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Published at 3rd of May 2023 12:52:50 PM


Chapter 138

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She next tried to use the level-up point on [False immortality], she knew the system would double-check whether she was sure of her choice if it was eligible so it cost nothing to check. She got two messages instead of one this time.

[Due to level compression, using your point on this skill will bring it up to level : 3 (Equivalent experience to a regular level 200 skill)]

[Class Skill level up point (1) is being used on ‘False immortality’, are you sure?]

No.

Level compression! I’d never heard of this… So this is why [Identify] is so hard to level up! It’s level 2 is actually level 100?! I used it a lot though… I guess it must be near to its level 2 by now. Nice.

The question now is: do I get my runes to level 3, the graveyard to level 200, or keep it for a potential level 190 skill to- wait, no. I remember we got no skill at level 90… I never asked but it’s safe to assume it will be the same now… Then I should use this for sure before the trial.

Rune or graveyard… Can I highlight the parts that change by level? Looks like I can.

[False Immortality] : Carves an un-life rune on your own body.

While under the rune’s effect :

Your soul is concealed.

You no longer emit mana.

You no longer emit heat.

You no longer emit light.

You cannot regain mana.

You cannot regain stamina.

You cannot regain health.

If you were to die, a rune is consumed, granting three seconds of invulnerability, and completely restoring your physical body, health and stamina included.

Costs 39 750 mana (Half of maximum mana / skill level) per use.

Requires 10 minutes channeling to carve a rune.

Up to 1 (skill level) un-life runes may be borne at once.

You may dismiss the rune at any time, this will not restore your body.

[Graveyard of the righteous] : Create a 321 meters (3*Skill Level) large and wide consecrated graveyard around the Saintomancer (Must be solid ground). The skeletons of the righteous dead are buried in the graveyard, their arms and upper body may surface to grab the Saintomancer’s enemies, incapacitate them and - or drag them underground. The skeletons have the relative strength and resilience of a level 107 (1*Skill Level) Paladin and cannot inflict any direct damage.

Requires an 8 seconds (10 - class level/50) channeling to deploy. Costs 100 mana per second to maintain.

“The first choice is dividing the mana cost of runes by three and allowing me to have three at a time. The second choice is making the graveyard twice as big and giving the skeletons the stats of level 200 paladins.”

Ah, actually the graveyard zone is a sphere so doubling the size is much more than doubling the effective area.

That’s a hard choice to make… Graveyard is a big jump in power, while the rune mostly allows me to keep more mana or be a bit harder to kill.

Graveyard feels a bit slow to level up, but that’s also because I did very little combat with it and my class leveled up so fast that it couldn’t keep up. The spine is the same.

I should be able to get more of these points in the trial as bonus rewards, but then it’ll be better to save them for the next skills. I should use it on [False immortality] if only not to be wasteful with the experience. The toughness of the graveyard skeletons isn’t that much of an argument anymore when I can also summon a full squad of Paladins out of the book.

[Due to level compression, using your point on this skill will bring it up to level : 3 (Equivalent experience to a regular level 200 skill)]

[Class Skill level up point * 1 is being used on ‘False immortality’, are you sure?]

[Class Skill level up point * 1 has been used]

‘[False immortality] reached level 2’

‘[False immortality] reached level 3’

“So now using a rune costs thirteen-thousand, which leaves me with sixty-six thousand mana to spare. Much much better. Now I need to wait for my mana to be full again, actually use the rune, and go find the dark dungeon.”

Just enough time for a quick bite. She summoned a salad out of her storage ring. She had gone back to the restaurant Karin showed her before going to the guild, and she bought an ungodly amount of food. Which had been relatively expensive. But she had also gone to claim and retrieve her ‘war contributions’, which somehow amounted to almost ten thousand gold. Sofia had to admit that she was starting to lose touch with what money was worth at this point, she still vividly remembered how she felt when she stole that health potion worth one gold from the Church’s stock. Now one gold was an amount she wouldn’t even bend over to pick up from the ground.

