“So let me go over it one more time.” Chilly said, pacing in front of the ashen guardian. “You let me kill you, then you respawn, I kill you again. I get a whole bunch of experience, which puts me closer to being strong enough to take on the three sub bosses and eventually the hellbringer himself. Once I do that, I find your head inside the Hellringers room, bring it out, and everyone is happy.”

Chilly paused his pacing and turned towards Sooty. “That sound good?”

Sooty considered, then made a so-so gesture, then continued to sign.

[This plan of yours depends heavily on-]

Before any of the penguins could begin to translate, Chilly raised his hand and continued pacing.

“I know what you are going to say. This whole deal asks a whole lot from you than it does from me, at least in the beginning. You’re right, but I can’t think of anything else. It would really help me out. Basically catapult me two whole levels which would dramatically reduce the amount of time that you are stuck without your head.”

[Astute of you, young delver, however I am still hesitant to provide such a great boon without some assurance of your loyalty. It has been quite some time since I have last interacted with a sapient. I find myself feeling rather unsure of myself.]

Poidude the penguin stepped forwards.

“Assurance.” the penguin translated succinctly.

“Yes, I know that I’m not going to backstab you, but we need some assurance so that you know that too. Unfortunately I’m not super familiar with this world. Is there a standard way that people here go about killing each other for experience when one party is known to be able to respawn?”

Sooty mimed laughing, then held up his finger in a ‘wait a moment’ gesture.

He took the malformed iron ingot and stuck it in the stream of rising lava. Several silent seconds later, Sooty pulled out the now glowing iron lump out of the magma, and began smashing it with his small smithing hammer.

Chilly watched curiously from afar. He was still positioned thusly to avoid harming his new friend. He couldn’t see much, partially due to the distance, but also because every time Sooty smashed his hammer down on the iron, glowing sparks exploded outwards in a crescending wave only to fade before they could land on the ground. In addition, every time the hammer came down, large quantities of black soot and ash fell off Sooty's frame and joined the other glowing cinders in the air, further obscuring the air. If it weren’t for the three tunnels that allowed the cinders to escape, Chilly was sure that he would have gained an asphyxiation stack a long time ago.

Eventually, Sooty paused his incessant hammering and pulled out a cruel looking iron bracelet out of the pile of forge-scale piled high atop the anvil. He held it up, as if looking for flaws in its design. He turned it to and fro, then seemed to shrug in satisfaction.

Sooty held the iron bracelet out to Chilly and gestured for him to come closer.

Chilly approached, wincing ever so slightly as Starfire Aegis began to burn Sooty’s form. The ashen smith didn’t seem to mind all that much, so he continued forwards and stared curiously at the bracelet.

Iron Bracelet

Magic

Jewelry

iLevel: 7

7 armor

42 life [Brand]

Cannot be removed [Brand]

Brand

A branded mod can not be replaced, removed, or modified through essence crafting

“I see,” Chilly said slowly, being exceedingly careful not to actually equip the item. This was perhaps the first item that he had encountered which he would classify as a cursed item. Sure he had suspicions up until this point, but now they were confirmed.

“This only works if you can remove a branded mod,” Chilly gestured with the bracelet at Sooty.

The ashen smith nodded that he could remove the mod.

“Show me.” Chilly said, handing the item back to Sooty. Sooty put the bracelet on the anvil and began lightly tapping it.

This was actually a decent form of insurance. If he put on the iron bracelet and didn’t help Sooty overthrow the Hellbringer, then he would essentially be gimping himself for as long as it took to figure out an alternate way of removing the branded item. Sure 42 life was massive, and might actually be better than his current ring, but if he couldn’t take it off, to upgrade its level or its mods then it would eventually become a dead slot. With one fewer item to provide life and resistances the dungeon run would grow significantly more difficult.

Chilly pulled up the interface for his current ring.

Iron Ring

Rare

Jewelry

iLevel: 4

8 armor

Dimensional Essence Vault

17 life

9 armor

16 hinder resistance

3 fire resistance

(AN: This ring used to have increased hinder effect. I changed it to hinder resistance since hinder effect is an offensive mod and can only be rolled on weapons)

It wasn’t lost on him that Sooty’s new bracelet didn’t have a dimensional storage for essences. If he could only equip one piece of jewelry, then putting on the iron bracelet would effectively make him unable to store essences.

