The entrance to the Harpy's Aerie was up a tree. Once again, I wondered who designed dungeons. Whoever or whatever it was, they'd apparently been so focused on their task that they'd completely missed the day common sense was being handed out.

  Yes, okay, with a name like 'aerie', being up in the air didn't completely defy logic, but to me, it implied the top of inaccessible cliffs or other such things. Not trees. If it was all trees, it should have been called 'the harpy's nest', not 'aerie'.

  The problem was that this dungeon was busy. Not in a people-levelling-up way, but in a useful-items-can-be-farmed-here way. There was an entire village built up around the tree, and a constant stream of parties on their way in and out. Multiple parties didn't really fit up a tree. One party didn't really fit up a tree. A guard at the bottom was doing his best to control the traffic, but there wasn't much he could do about coordinating people on their way in against people on their way out.

  Logistical issues aside, a few gnarly limbs of the tree were plaited together, twisting in an eye watering curve that seemed to intersect the other limbs, but climbing along it caused the other limbs to bend and twist in my vision, moving away from me. With [Mana Manipulation], I could see a haze of mana over the entire thing, the spatial shenanigans apparently achieved by a vast magical construct.

  The branch grew until I could simply stand up and walk along it, the tree I'd climbed retreating into the distance behind me. The branch curved downward, seamlessly fused to the edge of a rocky platform.

  A cloud drifted past below, beneath the distorted branch. The ground wasn't visible at all, only an endless mist. Apparently, this dungeon was the top of a cliff, and an impossibly tall one at that. Part of me wondered what would happen if someone fell off, but that was definitely a question I had no intention of researching today, so I stepped off the branch and onto the stone. It stretched as far as I could see in every direction, with no cover whatsoever. In that respect, it was much like the Fluffy Meadow, but at least the meadow had periodic giant boulders. I suppose if I got lost, I could pick a direction and walk until I hit the cliff edge, then follow it until I found the branch.

  That strategy would involve plenty of fighting, though, since monsters appeared at intervals, again like the Fluffy Meadow.

  In fact, this dungeon was pretty much a clone of that one, with only the monsters and theme switched out. And, thankfully, the bonus task. Killing a hundred monsters would already take me most of the day, and I was glad the way they attacked individually and were spaced out would give my Mana a chance to recover. Killing two-and-a-half times as many would take me into tomorrow.

  Speaking of monsters, a screech informed me that the first had arrived. Without cover, it shouldn't be possible for them to spring up from nowhere, but this one seemed to have spawned directly above, descending rapidly, feet first, vicious claws outstretched.

  "Hurry up, damn it," I muttered under my breath as I struggled to activate [Lightning Shock]. "Lightning Shock!"

  A bolt of blinding white leapt from my right hand, stabbing into the air and striking the harpy. Its descent continued, but it was now wholly uncontrolled, leaving a trail of smoke behind it. The monster smashed into the floor.

  "Poo," I complained to no-one in particular. That was my very first harpy, and I'd already failed the bonus task. Judging from the timing of the notification, my lightning strike hadn't killed it; the subsequent impact with the ground had. My spell might have disabled it, but it hadn't been enough to outright kill the D-rank monster. With the casting time, I wouldn't be able to get a second shot off before the monster hit the ten meter limit. Having the Skill at the second stage wasn't enough.

  Even if it was, there was still the harpy queen to think about.

  The activation time was annoying. Unlike [Stab], which was practically instant, [Lightning Shock] required some concentration to activate. Only a few seconds, but a lot could happen in a few seconds.

  For example, Charles's mage had ended up with his throat slit in the time it took to get off a second cast of [Sleep].

  I could invest in a magical medium of some sort, to shorten the channelling times. Advancing [Mana Manipulation] would help, too. Both together would assuredly be enough to get two shots in on a harpy attacking from above, but would it be enough for the queen?

  On the other hand, advancing [Lightning Shock] would strengthen it, hopefully letting me kill harpies outright with the first cast. But, again, there was a queen to think about.

  "Oh well. Guess I'll clear the dungeon today, and conquer it some other time," I declared as I started walking. I wasn't going to win them all, and I'd need to settle for merely clearing this dungeon, instead of conquering it.

  Harpies continued to spawn at regular intervals, always directly above. A single bolt of lightning disabled each one, sending them crashing to the floor. A few actually survived the impact, requiring a quick stab to put down for good, but even so...

  ... This was boring.

  The spawns were far enough apart that my Mana wasn't stressed, and the harpies couldn't do a thing to get at me. It was simply five minutes of walking, cast [Lightning Shock], collect experience, repeat. The experience was nice, admittedly, but even then the fact that I spent most of my time waiting around for the next spawn felt like a waste.

  Were D-rank dungeons beneath me? But then, despite the ease with which I was dealing with the mobs, I had no hope at all of completing the bonus task.

  Dungeons were stupid.

