Chapter 3: Goblin King's Keep

[A/N: In case you are wondering:

➠ Strength: Strength refers to the physical power and force exerted by a character. It represents their muscular ability, raw physical might, and capacity to deal damage in combat or perform physically demanding tasks.

➠ Vitality: Vitality represents a character's overall health, resilience, and endurance. It measures their ability to withstand damage, endure harsh conditions, and recover from injuries or illnesses.

➠ Intelligence: Intelligence represents a character's capacity to wield and manipulate magical energy. It directly influences the amount of mana a character can harness, control, and exploit in their spell-casting and magical abilities.

➠ Agility: Agility refers to a character's speed, reflexes, and nimbleness. It determines their ability to move swiftly, react quickly, and maintain balance and coordination. It can influence their effectiveness in dodging attacks, performing acrobatic manoeuvres, and evading danger.

➠ Stamina: Stamina represents a character's physical and mental endurance. It measures their ability to sustain prolonged physical exertion, resist fatigue, and maintain high levels of energy. It can affect their overall performance and effectiveness in activities requiring sustained effort.]

....

As Neo gulped the potion, he felt a soothing feeling wash over him, and could feel his stats elevating as the newfound power woke every pore in his body. He clenched his fist and felt like he could crush a boulder with his grip strength alone, but that was just him overestimating himself. He looked at his status panel.

『 Status

Name: Neo Orpheus

Class: None

Level 1 (0/100)

Title: None

Hp: 190/190 ➠ 890/890

Mana: 60/60 ➠ 760/760

Strength: 14 ➠ 84 Agility: 9 ➠ 79

Stamina: 10 ➠ 80 Intelligence: 6 ➠ 76

Vitality: 19 ➠ 89 Luck: 7

』

Overall change was what he expected, even the [Luck] stats. He knew that only luck booster potions and such could do that and those things were several times more expensive than the potion that he had just drained, so let's not push his luck.

After giving it another look, he closed the panel and checked his weapon before peaking from the crack to see what the monsters were doing. He didn't have the [inspection] skill yet, so he could only discern with his eye whether the monsters were the buffed-up version of the original denizens or not.

The hall was dimly lit with light coming from the cracks and luminous moss gave birth to a solemn atmosphere. In the centre stood a group of green-skinned monsters, about half a dozen in number, chattering amongst themselves in their guttural language. They paid no attention to the hidden observer, too absorbed in their own conversation.

Taking this chance, Neo sneaked around, taking advantage of the dim environment. He wanted to finish at least two with a surprise attack. He tightened his grip on the sword as he waited for the perfect moment.

And he got the chance, two goblins left the group. Neo followed, after feeling that he put enough distance between the group and the two, he steadily approached them, tried hard to be as discreet as possible. When he was only 4 meters away from them, he dashed and kicked one monster away, and using the same rotating he slashed at the neck of the other one.

The kick landed on the back of the monster as it flew forward. Its companion, surprised, couldn't react in time before its view changed, and it saw its own body and a tall stranger throwing something before its vision darkened.

Neo hurriedly threw his sword toward the other monster, which picking the crude, dull blade of the dead monster.

Bam*

Scree*

The green monster screeched as it tumbled on the ground and received -20 damage. Its screech attracted the attention of the group, but before it could do anything anymore. A flying sword closed in and embedded itself in its chest, and he lost another chunk of his health bar.

-300

The monster slid or almost flew back and wasn't able to do much, this attack almost finished it, but before it could celebrate being alive, Neo appeared next to it, swung the crude blade downward and embedded the dull blade into its head. It wasn't able to go further because of how blunt it was, along with the fact that Neo also didn't use his full strength.

The two monsters didn't even get to swing or attack once at their enemy. Neo heard a chime but as excited as he was to check what that he, he didn't have the time to check because the screech from earlier brought the other 4 monsters, who were already closing in on him.

Neo grabbed his sword that was lodged in the monster's chest, grabbed the dead monster by its neck before throwing it toward the incoming monsters, then followed behind it.

The monster saw the incoming monster flying toward them and stopped. That much time was enough for the dead body to come in contact with them, and it collided with the monster in the front.

It almost made the monsters' feet leave the ground because the strength put behind that throw was nothing to scoff at. Neo, who was following just behind, again slashed horizontally and made one more head fly, reaping another life.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the monster next to the now headless one was half a step behind. The sword that slashed the neck of the first one, moved toward it and gave it a deep cut over its chest.

