"Ting-nnnnnnnn" A sharp metal sound enters the air followed by two different pitched ringings near my ear. The vibrating near my ears begins to give me a headache and I immediately open my eyes. In my immediate vision is Maddy holding two tuning forks next to my ears. 'Wait a minute, why is she upside down?' Looking down I realize that I am instead looking up towards the sky, my feet tied to the branch of a tree.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" I shout out in a mix of anger and surprise, not that I am actually angry, but I tend to pretend.

"Ah, I was teaching the birds to make traps, we needed a test dummy so we used your unconscious body. Don't worry I made sure you wouldn't get hurt though."

"Oh thanks! I appreciate that sentiment sooooo much. Why wouldn't you just let me rest properly instead of having all the blood go to my head?"

"Well we couldn't have one of the birds do it, how would they have learned to make the trap?" Maddy tries to justify her abuse.

"Tch- whatever, what happened after I froze the snake?"

"Well after you were unconscious I looked around a bit for treasure but the area was too big. I decided to help the shadowbirds get stronger in case we run into stronger monsters."

"Ah well… can you untie me?" I point towards the rope around my ankles.

"Of course." Maddy lowers the rope slowly to keep me from plummeting down.

Noticing my body feels different than normal I check my stats.

*Ding* >

STATUS

Name: Magia Corvus

Class: Divine Manipulator

Level: 22

HP: 460

WIS: 32

MP: 580

STR: 15

DEX: 15

VIT: 15

INT: 30

"What?" My stats are extremely strange, while my level, hp, and mp went up my intelligence and wisdom went down by twenty each. It must be a result of that strange stone and the liquid that entered my body. My body even seems to have strengthened significantly as the fluid entered my body, reinforcing my muscles and veins. Breathing in and out the cool air I quickly adjust to my enhanced body. While I was unconcious I was awake outside of the game, but there wasn't much to do so I took a small break and quickly returned, waiting to wake up.

"Hmm, what is it?" Maddy questions why I was talking to myself.

"Ah my stats are just really weird that's all."

"Oh? well whatever, lets go back down into the dungeon and see if we can find any treasure."

Maddy leads the way, followed by me and a number of shadowbirds. I pull out the formerly orange crystal, now a pale cream color and investigate it a bit. I attempt to insert magical energy into the crystal, but it rejects it and begins to crumble. 'Crap.' I immediately stop dispensing energy. My intuition gives me a creeping feeling that Malek will not be returning.

We begin back down the dark hallway, Maddy probably had the shadowbirds lead her when we returned back up to the surface. After a few short minutes of moving much faster than we did initially we enter into the large room. Immediately after entering we are created by a huge block of ice surrounding a golden serpent, not a single bit of the serpent's body was exposed from the ice. The air in here is exceptionally more dry than when we first came down here, probably due to the attack using water in the air. We split up moving along the walls, while spacing out thinking of my strange enhancements I decide to follow Maddy.

While a majority of the shadowbirds are down here searching, I left Cooth upstairs due to his leg injury as they are not able to walk very well.

After we all travel along the walls we reach the wall directly opposite of the way we came in. Sadly there seemed to be no paths on the side walls or any hidden treasures. On the back wall is a gargantuan stone wall with elaborate carvings and designs. The carving on the door seemed to depict a sort of story of a diety. At the top of the door was an effigy of a winged person spreading their arms. Erupting from the arms was a brilliantly gilded light design shining down onto a wide array of different monsters. Serpents, spiders, dragons, skeletons and demons all attempting to protect themselves from the extreme light. This awe inspiring door fills me with a sense of wonder on who could have possibly constructed it. At the center of the door is a familiar orange stone.

An orange stone much resembling the one that I once used to enhance myself is embedded into the door, while it looks similar it's size was much much larger. This stone was at a minimum fifty times larger than the stone that took ten full bursts of spirit power.

Maddy goes to open the huge door but I quickly tell her it won't work, this door is sealed by magic and requires immense mana to open. This defense system paired with the serpent guarding it would prevent a majority of people from entering. Had I not used the power of the crystal we would have been quickly dispatched, and the snake is not even dead but only frozen, in a few days to a few weeks it will thaw out and trouble us once again.

"I will immediately begin to unlock this door, if possible please bring me my pile of books from the laboratory as I will need to pass the time. In not a large amount of time that serpent will will trouble us once again, it's strength is not low and will be completely impossible for us to take care of at all."

Maddy agrees and leaves with the shadowbirds, sending a few back in order to bring me my things. While I would appreciate her company she would have nothing to do down here and would immediately find it boring unless she were to read as well, but her time can be spent much more efficiently training both herself and the shadowbirds. The remaining shadowbirds' strength is not anything to scoff at and can only continue to grow. If the shadowbirds remain with us, they will, at least initially, comprise a major portion of our strength.

Rolling up my sleeves I look at the worn clothes and decide that I will immediately replace them the first chance I get. Placing my hands on the beautifully glistening crystal I begin to inject spiritual energy, while not an unfamiliar feeling the rate of drain is much higher.

***

Please remind me to fix the stat table, tables from blogspot aren't usable on here so i need to make new ones.