Silver Spoon Series

Alan needed a good fight. He had spent a week getting the villagers to the point where they could start training with each other and leveling up in the starter dungeon Indiana had made them. Then he'd had to deal with the mercenary party finally arriving. The reunion with Thadrick had been a bright spot, but it had kept him there for two more days.

He had been surprised at how much trouble that group had encountered in such a simple dungeon, but it was also the reason he had wanted them to break their teeth on it. It seemed they had a better understanding of each other now, but Alan was disappointed that Danny was the one to step up as their leader. It was petty, but he was still holding a grudge. He had been forced to repeat that quest so many times because the twerp had acted so dumb. He knew now that it was the core that was controlling him that was really to blame, but that didn't change his feelings.

Then Alan had been stuck because their tank, Gaud, had needed some specialized healing. Using his minor regeneration spell so soon after the injury made a big difference, but the eyes had a lot of connections with a person's aura and it had taken two sessions to fully restore them. Alan had used the cooldown time in between to set up some magical circles in a newly cleared field. After reading through the papers he had bought on stat boosting fruits, Alan thought he had managed to come up with ones for both dexterity and spirit. He already knew how to make constitution boosting fruit so that would cover almost half of the stats. Combined with the small vein of quartz that some of the miners had discovered, he was finally able to get working on his second prong of strengthening the villagers.

None of the time he had spent there was worthless, but he had grown accustomed to the life of an adventurer, and a busy one at that. It had been too long since he raided a nest or explored a dungeon. Now that his responsibilities at Elstree could be put down for a time, he was ready to get back to leveling himself. There was just one last task he had to complete, however.

After Gaud was healed, Thadrick and his party had run through the starter dungeon again with no issues. That had given Alan enough confidence in them that he thought they could handle the monster horde in the first zone. He still didn't think they could handle a strong monster leaking from the tier two dungeons, though, so he was forced to escort them down to the first zone. It also gave him the chance to make sure they stayed far away from his house.

Lyonel and his party had earned his trust a lot more than these relative strangers. He had a lot of faith in his dwarven friend, but he wasn't going to trust the others with the location of Two Sock's house and the resting place of the dragon egg. After taking them down using an alternate route, he had left them at the mouth of the entrance and told them he would return in seven days. That would give them time to test themselves against the low level beasts, and if they found themselves up to the challenge they could make their way through the starter dungeons, earning their rare stones. If he came back and they were still stuck at the top, then he would have to help them out even more. He really hoped it wouldn't come to that.

With yet another escort task for Danny done, Alan was almost ready to check on his very first town, Amthraxia. That was the name he had chosen when the Network had decided to recognize that little shack and garden he had built as a tier zero village. It had been good training on how the town menu worked, but other than that he hadn't really done anything with the designation. He wasn't going to do anything with it now, either. Instead, he was going to hit a dungeon.

Alan did want to get back and check on things, but while he was here, he could kill two birds with one stone. He needed to help clear some of the dungeons, and the area he was currently in was not assigned to the Corellian party. This way he could scratch his adventurer itch, and help prevent dungeon leaks, before heading back to his house.

He had his own crudely drawn map of the zone and the known dungeons. Doing a quick scan, he located one nearby that he had identified, but never explored. If his memory was correct, it had a time dilation of 1:1, meaning there really wasn't any dilation. The entrance was a trapdoor built right into the grasslands. It had been hard to notice the first time, but once he saw it, it really looked out of place. Alan was past caring about such things, though, he just wanted to see what it had in store for him.

New Quest: The Blighted Crypt

[This formally peaceful resting place of heroes has become the home of a foul necromantic force. Return the residents to their final slumber]

Well, it wasn't a sex dungeon at least. When he thought about the description, Alan said his second prayer in years that it really wasn't a sex dungeon. Unless this was some cosmic joke, it sounded like he was going to be fighting some undead creatures. Zombies, skeletons and the like. He had done it before, and had found that blunt weapons usually worked best. Fortunately his spewn could handle that. Shifting his grip on the weapon, Alan started down the stoneworked passage.

The dungeon setting seemed to be a classical crypt like you'd see in the movies. There were alcoves holding long dead skeletons lining the walls. Whatever was going on didn't seem to be affecting the bodies in this area. After a short walk down the hall, he entered a larger space. It was less than eight meters across, but that was a big change from the narrower passage he had come from. In the center of the room were two stone coffins. Both had their lids pushed aside.

