I picked right, or straight as I was coming down the path. I figured the path had been kind of leading me in that direction with the way it switchbacked and ended, so seemed the logical way to go. This had been a pretty straightforward Dungeon so far. I wasn’t expecting much in the way of surprises. Part of me did think the crystal formations would turn out to be elementals or something but after a hundred feet of walking, nothing had happened.

  The boss was called the Crystal Skitterer, so they had to have something to do with it. Or they could just be a Resource node. I didn’t have any way to harvest them, or did I?

  I had hammers and my fists would classify as hammers.

  Looking around and up, where the fog still covered the sky and visibility was limited to about fifty feet, I made sure nothing was around that would sneak up on me. Wrapping my fists in Force, I punched one of the crystal formations. Cracks spread along the surface. I punched again, a decent sized piece cracking off. It fell to the ground with a thunk. Picking it up, I got the Notification, making me smile.

  YOU HAVE GAINED +1 STARFALL QUARTZ FRAGMENT

  It was time to do some mining.

  I took out one of the hammers. I could have kept punching, but I had to use some of my Arcanum to put the field of Force around my fists to protect them. It wasn’t much Arcanum but I wanted to be fully topped off when I finally met the Crystal Quartz Skitterer, whatever it was.

  With the hammers, I was a little more careful, tracing the lines of cracks to see if I could get bigger chunks of the Starfall Quartz. As I pounded at the crystal, I wondered if this hidden Resource meant there were more.

  I had thought the only Resources that might be available in the Dungeons and Biomes were the ones that were called out in the quests, or dropped by the monsters. But this crystal formation proved otherwise.

  Was that why this was classified as a duo dungeon? I know that I was a bit overpowered compared to most others, so what might take two, I could probably handle solo. But what if the duo had really meant a harvester and an Adventurer as an escort?

  That didn’t make sense though. Only Adventurers could enter the Infinite Tower. Were there Adventurers that used up an Essence slot on a Harvesting Skill or got trained in harvesting? The two goat guys didn’t look like any of them were a harvester.

  Something else to ask Stylo.

  I got a larger chunk off the formation.

  YOU HAVE GAINED +1 STARFALL QUARTZ CHUNK

  It was about twice the size of the fragment, which was a couple inches. Fragment, chunk and what would bigger sizes be?

  I managed to get two more fragments and three chunks before the formation was tapped out. There was still a lot of crystal left but I just got a feeling that it was done, nothing more to give. I’d never been a harvester but it matched what the ones back in Solace had told me.

  The CCS worked off a node system. Dropped Resources, like the animal hides, were defined by some weird looting rules algorithm that the System used. Harvested Resources like mining ores, herbs, that kind of thing, used a different algorithm. Nodes were areas were Arcanum-Infused Resources were created. The Arcanum didn’t infuse a whole mine, just specific spots. It was kind of like a Dungeon on Earth, an area where the Arcanum built-up and created the Dungeon. In this case, it created a node.

  At least on Earth. In a Dungeon like this, where everything was created by Arcanum? It was the same basic principle. The node only had so much of the Resource to harvest, even if there was more physically there, it just wouldn’t give any more of the Arcanum-Infused Resource.

  The harvester got a feeling when it was done. Higher Level in the Harvesting Skill, or training, then could possibly get more. Or even a rarer version of the Resource.

  It was all a little weird and beyond me. I just knew how it basically worked and what the results were.

  That left me looking at a pile of crystal about three feet high, the top a jagged mess, with cracks running everywhere. If this was on Earth, a couple weeks or so from now the node would be regenerated. Could even see it happening, the node regrowing. With a plant node, it was like watching plants grow in old Earth, just faster. But with stone? It was very odd to watch. It wasn’t natural to see rock growth.

  The node could be harvested early, but that just meant a longer overall regrowth. Solacetown had harvesters whose job was to watch the nodes and calculate the regrowth times, so we’d know which would be okay to hit early if we ran short on Resources. It was pretty boring stuff, but those folks apparently loved the work.

  More power to them.

  The new world took all kinds. There were the clerical ones that enjoyed that kind of work, and there were folks like me that just wanted to punch the bad guys.

  Bad monsters?

  Bad things?

  Let’s go with that.

  I moved to one of the non-crystal formations, hammering a chunk off. Picking it up, my Evaluate didn’t give me anything, which meant it was just plain run-of-mill rock. Not an ore, not arcanum-infused. It was a solid piece of rock, so it would be usable for something but not worth the time and effort to harvest it. I tossed it behind me, hearing it clatter off the cliff wall.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  The next crystal vein was bigger and I set to work.

