Regaining consciousness, Mash turned over and propped himself on his fore arms before coughing violently. It was raspy and unclear, blood coming out with each cough, but Luke and Red was healing him now and his breathing quickly turned clear. Mash could vaguely see that the others were ok too, but he couldn’t relax yet. Thankfully, he was already near the wood wall that he made, touching it he realized that it encompassed the entire cave, and stretched for several meters. He could feel cuts and chips at the other end, the bandits must’ve tried to get through it but realized that it was pointless. It would take Mash several minutes to make a path for himself, and a lot of energy. Even if the bandits managed to break through, they would be exhausted and could be easily defeated. Knowing that he was relatively secure, he began his meditation.

It took almost an hour to fully recover since Red and Luke couldn’t heal him. They needed to recover themselves, so everyone other than Jill was left on their own. She was still unconscious; Red was keeping an eye out for her though and let Mash know that she would be ok. Waiting for her to get up Mash considered the fight in more detail. During the fight itself, he had struggled defeating two of the bandits who were far weaker than himself. That wasn’t true though, and he considered what his mana territory skill did. Since he had the time now, he thought on his status, deciding to allocate his stats while checking out the skill in more detail.

Name: Mash Class: Scale Wood Devourer

Level: 33

Health: 770 / 770

Energy: 1670 /1670

Fortitude: 70→ 77

Endurance: 65→ 67

Strength: 60→ 62

Agility: 60 → 62

Intelligence: 90→ 100

Wisdom: 60 → 61

Charisma: 30 → 32

Free Stats: 15 → 0 (10 to intelligence, 5 to fortitude)

Skills: Persist, Mana-wood Creation, Artificial Meditation → Inhuman Hibernation, Mana Sphere → Mana Territory, Monks False Core → Unnatural Energy, Inhumanity, Wooden Body, Carnivorous Tree

Mana Territory (Passive): Your eyes just weren’t enough. Sense the changes in the mana around you. Connect to the mana in your space and inherently understand the nature of the mana.

Current Range: 10 → 11 feet

He realized what the problem had been. His method of measurement had been flawed from the beginning, biased from his knowledge of the knights in the kingdom. The general classes had more balanced stat layouts, meaning that comparing mana worked for determining strength. Looking at his own stats he already realized how skewed his stats were getting. and that it would only grow as time went on. Other niche classes probably focused on specific stats, rather than distributing them more evenly like guards and knights. Which meant that his skill wouldn’t be able to judge an opponent’s strength, although he could see how it could be used to determine a person’s class.

Feeling the groups mana levels again, he saw that Leah’s mana was smaller than the rest. Approaching her, he talked to her about her stats, revealing some of his as well. She informed him that while all her stats were above 40, her physical stats were almost double her mental ones. Apparently, most of her skills used little to no mana, so she focused on her physical stats as much as possible. At least he knew now, before making any more grievous errors. It was something he could adjust too easily.

They continued down through the cave, passing over the battle from earlier. Most of the corpses were dissolving into the floor, as if the dungeon was attempting to reclaim them. They moved past, but slowly still unsure if there would be more bandits in this direction. They said that there were not many but were also uncertain of the exact numbers. If they encountered bandits deeper in the dungeon, then they would most likely be a higher level than the ones from earlier. Though, based on the previous fight, he doubted that they were well equipped to delve the dungeon. The ones that they had fought had clearly been better at single combat and would struggle against a horde of monsters.

The cave didn’t go much deeper and broke into open air. Perhaps this dungeon had also teleported them somewhere, rather than existing beneath the ground. The dungeon followed along the side of a cliff; the path was 10 feet across. Easily within the range of his mana territory, and he felt more comfortable walking down it. Bandits wouldn’t be able to sneak past unless they were climbing along the side of the cliff. They could make out a few creatures flying along the tops of the mountain, they were apparently in. It stretched upwards, piercing through the clouds. There was no sun in this dungeon, instead the light came from two different moons. Though they shone bright enough, and they could see clearly despite the night sky. The other surprising thing for Mash was the snow, it rarely snowed back home so he enjoyed running his hands across the cold white fluff.

They trudged on, the snow only deep enough to cover their shoes. The cold was a bit troublesome, each gust of wind making him shiver. That was the coldest part of the experience, the cave, having blocked the wind, hadn’t felt anywhere near as chilly. It didn’t take long for them to run into the next type of monster. The packs were a lot smaller than the bat monsters, with only three visible creatures in front of them. Each was taller than Mash and was a dense mass of white feathers. It was oddly round, with chicken like feet that were made of stone. They were engraved perfectly, resembling a bird’s foot with fine detail. Mash could only barely make out the creature’s head, it blended into the feathers of its body. Though he noticed it when it opened its mouth at their group. It was an odd beak, curving sinisterly. There were no teeth that lined its mouth, but it had a forked tongue that extended outwards. It let out a high pitch screech and charged at them.

