Now that they had that little problem solved, and they had placated Ark, it was time to test some shit out!

Finding enemies in this dungeon was ridiculously easy. After a few minutes – During which, they only moved a few hundred feet from their base – they had already found a new small campsite.

Rowan was about to rush in, but Vorn convinced him to stay his blades for a moment. He prepared a very simple elemental protection spell.

A child could make one if they had the Mana. It was as easy as summoning an element, keeping it suspended in the air while keeping in mind several constantly changing variables to make sure it didn't touch or affect you, and then simply locking that effect in your mind and fortifying it when it got close to breaking.

Again, a child could do it.

According to Vorn at least.

Vorn went with a Fire Ward, as water or ice would have slowed Rowan down. They wouldn't have hurt him – Vorn was an amateur, but he wasn't that bad – but water tended to soak or collect on top of most things, and a stone floor wasn't any different. Having to deal with a slippery and wet floor simply wasn’t optimal. Sure, it wouldn't have been that detrimental, but why work with any inefficiency if you didn't have to?

Fire was much cleaner anyway.

Vorn began conjuring fire around them but quickly had to dispel it when he saw Ark approaching.

“What is it-”

Ark calmly walked up to them. Then smacked them upside the head.

"What was that for!?" Vorn shouted. He learned that he could stick his head through the membrane to talk for a second while Rowan was in control.

"Dumbass, last time you used fire, you destroyed all the bodies! We're here for blood, remember!" Ark shouted back, louder.

"Ah-" Vorn accidentally let out a noise of recognition before saying, "-I totally remembered that! You think I can't control the temperature or something? I'm insulted, really." He puffed out his chest and huffed with mock indignation.

Ark just shook her head and said, "Enough goofing around. Good luck, guys. I'm looking forward to seeing what you two can do together!"

It kinda intimidated Vorn just how quickly she could go from banter to genuine anger to encouragement. Ark's emotions were just as energetic as her!

Truthfully, it was a bit hard to tell when the bit ended and where anger and other emotions actually started. She was always joking around in some form or another. Perhaps it was better stated as her always putting a tinge of humor in whatever she did. Even her actual emotions.

Well, Vorn assumed it was most likely nothing to worry about. He had never been a people person, so what did he know?

He created a new shield, this time turning down the temperature of the fire significantly. It would still turn Orcs well done, but now it wouldn't turn them to ash. That was probably for the best, anyway. It was more efficient, and it gave Rowan the chance to work with him, instead of just being the carrier of the flaming death aura.

Rowan simply strode into the camp as if owned it. The Orcs didn't use arrows, luckily, so they didn't have to worry about that. His flames were no longer powerful enough to instantly disintegrate a projectile.

A few Orcs sounded the alarm, a fancy way of saying that they started shouting as loud as they could, and they rushed Voran.

Fighting with flames all around him, ones that couldn't hurt him, was strange for Rowan. He didn't have to stay on his toes anymore, the Orcs couldn't even reach him. The Fire Shield was around ten feet in diameter, and by the time the Orcs reached him, they were already dead or halfway there.

It was... terrible. Awful. Boring.

Most of the Orcs were around their level, but with common classes instead of Mythic, so of course it would be easy, but he had hoped for more than... this. Was this what getting stronger entailed?

Rowan was horrified.

Sensing his partner's distress, Vorn asked, What's wrong! Is the shield hurting you?

“No... I just... is this all there is? Just us steamrolling whatever walks in front of us?”

“Oh, is that all you were worried about? We're in a D to B-ranked dungeon, recommended for people from level twenty-five to seventy five. However, that is calculated for Common and Rare Classes. Plus, we are taking on a small camp, we have like, twenty times their stats, and the same amount of Skills. Of course we're overpowering them.”

“I know, but as you just said, we have twenty times their stats. What can challenge us?”

“Wow, you forgot about nearly dying quickly! That fucking behemoth didn't nearly kill us because of its stats, by my calculations, it should've been, at most, two to three times stronger than you. I know you, and I know that wouldn't have been impossible for you to overcome." Vorn continued, “What nearly murdered us was its skills, perks, and evolution. That stomp that paralyzed every creature for hundreds of feet, the overpowering power that enveloped its fists, and all of its evolved abilities. That is what higher levels bring that stats can't beat. Not inherently. Still... this dungeon won't really be able to challenge us anymore. Not unless a chieftain comes out to try and kick our asses. Even then, I have a feeling we might steamroll one now. Of all evolved monsters, they don’t rank very highly.”

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“Thank you for the reassurance. I was beginning to panic a little. The thought of never having a fight like the behemoth Orc again... It's horrifying.”

“Also – and I hate to say this because I know you're going to want to leave immediately – we are in the Cradle. This continent is not exactly the pinnacle of danger. Most people who are born here never leave, the outside is just that much more dangerous. Most continents would chew up and spit out this one. Its mana density is just low enough that no one wants it.”

