-- [Arcane Magic Immunity] has reached level 4 --

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-- [Arcane Magic Immunity] has reached level 11 --

Liz still saw nothing.

Was she still in the cavern? For all she knew, she could be floating in space. She didn't feel any pressure from any skin contacting the ground.

Still she didn't move. Something was wrong. Else she would feel the ground. Frankly any feeling. Was she even conscious?

Status:

Health: 45/492

Stamina: 23/374

Mana: 624/624

Her health stayed consistent. Her stamina didn't change either. Her mana reminded her that she could light herself up.

She just had to blindly infuse mana into her body. Fortunately she had done it enough times before.

Charging mana into her arm, made the runes and glyph pattern light up. Liz saw it brightly, right in front of her eyes.

She could still see. She was conscious. But where?

She had to move her arm. Could she move her numb arm? She had done it dozens of times in training.

It worked. Her arm awkwardly crashed to the side. It left a pervading darkness.

Her arm was visible at the edge of her view. Liz rotated her head in the direction.

Her arm was on a stone. The stone floor. She was still in the tomb. Lying on the floor.

Her arm looked perfectly fine. Why didn't she have any feeling? Had she injured her spine? No, else she wouldn't be able to move the arm.

What was wrong with her?

Liz tested her other arm. It worked as well. On either side of her head no speck of dust covered the floor.

She lifted her head. The darkness extended all around her. Nowhere was there anything but the stone floor.

No, that wasn't right. There was small speck of light beyond her feet.

Liz struggled. She managed to put her arms beneath her. Supporting her to sit up.

Yes, there was a light in front of her. Flipping to her front, Liz crawled towards it.

Or rather flailed on the ground towards it.

The light was coming from a body. The body of the undead king.

'Wait, I didn't get a kill notification!'

As she neared the body, it stirred. Ever so slightly its mouth moved. The source of the light.

Liz reached the corpse. It was completely mangled. Only the head was still holding flesh.

Liz could make out the source of the light: It was the orb that had floated in the air.

[Argentuvalur's Heart - Mystic]

The body stirred once more. The bones clacked.

'Oh no! You don't get to try another time!'

Her formerly repressed hate of the taunts and behavior of the king fueled her as she went for its throat. Or what was left of it. Rather awkwardly clambering for it.

With all the strength she could muster, Liz started digging into the dead flesh without no feedback from her hands whatsoever. She only saw as her fingers bend, in the wrong direction. But there was no pain, and so she continued beheading the undead with her bare hands.

Finally, she succeeded.

-- You have killed a [Knight of Argentuvalur - lvl 64] --

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-- You have killed a [Knight of Argentuvalur - lvl 64] --

-- You have killed [Argentuvalur - lvl 128] --

-- You have successfully defeated Argentuvalur the Vengeful --

-- [Mana Draw] has reached level 5 --

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-- [Mana Draw] has reached level 9 --

-- [Arcane Eye] has reached level 2 --

-- [Arcane Eye] has reached level 3 --

-- [Arcane Shield] has reached level 2 --

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-- [Arcane Shield] has reached level 6 --

-- [Transfer] has reached level 2 --

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-- [Transfer] has reached level 6 --

-- [Call of the Hunt] has reached level 9 --

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-- [Call of the Hunt] has reached level 11 --

-- [Archery] has reached level 6 --

-- [Compulsion Resistance] has reached level 4 --

-- [Compulsion Resistance] has reached level 5 --

-- [Pain Suppression] has reached level 19 --

-- [Pain Suppression] has reached level 20 --

-- [Arcane Mage] has reached level 35. 1 stats points distributed. 3 additional stat points awarded. --

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-- [Arcane Mage] has reached level 52. 1 stats points distributed. 3 additional stat points awarded. --

Liz immediately spent three points on Vitality. With it she finally regained her sense of touch and every other information normally travelling along her nerves. Only now did she realize that she was dripping blood from her ears and nose. She also tasted the coppery tang of her blood in her mouth. She could neither smell nor hear anything through the partially clotted blood-blockages.

