HARMONY [LITRPG / ISEKAI / PROGRESSION / OP MC]

He moved toward the chest, half expecting it to try something again, and looked inside. It glittered at first, shimmering under the dim lighting as Aidan put his hands into it and pulled it up.

It was actually a piece of armor, a chainmail that stretched from the shoulders to the hips, the chains locked interchangeably with each other in complex patterns. But what caught his eye the most was how the vibrations that were giving off from the item were almost active in nature. When he scanned it, it was clear that it was an enchanted item.

Chainmail of the Mountains (Rare)

A chainmail built with sturdy materials of long past, enchanted with the ability to increase natural defenses and resistance against striking and piercing attacks. Upon wearing this, it increases natural resistances against most external attacks.

+15 Toughness

+10 Vigor

Requirements:

Level 7+

Aidan whistled appropriately at the effects. A whopping 25 stat increase to the physical stats was practically insane. That was enough to increase the attribute of both Strength and Vitality four times each.

“Whoa… is that for real?” Haley uttered in awe. “That’s the sort of armor that would cost dozens of gold! Maybe even more.”

Aidan nodded in agreement, checking the chainmail armor for himself. It was certainly valuable and powerful in its own right, and he had an idea on who to give it to.

“Van, you take this.”

“What?!”

Van almost shouted in disbelief. He looked at Aidan as if had grown a second head. Haley followed in his sentiments, her hands covering her mouth in shock.

“Yeah,” Aidan simply answered. “Who better to wear this than you?”

“B-But that’s so valuable. Besides, you were the one who saved me. If anyone deserves this, it has to be you.”

“Van, listen to me for a sec,” Aidan said. “Out of everyone here, you’re the only one with high enough Vitality stats. If it were either of us, Haley and I would’ve been killed outright if we opened that chest up. It’s only because you were tough enough that you managed to survive. I hate to put you up for this after you went through something so terrible, but there’s nobody I trust more to tank a powerful hit than you. Wearing this chainmail is only going to make things easier on all of us.”

Aidan said with resolution in his voice as he pushed the chainmail armor to Van’s face. He tried to push it back, as though accepting could land him in trouble, but Aidan was resilient in his approach.

“Van, he has a point,” Haley insisted as well. “I don’t want you to be on death’s door again. With Aidan’s healing, it would be a lot easier to manage in the dungeon.”

Van looked at his sister, clear want in his eyes for the chainmail while struggling to accept such a generous offer. Giving up against his internal fight, he let out a sigh before accepting the chainmail into his hands.

“I promise to take good care of it,” Van said. “And return it when we’re finished.”

“Just keep it,” Aidan replied. “I don’t care what you say–you saved us both by taking that hit. That’s enough of a reward for you to keep it.”

“But then what about the Key Slinger? Wouldn’t she get upset?”

“She cares more about what we learn from this quartz thing,” Aidan replied. “She’s not going to care about an enchanted item. Even if she does, I’ll figure something out, so don’t worry.”

“Aidan… thank you,” Van lowered his head. “I really appreciate this.”

“Me too,” Haley smiled. “Thank you!”

“Sorry that you haven’t found anything for yourself,” Aidan said, prompting Haley to shake her head.

“It’s fine. Nothing’s better than making sure Van stays alive. Come on, Van, wear it! I wanna see how you look.”

Van looked a little embarrassed after hearing his little sister continuing to insist on him changing. Having no other choice, Van took off his leather chest piece and top, revealing trained muscle and multiple scars on his chest and back. It was clear that Van took his job as a vanguard seriously, and Aidan was more than glad that they found a suitable piece of armor for him as Van placed it over himself.

He wondered if there was some sort of equipment lock where he couldn’t wear the leather armor piece back on if he was wearing the enchanted chainmail, but he found himself surprised once again when Van put his armor back on with no problems. He swung his arms around and stretched out his torso once or twice to get a good feel for it before nodding in approval.

“I can definitely feel the enchantment working. I never felt more powerful than now. My party members would kill me out of pure envy if they found out about this.”

“Then don’t say anything and keep it a secret,” Aidan answered. “Well, that’s one rare treasure down. Let’s keep going.”

Under Aidan’s insistence, they left the treasure room and returned to the maze pathways of the dungeon. Following his lead, the group eventually made it to the end of the maze with no problems, taking down monsters with Aidan’s help along the way.

They reached the room where there was a staircase that led down further into the darkness. For once, Aidan sensed that the floor below was unavailable to see through, just like how he first entered the dungeon. He relayed that to the others, and Van gladly stepped in front to lead the group in case anything should go wrong.

They followed the steps down, keeping their composure in check as they reached the second floor. A notification was sent to them the moment they landed on the second floor, entering into another well-constructed hallway like the last floor.

