The Next Floor
The fumes caught fire soon after the body. Flames rose and twisted in the air forming a spiral. As if a spell had been broken the floor began to shake. Pieces of the floor fell away, and the green house fell with them. The sweet fragrance of an alchemist's garden gave wave to the smell of burning flesh and pill fumes. Pipes began to bust spilling irrigation water that quickly evaporated in the extreme heat.
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Leve up
Jacob lvl70 Black Sol Imp
HP and AP fully restored
+150 HP and AP
+15 to all stats
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Mage lvl80
Perks
Multicaster – Combined spells gain 10% more effectiveness.
Spell Chain – You can customize command names of chained spells.
Researcher – +25% spell learning speed.
Color Proficiency – You gain proficiency skills in color series when you use a color series spell.
Philosopher – +25% spell learning speed.
Secondary – colors can be blended to form secondary color series of spells.
Spell Scholar - spell learning speed.
Aura Manipulator – +25% control over aura.
The flames quickly subsided where Mun met his end. When the smoke cleared all that was left was a piss yellow skeleton. Only it didn't look quite like any skeleton I'd ever seen. Its bones stretched and connected where they shouldn't. Instead of the normal two arms it had four. Its second set weren't arms at all. They were the scythe blades of a praying mantis.
Mun lvl1 Nightmare Soldier
Rank: Terror Knight
I slammed my foot hard against the ground and felt it crack. A fissure quickly opened, and the body of the Nightmare Soldier quickly fell through. Fighting it would have been more trouble than its worth. An enhanced knight wasn't something I wanted to fight, and I wasn't sure if Gwen or Doppel could handle it.
"I still have a UDW to unleash and we don't want any back up to come from below." Diabla said. I nodded and pointed towards the pit.
The world flashed blue as a powerful serpentine creature made of soul fire shot down through the tower after the terror knight. Cinder flew to my shoulder and rested against my horn.
"That's really impressive boss. What's next we aren't done, are we?" The fairy leaned against my shoulder while Gwen and Doppel waited for me at the gate.
"I forgot to get the key." I muttered.
"I didn't," Gwen chirped and pulled out a golden key. She plunged it into the gates keyhole and the door quickly opened. We took the spiraling stairs up while the floor below us crumbled. "This place is only held up by wishful thinking and the wards. It could collapse any minute."
"I'm not going to flee, I'm winning." I said. The next gate had only a blacken sun and the symbol of a sword on it.
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Equipped
Job: Warlock
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Learn Aura Rush X – A simple technique that manipulates aura to increase movement speed. +500% AGL
Class: Movement
Rank: F
Upgrades
Stop Start X – Plan and predict each point for a faster reaction time. +100% PER.
Class: Movement
Rank: F
Frictionless Slide X – Use aura to lower friction and skate on the ground. +1000% AGL +100%DEX
Class: Movement
Rank: E
Controlled Thrust X – Manipulate the direction Aura Rush pushes. +500% DEX
Class Movement
Rank: F
Rush Zone X – Boost senses to react with Aura Rush. +500% PER
Class: Movement
Rank: F
Battle Mode X – Combine all aspects of Aura Rush and increase their output. 10x to all Aura Rush Upgrades.
Requirements: Max Out All Aura Rush Upgrades.
Class: Movement
Rank: A
All at once the secrets of battle mode flooded my mind. The strain was minimal. This was what gave me the confidence to beat Dol. It was time to unveil my power and destroy my enemies. I was here on Dol's doorstep holding back from this point on would only hurt me. If my enemies couldn't keep up or fight back, then tough.
I placed a hand on the black door containing the fourth roadblock on my journey.
In the distance a black skinned orc with large tusks and a harem of girls lounged on a pedestal. One green skinned gobling female worked hard up and down the orc's shaft. The orc looked up and snapped his fingers. One of the gobling females brought the big orc a silver cod piece. The orc grunted and strapped the piece on and picked up a black chain.
