Chapter 39-40

Chapter 39

Meditation – Level 12 → Level 65

Meditation (Silver – Support Skill) – Level 26

Mana Recovery: +141% per minute while meditating

Stamina Recovery: +103% per minute while meditating

Once I brought Meditation to level sixty-five, I sat down and just rested. 

With Meditation powering up my rest, I’ve been punching through rooms at a staggering pace. It took me about four hours of sitting around and meditating to recoup my full mana and stamina. I know it sounds like a lot, but when you consider it’d otherwise take a full night of rest, it’s nothing. Plus, the Skill will only improve from here. 

The first floor has about twelve rooms and three red crystal side rooms. 

I’m at the last one, which is a massive array of traps that took me no longer than two minutes to deactivate. 

I look at the floating blades that would have followed pretty much any adventurer until they pierced their head, right in-between their eyes, with a smirk.

“It kind of feels like cheating,” I smile like a fox. “And it kind of is.”

With The Grimoire Extraordinaire telling me the flaws of every trap mechanism and Architect’s Insight to help me visualize it, this has been the easiest clear. Trap rooms barely pose any danger to me. Monsters are still tough, but with the new levels, it’s been much easier than I would have otherwise thought. 

Veins of Fire – Level 84 → Level 97

Furnace Core – Level 19 → Level 49

Flameform Blueprint – Level 17 → Level 50

Infernal Thread – Level 20 → Level 60

Architect’s Insight – Level 73 → Level 98

Hellspire – Level 24 → Level 74

Mana Pool – Level 94 → Level 100

Echo Pulse – Level 84 → Level 100

Infernal Architect (Platinum) – Level 17 → Level 31

Name: Jacob Cloud

Class: Infernal Architect (Platinum) – Lv. 31

Core Skills:

Hell’s Sword – Lv. 100 (Gold – Offensive)

Fire Slash – Lv. 100 (Silver – Offensive)

Fire Shield – Lv. 100 (Silver – Defensive)

Fire Armor – Lv. 100 (Silver – Defensive)

Fire Walk – Lv. 100 (Silver – Movement)

Veins of Fire – Lv. 97 (Gold – Support)

The Grimoire Extraordinaire (Rainbow – Support)

Class Skills:

Furnace Core (Passive) – Lv. 49

Flameform Blueprint (Active) – Lv. 50

Infernal Thread (Passive) – Lv. 60

Ember Keystone (Active) – Lv. 1

Architect’s Insight (Passive) – Lv. 98

Hellspire (Active) – Lv. 74

Ignition Array (Active) – Lv. 1

Attributes:

Strength (STR): 58

Dexterity (DEX): 95

Endurance (END): 61

Vitality (VIT): 86

Intelligence (INT): 151

Spirit (SPI): 154

Wisdom (WIS): 121

Charisma (CHA): 18

Luck (LCK): 10

Unassigned Points: 110

Other Skills:

Iron Grip Lv. 100 (Iron)

Minor Endurance Lv. 100 (Iron)

Minor Night Vision Lv. 32 (Iron)

Echo Pulse Lv. 84 (Bronze)

Minor Cookery Lv. 34 (Iron)

Minor Strength Lv. 100 (Bronze)

Light Lv. 67 (Bronze)

Pickaxe Mastery Lv. 81 (Bronze)

Minor Mineral Sense Lv. 72 (Bronze)

Mana Pool Lv. 100 (Silver)

Meditation Lv. 65 (Silver)

The Skill that I leveled up the most was Hellspire. The reason it got so many levels is because Hell’s Sword isn’t damaging enough to the Glass Golems, not these Empowered ones at least. So, having to primarily rely on the same Skill over and over, part by habit and part through the Grimoire, I managed to level it up more than the others.

I’m currently back in the first room where I left all my loot. It’s getting boring to ferry it back every time, but there’s really no other solution. I could, theoretically, just leave it around and swipe it back on the way back from the Boss, but I can still only carry so much at once, meaning I’d still have to do a bunch of trips. This way, I get to walk around after the fights, at least. 

