November 3, 2022
Day 14 / Dungeon Day 0
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"Are you sure?"
Rahul asked Daniel.
"Yeah, I'm sure. You did a great job last time. No need to fix what isn't broken."
Rahul absentmindedly nodded, overwhelmed by the surge of emotions he felt at being back in the cellar.
He couldn't forget the truly horrible sight that welcome him the last time he was here - the lifeless bodies of his friends that had been part of the second dungeon party.
This location was significant in more ways than one, and not long before that, he had carried his entranced friends here and literally broken their bones to free them from what he later learned was an intent-based mental attack.
But things weren't all bad.
Rahul thought to himself.
After everyone had woken up from the trance and recovered from their injuries, this is where Daniel summoned the first sentinels, and this is where they started their counterattack against the Avian Bastion.
According to Martin, the significance of this location made it an excellent choice to host the portal to the dungeon. A decision that proved rather fortuitous, as they ended up spawning a tiered dungeon in the cellar, altering not just the destinies of Rahul and his friends but recharting the very course of the integration of planet Earth.
There surely are a lot of memories associated with this place, but enough reminiscing. It's time to go.
Rahul thought and moved to enter the dungeon. He was greeted by a prompt.
Do you wish to enter the Dungeon Of Immutability?
Yes.
Rahul thought, and another prompt followed.
You may invite 4 more individuals to join your party. Please choose the individuals.
Daniel Walter, Ivan Antonov, Matt Williams, and Maya Kapoor.
Rahul sent his intention to the dungeon, and the dungeon sent out invitations. The instant the last one of his friends accepted, the group vanished from the room and was surrounded by darkness.
With that, the Laysians were once again inside the dungeon.
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Even before his surroundings had finished manifesting around him, Rahul started to hear a cacophony of chirping birds come from every direction.
Martin was serious when he said he had altered the dungeon to emulate the challenge we faced against the albatrosses.
He thought, as the world finally became visible in full around him, and he took in the breathtaking sight.
Rahul and his team were standing on what looked like a bird's nest. Only, the nest was so large that he couldn't help but wonder whether it belonged to some prehistoric flying dinosaur instead.
With everything the system has done so far, I wouldn't be surprised if it brought a few Pterodactyls back from extinction.
From the edge of the nest, Rahul saw a steep drop, almost 500 meters. A drop that was filled with what seemed to be hundreds upon hundreds of nests sitting atop massive branches.
The whole structure is a massive tree.
Rahul realized, and as he looked into the distance, he saw more such trees, equally massive but separated by a vast, almost empty grassland.
There are gigantic trees everywhere, all of them hundreds of meters tall, holding nests bigger than human houses on their large sturdy branches. There must be hundreds of them. Just how big is this dungeon?
The sheer size of the dungeon was baffling, and that thought led to another.
For that matter, how big was the reptilian dungeon? I had explored only two islands, but Maya and Charlie had found the other three alphas. I should ask them how many islands they had seen.
As he had that thought, Rahul noticed that he hadn't seen his friends since he entered the dungeon.
Where are they, and why have I been staring down a 500-meter drop so intently?
Rahul took an immediate step back from the edge of the nest and looked around.
It was only then that he noticed Maya, and she too was standing perilously close to the edges. Then, even more alarmingly, Rahul heard the sound of battle and realized that his other three friends were engaged in combat no more than 100 feet away.
How the hell did I miss that? And what was the cacophony of the birds I had heard earlier, it's all gone now.
Rahul thought, bewildered, and the answer came to him the instant he had the thought.
The mental intent attacks have already begun.
Before he could think any further about that, Rahul saw Maya take a step into thin air, lose balance, and start falling forward.
Acting on instinct, he activated his kinetic intent and moved instantly to her, grabbing an arm and pulling her back. That sudden movement broke Maya free of the trance.
At least I won't have to break her bones like the last time.
