Immediately I ran over to the table to check, and blessed are the gods, because there were just as many grapes as I remember from before. A small thing for sure in the scale on a dungeon, but it was a small pleasure I wouldn’t deny myself at all.
Welcome back young one. You have entered this crucible before so we will not reiterate the rules of this proving ground, it is up to you to remember the important information as you grow in life. Once you step through the doorway into the arena it will start the first round. You will receive reduced rewards for completing rounds you have completed in the past, and they will keep decreasing each time they are completed.
Before stepping through the doorway I grabbed myself some grapes followed by a mouthful of water, I wasn’t hungry so much as I had been looking forward to the grapes for the past few nights. The rest of the fruit looked interesting and worth trying, but I knew I liked grapes.
Knowing I wanted to maximise my speed this run and not waste time on fights that will give minimal gains I went straight through the doorway into the arena. As soon as the threshold had been crossed I got a familiar prompt.
Defeat the combatant to finish this round and enter a rest round. Current opponent: Small horned Rabbit.
As soon as the prompt was up I ran across the arena floor, locating the small rabbit and immediately igniting my leg to kick the rabbit. As soon as I realised the kick had opened the rabbit up and made a mess across the floor I almost threw up again, but swallowing it down I turned and moved back into the rest area.
Reward Time
Selecting reward I was unsurprised to get a smaller but related reward.
Reward granted: 1 x Rabbit Jerky
I ate my new Jerky reward and tried a few of the fruits I had never seen before, there was a green one with spikes pointing up coming out of it that was red inside which was divine but only one had been on the table this reset, while I waited out the rest timer. I could rush through to the next stage I believe, but there is no point in not having a bite to eat, letting it settle with some water, and going through stretches again before the next fight.
With ten minutes remaining I opened the door and was pleased to find out I was right, I could just open the door and get access instantly to the next round.
Defeat the combatant to finish this round and enter a rest round Current opponent: Young Goblin
Looking across at the young goblin it looked the exact same as last time almost, there were some slight variations like the skin on this one's right arm was mottled with some brown spots I don’t think the last one had, but nothing that looked like it should be any harder then I was expecting.
I hadn’t tried this on the rabbit due to its size but I wanted to try to get something down pat before fighting the Zarkling, and it was difficult to safely practise outside of combat. Pulling my small hunting knife I triggered my ignition skill but focused on the blade instead of my body. There was some resistance as the skill was flexed in a way the system wouldn’t help me do, as it wasn’t part of the skill currently, but within half a minute I was able to ignite the blade.
Aiming carefully, and thankful I had already mentioned to a few of the hunters I was now seeing each morning that I was interested in a throwing knife so they had given me one well balanced for it, I threw aiming for the centre of the torso.
In a clear example of my skill, I managed to hit it in the leg instead. Rushing forward I managed to get in enough strikes to the head to put the goblin down, and retrieved my knife. Still plenty of room for growth, but I couldn’t afford to not work it out before I had to deal with that Zarkling.
While looking over the mess I had made of the goblins head I realised how desensitised I was becoming, like it was still very gross to me, but so long as it clearly looked like a monster I was already beginning to just shrug off gore like it was some leaves falling in a forest.
A dungeon isn’t the place for introspection so moving back into the rest area I was hoping one of those green spiky fruits would be there, I should try identifying it to see if it's something I can trade for in the future as roads develop with the closest other settlements.
Reward Time
Selecting the reward prompt was a little different than expected this time.
Reward upgraded due to early start of round Reward granted: Cracked Goblin Skill shard (unknown skill type)
I think this was worse than the last skill shard, but I was also fully expecting goblin jerky with the reduced rewards, so hopefully in the worst case I could gift it to Chris to help level his skills. It might sound generous but honestly I just needed him to rank up his skills as soon as possible so if I came across a really useful shard or core or something I could get a good strong upgrade out of it.
Picking up the fruit I was pleased to see it had a name I could properly read.
Name: Drake fruit Description: A sweet fruit known for its unique flavour and often grown in wild orchards on Drake managed mountains resulting in its name.
Well I doubt we would get direct trade with the Drakes anytime soon, but a girl could dream and I certainly would. Putting the shard into my small bag I decided not to eat but to meditate and get my mana topped up as fast as possible so I could enter the next round quickly to improve the reward a bit.
Getting up I realised this next fight was the last definitely easy one, or well easier then the next two would be for sure. Entering I noticed there were still twenty minutes left, I really didn’t need much recovery time after that last fight which was a bonus.
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Defeat the combatant to finish this round and enter a rest round Current opponent: Goblin Warrior
Looking across I could see some clear changes this time, this warrior didn’t have a shield and instead had a proper sword. It had to use two hands to properly hold it out in front of itself, so I wasn’t expecting it to be too fast with it, but it was still a long sword so I needed to be mindful of that reach.
After thinking it over I decided the best course of action was to simply avoid the blade if I could, and go over overkill if needed. After talking to a few of the guards it's clear this part of the instance was meant for level one to five people not a level ten, and I should be fighting like that to get to a point where it's properly at my level if only for the improved experience gains that should come with the right difficulty.
Flowing mana through my enhancement I dashed past and behind the goblin as fast as I could, activating ignition on my legs before spinning slightly into a kick with my right, then as my foot landed with my now facing away from the goblin I continued the spin to kick with my left, repeating again to get a third strike in with my right. As I turned around ready to continue I saw I had burned straight through enough of the goblins armour and back that its spine had charred slightly.
