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Dungeon: Part 1
You leveled up!
You leveled up!
You leveled up!
I've been in this dungeon for some time and the monsters here aren't that tough. When I started of the dungeon, I thought I would face some goblins, slimes or perhaps bloodthirst farmers since I am fighting in a Japanese style village.
Boy, was I wrong.
I dodge the club of the oni and stabbed forward with my knife at the oni's heart. The oni was a few inches taller than me (remember, I am a nine years old Adam). It had light purple skin, sharp teeth and a small horn on its forehead.
The oni fell back as blood spluttered everywhere. I looked forward and I could see the castle from where I am. I've been navigating through the village's streets for almost an hour now. I turned around to see the bodies of onis, rabid dogs, and tigers.
I don't know why there are tigers and dogs mixed in there but whatever. I turned back forward and continued my journey to find out how I am supposed to get to the castle. Not a minute later, an oni tries to ambush me by jumping out of the store I was passing by.
The oni tries slam its club on my head but I manage to leap back just in time. The oni growled and tries to close the distance but I sprinted forward. The oni swings its club, mistakenly believing that I would charge into its range. Too bad I stopped right outside both of our range and threw my knife at its face.
With my Dexterity that that increases eye and hand coordination, Strength which increased the strength behind the throw and Agility that let me throw it fast the knife manages to pierce the oni right between its eyes, killing it instantly.
I was about to retrieve the knife from the corpse but a rabid dog appears out of nowhere and tries to lunge at my neck. I managed to sidestep the attack and punched the dog at its side, sending it flying into an empty stall.
I walk towards the empty stall, while recalling my knife. I didn't see it but I could just imagine the knife fading away in sparks of electricity and reforming in my right hand.
Skill: Snipe has leveled up!
This was a skill I got from throwing my knife. It wasn't the first time I threw it and I could imagine that this skill will be useful since it increases the range, accuracy and damage of ALL range attacks, not just knife throwing.
The dog got out of the stall covered in bruises. It bared its teeth at me and charged. I smirked as the dog lunge at me again. I threw my knife upwards which caught the dog's attention. Its gaze followed the knife. I then sprinted towards the dog while recalling my knife.
While distracted, I slid under the dog while stabbing its underbelly with my knife, letting its momentum drag it across the blade. The dog fell to the ground dead. Huh, I leveled up my wisdom with that trick.
When I started the dungeon, the onis had their names in red but after leveling up five times, I noticed that it has changed to orange. And I haven't even started to invest my skill points yet because growth increased all my stats by one for each level up.
I then noticed my an oni and two tigers charging at me from the front. I narrowed my eyes and sprinted forward to meet their charge. One of the tigers lunge at me but I leapt and grabbed the top of its head with my left hand and manage to pull my body over its head.
With my hand still on its head, I used my right hand to stab the tiger in its eye. The tiger roars in pain as I let go and landed on the ground. Another tries to attack me from the side. I turned and saw its open jaw looming towards me.
Realizing that I did not have time to dodge I thrust my arm forward and used one of my newly acquired skills. With my palm aimed at the tiger I shot out a ball of mana into its mouth. The mana blast exploded in its mouth.
With that done the tiger's movement was slowed down as it roared in pain. I recalled my knife and threw it into its left eye. The tiger roars again but still alive. I charged forward while pulling out another weapon from my inventory.
I got this weapon from one of the monsters here as a drop. I swung a wooden club, aiming for the hilt of the knife and hammered the knife so that its point stuck out the other side of the tiger's head. I held back a bit with that one.
I turned towards the remaining oni and saw that, instead of a club, it wielded a bow and arrow. I raised an eyebrow at this before realizing that it had nocked an arrow and was about to release it. I panicked and threw the club at it.
If my snipe skills do not increase from all this throwing then there must be something wrong. The oni panicked and shot its arrow. The arrow was knocked away by the club which continued its journey and hit the oni right in the face.
I closed the distance between us while recalling the knife and killed the oni, which dropped a bow and three arrows.
