《Reaching for One's Desire: Kane's Ascension》 Vol.1 - CH001 - Gaias Gift [You have been bestowed with Gaia¡¯s Gift! The World itself rejoices as the System becomes accessible to you!] [Check your Status in order to learn your Classes and thus, how worthy you are in the eyes of Gaia!] Those two messages were the first thing Michael Kane saw the moment he woke up. He blinked one¡­ twice¡­ rubbed his eyes to remove the effects of sleep from them¡­ blinked twice again¡­ before a massive grin almost split his face in two. ¡°Yes! Finally!¡± He exclaimed with a laugh as he rose to a sitting position on his bed. He noticed that the semi-transparent white window with black letters stayed within his line of sight even as he moved and he laughed again. This confirmed that he wasn¡¯t hallucinating and that he had finally gotten access to the System. Michael had turned fifteen years old a few months ago and while he had been waiting for this day ever since he realized he wanted more out of life than what he currently had, the wait during the past few months had been specially excruciating. And he knew that he wasn¡¯t the only one. Every fifteen-year-old waited with baited breath for the Day of Gaia¡¯s Gift, which was essentially the day their future would be essentially decided by the World itself. Now, while most just waited for it with either eagerness or trepidation, Michael had waited for this day with those two emotions plus so many more that he could barely put a name to them. Why? Because he was an orphan. The only reason he even had a name was because the matron at the orphanage he was raised until he was ten had found a piece of paper indicating that ¡®Michael Kane¡¯ was his name. While that raised a lot of questions on itself, Michael had more worries during his day-to-day life than to spend it bothering why his biological parents had apparently bothered to name him only to abandon him later. As an orphan ¡®living in¡¯ Orus, the capital and most prominent city of the continent and kingdom of Aria, Michael was considered to be at the lowest level that any citizen could be. And technically, he didn¡¯t even live within Orus since his house, a small wooden hut he built on his own a few years ago, was located within the forest near the farmlands that were outside of the city walls. An orphan could only stay at the orphanage until he/she was ten years of age or had the luck to be adopted by someone. While they lived at the orphanage, they were taught the basic skills one needed in order to look after oneself. When they became ten years old, they were ¡®gently¡¯ kicked out while good fortune in the future was wished upon them. When he was ten, Michael had been kicked out of the orphanage. He knew that the reason why he had not been adopted was because most people, specially nobles, were not fond of his facial features. Michael wasn¡¯t deformed. He wasn¡¯t even ugly. As a matter of fact, his facial features were perfectly symmetrical and because of his rough life, they were quite rugged and mature despite only being fifteen years old. No. Michael was quite handsome and pleasant to look at if you ignored the rags he wore and his status as an orphan. The problem were his hair and eyes. While his hair, a slightly spiky affair that reached the nape of his neck, bangs that framed his angular face and reached his shoulders with a fringe that fell between his eyes, could be somewhat overlooked since it wasn¡¯t a big deal until you learned that the greyish white tresses were his natural color. And his golden orange-yellow eyes, which were commonly associated with Infernals, a race of bloodthirsty humanoid monsters, didn¡¯t help matters at all. Needless to say, Michael wasn¡¯t surprised he wasn¡¯t adopted. The fact that he was even raised at the orphanage until he was ten was surprising. After he had been kicked out, Michael had tried to find some kind of job within the city. It wasn¡¯t uncommon for people to hire children as their assistants, helpers or just as cleaning aid. As long as he didn¡¯t become a criminal, Michael had been fine with anything that he could find as long as he could put food inside of him on a regular basis. However, much as the same as when people refused to adopt him because of his appearance, no one within the city had been willing to give him a job because of it. While most had just told him that they had not been hiring at that time, Michael had known that the likely reason was because he being in their employment would have been bad for business, as some of them had not been afraid to tell him. Luckily for him, after almost a week, he had managed to find a job outside of the city working for one of the many farmers that worked the lands there. The farmer, an old man named Chuck who apparently used to be a captain of the city guard in his youth, didn¡¯t seem to care about his appearance at all. In his own words, he had only cared about how useful he could be. And Michael had done his best not to disappoint. Chuck had taught him a lot, from actual farming so he could help him with his work to how to fight using a sword and a shield so he could defend ¡®their lands¡¯ from the animals and weak monsters of the surface, such as wolves and goblins. Chuck had even taught him how to hunt and while he preferred using a sword, Michael turned out to be an excellent shot with a bow and arrow. Another thing that had turned out better than he expected was that even though Chuck paid him a fair amount of coins each week for his work, he got to save most of it since he had been allowed to eat with some of the vegetables he helped grow and the meat of the animals he hunted. He had only needed to spent money on relatively durable clothes he had to use to work to replace his previous sets when he outgrew them. However, despite all of this, Michael had not been able to avoid feeling dissatisfied with his life. The time he had spent looking for a job within Orus had been enough for him to see the kind of life he really wanted. He wanted a life full of excitement filled with luxury and pleasure. He wanted for people to admire him and look up to him despite his looks. He wanted to have the power to only depend on himself to get the things he wanted. In other words, Michael wanted to join the Adventurer¡¯s Guild and become an adventurer. And adventurer was someone that had the guts to not only had the guts to go on missions/quests all over the kingdom but also to head down onto the Dungeon, a descending structure divided in floors on top of which Orus was built, for profit and to increase their strength. Adventurer¡¯s were amongst the most respected people within Orus and, aside from nobles and the Orus Royal Family, the ones that managed the most money. Considering the kind of risks they took on their day-to-day life, it was only common sense that their profits equaled those risks. That was why Michael had been waiting for this day with all the emotions that translated to anticipation and trepidation. He wanted to become an adventurer and doing so would depend on the classes he received today. There was a chance that, since he had been doing it for five years now, that he would be assigned the Farmer Class. However, in order to counteract that possibility as much as he could, Michael practiced his swordsmanship and marksmanship every day for a few hours before and after work. Not only that, but he had used some of his saved money to buy books on magic that he would also read on his spare time. While the final decision on the Class(es) he got was entirely up to Gaia and the World, it was known that you could influence the end result up to a certain point. By doing the above mentioned, Michael had hoped to get either the Warrior, Ranger or, if he was lucky, the Mage Class. One of them would be enough to allow him the chance to become an adventurer and start on his path to living the life he desired for himself. ¡°Alright. Enough stalling. Let¡¯s get this over with,¡± said Michael to himself as he took a deep breath and psyched himself up. There was only anticipation within him now, though the trepidation was still there, since he knew that there was still a definite possibility he would be assigned the Farmer Class. He shook his head and sighed before speaking with a clear voice. ¡°Status!¡± A semi-transparent white window that was bigger than the first two that had appeared when he woke up appeared in front of him. It displayed to him his General Information, his Attributes, his Classes and the initial Skills he was granted by the Classes he got. Almost greedily, he began to read. General Information [Name: Michael Kane] [Age: 15] [Race: Human] [Rank: F] [Level: 4] Attributes [Strength: 8 (F)] [Endurance: 8 (F)] [Vitality: 8 (F)] [Agility: 8 (F)] [Intelligence: 12 (F)] [Wisdom: 12 (F)] [Magic: 12 (F)] [Charisma: 8 (F)] Classes Origin Essence: 0 [Blader (+4 STR, +4 END, +4 VIT, +4 AGI) (LVL 1/25) (0/100)] Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. [Elementalist (+4 INT, +4 WIS, +4 MAG) (LVL 1/25) (0/100)] [Manablessed (+4 INT, +4 WIS, +4 MAG, +4 CHA) (LVL 1/25) (0/100)] [Harbinger (+4 STR, +4 END, +4 VIT, +4 AGI, +4 INT, +4 WIS, +4MAG, +4 CHA) [LVL 1/25] (0/100)] Skills [Blader] [Blade Mastery. Passive. (LVL 1/25). Increases proficiency using bladed weapons. Increases damage done by bladed weapons by 10%.] [Elementalist] [Fire Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 1/25)] [Wind Manipulation. Passive/Active (LVL 1/25)] [Water Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 1/25)] [Earth Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 1/25)] [Lighting Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 1/25)] [Manablessed] [Mana Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 1/25). Allows you to freely manipulate the magical energies within you.] [Harbinger] [Time Alter. Active. (LVL 1/25). Allows you to perceive everything around you two times slower. Limit: 5 Seconds.] [Teleport. Active/Passive. (LVL 1/25). Allows you to change your position in space within a range of ten feet.] Michael just stared¡­ ¡­ stared some more¡­ ¡­ and then blinked once¡­ twice¡­ roughly rubbed his eyes to make sure he just wasn¡¯t seeing things¡­ before blinking twice again as he started to make a pretty good imitation of a fish out of water. After a few moments, he finally reacted in the most eloquent and fitting manner possible. ¡°What the fuck?!¡± Needless to say, he was not expecting that. -XXX- As he exited his hut with a wooden kite shield strapped to his back and a steel longsword strapped to his waist, Michael couldn¡¯t help but be thankful of the fact that he didn¡¯t need to go to work today. Knowing its importance, Chuck had given him the day off and Michael was going to make the most out of it experimenting with his new abilities. After seeing his [Attributes], [Classes] and [Skills], he felt that he couldn¡¯t do anything less. While making his way towards the clearing he had been using for the past year as a ¡®training ground¡¯, Michael brought up his [Status] and called forth the description of his classes. [Blader. You are the bone of your blade. Tempered steel is your body, soul and will.] [Elementalist. Child of Nature. Its forces are yours to command as you see fit.] [Manablessed. Born of Magic. The energy of the World rejoices within you.] [Harbinger. The One Above. The Primordial Powers respond to your will.] ¡°Not one. Not two. Not even damned three, which has been known to happen from time to time. Four! Fucking Four!