The party entered the dungeon and proceeded to walk towards the first room with enemy wolves. The room was far smaller than last time which made the patrolling wolves walk close together, significantly increasing the chance for a pull to drag the entirety of the room towards them.

“What’s this? How is anyone supposed to get through here?! Does the game think tanks have infinite health or something?”

Leo let out a laugh at Lily’s comment. The game certainly did treat tanks as punching bags, but not to this extent. In fact, Leo had already found several groups they could pull without alerting the others but decided to use another technique.

Leo sent out a basic magic attack from his combined spear. The others were first slightly shocked by the sudden use of magic but then went into a full panic as they prepared to meet more than 40 deadly wolves.

“Are you crazy?! Do you want us to die?”

Leo ignored Lily and watched as the blue orb of magic landed on the ground with a soft puff sound. Contrary to everyone’s previous belief, the wolves did not come charging towards them. Leo had perfectly hit the outer range of the wolves detection range, making them investigate. He lured 3 wolves for the first pull to determine their strength. With how Lily has been improving, he thought this would be a decent opportunity for her to learn more.

The three wolves continued to follow the sound of Leo’s magic attack and quickly discovered the party. Lily pulled them in and the first battle on Nightmare Mode officially began.

Gray Wolf (Common)

Level 6

Health: 5 850

Lily managed to dodge their simple attacks a few times but eventually took a hit to her leg.

-(22)

Lily was absolutely stupefied by the number floating above her head. A single attack had taken almost 1/3 of her total health. Snow quickly reacted and healed her right up again.

+20

Leo guided Lily from the sideline while attacking the wolves. He was ready to switch places any time but Snow’s outrageous amount of healing made that completely unnecessary. He had already known she possessed a Hidden Class by her use of both a staff and holy book, but never expected it to have this potent healing.

“Don’t just move when you’re attacked. Watch their legs and feet, they always tell you before attacking.”

Lily diligently listened to Leo’s words and made adjustments as the fight progressed. Leo was delighted at seeing her improve at such a rapid pace. He continued to guide her while still unleashing a devastating amount of damage on the poor wolves. The fight quickly ended and the wolves turned into experience points for the party.

System: Gray Wolf (Common) defeated! Awarding 70 EXP!

The party looked at the amount of EXP with a stupefied expression. They knew that Nightmare Mode gave five times the amount of EXP, but it was still baffling to actually see it. They didn’t feel like it took that much longer either, which was mostly due to Lily keeping the threat level better allowing Leo to exert more of his power.

Snow looked at the scene in disbelief. Was this the Lily she knew? Lily had always been a fast learner when it came to something she felt interested in, but wasn’t this a bit extreme? Snow had just completed the [Hard Mode] and barely got through it alive, even with her unmatched healing prowess. They had wiped countless times due to overpulling yet now she’s cruising through the most difficult mode of them all. She could only admire Leo’s skill both as a player and teacher. It’s such a shame that she can’t rope him into Rising Embers.

The increased amount of monsters and experience made Snow realize that they could actually level above the recommended level for the dungeon.

“Um, Zero and Ace. I’m sorry for not noticing sooner but at this rate, we’ll all level above 7 and won’t be able to get the first clear record.”

Leo looked at Snow and said “Obviously. That’s why we’re not going to complete the dungeon right now.”

Snow looked at Leo with a confused expression. Leo realized that he had been too vague and elaborated.

“I wanted to see how much experience we get before the last boss.”

Snow immediately understood what he meant and turned her questioning face into a bright smile. To think that the system had such a loophole. Alex nodded approvingly to Leo’s remark while Lily stood there like a headless chicken, unsure of what was happening.

The party continued through the dungeon and quickly reached the first boss. Leo managed to reach level 6 and his spear reached level 5. This significantly increased his damage potential. He allocated his attribute points into 11 STR and 11 DEX and was once more reminded how important every 5 level is.

Alex got to level 7 with his bow reaching level 6. Snow, Lily, and Hawk all reached level 8. Leo decided to let Lily tank the boss due to her level advantage. She was still in a happy mood after hearing that he would make her a custom shield. Leo could only let out a sigh at the thought of her signing an NDA without even reading it. Snow apologized for Lily’s behavior and made sure to let him know that Lily wouldn’t reveal his class’ specialty.

