Area Quest: Deforestation

A Dryad has overtaken a forested area as her Domain. Kill her, and her sentient plants to complete this quest.

Dryads Slain: 0/1

Quest Reward: Nature themed item.

“It seems simple.” Leo said, closing his box.

“Great, you jinx us. Now it won’t be simple.” Park expasterated.

“Oh please, I think a little Dryad will be easy for us. If it can only summon Level 1 bushes, surely it’s no more than Level 5 right?” Becca asked.

I looked around at everyone who in turn looked at me. “Oh so I am suddenly the expert on summoning?”

“Well, you are the only summoner, how many summons do you have?” Madison asked jokingly.

“Uhhh” I actually had to count. “Technically five, but I can get another two with my Bind Summon spell.”

“Then why don’t you just bind the Dryad? If it can summon monsters, couldn’t you just have more monsters under your control?” Marcus suggested.

I blinked. Something I never thought of. “I can easily try. It’s a great idea, thanks Marcus.”

“Why stop at the Dryad? What if you bind the Infernal Dungeon Boss? Why not just bind the will of every person and monster?” Leo asked a bit smugly.

“Well I wouldn’t use it on people, that seems rude and intrusive.” I defensively said. “Why are you so against me binding creatures this way? Every creature I used Bind Summon on so far I offered a deal, minus Ten since I had no clue what I was doing back then.”

“Sorry that came out wrong.” Leo said. “What I am saying is why not just bind every enemy creature. Use the bad guys for good?”

“Oh, well I mean other than my limit of binding, there really isn’t a reason not to.” I said. “Once we get to the fight I might as well try.”

Before we started to keep moving I looked over at Agnox. “Alrighty, go scout ahead.”

“Why should I? I could die you know.” Agnox said defiantly.

I crossed my arms. “If you don’t, then you won’t fight. Then you won’t gain any experience.”

He seems like he was going to argue back, but didn’t. “Fine. But if I die, my funeral better involve party streamers and fruit cake.”

Once Agnox was out of earshot Becca looked at me. “How does he know what fruit cake is?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know, and I honestly don’t want to know.”

I activated my only ability, Share Sense. The area around me flickered as it changed to what Agnox was seeing.

It was awkward living through his senses, and very disorenating. Everything had a weird dullness to color. I could feel the wind along his wings which really threw me in for a loop. Like I had an itch I couldn’t scratch on my back.

Out of all his senses, the one for sight, while dull in color, was the sharpest. I could see details in things much further than with my own eyes. Soon he came across a clearing with a woman standing near the back edge, whom I realized was the Dryad.

I saw a few bushes that seem very pointy, and the Dryad was talking to a large Oak Tree. I couldn’t see any Levels or names, which means either I wasn't close enough, or that function doesn't work through the ability.

After spending a few moments looking around Agnox made his way back toward us. As he returned I turned off the ability and came back to my own senses.

“Good news Hairless Apes. The Dryad is Level 7. Something even you all can defeat.” He said with a victorious smile.

Well, it’s not Monkeys anymore. “Agnox, what’s the odds of me being able to bind the Dryad?” I asked him.

“Huh? Oh probably zero. It’s classified as a Boss monster. So for the purpose of that spell, it's considered a Level 17. Which is more than double your own Level.”

“Wait, if it’s considered Level 17, why are we fighting it?” Marcus asked with a tinge of fear in his voice.

“It’s considered Level 17 for the purpose of spells, skills, and abilities. Overall it’s probably closer to Level 10 in terms of Stats, Health, and Mana.” Agnox said as he floated back near me. I looked pretty weird right now. A floating blue ball over one shoulder. A sarcastic Imp over the other. A red fur Wolf with a small black nub on his forehead on my left, and an unmoving tiny iceman on my right.

Well at least my goals for a one man army are becoming real.

“Anything else you saw?” I asked Agnox.

“A few bushes that seem very pointy, and the Dryad was talking to a Tree. More than likely trying to communicate with nature to find us or gain more power.” He said.

“We don’t want that. Remember the formation we started to work on guys. Tanks up front. Jeffery and Madison on our flanks. Doctor Gloria you are in the middle so we can protect you best, and us ranged people are in the back.”

“Well if we are about to leave allow me to go ahead and apply my buffs. I thought of a certain Chant that could apply it to everyone.”