¡± Exclaimed Michael as he read the information in front of him repeatedly as he walked and evaded trees, bushes and other obstacles almost subconsciously. Normally, one received just one [Class]. If you were exceptional and talented, you received two. Some prodigies were known to have received even three. But four? That was just unheard of. Not only that, but none of those [Classes] were even among the ones recorded. He had never heard of or read about [Blader], [Elementalist], [Manablessed] and/or [Harbinger]. He doubted anyone had. Heck, even the increase to his [Attributes] he would get with each increase to the level of each [Class] was twice as much as what one normally gets. For example, he knew that [Warrior] increased Strength [STR], Endurance [END] and Vitality [VIT] by two and increased Agility [AGI] by one. In comparison, [Blader] increased those four [Attributes] by four. And he got even more increases thanks to his other three classes. It was unreal. Still, Michael could kind of see why the first two classes were given to him. Chuck had told Michael that while he wasn¡¯t a prodigy using a sword, he had enough talent for it and thanks to him practicing a few hours every day with it, he had become good enough that Chuck claimed that he could reach a prominent rank within the city guard in spite of any [Class] he got. Coming from a previous captain of the city guard, that had not been low praise and had meant something. Going by the description of [Blader], Michael also inferred that it had something to do with more than just his abilities with a sword. For once, it spoke about blades, not swords specifically. And beyond that, the description said that his soul and will were ¡®tempered steel¡¯. While the part of his body being that as well could refer to his abilities with a sword, Michael was still about unsure what it meant for his soul and will. As for [Elementalist]¡­ well, after using the books he had bought in the past to get a basic understanding on how magic worked, Michael had gotten an interest in Elemental Magic and had made sure to learn the theory behind the usage of the five main elements. However, the description of [Elementalist] called him ¡®Child of Nature¡¯ and said that its forces were his to command. Until he experimented with his skills, he wouldn¡¯t be able to start correctly deducing what it meant. While he could chalk up [Manablessed] to his interest in magic, the fact that he was ¡®Born of Magic¡¯ threw him for a loop. He knew that ¡®Mana¡¯ was the magical energy that was present within all living beings that allowed them to use magic without the need to channel the energy of the World itself to do so, meaning that he likely had an affinity towards magic that was beyond most people. Other than that, he couldn¡¯t come up with something that made sense. He would need to learn more about magic in order to learn more about it and what it meant. And finally¡­ [Harbinger]. The One Above? Primordial Powers? Going by the initial skills he got from it, the primordial forces likely referred to Time and Space. While some of the books he¡¯d read spoke a bit about those concepts, he had never even gotten a hint that something like Time Magic and Space Magic existed. Not only that, but [Harbinger] even gave him increase to the [Attributes] that didn¡¯t have anything to do with magic. He couldn¡¯t even start guessing what it meant for him to have [Harbinger] as one of his [Classes]. Michael eventually reached his destination and he only took a moment to observe the ¡®damage¡¯ he had done to it that was proof of the many times he had come this clearing to train in the past before shaking his head. He couldn¡¯t waste any time. ¡°Let¡¯s start with [Blader]¡­¡± he muttered as he reached for the shield on his back and unsheathed the longsword. The moment he did so and slipped into the initial stance of his forms, Michael noticed that something was wrong. He looked down at the shield with a frown. ¡°Why does it feel uncomfortable now. It never did before¡­¡± he trailed off as he began to think. He perked up after a moment after he realized that [Blader] and [Blade Mastery] gave him proficiency using only bladed weapons, which a shield most definitely wasn¡¯t. He had never heard of a [Class] or a [Skill] making it so someone was uncomfortable of using an equipment they already knew how to use, but considering that he had never even heard of any of his [Classes], he supposed that the possibility wasn¡¯t too farfetched. Michael dropped his shield on the ground and immediately felt a marked difference. Unconsciously, a grin appeared on his face as he began to seamlessly go through forms using his longsword one-handed. As the blade cut through the air and he moved through the clearing with an ease and grace that he had never possessed, Michael became aware of the effects of his [Blade Mastery] skill. The fact that it was currently only [LVL 1/25] made him mentally salivate at how good he will be when he maxed it out. Not only that, but he was now sure that his [Class] and [Skill] applied to all kinds of bladed weapons. The possibilities¡­ Michael continued using the longsword and testing his newfound abilities with it until he worked up a light sweat. He knew that unless he was sparring against another person or fighting against monsters, his skill wouldn¡¯t actually rise in LVL. Michael sheathed back the sword and took a deep breath to calm down. ¡°Okay. That¡¯s one done. [Elementalist] is next¡­¡± he muttered to himself as he closed his eyes, held up his hands in front of him and began to focus on the first of the five skills he was given by that [Class]: Fire Manipulation. The moment he did so, Michael became aware of the magical power within him. While he knew the basics of magic and its concepts, he had never been able of channeling mana before. Unlike other classes that had a more physical focus, one could only use mana if one was lucky enough to get a magical [Class]. That was why mages of any type were so revered and were guaranteed a noble status the moment they became one. Anyways, Michael felt his mana being directed from its core, which was located right in the middle of his abdomen, towards his hands. After a moment, he felt warmth against his face and he could see an orange-red light through his eyelids. Michael opened his eyes and his grin came back when he saw that they were engulfed in cackling red, orange and yellow flames. He could feel their heat, both on his face, hands and arms, but he wasn¡¯t being burned by it. That was because since he was producing it with his own magical energy, he couldn¡¯t be hurt by it. [Fire Manipulation Subskill ¡®Flames¡¯ acquired.] [Fire Manipulation has reached LVL 2.] Michael blinked at the two sudden and unexpected notifications before shrugging his shoulders. ¡°Eh, what the hell? Flames!¡± He declared for aiming his palms forward and away from him. His eyes shone with glee as a constant stream of flames shot forward until about fifteen feet away from him, where they simply stopped. Michael stopped the flow of mana after a few seconds before using it again with only one hand. The range and size of the flames were somewhat reduced but the heat was still the same. Barely resisting the urge to start laughing like a madman, Michael proceeded to use his other elemental manipulation skills. [Wind Manipulation Subskill ¡®Gale¡¯ acquired.] [Wind Manipulation has reached LVL2.] [Water Manipulation Subskill ¡®Stream¡¯ acquired.] [Water Manipulation has reached LVL2] [Earth Manipulation Subskill ¡®Spike¡¯ acquired.] [Earth Manipulation has reached LVL 2] [Lightning Manipulation Subskill ¡®Sparks¡¯ acquired.] [Lightning Manipulation has reached LVL 2] ¡°This is so fucking awesome¡­¡± muttered Michael as he stared at his hands that were cackling with yellow electricity. The [Wind Manipulation] subskill [Gale] allowed him to generate a gust of wind strong enough to rip off some of the leaves of a nearby tree. The [Water Manipulation] subskill [Stream] allowed him to shoot a pressurized stream of water from his palm that had enough force to dig into the bark of that same tree. The [Earth Manipulation] subskill [Spike] allowed him to rise a deadly looking earth spike from the ground. And finally, the [Lightning Manipulation] subskill [Sparks] allowed him to shoot bursts of lightning at about the same distance as [Flames]. ¡°[Blader] and [Elementalist] are enough by themselves to give me the potential to become one of the strongest adventurers ever,¡± he said to himself with giddiness as he cut off the mana flow and the electricity surrounding his hands frizzled out. ¡°I still have yet to test [Manablessed] and [Harbinger]¡­¡± he trailed off as he finally couldn¡¯t resist the urge that had been building since he began testing out his abilities. Almost like a madman, Michael began to laugh happily. It was understandable, considering that he had been given more than what he had ever hoped for. While he was curious as to why Gaia and the World deemed him worthy of such potential, he still was going to make the most out of it. He would become the strongest adventurer in history. He would become the wealthiest adventurer in history. He would become the most famous adventurer history. Women would flock to him and he would make them his. Or his name wasn¡¯t Michael Kane. Vol.1 - CH002 - Orus The day after he received access to the [System] and his classes, Michael found himself standing in front of Chuck first thing in the morning. Despite his obvious age, Chuck¡¯s past as a captain of the city showed. The loose linen clothes he wore did nothing to hide his still powerful build. His face, however, was wizened and had many wrinkles here and there. What was left of his hair was almost completely white and most of his face was covered by a beard of the same color. His powerful and muscular arms were crossed over his chest as he regarded Michael with a raised eyebrow. ¡°So¡­ you gonna become an adventurer, brat?¡± Michael nodded his head resolutely. ¡°Yes, old man. I got the [Warrior] and [Mage] classes. I would be wasting my potential if I didn¡¯t,¡± he said. He didn¡¯t even hesitate to lie to him about his actual classes. While he appreciated the old man, their relationship didn¡¯t go beyond employer and employee. Even what he had taught had been so he could do his job. While he was grateful for the job he had given him when others had refused, Michael knew that he didn¡¯t owe him any more than that. Chuck¡¯s other eyebrow rose to join the first one as he whistled and gave Michael an impressed look. ¡°Truly? You don¡¯t see that combination often. Normally, [Warrior] is combined with [Ranger], [Hunter] or even [Scout] sometimes. [Mage] usually comes alone or with other classes that compliment the use of magic,¡± mused Chuck for a second before shaking his head. He gave a nod towards Michael. ¡°I guess that you not becoming an adventurer would indeed be a waste then.¡± Michael inclined his head before reaching back and presenting the longsword, wooden shield and bow he had been using for the past year. Chuck had given them to him to do his job and since he was not longer going to be working for him, it was only fair he returned them. Not only that, but Michael had enough money to buy some decent basic equipment and pay for a few nights at a regular inn while he took his first step towards becoming an adventurer. Chuck shook his head and almost nonchalantly pushed the stuff back to Michael. ¡°Keep them. I have many more of those and I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯ll need them even more now.¡± Michael simply nodded. While he was not going to be using neither the shield nor the bow considering his [Blader] class, he still could sell them for a few coins. And if he didn¡¯t have to spend money on a bladed weapon for now, all the better. ¡°So¡­ you going to hire someone else to help you out here?¡± He asked curiously as he strapped back the stuff to make them easier to carry. Chuck nodded his head. ¡°Probably. Though I doubt I¡¯m going to hire a sniveling, skinny brat that barely knew how to tell left from right again,¡± he said with a grin and a barking laugh. Michael also snorted as he shook his head. ¡°Yeah, yeah. Fuck you too, old man,¡± he said and the two of them shared a short laugh. Michael grew a bit serious after a moment and extended his arms towards Chuck. ¡°Thank you for everything. I don¡¯t know where I would be today if you hadn¡¯t given me a job five years ago,¡± he stated gratefully. ¡°Bah,¡± dismissed Chuck almost uncaringly but the grin on his face was wide as he grasped Michael¡¯s forearm firmly and shook it when Michael did the same. ¡°Don¡¯t be going sappy on me now, brat. I just needed the help.¡± Michael huffed a short laugh before releasing his hold on Chuck¡¯s beefy forearm. ¡°Of course, old man. Of course.¡± ¡°Now, get the fuck out of my sight before I start rethinking letting you go. Good help is hard to find nowadays, you know?¡± Michael could only incline his head in agreement. ¡°That it is,¡± he said before turning around and starting walk in direction of the massive walled city that could seen not too far on the horizon. ¡°I¡¯ll be seeing you around, old man.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. Try to not get killed by a puny goblin while you are at it, alright?¡± ¡°¡­ fuck you too, old man.