Chapter 96. Unexpected events
With the Scourge of the Land finally dead and the Dungeon complete, Michael took his time walking back to the entrance instead of leaving throughout the portal for quick travel back to the city.
As for the reason... he was inspecting the Codex of Power, which was newly unlocked.
Much to his annoyance, though, the codex only held four Aspects instead of five as he had expected.
"Let's see... There's the Aspect of Unrelenting Fury, which I gained from the Hallowed Ossuary, the Aspect of Torment from the Black Asylum, the Aspect of the Protector from the Lost Archives, and the newly gained Aspect of the Unsatiated from the Tormented Ruins, which I just cleared. But that's just four of them... when I entered Nevesk for the first time, I cleared a Dungeon where I killed X'Fall. The Sanctuary clearly considered it a solo clear since I unlocked the Codex of Power, so what's the situation!?"
Finally exiting the stinky Dungeon, Michael took in his surroundings. Seeing the familiar ruins, which looked similar to a fort, he had an 'eureka' moment.
"Fuck me sideways! It's the same Dungeon! No wonder the monster composition inside it was the same. But the layout and the final Boss are different. I wonder if, in the beginning, it became a Dungeon through the sacrifice of many people, and now it's a mainstay with a different layout altogether. That means that Dungeons are created through a ritual of sorts that connects the two realms, and then the devils somehow transform it into a Dungeon, which grants them permanent passage to the Sanctuary. But I clearly slayed X'Fall at that point, so... shouldn't the ritual have failed?"
Left with more questions than when he started pondering the subject, Michael scratched his head in annoyance and decided to go for another run.
He aimed to get as close as possible to Level 25 and gather more items. After a Dungeon dive with so many Elites, it was quite stressful that he only got two Rare item boxes and about 11 more Magic ones.
Because he just cleared the Tormented Ruins once, the moment he attempted to enter it again, the Sanctuary issued a warning.
[ Due to the frequency with which this Dungeon has been cleared, the difficulty level has been slightly increased for the next 48 hours.
There is a high probability of encountering spontaneous Events in the Dungeon.
The rarity of dropped items has slightly increased.
The experience gained has moderately increased.
The Dungeon can only be cleared once, after which it will enter a 48-hour stasis period. ]
Stunned as he was caught unprepared by the sudden announcement, Michael hesitated.
On the one hand, the increased experience and item rarity meant that he could grind both Level 25 and possibly more Rare items. On the other hand, the raised difficulty level and the spontaneous Events scared him slightly.
"Just based on my bad experience with Events in general, it makes me want to turn tail, not to mention having to fight that disgusting Boss once more. If it's even stronger, I don't think I can beat it."
Caught in an impasse, Michael decided to gamble with his newly gained level and see if his extra Skill Point could make a difference.
After looking through the Skill Tree about three to four times, he decided on the Stand Alone skill.
[ Stand Alone
--------------
Increased Damage Reduction by [6%] when you have no minions. Each active minion reduces this bonus by 2%. ]
It was a tough call between this and the passive upgrade of his Ultimate skill, which provided a 15% Damage Reduction while active.
Ultimately, he decided on the permanent 6%, as his Bone Storm could only be active for a short period.
"Truthfully, even the first Dungeon run would've been challenging without Bone Storm. Luckily, with it, I can zone out the enemies and damage them simultaneously. It worked wonders with the Scourge of the Land also. Because of it, I know how to better use this build I'm rocking."
In simple terms, it was a cooldown reduction for his skills. Because of Decrepify's passive upgrade, Abhorent Decrepify, enemies hit while affected by the skill have a 15% chance of reducing all his active skills' cooldown by 1 second.
Given the large number of monsters and Elites in Tormented Ruins, the better way to fight is to group them, inflict Decrepify after they've been stunned through Corpse Tendrils, and then use Corpse Explosion to affect all the grouped-up monsters.
Since Corpse Explosion was now an AOE skill, each tick of damage done in that radius had a 15% chance per monster to reduce his skills' cooldown by one second. That, coupled with the many monsters caught through his Corpse Tendrils, would refresh his ultimate and crowd-control skills.
After theory-crafting in front of the Dungeon entrance for over thirty minutes, he took a deep breath and decided to venture in once more.
"Let's see exactly how much 'slightly' means regarding the increased difficulty."
Surprisingly, after implementing his new fighting strategy, the damage he dealt was much higher, and the speed with which he cleared the chambers in the Dungeon also increased.
He managed to down the Elite, holding the key needed to advance further in less than half an hour, but that's when the trouble started.
As soon as he returned to the previous room, the Dungeon issued an Event.
[ Dungeon Event joined - Ravenous Soul
Objective: Speak with the Ravenous Soul. ]
Looking in the middle of the room, a transparent man was shivering in what appeared to be both pain and/or cold/fear.
Around it, multiple Skeletons were attacking it, making it appear even blurrier than before.
Without hesitation, Michael attacked the surrounding Skeletons and got rid of them. Afterward, he cautiously approached the 'soul' and tried to initiate a conversation.
"Greetings. My name is Michael. Can I be of any assistance?"
Not exactly the best icebreaker, but he couldn't be blamed. It's not that often that one meets with ghosts, and they have to talk with them under the 'guidance' of the system.
[They've been feeding on me. My soul...please take it back from them. Let it end...]
[ Dungeon Event updated - Ravenous Soul
Objective 1: Survive the onslaught.
Objective 2: Slay Soul-imbued enemies to feed the Wandering Soul. ]
There was no conversation to be had with the 'Wandering Soul' as more and more Skeletons rose from the ground and attacked both Michael and the 'victim.'
Hurrying to save the Wandering Soul, Michael used Reap to generate a Corpse, which he used to group up the Skeletons on top of through Corpse Tendrils.
