[Chapter Size: 2269 Words.]
Lucius POV
Tower of Babel.
...
...
After leaving Hephaestus's shop, I took some time and visited a few other stores to buy a bag for storing food and, most importantly, water bottles to hydrate my throat. I purchased them from some stalls outside the tower.
Once I finished my shopping, the sun was already showing, signaling the end of the day. I thought about making good use of some time before returning to the church and heading to the dungeon to train for a few hours. I planned to descend to the 7th floor or even deeper to claim that I had produced something useful that day.
I still didn't have suitable combat equipment, as I was dressed in new civilian clothes, with only a classic medieval sword strapped to my waist with the Crozzo emblem on it and a bag of supplies on my back. Nevertheless, I confidently headed towards the dungeon entrance.
As I walked towards the stairway gate, where the first floor began, I saw Bell coming out of the dungeon with little Liliruca Arde at that moment. I knew about his real actions and intentions with Bell, but I decided not to interfere in that matter. I would let Bell go through his protagonist trials and establish his relationships. After all, I wasn't interested in getting involved, and I knew everything would be fine in the end – that's what mattered to me. Ignoring my family member, I began to enter the hall before descending into the dungeon.
"Hello, Edd," I greeted a guard at the entrance, whom I recognized and who was on duty today. He was a direct guild employee.
"Lucius! Good to see you. It's been a while. Are you going in without equipment?!" He exclaimed, initially enthusiastic to see an old acquaintance. It's common to form friendships with some guards after two years as an adventurer here, no matter how weak you may be.
Apparently, he didn't know that I left my old family a week ago, and he even expressed a bit of shock at that revelation, knowing how imposing I could be when equipped for nighttime dungeon training. Finding it strange that I was heading into danger in my current clothes, I tried to ease his concerns.
"It's alright. I can take care of myself, old friend," I reassured him and continued on my way with a reassuring smile.
"I'll trust you, just don't die, okay?" He said with a hint of suspicion.
I just waved goodbye to him.
One hour later.
[- FIREBOLT!]
*Boom*
[- FIREBOLT!]
*Boom*
[- FIREBOLT!]
*Boom*
"I'm sure I can keep going," I said as I looked at the pile of rocks along my path and the battlefield with numerous holes. The dungeon was doing its job, fixing these tunnels already. Despite getting a bit of dirt on my clothes, I realized I had reached the seventh floor again quite easily.
'I got here faster than yesterday, so I'll continue a bit more...' I thought to myself before starting to walk towards the eighth and new floor.
During this time, I used the sword a few times, only cutting down some individually encountered monsters. I realized I was really lacking in my physical areas and had quite poor swordsmanship. I might be a mage with infinite mana, but I wouldn't neglect physical aspects. I didn't want my body to be a significant weakness. Mages might have great destructive and supportive powers, but they could easily be killed by an agility-specialized enemy if not careful.
Thinking about it, I would need a teacher in the future. I just wondered who would be the most ideal person for that. The sword princess would be teaching Bell to fight in the next few days, and she was an expert in swordsmanship. However, I didn't want to associate with that character. I preferred to be the OP man behind the scenes, just observing, rather than interacting with the main characters, especially when it attracted too much attention. Maybe interfere in events when necessary, but avoid as much attention as possible while I was still weak...
Forty minutes after killing all the kobolds and goblins that appeared in my path—these were the official monsters of these two floors I wandered—I wasn't surprised by the limited variety. It was different from the sixth floor, which had Frog Shooters and War Shadows, or the seventh floor, where there were Killer Ants, Purple Moths, Blue Butterflies, and Needle Rabbits, making it the floor with the most monster variations and the one where I accumulated the most points.
Without realizing it, I reached the tenth floor, marking the intermediate pre-floors.
The first thing I noticed as I descended the stairs was the lack of visibility beyond 100 meters ahead, but I continued anyway. Walking through the dense fog for a few minutes, I found my first targets. There were two orcs walking near a tree. Without wasting time, I pointed my hand at them, neither of them noticing me yet, and shouted.
[- FIREBOLT!]
The fire bolts shot out from my hand and fell upon them with a great surprise, illuminating the fog in this small area.
*Boom*
The small explosion hit them hard, covering their bodies and the tree with smoke.
"This is amazing, casting magic never gets old. Personally, it's incredible and gives you a feeling that you're some kind of deity..." I said to myself. The dopamine from the experience of blowing things up leaves a manic feeling along with the adrenaline.
"ROAAARR!"
However, my thoughts were interrupted by the angry roars of the orcs emerging from the smoke with hatred in their eyes.
"As I thought, things are no longer as simple as the monsters I faced up to the ninth floor..." I murmured to myself and began raising my hand, casting more spells towards the orcs, who were now running towards me with the intention of killing me. They were so angry that they even ignored their burning skin and accumulating pain inflicted by me.
[- FIREBOLT!]
*Boom*
[- FIREBOLT!]
*Boom*
[- FIREBOLT!]
*Boom*
[- FIREBOLT!]
*Boom*
I needed to hit each of them with three spells for them to finally disintegrate. The first attack caught both of them, but then I had to launch two fire bolts at each as they moved away. I realized that I should be a bit more careful on these floors and even more cautious when stepping into the official intermediate floors, as the dungeon screws you the deeper you go.
I also realized that I should keep a distance as an advantage when facing all monsters from now on. I wasn't confident that I could handle them in close combat, and if I were closer to the orcs, I might not have time to kill them before they reached me.
