DanMachi 37
[Quest: [Dungeon diving 88] Completed 88 WP(x4) Received]
[Quest: [Dungeon diving 89] Completed 89 WP(x4) Received]
[Quest: [Dungeon diving 90] Completed 90 WP(x4) Received]
[Quest: [Dungeon diving 91] Completed 91 WP(x4) Received]
[Quest: [Dungeon diving 92] Completed 92 WP(x4) Received]
Descending further and further became increasingly challenging as [Celestial Sight] became hindered by the spatial distortion between levels. Strangely, however, [Blink] encountered no such obstacles.
The subsequent floors weren't merely composed of clouds; they embodied the very essence of Heaven, or at least the dungeon's interpretation of it, complete with all things holy. On the 89th level, among the fluffy clouds, we discovered towering golden gates guarded by entities akin to angels. Unlike the annoying biblical ones we had faced earlier, these creatures were the personification of what one imagines an angel to be: genderless humanoids with lustrous blonde hair, azure eyes, and expansive white wings, all clad in white garments.
These beings wielded long, ornate golden spears imbued with a profound holy power. Not only were they formidable in close combat, but they also possessed impressive marksmanship, able to launch laser-like rays of holy energy with their spears as a catalyst.
As these Angels were on the verge of reaching level nine, the battles were far from effortless. Our evasive maneuvers were rigorously put to the test as we blinked across the battlefield, countering their assaults with precision.
The most annoying aspect of these adversaries wasn't their numbers or armaments; it was their holy magic, which could revive their allies even from the brink of death. When confronting a group of them, speed was of the essence; decapitation proved futile, as they could easily regenerate. Instead, we had to shatter each of their magical cores, which required several attempts to pinpoint.
The next on the list of aggravating and surprisingly resilient foes were the Archangels. Resembling their ordinary Angel counterparts with genderless features, golden locks, and blue eyes, they also bore two sets of white wings. In lieu of spears, these creatures carried golden swords and shields, heightening the challenge of the encounter. It was at this point that I acquired a new skill.
[Halo LVL:1/100]
- Increase your health regeneration by 1%/Lvl while active.
- Increase your M. Res and P. Res by 0.5%/Lvl, while active.
- Cooldown 10 Minutes, decreased by 5 seconds/Lvl.
Upon activating the skill, a golden halo materialized above my head and restored my health, while simultaneously boosting my other defensive stats. Truth be told, it was a potent ability and while it didn't have a duration, its cooldown proved to be cumbersome.
Given our extensive experience battling sword-wielding enemies, these Archangels were somewhat easier to handle than their regular Angel counterparts, who possessed longer reach. However, this didn't indicate any reduced power; in fact, they were even stronger. Like their Angelic kin, they could discharge laser-like rays, but unlike them, they didn't require a catalyst, instead used their limbs or even their wings. Their aerial maneuverability was extraordinary, thanks to their two sets of wings; they could soar toward us at full speed, halt abruptly, or perform a 90-degree turn with ease. Engaging these foes proved to be erratic, yet brief, and we sustained minimal damage.
After a day and a half of traversing the lower floors, we had to paused multiple time for breaks on the staircases, and we often returned to the safety point to catch up on some sleep. By the second day's end, we had once again maximized our stats.
However, beyond the 90th floor, [Celestial Eyes] proved unable to reach the surface, and I attributed it to spatial turbulence that dispersed mana when too far from me. To survey the town, I had to [Blink] us up several floors for a better vantage point.
It was still early in the morning when we arrived, and Hestia was still asleep, so I teleported us to our home and roused the slumbering goddess from her bed. Although she was surprised by our speedy return, she promptly updated our stats.