¡± As he watched the talented and diligent young man that had been his helper for the last past year, Chuck couldn¡¯t help but let out a deep, bellowing laugh. He could see that Michael was going to get far as an adventurer, the amount of effort and determination he put on doing anything he did certainly told him that. And that was when he was doing something that he clearly hated. What would it be like when he worked for achieving his dream? Chuck could only imagine and he knew that he was falling short. -XXX- Two words that could be used to describe the Capital City of Orus would be magnificent and imposing. Orus had three prominent and characteristic features which were the ones people used to describe it. First, the City Walls. With almost a million people living within it, Orus expanded for a few dozen kilometers on every direction and the City Walls surrounded the territory of the city in a circular fashion. Made up of concrete, wood and metal, a height of more than one hundred meters, with more than one hundred sentinel towers that were a few dozen meters higher across its length and dozens of gates that allowed the thousands of people that would come to and go out of the city, they were painted white, gold and silver and served as a deterrent to anyone¡­ or anything¡­ that even had the passing thought of attacking it. Second, the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Tower. Located right in the middle of the city, the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Tower was a structure that rose hundreds of meters towards the sky. Not only was it the headquarters for where all adventurers did their business, but it was also built on top of the entrance to the Dungeon. Not only was it done for convenience sake, but it also meant that whenever a monster tried to go out of it, which had happened a few times in the past, they would have to deal with thousands of adventurers before they could reach the city. The Adventurer¡¯s Guild Tower was pure concrete and metal, colored in different tones of gray and silver. And Third, The Orus Royal Castle, the White Keep. Overlooking the rest of the city, the massive structure sat at the top of a small hill that was separated from the rest of the city by the Orus River, which¡¯s waters ran through the city. One had to cross a massive bridge of metal, concrete and wood to reach the Orus Royal Castle. Giving its name, the White Keep was colored mostly white but it had golden and royal purple and blue colors here and there. The White Keep had its own walls that surrounded the holdfast and the seven towers, each one going even higher than the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Tower, that surrounded it. These three structures were the most prolific within the city. While they were others that were great in their own right, such as the buildings of the other Guilds and the headquarters for the City Guard, they just couldn¡¯t compare to the three mentioned above. Since he was an actual Orus citizen despise not living within the city, Michael didn¡¯t have to wait four hours in the line destined for those that would only be staying temporarily. All of the city gates had a width of dozens of yards, meaning, that two lines for people that were coming and going could be easily be arranged with plenty of space left remaining. Michael ignored the looks he was getting, none of them exactly flattering and/or friendly, as he made his way towards the booth right beneath the gate on its left side, which was the one used by citizens of the city. He only had to wait for a few minutes before he stood in front of a city guard wearing the dull gray steel plate armor over their white, black and gold colored uniform. Under his impatient and derisive look, Michael simply showed him his ID Card. The guard took a look at it, snorted, wrote something on the book that laid open in front of him before giving him a dismissive wave. Michael shrugged his shoulders, put his ID Card back on the pocket of his pants and made his way into the city. As he walked through the streets made of stone, Michael kept his head high and paid no mind to the looks of contempt and distrust he was getting from those that managed to get a glimpse of the color of his eyes. While his greyish white hair wasn¡¯t something to write home about immediately, considering the other more outlandish colors out there, it was still attention grabbing considering that it was obviously natural. His golden orange-yellow eyes were still a cause of negative feelings in those that saw them.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Thankfully, there were so many people walking through the streets and most of them had their own pressing matters and business to tend to that there were relatively only a few people paying enough attention to him to see that feature of him. While Michael didn¡¯t care by people¡¯s prejudice and judgement for something he didn¡¯t have control over, it was still annoying to deal with. Instead, Michael focused on the structures around him as he made his way towards the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Tower using the main street that directly connected the center of the city to the gate. There was one such a street for each gate. Michael noticed that most of the small buildings were made of wood and concrete though there were that had metal in their structure. He also noticed that all of the buildings were stores of some kind, meaning that he was in the Merchant District of the city. The only other districts that could be plainly differentiated from other areas within the city were the Noble¡¯s State, were the wealthiest citizens of Orus lived, and the Slums, where the least fortunate citizens of Orus lived. Other infrastructures, such as the buildings for the other Guilds, City Guard¡¯s buildings, inns, houses, parks, religious temples, theaters, arenas and prisons were spread throughout the entirety of the city. Truthfully, the real beauty of Orus laid in how¡­ versatile was its construction and ¡®organization¡¯. It took him a bit more than a few hours, but Michael eventually reached the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Tower and as he stood at its base looking up, he realized that it was so high that he couldn¡¯t even see the top from where he was. Michael shook his head too get rid of his stupor and began to make his way towards the opened doors of the tower. That was when Michael realized something. Other than some cursory and curious look, he noticed that those who were obviously adventurers, which could be determined by the way they carried themselves and the equipment they wore, were not put off by his looks. Heck, even noticed some women, and even a few men much to his unease, from different races giving him appreciative looks. That made him well up with pride and his posture straightened up a bit. ¡®It seems like adventurers are a very different sort from most of the normal populace,¡¯ thought Michael as he walked through the massive circular main hall of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild towards one of the receptionist booths that was least occupied. He had a pleased smirk on his face as he did so. ¡®Things are starting to look up already.¡¯ Michael had to spend a few minutes on a line but his turn eventually arrived. A beautiful Demi-Human (Dog) girl with brown hair, matching furred ears, a slim but voluptuous figure who was wearing glasses and a professional attire that did nothing to hide her curves smiled politely at him the moment he stood in front of her. ¡°Good morning, sir. My name is Lupa. How may I be of service?¡± Michael couldn¡¯t tell her what he really wanted from her without coming out as an uncouth, blatant pervert so he settled with returning the polite smile she sent him with one of his own. ¡°Good morning to you as well, Miss Lupa. My name is Michael Kane and I would like to become an adventurer.¡± Lupa gave him a knowing look as her smile widened a bit. ¡°Ah, yes. With the Day of Gaia¡¯s Gift having happened yesterday, we¡¯ve been having quite an influx of people wanting to try their luck at this profession,¡± she said before she reached down and produced a sheet of paper that she handed to him along with a pen. ¡°Please, fill out this form to the best of your ability while I look for your guild card. Oh, and the signing up fee is ten silver coins.¡± Michael nodded at that and handed her the exact amount. She gave him a smile before she stood up and Michael watched her until she disappeared behind a set of doors that were behind her receptionist booth. After making sure he memorized Lupa¡¯s sexy figure for later use, he began to quickly fill out the form. It asked basic things such as his full name, place of precedence, date of birth, etc. Michael finished before Lupa came back. ¡°Everything seems to be in order¡± she told him the moment she sat back on the booth and gave his filled out form a quick read. ¡°This is your guild card, Mister Kane,¡± she said and then reached into her breast pocket and put in front of him a thick, plastic white card that had picture of him on the upper left corner. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed that he had the same shirt on the picture that he had now. ¡°How did you¡­¡± he trailed off when he saw her glasses gleaming a bit as she gave him what he recognized as a cheeky smile. He snorted in amusement. ¡°Magic glasses? How¡­ convenient.¡± Lupa giggled a bit as she nodded. ¡°Quiet. They make the jobs of receptionists easier to do,¡± she said before growing a bit serious. ¡°The moment you touch your guild card it will absorb some of your mana and will display the general information of your [Status] plus your [Class] or both of them if you have two. As you rise in [Rank], the colors and design of your guild card will change to show that.¡± Outwardly, Michael just nodded as he reached for the card. Inwardly, however, he was a bit nervous. He had been planning to keep the fact that he actually had four unique classes to himself until he grew strong enough to not concern himself with what people might do to him if they knew. There was nothing he could do about it now. The moment Michael touched the card, he felt a bit of his mana being absorbed by it. As it changed into a dull brown color with a black line going vertically through the middle a [System] windows suddenly appeared in front of Michael, making him blink in surprise. [This guild card is only capable of displaying two classes. You have four. Please, select the two you want displayed.] Michael almost give a sigh of relief. While it wasn¡¯t exactly what he would have preferred, it was still better than having all four of his classes in display. With a mental command, he selected the two classes that he wanted his guild card to show. ¡°[Blader] and [Elementalist]¡­¡± muttered Lupa when she saw them after the white letters that displayed his information appeared. She gave him a speculative and curious look. ¡°I have never heard of those classes before. And you are already level 4, meaning that you managed to increase their levels once already¡­¡± Michael felt the need to explain a bit. ¡°[Blader] is like a [Warrior] class variant. It allows me to use any type of swords with a certain amount of proficiency. And [Elementalist] is a [Mage] class variant. It allows me to use two types of elemental magic,¡± he said, downplaying them quite a bit in order to make it seem like they weren¡¯t too much a big of a deal. Her light brown eyes gleamed with understanding. ¡°Ah, I see. While I have never heard of those classes, variants for the more basic ones are known to pop up from time to time. It seems like Gaia and the World recognized your efforts and bestowed you with quite the powerful classes,¡± she complimented him with a pretty smile as she continued to look at him with plain interest and curiosity in her gaze. Michael inclined his head at her, easily accepting her compliment. ¡°Thanks, Miss Lupa. I will do my best to live up to the potential I now have.¡± Lupa¡¯s smile widened a bit at his words. ¡°I look forward to seeing you grow, Mister Kane,¡± she said and when he pocketed his guild card, she raised an eyebrow. ¡°Would you like me to explain the basic characteristics of The Dungeon now?¡± Michael nodded at her. ¡°If it¡¯s not too much trouble¡­¡± He trailed off and turned his head to look behind him. He noticed that there were a few adventurers behind him but none of them had annoyed or impatient expression on their faces as they waited their turn. ¡°Not at all,¡± she assured him before adopting a serious expression as she began to talk in a ¡®lecture mode¡¯. ¡°It¡¯s speculated that The Dungeon has one hundred floors but only eighty-five have been reached so far. Each floor has their specific type of monster and a Boss monster of that type. While uncommon, variant types of the normal monsters and the boss have been known to spawn a few times as well.¡± She paused a bit before continuing. ¡°The Dungeon has a special capability that allows it to ¡®read¡¯ your essence and determine whether or not you or someone in your party if you are in one has defeated the Floor Boss. Defeating the Floor Boss is the only way to gain access to the following floor and you can only defeat it once every twenty-four hours. The reason as to why is yet unknown. Though I¡¯m sure you know this, monsters drop Essence Crystals, which you can either absorb to get Origin Essence to level up your classes or exchange them here for coins. The amount of coins you get depends on the quantity and quality of the Essence Crystals you bring. Obviously, the stronger the monster the more quality an Essence Crystal possesses.¡± Michael understood the information clearly. ¡°Thank you, Miss Lupa. I¡¯ll make sure to remember all of that. Though I won¡¯t be entering The Dungeon today since I still have to procure some armor and an inn to stay at for a few nights.¡± ¡°Oh! In that case, here, take this,¡± she said as she reached down and produced a thin booklet that she handed to him. ¡°That¡¯s the Dungeon Monsters¡¯ catalog. It has detailed information on all the monsters and Floor Bosses discovered so far. I¡¯d suggest you at least read on the First Floor tonight so as not to get caught off guard by the goblins in there. I¡¯m sure you have probably fought surface goblins before, but I assure you that dungeon ones are significantly stronger.