Plus, if I have to be completely honest, I feel way more comfortable meditating in the first room than close to the next. I keep getting this ominous feeling while I’m out there. Echo Pulse in not really catching anything, but it feels like something is watching me.

Anyway, there are more important things to think about. The ominous feeling never follows into the first room, meaning that whatever is after me, it cannot access this place. 

I look at the small mound of Skill Crystals I’ve accumulated. 

I have about two dozen Glass Explosions and Glass Cannons, which seem to be dropping from the Glass Golems and the traps like they’re free candy. I also got two more Meditation Skill Crystals. 

But then, among the miscellaneous Skills, I’ve gotten general Skills that I didn’t actually expect to drop here. I guess that Dungeons don’t only drop specific Skills, but that they can spawn a lot of general ones as well. 

And it just happens to be the case that a few of those are perfect for me.

Bronze Grip (Bronze)

Intermediate Endurance (Bronze)

Intermediate Strength (Silver)

I quickly absorb all three. 

Bronze Grip has replaced Iron Grip.

Intermediate Endurance has replaced Minor Endurance.

Intermediate Strength has replaced Minor Strength.

I check the list of my Skills once again. 

Other Skills:

Minor Night Vision Lv. 32 (Iron)

Echo Pulse Lv. 84 (Bronze)

Minor Cookery Lv. 34 (Iron)

Light Lv. 67 (Bronze)

Pickaxe Mastery Lv. 81 (Bronze)

Minor Mineral Sense Lv. 72 (Bronze)

Mana Pool Lv. 100 (Silver)

Meditation Lv. 65 (Silver)

Bronze Grip Lv. 1 (Bronze)

Intermediate Endurance Lv. 1 (Bronze)

Intermediate Strength Lv. 1 (Silver)

The second floor is going to be even easier. 

---

I step through the portal onto the second floor, bracing for another furnace blast. Instead, the air chills. Vapor clings to my skin, curling low around my boots. The light changes—no more direct sunlamps or burning reflections. Instead, the world takes on a cold, bluish tint. The glass here is different: less warped, more transparent, almost like sheets of ice fused into the walls.

The passage opens into a broad antechamber. The silence feels wrong. I take a slow breath, pulse Echo Pulse, and let the wave fan out through the floor.

Shapes emerge in the mist. At first I think it’s more golems, but their silhouettes are smaller, faster. Dozens of lean, low-to-the-ground figures prowl at the edge of my perception, tails sweeping glass dust with their claws tapping on the hard floor.

[Glass Hounds – Level 20]

They’re everywhere. Each one is a wolf built from panels of smoky glass, joints thin as razor wire, teeth and claws diamond-bright. They pad back and forth, tongues of blue-white flame flickering behind their translucent ribs.

Behind them, deeper in the chamber, hulking figures stand in silent ranks—Glass Golems, even bigger than the ones from the previous floor, their eyes burning with a cold light.

Why would the Dungeon throw a bunch of Level 20 Glass Hounds in with Empowered Golems that could crush them just by tripping over them? Doesn’t make sense. I check the Grimoire for clues.

[Grimoire Extraordinaire – Analyze: Glass Hound]

A spread of flaws and notes rolls across my vision.

Glass Hound (Bronze – Monster) – Level 20

Major Weaknesses:

Jaw Connection: Mandible plates connected by a single mana joint; strong enough for a bite, but a precise strike can shatter the whole jaw.

Neck Vein Junction: Exposed mana filament just below the jaw; break it, the head falls off.

Leg Sheath: Rear legs only half-shielded; a heavy blow can snap them clean.

Core Stability: Core floats free, only anchored at two points. High impact or a blast Skill can jostle it loose—instant kill.

Optic Vein Clusters: Eyes transmit mana directly; blinding the hound for a second overloads their senses and leaves them stunned.

Tail Spike: Fragile. If snapped, they lose balance and coordination.

Secondary Weaknesses:

Flammable. Low resistance to fire-based Skills.

Sensitive to vibration; high-pitched sounds can scramble their senses.

Slow recovery if knocked prone.

I scroll through the list. Compared to the golems, which barely had one or two flaws, these things are walking collections of vulnerabilities.

I’m confused.

Why would the Dungeon, the Crucible, an Elite Dungeon no less, give me weaker monsters to deal with? 

I shrug and summon two Hell’s Sword, one per hand.

Then, I decide that, you know what, let the Skill do the dirty work.

And I let the swords levitate and shoot toward the monsters.

---

By the time the second day of Jacob’s Dungeon run rolls around, the Adventurers’ Guild doesn’t look anything like it did when he first went in. The place has turned into a half-carnival, half-stakeout. The crowd isn’t just gamblers and haters anymore—it’s merchants, old men with their grandkids, cooks with trays of food, even half a dozen off-duty guards, all taking turns staring up at the Dungeon Map.

Guildmaster Dorn sets up a sort of command post under the halo, flanked by clerks scribbling bets and a couple of junior scribes noting anything unusual. He gnaws on a greasy strip of roast lamb and waves it for emphasis as he talks.

He was not happy to pay the bet to Felisia and Sir Greyson, but enough people bet big on Jacob failing in the first few rooms that he still managed to make money from them. He himself had refrained to bet too heavily, having a whiff, a hunch that there could have been trouble.

Guildmaster Dorn, at the end of the day, had seen plenty of talent passing by the Adventurers Guild. He had immediately understood that Jacob was no ordinary kid. However, never in his greatest fantasy he could have been convinced that he could have taken the first floor of the Smoldering Glass Crucible just like that. 

Sir Greyson and Felisia stand together this time, arms crossed, both tense. Felisia hasn’t slept much. It shows in the way she presses her lips thin and doesn’t even bother glaring at Dorn. Greyson’s face looks carved from stone.

Guildmaster Dorn doesn’t care. He loves an audience. He gestures at the glowing map where the green dot that is Jacob inches into a new floor, a cluster of red marks flickering ahead.

“There you go, folks,” Dorn says, loud enough for everyone to hear. “He’s about to hit the second floor. This is where the fun starts. See all those small red dots?” He jabs his thumb at the edge of the projection, grinning. “Glass Hounds. Mean little bastards. Not as strong as the golems—” he points to the four hulking red dots clustered at the back of the chamber, “—but don’t let that fool you.”

A kid sitting on a merchant’s shoulders pipes up. “Aren’t hounds easy? My cousin killed a bunch with a Fireball scroll.”

Guildmaster Dorn snorts. 

“That’s Hollow hounds. These are Crucible hounds. They don’t fight like normal monsters. The hounds here act in packs, as smart as any Knight’s war dog. They retreat, bait you, never let you land a clean shot until the golems move. And once the big ones start walking? The hounds circle back and hit you from every side. Classic pincers. The only reason they’re even on the second floor is to trip up idiots who think they’re getting a breather after the first.”

Someone in the crowd, a tall adventurer with a broken nose, raises his voice. “Why put them together at all?”

“Because it’s an Elite Dungeon, genius,” Dorn says, spitting a fleck of lamb bone onto the floor. “It doesn’t want you clearing it. It wants you dead. Nobody short of a first-year Ytrial recruit—a good one—is supposed to clear a floor like this solo. If you’re anything short of a genius, you’re lunch. Simple as that.”

A merchant woman grins at her friends. 

“Maybe the little rat finally bit off more than he can chew.”

A clerk—one of the newer ones, eyes still bright—asks, “He’s done more than anyone thought. You think he really dies here?”

Dorn looks up at the map. The green dot—Jacob—holds at the threshold. The red dots, the hounds, drift back and forth, restless.

