The Strongest Spellblade

We were on the 12th layer and had just defeated a Champion monster. It hadn’t been that difficult with a bit of preparation.

What was concerning me was my skill Compass of Desire. It had been pointing for me to go deeper to get back to the Eldarin continent. I then focused on getting to the Eldarin continent from this layer. Right now it was currently spinning around and around, no clear direction.

I had been worried that this might happen. I had checked the last couple of layers and gotten the same response from the skill. Going deeper would mean more risks and my teammates would be able to contribute even less than they already were.

“Problem?” Lanner asked me as we collected the monster cores from the battle. I was getting the Champions yellow core.

“My skill is indicating we should keep descending, since it can’t find a route back on this layer.”

“This is the 12th layer. I know I am struggling,” Lanner said. Wild Tail could only nervously stand guard by the gnome.

“I know. That is why I am thinking,” I replied. Compass of Desire failed in some of the oddest spots.

“I…I am not much help, sorry,” Wild Tail said. I wasn’t expecting much out of him. While he had gained main levels up in the higher parts of the dungeon, this deep, he was more of a liability than an asset and I had already planned for this.

“That is fine, and I need to think a bit about our next move,” I said. That was the challenge of being the leader of this team. Making decisions about our survival wasn’t fun or enjoyable.

There was a certain pressure that came with those decisions. I missed the days when I just had to listen to what my mother was telling me to do. That made everything so much easier. Very little thought involved, just a focus on self improvement.

I had come to this continent on the 11th layer with my old team. It could be some kind of effect similar to the dungeon passages we came across before. Like a whirlpool, we were caught inside of it.

Sure, some beastkin adventurers had showed up over the years, but it was more chance than anything. Maybe running across a human team and the human team managed to not get caught while the beastkin followed them out.

I was making a lot of assumptions, but I felt I was right. After five minutes of the skill spinning about uselessly, I decided to ask for other things. An exit passage that wasn’t on the beastkin continent but as close to the Eldarin continent as possible.

My skill kept spinning about for a bit, but it finally settled down. It felt shaky, like it should go back to spinning at any moment. One step at a time. Getting away from the beastkin continent was the priority. I didn’t want to deal with demons or the cold.

No idea where the exit passage would be, but I could imagine it ending up being some kind of island. Once we arrived there, then we could exit and reenter the dungeon, going deep and then asking for the exit passage closest to the Eldarin Continent. The idea being to slowly transverse the dungeon, since the dungeon linked individuals with their entrance.

And if there were beastkin on the surface, well we had one with us to check out the situation. And if there weren’t, I felt I would be able to talk things out with anyone else as long as they weren’t demons or beastkin.

The journey would be longer, having to go in and out of the dungeon, but that was fine. While annoying it wasn’t something I could do anything about. Trying to rush through the dungeon was a quick way to get killed.

The real challenge would be seeing how far we had to travel on the 12th layer. I couldn’t wait until I improved more of my sensory skills and consolidated them. The more sensory skills I learned at Tier 2, the better. That way I could lock a larger portion of the dungeon in place.

That was another thing I would have to do once I get back. Look into acquiring some useful but hard to train skills through Alchemy like Shadow Vision. Instead of Ozy getting new skills, it would be me. Ozy had more than enough skills at the moment. He didn’t need more skills.

Each day after the change in direction, I pushed myself to clear four chambers. It was hard and grueling, but based on my previous experience moving through the dungeon, it was going to take a while to get where we needed to go.

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The only way I was able to tell we were making progress was that my Depth Sense kept changing which direction passages were located in. Unlike the damaged passage I had been stuck at before, the dungeon seemed much more forgiving at the moment.

I had no idea if the passages I was passing by would lead to somewhere else on the beastkin continent. I had a direction and I wasn’t going to give it up. The one time I checked for Abnormals and then switched back, my skill spun for longer than when I had first used it.

That was why I wasn’t going to search for anything else on our trek through the dungeon. Eventually we would make some progress, at least that was my hope. I even had Ozy stay back once as we moved forward until I felt pressure on our Soul Link and called him forward.

I couldn’t tell if that helped or not. That was the frustrating thing about the Compass of Desire, I had no idea on the distance until I got to where I wanted to go.

