Chương 24: Getting Classy

As the glow suffused Malachi, SERA continued to talk with him. Hurray! You're an Arcane Knight now! Pick a class upgrade: Elemental Weapons - When wielding a weapon, it's imbued with elemental damage that increases based on your Elemental conduits. Only affects the weapon itself, not any projectiles it fires. Takes one hour for a weapon to bond with your conduits. Manasteel - Your mana conduits harden any armor you wear, increasing its ability to protect you.

The bonus increases with the level of your conduits and mana capacity. Takes one hour to fully integrate a worn armor piece. Knight's Physique - You gain a slight flat bonus to strength, agility, speed, and constitution. Malachi already thought he knew what his best choice was, but he wanted to make the best one possible. Does the System quantify attribute stats? How large is a slight bonus? It doesn't.

That isn't to say it's unquantifiable, but it runs into the same problems you humans run into when trying to quantify a concept like 'intelligence.' This is an ethereal infusion to your body. You'd probably be able to add another 40 pounds to the bench press and take another 10 seconds off your fastest mile time. That's about as much as I can say. What about the scaling bonuses?

Smaller than the flat bonus, significantly, but each time you level a conduit or add a new relevant conduit, it retroactively applies the upgrade. Elemental Weapons and Manasteel are pretty comparable in how they scale per node. Malachi nodded, eyes still locked on the glowing black and gold orb in his hand. Knight's Physique would clearly be better in the short term, but the other two better in the long term.

From the Maatugivi lord he'd killed, he also knew that body enhancements could be gotten through conduit nodes. From the breastplate, he knew he could get them through enchantments. Elemental weapon only scaled off a single conduit, while Manasteel scaled off all three, and his mana. Plus, the latter was the thing that might help him stay alive. Based on what he'd just been through, he'd probably need it. The drawback might become an issue, but perhaps he could find a way to mitigate it.

That was generally how the best builds he'd made in his games had worked. The most powerful stuff had drawbacks, but then you found a way to make the drawback not a problem. Manasteel, he thought. The orb in his hand dissolved, the sparks swirling around him. He felt a surge of—something. It felt good. Arisone had finished gathering up the essences from the chest, and was stashing the now glowing crystal vials back in her bag. He guessed the necromancy one had the light blue glow. Another had a purple glow.

The last seemed multicolored.

"Can you get the essences from the dead Maatugivi guys?" Malachi asked.

"Hadaun. And yes, I can," she said, pulling out three more vials.

"Do the fire mage guy and the healer. I've got dibs on the other guy." From what SERA had told him, he couldn't use essences that weren't aligned with his mana conduits. As he approached Tebor's corpse, he thought, SERA, can I harvest both essences he has? No response. Malachi was starting to get annoyed with SERA, but he deliberately wasn't thinking too much about it because it had become clear to him that his voiced thoughts were easier for the System Unit to pick up on.

He frowned, peered at Tebor's corpse more intently. [Human - Corpse] - By the Guardians' gonads this workaround is annoying.

'Yes,' to answer your question. Working on a solution so that gorgon's Unit gets off my ass about 'rules' and 'propriety.' As if the Warden wasn't bad enough. Place your hand on the body. He did. Tebor was still warm. Malachi felt disgust welling in him. A notification popped up on his interface. Harvest Essence: Martial (body), Conjuration (protection) Mentally, Malachi willed himself to take both. Light rushed into his hand. He saw images in his mind, like a vast constellation laid out before him.

In the center of that vast array of stars were three that glowed more brightly. They were the nodes he'd received from his conduits, he knew: regeneration, aegis, and lightning javelin. It seemed he could either empower a node or explore further into the constellation. He frowned. It was annoying. In a game, he'd be able to properly analyze the skill tree and create an optimized build. Here, he only had the vaguest sense of what further nodes held.

Somewhere beyond regeneration were places he'd have the opportunity to empower his own body. That would be critical if he were to be fighting things like griffins. If they ever made their way to the green realm, there'd be armored carnivorous rhinos and dinosaurs. He pushed the Martial energy further into the constellation, and three glowing threads crept out from the shining star. Martial Conduit (Body) is now Level 2! Next, he looked at the Conjuration node.

Beyond the star representing aegis, the nodes glowed faintly like dead stars. There were other protection spells, but he got the sense that the one he had was important somehow. SERA had spoken of synergies. And, this dead lord—who no-doubt did have scholars and experts advising him—had chosen aegis too. It wasn't a lot to go on, but it was his best guess. He poured the essence's energy into the spell. Conjuration (Protection) is now Level 2! Aegis has reached level 2! Malachi let out a breath.

"Fuck, that's what it takes to level something? This is going to be a grind," he muttered.

"What was that?" Arisone asked, apparently done harvesting the essences from the two corpses as well as whatever had been in their belt pouches. She'd also stripped the mage of his magical items.

