"Ah," Rex muttered, staring at the shimmering corpse. "So they give more magic. But for what purpose—" His words faltered as another set of screens appeared in front of him, ones he hadn't expected.
A skill.
[Blue Papilio Powder (Magic/Active): You can release the Blue Papilio healing powder through movement of your body.]
"H-holy shit," Rex stuttered, his eyes widening as he stared at the glowing notifications. "What is this luck?" You should know that after 200 kills, he never scavenged a single skill and scavenging magic is supposed to be far rarer than skill… "Well, I won't complain." One, magic is rare enough for most big Familia to accept you due to the fact that you have it. And there is a kind of magic that was the most important.
Healing magic.
Healing magic was exceptionally rare, and across all of Orario, barely twenty adventurers possessed healing magic, and now Rex had joined their ranks. A skill like this could be the difference between life and death in the dungeon and just haveing it would guarantee him a spot in any familia, even the top familia like Loki or something.
A grin grew on his face. "Should I...?" But he stopped, calming himself. 'Let's not be hasty and see what it does first.'
Picking up his sword, he slashed the blood away, shouting, "HEAL!"
Nothing happened.
"Right..." He mumbled, "Body movement." He extended his arms to the side and started flapping it like a bird while mentally activating the skill, and with his movement, tiny blue particles began to fall from every part of his arm. They weightlessly swirled outward and formed a diffuse, glowing fog around his body, the fine particles shimmering faintly like countless tiny stars.
"Hmm…" He stopped the mentally stopped the magic and walked out the fog and then raised his hands and started acting like he was sprinkling salt and blue particles fell from his finger. However, unlike before, this ones fell directly down and didn't spread out like fog. 'So, It can either be rain or fog.'
Obviously the fog mode covered more area but the rain was more concentrated. He could even release the particle while walking, making it look like a trail of blue fairy dust was following him, and if it was in the fog mode, it could easily cover an entire party of fifty.
It was a marvelous healing ability that no Familia would decline.
'But what is its potency?' He looked behind him at the blue fog that had followed his walk. 'How powerful is this healing magic?' If the healing potency was less than even a normal 500 valis potion, then his worth might be less than he thought.
Well, there was no way for him to test it without using it on himself or finding someone injured to use it on. He was not going to go out of his way to find an injured adventure so he decided to just keep fighting and if he got injured he could test it on himself.
'Should I go down to the lower floor?' He had double S in all his physical stats and he now had a healing magic so… "Yeah, let's go down to the tenth floor."
———
"GIIIIRKKK!" The high-pitched shrieks of imps sounded as the little demon monsters known as imps flew towards Rex, shrieking at the top of their lungs.
Their bodies are black from top to tail, red eyes, with two small horn sticks out of their oversized heads, their bodies small by comparison, giving them an unbalanced look. Their bat-like wings flapped erratically as their barbed tails whipped through the air, and their tiny, clawed hands twitched with malicious intent.
One imp dived straight for his head, claws extended. Rex leaned back just in time to evade the swipe, then brought his sword up in a sharp arc. The blade caught the creature at the ampit, severing its arm cleanly, a fountain of silver blood spraying out as the imp screeched in pain. Before it could retreat, Rex drew his dagger with his other hand and thrust it through the imp's open mouth, silencing it and shattering its core causing the imp to disappear in a black dust.
He quickly spun on his heel to face an imp that had circled behind him, using his spinning momentum to slam his boot into the creature's chest, sending it flying backward with a crack. The imp crashed into one of its companions, and without wasting a moment, Rex dashed forward, thrusting his sword through both of their chests. He twisted the blade, and silver gore gushed out as their shrieks faded.
A sharp movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention, and ducking instinctively, he avoided the swipe of another imp aiming for the back of his head. In one fluid motion, he changed the grip on his dagger and drove it into the creature's heart. Yanking out the dagger, he let the imp drop and faced the wave of imps.
