Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL]
2.44 Sky Island Dungeon IV

“What’s there to discuss?” Kristil says. “We take nothing and we get the hell out of here as soon as possible. The quicker we get done with this nightmarish place, the better, and I’m not keen on another ice bath courtesy of Miss Sprays-A-Lot over here.”

“Would you like me to warm you up? I can Manifest a–”

“No you will not do any such thing!” Kristil says, cutting me off. “I–” She sighs and trails off.

I can understand her frustration. My [Glyphcasting] is erratic, ad hoc, prone to inelegance, waste, backfiring, and all sorts of other issues I attribute as much to my inexperience as to the crude methods behind my merger of magic and Ethertech. In contrast, Kristil’s System-designed and imbued spells are designed by an intelligence far beyond mine, boasting perfect efficiency, predictability, and control over their shape and output.

But that’s not what a [Planetouched Mechanist] is. That’s not who I am.

“Alright,” Lindsey says. “Kristil, there will be time for debriefing and after-action analysis shortly. For now, we need to keep our focus on the task at hand.”

“Grr…” Kristil sighs. “Fine.”

“So what do we do about the chests?” Chloe asks. “If Sera and Lindsey are right, we’ll have to fight more monsters if we take more treasures. We should at least consider what happens if we don’t take any.”

“I’m on board with that, especially if we don’t have to deal with our supposed allies freezing us half to death!” Kristil shouts.

“Kristil!” Lindsey says. “That is quite enough! I understand that you are a civilian. I understand that you don’t have a soldier’s training and that you’re motivated to get revenge for your sister. I understand your frustration with how Sera’s spells work or sometimes don’t. And you know what else?”

“What?” Kristil says.

“That arm of hers. Froze it off casting a spell just like the one she used a few minutes ago. She knows the risks involved with what she’s doing. When she came to after that fight, I was worried she’d want to go home, settle back into civilian life as a hero. But she just kept pushing forward. She keeps moving forward even now. And if she lost her other arm, she’d be working on rebuilding it the next day so she can get right back out here.”

I don’t know how I feel about the compliment made about me right in front of my face. At least, I think it’s a compliment and I’m going to treat it as such. Truth is, Lindsey is right. Fighting out here, developing both my latent power and enhancing my System-granted power? Building Ethertech and advancing my knowledge of glyphs and [Glyphcasting]? I was created to do exactly that. That drive is a part of me, as much as my own blood and flesh.

Kristil shakes her head. “You’re right. Throwing a pity party isn’t going to bring Caroline back, and it isn’t going to bring us any closer to seeing her killers brought to justice. But there’s still the question of what to do with the treasures.”

“One thing I noticed about the curse is that the System says that the penalties stack multiplicatively as we accept multiple instances of it,” I say. “Which means we’ll have 81% strength, then 72.9%, then 65.61% and so forth for two, three, and four instances.”

“We’re not seriously going to get cursed four times, are we?” Kristil glares at me, making clear that her enmity toward me hasn’t fully subsided. “I felt like shit after just one!”

“Probably not a good idea,” I say. “But it should weigh into our decisions. Is it better to have one person with multiple curses, or have us each take a single one?”

“I’ll pass,” Lindsey says. “I’ve got the highest level and stats of anyone here. I’m also the only one who’s crossed the Level 32 threshold, unless Sera’s not telling me something.”

“Still a few away,” I say.

“In any case, based on Sera’s statement, we’ll suffer the largest absolute penalty in our overall fighting prowess if I end up taking a curse.”

“I think Chloe and Kristil should take their items while Lindsey and I abstain,” I say. “Kristil is the lowest level of us, meaning the exact same argument Lindsey said about herself should still apply, only with the opposite conclusion in this case. And I’ve got the potential to make my own gear, so I’m less reliant on System gear than you three are.”

“Plus, we’ll get immediate benefits from any new spells we might learn.”

Kristil hesitates for a moment before nodding. She and Chloe head to their respective boxes and open them, succumbing to the curses as they do. I rush over to comfort Chloe, who looks ashen as the curse takes effect. But she only smiles at seeing my concern and takes my offered hand, squeezing it gently as her body acclimates to the diminishment of her stats.

“That was… unpleasant,” she says.

This gets me to laugh. “It is. You also get used to it surprisingly quickly.”

About as quickly as our bodies adjust to the surge of new strength that accompanies gaining a level or a Skill rank or the free stat points that come along with maximizing a Skill rank. Speaking of, [Glyphcasting] has more than ten ranks to learn; I’m disappointed, but not at all surprised. Actually, after how imprecise my last spell was, I think I would almost be more disappointed if that were the fullest extent of what the discipline offered. Should be entire classes devoted to the practice. Maybe not any classes that start at level 1, but that original pop-up said ‘first’ class, and Level 32 isn’t that far away, so… Here’s to hoping.

To my shock, neither Chloe nor Kristil gets a spellbook for their trouble. Instead, it’s clothes. A heavy white robe decorated with pieces of emerald for Chloe, and a glossy violet dress for Kristil. Hers is studded with alternating rubies and blue sapphires, and though I would have initially expected it to be completely gauche based solely on that description, it somehow defies common sense to be fashionable.

