The moment I stepped through the gate, I got charged by multiple monsters. I could easily count forty of them around me, making it a challenge. That would have been dangerous enough, but a few of the insect monsters had stopped their charge to spit out some kind of discharge.

Eleanor had mentioned that their attacks only damaged armor, but I wasn't willing to test it. Instead, I dodged them first before I turned the momentum into a charge, shattering the armor of the first beast. I was glad that I didn't rely on the mana blow to deal with them, as it would have made dodging the insects far more difficult.

Instead, I let expertise from the skill handle the challenge, limiting my involvement only to a strategic level, dealing with the ranged attackers first. Ordinarily, it would have been a bad idea to jump into the middle of a horde of monsters even if they were weaker.

But a combat skill at its limit was truly wondrous.

"After dealing with that attack, I understand why exploring new dungeons is such a perilous journey," I muttered even as I took a deep breath. Just trying to get into a new floor was difficult, and that was after it was cleaned by Eleanor just yesterday.

I couldn't even imagine the difficulty of facing a completely new dungeon, with no idea of what it might hold. It also explained why they had spent all that money to defend the other side of the entrance.

"Still, not all is bad," I said. With traversing between floors even more difficult than I had expected, people shouldn't walk around carelessly, meaning my forge was even less likely to be discovered.

Only once I dealt with the monsters, did I decide to examine my immediate surroundings. Just as Eleanor had stated, the mysterious mist was blocking more of my sight. I walked, however, halfway in, I pressed my hand on a herb and used Nurture.

[-9 Health]

This time, it worked. I moved deeper. The same attempt didn't work when the plant was outside the dungeon.

However, while that was another interesting experiment to run, it didn't have any priority. I needed to discover the entrance to the third floor first.

I pulled a piece of paper, carefully mapping my surroundings, not wanting to get lost. It was a slow, laborious process, the limited visual range making it far more difficult. I didn't want to get lost.

However, as I walked away, I noticed that it wasn't too much of a problem. Even as the mist had covered the dungeon gate, I could still see its glow. I considered it to be of interest, as it hadn't worked that way from the other side.

I wondered if it worked the same way for the main entrance. If it did, the walls had been thick enough to block the sight.

I walked directly to test its limit, only stopping to kill the monsters — and spending some time piling them to get better skills. One ranged attack, I deliberately let it deliver a glancing blow. It hurt somewhat, but nowhere strong enough to actually qualify as damage.

[-5 Health]

However, it damaged the armor and weapons even more than the feedback corrosion effect.

"Huh," I exclaimed, but before making a move, I started searching for the gate to the third floor. Amusingly, it had been easier than expected. I just needed to follow the path with the least amount of monsters, making a careful note of every milestone on my way to make sure I wouldn't get lost, only slowing down to replenish my mana completely.

Going through the third floor would be even more difficult.

While walking, I found a lot of crystals and herbs, far more than I could use in a short period. After all, it clearly took a while for them to grow, and the first floor was too crowded for them to be found regularly.

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Maybe I could make a stockpile near the forge. Once I revealed the anti-corrosion metal, they would be far more valuable. Which was true even if there were other blacksmiths with the same recipe.

It was better to be prepared.

Following Eleanor's path, finding the third gate hadn't been that difficult in terms of practical matters, but I was confronted by a swarm twice. Three hundred monsters had managed to slow me down somewhat, but I was at the next gate almost an hour later, and that was with stopping enough times to create a map.

I was not exactly a cartographer, but creating a guide for myself wasn't that difficult.

"Now, the real challenge," I muttered as I twirled my hammer. At the next gate, there would be a giant bug, which would have been a troubling encounter even without mixing it with the other beasts. I was tempted to return, and try to convince Eleanor about having a second location to experiment. It would be much safer.

But, that was my pre-Calamity perspective talking. I tried to stay safe for three years, and where did that get me?

Nowhere.

I took a deep breath, tightened my grip on my hammer, and prepared myself for a fight, already making plans on how to handle a giant monster depending on its size and position. Eleanor had mentioned them to be rare, but I wanted to be prepared for the worst case.

As I stepped to the third floor, I found myself facing another swarm that had gathered around the gate. There were about fifty of them, a mixture of ranged and melee variants, but there was no giant variant. "Excellent," I muttered even as I dealt with them rapidly, slowing down just to kick them into a pile.

That way, I received Common skills rather than Basic ones. Unfortunately, I had two more Common Nurture skills, one common spear skill, and another that didn't react to me.

How annoying.

"I wonder how rare the giant insects are," I questioned as I tightened my grip further, and started walking forward, once again careful not to lose my way. The second floor was larger than the first, and the third was larger than the second.

About a mile away from the gate, I faced the first giant insect. "Hey there, buddy," I said while circling the monstrosity, testing its speed. In a straight line, it was faster than its smaller counterparts, but it was slower to turn.

I approached it from the side and smashed one of its legs. It shattered temporarily, but I could already see it was recovering from the damage. Meanwhile, I could feel my hammer degrade far compared to when I dealt with its smaller counterparts.

"That's annoying," I muttered even as I rotated around it, and used Inspect to check the damage. It was a good thing I did, as not only was it damaged more, but there was also a persistent effect that stuck around. A burst of mana stopped it.

[-1 Mana]

I deliberately circled it twice, testing its limits. However, I avoided its back, afraid of a nasty surprise. My concern only got stronger once I noticed it trying to reverse direction. Carefully, I rotated around it, testing it a while longer, making sure I wouldn't be met with a nasty surprise while switching skills.

[-12 Mana]

I might not push more than a couple points of mana outside with meditation without killing myself, but things doing that was much easier under the command of the Forge skill. It settled around the hammer, ready to smash the nonexistent metal into pieces.

One that turned my strike devastating as it landed. The hammer was protected, while the leg stopped recovering. I struck it again and it stopped moving. Another blow and its mandible had been broken. Three more blows, and it stopped moving.

I pulled back, waiting for it to disappear, not even trying to pull its shell. There was no need to take the risk in case it was playing dead or had another nasty surprise.

There was none. It faded, leaving behind another skill.

[Skill Stone: Nurture (Common)]

"Nice," I muttered even as I twirled it in my hand. Not because I needed another Nurture skill, but because it was the first time a higher rank skill dropped from the monsters without piling them together. Confirming that the giant monsters weren't too hard to deal with was another benefit.

After testing my attacks on a few of them, it would probably be much easier. I was immediately struck with a desire to hunt another, this time to rip mana-dense sections of its shell to see if it had other uses.

But, that was for later. First, I continued moving deeper and deeper, searching for a nice hidden spot for my forge.

In the end, I found a sharp cliff with almost nothing. One that I could dig a deep hole to set up my forge, and bury whenever my work gets finished. However, I didn't have anything to dig with.

Luckily, I was a blacksmith who could forge with mana, and one thing I didn't lack was mana. I quickly forged a huge pick and an equally large shovel, both designed to put my strength advantage to use. They weren't as good as it could have been without a proper fire, but mana was a good way to compensate.

As I dug a pit, I learned the reason for not damaging the dungeon. The more I dug, the more monsters swarmed toward me. Which was excellent news.

After all, I needed a lot of mana.