After confirming that there was nothing in the cave and that there was only one entrance the team set up a sentry watch inside the big cavern and turned the obelisk room into their sleeping quarters.

Ajax laid down exhausted. The first day on the first floor wasn’t hard and while clearing out the remaining of the floor was somewhat dangerous in that they could be overrun it was still easy to do safely. With the cavern covering them they didn’t bother pulling out tents and just used the bedrolls.

His day out in the scorching sun however was something else. Despite the team's skill and the limited number of monsters they engaged at one time he was always in some danger and forced to take his opponents seriously much like the bear and the fish had.

Not only that but he also found new uses for his skills like [Residue Recognition] let him find the camouflaged snakes. Their technique also used mana to cover any physical tracks they left behind, the problem was covering those tracs left mana residue in its place.

As Ajax pulled up his status screen he was shocked.

Name : Ajax

Level :25

Experience : 22200/38000

Traits: Divine Witness

Health: 1840/1840

Mana: 1070/1870

Stamina :320/1520

Vitality :184

Strength :150

Endurance :152

Dexterity : 151

Intellect : 188

Wisdom : 187

Mind : 187

Perception : 159

Stat Points :0

Skills :

Common :[Mathematics Lvl 22] [Stealth Lvl 30][Drawing Lvl 30][Athleticism Lvl 30] [Running Lvl 30][Reading Lvl 20][Writing Lvl 20][Cooking Lvl 20][Sewing Lvl 20] [Cleaning Lvl 15][Haggling Lvl 19][Gardening Lvl 20][Axes Lvl 33][Hammers Lvl 33 [Deception Lvl 21][Sword Lvl 28][Shield Lvl 29][Bow Lvl 29][Spear Lvl 28][Throwing Lvl 24][Persuasion Lvl 10][Unarmed Combat Lvl 24][Knives Lvl 31][Skinning Lvl 20][Tanning Lvl 10][Dismantle Lvl 25][Climbing Lvl 20][Tracking Lvl 23][Heat Resistance Lvl 17] [Poison Resistance Lvl 24][Pain Resistance Lvl 16][Trapping Lvl 18] Uncommon :[Meditation Lvl 41][Sense Mana Lvl 44][Expel Mana Lvl 44][Sprinting Lvl 27][Mining Lvl 10][Lumberjack Lvl 10][Smelting Lvl 10][Blacksmithing Lvl 10] [Chanting Lvl 11][Mana Farming Lvl 12][Increase Price Lvl 10][Lower Price Lvl 10][Danger Sense Lvl 21][Leatherworking Lvl 10][Alchemy Lvl 10][Mana Milling Lvl 6][Precise Cut Lvl 26][Precise Blow Lvl 26][Judge Threat Lvl 23][ Piercing Shot Lvl 26] [Berserker Lvl 1][Cooperation Lvl 5] Rare : [Manipulate Mana Lvl 36][Water Aspect Mana Lvl 30][Fire Aspect Mana Lvl 30] [Air Aspect Mana Lvl 30][Earth Aspect Mana Lvl 30][Inject Mana Lvl 30][Spot Weakness Lvl 20][Residue Recognition Lvl 15] [Light Aspect Mana Lvl 23][Shadow Aspect Mana Lvl 30][Mana Skin Lvl 4][Teamwork Lvl 2] Epic : [Mana Augmentation Lvl 25][Mana Conjuration Lvl 21][Lightning Aspect Mana Lvl 15][Metal Aspect Mana Lvl 15][Ice Aspect Mana Lvl 15][Magma Aspect Mana Lvl 13][Holy Aspect Mana Lvl 1][Void Aspect Mana Lvl 14] Legendary : [Mana Syphon Lvl 23]

New :

Cooperation 0 -> 5

Teamwork 0 -> 2

Upgrades :

Stealth 27 -> 30

Athleticism 27 -> 30

Running 27 -> 30

Axes 32 -> 33

Hammers 32 -> 33

Deception 20 -> 21

Sword 26 -> 28

Shield 26 -> 29

Bow 26-> 29

Spear 27 -> 28

Throwing 23 -> 24

Unarmed Combat 23 -> 24

Knives 27 -> 31

Skinning 12 -> 20

Dismantle 20 -> 25

Climbing 17 -> 20

Tracking 23 -> 24

Heat Resistance 10 -> 17

Poison Resistance 23 -> 24

Trapping 17 -> 18

Meditation 40 -> 41

Sense Mana 41 -> 44

Expel Mana 40 -> 41

Sprinting 26 -> 27

Danger Sense 17 -> 21

Precise Cut 24 -> 26

Precise Blow 24 -> 26

Judge Threat 20 -> 23

Piercing Shot 24 -> 26

Spot Weakness 17 -> 20

Mana Syphon 20 -> 23

Mana Augmentation 21-> 25

Mana Conjuration 20 -> 21

Lightning Aspect Mana 13 -> 15

Metal Aspect Mana 12 -> 15

Ice Aspect Mana 12 -> 15

Magma Aspect Mana Lvl 8 -> 13

Void Aspect Mana 10 -> 14

Manipulate Mana 33 -> 36

Water Aspect Mana 25 -> 30

Fire Aspect Mana 24 ->30

Air Aspect Mana 25 -> 30

Earth Aspect Mana 27 -> 30

Inject Mana 27 -> 30

Residue Recognition 12 -> 15

Shadow Aspect Mana 25-> 30

Light Aspect Mana 22 -> 23

Mana Skin 3 -> 4

In just a few days delving he had already gained so much experience that he was more than halfway to the next level. That wasn’t all, almost all of his skills had shot up. Using them constantly reflexively in a dangerous environment seemed to work a lot better than planning them out.

