Level 1 Fallen

Using the new Dismantling skill, I was able to delve deeper into the butchery trials than before. I passed through the eleventh trial, and quickly made my way all the way to the twentieth. In the process, I received the fifth through seventh volumes of the encyclopedia, which I was now largely collecting mostly as a collector's item. Though, it seemed that the quality of my Dismantle skill did improve if I had read the specifics through the books first.

Maybe something would happen if I collected all ten volumes, ranging from levels one to one hundred? Whether that was the case or not, there was no downside in collecting them, as the information would prove useful to me when I was training Dismantle.

Regardless, after the twentieth floor, there were more and more materials that required a higher level of Dismantle to accurately harvest. Thus, I ended up failing multiple times. Thankfully, the dungeon allowed you to repeat a level if you failed it, without having to restart from the beginning.

However, when I had to repeat the twenty-third level eight times, even after reading the details about the monster in the eighth volume of the encyclopedia, it was clear that my skill level was just not up to par. At present, my Dismantle skill was level eighteen, and I estimated that I would need to be at least level thirty with it in order to have at least a chance to completely clear the trials.

With that, I decided to retire for the evening. It was too late to begin a grinding session at this point, and there were things that I wanted to talk to Diane about when she got out of the trial.

As I thought about that, I noticed a message appearing in front of me. Rather than Diane, it was Wisteria, letting me know that she had discussed with the master of the League of Assassins, and they were increasing the final reward of the mission to five thousand points. That was almost ten times what I got for killing the dragon player, catching me by surprise.

Naturally, I couldn't help but respond. Did you find a way to force other criminals to accept the negative trait? If that was the case, there would no longer be a guaranteed immortality for criminals, whether Players or Fallen.

However, Wisteria denied this, informing me that there was simply no way to force anyone to accept a trait, whether positive or negative. Furthermore, with the connotations behind this trait, no criminal in their right mind would accept it.

The reason for the increase in the reward was twofold. First, we helped to avert a potential disaster that could have swept through multiple cities before the appropriate figures took action. Secondly, the positive trait that the skeletal mage dropped was going to be placed on the faction store, and the increase in our reward was treated as a finder's fee.

When I asked her how much a ten star trait would sell for, she said it would be half a million points, as well as a personal recommendation from the league's master. My eyes widened in shock at that price, before I quickly understood. Even a single ten star trait was enough to let a level one like myself train up to become as strong as any player. Additionally, each such trait, as far as I was aware, was unique. Nobody else would have my ability to cast any skill without mana burden. And nobody else would have the skeletal mage's ability to endlessly amass familiars.

Part of me imagined what would happen if I acquired that trait, but I quickly shook my head. First of all, I didn't have any skills that generated familiars. Minions in this world could be broken into three types: summons, familiars, and pets. Summons were entities created and dismissed purely by a skill, like my shadows.

Pets, meanwhile, were wild creatures tamed by players, similar to Wyr. These creatures were different from summons in that they had the ability to level up and grow stronger, while summons only had the power bestowed on them via the skill they were created with.

Familiars, meanwhile, were a mix between the two. Although they were created via a skill like a summon, they had the ability to level up like a minion. In exchange, the one who summoned them took a permanent mana burden for as long as that familiar was deployed. This type of cost was something that I wasn't sure if my trait could negate. Furthermore, every familiar skill that I had heard of was magic, so it would be difficult for me to use regardless.

After ending my conversation with Wisteria, I left the dungeon, making my way to a hotel that the guards recommended to me. Once there, I sent Diane a message, letting her know my whereabouts for when she left the dungeon. A moment later, she responded, saying that she was just getting ready to leave.

With a nod, I waited for Diane, smiling slightly when she arrived. However, it wasn't the player, but the Chosen, as Diane had already reached her time limit for the day. "Sorry for the wait." She said with a smile, pulling down her face mask. "How was your progress?"

"It's good." I answered honestly. "I've managed to evolve the basic butchery skill, so I can now automatically dismantle objects in my inventory. I'd like to try to get to the end of the trials, though, just to see what the rewards would be like. How about you?"

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Diane grinned, clearly pleased with her own work. "I maxed out Alchemy, too. I've been at it all day. Not having to worry about materials meant that I could play around with it as much as I wanted."

"What's your upgrade?" I asked curiously.

"I haven't chosen to upgrade it, yet." Diane shook her head, confusing me. "I convinced my player to wait until we train Scroll Crafting tomorrow. There's always the chance that the two skills have a fusion synergy. For now, I've just been feeding any beneficial potions to Wyr."

