The first thing Lucian did was make note of his skill level ups.
Three separate skill level ups was great, and every level made him more and more curious what would happen once one of his skills reached level 10. The upgrades themselves weren’t bad either, though they weren’t anything beyond what he had come to expect.
Next he checked his personal level up.
He would get another skill choice next level, which would bring him to 9 out of 10 class skills. He was looking forward to that, obviously.
His maximum Spirit hadn’t changed, but he did have 6 free points - and he knew that it would go up once he actually distributed them. He decided he would do that now, putting 3 of his available 6 points into Endurance and the other 3 into Willpower, bringing them to 43 and 30 respectively. That brought his maximum Spirit up to 112.
He looked over at Annabelle after, “So, what do you think we should do?”
“Well… You’re not the best matchup for the bugs, but I am certain that they’re weak to my poison. [Potent Poison] also leveled up so it should be a cakewalk if I just spam spells.” Annabelle said.
“I can handle anything that gets too close to you, then.” Lucian offered, then chuckled, “Maybe you’ll catch up in level.” He teased gently.
Annabelle gently punched his shoulder and rolled her eyes, “Yeah yeah.”
They waited briefly for their Spirit to refill, backing away from the nest’s entrance during the brief break. Once they were ready, they headed back towards the nest.
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With Annabelle taking point as the primary damage dealer, Lucian thought it felt more like an extermination and less like a fight. [Banecloud] filled tunnels with toxic gas that rapidly brought an end to almost every beetle that passed through it. Some made it through, and Lucian dealt with them as they came.
They descended deeper into the nest, and the tunnels shifted from simply being dug out to being reinforced with coatings of strange slightly shiny dark blue metal, “Ironwrought, huh?” Lucian chuckled and tapped a coated wall, listening to the sound it made, then used [Penetrating Strike] to cut and pry a piece off the wall to bring back.
“Doesn’t look much like iron to me. But what do I know?” Annabelle shrugged, “But it definitely seemed like they were eating iron, so maybe they digest and process it into whatever this stuff is?”
Lucian nodded, “That would make sense.” He used [Analyze] on the piece he had removed.
Lucian blinked twice, “Blue Iron. Creative name.” He shocked his head and stowed the piece for later, “Apparently it's like normal iron but more magically resistant. Also has more tensile strength.”
They continued deeper into the nest. The deeper they descended the more the walls were covered in layers of Blue Iron, and eventually they reached the deepest chamber, fully reinforced with the material. In its center, a giant beetle twice the size of one of the soldiers sat. Its body was a bluer color than the rest of the beetles, it sported additional horns on its head, and its abdomen was enlarged. Lucian used [Analyze].
Level 38 was higher than either of them - but they hadn’t gotten nothing from fighting all the way down here.
In the process of making their way through the nest itself Lucian had leveled up again, finally hitting 35, and Annabelle had leveled up twice hitting the same level. He brought the notification back to his mind.
Level 35 also meant that he got his 9th class skill.
Lucian briefly considered the options one last time. [Empowered Agility] was out, with [Manifest Weapon] and [Heightened Manifestation] both being channeled skills, he didn’t think he could handle channeling a third simultaneously. [Lightning Bolt] was certainly a cool choice, and its high cost likely spoke to high damage output, but Lucian didn’t think it was worth it - he could comfortably leave long range combat to Annabelle. That left [Building Riposte]. He would rather not have to parry attacks at all, though sometimes he didn’t have another option. It wasn’t necessarily synergistic with his build thus far, but he felt it was the best choice of the options available.
He quickly chose [Building Riposte] and felt the familiar buzz of a new skill momentarily pass through him, and the associated knowledge and potential enter his mind. He let out a breath then cracked his neck, stepping into the queen’s chamber. Annabelle chuckled and followed him.
The queen stirred, turning its bulk towards them slightly and letting out a sound like a cross between a roar and the rapid clicking of a Geiger counter. Lucian activated [Manifest Weapon], the longsword rapidly taking shape and gripped it with both hands, then moved.
