Homestead Survival

<Dungeon: The Royal Crypts of Karzun, Floor 1, A+ -- S->
[Theo and Julia]

Theo and Julia quickly made their way back to the three-way intersection they had passed earlier and turned to their left to go down the hallway they had not gone to yet. After a few minutes of walking, they heard a faint swishing sound and some strangled screeches.

"Is that the Mana Leeches?" Julia whispered.

"It has to be." Theo said, "Remember it said they can be in huge swarms. So let's play it safe until we get a count."

Julia nodded, and they began creeping forward, keeping eyes up. Suddenly, a group of five Mana Leeches came into view.

{Mana Leech, Level 04, A+}
{Mana Leech, Level 05, S-}
{Mana Leech, Level 05, S-}
{Mana Leech, Level 04, A+}
{Mana Leech, Level 03, A+}

"Okay, five. That's not bad." Theo said, "Let me try Taunt."

Julia nodded, placing a double layer of Ward runes around herself, "alrighty, do it."

When they were closer, Theo activated his skill. An unholy roar issued forth from his mouth, and suddenly, the Mana Leeches were attacking him with abandon. Theo was swarmed, and he felt Julia switch her new skill from passive to active mode. And then he stood there protecting his eyes and ears, spamming Taunt.

After a few minutes, all five were dead. "That was stupid."

Julia nodded. "Yeah, I get the feeling that we won't be farming lots of levels that way. We can't be the only ones who have this combination of skills or something similar. Either way, I imagine that we will need to work hard for our levels going forward."

"I mean, I feel like we have worked hard for them all so far," Theo said, then his eyes lit up with a thought. "Oh, that would be clever."

"What?" Julia asked as Theo placed the Corpses in his pouch with the others.

"Well, the System doesn't give us experience points or anything similar." Theo said, "So maybe we have to battle through enough hardship to level up. Or enough hard work, or something. That is the only thing I can think of."

"I mean, I think it's a stretch, but I guess it could make sense," Julia said with a smile. "Anyway, let's keep going."

Theo nodded, and they continued on their way, keeping an eye out for any danger. Soon, a new group of Mana Leeches came into view.

{Mana Leech, Level 05, S-}
{Mana Leech, Level 04, A+}
{Mana Leech, Level 05, S-}

Theo quickly taunted them, and Julia healed him as they died. Theo stored them in his pouch. They continued walking and soon came upon a massive door. This one was not as impressive as the door that had led out of the Dungeon. But it was absolutely massive and made of dark black metal that seemed to absorb light.

"That," Theo said, admiring the structure, "is a door."

"Ughh, you are such a boy," Julia said teasingly. Then ran her eyes up the massive structure. "But yeah, it's a big damn door."

Theo reached out to Julia, and they identified the door.

"So that is what the mana Leeches are here for," Julia said.

"Must be." Theo said, "Might be a huge swarm in here."

"Welp, let's do it then," Julia said and stepped a few steps behind Theo.

Theo put forth a hand and touched the door, which began to swing open on its own. Theo was expecting a horde of Mana Leeches, so he used his Taunt skill as soon as he heard movement. He braced for impact, but rather than the flurry of many, many smaller assailants, Theo took the brunt of a stone war hammer to the gut.

"Theo!" Julia cried out in panic, throwing attacks with her Glimmer Branch as fast as she could. Simultaneously, she was popping up layers of Ward as quickly as she could manage and also switching Warmth of the Hearth to its active healing mode.

She had felt retaliate trigger, but it did not seem to slow the strange thing down. Theo crawled to his feet and looked at what he had taunted.

{Runestone Golem, Level 05, S-}
{Runestone Golem, Level 06, S-}

The golems that stood in front of him were roughly seven feet tall and made entirely of a greenish-blue stone. They each carried a massive war hammer and were slow to move. Currently, they were being rebuffed by the Wards, but he could see Julia struggling to replace them quickly enough.

Theo drew himself to his full height and put his dagger into one of his quick access slots. Julia spoke up, "Take your time. I can hold them for a while longer."

