Mathew walked out from the Dungeon portal. Instantly he was greeted with the smell of rotten eggs. He held a hand to his nose and fought back the urge to gag.

“Damn, why does it smell so bad here?”

Agnox shrugged, “Smells fine to me.” Jeffery also seemed unaffected by the harsh smell. “Same with Jeffery. Why does something in the air hurt you?”

Mathew was slowly getting used to the smell, but not past the point of disgust. “Not hurt, it just really smells awful. I guess the kobolds really like sulfur or volcanos.”

Mathew looked around and to his surprise he saw more tunnels. The temperature in the air wasn’t much higher though. He was somewhat worried about a fiery themed dungeon again. He shouldn’t get too badly burned by fires, but he still wanted to avoid lava at all cost.

There were no signs of kobolds at the entrance. Once he could think without the sulfuric smell overtaking his focus, he started finalizing his preparations. As a precautionary measure, he pulled out a pill and handed it to Agnox.

“In case I get badly burned. That will help mitigate the sensitive pain if I get burned. I originally got it for acid or other painful attacks. Lava wasn’t a thought, but if I’m in too much pain to give it to myself, you can give it to me instead.”

Agnox nodded, and put it away. Jeffery was already armored up, as was Agnox. “I hope my fire is effective enough.”

“We can test it out before the Dungeon Boss. If the pattern continues from the first floor, it will be a bigger, stronger kobold. More than likely pushing into Apprentice ranked, but I doubt it will be Level 25 or higher. That’s more likely what the floor boss will be.”

Mathew had to use his wisps for light. It was annoying to depend upon them. He needed to figure out a mobile light ritual. That way he could carry a light source in the future. That, or figure out how to gain night vision. Perhaps a potion or pill? He really would hate to waste an Ability or Skill slot on something like that.

Mathew attempted to use Piercing to enhance his vision, but that didn’t work. Nor did Bolster or Enforce. They did make him see with more clarity, but not full on vision in darkness.

It was funny how all three Axiom’s worked in similar ways. Piercing helped him see further, Bolster with more clarity, and Enforce just let him see deeper. Colors were brighter. Shapes were easier to understand.

He almost felt like with Bolster, he was onto something to rank it up. But nothing stuck with his vision. Mathew assumed he needed more to push it to the next rank. Perhaps using it on other areas of his body?

Mathew wanted to test that, but that would be for later. Right now he needed to test out the limits of a Beginner rank dungeon to his own prowess.

As he and his summons walked, Mathew listened carefully for any signs of kobolds. Yet, he heard nothing echoing through the cave. It was oddly silent.

Mathew frowned, “Are we sure this isn’t a completed dungeon? By now we usually see something.”

“No clue Boss. Want me to scout ahead?”

Mathew nodded, “Do it, but be careful>”

Agnox flew off. Mathew and Jeffery continued walking. A few steps later, Mathew felt something rub against his foot and a loud twang filled the air. Mathew attempted to raise a [Mana Shield] and blocked a single arrow. Two more came from other directions and penetrated into his back and leg.

“Fuck!” He shouted in annoyance. It hurt, but the arrows barely dug into his skin thanks to his leather under armor.

In the next moment, rocks fell to the ground and a secret tunnel was revealed. Six kobolds jumped out of the side tunnel and pounced on both Jeffery and Mathew.

Mathew didn’t bother casting a spell. Instead he summoned a disposable sword and enhanced it with Enforce. He slashed through one kobold while it was in the air, killing it instantly.

Three more stabbed at him with spears. Mathew jumped back to avoid the attacks. Jeffery in turn jumped forward. He bashed into the five kobolds, knocking them all back. One of which was pinned down underneath his paw.

Jeffery started to tear into that kobold. A mana dagger was thrown by Mathew, followed by two [Mana Bolts]. All three were infused with Piercing.

One of the bolts killed a kobold by piercing through its head. The other two attacks left heavy wounds. The wisps were spraying their own attacks. A few missed, as the kobolds kept jumping from side to side.

Jeffery finished off his own personal kobold, and leapt into the group of four to find a new target. In a few moments the group was killed.

Agnox appeared a moment later, “I heard fighting. What happened?”

Mathew pulled out an arrow from his arm. “Traps. These guys are smart. I underestimated them. They are not strong though. Their attacks barely damaged me. Can you get the one in my back?”

Mathew turned his back toward Agnox. With a tug, it came loose. A small dribble of blood poured out of his wound. He quickly ate a pill and sat down for a moment to let his wounds scab over.

“That’s good. At least we know to look for traps now.”

“We should have done so in the first place. I was lucky it was only simple arrows. Next time it’s a magical explosion. A giant pit. Or worse.” Mathew was really upset he didn’t consider traps. He was too used to fighting beasts and other mindless creatures that traps never occurred to him.

“Eh, you did kind of fuck up there. I just floated through the air and avoided them all.”

Mathew looked at Agnox flatly. “I’m sure you did. Come on, I’m not bleeding anymore.” Mathew walked to the new revealed tunnel. “Help me keep an eye out for traps.”

Agnox and Mathew spotted two more traps before they found more kobolds. They seemed to travel in packs of five to ten. Mathew realized their tactics were smart. All or most of them would focus on the same enemy. Most of the time that was Jeffery, but occasionally that was Mathew as well.

After the fourth group of kobolds Mathew sat down and rested again. He used a staff to recharge his mana. Agnox was doing fine, as he barely had been attacked.

Mathew had to resummon his wisps twice now. If the kobolds landed two or three attacks, the blue balls of mana dissipated. After the last fight, both were killed and Mathew had no light.

