Return to Jorgaldur Volume I: the battle mage

Purifying Essence

He thanked that, for each floor that he went down, the number of adventurers decreased. That was because many had given up over time, had found something better, or had died. In fact, by ordering the level of the people in the kingdom, we would obtain a pyramid, with many of low level at the base, and less and less as we are near the cusp.

After the skeletons, there were a kind of zombies, which weren't slow at all and were strong, but were vulnerable to slashing and piercing damage. Already on the last floor, with level 44 zombies wielding a spear, and which could cast a terror spell, it had become more difficult. There were fewer adventurers there, which made the monsters come together, being three the maximum he had seen.

It hadn't been a serious problem, but he had been forced to use his skills and spells. His level was only four levels higher, although it is also true that blessings and equipment increased his advantage. In any case, he needed to be cautious, in addition to assuming that he wasn't going to earn much experience.

In fact, against the previous floor boss, he had needed to exert himself, and the final boss should be harder, a boss that many adventurers didn't even bother to face. When they were strong enough, they left the dungeon and traveled to a higher level one, many kilometers away.

He made sure there was no one around and chose the safest option, using bow and arrows with fire, and keeping the distance. The huge spear was dangerous, but dodging it from afar was easy. And if the boss got too close, he could take refuge in the tunnel and continue shooting.

When it looked like a porcupine, the arrows and the fire had decreased its health heavily, and he had been able to observe some of its movements, so Eldi went on to use Javelin with several spears, as it was an easy target. He provoked it to throw its weapon to him, attacking it with Javelin when it was going to pick its spear up.

The boss' vitality had dropped more than half, at which point it used a skill that the zombies in the floor didn't have: Berserker. It lowers the defense to raise the attack and agility, making it more dangerous. Eldi created several Walls between him and the zombie, which it crossed without worrying about the damage it was taking, stamping against the wall after sliding down the icy floor.

It recovered immediately and turned around to face Eldi, who had moved behind the Walls, forcing it to go through them again if it wanted to reach him, and so it did. But this time, the frozen ground wasn't as effective, since the previous chase by the huge zombie had cracked it. So, he waited for it in front of a Frozen Wall, forcing it to fight in it, and taking advantage of the slowdown it was inflicting.

It didn't take long to succumb. The difference in level made Eldi's attacks more effective, and the movements from someone so big were evident to him, being able to easily dodge the huge spear or its Kicks, while he was damaging its legs with the axe. When they couldn't bear its weight anymore, it had almost no health left, and Eldi only needed to finish it on the ground.

In the huge room, there only seemed to be stone walls. He had been inspecting it for twenty minutes, without even finding a clue. He only had ten left before the huge zombie reappeared, and he preferred not to face it again, although he was determined to do so if needed.

The high human used Sharpening Senses, but all he got was the sound of a drop of water falling. He was planning to create some holes for when the boss reappeared, when a thought crossed his mind.

"Water? That makes no sense," he muttered to himself.

He went to where he had heard it, but there was only a stone wall, so he decided to try something. The Oracle had explained that what was there was hidden from others, but that he could find it. So he took out the safe-conduct for the dungeon he had obtained in the game, something that only visitors could possess.

A light shone on the wall, two meters to the left of where he was, and a passage appeared, passage that closed behind him after crossing it.

It was dark. In that tunnel there weren't those glowing mushrooms that were forbidden to harvest in the dungeon. So, he took out the lamp, being surprised to find magic iron veins and various types of mushrooms, fully developed. He had found some on the bottom floors, but they weren't big enough yet to be harvested. Apparently, some high levels periodically went to collect them, but it had been a long time since anyone had stepped in that tunnel.

The passage led to a small room with a puddle in the middle, and a stalactite over it, at which end the moisture was gradually gathering, to form a drop and fall into the puddle.

There were more mushrooms, from different species to the previous ones, since they needed the moisture from the room, so he collected some of them, but left several of each type. He didn't want to be the cause of them not growing again.

He had gathered a small treasure that would allow him to craft better weapons and potions. Perhaps, just for that, it had been worth going there, although he didn't believe that the Oracle had made him go only for metal or mushrooms. However, there was nothing else.

He watched the stalactite carefully, but couldn't detect anything special in it. There was nothing that could be the "Purifying Essence," unless...

He lightly touched the water with his finger, fearing it could be dangerous. Surprisingly, his nail became clean, shiny.

"So it's the water..."

He took out a small bottle, of those used in potions, and filled it. It seemed only water, but he had found that it was something else. When he picked it up, his alchemist intuition recognized it as an ingredient, an ingredient for which he had no recipe.

He wondered what it was for, but he hoped to find out in the future, as that used to be in the predictions from the Oracle.

He didn't take more, he had been warned against it, so he went to the teleportation circle to get out of that dungeon.