Imperious, Chapter 015 - Time to Grind (Patreon)

The first thing that Anna did was reflect on the fight against the golem. It had gone down simply enough, the process was straightforward and she doubted she’d have to change it up too much with the others. She’d seen a few wandering around and they all had the same weakness that her heritage could exploit. The problem was that she ran a risk with waiting to follow up her attacks and allowing the damn things to regenerate. There was also the problem that each of her power strikes took a good amount of stamina to use. She could only take on one golem at a time.

Her power strikes didn’t use a whole lot of mana, though, so perhaps she could leverage that a bit. Her mana barrier wasn’t great by any means but it had taken a few solid blows and withstood them before crumbling apart. Was it possible that a golem would just smash through it in one hit? Yes. Was she willing to test it anyway to see if she could speed up the process of killing one? Also yes. With that in mind she took a quick rest and recovered her stamina, noting that she had only a couple cans of food left. Gonna have to figure that out too. 

The last thing she did was consider what to do about all the raw gemstones just sitting there on the ground. It wasn’t like she could do anything with them and she had no reasonable way of carrying them either. It was a shame, but she would have to leave them unless she figured out an alternative way to transport them. That was something to consider later, though. Settled on her priorities, testing mana barrier against a golem, hunting golems, and figuring out food, she moved back into the tunnels.

It only took her fifteen minutes to find another golem.

Lumbering Mines Golem, Level 6

It was just wandering the tunnels, its huge body taking up most of the space of the passage and presenting itself as a golden opportunity. She crept up behind it just like the last golem and delivered a power strike to its leg. The blow connected and as before it collapsed under its own weight once the aftershock finished cleaving through the remaining bits of its leg. The frantic retaliatory blow came next, but instead of backing up fully she threw out her hand and cast mana barrier in the path of the strike. The thick arm and sheet of magic glass collided and for an instant the barrier held before it shattered.

That was more than long enough. 

Anna darted in and brought her weapon down on its shoulder before throwing up another mana barrier to protect herself from its other arm, repeating the process and leaving it defenseless. A session of whacking away at its chest later and she was rewarded with another inert golem core. She grinned as she popped it into her bag and checked her notifications.

You have slain Lumbering Mines Golem, Level 6
Bonus Experience Gained
Additional Experience Gained for slaying a dungeon monster.
6 Iron Credits Gained

Slay 100 Creatures. (5/100)
Acquire 50 Inert Golem Cores (2/50)

Level up! You have reached Level 3.
+1 Int, +2 Wil, +3 Pre, +1 Ins, +1 Awa, +9 Free Points

Definitely getting somewhere now, she thought ruefully. More stat points to spend. She quickly reviewed her stats and just did what she had last time, dropping them into strength, vitality, and presence. She’d spend a couple on intellect next level to make up a bit of the difference but right now she wanted to emphasize her killing power and survivability. That and boosting her presence just felt right. She wondered if a higher presence score impacted the stealth effect of keeping the volume turned low. 

She shrugged, Something to test later.

After distributing her stats she took a quick break to recover her stamina and letting her mana tolerance cool off a bit. It took far longer to cool her mana off than it did to recover stamina, willpower only reduced mana cost by a very small amount it seemed. Even as the score increased she hadn’t seen much change in overall cost. I’ll put some points into willpower next level too. She reasoned before moving on in search of her next golem, it was time to grind.

Thus began Anna’s rampage through the mines, cutting down one golem after another as she got better and better at timing her mana barriers to increase the amount of time she had to remove their arms and deliver the finishing blows. One after another they went down, golem after golem on a brutal rampage that only ended when she found herself standing in front of the first sign that this place wasn’t solely occupied by the mindless constructs.

A wooden door embedded in the wall.

She took a quick breather as she regarded the door, glancing at her progress.

