Chương 18: Having All the Boons

LANCE fell to his knees before another makeshift shrine, truly, his best construction yet, and prayed. Many options materialized in his mind's eye but like last time, he focused only on his God, his purpose as a Paladin, and those options which related to Cannabus presented themselves to him. He thanked his patron God and apologized for the killing he did in the harbor without first asking the criminals if they wished to repent.

His hairs stood up on end, a sign he took to mean his God had at least acknowledged his apology, if not accepted. Once his mind cleared and the options within calmed, he saw several possibilities. The first such Boon he could buy was [Radiance Overshine], the skill he saw last time which allowed him to build up holy energy before releasing it as a powerful shockwave type attack. It cost 10 Boon Points.

The next selection was [Armored Fists], that same upgrade from last time which would allow him to turn his fists into deadly weapons, weapons which, if he paired it with metamorphic weapon and formed knuckle-dusters, he would receive an attack bonus. The fists would cost him 15 Boon Points. Following both of those abilities was an intriguing Boon called [Fire Infusion]. It cost 5 Boon Points and as the title promised, would infuse his weapon with the fire element.

Yet, looking further into the matter, he saw additional elemental infusions: [Water Infusion], [Dark Infusion], [Earth Infusion], and others; searching deeper into the infusion purchases, he saw even more esoteric infusions such as [Void Infusion] and [Neon Infusion]. Each cost five Boon Points. Thinking on the infusions, he could buy each of them. The problem was that buying all of the infusions would significantly set him back.

The more he focused on the many elemental infusions, the more he thought about strategy and how the infusions would be useful in battle. After so many minutes of contemplation, a new option popped into sight: [Absolute Infusion]. It cost a whopping 35 Boon Points but gave him access to every Elemental Infusion. Lance was a practical guy, so it didn't take him long to decide on his purchases. He mentally grabbed the [Radiance Overshine], the [Armored Fists], and the [Absolute Infusion].

He confirmed his purchase with a prayer. He opened his eyes: [Thank You for your Purchases: -60 Boon Points Subtracted]. Then, [Unallocated Boon Points: 0]. It was strange for him to see his Boon Point total at zero, after the last couple of days, give or take a day, the passage of time was feeling off to him with his increased stamina, but that only meant he had genuine power at his fingertips. Fingers which were now legitimate weapons, thanks to the Armored Fists Boon.

"That's fine," he told himself. Though it did mean until he got another level up, he would be by himself for any future engagements. If he got into a fight more than he could chew, then, he was on his own, he couldn't simply dump Boon Points into his stats and receive a second wind. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. For the time being, though, he felt good.

Plus, he had a stamina potion on him, on top of fairy dust, which would replenish his mana reserves when he ran out. As far as he was concerned, he was doing fine.

Before he descended into the tunnels, heaven only knowing what he would find down there, he checked his stat page, realizing he hadn't done so in a while: [Name: Lance Chaucer] [Level: 30] [Martial Prowess: 35] [Magical Prowess: 5] [Stamina: 25] [Known Skills: {1} Power Charge] [Known Incantations: {1} Search; {2} Reinforce] Satisfied with his stats, he uttered a final pray to Cannabus and jumped into the dark of the tunnel. He fell hard. He felt his body slam into the earth below. Water splashed about with soil.

The tunnels were damp. That wasn't surprising considering they were dug beneath a harbor. Unfortunately, it was pitch black down in the tunnel. He would need a light source; he opened pouches on his utility belt, and found what he sought, a curious moss that was sticky as it was illuminative. Lance stuck the moss to every bit of his body, then carefully infused each bit of moss with a trivial sum of mana, causing it to glow. Now with half-a-dozen small torch-like pieces stuck on him, he could see.

What he saw was nothing remarkable. Just a long, unevenly hewn tunnel slick with water. The degree of wetness didn't inspire confidence in him, but that just meant he would need to move fast to ensure he didn't become a victim to a tunnel collapse and drown. Lance moved ahead. At first, he walked, careful to not spring any traps that the bandits might have set up. Once he got the lay of the land and believed how if there were any traps down here then they would have already triggered, he picked up his pace.

His sprints took him deep into the wetted tunnel; he couldn't say how long he had been down there, sprinting, then running, but it had to be for over an hour. It was after that hour or so he encountered his first divergence. The path split three ways. He asked himself what his father would do in his shoes. The answer was clear — his dad would incant [Locate] or [Search].

Because he only had [Search], widely regarded as the inferior of the two similar spells, he would make do with that, though he did not agree that [Search] was 'inferior' to [Locate]. Each incantation had their uses and limitations. It all depended on what one needed with the spell. He cast his [Search] and saw pseudo-light waves reverberate throughout the tunnel, searching for anything he might find useful. The results he got back were less than helpful.

His [Search] revealed fresh air coming from two of the three passages. That was... useful? Hard to say. Lance wanted to get right into the first tunnel with fresh air, but he resisted the need. He didn't know the next time he would be in these tunnels, so he had to be thorough an examine every nook and cranny. That was what his father would do, anyway, even if it was just a supped up [Locate]. He opted to investigate the tunnel without fresh air coming from it. That tunnel descended deep into the ground.

So deep, in fact, he wondered what could possibly drive the bandits to dig such a hole.

"Only one way to find out!" and so, he ran headlong into the dark.