The Primal Hunter

The fourth floor. Jake and his party entered and were all met by a very different environment than the one they had just been in. Pure darkness roamed, and the air smelled of soil and death. The environmental mana affinity matched this as it was an odd mix of earth, death, and dark. Shortly after they were all there, the dungeon informed them of their objectives for this floor.

Welcome to the fourth floor of Nevermore: Darkrock Caverns.

Main objective: Defeat the Darkrock Revenant Lord.

Bonus objectives: Smelt and create at least 200 Darkrock Ingots using Darkrock Ore.

Current progress: Darkrock Revenant Lord (0/1), Darkrock Ingots (0/200).

Note: More hidden events, achievements, or objectives may be hidden on the floor.

Current Nevermore Points: 120

Instantly, they encountered one pretty major issue:

Jake was the only one who could see properly.

The dark mana was intense, and it appeared that Jake was the only one who possessed a natural affinity to it. Even the Fallen King was significantly affected by the dark mana, which reminded Jake of how well his dark mana had also worked on the King back when he was known as the King of the Forest. He had managed to blind the Unique Lifeform back then with his weak dark affinity mana, so for it to be a weakness of his made sense.

Sylphie still managed to adapt by using a domain of wind that was barely detectable. It was only as if a slight breeze appeared all around them, but it allowed the bird to know everything going on in the area. Dina adapted by quickly growing some odd flower on top of her head that could apparently see for her without any problems and warn her of dangers.

This still left the Sword Saint and the Fallen King as the most affected individuals. The Sword Saint truly had no good tools to see in the darkness but did have skills that allowed him to fight quite effectively nonetheless. The same was true for the King, who did have a skill to sense souls in his vicinity even through the darkness, but this wasn’t very useful when it came to the primary challenge of this floor:

Navigating the caverns. Oh, and avoiding the traps that were placed bloody everywhere. It really took Jake back to his Forgotten Sewers days in the Tutorial, except the enemies here were not rats but a mix of earth affinity creatures and – as indicated by the death mana in the air – a whole lot of undead.

If the second floor had been Dina’s time to shine and the third Sylphie’s, then this floor was Jake’s. Collect ores to form ingots for the bonus objective? Sphere of Perception. Avoid traps and find their way through the labyrinthian cavern network? Sphere of Perception. Locate hidden “vaults” of sorts hidden deep beneath the earth? Well, okay, the sphere wasn’t quite big enough to reach these in its passive state, but the occasional Pulse of Perception had that covered.

The Darkrock Ore was quite easy to discern from the other rock around it due to its highly-increased mana density, so Jake spent quite a lot of time directing the others where to blast cavern walls apart or where to dig. His party members did slowly adapt to the environment more as time went by, but it honestly wasn’t even needed.

There was only one problem Jake had seen, and that was how to change the ore into ingots. He considered if he could melt it himself using Alchemical Flame or maybe even try to summon an actual fire affinity flame, but that turned out to be a non-issue. In one of the secret vaults, they found an entire damn forge that one just had to pour the ore into, and ingots would be spat out shortly after. By the time they found this vault, they had more than enough ore and quickly made the 200 ingots and moved on.

Less than half an hour later, Jake spotted a large being that seemed to be made of pure energy through his sphere. It was also in a large cavern surrounded by other smaller variants of itself, and it didn’t take much brainpower to know this was the boss. After getting there, Jake finally saw this Darkrock Revenant Lord. It looked like hundreds of corpses fused into stone, mixed with a shitload of dark affinity mana. It was a mix of an elemental and a ghost, making it quite an interesting opponent. Not that any of them cared, as this abomination was rapidly ripped apart. After that, they found a large smelter pot to throw all the ingots they had formed into, with the result being an epic rarity breastplate and a pair of legguards that none of them needed.

From there, they moved on and quickly located the exit and moved on to the next floor, having finished this one in less than a day.

Current Nevermore Points: 234

114 Nevermore Points earned on the fourth floor. 40 from just completing the floor, 74 from the bonus objective, and then a bunch of achievements. These achievements included one for finding more than half of the hidden vaults, killing the boss fast, no one taking any damage from any traps, and of course, one for swiftly completing the dungeon.

The loot from the in-between room was once more useless, so they moved on to the fifth floor.

Upon entering the fifth floor, a theory they had discussed was pretty much confirmed. The moment they stepped out of the gateway, they were met with vast open skies and found themselves standing on a floating island, surrounded by other floating islands of sizes varying from a few meters across to several kilometers.

