Chapter 59: Strategist’s Advice
[An Hour Ago.]
[Villa.]
["This will be your room, if you don’t like it, you can tell me... But this room is located between Kelly’s and Juliana’s, while mine is at the far end of the hallway."]
Sara read the words on the book, looking up at Asher, who was busy arranging her room. He moved with a quiet, reassuring efficiency, making sure her space felt entirely her own, a sanctuary away from the chaos of their sudden relocation. She stared at the words below, recognizing the space he was giving her to heal, yet also feeling his desire to keep her close and safe:
["Is there something I need to know about the Monsters, Or Dungeon Bosses?"]
She slowly walked towards the huge window, stopped, and stared down at the villa gate. The outside world was a violent, unpredictable place, but inside this perimeter, Asher was trying to build a fortress for them. After some seconds of gathering her extensive knowledge of Awakened lore, she took the pen, and started writing.
_
’Done.’
Asher closed the bathroom door, and turned to Sara, who was now sitting on the sofa facing the window, writing on the notebook. He walked towards her, and gently sat on another sofa, patiently waiting for her to finish, never once rushing her silent communication.
Sara looked up from the book, then passed him the notebook:
["Normal Monsters don’t have anything special about them, they don’t even have skills... But A Boss Monster is different. Each Boss has a total of three skills, and three stages. First stage has a new skill, and once its health is reduced to a specific amount, without dealing instant kill, it will start the second stage. This stage has its own skill, same with the third."]
Asher blinked, staring at the words, absorbing the rigid, game-like mechanics that governed the fatal reality of dungeons.
["With your current strength, you can instant kill a D-Rank Boss below, but always remember, all Bosses have three stages... If you’re not strong enough for instant kill, you will face all stages. But there are some occasions you will encounter special Bosses."]
’Special Bosses?’ Asher raised an eyebrow, his mind immediately going to work on calculating survival odds against anomalies.
["These Bosses have five stages instead of three, and they are extremely powerful, the strongest I have ever seen is on Doomsday Dungeon, the Main Boss has a total of ten stages... That’s the highest, so when facing a Boss, you must be careful. Of course, your Awakened system will alert you the type of Boss. Normal Boss, Special Boss, and Primordial Boss has three, five, and ten stages respectively."]
Asher swallowed, staring at the last words down, realizing that the Awakened world was far deeper and more treacherous than he had initially assumed.
["With Every stage, the Health drops. For example, a Boss has 100 health in stage one, when it entered stage two, its health will be replenished, but it will only have 60, instead of 100... Remember, this is an example, all Bosses have their own health reduction rate."]
Asher nodded, and wrote down on the Book, showing it to her. Sara stared at the words then nodded her head, turning towards the window.
["Thank you, I will get going now."]
Seeing her action, Asher stood up, placed the notebook on the table, and walked towards the door. With one last look over his shoulder at her, a silent promise to return, he walked out.
Sara looked over her shoulder at the closed door, then at the notebook. She exhaled, and slowly stood up, standing by the window, watching as Asher walked out of the Villa, meeting up with manager Tang, then drove out into the unknown.
"Be safe."
___
[Present - A-Rank Dungeon.]
’Fighting SSS-RANK without knowing their abilities is suicidal... I was a bit arrogant back there.’
Asher thought, walking into the ice Forest, filled with nothing but Ice and snow. The biting cold pierced through his overcoat, a harsh reminder that absolute power didn’t mean absolute invulnerability; the kid’s Celestial-Tier necromancy had proven that.
’Not to mention that SS-RANK with a radar ability, I had to confuse him, before moving out of the range... Luckily I have the system who warned me about the detection.’ He analyzed his recent escape, calculating how to dismantle their tracking methods the next time they crossed paths.
GRAAAA!!
Asher paused, staring at the white bear twenty meters away; the creature was standing on both legs, staring straight at him. Its fur bristled with razor-sharp icicles, and its eyes burned with primal hostility.
Asher blinked, and looked at his hand: "I am using stealth, how come it can see me?" He asked himself; even SSS-RANK wouldn’t be able to easily sense or detect him, then how did this bear see him at a glance?
[Name: Ice spikes Bear.]
[Rank: A-Rank.]
[Agility: 7,000.]
[Energy: 7,000.]
[Defense: 10,000.]
[Health Point: 10,000.]
[Physical Attack: 15,000.]
[Magical Attack: 0.]
"Luckily, this isn’t a Boss." He muttered, as the space splitting sword appeared in his hand, humming with lethal, concentrated energy.
"One strike is all I need."
GRAAAA!!!
The Bear roared at him, and launched forward, claws digging the snow as it closed in, eager to tear the trespasser to shreds.
{Judgement Strike - Activated.}
WHOOSH!!
[Physical Damage Given: -23,000.]
[Instant Kill.]
[Congratulations, You killed Ice Spikes Bear, A-Rank.]
[Gained One A-Rank Evolution Stone.]
[Gained Four Equipments.]
[Gained One Bear Fur, and Tooth.]
’Four Equipments?’ Asher paused, expecting to finally see the true rewards of high-tier dungeon hunting.
[Spike Armor: 10% Cold Resistant. +1,000 in Defense. Earth-Tier.]
[Ice Dagger: 5% in Cold Resistant. +5,000 in physical Attack when equipped. Earth-Tier.]
[Health potion: Heals 30% of full health. Earth-Tier.]
[Ice Boots: Increase Agility by +1,000. Mortal-Tier.]
"...?"
’Why is the loot so poor?! This is an A-Rank Monster, the highest loot I can get for equipment should be Heaven-Tier, seems the drop rate is horribly low.’ He sighed, picking up all the loot, and his one A-Rank Evolution stone, feeling utterly underwhelmed. He had just received quadrillions of dollars and Divine-Tier skills simply for tucking his wife into bed.
’Investing in my wives Is still better, but investing, hoping to get a cure from it... That’s a waste of time... For now, I will Equip the spike Armor...’