Shaun could feel the sun on his body, it was what had caused him to wake in the first place, that and the light. He opened his eyes first, not daring to try and move his body after being hurt to such a degree in the dungeon. I’m not in the dungeon anymore? He didn’t remember how he got outside, couldn’t remember anything since the moment he had passed out, the last thing he did remember was the lion dying and then darkness as his health dropped down to near 0.
He couldn’t believe he had not only won, but that he was still alive. If he was out of the dungeon then that could only mean that he had completed it, that the lion was the last monster left inside and the boss that needed to be killed before you were allowed to leave. Rather than attempt to stand he kept lying on the ground and would use the time in which he hoped to recover further looking through his notifications.
*You have defeated a (Wildfire Lioness – Level 23). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 230 TE awarded*
…………………………………………………………
*You have defeated a (Wildfire Lioness – Level 23). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 230 TE awarded*
*You have defeated a (Flame Pride Lion – Level 25). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 1000 TE awarded*
*Class: Elemental Blade Slinger has levelled up by +4 levels. [Advanced] Elemental Blade Slinger has reached Level 29. +12 Str, +8 Dex, +12 End, +12 Vit, +16 Soul gained*
*Race: Human has levelled up by +2 levels. Human (F) has reached Level 20. +8 Ap gained*
He had gained 4 levels in his class from defeating all of the monsters in the last cavern, he assumed at least half of that came from the level 25 lion, he was now able to confirm the level instead of the ?? he had seen when identifying it. It also came with a huge increase in the TE awarded, if he was to guess this was either because of the fact it was the boss of the dungeon or because it was level 25, which was a significant number with the system.
*Multiple Skill Level ups: [Advanced] Blade Mastery – Level 3*
*Multiple Skill Level ups: [Advanced] Earthen Echo – Level 16*
*Multiple Skill Level ups: [Advanced] Enhanced Mind – Level 10*
*Multiple Skill Level ups: [Advanced] Elemental Strike – Level 4*
*Multiple Skill Level ups: [Advanced] Stone Skin– Level 6*
Every single one of his class skills had also levelled up by at least 2 levels during that last fight, although that seemed small, levelling up the advanced skills took a lot more effort and practice than the basic ones, so to gain 2 levels per skill was a huge achievement.
*Title earned: Beginner Solo Dungeoneer*
* Beginner Solo Dungeoneer: Through the solo completion of a dungeon meant for more than one individual this title grants the holder a 5% increase to their stats while outside of dungeons and alone and a 10% increase while solo within a dungeon. The title is upgradeable.*
He had expected to get a title from completing a dungeon, that it was tailored to the fact he had done it solo and gave a % boost was better than expected. Seeing that it was also upgradeable meant that the more dungeons he did solo the better the title would become. Only getting the increases when he was alone didn’t bother him either, he was planning to stick to himself anyway so it wouldn’t have much of an impact on the title taking effect. He only had a few notifications left, and these ones he was more excited to see as they should clue him into what had occurred after he had passed out.
*Heart of Fire Dungeon Completed. Dungeon will automatically eject successful participants in 5 minutes.*
He was already unconscious when this one came through, it was good to know that you got 5 minutes before you were forced out of the dungeon though. Annoyed, he just realised he never got a chance to loot any of the bodies from the monsters in the last cavern, all of that good loot had gone to waste, and if he was to guess the loot from that lion would have been incredible. But he was alive so he couldn’t complain too much about missing out on what he would have gotten, still though, he imagined getting the pelt from that lion and making a cape out of it, he would have looked like Hercules.
*Calculating dungeon reward grade*
Party fully cleared the dungeon of monsters. Adjusting reward grade.
No members of the party died during the completion of the dungeon. Adjusting reward grade.
Dungeon completed by participants at a lower level than recommended. Adjusting reward grade.
Dungeon completed by less than the 5 participants recommended. Adjusting reward grade.
Dungeon completed Solo. Adjusting reward grade.
Dungeon reward grade: A
*Distributing reward at A level*
*Blank Faction Emblem*
*Soul Fire Orb rewarded*
Stolen story; please report.
*Soul Fire Orb: An orb that is made of the most pure element of Fire, greatly increases all attacks made with this element if equipped. If the user has an affinity for fire, mana cost is greatly reduced when using their affinity. If the user does not have an affinity to fire, when equipped may channel mana through the orb and aspect attacks to take on properties of fire.*
The fire orb was incredible, better than he expected if he was being honest with himself, it paired really well with his affinity and was as small as a marble, meaning that it would be easy to keep on his person at all times. The fact that he was graded on his performance and it took everything into account, the fact he was alone, under levelled and killed every monster pushed him up to getting a high rank in the dungeon, something that would be very hard for others to do.
*Blank Faction Emblem: The base of a faction emblem yet to be infused and inscribed by a multiverse faction declaring which faction the holder belongs too.*
He had received a full Blank Faction emblem which didn't make sense. The objectives said that you had to form one, not that they would be given out whole. Thinking it over he did get A grade on the dungeon, which may mean he got the full reward available, whereas if you got a lower grade you would instead only get pieces of the emblem? The fact that the emblem would be used to declare who he belonged to didn't exactly fill him with joy, he didn't know any factions and had no desire to join any at this point either.
