Chapter 72: World First
Chapter 72: World First
Chapter 72: World First
You have levelled up!
…
Psychokinetic level 67 -> Psychokinetic level 68
Illusionist level 67 -> Illusionist level 68
Gained 10 stat points.
You now have 390 intelligence.
Skill level up!
Mind Domain level 2 -> Mind Domain level 4
Minor Illusion level 8 -> Minor Illusion level 9
Experience gained!
Title gained - Igniter of Civil War!: You have learned how to control others’ emotions and have enabled them to fight for their freedom! Your speech was something to… behold!
| Mind Domain emotional control is 5% stronger.
| Your words of inspiration are 5% stronger.
|10 added intelligence.
| 5 added wisdom.
The speech wasn’t that bad, was it? Astrid asked herself. She scratched her head as she thought back to the words that she had said with passion. Okay, maybe it was.
“My lady, what now?” Leena said.
“Go back,” Astrid continued, ”tell the others that we’ve secured a stronghold here in the town.”
“Will you be fine on your own?”
Astrid gave Leena a side eye.
“Right.” Leena looked away. “I’ll tell the others and bring them over.”
Leena sprinted forward and smashed a new hole into the building, absorbing the metal as she passed through.
“The door was right there.” Astrid sighed at her destruction maid.
Astrid wandered out of the warehouse. It was far too hot to stay, and the fumes from the furnaces were making it difficult to breathe. She could control the air and blast it all out, but that would just be a waste of psychic mana when she could just simply leave.
Leaving the enormous building, there were no kobolds in sight. Gaining control of the kobolds was easy. She thought she was going to have to kill them all, but it seemed like kobolds also held indignation towards their own. They wanted to live freely, not to be forced into mining and gaining minerals until their muscles broke down and they died of old age. All to the benefit of the stronger, more evolved kobolds.
Astrid gazed at the hill where they were mining. Carts filled with unrefined metal ores lay stranded. The kobolds’ memories made it clear to her that there was something else going on in the hill. What it was, she was unsure. But it wouldn’t be long before she found out.
Astrid approached the cart and grabbed hold of a piece of the dark ore. Her hand sank at the weight. She latched onto it with her mind and quickly helped her arm hold it up. It was rough and jagged from where the kobolds had struck it from the wall. It had the texture of a cobbled wall, but in some areas it was smooth, like it was polished.
Rare - Voidbent ore: a material that has a hardness unlike any other metal.
Even Leena had trouble piercing it, although it’s damned heavy. Astrid dropped the piece of ore back. She didn’t want to waste her mana on holding such an item. If it was an enormous kobold on the other hand, then that was different.
Astrid tapped her finger on the metal ore. Their current mission was to mine the giving ore, but wouldn’t this be much better? An ore capable of stopping the attack of even a level one-hundred was an incredible feat of hardness. If the front lines of Rebirth held such an armour, they would be unstoppable. And no doubt the production classes could somehow make it lighter.
Although she had her doubts when it came to weaponry. It was simply too heavy for the most common blade. Strength stat knights would long for it, though.
She gazed off into the distance where Leena had disappeared. It took them around four hours to arrive here, but with her maid going straight back to camp and unless they crashed into a group of monsters, then she guessed it would be around two hours before they arrived. She simply couldn’t wait that long. The palms of her hands were itchy, and the bottom of her feet tingled. No amount of foot tapping relieved it.
Okay, maybe just a peek. With the thought in mind, she could no longer wait. With a hop in her step, she sauntered toward the hole in the hill.
The kobolds had reinforced the entrance with large wooden beams; fashioned from the organic material of the forest to support the surrounding weight. Astrid craned her neck. She wasn’t sure how the thick pieces of wood could hold up the entire weight of the hill. Maybe she should have stuck with mathematics after all?
She trailed her fingers along the wooden supports and peered into the darkness of the cavern. The rocks were jagged, seemingly from the markings of the pickaxes that had sliced into the surroundings.
The passageway wasn’t straight like she thought a tunnel would be. Instead, it meandered left and right, stopping midway as the markings of the tools marred the wall.
I wonder why they stopped and changed directions. Unstable foundations maybe? Astrid pondered and hoped that the Kobolds were experienced tunnel diggers. They were smart and crafty, so learning how to mine was hardly out of the question. To them, it was probably just another technique of trap making.
Other than the jagged rocks and wooden supports, there was nothing to see. Instead, all it did was poke at her curiosity. A little further wouldn’t hurt.
She continued further in. The heat blasting from the workshop was long gone. Instead a cool sensation from the surroundings trailed across her shoulders. She raised them and touched the wall again. This time, a cold penetrated her palm and sent a shiver down her spine.
