“Check out the other trading posts?” Erik shrugged.
“Sure. I got my forge with me, so if I get bored I can at least do something else.”
“I’ve got my cauldron and we can use sound talismans to talk to the people in the dungeon for lessons and to answer questions,” Erik said.
“Actually, instead of the outposts, what about that river that goes through the Beast Mountain Range?” Rugrat asked.
Erik stopped in his footsteps and looked to Rugrat. “Fishing?”
“Fishing,” Rugrat confirmed.
“Shit. Hell yeah I’m in!” Erik laughed.
Chapter: Metal Floor
Erik checked out the new armor he had been given. It was based off the armor he had worn in countless battlefields across the world. He pulled the vest on and used the leather ties to pull it tight and tie it off.
He moved his neck against the stiff collar and moved his shoulders under the pauldrons, using more straps to pull them on.
He had already pulled on the arms, which were a modified prototype to allow mobility while also giving a decent amount of protection.
Legs were the same: a mix of cloths and fabrics used to hold the plates in place to stop lethal attacks from hitting him.
The armor plates were formed from enhanced and compressed Mortal-grade iron. Erik checked over the different information screens of the armor parts.
==========
Ass-shining Leather Boots
==========
Defense: 143
Weight: 3.5 kg
Durability: 100/100
Slot: Takes up foot slot
Innate Effect: Increase physical attack damage by 4%
Enchantment: Light Steps—running costs 5% less Stamina
This is a set item. When two or more set items are combined, the abilities of the set items will increase.
Requirements:
Agility 27
Strength 18
==========
==========
Chaps, But With the Ass Greaves
==========
Defense: 157
Weight: 9.7 kg
Durability: 100/100
Slot: Takes up leg slot
Innate Effect: Increase physical attack damage by 4%
Enchantment: Light Steps—running costs 5% less Stamina
This is a set item. When two or more set items are combined, the abilities of the set items will increase.
Requirements:
Agility 30
Strength 27
==========
“For fuck’s sake.” Erik sighed at the names of the different armors. Rugrat might have made them with his best skills but with these names, there was no way that he would be able to sell them in the future!
==========
Big-assed Chafer!
==========
Defense: 164
Weight: 32.6 kg
Durability: 100/100
Slot: Takes up chest slot
Innate Effect: Increase physical attack damage by 4%
Enchantment: Stone Wall—Defense increases by 7%
This is a set item. When two or more set items are combined, the abilities of the set items will increase.
Requirements:
Agility 23
Strength 35
==========
==========
Ass Slappers!
==========
Defense: 112
Weight: 2.3 kg
Durability: 100/100
Slot: Takes up glove slot
Innate Effect: Increase physical attack damage by 4%
Enchantment: Mana Amplification—Mana-based spells power increases by 3%
This is a set item. When two or more set items are combined, the abilities of the set items will increase.
Requirements:
Agility 28
Strength 29
==========
==========
Asshat
==========
Defense: 147
Weight: 3.7 kg
Durability: 100/100
Slot: Takes up helmet slot
Innate Effect: Increase defense by 5%
Enchantment: Mana Amplification—Mana-based spells power increases by 3%
This is a set item. When two or more set items are combined, the abilities of the set items will increase.
Requirements:
Agility 13
Strength 10
==========
==========
You have equipped the Ass Kicker set.
For having 5 pieces
Your defense increases by 2%
Physical attacks damage increases by 14%
Stamina consumption reduces by 3%
==========
The stats were a big boost, but Erik was having a real problem with the name of the set and their individual names.
“Storbon, what is your helmet called?” Erik asked.
“Helmet version three,” Storbon said with a confused look on his face.
“That mother fucker,” Erik muttered under his breath and headed over to where Rugrat was putting on his gear.
He had just opened his mouth when he was interrupted.
“Have fun fishing?” Egbert asked as Erik and Rugrat were checking their gear with everyone else at the barracks.
“It was good until we had to come back. Seven days of bliss,” Rugrat said.
“All good things come to an end,” Erik said.
Qin looked lost in it. A mix of excitement and curiosity as she couldn’t help but look at the others who were covered in weapons, laughing and joking as they checked one another’s gear, patting their shoulders and moving around to make sure all of their gear was where it was supposed to be and accessible.
“How does the armor feel?” Rugrat asked as he checked on Qin.
“Heavy,” she said.
Rugrat grinned as he tightened up the helmet strap and adjusted it so that it wouldn’t tilt over to the side. “Jump up and down.”
She did so, the armor reaching up to her chin and back down again.
“You need to keep it tight or else you’re just leaving openings everywhere.” Rugrat pulled on different ties, tightening everything, compressing Qin and enclosing her in the armor properly. “How about now?”
