Sofia already had some knowledge of the spirit forest from all her reading in Hooasow, but the trustworthy information was always quite basic. Some stories were a bit sensational and it was hard to separate fact from fiction. What she was sure about was that it was a place with a lot of ghosts and spirits. A forest where the ethereal met the physical. Unless you were searching for something in particular, nobody ventured there.
The Vampires had managed to somehow clear a portion of the forest and built their new kingdom there, all to settle down near the Moonlight Castle for Astelia. There must have been more to this castle than the girl had shared, but it wasn’t strange that she wouldn’t have told her on their second meeting. Maybe next time.
This time Sofia flew out of Drakron with two small scrolls in hand, she decided to read them during the flight.
Monster name : Silversneer
Type : Spirit beast
Level : 100 - 200
Appearance : Silversneers are giant amphibians. Best described as ‘Shining-white quadrupedal eels’. Their four legs are quite short but they are able to sprint and navigate around trees nimbly. The females are typically smaller and less aggressive.
Habits : They are known to roam around in search of food during the day and return to their pond at night, usually living in large groups of fifty to two-hundred individuals. Carnivorous, they often attack on sight and will call for the whole group to help them if injured or outnumbered.
Fighting style : The Silversneers only use magic for protection, allowing most magical attacks to harmlessly slide across their smooth hide. They will often charge at enemies and try to use their venomous bite or tail swipes. In rare cases, they may attack with claws. Killing them before they can call for reinforcement is recommended. The venom is mild but may inhibit reaction time.
Known weakness : Their long body makes them vulnerable to slashing attacks, but your best bet is always to thrust a sword or spear inside their mouth as they try to bite you. The same goes for attack skills, assuming you are precise and fast enough. Due to their short legs, they are vertically challenged and cannot climb high ledges.
Sofia read through the information on the scroll, she wasn’t too worried about these monsters. All she needed to do was to wait for one to return to the pond, jump in there and quickly reach the bottom. In theory. She thought she would probably have to use the graveyard skeletons to hold the monsters back while she took the dive or something along those lines.
As long as I don’t get swarmed it should be fine. Maybe my armor can even fend off their bite. Better not count on it though. What about the Silverwater then?
The second scroll was even smaller, it only contained the retranscription of an [Identify] prompt. No wonder this one was so cheap…
[Silverwater] : A silvery water saturated in fragmented souls. Ingestion or prolonged exposure can lead to severe soul damage and a permanent incapacity to teleport.
Item level : 0. Grade : Valuable.
At least I don’t have to worry about this too much, the [Mark of Aphenoreth] offers soul protection after all.
The incapacity to teleport is interesting to prevent summoning. Too bad it comes as a likely result of the soul damage.
That should be all the information I need. Now all I need to do is to keep flying. The plains of the Empire are nice to look at. The vegetation is a bit different from Skyreach, with fewer big trees and more small bushy ones. It’s also a lot flatter…
Sofia’s inspection of the landscape was cut short by a sudden kill notification.
‘You have defeated [Slime - lv. 2]’
Uh?
“Alith!”
This was the communication method they had agreed upon, using the kill feed. They would first kill a Slime to signify this was the start of a message. They had chosen this because it was cheap and easy to buy pet slimes in big cities. Then, depending on what the next kills were, it would spell a message.
‘You have defeated [Slime - lv. 2]’
‘You have defeated [Slime - lv. 1]’
‘You have defeated [Slime - lv. 1]’
Okay, more slimes, meaning numbers for a meeting. That's three. Now for the scale.
‘You have defeated [Woodland Worm - lv. 28]’
Weeks. Three weeks. No idea what a woodland worm is but that works for the W. And then the location… Ah, I should get ready to send my part too.
Sofia descended and started searching for any wild animal she could find. Anything was fine, as long as she sent the notification soon after the message it meant she agreed to the meeting. Which of course she did.
‘You have defeated [Hare - lv. 3]’
H for Hooasow. Got it. In three weeks, where we separated, then. Quick, I need to send the answer. She flew like a bird of prey and caught a random bird that had been chirping on a tree branch. She didn’t have to make an effort to kill it, the collision had extinguished the poor animal’s life.
‘You have defeated [Yellowtail Bliky - lv. 1]’
There we go! Meeting approved! “Now I need to clear the dungeon fast and return to Hooasow in three weeks."
Sofia flew until she reached the Swamp of Sivus. Locating the abandoned mansion had been a simple matter of flying up as high as she could to see farther. The dark wood it was made of contrasted with the gray-green swamps around.
Worryingly, however, some other dark spots were easy to locate, mosquito swarms. The average mosquito in the swamp was the size of a closed fist. There were millions. She could also see the spirit forest from there, dark and sinister.
“There’s no way I can land anywhere in there. I’m not even going to try.”
She decided to land outside the swamp and drew the sun ritual on the ground, throwing a hundred gold within. Before doing anything else she wanted to quickly get that skill level up point she had to pay ten million mana for. Even with the ritual it would take more than a day so she couldn’t waste time.
