I entered the [Dungeon Hub] wearing gear that only unfortunate beginners such as me even thought about.
[Star Wand] Despite having a cool name, it wasn't good. A cheap mid-range mage weapon, used mostly for knocking enemies back.
[Foliage Armor] This one was crafted using leaves and was a decent beginner set due to its unique perk [Branch Growth] which increased [Health] by 50 points.
I couldn't afford proper gear since I had spent all my savings on a dungeon carry for the first 5 rooms of floor 1. I'm not known for planning ahead and this is why.
However, dungeons are known for being full of treasures, you could almost find one in every corner, so my decision of buying a carry was more of an investment than a poor decision.
It costed me $100,000 to buy the carry, after that only $10,000 remained in my purse. [Star Wand] costed me about $5,000, which was $1,000 cheaper than usual. And the transit tax between Huaming and the Dungeon Hub was $500...
So I only had $4,500 to my name right now. But it was no big deal, once I entered the dungeon and focused on exploring as much as possible I would double my investment!
I was a special case for this world. Most people are forced, practically dragged into the pathway selection event. It only happens once in a lifetime so its extremely important to assist to it.
Well I... I didn't assist. I missed the date. It wasn't even a 'the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere and wolves attacked us!' type of deal. I didn't set an alarm the day before.
So I didn't have a pathway. Pathways are the base of progression in life. From stat multipliers, joining factions, acquiring skills. Your pathway decided all of that.
But I didn't have one. So every time I level up, I only gained raw stats and nothing else. If I wanted a skill I'd have to buy it. Along with that, entering a faction would be near impossible.
I checked my stats for the last time before meeting with my carry team and setting off into the dungeon, just to make sure I won't die by existing inside of the dungeon in the first place. (Which has happened before!)
[Fang Tian]
[Health: 20 + 50]
[Defense: 20]
[Intelligence: 40]
[Strength: 10]
Shining with a purple light, everything looked normal. My boost to health by the [Foliage armor] was right there. My intelligence caught my eye. [Star Wand] Required 10 MP to cast its skill [Shooting Star].
MP and HP were both combinations of different stats, known as effective stats. MP is the result of your intelligence and your mana. A higher intelligence meant your spells would be stronger. While mana only helped with firing a higher amount of spells.
My current MP was 90, that meant I could only cast [Shooting Star] From my wand 9 times before tiring myself out. I made a personal note to myself to never go above 9 casts at once.
The carry team was composed of me and 4 other people. A tall orange-haired woman with muscles I could only dream of. A shorter bearded man wearing a viking helmet. What I could only assume was a really long-haired man with a bandana covering his mouth, and another woman with the uniform of a nun.
"I hope you don't slow us down." The tall woman.
"Try to stay close to us." The bearded man.
"Stay behind me." The long-haired man.
"If you get attacked, run to me, please." The nun.
Our team was composed of a berserk, tank, archer, healer, and I, the 'mage'.
We entered the dungeon. The first sector of the first room of the first floor. [Dragon's Lair].
E class adventurers should be able to complete this dungeon as a team in about half an hour. I might've gone overboard with my dungeon carry as my team is composed of D rank adventurers.
The walls were made of uneven stone bricks with cracks along them. Faint blue torches lit the corridors.
I barely had time to take it in before everyone was already gliding away. This was the effect of all the speed boosters.
Everyone was wearing the same speed talisman either on their neck or their wrist. Not only that, every piece of their armor had the trait [Velocity] Which greatly increased their speed.
The nun lifted a small vial and drank it before the others followed. I think I'd seen it being sold outside in the Dungeon Hub.
[Catacombs Potion]
It scaled with your Dungeoneering proficiency, but its main effect was increasing all of your stats while in a dungeon. A luxury consumable, which of course... I had none of.
The berserk looked back at me, telling me to keep up and I tried, I really did. But by the time I took my third step, the rest were already halfway down the corridor.
I had to run, but even then I couldn't match their pace. They must've been running at like 20 kilometers per hour.
The nun noticed by boots were scraping against the stone and my breath was going uneven. She stopped and took off her boots, shoving them into her [Storage Box].
She was barefooted, stepping onto the cold dungeon floor just to match my pace. I thanked her and she only nodded.
The different undead entities that appeared proceeded to disappear in the blink of an eye.
A horde of skeletons appeared from the side corridor just to disappear as an arrow ricocheted off the wall, then another, and another.
I couldn't quite see the trajectory, just the metallic echoes bouncing through the hallway.
These arrows hit the wall, bending in unnatural ways before launching itself into the opposite direction. They were made of a special rubber and steel.
The archer never stopped his movement, he only shot arrows at seemingly random, and they managed to take down every monster.
A door burst open ahead and something large stepped out of it. I could only catch a glimpse of it before a two-meter sword crashed down.
