Everyone kicked the floor and gained distance between themselves and Lariel, not having thought twice after someone just landed near them.

Lariel let them be. He had more concerning thoughts. Someone had just tried to slit his neck. And the culprit was walking towards the clearing.

"So. You are still too fast to kill. I thought I had you for a second there. My new class skill really is something," the one that spoke had his voice distorted, along with his figure. Lariel could not tell who he was just from seeing him, but the one person missing told him what he wanted to know.

"Ezekiel. Why?" he asked, in fighting position. Crouched, his left arm extended forward, and his right arm retracted slightly to the right and backward, holding his new spear horizontally behind his back. He was ready to fight and would jump at the first sign of aggression.

"Isn't it obvious? You are the best, and killing the best would make me the best," the sluggish form disappeared and left Ezekiel in its place. His voice also turning back to normal.

Ivan stepped forward from the rest of the party behind Lariel.

"What the hell is happening?" To which Lariel has more than happy to answer. Not like he had any hatred towards the wannabe killer. In the Dungeon, it was killed or be killed. He took an opportunity and missed it. Nothing wrong with that. That was how he saw it. If he had been a part of his party it would be a completely different story. Lariel also doubted that Ezekiel would really kill him. A dagger would do night to nothing to him, and the party member probably knew that. He was likely just testing how he would fare in a similar situation

"Ezekiel here tried to slit my throat from behind," he said. No resentment whatsoever in his face or voice. He abandoned his fighting stance and locked the spear on the support on his back. Ivan, for his turn, understood what this meant and nodded. 'No problems would arise'.

"Ok then...What the hell were you doing here? I thought you had left the dungeon!"

When Lariel was going to answer, Ezekiel did that for him.

"He has been following us since the third floor. Or at least, that's when I noticed it," he shrugged like it was nothing meaningful.

Ivan looked at Ezekiel to see if he was lying and then at Lariel. Finding nothing, he asked.

"And why were you doing that?"

"To make sure you guys were safe," came the response, almost instantaneously. Ezekiel also chimed in.

"I can testify that. I saw him tense up and take out his spear every time we were in danger," he confirmed. "Also, remember when I went back to the third floor after we entered the fourth? Yeah, I saw him there, killing the 200 or so goblins out of the ones that remained. He did not notice me, focused as he was in his fight."

Well, that was a surprise. He had thought that he was paying attention to his surroundings at the time, but apparently, he had a watcher. How the table turns.

"Also, when we entered this floor, remember, when the horns of the reinforcements sounded and we fleed. I, again, asked to go back and saw Lariel cut his way through the hordes of goblins like someone was cutting wheat. One strike of his spear and dozens fell. One spell and hundreds fell to their knees, holding their throats. Blood covered every square meter of that place, at least half a thousand corpses littered the place, and those were the ones I could see," he provided again. Proving that Lariel basically turned into a sort of killing beast that ignored everything else when killing.

Ivan seemed taken aback by what Ezekiel had said, and glanced at Lariel.

"You slew... half-thousand goblins like they were nothing?!" It was more of a statement than a question, as such, Lariel did not answer. Of course, they were wrong. He had killed over a thousand, but that wasn't important for the current conversation.

Ivan seemed to turn into his thoughtful mode. The remaining of their party eventually came closer. Kan looking like a miserable rag-doll.

"Hey, what's going on with you?" Lariel asked him, eying him up and down. The answer came as nothing but a whisper.

"Mana sickness," he said.

Ahhhhh... Lariel had experienced that in his close death call. It was when you expended all of your mana. Your mana regeneration diminished to close to nothing. And it would not get better until you had at least one-tenth of your total mana. He could emphasize with Kan. Feeling like your mind was nothing but rubbish was indeed quite bad.

"Come here. Don't you guys have mana potions," Lariel asked, extending his arm to Kan. It was time to try something.

*Ding* Mana Drain has reached level 9!

-------------

*Ding* Mana Drain has reached level 12!

Kan immediately brightened up.

"What did you do?" he asked. Then his eyes went wide open. "My mana just increased to a fifth of the total," he said, not a vestige of the previous suffering showing in his person.

"Yeah, it's a skill of mine," Lariel answered, his right hand scratching the back of his hand. "I can accumulate Health, Stamina, and Mana from my kills if my stats are full, and then give it to myself or others," he had just spent a great part of his stored Liquid Mana on Kan. That would mean that he had over 2000 total mana, which was surprisingly a big amount considering everything, and it also surpassed his own amount.

