Ecosystem & level up gains

Upon leaving the dungeon, the 3 party members felt too depressed to do anything, they had been careless. They had severely underestimated the dungeon, and they were paying the costs.

All of the just wanted to go home, and rest.

George also wasn't looking forward to telling Gobrintin's family about his untimely demise. George would have to give his condolences to his parent, and compensate his wife and kids.

Then Gobshlice suddenly shrieked behind them.

George and Gobrog immediately formed into a defensive formation.

"Gobshlice, what happened", George said, frowning.

"B..Boss... My level... it rose 3 levels! I'm now level 28!" Gobshlice said, pinching himself, he still wasn't sure if this was a dream or not.

Gobshlice had been a soldier on the frontlines for several years now, he could probably even take on a soldier from the 1200's district.

And in all his years of living, he had only been able to get to level 25, and in less than an hour, he had managed to gain 3 whole levels. It was a miracle!

At this news, George and Gobrog immediately checked their status, and true to his words, George was now level 28, rising 3 levels, and Gobrog had reached level 30, leaving the previously level 26 goblin slack-jawed.

Both George and Gobrog now had access to another ability.

This was truly unbelievable, too unbelievable.

As George thought about it, he noticed that the air out here was a lot more 'filthy' than the dungeon's air, the dungeon's air had been cleaner, and almost purer, when he realized that he had been subconsciously cultivating it. He then realized, that the dungeon had been filled with contract mana, at least for him!

"Gobrog, what kind of mana did you feel inside the dungeon?" George asked.

"Now that you mention it, boss, it seemed like the dungeon was filled with shadow mana.", Gobrog replied, pondering the question.

Snapping out of his stupor, Gobshlice said "What do you mean, the dungeon was definitely filled with advanced fire mana"

Gobshlice was born with having a single affinity to fire magic, so when he ranked up to Silver rank, he decided to enhance his fire affinity.

And what he had felt in the dungeon was definitely advanced fire affinity mana.

Different mana types had a way of affecting the environment around them.

Ice mana usually made their surroundings extremely cold, similarly, fire related manas usually made the environment extremely hot, and so it was. Gobshlice had been sweating the entire time, not to mention his slight resistance to heat.

He was surprised the other party members could even stand in the heat.

"Are you saying the mana's affinity was different for all of us?", Gobshlice wondered aloud.

"Precisely!" George exclaimed.

"The mana changed for each of us, I don't know how or why, but this dungeon is a treasure we can't afford to give up. I'm going to send out the Oath keepers, and get every goblin to swear to secrecy on their lives.

In two weeks, I'll give a speech, by then, everyone should be oath sworn."

Oath keepers were a popular, yet, rare affinity class. They were essentially advanced Celestial users; they'd make people swear an oath on their God, and if broken, the oath keepers could pray for divine judgement.

It was truly a terrifying class, and was often used as a means to stop desertion in battles, as well as weed out spies.

With that done, the three of them decided that they'd go through the dungeon once a week, but before that, George had to find two more people to join the party. Now that they knew the potential for the dungeon, George could begin enacting his plan, he was going to fully invest in the dungeon, and he would rise to power among the goblins.

...

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION:

[YOU HAVE LEVELED UP, YOU ARE NOW A LEVEL 4 DUNGEON CORE

You are now a level 4 Dungeon Core {Quintessential Core of Creation} {BRONZE} "Mother always said mass genocide was the key to self improvement"

Levels absorbed till next level: 0/16 LVLs

Mana: 15,200/6,400

Aura: 3.2 kilometres (affected by: Mana Maker)]

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION:

[YOU HAVE LEVELED UP, YOU ARE NOW A LEVEL 5 DUNGEON CORE

You are now a level 5 Dungeon Core {Quintessential Core of Creation} {BRONZE} ""

Levels absorbed till next level: 0/20 LVLs

Mana: 15,200/25,600

Aura: 12.8 kilometres (affected by: Mana Maker)]

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION:

[YOU HAVE LEVELED UP, YOU ARE NOW A LEVEL 6 DUNGEON CORE

You are now a level 6 Dungeon Core {Quintessential Core of Creation} {BRONZE} "Oooo, three whole levels! All it took was murder!"

Levels absorbed till next level: 3/24 LVLs

Mana: 15,200/102,400

Aura: 51.2 kilometres (affected by: Mana Maker)]

Holy crap! I just gained three whole levels, plus, my aura had just reached 51 kilometres! I could now expand my influence into the surrounding tunnels. I had to temporarily halt construction on my second level, because I didn't have enough aura to expand far enough.

I also really needed to increase the size of my storage room, I had to start stacking monsters on top of one another, just to get them to fit.

I immediately got the rock goblins to continue construction on the storage rooms, and the second floor.

With the knew mana I had, I could easily finish replacing all the stone in the dungeon with 'flesh of Gaia'.

...

And just like that, a week past by in a flash.

While I was working on the second floor, 5 people showed up at the door of my dungeon, three of whom I recognized, and two of which I hadn't seen before.

