Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Episode 1. Beginner Protection Period (3)

They had low abilities. When I raised my sword, Crazy Hounds started to attack me from every direction.
“Grrrr!”
I was surrounded by them, but I was not in a hurry. I kicked the Crazy Hound that attacked me first. That opened up one direction for me, so I stood against the open direction and started to slash them.
Even though I was surrounded, all of them couldn’t attack me simultaneously. There was a 0.1-second gap between each attack. All I had to do was find that gap to control the numerous enemies.
Woof! Woof!
Dead Crazy Hounds dissolved into thin air and disappeared. They became mana again, a natural result since they were summoned with the mana here.
The number of Crazy Hounds quickly decreased. They were no longer countless. 1
When I had killed about a hundred of them, the empty space became bigger and I started to use my sword. I looked like I was just moving my sword without any plan but the end result was quite different. Every time I moved my sword, at least one of them was killed. It took about ten minutes to kill all three hundred of them.
[Victory. You killed all the monsters!]
Boom!
The status window appeared and the stone walls went down, which meant that I had to choose one of them to move forward.
‘I’d better make up a rule and move,’ I thought. I decided to take the far right path and to keep taking it until I meet the dead end. As soon as I set up my rule, I started to move forward, holding my steel sword.
“So, well, Lyhee has been thinking…”
I was walking for a while when Lyhee suddenly appeared, sat on my left shoulder, and started talking.
Lyhee was a fairy without physical substance. Since the dungeon core was connected with me, it was not a surprise that she appeared suddenly out of nowhere.
When I asked her why she didn’t come out earlier, she answered that she had been deep in thought after watching me combine a unique skill.
I was a bit impressed by the fact that this little thing was actually thinking!
“Ow, my ear hurts. I think someone is laughing at me.” Lyhee started to pick her ear, and as soon as she blew the earwax away, she started talking again. “Anyhow. Unique skill is such a difficult skill to get. It is not only super expensive… I would never be able to get it in my whole life. But the master was abracadabra, bem, bam, boom and just made it! So Lyhee has decided!”
Lyhee clenched her fist as if she was pledging something.
I waited in confused silence.
“I gave up thinking. Lyhee~” Lyhee showed a silly smile and relaxed her fist. She shrugged. “Thinking was such a waste of time. I suppose this is what people call wise, right?”
There was such a huge wall between my vocabulary and hers. She had a very different concept of being wise. “Yes, you are good,” I answered without actually meaning it.
But Lyhee accepted it as a compliment and started flipping her wings cheerfully. “Lyhee.” 1
She seemed to be in a good mood. Lyhee looked at my face for a brief moment and showed a silly smile again before she kissed my cheek lightly. Fairies were astral bodies, but since I was connected to the dungeon core, I was able to touch them. So I was able to feel her light kiss.
“…” I frowned slightly and swatted her away from my shoulder as if I was trying to get rid of an annoying mosquito. My hand hit Lyhee, and she made a short noise and flew away.
I was a little pleased with what Lyhee did, but I had to train her earlier than later.
“Hmmm. That was not nice.” Soon, Lyhee came back to me, complaining. She held my collar to hang on to me.
I sped up my running. Lyhee had just appeared, and I had passed five junctions already. I still had a long way to go, but I needed to rest a bit.
‘Let’s go to the next one before getting some rest,’ I thought. I had a limited amount of time. Maybe eight months was not enough, but pushing myself too hard was not a very good idea. I will disappear if I die here, so I couldn’t push myself to the limit.
I walked a little more to reach the next junction. When I stepped into the gigantic room, a message window greeted me.
[Sit down on the designated spot and meditate. Remaining time – 72:00]
[If you don’t concentrate, the remaining time will be reset.]
There was a square, dented space in the middle of the room.
I hesitated a bit when the message told me that I should stay still for three days, but I finally decided to do it. I was already planning to take a break, so if the system was letting me do nothing for three days, that was rather good news for me.
I didn’t understand why I had to meditate, but concentration was my strength. I sat down on the ground, only to regret right away.
Twenty-three days!
I spent twenty-three days in the meditation room.
