Mathew wasn’t dumbfounded when he first saw the tiny green humanoids. He reconized them from when Leo and the others fought the Goblin dungeon. The small statue creatures were running around mostly naked. They each had a crude weapon. Either a bit of stone shaped into a dagger of some kind, or a large piece of wood that was used as a club.

Agnox’s natural night vision was a boon on this floor. There was little to no natural light. A few fungus did glow, but Mathew didn’t rely upon them. Instead he used his wisps and familiars natural talents.

Agnox could hover in the air and cling to the upper walls to avoid being seen. The Goblins also had the ability to see in the dark. When Mathew looked through his familiar eyes, he couldn’t see color however.

Instead, everying was in hues of gray, black, and white. He also couldn’t see minute details. For scouting out the sounds of what sounded like excavation, Agnox’s eyes were great. The goblins were mining away at stone. Mathew assumed there was something within the stone they were after. Perhaps a metal, or possibly gemstones. It was hard to tell.

It was interesting to see Beginner ranked creatures. The last time he saw, let alone fought the common tier versions of them, was the Infernal Dungeon.

He had come far since then. So long as he put in an average amount of effort, he could kill any and all of the Goblins. The real problem was that these were not dumb beasts.

Goblins, both according to the ones that were fought, and Zack’s understanding of them from his games, were greedy little elf bastards. Mathew had yet to see an elf, if they existed. Yet, he could see the resemblance.

Small, pudgy bellies, and pointed ears. Their jaws were sharp, and their eyes were tiled in a way to let them see at a larger peripheral angle.

Agnox continued to watch them for a while before Mathew made a judgement call. He wanted to see what it was they were digging up. If he could get some for himself and bring back to Blue Oaks, that would be fantastic.

There were only fourteen goblins. The one that seemed to be in charge would be Mathew’s first target. His biggest problem was the element of surprise. In the end, he decided against it. These goblins wouldn’t be a problem for him, so why even bother with giving him more of an edge if it would just cause more problems.

Mathew returned to his own senses, and sent the wisps ahead of him. He ensured they were both overcharged with mana to open up with. Since they were Apprentice rank themselves, he could blast the leader with Wispy, and mow down the rest with Whis.

As soon as light entered the cave, the goblins stopped what they were doing and all turned toward him. At first, they were confused. There wasn’t another moment to think about what the blue light was.

A giant blue ball flew forward and directly hit the lead goblin, blowing him into smitherines. The rest of the goblins started to shout and charge at the source of the destruction as two more goblins fell to smaller blue energy bolts.

Now that the area was mostly lit up, Mathew summoned a mana weapon. It was cheaper to use than [Mana Bolt] in the long run. Constantly controlling it while it whizzed in the air drained him of mana.

He wasn’t running out, but it was smart to establish good habits. If the twelve hour horde taught him anything, it was that battles can be both short and long.

He took the short blade and ran up to a nearby goblin. He stabbed it through it’s chest. There was little resistance to his attack. The rest of the goblins were simillarly taken out swiftly.

Mathew felt that the difficulty of Beginner ranked creatures to not be worried about. Stronger base creatures or bosses would need to be considered. Low minion like creatures compared to these goblins were just trash.

“Now, to see what they were looking at. Agnox, help me gather up what they already mined up. We can let Zack analyze it.”

The ores were brown clumps. They were definitely not normal stones. Mathew found a sizable pile and put it all away in one of his many bags. He was thankful that the bags didn’t measure the full weight of what was within. They still had weight, but he would have no way to carry everything without them.

His Strength score of 116 wasn’t high in comparison to his main stats of Intellignece and Wisdom. Both of which were over 300. However, months of surviving has hone his body. Nearly a hundred pounds of weight wasn’t anything to sweat about. If he needed to, he could have Jeffery carry things.

Mathew looked around the cavern, and once he was sure anything of value was taken, he continued wandering through the cave system.

This floor was very interesting in its make up. Caves continued upwards, downwards, or looped at variable angles. Hardly ever did he come across a natural light source of glowing mushrooms.

Several hours later, Mathew soon discovered two more natural inhabitants of this floor. He heard them at first. A battle was going on and echoed through the tunnels.

Mathew sent Agnox to scout ahead. After backtracking twice to pin down the source of the clashes, a small battle was seen.

Giant statues were fighting tiny lizard men. The statues stood maybe nine or ten feet tall and were thickly built. Meanwhile the tiny lizards were roughly the same size as the goblins. They were different colors on their scales.

Reds, Oranges, Browns, and Yellow seemed to be the common colors, but Mathew spotted a green, and even a purple colored lizard creature. They fought the statues with crude looking weapons or their natural claws. Oddly enough, a few of the lizards seemed to have beards.

Mathew watched the two groups fight through Agnox’s senses. In total there were three golems and twelve kobolds. Mathew only knew they were kobolds thanks to his talks with Bob of various clans and creatures to keep an eye out for.

