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Chapter 607
🕑 Added 2025-12-13 03:44:15 +0000 UTCNow that the fight was over Ajax had many other things he needed to focus on. First and foremost was the fact that he could now use [Spell Direction]. But also on how to deal with any of the stronger possible Aztec legends that he might find on the floor now considering that it was over level on hundred and the creatures could become more complex.
“I hope the floor boss doesn’t end up being something Aztec.” Ajax whispered to himself though he did feel a bit better knowing the floor theme had little to do with the floor boss. It was very possible however for the floor boss to line up well enough with the theme so it would get a big boost in power.
Ignoring the floor for a moment now that he was out of danger Ajax took another long look at his new arm. “What am I going to do with you?” Ajax muttered under his breath. It was clear that the new werewolf arm had some clear advantages over his old one. At the same time some disadvantages were also clear.
“Is lycanthropy a curse or a disease?” Ajax couldn’t help but wonder if there were stories of both, even a few more modern ones that saw it as a possible gift but he chose to ignore those teen drama centered takes. “And the bigger question, do I want to get rid of the arm right now if I could or do I want to keep it for a bit?”
One thing Ajax was sure of was that he for sure wanted to get his old arm back, all of the training he put in went out the window. At the same time he couldn’t deny that there were some clear advantages that he might want to study.
“Still no signs of it spreading.” Ajax careful used one of his alchemy pigments to mark the exact point at which the change happened, that way he would have a reference point to ensure it wasn’t slowly spreading.
With the precautions taken Ajax ran some Mana through his arm one more time and now that he was focusing on it he could actually feel the difference. Mana traveled so much more efficiently through his left arm now. More than that, instead of traveling as an even wave it was easy to see how he would instinctively shift the Mana based on what he felt as it traveled that allowed his arm to smoothly start flowing into the motion required for [Spell Direction].
“I can even do this when I have a weapon in my hand.” Ajax’s voice got a little louder in his excitement. He quickly took out his axe and tried to swing it while at the same time using [Mana Augmentation] and [Spell Direction]. The power of the spell was clearly much stronger than usual but Ajax almost dropped the axe before the blow made contact let alone actually hitting the spot he was aiming for.
“Right, what was I thinking.” Ajax was slightly disappointed in himself as he swapped over to his other arm. Instead of starting off with trying the swing Ajax started trying by only trying to cast using [Spell Direction]. His first attempt wasn’t a success and it was barely better than what he had been doing before but now that he had the Skill as well as gotten to feel what getting it right felt like he knew where he went wrong.
It took ten more tries before he got it right and he was sure that this would mean a lot of extra training as he learned how to implement all of the movements for each different Mana affinity into his strikes. The increase in strength however would be well worth the months even years of training that awaited him.
A few quick jumps took Ajax above the treeline where he could get a look at his surroundings and what he didn’t like what he saw. From the looks of things the floor was smaller than others of its level he had seen before, this meant that there was at least one if not two different underground caverns to explore that most likely he would need to clear.
The more important thing that had Ajax on his guard was the massive ziggurat he had seen in the distance. He was pretty sure that was where the entrance to the underground awaited him and he was also pretty sure that was where the humanoids would be much more closely packed. He definitely wanted to avoid a repeat of the scenario on the previous floor where he caused the entire floor to attack him at once.
If there was one upside to this floor it was the prevalence of reagents for his alchemy. This tropical forest, gloomy as it was, was home to a number of very potent plants that Ajax was sure he could turn into poison, explosive and maybe even a strong acid, all of which would be very useful in his fight inside close quarters that he was sure he would find in the ziggurat.
The next three days Ajax spent in a repeating cycle of scouring the forest and killing any of the animals he found around the small bodies of water as well as the small group of humanoids that were wandering around the forest, and collecting the plants he found in his search as well processing them as best he could.
Ajax could feel that he was pushing his [Alchemy] Skill. The plants he was working with were all diverse enough that he didn’t need to use any of his own supplies to be able to substitute some ingredients for the recipes he knew. This meant that all of his supplies were filled with levels of one hundred and twenty Mana density. His yield suffered in turn, being forced to work with the recipes that yielded one to three doses per batch as opposed to the twenty batches at a time he was pushing on the second floor of the dungeon.
The combat had also started to worry Ajax more and more. It wasn’t the animals he was worried about however, it was the humanoids. It appeared that he might have been a little rash in jumping to conclusions about this being an Aztec themed floor. From the looks of it he was dealing with something much worse, a cult.