The orc stood up and clapped his hands. Flames shot up across the arena and he pointed at us. "Boys charge," the orc shouted.
Blood stains covered the floor and hundreds of goblings fought one another to lead the charge. The orc in black armor only raised a goblet and drank heavily from it. "My warriors the first to bring me the heads of these interlopers will be given all the women they can handle." I raised my hand and launched seven fireballs at the boss of this floor.
Rus lvl95 Black Sol Orc
Rank: Wrath Plebe
"Fiery Chariot," A series of complicated spell chains went off and out of his aura Rus summoned two horse made of ash and flames pulling a chariot. The wheels were flames and the horses rode on the air. They quickly jerked him out of the way of the incoming fireballs. Seven massive explosions went off one after the other. They quickly swallowed the area around them in flames burning a few goblings to ash.
I dashed across the battlefield trampling any gobling unfortunate enough to get in front of me. "Fire Gatling," Rus yelled. Hundred of tiny fire balls hit the area near me as he circled the arena.
This was the power of a fully matured technique. Not only did I move with speed beyond my rank, but I did it with control. Tunnel vision wasn't a problem. My body moved with my aura.
I raised my hand and unleashed a rain of fireballs. What enemies remained were bathed in flames and quickly reduced to ash. I barely felt the drop of aura when the enemy numbers were depleted. This was simply the difference between a hero and a normal plebe. I had access to far more resources than the normal plebe.
Despite that fact my skill Red Proficiency hadn't leveled. It seemed I was using a series without understanding it. What was I missing? What was the fundamental nature of the red series?
I stepped aside as Rus unleashed volleys of various attacks. Traps appeared on the ground built to slow my movements. The shear variety of techniques under Rus's employ were incredible. I was already a little jealous of his harem but the number of red spells he unleashed was impressive. The chariot had to be at least a tier 3 or 4 creature summon spell.
Each gatling fireball exploded with the power of one of my full-sized fireballs. Why? I needed answers.
Then I realized cinder was still hanging by my horn. She was here with me.
"Cinder what can you tell me about the red series? You were created from it and the white series." I asked.
While she prepared her answer, I moved and weaved between Rus's attacks. The difference in our speeds were steep. He might have had similar aura to my own. That wouldn't help him hit me. Even his traps were too slow to activate and slow me down. This guy didn't seem to believe in mass debuffs.
"I'm not very old and there isn't much I can tell you. I can only tell you how I feel. When I try stay still, I'm restless. Staying in one place too long makes me fidgety. I tap my foot a lot. Does that help at all?" Cinder said.
"That helped a lot thank you." Red series was about action. Well all spells were about an action of a kind, but her words made some sense. She wanted to be on the offensive. Black and white weren't about that. White was about actively forming groups. Black preferred to actively focus on a single person the caster normally. All unions were based on the individual's benefit. That was how I understood it anyway from my own experiences.
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Quest: Red Training Reach Red Proficiency lvl10
Reward: +10 PER
I quickly crafted a spell chain to handle Rus. There were many spells I had to choose from but at the end I decided to go with classics. After a little imagination, customization, and reused code, I crafted a weapon for my left hand. I used, haste, javelin, static, parade, and charge.
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Red/Black spell chain created
Cur – A tier 3 spell that rapidly fires javelins. 10,000DMG Shock/Decay fires 5000 rounds per minute.
"Cur," I called. Three black symbols appeared in front of my hand and spun. The symbols sucked in my aura and unleashed hundreds of javelins. Black rained while I fed it aura. I impaled the horses and Rus fell.
He smashed into the ground like a man who forgot his parachute. I was on him in an instant. My blade slashed through his armor and he died. "Pyre," I called and burned the bodies before Dol's enchantment could claim them.
Still I didn't receive a level in Red Proficiency. Despite creating a new spell, it didn't help. I was missing something. I acted, but there was something missing. A part of me wasn't into it. How could I make it real?
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Jacob lvl75 Black Sol Imp
HP and AP fully restored
+150 HP and AP
+15 to all stats