Party Chat

[Aster K'lon]: Don't worry about that greeting. Dungeons like this are powerful enough to begin messing with their own System boxes.

[Arcs S'tar]: Understood. Have you been in one before?

[Aster K'lon]: No, but my mentor has. She taught me much before she had to go to the frontlines.

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: Alright, you ready to do this?

[K]: Sure.

[Jerome Smith]: Standing by.

[P-System]: Don't do anything too stupid.

P-System Log

There's so many of them now. I was only dealing with Aster and Jerome for the first couple of days, and now I need to deal with five people? At least the newest addition is pretty quiet most of the time. I wonder if he was just like that all the time or if his undeath did something to him. Not really my place to ask, but it's an interesting question.

Also, speaking of death, having access to resurrection in any form makes me even less worried about Jerome's ability to survive. If it comes down to it, I'm sure I can bullshit something that lets him self-res.

Anyway, we just passed through the entrance to the dungeon. It certainly looked like a tomb, at least. Totally sold that impression, like we were at the doors to a mausoleum. Lots of mana hanging around in the air, too. I wonder if this one's also going to be necromancy themed like the last one. Hopefully it isn't, though it almost definitely is. I want to see some variety, y'know?

Party Chat

[Arcs S'tar]: Mana's weird here. Can you feel it?

[K]: No.

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: Nope.

[Jerome Smith]: Not a thing.

[Aster K'lon]: Yes. It's running less free than it should be. Indicative of traps, perhaps?

[Arcs S'tar]: I don't like it.

[Arcs S'tar]: Hey, doesn't your reincarnator have a super powerful System? Why don't we ask it?

[Jerome Smith]: Is it an it? The System feels almost like a real person now. Has a personality and everything.

[Arcs S'tar]: Interesting question, but is it relevant right now?

[Aster K'lon]: We have time. The dungeon has not begun taking action against us yet. I suspect we are still in a safe area.

[Jerome Smith]: Ay, P-System, you there?

[P-System]: Yes.

[Jerome Smith]: First of all, we need you to tell us if there's something fucky with the mana. Second, are you a person? Or, like, I dunno, some AI advanced enough to pass the Turing Test and approximate one?

[P-System]: I can do that, and yes.

[Jerome Smith]: Great. Then what are ya? Man? Woman? Something else?

[P-System]: Something else. I observed the conversation. I don't mind being referred to as "it", though.

[Jerome Smith]: Oh, neat, an enby!

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: Enby?

[K]: It's slang.

[Aster K'lon]: Reincarnator slang for the unassigned.

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: Ah. I see. Makes sense, it's a System.

[Arcs S'tar]: Lovely. Can you check the room now?

[P-System]: Got it.

[P-System]: The mana is odd. However, there appears to be nothing within this room utilizing it.

[Arcs S'tar]: Good to know. Let's move.

P-System Log

Well, good to know that this world isn't as bigoted as the place back home. I'll take it.

This dungeon is designed kind of weirdly. First room is just empty. It's got the tomb design, yeah, but apart from three evenly spaced doors at the end of the hall, it's got nothing. I guess that we're just supposed to pick one? I can't sense any difference between them, so looks like it's just going to be a pick-a-path. I doubt that any of them will instantly kill us--so far, none of the dungeons here have seen that shittily designed--but the difficulty of our path and the type of enemies we face will probably be dependent on which door we get.

Party Chat

[Aster K'lon]: I believe the choice in doors is meaningless. Shall we vote on which to go through?

[Jerome Smith]: Left.

[K]: Left.

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: Middle.

[Arcs S'tar]: Right.

[Aster K'lon]: Left it is, then.

P-System Log

The reincarnators formed a voting bloc. That's kind of funny.

Anyway, through the left door! All three of the doors are identical--two meters tall by one meter wide, made of some obsidian-like material that probably has some magic imbued to it--and they open when mana is fed into them, which Arcs figured out by accident.

First room of the dungeon proper, here we are. It's... kind of empty. Twenty meters long, ten wide, and the floor is tiled. Even if I couldn't sense the mana floating around and embedded in the walls, this place would've screamed trapped. I think there might also be a monster in here, if the flow of W Inertia from up above means anything.

