Is It Weird to Refine Spirits in Dungeons? Chapter 7

Holocure Spirit Refiner

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 7: Lights in the Dark

“Another shrine,” Moreina observed.

The small alcove bearing a glowing cross was something we had seen twice before, and by now we were aware that touching them would result in an effect for the one doing so. Jazreth had a Mana Shield activated on him, while the Rogue gained a blessing on strength.

“Let me try it this time,” I volunteered, “I feel like this one has quite a bit of spiritual energy imbued in it.”

Agreement. Anya was a little curious as well.

Reaching out, my fingers made contact with the imbued stone, and the cross went dark.

RICHES ABOUND WHEN LEAST EXPECTED.

It felt like my body was suddenly weighed down, and the other two immediately came to check if I was okay. It took me a few moments before I realized that the weight wasn’t due to some magical effect, but a physical weight in my pockets. I checked them, and all of us were stunned at the sight.

“Oh my.” Moreina gasped.

“Incredible.” 

“Where did all this gold come from?” I asked out loud, but I already knew the cause.

It was the effect of the shrine; among the many possible ones, this one filled all available space in your inventory with gold based on your character’s level, and it appeared that mine was quite high. Even with the other stuff I was carrying, I estimated my windfall was worth at least twenty thousand in assorted coinage. It was definitely enough to meet the clear objective of obtaining gold, as evidenced by the message window only I could see.

“This is a bit too much to carry around… I think I’m going to have to go up to unload some of it.”

“We might as well do the same,” Jazreth agreed, “Our bags have gotten rather full of items we have collected in our wanderings.”

“Are we going to travel all the way back up?”

Jazreth nodded at the look I gave him, and pulled out one of the scrolls we found. Just like the tomes of magic, there was a clear label of what spell it held.

“This is a Scroll of Town Portal, it will create…” He gave a long and complicated explanation that stretched nearly a full minute before Moreina interrupted him.

“So it creates a magic portal directly to Tristram above us,” She summarized.

“That is correct.”

Amused. Anya found that funny for some reason.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and cast it.”

He glowered at her, but did so, causing a glowing blue portal to appear before us. Without saying anything else, he walked through, leaving the two of us standing there. When the Rogue looked at me, I shrugged and followed after him, stepping into the ring…

And emerging out into the cool night air around Tristram, a short distance from the graveyard. The difference in the atmosphere was a bit jarring, like the bloodthirsty pressure had been cut off almost entirely. 

Relief. Anya definitely felt the same.

Jazreth was standing off to the side waiting for us, instead of heading straight for the town and its vendors. Once Moreina came through, however, he immediately set off, leaving us to catch up to him.

“The portal will not allow any evil existence to pass through it, so it is safe to leave it as it is,” He informed us without looking back.

“There weren’t any enemies around us when you cast it either, so we should be safe when we cross back over.”

“As you say.”

“Oh, someone else is talking to the elder,” Moreina remarked, peering ahead of us into the darkness.

I was impressed; I couldn’t make out more than the lights from the houses, let alone Cain standing in the center of the town. “Your eyesight’s really good to see something like that when it’s this dark.”

“It’s something sisters in our order are trained to be able to do. The person’s wearing armor and carrying a sword. Looks like he’s a warrior.”

Oh, so that must be Aidan then. “Perhaps we might get a fourth member to join us,” I suggested.

“We shall see.” 

“Ray does have a point. It’s possible.”

Cain noticed our approach and turned to us. “Hello, my friends. I am glad to see you have returned safely.”

“Greetings, elder,” Jazreth replied politely, “Our bags have gotten full, and we have returned to rest our weary bodies.”

“Of course. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“I wish to borrow your knowledge to identify some of the items we have found.” The Sorcerer pulled open his bag.

Meanwhile, Moreina moved over to the warrior and struck up a conversation with him. Just as she had said, he was clad in armor, and had a sword on his back to go with the shield on his arm. His face was what many would describe as ruggedly handsome, though there were stress lines marring that handsomeness. 

Cool. Anya observed clinically as she watched through my eyes. 

Yeah, he’s main character material for sure. I agreed with her.

