I reached the end of the first floor in no time. Since I decided to test my ability to finish off the monsters as soon as possible, that really sped things up. I enjoyed that quite a bit… If I had a chronometer, I would mark and write down the duration of each battle and try to break my record every time.
You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Fire Mage, Water Mage, and Wind Mage.
I stopped to blink for a moment and then I rubbed and massaged my eyes to confirm that I wasn’t seeing things. I checked again and confirmed that it wasn’t the case… what were the odds of this happening?
‘I have heard of these classes… the first is for offense, the second is for support and the third for more or less crowd control. I don’t need crowd control or support when I fight by myself, my magic implements and tattoos already do that for me, so I guess there is only one option.’
You obtained the Fire Mage class.
You improved the Fire Affinity parameter.
You unlocked the Aptitude: Flames Wielder.
You unlocked the skill: Fireball.
You unlocked the skill: Fire Wall.
FLAMES WIELDER: YOU GAIN EXPERIENCE EVERY SECOND A TARGET SUFFERS BURN DAMAGE.
FIREBALL: LAUNCH A BLAZING SPHERE OF FIRE THAT EXPLODES ON IMPACT, DEALING DAMAGE TO ALL ENEMIES IN THE AREA. THE DAMAGE SCALES WITH YOUR FIRE AFFINITY AND SKILL LEVEL. COST: 20 MANA
Fire Wall: Surround yourself with a protective barrier of fire that reduces incoming damage and burns enemies who come too close. It lasts for ten seconds. Cost: 50 Mana
It came at the lowest value as well… I wondered if it was normal or if that showed how much I lacked in terms of magical talent. Regardless, I finally could sell the most basic magic scroll now. They probably won’t become that popular since my magic attack parameter has yet to be unlocked.
In any case, I decided to head to the next floor to resume my training session with the Wood Golems. While I was exploring the second floor, I tried to think of ways to improve my magical power… since I unlocked the Fire Affinity parameter, I could make magic implements and tattoos that also increased it. It made me wonder if I could do those at the same time to increase the power of the scrolls. It was worth testing.
While I was thinking along those lines, I heard some footsteps in the direction I was heading in. They were all heavily armored, so it made sense that I noticed them from quite a distance. My first instinct was to use camouflage and hide. I never felt good when large groups of people heading in my direction. Still, I had no reason to hide.
The group of guard were pulling a bunch of carts with a lot of mana cores inside them. Those were easier to transport, but I imagined that some of them working for the lord of the territory would have some magic bags.
Regardless, when they found me, the guards slowed down and frowned… they knew that I couldn’t have entered the dungeon without permission. If I were skilled enough to bypass the guards, then I would have an easy time hiding from them as well.
‘You guys don’t have to twist your necks to look at me. I am not an exotic animal.’
I was pretty sure that I was guilty of a similar crime, but it sure was annoying when people kept looking at you and frowning at the same time. I decided to put my mind on the game and then just focus on my training session.
… …
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“Mister Cassius… is that person someone you know?”
The captain of the guards that worked in the dungeon approached after Regulus entered the dungeon. He was the guy who talked with Regulus the previous night. While he didn’t know his name, he knew that he was a weird person who moved well. His steps had a fluid grace that combined agility, control, and purpose. His stance was balanced, knees slightly bent, and feet positioned shoulder-width apart, allowing for quick lateral movements and powerful strikes at any given moment.
As he walked, each step was deliberate, the weight shifting smoothly from one foot to the other. He maintained a keen awareness of his surroundings, eyes focused, ready to react to any potential threat. His hands gripped the sword firmly but relaxed, allowing for swift adjustments without losing control.
“He is the person who has become famous in Grenezi thanks to his enchanted arrows and bolts. He isn’t very sociable, but his skill is certain. In order to convince him to work for us, I offered him the chance to use the dungeon in order to make some bows for us for a while.”
“A crafter that can fight solo in a dungeon like this?”
“You can tell that he can fight. It was one of his requirements to come here. He doesn’t want to be bothered by anyone. Do your best to give him a good image of our city.”
The Captain showed a complicated expression after that… he certainly didn’t pass a good first impression to the weird person. Moreover, he couldn’t believe that someone in their right mind would refuse working for a rich merchant like Cassius, who was also a good friend of the head of Moredall's house.
