Rise of the Apex Predator: A LitRPG Adventure

Chapter 13 – Dungeon Dive (Part 2)

The corridor this time was much longer than the previous one and had a lot more traps. Unfortunately, he accidentally triggered one of them while navigating the tunnel. He had grown complacent and did not notice the oddly colored stone before he stepped on it. That earned him a metal spike to the gut.

Status effect: Poisoned (-20 HP/min)

Status effect: Infection (-500 HP/day)

Status effect: Bleed (-200 HP/min)

If he did not have the ridiculous stats he did, this would have instantly killed him. The pain was excruciating, and the status effects were ticking down his health by the second. Harley was on his side the very next instant.

What did I tell you about being careful? I only have enough mana to heal your HP to full and remove the poison and bleed status effects. Will have to wait thirty minutes to regain enough mana to remove the infection.

Aenon just lay there, delirious with pain. The snake hissed with displeasure, at least he thought it was a hiss. He was too far gone to make out what was being said. He lost consciousness just as Harley started shouting something in a panic.

When he came to, he was in the same location as before. His gut felt like it was on fire, while Harley floated next to him. Her glow was very dim, and she was struggling to stay afloat. When she noticed him stir, she spoke in a weak voice.

Re…move the da...mn spike.

With great effort and pain, he managed to pull out the metal rod from his stomach. He felt a wave of relief as the wound closed before Harley collapsed to the ground, unresponsive. He was worried about her but was in no condition to speak up. He checked his status to see what was going on.

HP: 312/3940

MP: 2/4020

Status Affliction: Infection (-500 HP/day)

“How does it feel? To be at death’s door. Knowing you cannot do anything to change it,” Allie spoke up in a stern voice.

Aenon barely managed to turn his head towards the trinket, too tired to respond or feel anything. The snake was pointedly staring at him accusingly. He blacked out before he could think further. The next time he came to, Harley was again casting her spells before collapsing. He saw that his health and mana had gone up to a 1000 each, allowing him to sit up with his back to the wall.

He gingerly picked up the shard and placed it in his lap. All the colors were drained, and she was pitch black. Only a very faint blue dot glowed at the very core. He turned to the trinket. He noticed Allie was there, seething in anger.

“What happened after I passed out?” he asked quietly. Allie continued her silence for a while before replying.

“The stupid shard pushed herself too far trying to save your damned life. She did not have enough mana, and with the spike embedded in you, she couldn’t remove the poison and infection status. She kept healing you, barely managing to keep you alive. At one point she figured out a way to draw from your mana pool, but even that wasn’t enough. She is suffering from mana exhaustion. This is what happens when you march off without preparation or a care in the world.”

Aenon stayed silent as he gently rubbed the crystal in his lap. The faint dot kept winking out occasionally, which worried him. But there was nothing he could do so he kept on caressing the crystal.

“I’m sorry I never explained about Harley to you like I promised,” he told Allie softly without looking away from the shard. The arbiter recoiled at his subdued tone.

“Never mind that. I had a conversation with my grandfather when you went for your bath. I have a vague idea about what she is,” she replied softly.

“What did you two discuss,” Aenon asked.

“A being such as her is unheard of. Someone without her own soul space. My grandfather informed me of the circumstances through which she came to be. Neither of us is sure what she is.”

After a moment of silence, he pushed her further, “Go on.”

“She…,” the elf hesitated.

“I know what you are going to say. I just want to hear you say it.”

The elf sighed before going on, “She won’t exist forever. The System said she could get a body, but I doubt it is possible. It would take a year to make one. But even now she is fading, integrating with your soul. What just happened has accelerated that process. I give her maybe three more months before she fully disappears.”

For the first time in years, a tear rolled down Aenon’s cheek. The snake uncoiled from around his arm and wrapped around the hand in which the crystal was in.

“I have a feeling you know what she is. At least a hint of it,” Allie stated with concern.

“I do,” is all he managed to whisper in response.

The arbiter looked on in silence as fresh tears rolled down his face until eventually, they dried up. The tiny spark within the crystal kept growing stronger.

