Aurelia thought sloths were supposed to be slow. She even remembered a time she saw a video of a sloth trying to cross a road, and some men ended up picking it up and putting it on a tree out of the way of the road. If sloths were too slow to cross the road, how was it possible for the gigantic sloth in front of her to be quicker than her?
She yelped as one of the raging sloth’s claws came way too close to her face. Aurelia teleported to the side, before continuing her onslaught. She was now at level eleven, but the sloths were still all at least ten levels above that, meaning each fight was long and grueling. Over the past hour, she had thrown herself into fight after fight, only taking short rests to recharge her stamina and mana. After her level-up, she decided to throw all her extra stat points into endurance in order to increase her stamina. None of her skills used stamina, but all the running and fighting she had done had definitely drained her energy.
Aurelia honestly felt more annoyed now than afraid. Maybe it was the trauma of the situation getting to her, but she was now fully focused on getting out of the dungeon. When she finally received the skill notification, she first accepted the loot. Aurelia pouted at the lack of a special skill book or item, but after the bow at the beginning of the room, she hadn’t received anything else of note. She then pulled up the updated quest notification.
Welcome to the [Jungle of the Raging Claw].
Dungeon Objectives:
One: Find and kill 40 monsters in the jungle 40/40
Two: Find and kill the final boss 0/1
Bonus Objective: Locate the rare herb [Anima Grass] 1/3
Other Hidden objectives may exist.
On a good note, Aurelia had stumbled upon one of the rare herbs indicated in the quest. She had found the glowing golden grass near the sleeping body of a sloth. The sloth had been hanging from a large tree branch, while the grass had been growing on the trunk of the tree. She hadn’t been able to identify the grass, but after plucking it from the tree, her quest had updated, indicating to Aurelia what it was she had found. From then on, Aurelia had kept her eyes peeled for the grass, but she had had no luck. While she could track down animals and retrace her own steps from her spatial tracking skill, that didn’t include magical grass. Maybe some other classes had the ability to track down certain herbs.
Aurelia began jogging forward. Running was one of her highest level skills at level five. She had no idea why none of her new skills had leveled up, but at least her running skill had helped her out, especially in the last two rooms of the dungeon.
There was a dark gray strand of mana flowing out in front of her, disappearing between leaves in the distance. Well, it wasn’t right in front of her, the strand was actually running between the jungle trees above her. The color of the mana was different from all the other sloths, indicating something was different about this particular monster. Aurelia hoped it was the boss, as it was the last thing she needed to do before she could exit the dungeon.
A couple minutes into her dodging around the large jungle trees, Aurelia found herself in a clearing, no longer completely surrounded by the dense brush. The gray strand of mana continued on in front of her, glowing slightly in the darkness around her. A moon shone above her, bright in the sky. Aurelia knew she was in a dungeon, but it really felt like she was standing outside. The moon reminded her of the moon on Earth, and she felt a pang of homesickness in her chest.
She continued following her skill through the grassy clearing, when she suddenly heard something that caused her to pause. Was that a voice she heard? Aurelia quieted her steps and her breath when she heard the sound again.
“HEL-LO, CHI-LD…” A voice so whispery she could barely make out the sounds echoed out into the clearing. The voice was slow, but Aurelia could still understand what it was saying.
“Who’s there?” To Aurelia’s embarrassment, her voice quavered in the darkness as she addressed the voice.
“WHO-O AM I?” The sound of its voice seemed to come from all around Aurelia. She stepped further towards the center of the clearing, hoping to make sure she had space all around her.
“I AM THE-E MOTH-ER,” the voice continued on.
Aurelia kept her wand held tightly in one hand. Her eyes darted from left to right to behind her.
“AND YOU… YOU ARE A PRINCE-ESS…” Her eyes widened at the words.
“What would you know about that?”
A whispering laugh answered Aurelia. “I… KNOW MO-ORE THAN YOU MI-IGHT THI-INK…”
Movement caught Aurelia’s attention to her right, and she turned her body in that direction. As she watched, the massive form of the biggest raging sloth she had so far encountered exited the trees and into the clearing. The dreamy look on its giant face was contrasted by glowing silver eyes. It crawled forwards on four sets of great claws, its movements deceptively slow. Aurelia took the time to identify the monster.
[Raging Sloth Matriarch] Level ?
Health: ?
Mana: ?
Stamina: ?
?
Aurelia gaped at the notification. What did it mean that she only got question marks instead of stats and a description? This couldn’t be good. Not at all.