We all looked at Gloria with a bit of confusion of what she was implying. However she didn’t wait to explain as she started to speak.

“Invigorate my allies so their blood stays flowing through the course of the upcoming battle. Ensure their body stays clean of impurities so it remains flawless. I instil empowered might to their constitution so they stand to protect!”

Magic flowed out of her after the chanting and surrounded us all. I could see a giant plus sign on everyone's status using the Party submenu. However as soon as the spell was complete, Doctor Gloria fell to the ground.

Madison was the quickest of us all to react and was able to catch her before she hit the ground.

“Doctor Gloria! Are you alright?” Madison said while holding her.

I looked up at her status and saw a debuff and her mana bar was completely empty. I focused on the debuff to get a better idea of what it was.

Mana Fatigue

Due to using more Mana than available, you are knocked out for 14 Minutes and 52 Seconds.

“She's okay I think. She just used more mana than she had. She should be up in a couple of minutes.” I said.

“How do you know that?” Park asked.

“Party submenu. Just focus on the debuff.” I informed everyone. As most of them tried it out. While they did that, I looked at the buff Doctor Gloria gave us.

Invigorate ++

Doctor Gloria

Your Health and Health Regeneration is increased by 20%

You have 30% resistance to Poison and Disease

Effect Time Remaining: 29 Mintues 48 Seconds

Holy fuck that’s a buff! It’s only at Beginner Rank, but her Chanting ability is broken as all hell! She is only Level 5, what can she do at 10? At 50? What can I do at 50?

Once the debuff was gone, Doctor Gloria woke up with a horrible headache. “Oh I must have overdone it. I actually thought it wasn’t enough. Did it work though?”

We all smiled at her. “Oh it worked. We will wait till you feel better and have some mana inside of you. How long till you are full?” I asked.

“Oh give me just an hour and I will be almost there. I know it isn’t much.” She said but again we were all surprised at her.

“What?” She asked.

“Doctor Gloria, not even I have that much regeneration, and I am three Levels higher than you. It takes me 3 hours to get to 90% full on mana.” I said with several others nodding in agreement.

“Well I have 825 mana, but the regeneration per hour is 670 after my class, title and everything else. I thought it was only average.”

“Wait, you have a title?” I asked curiously. “What is it?”

“Doctor. Same for my profession. It gives me +5 to Vitality, Intelligence and Wisdom alone.” She said as if that was low.

We all gasped and Agnox cursed. “Did she fucking say +5 to THREE OF HER STATS! What is up with you Monkeys!”

“Unsummon Agnox.” I casted before he could keep being rude. “Doctor Gloria, my Title doesn’t give anything close to that. What about your Class? Does it give any stats?”

“Oh yes, it gives +3 to Wisdom per Level. Wait, is this something good? I was under the impression it was bad.”

Crow held up a hand. “Gloria, does your profession or class say anything about hurting other people?”

“I recall my profession saying something like that, hold on.” She quickly opened up her Menu and nodded. “Yes, my Doctor profession strictly states I can’t cause direct harm to anyone, even my enemies. If I do, I lose the title and profession.”

Crow nodded. “It’s similar to a certain build in M&M called a Purity Build. It involves a certain trait that makes you unable to harm anyone, but all your utility and buff abilities are stronger. Alone it’s useless for killing things, but in a Party it’s strong.”

“We can go over everyones stuff more in detail back at the base.” I said. “We still have that quest to complete. I suggest we wait till Gloria is at 75% mana and press forward. Agreed?”

Everyone nodded in agreement and rested up with mild chatter. We suggested to Doctor Gloria to try the chant again, but to only put it on Leo and Crow. While her Iron defense buff went on Leo and Madison, since Crow was tanky enough.

We soon were moving forward ready for battle. It wasn’t long before bushes started to attack us. Since we knew what to look for, they were very easy to avoid being surprised. Leo and Crow did their best to block the attacks, while those of us with ranged attacks took them out swiftly. Gloria healed our frontliners up quickly and we kept pressing forward.

Eventually we came upon the clearing where a wooden woman stood. Her legs and arms were branches that were woven loosely, allowing one to view through them. Only her face, neck and torso were solid. Covering her body was moss that had a sundress appearance to it.

Standing in front of her was a large Oak Tree, dozens of meters high. She was focused on it, appearing to talk to it.

She turned to see us and gasped. “No! Your planet is in ruins, I shall not let you destroy it further!”

Dryad, Level 7, Boss Druid

The Dryads hands glowed green and the vegetation around us sprung to life. Dozens of bushes and saplings all Level 1 or 2 flooded my vision.

“Fucking hippies.” Marcus muttered under his breath.

I immediately pumped Wispy full of mana for his Beam attack and launched it toward the largest cluster of plants.

Wispy dealt 200 Cold Damage to Thorn Bush. Killing Blow!

Wispy dealt 200 Cold Damage to Thorn Bush. Killing Blow!

Wispy dealt 200 Cold Damage to Thorn Bush. Killing Blow!

Wispy dealt 200 Cold Damage to Thorn Bush. Killing Blow!

Wispy dealt 200 Cold Damage to Tree Sapling.

Everyone else hurled spells or, in the case of Becca, shot arrows. Leo, Crow, Madison, and Jeffery all held their positions waiting for something to get near to start attacking.

I mentally sent Frosty to run around the outside of the clearing behind some trees. Ensuring he would deliver some sneak attacks when able. Agnox and Wispy stayed near me to blast their fire and ice attacks at plants in unison. Luckily the bushes were weak to fire so their total damage output was on par with each other.

Once bushes started to get closer, Crow shouted his only spell “Taunt!” And suddenly dozens of thorns flew at him.

Since Crow was keeping all the bushes and saplings busy, I decided to use this opportunity to train my knife throwing a bit more. I missed twice and, between giving Becca and Marcus their ammo back, I retrieve my knife. It was the third attack that hit a bush perfectly.

You dealt 32 Piercing Damage to Thorn Bush.

“Summon Object!” I cast, keeping an eye on my mana. Luckily I don’t have to worry about summoning anything so my large mana pool was still above 1000. I could sling spells for a long while.

Several more knife throws later, the bushes started to thin out. Our attacks turned toward the Dryad who summoned more plant life to keep us busy.

I decided to use another spell of mine on a Tree Sapling that was Level 3.

“Bind Summon!” I shouted and I was at a mental battle between the sapling and myself. I quickly won the conflict of wills against the sapling but as soon as I claimed it Agnox disappeared.

What the fuck? Did he just run away? I felt out for him mentally and found that he was inside my mana, as if I unsummoned him. I tried to push him out but failed and was caught off guard.

Thorn Bush dealt 22 Piercing Damage to You.

Tree Sapling dealt 30 Bludgeoning Damage to You.

“Mathew stop standing still! What are you doing!” I heard Park shout at me as I looked at the pinecone I was hit with from a sapling.

I shook my head and decided to worry about Agnox later. The plant creatures were thinning out and we were starting to press forward to the Dryad. I looked at Park. “Slow the Dryad with me. Ice Bolt!

“Chain Movement!”

You dealt 57 Cold Damage to Dryad.

Both of our attacks hit, with mine dealing damage. Chains surrounded her restricting her movement slightly and with my Lingering Cold she was hardly moving.

“You humans will pay for what you have done to your planet. I won’t let you win this!”

She broke free of the chains with a bit of effort and punched a tree next to her. “Grant Life!” She shouted as the oak tree started to rustle.

“Uh guys, I think we are in a pickle here.” Crow said worryingly.

Living Oak Tree, Level 10

“All attacks on the tree!” I shouted praying my Tactics skill would be enough to kill that thing.

Becca dealt 102 Piercing Damage to Living Oak Tree. Weak Spot!

Marcus dealt 100 Bludgeoning Damage to Living Oak Tree.

You dealt 60 Cold Damage to Living Oak Tree.

Wispy dealt 155 Cold Damage to Living Oak Tree.

Frosty dealt 100 Cold Damage to Living Oak Tree.

Tree Sapling dealt 20 Bludgeoning Damage to Living Oak Tree.

Leo dealt 90, 100, 88, 91 Fire Damage to Living Oak Tree. Weakness!

Park dealt 80 Necrotic Damage to Living Oak Tree.

The Oak Tree looked worse for wear, but still remained standing.