I had heard what they said when they left the dungeon, so, I knew that they'd be back.

I also knew that they most likely wouldn't die, as they had seen what was coming. So, I, in all my wisdom, came up with a brilliant idea.

As soon as they showed up to the entrance, a stone door would crashed down. On it was carved words. Although I could speak languages, I couldn't write them yet, so I had Celes instruct me on the characters.

They didn't look great, but they got the point across.

On the stone wall, was the word "Tribute", with a cylindrical pillar in front of it.

Even an idiot could probably figure it out.

...

"Boss, I think the dungeon wants us to pay for entry...", Gobshlice said, walking at the front of the party.

"Hmm, I think you're right. But this also leads to other question, such as the possibility the dungeon is actually sentient".

"Maybe, someone set up a toll fee for entering, or someone has captured and bound the core to themselves?", One of the new goblins, Gobcastt, their new mage, said.

"Maybe, it certainly is something to think about." George replied.

George pulled out a few copper coins, and threw them onto the plate, nothing happened. Frowning, he then pulled out a silver coin, and placed it on the plate. Still, nothing changed.

"Try putting an item on their, maybe the dungeon master wants an item, after all, I doubt they have a need for money", Gobcastt said, brushing invisible dust off his immaculate cloak.

George thought for a few seconds, before putting his hand into his pocket, and pulled out one of his water skins - like any good adventurer, he had several.

George than threw the water skin onto the plate.

For several more seconds, nothing happened, and George was about to get another item, when the stone plate quickly disappeared into the wall.

Although George didn't know it, an Earth elemental had just pulled the items through the wall, the plate being an extension of itself.

What George was concerned about, was the fact that he had left the coins on the stone tray, essentially wasting a silver coin.

Then, just like that, the stone wall, and the stone pillar, sunk into the ground, like they were never there, uncovering an extremely mossy hallway, leading to an all too familiar room.

"Alright, everyone, you should know what's going to happen in this room; 3 creatures made from moss will rise up from the ground, and start attacking us. Gobshlice, and Gobsheeild will escort us all to the centre of the room. then, we'll all attack together", George said, matter of factly.

"Yes, sir!" Everyone shouted simultaneously, any trace of playfulness gone.

The 5 Goblins carefully walked into the room, scanning every surface up and down, not wanting to miss anything.

Than, just like last time, 3 Glittering wood moss monstrosities shot up from the ground, lashing out at the high level goblins.

The were defeated in a seconds...

Before entering the next room, George decided to buff the two damage takers using his new skill, 'Gambler's might', giving him the ability to temporarily increase someone's two highest attributes, the cost was that if the people he 'gambled on' died or fell unconscious, he'd permanently lose 5 points of his two highest attributes.

...

Upon leveling up, that person would receive a skill point, with a skill point, a person has the choice to level up one of their skills.

When a skill levels up, it makes the skill more powerful, using George's 'Gambler's might' ability as an example, the more points he added into it, the more he'd be able to increase his allies attributes.

Alternatively, skills can also level up through use.

Most people don't use their skill points, as it can get more and more difficult to level up a skill, the higher its level is.

Knowing this, as soon George got the Gambler's might skill, he instantly added 10 skill points to it, making it add an extra 10% to Gobshlice's, and Gobsheeild's Strength and Endurance attributes.

Along with this buff, the two goblin tanks also used their own self buffing abilities, before they charged.

Once again, when they entered the room, the Goblin's were first assaulted by the Earth spirit, who attempted to lash out, and get a quick punch into Gobsheeild's gut, but Gobsheeild had been expecting this.

Gobsheeild brought his shield up, blocking the spirit's attack, while Gobshlice cut out with his blade, going right for the neck. His swing only managed to get half way through before stopping, but that was enough, just like that, the rock spirit turned to dust.

"eghh!" Gobshlice called out, feeling a searing pain on his back.

Turning, Gobshlice saw the fire spirit behind him. He immediately charged the spirit, taking it on while Gobsheeild headed toward the air spirit.

As the other three entered the room, George supported the two warriors, while Gobrog single handedly took on the water spirit.

Gobcastt used his mana sense to find out where the Shaman-shrooms were. This time, I had made sure to hide them under dense patches of moss, adding a small layer of protection to the fragile mushrooms.

But nonetheless, the thin layers of moss couldn't hold up to the fiery onslaught let loose by the fire mage who seemed to have way too much fun burning things.

"HAHAHAHA!", Gobcastt cackled, as he let loose a torrent of flames from his palm, burning away the moss, and everything else in one fell swoop. Soon after which, the spirits disappeared, and the 5 goblins sat down to catch their breath, and cultivate.

Then, a massive piece of the floor shot out of the ground, and wrapped itself around Gobcastt. It was the moss monstrosity.

But once again, before it could do any real damage, it was swiftly taken care of by Gobroge.

After about an hour, they had all finished cultivating, and healing their wounds, George than stood up and said, "Alrighty everyone, it's time to enter the third room."