Skill Maker In A New World: Start By Creating A 10x SP Skill-Chapter 73: Water Mage

Darien stood before the revolving portal with azure light.

A dungeon bridge manifesting between settlements was not a common sight.

He had taken a long transit to get here because rift compasses only granted swift passage to places the user could recall vividly.

All around were other waiting aspirants eager to clear the dungeon.

They consisted of just two small parties and two guilds. Darien stood out as the only solo warrior.

While the bridge continued to prepare itself, he quietly observed everyone.

Ayn's betrayal had made him hyperaware of groups; now, he always looked for the one who would betray if given the chance—because there was always one.

"Broken Strike Guild! We march first as always! No beasts, no traps, no curse can stop us!"

The leader of an unpopular guild shouted for morale, twin axes slung across his back.

Roaring back in response, his guildmates slammed their weapons together as the bridge became ready.

Darien took confident steps forward and entered, everyone pausing to watch him like a madman as he was pulled into the swirling phenomenon.

[You have entered Rank 1 Dungeon: Forlorn Asylum]

'Rank 1?' Darien mused the instant the notification flashed.

He had wanted Rank 2 for some sort of challenge. But it made sense now that he gave it more thought.

These weakling parties and half-baked guilds that had come to clear the dungeon couldn't possibly handle anything tougher.

He sighed.

Still, he marched onward.

He had more than enough skill points. What he needed now was EXP, even if this trial would be nothing more than a cream puff for him.

Darien paused for a moment.

He found himself in a strange corridor with bloodstained walls and tall windows, the rest of the aspirants appearing behind him and crowding the space.

"Boy, are you out of your mind?"

Slightly surprised, Darien turned slowly to face the same weaklings he'd seen outside.

"What's an intermediate-level spearman doing here, huh? You really think you can survive this? Hahaha—gonna get yourself killed before you even blink!"

Broken Strike Guild mocked him, thinking he was a simple knight by the name Jakob.

They saw his confidence as absurd and hilarious. Intermediate level was just too low for a high-tier Rank 1 dungeon.

This wasn't the modest Novice Depths. This was Forlorn Asylum, and the spooky cackle in the walls could make a rookie go mad.

"What's your plan here? Where's your spear? A spearman without a spear?!"

One of the Broken Strikes snickered loudly, and they all boomed with laughter.

Darien chuckled softly, seemingly laughing with them.

When their laughter faltered under the awkwardness he brought, he simply continued forward as the sound of snarls and low growls surfaced.

Using <Gravion Control>, the boy floated high above the first swarm of monsters, leaving them for the group of warriors behind.

The stitch abominations growled and snapped at the gliding figure, but he effortlessly drifted past them toward the next tier of the dungeon.

As he entered a wide courtyard of the sanatorium, Darien activated <Flowguard Veil>.

It was a defensive and utility water skill he had created, costing him negligible skill points.

[Skill: Flowguard Veil]

[Level: (5-star)]

[Description: Enshrouds the user in a film of water armour. Resists 90% damage. Converts 50% damage to Energy. The veil can extend to seize or retract objects at will. Mild visual confusion and illusion.]

The next tier of the dungeon welcomed the warrior with Parasitic Midwives.

They revealed their gnarled, bloodied forms from the darkness like festering revenants, reeking of decay.

But Darien wasted no time on them despite their numbers.

With two more water spells of his own making, he annihilated them pretty quickly.

<Drownfield> was a skill that allowed him to flood the dungeon floor within a 30-meter radius with a flowing, thin sheet of water.

This disoriented the monsters' movements, forcing them into chaotic stumbles.

And when any tripped and fell, the thin water was deadly enough to slice body parts.

[You slayed a Rank 1 Monster!] x12

[You gained 790 EXP] x12

Darien stood at the center of the flooded courtyard, watching as more of the twisted creatures clawed their way from every corner.

The monsters had low health and were easy to cut down one by one, but their overwhelming numbers gave them the advantage.

He stuck to his promise, which was why he manifested <Vengeful Blue Devourer>, another water skill.

<Vengeful Blue Devourer> was a water summon that took shape like a shrub or fountain.

From its center, several tentacle-like arms of water emerged, moving in restless, living motions.

At 5-star, these arms extended outward to grab monsters and drag or toss them back into the Devourer's core.

After each consumption, the summoned body became bigger until it reached the max number at the given rank before dissolving into a torrent of water.

Darien watched as his living spell sat at the center of the courtyard with twelve liquid arms lashing out in the rhythm of waves.