“You are wrong about one thing. She does not have three months. She will be gone at the end of this dungeon. And I will make sure to fulfill her wish of getting the first clear,” Aenon stated with resolve.

………………..

Arbiter Allie

Allie looked on with confusion at the boy’s face. She got a hint of what her grandfather meant when he said there was pain in his soul. His last statement was what worried her the most. It was eerily like the one the shard had yelled when he was on the verge of death.

“You are not dying till you complete this dungeon, you hear me?”

There was no way the boy had heard that, and yet somehow, he knew and had said something similar. She couldn’t figure out what was going on, and her grandfather had refused to elaborate his thoughts on the matter. Which left her in the current predicament. She was initially mad at the boy for putting his life at risk, again, and was certain he would not survive this dungeon.

She first thought it was arrogance that drove him. But the precision and planning with which he killed that goblin horde made her drop that line of thinking. She then thought that maybe he had a death wish, and that is why he entered the dungeon with zero preparation or a party to assist him. And that looked like a fair assumption, till just now, when she saw the resolved look on his face when he declared what would happen when he cleared this dungeon. Not if he cleared, but when he cleared it.

“Grandpa, I need…,” she started contacting her grandfather.

“I know what you are going to ask, my child. But I cannot answer those questions for you. Sometimes, experience is the better teacher,” her mentor’s voice responded before she could even finish her question.

She did not even know that her grandfather was watching, which is why she was shocked yet again when the boy in front of her had managed to detect her grandfather’s presence. When he had responded to her, the boy’s gaze briefly shifted to her trinket before going back to the little shard, which was thankfully glowing much brighter now.

When the shard spoke up, she saw a sudden shift in his expression. The sadness, the remorse, was gone in an instant. Replaced with the same calm he always exhibited.

“Welcome back, sleepy head,” the boy joked as though nothing of note had happened.

Allie stared with astonishment as the shard gave a cheeky response, completely ignoring the fact that they had both come so close to death.

“Just observe,” came the helpful advice from the Overseer.

………………..

Aenon

“Welcome back, sleepy head,” Aenon quipped with a smirk as he sensed Harley waking up.

Ugh. My non-existent head hurts. I think that is enough skull bashing for now.

With a smile he stood up and stretched his sore body. After loosening up his muscles he checked the spot where the spike had pierced him. There was a gaping hole in the armor at that location, but thankfully the wound was fully healed. It didn’t even leave a scar.

It had been roughly 40 minutes since he woke up, and hence his health and mana pools were roughly topped up. Harley purged off his last affliction before he started moving along the corridor again, with much more care this time. Even then he managed to trigger two more traps, a flame trap and an explosion trap. But luckily since he was on guard, he managed to dodge the damage successfully.

He eventually came to the end of the corridor, leading to a room which had 4 hobgoblin shamans this time. The room was identical except for five evenly spaced pillars which granted him some cover to hide behind. But the pillars themselves were weird. The concentration of wisps around them was different.

The first three pillars had brown, blue, and green wisps which he associated with ground, water, and nature. But the last two had red and gold wisps, whose properties he didn’t know yet. Each shaman was by a pillar, intently studying it and gathering mana before mixing with the wisps to generate spells. They were practicing their spell casting.

The earth shaman was casting tiny earth spikes and the occasional dirt wall, while the water and nature shamans were throwing around a ball of water and a bundle of vines, respectively. The shaman by the red pillar was chucking fire balls, meaning red stood for fire. There was no one by the gold pillar, which was odd. He tried using his soul sense and detected someone or something sitting right next to it. Which meant it was some kind of illusion. He guessed gold represented light, and if that was true, he finally had a clue on how to go invisible.

He spent hours studying their mana flow patterns and how they interacted with the wisps. The hours turned into days, in which he never left the tunnel and subsisted on nothing but System rations. After almost a week, he finally managed to cast the light spell and make a rock go invisible. It took all his concentration to maintain the spell. He couldn’t see the rock even though he was holding it and could feel its weight.

