I reached the ninth floor before noon. I would say that my progress was quite good, given that it was my first time in this dungeon. I got a hit a few times, but the pain made my focus improve, so I made fewer mistakes.
I knew all about that, but it wasn’t something I had experienced so far. Maybe that was why the people that fought at close range were so self-assured. Pain naturally pulls our attention toward it, limiting distraction. This narrowed focus can help isolate the problem at hand, leaving out irrelevant thoughts or fears.
Pain also forces you to be intensely aware of the present moment. When under pressure, this awareness can be grounding, pushing aside worries about past mistakes or future outcomes so you can deal directly with what’s in front of you. That was something that I have been lacking a bit from the beginning of my second life. I have been too focused on preparing for the future.
Regardless, I was getting the results that I wanted when it came to using my fighting style. I was lacking real skills that could level up and get stronger, but I had some ideas of new ones that I could train and just use and they should be very effective against all kinds of monsters.
While I was thinking about that, I eventually reached the end of the first section of the dungeon… I lost track of time, but it was night already as well. No wonder my focus skyrocketed. My parameters were back to normal.
The entrance to the boss chamber was a path filled with vines that seemed lifeless, I had a feeling that the creature had been killed today, so I could only rest for now, the place didn’t feel ominous like it was supposed to be, after all. Just resting was kind of waste… I wanted to set my crossbows in some places and kill the monsters as I did before, but I had to be cautious since people could be around and see my tricks.
‘I guess I will just make some bows until the boss shows up. Speeding things up will give me more freedom later.’
The boss probably would give me some decent materials and I would be able to make better bows, but I had to give Cassius some good ones tomorrow. So, I decided to focus and use all the skills that could help me with that.
You received 40 experience points.
Long Wooden Bow (Rare)
Enchantment Slots: 02
Bonus Effects: Eagle Eye - Provides an increase in range and accuracy of 20%, allowing the archer to shoot from great distances with little penalty.
‘I guess my bow crafting skills haven’t rusted yet…’
I made this one in half an hour and I still had some mana to spare. Perhaps I could try to use all of my cards to make Epic bows all the time. Using several tattoos over each other to increase my dexterity was possible, but I figured out that this was probably the best I could make with the materials of wood golems.
Name: Regulus Dawnshield
Race: Dhampir
Health: 70/70
Regen: 0.1 per hour
Mana: 180/180 (0/1900)
Regen: 6.0 per minute (0/4500) (1.3)
Stamina: 250/250 (0/2600)
Regen: 5.5 per minute (0/5000) (1.1)
Strength: 33 (0/3000) (1.1)
Dexterity: 135 (0/5400) 2.5x
Spirit: 05 (0/600)
Movement Speed: 10.7 (0/4700) 1.1
Stamina Conservation: 0.5 (0/5000)
Fire Affinity: 01 (0/100)
Traits: Minor Weakness to Sunlight, Minor Sensitivity to Holy Magic, Minor Aversion to Silver
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Classes: Archer, Pathfinder, Dark Scrollmaker, Fletcher, Mystic Tattoist, Bowyer, Hunter, Enchanter, Dual Wielder, Merchant, Bolt Crafter, Smith, Weaponsmith, Assassin, Rogue, Sharpshooter, Fire Mage
Aptitudes: Precision Training, Never Lost, Magical Scroll Creator, Master of Archery Craft, Arcane Artist, Master of Bowcraft, Unseen Hunter, Arcane Craftsmanship, Swift Strikes, Master of Trade, Precision Engineering, Master of Forging, Master of Blades, Shadow Mastery, Sneak, Master of Precision, Flames Wielder
Experience: 889
‘Perhaps I should have increased my dexterity over the last year instead of just strength and my stamina and mana pool.’
I also had increased my regenerations, and stamina conservation by a large margin… only because I wanted to improve my own crafting technique instead of waiting for the system to help with everything. Regardless, I resumed my crafting. All the bows came in the Rare rank, so that was pretty good too. If I had done that for a year instead of bolts and arrows, I probably could have obtained more experience. Still, I didn’t regret it since I could make rare arrows and bolts all the time too.
In any case, I focused on doing that for a while, but soon I stopped. When a monster appeared, I would just explode it with my hand crossbow and resume my craft without getting up, but now I could hear the sounds of metallic footsteps approaching.
Before long, I found a group of knights reaching the area. They were a bit light armored, but soon I noticed their sizes and appearances and understood why that was the case. They were young knights, so it made sense that they wouldn’t have full plate armor.
