Chapter 58 (1 of 2) Lucille’s methods of releasing pent-up frustration are not to be imitated. (Patreon)

Lucy and Scytale eyed the sickeningly pulsating sceptre for a few more seconds before Scytale shrugged and walked away. “Well, you’re the one with the dimension item. Your job to lug it around.”

She shot him a flat look but cast an arcane spell to raise the item, being careful not to touch it. It went into the bag without her having even bothered to inspect its item sheet. Nothing good had ever come to a person who had used even the weakest of the Heretic items.

Scytale absent-mindedly kicked a piece of crystal, sending it skidding across the damaged floor. “So, what now? Find the entrance to the next zone and onward we go?”

Lucille smirked and shook her head. “Not yet. Now… it’s time to try something else.”

She sat down on the ground and Scytale curiously copied her. She opened Ouroboros’s skill information.

[Skill: Rebirth From Death | Type: Influence/Spirit ]

Desc: In times past in an unknown world, the mythology of an ancient empire was spread to other continents and underwent a reformation. Now of another form, the deity represented the cyclic nature of life and death, and all within. A confluence with this mythology and spiritual energy has led to the bestowment of a ______’s resonance blessing upon this weapon, taking on the forces of Order’s pinnacle.

Abilities:

Cyclic Reforming – The strength of one becomes another’s.

- Gives the weapon the ability to obtain the spiritual energy of those killed by its soul twin. {Only active when used alongside Twin Souls: Chaos}

- Gives the weapon the ability to reconstitute skills from the energy of those slain by its soul twin and pass them to its User. Collected Skill Shards: (5/10) Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn, (1/5) Lesser Quartzite Beetle Prince, Lesser Emperor Prism Bug Skill (1/5).

- Gives the weapon the ability to merge skill shards to form new tertiary or secondary skills. Limitations apply. Collected Skills: Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn Skill x2, Lesser Quartzite Beetle Prince Skill x1, Lesser Emperor Prism Bug Skill x1.

- Gives the weapon the ability to reconstitute stats from the energy of those slain by its soul twin and pass them to its User. Stat gain maximum: 50% of Rank Total. {Temporarily Stored Stats: x1 DEX, x2 INT}

Ordered Origin – Order became power.

- Gives the weapon the ability to shield its User from damage up to the total of its active ATK, MATK and SATK. Shield resets when its User receives unshielded damage the equivalent of what was negated.

- Gives the weapon the ability to absorb damage up to its active ATK using its User’s equivalent MP, while shield is active. Absorbed damage can be reflected partially or completely. Current absorbed damage:

[ ]

The first thing she did was transfer the three stats she had obtained by killing the Dungeon Scion. Then Lucy tapped on Ouroboros’s pommel. “Your time to shine. Show me what you can do and merge those skill shards.”

The silvery dagger let out a loud ringing sound as its blue aura glowed. Then a notification that Lucille hadn’t seen before appeared.

[Soulbound weapon The Serpent’s Form: Ouroboros has merged all collected skill shards to form the new Tertiary Skill: Prism Property Identifier]

[Tertiary Skill: Prism Property Identifier | Type: Material/Analysis]

Rarity: Uncommon

Desc: A new skill, formed through unusual means. This skill allows the User to gain an understanding of the properties of any low-strength crystal they hold, enabling them to utilise the crystal in crafting more easily.

Ability:

Crystal Identification – Observe the facets and faces of its clarity.

- Allows the User to familiarise themself with the properties of a weak prism crystal they touch. The stronger the crystal or mineral, the more difficult it is to gain an understanding of.

- +2% to earth mana detection.

[]

“Interesting…” Lucille mused. “This skill would likely be more valuable for Sedric than me right now, however.”

Scytale squinted at the skill. “It’s pretty low quality.”

She flicked the side of his head with a finger. “And we both have low-quality strength right now too. Don’t act like a choosing beggar at only Rank-1.”