She switched from replacing the runes in front of them to constantly replacing a small ring around each Golem so that they could not build up much momentum. Theo took a breather, and then when he felt Julia's skill switch back to its passive mode, he took his Master Tool in his hand and envisioned what he wanted.

Julia watched as the Master Tool formed its head into a massive sledgehammer with a blunt wedge on one side. The handle seemed to be made of a slightly flexible material, and it began to grow. At roughly eight feet, it stopped. What Theo was left with was a hammer that was nearly two feet taller than he was. He lifted it, gripping it by the very end. Then, he lined the blunt wedge up with the head of the closest Golem. Then he twisted at his waist, bringing the hammer back around as far as he could. He smiled at Julia, "Hold him there, please."

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

She nodded, and then she felt him channel magic, and his whole body seemed to shriek as he let out a roar, untwisting and triggering Strike. Driving the wedge of the hammer forward at a speed that any pre-system human would have been unable to replicate.

The impact was tremendous. A sharp cracking noise signaled the splitting of the right side of the level five Golem's face from the rest of its head. Theo was panting, but he wound up again, "One more."

He roared again and slammed the dull wedge into the head of the Golem once more. The Golem faltered, seeming to slow down. Theo was resting the butt of the hammer on the ground. He looked back at Julia. "You good?"

"Yeah. Finish that one, then we can take it a little easier on the other one." She said, focusing on replacing the Ward runes.

Theo nodded and hefted the hammer once more, this time aiming the flat of it at the top of the Golem's head in an overhead smash. With a resounding crack, the Golem dropped to the ground.

As it fell, a rush of bluish energy left it and flooded into the level six Golem, who suddenly broke through the layers of Ward runes and rushed at Julia. Theo saw this and swung the hammer while using Taunt. The Golem turned towards him just in time to catch the full swing of the hammer in the side of its left knee.

The creaking sound that preceded the toppling of the Golem was quite humorous, but in the midst of its fall, the Golem tossed its hammer as hard as it could at Julia.

"No!" Theo cried out and jumped in front of the flying hammer, catching the hammer in his chest. As Theo rose from where he landed on his back, he felt rage boil up in his chest, and he felt the power of Retaliate begin to rush through him. In his anger, he grabbed onto that power, refusing to let it go.

"You okay?!" Julia cried out, layering massive quantities of Ward runes around the downed Golem so that it could not crawl at her.

"Oh, I'm fine," Theo said, his anger simmering just under the surface.

Theo was mad not at the Golem because, as best as he could tell, it was mindless and attacked anything that walked through the doors. No, he was mad at himself. He had been treating this whole thing like a game. He had been doing his best for Julia, but he also knew that he was enjoying not working, getting to live a survival lifestyle that he had always fantasized about.

"No more," he said to himself, grabbing the Master Tool from where he had dropped it to leap in front of the hammer. He shaped it into a fifteen-pound sledgehammer. He walked up to the Golem and stuck his foot out. The Golem slammed his foot with its fist, a loud whomping sound signaling another rush of energy from Retaliate. Theo grabbed onto it mentally and held it.

Another Whomp, and Theo finally raised his hammer over his head. Using Strike, he finally released his hold on the three charges of Retaliate. The hammer arced down with enough speed to whistle through the air and instantly crushed the head of the Golem into dust.

It stopped moving, and Theo stepped back, feeling Julia maintain her skill on its active mode. She stepped up next to him, a curious look on her face. "What did you do?"

Theo was about to answer when a message was presented to him.

>Private Message: Divergent path of skill Strike discovered forcibly applied.
>Private Message: Skill Strike B+, becomes Penitent Strike A-
>Private Message: You and Your Bonded Pair have altered a skill in a way that has not been seen before. Gain the title System First: Penitent Strike**

"What the fuck." Theo said, confused.

"What?" Julia asked, not knowing what was going on.

"Okay, so I got mad at myself. I didn't feel like I had been taking this seriously, so when he threw the hammer, and I jumped in front of it, I kind of grabbed onto the Retaliate energy. Then I let him hit my foot a couple times, and held those energy charges as well. Then I let it all go at once with Strike. That's why the hammer moved like it did."

