It didn’t take long for Aidan to enter into his grinding mindset. Back in the old world, he often went into this when he got sucked into a good video game, wanting to get all the goodies and avoid any troubling speed bumps along the way.
His mind would get sucked into the process, and before he realized it, hours had passed and he wondered how on earth he managed to survive this long without food or drink. That was the same kind of thing happening right now.
Hours passed since he separated from the group, and he kept his focus on tackling the monsters covering the third floor of the dungeon. Whenever he would spot a decent monster, he always took it upon himself to fight it himself, thus landing him in this current situation.
Aidan whipped past the empty space of the dungeon floor, only to get bombarded with high-powered air strikes that made craters everywhere he moved. He looked back to see the giant flying bird, with its sharp beak and cruel-looking talons, shrieking and flapping its wings before launching more air attacks straight at him.
Of course, Aidan flew like the bird using the air he crafted to move around quickly, his Infuse plus his cloak making it easy to dodge the fast air spells the bird was casting.
Spear-beak Vandalizer, Level 24
Another boss-like creature with a higher level than the level recommendation. Aidan was seriously starting to wonder if perhaps the level recommendation was only meant for the mobs that crowded the floor. Aidan just happened to be flying about when he was almost assaulted by the bird’s incoming hostility, getting attacked with a surprise air shot similar to his own Crafted air spells.
Of course Aidan tried to attack it, but the Vandalizer was too fast for him to target it properly. It kept using its own air spells to shoot around the airspace like a pinball hitting obstacles, making it hard to target it.
And unlike how he faced Ander who would usually land on the ground, it was hard to pinpoint exactly where the bird would land in the air with nothing for it to send vibrations to. He tried to use the air spells it often used to fly around, but the magic was disrupting his senses for him to truly coordinate himself.
The Vandalizer aimed right at him, its sharp beak ramping up to cut him through. Aidan moved out of the way, but the bird reacted quickly with an unnatural twist of its neck, nearly cutting his arm off as blood flowed out like water.
Aidan growled, kicking the bird that was too close for comfort and immediately shooting it with dozens of Air shots using Craft. While one air shot blew it away, the bird easily dodged the others with its crazed movements and unpredictability.
The fight continued on this way, with the bird having the upper hand in the air while Aidan kept getting cuts left and right. His Health was dropping fast, forcing him to use Heal on himself and draining the mana faster.
Deciding on a plan, he commanded the two swords in his hands to fly off on their own, distracting the bird by flying towards it to disrupt its patterns. The Vandalizer shrieked as it easily dodged the swords, trying to regain the advantage it had. Aidan waited for his opportunity as the Vandalizer finally went straight for Aidan again, the swords trying to follow but failing to catch up to it.
Aidan focused with all of his mental power as he forced himself to stay still. Then in just a pure second, his body phased along the bird’s physical tackle, then he reached out with his arm.
He caught the bird’s leg and, feeling like his arm was about to pop out of its socket, found himself dragged along with the bird. The Vandalizer screeched from getting caught, immediately trying to shake Aidan off by constantly blasting air shots to keep itself spinning around, but Aidan wouldn’t budge.
He felt like he was riding a rollercoaster made by a psychopath, but he kept his mind active as he carefully crafted air spikes which plunged deep into the body of the bird. Perhaps it might have some sort of resistance to air magic as the Vandalizer only howled louder while it kept flying about.
But Aidan only enforced his Infuse with more mana, boosting his stats further as he kept crafting air spikes to keep stabbing it over and over. Soon his swords caught up to them, and they both managed to slice off the bird’s wings when it was starting to lose its momentum.
As the bird fell, Aidan crafted the air to keep himself aloft, leaving his swords behind as they plunged themselves deep into the bird along with all the air spikes Aidan kept putting out. He kept hammering against the Vandalizer with as many spells as possible before it finally crashed onto the ground.
When Aidan floated downwards to see the result, he saw the body of the Vandalizer stay perfectly still, riddled with various holes and multiple cuts from his swords which floated back up to his side. A notification told him that the battle was done.
You have slain the Spear-Beak Vandalizer.
You have gained a large amount of experience points.
…..
Level Up! From Level 22, you became Level 23!
You have gained:
+1 Free Attribute point
+3 Free Stat points
+1 Intelligence
+1 Toughness
+1 Dexterity
+1 Vigor
Letting out a breath, he decided to put points into Vitality this time. Thanks to the cloak, it actually overshot his Intelligence, so he figured he could focus on keeping up with his lowest stat for now to try to make it reach up to his Strength’s number.
Once that was established, he sent out his swords to another quest to find a worthy monster to kill. He started to practice against stronger enemies like this on his own, trying to get a better grasp of his powers rather than let his swords keep taking kills like they usually did.
But he was stunned by how exactly large the third floor was. No matter how expansive it could get, he didn’t figure that it would actually surpass the size of the second floor entirely. That only made him think that the inside of the dungeon was spatially distorted somehow. The inside of the dungeon was massively increased in comparison to the size of the actual dungeon. If not, the underground of the city itself would’ve been riddled with dungeon monsters.
