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[Chapter Size: 3375 Words]
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The Dungeon, Floor 5, a random room.
*GUUAAAA*
I was fighting against three war shadows, the area surrounding us filled with a few magic stones fallen here and there, a testament to the monster party that had spawned in this room ten minutes prior.
The war shadows, outnumbering me were still struggling to get the upper hand.
Due to me fighting continuously for the past ten minutes and using Float Magic and compressed air slashes in between, my MP had once again done down to a precarious 100 points.
But still due to my spatial skill, I was almost moving before the war shadows could even make their move and was blocking their attacks or attacking them making them defend and unable to fight back.
*KIIIIIII* *Gaaaou...!*
The two war shadows on my right side attacked me once more at the same time, the one on the left side seeing this became impatient, attacking me from behind, lunging at me but what greeted the war shadow was a sword, a spare sword from my inventory thrown at the war shadow at point black, impaling it through its abdomen.
*Swish* *Thwack*
The other two war shadows stagnated for a minute seeing the death of their comrade which I took full advantage of, a compressed air slash at the war shadow nearest to me, bisecting it in two and a floating into the air using my magic just for a second and then used accel making me move towards the last war shadow at almost double my previous speed and stabbing my sword through the monsters head, making the last war shadow also turn to ash and its magic stone dropping to the ground.
...
15 minutes into the fifth floor, and after going through a monster party, I had farmed enough exp to level up to Level 6. I opened the status screen checking my upgraded stats.
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---Status---------
Level: 6 (30/1100)
HP: 2500/2500
MP: 3100/3100
CON: 25
SPI: 31
Status points: 2
---Skills---------
• Acceleration [/Accel]
• Trait Maker
• Anomaly [True]
• Miracle Maker
---Magic---------
• Float Magic
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...
I was now Level 6 and had 2 extra status points from the Level up, which I did not assign and left as is.
After all, my stats for were good enough for this floor.
And my daily quest was,
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---Quest---------
Daily Quest: Defeat 500 monsters (330/500) ]
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I still had 170 monsters to go.
But that was no problem, as according to the information from the guild, the number of monsters increases sharply from the fifth floor. I just had to find them and farm them.
I picked all the scattered magic stones and stood up.
There were a total of four different corridors connecting to the room I was in, including the one I came in through.
After deciding to go through the left most corridor, I was again greeted by some more frog shooters and a lone war shadow.
*ribbit* *ribbit* *Gaaou...*
It looked like they were having a meeting before I entered the room, as the four frogs and one shadow were in a circle making noises at each other, only turning their heads towards me in sync as I entered the room.
This time I would not be foolish enough to let them to attack and then try to dodge, equipping the spare sword from my inventory, I used my accel skill moving towards the war shadow first, almost like a single white line.
My increased constitution from the level up was of great help, I was able to bisect the war shadow lunging towards me.
Continuing the momentum from the skill, I turned towards the frogs, a 90 degree from my first dash, the frog monsters still turning towards me to attack, were cut down with two uses of the wooden swords unique skill 'Compressed Air Slash'.
The current limitation of the accel skill was that I was able to only advance in a single line and not make turns in between, almost similar to a high speed dash.
Trying to make changes when using my float skill was even more difficult.
Maybe I could change the direction of my acceleration, when my proficiency in my skill increased.
...
An hour later later I had mapped the entire 5th floor and successfully reached Level 7.
Wow now me and Ottar, the King were at the same rank except mine was still a little far away compared to his. I can also successfully say that no one has mapped the dungeon as accurately as me, another small achievement in my book.
Currently, I was resting in a small corner room near the stairs with only one entrance opening into the corridor.
I had made huge cuts on the walls of the dungeon before resting, "the dungeon would not normally spawn any monsters in corner rooms like these, but there were no guarantees, hence what I've learned is that adventurers usually made cuts on the walls, as the dungeon would prioritize healing the walls over spawning monsters.'
'One could rest there till the walls were healed and make a cut again if they needed to rest some more, effectively stopping monsters from spawning at least this was effective till the middle floors, I was not given books regarding the floors below that.'
I finished the lunch I had packed, some pieces of smoked meat, similar in taste to jerky, and took a small break, after all even if I felt no physical fatigue, there would be a build up of mental fatigue as I had not activated the Gamers Mind skill.
...
*crack* *crack* *gaaaaou...!* x4
Going down the stairs to Floor 6 and into the first room, I was greeted by four war shadows and more monsters as I could hear the cracking sound from the walls around me.
This time I activated the Gamers Mind and a cool feeling spread through my head almost making me addictive to the cool sensation spreading through my mind.
Gripping my main sword in a reverse hold and the spare sword also in a reverse grip in my other hand but towards the ground, I sprinted towards the monster nearest to me without the accel skill.
This time I needed to improve my Spatial Sense skill and gain some close combat experience, and not steam-roll the monsters.
Sensing the movement of the war shadow on my left, I brought my main sword towards the war shadow blocking it's supposed attack before it even lunged towards me. As I was going for a finishing move with my other sword towards its abdomen, two more war shadows attacked me from either side.