At least we were deep enough that I could push my combat skills each and every fight, especially my Empowered Sword Skills. Mastering that skill before learning supporting skills was important.

The more I fought, the more I wanted a range attack from my blade, like Slice. That was one of my mother’s favorite skills and I knew I could get it. But that would make my Empowered Sword Skills harder to level.

Other people would probably be stressed out about gaining more skills and stats, but I wasn’t. I knew I had time, I knew I was capable. The most important thing was stability. That meant we needed to get back to an actual civilization.

I really didn’t want to spend any more time dealing with beastkin or fighting demons. When I came back to this continent, I wanted to be strong enough not to have to overly worry about every fight.

“Another long day,” Lanner said.

“Its profitable at least. When we get to the Eldarin continent, the Mana cores will help you both out,” I replied.

“Have to be alive and make it there,” Wild Tail complained.

“Well if you can develop a skill to navigate through the dungeon, please, go right ahead,” I said.

“Um, sorry,” he replied. He was getting stressed out, but there was nothing I could do. His comments annoyed me slightly. I was doing him a favor, by letting him come along. Unlike Lanner, his people hadn’t given me valuable skills and gifts.

“I am doing my best. Unfortunately, the dungeon is difficult to deal with. We could be down here for a month or a year, no way to know,” I said.

“And what if we start getting low on food?” Lanner asked.

“Then we have to go the surface. And if we end up on the beastkin continent we can go fishing,” I replied. It wasn’t an elegant plan, but it was still a plan in case we were stuck down here for years with no progress.

“Fishing? Never fished before,” Wild Tail said.

“None of us have. It will be an experience if we have to do that. But hopefully it won’t come to that. It will probably take a couple of months to get through the dungeon to the right passage. As long as we aren’t on the same continent and getting closer to the Eldarin continent, that is fine,” I replied.

“Could we end up under the water? The Great Ocean?” Lanner asked. That was a question I had asked as well long ago.

“No. There are no underwater dungeon entrances as far as I know. And no one has reported running into flooded sections of the dungeon,” I replied. Sure, some of the chambers were water themed with those types of monsters, but that water normally didn’t extend beyond two chambers at most.

“What about flooding the dungeon. I always wondered about that?” Wild Tail asked.

“That has been tried and the passage collapses. The dungeon doesn’t like large volumes of water pouring into it. Rain is fine, even a small stream, but if the passage is covered in water, the dungeon will forcibly close it up,” I explained.

That was why some people said the dungeon was alive. Since it reacted to stimuli. I knew one thing, that I was never coming down here with a war mech or anything like it ever again.

“I have a question. You know about rituals?” Lanner asked.

“A bit. Enough to know they are risky,” I replied.

“Could you use them to level up?” he asked.

“The resources needed, would make it more practical to kill a monster than risk a ritual on yourself. Rituals are dangerous and they aren’t pleasant.” My mother had conceived me with the help of one, but I had no doubt she had gotten the best of everything. And she had used it to suppress her power, not increase it.

“It would be easier creating a skill to do something like that, than messing about with a ritual,” I added on.

“Well, all that is a bit beyond me,” Wild Tail said.

“You sure you don’t want to be an adventurer?” Lanner asked the beastkin.

“No. I respect the dedication and the risk you both put yourselves in, but I prefer peace and quiet. I would look at getting some remote job somewhere, in a mine or prospecting,” Wild Tail said.

“Most of the Eldarin continent is settled or claimed,” I replied.

“I will find something. Fighting, I can do it, but I don’t like it.” He was a coward and I didn’t mean that in a derogatory way like I would with others. The fact that Wild Tail knew he wasn’t suited for adventuring was commendable.

Too many people rushed into the work, fighting monsters, then got themselves killed since they didn’t know what they were doing. It wasn’t just about fighting, but about how to handle a range of situations and knowing when to back off.

If he did become an adventurer he was the type that would stall out on the 5th or 6th layer. He wouldn’t want to descend, preferring easier fights and harvesting easier to get Mana cores.

That wasn’t bad, but most adventurers wanted to get stronger. To push their skills and main level. Knowing what he wanted to do in life was commendable. Even if he did have an aversion to fighting.