An Unbound Soul

I limped back to the guild, struggling with the stairs, but eventually making it to my room. I was hopeful that a night's sleep would finish fixing me up, otherwise I'd need to go on a mission to find a healer again. At least I knew that the hospital existed now. What did Vyre's group do when they got injured? I should have asked them when I had the chance.

Unable to face trying to strip my armour off, I collapsed into bed and brought up my messages.

Endurance increased by 1

Skill [Far Step] advanced to level 13

Skill [Minor Speed] advanced to level 13

Skill [Far Reach] advanced to level 13

Skill [Minor Slow] advanced to level 13

Skill [Strength] advanced to level 13

Skill [Distortion] advanced to level 5

Skill [Weapon Proficiency: Universal] advanced to level 14

Skill [Greater Mana Control] advanced to level 14

Skill [Weapon Style: Flowing Mist] advanced to level 13

Skill [Extended Mana Pool] advanced to level 4

Skill [Extended Stamina Pool] advanced to level 3

Class [Spatial Mage] advanced to level 2

Not a bad crop at all, but not so much that I felt the need to try my hand at floor ten. I needed to decide what to do about that; the floor ten boss was a massive step up from anything before it, and having slipped up that badly on floor nine, it was obvious that I stood no hope. But that was fine for now; I wanted to talk to Erryn, not beat my quest, so there was no need for me to fight solo. Or even to fight at all; a party unused to working with me would probably prefer me to just hang back.

I wasn't even certain I wanted to return to floor nine by myself. My lightning strike weapon was cool, but the limited charge prevented it from carrying the day all by itself. It needed an [Enhanced Mana Recovery] skill of its own.

Wait... Had I overlooked something obvious again? I held up the glove, and inspected the mana storage unit with [Mana Perception], and then compared it to my own mana storage organ, still nestled above my heart. The glove wasn't actively absorbing mana at the moment, but couldn't I just do the same thing as I did with myself, funnelling mana into it to recharge it more quickly?

Maybe it wouldn't be quite the same; I normally sucked up mana at a fixed System defined rate, which I needed to work in parallel with. The glove would be simpler; it used some sort of feed that depended on ambient mana, so I didn't even need to force mana into it. I just needed to concentrate mana around the intake, and be careful not to push it higher than what floor twenty-five density would be. I needed to drain it a little to test, but that wasn't safe to do in my room. I'd need to use one of the ranges in the basement.

Without thinking, I tried to energetically leap out of bed. It didn't work, and I ended up in a heap on the floor, trying my best not to scream from the pain. Right, I was recovering from a severed spine... Deciding that it would be more sensible to save the experimentation for tomorrow, I climbed back into bed and slept.

The next day I found myself much steadier on my feet, and only a few points of health shy of being full. Plenty well enough that rather than visiting the basement, I decided I'd be better off zapping things in the dungeon; unlike myself, the glove did recharge faster in higher ambient mana, so I would need to experiment at varying mana levels. I stopped off at the shop to restock on potions, earning a glare from the sales clerk; the common sense of delvers around here was that any situation that required using a potion was a failure, and I needed to replace two. Or three, if I included the antidote.

Back in the dungeon, I turned the first floor boss into a cloud of rapidly expanding smoke, then watched how the glove pulled mana. The mana flows were far smaller than those feeding into me, so apparently it wasn't particularly efficient. That bode well for being able to improve matters. I grasped at the flows of mana and pushed. The glove's recharge rate leapt by an order of magnitude, with me effectively adding another ten floors' worth of mana density around it.

I could maintain a significant gain all the way to floor five. I hadn't intended to risk going further, given that I was still mildly injured, but by this point I could already fire one crystal continuously, and if things kept up, then by floor ten I'd be able to fire at full power. That would certainly make the floor nine boss trivial. Grover and Vargalas had talked about mana overload, but I had a good grasp on how mana density increased by floor and the limitations of my mana control, and I wouldn't be able to overload it on floor ten even if I tried.

By floor nine, I could fire three crystals continuously. As a result, the boss was... boring.

ding

Skill [Greater Mana Finesse] advanced to level 14

Only a single skill level from the whole dungeon run, despite the massive crop the first time I'd fought the floor nine boss. I watched the burnt corpses sink into the stone and looted my prize from the chest. I really couldn't imagine getting to the level ten boss being a problem anymore. Killing the boss, though... Not today. Even if I could shoot continuously at full power, I would likely be overwhelmed by pure numbers.

I did a few more runs, until recharging the glove and myself while on the move and while using an active mana scan became second nature. When I'd first started active scanning, it took up my full concentration, leaving me unable to simultaneously use my mana control for anything else, but between practice and extra skill levels, it now seemed easy. It was an epic level of multitasking, but the mana seemed to do what I wanted without the need for too much conscious thought. System shenanigans again? Perhaps there was even a parallel thought skill around somewhere? But despite my newfound ability to multitask, one limitation that I couldn't overcome was my massively curtailed range while actively scanning, which again would be a pain for the final boss.

