2 - Discovery of the Instance dungeon

Cain made drastic changes to himself over the next week. Every day after school, he'd increase his stats as much as he could. He didn't have a clear example of his strength, but he could feel the change in energy.

His Agility was 74, Strength at 63, and endurance at 90. His intelligence moved up by only two points and was now 24. Intelligence was hard to get. Hopefully it didn't matter that much.

Amy had distanced herself since the incident. Cain wanted to get closer to her, but he knew that it would be unfair. She would have to get over any embarrassment first. From the extra amount of social stress, Cain spent more time crunching his stat numbers.

Eight days after discovering his stats, he got a skill for achieving 100 new stat points. 'Gain 100 Stat points - Skill unlock: Instance Dungeon.' Cain had not gotten to use the skill. Friday after school, he finally got the chance.

[Instance Dungeon]

Instead of traveling when he cast the skill, A new window appeared. It had one option for travel— the goblin lair. Shuddering with fear from the past event, Cain read the description carefully.

'Power: 30, Enemies: 20, Bosses: 1, Level: Beinninger - Wounds heal on leave.'

The last line reassured him. He could at least leave without trouble. Grabbing a metal bat, Cain readied himself for the dungeon. [Enter]

His surroundings transitioned to a ruined hallway. With light pouring from the ceiling, the area was filled with a warm haze. Vines grew from every wall, with roots of trees mixed within.

There were no goblins in sight. Cain was ready to say the "Leave Dungeon" command. As he trekked down the path, he noticed a new tile pattern. Not thinking much of it, he stepped right over it. A tile fell down.

A short gear sounded off as Cain began to shout the leave command. Just as he finished speaking, arrows from each side of the wall shot at him. One jabbed his leg. He thankfully left the dungeon before his inevitable demise.

The pain from his leg remained for a few minutes. Even if he could heal, the pain was not going to be easy to handle. What's more was that he could obviously die at any moment. His life was not guaranteed.

Steeling his nerves, Cain did not give up. Entering the dungeon once more, he found that it was the same layout. He walked up to the trap. Giving a whack to the floor, Cain was able to shoot every arrow early.

He was going to pick up the arrows, but it seemed like they were just wooden shafts. Cain moved on. There were several repeated traps down the path of the hallway. Finally reaching the end of the path, it branched left.

Down the branch was one room. Inside were two goblins. Instantly spotting him, they charged. It took Cain all of his courage to stand still. The goblins leapt for him, but were thrown into the wall with the bat. One more hit killed them off.

Dissolving into nothing, the goblins were no more. His thoughts eased up. A few days ago, Cain had discovered his inventory. Nothing could be put inside at the time, but he was now seeing two items. Goblin skin and Goblin bones.

This was the first time Cain felt a slight excitement. He had wondered what he was going to do in life. This seemed like the perfect escape. Continuing, Cain encountered five goblins. He left.

Facing five goblins wouldn't have been impossible, but he wanted practice. Repeating his last steps, he killed the two first goblins until he felt confident. After five runs, he was ready.

Cain killed the five goblins and many groups after them. The danger of the dungeon seemed much less, probably because the Goblins were different. They weren't any weaker or stronger. They were just less clever.

Before he knew it, he was at the boss's room. Putting his hand on the door handle, Cain was given a message. 'Boss room requirements - obtain one piece of armor.' Being honest with himself, Cain realized that he didn't know the boss at all. Charging in was reckless.

Cain repeated the dungeon. He attacked it again and again, finishing it once, the five times, then even ten. He was getting nothing but goblin skin and bones. Cain began to wonder if he was supposed to craft with the drops.

There was no crafting command. The goblin bones were also too small to form any kind of weapon or armor. The only option was the goblin skin. Reluctantly pulling out the goblin skin, it was sort of gross.

It was a green, disgusting, and dry piece of skin. Being no larger than a square foot, making armor with it would be tough. He put the skin away. Cain looked up tanning videos on YouTube.

To his surprise, the hides were already ready for the final step of tanning. Their dry texture was a keen indicator of them being skimmed and dried. Cain grabbed some bins and soaked a few of them in water. According to the videos, he'd have to wait at least six hours.

Being impatient, he checked on them two hours later. He had been grinding the dungeon since then, enough to get 100 goblin skin. His hides were more than ready. It also looked like they had finished about an hour ago.

Cain dried them. He was decent with crafts, so he began to design and cut a chest-piece. He used a special type of glue to sear the material together. The end result was a clean piece of leather armor.

Once he picked up and looked at his armor, Cain suddenly was able to read its stats:

'Goblin Skin Chestpiece - Quality: C - Power: 15 - Durability: 100%'

What's more is that he unlocked the production skill tree. So far he only had goblin hide unlocked. It had leveled to three once he finished tanning the skin. Level three's effect was that the hides would tan 50% faster.

The armor did not take long to make, so he created a full set. There was a helmet, bicep guards, boots, and gauntlets. He made knee guards as well, but they didn't fit at all.

'Goblin Skin Helmet - Quality: D - Power: 9 - Durability: 100%'

'Goblin Skin Gauntlets - Quality: C - Power: 9 - Durability: 100%'

'Goblin Skin Boots - Quality: D - Power: 7 - Durability: 100%'

He also left behind his boots, as they didn't move as well as his shoes did. Heading back through the dungeon, he made it to the boss room. He put his hand on the door. It opened on its own.

Inside was a massive goblin, the size of a grown man. Being a sophomore, Cain felt quite small. The goblin raised itself from a broken seat and grabbed a club. Charging Cain, the goblin slammed the club straight into his side. He was flung ten feet off into the wall behind him.

During the slash, Cain could see a purple haze appear around him. Getting up, he was unharmed. It was probably the armor. Cain quickly gave a whack of his own. Barely dodging the boss' attacks, Cain was able to defeat it. If only he hadn't underestimated it, he might not have been hit.

Cain returned home with a useless item, a ring that increased agility by 1%. If he had not worn the armor, he might not have made it. Taking off the chest piece, it was done for and at 23% durability. He took that opportunity to test it.

Giving the armor a slight whack, it came up with a purple shield. Shortly after, it succumbed to the pressure and gave way. Armor hadn't seemed that useful before then. Now it protected a general area without weak-points. Making a new set, Cain went to sleep with no time left in the day.