I found it!

It's the holy dandelions.

I knew I saw them before.

They happen to be located in one of the dead end caves past where the gargoyles emerge from.

But they really are small.

And the amount of paste I can get from one won't even cover my hand.

Well, I'll at least try it.

So first, the increased effectiveness off healing spells.

I pull out my sword and cut into my right forearm.

It starts to bleed.

[Heal]

...five seconds.

Next, I smear some of the paste around the spot I cut.

And then I cut myself again.

[Heal]

Whoa.

One second.

That's way faster.

Hmm, but...

I can't predict, where I'm going to get hurt.

And there isn't enough to cover my entire body.

Let's test the other effect now.

I gather some mana in my right hand.

[Dark bullet]

And smash it against my left forearm.

"Ugh..."

My vision darkens, I stumble down and fall.

A nasty dark splat appears on my forearm.

[Heal]

...

Phew.

After recovering, I smear some more of the paste on my left forearm.

Then I gather more mana and once again smash it against my arm.

This time, my eyes stay unaffected and my arm remains healthy as ever.

...

Completely resisted?

No way...

The paste seems to be used up though.

It's like a one time shield.

I wonder how far it goes.

I spread some more paste again and prepare more mana.

[Dark blast]

"Agkh!"

The result is about the same as hitting myself with dark bullet without the paste.

Eh...

So it's not that effective.

Hm...

Let's try this.

Once again, I coat my arm in the paste.

Then I touch the paste on my arm and gather some mana.

[Enchant: Dark resistance]

And enchant the paste itself.

I wonder if it will work?

Let's try it...

[Dark blast]

Ow...

I feel just a minor pain, but no blackout or serious wound.

And some of the paste still remains.

Good, good.

This might actually be quite useful.

Now, let's test its limits.

Once again, I apply the paste on my arm.

[Tri enchant:]

[Dark resistance]

[Dark resistance]

[Dark resistance]

And enchant it.

Then I start to gather massive amounts of mana in my right hand.

Condensing it and adding more mana.

It's the same move the spider used.

Finally, I once again shoot it at my arm.

[Night's fury]

And then I lose consciousness.

...

...

I open my eyes.

I'm lying down on the ground staring at the...oh damnit.

What the hell did I expect?

Of course an attack like that won't just end with my arm.

It will explode and damage other parts of the body as well.

|= A few experiments later =|

Time to test it in real combat.

For this experiment, my chosen guinea pig is the dark griffon.

As I approach, he notices me and lets out a cry while spreading his wings like always.

I don't attack him since I want to test his attacks on me.

For this test, I smeared the paste on my forearms and my feet and enchanted it.

The griffon then opens his beak and shoots a dark blast toward me.

I charge forward and kick it.

The attack dissipates as it hits my foot.

The griffon is startled for a bit, but then he jumps and tries to fly up.

However, I won't let him, I'm in range now.

I swing my sword, aiming at the space slightly above him.

[Phantom cleave]

He tries to quickly jerk his body to the side, but a cut still appears on his wing.

[Phantom cut]

And then his wing is lopped off.

While crashing back onto the ground, he once again opens his beak and shoots at me.

I block it with my left arm.

No pain is felt.

Finally closing in, I swing my sword.

He parries it with his claws and prepares for another dark blast.

But it's too late.

His head flies in the air as my sword is swung again and a fountain of blood gushes out of his neck.

The gryphon's headless body falls onto the ground and stops moving.

Hmm, well it's certainly effective against this one.

The question is, is it gonna be any good against the spider?

Probably not...

But I'll see.

|= One armageddoned slime and an annoying maze later =|

I'm back you bastard.

At first, I thought of testing out the holy dandelion paste against the giant spider.

But then, I decided to try to finish him in one shot with phantom annihilation.

I have plenty of mana left since the maze doesn't force me to use much.

So let's do it.

Before entering the room, I start gathering mana.

After I feel like I have enough, I dash inside.

[Phantom annihilation]

With a single diagonal slash, the spider's body is split in half and falls onto the ground.

His body lies on the ground motionlessly as it leaks its bodily liquids.

...

Wow...

How simple.

He didn't even call those small spiders.

I tried to kill him in one shot with hell glare before, but his reactions were too quick.

He managed to narrowly dodge it and only received minor damage.

Then he called his brethren and I was pretty much done for, since I wasted too much mana for the opening.

But this...

I guess it's too quick for him?

Hmm, I think, that unless I will need to use another armageddon later, this will be my strategy for him.

Now then...

This was supposed to be a test run, but I guess I will continue.

I walk past the spider and into one of the caves, that opened up.

It's this one, right?

I have only been here a few times, I still can't really remember, where I'm supposed to go.

As I keep walking, I confirm, that this is indeed the right path.

Alright, after this is the furthest I have ever gotten.

My next major adversary is that weird green ogre with eight arms.

If I remember correctly, his weakness should be fire, right?

He tried really hard to dodge all of my fire attacks after all.

But I only fought him once...

Even if I defeated the spider five times now, we pretty much always killed each other, except for that one time.

I exit the tunnel and find myself in another cave.

