Finding the group was easy, but I was surprised to find that the warrior I had scanned before had actually gained a level, while the Fenric had gained several. This rapid progression was alarming—it suggested that the oversaturation of the dungeon wasn’t just affecting the environment but actively empowering the creatures within. It made me wonder whether these level gains were a natural part of the dungeon’s mechanics or a sign that the creatures were adapting faster than I anticipated, forcing me to rethink my strategy.

Goblin (R) – Level 43

Fenric – Level 34

I was guessing that the oversaturation was causing the monsters to gain levels which made this a game. Would gaining more levels to fight this group be ideal or would fighting them now be better. I also realized that my Identify must have leveled up. Giving me the rarity of the class of the creature.

I might be able to find a few more groups, but I didn’t think I would be able to gain more than one or two more levels. With Arcane Step though, I felt that I would be fine.

I sat in a tree watching the group trying to decide how to start my attack. There was one mage that had a nicer wand than any of the others. A goblin that was wearing leather armor and had two daggers on its waist that looked like a rogue, the warrior in the front, another mage looking goblin with a wand as nice as the first and an archer.

Of course, the entire group also had Fenrics as well. The warrior and the rogue were both walking next to their Fenrics, but both seemed ready to follow their masters at a moments notice. The rogue and mages were the ones I wanted to take out first. Without my new skill I would be worried about reaching the mages and archer, however with Arcane Step I was less worried.

Without wasting too much time, I stepped behind one of the mages and slammed the edge of my shield down on its head. The dull thud of the impact reverberated through my arm as the mage crumpled instantly to the ground, its wand clattering uselessly to the dirt. The faint crack of bone and the mage’s brief, startled gasp were the only sounds before silence settled once again.

After the first mage fell, I used Arcane Step to get behind the second mage and snapped its neck. The swiftness of the action left no room for hesitation, but as the body crumpled at my feet, a surge of adrenaline mixed with a pang of unease. Each move was calculated, driven by the tactical necessity of neutralizing threats quickly, yet the cold efficiency of it reminded me of the high stakes of this battle.

The faint crack reverberated in my mind, a stark reminder of the relentless decisions this dungeon demanded. As soon as I snapped the second mage’s neck, I quickly retreated to the cover of the tree. My heart pounded as I scanned the area, fully expecting the rogue to have taken advantage of my momentary vulnerability. My instincts weren’t far off—the rogue had been mere seconds away from reaching me, its deadly precision evident in every movement.

When I looked back at where the second mage had been, the rogue stood balanced on the Fenric’s back, its movements precise and calculated. Its sharp eyes darted across the battlefield, searching for any sign of weakness or an opening to exploit. The way it shifted its weight so effortlessly, poised to strike at any moment, sent a chill down my spine, heightening the sense of danger in the air. I stepped back behind the rogue slamming my shield down on it. The rogue was quick though and moved out of the way. My shield still slammed into the back of the Fenric, causing it to collapse and breaking its spine.

After the rogue dodged it went to stab me in the face only for my Arcane Armor to snap on stopping his attack dead. He couldn’t see it behind my armor, but I smiled and grabbed the goblins arm before he could pull away and slammed the edge of my shield right into his face. This didn’t kill the rogue instantly surprisingly, so I hit him again.

This finished off the rogue but gave the warrior enough time to slam into me from behind, knocking me off balance and to fall on the ground. This gave the Fenrics a chance to pounce on me and try and break through my armor. Luckily Arcane Armor had leveled up and allowed me to hold them off.

This gave me enough time to Arcane Step behind the warrior. The moment I did an arrow broke through my armor and stabbed into my shoulder. I still continued my attack and caused the warrior to stumble forward. This allowed me to jump on him and repeatedly smash my shield into the goblin until something gave way.

The Fenrics came toward me, but I stepped to the archer who was trying to hide behind a tree. However, I was able to see using Panoptic Sense which allowed me to still step behind him. He didn’t see me, and I slammed my shield into him crushing it between the tree and my shield.

