V2 Chapter 25

From what Sylphy said, although there were some Skill Tomes that could be obtained from Dungeons or Ruins- those precious treasures left from the Lost Century, they are actually, incredibly rare.

That’s why there are so many Adventurers that risk their lives, and eager to explore ruins and dungeons to get rich. After all, one skill tome can already be sold for a very large price enough to buy an entire noble mansion. It’s basically something that anyone could die for.

Of course, this is also why a Dungeon with a Game-like system was coveted, even by empires to the point that they would wage war against each other. One of the advantage of a Game-like Dungeon compared to other Dungeons are that, these kinds of Dungeons often drop this kind of treasure. Though the drop rate is so low it's mortifying. It’s less than 10% out of a hundred percent chances, compared to magical items. Still, having even one percent is already more than enough than nothing....doesn't it?

But this Dungeon... it actually gave so much Skill Tomes?!

If someone knows about this, hell would surely come to the world.

Though, Rain also thinks that this might also be just because of chance. In fact, it perhaps mainly attributed to the fact that they are the first challengers of the Dungeon’s Trial by far that had lasted this long and even reached up to this stage.

A Bonus that only the first Explorers could have or something along those lines.

Furthermore, although there were items and equipment as well, to think that only 31 Skill Tomes had dropped after killing almost two hundred monsters in just two waves...well, it's quite poor. It can even be said that it’s indeed on the low side.

But it’s not something that would disappoint him. Because Skill Tomes or Magical Items obtained in this Dungeon are just the Bonus rewards for him.

“Lafetti, do you want to use the chain hook?” he asked. In fact, the Chain Hook weapon is actually quite good—if one used correctly, they are incredibly strong in both offense and defense.

Rain even have the urge to use it, or rather, play with it. Though, because he didn’t know how to use it, it would only be a problem for him if he insist on having it.

Lafetti shook her head.

“You know I like using swords,” she smiled wryly.

“And the swords here doesn’t satisfy me…well, if there’s a good sword artifact drop, be sure to set it aside for me, though,”

“Sure will,” Rain chuckled and promised.

After inspecting the other drops, he turned back his attention to the Scroll of Return. He thought it might be the key to going back home, but when he tried using it, it didn't activate because it's lacking a registered destination, making him somewhat disappointed.

To register one, the scroll needs to mark the place where it had already gone to.

If Rain wanted to set the village as the return point for the scroll, he needed to bring the scroll back to the village first to register the returning point. But, of course, that's obviously impossible in this situation.

This somewhat annoyed him. Though a Return Scroll seemed to be extremely valuable. It's even treated as a precious treasure by anyone who comes across it, according to the Sylphy, and even Lafetti. In fact, only a few people in this world could inscribe a return scroll in this world, hence, its incredible rarity.

If one of them appeared in the market, the price is already enough for a beggar to become an overnight millionaire.

Well, not like he couldn't understand why.

After all, a Return Scroll could be used to return home in an instant, no matter where you are. And also, it could also be used to escape in dire situations. Still, it needed to register a return point. Regrettably, for them, it's something worthless as of the moment.

Rain stored everything, including the Skill Tomes inside his Backpack. This is not yet the time to divide the spoils. And besides, Lafetti and the others don’t seem to be that interested in the skills either.

I guess only humans would feel greed over it. The lack of power or strength, perhaps?

For Demi-humans, especially Lamians like them, they have their own skillset, abilities that greatly suited them. And having more, unknown skills and abilities would only be detrimental for them in the long run. Since they are not used to it, they would only have a hard time adjusting.

Though, it’s not like they didn’t want it. Drova for example surely wants to acquire different skills and abilities that could be used for battles. Just, they don’t feel much greed over it like humans do… huh.

“But what should we do? Should we retreat? Whatever you decided, we would listen,” Lafetti suddenly ask.

