System Change

“Whew,” Derek said with a sigh. “I should have left a smaller golem or two alive.” Unlike the first wave, Derek and Alanah—with her new found way to deactivate the cores—eradicated all the golems that spawned well before the third wave began. Since he wanted to try to get one of the boss cores, he didn’t bother leaving any alive to grind his skills on after defeating it. After all, he didn’t know how long it was going to take to pull the core out of the boss.

“To work on your skills with?” Alanah asked.

“Yeah,” Derek replied. “I still have a lot that I need to level.”

Now that he knew that he and Alanah could attack together and shut down a boss core without it exploding, he would be able to plan better and grind his skills better in the upcoming waves and repeats of the dungeon. He figured that after they ran one or two more dungeons, they would be able to perfect it. Well, it does still depend on how many times Alanah wants to do this dungeon before moving on.

Derek was fine running the golem dungeon as many times as she wanted. Golems, after all, were some of the better monsters for him to fight to gain skill experience without gaining too much experience toward his own level. And, since he was able to split experience with Alanah—who couldn’t actually do anything with it as far as he knew—he would be able to fight even more golems before hitting level 250.

“Just how many skills do you have that you need to level, and can level, in this dungeon?” Alanah asked, while the countdown to the next wave continued to run. She continued to stay in her siren form that caused even him to feel the influence from her voice when she spoke. This, in turn, caused another notification to appear in the corner of Derek’s vision.

“That I can level in here?” Derek asked as he swiped away the notification showing that his Mental Resistance increased to level 9. Then, after thinking for a moment, he gave his current skill sheet a cursory glance so he could properly answer her question.

Skills

Absolute Nullify Lv. 16, Bare Fist Specialty Lv. 3(View Upgrades), Basic Repair Lv. 1, Chain Lightning Lv. 17, Channel Void Lv. 20, Cleaning Lv. 10, Cure Toxin Lv. 15, Dismantle Lv. 12, Enhanced Movement Speed Lv. 2, Fire Resistance Lv. 11, Greater Meditation Lv. 14, Identify Lv. 19, Magic Resistance Lv. 20, Mental Resistance Lv. 9, Multi-Strike Lv. 18, Physical Resistance Lv. 20, Polearm Specialty Lv. 2 (Void’s Harbinger), Powerstride Lv. 4, Rejuvenation Lv. 20, Spatial Collapse Lv. 4, Spatial Redirection Lv. 2, Spatial Rend Lv. 4, Sweeping Slash Lv. 20, Telepathy Lv. 8, Time Prison Lv. 15, Void Call Lv. 4, Void Creation Lv. N/A, Void Sense Lv. 20, Void Shift Lv. 12, Void Steps Lv. 16, Void Storage Lv. N/A, Void Travel Lv. N/A, Whirlwind Slash Lv. 3

Skill Points Remaining: 15

Skill Upgrade Points Remaining: 0

Shared Skills from Companion: Active Void Shift Lv. 10, Void Lightning Bolt Lv. 10

Shared Skills to Companion: Void Sense Lv. 10, Void Travel Lv. N/A

Skills Available to Share:

Absolute Nullify Lv. 10, Channel Void Lv. 10, Time Prison Lv. 10, Void Call Lv. 4, Void Sense Lv. 10, Void Shift Lv. 10, Void Steps Lv. 10, Void Storage Lv. N/A, Void Travel Lv. N/A

Damn… Derek thought. All that with just two waves of level 250 golems. Looking at the skill list, he could see that his Bare Fist Specialty had increased a level due to the way he shut down the golem cores by striking them with his bare fists while channeling the void through them. He laughed a bit when he saw that Chain Lightning had gone up two levels, even though he only used it when everything else was on cooldown, and it did next to nothing to any golem unless it used the water element.

He just didn’t have the affinity for regular lightning element skills to do much. The fact that it actually did do some damage to water golems said a lot about his current intelligence stat.

Moving down the list, he skimmed over a few of the utility skills he had, like Cleaning and Dismantle, until his eyes fell on his Fire Resistance skill. He could barely contain his laughter when he saw that it had jumped from level 1 to level 11 just from him standing in the boss’s flames while trying to shut down its core. If only all skills could level like that, he thought. Damn, I need to find every type of resistance skill I can and level them. Those, on top of Physical Resistance and Magic Resistance… I wonder if there’s some kind of secret Achievement I can get from that.

After viewing his Fire Resistance skill, he moved to Greater Meditation, which had, unfortunately, stayed at level 14 even though he kept it active at pretty much all times during a fight. This has to be the hardest skill to level… well… maybe, he thought. Well… at least I gained another level in Identify by using it on the golems. Usually, he didn’t even bother to look at the information provided by Identify. He only continued using it to increase its level in hopes that it would work better on system users one day.

After that, he saw that multiple other skills had increased a level. Mental Resistance gained a level from Alanah, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before it hit level 20 if he continued to run dungeons with her in her siren form. Multi-Strike—another one of the harder skills to level—gained a level. Powerstride and Whirlwind Slash gained two levels, and Spatial Collapse, Spatial Redirection, Spatial Rend, and Void Steps all gained a level.

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After going through the skill list, he closed it and looked over at Alanah. “There are quite a few that still need to be leveled. To be more specific, I have over ten skills that these golems…” He paused for a second and mentally added, And you… “Are currently helping me level.”

“I see,” Alanah nodded. “And they are all going faster because of your lower level? You are still under level 250, correct?”

“Haha,” Derek chuckled at her question. Him being under level 250 wasn’t a secret—at least not to someone with her resources. Multiple people had enough information to know that there was a high chance that he wasn’t level 250 yet. That, or he had some kind of skill or Achievement that allowed him to enter dungeons that were at a lower level than himself. As crazy as it may have sounded, he figured that people would gravitate toward the former because of what having an Achievement like that would mean. “I am,” he finally replied.

