Seeds of Discordia: New Arrival Mayhem

Liam stared at the spot the Undead Priest was once at.

He was completely shocked by what had happened. He had practiced using Lunar Orb on targets in the Mage Tower, but they had never done what had just happened.

Liam really wanted to know what happened to make the creature get disintegrated like that. He looked back at his list of battle notifications until he came to one he hadn’t seen.

It was the last notification.

 

“Lunar orb has successfully hit Undead Priest of %$#@ %$#@$ for 25 damage.”

“Attention! Conditions for special Lunar effect, Lunar Energy Burst, has been met: 1. Lingering Shadow magic has been detected on Undead Priest of %$#@ %$#@$. 2. Undead Priest of %$#@ %$#@$’s health is under 10% allowing special Lunar effect to be triggered.”

“Lunar Energy Burst – Special Lunar effect. Activates only when a target has been hit with or has some sort of Shadow magic on them as well as health at 10% or lower. When activated, a powerful burst of Lunar energy explodes from the orb and disintegrates the target.”

 

Liam’s eyes widened as he read this.

“Magic abilities can have special effects?” Liam questioned with his mouth agape. “Mercer and the others are definitely going to want to know this.”

Chime sounds suddenly echoed in Liam’s mind as more notifications appeared.

 

“Congratulations! Seed of the Arcana has reached level 16! Progression to level 17: 25%!”

“Congratulations! Field of the Craft has reached level 16! Progression to level 17: 25%!”

“Congratulations! Focus Point Production Craft has reached level 16! Progression to level 17: 25%!”

“Congratulations! Production Craft Magic - Light and Burn has reached level 16! Progression to level 17: 25%!”

“Congratulations! Gravity Magic - Gravity Well has reached level 6! Progression to level 7: 5%!”

“Congratulations! Field of the Lunar has reached level 9! Progression to level 10: 1%!”

“Congratulations! Focus Point: Lunar Control has reached level 9! Progression to level 10: 1%!”

“Congratulations! Lunar Magic Lunar Orb has reached level 9! Progression to level 10: 1%!”

 “Congratulations! Field of the Shadows has reached level 9! Progression to level 10: 25%!”

“Congratulations! Focus Point - Utility (Shadow) has reached level 9! Progression to level 10: 25%!”

“Congratulations! Shadow Magic - Veil of Shadows has reached level 9! Progression to level 10: 25%!”

“Congratulations! Focus Point - Shadow Control has reached level 8! Progression to level 9: 31%!”

“Congratulations! Shadow Magic - Shadow Orb has reached level 8! Progression to level 9: 31%!”

 

“Sweet!” Liam shouted with some excitement. “My Lunar and Shadow magic is progression nicely. If this continues then I’ll be able to gain more…”

Liam shook his head. “No Liam, focus on what you have now before thinking about possibilities you don’t know about yet.”

Liam stared at his hand. He was excited about the prospects his new magical abilities brought to the table and really wanted to see what would happen if his Shadow magic triggered a special effect. However, he knew he’d find out soon enough when opportunities presented themselves. He had four days to test theories and practice his magic on this foe.

A grin spread on Liam’s face as he thought of all the possibilities. His grin then disappeared as he remembered something important. Loot!

He turned to the area where the boss had been and looked around.

Nothing was there.

No bones, no rags, no loot.

Liam frowned and was about to get annoyed, but then noticed he had one final notification that needed to be read.

 

“You have received Cowl of the Haunted. Cowl of the Haunted has been sent to your inventory.”

“You have received 10 silver coins. 10 silver coins has been sent to your inventory.”

 

Liam pulled up his inventory and saw a Cowl sitting there in one of the boxes.

“Huh,” Liam muttered as he pulled it out.

He checked it out and was impressed with how it looked.

It was a leather hooded cowl with a skull faintly etched on each side of the hood. It had enough material for him to fit his left arm through while a strap hooked under his right arm.

 

“Cowl of the Haunted. Item Rarity -Uncommon. Item Quality – Average. Armor +10. Added effects: +5% to Sub-stat Resilience when fighting against Undead type monsters. +5% to Mental Resilience sub-stat.”