As she looks at the constantly appearing Goblins that were being slaughtered by Granite and Scarlet. The next wave should be coming now, but if the next wave is comparable, or worse, stronger than the previous waves, then they would surely have a difficult time. They’re almost out of potions and elixirs, and also, Lafetti, Granite and Scarlet’s magic power are almost reaching the bottom.

Fighting another intense battle is surely not doable for their current state. They would be suppressed and overwhelmed mercilessly if this continues. They could even already feel the fatigue piling up.

“… …”

Rain furrowed his brows, and finally, with a look resolution, he looks at Lafetti and said; “Pick up the spoils as you can, and we’ll leave this place first. I have some herbs and medicinal plants with me, so I think I can make some potions to sustain us. Though I don’t know how many I can make. In any case, let’s resupply first and rest, and then challenged it again!”

Lafetti nodded her head.

Without saying anything anymore, they hurriedly swept through the battlefield and picked up items after items drop from monsters, and they went straight towards the exit. However, something had occurred that Rain had never expected.

When Granite led through the front, sweeping the monster and was about to rush through the exit, suddenly, as if she had hit an invisible wall, she was suddenly blown back.

Rain and the others were startled. However, Lafetti was able to immediately snap out of it and caught Granite, which was flying towards them with incredible reaction speed.

Even still, depending on size and weight, Granite’s impact towards them was not so weak, even Lafetti couldn’t stop her even a moment. Scarlet, the Ant General, and even Rain hurriedly tried to help them.

But still, the impact and force of the Rock Lamian was much heavier and stronger than they expected, they all crashed on the ground after skidding for several meters.

“Granite, are you okay?!”

“Y, yeah… I am…damn, that hurts!”

Granite’s expression distorted in pain. If not for her Rock Armor, she would have been badly hurt just by that impact. It was like something had rammed against her body, almost all her inner organs were squeezed tight and she coughed blood after another.

“If you’re fine, then get off me, you’re too heavy!”

Lafetti gritted her teeth. This is the second time, and now she’s starting to get annoyed by it, surely. Being crushed like that, even she would be irritated.

“Ah, sorry,”

“Rain, are you okay?!”

Lafetti felt her bones creaked, and all the muscles in her body screaming in pain, but still, she completely ignored it and hurriedly turned towards Rain who was behind her.

“I’m okay,”

Though, it seems like she was okay as Scarlet, for some reason, was between him and Lafetti, causing the Ant Queen to receive all the impact force. Furthermore, with her strength and toughness, Rain hardly felt anything. In fact, because of Scarlet, they were able to stop Granite’s momentum much easier. The Ant Queen’s strength is really something.

“Still, what the hell happened?”

“I don’t know. When I was about to pass through, I felt as if I had crashed into an invisible wall. Furthermore, it suddenly released an incredible power that blows me away…I felt as if all my bones in my body cracked because of that impact.” Granite said while grimacing. She accepted the healing potions that Rain hurriedly gave her and the others, drinking it.

Rain frowned and look towards the exit, where a large group of Goblins can now be seen standing there. It seems like the next wave is coming, as more and more Goblins have started appearing already, and perhaps they have known that they were trying to escape as they immediately gathered in front of the exit, blocking the way. But they are not the problem.

Looking at the exit that doesn’t seem to be anything strange, his expression darkened as he saw the seemly unnoticeable but clear on his vision—that ripple-like wave across the empty air within the door entrance.

It’s like a still pond that had been disturbed by a pebble—and it only meant one thing, a barrier has been blocking the way. This is the worst.

“…is it possible, this is one of the types of traps where we can’t leave until we complete it?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“…nothing complicated! This Dungeon will force us to complete these waves until the end, or we will die trying...If I'm not wrong.” He sigh.

“That’s absurd!”

“But the absurdity is right before us!”

“…they’re coming!”

Rain gnashed his teeth in frustration.

What the hell is this Dungeon trying to do? Is it really trying to kill us? No, this is a Game-based Dungeon, no matter how unreasonable it is, it still goes with logic. Hence, there should be a catch.

