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Level 9
Attributes: Strength - 19
Constitution - 19
Intelligence - 19
Willpower - 19
Homunculus Skill List: Heavy Strike - attack
Pinpoint Blow - attack
Blunt Weapon Mastery - passive
Brawling - passive
Improved Evasion - passive
Throwing Mastery - passive
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3 weeks after first discovering I could level, I finally hit level 9! Even though it had slowed substantially after level 5, it was still incredibly quick compared to what common sense dictated. Spending my time hunting dungeon monsters, and occasionally adventurers that had been separated from their party, I now had a set of average quality equipment for my "body" as I had come to consider my Homunculus.
I had widened my shoulders to comfortably fit an iron scalemail shirt, and lengthened my legs a little for leggings made of some sort of hardened leather. Along with soft leather shoes and an open-faced helmet, I now looked the part of a bonafide dungeon delving adventurer! Now all I needed was someone to impress. Unfortunately, adventurers coming into my dungeon alone were extremely rare, and any party I spent time with would inevitably leave the range of my core, which along with revealing that I'm not human, would also drop my hard-earned equipment. So for the moment, I'm still stuck alone.
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Stepping to the side, and using my small shield to deflect its leap, I shattered the spine of a wolf just behind its front legs with a Pinpoint Blow as it sailed past me. Not wanting to let it suffer, even if made of mana, I finished it off before returning to my core chamber to create a new body with my increased stats. Giving my new face a little stubble, and squaring the jawline slightly, I looked closer to a young man in his early twenties instead of my previous teenage appearance. Now that I had a suitable pair of pants, I gave up on being... Anatomically correct, in favour of extra freedom of movement.
As my new body finished building, I heard my helm clatter as my previous one started melting back into mana. It looked like it would leave my equipment wet, but I had found it would dry and dissipate within a few seconds leaving my armor laying in a pile on the ground. As I unconsciously started re-equiping my armor, I had a quick scan of my dungeon. I had noticed over the past weeks that while concentrating on my puppet my sense of what happened in the dungeon was lowered, apart from in my core chamber and nearby my body. 2 males had just stopped for a rest in a small dead-end corridor and were chatting while looking over their equipment for damage.
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"So whats the deal with that ring you got hanging round your neck Max? I know you ain't married"
"Ah, this... This was enchanted once, by this priest in my group I was sweet on. She said it gave me a few extra points of health, to hopefully keep me safe if things are dire. She lost her life when we were fighting some wolves, one snuck up behind and damn near tore her head off before we could kill it. That's when I got this scar." Max lifted his shirt to show a faded line of teethmarks on his side. "I guess it worked, since I lived. Enchanter told me couple years back it had lost its use, but I keep it round. Feels like I'm carrying part of her with me. Something of a good luck charm, and a reminder."
"Reminder of what? Don't fuck with wolves?"
"HAH, yeah something like that"
Ironically a wolf rounded the corner of the corridor they were waiting in as I decided to ignore them. Obtaining some enchanted equipment would be a great boon, but that wasn't my main focus right now, what if I could carry... myself? My core was stuck in the stone, but what if I was able to remove it? What would happen to the dungeon, or me? I had nothing in my memories of a dungeon core being completely removed, but there was something about enchanters using core fragments to create permanent enchants.
With some calculations I figured with 1 intelligence per level, if my core couldn't move, I would need to attain level 53 just to reach the pathway up in floors, and over level 100 to get to the dungeon entrance. Even the guard captain in Laraville was only level 43 after 35 years of guarding the walls from monsters and bandits. I really dont want to spend the next 50 years in this cave, I'm not sure I will even continue to level once these creatures become too weak compared to me.
A dungeon core is able to process a near infinite supply of mana, drawing from the land and animals nearby and concentrating it into the dungeon to create monsters. The size of a dungeon core is affected by the quality and quantity of nearby mana sources, as well as the size of dungeon it inhabits. Shards of a dungeon core could be used in enchanting and alchemy. Wow Alex really didn't know much about dungeons before he killed himself in one. I was going to need more information before I attempted anything, in case I followed his example.
Guess it's time to talk to some adventurers.