Lucy tapped on Ouroboros again. “Please transfer the other skills now, Ouroboros.”

The dagger happily acquiesced, and the new notifications appeared.

[Gained Tertiary Skill: Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn Skill]

[Error: Incompatibility of Influence detected. Foreign Influence contains malignant concepts dangerous for User Lucille Goldcroft. Withdrawing sample Influence for System Records and substituting for compatible Influence…]

[Common Tertiary Skill: Lesser Quartzite Beetle Spawn Skill has evolved to become Common Tertiary Skill: Quartz Locator]

[Gained Tertiary Skill: Lesser Quartzite Beetle Prince Skill]

[Error: Incompatibility of Influence detected. Foreign Influence contains malignant concepts dangerous for User Lucille Goldcroft. Withdrawing sample Influence for System Records and substituting for compatible Influence…]

[Uncommon Tertiary Skill: Lesser Quartzite Beetle Prince Skill has evolved to become Uncommon Tertiary Skill: Magical Material Radar]

[Gained Secondary Skill: Lesser Emperor Prism Bug Skill]

[Error: Incompatibility of Influence detected. Foreign Influence contains malignant concepts dangerous for User Lucille Goldcroft. Withdrawing sample Influence for System Records and substituting for compatible Influence…]

[Uncommon Secondary Skill: Lesser Emperor Prism Bug Skill has evolved to become Uncommon Secondary Skill: Crystal-Imbued Mana Control]

[Detected compatibility between skills: Prism Property Identifier, Quartz Locator, Magical Material Radar, and Crystal-Imbued Mana Control. Merge skills? Yes/No]

Lucille raised an eyebrow and traded glances with her bond. Then she pressed [Yes].

[Gained Secondary Skill: Gemstone Processor – Spell Imbuement]

[Secondary Skill: Gemstone Processor – Spell Imbuement | Type: Material/Runic]

Rarity: Rare

Desc: A new skill, formed through unusual means. This skill allows the User to imbue spells within gemstones as crafters do, but by taking the spell they cast and forcing the gem to replicate it internally instead of assembling the runes inside one by one. The demerits of this are that these gemstone spells become unalterable and can only be erased, although they are semi-permanent archives that require only mana to cast the spell within.

Abilities:

Spell Transferal – Oceans of mana within the prizes of the earth.

- Grants the User the ability to transfer their spells within their field of influence into a gemstone with rarity, size, and power enough to contain the spell. This ability only works on spells with the User’s mana signature.

Grants the User the ability to sense the power and capability of gemstones within their field of influence, and when a spell is cast, determine appropriate gemstones to contain it.

Forced Imbuement – Bend the crystal’s power to your will.

- Grants the User the ability to forcefully imbue spells of any element within any gemstone, even with elemental limitations. Power and/or effect of the spell may be altered.

[]

Scytale tilted his head, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. “Uh… cool skill? I guess? But why would you even use it if you can’t alter the runes inside the gemstone? At least I can see how you got this skill from all the crystal beetle skills, with their INT focus and all…”

But his words trailed off as he sensed the strange satisfaction and anticipation coming from Lucy. “Let me guess… I’m missing something again…”

She smirked and closed the skill sheet. “Scytale, how does my second main skill work?”

“You change the elements to enhance your stats,” he replied, not getting her point.

“Yes, but I also rebrand spells near me and take control of them,” Lucy said, standing up and beginning to pace back and forth. “Scytale, with this skill I can permanently steal unique spells.”

He rolled his eyes. “You have perfect memory.”

“Of course I know that,” Lucille stated flatly, shooting him a look. “But do you think any random mage is allowed to cast the precious inherited magic of the powerful mage schools and noble families without consequence? But you still haven’t recalled my most recent Epic skill.”

She placed a hand behind her back but held one up for Scytale, still pacing. “I have a small chance of comprehending the conceptual information in magical beast and monster skills. Additionally, I can imbue conceptual information into my magic to create entirely new spells.”

