Treasure rooms were a safe zone. You could rest up, trade loot with fellow dungeon delvers, even sleep the night if necessary, and no dungeon creature or trap would disturb you.
Even the most powerful, deceitful, and relentless dungeons respected the sanctity of treasure rooms. Though Control dungeons sometimes created false treasure rooms as traps to lure the unwary, even they would leave you in peace if you found the true treasure rooms.
Destruction dungeons didn’t have access to illusions, so he didn’t need to worry about that here.
He stepped forward and looked down at the table. Four items. It looked meager and empty compared to what he was used to, but since he had absolutely nothing at the moment, he would take what he could get.
A pale blue liquid in a thin glass vial stood out to him at once. Levi braced himself, then swallowed its contents in a single gulp. This restoration elixir wasn’t as strong as those he was used to, but it still left him weak as the potion burned like liquid ice down his throat.
He stood gasping for breath as his physical strength temporarily left him, the potion drawing heavily on his body to increase its potency. But the effect lasted only a few moments. On the whole, he’d expected worse. Higher level restoration elixirs were utterly debilitating.
Within a few moments, the aftereffects faded. He’d completely depleted his mana and his stamina would take a long time to recover. But his health was full, and all ongoing damage completely alleviated.
“We can rest for a bit,” he decided, then sat down on the table and gave the remaining three items a good look over. A second vial, this one containing the golden-rainbow gleam of a mana restorative, a belt with storage pouches, and, most valuable to Levi, a dagger.
Storage Belt (Accessory, Basic)
Compartment Size: Small (x2)
That was one nice thing about dungeons — they may do their best to kill you, but they also provided rewards. Levi strapped on the belt and tucked the mana potion away for later, then turned his attention to the weapon.
Dagger (Manablade, Standard)
Abilities: (None)
Power stone: 0/1
Upgrade Slots: 0
Basic at the moment, but with inscription channels down its blade. Once he found a power stone to slot into it, he could actively increase its reach and empower its strikes.
Unlike the swords he had used in his first life — weapons with multiple modes and varied powers — this dagger had only the main power slot for an active effect. Upgrade slots or additional power tracings could be added, in theory, but mana crafting wouldn't be widespread for months yet.
Right now, people had only started to glimpse the edges of the changes coming.
Levi himself had never been much of a crafter. He could do the basics if pushed, but adding extra inscription paths to manablades was a specialized skill he’d never pursued.
He turned the dagger over in his hands, considering his options. He could keep it, and he'd definitely be able to put it to good use, or he could give it to Skarm. At some point he'd need to start relying on minions to get himself off of the front lines, but not just yet. Right now, Levi was the best asset the team had.
Sheathing the dagger, Levi fastened it to his belt.
Next, he looked over his character info while he waited for his pools to regenerate. Nothing had changed, but he’d reach level 3 soon. He planned to start by putting a few points into Strength and Spirit to augment his miserably slow regen. Stat distribution could have some impact on natural class evolution, but since he planned to rely on crafting an upgrade orb to force the evolution, it wouldn’t be an issue. He couldn’t afford to gamble on a natural evolution coming out as he wanted.
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As badly as he needed his mana and stamina to be restored, he could only force himself to stay still for about fifteen minutes — mana full, stamina less than a third full — before his patience was worn through entirely.
He couldn't wait any longer, couldn't bear to waste time. At this rate, it would be faster to level up again than keep waiting around.
A door on the opposite wall opened easily, leading him back out into the mazelike room they'd fallen through. “I'll take the lead for a bit. Stay close.”
Levi drew the dagger and held it ready. He preferred longer reach weapons, but it’d still be faster than choking or bashing.
His first opportunity came moments later when a pair of gremlins attacked, one rushing him at floor level, another leaping from above.
The one in the air he caught by the arm and stabbed through the chest, dropping it twitching to the ground where it soon vanished. Just before the second gremlin reached him, Levi dropped to one knee so they were on eye level, then flashed the dagger in line with its charge, too fast for it to evade. The gremlin's momentum drove it into his blade, skewering it through the eye. He drew his blade back and let the creature collapse, then fade away.
Once creatures got above level 20 or so, unaugmented physical damage would stop working on them altogether. At that point, non-mana weapons would become practically useless. And even the weakest of demons was above level 30.
Guns were fine, until you had to individually mana-inscribe every bullet if you wanted them to be worth anything. Spells or manabows were clearly superior. Bullets couldn't track a target, and mana inscriptions couldn't be done by machine.
A second pit trap lay across their path, but Levi didn't feel like taking another detour. He grabbed Skarm and jumped over the hole, landing safely on the other side without incident.
The rest of the maze was merely irritating, with two dead ends and a single gremlin ambush. Then, finally, they reached the door into the next room.
Levi opened it, then grinned. Beyond was a wide-open chamber with pillars scattered haphazardly about, faintly pulsing globes of the same corrosive rusty liquid rolling slowly down them, and a single hulking creature crouched on a dais in the room's center.
Boss room.
Levi might have been impatient, but he wasn’t stupid. Gremlins he could take on without needing any system resources, but an ogre required more respect. A level 1 ogre he could probably outfight on a pure skill basis, but not without at least one sword — preferably two. It would be a challenge to take it on with only the dagger. Ogres might not be highly skilled fighters, but they more than made up for it with pure brute strength.
He did not enter the room just yet, instead seating himself outside to ascertain as much as possible about the interior.
Eleven pillars stood scattered around the room. They were the same dark pitted material as the rest of the dungeon, but each pillar was topped with a deep depression filled with boiling orange goo. The overflow slowly made its way down the pillars like melted wax dripping down a candle, gathering at random spots into the explosive globules that would spray the corrosive substance when approached.
The hulking figure of the ogre boss sent involuntary shivers up Levi’s back. While he’d never seen one as a boss — only as relatively low-level adversaries merely three to five times as strong as a human fighter of the same level — he’d certainly encountered enough of them to respect this one as a threat.
He'd seen too many comrades torn apart by these creatures to be unfazed, regardless of how much lower in level this one was than those he’d faced in the future.
The ogre knelt in the center of the room with one hand on the hilt of a massive cleaver, its head bowed, pale scarred back on full display. It wore only a ragged loincloth, none of the extensive armor Levi usually associated with the creatures. Level 1, like everything else in the dungeon.
Levi’s reflexive fear only made his determination stronger, anger rising within him. He wouldn't let any ogre get the best of him.
Even at this distance, Levi recognized the telltale orange gleam of light around the cleaver. The mana-edged blade would slice through his clothing as though it were superheated plasma. Neither he nor his gremlin would survive more than one or two strikes from such a weapon; no amount of healing would be enough to save them if they were sliced in half.
The simplest strategy would be to bait the boss into following him, then lead it in a zigzag through the pillars, letting the corrosives burst onto it and gradually wear it down. It would require speed, stamina, and coordination, but it would be the safest option.
Levi wasn’t one to stick to safe options, though. He’d long ago learned that “safe” was an impossible goal. Cautious, yes. Wary, yes. Prepared, definitely. But to hold back when it really mattered only got you killed a little later.
Victory required decisive action. Earth had hedged its bets the first time, resulting in humanity being backed into a corner and slaughtered to the last.
Levi double- and triple-checked his weapons and storage pockets, ensuring that he knew exactly where everything was on his person and could grab it, if necessary. Of course, drinking restorative elixirs in combat was practically suicide without someone to watch your back, so he hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Skarm was a great little minion and all, but Levi doubted he could stop an ogre.
“Now, we wait.”
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