Leo quickly went over the attack pattern from the normal mode to ensure everyone was clear on it. He then made sure to warn them that the boss will have one extra skill compared to last time. This would be the only difficult part of the fight.

Lily began by initiating the fight quickly followed by arrows, magic spells, and Leo’s spear. The boss howled in anger at the sudden onslaught. Leo used his only skill and finished with a normal attack to the wolf’s abdomen.

-54

-57

-53

-67

The fight continued uneventfully until the boss hit 80%. The wolf crouched down and charged its tail with light blue flames. Leo continued to attack for as long as he possibly could before jumping back, completely avoiding its tail swipe attack.

The fight resumed as normal until the boss had 51% of its health left. The entire party quickly ran away from the boss and waited for the room-wide AOE skill. The boss then used it’s fiery tail several times in quick succession in a futile attempt at killing Lily.

-(30)

-(25)

+40

-(25)

+80!

Lily’s health went up and down constantly but never to a critical level. The fight continued on like normal until the wolf hit 5%. Leo used his full concentration on the boss. They had taken it down to 5% which would make it use its previously last skill, but on nightmare difficulty, it should have one more.

The wolf sent out a fiery spell once more, completely surrounding the room. It then sent out a close-range AOE. The attacks were no different than before and they easily avoided them both. The boss lost its health at a rapid pace.

4%

3%

2%

1%

Leo was getting more and more nervous as the boss had yet to reveal its final skill.

340

257

102

37

1

When the boss only had a single HP left, it suddenly let out a loud howl making it completely immune to all attacks. Its health began to rapidly fill up again.

1%

10%

40%

80%

100%

The party started cursing their luck. What happened? Did they miss a mechanic and would have to do the entire fight over again? Leo was the only one not dejected by the situation. He recognized this skill from his previous life. Assuming it's still the same, it should make the boss unable to use any skills.

The fight continued on and the boss quickly reached 80%. Unlike before, the boss no longer used any skills and the party easily managed to kill it.

System: Giant Gray Wolf (Leader) defeated! Awarding 2,800 EXP!

The experience was enough for Alex to level his bow up to 7 and reach 60% towards level 8. The others also reached more than halfway to level 9 with Snow being the only to actually level up.

Snow walked up to the wolf and initiated the loot distribution. They still choose to use the standard distribution rules. The first item quickly found its way to the interface.

[Gray Wolf’s Helmet (Iron Quality)]

Level requirement: 5

Class restriction: Priest, Holy Mage, Scholar

Armor type: Cloth

Item category: Helmet

Defense: 12

Magic defense: 16

Attributes

INT +8

PIT +6

Mana +7

The first item was a good Iron Quality helmet for healers. The Quality rating goes from Copper → Bronze → Iron → Steel → Silver → Gold → Dark Gold → Epic → Sub-Legendary → Legendary.

There is a rumored Celestial after Legendary but Leo had personally not seen it before. Even if it did exist, it’s unlikely that normal players would even be able to use it without dying from its power.

The helmet went to Snow due to her being the only healer. The class restrictions usually only show the base classes and any of the Hidden Classes or even just Advancement Classes can use them. Given the type of armor or weapon is compatible, of course.

The next item was somewhat special.

[Lover’s Potion (Rare)]

Level requirement: 0

Class restriction: None

Item category: Consumable

Description: Consume to bind two players together for eternity. The two players will share their bank, money pouch, owned land, shops, buildings, etc. It cannot be forced and both players have to give consent. Not reversible.

This item was rather special. It offers no real advantage but would be convenient for a married couple, for example, to easily share their bank. Leo had no personal use for this item but he could see it fetching a good price on the market, even if it was just used symbolically.

No one wanted to claim the item for themselves due to embarrassment. They decided to just roll for it and whoever gets it can use it or sell it.

Zero: 2

Snow: 99

Hawk: 3

Lily: 2

Ace: 4

Everyone stared blankly at the result. Is this what they call faith? Lily did not let this chance slip by for even a second before starting to tease Snow.