Alan prepared himself, but as the seconds ticked by, nothing happened. This dungeon, like most of them, had enough ambient light that he could see just fine. Just to be sure, though, he cast his light spell on the ceiling and still couldn't see anything. Slowly making his way up to the coffin, he found them empty.

Baffled by what was going on, he continued down the opposite passage. Five more times, Alan came upon larger rooms that contained coffins and all of them were empty. The last couple would be properly referred to as sarcophagi, with ornate carvings adorning the stone sides. Something was clearly up with these empty resting places, but he had seen no sign of any living, or even sorta-living creatures.

At last his exploration came to an end. The final room was over twenty meters across, and in the middle was a raised platform with three steps leading up to it. On top of the platform were seven sarcophagi, with the center one being larger and grander than the others. Kneeling all around this central tomb, were a collection of skeletons wearing plate armor and holding a variety of weapons. There were a lot of swords stuck point first into the stone floor, but also some large axes and mauls.

Quest Update: The Blighted Crypt

[All of the formerly fallen heroes have gathered here to pay their respects to their former king. Your presence has upset them and you will have to end them once again.]

The notification was a minor distraction as all of the skeletons took that moment to stand and turn to face him. There were now fourteen undead warriors glaring balefully at him with glowing green eyes.

Undead: Greater Skeleton (Uncommon) level 11, threat: medium. These skeletons are being animated by a necromantic force and have been empowered by an overflowing dungeon core.

So these things were right at the line that separated quartz from opal rated monsters. There were also fourteen of them compared to one little old Alan. He smiled at the challenge. It had taken him some time to recover from the depression he had been feeling back on Earth and the shock of the coming of the Network. Now, though, he was filled with the fire that had gotten him into the Green Berets, and he was looking forward to this scrap.

This was a lot of opponents, and usually he would handle it by going completely offensive, spewn and pugio. However, against well armored foes who were almost impervious to stabbing attacks, Alan chose to be a little more defense oriented. He took out his tortoiseshell shield, the one he had earned from killing a giant turtle boss. It had taken quite a beating, but the enchantment on it kept it together.

Alan had heard someone refer to the 'patience of the dead' before, and it was on display now. If these skeletons were 'upset' with him, then they had incredible restraint. Yes, there was hatred in their eyes, but they continued to just stand there, staring. It seemed it was up to him to make the first move.

For over a week, Alan had taken a break from adventuring, but that time wasn't wasted. He had spent that time training the villagers in better ways to fight and utilize their weapons. As any teacher will tell you, you will never learn something better than when you have to teach it to someone else. He had a lot of experience with that since training was one of the primary missions of a Green Beret. That time, especially his work advising the adventurers fresh out of the dungeons on their new equipment, had caused him to internalize a lot of the lessons he shared.

He had been an expert in several types of martial arts before the Network ever arrived, but fighting with swords, armor, and maces was not something he had a lot of training in. In coaching others, he had noticed some things he was doing wrong himself. Minor issues with his stance, his form, and even his timing. Now he got to put all of that to good use.

As Alan advanced, the skeletons finally started moving. Rather than rushing him all together, or making a formation to maximize the pressure on him, they came at him in pairs. The first two were wearing some type of lamellar armor. It covered their chests fairly well, but it left large gaps at the shoulders and the flexible nature of it should allow him to damage the bones underneath. It was better against slashing attacks, rather than bashing ones, just like the bony warriors themselves.

They did have rather impressive helmets on to protect their heads, but it left their viscerocranium, or the face of the skull, exposed. With a simple step to the side, Alan avoided the first sword slash. He took the other skeleton's attack on his shield and then drove his spewn straight into the right one's nose cavity. Stabbing attacks are usually pretty ineffective against a skeleton, but the spewn had a lot of material up there and it shattered the whole front of the skill.

A low powered fireball followed this up, and the head literally exploded, the helmet flying across the room. Alan had used this maneuver on a living target before and it had caused an insanely dangerous explosion. With the lack of tissue to boil, and the open space of the shattered skull, it produced a much less violent reaction this time. It was still enough to get the job done though, the headless warrior collapsed in a pile of bones and armor.

