37. Righteous Crusade

Jake experiments with his upgraded Mark, learning he can maintain 42 simultaneous marks, apparently one per 100 Perception. Marked targets now appear as detailed outlines centered on core and head, and he senses stored arcane charges he can trigger after dealing damage.

He tests with arcane bombardments on a Deepdweller village, combining unstable arcane orbs and explosive arrows so detonation and mark damage coincide. Detonating a charged mark produces a brief internal purple flash that causes intense harm without external explosion, revealing the arcane charge attacks the same health-layer mechanism his Mark does—directly impacting the soul-linked health pool.

Jake refines tactics by kiting a Warlord, letting it heal to build a massive charge, and confirms a duration limit on stored energy. Though the final detonation underwhelms visually, he finishes the Warlord with poisoned Arcane Powershots and Touch of the Malefic Viper, looting an Infused Golden Mushroom and leveling to class 121 and race 114.

He proceeds from village to village, leveraging mark detonations, poison, and range advantage to overwhelm life-affinity foes with poor Perception. He kills Shroomguards and Warlords, discovers Shroomguards can infuse mushrooms into shields, and notes his stable arcane arrow range damage also counts as arcane for mark synergy.

As distances grow (past 600 kilometers), he defeats a large settlement with two boss variants and over five hundred Deepdwellers, managing resource strain with potions, meditation, and brief alchemy. By chapter’s end, Jake reaches class 124 and race 115, amasses more Infused Golden Mushrooms, and continues his relentless purge deeper into the dungeon.