From the wolf den, they made for the next closest dungeon. The one listed as full of plant monsters.

Savage Glade Dungeon Level Ten

Stepping through an arch of trees it was almost as if they hadn’t gone anywhere despite the message. On the other side, they found just more trees. Though as Dren looked around it became clear this wasn’t the same forest they had been in. The trees looked different and when he tried to stab them. His dagger deflected off doing no real damage. There was far less underbrush than before, yet the way the trees were arranged made for a single clear path. Just to see what happened he tried going off in a different direction. Pushing through the closely knit trees. Eventually coming to an invisible barrier.

It just further reinforced his belief the dungeons were made by the system just to test those newly integrated. It was just another of the sickeningly good advantages the newly integrated natives had.

Returning to the main path he moved more cautiously than in the Wolf Den. This dungeon was high enough that he should get at least a little experience. Even on guard, he would have been ambushed by the first attack if not for Ren. She tugged at the cuff of his newly finished armor. Immutable imbued boss leather. Lined with the best silk cloth Ren could make. Even a few bits of spider carapace on the knees, elbows, and shoulders just to add more defense without sacrificing movement. Unlike the set Ren wore, it actually looked like proper armor. Leveling up the skill had made a big difference.

Glancing to his side to see what she wanted. He found her pointing at a tree. Dren looked at the slender tree not thinking anything seemed off. Other than it was short and thin compared to most of the trees. But it wasn’t the only one like that. He had seen a few others like it. Narrowing his eyes he identified it.

Walking Willow level Ten.

Nodding his thanks to Ren, he drew a spare dagger and hurled it forward. It slammed into the slender tree with a heavy thud. Yet, only the tip seemed to penetrate it. The blade fell free an instant later when the tree uprooted itself. As did two others before they charged right at him. Their slender long branches lashed out like whips. They were quick but no cutthroats even if they did have nearly as many branches to wave around. Twisting and dancing between blows Dren darted in to slam his fully enchanted dagger into the monster. Only for it to take almost no damage. The blade barely went in deeper than the thrown dagger.

Leaping back he used his assassin’s eyes a second time, thinking the first failed somehow. It still showed him no critical spots. None. No organs, joints, or anything. They for all intents and purposes were walking trees. As one of the slender whiplike branches lashed out he slashed at it. His dagger wasn’t meant for cutting but it was sharp. It actually severed the limb but if the Walking Willow cared it showed no response.

Despite the difficulty, Dren was actually excited. It gave him the perfect excuse to use his mask’s new ability finally.

Of the six profane runes he could use. Each had a bonus ability. Space had been the first he tested. It increases his resistance to hostile spatial effects. He didn’t know what those might be, but he didn’t like the sound of it. Its secondary effect was it contained a spatial pocket that stored only consumables. Allowing him to use them in combat hands free. It wasn’t world shaking, but the idea of being able to take a potion without anyone knowing. Was nice. It was the first rune he put in his mask.

Decay offered additional poison resistance and the active ability to spend mana to use the Breath of Decay ability. Dren almost took it right away, that debuff had been nasty. But realized quickly enough he wasn’t alone anymore. Ren wasn’t immune to the breath.

Durability offered increased well durability and defense. Better yet it gave the mask the ability to be repaired with just a bit of mana spent. The binding rune made it impossible for the mask to be removed from him by any means outside his own control. It would also allow him to spit a sticky binding web. Not too shabby.

Darkness gave him resistance to sensory debuffs. Blinds and such. It also allowed him to spew out a cloud of darkness that inflicted the darkness debuff on others. As with the Breath of Decay, it would be an issue if Ren was exposed. But very tempting nonetheless.

Finally, the fire rune had given him resistance to fire damage. As well as the ability to breathe fire. In the end, he added the durability rune as the second rune. The auto repair was just too tempting. The mask already had small cuts in it from the Fate Weaver Aranea’s silk attacks. That just left picking one of the offensive runes. The final straw that decided it was the fire resistance, he was afraid his new cloak might be a bit too flammable. Since the fire resistance provided by the Profane Rune of Fire was for him as a whole not just his face. He felt it would be the best choice. Plus, who doesn’t want to breathe fire?

