When morning came, Jake was feeling a bit better. The exhaustion that he felt was more mental than anything since a lot of things happened in a short window of time. Still, that night made him realize many things… Fighting wouldn't be the only thing that he would need in order to learn the truth of the situation. It was time to use his head a bit more...
"I suppose preparation between missions will be a key thing now…" Jake thought while he was sharpening his sword. "The more complicated the mission, the more I will have to prepare in order to finish it as soon as possible. Otherwise, my condition will deteriorate over time, and things will become even harder."
Food, shelter, battle supplies… Jake will have to consider all of those on a whole new level. That was only natural since he was living something real and not a game anymore. Regardless, not everything was serious stuff. Overnight, Jake made his support spells reach level eight, so there was that to improve his mood.
Jake got some potions from the monsters and around fifty thousand coins at the cost of some hours of sleep. Some items were dropped as well, but they were mostly trash items. It was a pity to leave them behind, but carrying so much junk and selling to some guild wasn't worth the hassle.
"Let's get going…" Jake said once he checked and confirmed that all of the gear and potions were ready.
At that point in time, Jake's strength was enough to kill the beehives just by using two mana Blades, and since they needed some time to spawn, he could recover more mana than he used. The difficulty of that mission decreased by leaps and bounds when Jake killed all the monsters around the dungeon. The only challenge left was the boss. If anything, Jake was more worried about the appearance of the beast than its power… The beehives were quite grotesque, after all.
After a couple of minutes, Jake found the final part of the dungeon, and as expected, he found the guardian in front of the purple crystal. The creature was even worse than he had imagined… It was a giant beehive that also emitted a putrid smell of poison. A dangerous mist was taking over most of the last room of the dungeon. The monster wasn't moving, but Jake could tell that it would use the mist to attack him…
Giant Walking Beehive
Lv 50
Water/Earth
Health: 24.000/24.000 (6)
Mana: 30.000/30.000 (6)
Stamina: 5.000/5.000 (6)
Strength: 300
Dexterity: 350
Speed: 150
Intelligence: 650
Endurance: 600
Control: 480
Mentality: 500
Luck: 950
Recovery: 3600
Willpower: 500
Coins: 00
Status: 00
"This might be a bit bad… against this much poison. My supply of potions won't be that useful," Jake thought.
Jake's poison resistance had leveled up a bit in the previous night, but he wasn't sure if it would be enough. In fact, he was almost certain that it wouldn't… he still had some time before the dungeon break, so he decided to let the bees hit him with poison arrows to help level up that skill. It would be better than failing the quest…
"Once again, I am reminded that I will need to prepare more between missions," Jake thought and then sighed.
Jake moved away from the last room and then let the bees hit him with their poison attacks two times before he killed them with Mana Blade and flames of Wrath. That was the max damage that they could take while relying solely on recovery. Usually, Jake would like a lot that grinding, but since the spawning speed was too slow, he was bored out of his mind. There was no challenge, after all.
That being said, that kind of menial task would have to be done now and then to avoid unpleasant surprises. Jake selected most of his missions until now based on their rewards. Still, perhaps he will have to consider more his set of defensive skills and the monsters of that mission as well.
"I suppose I should buy some elemental weapons and use them to help with those Resistance skills," Jake thought. "I am on my own now, so I don't have to worry about looking insane while inflicting damage on myself for statuses."
Weapons that cause damage over time are a bit expensive, but it was fine since Jake could use those during and in between missions. Perhaps using two of those, one with a movement debilitating effect and another that causes more damage, would be good. Still, Jake would have to get used to dual-wielding… Or find a big one with both effects.
Regardless, by noon Poison Resistance had reached level fifteen, so Jake decided that it was time to fight. During that time, he had made some simulations in his mind of what could happen during the fight while leaving enough room for improvisation if something unexpected happened, so Jake was feeling quite confident when he stepped in on the dungeon. To the point that he used his recklessness in his favor… Jake dashed toward the enemy before the creature could get up and used Sonic Punch to help with that.
Before the boss could do anything, Jake jumped with all his might and then landed on the top of the ten meters tall creature. He stabbed the top with his sword and then used Mana Blades and his dark flames to cause tons of damage. At first, the creature trembled due to the pain and surprise while being unable to react, but eventually, the monster made several poison arrows appear around Jake.
Jake lowered his stance to dodge most of those attacks and then used his shield to block others. He still got ended up hit by one of those, and that had been enough to decrease his health by thirty percent, even with all his buffs on…
"You will have to do better than that…" Jake said.
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