Syl

Chapter 57: Undead Critters

Now that Kurt had a renewable defense, we started progressing much faster through the dungeon. It seemed our slow pace was to avoid injury and the dreaded "money sink" of this dungeon. Although it was still too slow for my liking, I already imagined doing some solo hunting myself, unrestrained by my disguise.

We breezed through till we reached the next room, which had the gimmick of keeping us occupied by a swarm of zombie rats while skeleton archers would pelt us from a distance.

"Weird, they are seen as single entities despite being hundreds of rats..." I commented.

"Dungeon monsters are strange like that. Or maybe it's the Gods? Imagine throwing a fireball at a thousand zombie rats, and even if they were only level 1, you'd get so much experience."

"Perhaps they were a single Zombie Rat, and each took the Swarm mutation?"

Kurt laughed, "You're asking the wrong person if you want to talk about monster ecology."

While we were having our casual conversation, the little rats were trying their hardest to penetrate the bubbles. Kurt had simply strode up to the archers and dispatched them with ease. Together with my [Sub-Cores], we started blasting into the swarms of rats with [Water Orb]. The kill notifications only appeared when enough of the swarm entity was considered dead. Once the swarm was more manageable, I used a disguised tendril to smash into them and get some sneaky devours. I had some notifications to go through.

Looking over the profile while Kurt searched for loot, I discovered that rats were not monsters, much like the level zero animals I had killed in the forest ages ago. By becoming a zombie, it had turned into a monster, and then Swarm was a special type of mutation. Very strange.

It had no combat applications, with a long incubation time, and unless I felt like punishing an entire town or village with long-term consequences, I didn't see why I would need this. It was also a disease, so why it was considered applicable to my clearly labeled poison trait was very confusing.

Since it was safe to do so, I curiously looked through my two class revelations.

Allows your raw mana to operate outside of your being without dissipating.

Also allows greater control over mana, which can aid in creating custom spells.

Skill level determines; maximum manipulation, mana efficiency, and the time before dissipating.

Unlocks further Mana-related Traits and Skills.>

'Yes! Instant purchase!' I mentally celebrated. I had so long ago wanted to try using something like [Mana Reinforcement] on other things only to be denied. Back then I wanted to use it on tusks or fangs, back when I needed to actually worry about conserving my slime mass and dared not use the regular [Slime Shot].

I then looked at the second skill. It improved accuracy and damage with attack spells. It immediately reminded me of my two existing weapon skills.

"Oh no... Not another one." I grumbled at the second skill, to which Kurt looked at me confused until I explained, "My class revealed the magic version of weapon proficiency, and my profile is feeling quite bloated..."

Kurt chuckled, "I know that feeling. You should consider Fusing them then. It costs a point, but it's well worth it, especially if you find another compatible skill later on that joins it."

"Fusing?" I questioned.

"Uhh... How do I explain this? You open your menu, and you kinda group your stuff together."

I nodded.

"Then you grab all the ones that you think are similar at once. Then, if they are compatible, you get a prompt."

I nodded and looked at [Melee Weapon Proficiency], [RangedWeapon Proficiency], and [Improved Accuracy (Lesser)] and tried selecting them all together.

Becomes Skill: [Attack Mastery (Lesser) LV 4].

This will cost 1 Skill Point.>

'No.'

"Interesting..."

"Yeah, it's really strong. Tabby told me to try to get as many to at least level three before Fusing for an 'additive bonus'. Or so she said."

"Why only level three and not higher?"

"Oh. I know this. Tabby mentioned it before. Think Kurt. Think..."

Kurt paused, scratched his head, then his chin, and then started visibly straining while mumbling and muttering. It's like he was digging through his memory for the right words, "Diminishing returns."

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Thanks... So if I got this Attack Mastery skill, then got Magical Attack, it would get added to it?"

"Yes, but it will cost you a skill point to add it. But think of all the free levels you'd be gaining. Your new skill would be boosted to the level of your fused skill."

"Or... I could get the Magical Attack skill and then fuse it and save a skill point."

"If you can wait that long."

"I wonder if it works on traits too..."

"I think so. Tabby keeps telling me to get the dexterity trait to complete the body collection, but I have no idea when I'll get my next trait point. It's extremely low on my list."

I tried combining all my enhanced attributes but received no prompt. I reluctantly removed vitality from the grouping and then received a prompt.

Becomes Trait: [Soul Mastery LV 4].

This will cost 1 Trait Point.>

'No. There were eight attributes during my assessment... But I've never seen [Enhanced Mana] in any profile. Surely the human or elf would've had it? It could be one of my unknown elf traits, but if humans have the other seven, then why miss only one? The only trait I have that increases mana directly is [Mana Well]...'

Becomes Trait: [Soul Mastery LV 5].

This will cost 1 Trait Point.>

'No. Shit. I can't believe it has a different name, surely it should be called [Enhanced Mana]? Talk about inconsistency! Gramps, what the hell!?'