With all the goblins down, I came out and faced the Fenrics. Without the goblins the Fenrics were nothing to worry about. It took a long time and several more jumps to get into a tree to recast Arcane Armor, but overall, there was no surprise in the fight.

With the group defeated I went through and grabbed all the items I could and started back toward what I felt was the center. I made sure to use my Treasure Hunter’s Instinct frequently to see if I could find something else and a few minutes of walking later I found another engraved disk. The engraving on the disk was slightly different than the first one but still a similar style.

Pulling the other disk out, they did not react to each other. I did not know what they did but I figured I could take them to my dad, and he might know better. Or we could take them to an engraver or the Adventurer’s Guild and maybe someone there would be able to tell us what it was.

After finding that piece, I started my trek toward the center when, suddenly I was stabbed in the back and Arcane Armor shattered. Rolling to the side I quickly cast Arcane Armor again before looking at the goblin I only now saw with Panoptic Sense.

Hobgoblin (E) – Level 39

For the first time since entering the Dungeon I was worried. This monster was not only able to sneak up on me with Panoptic Sense not sensing anything, but it was a lot stronger than I was. The warrior in the big group might have been as close in stats as this one but its epic class and the fact that it would be faster than me, meant I needed to be careful.

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With how quick I got back up and had my armor back on the goblin slowed its approach, starting to circle me instead of diving right back at me. I slowly circled that goblin back trying to come up with a plan to deal with an opponent who was faster and probably stronger than me. The only thing I had was Arcane Step and I wanted to save it for the most opportune time.

I pretended to take another step to continue circling and when it did the same, I charged. The hobgoblin might have been stronger, faster, and just more powerful than a regular goblin, but it was still a goblin. Its eyes widened and it froze for just a second. That was all I needed, as I closed the distance I did an uppercut with my shield, it crossed its arms to block the attack, but it was still a lot smaller than me.

I used all my strength in the attack, causing the creature to practically fly back and into a tree. Before it had a chance to recover, I used Arcane Step to move right next it and proceeded to hit the creature, over and over and over.

Maybe my fear of having something get past Panoptic Sense was more than I thought. The adrenaline coursing through me blurred my actions into instinct, and I didn’t stop until I was covered in a blackish blood that reeked of decay, making my stomach churn. Each strike was fueled by a desperate need to regain control, to reassure myself that nothing could slip through my defenses again. The smell was vile, but it was a small price to pay for the fleeting sense of safety I craved in that moment. Panting and barely able to stand, I sank to my knees, and I cried.

My adult mind had been able to push it off while I thought that I was invincible, however now that I knew I could get caught with my pants down so to speak all the emotions crashed down on my ten year old self and overwhelmed the control I had.

I didn’t cry for long, but it was enough to let out the emotions I had bottled up. I felt refreshed and was able to think clearer than I had before. I opened my notifications to allow myself to level up again.

Name: Jace Obexis Talent: System

Level: 18

Class: Ascended Arcane Juggernaut

Experience: 2369/2500

Profession: Relic Seeker

Experience: 132/200

Race: Primarch

Strength – 78

Dexterity – 51

Endurance – 64

Constitution – 76

Wisdom – 44

Intelligence – 74

Luck -36

Abilities:

Inventory Treasure Hunter’s Instinct Relic Seeker’s Sight

Skills:

Identify – Level 1 Panoptic Sense – Level 2 Mental Reverie – Level 2

Shield Mastery – Level 3 Leadership – Level 2 Martial Arts – Level 3

Dodge – Level 3 Arcane Armor – Level 2 Arcane Manipulation – Level 6

Arcane Step – Level 1

None of my skills had leveled up yet but an extra 75 stat points sure helped make me feel a bit more comfortable with how strong that monster was.

With that out of the way I grabbed my loot and started heading back toward the center of the Dungeon. Running into several more packs of goblins on the way, I beat each pack as quickly as possible and grabbed all the loot that I could store.