The environmental mana was dense with wind, water, and lightning affinity energy, and Jake even saw a few cloud islands in the distance, reminiscent of those he had seen on Earth. The theory they had confirmed was that the first five floors of Nevermore all served a quite simple function: make sure the challengers could at least handle different environments.

They had gone from a desert of extreme heat and cold to a nature-filled forest of life. From there they entered an ocean of pure water, followed by a dark cavern with death, with the final floor in the sky surrounded by wind mana. Each floor had a theme. Perhaps this was why the design at times felt so lazy… they were meant to be relatively simple and to test the basics of those who dared attempt to explore Nevermore.

Though Jake called the design lazy… upon reading the description of the fifth floor, it did appear there was more to this one.

Welcome to the fifth floor of Nevermore: Cloudspring Archipelagos.

Main objective: Defeat the Lord of Winds, Lord of Clouds, and the Lord of Lightning.

Bonus objectives: Catch at least 24 Cloudspring Spirits before they escape the archipelagos.

Current progress: Lord of Wind, Lord of Clouds, Lord of Lightning (0/3). Caught Cloudspring Spirits (0/24).

Note: More hidden events, achievements, or objectives may be hidden on the floor.

Current Nevermore Points: 234

Rather than only a single boss to kill, this one had three. Perhaps it was because this was the final floor before they would enter the first city floor. After every fifth floor, there would be an intermitting floor that didn’t actually count as a true floor and wasn’t even a dungeon. Either way, even if Jake admittedly didn’t know much about these city floors, he planned on getting there fast.

This floor was also different in one other way. All of the prior floors had either been an unfavorable environment to at least a few people in their group or, at the very least, not a beneficial one. Dina had been advantaged in the second floor, and Jake in the fourth, sure, but this floor… this one was different.

Wind. Clouds. Open area. Sylphie, the Sword Saint, and Jake all felt in their element. Due to their advantage, they all knew that this level was theirs to utterly dominate. It wasn’t like the King and Dina were disadvantaged either. They set out with great gusto, and quickly it became clear just how ridiculous their advantage was.

The wind whispered far louder than on any other floor, allowing Sylphie to know where everything was, meaning that within a minute, she already had a rough idea of where the three Lords were. The bonus objective of wanting them to capture at least 24 Cloudspring Spirits was also one they wanted to tackle, and it didn’t take them long to find their first spirit. These spirits were small fairy-like creatures that all moved incredibly fast and were quite elusive. Their group discussed how to capture them and even laid out plans that included the King creating small cages and Jake weaving stable arcane mana nets, which made their first encounter with one incredibly anti-climactic.

“Ree!” Sylphie screeched loudly the second they saw this first spirit.

The spirit stopped dozens of kilometers away and turned around. Then, like an arrow, it flew straight towards them before circling around Sylphie and eventually settling on her back as the small fairy rubbed its head against the hawk’s feathers.

Current progress: Capture Cloudspring Spirits (1/24)

It turned out that these Cloudspring Spirits really liked Sylphie. As in, after the first one was “captured,” they kind of all just came flying as they traveled through the floor toward the three bosses. They weren’t even a quarter of the way when they passively completed the bonus objective.

Bonus Objective Completed: Capture at least 24 Cloudspring Spirits. 20 Nevermore Points earned.

After completing the bonus objective, they learned that the three bosses were all in roughly the same area on three massive cloud islands. It turned out that a reward for collecting the spirits – outside of the points – was information, and damn were the spirits all chatterboxes. They told them all about the secrets they could find on different islands, warned them of what the three bosses were capable of, and once they had captured all twenty-four, they had then been told where the three bosses were. Something they already knew, but hey, it was something.

When it came to opponents on this floor, they came in the form of birds, elementals, and even some pterodactyl-looking monsters that breathed lightning. None were a problem and were killed before they even had a chance to attack, though most foes actively avoided their group.

A bit less than halfway to the bosses, Sylphie was practically surrounded by Cloudspring Spirits, and they got an achievement.

Achievement earned: Capture more than 50 Cloudspring Spirits. 25 Nevermore Points earned.

With the achievement came more information. They were informed that if they crushed the orbs dropped from all three Lords instead of bringing them to the exit of the dungeon for an extra reward, they would be able to summon an optional and even harder boss. So that was definitely cool.

By the time Jake spotted the first large island with one of the Floor Bosses, Sylphie was drowned in spirits, and when just one more joined them, a second achievement popped up.

Achievement earned: Capture all 100 Cloudspring Spirits. 30 Nevermore Points earned.

