Chapter 430

A/N: Small change to Ajax's new trait made on last chapter. The trait properly works for a hybrid now also allowing the use of Mana as Stamina at 1:1 efficiency.

“Stop looking so glum, this achievement might not be as immediately impactful as it could have been but you will see just how important it is in the long run.” the prince said as he watched Ajax as he was recovering before pushing on to finish the rest of the delve.

The prince was very much right and Ajax knew it. People who could push past level one hundred were considered elite, more than that it was the hardest to find them outside of the Adventurer’s Guild or the army. Crafters were the next most common but it was by an order of magnitude lower than combatants or healers.

The averages among the elites said that their Common skills would usually be 20 levels above their level, their Uncommon 10 levels above, their Rare skills around the same level and their Epic skills five levels lower. This caused massive problems with skill leveling, especially for Champion fighters who at level one hundred and seventy had most of their combat skills capped out unless they were from a ducal or the royal family.

“I know, it's just that I wasn’t expecting it to be this.” Ajax chose his words carefully as he knew he the prince had a lie detection skill, he didn’t want to let slip that the extra 20 skill levels were worthless for him since Divine Witness already boosted everything to the 150 limit for him. “Say how much do you think is needed to contribute?” 

Ajax’s question stopped everyone in their tracks. “Why do you ask?” The prince looked a little baffled. 

“It’s just that, I know contribution to a kill differs when delving into a dungeon.” Ajax said as he remembered being taught this during his time in the academy. “To clear a floor at or under your level and gain the reward you only need to meaningfully contribute in a group of up to four people to killing a mini boss. As soon as you try to get the extra stats on a floor higher than your level you have to do it solo, what do you think contributing would mean for this achievement?”

Most non combat nobles and rich merchants would group up as a team of three and pay people to escort them, they would also have a more talented fighter their level that could effectively tank the creature while the three would slowly kill it even with their ineffective attacks. Ajax was familiar with the practice since he had escorted his parents and even grandparents through the dungeons in the capital to ensure they would get the extra stats.

“It won’t work the same way we do it with clearing floors for the… less combat capable.” Aranor said politically. “Everyone taking part would need to be under half the level of the boss, no way to have someone hand-holding a group through it.” 

“But I could.” Ajax said and he quickly felt everyone’s gazes lock on to him once more. “Against something like the ettin having Lexi and Anna casting from range would actually be helpful, would something like that even count?”

“I’m not sure that is something we want to test out.” the prince said after a long moment of silence. “You are close to level fifty four already and you barely held out, if they make one mistake that hinders you it could even get you killed.”  

And there was the crux of the issue, Ajax barely made it by himself if the others slowed him down in any way it could prove fatal for all of them. “What about that?” Ajax asked as he pointed towards the massive staff. “What if we use that, they give their entire mana and stamina pools for a strong opening spell and then I kill the boss, would that work?” 

Ajax very much wanted to give his friends a better chance at the Achievement. “That’s something that’s worth trying.” the prince said after a long moment of silence, the value of the staff having risen exponentially even if it was only theoretical.

“Are you feeling well enough to get going?” Aranor asked, looking to move the conversation on from the staff, he knew just how much of a headache it would become already when certain noble Houses found out it wasn’t stolen to be used by their kingdom.

“I’m better now but I’m not ready just yet to leave the floor.” Ajax said as he started to resharpen his axe, the blade had a small dent from where it made contact with the ettin’s knee and Ajax was trying to smooth it out. “I still have something to do here.” 

“What now?” one of the rangers mumbled but he was quickly shushed by Arianwyn.

“That smile always means he’s up to something and I want to find out what.”  Arianwyn cut them off. 

“When I told you about my improved Achievement, you know how I mentioned it gave the Solo collector boon?” Ajax asked while trying to sound as innocent as possible. “Well, besides having the requirement that I solo the creature I want to take out and the boon being limited to the individual as well as the group, it also lets me take something from every floor I’ve cleared, not just the last one.”

“Ugh.” The group let out a collective groan as four people took out their parchments to start making an addendum to the explanations they had already recorded.

“Alright then what type of harpy do you want?” Aranor asked, since most harpies had some sort of equipment that slightly enhanced their specific elements.

“Oh I don’t want a harpy.” Ajax said with a shake of the head. “I want to see if any of their crafters are alchemists, if not I’ll have to settle for a blacksmith. Even if it is a bit crude this is level one hundred and ten crafting equipment.” 

The group ransacked ten encampments before they finally gave up on finding an alchemist, their logic was there were simply not enough plants in the environment for them to appear among the population.

“Are you sure you want to stick with the blacksmith?” The prince tried to convince Ajax for the fifth time. 

“I’m sure.” Ajax said resolutely.

After the tenth camp the group had decided to call it a day and headed for an arch to the next floor. “We’ll probably be another day or so, I’ll need to be at full strength to clear the nineteenth floor.” Ajax said as Arianwyn and Elara were getting ready to leave.

As he cleared the next two floors Ajax started to experiment with his new trait, one of the most interesting things he discovered was that Stamina worked very differently to Mana. He hadn’t noticed it before since he barely ever depleted his Stamina and when he did it would be a full body exercise. 

Ajax had even made the excuse of wanting to try out the staff so he would have a basis for his questions without revealing his trait. “Why does my arm feel so dead?” Ajax complained after unleashing a strong spell.

“While Stamina as a resource is similar to Mana it doesn’t get stored the same way.” the prince explained. “It's not usually an issue for you since not only do you use it pretty evenly across your whole body but it also actively tries to normalize and level as time passes. You’ll see your arm will recover before too long.” 

“It’s mostly a problem for high level blacksmiths who are working with a hard to shape metal.” Aranor said. “They have large amounts of stamina but since most of the work is done by their dominant hand in swinging the hammer they deplete the stamina and need a few short breaks for it to even out before they can finally call it a day when their total stamina runs out.” 

While this information didn’t have much application in combat outside of trying to tire out someone's shield arm it was now vital for Ajax. With mana he was used to directing it through his arms or legs but he would need to be much more careful when using stamina since in the later stages of a fight when he was already low on it he could fully empty out a limb and have just hang limply by his side for a while.

The seventeenth floor felt rather easy for Ajax after the fight with the ettin and even after all the problems the worm had caused him the extra +12 to all stats as well as the new trait made fighting a level one hundred and twenty mini boss feel like a warm up spar instead of a battle where he pushed his limits.

The eighteenth floor proved tougher but Ajax hadn’t even needed a proper rest, he had simply been forced to down a potion and almost fully expend both his mana and stamina but the fight wasn’t all that close. After Ajax found out he could overcharge as spell without damaging his mana channels by powering the spell with a combination of his Mana and Stamina the fight was quickly over after two powerful hits. Sadly both attacks had taken a toll on his gauntlet as he shattered both his Air and Fire gems by pushing that much power through it at once.