I still feel irritated at Laevarian all these years later for his little prank. Most would-be adventurers are sent to the Association branch's Trial Dungeon, which is usually only of minimal challenge to anyone with decent training. The Challenge Dungeon, however, is beast of another type entirely.

However, I cannot deny that my experiences in the Challenge Dungeon saved my life in those early days, when I didn't truly understand the world I found myself in. A part of me was still reacting as if I were living in a world where there were no big differences in physical capabilities between individuals, and as a result, I made mistakes that I wouldn't have otherwise.

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Lyam almost screamed when he found himself facing a six-foot-tall creature that looked like what might happen if a somewhat misshapen and excessively muscular human were to gain and exoskeleton and a mosquito-like proboscis. There were some pictures that were just too horrifying to the human mind for even his odd psyche to easily process them.

Instinctively, he smashed the creature away with psychokinesis, followed by a gravity bullet and a blast of bloodfire. The creature smashed into a nearby wall made of rough stone, and the bullet punched through its right arm before the wave of bloodfire roasted its chitin, causing it to crack in a dozen places, partially cauterizing the open wound.

To his horror, this wasn’t enough to deal with the creature, for the cracks visibly repaired themselves within moments, the flesh in the creature’s arm filling in with frightening speed.

Lyam’s ‘normal’ thought processes, the persona he put on for Laevarian and Mirrha, suddenly fell away completely, and ice filled his soul, his intellect transforming from the messy amalgam that comprised most mortal minds into a cold logic machine. He calculated the rate of the creature’s regeneration, as well as the rapid approach of two more, each wielding pickaxes and obviously enraged by their companion’s plight.

It would take a mere forty-five seconds for the fist-sized hole in its muscular arm, encased in black chitin, to repair itself completely. He used True Sight on it, noting that the auras of the other two were precisely identical.

Drone Ragar

Level 22

Race: Ragar (A former Tier 1 species now only present in dungeons, the Ragar are known for their ravenous hunger and affinity for Corruption Magic. Ragar are highly communal, with an intellect roughly equivalent to a human child, save for rare mutations such as Shamans or Kings)

HP: 5400/5400

MP: 120/120

Str: 21

Agi:15

Dex: 10

Con: 34

End: 30

Int: 7

Will: 6

Cha: 4

Lck: 5

Description: Drone Ragar are the lowest caste of Ragar society, possessing only an average physical capacity and the traditionally-high Ragar regeneration.

Abilities: Ragar Regeneration (Up to three pounds of biological material can be replaced within a minute as long as the heart, brain, and liver are all functional), Communal Mind (Ragar instinctively work well with other Ragar, able to sense how others of their kind will move and attack in tandem).

Lyam analyzed the creature’s stats emotionlessly even as he blasted the other two into the opposite wall. Realizing the solution to the regeneration from the creature’s stat sheet, he called on his Gravity Arrow and unleashed it, punching it through the head of the first one, splattering the wall behind it with green blood, white bone, and shattered black chitin.

He repeated the process with the other two, reasoning that their hearts and livers might be in different spots than on a human or elf. He searched the area for signs of more enemies, but was satisfied when neither his eyes nor his other senses detected any signs of an enemy’s approach.

He approached the corpse of the first Ragar and knelt beside it, pulling out his knife. Without any sign of hesitation, he stabbed it through the chitin on the creature’s upper chest near where the right collarbone would be on a human, and he began the laborious process of cutting through chitin and skin. The knife dulled quickly, and he drew the short sword he received at the beginning from his inventory, using its magically-enhanced edge to carve through the hardened flesh.

Once he had the skin and chitin cut in a Y-pattern, he reached in and pulled the creature’s skin and chitin back to reveal its innards. Most people would have been instantly disgusted by what he had done, but in his cold state, Lyam felt no emotion beyond curiosity and a drive to do what was necessary to fulfill his goals… in this case knowledge necessary for survival.

He searched the organs, finding that the creature had a slightly larger-than-human heart in the center of its chest and that its ribs extended far lower than those of a human, even encasing the creature’s stomach and part of its intestines, leaving relatively little of its vitals unprotected by the cage of bones. He could not figure out which of the organs was the liver, but he believed it to be one of the three large organs just below the lungs, the stomach being rather obvious due to its connection to the esophagus.

