18 Overwhelmed - Chapter 18
NAME - YOLEN ARCANUM
RACE - FALLEN
LVL - 165
HP - 3,515,820
HP/s - +35,000
MP - 2,543,310(10,173,240)
MP/s - +13,000(65,000)
JOB - THE ARCANE LORD
INDIVIDUAL SKILL - GENESIS/DESOLATION
STR - 729
AGI - 1234
CON - 761
INT - 1101
FTH - 152
ABILITY POINTS (0)
SKILL POINTS (0)
"Woah, you charged these right?" Fulcrum held out the two items to me.
"Yup, needed to see something." I said.
"Thank you." He swung both around a bit and then stared into the air, grinning wickedly. "I'm so close."
"To ascending?" I asked.
"Yes! I can't wait for it."
"Well if you want we can pop back to the registration building and get our pay and then we can head back out to another dungeon?" We had spoken about our pay before, he had made his ice golem go back through the different chambers and pick up the magic gems that monsters drop. I never even noticed, it was probably because I moved on past the monsters I slew without digging through their corpses. So far we had gathered over fifty high grade crystals.
"Sounds good." Over these past few hours, he had really warmed up to me.
"Cool, I've got a skill I want to test again to get us there so get ready." I placed a hand on his shoulder, activating my incandescent travel skill and visualizing the outside of the registration building.
The world around us flashed with a white light and now it was the front of a ruined and broken building, shadows draping the walls and water vapour coming off of it. Suddenly, three figures were flung out of a dark hole in the building and landed on the ground. One in gleaming gold armour, another in a revealing outfit and another bear chested. They were part of the party that had tried to get me to go to the capital. Yet now those adventurers who had supposedly been strong, lay defeated on the ground in front of me. I strode past them, telling Fulcrum to stand guard of them, placing a barrier above them to prevent their escape. Finding out what had done this to those adventurers was my first priority, then it was to get my pay.
I entered the ruined building to find evidence of a battle, all surfaces were covered in a layer of frost and there were numerous ice chunks scattered as well as a burn hole in the wall. What most drew my attention though, was Krystin. She was suspended in the air, lifted by tentacles of black, those same tendrils were picking up shattered furniture, some nailing them back together.
"Hey there." I shouted up. She flinched, suddenly dropping to the floor and moving to dart away, quickly taking a glance at who had spoken. Her movements were incredibly fast but a snails pace to my eyes. Upon seeing me, she straightened up and turned towards me.
"Hello, Yolen. I thought you had gone to a dungeon, it's been only six hours." She said with a warm smile.
I checked her stat block as she spoke.
NAME - KRYSTIN OOK
RACE - ASCENDED HUMAN
LEVEL - 118
HP - 112,336
HP/s - +110
MP - 1,120,056
MP/s - +5,600
JOB - SHADOW QUEEN
INDIVIDUAL SKILL - DARK MIND
STR - 37
AGI - 780
CON - 34
INT - 678
FTH - 36
ABILITY POINTS (0)
SKILL POINTS (0)
"You didn't say that you were an ascended like me." I said. She was taken aback by this.
"What? How?" She stammered, hand to her chest.
"Automatic appraisal. I can use it on people as well the chances of success increase with the level of the skill. That skill is at level seventy six."
"I- I didn't expect that." She relaxed a bit. "It's not something I flaunt."
"Why not? You're a human so becoming ascended is difficult."
"My individual skill was one that paired incredibly well with my job so I tried my hand at a dungeon. I cleared it solo, like you do. My level shot up and I continued doing it." She explained. "One day, I reached level one hundred, ascending my job, I didn't realize at the time that it would extend my lifespan."
"You've lived long then?" I asked, suspecting where the tale was going.
"Yes, I'm over four hundred years old now, though I look to be in my early thirties. My husband and children died before me, their children visited me, but the next generation came less often, and the next didn't come at all."
"Why is your level still lower than mine then? If you've had such a long time, did you choose to stop?"
"Yes, I didn't know if I could endure more time, I'm barely halfway through my life and I've already outlived all of my friends. I don't want to go through that anymore than I have to?"
"So do what instead? Register others that are working towards that goal?"
"No, someone offered me the job because they knew I could appraise. It's just something to pass the time, something I will do right."
"Alright. Regardless of your level, what happened here?" I said, sweeping my arm across the room.
"Ah, this three adventurers came in, threatening me and saying that I had to show them your appraisal documents. I said no, they haven't got the authorization to look. So they kicked everyone out and then threatened me, so I put them in their places." She glared outside at the three in the barrier.
I nodded. "Makes sense."
I wandered over to the main desk which was cracked in half, I then deleted it and made a new identical one in its place. I then opened my storage and took the sack of magic gems out, placing it on the table.
"You want payment?" She asked, striding over to me, and I swore that she brushed up against me as she walked past, if only slightly.
"Not for me." I said, gesturing to outside. "For him."
"Fulcrum?"
"Yeah, he actually needs money."
"And you don't?"
I held out my hand and a fountain of gold pieces came out.
"Nope."
"Ah." She took the sack and hefted it. It seemed so much heavier when she tried to lift it.
A moment later and she came back from the other room with a bag full of coins instead.
"Will that be all Mr Arcanum?" She asked with a respectful nod as she passed me the bag.
"Yes, I'll be off to a dungeon again, I'll send Fulcrum back by himself afterwards to collect payment." I placed the bag in storage.
"What about you?" She asked.
"I'll go to the king. He's been hounding me for a while now." I started towards the door.
"Ah, alright, see you later then." She smiled warmly as I left the building.
--
Helena
Helena awoke, a piercing pain going through her skull and the sensation of mud on her side. She opened her eyes to see the muddy roadway that they had walked down not ten minutes prior.
A shimmering dome of energy was permeating the space about her, she reached for it and felt her hand come into contact with something solid, it was a barrier, a type of abjuration magic. She looked about and found that Rn'd and Brim were both in similar domes that kept them confined to either a sitting or a lying down position. Stood next to the barriers were town's folk, none of which had a powerful aura. There was one person stood, surrounded by three magical beasts, that gave off a powerful aura, better even than her own. The one giving off that aura was a halfling, one on the younger side, and he seemed to be a sorcerer.
"Hey, halfling!" She shouted, trying to get his attention. He glanced down at her and then back up to where he was watching before, forming a grin.
"Woah, that's a lot of coin." The halfling said, catching the bag thrown at him, it was half his size.
"Yeah, and it's yours, I've taken my share." Another voice said, it was familiar. The mage who they were tracking!
Helena swiveled her head to look at the mage and was greeted by an aura so fierce that she had to turn away and deactivate her skill. He was strong, far too strong, he had to be legend rank, but a different scale from the king. This man's aura was one of raw arcane energy, he was definitely a caster.
"Sure you have Yolen, sure." The halfling grinned, giving the bag of coin to the ice golem stood next to him.
"Yup, ready to go to the next dungeon?" The mage, Yolen, asked the halfling.
"Yes, just don't fly us there."
Yolen laughed, "Don't worry, I won't."
