AN: Replace me!
***
It had taken two weeks to make a large tunnel under the tomb and the sarcophagus. Measurements were taken constantly by Lanner as Ozy helped make the tunnel.
Once we were under the sarcophagus, a large chamber with a central rectangular pillar was made. The dungeon had a lot of stone or other material before one would run into the spatial barrier that was above and below each layer of the dungeon.
The problem was going upwards into the ornate sarcop...
2025-10-15 00:31:10 +0000 UTC
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AN: Getting ahead enough is a struggle lol. Replace this when edited.
***
Divine Seraphim Glorious Light
My thoughts turned towards Intrepid Spirit. I often thought of my fallen comrades in the Great War. So, few of us were left and there was still so much time. He been quite capable against the forces of darkness and the minions of the Great Evil.
As my thoughts turned in memory, so too did my gaze. I could see why it come to mind. So...
2025-10-14 23:23:04 +0000 UTC
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We had cleared the chamber of monsters. They weren't interesting, but what was interesting was the large doorway with a mural on it and a runic inscription around the edge.
Dungeon features like this door were incredibly rare, but they occurred. The few recorded instances of them painted a picture of natural treasures or death. Often more deaths than natural treasures.
We were on the 12th layer, which had to be considered as well.
"What is it?" Lanner asked.
"A dungeon...
2025-10-14 23:22:08 +0000 UTC
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I stared upwards at the entrenched positions of Super Guild Apex. It had been six years since the start of Exponential. Magical gunfire rained down upon my position and the positions of my fellow Mercenary Guild Members.
“Mud and blood,” Hammer Crusher muttered next to me. I just chuckled. It was the catchphrase of the Mercenary Guild when things got rough. A large explosion from a cannon blast went off a short distance away, blowing mud and debris into our foxhole.
“Well it...
2025-10-14 23:00:05 +0000 UTC
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I looked at the figure that had emerged from a tunnel in the chamber we had just cleared. While they didn't look overly strong, I was on my guard. They looked human, but one could never be sure.
"Peace for peace. Fist for first," I called out.
"Oh. Another human? Here. Peace for peace. Fist for fist," the man declared.
The tension in the air eased slightly.
"You got siloed into this section of the dungeon as well?"
"Siloed. That is a good way to put it. Kill any ...
2025-10-14 04:28:02 +0000 UTC
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I had been thinking I wanted to find and fight Abnormals to find natural treasures of the dungeon. But after the last fight, I had no interest in such things.
Even after five full days of rest, my health and stamina reserves were slightly below their maximum, and my Mana reserves were at half.
As for my heavy armor, it was a complete mess. Everything was damaged except my boots. The gloves tore. My belt was partially ripped apart. My plate armor had more holes than chain mail.
...
2025-10-14 03:30:07 +0000 UTC
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There was an explosion, and The Abnormal stubbled back.
Several more explosions followed as Lanner used up all his wands.
I could have kissed the gnome right then. Good job!
My armor and body protested as I ran. As the monster turned its head, I circled it, exposing Lanner to attack. I attacked the monster's side.
"SOUL STRIKE!"
I aimed for a weakened point in the monster's armor after I put everything into the thrust. Several more wand blasts stunned th...
2025-10-14 02:34:44 +0000 UTC
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I hummed while looking around. We had descended to the 11th layer and had been clearing chambers for a while now. Everything was dead, but my Danger Sense hadn't subsided.
"There is something hiding," Lanner said as he carefully approached me, with a wand out.
Ozy was flying up above, looking for anything out of the ordinary. The chamber we were in had Feathered Humanoids. We finally took them all out, but it was a struggle.
This was the fourth and last chamber for the day. ...
2025-10-14 02:32:43 +0000 UTC
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Anthony
“I was surprised when you suggested you wanted to meet with Faisal Bin Hamad Al Saud in person at this board meeting to hand over control. I know you hate travel,” I said while looking over at April. I still wasn’t sure why she had wanted me to travel with her.
“There is no need to go to New York City. We are going somewhere else,” she said coldly. I felt a slight sense of fear from this girl. We were skipping the board meeting? That would not go...
2025-10-13 23:00:04 +0000 UTC
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"This chamber is already cleared," I said, frowning.
We had come up on the tail of another group. And the only groups down here were beastkin. Demons wouldn't fight other monsters as far as I knew, since checking the directions the demon I had killed came from revealed chambers with monsters in them.
Ozy let me know he knew which way they had gone and their route. If this were the Eldarin continent, I would have avoided the other team. That would have been the polite thing to do.<...