Kobolds were seen as an openly accepted race. Like humans, tieflings, elves, dwarves, and many others. Goblins were not accepted due to their very barbaric tendencies. Some clans have goblins within their crafting guilds. They are very crafty creatures naturally.

As for the golems, Mathew knew about these from Ragnork. As a giant himself, Mathew had asked about his kind. Giants were a very old race. Older than humans according to Ragnork. They were born from stone, and given life long before The System even existed.

Golems were a cousin race to the giants. As both are born from stone. However, one species is truly alive, while the other isn’t. Golems are no more alive than robotic artificial intelligence.

Mathew recalled this information. He honestly didn’t expect to need it within the World Dungeon. Then again, he also expected only mindless beasts and other monsters. Things he could mow down with unyielding power, or slowly whittle down over time.

Both options so far have worked, he just needed to better apply them. Gaining new summons was another fantastic option for him on both ends. One of his quests was to Internalize three different elements. He also was to defeat an earth themed dungeon solo for Gaia’s quest.

Mathew left Agnox’s senses and pulled up both the quests to check them.

Quest: The Seed of Fate, Step 1

Gaia, God of Earthly Bonds, has issued you a quest. Failure to follow their guidance can and will lead you to failure. Become the seedling that blossoms into the flower whose thorns can cut the red strings of tomorrow.

Become owner of a Hearth Crystal: 4/1

Finish and clear an Earth themed Dungeon: 0/1

(Bonus rewards for doing so solo)

Learn Two Truths: 4/2

Reward: Spell [Summon Bush]

Spell Quest

A Summoner adapts his surroundings to his needs. Internalize three elements.

Elements Internalized: 0/3

Reward: Summon(s) to reflect chosen elements

Mathew smiled slightly. He had overcompleted Gaia’s quest in two of the sections. He didn’t even realize it counted each zone he acquired like the Path to Sovereignty quest did. The icing on the cake was the four Axioms he had learned thus far.

An idea to learn more came across his mind. Overcompleting quests can only lead to greater rewards. If he was being honest, summoning a bush sounded lackluster. Thus overcompleting the quest should give him a stronger reward.

“Could I ask Gaia for the ability to bind a new familiar? She is the God of Bonds. That could be within her power set. However, I would want it officiated via a contract.”

As soon as he throught about it, Mathew realized that it was pointless. There was no way his soul could hold up to a God even if it was in perfect health. He can’t even use his contract powers on three random idiots without them causing him further pain.

He huffed in annoyance. “I could try and understand Earth. That’s an element. There is also Lightning, Fire, Ice, Water, and so many more. I know Agnox said he would teach me fire. Ice is another option with the wisps and my chains. Not to mention my [Mana Bolt] is also Ice themed, so a summon to reflect it sounds perfect.”

“Earth could be a defensive summon. Fire offensive. Ice can be both. Ice is both hard and deadly. It seems like a good three to use.”

The question was how to internalize earth. What was earth? It was a planet, but also the ground underneath his feet. It was dirt, rocks, and…a lot of things. He was going over several ideas and thoughts, none of which was for the first time.

Agnox floated back over to him. “What do you think, Boss? Clean up the surviving group after they finish fighting?”

Mathew nodded. “Let’s do that. We need to keep an eye out for challenges and a Golem Dungeon. I’m more than sure it will suffice for my quest from Gaia.”

At first, Agnox was confused, then he remembered. “I didn’t even think of that one. Good idea.”

Mathew followed Agnox back to where the two groups were fighting. They found two golems standing as the only survivors. They were picking up the parts from its fallen member. Both golems had cracks running across their bodies. One of which was missing a huge chunkin its leg.

Mathew and his summons took care of them both. There wasn’t even a challenge. Mathew did note that his mana weapons couldn’t penetrate the golems hard body without his Axiom of Piercing. His [Mana Bolt] could damage them easily without aid. His staff did pierce, but without the help of an Axiom, the damage it provided was minimal.

Agnox had similar problems. His fire did practically nothing to the golems stone body, and his sword had a hard time leaving marks. Only the wisps with their magical attacks had an easy time damaging the golems.

Once they were both dead, Mathew poked around to find something that could be the reason the two groups were fighting. In the end, he found nothing.

“That’s a disappointment.” Mathew muttered. “I was expecting ores, gems, a treasure of some type.”

Agnox shrugged. “We can't always win something. Think on the bright side. You are gaining experience now. I bet at the end of this, I’ll be pushing Level 25.”

Mathew couldn’t disagree with that thought process.

Without sunlight, it was impossible to measure the passing of time accurately. The first floor had longer days. Would this floor follow the same rubric, or be different?

Mathew needed to be warry if The System attempted another hoard. He absolutely couldn’t hold off twelve hours of Beginner ranked creatures without an entire day of setting up and an absolutely perfect defensive area.

Worst case, he would flee into a Challenge room or Dungeon. That way, the monsters were forced to only go through that portal. The downside was being trapped inside.

Mathew put those worries aside for now. He couldn’t stop it from occurring. All he could do right now was either find others to team up with, or find a way to hold off on his own.