Lucy stopped and spread her arms in front of her bond with an excited grin on her face. “Do you understand what that means? That’s directly giving the spell an effect and having the runes manipulate themselves to create the desired effect. The laws of magic themselves will conform to my wishes.”

She pointed at her bond. “New runes, Scytale. New lesser, greater… and even Superior runes when I mimic a Grand-mage’s Grand spell. In other words, creating as many Glyphs as I want – an Archmage’s runic model.” Lucille paused to give Scytale a serious look. “Ordinarily, these new runes would likely dissipate once the spell was finished, only appearing once and then never again as they’d be temporary. Even if I tried to replicate the same situation, or attempted to reform the same runes, the environment wouldn’t be the same. You and I both know how much conceptual manipulation is dependent on time and place.”

Then she crossed her arms. “But I can now store these temporary, custom spells, meaning they’ll be part of the realm permanently.” She smirked at her bond. “And not only that, but my conceptual imbuement will also enhance the spells used by those Archmages, making them better and preventing them from trying to go after my life for using their magic. By studying the way these new spells form, I can create the perfect ones for being a ‘spellblade’, as well as create ones that could be wonderful for accessories. In fact, I might even be able to create spells that imitate artifact spells.”

Then Lucille fell silent all of a sudden. She tapped a foot against the ground and hummed. “But if I can already mimic the magic of beasts, monsters, and humans… there’s no reason to stop only at that, is there?”

She abruptly turned to face the two closed front doors of the room, her gaze becoming unfocused. Scytale sighed and shut off his connection to her mind, wanting to avoid the headache. Lucille’s thoughts whirred at high speeds in her head as she analysed what exactly this meant for her plans. With her Origin Skill, she had already set up simulations for her to visualise what she wanted to do.

Then she turned back around and smiled at her bond. “Scytale, I think I finally know what path I truly want to take in this timeline.” She gestured to him to follow, placed her hands behind her back, and walked towards a seemingly blank wall of the circular room. “With the freedom I have in altering my main skills, my second main skill will become the best ‘Mage’ class anyone could ever have.”

Scytale stood up and followed her as she pressed a hand against the wall. “Then, for my next main skill… I think I might become the best ‘Crafter’.” Then Lucille smirked and pressed on a part of the wall, inserting her mana. The bricks and wall shifted to reveal a hidden hallway with glowing blue mana lamps, decorated by black metal.

“But before I get ahead of myself too much, how about we finish this Quest?” she asked cheerily, gesturing to the uncovered open doorway.

Scytale placed his hands on his hips, feeling slightly exasperated, but shook his head wryly and followed her in. “And so, what is your next step in becoming the best ‘Mage’?”

She calmly walked forward. “To gain the ability to comprehend spirit, demonic, death and draconic magic while avoiding the eyes of the nobles and powerful clans. Luckily, I already had a way of doing exactly that.” Lucy gained a dark smile and glanced at her bond. “It would be a shame if I didn’t explore the underworld when I have the backing of the largest force within it, wouldn’t it?”

…

They walked through the dim hallway, metal grates for doors on either side. The floor was made of dark wood, and the brick around them was closer to black than grey. Scytale tried to peer through the grates and see what was beyond, but he could only see a dark hallway like they were in that continued into the darkness.

“Was this the actual dungeon before the monster arrived?” Scytale wondered aloud.

“I believe it was a high-security zone of the building,” Lucy replied, carefully analysing her perception field to see if there was anything interesting around them. There wasn’t, so they continued walking in the dimly lit corridor. They eventually came before a large pair of doors made of wood and metal, the emblem of a howling wolf engraved on both.

