7/13 17:23 (Summer, Night; Second Floor Boss Room of the previously unknown Undead Dungeon)
The second Floor was quite different than the first right from the start.
The only physical beings in it were rares "Undead Abominations" of D-Rank, lesser versions of the First Floor Boss, with a lower Rank of "Undying Body", without any Magic Skill or the enhancement derived from its status as a Boss.
All other Monsters within it were incorporeal Undeads like Ghosts, Ghasts and Banshees in hidden rooms while the floor was also full of traps, from crossbows in the wall, false floors leading to spikes and false walls leading to hidden rooms.
And so the party of five that was able to beat the First Boss without too much trouble reached the Second Boss Room as only a Party of three because of the Enhanced Curses on two of them with the other three being wounded to various extent.
After all, the only way to leave a Dungeon is if you beat a Floor Boss and leave through the door then.
Additionally you can not travel through floors once you pass the door to the next floor you must beat the Boss to leave the Dungeon again.
And so the second Floor Boss, a Specter, found itself fighting only three enemies, none of them at 100% and only one of which was at C-Rank, an Elf paladin.
The battle was long and arduous considering how the Boss, a Specter, had "Undying Body" at C-Rank and "Holy Resistance" at D-Rank with a natural Immunity to Physical Damage derived by the fact it was incorporeal however the battle was approaching its end.
Only two Beings were left, the Elf and the Boss, both of them at the brink.
The still nameless Elf walked up to the fallen Undead, her sword clad in Holy Attribute and preparing to finally end the Boss' life before it did something it was never programmed to of its own initiative to save its own "life".
As her blade was falling to end the Monster, it reacted grabbing one of her ankles before pushing its Essence within its soon to be killer.
A scream escaped the Elf as her being was being invaded.
She would lose.
She had no chance to properly resist this encroachment in her state so she didn't even try.
Instead she made her choice.
"I Vow: I will not resist this Encroachment and I will give my body, mind and Soul to be absorbed." Her Vital Energy and Mana spiked sharply as this was what could be considered a Death Oath. "In exchange this process will become a Fusion, giving birth to a new Person."
The Oath was actualized and a new Person was born.
Said Person opened its, their, her eyes before reaching for the crystal manifested nearby, crystal she calmly shattered absorbing the full prize for the C-Class Boss, a large quantity of Potential and 100.000 Magicules, more than she could properly integrate considering how she was at E-Rank before moving to the exit.
She briefly examined her Status, noting her new race of "Spectral Elf", her new Innate Skill "Holy Curse" and a new Unique Skill, not the Elf's but her own, "Malice Generator", the ability to automatically generate a form of immaterial Energy based on Malice.
She still needed to find out how to use said Energy for now but the smartest move right now would be…
"I Vow: " Her Mana and Vital Energy rising with her words in a specific pattern. "I will never use any of my Affinities, except to the Holy- and Curse-Attribute, in a fight to the death."
At her words, a golden and purple Aura manifested around her, an automatic Sorcery with the price being adhesion to said Vow.
She sighed, moving slightly around to adapt to her level of power as her Innate Skill made it so that her "Oath Magic" triggered both a Holy- and Curse-Attribute, ignoring how only one of them should have been Casted or the loss in potency that should have occurred.
She smiled satisfied to the message from the World that told her she acquired both "Holy-Attribute Oath" and "Curse-Attribute Oath", with other various Skills following right after.
There is more than one reason for her immense Potential that allowed her to grow so fast while Luna didn't.
The first was the fact the for now nameless one was a fusion of two individuals, their Potentials included, one of which made an Oath to share her everything, and the immense Potential she gained from the reward for killing the Second Floor Boss.
She left, moving towards the Gate leading to outside the Dungeon, enjoying the light from the Moon as she went to the nearest town she remembered from the Elf's memories while figuring out her new name as she was quite different from her Elf half.
"Mafel, it is."
She moved on, a calm expression on her face.
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9/14 9:12 (Summer, Day)
Upon the end of the story, the two concentrated intensely.
"Oh, wow. How interesting." For "two" Sabel and Mafel were the two that concentrated as demostrated by these careless words from Luna.
Said Lunarian was currently playing around with her Vital Mana and Black Blood while floating upside down.
A deadpan expression formed on both the other People there as they observed her.
"There is no need to look at me like that, I understood the story and I am certain you are not lying. Not only that but the Runes still need sometime until they would accumulate enough Energy for you to fight at full efficiency, dear Mafel. So let's play a game. We ask you a question, you answer it and then you can make us one that we will answer. Or instead of answering you can offer me your blood, if you prefer that."
This last part was said with a smile, a smile full of malevolence while not having any actual malice, a smile that was somehow more threatening than if actual malice was present.
"Fine." Mafel nodded, a grimace on her face as she understood that she was dancing on the palm of the other's hand, but as she exclaimed she needed more time.
Meanwhile Sabel was simply using this time to learn as much as she could about the situation and the two People with her.
Even if she found Luna attractive, that wouldn't mean she would be okay with someone that would be a threat to the city and so it was only natural for her to try studying the two of them.
"Now, who altered the Dungeon you were born in and when?"
"I have no idea who they are, misuring time is impossible in a Dungeon and I have no memory from before the change. Now it's my turn. What are you really?"
"Oh? Curious about me, are you? Makes sense. Now how should I answer you, in a mean way, in a criptict way or an informative one? Well, let's be gentle for now. The name of my Race is Lunarian, you can consider me as a superior variant of a Vampire. Now, our question can be made by Sabel." The intention of this offer was to also study said Human in addition to the other anomaly in the room.
"What are your intentions for this city?" Sabel.
"None in particular. I'm only here until I conquer the First Floor of all nearby Dungeons and reach C-Rank. Now my question. Why and how can you eat Souls, Luna?" Mafel.
"By sucking blood I can take in Souls to make or enhance Familiars. My turn now. Mafel, once you leave this place where will you go?" Luna.
"My target is Yggrar, the ancestral home of the Elves that houses the oldest Driad alive, Rediliv." Malef.
"Ah, yes. It makes sense for you to search the oldest Person alive, the one able to survive for 31 Blood Moons and protect those seeking refuge for the last 13 of them." Luna smiled confidently while casually dropping an information about the former Tree they themselves don't know about, their age, as they were not aware for the first 8 Blood Moons they, it at the time, lived through.
After all, the Moon somewhat gave up to the idea of killing them for right now and decided to wait until more continents fall to Monsters, as was the case for the continent now called Mosrar did, before simply assaulting them with too many Monsters of too high a Class for them to resist.
"I see." This is a bait, she though; she wants me to waste my question on it impulsively; she just wants me to refuse to answer one of her question so that she may drink my blood; I must not ask; concentrate; don't ask.
She made an error, she looked at Luna's smiling face and her decisive eyes.
"How do you know that?" She wasn't able to resist asking before grimacing as she found the answer on her own.
After all the one before her was too weak to be of similar age to the Driad, Driad that she herself confirmed being the oldest Being on Gaea and the only source for their age would be a God or… she looked to the sky, the Moon considering the name of her Race.
"Your thinking is correct. I access reconds from the Moon. Sabel, your question."
"Sure...Hm, are you really a medium?"
"Yes. I am a fully realized one thanks to my affinity with Incorporeal Undeads and Souls in general. Now for my question, what do you two plan to do with me?"
"This is a question requiring for both of us to answer and so expect two questions in return." Luna.
"You-" Mafel.
"It seems only fair to me. In my case, I have no particular plan for you but the question is what should I do with this information and how should I present informations about the Dungeon to the Guild." Sabel.
"A medium is the one that told you the informations, wasn't she?" Luna.
"I suppose that could work, yes." Sabel.
Mafel frowned both at being ignored and the fact her answers would be shared but at the moment she was at their, more specifically Luna's, mercy until all of her stored Vital Energy, Mana and Malice was prepared and available to use actively.
"In my case, I'm probably going to try to work out if I want to actively pursue you and Sabel. All the same you don't need to worry about me killing you even if I decide not to seduce you." Luna smiled, confidence oozing from her as Sabel's face reddened and even Mafel flushed in a mix of embarrassment and anger.
"You-!" Mafel.
"Your question, Sabel?" Luna.
"Yes, right!" Said black-haired Human jumped before asking. "This is my last question because I'm too distracted to think properly for now. How many Floors does the Dungeon you were from have?"
A grimace on Mafel's face because there will now only be tricky questions from Luna, she answered after calming down.
"I believe the Floors are a minimum of four and a maximum of six." Mafel.
"I see." Sabel.
