Liam spent the hour given to them as wisely as he could. While his Chemicalized Creations were processing, he also prepped to make a batch of Minor Health, Mana, and Stamina Potions. During the time Liam was working on his additions, Artem worked on making certain…edibles.

  Thanks to Uncle Naro’s Mobile Crafter station, Artem was able to work close enough to Liam so he could gather a certain ingredient from him for one of his experiments. In exchange for providing the ingredient, Liam had helped him with a few things when he had a moment. From ingredients of his own to the cooking process. Liam felt the strain from working on his own items and helping Artem, but he didn’t complain.

  He formed two Arcane Mana Hands to help with the workload. Even using Mana Blend with one of them to help him with certain aspects of the alchemical process. All that practice he had done the past few days was starting to show as he put to use what he had learned. The difference this time was he used the mana blended Arcane Mana Hand to help with his Alchemy while he had the non-mana blended hand to help with Artem.

  While he felt the strain while multitasking, he also felt he was getting better at doing it. He focused as hard as he could using his heightened sight, hearing, and touch to make sure he didn’t mess up during the processes.

  When they had finally finished Uncle Naro had complimented him on his feat while also telling him he was reaching the starting line of what he wanted him to be capable of. While he felt a little sting when the man told him the latter, he also took the compliment he was given. He knew the man had expectations of him and this was his way of trying to encourage him while also making sure he knew he had a lot he needed to improve on.

  As Liam and Artem replenished the resources they had used to make what they needed, Liam had passed out all the Minor Health, Mana, and Stamina Potions he had made. He also handed Artem a few special Chemicalized Creations that were recently made that he and Mercer had discussed beforehand.

  He had instructed Artem what they were, how they worked, and some suggestions of when to use them. While these were new to him as well, he stressed the importance of how he didn’t know how they would really work. Artem was both surprised and excited to see these new items. He was excited because these items had fallen into an idea he was trying to make a reality. The difference was what he wanted to do wasn’t in the form of an Alchemical item.

  Liam was curious to know what he meant but decided not to press it since they were about to enter the dungeon. He wanted to organize his thoughts on everything he wanted to work on while inside and prioritized the list in order of most important to least. From the looks on everyone’s faces that were going in on this first run, they were doing the same. Once everyone looked like they were finished prepping, they turned towards the dungeon portal, accepted the notification and stepped through.

  According to the information that appeared in the notification, The Kelp Bank dungeon was a Tower type dungeon just like Key had said. However, the dungeon wasn’t like the other tower type dungeons he and his teammates had taken on before. They hadn’t caught it earlier when Key was explaining the dungeon, but there was something different about this one. The clue that made them notice that was the key word used in the notification. The key word was areas, not floors. They weren’t sure exactly what that meant, but they understood they would find out during their run.

  After controlling their bowels from threatening to upchuck, they looked around the starting area. The Portal sat on the edge of a sandy bank with waves slowly rolling back and forth. To their right and left the sandy area had expanded out some before reaching out forward. Grass blades and random weed-like plants scattered amongst the sand with harvestable plants mixed here and there.

  After taking in the starting area they all agreed that they were on a sandbank that was much bigger than the one on the outside. While Liam wanted to reach out and start harvesting the plants he saw he waited for Gimmel to start his role. He wasted no time in pulling out a small wooden bird. Liam inspected the craftsmanship of the object and didn’t know if he was impressed or disappointed with it.

  While the shape was a bird, there weren’t any real details to it. It looked like it was crafted by an amateur who was just starting out. The wings looked rigid and stiff and the body was blocky. He knew he couldn’t complain about how it looked since he had never made one before, so instead of making any comments he assessed it.

  [Crude Spy Bird Puppet. Item Rarity – Common. Item Quality – Crude. Description – A crudely made bird puppet made by a beginner. Flight speed and flight control is heavily reduced due to the bulky design and bad placement of joint brackets. Increase to Mana consumption in order to keep object in flight.]

  Liam was about to ask about it, but before he could Gimmel had started chanting. After he was done chanting three copies of it had appeared on the ground. After Gimmel was done he explained that since this was his only one and the penalty of the flight speed and control was horrible he was going to use Illusionary copies. This was so if the puppets came across creatures that could catch them and destroy them he wouldn’t be out a puppet.

  As he sent the illusory copies out he also explained to them that Uncle Naro had gotten him this to practice more with not just his Puppeteering Magic, but also with his Illusion Magic. He had him do this for a couple reasons. One was just like he had explained. So he could preserve the durability of his puppets and not be out a puppet due to bad control or match up. The other reason was so he could explore options and new ways to handle his puppets while in a new area he wasn’t confident in.

