Connor did not rush in to challenge the monsters on the floor; he first planned his actions.
After thinking for a while, he asked the system, "What Dungeon Treasures are available here?"
[At first, there was only one equipment in this floor, but since entering the dungeon, two more items have been developed, with one of them being a weapon that is also on this floor]
He tried asking for more advanced knowledge this time, as he was starting to understand how to exploit the system's knowledge more.
"Can you show me the details of the equipment and the weapon?"
After he said that, two screens popped up. Connor was surprised to see the information displayed before he even obtained the objects.
[ Equipment Name: Pharaoh's Epoch Belt
Equipment Grade: Epic
Type: Belt
Description: The pharaoh of the Undead Pyramid used this belt during his mid-stages of evolution. Now the leader of the undead, having died inside this dungeon, the pharaoh's belt was infused with a blessing from a constellation. It can increase the perception of the wearer and enhance the flow of time for their thought process.
Equipment Skill: Mind Overclock (3rd Order active & passive skill)
Mind Overclock:
Passive effect: Increases the hidden stat perception by 20%.
Active: Time will slow down to 1/10 for the wielder's mind, but the body will still abide by the same laws of time. Requires mana to keep activated. Activation cost: 100 times the level of the user per second (or 10 seconds for the mind).
]
Connor's jaw dropped after reading the information.
This was almost too good to be true. If he had this, he was sure he could've killed the tigra-squirrel without getting injured.
This was an equipment rank he didn't expect to get his hands on. He knew that for weapons, artifacts, and equipment, the rank also signified its rarity and uniqueness.
Compared to a skill, this was no different than acquiring another third-order skill, the only downside being the inability to upgrade it.
But what more could he want than an epic-rank treasure? At the moment, he wasn't even sure his core could handle another integration without destroying his body.
He still remembered the pain he felt when he absorbed the third-order skill.
But did he care about pain? Once outside the dungeon, pain and death were going to be unavoidable parts of his life—not taxes or family encounters.
He thought of his elder and younger sisters, the only people he truly loved in his family.
For them, I have to grow stronger. He was worried about his younger sister, but there was nothing he could do at the moment other than hope she was alright in London.
Shaking his head, he was determined to get this equipment, even if he had to suffer.
"What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger" he said to himself and looked at the second panel.
[ Weapon Name: Silent Judgement
Weapon Grade: Uncommon
Type: Dagger
Description: A Knife used to cut the tongue, ears, and genitals (if applicable) of the criminals before burying them alive and turning them into undead.
Passive effect: upon inflicting damage with this blade, reduces the willpower of the target
]
Connor wasn't impressed by the weapon; it was good but nothing special.
"Or maybe I'm just used to the too-good-to-be-true stuff, so such a weapon category doesn't faze me."
'It is still a grade above Common, so this should be very useful to others, if not for me,' he thought.
With this, he knew what to do next as he asked the system to navigate his path to the equipment's location.
His path was blocked by a group of four-eyed scorpions the size of dogs. They attacked by spewing green toxic liquid that reached him quickly, blocking all escape routes.
He used his Night Blend to avoid the liquid, which passed through his mist form and corroded the ground behind him.
'Scary' he thought. Then it clicked.
Here's the revised version with single quotes:
"Such a harmful liquid is inside their bodies, so I can't recklessly slash them. I'll need to either kill them from long range, which isn't possible, or immediately cast Night Blend after each strike that penetrates their skin. I'll have to spam my skill until they're all dealt with," he concluded, solidifying his plan of action.
He imbued the blade with another 500 mana, causing its aura to intensify dangerously.
"With this much mana, it's become destructive. I need to be careful not to cut myself," he muttered.
Approaching the first scorpion he saw, he slashed from above, expecting the tail to split under the force. Instead, his slash was deflected, hitting the ground beside the scorpion.
The blade became stuck in the ground, drained of mana.
Connor was baffled by how the scorpion managed to deflect his attack. He had even activated Night Blend to avoid the toxic liquid.
Now weaponless, he kept activating and deactivating his skill as the toxins splattered the floor.
Realizing he would soon have limited space to move and be trapped, he rushed toward a nearby scorpion that had lifted its tail to shoot more toxins.
He attempted a karate chop toward its head, but it felt like hitting an iron sphere.
Clicking his tongue, he quickly activated Night Blend to avoid damage. The scorpions surrounded him, tails raised, waiting for him to deactivate his skill.
He complied, and a barrage of liquid came at him. He activated his skill again just in time, his timing and reflexes honed from his experiences with the Tigra-squirl.
Coming back to his senses, he abandoned karate moves and instead grabbed a scorpion's tail with both hands, swinging it to crash into another scorpion.
Greenish toxins leaked from the cracks forming on their bodies.
Grinning widely at the damage inflicted, he sensed the scorpions shudder in fear.
What followed was a frenzy of strength as he smashed one scorpion after another, none of them dying. He didn't plan to kill them yet; he had other plans.
After throwing all eight scorpions into a corner like discarded bags, he dusted his hands, burning from the toxins.
Approaching the stuck blade, he tried to lift it, but it was embedded too deeply.
