''Place your hand on the pedestal. It gave me 1 extra spirit attribute, so don't be scared. Before entering the portal I propose that we eat, strategize and place the level up points over the course of the meal. How about it?''

Nick and Nadia approached the pedestal, placed their hands on it and received their bonus attributes.

''I got 1 extra strength! No wonder they said dungeons are good way to improve yourselves.'' Nadia exclaimed cheerfully and eyed at Nick, as if trying to confirm something.

''I got 1 extra luck, guess this confirms it. Everyone gets different bonuses but I wonder how it is determined. I mean while luck sounds awesome, it offers no real tangible benefits.'' Nick told the group his gains and took a few instant noodles off his backpack.

''I would have to speculate that it has something to do with one's own affinity based on the strength gain with Nadia and my spirit should be attributed to using Inspect on quite a few things.'' Richard continued and sat down next to Nick and Nadia.

''Oh by the way, where do we get boiling water? These noodles are good and all, but I'm not going to resort eating them raw, I still have a few power bars on me if you are interested.'' Nick eyed the noodle cups suspiciously and waited for them to explain.

''I'm just going boil the water on the canteen with my magic, not so smart now huh?'' Nick laughed at Richard for not realizing the possibilities of magic in other fields but combat.

''It just seems like a waste of mana... I mean we are right in front of the entrance, so should we not save everything for exploring?''

''Naah man, it will regenerate while eating, don't worry about it.''

Starting to make the meal with the boiled water, coupled with a power bar each they were content with the meal.

Each of them had distributed their available stats, and Richards' choice was agility. He felt that in forests and swamps agility would prove most useful, as he could react faster to obstacles in swamps and forests.

Agility increased +5 [ 10 → 15 ]

After distributing his stats to agility, he felt a familiar wave of pain wash over him and felt like he had done a full body workout. Richard started to eat the cup noodles and power bar with cold sweat trickling down his neck, but noticed that while eating the pain was not as bad as before.

''Guys in the future when you skill up multiple points in a short time frame, remember to eat well. It seems to help out with the muscle pains.''

Now capable of moving semi-normally, he continued munching away happily.

Now full of energy, ready to brave the dangers and unknown things that lie ahead of them.

''Now that we have had our dinner, is everyone ready? From what we can infer from the outside look it's likely that we have to get used to swamps and forests. I have inspect so I propose that I'm scouting ahead.''

Agreeing to Richard's proposal, they walked nervously in front of the giant portal leading to unknown lands.

''This must be what the explorers of the past felt like, discovering new continents and cultures.'' Full of spirit and vigor Nadia barely could contain herself and spoke excitedly, looking a bit disappointed at her companions who were way too nervous in her opinion.

''Maybe so, but we know that it is quite likely that we will have to fight for our lives there. We don't even know if there is way back if the portal disappears, so we should exercise utmost caution out there.'' Richard muttered grimly, taking a deep breath and stepped forward to the portal.

On the other side, the group had managed to come through. Looking a bit nauseous and vary, they kept the communication only with whispers and hand signs as they discussed before.

They started to move out, leaving small pieces of the noodle cups as road marks. Richard was scouting ahead quietly a few tens of meters ahead of Nadia and Nick, they had yet to see a living soul.

Searching the nearby area for a few tens of minutes, Richard started to think to himself uneasily.

''Why is it so deserted? There should at least be some wildlife around here.''

Looking around scanning the area, what he saw was near an endless swamp as the eye could see. Ancient trees stood proudly with brownish leaves growing on them, reaching at least 50 meters in height and the water itself was green.

In Richard's opinion the only place that would have something different, was the outskirts of a more frequently forested area they visited 10 minutes ago, so he signaled the rest of the team to gather.

Nadia and Nick came to him and he explained his conjecture and they quickly agreed to it: It was at least a start to find this Temple of Dragonsworn that the system designated as the dungeon's name.

Backtracking to the more densely forested area, it seemed the same as before. What raised Richard's vigilance was the fact that some of the trail they left was now gone.

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Signaling to be alert with his fist, he keenly observed his surroundings and continued onwards to the forest Nadia and Nick in tow.

Few minutes after entering the forested area Richard saw something moving. Alerting his teammates to the enemy, he inspected the creature just to be sure.

Name: ???  ( Bog Wanderer) Level 5 Hp 132/132    Mp: 27/33

''What the hell is a Bog wanderer? It has used some mana before so it should have some mana skills, but besides that it should be easy peasy.''

Signaling to the rest of the group that it was a foe that they could defeat, they started to move quietly to ambush it.

As they got into position, they waited for Richard to start the battle.

Readying his spear, he got into throwing posture and hoped that it would hit the creature.

Nervous about his accuracy, he thought about the last time he threw a spear of any sort, was in the school gymnastics classes in primary school.

Focusing his senses and shaking off useless thoughts from his head, he tensed his muscles and with all his might he threw the spear at the creature. Flying in a beautiful semicircular arc the spear moved like a greased lightning.

Holding his breath waiting for results, his eyes shrank a bit as he saw that the spear had lodged itself a few meters on the ground from the creature.

''Fuck youuu spear, I didn't want to hit it anyway. This game is rigged, where is my accuracy correction from ranged weapons!'' Richard cursed out loud without any decorum attracting eyeball rolls from the rest of the team.

The bog wanderer saw itself being attacked and instantly let out a sharp nasal sounding screech, which echoed in the surroundings like Pavarotta in the concert hall.

