We reached the cave in the valley and stopped for a break, pulling out some food. Things were going to be dangerous where we were going. Elite monsters or worse awaited us. Reaching into my inventory I pulled out my 3 remaining Alpha Bear Crystals and the 6 Bear crystals. It was 100,950 Experience points then if you added my 20% that was another 20,190, for a total of 121,140 Experience points. And that would take all of the soul Crystals on me, but it would allow me to reach Level 57, and I would only need 5,040 experience to make it to level 58.
Absorbing the Crystals I prayed I was making the right decision.
Name: Alex
Age: 18
Level: 57 (660/5700)
Class: Wizard
Race: Arcane Elf
Adventurer Rank: C
Quest Points: 1,281
Health: 1,120
Health Regeneration: 78 per minute (Out of combat)
Stamina: 640
Stamina Regeneration: 30 per minute (Out of combat) 10 per minute (In combat)
Mana: 1,660
Mana Regeneration: 132 per minute (Out of combat) 69 per minute (In combat)
Attribute points: 0
Racial points: 7
Class points: 27
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 20
Intelligence: 80
Wisdom: 200
Charisma: 21
Eric had more Crystal saved up than I did, so he pumped his level to 64, being a close combat fighter it was probably a good choice, seeing as it put his Dexterity over 200, which would be a 20% bonus to his damage.
We set out for the Center Kingdom of the Caltris, Which was actually the Caltris kingdom, it used to rule over the entire continent but infighting had diminished its control to half of the continent. Though it was sometimes called the Central kingdom because its capital was in the center of Caltris.
On foot, it could take us one to two months to get there, but we needed the experience fighting as well as any Soul Crystals. Monsters would be getting Progressively Stronger as we crossed into the Caltris kingdom. The magical energy in the kingdom was double what it was here.
Every animal and monster seemed to avoid us as we started our journey. I was starting to worry that we were going to starve. We finally after a week came across a Dear, drinking from a lake. I wasn’t even able to raise my hand before Eric beheaded it. With his increased dexterity and Racial abilities, he was fast and he was quiet. We skinned the dear and butchered it, before storing it in my inventory. I pulled out two pieces and some herbs and a pan. Eric built a small pile of wood for me to start a fire and my torch spell lit it.
Soon the smell of searing meat filled the glade. Not long after that, we were chowing down.
“Well, well what do we have here boys,” a voice said.
I turned and there were 4 men standing there. Analyzing them they were all level 30, but they had put all their stat points into Strength. Sure if they hit you it would deal a massive amount of damage. But it left them lacking, I felt.
Slaver Level 30
Health: 370
Stamina: 1,170
Mana: 370
I cast Arcane Bolt and one hit three of them, while they fell dead the other stared in shock before Eric removed his head. I was beginning to think Eric liked that move too much, though it was efficient.
“That just felt too easy, Knowing they were Slavers, I didn’t even have to cast Soul Cristilization.”
Progression towards being an Elite
Having killed 4 slavers you have earned progression towards becoming an Elite.
3/50 Dark aligned beings killed
“Why does it take 4 slavers to earn one progression point?”
“Maybe because they are only acting evil, but are not aligned to an actual Dark god?” I said out loud but was only guessing myself.
Eric collected the four soul crystals and handed me 2 of them. Inspecting the item made me smile.
Soul Crystal - Slaver
Level 30
46,500 Experience points
“Not bad for us just wanting to eat,” I said softly.
“We have gotten strong,” Eric said.
“For humans, we are strong yes, but remember Humans are not who we are meant to fight, we are meant to fight Demons,” I said softly.
“I know, but it is nice to be able to defend ourselves easily from fools.”
“An errant knife of a fool could still kill us if we allow ourselves to become overconfident.”
“You’re right,” Eric said seeming a little deflated.
Absorbing the crystals and placing my stats. I took a deep breath. I was a Level 71 Wizard, I’m sure some people would think I was a joke at this point. I should be a mage preparing to become a High Mage. Eric was still an apprentice rouge at level 77 after absorbing his crystals. I took a deep breath, this was not fair to hard-working people, but in times of peace people grew lax and the demons could overwhelm under prepared cities.
We were going to be the front lines against the tide of darkness. I snickered at how cheesy that sounded.
“Eric, do you regret coming with me? Knowing the danger we are going to be in?” I asked softly.
“No, I am stronger now, and I will be able to fight to protect my family. This danger would be a threat even if I stayed back in the village, but there I wouldn’t know it was coming,” he said his voice strong.
Eric was a year younger than me, but he seemed so much more mature than I was. There was a lot left for us to do.
We crossed the river and the sounds of the forest came alive. We were still a ways from the city we were going to, but we had just crossed the border. A group of deer stood in front of us, level 40, they didn’t look friendly. A deer called out a warning and they started scattering, I got off one set of Arcane Bolts all three hitting one target killing it, and Eric got one kill in as well.
We skinned them and cut them up before placing them in storage. Food was a necessity, after almost starving because the animals had learned to stay away from us. We were not going to make that mistake again.
As the sun started to set we were looking for a place to set up camp, there were no mountains so the likelihood of a cave was slim. We would be sleeping out in the open because we had not gotten a tent. It was almost fully dark when we came upon a hill, moving around the hill we saw a cave going deep into the ground.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“We don’t have to go far in, I Selected Improved night vision from my Racial skill tree, but I only had enough points to get it to rank 7, but it improves my night vision by 45%. Being Catkin, I already have decent night vision.”