“The first floor could be gamed. This is going to be a test of fighting ability like nothing else. The hounds will wait him out, make him tired. The golems will start creeping in and if he makes even one mistakes, he’ll be torn apart.”

“He gets what he deserves,” a sharp-nosed noble says. “No one cheats death this many times.”

“Watch. Even if he’s clever, the moment he commits, the hounds pull back, the golems close in, and he gets pincered. No trick’s going to get you through that.”

Felisia’s jaw tightens. Greyson doesn’t react. They both stare at the map.

Then the map shifts.

One red dot blinks out.

A pause.

Another goes grey.

Then a third.

It keeps happening. One after another, the red hounds vanish from the map, every few seconds, until there are none left in the pack.

The room goes dead quiet.

Guildmaster Dorn stops chewing. 

“What in the—”

Someone in the crowd whispers, “He’s picking them off. One at a time.”

A scribe glances at Guildmaster Dorn, unsure. 

“Sir, those hounds aren’t supposed to go down like that. He’s not even close to them—”

“Shut up,” Dorn snaps, but his voice loses its swagger.

Before anyone can recover, the big red dots start to shift. The golems move.

The green dot—Jacob—darts through the map. Then a golem dot flickers and turns grey. Then another. And another.

No one says a word. Even the loudest detractors—those who spent all morning mocking Jacob—stand in slack-jawed silence as every monster on the second floor starts dropping. Not in a chaotic melee, not in a protracted stand-off—just steady, surgical elimination.

A woman from the crowd finally breaks the silence. “Is he… is he actually solo-clearing the Crucible?”

A junior adventurer shakes his head. “That’s not possible. Even a Silver Rank Adventurer wouldn’t be this swift.”

Guildmaster Dorn finally manages to speak. 

“There’s no way. The hounds alone would’ve overwhelmed him if the golems moved. There’s no room to run, nowhere to hide—he should’ve been dead in the first two minutes.”

Sir Greyson just smiles—a thin, grim line. Felisia lets out the faintest sigh.

Dorn glares at the halo, searching for an error. He finds none. There is just one green dot now, moving steadily toward the exit of the second floor.

The entire Guild floor feels like it is holding its breath.

And one question starts to creep even in the greatest skeptic’s mind.

Is the kid actually going to clear the Smoldering Glass Crucible?

Chapter 40

The two Hell’s Swords slice out from my hands, trailing burning arcs through the cold vapor. I feel Veins of Fire open in my chest, pulsing outwards, sending a steady, volcanic current through every channel in my arms and up my wrists.

The hounds hesitate when the swords hang in the air, but I don’t give them a chance to scatter. With a snap of my fingers, both blades fly for the nearest Glass Hound.

The first sword catches the hound as it leaps sideways, aiming straight for the neck junction the Grimoire highlighted. The glass splits clean, the hound’s head tumbles away, and the rest of the body collapses into shards and dust. The second sword carves low, shearing through the rear leg sheath of another hound. The creature tries to recover, but it stumbles and howls—a warped, brittle noise that echoes off the crystal walls.

That howl is a signal. Every hound pivots toward me, eyes blazing with blue flame. Their pack instincts kick in; three circle wide, two rush from the front, tails arched and ready to strike. I let Veins of Fire surge, pushing a wave of mana through my arms, and call the two Hell’s Swords back. The blades curve in midair and spin around me, always keeping the hounds at bay.

Echo Pulse flickers, overlaying the floor with paths—pack movements, weak points, every pulse of mana in the monsters. The Grimoire flashes more flaws for each hound: neck, rear legs, optic veins, exposed core. I send both swords darting for the hounds flanking my left, while I ready Hellspire in my hand.

The first Hell’s Sword punches through a hound’s exposed core. Mana erupts, the monster crumples. The second slices a tail spike, and the beast loses its balance. I finish it with a blast of Fire Slash as the first Hell’s Sword comes back to my hand, shattering its side. 

