NOVEL NEXT Chapter 67: Gathering Intel
With a total of twenty-one thousand mana generation per hour, it takes me two and a half hours to completely refill my Kyhosa, but we have to wait longer for the warriors to refill their mana so I use the extra time to make mental resistance cloaks for everyone. The emergency hoods I made during the battle were made in haste and I didn’t have time to decorate or properly fit them; these cloaks, though, are proper Runalymo attire. They’re more carefully made and better enchanted; not only do they help resist mental attacks, but they also warn that such attempts were made.
I use earth slime cores, which function similarly to Domr pearls in that they help increase an item's enchantment allowance while also giving their material bonus to the wearer, which is usually some form of earth-type bonus.
After making the cloaks, which almost make it look like we are wearing a uniform, I scout the second floor more carefully, to prevent another Mind Slime fiasco. The trap enchantments and mechanisms are more complicated and more deadly and the ‘normal’ slimes are also stronger, although nothing new except for a higher ratio of essence type slimes, Poison, metal, speed, sound, even a gold essence slime is found, I'll lead the group to the gold slime eventually; I want to see what its materials can do.
The first mini-boss I see is now fully in the Grand tier with an unknown fire-type essence. I ask Esofy to look for it and report its level.
Blast Slime (Grand), level 310 Regenerator (Grand)
An explosion type – I honestly don't like the sound of that – and its regeneration will make it hard to kill. Although it may be susceptible to high burst damage that doesn't give it the chance to regenerate.
I scout around, marking the map with details, and find several treasure chests. I even find a huge ornate chest with true gold inlays made with some unknown earth essence.
The second mini-boss we find is a speed essence slime; instead of being huge like the other mini-bosses and bosses we’ve seen, this one is tiny.
Speed Slime (Grand), Level 317 Size Manipulator (Grand)
This one also looks very annoying.
I note several groups of roaming slimes and what looks like a roaming boss.
Gluttony Slime (Grand), Level 313 Predatory Hunter (Grand)
This one looks easy for me; my Clone can't be eaten, but the rest of the group? They won't like it. The Gluttony Slime has a water essence, not sure how that will fare for us, but I'm not keen on finding out.
"Can't I just blast all the bosses from here? That will make it much easier for us," I ask with a sigh.
"I would love to let you, Alysara, but we need to learn how to deal with them too. We can't rely on you all the time," Esofy makes a fair argument. It's the same situation as relying on the Guardian all the time; it made us weak. We need to learn how to fend for ourselves, and this, unfortunately, means diving headfirst into danger.
"Alright, then let's plan on how to defeat the roaming boss. We may encounter it, and we need to be ready for it," I sit my Clone down as everyone else rearranges themselves; we form a circle, all sitting cross-legged.
"First, we need to engage it on our terms," Esofy suggests. "We attack it. We don't let it attack us unless we have a defensive advantage" Everyone nods. It is better to attack it when we are prepared for it than to be taken by surprise or already engaging in another fight.
"It's a hunter type, and going by the name of the race it may try to envelop us as a form of attack, so we need to plan against that," Chyzu says, thinking with a hand on her chin.
"We summon walls of water, and I freeze them with ice magic," I suggest.
"It'll take too long." Irela shoots down my suggestion. "Jowaru and I can summon walls of metal quickly, so if it does try that, we can block it."
"What if it can melt your metal? Not only will you lose your defense but also your means of attack." I shoot down Irela’s suggestion in turn. She shoots a glare at me. "It's not unreasonable. It may have some way to dissolve things it envelops," I defend myself.
"Alysara is right; it's too risky. You'll lose your weapons for the rest of the dive into these ruins," Kadona agrees with me, looking sternly at Irela.
"Fine! But how can we defend against its attacks then?" Irela asks, annoyed.
"That's why we are discussing this," Kadona replies.
Irela just huffs with her arms crossed and waits for some other suggestion.
"Can't we just freeze it like the other boss?" Tana suggests.
"Charging spells takes too much time; half of us could be dead by then," Tulalo answers.
"Hmm, maybe we don't have to?" I say, thinking out loud. "Sometimes the best defense is a good offense..."