I then saw two more onis, this time wielding clubs, appear. I groaned. How many of these things are there? Well, at least they didn't attack me all at once. I ran forward towards the onis. The onis saw this and tries to swing their clubs at me once I got in range.
However, I then activated sprint. Not expecting the burst of speed, the onis were a bit to slow in their swing so I managed to stop the clubs by grabbing at the spot right above where the onis held it. Using mana scan, I manage to find the weaknesses in the clubs and deconstruction caused the clubs to crumble.
The onis backed away in surprise but without their weapons they became child's play.
After killing those two my level went up again.
Twenty minutes later
Finally, I made it to the castle. I have to admit that this was a pain to get to but I leveled up to level 17. I climbed over the gate and found myself in a Japanese garden. I hid in a bush when I saw an oni passing by. Once it got close, I grabbed it. I covered its mouth with my left arm and stabbed its neck with my knife in my right arm before dragging it into the bush.
I then continued my journey towards the castle's entrance while also stealthily taking down any monsters I could. I leveled up my hide skill while doing this too so that's a plus. Soon, I found myself at a double door. I placed my hand on it and gently pushed it open as I entered.
I was surprised by a sigil that appears at the entrance as I entered but I was already in motion so I could not stop myself. I walked through the sigil with no trouble. I blinked a few times at what I saw.
Several normal humans sat in the area, huddled together. Umm, I thought this would be the boss area but instead, I got a place where the villagers are staying, hidden from the monsters outside. One of the villagers noticed me and his eyes widen at me.
"O-one of them got through!" the villager screamed. The others reacted to his words and turned to stare at me before screaming in terror. They all backed away from me. One of the braver ones took up pitch forks and charged at me.
I easily sidestepped the attempt and grabbed the shaft of the pitch fork as it passed. I instinctively used mana scan and deconstruction, causing the weapon to crumble. The two skills leveled up again.
The farmer panicked and stumbled back. "Okay, hold on! I am not here to hurt you!" I tried to reason with them but it was no use. These people were to scared.
"Quickly, call the priest!" one of them called out as another group of villagers formed a wall between me and the others, "Who knows how many more will appear!" I sigh in annoyance. Onis and animals are one thing but I would feel bad for killing scared villagers.
I raised both of my hands in a surrender gesture as I backed away. Maybe I should just go back to killing monsters outside. I looked at my fatigue bar and scowled. My bar is almost at ninety percent. If I go out again and face those monsters I will probably collapse from fatigue.
"What is all the commotion here?" a voice called out. Everyone froze and turned towards the person who spoke. The voice belonged to a… rabbit? Wait no, the hair was styled with ribbons that looked like rabbit ears.
The voice belonged to a woman in her early twenties. She had long black hair tied in long pigtails, blood-red eyes and wore a shrine maiden clothes. One of the villagers snapped back into reality and spoke.
"Lady Hisui! One of the monsters managed to get through the barrier you put up!"
"What!?" the woman turned towards me and saw my horns. Her eyes narrowed and I realized that this is probably bad. "Creature of malice, you dare intrude into our only refuge from your kind." She said, her words dripping with, ironically, malice.
"Wait, wait, wait!" I tried to defuse the situation with words but it was starting to get obvious that they were not listening. The woman took out three slips of paper from… somewhere. Does she have inventory too?
The papers were rectangular shaped and had writings on it. I recognized those as charms Taoist and exorcists use. True enough, she threw those charms at me and they flew straight towards their target.
Midway, the charms twisted into arrows that let out a purple glow. Not wanting to be hit by that I was able to weave through all three attacks. The other villagers had backed away and are now getting behind the woman, Hisui.
The two of us momentarily paused until the villagers finally got out of the way. I looked at my fatigue bar. I should be able to last another twenty to thirty minutes but that also depends on how much I exert myself.
I have no information about the woman except that she seemed to be the leader, had exorcist abilities and was maybe around twenty years old. I sprinted towards her. Spell casters all have the same weakness, they focus on their magic abilities they tend to forget about improving their physical abilities.
