The time had finally come.
Adventure, exploration, battle…
The promise of an exciting, thrilling time that only came once a person finally got to enter a Dungeon for the first time was utterly and thoroughly ruined.
To Yvette, her expectations couldn't have been any further from reality. Though, in her defense, she didn't plan on entering an F Rank Dungeon; not the day she awakened her Class nor the year before she had it divined.
"Miles… Tell me, why do you insist on completing those Gathering Jobs? Wouldn't we be better off just completing Dungeons Runs?" Yvette asked as her eyes glazed over while she effortlessly assassinated another Shadow Inkling by decapitating it with an arrowhead.
"I like to think of it as gathering experience," Miles said, not bothering to stop his efforts to pick at the ore in the cavernous wall with the pickaxe he had bought with all the money leftover after Yvette had picked out her new camping equipment. "Sure, this spiritually-inert iron ore is kind of worthless to us when we could probably get through an E Rank Dungeon, but cultivating the skill of mining is worthwhile, in my opinion."
"Besides, I'm weak enough that this kind of work will actually help increase my Strength and Constitution," Miles spoke a bit more literally that Yvette, or anyone for that matter, could understand. He could literally feel his change to his Status, however slow it came.
"Oh, and we can't forget that the constant stopping to identify and acquire these materials is good practise for recognizing their patterns of distribution in higher Ranked Dungeons. Furthermore, as newly minted Frontier Guild members, boosting the number of successful Jobs we have under our belt, regardless of their type or Rank, should serve to help us out in the long run; establish a reputation, and distinguish us as capable of appraisal, harvesting, foraging, mining, and so on," Miles concluded as he finished storing away the last nugget of rough ore.
Looking at the borderline suicidal look Yvette currently donned as she starred at the ground, he sighed and relented, "Though… I guess we have been focusing a bit excessively on me. So… Sure. Let's head to the Dungeon Core."
"Hell yeah!" Yvette cheered… only to subsequently sober quickly as Miles produced his hunting knife.
"That said," Miles smiled psychotically, "since you can kill the small fry present with but a thought, going forward, I humbly ask that you supervise as I take point."
"You want to fight?" Yvette palmed her face.
"Yessir. If not to boost my Strength, Constitution, and Agility, then to get myself roughed up and practice my Healing Spells. After all," Miles narrowed his eyes, "even if you let an army of Shadow Inklings try to harm you, you could stand still and they still wouldn't be able to do anything..."
And so, Miles rose to the vanguard and slowly carved a path through the shadows to the Dungeon Core. Healer or not, perhaps even Level 0 Classless humans could survive in the Dungeon — this Dungeon's outer region specifically, if anything — if Mile's experience proved anything.
With only his hunting knife and average teenage prowess, all it took was a single stab, swipe, or thrust to kill the common Shadow Inkling fodder that littered the dungeon's outer region. Moreover, with groups of hostiles evidently uncommon, even when they congregated, Shadow Inklings could hardly deal damage worse than an inch deep wound.
The one time Miles bled, after being directly hit in his left forearm by one of the little pests, he found out that he could even kill them with just two kicks.
"Wow." Miles nonchalantly casted Sanctify to instantly seal up his wound and Restore to reverse the damage, returning it back to perfect health instantly as he commented, "It's only been half an hour, but I can already imagine your pain," Miles gave Yvette an apologetic smile. "This really is unproductive and borin—"
[Congratulations, you have Level Up to Level 2]
[New Primary Cultivator Subclasses Are Available]
'Oh? I didn't expect this to pop up mid speech, but, oh well. Good news is good news, I guess,' Miles thought.
"Uh, Miles?" Yvette asked, bringing Miles out of his inner thoughts.
"Huh? Sorry, I blanked out for a second." Deciding it would be suspicious to ask her to stop for no reason, Miles said, "Anyways, let's try to make it to the inner region before we set up for dinner."
Happy to continue, even if it was while watching him fight, Yvette nodded and the group of two pressed onward.
An hour passed and though they hadn't even made it halfway through the length of the outer region, encounters with Shadow Inklings gradually became more common; in larger groups, too. Before two more hours would come to pass, Miles had been forced to ask Yvette to provide supporting fire from her bows as they started regularly encountering groups of five or more Shadow Inklings.
[Congratulations, you have Level Up to Level 3]
Thanks to Yvette's efforts, the group didn't need to slow down even as encounters continued to increase. Moreover, thanks to all the constant fighting and wanton use of Healing Spells, the stress of battle and constant pressure to become the slightest bit faster, stronger, more spiritual—
[Congratulations, you have Level Up to Level 4]
[Congratulations, you have Level Up to Level 5]
Perhaps, Miles had a bit of an unfair advantage. The Rate Law of his Healing Talent made his skills increase in proficiency at an almost comical pace. Then again, it was Graded as Epic and comparable to the talent of the ancient Setting Star Founders.