His Sense Vibrations gave him the information well enough to study the layout of both the city’s limits and the underground, which he suspected the dungeon to be, but now it turned out to be false.
This is getting me nowhere.
Deciding on the best next thing, he pulled out the resource balls from his pack, using Craft to create new weapons for him to use with Infuse.
He thought about making different types of weapons this time but decided against it. Somehow or another, his Sword Proficiency skill was actually making do even with his swords acting on their own, so he opted to make more swords to expand his search as well as increase his fighting power.
Each one took a considerable number of resource balls, and he wanted to leave some in case of emergencies, so he left it with just adding five more swords, totaling ten swords to use.
As soon as they left, Aidan crafted the air to boost himself up above, giving him a better outlook as he flew around the halls, avoiding the clutter of stone and obstructions for easier traveling.
Another hour passed this way, with his sword taking out as many mobs in between as possible. Thanks to doubling the amount of swords he had, his sense of range expanded slightly, his Split Mind keeping up with the added number.
Though he knew that this was his current limit. Any more and it would make his efficiency decrease in quality.
Still, even a barely moving sword was able to clear out some monsters from the distance, increasing his kill rate as time passed. Before long, he found himself with another notification.
Level Up! From Level 23, you became Level 24!
+1 Free Attribute point
+3 Free Stat points
+1 Intelligence
+1 Toughness
+1 Dexterity
+1 Vigor
Once again he put points into Vitality. And he excitedly did so as another notification hit him.
You have gained a title!
“Chunky II”
You raised your Vitality attribute to 25. You’re becoming more healthy and portly–and that’s a good thing!
+2 Vitality
That’s right, another title upgrade. Like all the times before, it gave him a good boost, making him beefier than he already was.
Everything was running smoothly before he managed to spot another impressive monster a few kilometers away from where he was at. He immediately flew there, finding himself a hulking monstrosity made up of coarse fur and large ears, its wings large and menacing while its red eyes scoured for prey.
Maddened Were-Bat, Level 27.
He could tell in a heartbeat that this creature was definitely not the type to play fair. He could already sense the energy coating its body, a dark coat flowing off of the creature like a curtain. It was the sort to blind the senses, most likely, relying on power and speed to deal killing blows.
But Aidan just had a life-or-death struggle with another flying creature, and he decided to cheat a little. Then again, this was supposed to be how normal parties plan out before facing a boss. Once he made close enough distance, he called forth three other swords by his side, planning on what to do next.
Then he recalled doing the method of twisting only part of the monster’s body part with Rend like he did with the Prime Dweller. Seeing the distance he was at now, he figured he could make it work. Just in case, he put Vanish on himself, making him disappear as he closed in to focus on the parts he needed to Rend.
Definitely the wings.
Making his choice, he willed his spell to occur at both the wings at the same time, pulling out his Multicast on full display as both wings twisted themselves out of existence. The stumps poured out blood like a geyser leaving the were-bat to scream in pain.
With its major feature out of the way, Aidan commanded the swords to follow while crafting air shots that were sent directly down before the creature could do anything else.
Stabbed multiple times and hit directly with the shots, it was barely able to do a thing before going down and dying on the spot. Even Aidan was surprised by how easy the fight went.
With another win in the bag, Aidan kept going at this pace for the next three hours, taking down as many powerful monsters as he could. Soon enough, he found himself at the end of the third floor, where he finally found another stairwell that led to the next floor.
This one he was certain was the same floor that he, Haley, and Van dropped into, recognizing with his senses the scent of the river flowing from below. He looked at his notifications to see the numbers go up as time passed.
Level Up! From Level 24, you became Level 25!
+1 Free Attribute point
+3 Free Stat points
+1 Intelligence
+1 Toughness
+1 Dexterity
+1 Vigor
…..
Level Up! From Level 25, you became Level 26!
+1 Free Attribute point
+3 Free Stat points
+1 Intelligence
+1 Toughness
+1 Dexterity
+1 Vigor
…..
Level Up! From Level 26, you became Level 27!
+1 Free Attribute point
+3 Free Stat points
+1 Intelligence
+1 Toughness
+1 Dexterity
+1 Vigor
Man, I really need to find more gear to up my Intelligence.
Aidan kept putting more points into his physical stats, wanting to ensure that his Infuse doesn’t fuck him up later down the line. As it was, it was his baseline for a great power-up, and if anything happened that caused his magic to go bonkers, he needed the physical stats to be high enough to warrant survival.
The little trick Nicky pulled in their battle made him realize that there was no other choice but to keep his stats balanced. He would still focus hard on Intelligence, knowing full well that his spells would often save the day, but there was no point in putting all his eggs in one basket.
While his thoughts ran through his future plans for his build, even thinking about experimenting with Craft to make more enchanted gear, he sensed his party coming around, and after a few more minutes, spotted them coming in looking more than eager from the feel of their souls.
“I’m guessing things went well in treasure hunting?” Aidan asked when they got closer.
“You bet!” Haley answered, running up to him with a bouncy gait. “We found four treasure rooms and got some really cool loot!”
