It’s been a while, I thought fondly as I walked through the dungeon’s first floor, running my hand on the side wall and letting my Telekinesis spread a bit, giving me vision on roughly 5 meters around me. The once troublesome mushroom monsters are nothing but fodder for me now, not even giving me the slightest bit of trouble as I squashed them against the wall.
Leaving behind a trail of dead and or squashed mushrooms, I confidently walked forward. I reached the door at the end of the corridor—I already knew where it led to: a grassy cave with vines hanging from the ceiling. Some of the vines were monsters that were simply called Brambles, and their aim was to trap you within their tangle of vines to choke you. Obviously, I had tangled with them before, and the outcome wasn’t very pretty.
There were lots of green goop dripping from the ceiling by that point. It was annoying and got on my clothes.
There were also a plethora of other monsters in there—there were some goblins here, too. They came from the other corridor, where there were goblins and trolls a plenty, armed with makeshift weapons. I avoided the place because I hated the smell, and since both basically lead to the same place, I saw no point to going to the goblin path.
Other than brambles and goblins, there were also some boars. They were feisty creatures, annoying if you were too weak and unwilling to get hit, which, thankfully, my Telekinesis and current attributes rendered null. These new monsters were here along with the mushroom men and made up the first floor of the dungeon.
I cracked my neck as I paused in front of the door. My reminiscing ended when I clenched my hand into a fist. It had really been quite a while. The first time I came here, I had almost died because of weakness. I had thought that I would be invincible because of my Telekinesis—that I could just keep peppering them with Telekinetic ranged attacks and I would win.
That was naïve, now that I thought about it. What would happen if someone got too close to me? What would happen if the enemy could tank all of my hits and just made me exhaust my mana? I would either be dead or dying is the answer, and seeing my parents’ power firsthand made me more driven to get stronger in melee and ranged aspects.
So I had decided to get the weapon masteries. They were mostly to bolster my attributes, since the boost they gave was really good, but the mastery over the weapons they belonged to were also good. Not to mention that I feel really giddy whenever I hold weapons, as if I was some anime character and training for some epic throw down.
Of course, I wasn’t really expecting a throw down. I liked the stats, and I thought that I looked cool with weapons. This may just be some innate things that I am carrying over from my past life, but hey, it couldn’t hurt.
I took a deep breath. Status, Skills, I thought. A blue box appeared in front of me, showing me the changes I’ve experienced during the years in dungeon diving and training.
Name Kane Worth Title Born Killer STR 143 (-4) Race Human Condition Child, Mute END 125 (-4) Age 12 years, 7 months Jobs LV. 28 Psion DEX 163 (-4) HP 1310 / 1310 LV. 33 Mana Manipulator INT 382 Mana 3820 / 3820 --- WIS 326
Telekinesis [PIERCE] P 516 - C 532 LV. 3 Axes Mastery LV. 13 Physical Resistance LV. 14 Pole Arm Mastery LV. 2 Mental Resistance LV. 2 Blunt Weapon Mastery LV. 10 Intuition LV. 8 Swords Mastery [SPEED] LV. 18 Unarmed Combat Mastery LV. 21 Mana Mastery
The new job was apparently my father’s secondary job. Mana Manipulator had a great amount of synergy with Psion—mainly for the fact that one can sense mana, and the other can manipulate it. Basically, with both jobs, my father could manipulate physical matter and magical matter. It was the job that made it easier for him to cast those giant lasers—it was a combination of his Psionic and magical potential, and the best part was that it was that they were silent casts. My dad taught me the job, after which I immediately went to the dungeon to grind it, since, unlike Psion, it actually leveled up with points.
Psion was a weird job—but it was definitely useful (the fact that it was more of a racial job and that I can’t get rid of it with a scribe is also something to note). It didn’t level up with experience points—it leveled up with merits. The job leveled up with how good you were at using your Psionic ability. I had asked my mom at one point at who judged what was impressive, but she just smiled and answered me with, “The gods,” and left it at that.
Well, I wanted to ask more questions on how exactly the gods judged the abilities, but it would have been tedious and far more annoying than usual, so I just left it alone and went on with it.
My growth was apparently splendid, according to my parents and older sibling figure. At my ripe age of 12, I was already at least mid C-rank in attributes alone. When my skills and intelligence were considered, my grading could be bumped up to a high C-rank.
