Chapter 43 – Black Magma Leopard Gecko

"What's an 'experience farm'?" Both the girls were oblivious to this foreign term.

Adam began to slowly explain the concept to them.

In short, his plan was:

1) Capture mutated monsters from the first two floors and the purple armadillo's from the third floor.

2) Find a secluded place that is naturally barricaded like a valley and introduce these monsters to the environment.

3) Fill the environment till it was over capacity and the monsters would be forced to fight for territory.

4) It was a simple and effective plan that would force the monsters to constantly level up. The only drawback was that it was a slow and very time-consuming process.

5) The only way to speed the process up is if the last dungeon core room could spawn a higher levelled monster. The higher the highest level monster, the faster the lowest level monster's would be forced to level up to survive.

Monsters in the dungeon would never experience growth in their levels because they wouldn't fight themselves and would be killed before the dungeon would dispense them into the outer world.

The girls now understood why Adam wanted to make a trip to the core room. Though his plan was a very slow and laborious task. Time was something they had plenty of. Yuki had made it clear that she would not let them go out at least till they reached the age of 10. This gave them two full years.

"Young master's plan is viable but how do we transport the monsters? We aren't going to carry them on our backs are we?" Luna said as a chill went up against her spine as she pictured touching a bleeding goblin.

"Yeah. I don't want to do that either. Also, where will we even keep them?" Elaine said.

"I've already planned for the transport. I've already gone and purchased a cage ring. They are made specially to hold living things." Adam said.

"Cage ring? Oh you mean the thing they hold people in? Both me and Luna have been in one before!" Elaine said, proud that she knew what he was talking about.

"Sister that's not something to be happy about." Luna was at a loss for words.

"You have? When?" Adam was surprised. He had just spent all his saving's as well as being given a discount by the guild to be able to purchase just one of those rings that were 10x10 metres in holding space.

"When we were caught by the slave traders," Luna said gloomily.

"Ah…" Adam didn't know what to say.

'Damn! Those people really did make a lot of money to be able to afford a cage ring.' He thought.

"Yeah, I and Luna were held in separate ones, so I was really bored," Elaine complained. Adam's mind fused.

'Just how extravagant did those ***holes have to be. Showoffs!' He cried tears of blood in his heart at his poverty.

"So when will we receive the ring?" Luna changed the topic of the conversation.

"Within the week. I want to take this time to scout out the final room and see if there is a monster that can be captured and I also have picked up a geographical map of the surrounding area of Two Fang on my trip to buy the ring. We should check it out when we go back tonight." Adam put forth his ideas. His heart was still sobbing at the previous revelation.

"So… what do you guys think? Are you in?" He asked the girls for their opinion.

"Yes! Sounds fun." Elaine replied.

"I will follow young master's instruction, I still think the core room will be dangerous. I will not let you take on any danger without me." Luna consented.

"Haha, fine. Time to get going then." Adam was really happy. It was hard to find people who would have your back even when you did something stupid and dangerous. At this moment he felt incomparably gratified at having these two girls by his side. He would have no one else accompany him.

....

Fresh monster bloodstains were splattered across the cave room.

Adam, Elaine and Luna stood in this room clutching their knees. All three of them were huffing for breath.

"No matter how many times we go through these 10 third floor room's, It is almost impossible to conserve stamina when we go through all of them with no stop," Luna complained.

"Purple Armadillo's are fierce monsters." Elaine agreed.

"Its good practice. Rest for 30 minutes. We will enter the portal that leads to the final core room after that." Adam and the two girls looked at the portal that would appear every time they would conquer this 10th room.

This was going to be the first time that they would dare to enter it. None of them knew what lay on the other side.

Excitement could be seen in each of their eyes even though a serious atmosphere had plagued the environment.

...

30 Minutes later.

The three stepped into the portal.

Elaine was in front with Adam and Luna following her side by side. Their weapons were drawn.

Darkness.

That feeling of weightlessness followed by the sensation of the hard ground beneath their feet was felt by all three of them.

Whoosh. Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

A huge triangular room came into view. The floor was ordinary brownstone and so were the walls. Three 'torches' lit up as soon as they entered the room on the three corners of this room. When looked at closer they were three orbs of floating flames.

A big black boulder with irregular bumps was revealed in the centre of the room. Rancid and hot winds flowed in this enclosed space. The air smelled like sulphur.

"Strange. I heard core's look very similar to enlightenment stone's but I don't see one here." Adam whispered to the girls.

"Young master, I'm getting a bad feeling." Elaine in the front whispered back. Just as her voice reached the two, the black boulder that had a matte texture opened a slit on its surface.

The slit grew into a stretched oval and a black iris with a white vertical, snake-like, pupil opened up and looked straight at the three.

