Underworld - Proving Grounds: A LitRPG Series Read online

  In comparison to my wings and magma fist, casting my tail cost almost nothing at 18 MPM. I still had plenty of room for a number of other additions to my current form if I so desired. Before that, I needed to figure out how I would cut off my tail so that I could cast Tail Regrowth. It was beginning to sound like a bad idea.

  I had another problem. Adding a tail to my form might be a little difficult without mooning all of Sanctuary…

  With a sigh, I cast Hell Hound’s tail and cringed as it started to grow beneath my skeletal armor. Using the pain to pinpoint its location, I released my armor around the area to allow the tail freedom to escape from my tail bone region. Looking around the room, I closed bone armor around my tail now that it was free. It didn’t seem that anyone had been watching.

  After a couple swipes to get a feel for it, I curled my tail around to where I could take a look. “Hey little guy.” I held in the tail’s flames, so that it looked like a normal dog’s tail with wiry black fur. Its end was frayed, and it was about a meter in length. I certainly couldn’t use it to grab ahold of something in the same way I could with one of my bone appendages.

  Before I marred my new addition, I came up with a game plan of how best to deal with the pain. I had no idea how quickly Tail Regrowth would work, which made the prospect a little unnerving.

  I stopped working on the crop for a moment while I tried my experiment. I would need my human hand to continue working, but that meant I’d need to do something with my Magma Fist to take care of my tail. Heat wouldn’t do. Burning it off couldn’t possibly be better than cutting. Besides, it was a tail that could quite literally burst into flames that I was working with here.

  Using magma manipulation, I reformed my magma hand into an igneous blade. Feeling the edge, it seemed sharp enough, but I’d need to use two hands. That gave me an idea.

  My magma fist took its new shape. I almost stabbed myself by facepalming with my new pair of magma scissors because of how ridiculous they looked.

  Here goes nothing.

  My healing magic was already saturating the area where I was going to cut as I placed my tail between my two scissor blades. With a firm snip, I severed about a foot off my tail and cast Tail Regrowth in the same moment. It felt like a sharp pinch, but Tail Regrowth worked almost instantly, deadening the pain. My tail was restored.

  It had worked far better than I had hoped.

  You better understand the essence of The Tail!

  I shook my head. It was the kind of spell that didn’t divulge much information as it progressed. The good news was that I’d received an indicator after using it for the first time, so hopefully I wouldn’t have to continue with the process many more times before it reached its final level. It didn’t cost much either. I’d flooded it with excess mana, but even then I’d restored what I used in a few seconds.

  To keep things simple, and to make further use of the rest of my MPM, I cast Minotaur as a partial Form. Leaving my Magma Fist, Incubus Wings, and Hell Hound Tail in place, the rest of me started to change. I allowed my skeletal armor to reform to my new shape as my feet became hooves and my body grew and expanded. I felt fur form under my armor, and strangely, this form didn’t bring with it a feeling of increased power even though there was a decent one.

  Minotaur Form

  Level: 1

  Cost: 20,000 Mana Per Minute (4,000 with buffs)

  Strength: +1 for every Character Level, +1% Strength

  Dexterity: +1 for every Character Level, +1% Dexterity

  Constitution: +1 for every Character Level, +1% Constitution

  Special Abilities: Magic Resistance, Wild Bull

  Magic Resistance:

  Level 1

  5% Damage Resistance to every School of Magic

  Wild Bull: Pushes past any mind-affecting status effects and allow you to continue your attack.

  Note: This puts you in a state of auto attack if you lose consciousness. Target picked at random. If you regain consciousness the attack stops immediately.

  Next Level:

  Cost: 19,850 Mana Per Minute (3,970 with buffs)

  +1% Strength

  +1% Dexterity

  +1% Constitution

  I limited the form in another way by not allowing it to transform my neck or anything above it. This was mostly to benefit the others who might not take kindly to seeing a random minotaur working among their crops in the heart the Living Quarters. It was bad enough to have an abnormally large skeleton with a human’s head, wings and a tail.

  Speaking of tails, I watched the severed end dissolve into nothing at my feet. Without a steady supply of mana it lost its form and was gone.

  I got back to work. Power leveling Tail Regrowth wasn’t exactly fun, but I hadn’t forgotten the foreboding darkness that I imagined was approaching with every passive moment. Mistress Nava was coming. She might not be on the way at this very moment, but when her minotaur army didn’t return… Any advantage I could get was worth a small amount of pain. And this pinch didn’t compare to how it would feel if I didn’t have healing magic and Tail Regrowth at my disposal.

  As for my Minotaur Form, it didn’t cost much and using it as a partial form would allow me to level it up. I could keep it going indefinitely. It would normally cost me 4,000 MPM, but in this state it cost me two thirds of the total, or 2,666 MPM, leaving me with a little left over. I wasn’t yet convinced Minotaur would become one of my go to forms, but it would help me level my mastery and there were no negatives unless you counted becoming a giant bull. It might also have some good situational uses, like in the rare scenario I was about to run out of mana and stampeding around like a raging bull sounded like a better idea than death. The worst part was I was pretty sure that I’d have need of it one day.

