Jay walked into the light. It was still overcast outside so he wasn’t overwhelmed when returning from the dark depths of the pyramid.
Looking around, he found that he exited the back side of the pyramid, still in the crumbled ruins of a once-great mega city.
“Five hundred soul stones… this quest is going to take some time.” Thought Jay as he looked around, making sure the exit was safe.
“I’ll read that new chapter of the immortality book before I forget to…”
Jay walked closer to the pyramid, leaning against it as he pulled out his book and began to read.
“Huh, that page was much shorter.” he thought as he stood up, checking his stats to see his immortality research percentage.
<[Necromancer Level 8]>
[Race - Human]
HP: 82/82
MP: 61/67
Strength: 15
Dexterity: 25
Vitality: 30
Energy: 40/40
Exp: 3849/6000
<[Skills]>
[Raise Feeble Creature level 4]
[Shell Restoration Level 1]
[Shift]
[Unstable Teeth Level 2]
[Undead Mastery Level 2] (Passive)
[Stress Response] (Passive)
[Running level 2] (Passive)
[Dagger Proficiency level 1] (Passive)
[Asklin] (Equipment)
[Poison Resist 10%] (Passive - equipment)
[Scrimshaw Level 2] (Passive)
[Class Utility] (Passive)
<[Research]>
[Chimera Research 6%]
[Immortality Research 3%]
“3%... it’s progressing quite slowly, but that’s fine.” Jay thought as he put away his book.
“I think it’s about time to do some hunting.”
Jay was still sitting down as he snapped his fingers - the four skeletons charged off as a group into the city. The four of them could easily overwhelm two of the standard soldier statues, and since they were using two-handed hammers, they could just bring the empty soulstones back in one hand while carrying the hammer in the other.
Jay smiled seeing them leave into the ruins, jumping over rocks, debris and boulders effortlessly.
“Ah, sometimes it’s just too simple,” he thought.
It didn’t take long before some experience points rolled in.
[35 Exp][35 Exp]
The skeletons all came back, dropping two soulstones at Jay’s feet before sprinting off into the ruins again.
“Nice. I guess I can take a short nap.”
Jay leant his head back against the pyramid and closed his eyes. It was overcast, but it wasn’t cold so he could sleep comfortably.
*Clink*
[930 Exp]
Jay woke up from his light sleep as a small pile of soulstones shifted; two more were added, causing a clicking sound as they toppled down the pile.
With a yawn, he rubbed his eyes as he stood up.
“Woah, you guys are the real MVP, damn…” Looking at a small pile of soulstones, Jay was amazed by their efficiency.
“.. Or maybe I was just asleep for a while. Hmm. Surely it wasn’t that long…” Jay pocketed the soulstones.
[26 Empty Soulstones]
“So they got 26 while I was sleeping… but I’ve been here for hours and got 26 myself? That's a little ridiculous; they literally doubled my stones while I slept.. Undead truly are the best workers.” Jay shook his head, still amazed.
“The experience alone would have been enough for me” he chuckled.
Jay wanted to stay in the dungeon with his skeletons, but had to make a decision.
“I’ll have to leave the dungeon soon, I don’t want to miss Trenly again.”
“I suppose I could just leave the skeletons here to gather crystals and level me up while I sleep tonight” he shrugged with a devilish smile, “Anya will lose her shit when she sees that I’m level 9”
“Compared to having the skeletons hunt in the forest, they give so much more exp slaying higher level monsters in dungeons, so this is much better than having them kill things in the forest.”
Jay decided to heal his skeletons before leaving the dungeon, draining his mana slightly - but it was nothing that he couldn’t get back with a good night's sleep.
A pillar sprung up from the street as Jay willed to leave, a door embedded in the pillar. Touching the handle, he opened it into the real world and stepped out cautiously.
Looking around with his shield raised in suspicion, Jay was glad that the weird demon tree was gone.
“Hm, they probably all went home.” There weren’t any adventurers around either, and it had gotten dark.
With an exhale, he lowered his shield and took out his luminous orb, charging it before he began walking back to Losla; heading south on the trail before heading west around the mountain in order to cross the north bridge of the town - the route most adventurers took.
The path was well-trodden, as this dungeon was instanced which gives greater rewards upon completion - of course, at this point, many of the adventurers here would be way too weak.
The average adventurer level in Losla was gradually creeping up to five, and they were still babies compared to what would await them in future campaigns.
Approaching the lights of the town, Jay noticed a few people still outside, wandering between the houses.
“I guess it’s not too late, but I’m pretty tired so I might as well go to bed.” thought Jay as he made his way home and went to sleep.
*Shring~*
A single strike created a red slit across a soap rat’s neck. It’s body suddenly stopped moving before it’s head slowly slid off.
Another soap rat saw this and paused in fear - but this was more than enough time for Matheson to dash across to it.
*Shring~*
A single slice from his skinny sword was all that was needed to create a slit right down the middle of the soap rat’s head. It’s head dropped to the ground and split in half.
With the gaze of a ravenous hunter, Matheson had an emotionless expression.
“Perhaps I should find a more challenging dungeon.”
When he first started coming here, he proudly smirked with a wide smile every time, having a pompous attitude whenever he killed a rat - he celebrated himself as if he had brought down a god-tier boss monster, but as time progressed, his pride slowly began to disappear. These were level one rats, and he was nothing - he was slowly beginning to understand something that he was once protected from.
“Might makes right…” his thoughts drifted to the capital.
There were many rich nobles and rich families - and many of them were richer than the royal family, but the reason they held power was a simple one: they controlled the military, the adventurers, and the mage hunters.
Matheson originally thought he was superior to the common man, as he chased after wealth, thinking it was a measure of power, but as he himself got stronger he was beginning to realise one thing: In the face of pure power, wealth is like a paper shield, an illusion of superiority.
As he got stronger, he realised how weak he truly was.
“I’ll try a different dungeon soon… and if no one wants to party with me, I will do it alone.”
For the last few days and nights, he was training himself non-stop. His physique was changing into a lean muscular type, his muscles getting more well-defined with each passing day.
Normally, it would take someone a year to gain 10kg of muscle mass, but he had done it in the span of a few days.
This was the advantage of having a class, you could put points into strength, and would never tire until your stamina was used up.
“I’ll kill Molodus a few more times before I head back.”
Matheson was getting efficient at clearing this dungeon now. He would run up the log at the start, he knew exactly where the rats would spawn and end them in one hit, then proceed directly to Molodus’s burrow - successfully landing a sneak attack almost every time.
Unlike Jay however, he did not receive any hidden quests, nor any coat. Fur scraps were the only thing he could loot, but he was still getting a hefty allowance from his father so it wasn’t even worth his time.
“Phew,” he panted “Time to head back. I should have enough stamina to run back in one go.”
With Molodus slain for the 8th time, he decided to head back to his estate, forcing his chefs to wake up and prepare him a lavish feast before he himself would go to sleep.
