Wild Era 3, Ch 19: Dark Ocean

As Kelin walked along the dark road, he took the opportunity to study the darkvision trait. 

It was very different from seeing with light, but it already felt natural. He could see around him with a similar level of depth. There were shades to the darkness that took the place of colors but served the same purpose.

In some ways, it was almost like Gaius’s Earth sight, which showed that element in a thousand forms of depth and power.

It was useful.

He reached the end of the road after an hour, when it stopped in front of a small and ancient temple. 

The building only had a single room inside, which held a low stone altar. Resting on top of the altar, there was a staff that looked like it was made from liquid shadow. Waves of dark energy rose up from it and flowed away before merging into the area. 

It was so dense that it was like an ocean tide flooding the world and drowning out everything else. With each wave, a pulse of energy flowed across his skin, a greater version of the breezes he’d felt before. 

The power was so thick it felt like the staff was a black hole in the world and he could sense nearly endless energy was contained inside.

As that power flowed outward, the world bent around it like it was bowing in acknowledgement of the staff.

This was the source of the darkness here.

The voice of the Path rang in his mind.

Congratulations, Lord of Wildfire.

You have discovered a Hidden Challenge and a unique source of power in this dungeon.

You have found the Altar of the Dark Ocean.

Eons ago, there was a greater elemental called the Lady of the Dark Ocean who reached the Sixth Evolution. She was born of the darkness beneath the waves and the depths where no light can reach. This altar belongs to her and holds her staff, waiting for her to return to claim it.

She walked into the stars long ago to search for others like herself and never returned, but some of her power remains. 

When the Path of Stars created this dungeon, her altar was placed here to anchor a Dark ley line that flows beneath the surface of Lareth. It is one of the powers that gives rise to the Ocean of Storms.

For those with a Dark affinity, this altar is a rare gift. For those without it, some power may still be gained. 

Approach the altar to test your will and gain its blessing.

He studied the altar for a while, examining the flow of energy. 

This was what had helped him gain Dark Resistance.

Except for someone like him, only those with a nearly perfect Dark physique or similar affinity would have been able to walk the road and find this place.

He didn’t have a physique or arts that worked for that affinity, but that didn’t mean he was out of luck.

The altar was a type of anchor in the dungeon, something that supported it and drove the Challenges, similar to the bone altar at the Shadowfall dungeon. 

Unlike that one, however, this one wasn’t created from an enemy’s energy, but from a remnant of the past that had been preserved.

If he’d been at the Fifth Evolution, he might have been able to pick the staff up, but if he tried right now, the power would disintegrate him. The Law of Darkness in it was powerful.

Most adventurers were not meant to come here. 

He headed toward the altar and sat down. Then he reached out to touch it.

As soon as he did, an ocean of darkness poured through his body, scouring his meridians and his bones. It was an overwhelming tide so intense that it felt like he might be swept away in an instant.

Even the wards on his soul felt like they were creaking under the pressure and his soulfire flared like a candle in the wind, bending under the force.

For those with a Dark affinity, it would have been a great blessing to encounter this altar.

For him, it was still a nice bonus.

The voice of the Path echoed in his mind, sounding like the susurration of an ocean.

Choose a Blessing:

Gift of the Dark Ocean.

Spirit of the Dark Ocean.

Staff of the Dark Ocean.

There were three options.

The first one was a Darkness affinity upgrade, the second was a spell that belonged to the ancient elemental, and the third was a nascent soulbound item, a magical staff created as a replica of the one on the altar.

He couldn’t use the Darkness upgrade, since he didn’t have the core affinity to build on, and he already had a soulbound staff that worked for him, so that left him with the spell.

As soon as he accepted it, he felt the ocean of darkness flowing through him change. Power blazed through his mind as a spell form took shape, one that was ancient and intricate.

It was woven of Water and Darkness and he could feel the disharmony with his Soulfire as it took shape, but once it settled in, the conflict disappeared.

Congratulations, Lord of Wildfire.

You have acquired the Spell: Spirit of the Dark Ocean (Epic). 

This spell embodies one of the core powers of the Lady of the Dark Ocean. In her hands, it could overturn the wind and the waves and give life to the spirits of the depths to do her bidding.

This spell begins naturally at the Epic tier, but it requires both Dark and Water affinities to be used to its full potential. 

Once cast, it surrounds you in currents of dark water that grant you the ability to move swiftly and breathe underwater. It allows you to resist extreme forms of pressure and cold, instead absorbing those energies to power the spell and accelerate your movement.