Although, it was no longer rock she was touching, but a glistening ore. It was pitch black in spots, almost like it was a pit of nothing but darkness, like the void. The black was smooth and with the confirmation of her Identify skill, it was the same metal from before. But the difference in temperature was staggering. One was as mild as summer dirt, and the other a frigid cold, just like from the Permafrost in the northern region of Ruiterra.
Is it because this ore hasn’t been mined yet? Once mined, it must cut off some sort of energy connection. There were no reports about a deep cold that pervaded this mountain, nor about kobolds that had learnt smithing techniques. Astrid frowned.
The last scouting report for this Bubble was only two weeks ago. Had so much changed with such a limited amount of time? Or did the kobolds hide themselves from the prying eyes of the Wayfaring scouts?
The mine shaft eventually widened into a cavern. Stalactites grew from the cave’s ceiling, like earthen knives that had stabbed through and emerged from the deep mountain. They were in the hundreds and hidden behind them was a deep black that glistened like the glowing star waters that stretched far beyond the eastern hemisphere.
Astrid flared her psychic mana, circulating it around her body until it swirled around her powerful mind. The matter coarsed around her like a phantom as it danced to her whims. It wasn’t the darkness of the cave that demanded her attention, or the sharp knife-like stalactites, but an enormous doorway that absorbed her gaze.
Unlike the wooden supports all throughout the cave, a black, void-like shadow squirmed within the doorway.
“A dungeon?” Astrid exclaimed as she took a step back. She cast Mind Barrier and Illusionary Armour around her body and created a minor illusion of herself in the multiples. If something lunged out of the dungeon, she hoped it lacked the intelligence to find out who was the real her.
Her eyes turned fierce. After a few minutes and having expelled a quarter of her mana, she lowered her Mind Barrier but kept up the other lower mana defences.
So can nothing come out? After the thought, she snapped her hand to her mouth. She hoped she wasn’t cursed like Brett. He had a knack for summoning monsters with just a mutter of his voice. Maybe he had a summoning skill? Astrid shook her head.
After making sure that everything was safe and the dungeon would not expel overpowered giants, she calmed down, but only slightly.
She wandered toward the walls of the cave, where the Voidbent ore covered it in its entirety. She followed it until it abruptly stopped. Astrid gazed toward the dungeon gateway. The ores had stopped in line with the entrance to the void, and behind it lay the regular rock of the mountain.
Is the Voidbent Ore created by the dungeon? Astrid looked in wonder and it reaffirmed her thoughts. If it happened not once, not twice, but three times, then it was no longer up to chance. It was now a fact that the Leviathan’s appearance–the black blobs appearance–had changed the word as she knew it.
Astrid approached the gateway, and it felt like gravity had changed. She felt a very slight tug at her being, as if the shadow wanted to pull her in. But it wasn’t anything extreme. It was like a child was trying to pull her stat strengthened body.
Her hand rested against the black doorway, she stayed well away from the pitch black shadow in the middle. Strangely, it wasn’t cold like the strange metal, but warm–almost hot to the touch, Like a freshly made cup of coffee, just without the bitter smell of the roasted beans.
Information flashed behind her eyes.
First in the world to discover the dungeon - Voidmare.
Limited to one person per attempt.
Level limit: Seventy-Five
Granting world first reward - Second Title Slot: A System upgrade for the Title slot.
Granting world first reward: Title.
Title - Child of the Void Part 1: Sounds like something special... Oh no, watch out for your ego or it may go haywire!
| 35 added intelligence.
| 30 added wisdom.
| 20 added constitution.
| Illusions are 50% stronger.
| Mind attacks are 25% stronger.
Creating Dungeon Mission - The Voidwalker: Complete the dungeon by finishing monsters with nothing but the power of illusions.
Mission Reward: Legendary secondary class upgrade.
Has THE BLACK BLOB brought me here on purpose? That’s impossible, right? Astrid scratched her head before moving on.
The title with over one part was one thing, but to think it could upgrade her class, and a legendary one at that. If information got out about this, then the entire world would clamour into a raging tempest as they all rushed over for a slice of the pie.
She immediately selected the new title as the stat bonuses made her eyes water. Then she re-read the information, scared to miss anything.
Limited to one person per attempt.
Wait, only one person can enter at a time?! Astrid fidgeted her foot against the uneven gravel underneath. If the dungeon was anything like the one that she had experienced with her team, then the only result would be death. However, the fact that the highest level that could enter was level seventy-five filled her with confidence.
Another Legendary class… Her hand reached forward and almost touched the shadowy void before she snatched it back.
I need to tell the others. Astrid turned her back on the dungeon.