Chapter 19 Of Skill Books and Puppies

The three never did find a swimming pool, but a soak in the room's hot spring tub has become an evening ritual. Coming from the hot water makes the warm night air feel just that little bit more tolerable.

They've now collected enough clothing to create their own department store, at least that's how it feels to Cain. Misha has received over a dozen new recipes this week, all clothing, and almost all very provocative or unique looking, with only a handful of relatively normal items among them. 

If they were back home in Cain's old world, the Scene kids would be going insane over the collection they've amassed though. The ability to mix and match styles from the Demon dungeon leads to nearly infinite individual look possibilities. Assuming you don't count boring and mundane as options. 

Cain finished up his morning routine and waited for the girls to finish whatever discussion they're having this morning.

"Morning ladies. Are we ready for breakfast?" he greets then when they appear, food already placed out on the table.

"Yes, thanks. We were just discussing balancing stats on equipment, trying to find the perfect outfit for dungeon runs. Sometimes the best stats are just plain uncomfortable to wear all day." Misha shrugs and Cain remembers the plum smugglers.

She's definitely got a point, they would be far from comfortable to fight in all day. Mythryll still seems to be wriggling a little, trying to get comfortable though.

'I guess not all stats are worth sacrificing.' Cain mentally shrugs.

They've been averaging 2 epic items a day, with a single legendary drop for the week, a corset that granted 5 mana Regen a second and increased armor. Cain suspects that's the item that Mythryll simply couldn't give up wearing today.

She's been focusing on ice skills since she noticed that the [Ice Dragon Robes] give a hidden bonus to cold damage, and if she gets another level today she will be able to learn the [Blizzard] spell. But the spell is very mana intensive to cast, so she's been trying to balance mana Regen with the reduced casting cost on her robes.

The one thing their group has really been lacking is an area attack ability. They can handle many targets with the constructs, but nothing they have is truly area damage except one low level [Entanglement] spell which is mostly for control, with only a little damage as a bonus.

Misha and Cain are even more excited for the upcoming days hunting, as they're very close to achieving level 40. For Misha, that's another spell unlock point. For Cain, it should be an upgrade to his Golems. The spells don't seem to have levels, and Cain can't use any skill points he might have accrued, his abilities are just naturally increasing towards full power as he levels up. 

The guards at the dungeon did know a little about that phenomenon though, they had heard that if you don't meet the basic requirements for an advanced class you random rolled, some of the skills won't appear right away, they'll be level locked or implement in stages. If they're right, Cain simply isn't good enough for his own class, so he can't use all of the skills yet, and the ones he has aren't at full power. 

They also learned a valuable bit about advanced leveling, a traveling merchant having brought a newspaper with an article about how a portal becomes available to fast travel to another continent at the second class change. An unspecified amount of time after the first class change at level 100. Cain assumes the information should be common knowledge wherever the paper was from, but none of the people here know it. 

This news gave the group renewed motivation to get stronger, seeing that there was so much more than just these little towns they've been in since arriving.

"I will pull this Succubus pack back here and the patrol should miss us." Mythryll whispers, looking back to the group. A small ice spike hits their leader and they all come running around the building, enraged.

As soon as they're out of sight of the road, the larger Golems surge forward, trapping them for the battle. It's a routine they've mastered well over the course of the week. Mythryll has a slightly greater accurate range than Cain's bow, so she will fire at a group and let them chase her back to where Cain has an ambush set up. The number of patrols in these ruins is disturbingly high, and before they started pulling things out of sight they were routinely interrupted during battle.

"Yes, level 36" Mythryll cheers when the last Succubus dies. "That's enough points to get rank 1 of [Blizzard]."

"A few more packs and we should be at level 40 too." Misha smiles, looking forward to whatever abilities she's going to get.

[Cain Has Received Epic Item]

[Brigandine Incubus Jacket] has dropped.

"Incubus jacket?" Misha wonders out loud.

"Why don't you put that on and let's see what it looks like."

It's a simple black biker jacket with spikes on the shoulders and metal plating on the inside. The stats are great though, being the next best thing to a full plate armor, plus it increases the attack speed him and his constructs gain from DEX by 10 percent.

"Looking good." Mythryll whistles. "Find you a band shirt and you're all set."

"Nono, with the chain over leather design of the Pants, he needs a [Black Mesh Tank Top]." Misha laughs trading it over.

"I look like I belong in an 80s metal video." Cain sighs but notices Mythryll biting her lower lip. So that's her type? Interesting.

Increasing his STR stat has been increasing and toning the muscle mass of his body, not just the physical ability. So since he's been adding a lot of it, his formerly lithe physique has gotten a well ripped appearance. He's got a 6 pack for the first time ever. Adding CON added bulk, so the balance of the two is important if he cares about appearance.

"Elites on patrol." Misha points out, snapping the two from their reverie.

The big red Blood Mongers, with their heavy weapons are one of Cain's favorites to fight. They're straight brutality, and slow hitting. The stacks of the debuff don't build up too fast and they're not heavily armored, preferring to fight bare chested.

The Golems are sent forward to intercept, Cain's new favorites the demonic constructs immediately tearing into the enemy. Mythryll's [Guardian Tree] spell is at level 2, no longer cute and bushy like at level 1 it's large and has strong Vines like when Cain duplicated the appearance with his Greater Golems. She didn't get an increased number of them though, that seems to be unique to the Puppet Master Class.

Mythryll casts her newly acquired [Blizzard] and a binding haze of snow appears. The sharp edges of the magical snowflakes tearing at the skin of the demons, draining their health at an impressive rate.

[Level Up]

[Misha Has Received Grade C Spell Book]

[Book of Remove Curse] has dropped

[Mythryll Has Received Grade A Spell Book]

[Book of Demonic Transformation] has dropped.

[Summon Lesser Golem] has improved. 

[Please Choose A New Form]

"A new form? What are my options." Cain mutters to himself.

[Tiny Treant] [Little Demon] [Boar] [ Wolf] [Clay Golem]

Cain asks the girls if they want to try out the new forms for his lesser Golems before the next pull. The response is immediate and unanimous.

"Puppies!"

They're not puppies, but full grown wolves almost twice the size of a German Shepherd. The girls don't care. They're fluffy, friendly and not nearly as ugly as the little clay Golems.