“Anything that can boost Intelligence?” Aidan asked hopefully. “I’ll pay if you got any.”
“Sorry, but no,” Haley said, smiling with a sense of regret. “And don’t worry about paying anything. We did find some gear that boosts Strength and Agility. Do you want any of those?”
“Mmh… nah,” Aidan shook his head. “Right now I only need Intelligence. You guys can keep them.”
“I’ll take you up on that!”
Nicky shouted, she and her party coming around with clearly ecstatic faces while Nina appeared along with them, walking toward their side.
“Man, who’d thought that after all this time, we’ve been passing by those rooms filled with some great stuff!?” Bill the marksman said, his soul nearly bursting with joy. “Just one of them is enough to sell a lot in the market!”
“And we each get a cut from all this, correct?” Nicky asked, this time directing her attention to Nina.
“At the very end, of course,” Nina answered. “There would be plenty more treasures to find, so there’s no point in calculating everything so early. How about you, Aidan? Any troubles while you were away?”
“Not one bit,” Aidan answered, and finally noticed the Wise Guys paying attention to him. Their souls flared in return, showing shock and surprise.
“Wait… how many levels did you gain?” Nicky asked, pointing at him.
“Around five levels,” Aidan answered truthfully, seeing that they can just scan his level anyway.
“Wait, you leveled up that much in just a short time?” Bill asked. “How many monsters did you kill?”
“Uhh, you know,” Aidan shrugged. “I’ve been killing a lot. Plus I faced some pretty big bosses on the way too.”
“The entire floor we’ve been traveling has been awfully quiet too,” Ander answered, staring deeply at Aidan. His eyes reminded him of a predator recognizing a larger threat, though there was no sense of hostility from his soul. It was possible that Ander knew how to disguise it from Aidan. “You also took out many monsters from around here, didn't you?”
“That was the plan, right?” Aidan asked, though that by itself became the answer as Ander looked over to Nicky’s side.
“W-Well, good job then,” Nicky answered, though she cleared her throat before continuing. “So, we’re going to the next floor. Any of you got any experience there?”
“You mean you haven’t?” Van asked.
“We only prepared for the third floor, so we haven’t got any experience dealing with any monsters down there.”
“It’s the floor we were once at,” Aidan answered, reminding Haley and Van. “Where we fell down that pit.”
“Wait, for real?” Haley asked. “Wow, we must’ve gotten lucky to survive there.”
“This time, we’ll be exploring the entire thing,” Aidan answered. “Before you guys head out, let me expand my search a bit and take out anything annoying there. You guys don’t mind?”
He directed that question to the Wise Guys, which in turn their souls rang out in confusion before hesitation rolled in. After a moment, Nicky nodded.
“If you’re sure you can handle that…” Nicky answered slowly. “We’ll follow your lead. You did keep your promise to keep the third floor empty for us, so we’ll believe you.”
“Same to you,” Aidan answered. “Keep these guys safe while I’m away.”
No longer necessary to continue, Aidan became the lead in going down to the fourth floor along with the party. After a few minutes of walking down the stairs, the entire scenery changed as bluish light flashed, revealing the fourth floor that now added a large flowing river that seemed to be the major core part of the fourth floor.
This time, Aidan felt that the floor was different compared to the time they went down. If he had to guess, the time they fell down here was considered not the actual fourth floor, but something adjacent to it. That would explain why no notification was sent to him back then as now another new notification showed up to show they were at a different floor.
You have entered the fourth floor of the Crystalfang Dungeon. Level Recommendation: 20-25.
“Hey, question,” Aidan asked, getting the party to pay attention. “These Level Recommendation things… is it even serious? Half the time, I found monsters way above that level range on the third floor.”
“That’s how it was when the dungeon was first made,” Nicky answered. She looked like she was used to being asked that question as she easily answered. “That’s everyone’s first complaint about it. What nobody realized is that as time passes, monsters get progressively stronger and stronger the more people get killed here. And since that’s pretty much a constant thing, considering the low level at the time, not even the dungeon is updated. I think the last time this dungeon updated itself was probably 10 or 15 years ago or something.”
Aidan’s eyes widened at that revelation. “Holy shit. So the monsters here are actually stronger than the level recommendation?”
“That’s why it’s a ‘recommendation’,” Bill answered, sounding almost cheeky. “If anything, it’s the minimum requirement. Most adventurers we know barely go into the third floor without at least hitting level 30… so seeing you coming here at your level is kinda rare. No offense.”
“None taken,” Aidan shrugged. “I know I’m special.”
He sounded pretty arrogant there, but to say anything else would just be bullshit. As they were talking, Aidan already sent his multiple swords out, explaining to the party that he increased the number of swords as much as his skill allowed him to. Once he made his own relay network within the fourth floor, he took up into the air, saying goodbye to the others as he made his way through the fourth floor.
But this time, rather than going after every monster and going one on one like before, he decided to hang up in the air and let his swords do the work. He wanted to see if he could try and enchant his gear to see if he could re-create any items that boost his stats.
Thus came the long and painful process of crafting gear while he chilled up in the air, his swords causing mayhem and destruction in their wake.
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