  Liam and Mercer understood what he meant. To a Puppeteer their puppets were everything. Their attacks, their defense, their scouts…The versatile uses of a puppet is what makes a puppeteer useful. However, like Gimmel had explained before, his class and the magic he used was a bit on the pricy side due to the tools he needed to use. At the lower end of the levels the puppets he was able to get his hands on were really worth it due to the durability or the risk of having to constantly repair them. However, once a puppet reached the end of its life it was deemed unusable and useless. While this was something a Puppeteer needed to be wary of, Gimmel had something to make sure his puppets could be useful one last time.

  Liam had forgotten about this ability Gimmel had received from Eri the moment he became a follower. He was reminded of this ability not too long after the illusory bird puppets flew out to scout and were instantly attacked not too far from where they stood by birds that shot out from the grassy areas scattered across the sand.

  The illusory bird puppets’ wings were struck, causing them to fall to the ground where Sharp Tooth Crocs emerged from both underneath the sand and the waters near the bank. To Liam’s and the others’ surprise, the illusionary birds didn’t disappear after taking the damage. They had maintained their forms and sat there in the sand. Gimmel wasted no time and started chanted a spell that caused the illusionary birds to fix their broken wings and start acting in an aggressive manner. They took to the air before dive bombing into the crocodiles and exploded upon contact.

  Gimmel explained that through trail and error he had found out that he could use his Puppet Reanimation spell on the illusionary puppets. He was still trying to understand why it work, but he wasn’t going to complain about the logic of it. Liam and the others weren’t going to complain either as they welcomed the illogical help.

  Thanks to Gimmel’s scouting of the area before them they had discovered where the creatures were around them and had learned that these creatures were smart enough to hide in areas they weren’t expecting. They had also found out that the Sharp Tooth Crocs and the Aquatic Plovers had a working relationship where the birds either took on long ranged attacks to protect the crocodiles as well as acting as diversions for the melee attackers giving the crocodiles enough time to make it to the enemies.

  As good as their teamwork was, it wasn’t enough for the creatures to win. While they took to the roles they were instructed to take and getting used to them, the group was able to find a rhythm and take down their foes. It might have taken them longer to get used to them than they had hoped for, but after they adapted the speed of which they took on the enemies became faster and easier.

  Gimmel, as the scout, used illusionary Crude Spy Bird Puppets to make sure no new enemies were coming in. If the Aquatic Plovers attacked and took them down, he used his Puppet Reanimation to land a few attacks before create new illusions. The only negative he had to point out while using that spell was that the damage wasn’t much.

  Ariyana provided support in the form of her Field of the Charmed Senses Focus Point spells. She buffed Roman and Mercer with her Echoes of Sound spell as well as screwed with he Aquatic Plover’s depth perception with her Depth Scramble spell. Mercer provided support through his instruments and even attacked with his bow and arrows. During the fights they pointed out locations of each creatures to create awareness for the others thanks to Gimmel’s information.

  Blair used her new taunting ability to try and keep the monster’s attention on her. The Arcane infused shouts she displayed was strong enough to keep their anger focused on her as Roman attacked where he saw opportunities. Artem, who had recently unlocked Perception of the Control Tower, kept an eye on everyone’s health while creating barriers and placing them in key areas so Blair didn’t get overwhelmed by the monsters that were surrounding her.

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  Liam decided to test out a few things during these fights. He decided to try and see if these Sharp Tooth Crocs were able to receive damage by or had any damage reduction from lighting and fire attacks. The way he did that was thanks to his new Chemicalized Creation called Weak Flash Spark.

  Weak Flash Spark was a Chemicalized Creation made by using Lightning and Fire Mana and mixing it with something he had recently learned about Flash Powder. Unlike his other Chemicalized Creations the Weak Flash Spark was a single target item and had a less impressive outcome. That didn’t mean it didn’t do its job, but the visual effects and the fact it was single target made him feel like it was underwhelming.

  After throwing a vial of the Weak Flash Spark on the back of a Sharp Tooth Croc, several lines of lightning spiderwebbed across the monsters back and under its belly. The monster had seized up and stopped moving right before the Flash Powder that was mixed in it lit the Fire Mana up and create flames that followed the same path as the lines of lightning. The damage, while not as grand as his other Chemicalized Creations, showed that these creatures would take lightning and fire damage like normal. Another surprise to Liam was the fact that the crocodile creature had received some burn damage as well.