Sooty stopped hammering at the bracelet and handed it over to Chilly.

Iron Bracelet

Magic

Jewelry

iLevel: 7

7 armor

42 life

Cannot be removed [Brand]

Chilly studied the bracelet and saw the first brand had been removed.

“You can do this when I’ve got it equipped?” Chilly double checked.

Sooty patiently nodded.

Chilly turned the bracelet over in his hands. If he put this on, he was actually just reversing the situation. Once he helped Sooty, the ashen smith could simply refuse to remove the Brand. Then Chilly wouldn’t give over the head, but perhaps the head will be free the moment the Hellbringer dies, and Sooty didn’t need the head to be handed to him directly.

It was arguably a worse situation for Chilly than it was for Sooty.

Troublesome.

“What do you think, Mr. Xenix?” Chilly turned to the penguin who had waddled up to his side.

NickXenix deliberated and glanced from the bracelet to Sooty, to the Hellbriniger’s chambers.

“Shrugs,” The penguin said, notably not shrugging its diminutive shoulders.

A half grin pulled up Chilly lips at the word usage.

“Shrugs, plural I see. I assume you’re speaking for your entire species in this case.” Chilly let the grin overtake him.

Sooty seemed friendly enough. The penguins seemed to trust him. All his worries were only valid if Sooty broke the agreement. Which he wouldn’t since he was an ok dude. If everything went smoothly then it was just a good boost to experience for him, and an accelerated timeline for the ashen smith.

Chilly leaned down, and dumped the contents of his ring onto the hard stone. Then he popped the ring off, and placed it on top of the pile of essences. Before he could regret the decision, he snapped the iron bracelet over his left wrist, and pulled up his character sheet.

Gregory “Chilly” Morhuil

Level

Exp

Skill Points

Spec

7

1/7

0

Fire

Life

Life Regeneration

615/615

134.53

Armor

Fire

Cold

Lightning

Chaos

78

43.82%

41

29.08%

5

4.76%

5

4.76%

0

0.00%

Incinerate

Helmet:

Iron Barbute

Vitality

Body Armor:

Iron Plate Vest

Pious Path

Pants:

Iron Pants

Starfire Aegis

Boots:

Iron Greaves

???

Gloves:

Hide Gauntlets

???

Jewelry:

Iron Ring

???

Mainhand:

Iron Kite Shield

???

Offhand:

Iron Kite Shield

He had lost 10 armor and 3 fire resistance, but gained a chunk of life and life regeneration. An upgrade. Though the fact that he couldn’t remove the item left a sour taste in his mouth.

Chilly clapped his hands brightly. There was no benefit to dwelling on it.

“Alright, how are we doing this, do I just blast until you keel over? Or what?” Chilly smiled at the ashen smith.

Sooty mimed laughing, then shook his head.

[It would take far too long for your abilities to harm me, young adventurer. The reset is nigh.] Sooty signed.

“Wimp,” Noomplet translated from the side.

“Rude.” Chilly called back.

He got the general gist though. Level twelve was punching too high up.

“So how?” Chilly crossed his arms.

[Please stand at the entrance to the chamber and come in when I call for you. Then you can use your own skills to deal the finishing blow. And take your...loot. It won’t survive otherwise.] Sooty signed, gesturing to the pile of essences at Chilly’s feet.

Chilly turned to the penguins, but instead of translating they waddled towards him in a wave of cuteness.

“Hey...Wait!” Chilly complained as he was herded first towards the pile of essences he had left on the floor, then out of the room to stand at the entrance of the tunnel that he had arrived in. He was about to demand an explanation, when Sooty began summoning spells.

Chilly stared slack jawed as all three lava geysers erupted with enough power to shake the very foundations of the cave system. Lava flooded into the room, splashing over the smithing equipment and reducing the half dozen chained skulls on the large gate to ash.

A pillar of ash rose up from underneath Sooty’s feet, lifting him above the rivers of lava that raged beneath. Cinders swirled in a vicious tornado around him, ash tumbled off his skin in waves, immediately igniting and joining the tornado.