Clearly over levelled for this, it was slightly embarrassing how worried I had been only a week back during these fights. Hopefully the bonus reward from entering early was good, as it was going to take a good fifteen minutes to be comfortable with my mana again before I could enter the next fight.
Walking back into the rest area I didn’t even really notice the prompt for reward or time, simply selecting reward and continuing to grab some water before sitting on the bench to get ready for the next fight. As much as I had a plan this time, and expected it to go well, if this didn’t go well enough for me to be confident fighting the series boss I would be stuck with an under levelled instance again in another seven days to get through again.
I hadn’t even been registering the experience prompts with how low they were, I was able to quickly check and confirm I had gained 255 experience again which while worth easily more than a weeks healing still wasn’t great, a settlement like ours had no real demand for magical healing constantly so the experience gains were low, it was more a in case of emergency thing which is part of why combat healers were preferred. We simply provided additional other value outside of the rare emergency we might be needed.
Reward upgraded due to early start of round Reward granted: Goblin skill shard Two handed wielding - Uncommon tier
From my little conversations with Chris and some reading I knew cores were worth a lot more than any shard, but an uncommon and specific skill related shard would still help a lot in creating a specific and useful card. Apparently the reason a lot of stores had somewhat eclectic cards was without an exact combination it was almost impossible to always make the same or even that similar cards, so normally crafters just aimed for quality over specifics unless they have a commission.
After twenty minutes my mana was as full as I needed it to be to be comfortable, only a few points shy of being full, and I felt ten minutes early entry should help secure a decent reward.
Stepping through I felt my nerves rising as I closed the expected welcome prompt.
Defeat the combatant to finish this round and enter a rest round Current opponent: Small Kobold war party
Across from me I could see the three, this time the warrior had a longer shield and a wooden spear with a metal spear head on it, and this Zarkling was a dark brown colour with some blue mottling across its body. The mage looked the same as last time, just a kobold in some robes looking ready to try to zap me again, although I had no way to tell if this one knew the same spells as the last one.
While moving forward to get into range I drew my hunting knife, and started activating ignition on the blade again. As soon as I felt it take the knife flew across toward the Zarkling, striking it in the side and getting stuck.
Immediately I ducked down and turned away, only turning back after I felt the explosion I knew was coming. Looking I could see the warrior on the ground again, but this time I avoided zeroing in on the easy kill and sprinted at the mage immediately, going toward the right side of the area to keep away from the warrior in case it suddenly got up.
As I closed the gap with the mage it gestured towards me with its left hand, and suddenly a small icicle rapidly formed and launched towards me. Dodging around the small barrage building up, and getting hit by plenty slowing my speed though thankfully so cold the pain didn’t really register, I reached the mage and quickly ignited my fist striking the mage in the face. A quick and tidy put down for once, and not too soon as while I turned around the warrior had gotten to his feet and started approaching.
Trying to keep things simple I met the warrior, and as soon as he struck with his spear I grabbed the shaft while pouring some raw mana out of my hand. Watching the flame take I stepped back and got ready to try to get around the shield.
Stepping steadily to the right, while the warrior rotated to mirror me, I waited until the flames growing along the spear slowly forced him to act. As he struck out I stepped to the side and kicked as hard and fast as I could to try to hit the side of the shield. As the kick connected I heard the sound of the warriors shoulder dislocating, and quickly followed up with a spin and repeat kick this time to the damaged shoulder.
As the warrior fell down I took the window available and dropped a kick from above on the neck, quickly crushing it and finishing off the warrior.
While unpleasant it was a lot better for me than my first time against this round, though I now needed to search the arena to find where my knife ended up after the Zarkling exploded.
Eventually after a few minutes searching I was able to locate my knife, for some reason it was almost in the door at the entrance only a few steps to the side, and concerningly meant it passed very close by me when the detonation happened.
Entering the rest area again I got my lovely one thousand experience, a solid amount, and my mana consumption was just under half when all was done so the thirty minutes would be plenty of rest time allowing me to snag an extra reward I wasn’t expecting.
Congratulations on completing the four stages to this series. You may now enter the arena to challenge the series boss, or select to leave. You have until the rest timer of thirty minutes is completed to decide.
Reward upgraded due to early start of round Reward granted: Iron Mana-infusement gloves
Looking at the gloves as they materialised and fell into my hands I noticed they were perfectly my size, a perk of being a dungeon reward no doubt, but I was a bit uncertain how my skills might play into wearing them although an inspection quickly discarded those concerns.
Iron Mana-infusement gloves: Gloves plated in mana forged iron, and woven from silk containing mana from a midnight moth cocoon, these gloves offer minor hand protection along with increased damage while still allowing mana to be channelled as if no gloves were worn.
The gloves themselves were a very dark red, almost black really, with darked plates of iron over the back of the hand, over each knuckle, and then a small portion over each finger portion between the joints just large enough that they didn’t restrict movement. Trying them on I found they felt very comfortable, and with a small flex of my mana it didn’t feel like my skills would reject being cast through them which was a massive factor in keeping them.
After making sure the gloves were comfortable to wear, and keeping them on to get used to them, I settled into my waiting bench to eat and drink a small portion, an apple and an apricot this time so as to not make myself sick with the sweeter fruits, while I rested and mediated after my meal to regenerate my mana before this next fight.