It was a numbers game. My mobs killed other mobs and adventurers, giving me foreign mana or xp. These mobs I controlled mated and replicated. They were a machine forged from my mana. This great machine was built for a single purpose, to farm experience, currency, and item drops.

My level was nearing 300, soon I would gain another unique skill. Before that happened, I needed to raise my current unique skills. I placed 614 skill points in eyes of the sun. My perception increased by 2,105,250 from Eyes of the Sun alone. I could feel new insight with fire. My simple skills before were arbitrary compared to what unique skills could provide.

There was a new possibility. I could give up my current fire skills and upgrade them to deca fire. My intelligence would drop drastically but, overall the increase would be worth it. That wasn’t for now. No right now, I needed to raise my Tyrant Dragon’s flame. Another 750 points brought the unique skill to tier 5 my intelligence increased by 4,210,500 from the skill alone.

The rest of my points went in berserker. Even after the increase my constitution and endurance only increased 227,060 from berserker. I upgraded my fire skills to deca fire. Everything that had something to do with fire was multiplied by ten from the beginning. All I had to do was cannibalize all my hard-won skills. It wasn’t like I couldn’t create new skills.

It seemed that so long as my constitution was at least a hundredth of my intelligence. I wouldn’t begin degrading. My stomach wound has long closed. The door to the next level was just beyond the door. I tapped the door opening it to dancing shadows and whispering death.

Though my fire skills maybe lacking, I wasn’t worried. The door behind me closed and I walked a lonely path. Eyes appeared in the shadows, tendrils moved, and deathly cries filled the floor. A single flame lit this world.

“Boss this floor gives me the creeps, can we get through it quickly?” Emily asked. I shook my head.

“Emily, we are safe in the light. These monsters can’t touch us.” As we drew ever closer to the light. The amount of shadow monsters decreased in number. Only the strongest of the mobs remained. They hid in the shadows of boulders and pillars. With their clawed hands, they reached out trying to drag us in the darkness.

The monsters took on horrifying shapes and sizes. They flashed innumerable rows of teeth and raged against their confines.

“Elinore is on her way John. I advise you to either hide or get ready for a fight you can’t win.” Luci said.

“Well shit,” I said. My fingers pinched out the candle’s flame.

“Boss, I’m scared of the dark.” Deca fire fibers expanded from my back and skewered the shadows as they neared. The creatures changed form, spread out, and sprinted around my fibers. In the dark the monsters could be seen for what they truly were. Formless darkness the shadows that were once men. They no longer had a brain or body. In their hundreds of thousands, they died by my deca fire spell and my strength increased. Their numbers were unending until they stopped. A power that was strictly physical grew in my body. For a moment, it felt like I could do anything. That moment passed, and my muscles settled down.

The shadows gathered taking on a humanoid form. Gone were the tricks and shadowy beasts. This was the true form the shadows took.

Dusk Shade of Man lv290

This creature was formed of the mindless shadows left behind by adventurers that desired the fastest and most perceptive bodies. They lost track of all other attributes and became shadows of their former selves. This beast is the culmination of all of them and their desire to return to their human form. They will never regain their humanity alone and must be reminded of what they lost by the flickering of a candle. For they can no longer exist in the light they all crave.

Twisting to the side, I dodged a tentacle like arm covered in blades. Light flowed down my sword just as the monster unleashed a beam of darkness from its head. Holding up my blade I deflected the devastating attack until the beam ended.

The monsters one great eye glowed with power. Waving my hand and willing out my power light barriers covered my body protecting Emily and me. It was just in time. The Dusk Shade unleashed a wave of deathly fog.

The worst of my foes attacks were yet to come. Deadly blades lashed from our own shadows blocked only by the light barriers. Deca fire tendrils formed from my back and attacked, while I was on the defensive. Unlike the other shadows this shade was unaffected by my flames. It seemed only light would work.

Elinore was growing ever closer. I could feel it; a presence was moving through the 11th floor quickly. It killed most of my mobs. The flying fortress was the only thing keeping the golem at bay. The onboard heat cannon was coming in handy after all.

The heat cannon decimated the terrain impeding the golem’s progress. It was all the onboard weapons of the fortress could do to delay such a small target. Fortunately, the golem didn’t see the fortress as an immediate threat.

I willed my perception from the eyes of my mobs and concentrated on my current fight. This floor was becoming a white void as the darkness gathered to a single spot.

A spear of darkness pierced my light barrier and stabbed me through the chest. Hands made of inky shadows tore the light away from me and absorbed it. Taking my sword in both hands, I sliced away the spear. The creature shrieked and backed away. The inky black spear still in my body sunk into my wound. I cycled light aura to hold the darkness inside. It seemed that this creature needed every bit of its darkness to resist light and to absorb it.

I formed another light barrier and continued to fight the creature. My wound healed over quickly. More spears formed from the creature and they pierced my stomach and shoulder. Golden light tendrils wrapped around the spears and snapped them. My light aura kept the darkness from leaving, so it had no choice but to enter my body.