Despite my success, I still didn't want to face the final boss for the first time alone. My goal for this trip was to speak to Erryn, not to clear the quest, but I hadn't had any luck finding anyone to join me. Asking around, there didn't seem to be anyone actively clearing the dungeon at the moment. That came as a surprise, but as was so often the case these days, it turned out to be my fault again. The floor ten boss was so ridiculous not because of the floor, but because it was the final boss of the dungeon; it was far tougher than the floor ten boss of a deeper dungeon would be.

Delvers would run floor ten for the magic item from the chest, but dungeon-found magic items had suddenly lost their value due to the mythril flooding the market. The cost versus reward of clearing the Dawnhold dungeon had thus been skewed, and anyone capable of clearing the floor was now far better off working a deeper dungeon, which would have a lesser reward in the floor ten chest, but where they could harvest monster cores and the ingredients needed for enchanting from deeper levels instead. Not to mention silver; anyone capable of beating the Dawnhold floor ten boss was probably capable of collecting it from floor fifteen, and demand had suddenly shot up. The few parties that had been based here and were high enough level to clear the dungeon had all left for other hunting grounds, leaving none for me to tag along with.

That left me unsure what to do. I spent a few more days clearing down to floor nine, picking up another level of [Distortion] and a couple of [Item Box], but otherwise not achieving very much. I even tried asking the guild master if he'd come on a trip to back me up, to which he pointed out that I still had more than a year left on my quest timer and to stop trying to rush things. That was true, and I'd have accepted it without question last year, but right now I didn't want his accompaniment for quest practice.

Between the guild master no longer remembering the core room, and no longer automatically trusting everything I said, explaining to him why I wanted to clear the final boss was tough. Damn Erryn... I could possibly have convinced him if I came clean about everything, but that had a good chance of backfiring; I'd been given special dispensation to enter the dungeon only because Lord Reid believed me to be a danger to those around me, and now I knew that wasn't true. Admitting it could result in me being banned from the dungeon completely. Doubly so if they ever found out that my quest failure penalty had been removed.

If I couldn't find a group, what about going in solo? I didn't want to, and I still had over a year on my quest timer, but even if I waited, what would that buy me? Was there anything more I could do to prepare? I could squeeze out one or two more levels from my skills and maybe earn a few more points of attributes. Would it make much of a difference? Probably not. I couldn't get better weapons or armour than I already had. I wouldn't be able to change class again within the time limit. Perhaps I could find better accessories, but even there I couldn't see much room for improvement. The only boost left that I could think of was potions.

In our alchemy class, I'd learned that there was a greater range available than healing, mana and stamina potions. Buff potions existed, and while they wouldn't be cost effective for fighting bosses on a regular basis, for this sort of one-off battle they'd be perfect. Trying to use potions that were higher rank than you were would make alchemic poisoning worse, so I couldn't just go and ask Vargalas for something outrageous, but I'd bet the delvers' store could provide me with something. Maybe it would be enough? It was worth asking.

And so the next day I walked into the store and asked what buff potions they had available.

"We don't have anything, because there isn't usually any call for them, but our alchemist can produce them on demand. We can provide stat boosters, elemental resistances, skill boosters, regeneration, that sort of thing," the clerk explained.

I was mildly surprised over the variety of potions he listed, although in retrospect, of course the alchemy skill series didn't exist just for a few crystals and a couple of potions. The range of buff potions was probably fairly extensive. Not that I, or anyone else, could have afforded to drug myself for every boss battle, so it wasn't a surprise they weren't kept in stock.

"What sort of thing would you recommend for the final boss?"

The clerk looked at me like I'd gone insane. I wasn't completely convinced that he was wrong. "What?" he asked, despite me knowing full well he'd heard me the first time.

"Don't worry; I just want to know how much difference potions would make. I'm not about to charge in there."

Suitably mollified, the clerk looked at me speculatively. "Not really any specific elemental attacks you can protect yourself from there, given that their spellcasters have a range of affinities available, so probably just some generic stat boosters, and maybe something to improve your physical defence. That would leave you the leeway to use a couple of healing potions without overdosing, too. Skill boosts have shorter duration, so probably wouldn't be useful against that many enemies all at once unless you have powerful area attacks."

That sounded... not quite like the game changer I was hoping for. "How much difference do they make? I assume I won't be blocking sword swings with my bare skin."

"No, it'll take a bit of the momentum out of the attack, but it's no replacement for armour. Stat potions made by our alchemist would give you plus ten to everything."

