Juarm the Wise Hunter’s room was a slow and shallow mound towards the center, with no cover or places to hide, just the circular room about one hundred feet across its diameter, at the top currently kneeling in a praying pose was a Kobold about twice the size of Block, with a quiver of arrows and blade on his back, and a Massive bow resting beside him, it opened its eyes as they walked in, the light green glow that shone its eyes unsettled them a bit, as it stood and picked up its bow.
“Hallowed Bindings” Jessica bellowed as the boss started to ready its bow, knotting an arrow with a barbed head the size of a round shield, but her spell caught the boss and stopped his movements.
Blake rushed forward to halfway up the distance between them and raised his halberd high as he got in range and roared as he brought the halberd down fast. “Earth Shatter, Skyward Spike, Blade Wind.” The attack became a glowing torrent of power that rushed to the boss cutting a deepening grove as it dug through the ground, slamming into the boss and cutting across the whole body.
“Come howling winds of the north, cut down my enemies and shudder them from my gaze, freeze and shatter them with my wrath, Great Ice Breath of the Winter King.” Claira chanted from a bit behind him, as he turned on his heel and ran back and away, only coming back around as he got beside her.
As the icy dust of the attack cleared the boss was a frozen statue of two perfectly cut halves, before the chains around it cracked the boss and shattered him, they all exchanged glances. And Block was first to speak, “Dam it, I need to get my rank checked, this is bullshit, I can’t even join in that fight.”
“Yeah, a bit…” Jessica started then paused, “No, that was really anti-climactic.”
“Yeah I was kind of hoping we wouldn’t kill it in two hits,” Blake said to Block with an apologetic smile “I even held back half my magic power.”
“Well, we did it, we cleared the dungeon, The East Hunter’s Cave has been cleared.” Claira said while staring at her hand, then clenched tight, “Good Job Raven’s Wing, now on to the treasure.”
They all burst out into laughter as they started walking, But Claira broke off and picked up a small dagger off the ground near where the boss died, while Block and Blake stuffed the head into the bag.
The core room was unfortunately emptied save the gemstone of smooth and rounded silver that hovered in the middle, then Claira walked over and took a step back, staring at the air a bit confused, getting Blake to step beside her and a window open before him, and he read carefully.
* Congratulations on clearing the East Hunter’s Cave, if you are ready to close the dungeon please select below.
However, if you wish to reset and leave, please select the reset option, you will be rewarded even if you don’t close the dungeon.
Blake blinked a few times then leaned over to Claira, “You see the window?” getting a nod from her. “Is there a downside to resetting the dungeon?”
She shook her head, “The only issue I see is that the guild may not believe that we cleared the dungeon, but if we all have unique skills and the heads of the eleventh and twelfth bosses that should be proof enough, but I was unaware that a reset was an option.” She looked over her shoulder to Block and Jessica, “What do you guys think we should do, we can close the dungeon like in the past, or reset it for others.”
Block looked up and thought about it before he spoke "I think the reason they are usually closed is because the team that does it doesn't want to give others the chance to outshine them by clearing it faster."
"But that would hamper the world as fewer people gain the ranks and experience that is needed, no?" Jessica asked a second later.
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"Yeah, it would, which also explains why the level of skill you need for the higher ranks of power you need to fight the demons is now too weak to actually do anything." Blake said with a grim tone.
"So, if we want to train others, we are better off resetting, that way we can come and clear it again." Claira said after a second.
"Yeah, we will need to do that with most dungeons, but this one especially as it is meant to be a training dungeon." Blake said after her. "Are we all in agreement?" He questioned and got nods before Claira selected the reset option in the window.
The window closed as she did and they were all ported to the entrance, glanced at each other took account of their surroundings, and saw no one, then Claira turned to Blake, "Check your status." She ordered, and Blake followed.
Name: Blake Winters. Class: Paladin. Race: human.
Current power rank: 109, current biological age: 25, actual chronological age: 25.
Health points: 325/325, Spell Points: 106/200, Spell Power: 73, Energy points: 135/145
Strength: 78, Dexterity: 58, Constitution: 69,
Intelligence: 52, Wisdom: 48, Charisma: 49,
Trust: 38, Faith: 16, Honor: 7.
