《A Fungal Dream》Chapter 22. Dungeoning
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“What the hell are you wearing?”
“Cloths. You should try it. They are very comfortable.”
The insect girl and I were looking at the cavern which was the entrance of the dungeon.
The butler gave me new clothes, with leather armor which I wore under my new brown coat, filled with my toys.
What she was probably referring to be my bag-mask, which was over my head.
“Are you the new recruit who was ordered by the King?”
From next to me, a small, bearded man appeared holding a pickaxe.
“I think. Even though I have better things to spend my time with.”
“We all have. So, this is how we are going to do this. This is a beginner’s dungeon with five floors, there is nothing too dangerous down there, not even the floor bosses. You will go down there and complete it while wearing this specially made magic item, which will monitor your progress.”
I took the golden bracelet he handed me and put it on.
“How much time do I have?”
“Take as much time you want. That thing also monitors your life signs. Let’s say that the time limit is your life.”
“Simple. Then, wish me luck.”
“WAIT!”
Above us, something landed on the top of the entrance of the cave.
“… Dragon?”
It was a red western dragon, with a long snake-like body and two pairs of bat wings.
As I looked at the creature, the blood frozen in my veins, the pressure exuding from it, telling me that this thing could turn me into dust with a single wink of its eye.
“My lord, what are you doing here?”
Dwarf, how the hell can you talk so calmly to this thing?!
“Sorry, I am just curious about this healer who is held in such high regard by my parent.”
From the back of the monster, somebody jumped off.
It was a knight wearing a crimson full body armor, which was decorated with scales belonging to different types of monsters.
As it looked at me through his helmet, the murderous aura became, even more, tenser, as if the flying lizard he was riding on, only suppressed him.
My king, what sort of creature did you sleep with to span this thing?!
“Nice to meet you, healer! I am Eric, the first prince of our beautiful kingdom!”
He patted me on the shoulder, with enough force to almost dislocate it.
“Yeah, i-it’s a pleasure.”
“Don’t be so upright! I am only here to accompany you to the first floor’s mini-boss!”
What?
I looked at the dwarf, but he said nothing, just shacked his head, while the insect girl made various signs, telling me to go with it.
“A-Alright then.”
Not knowing what to say, I went down the stairs, writing my will in my head.
Once I reached the bottom, I was in a black stone tunnel, which was illuminated by several crystals embedded in the walls.
Walking deeper into the tunnels, I noticed that the prince behind me didn’t let out any sound from his armor.
Just what is it made from?
Suddenly, not far away from me, the wall opened up and several creatures crawled out from it.
They were small, green, ugly, and wielded clubs of wood.
Are those…goblins? This is a real dungeon!
While I unsheathed my sword, I looked at my companion.
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“My lord, can I do it, or shall we do it together?”
“They are all yours.”
Alright, then let’s do this.
Feeling slightly nervous about what I was about to do, I started to run towards the monsters, turning invisible in the middle of the tracks.
Once I felt close enough, I swung my weapon, cutting down the nearest one, while taking out my bone saw, I cut the neck off another one.
The rest of the goblins shrieked when they saw what just happened to their comrades, swinging their weapons in hope of hitting me.
Yeah, dream on.
I jumped a few steps back and turned visible, curious about something.
The monsters immediately noticed me and started running towards me.
Then, time slowed down around, as my senses became sharper.
I launched forward, easily cutting through their bodies as I moved forward.
The thing was that there was no blood, there was only darkness behind their skin.
As I slashed through them one holding a piece of metal, somehow managed to pair my attack, making me panic for a second, but I killed him easily by spinning around and stabbing it in the neck.
Clap, clap, clap.
“Nicely done! Are you sure you aren’t a rogue or something like that? Those movements were superfast!”
“Eeeh, no, I am just fast.”
I looked at the bodies I just killed, which quickly decomposed before my eyes, leaving only transparent crystals behind.
“Item drops?”
I picked one of the stones and inspected them.
“Don’t bother. These stones are worthless, not even worth a copper coin.”
“… Still, I will take one with me.”
I put the crystal in my pocket and kept going.