While waiting for Jazreth to be done, I listened to them talk. Aidan was curt at first, but Moreina managed to wear him down enough to share some pertinent information; besides letting us know his name, he also revealed that he was one of those who marched with Leoric’s army in the war against Westmarch, only to return after it was over to find his country wrapped in darkness and chaos. 

Jazreth soon finished, and let us know that he was going to go talk to the witch living on the outskirts of the village. Cain turned and nodded for me to approach. 

“Will you be requiring the same service, lad?” He asked mildly. 

“Yes.”

“Oh my, is that…?” He noticed the weapon I had slung over my back. “You’ve done it, haven’t you? I’m sure the people of this village are grateful that you’ve avenged our fallen.”

As I opened my bag to show him the magic items I wished for him to identify, I also took the chance to enquire a bit more about the warrior near us.

“He is not the first to have come to Tristram,” Cain explained, “Rumors of King Leoric’s demise drew many others here in search of fortune and glory, but though we warned them, none of them have returned so far.”

I suspected that some of the stuff we found in chests and carried by the monsters belonged to those missing warriors, but kept that thought to myself. Instead, I thanked him for his help when he was done, and let Moreina have her turn. From the look Aidan was giving her, she seemed to have formed a good bond with him in that short amount of time. It appeared that we now had a fourth member in our group.

Approaching the other village vendors, I first had Pepin look me over and clean the minor wounds I had received, the ones I endured because I was hoarding health potions. After that, I had Griswold the blacksmith perform repairs on the equipment I used, and sold him the minor magic stuff I didn’t plan to use. I also used my newfound wealth to get some better equipment for myself. Moreina caught up to me there when she came to have her bow maintained, with Aidan trailing behind her, almost like a lovesick puppy if not for his expressionless face. 

“Deckard Cain said the tavern owner had a request for us,” She informed me, “What do you think?”

“We’ll wait for Jazreth, then we’ll go hear him out,” I decided.

As if on cue, the bald man came strolling up. “I heard my name being mentioned. Was there anything?” 

“Tavern owner’s got something he wants,” Aidan grunted.

“Then let us see what he wishes of us.”

Ogden’s tavern was just next door, and the brown-haired man brightened up when he caught sight of Aidan, addressing him first before the rest of us.

“Thank goodness you’ve returned! Much has changed since you’ve lived here, my friend.”

“You were a resident here, warrior?” Jazreth asked.

Aidan nodded. “Was. What happened?” He directed that question at Ogden.

Ogden spilled what he knew; Leoric’s son Albrecht was kidnapped, causing the king to go mad, killing many before his knights rebelled and put him down, though he spoke a dying curse over his killers with his final breath. Now, the cathedral was desecrated by evil, and Ogden heard rumors that the king, whom they entombed within the cathedral, had risen from the dead and was threatening to kill every living thing on the surface.

Aidan looked even grimmer once the tavern owner finished his tale, but he agreed to handle the matter. As for the rest of us, our gazes met, and we nodded in silent agreement.

“Then let us help you,” Jazreth spoke, his tone sounding grand. “You have my staff.”

“And my bow,” Moreina added.

Wow, I really wonder if things were set up just for this. “And my axe,” I finished, hefting the Butcher’s Cleaver.

The other two looked at me weirdly. “Don’t you mean your spirit weapon?”

“Sorry, but it would have sounded strange considering that you two mentioned physical weapons.”

“Okay, whatever it is, the three of us, no, the four of us,” Moreina corrected herself as she talked to Aidan, “Are going to put that Skeleton King to rest, permanently.”

“Fine.” He acquiesced. 

“Not to spoil the mood,” I spoke up, “But why don’t we rest a while first before we actually do it? My stamina’s a bit low.”

“While I am confident in my magic, I cannot say the same for my physical strength,” Jazreth admitted gravely.

Moreina looked around at all of us, before folding and adding her voice to our side. With that decision, the four of us went into Ogden’s tavern to get a bit of rest. Just like any group of adventurers, we discussed tactics and made plans, accompanied by some food and drink. The serving girl Gillian showed up to serve us our meals, which we devoured even as we talked.

Though we had reached the third floor, we had yet to encounter the tomb section where Leoric was said to be. With my vague memories of what the game was like, I threw out suggestions like how if they feared the King’s curse, they would put some kind of lock to seal him in, or that him having an army of the dead meant that we had to be prepared to fight a large group of undead, and thus should prepare for that. Eventually our need for rest became too strong, and we retired to the rooms Ogden provided, with me paying the cost for the party.

When the next day dawned, we assembled at the open portal, with our preparations for the coming battle. 

Aidan had swapped his sword for a mace, which was more suited for dealing with undead, while Jazreth had brushed up on his Holy Bolt spell. Moreina and I didn’t exactly have anything else to increase our effectiveness against such enemies, so we just stocked up on healing potions from Pepin. 

There wasn’t any need for further talk, since we had enough of that last night.

With Aidan leading the way and Jazreth bringing up the rear, we stepped through the portal, and back onto the path to hell.

There weren’t any monsters in the vicinity of the portal’s location, but some had trickled back to some of the parts the three of us went through previously. It didn’t make any difference; we just wiped them out as we continued to explore the place.

Aidan proved his strength, bravely catching any attacks on his shield and answering with mighty blows of his mace. He didn’t react much when he saw Anya’s keris at work, simply accepting that as an ally’s tool in battle. 

It soon became obvious that the number of undead in our way increased as we headed in a certain direction, and eventually we arrived at another flight of stairs. However, this one wasn’t the wide marble-crafted one that we had seen before in the center of a room, but a small one against a wall that was built out of rough stone. 

Sure enough, we heard a demonic guttural voice when we descended to the bottom of those stairs.

“The warmth of life has entered my tomb. Prepare yourself, mortal, to serve my master for eternity!”

“Watch yourselves,” Aidan warned, uncharacteristically given his usual silence.

“No need to tell us that,” Moreina retorted.

Unlike the skeletons we had encountered before, the ones within Leoric’s Tomb were red in color.

“Burning Dead,” Jazreth identified grimly, “The wrath of these undead burns hotly within their bones.”

“They’ll break like any other before my arrows.”

“They have arrows of their own.” I ducked behind Aidan as the twang of bowstrings preceded the impact of arrows against his shield.

“Holy Bolt!” 

The white energy flew across the room, shattering the skeleton it struck, and illuminating the others around it. Aidan charged ahead to meet them, and instead of following him, I moved off to the side to handle the bow users there. 

While most of them were focused on the Warrior, a few came towards me. I easily dodged their jittery swings, lining them up before releasing the Asacoco shot. It drew some of the aggro towards me, but the others used that moment of distraction to dispatch the rest. 

Aidan seemed in a hurry to rush ahead, only for Moreina to remind him about the loot. Even though his face said that he didn’t care about that, he still waited for us to collect the stuff we wanted. When we were done, he tried to open the door leading to the inner chamber, only to find it locked. That’s when I pointed out the doors off to the side. 

The same process occurred in the two side rooms, where we found some more enchanted items along with levers that unlocked the door from earlier. This time, it opened to Aidan’s push.

The second chamber had an elaborate structure in its center, one that Leoric’s body was supposed to be in. Instead, a large sized skeleton, towering over the rest in the room, was standing at the opposite end of the room. It was wielding a two-handed sword, and had a crown on its skull head. 

Enemy. Anya hissed, which was rare for her. Defeat!

“Jazreth, take out the mob first!” I called out.

“Right!” 

“We’ll handle the big guy!” Moreina began firing as fast as she could. “Aidan, I’ll clear you a path!”

“HAH!” The Warrior charged forward even as the skeletons in his path fell to pieces.

Wow, he’s got some strength. I watched as he shieldbashed one errant skeleton into fragments, before crushing the skull of another with a downward swing. Whoops, better not get distracted.

The skeleton that had managed to get in close dropped to pieces as the bomb wiped its unlife away, but there were still others closing in. I unslung the cleaver from my back, spinning with the motion to perform a powerful slash that cleaved through three of them, before finishing off the rest with my spirit weapons.

The disparity in numbers soon narrowed, as our attacks wiped them out quickly, before they could do more than just inflict minor wounds. Even then, the Skeleton King continued to raise more from the bones within the chamber, forcing us to divert our attention to put them down. 

“Enough already!” Aidan’s attack interrupted another summoning attempt, “Return to death where you belong!”

With him occupying its attention, the three of us were able to clear the rest of the undead, before joining the valiant warrior in focusing our attacks on the Skeleton King. While the Skeleton King was bigger and stronger, it lacked the skill of a true fighter, making only simple attacks that Aidan could handle. He took some injuries, but rather than break away for a healing potion, Aidan stood his ground just as agreed, trusting Jazreth to heal him with magic. The Sorcerer played his role beautifully, and I could see those wounds close with a sparkle of healing blue light.

Sometimes our attacks ended up drawing the attention of the Skeleton King, but Aidan would shift his position to cut off any access, forcing the undead monster to focus on him alone. With such good teamwork, it was inevitable that Leoric would fall.

And fall he did, as Aidan’s mace broke through the ribs and shattered the spine, causing the giant skeleton to fall apart. Its weapon and crown also dropped, the two metal items clattering on the stone floor.

“Rest well, Leoric,” Jazreth said solemnly, “We’ll find your son.”

I watched Aidan, who stoically sheathed his weapons and took the two dropped items for himself. 

Victory. Anya emitted a satisfied hum that I could feel.

“Alright. Let’s carry on.”

We trooped back up to the third floor, and quickly found the stairs leading to the fourth. Compared to the troubles of the previous two floors, the fourth was much calmer in comparison. There were still monsters lurking around the place, but other than the treasure stored in various chests and barrels around the place, there was nothing else of note. We eventually came across the stairs to the fifth floor, and descended them, entering the Catacombs.

The polished straight steps turned into a circling one around a stone column, and we got to see just how the place was like. Compared to the Cathedral, the architecture of the place was much rougher and cramped, with dirty brown stone and cobble all over, and the torches were few and far apart, making it even gloomier. Even the doors themselves were slabs of stone that took some force to move. Not to mention that the worst part of it was the smell.

“The smell of death surrounds me,” Jazreth remarked.

“I heard there’s an access route back up to the surface around this floor,” I muttered, trying not to breathe through my nose.

“Then let us find it.”

“Can’t take the smell, boy?” Moreina teased me, but I just ignored her.

If this is what they had to go through before reaching Diablo, no wonder they all snapped…  I was looking forward to returning to the house, now that I had accomplished all three of the objectives I had been given.

There were several more undead and goat demons in our path, but the narrowed passageways was as much of a hindrance to them as it was to us, and with Aidan tanking properly, fighting was almost on the level of a chore than anything else. 

In one of the rooms, we spotted a strange stone on top of a pedestal, and I quickly grabbed it first, because I recognized what that item was.

“That was reckless. What if it had been cursed?” 

“My spirit sensed it was okay,” I gave the excuse.

Disbelief. Anya’s mild reaction of shock at being used like that made my lip twitch slightly.

“Rein it in better,” Aidan scolded.

We found the stairs leading down, but passed by it first. A few more rooms away from its location, Moreina finally spotted stairs leading up, and pointed it out to the rest of us.

“Does this really lead back up to Tristram?”

“Only one way to find out.” Aidan stepped onto the first step, and began climbing.

This time, I took up the rear, leaving some Holo Bombs behind us just in case. 

The ascent took quite a while, though none of us spoke during that time. There was the occasional torch lighting the way, which was strange given how inaccessible this route was for anyone wanting to maintain it, but I didn’t bother voicing the question. Eventually, Aidan’s pace slowed, and we did the same. I heard him struggling to shift something above me, before the sound of sliding metal came from where he was, and a bit of light spilled down to where I was.

“It’s Tristram, no doubt.”

“Well, that saves us a lot of trouble… and a Town Portal scroll,” Moreina remarked with mild amusement.

“Yes. Scrolls like that should be carefully conserved.” Jazreth's response sounded like he approved of what she said.

The Rogue didn’t respond, but I sensed she was a bit surprised at how serious he was with that statement, when she had meant to be teasing. 

I didn’t feel like participating in the conversation though, since I was more engrossed in appreciating the fresh air of the surface, once I stepped out of the mausoleum the stairs were linked to. 

“The moon is out, though we can barely see it behind the clouds.”

“Were we down there that long? It felt so short.” It took more than six hours to clear two floors…

Weary. Anya was a bit grumpy now. Rest.

