Chapter 16

(A/N things are finally going to start)

"Damn I got to get back now"

Jack's mana was running dangerously low, and his makeshift torch was almost extinguished. The slimes he encountered on this floor were stronger, around level 30. Every floor as he would call it increase by around 5 levels. The area he explored was relatively small, smaller than a standard classroom, with around 12 to 15 slimes present on each floor.

In his exploration, Jack had taken a slime from one floor to another, and the other slimes there did not take kindly to this intrusion. They attacked the fleeing slime, demonstrating territorial behavior.

After his exploration, Jack made his way back home and stopped to pick up some fresh fruit, which he carefully washed to remove any dirt or debris. He also grabbed some fish to eat. Back at his home, Jack settled in and began to recover his mana.

Since he had enough exp Jack pressed the level-up button and went to sleep.

'Where am I'

'Is this another dream it feels so vivid, If it's a dream why is it so dark.? Why am I floating in the dark? '

A huge screen appeared in front of Jack's sight.

Class:

[ Swordsman magician archer, thief, assassin … ]

There were several classes available for Jack to choose from, but most of them were grayed out and unavailable to him. After considering his options, Jack ultimately decided to become a spearman, as he was unsure of whether he wanted to be a magician or a spear user.

Jack carefully weighed the pros and cons of becoming a mage versus a spearman. While the mage class offered some benefits, such as an additional 20 mana and a better understanding of spells, Jack realized that these advantages would only be useful if he had access to magic spells. Unfortunately, he did not have any spells with him at the time.

On the other hand, the spearman class offered a boost to his understanding of Spearmanship, as well as access to a powerful skill called power strike. Jack saw no reason why he shouldn't take advantage of these benefits and ultimately chose the spearman class.

[ Equipping Spearman class ]

In the beginning, he thought he was dreaming until he saw the system screen show up.

The screen started fading when another one appeared.

[ God of ??? pities your skill with the spear ]

[ God of ??? mocks you ]

[ God of ???? pities your situation ]

[ God of ???? says ????? ]

[ God of ???? bestows upon you a minor healing skill ]

[ God of ???? wishes luck upon you ]

[ God of ??? wishes for you to entertain him ]

…

Jack sat up in his bed, feeling the warmth emanating from his body. Despite the heat, he noticed that he wasn't sweating profusely due to the cold temperature. He yawned as he rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms, trying to shake off the remnants of his dream. Curious to see if the dream was real or not, Jack muttered, 'Status.'

He sat at the edge of his bed, waiting for the information to appear. Jack hoped that the status check would provide him with some clarity about what he believed to be a dream.

[ Status ]

[ Name: Jack Roman ]

[ Race: Human ]

[ Class: spearman ]

[ Level 25 ]

[ Exp 4,082.4 / 2500 ]

[ Health 92/100 ]

[ Strength: 50 ]

[ Speed: 55 ]

[ Stamina: 50 ]

[ mana: 427/469 ]

[ unassigned points: 17 ]

[ skill: Appraisal lvl 23, accuracy lvl 20, Crafting lvl 12, spear mastery lvl 11, butcher lvl 9, mana manipulation lvl 30, mana recovery lvl 31, Dirt manipulation lvl 15, water manipulation lvl 11, calm mind lvl 7, focus lvl 10, reinforcement lvl 14, poison resistance lvl 12, torture skill lvl 1, stealth lvl 8, minor healing lvl 1, power strike lvl 1 ]

After adding more firewood to the fire, Jack fell back asleep. When he woke up, he was surprised to see that it was snowing outside. Although it occasionally rained, he had never seen snow in this world before. Jack knew he needed to recuperate more mana before embarking on his next adventure in the cave.

After a short rest, Jack decided to hunt some goblins before returning to the cave to kill more slimes. However, on his way to the hunting grounds, he noticed that the area he had just cleared was already being repopulated by slimes. Undeterred, he pressed on.

As he made his way to the 6th floor of the cave, Jack encountered a group of slimes. He quickly dodged their attacks by rolling to the left, narrowly avoiding their strikes.

Upon examining the projectile that had damaged the rock and hit the floor, Jack noticed five slime creatures that looked different from the ones he had encountered before. Upon using his appraisal skill, he found out that these were bone slimes. Jack assumed that their skills included an armor-based defense mechanism, given the white material surrounding them.

Jack adeptly dodged the slime creatures' attacks, either by rolling to the ground or moving to the side. He managed to eliminate some of the slimes by hitting them with his mana spikes. However, as the battle wore on, Jack found himself facing the dwindling numbers of bone slimes.

With his spear in hand and utilizing his skills in reinforcement and power strike, Jack created a shield and successfully penetrated the slimes' armor, destroying their core and leaving a sizable hole in the ground.

After successfully defeating the first bone slime, Jack immediately moved on to the next target, repeating the process for the other three slimes. However, when he faced the fourth slime, he noticed that it had learned from its peers and moved its core away from the middle, making it more difficult to hit.

Jack adapted to the situation and quickly switched to his mana boot, bringing it down on the slime and defeating it.

The last bone slime attempted to flee, but Jack was determined to finish the fight. He chased after it and landed a decisive blow with his spear, ending the slime's reign of terror.

With the battle won Jack ventured onto the next floor of the cave.

'Why do the stronger ones keep appearing the further I go? Wouldn't it be smarter to defend the entrance with the strongest slime? Is it that maybe they are defending or attracted to something down there? It is a possibility.'

Jack kept going for three more floors before he had to get some more mana. The slimes were weird some shot water, fire, or rocks and dirt. It was more common the further he went down.

After depleting his mana, Jack headed back up to the previous floor to rest and recover. However, before returning to the surface, he ventured one floor further down to continue his exploration.

After returning home to recover his mana for two days, Jack decided to resume his exploration of the cave and head to the next floor. However, he found the challenges to be increasingly difficult and began to doubt his ability to proceed.

" I'm getting careless just because I got a minor healing skill. "

Jack was seen with many cuts around his body.

Feeling exhausted from the battle, Jack sat down to recover his mana. After about an hour, he decided to return home to rest and recuperate. Once he arrived home, Jack used his healing skill to accelerate his body's natural recovery process. Although the skill helped to stop the bleeding, Jack still had several wounds that required time to fully heal.

As he sat down to eat, Jack reflected on the recent battle and realized that he needed to improve his reaction time. He acknowledged that being fast and strong wasn't enough to overcome the challenges he faced in the cave. Even when he used his mana to defend himself, he still struggled to put enough power behind his attacks.

Frustrated and tired, Jack went to lie down on his bed.

Jack realized that simply increasing his stats wasn't enough to overcome the challenges he faced in the cave. He needed to improve his focus skill to become more efficient with his mana usage. However, he also knew that using the focus skill for a prolonged period could result in headaches.

After taking a nap to refresh his mind, Jack focused on recovering his mana. He used his recovery skill multiple times until all his wounds had healed. With the increase in healing speed, he found himself feeling hungrier than usual and ate three medium-sized fish and some fruits.

Although it took him five days to fully heal, Jack decided against continuing his exploration of the cave and instead focused on improving his skills. He spent the next few days training his focus and thrust skills, determined to level them up despite the discomfort caused by the headaches.