“It’s a lot warmer and it’s rubbing.”
“Everyone gets that at first. You’ll get used to it.” Rugrat checked her armor again and then pulled it up from the back, making sure that it wasn’t coming off her whenever she jumped.
He tapped her on the back, almost sending her to the ground. “You’re all good. Remember to stick to Egbert like glue and do everything we tell you.” Rugrat bent down to look her in the eye to make sure his words got across.
“Yes, Mister Rugrat,” she said, trying to show she understood.
Rugrat nodded as he looked over to Erik.
“All right, it’s time to boogie. You all know the plan: get in, check the area around the teleport pad. Emergency teleport out if it’s bad; if we’re good, we head toward control formation Alpha. We have a total of five control formations as our targets. We will be sneaking through the floor with the aid of stealth spell scrolls. Still, they’re not enough to make us invisible, just harder to detect. Above all, we need to look out for our safety. If things look like they’re going south, we’ll do a fighting retreat back to the teleportation pad, using spell scrolls and whatever we have.” Erik looked at them after his speech.
“Let’s do this.” Erik turned and led the way out of the barracks, toward the teleportation pad that had remained unused ever since they had arrived in the dungeon.
The secondary merchant market and warehouse district was growing quickly. Even now there were people around the trading platform, looking to make their fortunes. With the ability to make gold from the market interface, it had reduced the p
ressures on the council.
The council was selling off the goods that they had been holding onto. Instead of holding onto it, the money was put toward the other expansions. The beast stable was to double in size, the academy was undergoing more renovations, and the growing area was meant to double. The old growing areas were to remain as testing grounds; the ones that were being added would be used for just the purpose of growing. Year in and year out, these fields were meant to be the workhorses of Alva Dungeon. Everyone had to eat and Alva Dungeon could grow all year round. With the rest of the First Realm now accessible through the trading interface, the excess could be easily sold off for a profit then funneled through the council to upgrade the dungeon and its facilities.
Students and people from the barracks—all of them pitched in on the building efforts. After all, they got paid by the council to do so.
Now the work came to a pause as people watched the group heading to the teleport pad.
They didn’t stop moving as they made it to the teleport pad. The council was there, as well as a number of alchemists, medics, and military members, ready to move to assist if needed.
“See you in a bit.” Erik led the party onto the teleportation formation.
They made a circle, with Egbert and Qin in the middle.
“Stealth scrolls,” Erik said. Everyone pulled out spell scrolls and activated them.
The magical circles on the pages pushed out from the page, made of silver and black. It settled on the front of the user, flashing once before disappearing.
==========
You have activated the spell scroll: Light Footsteps, Hidden Movement.
Your scent is eliminated except in a five-meter area.
Your footsteps are harder to hear beyond five meters.
The shadows conform to your body more, making it harder to see you from more than twelve meters away.
==========
“Egbert?” Erik asked.
“Activating the teleportation formation,” Egbert said.
Power that had been pouring into the cornerstone located above the dungeon core now retracted back toward the dungeon core. Stored power was focused and sent down from the cornerstone. The line of power was as thick as a fist as it entered the formations around the dungeon core, rushing through the rune-covered walkways that lit up with power as it rushed out from the center of the site toward the teleportation formation.
The formation started to glow, the runes, circles, and shapes being revealed. A Mana mist covered the formation, being lit up by the glowing runes below.
“Activating,” Egbert said.
The power that had been gathered in the formation surged.
There was a suction feeling and then the living floor disappeared and a new landscape was revealed.
They blinked quickly, trying to adjust their eyes to the darkness.
“What is that smell?” Tian Cui asked.
“Metal, high quality,” Rugrat said quickly.
Smells like blood. Erik took in the landscape.
There wasn’t much.
Lightning cracked and lit up the level occasionally in the distance.
The sounds of beasts fighting or roaring was drowned out by the noise.
There was no ambient light. Only the lightning served to light the way, backlighting the pillars and ruins all around them.
Paths had been carved through the metal. Circular overhangs had collapsed. Buildings were nothing more than metal strewn about. Signs of fighting could be seen everywhere one looked.
“Egbert, take point. Let’s get moving,” Erik said.
Everyone organized their thoughts as Egbert moved forward quickly. The teleportation formation would probably draw monsters to come and see what had happened, so they needed to leave quickly.
They moved over the rough landscape. It was much larger than the living floor, with mountains and valleys of metal.
Erik could see a metal mountain in the middle of the floor. Lightning of all colors descended on the mountain. Runes and formations could be seen here and there, being activated and then dying with the power striking down on them.
Runes and partial formations dotted the landscape, ruined by age and the fighting.
