Steven’s fight with the second skeleton went better than he imagined. The skeleton got absorbed without him even getting a scratch. He did take a heavy blow, but the new shield growth ability proved its usefulness there.

He tapped on his implant and brought up the status screen.

Strength - 17 (17)

Dexterity - 13 (13)

Endurance - 15 (15)

Intelligence - 8 (8)

Wisdom - 7 (7)

Pain - 1.1 (.6)

For the amount of time he had actually been in the dungeon, he thought his attribute growth was incredible. There hadn’t been anyone to talk to about it though, so he wasn’t really sure how his attributes compared to others. Regardless, he was much stronger than the monsters found on Floor 1.

The new ability he absorbed from the second skeleton seemed in line with the shield.

Greatsword (Strength)

Mana cost 17 per minute. 2 mana minimum.

It cost more mana to maintain, but the same minimum. He also noticed that the mana cost for his shield increased to 15 per minute.

As much as he loved his new abilities and attributes, he was annoyed that he couldn’t seem to increase his mana. Even after defeating the second skeleton, he gained just 25 mana. Between him using the shield when he discovered it and the fight with the skeleton, he had maintained 45 mana total.

And that stupid pill hasn’t been added to the total. Surely by now he’d given it enough time to dissolve or be absorbed. That was a mystery in and of itself.

Resetting the floor probably wasn’t worth it, as there were only three enemies to farm. The two he had already defeated only gained him 50 mana, so one entire floor reset would be 75 total, assuming the third monster followed the same pattern and was a skeleton worth 25.

So, he planned to take out his frustrations on the next monster and finish the floor. Hopefully moving on to bigger and better things afterwards.

He went back to the lever, avoiding the traps along the way, and closed the middle door which was now also embossed with a number 0. Hesitantly, he stared at the remaining door. He really wanted to farm some mana and use his absorption ability more often. At this point it only added 4 points of extra damage to his attacks, which he guessed was not a lot.

Why did it do numerical damage anyway? None of his other abilities did. They didn’t even have damage ranges. The only information he can glean from the abilities was what attribute governed, he assumed, its damage. And it wouldn’t matter anyway.

None of the monsters he had fought had discernible hit points. They could be dismembered, squashed, and battered in any number of ways. He even witnessed a rat kill itself by accident. Would tearing off a person's arm reduce their hit points by a fourth? It would certainly be painful, but he couldn’t imagine a fourth of someone’s life being lost when losing an appendage that held no necessary organs.

There were just too many questions bouncing around in his head. Surely they had answers, but Steven wasn’t going to find any while holding on to a lever on Floor 1 of this crazy dungeon. He pushed the lever towards the final door and watched as it descended into the floor. He wanted to finish this quickly and go back to town to find some answers.

He made his way down the same boring hallway. Well, boring only because he’d managed to avoid all the traps, and watched as the third coffin opened. It was indeed a third skeleton. This time wielding a short sword.

Lesser Skeleton (Shortsword)

Mana 25

Strength - 2

Dexterity - 4

Endurance - 3

Intelligence - 1

Wisdom - 1

Mimicries - 1

As much as he wanted to rush in and crush the skull with an absorption powered blow, he instead cast Mimic Growth: Heater Shield on his left forearm and held it in front of his crotch and lower abdomen.

With all the thoughts about attributes and what they really meant, he needed to find out if something with 2 strength and a blade could really damage him. Feeling a small spike of fear, he let the skeleton come to him and was immediately besieged by a series of slashes to the neck and thrusts to the chest.

He could feel each strike land with a dull thud that left a stinging sensation. It felt similar to an ant bite but there was no real pain. The skeleton had finished its first round of attacks and retreated a couple of paces, giving Steven enough time to reach up and touch his neck. He looked at his hand and saw some blood, but not enough to be concerned about.

Lowering his hand, the skeleton moved in again and repeated the same series of slashes and thrusts. This time Steven counted how many times he felt the blade make contact. He let the cycle repeat again for confirmation, and started feeling blood drip down the front of his chest.