Then again, I thought the [Bandana of Swiftness] wasn’t too gaudy until Chloe told me that yes, it actually was. So maybe I should just keep my lack of fashion sense to myself. That saying about ‘staying silent and being thought a fool’ springs to mind.

Chloe gives me a coy wink as she stands right in front of me, using my body as a makeshift curtain while she changes outfits. I swear she pauses for a good two seconds after she finishes stripping, daring me to look at her. And, despite my better judgement, despite my willpower to look away, I look. And she’s beautiful, in a cute way. Beautiful enough that I have to wonder what she sees in me, when she could have pretty much anyone she wants.

She slips her new robes on, fastening them and tying the various loose ends together as the robes stretch and shrink to accommodate her exact body shape. They somehow strike a perfect balance of graceful yet modest elegance, perfectly covering Chloe’s body while fitting just snugly enough to hint at what lies beneath. My heart can’t help but skip a beat as Chloe walks up to me and plants a kiss upon my lips before grabbing my hand and dragging me toward the other two.

Kristil’s dress is somewhat more revealing, to the point where I have to wonder if that’s Kristil’s actual preference or just the System deciding that that’s what female mages’ armor ought to look like based on the depictions in our fantasy fiction. These bosses, like Oneiros before, have been named for ancient deities and mythological creatures. The conjecture seems plausible, at least.

In either case, it’s a dark violet dress with a low but not too low neckline that tapers into a shorts bottom ending just above the knee. She’s also now wearing a pair of flat boots that come up to the top of her calves, leaving only the area right around her kneecap exposed. Coupled with the [Spellcaster’s Hat] Chloe gave her before, she really does look the part of an enchanting witch. And she’s grinning menacingly, and right at me.

“Fire and Ice resistance with this outfit,” she says. “Coupled with my innate Lightning resistance from my class, I shouldn’t have to worry the next time you decide to go ballistic with your shoddy excuse for magic.”

I brush the slight aside. Finesse I lack, substituting power instead.

“Are we all ready to go?” Lindsey asks. “Has everyone had enough time to regenerate their [Ether]? Does anyone need Chloe to top off their [Health] or cure any status conditions that her magic is capable of alleviating?”

I do a quick look over:

[Level: 28; Experience: 194,195; To Next: 6,685]

[Current Stats: [Health]: 2,479 / 2,481 (2,757) ; [Ether]: 1,245 / 1,598 (1,775)]

“Health is good,” I say. “Ideally, I’d need another twenty minutes or so to get my [Ether] back to maximum.”

Chloe takes my hand in both of hers and uses her [Etheric Infusion] skill to channel her [Ether] directly into my body. With both of us now having [Intermediate Ether Manipulation], the transfer speed and efficiency of the Skill has increased substantially. Scarcely five minutes passes before my [Ether] core is full-to-bursting. Perhaps I should try overfilling it, compressing it further with my manipulation Skill and try to rank the Skill up that way? A good idea, but not while we’re here in the dungeon.

With nothing left to do and my [Health] now topped off as well, we head into the passageway that appeared after the battle concluded. This one is darker than the last few, as though anyone who’s survived to this point is going to be scared of the dark. I flicker on my [Ethersight] as I take the lead, Chloe right behind me with her glowing golden eyes to match mine of teal.

Another trap, this time darts fired from blowguns which emerge out of the sides of the walls. I can’t help but wonder if this is a particular taunt directed at me after having used such a weapon for so long. But its projectiles of choice— poison tipped needles made of iron or some similarly common metal— pale in comparison to the [Ether Bullets] I’ve been using for months now. No [Trick Shot] to empower them, no explosive impact, no glyphs to modify their attributes or allow their speed to overcome air resistance. Just ordinary darts. Kristil might have said that my [Glyphcasting] lacks finesse, but I won’t brook such insults about my [Mechanical Arm Cannon].

I rub the alloyed-plating of my finest piece of Ethertech, which is starting to feel more and more like a part of my body than a simple prosthetic. And that makes me giddy with excitement as I think about how I can engineer myself further. How I can one day reclaim the body that I ought to have always had. My lips curl upward into a smile, imagining pushing against and then thrashing through the limits of biology, System-augmented or no.

We emerge into the next chamber to find a room much like the room where we fought the first monster. Only this floor’s monster is different. Another winged humanoid, though instead of wings like those of a bird, this creature’s are like a bat’s. Or a demon’s.

It’s a bit smaller than the Spawn of Pazuzu. Its face is like that of a bull, two large horns protruding from its temples, curving upward toward the sky. It has four arms, each as thick as my waist, with the definition to match. Its chest and abs are absolutely ripped, not a hint of imperfection to speak of underneath the light brown fur. And in one small bit of mercy, it wears a simple loincloth to cover its masculinity from being on full display.

Two swords appear, one in its more posterior arms on either side, while its anterior arms are crossed in front of its stomach. It snarls at us and stands, revealing the extent of its demonic form. And unlike the first two fights in this dungeon, whose intelligence seemed to be instinctual and animalistic, this creature speaks.

“Greetings, would-be conquerors of the Temple of Greed. If you wish to proceed onward and break your curse, you cannot avoid combat with the Molochian! Now, show me the extent of your combat prowess!”