Decoy: This skill will draw the attention of an enemy. If used in conjunction with a taunt type of ability, it will cause confusion in the target or targets. Duration: 1 second + .1 second per skill level. Area of Effect: 10’ radius plus .2/foot per skill level. Cost: 1 Teamwork.

  The catch was she didn’t know if Dragos had a taunt ability. Because of that, she wasn’t willing to go all in on this ability, but if he did, then it would be extremely useful. With that in mind, she decided to wait and ask him but save some points. Confusing an opponent for even a few seconds in combat could make all the difference. The fact that it didn’t have a cooldown only made it that much more valuable.

  Now she had some decisions to make. The first was to set aside 40 character points for Decoy. That way if Dragos had a taunt skill, she would be able to produce a 5-second-long confusion effect in an 18-foot radius.

  Mira took a deep breath and dropped 60 points into Mana Regeneration. She hoped that it came with similar perks to her brother’s health regeneration.

  Mana Regeneration: 60 Increases base mana regeneration by a flat amount of 5 x skill level per hour. Current Mana Gain/Hour from this skill:600.

  You have reached Initiate, Apprentice, and Journeyman levels in this skill.

  Initiate Perk: Mana regeneration rate will triple if you are unconscious, asleep, or meditating. Minimum duration of meditation is 10 minutes.

  Apprentice Perk: Skill will have a burst of 50x effectiveness for 1 minute. This perk may only activate 1/hour.

  Journeyman level perk: Base regeneration per level is increased by 100%.

  Mira would have pumped her fist, but she was stuck between zones and couldn’t feel her body. The gamble had paid off as her base mana regen had just almost tripled. Now to add Body to Mind.

  She tried to drop 60 points into it but was frustrated to find out that she could only add 14 because that was what her current Endurance stat was at. That was frustrating, but at least it got her a 140% increase on her mana regen, or 165% if she counted her earring. That now brought it up to 2,345 mana regening per hour.

  It would still take her a little over 30 minutes to regenerate all her mana, so it wasn’t like it solved everything for her. Meditation would reduce that by a third, and with her Apprentice Perk, she would be able to regenerate her full mana in 45 seconds but only once per hour.

  Counting the points she had set aside, this gave her 260 character points to still work with. Everything went more quickly after that. She spent 41 points on Enhanced Spell to allow her to convert her 3rd Tier spells into 4th Tier spells. Then she tried to drop 60 each into Fury Burn and Mage’s Rage but was only able to raise them to level 50. From what she had heard, some skills had level caps. It was just not something she had encountered before now. She also spent the points to raise Quicken Spell and Maximized Spell in order to be able to affect 4th Tier spells. In the end, she was left with 119 character points but felt much better prepared.

  All that was left was to decide which, if any, of the options she wanted to gamble. XP was immediately excluded because she didn’t want to lose a level, and giving up any XP would result in that. Stats was the next obvious choice.

  She had 10 unspent stat points. She wouldn’t miss them since they hadn’t been applied to anything, and if it worked out right, she would end up getting an extra 10 out of this. The question was if there were any of her stats that she could risk losing. Mira wasn’t willing to give up any points in Intelligence or Wisdom because she needed all the spell power she had.

  Constitution was out because she already had limited health. For the same reason, she wasn’t willing to give up any Agility since speed might be the thing that kept her alive here, and Agile Strike turned her agility into extra damage with her whip. She also wouldn’t drop Endurance or Charisma at all for how they might affect some of her new skills. Even Luck at 7 wasn’t something she was willing to risk.

  That only left Strength and Dexterity. She didn’t rely upon either so decided to gamble them both down to 8. This added 9 more stat points to her gamble bringing it up to 19. The thought of getting 19 extra stat points was enough to make her smile.

  Then she looked through her gear. The question was if there was anything that she didn’t need that would be worth gambling. She assumed if she gambled with junk that she would likely only get junk back in return. After looking through the list, she decided it simply wasn’t worth it.

  Skills, on the other hand, were an entirely different matter. She had several skills that she valued greatly but she didn’t think would come in handy during the middle of combat. Well, maybe not several but at least 1. Enchanting was at 50 now. If she could triple that skill level it would make her a grandmaster enchanter. Or maybe it wouldn’t triple. Thinking about it, she would just get a better version of it. Well, that had to be worth something.

  She remembered Hiroto’s advice that she shouldn’t spend character points to increase her enchanting because it would weaken her base. This just felt different, so she gambled Enchanting.

  Since she had already chosen to take the risk, she added Rune Chanting and Earth Minion. The one because she didn’t think it would be useful in here, and the other because despite having chosen it she hadn’t yet had the opportunity to bond with an earth companion. Mira almost forgot because it was a passive skill, but she could add Meta-Enchanter to the gamble. Although before she did, she added 20 more points to Earth Minion. If she was going to gamble, she might as well go big.

  That left only spells for her to gamble. There were plenty of them that she rarely if ever used, and that was back when she was fighting Tier 2 and Tier 3 monsters. Now they would be pointless. Some of them might not even be worthwhile after being upgraded, but it was worth trying.

