"There's been a problem in the sewers lately. Every night, rats kept coming out from it. I want you to investigate the source of their disturbance."
Just that? He's giving me a special dungeon quest and he only has this dialogue? I wanted to at least know what rewards I can get, but no? Nothing? And isn't it weird that there's a dungeon inside Klimont City? Oh well, it's too late now since I already accepted it. The guard lead me to the entrance and opened it for me.
The thought of entering the sewers already disgusts me but I keep motivating myself with the quest rewards later on. It will be good, right? Some players just looked at me suspiciously but I paid them no mind. I strengthened my resolve and walked inside the sewers.
The moment I stepped inside, there was a sudden change in the atmosphere. A loud ticking of the clock was heard but it slowly fade away. I was supposed to be scared because of the eerie atmosphere coming from this dark corridor but the stench was just so strong, that I can't help myself bit grimace.
"Gah! This is too real!"
Then a thought came into mind. What if I summon wind to clear the air. I equipped the beginner's orb and poured my mana into it. With a little help of my imagination, a gust of wind surged from the orb and blew the stench away.
'You have learned [Wind Gust]'
The air was clear for a while but after a few minutes, the stench came back again. I tried to think of a way to get rid of the stench. How about a wind that protects me? I then poured mana into the orb and imagine the wind circling me as if protecting me.
'You have learned [Wind Barrier].'
'You have learned [Mana Manipulation].'
Notification windows appeared and I was surprised to see I learned new skills. Wind Gust and Wind Barrier were spells I could use while Mana Manipulation was passive. My MP is being drained because of the Wind Barrier, but with the help of Mana Manipulation, the draining of MP is reduced slightly. I think the MP potions I got from the errand quests should suffice.
As I was discussing this to myself, I heard skittering and crawling noises approaching. There were 3 Sewer Rats crawling slowly and to my horror, they were bigger than me. This really is a fantasy game. The rats didn't wait for me so they attacked.
"[Ice Bolt]!"
The spell went flying towards the first enemy. It was fast and it hit the rat with a small icy explosion. The rat's HP was reduced to half and the icy explosion gave the three rats a slow debuff,
"[Fire Ball]!"
It was very effective and the first rat immediately died. The other two recovered from the slow debuff and were almost near me.
"[Wind Gust]!"
The remaining rats were pushed back. [Ice Bolt] and [Fire Ball] are on cooldown so the only offensive spell remaining is [Lightning Bolt]. I don't think this is enough to deal with the 2 rats. But maybe if I use [Charge]... It might work. I have to create some space between myself and my enemies first.
"[Ice Wall]"
"[Charge]"
This should buy me a little bit of time. I ran back and while casting [Charge]. The orb that hovered slightly in my hand started to glow. My MP was running low so I took an MP potion to replenish some of my MP back. After a few seconds, the glowing orb almost illuminated the dark corridor and at the same time the [Ice Wall] broke down after being attacked by the rats. They continued their rush but after attacking my [Ice Wall], they still have their slow debuff so their speed is reduced.
"[Lightning Bolt]!"
I expected more lightning to hit the two rats but to my surprise, an explosive lightning bolt occupied the space in front of me clearing everything in a flash. When the spell cleared up, I only see the burnt corpse of the rats. Their putrid smell was so bad that I immediately drank another potion. The charged [Lightning Bolt] consumed a lot of my MP so I had to recast [Wind Barrier] again.
A sigh of relief escaped me as I observed the burnt rat corpse. I was glad that a window notification showed what loots to pick up. This means that I don't have to disassemble them for loots.
Wait! They're only level 3? Thinking about the battle that occurred, made me realize that being a solo mage in a dungeon is hard. They need to have someone to cover for them. Good thing that I was in a corridor, what if I was battling the same enemies in an open space. More various situations came into my mind after that so I decided to create some kind of battle plan. The slow debuffs from my ice spells could slow the enemy's advance but the damage is not that strong compared to my fire spells. Charged spells would be effective but it would take time to prepare and a lot of MP. This is going to be hard but I think I can manage as long as the battlefield remains the same. Maybe I should charge my orb too to light up the area? Wait, if I do that, my next spell will be charged. Hmm.
