Acexe
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Chapter 27 The Turning Point
🕑 Added 2025-01-04 21:18:27 +0000 UTCRight before putting my hand on the door, I realized that I had not looked at my notifications since I decided that I would stop being stupid and waiting to use my experience.
Your class has reached level 20. New skills gained.
Arcane Detonation - This skill utilizes arcane mana to generate small, controlled explosions upon impact with a target. Each punch delivers a burst of explosive energy, causing immediate damage to the target. The frequency and intensity of the detonation are directly tied to the user's control of arcane mana and skill level, and the effect is passive, activating with every strike. No external trigger is required beyond physical contact with the target.
Arcane Surge: This skill allows the user to activate or deactivate a continuous wave of arcane energy within a 10-foot radius. When active, the wave causes minor, constant damage to all enemies within range. Simultaneously, it replenishes the mana of allies in the area. The energy radiates passively and does not require further input once activated, sustaining its effects as long as it remains in effect. The power and duration are dependent on the user's control over arcane energy and skill level.
Arcane Rejuvenation: This skill causes a small percentage of the damage dealt with each strike to be redirected into the regeneration of Arcane Armor’s shielding. The percentage of damage converted into shielding increases with the skill’s level. This effect is passive, activating with every successful attack, and works in conjunction with the existing Arcane Armor, enhancing its durability over time. The regeneration of the armor’s shield is immediate but limited to a set percentage of the damage dealt.
Name: Jace Obexis Talent: System
Level: 32
Class: Ascended Arcane Juggernaut
Experience: 925/5600
Profession: Relic Seeker
Experience: 162/200
Race: Primarch
Strength – 170
Dexterity – 97
Endurance – 125
Constitution – 168
Wisdom – 75
Intelligence – 135
Luck -36
Abilities:
Inventory
Treasure Hunter's Instinct Relic Seeker's Sight
Skills:
Identify – Level 2 Panoptic Sense – Level 2 Mental Reverie – Level 2
Shield Mastery – Level 3 Leadership - Level 2 Martial Arts - Level 3
Dodge – Level 4 Arcane Armor - Level 2 Arcane Manipulation - Level 6
Arcane Step - Level 1 Arcane Detonation – Level 1 Arcane Surge - Level 1
Arcane Rejuvenation – Level 1
I stood there in stunned silence for several minutes after the immense flood of power. Unable to believe just how many levels I had received. I mean unless I was mistaken, I was now stronger than my father.
I read through my Status several more times before I just had to accept what I was seeing. The number of stats was not the only thing that I was astonished by either. The new skills were downright amazing. I could run into a giant group of monsters and just start laying waste. The combination of Arcane Surge constantly doing damage thereby feeding Arcane Rejuvenation. Passively keeping my Arcane Armor up through the damage it does.
Not only that but the extra oompf that Arcane Detonation would give each of my hits was downright amazing. Just from the few fights that I had in this dungeon I was beginning to get worried that I would be able to fight my way through anything, but it might take me so long that I would have to lay down and take a nap if the creatures were too strong.
While using the edge of my shield seemed to help with confining the blow to a smaller area, giving the blow a little extra penetration, it was still just a shield edge. I thought that I might have to see if I could get a blacksmith to make a shield with a sword coming out of the bottom of it, just to help with fighting a little more.
Calming down from the information overload, I shook my head to refocus, only to spin around like a top from the force of the shake and land unceremoniously on the ground. The absolutely massive influx of stats overwhelmed my coordination, leaving me stumbling and disoriented. I had hoped the system would instantly recalibrate my movements to match my new strength, but it seemed I would need to adapt the old-fashioned way. This staggering adjustment underscored just how much power I now wielded—and how precarious that power could feel without mastery.
For the next hour or so I just ran around with Arcane Armor active. Constantly slamming into trees or just stumbling over my feet. When I was finally able to move around without hitting a tree and tripping over every little thing, I decided to just finish the dungeon. Yet as I headed back to the boss room, I found a new group of gnolls that spawned.
Gnoll – Level 31
Gnoll – Level 33
Gnoll – Level 32
Gnoll – Level 30
Gnoll – Level 31
I wasn’t worried about dealing with a group like this and the moment I used Identify on them they all turned to face me and charged. I used Arcane Step to get behind the one in the back and used Arcane Surge the moment that I appeared. I also punched out at the one I was behind, and the creature exploded outward in nothing but chunks.
