The room echoed with the powerful crackling snap of the dagger launching followed by the gunshot-like sound of it hitting the Dummy. The momentum behind the simple dagger was enough to strip both the finger guard and handle of the blade as the flat metal continued through the wood and was stopped by the barrier before the wall behind it.
Sam and Janik stood there, mouths agape for a few seconds before Sam remembered to deactivate the boost. “I’m gonna need stronger weapons...” Sam eventually let out to break the silence.
Elara didn’t seem to react much but Dia was surprised and confused, Janik’s expression transitioned into excitement.
“I don’t care if that ‘just’ does five damage, that looks like it’d murder you...”
Sam didn’t respond but had the same thought. He wondered how the System would handle this. Normally it worked a little on game logic, even if you stabbed someone in the eye, unless you had some eye, blind, bleed or related status effects, all that would happen was normal damage, perhaps a critical hit. At the same time, if you had a bleed effect it could trigger if you stabbed someone in the toe so... it didn’t always work on logic.
This dagger passed through solid wood with enough force that it ripped the blade out from the handle and crossguard, before passing through the rest of it. He had no idea how that would work on anything fleshy, what about the Rock Golems? Would it destroy even more expensive weapons or was it just that the cheapo ones were the bottom-barrel weapons?
There were so many questions.
“Well... That can be easily tested.” Sam replied. “Just go in a dungeon and launch a dagger at something, see what happens.” He was fine sacrificing a $125 knife for this test. He had loads of them and didn’t use them all either, so it was worth it to possibly destroy one for testing reasons.
“That’s possible.” Janik agreed but his surprised expression seemed to be more locked in wonder and uncertainty.
“Sam... powerful?” Dia asked, having walked up to them rather than talking loudly from afar.
“Yes, Sam is indeed powerful!” Janik confirmed with a wide smile.
This caused Dia to smile widely and puff her chest with pride, liking that Sam was well-considered.
Sam had to look into her culture and mindset at some point... He kept thinking that but needed to learn more about her in general.
“Well...” Taking the focus, Sam changed the subject slightly. “I think I have tested what I wanted to test for now. I am enjoying the idea of the Synergy Skills, and I have six million to spend.”
Part of him wanted to return to his room and just relax with Dia and Janik, spending a few days doing nothing. But the more active part of him wanted to continue right away, to get closer to finding out how to... stop this shit. He felt like he might be pulled into a Solo Dungeon at any random time... something he didn’t want. He had gained good things every time this happened but the stress, effort, danger and just generally negative experiences weren’t something he wanted to continue with.
“Yeah... What a problem you’re suffering.” Janik commented with a salty and envious undertone. He didn’t even try to hide that he would love that money, probably without going through the same shit that Sam did.
“Well, it might be a first-world Player problem, but it’s still a problem.” Sam smiled back. Comparing your situation to others would always have someone who’s in a worse situation, but that didn’t change the fact that this ‘was an issue’, no matter how small or positive it was.
“True, but since I’m not the one with six million in my account, I want to complain about it.” Janik smiled as he sheathed his swords before walking up to the targeting dummy.
“I... guess that’s somewhat fair. But perhaps you can take my spot in the next Solo Dungeon, I’m sure months in there would work out for you.” Sporting some almost wishful thinking, Sam joined him with the dummy.
Janik was trying to pull the daggers out, but there was no way he was able to do that, they were dug far too deep into the wood.
Sam placed a hand on them and added them to the Item Box, they disappeared from the dummy and Sam confirmed that it was in his inventory. “Oh, that worked, that makes it way easier.” He smiled widely as he reached out a Psyhand to pick up the last dagger, though broken it still had a working blade, and he didn’t need a handle or handguard so it was still fine to keep for now.
It was probably a better idea to reuse that one for later testing.
“I say we get something to eat, and you can see if you find something cool on the market in the app.” Janik halfway ordered his suggestion as he walked towards the door, ignoring that Sam was cheating with his Item Box.
The others agreed and they left the room, leaving the broken dummy there for the people to fix, it was a part of the room-rental project anyway, so they’d do a once-over after they were done and handle it from there.
Doing it simple this round, they went to the mess hall and just got some simple food there, it was still good food even though it was mass-produced for simplicity’s sake. And as they ate Sam browsed the TAC marketplace for anything special or interesting.
He considered an S-rank stealth ring, increasing his stealth by 50%, but as all of this was calculated off his base, it didn’t mean +50% compared to today’s boosted skill. It was an easy error to make, but +100% didn’t mean guaranteed or perfect stealth, it just meant double as good as before. So though it helped it wasn’t a surefire way.
Having his Invisibility, and the Chameleon effect on his armour, he was good for Stealth in a way. Sure, the ring might help him when he moves around, but it wasn’t at the top of his focus just now.
Going back to the weird items, Sam took a proper look this time. Most weapons still had weird bonuses which lowered their cost considerably, like the weapons that healed on hit, effectively lowering its damage. But one weapon caught his eye.
The Void Fang, an evil-looking chacram, with spikes and an unnatural glow to it. It was at a significant discount as it would harm the hand that wields it with not only its spikes, but its glow seemed to prick the hand when grasped. However, it was a high-S-rank item with five perks, only one of which had a chance to activate, the other four were permanently active.
Due to the boons it had, it still cost three million, but it was the only instance Sam had found of a dagger-class item which could do AOE damage, even though somewhat restricted.
He also got himself a Spirit boosting ring, which only gave him +4 but in his case this was considerable, it did cost 750 thousand, but was worth it.
Finding a Skill for Dia, allowing her to do bleed damage when she landed hits would be a good boon to her. And in the end, he swapped out 10 of his cheap daggers for 20-dmg ones, costing him a flat million.
In the end, he had blown $5 225 000 out of his budget, which left him with some money left, but he felt good about the purchases he had made.
Having put in the order, he put down his phone and looked up to Janik with a smile.
“Well, I just blew $5.2 million.” He was both used to, and surprised by, the ease of using a lot of money on ‘only a few things’ as a Player, but he wanted to see Janik’s reaction.
Janik’s eye twitched as he stopped eating for a good solid few seconds, not looking at Sam but rather staring at his food with a thousand-yard stare.
“A spirit-boosting ring, a skill for Dia, 10 new daggers to swap out the shit ones, and an S-rank Chacram” Sam summed up his purchases.
Using a few more seconds to calm himself, Janik eventually lifted his gaze at the smiling Sam.
“It... sounds like a good list of things. That sum just... hits my soul a bit, you know?” His smile was slowly creeping back, but Sam could tell that Janik was almost reacting negatively on Sam’s behalf.
Discussing the details of the purchase, Sam explained more about the specifics and details of what he got, and what he wanted to get still, things like chains, wires and whatnot, Janik’s expression eventually returned to his old self.
Sam felt a bit guilty, he knew that Janik wasn’t exactly struggling with money, at least not as long as they did things together. But he had a harsher responsibility when it came to spending it. Sam could blow it all on whatever, he had housing or could just camp in Aetheria, he had no specific ties in that sense. Janik did.
Heading back to TAC after they were done eating, Sam decided to take care of the bill to make it a bit easier on Janik. It didn’t change much but he did appreciate the free meal nonetheless. As they got back they headed straight for the market delivery station and got the new stuff.
The ring just looked like a ring, and the skill crystal for Dia looked like any other crystal, she shattered it like she had done before once Sam gave it to her and told her to activate it. Sam added the 10 new daggers to his Item Box.
The Void Fang was a sinister, disc-shaped chakram. Its outer edge was covered in curved spikes, and it was made of a void-black metal that seemed to absorb light. Engraved with runes across its surface, the chakram exuded an aura of malevolence. Inside the ring was a secondary inner ring, which looked similar to the outer. The whole weapon had a faint purple and pink glow which trailed after the outer curved spikes, and seemingly created spikes inside the inner circle made of faint light.
[ Spirit boosting Ring - C - This ring raises the wearer's Spirit by 4 points. ]
[ Rending Claws - C - Deliver a claw attack on a target, inflicting bleed. The bleed damage is dependent on the normal damage done (minimum 1). ]
[ Void Fang - High S-Rank
Damage: 130
- On hit, inflicts a stacking Void Rot, dealing 5 damage every few seconds. This lasts up to the wielder’s Main Stat worth of seconds unless resisted. It stacks up to 5 times.
- 30% chance to pierce shields and barriers.
- Absorbs 5 health per hit and heals the user.
- Projects a Phantom Blade when used. The Phantom Blade increases the width of the Void Fang, allowing the user to hit multiple targets if within range.
- Disables healing effects on hit targets for 10 seconds.
- The energy within Void Fang is unstable and will hurt the user if proper care is not taken. ]
“This might be a weird question...” Sam hesitantly asked as he faced Janik. “We’re just on the second Floor now and... I know the amount of money I am getting isn’t realistic but... Given how ‘cheap’ this thing is.” Sam was holding the Void Fang with a Psyhand, not caring to hide his powers nor the new item as the desk was in its own room anyway, he made air quotes when mentioning the word cheap.
“Does that mean that all higher-level Players are swinging around S-rank weapons and items?”
Janik nodded, his gaze fixed on the almost evil-looking weapon Sam had added to his roster.
“Most of them do, yes. It’s not always easy to get an item with a good set of stats, though S-tier weapons can have five perks, they are not always as well aligned as this one. I have heard of swords with damage bonus to blunt damage, it can work for a pommel strike but it’s not as effective as many other things. It’s worse when it has something random like a club or hammer with a bonus to cutting damage... But in short, kind of.” He smiled and nodded sagely at the end of his explanation.
“I suppose that makes sense,” Sam replied. It would somewhat put a cap on the damage output on most people, as you could only wield so many weapons and wear so much gear. Having enough money could let you roll through the starting levels and get to the higher floors faster, but at some point, your ‘danger’ rating would stop increasing from items and you would have to become smart with skills, get more skills or just continue levelling so you can increase your damage that way.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
In any case, he felt like he was improving, and given how the Psyhands alone would scale as time went on, he would probably not have the same kind of limit as most people... Although his kit would become more and more expensive, hitting frankly idiotic levels as time went on...
“I think it’s a bit late to go out now, or we’ll have to camp out in Aetheria or find some super expensive place to sleep,” Janik commented as he stretched a bit. “It sounds like you’re ready to go, rather than relaxing, but I think we can postpone until tomorrow. I need to tell the kids and prepare them anyway.”
Sam nodded, he had a good point. Though he didn’t mind spending time there, the added danger wasn’t necessary. And since they would most likely skip a few dungeons and grind others... it was probably best to be as well-rested as possible.
They separated for the night after talking a bit more. Sam put his new stuff into the Item Box and Elara requested to go with Janik to spend time with Grace.
“Don’t go fucking off again.” Janik smiled as he gave Dia and Sam a casual wave, leaving them.
Sam couldn’t say anything and chuckled as a response instead. The group split up for the night and headed to their respective homes, or as close as one could consider a hotel room home. Dia was again adamant about grooming and cleaning Sam, licking his face and hair. It wasn’t that he was against it, it was just that it still felt weird. But since she could speak now she could explain that this was important to her, it seemed to be a cultural and instinctive way of caring for her mate as well as the practical aspect of it. A shower would probably be better for cleanliness, but in being the one who ‘cleaned him’ she would also give him some of her scent. Not something he could smell at all but to her and her people this was incredibly important.