Blink. Blink.

A wet and fleshy inner eyelid blinked horizontally.

Adams's Enhanced sensory kicked in.

'Species: Black magma leopard gecko

Level: 22'

"Not good. Elaine! Protect Luna and step back. Go back out." Adam started giving out orders the second he saw the level of the creature.

Every monster they had fought till now was at best 2 levels higher than they were and even then they would come out with heavy injuries. Monsters were a lot more robust than human's and could easily slaughter a human with no skills at the same level.

Right now this 4 meters long and 2-metre high gecko monster in front of them was a whole 7 level's higher than them. If he did not feel fear, then he was a fool.

He had most definitely bitten off more than he could chew.

Retreat.

This was the only thing that his mind was screaming right now. Every sensor in his body was screaming danger.

He looked back to check the portal.

'It's not there.' The portal had vanished. It was a one-way ticket to hell.

"The only way out now is to fight. Luna, do not hold anything back. It seems to be a fire-related monster. Hit it with a water territorial skill." Adam said. Elaine jumped up and took the lead. She got into position to protect Luna and bumped Adam with a fist.

Their three years of combat experience kicked in and before Adam could think his feet had already pushed off from the ground.

In three leaps he had reached the monster that had not even uncurled itself yet. It seemed to still be lethargic after being awoken.

Adam's head was low when he bounded over so when he reached the monster his two hands swished in an upward arc. His daggers were wielded in a reverse grip and slashed at the scaleless body of this monster. Two thin white lines were drawn on the skin parallel to each other.

Without a pause to lament at the thickness of the skin of this monster Adam's two Black steel blades came back down in a flash with his whole bodies weight. Like two icepicks they nailed themselves into the monsters hide.

3 Millimetres.

This was how deep his sword stab had pierced into the over 10 cm deep hide of the monster. Blood was a far cry from being spilt.

Seeing this Adam switched from his usual flashy and swift attacks to straightforward moves. His daggers flipped in his hands and pointed upward. Two slashes went out and dug 2 millimetres into the skin.

Seeing his force was able to cut a bit deeper he went for a stab. Luna's water territorial skill activated at this point and a dense and viscous liquid raised two feet high around the monster that was still laying down. This was how quick Adam's strikes were.

With the territorial skill in place, Elaine began walking forth to get closer to the monster and assist Adam.

Not waiting for the backup Adam went in for a frontal stab.

The Gecko finally completely awoke. Its triangular head pointed at Luna and its eyes on the side of its head stared at the human that was about to stab its torso.

The way it looked at Adam was as if he was an annoying mosquito. Annoyance and killing intent was rumbling in the depths of those now round eyes.

Huff.

A black cloud of smoke was released from its nostrils and it came rolling toward Adam, completely engulfing his body.

Not paying attention to this smoke Adam continued his stab. This was the first time he had come across a monster that his weapons were ineffective against. If he could not harm it with his daggers then the whole party was doomed. He gave it his all in this stab.

His dagger pierced around 10 millimetres into the skin of the gecko and his face went pale. A screeching of wind came from his left and he instinctively raised his dagger in defence.

From the smoke came the triangular almost alligator and snake-like head of the gecko. It's mouth completely open. Exposed, were a set of hundreds of sharp white teeth with black tips. They were like mountains that had snow at their bottom but not at the peak.

Malignant. This was the only way to describe the feeling this open maw gave Adam.

He immediately let go of his dagger and pulled back his hand at the fastest speed he could possibly muster.

Crack! Crunch!

The dagger did not last a second before it cracked and vanished into the mouth of the creature.

But this was enough time for Adam to take a few steps back and regroup with Elaine.

Crunch. Crunch.

The monster maintained eye contact with the two as it slowly munched on his dagger.

"What is this thing?" Elaine asked in fright.

"A level 22 Black magma leopard gecko." Adam could only stare back into the abyss of peril that was the eyes of this monster and state its title.

The monster slowly stood up. Unaffected by the viscous liquid that was supposed to trap it.

A short head, Long neck, Long body and a fat tail. Small bumps ran down all along its body from the top of its head to the tip of its tail. The creature had 4 lizard feet with five finger pads that had suction cups on each of the ends.

Its tail unfurled right in front of the three's eyes and they got a clear look at it. Wide at the start, the tail grew wider at the centre and finally slimmed down till it hit the tip. The end of the tail was like a whip but if anyone was unlucky enough to be hit by the centre of the tail… A mushy pile of blood would be all that remained.

The monster's skin was completely black and had the texture of a rock. Only its tail was frost white at its tip, the bumps remaining black. These spots on its tail was a reason for why it got its title of 'leopard'.

Hiss!

Black smoke shot out in two clouds from its nostrils.