P-System Message The room is trapped to hell and back. Also, there may be a monster laying in wait. Party Chat

[Jerome Smith]: P-System tells me that this place is trapped and also that there might be a hidden monster.

[Aster K'lon]: I detected the former but not the latter.

[K]: I have [Danger Sense], and it's pinging. There's definitely a monster.

[Arcs S'tar]: I'll clear the traps, draw out the monster?

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: Sure. I'll charge up.

[Body of Iron] cast! Party Chat

[Aster K'lon]: Would you like to destroy the traps where I show you to, Arcs?

[Arcs S'tar]: I'd love to.

[Dancing Lights] + [Mana Sense] = [Targeting Laser] cast! [Stareater] cast! P-System Log Well, that's certainly an... innovative tactic. Arcs is just running around, triggering every trap that Aster pointed out, and then using her skill. Damn powerful skill, too. So far, I've seen it absorb everything from a rain of poisoned arrows from the floor to a bona fide laser cannon hidden in a wall to a rock falling on her. Looks like she's near capacity, though, and there's still half the room worth of traps. Party Chat

[Jerome Smith]: Is that method of clearing traps... normal?

[K]: For her, yes.

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: It gains her experience and powers up her skill for later use. It has its limits, though.

[Arcs S'tar]: I'm out. [Stareater] is full. If only I had a few more levels on this...

[Aster K'lon]: That's what we're here for. I can get the rest.

[Delayed Detonating Death] + [Targeting Laser] = [Search and Destroy] cast! P-System Log

Interesting thing to note: apparently, combining skills lets you upcast more than one level of rarity above your class rarity. Not something that'll ever be important for Jerome, but it's good info to have about the state of the world.

Anyway, Aster just--

Okay, there we go. The explosions just went off, and now there's no more traps. Looks like whatever she did with that advanced skill increased the destructive capacities of her skill as well as its accuracy.

Aaaaaaaand there it is. I can feel mana that's very distinctly different from the traps acting now.

[Conditional Trigger] triggered! Party Chat

[K]: Damn. Ever seen anything like that before?

[Aster K'lon]: In research facilities.

[Jerrome Smith]: Oh, that's pretty neat. Is that a DnD monster?

[Greater Assess] cast! Passive [Unreadable] triggered! Party Chat

[Aster K'lon]: I got blocked.

[Jerome Smith]: Don't worry, I got it. Just start hitting that thing.

[ASSESS] activating! Passive [Unreadable] triggered! P-System Log Fuck you, floating eye creature that highly resembles a certain DnD monster that I somehow forgot the name of! I've got a hell of a lot more spite than your skill can handle! Skill overriden! -.. .. . Class Race Level Archmage Translator Beast 12 Stat Current Maximum Health 900 Titles [Dungeon Mob], [Heathen], [Massacre II], [Jack of All Trades] P-System Log

Huh. A day or two ago, I would've said that this was a very bad situation for Jerome to be in. Enemy with a weird name, not even a boss but it has almost 1000 HP, [Epic] class...

Now, it's probably a cakewalk for him.

For the rest of them, though...

[Fireball] cast! [Reckless Charge] cast! [-... ..- .-. -.] -> [Burning Eye Ray] cast! [Nightwalk] cast! [Manaburn] + [Targeting Laser] = [Manastrike] cast! [-... ..- .-. -.] -> [Burning Eye Ray] dealt 125 damage to you! [Nightwalk] + [Secret Strike] = [Shadowblade] cast! Party Chat

[Jerome Smith]: I took 125 damage. Doing fine, though.

[K]: Dealt 201.

[Aster K'lon]: 57.

[Arcs S'tar]: 49.

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: 68.

[Aster K'lon]: This beast has extraordinarily strong resistances.

[Jerome Smith]: Attacks aren't half bad either. Did anyone else get hit?

[K]: We're good.

[Aster K'lon]: It may have targeted the strongest member of the party to try to behead us.

[Jerome Smith]: Ha! Good fuckin' luck.

[Arcs S'tar]: I'd like to not waste any more mana on this endeavor. This is still the first room.

[Aster K'lon]: Jerome?

[Jerome Smith]: Fiiiine. Here we go.

[Unblockable] activating! [Edgelord] activating! [-- --- .-. - . --]: successful activation.