The reward for getting every single spirit wasn’t information. Instead, all of the one hundred Cloudspring Spirits merged together and formed one Cloudspring Spirit Queen. The Cloudspring Spirit Queen was only slightly larger than the smaller spirits, and Jake wondered what her function was. Something he would never come to know.

Shortly after she appeared, Sylphie let out a few screeches. The Spirit Queen seemed ecstatic, and her body began to fade and turn into a small marble before Sylphie inhaled the entire marble before burping and looking happy.

No one bothered to question the hawk. Instead, they split up to take down the three bosses. The Lords were all relatively close together, but there were still around a thousand kilometers between each island.

Contrary to the other floors, this one was not as much about finding the end goal. The islands were all placed in a long strip, growing larger as one traveled, with the final four Islands being the largest by far. It was one massive island in the middle with three large islands floating around it with smaller islands in between.

Jake went for one boss, the Sword Saint another, and Sylphie a third, with the Fallen King and Dina going toward the massive central island to secure the exit Sylphie told them was there.

The three Lords were elementals, and they divvied it up by giving Sylphie the Lord of Winds, the Sword Saint the Lord of Clouds, and Jake the Lord of Lightning.

The fifth floor, still being only the fifth floor, meant that what followed was not truly a fight. Jake took down the Lord of Lightning by barraging it down with arrows from afar, while Sylphie demolished the Lord of Winds by, in her words, “out-winding it.” The Sword Saint took the longest as cutting an elemental wasn’t the most effective, but it was still taken down within minutes.

Each of the three Lords dropped a basketball-sized orb corresponding to their affinities, and as agreed upon, the three of them instantly broke the orbs to summon the optional boss.

And summon an optional boss it did.

After he broke the orb, the island Jake had fought the Lord of Lightning on began to crumble and released a giant arc of lightning that flew towards the central island. Shortly after, a tornado-looking beam of wind flew from another broken island before finally, a stream of clouds was launched from the final boss island.

Event unlocked.

The three Lords of the Cloudspring Archipelagos have fallen, powerless before their foes. As the three islands crumble, the Orb of the Winds, Clouds, and Lightning all lie broken. Behold, as the Monarch of the Skies awakens.

Objective: Defeat the Monarch of the Skies.

Warning: the Monarch of the Skies is an optional objective and is significantly more powerful than any prior Floor Bosses.

“Meet up at my location,”the Fallen King sent to Jake and the others as they began flying towards the central island.

On the island, a massive pillar of wind, clouds, and lightning had appeared that soared toward the sky. Far above, lightning clouds formed as the wind picked up, the occasional sound of thunder audible. It truly gave off the vibes of a proper final boss being summoned.

Meeting up with the Fallen King, Jake saw that Sylphie had already returned, and they waited only for the Sword Saint to make his way back as they observed the pillar slowly fade to reveal the form of the final boss.

Jake wasn’t sure what he would have expected as he laid eyes on the Monarch of the Skies. Considering the three Lords had all been elementals, Jake had assumed that this Monarch of the Skies would be an elemental too, but what he saw instead was a humanoid creature that stood nearly ten meters tall. Feathers crackling with lightning covered the creature’s entire form, only hidden by silver-ish armor that protected the Monarch’s chest area, with two large white wings springing from its back. The Monarch looked androgynous, and Jake honestly had no idea what its race was either.

What he did know was that this creature was far more powerful than any Floor Boss they had faced before in Nevermore.

[Monarch of the Skies – lvl 225]

However… even if this one was stronger than anything they had ever faced in Nevermore, it was not stronger than anything Jake had ever faced before. Compared to the Isoptera Hive King, this Monarch of the Skies fell short by quite a margin. Moreover, Jake was not alone.

“Are you disappointed?” the Sword Saint, who had just returned, asked Jake as they both looked at the event boss.

“I don’t know,” Jake said honestly. “But I guess I had hoped for more.”

“We are barely at the starting stages of Nevermore. This foe already surpasses what the vast majority of parties would be capable of handling,” the King chimed in.

“I know, I know,” Jake said with a sigh. “Anyway, let’s just get this over with.”

Jake wasn’t gonna lie. While he did find the experience of exploring the floors of Nevermore kind of interesting, and he enjoyed the company he was there with, the entire thing had been quite disappointing so far. He would have preferred to just skip to floor 20 or some shit. Sadly, he had to bully far weaker foes for a while longer before that was possible.

However, just as they were about to engage, the Sword Saint seemed to get an idea as he turned to Dina.

“Dina… how about taking on this foe alone?”