"Nothing," he said louder. He summoned an aegis to see what it looked like. The ethereal shield looked brighter, its outlines more defined. It was broader, too. So each level improves the power of the skill, even without an offered upgrade. The gorgon slithered over as Malachi was starting to look over Tebor's armor. Right now it might be too heavy to use, but if he got a strength upgrade or whatever Tebor had, he might be able to—"Stop," Arisone said. Malachi stopped, hand hovering over one of the buckles.

She bent close to the armor, tongue flicking out. Her hair-snakes peered at it curiously.

"That armor is cursed. A bloodline curse. Anyone who puts it on who is not of his blood will have… a problem."

"My notifications didn't see anything. Are you sure? All of it?"

"All of it. And yes. Curses are my expertise." Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Balls. What about the sword?" He glanced toward where it had landed. It was still lying on the ground.

"I didn't have any problem using it during the fight." Arisone went to examine it too.

"Yes. Cursed. The curse on it is not an aetheric enchantment, so it would have been suppressed by the Warden. Now, each time you strike a foe with it, it will burn you. If you use the flameburst charge, it would detonate on you."

"Well that sucks. Can we remove the curse?"

"Given enough time, and access to an enchanter and her tools, no doubt. But that is time we do not have, and weight we can ill-afford to carry that far. The Maatugivi elite outside the dungeon are no doubt becoming suspicious that their initiates have not returned. They will be entering the dungeon soon to check. With the dungeon vanquished, the main corridors and doors will offer no barrier to their progress. There is something we can do with this gear, though.

Mareakal has blessed this dungeon with hidden chambers."

"The one full of poison that only serpentine bodies can pass through easily?"

"Yes," Arisone said brightly.

"Ah. It may be the only way out for us. Were I to encounter that ice mage or the knight guarding the entrance, I would do my best to kill them. But it is exceedingly unlikely I would succeed." Malachi found himself grinding his teeth. Arisone was doing a pretty good impression of Portal Command. Lots of great ideas for how to get in a sticky situation. Not so many good ones about how to get out.

"Look, if I'm going to be your sentinel, whatever the hell that means, great. I'll guard you. Tell you about Earth. Shine your scales. But no more suicide-mission bullshit like this. If we're going in somewhere, you need a plan to get out before we're in."

"We have the opportunity to deny our mutual enemy a great bounty. I will… offer recompense for the danger you are about to be in."

"Define both the 'danger' and the 'recompense.'"" An enchanted weapon of higher quality than the one we must destroy. And I will tell you of the dangers as we move. Drag the armored vermin over this way. There is a Shrine of Reclamation that will allow us to turn the aetheric enchantments on this gear into raw aetherite. The curse protecting the armor and weapon will not survive such a process. It is hidden in a chamber just below. Over there."

While Arisone grabbed the priest's holy book and something else off him, Malachi started dragging the lordling's body over in the direction the gorgon had indicated, the plate armor screeching. As far as he could tell, there was a solid wall there. He froze as a loud cry echoed through the halls.

"Lord Tebor!" came the words. The ice mage. Shit. The ice mage had already demonstrated he had high level spells. Malachi and Arisone turned to each other and said, "We have to hurry," at the exact same time.

"Jinx," Malachi said.

"What?" Arisone asked as she slithered over.

"Means you owe me a soda. Never mind. I'll explain later. Where's the secret passage?" Arisone hit three places on the carved stone wall, then pushed hard against another block. The wall rumbled down, revealing a dark staircase. Malachi couldn't see shit.

"Do you, uh, know any light spells?"

"I am not a light mage," she said.

"Actually, I think I have it covered," Malachi said, and summoned lightning javelin. The spear gave the barest flicker of light. Can't use it to generate heat, but apparently this works, he thought. With his other hand, he dragged Tebor's body down the staircase. It clanged loudly as it bounced down the steps. Arisone pulled hard on a lever just inside the door, and the wall rumbled close again, plunging them into near darkness.

"You navigated this in the dark?" Malachi wondered.

"No." There was a pause.

"Can you… not see without your spell's light?" He sighed. This is bullshit. Why do gorgons get a bunch of special traits? Right now, he counted darkvision—which, to be fair, snakes on Earth could manage with their tongues—poison immunity, camouflage, superior smell, and maybe the hypnotic gaze. Though that could have been a spell; he didn't know. The Shrine of Reclamation was close by. Malachi dismissed his spell and wiped the sweat off his brow as they stood before it. The shrine glowed faintly red.

Unlike most of the dungeon, the carved reliefs here weren't snake or swamp themed. Instead, there was imagery of humanoids holding up hammers and crystals, and a big anvil circled by a ring of runes. One of those magic circles, he thought. These runes are a language, right? Can you translate it? No. You don't have the requisite ability. That true for the curse detection too? Noticed you didn't mention that. Yes. Despite what you're thinking, I really am constrained. Malachi didn't push it.

Now wasn't the time for an argument.

"Now what?" Malachi asked.

