Chapter 40 – Fascinations of a dungeon

Class Card: Adam

'Dual class body of a Ranger/Monk: (Passive Skill)

Level – 15

Exp to next level – 0/48000

Elements activated: Air and Earth'

Class Card: Elaine

'Body of a Tank: (Passive Skill)

Level – 15

Exp to next level – 0/24000

Element activated: Fire'

Class card: Luna

'Body of a Mage: (Passive Skill)

Active skill: Skill 1 – emission, Skill 2 – Territory

Level – 15

Exp to next level – 0/24000

Element activated: Ether'

…..

As Adam had expected. Lunch went the way he had predicted.

After a long discussion with Yuki, her mind was still unchanged. He could not blame her. He had to think of an alternative.

He was back in his room laying on his bed while the two girls were out in the yard training. He was dressed in a plain dark green coloured shirt and grey coloured joggers. Fen had been able to discover a material that could be used to tailor these clothes in the last few years.

Adam had one hand behind his head acting as a pillow while his other fiddled with a dagger, twirling it with his fingers. he began reviewing his last three years of memories, hoping to find some inspiration through his experiences or see if he had missed something.

Their main goal in the past few years was conquering the dungeon. They had spent almost every waking moment in the dungeon. They had become so enthralled by the dungeon that the three would even camp out in the dungeon on some days. The corridors of the first floor were a perfect safe zone.

The first floor was straightforward and was the easiest to conquer for the party. They spent 3 months to conquer this floor. The goblins that spawned towards the latter end of the floor did not exceed level 3. The highest level goblin that spawned on this floor was the mutated black goblin that would seldom appear at a level of 4.

The layout of the dungeon was one that had been predicted by Adam and the girls. The dungeon rooms diverged after every room but they all converged into 1 room at the end. This was the most troublesome room that Adam's party faced on this floor. 68 goblins spawned in this room. Even though this cave room was huge, with so many monsters it still was a tight spot to fight in and if a mutated black goblin were to spawn in the ranks it would only spell disaster.

Black goblins attacked in close quarters with their poisonous claws. They were very dangerous in such a clustered room of monsters.

The fact that the trio was able to clear this floor in just three months was a testament to their rapid growth.

The second floor was a lot more tricky. Adam's party spent almost 14 months here.

The second floors layout was a prairie. Rooms were hard to be defined with the naked eye. The monsters that spawned on this floor were 1 horned gale rabbits.

Rooms were denoted by burrows that were scattered all across this open prairie.

The second unwritten rule of all dungeons: Monsters will only spawn within a room and not be able to leave the said room.

This floor was an ingenious play on this rule. Rooms were scattered but they had an undefined boundary of 10 metres. The play began when these boundaries were overlapped by another room(Burrow) That was within this boundary.

When Adam and his team stepped into this floor for the first time they were first greeted by the level 6 one horned gale rabbits. Instantly they were forced to fight two monsters that were two levels above the monsters of the previous level.

Each burrow would have up to 2 rabbits spawning within.

The real test began when they stepped into areas that had anywhere from 3-5 burrows overlapping the area.

The horned rabbit's which were 1.5 metres in length and 1.8 metres in height had incredibly hard and sharp horns that they would use to pierce their enemies. They were also monsters who had an innate affinity with the wind element which made them extremely swift on their feet.

They were a nightmare that came in waves. The first few months the group would not be spared to leave without a few heavy injuries. Adam and Elaine were the ones who had the most injuries during this period. Elaine would switch through bucklers on a daily basis. While Adam who would occasionally use his body to protect the slightly frailer Luna had to get his gear repaired as well till he could not anymore and keep buying new pairs.

The worst part, however, was the mutated two horned gale rabbit. This monster's speed was like a bolt of lightning. Its two horns were also longer, sharper and harder than the average rabbit monster. Luna had a few close encounters with the messengers of death because of it, the first time they encountered it. From then on Elaine and Luna would team up instantly every time one appeared and Elaine would go on full defence.

Fortunately for them, horned rabbit meat was a delicacy and sold for 20-30 coppers a rabbit, depending on the size of the creature. Otherwise, they would have truly bankrupted Yuki a long time ago.

All of this was but child's play compared to the third floor of the dungeon. The party had spent over a year and a half conquering this floor. This was not without just cause.

The highest level the rabbits reached was level 8 and just like the previous time the level's of the monsters of the next floor skipped 2 levels. The gap between levels on higher levels became more and more apparent. The level of difficulty to skip from level 4 to 6 was incomparable to skipping from level 8 to 10.

The only good thing about the third floor was that it was a sequential form of the dungeon. Every room was in a straight line and only after clearing all of them could you complete it.

There were a total of 10 rooms on this floor. The first room had one monster and every subsequent room would have an additional monster spawn within. Following this the tenth room had 10 monsters spawn in it.

The monsters that spawned in this floor were Purple Copper Armadillos.

These were 3 meters long and 2-metre high armadillos that had purple copper metal as a protective hide. They were capable of storing and spewing out molten copper from their mouths. Their claws were swift and could tear through regular steel like a scissor cutting through paper.

When threatened the monsters would roll up into a ball of metal and roll around. Flattening anything that came in their path indiscriminately.

