LIGHTNOVELONLINE 12. Dungeon Dive (Part 1)
Chapter 12 – Dungeon Dive (Part 1)
Aenon stood before the stone pillar which Harley said was the dungeon entrance. Unlike the pillar from before, this did not give him an ominous feeling. Contrary to his expectation, it felt warm to the touch. The foreign runes engraved on the surface had a subtle glow to them in his mana vision. From this close he could see that each rune was in turn made with thousands of tiny micro runes, too small for his eyes to make out. The complexity baffled him. When he cast inspect on the pillar, it gave him the details of how saturated the dungeon had gotten.
Dungeon Interface
Dungeon monster type: Goblin
Dungeon state: Overflowing (10 goblins or 1 hobgoblin every 3 days)
Recommended level: 5-10
Recommended party size: 4
“Hmmm, 10 goblins every 3 days. If there were more than 1500, how long has this been overflowing?” he asked out loud.
Hence the culling request. Unless a dungeon node is found and cleared regularly, the monsters will keep generating inside and then spill out, until eventually they form a horde and attack the closest settlement. This group had reached horde levels and the hobgoblin shaman was in the process of organizing an invasion on the village of Jadefall.
“I see. Anyway, what are the chances I can solo this dungeon? I really don’t want to miss any first clear bonuses. Is there such a thing?”
Pretty good actually. And yes, there are first clear bonuses. We should totally do it. Haven’t had a first clear since…
The weird buzzing started again as Harley went quiet. Allie looked at him with a questioning gaze, but he refused to elaborate. Allie had been giving him the silent treatment ever since his slipup about their encounter in his soul space and he had not gotten around to explaining about Harley. And he honestly didn’t know how to explain anyway. He did not want to reveal the blue mist that had protected him during the soul attack, and he especially didn’t want to reveal his own thoughts on what Harley might be.
Lets go, lets go, lets go!!
Allie rolled her eyes at his silence but decided not to push it. Instead, she looked between the two of them with disbelief while finally ending her silence.
“Are you two insane? I know you have ridiculous Titles and high-level skills. But there is no way you can solo a level 5-10 dungeon that requires a party of 4,” she scoffed.
“Well, Harley is level 15. Shouldn’t that be enough?”
“A level 15 healer. Not a tank, which you will need, trust me. You cannot implement your hit and run tactics inside a dungeon. The moment you kill a mob in a dungeon, all nearby mobs within 10 feet will sense, and lock onto your location. If you had the rogue spell, Vanish, then maybe you could have done something. But you have no spells, which means you can’t go invisible. And even if you could, this dungeon probably has more hobgoblins than regular goblins. And hobgoblins have an aggro range of 15 feet. And if you plan to sneak into the boss room without engaging any enemy, you are essentially committing suicide. The dungeon boss will summon all its surviving minions when it is engaged. You will essentially be facing an entire army by yourself with nowhere to run or hide. You cannot leave a dungeon till the boss is dead.”
Aenon doubted she was lying and from her perspective, this was indeed a suicide mission. He stayed silent for a few minutes, digesting all the new info before asking, “You said the aggro range was about 10 and 15 feet for goblins and hobgoblins. How are the mobs distributed?”
She gave a frustrated groan before replying, “Goblin dungeons are typically divided into rooms. Each room can have anywhere between 5 to 30 mobs. The usual strategy is for the tank to provoke the mobs to focus on him while the damage dealers take them out. The healer keeps the tank alive and removes any crowd control abilities using his/her Minor Purge. What you have here is a very skewed party, if you can even call it that. You have no tank, a high-level healer, and a level zero damage dealer. And I am not even counting the traps located between the rooms. Without spells or skills, they are undetectable.”
“From what I am hearing, you essentially need two roles. A tank to keep the aggro off the healer, while the healer removes debuffs and keeps the tank’s HP filled up. The damage dealers are mainly to clear the dungeon faster,” Aenon mused out loud.
