{I want to thank Creatureman, GhostZero, and Daoist19panic for being the first to gift my story! Both Creatureman and ChostZero will have their names turned into a character, they get to chose either an NPC or another player. I am giving both of them characters since they both gave gifts seconds apart. At the end of every month between the 25th and 1st I will pick from the top gifters and make a character for them in my story!!}

Since I'm already at my destination and I've saved time I can go over the lore of the dungeon and boss before I start the dungeon dive. I can feel that some of the mutated flowers and plants are patrolling the entrance to the dungeon, there aren't as many out here as there usually is. Normally the forest is full of deadly plants ready to kill and drive off invaders. I make my way to the dungeon with my sword drawn just incase I get ambushed. The lore about the dungeon itself is a pretty good size, as well as the boss.

If my memory serves me right and it usually does. Then this dungeon is the birthplace of the first mutated plant and the original laboratory of the mage who did these experiments. The location is called Pit of Thorns, its not actually a pit though. The boss monster in this dungeon is one of the offspring of the first mutated plant. Nobody knows what happened to the original mutated plant, but it was said to have 3 offspring. It's youngest resides in this dungeon. I don't know the location of the others, but they get stronger as you climb up the ladder.

The bosses name is Glader, its a one time boss since this is a hidden dungeon and cant be done again. It also has a bunch of allies to help it during the boss fight, and I'm going to kill everything to get that extra exp that will contribute to my level up. Once I kill the boss I need to find the hidden treasure room, everything in that room will be cursed except for the first half of the key I need. Many of the original party's players who did this dungeon had there accounts debuffed from the cursed items and couldn't play on those characters anymore.

As long as I do the same thing I did at the treasure room of the ancient ruins of the dryads then I'll be fine. I've been walking for a few minutes now and I can feel that I'm getting closer and closer to the entrance of the dungeon. Only 40 feet or so till I look upon the entrance. I hide behind a bush to see what I am dealing with, I part some of the branches and see 2 enemies guarding the way in. I use inspect on them and notice they are stronger than they are supposed to be.

[Mutated Pissed off plant guard Lvl. 40]

500,000/500,000 HP

[Description: A plant that has been changed with foul magic and genetic modifications. It is in a constant state of anger at anything not plant based.]

Its health and level are higher than they should be, but in the end it just means more exp for me. I have The Witness already ready and I jump out of the bush using slash. The are much weaker than the orcs I faced so this should go much faster. I begin to strike and deal lots of damage.

[Mutated Pissed off plant guard Lvl. 40]

500,000/500,000 HP

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

[The curse of decomposition has been applied target will lose 3% health every second]

-18,592

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

-18,592

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

-18,592

I stop attacking my first target cause the curse should work on it till it dies. Once I have the curse applied to both of these guys then all I have to do is wait. I activate double strike for my second target and start using slash against it.

[Mutated Pissed off plant guard Lvl. 40]

500,000/500,000 HP

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

[The curse of decomposition has been applied target will lose 3% health every second]

-18,592

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

-18,592

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

-18,592

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

-18,592

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

-18,592

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

-18,592

I struck six times against this target and both are dying to the curse. I just dodge the rest of the fight and wait till they both rot away from the curse. I get 2 separate system notifications since 1 died faster.

+1000 exp

+500 slash exp

+1000 exp

+500 slash exp

My slash is only 100 exp from reaching level 12. Getting short changed like that really sucks, but the boss fight will level it up. I open my player stats to see the new exp values.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.32]

[Exp: 15,750/34,000]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden),+3 more]

[Stats]

[Strength - 2095] [Endurance - 2045] [Dexterity - 2050] [Speed - 2165] [Focus - 8545]

[Health: 16,560/16,560] [Mana: 85450/85450]

[Stat Points: 160] [Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver]

[Active Skills]

[Heavens light Lvl.4 325/400] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.4 225/400] [Slash Lvl.11 1900/2000] [Parry Lvl.1 80/100] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A]

I'm definitely going to level up from fighting this boss and its minions. Now that the entrance is clear of enemies I can enter the dungeon. I make my way to the entrance of the old ruins of some sort of stone house. I touch the door and I get a system prompt.