"Well now it is my turn to question. Why do you bother using Vital Energy and Mana instead of Vital Mana for your Runes?"
Mafel clicked her tongue at what she perceived to be mockery.
"Because I don't know how to use it. Why should I make Vital Mana in the first place?" This question of Mafel was curious to Sabel too, curiosity that Luna was more than happy to satisfy.
"Good question." A smile on her face, Luna answered. "The first reason is because Vital Mana cannot be sensed to methods that sense Vital Energy or Mana and is harder to sense in general. Vital Mana can also easily be used as either Vital Energy or Mana but the most important reason is quite simple. Power." Luna's smile widened greatly before she continued.
"The four major characteristics of Energies in general are the Quantity, the Recovery, the Control and the Quality. Now, let's take a Person with 100 Vital Energy and Mana, and a theorical value of 2 in Control and Quality with a Recovery of 1 in both every second.
"Let's also take a Spell that they are planning on Casting with a minimum base Cost of 20 and a maximum base Cost of 40 that would inflict the exact amount of Damage as the Mana Cost.
"They Cast said Spell at the maximum amount of Mana they can, thanks to their Control of 2 both the minimum and the maximum Cost are halved one and doubled the other to a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 80.
"The Spell is Cast with a Damage equal to 160 because of the Quality of 2 and after 80 seconds all the spent Energy is regained.
"Now let's use Vital Mana. At E-Rank, the Efficiency of the creation is 10%. The same individual Casts using Vital Mana.
"First thing first, 100 Vital Energy and 100 Mana make 20 Vital Mana at E-Rank. The minimum and maximum of the Spell are respectively 5 and 160 because they are affected by the Control of both Vital Energy and Mana, even if for now it doesn't matter.
"The Spell is Casted with 20 Vital Mana, the Quality of both influencing it to a value of Damage equal to 80 with a complete Recovery of 100 seconds.
"Before you comment about it, it is very inefficient and ineffective at E-Rank but if you bring it just to C-Rank, ignoring any other benefits of the Skill the situation changes greatly.
"The user has a total of 100 Vital Mana that would be used fully to Cast the Spell for a Damage equivalent to 400, more than double the initial Spell, all that would be recovered in 100 seconds.
"To match the Damage of the one using only Mana, 40 is enough and would be recovered fully in just 40 seconds.
"At A-Rank, the efficiency would be at 100%, allowing 200 Vital Mana, more than enough to fuel the maximum of 160 Energy to Cast the Spell with Vital Mana left over while dealing the equivalent to 640 Damage and recovered it all in 80 seconds thanks to their efficiency.
"Finally while the Quantity and the Recovery are additive, Quality and Control are multiplicative between the ones of Vital Energy and Mana."
"You are...quite proud of this Vital Mana…" Mafel commented slowly.
Sabel meanwhile was trying hard to remember all of her words.
"It's only natural after all the use of Vital Mana is incredibly important to the way I fight and I live. However your Runes are ready and so here it comes, the real question. How do you want to proceed now?" Luna's answer and following question was made casually, casually enough that Sabel took a second more to jump on her feet in guard.
"It's very simple, really. I will kill you!" The answer was certain and full of determination as the Runes around her glowed a mix of Purple and Gold, said lights converging on a point high above Luna before she continued. "I Vow: With this Spell I will attack only the Being known as Luna. I Vow: Once this Spell ends, I will not use any of my Skills' active effects for 24 hours." As she completed Vow after Vow, her Mana, stored and not, started resonating and increasing in Quality over and over again.
Sabel made to attack her but- "Wha- More of you!" She exclaimed as five Shades appeared before around her, preventing her from interfering.
Luna stood up, her eyes shining in delight, as Black Blood and Vital Mana exploded from her planning on winning.
Having seen that, Mafel made an additional Oath, this time completely silent, as a nebula of purple and gold formed high in the room around the point, it itself changing to a space similar to the Room of a Dungeon Boss, isolating them from the outside.
It fell, a light made out of a combination of Curse-Attribute, Holy-Attribute and No-Attribute Magic.
It fell and Luna tackled it head on, laughing escaping her, as purple and gold light met the black and red tipical of Black Blood and the purple of Vital Mana.
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Thanks for reading and comment if you have any thought about this chapter or story in general.
If you want to read chapters in advance, I have a pa treon. patr*eon.com/White_Chaos