  At least, again like the Fluffy Meadow, there were treasure chests. One popped up every ten mobs, and, again like the meadow, they contained skill crystals. No [Farming], but I got [Masonry], [Blacksmithing], [Hunting], [Performing] and other things I really wasn't interested in. I also got [Cooking], again making me wish I had more skill points so I could advance that neglected Skill. Annoyingly, there was also [Identify Monster], rendering my purchased but unused crystal pointless. Just more things to sell back at the guild.

  In any case, I'd taken down the hundred harpies, so the next spawn would be their queen. She'd at least be a little more interesting. I threw my levelling gains around as I waited for the timer.

  Was 'she' correct? It was a 'queen' after all, but once she appeared, there was nothing physically about her that suggested female. The same went for the lesser harpies. Just a random funny thought as I charged [Lightning Shock].

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  Advancing the Skill didn't make it any faster—I needed more [Mana Manipulation] for that—but it did increase the range and damage. A blinding bolt leapt from my fingers, instantly crossing the distance between us and striking the harpy queen in the foot.

  Not exactly a weak spot, but with her flying upright directly above me, I didn't have much in the way of choice.

  Unlike her lesser brethren, and despite my strengthened Skill, she didn't instantly tumble from the sky. Instead, she threw out her wings, bringing them down in one mighty flap. For a moment, I thought she was trying to take more height, to get out of range of my magic. Then I saw the glints of light.

  I dived to the side, sacrificing my half-charged second [Lightning Shock] in the interests of dodging. My split-second decision was proven correct a moment later, when a row of feathers stabbed into the ground where I'd just been standing. Each was two feet long, and the quills didn't flex at all, despite how deeply they'd penetrated the rock. Those things were like steel darts. Had they struck me, I had no confidence my armour would have held.

  Seemingly buoyed by my shock, the harpy queen cackled above, a shrill, warbling noise given her inhuman face and beak. That was her mistake; it gave me time to charge another [Lightning Shock].

  She tanked the second strike in much the same way as the first, but it at least convinced her to take the fight more seriously. Our exchanges continued as she raked the landscape with her feather darts, and in turn I blasted her whenever I had sufficient time for a full charge. After a dozen strikes, she started mixing in dives with her ranged attacks, raking me with her claws.

  Or, rather, raking the ground, because I wasn't stupid enough to simply stand there and take it instead of getting out of the way. From the way her claws gouged ruts into the solid rock without even slowing her down, my decision was obviously correct.

  In any case, the dives actually worked against her, giving me more time to charge [Lightning Shock]. A few blasts at point blank range, and she switched back fully to feathers. Given the number of them already stuck into the ground, it was a surprise she hadn't run out. She should have been completely bald, yet she looked unchanged. They must be magically generated, somehow.

  Still, nothing she did could hit me, and while she was disrupting my attacks, she wasn't perfect, and each attack I launched hit. I couldn't believe she was that much hardier than her lesser brethren, given that I'd hit her upward of twenty times; it was likely that she was resisting a significant part of each hit. Thankfully, she obviously wasn't resisting all of it, and after my twentieth hit she started growing noticeably sluggish. Her feathers were blackened, smoke curling from the scales that protected her legs.

  "Time to finish this. Lightning shock!"

  The dead queen fell from the sky, bursting into motes of light before even hitting the ground. The light spread like a wave, leaving behind the traditional chest and teleporter, despite the fact that I hadn't moved all that far from the entrance.

  Double the experience boost of clearing an E-rank dungeon. Would the same hold for conquering it?

  The chest contained the D-rank Skill [Float]. A spell that would let me fly. Not quickly, admittedly, but even so...

  Damn, I only had one point left, and using a D-rank crystal required two.

  ... Although, this single run of the dungeon had given me two levels. Another clear could net me two more, and boost me into the second growth milestone. Not to mention that I should be able to conquer it, now that I had [Lightning Shock] at the final stage. I'd get enough skill points to max out [Mana Manipulation], or learn [Float].

  All it would take was another nine hours. I'd still get back to the capital to report my success tomorrow...

  Yup, I was going to do it.

  Decision made, I stepped into the teleporter, flashing into existence at the top of the entrance tree.

  Given that the tree was, as previously mentioned, quite busy, this caused some amount of surprise, entanglement, and falling out of trees when I came out practically on top of another party who were on their way in. Thankfully, since everyone involved was at least strong enough to be farming D-rank dungeons, no-one was hurt.

  Nevertheless, at the bottom, a guard glared at me. "Weren't you paying attention on the way in? Please do not use the teleporter to exit this dungeon!"

  "No-one told me that!" I protested.

  The guard blinked. "Wait, you? I remember you. You went in alone this morning. You cleared it?"

  "Oh, great, so you didn't do your job and warn me not to use the teleporter because you assumed I was some idiot who was never going to clear the place?"

  The guard, for his part, looked guilty. I didn't see the need to berate him further. From the expressions of the party I'd just knocked out of the tree, they were about to do it for me.

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