Stone shrapnel fills the air, pinging ineffectually off my runic plate mail. I’d barely dodged the dragon ogre’s blast, and quickly drag myself to my feet to interpose my kite shield between us. My quarry doesn’t leave me time to check on my companions, but I have faith in them as well as our ability to end the boss battle soon.

“[Moderate Restore Vitality]!” Pearl shouts, her white healer’s shroud flaring around her as my most recent wounds close, accompanied by a wave of vigor washing through my body.

A purple glow grows rapidly behind me as the jeweled staff Abaris holds gathers his mana for another devastating attack. “Formation six, everyone! Let’s finish this! [Greater Enervation]!”

The ray of dark magic lances across the dragon ogre’s body, causing it to momentarily stumble and hesitate. Wasting no time, I dash directly at our foe, charging my longsword with every bit of mana I can spare. My barbarian counterpart Omorth plays his role as well, feet cutting a path in the soft earth and cleaving his bastard sword in an overhead arc, matching that of mine. Our blades carve a pair of perfectly aligned vertical cuts through the center of its torso, consuming our foe’s mana and releasing a massive pressure wave.

***

What the hells was that? The cavern walls around me continue to echo as the vibration nearly knocks me off my feet. Ah, the downsides of having an actual body.

(Somebody used a powerful skill somewhere in the dungeon, probably,) my intangible and unaffected Assistant offers.

Didn’t you say dungeons are supposed to be instanced? What if whoever that was already stole all my experience?

(They are. Other than the low level ones anyway, those are shared instance so the noobs don’t all die and leave no evidence they existed. Survivability is definitely higher in shared instance dungeons,) Nyx counters.

Great. So not only do I get less for my time, but I might end up getting ganked by some idiot blinded by the red title mistaking me for a monster.

She shrugs. (In their defense, you are a monster. Literally.)

Fair enough I guess.

Yeah, so I’m in a dungeon. After I’d loosed Philip in the workshop and he promptly wedged himself so far under a half sofa he may as well be part of the upholstery, Nyx suggested I should grind my level so I’m less of a target for weak monster hunters. It sounded like a good idea, so I made my way to the nearest one close to my level. My Adventurer’s Guild registration got me through the door with no fuss, although the guards did give me a funny look for being a party of one. Ah, whatever, more experience for me.

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My tally so far is seven goblins and twenty-three slimes, all of which did minimal damage while I drained them to dust. The experience appears to be boosted here, since I’ve managed to reach System level 13 and Consume 14. Aura of the Unwound gained two levels as well, considering I’ve had it on since entering – weak enemies sure are easy to deal with when they’re too busy shaking in terror to fight back or even run.

(Of course they are, you’re basically a dungeon boss at this point. Your Skill meta is freaking broken as crap.)

In my favor, so obviously it’s fine.

One thing that’s definitely disappointing is how I haven’t gained a single Class level.

Nyx dismisses my concern with a snort. (Of course you haven’t, you haven’t used any of your Class Skills since we got here.)

Oooh right.

(Yeah.)

Well, I guess I may as well try to grind those Skills too… I start trying to sneak –

(Won’t work with your Aura up. Everything can feel you approach.)

And nevermind, I guess I’ll try something else.

Rounding a corner in this disappointingly simple dungeon, I bump into four goblins already in the process of soiling themselves from exposure to my aura. Thinking on how to use my Class Skills, I have an idea… I use [Dominate] on the nearest one, who promptly reacts by relaxing, eyes glazing over and shakes calming.

Alright, puppet. Go stab your friend.

The goblin doesn’t move.

(What did you really expect? Low level mind magic rarely has the power to make targets act in ways that harm themselves or their allies. You need to be more creative.)

Fine. I walk up to it and place a hand on its face to begin corroding it to nothing, and it instead jerks away, falling flat on its butt and scooting a few feet away before again being ensnared by my Aura.

(Touch tends to break it too,) Nyx points out after the fact. Which, would have been really helpful to know beforehand instead of wasting my time testing it.

(You didn’t ask.)

You told me to stop asking questions!

And there’s another trademark Nyx facepalm. Very helpful as always.

Well, whatever. I keep wandering the almost completely linear, incredibly uncreative dungeon –

(Beginner dungeon, remember? Idiots get lost. This is designed to not kill idiots,) she snaps.

…

(What?)

Oh, huh. I expected you to indirectly call me an idiot again.

(Who says I didn’t?)

I sigh. I guess at least the monotonous caves are a little less boring with someone to talk to.

I devour my way through half a dozen more weak mobs before…

***

The boss room loot was uninspiring, but we should at least get enough enni from selling it to cover our living expense for a week. We could stretch it to two if Elobahn didn’t waste party funds on expensive liquor, but we all have our vices so the party has for the most part turned a blind eye to his excess. The rogue definitely earns it back in strategy from his scouting alone.

Meanwhile, Pearl downs her fourth stamina potion since leaving the boss room. “Why can’t we just use [Return]?”

“Because if we do this enough, maybe you’ll need one less of those,” Abaris answers in a sagely tone.

The two squabble and I ignore them per usual, until Elobahn catches all our attention by exiting stealth nearby, returning from scouting.

“Get ready you fools, we got something hostile with a pitch-black aura up ahead.”