Lucy looked at her bond. “The creatures in here aren’t immediately dangerous, but-”

Scytale heard ‘not immediately dangerous’ and ignored the rest of her words, pushing the doors open. He walked ahead into a large hall, podiums and long luxurious tables arranged to form a circle on tiered platforms. On pedestals around the place were glossy black wolf statues, and beneath one of the raised platforms was a larger black wolf, its dull eyes glinting menacingly.

“Did those ancient fogies have some sort of senate?” Scytale changed to his serpent form to fly up to the tallest podium on a series of steps, then returned to his human body and leaned his hands on the wood. “Why is this place so huge?”

His voice had a slight reverberation to it, and when Scytale heard it he grinned. He cupped his hands around his mouth as Lucy’s expression went serious and she began to march up the stairs. “Scytale, if you do that-”

“Hey! Can anybody hearrrrr meeeeee?”

Scytale snickered as he heard the echoes but Lucille’s eyes widened and she unsheathed her two blades. “Scytale! Get down! You activated them!”

He paused as he heard the urgency in her voice. “Woke… them? Woke what? I don’t see-”

The grating of stone resounded as the large wolf statue in the centre of the room slowly shifted, its moving creaking. It shook itself awake and then raised its head to look at Scytale and Lucille behind the podium. Then it let out a vicious snarl and pointed its snout to the ceiling to howl.

The twenty smaller wolf statues around the room woke up and joined in with the howling. Lucy and Scytale grimaced as grates releasing strong magical power descended down to block the entrances and exits. The lead wolf growled and they gathered to prowl around the base of the stairs, waiting to move.

“I never sensed them with my killing intent!” Scytale hissed just before he changed to his serpent form.

Lucille narrowed her eyes at the wolves crowding the base of their platform. “That’s because they’re not monsters themselves. They’re golems.”

[Obsidian Wolf Golem – Lvl. 35]

[HP: 7500 {+87 HP/1m}]

[Obsidian Wolf Golem – Lvl. 32]

[Obsidian Wolf Golem – Lvl. 37]

[Obsidian Wolf Golem – Lvl. 38]

[Obsidian Wolf Golem – Lvl. 35]

[Obsidian Wolf Golem – Lvl. 42]

[Obsidian Wolf Gol….]

Scytale activated his Primal Descendant form. “Then what’s our plan of attack with these guys?”

“What do you mean ‘our’ plan of attack?” Lucy fixed a stare on her bond. “I’m not dealing with these guys. You are.”

He stared back. “…huh?”

She gestured to the growling wolves. “Whose fault do you think it was that they woke up? Besides, these are golems made of the strongest volcanic glass. My STR will barely leave a dint in them.” She made shooing motions. “So go on, be off with you. Weren’t you complaining about me stealing the experience earlier?”

“But I wasn’t…” His words withered as Lucille narrowed her eyes and he quickly flew up. “Ugh… alright, alright!” He flew to the top of the hall and hissed as he spread his white-gold wings. “Okay, puppies, bring it on!”

…

“Firebolt.”

The flickering pillar of fire smashed against the hard bodies of the wolf golems, barely damaging their hp in the slightest. Lucy clicked her tongue and readied herself to cast another spell as Scytale hissed and sent the wolves flying into a wall. They shook themselves and leapt from their positions against the wall, re-joining the fray.

“I thought you didn’t plan on helping!” Scytale yelled as he rammed his tail into the lead wolf.

“I’m not. Did you not see how little damage I did to them?” Lucille held up her hand as a new low-ranked mana-circle assembled itself before her fingertips. “But I decided now would be best to test out my Prodigious Archmage’s First Steps skill.”

She narrowed her eyes at the black golems. “The mana cost to create fire hot enough to hurt them will be too high… then I should try to make them brittle through cold.”

The mana-circle glowed ice blue as it gained several more layers, becoming an intermediate spell. She pulled upon the force of one of the glimmering spheres of energy within her body and impressed her will upon the spell.

‘Break’.

The structure of the mana-circle deformed slightly before it gained a rigid, glassy appearance. The runes were altered, becoming unfamiliar to even Lucy herself. She smirked and named her new spell.

