Chapter nineteen E.

“Ugh…That doesn’t feel pleasant.” I said as the potion washed through my body, removing the pleasant intoxicants.

[Effect added: Sober up. Duration: 29:58.]

“Those cheap sober up potions are nasty, my Lord Grayson, but best to keep your wits about you in a dungeon.” Clymiphae said, walking up next to me.

“The bane of every legion boy after a night of drinking, Lord Eric.” Titus added with a chuckle.

“I do apologize for my deception Lord Eric.” Branwen said.

“It was needed…What are we going to do about that tree?” I asked, looking at the wildly thrashing tree a few meters ahead.

“This is a path guardian, you said you had fire magic. We could kill it for you, Chariklia’s axe would make quick work of it, but if you would like the experience, setting it ablaze is easy enough.” Titus said, indicating my options.

“Fire magic time, wonderful.” I said, moving to the front, alongside Titus.

‘Now how to do this without giving away too much of my power…Fire ball…Yes, safe enough…but no boom…lets go more with a napalm effect…How would a normal fire mage do this?’ I thought, preparing my magic.

Concentrating on the Effect I wanted, I used [fire ball]. I focused on extending the burn time instead of having it explode. Thinking about napalm from Earth, I coaxed the mana to become sticky and burn hot. Putting a look of strain on my face as I held out my hand, I sent out a jet of thick viscous fire. The flames stuck to the tree, and as it began wildly thrashing more, the tree became a roiling inferno. Leaves turned to ash, and as the viscous fire burned, the tree stilled. After a few more seconds of burning, I received notification as the soft voice said.

[ You have killed a: Path guardian: 9000xp.]

[ You have leveled: level 29.]

After a few seconds burst of the flame, I feigned exhaustion. Pretending to stumble slightly, Lucius steadied me under my arm.

“Well done Lord Eric, path guardians are hard to kill without ranged magic. I do not mean to be impolite, but how long should we wait for you to recover your mana?” Titus asked.

‘This would be telling for an experienced group…What answer to give?’ I thought over my answer carefully. ‘A normal fire mage would have used somewhere between 15 and 20 mana to start that effect, so total used would be between 45 and 60 mana.’

“I am good to go, just haven’t had the chance to cast much fire magic. I could do those four more times and be fine.” I answered, lying slightly.

“Good to know, there is one more of the path guardians, and usually ten more lamia on this level, after that it is the queen.” Titus said.

“Found the chest, boss.” Chariklia said. She pulled out a chest from behind some rocks that were in the river.

‘Sweeeeeet, my first loot chest…oh….’ I thought as disappointment flashed across my face. The chest was brown and looked waterlogged. Iron bands held the wood together.

“Don’t be too disappointed, this is the first level, though the chests never do the items credit.” Lucius said, smiling. They all looked at me as the chest was set down in the middle of our group.

The chest was 1.6 meters long, 60 centimeters wide, and 60 centimeters deep. As I pulled the items out, I used the Analyze ability on them.

[ Items gained:

Stone steel spearhead: Quality: Well, made. Scarcity: Uncommon. Spearhead that can be attached to a staff. Times 3.

Stone steel arrowhead: Quality: Well, made. Scarcity: Uncommon. Arrowhead that can be attached to a shaft. Times 30.

Opium powder: Quality: Pure. A pure opium powder that can be ingested to relieve symptoms of pain. 225 grams.

Cossa pill: Quality: Pure. Cossa extract compressed into pill form. Increases alertness and fights off sleep. Times 30.

Distilled dungeon spirits: Quality: 60%. A rich oak flavored spirit to be enjoyed. Bottles 6.

Imperial coin: 4 gold coins, 60 silver coins. ]

The chest was far from full, and the party looked at me expectantly. “This is my first loot chest?”

“Understandable Lord Eric. All the items in the chest are yours by the contract the adventures guild has with the mage college, along with the coin. Anything you do not want we will gladly take.” Titus answered.

“Oh ok…um I’ll take the opium powder and the cossa pills and one bottle of the dungeon whisky. I’ll take two gold and ten silvers.” As I said this, I saw smiles flit across the faces of the party.

‘Apparently I made the right choice….’

With the loot packed away, I checked my watch, 16:34. Apparently, the watch was not affected by the time dilation, we had been on this level for forty minutes, and only four had passed outside of the dungeon.

Back in formation, we passed the charred husk of the tree that blocked the path along the river. Alongside Clymiphae, I followed in the formation we had previously been in. Winding deeper into the arboretum, tendril vines reached out and tried to trip up our feet. They were weak, and a strong tug of the leg was enough to break their hold. If I had been inebriated as before, the vines and strategically placed larger stones would have tripped up my feet.

Following the stumbling path, a set of three lamia huntresses tried to skewer us in a pace of thick vines, but they were made short work of by the party. The branching paths seemed to weave around themselves, splitting and creating intersections endlessly. The smaller paths were ignored by Titus as he led us to another embankment along the small stream.

In a near repeat of the previous fight, with only vines trying to pull us closer to the tree futilely, four lamia were dispatched, leaving the path guardian for me to kill once more. Without hesitation, I stepped up and sent a stream of liquid fire over the tree. After a few seconds, I received a notification along with the soft voice in my head.

[ You have killed a: Path guardian: 9000xp.]

[ You have leveled: level 30.]

“Right, we’ll wait here for Lord Eric to recover his mana, as the queen is around the bend over the bridge.” Titus said, taking a seat on a rock.

Not wanting to give anything away, I sat myself down as everyone made themselves comfortable. “So, I leveled four times, any advice on point distribution?” I asked.

“Can’t distribute points in the dungeon, the dungeon interferes with the system, you’ll have to wait until we’re back out.” Titus said, leaning his head back.

“None of us are mages so we would not know how best to advise you.” Clymiphae said, coming up behind me and sitting, allowing for me to lean back on her.