It seemed likely that the beasts never attacked because he didn't technically enter into their domain, and had instead bombarded them with Spells from outside the doorway. Perhaps because the beasts never registered an intruder, the dungeon didn't bother to assign any loot? With nothing more than guesses to rely on, Alan resolved himself to searching out the last six enemies still lurking about the first floor.
A feeling of dread tingled along Alan's spine when it fully sank in that he would most likely have to fight the Naga. Now at Level 16, and far more confident in his capabilities, he wasn't physically afraid of a confrontation with the Lvl 14 beast. The issue Alan found himself stressing out about happened to be their awkward encounter, and the confusing morass of feelings her smile instilled within him.
With nothing left for him in the Boss door room, Alan followed his Mini-map back to the unexplored portion of the floor. As he traversed the myriad identical passages, an intense internal debate consumed he majority of his concentration.
Am I really going to have to kill the Naga? Could I really kill her? Would she be willing to kill me? Alan clenched his eyes shut in exasperation. Why am I so worked up about this?? She's a Beast. A monster. But what makes that so? Who makes that determination? Because the system gave me a quest? If she IS a Dungeon Born Monster, why does she seem so different? She seemed aware...ALIVE..I was so stunned by her appearance that if a fight was what she wanted, the Naga could've easily attacked and caught me off guard..but she flicked a stone at me. A stone! And then she smiled...
Lost in thought, Alan didn't even bother to look up until he was back in the corridor where his Sixth Sense had sent him traipsing off towards the Boss door. With only a single choice left to make, he started off down the path to his right. After walking for several minutes he spotted an unnatural crack in the wall, just wide enough for him to squeeze through. That is, if he were to remove all of his armor and shimmy through the thin fissure sideways.
"Let's go ahead and save the random hole in the wall for last." Alan's worries had him complaining out loud as he peered into the depths of the dark crevice with unease, looking for any clues as to what might be hidden within. "I've seen the type of abuse these walls can take, and I don't want anything to do with whatever has the strength to split the walls wide open. Fuck all that nonsense."
Without looking back, Alan jogged away from the unsettling hole in the wall. In quick succession he located several more dead-ends, each one containing another small pedestal holding a trapped (Common) treasure chest. He came across a chest with another spike launching trap hidden within, two acid-spitting chests, and even one that emitted an ear-splitting shriek before it up and vanished before his eyes.
Each of the traps that didn't disappear were dealt with in the same manner as the trapped chest he'd found in the Dungeon Trial Room. As soon as [Trap Detection] alerted him to the presence of a trap, Alan tossed a [Wind Blade] at the pedestal which toppled the stone shelf like it were made of brittle glass. As the chests fell to the floor Alan cast [Blessing of the Wind].
With the boost in Agility given to him by his (Haste) Buff, he sped forward and punted the deceptive little (Common) boxes into the wall. The chests ruptured into fragments against the hard stone wall, and just like that the traps were left revealed as they too splattered against the stone. A sullen Alan walked away from each encounter empty-handed.
"Cheap ass Dungeon didn't even have the decency to put any loot in the stupid chests..." Having struck out on all four chests, he clenched his jaw, and moved on.
Alan finally entered the last short corridor yet to be revealed on his Mini-map and received a few Skill Levels for his recent efforts.
Remarkable! Your Skill (U)[Steady Hand of the Cartographer] has grown to Level 3!
Remarkable! Your Skill (B)[Walking] has grown to Level 5! +1 Free Status Point!
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Remarkable! Your Skill (B)[Walking] has grown to Level 6!
With his map of the first floor nearing completion, Alan knew that if he failed to locate the last six Dungeon born monsters before long he'd be forced suck it up and enter the crack in the wall. And worst of all, he still had to deal with the Boss Room.
Anxious to get it over and done with, yet nervous about his impending encounter with the Naga, Alan turned the final corner and came face to face with four of the six enemies needed to complete his quest, best of all, none of them were the Naga. Releasing a low breath, Alan's smiled cheerily at his most recent victims.
