Chapter 28: Dungeon

Derek looked at the three options given to him. View. He thought.

Dungeon Status

Dungeon Level

100

Dungeon Type

Undying

Dungeon Status

Extreme Overflow

Dungeon Rewards

Unknown(Never Completed)

Max Participants

5

Oh, that’s informative. He thought as he viewed the different aspects of the dungeon. Level 100. Derek frowned. I wonder if the adventurers that Torith is going to send will be able to do a level 100 dungeon. I wonder what the levels actually look like in a big city. Surely the lord has to be at a super high level. Derek pondered.

Well, at least it’s an undying dungeon, just as I thought. I wonder if my Rejuvenation spell hurts undying creatures. It didn’t say anything about being a holy spell or anything, so I doubt it. Derek made a note to check it out later if possible.

So, it’s level 100 and undying, that’s going to make it much harder to complete for whoever goes in. It’s probably packed full of enemies too, based on the extreme overflow. Derek was beginning to feel bad for the adventurers that were going to be sent.

At least I know that I should be able to find something over level 100 around here. If it’s that overflowed, something strong has to have come out. Derek looked at the final two pieces of information. I wonder if the first person to complete a dungeon gets anything special, maybe every participant will get something good. Derek was very tempted to enter the dungeon and complete it.

Damn, I wish I didn’t care about my level right now. I’d probably come out a level 50 or something if I solo’d it right now. Derek lamented. No sense in dwelling on it. I’ll just go look for something to kill. Derek decided to leave the dungeon alone for now, and go do what he had set out to do in the beginning.

He closed the Dungeon Status window and the Dungeon Interface appeared back in his vision. This time, he focused on the leave option, and just like that, the interface closed and his hand fell free from the orb.

Before Derek did anything else, he noticed a new notification at the bottom of his vision. Hmm… I wonder what this will be. He focused on it and it popped up.

You have discovered a previously undiscovered dungeon.

New Award Earned

Oh, sweet! I never expected a new Award to come out of this. This system seems to be just giving them away. Maybe it isn’t as greedy as I thought. Then, Derek thought of everything that had happened since he arrived. No, you’re still a super stingy system. I won’t fall for your blatant attempts to win me over. Derek dismissed his notification and looked at his new Award.

Lesser Explorer

By being the first to discover an important location, you have proven your love for exploration. You will be awarded with the following:

New Skill

Continue to explore the land to increase the tier of the Award.

Awesome! I hope I can choose from some awesome skills this time. Derek focused on the new skill.

Enhanced Movement Speed

The ability to move at a faster pace while out of combat. 1% increase in movement speed per level.

Cost: 1 Skill Point

What?

Would you like to learn Enhanced Movement Speed?

Hell no! What a useless skill. You want me to spend a precious skill point on being able to walk a little faster when there isn’t anything around me? I mean, if I could use it while running for my life, it would be different. Derek narrowed his eyes. Good one system. You almost had me. I would rather spend the skill point on Cooking. Derek closed the notifications. The skill remained with the Award, so if he ever decided that he wanted it, it would still be there.

Derek turned around and walked a good distance away from the dungeon. Okay, time to find this elusive high level. He started circling the area close to the dungeon, making as much noise as possible as he moved outward. This method seemed to have some decent results as many different diseased beasts approached him. There were bears, wolves, bunnies, and all kinds of other animals, all decaying.

Derek made sure to Identify each and every living, or nonliving, thing that approached him. So far, the highest level creature that he had found was a level 102 Forest Wolf. So close, just ten more levels. Derek really wished that he could help the wolf level by helping it kill all the monsters that had begun to gather, then kill it for the Award. But alas, there was only one dumb bunny.

Derek continued his ridiculous strategy for some time. The sun had already set, but he was in no position to rest. He had to keep at a fast pace to avoid the now horde of monsters trying to kill him. Solo, none of them would be a challenge for him, but if they all jumped him while he was meditating, he may be able to escape, but he would definitely not escape uninjured.

A couple hours after the sunset, he got a notification after using Identify on a new addition of the horde telling him that the skill had reached level 11. That’s better than nothing.