'So, I'll be extra careful...' was my thought as my attention shifted to something else now.
Looking at the system message, I noticed that I was now gaining 10 points for killing orcs, but the crystals were still the same as the sixth floor, offering another 10 points. Closing the message, I continued exploring the fog on this floor.
Facing more orcs, I dealt with them more easily after knowing that I needed three shots for them. After a while, I found another staircase leading to the eleventh floor. My gains on this floor, after killing about 40 orcs, were 800 points, which I found reasonable but slower to accumulate than the floors before these.
When I descended to the next floor, with the death of a few more orcs here, I saw the result that, as I predicted, the crystals increased to 20 points each, doubling the points I received from the sixth to the tenth floor.
But I didn't stay here for long, as after collecting the crystals from the 20 orcs I eliminated on this floor, I started to head back to the stairs.
I, who planned to spend about 3 hours exploring and making some profit, doing a few more tests, ended up staying over 4 hours, surpassing my solo record, which was limited to the seventh floor quite easily. I found nothing that could make me fear for my life. However, I can understand, because using long-distance magic, I can easily deal with most dangers on the upper floors.
Now I'm returning with satisfactory results to the surface while killing a few more monsters that the dungeon creates in my path.
I am quite happy with two bags full of crystals as well. I need money to buy my ordered clothes in a few days, so I haven't exchanged them for points in the system yet.
My return was smooth; I encountered some adventurers in the tunnel on the way, who seemed to be training at this time. The dungeon was empty. It took me another 2 hours to reach the gate of the first floor.
Finally emerging on the surface of the city, I noticed the lights and noises around me. Orario was at its peak, a city considered the center of this world, where tens of thousands of adventurers celebrated returning alive from the dungeon.
I wanted to enjoy a pub while watching groups of people celebrate and have fun, but I had to save some money for the equipment I planned to acquire. So, I ignored the entire place, walking through the bustling streets and disregarding some feminine glances in the groups of girls at the bars.
I returned to the church a while later, finding my fellow and Goddess sleeping soundly, cuddled together. I lay down on the same wall I slept on yesterday, accustomed to it, so I didn't mind not having a bed. The bed was available, with Hestia jumping on the sofa with Bell, but I didn't want to seem like a pervert or really be bothered by it.
But before sleeping, I sat eagerly in this corner and began studying my current stats.
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---Information---
• Name: Lucius Drakenar
• Level: 1.
---Stats---
• Strength: I62 -> 70
• Endurance: I75 -> 90
• Dexterity: I67 -> 80
• Agility: I86 -> 99
• Magic: I55 -> 140
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[10,000 FireBolt Mission: Cast 10,000 Firebolts! | {Progress 982/10000} | {Reward: The User will be able to Cast Spells Without an Incantation.}]
[System Points: 8180]
I spent 6 hours in the dungeon; however, I still lost a lot of time on the pre-intermediate floors, causing my points to decrease at a slower rate than I usually gain on floors considered easier.
In the early floors, the spawn rate is very high, and my attacks are Hitkill on them. I should have doubled yesterday's points with the time spent in the dungeon, but in the end, I made 5,000 system points. Casting 3 spells to destroy an orc is a significant delay. Unfortunately, I'm stuck until I get a much stronger spell or increase my magic stats, so I must choose to stay on the upper floors until then.
Opening the spell store, I began analyzing what would be my best path as a mage. I realized that some spells seem to function with the destruction system from Skyrim. Fire spells cause damage, burning the opponent after being hit and dealing damage in a larger area around the target.
As for lightning spells, besides being extremely fast, they are for targeting a single specific opponent in most initial spells since the lightning is thin. In a raid, the lightning mage is more popular because they can cast lightning in a small area instead of hitting a large area and risking hurting allies. Additionally, lightning can weaken the opponent's mana, which is useful against opponents with magical attacks.
The ice system seems to work in a way that its side effect is slowing down the opponent, not to mention that it can drain their stamina, a great advantage for most monsters in the dungeon on the upper floors.
I was able to better identify these elements; however, the store is not limited to just attacks from these three elements. There are also wind, earth, air, plant, wood, space, time, gravity, light, darkness, necromancy, and many other special categories. The list is almost infinite.
Unfortunately, I don't have the means to have all of this at the moment because special elements with OP attacks are almost all rank 4.
'Something that would take me years in Orario to acquire these spells if I continued at this pace today. But I know I can multiply my gains when I start exploring the deeper floors! So, I just have to get stronger, and my benefits will come.' I thought.
But I was very excited; the potential is immense. I could be content with just a few level 4 spells in this life.
Seeing how slow I am to earn points initially, I'll have to specialize in some element. I noticed that there were even some spells from the Wizard King himself in Black Clover in this list at rank 4, showing the potential of these spells that cost millions of points with weaker grimoires.
"I'll specialize in fire for now, but in the future, I plan to acquire spells in the time category like the Wizard King. I'll be a complete cosplay then..." I smiled at that thought.
"Lucius, you finally returned. What are you muttering to yourself over there?" Hestia got up from the sofa lazily, rubbing her eyes. She had just woken up, but I didn't mind if she found it strange.
"Just thinking, Goddess Hestia, just thinking..." I said as I leaned back to finally sleep, still thinking of dreaming about the expectation of a bright and limitless future ahead.
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