"What are you considering?" Klora asks, eyebrows raised.
"Spell crystals are generally very volatile, so if I make each of us one or two ice spell crystals, we could toss them into the slime and freeze it that way," I say, fragments of my memory resurfacing with images of grenades.
"That could work, but how long will it take to make twenty spell crystals, two for each of us?" Chyzu questions. By her expression, she already knows the answer.
"Too long," I say with a defeated sigh. Then I remember something; I’d mostly forgotten about this, since I didn’t have a proper chance to use it before my Evolution upgraded my memory, so I actually had to remember it. "Buuuuttt..." I say, drawing out the word. "If I weave a precharged ice spell... it would let anyone be able to cast it" This is it, this is the answer. Weaved spells, made by one of my breakthroughs in [Mana Manipulation], are just as volatile as spell crystals but can be discharged like a fantasy spell scroll. It's hard to get right, but we have time to prepare.
"That could work," Kadona says, her hand still on her chin. "But will it work just as well?"
"I've only tested it on smaller spells, which seem to work fine, but for charged spells? It'll only take ten minutes to make one." I reply.
"Then let's try it out," Tulalo says.
I start charging my spell and then weave the mana. About one thousand points of charged mana should make about half a square meter of cloth, but the end result is about twenty percent smaller than it should be; clearly, there is some loss in the weaving process. No matter, I'll just weave more mana.
Using the spell cloth, it disintegrates into a beam of freezing mana that chills the air of the boss room that we are in.
With the test complete, I start weaving five thousand mana into a spell cloth; however, the end result is significantly smaller than expected. The cloth should have been about two square meters in area factoring in the twenty percent loss, but it's even smaller, losing a total of about twenty-five percent of the mana. It seems like there is more loss the more mana you try to weave. Still, losing a thousand mana is not something I like; there has to be a better way to do this.
I enter my state of focus for [Sense Mana] to get a better picture of what is going on, then I charge up another spell and keep charging it until it starts humming and vibrating – like my charged beauty spear had – at around seven thousand mana. With seven hundred and twenty wisdom, it seems that the amount of mana I can charge is ten times my wisdom. I weave the spell, a little over thirty percent being lost.
The mana arranges into a structure just like normal mana silk. It is somehow 'locked' loosely into place; however, this isn't a perfect application of the skill, mana threads are brought too close to each other, making them become way more closely locked together and forming clumps of mana that can't be used effectively. Other mana is flung entirely out of the webbing that makes up the mana silk and is lost. The only way to fix these is to get better at [Mana Manipulation].
"Right, this will work, but the efficiency of making the spell cloth is pretty bad," I complain.
"At least we have two spell cloths. We should make more for the other bosses, especially the one at the end of this floor," Uloru suggests.
"So, what will we do if the ice spell doesn't work?" Irela groans at my question.
"And what if it does? Do we seriously have to plan for every conceivable outcome?" Irela complains.
"W-What's the harm in doing so? I-If we don't, we could die," Tana speaks up, stammering a little.
Irela flops on her back with another groan. "Wake me up when you're done." We let her sleep, not like she would contribute much with her mood.
Hours go by, and I make several more spell cloths as we plan and prepare for each boss. All the while, I continue mapping out the second floor. It is larger than the first and, while I did find the entrance to the next floor, it is blocked off by another wall of hardened slime, preventing us from moving past. The floor boss is nowhere to be seen, but I do find three more mini-bosses.
Fortress Slime (Grand), Level 300 Vitality Juggernaut (Grand)
Everwinter Slime (Grand), Level 300 Ethereal Blizzard (Grand)
Mana Slime (Grand), Level 300 Mana Fountain (Grand)
An armored type and what looks like two mage slimes. Honestly, they all sound like a pain to deal with, but so far we have a plan for all of them.
We have no idea what to expect from the Mana Slime other than a general caster. Tana will be absolutely vital against the ice slime, which may have a Bond class. The tank slime might just be a tough nut to crack with no good way to deal damage, but we prepare in the event that it is just as hard-hitting as the rest. The Blast Slime, it's reasonable to say, is an explosion slime so we plan to hit it from a distance. The speed and size manipulating slime will be countered with slow spells and my homing fairies.
