108: Venom-Rich Centipede

While Aidan liked the idea of handling a hotel in a dungeon business, finding himself embroiled in the every day drama between adventurer parties, their miniscule issues, and interesting bouts (particularly the relationship ones that were always ever so spicy), he was more than glad to get back into the swing of things by entering into the third floor.

You have entered the Leafair Dungeon’s third floor. Level recommendation: Level 45-50.

He was amazed at the vast difference between the floors. The second was larger than life itself, while the third floor was pitifully smaller. It was so small that he managed to get the grand scope of its size with just one pulse of his vibrations through his sword relays.

But at the same time, the danger increased. There were an abundant amount of monsters here, each one capable of standing on their own rather than the numerous creatures always working together. Some reached an impressive size of a few meters, while others were small but vicious in their own right.

He decided to have a little fun today, letting his swords do most of the work by taking any monsters they could find through his Split Mind ability. Meanwhile, he helped support both Haley and Van as they picked up on their own training, but with the added bonus of a time-attack mode where they had to press on faster in order to reach the cursed relic before Selene and her posse could get it.

Though that was just conjecture, and maybe they had other plans, but the sooner he destroyed that cursed relic, the better he would feel. He liked the idea of a difficult fight, but he wasn’t crazy enough to warrant another Matriarch boss fight anytime soon.

The roar of a powerful monster echoed in the air, pulling Aidan out of his thoughts as he watched both Haley and Van fight against a large centipede reaching an impressive 25 meters in length, reaching the size of a large bus. It had a sickly green and violet color, with several red spots across its tough carapace. He called it tough because it certainly took Van a bit of effort to make a dent on it even with his enchanted sword.

Haley had the easier portion of it, using her wind magic to make her arrows pierce right into its tough body. Due to that, she became the target of the centipede’s wrath as it charged after her. Dealing with the size was troubling as it is, but it was also fast and reacted quickly, using its massive bulk to crush anything in its path.

But its massive size wasn’t its only strength. Occasionally, it shot out small darts of purple energy, and when it missed the two, it coated the ground in its sickly purple coloring, affecting the grass and whatever wildlife it inhabited to die a fast, agonizing death.

It even coalesced its purple energy, which he deemed it to be poison magic, into small clumps of ooze that shot like a cannon straight at them, forcing them to constantly retreat from its ranged attacks.

Considering its level, Aidan wasn’t surprised at the difficulty of it.

Venom-rich Disaster Centipede, Level 54.

Fast, bulky, and it had the ability to fight at a distance. Plus, those ranged attacks carry heavy poison that could easily corrode anything it touched. Thankfully, however, it wasn’t as if everyone would be poisoned if they dealt direct damage to its body, proving that the blood itself wasn’t poisonous to them.

Aidan also had the strange feeling that the poison magic it had was recently gained. He had the inkling that monsters also had the capability to improve, because if he were to make a guess, when this Centipede became level 50, it had the ability to evolve into what it was now, granting it its poison magic. While it was certainly dangerous, it only used physical strikes and only seemed to remember to use its poison magic whenever it couldn't reach the siblings.

That reminded him of that powerful Cave Dweller Prime that had the ability to control gravity. Despite its low level compared to this centipede, it was more dangerous since it knew how to use its magic well.

Perhaps monsters born with the capability of using magic were more keen with it, while others gained it through training and had to adapt to it. He found himself fascinated by this revelation.

“Aidan, how about a little help?”

Nina called out before rushing ahead, her twin daggers flashing before ending up getting dug into the centipede’s side. It writhed in pain as Aidan noticed her daggers doing some nasty damage, the entry point getting twisted out of sorts and outright ignoring the tough carapace they just pierced.

The centipede tried to crush her, but she jumped straight up, reaching all the way above before landing right on top of it with her daggers aiming straight down. More blood flew, coating Nina in it a little before jumping away from the centipede’s wrathful twisting.

If even Nina was getting in on it, she must also be rushing to get to the cursed relic as much as he could. He figured the siblings would try to get the most out of this fight, but he supposed they could gain experience at a later time when they weren’t pressed for time.

Aidan flew forward, pulling out his sword and sweeping across the rampaging centipede with a slash. It was certainly tough, but with his Infused body, he managed to cut a deep gash onto it. He could have also used Phase, but that required mental focus to ignore its carapace to dig deep into its insides, which felt like a chore at the time.

The centipede writhed as it coiled like a snake, aiming to snap at Aidan. He definitely used Phase at that moment, ignoring the physical blow of the centipede entirely. When he finished going through it in his intangible form, he made his sword tangible and sliced again when it passed through, creating another gash without any extra effort.

