ShanDeRad
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Book 2: Chapter 47
🕑 Added 2024-06-18 10:47:55 +0000 UTCIt took three full days before he saw the mountain range in his sight, if barely. After the first day he ended up needing to travel at a slightly slower speed, feeling the continues push of his affinity and skills start to strain his body. By the end of the second day he had ended up needing to take for frequent breaks where he would walk instead of pushing himself through the air. It was a much slower pace of travel but thankfully he had gotten to a point where he was so far away from any known cities or towns that he didn’t need to worry about encountering any people. The third day he could do nothing but concentrate on moving. He knew he was pushing himself to far, he hadn’t really slept and if not for his stats he would have collapsed long ago. The only up side was that he had made it and he had a good feeling about his choice to come here. The distance he had travelled was definitely much further than what it had been originally but that was only a boon to him. What truly gave him hope was that the mountain range had completely changed in a way that he could practically feel the dungeons waiting for him. Before there was one taller peak that would slope down and have a few smaller peaks around it surrounded by a forest, rivers and wildlife. Now though he could clearly see one very large mountain, one that was easily twice as high as what it had been previously. Around it were five smaller peaks, more spread out form the main one with a few kilometres between them. There seemed to be some flat areas between these mountains, some with trees and others bare if what he could make out was accurate from this distance. If he was right, the largest mountain would be the D grade dungeon, the five smaller mountains the E grade, which just left him with figuring out what the F grade dungeons were.
Outside of the mountains the forest tapered off, but until he got closer he couldn’t see any indication of the smaller dungeons. Although he was ready for a sustained break, one that he knew he would need to take before claiming any dungeons, he pushed himself the last few hours of travel until he made it to the outer edge of the forest surrounding all of the mountains. As he got closer he truly took in the height of these massive mountains before him. Even for him it would take hours, if not days to full search the smaller peaks, the largest one though would take much longer. He was thankful that if he did manage to find dungeons here than he would only need to rush the F grades, forming up physical barriers connecting each of them up to secure the full area. He couldn’t see to the other side of the forest, but his guess was that the entire area encompassed an area larger than the size of a major city. It would take a day to go from one side to the other, and that was if he was traveling in a straight line through the middle. What he would need to do was travel the entire circumference, finding the weakest dungeons. His first step though was hoping to find one in the first place to start off the process which given the area to cover was a daunting task given the shape he was in.
Once he entered the forest he found a spot that was far enough in where he would be decently safe. He needed the rest and recovery time before starting his next task and the sun was starting to set now anyway, exploring in the dead of night didn’t bother him but he would rather have a good line of sight when he started to fully cover the outer forest. After taking café of all his needs he rested against a tree and it didn’t take much for his body to give into its desire to fall asleep.
When he woke he couldn’t remember dreaming but he felt more refreshed than he had in days. The moon still hung in the sky although it seemed to be early hours of the morning meaning he had gotten more sleep than he usually would, courtesy of pushing his body so hard. He had high hopes for the coming day, but he needed to do one thing before he got started. Shaun pulled out the stone from his inventory, the one that was paired to Eric, and blooded it. He hadn’t done this before hand as he wanted to give both himself and them time to focus on the first few days back on Earth, they all had plans they needed to start on and neither of them needed the distraction until they were well on their way.
The moment the stone took in his blood he felt the direction of its pair, it was in the general direction that he had come from but also off to the left more, giving him a good indication that they were not moving in the same direction. He hadn’t been sure how the stone would work but this part was at least simple to use, communicating through it though, that he was unsure of. The description of the stone didn’t offer him any insight, but it was an epic grade item, which he had expected but was still good to confirm. He closed his eyes and focused on the stone, trying to connect to its pair and in his mind spoke like he would if he was standing right in front of Eric. ‘Hey Eric, you there? Its Shaun.’
He felt the message go through the stone which was a relief and all he had to do now was wait and see if he got a reply. After the first few minutes he was ready to give up and try again later, just before he did though he felt the stone activate and could hear Eric. ‘I nearly gave up on this thing, I have been trying to use it for two days but it wouldn’t work. We really do need to talk.’
‘I know, I only just bonded the stone. They are secure so we can speak freely, tell me what the hell happened to make Viv join The Empire.’ Shaun had wanted to hear this story since he found out about Viv, but it hadn’t been the right time until now. He had made a promise to do everything he could to secure a cluster of dungeons and it had to be the highest thing on his to do list.
Eric proceeded to tell him about Xavier approaching her, the deal they had offered her around claiming the planet and forming a clan. He was even informed that The Empire’s hunt for him had been put on hold until after the year was up, and even then, unless he did something truly outrageous to go against them, it would no be brought up again. Shaun had to admit that it was a good deal and it didn’t really impact him in a negative way. He held no love or trust for the major powers, outside of The Alliance of course, but really it was The Pantheon that he really had to watch out for.
‘Where did you go? After you touched the orb you just disappeared, it was crazy!’ from the emption in Eric’s voice Shaun could feel that he had been worried about him.
‘I can’t say specifically where I was, but I went to meet up with some allies of mine. They helped me form a plan for when I got back on Earth, gave me a few things that, if I succeed, will help me secure my own secure place here, one that no one will be able to breach without me giving permission. A place where I can grow much stronger.’
‘You have allies? On a different planet? How? Will they help here with the war? What the plan anyway? Can we help?’ Eric fired off question after question. All of them very valid.
‘Yeah I have allies on another planet. Can’t really say any more than that though. They can’t get involved in the war, just like no outside parties can really. It has to be sorted by the citizens of Earth. The plan though, it’s a good one if I succeed. If I do I will loop you in because if I don’t there is no point getting anyone’s hope up. You can’t help at the moment either. But maybe, in a few months, I will be able to help you.’ He had already decided that if he did manage to do what he had planned that Eric or Viv or Gabe would be the one to inherit his dungeons. But that would be after the event.
‘Okay, I will drop it for now. I do appreciate that you are telling me all of this. We have missed you. A lot. Gabe and I are on our way to meet with Viv. We got delayed in the city for a bit, trying to spread the word of the war didn’t go down well with a lot of people. It seems like the tutorials weren’t all like ours, in fact, some of them were so much easier that it was ridiculous! Most people just coasted through, not really pushing themselves, scared to die if they made a mistake. That why most people are so low levelled. They had a choice. We were put into a harder tutorial where the choice was taken from us for the most part. That’s why those of us that really pushed ourselves to get to the 3rd stage are so much stronger than everyone else.’
Shaun spent a moment processing the info dump he just got around the tutorials, he had assumed that something like this happened, but to actually hear it confirmed was a whole other thing. ‘Let me know once you find Viv, tell her I’m not upset about joining The Empire, it was a smart move. Just, be safe, okay? If you find The Pantheon forces be careful, there is more to the claiming of this planet than we know about. They will kill anyone who gets in their way.’
‘I will be safe, you look after yourself too. I know whatever you have planned is risky, it always is. Bye Shaun. Its nice to have my friend back.’
After speaking with Eric Shaun felt a weight lifted from his chest. Distance was still needed between them, most of the factions were still out to kill him, but being able to communicate in this way was more than he had hoped for. Now that he felt rested and there was nothing else to do but explore he set out into the forest. He was thankful for his echo skill as without it he wouldn’t be able to cover anywhere close to the distance he was able to. It took a number of hours moving through the trees at a quick pace before he started to feel a change in the distance, a more condensed area of mana that seemed to be emanating from a position not far outside of his skill range. The moment he felt it he made the move towards it, eventually feeling that familiar sensation when a dungeon appeared within his echo skill.
He couldn’t believe that he had actually done it, coming here had been a risk, it could have all been for nothing and a waste of time but for some reason, whether it be fate or destiny or something else entirely, he had found what had to be an F grade dungeon, which confirmed for him, that he had truly found a cluster.
The closer he got to the dungeon the more things changed, the trees started to clear and when he finally entered the area of the dungeon he found a ripple in the centre of the clearing. It glowed green and the moment he got close enough he couldn’t hold back the cheer at the message he found.
*Welcome to The Burrow (F grade) Dungeon*
This dungeon forms part of an unclaimed cluster. Current dungeons claimed in this cluster: F grade 0/15, E grade 0/5, D grade 0/1.
Note: to claim this dungeon you need a minimum of 100,000 TE. No rewards will be provided if dungeon claimed.
One participant located, do you wish to enter?
The message detailed more than he expected, not about the dungeon itself but about how many dungeons in this cluster had been claimed, something that would help him as he travelled around and also provided confirmation that he was the first one here.
Shaun immediately consented to enter, not fearing anything that may be in the dungeon. As an F grade everything would be under level 25 which made the dungeon a joke in terms of fighting but a necessity to complete his plan.
When he appeared in the dungeon he found himself underground, similar to a cave but instead of rock walled it looked more like packed dirt. Blasting his echo he found a number of monsters in his vicinity, some alone, then groups of 3, then 5 and the back to 1. The process repeated 3 times with the dungeon being set out in a straight line with little rooms where the monsters were. It was straight forward at least and it wouldn’t take long to finish.
When he came up to his first monster he immediately saw it was a giant rat, not a mole rat like he had fought previously, but just a normal rat that was much larger than it would normally be. It had those beady eyes and sharp teeth and claws though, not that it had any hope of actually harming him.
*Giant Rat – Level 12*
He didn’t really need to identify it, but seeing such a low level monster was somewhat nostalgic for him, he hadn’t dealt with such fodder in what felt like years, even though it had only been a few months. Shaun cut the rat through before it even realised he was there, he was to quick for it just didn’t have the levels to really fight back. He got the notification for killing it and seeing that the TE portion of the notification was gone really hit him that the tutorial was truly over. He got the offer to loot the body but his inventory was already near full after accumulating so much stuff in the tutorial and being denied the ability to sell anything. Besides that he had no need for such low level loot. He raced through the next few rooms, quickly figuring out the pattern, the same giant rat appeared in a group of 3 then 5, which he dealt with in seconds. The next room held a soldier rat, one that had an armour which was interesting but not enough to stop him from powering through them all in less than a minute. He quickly realised that the point of the F grade dungeons weren’t for people like him, but to help those that were low level. If the planet was going to continue to allow people to grow in strength they needed to invest TE into keeping dungeons, without them there was no way for anyone to gain levels at each of the different grades. If no one decided to keep the F grade dungeons, this generation and all that came after would be crippled in their growth.
These thoughts filled his mind as he continued to slaughter rats, he had been in the dungeon for all of 5 minutes before he reached the end, finding a level 24 brood mother in a room with a dozen rat guards. He wasn’t paying too much attention to them though, they held no threat to him and finishing them off was easy enough by freezing the entire room with ice, finishing the fight before they had a chance to move. As soon as he had killed them he got a 1 minute timer before he was kicked out and when he appeared outside of the dungeon he got the message he wanted.
*The Burrow (F grade) Dungeon has been completed*
Would you like to claim this dungeon for 100,000 TE?
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