Darith awoke in the Darkness, still barely able to see the desk in front of him, but his HP was full. He was still in one piece, and he could hear no strange noises inside the room, his plan had worked. He looked to see he had two status effects, 1 green and 1 red. The green was his double experience bonus he’d gotten from finding the dungeon which he planned to make use of, the red was the penalty for using power nap.

As he stood up he saw the bluish white figure of the ghost girl standing in front of the door staring at him expectantly.

“I’m working on it.” He sighed back at her, causing her to disappear by walking backwards through the stone door. He put his staff back into his inventory and took out the Needle Claw Spike. It was long, sharp, and pretty heavy. In its current form it would be difficult to wield as a weapon, but he didn’t have much choice.

Next, he took the plate of Lithrox powder from his inventory. He had a hunch, based on his experience with oozes in this game and others, that he’d need it the moment he opened that door. He moved to the door and placed the plate down on the ground in front of it, then opened the door and backed up.

Sure enough, he heard the sloshing sound of an ooze immediately as it slimed into the room. With little to no intelligence, it sloshed over the plate and immediately began to harden and died, granting him decent experience. He got to work immediately, breaking the solidified ooze into fragments and placing them in his inventory. He now had a stack of Hardened Ooze Fragments saved up.

When he left the office he made sure to check all directions for another ooze, including the ceiling, and closed the door behind himself to keep the room secure, then headed towards the Darklight Caverns. He felt more confident now, knowing what to look for, but at the same time he couldn’t be sure he’d seen all the monsters the cavern had to offer yet. He also wasn’t sure how he could use the Ooze Fragments on the Needle Claws, so he intended to avoid them for the time being.

He made his way down the staircase as quietly as possible, reaching the ground floor of the cavern. Looking around, it was truly vast. There were stalagmites and stalactites all over the place, he had no idea where to start looking for the girls resting place. For the time being he’d have to rely on Cartography and just start mapping it out as best as possible. He decided to avoid the glowing light stones for now as he’d assumed that was where the Needle Claws were most likely hiding.

Darith travelled along the left most wall of the cavern’s lowest level first, relying on his ears to stay alert as his Dark Sight wasn’t very effective yet. He went on for a good 10 minutes without encountering anything and was beginning to feel as though the cavern wasn’t as dangerous as he had initially thought.

Dark Sight skill reached rank 2!

Stealth skill reached rank 2!

Once he got the notifications, he was able to see the ground and walls more clearly. He spotted in the dirt a pack of mushrooms growing, they had odd brown flattened tops. Not one to let things go to waste, he used the Needle to carefully cut the base and added them to his inventory.

Further along the wall he found thick wooden roots protruding out of the stone. He thought he’d give Magic Reading another shot, but he got the same message that it was unusable. Using the needle he cut a few of the visible roots out of the wall, they were dry and brittle and seemed to break easily so he wasn’t sure how useful they’d be.

Acquired - Dried Theorlan Root x 13

Acquired - Darklight Mushroom x 6

Foraging skill reached rank 2!

He was tempted to start with the trial and error as his stomach growled, but thought it better not to risk death by poisonous mushroom. He continued along the wall until he felt the dark grey rock morph into paved, mortared stone. There was a small section of the cavern that had been man made using the samewhite stonework from the tunnels. Following it along a bit further he came across a tipped over brazier laying on the ground, two in fact, with their coal spilled out across the dirt. In between the two he saw a stone door that had been left ajar.

Darith cautiously peered inside to see the fluorescent glow left behind by acid stains all around the walls. The room looked fairly large and had a lot of broken objects and rubble scattered about, but more importantly in the center of the room he saw a big chunk of solidified ooze, and heard a crunching sound. He spotted a centipede in the middle of snacking on a dead ooze.