Thanks to his efforts, Van and Haley reached in for another attack, getting its health further down. That was when the centipede had enough of them screwing it around.

A powerful surge of magical might ensued from the centipede, creating a poisonous wave that cascaded across the field in a heartbeat. Like a tide, it swept across everything in its vicinity, trying to drown all of its enemies in its poisonous embrace.

Aidan panicked for a short moment, looking back down at his non-flying party members. He crafted the air around them using Area Field and Craft, then forced them up into the air to get away from the wave of purple sludge coming at them. It drowned the surface in its ooze, melting everything with its potent toxins.

Haley and Van struggled to keep themselves afloat, as they had no experience flying yet. Haley was handling it better as she controlled the wind around her to help ease her while Van tried his very hardest to stay perfectly still. Nina had no problems as she instead used the lift up to jump down to the centipede, catching a ride on top of its carapace and driving both daggers into its back.

The centipede roared as it let out more poison attacks, creating small orbs of sludge to try to take the Assassin down from its back. The sludge hit nothing but its own body, coating itself in it as Nina ran down the length while dragging her dagger down with her.

“On me! Let’s get it!”

Aidan flew in with the siblings, giving out the order as he pulled up his weapon. The others followed suit, with Haley taking the advantage to shoot from the air with her bow to target the centipede.

Aidan and Van got close enough to attack, with Van getting enough control of his body to deal an enchanted slice while Aidan pulled off several at the same time. The centipede roared with frustration, trying and failing to catch the swerving flies constantly digging at its body.

Poisonous darts flew to hit them, but Aidan swerved upwards to avoid it. Van instead used the momentum to jump off of the controlled air to land right on the centipede like Nina, who was still deftly dealing damage to its side.

Seeing that it got busy with plenty of physical combatants, Aidan kept himself away and launched concentrated wind and fire crafted spells at it alongside Haley, hitting its face whenever they could.

It only took a couple more seconds of this song and dance before eventually the centipede was no more. It fell, landing on the pile of sludge that it kept trying to shoot at his intended targets to no avail.

Level Up! From Level 54, you became Level 55!

You have gained:

+1 Free Attribute point

+3 Free Stat points

+2 Intelligence

+1 Toughness

+1 Endurance

+1 Speed

+1 Dexterity

+2 Vigor

He found himself surprised at the notification. Considering he fought the centipede with the others, he didn’t expect to gain much experience. He supposed that he had enough of it to eventually reach the end to grant him that level up.

“How’s everyone doing?”

“Like I’m about to hurl,” Van answered, finally showing a distressful expression as he curled forward, holding his stomach. “Ugh, can’t you be more gentle when you use that wind blast?”

“It’s either that or drown in literal poison,” Aidan scoffed. “Why can’t you handle it like your sister can? She’s totally fine!”

“She is literally a wind-magic user. She’s used to that,” Van muttered.

“No excuses,” Haley chimed, stretching her arms wide. “I would say that would definitely get me sore in the morning, but my level up totally wiped that away.”

“Gratz,” Aidan said.

“You always say that,” Haley chuckled.

“It’s a thing. Every time someone levels up, we always say ‘gratz’.”

At least that was how he normally did it whenever he would play MMORPGs. It may be a small thing, so small that it doesn’t even matter, but it’s the thought that counts, and saying it doesn’t cost him anything. Haley herself also beamed at his response, proving that such a thing was a universal praise.

“I’ll say that to you too, grumpy-pants,” Aidan said to Van. “Even if you keep complaining.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Van rolled his eyes, but accepted the gesture.

“Nina? You good?”

“I’m alright,” Nina answered, putting her daggers back. From the looks of it, she didn’t put them into her spatial bag, but rather that they just disappeared into nothingness. “I put in a lot more magic than usual, but otherwise I’m decent.”

“That’s some potent magic you got there,” Aidan whistled. “I’m surprised you didn’t pick up an upgraded Class that takes advantage of that.”

“I don’t intend on picking abilities for combat or magic focus,” Nina explained. “In the end, my main goal is subterfuge and information gathering. That’s actually the reason why I studied hard to learn space magic. It’s to make up for the lack of damage.”

“Damage and utility too?”

“If it serves me well in more ways than one, all the more reason to get it,” Nina smiled.

Aidan could only accept the hardcore mindset with a respectful nod. She knew her goals, and knew them well. He turned back to the corpse spilling blood onto the grass, feeling even the liquid being poisonous to the touch.

That eventually brought in an idea.

“Hey… you guys mind if I take the corpse for myself? I’m thinking of making it into a sword.”

