Chapter 49 - 49

Vala turns out to be incredibly skilled with the spear and shield fighting style. She's even got attack skills that send red bolts and arcs of energy out from her spear. The legendary quality spear has a minor bleed effect on it, but against the larger groups it gives a noticeable amount of returned healing.

Misha might have felt her position was threatened, but it's not the level of healing that will replace a cleric in the group. It is enough that she can relax though. The slow damage of the demons aura effects and the few area spells the group faces is mostly covered, so she can focus on healing the Tank Trolls.

They're getting replaced frequently anyhow, as the cripple type debuff is reducing their [HP] cap every time they're hit, but Cain can't keep up with constantly replacing them without taking breaks, so they get some healing, or curse removals and switch out on small groups to keep the problem dispersed.

During their exploration they learn something very valuable. To the summons, Vala counts as an extension of Cain. So she can take half the force off to clear easy groups and command the Golems without Cain being present or in sight. This greatly increases their clear speed, two nearby groups get cleared at once without overcrowding.

It's hard to find a place in the ruins that 6 huge Trolls is a dozen nymphs can fight. Splitting up just makes sense. If the Supporter Cain gets at level 60 has the same ability, they will be able to clear easier areas in three separate groups.

"Vala, circle behind those elite chimera and drive them this way. Once they're trapped they should be easy to finish off." Cain calls out. They were on their way out planning to sort their drops after dinner, but this patrol of elite Chimera caught them. They're incredibly poisonous, so fighting them is a cautious affair.

Misha is casting almost as many cure poison spells as heals, trying to keep the Trolls alive, but it's working. The chimeras are trapped between the two groups, and with their backs turned on one group or the other they're taking huge amounts of damage.

"Good Work everyone." Misha sighs as the last is about to die.

[Level Up]

This level will be enough stored points to bring Cain's CON to the 100 point mark, where STR got a Modifier increase, and Cain is excited to see what happens.

System Novel

[Name] Cain

[Level] 54

[Class] Puppet Master

[Race] Human

[Stats] +30-->0

[STR] 100

[DEX] 45

[CON] 70-->100

[INT] 50

[HP] 280-->800

[MP] 250

That's far beyond his expectations. As he went from 99 to 100 CON, his [HP] went from 396 to 800, the bonus doubling the amount he got per point. Now his constructs will be extra tough. That should be a big relief to the group. Cain decides it will be more fun to let them realize on their own, so he keeps quiet about it for now, but Vala has noticed her HP drastically increasing.

"Congratulations on the Level Up Master!" Vala cheers. "The extra HP from your increase made a big difference, it must have changed your per point Modifier."

It's getting late in the day, and everyone wanted to explore the city, so they carefully head back to the entrance, laughing and telling jokes. Cain isn't sure if Vala is going to activate the skill detection alarm or not, so everyone is prepared to apologize to the guard on duty if necessary.

The rest of the summons are dismissed and they step out into the sunlight, looking at the fading sun in front of them. Much to their relief, no alarms are raised and no extra attention is drawn by their appearance. They do get a fair bit of attention, but that's down to their party members themselves, not anything they've done.

This city, called Sunnybrook by the locals, has a strange but functional layout, it's almost perfectly circular. The outer city, as they call it, has 6 gates. One large main gate and five single wagon sized side gates. The West gate and Northwest Gate have roads that lead straight to the city's two dungeons. The west dungeon, that they just came from, is near the inner city walls. The Northwest dungeon they haven't had time to ask about yet, is said to be near the outer wall, in the slums of the city.

By Cain's reckoning, it's still a pretty decent neighborhood, but to the Elves, it's beyond unacceptable and embarrassing. The further you are from the dungeons, the nicer the homes and businesses become. They came in the Eastern gate yesterday, and their hotel is one of the best in the outer town.

The inner city is fully walled with only one main gate in the east wall, which also holds the largest outer gate. It is the city's Noble district, unless you've got a title, you'll be stopped at the inner city gate and turned away. In the case the war with the Ogres breaches the outer city, this gives the Nobles a second line of defense.

The shopping and market district makes a full circle around the inner wall, with random stores scattered elsewhere in the city for convenience or practicality. Most of the crafting is done on the West side by the dungeons, keeping all the noise, smells and soot contained, but leading to the neighborhood's poor reputation.

There are a number of blacksmiths and tailors to repair gear in the area around the west dungeon, plus food stands. Most are little better than carts, just tiny restaurant stands with a half dozen chairs lined up along a counter, but the food is pretty good. Cain leads everyone to the smell of a noodle stand and they plan their excursion.

A blacksmith and Bowyer are a must. Both for upgrades and to unload drops. They get a crazy number of high rarity items, but ones that actually have useful stats for their party members are few and far between. There seems to be no rhyme or reason what bonuses and stats appear on what items. That didn't make the others any less valuable to those with worse luck in the dungeons though.

Cain could use a new bow and sword, and Char wants a Warhammer. But first, they need to sort out any upgrades they might have gotten. Most of it is no better than what they're wearing, but a single set of plate gloves that Mythryll got grabs her attention.

"Increases self healing by 10 points. And you self heal a little with every strike, so these might be much better for you. They've even got some damage reduction on them." The Elf says, still looking over the description as she passes them to Vala.. When worn they look identical to the others, perhaps it's an oddity to the Summon that they only get one appearance for plate armor? The whims of the system are beyond any of their understanding.