Chapter 445

It took them nearly the full two hours on the second floor, to clear out all of the mobs save for B.L.U., the Terminus, and of course, the hidden mimics. If not for the slight advantage James had regarding trap placement on the floor, and the spawn locations, movement patterns, and so on for the mobs, it would have likely been impossible to do even that. Still, while their experience gain was impressive, thanks to the growth bonus, they’d failed to reach level 30 in time. As tempted as he was to challenge the Terminus regardless, taking on the level 35 boss with a party of three a summon, all under level 30, seemed a poor life choice. Plus, Ifrit hadn’t earned its next evolution yet, and James didn’t want to risk losing his summon purely out of curiosity.

As such, the party exited the dungeon, willingly, once they’d cleaned up the second floor, sitting happily at level 29. Their previous goal of visiting the dungeon town after their initial run, was put on hold, as everyone seemed much more excited to fight the Terminus. Meaning, they dove back into the dungeon immediately following the completion of their first run, enjoying the perks of being developer adventures, and not having to wait for the dungeon cooldown to dive again. And, even better, with their higher levels, and Ifrit’s power growth following his ascension into an Inferno Dervish, the first floor was cleared in record time, mimics included.

“How close are you to evolving?” James asked Ifrit as they prepared to pass back into the second floor. With the first floor completely cleared, they had rushed towards the portal as the five-minute counter began ticking away, indicating they needed to either climb to the next floor, or leave, before it hit 0. As before, the Djinn had been doing most of the fighting alongside Steve, who continued to cackle with glee about his weird tank class. James hadn’t minded, as he’d been enjoying the momentary peace, of sorts, in his life. Taking on the dungeon alongside Rue, was a newfound happy place of his, and he was savoring every moment.

“For my preferred evolution path,” Ifrit said, his tone less confrontational than earlier. Rue’s talk with the djinn had made his personality do a complete 180, and while not subservient, he was at least respectful, and not condescending. “I need to land the killing blow on roughly 50 more mobs.”

“And then you’ll evolve again?” James pressed. Without looking into the full details of the Djinn’s stats, out of respect for Ifrit, James didn’t have much information on his summon. But he had noticed Ifrit’s level growth had stopped at 24. Did the Djinn level in increments of 12?

“That is correct.” Ifrit replied calmly. “I should have no issue reaching my next evolution on the second floor. Will we be challenging the floor boss there, this time as well?” The Djinn looked down at James, its fiery eyes sparking with bloodlust. “I was, disappointed we fled each time that monstrosity known as B.L.U. appeared.”

James couldn’t help but laugh. “B.L.U. is the mini boss on the floor. But yeah, I think this time we’re going to challenge everything on the second floor.”

“Speaking of.” Steve added, the halfling lazily tossing an ethereal looking dagger up and down, while puffing casually on his corn cob pipe, “have you decided on your rank up?”

Following their battle against Old Man Jenkins, the party had hit level 30. Meaning, it was time to choose their next sub class, or class, upgrade. It was also a nice power spike, and James hoped after clearing the mobs on the second floor, they’d be able to stand toe to toe against the Terminus. But, knowing they were on a time limit, with each hour ticking closer to the end of their party’s adventures, and the return of the regular DCO players, James had been internally struggling with his upgrade options. It needed to be perfect.

“I’m honestly thinking of just furthering down the Djinn Tamer path.” James said after a momentary pause, his eyes scanning the options. He could, of course, choose random again. However, with only enough time for perhaps one, at max two, more dungeon runs following the completion of this run, he didn’t want to risk RNG giving him a bad roll. He’d gotten lucky with Djinn Tamer, he didn’t want to push that luck any further.

“Laaaame.” Rue said, the vampire blood cleric draping her thin arms around his shoulder. “Where’s the fun in that?”

James chuckled, knowing full well that Rue was one to talk. She’d already progressed her tree, selecting the next level of her Cleric of the Blood path. On top of enhancing her healing abilities, her Sanguine Bond was now empowered. That, was massive perk, since it increased the amount of lifesteal the bond granted from 10%, to 15%, and added an additional bleed effect as Damage over Time. That bleed effect, actually drained into a temporary ‘mana’ pool at Rue’s disposal, which she could use to enhance her skills even more, or use as emergency health pool.

“The fun,” James said even as he pulled up his interface, his eyes fixing on the Djinn Tamer option. “Is in not risking our party’s run over RNGesus bullshit.” He selected the option, and without another moment of hesitation, selected it. A split second later, his stats jumped slightly, courtesy of the class selection, and his class, itself, changed.

Great Djinn Tamer

James immediately pulled open his spell list, looking for what additional perks came with the upgrade. Generally speaking, improving a class, as he had, empowered the skills already available to the class, as well as added one or two new perks or abilities. Furthermore, he knew it would open up a more spells as he leveled from 30 to 40, most of which, from his experience as a gamer, would be related to empowering his summon. One new ability on his menu, blinking gold to indicate its new status, caught his attention immediately. For once, playing it safe, really did seem to have been the better option.

Seal of Solomon (Lesser)

Create a 30ft (+0.1ft per level) zone around caster for 15s (+0.2s per level), from which lesser djinn spirits will erupt, damaging and weakening all enemies within the zone. Additionally, while within the zone, enhance the abilities of bound Djinn by 25% (+0.4% per level).

While the Seal of Solomon is active, summoned Djinn’s health cannot reach zero.

Game breaking, the skill was not. Especially given the 180second cooldown that came with the skill, ensuring he could not spam it. However, it could serve as either an extremely offensive tool, or a great ‘oh shit’ button if Ifrit was about to fall in battle. In short, it was the perfect thing for James to add to his skill set before they faced off against the Terminus. Furthermore, it got him even more excited for what would come with level 40. The name of the skill implied there was a greater version of the seal, and James figured that likely would be unlocked at level 40, and if not then, level 50. Either way, it was evident that the next step for the party was, also the most logical one. It was time to step into the second floor, massacre the mobs, and face off against the king of steampunk dinos, once and for all. A fight that honestly, James had wanted to participate in, first hand, ever since the day his Terminus had come to life.

“Alright guys,” James said, his grin impossible to keep off his face, as excitement fluttered in his chest. “Let’s make those steampunk dinos go extinct.”