I couldn’t move, but internally I'm vibrating with excitement.
Evolution points are incredible boons from the System. For one, they straight up double the effectiveness of whatever skill you decide to evolve. If it were just that, they’d still be crazy powerful.
But it’s not. They also advance the scope of the skill in question. For instance, if I use a point on Arcane Regulation, it would probably make it to where I can regenerate limbs with the skill, rather than the current limitation it has in place that prevents it.
Either way, these points were going to change everything. And it looks like I’ll have as much time as I need to figure it out.
I work down the list in order, starting with my combat Class.
Evolve Skill
Class: Bloodwind Mystic
Points available: 1
Select Skill:
Bloodmist Fist
Blood Burst
Scarlet Barrier
Hemokinesis
Body of Scarlet Skies
Bloodwind Resilience
Bloodwind Harmony
Bloodwind Infusion
This one’s easy. Bloodmist Fist is tempting, but Bloodwind Infusion? The Enhancement Skill already empowers everything I do. If its improved further, it’ll outweigh whatever gains I might get from Bloodmist Fist easily.
The value of Enhancement Skills are not to be underestimated. Next evolution though, Bloodmist Fist is at the top of my list.
Congratulations!
Bloodwind Infusion
Passive, Enhancement
Your body is one with blood and air, making you more resilient and harder to hit.
+50% effectiveness of Body and Healing skills.
becomes
Bloodwind Essence
Passive, Enhancement
You are blood, air, and magic.
All will aid you however you see fit.
+100% effectiveness of Body and Healing skills.
You may choose a Class Skill for Bloodwind Essence to focus on, doubling the enhancement effects on that skill.
Note: You may change your Focus if the chosen skill evolves or its associated Class changes.
Select Skill
Oh, System, you absolute gem. You really shouldn’t have.
I already have a inkling of what skill I’ll be choosing for its focus, so I go ahead and skip Dungeoneer’s evolution and pull up the options for First Arcanist.
Evolve Skill
Class: First Arcanist
Points available: 1
Select Skill:
Enhance Body
Arcane Strike
Mana Surge
Arcane Regulation
Mind, Body, Soul
Arcane Body
Arcane Pugilism
Arcane Infusion
This one is a lot harder to decide on. On the one hand, I have a promise to heal Scruffy’s arm, and evolving Arcane Regulation is almost guaranteed to allow me to do that. On the other, we are at serious risk of failing our mission.
I can’t afford to choose healing when everyone and everything I’ve ever known is on the line. I’ll just have to find another way to help Scruffy.
Instead, I’m thinking of Enhance Body, Mana Surge, or Arcane Infusion. I’m tempted by Mind, Body, Soul, too, as it’s basically the only reason I’m even alive right now. But I don’t need even more durability right now.
I need to kill monsters.
With that in mind, I decide against Arcane Infusion. While it has all the same considerations as Bloodwind Infusion, it’s doubtful that it will outweigh the utility of Enhance Body or Mana Surge right now.
Now then… what to choose.
I guess if I were to look at it logically, I’ll have to ask myself which will be most useful long term. That makes the decision a lot easier.
Mana Surge would likely be more effective in dealing with the statues, but I can't imagine needing to use it very often once we get out of here.
On the other hand, Enhance Body is something I can see myself using all the time. It may not be quite as effective right this moment, but I know it'll be more than enough to close the slowly growing gap we're facing.
Congratulations!
Enhance Body
Active, Body
Use mana to enhance your body, increasing Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity depending on how much mana regeneration is invested.
For every 1% mana regeneration (max 50%) invested, increase all physical stats by 0.5% (max 25%).
becomes
All For One
Active, Body
Use mana to enhance yourself, increasing all stats depending on how much mana regeneration is invested.
For every 1% mana regeneration (max 50%) invested, increase all stats by 1% (max 50%).
Ohhh, hells yes.
All of my stats are empowered now, not just my physical ones. That means even more damage and mana control, which means that even though I didn't empower Mana Surge, it's getting boosted from the increased stats anyways.
Definitely the right choice.
I guess the boost to Charisma will also help later on, but that’s not really relevant right now. I'm not even entirely sure how that will work, given how esoteric Charisma tends to be.
The next thing I do is set All For One as the Focus for Bloodwind Essence, increasing the enhancement it receives from the passive from 100% to 200%, effectively supercharging the skill again. I do some quick mental math, and with the 50% boost from Arcane Infusion's enhancement, All For One's 50% stat increase is boosted to 175%.
I’d have a pretty scary smile on my face right now if I could move, but for now I satisfy myself with internal cheering.
I take a look at my final evolution option.
