Beginner Dungeon [9]

[14th Everdusk 2103], Verdant Hollow dungeon, CGA branch.

The creature approaching me was a slime, bouncing towards me like a ping-pong ball.

I was taken aback, having never witnessed a slime move in such a manner, but I suppose there's a first time for everything.

"Alright, let's see what you're made of, buddy," I muttered, positioning the skeleton between us. I stood ready to either attack or retreat, adhering to my own hunting rule: never underestimate an enemy, no matter how small or seemingly harmless.

The slime continued its approach, causing my skeleton to stagger back towards me, clearly outmatched in strength.

Noticing the skeleton's lack of reaction, I realized it had no intelligence of its own; it wouldn't act without a command from me.

"Attack it," I commanded, and the skeleton's inner fire brightened slightly.

It advanced on the slime, swinging its sword in an attempt to inflict damage.

My initial joy at the successful hit turned to shock as the slime remained unscathed, not even flinching from the impact.

It dawned on me then; the slime was highly resistant to physical attacks.

I decided to resort to my 'shadow bolt' skill, although it would require two strikes and some time to prepare. Nonetheless, I was confident the skeleton could hold the slime off.

"Hold on for a few seconds while I ready the skill," I instructed, as the skeleton engaged in a futile battle, full of effort but causing no damage.

<Shadow bolt>

<-18 MP>

A shadow bolt materialized in my hand, and I hurled it at the slime engaged in battle. The skeleton, unable to react, was struck by it.

The force sent it flying into a tree log where it landed with a thud.

"That's what I call damage," I thought.

It writhed in pain as its HP decreased significantly. <-16 HP>

The display resembled an RPG game, showing that only four HP remained.

Basic slimes don't have much HP to begin with.

I glanced at the skill cooldown: eight seconds with only a few remaining. I opted to use another skill from my set instead.

<Bone Fang Strike>

<-10 MP>

The fang, now tangible, shot towards the slime. It tried to bounce away, now alert, but was still grazed by the attack, which was sufficient to deplete its remaining HP.

<-4 HP>

{Congratulation host to get the first kill.}

{Lv. 2 Slime has been killed, +15 Experience points have been gained.}

[+1 Evoenchant point, stored in the talent.]

{Note: Kindly note that the HP reduction was shown just for the first hunt and from now own the HP of the enemy will be revealed in form of bar above their head so be mindful of that.}

I examined the system and nodded, realizing I had never hunted mobs in this manner before, and now the correct method was clear. The Evoenchant was perplexing, but I decided to put it aside as I had numerous other issues to address at the moment.

Perhaps the system had discontinued this tutorial in my era.

"Okay, bro, you might not have much work now, but still, thanks for your efforts here," I said to the skeleton, which had no intelligence.

I was determined to embark on the solitary path.

"Alright, let's go and finish this stage," I encouraged myself to boost my morale. I was about to walk away from the slime's body when I remembered something crucial.

"Ah, I almost forgot about that," I exclaimed as I quickly approached the undissolved slime body and hovered my hand above it.

"Plunder," I commanded, feeling energy transfer from me down through my hands. I could sense it clearly, though I didn't understand its nature as it enveloped the beast's body.

[No talent, skills, abilities, or bloodline detected. Racial skills and stats identified.]

[Do you wish to plunder the body?]

"Yes," I affirmed. The energy I felt hovering just above the slime's body dove inside and, a few seconds later, emerged with some entities, then re-entered my body.

[Stats have been plundered. Racial skills do not match the host body and are rejected.]

[+1 Strength, + 1 Endurance is added to the host stats.]

I was joyed as I opened my status and checked my stats.

__

{Stats}

Health Points (HP): 90 (HP= 1:10 Vitality)

Mana Points (MP): 110 (MP = 1:10 Intelligence)

Strength (STR): 7

Agility (AGL): 9

Vitality (VIT): 9

Intelligence (INT): 11

Endurance (END): 8

Stamina (STA): 5

Unassigned Stats: 00

Attack Power: 19+7 {Physical} [ATK: STR+AGL*1.2], 16/17 {Elemental} [MAG: 11*1.5]

Defense: 13+5 [DEF: END+STA*1]

__

Indeed, it was the sheer terror of the high-ranking talents that proved too daunting for us mere mortals, yet those candidates were fully equipped with such capabilities.

Now, it's my turn to seize the advantage and quickly grow stronger.

Rising from the ground, I began the search for my next target. This battle had consumed much time as I assessed the skills and equipment.

The skeleton and I resumed our hunt and, as fate would have it, we stumbled upon another prey within minutes—a normal slime, slowly inching its way towards me.

It appeared to be a Level 1 creature, noticeably slower than the first.

Summoning a <Shadow bolt>, which depleted another <-20 MP> from my reserves, I hurled it at the creature.

Unaware of our presence, the slime was caught off guard and struck by the bolt. I immediately commanded the skeleton to attack, but before it could engage, a notification appeared before me. As the health bar above it head directly moved from green to red and diminished at the end.

{Lv.1 forest slime have been killed. +10 Exp is gained.}

[+1 Evoenchant point is stored in talent.]

But now my mana was at 38 out of 110 MP, recovering at a rate of 1 MP every 2 minutes. Hunting those beasts would take an eternity at this pace, but then I remembered the points I had acquired. Curious, I opened my status, which appeared quite normal except for an exclamation mark (!) next to my talent. This prompted me to shift my focus to the talent and click on it to discover its effects.

__

Talent: Infinite Evolution & Enchantment (? Rank)

Description:

The Infinite Evolution & Enchantment talent born from the mutation of two talents and grants its user the unparalleled ability to evolve and enhance both themselves and their possessions in an infinite loop of growth. At ? Rank, this talent becomes a divine force, allowing the user to unlock endless potential through EvoEnchantment Points (Evoenchant points), which are gained through Slaying. With these points, the user can rapidly evolve skills, weapons, armor, and even their physical and mental attributes and many more things which he desires.

[Evoenchant Points: 3 ]

Talent Effects:

Infinite Evolution:

The user can continuously evolve their body, mind, and soul beyond mortal limits and other items. Each evolution grants an increase in power, be it strength, agility, intelligence, or even supernatural abilities. As the user collects EvoEnchantment Points, they can level up attributes and unlock latent powers, improving at an exponential rate by collecting the required material needed for the evolution to happen.

Weapon & Equipment Enchantment:

The user can apply EvoEnchantment Points to weapons, armor, and other items, upgrading them to higher ranks or unlocking new, advanced abilities. This process bypasses traditional enchanting, allowing the item to gain unique qualities that are directly tied to the user's evolution.

Skill Evolution:

Skills can be evolved to new levels of power using EvoEnchantment Points. This includes improving the effectiveness, range, cooldown, and mana cost of abilities. At higher ranks, skills can also gain entirely new effects that transcend their original limits.

Endless Growth:

No matter how high the user's level, they will always have the potential to grow further. EvoEnchantment Points allow the user to break through conventional limits, enhancing their fighting abilities and unlocking the next stage of their growth.

__

The device managed to display the information clearly, yet it failed to show the rank. However, that's of no concern to anyone since I'm already aware of it. I intended to utilize it to achieve my goals in my line of work. Now, as I draw my sword, I am prepared to spring into action.

 -- To be continued --

Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this as it's the first chapter of my dungeon series. It's not fully fleshed out with all my ideas yet, so stay tuned for the excitement that's yet to come.