Healer Book 4 -- Chapter 6

Chapter 6

As Thaden walked forward into the Minimal-difficulty Intermediate Crestline Gorge dungeon, he expected to be attacked almost instantly.  Instead, it wasn’t until he had walked nearly 500 feet into the large, open space that greeted him upon entry that something finally happened. 

The ground rumbled a bit under his feet as 3 forms rose from the dirt-covered rock of the area approximately 100 feet away from him, lifting up until they towered up to 30 feet tall.  The massive, bipedal monsters appeared to be completely constructed of multiple dark-grey stones and were at least half of wide as they were tall, with most of that width in their arms, which were tipped with fists that mimicked sledgehammer heads.  The stones were connected to each other through some magical means that he couldn’t see, but he could hear the grinding as they rubbed against each other whenever they moved their joints, especially when they took their first steps in his direction.  Their legs were so thick and heavy that the rumble of their steps vibrated his feet as he kept his balance, and he looked to see what he was up against.

Stone Giant – Intermediate Minimal

Level 145 (Perceived Level: 189)

Thaden’s Visible Charisma Advancement boosted the Stone Giants’ Perceived Levels up to 189, matching his own, which also made them eligible for loot and PICK.  PICK didn’t matter all that much to him since he couldn’t accumulate any more right now, but being able to gain loot from them was certainly a bonus. 

When he looked at the Stone Giants, however, he couldn’t understand at first how these monsters – at Level 145 – could be considered a challenge to a Raid Party of 100 Contenders.  Sure, they were large and strong, but surely a group of 5 Contenders around the same Level could handle at least one of these things without any issues?  He thought about the last party he was in with Savanna, Robert, Arten, and Juhani back in the Arachne dungeon; he could see them being able to easily kill one of these things if they were a similar Level. 

It wasn’t until he looked at their nametags with a more discerning gaze that he could practically feel the difference in them.  Each of them felt like they were the equivalent of a Boss monster of the same Level, if not stronger; that meant that each of them had a lot more Health and could inflict a ton of damage to the Contenders facing them.  They still wouldn’t necessarily be a challenge to a Raid Party, but then again, he figured this was just the start of what they would face further inside. 

The Stone Giants began to showcase what they were capable of as, after they took a step toward him, they reached down and seemed to materialize a spherical-shaped, 10-foot-wide boulder from the ground under their feet, which they quickly chucked in his direction.  His Incarnation of Protection moved in front of Thaden and blocked two of the boulders with its body, while his Mirrored Vigil took the last as it moved ahead of Thaden and closer to the stone monsters. 

That last boulder proved to be the Stone Giants’ undoing, as when the protective spells upon his copy activated, they also triggered the effect of his Healthful Protection set, which healed the copy for a base of 18% of the damage prevented.  Even with the bonuses to healing that he had, that wasn’t that big of a deal, but when the Wild Health Leach spell on it took effect and then triggered Absorb Health as damage was subsequently done to the Stone Giants, which was also boosted by his bonus to healing, the powerful, Boss-like monsters quickly crumbled to dust.

It took him a second to figure out what had happened, but once he did, he begun giggling like some sort of supervillain.  Before, when he used the combination of Wild Health Leach and Absorb Health, it had been a back-and-forth of healing-damage-healing-damage that rapidly fell in magnitude; the reason for this was because the damage output by the Health Leach was less than the healing being restored, so it would eventually dwindle to nothing.  But with his new bonuses, as soon as he was protected by one of his defensive spells, he would be healed, triggering a strong healing effect because of his healing bonuses – which was around a 1,000% increase – and then dealing damage because of Wild Health Leach.  The biggest difference between his previous uses of this combination wasn’t just in the healing, though, but because of his new upgradeable Achievement which increased his damage output by 60%.  Not only was he doing more damage, but he was triggering even more healing due to that increased damage, which was then boosted by his healing bonuses…

…and it snowballed from there.

I was right.  This is completely broken.

He wasn’t sure if there was a cap to the amount of healing and damage he could do at one time, but he likely wouldn’t see it in this dungeon.  The monsters were too weak for them to stand up to more than a second of his spell combination triggering – and he hadn’t even cast a healing spell!  It had all been an automatic response to his defenses – or more accurately, the defenses on his Mirrored Vigil – activating in response to an attack.  In other words, the monsters had killed themselves by attacking him.

