Aster Loka
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Chapter 6
🕑 Added 2021-11-09 04:00:03 +0000 UTCIf this were a Light or Control dungeon, Levi would have worried the treasure room was an illusion or trap. But for the vast majority of dungeons, they followed a static, predictable, and dependable pattern. Treasure rooms were a safe zone. You could rest up, trade loot with fellow dungeon delvers, even sleep the night if necessary, and no dungeon creature or trap would disturb you.
Even the most powerful, deceitful, and relentless dungeons respected the sanctity of treasure rooms. Though it wasn’t beyond some illusion-based ones to also create false treasure rooms as traps to lure the unwary, if you could figure out the true treasure rooms from the false, even they would leave you in peace. Destruction type dungeons were not among those with access to illusions.
He stepped forward and looked down at the table. Four items, illuminated by the false sunlight streaming down from above.
A pale blue liquid in a thin glass vial stood out to him at once. Levi braced himself, then swallowed its contents in a single gulp. This beginner restoration elixir wasn’t as strong as those he was used to, but it still left him weak as the potion burned like liquid ice down his throat.
He stood gasping for breath as his physical strength, stamina, and mana pool were steadily converted into increased health, the potion draining them to increase its potency. It took a few moments, then the aftereffects faded. His mana had been completely depleted and his stamina would take a long time to recover, but his health was full and all ongoing damage completely alleviated.
"We can rest for a bit," he decided, then sat down on the table and gave the remaining three items a good look over. The second was another potion, with the golden-rainbow gleam of a mana restorative. The third would be the most useful at the moment, a belt with attached storage pouches.
That was one nice thing about dungeons - they may do their best to kill you, but they also provided appropriate rewards. Levi strapped the belt on and tucked the mana potion away for later, then turned his attention to the final item.
A manablade dagger. Basic, but the inscription channels down its blade meant once he found a dungeon token to power it with it could actively increase its reach and empower its strikes.
Unlike the swords he used in his first life, weapons with multiple modes and varied powers, this dagger had only one slot for an active effect. More could be added, in theory, but mana crafting wouldn't be widespread for months yet. Right now, the world was only starting to glimpse the edges of the changes coming.
Levi himself had never been much of a crafter. He could do the basics if pushed, but things like adding extra inscription paths to manablades was a specialized skill he’d never pursued.
He turned the dagger over in his hands, considering his options. He could keep it, he'd definitely be able to put it to good use, or he could give it to Skarm. At some point he'd need to start relying on his minions and get himself off the front lines, but he didn't feel the time was right just yet. Right now, he was the best asset the team had.
Sheathing the dagger, Levi fastened it to his belt.
Next, he looked over his character info while he waited for his pools to regenerate. Nothing had changed, but he’d reach level 3 soon. He planned to start by putting a few points into Strength and Spirit to augment his miserably slow regen. He thought that stat distribution could have some impact on class evolution, but how it related to Summoner specifically he didn’t know.
After fighting desperately for so many years, a lot of formerly unimportant details had been forgotten. Anything that could possibly be of strategic importance had been seared into his memory long ago - he could draw a dungeon map of the country from memory, flawlessly recall demon portal locations and troop movements - but rumors about other classes were much less concrete. Before the final battle and his unexpected return to the past, he’d never seriously considered changing his class to Summoner, so had no reason to memorize every detail.
He knew Summoners came from Tamers, and he definitely remembered one particular Summoner bragging about how he’d never spent a single stat point which let him… he couldn’t recall. Something special with the evolution process. Of course, the individual in question had continued not spending his points, and ended up being killed in one hit by a monster ambush when his summons weren’t around to protect him, so the question of whether saving points offered an even greater advantage at higher evolution tiers remained unanswered.
Waiting to spend any stat points until he could evolve his class would be crippling, and Levi knew plenty of Summoners who had used their points as intended. He didn’t intend to follow in the footsteps of someone who’d gotten himself killed so pointlessly. With any luck, he’d be able to buy or craft a proper Class Evolution Orb before he had to rely on the uncontrolled automatic evolution.
Well, nothing he could do about it yet. The absolute lowest level required to evolve a class was 25, and it would take weeks of dedicated grinding to reach that high. He had time, probably, as long as he didn’t slack off.
As much as he needed his mana and stamina to be restored, he could only force himself to stay still for about fifteen minutes - mana full, stamina less than a third so - before his patience was worn through entirely.
He couldn't wait any longer, couldn't bear to waste time. At this rate, it would be faster to level up again than keep waiting around.
The door on the opposite wall opened easily, leading him back out into the maze-like room they'd fallen through. "I'll take the lead for a bit. Stay close."
Levi withdrew the dagger and held it ready. If anything tried to ambush him now, they'd go down much easier without having to rely on choking or bashing.
His first opportunity came moments later when a pair of gremlins leapt at him, one at floor level, another from above. The one in the air he caught by the arm and stabbed through the chest, dropping it twitching to the ground where it soon vanished. The second almost reached him, but Levi dropped to one knee so they were on eye level, then immediately lashed out. The gremlin's momentum drove it right into his blade, skewering it through the eye. He drew his blade back and let the creature collapse, then fade away.
Once creatures got above level 20 or so, physical damage stopped working on them. At that point, any non-mana weapons would become practically useless - which caused a ripple effect on the economy as huge swaths of weapon manufacturing suddenly lost their value. Guns were great, until you had to individually mana-inscribe each bullet if you wanted them to be worth anything, and at that point spells were just better. Bullets couldn't track a target.
There was another pit trap, but Levi didn't feel like taking another detour. He grabbed Skarm and jumped over the hole, landing safely on the other side without incident.
The rest of the maze was little more than irritating, with two dead ends and a single gremlin ambush. Then, finally, they reached the door into the next room.
Levi opened it, then grinned. Beyond was a wide open chamber with pillars scattered haphazardly about, faintly pulsing globes of the same corrosive rusty liquid rolling slowly down them, and a single hulking creature crouched on a dais in the room's center.
The moment he entered, the door shut behind him.
Boss room.