Suddenly, its slow progression made a lot of sense, but the naming inconsistency really bugged me. I wanted to do the fusion immediately, but charisma only needed one more level up. I had a spare mimic slot, so I grabbed [Enhanced Charisma LV 5] and hoped to level it up promptly.

"Thanks, Kurt. I appreciate the help you've given me."

"No problem. Let's get back to rekilling the undead."

Moments before reaching the next room, my bubble suddenly shuddered and popped. I looked around frantically to see what caused it to burst, but there were no enemies.

"Damn, I guess the duration ran out. Good thing we weren't in combat. Still, that was a pretty long buff spell. Could you recast it on me as well, just in case?"

I nodded and recast the spell on myself and Kurt once I popped his bubble. I guess that explained why it wasn't constantly draining my mana, and now that I think about it, how I could cast it more than once without [Multicasting] or using a [Sub-Core]. I made a mental note to ask Dewi for more details about these buff spells.

The next room contained a mixture of zombified and skeletal wolves. The skeletons were fast but unable to break our bubbles, while the zombies were slightly slower than a regular wolf. Our impromptu strategy was to avoid the zombies while whittling down the skeletons.

My goal was to earn the magical attack skill for free, so I wanted as much contribution as possible. I told all my cores to go wild with the [Water Orb] spell, while I focused on using [Water Whip] and trying to manipulate it as if it were slime. Taking a page from Kurt and his clubs, I tried just adding a ball of dense water at the end of my whip and swinging it around like a flail, bashing into the wolves.

"You're supposed to be a Mage, and now you look like a Fighter!" Kurt said with a laugh.

"Well, I did mention I have weapon proficiency, evasion too."

The fight was clearly in our favor, so much so that Kurt was willing to crack jokes while fighting. My own bubble burst eventually, but I recast it quickly. I had to assume that there was a damage threshold in addition to its duration limit, as I was making sure to avoid the zombie wolves. When Kurt's broke, he barely missed a beat before swapping to blocking and dodging with his weapons until I could recast it. Eventually, it was only the zombies left to slog through. Just as before, I managed to eat one of each wolf with a disguised tendril during the heat of combat.

While the rats became monsters from their undead transformation, the wolves didn't evolve and seemed to be considered the same tier or grade as a regular wolf, just undead. I didn't know what to call this, as it wasn't a mutation and most certainly not an evolution. When Kurt killed the last zombie wolf, he cheered.

"I leveled up from that!"

I congratulated him before looking at my notification.

'Two levels to go...'

Unfortunately, despite our great defensive situation, there was one thing I hadn't considered - stamina. The next room we cleared was sloppy, meaning I had to recast Kurt's bubble multiple times, and his kill count was falling behind. When we finally finished mopping up the zombie warriors, I could see that Kurt could no longer continue.

"Perhaps you should head back? I don't think Whitney will be joining us."

"No..." He said between a long drink of water, "I can't leave you alone in the dungeon."

"I'm sure I can keep going for a bit longer, especially if I cast while retreating backward."

"No doubt, but guild policy is we went in together, so we leave together."

I frowned but eventually relented. Now that I knew where the dungeon was, I could sneak out tonight and do some solo training. I looked over my gains from that last fight, another level, but sadly, I still didn't earn enough for the magic attack skill.

Our trip back to the first floor was uneventful, but when we reached the first floor, some of our path back was blocked by a few freshly risen undead. If any reached Kurt, he defended himself, but compared to the second floor, their lower quantity and levels meant I dispatched almost all of them. With only two rooms before reaching the entrance, I finally got it.

'It makes me wonder, did my class show me the skill because I was close to earning it myself? Or was it purely random? I had been casting [Water Orb] for almost two days straight, so I was likely close even before it showed it to me. It would suck to purchase a new skill when I was so close to earning it for free. Gramps should offer a refund system or something...'

When we exited the dungeon, it looked like it was late evening. We had clearly lost track of time down there. I wondered if there was a skill, trait, or item that could help keep track of time. When we finally reached the inn, Kurt practically collapsed onto the table and ordered his meal. Whitney approached from the bar and chuckled at the sight of Kurt.

"I thought you might be ending your dungeon run soon. Sorry, I couldn't make it back in time."

"You could make it up to us by showing me the appraisal skill," I asked, trying to give her my best imitation of her cheeky smile. I still had another level to get in charisma, after all.

"Oh, you found loot and leveled up! You're practically a veteran adventurer already." She said, returning the grin and showing me [Appraisal].

It simply allowed me use [Identify] on magic items. I still had some stuff stored away from Krutz and the four adventurers, so being able to check them and any future items seemed like a good idea. I bought it and asked Kurt to pull out the ring we found.

"A poison resistance ring..." I muttered.

"Common but useful," Whitney commented.

"You can have it, Kurt. As thanks for the dungeon trip."

Kurt gave a tired thumbs up from his collapsed state.

"You sure? Poison resistance is handy for a fresh adventurer. You never know what monsters have poison or venoms." Whitney asked curiously.

"I don't think that ring can beat my traits," I said confidently, getting a good laugh out of Whitney.