¡± Michael nodded at her and smiled thankfully. ¡°Thank you once again. I will do my best.¡± Lupa returned the smile with a pretty one of her own. ¡°I know you will, Mister Kane. Is there anything else?¡± Michael shook his head in the negative. ¡°No. At least, not for now. I¡¯ll look for you in case I have any more questions or doubts in the future.¡± Lupa¡¯s smile widened a bit as she slightly inclined her head towards him, a few locks of hair falling almost seductively in front of her right eye. ¡°Make sure you do, Mister Kane.¡± With a final smile, Michael bid Lupa goodbye and began to make his way towards the exit of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. Noon had arrived as he spoke with Lupa, which meant that he still had a few more hours to get some basic armor for himself and find a decent inn to not only acquire a room for the night but to also secure some meals, one of which he was craving right now since he only had some fruit and dry meat for breakfast that morning. With a rumbling stomach, Michael decided to look for an inn first. After he secured a room and a meal, preferably at one that was located as close as possible to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Tower, he would look for some basic armor. He just hoped that his looks wouldn¡¯t prevent others from giving him the services he required. He didn¡¯t want his good mood spoiled after all. Tomorrow he would tackle the First Floor of The Dungeon and take the first true step to reaching his goals and desires. From now on, it would only be a matter of time and how far he was willing to push himself. And Michael was someone that never gave less than one hundred percent to anything that he did. Vol.1 - CH003 - Preparations ¡°How much is it per night?¡± Asked Michael to the owner of the first inn he found that didn¡¯t turn him away for his looks. It was called ¡®The Sleeping Bear¡¯ and apparently it was owned by a retired adventurer, which explained why he hadn¡¯t been denied service. Not only that but it was located less than an hour away from the Adventurer¡¯s Guild and The Dungeon. It was perfect for what he needed. After paying a few bronze coins for a decent tasting meal that filled his belly, he immediately inquired about the lodging fees. ¡°It¡¯s a silver coin per night. Two if you want three meals included every day,¡± replied the owner of the inn, a burly and tall man that had a lot of hair on every part of his body that wasn¡¯t covered by his clothes, which were straining against his massive muscles and belly. He also had a pair of black furred bear ears on top of his head, making it obvious that he was a Demi-Human (Bear) and that he apparently named his inn after himself. Since he was retired, Michael thought that the ¡®Sleeping¡¯ was some kind of reference to the fact that he was retired. Michael thought the prize was fair considering the quality of the food and the size of the inn gave him a rough estimation of how big his room would be. Michael handed the owner, whose name was Ursop, the fourteen silver coins that would cover his stay for the next seven nights and days. Ursop accepted the coins and handed Michael a set of keys and a plastic gray card that had the image of a resting black bear. ¡°Your room is the one at the end of the end of the second-floor corridor on the right. Breakfast is served until mid-morning, lunch around noon and dinner when the sun starts setting. That card will let me know that you have paid por the meals in advance,¡± he explained gruffly with his grave and almost booming voice. ¡°Thank you.¡± Michael nodded at the man as he accepted the two items and pocketed them for the moment. ¡°Can you tell me about a place where I can buy some basic steel equipment? I became an adventurer today and tomorrow I¡¯ll be going into the dungeon for the first time. I want to be as prepared as I can be.¡± Michael hoped that as a retired adventurer, Ursop could tell him about such a place. Ursop nodded his head. ¡°I gathered that from what you are carrying around,¡± he commented with some amusement before stroking his beard a bit as he gave him a speculative look, apparently considering something. After a few moments Ursop seemed to reach a decision. ¡°You should check out Urminoc¡¯s Armors & Weapons Shop. It¡¯s located on the third street of the Merchant¡¯s District. If you tell him I sent you, you might even get a discount, but that ain¡¯t a sure thing.¡± Michael nodded in understanding before thanking the man again. He then made his way upstairs and towards his room. Michael wasn¡¯t surprised to see that the room was bigger than his entire self-made hut in the forest. It was a bit spartan, with a simple bed, a nightstand, a desk, a closet and a window that allowed him to look at the street outside. There was another door within the room and Michael opened it to see that it was a simple bathroom that had a clean-looking sink, toilet and a bathtub. ¡®Fourteen silver coins for staying in such a place for a week seems like a fair trade,¡¯ he thought as a pleased expression appeared on his face as he continued to contemplate his room for the next few days. Eventually, Michael walked out of the room and locked it. He went back downstairs to the bar/restaurant portion of the inn and sent Ursop a wave that was returned dismissively as he made his way outside to the still busy streets of Orus. As he made his way towards the place Ursop had told him, Michael subtly tried to pay attention to the people around him. He noticed that the number of adventurers in comparison to other citizens diminished the further away he got from Adventurer¡¯s Guild, which made sense. When not on missions outside of the city, adventurers likely spent their time either on their homes, the dungeon or the guild proper. He knew that he wasn¡¯t the only one that thought living close to their headquarters was a good idea. Because of that, Michael noticed the increase of negative expression sent his way the further he got from the center of the city towards his destination. Luckily, it only took him about an hour of walking to reach Urminoc¡¯s Armors & Weapons Shop. The moment he slipped into the tall building made of wood, concrete and metal, Michael whistled as his eyebrow rose to his hairline. Neatly organized in racks Michael could make out an assortment of all the types of weapons and armor he knew about and even more he didn¡¯t even know about or have ever imagined existed. He also noticed that some of those weapons and armors had what had to be runes carved into them, which meant that they were likely enchanted as well. ¡°Oi, brat! Stop standing in the middle of my shop gawking like a fool! What do you want?!¡± Michael turned towards the rude voice only to blink at the sight of a muscled and bearded dwarf wearing a leather apron and pants with a hammer held in his scarred hands near the counter. Despite being called a dwarf, the man before him was nearly his own height (And Michael was tall for his age even compared to full grown adults) but almost three times as wide. Also, he had an oversized head in comparison to the rest of his body, which was what gave the impression that dwarves were undersized, hence the name of their rise. Hearing his irritated voice and seeing his annoyed expression, Michael was quick to speak. ¡°Good evening, Mister Urminoc. Ursop sent me here to get basic equipment for when I head into The Dungeon tomorrow.¡± ¡°Bah! So that old bear sent you, huh?! That means you are not a completely waste of space then,¡± he said as his annoyance seemingly faded away as his eyes gleamed a bit with interest. ¡°So, what were you looking for? I see you have some well-used but decently crafted basic equipment already.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Michael nodded as he approached him. ¡°Yeah. These were given to me by my employer so I could do my job and he let me keep them when I quit and told him I was going to become an adventurer,¡± he said before he shrugged off his things and put the bow, the shield and sword on the counter. ¡°I¡¯d like to get some steel armor and a new weapon. If it¡¯s not too much trouble and you are willing to accept, I would like to pay using these items as well as coins.¡± Urminoc squinted at him for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. ¡°Alright! I¡¯m good with that! But only because Ursop sent you and you have to promise you will only get your equipment from me as you grow stronger, you hear me?¡± Michael nodded at that with a smile and Urminoc gave a satisfied nod. ¡°Good! Now, tell me lad, what is your class? I might have some suggestions.¡± Michael only hesitated to answer for a moment. ¡°I actually have two variants of the [Warrior] class and the [Mage] class. [Blader], which gives me a certain amount of proficiency using any type of sword, and [Elementalist], which allows me to use two types of elemental magic,¡± he said, sticking to the downplayed description he had given Lupa earlier since it would be easier to remember and make things more convenient for him. Urminoc gave him an impressed look. ¡°Ah, I can clearly see why the old bear sent you here then,¡± he said and Michael only had time to contemplate what that could mean since he had not told Ursop about his classes before the dwarf spoke again. ¡°I take it that this [Blader] class allows you to instinctually use any sword you get your hands on, correct?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And what about [Elementalist]? What elemental magics can you use? And you have to use your hands like most mages at first?¡± ¡°Fire and Lightning,¡± answered Michael. He went with those since those two and Wind were the ones he preferred the most. ¡°And I have to have at least one hand unoccupied to use the skill of the [Elementalist] class.¡± Michael had spent the entirety of yesterday experimenting with his abilities so he had fairly good idea of what he could and couldn¡¯t do along with his current limits. ¡°I see, I see,¡± muttered Urminoc before he began to look at Michael up and down with a concentrated expression on his face. After a few long moments of this, during which Michael had gone somewhat uncomfortable, Urminoc finally started to speak. ¡°Your best option would be to go for mobility and reach going by your build and the abilities of your classes.¡± Michael nodded, having already reached a similar conclusion yesterday. The fact that Urminoc had done so without exact and complete information spoke of the high amount of experience the dwarf had. In that moment, Michael felt glad he followed Ursop¡¯s advise to come here. ¡°So! For your initial equipment you should go for leather boots and burlap shirt and pants. Over that a steel breastplate, some steel vambraces for your forearms and steel graves for your knees, legs and feet. As for a weapon¡­¡± he trailed off before giving Michael a wide grin. ¡°Why don¡¯t you see what I¡¯ve got in stock and pick it yourself?¡± Michael answered with a wide grin of his own. -XXX- Michael had a confident expression on his face as he walked into the hall of the Adventurer¡¯s Guild the next day first time in the morning. Not only could not wait to finally start ¡®adventuring¡¯ but due to his five years as a farmer, Michael had gotten use to wake up before the sun rose over the horizon. After putting on his new equipment and getting a hearty breakfast from Ursop, who once again complimented his sense of following Urminoc¡¯s advise, he¡¯d made his way to the guild so he could head into The Dungeon. Since he had gone with Urminoc¡¯s suggestions, Michael was wearing a black burlap shirt and pants that were held up by a brown leather belt that matched his brown leather boots. Over that he wore a dull gray steel breastplate that covered his entire torso and his shoulders. His forearms were covered by dull gray steel vambraces and his knees, legs and feet were covered by dull gray steel graves. He also had three small bags attached to his waist where he would put the Essence Crystals he managed to gather. One of them also had some dry meat he would eat when he became hungry again so he didn¡¯t have to step out of The Dungeon just to get lunch. And for his weapon of choice, Michael ended up settling for a steel claymore. While all of the swords he tested had been perfectly balanced and felt right in his hands, he felt that the claymore was the perfect weapon for him at the moment. He could both use it one-handed and two-handed, but the weapon would also not compromise his mobility and versatility since it wasn¡¯t as heavy and long as a greatsword. Strapped to his back with a leather belt that was attached to its sheath, the handle of the claymore peaked over his right shoulder and the tip almost reached his left knee. The blade of the claymore possessed one hundred and twenty centimeters in length while the handle possessed twenty centimeters. The guard was completely straight and ended in two holed circles at each end. The handle was wrapped in black leather and the pommel was spherical in shape. Michael knew that he looked like a proper rookie adventurer if the approving nods he got from the more experienced ones that paid more than cursory attention to him was anything to go by. Feeling his confidence being booted by their approval, Michael didn¡¯t feel nervousness as he made his way down to the entrance of The Dungeon. After a few minutes of going down a set of spiraling stairs, Michael eventually reached a wide room that was lit up by dozens of torches that shone brightly than what the size of their fire might suggest, which told Michael that there was likely magic involved there. The room was made completely of stone and concrete and the only defining feature other than the torches was the massive magic circle with a rectangular pillar made of a black material that had to be three times as tall as he was and was glowing with brightly moving runes across its surfaces. Michael watched in interest as a group of six men and four women of different races stepped into the circle and one of the women walked up to the pillar and pressed her palm against the surface of the pillar. After a few moments the magic circle lit up and the party of ten disappeared in a flash of golden light. ¡®So that¡¯s how you enter, huh?