There’s no such thing as an impossible game!

But just what is it?

There must be something!

It’s not like this entire thing was a deadly trap…isn’t it?

Even this Dungeon is not made for such purpose, especially not by a Great Hero...who said to have created this Dungeon.

Did I manage to miss something?

Whatever it is, he and the others didn’t have any choice but to fight. He opened his backpack and started rummaging through the items and equipment he had inside, those that they had obtained as they explore this Goddamn freaking Dungeon.

“Lafetti, Granite, Scarlet, let’s change our equipment first. Since we can’t avoid this now, we might as well go out with a blast.”

Although there were no better weapons compared to the ones that Lafetti and the others were holding, accessories and armors were actually quite good as well. They even have better attributes and skills than they were currently wearing.

Since they came here without preparation, most of their equipment and items are not that good. So its best to change them first.

Especially the Unique and rare Items they each get when they had killed the two Goblin Champions. These are great artifacts that even surpass that of the same tier which was made by the current era. More so, it was the reward they got when they killed the two Goblin Champions.

Following Rain’s arrangement, they hurriedly change equipment’s and even donned necessary accessories that improve their physical attributes.

Rain was even more impressive as he wears his [Coat of the Midnight Raven] along with several light armor, magic accessories, and lastly the Air Boots.

He also didn’t forget taking out the [Dark Knight’s Shield]. It was a black color metallic shield that was much smaller than Granite’s tower shield. And its appearance was more like a work of art, rather than defensive equipment. Especially those beautiful engravings at the surface. Comparing weight, it was much lighter as well.

[Dark Knight’s Shield (Superior—Rare)—long ago, the Knights of the Round Table faced the chaos demons to protect the world and fought against evil. Despite the overwhelming odds, the shields stood in front of their masters, and protect them until the end.

Defense +10%

Strength +10%

Vitality +15%

Available skills: [Weight Reduction] [Darkness Resistance] [Invincible—a skill that can be cast onto yourself to become invisible for five seconds, nullifying any physical/magical attacks. Cooldown: 4 hours. Additional effect: [Vengeance of the Dark Knight—a skill that absorbs the enemy’s attack and converts it to your own, enabling one to recover your health by 10% for every second until the skill ended.

Requirements: Knight, Dark Knight Dark Guardians, Dark Crusaders, Dark Paladin]

With just the attributes alone, this artifact is already comparable to that of a Unique-Tier Artifact!

His eyes narrowed as he inspected the black shield in front of him, which was almost as tall as him. As expected of an artifact from the said Age of the Gods; the Lost Century. It was much better than those he had seen in Miyabila's Collection.

From the current world, the grade of items and weapons had been constantly changed and simplified. Now, there were only three Grades that can be seen being used. This is to easily classify the items.

Common Grade, Rare Grade, and lastly Legendary Grade. (As for Superior-Rare and Unique Grade, it was just the System's ranking)

Well, not like artifacts found inside ruins and dungeons are that common anyway. And the Dungeons that Rain and the others were in, where artifacts such as this were appearing like raining cats and dogs are too rare that those found and seen by people can be counted by one hand.

And most of all, these Dungeons had already been ransacked by many people for so many years, that the artifacts had been almost been depleted. In the end, they were only be used as leveling Dungeons. It’s not like Dungeons themselves can generate those artifacts.

The three Grades of Items that Rain knows were:

Common Grade, also called as normal items are basic items without any explicit modifiers. Items with only one or two increased attributes.

Rare Grade, with one or more bonus modifiers. Though, some of them, especially the top class items have some strict and harsh requirements to use, especially, class requirements. The items that were classified as [Rare, Superior-Rare, and Unique] in the Dungeons belong to this group.

And lastly Legendary Grade.