Basically just aim for the center of the chest when using Gravity Arrows. Blunt trauma from psychokinesis is unlikely to cause lethal damage. The rib bones are denser than those of a human. Sword-work will be chancy given the density, and the surprisingly low number of veins near the surface would mean glancing blows that cut the chitin and skin would be useless for bleeding it. Best option in close fighting would be to sever the head or remove the legs and arms. Regeneration of limbs might be possible? The description in its stat page did not say. Hand-to-hand is not advisable, dagger use possible from behind due to soft spot detected at the base of skull echoing human anatomy. Chitin is weak there.

The quick wave of cold thoughts analyzing the creature’s strengths and weaknesses was a far cry from the quirky and odd young man who had traveled with Laevarian for the past few days and trained under him for weeks before that. That young man was still within Lyam, but he was not necessary at the moment. Lyam needed to be his old, cold self for now.

Laevarian would have recognized bits and pieces of this creature, in the bloody, cold aura and horrifyingly strong killing intent Lyam gave off when they first met.

Likely weakness to crushing force in lower extremities and skull… evolutionary quirk? Bone and chitin are relatively thin in the skull and the joints are vulnerable. Chitin seems to disperse blunt force trauma when it cracks, but it has more difficulty dispersing constant pressure, Lyam continued clinically.

One thing he was finding was that ‘HP’ was something of a mask for the System. Fatal wounds were fatal wounds, unless your species could regenerate from its brain or heart being destroyed. The trick was that a high endurance and constitution could make delivering those wounds insanely difficult, or so he estimated given the effects this creature’s endurance and constitution had on it.

HP seemed to be more a measure of how much one could survive being ‘shaved off’ when non-lethal wounds were dealt, more than anything else. Blood loss, physical trauma to the extremities, and contusions all reduced HP and total HP loss would likely kill, but a single critical strike to the brain or heart could likely end even a much higher level creature in one blow.

This pleased Lyam to no end. The idea of people surviving with a knife sticking out of their brain was just too offensive to his sensibilities, in this cold, killer’s state. Killer Lyam did not like anything that made its job more difficult.

He rose from the creature’s body, noting the glow of a loot notification around each of the creatures. With a shrug, he touched each of them in turn, ignoring the xp and skill gain notifications for the moment. Incremental gains were of no moment, since they made no noticeable difference to his combat abilities.

He frowned as he looked through the loot in his inventory. Each had given him a small green crystal, their pickaxes, and several hunks of what the System said were copper ore. Given that the creatures were equipped as miners, this made sense, and he realized that his early gains must have spoiled him somewhat. He had the feeling that gaining a spell scroll off his first kill was definitely not the norm.

Speaking of spell scrolls…

He opened the Crush scroll after taking it from his inventory and learned it, wincing slightly as the knowledge wormed its way into his brain. Happily, the spell was closely related to psychokinesis, much like Gravity Arrow, so it only took a minute for it to be added to his mind and spell list.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Crush really was what it appeared to be. As a Force Magic spell, it would have clamped down an invisible kinetic vise down on a point he chose, but as a Gravity Magic spell, it created a high-intensity, low-volume gravitational force generated at a microscopic point wherever he focused it. The results would be nearly the same, but the Gravity Magic version was more powerful and flexible. He sensed that when his skill rose, he would be able to manifest multiple such points in a relatively small area for the same MP cost and maintain them for longer.

It was interesting to him, now that he had the presence of mind to categorize what was happening, how his mind filled with knowledge of how to use the spell, its potential range, and some of its limitations. He had a feeling that more could be done with it than was said, but he would have to experiment to find out.

As a test, he tried crushing one of the corpses’ legs from halfway across the twenty-feet wide cavern he was in. The knee seemed to crumple inwards, the chitin crunching like paper. He frowned. His second test involved lifting one of the corpses with psychokinesis, then setting the point at its trachea… and the remnants of its splattered head popped off like a cork, splattering more green ichor around.

A cold smile curved his lips, I can definitely use this.

He finally checked his notifications from the battle. He instructed the interface to only show the bare minimum, as he found the excessive details to be superfluous, for the most part.

You have slain 3x Drone Ragar for 3x 1200xp.

You have learned the crafting skill Skinning.

You have learned the general skill Dissection

You have learned the knowledge skill Anatomy.

By engaging Cold Mind fully in combat for the first time, you have gained +2 to Willpower. This bonus cannot be gained again.

