Entering Alone

Adam told Salma and Layla about his new Skill "Mana Armor" and how he developed it.

"So you can develop Skills, huh?" Layla wondered.

After hearing about it, Salma and Layla focused on trying to acquire it.

It took Salma about 15 minutes. It wasn't surprising as she was a "Talented Fire Mage" after all.

She developed the Skill "Burning Armor".

Layla found it a lot harder, although concentrating on her Mana and picturing it wasn't that hard for her. She still needed to do it for a little over an hour.

Layla developed the Skill "Ice Armor".

They were the same as Adam's "Mana Armor", except that Salma's Skill dealt Burning Damage Points while protecting the user. Her "Burning Armor" also used up less Mana Points than the two others.

Meanwhile, Adam spent his time learning more about his Skills.

He took four identical-looking branches from a tree. Their sizes were about equal.

The first thing he tried was turning two branches of the same size from the same tree into dust.

His Skill used up the same amount of Mana Points for the two branches.

Then, he took a third branch that was similar in size and tried to turn everything into dust except the leaves.

He couldn't perfectly control the Skill, therefore, only two or three leaves out of the 6 on the branch remained.

His Skill also consumed twice as many Mana Points as before.

Adam also tried to only turn half a branch into dust.

Once again, his control wasn't perfect and two-thirds of the branch were transformed into dust. It consumed one and a half times the original Mana amount used up.

Adam kept experimenting this way for about 20 minutes.

The next thing he wanted to learn more about was the "Reassemble" part of his Skill.

Since he couldn't Reassemble objects that weren't Artefacts or Items, he decided to take out every Item he had in his Inventory.

He was wearing a white tank top and military pants. Both were provided by the army before he entered the Dungeon.

In front of him were lying:

The Goblin Chief's Greatsword.

The Old Assassin's Dagger.

The Black Widow's Sword.

The Great Snake's Shield.

The Great Snake's Leather.

The Dark Cloak.

The Old Assassin's Boots.

The Goblin Chief's Bracelet.

8 MediumHealing Potions.

4 Light Mana Potions.

3 Light Healing Potions.

One Wooden Bow.

Those were all the Artefacts and Items Adam had, since he had given Salma the Goblin Chief's Necklace previously.

'She still has it... I should probably take it back before entering a Dungeon alone...' He thought.

"Alright. Let's try this."

The first thing he tried to was Disassemble and Reassemble two Light Healing Potions.

"Maybe it'll make a Medium Healing one."

'Disassemble' He thought.

But, only the glass that contained the potion was turned to ashes. The actual green potion fell to the ground.

[A Certain Evil mocks your actions.]

[The Laziest of God's Archangels says that buying potions is easier than making them.]

[The Oldest Alchemist wants to see that Skill being used a lot more.]

[The Guardian Goddess of All Huntsmen and Workers Of The Land appreciates hard work.]

'The Guardian Goddess... thank god she's here. The only decent one... Anyways. Can't Disassemble nor Reassemble liquids then.'

The next thing Adam did was open the Store.

"Weapons and Armor." He said.

[ Iron Dagger [F] 100 Gold Coins

Iron Sword [F] 400 Gold Coins

Iron Shield [F] 200 Gold Coins

Iron Mace [F] 500 Gold Coins

Wooden Bow [F] 100 Gold Coins

Wooden Arrow [F] 5 Gold Coins

Iron Helmet[F+] 400 Gold Coins

Iron Vest[F+] 600 Gold Coins

Iron Gauntlets[F+] 300 Gold Coins

Iron Chausses[F+] 400 Gold Coins

]

"There's a lot more stuff... A full armor set would cost...1700 Gold coins..." He muttered.

Seeing that he currently possessed 9500 Gold Coins, he immediately bought it.

Once he equipped it, it felt a bit heavy. He could still move around and sprint, but he was nowhere his usual top speed.

'I must look ridiculous, I'm sure. But safety comes first. This will be useful against monsters faster than me... Although being faster might be more important than tanky...'

He unequipped the Iron Vest. It was as heavy as the rest of the Armor Set. He could move a lot faster.

After that, he reequipped the Vest and unequipped everything else.

He judged that the vest was much more important, as it protected his weakest points, his heart and his stomach.

His gaze fell on the Great Snake's Leather.

