6 Chapter 6: Instance Dungeon Exploration
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Ignoring the Heavenly Demon's insistence about having a male bride or something, which he planned to leave for much later, Paul moved on to the matter at hand.
He took out all the materials inside his inventory that could work, finding those high-quality medals from the family of his brother.
They were actually made of mithril, a highly magical material of very expensive cost and quality.
He had not sold these before because he knew he would get into trouble, so he left them there to rot.
But now he had an idea; using two of the medals, he threw them inside the cauldron that was located inside his soul's inner realm.
Using the cauldron's abilities, he heated the metal until it fully melted.
After that, he took out one of the many molds he had within the treasury; this one was made to make canes.
He added some supplementary metal from the treasury too, the lowest-quality Black Spirit Steel, which originally didn't seem compatible with Arcana at all.
However, once both metals merged through the miraculous powers of alchemy, something surprising happened.
FLUOSH!
A dark gold metal was formed; it emanated both the magical aura of Mithril and the martial aura of Black Spirit Steel.
[Y-you made a new metal?!]
The Heavenly Demon was honestly amazed.
Paul ignored him, continuing his work. He used the cane mold to create a cane using this new metal.
The beautiful dark gold cane had an exquisite appearance, with the tip resembling a ferocious dragon, which coiled down across the entire cane.
"Now, to the fun part..."
He took out another item from his inventory; the thugs he killed yesterday did have some loot. Inside their pockets, aside from a few thousand credit coins, Paul also found small blue and red-colored crystals.
They were named Monster Cores, and they were often butchered out of the monster's carcasses. These crystals were formed from the crystallization of Arcana and other energies inside the monsters.
They were a valuable asset, working as batteries and as a basic magic ingredient for all myriad magic artifacts; it was even what perpetually illuminated the streets of Elderbridge.
The thugs he hunted down had around six of these; the blue ones were low quality, and the red ones were high quality. There were no mid-quality ones, which were green-colored.
"They sure are small."
The stronger the monster, the larger their cores would be. These were very small, so the thugs probably only hunted the weakest monsters out there for a living.
"It's still better than what I can do."
He felt frustrated that other people could go explore the world, hunt monsters, grow stronger, get quests, and whatnot.
Since he had been stuck here, he hadn't even been able to experience the enjoyment other players go through.
"If I hadn't gotten lazy, maybe I could have enjoyed the game with a different character."
However, Paul had no way to turn back time; this was all he had, and he worked hard to improve his life in this game world.
"Like this? Here and there."
The Heavenly Demon's presence watched in silence as Vlad kept inscribing runes and magic circles into the cane, using the authority of his own soul. He used his own Soul Ether to do this, making the work much easier and more precise.
"I-I think that's it? Yeah…"
Once he was finally done inscribing, Vlad quickly moved to the next and last step, using Alchemy to quickly combine the runes and all the beast cores he had into the cane.
He had made sure to leave some orifices, where he placed the beast cores inside, and then, through the Alchemy Skill's ability to combine items using various energies, he finished the work.
"Hahh… I'm done, man. I'm so tired…"
The cane in his hands glowed with a beautiful golden light—his first-ever master opus!
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have successfully synthesized the [Luxurious Apprentice Wizard's Cane (A Grade)] x1!]
[The Subclass Skill: [Alchemy (C): Lv3] has Leveled Up!]
[The Subclass Skill: [Alchemy (C): Lv4] has Leveled Up!]
[You learned the Subclass Skill: [Crafting (D): Lv1]!]
[The Subclass Skill: [Crafting (D): Lv1] has Leveled Up!]
[You learned the Subclass Skill: [Runic Engravement (B): Lv1]!]
[The Subclass Skill: [Runic Engravement (B): Lv1] has Leveled Up!]
"A Grade… And so many Skills! Did I really do this?! Holy shit…" Paul quickly forgot all the bad things he went through that day, feeling completely fulfilled. "I did this…"
He almost passed out on the floor of his room, if it wasn't because he had previously taken some soul and stamina pills, which quickly recovered his exhaustion.
[Honestly, I'm impressed.]
The Heavenly Demon couldn't believe his eyes. Paul had created something incredible by just thinking about it and doing it.
He had investigated and prepared too, but even then, what he had created was made using barely any materials he had around.
It was all his own creativity and wits.
"I think it works fine. Let's see… {Float}!"
FLASH!
Suddenly, Vlad started floating, using the cane as the catalyzer of the spell.
And this time, his Arcana was not being drained.
The cane had its own internalized amount of Arcane worth five beast cores—three low-grade and two high-grade ones.
