Inflame (The Completionist Chronicles Book 6), Dakota Krout [free novels to read TXT] 📗

flinched to the side and almost fell over at the unexpected voice. His eyes shot to the area he had fired his spell, and he found a bearded Dwarf covered in a rime of frost.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t know anyone else could survive in here…” Joe rushed over to help the Dwarf, but as he got closer, he began noticing that large chunks of its body were missing. “You… aren’t alive, are you? Intrusive Scan.”

Name: Zombified Dwarf.

That was all Joe needed to see. He re-cast Cone of Cold, which set off the new bonus to Retaliation of Shadows for the first time. A shadowy version of himself appeared just as he began casting and followed his motions exactly. The regular spell, and the secondary spell hit at the same time.

Damage dealt: 112 (168 cold damage resisted). Zombified Dwarf is Brittle!

“It’s dead; of course it’s resistant to the cold.” Joe sighed as he tried to decide what spell to use next. On the positive side, being brittle had made the zombie very slow, since its body was frozen stiff. That gave him a few extra moments to decide how he should handle the situation. If a Dwarf as a zombie was anything like a living Dwarf, it had a massive amount of health that he would need to whittle down. Cone of Cold was simply not going to do it, not when the vast majority of the damage dealt was flat-out ignored. “What was that… sixty percent cold resistance?”

He started going through his spell list, searching for anything that he could use to destroy the creature without potentially blowing himself up. He briefly considered using Acid Spray, but he had a test that he wanted to run after the Dwarf was defeated. Looking up, he oriented himself by inspecting the pipes that were just barely visible on the ceiling. He had discovered earlier that a pipe would be open at the exact center of each section in the landfill.

Damage taken: 1,400!

Exquisite Shell: 946/2,346

Though his body did not take any damage directly, Joe went sailing away from the massive haymaker that he had just taken to the face. He was moving so fast that one of the section barriers blocked his movement, and he stopped as painfully as if he had hit a wall. Two hundred more points of damage came off his shield, and the zombie was already almost on him by the time he got back to his feet. “Enough of that!”

He stepped through the barrier and cast Dark Lightning Strike on the zombie, happy that he no longer needed to drop the spell on his own head to use it. The lightning hit, followed by the expected methane explosion. It was nowhere near as violent as the original mix of hydrogen and methane had been, but it still cooked the Zombie Dwarf for eight hundred damage. The blast also sent the Dwarf flying… directly at Joe.

Joe jumped back, but he needn't have worried. The undead hit the barrier and crumpled just as he had done, sliding down to the ground where Joe blasted with a Cone of Cold, and again, until he saw that the brittle status had come into effect again. “Just die again, abyss it!”

“Corify! Dark Lightning Strike! Cone of Cold!” Joe sent spell after spell at the Dwarf until it finally stayed down. He stood over the corpse, panting for breath and waiting for his Mana to regenerate. It didn't take long. Joe reached out and attempted to reduce the zombie’s corpse. He wasn't certain if it was going to work at first, but then mana blasted out of him and drained him dry over the next three seconds. Neutrality Aura went down, as did his Exquisite Shell. The body didn't fully disappear, but it did break apart into large chunks after his Mana had faltered. A few notifications appeared, as well as a quest alert that made him cringe.

Experience gained: 1,215.

You have gained a Special aspect: Zombified!

New aspect crafting tutorial available: ‘Special’ Aspects.

Quest alert: Dead and Dumped (Unique). Someone in the city above has been shirking their duties in proper disposal of corpses and has been tossing them into the landfill instead. It is unknown how long this has been going on for, but the restless dead have become a serious threat in the underground. Find a way to destroy all of them and stop more from being dumped. Reward: variable. Failure: a potential Dwarven Zombie outbreak right in the capital city of the Dwarves. This will give a huge advantage to the Elven nation.

“That’s just… great.” Joe looked eagerly at the new tutorial, only pausing for a moment to see the cost. “Five hundred reputation with Tatum? Is this because the system is giving me knowledge, instead of me seeking it out myself?”

Reputation increase: Tatum +50.

“That’s clear enough.” Joe shrugged and took the offer anyway, pausing only to reactivate Neutrality Aura when he had enough Mana. The debuffs he had accumulated in the last few seconds started to vanish, and another notification appeared.

Thanks for your purchase! Current reputation with Tatum: 3,542 (Friend).

Starting tutorial now!

Once more, Joe found himself in a misty world, but this time, a green flame coalesced in front of him. He waited for more instruction before trying anything or reaching out for it. The system seemed to approve of that and launched into an explanation as soon as he settled in to wait.

Special aspects are just that! Special! They are a… flavor of magic that has been added to something, which can be found in certain types of crafting material. They are often—but not always—found in Unique items. Special aspects can change the function of a craft, just like adding modifiers in normal crafting. As an example, consider the effects of adding alchemic or enchanted components to a ritual.

You can have access to up to five different Special aspects no matter how many containers you have for them. If you want a sixth, you must release or use one of