“THE-ERE IS NO PO-INT, CHI-ILD… THAT SKI-ILL WI-ILL NOT WO-RK…” Aurelia stayed silent, but her wand hand twitched, as if eager to let loose a spell.
The sloth matriarch continued its crawl forwards, but Aurelia knew it could move faster than she could. What she could not understand was why the sloth seemed to be stalling the impending fight.
“WHY NOT FIGH-HT ME-E CHI-ILD?” the sloth’s mouth turned upwards in a smile. It was not a friendly one.
“Why did you start a conversation rather than attacking me first?” Aurelia replied evenly.
When the sloth spoke again, its voice became clearer and faster, “I EN-JOY PLA-YING WITH MY FOOD…” It opened its mouth to show off sharpened fangs, “MY KIND IS NOT COMMON ON ELDRIA, THIS WORLD IS NOT KIND TO THE MEEK…”
A burst of air blasted Aurelia in her face, making her close her eyes briefly in shock. When she opened her eyes, again, her face drained of color. Two large glowing eyes stared at her, only a couple feet away from her now.
“SO WE HAD TO BECOME FASTER… FASTER THAN THE REST…”
Aurelia prepared herself to teleport away as soon as the sloth made any more sudden movements. She would have already, but the curious cat in her made her pause.
“I REMEMBER THE PAST… YOU WILL HAVE MUCH TROUBLE AHEAD JUST FOR THE RANK YOU HOLD… I WOULD BE CAREFUL IF I WERE YOU…”
She didn’t even see the claw move. One second Aurelia was standing in front of the sloth, the next she was flying backwards, her mana shield destroyed and no longer of use. Before she could crash into the ground, Aurelia managed to teleport sideways and close to the ground. As she impacted the ground with much less force than she would have otherwise, the sloth matriarch was at the spot Aurelia would have landed if not for her quick movements.
The giant sloth twisted its head in her direction, and Aurelia got the hint. She teleported yet again, but closer to the tree line this time. She needed cover, as she was very vulnerable out in the open. After she got herself behind a giant tree, Aurelia pointed her wand and let loose a couple of her spatial slashes and ice spikes in the direction of the sloth. To her surprise, they actually hit home, despite the fast movement of the sloth.
The matriarch was almost galloping in her direction, its claws making deep furrows in the ground. She realized even with its speed, the sloth was still a huge target. Aurelia readied herself for another teleport while continuing to blast spell after offensive spell at the boss. As the claws descended in her direction, she moved out of the way. When she appeared twenty feet away, she could see as the seven foot wide tree she had previously stood behind was now crashing to the ground, the trunk completely cut in half from the sloth’s claws.
“And that could have been my face…” Aurelia muttered as she continued her assault yet again.
Aurelia didn’t usually identify enemies during the fight in order to check their health levels. Instead, she went the route of fighting until they dropped. This time, however, she wished she had the ability to understand how long this fight may take.
The matriarch was fast, but Aurelia had more useful skills to use against the sloth. At one point during the fight, it seemed the sloth was angry at all the damage it was getting and not giving in return. Aurelia watched as the silver glow in the matriarch’s eyes turned to red and the sloth became stronger and faster. When the change first began, it had caught Aurelia off guard, causing her to receive a large claw to the thigh. When that happened, she had quickly teleported far enough away so she could have time to use up her last healing potion. At this point she also took the time to power up her mana shield once more, before rejoining the fight.
Twenty minutes later, the sloth finally collapsed to the ground, its health depleted. Aurelia teleported over to the corpse and joined it in the grass. She brought out her ever-full water flask and gulped mouthfuls of water down until she needed air again. Aurelia sighed as she took deep breaths in and out. She had actually done it. Before she had the chance to fully celebrate or check her new loot, a glowing gray portal appeared a couple feet to her left.
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She jumped to her feet in astonishment, slowly approaching what had to be the dungeon exit. Aurelia pulled up her notifications, reading through each of them.
[Raging Sloth Matriarch] Level 34 defeated.
Experience earned!
You have reached level 12!
Stat points allocated!
You have 9 free stat points remaining.
You have one free skill point.
Would you like to loot [Raging Sloth Matriarch]?
[Raging Sloth Matriarch] meat x 15 received!
[Raging Sloth Matriarch] pelt x 1 received!
[Speed Burst] skill book: uncommon received!
[Hidden Meanings] skill book: legendary received!
[Monster Core] level 34 x 1 received!
61 Copper coins received!
32 Silver coins received!
All loot deposited in [Spatial Storage].
Congratulations, User [Aurelia]!