“He told me that he doesn’t want to be bothered and he doesn’t want to be helped or watched, but we need to confirm where he is and in which condition he is a few times a day.”
That seemed a lot of work to hire just a single worker… while he could use some trainees to do that without being too obvious, it was hard to imagine that their lord could profit that much from a single person.
“You don’t look convinced. Where are your bow and those arrows that I gave you last month?”
“What about them?”
“They were made by him. A set of arrows with only the piercing enchantments. Three of them at the Expert level. How many shields or full plate armors could withstand the power of those arrows?”
The captain knew that there were few… it was more fair to compare those enchanted arrows against an enchanted shield of the same level. However, it was a lot harder to make a single shield that could withstand that much-piercing power. Even if it could, it would fall apart in a few shots.
“... He probably just got lucky after using the best materials that he had.”
“I considered that, but even so. His skills are the real deal and I kept watching him for the last few months and I noticed him getting taller. He must be a teenager, so he didn’t reach his potential yet.”
The Captain knew that Cassius didn’t become a famous merchant having bad eyes… his eyes to find good chances of business was what made him achieve that much. He also had an eye to recruit people, so perhaps he was right about all that.
“I understand, sir… you are probably right. But having someone like that among us won’t make bad rumors and emerge and taint the name of the head of the Moredall family?”
“Few people will know him… Besides, we need to prepare. A lot of houses are on the move, and it looks like a storm of blood will envelop the empire soon.”
The Captain squinted his eyes… that term, storm of blood, made him recall the last time he heard the same saying. Whenever such a term is mentioned, people recall the expansionist history of the empire. Recently, a lot of weird things have been happening in the territory, and he realized that they truly needed to prepare for it.
… …
In no time, I reached the fourth floor of the section and soon noticed the changes when it came to the monsters. Only two of them showed up this time, but both of them tried to grab me by the neck to strangle me. I spun around and cut their vines before they could touch.
When the beast behind me was about to land on the ground, it was stabbed by my short swords. I jumped with all my might toward it and covered the distance in the blink of an eye. The other tried to bombard me with a barrage of seeds, but I hid behind the shrinking body of the first monster. I pushed it and approached as well until I threw the remaining wood on the face of the first monster and got it by surprise.
While the creature was stunned, I finished it off with a thrust reverse grip attack. The beast was killed immediately.
“I guess the next battles against the two of them won’t be that hard… my condition is still good, after all. Oops… can’t use my voice like this when I know about the magic implements that improve one hearing.”
I wasn’t using my strength to jump around as much as before since I learned the patterns of the movements of the monsters, and it looked like since I wasn’t using much stamina, the muscle fatigue was going away relatively faster than before thanks to my stamina regeneration. That had increased when I upgraded the Explorer class and thanks to the other improvements I had done.
I just started the exploration, but I was in a hurry for more challenges. I could fight the groups of wood golems on the sixth floor, but I decided to hurry up there first. I didn’t meet that many people so far inside the dungeon, but I also had a magic implement with the Enhanced Hearing Enchantment.
It was a good chance, so I used Fireball on the monsters to level the skill up as much as possible. Still, the damage was minimal thanks to the lack of magic power that I had… I at least stunned the monsters for a moment, which I used to blow them up with my hand crossbow. Using the short swords worked too, so I wasn’t lacking tools. Still, I needed to level up the skill of Enhanced Bolts as soon as possible since it was close to level ten, so I used my hand crossbow.
In no time, I reached the sixth floor, but at this point in time. I was too used and confident in fighting the wood golems, so facing them was easy.
Things got a bit interesting on the seventh floor, with three monsters appearing to block my path at the same time. However, I had prepared a strategy to deal with them… before repelling their vines with my swords. I threw one of them at the body of one of the monsters when they were falling and when they approached, I landed a palm strike at the handle of the sword, forcing it to pass through the monster and then hitting the closest one.
The third wood golem used that chance to attack me from behind, but I didn’t slow down between attacks… I only advanced as if that was the only thing I could do. When the barrage of seeds was about to hit me, I hid behind the second target and pulled my sword stuck on its body, and split it into two pieces.
To finish off the third beast, I propelled myself forward like a cannon, and I crossed a few meters in the air after leaping toward the monster like a spear and decreasing the area in which I could be hit, which was my head… which was protected by my swords.