Days had passed, yet Ellephwen had still not awakened. Samora had become a live-in for a while, to monitor Ellephwen, care for her. The other two Dryad that had visited before came over a few more times as well, though they said very little, just a quiet greeting with the Elf and a glance to Ellena.
On one hand, Ellena wanted to be around for when her Kin finally woke up, on the other she had been cooped up in the house for almost an entire week at this point. It was about time she went back to the dungeon. The greatest difficulty with this decision was trying to explain to Samora exactly where she would be going when unable to talk. In the end what worked to tell the healer was a rather poor impression of a Wolf, howling alone in the corner. A Mushman’s vocal range did not lend itself well to howling.
The past few days Samora had explained Ellephwen’s difficult situation with her injuries. Ordinarily she would be able to regenerate a limb in a few days given her skills and her race, Dryads were born from trees generally, so therefore just as a tree grows multiple branches, Dryads could grow multiple limbs, just most of them stuck to two arms and two legs.
It was only due to the dark aura that Levias constantly exuded in his broken state that caused her such difficulty now. Even if she could recover her lost limb it may now take months, maybe even years. She told Ellena that anyone that was hit by any of Levias’ attacks were in similar situations, skills were tanked and the regeneration skills suffered the most. Even just a temporary appearance was devastating.
All that being said, Ellena now had a goal and a vague time limit to achieve it. Sitting around moping and waiting for Ellephwen to wake up would not help with that goal, so she jumped back into the dungeon.
Before she started that, however, the Mushman had one thing she wanted to do. Or more accurately, one thing she wanted to see. So, to look for it, she made her way to the cliff edge she usually travelled down and scanned the distance. It didn’t take long to spot it.
A huge tree that stood many times taller than the forest around it, then half a dozen other large trees surrounding it that were not quite as large as the one in the center. They were far away, so far that Ellena could not make out a single detail, but no doubt that was them, Levias and the Council of Ents. It only made the ex-Human in her all the more terrified and the battle junkie in her all the more excited.
She would now see that sight every time she left for the dungeon, a constant reminder of what her future held. The issue is, Ellena could never imagine having the power required to fight that thing.
The Mushman shook the thoughts from her mind for the time being, she had a destination and she had a goal. Though, before that large target was reached there were several other smaller ones that she had to hit.
For now, her first goal was simply to grind, she didn’t want to get down to the second floor yet, not until Ellephwen had awakened. Given that the Dryad was the only one that could understand her, she needed at least someone to know what she was doing in case she didn’t come back. Samora knew where she was, but nothing beyond that.
So, start grinding she did, and she did so for a few more days, still with no sign of her Kin waking up. Colour returned to her bark-like skin and the rest of her wounds healed up nicely, but even Samora seemed to be a little worried.
In the meantime Ellena had explored every nook and cranny she could find of both the Rat and Wolf territory inside the first floor and by the end of day three she had seen a good chunk of the Mollits territory.
Given the theme of the first floor of this dungeon she had no doubt the Mollits would also have a boss and her main goal outside of fighting as many Monsters as possible in the dungeon was to find this Mollit boss too. That way she would have knowledge of all three on the floor. No doubt taking them out would lead her to the second floor she had been seeking out this entire time.
It was near the end of the third day that she found the Mollits boss, or what she assumed was the boss. Given that it sat on a literal mound of bones and corpses, far larger than what sat around the Rat Lords perch. Also it was double the size of the others and had fur that was a shade darker. The claws on his fingers were more like swords. He looked far more intimidating than the other two.
Ellena had decided that she wanted to take out all three bosses before she went down to the next floor, but she had not technically confirmed the Grey Wolves boss and this one was definitely going to be the toughest. At this point none of the basic Monsters on the first floor could stand up to her, so whilst they could definitely still gain her levels, she needed to move on soon.
There were a few more tunnels to explore in the Mollit's territory, but she had found their den and their nursery and now their boss, so she was getting close to having explored the entire first floor and technically still had not confirmed the route to the second floor. Though she did spot a wide tunnel behind the Mollit boss, so that seemed likely.
By the time Ellena returned home on that third day, she had also received her first max level in a skill.
“Skill [Night Vision lvl 9] has increased to [Night Vision lvl 10(Max)]!”
“Branch Skill [Amplified Vision lvl1] unlocked!”
Lucky for Ellena, the Mollits territory was especially dark, they had very poor vision in general, so they had no need for light, it wasn’t the way they navigated, so her Night Vision skill had a chance to power level. The middle of the night looked like broad daylight with a hint of blue to everything.
It also triggered her first branch skill. Amplified Vision. It wasn’t difficult to guess that it would improve her sight in some way, but in what way she had no idea. All the current changes could have been attributed to her night vision skill. She could check Ellephwens book when she was home, for now it wasn’t exactly important.
The past few days, the ex-Human had leveled a good amount, over twenty levels to be exact, but she hadn’t really checked exactly how that had effected things.
