Lariel was again walking towards the Dungeon. This time not even bothering to go to the guild to get quests. It wasn't worth it. After explaining to Kan why what he and Ivan were thinking was possible, they kept talking for a while. They had asked if they could reveal what they talked about to their party, and Lariel accepted. No reason not to.

When he passed one of the food and potions shops, he bought enough food for his lunch, for 35 coppers. With only 7 silver and 46 coppers remaining to his name, he bought 2 health potions, 2 stamina potions, and 3 mana potions. All Intermediate ranked, that regenerated 300 points. Each cost 1 silver, leaving him with 46 coppers.

He arrived at the entrance of the Dungeon and entered the first floor. No problems there.

The first order of business was to farm all of his most useful skills to Intermediate rank or at least try to rank them up nicely so that he could earn more stats from the milestones. He had given it some thought and decided to level them up on the second floor. More goblins, more danger, faster skill growth. And he might even gain a level or two. Although that was unlikely. Only Hobgoblins could possibly give him significant experience.

He steamrolled the first floor. Using his Wind Control skill to either kill with some sort of non skill wind cut, or with pressurized air to the skull, or incapacitate the goblins. Netting him four skill levels besides the three he had from training two hours in a non-danger environment. Damn, the danger was such a good fertilizer for skills.

He arrived at the second floor easily, having identified everything on his way here. He then looked at this status to make a list of the skills he would level.

Status:

Money: 46 coppers

Name: Lariel

Class: [Rogue (Seeker Of Power)]

Level: 14

Health: 234/332 (Regen: 0.33/sec)

Stamina: 365/859 (Regen: 1.03/sec)

Mana: 681/1050 (Regen: 1.06/sec)

Strength: 17

Vitality: 22

Endurance: 41

Dexterity: 12

Agility: 13

Intelligence: 40

Willpower: 25

Perception: 22

Free Stats: 42

Bonus Stats per level: +2 End, Int | +1 Will, Per, Vit | +3 Free Stats | (10 Total Stats)

Skills: (377 Total Skill Levels)

General:

Identification Level 10 | Reading Level 7

Weapon Related:

Intermediate Spear Mastery Level 53 | Basic Bow Mastery Level 13 | Basic Sword Mastery Level 11 | Basic Mace Mastery Level 9 | Basic Axe Mastery Level 8 | Basic Dagger Mastery Level 6

Weapon Proficiency Level 42 | Basic Unarmed Combat Proficiency Level 7

Basic Shield Mastery Level 12

Physical Attacks:

Powerful Thrust Level 9 | Heavy Blow Level 3

Spells:

Mana Barrier Level 13 | Mana Bolt Level 11 | Basic Rock Bullet Level 23 | Mana Arrow Level 4 | Magic Empowerment Level 1 | Power Surge Level 1 | Basic Wind Blast Level 3

Miscellaneous:

-Magic:

Mana Manipulation Level 39 | Mana Sense Level 11 | Basic Wind Control Level 7

Physical:

Physical Fitness 49 | Basic Dodge Level 7 | Running Level 8 | Basic Sneaking Level 11 | Sprint Level 6 | Perception Ball Lvl 10

Resistances:

Basic Earth Resistance 4 | Basic Poison Resistance 2

He realized that he had not spent his free stats, but decided to only use them after he received the prize for the Intermediate ranked skills. If he got any because he had a long way to go with most of the skills.

He wanted to level Weapon Proficiency Level 42 | Blow Level 3 | Rock Bullet Level 23 | Mana Bolt Level 11 | Mana Barrier Level 13 | Mana Arrow 4 | Basic Sneaking Level 11 | Running Level 8 | Sprint Level 6 | Perception Ball Lvl 10 | Basic Wind Blast Level 3 | Basic Wind Control Level 7

A big list of skills. Perception Ball was there because it had the Basic rank, and it was a Class skill, so Lariel wanted to see if he would gain anything from it. Weapon Proficiency would only level if Lariel leveled any weapon-related skill, but he wanted to see if he could bring Spear Mastery to Advanced rank.

With nothing else to do, Lariel entered the forest and started training. Only leaving to eat, or to restock his Health, Stamina, and Mana. His potions were for a dangerous life-threatening situation. Not for this.

------

Seconds became minutes. Minutes turned into hours, and those hours passed like a hot knife in butter. Smoothly and non interrupted. When Lariel finally decided to stop, his body was steaming. His power having increased by leaps and bounds. He focused on the important notifications, ignoring every other of skill levels increasing, killing, or skills turning from basic to normal.

*Ding* Your class Seeker of Power has reached level 20 +3 End, Int; +1 Will, Per, Vit; +4 Free Stats!

Congratulations! You have reached level 20 in your class (Seeker of Power). Due to the nature of your class, +1 Free Stat per level up.

Congratulations! You have reached level 20 in your class (Seeker of Power). You have gained the skills: Unbreakable Will, Health Drain, Mana Drain, Stamina Drain, LifeGuard.