The woman was surprised by my speed and tries to halt me by throwing several charms at me. The charms faded and reformed as icicles that threatened to skewer me. Weaving through them and deflecting those I could not dodge by encasing my arm with mana I was able to get halfway through before the woman threw half a dozen more charms that spread out and formed a white wall of energy which separated us.
I punched the wall with my arm that was still encased with mana but to no avail. The woman threw another charm and it exploded and turned into a fireball which went through the barrier as if it was nothing.
How did that work? I narrowly dodge the fireball but I felt the heat as it passed by and a bit of my hair was burned. Thinking fast, I recalled my skill mana scan allowed me to feel the cracks in aura. If so then it might be possible…
I placed the palm of my hand on the barrier and used mana scan. Moments later I was able to find a few cracks and weaknesses in the barrier but I also felt something like a vain that seemed to be pulsing with mana.
It was like a blood vessel and the mana was the blood. And the charms acted as the heart. I then felt myself blown away by a strong gust of wind that slammed into my chest. I quickly recovered and managed to turn my fall into a backflip and landed on all fours.
Hisui threw five charms that then floated right in front of her, forming a line with their flat side facing me. The charms then cackled with electricity before firing of a continuous bolt of lightning. My eyes widen at this and I did the first thing that came to mind.
I focused my mana into my right hand and thrust it forward and poured the mana out of my palm and willed it to form a wall in front of me right before the lighting made contact. The wall began to held but I noticed my mana diminishing rapidly.
Soon, the wall of mana began to crack as my mana went down below half. Good news, my mana wall skill leveled up. Bad news, I might die. Soon my mana wall was filled with cracks and my mana was almost down to 40 before the attack stopped.
Hisui looked surprised that I survive and truthfully, if I had not leveled up so much and growth did not automatically increase my stats then I would have been in trouble. Panting, I looked at my fatigue bar and noticed it was almost full, right now it was 95%.
I scowled. I needed to cover the distance between me and Hisui quickly and I only have one or two shots to break the barrier. I also need to make sure I knock Hisui or at least in capitate her as quickly as possible before my fatigue fills up. Which means I need to increase my Strength and Agility but if I am not careful then I might just fall unconscious before that.
I have to think fast on what I have to do before I remembered something. This is a gamble but if it turns out alright then…
I opened my stats menu and increased my Stamina to 101.
I straight away felt myself being filled with power as notification screens started to pop up.
New skill has been created as Stamina has reached over 100!
Skill: Bio-energy affinity learned!
New skill will be granted by random as Stamina has reached over 100!
Skill: Bio-electricity learned!
New skill will be granted as Stamina has reached over 100!
Stamina recovery power skill learned!
Hisui's eyes widen as she felt my power increase. I grinned at her menacingly before sprinting forward. She hastily tries to cast spells in an attempt to stop my advance but I was able to easily dodge her spells this time.
Why? Because of skill Bio-energy affinity.
Bio-energy affinity (level 1): -Passively increases all physical attribute by 15%
-Passively decreases fatigue increasement rate by 10%
-Can be used in an active state to increase body heat (Increase fatigue)
I soon closed the distance between me and the barrier punched the barrier at the spot where a talisman was. My fist of course stopped a few centimeters away but I also activated mana strike. My mana flowed through the barrier and into the talisman. Like a needle, my mana pierce one of the 'hearts' of the spell and like a bomb, it blew that 'heart' up.
The talisman shredded into pieces and the section of the barrier in front of me opened up. I quickly went through before the barrier can close up again. Hisui began to panic and hastily casts more spells.
I narrowed my eyes and activated the other skill I got. Electricity began to be generated from my body as it started to strengthen my body. This skill is definitely one of my favorites now.
Skill Bio-electricity (level 1): Allows user to generate and manipulate Bio-electricity. Can be used to strengthen the body and improve speed and reflexes. (Increases fatigue)
Effect: -improve physical stats by 20%
-attacks are infused with bio-electricity
-Can also be used to speed up HP recovery but will be unable to activate the first effect
While doing so, I activated sprint to make myself faster. To them, I was practically a blur. I covered the distance between us so fast that she didn't have time to even cast her first spell. I quickly punched her in the gut, causing her to buckle and myself to wince.