For completing the [Jungle of Fear] solo, you have received an [Iron Chest]!
Dungeon Objectives:
One: Find and kill 40 monsters in the jungle 40/40: Completed
Two: Find and kill the final boss 1/1: Completed
Bonus Objective: Locate the rare herb [Anima Grass] 1/3: Incomplete
Hidden Objectives: 0/?: Incomplete
For completing all primary objectives for [Forest of the Claw], you have received an [Iron Chest]!
Hidden conditions met: Claimer’s rights unlocked!
Would you like to claim this dungeon?
Despite the sheer exhaustion Aurelia felt, she could understand that each notification indicated something of importance. But it was the last line of the third notification that filled her with immense disbelief. What did it mean that she could claim the dungeon? Maybe she should ask the dungeon?
“Uh, system, what does it mean to claim a dungeon?” Aurelia asked aloud.
For the first time since starting her tutorial, the system didn’t supply an answer. Instead, the prompt that appeared only said, “Information on this topic is not widely known in Eldria, the tutorial will not include answers on user Aurelia’s question.” Aurelia scowled at the message, “Well that’s dumb.”
She then considered the original question again. Would she like to claim a dungeon? There was still so much Aurelia didn’t know about Eldria, and she didn’t know what people would say if they found out she claimed a dungeon. For that matter, she didn’t know how people would react to her having the rank of princess. The sloth matriarch had indicated to her that it could pose a problem for her in the future. Aurelia bit her lower lip in agitation.
“I’ll claim the dungeon.” Aurelia said aloud.
A second later the whole dungeon around her began to shake. She was still standing in front of the glowing portal, so Aurelia felt the full force of the tremors as her whole body swayed with the movements. Her eyes turned to the portal, watching as it shifted from the silver-gray color into a sapphire blue shade. Her eyes widened, worried something bad had happened to the portal. Aurelia decided she didn’t want to take the chance that her exit might close and jolted to her feet. She teleported directly in front of the portal, then dove through the swirling colors.
Aurelia came to inside a gray stone room. The room looked eerily familiar, and she realized it was the same room she had arrived in when first coming to the dungeon. At least, she thought it was the same cave room. It was a small room with glowing crystals, but instead of the multitude of different colors and shades between white and blue, all the crystals glowed with the same shade of sapphire blue. The gray stone door was in the same place she remembered, though this time around there was another entrance to the room on the opposite wall as the stone door. It was a cave opening, which was lit with the sapphire glow crystals. The tunnel sloped slightly upwards until Aurelia could no longer see where it led. On the ground, Aurelia could see two iron chests and one small chest that seemed to be made of… diamond?
Before she reached for the three chests, Aurelia looked for any new notifications about what might have just happened. Right there on top, she found an answer.
Congratulations User [Aurelia]!
You are now the owner of the [Dungeon of the Wild]. You have new options in your dungeon tab. You may access the dungeon tab anywhere and at anypoint.
Would you like to exit the dungeon now?
Aurelia eyed the notification, before searching for the dungeon tab the notification talked about. It pulled up immediately after making her intention clear to the system. She blinked at the sheer amount of information available to her. Aurelia quickly skimmed the tab seeing various options she could set in place for the dungeon. It seemed as though claiming a dungeon gave one the power to make a multitude of choices concerning the dungeon. She could set limits of how many people or groups could enter the dungeon, she could set an entrance fee or simply make a tax on anything people found inside the dungeon. She could also influence the dungeon to make certain choices on what creatures would spawn over others. Unfortunately for Aurelia, what she didn’t know about this world was immense and what she did know wasn’t enough for her to feel confident in making any changes to the dungeon.
For now, she left the dungeon settings at the default. This meant up to five different groups could enter the dungeon at a time. There was no entrance fee or tax enforced, and no level limit to who could enter. One feature she also left on was to keep her status as the dungeon owner hidden from sight. Aurelia would need to ask someone for help on what she should do with the dungeon once she left. As for exiting the dungeon, she decided to wait just a bit longer before leaving.
A lot had happened since defeating the sloth, so she pulled up the few notifications she had received after the fight. The sloth she had just defeated was level 34, way higher than anything else in the dungeon. Just that one fight had brought her from just past level eleven all the way to level twelve and halfway to level thirteen. It almost stunned her that she was able to defeat something so powerful compared to herself, and all alone.
She also now had two new skillbooks, but it was the second skill book, the Hidden Meanings skill book that caught her attention. It was a legendary item, the first she had seen since coming to Eldria. Only her own class was comparable in status. That fact convinced her to pull the skill book out of her inventory right away. The leather bound skill book was a deep purple color, with silver lettering. Since she had some time, Aurelia decided to try learning the skill before leaving the dungeon, she had a strong feeling she would need it.