Waiting for Alan arrayed in front of another two pedestals holding (Common) chests, four Lvl 10 Desert Flans wobbled in place. As he glanced at the unimpressive foes lined up before him, Alan sighed with regret.
I was really hoping for some more Scorpions if I'm going to be honest..Alan snorted. I wanted to see what would happen if I try to absorb one into my Storage Ring while still alive. More meat wouldn't hurt either..hopefully I'll at least get another Shuriken...
Alan made quick work of eliminating the Flans. First he threw a [Spectral Firebolt] at them, and while the Flans were distracted by being consumed by the raging green flames, Alan dashed forward.
In complete disregard of his ongoing Spell, Alan gripped his Staff near its base, and unleashed a flurry of crippling blows to each the melting beasts. Once sufficiently immobilized, he swiftly moved from Flan to Flan, sliding his hand into the layer of molten glass now covering their Cores.
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In one smooth movement Alan wrapped his hand around each Core and Pulled, ripping the blue stone from within their disabled bodies and storing them.
(x4) Remarkable! You have defeated a Lvl 10 Desert Flan!
+4096 Exp gained!
16384 Total Exp gained!
For his easy victory Alan received 4 (Basic) chests, each one containing 250 (Copper Grade) Lotus coins, a (Common) Shadow Shuriken, and 1 (Copper Grade) Tutorial Token.
To add insult to injury, not only was there no meat to harvest from the living piles of sand, but only one of the chests the Flans were guarding contained any loot. After carefully checking for traps, Alan opened the chests and received absolutely nothing from the first one and a pair of (Uncommon) Wasteland Tortoise Scale Bracers from the second. He happily equipped his new bracers and once they replaced his worn out Tutorial Bracers, Alan activated [Examine] and inspected his newest gear.
(Uncommon) Wasteland Tortoise Scale Bracers- High quality scale and shell bracers, painstakingly crafted from the remains of an Adult Wasteland Tortoise and Enchanted with both the Auto-cleanse and Self-repair Enchantments. +2 Constitution, +1 Agility.
Set bonus: +5 Constitution, +5 Vitality, +3 Agility, +2 Strength.
From wrist to elbow, he was now protected by a thin layer of blue scales mostly hidden beneath a layer of black shell segments.
Only one more piece of the Wasteland Tortoise Scale armor to find! Alan thought with a smile, Then I'll get my Set Bonus back, and this one is way better than what my Tutorial Leathers gave me. Unfortunately it looks like I'm going to have to search that creepy hole in the wall. He clenched and unclenched his fist, his anticipation falling precipitously.
It only took Alan a few minutes to return to the fissure. Full of doubts, but unable to move forward without doing so, Alan stored his armor. Butt naked, and standing out in the open, Alan cast [Banish darkness] and stepped into the dark crack in the wall while surrounded by floating globules of radiant white light. The hovering orbs were insanely bright, yet they somehow didn't affect Alan's vision in the slightest.
Slowly, being extra careful not to snag his exposed manhood on the sharp fragments of sandstone all around him, Alan squeezed through the crevice. Nearly three-quarters of the way through, Alan's knee became pinned in a slim gap between the walls. He began to tremble as claustrophobia reared its ugly head, stealing away his breath and leaving him gasping for air.
Remarkable! Your Spell (B)[Banish Darkness] has grown to Level 2!
Several moments of intense, panic-induced scrambling ensued before Alan's Emotional Stockpile kicked in and he managed to calm down and free his leg. Not long after getting unstuck, he was finally able to claw his way out of the jagged crevice. He exited the hole in the wall and stepped into yet another large rectangular room, similar in size to the Room of Doom.
One major difference Alan he noticed between the two was that this room bore an unimpressive similarity to the majority of the Dungeon he'd seen thus far. It had a plain sand floor and smooth sandstone walls.
