Chapter 74: Training In The Darkness Dungeon

POV Cornelius

We first trained for a few days in the capital to learn all the skills we were still missing. These were disarm traps and pick locks for Ansgar and for all of us the sense skills that were still missing. After that, all four of us had sense presence, sense danger and sense mana. We spent the next few days practicing them. Javier and Eleonore were also forced to train their defensive skills so that they could defend themselves without magic. They both complained more often but this time I stood firm. Without other group members, we all had to be able to take care of ourselves at all times. After that we planned our next dungeon expedition.

“Which dungeon do we want to explore next? Darkness or nature?” <Conelius>

“Hmm, nature was easier and has the advantage of being lit.” <Javier>

“I also liked the enemies in the natural dungeon better. They drop like flies.” <Ansgar>

“I have refined my light magic. This way I can light the way better.” <Eleonore>

“Hmm, we definitely have to go back to the darkness dungeon. Only there can we get Dark Resistance. And we know that we will encounter dark wizards at some point." <Javier>

“We have only defeated the first two bosses of both dungeons. In order to achieve our goal we have to completely defeat all dungeons. It doesn’t matter who we start with.” <Cornelius>

“Hmm, you’re right. But it will take time. Above all, we need more EXP and that means grinding.” <Javier>

“No matter where, let’s finally get started. My ax is lonely.” <Ansgar>

“Ahem, can we start with the darkness? It's probably going to be winter soon and as much as I hate to admit it, I don't like the prospect of camping in front of the dungeon in the wet spring. Then better now and next year to Tyros.” <Eleonore>

“A good argument, it’s already the end of summer. As first the darkness dungeon while the weather permits and then nature next year. Objections? Nobody? Then we will prepare for departure.” <Cornelius>

We planned a longer stay in the darkness dungeon. Two days later we set off and reached the camp after another three days. To start again in floor 1, we added four soldiers of the camp to our part. Otherwise we would start directly in floor 11. 

We used the first few week primarily to work on our coordination and develop a new routine. With every battle we won, it became easier for us to progress. Eli's buffs had become even more effective than before and the newly gained combat experience also helped us. We used the incoming EXP primarily to increase the skills that we had previously neglected. Our main skills were advanced and could not be improved any further. We had to ask later why this was so.

Nevertheless, we slowly but steadily progressed further into the dungeon. The first boss fight presented no problems at all. From this we drew additional motivation for our further progress. The first hurdle was the ghosts, but this time we were better prepared. On the one hand, we all now had a bit of mind resistance. Unfortunately, we didn't know any spells to increase our resistance, but Eli was able to heal us from the status effect. We were also able to take two rings from the palace treasury that increase mind resistance. Eli got the stronger one and Javier the weaker one. As a result, both were significantly better protected, and Eli in particular was no longer affected. The ghosts were correspondingly simple.

The wights weren't real enemies, but the lichs were just as annoying as before. We were able to defeat them, but not without taking some damage. That's why we decided to completely empty the floors with the wights and only spend the minimum time with the lichs. Afterwards we defeated all the mummies on the following floor. Floor 10 delayed our progress a little, but we didn't let that discourage us.

We are now all level 29. With that we started the second boss fight. This time we had significantly less trouble defeating the monsters. This win felt really good. It showed that our training and planning had paid off. Then we went to floor 11. As far as we know, stronger skeletons came now. In this case, that meant the skeletons had better weapons and armor. On floor 12, skeletal animals such as dogs were added. But nothing that worried us, even if they were significantly faster. Pure close-quarters fighters were opponents against whom we were well positioned.

We then had to stop training for two days. An autumn storm had rolled in, preventing us from entering the dungeon and keeping us stuck in camp. We noticed a side effect of our reincarnation that I hadn't noticed before. Our bodies had become more resilient to illness, so all four of us had never had a cold or anything like that. Still, we didn't feel like getting soaked to the bone, so we took advantage of the time to rest. Ansgar did dry runs while Javier read a book. Eli and I retreated into intimate togetherness because she vehemently insisted on it.

When the storm passed, we went into the dungeon with new motivation. With every floor we went deeper, the EXP we got increased noticeably. The zombies on floors 13 and 14 were easy prey for us. The zombies now also had weapons and many of them also had pieces of armor on. These gave significantly more EXP than the skeletons, but also had significantly more HP. So we killed all the skeletons first before going to the zombies. Then our visit came to an end because we didn't want to go to the stronger ghosts anymore.

It was early October and we had spent almost three weeks in the dungeon when we made our way back to Lightburgh. The academy was waiting for us among other events. Our level had reached 30. In hindsight we could have gone further, but we were too cautious. We should consider moving more quickly for the nature dungeon. As a result, we would suffered more damage and therefore more pain, but on the other hand we had time and no one rushed us.

Winter in Lightburgh was the time of balls where the nobles held all sorts of celebrations. At 12, all noble children had to take part in these festivities and at 16, noble children were usually betrothed. Many of these balls were held because of these engagements and were used to socialize. These balls were also used to introduce the younger children into society while the parents made arrangements. Love marriages were generally not the norm. As heroes, we were of course invited to the most important ones. We were now 16 years old ourselves and were all highly sought after as potential fiancés, especially me. Of course, Eli didn't find this amusing. But plans were already being made to get me engaged to the youngest Princess Alina.