There's just one problem; despite all of our plans, we lack intel on the monster's skills, which may well be our undoing. We need intel on how the bosses operate; we can take a million guesses, but we just don't know. To combat this weakness, we agree to send my clones to gather the necessary information.
Before I start testing the bosses, however, I first want to spend my stat points since I am sitting on over one thousand one hundred of them. I decide to have a total of five hundred points spent on my intelligence, putting three hundred more into it. This leaves me with eight hundred points, another three hundred go into my wisdom, and then two hundred each into mana and mana generation.
Unused stat points: 10
Mana: 200 [8200] (+10414)
Vitality: 100 [1100]
Strength: 9 [90] (-18)
Agility: 12 [120] (-12)
Endurance: 10 [100]
Intelligence: 32 [1632] (+979.2)
Wisdom: 24 [1224] (+673.2)
Charisma: 18 [180] (+32)
Welp, my mana regen has shot through the roof now. My tails are giving off even more mana, and my surroundings are filling up with mana faster than ever, although it’s mostly beauty and wisdom essence.
I start with the Blast Slime. With an invisible clone, I walk into the room. The boss doesn't seem to sense my presence; I mark down that weakness. I observe its mana core and vitality levels. Its mana is very high, as is its mana generation; however, its vitality is very low, unusually so. Much lower than what one would expect from a mini-boss, although ‘boss’ is more just a high level, high tier monster. The next things to test would have to be its defensive and offensive capabilities; first, I'll provoke it with my attack.
I charge my beauty spear; a good way to test defenses is through a high powered attack, right? Not only can I see how tough and resistant to damage it is but also get a good measure of just how much vitality and vitality regeneration it has. I suppose I have a better understanding of how much damage my fairies do, but [Fairy Strike] deals less damage so the charged spear allows me to gain more information overall.
After pumping one thousand mana into it, then two thousand mana, I still don't sense a reaction from the Blast Slime. A surprise attack on this one will be vital in getting the upper hand. At seven thousand mana, my previous maximum charge The Blast Slime doesn't even show a hint of any danger sensing skills. Since I raised my wisdom, my new maximum is almost nineteen thousand. Twelve thousand mana and now the spear is starting to show signs of power; it pulsates gently. Fifteen thousand and the spear is beginning to vibrate and making a high pitched sound, this time the Blast Slime wiggles from side to side as if looking for the source of the sound. Seventeen thousand, and now the Blast slime looks agitated; it knows something is nearby but doesn't know what.
At eighteen and a half thousand mana charged, I cast [Beauty Enhancement] on my spear, further nudging it into instability while watching the unstable mana closely so I don’t overdo it and trying to get as close to the line as I can. The spear grows larger in my hands, a second dose making it fit for a large adult, a third turning the spear into a giant’s weapon - or just one that matches Uloru and Kadonas’ weapons in ‘overly large fantasy’ style. I cast a speed spell on myself and, taking inspiration from one of the Kheshamo warriors I saw fight in the tournament, I begin [Acting] the role of Blitz Spear Master. With a burst of speed that leaves dust in my wake, I thrust deep and hard into the core of the Blast Slime. Beauty essence erupts into the core, burning out its vitality. I watch as its regeneration can't keep up with the sudden burst of damage, and then the slime slides off the core just as my spear runs out of mana and vanishes.
"Oops," I mutter. I wasn't supposed to one-shot the boss like that... It’s its fault for not having a good sensing skill! Actually, now that I think about it, I am getting insane boosts to my beauty spells. Six hundred from my race, five hundred from my Kyhosa, however much my intelligence gives me, my Bond level, the [Beauty Enhancement] the thousands of mana put into that spear, the efficient delivery of the damage. All of it meant my damage output killed this boss.
Ting! You have killed a Blast Slime (Grand), Regenerator (Grand) Level 310, extra experience has been rewarded for being under-leveled and solo.
I was simply testing its ability to take damage. I didn't realize just how strong my attack was, I swear!
Ting! Your Bond has obtained levels 286-290!
Ting! Your Class, Fairy Summoner, has obtained levels 148-154! 90 status points awarded.
