Tiredly resting against a giant piece of debris – based on the feel he suspected it was once part of the walls lining the corridor – he feebly cast a Clean spell which managed to get most of the caked-on grime, blood (both his and the cultists’) and dust off him and allowed him to survey the scene while he waited for his mana to regenerate.
It was absolute devastation. His battle with the ritually created monstrosity destroyed a lot; the healers’ final sacrifice simply vaporized a huge circular area. Even from his sitting position, he could see the mirror finish of the small crater left behind, the explosion conveying the burning fury of the sun, fueled by the willing sacrifice of Asa and seven of her helpers.
‘The question is, how did this affect the greater ritual?’ he mused as he spent some time just regenerating as he ran his fingers through Lucky’s fur.
Other caravans went in other directions, and most rituals would require sacrifices to happen at the same general time. Yet, he couldn’t feel anything. The ceiling wasn't caving in on him, and the ground wasn’t shaking because of the vibration created by the purported explosion.
He was distracted from his thoughts by Lucky freezing in place, sniffing the air for a few seconds, then running away, happily barking.
Before he could even muster the strength to stand up, his adorable familiar was back, tail wagging proudly and holding something in his mouth. Expectantly holding out his hand, Lucky deposited his find and let out a proud bark.
He automatically reached out with his free hand and patted the wolf on the head while his eyes were on the item – covered in wolf slobber – in his other hand. Quickly cleaning the gunk off the item, he examined it.
“Good boy!”
It was a circular yellow crystal, warm to the touch, with the symbol of a water droplet in the middle, surrounded by seven triangles pointing away from the center equidistant from each other.
A screen popped up a second later.
[Proof of Sacrifice: A crystallized proof of sacrifice, belief, and hope fueled by the souls and lives of those who sacrificed themselves. Can be used in certain rituals.]
Sam grinned sadly and put it away. “Well, Asa, it seems you will see your grandchildren even if not how you expected…”
Shaking himself, he did a quick self-examination. His equipment was in pretty good condition, thanks to Lucky’s transformation, but Moonlight has seen better days.
‘Well, old friend… it seems time for an upgrade…’ he thought as he eyed the few chips and hairline cracks that appeared on the blade. It was a great blade, but it wasn’t designed for such a high amount of magical channeling.
His Mana Scales were practically empty thanks to the explosion and his mana was almost empty, even though his mana regeneration was working with full force.
Quickly checking his status screen, he saw the reason for it.
[Blood Weakness: (Debuff) Being in the presence of potent blood magic and resisting it has sapped your strength. Decreases Health and Mana Regeneration.]
[Exhaustion: (Debuff) Due to an intense battle, you are tired. Decreases Stamina and Health Regeneration.]
[Mana Sickness: (Debuff) You expended a truly great amount of mana in a really short time. This has weakened your core temporarily. Decreases Mana Regeneration.]
Not the best thing to read, but the fourth thing he found under his name managed to get a small smile on his face.
[Sun’s warmth: (Buff) You have witnessed the ultimate sacrifice. You aided this with all your being, expecting nothing. You are temporarily immune to cold weather. You temporarily know the location of the sun in relation to yourself.]
‘Well, she was a crafty one…’ he chuckled to himself before going for his inventory. He had stockpiled some insane things just for situations like this. If a normal player could see him now as he began to take out expensive item after expensive item from his inventory…
A potion made by a high-ranked NPC alchemist to cure the exhaustion condition. Only available if you had a noble contact and had a ludicrous amount of money to pay for it. Sam made sure that all the core team had at least one of these with them.
Then he took a small blue ball carved from a sapphire, its surface an intricate picture of runes while the inside illuminated his surroundings with a blue light. One of the rarest drops from a fractal in a neighboring country. It cured Mana Sickness for a day, in exchange it would return twice as strong. He crushed it without a hint of remorse and watched as the magical dust seeped into his body and the debuff vanished from his status bar. Then came a potion bottle filled with a blinding white substance that was more cloudy than liquid.
Without hesitation, he uncorked the bottle and drank the whole thing.
Concentrated purifying energy. Sold by the temples for those who are truly pious (that is paid enough money into the right hands) to the high-ranking priest. Sadly, even with the almost infinite money that Sam had, it took time and effort to create it. Currently, only NPCs could do it, but later in the game, it would become the go-to method to cleanse unwanted effects. Well, for those who could afford it…
Now that his most pressing problems had vanished – at least temporarily – he began chugging health and mana potions until everything was filled up.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Looking at the empty bottles, he couldn’t help but chuckle. “Man, I wonder what people would think if they knew how much money I spent here…” Doing some quick math, he shook his head. There was enough money in his body to bankrupt a small company…
In the end, he just shrugged. “Day is not over yet, and I have a deadline…” Next to the Mana Sickness grayed-out icon was a small countdown that was already moving, despite his inaction.
Looking around a final time, he made sure he didn’t miss anything and he called out to Lucky.
“Lucky, we need to get to the surface fast!”
His loyal companion just let out a bark and was instantly facing the direction they came from, his body enlarging enough for Sam to sit on it.
A few seconds later, they were rushing toward the surface while the last embers of the fight vanished behind them and the encroaching darkness slowly but surely consumed every last crumb of evidence that anything happened there.
Shadows happily flickered for every drop of blood or mote of mana clinging to surfaces.
As he and Lucky ran through the devastated corridor – the explosion ruining much more than he expected – he also opened his quest menu.
[Congratulations! You partially completed the Third Task of the quest ‘Friendlessly into the depths!’!]
[The supplies may have not reached their intended target, but you still didn’t die.]
[‘Friendlessly into the Depths!’ has failed!]
[New quest acquired!]
[Longing for the sun!]
[You have been ambushed and only survived due to the timely sacrifice of your companion. You won’t be as lucky a second time. Return to the surface and figure out what is going.]
[Reward: Clarity]
[Penalty: ???]
Sam nodded at that, not expecting much, and then focused on helping Lucky go as fast as possible.
He arrived back at the location where not long ago he barely listened to some half-hearted speech. However, the great gates protecting the upper levels of this abyssal labyrinth weren’t in the same state as they left them.
Instead of imposing greatness, they were strewn everywhere in pieces while smoke and even fouler things filled the air, while cloying blood magic filled the ether.
Scowling, he hopped off Lucky and commanded him to transform. He had a time limit, so there was no need to grandstand and show off. From now on, he would be the poster picture of pure efficiency.
Using wind mana to avoid touching whatever was in the air, he slowly crept to the edge of the gates and glanced around the corner.
It was absolute devastation, with a giant pool of blood in the middle, happily and eagerly bubbling as several rivers of blood were flowing towards each blown-apart gate except for the one he was coming from.
Near the pool of blood stood several figures, slightly obscured by the smoke but Sam could see them sitting around idly on crates or leaning against some of the bigger debris as they chatted.
Sharpening his ears he started listening in.
“…what the hell is taking that long?”
“For the twentieth time. I have no idea. GrindHog should have returned by now…”
“Do you think he died?”
“Died? To what? A few scared old biddies?”
“Well… they had an unaccounted player with them,” added a third one.
“Please, that fop was bragging about his cleaning spells. What could he have done?”
“Maybe cleaning magic is the archenemy of blood magic?”
There was a beat of silence before laughter filled the disgusting air.
“Hahahaha, that was hilarious…”
“I’m so stealing that for my social!”
As the people began to chat about social media and other miscellaneous things, Sam cracked his neck and nodded to himself.
‘Separate sacrifice location then use the blood rivers to act as a fuse… Smart, but easily sabotaged.’
With a small sigh, he jumped forward and began casting like crazy.
There were no words, no jokes, nothing.
One second, the destroyed cavern was only filled with idle chatting, then only screams.
