Chapter 96: Unhealty Reactions

POV Eliza

I sat with Lynn in the dining room at lunchtime the next day. Ken had stayed in bed and refused to get out of it. I could see from Lynn's mood how upset she was about the whole situation. But she had a strong sense of duty and couldn't go against her convictions. I hoped it didn't break her. We didn't talk much because neither of us knew what to say. Then suddenly Ronnen entered the guest room and looked around. When he saw us, you could see his relief that we were both safe and sound. He came closer and sat down. His face and posture clearly showed how exhausted he was. After that, he looked around. He was probably looking for Ken.

“Ken's upstairs in the room. He's not feeling too well. I'll leave you two alone. I'm sure you have things to talk about.” <Eliza>

I glanced at Lynn. She sighed and then nodded. I got up and left the inn. I didn't know what to do now, so I wandered around the town a bit and paid Lirella a visit. I hadn't been to see her for a while. I talked to her for about a hour until she told me that she was expecting a student. As I was planning to spend the winter in Tyros, we arranged to meet in advance. I planned to visit her more often and with a final greeting to Weyn, I left her again.

By now, about two hours had passed and I returned to the Red Deer. The dining room was empty. I assumed they were in Ken's room having a chat. I had no choice but to wait. I waited until the evening, when Lynn came down alone. She looked exhausted when she sat down at my table. I ordered her dinner and a drink. She nodded her thanks and searched for the right words.

“We'll be leaving tomorrow morning. There's no point in waiting any longer.” <Lynn>

Lynn's words faltered and she collected herself anew. I was saddened by her words, but didn't interrupt her. She drank half the jug before continuing.

“I guess that's it for the young wolves. If Ken is no longer with us, and it looks like he is, I don't know if I'll be allowed to leave our village again so soon. One of my parents' conditions was that all three of us should travel together. I'm so sorry, Eliza.” <Lynn>

Lynn was on the verge of tears and could only just pull herself together. I got up and sat next to her. When I took her in my arms, she cried on my shoulder. It took her a long time to get herself under control again. Then she moved away from me and looked me straight in the eye. I could tell how upset she was inside.

“I must seem like a big crybaby to you now. I would have preferred to show you my cool side, but it is what it is. Thank you for everything, Eliza. The time we went on adventures together was the best time of my life. I also owe you my freedom and my life when you saved me from the bandits. I probably won't be able to make up for that. I have one last request for you. Please don't come to our departure tomorrow. Otherwise I don't know if I'll be able to bring Ken home. Please forgive me and please, don't forget me.” <Lynn>

Lynn gave me a big hug, stood up and ran up the stairs. I could hear her start to cry again. I sat in the guest room stunned by her words, completely perplexed. I had expected a lot, but not this. I felt very helpless and useless at the moment. I looked at the food, which Lynn hadn't touched. What should I do now? I wanted to respect Lynn's last wish and not jeopardize her decision. The only thing I could think of was that I had to leave the city to avoid accidentally bumping into her. To do this, I needed a way to distract myself as quickly as possible. The first thing that came to mind was the dungeon. Without further ado, I packed my things, stocked up on as much food as I could carry and set off in the direction of the nature dungeon.

I was lucky and made it out of the city before the gates closed. It was mid-dawn, so I arrived at the dungeon in the dark, but I didn't let that stop me. My head was still full of thoughts as I made my way to the entrance.

I fought my way through the first few floor with the aim of getting to the next floor down as quickly as possible. I even tried to fight a slime at the beginning, I was so distracted. I also didn't realize that I started on floor 11 and not floor 1, but with my current level, they were just victims.

I made my first stop on floor 14 with the goblins. In addition to the familiar standard goblins, there were also improved versions that were faster, tougher and stronger. As I still hardly thought about my opponents, I only noticed the difference in height and the fact that there were ranged fighters. But they were still weak.

I crossed the vines without really remembering them. I also fought the boss battle in a kind of autopilot mode. I completely ignored the chest. I have no idea what skill I improved on the stele. I only found out later that I had selected regeneration.