As they continued to talk and explain things, Sam decided to try and return the grooming favour with a brush, it seemed to be well received. She explained more things about her culture, and what different things meant to them, something as casual as petting or brushing had surprisingly different meanings in context like when and where it was done. It put the head patting into context as well. Sam thought it was a random touch or reward, but it meant more than it seemed, it was tied to her ears, and touching them was not allowed by just anyone.
The rest of the evening disappeared fast enough and the morning came with the same suddenness as always.
Waking up and checking his phone, Sam found a text from Janik requesting a poke back when they were ready. Setting a time to meet up they went through the normal morning process and ended up eating breakfast with Janik in the TAC mess hall.
“Glad you didn’t disappear this time.” Janik joked as he sat down with his food, Dia and Sam had already found a place.
Elara slithered off his arm, onto the table and back to Sam like normal as Janik spoke.
Sam let her climb on board and coil herself around his neck and shoulders as he replied.
“Sam here. It’s not exactly a vacation when I go away. It might sound good to be on a ‘deserted paradise island’ until you consider it’s covered in mostly PvP fucks.” He smiled back, meaning it as a joke even though it was factually true.
“Yeah, that makes sense. But at least something good came out of it, right?” Janik nodded towards Dia, who had placed the cutlery aside and was eating her food like an animal straight off the plate, she didn’t notice the attention.
Sam smiled with a nod, he did indeed get something good from the Island. He still wasn’t too fond of the island itself. “That’s true, but I’m fine not going back...” Sam replied, silently wondering what happened with everyone else who was there.
According to the reward, everyone should have been allowed to leave, he didn’t know how many took that exit but that wasn’t his problem.
“So, where are we going today?” Sam smiled as he changed the subject. He had intended to sleep for a week but two days and some training felt surprisingly enough.
The proof of good rest vs a lot of rest.
“I checked the guide material regarding the Second Floor. It follows the same rough structure as the first one. Our levels are in the low 20’s. The second floor is roughly in the 20-40 level range, so even if we rush to the end and somewhat beat it, going to the third Floor where things start at level 40 is not a good idea... But I think we can skip a few Dungeons and go for a higher level one, I mean... you just rushed the first one so many times I lost count, we might as well take the jump” Janik placed his phone down and pointed around at various prepared info pages, as well as bringing up a map that just looked like an aerial view over mountains.
Which it was.
“I’m fine trying a higher dungeon, we’ll do it carefully the first few times, rush it a few depending on how it feels, and go from there.” Sam nodded in return.
Though he looked like he was taking this calmly, and he sort of was, internally he wanted to just go to something much higher. He felt arrogant and confident, but he didn’t want to overdo it and die. But having done the math with the new weapon addition and the new things he could do... he couldn’t help but feel a bit up there.
“Sounds good. We can start with the Mountain Fortress. The Dungeon’s main problem is fall damage as Golems will push or throw you off, and harpies have wind attacks that might knock you down. Though their wind attack has a range, which is shorter than yours, I think it’s worth giving it a test.” Janik smiled. “Besides, if it looks bad we can always just leave it, as it doesn’t lock us in.”
Sam didn’t see a problem with this, it would again put heavy reliance on him doing most of the things but... that was kind of how this was working.
“There is a bridge on the way to the fortress that tends to get most people,” Janin warned as he scrolled down to find a picture to display a stone bridge without railings or anything to hide behind, a smooth and flat bridge over a chasm. “The Golems throw rocks at us as well, but I think we should be fine if we get over there fast enough.”
This sounded almost out of character for Janik, it had too many easy deaths, but there had to be something extra Sam didn’t know, he had come to trust Janik’s paranoia when it came to planning out things.
“What about the boss?” Sam asked, having Janik scroll a bit more before answering.
