2 Dungeons and Armor

Cain made drastic changes to himself over the next week. Every day after school, he'd increase his stats as much as he could. He didn't have a clear example of his strength, but he could feel the change in energy.

His Agility was 41, Strength at 34, and endurance at 47. His intelligence moved up by only two points and was now 14. Intelligence was hard to get. Hopefully, it didn't matter that much.

Amy had distanced herself since the incident. Cain wanted to get closer to her, but he knew that would be unfair. She would have to get over any embarrassment first, if ever. From the extra amount of stress, Cain spent more time crunching his stat numbers.

Eight days after discovering his stats, he got a skill for achieving 50 new stat points. 'Gain 50 Stat points - Skill unlock: Instance Dungeon.' Cain had not gotten to use the skill yet. Being Friday after school, he finally got the chance.

[Instance Dungeon]

Instead of traveling when he cast the skill, A new window appeared. It had one option for travel— the goblin lair. Shuddering with fear from the past event, Cain read the description carefully.

'Power: 30, Enemies: 20, Bosses: 1, Level: Beinninger - Wounds heal on leave.'

The description both reassured and warned him at the same time. He didn't know what power meant, and he didn't know what he was walking into. Staring at the enter button, Cain was someone who didn't want to run from fear. He wanted to crush it. Grabbing a metal bat, Cain readied himself for the dungeon. [Enter]

His surroundings transitioned to a ruined hallway. With light pouring from the ceiling, the area was filled with a warm haze. Vines grew from every wall, with roots of trees mixed within.

There were no goblins in sight. Cain was ready to say the "Leave Dungeon" command before anything could come towards him. As he trekked down the path, he noticed a new tile pattern. Not thinking much of it, he stepped right over it. A tile fell down.

A short gear sounded off as Cain began to shout the leave command. Just as he finished speaking, arrows from each side of the wall shot at him. One jabbed his leg. He thankfully left the dungeon before his inevitable demise.

The pain from his leg remained for a few minutes. Even if he could heal, the pain was going to be hard to handle. What's more, was that he could obviously die at any moment. His life was not guaranteed.

Steeling his nerves, Cain did not give up. Nothing screamed at him more than to fight his fears. First, it was through exercise, then it was through grades. Now, he needed to fight the one thing that made him feel weak.

Entering the dungeon once more, he found that it was the same layout. He walked up to the trap. Giving a whack to the floor, Cain was able to shoot every arrow early.

He was going to pick up the arrows, but they were just wooden shafts. Cain moved on. There were several repeated traps down the path of the hallway. Finally reaching the end of the path, it branched left.

Down the branch was one room. Inside were two goblins. Instantly spotting him, they charged. It took Cain all of his courage to stand still. The goblins leaped for him but were thrown into the wall with the bat. One more hit killed them off.

The danger of the dungeon seemed much less, probably because the Goblins were different. It wasn't that they were weaker They were simply less intelligent.

Dissolving into nothing, the goblins dissipated into thin air. A few days before, Cain had discovered his inventory. Nothing could be put inside at the time, yet he was now seeing two items: Goblin skin and Goblin bones.

This was the first time Cain felt a slight excitement. He had wondered what he was going to do in life. This seemed like the perfect escape. Continuing, Cain encountered five goblins. He left before fighting them.

Facing five goblins wouldn't have been impossible, but he wanted to practice. Repeating his last steps by reloading the dungeon, he killed the first two goblins until he felt confident. After ten runs, he felt he was ready. Cain killed the five goblins and many groups after them.

Before he knew it, Cain was at the boss's room. Putting his hand on the door handle, Cain was given a message. 'Boss room requirements - obtain one piece of armor.' Being honest with himself, Cain realized that he didn't know the boss at all. Charging in was reckless.

Cain repeated the dungeon. He attacked it again and again, finishing it once, five times, then ten. He was getting nothing but goblin skin and bones. Cain began to wonder if he was supposed to craft with the drops.

There was no crafting command. The goblin bones were also too small to form any kind of weapon or armor. The only option was the goblin skin. Reluctantly pulling out the goblin skin, it was sort of gross.

It was a green, disgusting, and dry piece of skin. Being no larger than a square foot, making armor with it would be tough. He put the skin away. Cain looked up tanning videos on YouTube.

To his surprise, the goblin skin was already perfect for the final step of tanning. Cain grabbed some bins and soaked a few in water. According to the videos, he'd have to wait at least six hours.

Being impatient, he checked on them two hours later. He had been grinding the dungeon since then and had over a hundred goblin skin. His hides were more than ready. It also looked like they had finished about an hour ago.

Cain air dried them. He was decent with crafts, so he began to design and cut a chest-piece. He used a special type of glue to sear the material together. The end result was a clean piece of leather armor.

Once he picked up and looked at his armor, Cain suddenly was able to read its stats:

'Goblin Skin Chestpiece - Quality: C - Power: 15 - Durability: 100%'

What's more is that he unlocked the production skill tree. So far he only had goblin hide unlocked. It had leveled to three once he finished tanning the goblin skin. Level three's effect was that the hides would tan 25% faster.

The armor did not take long to make, so he created a full set. There was a helmet, bicep guards, boots, and gauntlets. He made knee guards but they didn't fit well.

'Goblin Skin Helmet - Quality: D - Power: 9 - Durability: 100%'

'Goblin Skin Gauntlets - Quality: C - Power: 9 - Durability: 100%'

'Goblin Skin Boots - Quality: D - Power: 7 - Durability: 100%'

He also left behind his boots, as they didn't move as well as his shoes did. Heading back through the dungeon, he made it to the boss room. He put his hand on the door. It opened on its own.

Inside was a massive goblin, the size of a grown man. Being a sophomore, Cain felt quite small. The goblin raised itself from a broken seat and grabbed a club. Charging Cain, the goblin slammed the club straight into his side. He was flung ten feet off into the wall behind him.

During the hit, Cain could see a purple haze appear around him. Getting up, he was unharmed. It was probably the armor. Cain gave a quick whack of his own. Barely dodging the boss' attacks, Cain was eventually able to defeat it. If only he hadn't underestimated it, he might not have been hit.

Cain returned home with a useless item, a ring that increased agility by 1%. If he had not made the armor, he would not have made it. Taking off the chest piece, it was done for and at 23% durability. He took that opportunity to test it.

Giving the armor a slight whack, it came up with a purple shield. Shortly after, it succumbed to the pressure and gave way. Armor hadn't seemed that useful before then. Making a new set, Cain went to sleep with no time left in the day.