Dren adjusted his “bandolier” and sighed. It was literally just a strip of leather draped across his chest from left shoulder to right hip. With a few slits cut into it so he could jam the stone daggers into it. It was beyond basic, simple, and crude. It had still taken him almost two dozen attempts and ruined far too many of the hides. But out of all that frustration he had another bit of a gain. He had acquired a new skill.

Skill: Primitive Leatherworking Acquired.

None of his other skills had any sort of adjective such as primitive. In a way, it was kinda insulting. He didn’t even qualify to unlock just leatherworking. But, he reminded himself he wasn’t intending on being a crafter. His goal was to become powerful. Now armed with eight explosive daggers and all his resource pools full. He felt ready to go on a killing spree.

And boy did he go on a killing spree. The daggers had only a one-hundred mana capacity. Meaning he could just put the explosive rune on them. They still blew up on impact. But not quite as spectacularly as the spears did. That said. The cutthroats weren’t nearly as large or durable as the riders. His ability to use the stone daggers as throwing knives with his weapon skill also helped. The next pack he fought was cleared in record time. His poison resistance skill even leveled up when he resisted the red spores. Meaning he didn’t need to suffer poison damage to progress the skill. Resisting them alone seemed to level it up. And since he resisted every exposure during that fight. It well, also seemed to be helping him resist poison. Giving it a bit of momentum for leveling up that Dren was tempted to exploit.

So his slaughter continued. The Muskin Cutthroats patrolled in packs of three. Stalking down hallways with their half-a-dozen arms gently swaying around them. Armed with his new explosive daggers the plan was simple. Hit each of the three with a dagger aimed at their weak spot. Then rush in even as whatever hallway they were in was flooded with crimson spores. Both relying on and hopefully leveling up his poison resistance. Then not even bothering with a weapon he would start yanking out the nucleus.

By the fourth pack, he was to the point he could grab a nucleus in each hand. The smaller and lighter Muskin, at least compared to the riders, could even be lifted with a single arm each. His slightly bloated strength stat making that possible. Lifting two at once he could spin rapidly, building up enough centrifugal force to send their bodies flying while ripping the nuclei out. Singled out the last one had little chance. Most of the attacks he took were minor, as the Muskin always went beserk when their nucleus was exposed. More wild flailing than focused attacks.

When fighting the riders their powerful blows were still a danger. But since the cutthroats relied on precise strikes. Their wild flailing and shallow cuts were hardly a concern. Dren thought they were a perfect matchup for him and hoped there was a ton of them. This last pack hadn’t even managed to do double-digit damage before he killed them all in a handful of seconds.

Even better came a system chime. “Alright. Poison resistance ranked up!” Dren grinned as he checked his messages. Only for that grin to get even bigger, making his face hurt.

Congratulations. Your Assassin class has reached level ten.

Class Skill Acquired: Snatch.

“Poor choice of name.” Dren snickered like the teen he had been when his older brother told him a rather crude joke using the term. A joke his mother would have scolded the boys for. For a moment he wondered how they were doing. Was he still trying to become a dungeon runner? It had been years since they heard from him. But he had left their planet to find proper work. Communication between worlds was hard for those without power. Was he even still alive? Would he know Dren wasn’t home anymore? Would his parents know he had been taken for the integration? Did they know why their son vanished from his bed? Did they…

Dren shook his head. None of that mattered now.

Active: Snatch

A combat grappling technique used to deprive your opponent of something important. Wealth, Weapons, and Weakness. All are up for grabs even in the heat of battle. Greatly multiplies strength and dexterity when attempting to steal an item from an enemy in combat. Stamina cost. Variable

Dren scratched his chin. “Well. It is useful here and now I guess.” It wasn’t that the skill was bad. Just that it was… well not that amazing? He expected more from his level ten skill. Not that he had any real reason to. It did make him think the system was giving him skills based on things he was doing. Shrugging he started gathering up all the stone daggers and preparing to dump mana into enchanting replacements for the ones he had used. Dren had more easy to kill cutthroats to slaughter.

*****

Dren did not have more easy to kill cutthroats to slaughter. After the pack that gave him level ten. The enemies he found were not cutthroats but a new type. Muskin Bouncer. While the name made him think of a hulking guy that would toss his brother out of a bar for getting a bit too drunk. That image didn’t really mesh with reality. As the Muskin Bouncers were tiny compared to even the cutthroats. Only a meter tall they were short. But almost as wide as they were tall. Their stubby tubelike limbs were almost comically thick while being the same circumference their entire length. Both the arms and legs seemed almost the exact same size. While their heads were oval and almost flat.

Like all the other Muskin their glowing weak spot was in different places. Their small size and stocky nature made him expect them to be an extremely slow and tanky version. They didn’t even carry weapons. Which made Dren certain they would have some sort of trick up their sleeves. With nothing to do but engage them to find out. He started the battle out with his tried and true method. Exploding knife barrage. Three knives were sent from his hiding place in rapid succession. The first hit with an explosion that sent the small monster flying backwards in a spray of bright green spores.

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As for the second and third. They detonated against the ground as in that split second between the first dagger striking and the others. His targets jumped away to the side allowing the dagger to miss them. Both monsters slammed into different walls and… bounced off. Like a rubber ball, they ricochet off that wall onto another surface before launching right at him. Their speed was blinding and it put all his agility to the test. Even then he only managed to dodge one while still taking a glancing blow from the other. Clipped by the blow he was tossed off balance and before he could fully regain his footing. The attacking aptly named bouncers struck another surface and slammed back into him. They even seemed faster this time as if building up momentum.

