System Change

Edgar dismissed another level up notification from his vision. He was level 243 now and only had a few more to go before he could quit running the damn dungeon. He had overly surprised his brother when he stopped him from going into the dungeon with him.

He was only level 234 at the time. Edward worried about him, but Edgar told him it would take too long if he had to split the already halved experience with him. Plus, he had watched and helped Edward deal with the entire dungeon so many times that he could probably run it with his eyes closed.

He was right, of course. When he went in alone, it took a little longer to clear it, but he was never in any danger. That, plus not having to split XP with someone who can’t even earn XP, basically caused the sky to rain levels upon him.

Edgar also had skills he didn’t desire to show anyone, even his brother. They both had lightning based classes, and while many skills overlapped, he did have his own, unique skills. Ones that he would rather work on without anyone else around.

One of those skills was Ethereal Spark. If one saw it, they would think that it was a skill not unlike the one that Jake and his father use, only lightning based. Every high level elemental class had something like that. But Edgar had that skill as well. It was called Lightning Shroud. It was the same one his brother used.

Now, Lightning Shroud allowed Edgar to channel the lightning into his body to reinforce it and amplify it. It greatly increased his already great speed and multiplied his offensive prowess. The skill also enhanced any other skills he used in tandem with it.

Ethereal Spark, however, was not Lightning Shroud. When he activated Ethereal Spark, everything happened almost identical to when he used Lightning Shroud. The whites of his eyes changed color, his hair floated, sparks of electricity formed around parts of his body.

But, with Lightning Shroud, he channeled and used lightning, with Ethereal Spark, he became lightning. He no longer had to walk, run, or dash. He zipped. He was a lightning bolt that shot between enemies. The offensive power was immense, so was the mana cost. However, what Edgar found most appealing about the skill unique to his class was that it made him incorporeal.

He was intangible. As far as he has found, nothing could touch him while he was using the skill. If a sword cut him in half, he reformed, same as if a spell scattered him, the lightning bolt just pieced itself back together.

And the offensive power… well, the form almost ignored all defenses. Beasts and monsters almost never wore anything to protect them against lightning. Hell, most people wore metal armor… a great conductor of electricity. Sure, some armors were layered with materials that insulated and thus protected against lightning, but all Edgar had to do was touch an unprotected part. Then he was in.

It was also the perfect skill for strategic retreat. He was fast and invulnerable. Nothing could harm him if he didn’t want it to.

Edgar looked at the skill and smiled. It was level 15, and he couldn’t imagine a better place to use it than a dungeon with small beasts so densely packed. Edgar closed all his status windows, then walked out of the same room, onto the field.

The dozens of level 250 beasts all turned their heads at once. Edgar snorted as they began their charge. He clapped his hands and thunder roared in the air as small bolts penetrated each creature within his range who he deemed a threat.

As soon as all the beasts were stunned, lightning flashed through his eyes, and he disappeared. Instantly, a bolt of lightning appeared before the first beast. It hit it, going through its body, the bolt aimed for the heart, and with a shock, it stopped beating.

As soon as the bolt touched the beast’s heart, it left its body and jumped to the next beast. One by one, beasts fell before they could even move a muscle. In less than thirty seconds, Edgar materialized in front of the last remaining beast, a badger of some sort. An elemental sword materialized in his hand, and he slashed down, splitting the small creature in half before it had a chance to move.

With his near exhausted mana pool, Edgar quickly used Lightning Shroud and moved to the safe room. He closed the door behind him and winced at the headache that came with mana exhaustion.

He wanted to make it back to the safe zone before the next wave came. That way, the enemies would be spaced out and not already waiting for him. His Thunderclap worked best in that situation.

The reason he took longer to complete the dungeon than his brother wasn’t because he wasn’t as strong or fast, it was because he meditated in between each wave of attacks.

Edgar closed his eyes, readying to use his level 16 Meditation, the skill he had used most of all. Damn… it’s so hard to level Meditation. I wonder if it will max out at 20 or if it will upgrade to another, better form of the skill. Because of the skill, and the toughness of leveling it, Edgar hadn’t had a real night’s sleep in years, choosing to work on the skill instead.

Out of combat, Meditation was better than any health or mana potion, and it only cost one skill point. It was the most essential skill for an adventurer. That skill, combined with safe rooms in dungeons, made it one of the most overpowered skills, and anyone could get it.

Edgar had a plan, though. He had two skill upgrade points from Awards waiting to be used. As soon as Meditation hit level 18, he would use them. Then, he would find his answer. But for now, he just relaxed and let the skill take over.

Soon, his mana pool was full and the headache was gone. He took a quick glance at his notifications and clicked his tongue when he saw that Meditation leveling up wasn’t one of them. It had to be getting close. He’d been stuck at level 16 much longer than level 15. But, because his level was increasing rapidly, he knew all his skills would slow down.

He only hoped that General Skills weren’t affected as much as Class Skills were. Edgar let out a sigh and stood. He opened the door and walked out, clapping his hands. The same slaughter played out once more and he was back in the safe house.

Three more times the scene happened. Nothing changed. Not even on the final wave when the boss appeared. It was a giant bear. It towered over the entire area. It was weird that you had to fight through four waves of small beasts, only to fight a 30 foot tall and half as wide bear at the end.

Still, it didn’t matter. In his ethereal form, all Edgar had to do was zip to the beast and enter its heart. The only difference between the big beast and the small beasts was that he had to stay inside the bear’s heart for five seconds for it to succumb instead of the instant it took to kill the small beasts.

Once the bear died, the dungeon orb appeared. Edgar meditated to get his mana back before placing his hand on the orb to leave.

Edgar snorted. Instead of the options to leave the dungeon, he got a notification of receiving the dungeon reward. He looked at the small stack of gold coins that appeared on the ground beside him and rolled his eyes before storing them in his ring. It was the sixth time something like this had happened.

His Lesser Repetitive Dungeoneer Award rarely procced, but it had happened six times in this shitty dungeon already. Why does it have to work so well in this damn dungeon? He didn’t often run dungeons more than once, to keep from leveling, but he had run two or three times after getting the Award, yet, he never got a second reward with the meager 5% chance the Award gave.

The Award, Lesser Repetitive Dungeoneer, was one that all the Royal Family members got. They actually received it before they did a class. It was easy to get, and sometimes useful. All they did was wait in the safe zone while strong guards completed the dungeon for them. When one set of guards out leveled the dungeon, a new set appeared.

Edgar clicked his tongue and dismissed all notifications. Once he was able to clear the dungeon on his own, he had even stopped allocating his stat points. He wasn’t completely sure if it was the level that hindered skill growth or if it was the stat points, or maybe a combination of both, but until the time came, he would keep his hundreds of stat points.

He put his hand on the dungeon orb again, then vanished.

This time, when he appeared in the dungeon room, his brother was back waiting for him, leaning against the wall.

“How goes it?” Edward asked.

Edgar rolled his eyes. “I’ve made over 6,000 gold.”

Edwards eyes widened. “Maybe I should retire from the army and just run that dungeon for the rest of my life.”

“Yeah, and ruin the economy.”

“Look at you, thinking like a King.” Edward said.

Edgar rolled his eyes again and touched the dungeon orb, instantly disappearing.

Edward stood there with a frown on his face. “What happened to the countdown?”