With practice, you may use this spell to create a Dark Ocean Elemental to do your bidding. 

He studied the spell carefully. 

It wasn’t perfect for him, but it was powerful, especially since it could give rise to an elemental servant.

More broadly, it looked like it could be used to summon water and darkness for various purposes, including to propel a ship on the ocean and to stir or calm the waves.

If he ever had to go swimming in the depths, it would be very useful.

He had a Low Water affinity, so he could make some use of that side, but he lacked the necessary Darkness affinity to take advantage of the full thing.

That didn’t mean he was out of options.

Affinities were important, but it was possible to get around them. It meant he would need more resources to power the spell, like elemental gems.

And fortunately, there were plenty here.

He chuckled as he looked around the area, taking in the many dark crystals that were scattered across the floor. 

They shimmered with the absence of light, like holes in the greater darkness. 

Without Darkvision, he wouldn’t have been able to see them clearly. They would have looked like shadows.

He analyzed a few of them.

Dark Elemental Crystal. Grade: High.

There were hundreds of them, most of them high grade. They’d condensed from the pure energy here over decades or centuries and fallen to the ground, like dew shed from the altar.

A wave of his hand lifted them from the floor and made them fly toward him. They flowed into his storage like a dark and silent river.

By the time he was done collecting them, he had over two hundred. 

Each of them would be worth a couple hundred gold if he sold them at the guild, but it was better to save them. 

They could help to power this Epic spell and he might be able to use them to train his Dark resistance more.

He dusted himself off as he stood up and bowed to the altar in thanks.

That was all that was here for him, but it had been worth the trip.

Perhaps he could teach this spell to Yao, if it turned out the boy had enough of a Darkness affinity to use it. He already had a Water affinity, so it might work. 

If he didn’t, Kelin could give him a few crystals to make it work.

When he had some time, he’d have to see if he could modify it to work with his affinities better, perhaps with Water and Soul, but for now, he had plenty of Dark elemental crystals to use.

He turned and headed away from the altar, walking back on the stone road. As he went, he whistled to himself, listening to how the sound faded away in the darkness.

He was neither surprised nor bothered by the slight mismatch of the spell. Not everything in a dungeon worked for everyone. 

There were plenty of enchantments and spells out there that people could only use with the right components. Even if this one required some crystals to use, it was a nice way to expand his abilities.

It was worth a sidetrip for a couple of hours. 

Before long, he was back in the cold side of the dungeon and the Dark Ice Spirits began to attack him again.

This time, he fought back.

A golden inferno swirled around him, half Soulfire and half Wildfire, incinerating everything in his path as he walked across the plains.

He’d met his expectations for this dungeon and gained two resistances, which was plenty for now.

The Level 205 ice spirits began to flock around him more densely, their touch chilling the area as they fought against his inferno.

He focused on Soulfire to train those abilities and when the spirits were nearly exhausted, he switched to Wildfire and destroyed everything.

The ice spirits were between Levels 205 and 210, so it didn’t take long before new levels began to trickle in. 

By the time he cleared out the first part of the dungeon, he gained two and was up to Level 192.

He continued toward the first Challenge on this side and reached it before long.

It was an Elite ice spirit supported by a small army of regular ones, which he destroyed without much difficulty.

The reward was two levels and an Ability upgrade, but it wasn’t an Epic-tier one, so he used it to upgrade his Dark Resistance to Advanced.

Ice was easier for him to improve on his own, but if he had more upgrades, he would spend some on it too. 

It didn’t take him much longer to finish clearing the rest of the dungeon and to arrive at the final fight.

By that point, he was up to Level 196.

The arena for the battle was a strange one that was a massive shipwreck surrounded by waves of ice. 

The ship was a warship of some type with a long and lean hull, shattered sails, and weapons mounted along the bow. There were ballistas, mage cannons, and defensive shield fortifications, but most of them were broken.

Waves of ice had crushed the ship and the bottom half of it was a void filled with broken timbers. Ice had infiltrated it from every angle and dark energy swirled through the remains.

A giant creature made of scales and long blue tentacles was wrapped around part of the ship,  resting on top of it like it was holding onto its prize. Its body was thick at the center, almost as broad as a whale, but the scales and tentacles said it was something else.

It had a predator’s gaze with six eyes that were the blue and white shade of a frozen storm. There were three on each side of its head arranged in a diagonal slash.

It stared at Kelin from across the distance as he analyzed it.

Dark Ice Behemoth. Level 220. Elite.