"Why's that? Wouldn't the potion effects be temporary, anyways?" If she was feeding them to Wyr, did that mean that they had permanent effects?

"Well…" Diane chuckled. "I just felt like it's been a while since we brought him out of the pet inventory. There's not that much room in the dungeon, but he could at least stretch his wings. Plus, he seemed to like the taste of some of them."

I nodded my head, understanding her reasoning now. "So, what have you learned about your alchemy? If you've been feeding some to Wyr, you must have learned how to make proper potions by now."

Diane jumped over, landing on her knees on the bed with sparkling eyes. "It's actually a lot more interesting than I thought. Every type of material has possible alchemic properties, known sa essences. The first stage of real alchemy is being able to refine an individual material and extract the essences you want. Then, you mix these properties together with some easy to obtain mediums like water, and you get your potion. Healing potions are actually really easy to make with this method, because almost all forms of blood will contain the 'Vitality' essence, which is the key ingredient in a healing potion."

Seeing how excited she was about this, I couldn't help but chuckle. "Sounds like we'll be needing a lot more potion vials. Speaking of which, would you mind sending your player a message for me? There's something I'd like to ask her to look into buying. I'll pay the fee for it, naturally, since it's something for me specifically."

Diane looked confused at that, so I told her about the Large Backpack that the rabbitfolk guard informed me of. When she heard how much it would be able to increase my inventory, her eyes went wide in shock. She nodded quickly, closing her eyes. "Sure, I'll ask her about it."

After a moment, she opened her eyes again. "I've sent the message, but I don't know if she's still awake. But I'll let you know when she responds."

"Thanks." I nodded my head. "Also, how far did you get in your trials?"

"I could only complete the tenth floor." She huffed, shaking her head. "After that, it seems to require techniques from the next evolution. I'll tackle it again if my crafting skills don't fuse tomorrow. Like you said, I'd like to see what the rewards are for this. Oh, by the way, I replaced that alchemy kit we got in Pike City. It was for the 'traditional' potion crafting, apparently. I got a new one as a reward in the trials."

I blinked in surprise, but that made sense. "Okay. In that case, you can go and get some rest. First thing tomorrow, I'm going to go hunting monsters to train my Dismantle skill. The best case scenario would be me evolving it to the third tier, but I don't know how likely that would be."

"It shouldn't be that hard for you." Diane said, and I looked at her curiously. "Dismantle probably has a high mana burden, if it's how you described it. Any special technique, even for a crafting or gathering skill, still burns mana, just like how I refine alchemic essences. Speaking of which, if you have the inventory space, can you save me a few samples of different materials to practice on when you go out tomorrow? I'd appreciate any blood or venom that you can get, since those will let my player make poisons."

That was an easy enough request, so I readily agreed. With that, Diane hopped up, making her way out to get her own room, and I laid down on the bed to get some rest. One way or another, I had a busy day ahead of me.

The night in Broken Sands was… astonishingly cold, considering the scorching temperature during the day. Though, the buildings were well insulated to maintain a comfortable temperature at night.

In the morning, I woke up and used my wand to make myself some easy bread. Tasteless, maybe, but free is free. As I stood up, preparing to leave, I noticed something new in the room. A large, green bundle resting against the wall, over half a meter wide and with two straps on the back. Attached to it was a note, which I picked up and read.

Off to the dungeon to train. You owe me one platinum. Best backpack I could find. Hope it helps. I couldn't help but smile at that, leaning down to look at the backpack. I could see quite a few pouches and pockets, and an interface opened up when I put it on, showing a second inventory. In total, there were eleven different 'bags' I could use, with the largest being the forty-slot main pouch, and a grand total of a hundred and eighty five inventory slots. This was a massive improvement over my previous inventory, even if it was far less secure.

Right away, I put all eight volumes of the encyclopedia in one of the smaller front pouches. Everything else, I left in my regular inventory for now. There was no way I was putting my regular equipment or the motorcycle in this backpack, after all.

With that taken care of, I left the inn room, flagging down a guard to tell them my plans. At the same time, I suggested that they have two or three people ready if possible, telling them that I had a high mana regeneration, and could work faster than they might expect.

This was easier to explain now than to have them asking questions later, when they saw me using the skill with seemingly no need for a break. Thankfully, Diane had mentioned that before, or I wouldn't have even considered that Dismantle might normally have a Mana Burden attached to it.