Sooty stepped off the pedestal which had remained free of lava, and began to wade towards Chilly. The ash falling off his form accelerated, likely a healing mechanic, as his passive skills struggled to overcome the massive fire based degen that he had inflicted upon himself. The cinder tornado steadily moved away from Sooty, but the ashen smith struggled through the thick magma and dove head first into the damaging tornado.

Cinders sparked off his constantly shedding skin, as Sooty gestured once more. Glowing hot chains erupted from underneath the writhing sea of lava. They snaked around Sooty burning and restraining him as he calmly accepted the horrific flagellation.

Chilly and the penguins silently gulped as they witnessed the ashen guardian go all out.

Nearly thirty seconds later, the chains binding Sooty trembled, and dragged him out of the cinder tornado. The lava slowly bled into the ground as Sooty’s haggard body was dragged to Chilly.

[Now, if you please.] An extremely haggard hand signed.

The penguins frantically gestured to Chilly and pulled him out of his daze. He immediately began channeling Incinerate. A streamer of plasma joined with the meager pillar of flame to engulf the ashen guardian's body. They seemed palty compared to the hell storm that was just now dissipating.

Still, it was enough. Ten seconds of continuous blasting and Sooty’s already mostly destroyed body crumbled to ash.

You have slain a level 12 Guardian of Hellbringer’s Domain!

You receive 6 experience!

Congratulations! You have leveled up!

You are now Level 8

Will your status screen open to allocate your points.

Chaos child rushed forward and slammed their wooden hammer onto the pile of ash.

“Boink!”

The ash didn’t even stir from the penguins' powerful strike.

“Wow.” Chilly declared after several seconds of watching the chains melt into the lava which in turn receded into the lava geysers. “So glad, we didn’t have to fight him for real.”

A new penguin leaned forwards to study the pile of ash.

“Star wars.” It said, as it nodded sagely.

“I’m not sure we could take on Sooty even with the high ground my dude.” Chilly responded nonchalantly as he looted a coal black essence from the pile of ash.

Unknown Essence

Take this to a crafting bench to learn of its properties!

It was practically indistinguishable from the rest of the ash, and looked like a lump of charcoal. Basically a chunk of carbonized wood. Without his ring, he had to pick up the essence the old fashioned way. It was summerly added to the pile of essences sitting safely at his feet.

“One of you remind me to give this back to Sooty. He’s a crafter. Might appreciate this funky essence more than me.”

Suddenly, a nearly imperceptible wave passed over Chilly. He paused, recognizing the dungeon reset anomaly for what it was. He watched in curiosity as the scorch marks caused by Sooty’s skills disappeared, and the ash in the air manifested Sooty’s headless form.

“Hey Sooty!” Chilly waved down at the figure. “Hope the whole dying thing wasn’t all that bad.”

The ashen figure slowly turned to behold Chilly. It stood there frozen for long enough that Chilly started doubting himself. Eventually though, Sooty began to sign.

[Ahh, young adventurer. Welcome to my hell. I hope the experience went to good use?]

Chilly turned to the penguins who discussed among themselves. They looked at each other, but none stepped forwards to translate.

“Uhuh. Oh, right. This dropped off your corpse. Would you like it?” Chilly scrambled to grab the coal essence and presented it to Sooty.

[That is quite alright, young one. You may keep it. Your kill, your rewards as the saying goes.]

Chilly frowned at the penguins. They shrugged and shook their heads. He interpreted that as he could keep the essence.

“Thanks,” Chilly tossed the essence onto his pile. “You wouldn’t have a crafting bench that I could use here would you?”

Sooty turned and gestured towards his anvil.

[My forge is yours. You are welcome to craft to your heart's content.]

Chilly nodded. Even without the penguins he understood just based on the ashen guardian’s body language.

He clasped his hands awkwardly. “Right so. Are we doing that again, or? I will get most of the way to the next level, then I’ll get out of your hair and go take out the individual sub bosses.”

Sooty glanced at the black iron bracelet on Chilly’s wrist and nodded. [As you wish.]

