“Can we hit it from here with a couple of your empowered ‘Turn Undead’ spells?” Elijah asked as they stared down at the creature. It didn’t make any move to attack them, instead waiting and watching, as if bidding them to enter its library.
A bat screeched loudly, causing Elijah’s ears to ring as it lobbed a book past the Acolyte’s head. The boss monster didn’t flinch, and somehow the book found an open spot where it landed and slid into place.
“No,” Nicholas said as he readied himself to jump down into the library. “We have to go in first. You can’t see it but there is a magical wall between us and it. Prevents any kind of spell or attack from hitting it. We can’t hit it and it can’t hit us until we enter the library.”
Nicholas turned to face the party, his demeanor suddenly shifting to an ultra serious one. “Alright, here’s how we’re gonna play this team. I’m going to go down and get its attention.”
“Meat shield and experience hog,” Benjamin whispered just loud enough for Elijah to hear.
His attention turned to Bo. “While I’m doing that, I want you to sneak around it. Remember, the bats can see through your stealth and will alert the acolyte to your presence if they see you. Get around it and hit it with a few ‘Backstabs’, then get out. You’re going to strike it if it gives you an opportunity.”
“Sure, boss, make the rogue do all the heavy damage.” Bo grumbled, but Nicholas ignored him.
“Elijah, stick with Sasha and Benjamin. Sasha, I don’t want you to hit it with more than two ‘Turn Undead’ spells. You need to conserve your mana for a ‘Magical Bunker’ once it hits half health, and I want you to have a deep enough reserve to throw some ‘Cure Wounds’ our way when we need them.”
Bo turned towards the casters. His eyes locked on Benjamin.
“Benjamin,” he fixed the mage with a glare. “If you set the library on fire again, I’m going to hide in your bedroom and stab you every time you try to go to sleep.”
The rogue’s words set Elijah on edge. His voice was stern, almost angry, but there was a smile on his face. Nicholas grunted his agreement. “Actually, yeah. Benjamin, no casting ‘Fireball’ inside the library unless you absolutely have to. I burned to death the last time we were here, and I don’t want to ever relive that experience.”
Without waiting for ?confirmation of his orders, Nicholas turned his back to them and jumped down into the library. The Acolyte reacted immediately, and they watched it move to intercept the fighter. Elijah was suddenly aware that Bo had disappeared. Leave it to the rogue to vanish without a trace.
Elijah looked at Sasha and Benjamin’s grinning faces and followed them as they followed Nicholas down the sloping cliff face into the library. He watched the fighter rush the Acolyte, but his line of sight was cut off as the bookshelves moved.
From within the shifting maze of shifting shelves, he could hear the sound of battle as Nicholas engaged the monster. As the trio of spellcasters crossed the threshold into the library, the bookshelves enclosed them. He grimaced, looking around at the moving bookcases.
“Chill dude, Nicholas knows what he’s doing. He’ll lead the Acolyte right to us so we can hit it.” Benjamin said casually. His hands were raised, ready to cast at any moment. In the corner of Elijah’s vision, he could see Sasha standing at the ready,her muscles tense and fingers wrapped tightly around her staff.
Their moment arrived quicker than they expected as Nicholas came crashing through a shelf, scattering wood splinters and books all over the floor. The bats went completely feral, swooping in with loud squeaking, grabbing the books in their claws. They flew up, letting go and launching the books haphazardly through the air.
A blast of glowing black energy slammed into Nicholas’ shield, pushing him backwards a few inches.
‘Turn Undead’ coalesced in Sasha’s hand, and Elijah placed a palm against her shoulder blade. The Acolyte came crashing through the bookshelf after Nicholas with a glowing black blade. Steel met magic as he blocked it with his own sword.
[BOSS INFO]
Acolyte of the Undying Library (Level 5)
HP: 95/120
“Now!” Sasha yelled. Elijah took hold of her spell and empowered it just as she released it. The white light flared up, causing the skeleton creature to flinch away in pain.
[BOSS INFO]
Acolyte of the Undying Library (Level 5)
HP: 70/120
“Sasha, ‘Magical Bunker’ now! Ben, ‘Fortify’.”