  After confirming this he chanted his Shade’s Corruption and Epidermis Luminescence spell over a few of the creatures before joining in on the fight. Against these creatures, Liam used an Arcane Hand and a Lightning Hand. He used Mana Blend on his Arcane Hand while giving it a Toxo Needle tool weapon and a Meat Cleaver to his Lightning Hand. He used his Meat Cleaver to attack the Sharp Tooth Crocs while trying to focus his Toxo Bone Needle on the flying Aquatic Plover birds.

  His attempts on the Aquatic Plovers weren’t nearly as successful as his attacks on the crocodiles were due to the speed the creatures had compared to his sub-stat. However, as he kept trying and focusing on them he started to see a pattern they had when attacking and fleeing. He focused his heightened sight and hearing to try and figure out the trajectory and path they used and after a few attempts he was finally able to make progress.

  The timing had to be perfect with a near hairsbreadth of marginal error or else he would miss entirely. However, after fighting so many and using them as practice he was starting to get a better feel for it. Thanks to this he was able to level up not just his Perception by a single level, but he was also able to level his Reflex by one and his Fine Motor Skill sub-stat as well.

  They had spent half an hour fighting all the monsters in the area before they reached the boss of this area. The boss ended up being a creature called Scar Tooth. It was a crocodile that was twice as big as the ones they had fought previously. It was chilling under the sun in a mound of sand with skinny trees surrounding it covering the view of the water outside the trees. Hopping around its back were several Aquatic Plovers that picked at its back or ruffled their feathers.

  Liam and the others had a slightly harder time fighting this boss compared to the normal mob creatures earlier. The Aquatic Plovers were immune to Blair’s Arcane Battle Scream. Meaning they were free to attack or focus on whoever they wanted, while Scar Tooth, who wasn’t immune to the taunt, focused on Blair.

  Artem struggled to keep up with casting shield spells and healing Blair, Roman, and Liam. However, his struggle lessened when he deemed the situation was right to use a new item he was handed before entering the dungeon. That new item was a Chemicalized Creation called Weak Healing Mist.

  Liam had come to the idea of making this through his talks with Mercer when they were discussing what they needed to stock up on before attacking the dungeon. Mercer had made a comment about how he wished there was a way to help Artem heal without having to use chants or spells in case a situation came up where his focus was needed on either defending or needing to make a shield or barrier.

  Liam thought the comment was a suggestion to him on coming up with a way and after thinking about it he proposed the idea to Mercer. Mercer was surprised that Liam had come up with a solution to a passing comment and asked if he would be able to make it. Liam wasn’t sure at the time since he wasn’t entirely sure what he needed in order to make it.

  He had brought the idea to Uncle Naro and saw he was rather impressed with the idea or at least the fact he was able to come to the idea on his own. When Uncle Naro asked how he came up with the idea Liam explained that after Mercer had made the comment and he thought about it, he remembered seeing Artem trying some things out for his own practice and during the Sea Parade fight.

  The bear of a man had explained the idea behind the results weren’t new, but the way he was trying to go about it was interesting. He made some suggestions on what he should try to use, but didn’t explain how he should proceed with the crafting. It had taken him a couple tries to get to somewhat satisfactory results. He had to mix in another ingredient that he didn’t think would work to get the end results he was hoping for.

  He had decided to go with that extra ingredient only thanks to something Avery had suggested. At first her suggestion made Liam believe the finished product would take a different turn, but after reading the description of the final product, he was more than ecstatic with it.

  The finished product was what Artem threw at the three front liners. Weak Healing Mist was a single target support type Chemicalized Creation. The ingredients used to make it were Water Mana, Healing, Air Mana, and a small vial of Weak Minty Health Potion. The Water Mana and Healing Mana mixed with the Weak Minty Health Potion helped enhanced the Healing properties of the item. Those by themselves only made the item wet. It was the Air Mana Avery had suggested that when shattered turned the liquid results into a mist.

  When a Weak Healing Mist was used, the mist would engulf the target in a mist of healing water. If it only covered the targets body then the target would only receive a small amount of healing to their health pool while also healing some light scratches. But if the target also inhaled the mist their mouths or noses then they would receive an extra bit of healing over time, allowing them to heal a small percentage of their health while also being attacked.

