Lucian was met with further resistance from the denizens of the dungeon as he travelled deeper.

  A giant version of the already giant centipede monsters, and more oversized arachnids.

  [Piercing Strike] made quick work of the former, which seemed to rely on its overly thick armor.

  Dealing with the latter was more complicated. The spiders attacked in groups. Individuals, each wouldn’t be much of an issue but together they proved challenging.

  The ability to strike from multiple angles combined with venom that meant any strike could turn the tide of the fight meant Lucian had to fight much more defensively than normal.

  He got bit twice more, but made it out alive - albeit with his body in agony.

  After his fight with the spiders, Lucian decided to limp out of the dungeon to find dinner instead of going further in like an idiot.

  Lucian climbed up the stairs leading to the surface. It felt much longer going up.

  He pushed the door to the convenience store open and pulled a pair of premade sandwiches from the open air cooler. It wasn’t cool anymore, since the power was out, but Lucian thought the sandwiches were probably still fine to eat.

  He did his best to ignore the spreading pain as he ate. He ended up passing out from a combination of pain and exhaustion halfway through the second sandwich.

  Lucian woke up as the light of the morning sun illuminated the store. He pushed himself up off the floor and groaned, “Fuck… God damnit.” He stretched, trying to rid himself of the predictable soreness caused by sleeping on the floor - or maybe it was the after effects of the venom.

  Lucian made his way back to the edge of the pit in the ground that called itself a dungeon and frowned, “I don’t know how these dungeons work, but if there is a boss, I’m gonna kill it and then never come back to this damn place.” He began to descend the spiraling stairs down into the dungeon again.

  He reached the dungeon proper and began to advance through it like before.

  Lucian summoned his sword as a group of spiders approached him. He didn’t wait for them to make the first move.

  Lucian launched himself forward and reached the group with a downward swing, cutting into the first spider. He pivoted over the spider and adjusted his grip on the sword, driving it further down with his body weight before pulling it free and taking a few steps back. The spider dropped dead as he pulled his sword free.

  [Slash] let him deliver a blow to the spider to his left as it turned to face him, cutting off one of its legs and causing it to hiss in pain and anger. Lucian pulled his sword back then drove it forward into the hissing spider’s head.

  He pulled his sword free and backstepped to avoid the last spider lunging at him as the second one fell to the stones.

  Lucian dispatched the last spider in a similar fashion, delivering a few attacks before finishing it off. He felt a level up as he dismissed his sword.

  “Perfect. Level 15, another skill. Lets see my options.”

  Lucian groaned “Damn… No bad choices, huh…” He examined the options presented to him. This was the first time a skill he was offered wasn’t Rank 1, “I guess rank denotes the base quality of the skill, maybe? But if a skill’s level can increase maybe its rank can too.”

  Despite not being Rank 2 like the other options, Lucian felt that [Earthshatter] could be extremely useful, “It scales with two of my stats instead of just one, and seems to provide an area of effect option. Nothing to scoff at, certainly.”

  Lucian moved onto the next skill, [Cloak of Lightning]. It was practically begging him to take it, given the existence of that monster that nearly vaporized him. “It’s a good option, an effective defense against a specific type of enemy - and it also has a damage component in the arcing lightning. The defensive aspect could be effective against that bird that shoots lightning, and the offensive aspect could be useful against groups as well…”

  Lastly, [Spirit Barrier]. This skill interested Lucian a lot. It was a defensive option, sure, but it did provide synergy for his build. He was constantly spending Spirit on [Manifest Weapon], and his other skills were used fairly often as well. The fact that the skill specified it was a small portion of his expended Spirit was disappointing, but Lucian was sure it would add up over time, “The only issue is that over time isn’t what I'm built for. This skill feels like both an investment and a window into a different build path…”

  Lucian mulled it over for a bit.

  Against his better judgement, he chose [Spirit Barrier]. He just couldn’t resist the min maxing synergist inside his heart. “I can allocate stats to make myself better over long fights, and the possible interactions this can have with further skills down the road… I just can’t say no.”

  Lucian put his 3 free points into Endurance, bringing it up to 28.

  Lucian waited 20 minutes for his Spirit to recover, then continued further into the dungeon.

  The next set of spiders proved as little of a problem as the first. As he fought with them, a faint blue aura began to form around him - [Spirit Barrier] at work. He wasn’t able to test the effectiveness of the barrier though, since none of the spiders actually landed a strike against him.

  Eventually Lucian came across the place he had previously encountered the centipede creature, only to find it wasn’t there. “Okay, the creatures aren’t in the same spots each time. I mean, the spiders weren’t in the exact same spots but there just isn’t a centipede here at all. Good to know.”