The second skeleton had recovered from its blocked attack, and it tried to stab him this time. A step forward while sliding the blow away with his spewn brought him close enough to make its sword a handicap instead of a weapon. A quick chopping blow with the egg shaped mace shattered its right arm, causing the sword to fall to the ground. Pushing against its chest with his shield knocked it back, and a sweeping strike with the edged side of the spewn severed its neck in the gap between the helmet and chest piece.

Even without a head, this warrior kept attacking. Without its sword it was reduced to swinging at him with its bony fists which had a surprising level of strength behind them. After the head landed, the skull had rolled out of the helmet and Alan walked over and stomped it to pieces. The rest of the body finally collapsed. It seemed that shattering the head was sufficient, but cutting it off was not enough.

The next pair was equipped similarly to the first, and fell just as quickly. The pair behind them had the same weapons but their armor was actual plate, although it didn't cover their whole body, only the torso and shoulders. The helmet also had a closed face so he was reduced to cutting through the gap again to sever the head from the body before stomping it. These skeletons showed a decent level of skill with their weapons, but Alan's speed was so much higher than theirs, that his blood was barely pumping as he cut and smashed his way through them.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

By the time there were only a couple of pairs left before the final three, they were wearing almost full plate and had a greater variety of weapons. The heavier axes and mauls actually made his life easier as they rarely had a chance for a second attack after he avoided the first. He tried not to take any more blows directly on his shield, but he could still use it to redirect them away from his body.

The last three were moving faster than the others and their armor was ornate in addition to being functional. Their weapons also looked to be in better shape. In the end it didn't matter. Their helmets actually protected their necks, but a few spewn smashes to the side of their head cans was enough to break the skull inside and end their existence.

Quest Update: The Blighted Crypt

[The remains of the many minor heroes have been returned to their eternal slumber, but the King and his royal guard have been awoken by the violence around them. Give them back the gift of peace and deal with whatever necromantic force is at work here.]

A quick glance at the top of the dais confirmed that the king and his guards were now emerging from their coffins. Their armor was even better than that of the final three from the first wave. There were practically no gaps between pieces and the plates were all decorated with etchings. Their helmets even had feathers.

They all carried slightly different weapons and each looked to be incredibly well crafted. The king himself was wearing the finest armor, was several centimeters taller than the rest, and was carrying a war hammer that was glowing with an eerie green light. It didn't take much of his boosted intelligence to realize that the hammer was most likely the source of the necromantic force. Especially since the hammer's light pulsed slightly in perfect time with the glowing eyes of the remaining skeletons.

This time the monsters came to Alan. They moved together as a unit, forming an inverted V. The effect was slightly spoiled because of the stairs, but it meant that if Alan tried to go after the king then the sides could collapse in on him, pinning him in between. Instead, Alan picked the right leg of the guards and worked his way up. As he did so, the left side attempted to close in and come to their aid.

Once more Alan went with his shield and spewn. The first skeleton guard took the blow to its helmet with no apparent damage. These seemed to be made of sterner stuff. A quick inspection showed that they were still level eleven, but they were now rare instead of uncommon. This was going to be more of a challenge. Alan's smile grew.

These things were durable, so most of his spells wouldn't do much. Alan did have one that he thought would leave a mark, though, but it would take a little time to be effective. Alan started channeling the mana and let the skeletons close in on him some more. Then, once the spell finished, he immediately cast gust to help propel himself away. The skeletons were nimble in a fight, but not particularly fast, so they couldn't clear the area fast enough.

As Alan put some distance between them, a giant rock formed in the air above them and smashed down, knocking their formation asunder. One of the royal guard had the honor of taking Alan's meteor spell head on, and he ended up in a crumpled pile of bones and steel. Those around it also took some serious damage, but they were all knocked off their feet, even the king.

Casting gust again, Alan moved back in to hit them while they were down. He could have stayed at range and cast meteor again, but it was very expensive manawise and he enjoyed mixing it up face to face better. The spell had just been for breaking up their formation, making them more vulnerable. The first guard he encountered was flat on his back and Alan's spewn punched straight through his faceguard and a fire bolt shattered the skull inside while leaving the helm intact, if slightly glowing red.

The second guard was on his hands and knees but his helmet had been knocked off. A quick blow from the egg side of his spewn sprayed bone shards across the room and he moved onto his third victim. This one was in the same position as the last, but it still had its helmet on. With the way it was positioned, however, it left a gap exposing the neck. Alan shoved the tip of his spewn inside and sent another ball of fire to blow it apart.