Any Parasitic Midwife that didn't slip on the <Drownfield> was snatched.

One by one, the abominations were flung into the air and into the mouth of the <Vengeful Blue Devourer>.

[You slayed a Rank 1 Monster!] x46

[You gained 840 EXP] x46

Any that managed to stagger too close were blasted apart by Darien's precise bursts of water magic until the entire phase was cleared.

He used the same arsenal to battle the next phase, where he met Derilium Fiends.

Darien noticed that the air of the dungeon had a mechanism for insanity.

Some aspirants would lose their minds under it.

But with his magical shield and water armor, he remained unaffected all through.

Fiends, Blood Stillborns, and Stitched Patients lunged at him from every corridor of the haunted sanatorium, but the skills he had made were just too powerful for them to be any threat.

The warrior reduced every swarm to mist and gore under the surge of his mastered water techniques.

[You slayed a Rank 1 Monster!] x56

[You gained 840 EXP] x56

'These monsters are horrendous, and this isn't even a corrupted dungeon!'

Darien thought as blood splattered on him, but it was quickly washed away by <Flowguard Veil>.

He wondered how a corrupted dungeon would be, then.

Burp!

After his hungry summon ate the last monster, it released a watery belch.

Darien acknowledged it, giving it a tap on its glistening head before extinguishing the spell.

"I'll need you for the BOSS," he said as the magical door to the BOSS chamber formed ahead.

Far behind, the other aspirants finally finished off the Stitched Patients Darien had abandoned for them.

They were exhausted, but they'd made it through without casualties.

The guild leader of Broken Strike Guild smirked, wiping his blades clean.

"Alright. Let's see how that overconfident brat ended up."

But when they finally advanced to the next tier, the Forlorn Asylum was empty.

No monsters came after them. The corridors were silent, the courtyard a quiet graveyard.

What was left were only traces of water and pile after pile of loot, enough to make each of them live comfortably.

[You have entered BOSS CHAMBER of Rank 1 Dungeon: Forlorn Asylum]

The moment Darien stepped through the magical door and entered the BOSS chamber, he manifested the <Vengeful Blue Devourer> again like it was his guard.

FWOOSSH!

The creature bloomed in the center of the chamber even before he settled his eyes on the BOSS.

(BOSS)

(Abyssal Midmother)

(HP: 1299)

(Affinity: Darkness, Blood)

(Rank 2 Stray!)

SWISH!

Without hesitation, Darien's summon lashed its arms and snared the Midmother very quickly, hoisting her into the air.

The BOSS's grotesque face twisted in panic as the water began to constrict while she struggled.

Darien prepared to unleash volleys of water blasts from where he stood, but the Midmother's frantic resistance forced him to alter his plan.

The abomination screeched, summoning blood blades from her own body and slashing furiously through the Devourer's limbs, severing the watery arms one after another.

Darien's creature wailed as its appendages splattered across the chamber.

But he moved swiftly to avenge it.

As the BOSS crashed to the ground, she landed directly upon a trap he conjured—<Azure Thorns>, a 10-meter radius field of fifty-inch water spikes jutting from the soaked stone.

Water turned red as the Abyssal Midmother was impaled through every part of her body.

A huge damage number flashed, satisfying the warrior.

-2400!

[You slayed a Rank 2 Dungeon BOSS!]

[You slayed a Rank 2 Monster. You gained 20,000 Skill Points.]

[You gained 1,710 XP!]

[Knight Rank: Expert 210420/250000]

[Mage Rank: Apprentice 47480/1000]

Ding!

(Congratulations on reaching Rank 1 Adept)

(+1 points all Attributes)

[Mage Rank: Adept 46840/5000]

Ding!

(Congratulations on reaching Rank 1 Intermediate)

(+1 points all Attributes)

[Mage Rank: Intermediate 41840/15000]

Ding!

(Congratulations on reaching Rank 1 Advanced)

(+1 points all Attributes)

[Mage Rank: Advanced 26840/40000]

[Congratulations! You have successfully cleared Rank 1 Dungeon: Forlorn Asylum.] 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

'I was very quick,' Darien thought as he equipped the Collector's Aegis. 'I wonder if I just set a record.'

His job was done.

Apart from successfully clearing the dungeon and acquiring experience points, Darien was now sure of himself as a Water user.

It wasn't the most destructive element, but its composure gave him unshakable confidence and stability in battle, and he liked that.

Now, he would master a completely different element, opposite in every way.