It was quickly rectified. Yet aside from her breathing there was no sound at all. Smell there was plenty, from the corpse below her. It still held the orb, though it was much dimmer now. Liz was still unsure what it was and tried to identify it again

[Soul Orb - Legendary] (empty)

'Huh? It changed?'

Removing the grape-sized orb from the mouth revealed no further insights into what it was and what role it played in the chaos from before.

'Guess I'll take it. Doesn't seem like it will suddenly spawn undead. But why was it so much larger before? And why was all that mana flowing through it? Where did the mana even come from? Guess I'll never find out with the pillars gone. What the hell was even that spell? Judging by Arcane Immunity, it must have been Arcane Fire. I didn't even know that was possible. And with such devastating effects. Without [Arcane Enhanced] I would be dust. Not even the kings body could survive this! And he was a level 128! Holy hell! No wonder one hit nearly did it for me. But why not use that blade and instead use this suicide spell?'

In the typical pattern, her contemplation was cut short by her stomach reminding her of her need for food.

As her backpack had been turned to dust, she needed to return to the fort. Aside from the orb and body, the room had been magically-deep cleaned by the fire. Besides the walls nothing remained. And even the walls were damaged in some spots.

Thankfully though, the barrier to the exit was gone. The chilly air really did her no good, with her clothes completely gone. Liz was worried about finding undead and being unable to defend herself without armor or weapons. Clutching the orb to her chest, she carefully moved through the tunnels. Her only light was provided by the orb and the faint runes on her skin.

When she reached the first room, she carefully peeked around the corner, ready to run at the first indication of danger. There was none. This was the room, she had set alight and not much remained. At least no organic remains. This also reminded her, that she had gotten no kill notifications for the masses that had found their end in the inferno, forever documented by the soot and scorch marks all over the room.

The next room however should have held undead still moving about. While there were undead, they weren't moving. Hundreds of bodies were strewn across the floor. All seemingly having lost whatever magic let them move from one second to the next. None of the bodies identified as (un-)living.

'Weird! While there is no more mana connecting them, that seemed to not have been a problem in the outer ring. Then again they were 'lost''

Before the surrounding bodies could decide to do the same, Liz decided to leave.

Wherever she went, she saw the same picture. All undead dead. Eventually, after searching for a bit, her map lost in the fire, Liz found the room she had entered the inner dungeon through.

Climbing through the hole, she was still astonished by the dozens of mana crystals illuminating the ravine. To think that just two dozen as much mana as she had needed for the absolutely insane fight in the tomb.

Unable to keep hold of the orb if she went climbing, Liz transferred in a zigzag pattern across the ravine, slowly gaining height. When she was slightly higher than the nest of moles, she could see most of the room. She had prepared to fight or run from the moles. But it looked like that wasn't going to happen.

It was empty. No mole was in sight, the nest abandoned. Liz quickly transferred into the room and after a quick search, deemed the room truly abandoned. Another short hop back into the ravine later, and she left the room for the exit, orb and 5 mana crystals in hand.

The tomb was empty. Well except for the undead still trapped. And the distant sounds of crunching bones. Liz hastily sprinted through the chilly structure and towards warmth.

On the ramp however she was surprised to find one of the cats, Nick. Liz could feel the bond earlier than the others but hadn't expected him to be just beyond the tomb. She could feel his excitement through the bond. And through the rough tongue trying to clean the bit of dirt on her skin since the cleansing fire. Not to mention the mass of an almost fully-grown purring big cat barreling into her frame.

After the reunion was done, involving a lot of purrs and belly scratches, Liz and Nick went back up into the fort. In the cellar she could already feel that the winter was still as ever-present as before.

With a purposeful stride, Liz conquered the freezing hallways to the tower. To avoid most snow, she teleported almost half of the total distance. Even at the door to the mage tower none of the other cats showed up.

