The previous evening had been surprisingly mundane. Ashlyn was currently going through her initiation week, which kept her busy nearly every moment of the day. Ian had sent her a text, and it was going to be a week before they would be able to hang out. Claire was spending time with her parents, and Jen’s party was doing a two-day dive for their teaching stream.
Thinking back on the evening, Ian could only smile at how weird the night had felt. It was the first time he had any real free time while having excess spending money since his ex had ruined his life. He had wanted to go out and celebrate just on principle, but a quick stop to look at purchasing a new bow for his sister made it clear he wasn’t able to go anywhere without drawing a crowd.
Having disposable income for the first time in so long was extremely exciting, but it wasn’t enough to make him want to wade through the crowds and dodge reporters long enough to eat at a fancy restaurant. Instead, he just grabbed something on the way back and decided to stay in and read a book on his tablet. It was wonderful to just have a quite evening in without worrying about anything else in the world.
The ride over to the dungeon the following morning was also blessedly quiet, though Ian knew it was primarily due to him waking up a few hours before sunrise and catching the metro with all the early birds on their way to work. However, the businesswoman who stared at him all the way to his stop had made it far more awkward than it needed to be.
He had begun to realize his conceal skill was becoming too noticeable, and he was drawing crowds wherever he went. It was impossible to hide his alias since he was the only adventurer in town who used the skill. Groups of people still gave him anxiety—even when he wasn’t the center of their attention, and he was beginning to realize that he would still need to clear his name if he ever wanted to have any semblance of a normal life.
Vision and Prophet currently lived normal lives as their original identities. They had only adventured under their aliases but were able to switch back during their private lives. Unlike them, he didn’t have that option. Their personal identities were never known to the public, so they were able to balance the stress of fame with the freedom of anonymity.
“Good morning, Adventurer Zero. Go right on in,” the representative said, snapping Ian out of his thoughts.
“Thank you! I hope things stay calm for you out here,” Ian replied.
The man chuckled, “I doubt they will for long, but my shift ends in an hour. You’re the first person I’ve seen enter this dungeon in the last week during my shift. So, if a few reporters show up, at least I’ll have some excitement.”
Ian found the man’s outlook contagious, “I’ll probably be running this dungeon for at least another week. I’ll make sure to say hi when I stop by in the mornings…” Ian trailed off, waiting for the man’s name.
“Oh, sorry. My name is Greg. I’m usually here from 2200 to 0600 hours during the week,” the man said with a smile.
“Awesome, Greg. I’ll try to make it here early enough to say hi at least a couple of times.”
“While I wouldn’t mind seeing a friendly face now and again, there is no need to wake up early if you don’t have to. Just make sure you stay safe in there!”
They waved at each other before Ian walked into the portal.
“He seems like a nice guy,” Ian muttered to himself as he pulled his spear out. “Also helped me get my head in the game. I’ll try to remember to bring him some coffee.”
Night had fallen on the Horker Village, and even if the moon was bright enough to let him easily make out the landscape, it still made him feel like something was off about the way the dungeon felt. The purple on the edge of the sky let him know it was still a couple of hours from sunrise, or at least he assumed that it would look similar to the real world.
Looking across the fields outside of the village, he noticed there were more workers dotting the landscape, and not just a handful, but easily double or triple what he had dealt with the day prior.
Frowning, Ian began to work his way towards the closest horker. As he came close enough to make it out clearly, the creature turned and charged at him at a speed the other workers hadn’t shown the day before.
“Shit,” he said sharply as he settled into a defensive stance.
The horker swung the spade directly at Ian’s head the second it came within range. Ducking under the makeshift weapon, Ian quickly jabbed his spear into the creature’s stomach before twisting and stepping back to gain some distance. The blood pouring out of the wound didn’t even seem to slow the creature at all as it prepared to strike again.
The creature’s slight shift helped telegraph the next attack. Changing his grip on his spear, he deflected the spade to pass over his head. As the handle of the spade slid off the shaft of the spear, Ian brought it down to catch the horker’s arm with the edge of the blade. It was sharp enough that the creature’s momentum helped slice deep into its muscle.