Wind Spears pierced several bodies, Shadow Mirage clones skewered several others, while he sent countless clean mana-filled Wind Blades at the blood rivers, cutting them away from the main pool.
Twenty seconds later, he was alone in the hall with only the still bubbling pool of blood.
Then a small, bloody cough caught his attention. Snapping his head toward it, he spotted one of the blood cultists coughing harshly as something flaked to dust on their bodies. Their eyes were glued to Sam, looking mighty surprised.
“Wh-what th-e fuck a-re y---” he coughed as he tried to stand up, but Sam simply sent a ball of compressed wind to kill him.
As the body vanished behind him, he turned toward the pool.
There was no convenient sun priest to sacrifice themselves to destroy this one.
He held out a hand, created a ball of pure clean mana, and sent it toward the pool. It impacted almost silently and managed to erase a small part of it. Doing the math in his head, he was disappointed to realize that it would take longer to clean it up than he had.
Then he contemplated just leaving when he remembered a line he had recently read.
Taking the precious item out of his inventory, he weighed it a little, turning it over in his hand.
“…fueled by the souls and lives…” he read out loud the description. “How about we add to it a little more…”
In any other situation, he would be decried as a heretic or the archenemy, but he suspected (and hoped) that the sun priests would understand his decision.
Pocketing temporarily the artefact, he began walking around the pool and started carving runes from a ritual that he had recorded in his Grimoire. It was a simple siphoning ritual used for all sorts of purposes. Here and now, it would be used to dismantle the blood pool, ready to blow up a city. As soon as one rune was carved, he used his meager water control, took a little part of the blood, and made sure to fill up the carved lines of the ritual.
Then, as he finished, he turned around and began walking in the opposite direction, carving the runes for a purifying ritual aiming to remove the taint and only leave behind the life and sacrifice aspect. These were filled with his own mana, infused with cleaning energy.
Finally, he took out the artifact left behind by Asa and her followers, placed it in a small circle, took a small step back, and began channeling with a wicked grin.
The runes lit up one by one and soon the blood collected into the pool began to rise in the air as if siphoned up by something. It was fascinating to watch as it reached a certain, almost arbitrary point in the air and the red blood slowly changed into a pure white liquid, shedding pure black flakes.
Then that liquid slowly twisted itself into a thin stream of energy that was sucked up by the artifact that was emitting a jolly warmth.
Despite the size of the pool, it only took seven minutes for Sam to transform the entire thing only leaving behind a small pile of black flakes.
The artifact on the ground however changed.
The previous crystalline appearance had transformed. Instead of its previous yellowish color, it now sported all the colors of dawn. From purple to pink, to orange and red, all of them were present on the artifact as it shined with the light of the emerging sun, casting warmth all around it.
As Sam grasped it a new notification appeared in front of him.
[Symbol of Sacrifice: A crystallized symbol of sacrifice, belief, and hope fueled by the souls and lives of those who sacrificed themselves. Can only be used by those who worship the sun. Grants the Sun’s Mantle to those who are near it.]
[Sun’s Mantle: You have embraced the sun. You are immune to fire and heat. Increased Health Regeneration. Increased damage against the unclean and tainted.]
Laughing, Sam made sure to clean up the evidence of his action, then he was once again off toward the surface.
He had a hunch that if he and the sun priests put their heads together, then this little baby he had created would solve a lot of issues.
‘If I can reach them…’ he mused as he clung to Lucky’s sinfully soft fur. ‘And they are alive, of course…’
Owed bonus chapters: Three (3)
Titles:
[Apprentice: You are an apprentice learning under a master. Increased experience point gain in the key skill of the apprenticeship.]
Magical Items:
[Ring of Minor Health Regeneration: A small ring, made from subpar materials, with a low-quality magical gem. As long as the gem holds mana, it aids with health regeneration. Can hold 100 Mana Points, and regenerates 10 Health Points for every point of mana consumed. Current Mana: 100/100.]