 

Liam whistled as he assessed the item. “That plus five percent to my resilience will be helpful. I wonder what else I can get from this guy? I’ll have to run this boss a few times over the next couple of days.”

Liam nodded. “Okay, my game plan for the next four days will be practicing my magic, run this dungeon, practice my crafting, practice my dagger skills, and get the proper supplies. Honestly there’s so much I want to get done, but there never seems to be enough time.”

Liam looked around the room once more. He gave a nod of satisfaction as he was grateful for how far he had come from his first day. It wasn’t anything to sneeze at when compared to people like Nabal, but to him it was a sign that he was growing.

“Alright let’s do this once more and then call it a night,” Liam said as he walked towards the portal.

 

                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Liam walked through the small city of the Tutorial Area. The Yooperlite stone was starting to hum as the light it housed started to glow. The streets were quiet due to people still asleep or just starting to wake up.

He felt that these past four days were spent wisely. He was able to get some of his magic up a few levels. A few were just a spell cast or two away from level ten while the others progressed as well as they could.

 He was able to get some of his crafting up as well while working at the smithy and at the lab located in the Bubbling Potion. His other craft, tailoring, had reached a respectable level five.

He found tailoring was a bit harder and require much more attention and focus. Sewing was the starting part which let him practice his stitching. If he wasn’t paying close attention, he would mess up and have to undo what he had done to restart. After a few attempts he was able to get into a groove and felt it was rather relaxing.

He wasn’t able to make much yet, but he felt once when he got to a higher level with it he’d be able to make more.

On top of his crafting, he was able to get some new equipment as well. He was able to replace his old armor with this new armor that had a buff to his Resilience sub-stat against Undead and more.

“Haunted Leather Pants. Item Rarity -Uncommon. Item Quality – Average. Light Armor +10. Added effects: +5% to Sub-stat Resilience when fighting against Undead type monsters.”

“Haunted Leather Boots. Item Rarity -Uncommon. Item Quality – Average. Light Armor +10. Added effects: +5% to Sub-stat Resilience when fighting against Undead type monsters. +5% to Reflex Sub-stats when fighting against Undead type monsters.”

“Haunted Bone Chest Armor. Item Rarity -Rare. Item Quality – Average. Light Armor +10. Added effects: +5% to Sub-stat Resilience when fighting against Undead type monsters. +5% to trigger Mana Soak when being attacked by magic casted by Undead type monsters.”

That last item was interesting, not just by the way it looked, but by that Mana Soak effect.

“Mana Soak – Magic casted upon you will be soaked into the polished bones used on armored item, diverting some of the damage the target would normally take into the bones of an Undead caster.”

Apparently the bones from that Undead Priest was transferred into the item and thanks to that the Mana Soak effect was added into the chest piece.

“I wonder if the others were able to get new armor as well,” Liam muttered as he turned down the street that led to the portals.

Liam and his group decided to meet up at the portal first thing in the morning so they could go over the supplies they had gotten and make sure they weren’t missing or forgetting anything.

“I’m getting pretty excited about this,” Liam muttered to himself as he felt his body get anxious.

As he got closer he noticed the others standing and talking to each other.

There weren’t many groups by the portal, making the area quieter than normal.

As he approached the others, Ariyana saw him and waved at him.

“Morning,” Liam greeted as he walked up to them.

“About time you got here,” Roman teased as he gave him a grin.

“Like you’re one to talk. You got here just five minutes ago yourself,” Ariyana stated as she gave him a slight frown.

“You’re touchy,” Roman commented as he glared at her.

“That’s because I’m not a morning person,” Ariyana yawned. She then grumbled, “I hate being up so early.”

“So do I,” Artem agreed as he stretched his arms out.

Avery, Blair, and Mercer shook their heads with disapproval.

“Let’s go over our supplies before we head in,” Mercer announced before anyone else could say anything. “Let’s go over consumables first.”

“Before we do that,” Artem chimed in as he looked inside his inventory. He then pulled out seven hot steamy muffins.