[Falna Status] (Andrew)
Level: 8 > 9
Strength: 1,500 (SSS) > 0 (I)
Endurance: 1,500 (SSS) > 0 (I)
Dexterity: 1,500 (SSS) > 0 (I)
Agility: 1,500 (SSS) > 0 (I)
Magic: 1,500 (SSS) > 0 (I)
D.A.:
[Mage SSS] [Spirit Healing SSS] [Magic Resistance S>SS] [Swordsman S>SS] [Abnormal Resistance E>D] [Healing Power F>E] [Blacksmith I] [Mystery I]
Magic:
[Blink SSS] [Arsenal SSS] [Celestial Eyes SSS] [Alter Orb S>SS] [Gate A>S] [Celestial Forge B] [Clean B>A] [Infuse SS>SSS] [Spatial Barrier F] [Gift of Life F>E] [Fly D>C] [Destiny S>SSS]
Skills:
[Sage's Wisdom] [Mana's Blessing] [Magic Penetration] [Magical Embodiment] [Archive]
[Falna Status] (Olivia)
Level: 8 > 9
Strength: 1,500 (SSS) > 0 (I)
Endurance: 1,500 (SSS) > 0 (I)
Dexterity: 1,500 (SSS) > 0 (I)
Agility: 1,500 (SSS) > 0 (I)
Magic: 1,500 (SSS) > 0 (I)
D.A.:
[Swordsman SSS] [Chain Attack SS>SSS] [Crush A>SSS] [Abnormal Resistance B>A] [Magic Resistance E>A] [Healing Power F>E] [Spirit Healing I>F] [Mage I]
Magic:
[Icicles C] [Blink SSS] [Clean C>B] [Infuse SSS] [Fly G>F] [Destiny A>SSS]
Skills:
[Heart's Desire] [Sacred Dance] [True Cut] [Heroic Empowerment] [Mind of the Blade]
We were only one level away from the end, and Olivia had chosen [Mage] this time, which provided a modest boost to her seldom-used spells. Still, she had made ample use of [Infuse], [Destiny], and [Blink], so the skill's development ability had not gone to waste.
[Mage LVL:1/120]
- Increases the damage of your spells by 2.5%/LVL.
On my end, I decided to go with [Mystery], and once again, it caught me off, guard. This skill focused on enchanting, but instead of using runes, it employed abstract concepts to imbue items with special abilities.
[Mystery LVL:1/120]
- Imbue an item with a concept, enchanting it with a perpetual spell.
- Enchanted items will require mana to function.
- The success rate of imbuing increased by 0.8%/LVL.
When utilized properly, it had the potential to create items that even the most powerful gods would struggle to match. I hoped that my proficiency in enchanting would complement this new skill. I looked forward to experimenting with it during our next extended rest.
Returning to the dungeon, we used [Blink] to descend to the 93rd floor, where we were greeted by a colossal golden castle with something radiating an aura of at least level ten inside of it.
[Quest: [Dungeon diving 93] Completed 93 WP(x4) Received]
"Another boss?" Asks Olive.
"Yeah, I don't think we should attempt killing it."
"Okay, next floor please." She says holding out her hand to me. I grab onto it and cast [Celestial Eyes] focusing on the floor just below us. I get the location, albeit barely, the static I'm getting, tells me this will be the last time I could use it to see downstairs.
[Quest: [Dungeon diving 94] Completed 94 WP(x4) Received]
We [Blink] down and are immediately thrust into a hellish landscape. The ground is covered in red, green, and purple flames that erupt from large craters surrounding us. The thick crimson miasma in the air makes it difficult to breathe until our air filters turn on. The sky is a deep crimson with black clouds floating ominously above. No moons, stars, or suns in sight. Only a vast sea of redness.
Our enjoyment of the surreal landscape is short-lived as a fifteen-meter-tall demon with goat-like horns and muscular legs spotted us. It unfurled its massive black wings and charged toward us with surprising swiftness.
Having fought countless monsters on earlier floors, Olivia was near her max class level. I gesture towards the demon, offering her the chance to take it on. She doesn't answer, but her sword glows in a multitude of colors as she activates [Infuse], [True Cut], and [Sword Aura]. Her body begins to shine in a yellowish color, indicating that she has activated [Heroic Empowerment], boosting her stats marginally.
Her sword descends. The swipe parts the clouds kilometers above, traveling at a speed faster than sound and reaching the incoming demon before it can even blink. Before it even noticed anything was wrong, the swipe has already long left him behind, cleaving mountains behind him in half. Half of the demon flew to our left hitting the ground and rolling half a kilometer more, while the other half impacted our right, falling into a hole in the ground.
As the rainbow hue covering Olivia's sword disappears, along with her yellow aura, she shushes down and takes deep, ragged breaths. After calming down, she speaks.
"Using everything together puts so much strain on me." She takes another deep breath and sighs before a small smile forms on her face. "I just hit 50."
