Chapter 20 Superhero landing, yea that's really hard on your knees

‘bing’ ‘You have defeated the [Alpha Stalker Hound].’

‘bing’ ‘You have defeated an enemy fifty levels or more above your own. Additional Experience is granted.’

‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 71. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Healer has reached level 72. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘Azarinth Sphere has reached 2nd lvl 1

Active: Azarinth Sphere – 2nd lvl 1

Perceive everything in a sphere around you while this skill is activated. The higher the level the further the sphere reaches.

2nd stage: The Sphere now also influences the senses of smell, hearing, touch and taste as you will it.

Category: Aura – Perception Aura

‘bing’ ‘Fire Enhancer has reached level 40. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘Fire Enhancer has reached level 41. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘Fire Enhancer has reached level 42. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘Fire Enhancer has reached level 43. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘Fire Enhancer has reached level 44. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘bing’ ‘New skills available for Fire Enhancer’

The massive amount of bings and new information coming from her Sphere skill woke Ilea from her thoughtful state. Immediately repulsed by the smell around her, she found she could reduce the effect by simply willing it.

‘So that’s the 2nd stage of Azarinth Sphere...more testing to do hmm.’ she thought as she looked over the rest of her accomplishments. ‘Quite the haul for a single enemy defeated.’ seeing as she was alone and at close to half the creatures level, most people would call her insane and the reward not at all worth it for the risk she took.

Walking away from the corpse, she sat down on a stone and leaned on the wall of the cave, still healing herself. ‘Even more Fire skills… this is getting frustrating.’ Ilea had found that while her main class very rarely gave her any skills, the Fire Enhancer class was the complete opposite. She was informed about this before but it was a bit overwhelming now that it actually happened. Thinking about it she saw all the available skills…

[Fire Ball]

[Greater Fire Ball]

[Fire Whip]

[Fire Surge]

[Heated Body]

[Fire Storm]

[Combustion]

[Campfire control]

[Magma throw]

[The call of flame]

[….]

[….]

And on and on it went. She could choose from at least 35 skills at this point. Being in a state of training she didn’t really feel like adding more and more things she had to worry about to her established fighting style.

She could level up her class by simply using Body of Flame while fighting, which didn’t have an impact on how she fought, except faster and stronger. Anything thrown or ranged wise would put her at a distance, unable to use her greatest strengths. She wanted to use the Fire Enhancer class to bolster her main abilities from the Azarinth class.

At least until stronger skills made themselves known. Additionally a lot of the skills didn’t seem to be about Body Enhancement. The ones that were seemed useless.

Heated body for example simply increased one’s body heat. Ilea didn’t know what good that would do her. Obviously there had to be some use or maybe for a combination with another class later on. Perhaps its second stage was something to be marveled at, but it didn’t give her an immediate advantage.

Looking through the list again, she saw there were two new skills available from the recent level up.

Active: Fire Serpent – lvl 1:

Calls forth a serpent of fire to consume your enemy. The serpent's strength and heat increases with each level in the skill.

Category: Summoning - Fire Magic

Would you like to learn this skill?

Passive: Heat Perception – lvl 1:

You are able to see the sources of heat around you. You may disable this ability at will. The distance, penetrative power and accuracy increase with each level in the skill.

Category: Body Enhancement

Would you like to learn this skill?

‘Hmm that one might actually be useful.’ she immediately discarded the serpent skill and accepted the Heat vision skill. Activating it for now. The only sources of heat around her were herself and the slowly cooling body of the Alpha hound she had killed a couple minutes prior.

