Ultimate Level 1

[Skill Description - Haste]

*****

Haste - Uncommon Skill: This activatable skill provides thirty seconds of increased movement speed. With increased speed comes an equal increase in agility. The current bonus is 250%. During this skill use, stamina use is mitigated. Attacking will end the skill. Defending will not end the skill. Has a 72-hour cooldown.

*****

“A two hundred and fifty percent increase in movement speed? What kind of crappy skill is that?” Fowl asked, noticing the look they were giving him. “What? It ends when he attacks, and that cooldown is horrible.”

Max shrugged and reread the description.

“Is there ever a time in your life you might have wished you could run really fast?” Batrire replied as she tapped her foot and motioned around the room with her head.

“Uh… well, I mean yah, but still, three days… that’s a long cooldown.”

“It does seem limited,” Tanila said, tapping her finger against her chin, “but it also has some interesting uses.”

Max pointed at his boots. “Don’t forget I already get a fifteen percent bonus from my items.”

“Oh my gosh,” Tanila suddenly said as she did the math in her head. “That means Seth could run a mile before the skill wore off.”

“Holy elf tits,” Fowl muttered, considering how long it took him to run a mile at full speed. “Not many things would be able to catch him then.”

“You two stop with the math!” Batrire exclaimed as she pointed at the chest in the middle of the dirt room. “We need to get our loot. You two,” she said, pausing to point at Max and Tanila, “can figure out later how fast he can run. I want to see what we picked up here.”

As the others followed, Batrire moved to the chest and flipped open the silver lid. She didn’t care about the glyphs or carvings on the outside. She wanted to see what was waiting for her.

“Praise be to Ockrim,” she said, pointing at the necklace waiting to be rolled for. “It is my turn, right?”

Everyone nodded and laughed, letting her start the timer as they all peered inside and waited for the countdown to end.

A red and brown chain belt, a pair of plate boots, a red cloth belt, and a red cloth hat that some healers wore waited to be taken from the dimensional storage. Next to those items were the silver bands with Raptor Princess etched on them.

“That was a girl?” Max asked, dumbfounded by the title on the trophy ring.

“I didn’t think to stop and ask or check,” Fowl joked as he shrugged. “Besides, would it have mattered if you knew?”

Max shook his head no and watched as the timer ended, a necklace appearing in Batrire's hand. A silver chain with a black and brown stone hung from her fingers.

“I can’t say it’s pretty, but I also can’t wait to see what it gives!” she announced, excited for her turn at the drop.

Max stood in line, watching the people enter the small stalls to have items identified. “Why didn’t the adventurer hall in Rumstant have these?”

Tanila leaned closer and whispered, “They did but were on request. Most items below twenty-five aren’t worth this kind of secrecy. As you progress through the dungeons, people like to have a bit of privacy. Even those in Factions sometimes still pay the extra cost here not to share their items stats with anyone else.”

“How much more are we talking?” Max asked, wondering how much this might end up being.

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Twenty fricking silver for that. Seems everything in this town is more expensive.”

Fowl nodded, ignoring Max and his complaint as they waited for the other two to finish getting their equipment identified. “You complain like you’re broke. Don’t forget you’re richer than us by a long shot.”

Grunting, Max nodded. “Speaking of which, how far away from thirty are you?”

Fowl paused a moment and then answered after checking his status.

“It will be at least two or three more runs like the last. These bosses give a major boost.”

“And how much is it to upgrade a skill from uncommon to rare?”

Glancing around them, Fowl narrowed his eyes. He was aware Max had lowered his voice but was still surprised at that question being asked in public. “That would run twenty to forty gold usually. Lots of variables. Why?”

Tapping his tiny coin purse on his belt, Max grinned and gave a wink. “Because when you three hit thirty, we are going to make sure that you all get your skill to that if you want it.”

Fowl’s eyes went wide, and then he smiled. “Gods, I hate when you do that, Seth. It makes me feel bad living off your coin already, but I won’t say no to that help.”

Shaking his head, Max put a hand on his friend's shoulder and gave it a gentle shove. “Don’t get too sappy. I want you three to be as skilled as possible. I can’t have my life ruined because your skills suck.”

Roaring with laughter, Fowl punched Max back. “Yeah, because I know you’ll never be the limiting factor.”

Max grunted after the boss died.

Three dead bosses and no skill yet. What the hell is up with this?

Putting his spear into storage, Max pulled out his notebook and looked down the list.

Kobold, Goblin, Orc…

Those three had skills he could gain, but not once did Consume do anything.

Groaning, he put the notebook back up and pulled out his spear.

[Status Check]

*****

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Max Hoste

18-Year-old Human Male

Level 1

Exp 1/1000

HP: 440/440

MP: 95/95

Stamina: 220/220

STR: 31+17

DEX: 35+16

CON: 28+16

INT: 16+3

WIS: 11+2

Skills:

Baking - Common

Consume - Rare

Shield - Common

Berserker - Common

Ice Magic - Common

Stealth - Uncommon

Fire Magic - Uncommon

Dual Wield - Common

Sonar - Uncommon

Melee Weapon Mastery - Uncommon

Power Strike - Uncommon

Backstab - Uncommon

Evasion - Uncommon

Archery - Common

Haste - Uncommon

Equipment:

Berserker Spear - +1 STR/CON/DEX, 25% bonus damage to a higher level target

Black Bracers - +3 STR/CON, 15% damage decrease to slash and pierce attacks

Enchanted Helm - +1 STR

Reinforced Shield - +1 CON

Lizard Boots - +1 DEX, 5% speed bonus when running

Ogre’s Black Tunic - +3 STR/CON/DEX, 10% Magic Resist, 10% Attack Damage

Black Quick Pants - +2 STR/DEX +10% move bonus

Red Cloak - +1 STR/CON

Black Boss Band - 20% Stat increase

Raptor Belt - +2 DEX

*****

He read through his skills and stats.

Putting the loot in his storage, Max turned and moved to the portal. He had one more thing to try.

The dungeon was listed as a level fifteen to twenty group dungeon. It smelled nasty, and Max wasn’t sure why it had to be a graveyard for this one. Tombstones littered the open area, and all around him were large mausoleums and vaults decorating the dungeon.

The zombies he faced were like the ones he had fought during that dungeon break. Slow, stupid, and dead before they knew it. His massive axe was the best weapon for this.

Only fighting when he had to, Max saw the boss portal off in the distance, waiting to be entered.

A group of skeleton archers rose from the ground as he got within fifty yards of the portal. The five of them took time to form, and Max made short work of them as they did. Not one managed to get a shot off before he shattered them completely.

The boss was a zombie with a green mist emanating around it for about five yards. It stood about nine feet tall, and Max had yet to activate it, considering what it was.

Pulling out his notebook, Max read the skills next to it that he had written down.

Can I even consume its skill? What would Rot do?

Grunting to himself, Max put his notes up and took out his spear. Moving forward, he ran and threw it at the boss. Skewering the head, his spear clattering against the stone floor behind it.

It moaned and groaned as it fell forward, twitching on the ground a few times before it stopped moving.

A faint cold wave came over him, and Max grinned, wondering what might come.

[Consume has successfully Consumed a skill]

[ Skill does not match beings body type ]

[ Consume is adjusting skill ]

[Would you like to learn [Festering Touch]?]

[ Yes / No]

Clicking yes, Max felt his body shiver, and the desire to vomit almost became so overwhelming he bent over, prepared for it to happen.

The moment passed, and Max stood up, smacking his mouth as the taste of bile seemed to be there even though he hadn’t vomited.

“About fricking time,” Max muttered to himself.

[Skill Description - Festering Touch]

*****

Festering Touch - Common Skill: This activatable skill requires the user to be touching the target with their bare hands. The skill will inflict a disease-based debuff that will prohibit natural healing and cut all magical healing by 50%. The cooldown on skill is 24 hours.

*****

“Well, at least I know it works… on undead even.”

Moving around the corpse that had yet to disappear, Max found his spear and put it into storage. By the time that was done, the chest had appeared, and he collected his trophy and magical item.

Stretching and groaning, Max called it a day and moved toward the portal.

“So, only one skill,” Tanila whispered as Max stuffed his face with the food Alexander had brought him. “I mean, still, that’s broken, and it has some uses.”

Nodding, Max chewed the bite of meat in his mouth and reached for his tankard.

“Still seems unfair,” Fowl muttered as he twisted his cup in his hands. “Then again, I guess I shouldn’t complain since we are a team.”

Max just grinned, trying to keep his food in his mouth as Batrire grunted in agreement.

“So tomorrow, Fowl tells us, we are going to do the vampire rabbit dungeon?”

Max took a swig of his drink and then sighed after swallowing it.

“Yes. You three need to be level thirty before we start working on the next three dungeons. Also, I am hoping that tomorrow might be beneficial for other reasons.”contemporary romance

Tanila scoffed but nodded, knowing full well what he was implying.

He continued to eat, and Fowl went over the plans for tomorrow. They paused when Alexander walked over, bringing four more tankards.

“I’m glad you appear to have enjoyed tonight's meal,” the man said, motioning to the empty plate before Max. “As promised, I have an extra round of drinks.”

“I, for one, am grateful for these,” Fowl said, taking the one the man had given him and bringing it to his lips.

Alexander laughed and collected the empty tankards. “You all need anything else?”

As everyone shook their heads no, Max motioned for the innkeeper to come closer.

“Can I ask a question that might seem weird?”

Alexander began to laugh and then started to cough. Once he stopped, he motioned for Max to continue.

“Do you know of any newer adventurers who might need some items from the lower dungeons?”

Alexander’s head moved to the side slightly as he cocked an eyebrow at Max. “Do you want to sell gear outside of the adventurer hall?”

Max grinned and shook his head no. “I know you probably don’t get a lot of lower-level adventurers in here based on the price. It helps to weed out some of that. No, I gained some equipment today when checking out the lower dungeons, and I haven’t identified them yet. I would be willing to pass them on if someone knew of a way to give them to lower-level adventurers.”

The innkeeper turned, set the four empty tankards on a table behind him, and then moved back to their boot.

“So you want to give away gear to someone who needs it, not knowing what it has enchantment wise?”

Tanila rolled her eyes and nodded. “Forgive him. He likes to help others. We keep trying to tell him that doing so will only earn him the title of Hero after a few decades.”

Chuckling, Alexander nodded and gave a slight shrug. “I could ask a few of the innkeepers I know that deal with lower level adventurers and see if they might know a couple. Do you want credit for doing this?”

Max shook his head. “Actually, I would prefer not to be known. I can’t promise I will have a lot to give away, as I’m locked out once I do them, but I remember what it was like starting out. Why not help if I can?”

Crossing his arms on his chest, Alexander nodded and looked away at nothing while he thought for a moment.

“Tell you what, I’ll have someone come by tomorrow who I think might be able to help you better than I could. Would the same time at night be good?”

“That sounds perfect.”

After Alexander had left, Fowl gently kicked Max’s shin under the table. “You need to stop doing that, or you’re going to make me look bad with my lady.”

“Please,” Batrire said. “You don’t need any help from him. You do that on your own.”

done.co