“Perhaps it is best that we rest and recuperate.”

“Yeah.” Aidan didn’t hesitate, already walking towards the village ahead of us.

Once more, we engaged in the post-dungeon maintenance activities; identifying our loot, selling the unneeded stuff, restocking our potions, having our equipment repaired, and other preparations for the next delve. 

The blacksmith mentioned the stone that had fallen from the heavens, and I brought it out to show him. While I was of the initial impression that I would need the raw stone itself for the ritual I had in mind, the moment I actually saw it, the knowledge loaded into my head told me that the scraps were sufficient.

“So you want the leftover pieces too? Not a problem.” The heavyset man handed me a small pouch containing the shards of the sky rock, along with a ring that glowed with a strange light. “I arranged the pieces of the stone within a silver ring that my father left me. I hope it serves you well.”

“Thanks, I hope so too.”

After informing Cain to let the other three know that I would be resting in my room, I went to the tavern and told Ogden not to disturb me. Once I was sure of my privacy, I activated the recall, and returned back to the house. 

[Depths of Terror Dungeon: CLEARED!]

Even though it was early evening within this pocket dimension, the sight of the house was enough to make me tear up slightly. The difference was astounding too, as I felt spiritual energy suffuse my body, clearing the miasma I hadn’t realized was building up in me. Even Anya perked up in my body, and she popped out to take deep breaths of the clean atmosphere.

“Bliss.”

“You said it, Anya,” I agreed, my own relief pleasant to my ears. “Want to go rest in the book?”

“Yes.” She immediately flitted back into the tattoo, and I placed my hand on the open book.

It had been a while since I performed spirit refining, and the number of enemies slain down in the dungeon had been quite a lot, especially with two boss monsters. With Anya’s equipment all maxed out, the rest went into enhancing myself. So as I channeled that spirit energy into the grimoire, I felt my body grow quite a bit weaker, and I slumped slightly.

Wow, fuck. That’s a real drag. Even if I know that I’m still stronger than when I started out, it sucks to feel all the power slipping away from you. I shut my eyes tightly and focused on enhancing Anya even further. Oh right, gotta keep a bit for minor expenses later…

Gratitude. Anya pulsed through our connection from within the book.

I patted the page one last time. “Rest well, Anya.”

Closing the box, I made my way back into the house, greeting Sappy along the way. The moment I opened the door, I was mobbed by the other spirits.

“Hi friend~!” Fubuki led the charge.

“Hi Foob, Fauna, Gu- ow, don’t bite me!” Where’s- Oh right, I dispatched Mumei out, I recalled as I coaxed the shark spirit to release me.

After interacting with them for a bit, I dropped by the ritual room to unload my loot, then put an order for a meal with Simmer, and rounded it all off with a pleasant long shower. The creature comforts of modern times just couldn’t be beat. I was almost tempted to go right to bed, since I had just finished a long period in the dungeon, but my stomach reminded me of its need to be filled first.

“Here it is~” Simmer welcomed me with a platter of deep fried food, another thing I couldn’t get in Tristram. “Enjoy your meal~”

“Thanks, Simmer,” I sat down at the table, “It looks delicious.”

The food served in Ogden’s tavern was preserved meat that was either roasted or boiled, and it was quite salty. Not to mention that there weren’t any condiments or sauces, like the ones I was dipping my food into and savoring. 

“Tasty?” Fubuki enquired as she watched me scarf down the meal.

“Mmph, yeah!” 

“Uuu~ Eat lots~” Fauna encouraged me, and for a moment I felt the tenderness of her mothering aura.

Their vocab has expanded a bit. Have they been practicing with each other while I was gone? I glanced at Gura, who was sitting there staring at me.

After a few seconds, her mouth curved into a taunting smirk. “Nyeh.”

I raised an eyebrow, then turned my attention back to eating. 

Later, when I went to wash the dishes, Simmer toddled over on its stubby pot legs.

“Pleased to see you eat my food so deliciously~” It hissed, “I look forward to trying out more recipes~ For your nutritional purposes~”

“Sure, I’ll be counting on you.”

Though I wanted to sleep after filling my belly, I checked on the rewards for clearing that dungeon. I had my suspicions about the whole thing, especially since I knew the original Diablo dungeon had sixteen floors, but the objectives only considered the first four floors that were part of the Cathedral section. 