It writhed in pain and red blood gushed out of its wound, dying its body and Neo's in red. It shrieked and flailed its hands around in pain. Neo gave him relief the next instant and stomped his foot on its neck. A cracking voice resounded, the neck and the spine of the monster were completely crushed. It died instantly.

Another chiming voice sounded in Neo's ears, who jumped back, a deformed spear stuck to the ground where he was standing before.

The remaining two monsters didn't let him take a breather as they ran toward him, attacking him randomly, even interrupting each other, zero coordination. Neo easily dodged and wounded them with every strike. And in just half a minute, one more monster breathed its last while the other one still attacked in a frenzy, not knowing the future that awaited it, which, without surprise, Neo finished quickly.

After the last monster, Neo stared at the dead body, covered in their blood, he wasn't elegant enough to dodge the blood splashes. He stood there, silent for a while, the adrenalin that was rushing for a while, receded slowly. He finally calmed down, but his trembling hands were saying otherwise.

He felt excited and nervous, he even felt a little urge to vomit a moment but held himself back, everything in him was chaos, was this the side-effect of the potion or was this his body's reaction after he overcame a deadly situation, he didn't know but one thing was for sure; he didn't hate this feeling.

'Wow, what is happening to me?'

He said to himself as he clutched his sword tightly, moving it in an arc, the blood on it splashed on the ground. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as this much excitement was bad for health.

Breathing in and out deeply for a while, he opened his eyes and brought his attention back to a life-changing moment. He opened the notification log. The notification panel popped open in front of him as he looked at them with bated breath. This was the moment that will tell him whether he'll sink or swim.

『 Defeated level 7 Goblin +300 experience 』

『 Defeated level 8 Goblin +350 experience 』

『 Defeated level 7 Goblin +300 experience 』

『 Defeated level 9 Goblin +400 experience 』

『 Defeated level 8 Goblin +350 experience 』

『 Defeated level 7 Goblin +300 experience 』

『 Level Up! All stats+2』

『 Level Up! All stats+2』

『 Level Up! All stats+2』

『 Level Up! All stats+2』

Neo looked at the long-awaited notifications for a while, silent, his eyes constantly scanning these logs, he could finally taste the effect of levelling up he didn't feel his body getting stronger while he was fighting and he wanted to admit that it was levelling up and not adrenalin, now he confirmed it.

He didn't know what to say or do for a moment, jump, and shout in happiness? Or cry in happiness? He didn't know, but he controlled himself from doing anything of the matter, he was in a dungeon, not his apartment.

He re-opened his status panel once more to check.

『 Level 5 (500/1600) 』

Relief washed over him, after which followed confusion. This was not how Exp required was supposed to rise and the second thing of his confusion were the words following "Level up".

"All stats +2. Shouldn't I get stat points, which I can add myself?"

He hurriedly checked if he got any stat points and a strange expression appeared on his face as he found what he was looking for.

『 Unallocated Stat points: 0 』

"This is strange." Neo said as from what Bella told him, every evolver only receives unallocated stat points after they level up, which they would allocate according to the path they wanted to go.

The number of free points depends on their potential. Bella received 16 stat points with each level up that she told him herself. This was not the moment to discuss that as he received none, no he received them but didn't have to freedom to freely choose which stat to allocate to.

"Why are they getting allocated by themselves?" Neo said to himself, this was too strange for him and the more baffling this was that even his luck stat increased, which was impossible.

This was quite impossible. Bella told him that other than some special items, it was impossible to add points to that stat, everyone was born with a fixed luck amount. He thought for a while about this but couldn't tell why it was like that, like his other strange matters, this was one more to the list.

"Let's think about this later. " Neo squatted down and started his usual work, he found spheres and this time, he was quite lucky, and found 4 of them. Putting away the small marbles in his pocket, he said to himself, "I should have brought a bag."

He decided to consult Bella about the levelling and allocating points problem; she was the only knowledgeable person he knew.

He walked on, and as he did, heard the voices of goblins scurrying. Neo employed the same tactic and dealt with them in under 4 minutes.

『 Defeated level 9 Goblin +400 experience 』

『 Defeated level 8 Goblin +350 experience 』

『 Defeated level 7 Goblin +300 experience 』

『 Defeated level 7 Goblin +300 experience 』

『 Level Up! All stats +2 』

『 Level 6 (300/3200) 』

Neo found 3 more spheres and moved forward. After 15 minutes, he was standing in front of the boss's room. He looked at the gigantic door that was blocking his view, that at his level.

