A Candy For You

"Guess I needed 20 more of these huh."

Ethan fetched all the drops in his inventory.

There were 30 mana gems, exactly the number of monsters he had cleared a while ago. These gems were expected to be dropped 100% from the dungeon monsters.

He also collected a total of 10 copper coins. Noting the drop rate of coins, it was already considered to be a bit of good luck.

Other than these things, there were also 10 Craze Fangs, 10 Craze Claws, and a common wood Staff that adds 5 Magical Attack (MA).

The items in the game were divided into three categories; Equipment, Accessories, and Materials.

These items were rated by rarity. From common, uncommon, rare, epic, and legendary.

«Equipment» was often split into seven parts; the head, shoulder and arms, chest, waist, hands, legs, and feet.

It was also subcategorized into types; cloth, leather, metal, and special plate (such as scales or skin of the monster).

The «Accessories» on the other hand were items that can be worn outside of the seven parts. Such as rings, necklaces, brooch, and even eyeglasses.

Lastly, the «Materials.»

These kinds of items were often part of the big group.

It can be often sold in NPC shops or used for other purposes such as making potions, upgrading a piece of weapon equipment, or creating a new item.

However, since these items have vague and short descriptions in their panel, researching what are their proper usage was necessary.

After sorting out his inventory, Ethan called out his stats panel.

He distributed the 15 attribute points he gained from three levels.

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[Status]

Name: Samael

Race: Demon

Profession: Witch (Untitled)

Sub-Profession: —

Level: 4

EXP: 290/1000

Health: 200/200

Mana: 520/520

Physical Attack: 1~5

Magical Attack: 45~50

• STR: 1

• MGC: 10

• INT: 6

• VIT: 2

• CON: 2

• DEX: 8

• AGI: 5

• PRC: 2

• END: 2

Attribute points: 0

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[Title]

• Apprentice Of The Witch (temporary)

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[Spells]

• Basic (2)

• Intermediate (2)

• Advance (1)

Spell points: 4

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[Race Bonus]

• Innate Ability: Arcane Specialist

• Talent: Mana Blood

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Even with race bonus points, Ethan still places points in his MGC and INT attributes.

Aside from magical damage, it was necessary to further increase his mana, the mana regeneration, and the cooldown reduction of his spells.

A mage-type profession with a low mana pool and high cooldown spells was not a mage—it was, however, a lump of easy meat.

Ethan also allocates points on VIT, CON, and END attribute to raise his survivability.

As a veteran, he knows that preparing a mage avatar for solitary adventures was a wise move.

Not all the time mages can depend on their teammates to catch all the 'bullets' thrown at them.

So raising defense and stamina is one way to survive.

Next, he assigned 10 spell points to his only advance spell, «Desire Of Fire».

A moment ago, due to the effective deployment of the spell, its proficiency suddenly rose to 50%.

Ethan was not surprised by these results.

Proficiency was also called the mastery of the spells. Using a spell strategically could lead to an increase in percentage.

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[Desire Of Fire]

Rating: II (0/200%)

Type(s): Advance • AOE • DOT • Elemental

Description:

• A spell that releases a cyclone of flame with a two-meter radius. Deal 50 (+50% Total MA) magical damage every second. Had five seconds duration.

Activation Cost: 200 Mana

Cooldown: 75 seconds

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Upgrading the advance spell increases the base damage by 20 points while it reduced the mana cost and cooldown considerably.

Done with all necessary placement, Ethan called off the stats panel. He equipped the common staff he newly got and starts to move again.

Since he was in a dungeon, he'll need to defeat the boss monster to clear the place.

Ethan continued to traverse the forest carefully. Left with one haste scroll, he can't possibly be careless this time.

If he will be caught by a mob, that would be troublesome even the maximum level of monsters in this place was just level 4.

He occasionally saw roaming monsters loitering the place. The best way to avoid them was to either run or cautiously evade their sight.