That only changed with the caterpillars and butterflies. By then, my stamina was almost completely depleted and I had to catch my breath. I couldn't tell how much damage I had taken on the way here, but my regeneration had healed everything. Now, for the first time, I could think properly again. I planned to stay in the dungeon for as long as my supplies lasted, so I needed a place to sleep first. I was still totally pumped with adrenaline, but I didn't want to bump into other adventurers while I slept. So I needed a quiet corner.

The only monster that didn't do any more damage to me, even when I was asleep, were the butterflies. At the same time, I could perhaps train my mind resistance passively, although I suspected that my level was already too high due to the ghosts. So I set up camp next to a few butterflies. Maybe it was conspicuous, but I took the risk. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep straight away.

Unfortunately, the rest didn't last long, because in the morning the thoughts came back. My response was to fight, fight and fight some more. I had no idea what level I was at, let alone what my skills looked like. It simply didn't occur to me to check. Three of the butterflies from last night were still there, so I started with them. I didn't notice the fact that the butterflies were still doing damage to me, as they had a ranged attack as well as mental spells and I had only not died because of my regeneration.

Over the next few days, I fought my way through countless wolves, orcs and bears, all with just my two daggers. I hardly used magic, only to renew my buffs, as that was the least I had to think about. I let my instincts and reflexes guide me. It wasn't until much later that I was surprised at how well I managed. I couldn't remember meeting any other adventurers either. I must have unconsciously avoided them. At the end of each day, I would find a corner to clear of monsters and fall into a deep sleep, completely exhausted.

I avoided the trees, as I had little desire to damage my daggers on the hard tree trunks. I ignored the boss room and started again on floor 11. I followed my instincts when making the decision. By this time, I had more control over my decisions again. I took the opportunity to recap my last few days, which were a blur in my memory. I didn't know exactly how many days it had been.

I started by taking my time to look at my status. I couldn't believe my eyes at what I saw. My level was now 43 and I had over 50,000 free EXP. I already knew from Lirella that you need more and more EXP as you level up, but seeing and realizing it with my own eyes was still surprising. I had just under 70,000 EXP before Lynn was kidnapped. I also knew from Lirella that fighting humans gave no EXP. So I must have earned all of them afterwards. That only left the last few days here in the dungeon. Were there so many EXP or had I just been in the dungeon for much longer than I thought? I had to investigate this question.

I noticed another change with some skills. I had a few skills above the limit of 10,000 EXP invested. This meant that I had trained them enough so that they could be raised to the next rank. First and foremost, these were my main combat skills Daggers and Evade. Then there were my three sense skills: sense mana, sense danger and sense presence. There were also the three resistances pain, poison and mind. I wasn't surprised about the first two after days of just fighting. It was also only a matter of time for the three sense skills, as they were permanently active in the dungeon. I didn't want to think about the last three in detail, even though I was pleased that they had risen. How good that the memories of the events were blurred.

I had apparently defeated a lot of monsters, but when I searched through my equipment, I found no loot. That meant I had left behind all corpses. In addition to the usable parts of the bodies, there were also worthwhile magic stones from floor 11 onwards. Each monster in a dungeon had a magic stone, which was bigger the more powerful the monster was. In the first 10 floors, however, they were so small that it wasn't worth the effort. The magic stones of the slimes on floor 11 and the beetles on floor 12 were still small, but big enough for the first adventurers to make the effort to collect them. Unfortunately, the corpse had to be cut open to collect them, as they were usually either in the place of the heart or the brain. As I had already defeated floor 19 bears in the last few days, I had left a large amount of money lying around.

I still didn't have enough money to spend the winter in Tyros comfortably. So I needed money, and the easiest things to get were monster parts and magic stones. The only remaining question was which monsters to fight. As always, the slimes were unpleasant opponents, even more so now that they also dealt elemental magic damage. The beetles on the next floor were hotly contested. This floor was the most popular with the younger adventurers, so I didn't want to fight there too.

That left the spiders next. They were just as unpopular as those on floor 3. From floor 14 onwards, I had more competitors again. If I wanted to be left alone as much as possible, I should fight the spiders. Spiders. My love-hates.