『 Level 8 (2,000/12,800) 』

"This is getting more and more insane." Neo said as he looked at the amount of exp that he needed to level up, he had no answer to this problem, and could only brace himself and take advantage of the potion.

He took a deep breath, stabilized himself to bring his peak condition out. After feeling that he was ready, he gave the giant iron door a push which opened, creaking.

He entered the room. The boss locked onto him the moment he entered the room, so he could not hide anymore. Grabbing onto his sword, he walked toward the Boss monster.

As Neo approached the throne, he saw a goblin boss sitting atop it, a snarl on his face. This goblin was bigger than the rest, with a better body and razor-sharp teeth. Its eyes glinted with malice as it surveyed Neo, sizing him up like an intelligent being.

Neo could also feel the tension in the air as he stood before the goblin boss. He knew that he would have to fight his way through this dangerous creature if he wanted to continue his journey, and this creature was his first obstacle. The goblin boss snarled again, baring its teeth, and Neo readied himself for the battle.

Following which, the goblin boss took out a sword which was decent looking according to the monsters he faced so far, but still of inferior quality. It jumped from its throne, while in the air, it hacked down, a downward slash. Neo moved out of the way and the sword hit the ground. Dust rose, covering both of them.

Neo moved back, his eyes still on the goblin, who charged out of the dust and slashed at him horizontally, it was a nimble one. He blocked with his sword; sparks flew upon it, coming in contact with the goblin's blade.

The monster staggered back when that happened, which gave Neo an opening, which he exploited and slashed horizontally.

With its hands still in the air, the goblin wasn't able to defend and received a deep wound along with a damage -300 appeared.

Neo, not letting this chance go by, kicked the monster back.

Scree*

It roared in pain as the blood dripped from its wound. It looked at Neo with blood-shot eyes.

Neo concluded during their brief exchange that his stats were higher than the boss, which made him breathe in relief, but not dropping his vigilance, he took a more offensive stance and shot toward the monster. He hacked at it the same way it did, slashing downward, but the goblin didn't dodge, and it also attacked, its target being the incoming sword.

Clang*

Sparks arose, along with which the goblin's knees bent at the sheer strength behind the strike. Neo used the momentum and moved its sword away and punched the monster's face.

The goblin's weapon was out of the way, and its hands also moved along that direction. The punch landed on its nose, breaking it, making it dizzy; it moved back and shook its head to remove the dizziness, but by the time it gained clarity. A sharp point was already near its left eye, and the human wielding it had his mouth arched up, his eyes glittering like it enjoyed toying with it, which was the last thing it saw.

Splash*

The sword pierced the monster's eye and found its way toward the brain, making that place its ultimate resting place. Damage appeared over the monster's head as it breathed its last breath.

-1,000

Neo removed the sword from its eye and the goblin landed on the ground, lifeless.

『 Defeated level 10 Goblin Elite +1200 experience. 』

『 Collecting the soul of the Goblin Elite. 』

He saw the experience, and fell down in relief, taking deep breaths. Although his stamina was not fully drained, he had to keep his vigilance to max all the time, which was not easy. He didn't even mind the monster lying next to him right now, which told one how he felt during that short battle.

He looked at the notification, but his expression showed that he was confused, especially when he saw a bluish glow rising from the goblin;

 he jumped up and tried to get away, but before he could do that, that bluish glow hit him, entering his body.

'What th—.'

『 Collection successful. 』

『 Strength +2, Stamina +2, Vitality+1 』

Neo felt a warm energy washing over him as his body started getting nourished. He looked at the notification that he received. Standing there stunned like a statue, he didn't know what was going on anymore; the situation felt more severe the more he went deep into this dungeon.

Neo's facial expression changed drastically as he felt his mana core trembling. He hurriedly sat down, closed his eyes and checked on it. He found the bluish energy that left from the goblin boss's body was now surrounding his core.

These black lines had been covering his core the moment it formed and stayed like that for a while now. He didn't know what that was; he looked into what they were, online, but found nothing about them. Might be an illness or a curse, he thought. He tried peering through them to see his core, but couldn't do so.

He wanted to consult Bella about it but couldn't bring himself to, don't know why. He convinced himself, almost hypnotized himself, that he would consult with her, otherwise he can say this carrier goodbye.

He hurriedly tried to remove the bluish ball from his core, but it was not working as the bluish energy slowly seeped into his core and the black lines that covered his cores glowed.