“Oh~? Do you have a lo~ver I’m not aware of? Has the Ice Queen’s heart finally softened?”

Snow’s face became completely red in embarrassment. Lily knew perfectly well that she was single. The situation settled down after Lily had her fun and the next item was revealed.

[Lover’s Poem (Iron Rank)]

Level requirement: 0

Class restriction: None

Item category: Quest

Description: The half-elf Wilith Daerel was brutally murdered by the Giant Gray Wolf while walking through Tuliun Forest. His last wish is for someone to bring his poem to his lover Ayla Iarrieth in Ferima City.

Reward: ???

The Lover’s Potion suddenly made more sense. Leo found it to be weird that a wolf would drop such an item out of nowhere. Since the quest had no specific restriction, they all rolled for it.

Zero: 70

Snow: 97

Lily: 35

Hawk: 23

Ace: 73

Snow once more turned bright red as Lily bombarded her with teasing. It was almost like the system itself wanted to see how embarrassed it could make her. There were a cape and two necklaces remaining which went to Snow, Lily, and Alex respectively.

The party continued on towards the last boss room. There were a few wolves here and there, but they were quickly disposed of. After walking for ten minutes the party found the boss room. The room was gigantic with elegant cave paintings and a huge light-blue wolf standing in the middle of the room.

Leo decided to level his shield to 4 and armor to 4 in preparation of the final boss fight. Now that they had gained all the experience they could, there was no longer any reason to worry about going past level 7 before the dungeon is completed. The only thing remaining was to reduce the levels of Snow, Lily, and Hawk back to 7.

The party exited the dungeon and walked to Leomar Town. Lily walked next to Leo, practically bunnyhopping all the way to the town, describing how she wants her shield to be.

They quickly entered the town and Snow met up with a few players from her Guild. They had gathered the promised 200 Copper equipment and 75 Bronze equipment for Leo. Snow wanted him to use it for his own upgrade in order to ensure their victory.

She also prepared 200 Bronze equipment for hers and Lily’s weapons and 5 Copper equipment for Hawk’s bow. Snow had already made an agreement to purchase the weapons for her and Lily but not for Hawk. She found it unwise to invest too many resources into a player like Hawk when she knew that Leo wouldn’t be able to upgrade the weapon. It was far better to take it slow and not overwhelm him with requests for weapons.

Leo took the resources and looked at Hawk. He felt a bit sad that Snow didn’t think highly enough of him to prepare a suitable amount of materials. He couldn’t blame here though. Every bound creation he makes will need an insane amount of resources throughout its lifespan to stay relevant. Leo had no plans on handing them out half-heartedly. The more bound weapons and armor he creates, the more work he’ll have upgrading them later.

Leo first deconstructed the Copper equipment into 358x [Scrap Metal] and 244x [Copper Dust]. This would be enough for him to experiment with. He then deconstructed the Bronze equipment into 220x [Bronze Core] and 136x [Bronze Dust].

This confirmed his suspicion that each quality has different raw materials. Leo proceeded to deconstruct the materials for Snow and Lily’s weapon. He had included the Copper equipment into his own supply simply because of the small amount, but the Bronze ones needed more care. He would use the materials they provide in full. Leo decided to let Snow add the price tag for the work.

The 200 Bronze equipment consisted of:

35x Level 0 → 42x [Bronze Core] & 27x [Bronze Dust]

42x Level 1 → 65x [Bronze Core] & 39x [Bronze Dust]

72x Level 2 → 114x [Bronze Core] & 88x [Bronze Dust]

51x Level 3 → 232x [Bronze Core] & 149x [Bronze Dust]

The equipment turned into a total of 453x [Bronze Core] & 303x [Bronze Dust]. Leo decided to simply split the materials in two and use about equal amounts of material for each weapon. He entered his creation space and began by creating Lily’s shield.

He only had the option of creating a standard shield but customized the appearance to be more unique, as described by Lily. Leo wanted to get his hands on more recipes to see how the product would change but had to put it on hold for now.

Leo designed the shield to be square and slightly shorter than the standard Knight shield. The compact design allowed for a bit more defense on the shield itself but also made it cover less of the body.

