Syl

Chapter 59: Apparitions

My tentacle murder ball strategy was very effective, and I proceeded to explore after quickly eating. Also, I looked over my notifications to see what I had gained.

.

Restrict your mana aura to a reasonable level unless within close and observable contact.

It is considered rude to blare your mana aura like a beacon constantly.

This trait has no levels.>

'I can't help but feel insulted by this skill...'

I activated the skill, and when I glanced at myself with [Mana Sight], I could see that my mana was subdued, but close examination broke the illusion rather quickly. While being 'polite' sounded nice, I was much happier about not being easily noticeable at a distance.

The next room contained the stairway down to the next floor, but there was another pathway, which I presumed led to another path here. I decided to explore another room on this floor before heading down, hoping to gain the proficiency level. After defeating the room full of zombie warriors and skeleton archers, I reached my goal.

The next floor had an eerie atmosphere and lower lighting conditions. I wondered what I'd run into down here. The first room contained three spectral entities that floated around, and a quick [Identify] told me what they were.

When they spotted me, the objects in the room began to levitate before being flung at me. I was unamused with junk being thrown at me and turned on my acid to melt anything that got stuck in my slime. I swung a tendril at one of the entities, and it soared right through it. They all began to giggle at me in an ominously whispery tone.

I joined in a spell construction with my [Sub-Cores] and fired a large fiery bolt at one of the apparitions, striking the creature, and it wailed in pain before dissolving into nothing. I didn't expect to one-shot the apparition, so I toned down and fired a regular [Fire Arrow], but after taking two, it also dissolved into nothing.

'No! I want to eat them for the profile!'

I swapped to firing [Water Orb] at it, but after taking three, it joined the first two by dissolving into nothing. I stared at the puddle where it used to be. I even tried to eat the puddle, but it was just water.

'Well... I can see why they said to bring a mage. I can't believe there's nothing for me to eat. Imagine the interesting traits I could have gotten!'

Frustrated, I moved on to the next room. Inside was a singular creature that resembled a black cloak blowing in the breeze.

'If that's an evolved level, this thing is likely the strongest creature I've come across in this entire dungeon.'

It let out an echoey shriek before I could cast my spell and seemed to almost teleport towards me. It draped its cloak forward like it contained a disembodied hand and raked it through my entire being. It glided through my slime like nothing was there, and when it touched my core there was a black flash of energy.

Pain unexpectedly went through me, and I frantically ordered all my [Sub-Cores] to kill it with fire. Three flaming arrows struck it, and it shrieked again before teleporting backward. It kept flickering left, then right, on repeat, as if dodging with its strange movement. I grabbed Gamma to assist me with another empowered [Fire Arrow] while Alpha and Beta kept it distracted with their bombardment.

When it teleported in front of me again, I unleashed my spell, burning a hole straight through the creature as it began extending its cloak toward me again. It let out its echoing shriek as it faded from existence.

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'Okay... That was unexpected. I'm glad it was fragile, at least.' I thought, relieved it was over and taking a look at the notifications I had received.

'One level to go... Once I get it, I can claim I got my ascension and picked fire affinity. Assuming my evolution doesn't completely ruin my disguise. Now that I think about it, I need to find a safe spot to evolve. I don't think my [Sub-Cores] can keep up my disguise while evolving.'

'Perhaps I could melt a hole in the bottom of the dungeon? Although people might come looking for me. Maybe I could say I want to do some solo hunting in the forest. If I didn't want more information, especially skill advice, I'd consider just leaving.'

Now that I knew these apparitions could potentially harm me, I decided to change my approach. They were fragile, so perfect to take out with [Stealth] and [Sneak Attack]. I wondered what level I'd get that Fireball spell that Dewi had wanted to combine with [Sneak Attack], but I'd have to settle with [Fire Arrow] or whatever name I'd give to my empowered version. Sneaking towards the next room, I spotted another three floating entities.

Coordinating our spells, we formed another two improved [Fire Arrows] and launched them at the two stronger ghosts, and while they were in mid-flight, I had each of us form a basic version and launch them at the lower level. When the empowered spells struck, the two ghosts immediately vaporized, and the arrow continued until it struck the dungeon wall. The lower-level ghost frantically looked around before taking two flaming arrows and also dispersing.

'Okay... So perhaps that was overkill.'

When I snuck towards the next room, I saw two interesting ghosts armed with ghostly weapons.

'Interesting... So I shouldn't get complacent even if it's an old monster. I wonder if I could delegate this. Gamma, I want you to identify monsters for me.'

'Gamma, stop!' I screamed mentally, and the flood of notifications ceased.

'I think that would have driven me insane. I wonder how specific I can be, or could I have Gamma filter these for me? Worth a shot.'

I tried a few experiments, and I could indeed have Gamma filter the identification for me and only show it to me if it met my criteria. The best discovery was that Gamma could use my knowledge, and if I knew, for example, that class was an intermediate (like sniper), I could filter for it.

My final order became for Gamma to use [Identify] once on any monsters I encountered and then only display it to me if it met any of these conditions: it was a new monster, the race was above level 10, it had an unknown class, a class above basic, or if it had a class above 10. I'd likely revisit this as I grew, perhaps adding other conditions or raising the filters. Once again, I was blown away by how versatile this trait was and made a mental note to praise Gramps, assuming he made it.

With my testing complete, I had to deal with these two unaware ghosts. I formed my two empowered spells and launched them at the two ghosts, and once again, the spell proved too powerful for them to handle. Or perhaps it was the added [Sneak Attack] if it was applying, but I'd likely only find out if it was applying on a proficiency notification.

I hated this floor of the dungeon despite it being ideal with my style of magical assassination, as I felt these monsters were taunting me with their unobtainable profiles. The next room only contained poltergeists, which I knew couldn't harm me, but I still dispatched them from stealth.

'New spell! Still no fireball yet...'

This new spell created a small explosion emanating from myself as the focal point. I cast it once in the empty room, and a fiery explosion burst around me. The size of the blast was a little disappointing, not even half the size I witnessed from one of Dewi's fireballs. Still, it seemed useful if I ever was surrounded.

Once again, I resumed my sneaking around. I was curious that I'd yet to see any of those loot chests. The next room had a massive staircase downwards and was guarded by another one of those floating black cloaks.

I was pleased that Gamma proved one of my orders was correct, and I started forming two empowered [Fire Arrows]. Perhaps because of my new level in [Fire Magic], these two seemed far more impressive than before and could hold a decent amount more mana beyond their previous limit. Once I felt the spells trembling with mana and threatening to unravel, I launched them at the creature. Both struck simultaneously, causing it to let out that horrific wail before dispersing into flame. I cheered as I received a flood of notifications.

Would you like to swap classes?>.

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