¡¯ Michael thought as he presented his guild card to the burly man wearing full plate armor that stood at the foot of the stairs. Only official adventurers and members of the city guard could enter the dungeon after all. Michael only had to wait a few moments before his turn finally came. With a confident gate, he stepped towards the pillar and pressed his palm against its surface. Michael was surprised at how cold it was despite the amount of people that had touched it already. He blinked when a system window appeared in front of him. [Welcome to The Dungeon, Michael Kane. Please, choose the floor you would like to access] [Available floors: 1] Michael didn¡¯t hesitate as he mentally choose the number one. By the time he was ready to leave, the goblins of the first floor will know and fear Michael Kane. Vol.1 - CH004 - The First Floor As the golden light engulfed him, Michael closed his eyes. He opened them again after when the intensity and color of the light he could perceive changed. ¡°So, this is the first floor of The Dungeon¡­¡± muttered Michael as he looked towards his new surroundings with a speculative expression on his face. The walls were made of protruding rock and were extremely irregular and the floor was just hard ground with rocks rising from it. The first floor was bathed in a purplish-blue light coming from many glowing crystals that grew alongside the rocks. While it was definitely darker in here than in the surface, it was still a bit brighter than at night while during a new moon. Michael looked back and saw that there was only a wall of rock and crystals behind him and when he looked down, he saw that he was standing on a small version of the magic circle that transported him inside of The Dungeon. Michael knew that there were dozens of these scattered through each floor and they were used to exit the dungeon. To activate them you only needed to step on them. Michael allowed a grin to appear on his face as he stepped off the magic circle as he unsheathed his claymore. The first thing that the pamphlet Lupa had given him said was that you always had to keep your guard up while inside The Dungeon. Monsters spawned from its walls and there wasn¡¯t an assured safe zone on any of the floors. That meant that you could be attacked anywhere and at any time. Michael wasn¡¯t going to let himself be killed by something as stupid as being distracted. As a rookie adventurer, he knew that he had to take every advice he got, no matter the source, from those with more experience than him seriously. He had to be alive if he wanted to accomplish his goals after all. The words proved to be true when not even two full minutes later, a section of the wall a few feet in front of him and to the right rippled almost as if it was water being disturbed by a falling rock. Michael watched in fascination as a goblin quickly jumped from the rippling surface and turned aggressively towards him as it bared its sharp, drooling teeth and brandished its wicked claws while snarling and glaring at him with its sickly yellow and red eyes. As Michael immediately slipped into his opening stance, he noticed the differences between a dungeon goblin and a surface goblin. The dungeon goblin was slightly taller and more muscular than its surface counterpart. It had green, tough looking skin while the surface goblin had brown, slightly wrinkly skin. Also, the dungeon goblin seemed to be more feral and aggressive than the surface ones. And, unlike the surface goblins who normally ran around completely naked, the dungeon goblin was wearing a loin cloth that thankfully covered its genitalia. Since it was known that all goblins were male, that was a sight that Michael could forever do without. Not that he thought that female genitalia would look good on a goblin either. The goblin gave a high-pitched squeal before launching itself towards Michael, its claws gleaming as they reflected the lights of the crystals. ¡®It¡¯s also a bit faster¡­¡¯ thought Michael as he stared at the charging goblin with derisive and disgusted expression on his face. ¡®¡­ but just as stupid!¡¯ Michael was most certainly not afraid of the nasty creature coming towards him with the clear intent of murdering and then feasting/bathing on his innards. He had been fighting the little shits for so long that even though it looked a bit different and was obviously a bit stronger than those he¡¯d faced before, it¡¯s actions showed him that, well, a goblin was still a goblin. When the goblin jumped, Michael just thrusted his claymore forward and pierced the goblin right through its chest. Michael enjoyed its shocked and pained expression before it went slack. It had been completely skewed through and due to the momentum it had carried, its body had ended at about the central portion of the blade of his claymore. Before Michael could attempt to remove it from his sword, the body of the goblin suddenly burst into black tendrils of smoke that quickly dispersed without the aid of air. Michael blinked when he saw that the disgustingly thick black blood of the goblin covering some of the surface of his blade was also quickly evaporating. ¡°That¡¯s convenient,¡± commented Michael as he crouched down and picked up the small purplish-black crystal the goblin had dropped when it had disappeared. Michael saw that it was about as long as his fingernail and estimated that it couldn¡¯t be thicker than the inner carbon of a pencil. ¡°¡­ so this is an Essence Crystal, huh? They are smaller than what I expected,¡± he commented as he took a moment to observe it from all angles. Michael eventually shrugged and stood up as he slipped the Essence Crystal into one of the bags attached to his waist. He decided to accumulate as much as he could for now before using them to either acquire Origin Essence to level up or to exchange them for coins depending on their value for each. Gripping the handle of his claymore tightly, Michael walked forward into the first floor¡­ only for him to stop before he took even five steps as the walls in front of him rippled in three different sections. Three goblins identical to the first one appeared a few feet in front of Michael and they looked even angrier and uglier than the first one. Michael grinned and with a mental command, his left hand was covered in the flames of his Fire Manipulation. He had discovered the day he received access to the System and his classes that he didn¡¯t need to call out the name of his skills to use them. Focusing and thinking of using them was enough. At the sight, the goblins just growled and snarled before charging towards him. Laughing at their stupidity, which was apparently a trait of the goblin race, Michael raised his left hand and released a stream of flames on the first goblin as he jumped back a bit. The other two goblins ignored their brethren screeching in agony as it rolled around on the floor trying to quench the magical flames that were burning it. They flanked around it and continued their charge towards Michael. Grin still in place, Michael quickly changed from Fire Manipulation to Lightning Manipulation as the flames engulfing his left hand were substituted by crackling electricity. He used [Sparks] on one of the goblins and sent into a screeching and spasming heap to the ground before turning his attention to the last goblin, who just snarled and jumped towards him. Michael just swung his claymore diagonally and bisected it in two across its torso. The two halves dispersed into black tendrils of smoke before they fell to the ground. He ignored the Essence Crystal for now and turned towards the other two goblins. The one he¡¯d used [Sparks] on was still writhing on the ground and Michael ended its misery and pain by impaling it through its chest, making it dispel and drop its own Essence Crystal. Michael heard a low and pained snarl and he looked up to see the goblin he had used [Flames] on was weakly trotting towards him, its hide littered with burns and its loincloth nowhere to be seen, making Michael grimace when he saw its burned genitalia, which made it even more disgusting. Michael quickly approached it and decapitated it with and horizontal slash before it could react. The moment the goblin dispersed, Michael blinked as a System notification appeared in front of him. [Blade Mastery has reached LVL 2.] Michael grinned before mentally dismissing it. ¡°I think I¡¯m starting to like this¡­¡± he said to himself as he went and picked up the Essence Crystal before putting them on the bag along with the first one he got. When he finished and began to walk once again further into the first floor, the walls in front of him rippled and more goblins spawned. Michael returned their snarls with an almost savage grin of his own as he slipped into his stance and his left hand was engulfed in flames. He pointed at the goblins in front of them with his claymore. ¡°Are you ugly fucks going to stand there all day or are you going to die by my blade?!¡± The goblins growled before charging forward. Michael¡¯s eyes glinted and he just laughed before charging to meet them head on. -XXX- Michael lost count of the number of goblins he¡¯d killed after the two hundred and fifty mark. For the last five hours or so Michel had been fighting and killing the nasty and ugly creatures practically non-stop. He had discovered that as long as he didn¡¯t move too much, he could extend the time that would pass before more goblins spawned for a bit more than a minute. He used that small timeframe to allow his body rest enough to reduce the amount of fatigue he accumulated.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He hadn¡¯t run into many adventurers since this was just the first floor and even though the size of the ¡®corridors¡¯ might suggest otherwise, he knew that all the floors expanded to an area that was as the same size of Orus. Because of that, Michael ran into three adventurers that like him were obviously rookies. Michael knew that the only reason that happened was because of the influx of rookies due to the Day of Gaia¡¯s Gift that happened the day before yesterday. That should give you an idea of the sheer size of the first floor of The Dungeon. He managed to fill one of the three bags completely and a second one already had a few Essence Crystals inside of it. Since he was hungry and was satisfied with what he had accomplished so far, Michael decided to take a short break to eat the dried meat he¡¯d brought with him before he was back it again. He only had a few minutes before goblins started to spawn again. As he ate, Michael recalled how much his skills had grown with the constant fighting. He had stuck to using the ones provided to him by his [Blader] and [Elementalist] classes only. Since those were the ones displayed on his guild card, he felt that he needed to give them a bit more of priority right now. [Blade Mastery] had rose to level five, each subsequent level obviously harder to reach than the previous one. He¡¯d noticed that when he¡¯d reached level five, there had been a marked improvement to his usage of the claymore compared to when the skill had been at level one. His movements had become smoother and the blade had felt even more comfortable in his hands as well. While he had used all of his elemental manipulation skills, they had only increased by one level each. That made him realize that with those skills there was more to leveling them up than just using them. He had a few theories that he felt could be the answer but he was not going to be testing them now. Michael finished the dried meats and it was just in time as five goblins spawned in front of him. Michael had noticed that after a while the number of goblins that would spawn in front of him would always be five, no more and no less. For the first hour or so the number randomly alternated from one to four before they became always five. Michael had just shrugged and gleefully accepted it. With his higher intelligence, magical abilities and superior physical prowess and reach, killing goblins had become something akin to a menial chore to him. After a short moment of contemplation in which he watched the goblins charge at him, Michael decided that he would start using his other abilities as well from now on. He raised his arm and presented his palm towards the incoming green creatures. He focused on his [Mana Manipulation] skill and the subskill he had acquired when he had first used it the day before yesterday while testing it out. A glowing dark blue sphere of condensed magic power appeared floating in front of his palm. ¡®Mana Bolt!