The deeper we went down, the more group of goblins came to us, but they were easy to be disposed of. With them not having organs or blood, my consciousness kept clear.
What bothered me was the feeling of a blood-thirsty monster walking behind me, putting me on high alert.
Without me noticing it, I arrived at a big wooden door.
“This is the first boss room. Are you ready?”
“Sure.”
Confident I entered.
I was in an arena-like structure, which was lit with torches hanging on the floor.
“URG!”
Kneeling in the middle of the room, a figure stood up.
It was a human, well a human with green skin, pointy ears, and an ugly face.
It was wearing a basic leather armor and holding a short sword.
“A hobgoblin? Man, this is going to end in a flash.”
Tuning out the comment of the knight, I crouched down, gathering some force into my leg.
Then, when the monster made a step forward, I launched forward.
The hob somehow reacted to me, trying to evade me, but in the last second, I turned invisible and intangible, passing through its body and reappearing right when I stabbed it in the neck with my sword.
The monster tried to scream, but with a big swing, I cut his head clean off.
Surprisingly, the body turned into dust immediately, leaving only the short sword behind.
This should be more convenient than using the bone saw.
“Not bad. It only took you a few seconds to kill it.”
The knight clapped, as he walked to me, the pressure still giving me the shivers.
Just go away!
“My Lord, I have defeated the monster. May I continue the test alone, or you will follow me further down?”
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“Yes, you can go. I saw enough. However, I want to try out something.”
From thin air a broad sword, easily the length and size of a cow, appeared in his hand.
As if it was nothing, the knight gave a few swings of it, creating a violent air current.
“Try to block my next attack.”
W-WHAT!? There is no wa-
In a blink of an eye, the knight launched itself towards me, his sword’s edge, coming towards my abdomen, ready to cut me apart.
Without thinking, I lifted the two swords, but they shattered the second the weapons collided.
NNOOO!!!!
The same time as I jumped back, I tried to turn intangible, but somehow the weapon still wounded me, cutting slightly my stomach.
When I turned visible, I was wheezing, black blood, flowing out of the wound.
The knight stared at me, then at his dirtied weapon, before he started to laugh loudly!
“Not bad! Not bad at all! You are going to be an interesting recruit.!”
“W-Wh-What?”
He didn’t answer, just walked out of the boss room, still laughing, leaving me with two broken swords, a newly developed phobia, and a need for a new pair of pants.
*****
“It’s me.”
Still walking back out, the knight held a blue crystal that was shining with a faint blue light.
The crystal intensified as a voice was emanated from it.
“How did it go?”
“He isn’t much special, the only thing which is interesting is the ability to turn invisible, but aside from that he is boring.”
“… Alright. Comeback home. We need your help to prepare for the upcoming war.”
*****
After I put a new pair of pants on and healed my wound, I exited the room, venturing deeper into the dungeon.
What was that? What just happened? This guy was seriously scary, I almost died from a heart attack!
“Still, if this means that I can do whatever I want, then it was worth it. Hive Repulsion.”
When I reached the bottom of the level, I breathed in deeply and started to vomit out the thick cloud of spores, from which some of my monsters crawled out, grinding, and screaming with their inhuman voice.
“Spread out, kill all the goblins and bring me their cores with anything which isn’t nailed to the floor.”
The monsters roared as they ran through the corridors, which soon ringed with the sound of battles and cries.
My plan was simple.
Since it seemed like I couldn’t get EXP from these guys, spreading my forces out like this could help me get some materials.
I walked leisurely in the corridors, disposing of some of the goblins who were in the way.
“I wonder what these crystals made from. I should take a sample with myself.”
Using one of my normal knives, I pulled one other crystal out of the wall. To my surprise, from where the crystal came out, the wall was bleeding some sort of blue liquid.
“What is this?”
Curiosity got over me, I touched it with my hand.
Once it got in contact with my gloves, I felt something.
It was a burst of energy, revitalizing me, sharpening my senses, making me tingly.
“Is this…mana? This is liquid mana? This is…awesome! I want to try out something right now.”
I took out the biggest bottle I could find and started collecting the stuff.
