NOVEL NEXT Chapter 39: Intermediate Level
(Goblin Brute)
(HP: 500)
(Rank 1 Stray!)
Floating over the doomed terrain, Darien encountered a new batch of monsters.
He passed through a darker tunnel, shrouded in total shadows.
As he appeared from the swathe, a group of monsters was waiting for him, stronger and larger than the last he had dealt with behind.
'It seems this is a goblin-ridden dungeon alone. I wonder if other parties are experiencing the same case.'
Darien thought as he remained hovering in the air, the height of his gravity-manipulation skill boosted after Ascension.
The Goblin Brutes snarled, growled, and leapt at him, but all missed as the Warrior was just out of reach, seemingly mocking them by doing nothing and only watching.
Unlike the goons, the brutes had slightly better weapons in their possession.
In the place of rusty daggers, they had rusty axes instead, with debilitated shields to make up their arsenal.
Slightly smarter too, the Goblin Brutes were frustrated at being unable to touch Darien, so they conceived other means to reach him.
With shrieks of rage, they hurled their heavier weapons upward with bestial strength, hoping to strike him down from above.
Others scrambled onto each other's backs to gain the height to reach the floating warrior.
Darien spectated their futile actions before he lunged into action, parrying their flung axes mid-air, before drifting to a slow stop with his palm outstretched.
The ten Goblin Brutes froze when a large crimson circle with glowing glyphs within flared into existence ahead of Darien's outstretched hand.
Each glyph marking pulsed with heat, growing brighter and brighter until it was just one scorching scarlet ball.
Darien released <Solar Purge>, and the sphere erupted, flooding the dungeon in a wave of blinding solar fire that expanded outward like a star being born.
The Goblin Brutes shrieked as their flesh and weapons disintegrated under the thermal annihilation.
Even the far walls of the dungeon glowed faintly red as an aftereffect.
[You slayed a Rank 1 Monster! You get 480 XP!]
[You slayed a Rank 1 Monster! You get 430 XP!]
[You slayed a Rank 1 Monster! You get 500 XP!] x8
'Hmm. This spell is very strong even at 4-star. Imagine how powerful it would be at max. It seems I have truly created a game-changer.'
Lowering his hand, Darien got a good view of his spell's consequences.
There was still crackling and burning even after the bodies of the goblins had been erased. What was left now was scorched dungeon earth and the choking stench of ash.
[Knight Rank: Adept 5770/5000]
Ding!
(Congratulations on reaching Rank 1 Intermediate)
(+1 points all Attributes)
[Knight Rank: Intermediate 770/15000]
'I've been seeing these attribute points. I wonder what effect it has on my HP now…'
Darien thought. A second later, he summoned the panel to see for himself.
[HP: 328 >>> 348]
'This is still too low…'
He wasn't doubting his capability to obliterate any monster that came his way; the desolation before him was proof enough.
Darien only wanted assurance within, because he knew a hitpoint value like this was risky.
When matched up against a single strike by a Calamity Rank beast, his story could end prematurely.
'As always, a new skill would solve this problem in a heartbeat,' he mused as he summoned the Creation Panel, his idea clearer than ever.
[Skill frame established]
[Name: Unnamed]
[Description: Description failed! Unmatched Intelligence requirement!]
[Cost: 4000 SP]
'What…?'
Skill-making denial was something he hadn't experienced in a long while, so receiving the prompt now was startling for Darien.
He had just wanted to make a skill that granted the ability to passively increase his overall vitality, but it seemed his mentality wasn't high enough to match.
'I even have enough skill points to get it…'
Sighing, Darien wondered if there was an alternative he could make that might be different in nature, but would still serve him the same purpose at the end of everything.
[Skill frame established]
[Name: Unnamed]
[Description: Description failed! Unmatched Intelligence requirement!]
[Cost: 3000 SP]
There wasn't much difference in this attempt from him either.
He aimed to make a passive skill too, but this one would stack attribute points over time.
If he had made the skill, Intelligence would steadily grow too, and would prevent more skill-making friction.
Unfortunately, the system slammed him with the same blockade, a reminder that he might just be outpacing his own shadow.
Focusing back on reality, Darien's grip on his weapon tightened as he reminded himself that he still had a dungeon to clear.
He could tinker and tinker with his ideas on the nature of the two failed skills until one adjustment was enough to match his current Intelligence, but now wasn't the time for that.
This made him more satisfied with the 100x XP skill he had created.
Since attribute points now came only with each level-up, 100x XP had just prevented long stagnation with his current values.
As long as monsters kept falling, his growth would outpace others' by leagues.
Speaking of others, his party mates finally defeated the Goblin Goons.
They trudged out of the first tier into the wider, smoky hall where he hovered in the air.
The stench of charred flesh still lingered thick in the air, goblin remains scattered like blackened husks across the floor.
Exhaustion blemished the faces of Jakob, Ramsey, Ayn, and Bowen, but when they saw Darien and the destruction he was responsible for, their faces paled with shock.
Ayn was the most stupefied out of the four, if you ignored Jakob's fallen jaw.
With a trembling staff, he stared at the scorched scene and Darien calmly in the air, thinking to himself who knows what.
None of them could believe what they were seeing. Not only was the destruction before them overwhelming, but it was also impossible.
Everything about it clashed with what they had been taught at the Academy: no Rank 1 Novice should wield this much devastation, no first dungeon should look like a Calamity had swept through it.
This was common sense for any warrior!
'This guy…' Ayn thought, swallowing hard as his own staff dripped goblin gore.
The sight of Darien hovering mid-air was proof of Cosmic affinity, while the waste in the hall definitely meant Fire affinity.
Jakob felt his thoughts spinning as he remembered the time he had witnessed Darien conjure an ice spear.
'Ice. Fire. Cosmic…?'
'How many paths does this bastard walk?!'
Ayn knew he couldn't doubt the obvious fact now that Darien could be an all-caster, both elemental and mystique.
Now he just wanted to know who exactly he was.
"Jakob… where did you even meet this guy?"
Still dazed, Jakob replied with a nervous laugh, "Just one day, suddenly, in Mirielle's house. I thought he was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen."