First Clear

Alden hurriedly threw 5 potions' worth of ingredients into a giant orb of water.

"I can just make all 5 at the same time! Cauldron's size is only limited by my mana!" Alden exclaimed.

He never considered the possibility due to the fact that most alchemists use physical cauldrons. But, since the cauldron skill only took a small portion of his mana, enough to maintain it for hours, why not use more?

The free range of control over one's mana was one of the largest selling points in Realms, so Alden figured out how to make the cauldron larger in no time at all.

"We can't go any longer, Faceless!" TrulyDo shouted.

Alden ignored the MT and continued concocting. Soon, the potion began to form.

Then, the lighting in the chamber undertook a transformation. From orange, it suddenly turned red!

"Enough sssquirming around, puny humansss!" Exsslor screamed as every flame in the boss room suddenly became more intense, taking on a blood-red color.

The flames began to spread at a more rapid rate, inching toward the 5 player team quickly.

'Almost... yes!' Alden completed the fire resistance potions and received a notification.

System: "Due to your low rank as an alchemist, mass-concoction has failed. 1 set of ingredients has been wasted."

System: "You've crafted 4 basic heat-resistance potions! Alchemy Proficiency +8!"

Alden immediately put the potion in the four water buckets he had on hand, 'Whatever, four will do!'

Normally, he'd put them in bottles, but he ran out. The ones he had for the previous potions came from his inn's water supply.

Then, he called out to his party members. "Everyone come get your potions, I'll stall the boss!"

Upon hearing that command, the other 4 immediately rushed toward the buckets, but Exsslor was quick to chase them.

"Die!" the naga boss shouted, baring its fangs at the party's tank, TrulyDo.

Alden pressed his two feet into the ground, leaned over, and made a dash toward the boss! In a single, large leap, he arrived in front of it.

This was known as the full-throttle technique, a way for warriors to exert their force in order to produce more speed. 'Sadly, my strength is limited... I'm barely faster than the naga.'

Instantly, Alden was in front of the boss. With 14 strength and the proper technique, he was able to get in between it and TrulyDo with ease.

"Parry!" Alden said as he swung the side of his axe at the boss.

Exsslor was stunned, and its advance could no longer be stopped! The naga's face slid on the side of the axe's blade, and he was directed toward the ground!

In Alden's past life, only Paragon-level experts could possibly pull off this technique of using Parry to redirect enemies. Thankfully, Alden happened to be a Paragon-level warrior before!

As soon as the naga's face crashed into the ground, a small damage number appeared above its head.

-1.

Before Exsslor could react, Alden resolutely slammed his war axe into the boss's neck!

-70!!!

OurLordOlympus was speechless. While he healed the team, their leader was soloing the boss they could barely handle for 15 seconds!

Noticing the lack of support, Alden commanded the party, "Stop gawking and come on! TrulyDo get back to tanking! You know your roles!"

Baron was the first to get there, using stealth for a speed boost. The boss shakily got up, with its hp recovering from 48% to 49%, and just as it did, Baron appeared.

"When you're so close to the ground, you're just asking to be crit!" Baron exclaimed.

He jumped on top of the naga's shoulders, and jabbed his knife into its forehead!

-100!!!

Then, Baron pulled the knife out, and jumped behind the boss, stabbing it once more!

-10!

Just as the aggro was pulled to Baron, TrulyDo ran up to the boss, and cast taunt. After a powerful roar, Exsslor felt no choice but to attack the tank!

Soon, Baron appeared beside Alden, "Faceless, unless I attack the vitals, I'm useless. Can you get an opportunity for me?"

Alden nodded. Humanoid bosses were a bit easier to defeat since their vitals were obvious. Even he took advantage of the boss's open neck just earlier.

Like that, Alden created openings for Baron to take advantage of, TrulyDo pulled aggro with OurLordOlympus's help, and MouseAndCheese provided plenty of support!

Soon, the boss only had 1% of his health left.

Exsslor promptly retreated from the party, and began charging a breath attack! Alden's four companions chuckled, fire simply didn't affect them.

However, Alden panicked. The final attack from Exsslor was extremely powerful. He who didn't have heat resistance would die!