Rahul thought, and with the immediate crisis averted, realized that he had somehow tapped into momentum without building any up in the first place. But then he heard the faint battle music that accompanied the intent accumulation of his intent and did a double take.
He willed momentum to appear, and sure enough, that little ball was rolling.
Wait, I do have built-up momentum. But how did that happen? And when?
Matt's scream drew his attention back to the raging battle, and he held off the investigation for later.
His friends were having a tough time against the three birds they were fighting, and as Rahul inspected one of them, he could see why.
Unnamed - Talon Guardian (Level ??)
They might be regular dungeon mobs, but if their level if not visible to me, they must be level 23 or above. That explains why none of my friends were able to get out of the fight to warn me or Maya.
As he looked in their direction, Rahul met his friend's eyes and saw relieved expressions. It was an emotion he could understad, as he recalled how horrible and helpless he had felt when the hawks and albatrosses had picked up and dropped his colleagues by the dozen while all he could do was watch and try to save the few friends he could.
Rahul equipped his two small blades with determination, and noticed the bird hovering above Daniel finally get past his sword parries and score a vicious cut across the manager's chest and left shoulder.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
I need to act now. But do I use my leftover momentum?
It was an easy decision.
I can manage without it, but my momentum is just going to dissipate if I don't use it.
With that thought, Rahul instantly closed the distance between himself and the bird that was harassing Daniel.
Instead of striking at its talons, he jumped at the last moment, reaching the airborne bird's neck and severing its head in one clean kinetically empowered strike.
You have killed a Level 23 Talon Guardian. 2211 experience earned.
So it was level 23. That's one out of three.
Rahul thought and moved to attack the remaining two. But then he looked at the amount of experience he earned from the kill again, and thought better of it.
I got almost all of the experience from that kill, leaving Daniel with less than 100. If I keep hogging up XP like this, the gulf between our levels will only widen.
He saw the recently unencumbered Daniel already starting to cast fireballs at the two remaining enemies.
With three against two, they should be fine. By now, Ivan too should have charged his intent enough to use his reinforcement and time dilation skills.
Nodding to himself, Rahul walked back to Maya. That first kill had taken only seconds, and he found his friend still in a state of panic and breathing heavily.
"You're safe now."
Rahul said reassuringly, laying a calming palm on Maya's shoulders.
To his surprise, Maya nodded and spoke without any trace of panic in her voice.
"I'm okay, was just catching my breath. Not a big fan of heights."
Looking toward the ensuing battle, she spoke.
"I should go help those three."
Rahul hesitated for a second before speaking.
"As long as you're comfortable."
Maya nodded and started walking toward the two birds.
I guess she wasn't panicking after all.
Rahul thought as he looked at the battle raging a short distance away. With the numerical advantage, his friends had taken the upper hand, and the fight was slowly inching toward its inevitable conclusion.
Getting a bout of inspiration, he shouted to Maya.
"A few mana bullets through their wings would ground the birds. That will allow the others to make quick work of them."
That should speed things along. In the meantime, let me invest my free stat points. With vitality out of the picture, and intelligence no longer as important, the choice is simple, and there isn't much point holding on to the free stats anymore.
With that thought, Rahul invested seven stat points into dexterity.
Character Overview Name Rahul Sharma Race Human (F) Class Melee Level 22 HP 220/220 MP 270/270 Stamina 720/720 Intent Points 0/7 Strength 50 (55) Endurance 72 Dexterity 37 Vitality 22 Intelligence 27 Perception 32 (35.2) Presence
Name Momentum Level 1
With his dexterity increased by 23%, Rahul decided to do a few jumps and flips, immediately feeling the difference.
Itching to get five more points, Rahul checked his progress to the next level.
190163/200000 experience to the next level.
I'm pretty much there. If I remember correctly, I have the 100,000 XP reward for my Singular Vision specialization to thank for that.
Noticing that the birds had numerous small holes in their wings and were now grounded but still alive and kicking, Rahul decided that he had some more time.
I never revisit my skills once I get them. Now that I have so many, I think that needs to change.
