin Wizard as his new summon, and he was eager to put it to the test against the Wraiths that had been plaguing him.
As Augustus summoned the Elder Goblin Wizard, a portal appeared on the ground, revealing an old-looking goblin with a long, flowing beard and a wrinkled face etched with lines of wisdom and experience.
He was wearing long robes made of fine materials like silk or velvet, decorated with intricate patterns and symbols similar to what Augustus had seen on Jahrakal's body.
The Elder Goblin Wizard was also carrying a giant staff that had a goblin skull on top of it, with intricate runes drawn on it.
"Greetings, Master," the goblin greeted Augustus in perfect human language, which surprised him.
"You're able to speak my language?" Augustus asked in curiosity.
"Somehow, I'm just able to speak it. It seems knowledge was passed on as I arrived," Elder Goblin explained, stroking his beard.
Augustus introduced Squishy, his Slime King, to Gorlak, the Elder Goblin Wizard. Gorlak inspected Squishy closely, "This slime is unique. I haven't seen one like him before," Gorlak said, trying to inspect Squishy by touching it and examining it. "The crown is like a part of him."
"It's a Slime King," Augustus explained Squishy's species, which only increased Gorlak's fascination.
"A King? I see… then it's understandable how unique this creature is," Gorlak nodded his head as soon as he heard the word "King."
"I've met Jahrakal, who is also a king, but of the Goblins. Have you heard of him?" Augustus asked curiously.
"Jahrakal? I'm not sure if I've heard of him." Gorlak shook his head. "There's no king among my tribe. A king is only born once in a million chances, and unfortunately, I have yet to meet one from my own race," Gorlak said.
Augustus was glad to know that Squishy was worth the investment seeing the remarks of Gorlak on a King Species, and he was also excited to see what the Elder Goblin Wizard was capable of.
"Let's continue to the next room. We'll be able to see what you are capable of," Augustus decided to move on and stop chatting.
As Augustus was about to enter the next chamber, the system prompted him with a question, "Do you wish to merge with other party?"
Surprised, Augustus wondered if someone else from Exonia was also raiding the dungeon.
However, he couldn't hear any noise from the other side of the door.
Nevertheless, Augustus decided to accept the offer as it would take him more than a day to clear the dungeon alone.
As soon as he pressed yes, the surroundings turned into blue particles, just like how corpses disappeared when he killed the goblins earlier.
Suddenly, he found himself in the same place, but everything felt different. The stench of blood and decay was more prominent, and Augustus could see undead wandering outside through the window.
Before Augustus could react, a ghoul attacked him from behind. He blocked the attack with his sword but noticed that the ghoul was stronger than the ones he fought before.
As he fought the ghoul, he heard chaos on the other side of the door. People were yelling for help, and there was someone commanding them.
"I need heal!" a man shouted.
"I'm in huge trouble here, someone help me," a woman begged.
"Argh!!! I'm bitten!" a man screamed in agony. It seemed that they were also in trouble.
After killing the ghoul with much effort, Augustus resummoned the Slime King and Elder Goblin Wizard.
"Greeting again, Master," Gorlak greeted as he was summoned.
Squishy jumped on top of Augustus' head and rested there.
"We'll help the people inside here," Augustus said as he opened the door.
Inside, he saw a group of people fighting against the undead.
Squishy instantly multiplied in size and charged forward, killing a zombie that was biting one of the people.
Gorlak casted Missile Barrage, instantly killing multiple wraiths in the room and then resumed to help the others with his other spell.
Augustus also joined the fight, helping those in trouble.
"A slime?" one of the people exclaimed as Squishy went past him, swallowing skeletons and ghouls.
"That's a massive slime!" another person exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock.
"The wraiths are all dead, and our stats have been restored," the tank announced triumphantly. Now fully energized with his stats back, he could take on the skeletons that surrounded him.
"Who is that guy?" a guy was impressed by Augustus' swift movements as he rushed in alone without a tank or support.
"There's a powerful mage behind him too. Eek! It's a goblin?" a woman screamed as she realized that Gorlak was a goblin.
"They're my summons," Augustus yelled to them, noticing their panic as they saw Gorlak and Squishy. He quickly reassured them so that they wouldn't attack his companions.
"Don't get distracted. More of them are coming because of the noises we've caused. Kill them all as fast as we can," a young man exclaimed calmly, taking charge of the situation.
All of them stopped being distracted by Squishy and Gorlak, and they got into formation and fought back.
With Augustus' and his summons' help, they quickly cleared all the monsters.
"Quick! Tend to the injured, and block the pathway with an earth wall. We will rest here for a while before proceeding," the young man commanded with authority, his voice carrying across the room.
"Thank you for your help. If not for you, the fight would have lasted much longer, and we would have suffered more injuries," the young man, who seemed to be the leader of the group, thanked Augustus for his assistance. "My name is William. Nice to meet you."
"I'm Augustus. I was hoping to clear dungeon with you guys," Augustus wanted to speed up the dungeon clearing process.
"I see. Augustus, um, we didn't see you at the entrance. Did we miss you, or did you enter after we did?" William asked, curious as to how they had missed such a powerful individual who had just shown up after they had been in the dungeon for a few days already.
Augustus took a deep breath and decided to come clean. "I'm an Irregular. I have the ability to enter dungeons without a portal," he revealed truthfully.
At his words, everyone in the group stood up and gripped their weapons tightly, on guard as they heard the word 'Irregular'.
William was caught off guard, not expecting Augustus to be so honest.
"I knew he was suspicious," one of the men said, grabbing his sword and preparing to attack.
However, William commanded him to stand down, recognizing that if Augustus had wanted to harm them, he could have done so already.
"You're an Irregular? What are you doing here?" William asked politely, even though he knew that Augustus was their enemy. He couldn't afford to offend an Irregular, especially after witnessing Augustus' strength just moments ago.
"If you guys don't welcome me, I'll leave," Augustus was about to leave them with the system, but then William spoke.
"Please wait. You don't seem hostile at all, so we would be happy to have such a strong individual on our side," William said, extending his hand to Augustus in a friendly gesture, hoping that he didn't take offense at what his party member had just said.
[Would you like to join William's Party]
[Yes/No]
Suddenly, a notification from the System appeared:
[Sudden Quest Arrived]
[Join William's Party and Help William Clear 20th Room]
[Rewards: 50k Points]
Augustus was about to decline the offer, but the reward of 50k points caught his attention. "50k is not much, but it's better than before. If it had been 10k, I would have ignored the quest outright," Augustus thought to himself.