  Thanks to this item, Artem was able to chant and create barriers to protect those who were either getting pummeled by the Aquatic Plovers or Blair from a strong swipe of Scar Tooth’s claws or tail. After a while they were able to take down the boss monster thanks to Liam’s afflictions and tool weapons, Roman’s Earth and Lightning attacks, Blair’s arcane empowered axe strikes, and Gimmel’s illusionary Puppet Reanimation combination.

  After they defeated the monster, a section of the trees had suddenly disappeared revealing a new section of the sandbank full of lush greenery. This confirmed what the Areas had meant in the notification earlier. Instead of moving to a new floor they were entering a new section of the dungeon or rather a new area.

  Liam spent some time harvesting the creatures, the Soul Orbs, and plants they had come across. Before moving to the next section he had requested that they take a break to replenish their resources and he be able to craft. They all agreed and allowed Liam to create an Anima Forge and created a couple Soul Cores to help level it up.

  After getting it to reach level five, he used Devour to replenish his missing Spirit Pool points before moving on to the next area. Like the last area, Gimmel scouted ahead of them to see if there were any hidden monsters anywhere. Just like the last area, there were hidden creatures laying in wait for them. However, the creatures weren’t what they were thinking.

  Instead of monsters in the form of a reptile or bird, the monsters hiding were plant like creatures. This area was full of Mangrove Treants, Seaweed Snarers, and an occasional Barbed Slinger Corals. Each plant creature held a certain role that made Liam and the others feel like if they had just wandered in without the help of Gimmel then they would have been in trouble.

  The Seaweed Snarers acted like their name entailed. They would try to ensnare their targets to try and keep them in place. When they wrapped their sea weed like bodies around a target’s arm or leg they would also inject a paralytic poison to keep their target in place and feel weakened. The Barbed Slinger Coral had a similar function except instead of trapping or ensnaring a target they would shout barbed needles at targets to try and stun a target so a Mangrove Treant could attack or pull the target to a hidden pool of water off to the side and drown them.

  Artem worked overtime using his barrier magic, protecting as many of them from the barbs being shot at them. As he did this, Blair struck as quickly and cleanly as she could with her axe while Roman and Liam worked double time with their fire magic. Liam switched out his Lightning Hand for his Fire Hand and used it to catch most of the plant monster on fire while Roman used Wave of Ignition or one of his other Fire spells. Thanks to these, they were able to make quick work of each creature.

  Even the boss monster, the Mangal Mangrove Treant, didn’t hold up well with the combination the used. They did have a hard time though due to the hidden Barbed Slinger Corals hiding in the tree line. They had shot their barbs at random from different directions making Artem have a bad time trying to keep an eye out for them. Blair, Liam, and Roman also had to watch out for Seaweed Snarers from popping up at random times from the ground as they moved about. However, they didn’t let that stop them from making quick work of them.

  After defeating the boss monster, Liam set to work on harvesting the creatures and their Soul Orbs. After determining his Spirit Pool was full again, he spent some time working on another set of Soul Cores as the others took a rest. He was able to get another couple of levels in the craft making him happy to see some results in it.

  After they were ready, they had started making their way to the next area. However, before they stepped through they came to a realization. Besides the Seaweed Snarer and the Barbed Slinger Coral, they had already came across all the creatures they had spotted on the sandbank outside. That meant this final area had something they didn’t know about and that made them even more cautious.

  After stepping into the next area, they scanned around. The area and widened even more. However, instead of it stretching out, this area was only a circled out spot. To make it worse, the middle of the area was full of dark blue water indicating the bottom was nowhere in sight. The watery middle expanded out wide giving them only a small amount of room to walk around due to the plants and trees blocking the outer area.

  Gimmel sent three illusionary Spy Bird Puppets to get a better look. As they flew to the other side of the area he informed them that there was nothing beyond here that he could see. He ordered his puppets back and as they started making their way back through the air in the middle of the pooled area, bubbles started to rise around the center of the area. Before his puppets could make it past that area, a creature the size of a horse shot up into the air and over the puppets. Its dark green kelp-like tail swatted all three illusions with enough force they suddenly disappeared from sight.

  The amount of force used to cause the three illusionary puppets didn’t catch their attention nor their awestruck expressions. Instead it was the visage of the creature that had appeared out from the water and into the air that made them freeze.

  The bottom half of the creature was a long fishy kelp-like tail with the top half having a horse like body, two hooves included, messy water logged hair, and full black eyes. The whinny that escaped its mouth before plunging back into the water further confirmed what it was. Liam didn’t need to assess it, but he did so anyways out of habit.

  [Alpha Mare Kelpie. 15,000/15,000 HP. 5,550/5,550 MP. Level – 19]

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