He wanted to explore the room, but he knew he’d have to deal with that centipede first. He started by pushing the door shut until the opening was very narrow. The scraping sound of the stone door on the ground drew the attention of the centipede and it began chittering across the floor towards him. He pulled back the Needle in a striking position and waited. The moment the centipede poked its head through the small opening, he lunged forward to pierce it with the needle. It penetrated the chitin easily, and he forced the needle through into the dirt, pinning the creature to the ground dealing 402 damage, a critical strike. The centipede struggled with its back legs and tail, trying to break itself free of the needle, and was able to lodge it out of the ground and lift it.

Darith quickly pulled back the needle as this was happening to make sure not to lose it, the centipede reared its head upward and shot out the white mist at Darith. Darith was forced to dash backward to avoid the mist as the centipede skittered out of the room fully and attempted to use its speed to maneuver around Darith for a lunging strike. He anticipated it, having seen this lunge attack already once before.

When the creature lunged forward, Darith sidestepped it and pierced the Needle into its back, then pulled back and pierced it several more times as fast as he could, but noticed each strike was draining his energy significantly. After getting below 500 health, the centipede began to panic and attempted to scurry away.

Darith dashed beside it to keep up and thrust the needle into its side 3 more times, reducing its health to 0. It let out one last chattering screech with its mandibles as it collapsed onto the dirt. Darith took a moment to see that not only his energy was almost empty, but he had lost health despite not getting hit. Looking down at his hands he saw red marks from wielding the crudely shaped needle. Because the weapon was improvised, its shape was causing damage to Darith as he struck with it, but not a great amount. Still, his health was down 112 points.

He got several notifications as well, but took his time to make sure he didn’t draw the attention of any nearby enemies before trying to look at them. He opted to grab the centipede’s body by its tail and drag it back into the room. It was a lot heavier than he’d been expecting. Once inside he quickly checked over the room to make sure it was monster free, then moved to drag the braziers into the room as well and put the charcoal from them in his inventory. He then moved to pull the door shut to make sure he was safe for a moment.

You have gained the skill Polearm Mastery(?)

You have gained the skill Lunging Strike(?)

Polearm Mastery - Rank 1

Increases your damage dealt and efficiency while wielding any Polearm type weapon. This mastery contributes to all damage dealt by physical-based skills while wielding a Polearm, so long as that skill is compatible with Polearms.

Polearm Damage Bonus: 5%

Energy Cost Per Swing: 10

Lunging Strike - Rank 1 (Polearm Only)

Lunge forward and strike with a polearm from the maximum possible distance to activate this skill. Increases the energy cost of the strike as well as the damage it deals.

Damage: +15

Energy Cost: 30

“That must mean it considers this big needle a polearm.” Darith said to himself, going into his equipment menu to see if Scholar Mastery had more information on it now.

Weapon: Black Iron Needle (Uncommon)

Type: Polearm (Crude)(Improvised)

Damage: 87~96

Speed: Average

Special: Deals double damage to insectoid type enemies.

Special 2: The crude nature of the needle makes it difficult to wield, causing damage to the wielder with each strike.

Quality: Normal

Used in: Smelting, Blacksmithing, Woodworking

Description: Once the tail of a Needle Claw, after being exposed to the acid of a Darklight Ooze, the needle corroded into this purified form of Iron. (?)

“The high quality copper Polearms in Tao’s shop dealt around 20 to 30 damage if I remember correctly…” Darith said as he tried clinking it against the ground. “I wonder how much something like this is worth?” He took the time to look around in the dark room to try and find anything useful, using the light coming off of the fluorescent stains the ooze’s had left behind.

“Dariiiiiiiiiiiith.” Liana said with a stern voice through party chat.

“I’m fine, I’m fine, I hurt myself by accident.” Darith replied.

“How’d you manage to do that?” She asked doubtful.

“Improvised weapon, hurt my hands. Had to use it though.”

“What are you fighting anyway?” She asked.

“It was a giant centipede.”

“Ew! Gross! Seriously?” Elise shouted back.

“How giant we talkin’?” Gabriel asked, he didn’t sound too excited by the idea either.

“Well it was about twice my size, so probably about the size of you or Jaese.”

“How do I quit the game?” Elise replied disgusted.

“Hah, what’d you expect we’d be fighting?” Jaese chimed in.