“That was almost a thousand damage!” Crow shouted

The Dryad shouted angrily, “STOP DESTROYING YOUR WORLD!” She blasted a large green ray toward our back line, luckily Crow came to the rescue.

“Block!” He jumped up into the air and took the attack to his shield. His health was slowly ticking down. Some sort of draining effect.

I risked glancing at everyone's health and noticed nobody was below 70% Health. Thanks to Gloria’s constant healing, and the occasional heal from Leo. However, Doctor Gloria avoided any chanting soas not to pass out in a battlefield.

The Living Oak Tree took that moment to lean back away from us. “Hey guys, it’s falling over! We got it!” Becca shouted in victory.

Soon it was rushing back toward us with a large amount of force. “No it’s not. Everyone scatter!” Park shouted and we all jumped in different directions to try and avoid the attack.

“Madi!” Leo shouted as he jumped into her to knock her out of the way.

Living Oak Tree dealt 220 Bludgeoning Damage to Mathew.

Living Oak Tree dealt 240 Bludgeoning Damage to Doctor Gloria.

Living Oak Tree dealt 212 Bludgeoning Damage to Becca.

Living Oak Tree dealt 255 Bludgeoning Damage to Marcus.

Living Oak Tree dealt 623 Bludgeoning Damage to Leo.

Living Oak Tree dealt 253 Bludgeoning Damage to Park.

Living Oak Tree dealt 175 Bludgeoning Damage to Crow.

Living Oak Tree dealt 210 Bludgeoning Damage to Madison.

Living Oak Tree dealt 190 Bludgeoning Damage to Wispy. Killing Blow!

Living Oak Tree dealt 200 Bludgeoning Damage to Jeffery.

Leo was the only one not to avoid most of the attack.

“Leo!” Madison yelled and turned toward the Dryad, who was healing herself while we were recovering from the attack. “You Bitch!” Both her hands lit with fire as she ran toward her.

“Madison don’t!” Crow yelled. He glanced at the tree that slowly moved up. “He is still alive. Gloria as soon as you see him, get him healed!”

I cursed inwardly at the death of Wispy. Fucking Agnox, get out here and fight! A moment later, Agnox appeared and was floating again near me.

“You idiot! You have a maximum of summons dumb ass Monkey!” He cursed at me.

If I didn’t need him to fight right now…

“Sure, fine, just kill the Dryad! Her magic must work like mine right?” I commanded.

“Probably.” He said as he started to hurl fire bolts.

“Probably? Fine, I'll take that risk. Keep blasting her with Fire Bolts. If Madison dies, it’s your fault. Frosty is moving in for a sneak attack, so keep her busy. Ice Bolt!”

The Dryad dodged my attack and it sailed on past her and hit a random tree.Shit, didn’t expect that to happen, I don’t think I ever missed it before!

However Madison used that moment to her advantage and let out a flurry of fiery blows.

“I’m going to turn you into charcoal!” Madison’s screams of rage were heard over the sounds of battle.

Madison dealt 150, 110, 133 Fire Damage to Dryad. Weakness!

The Dryad vanished for a moment and walked out of the giant oak tree. “You are still alive? Maybe I underestimated you Tainters of Gaia. Fine, Give Mass Life!” The Dryad shouted and more bushes and Saplings came to life.

“Mathew! Madison! Regroup!” I heard Leo shout as I saw everyone was starting to get back in formation. I attempted to run to them, but tripped over a root from a nearby bush.

Looks like Gloria healed him up. I was worried about him.

I fell to the ground and started to get pelted by attacks.

Thorn Bush dealt 24 Piercing Damage to You.

Thorn Bush dealt 32 Piercing Damage to You.

Thorn Bush dealt 33 Piercing Damage to You.

Thorn Bush dealt 26 Piercing Damage to You.

Thorn Bush dealt 29 Piercing Damage to You.

My vision went red slightly as five thorns hit me. My health bar was below 20%. I thought back to when I was alone to fight the Wolf Pack Leader and grunted in the pain. It felt worse back then, a few thorns in my side didn’t prevent me from moving. I scrambled forward and narrowly dodged two more thorns before I was back with the group sitting down.

“Heal Ally.” Doctor Gloria started to patch me up with her magic.

“What’s the plan Mathew?” Crow asked as we kept moving so the Oak Tree couldn’t get a proper aim on us.