When the bottle is filled, I heard a rumbling coming from my side.
From the wall not far away from me a lonesome goblin, looking around not noticing me.
“… I wonder…”
I got the better of me and while invisible, I injected it with my spores.
If this thing is truly a mana construct, then, the effect of this injection should do something interesting with it.
At first, nothing happened, the monster just scratched the point of injection it started to scream. The scream resonated in the air, as its body slowly dissipated into the air, leaving only an intricate system of fungal lines, all linked to a still-beating mana core.
The most incredible thing was that thing was alive, it was able to move and with its imaginary eyes it checked its hands,
“This is incredible. I wonder what happens if I pour some healing potion on it.”
When the being made contact with the liquid, it shivered as new fungal lines formed, becoming muscles, bones, and in the end skin.
In a minute, an entirely new being was standing before me.
[Alert.]
[Alert.]
[Alert.]
[Unprecedented even detected.]
[Analyzing data…]
[Analysis complete.]
[New lifeform been created from dungeon monster]
[This is an unprecedented event!]
[Creature created is unprecedented!]
[Calculating…]
[New creature name been decided as: Kayeri]
[Congratulation]
[You discovered a new species!]
[You created a new species!]
[ You cleared the secret requirements for a class-up!]
[Due to unique circumstances, you received unique class[Life Father]]
[Your class skills have been upgraded]
[You received additional class skill:[Prayer Knowledge]]
[User’s name been registered into the Hall of Creators]
[You received a new title: [Giver of Life]]
[Alert.]
[Several gods have noticed you.]
Old States:
[
Name: Phil Smith 'Plague Father'
Race: [Molded High Elf] Lv: 1/100 (0/100)
Main Class: [Life Scholar]
Sub Class: [Runner]
HP(Health Points): 240/240
SP(Stamina Points): 260
MP(Magic Points): 160/160
TMN (Tamed Monster Numbers): [231.810]
Blessings: [Blessing of Nergal]
Active Skills: [Basic Steady Hand] [[Hive control] [Hive Absorption] [Hive Repulsion] [Mold Field] [Basic Spirit Voice] [Aether Vision] [Steam Engineering]
Passive Skills: [Basic Body Knowledge] [Basic Plant Knowledge] [Basic Medicine Knowledge] [Basic Stamina Enhancement] [Basic Movement Enhancement] [Basic Reflex Enhancement.] [Basic Sponge Mind] [Perfect Stomach] [Hive Mind] [Music Instrument Knowledge]
Affinities: [Basic Farming Affinity] [Basic War Affinity] [Basic Pestilence Affinity][ Basic Fire Affinity.] [Basic Life Affinity] [Basic Death Affinity]
Titles: [The One Who Saw A Thousand Worlds] [Knowledge Driven] [Chosen by Flies] [Medicine Pioneer] [Hive Master]
]
New states:
[
Name: Phil Smith 'Plague Father'
Race: [Molded High Elf] Lv: 1/100 (0/100)
Main Class: [Life Father]
Sub Class: [Runner]
HP(Health Points): 240/240
SP(Stamina Points): 260
MP(Magic Points): 160/160
TMN (Tamed Monster Numbers): [231.810]
Blessings: [Blessing of Nergal]
Active Skills: [Basic Steady Hand] [[Hive control] [Hive Absorption] [Hive Repulsion] [Mold Field] [Basic Spirit Voice] [Aether Vision] [Steam Engineering]
Passive Skills: [Body Knowledge] [ Plant Knowledge] [Medicine Knowledge] [Basic Stamina Enhancement] [Basic Movement Enhancement] [Basic Reflex Enhancement.] [Basic Sponge Mind] [Perfect Stomach] [Hive Mind] [Music Instrument Knowledge] [Prayer Knowledge]
Affinities: [Basic Farming Affinity] [Basic War Affinity] [Basic Pestilence Affinity][ Basic Fire Affinity.] [Basic Life Affinity] [Basic Death Affinity]
Titles: [The One Who Saw A Thousand Worlds] [Knowledge Driven] [Chosen by Flies] [Medicine Pioneer] [Hive Master] [Giver of Life]
]
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