November 2, 2022
Day 13
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Matt had kept his attention focused on Ivan for more than half an hour now. Half an hour after everyone else had gotten the skill, that is. He was just slowing them all down, as usual, he thought. Just as he was about to give up, a prompt appeared.
Ivan Antonov - Human (Level 9)
Finally, he thought, as he looked at the skill notification.
You have gained a skill
Basic Inspect I : Observe the name, class and level of opponents your own level or less.
"I've got the skill", he called out with relief to the group waiting for him.
"Well, that should be it for all the preparation", Daniel said, as he mentally checked ✓ the last item on his todo list, and went over it one last time.
* Purchase siege sentinels and position the sentinels to defend the castle ✓
* Upgrade the castle shield✓
* Pack food, water, equipment and other supplies ✓
* Divide ourselves into teams ✓
* Everyone learns the inspect skill ✓
Upgrading the castle shield and getting the siege sentinels had probably been overkill, but Daniel felt the expenditure was worth the peace of mind the extra defenses gave him. At 20 a piece, the 5 siege sentinels had cost 100 SPs, and the castle shield upgrade cost 1000 SPs. With the remaining SPs, Daniel had purchased 2 each of health, mana and stamina potions for each of them. After all, until they picked a class, they were all generalists, and they could always share the potions with each other. The potions cost 50 SPs each, and the 48 bottles had set them back by another 2400 SPs. That left them with 4650 SPs.
Despite the cost, purchasing the defenses and packing the supplies had been the easy part.
The team distribution on the other hand had not been easy. They did not have an even distribution of classes, and only one tank - Ivan. In the end, it was decided that Ivan would be in one team, and the two melee rogues would be in the other to make up for that. The two mages were easily divided, leaving only the remaining three ranged fighters who picked the remaining three spots.
But the last item on the list was what took the most time.
In his usual fashion, Martin had departed with a long winded monologue, and only at the last second mentioned that there was an inspect skill that they could learn, in not so many words. Luckily, they had been able to decode his terse message, and tried to learn that skill.
After a few hours of staring at each other - hours that were awkward and frustrating in equal measure - they had all gotten the skill one by one.
Satisfied with the preparations, Daniel spoke.
"Before we head out, if there are any concerns about the team distribution, we should address them now."
No one spoke, so Daniel continued.
"Martin did not mention anything about what to expect within the dungeon, so we're going in blind. Now is the last chance - distribute your free stats, if you haven't already. "
Then, he waited a few more moments before speaking again.
"You know how much I hate giving motivational speeches. I've always seen you all as driven adults who know how to do your jobs and don't need any pushing. But what we're going to do today isn't something we had ever trained or prepared for. So, please remember one thing. Despite what Martin said, you don't need to get the maximum points from the dungeon crawl. This is real life, not a game. If you are in too much danger, run towards the door, or choose the exit option, or whatever mechanism the dungeon has for quitting. Just save your lives. "
Then after a pause, he continued.
"I don't like the fact that we're splitting, but I'm confident leaving half of you in care of Rahul. He might be among the youngest in our team, but he has proven himself capable time and again in this new world. You're all in good hands. "
Then, he looked directly at Rahul as he spoke.
"You guys can go first. Lead your team well, take no undue risks, trust your judgement, and make sure to bring them all back alive. "
Rahul nodded and replied tersely and confidently.
"I will"
Then he walked towards the dungeon entrance, Matt, Charlie and Maya in tow, as Daniel and the others wished them luck.
A few moments passed, and all four suddenly disappeared.
Daniel waited for a few moments before he too walked towards the dark dungeon entrance that seemed to be pulling at all the light around it.
Do you wish to enter the unnamed Dungeon.
Daniel chose yes, and was prompted to invite upto 4 teammates to join him. He sent the invite to Ivan, Alex and Helena, which they all accepted, and then they too disappeared, leaving the Laysan island deserted once more.
Deserted except for the 205 sentinels guarding it, and the hundreds of thousands of beasts from nearby bastions greedily eyeing it.
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The moment all his teammates accepted the invite to the dungeon, Rahul saw the room around him disappear, instantly replaced by darkness. That darkness in turn fled as quickly as it had come, giving way to an expansive mangrove forest.