“Take out the Dryad. We won’t live much longer unless we take her out. I just pray her magic works like mine and her summons die with her. Everyone Potion up, we are below 50% health across the board.” I said as I took out my own potion.

The potions tasted like strawberries and kiwi fruit mixed together. Not bad.

Marcus sputtered as he took a sip of his. “Fucking strawberries, I hate strawberries!”

“If we live, you can become an Alchemist and make your own version.” Crow shouted as he blocked three thorns with his shield.

Once Madison was back with us, I saw Leo stand a little closer to her.

“Alrighty everyone, Wispy is out so my big attack is gone. Agnox you are on bush duty with your fire attacks. Madison, you break from the party again. This time with Jeffery, and flank the Dryad. Everyone keep an eye on that tree, and move toward her.”

We all moved toward the Dryad. Marcus started whirling around a sizable rock around to build up momentum. Becca pulled her bow back and activated her Aim ability to find a weak spot. I heard Park start to cast his movement debuff spell.

Crow and Leo were soon right next to the Dryad. Leo had already used his shotgun on the Tree, so he was stuck using his Axe. Which seemed very appropriate for a Dryad. Madison's hands were alight with fire and she was falling down on top of the Dryad, apparently having jumped from somewhere with her high mobility. Doctor Gloria was next to me casting her Healing spell on anyone who dipped below half health.

I took a glance at everyones situations and saw everyone except for me was below half mana.

It was moments like these that I wish I had more offensive spells to use in battle other than my Summons. However, with only Ice Bolt as my main option right now, I threw two more attacks at the Dryad.

Based on her wails of pain she was not doing very well. She couldn’t escape our melee attackers due to both Parks and my own movement reducing capabilities.

“Don’t worry about me, my precious babies, take me out with them!” The Dryad shouted.

“Agnox Plan B, attack the Dryad!” I shouted, sending a mental command to Jeffrey and Frosty to attack at the same time.

All of my summons joined the battle, adding their own attacks to the mix. Numbers from different attacks flew past my vision too fast to keep up with, and it was almost distracting.

It was hard to see the Dryad to even aim at her, but my Ice Bolts landed most of the time. I glanced up at the tree to see it bending backwards.

“Fuck!” I shouted and started to back pedal, however I knew that if I didn’t keep attacking then everyone who was in melee with the Dryad would die. I kept pressing with my only attack.

Bolts of shadow, Rocks, Arrows, Bolts of Fire and Ice, a pinecone and all the attacks from those in melee whittled down the Dryad with more purpose as the Tree finished reeling back.

Just as the Living Oak Tree was about to attack us a green light flashed from the Dryad. It Blinded me for a moment and the only sounds I heard was panic from everyone near me.

“Where did she go?” Madison called out

“The Tree! Wait, it’s not moving?” I said

“The bushes stopped attacking as well.” Marcus stated.

We looked around and noticed the battle was over. We won our first Area Quest as a group.

“Woo! Fuck yea!” Becca cheered. “We SMOKED that birch!”

A couple of us groaned at her pun.

“What? If you don’t like my puns just leaf.”

More groans came over us as the tension of the battle slowly left.

I checked everyones status and everyone seemed fine. Nobody was dead, and nobody had any debuffs. Overall, it was a clean victory. One I will never complain about. “Is there any loot?”

We looked to where the Dryad had died and saw a small bag and a short stick.

It was that moment blue boxes appeared in front of all of us.

Combat Summary:

Quest Complete: Deforestation

Quest Item: Silk Slippers [Common]

Experience Gained: 3,500

Level up! You are now Level 9.

You have 2 Stat points to allocate

Tier 1 Spell Slot Unlocked.

Knives -> Novice 5

Tactics -> Beginner 5

Staves -> Novice 5

Ice Bolt -> Beginner 3

Summon Frosty -> Beginner 1 [Upgrade Available]

Summon Wispy -> Beginner 5

Summon Agnox -> Novice 8

Summon Object -> Beginner 0 [Upgrade Available]

Bind Summon -> Novice 5

Staff of the Free Wolf -> Novice 5

I whistled at all my improvements, very happy with two spells having an upgrade. Everyone else seemed happy with their improvements as well. Overall we all gained a Level from the fight. I motioned to the bag and stick. “What are those?” I asked.

