Third cavern of the White Polan’s Lair. It had many monsters and resources, but the final boss was further at the end in the lair, slumbering.
Number of monsters in the third cavern: 78
Number of resources: 26.
36 x Silver level 8-9 White Reaper Beetles.
29 x Silver level 9-10 Chilling Spark Panthers.
13 x Silver level 10 Sabersnout Hogs.
Among them, Almond killed a total of 26 monsters, his progress stopping at level 9 [77%].
Lily killed 23 monsters, her progress stopping at level 9 [39%].
Natalia killed 16 monsters, reaching level 9 [3%].
And the remaining were killed by Alfred, who also reached level 9 [8%].
It took around forty minutes to fight and kill monsters in this large cavern that was 4 kilometers square in size.
Almond gained a new surge of stat points after devouring three Spirits of each type of monster, getting stronger again.
Devouring those nine spirits, he got:
3 x White Reaper Beetles:+2 Strength, +1 Health, +1 Stamina, +0.5 Focus.
3 x Chilling Spark Panthers: +1 Strength, +2 Health, +1 Mana, +1 Perception.
3 x Sabersnout Hogs: +1 Strength, +2 Health, +1 Stamina, +1 Focus, +0.5 Perception.
He wasn’t even trying hard because if he did, he would eat most of the monster kills. As such, he focused on refining and discovering more sword plays instead.
The party was practically invincible against monsters on this first floor, mainly thanks to the abundance of items Almond’s Spirit Factory produced and the synergy of the team.
Almond and Lily were absolute beasts in combat, and Natalia was a trickster to the enemy and support in a way, not to mention the Spectral Wolves and Alfred, who were not any less powerful.
Almond had lent Earth Shattering Gloves to Natalia for the time being. She could utilize its passive effect of increasing the defense of allies within a 5-meter radius better since she was in the team with wolves and Alfred.
The party dominated this third cavern completely and cleared it before finally under a tree in the center instead of entering the last passage since it was short, and they could see the boss slumbering from there.
To make space for the new 78 Spirits—minus 9 that he devoured—Almond sacrificed all the Spirits he had gained from previous areas by repairing items and using them to increase the durations of some more useful Spirit items.
Of course, he had recovered Wolf Claw Gauntlet long ago, making it duration 30 days when he was in Willowbee Nest since he had excess Spirits to be used because there were a lot of Willowbees.
Wolf Claw Gauntlets were useless to be used as a weapon, but the effect it got from his Spirit Factory was fantastic since the spectral wolves inherited Almond’s stats, making them powerful!
As for other items, he mainly increased the duration of all three Shimmering Spine Spears to 3 days, costing him 9 Spirits. Bog Slither Arrows to 3 days, which cost him 15 Spirits. Finally, one Glassblaze Shield’s duration 3 days, which cost him 3 Spirits.
Glassblaze Bears gave mostly one-time-use items except for Glassblaze Shields, and they had already used them in Shimmering Fen. The shield was good, so Almond kept one since the rest were destroyed.
3 x Moonlight Crystals didn’t have durations despite not being one-time-use items, fortunately. They were safe in the storage pouch.
2 x Wispy Illusion Bombs were one-time-use items, and they hadn’t used any yet as there was no need so far.
2 x Shimmering Serpent’s Fangs were also one-time-use items, and Almond planned to use them in the incoming boss fight.
1 x Shimmering Trap, the only Rare-grade item his Spirit Factory has produced so far, was put into the safe. It was a rare grade, meaning that it could affect monsters above Silver level 10 easily as well. There was no need to use it blindly.
As for other items that Natalia and Lily used, he had already increased their durations to 10 days yesterday.
Natalia’s Willowbee Crossbow was at 10 days duration. The other two crossbows had vanished since a day passed.
Lily’s all three Willowbee Daggers were also at 10 days duration. These were useful because of the paralyzing effect.
All in all, Almond had 10 different types of items from his Spirit Factory, all of them abundantly useful and more powerful than regular items of the same grade!
Right after they sat down for recovery in a triangle formation, Almond heard the sweet sound of notification from his Spirit Factory.
He looked at the list.
3 x Snow Hide Cloak. Uncommon-grade.
2 x Polan Tiger’s Belt. Uncommon-grade.
4 x White Polan Charm Rings. Uncommon-grade.
1 x Spirit Snake Bite. One-time-use. Uncommon-grade.
2 x White Dust Carapace Armor. Uncommon-grade.
3 x White Dust Venom Quiver. Uncommon-grade.
2 x Lethal Fang Sabers. Uncommon-grade.
3 x Lethal Fang’s Boots. Uncommon-grade.
‘Interesting new items. And only one one-time-use item, eh?’
Just as Almond finished reading the list, another notification greeted him, making him excited.
It was from his Spirit Pocket!
“Hey, party, it’s finally time we get one more member,” Almond grinned as he eagerly activated the Spirit Kodoku Pocket and brought out the new Spirit Wraith in the middle of the triangle they had formed.
Lily and Natalia quickly attended to Almond upon hearing that, as they knew what he meant.
“What’s it going to be?” Lily muttered in anticipation as she saw a swirl of mystical and colorful smoke with sparks gathering in the middle.
“It won’t be a humanoid since there’s no human Spirits inside, right?” Natalia blinked before she added. “If only that bastard Zoren didn’t affect others with his death, we could’ve killed him. He deserves to die, humph.”
“Can’t deny that,” Almond nodded, his eyes on the Spirit Wraith manifesting.
Half a second later, everyone saw a monster they had never seen before.
“A chimera-type, huh?” Lily’s eyes glinted in curiosity.
“It looks scary as hell,” Natalia winced.
It was 2.5 meters tall, had glassy scales over its body, and had four snake-like arms with a literal snake-like mouth in place of a standard hand or claw. They wiggled like tentacles, the snake mouth hissing as their venomous fangs glinted.
It also had four legs like a mantis, but they were thick and stubby. Its crystally eyes glowed dark green with blue pupils, and the final horror factor was a pair of giant bee-like wings but furry with green and yellow patterns at its back.
There were four glowing blue crystal orbs on its chest as a part of its body as well, pulsing like a heartbeat.
“Alright, this is one hell of a creepy thing. No wonder the product is called Spirit Wraith,” Almond wryly chuckled.
[Please name your new Spirit Wraith.]
“Share us the status. I wonder what skills it has,” Lily grinned. “I’m sure it’s powerful.”
“Yep,” Almond quickly made a name and then shared the status. ‘Oh? This doesn’t start from level 1, and what’s with the new things?’
Almond was surprised and shared it, “This is new, alright. Take a look.”
[Chimera Viperfiend]
-Classification: Off-Tank