บท 5: Spirit Factory
'Using this skill for 4 Spirits drained half of my Mana pool, but it's already recovering fast.'
He quickly checked out the result, as this Spirit Factory was actually a mystical room he could access with just a thought.
He saw four items on a table and checked them out.
-> Wolf Claw Gauntlet x 1.
-> Ring of Crimson Howl x 2.
-> Wolf Fur's Coat x 1.
[Wolf Claw Gauntlets]
-Grade: [Common]
-Durability: [100/100]
-Duration: [1 day]
-Attack: [12]
-Effect(s):
—> 10% chance to cause bleeding.
-Spirit Effect(s):
—> Transform it into a pair of spectral wolves inheriting your stats for 30 seconds. Cost: 10% of your Mana. It requires 5% of your Mana every 30 seconds to maintain the spectral wolves.
—> Feeding a spirit to this item also extends its duration of existence.
Almond's eyes popped out of his sockets.
'Am I a blacksmith or what? Such a crazy weapon with a transforming effect by simply using Mana and a dead monster's spirit?'
'But I also need to feed such weapons spirits to keep it. Otherwise, it will disappear. Still, this is awesome!'
Almond equipped the Gauntlets in his hand with the design of sharp wolf claws of Dire Wolves!
'Great, this is better than holy staff, although I have to get into close range.'
Afterward, Almond adorned the wolf fur coat behind him.
'This coat should cover even if I get a couple of hits. And this looks awesome. Wish I had a mirror.'
[Wolf Fur's Coat]
-Grade: [Common]
-Durability: [100/100]
-Duration: [1 day]
-Defense: 10
-Effect(s):
—> Upon getting injured, you gain a 5% damage reduction for 10 seconds, and your natural healing is increased by 5% for 30 seconds. 1-minute cooldown.
'Not bad. Good for a common grade, but I have no intention of getting attacked in this battle,' Almond saw that only four Goblins remained now since those three had good synergy in skills and could spam skills due to recovery potions.
Lamp spammed his Fireball and Firewall from the back, Seyung used his speed to go in and out to stab or slash goblins with his poisoned dagger that made the goblins wobbly.
Jacob seemed to have received combat training and could fare well against the goblins, using his sword to release a sword slash projectile to attack while also deflecting attacks in close range using some kind of parry skill.
He acted as the vanguard for the other two.
'Jacob has to go first,' Almond thought and looked back at the last item to check it—Ring of Crimson Howl.
Seeing its effect, his eyes sharply glinted. 'This is it.'
[Ring of Crimson Howl]
-Grade: Common.
-Type: One-time use.
-Effect: Unleashes an intimidating howl that briefly stuns or distracts everyone within 10 meters of it.
-Use: After infusing 5 Mana in the ring, the howl will unleash after five seconds from it.
'It's like a flashbang,' Almond narrowed his eyes as he moved his gaze to the battle in the settlement. 'The only goblin remaining is Goblin Captain now.'
'It's time. Jacob's at level 3, that bastard. I need to kill him before he kills Goblin Captain.'
Jacob was injured twice due to Goblin Captain, but he healed himself, and now that other goblins were dead, those trio would finish off Goblin Captain easily.
'But I won't let you do that.'
Without further ado, Almond threw a ring after activating it, right between the Goblin Captain and Jacob.
Upon countdown, the ring released a howl with a red aura in a 10-meter radius.
Almond couldn't hear anything, but seeing that Jacob and others, including the Goblin Captain, covered their ears as if hearing an unbearable sound, he knew it worked.
Almond had already dashed one second before the ring activated.
When he was within 10 meters of Jacob, he immediately used two Spirit Explosions.
'I don't want to take any risks. Two should be better than one.'
"Huh?" Jacob opened his eyes as the howl vanished but saw a bluish-green ghostly wisp right in front of him.
And one wisp was behind him.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!*
"Jacob!"
"What the fuck just happened?!"
*Pach…*
In front of Seyung, Jacob's half-burned head landed, and half a second later, both he and Lamp screamed in horror and shock.
"What the fuck?!" Seyung was scared out of his wits. Jacob was his backer and anchor. He was basically Jacob's servant, as he knew he would have good future prospects if he stuck with Jacob.
But…he just died.
"Arghhh!"
Seyung turned around upon hearing Lamp's scream and saw a wolf's claw-like weapon piercing his chest from behind.
"Hi, Seyung."
"Y-You…" Seyung tremblingly took a step back as he saw Almond walking out from behind Lamp like a demon.