A moment later the wounded third one came sailing in, leaving a green smoke trail in its wake. Dren resisted the poison as it smashed into his chest before bounding off him. Though the impact sent him rolling backward. The damage from their blows wasn’t too bad. His toughness had grown and he had even hit enchanter seven filling up knives after the last fight. But the amount of kinetic force they carried knocked him around. He would need to regain his footing to have any chance of resisting it. But all three were blurs as they ricochet and bounced off every surface in the hallway before smashing into him in a rapid barrage.

Drawing and slashing out with his dagger he made contact. But it was hard to strike at their weak point while they were just a blur. And by now Dren had all but confirmed that wounds to the rest of their bodies were of little use. Still, he slashed out wildly before in a desperate ploy he drew one of his exploding daggers and slammed it into one of the bouncers. It detonated in his hand causing him to let out a pained yell. Every joint in his hand hurt from the impact of the explosion. But he weathered it better than the small Muskin. It was blown off course to smack into the sidewall. It bounced off but not nearly as wildly as before. Making Dren think they had some sort of ability or skill. It didn’t matter.

Diving even as another Bouncer smashed into him he managed to flop on top of it. The blast hadn’t hit their weakness but enough the soft spongy flesh had been blown away that a thin trickle of green spores was leaking out of the wound. Focusing on the spot, and the nucleus inside he activated Snatch for the first time. His hand shot out like a blur and burst thru the creature's wound. Right into its spore-filled nucleus chamber. Before the system could even chime with the notification of resisting the poison. His hand was yanked out, the nucleus gripped tightly.

‘Ok. Maybe this is a better skill than I thought.’ Dren was just staring at the green Muskin Nucleus in his hand. Then another body slam snapped him out of his musing. But now he had a tactic that worked. Sorta. It did involve him detonating an explosive in his own hand. But, he could take it. It was less damage than the constant body slams from the Muskin Bouncers. Drawing another dagger he focused on the next one.

*****

Dren panted and wheezed, his vision fading in and out. Dropping the pulsing green nucleus in his hand he fumbled in his pouch for a potion before he blacked out. Cupping the vial in both trembling hands he managed to make it to his lips and swallow. Instantly his shaky hands stabilized and his wobbly body stopped swaying. Just in time too as another pulse of exhaustion hit him and more stamina was sucked out of him.

“Fuck green spores.” He had finally failed a resist check. This fight had been against not only bouncers but a rider and several cutthroats as well. An explosive dagger to the eye of the mount had sent it into a death roll that toppled the rider. Without its mount, the lumbering giant wasn’t a real threat. They could just be avoided until the end. The cutthroats were easy enough to kill, practically a non-concern. But those annoying bouncers were a real pain. Even with two more assassin levels under his belt. They were just too damn fast. The only saving grace had been that he found his snatch skill didn’t give a fuck about their speed. As long as he could maintain his focus his hand would find its target in the blink of an eye. Even better his raw strength and their rather squishy bodies. Allowed him to literally reach in and snatch their nucleus out. Only during this fight, the one he had snatched from had been flying right for his face. Its body still smashed into his head and with it had come a deluge of green spores.

Gasping in pain from the impact he had sucked in a breath of them. For the first time ever he failed his asphyxiation resistance check. Worse he also failed the poison check. Asphyxiation besides being horribly uncomfortable and terrifying as hell. Seemed to prevent stamina regeneration. What did the green spore poison do? It drained stamina of course. What was the cost of thrusting your hand at lightning speed into the body of a monster to basically rip out its heart? A shit ton. What did these three things combined mean? Dren had been in a tight bind for the first time in a while. The fight that should have been mostly a cakewalk turned into a desperate struggle as he was forced to fight while gasping, wheezing, and choking. All while being hit with wave after wave of weakness. As his stamina was rapidly depleted by both his fighting and the debuffs.

“Bouncers suck.” He wheezed, the asphyxiation debuff over but his throat still felt sore and swollen. “You owe me a level.” Not sure if he was talking to the system or the dead monsters he started gathering up the meager loot before moving to skin the dead lizard. After that, even with the poison having run its course. He just felt drained. It had now been a full three days since he entered the dungeon. His progress was picking up as he pushed in deeper. Not only in raw stats and levels. But in true combat experience. Up until now, he had been leaning heavily on the abilities and power the system gave him. But fighting in this dungeon alone had forced him to think more about his fighting. In that way, he felt he had grown far more than his increase in levels showed.

“Nap time.” He sighed as he stuffed the last of his loot into the backpack. His feet practically dragged as he made his way back to his little base camp. Once there, with the door barred and he flopped down on a pile of hides. His first thought was to just fall asleep. But that would be wasteful. He still had half a bar of mana and it would be full by the time he woke up. With a sigh, he grabbed some of his newest haul of stone daggers and started enchanting. Only once his mana was mostly emptied did he allow himself to fall down to rest. Both longing for and hoping not to dream of home. For as much as seeing his family, even in dreams made him happy. It also left him feeling lonely when waking.

Unable to keep his eyes open any longer they closed as sleep instantly took him.