“Is this the cave you’re talking about?” Charles asks as he takes a step forward.

You have entered the dungeon: The Stone Golem’s Cave.

Total Level Range: 10-20

“Yeah, it is,” I confirm as I walk to his side.

Charles and I look at the dungeon's entrance, a big hole on the side of a mountain. It's huge, big enough to fit Drezzan without him bending over. Mold forms on the edges of the entrance, making it look like it's been there for ages. Charles walks up to the entrance then turns to me behind him.

“Just reading the name makes it obvious which enemies we’re going to fight here.”

I raise an eyebrow. “You mean stone-type enemies?”

“Exactly. I don’t think we’re ready for monsters like that, especially since the only one with abilities capable of killing these entities is me.”

“All I need to do is protect you then. Is that what you’re saying?” I respond as I try to see what is inside the entrance.

“Precisely,” Charles says with a sigh as he gives up on trying to change my mind.

In all honesty, I just want to do this dungeon, so I didn’t have to find those damn thyme things. The dungeon also seems like a good place to practice more of my newfound powers, so… why not? It also gives me some time to be away from Lilith.

“Is Lilith not coming with us?” Charles asks as he looks at my face.

“No, Lilith and I made a deal.”

“A deal?”

Three days ago…

“How about we make a deal?” Lilith says with a grin.

I continue sitting down next to the sleeping Charles and looking up at the night sky as the campfire still shines on the campsite. I didn’t respond to Lilith, but she continued to talk anyway.

“I’ll let you two live and explore the world to your liking, in return….” Lilith looks down at me. “You two will eternally be my entertainers. I’ll follow you wherever, whenever. But, if you two continue to either disappoint me or bore me….” Her bright expression turns dark. “I’ll kill you both.”

Present…

“I see, but how does that affect the reason why she isn’t coming?”

“She and I made another deal after that.” Charles and I are already walking through the cave as the light from the entrance begin to fade. The cave itself looks the same as any other, with uneven walls and stalactites dripping water on top of the cave.

“That is?”

“She wouldn’t help us at the least, even if it meant us dying. Well, I’m glad she isn’t coming anyway.”

“I see… wait, do you still have a problem with her? When I last saw you two together, you seemed fine.”

“Well, kinda. Every time I look at Lilith, I get pissed off, but the moment I do, the feeling all of a sudden vanishes. It feels weird.”

“That leads to one obvious reason.”

“Yup...."

Apparently, the red orb nullifies some of my emotions, not all of them, only the negative ones. It’s a good thing, though; it won’t affect my sense of mind and focus. Of course, such a good thing comes at a cost, I don’t know what that cost is, but I know it will be bad.

Anyways, it isn’t something I should worry about right now.

I continue to look and move forward, alert, as I keep my hand placed on the handle of my short sword. Charles walks behind me and shines the stony path as his wooden cane has a ball of flame hovering around the top of it.

We are already deep enough into the dungeon to know that monsters will start appearing sooner or later. They can charge from either side, behind us or in front, or worse, both sides.

If that were the case, I would immediately morph and create a path for Charles, but if it isn’t, we will still do the usual strategy, me in the front and Charles in the back. Even if some were to somehow get past me, Charles could handle it since he's very well versed in close combat. Heck, he might still be better than me.

Of course, all of this is planned by Charles. While I talked about my skills, he took note of every one of them and made a strategy so basic that even I felt like a person with one intelligence could understand.

Haha, well, I don’t really think that’s possible, oh well!

I stop in place—the sound of heavy footsteps.

I turn to Charles, who is already looking in the direction of the footsteps.

Up ahead is the same path, but with a sudden turn, and from what we’ve just heard, the monster must be right around the corner. We slowly approach. I slowly drew my blade, trying not to make a sound, and went ahead of Charles.

I slowly approach until stopping when I'm right at the corner. I was about to look around but paused. I couldn’t hear the footsteps anymore.

I softly sniff the air.