  She quickly went through the list and selected all her Charm spells. They were all 1st or 2nd Tier, and she simply didn’t have any confidence in their ability to affect things here, even if they were empowered to be Tier 3. That, of course, then made her decide to gamble her Charm Magic Skill. She shook her head at giving up an entire school of magic, but she’d either be dead or she’d win, and then it would get a massive boost.

  Mira also gambled one abjuration spell: Alarm and four conjuration spells: Summon Lesser Mount, Invisible Housekeep, Elementaling, and Gate. The first two because she had no use for them inside the dungeon, Elementaling because she hoped to get an upgraded form of the spell that would give her an Earth-based creature for her to bond with, and Gate she risked because she wouldn’t be able to use it inside the dungeon and it wouldn’t get her home. Apparently, Solun was too far from Eris’ Rise for the spell to work given that it had been one of the first things she tried.

  As for Divination, all those spells might be useful. With Evocation, no matter how much she longed for upgraded versions, the spell cooldowns meant that she had to keep all of them. Hopefully, she could empower them to good effect.

  Now she was ready.

  Mira Stat Sheet

  Name: Miranda Nelson

  Race: Half-Human/Half-Moon Elf

  Age: 19

  Class: Meta-Mage (3rd Tier)

  Level: 37th

  Alignment +1

  Movement: 107

  Stats:

  STRENGTH: 8/13

  DEXTERITY: 8/12

  Ranged Damage: +16%

  Rogue Skills: +16%

  AGILITY: 41 (+30%)

  Movement Rate: +72%

  Defense Rate: +180%

  CONSTITUTION: 48 (+20%)

  Health: 780

  Regen Rate: 6/hour

  Fury: 14.4Regen: 4.8/hour

  ENDURANCE: 14

  Needed Rest: -14%

  Stamina: 4.2Regen: 1.4/hour

  INTELLIGENCE: 108 (+50%)

  Mana: 1380 (1080)

  Spell Damage: +216%

  WISDOM: 19 ( +30%)

  Mana Regen Rate: 2345/hour (+165%)

  Faith: 5.7Regen: 1.9/hour

  CHARISMA: 37 (+10%)

  Social Skills: 74%

  Teamwork: 11.1 Regen: 3.7/hour

  LUCK: 7

  +7% chance to avoid catastrophic effects

  +7% improvement on chance of loot drops

  +7% improvement on quality of loot drops

  Total XP: 25,225XP to Next: 1455

  Unspent Stat Points: 0/10Unspent Character Points: 99

  Traits:

  Reborn

  Airwalker

  Blight Slayer

  Tier 2: +20% Intelligence

  Tier 4: +20% Constitution

  Class Tier 3: +20%

  Skills:

  Generic

  Running and Balance Joint Skill: 384

  Concentration: 11

  Cunning Initiative: 40

  Social

  Speak Language: 16 (common, moon elf, sun elf, Albian, goblin, minotaur, dwarven, celestial, fiendish, centaur, orcish, spiderkin, Faelorian, Miromarian, Draconic, Spice Speak)

  Bluff: 81

  Rogue

  Stealth: 15

  Combat

  Short Blades: 5

  Unarmed Combat: 10

  Whip Proficiency: 60

  Whip Specialization: 60

  Agile Strike: 21

  Craft

  GAMBLED Enchanting: 50

  Fury:

  Fury Burn: 50

  Mage’s Fury: 50

  Stamina:

  Dodge: 1

  Body to Mind: 14

  General Magical

  Mana Regeneration: 60

  Enhance Spell: 41

  Esoteric Senses: 20

  Quicken Spell: 41

  Maximize Spell: 41

  Magic Focus- Evocation: 60

  Magic Focus- Conjuration: 60

  Spell Weaving: 14

  GAMBLED Earth Minion: 60

  Item Focus: 60

  GAMBLED Rune Chanter: 10

  Magical Schools

  Abjuration: 60

  GAMBLED Alarm

  Projection from Projectiles

  Stunning Barrier

  Inferior Banishment

  GAMBLED Charm Magic: 60

  GAMBLED Daze

  GAMBLED Minor Charm Enemy

  GAMBLED Minor Forgetfulness

  GAMBLED Blending Camouflage

  GAMBLED Lesser Mesmerize

  GAMBLED Lesser Fear

  GAMBLED Lesser Irresistible Joke

  GAMBLED Illusion: Minotaur

  GAMBLED Illusion: Giant Spider

  Conjuration Magic: 60

  Minor Webbing

  GAMBLED Summon Basic Mount

  Mage Armor: Chainmail

  GAMBLED Invisible Housekeep

  Conjured Wind Whip

  GAMBLED Gate

  Lesser Earth Elementaling

  Divination Magic: 60

  Identify

  Assess Enemy

  Minor Scan: Secret Doors

  Lesser Telepathic Detection

  Extended Gaze

  Lesser Gauge Defenses

  Objectfax

  Essence Magic: 60

  Minor Bleeding Wound

  Minor Withering

  Minor Heal

  Lesser Heal

  Lesser Regeneration

  Heal

  Evocation: 60

  Minor Electric Shock

  Ice Dagger

  Flame Fan

  Magic Missiles

  Frost Wave

  Lesser Shield Breaker

  Inferior Cone of Cold

  Lightning Bolt

  Class

  Steal Spell: 60

  Shape Spell: 60

  GAMBLED Meta Enchanter: 60

  Gear:

  Lesser Wind Ring

  Ring of Spell Storing (unworn)

  Ring of Epic Health

  Wand of Viscid Globs

  Bridle of the Nightmare

  Drake Thigh Bone Staff

  Robe of Scrying Eye (broken)

  Moon Elf Leathers

  Bracelet of Spell Penetration

  Earring of Mystic Confluence

  Mithril Woven Three Tailed Whip- Mira’s Whip Butt (attached)

  Treant Sap Earring

  Chapter Thirty

  “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” —William Faulkner.

  False Gods’ Fall dungeon- Solun- Mira Nelson

  The instant Mira accepted, she was pulled fully into the dungeon. The air around her felt heavy. She found herself on what appeared to be an open battlefield. The suns were both in the sky, but a gray haze covered it all. More than anything else, what hit her was the feeling of how the mana pressed in on her.

  It was like she was breathing mana rather than air, and all that mana was trying to cut into her. The force screamed at her in a tangible way. A voice sounded off, “Not fallen. Why here?”

  Mira didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t sure that she even would have been able to speak. After a moment, she saw Dragos come running towards her. His eyes seemed to glisten as though he had been crying. He held out his hands and caught her just as she was going to fall.

  “I thought you had either died or decided not to enter the dungeon. I was about to move on.”

  Mira gasped out, “Took longer than I expected.”

  “Never mind that, let me help you. You’ll need all your strength to resist the weight here.”

  She knew what he meant. Her strength was no match for this. She couldn’t even manage to stand. Mira began asking herself why she would have gambled away more than a third of her strength. It had been stupid. It left her too weak to even stand.

  Yet, something in the back of her mind told her this wasn’t accurate. This weight was not merely physical. It was a weight on the soul more than the body. She activated Esoteric Sense and sent out a pulse. Her range was only 1000 feet, but it was enough.

  In that moment of expanded senses, Mira felt the same thing covering every inch of the ground. This wasn’t merely a battlefield, or maybe it had been once upon a time. This was a graveyard. The ground was littered with the bones of tens of thousands. Actually, as Mira struggled to turn her head and look, she saw that the battlefield spread as far as she could see. If it was this large it would have to be the remains of millions of creatures.

  Those remains were ground so finely that they couldn’t even be understood as bones. They were simply dust. It was a field of dust ground from the bones of men and monsters alike.

  The gray aura in the air seemed to grow thicker, and it started to become harder for Mira to see more than fifty feet. She groaned as the pressure on her increased. She knew she needed to do something and do it quickly or she would die. This was too much for her body.

  Yet understanding the nature of this place made a twisted sense to her. Powerful magic had been worked here. The ground was barren not just because of the deaths here but because of the magic that had been worked here. She opened her mind to try and see it through the lens of her ability to detect magic rather than physical eyes.

  There were flashes of color showing all different types of spells, but more than anything, there was death. Not just any death but violent death that had been brought unnecessarily. Mira’s mind was racing trying to understand what she was supposed to take away from this.

  She was still missing too much to understand, but one thing she did know was magic. Mira began to pull at the threads of magic as they came to her. She wrapped them around herself. She had already learned how to turn a mage shield into a weapon. It was much easier when the mana was aimless, and that was exactly the case here.

  Mira didn’t think for a single instant that she could handle all the mana on this battlefield. It was simply too large. Even a portion of the battlefield would have been too much for her if she had to fight for control of the magic that drifted here. These spells had been impossibly complex and showed the hand of many minds upon them.

  They must have been some type of group casting. But those minds were long gone, and the magic wandered without purpose. Only the remnant of the original casting remained. It had been meant to destroy, and even without a hand to direct it, the shredded spells lingering in the air tried to do the same. If a shield could be turned into a weapon though, then why couldn’t a weapon be turned into a shield?

  Mira began shaping magic faster than she had ever done before. All those stat points she had put into Intelligence came into play. She was no smarter, but her mind could process the myriad threads in this shattered weave and react to them faster than any Earthborn human ever could have. She almost lost her focus as she thought about how she should point out to her parents that it had been wise for her to raise her Intelligence this high.

  Even that simple thought caused the pain to rage within her again. The threads of magic started to slip away. Pride was death. Pride in something that she shouldn’t be proud about. It was hard to let go, but she wanted to live. So Mira pushed it away and worked to weave the magic into a framework around her. She just needed it to ease the pressure against her.

  Spell Weaving +1

  Wow, that skill had almost never leveled up. Once again, the stray thought caused her to lose just a little bit of focus, and the weave started to unravel. She couldn’t spare a single bit of her mind. So Mira threw herself entirely into shaping the mana around her.

  Spell Weaving +1

  The notification came again, but she didn’t allow herself to be distracted.

  Spell Weaving +1

  The third time, Mira almost didn’t even notice it. Seconds turned into minutes as she strained herself, but two more notifications popped up.