Monroe-Chapter Three Hundred and Nine. Exploring the Dungeon.

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Magma Elemental Fleck. Collect eight flecks to form a Magma Elemental Fragment.

Magma Elemental Fleck may be consumed for a temporary bonus to Fire and Earth skills.

Consuming the Magma Elemental Fleck will provide an 8% bonus to Fire skills and a 4% bonus to Earth skills for 64 seconds.

"So, monsters drop loot now," Dave muttered.

"It said that he was able to loot because of his Harvesting skill," Amanda shook her head, "which I don't have."

"The System required me to take the Harvesting School because I wanted the Alchemy Skill," Harv said, gesturing to display another System screen.

Harvesting.

This School allows the user to reclaim a percentage of manifestations mass equal to the users tier.

Associated skills may be required to obtain specific materials.

"Fantastic," Jessica grumbled, "I'll need another school and skill just get loot."

"I'm pretty sure you'll only need that to gather crafting materials," Jack said.

"Does any one else have it?" Bob asked.

It turned out that no one else did.

"Something to dig into later," Bailli suggested. "We still have quests to complete."

The group began to advance again, with Bob in the lead scanning the lava tube for the tell-tale fire aspected mana and heat produced by the Magma Elementals.

'Trebor,' Bob projected the thought, 'how does the Harvesting School work, exactly?'

'As advertised,' Trebor replied, 'it allows you to collect parts of the monsters you kill, or the resources you discover in a Dungeon. I'm sure you noticed that the monsters aren't dissipating?'

'I did,' Bob nodded.

'They won't until you leave the Dungeon, or until you Harvest them. Harv has the Alchemy skill, which means that any alchemical components will be brought to his attention. If someone had mining, they'd no doubt be able to collect metals from the bodies, or possibly even the walls of the tunnel,' Trebor stated.

'I didn't see that in any of the recommended paths,' Bob thought.

'That is entirely your fault, as you have used far too many Affinity Crystals,' Trebor replied. 'The System also didn't offer any paths for summoning Demons or Angels, but they do exist.'

'How common is Harvesting going to be, if people take the recommended paths?' Bob asked.

'Very,' Trebor said firmly. 'Without an Affinity Crystal, most paths will suggest the School and a Skill, assuming the user has performed actions in line with benefiting from it.'

Bob was forced to pause his conversation with Trebor as he spotted a pool of heat and fire aspected mana on the floor ahead of the group.

"I see a lot of heat and fire aspected mana on the floor, sixty feet ahead of us," he reported.

The party shifted, bringing the beacons and off beacons to the front as Dave and Bailli lashed out with their spells.

"Well, that's new," Bob muttered.

They'd fought eight groups of elementals in total as they'd advanced through the lava tubes. Coming around a corner, the tube had opened up into a cavern.

Bob couldn't see the sides or far end of the cavern, so he knew it was further than two hundred and fifty feet.

What he could see was a pair of pillars, a hundred and fifty feet out from the wall they were emerging from, and a hundred and fifty feet apart. Surrounding each of the pillars were a dozen Magma Elementals.

These were easy to spot, as they were actively moving as they pushed and pulled at the pillars, attempting to destroy them.

"Ok, so we found the foundations of the city I guess," Jack said softly.

"Now we just need to figure out where the elementals are coming from, and why they are attacking the pillars," Amanda added.

"Well, we could wait..." Dave's voice trailed off as the Magma Elementals attacking the pillar to their right slowed their attacks, then stopped altogether. They milled about for a moment, then began to move, as a group, toward the tunnel the party had just come from.

"Did they see us?" Eddi whispered quietly.

"No, they move a lot faster like that when they're headed to attack us," Jack said.

"Let's move back into the tunnel a ways, we can take care of them in there," Bob suggested. "I'm not sure how they communicate, but I'd rather they didn't call that other group in to help them."

After taking care of the group of Elementals, the party moved back into the cavern, just in time to see a new group elementals approach the pillar from further into the cavern, and begin to attack it.

"We know they're coming from that way," Dave pointed.

"The questions are, why are they attacking the pillars, and why are they stopping and wandering off?" Amanda asked.

"I'll scout it out," Wayna offered. "I can shift into a flier and stay above their range, which seems to be sixty feet."

Bob nodded. This was one of those moments where specialization reaped rewards.

"Be careful," he admonished as Wayna shifted into a massive bat, and took off into the air.

"I hate seeing us split the party," Dave complained.

"Not really splitting the party, babe, we're just sending the rogue ahead," Amanda nudged him with here shoulder.

