"And what do we have here?" I excitedly said as I opened the broken lid of a wooden chest. "An armor?"

(Broken) Mirdabon Fur Jacket | Item Level: 1

Common | Light Armor | Chest

15 Armor

Requires: 10 Might, 10 Vigor

"Okay, this is useless." I sighed. “How the hell does a jacket become ‘broken’ anyway?”

Broken items couldn't be worn until they were repaired. But this armor wasn’t worth repairing. I wasn't certain of the cost of fixing this item, but it was probably better if I sold this off to an NPC.

I couldn't have it repaired or sold anyway because I needed to enter Kurghal village for that. I didn't want to risk invalidating my connection with the Big M. Hopefully, I could find better gear here.

It turned out that the cave was a dungeon—not a prison in the usual sense, but an enclosed area with enemies in the RPG sense. Did entering this dungeon create an instance specifically for me? Or was this area open to all? Most likely, the room with the Craggy Crabore, which I still hadn't found, would be exclusive to me. Otherwise, random players could stroll in and kill my target, ruining my quest.

From the long stretches of the cave with rough walls and unevenly shaped passageways, I could tell this formed naturally. Then Mardukryons expanded it, digging new rooms, smoothening parts of some tunnels, and carving symbols and figures on the walls. They also arranged the golden crystals growing out of the rocks to light the place adequately.

This place and the settlement above must've been a grand sight when Mardukryons lived here. But it had seen better days. To be more accurate, it had seen a particularly bad day. A severe earthquake likely hit here, which was why the Mardukryons abandoned their settlement.

I passed by a couple of rooms that were wholly caved in; the doorways fit for Mardukryons turned into openings appropriate for mice.

Mice or mouses? Déjà vu?

Large boulders that had crumbled from the ceilings blocked one path. Anything that the Mardukryons hadn't evacuated from this place had been overcome by the time. The cabinets, tables, and chests were rotting, paintings and carvings barely recognizable, broken weapons and armor velveted by inch-thick dust.

And what would a dungeon be without monsters roaming it?

I encountered a few [Lvl 8 Craborelings]. They scuttled through the dim corridors. Whenever I heard their echoey scratching noises, I'd swiftly find a room to hide in or even just a tiny corner where I could press myself against the wall to get out of their way.

They were pretty large, about three times the size of a Mirdabon, and took up much of the width of the tunnels when they walked with their numerous spindly legs spread out.

They’re crabs, right? I thought to myself the first time I saw them. Were they walking forward, or did my eyes make a mistake because of the lighting?

The Craborelings sported a few tiny crystals and a large one on their backs, the same kind of crystal scattered across the golden forest and on the walls of this cave. That must be the "ore" part of their name. But nothing in the word ‘Craboreling’ explained the dainty human-like hands with an excess of fingers growing from the sides of their head.

I didn't bother them because I had no idea how strong they were, and there wasn't much space in these cramped tunnels to quickly flee if it turned out they had bullshit mechanics like the Mirdabons. It was a long walk back here from the cliffs if I died.

Creepy giant crabs with human hands notwithstanding, I did enjoy exploring the tunnels.

As soon as I recognized this was a dungeon, my instincts from ages past kicked in, searching every nook and cranny, every chest and cabinet for hidden items. It was just like riding a bicycle; the skill stays with you. Although rather than skill, I'd consider this an instinct to comb every part of this place.

It was the first dungeon I had explored in MCO, and it brought back memories of the olden days of playing RPGs and reading fantasy books about adventuring heroes. I recalled Mason shared a joke he heard that girls would visit every store in the mall—there were barely any now; most moved to virtual stores—while boys would search every room in a dungeon.

That was what I did, and I was rewarded for my efforts. Besides several small piles of Artas and random materials, I also found a few more armor pieces.

Fortified Helmet | Item Level: 3

Rare | Med-Armor | Helmet

17 Armor

Requires: 12 Might, 12 Vigor

--------------------

+5 Might

+5 Vigor

Bramble Chest Plate | Item Level: 5

Rare | Med-Armor | Upper Chest

35 Armor

Requires: 18 Might, 22 Vigor

--------------------

+20 Retribution Damage (Physical)

+10 Vigor

It was a stroke of good fortune I found the helmet that added Might, allowing me to wear the chest armor.

I had almost forgotten the common problem I encountered when building tanks in the past. Usually, the armor tanks wore needed an appropriate amount of Strength or another attribute to wear. It was a problem because I wanted to dump all of my attribute points to Vitality, Constitution, or whatever equivalent term used in the specific RPG for the stat that increased health.

This [Bramble Chest Plate] was a perfect example of that same problem.

I needed external sources of Might as I didn't want to use my own attribute points for it, intending to sink all of them into Vigor. Might did add a tiny bit of health points, probably to help the squishiness of physical DPSers, but its benefits were mostly related to physical damage. I didn't want to 'pay' for things I don't use.

"Retribution damage?" I said, noticing that line on the armor. I might've stumbled onto something useful. Checking online, I read with a grin on my face, "Retribution...a secondary statistic unaffected by accuracy or evasion that automatically damages an attacker for every hit they make."

