12 Day 56 - 60 (1/2)

- Day 56

Rou went through and equipped everyone with the earpieces while I spent the day experimenting with some of the other skills I had been neglecting so far. I first used {Low Level Summoning: Skeleton} and managed to summon about 50 before I ran out of room. 10 of these were variants like archers and a summoner but one of them ended up being something called a {Black Knight} which is much stronger than regular skeletons and has plenty of gear attached. A few onlookers passed by with strange looks on their faces as they watched me order around a bunch of creatures they'd never seen before. I swear, you think they'd be used to it by now.

One by one, I ate their souls which earned me a few new skills and quite a few detrimental skills as well. {Slashing Resistance} {Piercing Resistance} {Weakness to Sunlight} {Weakness to Blunt Force} {Tirelessness} {Bone Fusion} {Magic Joints} {Equipment Materialisation} {Miasma of Undeath} {Negative Energy} {Nullify Negative Status Effects} {Nullify Cold Attacks} {Nullify Lightning Attacks} {Weakness to Light Damage} {Weakness to Holy Damage} {Weakness to Fire Damage} {Anaerobic} {Cold Embrace}.

I quickly sealed away all the weaknesses. A few moments later, Fu came running, asking if she could take some of the bones, to which I had no qualms with and so she happily took the Black Knights bones away with her to do...something. Probably eat.

I spent the rest of the day trying out {Bone Fusion} and {Magic Joints} together with {Golem Creation} and ended up making a bone golem twice the size of my stone golems and three times as powerful and durable. I'm pretty sure I just created a monster. I named it {Bone Goliath} since it looked remarkably similar to the golem that gave me all those Goliath abilities, apart from the fact that it's made out of bones. Even if it doesn't hit you, the sharp bone protrusions throughout its body look like they could do some serious damage, especially if it hugged you.

I had it test out it's prowess against a hind bear and it did just that, picking it up in a bear hug as it's chest opened and chomped down on the bears body. I almost feel sorry for whoever goes up against this thing...Almost.

I spent the rest of the day trying to exert my creativity by coming up with a different {Bone Goliath} type golem and ended up making around half of its body before Fu dragged me away.

Today's results

Golems: 1 Bone Goliath

Synthesis: {Shattering Strike} +{Shockwave Strike} = {Sundering Strike}

- Day 57

Rou came to visit today today while I was looking after the pets and came to the conclusion that he wanted some of his own. Since he had the job to do it, I thought I'd go exploring elsewhere and look forward to the surprise of what he brings back.

I took Returner with me back to the underground lake and introduced her to Cora. They seemed to already know about each other which shocked me but apparently anyone connected via {Ally Communication} can speak to each other, not just to me. I suppose that's a good thing but now I'm slightly paranoid about what they talk about.

I left Returner and Cora to talk with each other and went to explore parts of the lake cave that I hadn't seen yet. I found another underground lake, although this one was nowhere near as pretty as Cora's but something was telling me that there might be something below the surface of the water here. Diving in and using {Swimming Proficiency} and {Anaerobic} I was able to explore the water freely.

I came across a few little critters but nothing major until a Kelpie appeared and attempted to keep me under the water. I'm presuming that it's goal is to drown me but sine I'm using {Anaerobic} I don't need any air, in fact, if I were to use this skill while in the presence of oxygen, I'd probably face some severe consequences.

Back to the matter at hand, I was casually waiting for the Kelpie to grow tired of trying or realise it wasn't working but it just wouldn't give up. I tried thinking of a way to kill it without damaging anything else down here so I couldn't use Lightning or fire. In the end I simply used sheer strength to crush its neck. After eating its soul I gained {Underwater Breathing}, {Water Strider} and an increase in {Swimming Proficiency}

I decided to continue searching underwater while activating the two new skills and I was able to find a few small pearls, some valuable gems and some Orichalcum. After searching for a bit longer, I found a small crack in the ground with air bubbles floating out and a large amount of heat exuding from it. Doing the same as I did when I first entered the lake cave, I opened the hole wide enough for me to fit while keeping the water in place.

Jumping down, the scene before me was quite interesting. A cavern filled with lava so hot it was affecting me through my resistances. After all the trouble it was to find this place in the first, I wasn't about to let a little heat stop me.

Searching throughout the magma filled caverns, the feeling of something watching me never wavered. I turned around just in time to see a stone fist with magma flowing within it slam into my body and send me flying back into the wall.

Getting a good look at the creature, it appeared to be similar to a golem made of molten rock with horns protruding from its head that make it look somewhat devilish. It's large stature and build belie the fact that, according to {Perfect Analysis} it's called a Cherufe Youngling, meaning two things. It's not a golem and I really don't want to meet its mother.

Since my back is pressed against the wall I have no choice but to fight back. I begin by using {Reapers Spiritual Pressure} which appears to have some effect although it shakes it off and begins approaching much more cautiously. The next step I take is to use {Total Water Manipulation} however the heat in the confined space seems to cause the water generated to evaporate immediately. I settle with what I know won't be affected by the heat and use the

spell on it, destroying one of its arms resulting in lava pouring out of the hole.

It begins screaming in pain and charges towards me with its head down and pointed at my chest. Activating {Goliaths Endurance}, {Goliaths Resilience} and {Goliaths Power} I meet it head on as I punch its head using {Sundering Strike}. The clash causes the whole cavern to shake violently with stalactites falling to the lava below and the cavern walls shattering, letting water rush in which quickly evaporates creating steam that fills the area. I can feel my arm creaking and breaking as it collided with the Cherufe's head and its skill begins to crack as well.

It staggers back dizzily as my arm falls limp, waiting for {Quick Regeneration} to kick in which it does. The creature lets out a stone shaking roar towards me while I respond with my own and launch a <Bolt> spell towards it. The bolt enters through the creatures mouth and carves its way through the back of its head. It stands still for a moment before falling back as the magma stream in its body fades and becomes solid, signifying its death.

After eating its soul, I gained {Blessing of the God of Inferno} { Magma Resistance} {Heat Resistance} {Beasts Charge} {Obsidian Generation} {Hard Body} {Hellish Roar} {Magma Strider} {Fire Body}. Seriously, I really don't want to meet the mother...at least not yet anyway.

While searching the cavern some more, I decided to test out my new skills and resiliences by sticking my toe in the magma. When that didn't hurt, I put in my whole foot, then I tried my face with my eyes closed and my mouth shut. Since it didn't hurt, I tried opening my eyes and saw a strange, purple gemstone down at the bottom of the lava lake. Enamoured by its beauty, I leapt in and grabbed it. The moment I touched it, I felt as though I were at peace and the orange, diamond shaped tattoo on my forehead began glowing in its presence. I decided to put it into my storage and head back up to the two girls.

One thing that was made clear when I arrived back at the underground lake was that, while the heat down there hadn't really affected my body, my clothes were another story altogether. Returner hid her eyes behind her hands while Cora just stared.

After thinking up the rather creative solution of using a stone golem as temporary clothing, I found that something like this could actually work quite well as armour so I made a mental note to create some armour golems in the future.

When I told the two about the underground magma lake, Cora was surprised to hear about its existence while Returner was more curious about the creature I fought. When I attempted to show her the {Fire Body} skill I got, it effectively turned the golem I was wearing into molten rock armour. With this information, before leaving, I quickly ran back to the magma lake and gathered some more of the stone from there.

On my return, Rou was curious about my new gear and when I explained that I found a small volcanic geyser that I dried up to stop it from destroying the forest, while defeating the creature that caused it, he relented in his questioning while making mention of his new pets. A few hind bears, some horses and a pack of black wolves. Come to think of it, I haven't seen anymore White wolves around, I wonder if I accidentally wiped the last of them out? Saving my possible genocide for another time, I told Rou that the space I made near my own pet area could be used to house his until a better area was built which he happily accepted.

I then went to find the tailor girl and inform her that my clothes had been burned off, to which Emery mumbled something about being sorry she missed it. The tailor girl scolded me for letting her work be destroyed like that but said that she would get to work making some more for me. I offered the use of my {Multicoloured Silk} and she accepted.

By the end of the day, I had a new pair of clothes which consisted of black pants, black boots, a white shirt and a black vest. When I put them on I felt like I should be using them only for special occasions but Tailor lady assured me that they were made using materials that could withstand quite a bit. I decided to be on the safe side and enchanted the clothes with some resistances as well as {Auto-Repair} {Durability} and {Resilience}.

I was able to work on my second Bone Goliath for one more hour before my exhaustion took over and I went to sleep.

[???] ”You're ••• •••• Don't ••••• ••• Ardent •••••”