Rahul started going through his list of skills in the order that he had acquired them.
Basic Archery I : +5% damage to attacks with bows and crossbows, +10% to critical hits
Basic one handed Sword I : +5% to thrust, pierce and slash damage with swords. +10% to critical strikes.
Basic small weapons I : +5% to thrust, pierce and slash damage with short swords, knives and daggers. +10% to critical strikes.
Rahul felt a wave of nostalgia as he went over the skills he had earned on his first days on this island.
But the colleagues that were responsible for those skills were all dead now, so Rahul decided not to dwell too long on those memories.
I really should have upgraded my small weapons skill by now. Maybe Shahid can help with that.
The next skill Rahul had earned was the Weak Fireball.
Weak Fireball I : Summon a weak fireball and launch it toward your enemy. It will explode on impact or upon reaching maximum projectile range, dealing AOE damage. Damage and range can be improved with better mana control.
It was instrumental in the battle with the frogs, but not a spell I can use anymore, given the nerf to magic and ranged attacks because of my melee class.
The next skill was one of Rahul's staples when he used to fight with ranged weapons, and he had not only expanded the scope of the skill, but also earned a rare specialization that he utilized to great effect in melee combat.
Stamina Control 1 : Exercise control over the stamina flowing into your muscles when executing your attacks. This can weaken or empower your attacks while reducing or increasing stamina cost respectively.
Specializations (1/unknown)
Cold Trance - Significantly reduced stamina use when attacking mechanically, relying only on muscle memory and abandoning any conscious thought.
The next skill was one that he had earned in the dungeon, and was the most powerful skill in Rahul's repertoire.
Willblade Strike - Project and channel your intent into a tangible blade to strike your enemy.
Effect: The willblade will phase through and ignore unenchanted physical armor.
Specializations (1/unknown)
Kinetic Cleave - Fuel your willblade strike with accumulated kinetic intent.
The last skill and specialization was one Rahul earned only a few hours ago, during his fight with Shahid.
Keen Sight - Observe your surroundings with increased perception.
Effect: Passive 10 percent increase to perception.
Specializations (1/unknown)
Singular Vision - Significantly enhance your perception of a certain target at the cost of losing peripheral awareness.
That's about it.
Rahul thought, and by now, his friends had taken care of the pesky birds.
Ivan spoke.
"As annoying as it was to dig my axe out of the ground, that Unstoppable skill was really helpful in dealing killing blows. If I had it now, we wouldn't have to slowly chip away at the bird's HP after they were grounded. Reinforce is excellent for defensive use, but doesn't help much with attacks."
With a difference of almost 10 levels, the bird's innate vitality would have made them much harder to kill with weak attacks.
Rahul thought, as Daniel spoke.
"The four of us have fallen woefully behind. Given that we have up to a week here, I think it's best if we don't rush headlong into danger. Especially after what happened with the mental attack. Let's all grind our way to level 20 first, then we can explore the dungeon in earnest. Rahul, do you think you can kite in small groups on enemies here for us to fight?"
I should be able to take care of a few of those birds by myself, even without any built-up momentum, but if I get stuck in a trance alone.
Rahul thought, not eager to throw away his life. Daniel noticed Rahul's hesitation and spoke.
"Don't worry, we haven't forgotten about the intent attacks. Matt will accompany you, acting as radar and warning you if he detects any mental attacks. He'll also provide a retreat option, in case you are entranced. He has proven immune to mental attacks in the earlier battle and can carry you back here, where we'll be ready. Don't go too far, in any case."
That might work. It's still a bit unsafe for the two of us to go by ourselves, but I think it's our best option.
The real problem is if these three get attacked while we are away.
That concern proved unnecessary, as Daniel found a natural alcove in the massive tree.
An excellent hiding spot.
Finally assured of everyone's safety, Rahul nodded, and after checking their stock of health and stamina potions, and taking a few extras out of Daniel's bag of holding, the two set out.