As Arcane Surge spread out all the creatures stumbled before they were covered in gnoll chunks. I charged to the closest one before sending a snap kick at the creature, causing it to explode as well. Another surge spread out from Arcane Surge causing the creatures to stumble again.
Using their stumble, I jumped toward one and crushed its head under foot before quickly turning to another and punching it in the head. That left only a single creature which turned to run, only to be hit by another surge and collapsing on the ground twitching.
I calmly walked over and crushed its head. “Well, that was disappointingly easy.” I said aloud before looking at the notifications.
Gnoll – Level 31
+11 xp
Gnoll – Level 33
+48 xp
Gnoll – Level 32
+46 xp
Gnoll – Level 30
+10 xp
Gnoll – Level 31
+11 xp
I stood there looking at the amount of experience gained confused once more. I mean logically I understood that this group was way easier than the other groups, but they were still in their 30’s. Thinking back to all the experience I had gained throughout the dungeon, I thought I had an idea of what happened.
The first groups I was getting somewhere around 10% of the experience that the creature needed to get to the next level. Right now, I was only getting 1% for the creature that was my level and a level above, while less than that for the creatures that were below my level. That made me think that I would probably not get any experience from something that was level 29, or if I did it might only be a few at most.
This would make those who had a common class have a hard time leveling up quickly due to the lack of stat points. A common class would allow the person to fight another common class, and depending on how much they trained, they might even be able to fight a rare or epic, depending on their levels. But, if they wanted to start fighting creatures that were almost 20 levels above them like I had been doing, there was just no way.
It also made me wonder if someone could gain a better class later on. Like if I started with a common class and completed a lot of feats, would I then be able to get a higher rarity class at later times. If that was the case, then reaching an Ascended class would be more of an end game deal. Something you spent your entire life trying to reach and maybe getting a few levels in it.
While all this information was good to have, it was getting late and I knew that if I took to long, more creatures would spawn only wearing me down more. I knew that I would not be able to sleep here as that would just be asking for a group to spawn on top of me.
Before heading back to the boss room, I wanted to check the area that I felt was where I entered. Hoping that because of the number of monsters I had defeated I would have stopped the oversaturation, allowing me to exit. I doubted that I would be that lucky, as when I entered it did say that I had to defeat the dungeon, but I felt that it was worth the time to check,
When I got to where I thought the entrance was there was still no portal back out or any defining feature showing a way to leave. I even pressed myself up against the invisible wall that Panoptic Sense could not see past. Thinking that if I was close to the entrance I might be able to peer out. Unfortunately, there was no such luck with that plan either.
With no other option but to defeat the boss, I headed back to the boss room. I used Panoptic Sense to avoid any new goblins I found, thinking that it would just be a waste of time trying to fight not only something so weak, but that would give me hardly any experience points.
When I got back to the doors to the boss room, I sat down and used Mental Reverie, going over everything that had happened with my new skills and how I used all my new stats. Trying to make sure that I was as used to everything as possible.
Mental Reverie must have just leveled up though, because I was able to redo each and every fight like it was the first time. This newfound ability transformed my training—now I could analyze and refine my tactics in ways I had never imagined. It allowed me to experiment with different strategies, learning from both triumphs and failures, and adapt with precision. This level of introspection felt like a game-changer, elevating not just my combat prowess but my confidence in facing the challenges ahead. As I was going through the fight, I could stop it and act through the fight making different decisions. Each time I was able to improve the outcome of the fight.
Sometimes the choices I made ended in my death, but when that happened, I would just stop and try something new. Others one small thing caused me to finish the fights almost instantly. The fact that I could change the choices I made and see the results was new. I even tried reliving my spars with Robert and was happy to see that I could.
Mental Reverie had been one of my favorite skills, allowing me to relive spars with my father. The growth of this skill made me excited to see what my other skills could do. Arcane Armor was already extremely powerful and now that I was level 32, with stats of a level 64 rare class, I felt that someone would have to be a strong level 50 to actually be able to break through the armor. And that skill was only level 2. What would happen when I got the skill to level 5 or 10? Could it turn the tide in battles, granting me an edge against enemies that now seemed almost untouchable? The potential to refine my abilities and grow stronger added a sense of urgency to mastering this power, especially with the challenges looming ahead.
I guess the better question was, what kinds of monsters were out there that an Ascended class needed these kinds of skills to fight them. Not only that but were there any here that I needed to be on the lookout for.
With those thoughts whirling through my mind, I shook myself, this time without spinning around like a top, and prepared myself for my first fight with a boss. Hopefully, this dungeon was a small dungeon and only had the one floor.