No good; I can only smell watery stone.

Do I risk it? Wait, Natural Instincts!

I close my eyes, and from there, I let my skill do its trick.

I do sense something… it is… right around-

Suddenly, a stone statue-like monster jumps from the corner and swings its stone blade at me. I'm surprised but managed to duck in the nick of time. I hear something heavy smash into the wall above my head, and quickly I jump back. From there, I managed to get a good view of the monster.

The stone monster is a faceless, adult-sized stone man with stone armor covering its body. There aren’t many special features about it except that its body moves typically like a human. The stone man holds a rather large stone club, making it obvious that it’s a warrior-based enemy.

I went into stance and prepared to enter combat with the stone man. Immediately, it charges straight at me with its big club raised above its head. In response, I lower my head and run forward. The stone man swings its weapon down but misses by a hair as I sidestep to the left and swing my blade at its exposed belly. But instead of gliding on its skin, what I expected, it gets stuck in the middle of its torso.

Your Evasion has ranked up to Rank A! +4 AGL!

Your blade struck through your enemy’s belly! 57 Damage!

“Eh?” I say with a surprising gesture. I jump back as the stone monster makes a wide swing with my sword stuck on its belly. Unarmed, I stare at it as it turns to me with its club raised again… until,

“Fireball!” A massive ball of fire that is twice the size of my head slams itself at the stone monster, then, BOOM!

I cover my face and try to withstand the explosion set off close to me.

Charles's Perspective:

Your Fireball has directly hit your enemy! 258 Damage!

Your Fireball has exploded and pulverized your enemy! 206.4 Damage!

Your Fireball’s explosion has harmed your ally! 15 Damage!

Stone Soldier (Warrior) has been slain!

Your Fireball has ranked up to Rank D! +3 INT +2 STR

Main Perspective:

I stand still and silent for a few moments until I put down my hands, which protect my face. The stone soldier that looked like an ordinary stone faceless man is now in pieces. Pieces that measured from large and small, all over the place. I continue to stay silent as I stare at the aftermath of Charles’s destructive fireball.

"Isn’t… isn’t that just the Rank F version of that fireball? That… is fucking horrifying." I think with horror.

Gray smoke continues to stray around the air after the explosion until slowly vanishing, revealing Charles where I am. He walks up to me… and I ask, “That… is the Rank F version of your fireball, right?”

“Correct.”

I stand frozen for a few seconds until responding, “I would hate to see what the rest are like.”

After trying to cool off my sword, which somehow survived the explosion, we continued walking through the dungeon. It is then the path begins to change. The walls, ceiling, and floor slowly get smoother as we walk further into the dungeon. There were also large rooms filled with stone soldiers ranging from one to five. Of course, we stuck to our strategy, me getting their attention while Charles took them out. We have done three of these rooms already. There are two in the first room, four in the second, and five in the third.

Charles:

Level up! Your Mage class is now level 16! +2 INT +2 WILL +1 PER

Your Fireball has ranked up to Rank C! +3 INT +2 STR

Your Fireball has ranked up to Rank B! +3 INT +2 STR

Your Staff Mastery has ranked up to Rank 9! +2 STR +2 AGL +1 INT

Your Evasion has ranked up to Rank A! +4 AGL

Congratulations! You have gained the title: Young Group Exploder!

Aden:

Your Sword Mastery has ranked up to Rank 8! +2 STR +2 DEX +1 AGL

Your Evasion has ranked up to Rank A! +4 AGL

Your Parry has ranked up to Rank B! +3 AGL +1 PER

Your Block has ranked up to Rank B! +3 END +1 STR

“Draconic Heavy Swing!” I yell as I heavily swing at the soldier in front of me. It tries to block my attack with its stone shield, but instead of stopping the attack, its shield is smashed into pieces, and so does itself.

Your Draconic Heavy Swing has smashed your enemy! 251 Damage!

Stone Golem (Warrior) has been slain!

