While they kept moving, Daniel analyzed the large battle. He hadn't been able to use his strongest offensive spell Air bomb. He needed something with more precision. Something like Anna's water jet attack. His main issue was that her spell was cast and let go while he focused on channeling magic and had the skill for that. He didn't want to fill another skill slot with the casting focus. In long run, an elemental spell was probably useless if it wasn't supported by a skill. At least, it would be better to create synergy between his skills and spells.

After a fight against a group of 25 goblins, that had been a cake walk with Fedor as a front line tank, he tested an idea. Daniel created air blades, like the one he used with his Windcutter spell and shot them into a wall. Instead of pausing, he kept going and created blade after blade and shot it at the wall. A few moments later, he was rewarded.

Elemental Spell obtained

Air - Blade storm (channeling) - Level 1

Shoots air blades at the focused direction - Mana usage increased blade size - Spell level increases shooting speed and frequency.

"Nice spell, would suck to be at the other end of it. Getting hit again and again while fighting against wind that is throwing you back. But, I like your Air bomb more. It's more devastating." Fedor commented.

"Why am I not surprised. I'll keep using the Air bomb, this spell is for situations like the large battle where we met you and I need to prevent my attack from hitting a teammate." Daniel explained.

"I think I need a new spell, too. While the water jet is powerful enough for these weak goblins, if we face tougher enemies it would become a problem. Anyone a good idea?" Anna asked.

Daniel contemplated the situation. He only relied on channeled spells, the same was the case for Fedor who used earth magic to toughen his skin, for his shield spikes and to get a firm stance on the ground. The channeled spells just seemed a lot more versatile, while their only drawback seemed to be a higher focus and mana requirement. One channeled spell could replace two or more cast ones and with the focused leveling in less spells, they seemed to be far superior. Daniel paused for a moment.

"Did you try to combine your Water Jet and Acid Cloud or to cast two Water Jets at the same time?" He asked.

"No, why? Ah, one moment. Let me try." Anna responded with a devilish smile.

She shot a water jet against the tunnel wall and when it hit, drops of acid sprayed everywhere in the vicinity. After that, two water jets hit the wall, then three.

"Three seems to be my limit at the moment. Thanks, I never thought of it."

"Did you get a new spell from the acid water jet?" Daniel asked interested.

"No, but it felt like I got better in both of the spells." Anna explained.

"So cast spells gain flexibility with combining, interesting. Can you combine your channeled spell Clean with the acid one?" Daniel asked.

Anna contorted her face in concentration but nothing happened.

"No, it feels like they just don't fit together." Anna answered with a shrug.

"Good to know. But, probably every child in this world learns this stuff as soon as they are able to walk." Daniel surmised.

"So, what do you think is better in the long run?" Anna questioned.

"It depends I think. My Blade storm for example, I can just put in more mana for more damage and bigger blades while you need more focus to cast two spells at the same time. I'm pretty sure you will use less mana for the same damage, but in melee I don't think it's worth the effort. If you aren't concentrating on melee and have time to think and can fully concentrate on one attack, I think casting would be more powerful. At least when it comes to drawn out fights, where mana consumption plays a role and single attacks are more precise then channeled ones. The problem is that you can't completely forgo channeling spells, even if you focus on casting. Shields for example, need to be channeled and without a defense you won't survive in the long run. But, before you decide to learn the channeling skill, we should probably get to know more about different skills and how many you can get in later levels."

"I will stick to channeling. I'm just using spells to strengthen myself anyway." Fedor commented.

"I think I will stick to casting. With you two in front of me it makes more sense for me to support you from behind and snipe enemies that become dangerous for you." Anna decided after being quiet for half a minute.

With that said, they moved on. For the next two hours, they slaughtered their way through countless goblins. Then, when Daniel scouted a cave ahead of his team, because he was the fastest, he noticed a change. The eight goblins he spotted were different from those they've met before. Some of them even carried a bow. The other five were holding crappy short swords in their hands. A huge upgrade compared to the rusty knives from before. The system showed him what was going on. These goblins were at a higher class than their kin.

Small green Goblin Archer - Level 6 Green Goblin Fighter - Level 7

Again, something seems to notify the goblins of his presence. They noticed him immediately. But, unlike the starving Goblins before, they didn't mindlessly run after him when he retreated back into the tunnel he had come from.

After he returned to his party and explained the situation, Fedor just grinned.

"Good, I was getting tired of killing these little assholes anyway. If the new ones are at a higher level, they should be more of a challenge and give at least some experience." Fedor commented.

"If the monsters are getting stronger, maybe we are on the right way to get to the boss. This dungeon seems to be an endless maze of caves and tunnels. I was already fearing we would be slaughtering goblins until we ran out of food." Anna observed.

Daniel had to agree with Anna. That'd been one of his fears, too. Then they went over their tactic until they came to an arrangement they were all happy with.

When they arrived at the cave, Daniel and Anna moved in front. Daniel put a Windshield in front of them. Then, he created a twice as powerful as normal Air bomb to attack the archers, while Anna spammed Acid Jets at them.

The goblin fighters ran at them, but they needed to bridge a gap of 20 meters until they could finally reach them. This gave Daniel and Anna enough time to focus on their archers.

Just as Daniel was ready to send the bomb, an arrow managed to penetrate his windshield and hit his left shoulder. His fencing gear helped a bit and it didn't look like a deep wound so he continued. He stepped a bit aside, so Fedor could pass him after sending the bomb. The explosion was deafening, but these goblins were a lot tougher and they weren't standing as close together as their smaller brethren had. So, his bomb only splattered two of them over the cave, while the third one dropped his bow from the shockwave. Anna sniped the goblin before it was able to pick up the bow again, then she switched targets to the melee fighters.

Just before the goblin fighter charge met Fedor, Daniel created a strong Air wave to break their formation and give Fedor a few seconds where he could strike at the enemies without much resistance. Daniel activated his Windcutter spell on his saber and joined the fray.

Compared to the mindless goblins they've met before, these ones fought different. They tried to block or dodge attacks, but luckily they were not able to fight as a team and attack in a coordinated effort from different directions at the same enemy.

Fedor and Anna had each killed another goblin before they were able to recover from the Air wave. The last three had no chance in a melee against Daniel and the Russian tank and the fight ended quickly.

As Anna helped him with the arrow wound, Daniel checked his status and smiled when he saw that these eight goblins gave them more experience than 60 of the smaller ones. When she finished disinfecting his wounds, she turned towards Fedor.

"Do you need treatment for your wounds, too?" Anna asked the large warrior.

"No, I wasn't hit. Daniel's air attack completely stopped their charge. Even if, I don't think their weapons would be able to do serious damage if they don't get me in the neck. At least for now, this plate armor is more than enough to handle their shitty weapons." Fedor explained.

"Good, all in all our tactic worked. But, I should probably put more mana into the Windshield in the next fight against their archers. I think if there are less than 15 of them, we should be able to handle them without much trouble. If there are more, a lot will depend on you Fedor to tank them long enough for us to kill them."

The other two agreed and they proceeded to fight more of the higher leveled enemies. Until all of them were able to level up. Fedor reached level 9, while Daniel was now at level 8 and Anna at level 7.

Status Daniel Krieger

Level

XP

Free Attribute Points

8

15640

0

Attributes

Strength

Agility

Vitality

Endurance

Mana Capacity

Regeneration

Mana Regeneration

Toughness

31

44

15

28

47

45

11

13