Just off the top of his head, he could count at least seven people—people who weren’t his people—who should know that he was a much lower level than he seemed. Alanah, Stella, Avery, and Walter all know or should have been able to guess because of the Undying Dungeon. The same is true for Cain, Nathan, and Klaus—if the Adventurer’s Guild Leader wanted to know, of course.

“If that’s the case, then I have some ideas that will help you level even slower while leveling your skills,” Alanah said. “I will not ask what level…” she started, but was immediately cut off by Derek.

“I just hit level 231,” he said. “With just the golems that I’ve destroyed, I’ve already gained two levels. It’s moving a little faster than I would like, but there’s not much else I can do. If you have any other ideas, I’m all for them.”

“Well,” Alanah said. “For the remainder of this dungeon, I’ll make sure to at least damage each golem before you destroy it. That way, you’ll only get half the experience points. Once we finish the dungeon and leave it, I’ll be able to help you a bit more.”

“That sounds great,” Derek said before the next wave timer appeared in his vision.

Wave Three Incoming in 3… 2… 1…

“Let’s do this,” Derek said as the blinding lights appeared and more golems were summoned to the surrounding area.

With a seductive—but creepy—smile, Alanah drew her rapier from her storage ring. “Cover your ears,” she said to Derek, but he didn’t listen. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” With her claw-like fingernails, she flicked the blade of her rapier, and an extremely high-pitched sound rang out.

Almost instantly, Derek felt one of his eardrums explode and for the first time in a while, his HP dropped a bit before his natural regeneration kicked in and healed him. He reached up and touched the side of his head with his hand. When he pulled it away, he saw quite a bit of blood in his palm. “Holy shi…” he started, but was interrupted by two booming explosions in the distance.

“Seems like that was a bit too much,” Alanah said with a deep chuckle as she turned her head to face Derek. Her creepy grin that showed her sharpened, shark-like teeth disappeared when she saw the blood on Derek’s palm. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” Derek replied. “Just wasn’t expecting… that.”

“Me neither,” she replied honestly. “I haven’t really done that while in this state,” she said. “The Indrian Royal Family’s sound barriers render that skill almost useless, so I didn’t bother with it. And after we defeated them, I never had the need to use it—which I am happy for. That… could have done serious damage to both friend and foe alike.”

“You got that right.” Derek used his Cleaning skill and got rid of the blood on his hand, head, and armor. “Neat skill, though. Definitely a trump card against multiple enemies.”

“Mhm…” Alanah only nodded. “I’ll tone the attack down for the next wave.”

“Sounds good,” Derek said. “Well, I’m off.”

The rest of the dungeon continued almost without a hitch. With Alanah’s weird sound wave attack, Derek was able to fight his golems without worrying about getting too much experience. He slowed his fighting down and only went after the cores of the smaller golems when the end of the timer drew close. When the boss of the wave appeared, both he and Alanah stopped their fights and charged to the middle of the arena to focus on it.

The third wave’s boss didn’t go down easy, as it was a metal element golem, and kept its core covered while attacking. Derek didn’t have to worry about hitting the metal defense of the golem, as his void energy went right through it, so when Alanah was able to get her hands inside the metal golem’s defenses, it fell quickly.

After the metal golem, there were no more hiccups, and the duo finally made it to the final wave at the end of the dungeon. The final wave wasn’t much different from any of the others. There were six normal golems and a single boss. Being the final wave, neither Derek nor Alanah held back. As soon as the golems spawned, they were on them collecting their cores. Once those golems were destroyed, they waited for the boss and easily double-teamed it.

With the boss defeated, Derek and Alanah received their first clear rewards.

Dungeon Complete…

Assigning Rewards…

Congratulations, you have received Potion: Skill Experience

Derek stared at the notification, then at the potion that appeared in his hand. You’ve got to be kidding me, he thought. He wasn’t angry at the reward. Hell, it was probably one of the best rewards that the dungeon could give. My Lesser Dungeon Traveler Achievement’s 10% increase in dungeon reward rarity definitely kicked in on this one, he thought. He also sighed in relief when no super beast from a different system was thrown at them for no reason. I think I prefer not having any overt system fuckery.

He turned to look at Alanah, who had already dismissed her siren form and was turning a yellow potion over in her hand. Finally, she put it away, and Derek asked, “Anything good?”

“Just a major stamina potion. Not bad, but not needed,” she answered. “But I never expected to get a good reward from this dungeon—just the cores.”

“Same,” Derek replied. “Well, and the skill levels.”

Alanah nodded, then said, “Again?”

“Of course!” Derek happily agreed.

“Alright, let’s get out of here.” With a swift touch of the dungeon exit orb, a wave of light washed over the two of them and they were gone.

Don’t be in a room with a weird elf, don’t be in a room with a weird elf, Derek inwardly chanted to himself as he slowly opened his eyes. Seeing that he was beside the golem dungeon’s orb, he let out another sigh. Looking over to Alanah, he asked, “So, what’s this idea you have to help me level my skills?”

“Give me one moment,” the half-elf said, then her eyes went distant. When they finally refocused, she said, “Okay. It will take an hour or so. We can run the dungeon again, or we can wait. It’s your decision, though. If you wait, you probably won’t have to worry about your level increasing much anymore.”

“I’m perfectly fine with waiting,” Derek answered, then pulled out a rug from his storage and placed his chair on top of it so it wouldn’t get dirty. With a serious expression, he leaned forward and looked deep into Alanah’s eyes. “So, are you going to tell me what’s going on with you?”

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