The kids looked at me for a moment, but soon they resumed their journey to the boss’ chamber… their behavior couldn’t be compared to what the guards at the entrance showed before.
‘Cassius, huh? I guess he convinced them to treat me a bit better… Is he still trying to recruit me?’
I recalled that the territory was famous for having the best bowmen in the empire, but I didn’t see either of them with a bow… at the same time, I wondered how much that fame was thanks to their skill and not for the bows and arrows that they had. If they wanted to be better than Elves, then they had a lot of ground to cover.
‘Considering the classes available on the first floor, it is also surprising that they got this face… perhaps they had been using those magic skills with scroll makers and then enhanced their arrows with scrolls as I did. Not like I had read about that.’
Putting that aside, when I decided to take a break to eat something, I heard a weird sound in the area… before long, I noticed that the entrance to the boss chamber changed a little, the dead vines that surrounded the place had become full of life and there was this ominous aura coming from it as well. The boss had finally returned…
It was midnight, quite the weird time for a boss to show up. Still, military types have things like that, making their soldiers get used to fighting in all kinds of scenarios, so it didn’t surprise me. I recalled that Albert stopped complaining in his diary, but there was one thing that he truly hated and he still complained whenever possible: training at night.
‘I guess I should deal with this as soon as possible before any other party gets in the way.’
I got up and stored my things in my magic bag, and then grabbed my short swords. That was the time to test if my melee skills were somewhat mediocre. I cut the vines while heading to the boss chamber, but they regenerated in a matter of seconds… that really grossed me out. Perhaps burning would be a better option, but I decided to save my mana for the time being.
The boss chamber was pretty much like the rest of the section. The walls and ceiling were covered in moss and vines, but even the ground had a bit of tall grass in it. My glasses had the night vision enchantment in it, so despite the darkness, I could see the monster ahead… before I could understand the form of the boss wood golem, I felt something enveloping itself in my leg… A shiver ran down my spine.
Without hesitation, I swung down my right sword and then cut the vine that tried to grab me. After I freed myself, I used the other sword to cut in half the vine covering my leg, and then I was free enough to run around the chamber.
The wood golem was right in the middle, its shape was different from I recalled… the creature had a bunch of vines that it moved like its arms and like tentacles as well. I felt really creepy when something like that touched me.
The creature looked like a mass of grass and wood, its dark glowed in a purple tone while it remained in its place and glared at me. Before long, the beast unleashed a barrage of seeds from its mouth toward me… they flew while making high pitching sounds. I focused on dodging most of them, but I blocked a few with my right sword. The impacts made my arm tremble… the seeds didn’t break upon contact either, they were really tough.
‘This could be a problem.’
I hesitated for a moment… perhaps I should change my tactics a bit. I was alone, and I didn’t have healing skills. My health regeneration was meager as well… I could always use my hand crossbow in a pinch, but I still could be left heavily wounded inside a dungeon. I had no real allies, no one to watch my back. Could I afford to take such risks?
I clicked my tongue at those thoughts… it was the kind of thinking someone would use in order to not challenge themselves. Staying in their comfort zone, fearing what could happen, without considering the rewards that they could obtain by accepting some pain and risk. Overreaching was dangerous,
‘If you want something, then you have to act on it… how can I obtain the strength to defend myself if a little monster like this scares me?’
I got rid of my thoughts and began to focus on running. I never tried that before, but I lowered my body forward to move with a bit more speed. It worked… like running as a ninja now. If I stopped, I would kiss the ground and lose a lot of teeth, though.
I began to approach the monster, and the creature used its vines to attack me, but I slashed them in half when they were about to cut me. Still, even those quickly regenerated. Their resistance was basically the same as the others.
‘If it is like that, then…’
I charged toward the monster with all my might and then the creature used all of its vines to attack me… as expected, it was weak at close range, so that was why it tried really hard to keep me at bay. I used Whirwind Blades, the second skill of the Dual Wielder class, and spun on the spot while cutting down all the vines that approached me.
The monster flinched for a moment and when I saw that, I threw my right sword at the chest of the beast with all my might. The weapon flew in a straight line toward the boss without much as rotating or spinning in the air and then pierced the chest of the beast.
“Gruhhh…’
The monster let out a tired scream, but soon I approached and then grabbed my sword with the reverse grip and then jumped while slashing the body of the monster, creating a wound in the shape of an S while I rotated in the air. In the next moment, I stopped moving right in front of the head of the beast and pierced it with both of my swords.