Worse yet, Liz couldn't feel their bonds. Until now, she had attributed this to distance and distraction by the dungeon, but now she feared the worst.

Thankfully though there were no starved cat bodies in the tower. Instead, it was empty. Yes, the latch on the food storage was open. But no sign of the other three cats. Weirder yet, the pantry was missing food for maybe two cats at most. Not four.

'Did they leave? But why are you still here? Will they survive out there? In the cold? Without much game to hunt? God, why did they just leave? Because I was gone for two days? Did they think I abandoned them?'

Liz shortly entertained the idea that the cats were simply in the tomb or cellar. But she quickly remembered that she had traversed nearly all of it and nowhere had she felt the bonds. This still left the option that they were alive down there but severed the bond. She somehow knew, that they were still alive. But this would mean that they were truly unhappy with their arrangement with Liz. Liz felt sad that that may be the case. Then again, Nick was still satisfied and by the emotion through the bond quite happy as well. Her next emotion was grief. Grief about losing those three bundles of cuteness. Grief about losing three companions who would have never used her like Garuna did. She decided that she wasn't going to go after them. She would force none of them to remain with her.

With her emotions in turmoil, Nick was quick to pick up on it and consoled her, as much as he could manage to do. Still it helped. The rest was done by a hot and steaming bath. During which Liz snacked on some more berries. A massive amount of berries. She just hadn't the energy to cook another meal. Instead, the bath had drained nearly all of her remaining adrenaline, leaving her a limp mess stumbling over to the bed. It was barely evening.

She slept until noon the next day. And even then she didn't leave the bed. Instead, cuddled into the warm blankets, she reviewed the happenings of the past days. Especially the tomb. Not that there was a lot else she did.

She was reminded of her initial goals.

Reconnaissance.

She had successfully identified the reason for the undead. A maniacal king sealing himself and a whole army in, to be called when the interim-leader needed firepower. Her discovery was not really done the way she would have hoped, but technically she achieved her goal. Next time, as there will almost certainly be a next time, she would have to be cautious, even of the most skittish monsters in a dungeon and not get thrown into a ravine.

Mana Crystal.

She had definitely found a massive source of mana crystals. So far she had seen no crystals big enough to be stabilized, but she would see whether that was true for all the ravine. Just like with reconnaissance she would have preferred to discover it another way. The same rule about skittish monster applied here.

Training.

Liz realized that she went a bit overboard on that one. It should have only been a side-goal but somehow had taken up almost all of her time in the dungeon. She had to admit that even the boss-fight could be considered training. One just had to look at the level gains from these 13 kills and one spell. Oh boy, was the dungeon effective. In just 6 days, she had leveled 32 levels. It was insane. Then again, she had barely survived. And only thanks to [Arcane Enhanced]. And there she didn't know where it even came from. Liz suspected it was from the Primordial meddling, as Garuna probably hadn't tried to enhance her additionally to taking over her body. So it wasn't really her deeds in the dungeon and rather her luck that she was still alive and well enough to ponder these questions.

Additionally, to her initial goals, new discoveries had presented itself as well.

Loot.

Besides the mana crystals, she now had a [Soul Orb] in her possession. Too bad she had no idea how it was used. Or what it was used for. But a legendary item was likely to have some potentially powerful use. And if not it was a great thing to sell to get money when she got to civilization. Provided it wasn't illegal, given that it was a magical item and referenced soul. But even then there would likely be buyers, but Liz was unsure whether she wanted to sell it in that case. If there were restrictions on certain magic, it was probably for a good reason.

New skills.