He frowned. His Dissection skill had risen to 25 automatically, putting him at the initial stage of Journeyman, whereas both Skinning and Anatomy had stopped at 10. He had the feeling that as his knowledge of various creatures’ insides expanded, he would gain in Anatomy but that he probably would gain nothing from cutting open more Ragar unless he actually skinned them. The stat gain was helpful at raising his MP, but he felt no accompanying surge of emotion as he did when he was ‘Normal Lyam’.

Skills are interesting, His Saevere side thought eagerly.

By indulging your curiosity about Anatomy, you have gained +1 to Intelligence.

He realized that at some point during the dissection, his Saevere side had taken partial control. He had originally intended to focus solely on the heart and liver, but he had examined all the organs and its bones more closely than he would have normally. It seemed his new biology was significantly different in its reactions compared to his old one, something he had noted already but was now somewhat troubled by. Normally, his current state would have eliminated emotion entirely… it was troubling that curiosity seemed to be ever-present now in all his personas.

While his personas were not truly different personalities but rather just compartmentalized aspects of himself, at his current ‘depth’ of submersion in the colder part of his psyche, it was usually impossible for him to truly be anything other than an emotionless machine. That fact had saved his life dozens of times in the past, so having the ability ‘damaged’ in any way might cause problems later.

He considered Crush for a few minutes, examining the feel of the spell as he tried it on various things, the corpses, the walls, and even one of the pickaxes he had looted. The walls did not even chip, which surprised him, but the corpses squished like tomatoes and the pickaxes’ handles shattered like toothpicks after a second. He tested it, and he could even make one of the corpses rise briefly into the air if he centered the spell in mid-air. He had a feeling that the Force Magic version would not have been able to do that.

Finally, he looked back through his list of notifications prior to the battle to make some sense of what had happened.

You have been teleported to an unknown Dungeon!

Dungeon has been identified as Daena Challenge Dungeon. Completion of the first level of Daena Challenge Dungeon will result in the award of full membership in the Adventurers Association. Higher ranks will be given for completion of further levels based on accomplishments.

Dungeon… what the hell is a Dungeon? By the way it is saying it, this isn’t a jail… He wondered. Unlike most people on Earth, he wasn’t a gamer or a fantasy-lover, so he didn’t have any knowledge of dungeons as they were portrayed in role-playing games.

He tried to get the System to answer the question, but apparently its explanations didn’t extend to things like that. He made a guess that the monsters he just killed had something to do with it, given that an adventurer’s job was supposed to involve monster-hunting. He’d also heard Laevarian mention Dungeons a few times, but the term hadn’t caught his interest at the time, so he never asked about them.

He looked at the only exit to the cavern he was in, a corridor on the opposite side of the room, and he sighed deeply. He began to glide silently toward the corridor, unconsciously stepping into Stealth, drawing his sword.

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He came to another cavern, several hours later. Inside were three more Ragar, two armed with large axes and shields and one wielding a staff, his skin glowing with purple-black light that made Lyam feel ill just looking at it. He focused and tried True Sight on the different types.

Ragar Warrior

Level 30

Race: Ragar

HP: 7000/7000

MP: 350/350

Str: 34

Agi:18

Dex: 14

Con: 34

End: 35

Int: 10

Will: 12

Cha: 4

Lck: 5

Description: Ragar Warriors are the third-highest caste of Ragar society, creatures of immense strength and durability who can survive blows that would pulp lesser beings. Like all Ragar, they aren’t the most agile of creatures, but it doesn’t really matter how agile someone is if they can splash your body across a wall with a swipe of an axe.

Abilities: Ragar Regeneration (Up to three pounds of biological material can be replaced within a minute as long as the heart, brain, and liver are all functional), Communal Mind (Ragar instinctively work well with other Ragar, able to sense how others of their kind will move and attack in tandem), Ragar War Cry (briefly increases physical damage done by all Ragar in the area by 15%).

Ragar Warrior

Level 30

Race: Ragar

HP: 2100/2100

MP: 2300/2300

Str: 10

Agi:13

Dex: 14

Con: 26

End: 17

Int: 24

Will: 20

Cha: 12

Lck: 5

Description: Ragar Shaman are the second-highest caste of Ragar Society. They are the spiritual leaders and advisors to royalty. They are also one of only two types of Ragar that can wield magic. Ragar Shamans use Corruption, Spirit, and Curse Magic. However, as this is a dungeon creature and has no soul, it cannot wield Curse Magic.