There were 8 ranks within the Adventurer’s Guild—G-rank, which were most newbies who had no experience in any kind of fighting, F-rank, which were most newbies who had at least some semblance of experience and finally got out of level 5, E-rank, which usually had an overall level average of 15, D-rank with an overall level average of 30, and C-rank, which averaged around level 40.
Sentient creatures can only have three jobs—that’s 300 or so levels. At B-rank, the average spikes up to level 100, an absurdly large amount of levels, but understandable. B-rank hopefuls had to prove themselves worthy of being a B-rank by facing off against something that had every odd stacked against them—and it had to be approved by a group of B-ranks or a single A-rank adventurer.
Speaking of A-rank adventurers, they averaged at around level 175. They were usually of an Ascended status—a status given to a sentient being that has achieved level 100 on one job, granting them a better body and longer lifespan. My grandfather is an Ascendant, which is why he’s still so lively until today, I guess. They were terrifying individuals, able to raze cities to the ground—given that they had little to no defense. And even if they did have a defense, it would be unlikely to hold up under the barrage of attacks from an A-rank.
Then there were the S-ranks. Army killers, dragon slayers, or world breakers (world breakers were just a rumor, but one that had a few experiences backing it). A set of walking natural calamities on their own right. There are only seven registered S-ranks, two of which are apparently my parents. Getting an average level for them would be pointless since the S-ranks don’t really have an average level—they were proven S-rank simply because of their merits. Merits through power, intelligence, or even charisma were all acceptable within S-rank. My parents were S-rank through their combat prowess, marking them some of the strongest registered adventurers on the continent.
I’m still far away from their levels, and considering the difficulty of raising levels for Psion, I’d probably have a hard time trying to level up. It doesn’t dissuade me a lot, though—I won’t lie, I like fighting. The thrill of it makes my blood pump and—
Oh, no, wait. That’s the title talking.
I frowned as I realized that I was no longer at the doorway. I was holding up a boar with a single hand, making it squeal as I crushed its head like a grape, its’ head exploding in my hand. I let go of it, disgusted, as I shook my hand. The title offered me a good bonus of 50% more damage whenever I attacked with the intent to kill, but it also affected my mindset to fighting. It was a double edged sword, but Genius, a new title I had gained that boosted magic and mental damage by 20%, and Foolish Warrior, which upped my physical damage output in exchange for INT and WIS (temporarily, thankfully) had lost their use.
I looked behind me, seeing a trail of destruction. Brambles had been torn out of the ceiling, chunks of rock also laying around. The bodies were already dissipating into mana, but I could also see a collection of boars, goblins, and mushroom men torn in several pieces by something that looked eerily sharp.
I cringed as I reigned in my thoughts. Losing myself in my mind like that sometimes brought out the nature of this title. What happened was that I just slipped in my “killer instinct” which I’m pretty sure I didn’t have. It was an unfortunate side effect of the title, but the bonuses it granted were quite nice.
50% more damage wasn’t anything to scoff at, so I’ll just have to remember to unequip it later.
I turned away from the carnage behind me. Thankfully, no monsters had respawned yet, which meant that the dungeon wasn’t offended. During my time dungeon diving, I had figured out that the dungeon was alive… well, mostly. It had a consciousness, but it wasn’t talking at all. I figured that I would give it some stuff so that it wouldn’t kill me as soon as I went inside, so whenever I could get a book or something, I offered it to the dungeon. Mostly because it’s a little creepy to keep walking by myself with nothing to hear but the wind and monsters, but hey, can’t blame me for trying to befriend a dungeon, right?
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Well, there’s no harm in trying, and the dungeon has long since stopped peppering me with hordes of monsters. It’s actually getting a little smarter now, sending small waves of monsters to weaken me first before shoving a huge wave to kick me while I rest. That only works at some of the lower floors, though. Like the 10th floor, to which I was going to right now.
As I systematically mowed down another horde of monsters, I find myself passing through the first 4 floors rather quickly. However, I found something odd: a new corridor had appeared. I curiously walk to it, touching the sides of it. At the 5th floor, the rocks were rougher and the monsters were tougher. There were few mushroom men here, and even fewer of the 1st floor monsters, but looking inside the corridor, it looked like there was nothing there, which was odd.
It might be a trap, like my first encounter. It could also be a corridor to a special monster room, which I’ve encountered a few times before. Either way, I have to be careful, since I’d rather not die inside a dungeon and it was around midday when I last saw the sky.