[High-quality Troll Leather Armor: Created by a journeyman crafter employed by your own company. They worked extra hard to make sure to return your goodwill. Excellent quality, given the materials and the crafter. Enchanted to decrease the sound it makes during movement, as well as has increased durability. Thanks to the substance it was impregnated with the troll leather it lacks its customary weakness to fire.]
*Not actually bottomless.]
[Ring of the Shadow Fang: Made from shadow metal and accented with white moon-silver, this ring allows the wearer to summon a dagger made from shadow. The strength of the dagger depends on the wearer’s shadow mana control. The distance the dagger can move from the wearer depends on the mana control of the individual.]
Quests:
Active quests:
[Just walk in there!]
[Prove yourself!]
[Peaceful land, peaceful mind]
[Deli-Very!]
[Longing for the sun!]
Failed quests:
[Friendlessly into the depths!]
Finished quests:
[Monster Parade!]
[Topping the tree!]
[Reap what you sow!]
[Seaside opportunity]
[Another seaside opportunity]
[The booty of mystery!]
[Demonic demonstration!]
[The Test of the Survivor!]
[To the city you go!]
[Eternal Vigilance!]
[Returning Champion]
[Volatile Valley]
[Ride forward to be not killed in nasty ways!]
[Location, location, location!]
[Call to action!]
Skills:
Mana Skills:
[Mana Body: Level 7/100 (21%) (Passive) Your mana permeates your body, enhancing and improving it. The better your control of your mana is, and the more mana you have, the bigger the effect is. For every 100 Mana Points, it grants you 1 Base Health gain. For every skill level, it increases the Health Regeneration by 0,1.]
[Mana Shield: Level 99 (99%) Using mana, you can form a simple shell around yourself, which decreases the damage you take. Damage decrease depends on the amount of mana invested. For every unit of Mana invested in the spell, the shield will protect you from 9,9 (physical) damage.]
[A/N: Currently: WIS: 55 / MAG: 50 = 1,1 --> +2,1 Mana Regeneration per skill level]
[Mana Flux: Level 10/10 (MAX%) (Passive) The resonance between your skills is enough that if you cast more than one spell or use more than one skill at the same time, then they may induce each other. This induction allows your mana to gain a unique property. This property allows your spells to slip through magical shielding. Effectiveness depends on the strength differences between you and the target. Your spells gain 1% True Damage per skill level.
[A/N: Currently: WIS: 55 / MAG: 50 = 1,1 --> +3,1 Mana Regeneration per skill level]
Neutral Mage skills:
[Mana Unraveling: Level 14/25 (19%) (Active) You can spot even the smallest imperfection in the weave of the mana. If your control is better than the one who wove the spell, then you can attack those imperfections and unravel the spell or magic in front of you.]
[Spell Matrix: Level 40/100 (4%) (Passive) You mastered layering spells as very few have before. You can layer ( or connect any other way) together as many spells as you can. The cost of this action is increased by 5% (cumulative) for every two layers or spells.]
[Solid Spell Foundation: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Your foundation is solid and unshakeable. The stability of layered spells is increased.]
[Mana Construct: Level 84/100 (22%) (Active/Passive) You can create mana constructs over your weapons. These constructs cannot be separated from your weapon. You have total control over their shape and size. For every level in the skill, the mana cost is decreased by 1% and the damage inflicted by the skill is increased by 1%]
[Simplicity: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) The simpler your creations, the less mana it costs.]
[Infusion: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Infusing different mana types into your mana constructs becomes easier.]
[Complexity: Level 1/5 (11%) (Passive) The complexity of your creations doesn’t detract from it. Usually, mana cost would rise when the complexity of your creation increases. For every level of this skill this increase in mana cost becomes less and less.]
Elemental Mage Skills:
Wind Mage skills:
[Wind Blade III: Level 9/10 (99%) (Active) A spell that allows you to launch a blade of wind. The cutting power and speed of the blade are increased. You have greater control over its movement after creation. Allows you to slightly control its path after launching the wind blade.]