Ivan looked at him. Really looked at him. At his soul, and realized something. Lariel was a good hardworking man through and through.

"I have an idea," he started, while still looking at Lariel. "Why don't you accompany us to the boss floor?"

Protests started being echoed in his party.

"Wait! Only as a backup. Only if we are at risk would you intervene," he clarified. "If you were able to kill that many goblins in that short amount of time. I think it's for the best."

Lariel thought about that. This way, he could make sure none of them died, and wouldn't have to hide from their sight. Win, win situation.

"Ok, fine for me," he answered. The remaining party members said nothing about that, probably realizing Lariel was so far above them that it was better to have him as a safeguard. Better safe than sorry.

Ivan clapped his hands once.

"Alright guys, we are moving towards the door. We don't want to be in the middle of all these goblins when they respawn," he said, already moving towards the next-floor door.

That's right... They had to wait for the door to turn golden, signaling the passage to the boss floor, and respawning the Hob Warlord, signaling the goblins spawn. They did not want to be here when all those Goblins started coming in.

They started moving. All ten of them. The door was still five minutes away, and without any goblins, that's the time they took. Or at least, that's the time Lariel's Perfect Timing skill said they took.

They arrived at the door. A different door than what Lariel was used to. It was slightly bigger, and no longer limited to just wood. Located in a clearing, it had silver rivers flowing through it. Top to bottom. The light hit the door and was reflected on those that contemplated it. Lariel had never really noticed, but the doors were pure perfect craftmanship.

The level of detail was surreal. Not even a woodworker with Improved Wood Working could do something like this. Unfortunately, he could not touch the door to feel it, but his Perception Ball helped him in that regard. The door was smooth. It did not seem to be made of wood. Not a single dent in it. And somehow, Lariel knew that even if he tried, he would not be able to damage it.

While he was gazing at the door, the rest of the party, except for Kan, started talking between themselves. Some even sparing. Kan approached him, and just stood there. Looking at the door.

And so, they stayed like this. First seconds, and then minutes. Finally, at the tenth minute, Kan spoke.

"I feel like I should not be a mage," he said.

Lariel said nothing. Thinking of the consequences that any of his words could do if he spoke them. He knew Kan looked up to him. At least, in terms of fighting power. He was the advice giver. The one that gave him direction.

"There are many better than me out there," he continued.

Lariel had an idea of what to say. He had spoken to Holder about the possibility. But he would not push Kan to it. It was his own choice, and should not be influenced by others.

He looked at Kan. The teenager was tall. Not taller than his own 1.78 meters. But still. Tall for a fifteen-year-old. He had black hair. Not the one that reflects light. His one seemed to absorb it. The hair was free. Hanging freely without any constraints, reaching his eyes.

Like deep seawater, his eyes were blue. But not completely a soft blue. His iris was dark blue. The dominant color. But if you looked carefully, you could even see strips of orange around the pupil.

His face was angular. He was effectively a good-looking guy, although his physique left him with a skinny look. He was dressed in typical light blue mage robes. No wand or staff whatsoever attached to his person. He had a feeling of serenity. Somehow.

"What is your class?" Lariel decided to ask.

Kan did not look at him. Continuing to stare at the amazingly crafted door.

"Sorcerer," came the answer.

Lariel's brain started processing that information. He had read about mage classes in the library when he went to buy his skill books. He had figured that it would be useful information. After all, he needed to start investigating what he would choose for his second class, although that was still 28 levels away.

The mage was the typical class for those that started with magic. Most of the time, they never accomplish anything above Gold Rank. The ones that managed to go above the adventurer average were the ones that had more special classes.

The sorcerer was not that rare. It was the most common above Mage or Wizard. Still, that class generally only went to platinum or white gold rank.

The ones that truly made success were the bearers of the Warlock class. Not only were they natural for magic, but they were also geniuses. If you followed the mage path and did not get this class. You would never achieve the top.

"Isn't that a good class for a mage?" he questioned.

This time, Kan looked at him.

"That's the problem isn't it?" he said. "Good is not enough. It will never be." His eyes locked with Lariel's own lime green ones.

"I have a mage tag," he continued. "And still, you beat me," a pause. "You are not focused on magic. And yet..."

Lariel knew what he meant. Kan's class was directed to help him be a mage. Lariel's class was more of all in one thing. It was bad to be beaten on what you specialize in by a person that had no specific focus and was a general decent fighter.

