Level 1 Fallen

We spent four more days grinding away at the dungeon, which we had labeled the Mana Crystal Graveyard. For these four days, we had a simple routine.

After we woke up, we had a hearty meal, and then raided the dungeon once. Then, we came back out and performed individual skill training for an hour before repeating the process. The only times we stopped were when it was time to eat or sleep.

Thanks to this, Bella and Diane both showed remarkable growth, climbing from level two hundred and twenty all the way to two hundred and sixty over the course of four days. Although they were both still lower level than the monsters in the dungeon, the gap had been closed significantly. Together with their familiarity with these monsters, either one of them could clear the dungeon on their own with little difficulty.

As for myself, my skills improved only marginally. The greatest benefits no doubt came from my new ‘Ancient’-series skills. Ancient Mentor reached level thirty-five, though I assumed that would only let me enhance the experience of more people. Meanwhile, Ancient Forms had finally evolved into Ancient Shifter-X.

As I had expected, Ancient Shifter-X allowed me to become larger or smaller when transforming based on my skill level. At level one, the difference was barely noticeable. But with each level it increased, that difference grew more and more. Looking at the rate it was climbing, I estimated that I would need at least level fifty in order to maintain my half-orc form while using the Dragon King skill.

Given that we were at a point where Bella and Diane could each solo-clear the dungeon, I decided that it was time to bring up our next plan. I approached Diane, who was diligently training her Substitution and Ancient Sealing skills. “Mind if we talk for a minute?”

Diane glanced up at me before nodding her head, though she didn’t halt her training. She kept drawing the familiar sealing pattern with her finger, causing items to disappear or reappear on the floor. “I assume you want to talk about where we’re going next?”

“That’s right. If possible, I’d like for us to take on that request for the low-level dungeon,” I told her, catching Diane by surprise.

“The one with the restrictions?” she asked, to which I nodded. “I suppose that we could, but I’m not really sure why you’d want to. Out of the three of us, you would be the only one able to go in.”

“Well, it’s the only one of the remaining requests that would really help you, right? Besides, a level-locked dungeon like this seems interesting,” I told her with a grin, though her eyes widened.

After a moment, she looked down at the floor, letting out a small sigh. “Alright. I’ll send a message to the guy and ask for the coordinates. It shouldn’t take us too long to get to him with your skills, so when do you want to leave?”

“Let’s let Bella know first, naturally. After that… just whenever he responds.”

Diane logged out to contact the client while I went to inform Bella of the new plan. She didn’t seem bothered by the idea, since it would be good to get away from this dungeon after more than half a week of constant training.

It took about an hour before the response came back. When Diane logged back on, she had a somewhat unusual expression. “Is everything alright?” I asked, and she looked over at me.

“Y-yeah. Actually, the dungeon is somewhere we’ve been before. I was really surprised when I heard about it, so I had to take a little extra time to verify the contents.”

Hearing this, I blinked in surprise. “Huh? Where is it?”

“Just southwest of Brita, the city where the two of us began.” My eyes went wide at this, but Diane continued. “The dungeon was discovered just a few weeks ago. However, because the level restriction prevents anyone above ten from entering, nobody has cleared the dungeon. Instead, they have posted guards outside to clear out the level fifty mobs that leak through the gate.”

“The client this time is an aspiring noble among Athua’s players. In order to get his court rank promoted, he was given the quest to solve the mystery of the dungeon, and if possible to get its key to seal it. That’s why he’s kept the request listed for so long.”

I slowly nodded my head in response. “I see… I thought that it was just a passing curiosity that just wouldn’t leave him alone.”

“That’s how he phrased it. But, the truth had already been known by a few other players, so the secret got leaked. Thanks to that, the reward was increased, and he’s growing increasingly desperate. I had a few more messages in my inbox by the time I checked it earlier. He seems to know that you’re probably one of the few people that could really solve this dungeon.”

“Well, if it’s a place you both know, that’ll make this easy, right?” Bella asked with a bright smile. “Plus, I’ll get to see where you both started your adventures.”

I let out a wry chuckle at that. “Don’t expect too much. And honestly, we didn’t start adventuring together full-time until a while later. Still, let’s head to Brita. We can settle everything else from there.”

I took both of their hands, focusing on Brita’s western gate, and teleported. A moment later, we appeared just outside of a bustly city next to rolling hills. Several passing players and NPCs alike were startled by our sudden appearance, but soon went about their business. “Where are we meeting him?” I asked Diane, but she shook her head and pointed.

A figure was running over from within the city, waving his hand happily. “There you are! I’m glad that you were able to get here so quickly.”

