An Unbound Soul

[Determined Progressor] - You are not one to rest on your laurels. Your current age, level or achievements are immaterial; there is always more progress to be made. Skills level up more quickly. (Rank 3)

Another trait evolution. It now increased the level up rate of all skills rather than only those below level four. And apparently was retroactive, which was a nice bonus. I'd often wondered if skills had some sort of hidden experience bar or if there was a chance of level up for each use, and the way this was able to act retroactively suggested the former. It also gave me a class level, which was odd because the trait said nothing about making classes level more quickly, nor did either of my class specific skills increase. They were both still below level four, so probably got no additional bonus from this trait. Presumably, levelling up general magic skills had helped my class too. I'd even got a bonus from [Researcher], which hadn't happened in a long time, but I found it hard to believe that was related to the trait evolution.

I had a few soul points to spend, so I grabbed [Endurance]. I wasn't sure what to do with the remaining two. There were four rank two skills waiting that I wanted, but I couldn't get any right now, whereas I could get another pair of rank ones. The disproportionate effect [Jack of All Trades] had on rank one skills made it tough to control myself and save my points. A quick glance at the skill shop demolished my remaining self-control completely; [Dismantling] had appeared there. I hadn't even realised that was a skill. No wonder Noah was such a whizz at it, the cheater... I snapped it up, along with [Concealment] which was sure to be useful in the dungeon, and laid back as the extra knowledge dribbled into my head.

Like my last level, intelligence hadn't increased. Rank two classes supposedly gave five additional stat points in total, so if they were spaced evenly, my next level would get me one. I'd already got a boost there today from Inequality, anyway. All in all, today had been a productive day. The dungeon may not have given anything in skills and levels, but it had given plenty in terms of education, and tonight's gains turned an already good day into a spectacular one. I did my usual magical workout before drifting off to sleep, this time adding a couple of [Endurance] casts into the mix. Like its two sibling spells, it came with visual effects, this time glowing green patches that spread across my skin.

Next morning I was once again in the bar, munching on Mum's last... whatever this was. She normally only cooked food to be eaten fresh, or at worst to be eaten later in the day, so a meal made to be eaten a few days later was novel. The emergency rations I held in my pack looked like the sort of hard biscuits that I'd imagined travel food to look like, but this was something soft and gooey with a hard shell. At least I could be certain it wasn't made out of orc, and I had a couple of apples left too for any times when I would prefer to know what I was eating.

Once again, we ended up waiting for Freya, who seemed to be the habitually late sort of person, but successfully reached the dungeon not too long after dawn.

"Today we'll head straight to floor three. We're going to teach Peter the basics of teamwork, then move on to floor four. We'll leave via floor five. By the time we get there, the mobs will no doubt have been cleared out, but I want Peter to fight the boss. Floor three has goblins armed with clubs and small knives. There are no ranged enemies, but dart traps will start to appear. Triggers won't be hidden, so keep an eye out for differently coloured stones on the floors or walls. Floor four has goblin warriors armed with short swords and goblin scouts with bows, as well as the same dart traps. On floor five, the dart traps are hidden, so follow Noah's instructions."

Although he was addressing the whole party, most of that was obviously directed at me, so I nodded along. I was surprised we would be going as far as the fifth floor given that we only did two yesterday, but if the others were fighting, even that was probably shallow for them. We weren't the first ones into the dungeon and the path to the first boss room was already cleared, so the first floor was little more than a stroll through empty white rooms and bad lighting effects. Actually, why were they empty? Shouldn't there be corpses?

"How long does it take the dungeon to absorb corpses?"

"It's immediate once you leave the room. Apart from bosses, which, as you've seen, can't be harvested."

Oh. No wonder it was so clean.

When we reached the doors to the boss room they were resolutely closed. Not only that, but there was an orderly queue; another two parties stood in front of us. Apart from Xander, who remained stoic as ever, the rest of the party looked surprised.

"Who's in there taking so long over the first boss that a queue is building up?"

"Hmm? Oh, hi Robin. Some team of newbies. Their instructor was with them, but he's probably making them fight on their own to prove a point."

Team of newbies? Chris and friends? Well, they should be okay. Hopefully... As much as he annoyed me, I wasn't hoping he'd die in here. It took a few minutes more before the doors reopened and the next party could head in. [Appraisal] told me they were all around half way through rank two, so I couldn't imagine them taking long. Indeed, the doors reopened again for a second time less than a minute later, admitting the next team.

"Can multiple parties enter at the same time? It's not as if the experience or rewards are worth it, so what stops everyone going through in one go?"

"There's an upper limit of eight people. If more enter, the doors don't close and the boss vanishes."

"Why are parties typically made of of five people then? Wouldn't eight be safer?"

"The rooms are too small here for eight at once to fight efficiently. Different dungeons have different standards, though; in a cavernous dungeon, parties would be bigger."

And in the span of those few sentences, the doors opened once more. We stepped in, and Xander motioned for me to take care of it. A few swings was all it took, before I grabbed my pitiful reward of three copper coins and we all continued onwards. At the second floor's boss, the doors were closed but there was no queue. Thankfully, the newbie team didn't seem to have come this way. We didn't have to wait for long before entering, but this time Xander didn't want me to fight solo.

"Okay, last time we were here you dealt with the ranged opponents by closing the distance and engaging at melee range. This time you'll have your own ranged support. Peter, you go in as a front-line fighter. No magic. Robin, you will provide ranged support. Hold back and don't make any kill shots, but prevent the goblin scouts from firing. Peter, engage the warrior while keeping Robin's position in mind at all times, and make sure she has clear shots. If you block her aim, you risk an attack by the scouts. Try to keep it up for five minutes."

