Chapter 167 – Working Hard

Level: 20

Experience: BLOCKED

Healing: 520/520

Stamina: 620/620

Mana: 840/840

Class: Tier 1, Adult Human (Blue)

Effect: Increased Skill Acquisition (+10%), Increased Learning Speed (+10%), Increased Stat Gain (+10%), Increased Physical Gain (+10%), Increased Mental Gain (+10%)

Vitality: 52 (+1)

Endurance: 62 (+2)

Strength: 42+20 (+1)

Agility: 49+20 (+1)

Perception: 39 (+1)

Mind: 165 (+4)

Magic: 64+20 (+2)

Focus: 60+20 (+1)

Free Points: 200

Tier 1 (17) (31+): Light Armor (100), Medium Armor (100), Dwarven Etiquette (100), Eldarin Etiquette (100), Elven Etiquette (100), Dancing Skills (100+1), Speech (99+4), Heavy Armor (99+12), Pulse Strike (97), Wrestling Skills (95), Drawing Skills (91+1), Dagger Skills (90), Pugilist Skills (84), Bow Skills (79+4), Whip Skills (57), Stillness (43+6), Driving (39)

Tier 2 (62) (15+): Mana Sense (100), Danger Sense (100

Tier 3 (120) (5+): Empowered Will (100), Mana Manipulation (100), Fear Resistance (85+5), Empowered Gestures (82+2), Eldarin Runes (79+3), Light Orb (78+3), Empowered Meditation (66+2), Silent Casting (65+2), Skill Control (65+2), Hidden Status (64+4), Lightning Resistance (61), Clean (58+6), Cold Resistance (54+9), Fireball (51+4), Flame Blade (49+4), Ward (49+4), Empowered Breathing (43+3), Empowered Writing (42+2), Sleep (41+1), Empowered Running (39+6), System Control (38+2), Lightning Beam (36+4), Physical Resistance (34+2), Status Analysis (34+6), Arcane Resistance (32), Cure (28), Dwarven Runes (25+1), Elven Runes (25+1), Calculus (24+4), Advanced Geometry (24+4), Demonic Runes (20), Soul Strike (20), High Vostner Runes (20+1), Empowered Sword Skills (20+14), Low Vostner Runes (18+1), Empowered Stealth (18+4), Social Resistance (17+5), Sonic Resistance (10), Alchemy (10+1), Empowered Toughness (6+1), Soul Shield (1+1)

Tier 4 (36): Experience Siphon (C), Soul Link (72+3), Poison Immunity (35), Multi-Casting (25+2), Vibration Blade (19+3), Soul Immunity (15+4), Pain Immunity (13+1), Healing Immunity (6), Fire Immunity (5), Ritualism (4)

Equipment

Gloves: Gloves of Magic (T3) (+20 Magic)

Boots: Boots of Agility (T3) (+20 Agility)

Head: Helmet of Clarity (T3) (+20 Focus)

Body: Heavy Armor of Stability (T3) (+20 Strength)

Ring 1: Ring of Alarm (T3) (Gem turns red if other Mana interferes)

Ring 2: Ring of Force Deflection (T3) (Reduces impact force by a quarter)

Amulet/Bracelet: Experience Blocker (T4) (Prevents all experience gain for primary level)

Weapon 1: Reforged Beginner's Blade (T3) (Sharpness-T4, Durability-T3, Self-Repair-T2)

Equipment 1: Runic Writing Set (T3) (Write Runes T3 and Below)

Equipment 2:

Equipment 3: Ring of Remote Awareness (T3) (Allows for remote viewing from companion ring)

Winged Serpent

Level: 49/462

Experience: 7,984/19,404

Healing: 1,300/1,300

Stamina: 600/600

Mana: 1,500/1,500

Class: Tier 2, Winged Serpent (Yellow)

Effect: Alchemy Skill Growth (+25%), Alchemic Skill Power (+200%)

Vitality: 130 (+4)

Endurance: 60 (+4)

Strength: 77 (+4)

Agility: 109 (+4)

Perception: 63 (+4)

Mind: 121 (+4)

Magic: 150 (+12)

Focus: 70 (+4)

Free Points: 0

T2: Alchemic Vision (100), Focused Bite (100), Toxic Breath (100+3), Danger Sense (87+12), Health Sense (25+1), Stamina Sense (23+1)

