The journey takes a full week, but with Serin’s help, no monster ever became a bother.
Series of talks and quests later, Alfed had his new job
“Great Architect”, said Alfed. That was the class he was given.
“Quite a creative name” said Meri
“Complaint to Unicorn, not me,” said Alfed
“Any secret or hidden quest?” asked Serin
“… I just clicked ‘next’ all the way …” said Alfed
“Ah, right,” said Serin, slightly disappointed
Well, Alfed is paid to do TSA’s work and not quests, so he did not exactly put a care
“Any special skill?” asked Serin again
“Let’s see … It seems that I can learn sculpting, craftsmanship, and artificier skills until Advanced level, and other related crafting skills until advanced level 1, regardless of restriction,” said Alfed, reading his status. “Architect+. Skill unique to advanced Architect class. Enable user to create structures. Building constructed can have bonus stats equivalent to 2% of the skill of architects and 1% of the attribute-related skills,”
“That is pretty major!” said Serin
“You think?” asked Alfed
“Think of it like this. A wall you create, if you have reached intermediate level 1, for example, will have 22% more HP. Not to mention the 1% addition. That’s a real fortress building skills!” said Serin, “Think of all those guilds. They would love that,”
“Do you know any wall without high level mages’ enchantment that can’t exactly be destroyed within seconds in Royal Road?” said Alfed
“Good point,” said Serin
“What else?” said Meri
“Material Identify. Not a special skills, but useful,” said Alfed, and then on
“Magic Structurization. Skill unique to advanced Architect class. Imbued magic on a building, for a duration of time” said he, “That one is pretty useful. I can probably make lighting and air conditioner,”
“… I suppose,” said Serin
“Fortress Enhancement. Skils unique to Advanced architect class. Increase the strength of the building by 2% of the skill level and 1% by the architect’s skill in related attributes. Fine, Masterpiece, and Opus Magnum Building may obtain additional special abilities. Channeling spell. Number of unit under the skill and cast time and MP required depends on the object and skill proficiency,” he read more of the description.
“Any offensive skills?” asked Serin
“None,” said Alfed, “But there is … one more skills,”
“Grand Work. Skill Unique to Great Architects. A Great Architect’s work is part of itself. Experience from Monsters killed by trap or part of the structure will be . It will also definitely stand the test of time, and thus may be enjoyed even after the death of the Great Architect. Effect: Fortress Enhancement effect are still in effect even after the user’s death as long as the user do not cancel the spell,”
“That one is sure pretty unique,” said Meri
“Well … who knows,” said Alfed, “Complain to Unicorn not me,”
“As for the item, just this ring. Apparently it increase Architect skill by 2 when equipped. Got two, ” said he
“Well. That’s’ that,” said he
Alfed nodded.
“Let’s go back now to Rosenheim. There’s this guild master that owes me some favors, so we can use a dungeon in their territory at a discount,” said Serin
Paying fee when using the dungeon is a pretty common occurrence in the Central Continent of Royal road. Some guilds charge lenient tax, some charge exorbitantly. In most cases, though, non-guild members – sometimes even non-officers—are forbidden to enter the Boss area.
Hence, guild wars are fought over and over, and alliances are established left and right.
Number one dungeon to be monopolized is dungeon where the boss drops extremely useful item. Lucrative dungeons where experience can easily obtained, or can increase skills, are the number two most fought-after.
Dungeons with traps as the main obstacle and little monsters are the third lucrative, but that does not mean that it is not monopolized either.
Players in the central continent, however, have already been accustomed to pay fee to use dungeons. Usually they can still get some profit afterwards anyway. And that it’s easier to access. While RR encourages players to explore regions, and even grant bonuses to the finder of area and dungeons, most players don’t do that. There might be dungeons in the North or East that’s not under any guild’s management or still not discovered, but traveling there costs way too much time for some, and the danger of being killed is pretty high. At least in the Guild-owned dungeons, there’s almost a guarantee that there is no player killer lurking around to ambush.
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Ever since they arrived back at the city, Serin took no time in contacting the guild she mentioned. Then she led the way a few maps south of the town, passing several abandoned stone ruins covered with dark green moss. Every now and then there’s monster popping out, but Serin chose to ignore them most of the time. A few moment later, they arrived at a large campfire surrounded with a lot of adventurers, with all kind of jobs. Merchants putting on stalls and trying to buy stuff from adventurers, priests and magicians sitting quietly charging mana, people inviting others to join the party, and on.
Next to the campfire was the entrance of the dungeon.
Serin was welcomed by the guard. After a few talks and nods, the group entered the dungeons. The fee was fifty silver coins each person below level 25, 1 gold coin for person below level 75, and 2 gold coins for players under level 200, and 5 gold coins for players with higher level. It was a low level to medium level dungeons, so probably the fees already take into consideration the beginner’s money situation. Definitely the most that beginners can afford.
Serin paid 5 gold for herself, and then 1 gold for Alfed and Meri
They move efficiently on the dungeon. Serin seems to know the layout very well. They went to room where mobs spawned a lot, triggered some mob traps, and then rinse the process again and again. Serin killed monsters that may harm the party, and weakened the rest. With Meri’s help, they can kill the wounded monster easily. Alfed and Meri’s level quickly level up from the experience. After they gain sufficient levels, they move to the next floor.
The monster in the second floor is mostly a level 50 monster, with elites at level 60 every now and then. They do the same thing over and over again.
After Alfed and Meri reached level 50, Serin led the party to the third floor. The monster level were in late 70s to early 90s, but with Serin’s help, they can easily cleared the place around.
The grinding took only a week RR time, and Alfed has reached level 120 while Meri level 150 (Meri got more experience because she killed the monsters while Alfed only shot from the back with pathetic damage and accuracy).
The power of Power Levelling!
Meri’s magic skills also increase a lot.
“Not bad,” said Alfed
“Yup. The guild manages the dungeon pretty well. No excessive looter or camper are permitted. The worst thing in dungeon is if a person tries to mob all the monsters around, running around, and then have his mage friends to cast aoe spells. Not only other people don’t get their shares of monsters, since the monster is not killed yet, new monsters do not spawn either, making others wait for a long time. Hence, even though we pay fee to use, to have the dungeon managed by good guild is actually a pretty good thing,” Serin explained
Her job was dimension mage, a rare secret magician class. The class seems to have a pretty nice skill set. After level 100, she began to show more promises as she can start abusing the skills, hence accelerate the power leveling process. They even able to hunt in the fourth floor, with monsters level ranging from 120 to 160, and a few lv 200 elites.
The day concludes as such. The three exit the dungeon and back to the campfire, set appointment to play again the next day, and then logged off. Alfed do his business as usual.
Later that night, he logged in again. He wanted to try his architect skill.
So he started chopping the nearby wood.
But then the nearby guard stopped him
“You must not build anything here,” said he
“Why not?” asked Alfed
“The area belongs to the Guild. Only approved project by guild officers may be carried,” said he
“… Where then can I try to build something?” asked Alfed
“Area outside of the Guild’s jurisdiction is fine,” said he
And where would that be?
Alfed sighed
Apparently, even though by the guild's help leveling was a lot easier than he thought, doing his real job is not that easy
He decided to just log off and wait for the next day