“Frigid Flash.”

The mana-circle activated, sending out a beam of blue light. The beam exploded out when it touched the ground, coating the surrounds in a solid sheet of ice. The weaker golems’ joints creaked as their movements slowed, and spiderweb-like veins of white frost crawled up their limbs.

Scytale didn’t hesitate and lashed out, whipping his tail through the golems, and shattering their bodies. The frosted black pieces of obsidian sprayed across the ground, reducing the number of enemies to only ten.

[+534 XP]

[Level Up!]

[+1 level]

[+5 Free stat points]

[Level Up!]

[+1 level]

[+5 Free stat points]

[Level Up!]

[+1 level]

[+5 Free stat points]

[User has reached Level 40]

[Xp: 61/220]

[Apophis: +27 XP]

[Xp: 75/151]

[Ouroboros: +27 XP]

[Xp: 75/151]

“Hey! You stole my xp again!”

Her expression went flat. “Did you want these monsters killed today or next year?”

Scytale grumbled, rolling out of the way of the lead wolf’s leap attack. “I wasn’t that slow… fine, I’ll speed up.”

The colour of his light gold mana became richer and darker, almost solid. Slowly covering his wings, the feathers gained what looked like metal tips, enabling them to shred anything they touched.

“Is that your Colossus Armament?” Lucille called down, watching him curiously.

“Yeah, but I’ve got no idea why it decided to protect my wings of all things. They need, like, the least protection.” He flew up and did a barrel roll as he dived down, the serrated wing tips leaving deep gouges in the stone of the golems. “I’ll still need to follow that merging plan I came up with a few months ago.”

Lucille leaned against the podium and shrugged, crossing her arms. “Well, hurry up the fight. I’m waiting.”

He shot her a glare then yelped as a wolf bit down on the tip of his tail while he was distracted. He sent the wolf flying as Lucy smirked.

“These damn wolves… if I still had my Rank-7 strength they’d incinerate in my mere presence!”

Lucille checked her gloves with nonchalance. “If I still had my Rank-7 strength I would’ve curb-stomped the Hero on day one.” She pointed at him. “Anyway, quite complaining so we can complete the next part of our quest.”

…

[Mystical Realm Event: Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis]

[Exploration Progress +0.07%]

[New! Exploration Progress: 0.58%]

Scytale breathed heavily as the decimated remains of the golems lay around him. Lucille casually hummed as she walked down the stairs and placed her hands on her hips, surveying the area. “It was about time. Did you get the experience you want?”

Scytale shot her a flat look, and then his body glowed gold as he returned to his human form. He sat down on the ground with a groan and held out a hand to Lucy. “Can I have my water flask, please?”

She took it out of her dimensional bag and tossed him it. He took a few large gulps before placing it down on the ground and sighing. He looked up at the ceiling. “Next time… please don’t just leave it to me…”

She smiled brightly and stepped closer. Scytale tilted his head back to gaze strangely at her. “What is it?”

“Scytale.” She leaned forward and narrowed her eyes. “Next time… listen to me before you act. Is that clear?”

“…yes,” he said hesitantly, feeling a minute sense of threat for some reason.

Lucy straightened back up and walked away. “We can rest when we get to the main hall. Time to move for now.”

With a groan, he got up and started following her again. The grates in front of the exits had been removed with the sound of grinding gears, allowing them to step through the large double doors on the opposite side of the room they had entered. They once again found themselves in a long dark hallway with dim lighting.

Scytale warily watched any small statue or animal-shaped ornament they walked past. “Now I’m never going to trust a statue again.”

“I’d suggest you turn your observations to any chests we come across,” Lucy said with amusement. “You wouldn’t want your hand to be bitten off by a mimic, would you?”

He turned to stare at her. “There are mimics in here?”

She shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not.”