2025-10-13 22:26:48 +0000 UTC
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Level: 20
Experience: BLOCKED
Healing: 520/520
Stamina: 630/630
Mana: 890/890
Class: Tier 1, Adult Human (Blue)
Effect: Increased Skill Acquisition (+10%), Increased Learning Speed (+10%), Increased Stat Gain (+10%), Increased Physical Gain (+10%), Increased Mental Gain (+10%)
Vitality: 52 ()
Endurance:
2025-10-13 15:45:23 +0000 UTC
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Ozy remained asleep and limp. While he rested a lot, he rarely went into a deep sleep like he had fallen into after eating the demon's monster core. I was keeping him in a cloth harness that went over one shoulder and rested on my hip.
It had been five days since the battle, and we had kept our distance from the passage to the surface. We had tried to follow the path of the demon to escape this part of the dungeon, but that had failed. I was going to head in the opposite direction and l...
2025-10-13 04:06:38 +0000 UTC
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Samual Ferris
A golden cube hung in front of me after I had defeated the grim reaper. I knew what I wanted. I wanted to go home. “Earth, I choose Earth, I want to go home,” I said.
Others might have chosen power or a weapon, but I wanted to go home. That was my greatest desire. I had a family there I wanted to see again. Nothing was going to stop me since I got a wish.
A gold light enveloped me and I was in a large white room. “Hello? Was that a simula...
2025-10-12 23:31:09 +0000 UTC
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“Artifex. Anything else you want to say about yourself?” I asked.
“Just that I am not an enemy. I can sense your doubt and you are right to harbor it. But the situation is complicated.”
“Uncomplicate it,” I countered.
“You want trust. A rare and valuable commodity. Very well, let us speak of things. Sit, and be welcome,” Artifex twitched a finger and a chair materialized to the front and to the side. I sat down.
“Are you the System or not?” I asked....
2025-10-12 22:43:53 +0000 UTC
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I looked around and saw that I had wiped out all the initial monsters, but my Danger Sense hadn't gone down yet. That was just the first wave, and there could be a demon or a Champion coming from the lower layer.
After deploying the second round of stone plates, I pushed Mana into them. I figured out the timings beforehand to slightly delay their activation, making them all activate simultaneously. I withdrew to the tunnel's opening. Monsters poured from above and below the passage. Als...
2025-10-12 16:53:26 +0000 UTC
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Lazarus The Demon
My prey had escaped into the White Wastes. While my injuries had been severe, I had a trace of their Mana. It was one skill I had gained from the beastkin. I had never considered it important before. I would either kill my target if they were weaker, or run away.
This was the first time that a weaker creature had defeated me. I didn't like it.
Now I was tracking them down. I looked up at the overcast sky. At least the sun hadn't broken thro...
2025-10-12 15:13:13 +0000 UTC
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We passed through the chambers that represented the 9th layer. It was really messing up my dungeon terminology with the dungeon being laid out like this. The chambers were broken apart. The floors were rubble with almost all the environmental effects being cold effects.
As we made our way through the tunnel to the next chamber, which represented the Mana density of the 6th layer, the Mana spiked upwards rapidly. I slowed down while gesturing to Lanner to remain behind with Ozy.
Si...
2025-10-12 06:40:18 +0000 UTC
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We spent the night in silence, contemplating our situation. It just kept getting worse. Even though we went back, our position was a low Mana point after returning to the room with standard 6th layer monsters.
However, after we went back through the tunnel, everything had changed. The setup was altered, featuring a monster chamber five levels up, with greater Mana, and belonging to the 7th layer.
The dungeon had replaced our original route. After returning to the monster-filled ch...
2025-10-11 22:59:13 +0000 UTC
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Slowly walking forward, I kept myself focused and alert. The white stone bridge I walked on had no railing or pillars beneath it. It was slightly elevated above the surface of the water, but not by much.
The chamber was massive. Without energy and alien engineering, there was no way such a large enclosed space should have been possible. The doorway slid shut behind me. I didn’t glance backwards, that would be weakness.
I refused to show weakness in front of the Avatar. It took s...
2025-10-11 22:57:19 +0000 UTC
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The monsters all died as I landed on a piece of floating bedrock. The Southwest corner had nothing like I had expected, but the Northwest corner had level 8 and level 9 zones. This was a change from the Southeast corner where the islands had level 7 and level 8 zones
All my skills were fully upgraded with super skill points. I didn’t pay attention as the point crystals fell away into the inky void below. The turbulence would have thrown another person wildly about, but I had no such f...
2025-10-11 22:56:35 +0000 UTC
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“Tim, it is good to see you,” I greeted the leader of the Illuminati outside of Exponential.
“April. Your offer was quite generous,” he said. I nodded at this statement. Tim’s bank account had grown quite a bit to seven figures to keep him loyal during the transition process.
“I am glad you think so. You could have tried shopping around, but you didn’t,” I replied while looking at him intently to see if he was going to try and deceive me.
“With a lot more s...
2025-10-10 23:00:01 +0000 UTC
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My Danger Sense grew.
We were working our way through the chambers on the 1st layer.
Lanner fought with everything except his wands. I hoped he would improve his other abilities. I might also improve soul skills while observing him with Ozy.
"Lanner, behind me," I said and drew my sword.
Ozy effortlessly eliminated the final monster. As I faced the tunnel of danger, Lanner quickly hid behind me.
Out of the tunnel stumbled a sickly man I hadn't expected. It was Ha...
2025-10-10 22:10:46 +0000 UTC
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AN: This note will be removed, when chapter replaced with edited version.
***
My Danger Sense grew. We were working our way through the chambers on the 1st layer. I was having Lanner fight with everything but his wands. I wanted him to work on his other skills. I could also work on soul skills while watching him along with Ozy.
“Lanner, behind me,” I said and drew my sword. Ozy finished off the last monster easily. Lanner quickly retreated behind me as I turned towards t...
2025-10-10 22:10:03 +0000 UTC
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Having put on his warm clothes, the gnome Lanner came out to look at the surface with me. I used Fireballs to melt the snow and ice blocking the dungeon's entrance.
"Light Orb."
Everything, including the sky, was pitch black. It was bitterly cold. I could sense my body becoming numb.
I looked at Lanner.
"Fire Blade." A wave of heat washed over us.
"Cold. So cold," he muttered. "Also dark. Just snow and ice."
I gestured with my fiery blade ...
2025-10-10 22:09:19 +0000 UTC
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"Take care. Eat well. You still have growing to do." Lanner's mother hugged him and was crying. He was incredibly awkward.
Ozy was resting on my shoulders. He had enjoyed his napping and time off, the lazy monster. But he had experienced such situations during my time at the College. When it came time to fight, he would be ready.
"Congratulations. I just heard you were promoted to become Chief Spokesgnome," I told Baldeenk.
"Justin, I appreciate your thanks. I would offer to...
2025-10-10 22:08:15 +0000 UTC
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I brought up my mega blade and deflected the attack to the side, as I continued to spar with a sword focused Champion in one of the private training rooms of the Mercenary Guild. That was something that had been arranged, training sessions where people could hire others for their help. I offered build consultation at the highest price. No one had taken advantage of it yet, but I was taking advantage of hiring others.
My ability to move in Exponential was already quite good. My experienc...
2025-10-09 23:00:16 +0000 UTC
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"Stealth is the key stealth skill, obviously, but there are several supporting skills," Gribble Zickleseckle said.
He was Baldeenk's cousin and stealth expert.
"Deception is a key supporting skill," he said, and I nodded.
"A social skill. I know it. Great for surety of movement and emotions."
"Ah, a fellow expert. How high level is your stealth skill?"
"Empowered Stealth, level 18," I offered freely, and he hissed slightly at that, shaking his head in dismay.
...
2025-10-09 22:00:05 +0000 UTC
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"I am Tutor Merrywhistle Stouthand. The councilors asked me to explain counter-divination skills."
"Greetings, Tutor Merrywhistle Stouthand. I am Justin Burnstock. Thank you for instructing me."
The older gnome nodded, and we both took our seats.
"Divination skills are a curse and a blight. They pry out secrets using the lingering traces left behind in Mana. The thoughts you have leak into Mana. This Mana exits your body and interacts with the Mana of the dungeon and the wor...
2025-10-09 21:59:36 +0000 UTC
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Safan and I were sitting together, and no other gnomes were present. Baldeenk had some political issues to attend to, and Safan was handling the exchange of knowledge personally.
"Over the thousands of years we have lived in the dungeon, we have discovered three key facts down here. Gnomes could consider this knowledge treasured."
I just nodded along politely, waiting for him to get to the point.
"The first key bit of knowledge is that the dungeon is not infinite. There are ...
2025-10-09 21:59:03 +0000 UTC
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Gnomish Councilor of External Relations Baldeenk Zickleseckle
"This is an outrage!" I let out a sigh as he continued to rant at the Chief Spokesgnome and other councilors. It's a dereliction of duty. Violation of public trust. A gnome wanting to leave. Ungnomish!"
"Enough," the Chief Spokesgnome declared, and he instantly fell silent. "Let me review the terms of the deal personally."
I handed over the written documents. The councilors received copies. Safan ...
2025-10-09 21:58:18 +0000 UTC
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