"He wanted a monopoly over a dungeon when he and his team only just cleared their first dungeon today. It would have been a waste of resources to prevent other teams from going in when he can't even deliver the same output."
"So why are you giving it to me instead?" I asked, "Do you have that much faith in me after knowing me for only this long?"
"Faith?" Yuvan said, confused, "No, nothing like that. You see, I just like you a lot more than I like him. You don't sound like your age at all and you're a lot stronger than you show. Things like that will take you far in this tower. So let's call it an investment in someone I believe in for now."
I hummed and finally finished my drink before standing to leave, "I'll be leaving for the upper floors once I am done tomorrow," I said, "Thanks for everything."
Yuvan smiled into her glass and waved me away.
I left the room and I spoke to the receptionist about how much I was meant to receive. The crystals from the [Fire Flies] were worth one thousand six hundred bronze coins and the crystal from the [Flaming Serpent] was two hundred and seventy coins. That means that I got one thousand eight hundred and seventy coins.
I traded in one thousand bronze coins for one silver coin and paid for the room that I was supposed o stay in. The receptionist thanked me before I left the desk and went to my room.
The next morning, I came down from my room while tightening my gauntlets into place and I heard a commotion happening at the receptionist's desk downstairs.
"What do you mean someone already has a monopoly over it!?" someone shouted as they slapped their hand on the desk, "I've been trying for five years and didn't get anything!"
I finally made it down and I saw that Trent was glaring at the receptionist in anger and she was leaning back from fear. He pointed at her and sneered, "Call the guild head! Call her for me right now!"
"S-Sorry, the guild head is not yet in," the receptionist stammered as she looked around for any help. There were a lot of people watching the scene but none of them dared to go up against Trent since he was the strongest E ranker around. I sighed as he walked up to them. Yuvan was probably drunk out of her mind somewhere and she just forgot to wake up early.
"Give me a map," I said to the receptionist and everyone turned to me in surprise. I looked Trent in the eye and he sneered at me. Since the last few days that I've been eating better, I've managed to grow taller and my face now looked healthier than ever before. I was now the same height as Trent.
"Can't you see that I'm talking to her?" Trent growled.
"I don't give a fuck," I replied and turned back to the receptionist, "I said give me a map. I have to leave early."
The receptionist quickly nodded and she brought out a map from behind the desk, but once she was about to hand it over a knife stabbed into the paper and pinned it to the table. The receptionist screamed in fright and quickly moved back as Trent glared at both her and me.
"Are you trying to ignore me now? Do you know who I am?" Trent sneered at me, "If you know what's good for you, then you'll leave here at once."
I grabbed Trent's arm and his eyes widened as I slowly pulled his hand away from the paper.
"And if you know what's good for you, you won't go swinging that knife around in front of me. I've killed people for less," I said, "People are trying to do their jobs and you're bothering them. If you have an issue with what the guild master did, then talk to the guild master. The receptionist isn't a trash can where you can throw your bullshit attitude."
I tossed his hand aside and took the knife with the map, "I'm keeping this," I said as I turned around and started walking out of the guild house.
Murmurs spread across the room as I was leaving.
"Did he just overpower Trent?" One person asked
"It looked that way." Another person said, "Look, Trent still hasn't moved from his spot. it must've been too shocking for him."
"Who was that?" a third mob character asked.
"Haven't you heard?" mod character number four responded, "He's the latest E ranker. A group that went into the dungeon with him yesterday said that he killed the dungeon boss ten times in just one day!"
"Ten times!?"
"Ten times!!"
'What sort of stupid rumors are they spreading about me?' I thought as I left the guild house. Trent was left standing in shock as he watched me go, he stared down at his hand and he seemed confused as he flexed his arm and wondered if I just overpowered him. He was once the strongest E ranker down on this floor, so he just didn't expect to be so easily overpowered.
I was sure that I wouldn't have any problems with Trent in the future. He doesn't have enough influence in the tower to call on any mercenaries and the guild head was also backing me, so she would keep him off my back.
I opened the map as I got outside and saw that the dungeon that Yuvan kept for me was the [Forgotten Mines]. I haven't cleared this dungeon in my last life so it was pretty new to me. It was a series of interconnected underground mines and the major skill used by the monsters there was earth magic. Earth magic was weak against fire magic, so my spells would work well against the monsters there. It took me a few hours to get to the dungeon at my top speed and I showed the guards at the entrance my badge before they allowed me to enter.
The dungeon was dark and I lit up three [Pyroclasm] spells and made them rotate around me to give me some light. I didn't see any monsters coming at me as I was walking and I wondered if they all ran away, but I suddenly heard a rumble from under me and my eyes widened in realization. Now I know why I didn't see any monsters in the dungeon. They were all underground.
Boom!
The ground under me exploded as a giant worm stretched its head out and tried to eat me, I applied magic power to my legs and jumped into the air, and sent ten balls of fire at the worm, it immediately wriggled in pain as it was burnt. Once it dropped to the ground, three more worms took its place and quickly tried to take me, but I jumped out of the way and threw more fireballs at them.
The entire cave began to rumble and before long more than a hundred worms stretched their head out from the hole in the walls as they tried to eat me. The worms were ugly things with many rows of teeth inside their large mouths. They were known as [Earth Wurms]. Their range of movement was limited because they were just worms, but the sheer number of them prevented me from moving carelessly. So I decided that the best action right now would be to bind them.
I activate [Shadow Web] and trapped the worms in thousands of invisible strings. I then set fire to these strings and the fire spread along all the worms and burnt them. I quickly began to run as I could hear more [Earth Wurms] coming from underground. I brought out my sword as I saw my path getting blocked by the worms and I scaled the wall before slashing the nearest worm in half. I activated [Area of Desolation] and a sea of black flames spread out across the area around me as hundreds of worms were cooked in fire and I just kept running so that I don't get boxed in by the worms.
There weren't many worms left now and only a single [Rain of Hellfire] managed to destroy the last of them as I finally got to the boss room.
[You have killed one hundred and fifty-six [Earth Worm]]
[Strength +2]
[Stamina +2]
[Magic Power +56]
[You have entered the boss room of the [Underground Mines]. You are not allowed to leave until the [Earth Golem] is defeated]
[You have drawn the hostility of the [Earth Golem]]
The room started to move and rocks began rolling across the ground and they all converged in one spot and piled on top of each other to start forming the earth golem. I wasn't going to just stand around and watch the monster form itself. I quickly activated [Pyroclasm] and I sent thirty balls of black fire at the golem.
Boom!!!
The golem sped up its progress as it realized it was already being attacked ad I also increased the number of fireballs. This time, I released a hundred balls of [Pyroclasm] and the golem grumbled in anger as it finally formed itself fully, but it was missing an eye, and one of its arms didn't get to form because I already destroyed it.
"Roarrrrrr!!"
it was obviously not happy to see me.