Strange Vase
Flain had mana and two new skills: [Necrotic Irradiation] and [Tornado of Spines]. His [Low-DualSwords-Mastery] also leveled up to level 2. Flain wasn't sure if this was because of his evolution or his fights in the dungeon, but he assumed it was due to dungeon combat.
[Name: Necrotic Irradiation
Level: 1
Stage: 2
Type: Necrotic Spell
Consumption: 3 mana per second
Description: Necrotic Irradiation is a skill known by almost every Undead that is at stage 2 or higher. It creates a flame of necrotic mana on the user's hands, which harms the living but heals the Undead. Necrotic Irradiation is used to speed up regeneration and reattach lost limbs for Undead.
Next level: Use this skill or gain 25,000 EXP]
So this was a healing skill—very useful. But it depended on how much HP it restored because Flain only had 15 MP, meaning he could use it for just 5 seconds. Still, if he lost a limb, he wouldn't have to worry about it being the end of his current attempt, as this skill could reattach it. Flain clicked on his second new skill. However, 25,000 EXP for a level-up was insanely high—Flain hadn't even accumulated that much in total yet.
[Name: Tornado of Spines
Level: 1
Stage: 2
Type: Melee Technique
Consumption: 550 EN
Description: A common skill for Bone Hunters, but deadly for their enemies. The user takes a T-pose and starts spinning at an extremely high speed, then crashes into their foes. Since the user's entire body is covered in half-meter-long bone spikes, this deals massive damage to the enemy.
Next level: Fight, train with this skill, or gain 25,000 EXP]
Flain read the description—it sounded incredibly powerful. But the 550 EN cost was significant. However, if it dealt a lot of damage, it would be worth it. Flain didn't have any other combat skill that could be used in every situation—Swift Slash was only useful when the enemy was stationary.
As Flain was looking at his stats, he noticed that the bonuses from his armor hadn't disappeared. He examined his armor and saw that his spikes had pierced through it, but otherwise, it remained the same. Finally, Flain realized he had enough experience for another level-up and proceeded with it.
[Level 13 -> Level 14]
[Strength increased by 1, agility increased by 1, vitality increased by 1, intelligence increased by 1]
[You have gained 1 bonus point]
'Intelligence, which increases mana, levels up as well—that's great,' Flain thought.
Then Flain considered where to allocate his bonus point. Intelligence was out of the question since he had no offensive spells.
'Wait, so intelligence increases intelligence?' Flain wondered.
[Tip: Intelligence indeed increases your IQ, albeit in a negligible amount. For every 25 intelligence, you gain 1 IQ.]
'That's really low, but better than nothing,' Flain thought.
In the end, Flain decided to put the bonus point into vitality, as it was his weakest stat apart from intelligence.
[Vitality increased by 1]
Then something else came to Flain's mind — how many evolution shards he would need for the next evolution. Flain clicked on [Bone Hunter].
In front of him appeared basically the same description he had read when choosing the evolution, and below it was the requirement for the next evolution.
[Evolution Shards required for evolution: 250]
Flain blinked a few times when he saw it, but it was still there.
"250 Evolution Shards? Do they think I can just conjure them out of thin air?" Flain muttered. It seemed Flain would have to accept that he would be stuck in this form for quite a while.
Flain sighed, but there was still one more thing to do — test his strength. He wouldn't go to the valley yet since Flain wasn't completely sure he could handle an army of black lizards, though it was probably possible. Instead, Flain decided to go deeper into the cave, using each step to push off the ground and leap forward to cover more distance and avoid making too much noise.
On the way, Flain encountered 2 skeletons and an insect monster, all of which he killed without any trouble. He gained 620 EXP, which was enough for another level up.
[Level 14 -> Level 15]
[Strength increased by 1, agility increased by 1, vitality increased by 1, intelligence increased by 1]
[You have gained 1 bonus point]
Flain once again allocated the bonus point into vitality to round his HP to exactly 400. Flain was now deeper than he had ever been before.
He kept moving forward and hadn't run into any more monsters, but then he saw something interesting. There were gray bricks forming some kind of room — something that didn't fit into the cave at all.
'Could it be some kind of boss? Let's find out.' Flain thought.
Flain stepped into the room. He found himself in a small chamber made entirely of gray bricks, with a pedestal in the center holding a vase. It was an ordinary-looking blue and white vase.
Flain reconsidered his options. It could be some good loot, or it could be a hidden boss, but what Flain believed most was that it was a trap.
Flain approached and touched the vase, then immediately ran back to the entrance of the room.
He looked at the vase — nothing happened. The vase just stood there motionless on the pedestal.
'Hmh, maybe a more complex trap. But I'm starting to think it's not a trap at all.' Flain thought.
Flain went back to the vase and lifted it into the air — nothing happened. The vase just floated motionlessly in Flain's hand.
Flain decided to examine the vase more closely, but didn't find anything particularly special — except for one peculiar thing. When Flain tried to put his hand inside the vase, it wouldn't go in, as if there was some kind of invisible barrier. The inside of the vase was both visible and not at the same time — it was dark, and Flain could only make out the outlines of its internal structure.
Flain started pushing against the invisible barrier with all his strength, but nothing worked. He stopped because he didn't want to ruin his iron gauntlets.
Then, a risky thought crossed Flain's mind — break the vase, if it even could be broken. There could be some rare artifact inside, but the vase itself could also be a rare artifact. If the vase was valuable and he never broke it, he would never obtain it…