Lariel was walking back into the city. He had seen the third floor and rested there while his health and stamina rose so that he could go back with fewer worries. The third floor was similar to the previous two, but double the size.

The door was located on top of a hill, and so, Lariel could see most everything in the plains below. There were fewer parties here than on the previous floor. Probably due to the same fact that Lariel would not be venturing forward. Usually, new parties trained for a full week in the first two floors, and then rushed past to farm on the floors above the fifth. After all, the first five floors were goblin-infested.

On the first floor, there were only normal variations of Goblins, on the second, there were some leaders here and there, but they were rare. On the third floor, Hobgoblins appeared. Not many, and ruled over their villages.

There were eight goblin villages on the third floor, so, only 8 Hobgoblins, and a few of those lesser leaders. The fourth floor saw that number triple, some villages joined each other. The leading Hobgoblin evolving to a Hob Captain. The fifth floor was the same thing as the previous, but with the double of Hobgoblins and Hob Captains. One Hob Warlord was ruling them all. If you killed that Warlord, all the goblins on the floor would die (you would not gain experience for all those Goblins dying) and only respawn once the first layer boss respawned, also known as the boss of the first layer, which was also a Hob Warlord.

That Hob Warlord could go to level 75, but that was it. People got so tired of goblins, that it was better for them to move to the sixth layer, where a new threat awaited.

Lariel, of course, wanted to conquer all the layers until they had nothing to offer.

But for that, he needed that area of effect spell, and for that, he needed money, and for that, he needed to go to the guild. As such, that was what he did.

Escaping the second floor was actually quite easy. Just sprinting all the way back and burning three-fourths of the half regenerated stamina.

While on the first floor, he had noticed something in the corner of his eye. There were nine distinct kids training there. Lariel, of course, recognized them, but said nothing and went on his merry way. In the best of cases, they hadn't noticed his presence.

The city guards let him in without a problem after checking his adventurer plate. It was all going smoothly until he reached the Guild and went to the Guild worker he had gone just an hour and a half ago. She, of course, smiled at him.

"Hello there. I see you have already returned. Found the first floor too difficult without a party, am I right? It's ok, we can assign you one, just need you to fill out this for-"

"Not really, no. I am just here to signal the completion of three quests and emptying my storage ring."

The Guild worker looked at him for a full minute. Silence hanged between the two until she deigned to speak.

"Very well, let's see what you have there. Be reminded. Each basic Goblin ear goes for 2 coppers, each tongue for 5, and each corpse for 12. Do you wish to sell your monster parts first, or complete the quests?"

Lariel cursed himself for not checking the prices of the Goblins parts before and bringing only the most precious, but still, he did not even give it a thought on the decision presented to him. Quests first. Someone might walk in and finish the quest while he was selling his many, many goblin sensory inputs. Without fanfare, he took three quests notices from his ring and put them on top of the desk. The elf worker looked at the requests.

"Very well, since goblins are small, you can place them on top of the desk."

And so he did. Five goblin corpses. Two mages, one warrior, one scout, and one rogue. Just what the quests asked for.

The worker looked carefully at each goblin, probably using Identification on them to confirm their class. Her eyes seemed to open wider at the Level 18 Goblin Head Mage, but the transaction went without any problems, and Lariel got his 64 coppers. Exactly his share of the quest. The Guild kept 10% for themselves. Then came the goblin parts. That was where things escalated.

"You wish to sell your remaining monsters and monster parts now?" she asked, a smile tugging its way onto her face. Lariel had an idea of why that was, but ignored it and answered.

"Yeah. It's only body parts though. There are a lot of them by the way," he said. The elf dismissed his words and pointed to the desk, where the five goblin corpses had been moments ago. He eyed her and then shrugged, dumping 336 goblin ears, and 167 goblin tongues (the 168th one didn't fit). The elf's mouth opened so wide that Lariel was afraid she had broken her jaw. Of course, there were healers for that though. Ears and tongues rolled everywhere, blood sprang out, dirtying everything in a two-meter radius circle. The elf assistant, for her part, rapidly stored them all away. Huge stains of blood, the only evidence of what had happened. She recuperated quite quickly, Lariel had to give her that.

She picked something up from behind the counter and put it up on the desk, on a rare non-blood-sprayed spot. It was the exact payment for all of those body parts. 15 silver coins, and 7 copper coins. They were truly efficient.

Lariel did one more trip back to the dungeon, this time, getting 8 goblin mages for his other two quests, and a lot more tongues, along with a couple of skill levels. These Steel rank and Silver rank quests were easy. Of course, there were many much more complicated. These ones were probably there due to the urgency of the need. In another hour, he had earned himself another 11 silver and 57 coppers. Next stop. A library. The city was decently big, but important things stayed together.

He found the library a couple of minutes later, not very far from the orphanage. His main focus here was to get more research done on basically everything, but also to buy a skill book.

Skill books were like the one where he had learned the Rock Bullet skill. If you can read it and understand, and then try it and then accomplish what the book said, you will very likely gain the skill. Depending on how much you actually understood, the skill level that you would gain could vary.

Lariel, for his part, wanted to buy a nice area of effect spell. Not that he couldn't create a mana construct for a fire wave. But he would rather have the skill to gain levels in.