Leo made the color scheme dark-red with some gray. He added some golden symbols along the sides as decoration and distributed the material with a focus on the center of the shield. There really wasn’t that much to do when it came to creating shields so Leo quickly finished the work in about 10 minutes.

System: Generating shield … Binding to [Lily] … Shield completed!

System: Base: 324P, Quality: 275P. Overall score: 599P

[Kingdom’s Heart (Bronze Quality)]

Level 0 (0 / 100)

Restrictions: Bound to [Lily]

Item category: Shield

Attribute requirements: 7 STR, 5 VIT

Defense: 48

Magical defense: 29

Durability: 125 / 125

Attributes

VIT +5

RES +5

Health +10

Leo looked at the shield with a satisfied expression. It was a very strong shield compared to its Quality rating. Considering that materials from a hundred Bronze equipment were used in its creation, it would be weird if it wasn’t powerful. Blacksmiths can still create better shields, but theirs are level locked and can’t be upgraded.

Leo switched over to Snow’s Staff and began the creation process with the remaining materials. He quickly designed the staff to be of a light-brown wooden color and about the same size as her current one. He then added in a few symbols representing Goddess Xela due to Snow’s class. If she’s lucky, the Staff might be blessed at some point increasing its power even more.

The staff took 15 minutes due to the extra need to balance the magic power throughout the staff. Leo had learned more about how different amounts of material in specific spots on a weapon can increase its power.

System: Generating staff … Binding to [Snow] … Staff completed!

System: Base: 352P, Quality: 321P, Functionality: 93P. Overall score: 766P

[Starlight Warstaff (Bronze Quality)]

Level 0 (0 / 100)

Restrictions: Bound to [Snow]

Item category: Main-weapon

Attribute requirements: 5 INT, 5 PIT

Spell power: 24

Durability: 60 / 60

Attributes

INT +5

PIT +5

Mana +15

Special trait:

15% increase to casting speed for spells.

5% less mana consumption for spells.

Leo looked at the staff in disbelief. He could actually get passive abilities on the weapons? He thought back to when he created his shield and the functionality score it had. He assumed that the functionality comes from balancing when creating the weapon. His shield had a transformation type functionality while this staff has faster casting speed. It would seem that he still had plenty to learn about his class.

He finished by upgrading his spear and shield to Bronze Quality then created a simple weapon for Hawk to reduce his level to 7. Leo first created a bow without a binding restriction but quickly found that the bow only needed 15% EXP per level. It was also restricted to level 5 and didn’t use nearly enough EXP to make Hawk return to level 7. He then created a simple bound bow and Hawk quickly went back to level 7.

“What do you think?”

“It’s great. I don’t think there’s any other weapon out there with such high stats for its relatively low-quality rank.”

“I love it! It’s so much better than those towers they dare call shields.”

Leo could see that Snow was thinking hard about the price. It’s not like there’s an established market dealing in upgradable weapons. The cost mostly comes from the materials and Leo had been given them all before beginning the creation.

“You don’t have to pay right now. Try the weapons out for a bit and decide on it’s worth then.”

Snow gave Leo a nod before they continued on. With all of them now at or below 7, the dungeon could be completed and they would still receive the record. The party quickly headed back to the dungeon and began the final fight. Although Lily had a far better shield and had improved a lot, Leo still felt the need to be the main tank for the final boss just in case.

[Guardian Wolf (Leader)]

Level 7

Health 95 000

The wolf diligently guarded the emerald colored orb to protect the dungeon. Leo took a good look around to see if he could use the terrain to his advantage. Unfortunately, just like the previous boss, there was nothing in the room except for the boss and the orb.

Leo slowly stepped forward and entered the boss’ range. The wolf howled at him before quickly dashing forwards. It lifted its large paw and aimed at his head. Leo easily moved away from the attack and returned a series of attacks of his own.

-75

-79

-75

-121

-125

Leo dealt a large amount of damage in a short timespan and quickly secured the boss’ threat. The others promptly began releasing attacks of their own, officially starting the final fight.

Leo continued to dodge as the Guardian Wolf tried to kill him. Its health slowly dipped down to 85% and it activated its first skill. Leo put his full concentration into observing the surrounding, trying to predict what it would do.