Slay 100 Creatures. (10/100)
Acquire 50 Inert Golem Cores (7/50)

Five golems down in just a couple of hours. She also felt like she was pretty close to leveling up again which was very pleasing. It was just better to take on enemies of a higher level, especially those in a dungeon. She’d also noticed something else while she’d been fighting, that warm sensation in the back of her mind that she’d picked up on while practicing with her cudgel had sprung up again and a quick inspection of her stats had revealed the source in her skills and spells list.

Skills:
Maces (Common-Base), Power Strike (Common-Base), Identify (Common-Base), Heavy Armor (Common-Low), Personal Firearms (Common-Base), The Human Spirit (Uncommon-Base), Adaptable (Uncommon-Base), Resounding Blows (Rare-Base)

Spells
Mana Barrier (Common-Low)

Two of her skills had changed slightly, Mana Barrier and her Heavy Armor proficiency had improved to the ‘low’ quality. She had no idea what had triggered the improvement but she had a few guesses. She’d been using Mana Barrier creatively, not just using it to block direct attacks in front of her but actually projecting it out to intercept attacks and impede her opponents. In the case of her armor, she’d simply been wearing it constantly and had grown accustomed to it. Either way it was welcome even if she didn’t know what it meant. She’d probably get a better idea next time she used her spell.

Setting it aside she moved over to the door and inspected it, not getting any notifications. She checked the handle, it was just a simple bent piece of iron. Scratching her head and not really having any other way to figure out if there was something wrong with the door she stepped over to the side and pulled her cudgel out of her back, turning it around so that the narrow point was extended and using it to lever the door open from a bit of a distance. It swung open easily and to her mild annoyance nothing happened.

I’m getting paranoid, she thought and stepped back around to peer through the opening and was blasted in the face with the strong scent of stale water and air. The door hadn’t been opened for ages. She blinked a few times, not spotting anything at first from outside the door. Shrugging she stepped inside to get a better look. The first thing she spotted was immediately to her right. It was a small living area consisting of a wooden table, chair, and a series of crates set up like a counter. A few meters away there was the remains of a permanent fire pit. She looked up and set into the ceiling was what looked like a carved gemstone that glowed with just enough light to provide visibility.

Not bad, she thought and then glanced to her left and a smile spread across her face. A simple bed sat along the wall to her immediate left, besides a bit of dust the sheets looked surprisingly clean. That wasn’t what made her smile, though. No it was the pool of clear water a bit further down with a small stream pouring into it from an unknown source. Around it were a number of  mushrooms growing from the floor and walls along with some moss and what looked like some kind of thick roots. She hurried over to it and grabbed one of the empty water bottles out of her bag, kneeling down and filling it before using identify on the bottle.

Clear Subterranean Springwater (Mundane)
Water from an untouched natural spring that flows through a subterranean cavern. It is safe to drink.

“Oh hell yes, that’s one problem solved,” She murmured delightedly and filled the rest of her bottles before tossing them back into her bag. Next she checked the plants. 

Cave Mushroom (Mundane)
A filling, nutritious mushroom found growing in a cave.

Lumbering Cave Moss (Common)
A hearty green moss found growing the Lumbering Mines. Has mild alchemical properties and can be chewed to restore stamina.

Lumbering Cave Root (Common)
A thick dark root found growing in the Lumbering Mines. Has mild alchemical properties and can be chewed for its very mild healing properties.

This was perfect and a little convenient. Then again it was a low level solo dungeon all things considered and there wasn’t a lot of the stuff. Still, it would really help keep her going a bit longer while she hunted more golems. Smiling, she turned back to the bed and checked it, pulling the sheets away to see if there were any surprises inside. Nothing. The sheets themselves were pretty interesting though.

Common Bed Sheets (Common-Grade)
These bed sheets have been crafted from common materials and possess basic self repair and cleaning properties.

Explains why they’re in such good shape, she thought and set them down before making her way over to the living space and poking around a bit. The firepit was empty and there was nothing to burn besides the crates, not that she had any intention of burning anything in an enclosed space, that was beyond stupid. She went through the crates and found them unfortunately empty. Damn. She had been hoping to find something to help her find her way back after going out on a hunting trip. It was hard to remember every turn she made in the darkened passages.