Shards explode across the floor, but the hounds keep coming, trying to box me in, always waiting for the golems to catch up.

The golems start to move—slow at first, then with gathering momentum, every step shaking the glass. Their eyes are locked on me, their fists already rising. I can feel the pressure in the air; their cores burn hotter than anything else in the room.

I refuse to let them surround me. I pick the sparsest part, activate Fire Walk and Flameform Blueprint, pushing my movement Skill to the maximum, and, once I’m almost in range of the Glass Gloem barring my path, I vault and, while in the air, I flick the Hellspire behind its neck. 

The golem’s head turns, too slow. The spear detonates. A wave of molten glass explodes out and the monster collapses, shattering into the floor with a crash that rattles my teeth.

All those Attributes are really making a difference now. 

The next golem tries to flank me, but my levels make the difference. I don’t need to be perfect now, not with these stats. Even when I miss the dead center of the flaw, the Hell’s Sword still buries deep, breaking the spiral layers, splitting glass until the core is exposed. I ram another Hellspire into the break and, again, let it detonate.

A third golem swings. I dodge with a burst of Fire Walk, keep the blades spinning, then drive both Hell’s Swords straight through the golem’s exposed leg seam. Glass fractures, splinters, and the monster falters, falling hard. I finish it with a Hellspire and watch the detonation with glee. 

I keep moving, never letting up. The last golem is bigger, heavier, its core burning like a forge. I push every drop of Veins of Fire through my arms, call both swords in, and slam them through the seam at its hip. The Grimoire’s overlay tells me the joint will give way, and when it does, I send a Hellspire in and force the blast.

…

The last golem crashes down, pieces of reinforced glass scattering across the floor, mana fading from its core.

I stand alone in a room of broken hounds and shattered golems. 

Veins of Fire – Level 97 → Level 100

Furnace Core – Level 49 → Level 60

Flameform Blueprint – Level 50 → Level 60

Infernal Thread – Level 60 → Level 70

Architect’s Insight – Level 98 → Level 100

Hellspire – Level 74 → Level 90

Echo Pulse – Level 84 → Level 100

Intermediate Strength – Level 1 → Level 20

Intermediate Endurance – Level 1 → Level 20

Bronze Grip – Level 1 → Level 15

Infernal Architect (Platinum) – Level 31 → Level 40

Name: Jacob Cloud

Class: Infernal Architect (Platinum) – Lv. 40

Core Skills:

Hell’s Sword – Lv. 100 (Gold – Offensive)

Fire Slash – Lv. 100 (Silver – Offensive)

Fire Shield – Lv. 100 (Silver – Defensive)

Fire Armor – Lv. 100 (Silver – Defensive)

Fire Walk – Lv. 100 (Silver – Movement)

Veins of Fire – Lv. 100 (Gold – Support)

The Grimoire Extraordinaire (Rainbow – Support)

Class Skills:

Furnace Core (Passive) – Lv. 60

Flameform Blueprint (Active) – Lv. 60

Infernal Thread (Passive) – Lv. 70

Ember Keystone (Active) – Lv. 1

Architect’s Insight (Passive) – Lv. 100

Hellspire (Active) – Lv. 90

Ignition Array (Active) – Lv. 1

Attributes:

Strength (STR): 70

Dexterity (DEX): 95

Endurance (END): 73

Vitality (VIT): 86

Intelligence (INT): 151

Spirit (SPI): 154

Wisdom (WIS): 121

Charisma (CHA): 18

Luck (LCK): 10

Unassigned Points: 155

Other Skills:

Minor Cookery Lv. 34 (Iron)

Minor Night Vision Lv. 32 (Iron)

Light Lv. 67 (Bronze)

Pickaxe Mastery Lv. 81 (Bronze)

Minor Mineral Sense Lv. 72 (Bronze)

Mana Pool Lv. 100 (Silver)

Echo Pulse Lv. 100 (Bronze)

Meditation Lv. 65 (Silver)

Bronze Grip Lv. 15 (Bronze)

Intermediate Endurance Lv. 20 (Bronze)

Intermediate Strength Lv. 20 (Silver)

Veins of Fire and Architect’s Insight have reached level one hundred. That was, to a degree, expected. 