*TINGGG*
Pushing the first shadow claws backwards and making it stumble, I dodged the claws of the war shadow from the left and used my entire force as a shoulder push on the one towards my right. As if waiting for that very moment, the last war shadow moved in to attack my chest and abdomen which were open.
My spatial senses which were on overdrive had warned me about the last shadow a second before, allowing me to crouch in a unsightly manner, nonetheless allowing me to avoid the monster's claw.
*splat*
Now it was the war shadow that was in the open, my wooden sword easily dug straight through its stomach from my crouching position, and before the other one which I had pushed with my shoulder recovered it's balance, I had gotten up and drove my sword through its body.
By the time I had defeated the two war shadows near me, the other two were almost again on me.
*TINGGG* *TINGGG*
Blocking their claws coming at each side, I took a step back and steadied myself.
The two war shadows red eyes gleamed with an intensity almost similar to mine, as they stared at me as if trying to read my movements.
The war shadows on the sixth floor were sharper. more cunning and stronger than the ones on the fifth.
Instead of waiting for the war shadows to attack, I made the first move, jumping at the one on my right, I used my sword for a basic diagonal slash aimed at the war shadows shoulder, if connected, the attack would make a deep shoulder to stomach cut on the monster.
Just as the attack was about to connect, the other war shadow, now behind me, extended its claws towards my open back.
*shlick*
I swiftly pulled back my sword, side stepped and rolled to the side, avoiding both the war shadows attacks and standing back up, I immediately stabbed the war shadow which was now showing its back to me.
*thud*
A sword through was enough to kill the least war shadow.
The war shadows had fallen down but this time they did not turn to ash, so I cautiously stepped forward, piercing my sword through both the war shadows once more, but they still did not turn to ash.
Looking behind me I found that the other two war shadows I had defeated earlier were also there and had not turned into ash.
It was then that I remembered that the from floor 6 onwards the monster did not vanish upon killing it, I had to manually did through the monsters corpse taking out the magic stone and only then the monster would turn to ash.
'Ugh' Gritting my teeth, I used my sword to poke around and then when it felt like I hit a solid object, I used my hand to dig out the magic stone. The same for the other monsters.
Luckily all the body fluids and so stuck to my gloves turned to ash as soon as the magic stone left the monster's body.
But I still had to equip a small dagger as soon as possible, at least to dig out the magic stones or at least bring a supporter along which would make my life much easier, or better yet try to get a skill through the system which could help me get the magic stones easier.
The entire fight took not more than a dozen seconds and a few more seconds to dig the magic stones, and now more war shadows and frog shooters had spawned around me not giving me any time to rest.
This is one of the pain points about the dungeon as you go deeper, the rate of monster increases and the number of monsters in a party also increases. This increase the need for a party and decreases adventurers trying to go solo unless they had an overwhelming advantage.
I once again readied myself, this time getting into a basic two sword stance, one sword over my head and the other in front of me, waiting for the monsters to attack.
Using the sword positioned in front of me as a means of attack and the sword over my head of a means of defense. This time I was able to successfully deflect the attacks from the frog shooters successfully, I also did not try to rush this time, instead taking my time and see if I can find any flaws in their attacks and then use it against them.
*swoosh* *ribbit* *gaaaaou...!*
While the four frog shooters were still attacking me, it was manageable, but there were also three more war shadows which were really a handful. Those three war shadows would attack in sync with the frog shooters and slide back out of my range as soon as I defend, without even allowing me to counter-attack.
Being unable to attack even with my spatial sense active, I made a daring move. Leaving myself open against the frog shooters, I threw my second sword at the head of the war shadow nearest to me, point blank head-shot, it fell down backwards.
*gaaa...*
Not wasting a single second, I stabbed another war shadow through its abdomen and twisted the sword, making it scream.
*TINGGGG* *TINGGGG*
The second one too slumped down, and soon after a few back and forth attacks the last war shadow too met the same fate. The frog shooters were not at all difficult for me to take down.
Catching the tongue of one frog, pulling it toward me and throwing it at another frog, by the time those two could even get up, I kicked a frog shooter in it's eye and slashed my sword at the other one, and the two which had gotten back up did not even get the chance to move, a sword throw and a clean stab for the other frog shooter.
I opened my status screen, because just as I was trying to stab the last frog shooter, I felt that my my spatial sense skill had undergone some change.
[ Spatial sense:
Allows you to sense anything in a certain range of space all around you.
Current distance: 10m
Proficiency (30%) ]
My proficiency in the skill Spatial Sense had reached 30% and the sensing distance had increased to 10m from the initial 5m. I could also feel that the details and the information I could feel had now gotten better.
'Okay I'll try farm monsters here and reach at least Level 8 or 9' thinking in my mind, I picked up my pace, disappearing into the next corridor.
For the next two hours, I was just going into one room after another and farming monsters to get exp.
...
I was in some room at about half way into the sixth floor dungeon, with a smirk on my face, the war shadows which were a little tough for me at the beginning of Floor 6 were now easily being destroyed by me.