In Liz's opinion the best yet. Hell, she could teleport. Not even needing to snap her fingers, she could appear on the other side of the room. But there still were a lot of unanswered questions in that regard. Could she transfer through walls? What were the limitations for transporting objects and armor with her? What were the limitations of her Shield? How useful was Pack Life truly? Would it even work with only one bond? Could she replicate that terrifying Arcane fire somehow? How much will Arcane Eye improve her rune mastery? All good questions to answer by experimentation. And experimentation was a great way to fill the time. Additionally, there was Archery. But she would first need to make a new bow to make any further progress. But even now she realized that Archery would nudge her to make a better weapon than before.

Bonds.

She was now down to one bonded. It was sad to think that rest didn't want to stay with her. But it was good to know, that they managed to cut their bonds with her. And that it was possible at all. And not just from her side. The was even something positive about the loss. One immediate effect was that she now had absolutely no need to worry about food for the winter. If she used some scraps for broth. The recipe would surely soon come to a point where it was edible without plugging the nose.

In the end, Liz had to relent that it was probably for the best that she was down to one extra mouth to feed. For her, the safety that the food would hold for the whole winter, was just such a massive relief. She had a great time with the others but if they wanted to leave, then so be it. She had probably kept them for longer than their original mother would have, and it still was the reason she had even adopted them in the beginning. So they would likely have no problem surviving, especially with all the training they had done.

But Liz still had one thing to do: spend her new stat points. It was concerning that she now only got four per level. So her expected power ceiling was distancing itself from her further and further. She suspected that in the future it would decrease even further. If this was true, how she spent these easy to obtain stat points was critical for the future.

Her current distribution was

Vitality: 41

Endurance: 34

Strength: 34

Dexterity: 33 (+4)

Perception: 37 (+4)

Wisdom: 39 (+6)

Intelligence: 38 (+6)

First, Vitality would get another four point to bring it to a round 45. Six further points were spent on Endurance and Strength each to get them to 40. Dexterity was also brought to 40. This left her with 41 points to spend. She was of course lacking in effective Strength. This stat seemed to have the least effect on her. Her strengths were clearly in Wisdom. Her needs were however in the physical. The strength she had was enough for her bow, so she saw no need to spend any more on it, if there were others with more immediate effects. Health was always necessary, though if her healing skill improved at the rate it did, less so than before. Her only health potion use had been for the cursed blade. With her mana crystals boosting her Mana, Stamina had been her biggest problem. And agility had been her greatest strength against the undead. So the two should get at least 10 more points. 5 more were spent on Vitality. Wisdom would also get the Boost to 50. Perception and Intelligence would go to 48 with the rest.

Vitality: 41 (+9)

Endurance: 34 (+16)

Strength: 34 (+6)

Dexterity: 33 (+17)

Perception: 37 (+11)

Wisdom: 39 (+11)

Intelligence: 38 (+10)

The effect of the points was exhilarating. A nice conclusion to the troubles Liz had to obtain them.

Name: Elisabeth Larson

Class: Arcane Mage - lvl 52

Title: Deviant

Status:

Health: 407/600

Stamina: 254/550

Mana: 510/800

Vitality: 50

Endurance: 50

Strength: 40

Dexterity: 50

Perception: 48

Wisdom: 50

Intelligence: 48

Traits: Persevering, Arcane Enhanced

General skills:

Arcane Magic Immunity - lvl 11

Archery - lvl 6

Cold Tolerance - lvl 3

Compulsion Resistance - lvl 5

Eastern Plains Common - lvl 3

English - lvl 7

Health Drain Resistance - lvl 1

Identify - lvl 3

Lightning Resilience - lvl 1

Mathematics - lvl 1

Meditation - lvl 4

Pain Suppression - lvl 20

Stamina Drain Resistance - lvl 1

Class skills:

Arcane

Arcane Blast - lvl 14

Runic Intuition - lvl 4

Spell Channeling - lvl 10

Mana Draw - lvl 9

Arcane Eye - lvl 3

Arcane Shield - lvl 6

Transfer - lvl 6

Tamer

Bond - lvl 4

Call of the Hunt - lvl 11

Pack Life - lvl 1