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Avan stepped outside of his cozy home, which he had occupied for the time being, and saw Horny as he plunged, pursuing after one of the two orbs.

Upon seeing his friend dashing to no avail, he had a good laugh. Of course, he already knew about the playful chaotic pursuit thanks to his sphere of influence and being the one who commanded the globe, but to observe it for himself was something else entirely.

"Yoo, at least you do some cardio workout after only napping all day long" He smirked at him. He chuckled when he noticed the facial expression that was surely meaning something like Fuck off . Amused, he took a second to recheck his growth over the last few days and weeks.

 

Avan Leaf

Level: 53
Free Stat Points: 190
Element: Celestial
Class: Healing Dungeonheart [Human]
Subclass: [Bronze] Healer of Akkalon

 

Stats

Strength: 75
Dexterity: 80
Vitality: 75
Intelligence: 60
Wisdom: 55
Spirit: 55

 

Active Skills [3/8]

[Bronze] Akkalons Touch
[Bronze] Akkalons Sphere
[Bronze] Celestial Storage

 

Passive Skills

Pain Resistance: [Bronze] 3
Steady: 8
Potential: [Unlocked]
Celestial Affinity: [Bronze] 5
Identify: [Bronze] 6
Celestial Sphere: 1
First Aid: 1
Tracking: [Bronze] 7
Meditation: [Bronze] 8
Pain Expert: 7

 

Primary Resources

Health: 425
Stamina: 425
Ambient Mana: 575

 

Celestial Storage

[Bronze Coin]: 76
[Silver Coin]: 23
[Gold Coin]: 1
10 [Golden Meaples]
1 [well-used Spear]
3 [Water Flask]
1 [short sword]
3 [blanket]
1 [Tent]
1 [short ax]
1 [Bow]
3 [wooden iron-tipped arrow]
79 stacks of [Berries]
11 dry [Roots]
37 [Herbs]
57 [Hound Hide]
114 [Hound Fangs]
13 [small Stones]
3 [Wooden Logs]
15 [Wooden sticks]

 

Dungeon Creatures

[Horny]
A [Horned White Rabbit], found at ruins of a temple of Akkalon. Was given the name Horny, he is wholly devoted to Avan to serve his master. It is not fully sentient yet but shows terrific intelligence already. An evolution could grant a transformation into another creature while awakening as an entire sentient being.

 

Avan marveled at his level and skill development. Yes, he had to kill dozens of hundreds of enemies. And the repeat of being hurt and getting healed afterward to be in pain soon after and healed over and over again would have been severe for his mental state of mind if he hadn't acquired the meditation skill before. Apparently, infusing his own brain with mana, especially celestial, was an excellent way to even heal his mind and to soothe his soul.

After his first kill, before he even received his subclass and evolution, he had no problems clearing out a massive part of the [Hound] s population afterward, resulting in eliminating over fifty-seven of the dogs if he counted the kill notifications accurately. He had lingered on the first floor for three days and destroyed all those hounds quickly enough, thanks to them hunting not in packs, merely to skin and salvage them next. And he had managed to obtain plenty of leather hides and fangs. It had no value for him right now, but he had high hopes for a good armorer back in Cyntha who could make something out of the hide. However, he had no use for the fangs, but maybe the local adventurer's guild or an alchemist would buy them off. Besides, his storage was now listed beneath his character interface, too.

The battles against the [Kobold]s, on the other hand, were rather brutal.

At first, he got them mixed up and thought they were just a more minor variant of the common goblin. But in many areas, they were much more vicious and cunning than their larger relatives up to the point where they had have set up traps and ambushes for him. The initial encounter was the most manageable one. After that, it had been extra challenging and more troublesome until he had lastly stood in front of their settlement. On their home turf, it had taken days to methodically annihilate these pests while walking through rivers of their blood. Thankfully, he never noticed a single kobold child all this time. He had left their village with scattered corpses everywhere, while their low-quality straw huts had almost all been burned to the ground. They had not worn any clothes, and their makeshift weapons were solely made out of wood, which had no value for Avan, so he neglected them. Oddly, he had found some small coins while pillaging their town, which was immediately magically sorted within his celestial storage, even upgraded when he reached a hundred bronze coins. Thanks to that, he soon learned how many coins were required to exchange them upward. A hundred bronze coins would result in one silver, while one hundred silver coins ended in one gold coin. If there was something higher than gold, he had no clue as of now.

