Dungeon Entered: Sandcastle Kingdom Challenge Type: Scavenger Hunt Difficulty: Adept Locate a Seed of Life within the Sandcastle Kingdom. You may take as long as needed.

Nathan looked around the Dungeon he'd entered. He was standing on a beach, with the ocean at his back. Nothing in the horizon save for more water and the rising sun. Before him was a city made of what appeared to be buildings of sand.

Most of them were at least three or four stories tall, though some stretched to even ten stories. Bridges of sand were formed between the taller structures, though he could see some between lower ones as well.

No sand sprinkled down, however, and everything looked stable to Nathan. In fact, it looked almost as if someone had simply turned the sand into stone, and when he approached the nearest building, he confirmed that. The sand was stone, and yet he could tell it was originally sand.

There were no clues as to where the Seed of Life he was seeking would be, just that it would be within the Sandcastle Kingdom, and so Nathan entered the nearest tall building.

Inside, he looked around, wary of any monsters that might appear. A creature made of sand would be a tough foe, especially at Adept.

He wouldn't have taken on an Adept-Difficulty Dungeon if he'd known that's what it was. One crucial piece of information he hadn't been given was that Dungeons didn't actually say what their Difficulty was until entrance.

The reason he'd entered, however, was because of the information he did have access to. Dungeons available were based on the abilities of the person or persons who had entered. That suggested to him that all Dungeons were able to be completed by the party that had entered the game that session.

Before he realized it, Nathan was standing on the roof of a ten-story building. Blinking a few times, he looked back at his trip, realizing he'd thought his way through it, rather than observed. Grateful for his memory, he determined that the trip itself was uneventful due to the lack of monsters.

There were a few rooms he passed up, complete with furniture. The furniture was made of the same odd stone, but the beds he saw had actual blankets and pillows on them, suggesting he could sleep there.

Sleeping on the floor wouldn't bother him, though. He'd done it enough in the Tutorial and the last Challenge he did. It would also be easier for him to react, should a monster appear. The blankets would get in his way, if they were on him instead of under him.

Returning his focus to the view, Nathan looked around. The city stretched on for a couple of miles, it looked like, and encircling the land portion of it were tall stone cliffs that stretched past the edge of the shore and into the water.

He couldn't see past the cliffs, and immediately decided he didn't want to try traveling past them, even through the ocean. He wasn't sure what would rest beyond them, the Challenge wanted him in the Sandcastle Kingdom itself, and one more important, more powerful thing factored into that decision.

There was no telling what sort of monsters were in the ocean, and he doubted he'd be able to make it past the cliffs by swimming. He could only put so much into his Item Box, which meant he'd be losing his backpack.

Continuing his scan of the Sandcastle Kingdom, Nathan determined what he felt would be the most likely spots for the Seed of Life. Most were on the other side of the 'city', though a few were near him.

After all, he didn't want to rule out the Seed of Life being close to him, just because it was a Challenge. Perhaps it was nearby, just to make him waste his time assuming it was on the other side?

Descending the tower, Nathan searched every room, just in case. There really was no telling how or where it would be.

When he reached the first floor and went to leave, Nathan saw his first monster. It was a tortoise, and was walking slowly along the sand. Its dome-shaped shell was a similar color to the sand, with slight bumps covering it. The tortoise itself stood nearly to Nathan's chest.

According to the System, it was an F-2 Monster. No doubt that shell was incredibly tough, and he wasn't sure how Endurance worked for the thing. Would it be greater for the shell, or the same for the whole body? He knew the actual defenses of the thing would be different.

Deciding it would likely be the same, Nathan contemplated on whether or not he would be able to pierce through its Endurance. He was unable to get through the golems', despite ignoring 50% of the Endurance factor.

A few moments of thought later, and a deep breath, and Nathan was charging forward. The golems were E-Rank monsters, two individual Ranks above the tortoise.

The beast turned its head just in time for Nathan's fist to slam into it, Impact fueling extra power. With delight, Nathan noted a damage message, though he was a bit peeved he'd only managed to take out 19 Health.

The tortoise immediately snapped at Nathan, who jumped back, dancing around it to strike at its shell. Same amount of damage as before, which told Nathan all he needed to know about how its Endurance affected it. Same all the way across the Health.

Nathan continued to strike with his fists, noting that the sand tortoise wasn't affected by his Level 6 Stun Strike modification. He'd used the five vouchers on upgrading it, so it should stun most enemies for six seconds.

Slipping his knuckles back into his pocket, Nathan quickly drew his sword, slashing at the monster as it continued to attack. It never retreated into its shell, which confused Nathan. No attempt at just sealing itself up?

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"I can sense that you're in a fight," Ichtvar told Nathan as he struck again. "Why not let me deal with it? It seems to be taking you awhile?"

"I've got this," Nathan mentally responded. "I think I get less Experience if you kill, because of how easy it is for you."

"Okay."

As Nathan slowly wore down the monster's defense, taking out anywhere from 20 to 170 Health with each strike of his sword, with the use of Impact, Nathan felt himself growing tired. This was definitely the toughest monster he'd fought so far just from its sheer amount of Endurance. He was probably doing something like 1700 Health's worth of damage, if his calculations were correct.

The only advantage to fighting the beast was that it was slow, and seemed to only be able to attack with its mouth. That continued to confuse Nathan, however, as it should just retreat into its shell.

Or maybe it knew that he'd continue to whittle down its Health, and decided to fight until it was depleted, then retreat?

For another twenty minutes, Nathan continued to strike at the creature, realizing his math on his Strength and its Endurance was off, the creature having a lot more Endurance than he'd estimated. Eventually, however, he managed to whittle off all of its Health, no longer receiving damage notifications against it.

At the same time, the creature bit his hand, moving with a sudden burst of speed to snap at him.

-387 Health!

The thing had a lot of Strength, and based on how fast it continued to move, nearly as much Speed as Nathan did.

But why did it move so slow before I removed its Health? Maybe it was toying with me? Or was it unable to until its Health was down?

Nathan's sword glanced against its shell as the creature retreated inside, and just as he went to jam his blade in, a seal of sand formed over the hole, preventing his sword from entering.

Fuck.

Nathan jumped back and the tortoise poked its head again, sticking its tongue out at him. Nathan grunted at the thing in response. It was playing with him, knowing he couldn't hurt it. Not like that.

Taking a few steps back, he watched it continue to watch him, seeming interested in what he was doing.

"Did you win?"

"No, the thing got faster when I took out its Health."

"Want me to-"

"Give me a minute."

Nathan slowly walked over to his backpack, facing the monster the entire time, and stepped behind it. Crouching down, he reached inside, never taking his gaze off the creature, which continued to watch him.

With a pulse of magic, Nathan threw the two playing cards he'd retrieved from a pocket, and they spun through the air, their flight augmented by his strength.

A short wall of sand formed in front of the tortoise, the two cards sticking into it. Nathan clicked his tongue. A waste of his ninja star cards, if that thing could just summon up barriers. It was definitely playing with him.

It wanted to see how long it would take him to take out its Health, and that was all. It wanted to see what he would do to try to kill it, once he'd taken out the tangible defense.

With a sinking feeling, Nathan realized that the shell's own durability was probably a lot higher than the Endurance stat of the creature suggested. No doubt that value was based on the fleshy part.

Letting out a grunt, Nathan pulled out another card, activating it. A magazine for his guns appeared in his hand as the card vanished, and he swapped it into one of his guns as the wall of sand fell back down.

A special kind of storage card that Ichtvar had helped him create, though unlike the general ones he'd been making, it had a single use and required the stored item during creation.

The tortoise stuck its tongue out at him again, and Nathan aimed his gun, then shot, a trail of flames streaking out behind the bullet. The projectile impacted into the turtle's shell, not even chipping it. The next three shots slammed into the wall of sand the creature had conjured up, small craters of glass forming where they struck.

Running forward, Nathan jumped up, flipping over the tortoise and firing off four more shots, aiming the third at the monster's tail when he noticed it still out while the head had retreated. When it impacted, the tortoise screeched, its head shooting back out.

Running the tortoise as it continued to screech, a sound that nearly made him cover his ears, Nathan fired off the last seven shots, the bullets slamming into the monster's head.

Demiboss Sand Tortoise Slain! Level Up! (x8)

Nathan stared at the message in shock. He'd gained 8 Levels from killing that thing, and it was classed as a Demiboss. The System probably took him taking more than twenty minutes just to break through its Health as being difficult, but that was just impressive, he felt.

Perhaps it was a mixture of the place being Adept-Difficulty?

Dismissing the notification, Nathan read the other one.

For killing a Sand Tortoise Demiboss, the following rewards have been granted to you. +50 Points Health Regen Decrease of 5 Seconds Sand Tortoise Shell Sand Tortoise Meat x3

Nathan gaped at the reward. Not just from what was in it, but the simple fact that he'd earned a reward for killing the Demiboss beyond just the 15 Points he'd noted appearing. Dismissing the message, he pulled up his guide through the System, and found a new section: Boss Rewards.

According to it, any tangible rewards from Bosses and Demibosses were not limited to just the game, but would return with him if he had any left. As stated previously, he was forbidden from revealing this information, which meant he wouldn't be allowed to just show the shell to anyone, if he used it. Not without having a good excuse for how he obtained it.

Dismissing the window, he allocated the 4 Stat Points from his Levels to his Endurance as he released the magazine, replacing it with the one he'd swapped out for it.

Returning to his bag, Nathan wiped sweat from his brow. It was a bit hot there, and the fight had caused him to work up a sweat. Removing his shirt, Nathan sent it into his Item Box, looking at his unmarked chest.

A thought hit him, and he groaned, realizing he should have realized it before.

"Ichtvar, can you come out?"

The phoenix's marks appeared on his chest, then detached, the ancient phoenix revealing itself, floating in front of Nathan.

"Do you know what a Seed of Life is?"

"No," Ichtvar responded.

"This Challenge requires me to look for one," Nathan told him. "Do you think you could scout above for places it could be? There's a chance monsters will be gathered around or near it."

The phoenix nodded, then looked around, before turning its gaze back to its partner.

"Where's the monster?"

"They fade after they're killed," Nathan stated, zipping his backpack up and pulling it onto his back. "Let's get moving."