Checking his notifications, he saw that while he technically received PICK from slaying the three Stone Giants, he didn’t actually get any because his reserve was full.  If it hadn’t been full, he would’ve received 1,000 PICK per monster; if he was in a full Raid Party of 100, that would’ve equated to only 10 PICK each.  It wasn’t a lot, especially for higher-Level Contenders, but he expected that the quantity and quality of the monsters inside the dungeon would bring those numbers up dramatically by the time it was cleared.  Plus, supposedly the Guild Quests provided a nice chunk of PICK as a reward, so he could definitely see the appeal of doing this with a full Raid Party, as it would be quite lucrative.

Of course, he could now also see why he had been denied a spot in a Raid Party by those same Guilds.  Having these types of PICK rewards reduced by 90% would be a lot of lost PICK, even if he were to basically solo the dungeon while they followed behind him.  He might be able to complete it hours faster than they could without him, but there was supposedly also a 24-hour or more cooldown before he could enter it again after completing an Intermediate dungeon – or so he’d heard.  Since that was the case, speed wasn’t necessarily a factor in these dungeons, and if they were experienced enough, then safety also wasn’t that big of a concern.

I’ll have to figure out another angle of approach with the Guilds, I suppose.

But that was something he’d have to figure out later; he needed to get through this dungeon first, though he was no longer the least bit worried that he’d be able to easily complete it.  He could also loot the dead Giants, which he was pleased to know was possible, and he extracted all three of the piles of rubble in short order.

Extractions complete!

Loot obtained:

60 Gold, 33 Silver, 48 Copper coins

1 Hardened Stone Breastplate (Uncommon)

2 Stone Giant Heart (Uncommon)

6 Stonesteel Powder  (Common)

60 Gold?  It was a lot more than he had expected, as it meant that each of the Stone Giants was worth a little more than 20 Gold, but he supposed if the same loot was distributed evenly amongst a full Raid Party, each member of the party would receive less than a Gold in total.  Over the course of the dungeon, it would slowly add up to be a hefty chunk of change, which he figured was likely to be in the hundreds of Gold; for Thaden, though, it would simply inflate his already-large reserve.  But this revelation also showed him why there weren’t any legitimate takers on his post promising 1,000 Gold per person, as two or three runs would likely equal that amount – and they would be getting a lot of PICK out of those runs, as well.

As for the other loot, most of it was crafting material; the only non-crafting item was a Hardened Stone Breastplate, which was for Fighter Classes and had a Level requirement of 130.  It wasn’t that impressive as far as protection and stats went, so he imagined that only the desperate would need something like this.

With that done, it was time to push forward.  Now that he’d had a taste of what the dungeon had to offer, he didn’t need to mess around any longer. 

Walking toward the opening in the large wall in the distance, another round of Stone Giants appeared, 5 this time, but Thaden didn’t wait around for them to attack him.  Instead, he ran at them as soon as they appeared and cast Superior Full Heal on his Vigil copy, and the line of stony monsters all collapsed into piles of rubble within a second as whole Leach process went to work.  He slowed down only enough to extract loot from the stone piles before he took off again. 

The next wave had 7 Giants, which died just as quickly as before, followed by 9 of the large monsters – before there was a change in the attacks.  After absolutely obliterating 9 of the Stone Giants, another 9 popped up in a circle around him, but they were also joined by another 9 Giants, but they were smaller versions of the original.

Lesser Rock Giant – Intermediate Minimal

Level 145 (Perceived Level: 189)

The “Lesser” version of the Stone Giants, which were different in that they were “Rock” instead of “Stone, were approximately half the size but were still relatively intimidating; they also didn’t have the same feel to them as their larger brethren.  Opposed to the “Boss”-like sensation he got from the Stone Giants, the Lesser Rock Giants felt, for lack of a better word, normal.  In other words, they were a normal Level 145 – or in this case, Level 189 – monster that could be found in a Basic-style dungeon, and definitely not as strong as a Boss.  Thaden assumed that the added complexity of the fight, of having to defend against even more targets trying to kill them, would be more of a challenge to a Raid Party than against just the larger Stone Giants alone.

His own fight, however, was over in seconds as he instructed his Vigil copy to run in the opposite direction he was going and healing it and himself, thereby destroying every single Giant within seconds.  It took longer extracting loot from them than it did killing them, but he was still on his way within 15 seconds.