It was an interesting challenge. Without [Mana Sense] I would have had no idea how to keep track of Robin's position relative to my own while engaged in melee. It wasn't even as if the goblin warrior was hard to fend off, but a small rotation or half a footstep was all it took to throw me off my mental map of the room. Had the goblin been stronger, I had no idea how I could have fought while keeping half an eye each on the goblin scouts and Robin. Robin didn't seem to be using real arrows, but rather was shooting arrow shaped black bolts, which explained how she could keep this up for five minutes without running out of ammo.

By the end of the five minutes, I didn't feel like I'd got any better at the task than the start, but Xander gave the go ahead to finish the fight regardless. I brought my staff around in a quick overhead swing to strike the goblin warrior, only to see both scouts fell over dead. I was still mid swing, had no idea what just happened, and was so distracted I almost missed my attack. My fatal blow to the head was turned into a crippling hit to the shoulder, so I followed up with another swing to finish the job.

I turned to look at the scouts as the dungeon claimed the corpses. Both had a hole through the centre of their foreheads. Just how much had Robin been holding back? I hadn't even seen those final shots, and both goblins had fallen at exactly the same time. Surely that had to be some sort of skill? The [Silent Sniper] certainly lived up to her class, albeit we were only up against low levelled enemies.

The six copper coins of reward were left to me again, and we stepped on to the third floor. Again, it was the same white stone, looking no different from the previous floors. Noah led the way this time, not to spot traps but because his tracking skills allowed us to head in a different direction from another party that was active on this floor.

In the first battle, Xander fought alongside me personally. We played defensive against groups of goblins while he taught how to fight back to back, covering each other. Again, trying to grasp the position of a teammate behind me was difficult. Too close together and we'd obstruct each other. Too far and an enemy could slip between us and strike our backs. Like before, I didn't feel like I was actually improving, yet Xander seemed satisfied and gave the go ahead to end the fight. Maybe there was a cooperation skill of some sort he wanted me to unlock?

ding

Wisdom increased by 1

Hmm? Was that for deducing the existence of a skill or from the training? A quick glance at the skill shop showed nothing new.

"Is there a cooperation skill of some sort? I don't feel like I'm getting any better at this, but you seem satisfied."

"Not getting any better?" Robin laughed. "Your movements by the end there were nothing like at the start."

Xander nodded. "Maybe you can't see it from where you are, particularly since me and Robin were both covering for your mistakes, but your ability to grasp my position and movements improved significantly during that fight. There are no teamwork skills that I'm aware of, but your wisdom stat will help."

That was surprising. It didn't feel to me like I'd improved at all, yet it was so obvious to everyone else? The existence of mental stats was a bit concerning, really; I was happy enough with them increasing my mana pool, but did increasing them affect my behaviour? I hadn't noticed anything obvious as they increased over the years, nor did casting my soul affinity buffs make me feel particularly different. When they increased, what was the System actually doing to me, physically speaking? Although I could ask the same of the physical stats; it wasn't as if my muscles bulked up as my strength increased. It was so easy to just wave everything away as magic, but I had a nagging desire to find out how the whole thing actually worked. I didn't much like the thought of the System doing minor brain surgery on me each time a mental stat increased.

Goblins safely dispatched, I got down to extracting the cores. Level three cores were two coppers for three—still not much, but a slight step up from the price of level one and two cores. With the aid of my new [Dismantling] skill, I was significantly more efficient than yesterday and barely got any blood over anyone. Which, of course, Xander noticed.

"Why did you waste points on the [Dismantling] skill? You have far more important things to be worrying about."

Freya grinned. "Point, not points. He has [Jack of All Trades]. Which reminds me, did you ever grab [Skilled]?"

"Yup, and [Victorious Underdog] and [Survivor]. Not that I was trying for the last two, but, you know, orc."

"I've not even heard of [Survivor]. What's that from?"

Xander frowned. "From going below zero base health and surviving, which I imagine you did with [Minor Endurance]. You really are lucky to be alive. But one point or two, you still shouldn't be wasting them. The guild has professional dismantlers for anything we can't handle in situ, and anything under that heading usually has enough valuable materials that dismantling them in the dungeon doesn't actually save much space."

"I also have the [Researcher] trait, so I get bonus soul points from that. I bought [Endurance] last night before anything else, so I have all of my class spells now. I promise I'm not throwing points away without thinking."

Maybe I was a bit hasty spending them last night, but I had no regrets. Goblins now put up no more resistance in death than they did in life, and I was blissfully free of blood and guts. At least, any that didn't belong to me, and my own were safely on the inside where they belonged rather than making a mess everywhere.

We continued a winding path around the floor, with me fighting as a pair with one other member of the party. Xander didn't fight again, and I switched between Noah with his daggers, Robin with her bow and Freya with her magic. Noah and Robin were brilliant, but Freya was a menace. Her fireballs did splash damage, and I needed to focus more on dodging friendly fire than I did on the goblins. I hoped she was doing it on purpose to make my training harder, because if this was her normal behaviour, I had no idea how Xander let her remain in the team. On one occasion I dodged a sudden fireball straight into a dart trap, and only a reflexive cast of [Dexterity] let me narrowly dodge a bolt heading straight for my bum. It scraped along one of my hardened leather plates, leaving a scratch in my new armour.

After an hour of that, Xander declared it time to move to the next floor, where ranged enemies would be thrown into the mix. I finished harvesting the cores from our final group of kills, and Noah led us to the boss room.

ding

Skill [Dismantling] advanced to level 2