Chapter 266: Scouting the Unknown (1/2)
“Alright! Six gold.” The merchant said behind her, trying to get out behind his wares but Ilea wasn’t in the mood to haggle with anybody.
Why isn’t everyone like Earl. Just sell me the stuff with your margin and we don’t have a problem. Ilea thought about just stealing the maps but she’d rather trade with someone she could somewhat trust. If he valued his products so lowly to try and swindle her into buying it for nearly twice as much, she’d think of them the same. The next merchant she talked to was a little more accommodating. The claws on his long hands as well as the teeth growing even out of his mouth made the reptile like vendor stand out from the others.
Ilea had no idea what species he was but she assumed a dark one of sorts. A dirty cloth covered his eyes. “Greetings traveler. May I interest you in any of my wares?”
Ilea looked at the wooden boxes, some of them remained closed, the merchant himself sitting on one of them. “At what layer are there monsters above level two hundred?”
The merchant moved his reptile like head to face her, “Ah, a newcomer then. For ten silvers I’ll tell you what I know about the monsters and their levels, though I must warn you. Even after all this time, new things keep creeping up. You might get this information in the tavern from listening alone.”
Ilea summoned the money into her fist and opened it above his palm. The merchant caught the money and continued talking, “On this layer, you will find few even reaching the lower two hundreds. Food and water there is plenty however.”
Ilea frowned, “Why build up here then?”
The merchant cocked his head to the side, apparently confused, “Most of us here are no fighters, nowhere near strong enough nor willing to deal with the beasts that stalk the forest and lake. You may find them mere annoyances but we are forced to be up here. Human, are you not?”
Ilea didn’t reply, “You build your towns surrounded by stone walls do you not? Against what? Wolves, bears?” He chuckled.
Ilea saw the point. “You’ve lived in human lands?”
“That is not information I am willing to sell. In the second layer, mostly treacherous tunnels, filled with traps and nasty insects, you will find most monsters near the two hundred mark. Other than what their corpses might bring you, there is little of value there. The third layer filled with water. You will find valuables there if you can swim and hold your breath for long enough. The beasts are as I hear less hostile but similarly dangerous as the ones in the second layer.”
“The fourth one is the one most want to get to. The Heroes’ Descent, the ruins of a city believed to be build by the same people who built the one above this layer. Dangerous, to be sure and if you are looking for beasts to kill, there is plenty there at levels most avoid.”
Ilea waited for him to continue but it seemed the merchant was done, “What about the deeper layers?”
He shook his head, “Few dare travel there and none would share their findings with the likes of me. Rumors about a silent and dark forest in the fifth and strong winds in the sixth are all I can share but it is not reliable.”
How long have you guys been down here and that’s all you know? Ilea was nearly regretting her decision to come to the camp at all. She was now in territory few humans ever traveled, ever could travel according to all the people she had met so far. Just because other races were around didn’t mean they could stroll into level two hundred and higher dungeons with ease. It was a surprise to find camps here with scavengers and people but Ilea somehow expected them to at least be able to fight whatever was around here. Can humans? Ilea knew the answer to the question. Of course they couldn’t. Most couldn’t even fight and kill the odd wolf or drake living in the forests near Riverwatch.
“Do I really need a map going down or can I just orient myself… well downwards?”
The merchant chuckled, “That will work eventually, yes. I suggest any new delver to stock up on food and water, rope, healing potions as well as an actual healer in the team. Antidotes to common poisons as well as maps providing guidance to the established and most safe routes. You however, you don’t strike me as a new delver, even though you might not have visited this very dungeon.”
Ilea nodded, all of that completely unnecessary for her. “Thanks.” She said and flung another big piece of silver into his hand, giving his wares a last look. Nothing struck her fancy, Ilea instead just letting herself fall off the side of the platform. She could hear a yelp come from someone who saw the maneuver, a blink close to the bottom bringing her safely into the woods and onto stable ground.
So it’s just a matter of going down. She thought, spreading her wings and ash around her, intending to work on the last couple skills yet to have reached the pinnacle of the second tier. Quickly finding one of the rivers, Ilea followed it until she got to it’s end. A waterfall leading down into darkness. Stepping into the water, Ilea’s Sphere already perceived the cracks below, one of them big enough for her to get through.
Jumping down, she blinked through and found herself in a small cave. A part of the water flowing down from the river above pooled in a small basin before it ran down along the tunnel ground, slowly eating itself into the rock. Ilea wasn’t sure if this was already the second layer or if it was merely a cave belonging to the first one.
Reaching the end of the tunnel, she found her answer. The smooth surface of the next level could be distinguished even in the dim light still coming in from above, its colora lighter shade than the one of the cave itself. Ilea saw the water seep into a thin crack, likely formed over centuries. Below was the layer of stone and then what Ilea assumed to be earth. Worms made their way through, unaware of the warrior appearing below them in the damp tunnel below.
Ilea immediately reduced her sensitivity to smell. Bloody dump. She hoped the information regarding the monsters here was true and they held little value for her. Looking down, she found her boots sinking into the moisture that had collected, brown water dripping down from above. Choosing a direction at random, she started walking.
It didn’t take her long to find the first trap. Loose earth with sharpened wooden sticks hidden beneath. Nasty…, Ilea reached an ashen limb down into the earth and ripped out one of the sticks. The thing was flimsy but sharp enough to penetrate through cloth, maybe thin leather. Her poison resistance informed her that there was something amiss with the substance on the tip. A low danger level apparently. Storing the armored pieces of her left leg, Ilea smashed the stick into it. The thing broke on impact, only managing to scratch her a little.
‘ding’ ‘You have been poisoned by dung broth -10 hp/s for one minute’
“Wow, really?” She exclaimed before getting another one of the spikes, until the trap was effectively dismantled. Ilea had a bunch of scratches on her leg now, her health continuing to drain. The poisons didn’t stack when it came to damage but the time went up with each additional wound. She assumed it was because more of the delicious broth made its way into her blood stream. This would be enough to kill any human on Earth.
Deciding to test out her third tier healing for the first time, Ilea waited until her health reached three thousand. Activating the skill with the intent to heal to her full health, she gasped as a huge chunk of mana was suddenly transformed into healing power rupturing through her whole being. It took a couple seconds but when she checked again, her health sat at six thousand one hundred. Fucking damn…, Her mana on the other hand had gone down by nearly one and a half thousand. It was a better conversion than she had expected. Of course her normal healing magic gradually drained her mana at a much much slower pace while healing rather rapidly but this could be a game changer.
She was rather sure that facing three Blue Reapers at the same time wouldn’t be as much of an issue now. Four or five, she still doubted. The high cost would make it incredibly risky. Wait a minute. A grin spread on her face as she sacrificed a thousand points of health to activate her third tier State of Azarinth. Red runes glowed as she invested a chunk of mana to heal it back immediately. A couple seconds later her third tier faded but with this she could get a pretty good increase in power without the drawbacks of her third tier State. At least as long as she had mana. Another reason to invest in Wisdom.
She sighed and started meditating, down over two thousand points of mana. The fact that her mana recovery was a percentage instead of a fixed number made the whole thing feasible. If only I could get Meditation to the third tier… maybe I could use it while fighting. A hopeful thought, one she put to the back of her mind again immediately. With this, Ilea could sacrifice more health without much worry. In a battle of attrition it wasn’t worth using but against something like the Blue Reaper, it would certainly be effective.