They were small, but even then, they had quite a lot of Arcana.
Above all, the Mithril itself also had magic within; this also ended up increasing the amount of internal Arcana that the cane possessed.
Usually, a low-grade beast core can power up a streetlamp for a whole week. That streetlamp is lit up using a basic spell that costs almost the same as Float, called "Ember.".
Therefore…
"I think I could use this for a while…" Paul muttered. "D-Did I actually solve my movement problem? Did I?!"
He felt joyous and incredibly happy. Although he would still rather have his sister by his side because her Telekinesis was much better than Float, this was a great step forward!
He gave the cane one last look and created equipment items that had their own status after all.
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[Luxurious Apprentice Wizard's Cane]
{Item Type}: [Magic Wand] [Cane] [Weapon]
{Item Quality}: [A Grade]
{Item Requirement}: [Unlock the Arcana Stat]
{Item Durability}: [10.000/10.000]
{Item Effects}: [Arcana]: [12.000/12.000] [Physical Damage]: [500] [Magic Damage]: [2.500]
{Runic Engravements}: [Tier 1 Wind Spell: Float] [Tier 1 Fire Spell: Fireball] [Tier 1 Earth Spell: Stone Shield] [Tier 1 Ice Spell: Ice Shard] [Tier 1 Light Spell: Shine] [Tier 1 Water Spell: Water Bubble]
{Description}
A Special Magic Wand made by a crippled magician to facilitate his own travels using Float and the usage of other basic spells for basic self-defense. It is rather lackluster compared to other staffs and wands at its rank, but it is really good at preserving and restoring its own Arcana while also giving anybody who knows magic the ability to conjure a lot of spells easily.
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Paul had engraved not one, but six different spells into the entire cane, using every space he could find to do so! He used the six basic elemental spells he saw in the guide, which were very useful in many situations, even if a bit weak.
"This is good enough." Vlad nodded, feeling proud of his creation. "Anyways, it's getting late; I gotta go…"
He felt a bit worried about leaving Camilla alone, so he did his best to wake her up and tell her at least, but the girl wouldn't wake up, very deep in her slumber.
[Don't worry about her safety; this house has some sort of magic ward on it; I noticed it once you walked outside. It only allows members of the family to get inside.
"Hah, well… I hope so."
Without any time to waste, Paul quickly made his way to the town square. Because it was always night in Obscuritas, people differentiated the active hours from the more inactive hours of each day through the changes in the moons.
In Obscuritas, three different moons were large enough to be seen by anybody: the Silver Moon, Selene; the Green Moon, Europa; and the Red Moon, Achlys. They were the guiders of the night for all members and were often praised as goddesses on their own accord, with religions surrounding each moon.
Usually, the Red Moon Achlys was said to be the mother of vampires and demons; the Green Moon Europa was said to be the protector of orcs and ogres; and the Silver Moon Selene was thought to be the guardian of werewolves and moon elves.
Their full-moon states interchanged every 8 hours, making out the 24 hours of a day once a cycle finished, starting with Selene, then Europe, and lastly Achlys.
Right now, Selene's light was completely gone, and Europe's light was already becoming lighter, while Achlys' crimson light became more noticeable. Based on this, the inhabitants of Obscuritas could tell that it would soon be 5 p.m.
"I still can't get used to never seeing the sun." Vlad sighed.
However, he thanked it deep down because he knew that vampires had really deadly weaknesses against the sun and holy light, so it was better if there was no sun to hide from.
Obscuritas was a world almost perfect for vampires; none of their weaknesses were present, making them incredibly strong amidst the many other races.
Using his cane's {Float} spell and the cane itself to move across the floor, Vlad pretended to simply be a rather fancy-looking young wizard, using a golden cane to move around as if he were a gentleman.
He gained some eyes from people, which naturally made him nervous because his stats were currently reduced by 90%! He wasn't in his strongest state, and he wanted to save his Heavenly Demon Trait for later.
However, nobody seemed to want to mess with a wizard, as they only glared at him but didn't do anything to him.
He also looked much cleaner as he got himself some better-looking clothes, and he actually resembled a noble vampire now.
People feared vampires in Obscuritas, even more in the Empire of Iron Blood, and even in the more rural areas.
And Vlad was doing his best to look as intimidating as possible.
"So where is he?"
He looked around, standing in the town square and deactivating the Float Spell to save his wand's Arcana for now.
Chris never told Paul his avatar's appearance, so he had no idea where to look to begin with!