While staying some more days on the second floor, he fell three trees and accumulated some wooden branches to store them for future usage. The tree trunks even fit inside his storage dimension after evolving to the bronze tier, like several more skills he had improved through combat and exercise.

His subclass had evolved to the first tier during reaching level fifty, which happened to be obviously called the bronze tier. All his class-related abilities were automatically promoted to the same rank, which made them stronger than before and even outrageous overpowered, doubling the damage.

Overall, everything except for his passive skills like Steady, Pain Expert, and Celestial Sphere were now at the bronze tier, after they had reached level ten.

 

Active Skill: Akkalons Touch

With great strength comes great responsibility and more so with each touch. Heal or destroy.
When in direct contact, you can now inflict mana-based wounds to your enemies or infuse an ally with supportive energy.
[Bronze] You can use multiple appendages to inflict or heal many at the same time.

 

Active Skill: Celestial Storage

As an otherworldly being, you now have access to your own private celestial pocket dimension to store a small number of items.
To access or store items, you need to imagine a small portal.
[Bronze] The Capacity is significantly increased. At the same time, the portal for storing and removing larger objects can now adapt to the size up to a specific point.

 

Active Skill: Akkalons Sphere

By proving yourself unable to stop any meddling that you shouldn't concern yourself with, you now gain even more options to intervene.
You can summon up to one sphere of celestial mana that can be controlled inside your Sphere of Influence.
[Bronze] Capacity of summoned spheres is increased by one. You can infuse double the amount of mana into your creations.

 

Class: Healing Dungeonheart [Human]

You are not stationary, and thanks to that, you are a walking dungeon. Your limited functionality as a dungeon evolved to something unprecedented. Your potential unlocked, you can momentarily not only sense everything in your dungeon but also influence everyone and everything inside. Be it healing, mana intrusion to damage your foes, or doing whatever you usually could do in a human range.
Project to pick up something in your dungeon or cast a spell without being in sight. Your limit is your imagination. Inside your sphere, you are omnipotent.

 

Passive Skill: Identify

While some are learning this Skill early as infants, you managed to watch a fruit for minutes. Congrats, monkey brain.
You can now identify objects and living beings if you concentrate on them and are in range. Each level of identify increases the distance, and higher tiers could give you more info on your target.
[Bronze] You can now perceive the level of your target up to +10 above your own.

 

Passive Skill: Meditation

Through meditation, a true spirit can reach godhood through instant regeneration of health, mana, and stamina.
While not moving, you constantly regain health, mana, and stamina at a higher rate than usually possible.
[Bronze] Your very soul faced a flood of mana and not only survived the encounter but also came out of this painful ordeal more substantial than ever before.
Your body and mind are tremendously improved through mana infusion, and you now passively store mana in your cells.
You are faster, stronger, and more resilient. If you wish, you can unleash small portions of stored mana through contact to corrupt your enemies.

 

Passive Skill: Pain Expert

Pain is your second name. You love to be in pain, and you love to claw yourself through torture, primarily self-inflicted.
Since pain is such a nice feeling for you, you will inflict much more pain on enemies to share your own experienced passion about it with others.

 

Passive Skill: Celestial Sphere

You are a Dungeon. You are nurtured by the tremendous amount of ambient mana that encircles you. You can harness and use ambient mana in your sphere of influence at will. Your Sphere of Influence is sphere-shaped, with you as the anchor point and heart of the dungeon.
Your celestial power now radiates from your dungeon and can illuminate surroundings with light. Only the highest beings can distinguish and sense your Dungeonheart. But be always beware of your higher mana density.