Physical Skills: Halberd proficiency(mastery), longsword proficiency(skilled), bow proficiency(trained), heavy armor proficiency(renowned), shield combat proficiency(trained).
Magic Skills: Basic Light Magic, Intermediate Light Magic, Advance Light Magic, Basic Holy Magic, Intermediate holy magic, Advanced Holy Magic, Grand holy magic, magic proficiency (Famed).
Abilities
Energy point abilities: Power Strike, Rend, Shield Slam, Heavy Guard, Devastating Blow, Rebuke, Cleave, Sunder, Blade Wind, Power Lunge, Earth Shatter, Skyward Spike, Tortoiseshell, Wall of Iron.
Spell point abilities: Smite, heal, cure conditions, dispel curses, dispel magic, quick recovery, holy blessing, holy ward, holy shield, Hallowed binding, death respite, sun flare, burning smite, greater heal, Solar Forge, Light Prison, Light Weapon, Light Barrier, Angel's Songs, Hallowed bastion.
Unique abilities: Judge’s eye (passive), Drill sergeant (passive).
Blessings: Blessing of the Long Breath, Blessing of Life tongue, Blessing of the Peerless, Blessing of the Indomitable (16%), Divine Emissary (Justice, Honor, Life), Blessing of farewells x 2, Penta-loved.
Titles: Troll Slayer, Daemon of the Forest Moon, Champion of Yari’s Yard.
Current equipment.
Weapons: Long sword, halberd.
Armor: Scale coat, oak shield
"Umm, one second" Blake said quickly as he read over the information and willed the Drill Sergeant information open.
Drill Sergeant: When you acknowledge someone with a weaker power rank than you as an ally, they will grow at double the speed until they reach your level. This effect works as long as the receiver is within five hundred feet of you, even if they do not aid you.
Blake dropped his hand before giggling to himself for a second, then he looked up at them. "So, I didn't get anything new, but my trainer skill has changed to one called Drill Sergeant, and well we don't have to worry about Winry and Sarena getting hurt as they can just stay outside of fights, as long as they are within five hundred feet of me, they will gain rank ups." He said calmly.
"Bullshit." Block said then sighed.
Claira then spoke, "So this is what that line means, I guess."
Jessica chimed in after her, before Blake could ask, "The heroes will always gain what they need to progress. It's part of a child's tale." Then smiled at him before she spoke again, "I think that we will all be more powerful than when we left. Now let's go home."
Their two-day walk back to the town was easy, and they had spent the better part of it discussing the finer points of classes and the skills they wanted. When they reentered the guild hall it was silent while they walked over to Quni, her normally bored and annoyed demeanor shifted as she saw them, and a bit of acknowledgment rang in her expression.
"You are back and alive." She said before Claira could say anything, "The guild has recognized your successful termination of a pack of seven dreaded hunters and the successful rescue of the guild team Opening Dawn. For this, the guild has rewarded The Raven’s Wing team a sum of five gold." She said as she set a small pile of coins on the counter. Which Claira promptly swiped. "Now how was your mission into the dungeon?"
Claira smiled wide and handed the magic bag to Blake which he used to pull out the head of each floor boss. "Mission completed, moreover we have found the treasure room of the first floor, and we eliminated the eleventh and twelfth floor bosses while also clearing the dungeon, lastly we have chosen to reset the dungeon so that others who believe themselves skilled can try to clear it too." She made a gesture to the twelve heads Blake had pulled out. "Lastly, we will be doing a rank check for myself, Jessica, and Block. We believe that we have truly bloomed on this mission. Please verify the power ranks we have gained." Claira’s tone was smug and choked with grandiose self-praise.
Quni stared at Claira and then shifted her gaze to Blake.
Blake started to hide the torn sleeves of his tunics and turned a bit away from her while acting sheepishly.
"What about Blake? Will he be checking his rank?" Quni questioned.
"As much as I would like to say he was good, he is extremely unskilled within the dungeon. It appears most of his combat capacity is limited to one-versus-one or open battle. However, we will not let him go as he is powerful." Jessica said with a smile.
Quni glanced around the team, her eyes trying to understand what the hell was going on but nodded and made her way over to the wall, while Blake hung back watching them get their ranks checked, he intentionally looked a bit down and kept withdrawing from others that tried to pry for information on what happened.