Evolve Skill
Class: Dungeoneer
Points available: 1
Select Skill:
Sense Danger
Dungeoneer’s Insight
Seeker’s Patience
Relic Whisperer
This is another easy one. Much like Bloodmist Fist, Sense Danger is a close contender. I would have picked it under any other circumstances, but after seeing the situation we’re in, and how bad things can get… it’s not really a choice.
Dungeoneer’s Insight and Relic Whisperer aren’t going to save us from a horde of statues. I need to be able to fight, and then to keep fighting no matter what.
The only real choice is Seeker’s Patience. Not only does it boost more of my stats, the effects it has on my fatigue more than makes it worth it. The part about needing less water, food, and sleep is just a bonus.
However, I don’t select it just yet. I get the feeling that the moment I spend my last evolution point, the world will continue as it was, and I’ll be too occupied to do anything else. So instead, I assign my stat points.
The choice here is fairly easy as well, as it’s just between Dexterity or Wisdom, and that’s not hard to decide on. The only bottleneck I’d faced so far, surprisingly, is how much mana I have and how fast I can regenerate it.
While I didn’t evolve Mana Surge, if I focus on increasing my mana, it will be almost like I did. It takes a flat 10% of my mana, regardless of how much I have, and expels it. So if my mana increases by 50%, so does Mana Surges potential.
All 250 stat points I’ve saved up go straight to Wisdom.
I gape at the notification that appears.
Congratulations!
You have reached the third milestone (2500) in the Wisdom stat.
Wisdom stat effectiveness doubled.
You are now able to super-charge all active skills that require mana by an extra 50%.
Wait, what?
I had a feeling that the next evolution would be at 2,500, but I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t even heard of anyone in Bephis getting their third Milestone, just rumors that it’s a thing. Never specifics, though.
But… it doubles the effectiveness again?
A glance at my mana makes my eyes bulge, so I quickly dismiss the screen for now. I’d rather wait to see it all at once.
More importantly, I can supercharge my Skills. If I do that to All For One… the 175% boost to all stats becomes 262.5%. Which is absurd, even if it costs 75% of my mana regeneration.
I have a feeling I can push the skill beyond anything the System probably intended this early in the Tiers. Having Legendary or Epic classes before Tier Two is honestly a bit unfair.
Just how insane are my stats going to be?
Too excited to wait any longer, I select Seeker’s Patience for my last Skill evolution.
Congratulations!
Seeker’s Patience
Passive, Body
Enhances your endurance and focus for long-duration Dungeon exploration.
You require less water, food, and sleep.
While within a Dungeon, you may push fatigue aside, ensuring it doesn’t hamper you for a time.
+5% increase to Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom
Note: If you push your body too far without rest, you will still suffer the consequences of doing so.
becomes
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Seeker’s Survival
Passive, Body
You will live long enough to see the wonders of the world.
You no longer need water, food, or sleep as long as there is enough ambient mana to sustain yourself.
You may push fatigue aside, ensuring it doesn’t hamper you for a time.
+10% increase to all stats.
Note: If you push your body too far without rest, you will still suffer the consequences of doing so.
Now I’m ready. A familiar sensation joins my growing eagerness, transforming it into sheer, unadulterated glee.
Play.
Fae Ferocity brings me to all new heights once more.
Then I feel the effect holding the world in place begin to fade, as if warning me that it will end soon. I quickly check my Status, comparing it to my previous values while supercharging All For One to see the maximum effect.
Status:
Name - Emilia
Race - Faefox
Age - 20
Level - 50
Health - 7,740 -> 17,931/17,931
Health Regen - 2,084 -> 5,869 per minute
Mana - 39,936 -> 251,930/251,930
Stored - 79,872 -> 503,860/503,860
Mana Regen - 35,904 -> 1.19m per minute (-75%)
Strength - 182 -> 357 (2,587)
Constitution - 193 -> 398 (2,888)
Dexterity - 710 -> 1,138 (8,254)
Intelligence - 552 -> 886 (6,429)
Wisdom - 998 -> 3,149 (22,831)
Charisma - 182 -> 387 (2,807)
Available Stat Points - 0
Titles:
System Waker
Dungeon Pioneer
The First
Combat Class: Bloodwind Mystic (L)
Active Skills:
Bloodmist Fist
Blood Burst
Scarlet Barrier
Hemokinesis
Passive Skills:
Body of Scarlet Skies
Bloodwind Resilience
Bloodwind Harmony
Bloodwind Essence (Evo)
Profession Class: Dungeoneer (E)
Passive Skills:
Sense Danger
Dungeoneer’s Insight
Seeker’s Survival (Evo)
Relic Whisperer
Unique Class: First Arcanist (L)
Active Skills:
All For One (Evo)(Foci)
Arcane Strike
Mana Surge
Arcane Regulation
Passive Skills:
Mind, Body, Soul
Arcane Body
Arcane Pugilism
Arcane Infusion
General Skills:
Manaborn
Fae Ferocity
Magic Resistant
Mental Suppression
Meditation
Intimidation
Pain Resistance (9/10)
Fire Resistance (8/30)
Poison Resistance (15/30)
I’d damn near doubled every base stat, or tripled in the case of my Wisdom. And that’s before considering the enhanced values. My non-physical stats had the most significant improvement, though, thanks to Enhance Body becoming All For One.