“A Wand of Life and in the bag is a Seed of some kind. It just says: Plant it to find out what it is” Becca said.

“We can find that out later. Does the wand do what it’s name says?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yup, increases healing magic, I think we all know who deserves this.” Becca held the wand out to Doctor Gloria who looked shocked.

“No, I can’t take that. My healing is great already, why not Leo? He has a healing spell right?”

“Gloria, we need your healing now more than ever if you plan to come into that Dungeon with us. I know I said you didn’t have to, but after seeing what you can do, I am going to be kicking myself in the ass for not convincing you.” I said.

“Well, alright if you say so.” She took the wand and looked it over in her hands.

“What did everyone get from the quest? I got these bracers that make me able to lift heavier objects,” Crow said.

Madison received a vine that acts like a rope or whip, increasing her mobility.

Leo received a flower crown that gives a bonus to wisdom.

Marcus was the most excited for his item out of everyone. It was a staff made of oak. It gave an over all buff to any nature spells, which it turns out, all his earth magic was.

Park received a robe made of silk. It was similar to mine but it didn’t give any stat bonuses, just basic magical and physical resistance.

Doctor Gloria was given an amulet that gives her resistance to poison.

Becca laid claim to the seed since she felt drawn to it, as well as collecting some wood materials she plans to make a bow with and new arrows. “It’s called Livingwood. Which if I recall from your books Crow, means it is magical.”

Crow nodded. “What did you get Mathew?”

I looked at my pair of slippers.

Silken Slippers

Super soft to wear and feels like you are walking on a cloud. These slippers give a bonus to movement speed and resistance to stick traps such as webs.

“A movement speed item. I also won't’ have to worry about spiders anytime soon.” I sat down to take off my hiking boots and put on the slippers to put them on.

Damn, it really does feel like I am walking on a cloud. As I moved around, I found I couldn’t feel any of the rocks or branches I stepped on. I knew then that nothing would ever replace these slippers and the only way someone could take them would be from my cold dead corpse.

“Well since we have everyone at least Level 6, I say we celebrate by heading to base a day early. Gives us time to sort out everything, plus I think Becca has some material to work with.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. I glanced at my summons and realised that there were four of them? “Wait, the Sapling is still alive.”

Agnox closed the blue box that was floating in front of him. “Huh, want me to burn it for you oh great and powerful Ape?”

“Agnox, I swear. Why must you be this way?”

“Because it’s fun. Now is that a no to the burning or…” He let his question trail off.

“Unsummon Tree Sapling, Agnox, and Frosty.” I absorbed all three of them leaving Jeffery out and free. He trotted up to me and sat down with a branch in his mouth.

“Oh did you get something too buddy?” It was a long piece of living wood. Where did he get that?

“Thanks, I bet Becca could use this” I took the wood and held it up. “Hey Becca, Jeffery found this, you want it?”

She gasped at the large piece of wood. “Oh hell yes.” She looked it over, using her Inspect skill. “Mama is going to turn you into a beautiful piece of weaponry.”

We headed back to the camp and decided to camp out and head out in the morning since we wouldn’t make it before dark. Everyone spent the evening finishing their upgrades and stat point allocation so I joined in.

I put a point in Wisdom and in Intelligence. Both for a nice even 30 in Wisdom and because I knew regardless of next Level, I would snag 40 Intelligence, increasing my maximum Summons by 1 once again. Including whatever else Level 10 brough with it.

Name: Mathew Age: 27 Level: 9 Exp: 11,520 / 16,300 Race: Human [Grade G] Class: Summoner Profession: Contract Scribe Summons: 4 / 4 Titles: Lawyer, Practitioner Summoner, Solo Boss Achievements: First Quest, Professional Profession, Survivor Health: 623 / 623 Health Regen Per Hour: 168 Mana: 1555 / 1555 Mana Regen Per Hour: 485 Stat Base Modifier Total Strength: 10 3 13 Vitality: 11 3 14 Dexterity: 10 3 13 Endurance: 11 3 14 Intelligence: 24 13 37 Wisdom 22 8 30 Unallocated Stat Points: 0 Credits: 217 Submenus: Abilities, Inventory, Options Terms and Conditions, Quests, Skills, Spell List, Store

I opened up my spells and clicked on Summon Frosty first.