From time to time Ethan took a rest, relying on the passive stamina regeneration from his stats.

After an hour, he arrives in one of the glades of the forest.

The place was shady even it was still at noon. Sunlight barely pierce the place because of the large trees around with their intertwined canopies.

There were no monsters around, but Ethan quickly brandished his staff in a horizontal position then place his open palm on one end.

"Bind."

Ethan calmly chanted and the four black chains shot up from the ground.

At the same time, the rustling sound from the bushes increased and a figure leaped from it.

However, it was timely caught by the chains and restrained its movement immediately.

It was not due to luck because Ethan calculated the timing.

Not wasting any time, he whipped out a basic spell of «Magic Missile».

- 22

- 20

- 25

Three consecutive damages rose from its head.

"As expected of the Boss."

Ethan said and followed up with a basic attack. Even though his magic attack considerably change, he can only inflict these damages.

The defense of his enemy was higher than the normal monsters he previously met.

The monster he had attacked this time was not the same type as the monkeys a while ago.

This creature was a four-legged beast. Its features were a combination of both cat and wolf.

Wolfcat (Boss)

Level: 1

HP: 533/600

This monster was the boss in this forest dungeon. Its level and hp were designed as suitable for beginner village.

It could be easily defeated by a proper party of four or five.

But since Ethan was the only one here, who knows how much time he'll need to take down this boss.

After three seconds, the chains that were holding the Wolfcat vanished.

Growrr!

Gaining freedom again, the beast quickly rushed at Ethan.

Unperturbed by this situation, Ethan raised his staff to fend off the paw charge.

Bam!

As if his arms were used to doing this kind of stunt a thousand times, he deflected it smoothly.

Who says mage can't do parry defense?

It was already in the VR stage. Game's battle tactics were evolving from time to time. In pc games 50 years ago, mages cannot ward against this kind of attack, instead, only the melee profession can do it by parry style.

But the VR world was different. One can control their character freely. Even mating was allowed, endless possibilities were spread out.

However, even though mages can now do what the melee profession can only perform in the past, it has still consequences.

For instance, Ethan right now obviously cannot compete with the strength of the beast in his front. Hence, after parrying the attack, he was then blown away in the distance.

Surprisingly, he was still standing. He never got off balance after parrying the attack. This precise movement was just a glimpse of him being a skilled swordsman in the past.

"Still a moron."

Ethan let out a chuckle, childishly mocking the beginner boss.

He decided to parry the attack to gain a distance from the Wolfcat. He can do it since the boss has no intelligence. It just simply follows its instinct to kill, strenuously pursuing him.

Since it was the last stage of the dungeon, Ethan decided not to be frugal this time.

He ripped the remaining haste scroll, instantly boosting his movement speed.

He let out a few basic attacks while running from side to side. Occasionally, he took a move backward to maintain the distance. When his magic missile spell was available, he'll use it immediately.

At this point, the Wolfcat can only pursue Ethan relentlessly. No backing off, no planning, just a beast eager to pounce at him.

After 2 minute duration of the haste scroll, his speed was back to normal. Because of this, the Wolfcat catch up to him and was now only 5 meters ahead.

Awoo! Awoo! Awoo!

Its gray skin glowed in mana, an indication that the monster activated a skill. It leaped without delay.

The speed, power, and preciseness of the move were clearly displayed. In a mere second, the Wolfcat arrived at his front with its maw was already open wide.

Yeah, someone would gonna be dead after this...but not Ethan.

His lips curled up in delight, smirking confidently.

"Here, a candy for you."

Ethan said after tossing a single blue item in an opal shape. It shines a little when the ray of sunlight reflected on its surface.

The item was then swallowed unintended by the Wolfcat.

Yes. There was no time to react.

In just a split second, a blinding light suddenly gushes out from the mouth of the beast, instantly covering the whole area. And then—

BOOM!!

—a deafening explosion resounded in the entire forest dungeon.