This is the first time I have ever hit a girl like this, or in any fashion really. I followed up with a kick that caused her to straighten back and her feet to go a few inches off the ground. I then slammed my open palm to her stomach, sending her flying back and into the crowd of villagers behind her.
Hisui was caught by a few of them before she could hit the ground hard. Electricity cackled around her though that was due to my attacks. Bio-electricity is the same type of electricity that is generated by impulse so my attacks are probably messing up the information her brain is receiving and the information her brain is sending out to the rest of her body.
Her motor function and some of her senses are probably a mess now.
I then got another notification.
Quest: Defeat the exorcist apprentice Hisui!
Rewards: -1000 exp
-500 gold
-Silver Mystery box
I didn't level up this time but I was close. The gold thing was something I noticed about my system. It did not give me lien for each monster I kill or quest completion but gold which was money I can only use in the system's shop, like solo leveling.
I turned back towards the villagers and Hisui, who was struggling to stand up. I advanced towards her and some of the villagers moved to stand between me and the woman. I raised my eyebrow at this. These villagers seem very loyal to her but she is an apprentice.
Which begged the question: where is the master?
Before I could say anything Hisui struggled to stand up and force herself through the villagers that stood between us. I tensed, thinking she would try to attack but instead she continued moving forward and into my striking distance before falling to her knees and bowing her head.
"Please, I offer you my life but spare the lives of the villagers!" She begged.
I was stunt. Here I was, a slave to the SDC, now had someone offer themselves up to me. I was about to tell her that I have no intent of hurting anyone, much less kill but stopped myself. Maybe it was due to my increase in Wisdom but I realized that if I explained myself might cause more problems.
It might be better to play along for now since I won't be in this dungeon for long anyway. "Very well then, I shall take your life and in exchange, I guarantee that I will not lay a finger on those you seek to protect unless in self-defense."
The villagers cried out in protest while some even tries to move forward to help her but Hisui merely raised one of her hand to tell them to stay put. The villagers fell silent. Some of them even began to tear up a bit. Honestly, I just felt bad.
Thankfully serene mind helps me keep a calm face but I also unlocked a new skill.
Skill Poker face unlocked!
Skill acting unlocked!
Make that two. I turned back to Hisui. "Now then, tell me what has transpired here." Hisui tensed when she heard me speak to her but raised her head with furrowed eyebrows when she heard me finish.
"A-are you saying you do not know what is going on here?" Hisui asked hesitantly. I nodded. She blinked a few times before she nods. "Very well, I shall tell you what has happened here."
"Good, but first is there anywhere we can speak in private?" I asked. Hisui tensed before nodding. "Good, now lead the way human." Hisui stood up and escorted me through the crowd. The villagers parted in order to make way for the both of us.
I allowed some of my bio-electricity to cackle and spark from time to time in order to dissuade anyone who might try to attack. I'll be honest, in my current state if they all attacked me right then, I would not survive.
We soon find ourselves in a room, separated by a shoji. I sat at one of those short Japanese tables called a chabudai. Hisui sat across me while asking one of the villagers to prepare some tea. I have no doubt that the villager will try to poison me.
With that thought I glanced at my skill Longevity. Once Hisui sat down she began to tell me about what happened at the village. "It started all began a week ago when the animals around the area started to become aggressive. At first we thought that it was a side effect from the war that is happening further north from here where the battle between our people and the monsters."
Wait, a war between humanity and monsters? Apparently, this dungeon has a story prepared. I like this kind of things where there is a story I can immerse myself in and play pretend in. "But then onis started appearing and attacking our walls and our warriors started getting sick. My master sensed that the source of all this is at the top of this castle which used to be where the rulers of this country used to stay in before the country expanded and the capital was moved to a more strategic area."
Oh, so this castle, while small, used to be where the rulers stayed. Okay then. "My master entered and went to the top floor but never returned. A few hours later a larger assault started and the onis attacked us in such a large horde accompanied by the animals. We lost as our warriors were sick and my master gone."
I nodded at this, "The sigil placed here is what is keeping the onis and animals outside?" I asked.