  Lucian looked around, making sure he wasn’t wrong, before continuing onward.

  It wasn’t long before he found himself facing down another group of spiders, both individually larger than the previous and greater in number, at 5.

  Lucian used [Manifest Weapon] to summon his sword and [Spirit Barrier]’s aura began to envelop him like a translucent blue flame. He summoned the sword with as long and wide of a blade as he could, extending the handle as well for better grip.

  Two spiders charged at him simultaneously, while the other began to space out, one trying to circle around behind Lucian. He met them with a charge of his own. He planted his foot and swung his sword low. The tip of the blade sparked a bit as it scraped against the stone beneath him. The edge made contact with the front legs of one of the charging spiders, cutting through them - Lucian noted the resistance, it was higher than the smaller spiders. It made sense to him, bigger spider thicker exoskeleton.

  The sword lost enough momentum cutting through two of the first spider’s legs that it bounced off the second one’s legs at a weird angle. It bared its fangs and lunged. Lucian used [Quickstep] to rocket backwards out of reach, the expended Spirit intensifying the glow of his barrier.

  The spider that had been circling pounced at him as he came to a stop. Lucian met the pounce with a pivot and [Slash]. His sword cut into the spider but didn’t stop it from slamming into him. The impact sent him back a few feet but didn’t feel as powerful as it might have, dampened slightly by [Spirit Barrier], the aura lost some of its glow as it helped take the hit.

  “That feels like it’s gonna bruise. Thanks.” Lucian shot back towards the now injured spider. It tried to leap away but Lucian was faster, lunging forward to close the distance and stabbing its underside where the two segments of its body connected. He jerked his sword to the side, cutting out through the spider’s midsection.

  The remaining spiders were grouping up away from him.

  He stepped away from it as they both landed and the spider collapsed, dead. “One dead. One injured.” Lucian turned to face the remaining 4 and checked his stats briefly. He was down to 46 Spirit, out of a maximum of 74, “45 once [Manifest Weapon] takes its upkeep…”

  Lucian’s gaze fixed on the injured spider, “That one first.” It was towards the back of the group, but that wasn’t going to stop him.

  Lucian kicked off the ground and leapt up towards the side, aiming for the wall of the cave. He hit it and activated his [Ring of Wall-Clinging] and stuck to the wall, then used it as a springboard to launch himself over the spiders in the front of the group.

  The swung his sword down as he landed on top of the already injured spider, using [Slash] to cut it cleanly down the middle. His sword went through and hit the ground beneath it. Lucian kicked the spider away and turned, swinging his sword to meet the spiders in the group as they turned to face him.

  He landed a shallow cut across one’s face, damaging a large eye. The spider hissed and charged at him. Lucian met it with a thrusting attack. The spider reared up and struck down with its fangs, causing Lucian to strike its underside. Its fangs hit the aura of [Spirit Barrier] and kept coming down, but lost enough momentum from it that Lucian was able to barely pivot out of the way, twisting his sword and pushing it deeper as he moved.

  Lucian grunted and ripped the sword free, dealing further damage before stepping back a few paces. The spider took a few moments but quickly fell to the ground as well, “Three down.”

  The two remaining spiders charged Lucian from two different angles. Lucian rushed forward to meet one of them, weaving to the side at the last second and cutting along its side, severing two legs and making a shallow gash along its body.

  The second spider was faster than he had thought, and Lucian felt it slam into him from behind as he dodged the first. Its fangs broke through [Spirit Barrier] and into his right shoulder. His eyes widened as he felt his shoulder ignite with agony from the spider’s venom.

  Lucian pulled away as hard as he could, [Quickstep]ping away from the spider and dislodging the fangs before they could deliver more venom.

  The pain was spreading quickly. It crept down his sword arm and into his core. “I need to finish this before I pass out.”

  Lucian’s arm began to cramp, the pain would make wielding a sword with it difficult, so he switched hands, passing the glowing blue blade to his left hand.

  Lucian and the spider met again as they both moved forward. Lucian thrust his sword forward, activating [Penetrating Strike] to ensure it worked properly. His blade sunk into the spider’s head, and he twisted it as hard as he could. The spider began to fall to the floor as the already injured one began to approach from the side.

  Lucian pulled his sword free and used [Quickstep], dashing right beside it and thrusting at the cut in its chitin he had made earlier. The spider wasn’t fast enough to react to his skill, and fell dead as the sword pierced deep into it.

  He stumbled backwards, dismissing his sword and leaning against the cavern’s wall, sliding down to sit.

  Lucian was breathing heavily. The pain continued to spread across his chest and arm. It was much worse than before - maybe because the spider was larger, or perhaps just because of where it caught him.

  His vision blurred as the pain became too much and he passed out against the cool stones.