[Wind Blade Storm: Level 6/10 (7%) (Active) A spell that unleashes a storm of wind blades around you. The damage of the released Wind Blades depends on the Wind Blade spell and your mastery over it.]
[Wind Bullet III: Level 9/10 (99%) A spell that allows you to launch a bullet made of concentrated wind. You have excellent control over the projectile’s speed, size, and path.]
[Wind Explosion: Level 3/10 (21%) A spell that allows you to create a singular bullet of wind mana, and then fire it, which will, upon impact, detonate. The strength of the detonation depends on the amount of wind mana channeled into the bullet and your mastery over the Wind Bullet spell!]
[Wind Movement: 39/100 (19%) (Active) You can use your mastery over wind to move in any direction you wish. Your movement speed is increased significantly. This speed boost is increased by 1% for each skill level.]
[Wind Edge III: Level 9/10 (99%) (Passive) A spell that allows you to enhance the edge of any bladed weapon you wield with the wind. Thanks to the spell, the speed of your strikes will greatly increase. The power and reach of the blade will be greatly increased further.]
[Wind Affinity: Level 61/100 (17%) (Passive) You have a good affinity for the wind. Beings born of the wind will be more favorable to you. The cost of the Wind-type spells and skills is reduced and their power is increased by 0,5% for each skill level.]
- Wind Flurry
- Wind Bullet Barrage
- Healing Wind
- Wind Jump
- Wind Drill
- Wind Blade I-III
- Wind Blade Storm
- Wind Bullet I-III
- Wind Explosion
- Wind Movement
- Wind Edge I-III!
Utility skills:
Companion skills:
Shadow skills:
(Shadow Cloak triggers this benefit.)]
[Shadow Affinity: Level 30/100 (14%) (Passive) You have a good affinity with the shadows. Beings born of the shadows will be more favorable to you. The cost of the Shadow-type spells and skills is reduced and their power is increased by 0,5% for each skill level.]
Physical skills:
[Basic Armor Mastery: Level 91/100 (6%) (Passive) You learned the basics of wearing armor. Decreases the Stamina consumption slightly while wearing any kind of armor.]
[Clean Armor: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) Your mana got used to a certain spell, so the waste mana radiating from you will, over time, permeate and clean your armor.]
[Resistant Armor: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Thanks to your practice, you can fully utilize everything that your armor provides, granting you increased resistance against the environment. Grants 2% increased environmental resistance per skill level. Environmental resistance protects against environmental effects only.]
[Durable Armor: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) You learned how to roll with the punches. This includes knowing when your armor can take a hit and when it can’t. Increased durability for any armor you wear from incoming damage from non-environmental sources.]
[Epic Breathing Technique: Level 9/10 (99%) (Passive) You breathe, and the world breathes with you. You move along your own rhythm. Decreases stamina consumption even more during any activity and further increases stamina regeneration when not in a fight. Gain +2 Stamina Regeneration for every skill level.]
[Tranquil Heart: Level 11/100 (54%) (Passive) Your heart beats to the same rhythm as your body. It’s efficient and harmonious. You have an even easier time resisting mind-altering effects and a portion of of those effects are reflected back to the source. The portion is 1% per skill level. You also radiate an aura of tranquility that confers the resistance portion of the skill to your allies near you.]
[Flow: Level 77/100 (9%) (Passive) Thanks to being a natural sensor, you can read the flow of the mana. Increases your stability and the bonuses any movement or martial art skill provides by 1% per level in the skill.]
[Focused Flow: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) When focusing on any enemy beyond what is normal, your ability to read their flow becomes clearer and more precise.]
[Controlled Flow: Level 5/5 (MAX%) (Passive) Your read of the flow is more controlled, allowing you to see the flow much better. Increases the flow visibility by 20% for every skill level.]