System Notification

Spell Learned: Illusion (Basic)

Mana cost: 200

Mana to maintain: 120 /min

He had a new tab in his status window for Spells that gave him a description, mana cost, and type of wisps needed for the spell. For now, it only listed one spell.

Spell

Mana Cost and Type

Description

Illusion (Basic)

Initial Cost: 200

Channel Cost: 120/min

Wisp Type: Light

Bend light around an object to make it invisible to the naked eye. At basic proficiency, can be cast on objects smaller than an apple.

Aenon scratched his head trying to understand the mechanics of how the spell system worked. It looked like spells had proficiency levels to consider, and he just gained the basic level for an illusion spell. The size limitation meant he was nowhere close to using it for going invisible, but maybe he might have other uses for it. He decided to ask Harley about it.

“Hey Harl, what are the spell proficiency levels? And how do I improve them?”

It’s straightforward to be honest. With use, you will keep getting more and more proficient with a given spell. Like muscle memory, you won’t have to focus as much to gather the mana wisps and will get faster at casting it. Higher proficiencies will allow you to cover bigger objects and can give better effects too. For instance, your current Illusion spell can only be used to bend light around an object and make it invisible. Develop it enough, and you can create complex illusions of objects that aren’t there. The levels are:

· Basic

· Minor

· Intermediate

· Major

· Perfect

“I see. How does this illusion spell compare to a rogue’s Vanish spell?” Aenon asked with hope. He really wanted to learn that spell to get rid of the annoying itch he got when he tried sneaking around.

Ha! Not even close. You will need to be at least at Intermediate level to even cover your entire body. Not to mention, Vanish is not one spell but a combination of several. It can not only hide you from sight, but also mask your smell and dampen sounds. I will let you figure that combination out yourself, since every Player has their own unique brand of Vanish.

“Huh. This is more complex than I thought,” he said while tapping his chin. He tried casting it again, but on two rocks that were placed three feet apart. It took him roughly 15 seconds to make the first one invisible, and the spell completely failed when he tried it on the second rock. It was ridiculously difficult to concentrate on two objects at once. But the experiments did give him an idea, which he wanted to test out.

He started channeling the spell on his dagger. After roughly 20 seconds, he managed to make it go completely invisible. It took a lot of practice and failed attempts to cast it on something that was not roughly spherical, but he eventually got it. With that, he stood at the edge of the tunnel and aimed his dagger at the closest hobgoblin shaman, the fire type.

The hobgoblin didn’t even have time to react as the invisible projectile pierced its throat and it fell over, dead. Aenon immediately ran in the opposite direction down the tunnel. When he was 1000 yards away, he got a notification that his dagger was deposited in his inventory.

Aenon smirked as he approached the room cautiously. The other shamans were having an animated argument in their language and tossing random spells across the room. They could not figure out what had taken down their comrade, since all they saw was an open wound with no apparent source.

He waited patiently for them to calm down and go back to their pillars. They eventually did, but kept glancing around and didn’t focus fully on their spell practice. Aenon repeated his previous trick again, aimed at the earth shaman this time around. Unfortunately, the hobgoblin had set up a thin layer of mud around its skin which prevented the blow from being fatal.

“MAWAG GU TAHAAB,” it screamed in its guttural tongue. From the heavy downpour of crimson liquid, it seems the knife had managed to apply the bleed debuff, at least.

Before all 4 of them could coordinate, Aenon threw his second dagger at the nature mage and ran back down the corridor. A few seconds later both his daggers were back in his inventory. But his opponents had picked up his trail and started hurtling down the narrow passage. Thankfully he was much faster than them, which gave him some time to set up back in the previous room.

He gathered up some mana and added the most abundant wisps in this room – earth. He prepared the mana pattern as well and waited patiently. He unleashed the earth spell as soon as the lead hobgoblin entered. He ignored the notification that pinged in his head the moment he succeeded in casting his first earth spell.

It was the light shaman that had stepped first, only to earn an earth spike through its chin and out from the top of its skull. The invisibility spell it was channeling had failed the moment the spike made contact, and from the look of shock engraved on its face it probably wasn’t expecting to be detected.