Nodding we entered the cave, there was a bio-luminescent moss, that I was sure was an herb, or something expensive. It didn’t give off much light, but it kept the cave from being totally black. We noticed in the back of the cave there was a darker space, as we closed in on it, we realized it was a passageway.
Eric nodded at me and shifted into stealth before walking into the passageway, I followed after him.
You have entered Demonic Dungeon
This dungeon was overrun by demons. After corrupting the Heart of the dungeon, anything spawned in this dungeon becomes demonic, kill the demon in the final room to free the dungeon from the demonic curse.
I had a feeling part of that notification was an order from the Goddess, but a dungeon filled with demons sounded like something we needed.
“Let's head out so we can rest we can come back in when the sun rises.”
Eric agreed as we backtracked we found only a wall. “Alic we have to sleep,”
“I will wake you if anything approaches.”
“Will you know when the sun is rising to wake us?”
“I can keep track of the time, even in here. Don’t worry.”
I slept fitfully through the night and judging from Eric’s face he didn’t sleep overly well either. We walked down the passage and came across the first room and I almost died from shock. Well, it was the fireball sailing past my head that almost did me in.
There were 4 animals in the room, 3 Demonic Chickens and 1 Demonic rooster. I looked over at Eric, but he looked as lost as I was. I pulled up the information on them.
Demonic Chicken
Level 40 Elite
Health: 500
Stamina: 500
Mana: 500
Demonic rooster
Level 40 Elite
Health: 500
Stamina: 500
Mana: 500
“That's a hardy Chicken,” Eric said chuckling.
“I’ve never seen chickens with stats like that.” I said pointing, “To be fair I’ve never seen chickens that looked like that.”
They were twice the size of normal chickens and instead of feathers, they had scales and spikes running down their spine. Also, they apparently breathed fire. All in all, it was rather terrifying.
Eric vanished and went after the rooster, while I attacked the 3 others with my Arcane bolt, which I had to cast twice because one only did 250 damage which meant they were really resistant to magic. I wondered if all the monsters would be like that here, or if there was a reason they were resistant.
Progression towards being an Elite
Having killed 4 Demonic Creatures you have earned progression towards becoming an Elite.
7/50 Dark aligned beings killed
Eric brought the Soul Crystals over.
Soul Crystal - Demonic Chicken
Level 40 Elite
90,200 Experience
Soul Crystal - Demonic Rooster
Level 40 Elite
90,200 Experience
“Alic, it says 90,200 experience, but a level 40 monster would have only gained 82,000?” I said confused.
“An Elite monster give 10% bonus Experience and every rank up increases that bonus by another 10%,” he told us.
We rested for a second, to recover the energy we used, even though it wasn’t much. We might need it in the next room. It took ten minutes to get to the next room, it was almost worse than the last.
Demonic Sheep
Level 50 Elite
Health: 800
Stamina: 800
Mana: 800
The Sheep’s skin looked like leather and it was black and cracked, a red light seemed to shine from within the cracks. There were 8 of them.
“Eric, was this some kind of farm dungeon? Is that even possible?” I questioned.
“I’ve never heard of anyone making a dungeon a farm,” he said.
“How many do you think you can behead?”
“I can use it 4 times before running out of stamina, What about you?”
“My Arcane Bolt doesn't cost much, I could probably clear the whole room in a minute as long as they leave me alone. But if they attack me they would probably kill me quickly. I can cast my spell 41 times, before running out of mana, but if they are resistant to magic it could be tough.”
They had yet to notice us so I did some calculations, with my Spell bonus and staff damage bonus, my spell should do 505 damage per bolt, so 1,515 damage total if all three hit one target. But if they were resistant to magic then I didn’t know what it would take.
Think you could get them to chase you after you behead one?” I asked smiling.
“I bet I could,” she said and vanished. I watched one sheep fall to the ground dead.
As the other seven took off after Eric, I launched my attack at the one in the back of the pack and watched it fall dead.
Sadly two saw it fall and they turned and started running towards me. I got one with Arcane bolt before the second one ran into me at full speed. Shaving off 500 health, almost half of my total health. Before it recovered Eric was there and took its head. 3 dead, 5 alive and running right at us. I launched arcane bolt and downed number 4, tripping another one. Eric used that to behead the fallen one.
Three were left and they were trying to decide who they wanted to attack. Eric smacked the daggers together drawing their attention.
Eric vanished as they appeared and reappeared on the back of one and stabbed it. I launched arcane bolt again and there was just one remaining. It came running at me, Eric chasing it.
Just before it slammed into me I remembered my Mana shield on my staff. Activating the charge, the sheep slammed into the barrier and drained half of my mana but it dazed itself. Giving Eric the chance to stab it in the back. I sat down. Breathing heavily.
I was freaking out, I had almost died. Though I would only have reappeared at the Guildhall in the last city, it would take me a while to get back here, and Eric couldn’t cook.
Progression towards being an Elite
Having killed 8 Demonic Creatures you have earned progression towards becoming an Elite.
15/50 Dark aligned beings killed
Looking at the Soul Crystals I smiled. Demons were profitable.
Soul Crystal - Demonic Sheep X 8
Level 50 Elite
153,000 Experience
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