“Oh you know, evil bunnies or angry wolves. Those I’m okay with.” Elise replied.

“There’s probably some of those too!” Liana said in an attempt to cheer her up. “Are you almost done? You’ve gotta be starving by now.” Liana said to Darith.

“I’m just getting started. I’ll probably have to eat this centipede.” Darith replied.

“Ok I’m gonna hurl.” Elise moaned back, causing Jaese and Gabriel to chuckle for a second, until Jaese watched Elise actually hurl near him in the Training grounds.

“Oh she actually did. I’ll go make sure she’s okay.” Jaese said.

“I’ll lay off the gross talk, sorry.” Darith said apologetically.

“If it tastes good, save some for me.” Gabriel joked.

“Seriously?” Elise replied angrily. Darith used the time during the conversation to find a few useful items in the room, including some text etched into the wall near the door stating that this was a Conjuration Supply room.

Almost everything in the room had been dissolved or partially dissolved by the oozes, including the shelves. The only objects intact were small metal ones that were stained black but oddly shiny, just like the door nobs of all the doors he’d seen so far. It wasn’t too unlike the appearance of the Needle he had equipped. He was able to find a mining pick made of black iron, minus the handle. As well as four black iron pots and ladles and handle-less blades.

“Alright.” He said to himself, stretching his fingers and neck as he gained another level in Dark Sight. He laid out the needle on the ground with the other black metal object’s he’d collected. “I’ve got some work to do.” He said to himself. He started by setting a brazier upright and refilling it with the charcoal he had found on the ground. He took from his inventory all of the dried Theorlan Root and mixed it into the charcoal with any and all of the wood he could find still in the room.

Next, he pressed his wooden staff into the brazier and begin grinding it to generate heat until he had enough to ignite the Theorlan root. Eventually the Theorlan root caught fire and began burning, spreading to the other wood chips. He made sure to blow on it to help it head up the charcoal.

You have gained the skill Survival Mastery(?)

He ignored it for now, waiting until he had the brazier glowing nice and red with a flame to produce heat for the room. The next step was to try and retrieve something edible from the centipede. He used the needle to pry off the chitin and found sticky black meat underneath, which gave him hope that it was somewhat edible. He worked on prying off each piece of chitin and collected them in a separate pile off to the side, though he broke quite a few in the process, then gathered the meat in a pot.

Skinning skill reached rank 2!

Raw Darklight Centipede Meat (Common)(Cooking Material)

If eaten will release a thick substance in the mouth and throat that hardens quickly, blocking the airways and giving off a foul taste and odor. Cooking the meat will draw out the tar-like substance.

Quality: Poor

Flavor: Poor

“Right.” Darith moved his needle to hold the chunk of meat above the brazier, while at the same time he grabbed one of the Black Iron pots and prepared to use it for the substance. Sure enough after a few minutes, a black liquid began to drip out of the meat. He quickly held the pot to catch the drops and eventually the meat changed color to a brownish white, not unlike typical cooked chicken meat. He pulled both the pot and the meat back once it seemed the process was finished.

Cooking skill reached rank 2!

Extracting skill reached rank 2!

Cooked Darklight Centipede Meat (Common)(Food)

Restores 5 Health

Quality: Poor

Flavor: Poor

Darklight Tar (Common)(Crafting Material)

A thick, sticky black tar extracted from various vegetation and creatures within the Darklight Tavern. Extremely sticky, hardens when cooled and liquifies when heated.

Used in: Woodworking, Blacksmithing, Alchemy

He put the pot of tar in his inventory, then turned to the meat. It smelt awful. He closed

his eyes and took a bite. It tasted awful, like he was chewing on a tire. But he bared with it and after finishing he was able to get the 5 health back and stave off his hunger somewhat. Next was to repeat the process for the rest of the meat chunks. This time he was more careful with how he cooked it and retrieved the tar, and once he’d finished he was able to completely fill one Black Iron Pot with tar, but it was hardening and cooling even while in his inventory, so he knew he’d have to heat it up again if he wanted to use it.

