So, what is it that's so good about a [manipulator], that is worth risking your life over? Well, I can't reveal it just yet, otherwise it would spoil all the fun, so you will just have to wait for a little while.
But while you wait for that, I have some more "burning" issues to deal with. Ah, that's so unfunny. But I couldn't resist making this joke, so just bear with it for the time being.
Ahem, anyways, I need to get to the scorching ravine, which is the hope for all the wyverns, and getting there is no easy task, if fact, I'd say it's quite the opposite. But i have a way around the heat, and that's using a level 3 ice barrier. Of course, I can't cast something like that, which is where artifacts come into play. Artifacts ore one-time use items that do different things, like casting a spell, after which they turn into dust and disappear. Some are very hard to obtain, but an ice barrier can be found in an tundra dungeon, so a dungeon located in a cold region.
Now, I can't clear a dungeon by myself, and the problem is my level once again. So, what do I do? I sneak into a dungeon raid, and when everyone raiding is busy fighting something strong, I will just take the loot and leave before they have time to notice me. Now, that can go all sorts of wrong, but the rewards are worth it.
All dungeons have a type of artifact called consumables, which give you a permanent buff to a stat, or a passive skill. It can't be an active though, but I don't mind that, because my manapool is currently too small to even cast a tier two spell.
There's also some other stuff you can get, but that is random, so I will only get to find out after I steal the loot.
~~~
So, I reached a pretty large village, about four miles away from the tree, and in it I finally had a good meal, plus I found a bulletin board, which had the times of the raid listed on it. The next tundra dungeon raid will happen tomorrow, so I have a bit of time to prepare. This village is, by the looks of it, completely dependent on monster loot, and because of that, it's full of good warriors.
I was worried about that at first, because of their mages have a high level, their mana detection would be good enough to spot me, but luckily enough, they don't have a single mage in this village. After a bit of looking around and observation, the reason for that became apparent.
The warriors in this village do raids every day, so they have to be able to recover fast enough to fight every single day. Quick mana recovery is a passive that only the top tier mages get, so low level mages either have to rely on mana recovery potions, which are really expensive, or they have to wait for a couple of days, and that's not very efficient.
While that might be a problem for the native people, for someone who came here to steal some goods, like me, this is absolutely perfect.
~~~
It's the next morning, I think around 10:30, but I'm not quite sure. The warriors have gathered, and are finally departing, so now I just have to carefully follow them without being seen.
After about two hours, they finally stopped near a cave, which was covered in ice. It's a pretty warm environment here, so this ice could only be coming from a tundra dungeon. I guess we've reached our destination.
"Alright, tanks, grab your shields. Everyone else, pull out your swords. We only have one healer today, so make sure to guard him will all you can." The dude who was leading the group of people started giving out commands.
"Hey, Stell, you're a healer, the most important member of the raid group, so don't fight the monsters and stay back." Finally, I get to hear a name. It's a bit of a weird one, but so is Lime. I guess they have a thing for odd names around here.
"I know, I know. God, this is the third time you've said the same thing, or do you think my brain capacity is so small that I can't remember something as simple as that?" He started complaining in an irritated tone.
"You said that you understood yesterday, yet during the the very first fight, you just jumped out and got yourself injured. After that, you spent all of your mana on healing yourself, and three of us got injured. But guess what? We had no-one to heal us, because you had no mana left! Of course I'm paranoid!" I see, so this healer is an absolute retard.
I don't blame their captain for being angry, I'd probably be feeling the same if I were him.
~~~
They've almost reached the final room of the dungeon, the boss room, which doubles up as a treasure room.
Their fight was going too well, and because of how organized everyone was, I haven't had a single chance to sneak past them.
As I've just said, the fight was going very well, until the retarded healer, Stell, thought that he should do the final hit and charged straight at him. The boss was like a giant frog, and he shot icicles out of his mouth. The healer was hit by one of them, and started screaming in pain, which distracted his whole raid party. Then, another barrage of icicles started flying towards them, and this time the tanks didn't pull out their shield in time, and one of them took a shit straight in the head. He died, and now that there were only three tanks to shield the whole team their positioning started to break, and the lineup was no longer perfect. While everyone was getting more and more hurt, three people, all wielding long swords, managed to sneak up on the frog. All three swords pierced the frog's lungs, and some cold gas started spreading in the air. So the frog has a skill called [ice breath], but it was unable to use it for some reason.
My guess is that it's manapool is too small, so it can't cast a skill that powerful, but because it's lungs just popped, the [ice breath] spread out across the whole room.
Everyone is frozen solid.
Everyone but me.
Haa, I can't just ignore an opportunity like this, can I?
I pulled out my dagger, and a distorted smile spread on my face. Oh, I just cant wait.
God, I have people like that healer, Stell.
I really do.
~~Hope you enjoyed this chapter.