Forgoing the idea of descending to the 10th floor, I decide to explore the new area. My dad was somewhere deeper, and my mother was probably still trailing me so I won’t be in too much danger. It was a win-win situation, only that the win is determined by the prize that’s on the end of the corridor.
I almost jumped when mom dropped her invisibility spell beside me. “Kane,” she says softly as she touches my shoulder. “What are you planning?”
Woman, don’t fucking do that! Instead of trying to convey that thought, though, I instead pointed at the new corridor. She just nodded as she squinted at the dark hall, but not trying to move in.
“You know what these new corridors can have, right?” Of course I did. She was, after all, the one that sunk the dangers of a dungeon in my head. “New extensions to dungeons can be much more dangerous than some of its deeper floors.”
I did remember that tidbit, but I could already venture down to the dungeon’s 12th floor, so I’m a little confident in my current prowess. Seeing my resolute face, my mother just shook her head and sighed before smiling.
“Alright,” she relents. “However, I’ll come with you. Just to be safe. We don’t know what’s in there and I don’t want to lose you,” it looked like she had wanted to say more, but she bit her lip and decided against it. Instead of asking about it, I decided to leave it alone and press forward.
I loved my mom—really, I do—but I don’t really want to get mixed up with some drama while I was inside a dungeon. That’s one of the fastest ways to get killed and easily the most painful way to die—pain emotionally while you’re receiving pain physically. Horrible, horrible.
As we ventured down the dark corridor, I couldn’t help but trace my hand on its walls. They were smoother than the rest of the walls on the 5th floor, which was odd. I looked around with my TK Vision and tried to look for any holes, but there weren’t any. Only rocks and pebbles, some low hanging vines that weren’t Brambles, and a couple of mice that the dungeon spawned for gods know what.
It was odd, but at least we haven’t gotten destroyed by a bunch of Minotaurs yet. Those monsters were present on the 10th floor and dealt massive damage, but unlike the first five floors, the 6th to 10th floors were huge open space areas ranging from jungles to lava (that, for some reason, wasn’t awfully hot) lakes that had some islands of stone of varying sizes.
As we walked even further, the dark dungeon suddenly started gaining light. Glancing up, I noticed why— pure magic crystals were embedded in the ceiling of the corridor, giving off a faint, blue light. I tried to pry one off with my Telekinesis, but it wouldn’t budge. Mom was looking up in awe as she slowed down. “Wow…” she murmured.
Our walking speed was effectively halved as we observed the new additions. Some crystals formed spiral patterns while others looked as if they were just placed haphazardly. Soon, the crystals were no longer just stuck at the ceiling—they were at the walls, embedded in the ground. The corridor was bathed in blue light, mana was flowing in the air, somewhat disrupting my TK Vision, but not to an absurd extent, and just plain out making the place look great.
“This is beautiful,” Selene breathed in. I couldn’t help but agree with her. The blue lights were fading away as we walked further, but as I started to wonder why, I started to hear running water.
My gaze snapped forward. The corridor was starting to widen, meaning that there was a clearing somewhere in front, and apparently, that clearing had water, though if it was poisonous water or not was a different thing entirely.
Mom surprised me by jogging past me, her eyes wide. I followed suit, running past pebbles and magic crystals. The sound of running water was more evident now, meaning that we were getting closer to the source. I could smell the water now as well—it didn’t smell poisonous, so it should be fine.
What does poison smell like, anyway?
Deciding to not think about it, I push forward, following my mother. As the corridor’s ceiling finally disappeared, being replaced by a higher stone ceiling embedded with magic crystals and some vines. The walls were so far apart, but due to the magic crystals that were embedded and providing lighting, I could see them with my eyes. There were statues of cloaked people looking down and holding weapons of different kinds—I saw a staff, a sword, some hammers and other medieval weapons. There was water coming out of the middle of the room, spewing upwards and giving us a view of a dungeon-formed stone fountain.
There were weapons all around us—lying on the ground, buried hilt deep on the ground, stuck on the wall, laid against a boulder or just plain out stacked with other weapons. I noticed a trend, however: all of them were melee weapons. I didn’t see a single type of ranged weapon with the ones scattered around. I walk with caution as to not step on something sharp, but still look on with awe.
I picked up a glaive. The blade was curved on the end of the handle—a typical glaive, but a sturdy one. I gave a few practice swings, the weapon feeling natural with my Pole Arm skill. It was well crafted and balanced, very much unlike the weapons that the goblins or trolls dropped. I decided to keep it since it was better than my current one, which I had left at my home.