After checking for any immediate threats, and verifying that Matt, Charlie and Maya were all nearby, Rahul took in his surroundings.
Starting with a deep breath, Rahul smelled the air. It was thick with the scent of salt and decay. He then felt the ground, and found it soft and spongy beneath his feet. Looking around, he noticed that they were on a large patch of land which was dry in some places and muddy in others. And surrounding that land in all directions were endless swamps.
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Endless swamps and trees. Tall and twisted trees, with their roots like gnarled hands reaching up from the ground. The trees and the shrubs grew everywhere, on the dry patches of land, on the deep swamps and on the marshy areas in between. Their overgrown root networks provided the only means of moving through the mangroves.
For a moment, Rahul felt he had been transported to the Sundarbans, a mangrove forest in the Bay of Bengal, one he had visited as a child. But the thought lasted only that moment.
The Sundarbans had been alive with the sound of birds and insects. This forest felt dead, the air felt stale and there were no sounds of life. It was at best a pale imitation of the real thing. Or maybe the dungeon wasn't trying to emulate a forest from his planet at all. Maybe it was something else entirely.
Rahul stopped his train of thoughts as he noticed Charlie very slowly waving his hands to draw attention.
As Rahul and everyone else looked in his direction, Charlie raised a single finger to his lips, and then motioned with his other hands towards a piece of log submerged in the mud, no more than 10 feet from Maya.
No, not a log, Rahul realized with horror, as he looked closer and noticed the faint and rhythmic ripples on the surface.
Scales.
That was a crocodile, and the ripples were probably its breathing.
As Rahul paid more attention, he noticed its closed eyes. Either it was truly asleep, or still lying in ambush, unaware it had been spotted.
Whatever the case may be, they all stood absolutely still.
Despite all the increase in their strength, even a pre-integration crocodile would easily snap their necks. And Rahul had no idea how much stronger that crocodile would have gotten with levels. As that thought occurred to him, Rahul mentally facepalmed himself, and used the inspect skill.
Unnamed - Saltwater crocodile (Level 6)
That confirmed their suspicion that it was a crocodile. And while Rahul was fully aware that even a level 1 crocodile would be deadly, he still felt level 6 was far better than level 9. Small blessings.
Rahul's train of thought was broken again as Charlie motioned again, this time gesturing to the bow on his back. Rahul understood the signal, and so did everyone else. Among them, only Charlie was supposed to choose the ranged class, but for now that mattered little, since they were all capable with bows after the frog attack.
Just as Maya was about to unsling her bow, Charlie motioned for her to stop. Then, he gestured towards the shield on his back. Maya nodded, and slowly pulled out her shield instead, and held it in front of her, crouching so that it covered almost her entire body. That shield would help in case they couldn't finish the job with the first volley of arrows.
Rahul, Charlie and Matt readied their bows together, and all three used Stamina Control 1 to push extra stamina into their attacks for a more devastating strike. Then, as Charlie quietly mouthed 3.. 2.. 1.., they all released at once.
Out of the three arrows, one hit the crocodile right in the middle of a scale and it bounced off, leaving a significant dent but not otherwise harming the crocodile. The second arrow hit between two scales and penetrated so deep into the crocodiles torso that only the arrows tail was visible outside. The third, Rahul's arrow, flew tantalizingly close to the reptiles closed eye, but missed its target by just an inch. However, that mattered little as it too found a gap between two scales, and penetrated deep into the crocodile head.
An arrow through its brain proved too much for the crocodile as it died instantly, and all three got kill notifications. Rahul looked at the one he got.
You have killed a Level 6 Saltwater Crocodile. 52 experience earned.
Maya didn't get any notification, but as she saw the unmoving crocodile and noticed her teammates relax, she dropped her shield. Then she collapsed to her knees right where she stood, shaking and breathing heavily.
Frogs on steroids and birds with magic were dangerous, but nothing compared to the primal fear that a true predator evoked. And they had invaded the natural habitat of that predator.
Maya was terrified.