For the first time in combat, he sucked in a breath and forced it out filled with mana. A gout of flame shot from his mask as it took on a fanged bestial appearance. The gout of flame washed over the Walking Willow he was fighting. Sweeping his head to the side, he bathed the other Walking Willow HE had been avoiding. Before engulfing the one Ren had mostly bound up in silk. Her silk went up in a bright white flash of flames seeming to only further intensify the heat of it all.

Despite the intense flames consuming several hundred mana from him. A moment later all three tree monsters were charging again. Only this time they were smoldering and charred. Stabbing them did little but a heavy blow was enough to break their charred slender frames. While Ren slashed out and bound them with silk that seemed to sheer off their blackened bark. After his breath attack the battle ended in a surprisingly short time.

Dren poked the glowing smoldering corpses with the toe of his boots. They were still the original ones he had spawned with as he hadn’t finished a new set for himself. “These are as bad a match up for me as the Muskin are a good one. Luckily I had the mask with the fire rune. I knew I picked the right one.” His tone was full of ego. Beside him, Ren backed up to avoid stepping on the smoldering remains. She was barefoot as she had refused to wear any boots he made her. “I told you. You should wear the boots I made you.” He chided and in response, she jumped up to stand upside down from a thick branch above. “Yeah Yeah. I guess you need your feet bare.” He grinned. “I don’t! So my spider climb is better!” Smirking he glanced up to see her just looking at him with a blank expression. “Come on. Let me have this one.”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

With a way to deal with the hard to kill monsters and no need to skin or butcher them. The two made quick work of the dungeon. After the Walking Willows came Battle Oaks. Stout hardwood walking trees that swung club-like branches with incredible force. Neither slashing nor piercing did much to them but they burned well enough. Unlike the slender willows, the Battle Oaks took a while to burn down. Turning them into burning or smoldering hulks that tried to crush them still. It became a strategy for Ren to keep two of them busy. Using her ability to leap from tree to tree while slowly wrapping them in silk. Dren in turn ignited one and avoided it until his repeated fire breaths turned them into a pile of ash.

“Maybe axes or something. Otherwise, this dungeon must be made mostly for mages to deal with. I don’t see archers doing anything else to them either.” Dren said as they moved on from the first Battle Oak pack. Ren just looked at him in response, saying nothing as usual.

The experience wasn’t too bad. He managed to get to Assassin Sixteen by the time they met the third monster type. Short moving bushes filled with thorns covered branches. They would fling their branches and launch a spray of thorns at them. They were actually the most dangerous as Ren couldn’t simply stay completely out of their reach. But they were also the most flammable burning up in almost no time. So, it turned out to be a moot point. It was odd finishing fights with stamina full and mana low for Dren. He didn’t even draw a weapon in most of the fights.

Ren was making good progress as well. Getting to level nine by the time they found the boss grove. While Dren felt he was one tiny kill away from leveling up to seventeen himself. Sadly, there was nothing but the boss left.

As with most dungeons, the boss didn’t seem to match the current dungeon. What they found sitting in a clearing was an enormous armored crab. It must have had a diameter of ten meters and was half that tall. Its monstrous claws clacked slowly as it just sat in the middle of a forest clearing. Its bright green shell was the only thing that made it even remotely forest themed.

“That makes no sense. The system could have at least given it water or something. Maybe a pond or a river. Ooo a waterfall with a pond.” Dren muttered while Ren looked between him and the monster. Using his Assassin’s Eyes he found it had a number of weak spots to his relief. Still, it was really heavily armored. Nor was he sure how fast it would be, he had never actually seen a crab in person. Just because it was big didn’t mean it was slow. In a way, it reminded him of the giant Aranea. “Hmm, are crabs and spiders related?” He looked at Ren who just looked back. “Yeah, I don’t know either. Probably not? Meh, I guess it doesn’t matter. Same tactic as with the battle oaks then. I’ll distract it at first. You try and wrap it up. If we can immobilize it, killing it will be a breeze!”