With that in mind, he went to the library, where he spent the next two hours studying. He had to part with 20 coppers, ten for each hour. That was the fee of the library. After he was done, he had gained a skill. Reading. Pretty self-explanatory. It allowed him to read faster and understand what was written better. He had gotten the skill to Level 6.

When he asked for skill books that cost less than 1 gold, he had only gotten one answer. There were two. Both wind-related.

Wind Blast cost 78 silvers, while Wind Control, which wasn't really a spell, which he had not to ask for specifically, cost 64. It would leave him with only 7 silvers and 79 coppers, but he could manage. After all, he had just had an idea.

In the worst case, he could just go to the Dungeon and farm Goblins, although they gave him no exp anymore when below level 12, and it was rare to find any above that.

He bought those books and went to the orphanage, waiting for dinner and for the next day. Which would be training with Kan in the morning. And also giving his secrets, which he wouldn't mind. It was not like Kan could catch up now.

---------------

Kan finally arrived at the orphanage after a day in the Dungeon, just when he was a few minutes from the orphanage, he had parted ways with Ivan. He had taken a quick glance with Identification just as he was turning to leave.

Identification: Name: Ivan Geldian; Class: [Warriror (???)]; Level: 11

Unfortunately, he could not see more. Ivan was level 11. Higher than him.

He had been training in the Dungeon with the rest of his party, and they had made huge progress. Just a glance at his status told him that this had been one of the most productive days he would ever have.

Status:

Name: Kan

Class: [Mage (Sorcerer)]

Level: 10

Health: 105/226 (Regen: 0.23/sec)

Stamina: 118/345 (Regen: 0.38/sec)

Mana: 411/897 (Regen: 0.92/sec)

Strength: 10

Vitality: 15

Endurance: 15

Dexterity: 15

Agility: 15

Intelligence: 33

Willpower: 36

Perception: 15

Free Stats: 0

Bonus Stats per level: +2 Int, Wil | +1 Dex, Per | +2 Free Stats | (8 Total Stats)

Skills: (332 Total Skill Levels)

General:

Identification Level 13 | Meditation Level 12

Weapon Related:

Basic Dagger Mastery Level 17 | Basic Bow Mastery Level 15 | Weapon Proficiency Level 16 | Basic Sword Mastery Level 9 | Basic Spear Mastery Level 6 | Basic Axe Mastery Level 4 | Basic Mace Mastery Level 3

Basic Shield Mastery Level 8

Magic Related:

Mana Manipulation Level 42 | Mana Bolt Level 26 | Basic Mana Deconstruction Level 23 | Basic Mana Sense Level 17 | Basic Mana Absorption Level 24 | Basic Fire Ball Level 16 | Basic Ice Shard Level 14 | Basic Magic Barrier Level 13 | Basic Water Ball Level 11 | Basic Magic Arrow Level 8 | Basic Rock Shot Level 6

Resistances:

Basic Earth Magic Resistance Level 3

Miscellaneous:

Physical Fitness Level 26

He had focused on evolving his magic prowess. When he ran out of mana, he would train with the bow and daggers, but his low Stamina made it a brief training. He had made an effort to placate his stat difference by spending his free stat points. His Int and Will were going to grow higher than all the other stats. There was no way to avoid that.

When he had reached level 5 in his class, he had gained some skills. The most important was Identification. He wanted to be able to see the other's levels and classes to compare to his own.

If your class level and Identification Level were both higher than the person you were identifying, you would be able to see their average stat value, besides all classes and respective levels. If only your level was higher, you would be able to see their tag and highest level. If only your Identification was higher, you would be able to see their Tag and all classes Levels, though you couldn't see the class. If the difference was high enough then you could even see their full status. Or at least, that's what the rumors said. If both were under level, then you would only see question marks. Name included.

He had also gained some other skills. Meditation, a lot of simple spells, and also extremely important, Basic Mana Absorption.

It was thanks to that last skill that he had managed to train for so much time. And it was in one of those moments where he was absorbing the ambient mana that he had seen him. Out of the corner of his eye, Kan had seen Lariel leaving the Dungeon.

Kan had no illusions that Lariel had not been training. But while they were a group and could kill more goblins, Lariel was just one, so he could easily become overwhelmed. As such, Kan did not think Lariel had improved that much. Probably just pushed past the level 5 barrier so that he could train Identification while walking around. Kan was curious to glance at his class and average stats. He had no doubt he had the superior level and superior Identification skill level to see them both.

He finally entered the room and looked around. He had been the first to arrive from his party. The rest, having gone to the guild to sell the goblin corpses they were carrying, and finish the quests. There was only one other person in the room. Lariel. He was reading at his desk. He seemed more athletic to Kan's eyes. Bigger, more muscular, sharper. Probably just those small stats already making a difference. Kan thought while approaching him.

"Hey," Kan said. He did not want to take him by surprise.

"Hi," came the response.

Kan stepped closer. Not quite yet at range to identify, but enough that he could tell that Lariel was studying a skill book. Maybe I can borrow that later...

He finally got close enough to use the skill. Finally, he would shame him. Lariel was alone, and as such, had to be more careful, not being able to accompany his roommate's party leveling rate. They would come out superior. It was time for Kan to leave his shadow.

Identification: Name: Lariel; Class: [Rogue (?????)]; Level: 14

*Ding* Identification has reached level 14!

*Ding* Identification has reached level 15!

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? This could NOT be happening!