"Why did he keep his avatar's appearance a secret? Is it some kind of big orc or something? Haha, that would be hilarious and useful; a bulky tank wouldn't be so bad," Paul laughed after imagining the cute Chris controlling a giant brute orc. "Or maybe he got a female avatar? Perhaps he might've gotten embarrassed about that too…"
"Hey… Excuse me, are you… Um, are you Vlad? Paul?"
Suddenly, as Vlad decided to sit down near the fountain in the town square, he heard a playful voice ring behind him. It was a voice slightly more high-pitched than that of Chris.
But he definitely recognized that voice anyway!
"Chris?"
He looked behind him and found someone.
"Y-Yeah, woah, you're really handsome—I mean, you look like the typical handsome vampire guy, ahem…" Chris tried to play it cool, despite his appearance.
"I-Is it really you?" Paul was having a hard time looking at him.
Why?
It wasn't because he was hideous.
He didn't look like an orc.
He wasn't exactly a girl, either.
A lot of people took a glance at Chris from time to time, too.
His appearance, although clearly male, was stunningly adorable and, for lack of a better word, alluringly sexy.
There was an aura of pure charm and beauty surrounding him.
His avatar's appearance was actually quite similar to his real appearance!
However, he was slightly taller and leaner—at least three centimeters taller. He had a long, black-colored tail with a pointy, heart-shaped tip.
His black hair was now red, with a small ponytail behind and also a pair of small, cute horns growing from his forehead.
His skin was as pale and white as charcoal, and his blue eyes had become a bright pink color.
Above all, his clothes!
It seemed poor. Chris didn't have much of an option in terms of equipment options; his upbringing ended up giving him the sexiest ones a male could wear in this fantasy world.
Tight black latex shorts adorned his beautiful thighs, and his only footwear was a pair of black boots that reached as high as his thighs, resembling stockings. There was no armor covering his chest, but a piece of this same black latex leather wrapped around his chest only, revealing his cute belly button to the world.
While in the surprise of looking at his extremely cute and sexy appearance, Paul noticed a pair of tiny demon-like wings behind his back.
"So… Well, I turned into an incubus... You may laugh right now if you want," Chris sighed.
"Pfff…" Paul was surprised at first, but he couldn't miss this opportunity. "Hahaha! Seriously, an Incubus from all races? I can tell why you were so afraid of showing me what you became. And why were you so angry?"
"Uuggh! Stop rubbing it on me! I told you that you could laugh, nothing else!" Chris said angrily, which only made him cuter; his tail was waving around as he got furious, and he crossed his arms, sighing. "I hate these clothes! What kind of fetishistic world is this for demons to wear these clothes?"
"I thought you would like that, haha!" Paul laughed.
"I don't! I want real armor!" Chris complained. "But this race has like... Some sort of restriction in terms of clothes: I get weaker if I cover my entire body with clothes too, for some reason. A-And I have something called… Lust Stigma."
Suddenly, Paul's eyes widened as he saw a very sexy womb tattoo sitting right below Chris' belly. It was glowing with pink and purple light for some reason.
"Argh, why is it glowing?!" Chris cried.
He suddenly saw a system message that Paul, thankfully, couldn't.
[The user's [Lust Stigma (Tier 1: Rank 1)] has activated after sensing the presence of a suitable target.]
[Do you wish to release {Enchanting Pheromones} to facilitate the process of seduction?]
[Once seduction is successful, draining the target out of their life force and energies can help the user become stronger.]
[It is highly advised to try and seduce many targets!]
"SHUT UP!"
Chris screamed angrily, feeling more embarrassed than ever before, waving his hand until the system message disappeared.
"C-Chris?" Paul felt a bit scared.
"A-Ah! S-Sorry… I'm fine; I just am tired of this stupid character. I think I'm going to delete my account. Forget everything, Paul. Sorry, but I'm-" Chris felt too embarrassed and was about to log out.
"No, wait, Chris, please don't leave!" Paul suddenly stopped him, extending his hand and gently grabbing Chris' hand.
"Paul?" Chris wondered, blushing a bit.
"I-I need your help; seriously, I really need it. My character is also really flawed! I need party members, people that could give me a hand." Paul sighed. "And well, I got a sister in this game now, and I worry about her... So can you give it a try again? Maybe you have another power you could use; don't give up yet."
"Ugh…" Chris crossed his arms, looking at Paul in the eyes. "…"
But deep down, Chris' heart was racing.
Paul's avatar appearance was, without a doubt, very handsome and charming.
Chris had blushed several times, and he was still doing so as Vlad held his hand.
"Fine…" Chris nodded. "My character's name is Alitheus Lilithie, yours Vlad, right?"
