For a whole year after I came back everything was peaceful. I spent most of my time training with Hatchet and learning about hunting practices. After the first few days we had to cut back on the amount of game we hunted. The kobold infestation had done a number on the local ecosystem and we needed to let it rebuild for probably another year.

This meant that it was going to be another year where most of the meat in our village's diet would come from the merchants. This didn’t affect me all that much since my family was well off and Judy and Alana had made two trips with the caravan back home to ensure that we had all the meat we could want.

The other hunters were not used to this. They were used to being the main provider of meat, and as such also having preferential treatment on distribution. The butcher was also heavily affected as most of his business had dried up, almost all of the delivered meat was already preserved and butchered.

This turned our hunting trips more into expeditions, the butcher even joined in with the other hunters. While this little problem had resulted in a lack of meat it did produce something else. The soldiers had dealt with the kobolds, meaning the killed and burned the bodies. This meat that everything else the kobolds had brought out of the mine was left to be scavenged.

When I asked Hatchet why the soldiers didn’t take it with them he told me that it was intentional to help the village get through the problems caused. Hunters were now turned scavengers, with a butcher for a porter. That’s not to say that it was safe, while the large kobold force was no more, you could always find some stragglers that had suddenly become rich in resources from the extermination of their group.

While nobody had died we had a few close calls with the poison those little buggers used. Hatchet had no problems dealing with them and after a few months I could take on up to two or three at a time. It was the odd high level kobold, caster, or ambushes that were the problem. My progress was steady and I did see some high increases in my stats since unlocking my stats.

Name : Ajax

Level :17

Experience : 5255/20800

Traits: Prodigal Apprentice , Divine Witness

Health: 330/330

Mana: 420/420

Stamina :400/400

Vitality : 33.40

Strength :34.98

Endurance : 40.86

Dexterity :35.35

Intellect : 50.77

Wisdom :43.45

Mind : 42.19

Perception : 34.30

Stat Points : 352

Skills :

Common :[Mathematics Lvl 22] [Stealth Lvl 23][Drawing Lvl 30][Athleticism Lvl 23] [Running Lvl 24][Reading Lvl 20][Writing Lvl 20][Cooking Lvl 20][Sewing Lvl 20] [Cleaning Lvl 13][Haggling Lvl 19][Gardening Lvl 20][Axes Lvl 30][Hammers Lvl 27 [Deception Lvl 16][Sword Lvl 20][Shield Lvl 20][Bow Lvl 20][Spear Lvl 20][Throwing Lvl 20][Persuasion Lvl 10][Unarmed Combat Lvl 20][Knives 25][Skinning Lvl 10][Tanning Lvl 10][Dismantle Lvl 10][Climbing Lvl 10][Tracking Lvl 13][Heat Resistance Lvl 6] [Poison Resistance Lvl 16][Pain Resistance Lvl 5][Trapping Lvl 10] Uncommon :[Meditation Lvl 40][Sense Mana Lvl 41][Expel Mana Lvl 39][Sprinting Lvl 20][Mining Lvl 10][Lumberjack Lvl 10][Smelting Lvl 10][Blacksmithing Lvl 10] [Chanting Lvl 10][Mana Farming Lvl 10][Increase Price Lvl 10][Lower Price Lvl 10][Danger sense Lvl 8][Leatherworking Lvl 10][Alchemy Lvl 10][Mana Milling Lvl 6]Precise Cut Lvl 20][Precise Blow Lvl 20][Judge Threat Lvl 10][ Piercing Shot Lvl 10] Rare : [Manipulate Mana Lvl 22][Water Aspect Mana Lvl 20][Fire Aspect Mana Lvl 20] [Air Aspect Mana Lvl 20][Earth Aspect Mana Lvl 21][Inject Mana Lvl 17][Spot Weakness Lvl 10][Residue Recognition Lvl 3] [Light Aspect Mana Lvl 7][Shadow Aspect Mana Lvl 10] Epic : [Mana Augmentation Lvl 15] Legendary : [Mana Syphon Lvl 1]

New :

Pain Resistance 0 -> 5

Trapping 0 -> 10

Upgrades :