“That is the main issue, the Forge Keeper,” Janik landed on a picture of a large metal Golem, looking to be made of almost molten metal kept in check by stone. “Though in general, it’s a normal golem, the extra fire damage makes it problematic for melee fighters. Mages tend to take it out fast enough as long as it doesn’t get hits in on them. It’s slow but very strong, decent defence and a high health pool.”
Sam saw a few numbers as Janik scrolled past. A defence of 100, high health, fire immunity and general elemental resistance. That latter one was going to be a slight problem but at the same time... His damage was considerable at this point.
“I think we’ll be fine. It has elemental resistance but not immunity, and though it has fucking 100 Defence, didn’t you have a gazillion damage?” Janik continued ending with a joke-toned question.
“Not exactly, but ignoring elemental damage altogether, if everything hits I have 820 damage,” Sam answered the question. This meant that once 100 was absorbed there were still 720 left. From how he understood Elemental resistance was that it would resist a percent of it, meaning that there should still be some making it through.
“I think we’re fine, then.” Janik smiled as he got up, taking his trey to a return station as he was leaving. “Let’s go and see how you’re doing.”
As Dia and Sam joined him in leaving, heading for a hardware store before going to the Tower, Sam appraised them all, wanting to get a rough idea of where everyone was before they continued their progression. After all, he might intend for a more rapid progression than Janik wanted, so he should know where they are and keep track of things so he doesn’t leave them behind or jump in too deep.
[ Sam Carter - Telekineticist
Level: 22
STR: 5
DEX: 5
VIT: 5
SPT: 44 (+4)
HP: 240
Defence: 55
Damage: 820 + 164 Electric (Thunderous Blow) + 10 Fire (Ember War-axe) + Static Shock.
Abilities: Energy, Improved Psyhands, Force Pulse, Improved Weight limit, Silent Killer, Telekinetic Boost, Spiritual Health, Clustered Strike, Static Charge III (C), Thunderous Blow (D), Appraisal (A), Vital Recovery (B), Invisibility (A), Item Box (B), Active Defence, Cluster Pulse, Penetrating Launch.
Gear: 2x Ring of Minor Stealth (E), Ring of Spirit Boost (C), Chalice Signet (D), Luminous Band (C), Ironclad Bracers (C), Flash Step Shoes, Wraith's Shroud (low-C).
Weapons: Void Fang (high-S), Ember War-axe (low-D), Obsidian Warblade (high-D), Moonblade (low-D), Shadow Fang (high-C), Vampiric Dagger (low-D), Bleeding Edge (high-D), High-E-Rank daggers, Low-D-rank daggers. ]
[ Dia - Beastfolk (B), Martial Artist
Level: 17 (capped to Player Sam Carter’s level -5.)
STR: 4
DEX: 18
VIT: 19
SPT: 0
HP: 210/210
Damage: Punch 73, Kick 87, Bite 110, Claw 87.
Defence: 60 (+20% Evasion)
Abilities: Improved Perception, Improved Stealth, Natural weapons (Bite, Claw, Kick, Punch), HP boost, Dex Damage boost, Martial Arts, Spin Kick, Hardened Knuckles, Iron Fists (C), Rending Claws (C).
Gear: Windwalker's Feather Signet (C), Phantom Vest (Mid-end C-rank). ]
[ Elara - Companion (Snake).
Level: 20
STR: 0
DEX: 6
VIT: 20
SPT: 0
HP: 60/60
Damage: 1 + Venom
Defence: -
Abilities: Venom 1, Venom 2, Stalker's Strike. ]
[ Janik Znai - Duelist
Level: 21
STR: 10
DEX: 17
VIT: 16
SPT: 0
HP: 200/200
Damage: 220/220 /22
Defence: 96
Abilities: Fluidity, Vital Strike, Active Defence, Appraisal (E), Cumulative Strike, Duelists' Defence.
Gear: Fleetfoot Boots (C), Titanstone Chestplate (high-end C-rank).
Weapons: 2x High-C-rank swords, E-rank throwing daggers. ]