"GIIII!" they screeched as they burst from the fog, their claws gleaming faintly in the dungeon's dim light. He charged forward, his sword in one hand and his dagger in the other.
Blades flashed, dagger and sword slicing through legs, arms, and tails. Rex's movements were a blur as heads rolled, and silver blood sprayed across the misty air, painting the ground with gore. But suddenly, a stone flew from the mist, slamming into his wrist.
"Shit!" he hissed as pain shot through his arm, and his momentum was halted.
His dagger slipped from his grasp, but he quickly grabbed the falling dagger, changing his grip, then threw it at the imp responsible for the stone. The blade struck the creature's stomach, sending it spiraling into the fog with a shriek.
He was currently on the tenth floor. The floor on this level was covered with grass, and its rooms and hallways were wider than any level above, and the entire floor was covered in a thick, white fog. The layout and pattern of the tenth level were more or less the same as levels eight and nine, however, the bright 'sun' shining down from above was gone. Instead, it looked like a morning fog just before sunrise here.
This was the first time visibility posed a problem in the dungeon, and he was currently fighting against a swarm of imps.
These little monsters were far more common than orcs or any other creatures down here. They used sheer numbers as a weapon, and they were cunning, never attacking alone—always swarming in packs. If one imp appeared, more than ten were likely lurking nearby. Imps were also clever enough to have a plan and use stones as weapons, which was actually impressive. On the lower upper floors where a big white cloud gave them constant cover, it was said that a pack of imps was more feared than even the gigantic orcs that wandered around.
"HAAK!" An imp cried as he bicepted it. "GNNHH!" An imp charged at him.
He agreed with that statement.
He blocked the imp's attack with the broad side of his sword, but it retreated back into the fog before he could launch a counter attack. Using the fog as cover, they quickly circled around him, planning on coming at him from all directions, spreading out, and due to how loud they were, constantly clicking their tongues, if he couldn't take down a swarm quickly enough, more imps would show up.
A battle party of adventurers wouldn't have much trouble here, but as a solo adventurer, these guys were tough to handle.
Before they could use their plan, dashed forward, the imps quickly spreading out around him, but he didn't care. Reaching the imp he had thrown his dagger at before, he yanked the blade free from the abdomen and immediately, he swung his arm behind him, using the dagger to slash the throat of an imp that had tried to sneak up on him. Without missing a beat, he lunged forward, bisecting a leaping imp with his sword, silver blood and organs spilling from its torso.
He instantly jumped back, avoiding another attack as a claw glinted mere inches from his face. Sliding on the grassy ground, he raised his sword to block one imp's strike, then reversed his dagger grip to slash open the imp's stomach. He flung the slashed imp at the flying imp that had swiped at his face a moment earlier, their body crashing into each other as dashed forward to behead the two creatures with a swift swing of his sword.
"!!!" A small tremor shook the ground, making all the imps retreat into the shadows. Rex froze, watching as a large silhouette moved through the fog.
"Ughaaaaaaa…"
An orc—a monster solidly in the Large category—emerged from the thick haze with a low growl. It had brown skin and a boar's head, standing about three meters tall, even bigger than the Minotaurs from the middle floors. Wearing an old hide around its waist, it resembled a ragged skirt of sorts. Compared to the thickly muscled Minotaur, the orc was rounder—squat and enormously fat.
"..." Rex mumbled, noticing the imps hovering around like minions awaiting their boss's command, with bad bat flying around the orc—a black bat-like monster with sharp claws and an ear-splitting shriek that disrupted concentration. "Well, shit."
He flicked the gore off his dagger before slipping it back into its sheath. Then he pulled out his magic sword, gripping it in his right hand. The orc outstretched its arm, its fingers digging into the trunk of a thin, dead, leafless tree. With a meaty yank, it tore the trunk from the ground, the roots and clotted dirt at the bottom forming a makeshift mace.
"GUUUOOOOH!!" the orc roared, raising its new club as it charged forward, the trunk lifted high for a crushing strike.
