Two dozen Rootkin were camped in front of the glowing portal from which they came from. The Rootkin were originally a peaceful folk, much like their cousins the dryads, but a century war broke out on their homeworld early in the history of their species. The once peaceful creatures turned to battle in order to preserve their race and, like too many species in the universe, years of battle and blood turned the once happy race into bloodthirsty creatures that kill anything that is not Rootkin. When the System was eventually introduced on their world they were categorized as Monsters.

Sadly, the history of these once gentle creatures was lost in the annals of time. Which is why, when he launched a dual cast of Boulder Throw at the creatures, Michael felt no guilt or sadness. The boulders slammed into two Rootkin at the edge of the clearing before rolling clear through, crushing another five. The Rootkin turned towards the boulders origin only for an arrow to fly from the bushes and impact the nearest in the chest and send it flying backwards with an incredible force, smashing into two more with enough force to kill.

The remaining Rootkin charged, screaming their anger and hate with voices that sounded like cracking twigs. Before they could get far, vines burst from the ground, ensnaring the creatures to the left and the right, leaving only a small corridor in the middle. The Rootkin, not being the smartest of creatures even before they became Monsters, charged through this gap. Unsurprisingly, the group of creatures found a boulder flying towards them. The first four died almost instantly and the following three had the bodies piled on top of them, knocking them down and pinning them for the moment. The tangle of bodies forced the remaining Rootkin to jump over them only to meet a flying dwarf coming the other way.

Sam had never been much for restraint. When the Manapocalypse came along he charged at Monsters swingin a blade with a grin on his face. He chose to become a tank not so that he could protect others, though that did factor in, but so that he would always be in the front lines. The last few days had been a testament to how badly shaken up he had been over Andrews death, but he could only stand letting others have the fun for so long. The Field Boss had whetted his appetite, and now he was hungry for a good fight. This wouldn't be that, but it would do.

Sam waded into battle, swinging his blade and his shield, the Rootkin's claws bouncing off his armor as he lay into them with abandon. Michael's arrows took out the few caught by his Vine Traps, the arrows infused with Magic Missiles to increase their damage, but he let sam have his fun. It was pretty much over anyways, despite not technically being a damage dealer Sam could still dish out an impressive amount of damage. By the time Michael had picked off the last of his targets Sam had already killed off the rest.

Michael looked over his notifications, he got the usual kill notifications, 17 in total, as well as a skill level notification for his new Boulder Throw spell as well as his Spell Arrow skill, levelling them to 2 and 3 respectively. The last notification was both surprising and exciting.

Skill Evolution!

Magic Missile has evolved into Magic Arrow

Magic Arrow

Tier 2, Level 1, Spell

50 Meter Range, 20 Mana Cost, 15 Damage + Damage 5 per level, 5% Armor Penetration per level

An arrow made of condensed Mana that strikes the target with unerring accuracy.

Michael was overjoyed. When a skill evolves there is a chance that it will lose certain aspects such as the Magic Missile's seeking capabilities. This had been a worry for Michael, the skills ability to target moving enemies was invaluable and he would have hated to lose it. So when he saw the 'unerring accuracy' he was relieved. The other aspects of the skill were just icing on the cake, the increased damage and increased Mana cost being expected. The armor penetration aspect was unexpected though, as was the 'Arrow' aspect. It made sense though, skill evolutions were influenced by their wielder so the archery influence was almost inevitable.

He shared his news with the others as he applied his AP. The kills had been enough to grant him a level but left him an annoying 27 xp away from level 7. If he so much as tickled one of Sams he would have gotten another level. Shooting an annoyed glare at the offensive dwarf, completely confusing the poor guy, Michael applied both of the points to Magic bringing it up to 45 and giving him 590 Mana. The more skills he got an the stronger his skills became the more Mana he seemed to need. Part of him wished he had taken a Mage class but a mage needed a team and, as much as he liked Olivia and the others, he wouldn't have always have a team around him. As soon as he had helped Olivia gain control of the town then he would be heading east, towards Sarah.

Other than his skills he also got a pair of bracers.

Barkskin Bracers

Tier 2, Superior Quality, 10 Armor

Passive effect: Decrease damage from Nature based enemies by 10%.

Active effect: Spend 20 Mana to increase overall defence by 10 points

The bracers were decent, though nothing amazing, and they would likely be useful in the dungeon. Since he no longer had any armor Michael couldn't be choosy.

With all the Rootkin dead the team continued on into the dungeon, Olivia explaining the specifics of the dungeon. Unlike the Wolves Den this dungeon was a downward spiraling series of tunnels and caves, the tunnels containing increasingly deadly traps and the caves containing increasingly numerous Rootkin. This dungeon was simple, completion increased the further they went down and defeating the boss would get completion to 100%.

Before Michael joined the biggest threat came from the traps, some of the last ones being undetectable and extremely dangerous. Damien came close to dying more times in this dungeon than in the rest of the Manapocalypse combined. Now though, now they had options. Between Michael's wolf pack amulet and Olivia's elementals they had a lot of expendable trap triggers. Damien would still handle the majority of the traps, they weren't that expendable, but the most dangerous tunnels would now be decidedly less so.

The room they arrived in was so similar to the Wolves Den that for a split second Michael thought that the dungeon portal might have somehow spit them out into the wrong dungeon. A closer look at his surroundings dissuaded Michael from that thought. In this dungeon the walls were dotted with roots and, rather than a formless light that seemed to come from nowhere, there were glowing flowers growing from some of those roots. If it weren't that this was a dungeon filled with deadly traps and ferocious enemies, it would be quite magical.