T3: Cure (100), Purify (100), Refresh (100), Alchemy (81+2), Poison Insight (73+2), Fire Insight (46+1), Cold Insight (43+1), Arcane Insight (41+1), Spatial Insight (35+1), Soul Insight (24), Healing Insight (16), Anatomy Insight (12), Atmospheric Insight (9)

T4: Soul Link (72+3), Flight (61+1), Alchemic Bounded Field (57+4), Greater Cure (34), Greater Purify (27), Greater Refresh (24+2), Petrifying Gaze (18+3)

I was half tempted to put all my free stat points into my Mind stat so I didn't have to worry about Meldor's Threshold ever again. Getting two new soul skills required that I raise my Mind stat which meant tremendous book studying. I focused on math, since I had been neglecting it for a long time. Studying math in the dungeon was brutal after I finished fighting monsters for the day.

I had followed the instructions in the soul skill book my mother had gotten for me long ago to unlock two skills. Soul Vision, which was useful for seeing other things with a soul. While I had Soul Sense, it was mostly internal sensing.

Soul Vision didn't show me much interesting information. Most souls conformed to the shape of the body they were in, for both monsters and people. Since monster souls contained more Mana than physical matter, they were much brighter.

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The other skill, which was tier 3, Soul Shield, would defend me against soul-based attacks. I figured focusing on sensing and defensive skills was better than getting more offensive techniques. The book detailed advanced soul skills, but a foundation in other soul skills was more effective.

The long descent was something I'd been planning, but this was sooner than expected. While I was in the beastkin part of the dungeon, I wasn't too concerned with running into a group of them on the 11^th layer. It was deep enough that there wouldn't be many new adventurers on this layer.

My skill level gain was an astounding 578 skill levels over the last three months. While traveling to the beastkin settlement might have slowed me down, the fight with the demon and beastkin on the way back had helped quite a bit.

My stat total was 533, which was equivalent to level 26 at 20 stat points per level. My free stat points would push me up to an equivalent level of 36 if I used them. It was tempting, not just for the Mind stat.

If I hadn't disoriented it and gotten several good hits on the demon, I would be dead. And even after all that damage, it still didn't die. More stats meant I could tackle lower layers and harder monsters. But it would limit my stat growth long term.

It was frustrating to see my stats grow so slowly, but compared to other people, it was insanely fast. I just had high expectations of them, like my skills. My class was a big part of that expectation. Regardless of the reason I had picked my class, it had stat gain increases, which I needed to make the most out of.

Looking at the gains, Cold Resistance had improved quite a bit during my trek outside the dungeon. It's a shame that I wouldn't be able to keep working on it that much. The cold weather chambers in the dungeon were more frequent, but not at the level of cold on the surface.

So, while there were cold chambers, including the one I was in right now, they weren't death like the surface during the night. Right now, it had to be the dark season for the beastkin above.

I wasn't about to check myself.

Going up and down layers was an enormous hassle. Sure, I could do the first five layers quickly, but the lower layers took time to traverse and get to the correct passage.

Looking over my status as I ate dinner was a great way to unwind for the day. I was mentally pacing myself. Consistency was key for a long descent like I had planned. If I rushed things, then I would only slow my progress down. I had more than enough study materials for another decade or two, along with food.

I had 5,000 fists of food. Each fist was quite a bit, and I estimated I was consuming one and a half fists per day. The measuring system of the beastkin was annoying. I couldn't help but wonder if they derived it from the adventurer greeting "peace for peace, fist for fist". The beastkin seemed derived from Eldarin heritage since they spoke the language and had opinions about the Eldarin Empire.

Perhaps they were experiments of some kind. But there were records of beastkin from before the Eldarin Empire. Few, but there were a couple of references, which made the mystery more intriguing.

The other mystery was the demon. Elven ears, large humanoid-shaped body. My personal guess was that the demon could alter its soul somehow, which altered its body. The humanoid form was the most efficient for a wide range of skills, specifically weapons and runes, because of having hands.

A larger body would be more physically imposing, and the beastkin were physical fighters. If I could alter my body to fight beastkin as a purely physical fighter, I would want to be larger as well to deliver more leverage behind my blows. Official source is NoveI-Fire.ɴet

Was the demon a smart monster, an Abnormal possibly, with the spark of intelligence that won and consumed some beastkin, then altered its form over time? The large gain in Demonic Lore didn't escape my notice. While that skill referenced the dungeon, the fact it had increased so much after encountering a demon indicated that just meeting one was enough to convey more knowledge.

I was still annoyed that I couldn't kill it, but I could understand why it ran away and hid. I would have done the same thing. At least I didn't have to worry about running into it again. Even if it discovered the dungeon entrance, finding me inside the dungeon was incredibly difficult.

While The Mathemancer might have run into my mother, Healer Melon, and myself in the dungeon, he had been a supreme legend. The number of skills he had was probably two to three times what I currently had as a low-end estimate. Navigating through the dungeon to a certain degree was something he could do.

Ozy was making good progress as well. The fight with the demon had helped him gain some more levels. But his leveling speed was slowing down. This was because of the increased experience requirements. In terms of stats, he greatly outclassed me at this point.

But he still listened, which was key. The Soul Link skill was getting stronger as well. The skill would soon be at its maximum. A Tier 5 skill wasn't something I wanted from it at this point. Except for the soul skills, I did not want many new skills. I needed to pick skills that would be very helpful and get me home.

Having a closer bond with Ozy or directly communicating might not be an advantage. He was always with me and knew my intentions. Communicating directly would be distracting. He was a pet and a weapon. He wasn't a friend to chat with. I had never forgotten this, even though he had helped me out quite a bit and most likely saved my life. He was expected to behave this way as a pet.

While my mother might have warned me against a pet, he had proved his worth. I might regret having him later, but for now, Ozy was the most capable weapon at my disposal.

Deciding to treat myself, I reached into my spatial pouch and pulled out a piece of chocolate. I didn't have many sweets remaining. The beastkin didn't even know what sweet meant, the savages.

Popping the chocolate into my mouth, I let out a contented sigh as the sweet chocolaty goodness flooded my mouth. Not as good as sweets and a spa day, but I would manage. When I got out of the dungeon, however long it took, I was going to take a couple-month vacation.

I knew I would be down here for years, and grinding against monsters would get tiresome. I had chosen this life, but I also wanted time to relax as well. The beastkin settlement and the demon had been way too stressful.

Another decade would see me gain around 20,000 skill levels. It was tempting to chart out my progress in various skills, but I knew that was a trap. Better to focus on the moment and improving it, rather than on trends and numbers.

Even after all the training I had undergone for this concept, it was tempting to keep track of every little incremental improvement constantly. But I had to resist the urge if I wanted to maximize my improvement.

"Something's here?" I mumbled while looking up. My Danger Sense had changed slightly. I was very sensitive to this skill when I was resting. Any fluctuation had a reason behind it. And being in the dungeon, that fluctuation meant that something was nearby.

"Clean."

I packed up my table, chair, and portable cook set while scanning the chamber I was in with my sensory skills. Ozy had flown to the top of the chamber to look around as well.

My Danger Sense had increased slightly and hadn't gone back down.

Was something watching me, or was a powerful being passing through the dungeon at a distance? I made a full loop around the chamber but spotted nothing unusual.

Ozy landed back on my shoulder. He was getting bigger and heavier. He wouldn't be able to rest on my shoulder once he got some more levels. Or he would have to use two shoulders to rest.

My Danger Sense fluctuated slightly as I returned to where I had been enjoying my chocolate. I looked around that area of the chamber and still found nothing.

No, there was something.

"Vibration Blade!"

I stabbed out into the chamber wall, cutting through the stone in a circle. There was a small passage behind the wall of the chamber.

I had never heard of such a thing.

"Light Orb. Light Orb."

The passage was about twice the size of my head. I might be able to crawl through, but I would have to take off my armor, and it would be a tight fit. I wouldn't dare risk something like that. The magical light flew down each direction in the passage. One end curved upwards while the other curved with the chamber.

The edges were smooth. I let the magical lights go out and pulled my head out of the hole I had made. I mentally communicated to Ozy to make a sticky substance and then seal up the passage.

If something passed through it again, we would catch whatever it was. I had to lift the rock wall back into place while Ozy reconnected it to the rest of the chamber wall after placing a sticky substance right behind the removed portion of rock.