It wasn’t really a charge, instead it rolled towards them. Rolling, it gathered the snow behind it, quickly turning into an enormous boulder that rushed towards them. He could barely make out that its legs would kick off the ground to send it up the incline. The creature was interesting, but it wasn’t difficult to deal with. Any one of them could push the creature out of the way, and Mash stepped forward starting to make a ramp to send the creature over the edge.

As expected, it careened over the ledge, but it didn’t fall. Instead, the snow that it picked up turned into wings, and the thing started flying, turning in the air to crash into them. While it startled them, it didn’t make them panic, and Jill used her magic to attack the creature. It didn’t kill the monster, but it did manage to disorient it and disrupt its creation. It slammed into the mountain below them, and he guessed that it fell to whatever was below. Red lashed out at the next one, using a blade of blood to try and cut through it, but the blade was stopped by the snow, merely staining it like red paint. It was clear that she couldn’t control the blood as it mixed with the snow. The creatures seemed to be inherently resistant, and highly adaptive.

Luke didn’t seem bothered, growing bigger than the creatures and smashing against the two that were still coming. The ground shook, and Mash began to hear a rumbling from the mountain. Looking up he realized that the snow was rushing down the mountain, a landslide that would soon hit them. He reacted by growing his ramp out and moving it so it would line up with the cliff.

“Landslide! Take cover!”

Yelling to the others, he stepped beneath the barrier. The others quickly followed, only Luke remaining outside to stop the creatures. He stopped trying to push it back, instead he swung his whole body in a circle, sending the creatures to run off the cliff beside him. He started running towards the barrier, his buffs glowing brighter as he sped up. Managing to barely roll under the shield, the snow ravaged the ground behind him. Trapped, they could do nothing but wait for the snow to run its course. Needing to stay in contact with the wood, he slid to the ground with his back touching the creation. That way he could continue to observe its condition. He just needed to make sure it didn’t break and fortify it with energy if necessary.

Using the opportunity to make a meal, Red pulled out the cooking equipment. It was Jill’s turn to cook, but she wasn’t very good at it so Red started preparing the food. Everyone helped where they could, Mash and the others mostly cutting and peeling vegetables. It didn’t take long to make a simple soup. It was mostly vegetables though, and he wished that they had managed to kill one of those monsters from earlier. The meat from it would probably taste pretty good, and he made a mental note to try and get a piece later. The soup wasn’t bad though, Red having seasoned it well. The warmth was an even better bonus of the meal, since the temperature seemed to be dropping.

Looking over his friends he noticed that the others were strangely quiet, there hadn’t been much talking since the bandits. They were all processing the encounter differently. Mash didn’t see the entirety of the fight but saw the results. Jill would’ve died if Mash didn’t save them, and he wasn’t sure that Red would’ve faired much better. If Mash didn’t have his trap, and was really caught completely unaware, the bandits would have been able to beat them. Even then, he would’ve died if it weren’t for Luke and Red’s healing skills, he didn’t think his necklace would’ve been enough healing for a punctured lung.

They haven’t had much trouble until this dungeon, so they were confident that they could handle the bandits and monsters of this dungeon. That idea had fallen apart quickly, reality having shown them how overconfident they were being. While the monsters haven’t proved too much difficulty, their fight with them hadn’t gone well. As for the bandits, they were a lot stronger than expected. The bandits’ skills were better at fighting against people than monsters, while Mash and his friends were in the opposite situation.

“I think the bandits are part of some organization.”

Red spoke up, having to speak loudly to be heard over the landslide. Mash was staring at her blankly, the others having a similar expression.

“So?”

The response was filled with confusion, Jill speaking for everyone. Red sighed slightly before adding the pertinent information. She sounded uncertain but had a lot of information on the subject.

“It’s why they all had similar skills and classes. Organizations like the bandits will know how to get people specific skills and classes. Usually only happens with nobles or governments. It could be the preamble to a war. I bet the guards already know.”

“Then why not send Ellis or Davin down here? Couldn’t they kill the bandits?”

Quickly responding Jill, asked an obvious question. Mash was going to answer but didn’t need to as Leah spoke up.

“They are too high level to enter the dungeon, the only guards that could enter are not strong enough to send in reliably. They don’t want to lose the guards lives prior to a war, and the bandits will eventually have to leave.”

Mash was surprised to hear Leah’s response. He knew that high leveled people couldn’t enter the lower leveled dungeons, but the latter part of her response rubbed him the wrong way. That meant that the adventurers who they sent down here were considered expendable. There was a bad relationship between guards and adventurers back home too, but he thought they both were still part of the city and would fight for it. This just seemed cruel and wasteful. Mash asked Leah a question, uncertain of how the guild operated in the city.

“Would adventurers not fight for the city?”

“No. Would you stay and fight?”

Her response was cold, and unforgiving. Her question revealed the truth to Mash, he would not fight for the city. He had only been here for a short while and didn’t feel compelled to protect it. Thinking about it, he wasn’t certain if he would even bother protecting his home. That got him thinking about what was important to him. Was there even anything he would fight for?