Dungeons Online

"We have a good pace," Tom commented when the two of them reached the thirtieth floor. He took a look at his military-grade watch before raising his eyes at the depths of the corridor ahead. "At this rate, we should be able to make it," he added. 

Ever since Tom obtained the ability to use his former skills, going through the dungeon's floors turned into nothing more but a breeze. Even though the two of them climbed by twenty more floors already, Tom has yet to encounter a single monster or even a boss of the floor that would give him any trouble. 

"How is your training going?" Claudia asked as the two of them moved forward. 

"Relatively good," Tom nodded his head in response before casting a look at the spear in his hand. "Or rather, it's going even better than I expected it to," he added, changing his earlier response. 

Tom's training constituted two things. The first one was pretty straightforward and mundane. With every kill that he would cause with his spear, Tom's proficiency in his skills would rise. 

But that part of his training was easy and applicable by everyone, both the two of them in the dungeon and all the players who joined in the fun through the complicated system of cables and connecting capsules. 

The thing that Tom continued to train with his utmost attention and during every clash he had so far was restraint.

But it wasn't that simple either. From the outside point of view, the complexity of the other part of Tom's training was directly proportional to how easy his other kind of training was. The thing was, for how easy the proficiency training was, the skill to restrain his ability was hellishly hard. 

'Well, there is no need to bother her with all those details,' Tom thought, putting a small, sour smile on his lips. 'But what did I expect from an attempt of creating an ability that didn't exist in the game in the first place?

Tom's inner struggle continued as the two of them moved down the corridor. But Tom didn't claim all the monsters on the way to the next boss of the floor.

"Die!" Claudia shouted, jumping forward and smashing her armored fist into the orc. Even though this pig-like, massive creature was wearing armor to bolster its already impressive defenses, the girl's attack was more than enough for it. 

Once the two entities met, Claudia's fist dug deeply into the monster's armor. But rather than just caving in and then rebounding, the metal of the breastplate kept the shape of Claudia's fist.

'And here I thought that my skills were impressive,' Tom thought, watching the show while swinging his spear as he went. 

The fluid strike was the name of Claudia's second skill. For some reason, the transfer of abilities from the avatars didn't apply to her. She obtained this skill as soon as her real body reached level twenty. Or rather, to be more precise, once she reached level twenty, she was granted this skill. 

'I wish we could have some kind of system to keep track of our levels,' Tom thought, looking at his past memories of adventuring in those dungeons in the form of his avatar. 

While it was only a convenience factor, for some reason, constantly fighting and killing all the opposing monsters was a bit simpler when one could track his or her progress. 'I know we can measure it by the floors we conquer,' Tom thought, raising his eyes at the several corpses of monsters that Claudia left in her wake. 'But still, knowing what levels are, we would be fun,' he said to himself before thrusting his spear into one of the orcs that somehow survived the onslaught. 

The reason behind Tom's high opinion of Claudia's skill was how realistic it was. The ability on its own didn't belong to the domain of physics that Tom could understand. It was its physical effects that worked surprisingly well. 

Normally, when one would attack a metal breastplate or any kind of other equipment, it would spring out. Once the energy of the attack would be hampered by the soft cloth under the armor and then transferred into the wide area of the body, the metal of the armor would spring back to its usual form. 

Claudia's skill was powerful because it forced the armor and flesh of her enemies to remain in the state they were in when the impact reached maximum potential. 

And there were only a few life forms that could survive with their armor permanently embedded into their living flesh. 

"We will reach the boss in no time at this rate," Tom announced. With the return of his skills, it seemed as if a veil suddenly disappeared from his mind, freeing the full potential of his senses and intelligence. That sudden spike of Tom's perception made it an insanely easy task to recall the exact pathing for the dungeons they were traversing. 

"And that means increasing the risk of discovery," Claudia replied, dusting off her gloves. 

'That's right,' Tom confirmed Claudia's words, although only in his mind. There was no need to voice this confirmation out. No matter how important it was, the one thing it could cause was anxiety. 

"Are you sure we are prepared for it?" Claudia asked, refusing to drop the topic. 

"There is nothing we can do to prepare ourselves for it," Tom shrugged his shoulders, once again refusing to elaborate. "If we meet someone on the lower floors, then so be it," he added, pushing ahead to cut the discussion. 

'Well, it's no wonder she's worried about this,' Tom thought, sending a sneaky glance behind. As expected, the girl was sulking. 'I would be worried that someone would meet and recognize me as well,' he added in his thoughts, imagining such a scenario. 

'Wait, just what the hell am I thinking?' Tom suddenly stopped in his tracks, baffled by a massive discovery he made with a single, small realization. 

'She never played in this dungeon, and there is hardly any chance that any of her friends or relatives lives within its range,' Tom thought, analyzing the situation bit by bit. 'As such, she can't be worried that someone she knows will meet her in the game and recognize her real face,' Tom continued his line of thought, feeling as if he was on the verge of discovering something important. 

'Wait, could it be?' He suddenly froze all over again, startled by the sudden idea. 'Is she shy around strangers or something?' Tom asked himself, only to belittle his own stupidity a moment later. 'As if that would make her so anxious,' he shook his head. This idea was just too ridiculous. 

But as Tom looked at the girl, the answer to his problem dawned upon the young man. It was so simple that he just couldn't see it, even though the said answer was in front of his eye all along. 

"Right, I forgot to harvest some more furs for some better clothes," Tom said, pretending as if it was just a random topic that came to his mind. 

"Huh?" Claudia shrugged, surprised. "And where do you think we can get some?" she asked, clicking her tongue and waving her hand around. "Do you think any animals with fur around here?" she made her question more precise. 

"Yeah," Tom nodded his head, pointing the tip of his spear ahead. "That's the boss, isn't it?" he added, taking a look at the monster himself. 

The boss of the thirtieth room was... not much of a challenge. While it looked like an oversized rat the size of a truck, the build of its body made it clear that outside of looks, it had nothing else in common with those pesky rodents. 

"That begs another question," Claudia said as she approached Tom and took a look inside the last room on the entire floor. "My attacks would deform it while your attacks... Well, do I need to spell it out loud?" Claudia asked with a small chuckle. 

"Well, that will make for a good test of my skills," Tom replied cheerfully, winking at the girl. 

Then, without any further wait, Tom rushed forward. On its way towards the room, Tom slightly changed the hold of his spear to make it rest firmer in his palm. 

Then, once he crossed the threshold of the room, the boss finally noticed him.

"SCREECH!" The monster released a huge scream. Its high pitch of insane intensity made it painful to hear it, with the effect of the scream heavier the closer one got to the monster. With Tom at a point-blank range, the young man felt as if the world around him shook. 

But at the same time, he pushed his spear forward. It was a simple, elegant move. An effect of Tom's countless attacks, retracts, lunges, and parries that he executed over the last few hours. 

Tom infused quite a bit of his energy into the attack through his energymancer and spear mage skills. 

But just as it was about to explode within the monster's insides...

Tom pulled all the energy out of the monster with the use of his bloody spear spell.