Your Draconic Heavy Swing has ranked up to Rank B! +3 STR

Congratulations! You have gained the title: Stone Smasher!

I breathed in and out as I took out the last stone soldier of the fourth room. There were six this time, and I got to be honest; this one was tough. Unlike the previous three, this one had a mage and an archer, which meant both Charles and I had to evade most of the time. Of course, I managed to take them out and make it easier for Charles to take care of the stone soldier in front of him, but I couldn’t say the same for myself since it led one of the two humanoids who was chasing Charles to me instead, making me have to fight three stone soldiers.

And out of all of that, I still haven’t fucking leveled up yet! I mean, what the fuck!

I fell flat on my butt and took a breather. Charles walks up next to me and does the same but sits down gently.

“I’ve gained a new title,” I say out loud.

“So did I. Already checked it.”

“Why don’t you tell me? I’ll tell you mine.”

Aden:

Stone Smasher

Description: This title is given to people who smashed a stone-type enemy!

Requirement: Smash stone with a weapon.

Strength +5

Charles:

Young Group Bomber

Description: A title given to juveniles who killed a group with something explosive.

Requirement: Kill a group of five entities in one go.

All explosive skills or items have a 5% larger blast radius.

My title seems simple, smash stone with a weapon, can be cool and all since I’m just third-teen years old, but the title Charles got, though… can be taken the wrong way. I wonder what some of the Scribes' reactions would be when they see Charles having such a title. It could go wrong, oh well! I’m just glad I got an extra five strength.

“You do know that your title can be taken the wrong way, right?” I say with worry as I turn my head to Charles.

“That’s their assumption. If they think so, then go ahead. But I doubt they would mind such a title since I’m a mage.”

“Yeah, I get what you mean,” I respond as I drink some water from my leather canteen.

“Anyways, have you leveled up yet?”

“...no, I haven’t.” Charles stops talking after that.

Five minutes have passed afterward, and I stand up and stretch as I check my vital status.

Vital Currently:

HP: 831/855

Rage: 0/100

Stamina: 701/820

I’ve lost around two-hundred hp and three-hundred stamina during the last fight, and from the looks of it, they both seem to regenerate faster than before. It could be my endurance stat doing its trick.

Endurance - Endurance is an attribute that affects your entire body's durability. Allowing you to deplete less stamina while sprinting, continue when badly wounded and hold a greater resolve to continue fighting in dire situations. Increases health by 2.5 Hp, stamina by 2.5, defense by 1, and regeneration speeds for health and stamina by 0.1 points per second.

“Charles, ready?” I question as I yawn afterward.

Charles stands up in response, “Let’s get going.” I do what he says and follow him as we leave the room.

At this point, the walls look completely different than before. They are smooth to the touch. Not only that, they begin to have weird symbols on them as we go deeper and deeper into the dungeon. I turn my head to look at one of the symbols out of curiosity.

They looked ancient, but it’s not something I should be checking for fun yet.

An hour has already passed since we last entered this dungeon, and I got to say, it’s a lot larger than the Rat King’s Dungeon. There are more rooms in this one. No matter how deep we go into this dungeon, it continues to look endless. It’s still fun, though, really. The dungeon doesn’t always look the same as we continue.

Sadly, though…

Charles and I stop as we are confronted with a stone door.

We have to fight to continue on.

I went in front of Charles and drew my short sword. As I do, Charles readies himself and begins to concentrate. I start to count to myself.

“Five… Four…“ I wait for Charles’s fireball to finish.

“Three… Two…“ I harden my grip.

“One…” I take a deep breath… then charge straight at the stone door and bash through it. The brightness of the room blinds me, but even if I am, I continue charging forward as my eyes quickly adjust to the bright room. It is then I find out I am surrounded. There are seven stone soldiers around me, staring at me as I make my entrance.

I quickly look at my surroundings. There are two mages, one archer, three warriors grouped up together, and…

I turn around as fast as possible and use my blade to deflect the incoming attack.

