I Built This City Chapter 31: Chapter 31

Read chapter 31 of I Built This City by ThePudding on NovelPedia.

Healer Ellen Days of preparation and arguing had finally led to success for Ellen. Now, here in the darkness of the tunnel with only the flickering torch to keep the trio of Ellens company, she had to admit it was pretty scary. She did one last check of her condition as they passed into the dungeon proper. A quick dismissal of the dungeon announcement—and its requisite first time bonuses—gave way to the familiar sight of her status. ATTRIBUTES Strength: 8 Agility: 8 Endurance: 8 Willpower: 8 Affinity: 9 Perception: 8 SKILL ENHANCERS STAMINA: 80/80 MANA: 83/83 CLASS: Tender 7 EXPERIENCE: 11,430/16,000 (8380 banked) PERKS Mana Manipulation (CC) ABILITIES This was her secret. The information she hadn’t yet shared with any of the other Ellens. None had asked specifically what Perk she had selected, only her Class. She told that truthfully. The fact that she had Mana Manipulation available before a Class that normally had it was strange. She’d heard of such things happening, but they were always exceptional circumstances and usually a result of multiple Class changes. She needed to know more about how this had happened. More importantly, she’d won them over with the arguments about the dungeon. Ellen had been truthful in what she’d argued with her other selves. Using the dungeon for themselves while they had the chance, before the influx of adventurers, was just a good idea. Even Hunter Ellen had seen the value in it, if reluctantly. The problem had been the sudden lack of a front-line combatant. “Are you sure this will work?” Hunter Ellen asked warily. Even with the new leather armor and bracers that Merchant Ellen had brought back, the Hunter was being careful. She was the most cautious of all of them, despite her constant outings in the forest by herself. Here, she was much more vulnerable… especially using the spear and knife instead of her bow. If a spider managed to bite her in an unarmored part of her body, even Ellen would have difficulty saving them. “No,” Apprentice Ellen admitted. “It should, but we have to try it sometime for real, right? If it doesn’t, run back up the tunnel as fast as you can. Even if it doesn’t kill them, it should slow them down enough for all of us to get away.” Ellen knew Apprentice had a reputation with the others for getting into trouble, but she also knew that Apprentice really just wanted to be useful as fast as possible. Casters had a rough time doing that, when they didn’t get spells until Level 12. Until then, they were forced to crudely shove mana around to get simple effects. It was both wasteful and limited. Hunter Ellen had only reluctantly agreed to this strategy because she thought it would work, and even she had to admit it would be useful. As the highest Level among all the Ellens, she had the most difficulty reaching the next Level. It would normally take months to go from 9 to 10, but with a dungeon nearby and giving bonus experience against any Ellen, she could reach Level 11 before the end of winter. Every Ellen, including Hunter herself, wanted that. A true Tier 2 Class would be a proud moment for any of them, and while none of them said it, everyone was curious what the options would be. Ellen herself definitely wanted a high level Ellen around. And if they all died in the dungeon, it was just the first room. The new Ellens could retrieve their equipment just fine. They’d lose their highest Level Ellen, but gain two more with a vast amount of banked experience. The Ellens as a whole would only get stronger from this. Of course, she didn’t want any of them to die. She had chosen to be Healer Ellen, not Conniving Ellen. She would do her best to keep all three of the Ellens here alive, counting herself. Logically, she just didn’t see what the big deal was if one of them died. She discouraged Apprentice from taking stupid risks, because the longer they waited the more knowledge they carried to their descendants, but she understood why Apprentice didn’t care.