There is something in me that keeps changing the more I fight with the Grimoire. I don’t even know how to describe it, exactly, but the fact that Intermediate Strength and Intermediate Endurance have leveled up nineteen times each is not because I dedicated who knows how much attention to them. And I haven’t been lifting weights or doing exercises during the fight. 

No, what happened is something completely different.

The more I get used to scanning for flaws and fixing my Skills, the more it becomes a matter of second nature to keep making adjustments on the go. 

I could feel my body moving slightly wrong, my breathing, the way my energy was being channeled. 

And what did I do? 

Nothing much, I simply made some adjustments. 

It’s completely natural for me by now because I have this nagging feeling when a Skill doesn’t work properly, and I can’t help but try to fix it. 

I stare at the system’s summary of my growth and the number that matters most right now: one hundred and fifty-five unassigned attribute points. I know this haul could change everything.

I stand in the empty Dungeon chamber and weigh my options.

Once the points go in, they are locked unless I get my hands on a rare respec item, and even then, I’d need a fortune to buy it.

My stats are already monstrous for my level.

That’s all thanks to the fact that Infernal Architect is not only a Platinum Class, but it’s also some super-rare, super-secret variant. I know that the Attributes I get each level don’t sound that impressive, but trust me, Attributes are hard to come by. A normal Class would have half the Attributes of mine. 

Infernal Architect distributes seventeen pre-allocated Attributes and five Free Attributes. That’s for a grand total of twenty-two. 

A decent first Class that gets up to Platinum, which is rare in itself, before it undergoes any evolution, usually doesn’t give more than ten Attributes. Fifteen is the realm of geniuses, if what Sir Greyson said is to be believed.

Twenty-two? 

That’s terrific. 

It’s probably all thanks to the Rainbow Skill that became part of the core of the Class. 

Which reminds me…

The Grimoire has been giving me tips on things that, initially, I thought would be outside its purview, like walls. What if…

It can’t, right?

It couldn’t be…

“Grimoire, can you tell me which Attributes are defective in my Class at the moment?” 

I hear a few weird sound that make me wince, like gears grinding together and breaking, but then, with a pop, I hear something else.

The Grimoire Extraordinaire’s Description has been updated.

Previous Effect: You're able to detect all the flaws in any Skill or Item.

Previous Effect: You're able to detect all the flaws in any Skill, Item, and Class.

How?

I have heard before of Skills that mutate slightly because of their user’s understanding, but this… 

This is great! I smile to myself.

The Grimoire’s script flashes across my vision.

[Analyzing current attribute profile…]

[Detecting optimization flaws in active attribute distribution…]

Lines of cold text scroll past, faster than I can read them one by one. 

Primary Attribute Flaws:

• Strength lags behind Dexterity and Intelligence by a margin that limits the peak output of Hell’s Sword and Fire Slash when facing high-density materials or enchanted armor in melee. 

• Endurance and Vitality are both strong but do not scale together. There is a risk of stamina collapse during extended Skill use if Endurance is left below Vitality and Dexterity.

• Intelligence and Spirit are both high. However, Skill efficiency is suffering from diminishing returns, especially above one fifty. The next effective breakpoint for Skill damage and Mana efficiency is at two hundred.

• Intelligence at one hundred fifty-one is too low for a Skill breakthrough. Push Intelligence straight to two hundred. 

• Spirit enhances the ability of your body to sustain a high mana output and the control over that output, and while at one hundred fifty-four is high, focusing too many points on Spirit before raising Intelligence wastes efficiency.

• Wisdom improves Mana Regeneration and your Mana reserves, but additional investment is only useful in case of new specific Skill interactions that consume more Mana, which you do not rely on yet.