Hisui nods, "That is correct. The remaining villagers and myself retreated into this castle. In truth, during the previous rulers stay here they had many omnyojis come and set up a barrier in this building in order to protect them from evil spirits and monster." She frowns, "Which begs the question on how you were able to bypass the barrier so easily."
I smirked, "Who knows, maybe I was just too powerful for it?" I knew the reason however. Since I am a faunus and not an evil monster or spirit the barrier as well as being closer to human than animals the barrier recognized me as a human.
"I see…" Hisui said, "As I was saying, that was the only reason that we are here. I tried to go to the top of the tower to find my master but I instead found." She looked down, avoiding my eyes, "I found a monster. A powerful one from the feel of it. Much more powerful than those outside. My magic was useless as it was too quick and nimble as well as having high attacking power which allowed it to cut through my barriers."
"If I could get enough hits on it, I would be able to kill it but I was lucky to escape with my life." Hisui sigh, "I am useless. I could not help my master; I could not save the village and now I am the slave of another monster in order to protect everyone."
I studied her a bit. I felt bad for her but there was one thing that caught my attention. "Wait, there is a powerful monster in this castle and your all staying here with it?" I found this ridiculous.
"Well, we had nowhere else to go. On top of that the monster is in the throne room where even heavier charms and protection spells are set up so the creature is actually quite trap." Hisui informed me.
After that, our tea arrived. I had a cup of it placed in front of me and Hisui received her own cup of tea. We both took our respective tea and sipped it. I then got a notification.
Longevity skill has been activated: Poison neutralized!
I knew it! I smirked at the villager and continued drinking the tea as though nothing was wrong. The villager was surprised before sweating profusely as she left us. The two of us drank in silence. After we finished Hisui was the first to speak.
"Now that you know what took place here, what will you do?" She was nervous. What am I going to do? Well then there is only one thing to do. I gave her smile.
"What am I going to do? Isn't it obvious? I am going to kill the monster in the throne room!" I announced. Hisui's eyes widen. I grinned. "You say the monster is strong right? I want to fight it and kill it so that I can get stronger too." I explained, "Also its obvious that the monster or something else up there is attracting all those onis and fighting through all of them in order to leave is a pain so… yeah."
"You wish to leave?" Hisui asked again.
I grinned, "Of course. That and fighting strong opponents and the battle with you got me somewhat excited for this next one." After all the stronger the enemy, the more exp they give. "But I'd rather not take any risk so…"
I pointed my index finger towards her, "I want you to accompany me. You said that if you could land your spells on it the creature would die right? Well, I'll fight it in close range and distract it while you use your spells to damage it when you see a chance. How does that sound?"
Hisui seemed to be busy processing the information for a few seconds before she finally understood what I was proposing. "Are you saying that you will help us defeat the monster and get rid of the onis and animals in this village and then… leave?"
I shrugged, "Yup."
A few minutes later
Hisui left the room we were in while I remained. The reason was because I wanted to recover my strength and mana. Thanks to my new skill Stamina recovery power my stamina recover two times faster.
My mana would fully recover in one hour and my stamina will follow suit as well. Hisui agreed to accompany me in the battle against the mysterious monster in the top floor and left me alone in this room after I told her to rest up.
She didn't know that I also needed to rest and she doesn't have to. While waiting and recovering I also activated serene meditation along with practicing mana manipulation. My health wasn't that low since I used a lot of my mana and stamina to avoid damage so HP recovery wasn't important.
I reached into my inventory and took out a small piece of low-quality dust. It was blue so it was obviously water based. I took it out since it was small enough that even if triggered the most it would do was wet the floor.
I used mana scan on the dust focused on what I was feeling. It felt like pushing mana into something solid and inanimate, like a rock or wood. Once my mana fully went inside, I realized something strange.
The dust had mana inside of it. While most of the dust seemed devoid of anything there were some areas in the dust that had mana residing in it but those area felt unstable. Like, the mana was condensed and could blow at any moment.
I stopped my scan and placed it back into my inventory. I then pulled out the silver mystery box. I can tell this is going to be something of a rare item. An option screen appeared before me and I selected open.