“Yes. At least you are not dumb,” she stated in an agitated tone. Ever since the debacle with the Overseer, she had maintained her cold attitude with the occasional snide remark. Aenon had quietly endured her verbal lashing after the old man’s departure, which had reduced her anger, but not entirely.
“What if I have a trap skill? Can I detect the traps then?” Aenon asked. A plan was starting to form in his head.
“What level is it?”
“Umm, let me check. Hmmm. It is at Expert level. I have 20 SP stored up, so I could bump it up to Grand Master. And if I get 4 more SP somehow, push it to Savant.”
Her eyes narrowed as she considered something. Since she was in her snake form, it was hard to get a read on her expressions. But before she replied, Harley spoke up.
Ahem. You really should check your notifications more often. Your Trap Skill was at Adept but after that wholesale slaughter fest, it bumped up to Expert. Also, traps are a form of weapon. So theoretically it can be fused with your Weapons (Dagger, Unarmed) Skill after reaching Savant. And once you finally read your notifications, your SP issues will also be resolved.
He smiled at this new information. So, he sat down to go over his gains from yesterday. Before he dived into his notification, he decided to check on the most important thing of all, sweet loot. Conveniently, his inventory stacked all the ears into one slot per monster type. There was even a wooden chest that had appeared next to the throne. And when he opened it, he finally found some okay gear.
Inventory
Water skin
Wild fruit x3
System ration x5
Goblin ear x812
Goblin scout ear x106
Goblin warrior ear x304
Goblin shaman ear x291
Goblin leader ear x4
Hobgoblin ear x1
Hobgoblin shaman ear x1
Enchanted dagger
Bronze dagger
Worn leather bandana
Worn leather gloves
Worn leather shirt
Black leather pants
Worn leather boots
0G 10S 68C
He had been surviving on fruits, bugs, and System rations for the last two weeks since he did not want to hunt wild game. But now that his first kill bonus was taken care of, his next goal was to get a proper meal. The equipment he picked up from the wooden chest that spawned after he returned to the cave wasn’t the best, but still better than the starter gear he had. He was also finally, not completely broke. After he turned in the quest, he expected to get rich enough to have some decent gear at least. After taking stock of his inventory, he decided to move over to his notifications.
System Notification
For eliminating a significant threat to the safety and prosperity of your settlement, SP has been awarded. Additional SP for doing it while solo. +50 SP
That increased his net SP to 70, of which he used 24 to max out his Traps Skill to Savant and then 40 SP to combine it with his weapons skill. Satisfied, he opened his Title notifications and his Stat sheet.
Title Achieved: First Blood (S)
Title upgraded: Planetary Forerunner (6)
Title achieved: Underdog
Title achieved: Solo Player
Title achieved: Goblin bane
Title upgraded: Prodigy (2)
Title upgraded: Savant Hunter (3)
First Blood (S): Assessment of first kill difficulty found to be extreme. Granting S rank
+20% to all stat gains from Titles
Planetary Forerunner (6): First to defeat more than 1000 monsters
+40 all stats
Underdog: Defeat a foe more than 20 levels above you
+20 all stats
Solo Player: Defeat more than 1000 monsters while solo
+30 all stats
Goblin bane: Kill more than 1000 goblins
+10 all stats
Prodigy (2): Be the first to Gain 10 Titles with all stat boost from the system.
+30% to all stat gains from Titles
Savant Hunter (3): Achieve 3 combined Savant level skills.
