15 The Might of Magic (1/2)
I said, ”Why not?”
The magic in the purple one's hand shook with energy as he said, ”Wait, Gelg, he's not a human. He's an unknown level 82. He could be one of that necromancer's commanders. Be careful.”
I said, ”What necromancer?”
Instead of answering, the purple one unleashed his magic. I dived towards my left as he shot a violet streak of energy towards me. The bolt singed any nearby stone, leaving a wave of molten magma behind. He charged another bolt as mister green charged me.
Arcane lizard man was too far away for oppression, so I kept it off. If anything, the green guy acted as a shield against him.
I leaned close to the rock floor as the green one came close. The purple one shot another purple bolt towards me, but I leapt up over it. As I landed in front of the green guy, I stomped with my heels. The stone caved beneath me, setting the green one off balance midway through his swing.
His sword wobbles towards me from the right, no longer an even swing. I shrug my right shoulder, making his strike skid up my arm pads and past my face. Orange sparks fly off my armor, lighting the sewer walls. With his left side open, I whip a compact hook into his gut.
His armor's soft compared with Baldag-Ruhl, so my fist sinks deep into his chest. He keels over as I bend down, dodging another purple bolt. As I come up, I press with my heels and drag a fist upwards. It collides against the chin of the warlord, snapping his jaw. The sound of breaking bone resounds down the cavern.
The purple one shouts, ”Goddamit.”
Sweat flies off the back of Gleg's head, his skull whiplashing backwards. He collapses to the side of me. I keep my arms tucked against my sides as I inch towards the mage. A bead of sweat falls from his purple skin as he says,
”Why did that fucking necromancer have to come here.”
The arcane master unleashes a funnel of violet fire, coating the entire tunnel in a burning blaze. Agony envelops me from all sides. It isn't an unfamiliar feeling though. I glance at my hp. It feels like about 20-30% of my health a minute. It even outpaces my regen rate, though not by much.
I charge towards him. As I reach out of the flames, he readies another spell. Before he fires off another bolt, I grab his hand and jerk it upwards. Purple lightning arcs over my head, cleaving straight through a spike of my armor. I pull him towards me with his arm. I headbutt his face with my helm.
His teeth fall off me before I grab his other hand. He whines in a stupor. I pull him in and headbutt him again. More blood and teeth. I smash my face into his like a hammer, pulverizing his skull into a thick stew. I toss the headless corpse aside before turning around. The green lizard guy is now black and writhing on the ground in pain.
I walk over before lifting a heel over his head. With a wet crunch, his face caves in as I stomp, and the ground beneath him cracks. I wipe blood off my helm as they both disintegrate into nothing.
Already, the dexterity bonuses were showing themselves. I doubt I could have pulled off something so fancy without being so lithe. Two notifications appeared,
Two tomes collected for Gelg Monok and Moronos Golgon. Information archived into personal library.
Bounties collected. (Gelg)112,000*2*1.5 = 336,000 exp acquired + (Moronos)165,000*4*1.5 = 990,000 exp acquired. 5 level up!
Five free levels essentially. My choice for my next level 30 attribute had become obvious with this fight. Some enemies couldn't be face tanked without dying. If the arcane master had landed those bolts, I could be dead. I don't know for sure, but they looked damn dangerous.
With that in mind, I put all 5 points into dexterity. The perk screen pulled up right after with far fewer options than before. That pitiful rat boss had given me a dungeon core, somehow. My armor had eaten it.
[Powerful(Strength of 15 or more) - Your strength is admirable. Doubles carrying weight.]
[Smart(Intelligence of 10 or more) - Your intelligence is good. Doubles effective memory.]
[Flexible(Dexterity of 10 or more) - Your dexterity is good. Doubles flexibility bonus.]
[Lithe(Dexterity of 15 or more) - Your dexterity is admirable. Doubles reflexive and reaction time bonus from dexterity.]
[Graceful(Dexterity of 20 or more) - Your dexterity is excellent. 1/10th of dexterity added to perception. Physical oriented skills are learned twice as quickly.
[Perceptive(Perception of 10 or more) - Your perception is good. Doubles sensory bonuses.]
I picked the perks graceful and lithe, noticing the difference in an instant. No part of my body felt foreign. Every fiber of every muscle obeyed my commands. I didn't feel jumpy. I felt like every movement had been practiced a thousand times. Like my limbs were water. Even with my clunky body, moving was second nature now. I opened my attribute screen.
Level 87 Attribute Totals
Strength - Increases carrying weight, maximum speed, and physical power 30
Constitution - Increases hardness, density, and weight of your body 36.3
Endurance - Increases regeneration of stamina, health, and their totals 51
Dexterity - Increases ease of movement, flexibility, and reflexes 20
Willpower - Increases internal motivation, mana regen, and Mental Res 30.3
Intelligence - Increases memory, critical thinking, and total mana pool 10
Charisma - Increases likeability, persuasion, and decreases prices at shops 4
Luck - Increases money found, odds in your favor, and chance of rare events 3
Perception - Increases comprehension, the five senses, and awareness 12
Ten more levels before the per level bonuses. I'd be a graceful titan once those went through. With oppression, I could kill groups of people while focusing on 1v1 combat oriented builds and skills. It made my build airtight. I rather liked that.
Magic may even come later, but for now I'll specialize in physical superiority. It hadn't failed me so far, and I doubt it would. My armor ensured that.
I glanced at the two bodies of the lizards. There wasn't any real guilt from killing them. It wasn't like I had a choice anyway. What did interest me, was the talk about some necromancer. I had a few theories about it, but I couldn't be 100% sure about anything at the moment.
I checked their armor if it was useful. When I beat into theirs, it bent like aluminum foil. These guys need some more constitution. Anyways, they didn't really have anything useful on them, besides for their tomes. I left them and killed rats in this so called dungeon. While doing so, I read up on their archive. I discovered a few interesting facts.
For starters, you don't get exp from killing other non-rift monsters unless they have a bounty. You can, of course, loot their body though.
Next, I learned that coming to new worlds was a common practice for two reasons. A, the bosses were young and easily killed. B, they were all over the place. They gave perks that were very difficult for higher level players to obtain. One could sell for quite a few credits. Of course, some dungeons were transferred between worlds. The dungeon I ended up in was just such a place.
Something else was...very interesting. When Schema came, so did everyone and everything else. Races from all over the galaxy had come over from portals to major population centers. Trade was allowed, but taking dungeons from new races was forbidden by Schema. If a race never got off their feet, then they'd struggle to become independent in the galaxy.
In some extreme cases, entire species were devolved into slavery due to extreme dependence on more established races. The Skeptilian people were an example of this. They weren't a very proficient race when it came to combat. Compared with humanity, they lacked the stature for it. That warlord was an exceptional case of their maximum potential. Very rarely, however, they had an affinity for the arcane.
These few gifted members of their species were excellent assassins and PvP specialists. These mages were feared throughout all worlds. A well placed shot could end almost anyone. Of course, regeneration builds actually countered them for the most part. If they burned a % of your health as true damage, than regenerating it before you died was the only real answer. Defensively speaking, of course.
These two had been brothers, one gifted with an affinity and the other a marvelous worker. They were collecting these cores for unlocking combat oriented perks for family members back home. It turns out they had grandparents who were dying, so they wanted to unlock the double lifespan perk for them.
Of course, I still felt no guilt whatsoever. They still tried to kill me when we met. Fuck those guys.