Undying Ambition (1/2)

I stretched and moved my stiff neck around in circles trying to regain mobility. I had sat in a meditative position for 12 hours and I was literally glowing with the overflowing energies I had collected. All my followers were worried about me but thankfully had not interrupted my cultivation. The sun was setting, night would soon come and with it, the horrors of the dead. However, I would not allow us to be the ones in fear.. tonight this new enemy would find that our home will not fall pray to their savageness.

[ Aether Cultivation interrupted. Calculating Mana and Aether point gain for 12 hours and 2 minutes worth of transfiguration. Mana Points: 264, Aether points: 108 ]

[ Achievement unlocked. "Cultivation Apprentice", you have spent a minimum of 6 hours in meditation each day since your arrival in Sulteros. You are taking your first steps towards Aetherial Enlightenment. You are awarded 150xp! You are awarded 100 Aether points! ]

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Race: Superior Dungeon Core Lv.9

Avatar: Arsani (Hermaphrodite)

Age: 29

HP: 180/180

MP: 298/89

XP: 156/1300

Aether: 297

Gold: 901

Physical - 12 (Beyond Peak Condition)

Mental - 3 (Average)

Social - 5 (Above Average)

Magic - 9 (Near Peak Condition)

Skills

1) Monster Summoning (Rank 2)

2) Dungeon Manipulation (Rank 2)

3) Aether Cultivation (Rank 4)

4) Bound (Rank 1)

Passive Skills

1) Fire Resistance (Rank 2)

2) Natural Allure (Rank 1)

3) Minor Regeneration (Rank 3)

4) Fire Manipulation Magic (Rank 3)

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First things first.. I had money to burn and there was no reason to just keep it lying around while we were expecting an attack on our Dungeon. I browsed the wares of Trishda's shop, for specific items. Namely.. aha! "Minor Potion of Health", the tag read. They were very expensive. Costing 150 gold a piece, the alchemical concoction could restore a person's health and stamina, healing most superficial wounds in a matter of seconds. I bought two, handing them out to my followers. The girls didn't have special powers or a reset button, in case something bad happened, I wanted to ensure their safety. I then bought a Minor Mana Regen potion, for 200 gold. This bad boy increased your Mana regeneration tenfold for 30 minutes. This was apparently a rarer potion, able to restore even an adept Mage completely in less than its effect's full duration. This really intrigued me, as I was not even a Mage but my Mana pool was big enough that this potion wouldn't be able to completely restore me, if I were to drink it while running on fumes. Was it because I was a Core and not a normal living being? If this was the case then maybe I had a high potential as a future Mage, greater than being a normal fighter or warrior.

This left me with 401 gold coins. There weren't many "battle items" I could purchase with this amount, especially not ones with any "permanent" perks or enchantments. Armor and weapons with very simple enchantments were available but all exceeded 500 gold in cost. Experience and Skill potions were available, granting the user raw experience or Skill points to use for their advancement. Sadly, even the lesser ones cost 600 gold per bottle. So, I started checking for "one time use" items. Even when playing videogames, I was never a fan of depending on items that could run out on me during a difficult moment. Other than that, it seemed that my "store" although magical in nature, containing many different items, wasn't limitless in its capacity.. Some items it only had a certain amount of in stock. I didn't know what would happen if I bought them all. Would it replenish its stock after a while? Or maybe after a certain trigger? Like a level up or rank up? Well I wouldn't be learning that today so I bought a few items that seemed useful. My first purchases were some enchanted ammunition for my sling-bearers. That flammable shot had proven quite useful in the previous fight but I doubted the Ghoul would fall for the same trap twice. I finally opted for some other "trick ammo" and placed them to the side for my girls. I also bought a smoke bomb and finally, two pouches of paralyzing powder.

Happy with my shopping spree and my plans on how to make use of the new items, it was time to summon monsters. Since my traits had proven themselves so useful, I also wanted to increase the rank of "Caves of the Strong". This would help all my summons become stronger by making their Level and Physical attribute rise by 1. This would affect both existing and newly summoned monsters. All my monsters would start off their life, already at level 4 and with a +3 to their Physical attribute, which meant more HP and increased physical capabilities. The first upgrade to a trait cost a whopping 100 Aether points. If I gave another 100 points to increase the rank of "Mists of Fright", then that would leave me with 97, for any individual monster leveling. I went ahead and mentally accepted this transaction. A large amount of Aether was absorbed by my Core and my powers over the domain were strengthened. All my summons howled, bounced and snapped claws at the heavens, as they felt their power rise. The mists of fright became thicker, their effects empowered.

[ Mists of Fright Rank 2: Enemies inside the mists will suffer a -8% movement speed, -8% physical damage output and a -2% drain in their remaining Stamina for every minute they spend within your domain. ]

Ι had one surviving Deep Fisher from my Entrance Cave. The critter had reached level 5 because of last night's raid and my now upgraded Trait. I summoned 6 Cave Fishers and 1 more Deep Fisher for the room, placing them under the veteran's command. An adequate welcoming party. I also handed the eldest Fisher the smoke bomb, instructing it on when and how to use it. Thankfully the device lacked any complicated mechanism for activation. A simple toss would fo the trick. I also sacrificed some Mana in order to produce two pit fall traps at the edges of the room. I summoned a sheet of bramble and some sharpened wooden stakes at their bottom before covering the top with a layer of stone so thin, even a child's weight could cause it to crumble downwards.

