Grand Game 311: The Dungeoneer’s Rewards (Patreon)

Chapter updated 27 May 2023: Spell description modified.

You have killed a level 226 stone golem.

You have reached level 161 and rank 16!

For achieving rank 16, you have been awarded 1 additional attribute point and 1 Class point.

It took me another two hours and sixteen necrotic spikes to kill the second golem which, while a substantial number of nether shards, was still short of the twenty I’d estimated I would need.

There was only one conclusion I could draw from that: One-arm and Limp had been injured before I encountered them.

How and why, I didn’t know, but I was glad it had happened, nonetheless. It had taken me almost three full hours to kill both elites, and I wasn’t sure I would’ve managed the feat if they had been uninjured.

But that was all behind me now.

You have replenished 100% of your mana.

Void armor charge remaining: 100%.

I opened my eyes. After killing One-arm, I’d retreated to the ravine cave to recover. This time around, Ghost had declined to accompany me and had instead gone sniffing around the cauldron; the cave bored her, or so she claimed.

Another Game message flashed for attention.

4 hours have passed. You have lost knowledge of the stolen spell, necrotic spike.

I sighed. The stygian overlord’s spell had served me well, but now it was gone, and it was time to ponder my next move. The first order of business was deciding how to spend my sudden profusion of points.

I had gained eight attribute points from the encounter with the golems, and one Class point too. Before deciding how to invest them, I turned my attention inwards and reviewed my ability slot status.

Unused Ability Slots

Strength: 13 of 13.

Constitution: 9 of 19.

Dexterity: 14 of 55.

Perception: 0 of 31.

Mind: 14 of 71.

Magic: 21 of 21.

Faith: none.

My first instinct was to dump the new attribute points in Dexterity or Mind, but I couldn’t ignore how poorly my tier two analyze was faring in the dungeon. It was simply not up to the task of inspecting elite-ranked creatures. Just as importantly, I already had a tier three analyze ability tome in my backpack. Unfortunately, though, I lacked the necessary Perception slots to use it.

But information was power.

Knowing my foes’ level and something of their nature before I engaged them could make all the difference to the outcome of an encounter. A functional analyze is worth the cost, I decided.

Withdrawing the tome in question from my backpack, I made the necessary investment in Perception and learned what the tome had to teach.

Your Perception has increased to rank 36. Other modifiers: +4 from items.

You have upgraded your analyze ability to superior analyze, enabling you to inspect entities of rank 30 and below. Additionally, the tier 3 variant makes you aware of any effects and buffs that are active on the target. You have 0 of 36 Perception ability slots remaining.

Perfect, I thought.

I still had three attribute points remaining and, after further consideration, decided to invest them in Mind. Right now, boosting the performance of my telepathic abilities was more important than increasing my speed or the size of my mana pool.

Your Mind has increased to rank 74. Other modifiers: +4 from items.

My attributes seen to, I turned my attention to my two Class points. One, I was holding in reserve to upgrade slaysight again—which I would do when my telepathy skill advanced to tier four.

But the other…

Was now the right time to spend the second Class point? Truly, I could see little reason to hold back.

But how best to use it? I could improve one of my existing Class traits, acquire a new Class benefit, or upgrade void thief.

I bit my lip, uncertain which way to go. There was no way to know beforehand how void thief’s tier two variant would improve the ability, nor for that matter, what new Class benefits the Adjudicator would offer. But there was no reason to choose upfront either. The best way to make the decision would be on the spot—during the Class upgrade process itself.

Then let’s do that. Closing my eyes, I willed my intention to the Game.

Assessing player’s suitability for a Class upgrade...

Class points available: 2.

Player rank: 16.

Upgrade requirements met.

You may advance your Class to rank 8 by improving an existing Class benefit or by selecting a new one. Do you wish to proceed?

If I did proceed, there would be no going back. I would have to complete the Class upgrade; the Game would force me to do so. Taking a deep breath, I conveyed my response to the Adjudicator.