Name: Ellena
Age: 71 days
Species: Lesser Mushman Guardian, Mushman
Height: 3’4”
Sex: N/A
Level: 69 +16
Health: 091/104 +22
Mana: 02/32 +11
Stamina: 089/123 +25
Energy: 098/123 +25
Attack: 90 +16
Defence: 204 +37
Magic Attack: 34 +8
Magic Defence: 64 +16
Titles: Kin of Ellephwen
Skills: [Pain Resistance lvl 8] +1 [Night vision lvl 10(Max)] +4 [Amplified Vision lvl 1] New! [{Mushroom Helmet lvl 19}] +2 [Tough Stomach lvl 5] +1 [Unarmed Combat Journeyman lvl 6] +2 [Swiftfoot lvl 8] +1 [Warriors Heart lvl 9] +1 [Warriors Will lvl 6] [Lesser Regeneration lvl 7] +1 [Guardian lvl 7] +1
Overall it was good to see. Most of her stats had now surpassed the average human and her defense was double. It must have been comparable to a trained guard’s or something at this point. All thanks to her Mushroom helmet skill.
It was still a little ways off until her next evolution, but Ellena was determined to get there in the Lair of the Lonely Wolf. She had to, a forest full of innocents were relying on her. Well, her and many others, nonetheless it was quite the responsibility.
When she finally arrived home however, something took the Mushmans mind off that monumental task. Finally sitting upright nursing a cup of tea was her long recovering kin, Ellephwen.
Ellephwens smile at seeing the little Mushman could have only been matched by Ellena’s own. She ran up to the still exhausted looking Dryad with tears welling in her eyes and jumped up into her arms, wishing she had her own to hug back.
“Ellie! She’s still heavily injured, you shouldn’t launch yourself into patients like that! Good God’s girl, should do it to me instead.”
Ellena ignored the now pouting Elf and nuzzled her head into the warm embrace of her now awakened kin, though the sensation of only one arm of her back was something she was keenly aware of.
“It’s fine Samora. We haven’t seen each other in such a long time,” Ellephwen put down her cup of tea to hug Ellena just a little stronger.
Samora sighed and placed two soup bowls she had been holding on the dining table nearby. It seemed as though she had been cooking dinner. Something she had done for Ellena the past few days, even though the Mushman could have just survived off of moss, she of course appreciated it. In fact, the Elf had taken amazing care of Ellena the past few days despite her usual carefree attitude.
“I’ll let you two talk,” she smiled and walked to the door.
“Samora.”
“Yeah?”
“It seems as though Ellena is incredibly grateful towards you, thank you,” Ellephwen bowed her head towards the Elf.
Clearly unable to take such praise Samora stammered over some words and then hurriedly shuffled out of the door, causing the Dryad to stifle a giggle.
“Ouch. It seems as though even laughing is somewhat painful at the moment,” Ellephwen winced, grasping her waist.
Ellena hopped away from her Kin's body, not wanting to damage her any further.
“Don’t worry about that Ellena, compared to the fight with Levias your headbutts aren’t going to do much.”
Levias huh? How long have you been awake, Ellephwen? Has Samora caught you up?
Her expression darkened. “She has. I… I knew that you would accept the Council's request, which is why I didn’t want to ask it of you my kin. Please forgive me.”
Ellena shrugged. Lying to kids is the job of an adult isn’t it? She paused to think about what she had just said. Well, white lies I hope.
“Even so, Ellena. Please rethink your choice, you do not have to fight Levias. It is far too much to ask of you.”
Well. I think I kinda do. I think we all kinda do, don’t we? We live in this world, on this continent, we either fight to try and stop him or just lay over and let him wipe us all out, right? Even if we ran away to another landmass, what’s going to stop him when he’s done with the first?
Ellephwen blinked. “Well… It’s hard to argue with that logic. There may be beings that can stand up to him on other continents, but they would not stop him from ruining this one.”
So? Are you still going to ask me to stay out of it?
Ellephwen brushed across the Mushmans white spotted head whilst wearing a pained smile. “I will, as fruitless as it may be. I do not want to see you hurt.”
I didn’t want to see you hurt, but we’ll both suffer more if he isn’t stopped.
For a moment the two sat together in silence as Ellephwen gave her surrogate kin some well overdue affection. It wasn’t long before she drifted back off to sleep. She had only just woken back up.
Samora came back in shortly after and shook her head. “She expended too much energy. Well, that’s fine I suppose, it was going to be a little while until she was up and about anyway,” she walked over and picked up the Mushman, dropping her in one of the dining tables seats.
“Until she’s back on her feet, Ellena, I’ll be staying here, cooking, cleaning and looking after both of you. My apprentices should last a few more days without me at least.”
Ellena was fine with that. Samora’s cooking wasn’t on par with Ellephwens, but it was still better than anything she had had in her past life. If there were any complaints it would be that the Elf slept with her whilst she stayed over. The same thing occurred every night, she would steal the poor Mushmans sheets. It wasn’t cold or anything, but a breeze is a lot more noticeable when your stubby legs are sticking out to be slapped by it.
Even so she was grateful and with Ellepwhen awake, even briefly, a lot of anxieties would now drift from her mind. Now to be replaced with a lot larger and tree shaped one, but at least she had some time to nurture that particular brainworm.
So I tried to sum up a lot of the dungeon crawling. I didn't realise how long I spent on Ellena just running back and forth on the first floor. That was one of the issues with a diary formant right? Had to fill each day somehow. Anyway, trying to only write the actual interesting events in the dungeon.