Dense Skullback Armor Plating: Extremely hardy armor plating of the skullback warriors. Can be used to craft powerful weapons and armor.

Hardness: 3

Mana Conductivity: 4

Skullback Knight Blade: Terrifyingly sharp blade used in the construction of similar weapons. Can be used as a weapon by itself, though its effectiveness is limited.

Sharpness: 2

Hardness: 3

Mana Conductivity: 3

Ring of Torrogh: This ring is was formed from the condensed aether of the boss monster, Torrogh, Knight of the Queen. Wearing it increases passive health regeneration by 100%.

(Recipe) Arachnid Knight’s Blade – Single Use

Hot damn. As well as the loot, I also got a single small platinum coin, which should cost 10 times the large gold variety. The armor plating and the blade were massive and unfortunately wouldn’t fit inside of my monster pouch due to their size. I could carry them no problem, but due to how cumbersome they were I couldn’t do much else. If I needed to fight something, I would have to ditch them on the ground before engaging.

The ring was my first boss drop, and according to its information, would double my health regeneration. Considering how slow most people’s health regeneration was, that was an amazing boon and would compound with some of my other skills. This would go a long way to increasing my survivability out in the wild. When I reported this dungeon to the guild, I would need to let them know about some of the drops I got from it. Enumerating the drops was probably a big part of how the guild would increase its clientele. If someone needed to get a mana regeneration item, we could point them towards a dungeon where they had a chance of dropping.

The ring itself was made of gold and appeared like a spider with its limbs stretched out, holding it in place. In the center was a single large ruby that was cut and glinted pleasantly in the firelight. I slipped the ring onto the middle finger of my right hand, and I watched as it seemed to melt into the gauntlet, disappearing beneath. Magic sure was neat.

According to my health, that last attack had almost killed me, dealing a staggering 300 damage. With the ring, I could now heal over 100 health per day, but still. Damn. Overcharging spells was dangerous beyond all belief. The moral of the story is if it hurts, don’t do it. I would have to be very careful in the future if I planned on trying to channel mana past my limits.

With my loot collected and my mind clearing, I set out of the door, heading for the exit of the fourth level. Once I passed the threshold, I got another alert.

Alert! Floor 4/ERROR Cleared! Experience Granted!

Enemies Eliminated:

Skullback Drone (Rank 2) x 96: 96xp

Skullback Broodmother (Rank 2) x 4: 200xp

Lesser Skullback Warrior (Rank 2) x 25: 125xp

Skullback Warrior (Rank 2) x 4: 300xp

Torrogh, Knight of the Queen (Rank 2): 1500xp

Experience Bonus:

First! (+10%)

Lone Wanderer (+25%)

First Dungeon Dive (+20%)

Total Experience: 3442xp

Level Up: lvl 20 -> 22 (1510/1687)

Skill Alert! Level Up! Current Status Increased! New Skill Derivations Available!

General Skills:

Identify – lvl 12 -> 13

Acrobatics – lvl 42 -> 50(MAX) – (+30 Stamina Regeneration)

Race Skills:

Warrior’s Flight – lvl 65 -> 66 – (150 miles/hour)

Combat Skills:

Heavy Armor Mastery – lvl 23 -> 29 – (29%) reduction in armor weight felt by wearer

Beginner Swordsmanship – lvl 4 -> 7

Magic Skills:

Storm Command – lvl 15 -> 30

Enhancement Skills:

Enhanced Physicality – lvl 7 -> 9 – health +90, stamina +90

Rapid Regeneration – lvl 7 -> 10 (MAX)

Resistance Skills:

Intermediate Storm Resistance – lvl 15 -> 26 – (-46%) from all sources

Pain Tolerance – lvl 8 -> 13 – (65%) resistance to pain

Archetype Skills:

Lone Wanderer – lvl 53 -> 55 – increased money drop rate when exploring alone (+5%)

Current Status Increases:

+2 Str

+3 Agi

+2 Dex

+1 Con

+2 Int

+2 Wis

+1 Cha

Perhaps unsurprisingly, my physical skills went way up through that fight. I pressed my body to its limits, draining my stamina at an incredible pace. My resistances went up as well, both my storm resistance from my extreme self-inflicted wound, and my pain resistance because it hurt like a bitch. I had two skills that had derivations waiting for them, so I pulled up the next menu to check them out.

