Asher felt a strong pull, forcing his body forward. Instinctively, he sensed a void enveloping him. He couldn't explain it, but something was calling to him. As he slightly opened his eyes, he saw a small star in the distance. It wasn't shining brightly, yet it had a peculiar look that gave him a sense of familiarity. Just as he was about to look around, the strong force returned, and he felt his feet hit the ground. As he tried to stabilize himself, a wave of nausea hit him, and the world around him spun. It lasted only briefly before his vision returned to normal.
At that moment, he knew he had entered the dungeon.
Unbeknownst to him, in a distant dimension with fourteen dimly shining stars, the moment he looked at the star, its dim light briefly formed a peculiar symbol pattern. The star he saw was actually part of this symbol, making it appear as a single, individual star from his perspective, but in reality, it was just a fragment of a larger, intricate pattern.
He looked around and saw that he was near the entrance of a dark cave. Although it was dark, he could clearly sense the interior of the cave due to his Prudence insight. He felt a malicious presence to his right and turned to see a spider the size of a child. Its eight eyes glared at him, seeing him as prey that had entered its trap.
Name: Creepweaver
Level: 2
Rank: Mundane
Bloodline: Dustweaver
Skills: Lurk, Poison Bite, Webshot
Strength: 2
Agility: 6
Physique: 3
Aether: 2
Intelligence: 3
Affinities: Poison
Description: An Araneidae low-level spider commonly seen in dark places. They love to lurk and hide in dark corners, attacking prey from behind after trapping them in their web.
He cautiously looked around and saw a cobweb, woven perfectly in front of him. Immediately, he channeled his Aether through his body in a specific way, aiming at the Creepweaver. A bolt of light formed at his fingertip, and he launched it towards the spider. The Creepweaver immediately sensed the threat and tried to dodge, but it was too late. The luminous bolt hit it right in its eyes, and it exploded.
As soon as the Creepweaver died, he felt a flow of energy, different from Aether, enter his body. He instantly recognized it as experience gained from the kill. He glanced at his panel and saw a change in his level: "Level: 5/50."
Although many scholars believed that this energy was similar to Aether but represented the soul power of a living being, it remained a mystery to the world.
After examining the Creepweaver's body, Asher discovered a small bead-sized crystal embedded in its head. It was the monster core, a valuable item that could be sold to the league. Using his insights, he examined it further and was astonished by what he found.
Name: Monster Core (Creepweaver - Mundane)
Description: A crystalline structure containing the concentrated life force and energy of the monster. These cores can be harvested for crafting powerful items or used in alchemical recipes to enhance their effects. Additionally, they hold fragments of the monster's memory and bloodline, which, when refined, can be used to create memory crystals, skillstones, or even extract bloodlines.
Although it was known in the world that monster cores contain the life force of monsters and can be used in crafting, alchemy, and various other fields, it was not widely recognized that they could also be used to extract bloodlines or memories. While some powerful monster cores were known to aid in studying certain skills, it was not known that even the lowest level cores could have this capability. Asher realized that his insights were much more mysterious and profound than any other skills he had read about.
He knew that solving the mystery of the refining process could bring him significant money and fame. He was pleased that his Prudence trait enhanced his learning and memory capabilities, even though he felt a headache coming from the thought of how much he needed to learn. Although he didn't particularly enjoy fighting, he had always loved learning, but a lack of resources had been a barrier. Now that he was an Awakener, he felt compelled to learn as much as he could. However, he also understood that survival in this world required strength, so he would need to improve his combat skills as well.
After placing the monster core in his storage space, he turned his attention back to the Creepweaver's corpse. Within a few minutes, the corpse disintegrated into ashes, a common way for dungeons to preserve themselves.
As he surveyed his surroundings, he cloaked himself in his veil, to hide from monsters and continued deeper into the cave.
As he roamed through the cave, Asher encountered and killed many spiders. These creatures were known to lurk in groups, and he saw various types, including Nightspinners and Bitewings. Most of the spiders were level 4 Mundane monsters, and they typically hid in the ceiling. Since they posed little threat, he dispatched them quickly before they had a chance to attack. However, every time he struck, the veil concealing him would dissipate, alerting the surrounding spiders to his presence and causing them to swarm him.
After killing the last spider in the group, Asher felt a powerful surge of energy flow through his body. He immediately checked his panel and noticed some changes:
Name: Asher Embers
Level: 1 (3/100 Exp)
Bloodline: *******
Titles: *******, *******, Prideful, Prudent
Traits: Pride, Prudence
Skills: Prudence's Insight, Prudence's Veil, Mirror of Pride, Pride's Illusion
Power: Minor
Profession(s): Nil
Familiar: Nil
Summons: *******(locked)
Strength: 9
Agility: 9
Physique: 11.5
Aether: 180
Intelligence: 17
Affinities: All
He noticed that his body had grown stronger. He knew that, according to his traits, each level-up would slightly improve his core attributes. Most traits only enhanced certain attributes at specific level thresholds, such as level 5 or 10.
His research on forums had shown that no other trait improved all attributes simultaneously like this. This realization made Asher feel that his trait was more mysterious than he had imagined, and he had only scratched the surface of its potential.
Using Pride's Illusion to change his data panel, he continued deeper into the cave, eliminating every spider he encountered. He eventually reached a fork in the path. To the right was a large opening filled with cobwebs and Nightspinner spiders. To the left was a narrow path, but he sensed no life signs in that direction.
After careful consideration, he chose the left route, sensing that something valuable or significant might lie in that direction.