"You know. There are other paths," Lariel answered. He would give just a nudge towards that direction. Nothing more. "I have met a smith. The one that made the spear that I currently use. And he said something to me. "Runesmiths were stealing the fame of the smiths. As you can see, runes are a very important thing in the life of the powerful. Having the power to create those runes... It is great. Not only that, but you can also fight while being a runesmith. With your creations, you can fight and evolve. With your creations, you can make a difference."

And then he shut up. Because in front of him, the door was changing. First, it was just those silver veins, turning golden. But then, those veins spread throughout the whole door. Spreading that golden color until the whole door was covered in it. It was truly a magnificent sight to see the transformation of a door to a boss door.

Ivan saw this and called everyone together.

Lariel glanced at his status, to see how he had progressed with all that killing before.

Status:

Money: 34 silver, 71 coppers

Name: Lariel

Class: [Rogue (Seeker Of Power)]

Level: 22

Health: 903/1099 (Regen: 1.1/sec)

Stamina: 1280/1680 (Regen: 1.88/sec)

Mana: 1625/1999 (Regen: 2.03/sec)

Strength: 40

Vitality: 73

Endurance: 75

Dexterity: 40

Agility: 60

Intelligence: 75

Willpower: 62

Perception: 40

Free Stats: 0

Bonus Stats per level: +2 End, Int | +1 Will, Per, Vit | +4 Free Stats | (11 Total Stats)

Current Life Liquid quantity: 351

Current Rejuvenating Fluid quantity: 613

Current Liquid Mana quantity: 183

Bonus skill learning/leveling speed: +21%

Skills: (1031 Total Skill Levels)

General (64):

Butcher Level 29 | Identification Level 22 | Reading Level 7 | Unbreakable Will Level 1 | LifeGuard Level 1 | Perfect Timing Level 4

Weapon Related (214):

Intermediate Spear Mastery Level 81 | Basic Bow Mastery Level 13 | Basic Sword Mastery Level 11 | Basic Mace Mastery Level 9 | Basic Axe Mastery Level 8 | Basic Dagger Mastery Level 6

Intermediate Weapon Proficiency Level 67 | Basic Unarmed Combat Proficiency Level 7

Basic Shield Mastery Level 12

Physical Attacks (109):

Intermediate Powerful Thrust Level 56 | Heavy Blow Level 42 | Spear Crack Level 6 | Spear Swipe Level 5

Spells (198):

Mana Barrier Level 48 | Mana Bolt Level 36 | Intermediate Rock Bullet Level 53 | Mana Arrow Level 27 | Wind Blast Level 32 | Magic Empowerment Level 1 | Power Surge Level 1

Miscellaneous:

-Magic (165):

Wind Control Level 36 | Intermediate Mana Manipulation Level 53 | Stamina Drain Level 20 | Mana Drain Level 12 | Mana Sense Level 29 | Health Drain Level 15

Physical (264):

Intermediate Physical Fitness 67 | Dodge Level 49 | Running Level 40 | Sneaking Level 44 | Sprint Level 33 | Perception Ball Lvl 31

Resistances (17):

Basic Earth Resistance 9 | Basic Poison Resistance 8

Due to the constant use of a technique, he got the Wind Spear Swipe skill, which consisted of a horizontal spear swipe that produced a compressed wind blade along with the swipe, which cut everything three meters in front of the swipe.

His Wind Control was also nearing the Intermediate barrier, and he wanted to see what he would get for it at that milestone.

His Drain skills had also passed the 20 skill levels barrier, but gotten him nothing, as it should be.

His most important achievement besides that was getting Dodge to Level 49. He was so close to getting that milestone that it wasn't even funny.

Also, he had gained another skill. Spear Crash. He gained it after repeating the same move three times. Jump high with the help of the Wind Control, and then increase your weight and speed with the wind, while performing a downwards vertical blow. It was the killer move against three Hobgoblins. Their bodies almost turned to a pulp after those attacks. He had tested it again against the wave of goblins by smashing against the ground, forming a crater, and killing quite a decent number of goblins.

Lastly, he had finally reached another skill-related milestone.

Congratulations! For achieving a total of 1000 skill levels, you have gained the following rewards: Skill learning and leveling speed, increase by a static 10%; Skills below Intermediate Rank level up 20% faster; You have a higher chance of learning general skills while performing day to day activities, +10 to all stats; + 10 Free stats.

He had immediately placed those Free Stats into Agility.

All updates done, he checked his equipment one last time and got ready.

It was time to fight the boss.