"Start putting the offering—the enchanted equipment—on the shrine, piece by piece. I can activate the shrine." Arisone demonstrated this by putting the enchanted book on the altar.

"Great Unala, bless our path to creation. Great Mareakal, we seek your blessing, and offer these sacrifices. Great Sheothalia, you teach us all things must become dust, and yet from dust does new life grow. We seek your blessing too in breaking apart the old to forge the new." Then Malaichi sensed her doing something with her magic, and light flashed from her hand to the shrine. Several of the runes on the magic circle glowed. The enchanted item dissolved into sparks and threads of light.

As it did, the shrine glow intensified, and the wispy white threads the book had dissolved into circled around the statues. Getting the equipment off the dead lord was a laborious process because he had to unstrap each piece of armor and wrestle it off the unmoving corpse. As he was taking off the pauldrons, the dungeon shook slightly.

"One of them is angry enough to start hitting walls," the gorgon said.

"That they would desecrate this holy place… We should be quick. It won't be long before they discover this passage."

"Going as fast as I can," he said, flipping the body over so he could get at another buckle. As each piece was fed onto the altar and disassembled, the glow of the shrine intensified. Malachi set the sword on it last, feeling a bit bad about it. He still needed a proper weapon. Best not to immolate myself though. He set it on the shrine, and Arisone dissolved it. The shrine was bright with crimson light.

Arisone muttered something, all the snakes in her hair gazing intently at the shrine as all the runes on the circle flashed. The motes of light that had scattered began to gather back onto the altar, intensifying as they coalesced. When it was done, there was a glimmering teal crystal on the altar.

"Intact aetherite. Mareakal has truly blessed us," Arisone said, and handed it to Malachi.

"Yours, since it was by your deed these trespassers were slain. Though we will need to visit an enchanter to apply the blessed material. That can give a level five enchantment to a piece of equipment, though you will need an item of Imbued or higher quality to apply it. Some of my sisters are capable of the deed. We need to visit them anyways." Malachi examined the intact aetherite.

It was a hexagonal rod, about pencil length but much thicker, and this one had an ethereal teal glow to it, as if the light were a mist that traveled back and forth inside it. Compared to the 'cracked' quality crystal he'd seen the lordling take, which had more deformed edges and only a faded gray glow, the difference was obvious. He realized he'd seen occasional pictures of crystals like these on the Portal Wiki, taken off invaders.

He remembered someone comparing the crystal system to tourmaline and a big argument about fluorescence. People claimed they glowed, but no one had a picture of that. Except, cameras sometimes don't pick up magical light. Like that first event I saw with the glyphs in the sky. The room shook again. Malachi had salvaged one of the belts and its pouches, the one that Tebor had stashed the other piece of aetherite they'd found off the bog demon, so he stuck it in there.

"Alright." Arisone took the lead, while Malachi resummoned his lightning javelin, holding it up like a torch. Its faint glow was enough to basically watch the gorgon's tail as she slithered through the passages. Malachi had to keep his head down to avoid smacking into the ceiling. He'd never experienced claustrophobia before, but was starting to.

"We're approaching one of the tribulation passages. You'll need to crawl to move through it, and the floor is made of jagged obsidian. Not so jagged it penetrates scales well, but still sharp." Malachi grimaced.

"Is that all?"

"No. It's also suffused with a poison cloud, and bone mites will scurry out of the holes to attack you as you move through it." Malachi grimaced harder.

"Anything else?"

"There's also fear illusion magic at work."

"So if I don't believe it, it can't harm me, right?"

"That is… not how illusions work. Perhaps the term is translating poorly. Phantasms. They attack your mind, not your body." Malachi nodded. SERA, I'm gonna need to know how this 'ethereal' concept works soon. Is this going to give me brain damage? No reply. Apparently, Arisone's System Unit was still able to interfere with the responses. Whatever the fuck is going on with that. There was a distant rumble of something big breaking. It sounded like thick chunks of stone crashing and echoing through the passages.

If he had to guess, Malachi was pretty sure the two heavies hadn't figured out how to solve the puzzle opening the secret passage, so they'd just demolished the wall. He checked his health: Health: Still bad. You do know your regeneration takes hours to work properly, right? Also, magical mental damage doesn't give you brain damage; it'll be reflected here too. Mana: Medium-ish?

"Is illusion magic mental manipulation?" Arisone kept her voice to a low hiss.

"No. That's a different subset of mesmeric magic."

"And curses?"

"A subset of sanguimancy. It will not help you here either. The enhanced vitality enchantment will, though. Here we are. I will go first. Follow as quickly as you can." Malachi looked at the tiny passage Arisone had indicated. He was reminded of the storm drain entrance from It. The gorgon had to squeeze herself to fit, and her scales made a grinding noise on the stone. There was a nasty looking mist wafting from the entrance. There was another crash of stone, and he heard shouts echoing behind him.

Malachi got on his belly and started crawling after her.