You have entered the second floor of the Crystalfang Dungeon. Level Recommendation: 10-15.

Now that’s just bullshit.

It made the encounter with the Dweller Prime all the more strange if the level recommendation was updated to match the levels. Before taking another step, Aidan sent out a pulse of his Sense Vibration to check the pathways before him. There were plenty of groups that were scattered across the range of his skill, some of them numbering more than five.

“It’s gonna be a tough one here,” Aidan said. “I’ll lead, then we take one group after another to get some experience. As always, I’ll keep them pinned down, but we won’t be taking turns. We’ll take them out as fast as possible before reaching the next group.”

The siblings nodded in agreement. The last floor had decently lower leveled creatures to face, but if the recommendation was anything to not consider, they weren’t going to take any chances.

They followed Aidan along the stone pathways, the walls becoming more furnished as several decorations took place. There were mannequins wearing simple looking armor that were placed around, and Aidan went to check them out. But they weren’t actual armor, just mannequins designed to look like they had armor. The lights became brighter, which did away with the need to use the torch.

However, there was that stench that felt closer to burnt coal that was stronger than before, with added bits of scorched marks here and there on the scratched up surfaces of the floor and walls. Soon they reached the first group, another pack of Cave Dwellers, but this time their level ranged from level 10 to 12.

He checked his stats and nodded, seeing that his Intelligence was at a decently high number compared to his other stats. This way, he would have more mana to spend, and a little bit more oomph to his magic and searching capabilities.

Once his little preparation was done, he commanded the earth to pin down the creatures. Unlike before, they didn’t just take the earth trying to hold them down. They struggled mightily before one of them managed to rip apart the stone and break it apart. But Aidan didn’t relent as he just covered the freed dweller with even more stone. The siblings followed suit, each attacking their own dweller before they could be released while Aidan sent out his flying shortsword to take down the creature.

It took several stabs this time, but it was because he also covered its head with the stone to keep it further pinned down, so he mostly aimed for the torso. Soon enough, each of the monsters were killed off, granting them experience points and another level.

Level Up! From Level 8, you became Level 9!

You have gained:

+1 Free Attribute point

+3 Free Stat points

+1 Intelligence

+1 Toughness

+1 Dexterity

+1 Vigor

That, of course, led to another title gradually added to the list.

You have gained a title!

“Chunky I”

You raised your Vitality attribute to 10. A great achievement!

+1 Vitality

He needed to realize that even if he mostly gained Intelligence, he was still receiving stat points that gradually increased his other attributes. So far, his low Vitality have finally breached the 10 attribute score, giving him the title.

He was really glad for his Class providing more stat points to his other stats on top of gaining a whole attribute point to his main stat. Still, he felt anxiety rising up every time he spotted his Dexterity, Vigor, and now Toughness rising further than their counterparts in their respective attributes.

He decided to ask the siblings for their thoughts on this matter, and how people react when their Classes increased their non-main stats further than the others. They didn’t really see it as a problem, as it was a natural state of things for people who attain a Class. Who wouldn’t want to feel a little tough even though you’re mainly using magic, for instance?

They did clear it up for Aidan that having one stat surpassing the others in a singular attribute wasn’t anything to worry about. There wasn’t some strange stat penalty for doing so, which got Aidan to finally feel relief. Only his OCD-addled mind was taking a hit, but he would gladly put it up front in the line of fire if it meant getting better at surviving in the future.

They kept going with the pattern, taking down each monster group they could spot. Sometimes one of the groups would come to them after hearing about the noise, but Aidan kept his senses peeled for this exact reason, creating the environment with the use of Craft to make it so that they had to stay around while they were finishing off the current group they were dealing with.

Once the group they were handling were taken out, Aidan pulled aside the earth and quickly eliminated the other group with his party. Van was an efficient machine, methodically taking out one monster with swift blows to its vital areas. He also kept his eye on Haley, but he was starting to do so less and less as Haley kept her distance from the monsters and stayed near Aidan for protection.

Haley was just doing her best to deal glancing blows whenever she had the chance. To avoid spending mana, she would team up with her brother to take out one of the monsters in close-combat. It was clear that unlike her brother, she was a bit clumsy at times, but Aidan wasn’t any better either so he had no right to judge. He didn’t even bother picking up his sword to do the lifting.

They went through two hours taking each group on, and eventually they reached their limit. Aidan was starting to feel the atmosphere closing in on him, his body desperately reaching for air as sweat dripped from his skin.

“Let’s take a break,” Aidan said, noticing that nobody around him said anything up until now. “Let’s find an empty spot and recover.”

“Wait!” Haley pointed out. “I think I can sense something else. It’s a little far away from here, but we’re getting close.”

“Break first,” Aidan nodded, panting hard. “Then we risk our lives for treasure. Deal?”

“Deal,” Van answered in her stead, but Haley eagerly nodded, looking like she was about to keel over along with her brother.

With Aidan’s skills, they managed to find an empty area to hide in. This time Aidan made sure to cover the hall they were in with a big stone wall with the use of Craft, hiding them completely. Each of the group slumped to the ground, taking out their rations and waterskins for nourishment while Aidan looked back at his gains.

Level Up! From Level 9, you became Level 10!

You have gained:

+1 Free Attribute point

+3 Free Stat points

+1 Intelligence

+1 Toughness

+1 Dexterity

+1 Vigor

Naturally, this also occurred.

You have gained a title!

“Meathead I”

You raised your Strength attribute to 10. A great achievement!

+1 Strength

…..

You have reached level 10. Here are the choices you can pick from:

As suspected, the moment he reached level 10, his class offered him another few skills for him to pick. He took a gander at them, and noticed that he still had the options from before when he chose Magic Boost as his first ability. Magic Missile and Magic Barrier were still up to grab, but there were now five new abilities to choose from.

-Ember Shot

-Water Spout

-Air Slash

-Earth Bullet

-Channel Mana

He was shocked to see there were so many options to choose from upon reaching level 10, but it was clear that it was some kind of important step to take as a Mage. The first four abilities were clearly elemental-based from how the names were worded, and he read the descriptions of each one. They were exactly how their names described them.

Ember shot would make him shoot a ball of hot embers at someone. Water Spout does the same except it would shoot out a torrent of water. Air Slash and Earth Bullet would also shoot out projectiles based on the element, with the last one not actually an attacking spell, but a supportive one instead.

It would allow him to gradually recover more mana even outside of his meditative state, a passive ability that works well for his type of build, especially considering that he had enough attacking options without choosing any of the prior abilities. He was more than glad for this type of ability, which would helpfully ease off on him having to spend his points all the time in Intelligence to keep up with the demand of his magic. Now he could just let his Class gradually increase his main stat and he can focus on his other stats for survivability and convenience.

Clearly, he chose Channel Mana and read the description again for good use.

Channel Mana (Copper)

Allows you to recover a bit of your mana by absorbing the particles left behind within the atmosphere around you. You restore 0.1 mana per second, and the mana intake increases the higher your Intelligence attribute is.

Currently, his mana was sitting halfway down from their last venture. Taking the chance, after eating his rations and drinking a bit of water, he closed his eyes to enter Soul Meditation once again. While in his ghost form, he checked his status and watched as his mana pool recovered at an astonishing rate.

It looked like with Channel Mana, he could increase the amount by nearly double his recovery rate. With this, he could easily keep up with his casting while using his sword without costing as much mana as before.

Though despite his mana rising faster, he decided to get some more time to rest for the sake of his party. He didn’t mind either way. He was thankful to get this many levels so far into the dungeon, and the further he went, the more confident he would be to travel with just his sword during night time. That was why he didn’t mind sharing the experience with his party.

Since in the end, he can easily go by himself and reap the rewards. That also went along with giving the enchanted chainmail to Van. After what he went through, the dude deserved some reward, especially after what was happening to his little sister as of late.

Still, the thought about the rare item that Haley found earlier haunted his mind, stopping him from thinking any further plans. He didn’t feel comfortable going through another trap even with his healing spell on hand now. He would like to practice, but every mana counted and he didn’t want to stay in this dungeon any further. So the possibility of the rare item that Haley found being the thing that the quartz gem is attuned to might get them out earlier than planned.

After taking an hour of respite, the party continued onwards, following Haley this time after their cursory checkup around their vicinity. There were still plenty of monsters on the prowl, mostly Dwellers and Spiders, but Aidan ignored them all for the sake of saving his mana. The last thing he wanted to do was run out of mana while they needed a healing spell to save their lives.

“Here it is,” Haley said, turning to a corner and spotting something up ahead.

Aidan and Van followed along, Van raising his sword in preparation for anything. Rather than leading further into the maze, the hallway expanded into a large dome with various gems encrusted on parts of the walls around them.

Aidan scanned the gems that were glowing with power, perhaps being mana or some other type of energy, but nothing came up. While Van had never seen them before, he told them that sometimes these gems often made up for light sources in the dungeon, and anyone who tried to mine them and take them off of the walls ended up with nearly useless shiny baubles instead. He was disappointed in hearing that, thinking that perhaps they found some rare ore vein, but he was more than okay with not having to mine for the multiple gems around him.

They entered into the dome-like room, once again finding another treasure chest lying in wait at the center. But unlike the last one they found, this one was a lot bigger in size, reaching up to their knees with the width spanning an arm’s length. Aidan didn’t need much experience to know what this looked like.

“Okay, everyone raise their hands if they think this is booby-trapped.”

It didn’t take long for the siblings to lift their hands to the air in response.

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