I had to spend twenty-three days doing nothing but meditation. 3
I ground my teeth. If I made a slight movement or lost my concentration a slight bit, the system reset the time without any exceptions. It was almost scary that the system knew what my mindset was like.
I didn’t know I had so many thoughts. It was not just about concentration. I didn’t simply have to concentrate; I had to completely empty my mind. The words on the message window were just a trap.
So that took 23 days in total.
If I were unlucky, I would have spent all eight months meditating.
‘That’s why I didn’t hear about the meditation room after ten years.’ I thought. The meditation room was accessible for all dungeon masters, but it took ten years for me to hear about this room. That only meant that this room was a really difficult task.
‘I don’t know what to expect really. I should keep my guard up.’ I thought. I underestimated the challenge; I had to be more careful.
I stretched my neck a few times.
Now I was ready, so whatever came out in the next junction, I would be able to react calmly.
***
[Swing your sword 100,000 times.]
[Stand on your hands and make 50 laps around this room.]
[Catch 10 ‘crazy rabbits’ that are running away.]
[You are ‘cursed’ to have a status error.]
‘Does this mean that I’m unlucky?’ That was my thought when I got my 80th mission from the junctions. When I passed 90th and reached 100th, I thought I was not meant to make it in this training room.
I forced a bitter smile and kept going. I still had time.
110, 120…149!
If I didn’t have a goal, I’m sure I would have given up quite early. But I didn’t give up, and I was able to clear 149 rooms. When I reached the 150th room, it made me excited.
There was only one stone wall in the room.
Was this it?
[Slay the boss, Arkal the Guardian!]
This was it!
My eyes started to shine.
Arkal was a two-meter tall monster in armor. I put all my force into slaying Arkal. Its abilities weren’t too bad, but I was trained well after passing 149 rooms and becoming stronger.
When I slayed Arkal, the background changed. With the blink of an eye, I was standing in front of my dungeon core, and multiple message windows came up.
[You have slain the final boss Arkal of the training room!]
[You cleared the training room for the first time. The title ‘Unbreakable Warrior’ is granted.]
[You cleared all the rooms in the training room for the first time. You’ve got 300,000pt.]
I finally got the reward from my hardship of eight months. I closed my mouth firmly and kept reading the message over and over again. After I took enough time to calm down, I opened my status window.
First Name: Randalf Last Name: Bruciel
Occupation: Count of Devildom(Dungeon Master)
Title: Unbreakable Warrior (Exceptional Unique, All the abilities +2)
Abilities: Power 76(+2), Intelligence 48(+2), Speed 72(+2), Strength 80(+2), Mana 62(+2)
Potential(338+10/500)
Others: N/A
Skills: Skill Combination(R), The Mind’s Eye(U)
[Progress Comparison]
Power 64 Intelligence 42 Speed 59 Strength 72 Mana 50 Potential(287+0/500)
Power 78 Intelligence 50 Speed 74 Strength 82 Mana 64 Potential(338+10/500)
That was remarkable progress. Above all, I couldn’t take my eyes off from my title: Unbreakable Warrior. It was an Exceptional Unique title!
All the skills, titles and items were categorized in Normal, Rare, Unique, Epic and Legend. The value was given accordingly.
Exceptional was an adjective that was added in front of the categories when it was very good but not good enough to reach the next level. Exceptional Unique was the level that was slightly lower than Epic but exceptional as a Unique level.
For your reference, I’ve never heard of anyone obtaining anything better than epic, until the end of the end. But my new title, Unbreakable Warrior, was almost equivalent to an Epic title. It was a title that increased all my abilities. It was much better than other titles that would increase just one ability because I was able to improve in every aspect.
My total ability was 348. I was not the leading member out of seventy-two devils, but I was convinced that I was on the leading side.
‘So people said that April showers bring May flowers, right?’ I thought. That was a saying that people used to say quite often, and they were right. On top of that, I gained 300,000pt, so my eight months in the training room had not gone to waste.
Now I had gotten what I wanted, and the beginner protection period was coming to its end. I had enough points as well.
I nodded lightly. ‘It’s time for me to strengthen my dungeon.’