Probing for exploits (Thursday 4/7)

John entered the tenth floor of the demon dungeon. After sleeping thoroughly and then enjoying some healthy breakfast as Aclysia cleaned up his room (the sheets had a **** need of changing) the group had gone out. Now, before they arrived here, they had actually gone chasing dogs really quickly, even with a 95% reduction John always got at least one point in the skill as the system always rounded up, never down. After adding the point, Aclysia was now at a skill level of 94. John could try what he had with Undine and just roll the slot machine for the chance of 2-3 Skillpoint rewards, but that might as well give him none. Just because it had worked one time, didn’t mean it would a second.

Anyhow, they were on this floor to do one thing and one thing only: Exploit the fuck out of the Secret Room. John was already buzzing around to find the gold decorated prison tower. The Fear Eater had proven to be a very easy enemy once they had ripped Thana’s form from it. So, the goal here was to stab it with a water-infused Mana Blade and then hack the creature to pieces again, then clear the entire floor with the reward, repeat and then go back to grinding the floor 9 Vessel for more keys. John thought this was the best way to gain experience, which was his main goal, quickly. One level for him actually meant 5 level for the group instantly, and one more Aclysia could reach, and as they still had plenty of Watches of Sorrow lying around food was not the problem at the moment.

John found the tower in question, and they went on their way. Even though the Satantyr were quite strong, they were not exactly versatile and that proved their downfall once again as all John had to do is send in the people that countered the weaponry found. No Ranged fighters? Storm the tower. Ranged Fighters? Use Sylph, Salamander and Mana Ray. A mixture? Take care of the rangers, storm the tower afterward. The level difference wasn’t that huge a threat as long as John had superior numbers and strategies. He was level 68 now anyhow, only a few of the enemies actually out leveled him.

“So, after we beat the Fear Eater, how about we actually check for a Secret Room in the Street Elemental I.D.?” John asked as they walked over the final bridge, ending at their destination. “For what purpose, master?” Aclysia asked. John was halfway sure that she asked just so he could explain it because he liked doing that, but because he liked doing that, he didn’t care and did explain. “I want to see what is in there, after all, I want to get you to Skill Level 100, Aclysia,” he said. “Wouldn’t visiting the Horned Rat be most efficient then?” Aclysia asked, her head slightly tilted in genuine curiosity. “Well, we would have to power through the unknown Skaven stuff first, so not really,” John said but kept the real reason, that he did not want to speak to the Rat again because the being creeped him out, to himself. He would do it if he were left with no other choices, but as it stood, he still had a few days. Aclysia felt that, so she did not ask why they wouldn’t just head to the fifth floor instead. John, however, noticed the question on her mind, so he answered it anyhow, “knowing Gaia she has nerfed everything below current content just so we don’t get to exploit it, rather not waste a key to get that reassured.” Aclysia nodded, looking at how most of his powers turned out that made sense.

“Anyhow, so we kill this Fear Eater and then we change settings, sound good?” “Noooooo,” Sylph whined, “that means we go back to killing Anti-Depressants, fighting that makes me depressed.” “Tough luck Sylphie, now I vote for it just because it torments you,” Salamander grinned. Everyone else voted for checking out the tenth floor of the Anti-Depressants as well, although for better reasons than the blaze elemental. They arrived at the tower, and John quickly accepted the sacrifice of one of his keys.

The door opened, and John was met with the same scene he had been yesterday. He was gripped by a wave of terror and despair, however, this time he had the strength of mind to resist falling into it. The being, wearing the skin of Thana, noticed that its psychic attack was swept aside as John reached the state of serenity. Calm determination focused on this monster that dared to show him this scene for the second time, filled his being. The being hissed and kept its distance, ten meters were between them. In this form, it had been able to fend off four of the six party members, whatever mana he needed to invest to get rid of it was worth it. At least that was his logic as he dumped over a thousand mana into a water-infused Mana Blade that penetrated the being like a lance.

It was effective however and, as the Fear Eater had nothing to feast on this time around, the formless blob that spilled out of the shattering skin was much smaller. ‘I will leave it to you girls,’ John thought as the Mana Blade evaporated. An onslaught of elements ensued, a rain of fire and thunder as spikes of earth ripped the being apart and amidst it all Aclysia hacking at it with Ashkandi.

“We don’t have much to do, do we?” John asked Undine who responded only with being happy about that fact. John supposed that made sense when Undine had nothing to do that meant nobody was injured. He was a bit interested in how she would heal people though. Would she need to put her hands on the injured party member or how did this work? As the Fear Eater finally bit the dust John’s curiosity had grown big enough to do something stupid.

“Aclysia, stab me,” he ordered as he pushed the ‘kill everything’ button on the window that popped up. He expected a level-up but got nothing. Close to one, that’s what he was now. ‘A whole floor with +25% EXP and still no level up, huh?’ John asked himself and sighed, things really had hit a crawl. Oh well, he would have time to grind more…no, he wouldn’t, he realized. He had 3 more days outside of this one. Four days, then it was all or nothing.