In the end he was able to eat enough to restore his health to full, but his mouth was crying for some sort of flavor to replace that of the meat.

“I’ve gotta find a better way to cook that stuff.” He grumbled to himself. Next up, he looked at the chitin plates.

Darklight Centipede Chitin (Common)(Crafting Material)

The hard chitin shells may be used to reinforce various types of armor and shields if used by a skilled artisan,

Used in: Blacksmithing, Leatherworking

After reading it, he loaded all in-tact plates into his inventory. His next step started with him placing the needle down on the ground next to the Pickaxe and the knife blades. He took out one of the beginner pine staves he had gotten from Tao’s shop and his beginner Nemothyne pants, and a piece of charcoal he hadn’t used.

He began by taking the pot of tar out of his inventory and placing it in the brazier. Next, he took the needle’s blunt end and pressed it against the top of his spare staff, then used the charcoal to mark the area he’d need to carve out. Then he wrapped the beginner pants around the base of the knife blade and tried using it to carve out the marked section. The Black Iron was durable and sharp, but without a handle on the knife it made it hard to use. It took him awhile to carve deep enough into the wood of his staff, but once he felt satisfied, he moved to the next step.

He pulled the pot out of the brazier, using the spare pants as oven mitts, and placed it on the ground. The tar like substance was nice and bubbly. He used one of the Black Iron Ladle’s to scoop it up and pour some into the newly formed hole in the top of his staff, and lightly coated some on the blunt end of the needle. Lastly, he carefully pressed the Black Iron Needle Claw into the top of the staff and secured it in as tightly as possible, using his pants to wipe away any excess tar that spilled out during the process.

For good measure, he took out a long thread of Frost Spider Silk he’d gotten from the spiders in the Frozen Caverns and wrapped it around the needle and the staff to help secure the two together.

Woodworking skill reached rank 2!

You have successfully crafted: Black Iron Needle Spear.(?)

Weapon: Black Iron Needle Spear (Poor)

Type: Polearm

Damage: 67~76

Durability: 20/20

Speed: Average

Special: Deals double damage to insectoid type enemies.

Description: Made by corroding a Darklight Needle Claw Tail in Darklight Ooze, then combining it with Pinewood, Darklight Tar, and Frozen Spider Silk.

“The damage went down by 20 and it now has durability, but it won't hurt me anymore when I use it.” Darith said as he checked out the item. Despite the poor quality, he was proud of his new weapon, smiling ear to ear. He followed a similar process to first make a handle for the knife blade, then a handle for the pickaxe.

The last thing he had to do was extract more Lithrox powder from the dead centipede and filled it into another Black Iron Pot. With that done, he now had a food supply and proper countermeasures for two of the three monsters lurking in the cavern. He pushed the door of the supply room open slowly and stepped back outside, closing it behind him to keep the room secure, then looked at the large cavern before him.

‘If I were a little girl in a cave, where would I go?’ he thought to himself. How did she get down here in the first place? She wasn’t wearing Avistion Academy clothing, so it didn’t appear she was a student. He thought on this has he continued mapping out the cave.

The oozes were slow, and the Needle Claws seemed to stick to the glowing stones, and with Dash and his new weapon he could handle the centipedes, this allowed him to speed up his exploration of the cave. After about an hour and 5 dead centipedes later he had mapped out the entire outside wall of the lower level, and began looking at elevated ledges for new clues.

Hours went by of him searching the ledges until he finally came across something that looked different. A ledge on the outer wall of the cavern about 8 meters off the ground floor had wooden posts dug it, signs that there was once a bridge leading to this ledge from somewhere.

He climbed up the jagged stone walls to get atop the ledge and found that the back wall on the ledge had a tunnel sloping upwards out of the main cavern, and standing on the slope was the young ghost girl staring back at him, as if beckoning him to continue towards her. Darith double checked his surroundings before beginning his ascent up the sloped tunnel.