That was certainly more points than I'd get from natural increases by next year, or from increases to my buff spells. Even better was that the potions would boost mental stats. But I wasn't convinced it was enough. Dammit, was I going to have to go back home without speaking to Erryn? Hopefully Xander's team would turn up again for this year's tournament, and I could talk them into taking me...

"Hmm..." came a voice from behind me, making me jump. Apparently Adele had snuck up at some point, listening in. "As Daniel says, a physical defence potion on its own might not offer much protection, but in combination with your rank four durability and sharpness armour enchantments, there wouldn't be too many goblins in there capable of cutting through. Any blade will be significantly slowed and blunted by the time it hits you, and the potion could take care of the rest. I've gained a level or two this past year. I could do up your armour better than new and get rid of some of the more glaring weaknesses."

Now that sounded promising... If they literally couldn't hurt me, it didn't matter if I slipped up on occasion. It was tempting. If I followed through, I'd deserve to keep the [Self-Destructive] title for life, but at least I certainly wouldn't have to deal with my unnatural fear of Darren any longer. Whether that would be because I'd talked Erryn into curing me, or because I was dead, remained to be seen...

"Okay," I said, causing both employees to stare at me.

"What?" asked the clerk for the second time today. Or Daniel, as his name apparently was. Somehow, I'd never got around to appraising him.

"I said okay. Can I order those potions and the armour upgrade, please? Also a dozen healing, and a few each of stamina and mana."

Both employees continued to stare. Yes, that many potions at once would be instantly fatal, but I didn't need to rush the fight. With no-one else working the floor, I could draw it out all day, and no-one would even notice.

"I thought you said you weren't about to charge in there."

"I'm not charging. I'm making a carefully considered decision, after receiving and reviewing all applicable information. I've completed a rank two class already, I've got rank four enchanted weapons and armour, a bunch of stat rings, this ridiculous lightning glove. There's not much more I can do to prepare." Calling it carefully considered was pushing it; I was definitely letting emotion cloud my judgement here, but Adele had sold her skills well and I was more than willing to let her convince me.

"You..." stuttered Daniel. "Okay, we all know there's something weird going on with you and that dungeon, and it's not like you're doing this for the fun of it, but even so... That's crazy."

"I agree," added Adele. "I thought we were talking hypotheticals here. Are you seriously planning to attempt to clear the dungeon, all on your own?"

Despite their opinions of my sanity, after confirming that yes, I was serious, they didn't turn me down. We priced things up, with me leaving a little extra in case their alchemist had any other tricks that Daniel wasn't aware of. Given that Adele wanted my armour, I had to run back to my dorm room to change, leaving me wishing I'd stashed a change of clothes in my [Item Box]. I definitely needed to do that from now on...

The next morning, I picked up my fully repaired armour, which had gained a few points in its quality rating. Adele had also taken advantage of the rank four comfort enchantment to fit additional protective plates, leaving fewer exposed weak spots. From Daniel, I picked up healing, mana and stamina potions, as well as a few miscellaneous vials.

There was the promised potion of defence to increase my skin toughness and help to absorb damage. There was a potion of physical superiority, which granted plus ten in each physical stat for an hour. A potion of mental superiority did the same for my mental stats, and that one I appreciated because I didn't have rank two buff spells for them, and hadn't gained a point of wisdom since getting my stupid [Self-Destructive] title.

In addition, they had a potion of weapon mastery, which would give me plus five to weapon skills for ten minutes, but that one sounded dodgy to me because there was no way the fight would be over that quickly, and I knew how distracting it was to remove my bracelets; I wouldn't want that potion wearing off in the middle of a fight. Finally, there was something which [Analysis] called 'Hero's Last Stand', which they'd actually acquired from Vargalas somehow, and had the insane effects of an immediate complete restoration of all three pools along with ten times regeneration in all pools for ten minutes. Alas, after those ten minutes, all regeneration would cease for one day. That would not be fun to have wear off mid fight; zero stamina regeneration would be a death sentence. Not to mention it would probably poison me all on its own, being a rank four creation. I hoped I wouldn't be desperate enough to use it.

Fully equipped, I stepped into the dungeon, and swiftly made my way to floor nine. This was it then... My last chance to back off. No, not today. I hurried through the rear door before I could chicken out.

Floor ten wasn't a big deal. The traps were faster and hit harder than floor nine, but with my upgraded armour, none of them would have slipped through any gaps anyway. The orcs moved between rooms, and with me being the first one on the floor that day there were lots of them around, but I could shoot continuous lightning now. They couldn't do a thing. And so, unfatigued and unscratched, I stepped through the open doors to the boss chamber.

As I beheld the army of goblins, orcs and wolves, only one thought came to mind. Yup, Daniel was right. I was crazy.