“Pardon me, master, but did I correctly hear that you wish me to stab you? If the answer is yes, I would ask you to retract that order,” Aclysia pulled his thoughts back into the now. “Nope, just stab me in the shoulder or somewhere else, I want to test Undine’s healing,” John told her. “Uh, can you maybe, not do that?” Gnome asked, “I don’t want you to get hurt, John, cause, you know…” she stared at the floor and kneaded the edge of her skirt, quietly adding “…that would hurt me on the inside….”

“Ah, suck it up, buttercup,” Salamander told her eldest sisters, “I want to see it too.” “Just do it, I am bored, boooooooooored,” Sylph agreed, “Like, super bored, as bored as one could be, borelicious, AUDIBLE GASP! I STILL HAVEN’T GOTTEN THAT GUMMY BEAR!” Undine radiated pure carelessness; she could stay here for twenty years or move on.

“Counting myself it is three for, two against and one undecided vote for stabbing me. Therefore Aclysia, do it!” John exclaimed and took a defenseless stance. Aclysia sighed, made an unhappy expression, took a stance and then carefully stabbed him in the shoulder. He took 88 damage. ‘To think that would have one-shot me a while back,’ John thought as the pain, slightly uncomfortable, vanished after Aclysia retracted the blade.

“There we go, Undine, heal me!” ‘Sure,’ Undine put a hand on his shoulder, a part of her stuck to him even when she pulled back. This blob of her body had a green tinge to it, and it slowly simmered through his shirt and was absorbed into his body. 88 HP was restored, although the message said it healed him for 100. “How many times can you do that in quick succession?” John probed, knowing the capabilities of your healer was always important. ‘Ten,’ came the insightful answer. So, Undine could heal him for a thousand health quickly and probably a lot more if they stretched the damage out. Not bad, not bad at all. “Okay, let’s go kill that Anti-Depressant now.”

“Sweet,” John said to the window that popped up after they defeated the boss once more. “Oh, did you reach a level?” Sylph asked and then grinned widely, “it's level 69, is it, is it? If it is can we do that right here? I could!” Before John could answer, he got two unexpected windows.

“The fuhcke?” John said in a bad French accent; he did not remember changing locale settings. It was also unlike Gaia to give him free shit at this point, especially without showering him in sass as she did with that achievement. Well, he did take that present and chose the left option as his reward. He was barely done putting the points into Artificial Spirit and Mana Ray when another quest popped up.

“What is wrong with Gaia today?” John asked out loud, nervously eyeing the next wave timer. He had like five seconds left, and unless he wanted to repeat the last four waves, he had to make the decision now or have that window annoying him through the whole fight. He accepted, he would do SOMETHING with that crystal anyhow.

The tenth wave started, and John saw how the city went through the usual time reversal. Buildings that had been destroyed by falling stars rebuild themselves; streets became whole, sidewalks walkable, the whole city was remade. The sky, tinged with the unnatural night by the setting, cleared up again. It was midday outside the barrier, and so the sun now shone down on John. Shone down at a really high temperature, he quickly saw the heat shimmer rise from the street. “I like this, this is nice,” Salamander said, to no one’s surprise. John and Undine were less comfortable; the heat was insane.

John saw the heat shimmering contort and rubbed his eyes; this was not helpful while spying for whatever monsters were around. “WATCH OUT!” shouted Sylph. Too late, John felt something crash into his Mana Protection, reducing it by a sixth of the total value. Alarmed he looked around; there was no enemy. Not until Sylph revealed him anyhow by attacking the contortion in shimmering, green gusts of energized winds cutting into something nearly invisible.

He still could not see the thing, only thanks to Sylph’s attacks connecting to something he had any idea where it was. There was another strike hitting his Mana Protection, then another one. Aside from Sylph nobody could see or sense them. The tempest elemental did her best to relay their positions, but her thoughts were so incoherent it made communication hard. ‘To the double-plus-left. No! The other left!’ ‘SYLPH THAT IS BEHIND ME!’ Salamander complained and threw a fireball that connected to something.

Staying where they were, in the middle of a street, was ludicrous better go into an alleyway where these things could only approach from two directions. John used his bee to scout one out that was both nearby and looked promising. “Everyone, we are making a break!” he shouted, and they started running. Another attack, then one more, John’s shield was almost gone now, they turned the corner and Gnome erected a wall behind them. “Good thinking!” John complimented. Even amidst this slightly bad situation she found the time to blush, “Y-you are welcome, John,” she said, kicking a pebble that had belonged to the floor she just burst open by erecting that wall.

The pebble landed in front of a door that John hadn’t noticed up until now. It was dark green and looked all around boring, except for the neon-lights that spelled out ‘OPEN’ in the upper quarter.

‘What is that na- SHIT’ John cursed as his shield dropped to zero. His mana was steadily reducing as he felt strikes from above sending ripples through the slight blue of his barrier. At least one of the Heat Strikers had climbed over Gnome’s wall and was now on top of John.

“We are going in there!” John decided. If one could do it, several more could, they were not safe here, they needed to come up with a plan, and they might as well do it in a hopefully safe environment. John pressed the accept button for the Secret Room, and they quickly ran inside.