There was no time for questions, no time to do anything except what they had planned for. Elijah’s hand swapped from Sasha’s shoulder to Benjamin’s shoulder. Benjamin held his ‘Fortify’ spell for an extra few seconds so Elijah could get a look at it.
[Spell]
Fortify
Level: 2
Description:
FORTIFY{
SPELL_ID: FORTIFY_ALLY
ENCHANTMENT: STOIC
SPECIAL: NULL
COST: 10
}
It was time to see how much control he actually had over the game’s systems with his power. He made hasty changes. He confirmed them just as Benjamin released the spell to fly into Nicholas.
The world shuddered violently around Elijah, and a sharp pain stung behind his eyes. The spell stalled centimeters beyond Benjamin’s hand, flaring and wobbling like it was trying to pull itself apart. He was concerned for a moment that the spell was going to dissipate or backfire. His debug menu flashed and dimmed rapidly as the AI tried to compensate for what Elijah had done.
The spell finally shot forward, landing against Nicholas’ back and bathing him in a blue glow. Multiple things all happened at once.
Bo shifted out of the shadows, activating his ‘Backstab’ skill and driving his blade into the mob’s back, causing it to drop below half health. At the same time, Sasha’s green bubble from her bunker spell surrounded the three magic users, and Benjamin collapsed to the ground for the second time today from mana drain.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Elijah knew he’d screwed up this time. He’d typed EMPOWER_HIGH into the SPECIAL field but had left the cost alone. The system AI had not liked that one bit. It had not only reduced it to EMPOWER_MED, but also increased the cost to 30 mana. He felt bad about causing Benjamin pain, but the Acolyte’s actions soon distracted him.
The boss floated up into the air and held its arms above its head. Black energy flowed into a sphere between its palms, growing every second. By the time he released it, the sphere was the size of a car and crashed into Nicholas with enough force to send books and shelves flying in every direction.
When the dust cleared, Elijah could see Nicholas was still standing. His health was down to a quarter, but he was alive. If it hadn’t been for the empowered fortification, the boss’ attack would have annihilated him.
Elijah thought he saw the boss’ eyes grow wider when it noticed Nicholas was still standing. “Elijah, empower my spell.” Sasha yelled to him as she began casting. It was halfway down when the spell hit it, lighting up the library like an underground star.
“Five mana remaining, I’m tapped out until I recover.”
“Can’t you just drink a potion?”
She looked at him annoyed, then remembered how new he was. “There’s a one-hour cooldown on mana potions. Otherwise, Benjamin would have taken one too.” Benjamin groaned loudly from his place on the floor.
Locked in battle, The Acolyte and Nicholas traded blows,, but Elijah could see that Nicholas was losing the fight.
[BOSS INFO]
Acolyte of the Undying Library (Level 5)
HP: 22/120
~~~
[Player]
Name: Nicholas
Class: Fighter | Level: 4
HP: 7/35
Not even a ‘Backstab’ from Bo would be enough.
Unless…
A thought crossed Elijah’s mind, remembering Benjamin’s ‘Fortify’ spell and the pauldron he’d brushed against outside the Magic Association in Nethy. “Where’s Bo?” Elijah asked Sasha.
“I’m here,” Bo said, causing Elijah to jump. The man faded into existence from the shadows to Elijah’s left.
“Bo, that knife you had me modify. I need it.” The tone that Elijah used told Bo that there wasn’t time to ask questions. He handed it over, and Elijah pulled open his menu. He wasn’t sure this would work. Wasn’t sure the game wouldn’t throw a complete fit like it had earlier, but he tried anyway. He confirmed his changes, the pain once more returning to just behind his eyes as the system altered the item to be as close to what he wanted as was balanced.
Bo’s eyes went wide when he read the description. “Dude, this-”
“We don’t have time, Bo. If the acolyte kills Nicholas, we’re next, and we can’t stand up to it.”
Bo nodded his head, and shadows enveloped him as he activated his skill. Elijah tried to track him. He knew where he had been and where he was going, but it was as if the rogue had vanished. Until suddenly he was behind the Acolyte, lunging forward with all his force, blade held in front of him. The dagger struck true, and the boss was once again enveloped in a blinding white light.