Alert Multiple Skill Derivations for General Skill: Acrobatics+Athletics! And for Enhancement Skill: Rapid Regeneration!

Acrobatics + Athletics: (All previous benefits retained)

- Tempered Health: you can sacrifice stamina to rapidly restore health at a 10/1 ratio

- Tempered Mana: you can sacrifice stamina to rapidly restore mana at a 5/1 ratio

- Tempered Body: you can sacrifice stamina to temporarily increase strength or agility by a small amount

Rapid Regeneration: (All previous benefits retained)

- Troll Flesh: Once per week, you can trigger extremely rapid regeneration of health from an internal pool of excess mana.

- Troll’s Strength: Half of Constitution is added to Health

- Giant’s Constitution: Half of Strength is added to Health Regeneration

Well, alright then. No single skill that I had available was bad. Each was strong, and that made sense considering that these were both third derivations of skills down the tree. If they weren’t powerful, there would be no point. I already knew that for the Acrobatics + Athletics skill I was going to take Tempered Body. The rapid increase in damage or speed would bring my lethality to a whole new level and would give me something to do with my deep stamina pool aside from using lightning step. The other two abilities were good, but I didn’t want to get too many regeneration buffs considering that I already had a stormborn regeneration, not to mention the ability granted from maxing the other skill, rapid regeneration.

The derivations for rapid reaeration had changed from the last time I had checked them, meaning I had unlocked new derivations or improved the old ones. This time, there were three different abilities, and all of them seemed useful. Troll Flesh was like a health potion that you didn’t need to carry around and was a good safety in case anything went wrong. The other two were helpful as well, either increasing health or increasing health regeneration. Of the three, I wanted to pick one that would help me the most in a majority of situations. I still had my Survivor ability, and it didn’t seem like I was going to be running out of health potions any time soon, so I decided against Troll Flesh. As for the two remaining skills, I wanted to try and bolster my health regeneration. I was increasing my strength fairly quickly, but my health regeneration was still relatively low compared to the rest. With my new ring, if I increased my regeneration even further, I would become incredibly powerful. I made my choices.

Tempered Body (1/10): Your mastery over your body allows you to tap into the natural energy that it produces. You can channel that energy into certain actions, making them more powerful, increasing either strength or agility in a (10/1) ratio for 1 second.

Derivations: Enhanced Tempered Body, Perfect Body, Enhanced Musculature

Giant’s Constitution (1/1): This racial skill of the Giants converts half of your strength score and adds it to health regeneration.

Derivations: None

Huh. I guess I reached the end of the tree by gaining Giant’s Constitution. I wonder if the other abilities were at the ends of their respective trees. I suppose there was no sense in worrying about it though. I went ahead and pulled up my skill sheet to look at the changes.

Skill Sheet:

Name: Victoria (Vic) Gale

Age: 19 days

Gender: Female

Race: Storm Paraelemental Warrior (Rank 2)

Class: Way of the Storm Martial Artist

Job: Fighter

Level: 22/40, (1510/1687) to next level

Affinity: Heart of the Warrior, Physicality, Wind, Water, Ice, Electricity, Electronics, Crafting, Graceful Presence

Character Archetype: Lone Wanderer

Current:

Maximum:

Regen:

Health:

490

490

77/day (154/day)

Stamina:

585

585

370/hour

Mana:

350

350

320/hour

General Stats:

Current

Maximum

Affect

Strength

42

46

Physical strength; pushing, pulling, lifting. Affects health.

Agility

48

51

Physical speed; running speed, acrobatic ability, inertial control. Affects stamina.

Dexterity

32

34

Ability to move with finesse and skill. To move the body as the mind wills it. Affects stamina regen.

Constitution

31

31

The sturdiness of the body; ability to resist damage, poison, and magic. Affects health regen.

Intelligence

35

40

Your capacity to learn and remember. Affects mana.

Wisdom

32

33

Your ability to reason out the best choice. Affects mana regen.

Charisma

25

28

Your likability; affects attractiveness.