“Are you sure?” Van asked. “I don’t plan on taking it myself, but monsters who have an affinity for a certain type of magic like this one go for a lot in the markets. Something about their body parts being rich with a certain affinity and making them valuable.”

“They’re also pretty important for making potions for alchemy,” Haley mentioned. “I actually saw a coral reef on sale once that had strong water affinity tied into it. It went for 65 whole gold just for that one piece!”

“All the more reason for Aidan to take it himself,” Nina stepped in. “We all know his abilities to directly make a weapon from rare materials, and having him make one from this creature feels proper. Then again, that depends–can you make a decent weapon out of this with your skill?”

Aidan felt like such an insinuation was an insult, but she had it completely right. He dealt with expensive materials before, but none of them were as valuable as this Venom-Rich Disaster Centipede. Hell, it was even in the damn name for how valuable it could be.

Still, he knew that at some point, he was going to have to upgrade his weapons. He can’t just keep using normal magic swords, and his plan in the future is to make as many powerful swords to make better relays for his powers to work even better. But Nina still had a good point.

Was his current Craft good enough to take all this in?

“Honestly, no clue. Only way to know for sure is to put in maximum effort and try it out. Mind giving me a few minutes?”

Nina didn’t bother denying him, only nodding in understanding.

“We’ll take a short break. Don’t try to overcomplicate it, Aidan. Just do what you think feels right.”

Nina gestured to Van and Haley to come with, the two waving and shouting good luck to Aidan as they all laid down to take a well-earned rest. Aidan was taken aback by her advice, but perhaps she thought he was going to go overboard by making it look more presentable rather than functional.

Personally, he did want to make this sword look cooler than his usual iterations, but perhaps he should actually take Nina’s words to heart and just make it workable. He had a good inkling that making a sword out of this rare creature is bound to make something good, but first he needed to make a good set up.

First, he activated Craft and made a ball of blue energy form right on top of the corpse. As it hung there, brimming with energy, he cast Magic Boost and Magic Focus. The first increased the potency of the spell, while the other increased its accuracy and a little bit more of that potency.

Once he improved his spell well enough, he moved the ball of Craft straight down, absorbing the corpse right into it. The entire body collapsed inwards, taking it all in without leaving anything behind. Once it completely swallowed the corpse, Aidan brought it back towards himself, reducing the size to that of his torso.

This was where the real struggle started. During this phase, he usually used his imagination to create the sort of item he required. During this, he cast Infuse, providing a sense of himself straight into the item within the craft orb, allowing it to have an internal magic source that can connect to his soul and be used with Soul Meditation. But he knew that wasn’t enough.

He needed something more. He could already shape the corpse into that of a sword, not really putting much thought into its appearance while taking in its poisonous aspects and just coating it all around it. That’s where he paused.

There was too much of that poison energy, and even after coating the weapon in its entirety, there was still plenty left. That’s when he decided to stop there and actually think for once.

He didn’t want to waste that much energy. He felt that this entire mass was the purpose of why the creature was so valuable to begin with. He needed to actually think about where to put all this energy rather than just waste it away and leave it half-cooked.

That’s when he thought about his ability, the first one he gained after becoming an Arcanist. Arcane Control helped him control the fundamental mana that exists within everything. He already tried it before, and it gave the usual crafted elements its magical flair, giving it more damage than usual.

So why shouldn’t he do the same here? Except rather than just coat the weapon with its own poison energy, he could change the very energy itself into something more. He bit his lip as he put his mind into overdrive, decomposing the poison energy within the craft orb with his Arcane Control.

When he did so, it felt like it split itself apart, revealing several other aspects he didn’t consider poison energy to have. There were multiple types of poisons, including corruption, degradation, and even consumption. The first two were simple, where one corrupted the flesh into becoming something else, while degradation just gradually erases the intended target.

The third one was a little odd. It was basically the same as degradation, but consumption eats away the target’s resources, instead absorbing it into its own to make it stronger. Did the centipede truly have such an ability? Or was it only for the poison to ensure it keeps going strong even after being afflicted into the body?

It wasn’t just the poison energy he could deftly control. The body of the centipede provided a lot more material to work with, each one having parts that have an intrinsic connection to the poisonous energy while others were extremely tough and dense, almost impossible for the poison to manifest within. Perhaps these parts were the kind that the centipede couldn’t afford to be poisonous for its own livelihood, which instead provided a different sort of materials to work with when he split them apart with Arcane Control.

It was almost like a puzzle piece, and Aidan wasn’t quite sure how to put them together. Rather than it having a whole picture, it was the sort of puzzle that makes up anything he could imagine. It tickled the back of his brain, making him want to make the sword even more as he dove right into creating it with a special effect in mind.