Sadly, the same as how Constitution doesn’t increase my health based on its enhanced stats, Wisdom doesn’t increase my mana. But I can feel the mana in the air, buzzing on my skin as if it’s begging me to use it.
I just know I can control every wisp of ambient mana with ease. It doesn’t have any practical combat applications... yet... but it does feel incredible.
Then again, everything feels incredible. My body is flooded with new power, itching to be let loose, and it takes everything I have not to struggle against the world as it releases its hold on time.
I remind myself to start slow. It’s hard to take that step back, but thinking back to the moment I faceplanted a tree because I didn't take a moment to get a grip...
Well, frankly, I don’t want to compare a stone pillar to a tree, and I can’t afford mistakes right now anyways. Somewhere on layer four, Cari might still be fighting.
I don’t want to just survive this—I want to end it. Now I might have the ability to do just that.
In the split second I have left before things return to normal, I do some quick math aided by the Systems’ instilled understanding of my own Status sheet. With All For One supercharged, it leaves me with enough mana regen to pump out eleven Mana Surges without dipping into my reserves.
While I only gained one extra surge per minute, each surge now holds over 119,000 mana, up from just 3,500. That’s more than thirty times the impact, packed into the same blast.
I couldn’t wait to test it.
Thankfully, a small statue I’d nearly missed volunteers itself, charging by as time resumes. I’m still a bit twisted up from kicking the giant spear up and catching one of them before it got by, but it’s easy enough to push mana into my Skill.
Mana Surge explodes around me, and to my surprise its range is nearly tripled. Every statue within thirty or so paces of me, and thus every statue around our group, falls limply to the ground the instant the wave of super-dense mana touches them.
Their twisting runes that animate their stone and flesh are just... snuffed out.
Sadly, it also erases any spell that’s mid-travel to their targets. Thankfully it doesn’t seem to effect them as they continue to cast, blessedly leaving Folly’s spell uninterrupted—but anything they’d released didn’t survive my surge.
But I bought us a breath, and I intend to keep it going.
Slowly at first—or rather, maintaining the speed I’d grown used to—I move towards the spear wielding giant statue. I speed up as I go, quickly growing used to my new capabilities.
Almost too quickly, actually. Where before I’d have to spend at least a couple of minutes to adapt, now I’m getting a grasp on my stats in a matter of seconds. I’m not entirely sure why, but I won’t complain.
Maybe the boost to Intelligence?
I release a Mana Surge every few steps, burning through six of my eleven casts for the minute. But dozens, possibly even a couple hundred statues fall limply to the ground in my wake.
Then I’m finally close enough. I unleash a max power Blood Burst near one of its ankles. Like Mana Surge, the amount of mana shunted into the Skill has increased so much with my evolution that it may as well be a different Skill entirely.
The explosion is more air than blood, but it’s so potent that it destroys the foot and half of its shin entirely. The area affected is so large that it sends cracks up its opposite leg, causing it to buckle as well.
Chunks of pulverized stone and flesh shred nearby statues like shrapnel, clearing nearly half of them out as they, too, are turned into even more shrapnel.
Several stories of stone and flesh topples sideways as its remaining leg fails to stabilize it. I leap to meet it, readying another Mana Surge. I arrive at its chest so fast that I almost lose control, but I manage to recover thanks to my absurd stats aiding my reaction speed.
Then a wave of mana expands from me, erasing the runes from the giant thing. Its entire torso and half of its head goes dark, and the surviving runes quickly follow suit, seemingly unable to keep themselves active without the rest.
The moment I see them starting to fray apart outside the limits of my Skill, I push off its chest. At that moment, an explosion of noise and a rush of air slams into me. It doesn’t send me flying, but it’s like a shockwave was just released from our group.
When my eyes fall on them, I find the area I’d left behind still empty of enemies, thanks to clearing them as I moved to engage the giant. Kiki and the Ranger seem to be doing quite well, too, with only a few statues just now starting to reach them again.
But then there’s Folly.