These items are often found in Ancient Ruins, Dungeons or Labyrinths which far exceeded anything that could be wielded by any person. In addition, some of them have incredible powers that could rival that of a God. As an example of this was the said Holy Sword of the Ancient Great Hero; Arthuria Pendragon. The [Excalibur].

Well, even though the Dark Knight’s Shield was a piece of incredibly amazing equipment, nevertheless, Rain was not fond of using a shield.

Without saying anything he passed the shield to Granite who was looking at the Dark Knight’s Shield in curiosity, as well as interest.

“Yours,” he said.

“You sure?” Granite was surprised, but she still receives it happily.

“You know I don’t use shields. They would only burden me,”

Although Rain can easily bypass the Requirements and used it completely, he was just not used to fighting like a shield tank. And besides, his strength and endurance are far weaker than Granite. So, of course, Granite is best suited for the shield.

As a Demi-human, though she can hardly use it to its full potential, the Class restrictions from an item actually doesn't affect her. And so she can equip the Shield without a problem.

Furthermore, another reason why Rain gave her the shield instead, is that, because of the previous fights, the cracks on her tower shield are expanding, even more, becoming worse. Rain surmised that it would only need a few blows against it, and it would break into pieces.

Although broken items can still be repaired, if the equipment broke into pieces, then, in most cases, they would extremely difficult to fix, worse become impossible.

Rain knew Granite love her shield as it had already been with her for so long. Although she can use another, it would be hard not to feel sentimental, especially if it’s something that had been with you for so long. And Rain dislikes having her experience something like that.

Hence, this [Dark Knight’s Shield] was a very welcome item for the situation.

With Miyabila’s skill, Rain was certain that she can return Granite’s shield into its peak state, or perhaps even more beyond that. All that she needs are materials, in which after this Dungeon Exploration, he has more than to spare.

“Then, I will gladly accept!”

Granite laughed happily.

With [Titan’s Wreckage] on her hand, and the [Dark Knight’s Shield] on her left hand, her imposing manner seemly intensified by a hundredfold, and she looks even more powerful and strong. Perhaps, with the help of these two artifacts, Granite would be able to give Drova a good fight?

To Rain, Drova has always been the best warrior he had seen. Experience, strength, speed, and combat intuition, all of them are so high even with his power, he felt that winning against Drova would not happen for a long, long while no matter how much he procrastinates to become stronger.

She was like a mountain, so tall he could never see the peak. And in the pursuit of combat arts, Rain had always been chasing after her. She was his Master, as well as his goal.

Rain hurriedly changed his coat, boots, and even worn the [Goblin Elder’s Leather Belt] that added points to his Endurance and Dexterity as well as [Physical Amulet] that increases his physical resistance by 20% and even giving him a 40% chance of absorbing the physical attack and convert it to energy used to recover health.

These two items are extremely valuable for the current him, especially the [Physical Amulet], it’s basically a life-saving trump card item. Although he cannot increase his level immediately, who said he cannot use items to inflate his physical stats?

After changing their equipment and weapons, Rain then turned his attention towards the skill tomes on his backpack. This was the next part of his plan.

“Lafetti, Granite, and Scarlet…I know this is somewhat selfish of me to say this, but can I use some of the skill tomes?”

Although Lafetti and the others would certainly agree without hesitation, still, Rain wanted to ask first before using them. After all, he only managed to get them is all because of them.

And as expected, the expressions of Lafetti and the others didn’t even change.

“Do what you want… and take whatever you wanted,”

Lafetti said as she stared at him with eyes clear as spring. Her delicious mouth bloomed into a smile that was as gentle and refined as flowing water.

“You don’t need to ask for permission, as no one is going to take anything you like,”

“Not like there’s something’s valuable in there, or something suitable for us. And even if there is, what Lafetti said is right; as long as you want it, just take anything you like. There would never be a problem with that,”

Granite added with a grin. Scarlet didn’t say anything but her expression had already said her answer.

Rain smiled sweetly, feeling move. Then, without hesitation anymore started choosing what kind of skills he needed to use.