Luck

20

20

Affects drop rates, and personal narrative.

Unassigned

0

Skill

Level

Affect

General Skills: Common skills across all races

Identify

13/20

Gives user information. Amount and clarity based on identify level. Can determine health and highest-level skill from subjects. Gives detailed target type information of whole things, as well as their parts.

Tempered Body

1/10

Your mastery over your body allows you to tap into the natural energy that it produces. You can channel that energy into certain actions, making them more powerful, increasing either strength or agility in a (10/1) ratio for 1 second.

Stealth

15/100

Reduces all noise generated by movement passively (4%). You further increase your ability to move quietly reducing noise by (30%) and learn techniques to allow you to hide from sight.

Crafter

70/100

User is skilled in crafting and has an esthetic eye. Increases dexterity maximum (+2), and growth of all design-related jobs.

Uncanny Sight

9/50

You have perfect vision within 50 feet. You can spot small differences in your surroundings to give you additional information. This skill can be used both in the field, and on other people to detect subtle facial tics making it invaluable to many. Improves with skill use and practice.

Focus

27/50

Increases proficiency gain with skills by focusing on only one at a time (+20% skill experience gain) (+16% skill proficiency while using).

Lumberjack

16/100

Grants enhanced technique and skill when felling trees. (+16%)

Race Skills: Skills gained from race type

Stormborn

11/30

Increases effectiveness of strength, athletics, constitution, and wisdom when in stormy conditions (+11%). Grants enhanced regeneration when touching water (+110%). Gain mana from enemy storm attacks. (+20% mana steal)

Warrior’s Flight

66/70

you gain the ability to fly. Flying speed based on skill level and agility (150 miles/hour). Intrinsic ability has no cost. Use wind attuned mana to exceed speed limits (1 mana/second).

Class Skills: Skills gained through class

Beginner Chaos Body Strengthening

24/50

By focusing on the body, the user can absorb the chaotic energies in the atmosphere and use it to strengthen their body. Provides beginners knowledge of the technique. While practicing technique, regeneration skills are increased by (72%).

Combat Skills: Skills gained and leveled through combat

Beginner Art of the Blizzard

12/20

(+30% bleed duration) while using this skill. Grants access to the art. Teaches techniques associated with the skill. Requires mastery of the previous level to level up. Cannot be leveled through combat experience. Increases critical hit damage by (60%).

Beginner Art of the Lightning

12/20

(+30% bleed duration) while using this skill. Grants access to the art. Teaches techniques associated with the skill. Requires mastery of the previous level to level up. Cannot be leveled through combat experience. You can spend 70 Stamina for instantaneous linear movement (12ft) in any direction.

Heavy Armor Mastery

29/100

This skill teaches the user how to effectively wield heavy armor. (29%) reduction in equipped armor weight felt by the wearer.

Shooting (Pistols)

1/20

You gain increased accuracy when firing pistols (+5%).

*NEW*Beginner Swordsmanship

7/30

Teaches Beginner Level general sword forms and techniques

Magic Skills: Skills used to control mana

Storm Command

30/100

You can now control the elements of the storm. Manipulating water, air, and lightning in a 20ft radius space around you is very easy and has a low cost. Can generate materials at a rate of 1 unit/1 mana/ 1 second. Spells are now variable. 15 slots are available for custom spells to make quick casting possible and to minimize mental strain on the user. Your subconscious will be utilized to make casting spells possible, though casting speed is limited. Can cloak any part of the body in a layer of storm attuned mana. Can sense electrical signals within 20 feet of the body with extreme accuracy.

Cryokinesis

1/50

you can now manipulate ice with your mind using mana by reducing the temperature of water.

Enhancement Skills: Skills which enhance physical traits

Enhanced Physicality

9/10

Grants Minor Proprioception. Health +90, Stamina +90.

Resistance Skills: Skills that grant resistance to a type of damage

Intermediate Storm Resistance

26/30

Resist lightning, water, ice, and wind damage from all sources. (-35% from all sources)

Pain Tolerance

13/20

(40%) resistance to pain. Does not remove pain, it just makes it easier to ignore. Has diminishing returns. It is based on natural racial pain tolerance.