“So... what you're saying is... there are entire continents that are way more deadly?” Rowan asked with a decidedly too interested tone.

“I knew you would have this reaction.” Vorn said, exasperated, “We can't leave yet. Not only are we poor as shit, but we would get absolutely obliterated the moment we left. And that’s if we could make it past the mountains.”

— — —

By the time they had finished their conversation, the entire camp was dead. Rowan didn't even have to move. He had to suppress a shudder.

Ark ran up to them and exclaimed, “Great job, guys! How’s your Mana looking Vorn?”

“I didn’t actually have to use much. Turning down the heat from instant incineration to just pretty hot helped a lot! I knew I was being inefficient, but I didn’t consider that merely letting them die over the course of a few seconds instead of instantly would make such a large difference!”

“And it also lets us, you know, do what we came here for. No more dusting enemies with valuable blood ya moron.” Ark playfully reprimanded him.

Meanwhile, Rowan was still stewing in the new information he had received. No more challenges like the one he had just faced until he either found something way above his level or left the Cradle? That sounded incredibly boring. There must be a way to find a challenge.

So, like whenever he had a burning question, he simply asked.

“How are we going to find a challenging dungeon? Will they even allow us into higher-level ones? Especially since we are masquerading an Epic Path instead of a Unique one.”

“Listen, I understand where you're coming from, but I think you're not fully realizing something, stats aren’t everything. Just because we get a lot per level doesn’t mean we’re automatically stronger.” He continued, “Just flat out stating our stat points is a little misleading. Look at it this way, we get one hundred and twenty stat points per level, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“How many of them actively help you fight better?”

“Half?”

“Okay, so of the one-twenty, you have access to sixty. Still a lot, but half of what you were applying to yourself before.”

“True, but that is still equivalent to a Mythic Path, right?”

“Sure, you won’t catch me denying that we have powerful Paths, but it’s not tyrannically overwhelming to every creature in the Cradle, just those of our level or lower. We are still two people sharing a body, don’t forget that. You and your Path aren’t any different than before I got mine. Plus, what I said about skills and perks? That still applies.”

“Speaking of your path, didn’t it only give you Wisdom and Intelligence?”

“Yeah? Why?”

“Well, where did the Luck and Charisma come from then?”

“Oh, that’s interesting actually! Normally, you get access to all your Attributes from the moment you select your Path, but for us that only happened after we both did. The implications of that means-”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, I wouldn’t normally, but could I please get the short version? If we want to do the rest of the dungeon today, we don’t exactly have time for a dissertation.”

“That’s… fair. Okay, so those are our Dead Attributes. Depending on the rarity of your Path, you have a number your Attributes cannot go below. For us, since we are above Mythic, we have the Mythic Minimum Attribute of five percent. Our lowest Attribute cannot go lower than five percent of our total stat points.”

“That seems... not right. We just get free stats? I get that higher rarities are better, but this seems ridiculous.”

“You’re wrong on both points there. Sure, higher rarity Paths are stronger especially at the same level, but they are also much, much harder to evolve. Low rarity Paths are an excellent foundation, and even have several advantages over higher rarities. Granted, most of them don’t make up for the stat disparity until way later on. Now for the other point, the lower the rarity of your Path, the higher your Minimum Attribute, and the lower the penalty for having a Dead Stat. For example, Common Classes have a Minimum Attribute of twenty five percent of their total stats.”

“Penalty?”

“Yeah, Dead Attributes exist so an unbalanced Path won’t kill the person walking it. However, at least at Epic rarity and above, they only do the bare minimum to keep you alive. For example, let’s say you have an Epic Path. Your Selected Attributes are STR, AGI, WIS, INT, and you put all your free points into CHA. In each of those, let’s say you have around four hundred points. The Epic Minimum Attribute is ten percent. That means CON would have around two hundred. Still a decent number right?”

“Right.”

“Wrong. CON that would normally allow for you to use full power attacks with no impact on your body, as a Dead Attribute, will barely keep your arm from dislocating with every heavy punch. That’s for an Epic Path, however. Below Epic, the penalty is vastly reduced. At Legendary and above, though, the stats are fully dead. They still work, but barely. If I had to bullshit a number, I would say they lack about eighty percent of their functionality past Epic, though the actual method of weakening them is more complex than just making them less powerful numerically.”

“Huh. Good to know I suppose. What would dead Luck and Charisma even do though? With Constitution, it’s a physical effect, but Luck is esoteric.”

“We have no idea. Charisma we know, it’s basically just a third as effective as far as we can tell, but Luck just seems like it doesn’t work at all.”

“Alright, I think I get it. You ready to go collect the rest of the blood?”

“Sure am! I’ll let you handle the next few camps by yourself. I can see you getting antsy.”

“Thank you. The lack of Movement was getting stifling, I’ll admit.”