'No, although the death penalty in a dungeon is lower, 20% of my experience is simply too much.'

Alden rushed toward the boss's ever-growing sphere of flame, sweat dripping down his face as he did. As he got closer, damage numbers began to rapidly appear above his head.

-1.

-1.

-1.

-1.

-1.

"Hey... isn't the leader... taking heat damage?" OurLordOlympus asked.

TrulyDo quickly replied, "Faceless doesn't have heat resistance, heal him!"

Olympus jumped in shock, and quickly cast Restore on Alden.

+25.

'Whew, they saved me this time,' Alden acknowledged.

Alden arrived in front of the towering orb of flames, and used the full-throttle technique to jump up to the 20-meter-high naga's neck!

With a spin to his torso, Alden's axe rushed toward the snake's neck!

Simultaneously, Alden and Exsslor shouted, "Die!"

The snake's flame breath took on one final shine.

But, before it could launch, Alden directed his axe into the naga's neck!

This time, the slash cut through its neck cleanly!

Exsslor's head flew into the air as it transformed into particles of light, leaving only a handful of items.

As Alden fell to the ground, he looked at his HP bar, '2% left... I hope the fall damage doesn't kill me.'

["Exsslor" defeated! Level difference of 1 detected, experience multiplied by 1.5! You received 1000 experience!]

System: "Cedar Town Regional Announcement: Party Expert Bus earned the Team Dungeon Serpent Nest's Hard mode first clear! Rewarding 10 silver..."

System: "Sorus Empire Announcement: Party Expert Bus earned the Team Dungeon Serpent Nest's Hard mode first clear! Rewarding 30 silver..."

-

As the system notifications echoed throughout Sorus Empire, many players went speechless.

Powerful guilds and reputable expert players tried their hardest to complete the level 5 team dungeons.

One woman with long, black hair looked at the notification in shock, "Expert bus? Immediately find out their identities!"

Another person, this time a large, rather fat man spat, "Why isn't it us?!"

Players all over were frantically trying to find out who cleared Serpent Nest, some guilds even began to post on the forums!

"Paying 10,000 bytes for information on the first clear party!"

"Foolishly Buried is willing to recruit this band of experts!"

"Serpent Nest's first clear party should come and join Dark Reign!"

-

As the players scurried for information, the party they sought to learn about was celebrating the first clear.

The leader of that party, Alden, did not die from fall damage. In fact, killing the boss made him level 5, and brought him back to full health.

After getting up and dusting himself off, Alden walked up to the items.

"Leader! What'd we get? Any mage books?" MouseAndCheese questioned.

"I'm already fine with the 8 silver... we're definitely the richest players in the empire now," TrulyDo said.

The others watched Alden gather the loot in anticipation.

Alden then explained, "It's all materials, and one rogue skill book."

Everyone sighed, but Baron looked at the skill book excitedly.

"Then, is the skill book mine? And since you're a creator... the materials are yours?"

Alden nodded, "I contributed the most, so I'll definitely be taking these items."

The entire team agreed that this was best, and began to exit the hall. Alden could only sigh in relief, 'They could still sell these materials for quite a bit.'

After all, in his inventory was the snake's oil sac, the snake's poison sac, and 15 naga scales. With the oil sac, he could create a powerful explosive, and the poison sac along with the death root, could create an even more powerful poison.

'The scales are rare... so I can definitely use them to craft a rare, heat-resistant armor,' Alden gleefully thought.

But that wasn't the end of it. Alden hid the last drop from all of them intentionally. 'If I didn't they'd definitely fight over it.'

-[Oil Drenched Robe]-

Rarity: (Uncommon)

Description: An adventurer fought a mighty naga, and this robe is all that's left. After being lodged in the naga's oil sac, it has developed multiple strange properties.

Usage: +2 Vitality, +2 Agility, +1 Dexterity

Additional Skill: "Lower Stealth"

Skill Description:

Increases the wearer's agility by 30% and hides their presence for 3 seconds.

-[Close]-

He lied, but this item was too important not to. Quickly, Alden caught up with the rest of the party.

'I guess I better recruit them before the line of guilds out there does...'

And before the team could exit the dungeon, Alden stopped them.

"Wait!"