The man was a beastfolk, that much was certain. However, I couldn’t tell exactly what type he was. Or rather, types. I could tell that at least one side appeared to be a raccoon, but it didn’t seem like that was all there was to it. “Drake, this is Yashima Taira, the client this time.”

Yakima ran over in front of us, smiling brightly and offering a deep bow. “Yes, it’s as she said. My name is Yashima, a baron of Athua. Though, with your help, I hope that I will soon become a Viscount.”

I simply nodded my head, not caring much about the noble ranks. Strictly speaking, I was a king of a foreign nation. I didn’t even know what the hidden perk of Athua was. Given how the capital advertised the church and light skills, I assumed it had something to do with that. “Can you lead us to the dungeon, then?”

Yashima quickly agreed, guiding us away from the city. “It’s only about a kilometer away, so we should get there quickly. That’s actually part of the problem, since it means that level fifty monsters are appearing so close to the city.”

I chose not to bring up how he had downplayed the importance of this matter in his original request, simply listening to him describe the recent events. They had sent in both new players and old Fallen, anyone that they could convince below level ten. Some of them had trained combat skills, and could fight up to level thirty, which was already considered very impressive for their level.

However, because the basic level of the monsters started at fifty, there was no hope for them to survive. Even those specialized in stealth only managed to make it a little further before they ran out of energy and were killed.

As for the exact type of monster in the dungeon, it seemed to be a stone golem. This made it trickier for the guards outside, due to the golem’s powerful defenses.

Soon, we arrived at a cave guarded by six armored knights. When they saw Yashima, they saluted, though some of them looked at me and the other two with pity, muttering something about another trial.

“Here to try again, Baron Taira?” the leading guard asked, to which Yashima confirmed.

“That’s right, Sir Bolt. My friend here is quite renowned among Players. To avoid a certain degree of chaos, I’ll keep his identity concealed. Just know that he is below level ten, and more than capable of fighting well beyond level fifty.”

Hearing Yashima’s praise, the knight looked at me suspiciously. I simply shrugged my shoulders, not feeling the need to elaborate any further. Although I came from Brita, it might cause some political issues if I were to start clearing up messes for their nobility as a foreign king.

Thus, the knight simply sighed. “Very well. Just to let you know, we have a respawn anchor set up twenty meters away. You will have already triggered it on your walk over. We use this in order to quickly respond to monster outbreaks, and receive relevant intelligence on the dungeon from any who enter.”

“That’s fine by me,” I confirmed, and the knights stepped aside to allow me to enter. I walked up towards the cave entrance just as a large stone golem began to emerge. However, as it was in my way, I shattered it with a projected ki bullet, continuing into the dungeon.

Inside, I found a dense cluster of stone golems idling around in a large hallway. The hall itself was four meters tall, and six meters wide. It continued more than thirty meters before splitting off to both the left and right. Notably, the walls and floors of the dungeon were neatly carved stone bricks.

It was entirely possible for me to just sneak my way through the dungeon with Beyond the Veil, but I opted for a more direct approach. I created forty projected bullets, ten each of fire, water, darkness, and regular ki. I then commanded these bullets to attack anything that moved aside from myself and each other within a ten meter radius of me.

Immediately, these bullets shot out, shattering three of the nearest golems and continuing to strike at the wreckage until there was nothing left. Naturally, the other golems began walking towards me, but they were likewise met with my elemental barrage.

With that taken care of, I calmly walked down the hall, scanning the area with True Sight. Thankfully, unlike the trials we had to take with Marron, I was not restricted from using my sensory skills here. Within moments, I had mapped out a large portion of the dungeon, which turned out to be a twisting labyrinth.

Curiously, there was one area near the center of this labyrinth where my senses could not penetrate. That was likely to be the core of the dungeon, and the reason why it was level-locked in the first place.

Thus, I began walking through the twisting passages, largely ignoring the monsters around me. I wanted to get this over with quickly, that way Diane could get her reward and we could all spend some time looking around the city. Since Brita was a starter city, they might even have some basic skills that I would be interested in.

As I thought about this, I noticed that some of the golems deeper in the dungeon started to look different from the others. They had red lines along their bodies like cracks. And the more golems I killed, the brighter these cracks seemed to glow. At the same time, I noticed with Observe that their levels were slowly starting to rise.

My interest piqued, I assumed that this must be some kind of trial dungeon, where the more golems that you killed, the stronger they became and the greater the final reward. If that were the case, then the dungeon’s key was probably restricted to fully clearing out the dungeon…

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