Frustrating Daggers and New Magic
Today, Nox was still going to train with Finn but with a different focus, dagger fighting. He liked training with Finn. The captain gave accurate and useful advice and although his requirements were harsh they were always within Nox's reach so he could feel the progress thus allowing him to gain the willpower to endure the rigorous training.
After he was done, he passed by the Hostess of Fertility like yesterday only this time he spoke to Chloe as well and after a sweet compliment or two to the girls, he received his bento and went straight to the dungeon.
Since he was not used to using dagger too much, he decided to take it a little bit slower today, or not. The first five floors were too easy due to the gap in physical ability between Nox and the monsters so he turned them into a slaughter house once more.
He was becoming a sort of dungeon legend among the Level 1 adventurers. They said he was he vengeful spirit born out of all the newbies that died in the dungeon and was taking revenge on the monsters. Nox didn't know that which was good for the adventurers spreading it or they would inevitably find out that is wrath was not limited to monsters at all.
From the seventh floor onwards however, his rhythm became a bit slower. As he thought about today's dungeon dive, Nox found himself a bit frustrated.
"Why in the actual fuck, would someone choose to use knives and daggers despite having other fucking choices!?" He shouted out loud alone in a room where he had just fought a group of War Shadows.
Why was he frustrated? One might ask . . . Well, it was due to his weapon. The concept of a speedy rogue fighting with daggers is all fine and cool sounding but quite stupid when put into practice. The dagger had the virtue of being more easily concealed but in a combat situation, having a longer weapon would almost always be better.
Thanks to the limited range of his twin daggers, Nox was having a hard time not getting hit despite his significant advantage in speed when compared to the monsters.
'Good thing Mana Veins improve my durability and even heal me even if at a slightly low rate otherwise I might have to retire from the dungeon a lot earlier than I was expecting.' Nox thought to himself.
Still, he went through the same floors he did yesterday and ended up not lagging behind too much when it came to his kill count but he definitely took longer and had a harder time with the daggers in comparison to the spears. His testing of his newly improved Arcane Bolt and Arcane Missile Storm definitely made up for it though.
Nox still didn't sell any of the magic stones and drop items he recovered, unfortunately he didn't find a Jack Bird yet again. Yet the mere thought that he might find one more was enough to make others scold him for still wanting more luck despite how much he already had.
As per usual after he greeted and teased Eina, Nox swung by the Twilight Manor to freshen up and change clothes before having dinner at the Hostess of Fertility. Today, the girls couldn't sit with him since the pub was quite busy but it didn't stop them from passing by his seat and chatting with him a couple of times. After another fine dinner and flirting with Ryuu, Syr and Chloe, Nox returned home for his daily update.
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Name: Nox Lyros
Race: High Human
Gender: Male
Level: 1
Abilities:
STR: G-298 -> F-337
END: H-132 -> H-189
DEX: F-301 -> E-408
AGI: F-357 -> E-491
MAG: E-494 -> D-586
Magic (4 slots):
Item Box: Interdimensional storage. Different effects based on chant.
"Open": Creates a portal to the storage near the user. Size is based on mind usage.
"Close": Close the portals created by "Open".
"Set": Change storage setting such as size, timeflow and subdivisions.
"Create": Create new interdimensional storage space.
Mind Boon: Enhance equipment through the infusion of Mind.
Mind Pulse: Omnidirectional wave of Mind that propagates from the user allowing them to perceive anything it touches.
Arcane Missile Storm: Light blue orb of destructive magical energy shot at the target leaving a thick trail of blue light. Explodes on impact. Possesses tracking abilities and can be fired rapidly and/or multiple projectiles at the same time.
Skills:
Polymath: Greatly increases effectiveness and growth rate of Development Abilities. Lowers the requirements for obtaining Development Abilities. Any Development Abilities whose requirements are met, are unlocked on rank-up.
