After the party got the cores, everyone kept moving forward and working well. Helo continued to use his naginata if there were only a few enemies. They group finished floor a few hours later. There were not any complications and everything went pretty smoothly. The group found no territory bosses and continued fighting mediums to large groups of frogmen, crabs, fish and other aquatic creatures.
Getting to the exit Helo looks around and is pleased with how he did. He never experienced a moment where he felt rushed or flustered. He was able to use his naginata in a way that would make Micah proud.
He even heard Hinata giving him some praise for how he used the weapon. The long reach and large blade made it easy to fight the simple enemies on the floor. Helo’s high perception and agility helped him transition between stances and swings without stumbling.
If the enemy was any more numerous, intelligent or powerful Helo might have been pressured. Checking with the group everyone seems to have gained a level on the floor and made it into the next.
Allie and Hinata are now at level 24. Luna, Aiko and Cody are now level 21. Kenneth is level 22 and Gabi is level 23. Taking a look at Lelai, Helo can see that she is listening to his orders. She is sticking to leveling up with him.
“Hey Lelai. Come here little lady.” Helo gets on a knee and starts scratching her ears. “You can keep leveling up okay. Just take it slow. I don’t want you to have any mutations.” With a yip Helo assumes that Lelai agrees.
Giving her a kiss on the forehead Helo gets back up and checks his status.
Name: Helo
Tier 1
Class: Shaded Predator (Pseudo Tier 3)
Level: 13 (104,552/1,027,000) (3000 + 1,024,000)
Stats: 191
- Str: 13 (+5%)
- Agl: 28 (+15%)
- Dex:20 (+15%)
- Per: 31 (+30%)
- Vit: 36 (+40%)
- End: 14 (+15%)
- Int: 13 (+5%)
- Will: 36 (+40%)
Happy with his progress Helo gained more experience than he expected. “I’m going to take a look around the 25th floor. Lelai want to come with?” Helo asks the fox. Getting a yip in response Helo just tilts his head and look at her. “Based on your tone I assume that is a yes.”
Heading to the portal Helo steps through and gets pressed back by a wave to the face. Wiping his eyes Helo shakes his head and hears a whimper from his side. Lelai is pouting at him and her usually pristine fur is matted down.
Picking up Lelai, Helo places her over his shoulders. Taking another look around without getting a wave to his face, he can see a series of rock formations jutting out of a raging body of water. There is also a cloudy sky that is sending down a constant rainfall.
The entrance to the floor was a portal that sent him onto a flat piece of a spire of rock, it is standing two-hundred feet over sea level. But the waves are so aggressive that they continue to reach him. Looking around the area Helo can see multiple spires around the one that he appeared on. Each one seems to be close to the others; he can move from one to the other.
Walking around the spire there are four more that he can reach. “Without Allie’s compass Helo doesn’t know which was is toward the exit.
Deciding to jump to the one to the left. Helo carefully makes his way over. As he is getting ready to jump, he hears a screech.
“SCREEEE.” Looking up Helo can see a large brown and white bird.
Rock Spire Osprey
Tier 1 Level 26
Large bird that hunts animals that get trapped within the rapids around rock spires.
Looking at the bird, Helo can see it dive into a wave as it breaks on a rock spire. As it bursts through the other side it has a fish in its claws. The fish is biting the underside of the bird. Not able to get a good look at the fish, Helo assumes that it is aggressive in some way.
The osprey uses its wings to launch itself up and flips the fish into the air. Grabbing it with its beak the bird lands on a ledge and starts to eat.
Scanning the skyline Helo can see multiple winged figures flying through the clouds. Looking back into to waves there is a constant flutter in the water. The number of fish is in the thousands. “I do not want to fall in there.”
Feeling worried about what else in on this floor Helo gets ready to jump to the next spire. Stepping back a few feet and taking a breath, he grabs Lelai from his shoulders and runs forward. On his last step Helo uses ‘Double Lunge’. In the air Helo can feel dozens of gazes’ lock onto him as the flying birds are waiting to strike.
Landing comfortably Helo looks down at Lelai in his arms. “That wasn’t so bad, was it girl.” Checking the new spire, it is the same as the last. The only difference is that there is only one other spire in jumping range and Helo has to climb down about thirty feet to get to a ledge he can jump from.
Carefully climbing down Helo activates his bloodline and extends his claws to keep his footing on the wet rock. Getting to the ledge he jumps across. As he lands Helo hears splashing coming from below.
Looking down Helo can see that all of the fish are vacating the area around the spire. Not wanting to be so close to the water Helo starts climbing back up. Getting to a larger ledge, Helo can see a cave in the wall of the spire.
Deciding to use that cave Helo turns around and takes a look over the ledge. Using the aggressive waves to propel themselves up are fishmen. But this time they are green, scaled, with webbed hands and feet. Their faces are monstrous, with large eyes and jagged teeth.
Deep Madness Fishman.
Tier 1 Level 25
Fishmen who have adapted to the deep. Becoming corrupted by their desire for food they eat anything they can in a mad rage.
Climbing up the side of the formation Helo can see over 20 of the corrupted fishmen. They are using their clawed hands to crawl up the side.
Helo runs back toward the cave with Lelai in his hands. Turning around he can see the first of the fishmen climbing over the edge. It is to late for Helo to hide and he gets ready to fight. Standing still of a moment Helo thinks about his options. He can use his knives but with the space and the cave to fall back into it might be a good chance to use his naginata.
Lelai is also here and with her circlet she is great at area of effect attacks, something Helo lacks. Deciding that this is a good opportunity to get experience while being pressured Helo summons his naginata from his necklace and stands in a neutral posture.
Taking a deep breath, he steadies his breathing. This was a tip from Micah, with their instincts and bloodline it feels great to fight with your heart beating and in the action. But the ‘Moon-Staff’ style is all about being cool and technical.
Helo has only learned the basics of using the naginata and isn’t even close to touching on the ‘Moon-Staff’ style. But Micah wanted Helo to treat every fight with the naginata in his hand like it is an opportunity to do everything right.
So, Helo takes a deep breath, reaching over he lets out the breath while transitioning from neutral to ready and then to the middle stance. Holding the naginata with his right side forward and the blade facing the enemy Helo is ready to transition into any stance. Well, the other four that I have learned. He thinks to himself with a chuckle. Raising his left arm Helo drops the tip into the lower guard position and starts shuffling forward. He isn’t using his daggers. There is no running and jumping. This is all about keeping his feet steady and transitions smooth.
Idly Helo wishes that he had more time to practice using his bloodline, aura and skills with the weapon. But it is his first day using it in the field.
Drawing closer Helo plants his feet as the first fishman charges him. The crazed monster is running straight at him so Helo waits for it to get close. Once it is within reach Helo steps forward and to the right. Raising the lowered blade Helo slashes the fishman from hip to shoulder.
With the blade now in the air, Helo slide his hands down the shaft and swaps the placement. The blade is now over his shoulder in an upper offensive position. Squinting through the rain Helo can see as the blood pools beneath the fishman. With a cry it starts crawling toward Helo. Shocked by the fact that it is still alive, Helo realizes that these fishman are scaled. The others had blue froglike skin.
Twirling the blade Helo raising is above his head and drives the tip into the back of the fishman. With a twist of the blade the monster shudders and dies. He looks up to see two more of the monsters come over the ledge.
Setting himself back into the middle stance he prepares to fight. The one on the right comes first. Helo transitions into a lower guard with his right foot forward. Using a backhand swipe, he traces a line across its abdomen. As it stumbles back, Helo takes a step forward. With his blade in the air Helo enters an upper offensive stance and redraws the line on the fishman’s abdomen.
With the deep cut the fishman’s blue-green blood gushes onto the wet rock ledge. As its intestines start to fall from the cut, the other fishman rushes forward. Barley getting the shaft up in time Helo places it between the fishman’s closing jaws.
Pushing the creature back Helo can see over its shoulder that more are coming. Letting go with one hand Helo draws a knife and using his bloodline Helo rams his knife under the creatures’ ribs. With a well-timed ‘Crippling Blow’ the monster freezes and Helo spartan kicks his naginata free. Putting his knife back on his belt Helo readies himself and steps forward.
In the next group there are three fishmen and two of them come at once. One on each side, they both dive at him. Jumping back Helo avoids the snapping jaws. Feeling rushed Helo uses first and only sequence that Micah taught him.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Transitioning into an upper offensive stance Helo slash down at the fishman on the right. The creature stumbles back in pain. Stepping forward Helo turns his body with his step; he is now facing the left fishman. Repeating the same process Helo continues to slash from upper right to lower left, then upper left to lower right. With each slash he steps forward and repeats the process.
As the fishmen die Helo hears a “Bing”
Not ready to check his notifications Helo readies himself to fight again.
As a much larger wave of fishmen step over the edge Helo yells into the rain. “Lelai! Blast them!”
Far quicker than Helo expected a ball of mist gets sent from Helo’s right and crosses the twenty-feet to the edge. The ball strikes the center monster in its chest, exploding with a massive concussive wave.
This mist orb was filled with more mana then Lelai has used before. Along with the explosion of wind, the water within the mist gained enough force to cut nearby enemies like liquid shrapnel.
The damage isn’t deep, but it is enough to open cuts along the nearby monsters. As the concussive wave spreads out the rock ledge starts to crumble. With a loud cracking noise, half the ledge breaks off the spire and falls into the ocean one-hundred-feet below.
As the spire is cracking Helo turns around and uses a dual foot empowered ‘Double Lunge’ to cross the distance into the cave before the rock gave way beneath him. “Bing”
Looking at Lelai who is sitting within the dry cave happily wagging her tail, Helo just shakes his head. “Damn girl, that was strong.” Then he sits down in the cave. Looking at the dry Lelai Helo raises an eyebrow in question.
Lelai seemingly understanding Helo’s look uses her magic to pull the water from Helo’s clothing and skin.
As Helo gets dry, Lelai climbs into his lap. He sits back and takes a moment to rest.
Back at the entrance of the floor the rest of the party steps onto the floor to a massive wave and a crack of thunder.
Everyone starts looking around and Allie hums. “My father warned me about floors like this. It is as much a monster infested realm, as an obstacle course with deadly consequences.”
At that moment the group hears a “BOOM” “CRACK” “SPLASH” coming from their left. Taking a look that direction all they can see is the nearby spire.
“I got… doing my laundry. That the noise came from Helo.” Gabi says to the group.
Aiko who is standing in the back of the group just scoffs. “I already do your laundry. Your lucky that Lord Kashiwagi-Sama gave me enchanted tools to help or I would never touch your laundry.”
The group looks at Aiko and they all nod in appreciation. It isn’t often that they acknowledge the work that Aiko does. Everyone gives a slight bow to Aiko, who eats it up with a casual indifference. But on the inside, she is blushing.
Pulling out her compass Allie checks the direction. “The exit is behind us. Should we go after Helo?”
“Kuh, no. Leave the kid alone, we don’t need him.” Kenneth says. Everyone just ignores him, because they are used to this attitude from Kenneth.
“As much as I hate to agree with the him…” Luna says. “Helo can take care of himself and he will be returning soon. Let’s just leave a marker showing which was we go.”
Everyone else agrees with her statement and the group turns to face the back of the portal. As they all look between the two rock formations Hinata speaks up. “Yeah… Helo will catch up.”
Deciding to head back Helo gets up from the floor of the cave and sets Lelai on his shoulders. As he is about to step into the rain Lelai whimpers. “Fine.” Helo says and holds out his neckline. “Put your mana here.” Once Lelai activates the transfiguration seal his hoodie transforms into a haori.
The reason he had her do this is because the haori is baggier. Letting Lelai climb under his haori while still on his shoulders, Helo puts up his hood. Stepping into the rain they inspect the damage that Lelai did to the spire.
Half the ledge is gone and tumbled at an angle to the sea. Thankfully there is still a portion of the lower ledge that Helo jumped to. Carefully climbing down the wet rock, Helo has to check for any loose footings.
Getting to the ledge he doesn’t hesitate to jump across. Using ‘Double Lunge’ Helo launches himself across and into the wall of the spire far faster than he expected. Holding his head Helo realizes that he got two notifications.
Deciding to wait he climbs to the top of the spire before finding an outcropping to sit under. Opening his status Helo checks the changes.
Name: Hellesion’Kai’Vital’Spiratam
Tier: 1
Age: 15
Class: Shaded Predator (Pseudo Tier 3)
Level: 13 (150,123/1,027,000) (3000 + 1,024,000)
Stats: 191
- Str: 13 (+5%)
- Agl: 28 (+15%)
- Dex:20 (+15%)
- Per: 31 (+30%)
- Vit: 36 (+40%)
- End: 14 (+15%)
- Int: 13 (+5%)
- Will: 36 (+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 Skill: 3
- Crippling Blow (Uncommon)
- Dashing Lunge (Uncommon)
- Fang Extension (Uncommon)
Skills: 4
- Identify (Basic)
- Natural Meditation (Uncommon)
- Dagger Mastery (Common) -> Twin Fang of the Beast (Uncommon)
- Polearm Mastery (Common) -> Moon-Staff (Uncommon)
The first change Helo can see is that he gained some experience. Second is that his ‘Double Lunge’ was a low uncommon skill, now it is ‘Dashing Lunge’ which is a high uncommon skill. Helo is excited to test the difference.
The next change is that he has ‘Polearm Mastery’ as a skill now. The final interesting thing, is that Helo can now see the two styles that he is leaning. Happy with the changes Helo jumps to the central spire.
Checking the air Helo can smell that his team was already here. Due to the wind, water, and rain it is much harder to track them. Helo starts doing just that, but as he gets to the spire, he can see a scratched arrow pointing to the south.
Laughing to himself Helo says. “Well, that makes it easy.” The spire to the south has a flat top that is about ten-feet across. Jumping across to the spire Helo uses his new ‘Dashing Lunge’ skill.
Flying through the air Helo hits the ground and instead of stopping his steps take him further than expected. Dropping to his stomach Helo digs his claws into the rock. Using his bloodline his claws pass through the rock like butter. Barely stopping his slide Helo releasing his bloodline energy and can feel his fingers catch into the grooves he was making.
With a frantically beating heart Helo looks behind him and can see that his feet are dangling over the ledge. “What was that?”
Realizing that he never read or tested his new skill Helo takes a seat in the rain.
Dashing Lunge (Uncommon): skill uses stamina (physical energy) to increase the power of your movement for the next 5 seconds. Can be used once every 30 seconds.
Waiting out the thirty seconds Helo meditates and uses the skill. He watches as the skill travels to his feet like normal, but instead of sitting still and waiting a moment to activate, then dispersing after a second. This time the skill starts right away, it cycles power through Helo’s legs, empowering his muscles, it is just waiting to be used. The skill isn’t a solid whole, but a continuous channel. It uses the skills framework to draw in and channel the energy. This lasts for five seconds before the skills framework breaks apart and dissipates.
“Holy Shit.” Helo says. He has been working on strengthening his skills, but the only thing he has tried is forcing more energy into the skill. He never considered channeling energy. “This opens up a ton of new ideas.”
Getting up happily Helo waits out the thirty seconds. Trying the skill again Helo’s walking is jumpy and energized for five seconds. Waiting again Helo jumps across the distance back to the central spire. Testing his skill on the jump and landing, Helo uses the extra energy to lock his leg and slide. Instead of trying to run off the jump.
Happy with his accomplishment Helo heads out to find his team. Traversing the spires is not that difficult. All Helo has to do is find the location where two ledges are level and climb there.
Three spires later and Helo can see his team fifty feet below him. They are jumping across the water to the fourth spire. Intrigued by what he is seeing, Helo sits on the edge with his legs dangling over. Looking down he chuckles to himself as he watches how they cross.
Gabi, Hinata and surprisingly Cody are already on the other side. They are yell back telling the others to come forward. Allie seems to be not having it at all. Helo can hear her yelling. “Nope, no, nuhah.” As Luna tries to push her forward.
Luna seems to be unfazed but she is waiting for Allie to cross. Aiko seems to be feeling similarly to Allie. She is standing behind Luna, who is trying to push Allie forward.
Kenneth is standing off to the side. The sightlines are bad due to the lightning and rain. But Helo thinks that Kenneth is feeling nauseous.
Watching as the group has to force Allie across, she steps forward. Before jumping Allie uses her ‘Arcane Construct’ skill to make a large platform between the two spires. Allie doesn’t use her construct. It is only there to block the view of the fall.
Wasting a massive amount of mana Allie jumps across and lets the skill go. Everyone on the other side look at her with betrayed expressions. They all could have used it to walk across.
Laughing Helo gets up and takes a look around. Like most spires these two are close together and have a platform about one-hundred-feet above water level. Some of the platforms are close enough to jump and others you have to climb up or down to find a good place to cross.
These two are about in the middle. Looking at the gap between platforms Helo estimates that it is about 60 feet. A peak human is Olympic level; the Olympic long jump is almost 9 meters which is about 30 feet.
With Helo’s stats and skill, he thinks that he will be fine. Walking to the other edge of the platform Helo gets a running start and takes off.
Now stats are not all one to one. A larger body can exert more force. Acceleration in the vacuum of space is pretty linear, as long as the force applied is constant. But in the world, there is heat that builds up and wind resistance. That is why there is something called terminal velocity. Helo can only put so much pressure against the wall that is the wind. At a certain point to increase his speed he needs a higher agility and strength. This only increases as he gets faster. Like hitting the sound barrier.
So, the agility stat isn’t as simple as one to one. But with 26 in agility and a skill that boosts the power of his legs Helo is more worried about over shooting the platform than under. If he undershoots, he will just use his claws and slide down.
Running forward Helo can feel as his heartrate picks up. He is excited to try this jump. Getting about three steps from the edge Helo activates ‘Dashing Lunge’. His first step carries him part way between his third and second step. As he takes another step Helo jumps into the air. Pulling his knees to his chest Helo sails across the gap in a ball. Letting out at “YEAH” He comes to the edge of the platform, Helo passes the edge and gets worried, he doesn’t land until he is at the platforms center.
Extending his legs and twisting to his stomach, Helo claws the ground and stops his movement. “HAAA! That was awesome.” Helo says to himself. “AWWE.” He grabs his ear. He has forgotten about Lelai before he made the jump and she bit his ear in annoyance. “Sorry…” Helo says a bit sheepishly.
Down below Cody tilts his head, he is constantly vigilant to movement and sound. He saw a dark shadow streak across the sky while sending out a call. Due to Helo tucking his legs and his haori fanning out behind him, Cody isn’t sure what he saw.
Hinata also heard something in the sky. “What was that?” She asks the group. Looking around the only person who saw it was Cody and he just shrugs.
“It was probably a bird!” Allie shouts from her position hugging the wall.
It doesn’t take much longer for Kenneth to clunkily jump across. With the full group across the team starts climbing up to the main platform. As they reach the top, the party takes a second to explore.
“Hey? What is this?” Aiko asks while pointing to a pair of claw marks. They start at the middle of the platform and go for about four feet before stopping.
“I’m not sure.” Allie says. Everyone else shakes their head as well.
The only person to nod in understanding is Cody. Due to his quite nature and his observations that the marks and noise he heard are no longer a threat, he remains quiet.
Helo is sitting on a rock that is protruding above the main platform. He already found the next way to cross. This time they have to climb up. The platform is about one-hundred-twenty- feet above the water level.
As the group is exploring Helo is waiting above. The only person to find him is Cody. As soon as Cody say the claw marks, he connected them to Helo. He also assumed it was Helo who jumped across and made a noise. So, when he realized Helo beat them here, he started looking up.
Allie and Hinata understand Helo’s tendency to stay above in fights. The only other person to make that connection was the ever vigilant and silent Cody. So quickly finding the rock that Helo is sitting on Cody makes his way over.
“The next platform is up.” Helo says to Cody. With a nod Cody starts climbing.
The rest of the group whips around and stares at the two. They were still looking for the creature that made the marks. Hinata who is the only other person to hear the noise looks at the claw marks than to Helo. She does this a few times before looking toward the edge. Realization dons on her face. “It was you!” She yells before looking like an upset parent. “That was very dangerous Helo-Kun.”
“What? What was dangerous?” Allie says while looking between them.
Hinata points to the claw marks. “These are from Helo.”
Gabi who is now standing nears Helo’s perch looks at him. “Damn boy, you got some real claws on you. Those looks vicious.” She says with some respect in her voice.
“Thanks.” Helo says with a smug look.
“No! Don’t think you aren’t in trouble mister.” Allie says after Hinata explained the situation to her. She points a manicured and pointed nail at him. “You could have gotten hurt, or fallen into the water. That is a long way to jump!” She says while pointing back to the platform.
“Ah. It wasn’t so bad.” Helo scratches his head. “My only worry was if I over shot my jump. I had a new skill to test.”
“Don’t ‘AH’ Me.” Allie says. Helo looks between her and Hinata and it seems that Hinata agrees with Allie but is letting her be the disciplinarian of the two. “A new skill! Well… congrats. But this isn’t a time to test a new skill!”
“Sorry, sorry. I won’t do it again.” Helo says hoping to calm her down.
“HMpf. Good.” Then Allie tilts her head up and looks away. “We need to find the next platform.”
Raising his hand Helo says. “It’s up here.”