Thomas sat with his back against the wall, staring at the ceiling. He had almost grown numb to everything over the last few days. The armor that Brandi had painstakingly crafted him was no longer in good condition. There were holes and cuts where the mandibles of the ants had finally broken through.
He thought the ants were going to be tougher than the beetles, but after fighting the first one, he realized his mistake. As long as he could sneak up on a beetle, it wasn’t a problem to deal with it, but if he made a mistake, which he did often, the outcome was painful.
The beetle, while not fast, had great acceleration. And, unfortunately for Thomas, it had a very sharp horn on its head. Thomas had properly used his Stealth skill on the first few beetles he targeted. He was able to take them down without much effort. But eventually, he slipped up.
He’d been slowly approaching one beetle, not noticing the other hidden behind a stone close by. He stabbed both daggers through the creature’s head and received the kill notification, causing him to relax. As he turned to look at Derek, the previously unknown beetle caught him directly in his side.
The beetle was around a foot and a half in length and two-thirds that in girth. The rhino-like horn on its head was at least 10 inches long. When it hit him, the horn penetrated his armor and burrowed into his side. The armor slowed the beetle down, but over half of the horn still ripped through.
If Thomas thought the ant breaking his arm was painful, then he couldn’t even describe the pain caused by the horn ripping through his kidney. Luckily, Derek was there, and he made short work of the beetle and had used his healing spell almost the moment the attack was complete.
The attack by the beetle had been a wake-up call for Thomas. He had settled into a rhythm and became too comfortable, letting his guard down. This was another lesson Derek allowed him to learn the hard way.
As Thomas sat against the wall, he could only reflect on everything that had happened so far. He had entered the dungeon as an inexperienced level 10 child that couldn’t even face a single ant, which he overpowered, without almost dying. Now, as he looked at his stats, he was level 17 and had faced death dozens of times, only to be saved at the last second by Derek.
In the last few days, he began berating himself because of his stupid class decision. He’d woken up. No matter how many insects he killed, he couldn’t feel himself growing stronger with the daggers. His overall ability had grown stronger, but when he slashed or stabbed with his weapons, the action still felt foreign to him. The only thing he liked about the class he so foolishly chose was the Stealth skill.
But, after all the sneaking and assassinating the insects, he knew it wasn’t for him. The closer he got to an enemy, the harder his heart beat, and the harder it was for him to stay calm. Stealth would be great for him to escape an enemy or trek through the wilderness undetected, but he wasn’t cut out for assassination.
He had come to two conclusions over the last few days of torture. The first was that he wouldn’t be missing out on anything when, not if, he changed his class at level 25. The second was that Derek completely changed when he became serious about something.
On the second day in the dungeon, Thomas had cried and begged Derek to bring him out and take him home. Derek refused, saying that he was willing to stay in the dungeon for weeks or even months, waiting for Thomas to clear it. Thomas had actually gotten angry at Derek then, yelling and throwing a fit. It was something that he would feel embarrassed about for the rest of his life.
Thomas was finally able to work himself back up enough to continue after his tantrum. It wasn’t until two days later that he realized how valuable this experience was. Every time they made it back to the spawn room, Derek would explain to him, in detail, everything he did wrong and right. Now, he was nothing but thankful.
He was thankful that the pain was numbing instead of the previous agony. The same broken arm he had on the first day that basically rendered him unconscious was nothing to him now. He could even fight with his broken arm if needed. He hadn’t known what to think when he received an achievement for all his suffering. It was a lesser award and only offered two skill points, but it was a sign that everything he was doing was not for nothing.
When he had told Derek about the achievement, and how it was awarded for greatly increasing his pain tolerance, Derek just laughed and mumbled something about never being able to get it.
About that time, Derek walked over. “Are you ready? You got all the insects in two rooms, and I think all that’s remaining is the boss in the next. It’s a level 25 Zephyr Mantis. I’ll let you have a go at it, but I’m pretty sure it could slice your head off in one swipe, so I’ll end up killing it. Just make sure you get a hit on it, so we split the experience. I don’t want it all.”
Thomas nodded his head. “Alright.”
The duo walked through the two empty rooms. Thomas looked around. He was relieved that no more enemies spawned in after being killed. Soon, they made it to what they thought was the door to the final cavern. Derek pushed the door open and walked in.
