Whoosh!
Similar to what he had done in the Common Caves, Valyr relied on the magic skills he had picked up to deal all of the damage towards the Skeleton Acolytes he came across, utilizing the four basic elements to their entirety, as well as one of the basic elements' destructive variants.
'Pretty sure this dungeon used to feel harder back then.' At the moment, Valyr zoomed through a considerably long corridor filled with twists and turns, relying on Wind-attribute magic to make sure that the momentum lost with every turn he made would instead be conserved. Simultaneously, multiple blades of crimson flames circled around the young man's body, making sure that none of the Skeleton Acolytes would be able to come near him.
'Then again, I only had my trusty spear to rely on back then, plus the class and subclass I had wasn't as good as what I have right now.'
"[Crimson Blaze]." Noticing that one of the skeletons in his vicinity was preparing to throw a magic spell towards him, Valyr extended his palm outward in the skeleton's direction before sending a scorching ball of crimson flames, which swiftly grew to double its size at the very last moment.
Bang!
'-1,642'
Seeing the four digit number above its head gradually disappear as the skeleton transformed into a pile of ash, Valyr looked at the notification screen he had brought up to his side, a faint smile adorning his face as he took note of the amount of XP he had earned, as well as the additional notification that came alongside the kill.
"Finally got another Uncommon grade Skill Key." Valyr briefly clenched his fists in excitement before proceeding to traverse the corridor before him. "With the 9 keys I've gotten from clearing the Common Caves, I'm now at a total of 17 Uncommon grade Skill Keys."
"Not bad, considering that I'm still at the third room of the Uncommon Depths."
Just like how the Common Caves consisted of 10 rooms that seemed to have undergone procedural generation, the layout of the Uncommon Depths was more or less the same, with one of the differences being the fact that one would have to go through 12 rooms to exit the dungeon instead of 10.
Aside from that, unlike the Common Caves, one would have to fight against a mini-boss at the halfway mark, its strength around three tiers higher than the acolytes from what Valyr could remember. Of course, defeating the mini-boss would allow one to be rewarded accordingly, allowing them to obtain a considerable number of Skill Keys in one go.
In fact, Valyr had heard from some players back then that they had gotten Skill Shards to drop from these mini-bosses as well, something Julian had brought up during their conversation about the Lesser Meltierre Mountains back in Algerie Kingdom's Blacksmith Guild.
As for those who had failed to defeat their mini-boss in time…
Surprisingly, they were all teleported to the entrance of the Uncommon Depths, prompting Valyr and many others back then to wonder whether these dungeons were purpose built to be a training ground of sorts.
"In three more rooms, I'll fight against the mini-boss," muttered Valyr to himself as he eventually found himself at an area with multiple floating platforms, all of which had a group of Skeleton Acolytes on top of it.
Assessing the number of foes that were on the platforms, the young man took in a deep breath before proceeding to conjure a maelstrom of earth and wind, deciding to decimate all of the skeletons by sending a barrage of large earth shards.
"Of course, I should still keep an eye on that second runic parchment."
…
'And with this, I'm finally done with the Uncommon Depths.' Watching as the tornado of crimson flames and wind he had cast engulf all of the Skeleton Acolytes in its vicinity, only leaving their ashes behind, Valyr let out a soft sigh of relief as he took a look at his notification screen, ignoring the notification sounds incessantly ringing in his mind as he counted the number of Skill Keys he had gained from this run.
"A total of 28 Uncommon grade Skill Keys and 12 Common grade Skill Keys," said Valyr as he inwardly nodded. "Common grade Skill Keys aside, I'm still lacking a few more Uncommon grade Skill Keys to make sure that all of the skills I could upgrade would be at the max level of Uncommon grade."
"Normally, I'd just do another run of the Uncommon Depths and purposefully lose to the mini-boss to get the remaining keys." Seeing as the tornado he had cast had finished doing its job, Valyr went ahead and conjured a large gust of wind, blowing all of the ashes on the ground to the edges as he proceeded to look for the second runic parchment.
"But of course, with the runic parchment quest, I guess I'll head to the Rare Abyss instead."
"Now where is it…" Pushing his senses to the limit, Valyr looked all throughout the large hall he had just emptied, making sure to not miss even a single nook or cranny in search for the second runic parchment. In fact, he had done the same thing to all of the previous rooms he had entered, not crossing out the possibility that the runic parchment would be found in the middle of the dungeon.
"Weird. Can't find any sign of it anywhere." Briefly scratching the back of his head, Valyr decided to bring out the runic parchment he had picked up from the Common Caves to see if it would help out.
And fortunately, it did.
Whoosh!
At the very moment he brought out the first runic parchment he had picked up, the runes on the parchment proceeded to light up as a sheet of parchment at the far end of the empty hall began to float all of a sudden.
Not long after, this sheet of parchment swiftly headed to where Valyr was, joining together with the first runic parchment to form a larger piece of parchment as the runes on the two parchments combined to form a larger rune.
In terms of the runes' current appearance, it was as if the two parchments had never been separated in the first place, leaving Valyr no choice but to stand still at a loss for words as a notification sound resounded in his mind.
Ding!
[You have completed part of the requirements for the quest: The Runic Parchments.]
[Find the 2nd Runic Parchment within the Uncommon Depths (1/1)]
"…"
"Well… that was easier than I thought."