Upgrade Available: Summon Frosty

Melting Dagger: Frosty gains the Stealth skill and any attacks from Stealth deal bonus damage.

Frozen Body: Frosty becomes bigger and healthier

I thought about how I used Frosty in combat as a hidden attacker and chose Melting Dagger as his upgrade. His health remained the same, however his Damage output increased a good bit. Next was Summon Object

Upgrade Available: Summon Object

Multi-Target: Allows you to target up to Three objects to summon at once

Translocate: You can choose to summon the object to another spot within range

I actually paused in thought about this one. On one hand Multi-Target gave me 3 casts for the price of 1. Which could prove useful in the long run. However I have a sizable amount of mana, and a decent mana regeneration.

Translocate gave the spell so much utility. I no longer needed to stand next to Marcus and Becca to hand them their ammunition, I can instead just teleport it to them directly. More ideas of how to use Translocate kept popping inside my head and I instantly picked that one.

Satisfied with my upgrades I moved on to my spell list. I winced at the long list and opened the Options submenu to reconfigure everything into something easier to read.

Ice Magic

Tier 1:

Frozen Touch

Control Ice

Tier 2:

Frozen Shield

Frost Burn [Requires Fire Based Magic]

Summoning Magic

Tier 1:

Create Contract

Conjure Chains [Requires Infernal Magic]

Tier 2:

Conjure Fire

Storage Bag

Bind Object

Ritual Magic

Tier 1:

Ritual of Mana

Ritual of Health

Tier 2:

Ritual of Undeath

Ritual of Camping

Ritual of Servitude

Infernal Magic

Tier 1:

Necrotic Touch

Fire Bolt

Blazing Edge [Requires Ritual Magic]

Tier 2:

Impart Hex

Summon Imp [Requires Summoning Magic]

That is much easier to read. I thought to myself.

Agnox was right, I did have the Infernal Magic spell tree, which gave 5 possible new spells, plus two more in other spell trees. I can only get a new Tier 1 spell right now, so I ignored the Tier 2 spells for now, no matter how tempting that FrostBurn spell looked.

Fire bolt and Necrotic touch didn’t interest me. The first being a fire based Ice bolt and the second being a touch spell. Neither of which would be useful in the coming fight. Unless Park’s Debuff became stronger.

Only two interested me. Conjure Chains and Blazing Edge.

Conjure Chains [Requires Infernal Magic]

A single chain materializes with one end attached to your body. You can manipulate this chain with your mind.

Cost: 500 Mana

Range: 5 Meters

Casting Time: 1 Hour

Blazing Edge [Requires Ritual Magic]

You can enchant a bladed weapon to deal bonus fire damage.

Damage: 10% Bonus Fire Damage

Range: Self

Cost: 250

Casting Time: 4 Hours

Duraration: 1 week

Both of these are great. Extra damage is always nice, I imagine Leo would love the enchantment on his Axe. Plus my daggers will deal more damage as well with it. As for the chain one, it seems more utility based. A weird 3rd arm like a comic book villain. I honestly didn’t know what to pick. I wanted something more useful for the upcoming fight.

“Mathew! Hello!” A voice started me and broke me out of my thoughts. It was Crow.

“Huh? What’s going on?” I asked. I saw that everyone was looking at me.

“I asked you what spell did you get? Along with any upgrades.”

“Oh, well I am stuck on choosing a new spell right now, not any good choices with the upcoming battle against fire and necrotic resistance monsters. Frosty got an upgrade and my Summon Object spell is stronger as well.”

I looked around and teleported a bag that was next to Madison over next to Leo. Everyone seemed impressed with that.

“Welp we can all go home. Mathew can move objects with his mind.” Leo said jokingly.

“Ha ha.” I laughed mockingly. “It’s a limited range, and I can only do one object at a time. However I agree, it’s a strong upgrade.” I said looking back at my spell list.

“What spells are you stuck between?” Marcus asked.

“I have an entire new list for Infernal Spells. Thanks to Agnox as my Familiar. I can only get a Tier 1 spell, but none of the spells are great except for two. Blazing Edge and Conjure Chains.

The first is an Enchant for bladed weapons to deal fire damage, and Conjure Chains gives me a chain-like appendage I can control mentally.”