  ***

  2:47:18

  I’d spent too long harvesting crystals. Folks back in Solace would have fun working with the stuff, but it hadn’t been the most efficient use of my time. I probably wasn’t going to get a good Dungeon clear time.

  I had to remember that even though I was the only one from Solace in the Tower, I wouldn’t always be the only one. I didn’t need to gather as much Resources as I could. Just grabbing some so the crafters could experiment would be the better strategy. Let them figure out which were the most important and when the other Adventurers showed up, they’d have shopping lists. There were better uses of my time.

  Oh well, live and learn.

  I passed by a couple more formations, only stopping if there were different colors. I ended up with a ton of quartz, some topaz and some citrine. It was kind of weird that crystals found in a dungeon made entirely of Arcanum, programmed and designed by the Infinite Tower, which had an origin that I didn’t know, was naming things the same as Earth.

  Probably a translation thing.

  And not worth my time.

  There were big brains back on Earth that liked to study that stuff.

  I was walking toward a formation with some veins of blue when I heard a new noise. It had been pretty quiet down on the ground up until then. There was a chattering noise, kind of scratchy and stretched out. And a scraping sound, multiple of those, things dragging along the rocky surface. The sounds echoed along the bottom of the canyon.

  Moving to the side, where I had more room around the formations, I turned toward the noise. It was coming from further down the canyon, so I figured I’d wait for it to come to me. The formations were spaced like they were, randomly but still pretty close together, to design the battlefield. They were obstacles, and would most likely benefit the creature coming at me. Probably another reason this Dungeon was meant for two.

  Finally the thing came into view and it was crazy. Kind of like the Daddy Long Legs I used to see as a kid. All leg, a dozen of them, small body.

  CHASM SKITTERER

  The body was about two feet long, oval shaped, the small head barely visible. The many-jointed legs were easily eight or ten feet long, ending in three thick toes with long talons curving up from the top. Each leg was bending different ways. One was above it, against the wall. Another to the side, against the same wall. More were on the ground, a couple on formations around it. Some were bent backwards, some heading down and then bending almost 180 degrees back up.

  Skitterers were freaky.

  It made the odd chattering noise as it moved, the talons dragging along the stone. I didn’t think this one was the boss.

  A long leg reached for me, leading with the talon. I twisted to the side, grabbed the leg, slamming an elbow down on the nearest joint. I heard something snap, the chattering turning a bit screechy. The Skitterer tried to pull the leg away, everything below the snapped joint just hanging loose. It pulled, so I pulled. The thing didn’t move, all the legs holding it in place. It was probably like the spiders and stalkers, some kind of adhesion.

  I dodged another swiping leg. And another. Grabbing one, I snapped it at the joint. And the next one, working my way through legs to get to the body. Which was about four feet out of reach. Grumbling, I crouched down and pushed up with some added force and kinetics. My fist slammed into the body, through the body and I landed back on the ground. The Skitterer convulsed a bit before the legs started collapsing. I moved out of the way, shaking Skitterer innards off my fist, as the body crashed to the ground. Touching it, I got my loot.

  YOU HAVE GAINED +3 SKITTERER CLAWS, +1 ADHESION ESSENCE

  I could already hear the next Skitterer coming.

  ***

  It took like six of the things before I came to the big one. I’d gotten a bunch of claws and only one more Adhesion Essence. Three was pretty good.

  The boss wasn’t at the end of the canyon, but in a wider spot, with more and taller formations. There was another opening at the other end of the boss area, which made me wonder if the entire canyon floor was an oval. That would make sense. I hadn’t noticed the walls curving, but they could have been.

  CRYSTAL CHASM SKITTERER

  Like the name hinted at, the boss Skitterer was crystal. Not made of crystal, but had a crystal exoskeleton. A tan color shot through with veins of blue. Crystal plates covered the body, which was three or four times the size of the others. The legs were twice as long, twice as jointed, and also had crystal growths for protection.

  Big boss wouldn’t be as easy as the little guys.

  It was also suspending itself off the ground at the top of the formations.

  I sighed, walking into the larger area. The thing’s chattering was louder. It turned as it saw me, angling the legs so the body was facing me. Did it have eyes? I couldn’t see them. A talon scraped along the side, making that horrible nails on chalkboard noise. This thing had to die just because of that.

  I studied the field, which was difficult because the formations were so tall, ranging from ten to fifteen feet. There were a lot of them, and because of the placement, I couldn’t get a clear view of the entire area.

  Big Boss Skitterer hadn’t moved, just watched me. The body didn’t move, but the legs did. Constantly shifting, crossing over each other, bending at really odd angles. And each movement, the thing made sure to scratch a talon along the stone. I cringed at that noise, sending me back to middle school.

  I was so going to murder this thing.