Three months had passed since classes began, and Bastion had completed his basic smithing course. Thanks to his impressive Strength and Dexterity, he had no trouble with the practical side and passed with ease.
He was supposed to enroll in more prerequisites for advanced courses at this point, but instead, he chose to take Dungeon Exploration alongside Elyra and, surprisingly, Lilia as well.
Lilia still hadn't given her answer to Bastion's offer, but they remained friends in their shared magic classes. When Bastion offered to help her level up in the dungeon, she accepted without hesitation. Now, the three of them sat together in class, listening to a lecture on the dos and don'ts of dungeon diving.
Dungeons were classified based on their mana density. The greater the density, the higher the Rank, mirroring how individuals are ranked by their own mana levels. A Rank 1 dungeon, for example, contains enemies at Rank 1 at most or hazards capable of challenging and potentially defeating Rank 1 individuals at most.
Dungeons grew over time and posed many dangers, including hostile environments, frenzied monsters that left behind only scraps when slain, and traps that ranged from inconvenient to lethal.
Most dungeons contained multiple floors, unique ecosystems, powerful dungeon bosses, valuable treasures, and a dungeon core, an essential, well-guarded entity crucial to the dungeon's existence. Destroying the core would cause the entire dungeon to collapse.
When left unchecked, dungeons acted as monster generators, causing overflow in the wild. However, when cities were built around them to suppress their growth, they became valuable sources of power and income, farmed for resources under strict regulation.
The course itself was thorough, covering trap identification, disarming techniques, common enemy types, and gear recommendations for surviving environmental hazards. For a three-month lecture, it was surprisingly comprehensive. By the end, it even covered standard party formations, coordinated group tactics, and a lengthy waiver declaring the school isn't liable for any injuries or deaths that might occur in their dungeons.
Bastion, Elyra, and Lilia teamed up for their first official dive, a basic goblin dungeon that had been carefully managed to remain at Apprentice Rank ever since the academy designated it as a training site. Their official goal was to clear the first floor of the dungeon within twenty-four hours and return. They were allowed to keep exploring during that time, but they couldn't go beyond the boss room on the tenth floor.
Since no one in the group specialized in trap detection, Bastion took the lead, clad in standard Rank 1 heavy armor with his whip sword and tall, narrow shield at the ready. Elyra, wearing her maid outfit, guarded the rear, while Lilia, dressed in blue robes with a witch's hat and wielding a simple wooden staff, stayed between them.
"This place smells," Lilia complained.
They were navigating a cave system that branched out into a complex labyrinth, with no natural lighting.
"And it will only get worse the deeper we go," Bastion teased.
He maintained a steady glow of lights around them to keep their bearings as they moved deeper. The mana cost was negligible thanks to his increased regeneration.
"Left," Elyra called out from the back.
With her keen sense of smell as a wolfkin, Elyra directed their path. Their strategy was to follow the strongest stench and map the route as they went, hoping it would eventually lead them to the stairs that descended to the next floor.
Dungeons often reshaped themselves to suit their inhabitants. As such, each floor could shift in layout every year depending on the population. Any map older than a month was likely outdated, with subtle changes rendering it unreliable.
Suddenly, a rush of tiny footsteps echoed from one of the branching tunnels. The goblins had discovered them, not that they had been subtle.
"Incoming," Bastion warned, raising his hand to conjure ramparts that narrowed the corridor and pitfalls to break their charge.
Lilia, as a water sorcerer, prepared spheres of ice to launch. At the same time, her mind worked quickly to form spell models as a wizard. She was quite adept at multicasting.
Meanwhile, Elyra slipped silently into the shadows, vanishing from view.
From the tunnel came over twenty goblins, each barely three feet tall. They charged recklessly, brandishing crude wooden weapons.
As they rushed forward, Lilia unleashed a barrage of ice balls and sharp Ice Arrows, slowing the front ranks and thinning their numbers. Those who survived stumbled into the pitfalls, their momentum broken. By the time the few that remained reached Bastion, he merely swung his sword lazily.
He didn't bother dodging or using Skills. With sword and shield in hand, he cut them down easily, relying on his armor to absorb the blows.
Elyra reappeared from the shadows, slitting the throats of any still writhing on the ground.
The battlefield was littered with goblin teeth, ears, fingers, and splintered wooden weapons as the creatures dissolved into mist.
"That was easier than I thought," Lilia said, exhaling slowly.
"Of course it was easy. They're just weak goblins," Bastion commented.
"I grew up on stories of how horrible goblins were," Lilia said. "They'd kidnap men, women, and children to rape and eat in their caves. My parents used to warn me never to enter the forest at night, that's when goblins hunted. They said their favorite food was children."
"Sounds like something parents would say to scare kids from wandering off."
"Master," Elyra added calmly, "commoners typically have lower stats and poor equipment. That group of goblins could have easily wiped out a novice party of five on their first dive."
"Really?" Bastion asked in mild surprise.