Parts and bodies of automatons lay across the ground, discarded and broken, their insides torn apart.
Do these creatures eat metal? Erik cleared these thoughts as he took in the broken floor, following Egbert.
***
While the floor was unlike anything that they had seen before with ominous, random lightning and the sounds of beasts fighting, Storbon continued to look around, scanning for threats as they progressed toward their first target.
They reached an open area, with Egbert stopping and pointing to the ground.
Erik nodded and gave the signal for everyone to spread out.
They all moved out as Qin moved up to Egbert. She started to look over the ground, clearing it.
The rest of the party looked outward, scanning the floor.
Storbon couldn’t help but look at the large mountain in the middle of the floor.
It stood tall and proud, with the other mountains in the floor only half of its height.
Most of the beast noises were coming from there between the lightning strikes.
Storbon looked away, blinking to get rid of the flashes and allow him to see the rest of the floor as he scanned for any wandering beasts.
Time to get comfortable. He moved about on the ground, trying to move his body so he wasn’t getting poked by so many rocks. Finally, he settled down as Qin worked on the formation.
Time went by slowly. The only noise was Qin’s quiet footsteps and Storbon’s breathing. He even tried to make that quieter so he could hear more.
“I’ve got something approaching. Doesn’t look like it’s coming for the formation, though,” Ian reported through his sound transmission device.
They all tensed up before slowly bleeding that tension back out.
“Qin, stop what you’re doing. Egbert, let us know what it is,” Erik said in a calm voice.
Qin moved up next to Rugrat as Egbert moved to Ian.
For a bunch of bones, he was as silent as a ghost.
“It’s an arachon—large beast with metal antlers, teeth, and claws. Must be around level eighteen. Can probably break low-grade Apprentice weapons and armor,” Egbert said.
***
Rugrat looked through his scope, scanning the area where Ian was before he picked up the creature.
It looked like a mix between an elephant and a moose. It was massive, at three meters tall, with the body of an elephant. It didn’t have a trunk or tusks but metal antlers that reflected the lightning.
The ends of the antlers shone, sharpened into blades.
It didn’t move quickly as it covered the ground at its own pace. It moved closer to the formation but didn’t look to be heading for it.
“Make ready,” Erik said, his voice still calm. Everyone gripped their weapons tighter and readied themselves for what was to come.
“The arachon’s neck and stomach don’t have that much natural armor,” Egbert said.
They all laid there, waiting for it to go past or attack them. Someone moved, dislodging a few metal rocks.
The arachon paused and looked over to where the noise had come from.
Rugrat flipped off the safety as his aim followed the arachon’s eyes.
The arachon looked away after a few tense moments before it lost interest and carried on.
After another ten minutes, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
“Check your arcs,” Erik said.
Everyone reported what they saw. As the last “clear” was announced, Erik ordered Qin and Egbert back to work.
Qin called out the corrections as Egbert used magic and supplies he carried to do what she said, repairing the formation, section by section.
Ten secondary formations, four
prime formations, and one master control formation. Simple, simple! Rugrat continued to watch.
“I’m good to restart the formation and see if it works,” Qin said after triple-checking her work nearly an hour later.
“Everyone, prepare to move. No matter what, we need to move when the formation goes active as it’ll bring every monster’s attention down on us,” Erik said.
Rugrat and the others got to kneeling, ready to move.
“Go for it.”
Egbert restarted the formation. The rune pathways were covered with metal and couldn’t be seen as they activated, drawing power from the central command unit at the center of the floor, a mirror copy of the dungeon core on the living floor.
The different parts of the formation started to light up, one by one, before the entire formation activated, glowing with power.
“Let’s move!” Erik led the way toward their next target; the rest of them followed.
A roar could be heard in the distance. As it moved closer, the ground shook. Other roars could be heard as well.
Qin stumbled and fell. Yao Meng grabbed her and they kept running.
Three arachons crested the hill they were running toward.
Erik called a halt as they all hid among the broken metal parts of the floor.
The three arachons rushed forward, their target the formation. Other monsters ran toward it as well, looking to put a claim on their territory.
“Move it!” Erik hissed as he got up and ran again.
The rest of the party got out from among the obstacles and started to run again.
***
Egbert helped Qin as they worked on the second formation. It was going a lot faster than the first.
Although she had the knowledge, she didn’t have the strength or power to work with the different materials that were part of the formation, requiring Egbert to process the different materials, carve out old formation lines and runes or add in new ones.
Making formations on such a scale as the one involved in the Metal floor was a mix of smithing, Alchemy, and mining to repair the formations.
Egbert, thankfully, had a number of spells he could call on to clear the detritus, create new lines, and then fill them in with the reagent items.
Second Realm Page 57