¡¯ He declared in his mind and the floating sphere of magic power shot forward towards the goblin at the front. It collided directly with its head and Michael watched as it just exploded in a shower of black blood, green flesh, gray matter and other fluids that bathed the other four goblins as the headless body of their brethren fell limply to the ground before dispelling. As they got angrier, one of the goblins blinked before it was suddenly decapitated as Michael appeared in front of it when he used [Teleport] after he closed the distance a bit to use the skill effectively. Two goblins lunged at him and Michael used [Time Alter] to slow down his perception of time. With the five second window allowed to him by the skill, Michael quickly decapitated the two goblins just before his perception of time was back to normal and the final goblin attacked him. Michael made an upwards motion with his index and middle finger and an earth spike rose from the ground right beneath the goblin, making it screech in agony as it was impaled directly through its crotch area. Michael didn¡¯t allow it to experience suffering for long as he quickly killed it by impaling its chest. [Teleport has reached LVL 2] [Time Alter has reached LVL 2.] Michael grinned at the notifications. With the increase on their level, [Teleport] now allowed him to teleport within fifteen in any direction from where he was and the slowing perception of time of [Time Alter] had increased to ten seconds. While he could only use those skills sparingly compared to his other ones, he was still going to use them as much as he can. They were absolutely broken and he couldn¡¯t wait to max them out. Michael quickly picked up the five Essence Crystals and put them in the second bag he started to fill up. As the walls rippled and five more goblins appeared, Michael didn¡¯t waste any time to appear in front of the closest one to him and remove its head and left arm with a diagonal slash of his claymore. The remaining four goblins snarled towards him and lunged as Michael just laughed and began to bath them in flames. He really, really enjoyed killing goblins. -XXX- Michael was not surprised to see that when he used one of the smaller magic circles to exit the first floor of the dungeon that he appeared in a different room from the one he had used to enter it in the morning. He had only seen people entering the dungeon using that room and with the sheer number of adventurers that were coming in and out of it at all times, the only logical conclusion was that another room was used to exit. Michael saw that there was also a man standing at foot of the stairs wearing similar armor to the one he had seen that morning in the entrance room of The Dungeon. He nodded in acknowledgement at the man and it was returned with a nod and an impressed look when the man noted his three full bags of what were obviously Essence Crystals. Michael knew that it was only impressive because he was a rookie. Michael went up the stairs and into the main hall of the guild. Since it was already evening there weren¡¯t a lot of adventurers there and he smiled when he saw that Lupa¡¯s booth was free at the moment. He could see that she was reading something though by her expression it wasn¡¯t something too important so he decided to approach her. The moment he stood in front of her he noticed that something was¡­ different. When she seemed to sense his presence, she looked up from what Michael noticed was a book of some sorts and Michael gave her a curious and confused look. ¡°You aren¡¯t Miss Lupa, are you?¡± She raised an eyebrow at him. ¡°And what makes you say that, Mister Kane?¡± Michael faulted a bit when she called him by name. Even her voice was the same but he was sure that the woman in front of him, despite being nearly identical, wasn¡¯t the kind woman that interacted with him yesterday. ¡°Well, the fur on your ears is darker and your hair is wavier and a bit longer than yesterday. Unless you used magic to change those, that just doesn¡¯t happen within a day. And you are wearing your guild pin on the right pocket of your blouse. Yesterday it was on the left. I know people usually wear them on the same place, so¡­¡± The woman looked at him seriously for a moment before giving him a pretty smile. ¡°When my sister told me that there was a new interesting rookie becoming an adventurer, I didn¡¯t think it would be to this extent,¡± she said before covering her mouth as she giggled. When she finished, she regarded him with familiar interested and curious eyes. ¡°My name is Rema. Lupa is my twin sister.¡± ¡®There are two of them!¡¯ He thought with some perversion as he took notice of the fact that their bodies were also identical. Michael made sure his inner thoughts didn¡¯t show on his face as he nodded in understanding. ¡°I see. Then it¡¯s very nice to meet you, Miss Rema. So, both you and Miss Lupa work here?¡± Rema nodded her head. ¡°That¡¯s correct. She works the morning shift while I work the afternoon one,¡± she said before regarding Michael with a speculative gaze. ¡°You know, this is the first time a boy manages to tell us apart from just meeting us once. It usually takes longer than that for guys. You are a very observant person.¡± Michael smiled at her. ¡°Thanks. I¡¯ve been told that before.¡± That was true. Chuck had told him more often than not that he had a good eye for detail. It had showed whenever they had gone hunting or done other things at the farm that required a lot of attention to get done. Rema returned his smile before adopting a more serious demeanor. ¡°Is there anything I can help you with, Mister Kane?¡± Michael nodded as he reached for his bag and put them in the counter of her booth. ¡°I wanted to know what would be better for me now: to exchange these Essence Crystals for coins or to absorb them to get Origin Essence and increase the level of my classes?¡± Rema¡¯s eyebrows rose in a bit of disbelief as she stared at the three bags that were filled to the brim with essence crystals. ¡°¡­ just how long did you spend on The Dungeon and how many monsters did you kill?¡± She couldn¡¯t help but ask in a faint voice as she stared at the bag. Michael didn¡¯t seem to notice her shocked state as he answered thoughtfully. ¡°Well, the sun still wasn¡¯t up when I went in this morning and I am just coming out so I¡¯d say about fourteen to fifteen hours more or less. And I lost count of how many goblins I killed after about two hundred and fifty,¡± he answered in an almost sheepish manner. That was more or less the amount of time he spent working and training before the Day of Gaia¡¯s Gift. Rema couldn¡¯t help but give him a wide-eyed look. ¡°Fifteen hours?! All of this is from the goblins of the first-floor?!¡± She whisper-shouted as she looked at him incredulously. Michael finally noticed her expression and he became a bit unsure. ¡°Um, yeah? I decided I wanted to explore a floor completely before going to face the floor boss. I think I managed to explore around twenty percent of the floor today. Erm, is there something wrong?¡± He ended up asking after his explanation when he noticed that her face had gone blank. Rema stared at him for a few moments unflinchingly before she began to giggle out of nowhere. Michael was honestly weirded out by the sudden and random action but he didn¡¯t say anything as he just continued to look at Rema with a slightly uncomfortable expression on his face. When she finished giggling, Rema looked at him with an intense and interested expression on her face. ¡°You are a most interesting person, Michel Kane. I look forward to getting to know you better in the future,¡± she said and Michael wasn¡¯t sure whether he was more excited or terrified by the look on her face and the tone of her voice when she uttered those voice. In the end, he just nodded at her and returned her smile with a confident (not entirely, to be honest) one of his own. ¡°I look forward to getting to know you and your sister better, Miss Rema.¡± ¡°My, my... how bold and greedy,¡± she said in a teasing voice and her smile widened when he only twitched a bit at that. After another giggle, her slightly more serious demeanor returned as she focused on his bags of essence crystals. ¡°As for what you should do with these, I suggest you use them to increase the level of your classes exclusively until you reach the tenth floor. Up to that point, the essence crystals you get aren¡¯t worth more than fifty bronze coins and their worth in origin essence is more valuable for the levels your classes should be at that point.¡± Michael began to listen intently as she explained the conversion rates of essence crystals depending on the monsters they came from and their quality and other matters. If he also took advantage of this to bask in how pretty and sexy she was, no one could really blame him. If Rema wasn¡¯t complaining nor calling him out on it, why should he abstain from doing so? Vol.1 - CH005 - Growth Michael sat cross-legged on top of the bed of his room at The Sleeping Bear inn as he looked at the pile of essence crystals that was in front of him. After leaving the guild, coming back to the inn and eating two full servings of food and then taking a long, relaxing bath, Michael had dumped the content of his bags on the bed so he could consume them in one go and use the origin essence to level up his classes. Rema had used her own magic glasses to count the exact amount and she had been shocked when it had totaled eight-hundred and ninety-six essence crystals. She had told him that each one of them would give him from one to three origin essence. While he was certain he would get enough points to level up two of his classes twice, he hoped that he could do the same with the remaining two. Michael sighed a bit before he reached forward and touched the pile of essence crystals. He focused on absorbing them and a System notification appeared in front of him.
Would you like to convert 896 Essence Crystals into 1,397 Origin Essence?
Michael took in a deep breath as he became ¡®aware¡¯ on the increase of his physical, mental and magical capabilities and it took him a few seconds to assimilate the sharp growth in strength. When he was done, he took a look at his [Status] again after leveling up his classes. Michael gave a mental positive confirmation and he watched with slightly wide eyes as all the essence crystals glowed before turning into pure black and purple energy that was being absorbed by his hand. After a few seconds the process was finished. Michael opened his [Status] and a quick calculation told him that he had enough origin essence to level his four classes twice so he went ahead and did that.
General Information
Name Michael Kane
Age 15
Race Human
Rank F
Level 12
Attributes (Rank)
Strength (STR) 24 (F)
Endurance (END) 24 (F)
Vitality (VIT) 24 (F)
Agility (AGI) 24 (F)
Intelligence (INT) 36 (F)
Wisdom (WIS) 36 (F)
Magic (MAG) 36 (F)
Charisma (CHA) 24 (F)
Classes
Origin Essence 197
Class Name Class Attribute Bonus Class Level Next Level
Blader +4 STR, +4 END, +4 VIT, +4 AGI 3/25 0/300
Elementalist +4 INT, +4 WIS, +4 MAG 3/25 0/300
Manablessed +4 INT, +4 WIS, +4 MAG, +4 CHA 3/25 0/300
Harbinger 4 STR, +4 END, +4 VIT, +4 AGI, +4 INT, +4 WIS, +4MAG, +4 CHA 3/25 0/300
Skills
Blader
Blade Mastery. Passive. (LVL 7/25). Increases proficiency using bladed weapons. Increases damage done by bladed weapons by 40%.
Elementalist
Fire Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 4/25) [Flames] Wind Manipulation. Passive/Active (LVL 4/25) [Gale] Water Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 4/25) [Stream] Earth Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 4/25) [Spikes] Lighting Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 4/25) [Sparks]
Manablessed
Mana Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 4/25). Allows you to freely manipulate the magical energies within you. [Mana Bolt]
Harbinger
Time Alter. Active. (LVL 3/25). Allows you to perceive everything around you two times slower. Limit: Fifteen seconds. Teleport. Active/Passive. (LVL 3/25). Allows you to change your position in space within a range of twenty feet.
