Chapter 96: A win for studying
You dont have them listed. Does that mean no one knows?
Tanila shook her head and opened the book to the page she knew contained the information Max was asking about. They arent listed here, and I doubt anyone would openly write them down or share them if they knew.
Max nodded, ignoring the text written in elvish.
Are you there? Do you know what the other black skills are?
Max waited, hoping an answer would come, but he shook his head after a moment.
Thats enough to worry about for now. The good news is we can try the dragonkin again tomorrow, and Im interested to see how much of a difference my increase makes.
Feels like cheating, Fowl grumbled, but I know its not. You need help during our runs, and you wont get anything for a while now.
Max nodded. He had realized that as well.
There is one thing I want to do tomorrow after our dungeon run, but Ill need some help.
I want you to know I expect compensation for this, Fowl teased as they watched Max enter stealth mode.
Sneaking toward a tree, Max waited for Fowl, who held a rock in his hand, to throw it at the Treant. Four dryads hovered near it, each scanning the woods.
Fowl tossed his rock, hitting the fifteen-foot tree. Its dark eyes fixed on the dwarf as it roared.
The dryads all began to cast their spells. Two with their hands surrounded by flames, another with ice, and the last with rocks. The two with fire spells forming had red hair, and Max saw the one with spinning rocks around its hand had brown hair.
Their hair represents their element
Smiling, Max hurried toward the four of them, preparing for what he hoped would be a good day of farming skills and stats.
Each released their spells; flames, shards, and rocks, flying at Fowl as he held his shield up, taking the hits without suffering any injury. These creatures were only level twenty-five, and finding them required the group to enter the hall in the northeast section of the capital.
Getting close to the casters, Max saw one turn their head toward him and let out a yell.
Dropping stealth, Max sprinted across the remaining fifteen yards and took an icebolt in the chest as he reached the first dryad, cutting it in half with the swing of his halberd.
[ 1 Intelligence Consumed ]
[ 1 Wisdom Consumed ]
Two more spells struck him, and Max could smell the fire burning his skin.
Pushing through the pain, he reached the second one and cut it down.
[ 37 Hit Points Consumed ]
[ 1 Wisdom Consumed ]
The third one held its hands up, rocks rotating faster.
Give me what I want
Max lifted up his left arm, absorbing the blow that struck him. The spell did barely anything, deflected by his bracers and chainmail, and the dryad shouted, her hands starting a spell Max recognized.
The roots he knew were coming never appeared as he swung his weapon, taking her head off in one strike.
[ 11 Hit Points Consumed ]
[ 1 Wisdom Consumed ]
[Consume has successfully Consumed a skill]
[Would you like to learn [Earth Magic]?]
[ Yes / No]
Resisting the urge to shout for joy, Max took down the last dryad and turned to see the Treant burnt to ashes from Tanilas magic.
Holding his thumb up, Max jogged back toward the party.
Seriously?
Max nodded at Fowl. I got it. Earth magic! Its only Max paused a moment, knowing what was going to come next. Yes, its only common, and yes, I know it's broken.
Fowl chuckled and nodded. You bet Ockrims arse its broke, but Im not complaining.
This doesnt seem like a hard fight, Max said, pointing at the two Treants and the eight-foot-tall dryad boss. Ill take out one tree before focusing on the boss.
Fowl grunted, rotating his shoulders. What are the skills this thing has again?
Maybe air magic, maybe lightning magic, and perhaps a heal spell.
Cracking his neck, Fowl stepped up next to the yellow line. Ok. Well, Tanila will burn down the tree thats on me so we can help with the boss. Hopefully, you get lucky.
[ 53 Hit Points Consumed ]
[1 Intelligence Consumed ]
[1 Wisdom Consumed ]
[Consume has successfully Consumed a skill]
[Would you like to learn [Lighting Magic]?]
[ Yes / No]
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Staring at the bosss empty black eyes, Max felt the rush of power from the stats he had consumed.
The desire to accept the new skill was almost impossible to hold back.
Choosing yes, his body felt alive as his mind exploded with magical knowledge.
[ Skill Knowledge Requirement Met ]
[ Processing Possible Upgrade ]
[ Four Elemental Magical Skills Acquired ]
[ Combining Skills into New Skill ]
[ Elemental Magic Mastery Acquired ]
[ Skill Level Upgraded to Uncommon ]
Leaning against his weapon, Max groaned as the knowledge he had just learned changed again. His thoughts swirled. Mysteries he had never imagined knowing or understanding felt like basic things now.
Holy elf tits, you got it?
Max winced and nodded at Tanila, who had come up near him.
You seriously got it? What rank?
Its uncommon.
Ogre nuts, she muttered, shaking her head. Do you know you Fumbling with her words, Tanila knew how Fowl felt all those times. Its so unfair, isnt it? she asked, looking at Fowl, who had taken his helm off and was smiling at her.
Yup. Its not fair at all, but what are we doing to do about it? Fowl replied with a chuckle.
I guess its a good thing we killed the boss, as Im not sure I could gain any more stats.
We done here? Batrire asked, pointing at the chest that appeared near the massive tree that reached the fifty-foot ceiling of the boss room. We got a lot of stuff to do, and now that Seth has what he came for, we need to focus on getting back to real dungeons.
On your right!
Max blocked the sword from the first ogre and parried the second ogres strike.
He was using the new lightning enchantment he had learned an hour ago, and the damage was nice, but the slight stun made the enchantment shine.
Fowl handled the two ogres that were working together, hammering at him like a pair of blacksmiths taking turns pounding on a piece of metal. They alternated blows, barely giving Fowl enough time to block each attack.
Tanila was doing her best, magic spells raining down on Maxs right opponent. It had already taken an ice spear to its face and had erupted in flames when the fireball had struck it.
Max had used his area-of-effect fire spell to keep the two ogres focused on him. Another ice spear came, causing the ogre to stagger and create another hole in its chest.
Max used that moment, sliding past the ogre on his left, thrusting his sword into its stomach, swiping to the right and slicing it open, then moving back as entrails and more spilled out.
Ten seconds!
Max immediately shifted his attention to the remaining ogre, now able to face one-on-one, and was able to take off a leg, making it crash to the ground before driving his sword into its neck.
[ 39 Hit Points Consumed ]
Max saw the fifth ogre break free from its ice prison.
It roared and began to charge in Talina's direction, only to find itself rooted.
Grinning, Max was surprised his root had actually held.
Thats cheating! Tanila shouted out, but he could hear the amusement in her voice.
Engaging the ogre that was preparing for his approach, Max found himself smiling.
God, Im a genius for choosing this path
Thirty-two!
Max high-fived Fowl, celebrating his new level, while the other two groaned behind him.
The experience is definitely better since we dont share any of it with you. I can see how we might not want to fight this boss yet.
Max nodded, cutting eyes out of the corpses and depositing them in a jar. I was going to say we need to hold off on any of these bosses until we are ready for that next set of dungeons.
That means we are done for the day?
You want to keep hunting? Fowl asked, turning to look at Batrire, who had been pushing them hard today for some reason.
We have four more hours before we really need to consider the day done. We are here in this hall. Why waste two hours when we can attempt another one of these dungeons?
I agree, Tanila chimed in. Max pointed out our need to improve, and after all these fights, we saw how much his new skill set is helping. We are wasting time.
But I wanted to watch the fights, whined Fowl.
Max groaned. He had forgotten about the arena fights that were supposed to take place this weekend.
Tonight is just the first few lower-level ones, right?
Fowl nodded and put away the items he had harvested. We can grind a few more hours and then send those two back to the inn if they want, but I havent seen a good fight in a few years.
Then hurry your arses up! Batrire snapped. Im not going to waste my day.
Unprepared for the dungeon they had picked, Max found himself missing half his health, making Batrire use her special heal.
Special down!
Max felt better as his broken shoulder repaired itself. He had turned on his regeneration skill, but that salvo of hits he suffered from the sling using gnolls had surprised him.
Prison!
Max watched the ground rise up in stone bars that surrounded one of the gnolls that was twirling its sling above its head.
Fowl was struggling with the two spear-wielding gnolls, who were easily finding the gaps in his plate armor.
Another spear came for Max, and he used his shield to block the thrust then his halberd to poke back.
His sonar skill informed him of the metal spiked balls hurtling toward him, and he barely got his shield up in time to block the first one but was unable to stop the second one that struck his right leg.
Burning it!
Max cast his area-of-effect flame spell, letting his regeneration keep him topped off.
They had thought these six gnolls would be easy to take out after their success against the ogres, but they had yet to appreciate the damage their ranged users could cause.
It had forced Max out of stealth early, taking one of the spear warriors from Fowl.
A storm formed above the two gnolls, and from the clouds above them, lightning bolts began to rain down, slamming into the ground and the gnolls with such force the sound almost hurt Maxs ears.
The slight reprieve gave him enough time to land a solid attack on the gnoll he was fighting.
It deflected his first attack, but Max used that opportunity to close the distance, slamming his shield into the gnolls body and sending it stumbling. With a quick thrust, Max put the pointed part of his halberd into the creature's chest and drove it to the ground. His strength provided enough force to overwhelm the gnolls ability to stay standing.
Driving his foot into the creature's crotch, it whined, wincing from the impact. Max yanked his weapon back, thrusting the tip into its neck and pushing till the gnoll stopped moving.
[ 61 Hit Points Consumed ]
Two spells flew past Max in rapid succession. A fireball followed by an ice spear. Turning his attention to the two sling users, Max saw both of them smoking from the fire and lightning spells. One was on its knees, a piece of ice piercing its torso.
Running toward them, Max roared, getting the attention of the one that was trying to reload its sling and attack.
Seconds later, it was dead on the ground, and a moment after that, its wounded ally joined it.
Max stared at the stone prison, amazed at how well it held where the third ranged gnoll was boxed in. The walls had shrunk down, keeping it pinned and unable to move.
Thrusting his halberd inside the holes, Max felt a small tinge of guilt as he slaughtered the helpless creature.
It yelped, unable to fight back, and then a rush of cold flooded Max.
[Consume has successfully Consumed a skill]
[Would you like to learn [Sling Weapons]?]
[ Yes / No]
Ignoring the skill he had not expected to acquire, Max turned to find one of the two gnolls targeting Fowl encased in ice.
Seeing Tanila's opening, he ran forward, helping Fowl dispatch the one he was still facing. Once it was dead, Fowl made the killing blow on the last one, bashing in the head of the gnoll that had drawn blood from him multiple times.
Ok, that was my fault, Batrire stated as they all took a breath and glanced at the carnage around them. I shouldnt have forced us to do this unprepared.
Max waved off her statement. Ive drawn us into even worse situations. How often have I made us go down a path we werent ready for?
Frowning, Batrire nodded and then let out a sigh.
Still, my special is down, and I would prefer not to risk anything like this again.
Fowl laughed suddenly, popping off his helm and storing it.
I guess this means we can head to the arena?
Rolling her eyes, Batrire nodded. Youre buying the first round, though!
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