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate the group had never encountered a mutated Purple Copper Armadillo. This was most probably due to the low spawn rates of the monsters on this floor as compared to the hoards that spawned on the ones prior to it.

It could be seen why the trio took over a year and a half to complete this floor. Even when the trio surpassed the level of the monsters on this floor it was not easy to train in the 10th room till they hit level 13.

After hitting level 13 the group only took a month and a half to level up to level 15.

The biggest gain from their whole dungeon conquering adventure came from this floor that also posed them the highest danger.

The hide of the monsters was a pure metal. The size of the creatures also helped. The final prize that the guild bought each monster corpse for was 2 silver.

It was at this time that Adam realized what kind of easy life higher levelled adventurers could live if they only made a few trips to a dungeon.

Actually, it was their luck that the dungeon spawned these monsters that had a sought after metal. It should be made known that a dungeon in its infancy would undergo a lot of changes and finally settle on a definite attribute that all the floors of the dungeon would share.

Right now the dungeon had these monsters spawn but it was not definite that they would be there when the dungeon officially opened.

This was still a long way away as a dungeon would spend 100 years in its infancy stage at a minimum. They had just discovered it and it was hard to tell how many years it had already spent in this stage.

The one who had profited the most from these monsters was Elaine.

Her gear had been completely revamped with the purple copper that was extracted from the monsters.

The copper on the back of the armadillos was hard and sturdy, this was perfect to craft armour. Elaine had gotten gauntlets, a shield, a sword and a breastplate made out of this material.

While the metal on the tail was very malleable and flexible. This was great to make spear handles, arrows and the like. Using this the girl had made herself chainmail that she wore under her training gear. The chainmail was very light and flexible. It stretched along her hand and connected to her short-sleeved shirt to her gauntlets. It also went down from her short shorts and connected to her knee-high boots.

It stuck to her skin and looked exactly like fishnet stalkings. Her allure with her armour on was breathtaking. Valliance with a hint of charm contrasted so perfectly with the black from her gear and the purple of the armour.

She had really started to look the part of a Tank.

Her sword was pretty dull and average when compared with her outfit but the shield and gauntlets that were made were a class above even that.

Her shield was now an oval-shaped shield with a pointed top. The shield had been made with a design of dragon scales in mind and every linking scale had a protruding horn jutting out of it. Hundreds of spiky horns protruded diagonally upwards.

Anyone who was given an uppercut bash with that shield should be prayed for. They would come out of that encounter with way more holes than they started off with. Especially considering her brute force.

The gauntlets, on the other hand, were made with a very similar design in mind. They were made to resemble dragon claws. The went up to her elbows and the defining feature of it all was a horn that protruded right at the wrist joint. The horn pointed diagonally upward toward her arm.

Of course, the tiny horns were made from two and one-horned gale rabbit's horns. These horns were sharp and pointed without any dents or designs on them. They were not really sellable so Adam had just given it to Elaine. Elaine herself had just thrown them at the guild with a few words of: "Umm, just use them somehow in the armour."

All her gear had been commissioned by the guild to be prepared by 4-star craftsmen. It had cost Adam a lot but with his current income, it was bearable.

It was also worth it. Tanks relied heavily on their armour and as such the better armour Elaine was given the better she would perform. With her new upgrades, she would have an attack potential even when she defended.

Adam and Luna were considerably lowkey compared to the massive changes that Elaine had undertaken to her gear.

Adam still used the same type of grey coloured training gear while Luna used the same black training gear. Both their classes did not have any requirements for armour as such it would be stupid to invest in any unless they found something really good.

The only thing the two changed was their weapons.

It was hard to find a suitable weapon for Luna as she controlled all five basic elements. In their past three years, the girl had even shown signs of awakening the light element but would end up with severe headaches whenever she did try to force it.

Adam was sure by now that she could control all 7 elements but the girl had a mental block towards the light and dark elements. There was nothing he could do about this but wait and let her get comfortable with the idea by herself.

What Luna had chosen for herself as a weapon was a 100 flower oak staff.

This was made from a tree that was widely used as a decoration plant by many households in the soaring tides alliance. The four seasons would cycle normally in this part of the continent and this specific tree would have 100 flowers present at all times on its braches. With every change in the season, it's flowers would gain the properties of that particular season.

No one would even think of making a weapon out of this ordinary plant.

Though it was capable of housing all 5 elements it wasn't as effective as others that only specialized in a specific element. Why would they choose a household decoration over a rare material?

But in Luna's hands, this decorative item had become a dangerous tool capable of enhancing all five elements. The wood itself was light and sturdy, making it a great head bashing tool.

The staff was curled and formed a coil at the top while the bottom narrowed and formed a blunt point. It was plain and simple, unadorned by any flashy gems.

Adam followed her lead and got himself 6 plain black steel daggers. They were shaped the same as his previous daggers.

These daggers were made from black frost steel (procured by the guild with an exorbitant commission attached to the price) that was on a higher level as compared to the purple copper. His daggers were cold to the touch and sharp beyond compare.

As an attacker in the team, his tools had to be better to do significant damage to the foes.

"ahh, so much has happened." Adam sighed in retrospect.

'This is only what happened with things pertaining to the dungeon….' He thought to himself and began recounting everything else.