Dren flipped his cloak's cowl down and activated stealth. It was always good to try and get a free attack on your enemy. Circling around the clearing he was almost giddy when his Stealth ranked up. Creeping up from behind he made it to the boss’s rear and impaled it in the joint of its back leg. The previously passive monster started moving in a frenzy. Shuffling to the side with all its legs. Dren jumped up and activated his spider climb to stay standing on the back of its shell. To his surprise, it didn’t seem the thing could reach him back here. Its claws clacked back over its shell. But they couldn’t reach him all the way in the back.

Kneeling down he went to work on the back leg. Stabbing and slashing as he attempted to cut it free from the body. It smashed into the trees lining the grove with enough force to crack its own shell. The impact would have surely sent him flying off the monster’s back if not for his cloak's ability. It did suck out a surprisingly large amount of mana to keep him rooted to the things back. But in the end, the fight was almost comically easy. It had a powerful water jet attack it could shoot. While its claws managed to gouge even the previously unbreakable seeming trees. But unable to knock Dren off its back, the thing was practically helpless. Ren ended up joining him on the things back. Using her web to immobilize one side of their legs while he slowly dismembered the others. Despite the ease of the fight. The monster had a sickeningly large health pool and toughness to the point only his Life Bane dagger was able to cut even the critical points.

But the outcome was obvious from the start. Missing most of its legs the monster finally bled out. Dren was excited by the rush of system messages. Happily finding the first to be that he had indeed reached level seventeen. He had hoped to hit level eighteen for killing the level twenty boss. But as the fight turned out to be surprisingly easy, he couldn’t complain. His dungeon and solo dungeon competency both went up. Making him even more excited for the next dungeon.

Most surprising of the messages was the notice that Ren had hit level ten and as a monster could now evolve. Letting out a low whistle he glanced at the Juvenile Aranea next to him and raised an eyebrow. “I wonder what you will turn into.” Before he could check a new message appeared. One that pushed away all others and was accompanied for the first time by a voice.

“Notice: It is now time for the first patch. You have survived one month post integration! Congratulations. We have heard your complaints and feedback. Taken them into consideration and made adjustments based on them.” Dren looked around as the odd female voice spoke with a tone of pure excitement. It was almost over the top.

“To address the low monster population outside dungeons we have implemented the Monster Surge. Monsters will now spawn proportionally to the population of an area. The level of the monsters will be set based on the highest leveled individual on your world. Now no need to panic! The level of the monsters is ten below for initial spawns. But, be aware that our monsters can level up both passively and as they kill. This will allow the highest level individuals to continue progressing smoothly. As I am sure you are all aware monsters more than ten levels below you give no experience!” The voice was so excitedly happy it was almost exhausting to listen to.

“System credits are also now available. All individuals with levels above one will be issued an initial balance based on their levels and achievements so far. Credits can be earned through system issued quests or traded with other individuals! Killing an individual gives you one hundred percent of all their credits as well. So no need to worry about them just vanishing! There may be other methods of acquiring credits as well.” The voice was tinged with intrigue as if they were trying to tease the entire world forced to listen to them.

“What might you do with these credits you ask? Well, spend them of course! Besides being the standard currency on all integrated worlds. You can trade amongst yourself or even visit system stores. Note that the stores mostly stock basic items.” The voice sounded almost apologetic.

“Where can you access the system store you ask? Well for our final update. Havens have been added to your world. A total of twelve hundred spread across your entire world. No need to look far. We have established the Havens at the largest concentration of sapient life on your planet. Their control is automatically assigned to the highest level being in that area. Please note, Havens are not safe zones but the Haven Lords do have many options to support their new domains.” The voice was again extremely chipper.

“This concludes your first patch. Please do your best to continue growing stronger!” With that, the voice vanished and Dren glanced at the menu in front of him. It listed everything said as well as one more bit of information.

“Monster Surge Level: Eighteen.”