Four of the six guards were now dead, leaving two more plus the king. Alan was also low on his mana, so it was time to return to basics. Moving to what had been the other side of the V, these skeletons had managed to regain their feet. The first one had lost an arm to his spell, so Alan warded off a blow with his shield and then used the sharp edge of his spewn to cut down through its open shoulder joint, splitting the armor open like a tin can. He really loved how powerful his weapon was.

The next time he dodged the skeleton's strike, he was able to smash its ribcage through the opening on its side. A follow up attack shattered its spine and it collapsed to the ground. The king and the last remaining guard moved on him together. They tried to split up and get one of them behind him, but Alan kept stepping backwards, keeping both of them in front of him. He finally ran out of room when he found himself pressed up against one of the walls of the room. That wasn't bad news since it meant he no longer had a backside to worry about.

Skillwise, the king was almost as good as Alan and the guard was definitely worse. Statwise, Alan had them both beat, but the king's magical hammer was hard for him to block. Not only did it have weight on its side, even more than his spewn, but that aura tried to cling to his weapon every time they met, and he was loath to let that continue. Instead he tried to dodge those blows more, while taking the guard's axe blows to his shield. Fortunately it wasn't a great double bladed axe like Thadricks, instead it was a simple war axe and his shield was holding up just fine so far.

Separately, neither of these opponents would be a problem, but together they were an issue. He had activated mana lode before casting his meteor spell, so he now had some more mana to work with. He cast stone spear and two shafts of rock shot up from the floor, both targeting the king. As expected, neither one penetrated the king's grand armor, but they did push him back enough that Alan had time to finish the guard.

Jumping forward, he let gravity give his blow a boost as he brought the spewn down on the skeleton's helmet. This time he did get a nice dent and it made his opponent stumble. A second blow to the same spot increased the depression and a third split it open and broke the skull inside. Now he just had to deal with the king who had managed to close the distance again, but a notification briefly distracted him.

Talent Upgrade: Hammer Blow → Hammer Blow I

The king's weapon was coming at him and Alan had no choice but to block with his shield. The blow was strong and Alan felt his arm numbing from the force. Not only that, but the green flames managed to cling to the front of the tortoiseshell surface. He didn't want any part of that so he dropped the shield and drew his pugio from storage. He was surprised that when he glanced at it, there seemed to be a white glow shining from the blade.

The king was on him again, the war hammer swinging in a crisscrossing motion. Alan dodged one way and then the other, but he was having trouble finding an opening. Finally one of the arcs of the hammer was a little wobbly and Alan parried with his pugio, pushing the heavy weapon just enough out of line that he could lunge forward with his spewn. That armor looked tough and his plan was to cut it up slowly to weaken it before trying to damage the skeleton underneath.

Alan was so committed to his lunge that he almost missed what happened when his pugio connected with the shaft of the hammer. The soft white glow around his blade met the flickering green of the hammer and a repulsive force pushed them apart. His spewn still managed to punch a hole in the king's chestplate, but as he backpedalled, Alan was focused on his dagger.

It was the first weapon of his own that he had enchanted. When he had done so he had used the strongest mana he knew at the time, holy. If that hammer was infused with some kind of necromantic energy, then perhaps the two manas were fighting against each other. Alan had thought that holy and infernal were opposites, but in RPG games, clerics often had the ability to turn undead, so maybe there was some part of the holy mana that was antithetical to the hammer.

Once again, Alan changed up his fighting plan on the fly. When the king came in again, rather than dodging, Alan started deflecting the hammer with his glowing dagger. Each time they connected, the repulsive power grew, but he also noticed that his dagger started glowing brighter. It also seemed like the hammer's light was dimming, but it was hard to tell because it had started off glowing so intensely.

No longer was he worried about cutting apart the king's armor, instead he targeted its weapon. It was clear now that the hammer's energy was waning, and with it, the king started moving slower. After a couple of minutes of exchanges, it was now his dagger that shined with an inner fire and the hammer that barely glowed. The king was no longer able to stand, forced to fight from one knee.

Alan was still leery of coming in direct contact with the still green hammer, so he kept slicing at it with his dagger. A few more blows and the green glow disappeared all together, and then the king simply collapsed. A nudge with his boot produced no reaction, and a notification let him know that the king was once more fully dead.

