The next morning at 7:30 Helo, Lelai, Allie and Hinata head over to the main house for breakfast. Stepping onto the porch the four meet Mila and get led into a comfy room with food set out. The four start eating and chatting as they wait for everyone else to arrive.
Everyone else comes soon after and sit or stand across from the four of them. Graham, Cheyeene and Micah all sit on the couch and take some food from the table in front of them. Mila and the two guards from yesterday find seats around the room.
“Howdy there kiddo, I’m James. I read your file and wanted to meet you.” James says to Helo in a deep voice with a southern accent. He is wearing jeans and a leather vest. He has short cropped hair and a clean beard with a cowboy hat. “I’m the one runnin the valley. I’m the head of all the guards.” James says this as he steps forward and shakes Helo’s hand.
“Nice to meet you sir.” Helo replies while standing up. Looking at the woman next to him she is taller than Helo and extremely fit. She has blonde hair that sits above her shoulders and is wearing a leather jacket with tight jeans.
“I’m Amara, I run the guards for the entire territory. When we transition to post-integration protocols, I’ll run the army and my partner James will run the guards. Right now, we have an excess of guards. They all get taught how to defend our territories so everyone is capable. But some are being trained to act as parties to venture out. They are the ones that I run.” She steps forward and shakes his hand as well.
Micah steps forward after the introductions. “They both work for me, I run our military and defense as the personal guard of the clan head.”
“Anyway.” Graham speaks up. “So, what happened yesterday. You mentioned that it was you all who did it. Based on the mist mana it was Lelai.” In response Lelai yipped and jumped off Helo’s lap. As she jumped up as ball of mist condensed over her head.
At that everyone jumped up. “HEY!” “NO!” “WAIT”
From their words Lelai stopped condensing the mist and with her lack of hands the orb fell onto the floor. The entire room was to shocked by the situation to react and the orb continued to fall. As it hit the floor the entire room was enveloped in a swirl of mist. Everyone is blind and drenched as they all sit there in shock. After a second all the water in the mist is sucked into an orb of water over Cheyeene’s hand.
As the water mana leaves the mist, all that was left was air mana. With a rush of wind, the air mana disperses and eventually settles. Everyone looks at Cheyeene and she speaks up. “Well, that is an interesting item. It seems pretty simple. It takes whatever affinity someone has and condenses it together in a stable ball. But what happened yesterday?”
“Well Oba-Chan, mana that is condensed enough can react violently. The air and water mana that got mixed into mist mana exploded in a concussive blast of water.” Hinata says to Cheyeene.
Looking at Hinata. Cheyeene wants to speak up because that phrase makes her feel old but she already but a lot of effort into convincing Hinata to use ‘Chan’ vs ‘San’.
“So, your fox made a bomb and set it off in y’all’s face. AHAHAHAHAH” James says to them with a laugh and a smile, while smacking his knee.
“Ah. Yeah. She was testing out her new headband.” Helo says to them.
“Well. She is more intelligent than normal animals. So, there is no issue with her being dangerous. But you’re going to need to make a familiar pact with her. I brought this up with the elders but Shelby was insistent that you can do it once you learn enough on rituals and enchantments.” Graham speaks up. “Make sure to start testing out the effects of the headband. Also, don’t test out explosive in the middle of the night.” Graham says while shaking his head. Now you have dungeon today, get back to your group.”
Getting back to their house the girls go to get ready and Helo pulls out his bracers and knives. Putting his gear on Helo pulls out a dark brown sweatshirt with a green rose. On the back over his knives and on each arm, there is his logo of a half shadow half golden circle with a fang in the middle.
Pulling on his pants Helo shakes his head. This stuff is comfy and made from good materials. I can’t wait until I can enchant this stuff.
Getting to the first floor Helo comes down to see the team is ready. Walking up to the group they are all surrounding a large box on the floor. “So, what is this?” Helo asks the group.
“Since we are officially dungeon diving alone now, we ordered some more advanced gear. None of this stuff is enchanted for attributes or skills. But everything here is enchanted for defense and self-mend.” Luna tells the group.
Pulling out leather armor from the boxes Helo can see an intricate array of enchantments that line the inside and outside of the armor. Taking one of the shirts Helo traces the lines and can understand some of what is happening in the enchantment. Trying on the shirt Helo starts moving around then immediately takes it off. “Nope.”