One could argue that Aztecs were also a form of a cult and they’d be right but there were a few key differences that made a cult theme floor much worse than an Aztec one. Weapons available was a big thing, while Aztecs were limited to odd old weapons made of bone and rock Ajax found that the cultists had access to a variety of other weapons besides those.
The main thing Ajax was worried about however was what kind of cult he was dealing with. “Please let it be cannibals.” Ajax could barely believe what he was saying as he pushed [Mana Syphon] against the exit arch in a hope of getting a clue on what kind of cult it was, unfortunately he couldn’t sense anything more than he did when he first entered the floor. As for the reason Ajax was hoping he was dealing with cannibals, he had found bone implements to be a staple in the groups he had come upon, this narrowed the choices down a lot, the most obvious being cannibals or undead. And Ajax really didn’t want to deal with the undead.
Ajax hopes were dashed on the fourth day when he attacked a slightly larger group close to the ziggurat. What he had initially thought to be only a group of six turned out to only be a group of four with two skeletons joining them. Ajax found this out as he stabbed one of the skeletons through the eye socket with his sword only for it to be unfazed as it made to grab him.
Ajax wasted no time in switching tactics to using Holy Mana. While Undead was a Legendary Mana type Holy was still a good option against the undead creations though it wouldn’t as useful against something like a lich that powered itself through Undead Mana.
The fight against the group of six turned out worse than Ajax had expected it would considering the ambush he had sprung on them. A big reason as to why was that [Mana Syphon] was less useful than before. The necromancer that controlled the skeletons was actively casting with Undead Mana, something that Ajax only tried something for a fraction of a second before he felt violently ill as a small potion was fueled into his Mana pool.
The shock from the Undead Mana was so big Ajax had taken a large number of hits during his moment of weakness making it so that he went down to under half his health by the time he managed to clean up the group. Everything got a lot easier once he took out the necromancer and the skeletons fell into heaps of bones.
The one upside to the harsh fights he was constantly taking on this floor on top of his numerous alchemical failures was that with the extreme increase in difficulty came a corresponding increase in experience. In the four days he had been on the floor Ajax had already gained about the same amount of experience he had gained on the third floor of the dungeon despite being in much less danger.
Comments
John Scott
He could always test if the arm is cursed and use holy mana on himself......wait his use of holy mana might indicate that the arm is indeed not cursed.
Johnny Spriggs
How many books are you planning on writing?
Andrew Heys
I'm kind of hoping he bonds with a dragon and the elemental hawk offers to bond with lexi once she becomes ascended. obviously it would need to be informed about her from ajax. I think lexi would be a better fit for an elemental hawk, especially with all her affinities...
MillionLittleE
Imagine a life floor boss on an undead floor or the opposite.
Corwin
Hmm should Ajax lose his werewolf arm in the boss fight...oh that would be funny. And the elemental hawk could teach him how to fix his arm
Arrogant Savant
Undeath Cult with a variety of surrounding terrain sounds like the best case scenario when encountering an undeath floor, the smell isn't as bad for one. In regards to Ajax making a "3rd path" I feel that the best option in that regard is for him to train a disciple from the ground up and have them spread it, acting as a mysterious grandmaster for the entire thing. Also you know Keleros is going to hold showing the status window hostage for as long as possible with how much of an extended "improvement arc" this is. I don't imagine we'll see it until after he deals with the sidhe outside.
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the chapter.
Some Guy
Thanks for the chapter
userunfriendly
TFTC! 🐶 It was very possible however for the floor boss to line up well enough with the theme so it would get a big boost in power. Oh no...😱 The increase in strength however would be well worth the months even years of training that awaited him. Seriously...Ajax is a thug. He gets most excited about hitting things with his new, quite revolutionary skill, despite the effect it will have in Gryndor for a THIRD path for mages. 🙄🙄(besides chanted and runic) I'm getting tired of calling it...Undead mana used by the spellcasters. Seriously...that's going to be extremely difficult, as Ajax doesn't dare use Mana siphon on them to weaken their spells. Now, why hasn't Ajax checked his Status page to see what information there is available on Spell Direction?! Seriously, Ajax... An Undead cult...that's just going to suck...thankfully the werewolf turning seems to have limited itself to his arm...most likely amputation and regrowth should restore his arm...unless Keleros is feeling particularly evil. 😈
brennon Petersen
Tftc!
Melissa
Thanks so much for the chapter! Only wish it was longer 😝