"Okay, I didn't know you could do that," Julia said.

"I didn't either, so I had my Strike Skill changed, and then we got a System First title," Theo said. They both quickly looked at their titles.

"Holy fuck!" Julia said, "That gave us twenty stat points!"

"That is insane," Theo said. "Being the first in the System seems to pay."

"I bet that is very hard to do," Julia said thoughtfully.

"It is harder than you know." A deep and rumbling voice said behind them.

Theo and Julia jumped and turned around. Behind them stood a massive man, nearly twelve feet tall, with flowing horns out of the top of his head. Over him floated some text.

{Patriarch Aftary Karzun, Level ???, ???}

"You are that dragon from earlier," Julia said quietly.

"I am." The Patriarch said, "My great great grandson wanted to come and see the dungeon, so I accompanied him."

"We are sorry we are here. We can leave if you will let us go back to the Portal down the other hall." Theo said quickly. He wondered to himself if he would die.

The Dragon chuckled. "While I admit that you surprised me when I noticed you earlier. You have been behaving very respectfully. I can also tell that you are incredibly new to the System. So you probably need this Dungeon run. I just wanted to congratulate you on something that very few ever achieve."

"Thank you, Mr. Karzun," Theo said, relaxing.

The Dragon gave him a look that may well have killed Theo and Julia if the Dragon had wished it to. "I have earned my title, Boy. And while I may respect the struggle of those new to the System, I will not have you treat me as an equal. You will address me as Patriarch Karzun, or you will not address me at all."

Julia stepped forward. "Patriarch Karzun, we are sorry. We did not mean any disrespect. On our world, addressing someone as mister or missus is considered respectful."

The Dragon, who had slowly been growing in height, his appearance shifting to more draconian features, took a breath and then shrunk to his initial twelve feet. Then he looked at Julia. His eyes seemed to shimmer, and then he spoke. "Oh, a Bond skill. And you are a Bonded Pair. You are a very strange and special support type, and you..."

The Dragon looked at Theo and frowned. "...you are something else entirely. Tell me, Boy, and speak as you are comfortable, what do you do for those you care about?"

Theo stepped up next to Julia. He locked eyes with the Dragon Patriarch. "Anything."

The Dragon stared him down for a moment, and Theo did not back down. He was sweating, but he refused to step down. Patriarch Karzun chuckled. "Ha! I like you, Boy. You are young and brash. And I have half a mind to keep you here and train you into a Dragon Knight for my Family. But you are here on an exchange with the System. That would not do well. Instead, I will send my great-great-grandson and his mother to visit you and determine if you are a threat to the Karzun Family. You have helped the Dungeon by achieving this title in this Dungeon. By doing so, you have helped my Family. So I grant you a boon if you can double the number of Mana Leeches I already asked you to kill. Good luck."

With that, the Dragon reached out and shot a ball of fire and lightning from his hand, instantly vaporizing four mana Leeches that had come up from deeper in the room. Then he vanished.

Theo and Julia looked at each other. Then, both of them dropped to the floor, lying back. They lay there in silence for a moment. Then, Julia interrupted, "What is he?"

"Well, at the risk of sounding pedantic," Theo said, "he is Patriarch Karzun, and I am just glad that he didn't want to keep us here."

"Me too." Julia said quietly, and then rose to her feet, "Enough rest. Let's get loot, then go to the Portal. We can rest and then plan."

Theo climbed to his feet. "Okay. Sounds like a plan."

The first thing he did was take the coins and then split them. "Alright, seventy-three silver and thirty-nine copper each."

Then Theo looked at the bodies. He tried to put them into his normal storage on his pouch and could not. He felt a tingle from his process skills and from his pouch. Not wanting to process the two golems, he tried channeling to put them into his raw materials storage, and it worked.

Theo shrugged to himself. "Alright, back to the portal."

They headed off, retracing their steps to the Portal that had brought them here.