I wasted mana expanding my light aura to keep the darkness from breaking free. The creature yelled loudly. It took the spears in hand, instead of fast ejecting them from its body. When the boss stabbed forward, I let the spear hit me in the chest and sliced it off. With more darkness taken from the monster, it took a step back and launched itself at Emily.

“Wrong move.” I shouted and thrust my sword through its back. As it tried to absorb the light from my sword, I forced more light through the weapon. Then, I dropped a barrier around us.

The creature had made a mistake. It gave me a taste of darkness and I wanted more. I laced my maw with light and took a bite out of the shade. Inky darkness exploded from the wound as I fed. As I devoured the mob, I laced my skin with light aura. It fought and banged its claws against the barrier to escape. Large mana crystals lined the inside of the mob and I swallowed them down. The boss monster dropped like a puppet with its strings cut. My light grew exponentially stronger, as I held in the darkness.

As my light barrier shrunk to my will, even the inky blood of the mob sunk into my skin. The monster fought in my stomach, it bashed against my light aura. It hid in the darkness of my body. The shade fed off my fear and hate. It fed on my worst memories and my death by Uriel. Never did it realize that as it grew stronger, so did the light that fought against it.

My level surpassed 300 and I received a new unique skill

Twilight’s Form 1/25

Darkness has been sealed and light stands guard. As the dark within grows, so does the light. By profiting off this balancing act you have earned this unique skill. Only the most powerful bodies can withstand the clash between light and dark. The power of twilight now empowers your body.

+1% Light and Dark skill levels

+10Con

Jack the Reaper lv666

A being of the 70th floor. His scythe is forged from the souls of his enemies. Adventurers less than lv200 die instantly under his gaze. His hell fire dance is known to clear entire guilds. You don’t want to fight him.

“John she’s here run if you can’t I will summon something to hold it back.” A massive amount of mana condensed, and I saw the strongest mob I have ever seen.

The reaper turned his eyes to me.

“Aren’t you a promising adventurer. You have more mana than someone twice you level. You must be a solo then. Your’re strong but you don’t have any good gear, so this must be your first dungeon. Luci must have a thing for you. It would be smart to go on to the next floor. Against me Elinore is just another low-level ant. To you, she might as well be a god. I recommend you find a way out of here, find a good master blacksmith, and get some gear that will take advantage of your raw power. In your current state, you won’t get much farther. Even that ratty sword your using will break down soon.” Jack said. There was a shift in mana. A being powered by human souls stepped through the doors

Elinore entered the floor. She walked along the sea of white and held a glare. Her hair looked deranged and she was covered in soot. One moment she was there the next she was moving faster than I could keep track. Jack’s scythe blocked the path.

“One more thing John. Leveling up and gaining stats are all well and good. They are useless, if you only reach a small percentage of the new potential they grant you. If your eyes aren’t trained to read fast movement then no matter how high your perception, you won’t see Elinore. If you don’t push your body, you won’t match her speed. In other words, you need more real-world experience before you can really fight someone like her.” The golem dodged scythe swiped and blasts of hell fire.

“How is she able to tell the difference from me and other adventurers? I don’t even look the same.” I asked.

“That’s easy in the city they can give out quests. It’s one of the advantages of being top side. Though, if you go to the next floor, one of the Djin might be able to disguise you. If you can get them to do that. Then their quests won’t allow them to find you and you will be able to go to the city without any trouble. After all, you will be just another adventurer.” Elinore yelled out and delivered a haymaker to Jack’s head. The reaper simply smiled and stabbed his hand through the golem’s chest.

Elinore opened her hands and fired a burst of magic missals. Jack didn’t even flinch. The devastating magic attacks shattered over his body.

Jack sliced one of her legs off with his scythe. “It seems you and the mistress have misunderstood who is really in charge. Luci is a dungeon heart but more than that she is a lich. She has been planning a way to destroy the mistress and change the leadership for a while. The mistress just happened to throw the perfect revolutionary down here. Good bye Elinore.” Before the scythe could cut the golem’s head off, Elinore took out a crystal, and put it to the mob. “Shit,” The mob yelled and vanished.

“Now that the distraction is out of the way.” With my sword in hand, I funneled plasma spear through it and drove it through the robot’s head. The golem flailed as its hair was burnt off and its face melt revealing its alloy frame. It tried to grab at me, but I stepped away. The darkness within me was gleeful at my assault. The light aura that surrounded my body grew slightly stronger.

The golem wasn’t dead. It continued to pull at the blade, so I snapped the guard and pommel off. The blade was heated by the plasma and bent at an angle preventing her from slipping off. Using water breath and ice in unison, I froze the golem in a block of ice.

Emily stood far away from everything and just looked on ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.

“Luci, I could really use some really durable spikes to stab through her joints.” I called out to the dungeon.

“I already put them in the chest.” Walking over to the golden trunk, I gathered a few stakes. After stabbing them through the robot and the floor, I froze the area around the golem for good measure. Then, I stepped down the stairs, to get my disguise, and finally take the fight to the mistress.