Chapter 97: Grinding

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

Race Obtained

[Arcian]

Remnants of a fallen alien race, torn by civil war

No Stat Increment

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

Skill Obtained

[Arcia Reinforcement (Advanced)]

The power of the planet flows through you

Passive Skill

Ability to use ambient or internal arcia energy to strengthen muscles and improve arcia energy capacity and handling over-time

Unique Title will be applied for each stage of training and time

Requires immense amount of arcite ore to reach final stage

Performance reduced in non-arcia infused environment

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

Skill Obtained

[Arcia Efficiency (Advanced)]

Do not feel the fire; be the fire

Passive Skill

All skills cooldown reduced by 50% permanently

Non-upgradable

Overwrites all other cooldown modification skills

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

Notice

[Negation Field Errata]

Negation field will not affect these two skills

Negation Field can be upgraded to allow for targeted negation

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

Title Obtained

[Arcia Reinforcement]

Unique Title Applied from Arcian’s Passive Skill

+0 STR, +0 DEX, +0 INT, +0 VIT, +0 HP, +0 MP, +0 STA

+0% reduction in arcia activation cost

+0% improvement in duration of arcia skills

+0% affinity with arcia energy

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

Congratulations

[Upgrade Path Unlocked]

Due to Race Evolution, new functionality has been unlocked

[Intimidation Aura (Intermediate)] [Penchant for Violence (Intermediate)] [This is My Turf (Intermediate)]

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

Skill Obtained

[Designate Follower (Intermediate)]

Can’t be a crime lord without underlings

Marks any sapient being as a follower, enabling telepathic communication

Stat increase for each follower within five hundred meters

Limit of two followers now

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

Skill Obtained

[Negation Field (Basic)]

Disable all engravings in an area around you

Disable all engravings in a five-meter radius

Upgradable

Duration: Ten minutes

Cooldown: One and a half days

The cooldowns had all been drastically reduced. Penchant of Violence now had a 28% uptime during fights, but Kyle would be happier if it became 100%. Good enough.

“Let’s get out of here. Rations?”

“Sorry, I only have these three cans left. We can backtrack to the storage room to grab more?”

“Hmm... let’s take a few hours to explore where we are first before backtracking.”

Kyle shoved the chamber away from the metallic door before gingerly opening it and peeking outside, checking the passageway. There were no signs of any movements, footsteps or any skittering sound, with him and Feldon beginning to move further into the dungeon, the latter keeping a wide berth from the foul stench of Kyle’s back.

As much as I would like to leave the dungeon now, it would be best if I could obtain all the rewards here before leaving.

Moving down the passageway, they soon came across a similar storage room, something Kyle had missed while he was busy fighting Soren. He did not have the time to glance at each and every room then, so he performed the same checks as he did for the first storage room.

The layout was exactly the same, but this time there was a clear piece of paper covering a few of the tins, with two clear arrows being drawn on it with the big, bold words “ME” and “YOURS”.

This is Soren’s stash? Kyle recalled Soren complaining that he had booked the dungeon in advance for three years. It became clear that Soren had been farming this dungeon, though not continuously.

Kyle also remembered Soren mentioning that he had rushed over the moment he heard about a transcendent wrecking things in Tenar through his Nest underlings. This means there are more dungeons beyond, and fairly close as well – a week’s distance at maximum, assuming he travelled on foot.

“Can we take this?”

“Take everything – eat and drink as much as you want now. We’ll camp here for a break before moving on.”

Restored to full after a hearty meal at the expense of Soren’s stash, Kyle and Feldon continued moving, eventually reaching a T-junction, in which Kyle recalled he went left instead of right when running from Soren. The burn marks of the lightning arc slashed through the entire junction towards the left, while the right was clean.

Kyle led Feldon to the right, moving carefully and watching out for any traps in the passageway. Soon, a similar white light could be seen in the distance, prompting them to stop.

“Another cavern? Are we going to get swarmed by rock spiders again?”

“Let’s hope not.” Kyle actually wanted more rock spiders to appear so he could test out his new cooldowns and earn some EXP. Maybe he could even hit Level 40 before leaving the dungeon.

Come to think of it, wasn’t the recommended level of the Dungeon 45? The first trial might have been manageable, but Kyle was afraid that it was only going to get harder. “This time, you stay behind in the passageway,” Kyle explained to Feldon. “There’s no guarantee there is going to be a rest area this time.”

“Fuck no, I’m going with you. What if a giant rock spider blocks up the passageway again, and I’m left alone?”

“Fine. You still got projectiles left?”

Feldon grinned. “I got something even better.” He brandished the Thunder Blade that Soren had impaled him with.

“I’ve never seen you fight with a sword before.”

“Hey, I trained under Sasha and for many light capturer films, okay. I consider myself a connoisseur of fine martial arts.”

“Okay then.”

They triple-checked their equipment. Kyle still had his interior armour plates on, along with his Aero Shoes and Pulverizer. The warhammer had proven quite effective so far, allowing Kyle to take most rock spiders head-on thanks to the follow-up shock.

The two of them marched confidently out of the passageway. Instead of there being a large expansive area like the first cavern, there was a singular rocky outcrop in the middle. It was covered completely in a myriad of beautiful gemstones, sparkling like a kaleidoscope as the bright colours illuminated the entire cavern.

Kyle noticed the rocky outcrop was shaped specifically like an egg of sorts, albeit slightly jagged. Furthermore, he noticed the same type of holes in the cavern walls. He tried to consider what kind of trial this would be at all. Kyle also noticed that there was a gap in the ceiling right above the rocky outcrop, with a gush of cool air drifting through. That might be an exit, but it’s going to take some effort to leap out of the dungeon.

“What’s the trial this time? Fighting against waves again?”

“Looks like it’s another round of rock spiders, but there’s something definitely to do with this outcrop.” Suspicious.

“Again?!” Feldon yelped.

“Let’s take the centre this time – we can use the rocky outcrop to get the high ground.”

As they approached the outcrop, Feldon could barely crane his neck far back to see the top of the outcrop, being immensely high. Kyle placed his hands on the rocky outcrop, intending to climb up to the top before the trial began.

However, when he placed his hands on the surface, a loud screeching sound suddenly burst forth from the outcrop, with the rainbow assortment of colours beginning to pulsate wildly, beating rapidly like a heartbeat under stress. The surface was hot to the touch, forcing Kyle to let go.

The same skittering sound began to emerge from the walls, with a hundred rock spiders all crawling out and aiming right at them once more. Instead of being surprised, Kyle had a wide grin on his face, prompting Feldon to think that he was a masochist.

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

System Message

[Trial of Persistence]

The prince lies in wait

Clear Conditions: Break