Well, I would still pick it up actually but…

 

Sofia initially only wanted to use one rune to have more mana. But now standing on the edge of the forest, and seeing how eerie it was, she couldn’t help but stop and carve another one. It appeared on her other shoulder.

She flew along the forest's border comparing where she thought she was with the location of the dungeon on the map to find the shortest route.

Sofia stood on the forest’s border again, ready to enter for real this time. The giant Black Primus. The main body of the forest was the oily black trees, these towering giants looming ahead like immovable pillars of darkness, their twisted branches reaching toward the sky. Very little light managed to fight its way through the canopy dozens of meters above. Inside the forest was an eternal foggy night no matter the time. Sofia went through with her last preparations. She summoned the crow and the rat out of the book, they would be her scouts. She sat the crow on her head to be the one to look around, while the rat would be walking ahead. Be silent guys.

Pareth was out too, since it was so strongly recommended not to use space magic inside the forest, she couldn’t store him or she wouldn’t be able to take him out. Since it was advised to be silent and to make as little light as possible, he wouldn’t be using most of his skills. Sofia also couldn’t use her armor at all, because it used space magic to repair itself, summoning bones out of its storage.

My green clothes are too visible. I think there was a black cape with all the clothing of the castle… Yeah right here, ugh, smells a bit musty but that’ll do. The damp smell was as much from the cape as it was from the thick scent of the rotting leaves and moist earth wafting out from the darkness ahead.

I guess Pareth is very visible too but there’s no really helping that. I should buy him a dark cape too when I go to Hooasow next. Alright, let’s go. I have a long road to walk, let’s find these Silversneers.

Sofia summoned a steel knife for herself and the mithril dagger for Pareth then ventured into the forest. The Black Primus were a sight to behold, they were even more impressive from up close, seeming to pulse with otherworldly energy. The forest was silent, she could barely hear the rustling of the black leaves far above. There were smaller regular trees and bushes mixed with strange luminous plants of all kinds growing around the base of the giants. But perhaps because of the relative lack of light, there was still ample space to walk without trouble. In fact, were it not for the thin fog permeating the whole forest, it might have been possible to see hundreds of meters ahead.

She wasn’t often nervous but Sofia couldn’t help but feel insecure as she penetrated deeper and deeper into the forest. The shadows around her seemed to grow darker with every step she took. Every twig snapping under her boots made loud noises, echoing in the still forest. She realized now that even finding her way back might be a bit tricky.

No point turning back now.

About an hour later, she had her first run-in with a monster of the forest. The rat had been walking a few hundred meters ahead and it had turned tail and come back running. The rat panicked, it looked around and found a hole under the huge roots of a Black Primus, it jumped in there. Shit, that means I should hide immediately. Sofia followed the rat, entering feet first however she could into the small hole, she managed to fit in there somehow. Pareth was still outside. The ground shook. A quake? No, footsteps.

Pareth took the initiative to throw himself to the ground inside of a large bush, ‘playing dead’. That was just in time as the thing producing the tremors in its wake appeared piercing through the fog. The beast was a giant boar, barely fitting between the Primus trees, its snout lording over every other tree, sniffing around as it looked for ‘something’. Its black tusks covered in striking red blood looked like war weapons, covered in scars and dents. The rest of its body was covered in thick black horns like a porcupine. It advanced with heavy steps, uprooting trees and crushing everything else on its path.

Not counting the Alphageid, this was without a doubt the strongest monster Sofia had ever encountered.

There’s no way this thing isn’t at least level 300… That’s why I needed the rat to scout ahead!

Sofia gulped, holding her breath, she was immobile in her hole as she watched it pass before her. She could already see its back and how badly damaged the spines around its rear were. It must fight a lot. She thought herself almost out of danger, but the monster turned around.

It looked in her direction.

 





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