"So, while we are waiting, is now a good time to talk about the Quest completion?" Mike asked.

Quest advanced!

You have destroyed one hundred Magma Elementals!

You have been rewarded with ten energy crystals!

New Quest!

Destroy one thousand Magma Elementals to receive a reward!

Quest Advanced!

"I bet you can't kill just one."

Disperse ten manifestations of equal or greater level than yourself. Complete.

Disperse one hundred manifestations of equal or greater level than yourself. Complete.

Disperse one thousand manifestations of equal or greater level than yourself.

Reward : Ten energy crystals.

"I'm not complaining about the ten crystals, but I am concerned that the quest is going to persist," Bob replied.

"The fact that it separated out from the Dungeon storyline quest suggests it will," Jack agreed. 𝓯𝘳𝘦𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝓃ℴ𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝓬𝘰𝑚

"I reckon we'll get the next part done in a couple of days though, yeah?" Jessica asked.

"Assuming the next run has Magma Elementals," Mike said. "The notes said that the Dungeon would offer challenging scenarios. It could be something different next time we come in."

"I'd actually prefer that," Bob smiled, "I think we're going to get a nice little reward for completing the scenario first, so if it shifts regularly, we'll end up with nice rewards, and quite a few crystals."

"It'll have to, because right now, we're way behind in terms of the number of monsters killed," Bailli added. "We're half an hour in, not counting Bob spending the time to figure out the fire shield spell, and we've only killed a hundred and eight monsters. If it weren't for the quest rewards, this would be a complete waste of time."

The faintest hint of sound drew Bob's attention and he looked up just in time to see Wayna flutter down.

She clung to the wall over their heads for a moment, then shifted into her human form and dropped lightly to the ground. She pulled up her armband and tapped it, enlarging the display.

"So, I did a quick circuit, and this cavern is huge. Close to ten square miles. The pillars form a grid, a hundred and fifty apart. Some of them are broken, some of them are fine, and some of them are being attacked by the Magma Elementals," she gestured toward the display as she talked, highlighting broken pillars in yellow, unbroken pillars in green, and pillars under attack in red.

"What's this?" Bob asked, pointing to a blue dot at the center of the display.

"That," Wayna grinned broadly, "is where the answers are. There's someone there, so I didn't get too close, but I think they're bringing the elementals in through a portal."

Bob traced a finger through the display. "It looks like we can take a route that should avoid the Elementals."

"Should we though?" Baili asked. "The Quest said to stop the Elementals from destroying the pillars."

"If new ones keep appearing, we do sort of have the opportunity to farm them," Dave suggested.

"I'd like to pick up enough of those flecks to see what a fragment looks like," Harv said.

He'd found three of them so far.

"Let's try to clear them," Jessica agreed, "if it turns out they're being reinforced quicker than we can kill them off, we'll address the baddie, yeah?"

"Right then, time to put in the work," Bob grinned, while the rest of the group groaned.

The Magma Elementals that were chewing on the pillars were slightly different than the ones they'd encountered so far, which oddly included the group that had stopped attacking the pillar and wandered into their lava tube.

For one thing, they hit harder. Not hard enough that the group needed to change their tactics, but hard enough that Jessica and Erick were preloading the beacons and off beacons with effect over time Anima Blasts, which meant they were digging into their mana pools.

For another they looked slightly different. There was an additional color threaded through the magma, a molted green, that hadn't been present in the others.

Finally, they tended to stop engaging earlier, attempting to run off toward another group of Magma Elementals. That had come as an unpleasant surprise, and the fleeing Elementals had nearly reached the next group before Bailli and Dave had brought the last one down.

The group had been grinding for nearly two hours, working their way around the edge of the cavern clockwise, when they finally made it back to their tunnel. Were it not for the mapping function their armbands had, Bob wasn't sure if they would been able to determine which tunnel was theirs, as there were dozens along each side of the suspiciously square cavern.

"Well, we cleared the outer ring," Mike said.

As the pillars were laid in a grid, thirty-five pillars across, and thirty-five pillars deep, they'd decided to clear the seven pillars closest to the wall on their initial trip. A little better than half of them had been occupied, which had resulted in ninety-eight battles.

Quest advanced!

You have destroyed one thousand Magma Elementals!

You have been rewarded with one hundred energy crystals!

New Quest!

Destroy ten thousand Magma Elementals to receive a reward!

Quest Advanced!

"I bet you can't kill just one."

Disperse ten manifestations of equal or greater level than yourself. Complete.

