Ubel CH5.5

Once again, I waddled my way into the dungeon, except this time as a member of a goblin mage team. The goblins kept looking at me and whispering to each other. "This guy is a great big target; we're going to have it easy." I wanted to roll my eyes. We were heading into catacombs filled the bursting with the undead. All I really needed to do was level up enough to go deeper and leave enough mobs to discourage these guys from following me. Then I just gathered every skill shard I could find and then left.

We were marched up to a massive walled camp surrounding the dungeon. We had our paperwork vetted before we were ushered into the dungeon. A team of burly hobs kept giving me glares as we traveled down to the second floor, where teams of hobs killed or captured kobolds the moment they spawned. Down another level, a massive kobold nearly 9ft from snout to tail leaped from the darkness with a mouth open dripping with poison. I reached out, but before I could make a move, a golden ax cleaved the kobold's lizard head down the middle.

Brain matter fell out of the skull like yokes from a boiled egg. The warrior-classed hob gave me a satisfied smirk. "Those of you too slow to cast a spell will be ghost shit on the floor. Be quick and stay together, and we won't have to clean you up after we settle the floor." The hob said.

Silver and copper coins rolled on the ground only for goblin loot collectors to come in and put them in sacks. A pair of copper-plated boots appeared, sparking with electricity.

We were taken to a set of stairs leading down into the dark depths of the dungeon. I conjured tribulation lightning and let its sparks break away the darkness. The walls were stone-lined with lizard bones etched with runes of some kind. A chill filled the air, and the light from my lighting skill struggled as we descended. Pale white flowers covered the ground up to my knees, rolling in a cold breeze. A goblin sneezed and shook his head.

"They say this is only a beginner dungeon for adventurers. If that is so, we can see why they are so powerful. Did you see that loot that appeared on the kobold's death?" A goblin said.

I turned to the hob to see him still at the top of the stairs; that wasn't a good sign. He shut the door, leaving us trapped in the catacombs.

"Every gob for himself." A green-skinned mage yelled and threw himself into the darkness.

Through the darkness, I saw a massive ethereal kobold lifting its massive neck to let the bitten-in-half goblin slide down its gullet. It shook its head from side to side, swallowing as the goblin's legs twitched. Half our number froze, and the other half ran down another tunnel.

Alchemic Tier II Quest 

Journey into a dungeon and gather ingredients for an xp gain potion. 

My foot slammed down as I leaped to the side to dodge a pair of swiping talons. The air chilled where they passed, and I lashed out with my wand, launching shock spell roaches at the ghost.

Strength 150 

Kobold Ghost lvl35

I hadn't bothered looking at my stats in a long time. After so much pain, blood, and sweat, I wasn't even close to getting where I needed to be. 1000 points was a massive climb, and every point was harder to get than the last. My only real option as to wear my weight and then break into a profession that can help me get stronger. But first, I needed to handle the ghosts.

More Kobold Ghosts rushed out from the walls, grabbing the goblins and ripping them apart. A fireball launched my way and I dodged just in time to see my vision consumed in orange light. I closed my eyes as the heat wave hit me. The explosion knocked me off my feet into a wall dozens of feet away.

I opened my eyes in total darkness. A little tribulation lightning lit my surroundings. Most of the goblins were dead, dying, or being feasted upon by the ghosts when they tried to run away. I watched my roaches, the three I made, turn into six before flying into a ghost.

My wand felt warm in my hand when I waved it for another three roaches. I felt my perk turn them into six, and then I made more. The ghosts turned toward me when I finished my 20th batch as a swarm of lighting roaches flew around me. A smile tugged at my lips as a ghost closed in, only to get zapped by 20 before breaking down into a puddle of ectoplasm. I took out a glass beaker and collected the stuff, but my quest wasn't complete. Either it couldn't be used to become an xp potion, or it wouldn't count until I made one.

Level Up 

Lvl25

…

That was fine; this place was perfect for my other rank-up quest.

Tactile Telekinesis Tier II Quest 

Punch A ghost to true death. 

 It was good fortune there were ghosts. This was also my second time seeing a massacre, and I hardly felt a thing. It wasn't unheard of humans didn't generally see goblins dying as a bad thing. There was no visceral reaction, like if I killed a human, but I was still processing wiping out my home village. Mercy or not, I harvested their xp.

While my thoughts weren't in the game, my roaches were. The rush of power from leveling up was also sweet. I could practically feel my body humming. I was a quarter way to getting the spells and perks I needed. At level 25, I could snag another class perk but held off on it. At level 100 and prestige, the perks and spells available would be the strongest.

I pulled back my fist and punched out at a ghost swooping in before my roaches could loop around for another blow. My fist passed through the ghost, and a claw made of ice slammed into my stomach. It bypassed my armor, and I felt my insides freeze as inches of claws threatened to rip my guts out. My roaches came around in the next instant. The ghost fried, leaving me thinking about how I was going to make my fist magical enough to make contact with a ghost.

Atom Lvl26

Pushing mana out was my first choice, and ghosts immediately turned their attention to me when I did. Sounding a dinner bell would have been less obvious. I sneezed and wiped my nose while blasting ghosts. Lightning blasted from my wand until the ghosts stopped coming.

"Atom," I turned to see Marie standing in the dungeon and suddenly felt less than an apple. "I can appear here because ghosts can appear here easier. Why did you give up on freeing me? Was it too hard to try?"

"You aren't Marie," I said.

The girl's blonde curls fell to the side, revealing yellow boils on her head that soon spread to her face. "I prayed to the Devs that you would save me. Sometimes, I dreamed that you would find a cure and I would become healthy again. Then I started to hate you and imagined you becoming sick while I grew healthier."

I felt raw like a nerve ripped out of flesh bared to the harshest wind and unforgiving desert. My face became stony while the shape of my sister slowly became more infected until all that was left of her was a raving zombie. My hand raised, and purple lightning crackled between my fingers. Contempt rose in me for the ghosts attempting to sway me with images of my sisters. Whether this was an apparition or hallucination, it didn't matter to me. Everything had to die.