THUD.
The berserk had appeared in front of it in the blink of an eye, and in another, the sword had appeared in her hands.
She hit it three times before the monster stopped existing. She rested the blade on her shoulder before making it disappear.
When the carry is over I'll investigate how that works.
The tank didn't bother with the enemies like the rest. He was busy moving his hands across the walls.
Pressing loose stones, pulling hidden levers, kicking specific tiles. Mechanism clicked open one after another.
A hidden compartment opened and he grabbed something without checking and tossed it into his [Storage Box].
Another wall shifted open and he entered, coming out with a handful of gold and treasure he just dropped on the floor.
A zombie was approaching me from the side. I raised my [Star Wand] and used [Shooting Star] on it.
[-10 damage]
A mere fraction of his health, but it staggered, it was almost something I could handle.
Before I could attack it again, an arrow passed through its skull, pinning it to the wall behind it before dissolving instantly.
I lowered the wand. I was useless right now, surrounded by people way over my rank.
Had I been a proper mage, one with a pathway, I would've been clearing rooms alongside the archer. Controlling the hordes before making them explode with whatever D rank wand.
"The dungeon's been cleared."
I hadn't even realized we reached the end of the room before the archer spoke out. He snapped his fingers and we were teleported into the mini-boss chamber.
It was a massive chamber, with a ceiling that stretched into darkness, supported by pillars carved with something that looked like bones.
Across the hall was a figure. Three meters tall with scarlet red scales, its wings tightly folded against his back. A human-dragon hybrid.
Its bright amber eyes locked onto us before a low growl echoed through the chamber, vibrating through the walls.
The nun stepped forward, pressing her hands together and closing her eyes. Light gathered beneath her feet.
[Ultimate Skill has been activated: Hyper Healing Ring]
A bright green circle expanded across the ground, at only about three meters of diameters. The engraving was weird complex lines twisting into different geometric shapes.
[Everyone within the ring will receive a 10x vitality boost.]
I could feel the vitality boost. My body felt lighter with a slight warm. Vitality was a hidden stat that dictated how fast you healed per second, at this level, I could heal half of my HP in a second.
The tank moved, shifting his gear mid-step. Plates locking into place, slamming his foot into the ground.
[Stone Fortress]
The dragon's gaze snapped to him instantly.
[Ultimate Skill has been activated: Stone Fortress]
[Enemies' attention will be redirected to the tank. 80% of all damage will also be nullified.]
The dragon lunged towards the tank. The ground cracked under its weight as it slammed into them.
He didn't move or even flinch. The dragon's claws dragged across his armor, sparks flying. Its tail whipped around, smashing into his side.
Dozens of undead, faster than the ones before ran directly towards the tank. [Stone Fortress] Was doing its job perfectly.
The archer swapped all of his arrows in a single movement. There were thinner and sharper. He pulled back the string and released.
Each arrow tore through multiple enemies at once, punching directly through their skulls before shattering into dust.
The berserk stepped forward last. She reached out into empty space, her two meter sword appeared, lifting it and smiling.
[Ultimate Skill has been activated: Ragnarok]
The sword had turned into a giant cleaver, this one even taller, perhaps two meters and a half. She swung in a single horizontal arc, everything in front of her disappeared into dust.
The dragon stopped attacking our tank, it simply froze, looking around before running, diving into the ground.
"That was not supposed to happen." The healer spoke out, breaking the healing ring.
The tank disabled [Stone Fortress]. In an instant, a large piece of rock fell only a couple centimeters from me.
Dust filled the air instantly, everyone in the team ran away. The nun put her boots on and dragged me by the wrist.
The dungeon had become unstable, the more we ran, the more large boulders that were dropped near us.
"Let's hurry to the entrance. Now!" The berserk shouted. She grabbed the tank and swung him, flinging him directly to the dungeon entrance.
The tank didn't seem to mind it, his expression showed that they had already planned that escape if something went wrong.
He pulled an axe from his [Storage Box], breaking the dungeon door. The light from the outside, I could see it.
Just a couple meters before the entrance. I looked up and noticed the ceiling was cracking right where the nun would step into.
Just a few more steps and she'd be buried under a boulder. If it fall, she would be surrounded by more boulders, there would be no escape.
Right as I saw the ceiling about to fall on her, I let go of her hand and with all my might kicked her back. The kick was hard enough to make her trip and roll into the entrance.
The boulder fell right where she had been a mere instant ago. She looked back at me with those bright eyes.
"We need to go save him!" She looked back at the rest with a worried look.
"Its alright. I'll be fine."
At some point, second after saying that, a large amount of rocks had fallen on top of me. Everything in my vision was black, I had fallen unconscious.
A golden statue of sorts sat in the center of the room I was walking around in. I couldn't quite figure out what was happening it, I started carefully circling around it...