Her next dungeon choice was found.
[Dungeon #372 - Ancient Lava Tunnel
Dungeon Type: Monster
Monster Type: Fire Beetles
Monster Levels: Min-14, Boss 19
Estimated Clear Time: Four hours - Solo, Two and a half Hours - With a party (up to 5)
Description: This dungeon is in the remains of an ancient lava tunnel. With the volcano now long dead, it's now become a home to Fire Beetles. While heat resistance isn't necessary for the environment, it is recommended against the beetles themselves.
Approximated Monster Numbers: 100+, plus Boss]
It was time to test her ice arrows. You'd think it would be inadvisable to use an arrow against something so small—but these beetles were the size of rats. Their main attack was their bite which inflicts a burning debuff. Between her armor and her archery skills she was confident she would be okay. Though she'd have to judge whether she would even be able to use Syn in this one because of her size.
Once they entered the portal, she was pleased. The tunnel was much bigger than she feared, though the thought of being so far underground was unnerving. Even if getting to the surface was possible, she was pretty sure there was no actual surface to get to. She wasn't technically in an underground tunnel, just a mana-produced reproduction.
It didn't take long for the first beetle to show up—or for it to die. She had put Iggy in her beast space since her skills were essentially useless here, and she wasn't sure about the whole available space thing. It was a good plan, considering that despite the beetles' size, maneuverability was still an issue.
Since their skills and stats worked the same regardless of their size, Sam activated T.O.U.S. to give them a little more room to work. This proved quite helpful—especially since her skill One Size Fits All lived up to its name, shrinking their armor to match.
After killing the last beetle on the way to the boss, Sam had had enough—of bugs and dark underground places.
As they entered a large cave, Sam was relieved not to have a ceiling so close to her head again. She was pretty sure she was developing claustrophobia from being down there so long.
Now that they were in a more open area, she deactivated the T.O.U.S. skill. They'd need that extra weight to take down this one. She directed Syn to use her roots to hold the boss's mandibles open while using Overgrowth Surge to slow it down and reduce its armor. Tempy bounced from the cave wall to the beetle and back again, shocking it over and over, while Sam had her Mana Hands shove knives and her dagger into any crack or opening they could find.
She still had that barrel of water in her inventory, so before firing her arrow, she summoned a pair of Mana Hands to lift and pour it over the beetle. The water hissed on contact, steam rising off its glowing shell. Drenching it served two purposes—first, it would conduct Tempy's lightning better; second…
She aimed her Ice Arrow at its face and loosed.
The soaked shell flash-froze on impact. It wouldn't hold for long, but the water that had seeped into every crack and puncture froze too—expanding until the carapace groaned under the strain. And just like that old video she'd once seen of some idiot pouring boiling water on an icy windshield, the beetle's shell cracked. Much like the windshield.
Switching to her axe, she shattered leg after leg. When it stopped moving, she hopped onto its back and, using every last Strength point she had, brought her axe down on its head.
CRACK.
She swung again and again—like the beetle owed her money—until finally, the sound she'd been waiting for rang in her head.
{Ding! You've killed a level 19, Rare, Purple, Fire Beetle, +50% level discrepancy}
{"As a side note. If you plan to take on The Lab, I'd advise you to not actually kill anything, at least not for a few floors. Stand back and have your tames do it. Your inclusion in the fights and killing, so far have been determining the XP given. However should you not fight, the XP will be determined by your tames. You'll be able to gain XP from the weaker monsters this way.
I believe the monsters in The Lab start at level 5 on the first floor, so an easy match up. Like I explained before, each floor gains another room with another five monsters. They also rise in level with more rooms. If you can level the cubs up a bit, even at their small size, they should hold their own. That way your tames only need to fight one monster at a time. By the 6th floor, you'll be able to help with the mini-boss."}
"Good tip Jarvis, thanks. With that in mind, I think after this I may call it quits today, and help train the cubs up."
{Ding! Congratulations! You've Cleared the Ancient Lava Tunnel dungeon. Open the chest to find your reward.}
Another pouch, an oddly warm spear, the same three vials, and a book were sent to her inventory.
"I hate that I said I'd wait till we get home to check those, but since the dungeon will kick us out soon, I don't exactly have time for the obsessive analysis I want. Plus taking them out in public is probably not a good plan."
{"I'm well aware the anticipation is slowly killing you."}
{Dungeon Cleared. An exit portal will arrive in 3…2…1 portal activated. You have two minutes until forced removal.}
With that, they left through the portal and made their way home. It was nearing nighttime anyway—might as well enjoy dinner and her spoils in peace.
After seeing to her daily needs and quests Sam sat in her warehouse break nook. She had already put her other dungeon spoils in their place. If it didn't have one yet she left it inside her bag to deal with later.