“Why do you refuse all the armor. The only armor that is lighter than this is cloth armor.” Aiko says to Helo.
“I don’t know. I just don’t like how stiff it feels. Plus, I need to move quick and I have high regeneration.” Helo says back to Aiko. Passing the armor back Helo gets everyone ready to head out the door. Everyone is wearing the leather armor that came in the box. They are sets of chest, leg, bracer, and helmets. The armor looks similar to police armor with metal plates on important pieces.
Getting into the pimped-out golf carts the group starts driving to the dungeon with his party. Entering the dungeon, they go straight to the 19th floor. “Alright everyone the floor looks similar but we will move forward slowly, as we do Helo will scout to find anything that changed.”
As the group moves forward everyone gets into their positions. Aiko and Luna are protected in the center with everyone else surrounding them. As they move toward the edge of the forest Helo uses ‘Double Step’ to launch himself into the air. His first step sends him to the trunk of a tree. The second step is off the trunk cracking the bark and into the branches. While in the air from his second step Helo hears a “Bing”. Stopping in the branches Helo pulls up his status.
Name: Hellesion’Kai’Vital’Spiratam
Tier: 1
Bloodline: Tier 2 Vampire?
Title: Nature’s Alpha (Epic)- This title augments your aura to be more connected to nature around you. Increases the efficiency of Vitality, Will, and Perception by 25%. Gain x4 to experience when killing an alpha and its pack in a nature themed type dungeon.
Gear: Alpha Wolf Hide (Epic), Boxers of Infinite Regeneration (Epic), A mother’s first gift, a father’s first lesson. (Mythic/Hidden) (Rare)
Age: 14
Class: Shaded Predator (Pseudo Tier 3)
- Level: 11 (102,549/1,025,000) (1000 + 1,024,000)
- Aura: Null Presence – your aura passively breaks down external energy phenomena in range. By focusing your aura, you can concentrate your effort on a single phenomenon. Due to ‘Dark Curse’ this works best on Mana.
Stats: 162
- Str: 10 (+5%)
- Agl: 23 (+15%)
- Dex:18 (+15%)
- Per: 28 (+30%)
- Vit: 31 (+40%)
- End: 11 (+15%)
- Int: 10 (+5%)
- Will: 31 (+40%)
Racial Skill: 5
- Greatly Enhanced Perception (Instincts) (Rare)
- Greatly Enhanced Natural Energy (Mental/Physical) (Rare)
- Regeneration (???)
- Major Vitality Siphon? (???)
- Dark Curse (???)
- Primary(N/A)
- Secondary(N/A)
Primary Class Skills: 3
- Disabling Strike (Common)
- Double Lunge (Uncommon)
- Penetrative Strike (Common)
Skills: 3
- Identify (Basic)
- Natural Meditation (Uncommon)
- Dagger Mastry (Common)
With a smile Helo looks at his new skill. ‘Double Step’ increased to uncommon tier and changed to ‘Double Lunge’. Helo could feel as he took that second step that the power increased back to what his original skill was.
Double Lunge (Uncommon): This skill uses stamina (physical energy) to increase the power of your next two steps. Can be used once every thirty seconds.
Taking a deep breath Helo breathes in the fresh air and looks around the peaceful forest. “Well, it won’t be peaceful for long.” Helo says to himself. Over his shoulder he hears.
“Hey Helo! What are you doing up there!” Allie yells in the middle of the woods. Turning back, he can see Allie standing next to Cody and pointing at him.
Taking a second to think about the fact they are in the middle of enemy territory Helo just shrugs and yells back. “My skill upgraded!”
Even louder Allie yells. “Congrats! That is amazing!” As she finishes speaking the entire party hears movement and crashing from the distance. They all turn to face the tree line. Waiting a moment the group watches as a small group of large scarred boars break through the green bushes and run straight toward the group.
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Helo is standing in a tree over the group and watches as the boars start charging. Three boars run out of the bushes and Kenneth uses his taunt skill. All of the boar veer toward Kenneth and charge toward him. As they are running Kenneth uses his ‘Force Dispersion’ skill. Taking the charge of the first boar Kenneth takes a step back and uses ‘Steady Bash’. Bashing his shield into the first boar it gets knocked on its side and trips the other two.
Both Gabi and Hinata take a fallen boar each. Striking at vital locations they attack then retreat back so Cody and Allie can get shots off. As the group is attacking the two tripped boars Helo lands on top of the first boar with ‘Penetrative Strike’. Landing his strike on the back of the animal’s neck Helo kills the first boar.
Watching the others kill the last two beasts. Helo looks at the group then runs back into the woods to scout out the area. While dashing between the trees Helo enjoys the feeling of nature around him. His aura is intertwining with the natural energy, to Helo it feels like a comforting hug. With his own ability to feel and control his vital energy Helo can feel how the energy around him moves between the landscape.
Jumping over a log Helo plants his left hand while both feet swing to the right. As he is in the air with his arm planted Helo feels a swirl of energy within his aura to the left. Pressing up from the log Helo turns his jump into an awkward barrel roll. His left arm that was on the log gets bitten instead of his torso. Looking down Helo can see a large snake biting down on his left arm.
While rolling in the air Helo takes the snake along with him, landing on his side Helo is now wrapped up in the snake’s body due to his own movement. With a shake of his head and a snarl Helo frees his right arm from the snake’s constriction and with a clawed grip gouges out the snake’s eyes.
Looking at the massive creature that is latched onto his arm Helo feels a shiver run down his spine. Pulling his right hand back he tightens his grip and pushes hard into ‘Disabling Strike’ as the flood of dark aligned mental energy pushes into the mind of the beast, its body freezes around Helo’s.
When the body of the snake freezes Helo uses the time to take out his knife and plant it into the large snake’s skull. As the jaws of the beast release Helo’s arm, he starts unwrapping the body of the snake from his own.
Calming his beating heart Helo sits against a tree and pulls the snakes body onto his lap. Taking small gulps of the snake’s blood Helo relaxes and lets his aura spread out. This time instead of getting lulled into passivity from the feeling of nature flowing, Helo uses his aura to find where vitality is condensed and moving faster than in the plant life.
“Okay, I can’t let my guard down. I let the comfortable feeling make me passive. In a natural forest that might be okay. My aura will naturally pick out what doesn’t belong. But this is a dungeon. No matter how much it feels like a normal forest, I am the one who doesn’t belong.” Sitting around for a moment longer Helo can feel as the condensed vitality in the body of the snake dissipates into the atmosphere around him. Taking in a deep breath Helo breath in the vitality and feels his body get invigorated.
Smiling to himself Helo focuses on the body of the snake and can feel that the only energy that is left is the energy that makes up its enhanced body. All the extra that came with life dissipated. “Is there a way to supercharge crafting material by forcing that lingering energy to stay?”
Getting up Helo adds that idea to a mental list of things to research and heads on his way. This time focusing on the flowing vitality in his aura Helo can pick out and avoid the dungeon creatures. He still gets the comforting feeling but he is no longer pulling into an almost sleep like state.
Traveling quickly Helo enters the trees and finds his way back to the goblin encampment. It has been over a day since Helo was here and not much has changed. Looking around Helo finds that everything is pretty much the way he left it. Making his way back into the forest Helo sits on a branch to think through his options. He could go back to the group but with how slowly they move it will be a while before they even encounter the goblins in the heart of the forest. On the other hand, he could start exploring more.
Weighing his options Helo ends up deciding that he is going to find the exit and relay his findings back. That should give his party an hour or so to make their way deeper into the forest. Moving through the woods Helo passes all sorts of interesting creatures.
There are deer running through the woods radiating all sorts of different affinities. Bunnies with massive curved horns and sharp teeth monkeys that are swinging through the branches and other creatures. Stopping for a second Helo finds a vine with a massive pod on one of its limbs. Studying the vines with his aura Helo can feel a density that the other flora doesn’t have. Pressing a little closer with his body and aura Helo focuses on his senses. Thankfully he learned from his previous ambush, getting slightly lost in the swirls and loops of the vines vitality Helo barely acknowledges as the vines starts shivering. Taking another step closer Helo has just enough remaining focus to use ‘Double Lunge’ and launch himself backward.
