Over the next hour, they made their way down the tunnel. Jonathan quickly found that it was far longer than it had been the first time around. In increasing its level, the dungeon had also increased its size to match.

More and more monsters skittered towards them every passing minute, and soon they were beset on all sides by the monstrous arachnids, which forced Jonathan to start taking this entire thing more seriously. He started to bring out this elemental energy and mana, and Edgar began to use his more powerful skills, sending super accelerated chunks of rock at supersonic speed toward his opponents, using his mastery over the air to create powerful wind tunnels to do so. Essence poured into them in waves, and both men gained a few levels from their fights, taking them up to 74 for Edgar, and 76 for Jonathan. They were so close in level that their level ups almost coincided sometimes, which was a bonus, as they both healed at the same rate.

The spiders contained a nasty paralytic venom in their fangs that, while unable to penetrate Jonathan’s armor, had been able to affect Edgar. It was a dangerous venom, and its effects began almost immediately, causing the sufferer to lock up, easy prey for the monsters. It wore off naturally, but leveling up also cleansed it too. Jonathan wondered why the initial formatting of the dungeon layout had been changed, and whether the rest of it would be different as well. The actual tunnels were the same though, which meant that it was likely only the monsters that had been changed here.

A while later, they broke out of the tunnels and into the cavern that had been filled with the troglodytes last time. To Jonathan’s relief, it was exactly the same. At least he knew how to deal with this area.

“Alright, Edgar. This cavern is populated by a sort of goblinoid creature known as a troglodyte. There are a few different castes of their race, of which the warriors are the most dangerous. With the added level since last time though, they might have additional skills and abilities. In addition, the top priority is killing their spiritual leader, as he will summon a powerful golem otherwise.”

“This is an interesting dungeon layout. The ones that I read about were not like this, at least the ones at the first tier. The latter tiered dungeons grow exponentially in size, but this one is already quite large. It is quite strange…”

“Read about? Were there books about dungeons back on Telvaria?” Jonathan wasn't sure why he was saying ‘back on Telvaria’ as it wasn't like he had been born there or anything, but Edgar’s manner of speech was rubbing off on him.

“The palace that I lived in had a gargantuan library, with tens of thousands of books. I spent much of my childhood in there, looking for books to further my spellcraft. I sometimes delved into the adventuring section too though, and read a few primers on the subject. Unfortunately, I never managed to use any of the information, beyond the basic part. My father never let me adventure alone, instead trying to level me with the help of his guards. He was the only Tier 2 in the land, and his word was law.”

“Huh. What did those primers say exactly? It might be useful to know.”

“Most of them were just about the common monsters of the land, which doesn't really apply here. However, the one about dungeoneering said that a normal Tier 1 dungeon is about two miles across. We’ve already traveled that far at least. How much more is there to go?”

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“Uh, after this cavern there is quite a bit of ground to cover. Maybe another 5 miles?” Jonathan replied as the two men started into the cavern.

“That’s strange indeed. That borders on a Tier 2 dungeon. Maybe that is because it’s an adaptive dungeon.”

“Perhaps,” Jonathan said, before lapsing into silence.

The two men traveled through the first segment of the cavern in a matter of minutes, running across the stone floor through the strange shrubs that covered the ground. A few minutes later, they encountered their first troglodyte, a hulking specimen of muscle and flesh that held a massive stone club. It was larger than the troglodytes that Jonathan had seen last time, which meant that it was far more powerful, on account of its higher level. It was not only higher level, it was larger as well, and more imposing. In addition, its weapon was of a higher quality. It was the perfect monster to test Jonathan’s new power on.

He signaled for Edgar to remain behind, and sprang forwards, imbuing his fist with mana and Divinity. Purple and red light blossomed around his hands, and he drove his right hand towards the monster’s undefended side. The creature whirled around, far faster than Jonathan had expected, and managed to get its club in the way of his strike. His gauntlets clashed with the sword briefly, before shattering the stone and sending his fist into the creature’ jaw.

The monster tumbled backwards, blood exploding out of its mouth, and Jonathan followed up with a kick that flipped the monster onto its back. He landed on top of it, and sent his fist down into the creature’s stomach, tearing into its weak underbelly. He pulsed his energy through his hands flash, frying the monster’s insides. It flailed around, slamming its massive arms into his body, rattling his bones. The strikes were powerful, and bruises formed on his side. However, he was mostly unharmed on account of his armor. Soon the monster died, and essence flooded into him, giving him another level. These troglodytes were on another level. Edgar ran up to Jonathan’s side, surveying the creature in front of him.

“What an odd creature. Are they truly sapient or are they merely dungeon facsimiles?”

“Probably the latter, given by what I saw last time. However, I had to fight their leader later on in the dungeon, and he was much more intelligent. I almost felt guilty about killing him. However, he was trying to kill me, so I suppose it was just as well.”

“Interesting. Dungeons rarely have intelligent creatures as denizens, at least at this level.”

“Well, yeah. This is a pretty abnormal dungeon. That much is clear now,” Jonathan answered, stepping over the hulking mass of the monster’s corpse. “Now, if I remember right, there are some valuable mushrooms on the right hand cave wall. I already partook of them, but you should use them. They grant boosts to your stats. However, it might be different this time.”

Edgar nodded, and walked with Jonathan, heading towards the cavern wall in the distance. Jonathan could not tell especially well, but it seemed as if the cavern was larger than it had been last time, and the wall was smaller in his vision than he had remembered.

They reached it about ten minutes later, moving at a normal human speed so as to not draw attention, and Jonathan started to circle it, searching for the mushrooms. He found a patch of them some time later. Jonathan plucked one of them free and threw it to Edgar, prompting the man to catch it with a tendril of air that extended from his left hand. Looking at Jonathan askance, he watched as he mimed eating. Edgar nodded and took a bite out of the mushroom, gagging slightly at the foul taste and at the poison within it. He choked down the rest, and then grinned as he read the resulting notification.

Edgar ran over to the wall and started to devour the mushrooms, motivated in the same way that Jonathan had been. Power was quite an effective means of making one do something distasteful.