Where does one stash an enormous amount of bones? She assumed a specific "Bones only" bin, but couldn't be bothered to excavate one from the warehouse at the moment, or make one.
"Okay, let's bring out the goodies," she said. First, from the slime dungeon, she placed a coin pouch, a shield, three vials, and a book on the coffee table. Opening the pouch first, she saw a bunch of coins. Which wasn't surprising, given that it was a coin pouch. What surprised her was that they were all gold. She counted fifty coins.
"How is everyone not filthy rich in this world?" Between this and the coins she got from the monsters themselves, she was loaded in less than a day.
{"Yes, well, they also need to arm themselves and buy supplies and armor… it adds up. You don't notice because, well, you get twice as much—and you make what you need at a cost of almost nothing but sweat, blood, and the occasional tear."}Jarvis explained, ever so helpful.
"Ahh, so I'd technically only get 25 had I been a normal adventurer, plus having to divide it between five people. Gotcha. Wait, aren't I suppose to get double the rewards? Not that I'm complaining."
{"Other than the gold, you would usually only get a weapon, a skill book or the vials. So you did."}
"Oh, in that case Yay!"
The next item she looked at was the shield. Using Inspect brought up its stats.
{Enchanted Shield of Gelatinous Return:
Quality: Great
Rarity: Uncommon
Level Restriction: LVL 15
Mana Cost: 20MP
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Duration: Once attacks end for more than two minutes, enters cooldown.
Description: This seemingly ordinary copper shield is blended with the essence of a slime, making attacks literally bounce off of it.
Enchantment: Reflective Shielding – Reflects a portion of the damage back at the attacker.
Damage Reflected: Equal to 50% of carriers intelligence times ten on first strike. Diminished reflection with subsequent strikes by 10%.}
"Not bad, next."
Picking up the first of the vials she saw it contained some kind of red liquid. Inspect activated again to show.
{Lesser Health Potion: Restores 25HP. Please wait at least 20 minutes before ingesting another.}
"Got it no slamming back health potions."
The next vial was blue. Inside, according to Inspect, was a Lesser Mana Regeneration Potion—same amount, only in mana points obviously, and a slightly lower ingestion limit: ten minutes this time. The third was a green Lesser Poison Antidote, able to clear up any poison as long as the poison in question didn't deal more than –10 HP in damage over time.
She took out the other vials and saw they were the exact same, so she sent them all back to her inventory.
The book was a basic-level Water skill, allowing the user to pull water from the air or nearby sources. Being a basic level, it essentially just opened the metaphorical door for water manipulation. Higher-level skill books would allow for the creation of more specific effects.
Next was the skeleton dungeon. The coin pouch contained the same amount, and the vials she'd already confirmed were identical. The sword was… well, a little macabre in design. It was made of bone—from the blade to the pommel—and she really didn't want to know what kind of leather wrapped around the grip.
{Enchanted Blade of Death:
Quality: Great
Rarity: Rare
Level Restriction: LVL 15
Mana Cost: 5MP/Second
Cooldown: 3 seconds
Duration: Sustained
Description: Made entirely from the ancient bones of a once powerful beast. This sword brings death to all.
Enchantment: Wraithstrike – Strikes undead with extra damage, weakening their defenses.
Damage: -50HP on the living, -80HP on the undead. Weakens undead by 25%}
"Don't all swords bring death to all?" Sam said, shaking her head.
{"I believe in this case, it means all "lifeforms" even the undead."}
Sam just nodded and then picked up the second book she received.
{Skill Book: Basic Level Necrotic Touch
Description: When activated, this skill will necrotize any organic matter, living or dead. Note: Only works on established enemies. Does not affect wielder, allies, or tames.
Mana Cost: 25MP | Cooldown: 30 seconds | Duration: Until contact is removed
Range: N/A}
"Yikes…but, may be useful. Ok, on to the fire beetles."
Leaving the coin pouch and vials with the others, she brought out the spear. Well she thought it was a spear until closer inspection. It was a pike—significantly longer, with a bladed tip.
{Enchanted Fire Pike
Quality: Great
Rarity: Uncommon
Level Restriction: 18
Mana Cost: 20 MP per sweep
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Duration: 5 seconds
Range: 5 meters from tip
Description: Made of Blazeforge Steel and Cinderwood, this pike deals a combination of fire, piercing, sweep, and blunt-force damage—it all depends on how you use it.
Enchantment: Infernal Sweep – A wide-arc attack that increases fire damage by 50% and sets enemies ablaze.
Damage: –30 HP (piercing, blade), –15 HP (blunt force, shaft), –20 HP (fire, Cinderwood natural damage), +50% when enchantment is activated.}
"I never thought my biggest problem would be which awesome weapon to use, and not if I'd have an awesome weapon," Sam said with a smile.