Putting 4 Stat points into Endurance, she got it to a round 150. The remaining 31 stat points were put into Strength and Dexterity. Checking her status she sighed with a smile on her face. ‘It’s getting complicated… I’m glad the values aren’t in the tens of thousands though. Can’t imagine the skill management a dragon or god would need…,’

Name: Ilea Spears

Unspent statpoints: 0

Class 1: Azarinth Healer – lvl 72

- Active: Destruction – 2nd lvl 20

- Active: Reconstruction – 2nd lvl 13

- Active: State of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 20

- Active: Blink – 2nd lvl 14

- Active: Azarinth Sphere – 2nd lvl 1

- Passive: Body of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 7

- Passive: Azarinth Fighting – 2nd lvl 20

- Passive: Magic Perception – lvl 11

- Passive: Azarinth Perception – lvl 18

- Passive: Free Slot

Class 2: Fire Enhancer – lvl 44

- Active: Flame – lvl 1

- Active: Body of Flame – lvl 8

- Active: Free Slot

- Active: Free Slot

- Active: Free Slot

- Passive: Fire Manipulation – lvl 12

- Passive: Heat Perception – lvl 1

- Passive: Free Slot

- Passive: Free Slot

- Passive: Free Slot

General Skills:

- Elos Standard language - lvl 5

- Identify - lvl 3

- Meditation – lvl 2nd 12

- Poison Resistance – lvl 16

- Heat Resistance – lvl 7

- Pain Tolerance – 2nd lvl 1

Status:

Vitality: 155

Endurance: 150

Strength 91

Dexterity 90

Intelligence 150

Wisdom 150

Health: 933/1550

Stamina: 828/1500

Mana: 743/1500

Ilea healed herself fully before going back to her last resting place. Getting her backpack and returning to the cave with the corpse still in it. ‘Should’ve gotten a knife to get some of the materials of that monster…,’ She thought but likely wouldn’t have been able to get a lot with a knife anyway. Most of the creature was crushed or too hard to slice through with a simple knife. ‘Can you not drop me a magical dagger or something…,’

Chewing on a piece of bread, she started moving the creature out of the way to see if any materials or items were dropped. The creatures she fought previously didn’t but she was informed that it would sometimes happen in dungeons. ‘At least the boss is supposed to drop something, come on…,’

After wading through the tons of flesh and bones, she finally found something. A small dark silver necklace. On it was a roundish form of dark silver lines. Using identify on the item she got the following.

[Alpha Hound’s trinket – Rare Quality ‘Increased affinity with canines’]

“Well that’s kinda cool… I wonder how that effect is practically applied.” She had been told by the library girl that these items are pretty rare and she already held three items with an effect on them. Admittedly they weren’t incredibly impressive but still.

Cleaning the necklace off of blood as best as she could, she put it on and continued her search. No further things were found though if you didn’t count bones and meat.

Leaving the corpse behind, Ilea checked the cave. There was not a lot of light but with her advanced senses it wasn’t difficult to see. At the back of the cave were two openings. Choosing one at random, Ilea walked for around ten minutes before coming up to a drop.

Not seeing the ground, she activated all her buffs. ‘Around sixty meters down hmm?’ deciding that she should check out the other opening before jumping down, she turned around. ‘Before I go…,’ She thought, getting out the crude map of the Calys mine and updated it with a piece of coal. ‘I hope this stuff doesn’t smudge too badly…,’

It hadn’t been a problem so far as she usually put her backpack away while fighting. Reaching the cave, she chose the other direction to walk in and quickly reached what seemed to be the den of the Alpha hound.

“Damn, I expected a baby hound or something… this is just creepy…,” Ilea’s voice filling the chamber, trying to disperse the ominous feeling the skeletons of various creatures gave off.

She shrugged and started to go through the lot. The gear that had once belonged to the unfortunate souls now occupying this old cave left much to be desired. Some coins did find their way into her pockets though. Nearly fifty silver at that.

Taking one of the better looking swords, she tried to cut at the more intact parts of the Alpha but soon considered her efforts to be fruitless. Keeping the old sword, she walked back to the drop. “And down you go…,” Letting the sword fall, she counted the seconds.

‘Well I still have no idea how far exactly this is… but hey...I can heal myself and I’ve done more reckless shit just half an hour ago…,’ Activating her skill set again, she simply dropped down. A couple seconds later she landed in a crouch.

“Wow that was cool…,” she whispered “Did anybody see… no of course you didn’t.” her enhanced body didn’t even flinch at the impact. Even the crouch might’ve been excessive. Standing up and looking around her, Ilea’s eyes fell on the bewildered face of a robed man.

Their eyes met and while she cocked her head to its side, his eyes widened in shock. “So somebody DID see that landing?” the man’s eyes suddenly focused and he jumped back while magic started to gather around him.

[Mage - lvl ??]

“Hey man, no need to be so defensive, a simple rating out of ten would’ve been fine.” she said “Not here to fight you… but if you want to I’m up for it.” With that the man paused.

Indra Sekki couldn’t believe his eyes. Just a moment ago he was minding his own business, on his way to the common hall when he heard the clattering of metal behind him. A sword had fallen from above and shortly thereafter a cloaked figure with blue shining tattoos and flames playing around their body landed close to where the blade lay.

‘Like an Archangel of death.’ He thought, paralyzed by the beautiful yet terrifying person before him. Magical displays like Ilea’s buffs were by no means visually shocking. Impressive of course, seeing comparable things in the arena fights in Riverwatch but not to the extent of paralyzing an experienced magician like Indra.

The reason was simply that he hadn’t seen any other magic than his own in quite some time. At least nothing comparable to fire or whatever the blue glow was. Reacting a little late for his status, he jumped back.

‘Embarrassing, you fool could’ve already died were it not for her inaction…,’ he thought as he channeled his mana.

[Healer – lvl 72]

‘A healer hmm? Must’ve gotten separated from her party… the sword then?’ The words coming out of her mouth gave him pause again.

“Well are you gonna do something or not? Cause if not I have some questions. Where are we? Still the Calys mines right?” The man had again stopped moving. His posture relaxed a bit but the mana was still present.

“Who are you? And what are you doing in the domain of the Vultures?” The man in front of her attempted to sound authoritative, mostly succeeding in spite of his mental state.

“Vultures? Never heard of ya, no offense. This is your domain? You live underground?”

The man sighed “None taken… we’re pretty new at this you know. But where are my manners. My name is Indra, journeyman necromancer of the Vultures Brotherhood.”

“Nice to meet you Indra. Guess you being a necromancer explains a bit why you’re living underground. Isn’t that stuff illegal? Oh well… do you sell any food down here? I’m really sick of stalker hound at this point…,”

‘She eats the stalker hounds? Fighting them alone is rather impressive. And really… illegal? Most people would run away or attack hearing that...’ Indra thought and sighed again ‘And of course she asks about food…,’

‘What a happy go lucky fool I’ve stumbled across here…,’ “Yes, we do have some food different from the hounds. Necromancy is indeed quite illegal as you put it. And yes, it is part of why we live down here. How did you even get here? There’s only one way to this cave and it’s heavily guarded.”

“Fought the Alpha and jumped down. My name is Ilea by the way. And I’m intrigued and tempted by the food you have. Hope it’s not brains or something.” She went to pick up the sword.

____________________________________________________________________________

‘I guess being necromancers makes these people quite evil. I’ll check them out further though if I can, don’t want to antagonize people unnecessarily. After all they might have good food or information I can use.’

“Y..you fought… the alpha??” for the third time Indra was paralyzed “… we sent dozens of undead in there to try and kill that creature… and she… alone?” he mumbled the last part in a quiet whisper.

Ilea caught all of it with her enhanced senses, him being in the currently 15m radius of Azarinth Sphere. It did put a smile on her face and answered some of the questions. ‘I can take this guy probably… and this explains why the undead are here… guess I could’ve come to that conclusion myself.’

“Yea I got separated from my group and stumbled upon him. Managed to get away in the end but the only way I could go was down here…,” ‘why not give them a bit of misdirection just in case… and maybe some valuable information as a greeting offer…,’

“The others mentioned they’d report the undead in the city. Just thought I’d let you know. Maybe you want to call them back from the above parts of the cave.” that seemed to get Indra’s attention back.

“Ah yes yes… well it was only a matter of time. We are relatively well hidden though and undead can appear naturally so it shouldn’t be much of a problem. You mentioned food though… I was on my way to the common room when you… fell. Maybe you want to accompany me there and we can discuss… our… well, further relations?”

‘Got him. Wow it’s hard to hold back a smile… I hope he thinks it’s the prospect of food… well I can’t say it isn’t… just not exclusively.’ “That sounds fair, and food sounds better.” The mana was still around Indra and he gestured to the sword in her hand.

“As a token of trust though… I would have you give that to me. Throw it my way with the handle in front. Otherwise I’ll have to treat you as an invader.” His tone was still normal but a slight tension was mixed in with his last words

‘Wow now I’m glad I took the stupid sword… mate I’d smash your head in in two seconds if I wanted to… at least if his apprehension isn’t played… hmm.’ Moving the sword slowly towards him with the handle away from her, she threw it his way a bit wobbly.

“There you go. I know when I should fight and when I shouldn’t. You seem like a decent guy and honestly I’ve never met a necromancer. Trying to not be too influenced by stereotypes since people can’t just choose what they have a talent in. Lead the way!”

Smiling at him Indra seemed to relax at that and a weak smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, seemingly a strained action for the middle aged man.

‘I’m glad I didn’t have to murder that young woman. She is so energetic! Reminds me of my old self. Maybe I can get a bit of that enthusiasm back…,’ “I’d rather have you at the front.” he said and she had to stop herself from chuckling.

‘He knows what he’s doing… although is my butt really that great?’ walking in front of him, he gestured into the direction he was previously walking towards. They walked for fifteen minutes until they came upon a cave entrance with a crude door and a torch on each side. An undead was standing beside each torch. Far enough away not to get burned.

They let the two in without hassle, although the undead did turn to her and examined her with their lifeless eyes. “Where do you get all the corpses? Or do you not need corpses for those undead?” She asked as they entered a rather spacious cave, nearly as big as the one she had fought the Alpha in.

There were dozens of torches on the walls that seemed to be a bit more evenly formed than a natural cave. Several wooden benches and tables adorned the room with pictures on the walls and even some pelts. All in all a quite lovely atmosphere Ilea thought. ‘For a bar inside a cave at least…,’ there was indeed a bar with a barkeeper that nodded towards Indra as he entered. The man seemingly the same age as Indra lifted his eyebrows at Ilea’s entrance but kept cleaning the glass as stereotypically as a barkeeper could.

A fire was burning in a hearth next to the bar, making the temperature quite comfortable inside. “Who’s she Indra? New apprentice?” the barkeep asked. Indra gestured to a table close to the bar and signed with two fingers to the barkeep.

“No Walter, you know I don’t take apprentices. And to hear more than a single word out of your mouth… what a day.” Walter shrugged at that and put down the glass to fulfill Indra’s request.

Standing at the bar, Indra answered Ilea’s question. “Bounties mostly, we hunt down criminals and keep the corpses. Some of the patrols know about it but are ok with it. Others we get from dead adventurers, morgues or wars. There’s plenty around here.”

“Don’t worry, we don’t hunt down townsfolk. We’d be killed pretty quickly. Not worth the risk if there are other ways.” Walter had at that point filled two mugs with a questionable substance and put them on the bar.

Taking them and nodding to Walter, Indra sat down and pushed one of the mugs towards her. “And it’s not like any of us want to raise an army of the dead. You don’t need many corpses to advance your magic. And many have died trying to summon some ungodly demon or Halthir himself by using too many corpses… innocent ones especially.” The man explained.

She nodded at that and suspiciously looked at the drink. ‘Lvl 16 poison resistance, here we go.’ she thought as she took a small sip of the brownish liquid. She didn’t think the guy would poison her but examined the liquid with all her senses and buffs applied. Cranking up the glow of her buffs, Indra only raised an eyebrow at her while taking a sip himself. She found nothing wrong with the drink and took a sip.

Her eyes opened wide as she stared at her opposite in shock...