Sailing back Helo watches as the pod that is attacked to the vines launches forward and opens to show a row of teeth and drooling sap. “Ugh, Gross.” Helo says while he does a slight flip and lands with both feet on a tree truck behind him. Looking at the pod Helo doesn’t notice as move vines that surrounded the tree he was on snake out to wrap around his leg.
With a yelp and a beating heart Helo is pulled from the trunk onto the ground. Pulling out his knife as he is being pulled Helo uses his aura and his blade to cut the vine. Rolling back to his feet he takes a quick look around and finds that all of the trees surrounding him are covered in wiggling vines.
Looking closer into their energies Helo just groans to himself. “They were dormant. The only piece of the vines that looked like a monster was the pod.” Drawing his other blade Helo starts running out of the encirclement while slashing at any vine that gets so close. Running up the trunk of a large tree Helo plants his left foot and uses ‘Double Lunge’. Jumping off that truck he launches himself toward another tree, using his second step Helo jumps off that tree and out of the domain of vines.
Slashing out in the air while spinning in a front flip Helo cuts any vines that try to stop him. Spinning with his blade out and trailing a dark light Helo looks like he is surrounded by a black hole.
Landing on the ground and rolling to stop his forward momentum Helo gets to his feet and take off. Stopping a minute later Helo looks back and shakes his head. “I guess today is a day of learning.” Thankful that he his life didn’t end up and some sort of nasty hentai scene Helo shivers to himself and continues forward.
This time taking everything he learned Helo can start to tell which plants are more unique. Watching the vitality of a tree Helo can see how it is slow moving and constant. It is small sized and has the classic brown bark with green leaves. Looking at the tree right next to it Helo can see that this tree is unique. First off, the tree looks unique with a white line swirling up the brown bark. The leaves are also tinged white. Not sure what it means Helo is more interested in the unique pattern of its energy. Feeling out with his unique senses that he gained from his title, aura and bloodline Helo can feel that this tree is different. There is an interesting pattern that follows the white swirl within the tree’s vital energy. Helo can’t sense what the swirl is doing but due to the slight buzzing in Helo’s aura he assumes it has to do with mana.
With a shrug Helo starts digging up the tree. Using his claws and bloodline’s ability to make any resistance moot Helo cuts through the surrounding roots and takes the tree into his necklace. I am going to do a better job stocking up my necklace.
Continuing on his way Helo is now more focused than ever. Sensing all the unique energy pathways Helo is enjoying his time in the forest. He is hoping that he will eventually be able to tell what all the unique patterns represent. Hopefully in the future he can study the pathways within something and find out how it works.
Stopping again Helo wonders if he can do that same thing with mental energy. Grasping mental energy is more ephemeral. It isn’t as straightforward and vital energy but Helo resigns himself that during his meditation in the future he is going to focus on his mental energy. He mostly focuses on his physical energy but he already upgraded his ‘Quick Step’ twice and into uncommon tier. Due to his pseudo rare class Helo will have an easier time upgrading his skills to speak uncommon. But he has to put in the work to get them there. Anything past that will take a lot of effort. Right now, his ‘Double Lunge’ is only a low tier uncommon skill.
After another twenty minutes of running Helo finds the exit of the floor. Looking around the exit of this floor it is much simpler than the previous one. There is no den of creatures guarding it.
Making his way back to the group Helo takes his time exploring all the different creatures on the way.
Back with the group Allie just got done finishing off a horned rabbit. The larger number of enemies along with their easier ability to kill excited Allie to the point that she used ‘Arcane Construct’ to make a hammer. Wiping the blood from her face she looks around the smashed and mutilated corpses of the bunnies and yells out to the group. “That was so fun!” Dripping with blood and viscera the rest of the group looks at her with a hit of wariness.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself Allie-Chan. But you’re scaring everyone.” Hinata says back to her and pointing at the disgusted faces of the group.
“Yeah Chika, I’m the berserker and I don’t look half as bad as you.” Gabi says to Allie. The entire party jumps in surprise as they all hear a “BANG”.
Looking to the right the entire group sees a bunny get flung into the clearing that they were fighting in. Following the bunny is a wave of mist that sweeps by like wet wind. Coming out of the foliage after the bunny and mist jumps Lelai. She yips happily as a trail of mist dissipates from around her mouth.