Arcana: Drastically improves any magic related activity. Records all spells and curses the user perceives and allows the user to modify them or create new spells based on the principles learned from them. Creates magic circles independent of the mage Development Ability that substitute most chant requirements. The user can meditate to choose which spells to put in his magic slots. Grants one extra spell slot per level.
Exceed: Removes the limit of any aspect of the user's abilities and skills. Greatly increases excelia gain from all actions. Immune to mental effects.
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'429 points! Less than yesterday but still outrageous! He seems to have already improved at least one of his spells if not more. I can only spot a single different spell in his status but he might have changed others and simply doesn't have them slotted as he says.' Thought Loki as she passed on the contents of Nox's status to a sheet of paper.
As she gave it to him, she teased.
"You got him more today! Haven't you~!"
But was promptly ignored by Nox who simply walked away leaving her immensely unsatisfied.
During tonight's session of magic studies, Nox shared his advances on his magic earning Lefiya's admiration as well as Riveria's praise. She was immensely interested in how his skill interacted with his magic and what he saw when others performed magic in front of him. Needless to say it turned into another long and passionate discussion between the two.
'Although I greatly enjoy these discussions, I'd still like to have other kind of "discussions". If you know what I mean, hehehe . . .' Thought Nox as he made his way back to his room.
After he arrived though, it was game on.
'Time to make some magic!' He exclaimed in his head as he rubbed his hands together. And so, Nox sat down in meditation and got to work.
'I've got a couple of ideas . . . Enchant magic based on Bete's Hati, wide area attack magic, defense magic and healing magic based on Riveria's spells and the most ambitious, a modification of Lefiya's Elf Ring but instead of using the magic of elves I would use the magic stored in the Arcana skill that is not slotted. As for Ais's Ariel . . .'
'It honestly intrigues me! I tried using it but its sorely lacking when compared to the original and it was not merely due to my status being lacking. Ais's flow of Mind is already quite a bit different than other people's but it becomes even more evident when she uses Ariel. It's definitely the power of the Spirits and that is precisely why it's so hard to reproduce . . .'
'But, if I could imitate the power of the spirits like how I created Mind veins based on monsters . . . I might be able to greatly enhance all my magic but I would need to not only observe people who have received the power of the spirits but also spirits themselves . . .'
'Well I should start with the easy stuff then, once that's out of the way, we shall see . . .'
Hati, a fire enchant magic that can absorb physical attacks and magic producing powerful flames that enhance the user and burn enemies. It was quite powerful for its cost due to its absorption property also working on the energy present in the environment.
Still, the cost was a bit to steep for Nox,s tastes at least for now so to maintain power while decreasing cost, some of its properties had to be removed. Converting Mind to pure magic power like for an Arcane Bolt is less costly than converting it into an elemental attack.
By stripping Hati of the fire element, Nox was hoping to restrain the cost, hopefully, without undermining its effectiveness too much. The endeavour was mostly successful.
On one hand, the resulting spell could still create a storm of magic power around his body that could do serious damage, but no longer possessed the burning effect of the flames. On the other hand, its defensive properties were marginally enhanced while the cost was still lower than Hati's so Nox was ultimately very pleased with the result of his efforts.
Next, he set about trying to optimize it for his uses. Nox managed to slightly improve its efficiency, added a function to regulate its power and improved its ability to extend its effects onto equipment so he could now do away with Mind Boon.
This spell was supposed to make him into a nigh unstoppable juggernaut with great power and even stronger defence so Nox called it, a bit pretentiously, Invictus.
Invictus: Covers and infuses the user's body and equipment with powerful magical energy. This energy can be used both to attack and defend. It also possesses the ability to absorb physical attacks and magic.
But alas, time was ever short and he ended up spending his entire night on this but it was already quite good than he did it in one night and it was only possible due to the fact that he was merely modifying an existing spell.
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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!
The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.
You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.
There's also my other novel Kage of Kages, do check it out!
I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.