The color of the stone began to change, there were cracks in the stone of varying colors. At first it was mainly purple, but then other colors begin to mix in. Yellow, blue, red, green, pink, white. They became more abundant and overlapped the further up the slope he went, getting larger and larger. They appeared on the walls, ceiling, and floor as well, and eventually went from being cracks to fissures that Darith had to step over cautiously, they were all giving off a powerful energy of some sort that he could feel not but quite describe.

Eventually the upward slope stopped and the tunnel opened up into a large cavern that screamed boss room. Darith hesitated entering it. He double checked and confirmed his magic was still being blocked by a more powerful spell, but at the same time he saw the young girl’s ghost standing in the middle of the wide room. On the far side he saw a tunnel leading upward further, with a faint light coming from it - it looked as though it was an exit out of the caverns to the surface.

“Is this where you died?” Darith called out while remaining outside the room. She didn’t reply, instead just looked at him expectantly. “Fine.” He grumbled while doing some last minute stretches. “This better be worth it.” He stepped forward towards her, and as he did, she held out her hand towards him. Each step he took was made with caution, he had eyes on the colorfully cracked walls and floor, making sure there wasn’t anything hiding out of his vision waiting to pounce on him.

Much to his surprise, he was able to get right up to the girls ghost without anything jumping out. He wasn’t exactly sure what to do, but decided to reach out and touch her hand. The moment he did, his vision went blank, his ears deafened and the smells and sensations he had from the cavern vanished in an instant.

“We promise we will take care of your daughter.” An old bearded man spoke, wearing the robes of the Academy. He was standing in the doorway of a small home in a village unfamiliar to Darith, whom was watching from inside the house looking over the shoulder of the young girl and her mother, she was very much alive.

“You’ll find out what is happening to her?” The mother spoke.

“Yes. Having unusually high magic potential isn’t unheard of. Though I do admit her power is like nothing I’ve ever seen, with the help of myself and the other Archmage’s of the Academy, we’ll be able to help her understand her power and control it. We’re offering a full scholarship for her, and room and board for you and your daughter in the city of Avistion. We want you both to feel as welcome and comfortable as possible.”

“This… this seems too good to be true.” The mother replied, the daughter cowering behind her legs.

“Think about it, don’t feel forced into any decisions. If you should have any questions, feel free to write me directly.” The old man bowed politely. Darith’s vision blurred, he now saw the mother and little girl packing their things.

“Do we have to leave mommy? I want to stay here with my friends.” She pleaded.

“Don’t worry sweetie, Avistion is a wonderful city where you’ll be able to make many more friends. And those strange things that have been happening, you’ll learn to control them, okay?”

“Really?”

“Of course!” Her mother reassured her. Darith’s vision blurred again. He was now watching a carriage being pulled by two horses. Inside was the daughter and mother with their belongings. The carriage was being escorted by heavily armored Avistion guards, not unlike the ones he had seen loitering around the city.

“Are we almost there mommy?”

“We’ll be there in a few more days, don’t you worry.” Her mother replied, the two holding each other close as they sat in the carriage. His vision blurred, once it came back, the carriage was travelling through the rain on a dark and stormy day. The mother was singing a soft lullaby to calm her daughter’s nerves. It blurred again.

This time, it was sunny. The road they travelled on was closing in on the city of Avistion, the great white palace could be seen in the distance. The curtains on the wagon were pulled open and both the mother and daughter were looking at it in awe.

“Look sweetie, The City of Avistion! We’re almost there!” The mother cheered.

“Wow, it’s huge!” The young girl smiled ear to ear. The sound of horses galloping towards them could be heard, and on the road ahead, a group of more than 10 riders were coming towards their carriage. As they closed in, they began shooting arrows at the knights escorting them. The little girl and mother screamed as the knights protecting them began shouting. The sounds of swords clashing echoed as the two forces collided. Darith’s vision blurred.

He was now in the forest surrounding the road. The mother was bleeding, an arrow in her abdomen, but she held her daughters arm tight, leading her through the forest with haste. The sound of footsteps following behind them could be heard in the surrounding brush.

“Give us the girl, there’s nowhere to run.” A man with a deep voice shouted through the forest. Dairth’s vision blurred again.