Disperse one hundred manifestations of equal or greater level than yourself. Complete.

Disperse one thousand manifestations of equal or greater level than yourself. Complete.

Disperse ten thousand manifestations of equal or greater level than yourself.

Reward : One thousand energy crystals.

The payout was huge, although the next threshold seemed insurmountable.

"Wayna, can you scout the outer ring, see how many respawns we have?" Bob asked.

The Druidess nodded, shifting into her bat form and sailing away on silent wings.

"So what are we thinking?" Dave asked as he stepped behind Amanda and began to gently knead the back of her neck, resulting in a low 'mmmm' of appreciation.

"Assuming we're significantly ahead of the respawns, we clear whatever is back at a run, then start working on the middle ring," Bob said.

"Sounds like a solid plan," Mike sighed, then stowed away his spear and shield before stretching.

"How is the tanking going?" Bob asked. "I know you volunteered for it, but Magma Elementals have to suck."

"Not as bad as you'd think, thanks to your spell and the quick heals," Mike replied. "I'm sure Wayna has it the worst, even in her battle boar form she's getting her face awfully close to them. At least they're at arms reach for us."

"While we're taking a moment, Harv, what's the deal with those fragments?"

While the sample size was a bit small, it appeared that Harv would pick up a fleck every three groups or so. He'd picked up thirty-six of them so far, and formed eight of them into a fragment.

"Definitely meant for crafting," Harv said, "it contains the same bonuses as the fleck if consumed, but it lasts four thousand ninety-six seconds instead of sixty-four. According to my Alchemy skill, I can use it to increase the quality of any ingredients that require heating to refine, giving them a bonus of eight percent."

"That sounds useful," Bob noted.

"Very," Harv agreed.

"Here she comes," Eddi announced, having pulled the display from his armband.

While the armbands were limited in the Dungeon, as they were cut off from the servers, they were still able to provide basic mapping and communication features, one of which was tracking the other armbands.

"Only four respawns," Wayna reported after she'd shifted back.

"You were right, I think we were meant to clear them all before hitting the center," Bob admitted.

"When in doubt, assume the System wants you to kill all the monsters," Dave grinned and stepped around from behind Amanda, who reached up to kiss his cheek.

"I got nothin'" Jack said as they peered around a pillar.

They'd finished clearing the middle and inner rings, and had reached the center, where they hid behind a pillar.

A tall figure, well over ten feet, was standing in front of a portal. It held a staff in one hand, and what looked like a clipboard in the other. As they watched, a group of Magma Elementals exited the portal, paused to touch the clipboard, and then flowed out towards a pillar.

Quest Advanced!

The tunnels beneath the great city of Krestor have become infested with uncontrolled magma elementals! They threaten to destroy the foundations of the city, causing it to fall deep into the planetary mass!

Destroy ten of these elementals to receive a reward! Complete.

Discover where the elementals are coming from to receive a reward! Complete.

Discover why the elementals are attacking the city's foundations to receive a reward!

Stop the elementals from destroying the city's foundations to receive a reward!

Another System screen appeared.

You have discovered that someone is bringing Magma Elementals into the cavern beneath Krestor through a portal.

You may choose to accept an immediate reward of ten energy crystals, or delay your reward until the Quest is complete.

Accept crystals?

Yes/No

"I think we should hold in hopes of a better reward," Dave and Amanda said at the same time, an eerie echo of one another.

"You two are sickeningly sweet," Jessica complained, "but I agree, I'm keen to see what we're going to end up with."

"Right, so did anyone else notice that the Elementals were normal when they came out of the portal, but they picked up that nasty green when they touched the clipboard?" Mike asked.

Bob closed his eyes and mentally reviewed the scene. Mike was right, although he hadn't noticed it.

"Figure the clipboard contains some sort of instruction for them to eat the pillars, but it only lasts for so long?" Amanda suggested.

"Sounds reasonable," Bob agreed. He was a little disappointed that their reasoning didn't prompt a Quest completion for discovering why the Elementals were attacking the pillar, but apparently they needed to investigate the clipboard directly to trigger the completion.

"Alright, so we make sure all the respawns are clear, wait for the next group to pop, kill them, then go after the guy at the portal?" Mike looked around the group.

"Sounds good," Dave agreed. "I'm guessing this is a boss fight, and we definitely don't want adds hitting us from behind.

"No Leeroy?" Jessica gasped, her tone clearly disappointed.

"No, Jessi, no Leeroy," Amanda confirmed with a grin.