Chapter 54 - Chapter 53

After careful consideration, I went through the skill list of the Dungeon Point System a few dozen times, weighing the advantages and disadvantages. The naked Lydia was lying next to me; the previous night felt like a perfect dream. Her arm was on my chest, and her tail laid peacefully wrapped around my leg. My legs and groin felt a bit sticky from last night's activities, but I didn't dare to clean myself up. I wanted to stay like this as long as possible.

I had just defeated a dungeon. This wasn't just a defeat, but true victory. Every dungeon was composed of lore from an incomplete and corrupted story. If someone could resolve the dungeon's conflict, they would receive the dungeon's blessing, gaining some unique power and skills, along with a set amount of dungeon points.

I had been lucky enough to fall into completing the lore, and now I could access dungeon point store. As I did so, the tattoo that had formed on my body, indicating that I had received a blessing, shone with line. Like that, I was able to look through a list of skills and items which functioned as a reward.

Since Lydia was resting peacefully, I decided to waste my time seeing what options I had.

I quickly identified a skill called Reset. For only a single dungeon point, I could have the option to reset my dungeon points. I tested it using just a single point, and it seemed to work. This meant I could test things out and decide what I wanted. I had to sacrifice one of only five points, which meant I absolutely couldn't touch any second-tier skill unless I earned more points. That meant unless I defeated another dungeon, this was as far as I could go.

Well, that didn't mean that these several first-tier skills weren't amazing. I was hesitant to pick a skill that was an item, though. Various shields, armor, and weapons were all available. Some were obvious in regards to what they did, while others would need to be tested before I knew what they did. Like everything, there was no clear explanation. Either way, I found that if I used Reset and the weapon wasn't in my hand, it wouldn't convert to points. I was really frightened that I blew a point until I reselected my Reset while making sure I held the sword in my hand.

This time, it disappeared, and my point returned too. This meant that items could be stolen or lost, and the dungeon points would be lost with them. Some items even sounded disposable, and I didn't want to risk losing them forever for a one-time gain, so I didn't even try to buy those items. Instead, I focused on skills that would be useful.

I eventually settled on four skills that seemed to be the best for someone like me. The first was the Second Job. Being able to use two jobs at once instantly made me stronger, plus I could level up much faster. The second was 2X Experience, which would mean faster leveling up. The third skill was a thing called Portal. It could only be used once a day per point, but it allowed you to create a portal to anywhere you've been before. I checked, and it worked even in dungeons. That meant I could return to the city directly without the half-day walk. The final point went to Map. Mapping allowed me to create a map of everywhere I had been. It was always active too. I had a clear map of this dungeon, although it was all greyed out. It seemed like once we left, the dungeon would collapse.

After wasting as much time as I could, I shook Lydia awake. "It's time for us to go."

"Time?" She looked up drowsily, but when she saw my shirtless body, she blushed and covered herself. "Master…"

I reached out and pulled her against me. Her moderate chest pressed against mine as I gave her a long kiss. She finally broke away, blushing again, but she didn't fight my embrace at all.

I put my clothes back on, and she went back to wearing her slave clothes. The first thing I wanted to do was to get her something nice. No… let's eat first. I'd been eating rations and turkey legs for a week now, and now I was hungry for anything different. Wait, how about we sell all the items we got and use that money. Maybe we should check the guild first and see if there is a reward for ending the dungeon. There were so many things I wanted to do now. 

"Are you ready?" I asked.

Lydia nodded and held on to my shirt. A few moments later, I created a portal to the town square.

The pair of us held hands and jumped through. On the other side, I noticed the town square was void of people. In truth, I had wanted a little fanfare. Otherwise, I would have portaled outside of town. Maybe that was a bit selfish of me. Perhaps a portal opening up could cut someone in half. Well, that wouldn't be good, I probably shouldn't use it carelessly anymore.

I decided that the guild hall would be the quickest place to get answers. As we approached the building, the front door slammed open, and a haughty yet familiar man came storming out. His eyes immediately fell on us just as we reached the door.

"You! So, you lived after all. Too late, I am the hero of this town! Now, hand over my slave!"

That's right… in my excitement over everything, I forgot Lydia was owned.