+30 all stats
Name
Aenon Fenrast (13 yrs)
Race
Human (F)
Level
0
Class
None
Level
NA
Subclass
None
Level
NA
HP
3940
MP
4020
HP/10 min
786
MP/10 min
820
Stats
Strength
394 (4+390)
Intelligence
402 (12+390)
Constitution
393 (3+390)
Willpower
410 (20+390)
Dexterity
398 (8+390)
Perception
400 (10+390)
Titles (390 x 6 = 2340)
Indomitable Soul (3)
+20 all stats
Planetary Forerunner (6)
+40 all stats
Overseers Favor
+5 all stats
System's Chosen
Nomenclaturist
+5 all stats
Savant Hunter (3)
+30 all stats
Arcane Wizard
+10 all stats
Mana Touched
+20 all stats
Unfettered
+50 all stats
Apex Predator
+20 all stats
Underdog
+20 all stats
Goblin Bane
+10 all stats
Solo Player
+30 all stats
Prodigy (2)
+30% stat gained from Titles
First Blood (S)
+20% stat gained from Titles
Skills (Free SP: 6)
Weapons (Dagger, Unarmed, Traps)
Savant
Stealth (Woods, Urban)
Savant
He smiled as he looked at his stats. They were coming along nicely since now he qualified for a C grade evolution. He took one last look at the cave before heading out. The dungeon dive could wait since he was too exhausted from the ordeal. He wanted a break before returning. He travelled to a stream a few miles away and dived right in.
He shed his starter gear and started scrubbing himself with some sand to get the blood and gore off him. Allie’s presence had left the trinket to give him some privacy, which was odd because she had teased him the last time they were in a similar situation. He was curious to know why she was behaving differently after the meeting with the Overseer.
He casually floated in the water for a good half an hour before coming out. He put on the looted gear from the treasure chest, which self-adjusted to fit him perfectly. Now that he didn’t look like a level 0 noob (although he was still level 0), he hunted a couple of small rabbits and cooked them over a campfire.
After weeks of grubs, and System Rations, it tasted divine. He stocked his inventory with a bunch of extra meat and filled up his water skin. He then took a nap atop a tree before returning to the cave.
“Hey Harl, what class spells did you get?”
I have received the basic spells for my class – Minor Heal, Minor Poison Removal, Minor Curse Removal, Minor Purge, and the most important of them all, Minor Resurrection. Although beware, I can resurrect you once per week.
“So, are you going through with this insane scheme of yours?” Allie piped up sourly.
“Of course,” Aenon replied with no emotion while placing his hand on the stone pillar.
Dungeon Interface
Dungeon monster type: Goblin
Dungeon state: Overflowing (10 goblins or 1 hobgoblin every 3 days)
Recommended level: 5-10
Recommended party size: 4
Warning: Party size and level below recommended values.
Enter Dungeon: Y/N
Aenon mentally clicked yes, which opened the same shimmering portal as before. A faint mana mist was leaking from the portal which felt good on his skin. He stood there with his eyes closed, just enjoying the pleasant sensation when Allie interrupted.
“You plan to just stand there basking in the mana dregs, or finally go in?”
“Don’t you have somewhere else to be? I thought you had some important job to do as Arbiter,” Aenon responded crossly.
“Unlike some people, I know how to finish my tasks efficiently. While you were out having a picnic in the forest, I already dealt with the situation your companions were causing back in Jadefall,” she shot back.
“My companions?” Aenon asked in confusion.
“You’ll see when you finally decide to go back,” she replied before going silent. Aenon shrugged and stepped in through the portal. It felt like walking through a waterfall, without getting your clothes wet.
He found himself in an empty corridor with stone flooring and brick walls. The ceiling was about 15 feet high and there was a wall in the direction he came from. The portal was gone. The only way forward was to follow the corridor. He tentatively stepped forward but got the weird itching sensation, so he backed off.
He observed the side walls and floor closely. His Weapons (Dagger, Unarmed, Traps) Skill made him notice the subtle indentations in the walls. He put his face on the floor and observed the path. There was a thin tripwire he had missed. Glad for the Skill upgrade, he carefully stepped over the wire. He came across three such triggers as he navigated the corridor for about 30 minutes.
Eventually the corridor opened into a square room that was 50 feet wide. And therein lay his first problem. There were 5 enemies randomly patrolling the room. The issue was, they were all hobgoblins armed with rusty long swords and scrappy leather armor.