The smell that wafted off of them made the group turn their attention to him and grin happily.

As Artem passed out the muffins to everyone, Blair asked, “Are these buffed muffins?”

“No.” Artem shook his head. “I made snacks that are lighter on the body with buffs so we don’t get too full. These one I made because we are up so early.”

“If getting up early means I get a muffin made by you, then I’ll happily get up early without complaint,” Ariyana stated as she took a bite. She let out a satisfied moan as she chewed the breakfast item. “Oh yeah, this is exactly what I need.”

Roman rolled his eyes at Ariyana’s words.

Mercer took an appreciative bite and nodded before looking at Artem and asking after swallowing, “Artem, you have all the ingredients you need for food?”

Artem nodded. “All that I could think of.”

Mercer nodded. He then looked at Liam and asked, “How about you? How’s your potion stock? Do you have all you need to repair our armor and weapons?”

Liam pulled up his inventory and looked over his supplies. “I have several stacks of potions already made. I have some extracts and materials ready in case I need to make more. I’m not sure how many we’ll go through so if I need to make some during a break then I’ll be able to.”

Mercer nodded, agreeing with his logic. “And materials for repairs?”

Liam scratched the back of his head. “That one is a bit complicated. For certain level armor and weapons I’ll be able to fully repair, but the others I’ll only be able to make spot repairs. My level isn’t that high yet for full repair on those items.”

The group understood what he was saying.

The higher quality weapons needed his repair section of his blacksmithing at a certain level. He was able to get it high enough that if the repairs needed weren’t too bad then he’d be able to handle it.

“Also, for the cloth armor I’m still not high enough so I’ll apologize now,” Liam stated as he looked at Ariyana.

Ariyana shrugged, knowing that he did all that he could to get to where he was. “No worries.”

“Were you guys able to have Fia take a look at your weapons and armor?” Liam asked.

Everyone nodded.

“I like her,” Avery stated.

“She’s a great example of what a strong independent woman should be like,” Blair nodded with approval. “The way she ran the smithy made me respect her a lot.”

“I liked her a lot too,” Ariyana agreed.

Everyone looked at her.

“What?” Ariyana asked.

“Why did you go and see her?” Roman questioned. “You don’t have a weapon that requires a blacksmith.”

“I commissioned a weapon from her,” Ariyana said as she gave Roman a slight frown. “I told you guys I was in the market for a new weapon, but couldn’t figure out what I wanted. I talked her about an idea I had and she was excited about it and made it.”

“What weapon did you have her make?” Liam asked, curious about the possibility of learning a new weapon design.

“You’ll have to wait and see,” Ariyana said with a wink.

Mercer gave a slight chuckle. “I was able to secure several individual tents, travel pillows, and sleeping bags. We should be fine with all that.”

“Is that everything?” Liam asked as he looked at everyone.

“I believe so,” Mercer said with some uncertainty. “I’m not sure what to expect so I can’t fully say that we have everything or not.”

“That’s true,” Liam said. “The only way to know is by taking this thing on.”

Everyone nodded.

“Let’s head out then,” Liam said as he walked towards the portal.

He placed a hand on it and saw the list of floors.

“Graveyard of the Forgotten Realm. Which floor would you like to go to? Floors available: 1st, 2nd,3rd, 4th, 5th.”

Mentally preparing himself he took in a deep breath and slowly let it out as he clicked the 5th floor option.

“Are you entering with the team: Artem, Ariyana, Avery, Blair, Mercer, and Roman? Yes No?”

Liam clicked Yes and then stepped through the portal.

Adva and Phorge watched as Liam and his team walked through the portal.

“Each time I watch them go in I start to worry,” Adva stated softly.

With a stern look Phorge stated, “Each time they go in they come back. You have to believe they will make it through another floor alive.”

“I know,” Adva said with a shake of her head. “It’s just my age catching up.” She then gave him a sideways look and asked, “Any luck on your end?”

“None yet,” Phorge said with a sigh. “You’ll be the first I tell when I have information.”

“Thank you,” Adva said. She then mentally said, Good luck and come back in one piece.