On the fourth round of attacks, Steven deflected the final blow and drove an absorption powered fist through the skeleton’s face. The glow in its eyes winked out, and the whole skeleton disintegrated into red dust that was promptly sucked into his implant.

He was happy that it was so easy, but also kind of disappointed by the lack of challenge. He gained another ability and a handful of attribute points with hardly zero effort.

Another dungeon window appeared in front of him.

Floor 1 complete.

No deaths accrued.

Initiating bonus challenge.

He dismissed the window and ran to the closest wall putting it to his back. For minutes, he stood there waiting for something to happen, but nothing ever came. He didn’t get a bonus challenge on the last floor, though he also didn’t fully survive the floor.

Maybe this was something that only happened to special classes. He remembered the note from the guild mentioning that special classes get their dungeon floors made differently.

Still, after several more minutes of waiting, he cautiously made his way back to the lever. Closing the door made more sound than he wanted, but the other two doors hadn’t opened and he guessed that whatever the bonus challenge was, it could have gotten stuck behind the closed doors.

He walked back up the stairs to the open air, fully intending on recuperating at the Red Eye before attempting to tackle the bonus. And there it was. He knew it when he saw it. The bonus challenge.

He regretted ever thinking that he was disappointed in the lack of challenge the skeletons had posed as he looked at the hulking monstrosity of bones in the distance. The Red Eye was about a three minute walk from where he stood. He could barely even see the little red statue, but he could clearly see that this thing was a combination of all three of the previous skeletons.

He cast identify, but he was too far away to make out any details in the little screen that appeared over the monster. He had hoped the distance wouldn’t affect the screen, but he hadn’t really had the chance to try before.

He watched as the giant monster paced back and forth. Certain it wouldn’t come any closer, Steven walked towards it as quietly as possible. When he was close enough, he discovered the monster wasn’t actually walking back and forth. Instead it circled the Red Eye like some sort of patrolling guard.

The monster was a ball of bones held up by a tripod of three skeletal legs. It had three arms, two on the left and one on the right. The right arm held a greatsword while the other two clasped a shield and shortsword. Perched on top of the ball between the arms were three skulls, each with glowing orange eye sockets. He cast identify again, and felt the blood in his veins go cold.

Skeletal Blend (Unique monster)

Mana 500

Strength - 10

Dexterity - 8

Endurance - 9

Intelligence - 3

Wisdom - 3

Unable to absorb.

Not only physically, but the attributes were also combined. As a whole they were less than his, but even the third skeleton caused him to bleed with its attacks and it only had 2 strength. This monstrosity was five times stronger, twice as fast, and three times as large.

Steven shuddered. It was blocking his only escape route.

It was possible to get out. If he timed a sprint properly he could get to the Red Eye and teleport to town before being attacked. If timed poorly, he would die, and be stuck in an endless loop of death for eternity.

Is this what the dungeon meant when it said those who suffer the most meet the greatest of ends? Surely a few thousand years of being killed endlessly by a skeleton megazord would count as suffering the most. Maybe then he would complete the dungeon and gain his boon.

He wasn’t willing to try. Seeing no real options, he decided he was going to escape. Other than the 500 mana, he couldn't see any rational reason to fight this thing. And quite frankly, it scared him. He had higher attributes, but very little combat experience and skill.

Closing the distance between him and the Skeletal Blend, he shouted when he was near the halfway point from his previous position. The monster’s head snapped to the side, locking on to Steven. It then extended its arms above its head and cartwheeled right at him.

He ran. Not towards the monster or away, but perpendicular, skirting around the area that the skeleton monstrosity had to traverse. Pushing his legs to the limit, he led the following skeleton away from the Red Eye but had to stop when he realized that he was creating too large of a gap.

He waited a bit for the skeleton to get closer and sprinted again, in an arcing path that would take him to the small red statue representing his escape. When he reached the Red Eye he checked on the monster’s position. It had veered to the side to follow, but at a much larger angle than Steven had taken. It was quickly closing in.

He tapped his implant against the eye, and the screen appeared.

Proceed to Serenity Springs [Y/N]

Return to Floor 0 [Y/N]

Selecting the Y for Serenity Springs, he watched as the grey floor turned black.