He saw the mother and daughter find the entrance to a cave, and the mother led her inside, but she looked pale now, it was clear she had lost a lot of blood. The pursuers continued after them. He caught glimpses of them. They wore Avistion armor, but instead of a blue eagle symbol, it was a blue eagle with a black X over its chest. His vision blurred one last time.

He was now standing in the same circular room where he had been before he touched the girls hand. The mother had collapsed to her knees, the daughter holding her tight and crying, the armored men approached.

“Come with us little one, and we will save your mother.”

“Don’t listen to them sweetie. Run, please, run.” The mother pleaded.

“No! I won’t leave you!” The little girl cried out.

“It’s the only chance you have to save her. We have healers with us. We promise we’ll take good care of both of you.” The leading knight spoke, his face hidden by his helmet as he stepped forward. Despite them clearly having the upperhand, they were very apprehensive about approaching the two, Darith noted.

“You won’t have my daughter.” The mother shouted angrily as she pulled a small blade out of a pouch on her belt, struggling to get back to her feet. She held it out in front of herself as if she intended to fight. Seeing this, one of the knights fired an arrow at her head, but before it could impact it bounced away.

“NO!” The little girl screamed, and a huge burst of magical energy shot out from her, cracking the ground around her feet in various colors.

“Calm down little girl.” The leading knight took a step back, then threw an angry glare at the knight that fired the arrow. Just then, the ground began to rumble violently as if quaking. From deeper in the caverns, large stomping could be heard. The girl, the mother, and the knights all looked to see a gigantic Needle Claw burrowing its way up the tunnel, seeking out the source of the tremor the little girl had created.

Darklight Needle Claw Queen - Level 61

HP: ??

Despite its size, the knights did not run in fear, instead drawing their blades.

“Come with us now little girl, it’s not safe here!” The leading Knight shouted. Darith’s vision blurred. This time, the scene didn’t change, only his point of view of the cavern. He was now seeing the scene from the point of view of the little girl. He looked to see his stats on his window had changed.

Name: ????

Health: 94/94

Mana: 2059603 / 2059803

Energy: 50 / 50

He looked down at his hands and feet. He was the little girl. He took a deep breath as he got a notification in front of his eyes.

Quest Updated!

Quest: Survive.

Requirement: ??

Reward: ??

Penalty: Abandoning the quest or leaving this area will make this quest permanently unavailable to you. Once accepted, this quest cannot be taken by another player.

“Shit what the hell?” Darith panicked as the Queen stomped closer. His body wasn’t that different from his Nemothyne’s, but it still felt odd. Seeing the mana and lack of stamina, he knew he’d have to rely on magic and quickly navigated to his spell menu to see what he could cast.

Spell Mastery - Rank 1(Beginner)

Aura Mastery - Rank 1 (Beginner)

Enchant Mastery - Rank 1 (Beginner)

Conjuration Mastery - Rank 1 (Beginner)

Meteor - Rank 19 (Advanced)

Control Weather - Rank 23 (Advanced)

Earthquake - Rank 305 (Advanced)

Gravity - Rank 206 (Advanced)

Fireblast - Rank 603 (Advanced)

The list went on, but Darith stopped after seeing Fireblast, the only one he had read about in the library, it was the advanced version of Fireball and Firebolt. “Fireblast!” Darith shouted out, planning to aim it at the knights.

WARNING!: Using advanced spells without high enough ranks in the corresponding mastery will lead to unpredictable results.

What initially started out as a spell similar to Firebolt, only larger, instead turned into a wild explosion of flames that shot out in all directions, but luckily not hitting himself or the girls mother. At the same time, the ground beneath Darith’s feet began to break apart with red cracks.

“Glacier Barrage!” One of the knights shouted, causing several rows of blue spell circles to begin forming in front of him. Darith took a deep breath as he looked to the wounded woman beside him. Enemies on both sides, unknown spells that he couldn’t control, vague victory conditions.

“Gamer’s mind, don’t fail me now.” He mumbled to himself as he clenched the little girls(his) fists shut.