Archetype Skills: Skills granted via archetype

Lone Wanderer

55/100

Skill growth is increased while exploring new places alone (+25%). Increased experience gained hunting monsters alone (+25%).

Increased money drop rate when exploring alone (+5%).

Survivor

1/1

When you reach 0 health from an attack, you instead fall to 1 health. Usable once per day.

First 1!

1/1

You were the first person to become upgraded. +10% exp for killing roaming monsters.

Giant’s Constitution

1/1

This racial skill of the Giants converts half of your strength score and adds it to health regeneration.

Fascinating Eyes

1/20

You apply charm status by looking someone in the eyes for one minute. Grows more powerful with each level. Costs 10 mana.

And my quest to condense my obnoxious skill sheet continues to bear fruit. It was nice that Athletics and Acrobatics combined into something. It was also interesting to note that Giant’s Constitution did not end up in my Enhancement Skills section, but instead was placed into my archetype skills. I wonder why? Was it the same reason that Fascinating Eyes wasn’t considered a general skill? There was too much that I didn’t know. Lucky for me, there was someone that DID know, and I was on my way to meet her for the second time.

Behind the door was yet ANOTHER spiral staircase. This was my fourth one, and they were starting to get old. Was it too much to ask for a little bit of variety? I mean, maybe just a regular staircase or an old-fashioned ramp would be good sometimes. With a sigh, I continued on my way down, keeping one hand on the left wall to make sure I didn’t trip.

Luckily, this one wasn’t too long, ending after only two rotations. It was short enough that I was even able to keep track of my direction, and currently, we were directly under the previous floor. Ahead of me was a paradise. Instead of a forest of deadly spiders, a cave of traps, or god forbid, even more boss fights, there was a secluded underground spa.

This was not what I had in mind for the fifth floor. This was extremely luxurious. The whole floor was laid out in a large dome. In the center was a table laden with still steaming food, on the right was a series of workbenches where one could repair armor or weapons, and on the left was a hot spring, complete with dividers for male and female sections. Finally, something good about the dungeons aside from the sweet, sweet gains, or the epic loot. You get through four floors of terror and annoyance, and then every fifth floor was a relaxing spa. In the back, I also found a set of magic circles. I went ahead and identified them both.

Transportation Circle: Return to Entrance. Your progress in the Dungeon is saved, and you can select your destination at the entrance.

Transportation Circle: Exit Tutorial. You have completed the tutorial section and can move on to the lower parts of the dungeon.

The fact that the first five floors were a tutorial felt a bit condescending. Just in case it was all a trap, I went ahead and inspected the food, spa, and workbenches. Sure enough, they were all legit. I couldn’t do much for repairing my gear without some instruction, but I could polish up my armor and my sword, making sure they were clean. There was also a grindstone, and I would be showing my dented and used sword some love before leaving. On the table of food there was a roast chicken, several types of sandwiches, pitchers of water and wine, and various fresh fruits and vegetables.

By far though, the most interesting of the three things was the hot spring.

Enchanted Hot spring: Bathing in its waters rapidly restores health, mana, and stamina. Water cannot be removed from the rest area.

I had no idea what red text meant, but I assumed it meant it was extremely high quality. I was alone, so I stripped all of my filthy clothes and armor, and jumped right into the water, naturally after grabbing a few chicken legs, slices of cheese, and a container of wine. I watched as my health bar slowly rose. With my Stormborn regeneration, Giant’s Constitution, new ring, and this hot spring water, all three of my bars were maxed out within 20 minutes. I decided to say in longer though, just enjoying the bath, so I closed my eyes and drifted off.

I eventually awoke to the sound of an alert. I opened my eyes and brought it up. It was probably about time for Luna to show up.

Hello, Victoria. I’m glad you made it this far. Are you enjoying the rest area? They were my idea.

I yawned and stretched a bit by bringing my hands high above my head, before answering, “Honestly, the rest area is wonderful. It’s nice that even inside the dungeons there are places to relax. So just to clarify, those floors I went through were all just a tutorial?”

I’m glad you like the rest stops.