As he stared as his [Status], Michael had a satisfied expression on his face as he dismissed the System window that had displayed it. By increasing the level of all his classes twice, his overall level and attributes had positively tripled. That made Michael decide that he would only increase the level of his classes the moment he could increase all of them at least once. That way he would make sure that every time he increased his level it would mean a significant amount of growth for him. While that would mean that he wouldn¡¯t increase his level as often as other adventurers, at the end of the day the one with the most growth would be him when he did so. A quick calculation told him that with the amount of points he used to increase his classes twice, someone with one class would have been able to increase it four times and someone with two would have been able to increase them thrice. Truthfully, if it weren¡¯t for the skills they provided and the attribute bonuses, having four classes to level up would have been actually a disadvantage.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. The prove laid on the fact that if he wanted to increase the level of his four classes again, he would need to use as much origin essence he did two increase them twice. Instead of being filled with dread because of that realization, Michael only felt excitement. Before leveling up his classes, he had been worried about the time it would take him to advance through the floors since he had already decided to explore them completely before facing the floor bosses. He had been planning on following Rema¡¯s advice and focus solely on increasing the level of his classes until he reached the tenth floor. Before the overall increase of his abilities, he had been worried about the funds he had left not being enough to pay his lodging and maintain his equipment. Now, however, he could tell that as he increased his abilities and prowess the time it would take for him to reach the tenth floor would steadily decrease. That meant that he will likely be capable of starting making a monetary profit of his ventures to the dungeon. ¡°I will just have to keep moving forward and adjust things as I go,¡± said Michael to himself after he laid back on the decently comfortable bed and got ready to sleep. He would be waking up early tomorrow and the more he slept the better he would perform tomorrow. -XXX- ¡°Kid¡­ I know that rookies are supposed to grow fast at first but this is just ridiculous!¡± That was the first thing Ursop said the moment he came down to the bar/restaurant portion of the inn after he had gone back up to his room take a shower and put on his equipment after having down first to get breakfast. He had an incredulous expression on his face as he stared intently at Michael, his eyes seemingly watching everything that he was at once. ¡°It¡¯s only been a bloody day for the gods¡¯ sake!¡± More than just a bit uncomfortable, Michael started to slowly inch towards the door. ¡°Um, how can you tell how much I¡¯ve grown with just a look?¡± Ursop¡¯s brows furrowed a bit. ¡°Trust me kid, when you get to the level I¡¯m at, a look is all you need to gauge the strength of someone,¡± he said before looking at him in the eye with a curious and interested look. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, how did you become times as strong after a single trip to the dungeon?¡± Michael only hesitated a moment to answer. ¡°¡­ I killed eight hundred and ninety-six goblins, got one thousand, three hundred and ninety-seven origin essence from their crystals and used them to increase the level of my two classes three times.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± Ursop blinked before grunting in disbelief. ¡°Heh. That should be about right I guess,¡± he said before giving a look of impressed amusement. ¡°You are one scary kid. And your two variant classes are bullshit, you know that?¡± Michael quickly deduced that Urminoc had likely told him about his [Blader] and [Elementalist] classes. It was obvious that the two of them were at least very close friends. He nodded at the owner of The Sleeping Bear inn with a ¡®what-can-you-do?¡¯ expression on his face. ¡°I kind of gathered that. My classes increase all of my attributes when they level up so¡­¡± he trailed off as he revealed something that was actually true though perhaps not to the extent it actually was. Ursop just gave a small sigh as he crossed his arms. ¡°Just try not to get too overconfident on your abilities and don¡¯t try to bite more than you can chew.¡± It would be a waste if someone with such potential wasted it before he could realize it to the fullest after all. Michael nodded seriously before sending a thumb up in Ursop¡¯s direction. If anything, if Michael had a say, he would make sure he was actually overqualified for the floor he would be exploring for as long as he could. He knew that eventually there would be a point in which it was inevitable to struggle against the monsters of the dungeon. He was going to make sure that he was a strong as he could by the time those circumstances came around. Michael stepped out of the inn and took a deep breath of the early morning air as he enjoyed the slight chill. With a smile on his face, Michael began to hastily make his way towards the guild. He actually enjoyed Orus more at this time than at any other one since there were significantly less people moving around the streets. Since he was close to the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Tower there were even less people that would glare at him for his appearance. Michael knew that if he went through the Merchant¡¯s district at this hour, it wouldn¡¯t be too much of a difference compared to the rest of the day. That place was always bursting with people no matter the hour. Michael eventually reached the guild and he noticed that it had taken him a few minutes less to arrive yesterday even if he felt that he had been walking at about the same pace. ¡®That¡¯s likely because of my increased attributes,¡¯ he thought to himself as he entered the guild hall. He smiled when he saw Lupa sitting on the booth that she shared with her sister. Rema had told him to come a bit later today than he did yesterday because apparently, Lupa wanted to see him before he headed into the dungeon. Not one to pass up interacting with a beautiful and sexy woman, much less if that woman was the one to seek the interaction, Michael had happily agreed to do so. Rema had been particularly pleased and amused with him as she bid him good bye. ¡°Good morning, Miss Lupa,¡± he greeted her the moment he stood in front of her. She had not noticed his approach since like her sister, she been reading a book to pass the time before the influx of adventurers seeking the services she provided to them for the guild. ¡°Good morning to you as well, Mister Kane. How are you¡­¡± She looked up with a smile when she heard the voice of the young man that had earned her interest and attention the day before yesterday and trailed off as her eyes widened a bit when she caught sight of him. Her sister had told her that he cut quite the dashing figure when he wore his adventurer apparel but she couldn¡¯t help but feel that he was significantly more handsome today than when she had met him. Her cheeks colored a bit as she looked at him. ¡°¡­ forgive my forwardness, Mister Kane, but are you aware that you look quite different from the last time I saw you?¡± She just couldn¡¯t help her curiosity. She looked at him a bit more closely and blinked when she noticed another thing. ¡°And significantly stronger as well. My sister told me of your¡­ overzealous¡­ actions yesterday so I was expecting a noticeably increase in strength since you are a rookie but this¡­¡± Michael rubbed the back of his head as he went to explain. ¡°Well, I had enough origin essence to increase the level of my two classes three times. Also, my classes increase all of my attributes and one of them is [Charisma] so¡­¡± Michael trailed off as he smiled at her. The [CHA] attribute not only enhanced one¡¯s physical appearance but also how well you would be perceived by others during your first impression with them and as you continued to have positive interactions with them. ¡°Ah. I see. That explains it¡­¡± she said with an understanding nod before giving him a curious look. ¡°If I may ask, what are you planning to do today?¡± ¡°Well, I was hoping to finish exploring to first floor today and increase the level of my classes at least twice. If it isn¡¯t too late, I¡¯d go and face the floor boss. Otherwise I will just leave it for tomorrow first thing and then start exploring the second floor immediately after. I should be able to defeat the first-floor boss on my own since I should get my next set of skills of my classes when they reach level five,¡± he said with a confident smile on his face. Lupa looked at him with an intense stare. ¡°You know, Mister Kane, normal adventurers usually take about a week to reach the point where they feel comfortable facing the first-floor boss on their own. Even those with two classes take three to four days to reach that level.¡± Michael¡¯s smile widened a bit. ¡°I think it¡¯s been established that I¡¯m very far from normal, Miss Lupa.¡± ¡°Yeah. You¡¯re absolutely bright,¡± she said with a bit of a flush to her cheeks and a slightly breathy voice. Michael smirked a bit and inclined his head at her. ¡°I¡¯ll be taking my leave now. It was nice seeing you first thing in the morning, Miss Lupa. If it¡¯s not too much to ask, please tell Miss Rema that I¡¯ll be looking forward to seeing her when I come out.¡± With that said, Michael smiled at her and only waited for her to nod at him before he turned away from her and began to make his way towards the stairs that led to the entrance room of The Dungeon. Lupa couldn¡¯t help the excited twitch of her ears as she watched him walk away with an intense expression and a lightly blushing face. -XXX- The moment he appeared within the first floor of The Dungeon, Michael noticed that he was in a section that he had not been in yesterday, which worked perfectly for him since he could start exploring new parts of the floor right away. When five goblins spawned in front of him a few seconds after he started moving forward, Michael decided to use the opportunity to test one of the theories he had about advancing his elemental manipulation skills and the one he felt had more chances of being successful. Michael focused on his [Fire Manipulation] and showed the incoming goblins the opened palm of his right hand covered in flames. Using his significantly increased mental and magical capabilities, he used the control he had over his flames and shaped them into a condensed ball of fire that had about the size of his own head. With a smirk he sent the sphere of fire towards the goblins¡­
Fire Manipulation Subskill ¡®Firebolt¡¯ acquired.
Fire Manipulation has reached LVL 5.
¡­ and watched gleefully as three of them were engulfed in an explosion of fire and smoke when it collided with one of the goblins at the front of the charge. When it cleared out, Michael saw the the goblin with which [Firebolt] had collided had been turned into chunks of charred flesh before it dispersed while the other two goblins were squealing in agony and rolling on the ground because they were covered in flames. The remaining two goblins charged towards him and Michael raised his other hand. The one that had been used to channel [Fire Manipulation] was now cackling with electricity while the newly raised left hand had swirling transparent green winds swirling around it. Focusing on his [Lightning Manipulation] and [Wind Manipulation], Michael began to take his ability with those elements to the next level. It had not taken him long to realize that the name of the skills themselves basically told him what he needed to do in order to advance the skills. The further he could take his ability to ¡®manipulate¡¯ the elements of fire, wind, lightning, earth and water, the further the skills of his [Elementalist] class would grow.
Lightning Manipulation Subskill ¡®Thundershock¡¯ acquired.
Lightning Manipulation has reached LVL 5.
Wind Manipulation Subskill ¡®Twister¡¯ acquired.
Wind Manipulation has reached LVL 5.
Michael watched with glee and delight as lightning arched from his right hand and electrocuted one of the goblins into a crisp while from his left hand a funnel of twisting and swirling transparent green winds shredded the other goblin to pieces as it passed trough and around it. He then noticed the goblins that had been covered in flames slowly rising to their feet as the flames had finally consumed the magical power that had been fueling them. They were grimacing and snarling in pain since their bodies were deeply burned by his flames. Michael decided to use them to finish advancing the rest of his elemental skills. With [Water Manipulation] he created a sphere of swirling water that exploded in contact with one of the goblins and bathed the surrounding area with highly pressurized water in all directions after the goblin dispersed because the force of the attack had been enough to kill it. And with [Earth Manipulation], Michael made two small walls of earth that were as thick as his torso rise from the ground at either side of the slowly moving goblin with a upwards motion with his hand. Michael then clapped his hands and the two walls of earth crushed the goblin into a bloody paste in between them before it dispersed.
Water Manipulation Subskill ¡®Pulse¡¯ acquired.
Water Manipulation has reached LVL 5.
Earth Manipulation Subskill ¡®Earth Wall¡¯ acquired.
Earth Manipulation has reached LVL 5.
Michael quickly collected the five essence crystals and put them into one of the six bags he had now attached to his belt. He had no delusions about the fact that he would be acquiring even more essence crystals today than he did yesterday and he had managed to completely fill up three of those bags by the time he had called it quits for the day. And now, after acquiring his new subskills, Michael felt that twice the number of bags wouldn¡¯t be nearly enough. ¡®Perhaps should I invest in a Bag of Holding in the future?¡¯ He thought to himself with pleased amusement. Michael watched the walls in front of him rippling and five more goblins spawned a few feet away from him. As he unsheathed his claymore and charged at them with gleaming eyes and a savage grin on his face, Michel filed in that thought in the back of his mind for further consideration later on. He had some goblins to kill, about eighty percent of a dungeon floor to explore and possibly (and hopefully) a floor boss to defeat and kill. Vol. 1 - CH006 - First Floor Boss: The Goblin King For the next fourteen hours or so, Michael had focused on exploring the entirety of the first floor while using all of his skills to kill every goblin that spawned in front of him. He only had stopped for a few minutes to eat something around six hours in to quench his hunger. Because he was significantly stronger and more powerful than yesterday and his abilities and experience grew as he continued fighting, Michael managed to not only completely explore the first floor but he also managed to fill up the six bags with essence crystals just after the mark of ten hours of relatively constant fighting and exploring. In the last four hours, Michael had been ¡®forced¡¯ to immediately convert the essence crystals into origin essence to not let the ¡®effort¡¯ he put into killing the goblins that dropped them go to waste. Anyways, right now his skills looked like this:
Skills
Blader
Blade Mastery. Passive. (LVL 10/25). Increases proficiency using bladed weapons. Increases damage done by bladed weapons by 55%.
Elementalist
Fire Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 8/25) [Flames; Firebolt] Wind Manipulation. Passive/Active (LVL 8/25) [Gale; Twister] Water Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 7/25) [Stream; Pulse] Earth Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 7/25) [Spikes; Earth Wall] Lighting Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 8/25) [Sparks; Thundershock]
Manablessed
Mana Manipulation. Passive/Active. (LVL 7/25). Allows you to freely manipulate the magical energies within you. [Mana Bolt; Mana Arrow (3)]
Harbinger
Time Alter. Active. (LVL 6/25). Allows you to perceive everything around you up to two times slower. Limit: thirty seconds. Teleport. Active/Passive. (LVL 6/25). Allows you to change your position in space within a range of thirty-five feet.
[Blade Mastery] was the skill that had grown the most for the simple reason that as long as he was using a bladed weapon, in this case his steel claymore, to fight, he would always be getting experience for it. Since he was always holding his sword to slay most of the goblins he fought, it was only logical and expected that [Blade Mastery] would be the skill with the fastest growth rate. Since he preferred [Fire Manipulation], [Wind Manipulation] and [Lightning Manipulation] over [Water Manipulation] and [Earth Manipulation] due to the higher offensive capabilities of the former three, they were slightly higher than the latter two. That didn¡¯t mean that Michael was sleeping on the capabilities of the other two elements, but since he was only dealing with puny goblins it was simply more practical to use fire, wind and lightning on them. To develop [Mana Arrow] and raise his [Mana Manipulation] skill to level five, Michael had just shaped [Mana Bolt] into an elongated shape with a pointy end. [Mana Arrow] had an increased range and velocity but less damage per arrow compared to [Mana Bolt]. Also, the number of arrows he could create per use of the subskill increased along with the level of the [Mana Manipulation] skill. Since he had gained [Mana Arrow] at level five, now that it was at level seven, he could shoot three arrows per use. And finally, [Time Alter] and [Teleport]. Those skills had not grown as much compared to the others not because the amount of experience required to increase their level was more than the others, but because they were still so magically demanding that Michael still had to use them relatively sparingly. And even then, despite not being skills that caused direct damage to opponents, Michel felt that [Time Alter] and [Teleport] where his most useful and effective skills at the moment. ¡°Hm, so that¡¯s the ¡®Boss Room¡¯, huh?¡± Muttered Michel as he stood inside of a wide cavern within the cave system that was the first floor. In front of him were a set of wooden and metal doors that had the skull of a goblin painted in what looked like blood in the middle of it. There were two flaming torches flanking it and the ¡®frame¡¯ of the door was made up by what looked like humanoid bones. Instead of being intimidated by the door, Michael only felt excitement for the upcoming battle. However, the was something he wanted to do before heading in. Knowing that it took a long while for monsters spawn in the area around the Boss Room and having killed the goblins not even two minutes ago, Michael knew that he had enough time to do what he wanted to do before facing the boss monster of the first floor. He dropped all the essence crystals he had gathered inside his bags into a pile in front of him before kneeling down and pressed his hand to them.
