Synn spent much of his downtime after the dungeon delve considering what the future held for him. Sure, he was going to have a lot of stats and probably a fair few skills but what kind of build was he going to go for. Many adventurer’s out there had their build decided purely by their innate skill and acquired skills but he would pretty much have free reign. He also wasn’t sure how long he could go on acquiring skills for. Many people found themselves capped until they grew stronger, some people believed there was a hidden stat called spirit that dictated how many skills an individual could hold although it had yet to be confirmed. Also getting rid of skills wasn’t a cheap option either, it required specialised crystals that either stored the skill or completely removed it. Most people went for the resale option as it at least gave them some funds back or if it was a rarer skill some profit.
His research into his next dungeon showed it randomly generated to one of the primary elements. Most commonly it would be earth aligned and the next common was flame. He was secretly hoping for earth as that had been one of his grandpa’s elements and he had seen him utilise it in sparring on many occasions.
Synn once again went supply shopping. He wanted to be better prepared for all types of opponents. He didn’t spend a fortune on enchanted equipment but just the basic stock that was suitable for low level delvers. He picked up a pair of axes and a belt to hold them in place. Then there was a sheath for his swords to strap to his back. The straps also acted as a bandolier for throwing knives, so he had stocked up on those too. Seeing his reflection in the outfitters he looked ready for war with twin swords on his back, twin axes at his waist and knives strapped across his chest. He also picked up two slight longer daggers as backups which he stowed away in his boots.
The axes were to give his strikes a bit more heft against better armoured opponents. They had a thick edge and a counterweight on the back side that would also provide blunt damage if needed.
Synn stood before another dungeon entrance just 24 hours on from his previous run. He had decided against levelling his innate skill and level so that he could gain more exp. If he was struggling, he would level up, but he figured that would actually leave him more vulnerable as he’d have less stats bolstering his abilities, so this seemed the best course of action.
He stepped through the entrance, his mind repeating ‘earth’ over and over again. A mantra to hopefully bring himself some luck in the manifestation of which dungeon run he would get.
The first thing he saw as he entered was a mine and mindless dwarves excavating the walls for rare minerals and gems. It was as exactly as he had hoped, it was the rare earth variant of the dungeon with respawning enemies. The standard variant was an open plain of mindless dwarves but this one allowed him to collect ores and gems that were also very valuable on the outside and it also allowed him to keep hunting monsters till he had his fill. It would save him a fortune in the long run.
These dwarves weren’t true dwarves as the suggestion of the name said, their free will had been stolen so even though they were considered quite an intelligent race in this instance they were slow to react and to form tactics. This was extremely fortunate for Synn as he could quickly sneak up on the dwarves as they were spaced out and with two or three quick strikes defeat them even though they were at level 5. That meant for every kill he was gaining 20 exp. and would soon be able to race up the levels and keep pace with his peers.
He had just reached the end of his first tunnel and having killed around 35 mindless dwarves was already feeling his enhanced stats although he wouldn’t be touching his notifications until the end. He was just about to turn around and head back up the tunnel and look for another branch and more exp points when he saw a glint from the wall, a silvery ruby glint where the last foe had just been mining.
‘It couldn’t be, could it? There is no way that would be here in this mine, or they would be charging a fortune for people to delve here. Maybe even taxing the profits on exiting.’
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
He couldn’t be sure, but Synn was about 80% sure that a silvery ruby glint usually indicated Sianzin ore. This was a very precious metal, and its rarity was off the charts. A single ingot could buy a noble lord’s estate. It was discovered and named by one of the eight, Crystal Sianzin. She had been a master crafter who controlled both fire and ice. When properly smelted and turned into a metal it gave swords and armour an intimidating silvery-red look and the best part besides being stronger than other known metals was that it was super conductive to magic. Her enchanted armour had allowed her to walk unharmed through many battlefields wielding summoned forge hammers of frost and flame. It had earned her the hero’s name of ‘Frostfire,’ Crystal Frostfire Sianzin.
Synn picked up one of the fallen pickaxes and began to strike at the stone around the wall. It would slow him down carrying a large quantity but luckily his new pack had a minor spatial enchantment giving him about an extra five percent space so he could carry a few chunks around with him without becoming too weighed down in his upcoming battles.
It took about four hours, but he now had a dozen decent chunks of the metal ore now stowed away in his backpack. He’d have to be careful where he had it appraised but if he could get it to the academy, he was confident of being able to forge a fantastic set of armour from it. Well not him exactly but paying someone to forge it for him was the same thing.
His self-assigned mining side mission completed Synn got back to hunting mindless dwarves for their stats and skill points. Before he knew it he had been on the first floor for nearly ten hours and slain many, many mindless dwarves. Deciding this was enough he located the entrance to the 2nd floor and reviewed his notification summaries.
Level 5 Mindless Dwarf Defeated: 277*20 = 5,540 Exp.
Syphoned Stats:
9.2 Strength; 24.8 Vitality; 33.1 Intelligence; 27.6 Wisdom.
Syphoned Skill Points:
Metal Manipulation (Active) 107/100 = Lvl 1 - 7/200.
An active skill that allows the caster to freely shape and summon metals within a certain radius. Radius and power grow with skill level.
Earth Manipulation (Active) 67/100 = Lvl 0 - 67/100.
An active skill that allows the caster to freely shape and summon earth within a certain radius. Radius and power grow with skill level.
Appraise (Active) 103/100 = Lvl 1 3/200.
You can see the true nature of items and with practice their value. Increasing level increases the rarity and level of items that you can appraise. Studied knowledge of the items and their uses can lead to more accurate valuations.
He couldn’t deny it was one hell of a gain but at the same time he was disappointed that the multiplier capped out at three tiers above your own. More than he had expected even if it was mostly helped by the fact the dwarves were slow to react. Still, it was a vast amount of unused experience added to his totals along with stat points equivalent to probably twenty levels of growth.
Happy with his gains so far Synn headed down to the next level which turned out to contain earthen worms. These were slow moving creatures that slowly tunneled through the level making it look like Swiss cheese. As they were slow moving Synn was able to take his time ensuring his strikes were fast and low damage allowing for a faster succession of steals and as a result when he exited the level he once again had maxed out his stat gain.
Level 7 Earthen Worm Defeated: 43*20 = 860 Exp.
Syphoned Stats:
10.6 Strength; 11.3 Vitality.
Syphoned Skill Points:
Earth Manipulation (Active) +43 = Lvl 1 - 10/200.
With the earthen worms defeated Synn prepared himself for the descent to the final level. It was time to face the boss!