"I guess I can fuse it with a piece of Armor, or maybe I can fuse it with a weapon..."

He decided to go with the Iron Vest.

Adam put his left hand on the Great Snake's Leather and his right hand on the Iron Vest.

'Alright. Disassemble, Reassemble.'

The two Artefacts turned into dust at once, and in their place stood a new piece of armor.

[ Artefact: Great Snake's Vest [E]

A Vest made by using the leather and the scales of The Great Snake. As the exterior of the Vest is made with The Great Snake's scales, its Defense Properties are high. The rest of the Gauntlets is made with its leather, which is why they are still very light. Defense Points: 50.]

"That's the Artefact we found in the Wooden Chest. Alright, pretty cool. It took the Vest aspect of the Iron Vest and the Great Snake aspect of the Leather, and fused them into the Great Snake's Vest. Is that how that works?" Adam said with his hand on his chin.

The System did not answer.

His gaze fell on the Black Widow's Sword

'I wonder what fusing the Black Widow's Sword and the Goblin Chief's Sword together would result in. The Black Widow's Greatsword? The Goblin Chief's Sword? Something different altogether? This Skill is too risky to use on valuable Artefacts since the System isn't giving extra info on it.'

And put each one of his Artefacts And Items back in his Storage.

"What Skills do I have again?" He said out loud.

[ The Skills you have acquired until now are:

Passive Skill: Sleeping Beauty.

Passive Skill: Mana Armor.

Passive Skill: Extended Earshot.

Passive Skill: Night Vision

Active Skill: Temporary Concealment.

Active Skill: Weapon Switch

Magic Skill: Conjuration.

Magic Skill: Taming Mark.

Magic Skill: Disassemble-Reassemble.

]

'Half of them are Passive Skills... Would be cool to have an Active Skill like Layla's Acceleration..'

"Conjuration, huh?"

Adam raised his arm and focused his Mana on his hand.

The purple Mana slowly took form.

A purple Dagger appeared in his hand.

[ Congratulations! You have developed a Skill!]

[ You have developed the Skill "Weapon Conjuration".]

"Oh. I guess since I've already conjured weapons, it was easy to do even without the Skill. Still, this will be useful."

The only problem Adam had with the conjured weapons, was that those weapons were weightless.

Usually, when using a heavy weapon, its weight is both an advantage and a disadvantage.

Heavy weapons are hard to control and wield. But their weight makes the hits delivered stronger.

This is especially true when giving vertical downward attacks, since gravity is working with you.

Conjured weapons didn't have this advantage.

On the other hand, they could be used by anyone, as Strength and Agility were not an issue.

'Does this Magic Type really suit me? Isn't it more suitable for someone like Salma, who has high Mana and Magic Affinity, but low Strength and Agility?'

Python was slowly getting closer to Adam.

The Fire Salamander was about 10 meters away.

Of course, Adam could easily feel its presence.

He kneeled down and Python climbed his body up to his shoulders.

"So you found a blue gate?" Adam whispered. He wasn't sure how close or far Salma was.

Python nodded.

"That way? Right?" Adam asked while pointing towards the direction Python had come from.

The Fire Salamander nodded once more.

'Alright. [F] rank Dungeon shouldn't be too hard at my level. Should I just go there now? Why not, huh?' Adam thought.

He started walking towards the first Dungeon he was about to enter alone.

Adam couldn't help but look at the bright sky as he walked in the direction of the gate.

'What would they think? They all died inside a Dungeon. And here I am going into one alone, for no real reason... It's ironic really.' He thought.

It had only been about 12 or 13 days since Dungeons first appeared. It had only been about 10 to 11days since Adam had lost his family. Somehow, he didn't feel as much guilt over it as before. Maybe it was thanks to the people he lived with for now.

Still, for some reason, he felt like there was something to do. He felt like he had to leave Layla, Salma, Calvin and Elizabeth to do something. It was clear there was something, but he had no idea what it was.

Adam was not leaving them any time soon, but he knew that he would one day.

He started jogging.

After jogging for about 20 minutes, he arrived in front of a blue gate.

It was the same color as the one he had gone in first, with his family.

He looked at it for a bit, before stepping in.

"Let's hope this one doesn't take too long." Adam whispered.

He was the one that told Salma and Layla not to keep it a secret that they plan on entering Dungeons in the future, and there he was, entering one without anyone knowing.