Shadow Mana 1->10

Light Mana 1->7

Bow 10-> 11

Spear 11->12

Throwing 10->11

Mana Augmentation 6->15

Judge Threat 2->10

Spot Weakness 4->10

Inject Mana 14-> 17

Meditation 38 -> 40

Expel Mana 39 -> 40

Manipulate Mana 18->22

Water Mana Lvl 11 -> 20

Fire Mana Lvl 11 -> 20

Earth Mana Lvl 14 -> 21

Air Mana Lvl 12 -> 20

Danger sense 5 -> 8

Precise Cut 13 -> 20

Precise Blow 11 -> 20

Piercing Shot 1 -> 10

Sprinting 13 -> 20

Climbing 5 -> 10

Tracking 4 -> 13

Heat Resistance 3 -> 6

Running 22 -> 24

Athleticism 20 -> 23

Hammers 24 -> 27

Knives 21 -> 25

Swords 14 -> 20

Bows 11 -> 20

Shield 12 -> 20

Throwing 11 -> 20

Unarmed Combat 13 -> 20

Spear 12 -> 20

Stealth 21 -> 23

So far I hadn’t done much experimenting with new magic, Hatchet had kept me doing a lot of practice with my old stuff to help ramp up my skills and increase my stats before going for any new experiments. He was very pleased with my progress. I still remember the conversation when he found out my level. We had just finished with a hunt when I hit level seventeen.

“Finally, levels are taking more and more experience.” I said.

“Not only that but experience should be a lot harder to pick up here.” he said “What level did you get to?”

“Seventeen.”

“WHAT? How are you level seventeen already?” to say he was surprised would have been an understatement.

“Well I haven;t had such a big drop in experience yet, it just takes more of it to level.” I went with my logic.

“No, there should definitely be a big drop in experience as you level, everything gets a lot easier …” he stopped short of finishing that point. “You aren’t spending your points, this means that even as you level your stats aren’t starting to dwarf the level ten and eleven you can probably keep up a similar experience gain. It's almost like you are advancing through a dungeon.”

This was the second time that I heard about dungeons. The first time was from the dragon. It was also a good idea to question what they were.

“What are dungeons? It’s not the first time I heard about them but nobody explained what they are to me.”

“Oh, that. I doubt anyone knows exactly what dungeons are. They are an opening in space, a tear in the world. Once you enter you will find a floor. Each dungeon has a different average level on their first floor. Basically it’s a space where adventurers go to kill things in a bit more controlled of an environment. The levels of creatures are more stable.”

“So what happens if nobody clears a dungeon in a long time?” I had read a few books that touched on the topic of dungeons in another world. I wondered which one had it right.

“Clear? You can’t clear a dungeon. If nobody enters for a while nothing happens.”

“But aren’t dungeons a danger for villages near them?”

“They can be yes.”

“How does that make any sense, you just said nothing happens if people don’t enter.”

“They are a danger because of what happens when people do enter.” he said

“How so?”

“Each group that enters has to maintain contact as they do. Fifty groups can enter and they would all be in their own version of the dungeon.”

Ok so it was instanced, you can’t go hunt someone down and then just blame them for having died in the dungeon. That was good to know.

“Every floor only has one entrance and a few exits. Every exit leads to the next floor and the entrance always leads back outside the dungeon. All exits are guarded by a trap or a stronger monster. They usually have keys to the door blocking you from advancing. The levels of each floor are on average ten higher than they were on the previous one.”

“Now that’s not to say that some dungeons don’t have an average level increase of twenty between floors or of something smaller like seven. Each creature is also bound to their own floor. Once you exit a floor it disappears, you can’t return to it and all monsters still there disappear.”

“But if all monsters disappear how could a dungeon prove a danger?” This made no sense.

“Because that only happens when you exit a floor. As I told you there are more exits but only one entrance to a floor. The entrance is always the point where you first enter the floor and is always unguarded. The only way to exit the dungeon is to go out through the entrance of the floor you are on.”

“The only problem with this is you aren’t the only one leaving. Every other creature on that floor is also leaving the dungeon with you. Do you see where this might be a problem?”he asked.

“I can see there might be some issues but it doesn’t sound that dangerous.” I mean yeah some creatures coming out could be problematic but that didn’t seem like such a big deal.

“They are also released if your whole party should die.”

“That could be a problem with people who are overconfident.”

“It is also a problem with people who get lucky. It has happened a lot more than once that a team is almost wiped out by an exit guardian only to have one or two members grab the key and escape to the next floor to get away from the creature. They then leave the dungeon since they can’t handle the increased difficulty and the whole floor is released.”

“If this happens to the strongest people in the village or town this would be a death sentence. Right now most high floor gap dungeons are a wide breath from any settlements while low floor gap dungeons have great cities near them. The one next to the capital is a seven floor gap.”

“But if they are so dangerous, why would you have built the capital there? “

“Because of how they regulate adventurers. For the dungeons close to cities a team has to be lower in level by more than the floor gap compared to the team guarding the dungeon. This way if something happens the monsters can be killed by the protectors.”