“No wonder the dungeon has been leaking hobgoblins. An overflowing dungeon spits out its weakest creatures. If this dungeon has armored hobgoblins in its first room…,” Allie trailed off while speaking to him mentally.
Aenon considered his quarry from the shadows of the tunnel he was in. Getting the attention of just a single mob was difficult, if not impossible. But fighting it without the others noticing was going to be a problem. He looked at where he came from, an idea forming in his mind. Still, he observed the hobgoblins for a time.
They were not fighting amongst themselves like he hoped. Instead maintaining their individual patrols without a break. After nearly an hour, something broke that monotony. A glimmer in the middle of the room materialized a bunch of food for the hobgoblins. It looked like raw meat with some pitchers of water. All 5 charged the spot before a brawl broke out to claim the food.
Even so, the fight was restrained and did not cause any serious injuries. The meanest of the group lay claim to the lion’s share of the pile before retreating into a corner. He was followed by the next strongest who also retreated into his own corner. Eventually the last hobgoblin sniffed around the spot and sat down to eat the left-over scraps.
His curiosity piqued, he asked Harley, “What am I looking at Harl? Are the hobgoblins prisoners of some sort?”
The Arbiter answered instead. “In a sense, yes. When the System integrates new worlds, it considers how the native sapient population behaves. If they have an ability to live in harmony with other races, they are given the status of players. If they are more primitive or keen on primal violence, they are labeled as System Monsters. Goblins are one such creature.”
“What if they would have eventually evolved into a society? I know from my study of human evolution that we were no different than them during our cave dwelling days,” Aenon responded with a frown.
The snake on his wrist shook its head, “I have read up on your theory of evolution. It is accurate for the most part, except for one thing. Not all creatures have the capacity to evolve that far. Take the dinosaurs from your history, specifically raptors. They were smart and capable of emotion and feelings. But they would not have developed into a true civilization.”
“So, what sets us apart?”
“Your soul. The dinosaurs and these goblins do not have souls capable of developing beyond a certain point. Even the tiniest insect will have a soul, but it extremely weak and doesn’t have a form. Without a certain level of sophistication in one’s soul, they can never have the capacity to reason beyond their primal urges. You may tame a few of them, but they cannot go beyond that,” she replied with indifference.
Aenon recalled what the souls of smaller animals looked like in his soul sense, like amorphous blobs. And although the goblin’s souls were sharper, they were still nothing like his own or the Arbiter’s. He had peeked at her and the Overseer’s souls earlier, or at least tried to. While he could feel something blocking his vision of the Overseer, he did get a good look at Allie’s. It was a perfectly smooth sphere that was magnitudes stronger than his own.
“Then why not just release them on a planet of their own. Why trap them in these dungeons for us to farm them for XP?” Aenon asked. He was starting to question the morality of killing helpless monsters. It was one thing, if they had a choice in the matter. But this looked like they were trapped here against their will like cattle. It left a bad taste in his mouth. The arbiter stayed silent for a long time. So, Harley appeared next to him to answer his question instead.
What the Arbiter is not telling you is that these things have something else in in their soul as well.
The snake snapped its head in the shard’s direction, before threatening her to stay quiet, “Enough. He is not ready to know about that yet.”
“Know what?” Aenon asked with annoyance. He recalled that strange tendril he had seen on the Hobgoblin Shaman’s soul. But it was only on that one creature and no one else. He stayed silent about it though.
Sigh. I have just been reprimanded by the System for that comment. The elf is right. You are not ready yet. Just know this, these creatures are your enemy. If left unchecked, they can, and will destroy all known civilizations, and eventually all of existence. This is a way to cull them while benefiting you at the same time.
Aenon frowned but stayed quiet. He set his gaze back to the room, where the hobgoblins were just finishing their meals, and as luck would have it, taking a nap. Looking at him hesitate, Allie spoke up softly.