Frustratingly, though, Miles found, was that his Talents almost spat in the face of his efforts. As the group soon enough reached the boundary between the outer and inner regions of the Dungeon — the uncanny and obvious demarcations of two distinct biomes being a dead give away — Miles sighed at the sight of his Status as he sat down to enjoy his dinner.
[Status:
Name: Miles Trainer
Class: Protagonist (Primary Cultivator)
Subclass: Pending
Level: 5
Key:
L. = Lesser
M. = Magic
G. = Greater
Parameters
Health: 91%
Stamina: 81%
Magic: 32%
Strength: L. Human → G. Human
Constitution: L. Human→ Human
Vitality: L. Human
Agility: L. Human → Human
M. Reserves: L. Human → Squad
M. Regeneration: L. Human → L. Squad]
Miles eye twitched as he "read" his Status, flummoxed by the Systems insistence on using titular army groups as points of reference to assess his parameters. He checked the System Improvement section of the System Shop and unsurprisingly, there existed an option to add in an application that would reinterpret his Strength in Guild Rankings.
Miles would have snorted if he didn't trust it would confuse Yvette, who was sitting before him and enjoying her pheasant curry meal. He thought, 'Fine, greedy System. Take my damn twenty System Points...'
[Status:
…
Parameters
Health: 91%
Stamina: 81%
Magic: 32%
Strength: G. Human (F+)
Constitution: Human (F)
Vitality: L. Human (F-)
Agility: Human (F)
M. Reserves: Squad (E)
M. Regeneration: L. Squad (E-)]
A vein threatened to burst from Miles' forehead as he sullenly thought, 'Even I could have guessed that much...' Then he noticed that upon purchasing the System Improvement, surreptitiously, an even more allegedly "detailed" version popped into existence; all for the lowly cost of 100 System Points!?
'This fucking...'
To spare himself of an aneurysm, he decided to look over his Skills.
[Status:
...
Skills:
Name: Healing Spell: Lesser Restore → Healing Spell: Restore
Classification: Acquired Rare Skill
Level: 17
Cost and Effect (Lesser Variant): ~4% of current Magic instantly Reserve Heals 5% 'Reversible Damage' of the target's Health.
Cost and Effect (Standard Variant): ~15% of current Magic instantly Reserve Heals 15% 'Reversible Damage' of the target's Health and returns 3% of the target's Stamina. Multicast Stack Limit Rises to three per battle before Status Debuff "Enfeeble" has a chance (90% initial, plus 2% per additional cast) of manifesting in a target.
Name: Healing Spell: Lesser Invigorate → Healing Spell: Invigorate
Classification: Acquired Rare Skill
Level: 21
Cost and Effect (Lesser Variant): ~2% of current Magic restores 5% of the target's Stamina.
Cost and Effect (Standard Variant): ~8% of current Magic restores 20% of the target's Stamina. Multicast Stack Limit Rises to two per battle before Stamina consumption increases exponentially.
Name: Healing Spell: Lesser Sanctify → Healing Spell: Sanctify
Classification: Acquired Rare Skill
Level: 11
Cost and Effect (Lesser Variant): ~2% of current Magic has ~85% chance of randomly erasing one of the target's Status Effect. Effective only on Common Grade Status Effects.
Cost and Effect (Lesser Variant): ~5% of current Magic has ~90% chance of erasing one of the target's chosen Common Grade Status Effect. Success Rate lowers to 75% for Rare Grade Status Effects.
Name: Healing Spell: Lesser Endow
Classification: Acquired Common Skill
Level: 1
Name: Greater 'Normal' Cooking
Classification: Practiced Special Skill
Level: 69
Description: Tis but a silver lining to the tragedy that was your childhood. You have your good-for-nothing foster parents to thank for forcing you to survive off cooking whatever you could make with whatever you could find. At least it caused this Skill to rise to such an impressive level over the decade-long stay you've had with them.
Cost and Effect: At no cost, this Skill serves only as an indicator for how good you can handle your way around a kitchen. Oh, and I guess it could superimpose your experience should you ever decide you want to become a Magical Chef.
Name: Common Blade Intent
Classification: Practiced Common Skill
Level: 3
Description: The most basic Skill for users of bladed weapons. By synchronizing yourself with a knife, dagger, sword, or any other bladed weapon, all your Physical Parameters rise.
Cost: Forced through deep concentration to stay connected with your weapon and hindered by your Terrible Talent, all your actions cost twice as much Stamina while maintaining this Skill. Current projections taking your reserves into account suggest you can maintain the Skill for ten minutes 'without' using any additional Stamina driven Skills.
Effect: Strength and Constitution rise by 2% while Vitality and Agility rise by 3% while in effect.]