After ensuring [Trap Detection] was still active, Alan slowly stepped forward. A deep rumble coming from behind caused him to hastily spin around.
As he feared, the wall was now completely sealed, as if the crack were never there in the first place. To make matters even worse, from wall to wall a fierce sandstorm began to blow. Alan was standing directly in the center of a rapidly growing storm. His vision was drastically reduced as soon as it started, and any attempts made to breath quickly resulted in a mouth and nostrils full of sand. As if things weren't already bad enough as they were, an unwanted notice appeared, flashing in front of his face.
*WARNING*! You Have Located The Mini-boss Room! Survive the Sandstorm Elemental!
At first, the cloud of sand particles zipped aimlessly around the room. The airborne grit stung and scratched his fully exposed flesh as it was whipped to and fro by the sudden, and obviously rapidly intensifying wind. If not for his enhanced Constitution, Alan feared his flesh would've already been stripped away and fed to the storm.
With a thought he recalled his armor from inventory, placing a layer of protection between the stinging particles and his already raw and bleeding skin. With a fierce howl, the painful waves of grit started to rotate around him, building speed at a worrying pace.
Alan's open eyes were being pelted with sand, which caused a stream of tears to pour down his face. A layer of grit tried to coat his wet eyes, forcing Alan to clamp them shut before they were cemented open. Even the simple act of drawing a breath had become increasingly difficult, as the amount of sand particles within the air visibly increased by the second.
Left without many viable options, and no known means of escape, Alan pulled his Tutorial Bracers from storage and clamped them over his mouth and nose in an attempt to block out the invading particles of grit.
As fast as he was able, Alan re-cast [Aqua Shield] to gain himself a little bit of room to breathe. The translucent cocoon of water materialized around his exposed frame, yet to his displeasure was immediately destroyed. As if possessing a will of their own, the granules of sand mobbed his barrier, popping it like a soap bubble.
The cloud of apparently-magical sand flew in, under, and around his bracers, finding its way back into his mouth and nose. With shrieking winds and a nearly impenetrable wall of sand whirling around him, it felt like he was stuck inside a Sand-tornado that had been placed within an enormous blender. Which was then placed on its highest speed.
Before very long Alan was stumbling around completely unable to see, and nearly unable to breathe. If not for his Emotional Stockpile keeping him level-headed, he knew he'd most likely once again be on the cusp of a full blown panic attack. With the situation beginning to feel hopeless, Alan cast [Aqua Shield] over and over. But to his dismay, after the first three casts the shield couldn't even last long enough for him to suck in a breath that remained free of sand.
Remarkable! Your Spell (C)[Aqua Shield] has grown to Level 4!
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Remarkable! Your Spell (C)[Aqua Shield] has grown to Level 5! +1 Free Status Point!
Remarkable! Your Spell (C)[Aqua Shield] has grown to Level 6!
In a desperate attempt to locate a way out, Alan activated [Mana Perception]. Regrettably his Skill wasn't even given time to activate. As he stumbled around in a panicked search for an escape route, Alan tripped over a random mound in the sand which sent him sprawling onto the floor. Only after he slid several feet on his chest did he manage to come to a stop.
Now lying on his back, Alan yet again activated [Mana Perception]. As his Skill came into effect, Alan was able to see that he actually WAS stuck within a tornado-shaped sandstorm. Just the fact that he could see it at all proved to him that the storm must be some sort of Mana-driven manifestation. And it didn't take him long to locate the obvious source from which the sandstorm originated.
Alan watched on, entranced as the hazy brown, cone shaped cloud of Mana rotated at dizzying speeds. With him stuck directly in the very center. With his mind's eye, he followed the flow of energy from the thick top of the tornado down towards its chaotic bottom. Almost immediately, Alan noticed that the energy greatly increased in density the closer it got to the ground.
Can someone please explain to me how that tornado is coming out of the ground?!