Aenon observed the other three casters taking a few steps back using his soul sense. He was standing to the side and was hidden from their view, which must have unnerved his opponents. So far, none of them had gotten a good look at their adversary. He also detected two of the souls weakening. While one of the souls became unstable in his soul sense, the other started developing cracks. He assumed the effect was due to the mana drain and bleed debuffs respectively. Since none of them dared to step forward he quickly went over his notification and spell list.

System Notification

Spell Learned: Earth Manipulation (Basic)

Mana cost: 300

Spell

Mana Cost and Type

Description

Illusion (Basic)

Initial Cost: 200

Channel Cost: 120/min

Wisp Type: Light

Bend light around an object to make it invisible to the naked eye. At basic proficiency, can be cast on objects smaller than an apple.

Earth Manipulation (Basic)

Initial cost: 300

Channel cost: 200/min

Instant cast cost: 500

Wisp Type: Earth

Manipulate dirt and stone to form structures based on the user’s imagination. The structures will need to be in contact with the ground to maintain their shape beyond 15 seconds. Can be used to generate projectiles using instant cast. At basic proficiency, the volume of dirt that can be manipulated is limited to one cubic meter (35 cubic feet).

The three hobgoblins started tossing spell after spell through the opening, but none of them came even close to hitting. Aenon used their fear to his advantage and stayed where he was. After roughly an hour, one of the shamans collapsed and Aenon sensed its soul wink out. He guessed it to be the earth shaman, since it had the bleed debuff. Amongst the last two, only one of them had any mana left. The water mage saw its companion collapse to the floor in exhaustion and ran back to its earlier room.

Aenon finally emerged from the shadows and entered the tunnel. The nature shaman was crawling on all fours, wheezing in exhaustion. It tried screaming something, but one swift slice put it out of its misery. He then proceeded to the pillar room, but sensed something was off when he was within range for his soul sense.

For a moment, he sensed not one but two entities in the room. And when he finally reached it, the entire room looked different. The shaman’s soul was stable again, which meant its mana was back to full. Moreover, all 5 pillars were now emitting water wisps and the entire room was saturated with them. The water mage was standing in the center of the room and had a malicious smile on its face. Not to mention, the faint hint of a tendril sticking out of its soul that Aenon felt using his soul sense.

“What is going on here?” Allie said in a shocked tone. “Dungeons don’t change like this.”

Aenon didn’t have the luxury to respond, since the water shaman was staring at him. He felt an enormous amount of mana gathering in the creature’s hand. Whatever spell was being prepared, would be catastrophic. So Aenon did the only thing that came to his mind. He started copying the water mage. He too started gathering mana in his palms and pulling in water wisps.

“What are you doing?” Allie asked nervously. But Aenon was too focused to respond. His logic was simple. Whatever the water shaman was trying to do, it obviously needed a lot of water wisps. So, he decided to use up as much of it as possible. He gathered up all the water mana he could and held it together, but it was getting harder by the second.

“You moron, do you know what a spell backlash is?” Allie screamed in frustration.

Aenon tuned her out and started moving it in the same pattern the shaman was, but he wasn’t able to match it exactly. He could feel the mana getting unstable in his hands. Unsure on how to bring the wild mana under control, he started pushing it outwards when something unexpected happened. The uncontrolled mana got sucked in by the shaman, but its didn’t stop there. The shaman’s body started sucking in all the mana he gathered like a vacuum and within seconds, all his water mana was gone. The hobgoblin on the other hand had a horrified look on its face. And the next moment, its body started to bloat up like a ballon.

“Uh oh,” was the last words that Aenon uttered before…

BOOOOOM

The hobgoblin’s body exploded with enough force to shatter all 5 pillars to bits. The shockwave blew Aenon off his feet, and he was shot like a cannonball straight down the tunnel he came from. He lost consciousness soon after. When he came to, every part of his body hurt, which meant he was not unconscious for long. It was only when he started to move that he realized that he couldn’t hear anything.

He groggily turned around, only to find Allie standing with her hands crossed with a deep scowl on her face. And Harley was circling around him, flashing random colors. He tried touching his ears and felt a sticky substance all over them. In fact, his entire body was covered in dirt, dust, and his own blood. He decided to just lay there till his body healed most of his injuries.