Whereas with the fish and bear he had worked out careful plans here he just did his best to adapt on the fly and react to what his team was doing. That he started to fit in with them was obvious from the presence of the [Teamwork] skill he hadn’t even realized he had achieved.

Still the jump in skills like [Heat Resistance] [Dismantling] and [Skinning] was something else entirely. It most likely came from using them in environments well above what he was equipped to handle, much like how his poison resistance had shot up so high when dealing with the vampire.

As he looked at his mana affinities he couldn’t help but be a little displeased by his light and holy affinities. They were starting to lag behind and it was showing. Once he got back to the city he would have to pester Kate in teaching him how to at least use the holy affinity.

The other big difference was how his level forty skills have once again started to ascend now that he was pushing even higher. He also didn’t know why his physical skills were progressing slower once they reached the thirties compared to his magical ones. Did it have something to do with having the related stats being more than five times the skill level? That was the only conclusion he could draw so far.

Out of everything to prepare for however, the first priority went to [Mana Syphon] the skill that will most likely make him one of the premiere delvers considering how much free power he will stand to gain in higher mana density environments inside the dungeon’s higher floors. It was approaching level twenty-five. Considering he knew common skills had no threshold, uncommon had one to reach seventy-five, surprisingly rare and epic shared the fifty and one hundred thresholds. This was much easier for him to understand now that he saw most of his epic skills in fact were stronger derivatives of his rare ones and were harder to level than their Rare counterparts.

Legendary skills were rumored to share a every twenty-five level threshold, and with the new application of [Mana Syphon] it was close to reaching the need of said rumored threshold. He knew he would have to do some covert research into the topic once he got back to the city, announcing to everyone that he had a skill at a threshold was a horrible idea but it was a risk he needed to take.

As he looked at his mana bar he frowned briefly. He couldn’t just empty his mana as that would leave him vulnerable should something happen during the night. He also didn’t want to let it just regen all the way to max and have it be wasted, he had done that enough during the skirmish.

So he looked through his skills, light affinity was one he needed to work on but he didn’t think his new team would appreciate a small orb of light being lit for him to practice keeping active while sleeping. Maybe Ice to cool down the temperature would be good but he didn’t know how long the night would last nor how cold it would get. His memories from Earth told him the desert was as cold at night as it was hot during the day since stones and sand didn’t retain heat at all.

In the end he decided to keep a thin layer of [Mana Skin] that would let him regen mana slower through the night, level the skill since it was very weak still, not quite like the holy aspect or [Berserker] but still very low.

As he put a layer of mana in place he felt the heat that had been cooking him slowly throughout the day lose much of its bite. He wasn’t sure if this was a blessing or a curse however as enduring that heat for a whole day had done wonders for his heat resistance, but it was good to know he could put a buffer between himself and any environment the dungeon might throw at him.

Nelly P.O.V.

Other than clearing the first floor before heading to the second this delve went very much the same as the others we had been on in the last few years. All of us were easily in our sixties but we knew once we moved up to a dungeon with a lower level jump we would be able to relatively safely climb up in levels to ensure our lifespan would reach half a century if we were successful. For that we needed a healer and a good reputation.

The first we were waiting on as I fully believed in my son being good enough to join us, even if he was a little full of himself due to how others started treating him during his teenage years once it was revealed not only did he have access to his mana like me but he was also talented as a healer.

The second was a long term project we had been working towards for the last ten years, carefully taking our time and having a high completion rating, but that alone wouldn’t be enough as we would be moving away from the place where we had solidified our good name. The solution to this is what made this trip despite it playing out so much like our usual ones so much different.

The kid Ajax was, supposedly, six years younger than my own son. This had initially driven us away from taking him with us but the support of two high ranking noble houses, one of which was based out of the capital itself with the headmaster of the academy was just too tempting for us. Now that I had seen him in action though I was seriously doubting his age and level.

The kid was strong and skilled enough to be one of us in his own right, even if he did need a bit more experience with delving, that was just how newbies became delvers. His fighting style relied both on physical and magical stats, not only that but he seamlessly seemed to blend spells into his physical attacks despite that only being done by much higher level mages.True his spells were a lot weaker than mine, but his sheer flexibility and speed made up for it.

That was when I felt him cover himself in mana. It seemed odd to me as he hadn’t really done that so far today. Is now really a good time to practice, he should be resting. I was about to give him a good kick and tell him to go to rest for tomorrow when the [Detect Sleep] skill I had picked up in all those restless nights with my son told me he was already asleep.

I carefully watched him for another minute or two before I went to sleep, very much intrigued. Just who was this kid that could apparently keep a spell active in his sleep, even if with a very weak mana output. One thing is for sure, so long as his attitude doesn’t change drastically I will have to talk the boss into recruiting him with us full time until he joins a noble family.