“This is odd,” Mom muttered. She examined a few of the weapons as I looked around. “What’s so special about this—“
Rumble.
Ah. There it is. I was waiting for that to happen. There’s always a catch with these kinds of things.
The boulders that were all around us started forming into shapes. My eyes narrowed as I realized what exactly they were trying to become—golems. These golems were that were held together by magic. Incredibly resistant to physical attacks, which would normally make my Telekinesis nigh useless, but something my second job can thankfully handle.
Mom tensed beside me, before she held out her hands.
And then everything around us suddenly sunk a meter deeper, leaving the stone we’re standing on to be the ones left untouched.
The golems couldn’t even form as they were immediately crushed by my mother’s aura, the boulders that were coming together suddenly crashing down into the ground and being pressed into fine powder. The magic threads that were holding them together dissipated and went back into the dungeon, much to my disappointment, which I conveyed to my mom.
After releasing her psychic hold, she noticed the look I gave her, making her chuckle, a little embarrassed and smile. “Sorry, I thought they would be tougher than that.”
I sighed. Mom just took some of the precious experience that I would have gotten for my job. No matter how serious she looked whenever we explored a dungeon together, I can’t forget that she’s an airhead. She forgets things, sometimes, and it sometimes worries me that she’ll forget important things someday. That’s how forgetful she was.
I was actually getting a little pumped up, too.
As soon as the last of the golems had faded, a white light shined at the opposite end of the room(if one started from the corridor, that is).
The white light faded and started to shine more on specific places—four corners. A vertical rectangle, I realized—a door, I realized after actually thinking it through, silently chastising myself for not thinking of it any sooner.
A door to what, though? A boss room? I was a little intimidated by its appearance—it was at least 20 feet in height, half the wall’s total height and roughly 10 feet in width. It was big, and if it was a boss room, then I could consider the monsters of the room before it to be its lesser versions, so the boss might be a larger and tougher stone golem, or it might be a larger and tougher iron golem.
My hold on my newly acquired glaive went tight as I watched a bright white line run down the middle of the vertical rectangle. The cave rumbles as the halves formed by the new line moved away from each other, smoke conjured by mana covering anything behind. I hold the glaive with both hands and point it towards the opening door, cautious of any hostile creature that might appear.
The smoke faded, showing… nothing. It was just more magic crystals and a tunnel that went up.
I went in first, cautiously exploring the new area. There were a more rocks, more weapons, and more statues, but it was an obviously smaller room. My mom carefully walked forward, not letting anything hit her and not letting herself touch them. She glanced at the tunnel, and then at me. I pursed my lips then nodded. We’ll push through.
I walked up the tunnel, my grip on the new glaive tighter than before. I’m only confident that I can survive because mom was here, what if something could one shot me in this tunnel?
Instead of my fears however, I find that there’s light. And not just any kind of light, but moon light.
My eyes widened, and my slow pace became quick. “Wait!” Mom yelled from behind me. “Stop, we don’t know what’s in there!” She grabbed me with her Telekinesis, but I already saw it.
It was another exit, and I saw the moon.
I gestured wildly when she let me go. I pointed at the ceiling then formed a rough figure with my fingers. My mom’s face scrunched up as she tried to understand what I meant.
“You… saw a ball?” I shook my head and stopped trying to do charades when the things I saw was literally just a few meters away. I dragged her with me, and this time, she didn’t fight it.
I didn’t expect what happened next.
Because as soon as I stepped out of the exit and showed my mom the moon, she had frozen. She wasn’t looking at the moon, but instead, right below us.
I was beginning to wonder why the mana pressure was just the same, as well.
Because right below us was a large group of adventurers bearing the mark of the new Viyan Empire.
I turned towards mom, ready to gesture confusedly, but she just grabbed my hands.
“No. Run. Tell our family. We have to move.”
Why?
“Because they’re here. Tell Keith that they’re here and—“
“And what, fair lady?”
A big man arrived at the scene, and he didn’t look too pleased to see us both.
“Hello there,” He smiled with pearly white teeth, his hands on a battle axe strapped to his back. Even without sensing his mana, I can tell that he was at least A-ranked in power
“And I’m sorry, but,” he hefted his battle axe, and I felt mom tense beside me as she urged me to run.
“I’m going to have to kill you.”