Would you like to learn [Hidden Meanings]?
Item [Hidden Meanings] skill book: legendary will be consumed upon action.
When she accepted the prompt, the skill book disappeared into glowing purple light. Aurelia closed her eyes as the information on the new skill filled her mind, her heart racing with excitement. After the light settled and her slight headache began to fade, Aurelia looked at the description of her new skill. She scanned the prompt, her eyes lighting up with surprise.
“Will allow the user to change the appearance of their stat sheet when it is viewed by others. The user will be able to see both the real stat sheet and the adjusted stat sheet. Few skills can see through this skill. The cost is one thousand mana!” It seemed the purpose of this skill was to hide the contents of her skill sheet from others. Aurelia pondered for a moment before nodding. She was at a major disadvantage compared to the natives of this world. Hiding her real abilities and rank would definitely be useful in getting a one-up on others.
Aurelia pulled up her skill sheet and eyed her mana. After leveling up to level twelve, she was now just under one thousand mana naturally. With her 20 percent increase from her necklace she was at over eleven hundred mana. She still had nine free stat points to use up, so she put three stat points into intelligence to bring her natural mana to over one thousand, then put the rest into charisma for the help in interacting with others.
After deciding what she should change, Aurelia activated her hidden meanings skill. The mana drain was sudden and intense, giving Aurelia a massive migraine. She wasn’t brought down to zero mana, but it still strained her to use such a mana-intensive skill. She concentrated on her stat sheet and imagined what she wanted it to say instead.
The first thing she changed was her rank, making it say Knight instead of Princess. Aurelia didn’t want it to be peasant rank, as she assumed her skill level would be incongruent with the peasant rank. Then, she changed her main class from spatial mage to just mage. In public, she would try using the most basic of skills to stay under the radar. Since the mage class only gave fifteen stat points per level compared to her twenty-five, she altered her stats to be congruent with those numbers as well. The last thing she did was to make her available classes be two instead of four. After confirming the changes, Aurelia looked at her altered stat sheet.
Name: Aurelia
Age: 22
Race: Human
Rank: Knight
Class: 1/2
Main Class: Mage
Level: 12
Health: 230/230
Mana: 700/700
Stamina: 200/200
Strength: 15
Vitality: 23
Agility: 22
Endurance: 20
Wisdom: 70
Intelligence: 70
Luck: 12
Perception: 22
Charisma: 20
Unspent Stat Points: 0
Having ten extra stat points per level really made a difference when Aurelia compared her fake stat sheet to her real one. That made her eternally grateful that she had the legendary class instead of an average one. Before Aurelia left the dungeon, she had one more thing to take care of.
She walked over to the three chests and opened the first iron chest she had received from the quest. Inside she found five mana potions that all looked larger than the ones she got at the beginning of the dungeon. In the second iron chest was a small drawstring bag. Aurelia opened it up to find a single coin. Confused, she upturned the bag into her palm and saw a glistening platinum coin. She placed it into her storage space and saw a new coin count next to the gold. It showed her one platinum coin alongside the bronze, silver, and gold coins. Aurelia then realized there was a currency higher than gold, and she had no idea of what to compare them to.
She shrugged then turned to the final chest. Aurelia remembered the system’s explanation on the chests, how iron was the most common chest found in the dungeon, but a diamond chest was the rarest of them all. Aurelia opened the chest to find a glowing faceted crystal the size of her fist. When she held the crystal in her fist, a new prompt appeared. As she scanned the prompt, her excitement grew. It seemed this crystal was unique to this dungeon and to her. As the new owner of the dungeon, this crystal would not only allow her to teleport anywhere outside the dungeon in a thousand foot radius, but also allow her to teleport directly into this room from anywhere in Eldria. To Aurelia, this prize was definitely a diamond rank treasure.
Aurelia looked around the room, making sure she hadn’t missed anything, then concentrated on the teleport crystal. As she did so, she suddenly had a bird’s eye view of the dungeon entrance in the meadow. To her surprise, she could see a group of people directly outside the entrance all seemingly arguing with each other. A tall man with blonde hair was pointing at the dungeon entrance, his face red with anger. She couldn’t hear what any of them were saying, but decided there was no way she was going to leave the dungeon directly into whatever was happening. Aurelia looked towards the forest and decided to teleport there, out of sight from any prying eyes. With a deep breath, Aurelia activated the crystal.