  I returned most of my attention to growing our crops. The sooner it was done, the sooner we could leave. Once I was free to use my Light Magic, then I’d get to really experiment with my new ultimate form.

  Chapter 4 – Call me Junction

  I finished the planting of our field a little before noon. And that was it. The main goal I’d had of supplying Sanctuary with weeks’ worth of buff-rich food was complete. Now there were only a few small things to take care of before we left. Hopefully the smaller things didn’t turn into bigger ones.

  Lydia was measuring something in a glass cylinder when I poked my head into her alchemy station. When she had first arrived here and laid out her tools of the trade, this place had been a mess. Since then, her supply of raw materials had slowly been transformed into usable goods. Some were large, and some were tiny, but each one of them provided buffs of some kind.

  “Morning,” I said, trying to pull her attention from the gunky liquid in the cylinder that held her attention.

  Her blond hair was chopped short and, despite her not needing glasses anymore, as she set down the cylinder, her finger went straight to the bridge of her nose as if she was pushing an invisible pair back into place. She didn’t look me in the eye, but that wasn’t abnormal. What was odd was that she immediately gave me her full attention.

  “How are you doing?” I said affably, trying to encourage her to perhaps smile, or something. We had beaten Waldemar after all.

  “I’m not sorry.” She straightened like a wooden board. “I did what I did because it was the only way.”

  I lowered my head, shaking it. She thought I was here to rebuke her for forcing Travis’s change into a werewolf when he was about to die. Out of all the people in Sanctuary, she was the one I’d worked the hardest to get to know. She was socially awkward and had handled our kidnapping worse than the others. Even after all my work, we still didn’t really know each other at all.

  “I wanted to thank you for that actually. There was no guarantee that I could have saved him, and you didn’t hesitate.”

  She hadn’t expected my response. Her eyes darted back and forth as if she was looking for something to hide behind. She finally replied, “Oh.”

  “I wanted to check to see if there was a list of things you wanted me to look for while I was gone.”

  She wasn’t immediately responsive, but a few moments later she nodded to herself as if she’d made a decision. The smile that pulled at the corners of her mouth looked artificial at best, but as counterfeit as it was, the fact that she was trying was a huge step for her. “There is. I’ll have it ready for you within the hour. There’s an elixir that I think will help Travis control his transformation for a time. It’s a temporary fix, but…”

  “He’ll really like that, if just to have the option. I’ll keep my eyes open. Which reminds me. The health potions were a success. I’d like to get a few extra before we leave. It will probably be after dinner when we finally head out. Is that enough time?”

  “No need to wait.” She headed to the back of the room, grabbed a cloth bag off the table and headed toward me. It had a flat bottom and a drawstring holding it closed. Her eyes met mine as she held it out for me to take. “There are thirty in there—enough for ten apiece. I think they should be a little more potent than the 20% over 30 second variety, but I haven’t gotten a chance to test them out. If those were minor healing potions, these are probably regular ones. My guess is you’ll have 33% health restored. They aren’t as good as your healing magic—”

  “But they don’t cost any mana either. And more importantly, Sanctuary won’t have to have me around for every emergency.”

  She glanced down, swallowing a knot in her throat. The responsibility didn’t seem to bother her. She looked happy just to finally be of use. That was truer than she knew. It was because of her that I felt comfortable enough to leave.

  Next, I visited Russ in his smithy. His crates were already almost full to the brim with broken down pieces of the minotaur herd’s
armor and weapons. From what I could tell, he was only halfway through the gear that they’d dropped.

  “How’s the take?” I said, drawing his attention from the giant breastplate he had lying on his workbench.

  “Hey man.” He crossed the room in a few larger strides and leaned in with his chest puffed out.

  I just looked at him as he stood there uncomfortably close to me.

  “Chest bump.” He snickered.

  “Oh, right.” I leaned in and he half tackled me as he rammed his chest into mine.

  “Sorry. We’ll have to work on that. I’ve never had muscles like this before, so there’s no reason to stick to traditional greetings, right.”

  “Right…”

  “As for the take, it has been outstanding for supplying us with more material than we’ll ever need. There are surprisingly few item attributes I’ve been able to pull from their gear though. The ones I’ve learned are excellent, but the problem is that they all used the same bonus to health gear. Their weapons are a little more varied, but only Waldemar’s axe was really unique.”

  “How’s that going by the way?”

  “I’m saving it for last. The more gear I dismantle, the higher my skill. I don’t want to give it a shot until I’ve finished with their stuff.”

  “Good plan. Fingers crossed. Can you take a break later so that I can teach you about Arcane Engineering?”

  “Nah. I already got the popup to take it as a profession.”

  “What? Already?”

  “Getting professions is easy. I’ve declined six or seven of them I didn’t want to focus on. The one we’re talking about has a lot of overlap with Blacksmithing. I looked over the diagrams you gave me and got the popup.”

  “Do you think you could introduce Clarissa to it?”

  “Yeah. No problem. We’ll need her if we’re going to create that massive machine you’re talking about.”

  “Good deal, man. I’ll give you a list of the rest of the materials and machines I’ve learned about before I go.”