“There was one integrated planet that defied the System and refused to kill dungeon creatures, claiming they were weak and helpless as you are doing now. Their civilization was far stronger than yours and they had grown up with mana long before the System arrived. When the dungeons appeared, they tried reasoning with their inhabitants. When that failed, they tried corralling them into sealed off areas. They tried for 500 years before giving up and trying to do what they were supposed to from the beginning. But they had let the dungeons fester and were overrun within months. Very few survived.”
Detecting her sadness he had to ask, “Was it your planet?”
Silence was all the confirmation he needed. Aenon stood up and drew his twin daggers before moving out of the tunnel. He went for the weakest hobgoblin in the center first. He raised both daggers before plunging them down into its throat. The hobgoblin jolted awake and tried punching back but was not able to find his assailant. Like a specter Aenon kept attacking from the creature’s blind spot, till finally after the fifth stab to the back of the neck, the hobgoblin crashed down. With practiced ease, he sliced off the left ear and moved to his next target.
The next two hobgoblins went down smoothly, but the fourth managed to bellow a challenge before he could sever its vocal cord. That woke up the last and strongest enemy of the room and it became a 2 on 1 battle. Aenon parried their blows with grace while slowly moving towards the earlier tunnel. He needed to restrict their movement within the confines of the narrow tunnel.
After 10 minutes, and a bunch of minor injuries, he managed to lure them inside the tunnel. The big brutes could not stand shoulder to shoulder inside the narrow space and had to come at him one at a time. This eased off the pressure on him and he managed to slay both after a long-pitched battle which lasted well over half an hour. His health was down to a quarter, and he was bleeding from multiple cuts and had a shattered wrist from when he tried blocking instead of parrying. Harley quickly got to work spamming her heals.
I know I said I wanted to see spilled blood and shattered bones. But not yours. Could you be a bit more careful next time?
Aenon chuckled weakly, too exhausted to respond. A glimmer at the center of the room caught his attention. A silver chest with intricate details had spawned. He dragged his feet to it and opened it with care. This was the first time he had received a silver loot chest. There were two identical daggers laid out inside. He picked them up while casting identify.
System Notification
Item Name: Goblin’s Anguish
Item Type: Dagger (Main hand)
Item Rarity: Epic
Item Description: Long ago a blacksmith’s family was taken from him by goblins. In his sorrow and rage, he poured his very soul into crafting twin daggers. Such was his dedication that he left a soul imprint upon his craft. When used against goblin, this dagger causes a stackable bleed debuff which cannot be removed while in combat. (Note: This item is incomplete. Take it to a Savant level craftsman for more details)
Item Name: Goblin’s Woe
Item Type: Dagger (Off hand)
Item Rarity: Epic
Item Description: Long ago a blacksmith’s family was taken from him by goblins. In his sorrow and rage, he poured his very soul into crafting twin daggers. Such was his dedication that he left a soul imprint upon his craft. When used against goblin, this dagger causes a stackable mana drain debuff which cannot be removed while in combat. (Note: This item is incomplete. Take it to a Savant level craftsman for more details)
Aenon’s eyes went wide when he read the description. He got a dagger set which would make taking on this dungeon a lot easier.
“I swear. This guy…,” Allie muttered something while Harley merely commented happily that the daggers looked awesome.
Aenon picked them up when suddenly he felt a strange wind blow across his soul. The daggers were vibrating in his hand. The one in his right hand had a subtle red hue to it, while the other had a blue tinge. Another notification popped up in his vision.
System Notification
Soul imprint synergy with Title detected. The imprints have detected your Goblin Bane title and have accepted you as their master. The daggers are now soul bound to you and will automatically deposit to your inventory if you move more than 1000 yards from them.
Aenon had a broad smile as he replaced his equipped daggers. He sat down and choked down a System Ration before taking a thirty-minute nap. He woke up refreshed before confidently moving towards the door that appeared at the other end of the room.