It was now dark, and Derek was still running around. His massive amount of Endurance made it where he was still not close to being exhausted. Fighting was much more taxing on him, but he could run around for hours.

Finally, his eyes caught onto a glowing yellow pair of eyes slowly approaching him. Another bear? He wondered. Derek used Identify on the new addition.

Acidic Ghoul

Level 115

A monster spawned from an Undying Dungeon, then released due to overflow. The Ghoul is never full and is always looking for fresh flesh to consume. Due to its condition, any contact with it would leave acid on the user.

That is what I’m talking about. Derek was excited because he had finally found his target. It was stumbling towards him. So, a zombie then. Derek glanced at the wave of monsters still following him. Better make this quick. Let’s go for the head.

Derek held his right arm out, and his glaive appeared in his hand. He took off toward the glowing set of eyes. When he got within five meters of the ghoul, it lunged. Whoa, it’s quick. Instead of cutting off the creature's head as planned, he was only able to swipe at its chest. Shit, I wasn’t expecting that.

Derek thought about it. There was no way that this creature was as strong as the Void Beast, but he had been too lax and finally decided to take it seriously. Especially since the horde of monsters were drawing closer and closer. Derek focused on his bracelet and his armor appeared on his body, all except for his helmet, as it was in a poor condition and he could barely see out of it.

He touched his chest and felt the dents caused by the Void Beast. I’ll have to repair this sooner or later too. Derek dashed back in, this time focusing. The Putrid Ghoul swiped. This was what Derek was waiting for. He stepped backwards. The ghoul's hand slid across his chest armor, and Derek channeled the void into the end of his glaive.

Once the ghoul ended its attacking motion, Derek attacked. A purple glow was left behind as the glaive flew towards the head of the ghoul. The blade met with the left ear of the ghoul. Derek felt a slight resistance, but the blade continued. Soon, the blade was freed from that rancid head. It had not been sliced off, but it was enough. Derek saw the notifications stack up at the bottom of his vision.

Not wanting to stay around, Derek stored his glaive and was about to dart through the forest. However, before he could, he felt a sharp sting on his chest. Fuck, it was that potent? Derek had decided that the chance for a quick kill was worth the risk of the acid on his armor. He had not expected the acid to eat through his armor at all, much less this fast.

Derek did a quick take and grabbed the first diseased animal he could find, which was a wolf with dim red eyes. He brought it up to his chest and used it as a makeshift napkin. The wolf wailed as he tossed it aside and ran. He stored his armor, not knowing its current state. Then, he removed his shirt, and wiped his chest, tossing the remains into the forest.

Fuck, that’s another t-shirt down. I really don’t want to have to wear one of those fucking tunics. Derek could still feel the acid eating into his chest. Even with my Endurance, it’s doing this shit. He did a quick view of his HP. Holy fuck! A thousand points already. Now that was unexpected.

Derek had only channeled the void for a couple seconds, so he still had plenty of mana. He cast Rejuvenation on himself. I’m glad I got some levels in this before I got here. At 25% health over 30 seconds, Derek would recover over 1300 HP. He could feel himself healing, but he could also feel the acid still eating away.

Fuck! This is ridiculous. Derek had been running at full speed through the forest and had lost the horde of monsters by now. 30 seconds passed and Derek looked at his health again. It was at 4812 and ticking down fast.

Derek found a still standing tree and sat down with his back to it. Let’s see if this works. He entered a meditative state and activated Greater Meditation. He could feel it working just like Rejuvenation, but he did not have to worry about Greater Meditation ending. After ten minutes, Derek checked his health status again.

It was full, so he left his meditative state while keeping an eye on his HP. It’s still going down, but at a much slower rate. Derek let out a deep breath. Whew… That sucked. He cast Rejuvenation, then slipped back into meditation to continue his healing. He had wanted to feel his chest with his hand, but did not want to chance getting any of the acid on his fingers.

Ten minutes later, he sat back up and checked on everything again. His health was full and no longer going down. Derek looked around, not seeing much in the dark, but also not seeing any monster. I’ll rest here til morning. I have to go back to the dungeon tomorrow anyway so I can get my bearings and figure out which way to go to leave this forest.

Derek leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes.