The sound of swords clashing against each other and explosions of a spell was heard by Luke when he reached the second settlement.
"Is there a territorial fight between two different races?" That was the first thought that came to Luke's mind. Since the area was marked under the 'Older One' tag, this settlement had been established here for quite some time but was still not a village because the Adventure's Guild will never mark a village on the map.
Luke scouted the area by climbing upon a tree but he was surprised to find that instead of a fight among settlements, it was an attack initiated by a group of 10 players all of them had their names in green color and each had a Level above 10, probably members of any guild.
"Hmm! This World is moving quite fast, not giving this poor me time to rest" said Luke with an amused look on his face.
This time, the settlement was quite large, consisting of around 10 to 12 huts. He can conclude that this player named 'Regalia' is quite capable after observing the leaders of both the attacking and defending parties. He was consistently overseeing the group while effectively playing his part in the front lines as a Swordsman Class.
Luke reflected on the mass number of Goblins surrounding them and speculated that their scout might have messed up in spotting the hidden Goblin Archer but they still managed to survive the situation. It must have been due to the leadership.
"Well, even with that great leadership, I hope that they are prepared for the incoming danger" muttered Luke while looking at the enemy leaders. Yes, 'leaders', this settlement was under the joint leadership of a Goblin Fighter and Shaman.
Luke sitting among the branches of the tree can see that, while the Goblin Fighter fought in the front lines, the Shaman waited patiently laying a trap, an ambush behind the scenes.
Luke contemplated whether to assist them or not.
Neither did he act like a Messiah who ran for their help immediately, nor did he act like a cold-hearted man who completely ignored them. In this peculiar situation, he followed the steps of an experienced player.
Luke placed his profit above theirs and planned to sneak into the hut of the leaders and search for the hidden dungeon. In the event that there existed a hidden dungeon, he would enter it, utilizing the players as bait while he fought with the boss. In the absence of any dungeon, he would assault the Shaman for aiding the players.
Luke carries out his plan by sneaking into the hut without detection, due to the Goblins being taken away by the leaders.
The inside of the hut was bigger than the last time, and the problem of visibility did not exist because of the presence of a big hole in the rooftop for the passing of the sunlight. The common thing was the altar, which was situated at the very center but was made of stone this time around.
There were many things scattered around. Due to the shortage of time, Luke only searched for any hidden entrances. He scanned the floor, as the entrance may be anywhere, even in the slightest of holes. After that, he kicked the altar to check underneath it because he couldn't discover anything on the floor. However, this time the topmost section of the Altar moved aside, exposing an underground passageway underneath. As soon as he saw the tunnel, a notification popped in front of him.
Boss Lair
Type: Hidden Dungeon
Difficulty: D
Restriction: Under Level 30
Recommendation: A party of 5 players.
You are eligible to enter the dungeon. Do you want to enter the dungeon?
Yes/No
"Yes" answered Luke.
Abruptly, an alarm appeared, halting his entry.
Proceed with caution, a solo entry can prove difficult for you in this dungeon. Do you still want to enter?
Yes/No
"Yes" replied Luke with the same collected tone.
Following his response, Luke vanished in an instant, and the altar's lid reverted to its initial position, barring anybody else from entering until Luke's death or the dungeon was cleared.
Luke opened his eyes, he was now standing in an underground cave. He looked around there was no way of coming in or going outside and only a colossal gate was present in the area.
"Well, it's for the Boss after all" reasoned Luke.
Instead of confronting the boss head-on, Luke took a seat and considered the kinds of bosses he might come across behind the gate. Only two, as far as he can recall. Even though he hoped to come across the second one, he nonetheless removed the goods he prepared for getting a skill in case it was the first kind.
The items he took out were the mortar and pestle, a leather sack containing some water, the syringe, antidote potions, and the poisonous herb he stole… Cough borrowed from the goblins.
He began by placing all of the toxic herbs in a mortar and beating them with a pestle. The plant converted into a blue paste when the pestle was continuously pounded, pressed, and rotated. He took the water sack, filled the mortar with its contents, and began turning the pestle to combine the paste with the water.
Following thorough mixing, a blue liquid was left in the mortar. He removed any paste residue that had not blended with the water and disposed of it.
He picked up the syringe and filled it to half the mark with the blue-colored liquid.
"Now comes the hard part," thought Luke while looking at his HP Bar.
The number on his HP bar was 80/80. "Allocate 7 points into HP," said Luke. His new HP bar currently reads 150/150.
"All set let's start the first session," said Luke with a small laugh and picked up an antidote potion. He unscrewed the cap, sipped the contents but held them inside his mouth.
Luke positioned the syringe correctly on his hand and injected all of its contents into his blood vein. After injecting, he slowly removed the syringe's needle from the vein and pressed the wound using his thumb while setting the syringe down.