She had to stay inside the circle for the ritual to work, so in the meantime, she had been in Pareth’s point of view. She observed as he roamed through the swamps alone, cleaving through hundreds and thousands of low-level mosquitos. They were too weak to give any experience.
Obvious why no one lives there, it’s a wonder someone was crazy enough to build a mansion in the middle of this swamp in the first place. Either they were very deranged, they found some precious resources no one knows about in there, or there were no mosquitos at the time.
I’d bet on very deranged. This is near the spirit forest to boot, that’s already deranged, knowing what monsters are in it.
But I guess it could become a decent place with good protection and a cleared swamp… Can you drain a swamp? Sounds like a lot of work.
Unsurprisingly, when she finally received her point, Pareth had barely made a dent in the huge swamp’s mosquito problem. He also hadn’t found anything worth keeping or investigating.
[You have received : Class Skill level up point (upgrades a Class Skill to lv.200)]
“Finally! Now what to use it on… I wonder…”
[Class Skill level up point cannot be used on ‘The Book of Skeletons’ as it is not a class skill, please select a valid skill.]
As expected.
Then the next best target…
[Class Skill level up point cannot be used on ‘Armor of Bones’ as it has reached the maximum level, please select a valid skill.]
No luck with this either… At least it confirms it cannot level up more…
Sofia looked through her class skills.
Active Skills (7 / 7)
[Spine of the Black Sun] - Level 107
[Heal Undead] - Level 58
[Summon Blood] - Level 80
[Angel’s bolt] - Level 100
[Maiden Banshee] - Level 180 (Lv.180)
[Graveyard of the righteous] - Level 107
[False immortality] - Level 1
Passive Skills (6 / 6)
[Blessing of the Deep] - (2/4)
[Armor of Bones] - Level 100
[Pristine essence]
[Vakariazrehafin of Sorrow]
[Holy Wings of undeath]
[Venerable physique of the primeval void] - First step Shadow gathering realm
Then the Venerable physique skill, maybe?
[Class Skill level up point cannot be used on ‘Venerable physique of the primeval void’ as it has no level, please select a valid skill.]
Of course. Then what, the [False immortality] rune? The other valid choices are [Spine of the Black Sun] which I can easily level, [Heal Undead] which is just a mana sink to upgrade… I should do it soon, now that I think about it. There’s also [Summon Blood], a mana sink too. And then [Graveyard of the righteous].
The only real options are the rune and the graveyard…
Sofia already had some knowledge of the spirit forest from all her reading in Hooasow, but the trustworthy information was always quite basic. Some stories were a bit sensational and it was hard to separate fact from fiction. What she was sure about was that it was a place with a lot of ghosts and spirits. A forest where the ethereal met the physical. Unless you were searching for something in particular, nobody ventured there.
The Vampires had managed to somehow clear a portion of the forest and built their new kingdom there, all to settle down near the Moonlight Castle for Astelia. There must have been more to this castle than the girl had shared, but it wasn’t strange that she wouldn’t have told her on their second meeting. Maybe next time.
This time Sofia flew out of Drakron with two small scrolls in hand, she decided to read them during the flight.
Monster name : Silversneer
Type : Spirit beast
Level : 100 - 200
Appearance : Silversneers are giant amphibians. Best described as ‘Shining-white quadrupedal eels’. Their four legs are quite short but they are able to sprint and navigate around trees nimbly. The females are typically smaller and less aggressive.
Habits : They are known to roam around in search of food during the day and return to their pond at night, usually living in large groups of fifty to two-hundred individuals. Carnivorous, they often attack on sight and will call for the whole group to help them if injured or outnumbered.
Fighting style : The Silversneers only use magic for protection, allowing most magical attacks to harmlessly slide across their smooth hide. They will often charge at enemies and try to use their venomous bite or tail swipes. In rare cases, they may attack with claws. Killing them before they can call for reinforcement is recommended. The venom is mild but may inhibit reaction time.
Known weakness : Their long body makes them vulnerable to slashing attacks, but your best bet is always to thrust a sword or spear inside their mouth as they try to bite you. The same goes for attack skills, assuming you are precise and fast enough. Due to their short legs, they are vertically challenged and cannot climb high ledges.
Sofia read through the information on the scroll, she wasn’t too worried about these monsters. All she needed to do was to wait for one to return to the pond, jump in there and quickly reach the bottom. In theory. She thought she would probably have to use the graveyard skeletons to hold the monsters back while she took the dive or something along those lines.
As long as I don’t get swarmed it should be fine. Maybe my armor can even fend off their bite. Better not count on it though. What about the Silverwater then?
The second scroll was even smaller, it only contained the retranscription of an [Identify] prompt. No wonder this one was so cheap…
[Silverwater] : A silvery water saturated in fragmented souls. Ingestion or prolonged exposure can lead to severe soul damage and a permanent incapacity to teleport.
Item level : 0. Grade : Valuable.