Rex didn't hesitate and dashed straight for the orc. Once it got in range, the creature slammed the tree downward, the makeshift mace coming at Rex's head, but he twisted sideways, narrowly avoiding the blow. The club smashed into the ground with a thundering impact, scattering stones and debris. Positioning himself on the orc's right flank, Rex thrust his magic sword beneath its ribs, the blade going halfway into its flesh, causing it to roar out in pain.
"Fireball!" The blade glowed, the fireball shooting inside the orc's body as it began to swell, orange cracks appearing along its flesh. He yanked the sword free and dashed away. Moments later—BOOM—the orc exploded in a shower of green blood, gore, and shredded flesh, falling down like rain around him.
Holding his dual sword to his side, Rex glanced at the charging remaining monsters around him. 'I need to take on the bat first.' Or else it can lead to a 'stun lock' situation, which almost happened before. "Haaa." He breathed out as he dashed to the bat that opened its mouth to scream.
———
"Huuh…" Rex exhaled, finally able to sit on a large rock after dispatching the small swarm of monsters. Drawing in a deep breath, he shook his ears and activated his healing magic, allowing the blue papilio powder to drift over him. Dusts settled on a scratch across his cheek, slowly closing the wound.
"Hmm…" He glanced at the thin claw marks left by the bad bat on his right forearm, watching as the powder sank into the punctures, restoring the missing flesh, muscle, and tissue after a few seconds. "Nice."
He had 'tested' it many times before, but now he had come to a definite conclusion. The dusts' healing ability was actually better than a normal health potion. Though it was slightly slower, it could treat more injuries overall with exposure. For example, even taking multiple normal health potions won't heal a third degree burn but with enough exposure of the blue powder, the powder should be able to.
So technically, the healing capability of the powder was on par with a 50,000 high potion. Though the healing speed is inferior, in a sustained battle with him just running around and spreading his mist, it would be way more worth it. And yes, the fog mode of this magic was indeed less potent, but it could cover an entire battle party so its worth isn't less than the 'powder' mode.
'Would it also heal enemies or monsters?' The latter was a no. It won't heal monsters, he tested it. However… 'I will need to see if this magic can differentiate between allies and enemies. "Too bad it doesn't regenerate stamina or clear mental fatigue."
"Still," He clenched his fist, relieved to see all his minor scratches and his swollen wrist returning to normal."This is better than nothing." And even if the dust didn't touch the wound directly, he found that once he breathed it in, it found its way to the injury and healed it.
"Can…Can I sell this!?!" He let some of the dust settle on his palm, watching it either sink into his skin or fade away into the air. "I basically have unlimited loot of this stuff, but the guild only buys the wings and not the dust produced from the blue papilio, so I don't think it can even be sold."
He paused, realizing the reason they didn't sell it was because the blue papilio powder disentergrated after a while, but the one he produces has to be different so… Deciding to test it out, he opened his pouch and brought out a bottle of the basic hp potion he bought. After thinking for a second, he opened it and poured out the content before holding his left hand over the bottle and started sprinkling in the blue papilio powder.
The powder settled at the bottom and when the bottle was 75% full, he closed it. "Let's see if it stays and keeps its healing properties." He mumbled while putting the bottle into his pouch. With that out of the way, he turned his attention to his status.
— — — — — — — — — —
[Strength] SS1003 | [Endurance] SS1002 | [Dexterity] SS1001 | [Agility] SS1002 | [Magic] H110
— — — — — — — — — —
"From absorbing about 50 monsters, I only got nine points in magic." He mumbled with a sigh.
Out of those fifty, Imps alone took up about 30. In fact, imps were so common that their magic stones sold for the cheapest price in the entire dungeon. Despite an imp being tougher than a goblin, their sheer numbers made their stones nearly worthless, so it was better to hunt other monsters for profit.
"At least they're a good way for farming SS+ stats." He sighed again, standing up from the rock and stretching. "Let's continue."