[Item]
Dagger
Rank: Basic
Damage: 3-4
Condition: 53/100
WARNING: ONE USE ONLY
Enchantments:
debug{
TurnUndead[Basic,MAGIC_TURN_UNDEAD]
}
Making it a single-use item had been the AI's way of balancing Elijah’s tweaks. He didn’t know for sure how close the enchantment and spell systems were, or if they interlinked at all, but this confirmed that he could force it to work for him.
[Boss Kill]
Your party has killed: Acolyte of the Undying Library!
XP Reward: 30
Current XP: 92/174 XP
~~~
[Level Up]
Class: Reality Warper has reached level 3!
~~~
[NOTICE]
You have 6 unallocated stat points. Find a safe zone to allocate stat points.
~~~
[Level Up]
Skill: Reality Warp has reached level 3!
~~~
[Kill Menu]
Player Bo -- 32 DMG Dealt (Kill) -- Selecting Loot
Player Sasha -- 50 DMG dealt -- 2nd Choice
Player Nicholas -- 38 DMG Dealt - 3rd Choice
Player Benjamin -- (Assist Only) -- 4th Choice
Player Elijah -- 0 DMG Dealt -- 5th Choice
Nicholas limped over to the three of them, leaning against a wall and groaning loudly. “Alright, Bo. What’d we get? Anything good?”
“Wait, that's not fair,” Sasha said, her eyes unfocused as she looked at her menus. “I wouldn’t have been able to deal all that damage if it weren’t for Elijah. How come he didn’t get an assist bonus at least?”
Elijah put his hands up. “No, no, it’s fine. I barely did anything this fight.”
Bo appeared from the shadows again, shaking his head. “That’s bull, dude. If it hadn’t been for you changing the buff on my knife, I wouldn’t have killed the thing.”
“And it would have completely slaughtered me with its ‘Necrobomb’ spell if not for you empowering Benjamin’s ‘Fortify’ spell.” Nicholas looked down at Benjamin still lying on the ground. “Though, it looks like it did quite a number on him. You good, Ben?”
“Just leave me here to die. I hate mana drain.” Ben whimpered from the floor, causing the group to chuckle.
When all was said and done, they agreed that Elijah would have his choice of the loot first. Bo read out all the possible loot drops for him, and they all agreed not to pick his choice. Bo picked himself a new dagger, this one with two enchantments. Sasha picked up a Healer’s Kit, which would boost the power of her healing spells. Nicholas picked out a pair of gloves that would give him a boost to his damage reduction, and Benjamin chose a mana crystal.
The mana crystal was an interesting item. Although it dropped uncharged, a magic user could feed their mana into it to charge it up and then draw from it as if it were part of their own reserves. It could only cycle through so much mana—how much depended on the quality of the crystal—before breaking. Still, it would provide him with a buffer to avoid draining his mana completely again.
To be honest, Elijah had wanted the mana crystal. He wanted to experiment with the debug code? to see if he could add that unique effect to another item, but he also knew that Benjamin would jump at the chance if Elijah suggested it.
Instead, Elijah chose the second-best option on the list.
[Item]
Stewpot of the Dungeon Connoisseur
Rank: Apprentice
Description: Allows the user to use dungeon-grown plants and monster meat to create a stew that will boost stats. The boosted stats vary depending on ingredients used. Cooldown: 24 hours.
The others had tried to talk him out of taking the item. According to them, in-dungeon cooking could be a mixed bag, and the various ingredients used were dangerous. If two items shared a beneficial boost, then the stew would transfer that boost; however, if they shared a negative effect, which was more common, then the stew would be harmful. The harmful effects were more numerous and plentiful than beneficial ones.
Elijah had a feeling that once he had a grasp on what plants and monster bits were usable, he could use his skill to dig into the code and find out what was usable, useful, or deadly.
“Right, that boss wasn’t as easy of a fight as I was hoping. I think we need to rest and regroup. Everyone besides Sasha has level-up points to assign.” Nicholas looked at Elijah’s name box. “And some of us have two levels to assign. Let’s teleport home and figure out what we’re going to do from here.”
Everyone looked at Benjamin, who had just pulled himself off the floor. “Ugh, not again.” He moaned.
