Pal strode through the crowd confidently, his steel armor clicking rhythmically with each step. His face was calm and neutral, but his eyes told another story, a myriad of thoughts raced through his mind as he walked.
Today was the day the dungeon would finally be open to the public, so many things had changed in the last few weeks since his first dive. His blessing was the biggest change of them all, it was just what he wanted, and he planned to use it to slay the foul dungeon once and for all.
“Status” He whispered, blinking as a blue screen popped up.
HOSTNAME: [Pal Asmodium]
AGE: [200]
LEVEL: [0]
EXP: [0/10]
STATS:
-MIND: [0]
-BODY: [0]
-DAMAGE: [0]
Skills: [3]:
* Super strength (1) (Passive)
* Skill: Dwarf’s elder body (1) (Passive)
* Skill: Regeneration (1) (Passive)
It was truly a strange blessing, but he wasn’t going to refuse strength from his god. No dwarf did that. Pal was sure he was just scratching the surface of what his blessing could do and it made him happy beyond measure.
The dwarf’s eyes gleamed with bloodlust as he salivated at the thought of ripping apart the monster that had taken away his best friend with his bare hands.
He quickly reached the adventure’s hall and walked in, Pal was immediately assaulted with the scent of booze and the sound of laughter. The place was bustling with activity and people of all types went about their business.
From Tin ranked to even silver, everybody was preparing for the dungeon.
“Ah, you must be Pal! We’ve been waiting for ya!”
Pal spun around and kicked back, only for a hand to appear on his shoulder and pull him back.
“W-”
“Easy now, it's me! Bob!”
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Pal gazed upon the man and slowly took in his features.
Grey hair, lean but defined muscles, and an ominous glowing eyepatch. He dressed like a noble of old, wearing simple but regal clothing, without a doubt, It was the guild master.
“Guild master...My apologies, I didn’t see you there!”
“Nonsense! Think nothing of it! We’re all a bit on edge, it is a big day, after all!”
“Yes, you’re right.”
The man patted him on the back and began moving through the crowded guild hall.
“Come along now, the rest of your party is waiting.”
Pal swallowed, it was finally time. He’d be going into that cursed dungeon again, not with his former party though, for they no longer walked the earth. The realization caused a pang of sadness to wash over him but he quickly shook it away, now was not the time or place.
Pal quickly followed from behind, eventually reaching the copper training hall. Pal took in the room, it was very different from the Tin training room, the entire thing was constructed out of seamless stone with a central ball of light in the center.
Stone training dummies were positioned at every corner, each one glowing faintly with runes. At the absolute center of the room was a raised podium, Guild master Bob stood on it, addressing a team of four below.
Pal quickly made his way to where he assumed was his designated spot, right beside an archer with a glowing bone bow.
“Good, now that we’re all here we can begin! All of you here should be at least high Tin, on the verge of breaking into low or mid copper. Low copper is the minimum requirement required to be a part of this team, so we’ll be breaking you into the copper realm today.”
Everyone gasped at Bob’s words, ranking up was no easy thing. No one truly knew when or how it happened, just that it did. Everyone knew that it involved mana, but mana was such a rare resource the common man wouldn’t even think of using it as a catalyst.
The pool of mana he saw at the house of Brimstone flashed in his mind as he thought of this, maybe they had something similar here?
COUGH
The coughing of the guild master pulled everyone back to reality and he continued talking.
“I’m sure you might be wondering just how I’m going to accomplish this, well. This is how!”
With a wave of his hand, the room went dark and five glittering spheres of solid mana chunks appeared. Bathing the entire room in a soft blue light.
Power washed over Pal in waves, something in him reared up its head and began greedily devouring it.
Sufficient EXP devoured
+2 levels
An even greater surge of power came from within, dwarfing the feeling of power the mana gave off. Pal grunted and gritted his teeth as he changed, his muscles rippled and contorted violently as they rapidly expanded.
After what felt like forever, the feeling faded, replaced by a cool sensation of raw power. Pal felt better in every single way possible. His mind felt faster, his body brimmed with the vitality of a small drake, and he felt like he had the strength of a giant of old.
* 5 stat points awarded
* 1 skill point awarded
Pal crackled like a madman, this was truly great, fantastic even!
The dwarf looked around, his other teammates experienced something similar, though it was clear it was only a little bit of what his blessing was doing. Everyone was beyond elated, everyone except Bob. The man looked deathly pale like he just saw a ghost.
Pal was confused at first, everyone was until he looked up at the spheres of mana, or what used to be spheres of mana. What floated in the air were five empty mana crystals, drained of all their magical energy.
Color drained from his face, all that mana, gone. Who could’ve possibly taken so much mana? Was there such a monstrous talent in this room?
“It can’t possibly be me, right? Did my blessing do that?”
Bob turned, his eyepatch flaring as a golden eye shifted underneath, it locked on Pal before the man spoke.
“Mind explaining yourself?”
Pal paled.