"Sir. You're here... Again." Horace commented as he sat down.
"Well of course. I fully expected you'd die on this floor. Though looking at how you got such monstrous proficiencies. Hells I didn't see a guy with Mana Purification your age, ever. How did you even get it?" The older man questioned as he pulled out a black cloth and handed it to him. "For your sword."
Horace took it, shaking his head. "Well considering you won't remember this, a regression ago I got the Arcane Swordsman class and learned it."
"Wow. You actually stole a passive skill. Interesting." He grinned. "Well anywho. That isn't the only reason I am here. I talked to White Pup about you. He came to the Ark cause of some other stuff with Teacher and I wanted to entertain him while he waits. He was ecstatic and offered something - a bet if you will. If you beat the next two floors, up to floor eight, I will hand you a special item that will allow you to get some special goody once you inevitably die on floors nine or ten. Just in all fairness I bet against you, cause I trust you won't make it through floor eight. But as an honourable man I came to inform you of this." He must have been grinning as he disappeared.
"Wow. So I managed to catch the attention of a big shot." Horace shivered as he checked his notifications.
You have earned 147,500 XP by defeating multiple enemies with a significantly higher level than yourself.
You have gained [Basic Proficiency in Manakinesis]
Your Intelligence has increased by 2 points]
[Horace Smith, Level 12, Blade Dancer]
Experience: 149,600 / 405,600
Mana: 175/175
Strength: 22
Agility: 26
Endurance: 22
Intelligence: 35 → 37
Perception: 18
Unique Skill: Time Dragon's Blessing
Upon death, regress to the earliest possible time in the realm the blessed one occupied at the moment of death, retaining 50% of stats and non-unique skills while keeping other benefits such as proficiencies.
Proficiencies
Bastard Sword [Basic]
Mana Manipulation [Basic]
Mana Enchantment [Minor]
Mana Detonation [Minor]
Manakinesis [Minor]
Mana Corruption [Minor]
Skills
Arcane Enchantment [Passive] - Any sword wielded by the user becomes automatically enchanted with Arcane Mana, leaving traces of it on enemies struck. Consumes Mana based on the amount of traces left behind.
Manakinesis [Passive] - Allows the user to manipulate their mana even outside of their body.
Lingering Mana [Passive] - User's residual Mana lingers in a state of inertia once it leaves their body.
Arcane Explosion [Active] - Detonates Arcane Mana outside the user's body.
Blade Dance [Active] - Consumes 50 Mana. For the next Minute, residual Mana whirs around the user and strikes out.
En Pointe [Active] - Consumes 30 Mana. Focuses Mana on the top of the sword before blasting it forward or to the side.
"And the boons keep coming." He grinned, before picking himself up, only to realize he still had the black cloth in his hands. "Damn." He mumbled and cleaned his sword of the dust before he stuffed it into his pocket. "Well. I might as well see what the next two floors hold."
Stepping into the floor he sighed as he saw them. "Of course. Why wouldn't the Architect make these guys." He cursed as he looked at the gathering of twelve Lizardfolk. Thankfully they weren't the elite kind. But once again - they might as well be.
[Abyssal Lizardfolk, Level 45]
Thankfully Lizardfolk are as well known as possible, after all humans have fought them for hundreds of years already. They are, for a lack of a better term, savages. They barely use magic and even those that do, do it only thanks to mana siphoned from Tritons. The reason they still gave humans such a rough time before Gaia's blessing was their monstrous strength and the blessing of their god, the Savage One.
"Okay. Here goes nothing." He breathed out, pushing mana into the sword and rushed forward, slashing his sword the moment he left the protection, activating his skills yet again.
This time En Pointe didn't explode out but rather followed the blade's tip, creating a thin line of mana that flowed out. Additionally he made the mana from his sword follow the lesson Chromatic Strike showed him before, creating two half-moon slashes that soon met the first line of Lizardfolk.
He saw it cut small lines into their bodies, before they all slashed at the second line. Horace didn't hide his grin as he snapped his fingers, exploding the mana.
Horace continued even as four of them disappeared. He used his plentiful mana to create even more powerful mana around his blade, hearing dings in his head, before stabbing it into the ground.
The tip of the sword slammed down into the ground and he noticed how cracks appeared in the ground, before exploding out like spikes, a manic grin on Horace's face, as he pierced the next wave of Lizardfolk.
"Last four, c'mon!" He growled to himself as he felt En Pointe's cooldown end. He grinned wider as he stabbed at the closest Lizardfolk, aiming at its head. It crumbled before he even lowered his sword and dashed forward, ducking under the second Lizardfolk's axe before twisting and driving a pure bolt of corrupted mana that he formed on his right hand.
12 v 1 became 2 v 1 in seconds. He turned, facing the two of them, glaring before they charged. They certainly weren't as stupid as the goblin as they tried to flank him. But Horace didn't allow them, as he used the remaining mana to create footholds, vaulting over the one on his left and behind it. He stabbed his sword down, letting Blade Dance and his bastard sword pierce through its head.
He whirled around just as the other Lizardfolk came to him. He parried a hit from its spear, before stabbing at it, focusing En Pointe one last time.
He breathed heavily as he saw its name disappear and body thud against the floor.