After about 30 minutes of healing, he finally heard the string of curses that Harley was throwing his way as she circled him. Although he only caught pieces of it.

… you absolutely brainless buffoon… want to smack your… healing an idiot…

It took him another 20 minutes to finally heal completely, by which point Harley had exhausted herself and just lay on his chest in silence. Yet, the arbiter stayed silent as a ghost while eying him with annoyance. Aenon sat up with care and pulled out his water skin. His throat was parched, so he started gulping down water. When he was satisfied, he stood up and turned around to face the music. He blankly stared at Allie without a hint of guilt or remorse.

“Tchh,” was all she said before turning back into a snake and disappearing from the trinket. Aenon picked it up and put it on before pulling up his notification. He had learned not one but two spells.

Spell

Mana Cost and Type

Description

Illusion (Basic)

Initial Cost: 200

Channel Cost: 120/min

Wisp Type: Light

Bend light around an object to make it invisible to the naked eye. At basic proficiency, can be cast on objects smaller than an apple.

Earth Manipulation (Basic)

Initial cost: 300

Channel cost: 200/min

Instant cast cost: 500

Wisp Type: Earth

Manipulate dirt and stone to form structures based on the user’s imagination. The structures will need to be in contact with the ground to maintain their shape beyond 15 seconds. Can be used to generate projectiles using instant cast. At basic proficiency, the volume of dirt that can be manipulated is limited to one cubic meter (35 cubic feet).

Water Manipulation (Basic)

Initial cost: 300

Channel cost: 200/min

Instant cast cost: 500

Wisp Type: Water

Manipulate water freely for both attack and defense. The shape will linger for 5 seconds before dissipating. At basic proficiency, the volume of water that can be controlled is 1 cubic meter (35 cubic feet)

Overcharge (Basic)

Channel cost: 1000 mana/min

Pushes the limits of elemental spells to the extreme, allowing you to jump in proficiency rank for some time.

WARNING: Can cause instability of mana and a violent backlash depending on how long you channel the spell.

The water manipulation spell was expected, but not the next one. It was also the first time he had a warning attached to a spell description. Allie was starting to speak up, but Aenon cut her off.

“Don’t. Just don’t,” he said in a tired voice before going towards the room. It was in utter chaos, with rubble scattered all over the place. But he was too exhausted to care for any of it. He found a corner that was relatively clean and lay down on the ground. After another impromptu nap, he opened the loot chest and found a pair of pitch-black leather boots.

System Notification

Item Name: Boots of the Abyss

Item Type: Boots

Item Rarity: Epic

Item Description: Crafted using leather extracted from the predators of the abyss, this pair of boots deaden the sound from the wearer’s footsteps. Additionally, grants bonus dexterity at night and while in shadows during the day. The bonus varies depending on how dark it is, with the effect being maxed out when in absolute darkness.

Note: This is a set piece.

“OK, this is weird. It is almost as if this loot is tailored to my needs and fighting style,” Aenon scratched his chin as he inspected the boots. Allie just floated around, completely ignoring him. “Sigh. Fine. You can yell at me some till you are satisfied.”

She stayed silent for a minute longer before finally speaking up.

Just be careful.

Aenon was taken aback. His expression must have given away how surprised he was, because she continued.

There is no one in this entire multiverse who knows you better than me. You are obviously too thick headed to heed any warnings. So, all I can ask and hope for is that you remain careful. I know you will never agree to study under someone and will refuse any and all help offered to you. So be it. All I want is a promise from you that you will be careful.

Aenon gave it some thought before replying, “Sure. I can promise you that. What about the arbiter?”

What about her? She doesn’t know you one bit, so her opinion is of no concern to either of us.

Aenon got a feeling that there was more to it than that. He suspected the two girls had a conversation when he was unconscious. But he decided to leave it. Harley would tell him about it if she felt it was important.