Both Elyra and Lilia nodded.
"I guess I have a skewed perspective, given how I was raised. But how would you know, Eli? We were raised the same way."
"I had a few maid friends. They tell me stories about their childhoods."
"Ah. Makes sense."
They followed the tunnel from which the goblins had come, occasionally encountering sentry groups in clusters of five. These were quickly dealt with. Bastion held the line while Elyra chased down any that tried to flee.
Lilia hadn't expected dungeon diving to feel this easy. Her parents' stories had painted it as something terrifying, full of blood, screams, pain, and death. And as a physically weak wizard who needed time and focus to cast, she had dreaded ever diving in dungeons to level up.
The party continued their dive, occasionally running into dead ends. They carefully mapped their route until they finally reached an open space that held a goblin camp surrounded by huts, wooden walls, and camp fires.
"End of the floor, Master," Elyra whispered. "The stairway to the next floor is in the center of the camp."
"Alright. Lilia, you draw their attention while I hold the front. Eli, take care of their ranged units," Bastion instructed.
"Okay."
"Yes, Master."
Bastion conjured a tall platform for Lilia to cast from, complete with a protective wall to shield her from arrows. He positioned himself between the camp and the tower, sword and shield at the ready.
Lilia began launching ice projectiles into the camp, pelting the goblins below. Chaos erupted as the startled creatures panicked and charged toward their position.
Bastion would've liked to use fire to burn the entire camp down and cause more confusion, but fire in a confined space was a surefire way to die from carbon monoxide poisoning, so he held back.
There were over a hundred goblins in total.
'It's wild that the first floor already has this many,' Bastion thought as the first wave reached him.
He met them with lazy swings of his sword, occasionally bashing with his shield to knock them back.
As more goblins poured out of the camp, Bastion had an idea.
He flicked his sword and channeled mana into it, transforming it into a whip. With a quick spin to build momentum, he lashed it out in a wide arc.
The strike cut through half the horde within five meters, bisecting them in a gory mess.
"Not enough slicing power," he muttered. "Maybe I should prioritize getting Diamond Edge."
While Bastion was reflecting, goblin archers gathered near the camp's gate and launched a volley of arrows toward Lilia's tower.
"Archers!" Lilia shouted, ducking behind the wall for cover.
Elyra appeared beside the archers, emerging from the shadows. She sliced through them with her twin swords in a blur of motion before vanishing once more into the darkness.
Meanwhile, the horde continued to thin, torn apart by Bastion's sweeping attacks and Lilia's relentless barrage of Ice Arrows.
By the end, the camp lay empty. The ground outside its gate was littered with useless spoils and broken weapons.
"That was fun," Bastion commented.
"It was definitely easier than normal," Lilia added.
Elyra emerged from the shadows behind them as they made their way toward the stairway.
It had taken them an hour to complete the first floor. Their personal goal was to reach the tenth floor within twenty-four hours to prove their competence and pass the Dungeon Exploration course.
"Quick check before we continue," Bastion said, pulling out a few potions and waving them. "Anyone need healing, mana, or rest?"
"I'm good."
"Me too."
"Level checks, then," Bastion said as he opened his status sheet.
[Name]: Bastion Diamondhart
[Age]: 20
[Class]: Diamond Knight (Rank 3)
[Ability]: Diamond Body
[Rank]: Apprentice
[Level]: 2
[Health]: 90/90
[Mana]: 65/65
[Strength]: 80
[Dexterity]: 65
[Vitality]: 90
[Intelligence]: 65
[Wisdom]: 80
[Charm]: 50
[Intuition]: 80
[Status Points]: 2
[Arts]: Earth Magic 3, Light Magic 3, Shield 3, Sword 2, Whip 2, Unarmed 2, Heavy Armor 2, Fire Magic 2, Water Magic 2, Dark Magic 2, Wind Magic 2, Smithing 2, Riding 2, Taming 1, Cooking 1, Traps 1
[Skills]: Shield Bash 3, Block 3, Charge 3, Reinforce 3, Amplify 3, Slash 2, Stab 2, Smash 2, Parry 2, Dodge 2, Dash 2, Jump 2, Taunt 2, Summon Familiar(Zephy) 1, Diamond Edge 0, Diamond Rain 0, Diamond Armor 0, Diamond Shrapnel 0, Diamond Steed 0
[Skill Points]: 2
At twenty years old, after relentless training, he had managed to max out his status and fully realize his talent, just as predicted. He had also received the Art of Traps and, for some reason, gained ten points in Intuition. He still had not figured out how that worked, but all in good time.
"Level two," they all said in unison.
"Over a hundred goblins just for one level?" Bastion grumbled.
"That's normal," Lilia replied. "It takes a century to get to Rank 1 as a commoner you know. Honestly, it's amazing we gained a level from just one floor. Then again, there are only three of us in the group."
"Master, your expectations are too high," Elyra added.
"I guess," Bastion said with a shrug. "Well, if we're all set, let's head to the next floor."
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