Sure enough, the notification mentioned how the Level 2 part of the Depths of Terror Dungeon was now available to access, indicating that I would resume from the point I left. It was probably attributed to the whole ‘separate dimensional space’ thing, but I wondered just how those three would react if I showed up with a different spirit and a whole lot stronger than before. I remembered there were times when the difficulty of the monster hordes went up dramatically, and decided that I ought to hone my overall skills a bit more first.

There was also another reason for wanting to delay my return to the world of Sanctuary; that place unnerved me quite a bit, and I would prefer to have a recovery period before I entered that place again. 

In summary, I had to expand my skillset further, and that meant getting more spirits, both main and minor ones. Thus, I had to go dive into more dungeons, and work on refining the spirits and myself.

As for the actual rewards, I realized there was a correlation between the objectives and the benefits I received for achieving them. Reaching the target floor was the one that allowed me to return. Getting a unique item unlocked a new ritual, one that unlocked the possibility of a bonus boost to my spirit equipment after defeating a tough enemy, like a rare drop chance for bosses. Finally, the collection of gold enabled me to exchange that collected money for spirit energy, although the exchange rate wasn’t that good. It was just a way for me to unload any coinage that was burning a hole in my pocket.

I’m kind of reminded of how Stone of Jordans were used as currency in D2 instead of gold…  I glanced at the Empyrean Band that I had received from Griswold. Too bad I can’t exchange them for artifacts like this.

There were also minor ritual reagents included in those rewards, and I accepted them just so I could store them away in the ritual room. While I was there, I looked over the rituals recorded in the grimoire, and performed a quick summoning ritual to get a spirit that would answer my question. The answer I received told me that I had to wake up in the middle of the night, so I made sure to set my alarm for the appointed time.

I still had a bit of energy left, so I spent it by playing with the spirits a little, developing the bonds I had with them.

It felt like I had only closed my eyes for a moment when my alarm roused me from my sleep. I really wanted to just shut it off and go back to sleep until morning, but I forced myself out and into the toilet, where I splashed water on my face to wake myself up. After stumbling downstairs in the dark, I opened the door and looked up at the sky.

Sure enough the clouds that covered the sky earlier were gone, leaving only a starry sky. I didn’t bother questioning just how such a thing factored into a ritual, when this whole place was a dimensional pocket. As long as it contributed to the result, I didn’t care.

Turning on the lights in the ritual room, I set about preparing the items required for the ritual. The Butcher’s Cleaver went into the circle, with the fragments of the Heavenly Stone arranged in a star shape around the weapon. I added a few more general ones that would enhance the spirit’s abilities when used, before nodding to myself after one final check.

Let’s see, the time is… I checked the clock. 3:12am… huh. Let’s start then.

Calling upon my energy, I sent it into the ritual circle, activating it even as I spoke the words to manifest the next spirit. Maybe it was the sleepiness; but it felt like I was trying to drag a star down into the circle, and I had a few close calls with pronouncing the words right. 

But I managed to reach the end without failing. The materials were all sucked up into a tiny blue ball of light that pulsed a few times above the ritual circle.

I stared at it, bemused, as I waited for the spirit to take shape.

I wasn’t expecting it to suddenly shoot down like a brilliant comet and explode on the platform, creating a huge dust cloud that had me choking and coughing.

“Gagk! Gah… what the… hell?” I covered my mouth and nose with one hand while waving the other to clear some of the dust in the air, blinking as my eyes teared up from it as well.

Through my squinted eyes, I caught sight of a glowing figure in the center of the cloud, and her features finally came into view.

Blue hair tied in a side ponytail, with a gray plaid hat bearing a crowd on top. Starry blue eyes and a bright smile, plus a gray plaid dress. 

Then there was the golden axe she carried, with a reddish tint along the edge.

“Hello there. So… you’re Suisei,” I named the new spirit.

“Kyou mo… Kawaii~!” 

Afterword: And with this, another spirit has joined the ranks. I had a lot of fun playing Suisei in Holocure, because her skills are pretty badass, being built for hitting the crits as much as possible. Not to mention that I’m a Hoshiyomi too.