Hot damn. As well as the loot, I also got a single small platinum coin, which should cost 10 times the large gold variety. The armor plating and the blade were massive and unfortunately wouldn’t fit inside of my monster pouch due to their size. I could carry them no problem, but due to how cumbersome they were I couldn’t do much else. If I needed to fight something, I would have to ditch them on the ground before engaging.

  The ring was my first boss drop, and according to its information, would double my health regeneration. Considering how slow most people’s health regeneration was, that was an amazing boon and would compound with some of my other skills. This would go a long way to increasing my survivability out in the wild. When I reported this dungeon to the guild, I would need to let them know about some of the drops I got from it. Enumerating the drops was probably a big part of how the guild would increase its clientele. If someone needed to get a mana regeneration item, we could point them towards a dungeon where they had a chance of dropping.

  The ring itself was made of gold and appeared like a spider with its limbs stretched out, holding it in place. In the center was a single large ruby that was cut and glinted pleasantly in the firelight. I slipped the ring onto the middle finger of my right hand, and I watched as it seemed to melt into the gauntlet, disappearing beneath. Magic sure was neat.

  According to my health, that last attack had almost killed me, dealing a staggering 300 damage. With the ring, I could now heal over 100 health per day, but still. Damn. Overcharging spells was dangerous beyond all belief. The moral of the story is if it hurts, don’t do it. I would have to be very careful in the future if I planned on trying to channel mana past my limits.

  With my loot collected and my mind clearing, I set out of the door, heading for the exit of the fourth level. Once I passed the threshold, I got another alert.

  Perhaps unsurprisingly, my physical skills went way up through that fight. I pressed my body to its limits, draining my stamina at an incredible pace. My resistances went up as well, both my storm resistance from my extreme self-inflicted wound, and my pain resistance because it hurt like a bitch. I had two skills that had derivations waiting for them, so I pulled up the next menu to check them out.

  Well, alright then. No single skill that I had available was bad. Each was strong, and that made sense considering that these were both third derivations of skills down the tree. If they weren’t powerful, there would be no point. I already knew that for the Acrobatics + Athletics skill I was going to take Tempered Body. The rapid increase in damage or speed would bring my lethality to a whole new level and would give me something to do with my deep stamina pool aside from using lightning step. The other two abilities were good, but I didn’t want to get too many regeneration buffs considering that I already had a stormborn regeneration, not to mention the ability granted from maxing the other skill, rapid regeneration.

  The derivations for rapid reaeration had changed from the last time I had checked them, meaning I had unlocked new derivations or improved the old ones. This time, there were three different abilities, and all of them seemed useful. Troll Flesh was like a health potion that you didn’t need to carry around and was a good safety in case anything went wrong. The other two were helpful as well, either increasing health or increasing health regeneration. Of the three, I wanted to pick one that would help me the most in a majority of situations. I still had my Survivor ability, and it didn’t seem like I was going to be running out of health potions any time soon, so I decided against Troll Flesh. As for the two remaining skills, I wanted to try and bolster my health regeneration. I was increasing my strength fairly quickly, but my health regeneration was still relatively low compared to the rest. With my new ring, if I increased my regeneration even further, I would become incredibly powerful. I made my choices.

  Huh. I guess I reached the end of the tree by gaining Giant’s Constitution. I wonder if the other abilities were at the ends of their respective trees. I suppose there was no sense in worrying about it though. I went ahead and pulled up my skill sheet to look at the changes.

  Skill Sheet:

  And my quest to condense my obnoxious skill sheet continues to bear fruit. It was nice that Athletics and Acrobatics combined into something. It was also interesting to note that Giant’s Constitution did not end up in my Enhancement Skills section, but instead was placed into my archetype skills. I wonder why? Was it the same reason that Fascinating Eyes wasn’t considered a general skill? There was too much that I didn’t know. Lucky for me, there was someone that DID know, and I was on my way to meet her for the second time.

  Behind the door was yet ANOTHER spiral staircase. This was my fourth one, and they were starting to get old. Was it too much to ask for a little bit of variety? I mean, maybe just a regular staircase or an old-fashioned ramp would be good sometimes. With a sigh, I continued on my way down, keeping one hand on the left wall to make sure I didn’t trip.

  Luckily, this one wasn’t too long, ending after only two rotations. It was short enough that I was even able to keep track of my direction, and currently, we were directly under the previous floor. Ahead of me was a paradise. Instead of a forest of deadly spiders, a cave of traps, or god forbid, even more boss fights, there was a secluded underground spa.