After a few more hours of wandering around a probably close to another hundred goblins killed I ran in to a pack of five creatures that looked like a hyena walking on two legs. Identify gave me the name of the creature, but the creatures were sensitive to it and noticed me as soon as I used the ability.

Gnoll – Level 31

Using Arcane Step to get behind the one that I used Identify on, I made sure to appear above the creature and slammed the edge of my shield into its head. This caused the gnoll to stumble and me to land awkwardly.

The gnoll had a much sturdier body than the goblins did, able to take at least one of my hits. After regaining my footing, I punched the gnoll in the back trying to break its spine, before rolling away. Just barely avoiding a swipe of another gnoll.

hadn’t considered it before with the Fenrics, but the gnolls don’t have a rarity next to their race. This made me realize that when I was choosing my race it too did not have a rarity listed. It made me realize that if the creature did not fall into a kind of set roll it would not have a class rarity, or maybe if it was just a common class, I would have to pay attention and see. It was very possible that goblins as a race just had a detriment to their constitution making them more susceptible to damage in general that the hobgoblin and now these gnolls did not have.

It was a good lesson to learn now that not all races were created equally, but even a goblin with an ascended class would be way more of a challenge than a regular human. Plus, who’s to say that some of these creatures don’t get bonus points to their stats per level since they do not have a class.

I paid for my distraction with a gnoll slamming into me from behind, its weight driving me to the ground with a jarring thud. The sharp impact knocked the wind out of me, and the creature’s claws dug into my back, scraping against my armor. The pressure was relentless, pinning me down as I struggled to regain control, every movement a fight against its strength. Instead of fighting its strength I used Arcane Step to move behind the first creature I attacked. Only for the one that had brought me down to come with me. The amount of mana it took was much greater than before, but it gave me so many ideas.

The gnoll that came with me was very confused at its abrupt change in space and its grip loosened enough for me to escape. I spun around and kicked the creature in its knee, breaking the knee and moving in to finish it off with a couple smashes to the face with the edge of my shield.

Using Arcane Step to teleport straight up I noticed the last three gnolls that were still combat capable had tried to jump at me. I came down hard on one of the heads cracking the skull and spilling brain matter everywhere. Running up to another I jumped on its back and smashed my shield down repeatedly until its head to cracked.

Panoptic Sense let me know that the gnoll with the broken back was trying to use its arms to crawl away, while the last gnoll was running as fast as it could. Unfortunately for it, I had Arcane Step, and I appeared above it, repeating my feat from before. Leaving me with just the one crawling away, which I quickly ended.

Moving on to the center I cleared out five more groups of gnolls and found three more of the engraved disks. I still had no idea what the disks did, but I was extremely interested in finding out. I was not looking forward to fighting anymore gnolls though. They were stronger than the goblins, sure, but only in defense. They were slow stupid animals that did not drop any loot, and who doesn’t love loot.

After scouring the area, I finally stumbled upon what I suspected had to be the boss chamber. The realization sent a surge of anticipation through me. Every detail of the ornate surroundings—the massive door intricately carved with swirling patterns, the eerie stillness of the air—hinted at something far beyond the ordinary. My heart raced as I stood before it, wondering what lay inside and whether I was truly prepared for the challenge ahead.

At least the extremely ornate stone door with swirling patterns carved straight in the rock with such precision that I would suspect laser etching over human hands 9/10 times. Oh, and did I mention said stone door was embedded and mounted to a monolithic tree? Its bark shimmered faintly with hues of green and gold, as if pulsing with life itself, and its roots sprawled out like veins, anchoring it to the earth with an ancient, unyielding presence. When I looked at it, a profound sense of awe washed over me, as though I were gazing at Yggdrasil, the world tree from legends. The sheer size and mystical aura of the tree made the entire moment feel otherworldly, as if I were standing in the presence of something far greater than myself.

If this is just some side quest bullshit, I am going to be so pissed, I thought as I went to open the door.