 

Passive Skill: Celestial Affinity

You are infused with celestial energy.
Your celestial-related skills are mightier, and you resist adversary celestial energy more profoundly.
[Bronze] Your celestial-related skills are 100% stronger and 100% more resilient.

 

Passive Skill: Steady

When staggered, you have a high chance to stay steady on your feet instead of succumbing.
This Skill can help you cast magic without being interrupted or at shooting while standing on the back of a horse or even a dragon.

 

Passive Skill: Pain Resistance

While smacking your head face-first into obstacles, walls, and water surfaces, you don't care. Your head has learned to tolerate your incompetence in handling situations with more sensitivity.
You feel pain more bearable with each increasing level of this Skill.
[Bronze] Feeling pain will now replenish tiny amounts of primary resources per second.

 

Passive Skill: Tracking

Because of staring hour-long at footprints and tracks, you can now perceive and track others.
Tracking can tell you the age of footprints, stains, and other trackable remainders.
[Bronze] You have gained the ability to perceive and follow tracks even with smell alone.

 

As Avan's eyes glanced over the skill descriptions, he noticed out of the corner of his eye a person standing at the entry to the level, which looked pretty damn familiar.

Delighted to see her again, he raised his right arm to wave happily at her. As if she had waited for such a sign, she ran across the cobblestone pathway and flung herself at his bare chest, instantly hugging him. Kind of embarrassed standing there with only his boxer shorts, he scratched the back of his head. He could overhear a light stifled sob coming from his chest, under which her head was buried, while he welcomed the trembling fox girl and gently stroked her back with his left hand in slow circles. Something has befallen her if she so desperately had sought him. Giving Yue some time, he just held her quietly while comforting her. He had a short deja-vu remembering the horrific situation about her childhood friends where both of them had been shocked to the core. She's way too young for this bullshit... Be strong or get culled, huh?

Moving back with insecure steps, Yue tilted her head embarrassed to the side, to wipe her eyes with her left sleeve. Avan put his left hand kindly on her shoulder and gave her time to start talking when she thought to be ready. After some seconds, she glanced shyly up at his face with one eye with her head still turned away. Her cheeks and eyes red.

"Hey, Avan..." She murmured a greeting at him. "I... am so happy to see you doing well... And... you have grown quite a bit, haven't you?" He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Yes, glad to see you being well and healthy too, Yue. I will not force you to tell me anything, but maybe I can convince you to a warm soothing tea and some delicious fruits?" He smiled at her and waved with his other hand towards the small stone house where he lived right now. The house was made out of dull grey stone but smooth and definitely not built with human hands, with a wooden door, and two glassless windows left and right beside the entrance. Walking through the doorway, he moved to the humble kitchen-like corner, where he had found some metal plates and cooking wares like a plain teapot, and poured some water into the pot he got from an iron bucket nearby. Kneeling, he summoned some wooden sticks out of his storage to stack them in a cone beneath the stove and set them quickly ablaze with his flint and knife. He waited for a few seconds and poked the growing fire a little bit with a stick until he was satisfied and stood up. Smiling at Yue, who had sat down at the only table in the middle of the room, he took out some stored herbs and threw them in the teapot. Turning around, he tilted his head and chuckled lightly at the sight he found in front of him. Yue's hair was a mess and stood in all directions while she fiddled nervously with an amulet that hung around her neck.

"You know, I asked myself sometimes the last weeks what you were doing back in town and how you processed all of the things that happened. How are you? And I don't mean the situation you are in right now that chased you to me. I genuinely mean it. How have you been? As you can see and definitely already saw on your way down here, I had some intimate and private time with hounds and kobolds. But I can guarantee you that the hounds were more than soft enough to cuddle with." He asked her with a giggle and gleaming eyes. "The tea should steep for a few minutes. But I can tell you are more interested in some food, the way you look..."