Secondary Attribute Flaws:

• Luck remains unchanged. Chance-based effects from loot, rare Skill drops, and event triggers remain low.

• Charisma is not yet relevant for combat.

• Minor imbalances between Dexterity and Strength produce wasted effort during rapid movement Skills.

• Endurance is high enough for most combat, but you are not yet at the threshold where you can ignore fatigue in prolonged melees.

• Luck and Charisma can be completely ignored for now.

[Warning: Core breakthrough threshold for Infernal Architect (Platinum) is not yet achieved.]

[Intelligence at 200 unlocks key Class effects:]

• At two hundred Intelligence, the Infernal Architect Class activates its first unique synergy protocol.

• All Hell’s Sword Set Skills—including Veins of Fire, Hellspire, Fire Slash, Fire Armor, Fire Shield, and Fire Walk—receive a scaling multiplier for both damage and efficiency that does not apply below this threshold.

• At this value, Skill evolution chances increase dramatically, and mana cost reductions become permanent for all Class Skills.

• Additional effects tied to Grimoire-based optimization, including flaw analysis speed and secondary flaw detection, double in speed and reliability once you cross the two-hundred Intelligence threshold.

• Furnace Core and Flameform Blueprint gain access to their first advanced formulae, which are locked out below two hundred Intelligence.

• The system detects that your Class was created by fusion with a Rainbow-rank Support Skill. Without maximizing Intelligence, your unique synergy is crippled and your full combat potential remains capped below what the Class can do.

• [Recommendation: Prioritize Intelligence to two hundred to unlock the true Infernal Architect path. All other allocations are secondary.]

Suggested Attribute Allocation (by Grimoire’s optimal breakthrough protocol):

• Intelligence: +49 (raises it to 200, unlocking Class synergy and Skill evolution thresholds)
  Spirit: +16 (raises Spirit to 170, balancing mana output with the new Intelligence)

• Strength: +35 (raises Strength to 105, which brings it over the first threshold, giving you more chances of destroying hard defenses in a physical melee)

• Dexterity: +15 (raises Dexterity to 110, keeping up with Strength once it has reached the threshold)

• Endurance: +20 (raises Endurance to 93, enough to handle extended Skill use—bring it over the one hundred threshold as soon as your next allocation)

• Vitality: +15 (raises Vitality to 101)

• Wisdom: +5 (raises Wisdom to 126)

I follow the distribution.

Attributes Updated:

Strength (STR): 70 → 105

Dexterity (DEX): 95 → 110

Endurance (END): 73 → 93

Vitality (VIT): 86 → 101

Intelligence (INT): 151 → 200

Spirit (SPI): 154 → 170

Wisdom (WIS): 121 → 126

Charisma (CHA): 18

Luck (LCK): 10

Unassigned Points: 0

I flex my hands and I realize my grip is stronger, but what really matters is how the mana flows through my body now. 

This feels all different, I say, smiling at myself. And now I don’t have to fear distributing my Attributes poorly anymore. I can just focus on the fights.

---

I spend five minutes on the battlefield. I pick up the loot, and I do not stop looking around the chamber because I cannot believe I survived. Shards crunch under my boots when I walk. The steam thins as I cross the floor. The corpses of the hounds and golems lie in every direction. I see jagged teeth that have rolled near the wall, and I spot cracked cores lying beside broken limbs.

I find several Skill Crystals. I see Glass Arrow and Glass Skin. I pick up more Glass Explosion shards and a few generic Bronze Skill Shards. 

Then, I resume my run. 

I have the feeling I’m about to stumble on something good, I tell myself. I really wonder how Guildmaster Dorn  feels about me clearing this Elite Dungeon all by myself, taking everything it has.

“Oh,” I realize. “Grimoire, can you tell me if there’s any secret room behind that wall? Actually, let’s go back to the first floor. If there’s anything hidden, any flaw, I’ll find it. This Dungeon will be spotless once I’m done with it.”