Magna woke up on rather rough ground, all his clothing covered with dust. Unwilling to face the new day, he snuggled his head deeper into his furry cuddly pillow. Leica seemed to be protecting itself again for having laid it. Their fur was softer than any pillow, blanket or bed he owned in his last life, but the best part was that Leica didn't even lose hair! She didn't even seem to mind when he snuggled so deep inside her. On the contrary, she seemed to be snorting genuinely when he did.
The first rays of sunlight penetrated the inside of the tiny chamber through the air holes in his makeshift wall towards the sinkhole, whereupon he wanted to call someone to close the damn shutters. Completely demotivated for the first time since arriving in this new world, he had to force himself to move. After jumping off his shovel yesterday, the strange tension of the last few days dissolved like dirt in a hot bath. By the time he decided to explore the dungeon, it had basically more or less only functioned to ensure his survival. All his actions were directed towards this end alone. The dungeon was supposed to be their first adventure together with rich rewards, instead it was a huge pile of shit that he was supposed to dig the gold pieces out of with his bare hands. Everything in and about his body just screamed for a break from all the shit he's been through the past few days.
He instinctively scratched his face after he got up, only to realize that there wasn't a beard that usually seemed to itch a little after getting up. Instead, he could still scratch his buttocks when he woke up. It was inconceivable to abandon this behavior. Always breathe easily through his pants, he whispered to himself. With a wave of his hand he called his spare backpack from the attic, because there was the last jerk in there. Nibbling on the dried meat, he slowly went over the previous day's events. The meat didn't really taste like anything because it seemed to lack salt and pepper. It also felt like he was chewing on the soles of his shoes. But the devil ate flies in times of need, so he didn't want to complain.
Not only had sleep been terribly necessary, but also recovery from the shock. After a thorough self-analysis, he made no mistake about being in a state of shock. Some of the events were clearly traumatic, but inwardly he could thank his ailing morals.
After his far too short breakfast, as well as his way of reviewing the last day, he was finally able to turn to the new skills that he had been putting off for so long. On the one hand, he gained the skill of multitasking, where he wondered how this would affect what was already there.
[System: You have acquired the multitasking skill. You have been practicing it for a long time! The skill is passive and makes it easy to split your focus on different goals. They showed a problem with the full focus of their attention from the start. As the level rises, the energy required for their thought processes is reduced.]
Did the system degrade him to a pocket calculator? Also, what should that statement say about his attention span ability! Cursed? Did he just get a diagnosis for his ADHD? Had it accompanied him into this new world?
He quickly dismissed the thought, trying to identify the positive in the skill. Much more interesting was the other skill, which related to his aiming skill.
[System: You have acquired the aiming skill. Increases your precision with increasing levels. Increases the stability of the trajectory of their magic with increasing levels. The likelihood of not missing your mark increases as you level.]
Even if the increase was much smaller, it was still an excellent skill. Aiming with a free hand without a rear sight or rear sight, as well as hitting moving targets, had always been more intuition for him. The skill would greatly improve his ability to do so. In the last big fight, he didn't really have to aim. With the masses of creatures, it didn't matter where its spell hit, because something was always hit. But not every fight would result in a slaughter festival like this. He needed precision for the future. Sometimes attacks had to be carried out like a scalpel.
Since he basically dealt with the two new skills as planned, he could now take a deep breath. The air inside the much too small, extremely compacted room was not the best, but it was still breathable!
Now that he was standing he could start the day. He'd have to expand the space first, but that brought some danger. At the moment he was stable, but that could change if he started tinkering with it.
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Well, in the end it didn't matter because he couldn't stay in this room forever, but at first it made sense to compact as much stone around him as he could.
Only after he had done this did he begin to expand the space away from the hole in the opposite direction to a very narrow corridor, which Leica offered just enough space. He let the passage open into a larger molded chamber. On the one hand, he wanted to go straight to the surface, where he missed the sun and fresh air, but on the other hand, it wouldn't have left him any peace of mind not to know what was at the bottom of the sinkhole.
Magna: "So Leica, as they said so beautifully in Stronghold: Into the hole!"
In this new room he began to take on his already proven spiral staircase down into the depths. A pillar shot from the middle of the room against the ceiling, causing it to tremble slightly and drop dust like snow from above. A little too much mana, he muttered to himself to remind himself to be more careful.