He floats above the dungeon core, his clothes fluttering with an unseen wind and his eyes glowing a bright greenish-yellow. One hand is outstretched towards one of the massive pillars covered in runes, and my gaze slowly shifts to see his target.
The entire pillar is violently shaking in place, dust and tiny fragments of stone crumbling away from the entire thing all at once, making a small cloud of debris that seems to emanate from the thing like an aura.
Then a huge crack spreads diagonally from one side to the other, practically splitting the pillar at its base, and everything changes.
The pillar explodes at the same moment my feet touch the ground, and I’m momentarily blinded. All I see is white, and I shift some mana into Arcane Regulation for a moment to heal my eyes.
A wave of blood red mana expands around the destroyed pillar, vaporizing everything it touches. Even the pillar itself is gone.
Then it’s over. The wave of power made it halfway to the core, where our group is situated, before fizzling out.
Nothing but dust remains in its wake.
Looking back to the party, I find Folly lowering himself to inspect the core with a grin.
It worked!
Bloodmist Fist empowers my feet once more as I kick off the ground, sprinting towards the group. It takes only seconds to return, and a glance at the core brings a grin to my face.
Where before we’d basically brought its shields power from 100 to 99, killing everything I did and destroying the pillar brought it from 99 to 10. Tops.
With a grin, I approach the core, a Mana Surge ready. When Folly looks up at my approach, I’m surprised to find him wearing a grin that matches my own.
I release the Skill, the mana slamming into the cores shield and causing it to dim noticeably.
But it’s still active, and visibly recovering.
I do it again. And again.
Over and over and over, I spam-cast Mana Surge, and it quickly overpowers the shields. Fifteen surges in less than five seconds proves to be too much for the thing, and the shield finally fizzles out.
My foot—empowered by an Arcane Strike backed with nearly 12,000 mana, and Bloodmist Fist further boosting it’s speed alongside my new and absurd stats—slams home. The sound of shattering glass and stone reverberates from the center of our group, but all eyes were already on us.
A fresh wave of mana bursts from the small stone, so potent that it puts even my recent gains to shame.
Then every statue begins to screech, their voices rising as one in a jagged wail. I stagger away from the shattered core, heart racing with a mix of adrenaline and terror as Sense Danger explodes with warning.
I didn’t even know they could do that. They’ve always been silent, except for the grinding of stone. But now they all sound the same. As if one voice is screaming its hatred through thousands of mouths.
Notice
You have been cursed by ERROR.
Notice
Divine curse removed.
Notice
You have been cursed by ERROR.
Notice
Divine curse removed.
Notice
You have been cursed by ERROR.
Notice
Divine curse removed.
The screeching intensifies with each notification. For a harrowing moment, I’m frozen. Not by magic, but sheer dread.
Then, just as suddenly, the messages stop.
Something divine just tried to curse me. I don’t know how, or why, the curse was removed, but I get the feeling that wasn’t supposed to happen. Whatever it was that cursed me certainly isn't happy about it.
Is the System protecting me? Or something else?
The wave of mana doesn’t care. It keeps expanding, impossibly fast, until it floods the entire Dungeon.
In its wake, every speck of the strange, magical darkness is erased. Every rune and statue goes dark and silent, their mana ripped away.
And it doesn’t stop, continuing to expand until it fills the entire dungeon, revealing more and more of the space as it does.
We knew coming in that the place was massive, but this is something else entirely. There is no ceiling, no walls. Instead, there is a gray sky, and a horizon dotted with ancient, towering pillars. Each one flickers before going dark as the wave touches them.
This place isn’t just a temple. It’s a world.
Before I can really take it in, a new notice appears before me unprompted.
WORLD NOTICE
[REDACTED], the System Waker, enacts a change.
Dungeons can no longer be destroyed.
Those who previously destroyed dungeons without direct prompts from Quests, clearance objectives, or other exceptional circumstances will be penalized.
Any attempts to circumvent this change will result in severe System-enforced restrictions.
Wait, what? I didn’t start a vote. I didn’t do anything! How—
Realization comes in a flash. I didn’t enact the change… but I’m the one the System speaks through, now.
For better or worse, I’m its face.
Gods, I’m glad my name is hidden. How many people did I just piss off this time?
Still, even with my name hidden, it doesn't seem enough to stop the Divine from reaching me.
Suddenly, the Dungeon begins to fade from existence around us. Familiar glittering stones peek through slowly growing holes in reality, revealing the Tunnels in all their star-like beauty.
I never thought I’d be quite this happy to see them.
Then another notice presents itself. For once, it isn't terrifying.
Congratulations!
Quest complete.
You have cleared the Temple of the Fallen.
Reward available:
Level up x5
Party Distribution Method:
Not applicable.
Claim rewards?
Yes / No