This time, the land to water ratio is reversed.

In other words, there is water almost everywhere.

Luckily, there is enough dry land for me to walk on.

Also, in that water, there seem to be a some monsters swimming.

But I can't really tell what they are, since the water is so dirty.

Anyway, I better be careful, because they can jump out of the water and ambush me.

I scoop up some water, cleanse it and gulp it down.

I can already feel, that this area is bad for me.

Since I use mainly fire magic for offense, my opponents can just jump into water.

I guess, I will have to brush up on dark magic here.

Right after entering, two green ogres assault me, one from each side.

They are the regular green ogre kind, not the ones with tentacles.

One of them has a pole in his hands and the other one is carrying a sword.

I gather mana in my left hand and grip the sword in my right hand.

[Fireball]

I shoot the left side's ogre and prepare myself to parry the attack of the other one.

The left ogre jumps back and avoids it, while my sword meets the other ogre's sword.

I deflect his sword and jump to the side.

When I land, I notice the first ogre gathering mana and pointing his palm at me.

Griping my sword, I prepare for the incoming attack.

A second later, a big ice needle is shot towards me.

I swing my sword while supplying it with a little mana.

[Phantom force]

And deflect it right into the other ogre's head.

Without sparing any second, I immediately follow up by swinging the sword toward the remaining ogre.

[Phantom cleave]

The ogre, who is still confused as to what happened to his magic, is suddenly cut at his neck.

[Phantom cut]

And then his head falls off.

Now, that's done.

I have secured some food.

[Phantom presence]

There was a giant mantis, who was eyeing me up, but now he just turned around and ran.

I approach the dead ogres, cut them up and start cooking them.

When that's done, I eat my fill.

I haven't found a safe house in this area the last time I was here.

So I should first find one before anything else.

But I wonder where it is.

Last time, I just walked on the dry land and then I got ambushed by that multiarmed ogre.

There might be some underwater tunnels in the ponds here.

I will have to look into that.

But I'm not sure how.

I can't breathe underwater.

I get up and start walking again.

Soon, the path is split in two.

Last time, I went right, which eventually led to the ogre.

So now, I turn left.

The dry land starts getting narrower as I go.

Eventually, there is no more dry land and I am forced to walk with water up to my knees.

The water keeps getting deeper and deeper and I'm soon submerged all the way up to my waist.

...

I don't think I can continue here.

Damn...

Do I just have to go and fight the ogre?

I ponder on for a while on what to do, when suddenly something emerges from the water.

A round green head with teeth and empty eye sockets staring right at me.

Gradually revealing its body as it emerges, I can see its ribs and boney arms.

A green skeleton?

I grip my sword tight and prepare for his attack.

...which never comes.

For some reason, I can't sense any hostility from him.

The skeleton extends his arm and holds out his hand.

There is some blue orb in his hand.

...

???

Then, a chilling voice resounds.

"For...your...weapon..."

What is this...?

He is giving me that blue orb in exchange for my weapon?

...Why?

While I'm looking at him dumbfoundedly, the skeleton points at the orb.

"Breathe...underwater..."

...

I can breathe underwater with that thing?

That's exactly what I need, but...

Being without a sword would be a big disadvantage...wait.

What am I talking about?

Can't I just defeat this guy and take the orb?

I don't need to give him anything.

I raise my hand and when I'm about to swing it at him...

My entire body suddenly freezes.

I can't move a muscle.

Then I notice the skeleton's eye sockets glowing red.

"Combat...prohibited..."

As those cold words leave his mouth, my body is unfrozen and the glow in his eyes disappears.

I fall on my back into the water.

What the hell is this?

Combat prohibited?

Who decided that?

...

I guess he did, huh?

In any case, he doesn't seem like a pushover.

So, should I be happy he doesn't want to fight?

...

Eh, let's just try this and see what happens.

I grab my sword again and present it to him.

He takes it and in turn extends his arm with the blue orb.

I slowly approach it with my hand and seize it.

The skeleton then opens his mouth and points at it.

Do I eat this...?

"Hold...and supply mana..."

Hold it in my mouth and supply mana, got it.

Griping my sword, he walks into the water and disappears.

It's as if his body went invisible, when it was submerged in water.

And with him, my weapon vanishes as well.

Bonus:

What exactly is the weapon she is using all the time?

Her starting weapon is currently a mithril dagger.

It's very sturdy and hard to damage the blade.

It's also very light, so even a child could wield this.

Unfortunately, both of those upsides are meaningless for our protagonist.

And she really doesn't like it, because of its short range.

What she does every run, is use a random lizard's scales to basically forge a better weapon out of it.

By melting the scales down, she inserts them with her own mana and then moves them around the dagger blade to shape it into a sword.

Unfortunately, she can't use any water or ice magic, so it takes quite a long time for the blade to cool down.

And during that time, she has to keep maintaining its shape.

When that is done, however, she is left with a stylish shortsword with black blade.

"Hey hey!

That mithril dagger is really valuable, you know!

Don't you dirty it with some lizard scales!

Ugh...

Stupid kids these days."