Chapter 263 - Stamina Drain

"What now, Ryan?" Daniel asked after the question of the loot was solved, and everyone obtained some new pieces of gear. "We killed around forty percent of that army, right?"

"It looks you can at least do the math right… You are correct," Ryan nodded. "However, for the time being, we should retreat. "Even though we decreased their numbers by that much, we still will lose if we fight at night and all the bosses come to attack us."

"They are that powerful, huh," Lilian said. "Considering that you are cautious for a change, I guess we should really retreat and rest for the day. Do you have any place in mind where we can't be disturbed?"

"Yes," Ryan replied.

Although Ryan couldn't imagine winning a battle at night against more than one hundred vampires, things might change soon. That was one of the reasons he wanted to retreat to where he left Gonzales and his friends. It was in order to find out which skills he could obtain with that stupid number of coins he had.

"Finding a weapon more powerful than the pestilence crossbow in the dungeon shops is probably out of the question, and while even the most useful skills always start at level one, I am sure I can obtain something decent with this amount."

When Ryan returned much sooner than they had anticipated, Gonzales and his friends couldn't but frown and think that, as expected, he would need their help to deal with the monsters. However, since he wasn't alone, many questions started to pop on their heads.

"You can relax," Ryan said. "I didn't come to make you guys fight earlier than I said. We are just here to rest for the day."

"Is that so? That is a relief," Gonzales said. "Although we made a lot of progress in two days, I can't say that we are ready to face even a single small pack of those creatures."

Although Gonzales's friends didn't like the presence of too many people that seemed stronger and better armed than them, they relaxed when they saw Daniel and the others just chilling around. As one would expect, the goblins were no longer a real threat to those survivors, even though they were at level sixty.

In any case, Ryan opened the dungeon shop and checked the tomes section. As expected, his options increased greatly, and just like he had imagined, he had to spend ten million coins to learn how to create the earth, water, fire, and wind with his mana alone.

"I can even buy tomes to summon goblins and Sahuagins now, huh… Not that they would have any real use to me. In any case, at least to summon them, I only need eight hundred points of mana."

Although with all his firing power, Ryan was confident that he could take down a vampire in a one-on-one fight, he wouldn't be able to fight in such a situation. So, he looked for tomes that would help him with his archery skills. Strangely enough, Ryan only found a single skill that fit his criteria.

Enhanced Concentration

Effect: It passively increases your dexterity by ten points per level.

Price: 10.000.000

"The heck is with this price? Why a passive skill like this cost the same amount as the skills that will teach me how to create things using only mana?"

After thinking for a while, Ryan understood why it was like that. First of all, the skill was a passive one. He wouldn't need to use mana to use it, and as long as he fights relying on dexterity, the skill will level up by itself. While the cost was insane, it would feel like Ryan had brought status with coins after a while. That was a convenient 'power' that only those who had a lot of coins had.

In the end, Ryan bought the skill for several reasons. Because of its potential, because he would need all the extra firepower he can get to defeat the vampires, and because more than ever, Ryan realized that he needed even more power. If it weren't for Daniel and the others, the chances of him preventing the third dungeon break of that place would be close to none.

Accepting that was annoying as hell for Ryan, but he wasn't a hypocrite to say that it wasn't the case. Besides, things got so easy when other people were fighting alongside him, and at the same time, Ryan felt comfortable and annoyed. He didn't want that kind of comfort. For someone like him who wanted to prove to himself that he could live in this world with his strength alone, such a feeling wasn't only worse of a few things.

"What else can I get here…" Ryan rubbed his chin.

In the end, Ryan discovered that he had to spend five million coins to learn Telepathy. Unfortunately, he was only interested in mind reading, but he didn't find that skill being sold. It was probably more expensive, or maybe it was a skill exclusive to a class.

Ryan didn't even waste his time looking for similar things like Teleportation and Precognition. The price of those would probably make his eyes jump from the sockets. Although that wasn't a skill that would be useful to a long-ranged fighter, Ryan decided to learn a certain skill since he didn't find the long-range version of the same.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Stamina Drain.

Effect: When attacking a target, you can restore your stamina.

Cost: 10 mana per hit and drains one point of mana per level from your foes. It only works with melee attacks. 

You obtained 01 status point.

"This is another skill that has a lot of potential, but I will need to train it as much as possible outside troublesome fights. While I can't kill something by decreasing its stamina, I can certainly make my foes become less troublesome by doing. Especially those who focus on physical attacks."