The setting sun's faint glow highlighted Almond's eyes and gave it a faint red hue, scaring the shit out of Seyung.
"Surprised?" Almond smiled and pulled up his claw as blood sprayed out.
Lamp grabbed his neck as he struggled to stop the bleeding, but the notification told him he was going to die soon.
"Help…"
Seyung was filled with fear and didn't act, only looking at Almond as he pointed his dagger at Almond, his hands trembling.
"I killed you with Poison Coat skill on my dagger…how can you live after that?"
"Dark Rule number 1, if you want to kill someone in Labyrinth or Dungeon, you have to confirm their death," Almond smiled. "After all, the system won't notify an adventurer's death like monsters, nor will it give you any exp for level up."
Seyung felt a chill crawling back upon hearing his words.
"Y-You know…you don't need to kill me. S-See, your hand is trembling," Seyung quickly said while forcing out a smile. "Lamp was a good guy…he didn't want to k-kill you."
Almond looked at his hand, and it, indeed, was slightly trembling.
"Maybe I am scared? But I am conscious of another feeling at the moment," Almond said, his lips parting into a grin. "It's excitement and thirst to thrive because I am alive, and I want to fucking continue living!"
Seyung felt chills as he looked at Almond's grin and eyes.
"W-We can make a deal, brother Almond."
"Deal?" Almond sneered. "Do you think Jacob's father won't investigate anything and let you go without doing anything if you live?"
"I don't want to die, "Almond's eyes turned frigid cold. "And for that, you will not live."
Suddenly, Seyung felt intense pain and saw a spear driving through his stomach from behind.
[You have been attacked by Goblin Captain.]
[Your Vitality is dangerously low.]
"P-Potion…" Seyung spoke while blood oozed out of his mouth, looking at the mess of blood and gore that was Jacob as he tried to find the storage pouch.
Goblin Captain didn't give him that chance and finished him off.
[You are dead.]
'Come to me,' Almond also took Seyung's spirit. 'This is good. I have my personal death inspection way. If someone's dead, I can know by seeing the spirit wisp.
His gaze focused on the Goblin Captain.
"It's your turn."
"Grr…" Goblin Captain warily looked at Almond while pointing a spear at them, injured but slowly healing with some kind of healing skill.
[Goblin Captain]
-Rank: Bronze
-Level: 5
-Stats:
-Physical:
↳[Strength: 13 | Health: 12 | Stamina: 11 ]
-Mental:
↳[ Mana: 11 | Focus: 9 | Perception: 9 ]
"You will be the first monster I kill, be honored."
'Never mind, that dialogue felt cringe,' Almond wryly smiled, seeing Goblin Captain flinching after hearing him.
'That monster is wary of me, and I have a combo for this situation. Good, stay like that.'
*Boom!*
He used a Spirit Explosion behind it, causing it to lurch forward while Almond readied his Wolf Claw Gauntlet, his eyes focused as he drove both hands' wolf claws forward, one into Goblin Captain's forehead and the other into his neck.
[You have killed a level 5 Goblin Captain.]
[Due to you killing a monster five levels above you, you have gained 50% more exp.]
[You have reached level 2. You have gained 3 stat points you can distribute.]
[You have triggered the level-up Boon. Please select your boon.]
'Finally,' Almond grinned. Looking at the progress bar and percentage, he was already 94% deep into level 2, so just one monster, and he would level up again. He also got 13 Gold Coins for killing the Goblin Captain.
'This strangely feels like this isn't my first time fighting Goblins...is it because I've always imagined fighting them after reading and watching the videos?'
'Whatever. Time to pick up a boon.'
[Select your level up boon]
1. Skill—Random.
2. Weapon—Random.
3. Accessory—Random.
4. Magic Item—Random.
5. Random—Random.
'Adventurer's Rule number one: If there's a Skill option in the Level-up boon, always choose it,' Almond selected the 1st option.
These level-up boons would be different each time, and they only appear once every five levels. The skill option wouldn't always appear, but it was considered the most important priority once it appeared because it could either give one a new skill or upgrade an existing skill!
Random—Random could give stat points, but it could also give anything or nothing, so it wasn't something most adventurers would select unless other options were not desirable for them.
[Your Skill, (S) Spirit Pocket, is upgraded to (SS) rank.]
'A new effect?!' Almond's eyes glimmered golden.
[Spirit Pocket]
-Rank: SS
-Effect(s):
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