The Systemic Lands
Chapter 241: Day 529 – There Really Is A Fountain

The level 3 chicken bosses were easily killed. Honestly the dungeon was a nothing burger, except for its horrible location.

The first skill was Force Wall. It appeared like a weaker version of what the light blue gargoyles had been using in my level 3 grinding spot by the tower. That was how the light blue chickens were double jumping.

I would have considered replacing Aqua Sphere, but the issue with the skill, was that it was very weak to energy attacks, other skills. The level 3 light blue chicken was melted through the skill. I thought of the blue gargoyles and never had attacked through their skill.

I had gotten into a rut of working to dodge their attack rather than attack through it. Thinking hard, the few times during grinding my Acid Shot had grazed the Force Wall they used, it didn’t do much, but it pushed my acid out of the way. That hadn’t happened here. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ ɴ0velFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Was there a difference between the two monsters’ skills? I thought about what I had just witness and the blue gargoyles. It was hard to say. The chickens used the Force Wall more for movement and not defense.

The second skill was Nature Cloak. It allowed a person to project the image of native foliage instead of their body. Basically an illusion type skill. That is why those green chickens attacked at the end and all the shrubs on the island. I had noticed them as odd and chicken shaped.

It was an ambush skill, but it could only do so much. I guess that was why it was a level 3 skill, and my Perception was quite high at 300 stat points.

I let Naran have a look. “You want either of them?” I asked.

“No. All yours,” Naran said. I poked the skill crystal and considered my upgrades for the third upgrade for Aqua Sphere. There was multicast, prep and hold, and minor effect. Multicast was pointless. I had that for Acid Shot. I didn’t need multiple Aqua Sphere.

Prep and hold was also pointless. Aqua Sphere was a defensive skill. I had that upgrade for Air Burst which made sense since it was an escape skill. That left minor effect. I picked that and got the same four options I had for Acid Shot.

I had the choice of death, cold, air, and metal. Cold was out, since I didn’t want to freeze my defense. Air was also out, since it I didn’t want to expand it. I wanted a more solid defense. That was also why I skipped death. I chose metal.

“Naran test it with a swing to the side please. Aqua Sphere.” The skill came into being. The water was grayer with a slight glow to it. At least there weren’t chunks. Naran gave it a whack with his sword, but it went through just as easily as it had all the times in the past. I let the skill stop and the water dispersed around me.

“Well, it is doing something, not sure what. We haven’t come across the metal type, but a construct type,” I muttered.

“Are they the same?” Naran asked.

“Clearly not. Since construct type crystals created harder to resist physical damage. This metal type selection, clearly did nothing.”

“That is unfortunate. Let’s get out of here before I gag to death,” Naran said and I nodded at that. We back to the canoe and carefully pushed it back into the foul water. I was in front again.

We went back across the lake as quickly as possible. Good to know there were no monsters in the water. Or if there were, we were too quick for them. That had been the biggest risk about this operation. Small mercies, even if this entire thing was horrible.

Once we got back to shore, we set off clockwise around the lake, since we wanted to be on the North side. We followed the shore of the foul lake until it turned into a foul river. There were chunks resting on the sides of the river. Why?!

We followed the foul river upstream and entered a new zone. Just light blue chickens that were easily killed. The foul river curved to the South and we followed it. It was getting close to evening when we spotted a swamp in the distance. I looked at Naran who let out a sigh.

“Let’s just get this done. I don’t want to smell this shit ever again,” Naran enunciated each word very clearly.

“Alright, Fethee, you head that way and set up camp, we will be along after we take care of the dungeon,” I said.

“Got it Michael,” Fethee set off with Heba in tow towards the East, away from the foul river. Naran and I advanced towards the swamp.

“You think the Almighty System heard the jokes they tell at the comedy club in Purgatory?” I asked Naran as he smashed a light blue chicken with his buster stick.

“Who knows. We know places don’t change after we have seen them. But before that, all this could be in flux. And whoever came up with all this is sadistic,” Naran said. He paused for a moment before continuing. “Also foul. Why chunks!? WHY?!”

I winced at the shouting, but had no good answer. We reached spot just before the swamp, there was a literal fountain gushing out. There were large trees around the spring that were clearly not natural. Acid Shot x6. I targeted three of the trees and they began spinning about and slamming their branches down around them.

That was one pure terror gripped me. A massive chicken burst out from the fountain. Chunks went flying everywhere. Naran and I quickly retreated backwards. “No. You want the skill you get it,” Naran said and walked away. I glanced at him and the very large chicken covered in chunks flying at me.

Acid Shot x6. I backed up as the chicken was hit. The water and chunks poured off, feathers as well. That was when I realized not all the spots were chunks, some were spots. More feathers burst out of the chicken.