But yes, it was just a tutorial. They don’t technically count as parts of the dungeon, and they are not repeatable. Once you go through them, they are locked off. The original idea was that once you beat the tutorial, you and your team would be ready for anything that the dungeon’s lower levels would throw at you, and you had an idea of what to expect. They are still obviously dangerous but considering that the lower floors have significantly fewer straightforward paths, it should be better. Now that you have beaten it, I don’t feel bad for letting you in on a few secrets.

Within the tutorials, if you ever reached 0 health, you would be ejected to the entrance of the dungeon. I could see how not telling you this might make you angry, but I wanted to make sure you tried as hard as you could. If you remove the threat of consequence, people tend to stagnate, and if you were going to help me with the lower floors I wanted you as strong as possible.

Have you thought about my proposal at all?

Damn it, Luna! That was some extremely vital information I was deprived of, right there. That being said, she had a point. If I didn’t think I was going to die, I wouldn’t have fought all out and with such desperation at the end of the first floor, and I definitely wouldn’t have leveled up my skills as much as I did. I couldn’t fault her for her deception, but it was still annoying.

Sighing, I said, “I don’t mind that you hid the information from me too much. I do still want to help you, though. Would it be okay if I took a quick trip back home to drop off some supplies, and talk to a blacksmith? I want to see if I can get some better gear made before tackling the rest of the dungeon.”

That’s fine with me, as long as it doesn’t take more than a few days. While you have been in the tutorial, I sent out another wave and started working with the many different members of the pantheon to hammer out some details about the system. Now, things are running quite autonomously, and I don’t have all that much to do besides working to find and eliminate errors from the system.

The dungeon error is the next major problem I need to deal with, and I have reserved several weeks so that I can find and squash the bugs before they become too much of an issue.

You’ve probably noticed that the bonus rewards for entering the dungeon first haven’t disappeared yet, even though you’ve been inside for four days. That’s because the dungeon doesn’t actually begin until the 6th floor. If you leave the timer is supposed to disappear, but I can make it so you keep it while I’m with you. Would you like me to pause the timer on the bonus dungeon reward clock?

“That would be super helpful, thanks. So, how does this thing work? You said you were going to ride shotgun in my brain, but what does that even mean?”

Alert!

Administrator Luna would like to access your personal system. Would you like to allow access? Y/N

“Yes?”

I heard a sound like radio static inside of my brain, followed by a flash of light in my eyes. It wasn’t painful but was extremely unpleasant. After a while I thought I heard something. Different memories started flashing through my brain, randomly going in fast forward and slow motion.

…..ello….

Is this what going insane feels like? The memories slowly became clearer, and eventually disappeared altogether, fading into black. I started to regain some coherency and could perceive what was going on around me.

…..an you... someth… wron…

Finally, the static ended, and I heard a clear voice inside of my head that didn’t belong to me. I could see the room again, and the crazy memory rollercoaster finally ended.

Hello? Can you hear me, Victoria? Sorry, there was some fuzz when I tried to enter your system. Are you okay?

I checked over my body and went through my thoughts looking for any inconsistencies. There was someone else in my brain, and I wanted to be sure that everything was fine. I opened my mouth to start talking when I heard Luna speak again.

You don’t need to worry about losing memory. I accessed your brain through the system and can just sort of glean information off of the top of your consciousness. I feel obligated to inform you that you can speak to me by simply thinking about me, and while I’m here, we share senses. I’m sorry if that was unclear in my first descriptions. Keeping things to yourself should become intuitive with a bit of practice.

From what I can tell, you are completely fine mentally, so there is no need to worry about memory loss or anything else.

That was… mildly disconcerting. Good to know there are no issues with my brain. I just didn’t think that having you in here would be so… invasive?

I am sorry about that. On the bright side, if I ever need to do this again, it won’t be a problem! Ha…

It's fine, I guess. Well partner, are you ready?

I needed to go home and talk to my blacksmith. Then its time to tackle the rest of the spider dungeon. The idea of taking on even more spiders seemed just a bit unpleasant, but I would do it if it meant even more loot.

I’m ready! I’m excited to see how everyone in the cities is doing. I’m essentially living in the dark.

Well, hopefully, they don’t let you down.

I, myself, was curious how the guild was doing. It should be up and running at this point, and I was excited to meet some of the new adventurers, and see how everyone was doing.