Agnox ignited his blade, and that helped him see, but only a little bit. Mathew would need to keep them both safe. This entire floor will be annoying like that.

After the second break, Mathew and Agnox started to see signs of more infrastructure in the Dungeon. A kitchen area, rooms where kobolds slept, and other common places were spotted. The bearded lizards apparently ate bugs as their preferred meal.

Mathew almost started to consider them equal to humans. If they had comforts, then that would mean they had intelligence. An idea started to form in his head, “Agnox, do you think I could make a contract with the kobold boss?”

“What? Of course not!” Agnox said at first but paused. “Well…maybe. I see no reason you couldn’t. It worked with me and Bob. The problem is if this is a real Dungeon or a System Dungeon.”

“Let me guess, a System Dungeon has creatures that are not real to some degree?”

“Bongo’s” Agnox said with a nod.

“Firstly, it’s ‘Bingo’, secondly, how can we tell the difference?”

“You typically can’t. Also I’ve never seen a System Dungeon. Just something I heard about. There are challenges across the universe created by Fate Stealer. Dungeons are only for new planets like yours. They don’t really exist outside of it like how mine did. Those Dungeons only exist via System creation. How else do you think people grow in power by acquiring new Cores?”

Mathew didn’t think about it, “Okay I’ll try talking to the leader. Worst case, it ignores us and attacks us. Best case, I have new disposable minions.”

Agnox made a face, but said nothing. Mathew didn’t care.

The five of them continued through the tunnels until Mathew came into an open space. Surprisingly he saw torch lights.

In the middle of the room was a rock throne. In the corner were stacks of rocks and ores. Mathew saw a kobold wearing a robe by a pile of dirt and it turned to them and pointed. It shouted something Mathew didn’t understand.

Several kobolds flooded the area around him, including behind him.

“Wait, I just want to talk.” Mathew said quickly. “I know you can at least understand me. I can make a deal with you. Help you leave here, grow stronger. You and the others of your kind. I didn’t think about this at first, and I understand I am invading your home. Yet, it’s obvious I am stronger here. Far stronger. Fighting me is a death sentence. Working for me is a chance to live.”

The kobolds didn’t attack. They all paused at his words. A few glanced back at their leader. The leader narrowed its eyes and said something. “I can’t understand you, but since you are not attacking me, that’s a no for now I assume.”

The kobold made a hand motion. Then Mathew felt spears poke into his back.

“Fine then, death it is.”

Mathew conjured his rod and charged it with mana. He slapped on an Enforce as well, further empowering it. He turned and blew away two kobolds with a high powered blast of mana.

Jeffery and Agnox sprung into action instantly. Agnox went right for the leader, while Jeffery defended Mathew’s back.

The wisps remained high in the air at Mathew’s mental control. They rained attacks down onto the crowd of kobolds.

Agnox’s blade was ignited by red and orange flames. He swung at the kobold and was blocked by a stone shield. He twisted in the air to slash at his other side, and it was blocked by a metal sword.

Mathew dismissed his rod and conjured his spear. Being forced into close combat made it hard to cast spells fast enough. He quickly summoned a [Mana Shield] to block a few arrows. Once he had a moment he turned and encased the kobold leader in chains of ice.

The leader struggled at the chains. Agnox used that moment to spread his arms wide and use his spell [Flare]. The attack was impossible to miss against the restrained kobold.

Jeffery was knocking the tiny lizards to the side, focusing on keeping them away from Mathew rather than outright killing them.

Mathew found the fight to not be difficult, but the way the kobolds fought was with intelligence. The beasts he had fought in the past made it a contest of might. Here, technique was required.

He felt one of the wisps was attacked by an arrow, and looked for the attacker. He spotted a kobold standing on the stone throne. He launched [Mana Bolt] at it. It didn’t die instantly, so he threw another bolt at it.

In that time, he took two stabs to his legs. “Okay, Beginner ranked dungeons are annoying! Why does it have to be pointy stone weapons?”

Mathew kicked out with his leg and encased his body in Resistance. After that, the weapons wouldn't pierce through him anymore. “Ha, little fuckers.”

Realizing he couldn’t be harmed as easily, Mathew pushed his efforts more offensively. He skewed kobolds with his spear. If one was stuck on it, he just unsummoned it, then resummoned it to his hand. He conjured the occasional shield to keep himself protected from arrows.

Mathew looked over to check on Agnox. He was holding up surprisingly well. The original plan was to just have him hold off the boss while Mathew mowed down any weaker enemies with Jeffery and the wisps.

Agnox was having trouble landing a solid hit at anything other than the shield. Mathew’s chains slowed him down enough that he could land the occasional blow to a limb, but the robes the kobold was wearing were clearly some sort of armor.

Fire still lingered on the kobold, licking at his body. Agnox’s Axiom was visually effective against the fleshy kobold. The smell of burning meat filled the imp’s nose.

“Little bastard. You should have taken his deal. It worked wonders for me!” Agnox goaded. He was enjoying this. Before meeting Mathew, anything that didn’t die easily was a threat to him.

He wouldn’t dare risk his life in a melee fight either. Growing up with his magical ranged attacks, Agnox never used a sword his whole life. Now though? Now he could use a sword for his size with moderate skill. The [Swords] skill related to his sword was only Beginner 6, but he was great with the weapon.

Agnox slashed sideways and caused the kobold to duck. With his free hand he charged up a [Fire Bolt] mimicking how Mathew fought with his spear sometimes. He fired it directly into the kobolds left leg.

The kobold fell to the ground. Now unable to dodge at all, Agnox stabbed down with his sword, killing the boss.