The dungeon seemed calmer than Jay remembered. Maybe it was because they weren't going past floor 2, or maybe it was because the monsters seemed less enthusiastic for some reason. Or maybe it was just something about the Zen state that hitting rocks repeatedly naturally brings on.
It may have been hard work and his magic wasn't particularly helpful with it (apparently hitting metal ore with lightning or fire doesn't help much). He'd tried to shape the rock away from the ore nodes that they found, but either it was beyond their level abilities or he was missing something.
They'd discovered a lot over the last week. First, ore nodes only spawned on the second floor and lower. Nobody could find one on the first floor, even their metal mages.
Second, parties could meet up in the dungeon. They could fight together, eat together and mine together—they just only got XP from their own party. It wasn't perfect, but it sure made things a lot safer.
And third, people might grumble about doing work, but they'll do what you tell them if you promise them bacon. Jay wasn't sure exactly which monster it was that dropped the stuff, but it was to die for. Although, hopefully nobody would actually die for it.
Nobody had died or even been seriously injured so far, which was above and beyond Jay's expectations. XP gains were low due to how many people were involved with getting to the ore nodes, but people were definitely leveling up bit by bit.
The metal mages were leveling up especially quickly. It seemed that locating the ore and shaping it into armor gave them a significant amount of XP, so their skills and levels were improving rapidly. If they had a way to make more, it'd be better, but Eve and her crew could only do so much.
In one of their moments of downtime, Jay remembered the shadow element core he'd received. He didn't have any particular use for it, but he thought either Sarah or Kyle could make use of it. He imagined it had something to do with stealth or sneak attacks, which would benefit Sarah, but Kyle was great at finding interesting ways to work magic.
As they mined, some of the group started to sing. There was no worry with monsters attacking at this point, so they might as well enjoy it.
"Down. We dig down. Through the dungeon, big and strong, we dig down. Through our fears, we go down. 'til we find our dungeon gold.
On. We dig on. Through the pain, through the days, we dig on. Through our loss, we go on. 'til we find our dungeon gold."
Okay, maybe not the happiest song, but at least it was something. By the time it repeated the third time, even the group guards were singing along. Tears formed in some eyes, while determination shined in others. And they continued to dig.
After a day or two, they had enough ore to outfit a party. By the time they finished the week, everyone was armored up in the best way for their combat style. The mage robes had flawlessly accepted the ore, armoring key points while still maintaining their mobility. The physical attackers were more heavily armored thanks to their increased strength and endurance.
Of everyone, though, nobody was more heavily armored than Pete. The man had shown a fondness for disregarding his own safety when fighting, and as such needed quite a bit more protection to avoid losing important limbs.
He was, however, also one of their best guards. The younger ones allowed in the dungeon all looked up to him, which gradually led to all the children looking up to him too. Even Chloe seemed to admire him, having heard stories of his great bravery and battle prowess from one of the caretakers.
Many of the other fighters trained hard to try to reach his level and it became a semi-regular occurrence for one of them to challenge him to a duel. It was like watching proper knights fight… if proper knights disregarded the need to block any attacks and instead focused purely on bashing their enemies.
Still, it was good entertainment and the water mages found a way to coat the ends of the weaponry so that nobody was seriously injured.
Seeing the fighters' enthusiasm, the mages quickly took up competitions of their own. Trials to shape water and earth the fastest, races where only magic could move you, and even some mock fights (with precautions in place, of course) were becoming increasingly popular.
As more and more members of the guild got their water and healing cores, the competitions only grew fiercer. After a month, there was a proper weekly tournament established. There was even a team fight!
And with all this intense training, the guild grew more powerful. Before long, the majority of their parties could beat floors one and two without an issue. The average level was around a 5, and Jay had finally earned enough to move up to level 8. No more lives were lost, and they'd even started to see a trickle of survivors flowing into the guild camp.
Everything was going great. But still, Jay wanted to get stronger. It was about time to modify the dungeon monsters, but first he'd spend some stat points. He had 6 to spend, but nowhere he desperately needed them. His endurance could do with an upgrade, but his strength, agility, and luck seemed fine.
His Intelligence was nearly to a natural 25, so he figured that might be the best place to put his extra points. By the time he'd finished, his stats looked something like this:
[ Status sheet
Name: Jay Michaelson Race: Human Class: Elemental Archmage Level: 8 (150/64,000)
Strength: 10
Agility: 11
Endurance: 13
Intelligence: 25 (+10)
Will: 19 (+10)
Luck: 10
Unspent status points: 0
]
His mana was up to a rather impressive 275, and his wand brought it up to 375. Nearly all his spells had lowered their costs and increased their effectiveness, so he could cast pretty much any of his basic magics without worry.
His fireball had worked up to a triple fireball, and he had substantially more control over his Twin Lightning Strikes now. Healing was still more expensive, but he could heal pretty much any wound that wasn't instantly deadly. All in all, Jay was something of a beast.
With all their new advantages, Jay was eager to take on lower floors again. He wasn't going to risk any other healers, though, so he'd take on that role himself. Most people were too afraid to adventure with him given their party's tendency to lose members, but he was confident in their abilities.
He wouldn't underestimate the dungeon, but clearing it was a must. The more levels they beat, the more they could affect with the guild bonuses and the more everyone could improve. It was time to head back in.
After two days of preparations, Jay led his team back into the dungeon. It'd been a while since they'd all had time to delve together and he was glad for it. The fearless Pete took the lead, easily taking them past the first two floors. Sarah's archery was improving rapidly, and the water magic she used made her arrows even more deadly.
Andrew's pets were truly ferocious now, tanking hits even better than Pete and dishing out damage faster than almost anyone else. Kyle's magic was versatile, filling in gaps wherever they appeared. And Jay was their DPS and healer.
Together, they were like a force of nature. Even the third floor fell without any major issues under their teamwork and impressive strength. The regenerative aura and armor seemed to be helping, too.
Now, the group of 5 (plus pets) made their way to a new floor. The fourth floor was even darker than the third, and Jay's fire magic quickly became useful. He probably could have made a ball of light, but he hadn't spent much time messing with light or shadow magic, whereas he was rather proficient with fire.
The Juvenile Shadow Cercopes were more abundant on this floor, choosing to hunt in groups of 2 or 3 instead of alone. Caverns were filled with a mix of healing Cercopes and water Cercopes riding on their mounts, while the shadow variety seemed to always try to catch them in the back. Still they suffered only minor wounds and those quickly healed thanks to Jay and their guild buff.
Everyone was in high spirits, even when they saw the beast that awaited them in the boss room. It was big and it was fast, but it was alone. The single Distortion Beast pressured them hard, but it could never leave more than a few scratches on their armor. With patience and teamwork, it fell.
[Party has slain a Distortion Beast Elder. 2000 XP rewarded. You have completed the fourth floor of Level 1-10 Forest Cavern Dungeon. Would you like to exit and claim rewards or continue?]
With a quick glance to make sure his party was fine, Jay continued downward.