Commencing Class upgrade…

2 new Class benefits are available, and 5 of 6 existing benefits are upgradeable.

New benefit: Deft Thief. This trait increases the number of spells you may steal from a foe with void thief.

New benefit: Prepared Mind. This ability allows you to precast a single ability, releasing it instantly when needed with no additional casting time required.

Existing benefits that may be upgraded: void heritage, wolfwalker, mental focus IV, arctic wolf, and void thief.

Existing benefits not available for upgrade: slaysight. This ability requires a telepathy skill of rank 15 to advance.

Choose your rank 8 Class benefit now.

I sighed. This time around, the Adjudicator had seen fit to only provide me with a choice of two new Class benefits, and one wasn’t exactly ‘new’ either. I’d already come across Prepared Mind the first time I’d upgraded my Class, and I immediately dismissed it from consideration again.

The other benefit, deft thief, sounded nice… but I wasn’t convinced that being able to steal more spells would be helpful in my present circumstances. What I really needed was to be able to retain the stolen knowledge for longer, thereby increasing the benefits I derived from it.

No, I decided, deft thief is a trait best left for another time. That left my existing Class abilities and traits to consider.

It was easy to predict how void heritage and arctic wolf would advance—both provided bonus attributes—and I was sure the next tier would also increase the boost they provided. The only question was by how much. Likewise, I already knew from my previous Class upgrade what mental focus would do.

I frowned. Wolfwalker, I was less sure about. The trait was a result of my Wolf Mark though, and I thought it likely it would evolve further on its own as my Mark deepened.

That left me with only one real option—upgrading void thief.

I’d suspected all along that my choice would boil down to this, and really, even though I was being forced to make the decision somewhat blindly, improving void thief was a far from bad option. Forgoing further deliberation, I willed the Adjudicator to advance the ability.

Upgrade complete. Class points remaining: 1.

Congratulations, Michael, your voidstealer Class has advanced to rank 8!

You have upgraded your void thief ability to improved void thief. The second tier of this ability makes it easier for you to filch knowledge from your foes by reducing the damage that your void armor needs to sustain to trigger a theft from 50% to 40%.

The range of hostile spells that can be stolen has also expanded to include channeled spells. Additionally, the memory capacity of your void armor is improved, allowing you to remember your stolen knowledge for 8 hours instead of 4.

Improved void thief also provides you with a second method, called siphon, of disrupting your foes’ attacks. After you perform a successful spell theft, a conduit is forged between you and your foe, enabling you to siphon a portion of their mana whenever they cast any spell. Note, like its first tier counterpart, siphon is a passive ability and dependent on a successful void theft to function.

“Wow,” I exclaimed.

The benefits provided by void thief’s tier two variant were significant—especially if siphon allowed me to replenish my mana in battle. It left me wanting to upgrade void thief again, but sadly, none of my void skills had reached tier three yet.

Ah, well, maybe—

“Prime, I’ve found something odd.”

Opening my eyes, I looked about. Ghost had returned. “Hostiles?” I asked, hands dropping to my blades.

“No, not at all,” she replied, sounding puzzled. “It’s a box. One moment it wasn’t there, the next it appeared—almost on top of me!” she added, sounding a bit indignant at the last.

My eyes widened. “A loot chest,” I breathed. “Was it metal?”

Ghost pondered the question. “I think it was made from gold.” She paused. “What’s a loot chest?”

I grinned. “Our reward for defeating the golems.” I knew my answer had failed to enlighten her, but eager to see what the chest contained, I rose to my feet. “Come. I’ll explain on the way.”

✵ ✵ ✵

The loot chest was near the center of the cauldron besides the pile of rocks One-arm had transformed to upon death. As I drew closer, I saw that Ghost had not been mistaken.

The box was indeed gold.