Rahul and the others carefully walked towards her, alert for any other beast lying in wait. While Matt and Charlie stood guard, Rahul spoke reassuringly to her, and when she was ready, he gave her a hand as she got up. She wasn't entirely fine, and this wasn't the end of their conversation, but they both knew they had to hurry and find a safer place to rest and recuperate.
Noticing Maya getting up, Charlie pointed to a nearby clearing, with no trees or any other suspicious objects, and they all carefully walked there.
Once they had reached it, Rahul asked the others how much experience they got.
Matt had got 7 experience, and Charlie just 1, for a total of 60 experience distributed between the three of them based on damage done.
Rahul sighed.
"It seems that the system gives equal xp whether we kill a level 6 frog or a level 6 crocodile. At this rate, leveling in this dungeon would not be worth the risk at all. If we keep fighting crocodiles, sooner or later one of them would get a bite in, and we will lose a limb. The healing potions can mend broken bones, but will they attach severed limbs? "
Rahul left the question hanging, as they looked around the mangroves with concerned expressions. Things could have gone way way worse, but this was still a discouraging start.
And that was before Rahul noticed that Maya had turned deathly still, pale as a ghost, and very very cold. The events of the day had finally caught up to her. The trauma of losing almost all of her colleagues and friends, the fact that Mark had betrayed them all, and now getting attacked by a crocodile. One couldn't just run from grief, not forever. And they had been running since the morning. Now the time had come to pay the piper.
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That was a terrible start to their dungeon crawl, Daniel thought, as he, Helena and Ivan worked together to pry the crocodiles mouth open.
They had been ambushed by that crocodile almost the instant they spawned into the dungeon, and it had jumped straight for Alex's leg.
Finally, they managed to open the dead reptiles mouth wide enough for Alex to pull his leg free. The moment his leg hit the ground, Alex downed a healing potion. Daniel and Helena spoke reassuringly to him as his leg visibly healed, while Ivan tried to pull his axe free from the ground below the crocodiles carcass.
If he hadn't acted in time, Alex might have lost his leg. As he looked at his skill notification, Ivan recalled the series of events.
You have gained a skill
Unstoppable I : By channeling your presence of Inertia into a moving object, you make it harder for any obstacles to stop it.
Note : You will lose this skill if your presence evolves into a form incompatible with this skill
Only a few moments after they had spawned in the dungeon, they had been attacked by the crocodile. It had been hidden only a few feet from Alex, and had immediately snapped towards his leg. It was only because of his increased strength that Alex's leg hadn't immediately snapped in two.
The instant the attack happened, they had all rushed towards the reptile with their weapons. Their sword swings only managed to dent the crocodiles scales, and the unfazed beast started to drag Alex into the swamp. Acting on instinct, Alex swung at the crocodile with his axe instead, and while that attack broke the reptiles scales and dug into its flesh, it caused only shallow wounds, and the crocodile kept retreating. Ivan swung with his entire strength a few more times, but to the same result.
If this had gone on much longer, Alex might have permanently lost his leg.
Or died.
The shallow cuts were not doing the job. So when Ivan swung next, he pushed his entire will into the axe, commanding it to keep going.
And it did.
The axe went right through the crocodiles torso, and only stopped after the entire axehead was embedded in the ground.
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Ivan's recollection was interrupted as he noticed the others pulling Alex to his feet, and Alex gingerly putting weight on his healed leg. As Alex started walking, Ivan visibly relaxed and finally looked at the kill notification.
You have killed a Level 6 Saltwater Crocodile. 58 experience earned.
Soon, they spotted a safe looking clearing, and walked towards it, supporting Alex as they did. While they walked, Ivan conferred with Helena and Daniel and found out that they had received only 1xp each for the kill. So, the system awards 60xp for killing a level 6 beast, irrespective of whether it's a frog or a crocodile.
They were all thinking the same thing, and Daniel put a voice to their thoughts.
"If this crocodile is any indication, then leveling in this dungeon is going to be much much slower than outside. And way more dangerous too. "
They needed to come up with a plan. If they would have to fight a life and death battle for every 60xp, then they would be dead before they ever hit level 10, leave alone the level 30 that Martin had lured them with.
This dungeon crawl was going to be a lot harder than they had expected.
Daniel's only hope was that their rewards would be commensurate with their troubles.