As the creature let out a deep grunt of pain, Ian leaned in and thrust the spear into the creature’s neck. The spade clattered to the ground as the creature’s three fingered hands came up on reflex to grab the haft of the spear.
Ian swore as he let go of the spear and materialized his sword, driving it into the creature’s abdomen at an upward angle. He must have hit something vital because the creature convulsed as it fell to the side.
Congratulations! You have defeated an enemy more than 100 levels higher than you. Experience rewards are quadrupled. You have earned 3 levels. You have achieved level 419. You have been awarded 60 skill points!
“What the hell,” Ian said, thinking over the battle. The creature had been considerably stronger and faster than the day prior. It had also detected him at a much farther range. He would have thought the darkness would—.
Ian smacked his head and let out a small grunt of frustration.
“Horkers are subterranean creatures,” Ian hissed at himself. “Of course they are going to see better in the dark. They probably even feel like shit being out here during the day. Working in the hot sun always wore me down, and I actually like going outside in the heat.”
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Ian thought through his options as the realization of his situation settled in. He could go back to the entrance and wait for a bit to see if the sun would rise, or he could continue on, possibly take advantage of the extra monsters available right now, even if the risk was higher.
Another thing to consider was that dungeons didn’t operate on the same timetables as Earth. Day and night cycles could be more than a little strange. Sometimes the dungeon would cycle through a full day every few hours, while other dungeons had events that needed to be cleared before they would return to normal.
Ian hadn’t bothered to look for that kind of information, and Claire hadn’t said anything about it. He shrugged to himself, deciding it was too much to think about right now. He had come for levels and wasn’t going to simply back off and potentially waste time that he could be using to make himself stronger. He had to remind himself that every bit of strength he gained helped give Jen and his sister more power.
Ian slowed as he approached the next field much more carefully than the first. Just because he needed strength didn’t mean he couldn’t take some extra time to be cautious.
*~*~*
It had been nearly three hours, and the dungeon wasn’t showing any signs of the sun actually rising. He had managed to reach level 442 with the last fight, finally giving him enough SP to purchase the Magic Soul skill.
Magic Soul (Active): Manifests a mana blade that adds additional reach and magic damage to bladed weapons. Shape based on weapon. Can be used to cut mana constructs.
He still lacked the required mana regeneration to use it constantly, but it was something he could use in a pinch to increase his damage. If he focused and timed the skill activation right, he could quickly turn it on and off as he attacked, allowing him to spread his mana out to a greater effect than if he just activated and burned through everything. Which is exactly what he figured he was going to have to do if he wanted to handle the creature he had found wandering in the fields.
Analyze Results - Horker Overseer Ghur
LVL: 700
Unlike the workers, the named monster carried a large, one-handed club instead of a spade—and the differences didn’t stop there. It stood well over eight feet tall. Its gray, leathery skin seemed even tougher than the workers', and it was covered in patches of jet-black fur.
From what Ian could glean from the situation, this creature was a rare spawn. Some dungeons only spawned them every couple of years, or when certain conditions were met. They were tougher than the normal monsters in an area, but were usually weaker than the bosses. The general consensus was that they were usually a little bit stronger than the normal monsters in the next zone of a dungeon. However, they were highly sought after because they were known for dropping special loot. Items were a rarity, and there weren’t many who dedicated their SP to crafting skills to make use of many of the crafting items that normal monsters dropped.
The thought of actual loot made him excited and was the reason Ian had been stalking the overseer for the last ten minutes. Unlike the workers, Ghur moved from field to field, seemingly focused on ensuring all the workers were putting as much effort as possible into their tasks. After seeing the creature use its club to hit a worker who wasn’t working fast enough, Ian had been struck by an epiphany.
He watched as the giant horker moved into the field and began to grunt angrily at the worker lying down, facing away from him. When it didn’t instantly wake up, Ghur quickly ran over to the worker and kicked it. When he went to kick it again, Ian’s thrown spear lodged deep into the rare spawn’s lower back, having been thrown just before Ian began his charge.