Michael and Damien took the lead. With Michael's high Perception he should be able to spot traps before blundering into them and, since the first few traps were relatively harmless, this would be good experience for him. His dealings with traps so far had been setting them and not avoiding them. The first trap they came to was beyond simple, a grey wire strung across the tunnel at about ankle height with a sharp rock sticking out of the ground four feet behind it. The idea was that someone walking along might trip on the wire and fall face or chest first, depending on their height, onto the rock. It was about as much a trap as a lit match was an explosion, even falling face first onto the rock would be unlikely to do anything but annoy someone capable of dealing with the Rootkin outside.

They moved on, Damien cutting the tripwire as they went. They came up to the first chamber pretty quickly, a single Rootkin waiting for them. Michael decided to try out his new Magic Arrow skill. Holding up his hand he activated the skill, the spell forming a lightly glowing blue arrow complete with fine fletching and tipped with a bodkin arrowhead. The Magic Arrow was much shorter than an actual arrow, only a foot in length, and hovered in front of Michaels hand for a second before shooting towards the Rootkin.

The arrow was a lot faster than the Magic Missiles and struck the Rootkin in the head with enough force to flip it backwards. The arrow didn't kill it, though it came close, so Michael decided to try the Spell Arrow combination. Nocking an arrow, he activated the skill. The arrow glowed blue, similar to when he use the skill with the missile version, and Michael fired the arrow at the recovering Rootkin. The visual effect might have been similar, but the actual effect was massively different. The glowing arrow struck the creature in the chest, and went straight through. By the time it exited the Rootkin it had lost its glow but the arrows speed had hardly lessened, the arrow continuing on to hit the wall. The Rootkin on the other hand, did not continue on and collapsed, dead.

Tier 2 Level 20 Rootkin Killed

Participation: 100%

Ranger Experience gained: 200

Modifier for Perks: 100%

Total Ranger Experience Gained: 400

The kill was enough to reach level 7, gaining Michael a bunch of attributes and more importantly, another Skill point. After informing Olivia about it he entered into the Ranger Skill space, the glowing orbs greeting his sight once again. He still had the two arrow skills as well as the Enhanced Bond skill he had yet to pick. The Healing Sap skill was still there, and still as unappealing as ever. Even if he didn't have a healer with him Michael Had plenty of health potions available and could make more any time.

In all honesty, Michael really wanted to take the Power Shot skill but he had a pressing reason to choose the Enhanced Bond, the egg was at 93%. It would likely hatch with the next few hours and he was really excited for it. Since it was supposed to be equal in value to a Path then it should be something special. He was hoping for a Dragon or a Cerberus or something equally awesome.

Michael had no idea what Enhanced Bond did, the description was somewhat vague, but he since he was about to have a companion he might as well get the skill for it. As usual, once he made the decision the orb started glowing and he got the skill notification.

New Skill Gained!

Enhanced Bond

Companion Skill, Passive, -2.5 Mana Regeneration.

Enhances the bond between you and your animal companions.

Michael waited. He checked his Status. He closed his eyes and poked around in his mind. Yet no matter what he did he couldn't see or feel anything different. He shrugged, unsurprised. The skill said it enhanced companion bonds and since he didn't currently have any it made sense that nothing was different.

After exiting the skill space Michael quickly dumped his unassigned AP in Magic and the team got back to dungeoning. The next trap was a step up from the previous one, and actually managed to trick Michael. Rather than a tripping wire it was a tripwire, a triggering mechanism for an arrow trap set in the wall. Michael had been about to cut the wire when Damien stopped him, pointing out the waist high hole in the wall above the wire. Michael was somewhat shocked, and scared. When he had knelt to cut the wire he had placed his head level with the path the arrow would take, Damien had just saved his life. Even with his high Vitality Michael wouldn't have survived a sudden arrow lobotomy.

With Michael feeling a whole new sense of respect for the danger presented by the traps, they moved on. The next chamber had two Rootkin, both level 20, which Michael took down with ease, trapping the two monsters in Vine Traps before hitting each of them in the head with a Magic Arrow infused arrow, splattering mulch all over the walls. Interesting fact, Rootkin literally had mulch for brains.

With a healthy dose of caution, Michael approached the next trap with Damien, who was decidedly less cautious. The rogue had completed this dungeon over a dozen times and had gotten quite skilled at detecting the traps. As Michael approached he saw the wire stretched across the tunnel like with the previous traps. Unlike before, the wire was colored a deep brown similar to the floor and was almost invisible in the dim light. He also spotted the hole were the arrow would come out. Rather than simply stepping over the wire he paused and examined the traps surroundings. His caution paid off as he spied a square patch of dirt on the other side of the wire that was dark grey rather than dark brown. Further scrutiny let him pick out two holes in the ceiling above the patch which he now assumed to be a pressure plate.

He called it out to the others before carefully stepping over the wire and around the pressure plate. As he was doing so he heard a sudden crack. His entire body froze for a split second before he dove backwards, slamming into Anne who had been coming up behind him. The two of them went tumbling back into the chamber, a tangle of legs, arms, fear and fury. Michael managed to get himself untangled from Anne only for the healer to start smacking him repeatedly.

"You finkley doublearm! What the hell are you doing?!" Anne yelled/asked, still smacking him in the arm.

"The trap went off" Michael managed to say, trying to fend off the angry woman.

Anne paused long enough to look into the tunnel, checking on the trap, before smacking Michael upside his head. "No it didn't, donut-axle."

Michael looked at the pristine trap in confusion. "But I heard a crack. If it wasn't the trap, what was it?"

Anne rolled her eyes at him. "look down, idiot."

Michael looked down in confusion, and spotted the egg that he had strapped to his chest. The egg with a big crack in it.