Origin Of Evil 65 Lords Of The Forest Below The Mountain

The other thing Dorian was able to discover, or rather confirm, was the change from Mission Mode to Exploration Mode. It was said at first that this would be more real, and Dorian now understood how.

Apart from the limit the strongest being in that world would have, there was also the drop. Despite Kevin being the strongest enemy he ever faced, being a Level 4 Mage, his loot was poor.

Kevin would be able to wipe out the Dark City with enough time, and yet be it Marcus, Lucie or the Captain, they all had more loot than Kevin.

That meant the strength of the opponent will not influence the loot. Right now, Dorian could kill a G.o.d and not get anything, but he could also kill a being weaker than Level 1 and get the strongest items in the realms.

Of course, those were extreme examples just to portray the situation, Dorian didn't have any hope of it actually happening. Looking at the corpse of Kevin, Dorian couldn't help but shack his head. He had truly been lucky this time.

In normal circ.u.mstances, killing Kevin would be impossible. Even though Mages are weak against a.s.sa.s.sinations and are more suited toward group fights than individual fights like this, a Level 4 Mage was still way stronger than Dorian.

If Gurek and Erendur weren't distracting him, Dorian wouldn't have been able to approach Kevin. Kevin had thrown dozens of fireb.a.l.l.s, and Dorian had suffered injuries from only one of them. Five or six of them would be enough to kill him.

Adding in that blink skill, it would have been impossible to kill Kevin by himself. A Level 4 Knight would be even more fearsome, because Knights train for individual fights. If it were a Knight, Dorian wouldn't have been able to kill him so easily.

Anyway, he now hoped that this ally of Kevin would have more loot. The [Gatherer] was a good equipment, Dorian liked it, but for such a strong opponent to only drop this… At least he will be able to sell the green items.

For this ally though, Dorian felt conflicted. Because he was the one sent to pick the treasure, he should be stronger than Kevin. But then, why didn't he attack Dorian?

Or was there some kind of other entrance? After all, he was alone in that room. There was no other light in the room, so how could there be someone else in that room?

Dorian was in meditation when Erendur said "We should go capture this Master of Snakes." Dorian shook his head and replied "No, we should wait for reinforcement. The enemy inside is of an unknown strength, we can't just go in."

Erendur sneered "I don't need them." Dorian shrugged and said "You can go if you want, but I will stay here to wait for them."

Erendur frowned and looked at Gurek, but the latter said "Don't let your anger cloud your judgment, we can't go in there." Erendur said "I will go, whether you come or not. We can't let him escape."

Gurek shook his head. Erendur grunted and got in the tunnel by himself. Dorian ignored him and used his Holy Fire Manual. At first, Dorian didn't know what use it would have. But now, he understood. This manual was actually able to strengthen his body.

But the speed at which it did so was different from people in this world. Instead of just strengthening him bit by bit, it would strengthen him every time he pa.s.ses a rank. The levels would in turn enhance the amount of Life Essence he had.

Basically, going from Level 1 to Level 10 will enhance the quant.i.ty of Life Essence, as well as his control over it, while Level 10 to Level 1 will enhance the quality. And enhancing its quality enhances his body.

Unfortunately, Dorian was currently at Adept Level 1, so he would only be able to enhance the quant.i.ty for a long time. There was one thing to celebrate though, this ability was categorized as a Special Ability, and he would thus not need higher ranked ability books to enhance it.

Gurek looked at his old friend entering the tunnel alone but didn't move. If they needed the reinforcements help, they also needed theirs. If he went with Erendur and got killed then the reinforcements would probably be unable to deal with the foe.

That's why he had to stay. He closed his eyes and laid on the ground waiting. As for the two Sadunites, they sat on the ground too, and just waited. They couldn't help in anyway right now. Sadunites aren't a race known for their fighting ability, they dedicate their lives to knowledge.

In most situations, their knowledge was useful, such as when Dorian almost attacked Gurek. If he really harmed him, then Erendur would have attacked him, and Dorian would be hard pressed fighting against the chief Ent.

But right now, they most certainly wouldn't be the least bit useful. They didn't know in what kind of temple they were in, nor what kind of enemy they would face.

The group only waited for ten minutes until they heard steps coming their way. But Dorian didn't pay attention to that, because he discovered something to his status. He actually had unlocked a third… well, bar.

He had his Health Points, or Hp, and Mana Points, or MP. But now, there was a third one. LE, short for Life Essence. He tried infusing his body with Life Essence, but there was no decrease in his bar.

The system then spoke on its own:

[You have discovered and absorbed a new kind of energy. Because you learned and practiced the appropriate ability, a new bar has been added. In the future, for some skills you may be able to use LE instead of MP.]

Dorian asked "Why didn't I lose any LE when I infused my body with it?"

[Because you didn't move. The LE just circulated in your body, so no amount was lost. You will lose LE if you use Life Essence to power up your moves, or your regeneration or your senses.]

That made sense. Dorian closed the system and looked at the newcomers. There were four of them. There was one big antelope, a white one, with a man saddling it. There was also a giant crocodile. The last one was a big gorilla.

Dorian's gaze of course focused on the man, and he discovered something. This wasn't a human. Those long, pointy ears only belonged to one race, the Elves.

Dorian got up from the ground and heard Gurek say "Lune, Sundamar, Crocus, Phil. It's good to see you." They all nodded and the big gorilla asked "Where is that old bark?"

Gurek sighed and said "Let me explain to you what happened. We chased down the one who attacked the forest, we learned he is a sorcerer. We defeated him and extracted information from him, and learned he is part of an organization seeking something in the temple. We also learned there is another enemy deeper in the temple. Erendur went there alone."

They nodded and the Elf said "I see we have Sadunites here… Welcome to our forest." He bowed his head slightly, as did the other three. The two Sadunites waved their hands frantically and said "Don't, we don't deserve this."

The four smiled and then turned toward Dorian. Gurek said "Don't worry, he is special. He is human, but not from our dimension. Long story short, he has been sent from another dimension to accomplish a mission here. Right now, he is exploring. He helped us bring down the sorcerer."

Dorian nodded toward them and Gurek continued "His name is Dorian." He then looked at Dorian and said "There are five lords in the forest. Erendur is the lord of the trees in the center of the forest, I am the lord of the southern region, Crocus is the big crocodile and the lord of the swamps in the northern region, Phil is the gorilla and the lord of the western part of the forest, and Sundamar is the Elven King, who co rules the east with Lune, the antelope."