"Yeah, not like it matters between Players, but when talking to NPCs, they will only recognize your player's name," Paul nodded. "Let's go with Alith for easy-to-remember names… Now, tell me how your power exactly works?"
"D-Do I really need to? It's super embarrassing!" Chris said. "It's like this weird fetishistic thing that some perverted old man made in the game, and I unluckily got it."
"W-What?" Paul muttered in confusion.
"Just look at my status, and you'll see..." Chris sighed, looking elsewhere as Paul glanced at his status.
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[Player Name]: [Alitheus Lilithie]
[Titles]: [Troublemaking Brat]
[Lust Stigma]: [Energy Absorption Realm (Tier 1: Rank 1)]
[???]: [Yet to be unlocked]
[Race]: [Half-Incubus (Fairy)]
[Class]: [Mischievous Demon: ★]
[Subclass]: [None]
[Sin Power]: [1.200]
[Strength]: [400]
[Vitality]: [900]
[Dexterity]: [1.000]
[Charm]: [2.000]
[Character Background Traits]: [Fairy Spirit Heart (Legendary Grade)]
[Character Background Flaws]: [Insatiable (Legendary Grade)]
[Racial Skills (3/5)]
[Flight (B): Lv1] [Dream Eater (A): Lv1] [Charming Aura (B): Lv1]
[Class Skills (2/5)]
[Illusionist (B): Lv1] [Shenanigans (C): Lv1]
[Subclass Skills (1/5)]
[Detailed Observation (D): Lv1]
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"Ah…"
Paul analyzed Chris' status with Vlad's sharp, crimson eyes.
"So you have the Sin Power and Charm Stats, I see… And that… Lust Stigma is your progression ability?" wondered Paul. "Yikes… And what's insatiable?"
"That I… my "needs" become stronger and stronger the more time passes without "eating"…" Chris blushed. "So it's like that, yeah. See? I'll just delete the account; this is too much."
"No, I think I got an idea. You're thinking things wrongly; I doubt you need to actually be having... You know that," Paul said. "Leave it to me; let's go to a Dungeon now. I have a new wand, and I am confident we can do something."
"Why is he so confident out of nowhere? Is this really Paul?" Chris wondered as he nodded obediently at Paul's proposal. "Sure…? I mean, I guess? What else do I have to lose at this point? Lead the way, captain~"
The party moved to the Dungeon Waiting Area at Elderbridge Village; there was a huge, crimson-colored gate sitting in the middle of the southern plaza to the town square.
"What's this?" Chris wondered.
"This is the entrance to the instance dungeons; anybody can enter them if we enter together as a party, and we'll be brought together to the same "server." It's like every time someone goes inside, a special dungeon only for them is made, get it?" Paul tried to explain.
"Oooh, okay, I've seen that before." Chris nodded. "You're such a nerd knowing all of this so easily; did you read the forums of the game or something~?" he smiled teasingly yet again!
"I… I mean, yeah, I did that." Vlad felt slightly embarrassed. "Anyways, look."
[Beginner Dungeon Entrance: Recommended Strength Tier 1 ~ 3]
[Available Dungeons]: [Wild Dog Plains (Tier 1)] [Blood Bat King's Cave (Tier 1~2)] [Obsidian Skeleton Lord Lair (Tier 2 ~ 3)]
"There's the list of dungeons we can enter," Vlad said. "I would say to enter Tier 1 first, to get used to everything and how they work."
"Hmm, but that's a bit lame; let's go to the hardest one!" Chris smiled. "Maybe I can finally get some clothes out of it? And some epic loot or whatever! I'm so bored."
"I can tell!" Paul facepalmed. "Let's go to the first one anyway; being reckless has no point; grinding efficiently and quickly is better than trying our hardest in that Tier 3 Dungeon; it's not worth the effort for now."
"Dude, you're so dull... Come on!" Chris kept insisting.
"No is no, Chris; let's be diligent. Let's go." Paul offered his hand to him.
"W-What?" Chris asked embarrassedly.
"Grab my hand." Paul smiled gently, his handsome vampire face making Chris shiver.
"O-Okay?" Chris grabbed his soft hand as the two walked towards the portal in front of them, once the party before them had already gone in.
Paul selected the Dungeon they wanted to go to, and both were teleported away.
FLASH!
"And we're here, see?" Vlad explained, looking around.
"Wait, it was only for this? I thought… Ah, never mind," Chris shrugged. "Hey, where are you going?! Wait!"
Chris started chasing Paul as he moved across the dark plains; they had just arrived.
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