The dungeon started to become a lot more fun when I reached the floor with first-rank challenges. Until floor seven I was still able to quite easily handle everything but after that, I actually needed to start thinking and not just rushing in. Slowly my abilities and skills levelled while I was also constantly learning to fight better.
The dungeon was a mix of beast types and plant-like humanoids. The plant-like humanoids looked like humans and had some rusted armour and weapons. My guess is that a large battle that happened around this dungeon affected its growth.
To affect the dungeon the battle must have been huge, and I can understand how goblins are still finding metal pieces so long after the battle. It would be interesting to try to find out what happened in this swamp but didn’t have any ability to uncover what's hidden under the earth. Hopefully, I will be able to gain such abilities and I will try to keep that in mind when I start levelling my quarrying mining or digging skills.
The traps were laughably easy thanks to my senses. The places where I spent the most time trying to advance were the few puzzles that blocked me from progressing. The fights down here didn’t give much experience to my classes but there were so many monsters because of the overpopulation that I was fast closing in on levelling up my classes.
The first class to level up was my heroic commander. With the gain of stat points, I was able to pass the 320 milestone for constitution, so I received another trait. The pain that followed almost made me fall to the ground, but I was able to get my knee on the ground to stabilize myself. The pain lasted for a few minutes, and it was hard to understand what was happening. When the pain finally ended, I felt heavier. I tried some quick stretches but after some stiffness, I felt like I always did.
Opening my achievement page, I found the trait that caused this. Subdermal armour was the name of the trait and I instantly started to examine myself. Under my skin in places that didn't hinder movement seem to be plates that would protect whatever is underneath. I will need to do some testing to find out how strong the plate's defences were, but this was not the place for this. After a quick test, all my armour abilities seem to accept this subdermal armour as a possible target.
Now I needed to do even more testing but there was a possibility that my future armour problems of not being able to fit into my current armour might not be as much of a problem as they used to be. Continuing to fight I took my first rest and slept in the dungeon so I could continue fighting the next day.
The next class to level up was my renowned true archer. This was a good level-up as I reached level 10, meaning I reached a milestone. Once again there were three times more stat points as a normal level up and I also gained an ability. It was called steady hand and I was a bit disappointed about it. I already had incredibly steady hands but I will test this ability out sometime later. The extra stat point did make my perception reach the 320 milestone.
The trait I got was called perfect kinesthetic sense. At first, I didn’t notice anything different but as soon as I started the next battle, I immediately noticed what the trait did. Every movement was known to me. I could perfectly see where every monster was moving when they would get there and what position they would be in. Projectiles became laughably easy to track and even my own positioning and movements became a lot smoother. I could hear myself making an evil laugh while I charge at my enemies.
At the end of the second day, I was 2/3 done with the dungeon and exhausted. While I settled down, I used a healing potion and some healing powders to fix some of my minor injuries. A few times I was a little bit too efficient with my energy usage meaning a few attacks actually did hurt me but only a little. With the last fight, I was able to finally level up my first homesteader class.
It was once again an important level up as I reached level 10. With the improvements in stat point, I also reached a milestone in wisdom giving me a trait called mind barrier. I had no idea what it did, and I wasn’t going to spend time meditating on it. On a hunch, I did pop into my mental palace and there did seem to be a shimmer at the edges that wasn’t there before so perhaps it just added another level of defences to my mind.
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The skill that came with this milestone was a bit more interesting. It was called energy wrap. The first thing I thought was that it was some kind of food, but it turned out to be something like a bandage that you can wrap around wounds. Usually, this ability wouldn't have any special effects, just act like a regular bandage that you can wrap around your wounds, but my energy wasn't normal. My trait life-giving energy and energy wrap seemed to have amazing synergy and I now had quite a decent healing ability.
When I wrapped my wound with this ability my energy would act like healing powders. I guess if I keep levelling this up and use all my other boost abilities and core energy it can save me from quite bad injuries. This trip has been quite successful, and I feel that I am a lot stronger than I was before I started. The training plan that I was on was quite good. If I didn’t have it, I would be helping my apprentices build their houses while barely progressing myself.
I didn’t know how to feel about that. On the one hand, I quite enjoy helping my apprentices and watching them build their own homes would be quite satisfying, but I will still be able to do it just to a lesser extent. On the other hand, I can feel that I could protect my nation and the people around me a lot better, which in the long run is a lot more important. I settled in for a good night’s sleep as the constant fighting required me to sleep more often.
Towards the halfway point of the third day inside the dungeon, I finally reached the last boss room. To my surprise, the fight in the dungeon actually did teach me a bit about the battle that happened here long ago.
It was a battle between three different forces. The last floor’s boss room’s boss was the strongest of these three army commanders. I think that this commander should have won the fight but obviously, this last floor has proven that incorrect. There was something else that ended up killing all three armies and I’m guessing that it’s behind this door or the dungeon wasn't yet done with its construction and the true culprit will be a few floors down the ones that still hadn’t been made.
I didn’t know if I wanted that boss to be behind this door or not. A monster that could end so many lives would be quite dangerous. Pushing the door open I had already activated all my defensive abilities and was at my highest alertness. My trouble sense immediately screamed when I took a step into the room, and I quickly dodged some sort of a projectile that would have taken my head off.
Whatever my opponent was, it was trying to hide from me, but my eyes wouldn't be deceived. It took only a few more moments and three more dodges to find my opponent and see what kind of a monster it was. When I saw the monster, I froze in surprise and that almost cost me my arm. My opponent was a humanoid plant creature, but it looked like a really old woman who was hunched back and shook constantly.
She could barely move but the staff that was supporting her constantly attacked me with projectiles that are so dangerous. When I started to move closer to her for the first time, she raised her head and our eyes met. Then I felt incredible pain like someone was trying to pull my very being out of my body. My stubbornness flared and the pain lessened. Then I heard an old voice so gravelly it was barely understandable.
“You should not be able to resist my control over the souls of others. Die!” The pain instantly got worse as soon as she finished. She once again tried to hide but I didn’t take my eyes off her and push forward even when I felt myself being torn apart. The projectiles fired faster and faster, but I was getting constantly closer and her ability to affect my soul lessened over time. When I was only about 10 steps away from her, I could finally see fear in her eyes.
“Don't worry I will put you to rest,” I said and for a moment she froze which allowed me to close in. A core energy-powered strike cut her in half. Immediately the pain disappeared, and I could breathe normally again. “What the fuck was this monster. Holy hell people should not come down here.”
There was no loot from the boss. The only piece of loot that I got from this entire dungeon was a rusty sword that I was able to break even without using any of my abilities. Dungeons that hadn’t fully grown and developed into raid dungeons or great dungeons barely dropped anything, which was disappointing but the gains in experience were still quite good.
If this dungeon was following a story, then this truly felt like an ending. Perhaps this dungeon will reach full maturity soon. If that was true and it didn’t become a raid dungeon that moved around the world, then this would become a stupendously important resource for the United Freeholds.
I jumped through the portal that took me out of the dungeon. Quickly orientating myself I started my run towards the GreenWave village. I should be easily able to make it in time to give my energy lesson. While last week I wasn’t able to give it I didn’t want to miss two weeks in a row.
Looking at my achievement page I had to smile when I saw that my soul skill in my adventurer class reached level 15. It was finally time to level up my adventurer class again. I was not going to wait until the soul skill was going to give me two abilities simply because it will take too long.