{"Not to burst your bubble, but spear proficiency isn't the same as pike proficiency. You'll have to learn how to use that one from scratch."}
"Well shit."
Sam returned it to her inventory, not wanting to set the coffee table ablaze and picked up the final book. She started laughing when she read the title.
{Skill Book: Beginner's Guide to Pike Mastery
Description: A how-to guide on mastering the use of a pike with confidence. This skill book teaches the basics, allowing you to reach level five proficiency. Practice will improve level.}
"Guess I'll be reading this before bed." Sam said as she stored everything back in her inventory.
{"Ah, well, technically you don't need to read it. Skill books can be absorbed with a touch of mana. The information is directly imprinted into your brain—much like class skills."}
"Wait, so like the mana pen? I just think 'read' and it's all there?"
{"Yes… well, you think 'absorb,' but yes, same concept. Same for the other books."}
Sam took the books out and placed her hand on the water skill book first and following Jarvis's instructions a notification appeared.
{You are attempting to absorb the knowledge of a Basic Water Skill book. Would you like to proceed?}
{Yes/No}
Thinking yes, the knowledge of the skill filled her brain.
{Ding! You've successfully obtained the skill Water Manipulation.}
{Ding! Achievement obtained: Wait, That Doesn't Go There - Congratulations you have a skill belonging to another class. This skill will appear listed in your Unique Skills Set section.
Note: Skills in the Unique Skills Set section will have a 50% reduction in power that it would have had if obtained through a class.
Reward: +5 Intelligence, +5 Wisdom}
Sam continued with the other two books and acknowledged their notifications, with the exception of the pike skill book going into general skills below the axe skill. Just like the book said, it was already at level five. She was now just slightly more dangerous than before she entered the warehouse.
Her next plan of action was introductions for her newest tames. With a touch to her beast space pendant the four new tames from the resource dungeon appeared, along with the slime.
The slime looked just the same. A basketball sized ball of jelly that deformed just slightly as it touched the ground. It wasn't exactly see-through, but had the same translucent opacity of jello—and the same consistency. Its body would have a little give when she picked it up, but thankfully it wouldn't slip out of her hands.
Despite its look—which suggested it would be wet and slimy—it was actually dry and smooth. Sam figured having a wet, sticky body would be incredibly irritating while traveling through a forest, picking up every stray piece of ground cover. The only concern was the fact that it had no face; just a smooth ball with no indication of which side was the front or back.
She rationalized that it must have a 360-degree view and could see in whichever direction it chose. Still, she'd prefer a face on whatever she talked to.
With a quick Item Create, Sam made a pair of eyeglass frames—without the ear rests.
"Can you hold these? I need somewhere to focus, or it'll drive me crazy."
The little slime molded itself over the nose bridge, holding the frames perfectly in place.
"Excellent! At least now I have something to attach enchantments to later. I'm guessing you don't need armor?"
The Sunroot Hare looked just like a regular hare from Earth—maybe slightly larger than she remembered. He was golden-white in color, with green flecks on his ears and paws. When she found him in the dungeon, he seemed to leave tiny sprouts in his wake, a trail of life along his path.
His job in the realm would be to fertilize and aerate the soil, making it nutrient-rich and accelerating the growth of resource plants—along with adding new ones.
The Dewtail Nymph was a delicate, ethereal creature resembling a cross between a woodland fairy and a fox, with a translucent tail that glowed faintly in humid conditions. She had silvery-blue fur, shimmering with dew-like sparkles along her tail. Her job was to nurture crops by maintaining soil moisture and occasionally calling gentle rains. Her ability to stabilize nearby mana fields ensured enchanted plants could flourish without decay.
Then came the largest moth Sam had ever seen—a Petalbuzz Moth, roughly the size of a dinner plate. The graceful creature had wings like stained glass, adorned with iridescent patterns and a bioluminescent glow. Its job was to take circular flights to pollinate plants efficiently, and its nocturnal glow aided photosynthesis while also illuminating the garden. It was both a nighttime helper and a symbol of thriving life.
The final new tame was much bigger than its new coworkers: a Thornmane Yak. He was a sturdy beast with a thick, spiny mane that doubled as a seed repository. His back reached the top of Sam's head and was nearly twice that in length.
His slow, deliberate steps would enrich barren soil, while he shook his mane to scatter seeds that regrew mountain flora. His manure was exceptionally potent—making him a walking fertilizer factory.
Despite his size, he had a gentle temperament, often allowing smaller creatures to ride along his back. As he traveled through the forests of the realm, his coat would collect seeds that could be shed later.
She also brought out the panther cubs and the eaglet chicks. It was feeding time anyway; might as well introduce everyone at once. First, she'd need names for the newbies.