Quickly walking to the woven basket filled with all kinds of fruits on a shelf near the kitchen corner, he picked a [Green Apple] and threw it her way. With a surprised yelp, she nearly stumbled out of her chair while trying to catch the fruit that flew straight at her face. Avan chuckled. Maybe with less power next time, Mister fruit throwing hulk.

Yue bit off a huge chunk out of the apple with an evil eye throwing at him that showed her sharp teeth. Yeeeeep, better don't mess with these fangs. He remarked and gave her an exaggerated broad smile.

"I am sorry, my lady fox. Your humble servant forgot his manners." Avan kneeled in front of her and bowed dramatically. Yue couldn't hold herself anymore and giggled at his antics. "You dumb-ass."

Happy to have lifted her mood ever so slightly, he strolled back to the stove and poured some tea in two stone mugs he pulled out of a hanging shelf above the kitchen. With two steaming mugs in his hands, he sat down on the remaining stone chair and moved one cup over to her.

Content with sipping his herb tea, he crooked his head back and looked thoughtful at the ceiling.

I suppose I need to visit Cyntha at last. My sleeping clothes have long since ceased to be. Cant embarrass me any further, lacking clothes and fighting my foes half-naked. They will soon start to run away after seeing me, especially after my boxer shorts are quickly gone, too. And someone needs to look at these hides and fangs. Would Yue be willing to be my guide? Probably, ye. And maybe we can check out some quests in the adventurers guild. I won't register myself yet, but perhaps it could be possible for her to claim the quests... Hmmm...

Swallowing the last drop of tea, Yue, still clutching the mug with both her hands, looked up. Uncertainly, she fiddled with her cup for a few seconds before she spoke up. "Avan... Someone in Cyntha is hunting me. I couldn't find out why, but they do. The only piece I overheard was a mention of the goblins we killed in the caves above and someone being furious at them if they shouldn't bring me back to whoever that person is... I was hunted through the town, and at every safe spot, they had people stationed looking out for me. For days...! In the end, I fled through the slums, and even then, they found me and constantly chased me. The only person they wouldn't know about, was you... So I escaped through the gates and wished you were still here... So here I am now... Pulling you with me into danger..." She looked down at her cramped, folded hands. "You just need to say so, and I will leave... Hopefully, before they find me here with you."

Avan, suddenly with a wide grin plastered on his face. "Ahhh, and here I assumed you were looking for this handsome and amazing-looking man who had rescued you heroically just to thank him." He winked at her jokingly and unfolded his arms to spread them wide as to hug her from afar. Laughing at her facial expression that told him she was implying he might be a madman and asshole, he reassuringly beckoned her with his hands to calm down. "I'm just joking, Yue! Don't look at me like this! I'm extraordinarily hurt, you know. “ He laughed with playful eyes. “You thought me being in danger, come on. Didn't you see those corpses I left behind? And yeah, don't. I know I am sometimes overconfident and reckless, and the goblins were small prey in comparison. Still, now that we know they are approaching, we will turn the tables. We will use what time we have left and place some traps for them instead. How does that sound to you? There are many disarmed surprises on the floors above us, which we can easily reactivate, I suppose. Let's see how they like to be hunted for once." He told her while gesturing with his hands and pointing upwards, with a mad grin on his face.

Yue couldn't suppress a smile herself and shook her head at his idiotic antics. Shrugging while still smiling, she stood up and grabbed both mugs from the table to carry them over to the kitchen corner, where she left them for now.

And there she is smiling again. Worth the theatrics!

"Come, oh huntress. To bring pain and death to all these lower beings who dared hunting you!" He gestured overdramatically to her and towards the door.

He called Horny to his side with a quick whistle, who had chased one of his spheres all this time, which instantly dashed at the fox girl to fetch a few playful strokes. You traitorous bastard. He thought with a glance at his fuzzy friend.

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