The wolf stopped attacking and Leo instinctively jumped back. The boss shot out water from his mouth towards the spot Leo had just left. The water quickly froze to solid ice and a cold sweat could be seen on Leo’s face. If he had waited any longer he would have been frozen in place and beaten to death.

The wolf was angry at missing its target and dashed towards him to continue its attack. Leo once more dodged the boss’ attacks as the entire team bombarded the wolf with high damage numbers. The fight continued on and the boss slowly lost its health.

80%

75%

70%

Leo was getting worried due to the boss not doing anything else yet. He quickly looked around the room once more to see if anything changed. He looked up at the ceiling and saw icicles starting to form across the entire roof.

The icicles were swinging back and forth, some more than others. Leo quickly found the pattern and directed his party to move according to his command. The icicles began falling down from the roof, piercing the floor.

The party had elegantly moved out of the way, cold sweat dripping from each one of their faces. Although his team had started to calm down, Leo was concentrating more than ever. He would never believe that an attack like that would appear at random.

He quickly tried to inspect the icicle.

[Icicle]

Level 0

Health: 50

Leo confirmed his suspicion. In other games, an attack like this might have looked like a sword appearing out of nowhere or several small bomb-like monster standing still with a fuse slowly burning away.

He quickly ordered his team to clear all the icicles and switched his focus from attacking to destroying the icicles. They quickly cleared them away and continued to attack the boss. The wolf leaped up into the air, floated for a bit and let out an ear-piercing howl before descending again.

Leo was certain that this attack would have triggered the icicles to explode, dealing damage based on the number of icicles remaining.

Snow was once again flabbergasted by Leo’s abilities. The thought of the icicles being part of a chain explosion had not even crossed her mind. She though the attack was the icicles falling down and the obstruction they caused was the only extra effect.

The fight continued on and the boss slowly lost its health.

60%

50%

40%

30%

Leo continuously watched the boss’ movement, as well as his surroundings. It still had not done its sure-kill skill.

25%

20%

15%

The wolf suddenly stopped attacking and Leo once more instinctively jumped back. He observed the boss while attacking with his magic spell. Ice started surrounding the wolf’s fur and it slowly froze into place.

Leo had a bad feeling about this sudden turn of events but could not see through the incoming attack at all.

-0

-0

-0

Their attacks stopped dealing damage and Leo immediately ran towards the team. Although he was not completely sure about it, he felt like this had the signs of a team-wiping skill written all over it.

“Quickly stand in a line behind me! Snow, focus all your healing on me!”

They did not question him and quickly formed a line. Leo silently observed the wolf while walking backward, his shield held high. The ice surrounding it had begun to shake. A loud explosion erupted from the ice surrounding the boss.

Icicles shoot out from the wolf’s location in all directions. The icicles were so close together that Leo would be unable to avoid them. Several icicles hit him as the attack continued on. Snow struggled to keep him alive while the constant barrage of icicles continued.

-(11)

-(22!)

+35

-(12)

-(13)

-(11)

+32

Leo’s health continued to go up and down as the attacked continued on for what seemed like an eternity. He finally managed to meet up with the party and quickly said “Lily, switch places with me. Keep your shield up. Snow, heal Lily”.

Lily did as she was told and took a defensive stand in front of the others.

-(7)

-(18!)

-(16!)

+35

Lily’s defense was significantly higher than Leo due to her class. Leo still needed to get a good passive skill for reducing damage before he could tank attacks like this. Lily continued protecting the party and the onslaught of icicles eventually ended. The boss no longer had any skills to defend itself and quickly fell to their brutal assault.

System: Guardian Wolf (Leader) defeated! Awarding 4,225 EXP!

System announcement: Congratulations on completing [Wasted Mines] on [Nightmare Mode]! Awarding 2,500 EXP!

System announcement: Congratulations on achieving the first clear of [Wasted Mines] on [Nightmare Mode]! Awarding 2,000 EXP, 5 silver per player and 7 reputations in Ferima Province!