  This was not what I had in mind for the fifth floor. This was extremely luxurious. The whole floor was laid out in a large dome. In the center was a table laden with still steaming food, on the right was a series of workbenches where one could repair armor or weapons, and on the left was a hot spring, complete with dividers for male and female sections. Finally, something good about the dungeons aside from the sweet, sweet gains, or the epic loot. You get through four floors of terror and annoyance, and then every fifth floor was a relaxing spa. In the back, I also found a set of magic circles. I went ahead and identified them both.

  The fact that the first five floors were a tutorial felt a bit condescending. Just in case it was all a trap, I went ahead and inspected the food, spa, and workbenches. Sure enough, they were all legit. I couldn’t do much for repairing my gear without some instruction, but I could polish up my armor and my sword, making sure they were clean. There was also a grindstone, and I would be showing my dented and used sword some love before leaving. On the table of food there was a roast chicken, several types of sandwiches, pitchers of water and wine, and various fresh fruits and vegetables.

  By far though, the most interesting of the three things was the hot spring.

  I had no idea what red text meant, but I assumed it meant it was extremely high quality. I was alone, so I stripped all of my filthy clothes and armor, and jumped right into the water, naturally after grabbing a few chicken legs, slices of cheese, and a container of wine. I watched as my health bar slowly rose. With my Stormborn regeneration, Giant’s Constitution, new ring, and this hot spring water, all three of my bars were maxed out within 20 minutes. I decided to say in longer though, just enjoying the bath, so I closed my eyes and drifted off.

  I eventually awoke to the sound of an alert. I opened my eyes and brought it up. It was probably about time for Luna to show up.

  I yawned and stretched a bit by bringing my hands high above my head, before answering, “Honestly, the rest area is wonderful. It’s nice that even inside the dungeons there are places to relax. So just to clarify, those floors I went through were all just a tutorial?”

  Damn it, Luna! That was some extremely vital information I was deprived of, right there. That being said, she had a point. If I didn’t think I was going to die, I wouldn’t have fought all out and with such desperation at the end of the first floor, and I definitely wouldn’t have leveled up my skills as much as I did. I couldn’t fault her for her deception, but it was still annoying.

  Sighing, I said, “I don’t mind that you hid the information from me too much. I do still want to help you, though. Would it be okay if I took a quick trip back home to drop off some supplies, and talk to a blacksmith? I want to see if I can get some better gear made before tackling the rest of the dungeon.”

  “That would be super helpful, thanks. So, how does this thing work? You said you were going to ride shotgun in my brain, but what does that even mean?”

  “Yes?”

  I heard a sound like radio static inside of my brain, followed by a flash of light in my eyes. It wasn’t painful but was extremely unpleasant. After a while I thought I heard something. Different memories started flashing through my brain, randomly going in fast forward and slow motion.

  …..ello….

  Is this what going insane feels like? The memories slowly became clearer, and eventually disappeared altogether, fading into black. I started to regain some coherency and could perceive what was going on around me.

  …..an you... someth… wron…

  Finally, the static ended, and I heard a clear voice inside of my head that didn’t belong to me. I could see the room again, and the crazy memory rollercoaster finally ended.

  Hello? Can you hear me, Victoria? Sorry, there was some fuzz when I tried to enter your system. Are you okay?

  I checked over my body and went through my thoughts looking for any inconsistencies. There was someone else in my brain, and I wanted to be sure that everything was fine. I opened my mouth to start talking when I heard Luna speak again.

  You don’t need to worry about losing memory. I accessed your brain through the system and can just sort of glean information off of the top of your consciousness. I feel obligated to inform you that you can speak to me by simply thinking about me, and while I’m here, we share senses. I’m sorry if that was unclear in my first descriptions. Keeping things to yourself should become intuitive with a bit of practice.

  From what I can tell, you are completely fine mentally, so there is no need to worry about memory loss or anything else.

  That was… mildly disconcerting. Good to know there are no issues with my brain. I just didn’t think that having you in here would be so… invasive?

  I am sorry about that. On the bright side, if I ever need to do this again, it won’t be a problem! Ha…

  It's fine, I guess. Well partner, are you ready?

  I needed to go home and talk to my blacksmith. Then its time to tackle the rest of the spider dungeon. The idea of taking on even more spiders seemed just a bit unpleasant, but I would do it if it meant even more loot.

  I’m ready! I’m excited to see how everyone in the cities is doing. I’m essentially living in the dark.

  Well, hopefully, they don’t let you down.

  I, myself, was curious how the guild was doing. It should be up and running at this point, and I was excited to meet some of the new adventurers, and see how everyone was doing.

  If you have any questions or comments, leave them in the discord please. I'm working on getting an editor through Patreon funds, but for now, I'm focusing on editing my stuff more.

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