He scowled as she continued walking with a grin on her face. They discussed a few more things before coming to a branching path, another hallway intersecting with theirs. Scytale shielded his eyes and narrowed them, trying to guess where to go. “Do we take the right or left? …I think I heard that you’re supposed to always follow the right path when lost in a cave…”

“Neither.” Lucille, instead of turning a corner, walked up to one of the blue flickering mana lamps resting on a dark metal sconce. Placing her gloved hand around it, she pulled it down with a sharp yank. The sconce tilted down like a lever and they stepped back as the wall in front of them rapidly disassembled to reveal a wide, well-lit hallway with orange flames set in alcoves.

Lucy gestured to the hallway. “This way to the main hall.”

After a bit more walking, the hallway finally gave way to a hall with an arched roof, and massive chandeliers of polished steel swinging from the ceiling. Eight tall pillars covered in many precious gemstones sat around the hall, and the floor was tiered so that the centre of the hall was the lowest point in it.

[Realm Quest - Ancient Dungeon Discovery Tier I (Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis):

- Investigate the first three zones of the Dusky Undercroft Dungeon of Synadis:

§ Determine the main element of the Dungeon: COMPLETE (Earth)

§ Defeat three zone bosses: INCOMPLETE (1/3)

§ Locate the main hall of the Dungeon: COMPLETE]

Scytale made a move to run over to one of the pillars… until he sheepishly glanced at Lucy for the go-ahead. She raised an eyebrow but nodded and he grinned as he ran to the column and brushed his hands over the jewels.

“Lucy, look at all the gemstones! They must have amazing purity,” he exclaimed, leaning forward to put an eye up to a stone. “Is this what you came for?”

She smirked and walked up to the column. “This main hall is also the original ‘forum’ of the fortress academy the earth elementalists ran. Each small door will take you to staircases that lead to the first of every ten levels, but the Dungeon will only let you access them if you’ve proved you have the strength to defeat the other levels…”

“Why’s that?” her bond asked curiously.

Lucy hummed as she studied the engravings on the column. “Because the Dungeon doesn’t want to let you strengthen yourself by sending its weaker monsters towards you again, and knows only the stronger scions have a chance of defeating you.”

Scytale smirked. “So it’s scared of us.”

Lucy whacked the back of his head. “It will be if we’ve cleared more levels. But right now, it’s probably waiting in greedy anticipation for more reckless humanoids to come running into here for it to devour.”

“Ah, so the pitiful Guilders we give this Dungeon to,” Scytale said with a sagely nod. “It’s all coming together.”

She rolled her eyes and turned around, heading back towards the door they came from. Scytale dashed up the stairs to walk beside her. “So… is this the place where all our infinite riches will come from? They’ll just take down the gem pillars on repeat?”

“Here, and on the levels below,” Lucy replied offhandedly, not paying him much attention. “They’ll remove precious metals from walls, ornaments, and just about anything because the Dungeon will then recreate it once they’re gone.” She frowned slightly and looked at one of the onyx gems decorating a sconce. “The Commission might face pressure from the major noble clans of the Athenaeum to hand the land over to them.”

Scytale nodded and then paused as a thought struck him. “Wait, do you own this land yet?”

Lucille smirked and shot him a look. “Ravimoux has already purchased this place on my behalf. Our next step after leaving the Dungeon is to go find their messenger waiting for me in the city, and let them go inform Ravimoux to start taking control of the Dungeon.”

“Nice.” Scytale rolled his shoulders as they returned to the crossroads they were at. “So, what’s the next baddie we have to face?”

Lucille gestured for him to follow with a nod and led him to a door. She pushed it open to show him the massive wolf larger than them both with fur as dark as night, breathing slowly as it slept on the ground.

“Now we face a real monster, but one with fur just as strong as the golems from earlier.”

[Dungeon Scion: Nox Caninus Stone-Fur Wolf – Lvl. 50]

[HP: 10,000 {+100 HP/1m}]