Thomas followed him. As soon as he entered the room, a wind blade, not unlike the one Rayna used, hummed towards him at a rapid pace. Derek stepped in front of the blade, and using his bare arm, batted it away. He turned to Thomas. “Actually, I’m going to hold it, you hit it, then I’ll kill it. No sense in taking the risk.”
With that, Derek dashed toward the five-foot-tall mantis. He sidestepped the two blade-like arms that came together like a guillotine. Then he was behind it. He held it in a bearhug, pinning both of its arms to its sides. “Hit it!” he commanded.
Thomas ran up to the mantis and slashed at its thorax, just above the creature’s arms. Because of the quality of daggers, he did massive damage. After the blood started flowing, he heard a snap. A notification popped up, and Derek dropped the bug to the floor. Thomas breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, I get to leave this hell.
Derek dropped the corpse to the ground and turned to see an orb of light appear. I guess that’s the dungeon exit. He had stayed in the dungeon longer than he wanted, but Thomas needed it, especially after his showing in the first few days.
The boy’s growth didn’t impress him. If anything, it was average. But Thomas’s mindset had improved, and that was something Derek could work with. He was still a little envious of the pain tolerance achievement that Thomas had received. Thinking about his current pain tolerance, he didn’t believe that he could increase it much more.
He was happy that he was able to increase his Rejuvenation skill to level 8 and his Dismantle skill to level 11, though, with the latter, he could only get some carapaces from the beetles. He wasn’t sure if they would be of any use to Brandi.
His biggest gain in the time they were in the dungeon was with Channel Void. He hadn’t used it to fight, other than secretly killing a bug or two while Thomas was resting, but he used the skill every chance he got. Exhausting his mana repeatedly. He had received more than a few confused looks from Thomas over it.
“Well, looks like it’s time to leave.” Derek walked up and patted Thomas on the back. “It was a pretty nice vacation, eh?”
“You call that a vacation? That was hell. Do you know how many bones I broke?” Thomas shook his head.
Derek laughed. That was another thing that improved over the near two weeks in the dungeon. Thomas addressed him much more casually, and his constant stuttering was all but gone. It was a nice change. “Ah, stop being so whiny. I’ve broken a hell of a lot more than you. Besides, you got that Lesser Pain Tolerance Award.”
“Are we going to another dungeon?” Thomas asked.
“No, I had planned to, but that took longer than I thought. Brandi may have her Leatherworking skill up to 10 by now, so I’m going to keep my promise. Besides, I’m sure your granny is worried sick about you. Luckily, my Rejuvenation keeps scars from forming. Could you imagine her face?” Derek snickered.
“Yeah, if I showed up with a back full of scars like you, she would have a heart attack. You still haven’t told me how you got them, by the way.”
“And I don’t plan on it,” Derek said. “It’s time to get our rewards and leave the dungeon.” He stopped, thinking for a second. Then, he put on a leather armor set from his storage. It wasn’t great, but it was something he had worn in the past and didn’t look too different from what he had seen in this world. He also pulled out two facemasks. “Put this on. We’ve been in here for two weeks. If anyone is outside waiting for us to leave, I don’t want to show our faces.” He handed one mask to Thomas.
“Let’s get our rewards.” Derek walked up to the orb and placed his hand on it. Thomas did the same. A notification popped up.
Dungeon Complete…
Assigning Rewards…
Congratulations, you have received the skill Cure Toxin.
“Dammit!” Derek cursed.
“What happened?”
“I got a skill I don’t want. What did you get?” Derek asked.
“I got Haste. It seems pretty good. It increases all my movement, not just my speed,” Thomas said, excited at the skill.
“Yeah, it’s good. I know people with it. It’s worth leveling.” Derek looked at the next notification.
Cure Toxin
The ability to remove poisons and toxins from yourself and others. The higher the level, the better the skill. This skill is not limited to poisons and toxins. Once leveled, it can help cure other infections and contaminations.
Cost: 1 Skill Point
Would you like to learn Cure Toxin?
Uh… Yes…
Cure Toxin Learned Successfully
Skill Points Remaining: 3
That is much better than I initially thought. It may even remove the acid from my armor after being leveled. Derek wondered if the system had given this skill to him because of what he experienced, or if it was indeed random.
“Did you learn Haste?”
“Yes, I had points from my achievement,” Thomas replied.
“Good. Are you ready to leave?” Derek asked.
“Yes.”
Derek looked at the dungeon interface and mentally selected ‘Leave Dungeon.’ A countdown began, and in five seconds, the blinding light reappeared in his vision.