"Nice!" I jump to her side and pat her back. "Did you get anything new? And what are you going to choose?"
Her smile widens and she explains me her available classes. And there was a lot... Archer, Arch-Mage, Black Mage, Blue Mage, Burst Mage, Chef, Divine Slayer, Executioner, Green Mage, Heretic Mage, Heretic Warrior, Knight, Mind Mage, Paladin, Red Mage, Rogue, Scout, Shadow, Slayer, Swordsman, Tank, White Mage.
But some of the most interesting ones were her newly unlocked classes.
Scout 0/25
+1 AGI, +2 PER per level
Gain the ability [Eagle Eye], allowing you to view the area before you from a bird's eye perspective.
Increases your movements speed by 50% while out of combat.
Shadow 0/50
+1 DEX, +2 AGI, +1 PER, +1 LUCK per level
Gain the ability [Stealth], allowing you to turn invisible if no one is looking at you.
Gain the ability [Ambush], increasing all of your damage done while unseen.
Gain the ability [Backstab], increasing all of your damage done while attacking from the back.
Slayer 0/100
+4 STR, + 1 DEX, +4 AGI, +2 VIT, +3 PER, +1 LUCK per level
Gain the ability [Eternal Hunt], increasing your total damage for each soul you took, for a certain duration.
Grants a flat 35% damage boost to all forms of damage dealt.
Grants a flat 10% magic and physical resistance penetration.
All your attacks ignore 2% of the enemy's armor.
"Interesting," I comment, looking at both Shadow and Slayer classes. "So what are you planning on choosing?" I ask while giving her overall stats a quick glance.
Olivia Lane
[Global LVL: 78 XP: 1,660,088/ 1,691,893]
[Class: Assassin LVL: 50/50 XP: 678,500/ 678,500]
[Titles: Sword Saint] | Race: [Human] | Tier: 2]
[WP: 57,236] [UC: 11,988.22] [HS: Healthy]
Stamina: 487,350 (812/s)
Mana: 26,088 (95.66/s)
STR: 183 > 618
VIT: 240 > 675
DEX: 282 > 722
AGI: 288 > 798
PER: 108 > 158
INT: 64 > 84
WIS: 112 > 132
CHAR: 10
LUCK: 107 > 157
P. Res: 0 > 25
M. Res: 0
I was really impressed when I saw her stats again, some of them had increased significantly since the last time I checked. Her falna stats, combined with her quick level progression, had greatly boosted her overall score. I also took a quick look at my own stats to see my own progress.
Status
[Global LVL: 82 XP: 2,473,361 / 2,477,564]
[Class: Mind Mage LVL: 44/50 XP: 515,511/ 553,557]
[Titles: [Blessed by Death] | Race: [Human] | Tier: 2]
[WP: 57,236] [UC: 11,988.22] [HS: Healthy]
Stamina: 407,411 (680/s)
Mana: 195,448 (3,144.54/s)
STR: 154 > 558
VIT: 160 > 564
DEX: 279 > 723
AGI: 179 > 569
PER: 34 > 134
INT: 189 > 504
WIS: 170 > 362
CHAR: 30 > 59
LUCK: 5
P. Res: 0 > 14
M. Res: 0 > 14
I was in a similar situation as Olive, as I also heavily relied on falna for my stat growth. However, my intelligence and wisdom had mainly increased thanks to my Sorcerer, Mage, and Blue Mage classes. Without falna, my strength, vitality, dexterity, and agility would be 540 points lower, and I am truly grateful to Hestia for this.
"You're pretty low on Intelligence and Wisdom," I comment. "and those are responsible for your mana, plus wisdom is your Inventory stat, you might want to select a class that gives you those attributes." I say after my inspection is done.
"You know what? You're right, and I have the perfect candidate for that!" She says before picking her class, without waiting for my input.
White Mage 0/50
+3 INT, +2 WIS per level
- Gain the ability [Resurrect], allowing the revival of an individual, if his soul is intact.
- Gain a 50% boost to all regeneration and healing-related abilities, skills, or spells.
[Resurrect LVL: 1/100]
- Use up to 60% of your total health, mana, and stamina to attempt to pull back a single soul from the afterlife, while at the same time returning their body to its original state.
- The soul has to be complete, additionally, 70% of the body has to be intact.