At least I don’t have to worry about this too much, the [Mark of Aphenoreth] offers soul protection after all.
The incapacity to teleport is interesting to prevent summoning. Too bad it comes as a likely result of the soul damage.
That should be all the information I need. Now all I need to do is to keep flying. The plains of the Empire are nice to look at. The vegetation is a bit different from Skyreach, with fewer big trees and more small bushy ones. It’s also a lot flatter…
Sofia’s inspection of the landscape was cut short by a sudden kill notification.
‘You have defeated [Slime - lv. 2]’
Uh?
“Alith!”
This was the communication method they had agreed upon, using the kill feed. They would first kill a Slime to signify this was the start of a message. They had chosen this because it was cheap and easy to buy pet slimes in big cities. Then, depending on what the next kills were, it would spell a message.
‘You have defeated [Slime - lv. 2]’
‘You have defeated [Slime - lv. 1]’
‘You have defeated [Slime - lv. 1]’
Okay, more slimes, meaning numbers for a meeting. That's three. Now for the scale.
‘You have defeated [Woodland Worm - lv. 28]’
Weeks. Three weeks. No idea what a woodland worm is but that works for the W. And then the location… Ah, I should get ready to send my part too.
Sofia descended and started searching for any wild animal she could find. Anything was fine, as long as she sent the notification soon after the message it meant she agreed to the meeting. Which of course she did.
‘You have defeated [Hare - lv. 3]’
H for Hooasow. Got it. In three weeks, where we separated, then. Quick, I need to send the answer. She flew like a bird of prey and caught a random bird that had been chirping on a tree branch. She didn’t have to make an effort to kill it, the collision had extinguished the poor animal’s life.
‘You have defeated [Yellowtail Bliky - lv. 1]’
There we go! Meeting approved! “Now I need to clear the dungeon fast and return to Hooasow in three weeks."
Sofia flew until she reached the Swamp of Sivus. Locating the abandoned mansion had been a simple matter of flying up as high as she could to see farther. The dark wood it was made of contrasted with the gray-green swamps around.
Worryingly, however, some other dark spots were easy to locate, mosquito swarms. The average mosquito in the swamp was the size of a closed fist. There were millions. She could also see the spirit forest from there, dark and sinister.
“There’s no way I can land anywhere in there. I’m not even going to try.”
She decided to land outside the swamp and drew the sun ritual on the ground, throwing a hundred gold within. Before doing anything else she wanted to quickly get that skill level up point she had to pay ten million mana for. Even with the ritual it would take more than a day so she couldn’t waste time.
She had to stay inside the circle for the ritual to work, so in the meantime, she had been in Pareth’s point of view. She observed as he roamed through the swamps alone, cleaving through hundreds and thousands of low-level mosquitos. They were too weak to give any experience.
Obvious why no one lives there, it’s a wonder someone was crazy enough to build a mansion in the middle of this swamp in the first place. Either they were very deranged, they found some precious resources no one knows about in there, or there were no mosquitos at the time.
I’d bet on very deranged. This is near the spirit forest to boot, that’s already deranged, knowing what monsters are in it.
But I guess it could become a decent place with good protection and a cleared swamp… Can you drain a swamp? Sounds like a lot of work.
Unsurprisingly, when she finally received her point, Pareth had barely made a dent in the huge swamp’s mosquito problem. He also hadn’t found anything worth keeping or investigating.
[You have received : Class Skill level up point (upgrades a Class Skill to lv.200)]
“Finally! Now what to use it on… I wonder…”
[Class Skill level up point cannot be used on ‘The Book of Skeletons’ as it is not a class skill, please select a valid skill.]
As expected.
Then the next best target…
[Class Skill level up point cannot be used on ‘Armor of Bones’ as it has reached the maximum level, please select a valid skill.]
No luck with this either… At least it confirms it cannot level up more…
Sofia looked through her class skills.
Active Skills (7 / 7)
[Spine of the Black Sun] - Level 107
[Heal Undead] - Level 58
[Summon Blood] - Level 80
[Angel’s bolt] - Level 100
[Maiden Banshee] - Level 180 (Lv.180)
[Graveyard of the righteous] - Level 107
[False immortality] - Level 1
Passive Skills (6 / 6)
[Blessing of the Deep] - (2/4)
[Armor of Bones] - Level 100
[Pristine essence]
[Vakariazrehafin of Sorrow]
[Holy Wings of undeath]
[Venerable physique of the primeval void] - First step Shadow gathering realm
Then the Venerable physique skill, maybe?
[Class Skill level up point cannot be used on ‘Venerable physique of the primeval void’ as it has no level, please select a valid skill.]
Of course. Then what, the [False immortality] rune? The other valid choices are [Spine of the Black Sun] which I can easily level, [Heal Undead] which is just a mana sink to upgrade… I should do it soon, now that I think about it. There’s also [Summon Blood], a mana sink too. And then [Graveyard of the righteous].
The only real options are the rune and the graveyard…