“This might just be my opinion but I am more scared of the fox than an exited Allie.” Luna says to the group. Everyone nods at that. Lelai has been using her skills at sneaking to follow along the edge of the group. But every time she finds an enemy she makes a massive mist bomb and blows them up. Usually, she would alert the party or Helo, but for the first time Lelai has an attack skill of her own.
Barking happily Lelai prances up to the bloody Allie and licks some of the blood from her hand. Crouching down and letting Lelai lick her hand Allie flinches as another mist ball is made in front of her face. Yelping and jumping back Allie falls on her butt as a wave of mist passes over her body completely soaking her.
Lelai didn’t charge this mist orb, instead she was trying to help clean Allie. A minute later the mist dissipates and a soaked Allie is standing there. She is still bloody and gross but now she is drenched as well. “I’m starting to hate the fact that Helo gave the circlet to Lelai.”
Following the noises from the explosions Helo makes it back to the group to see them surrounded by the corpses of some goblins. It has been about ten minutes since Lelai soaked Allie. Looking over the group from a branch in the trees Helo can see that everyone is safe. Studying them further Helo watches how the group interacts with one another.
The first thing that he notices is the looks that an oddly drenched Allie are giving Lelai. Watching for a moment he remembers how drenched everything was when Lelai used her mist and laughs at his conclusion. Helo hears Hinata speak up while watching. “Let’s collect any metal there are carrying. Scrap metal isn’t expensive but it still is needed.”
Luna and Aiko are acting respectful to their respective mistresses. Gabi is friendly and talking with everyone. Cody is standing respectfully and keeping constant vigilance. Helo expects that when he reveals himself, he will be the second person to notice him after Lelai. Helo would expect that it would be Luna, Allie, or Hinata due to their more bestial heritages, but they don’t focus on those aspects of their abilities. As they grow stronger and their bloodlines are empowered or awakened further Helo expects that they will get better.
Allie is acting like a friend to all. Her excitable personality doesn’t make her a great leader. More like a cute and jumpy mascot. But her personality does well with Hinata. She on the other hand is far more stoic and commanding.
The final member of the group is a little frustrating for Helo. From Kenneths reaction to Hinata’s orders, he obviously has an issue with authority. Or maybe it is just Hinata. Watching further and remembering Kenneth’s more sexist views Helo decides that his issue is with woman in authority. That is made with worse with his obvious view that it is he who should be in charge.
Reasserting his decision to keep a close eye on Kenneth Helo drops down from the branch that he was in. As he is falling, he drops his bloodline and aura concealment. In the air it looks like a swirl of dark energy unwraps from Helo and dissipates as he lands on the ground.
Proving his assumptions correct as soon as his concealment was dropped Lelai yips and started turning. When he hit the ground Cody turned to face him and as the group noticed him Kenneth scowled beneath his helmet. Kenneth was the only person with metal armor in the group. As the tank it makes sense that he would have heavier armor so Luna spent extra to get him decent gear.
“Helo!” Allie yells well bounding up to him. Her skipping is similar to Lelai who jumps up to Helo as well. Helo smiles at Allie and waves at the group. “Look at what I just killed!”
Behind Allie Hinata is walking up far more professionally. But she speaks to him in a softer voice than she gave orders to everyone else. “It is good that you are back. You took longer than expected.” Hinata gets to Helo and looks his body over. Seeing the puncture marks in Helo’s arm she raises and eyebrow at him.
“It’s fine. I’m already healed and in learned from the experience. Well, two experiences. Anyway, the goblin village is pretty much the same. A few members might have gained a level but nothing really changed. I took so long because I found the exit.” Helo says back to her.
“Mhmmm. That is good, anything interesting?” Hinata asks while leading Helo to the group.
“Not really, some interesting plants and animals but ill be able to show you all along the way.” Helo says to the group as they all stand together. Cody and Kenneth tower over them all and everyone starts making a plan.
“I decided that we are going to approach the goblin village but we will stay about half a mile from it. Then we will walk the circumference of the village while clearing out any hunting parties. After making an entire lap we will approach the village and engage.” As Hinata is speaking everyone nods their heads and agrees with her ideas.
Heading out to start the fight the group gets into position with everyone following Lelai who is following Helo.