30. Another Gilded Achievement

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." — T.S. Eliot

For a moment, Eagle's Light's laughter was the only sound in the arena, filling the quiet crypt with an eerie feeling.

The rest of the party respawned the next moment; now that the dungeon was over, they were also excited.

Even Bob, who had been very professional throughout the previous runs, smiled.

"That was pretty amazing; I really didn't think we had it in us."

In contrast, Holly and Off Botton seemed somewhat awkward; they had both died almost instantly into the bezerk phase after all.

Looking down, Holly spoke remorsefully.

"I am sorry, I didn't have enough stamina and died instantly."

On the other hand, Lazarus had already gone over to the Luminous Mantle and destroyed it, ending the dungeon quest and providing the rewards.

After going over to loot Eldrin, he was in a good mood.

"Don't worry about it; even though we are at a higher level, it is not easy to clear final bosses on the first try."

Hearing them speak, Off Botton joined in.

"At least you stayed calm and died from being out of stamina; I froze as soon as anything went wrong and just stood there."

Still in an excellent mood, Eagle's Light reassured them.

"Lazarus is right; even though we are over-leveled, it is still pretty good to clear the first try when it is some of your first runs through; when I first ran this, we were all level 25, and our guild group wiped around ten times before clearing. Don't beat yourselves up over something small like that."

While she was talking, Lazarus was inspecting the two new one-handed swords that he had gotten from the boss drop and the quest rewards. 

Luckily, they were both from the Crypt Conjuror" 's set, meaning he went from having two pieces of the set to 4 pieces in one fight.

The 3-piece bonus he got was an increase in maximum mana by 463, and the 4-piece bonus was an increase in spell penetration by 734, which meant he ignored 734 defense the enemy had.

On top of that the two weapons were higher level than the ones he was using and one of them was rare quality since it came from the final boss of the dungeon, on top of that they both had enchantments.

Confident that his DPS had just increased 10-15%, he was very excited to go to the last dungeon of the day; it would be much more complicated since it was essentially on level for him and Holly, but they had almost 3 hours to clear it once they got there.

While everyone else was looking at their loot, he quickly took a peak at his Pioneer's Sigil of Mastery.

Pioneer's Sigil of Mastery

A small golden ring with the power to record your most outstanding achievements. 

Cooking supplies sold by NPCs cost 10% less when equipped.

Gilded achievements:

The fearful are the safest: Complete the starting mission "A dragon's roar" without taking or dealing any damage.

Trailblazing kidnapper: Complete the hidden ending of "A Dragon's Roar" by finding your own escape without needing Eilantha's help.

Strongman: Reach level 20

Master Tanner: Process 100,000 hides into leather.

Stitch Savant: Reach level 30 in the tailoring profession.

Master of Materials: Refine a legendary upgrade material.

Last Laugh: Deal the final blow to a dungeon boss after death.

Progress to item evolution 7/10

Looking at all of his progress, Paul was very happy; it would not be long before he could evolve his ring.

From what he had seen from his last life, the buff given after the ring evolved would be significantly stronger than before; it would never directly help in combat, though.

At the moment, cooking was a profession with very little use, but once people began getting settled with long-term gear, professions like cooking and alchemy would take off as consumables; there was always a very high demand, and even just being able to buy ingredients slightly cheaper could make his margins that much better than everyone else's.

On the one hand, potions gave instant and powerful boosts to stats or restored a large number of resources, being very useful in longer fights and having a demand that stretched to the moon and back.

On the other hand, cooking could provide longer-term buffs that could also change the course of battles; examples of some basic food buffs would be increasing maximum health by 500 for 4 hours or increasing mana regeneration by 5mp/second for 2 hours.

Although they were not burned through as quickly and efficiently as potions, most players would have a cooking buff active at almost all times; it was one of the most accessible stat increases you could get for cheap.

Finding recipes and leveling up cooking was also very tedious, so there was less supply for cooking buffs than potions; if he got another buff towards the cooking profession, he could make a lot of money cooking compared to others. 

Looking over at his party mates, he noticed they were done looting, and somehow, Holly had ended up with all five pieces of the Crypt Conjorur's set. That would help her deal more damage in the next dungeon and make it much more manageable.

After finishing their business, they left the dungeon and were once again on a small road in the forest.

"Ok, from here, we can just walk to the Blaire's Retreat; it should be around a 10-minute walk."

Of course, it would be quicker if they rode their horses. Still, Bob and Off Botton didn't have to mention Paul was not interested in showing them that he and Holly had made that much thalor. Less than 10% of the player base had mounted at hand this point, as broke prospective,e crafters it would be strange for them to have the capital to buy horses.

"Alright, let's go and clear this last dungeon, and we can relax afterward!"