Quest Complete: The Blighted Crypt

[You successfully eliminated the force that was reanimating the former heroes and put them to their final rest. Reward: Hammer of Smiting.]

Now that the king's hammer had its enchantment broken, Alan's shield had lost its green glow as well, so he felt comfortable picking it up again. After a brief inspection he stored it back in his ring. Alan had taken to keeping his weapons in his ring, his other gear and loot in his necklace, and anything especially valuable in his spatial storage nipple ring. He still had trouble with the idea that he now had a nipple ring, but it had been necessary to get the dragon egg out of a dungeon. It now provided some extra abilities that other spatial storage items didn't have, and it was easy to conceal.

Looking around he was saddened, but not shocked, to see that all of the fallen warriors had disappeared and there were small collections of loot in their place. It would have been nice to bring all of those weapons and the many sets of armor back for the villagers, but it was normal for dungeon monsters to turn into what Alan was calling 'lootnados'. A swirl of wind and particles would dissolve the carcass into rewards. It was the same thing that happened to the monsters in Indiana's dungeon.

Each of the first round skeletons had left a pile of gold, anywhere from ten to twenty pieces. The king's guard each left behind a large quartz stone, easily the size of Alan's fist. The king left something even better, metal gauntlets. Rather than gloves, these looked more like mittens. It wasn't an item that Alan would use himself, it looked like they would severely limit his hand's ability for fine manipulation, and they would also limit his spell casting. There was a certain golemoid woman, however, who was trying to go the route of a pugilist, and he thought these would be perfect for her.

As Alan left the dungeon, he reflected on his rewards. A handful of presumably valuable quartz stones, almost two hundred gold, a well crafted pair of gauntlets, and a magical hammer. That didn't include the talent upgrade he had scored toward the end of the fight, either. These rewards definitely seemed better than other normal dungeons he had run. It seemed Gaf had been telling the truth when he mentioned the boosted loot from overflowing dungeons.

With his itch to test himself in a real fight at least partially scratched, Alan set out to check on his friend and the egg. It shouldn't hatch for a while still, but nevertheless he still felt anxious to see it.

Aki was enjoying the sensation of wind rushing over her scales. She had managed to consume almost a third of the remaining egg shell and that had provided plenty of material to harden all of the scales on her smaller body. It was to the point now that each small section was harder than a steel coin. Each was tiny, but together they made an entire layer of incredibly flexible armor over her body.

On the size front, she was also happy to notice that she had grown almost twenty-five percent since emerging from the egg a few days ago. She still had her worm body, but she was learning to control it better and she could move quite quickly when she wanted, and her teeth were dreadfully sharp. At the moment, though, she wasn't moving under her own power.

Aki had discovered the joy of riding on her friend TS during their first day together. He had offered her a perch on his head to show off the surrounding area, and she had come to love the feel of the wolf's incredibly soft fur, his warm head heating her own body, and the sensation of incredible speed that TS could manage. That first day he had taken her to see the farm, but then left her behind to go hunting, not wanting to put her in any danger.

When he returned later in the day he found that she had caught one of the rabbits that still raided the farm here from time to time. Aki had her head planted in the furry little monster's chest, and when she lifted it out, she had bits of entrails hanging from her mouth. After that, Aki had been able to convince TS to take her with him on his patrols. He would still sometimes have her climb off before engaging a tougher opponent, but more and more she was riding with him as he fought.

She was occasionally able to contribute in the fights, but usually against the smaller creatures. Aki sensed several dormant powers inside of her, but was unable to unlock them to contribute more effectively. She would have to grow more, both in size and power, before she could use them. That didn't prevent her from acting as a second pair of eyes, and occasionally taking a bite out of opponents that got too close. So far she hadn't found anything that she couldn't bite through. That had led to a new method of attack that they had only recently been able to test out.

One thing that still concerned her was the amount of her captor's mana that she felt inside of her friend. She knew that her own body had a fair amount of it swirling around inside of her from that magical diagram that had surrounded her egg, but TS had even more than that. When she had told the wolf about it, she had thought he would become enraged at the being that had done this to him. Instead he accepted it as the most natural thing in the world. Apparently the being had been infusing food with his mana and feeding it to the wolf.

It had let TS grow to his incredible size, but she knew that it must also be part of the beings attempts to dominate the wolf. She wasn't worried about that for herself since a dragon couldn't be so easily affected, but she vowed to find a way to free her friend from both the being and his mana.