As Michael tactically fought the waves of enemies spawning continuously, he heard familiar but strange laughter, followed by words he was confident he heard before.
[Such power... Hahahaha!]
Turning around to look at the 'Wandering Soul,' Michael bitterly smiled as he watched it transform into a Wraith Elite.
"This sequence... didn't I already go through it before? I think it was right after I cleared Black Asylum and before I got to the Gate. *Sigh* I guess it's just the demons messing with me. There was no saving you to begin with, was it?"
The look of pity Michael showed seemed to have angered the Elite as it shrieked and started attacking him. Three fireballs descended from the 'sky,' signaling the start of the battle.
[ Umfriedus Firestarter (Elite) - Level 29
*Summoner: Creates three summoning circles through which demonic creatures can be called upon every 5 minutes.
*Shock Lance: Creates a ball of lighting that attacks everything in a two-meter radius.
*Fiery: Throws three fireball attacks at the enemy's current location. ]
Furthermore, now that he was under attack, the system updated the Event also.
[ Dungeon Event updated - Ravenous Soul
Objective 1: Slay the remaining enemies.
Objective 2: Slay Soul-imbued enemies to feed the Wandering Soul (Complete). ]
The fight with the Elite was both long and annoying, as it kept repositioning itself, forcing Michael to follow it. Furthermore, his primary method of dealing damage was stacking Corpse Explosion and using Bone Storm.
With both parties moving around the room, the fight was prolonged for over forty minutes, as the Elite summoned monsters eight times before it was finally dead.
"Well... that was a shitty fight. *Sigh* It feels like the Dungeon adds this sort of Events just to fuck with your mental stability. At least I gained lots of experience from it. Not to mention THAT."
An orange item box was glowing quietly on the ground, signifying that whatever would come out of it would be a Legendary item.
As long as it wasn't a helm, this Dungeon run was already worth it for Michael.
[ Dungeon Event complete - Ravenous Soul
Reward 1: 560 gold coins
Reward 2: 1280 experience points ]
Looking at his experience bar, which was already at 3,618/4,550, Michael grinned and soldiered on.
As expected, by the time the Scourge of the Land fell for the second time, Michael finally reached Level 25.
To his utmost surprise, his first Class Awakening didn't require any Quests or more Dungeon runs. What it did need was his approval.
[ It was detected that the user had reached Level 25.
The user can choose to continue in Tutorial Mode or achieve his first Class Awakening.
Through the first Class Awakening, the following can be obtained:
1) Class change to High Necromancer (provides 200 Life Points, 25 points to all attributes, +50 all Elements Resistance).
2) Access to higher difficulty tiers.
3) A random assortment of Legendary Aspects will be added to your Codex of Power.
Be advised that once chosen to go through Class Awakening, Tutorial Mode ends, and the user cannot return to it.
The experience needed for the new Class will be unlocked to the Normal Tier. ]
Seeing the sudden system notification, Michael paused and delayed his choice.
He had already decided to follow Helen's path since it represented the road to power.
Even the system called what he was currently experiencing 'Tutorial Mode.'
"Well, time to go back and check with Helen. My quick-travel is refreshed, so I can fortunately return straight to Kyovashad. Had just about enough of this trash-ass Dungeon and its asshole of a Boss. Good riddance!"
Stepping through the blue portal and finding himself back in the familiar plaza bustling with activity, Michael felt himself relax involuntarily.
Unknowingly, he got used to being on high alert outside the city. It was a good thing, mind you. However, it took a significant toll on his mental health, being so high-strung all the time.
Checking his Equipment inventory, it was almost filled to the brim with item boxes. Sixteen were Magic Items, nine Rare ones, and one Legendary.
As he was near Zivek's Blacksmith Shop, Michael decided to get rid of the trash. Upon opening the Magic item boxes, as expected, nothing good enough came out of it.
"Straight to salvage with them. Hopefully, the Rare items are less disappointing."
As for the Legendary item, he decided to open it with Helen since it was his second item of this rarity.
Opening up his presents, Michael was even more disappointed than he was with the Magic items.
"Two useless gloves, two shields that are even worse, two two-handed weapons that I don't use... damn! At least there's a decent scythe and a good ring."
[ Cleave Dawn
Rare Scythe
264 Item Power
-----------------
158 Damage per Second (+23 when compared with the currently equipped item)
* [115 - 173] Damage per Hit
* 1.10 Attacks per Second
* + 5 Life on Kill
------------------
* +5.0% Core Skill Damage
* +5.5% Damage to Close Enemies
* +6.0% Damage to Slowed Enemies
Empty Socket ]
When compared to his currently equipped scythe, the new one added more damage, but he would lose the '+7 to all Stats' and the '1.8% Chance to Execute Injured Non-Elites.'
As it wasn't an easy decision to make, he thought he should ask for Helen's input.
What he didn't need input on was the ring.
[ Dream Brand
Rare Ring
303 Item Power
-----------------
* +2.1% Resistance to All Elements
* +2.1% Lightning Resistance
------------------
* +4.0% Vulnerable Damage
* +5.5% Shadow Damage
* +6 Life Regeneration while Not Damaged Recently. ]
Replacing the Dark Ring, which only provided +5% Shadow Damage, seemed the correct choice.
If he added the new scythe on top of it, overall, it should make it even better.
'Especially since I'll gain 25 points for all attributes through the Class Awakening. Hmm... I should hurry up and meet with Helen. It sucks that my knowledge base is severely lacking, but it's not like I can go to a local library to read up...'
Furthermore, what he assumed to be the Quest for the Golem, suddenly appeared in his Quest list, expanding it even more.
Thinking about how he would soon follow up on Lilith's trail, Michael grimaced with displeasure.
'Looks like you can't avoid the unavoidable...
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone