"Take care. Eat well. You still have growing to do." Lanner's mother hugged him and was crying. He was incredibly awkward.
Ozy was resting on my shoulders. He had enjoyed his napping and time off, the lazy monster. But he had experienced such situations during my time at the College. When it came time to fight, he would be ready.
"Congratulations. I just heard you were promoted to become Chief Spokesgnome," I told Baldeenk.
"Justin, I appreciate your thanks. I would offer to let you stay longer, but I know that adventuring in the dungeon is in your heart."
"And if I come across gnomes again?"
"Then you will be welcome, but it is unlikely. With the way the dungeon is, it won't happen."
"But it isn't impossible."
"No, it isn't. If you come across again, we will welcome you. But I ask that you don't seek us out in the future. The risks for us are too high."
"And when you make a settlement on the surface…"
"We will heavily conceal and hide it. Safety in obscurity is the only way we will survive with stronger beings out there. We are a peaceful people. Not suited to fighting and conflict."
Lanner was getting gifted with a set of high-tier wands.
"Perhaps Lanner will surprise you all."
"Perhaps. But I am realistic about his situation and the outside world. It is not kind to us gnomes. And once he leaves, he will be a human with a condition, not a gnome. There are no gnomes outside our settlement."
The statement was clearly false, but it was also a declaration that the gnomes wanted nothing to do with other races. It wasn't just pretty words; they truly lived by such a creed in every facet of their lives.
"I plan to take Lanner up to the 1st layer and train there. Hopefully, he can find his preferred method of combat. Those wands are good, but they are only single use."
"A critical weakness. Good when you need to hurt something and flee or take down a target in one hit. Not good for adventuring," Baldeenk said with a knowing nod.
"You know the weaknesses…"
"Of course we know. But it is how we fight with wands, stealth, and cunning. Can you imagine one of us holding a sword? The small pointy thing Lanner has is a joke. Gnomish Fencing is not something to take seriously."
"Don't worry, everyone! I will come back a legend one day," Lanner declared.
Baldeenk let out a sigh as some gnomes clapped, but most looked worried.
A group of us went to the cart station. This was going to be unpleasant.
"Take care, Justin. I am glad we could get along. Trust is difficult, and I hope you think kindly of us gnomes," Baldeenk said.
"I will. While I might not agree with everything, I won't try to ruin what you have created," I replied, and the tension within him seemed to lessen a bit.
He then leaned in close, whispering to me. "I will break the curse skill one year from now. So don't worry about it." I looked at him in shock. Justin, we are not idiots. We have System Priests of our own. We know such skills can be broken. But since I applied it, I can remove it once I become Chief Spokesgnome under my authority. Don't betray my trust."
I couldn't help but smile at the sheer audacity of Baldeenk. If the gnomes had one power above other races, it was their weaponisation of understanding. Perhaps it stemmed from living in such a harmonious society. They truly weren't looking to punish or oppress anyone.
"I swear that I won't mention anything about gnomes or this place once I leave."
"For that, we thank you. I hope you become a supreme legend one day and make the world a better place for all to live in. And give Lanner a hand; he definitely needs it."
I nodded but promised nothing more.
I got on board the cargo cart, lying down, with Ozy right behind me. Lanner got on the cart as well as two other gnomes. They would seal up the tunnel and mark why they abandoned this tunnel branch.
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The carts moved as I closed my eyes. My senses went haywire as we sped through the layers of the dungeon, twisting and turning about. When we finally came to a stop, it was at the caravan I had encountered my first gnome two weeks before.
Ozy and I got off the cart, and I began getting out my heavy armor. Lanner got out as well and looked around in wonder.
"If you have armor, time to wear it."
"I have my combat robe," he said and shivered slightly in the cold climate of the chamber.
"Don't count on cloth and enchantments to protect you. We are going to head for the 1st layer so you can get practice, and I can assess you as we descend. For now, I want you to stay behind me and focus on protecting yourself. There are a lot of monsters, so it would be easy to get overwhelmed. Also, don't shoot a wand at Ozy or I will be very unhappy."
"Got it."
The other two gnomes were busy sealing up the tunnel as I finished putting on my heavy armor. It was time to move out. I let my Dungeon Sense trigger and knew which way to head to reach the passage up to the next layer.
I was hoping to peek out and experience the dark season. I wondered how cold it really was outside. Could spend a day or two focused on Cold Resistance.
I performed a quick check of my armor once I was all set. Just one minor strap needed to be adjusted, but everything else was secure and comfortable.
"Let's go," I told Laneer as we moved out towards another chamber.
"Pay attention for traps. If I spot one, I will let you know. They aren't too bad in terms of how many there are, but if you get caught, you will be dead," I said, and he nodded. "Monsters don't trigger them or avoid them naturally. That can change in combat. So don't count on them to trigger traps unless you are fighting in one tunnel."
I continued to share bits of dungeon wisdom with Lanner as we moved forward. The stuff Squire Jessica shared with me long ago.
"Now we need to be quiet. There are monsters ahead. Stay at the tunnel entrance. Stay alert. Ozy and I will fight," I said, and Lanner nodded.
I had freed my sword, and Ozy had lifted his head.
Rock Golems filled the chamber. They were resistant to physical damage and would use stone-type spell skills at a range. Thankfully, I had time to prepare for them. I made a runic circle for fire.
Water would have been better but drawing that much water out of the air posed greater risks. Better to use fire and have Ozy throw in some Alchemical mixture to make it burn hotter and longer along with focused air to force the fire onto the monsters.
Once I was ready, I quickly advanced and unleashed the runic circle and kept channeling my Mana through it. The cavern lit up as a fire tornado swept through. The golems didn't die instantly but melted slightly so that they had difficulty moving.
Then came the slow part where I killed them off one by one. It was a slog of a fight. I let one golem head towards Lanner while Ozy kept watch in range to intervene. I wanted to see how he handled the threat.
He had a wand in his hand and used it. There was a surge of Mana and then an explosion that engulfed the monster. The explosion blew it to pieces, instantly killing it. That was quite a powerful spell skill.
But his combat sense was lacking. He could have used a lesser wand to preserve his more powerful wand. I would let him know after the battle. At least he quickly swapped out wands and was constantly scanning the area. That level of alertness was good.
In the next chamber, I would let him take out monsters he felt capable of and double-check his wand count and how he was handling them. While he switched out one wand quickly, the real challenge would be when several monsters were rushing at him, and he had to switch through ten wands in a short period.
That was why I was slowly going to test him on the way up to the 1st layer to get a better idea of how he fought. Then once we got to the 1st layer, I would let him take the lead in fighting and in combat. That was the best way to throw him into the deep end of the dungeon without letting him drown.
There was a certain level of risk that I would try to manage, but the dungeon was never truly safe. Squire Jessica taught me that painful lesson during my first descent. I wondered if I should teach that lesson to Lanner.
It was a hard lesson to learn and might break him. If he broke, there was no city he could return to and mentally recover. No spa days or sweets. We were on our own. There was no going back to the gnome's hidden settlement.
I noticed two golems breaking off for Lanner and mentally commanded Ozy not to interfere. These monsters had been less damaged by my initial fire attack. I kept fighting and taking down golems while glancing over every few seconds and taking in Ozy's impressions of what was happening.
Lanner used two more wands and wiped out both golems. He quickly switched them out as well in less than a second. While he might not be capable of very much, he could quickly switch wands. That was the minimum requirement in my mind for having a viable fighting style with wands.
He needed to swap them out at a rate of one per second. That was the strength of such weapons — the ability to use them quickly to take down targets. While one could use spell skills rapidly, they required much more focus on Mana, skills, and combat.
With a wand, one just had to focus on combat and switching wands. The switching of wands was easier than spell skills. That wasn't even a question in my mind.
When I approached the last golem, I pulled out the wand I had been gifted. I pushed some Mana into it, and it unleashed all at once. The explosion destroyed the golem. The wand felt completely empty of Mana now. I pushed some Mana into it.
It would take around 200 points of Mana to recharge. Definitely not efficient, but an amazing backup weapon or something to use on a Champion.
Not something to use fighting regular monsters. At least for me.
I walked back towards him Lanner. "Good job."
"You were amazing," he said.
"Thanks. Now comes the fun part. Getting the monster cores. Let me show you how its done."
We got to work. He paid attention the entire time and copied what I did with the golems. He was slow and had trouble getting to some cores, but he didn't complain.
Perhaps teaching him how to be an adventurer wouldn't be that bad.
Only time would tell if he kept up the same determination months and even years from now.
END BOOK 3