  He grabbed me by the shoulder and held me there. “Be safe, man. If you die I’ll probably have to build a magic mech and go on an underworld rampage—so don’t.”

  That brought a grin to my face. “That’s not a bad idea. You’d need more mana to power it though.”

  He shrugged. “I’d just be the driver.”

  “So you’re going to use Olivia as a human battery?”

  “Yeah. With massive tentacles.”

  “Okay, now that’s a frightening concept.”

  ***

  I met up with Clarissa afterward and directed her to meet with Russ to learn Arcane Engineering. She was in the Pit working on the construction she hadn’t gotten to finish before the minotaurs arrived. I watched her for a while after our conversation. The rate at which she worked had almost doubled. The experience she’d gotten from the minotaurs had been good to her.

  While there, I reanimated my golems for extra protection. Firaestus and Quake would give the others two more defensive tool to work with while we were gone.

  Spending an hour in my room, I drew up all the information I had about Arcane Engineering. I only hoped a visit to the Wraith’s Tomb would unlock even more of its secrets.

  I took the time to meet with everyone before we left. We still hadn’t decided on who to take with us. We were looking for someone that held a lot of promise but wouldn’t hinder the others’ ability to defend themselves and survive while we were gone. It was painfully clear how essential each individual was to Sanctuary. There were only a few people that weren’t as essential to keeping the place going, but even they weren’t expendable. They had supporting relationships that the others had come to depend upon.

  There was another important consideration. The person that came with us would possibly be put in great danger once I started power leveling Light Magic again. In the end, there were really only three people to choose from. Perry was the only sledge brother that didn’t have an essential role. He was also the most obvious choice because he was a tank just like Aeris had in mind. The other two choices were Kylie’s friends. Melony was a duelist and Jess had a short-range teleportation-like skill. Kylie was the strong one among the three, so taking them was more questionable. If it was just me going, it would have been a definite no, but with Aeris… I’d leave it up to her.

  Aeris and I met after lunch to finalize our plans. Richard was there waiting for us when we arrived together.

  He was in his chocolate armor with his helmet inventoried. “Follow me,” he said with wide, glaring eyes almost like the bad dude that wanted to eat you in those old scary movies.

  I looked to Aeris who was hovering at my side. We shared a shrug of doubt.

  Once we reached the bridge, Richard spun in dramatic fashion and faced us. “Before you guys leave, I’ve had a bit of an upgrade that I wanted to show you.”

  If that was the case, I was excited to see it. I rubbed my hands together like it was Christmas morning to help encourage him.

  “You guys might want to take a few steps back. I’m going to try to do it at half strength, but this is new to me.”

  Aeris and I did as he said. His only talents up to this point had been with long distance communication and armor mastery, so I couldn’t imagine what he was going to do—martial breakdancing?

  He opened his mouth to speak and all of a sudden an audible force exploded from him as he yelled. “How you doin’?!”

  The power he released was fast. Too fast to escape and it billowed out of him like a giant cloud. It was powerful enough to rattle my insides and irritate my ears. As the sonic wave came to an end, I looked to where Aeris had been. She was gone. Glancing up, I saw her fifty feet in the air above us. Okay, maybe it wasn’t too fast for Wind Sprites to escape.

  Seeing the smug look on Richard’s face, I was happy to see he’d finally gained a combat-viable skill to train. Bringing my hands together, I began to slowly clap as if it had been an operatic masterpiece.

  He bowed, flourishing with his hand.

  I approached him so I didn’t have to raise my voice. “This ability just developed?”

  “Yup. The moment I reached 1,000 Wisdom I got a few new surprises,” he said.

  “Wisdom?”

  “Yup. It’s what helps my communications abilities, so I’ve been focusing on it first.”

  “Thank you for doing that.”

  “What other abilities did you unlock?” Aeris said, joining us.

  He widened his grin to 100% on the obnoxious meter. “Just a little range improvement…”

  “Range? How much?”

  “It’s kind of you to ask, Gale Girl!” Richard said, going full evil overlord on us. “Call me Junction!” He leaned forward and whispered, “That’s my Underworld nickname.”

  Leaning back, he returned to evil sorcerer mode. “I am the central hub for all communication for the mighty Sanctuary! Get this, I now have a one hundred mile radius!”

  Despite the nickname nonsense, my mouth dropped open at the revelation. That distance… His ability’s range had improved ten times over, if not more.

  Aeris was just as startled as I was.

  “Richard, you’re saying we’ll be able to communicate with Sanctuary as long as we’re within one hundred miles?” I said, wanting to verify what he meant.

  “Call me Junction.” He winked. “You guys are the big fish around here. If you start calling me that, then everyone else will.”

  “Richard!” Aeris demanded.

  He rolled his eyes. “One hundred and nine miles, actually.”

  “That’s incredible.”

  “This changes things. This changes a lot of things…” I said, before adding, “Junction.”

  We did end up discussing who we were going to take along with us, but I had to restructure the plan a bit because now it would be possible to get updates from Sanctuary, relay any discoveries we made, and warn them of danger.