“Oooo go with the chain one!” Park shouted with a bit of food in his mouth still.

“What about your other spells? Don't you have two rituals you can still snag?” Madison asked.

“Yea, one does health regeneration and the other does mana. Sadly they are not mobile and take time to set up, otherwise I would snag the Health one. My Ritual of Learning hasn’t even ranked up since we came out here, so these spells seem really hard to Rank up for some reason.”

“Wait, how many spell trees do you have Mathew?” Marcus asked me.

“Uhhhh four.” I said a bit sheepishly knowing most people only have two.

“FOUR! I ONLY HAVE TWO AND YOU HAVE FOUR!” Marcus Exclaimed

“I have two as well.” Park said.

“Well I have three.” Doctor Gloria said.

Marucs stared at both of them blankly. “Alrighty, I have no clue why, but there is nothing I can do about it now. What about your other twenty spells?”

“It’s only three others than what I’ve said. However those three are at the bottom of my list. So not even worth mentioning.”

“A fire spell, a Necrotic Touch spell, a fire enchanting spell, two utility rituals, and a chain utility spell.” Becca muttered thinking.

“I say snag another Ritual now and call it.” Marcus said. “You can at least start ranking it up between now and the fight. Place it near the entrance and the Health one would be a great fall back position.”

“I don’t know, that Chain one sounds useful. A third arm? What if he can cast magic with it? Or use it to carry stuff.” Crow pointed out.

“I like the Fire Blade one.” Leo stated.

They started to helpfully argue for a spell I should choose when a whisper was heard in my ear.

“Pst, pick the spell that makes you smarter” It was Agnox returning from scouting the area.

I waved a hand at him to shoo him away. Actually.

“Agnox, what spells do you have.”

“Oh only two. Fire Bolt and Necrotic Touch. Why do you ask?”

“Trying to pick a new spell. Does Conjure Chains or Blazing Edge ring any bells to you?”

“Oh, Conjure Chains hands down. It’s the same spell our sexy Dungeon Boss has. Although hers is Beginner Rank and acts as a whip for her.”

I only slightly trusted the Imp, but the idea of using a Chain as a weapon interested me. Then again, I could upgrade it in a different direction. A more utilitarian purpose. I decided to snag Conjure chains and closed my menu.

“Tomorrow, once we are done unpacking, I want us to get together in the meeting room. I think it’s time we go over all our abilities and spells together. This way we know for sure what everyone can do. Titles, Achievements, stats, everything.”

Leo glared at me for a moment but I ignored him. It was time to be open with people. Hiding information is only going to get us killed in battle. “We have two days after today before we leave for the Dungeon.”

Most people nodded in agreement however Leo didn’t. I just hope he gets over himself about it. I know we decided to not share, but it’s with the party. Not like we are sharing with Sergeant Thomas.

We soon retired to bed and in the morning we hiked back to the base. Every step for me felt as if I was walking on clouds.

Before long the base was within eyesight and we started to pick up the pace to get back faster. Once we made it past the gates, five familiar looking SUVs were parked near the gate.

Crow gasped in excitement. “Guys, my dad is here!”

He ran toward the convoy and one of the burley men who looked like Crow smiled at the running pack mule.

We soon caught up as they finished greetings.

“So this is the crew you are running with? Don’t look like much.” Crow’s dad said.

“Easy Dad. Guys this is Charles. Retired Marine. Also the guy who bought me every M&M book I owned before I got my own job.” Crow said.

“Yea, so you ready to head out?” Charles asked his son.

Crow stepped back away from his father. “I told you, I plan to help them finish the Dungeon first Dad. I’m not abandoning them.”

“We leave next week. You are either with the convoy or not, boy. You have worked hard to get to Level 8 I see. We are only Level 6, but we have stacked a decent amount of Credits and Gear to supplement anyone on the team. I even saved a fancy shield just for you.”

“Uh, can I see it?” Crow asked.

Charles crossed his arms. “When you join the Convoy yes.”

Crow glanced at us and I got the hint. “Hey guys, why don’t we check in with Captain Franks.” I suggested as I started to walk away hoping everyone would follow.

Everyone else decided to head off to their own rooms to sleep and get a hot dinner. Leaving me alone to report in.