This was the true effect of the Gamers Body, after all one of its features was adaptation, the more I fight, the more my body adapts, like when two war shadows jumped at me from both front and back, I had to lean to the side and balance myself not trying to fall down.
Another time, I had to bend down backwards including my entire upper torso and immediately thrust my sword into the war shadow which was showing a horrified look seeing the gleaming blade move towards it and let out a strong piercing scream.
The skill Gamers Body helped me tremendously by increasing the flexibility of my body to almost twice from that at the start.
...
After wandering around from one room to another, I had already levelled up to Level 8, having defeated around 33 war shadows and 34 frog shooters, a total of 67 monsters on the sixth floor and my stat point reserve growing by two points more and constitution and spirit stat increasing by one point each.
Another thing was the unique quest which I had gotten on levelling up to Level 8.
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---Quest-----
Unique Quest: Defeat an Infant Dragon Solo
-----------------------
I had only thought of going till the eight floor on this dungeon trip, but this changes things, I would try to reach the 10 floor at least and see if I could proceed further and complete this unique quest.
I let out a small smile on my lips as this unique quest felt doable, even though Infant Dragon was said to be near Level 2 and was considered as a boss monster, I had the system and also even after this much time in the dungeon my entire stash of potions were not even touched.
Even when I was injured somewhere before and my hp decreased, my hp points would become full when I levelled up and seeing the progress I had made during this dungeon dive, this quest was an entirely achievable goal, except I had to level up even more.
Setting my goal as taking down the Infant Dragon, I skillfully collected the magic stones from the monsters corpses, captivated by how these monster bodies disintegrated to ash once the magic stone was removed from their body.
Turning and walking towards the exit of the room, I expanded the map of the 6th Floor, the one currently displayed on the top left corner of my vision, around 60% of the map had been lit up, and thinking of lighting up the rest of the map gave me a the feeling of being a rare item collector, just that my collection were the map of each floor from the first to the sixth.
As I was immersed in my thoughts and walking, my spatial sense warned me about a presence beyond the wall in front of me. No more than one presence, they were faint but distinguishable from each other.
Peeking into the room, I was able to get glimpses of War Shadows on the far end opposite to the entrance.
Holding my breath, I silently stepped into the room and brought my sword to a rest in front of me with a two handed grip. Thankfully the war shadows still did not seem to be alerted to my appearance. It also worked that they were looking towards the other side and not my side.
*woosh*
Crouching down and pushing with my heels against the ground lightly, a second was all that it took to activate my accel skill, this time I did not control my stamina output.
So all the monsters saw was a single flash of light moving straight towards it at the last moment.
By the time the monsters noticed it was too late, I was already in front of them, with a look of pity on my face and cleanly bisected the three war shadows
"See you next time" leaving those words to the war shadows, once again poked their chests with my sword just to make sure that they were completely dead and not acting, I let out a breath that I did not even realize I was holding in.
Now was the time for the rewards, the daily quest was done.
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---Quests----------
Daily Quest : Defeat 500 monsters (500/500) - ✓ Completed]
Rewards: A random skill
Would you like to receive the reward now? Or Later?
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The same question as the last time, but now there was only a random skill, maybe this is the normal and the first time was 100%, so it was special?
Anyway, I spoke out loud "Receive now" anyway no one is in the dungeon to care.
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Generating rewards:
Your reward is Skill: Mimicry
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Clicking on the skill it showed me the details.
[ Mimicry: A mutated version of the Mimic skill.
• Allows the user to make an object a complete replica of another object, the replica being temporary or permanent depends on the users. Can make additional changes on the replica. Requires mana.
• Allows the user to copy others skills/ abilities temporarily by using mana, the higher the level of the skill or the stronger the copied skill, the more the mana cost.
The user must observe the the skill/ ability being used before it can be copied.
• 3 slots are available, 3 skills/ abilities can be copied.
• Magic cannot be copied. ]
There were two different uses of the skill, completely different from each other, while I was not sure where the first use would come in handy, the second one was absolutely mind-blowing. I could copy three various abilities from anyone just by watching them and consuming Magic.
This can serve as a trump card during any dangerous situation.
"If I can copy the skills of some high rank adventurers and use them in a dangerous situation, repeat this process, it would make me invincible, at least till I am able to grow stronger and reach their levels."
I would definitely laugh in my sleep tonight, now just need to think of how to copy skills.
I closed the system screen, stored my spare sword back in my inventory, put the wooden sword back into its sheath and gave myself a light slap to my cheeks to pull myself together and make me remember that I was still in the dungeon.
I once again moved out to quickly reach Level 10 and see if I could be able to complete my Unique Quest as well.
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---Status-----------
Level: 8 (70/1300)
HP: 2700/2700
MP: 3300/3300
CON: 27
SPI: 33
Status points: 4
---Skills---------
• Acceleration [/Accel]
• Trait Maker
• Anomaly [True]
• Miracle Maker
---Magic---------
• Float Magic
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