Formerly, Riva had wanted to head directly into town. Now she was heading towards the scorpion dungeon.
It being a low-tier dungeon meant that it was likely used as training grounds for inexperienced or weak adventurers. And indeed, there were small groups of adventurers camping at the entrance.
It had been a while since she saw this many humans in one spot.
Riva simply strode past them towards the dungeon's gate. She wore the deceased female mage's robes and the leader's sword at her side.
She had somewhat changed her appearance to resemble the mage, but the dungeon seed's capabilities were limited when it came to changing her facial structure.
Those humans look scrumptious, Riva smiled to herself. After receiving the life energy from the party she became certain of the fact that stronger beings and especially those with a lot of mana tended to provide more life energy.
She had gained a total of 86 life energy through those guys, while some energy was consumed by 'Haste' and healing the wound on her back. In the end it brought her up to an incredible total of 152 points. Yet, even the 152 points weren't enough for her evolution.
Instead, she gained a level in her 'Devourer of Life' skill. Aside from boosting her feeding speed, it now had a small chance to show her a both random and recent memory of the target.
Riva reached the dungeon's entrance where a man waited and routinely asked "Identification and delving permission."
She showed him a silvery iron emblem that had two stars engraved on it together with a long number.
The man swiftly wrote down the number, cross-checked it with a small book, and then nodded her through with the words "Have a safe dive."
The thing Riva showed to him was an adventurer guild's member badge. The number was unique to each member and could be used as a form of identification.
The man's book likely held a list of the numbers of all regional members. Each could be cross-referenced with it and would reveal the registration branch together with the holders birth date and gender. Furthermore, it could be used to access their detailed data at the right adventurer guild branch.
Of course, it was simple to steal these badges, but to use them one needed to be at least somewhat similar to the target, and the data stored at the guild branch would immediately reveal the problem.
Apart from the identification number, the badge would also display the adventurer's strength ranking. The iron badge with the two stars signified a low-rank adventurer and served as an automatic permit to enter any low-tier dungeon.
Obtaining one of these badges was Riva's main motivation for attacking the adventurer party, well besides the fact that they were bandit scum.
It would have taken a lot longer to obtain a badge via the normal means and rank up enough to enter an easy dungeon. Plus, it would have made her actions traceable.
Riva arrived inside the sub-dimensional space of the dungeon. Its structure was that of a dimly lit sandstone cave that had tunnels branching off in all directions.
Riva randomly chose a tunnels once she retrieved the lamp from her backpack.
It didn't take long for her to encounter her first scorpion. It was roughly the size of a cat and had brown chitin armor that doubled as camouflage.
Riva had fixed the lamp to her side and drawn her blade which she used to easily kill the scorpion.
"System, will I be affected by the scorpion's poison?" Riva inquired.
[Poison won't cause user any harm]
Riva used her robe as cover, just in case, and consumed the body netting her 2 points of life energy.
[Acquired passive skill 'Poison Nullification'] The system informed her.
"Wasn't I immune to poison?"
[Affirmative, user was immune to conventional poison. Now user negates poison]
Riva simply shrugged and continued her journey.
In this way, she dispatched and fed on the scorpions while she continued through the tunnels. The monsters easily fell prey to her sharp eyesight, instinct, and blade.
Man, I've been walking for a long time already, defeated countless scorpions, and still, the scenery has hardly changed. Riva thought to herself while feeding on her defeated foes.
Suddenly a scene surfaced inside her mind. It had both unfamiliar shapes and colors. Making it a mangled mess, that Riva wouldn't have understood if not for the connected memories.
The scene was about a scorpion that patrolled the tunnels with its brethren hunting for intruders on the dungeon's orders.
This seemingly ordinary memory gave Riva insight into the perception of a primitive being. The memory of the monster she had just eaten. It held no thoughts or awareness. But there was one thing that stood out. That was its connection with the dungeon.
This was familiar to Riva, it was the same type of connection shared with the Rocky squad and dungeon seed ring.
The difference was that she held the upper hand with her 'tames' and was in a balanced connection with the ring.
Come to think of it, why don't I 'tame' my new sword?
She directly put her idea into practice thereby adding 'Slashy 1' to her party.
Slashy 1's status was as obscure as the Rocky squad's and at best sufficient for playing Taboo*.
Riva grimaced when she read [Attack: Sufficient to show off by splitting a falling leaf]
She decidedly ignored the rest of the status. She would assess the changes herself.
"I thought taming was worthless, but the difference between something tamed and not is very noticeable. Slashy 1 is easier to wield and hits harder and it's easier to pierce through armor. I no longer need to aim for the gaps and weak points in the chitin." Riva marveled.
"The best is, I don't have to clean the blade, it's dirt repellent!"
"Rather than taming my skill works as a variant of enchanting! The results are unpredictable and user-bound. I'll make it a habit to tame my equipment from now on." Riva decided for herself.
She would have tamed her lamp and pickax etc. too, but this wasn't the place for it and she was saving her life energy points for her evolution. Taming the sword had cost her 5 points.
Thus Riva slashed her way through mountains and mountains of scorpions. Even if she didn't leave any bodies, the ash could have been enough to fill a whole graveyard's worth of urns. Thankfully the dungeon reset fast enough that she didn't need to worry about her tracks.
Finally, she arrived at the heart of the dungeon, the boss room.
It was a somewhat bigger sandstone cave, its walls packed with the regular scorpion mobs and in its center stood a humongous scorpion, the size of a pickup truck.
To Riva's dismay, she had yet to reach sufficient life energy for her evolution.
"Let's start the boss grind fest*!"