The next instant, Adam found himself in the middle of a spacious enclosed room.

It was a big cube. The dimension must have been about 50*50*50meters.

The room was full of light, even though, he couldn't tell where the light was coming from.

The walls, ceiling and floor were completely white.

He looked at the screen in front of him.

[ Welcome to "The Testing Room" [F]

The Testing Room is an [F] rank Dungeon that can be found by passing through different Gates. It is different from other Dungeons as the Gate will always lead to the same Dungeon. Its rank will not go up. Inside The Testing Room, you will have to fight different monsters 1-on-1. Once one monster is defeated, a stronger one will appear 1 minute later. The Testing Room can be exited at any point. The Dungeon's rank is [F], but do not let that misguide you.

Participants: 1 Human.

Clear Requirement: (None)

Minimal individual reward: (None)

]

[An overwhelming amount of Gods, Deities, Angels and Demons are watching you take on The Testing Room.]

[The Old Wolf wants to see blood.]

[The One Who Sits on The Golden Throne wants to see if you are worthy of having a throne.]

[A Certain Evil chuckles.]

[A Weak Demon is looking at you with excitement.]

"What the hell? There are even Dungeons like this?" Adam said out loud.

'Good thing I can exit anytime I feel like it. But let's move to a corner first. A monster appearing from behind would be extremely annoying.'

He gave his back to the closest corner.

'There's too much light here. OH SHIT!'

He forgot that he had unequipped all his Artefacts before.

Adam equipped his Goblin Chief's Bracelet that added 5 points to his Vigor & Endurance stat, his Great Snake's Vest that protected his weak points, his Old Assassin's Boots that minimized the sound his steps made, his Black Widow's Sword in his right hand and finally, his Old Assassin's Dagger in his left hand.

He didn't bother equipping his Dark Cloak, since there was way too much light for it to be useful.

'Let's first see the monster that will appear before deciding if I should put on a complete armor set or not.'

[ 10 Seconds left.]

"What? That's the message? At least tell me the monster that will appear or where it will appear!" Adam said as he took a fighting stance.

It was the first time he used two weapons at once, but it felt comfortable. Maybe because of his newly acquired Dexterity Stat.

[ 5 Seconds left.]

Adam felt goosebumps. He thought it was very weird that he was more excited than scared.

[One second left.]

A white light appeared in the middle of the room.

'Is that where...'

His thought was interrupted as a monster appeared.

Adam looked at it for a bit. He didn't move.

The monster was a Skeleton.

It looked like the bones of a dead adult male stood.

There was no muscle or blood.

Only cold white bones.

The monster sent shivers to Adam's body.

It just stood in the middle of the room.

'Its Sense Stat is too low I guess. Or my Stealth Stat is too high. Anyway, this is disgusting and creepy. Let's finish it quickly.'

Adam ran towards the Skeleton.

It was unarmed, but once it noticed Adam and looked at him, Adam's body froze.

'Its gaze...its so cold...'

Through the holes on its skull, where eyes are supposed to be, only darkness could be seen.

It started running towards Adam with clenched fists.

He realized that he was all alone.

Adam felt like he did the first time he face a Goblin, in front of the cave that led to The Goblin Chief's Domain.

His legs refused to move.

The Skeleton approached Adam as fast as it could, which meant it was very slow compared to Adam's usual speed.

Once it arrived in front of Adam, it swung its right fist towards Adam's stomach.

The former, still unable to move, closed his eyes when he saw the incoming attack.

The fist made of bones hit the Vest that protected Adam's body and was shattered in pieces.

Adam openned his eyes, suprised, before showing a smirk.

[A Certain Evil chuckles at your cowardice.]

[Many Heroes disapprove of your actions.]

'I'm not the same person I used to be.' Adam thought as he raised his Sword and slammed it on the Skeleton's right shoulder.

The Black Widow's Sword easily broke the Skeleton bones and cut the monster in two.

It fell to the ground.

A moment later, its body disappeared with the wind.

Adam shook his head.

'What the hell was that? Why did I get scared all of a sudden?'

[Congratulations! You have passed Test Number 1.]

"No Experience Points or Gold, huh? So you're not supposed to get stronger during the test?"

[Correct.]

"Alright. Bring it on."