Unbreakable Will: The ones that Seek Power must never waver. This skill makes it slightly harder for someone to affect your mind. Slightly increases the effects of each Willpower individual stat. The effect increases with skill level.

Health Drain: The path of Power is many times filled with blood. But not your blood. The blood of your enemies. After killing something, you gain one-hundredth of their total health. If your health is full, you can create a drop of Life Liquid worth that amount of health, and store it within you, allowing you to give it to yourself, or others. Effect increases with skill level. Current Life Liquid quantity: 0.

Mana Drain: The ones that Seek Power many times face beings of magic. They throw spells at you without stop, but you are unaffected by them. Killing them and absorbing their inner force. After killing something, you gain one-hundredth of their total mana. If your mana is full, you can create a drop of Liquid Mana worth that amount of mana, and store it within you, allowing you to give it to yourself, or others. Effect increases with skill level. Current Liquid Mana quantity: 0.

Stamina Drain: To achieve power you must endure against the most drastic of enemies. But that will to continue gives you the energy to continue ever onward. After killing something, you gain one-hundredth of their total stamina. If your stamina is full, you can create a drop of Rejuvenating Fluid worth that amount of stamina and store it within you, allowing you to give it to yourself, or others. Effect increases with skill level. Current Rejuvenating Fluid quantity: 0.

LifeGuard: To Seek Power is to seek a life of danger. Many times you will come face to face with Death, but you will beat it every time, refusing to accept its grasp. If your health goes below 1, you will become invulnerable for half a second, boosting your Health Regeneration by 50000% for that amount of time. Cooldown: 1 year. Effect increases will skill level. Cooldown decreases with skills level.

*Ding* Congratulations! For hitting the Intermediate skill-related milestone in Weapon Proficiency, you have gained +10 Dexterity.

*Ding* Congratulations! For hitting the intermediate skill-related milestone in Powerful Thrust, you have gained +5 Dex, Str.

*Ding* Congratulations! For hitting the Intermediate skill-related milestone in Rock Bullet, you have gained +5 Int, +1 Free Stat.

*Ding* Congratulations! For hitting the intermediate skill-related milestone in Mana Manipulation, you have gained +4 Int, +3 Will.

*Ding* Congratulations! For hitting the Intermediate skill-related milestone in Physical Fitness, you have gained +5 End, Str, Vit.

He had felt those increases. The bonuses alone made it worth it, but the stats that he gained in this one-day training session were enormous. He had consumed all of his potions at the time, but that level 20 class skills came in clutch and allowed him to keep training non-stop as long as he killed a shit ton of goblins.

They all had less than 50 health, even their warriors. And the mages gave him less than 0.2 health altogether. Mana wise, only Mages gave out something. About 2 or 3 each. The max he had gotten was 8. Stamina was the one that all of them had, and tons of it. He gained at least 7 each time he killed one. Their stats were truly dispaired. He looked at the amounts that the skills presented him and added them to his status. He knew he could use them anytime if he ever dipped too low.

His status was becoming quite something. And those Free Stats were his next target. He sat down on the plains, about 50 meters from the door to the first floor, and decided to spend all 72 of them.

He was lacking health. That was clear, so he put 27 stats in Vitality. Being rewarded with 405 extra Health on that resource. He felt it immediately, getting stronger healthier. More resistant above all. Normal knives would have difficulty cutting his skin now. Or at least, that was how he felt.

The next thing he spent his stats on was Willpower. He could not process everything within his Perception Ball. The information overwhelming him, and so, he needed the mental will to process all that. And in 16 stats went. This time, the world became clear. His mind processing everything at a faster rate. His Perception Ball became under control, and Lariel could finally process it all. The only problem? It lacked detail. It gave him information, but not much. It was still small. And Lariel wanted to fix that.

But he couldn't. His Agility was way too low for a Rogue class, as such, he dedicated 27 stat points to it, getting it to 40 in total and leaving him with 2 Free Stats. Which he promptly placed into Dexterity.

Status:

Money: 46 coppers

Name: Lariel

Class: [Rogue (Seeker Of Power)]

Level: 20

Health: 903/903 (Regen: 0.9/sec)

Stamina: 1280/1280 (Regen: 1.45/sec)

Mana: 1625/1625 (Regen: 1.65/sec)

Strength: 27

Vitality: 60

Endurance: 58

Dexterity: 29

Agility: 40

Intelligence: 61

Willpower: 50

Perception: 28

Free Stats: 0

Bonus Stats per level: +2 End, Int | +1 Will, Per, Vit | +4 Free Stats | (11 Total Stats)

Current Life Liquid quantity: 315

Current Rejuvenating Fluid quantity: 831

Current Liquid Mana quantity: 176

Bonus skill learning/leveling speed: +10%

Skills: (949 Total Skill Levels)

General:

Butcher Level 29 | Identification Level 21 | Reading Level 7 | Unbreakable Will Level 1 | LifeGuard Level 1

Weapon Related:

Intermediate Spear Mastery Level 75 | Basic Bow Mastery Level 13 | Basic Sword Mastery Level 11 | Basic Mace Mastery Level 9 | Basic Axe Mastery Level 8 | Basic Dagger Mastery Level 6

Intermediate Weapon Proficiency Level 67 | Basic Unarmed Combat Proficiency Level 7

Basic Shield Mastery Level 12

Physical Attacks:

Intermediate Powerful Thrust Level 52 | Heavy Blow Level 39

Spells:

Mana Barrier Level 48 | Mana Bolt Level 34 | Intermediate Rock Bullet Level 52 | Mana Arrow Level 26 | Wind Blast Level 28 | Magic Empowerment Level 1 | Power Surge Level 1

Miscellaneous:

-Magic:

Wind Control Level 31 | Intermediate Mana Manipulation Level 51 | Stamina Drain Level 14 | Mana Drain Level 6 | Mana Sense Level 27 | Health Drain Level 7

Physical:

Intermediate Physical Fitness 64 | Dodge Level 48 | Running Level 37 | Sneaking Level 41 | Sprint Level 31 | Perception Ball Lvl 27

Resistances:

Basic Earth Resistance 9 | Basic Poison Resistance 8

With a smile on his face, he turned to go to the first floor. What he saw surprised him. There were nine kids standing there, some with some sort of armor, and some without it. Ivan and Kan were talking to each other, with Ezekiel listening while they walked out of the door front. After they walked about 40 meters, they noticed Lariel.

"Hey, we didn't know you were here," Kan said.

Identification: Name: Kan; Class: [Mage (??)]; Level: 18

Identification: Name: Ivan Geldian; Class: [Warriror (Shield Of Pride)]; Level: 19; Stat Average: 38

Identification: Name: Ezekiel; Class: [Scout (Tenth Scout of Jalak)]; Level: 17; Stat Average: 36

Lariel ignored the notifications of the skill leveling up, due to the fact that its use brought four surprises. The first three were their levels. Someone had been busy farming goblins (besides him of course). The fourth surprise was the fact that Kan's identification level was still higher. But that was kind to be expected. Lariel had not focused much on it.

He stared at those average values. He felt kind of bad. His own level was only one above Ivan's, but he had an average stat of 44. Truly, his class was a robbery.

"Didn't expect to see you here after you missed dinner. Ezekiel here pointed out that you might be dead, but Kan said that if you were dead then there was no point of us continue to adventure only to be killed by what killed you," Ivan said.

He had missed dinner? It was easy to lose track of time here in the dungeons where the sun stayed at the same place all day. He didn't even feel tired. Just another good thing about his high vitality. The need for sleep got extremely reduced. He looked back to the time he had spent in the dungeon. If it was already past dinner time, and considering that he had come to the Dungeon before lunchtime, he had already been here for at least 11 hours, which felt terrify-

*Ding* Obtained the skill: Perfect Timing!

Perfect Timing: Passively allows you to know how much time has passed since a determined point. Has a slightly infinitely small chance of giving you a glimpse of the future.

Well, that was certainly useful. Although that 'slightly infinitely small chance' gave him pause. If it was so tiny, then why be there? He dismissed it, only to consider his roommates.

"Why are you guys here?" he asked, truly curious about their presence. There was a small pause before Ivan stepped forward.

"What you told us earlier today made us pause. If we keep ourselves in our comfort zone, then we won't be able to progress. Well, before lunch we decided to change tactics, and so, we divided into three groups after eating, and each group went their own way into the first-floor forest, killing goblins and earning exp, of course, we eventually moved to the second-floor forest but went back to the Guild," silence.

"We even decided to leave the corpses behind. We are making too little money to fit our needs, and so, we decided to head to the boss floor of the first layer. We have confirmed with the Guild. There were no other parties booked for the boss today, and it will respawn in five hours. So, we have five hours to get down there, then get the treasure, and go to the surface to sell it and buy a storage ring so that we can make more money out of the corpses."

They had a point. Their income would be minimal until they could get a storage ring. With how many they were, they could earn more than a gold coin per day if they put their hearts into it with that basic storage ring. But how would they get there? Ivan seemed to predict his question, and answer.

"You said that the only thing holding you back was the numbers. Well, we are nine, numbers don't mean that much to us. And we have spent all that time training. We can get to the boss."

Lariel had his doubts, but he had an idea, so he wasn't worried.

"Do you guys have a map?" he asked. Ezekiel took out his map and showed it to Lariel. It was updated, but he gave them pointers on some areas to avoid because it would only slow them down.

"Well, I have other things to do. I hope you guys come back alive," and with that, he was out into the first floor. He didn't want to delay their stay, and by consequence, his stay. He needed to fetch some things before he came back to watch over them.