Nadia was startled and quickly regained her wits as she charged forward like a vengeful juggernaut.

''It should be their sentry of sorts! Take care of it quickly, we should be expecting company soon enough!''

Nadia's battle cry snapped the rest of the team back to their senses, and they sprung into action as well.

The bog wanderer was 1.5 meters in height, four stumpy legs and a neck like a croaking frog. The group gawked as it started to secrete goo of some sort which gave out slight luminosity.

''Don't let the good hit you! You would be a walking billboard if that stuff is smeared on!''

Nadia valiantly dodged the goo-spray with roll to her side and Nick started to cast his Blast burn with eagerness to show off his worth.

''Burn in hell booger monster!'' Nick cursed at the Bog wanderer and started to spew fires on it.

Sensing the threat from the flames, the bog creature started to spew more goo, but aimed all of it on itself. As the flames started to grill the creature, it seemed to be quite resistant towards the flames after the goo. Panicking Nick stopped the flames and meekly went to pick up the spear Richard had thrown.

''It hasn't failed me before, it is literally the first time it did not work.'' Embarrassed Nick explained to Richard who seemed to smile from ear to ear.

''That's the title of your sex tape, not the solution for the monster. No worries it happens to the best of us, or so I have heard.'' Giggling like an idiot Richard seemed to have relaxed a bit.

He picked up his old pal Curtain-kun and picked up speed towards the bog creature.

The bog wanderer spewed out the goo wildly towards Nick, who already had started the retreat after his flames did not work. Missing the spray, the bog creature's backside was wide open. Richard and Nadia jumped at the opportunity presented by Nick and started to inflict the maximum amount of damage as they could before retaliation.

''I can understand why in RPG games, melee DPS always hits from behind. It's quite enjoyable.'' Richard joyfully cried as the creature fell on the ground with experience coming in.

''Yeah it is quite a good feeling, but we have bigger problems now. I can see a few figures coming in from the front. At least 3, likely 4. Based on their appearance, they are lizardmen. Nick! Prepare to cast Blast burn on the targets further from us when we engage in a battle.'' Nadia grimly replied and yelled a brief battle plan to Nick.

''They are coming, I'll take the one on the right! Richard shouted, and grasped his weapon in his hands.

Four large lizardmen were striding through the swamplands into battle, splitting into groups of two.

One of the lizardmen had Richard in its sights, and approached him swinging his spear in belligerent manner.

Seeing this Richard responded with a swing of his own ,Mighty Strike. Time seemed to slow down in Richard's eyes as he focused his utmost strength in that strike.

The strike that seemed to be so slow soon hit in the lizardman's ribs.

What Richard saw was the aftermath of Curtain-kun: Watermelon sized hole sizzling with red glow, dripping bodily fluids and rapidly falling body hitting into the ground.

Focusing his eyes on his Curtain-kun, he wept a little.

''Sniff.. Curtain-kun's last stand, at least you taught that reptile a lesson...''

Still holding the pole in his hand, now bent out of shape, he decided to exact vengeance on the lizardmen by smacking their head with his malformed pole.

Eyeing how Nadia and Nick were doing, he rushed onwards with blazing fury towards the two reptilemen after Nadia.

Nick seemed to be doing fine with his hit and run tactics.

One thing noteworthy was that the lizardman stumbled a few times when it almost caught up to Nick, it would seem that his grumblings about extra luck triggered a foreshadowing flag with more fortunate events happening around him.

Nadia was engaged in intense combat with the two lizardmen, dodging and counter attacking. Sweat poured from her ruddy red face indicating how tiring it was to keep up with her two foes.

Seeing this, Richard readied his weapon for Mighty Strike and successfully attracted the attention of the lizardmen.

Now flanked, the aggressive attackers were put in a defensive position.

Nadia poured out swift and precise strikes with her spear, aiming towards the neck and chest area.

Richard on the other hand threw all finesse and tactics out of the window and slammed his malformed curtain pole towards lizardman's upper torso.

Startled, the lizardman knew that the incoming red tinted glowing blow would threaten its life, so it tried to take the enemy with it.

Twisting its scaly body in an unnatural angle, thrusting its spear ferociously at Richard's upper torso.

Seeing the incoming spear, Richard could only hope for the best. Either he hits, or he gets stabbed.

Holding his breath he squeezed every ounce of power he could to score the hit faster, in hopes that the spear would be offset.

Behind the lizardman, Nadia had more space to breathe and when she saw the lizardman twist in an unnatural manner she knew that it was the time to deliver a deadly blow.

Twisting her body for extra momentum, she kicked the other lizardman in the chest area resulting in a slight staggering effect.

Using the time she thrust her spear forward towards the lizard aiming for Richard and managed to stab it cleanly to the place heart normally resides.

Unsure whether the heart was located in the same place as a human heart, she still knew that the strike connected. If the lizardman did not die to her strike, it would die to Richard's.

Richard was sure that he had some sort of hidden luck value when he saw Nadia's spear coming through from the lizardman's chest.

He cleaved forcefully and directly at its collarbones in horizontal slash, incapacitating the lizard in an explosive manner.

Just as the scales, gooey skin tissues and blood rained briefly, Richard exclaimed out loud.

''Booyaa, and he scoooores! Excellent pitch by Player Nadia followed by home run by Richardoo!''

Level up [ 8 → 9 ]