Now, to answer your question. The System analyzes the players while handing out loot. It also considers the difficulty of the dungeon and your Titles. Imagine a tank getting cloth armor as the reward or a healer getting plate mail. It would be useless to them. So yes, the reward is tailor fit for you.

“Oh, that’s sweet. I always hated games where you had to run dungeons multiple times to finally get the gear you want,” he replied cheerfully. He wanted to lighten the mood a bit.

Yep. Everyone hates those. Moreover, you are getting epic rarity loot since you are doing this dungeon solo while it is in an overflowing state. Normally these rooms would be filled with 20 to 30 goblins.

Aenon nodded in understanding while he put on his new boots. They were far more comfortable, and the sound deadening effect was a bit unsettling. It was weird not hearing any noise whatsoever while he sprinted full tilt from one end of the room to another. He quickly moved over to the exit door leading to the next trapped passage.

This time the corridor was so poorly lit that he had trouble finding the trap triggers, which were concealed more thoroughly. He ended up triggering 5 traps by the end, of which 3 injured him. Nothing as severe as the first encounter, but he did get an earful from Harley as she healed the nick he got on his neck. A few more inches in the wrong direction, and he would have lost his head. Allie on the other hand was back but observed without a word.

The third room was much bigger than the previous ones and was not a room per se. Aenon estimated is to be at least 300 feet across and circular in shape with no ceiling. The walls extended 40 feet up, beyond which lay thousands of seats filled with hobgoblins, all cheering in their guttural language. This was an arena.

“Hmmm. I thought you said goblin dungeons had rooms. This doesn’t look like a room,” Aenon mused while observing the strange sky above. There were three suns in place of the usual one he was used to.

Allie still didn’t say a word, which started to bother Aenon. He tried to recall if he had done something to annoy her again but couldn’t think of anything.

Never mind that. I am more concerned by the literal army surrounding us. If they all charge us together, we are toast. We have no element of surprise and no traps to help us this time. Plus, those three suns will not let you get any DEX bonus from your boots.

Aenon studied the crowd. There was a central throne opposite the door he had entered from. On it was the biggest hobgoblin he had seen so far. It stared at him with extreme malice and a wide sneer.

“It’s almost as if someone has been studying my fighting style and set this entire thing up to counter me,” Aenon said while maintaining eye contact with the big guy on the throne.

“That’s not possible. Dungeons don’t do that,” Allie finally broke her silence. But Aenon sensed the uncertainty in her voice.

“Oh, yeah? Tell that to the big guy cursing me to death with his eyes. I have been sensing his presence since the first corridor. Don’t you think it’s strange that I successfully bypass every trap in the first corridor, but the traps keep getting better and better? Not to mention this arena which literally removes all the advantages I have been exploiting so far.”

Allie stayed silent at his declaration, but he could detect her worry. He looked away from the throne to study the arena itself. There were three more doors in the cardinal directions. If he was reading this right, the doors would open to introduce his opponents. The question was, will it be one at a time or all at once. His worst fear was realized as all the doors started to open simultaneously.

From each door, several dozens of goblins streamed out. To make matters worse, they had the shaman, scout, warrior, and leader variants within their ranks. And they were not like the poorly coordinated rabble he faced in the cave. No. These were organized in ranks, like a proper army, with the goblins up front, followed by scouts and warriors, and finally the shamans in the backlines. Each group also had two leaders each, standing at the very edge of the shamans.

“Impossible. Goblins don’t use battle tactics or formations,” Allie remarked in shock. While she tried to come to terms with what was happening, Aenon casually walked to the center of the arena. The three groups of goblins moved around and surrounded him.

Aenon looked back at the hobgoblin on the throne. If his guess was correct, it was a leader variant of the hobgoblin. The smile on the creature’s face disappeared when Aenon smiled back with confidence. He drew his daggers in a reverse grip and pointed at the baffled creature, before making a throat slitting motion. The Hobgoblin Leader bellowed in rage.

“Let’s see what your battle tactics amount to,” he stated coolly before getting into a fighting stance. For the first time he fully utilized his soul sense ability actively. He could read the movements of each of the goblins within 60 meters (200 feet), down to their mana flows within their body.