A spearman.

I swing my sword to the left with both hands as I hit the stone spear the stone soldier thrust at me. The moment I did, I screamed at the top of my lungs, overlapping a certain voice that chanted something. There is then an explosion, where the group of stone warriors was.

Charles's Perspective:

Your Fireball has directly hit your enemy! 241 damage!

Your Fireball has exploded and pulverized your enemy! Critical hit! 421 damage!

Your Fireball has exploded and pulverized your enemy! Critical hit! 451 damage!

Your Fireball has exploded and pulverized your enemy! Critical hit! 431 damage!

Stone Golem (Warrior) has been slain!

Stone Golem (Warrior) has been slain!

Stone Golem (Warrior) has been slain!

Congratulations! You have learned Critical Mastery! +2 DEX +2 PER

Main Perspective:

The stone golems turn to the explosion in confusion. As they did, I charged straight at the mages. They notice me but notice too late as I already slam my blade down at one of the stone mages.

You have crushed your enemy! Critical hit! 341 damage!

Stone Golem (Mage) has been slain!

Congratulations! You have learned Critical Mastery! +2 DEX +2 PER

I quickly turn to the next stone mage after literally destroying one of its allies. As that is happening, I see in the corner of my eye Charles evading the stone spearman as it tries to thrust its stone spear into him. It is going well for the spearman for a few seconds until Charles all of a sudden charges into it, having the spearman’s effective fighting range become useless just like that. Even if Charles managed to close the gap, he could do nothing to harm the stone golem fatally. There was-

Charles's Perspective:

“Snap Cast!” I yell out as I aim my wooden cane at the stone spearman’s head. I then smile and yell, “Fireball!” Then there is an explosion.

Your Fireball has directly hit your enemy! 240 damage!

Your Fireball has exploded and pulverized your enemy! 196 damage!

Your Fireball’s explosion has harmed you! 179 damage!

Stone Golem has been slain!

Your Snap Cast has ranked up to Rank D! +3 INT +2 WILL

You are burnt! 3 damage!

Vital Currently:

Health: 136/315

Mana: 270/530

Stamina: 106/295

I lay on the ground as the gray smoke from the explosion slowly vanished into thin air, parts of my clothing and body burnt. I lay there silent for a few seconds until finally reaching down into my leather belt bag to take out a health potion, but paused… as I saw a stone archer standing above me, aiming down its stone arrow at me. I close my eyes, thinking it’s the end, until I hear a yell.

“Morph!” Before I know it, the stone archer is smashed to smithereens, top to bottom from the head. I use both my hands to block the flying debris from all of what used to be the stone archer. When everything finally calmed down, I slowly widened my eyes. I stare in shock as what took the place of the smashed archer… is Aden, whose hands are scaly red.

Aden looks down at me with a smile, “Look who's the savior now, Charles.” He widens his smile.

I smile back, “Please, shut the fuck up, you imbecile.” Aden laughs in response and gives me a hand. I gladly take it, and Aden helps me up.

Aden:

You have Morph! 3.15 damage!

You have cut your enemy in half! 450 damage!

Stone Golem (Archer) has been slain!

Congratulations! You have earned the title: Stone Smasher!

Charles:

You have drunk a small health potion! Regained 50+ health!

Congratulations! You have earned the title: Near-Death Escaper!

Near-Death Escaper

Description: The title is given to people who have escaped death.

Requirement: Escape a deadly situation.

Luck +5

Main Perspective:

I give Charles a hand, and he takes it. I lift him and continue to provide him with my usual smile.

Congratulations! You have earned the title: Savior!

Well, I got two titles out of that.

Stone Smasher

Description: This title is given to people who have smashed stones with their bare fists.

Requirement: Smash a large rock.

Strength +5

Wow, that’s nice! What about the other- ...

Savior

Description: This title is given to people who have saved a life.

Requirement: Save a person’s life.

Charisma +10

FUCK!