The first encounter had proved to be a challenging one for Alex, yet it was still something he could overcome using his skills.
'I only got hit by that arrow because of carelessness. It won't happen again,' Alex thought, trying his best to stick the sentence to his mind not to forget again.
After dealing with the skeletons and grabbing the loot, he trudged forward, staring at the walls, floor, and ceiling. Traps could be anywhere, and Alex did not want to fall into one.
Another skeleton appeared in the distance, not carrying a curved sword but a spear this time. It was an enemy with an advantage in range, therefore Alex quickly changed his Umbra Blade appearance to a twin blade.
The pitch-black twin blade had shadows dancing on it, resembling a mystical weapon from the underworld. Alex loved it. With a firm grasp of his weapon, he closed in the skeleton, ready for a clash yet again. The skeleton warrior attacked first, piercing its spear right on Alex's stomach, who swiftly dodged by jumping away.
A hit in the air was all the skeleton could muster, and before he could attack again, Alex used his Shadow Strike, aiming at the skeleton's head! The sound of metal colliding with the bones echoed, and the skeleton stumbled, falling on the ground with his butt.
Alex gathered force and said, "Did you like that!?"
It was easy to spot that the situation was favorable to Alex. The skeleton looked stunned, unable to move, so he attacked again using the same weapon skill.
The attack end the skeleton's life — again? — and the notification of gained items appeared before Alex.
[+40 Copper Coins]
[Ancient Rusty Spear Dropped]
The amount of Copper Coins dropped did not change, but Alex got a unique item, and it was the spear the skeleton used during the fight!
'This might be good for selling to other players.'
After resting for a while to recover his Shadow Essence, Alex pressed forward, eager to explore the remaining parts of the Tomb of the Dead.
More skeletons came to him, only to perish by his hands. Alex was enjoying the drop of unique items and the coins, but there was no EXP gain, and that haunted him.
Still, deep down, he knew it was worth it. The reward for the first clear would make all of his worries vanish.
'What is this?'
After following the tomb's tunnels — which looked more like a labyrinth to Alex — he stopped before a door, one which resembled the door he first saw when entering the dungeon.
It was obvious what was behind the door.
"The first boss!" Alex said.
The enemies inside dungeons were difficult, but the hardest part was dealing with the bosses. Alex didn't know if he had what it takes to deal with the boss, but there was no hurt in trying.
For that reason, he pushed the door, noticing a closed area with a sea of bones on the ground. No sound was inside, and the silence was so grand even his ears felt weird.
After a few steps, the sea of bones neatly arranged on the tomb's floor moved, and on the other side of the room, a gigantic skeleton formed, one who had a robe and a scepter.
[Skeleton Mage King (Dungeon Boss, LVL 15)]
Alex stared at the skeleton from the distance, and the power emanating from it was visible, tangible. Unlike the skeletons before, the Skeleton Mage King would certainly give Alex problems.
'Focus! Even if I die, I can just start over!'
With gathered courage, he moved forward, and once the boss noticed his presence, it swung its scepter, and the bones on the ground moved, creating many skeletons like the ones Alex faced.
The number of skeletons in front of him was high, and the sudden change took aback Alex. There were 8 skeletons, all equipped with varied weapons, ready to strike and end his life.
His mind worked at full speed, trying to find the best possible thing to do at that moment.
'Should I kill one by one? Run? What is the strategy to kill this boss?'
It was almost impossible to win against a boss in the first try, especially alone, but Alex wanted to do his best to see all the boss attacks he could, as that would certainly help him when he tried to face it again in the future.
Alex ran toward the room's wall and waited for the first skeleton to get near. Then, using one of the few skills he had, Shadow Strike, Alex attacked!
The skeleton got hit, and then it fumble into pieces. Despite looking the same as the other skeletons Alex had faced, its HP was much lower.
'It makes sense, or else this fight would be impossible!'
With one skeleton down, there was only 7 to go, and the boss itself! The Skeleton Mage King wouldn't stand still without doing nothing. It waved its scepter again, and a spell formed.
A spear made of pure bones! The spear was fast, and it was too fast for Alex to handle. It hit him right in the chest.
[-330 Health Points]
It almost one shot him! The total Health Points Alex had equaled to an amount of 420, yet one bone spear drained 330 of it!
'I can't win first try…'
The realization stroke him like a lightning, but it wasn't because Alex was bad at the game, or because his character sucked, no. It meant the dungeon was for a party of four, and Alex knew the hardships coming his way if he wanted to clear it solo.
But no matter how many times he died, Alex would clear it. His motivation was as high as it could be, and after realizing his eminent death, he tried to learn more about the fight for his future tries.
The boss attacked a few more times, but it was using a dark-type spell that was too slow, meaning it was easy to dodge. All the skeletons did was to follow him, and Alex realized it was possible to outrun them.
Then, the boss cast the same bone spear that almost end Alex's life previously. He tried to run toward the boss to see if it was possible to avoid the attack by being too close. It did not work, and he died.
[You died]
[Dungeon EXP loss reduced by 90%]
[Solo Dungeon EXP loss is inexistent]
Alex found himself back in the dungeon's entrance, reading the notifications before him. Every time a player died in Eternal Realms, it lost some EXP.
EXP was valuable, and that's why everyone tried to avoid dying. Apparently, being inside a dungeon with a group of four gave you -90% EXP loss when dying. That was huge! It would allow the players to keep trying without losing too much.
As for Alex, a solo player, there was no loss in EXP.
He smiled, and his mind worked on different strategies against the boss.
'It must have something I am missing…'