('Alright time to enter the dungeon') Ron thought as he checked everything that he was bringing along. It has been 2 days after his near hit on Scarlett during that spar and not a lot has changed.

Ron used those 2 days in order to prepare for the dungeon, he stocked up food and water that could last him a week. Next he got some more practice with the whip and some more basic training. And finally he got a crash course in self care from the doctor of the town.

"So how confident are you on a scale of 1 to 10?" Scarlett asked Ron as they stood in front of the cave, the cave was currently unoccupied and completely empty as the town world first needed to secure their food and stabilise.

"Honestly kind of a 6" Ron replied he could easily die in there but if he could succeed he could also get big rewards.

"Are you afraid?" Scarlett asked him, one look in his eyes revealed it all to her but she wanted him to say it. It might seem cruel but it was necessary for his own growth.

"I am afraid yes" Ron simply nodded, there was no need to hide it. Scarlett simply nodded and smiled a little at his answer, his mindset was good and he wasn't overconfident.

"I'll be at the waterfall training. If that item you gave me works I'll know if you're still alive or not" Scarlett said where she would be if he returned and also had little doubts about the item Ron gave her.

"Thanks. It should work, I'm sure of it," Ron thanked Scarlett. What item had Ron given Scarlett? It was an item from a very popular show he had seen back in his past. Ron recalled the details the shop gave him.

'Vivre Card. A piece of paper tied to the life force of a person, can locate where the person currently is. Will burn if the person gets injured and will restore once healed. Should the person die the paper will burn up completely (Personal name needed and consent of the person)'.

It was the Vivre Card from One Piece, Ron tested out if he could wish for items from other media and was happy it succeeded. This opened up a lot of other items Ron had ideas for. This wish however used up the rest of his points. He had 1,025 points and Catwoman cost him 525 points; the Vivre Card was the last 500 points.

Ron slowly realised he could use wish points in order to speed up his progress greatly in terms of items and also in terms of private tutors. He had plans in order to up his strength but no wish points.

Ron looked at Scarlett who met his eyes just as he was about to say something she cut him off "Don't start giving me a dying message have confidence" Ron just smiled he wanted to thank Scarlett in case he died but he wasn't planning on dying so there was no need to say it.

"Fine I'll stop stalling and just go already" Ron said as he started walking in the cave and towards the dungeon. Scarlett watched Ron go and wished him good luck in her mind, telling him that was unnecessary.

As Ron was walking towards the dungeon entrance a thought suddenly occurred to him, he was alone again for the first time in weeks. He had summoned Goblin Slayer after 1 day and spent the rest of the time with others.

Ron wasn't really lonely in his past as he always had family or friends around, however when he was sent to the tower he had lost that all. He's made new friends now however now he was alone again and was going to face the dungeon alone. Ron would be lying if he said having Scarlett around wasn't helpful, she was incredibly strong and could do inhuman things.

However he knew deep down that struggles created strength, in all the stories he had read or watched the characters went through life and death struggles to become stronger. He had to face his own struggles to become stronger and couldn't hide behind Scarlett forever. Not that she would let him either, she was clear about that from the start.

Soon the door to the dungeon was visible, Ron did one last check to see if everything was ready. He took a deep breath and placed his hand on the door, the information came up the same as last time.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Dungeon: Kobolds cave

Difficulty: Easy

Limit: Level one beings

Warning only 1 may enter per party, Non repeatable

Ron had heard of kobolds in fiction stories but was curious if they were the same as the ones he knew of. Also the level one being stuck out a little to Ron, there were levels? Maybe he could buy some sort of interface later on that would tell him more? Questions for later.

Ron put a little strength into his arm and pushed the door open. It was dark inside so he couldn't see much. He steeled his nerves and stepped into the dungeon. After stepping into the dungeon the door behind Ron closed ('One way entrance good to know for the future'). The only way out now was to complete it or die trying.

It was eerily quiet in the caves which was a good thing, at least he wasn't jumped the moment he entered the caves. It was dark in the caves and Ron had trouble seeing for a little bit, after his eyes adjusted to the dark he walked forward.

It took a little walking before he could hear something *ding* *ding* it sounded like something sharp hitting a wall. Ron got the whip ready and continued to walk ahead, light slowly crept in from torches that were on the wall as the tunnel opened up into a room. Ron saw 3 humanoid creatures with dog heads swinging pickaxes against the wall.

('They're mining?') Ron thought as he saw the scene in front of him. The kobolds only had a small cloth around their waists and backpacks on their back where they put the rocks they were mining in.