A very helpful stat for tanks to be able to deal damage. Some form of this mechanic was present in the old RPGs, and I was glad it was also here in Mother Core Online. My retribution damage may be small for now, this being the only source, and it was also affected by the enemies' armor and other defensive modifiers, but it was better than nothing. An icing on the mini cake, almost a cupcake, that was my [Greater Pyro Shell] damage.

I was no longer butt-naked—okay, my butt was still naked.

What armor piece would cover it? Checking my inventory, it appeared that my lower body required a different kind of armor than the usual in RPGs of pants or trousers. The [Bramble Chest Plate] mentioned it was an upper chest armor; my bull part should have a different chest, right?

While pondering the question of how many chests a bull centaur had, I wandered into a hall that appeared to be once important to the Mardukryons. A wide circular stone table was in the middle surrounded by platforms a Mardukryon could sit on. Statues, not only of Mardukryon but other beasts I hadn't yet seen, ringed the central area.

The majesty of this great hall had been destroyed, not only by the calamity that befell this place but also by the monster that had chosen to reside here—[Lvl 12 Craggy Crabore].

This adult Crabore was wider but shorter than me, probably only coming up to the abdomen of my upper body. After I killed this monster, Sharulrath would accept me as a student of his uncle.

The massive golden crystals protruding down from the ceiling like stalactites provided illumination for this sort of mini-boss arena. The lighting exposed the intimidating features of my enemy.

It didn't have the body of the usual crab I'd order on a seafood platter. Instead, it was reminiscent of the absolutely massive coconut crabs living on Flying Fish Island. Nelly showed me pictures of them from her vacation; I recalled that their claws were as big as her head. In comparison, the claw of the Craggy Crabore was as long as my Mardukryon arm and as wide as my chest. It had armor of rocks for protection, fitting its name.

Similar to the baby version, golden crystals dotted its carapace. There were three large ones, almost like spikes, and about ten, or maybe a dozen, smaller crystals. And lastly, sprouting from the sides of its small head were four multisegmented limbs that ended in hands that had too many fingers.

It moved left and right as if sizing me up, menacingly snapping at the air with its massive claws. I shot it with my sling, aiming for its eyes. It covered them with its hands. Given I was less than half its level and was a tank, I wasn’t surprised by my pitiful damage.

What was surprising was that it slammed its claws on the ground and pulled its body forward. Taking advantage of the momentum, it charged at me! Crabs are supposed to walk sideways, I barely thought before it registered in my mind to move out of the way.

The Crabore slammed into a statue of a bird creature, sending its head flying. Even with all my defensive skills and newly found armor, my gut told me I would've been Mardukryon pancake if I tried to face that head-on.

But it had just used its massive skill. It should follow up with a few normal attacks, right?

I closed in on it, rearing my upper body and slamming down with my hooves. It did as much damage as a kid with a stick poking an adult. The Crabore raised its claws. I should let it attack me with its less-damaging moves to safely pop my—No! Evade!

I shifted left, quite hard to do with a bull centaur body. The massive claw slammed on the ground where I stood half a moment ago, cracking it. Jagged pieces of the floor jutted upward from the impact.

Wham! Boom!

The other claw slammed on me. A red haze filled my suddenly blurry vision. Fifteen health...I thought, noticing my health bar. I unequipped my sling to use [Healing Touch]. Then I ran away as fast as I can, rounding the table to have some buffer between me and the crazy crab, eating the remaining plants in my inventory to refill my health as I fled.

Fifteen health! If I were missing one stack of [Ancestral Constution], I'd be dead!

But the explosion of my shell did more damage than it did against the annoying plant. That was something worth celebrating

The Craggy Carbore could easily pop my shell but wasn't that absurdly chunky. It all came down to surviving its massive damage long enough to whittle it down. This was essentially the same fight with the Fulgurian Boarlet but on steroids. Herald Stone, the Master of Concentration, was channeling the flow of the energy of the universe to not mess up dodging.

I ran around the table, trying to keep out of its reach. We circled it for several seconds, a funny sight of a giant crab chasing a bull centaur. Having enough of the nonsense, the Crabore jumped on it and slammed both claws down.

This was my cue.

I dug my hooves into the ground to stop myself and changed directions running. The Craggy Crabore blew past me, raking mounds of dirt as it crashed to the ground. I hit it with my sling to sneak in a tiny bit more damage as I ran up to it with my [Greater Pyro Shell] ready.

The claw slam attack was going to follow after its charge. The right claw descended fast. I dodge to the side, into the downward path of the other claw. My shell exploded, and I hightailed it out of there.

Just keep this up, I motivated myself.

A couple more times I hit it with the blast of my [Greater Pyro Shell]. This was going to take some time, but so long as I didn't make a mistake, I'd eventually win. I hid behind a Mardukryon statue as I healed myself. Peeking my head to the left, I checked from which direction the Crabore would be coming from.

But it didn't chase me. It instead sat on the ground.

One of its human-like hands removed a small crystal from its back and shoved it into its mouth.

And the minuscule damage I worked hard to inflict slowly healed.

"Divine Bovine Dung...how am I going to kill this thing?"