It was getting close. That meant nothing. Acid Shot x10. The massive spotted chicken was melted. It was easy enough to finish off the tree monsters since they were ambush monsters. The fountain died down, and the skill crystal was in its place. The problem was there was a pool of foul water and chunks below it.

While it floated in the air and was immovable, the skill crystal was a diamond shape. I would cut up my hand if I grabbed it or stepped on it while trying to support my weight. Then once I made my selection, it would disappeared.

Naran walked back over. “That one, don’t worry. I don’t need to take a look, all yours Michael. All. Yours.” Naran gave me a pat on the back.

“Really?” I glared at Naran and I could tell he was grinning behind his cloth mask. “Screw off. I am going to figure this out. Somehow. Someway,” I muttered. Naran gave me space. It was getting dark. Oh, now I had an idea.

I carefully stripped completely naked, carefully setting my clothes and armor to the side except my cloth mask. I hesitated at the edge of the foulness. Perhaps I should try to make a channel and pull in the swamp water? I shook my head. Time to man up.

Don’t think of the squishing between your toes. Don’t think about the chunks. Don’t think about the smell. Just go. Just go. I quickly raced across the stagnant foul water towards the skill crystal. The chunks came up to my waist.

I touched the skill crystal. The skills were Force Strike which generated a larger physical impact and Feather Layer which generated feathers to intercept attacks. Nope to both. The fourth upgrade options for Aqua Sphere were nullification, persistence, and minor effect.

Minor effect was out since I didn’t like the type options. Persistence was out since I wasn’t sure what it would do. I picked nullification, since the skill was my defense against other skills. “Air Burst. Air Burst.” I flew out of the muck and land outside of the foulness.

I closed my eyes and mouth. Acid Shot. Acid Shot. I kept using the skill over and over as a makeshift shower to melt the foulness off of me. Acid Shot. Since my skills didn’t affect myself, this was the best way. I also moved a bit, so I wasn’t standing in the runoff. Acid Shot.

My cloth mask melted off, but I didn’t care. Once I was finally clean, I slowly went back to my clothes and armor and put them back on. Naran came over. “Smart,” he said.

“Thanks. Now lets get out of here and never come back. This place is the worst,” I said.

“Agreed,” Naran said and we quickly raced away from the foul fountain dungeon towards where Fethee and Heba had gone. We easily found them outside the range of the horrific smells.

I could finally breathe without gagging. I took deep breath after deep breath, trying to cleanse myself of the foulness. “Well that was good Perception training,” I said while Heba served cut up fruits and vegetables for dinner.

“Really? You didn’t tell me?” Naran asked accusingly.

“I talked about this. Perception works by focus. You just have to not focus and the smell isn’t that bad,” I said. Naran was glaring at me. “Oops, sorry” I replied.

“Oops, yeah. Well it was a life experience and it is over. That is the best I can say about the entire ordeal,” Naran replied.

“That I can agree with. Finish going East then North up to the corner, can work out things from there,” I said.

“Sounds like a plan. We should find something,” Naran said.

“Hopefully. My main concern is if it is all level 3 zones, figuring out which way the Ritualist went. He can only hide so long. If he can make it across a level 3 zone, so can we,” I replied.

“Plans if we find a city without the Ritualist?” Naran asked me.

“Assess the situation first. The fact we are going to them implies we are stronger, since we can travel. Still no airships, that is what I really want. To travel in style,” I replied.

“One day,” Naran replied.

“One day,” I echoed him. I was now skill point capped. Any more upgrades would either increase the cost or take me to the next level of the skill. While I really wanted that information, I couldn’t afford a cost increase to Acid Shot.

I was loving the fact that I was able to spam the skill to overwhelm any opponent and still have energy to keep going without concern. Since it didn’t look like I was about to grind level 4 monsters any time soon, there was no reason to upgrade the level of the skill. I would be better served focusing on grinding out level 3 monsters and raking in the points as quickly as possible.

This exploration was going much quicker than I had originally thought. That was the power of having so many stats and upgraded skills. We could just rush the dungeons and overwhelm any opposition. I knew this would happen, and it was nice that my guess was on the mark.

That was the good aspect of having stagnant power levels that didn’t scale. It was a pain at the start when everything was deadly. Now it was breeze. Level 2 zones were easy enough that the main threat was from the foul water and chunks, not the monsters.

Crossing a level 3 zone, was another matter. Going deep would be challenging and there were two types of terrain I really didn’t want to cross. The fact I was spot on about the swamps, solidified in my mind that I shouldn’t rush into a level 3 zone, no matter what.

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