('It doesn't look like they're armed but why mine these rocks?') Ron noted their equipment but was a little interested in these stones, they didn't look like anything special yet they seemed like they weren't swinging at the wall randomly. Ron decided to wait and see what would happen if one's backpack was full.

After about 5 minutes one kobold stuffed the backpack, picked it up and moved deeper into the cave leaving the other 2 behind. Ron didn't know the strength of one kobold let alone three together so he was tempted to fight only one. Two if there was no other choice.

Ron waited to see if there was another kobold coming yet one only came after 20 minutes. Then after another 10 minutes one kobold left to empty the backpack. Ron waited for another 10 minutes before going in to kill the 2 kobolds, he waited because his whip was really loud and was afraid the sound would make the third one return.

Ron crept up on the closest kobold and entered a meditative state he would need every bonus he could get. When he was close enough he readied his whip and swung it to wrap around the pickaxe of the kobold. The kobold noticed something was around his pickaxe yet when he wanted to look closer it was suddenly yanked out of his hand and thrown away.

The kobold turned to see a creature he had never seen with a long rope-like weapon in its hands, clearly its pickaxe was stolen by this creature. The kobold roared and alerted the other kobold in the room who still had its pickaxe.

Ron swung the whip once more and slapped the closest kobold in the face *crack* a gash appeared on the kobolds face as it roared in pain and clutched its face. The other kobold came running but it was a lot slower then the hyenas, probably because of that heavy backpack.

Ron swung once more and wrapped it around the ankle of the kobold that was running towards him and pulled. The kobold tripped and fell causing it to lose the pickaxe it was running with as the heavy backpack slammed into its back.

Unwrapping the whip from the ankle Ron once more swung it at the first kobold striking it in the head again giving it another cut, these were not deep but did inflict a lot of pain. Then Ron whipped the one he had tripped on the stomach. He could keep whipping them but they wouldn't die like that. He needed more killing power. Suddenly an idea came and Ron wrapped a pickaxe and brought it towards him.

He rushed in and slammed the pickaxe into the skull of the first kobold. Then repeated it with the second one. After that it was silent once more. Ron caught his breath and prepared for the next kobold that was incoming in just a few short minutes. Yet after minutes of waiting it never came.

('Why didn't it show up?') Ron thought about it, what happened? Did it hear the commotion? Possible. Or did it smell the blood? Also possible. However it meant that stealth was no longer an option.

('Oh well, now let's review the fight) Ron thought about the fight he just had. It may seem like it was easy but it was clear he was missing one thing. Killing power. The whip was a control weapon; his fists were supposed to be the killing blow, but for that he needed the talent upgrade first.

('I'll fix that after the dungeon, for now the pickaxe it is') Ron concluded and moved onto the rocks in the backpack of the kobold. He picked up a rock and felt they were a little warm to the touch, appearance wise nothing stood out from them. Were they just warm rocks?

Looking around the room nothing stood out from it and the wall looked like any plain old wall, nothing special. Ron took a torch and a pickaxe and moved further into the cave. Since stealth was no longer an option he might as well take a torch.

Going deeper into the caves Ron didn't hear any more mining sounds seems like they really are on high alert. After going into a tunnel that went into another open room there were 4 kobolds waiting for Ron, all of them seemed to be ready.

All 4 kobolds, 3 seemed to also be miners as they only had pickaxes and the final one was unarmed. Were all kobolds in this dungeon miners? The 3 armed kobolds suddenly rushed at him with their pickaxes. Ron dropped the torch and quickly whipped two of the incoming kobolds yet not having enough time for the third one.

The third kobold swung its pickaxe down with enough force to crack the ground, Ron sidestepped and swung the pickaxe in his hand with all he got like a tennis racket. It was slow and heavy but managed to puncture the kobold in the stomach.

It wasn't an instant kill but a critical wound nonetheless, Ron left the pickaxe in there and jumped back and whipped the pickaxe out of the wound. Now Ron was left with 3 kobolds, 2 of them were running at Ron once more after enduring the pain from the whip. While the third one still looked on.

('Is it waiting for something?') Ron noticed it only looked at him and did nothing else but he still had 2 angry kobolds running into him, whipping both kobolds hard they still ran towards him seemingly ignoring the pain. Both kobolds ran at Ron and swung their pickaxes towards him, Ron punched out the moment their swings missed and could feel something cracking.

Ron continued to punch and dodge the two kobolds slowly punching them to death. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his side and saw the final kobold biting down on his waist. It moved when Ron was distracted and bit down when it had a chance.