[ Mana remaining: 223 Points ]

Next up was the Main Cave. This is where the bulk of the fighting would take place. I needed more forces here, enough to cause serious damage before the Ghoul reached Fisher's cave. Here, the only mob that remained was my trusted Amber Ooze. It had maxed out its Level and looked ready to evolve. I prompted the procedure and was delighted to see that it had gained a new unique evolution due to our latest battle strategy.

[ Amber Ooze has qualified for unique evolution: Water Bubble. This unique Slime is almost invisible when submerged in water. It has an affinity for the element, greater movement speed while in water and greater tentacle creation and manipulation abilities. This summon is qualified for a Core. After evolution a Core will be created after summoner's agreement. ]

I of course sacrificed more Mana in order to strengthen the evolution. I gave it the ability to contort and shape its body freely, like any body of water could. It could change its properties and become completely acidic at will. And finally, I maxed out its regeneration speed, as much as the evolution allowed. These upgrades made the summon more costly but I didn't care. I had the Mana for it and I'd rather have strong monsters defending my home than extra Mana lying around in my pockets. The slime grew slightly larger, its ooze like form becoming more spherical and translucent. Its hue changed to a light blue and had two motes of white for eyes. I named it "Blu". "Thank you Lady Minõa, I will cherish this name.." it said in a very calm and wise, female voice. It didn't seem to have a gender like animals did but sounded like a woman in her 30s. I remembered when it would hop around happily to get my attention and smiled as I heard it speak with the voice of a poet. "Happy to have you, Blu.." I responded and summoned 9 Amber Jellies and 3 Great Amber Oozes. All of them were quite strong for low level mobs because of my trait but it wouldn't be enough. I gave my Jellies 47 Aether points, raising them from level 4 to level 7.

Then I moved on to Fisher's boss room. Firstly I re-summoned 2 Cave Fishers to replenish our losses from yesterday. Fisher had 5 lesser kin under his command. I added a Deep Fisher to that number and gave it a strategic position to oversee. I also summoned 3 Acamar Pale Imps to provide some needed aerial support to the much slower Cave Fishers. Fisher was now at level 7. With 20 Aether points he reached level 8 and that left me with 30. I raised the level of the Cave Fishers to 7 and I was finally out..

[ New achievement unlocked, "Full House" reach the maximum number of allowed summons for the first time. 100xp awarded! ]

[ New achievement unlocked, "Hard Core", have 5 summons with Monster Cores at one time. 150xp awarded! 1 Skill point awarded! ]

My summons were low ranked and didn't cost a lot of Mana to summon, the problem was the Aether required to Level them up suitably for a threat. My trait "Caves of the Strong" could balance that out but I would also need a lot of Aether for that as well. If only I could use these skill points to raise my cultivation skill Rank faster. I had Mana to spare but the mystical energy of Aether was still hard to gather, at least in a short time period such as this. Dungeons were vulnerable to continuous attacks due to the time necessary to restore its forces, so enemies like this Ghoul and its quickly summoned hordes, were the worst enemies to face. However.. I wasn't just a Dungeon.. I was the champion of Trishda and this guy was going to find out the hard way.

• • •

"My Lady, I think the Wyvern saw something in the distance.." Fatná's voice suddenly echoed through my Altar Room. I had spent the last 30 minutes simply sharpening my scimitar and adjusting my armor, to calm my nerves and prepare for the battle ahead. I turned to her with a nod. "Fall back to Fisher's cave and wait for my command.." I said and the woman ran up the cavern to rejoin her daughter. I placed the blade in its scabbard and walked up as well. The Wyvern fed me images of an even larger horde of undead heading towards us, under the dune's starry sky. There must have been more than 70 this time. Had the Ghoul also leveled-up after its raid the previous night? Either way.. we were as ready as we could be. I passed through Fisher's cave, nodding to my followers and minions. "We are with you my Master! The enemy will be destroyed!" Fisher boasted proudly earning a smile from me. Fiona and her two wolves were also there. "You will keep close to Fatná and Sumiré.. make sure nothing gets to them!". "Don't worry Master! I will guard the girls! I will! I will!" Fiona responded, jumping excitedly around me. It was so good to see her like this again. The Ghoul was going to pay for its brutality as soon as I got my hands on it!

Everyone and everything was in place. The horde was a little over 500 meters from my entrance and closing in fast. It was time to begin.. "Wyvern.. Give them the welcome song.." I said telepathically and my large beast dove down from its perched position with great speed. Soaring a few meters above the advancing Horde, the Wyvern blasted the undead with a cone of thunderous sound. The sonic waves were so strong they distorted the air around them, becoming visible to the naked eye. Some zombies were flung back while others were crushed under the force. Most of the undead received superficial damage but after four blasts of the Wyvern's "Booming Voice" it had managed to destroy about a dozen of them. A few of them jumped in order to grapple the flyer but were unsuccessful, until the summon received an unlikely projectile to its face. The Ghoul had tossed one of its own like a missile! The Wyvern dropped two meters trying to regain its balance. More than two dozen zombies, jumped on top of it, grasping its wings and other appendages. The great beast fell like a rock in the middle of the horde. It managed to bite two more zombies in half before being completely overwhelmed by their numbers. They piled on top of it, scratching and biting until my summon was no more. I dissolved it into Aether, reabsorbing some of its essence. If it had survived this battle, it would have probably developed a Core and I would have been able to re-summon it. But now..