There were no more notifications to go through, the only thing left to do was actually get up but the thought of the pain that he knew would come when he moved made him hesitate. Instead he started slow, he moved his left arm first, it was sore but manageable, he then moved to use right arm which hurt slightly more than the left but still, he could push through the pain. Moving his hand down his body investigated where the most damage was, he could feel where the long gashes were from the lions claws, they weren’t as bad as they had been and didn’t seem to be bleeding any longer but were still there. Moving up to his face, it was in the same situation although the wounds had scabbed over, probably leaving him looking like he had been mauled by a giant cat, which he had been.
Committing to his next action he used his arms to help him into a sitting position, that one action brought about the overwhelming pain that he expected but using his enhanced mind he pushed through it. Once he was in a comfortable position he didn’t move to get up, he would need to take this slow, he was in no state to be getting into a fight at this point in time and he used his echo to confirm no one was around. He looked at the time he had left in stage 2 and saw he only had 19 days remaining, he was already a third of the way through and completed one dungeon, he had some time left to do two more, especially as they should be easier with two affinities instead of one, plus the upgraded class and the extra stats and skills.
He gave himself one day to continue to heal and rest, during this time he would focus on his profession, which he should be able to do with little movement. He had lost all of his arrowheads in the dungeon as well as all but one of his daggers, which he somehow had on him, he still had his sword though. He needed to craft more weapons if he was going to be at peak performance when fighting, and he decided that he would need to use every resource he had to recover what he had lost.
He took everything that contained metal out of his inventory, including the gear he took from the others, as well as most of the fangs and claws, separating it all into piles so he could assess what he would be able to create. He had enough metal to make maybe three daggers, if he used all of it in that fashion, but it would leave him with nothing to use on the claws and fangs. Instead he moved enough metal out of the pile and set it aside to use on the other items, leaving him enough to make only two daggers, if he even could that was.
He would start with trying to make the blades, then move on to everything else, if he failed at being able to do anything he could always repurpose the metal into something else. Before he got started though he took out the heating stone and ate as much meat as he could until he couldn’t imagine being able to take another bite. With that done he drank as much water as he could, leaving only enough for a few more days to give him time to find a water source once he left the mountain, it was going to have to be a priority once he set out again.
He wasn’t sure how he was going to start with crafting daggers, but he figured that since they were metal and could already be used by his earth affinity he would try and imbue them with his fire affinity this time around. He took half of the remaining pile and, focusing on heating the metal, tried to form it all into one compact ball. It took a lot more out of him than he expected, but after a while he had successfully made a clump of malleable heated metal. Before he even tried shaping it into a blade he used his Mana Attunement skill and pushed as much of his fire affinity as he could into it. The process continued for about an hour until he felt the metal couldn’t take any more of his energy, it glowed red, and even with his resistance to heat he could feel how hot it was through his hands.
With that done he moved on to the shaping, he did this with both his skill and earth affinity, needing to get the blade as sharp as he could and in a shape that would work well if he wielded it by hand. He settled on a long stiletto shape with a small handle that he continued testing in his grip until it was comfortable. He needed to spend considerable time making the blade as sharp and thin as he could without it becoming too brittle that it would snap when he launched it at high speeds. When he was happy with the final product he sent a wave of his earth affinity through it, condensing the metal until it hardened and cooled. With that done he picked up strips of the lizard skin he got in the dungeon and wound it around the handle, melding it in place.
*Successful New Crafting – Bonus Experience provided*
*[Advanced] Concussive Flame Dagger – A blade deeply imbued with the element of fire and sealed with the element of earth, the dagger will cause a small blast of flame on contact that will momentarily stun opponents.*
*Profession: Mana Crafter has levelled up by +3 levels. [Basic] Mana Crafter has reached Level 13. +4 Int, +4 Wil, +8 Soul*
*Race: Human has levelled up by +1 levels. Human (F) has reached Level 21. +4 Ap gained*
The levels were nice, but the dagger, it was his new favourite toy, he couldn’t wait to try it out in a fight. He had gained skill levels throughout forging the dagger, he had been meditating throughout the crafting as well to keep his mana up and help him focus on the task.
This is how the rest of the day went, he did nothing but focus on his crafting, making the second dagger which turned out exactly the same as the first and also moving on to craft for arrowheads out of the claws and fangs until he ran out metal. He coated all of the daggers in the poison before storing them, he had plenty left and it had helped him a lot in his fights so didn’t want to risk not having the advantage on hand.
His clothes had been destroyed during the fight so the last thing he did was throw together another quick vest and braces with the materials he had left. He couldn’t think of anything different he wanted to do with them from the last time he had made clothes so just replicated what he had originally. They held up fine for the most part but against high levelled monsters they wouldn’t be able to do much, and outside of spending days working with crab shells, he had no quick and easy upgrades to make.
He didn’t gain any more levels in his profession but he was happy with the overall increase he received throughout the process. He had been working non stop for a while so decided to get in a quick nap and then moving out, he checked his surroundings again, and confirming there was nothing nearby, decided he would be safe enough for the moment.