Would you like to convert 1826 Essence Crystals into 2774 Origin Essence?
Michael accepted and he watched with an eager smile as the pile of crystals converted into energy before it was absorbed by his hand. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he had the origin essence that was leftover from his use of them yesterday and the amount he got during the last four hours because he had to immediately absorb the essence crystals he got from the goblins because they couldn¡¯t fit inside his bags, he would have been very upset right now. He needed twenty-eight hundred origin essence in order to level up his four classes twice after all. Since he had more than enough to do so (four thousand, two hundred and twenty-one to be exact), Michel went and raised his classes to level six. He shuddered a bit at the increase of his attributes. Since he had already done it once, coming into ¡®awareness¡¯ of the increase of his physical, mental and magical capabilities was significantly easier when compared to yesterday. Instead, he focused on the many System notifications that appeared in front of him.
Blader Class has Reached LVL 5. The Skill ¡®Far Edge¡¯ has been acquired.
Far Edge. Active. (LVL 1/25). Increases the distance of all blade strikes up to a distance of ten feet from the tip of the blade that is being used.
Elementalist Class has reached LVL 5. The Skill ¡®Elemental Resistance¡¯ has been acquired.
Elemental Resistance. Passive. (LVL 1/25). Damage received from elemental attacks is reduced by 2%.
Manablessed Class has Reached LVL 5. The Skill ¡®Mana Sense¡¯ has been acquired.
Mana Sense. Active. (LVL 1/25). Allows the user to perceive the magical power within all beings, sentient or not, up to a distance of ten feet.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Harbinger Class has reached LVL 5. The Skill ¡®Gravity Press¡¯ has been acquired.
Gravity Press. Active. (LVL 1/25). Increase the gravitational pull around you by twice the amount in a radius of ten feet.
¡°Holy¡­ shit¡­¡± muttered Michael as he read the notifications in front of him with widened eyes. That was the only thing he could say about what he just read. What was even more shocking, was the fact that these skills just were the ones he got at [Class] level five. Just what would he be getting at level ten, fifteen, twenty and twenty-five? Michael decided to test those skills before entering the Boss Room. The first one he decided to test was [Far Edge] and he quickly read the description of it once again. After getting a fairly good idea of what it did, Michael turned towards the walls of the cavern he was in and approached it until he was roughly ten feet away from it. He then swung his sword diagonally in front of him while focusing on using the skill. Michael¡¯s eyes widened a bit when he heard the sound of steel hitting rock as a slash mark appeared on the rocks of the wall in front of him. With a giddy look on his face, Michael quickly began to use [Far Edge] multiple times against the wall of the cavern. His claymore was literally cutting beyond the reach of its tip and he could even feel the resistance of the rock when he slashed it. It was like an invisible blade was connected to his sword that he could use as much as he wanted. The best part was that it didn¡¯t consume mana at all though he could feel a bit of his stamina leaving whenever he used the skill. That meant there was a limit to how much times he could use it but by his estimation it would take about a three dozen uses constantly to tire him up to the point he wouldn¡¯t be able to fight. He couldn¡¯t really test [Elemental Resistance] since he needed someone or something to attack him with elemental attacks. Heck, he wouldn¡¯t be capable of leveling it up until he came across someone like that. So, for now, he was just going to trust that the skill did what its descriptions said it did. Seeing that everything had magical power within it, even rocks, Michael decided that he could quickly test [Mana Sense] right now. He closed his eyes and focused on using the skills and he felt his own mana quickly spreading through his body and ¡®settling¡¯ on his five senses and brain. A short breath left him not a moment. The best way to describe how it felt to use [Mana Sense] was that he could ¡®see¡¯ how mana flowed in a sphere that had a ten feet radius with him as the center point. It was like everything around him had ¡®veins¡¯ and ¡®arteries¡¯ of magical energy running through their structure. A few seconds later Michael cut off the flow of mana that technique used. While it wasn¡¯t necessarily taxing and he felt like he could keep it for fifteen minutes or so, he still became a bit disoriented since his perception of things changed drastically. He was going to have to quickly get used to it. While it was an active skill, Michael felt that the most effective way of using it would be to use it like it was a passive, meaning, constantly active. And finally, [Gravity Press]. Michael activated the skill and frowned when other than a light shift of the ground around him there wasn¡¯t a visibly effect. He could tell, however, that the skill was taking effect and was even draining mana from him very quickly. After a few seconds he stopped using it and decided he would test it against some monsters later on. Michael then waited a few minutes to recover the mana and stamina he lost testing his new skills. After he felt he had finally recovered them, Michael stepped towards the ¡®fearsome¡¯ doors that lead into the Boss Room and pushed them forward to open them and slipped inside. He blinked when he found himself in a wide, circular room that was lit in a similar manner as the other parts of the floor but there were also torches at the edges of the room with a few feet of empty space in between them. Weirdly, despite the room being sufficiently lit by the crystals coming from the rocky walls and the stone floor, when he looked up, he noticed that there was only darkness beyond a certain point hundreds of feet above him. Michael walked forward and paused when the door suddenly closed on its own behind him. ¡°Yep. That¡¯s not creepy and disturbing at all¡­¡± he muttered before shrugging and walking forward again. He stopped, once again, when the air in the middle of the room began to shimmer and ripple. Michael watched with excitement and eagerness as the Boss Floor slowly spawned, walking out of the shimmering and rippling air in a slow and deliberate manner. Michael blinked and tilted his head in confusion the moment the biggest monster he had seen so far in his life was finally revealed completely. ¡°You are not the Goblin Chief,¡± deadpanned Michael as he stared at the monster in front of him, who snarled and threateningly brandished its fucking serrated cleaver while glaring at him with pure yellow and bloodshot eyes. The reason why Michael said that was because according to the pamphlet Lupa had given him, the Goblin Chief was supposed to be a bigger and more muscular goblin wielding a spiked club and leather armor. It wasn¡¯t supposed to be a red skinned monstrosity taller than him, with arms bigger than his torso, teeth longer than his fingers and black fur around its neck, wrists and ankles. Did he said that it was wielding a fucking serrated cleaver bigger and longer than his own claymore?! Yes?! Oh, just making sure. With a high-pitched roar, the clearly abnormal boss monster of the first floor charged at him. ¡°What the fuck?!¡± Exclaimed Michael as he jumped away to evade being cleaved in half by his opponent. While Michael could tell that he was still faster than the goblin monstrosity in front of him, it wasn¡¯t by much. That meant that if he hadn¡¯t increased his levels before entering the Boss Room, he would¡¯ve certainly been dead. Deciding to play it as safely as he could, Michael jumped back to put some distance between them and launched a [Firebolt] towards the red goblin who had turned towards him in rage after realizing that its attack had failed. The red goblin screeched in pain and hate when it was engulfed by the explosion of fire and smoke. Michael¡¯s brow furrowed when it came out of the cloud of smoke covered in flames, a pained expression on its snarling face, and its movements not being affected by it. With a [Thundershock], Michael forced it to stop by sending it twitching to the ground while screeching in pain. Being burned and electrocuted at the same time had to hurt a lot after all. Michael continued to use [Thundershock] to keep it writhing and twitching on the floor as he slowly began to approach the downed red goblin until he stood about ten feet away from it. While still using the [Lightning Manipulation] subskill, Michael began to use [Far Edge] while swinging his claymore repeatedly at the downed boss monster. The screeches of agony and hate of the red goblin increased in intensity as multiple cuts began to appear all over its body at the same time its body continued to burn and being electrocuted. Michael was surprised that the hide of the goblin offered more resistance to the strikes of his sword than the wall he had tested them on not even ten minutes ago. Still, he was still managing to give it significant cuts all over its body. As [Far Edge] began to increase its level rapidly, Michael began to step back as the range he could use the skill increased as well. Michael would also quickly change from using [Thundershock] to [Firebolt] to keep it in a constantly burning state when he noticed the flames about to die out and then back to [Thundershock] to keep it from moving. By the time the red goblin finally perished, it had turned into a cut up charred pile of smoking meat and [Fire Manipulation] and [Lightning Manipulation] had reached level nine, [Far Edge] reached level five and even [Blade Mastery] went up a level since he had been using his claymore, a blade, to use his other [Blader] skill. Michael stared at the dead boss goblin with a derisive expression on his face. ¡°No matter how different or stronger it looks, a goblin is still a goblin,¡± he said before the dead body of the first-floor boss variant exploded into black smoke, leaving behind an essence crystal that was roughly half as long as his thumb and as thick as a pencil. Michael sheathed his sword and walked towards it to pick it up. ¡°Huh? It looks a bit different,¡± he commented when he noticed that instead of the normal color of the essence crystals, this one was colored mostly black with a subtle purple glow coming from its core. Shrugging, Michael decided to pocket it since he recalled that essence crystals from Floor Bosses were worth significantly more than those gained from normal monsters. Since he had gained his from a variant floor boss, which had not been in the catalog and that told him that it had never appeared before, Michael reasoned that it would be prudent to not consume the essence crystal until he spoke with Rema. That was when two System notification appeared in front of him.
You have defeated the First Floor Boss Variant Species ¡®Goblin King¡¯.
You have gained access to the Second Floor. Would you like to proceed to the second floor or exit the dungeon?
Michael stared at the first notification with a contemplative expression on his face. ¡°Goblin King, huh¡­¡± He muttered to himself before smirking. ¡°It¡¯s fitting. Even though it was just as stupid, it was certainly stronger than any goblin I have faced. It deserves its name,¡± he said before deciding to exit the dungeon. He had been in here for almost fifteen hours now and he had already accomplished his goals for the day. He was also hungry and looking forward to a warm bath and resting on his comfortable bed. The Second Floor could wait for tomorrow. And he was also looking forward to seeing the sexy and beautiful Rema as well and the face she was going to make when he told her about the Goblin King and showed her the proof. The prospect of ¡®showing off¡¯ and being the one to ¡®discover¡¯ and ¡®experience¡¯ something new about the dungeon to her made him feel quite the amount of excitement and pride. After dismissing the System notifications and choosing to exit the dungeon, Michael watched as one of the magic circles used to get out of the dungeon suddenly appeared beneath his feet already activated and glowing. In a flash of golden light, Michael disappeared from the Boss Room of the First Floor of The Dungeon.