Abilities: Ragar Regeneration (Up to three pounds of biological material can be replaced within a minute as long as the heart, brain, and liver are all functional), Communal Mind (Ragar instinctively work well with other Ragar, able to sense how others of their kind will move and attack in tandem), Corruption Magic, Spirit Magic.

Spells: Induce Rage, Pestilent Hands, Summon Lesser Ifrit, Corrupt Mind.

Two fighters and a magic user… Lyam thought, his spirit already turning cold in preparation for what was to come.

Lyam had no experience fighting magic users so far. The warriors were unlikely to be able to do anything he wouldn’t expect, but the Shaman was likely going to be a problem if he didn’t plan for it.

The Shaman was significantly smaller, a little over half as tall and a third as bulky as the warrior types. Compared to the drones, the warriors were slightly bulkier, but that bulk was more well-distributed across their body, their chitin glossier and their proboscis was shorter.

Faster, stronger, and just all around more capable than the drones probably. However… best to arrange for the Shaman to be out of the fight from the beginning, He mused.

He wondered if mage Classes had some kind of resistance to direct spellcasting. To test it, he aimed for the Shaman’s neck and cast Crush.

The Shaman’s head popped off as easily as those of the Drone corpses, a spray of green ichor bathing the warriors in front of him, Well, there is that question answered, He thought idly as he used psychokinesis to launch himself forward, slashing out with his sword to take the warrior on the right through the elbow of its weapon arm, severing it at the joint.

The creature screeched, and Lyam winced in pain from the noise, which was quite similar to nails scratching a chalkboard. It lashed out with its shield, and Lyam shifted himself backward just enough to evade the blow, anticipating a chance to end his second opponent of the fight.

Unfortunately for that expectation, the second warrior leapt at him with surprising speed, its axe flashing toward his head. Lyam released psychokinesis and dropped flat to the ground, pushing off and backward the instant the axe passed through the space his head had been a moment before.

A Gravity Arrow formed in front of his eyes as he evaded and blasted into the second warrior’s shield, sending it flying backward, shattering its shield and knocking the creature off its feet. The one-armed warrior kicked at Lyam and clipped him on the shoulder, knocking him back, only a quick flash of psychokinesis keeping him from hitting his head on the ground.

Lyam reached out and used Crush, destroying the remaining arm on the first warrior before using psychokinesis to slam it against the wall on the opposite end of the cavern.

Meanwhile, the more or less healthy warrior was rushing him, its axe held in both hands as it charged.

Lyam realized at this point that he had no real understanding of how stats effected creatures’ actual movements beyond his own body. When he fought the Wargs on the first day, he was doing so with the support of a party, so he never had to deal with their speed.

I guess finesse is out the window, He thought with resignation, a powerful surge of will clamping down on the creature like a closed fist. He could see the confusion in its eyes, followed by pain as he used pyschokinesis to crumple it like a used can of soda. His understanding of Crush, as limited as it was, combined with it to allow him to pulverize its flesh, shattering both legs and arms before his MP gave out.

A burning headache plagued him as he rose to his feet, but in his current state, Lyam was immune to the debilitating effects of pain and fear. He ran up to the crumpled form and severed its head with a single blow, the sword easily passing through chitin and bone as if they were butter in a spray of green ichor.

He turned to the last remaining survivor, which was already rising to its feet. Its arm had already recovered, and at some point it had picked up its fallen axe. It showed no signs of having a problem wielding the weapon in its off-hand as it rushed him.

Lyam felt the flow of Cat Dances with Swords take over as he parried the Ragar’s axe, redirecting the strike so that it hit the floor to his left, before he swept past it, the sword slicing through the back of the creature’s right knee. The Ragar’s leg gave way and it toppled to the floor. As it did so, Lyam’s body used the remaining momentum from his strike to twist him around, the sword falling on the creature’s neck before it could hit the ground, severing it at the base.

The spray of ichor that followed bathed Lyam from head to toe, and a part of him grumbled about wanting a bath as the warm fluid soaked him.

That was far too close… He thought with concern. It seemed that battle in a world of stats was going to be more troublesome than he anticipated.

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