System announcement: Congratulations on achieving the fastest clear of [Wasted Mines] at [Nightmare Mode] with a time of 2 hours, 47 minutes and 44 seconds! Awarding 1,000 EXP, 3 free attribute points and 3 reputations in Ferima Province!

The experience was more than enough to get Leo to level 7. He put his attribute points into 6 STR and 3 DEX. Leo was surprised that they qualified for the fastest clear record but welcomed the extra attribute points. All dungeons have a set minimum time to beat in order to qualify for the fastest clear. They had wasted quite a lot of time walking to Leomar Town and creating the weapons but still got it.

The party was absolutely ecstatic at the system announcements and could not believe that they had actually managed to beat the dungeon on the highest difficulty. While most players had yet to even beat hard difficulty, they had gone and done the seemingly impossible.

A system announcement appeared in front of Snow notifying her about the achievement.

System announcement: You are eligible for a Kingdom-wide announcement. Please enter the party’s name.

Snow promptly entered the name Rising Embers and the announcement quickly entered the ears of every player in the kingdom. It did not take long for news sites to get a hold of the information which spread Rising Embers’ fame throughout the entire game. The forums saw a sharp increase in player activity.

[Unimportant person #1] “How is that even possible? My party can’t even defeat the boss on normal difficulty?!”

[Unimportant person #2] “Congratulations Rising Embers! I love you Ice Queen Snow!”

[Unimportant person #3] “Of course it was the Ice Queen’s Guild taking the first clear. Rising Embers is just too powerful!”

[Dave] “Does anyone know where I can find Blacksmith Sanmut? Please, I’ve walked around for hours.”

Snow approached the boss and began the loot distribution. The first item quickly showed up in the interface.

[Vengeful Obsidian Scimitar (Gold Quality)]

Level requirement: 5

Class restriction: Knight, Raptor

Item category: Main-weapon

Attack power: 96

Attributes

STR +14

DEX +10

Rage +5

Lily’s jaw hit the floor when she saw the weapon’s stats. She did a cute dance as she clicked the [Need] button. The sword was pitch black with a beautiful scabbard engraved with intricate gold carvings. The blade was thin, but sturdy with a reddish color along its sharp edge. It was incredibly strong for a level 5 weapon, but it would become useless fairly soon. A level 5 Gold Quality weapon is roughly equal to a level 10 Steel quality weapon.

[Elegant Obsidian Book (Gold Quality)]

Level requirement: 5

Class restriction: Holy Mage

Item category: Secondary-weapon

Spell power: 57

Attributes:

INT +11

VIT +8

Mana +12

This time Snow got a great secondary weapon. It still had the same problem as Lily’s scimitar, but being a secondary weapon made it's worth slightly higher. Leo began wondering if the drops were player specific due to achieving the first clear.

[Exiled Redwood Composite Bow (Gold Quality)]

Level requirement: 5

Class restriction: Ranger

Item category: Main-weapon

Attack power: 167

Attributes:

STR +7

DEX +18

Spirit +12

Leo was now sure that the drops were tailored to each specific player in the party. The bow went to Hawk as Alex already had a custom one. Alex got a cape that increased his attack power and dexterity significantly. Leo waited in anticipation for his drop.

[Diabuth’s Ring of the Forgotten Realm (Gold Quality)]

Level requirement: 5

Class restriction: None

Item category: Ring

Attack power: 12

Attributes:

STR +7

Mana +10

Rage +10

Health +10

Description: Forged by Master Blacksmith Lothaelynn Icebrow and imbued by the Guardian of the Forgotten Realm. You might want to convince a historian to take a closer look at the ring.

Leo was happy with the ring. It’s not super powerful but accessories, in general, are difficult to come by and getting one this early on was great. With the dungeon completed, they quickly teleported outside.

“Thank you for helping us get the first clear and for the weapons. I hope we can work together from now on.”

“Of course. I would be happy to help when I can.”

Leo added Snow to his friend’s list and prepared to head back to town when he suddenly noticed her face change drastically.

“Snow, is something wrong?”

“I’m sorry, I have to leave. I’ll contact you later to talk more about ways to help each other.”

“Okay, by-e”

Snow quickly disconnected from the game and left Leo feeling that something terrible happened.