[You are about to enter a hidden dungeon]

[Are you sure you want to solo this hidden dungeon? Y/N]

I think yes and open the door. I walk in and I can immediately feel a bunch of monsters in this dungeon. They are all probably the same strength as the guards I fought. If any other player tried to do this at my level they would only die, but I will utilize the curse of decomposition and wither these monsters down. I make my way through the dungeon killing enemies and trying to find the boss room. After about 3 hours of fighting and several monsters later I leveled up twice and leveled up slash twice as well. I finally made it to the boss room, but I want to check my stats and allocate some stat points.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.34]

[Exp: 15,750/36,000]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden),+3 more]

[Stats]

[Strength - 2095] [Endurance - 2045] [Dexterity - 2050] [Speed - 2165] [Focus - 8545]

[Health: 16,560/16,560] [Mana: 85450/85450]

[Stat Points: 180] [Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver]

[Active Skills]

[Heavens light Lvl.4 325/400] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.4 225/400] [Slash Lvl.13 1900/4000] [Parry Lvl.1 80/100] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A]

I think putting 90 apiece in dexterity and speed would be a good idea, I'll have to move around a lot in the boss room fighting both monsters and the boss. I look at the new values of dexterity and speed.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.34]

[Exp: 15,750/36,000]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden),+3 more]

[Stats]

[Strength - 2095] [Endurance - 2045] [Dexterity - 2125] [Speed - 2240] [Focus - 8545]

[Health: 16,560/16,560] [Mana: 85450/85450]

[Stat Points: 0] [Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver]

[Active Skills]

[Heavens light Lvl.4 325/400] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.4 225/400] [Slash Lvl.13 1900/4000] [Parry Lvl.1 80/100] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A]

I'm ready to fight the boss now and I cant wait to get the story quest when I pick up the key. I approach the door to the boss room and open it. I'm met by an old laboratory and many enemies filling the room. I can see the boss from where I'm at, my instincts are telling me to get rid of the back up before facing the boss so that's what I'm going to do. I inspect the boss to see what I'll be fighting.

[Glader Lvl.55 tier 1 boss]

1,600,000/1,600,000 HP

[Description: The youngest of the three offspring of the mutant plant Quil. It is angry that you have trespassed on its territory and killed its offspring.]

It looks at me with no eyes, its like a huge assortment of vines that has thorns on it. The closest thing I can compare this thing to is a pile of tangled cords that are vines instead. It begins to launch attacks at me, but I'm focusing on the mobs around here. I spend 45 minutes dodging the bosses attacks and killing all the minions. Once I was done with that I leveled up my player level and slash, now that all the monsters are taken care of its the bosses turn. I activate heavens light and double strike and start attacking.

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

[The curse of decomposition has been applied target will lose 3% health every second]

-58,565

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

-52,058

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

-60,424

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

65,072

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

51,128

[This Target cant be dismembered]

[You have ignored armor]

55,776

I've done some decent damage and now I'll just let the curse of decomposition do its thing. After awhile of dodging and avoiding attacks it loses the last of its health. I gain another level and almost level up slash again. I open my player menu again to see the new values.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.36]

[Exp: 15,750/38,000]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden),+3 more]

[Stats]

[Strength - 2095] [Endurance - 2045] [Dexterity - 2125] [Speed - 2240] [Focus - 8545]

[Health: 16,560/16,560] [Mana: 85450/85450]

[Stat Points: 20] [Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver]

[Active Skills]

[Heavens light Lvl.4 325/400] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.4 225/400] [Slash Lvl.14 4500/5000] [Parry Lvl.1 80/100] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A]

If I keep gaining levels like this on the story quest I wont be able to be caught by the rest of the players. The boss doesn't drop anything good, one of the bad things about Ancients World are the drop rates for good items. Makes it harder for everyone, including the NPC's. Now that I have time to look around I notice an old latch that was supposed to be covered up. It looks like the entrance to the treasure room.

I walk over to the latch and open it up. The room lights up and I see a bunch of strong and rare items, but they are all cursed. I'm only here for one thing and that's the first half of the key. I look around the room and don't see what I'm looking for. I eventually find it hidden in a chest behind a false wall. Took me a minute to find it, but now I'm looking right at it. I pick it up and get a new system notification.

[Quest: A glimpse of something unknown]

[Description: You have found the first half of a key that leads into a rare double dungeon. Once you retrieve the second half you can enter the second hidden dungeon inside the dungeon known as Rock Ogres Lair.]

[Objective 1: Find the dungeon Rock Ogres Lair and retrieve the second half of the key.]

[Objective 2: Once you have both halves of the key use it on the hidden dungeon in Rock Ogres Lair.]

[Quality: Story (Hidden)]

[Rewards: Hidden]

[Do you wish to accept this quest? Y/N]

I think yes and a new quest pops up in my interface. Now its time to get this show on the road. I still have day light out so I'll cover as much distance as I can before getting off. When the ZZR-12000 comes tomorrow I won't need to get off.

{I'm not going to be as serious with making the exp different numbers every time he levels up. It makes the work load so much easier if I just do this from now on. I'll only change the number on the exp bar when its a small battle, not a big one like this chapter. I prefer to just give entire levels to make it easier for me.}