Using mana infusion again, he channeled all 1500 mana at once, causing the blade to fly high and crash into the ceiling.
"Shit, is it going to stay stuck there now? I'll be screwed if that happens," he muttered anxiously.
Fortunately, it eventually fell from the ceiling, landing flat on the floor.
Picking up his blade, he glanced at the eight scorpions lying unconscious and smiled.
"Time to harvest," he said, swiftly killing two of the eight scorpions with successive slashes.
[ You have slain a level 12 Toxin tail ]
[ You have gained 102 SP ]
[ You have gained +1 Endurance from the excess SP gained ]
[ You have leveled up ]
[ The Toxin has absorbable skill: Force control (2nd order passive and active). Would you like to absorb and overwrite the skill rune? ]
[ You have slain a level 12 Toxin tail ]
[ You have gained 90 SP ]
[ You have gained +1 Endurance from ...]
[ You have leveled up ]
[ The Toxin has ....]
Force control? Is that the skill it used to deflect my strike? But then again, it seems it could use it to negate my karate attack force as well, yet it couldn't use it to avoid the crashes when I threw it."
"Maybe it couldn't master the skill to that level, or maybe that was the limit of the skill. Am I right, System?"
[ Yes, the first option you deduced is the correct answer to your question]
The System's reply was short. Connor felt proud because, for the first time, the System was unable to elaborate as his deductions were spot on.
He couldn't rely on the System all the time; that would mean he would have a hard time after the grace period was over.
He said as he killed the rest with his dull blade as well, carefully using Night Blend to avoid the explosion of toxic blood.
He wondered why he wasn't shown the option to absorb the skill that could help him to split that deadly toxin.
But then again, what is being shown to absorb is the temporary skill that would be compatible with his core body and soul.
Maybe it was not possible after the mutation the Rejuvenating Physique brought.
He killed all the scorpion monsters and continued his path toward the treasure.
*******************************
2 hours ago
In a large hall resembling a king's throne room, a cloaked figure sat on the throne at the end of the hall, observing a globe that showcased the fight between Connor and the tigra-squirrel.
After watching the Tigra-squirl die, the cloaked figure stood, grasping its magic staff with bony hands.
It cast a long-range spell once Connor had left the floor boss room.
The hall echoed with laughter as the cloaked figure chuckled, imagining the future that awaited Connor.
*******************************
After killing a few more toxin tails with the savage brute force method, Connor had arrived at the location of the treasure.
Now he was in contemplation about what to do next.
He wanted to integrate this treasure with his core, but he thought it to be too risky to do in now as he was fine with pain, but he didn't want to end up dying by biting more than he could chew.
He then decided to ask the system about it.
[ You should take the treasure with you, but do not integrate it until you reach class one, otherwise, you will end up succumbing to the strong will of this epic rank equipment. ]
He did as the system suggested and put his hand in the void space to fetch the epic rank belt.
'Can I at least integrate with that knife?'
[ Yes you can since it belongs to the uncommon grade, It won't be able to harm your core with its will ]
Connor proceeded towards the weapon using the system's navigation. He wanted any increase in power he could get before facing the banshee.
After the incident with the toxic fight, he realized he needed a backup weapon.
after an hour of moving with back-to-back fight with the toxin tails, he was standing half naked and half burned.
but he wasn't worried, with his self-healing body, the wounds would recover almost in an hour.
He pulled out the weapon from the tear.
[ Would you like to integrate this weapon with your core? ]
'Yes,' he replied immediately and felt the connection establishing.
He swung the knife, which was lighter than the dull blade, in quick succession to test it.
Connor remembered that he had yet to check about Night Blend's upgrade conditions, which was in one of his to-do list.
he knew that he was too weak to complete the requirements.
But desperate times call for desperate measures, he needed to atleast have an idea of what to expect from the requirements to upgrade a 1st order skill
He asked the system about the skill upgrades for Night Blend.
[ Evolution path for 'Night Blend'
1. Night Counter --> Successfully use the skill to counterattack and kill an enemy that is of Class One rank ( 0/100)
2. Night Movement --> Use the skill to escape from an attack that could kill you ( 47/ 1000)
3. ?????? --> Use the skill to kill an enemy that is at least ten levels above you (0/1)
]
'System why is the third evolution path unknown ?'
[ No one has managed to ever complete the requirements of the skill, making it an unexplored path ]
Connor considered the condition and understood how absurd it seemed. Using a defensive skill to kill an opponent ten levels higher than oneself was almost impossible for any being.
He had no idea how to achieve it, but he wasn't worried. He knew it was only a matter of time before he could complete the second condition to evolve the skill to Night Movement.
With newfound determination, Connor decided to clear the second-floor monsters to later confront the banshee one-on-one.
He proceeded to kill all the monsters on the floor and encountered two more variations of the toxin tails: Neurotoxin Tail and Virid-Venom Tail.
They had more tricks up their sleeve like paralysis, mental attacks, and poison, but all these were negated to a degree thanks to his third-order skill.
After fully healing and wiping out all the monsters on the floor, he waited for an hour to recover before preparing himself to confront the banshee.
He was eager to be done with this dungeon for good.