I focused my mana on my orb and imagined it to glow and
"You have learned [Light]"
Oh, I forgot about this too. Is this how we can learn spells? I think it's too easy but maybe that's just because the spell I learned was not complex? Hmm. Anyways, I need to create some plans for upcoming battles. [Ice Wall] to block and slow down enemies, [Fire Wall] to damage incoming enemies, [Fire Ball] to attack one enemy, [Ice Bolt] to slow down one enemy, [Lightning Bolt] to.... maybe it should paralyze the enemies? Only one way to find out!
With that, I started to continue my dungeon run.
I've been exploring the sewers for about 30 mins. I've encountered and defeated over 30 rats already. As I ventured deeper, the stench kept growing stronger. More and more corridors appeared some were wide with canals on the side, and some were also wet making it advantageous for me when I use [Lightning Bolt] on the enemies. I also learned some spells and some hidden mechanics. Combining Wind and Ice resulted to [Icy Mist].
"You have learned [Icy Mist]"
It's an area-of-effect spell that slows down enemies in the area. It gives the slow debuff and if the enemies stay in that area, they'll have the Frost Bite status. A nasty status that stacks and damages the enemy per second as long as I let them stay inside [Icy Mist]. The more Frost Bite stacks the enemy gets, the more damage is dealt.
If the enemies are wet and gets the Frost Bite status, they get the status easily and will also freeze after a few seconds. This sparked another spell inside my head. Damaging an enemy while frozen is a sick combination, like an ice prison of some sort. I then tried it and
"You have learned [Ice Prison]"
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"You have learned [A Mage's Intuition]"
I learned the [Ice Prison] and a new passive skill. [A Mage's Intuition] improves my ability to understand spell combinations from different elements and their effectiveness. Hmm. Maybe I could tweak some spells with this passive skill? Like setting the [Ice Prison] to cause less damage but freezes an enemy for a longer duration? Let's test this out after meeting some more rats. Just thinking about this makes me wonder, am I in a laboratory or something? Experimenting with some spells in a lab, I mean, sewer rats is fine right?
As I was deep in thought, more rats came meaning, more chances for experiments. Defeat the rats and leave some weakened ones, continue to try some spells that comes into my mind, [Appraise] then loot. This routine continued for an hour and the results were.....
"You have learned [Frost Breath]"
It's the same concept from [Wind Gust] but applies Frost debuff which slows and adds Frost Bite stacks.
"You have learned [Frost Bolt]"
A faster version of [Ice Bolt] but consumes more MP and has a higher cooldown. Also adds Frost Bite stacks.
"You have learned [Earth Spike]"
Summons a spike of earth.
"You have learned [Frost Spike]"
Summons a spike of ice that easily breaks and applies Frost Bite stacks.
"You have learned [Frost Shield]"
Creates a shield made of Frost that applies Frost Bite stacks to the attackers. The durability of the shield depends on the player's [Mana Manipulation].
"You have learned [Ember]"
Burns an enemy for a few moments giving them the Burning status. Burning has fixed damage and fixed duration.
"You have learned [Flame Spear]"
Throws a flaming spear toward an enemy. At the hit, it consumes the Burning status to cause a mini explosion. The area and damage of the explosion depend on the player's [Mana Manipulation].
"You have learned [Flame Shield]"
Creates a shield made of fire that applies Burning to the attackers. The durability of the shield depends on the player's [Mana Manipulation].
"You have learned [Chain Lightning]"
Multiple enemies will be hit with lightning and have a high chance of paralyzing them. Low damage compared to [Lightning Bolt]. which also is pretty low damage compared to other offensive spells.
"You have learned [Shock]"
Applies paralysis on an enemy.
"You have learned [Overcharge]"
A special buff that applies to the player after the continuous casting of [Charge] for a certain amount of time. The next spells will be improved and the MP consumed will be increased. The duration of the buff depends on how much time [Charge] has been cast. 3 seconds of [Charge] cast: 1 second of [Overcharge] duration.
"You have learned [Mana Recovery]"
MP recovery is much faster and some MP is refunded by a certain amount of chance.
"You have learned [Mana Efficiency]"
MP cost of some spells is reduced and some casting time on spells will be reduced.
"You have learned [Mana Shield]"
Creates a shield made of mana. Reduces incoming damage and nullify some pain. The durability of the shield depends on the player's [Mana Manipulation].
....more spells and some passives were learned.