He deftly dodged the fire, and gravity spells the shamans threw his way while studying the mana patterns they used. He even redirected the arrows the scouts shot at him towards the opposite ranks. Gradually they started taking casualties from their own spells and arrows. Seeing the problem, the Hobgoblin Leader barked a command to stop the ranged attacks, which meant it was melee time. The goblins and goblin warriors rushed in.

The last few rooms had taught Aenon a lot of things, including his main weakness. He had a large mana pool, and decent control over his mana. But he didn’t really know any spells nor did he have a teacher to guide him. In all honesty he knew that what he was doing was foolish, as proven by the fact that he came so close to blowing himself up many times. But the way he saw it, he didn’t have a choice. Help, guidance, favors, they all came with strings attached. And he didn’t want anything to tie him down.

Aenon also understood that whoever was pulling the strings from the background knew what his strengths and weaknesses were. And were doing their best to stop him from learning new skills that would make him stronger. Hence the arena. But one thing they did fail to consider. He was an expert at throwing monkey wrenches into the best laid plans.

Aenon smirked at the charging horde and stowed away his daggers. He held his hands close together and gathered all the mana that he could. Before the goblins slowed down or realized what was happening, he mixed in earth wisps and started casting a spell he had not seen anyone do yet.

Unlike the shamans, he had a lot more mana, and phenomenally better control. So he modified the earth spike spell, making it a channeled area of effect (AoE) spell. He also Overcharged it with the most mana he could.

Dozens of earth spikes started popping out in an outward facing direction. Some of the charging horde ran right into the spikes, impaling themselves on them. The others tried dodging, but more spikes kept popping up, and the safe ground in the arena was shrinking fast. After roughly 2 minutes, no opponent was left alive.

Deathly silence filled the air as the hobgoblin audience stared at the gruesome display. One man stood at the center of a wall of spikes, like a blooming flower. The spikes were red with the blood of his enemies.

System Notification

Custom spell created: Unnamed

Mana cost: 500

Channel cost: 1200 /min

“I think I shall call this spell, Blooming Earth,” Aenon stated calmly as the notification updated. He pulled up his spell list which had a new entry.

Spell

Mana Cost and Type

Description

Illusion (Basic)

Initial Cost: 200

Channel Cost: 120/min

Wisp Type: Light

Bend light around an object to make it invisible to the naked eye. At basic proficiency, can be cast on objects smaller than an apple.

Earth Manipulation (Basic)

Initial cost: 300

Channel cost: 200/min

Instant cast cost: 500

Wisp Type: Earth

Manipulate dirt and stone to form structures based on the user’s imagination. The structures will need to be in contact with the ground to maintain their shape beyond 15 seconds. Can be used to generate projectiles using instant cast. At basic proficiency, the volume of dirt that can be manipulated is limited to one cubic meter (35 cubic feet).

Water Manipulation (Basic)

Initial cost: 300

Channel cost: 200/min

Instant cast cost: 500

Wisp Type: Water

Manipulate water freely for both attack and defense. The shape will linger for 5 seconds before dissipating. At basic proficiency, the volume of water that can be controlled is 1 cubic meter (35 cubic feet)

Overcharge (Basic)

Channel cost: 1000 mana/min

Pushes the limits of elemental spells to the extreme, allowing you to jump in proficiency rank for some time.

WARNING: Can cause instability of mana and a violent backlash depending on how long you channel the spell.

Blooming Earth (Custom) – Earth Manipulation and Overcharge

Mana cost: 500

Channel cost: 1200/min

Creates a dozen earth spikes every second in an area around the caster for as long as spell is channeled.

“What… How…,” Allie sputtered while looking at the mayhem around them.

The audience fell silent for a full minute before all hell broke loose. The audience started climbing over each other in a rush to get out of the arena. Ten minutes later, only the one on the throne was left. He was seething in anger, but Aenon also detected a hint of doubt and fear. After a stare down, the leader got up and left.

A golden chest materialized in the center of the arena, but before Aenon got close to it the trinket slithered off his hand.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?” Allie shrieked as she transformed into her elf form.