I groan once I notice what she picked, and I already know why she did it. Well, it's her decision, and if she will feel more comfortable knowing she could resurrect someone, all the better. I pat her on her back and give her a small smile.
"That one works too," I say, the disappointment must have been seen on my face because she looks down with a sad pout on her face.
"Should I have selected another one?" She asks meekly.
"Nah, it's alright, hopefully, you'll unlock something that works with your build after maxing out that class," I say patting her on her head. She looks up at me, checking if I'm mad at her, but I just lean down and capture her lips. After giving her a cheeky smile I point toward the horizon, or at least what seems to be one on this floor. Her earlier attack, not only caused a lot of noise, and disturbed a lot of enemies, as those enemies are currently heading our way.
"Fuck." She says after noticing a small army of monsters.
Before the army arrives, I imbue my sword with [Infuse], granting it a holy affinity. The sword, partially made of void material and pitch black, now radiates a holy golden hue, creating a conflicting concept. When the mob arrives, my [Destiny] aura explodes to its limits and switches to holy affinity. A collective scream of pain confirms my theory about their main weakness. I dance around the creatures, delivering lethal slashes that remove limbs and heads on a first come, first served basis. Meanwhile, [Alter Orbs] form above my head and fires multiple rays of lasers around me, clearing a large number of enemies.
Olivia's movements are even more breathtaking as she dances between the monsters. Her [Dancing] and [Sacred Dance] skills allow her to manipulate a large group of enemies with ease, moving with her tempo and striking with precision. With the number of creatures surrounding us, there is no chance of collecting loot. As the bodies pile up, maneuvering around them becomes increasingly difficult. Fortunately, the dungeon comes to our aid, dissipating the bodies and converting them into motes of mana that are dragged down to the depths of the dungeon.
I'm not sure how long we fought, but I do know we completed the level nine kill quest ages ago.
4x [Quest: [Slay 9 (R*4)] Completed 90 WP(x4) Received]
Despite the lack of experience provided by these foes, with each kill netting only between one hundred and two hundred XP, their sheer numbers more than made up for it.
In just a few hours, my class had skyrocketed from level 44 to 50, maxing out with over 380,000 experience points earned. Meanwhile, Olivia had managed to raise her class level from 1 to 42, but still required twice the amount of XP to reach her final levels. It was clear that a rebalancing of the class experience system was necessary. While it would slow down early levels, it would massively speed up the later ones. We decided to take a break from the endless waves of enemies and headed over to the staircase leading to the floor below, giving me the opportunity to select my new class.
As I unequipped my [Mind Mage] class, I could feel my [Mind Arts] shields weakening. The percentile-based bonus it provided was now gone. It was then that I realized I needed the [Sub Classes] system, which would allow me to equip multiple maxed-out classes at once, while only granting half of their benefits.
I scrolled through the extensive list of class options, but only a few caught my eye.
Chronomancer 0/50
+2 INT, +2 WIS +1 PER per level
25% reduced mana cost of Time magic.
30% reduced magical damage received from Time-related magic.
25% increase in damage received from Space-related magic.
Gain the ability [Time Affinity], granting you an increase in effects of Time-related skills, abilities, or spells, while at the same time giving you control over Time in the local area.
Sanguimancer 0/50
+2 INT, +2 WIS, +1 VIT per level
25% reduced mana cost of Blood magic.
30% reduced magical damage received from Blood-related magic.
25% increase in damage received from Rot-related magic.
Gain the ability [Blood Affinity], granting you an increase in effects of Blood-related skills, abilities, or spells, while at the same time giving you control over Blood in the local area.
Spatiomancer 0/50
+2 INT, +2 WIS, +1 PER per level
25% reduced mana cost of Space magic.
30% reduced magical damage received from Space-related magic.
25% increase in damage received from Time-related magic.
Gain the ability [Space Affinity], granting you an increase in effects of Space-related skills, abilities, or spells, while at the same time giving you control over Space in the local area.
All three of these were extremely powerful, especially if I could evolve and merge the skills they grant. But time manipulation seemed the most interesting, maybe I could cheat the system's time limit of ten years with it? That single thought, made me choose it instantly.
[Class: [Chronomancer] selected.]
[Skill: [Time Affinity] unlocked.]
[Time Affinity LVL: Max]
- Increases the effects of time-related skills, abilities, and spells by 25%.
- Allows partial control of Time in the local area.