These creatures are denizens of dark and frozen waters and are equally at home in the waves or on the ice above. To some extent, they resemble a kraken, but their bodies are denser and they prefer to wield ice magic. 

They are dangerous foes who usually dwell off arctic shores, but they sometimes set up a lair in icy caves, especially if prey is nearby. When they do, they are known for setting up clever traps to capture food. 

The adults vary from two to three hundred feet in size and have enough strength to rip a ship in half. Their eyes are a potent source of Ice magic that allow them to freeze their prey with a glance, a trait for which they are highly prized by mages, but most attempts to acquire them end in death. 

Behemoths have a lesser affinity for the Darkness element that is evident in their blood, giving it paralytic and corrosive qualities. Once it reaches the bloodstream, it turns into a deadly poison that drains the life of its target and freezes their heart. Many an adventurer has succeeded in severing a tentacle only to fall prey to overconfidence and to perish as the blood covered them.

Beware the behemoth’s eyes and its ability to summon spirits from the ice as servants.

Kelin finished studying the description and nodded. 

He had heard of these things before, but he’d never had much to do with them. He only knew they were a danger on some worlds, where they were one of the top predators in the ocean.

This behemoth was a moderate size, about two hundred and fifty feet long, but it was living up to the traps it was famous for.

All around the creature, a maze of frozen waves and icicles stretched out for a thousand feet, making the approach difficult. Shadows and dark flows of energy twisted along the ice and concentrated in the crevices, concealing the presence of things inside.

His soul sight told him those areas were full of ice spirits and other things that served the behemoth.

He turned his attention back to the monster, which was still staring at him. Its eyes glowed with a dark blue light, like six frozen lanterns. Its aura was a frozen wave pressing down on the area, one that radiated with hunger and destruction. 

It was obvious that it wanted to eat him.

“You’ll do,” Kelin said, smiling slightly as he looked at it.

Far from being intimidated by the thing, he thought it looked like an excellent way to test his resistances.

And from what he’d just learned, it could do that as well dead as alive. 

He could use those eyes to set up an Ice enchantment that would try to freeze him and bathing in the blood might help to improve his Dark Resistance.

Still, there was no reason to be overconfident. 

He set his Soulfire Sigil in the air above his shoulder so it would follow him and summoned a Flame of Life. The spell turned into a blazing phoenix that flew around his head, its wings and tail leaving lines of golden flame behind.

Then he jumped into the air and levitated as he began to walk forward across the maze. 

Streams of soulfire flickered around him, leaping out from his aura to strike at tendrils of icy energy and shadows that lunged up beneath his feet.

Power swelled around him as he walked and Blaze flooded him with dense mana. Since he had the energy now, he shaped a Soul Star.

It had been a while since he tried it on a decent enemy, so he wanted to see what it could do.

He was able to use it with Blaze now and soon he would have enough Aura to intensify it another three times. 

It cost him almost two hundred mana and five hundred soul energy, which was a little under half of his total soul pool. 

It was roughly the cost of a dozen Soul Arrows, but the power it held was even greater. It was his strongest single-target spell.

The spell formed like a brilliant star in his hand, its interior blazing with rainbow light. 

Five gleaming spikes extended from it, each of them a resplendent spear, and waves of prismatic light flowed through the interior.

As he finished the spell and looked up, a wave of sharp ice spears flew toward him from the behemoth. There were dozens of them, each six feet long, like an entire battalion of soldiers had hurled their weapons across the distance.

An attack like that would shred the sails and deck of a ship in seconds, leaving nothing unprotected alive.

Kelin sent a lance of soulfire ahead of him, burning a line through the approaching spears to clear his path, and ignored the rest.

The behemoth raised its tentacles in the air as it loomed upward, waiting to slam them down as soon as he was in range, and its eyes locked onto him, gleaming with cold mana.

He felt the slow formation of ice building up across his body, like clothing that had grown too heavy, but he let his natural aura burn it away.

The behemoth let out a thunderous roar that sounded like grinding ice and howled as it raised its body off the shipwreck. 

It lunged toward him, its tentacles lashing outward, each of them extending for over a hundred feet as they swept through the air like massive whips. Ice was frozen around the edges, creating massive clubs with sharp edges. 

A dozen of them closed in on Kelin’s location.

He tracked their locations as he threw the spell.

It flared across the distance like a glowing prismatic star. The five soul spikes on the surface sharpened into blades that could sever life and death, their edges shimmering with soul flame.