She looked back at the comfortable space and sighed. Can’t make it that easy. She admitted to herself and went over to the pool again, double checking that she’d filled up all her water bottles before grabbing every piece of moss, root, and mushroom she could stuff into her bag. It would have to do. After stocking up she glanced over at the bed mournfully and sighed, can’t carry a bed with me. She thought before caving to greed and quickly folding up the bedsheet. It was thin so it didn’t take up a lot of space and it would be nice to at least sleep under something during her breaks.

Satisfied with her haul, she left the room behind and resumed her rampage.

Another golem only an hour later brought her up to level four. She distributed her points as planned, three into intellect, willpower, and presence before a quick meal and moving on, chewing on a small piece of cave moss. It tasted like old lettuce, not great, but watching her stamina rapidly recover even as she walked was a huge point in its favor. Nine more golems pushed her all the way to level five and she threw points into strength and vitality over intellect and willpower this time. 

The carnage continued in much the same way after that, slogging through golem after golem. She quickly noticed that the mana cost and resilience of her mana barrier had improved with the step up to ‘low’ for her spell. She was also pleased to see that power strike improved to low as well with a small improvement in cost and potency. She could nearly cleave off a leg with a single blow now thanks to the combination of her growing strength and the power of the skill. It was sixteen golems later that she finally saw another level and realized that her bonus experience for fighting higher level opponents had come to an end. Not only that, her bonus stats she got from The Human Spirit which she hadn’t really even thought about had stopped as well. Anna eagerly distributed her points despite that disappointing realization, dropping them into vitality, strength, and presence again.

Anna stretched over the rubble remains of her latest kill and let out a sigh, rolling her arms. She’d been repeating the same process over and over for what had probably been days at this point. Quick naps her only form of rest besides chewing her beloved cave moss. Sadly, she hadn’t found more and was doing her best to be sparing with it. She checked her quest status as she got ready for her next round of hunting. 

Slay 100 Creatures. (36/100)
Acquire 50 Inert Golem Cores (33/50)

Seventeen more golems to go. So far she hadn’t found anything stronger than the level six golems and for now that was fine but she really wanted that bonus experience as well. She wasn’t confident that she would reach level seven by the time she finished the quest either. Something she confirmed as she ripped out the last golems core.

You have slain Lumbering Mines Golem, Level 6
Additional Experience Gained for slaying a dungeon monster.
6 Iron Credits Gained

Slay 100 Creatures. (53/100)
Acquire 50 Inert Golem Cores (50/50)

Nineteen golems down and she felt nowhere close to leveling up. The amount of experience she lost from fighting enemies at her level was clearly evident and each level seemed to require significantly more experience compared to the last one. Which made sense but it still chafed a little. Fortunately she would get some from the quest but she wasn’t sure how much.

Quest Complete!

Truth of the Lumbering Mines, Part 1

Something is hidden within the Lumbering Mines, uncover its secret and gain its benefits.

Acquire 50 Inert Golem Cores (50/50)

Rewards: Access to the Next Quest Stage, Experience

And there it was, she smiled to herself as the next prompt appeared. This was turning out to be far easier than she expected. She sat down and popped a chewy mushroom into her mouth and read, only to frown a little at the text.

Hidden Quest Alert!

Truth of the Lumbering Mines, Part 2

Something is hidden within the Lumbering Mines, uncover its secret and gain its benefits. Go to the next level of the mines with your haul and defeat the overseer golem.

Overseer Golem Defeated (0/1)

Rewards: Access to the Next Quest Stage, Experience

“Wait, there’s another level to this place?” Anna protested, “Where?” She hadn’t seen a single hint that there was something more to this damn place. It was utterly dark which didn’t help either. She sighed and lay down on her back, staring up at the ceiling. “Great.”