The monster swung his club wildly as it turned. A movement that the monster accomplished much easier than he would have thought possible with a spear stuck in its back, Ian noted.
Ian dodged the wild swing and countered with a slash aimed at the creature’s stomach. It jumped back, which cleared it from the path of the sword, but caused it to growl in pain as the spear caught on the ground and dug farther into its back. As it moved forward to swing again, the spear fell out onto the ground with a spray of dark blood.
The pain didn’t slow the creature. Instead, the creature’s eyes began to glow as it became more aggressive.
Ian quickly dodged two quick swings and tried to find an opening. Every time he tried to stab or slash at the creature, he always found his sword just wasn’t quite long enough to make contact. This same series of exchanges began to repeat itself as Ian danced with the giant horker.
After a few minutes, Ian started to grow frustrated. His breath was growing ragged, and he knew he would eventually make a mistake if he didn’t change things up. Deciding to take a chance, he quickly dodged the club and slashed out at the creature’s bulbous stomach again, just like he had a dozen times before.
Unlike his previous attempts, the blue glow of an ethereal blade surrounded his sword. It expanded more than two inches to each side and six inches beyond the sword’s natural point. Even though the metal part of the sword itself passed more than an inch away from the creature, the magic blade zipped right through as if it were only light before appearing on the other side.
Ian jumped back as he deactivated the ability and swore to himself. Everything he read about the spell had made him believe it would increase his weapon’s range and act as a magic extension. Instead, there wasn’t even blood coming from the horker’s protruding belly.
The horker had momentarily stopped when the light had come from the blade, but now it barked out a sound that Ian thought might have been a laugh as it took a step towards him.
The next moment, both of them were shocked when the horker’s belly split open as the intestines began pouring out. The creature dropped its spade as it attempted to stop more from pouring out as he attempted to push everything back in, as Ian just stood there in shock. The creature’s terrified squeal got Ian’s mind moving again as he swung his sword again while reactivating the skill.
Ian knew the creature was dead when the squeal was cut off and the dungeon prompt fluttered across his vision.
Congratulations! You have defeated an enemy more than 250 levels higher than you. Experience rewards are multiplied by 10. You have earned 21 levels. You have achieved level 463. You have been awarded 420 skill points!
Congratulations! You have completed a group dungeon event solo. Loot rarity will be of increased quality and fully identified.
“Huh,” Ian muttered as he dismissed the notification.
He looked down at the headless and gutted creature and shuddered. Quickly looting the mob, he sighed in relief as it disappeared, taking the sight and smell with it. He opened his hand to find his prize, a small silver amulet with a sapphire suspended in a half-moon.
Moon’s Light (Rare): When worn, this amulet pulls in ambient mana. Passively allows 15% additional mana regeneration at all times. This effect stays active even in combat.
Ian whistled, then quickly clipped it on before tucking it into his leather armor. Accessories were rare—especially jewelry. Unlike most armor, accessories tended to be percentage-based or directly interact with skills. This made some of them useful for an adventurer’s entire career, though some claimed that it was a byproduct of humans from Earth having a fairly low level compared to the other enlightened races.
Shrugging off the thought, Ian cracked his back and stretched his shoulders. After a satisfying pop, he was momentarily blinded as the sun quickly rose from behind the mountainous cliff walls that surrounded the valley and took its place up in the sky.
“That is so weird,” Ian said as the landscape was now midday. “It’s one thing to read about rapid changes to weather and time in dungeons, but to see them…it reminds me of those nature documentaries where they time-lapse a sunrise.”
Ian shuddered as it made a chill run down his spine. It was shaping up to be a weird day, and it had just begun. Ian grabbed his spear as he headed over to the next field where a worker was toiling away, seemingly oblivious to the change in time.
Just like the day prior, it couldn’t really see him during the day, letting him get extremely close before he engaged it. Activating his new ability on his first attack, the creature’s head was nearly cut off from the spear thrust, causing him to receive another two levels from the near instant kill.
He smiled as he looted the creature, “I think it’s time to go on a rampage.”
