NOVEL NEXT Chapter 51: Skill Upgrades
"Congratulations User, for defeating a Sub-Boss. Please select a reward. Options available will be based on performance."
The mechanical voice sounded inside of all of their minds. 'Ah, this is a nice boon. There was no way the others could have proceeded with their current abilities.' Geth was a bit worried about the final Boss as well.
He walked over and cast Restoration on the sleeping Hattis before going back to the boss room. His wounds were already mostly scabbed over.
Geth had gained a majority of the experience. The amount of experience was much more than expected, instantly Leveling him twice! As usual, Albus had an answer before he had time to think of a question.
:The enemy was a much higher Level than you. You may not have noticed against the Hobgoblins before, but you gained increased experience from their Levels.
Goblin Gourmand was 4 Levels above you, so you gained its usual experience of 3500, x1 per Level above you. Therefore, you gained 12,400 experience x80% for the last blow and put in a majority of the effort.
The total gained was 9,920 experience:
'Well, well, a thesaurus and a floating calculator.' Geth thought.
:Ha. Ha:
Geth chuckled at Albus, and then his attention was drawn by the enormity of the Mana Core he could see inside of the big guy. 'Man, this is going to be fucking gross.'
The core was in the center of its stomach, likely the reason for its suction ability. He pulled two of the rustiest blades from his Inventory Satchel and started hacking his way in.
Everyone else was busy claiming their rewards. It took a few minutes, but eventually, he had dug out enough fat to reach the stomach. He stabbed one of his swords into it, ripping it open.
Everyone in the room began retching including Geth, the smell was vile. The core looked like it was floating in a large sack that had formed into its stomach liner.
Holding his breath, he ripped out the football-sized core. As he did so, a similarly sized wooden chest fell out from the sack.
'What a strange way to give rewards.' He thought as he reluctantly reached into the stomach contents to retrieve the chest.
Retreating far from the grotesque corpse, Geth began pouring water over himself from his canteens. Once he could stand to breathe again, he looked towards his Attributes and the other rewards.
Geth distributed his Attribute points earned evenly between Defense and Wisdom, putting three in each. He didn't intend to change his routine.
Next, he asked Albus to flip over to page 2.
:Congratulations User, for defeating a Sub-Boss. Please select a reward.
Note: User had the highest contribution, and creature Level was higher than User. Options adjusted to match feats.
Option 1: 1 TP, 2 SP, 1 random piece of Rare equipment
Option 2: 2 TP, 3 SP:
'That 3 SP can upgrade Restoration, Inspection, or State Change. At the same time, having another piece of Rare equipment could be useful.' Geth pondered about it for a while before making a decision.
'Albus, let's go with Option 2 this time.' He thought. After thinking about it, he decided that the SP would currently be more useful for clearing this Dungeon. After all, if the Sub-Boss was Level 25, the Boss could be 30 or higher.
It was quite difficult for him to decide which Skill to upgrade. All three Skills were extremely useful, but he only had enough points for one.
He was quite reluctant in doing so, but he decided to upgrade Restoration. He had originally wanted to upgrade State Change, thinking he could start using it to cause damage.
After quite a bit of hesitation, he rejected the idea. The party currently had enough DPS, what they needed were more defensive measures.
When he checked the new effects of the spell, he no longer had any qualms about his decision.
:Restoration (100 MP); casts an aura around the target that heals wounds over time. Heals on the initial cast and once every 3 seconds until the end of the duration.
Additional Effect: Target receives Barrier for % of caster's max HP. Barrier lasts the duration of Restoration, or until broken.
Duration = 30 seconds + (WIS x 0.4) [53]
Healing = 10 + (INT x 0.25) + (HP x 2.5%) [40]
Barrier = 2.5% of caster's max HP [25]:
Geth was delighted. The barrier could tank the brunt of a hit, but more importantly, it would grow with him. It couldn't do much right now, but he would eventually build up an excessive amount of HP.
On top of that, his heals would now 'tick' 18 times. Healing for a total of 720 HP throughout the duration of the spell.
He walked over to cast the spell on Harris to see the new effect. Along with the usual wisps of bright light, a very thin and hard-to-see translucent film covered his body.
The wounds on his legs began healing far faster than before. Instead of scabbing over, Geth watched as skin seemed to grow and stretch directly from his muscle.
Shortly after the process began new, slimy, pale skin had completely regrown on the man's legs. The new rate of recovery was extraordinary!
Harris' pale complexion had died down and blood was returning to his face. 'It shouldn't be long until he wakes up thanks to that.' Geth thought. Farris had fallen asleep beside him and hadn't witnessed it.
He shook his head at the pair again. They were sitting in a small tunnel, who knew whether or not regular Goblins were still running around here.
Letting out an exasperated sigh, he turned towards the last reward. This was the box that had fallen from the Goblin Gourmand's stomach.
A slight shiver ran through him at the thought of how he'd obtained it. Geth hoped that he wouldn't have to do something so grotesque again. The latch came loose as he gently lifted the lid.