Chilly couldn’t quite wrap his brain around it, but once more that apocalyptic cataclysm rocked the chamber as Sooty whittled away at his own rapidly regenerating life pool. When he was close to dead he dragged his battered body over to Chilly and allowed him to deal the finishing blow.

You have slain a level 12 Guardian of Hellbringer’s Domain!

You receive 5 experience!

This time a green marble with white smoke drifting lazily inside rolled out of the ash. It quickly joined the pile.

Unknown Essence

Take this to a crafting bench to learn of its properties!

Chilly pulled up his augment list for Starfire Aegis. It was the only skill he had which wasn’t at the maximum of two augments.

Choose an Augment for Starfire Aegis. Costs 1 skill point.

Maximum 2 Augments.

Solar Prominence

To be one with the stars is to become acclimated to the heat

60 fire resistance

Coronal Mass Ejection

Your starfire burns ever hotter

Deal 6% of maximum life as fire damage to melee attackers

Star Fuel

Your very blood burns to sustain the inferno.

While at full life, consume excess life to burn enemies within 4 meters for 85% of the life recovered as fire damage

Body of Plasma

Infuse your very being with the matter of stars.

25% increased fire resistance

Solar Flare

The power of a star is not so easily avoided

Reflected damage also applies to ranged attackers

Gravitational Center

A star may be moved, but only at a steep cost.

150 knockback resistance

Honestly, Solar Flare was probably overrated. He didn’t have that much more life than the monsters, so until he took Coronal Mass Ejection it probably wasn’t worth investing in making the reflected damage happen to everything.

For now he would take Solar Prominence. He was about to face fire based foes, and he was comfortable with the amount of damage that he could deal with both Incinerate and Starfire Aegis.

Chilly allocated the skillpoint and brought up his character sheet.

Gregory “Chilly” Morhuil

Level

Exp

Skill Points

Spec

8

5/8

0

Fire

Life

Life Regeneration

640/640

141.11

Armor

Fire

Cold

Lightning

Chaos

78

43.82%

104

50.98%

5

4.76%

5

4.76%

0

0.00%

Incinerate

Helmet:

Iron Barbute

Vitality

Body Armor:

Iron Plate Vest

Pious Path

Pants:

Iron Pants

Starfire Aegis

Boots:

Iron Greaves

???

Gloves:

Hide Gauntlets

???

Jewelry:

Iron Ring

???

Mainhand:

Iron Kite Shield

???

Offhand:

Iron Kite Shield

That was amusing. With the addition of Solar Prominence, his fire resistance had surpassed his armor. It also confirmed that 100 of a resistance value reduced the damage received by a flat fifty percent. He had kind of guessed that before, but it was nice to see confirmation. The new fire resistance value also told him that he was well within the range of diminishing returns on his resistances. Compared to his cold resistance where five points nearly granted five percent mitigation, for fire resistance it took four points to barely breach a single percentage point.

He shrugged and collected all his essences and brought them to Sooty’s anvil. Whatever the case, he would operate under the assumption that more resistances were better until he was shown otherwise.

The anvil did indeed turn out to be a crafting bench. Despite it not looking like a bench at all. It made Chilly worry that the crafting bench in the Shrine was part of the Table Empire. Up until now, he had been conveniently ignoring the fact that a table and a bench were very similar, because without the crafting bench he wouldn’t be able to upgrade his items. Now that he knew that there was this anvil that could provide him the same benefit, he was considering whether it was worth avoiding the Shrine’s crafting bench. There was no telling if it was a spy of some sort. A sneaky table disguised as a bench in order to spy on Chilly and get a read on his equipment.

Chilly shook his head sadly. He would have to avoid that bench in the future, and use anvils such as this one, where possible. A shame, but it had to be done.

He placed the two new essences that Sooty had dropped, and the two other unknown essences that he had found previously, on the bench and identified them.

Essence of Coal

Removes a random modifier on a piece of equipment

Essence of Ruby

Rerolls modifiers on rare - or lower - quality equipment with a single guaranteed elemental modifier.

Essence of Diamond

Adds a random modifier to a piece of equipment

Essence of Jade

Rerolls modifiers on rare - or lower - quality equipment with a single guaranteed skill modifier.