Chapter 51 – Expanded Level Cap.

Chapter 51 – Expanded Level Cap.

“Guild Master Husson, do you have a minute? There is an important issue we need to talk about.”

“Lorenda? What is it now? Come in.”

A grumpy-looking guild master looked up from a pile of paperwork he had to stamp. Most of it revolved around signing off on new adventurers, due to some new rules the guild master had to enforce. The brawny man with the eyepatch sighed, rubbing his temples as Lorenda stepped inside.

“It’s about that Irregularity we talked about earlier...”

“This again? Didn’t I tell you to deal with it? What could an E-rank monster do alone in the dungeon? Don’t tell me that more people have died. Are all the new adventurers just incompetent now?”

The man didn't seem too pleased at the mention of the irregularity again, but Lorenda pressed on, her tone insistent.

"No, sir, it's more than that. It’s not just about adventurers disappearing now.”

“Then what is it?”

Husson started sighing but managed to hold himself back from shouting at the guild worker. He knew that she was just performing her duties and that at least she thought that this issue was important. The lady didn’t relent but moved closer to place the papers on his desk where he could see and read them.

“We have reports of large groups of monsters vanishing, treasure chests appearing less and less, and even traps have been reported missing.”

“What? Let me see this.”

The guild master was perplexed by this issue. It was one thing when easily replaceable adventurers were getting themselves killed, but another when the dungeon itself was in danger. Without the dungeon around, their business wouldn’t be able to function correctly, and the guild master was aware of this. Soon, Husson was going through the report, which stated that the population of the monsters was starting to drop, something that very rarely happened.

“This is rather strange... but what could be causing it?”

Husson's mind raced with possibilities and he tried to remember if similar issues appeared while he was an active adventurer. Monster populations in the dungeon were usually kept in check by adventurers and not the other way around. There was danger in allowing the dungeon to exist without proper management as once it was left alone for too long, it would cause some problems. Not everyone knew this but there was a certain symbiotic relation between the dungeon and the adventurers hunting for treasures within it. Once the balance was broken, it could lead to a disaster.

“It might have something to do with that irregular monster...”

As the guild master paused the woman attempted to bring up that topic again. In his mind, one monster couldn't be responsible for such a drastic change. Monsters like a living armor weren’t known for their intelligence or capabilities to do anything other than attack the first thing they saw.

“That again? This report doesn’t state anything about it appearing, has it been spotted since the last incident?”

“Well... no but...”

“Then it’s probably been killed by someone already.”

Husson leaned back in his chair and was unwilling to even entertain that thought. In his mind, the reason had to be different.

“Lorenda, I’ll look into this, but don’t jump to conclusions. There could be many explanations. Perhaps a higher-ranking party has been clearing out the dungeon while not going through the proper procedures. It’s not strange for some of those bastards to farm for specific items in bulk. Here is what we are going to do.”

Lorenda nodded, though her concern didn’t fade. She knew that whatever the guild master would order wouldn’t address the irregularity she was concerned with. However, there was a possibility that she was wrong and that something else was happening within the dungeon. There had been cases in the past where dungeons had been stripped by large adventurer groups. In such situations, the dungeon needed time to restore its lost resources, much like how this dungeon was behaving now.

“.We’ll close the entrance for a few days and send in one of ours to investigate. We need to find whoever is responsible for this. Check if anyone is selling items in bulk that can only be manufactured from the dungeon’s materials...”

“Yes, Guild Master. I understand.”

There was not much to interject as the guild leader made the order. The dungeon would be closed for a few days to give the dungeon some time to regain its vitality. As long as adventurers stopped overhunting the monsters, they would respawn as always. Once balance was restored, they would need to check if their guards were sleeping on the job or if someone over-leveled managed to slip inside. This dungeon was meant for beginners and was not meant to be farmed excessively.

*****

Meanwhile, the one responsible for all this chaos was just rummaging through some adventurer belongings. His bronze hands moved quickly through the items that he placed down on the ground to examine. Each one of his victims had various items stashed on them, including something that resembled his inventory system but much more flawed.CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m

Classification:

Lesser Small Storage Satchel

Type:

Storage Item

Description:

A satchel with a spatial enchantment placed on it. It’s bigger on the inside than on the outside.

It was quite an interesting find as he reached inside and discovered more items than expected. Among them were several potions, a few throwing weapons, and some coins. The potions included basic healing and mana restoration varieties. Initially disappointed, he soon realized two things. First, he couldn't heal himself using the healing potion, which made sense since he was made of bronze and not flesh. Second, the mana restoration concoction actually worked to a certain degree as splashing it over his body regenerated some of his MP points.

134/161

Magic Points [MP]

94/144

Special Points [SP]

30/40

Strength

44 [ E- ]

Agility

25 [ E- ]

Dexterity

23 [ E- ]

Constitution

46 [ E- ]

Intelligence

28 [ E- ]

Wisdom

29 [ E- ]

Willpower

28 [ E- ]

Durability

E++

Rusty hadn’t paid much attention to it before, but the number of minuses was alarmingly high. Previously, once a stat passed thirty-three, its rank would shift to a higher one. However, the stats that had already exceeded this threshold were not changing at all.

“If it’s the same as with the levels... then that means that the stat limits have gone up as well?”

It started making sense as thirty-three was not a very high number. He was gaining up to three stat points from each level up, something that had increased since his F-rank days. If he reached an even higher evolution that gave him even more stat points, he would start reaching those limits too fast. It was some type of limiting factor and he started wondering how high these numbers would get once he evolved into something truly strong.

He stood up, his bronze frame glinting in the dim dungeon light, and decided to push forward. He needed those five levels to evolve again, and that meant more exploration and more battles. His main objective had not changed and Gleam needed to be rescued. His strategy was shallow but before the month was up, he needed to reach a new height and nothing would stand in his way.

As he ventured deeper into the dungeon, Rusty encountered more undead monsters. The seventh floor was more vast than the previous one, but with the help of his new hiding skill, it became easy to avoid larger groups of adventurers. To his surprise, this had only been a problem for a day or two until all the adventurers suddenly vanished. He had been contemplating moving to the next floor sooner, but now he could continue his previous tactic of grinding in an even easier fashion.

“I would be stupid to not use this chance.”

The hero had mentioned that the people above would sometimes block passage into the dungeon in dangerous situations. This wasn’t good news in Rusty’s opinion, as it likely meant a group of powerful adventurers would be sent to investigate. Aware of the potential threat, Rusty knew he needed to act fast.

“This is much better than the swamp area...”

Rusty said to himself while running through the decrepit temples and destroyed architecture. Behind him was a steady stream of zombies and skeletons, all chasing after his shiny bronze form, unaware of their impending doom. Previously, he had only cleared out small groups of around twenty or thirty in the cramped crypts, but the crowd he was pulling now was several times larger.

Eventually, he ended up at a demolished church with a missing roof. The monsters followed right after him, pushing through the large entrance, and those that couldn’t fit started to climb through the windows. Rusty, on the other hand, ran all the way to the middle where all the monsters could see him. Once they were just a few steps away, he threw his helmet toward a previously prepared safe location.

The monsters tackled his metallic frame to the ground and began their attack. He could see his hit points going down, but this didn’t matter. Soon, the entire church area was enveloped in a burst of white light...

You have gained +24 experience points.

You have gained +14 experience points.