"Umm, I might have accidentally killed the Blast Slime," I say aloud.
"How do you accidentally kill a boss monster?!" Uloru says, a hint of disbelief in her voice.
"I was testing its defensive capabilities, but I guess it wasn't all that tough? I think it specialized in high damage and high regeneration and didn't have very much vitality and defense?" It's still hard to know how much vitality is a lot for level three hundred monsters, but it definitely had less than all the others I've seen.
"Well, if there is a next time, then that'll be good to know," Esofy gives a resigned sigh.
Moving onto the Fortress Slime, it also doesn't sense my presence. It could just be that my clone, while invisible, can only be detected by a form of mana detection. The Mind Slime noticed me because it could sense mental presences, but this Fortress Slime doesn't have anything like that.
I am confident that even at full power and with my new stats, I won't be able to kill this slime. Its vitality is the most I've seen, excluding the Guardian. The Fortress Slime should also have an incredible defense, so my attacks shouldn't count as much as they did against the Blast Slime. Its mana, however, is basically nonexistent; it seems to be focused purely on its defense.
I thrust my charged spear into the slime, equally powerful as the one I killed the Blast Slime with, noting just how much harder it is to penetrate slime filled with an unknown earth essence. About twenty percent of my spear's mana is spent just going through the slime; once the spear hits the core, the vitality rapidly drops by about fifteen percent. I do not miss the spell resistance this slime seems to have: a true tank. The Fortress Slime wriggles angrily and juts out spikes in all directions, piercing the stone walls of the room over and over again. I note down that the strength is enough to crack the unusually hard stone.
After testing the Fortress Slime I move over to the Mana Slime which immediately sees me and unleashes a hellfire of flames. My clone simply stands in the fire and charges an attack while looking at its mana and vitality levels. Its mana generation is easily five or six times higher than my own and its mana reserves are even higher. Its vitality is what I'd expect from a mage boss. The boss stops the fire and uses ice mana to the same effect. It switches again this time to earth, then lightning. I note how it's trying to figure out my weakness by switching to opposites. I attack with only three thousand mana in my spear when the boss uses light spells; I have to know its defensive capability before it uses dark spells and destroys my clone. My spear chunks its vitality down, so its defense is about what I'd expect.
My clone is destroyed by the next spell but I already have another running to the next target for information.
The Speed Slime doesn't notice my presence either, so I stab it with a powerful attack and remove almost half of its vitality. Its resistance to attacks seems to be about average, it didn't completely ignore it like the Blast Slime, nor did it focus on it like the Fortress Slime. Its vitality is a little higher than the Mana Slime, by about ten to fifteen percent. The slime immediately starts to bounces around like a ricocheting bullet after being attacked. It'd be a blur to normal eyes, even I have a difficult time keeping track of it. It only gets faster as it casts a speed buff on itself. My guess is that it attacks with its body, which appears to be shrunken. All that mass with that amount of speed and in that tiny body will pack a powerful punch. I'll need to weave several force-absorbing blankets to bleed it of its speed and remove its one trick. I do notice the cracks it leaves behind when bouncing off the walls; it is kind of hard to miss when the sudden cracking sound meets my clone's ears.
Uloru's weight manipulation won't work. Weight is mass times a force, usually gravity. By manipulating the strength and direction of gravity’s pull on an object, she can change the weight of things, but the mass remains the same. Its attack uses its mass times speed, so manipulating its weight won't do much; in fact, it might help it. Casting slow spells on it and bleeding it of speed will be the key to defeating this boss.
I leave the Speed Slime, my invisible clone walking away as if nothing happened. The destruction the Speed Slime is causing still echoes throughout the halls.
Arriving at the Everwinter Slime, it also doesn't notice me. My bet is that it can sense temperature, which my clone doesn’t affect. Its mana is high, and its vitality is about the same as the Mana Slime. Its defense is on par with the Mana Slime, but its attack has the entire room and adjacent halls frozen solid in a matter of seconds. With its race, Bond, and class all geared toward the ice element it's getting huge bonuses to its ice spells. Many layers of fire silk will be needed to survive this one.
I report my findings back to the group, and we make the necessary preparations.