The number of Stone Giants didn’t increase as he neared the opening in the wall; only the Lesser Rock Giants went up in number, doubling from 9 at first to 18, and then to 27.  By that point, he was within 200 feet of the large opening leading further into the dungeon, and there was a moment of reprieve as nothing else attacked him.

When he ran a little closer, a slab of stone abruptly shot up from the ground and blocked the opening, sealing his access to proceed further, but it was also accompanied by the strongest rumble in the ground that he’d experienced so far.  In front of the sealed off passageway, an enormous Giant appeared, three times the size of the Stone Giants he’d fought before; not only was it taller and wider, but it also had small, sparkly white crystals all along the length of its torso, as well as a cluster of larger crystals on the end of both of its sledgehammer fists – looking sort of like spikes had been added to additional damage.  A pair of fiery red gems embedded in its face had the look of eyes, a stark difference to the other Giants which were essentially featureless, and they looked down on him as if he was a pest that he had to squash. 

Crystone Giant (Mini Boss) – Intermediate Minimal

Level 150 (Perceived Level: 195)

The Crystone Giant was a higher Level than the other monsters he’d fought in the dungeon so far, putting its perceived Level above his own, though it still wasn’t high enough for him to acquire any bonus PICK or loot from it; it would have to be at least 20 Levels higher for that to happen, which would then be tripled due to his Unkillable II Achievement.

He ran toward the new monster, uncaring how large or impressive it actually was, and he sensed his Leaching damage reaching out to it as he cast Full Heal on himself.  He expected it to crumble immediately, but a transparent, light-grey bubble abruptly appeared around the Mini Boss, stopping the damage in its tracks.  He was confused for a moment before more rumbling shook the ground, and additional Giants appeared – of the smaller variety, however.  Only 3 Stone Giants appeared behind him, to his left, and to his right, but they were joined by 27 Lesser Rock Giants – all of whom rushed toward him immediately.

While Thaden hadn’t played most MMORPGs long enough to really get into the endgame content, he had a very basic understanding of how Raid Parties worked in those types of games.  What it boiled down to, as far as his experience and deduction went, was controlling the threats through the use of tanks or control-based spells and effects, while reducing the threats one-by-one.  In this particular instance, a normal Raid Party would likely throw a few Fighter Classes at the Mini Boss to keep its attention while healing them, while the others fought against the additional monsters and whittled them down as fast as possible so that they could concentrate on the main threat.  He suspected that the bubble around the Crystone Giant would disappear once the other monsters were dead, allowing them to finally kill it.

Unfortunately for the monsters in this setup, Thaden wasn’t like other Raid Parties.  With a thought toward his Vigil, he used the same strategy as before to reach all of the incoming additional Giants and destroyed them within seconds, their bodies crumbling to the ground while in mid-stride, scattering pieces of them in a line.  At the same time, the Mini Boss attacked by slamming one of its sledgehammer fists toward Thaden, but he was too quick to be caught by it; his Incarnation didn’t even bother to take the hit since it was so far off of where Thaden was that it wasn’t going to connect, though it did make him slightly stumble when the attack impacted the ground.

It was a second after the enormous Giant’s attack connected with the ground that the light-grey shield around it shattered like a pane of glass, with thousands of individual pieces flying everywhere, only to disappear into thin air a split-second later.  The Mini Boss lifted its sledgehammer arm as the crystal spike started to glow ominously, but it didn’t make it more than 5 feet from the compacted dirt underneath it before it froze, followed by an ear-splitting crack as its body split down the middle. 

As Thaden watched the Giant crumble and its left and right sides fell to either side, he saw the stone slab blocking his further passage fall away, descending quickly into the ground with yet another rumble under his feet. 

“Guess that was it for this section,” he said to himself as he began extracting loot again.  He didn’t bother to look at anything yet, as he would rather do it while he had more time to evaluate it; right now, he just wanted to get through the dungeon so that he could figure out another method to convince a Guild to help him complete his Evolution Assignment. 

As he left the crumbled remains of the Giants behind, he was distracted enough with pushing forward that he didn’t seem to notice that the piles of rubble didn’t disappear like every other monsters did after he extracted loot from them.  Nor did he notice that the indicator for his mysterious Synchronization had gone up dramatically after the last fight.  It wasn’t anywhere near completion yet, but the fighting he’d done had sped the speed of its progress quite a bit.

AMP Synchronization in progress: 5.14%

Blind to both of these things, he worked his way through the passageway in the wall, which doglegged to the right before straightening out again, and then walked through the exit into a whole new section of the dungeon.