Rubbing my hands in anticipation, I flipped open the lid and peered inside. There were only three items—less than I’d hoped. Still, I wasted no time inspecting each in turn.

The target is the rank 5 shield: mirror shield. This item bears the enchantment: reflect. Reflect is a passive ability that causes all tier 4 and lower spells blocked by the shield to be reflected back to the caster. This item requires a minimum Strength of 20 to wield.

The target is a piece of enchanted mosaic. It is one part of the Emblem of the Reach, an artifact of unknown rank. You are unable to discern its properties.

The target is the rank 5 ring: mage’s surprise. This item increases your Magic by +10 and bears the enchantment: spellhold, which allows the caster to store a single mana-based spell of tier 5 or lower. The spell will be held indefinitely within the ring and, when required, can be cast instantly and without drawing from the caster’s mana pool. This item requires a minimum Magic of 20 to use.

I sat back with a frown. The container’s contents were disappointing, especially in comparison to my previous gold loot chest haul.

“Something wrong?” Ghost asked.

I shook my head. “No. It’s just that I was hoping for…” I paused as Ghost’s question forced me to consider the question: what had I’d been expecting?

Better loot for one.

I sighed, realizing that unconsciously I’d been hoping to find something game-changing, like I had the last time with the master Class stone. “… more,” I finished.

Ghost didn’t say anything further, and I picked up the ring, mage’s surprise. It was the only item of immediate benefit but, even so, it was not what I considered a great item.

It would suit a mage or cleric perfectly. Me? Less so. Still, the ring’s additional attribute buff was not to be sniffed at and in the right situation, having a tier five spell in reserve would come in handy. Quelling my disappointment, I removed my old magic boosting ring—attribute buffs did not stack—and replaced it with the new one.

You have unequipped the adept’s ring, losing 4 Magic.

You have unequipped the ring, a mage’s surprise, gaining +10 Magic and the ability, spellhold.

That done, I inspected the shield. Like the ring, it was a nice item, just not for me. I couldn’t use a shield, but I knew someone who could. I’ll save it for Terence, I decided and stuffed it into my bag of holding.

That left the jagged piece of stone tile to examine. The Game had called it an enchanted mosaic and ‘part of the Emblem of the Reach.’ That was certainly a reference to the dungeon’s own name.

What does it do, though?

Picking up the tile, I turned it over in my hands but sensed nothing even faintly magical about the stone. For the most part, the mosaic looked plain and ordinary, a flattened piece of polished rock with etched lines on one side.

I traced my finger along one seemingly random swirl of lines. I had no idea what etchings were meant to portray but suspected that deciphering their meaning would require the remaining Emblem pieces, and considering where I’d found the first one, the others were probably also hidden in loot chests.

Which meant killing their elite monster guardians.

I sighed again. I’d only pitted myself against the golems because I’d seen a way to win—which would not necessarily be true of other encounters.  Against certain elites, I would stand no chance—none at all.

While I’d killed the two rock creatures easily enough in the end, I had only managed the feat because of the necrotic spikes. Without them… the dungeon’s other elites would not be so easy to take down.

I snorted. An understatement.

I focused on the mosaic piece again, studying it thoughtfully. Frankly, without its companion parts, the artifact was little more than junk. But I was not about to attempt slaying every elite in the dungeon, simply in the hope of completing it.

That would be foolish.

Resigning myself to the mystery of the artifact remaining unsolved, I rose to my feet. It was time to move on. Dropping the mosaic into my bag of holding, I took my bearings. To the north lay the cauldron’s exit and the rest of the dungeon. To the south was the tunnel and the swarm viper.

“Which way?” Ghost asked, echoing my own thoughts.

I pursed my lips. Like the golems, the swarm viper was an elite I thought I could defeat. And the opportunity it afforded for leveling could not be ignored. “Back to the tunnel,” I replied.

I glanced at the ravine. “But first, I think it’s time I rest up.”