The silver box broke down into particles of light before reforming into something way too long to fit in it. When the light faded, I found myself holding a two feet long sheath of a sword. Pulling the blade out I found the silver sword was straight with the end of it curved. Only one side of the sword seemed to be meant for cutting.
Looking at its stats, it seemed to be better than my knife.
Unknown Sword: This sword is a mystery and its forger unknown but the sword lets out emits a faint divine aura filled with the forger's patience and calmness. This blade will kill the sinful but will refuse to draw the blood of the innocent.
Attack 20
Attack power increase by 20% against evil creatures.
Attack decreases by 100% against those deemed good by the blade.
I knew this sword was a Chokuto, the same type of sword Adam uses. I tried to strap the sheath to my waist but found it too long for my current size. I huffed and strapped the sword and sheath to my back.
The stats were useful and seeing that I will be fighting something evil that additional attack power will come in handy. Besides, my knife is already full of cracks after all that monster hunting. Maybe I can learn a reconstruct skill seeing that I can deconstruct.
I leave the room and marched out of the room and asked one of the villagers where Hisui was. They nervously told me that Hisui was outside. I raised my eyebrow at this and decided to leave and see what she was up too.
I didn't see her when I came out but I definitely heard her. I rushed to where I heard the explosions happening and found her outside the walls that separated the castle from the rest of the village. She was fighting three onis and one tiger.
The tiger lunges at her but she blasted it to dust with a fireball. One of the onis charged forward but she then killed it with a large icicle skewering its body. The other two charges at once but she used two talismans that blasted the onis with lighting strong enough to turn their entire body to dust.
She sighs but I noticed an oni on top of a building aiming an arrow at her. I quickly rush forward towards her. She saw me coming and was surprised. If I wanted to kill her then she would have died there and then.
Instead, I ran past her and grabbed the arrow the oni shot. I pulled out my own bow and nocked the arrow I just caught and shot the oni right in the head, killing it.
I turned my attention towards Hisui, "You should be recovering." I said, "Also why were you using such powerful spells against these weaklings? You could kill them with much less."
Hisui avoided my gaze, "I have already recovered my mana and energy." She answered, "Also, well, my mana control isn't that… great." She admitted sheepishly, "I was born with a natural high amount of mana and when I began my training, I was slow because I had trouble controlling it and giving my spells form. That is why among apprentices I am one of the most powerful but the least skilled."
"I see," I nodded in understanding, "So you have trouble controlling your mana due to your high reserves so you can't use complex spells but can use simple spells that have more power behind it."
Hisui nodded, a bit embarrassed. Before we can continue, we both hear a growl from behind. I turned and saw several tigers, dogs and onis approaching. I narrowed my eyes before smirking. This might be an opportunity.
"Invite Hisui to party." I heard Hisui yelped. "Hisui, tap on the accept option." I commanded as I glanced at her.
The woman looked at me and look back at what I assume was the option window. Hesitantly, she tapped yes. Well then, now that she is in my party, I wonder how strong I can help her get. Also, her mana manipulation is at level 3? Wow, mine is at level 7. Maybe I can help teach her better mana control too.
And that's it. This is part one of the dungeon. There will be two parts as Adam will want to help Hisui improve herself first by improving her level and helping her improve her mana manipulation before fighting the main boss.
Also, I gave Adam a sword of the same kind he used in canon but it is obviously not Wilt. Also, this character is basically becoming a more physical counterpart of Jihan now isn't he? Oh well. Also, not sure what I should name the next chapter. I guess Dungeon part 2 but if I feel like writing a longer chapter then it will be named Breaking Point. If not then the following chapter will be Breaking point.
Anyways, reviews.
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Lambda38: Sorry, I have no idea how I got that wrong.
Kirston: Thanks for the review.
Guest: Well, I wanted to combine a bit of Solo Leveling too since I just got into it.
Guest: I don't think its that good but thanks.
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Soda-fiendPsycho: Thank you for your review and your criticism is noted. I hope you continue to enjoy your read.