Around the column he created stone slabs in quick succession, which he used as stepping stones into the depths of the cesspool. In addition, he began to use the formation of the earth and to decorate the steps, walls as well as the column with pictures, runes, drawings and other things. In fact, magic was extremely useful for this purpose. His hands in his previous life did not have the necessary dexterity to put the many images in his mind on paper. But with the formation of the earth he was able to give his creativity a lot more freedom. The steps themselves weren't very deep, which made them easier for Leica to climb. However, this greatly extended the descent into the depths.
In contrast to his first descent into the dungeon, the sinkhole appeared to extend deeper into the ground. It took some time, like breaks, to give the walls additional stability, to extend the pillar in depth, or to bypass a smaller cavern still in existence, which meant he had to dig to the side to continue the pillar there.
At the end points of the column he marked where there was a smaller cavern underneath, should he ever return with the need to open it.
Every now and then he made small advances towards the hole. These should help him to know how deep he still had to go. That information didn't just flow out to him. Once he could see a beast far away on a ledge in the hole, but it seemed wounded or still asleep. Nevertheless, he quickly closed the hole to the pit again, because even if it didn't notice him, he didn't have to take any risks just to satisfy his curiosity.
Deeper and deeper, until it finally came just above the bottom of the depression. Whereby soil at this point would have been a strong euphemism for him, because stalagmites protruded from it on which various creatures were impaled. Thousands of lizards and people probably formed the layer of ground between these massive earth spears. Between them lay monstrous creatures, some reminding him of carnivores and others of herbivores from prehistoric times. Their similarities to one another could not be denied. Between all these deaths lay armor, weapons and probably tons of the soldiers' personal wages. It was a treasure trove! Well, a treasure trove with a pungent odor, but still a treasure trove. At the idea of all the coins, a little greed flashed in his eyes! Unfortunately, its memory had been exhausted to the last few centimeters.
He had completed the last few feet of the pillar and dug a tunnel to the fleshy ground. Some of the lizards seemed to twitch on closer inspection, but he wasn't really sure. After he absorbed the sight, knowing what was at the bottom of the sinkhole, he could finally leave this place calmly. The moment he closed the passage through a simple wall to the pit, a griffin landed at the bottom of this place!
It was time for him to get out of there. The climb didn't take nearly as long. He could jump up the stairs and stairs, because there was no danger of stepping on anything. When he reached the top of the chamber, he dug a piece of corridor that should lead up to a stairwell. After he was finally on the surface, he carefully closed this stairwell with a massive slab of rock.
From a distance he could hear the noise of battle, but it seemed to be coming from the flanks. Whatever happened there was neither his responsibility nor should it attract him. For the sake of memories, he whispered to himself "Curiosity had killed the cat" and he wasn't suicidal enough to escape one situation only to be trapped in another.
The stranger seemed to have been right, however. Something big was happening on the surface while he was playing Adventurer in the dungeon! A look at his surroundings quickly showed him that not much of the forest was left in this area and that the sinkhole also occupied a rather proud area. Presumably the hut was closer to the tree line than he expected? He hadn't explored the area excessively. The forest became so clear in this area that whatever was behind it wasn't far away and it was uncertain whether to face other people. For now, at least, he didn't feel strong enough to handle anything.
Before his eyes an enormous swath of desolation spread deeper into the forest. This made him suspect that something damn gigantic was coming from this direction and whatever it was is now in a fight with other strangers. Part of him wanted to know more, but on the other hand he needed a new hiding place first. The river seemed to flow to one side of him, indicating that he was on the other side of the river. In a short distance he could see the river flowing in the cesspool only to disappear into it.
A closer look at the surroundings revealed an extremely large number of footprints of various sizes.
A high-pitched screech appeared above him that made him flinch and dive behind a tree. A flying creature that he only knew from stories and books shot straight out of the sinkhole. A man in dusty armor sat splendidly on the animal he knew as a griffin. This man didn't seem to have noticed him. Whatever this stranger was looking for should at least not be him, but rather the stranger's footprints, because after a few glances he seemed to be turning towards the aisle and flying in the opposite direction. Every time he pulled on his reins, the animal let out an incredibly high-pitched screech that went through his marrow and bone.
Suddenly the surface didn't seem so tempting anymore! Turning away from the battlefield on which he could now make out some dropped primitive weapons, objects and other things, he turned to the direction from which he originally found this place. From there he would dig deeper into the forest again!