Irax stares at the barghest bone weapons, and the retreating bow. It was a pretty good bow. Good enough to carry someone to gold surely, he only needs to upgrade it a bit and he could use it for his main bow.

He pulls out his mana meter and peaks at it again, when he got his promotion class he was expecting something bad, when he saw four strong signatures and two weaker ones he almost cursed out loud.

He was… perplexed and confused when one of the Hearts attacked him with such weak minions, even more confused when he saw that spell that forced the reptiles to undergo a mutation into pseudodragons. He sees in his mind the inside of his spatial item, taking a look at the wyvern mutated chameleon, wings, good eyes and the skin, if he brings it to a good enchanter and then an armorer he could have a very good armor for long travels and scouting or sneaking .

He came to this quest expecting to lose money so he could get his promotion and now… He looks at the little gem with tiny engravings on its surface. He already used his curse detectors so he just takes the gem in his fingers, taking a closer look. {Appraise}.

Necro Absorber

This gem absorbs necrotic energy directed at the wearer, trapping it inside and slowly purifying and realizing it in extremely small quantities.

This item can contain a large amount of mana for its size.

The item was pretty good, the fact that it could store mana was also very good, the barghest items are a nice bonus, they won’t have the full curse of the beast but they should be enough for slightly hardier targets, the bone synergises very well with some of his abilities.

He is still thinking about the bow though, and the fact that if the raid at the crab lair goes well he could go to the lizards and get some more pseudodragon blood for his refiner.

Could there be some actual pseudodragons in the dungeon?

This does seem convenient though, the undead did not get a quest to kill him. It, no she said it, that does point that she is the smartest one, it could very well be that none of them got the quest, the reptile dungeon is simply level thirsty.

He saw the other two undead that were hiding away, not that he needed to see them to know they were there, they looked at him and triggered his {Gaze Perception}.

Both seemed stronger physically, at least than Merlin, another sign of greater intelligence, leaving some minions hidden in case something went wrong, that coupled with the fact that the dungeon did not try to see his status really does mean that she is smarter, considering the levels this dungeon should not be higher than one year old.

Are all these dungeons close to that age? He looks at the sky with its fake dimming sun. He could see that the light was not equal on all its sides, the lizard’s side was clearly stronger, with the others being a little weaker, the vegetation there must need more sunlight?

Where the hell is this place, where did the hand take him? The quest did have the usual requirement that he promise not to divulge what happened here to anyone. But he cannot easily think where this place is, and of course his compass does not work. That could be a toss up, the hand or the place he is could be screwin with it, he might not even be on the planet’s surface anymore.

That could be it though, these types of quests were not just grounded simple quests, maybe the danger of this quest is him deciding to attack this undead dungeon. Or it could be a trap. He turns to the side of the crab dungeon, then uses a skill. {Back Sight}, he gains vision on his back, just as good as his actual eyes, paired with his {Field of View Expansion} he has sight on all angles.

He stares at the far away battle, a minor skirmish of undead and lizards. He puts the container inside his spatial item and decides to move a little further into the undead territory. He stares at the skull following him. He remembers seeing it in the air, feeling its gaze, and some other weird ones on the trees. He let the skull come close and waited for something to happen since his {Danger Sense} did not go off, plus his instincts told the skull was not really dangerous.

He finds it pretty interesting that the three dungeons have scout type minions, maybe some type of arms race between them?

He follows the tracks the undead left, and thinks about what the crab dungeon could have.

He does remember that there are some crustaceans with pseudodragon blood, maybe there could be some, it is also possible that there are some pseudodragon turtles like minor tarrasques.

His mind flashes to that bow. The quest is probably going to take what he does into account when giving him any extra rewards besides his promotion. Plus…

He really wants that bow.

He sees that weird crystal skeleton coming to meet him, he appears to be humming.

Irax sees the two that were with him before, the large flesh undead and the bone one, a few steps behind him. The skeleton, Merlin, walks into his {Hunter’s Threefold Sphere}, he can taste the magic on him, he has been training with it quite a lot, trying to evolve it, so he is able to tell that inside of Merlin’s crystal exoskeleton he is mostly hollow, or not pure crystal, unlike the other two.

“Irax, these two will also be in the invasion of the crab dungeon, they are Bob and Kaiman” Merlin says, pointing out who’s who. Irax stares at the two undead, one is a pretty simple bone horror type, the other one of them stinks of blood, not normal blood either…this is… vampiric blood? Very thin, still, this does only make him much more curious of where he is.

{Appraise}

[Strigoi]

Part blood drinker Part flesh eater. These undead with thin vampiric blood, they do not have a bloodline, but they can absorb the power of their prey and strengthen themselves and their blood that way.

{Use Item}

In his mind he sees his ‘Monster Almanac : Undead Edition’ flash and gives him the information on strigois. He digests it a bit, they can be pretty dangerous and can evolve in quite a few ways, which makes sense vampires are inherently jacks of all traits, having great strength, speed, magical power and regeneration, all of these traits are good for pretty much anyone or anything. It does mean that Bob could go any which way for evolutions, it may depend on the other dungeon classes, which Irax has yet to find.

Many people think that the hand, or the system, is… mindless, like an automaton or a simple golem, Irax always thought there was an intelligence behind it, or inside of it. Moments like this make him feel vindicated.

He was a malgaro, raised on the Twilight Basin, the undead, the vampiric monster that dark trees that exude shadows, many would feel fear, many would attack them on sight but really, for Irax this place was almost nostalgic. He takes a sneaky look at Kaiman, he saw scarier bone horrors before he could walk on two legs. He looks at Merlin, and his weird lack of a face, he can feel, when Merlin’s head is pointed at him his {Hunter’s Anticipation}, {Danger Sense} and {Hunter's instinct} all tell him danger, not danger of attack, it's like when he stares at Bob’s claws, he can tell that something about Merlin’s head or sight is dangerous, one of the most dangerous things about him.

“I accept, I will join your raid. But first, I wish for your Heart to make it a quest for me, with the conditions of not attacking me”. Merlin is quiet for a bit, a clear sign that he’s talking to the Heart, again not something that common, a minion and a dungeon Heart being able to exchange information like that, especially if the dungeon is as young as he thinks it is. Merlin keeps quiet, Irax wonders if this is the first time the dungeon knows about its ability to give quests, did something happen to its fairy? Or… did it ever have one at all?

QUEST

Crustacean Extinction!

Join the invasion of the crab dungeon and act as a bodyguard and area holder.

The undead will not attack you, include you in their area of attack or use abilities that have a chance to hit and hurt you.

Rewards: Aurmetto Bow.

“Very good”. Irax extends his hand. Surprisingly the undead also does, and they shake hands. This is not something that undead generally know, Merlin probably has a deeper connection to death mana than others.