[Immersed Flow: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) When you start reading the flow a counter starts. After every ten seconds, the effect of the Flow skill increases by 1% for each skill level. Maximum 600 seconds.]
Parry: Level 24/100 (13%) (Passive) Decreases the stamina consumption of defensive weapon movements. It allows you to more efficiently and accurately parry incoming attacks. Decreases the damage of the blocked attack by 0,5% for each skill level at the moment of blocking.]
[Cleansed Body: Level MAX (MAX%) (Passive) Your body has been cleansed of impurities, giving you a more charming aura. NPCs and players will treat you slightly differently depending on their tastes. Gives a flat increase of +3 to STR, AGI, END. You can upgrade this skill by further cleansing your body.]
Resistance skills:
General skills:
[Dwarven Language: Level 5/10 (1%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Dwarven language.]
[Elven Language: Level 7/10 (8%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Elven language.]
[Dark Elven Language: Level 5/10 (1%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Dark Elven language.]
[Sarkan Language: Level 3/10 (42%) (Passive) You managed to learn the basics of the Sarkan language.]
Crafting skills:
Pet skills:
[Strong Jaw: Level Max (Passive) The jaw of the wolf is strengthened.]
[Lucky Aura: Level Max (Passive) Those who are in the same party as the wolf receive a buff to their luck. It depends on their luck how big the increase is.]
[Animalistic Mana Control: Level Max (Passive) The wolf controls the mana inside him based on animalistic instinct.]
[Animalistic Shadow Control: Level Max (Passive) The wolf controls the shadows around him just as easily as it breathes.]
[Shadow Spirit Body: Level Max (Passive) The body of the wolf is part shadows and part spirit, which makes it much more malleable.]
[Shadow Strike: Level Max (Active/Passive) All attacks started from the shadows receive bonus damage, and the wolf can clad itself in shadows, making its entire body into a weapon, while striking at an enemy increasing its range of attack.]
[Shadow Jump: Level 20/20 (MAX%) (Active) The wolf gains the capability to dive into your shadow and emerge from a different shadow. Range: 200 meters. Cooldown: 30 seconds.]
[Shadow Dash: Level 20/20 (MAX%) (Active/Passive) Wherever the wolf steps, he can leave small pools of shadows that the wolf can use to jump into. When diving into the shadows, the wolf can travel at an even greater distance with his speed increased by 2% for each skill level.]
[Shadow Claws: Level 20/20 (MAX%) (Active/Passive) Your companion’s claws are infused with the shadows. There is a low chance to leave behind shadow mana with each attack of their claws. Alternatively, they can actively increase this infusion of shadow mana and strike at their enemies with giant shadow claws.]
[Shadow Bite: Level 20/20 (MAX%) (Active) Your companion enhances their bite with shadow mana, increasing the area and strength of the bite.]
[Shadow Steed: Level 21/50 (3%) (Passive) Your companion has learned how to run while being ridden. Stamina consumption is decreased when being ridden and can carry bigger loads.]
[Shadow Bleed: Level 41/50 (8%) (Passive) Your companion’s claw has been enhanced by a chaotic shadow field which rends the area where the claws strike, causing extra bleeding.]
[Weakening Strike: Level 15/50 (21%) (Passive) Every strike of your companion's claw weakens the enemy's armor. The maximum stack of the effects is 3+1 per 5 skill level.]
[Shadow Heal: Level 21/50 (37%) (Active) Your companion can absorb the shadows hiding them to heal itself.]
[Runic Weapon: Level Max (Passive) The wolf’s claws and teeth are clad in runes that grant him a certain amount of ability to pierce through the impenetrable. Grants a 13% chance to do True Damage with the claws and teeth.]
[Runic Strike: Level 20/20 (Active) Lucky gains the ability to channel mana into the runes of his claws and teeth to enhance the damage theydo. The damage type depends on the type of mana he channels into it. Current natures are available to use: no attribute, shadow, or spirit.]