"I'm dead."

Neo said as he looked at the lines that were glowing brightly, his face devoid of colour. He felt his heart coming out of his mouth with each time the lines glowed and settled down; they dimmed. The phenomenon went on for more than a minute, but to Neo, this one minute was like a century as he kept his eyes on the core and prayed for it not to crack.

Might be because of his luck or that his prayers were answered. The glow dimmed down and Neo found his mana core still intact in one piece. He still didn't relax and scrutinized it from every side, and found something that made him raise his eyebrow. He was surprised to find that the lines that were covering his core heavily were a little dim now.

'?'

This discovery made him open his eyes in surprise, he checked once more and could confirm that they were, in fact, a little dim and maybe missing one of two lines.

He felt, for the first time, a way was cleared to him and he could now finally see how to advance forward. He didn't know what or how that was happening, but for the first time, he felt glad and hopeful.

...

Neo kept looking at the core to confirm what he thought was correct and only after confirming that was the case did he move his attention away from the mana core. He checked the increase in stats after he "absorbed" the "soul of the Goblin Elite" and found that there was indeed an increase in his stats. Neo felt the need to hunt more monsters to see why that happened.

He butchered a lot of the monsters on his way to the boss's room, but none of them gave him any increase and why he didn't "absorb" their "souls"?

He tore open the boss's chest, and he found the sphere in its body, this one was slightly bigger, buy a cm or more than the spheres he collected so far, also red.

"Hmm…Might be because it's an elite monster or a boss monster."

He had no time to think because he had wasted a lot already, the potion might not hold on before he could complete this dungeon. Neo put the sphere in his pocket and walked past the throne. The stairs came in his view.

"Crossing this, I'll be eligible to access the Tower," Neo said to himself, his mouth corners arched up, eyes shining, clearly happy as he took the first step on the stairs, and a notification appeared before him.

『 Congratulation of Clearing the Goblin Dungeon's first floor. 』

『 Difficulty: Nightmare. 』

『 Calculating Reward. 』

『 You received: Inspect. 』

[Inspect] was what every evolver received upon clearing this floor so him receiving the skill was no surprise. But Neo felt a little unresigned as he cleared the "Nightmare" Difficulty, which he didn't know what it meant. Just from the name, he deserved more. Now he knew why the monsters were this high levelled.

But there was no one he could complain to, so he just went on with it and waited for the other notification as he descended. It that appeared when he was on the last step.

『 Calculation Complete. Please choose your class…

Swordsman.

Mage.

Martial Artist. 』

He stopped walking. contemplated on which one to choose and determined [Martial Artis] would be the pleasant choice. Mage was also a good choice, but his intelligence stat was not that brilliant that garnered him to think too much about that class and with the problem of him unable to allocate points into it, his decision became firmer about not choosing Mage.

As for a swordsman, honestly, he was using a sword because that was the only piece of weaponry he had. Just as he was about to decide, a new notification appeared which piqued his interest.

『 New Calculations will be carried out if the challenger successfully conquers the dungeon. 』

『 Would you like to proceed to the Goblin King's Keep or Stay in the Goblin's Den? 』

'This is new.'

He said to himself as he processed what it was telling him.

『 Option 1: Goblin King's Keep

Option 2: Goblin's Den 』

He pressed on Option 1 and more information popped up.

『 Long ago, a powerful goblin king named Grommash ruled over a vast horde of goblins in the area. Under his leadership, the goblins grew strong and prosperous, and their numbers swelled with each passing day.

But Grommash's ambition knew no bounds, and he started coveting the lands of neighboring kingdoms. He led his goblin armies on a campaign of conquest, pillaging and plundering all in their path.

As the goblin horde grew ever more powerful, a coalition of neighboring kingdoms banded together to stop them. After a long and bloody war, Grommash and his armies were finally defeated, and the goblin king was slain.

But even in death, Grommash's legacy lived on. The vast underground complex that had served as his fortress became known as the Goblin King's Keep, a place of great danger and potential reward for those brave enough to venture into its depths. 』

"That… sounds too epic for a beginner dungeon." Neo commented and then read the description of Option 2.

『 A beginner stage dungeon to test the challengers and grant them a class based on their attributes and combat style. 』

"That was lacklustre." Neo said. He wanted to laugh over it, but now was not the time as he thought about which to choose. He had his doubts, like why did this choice appear before him? He hadn't heard about this Goblin King's Keep before? Not that he researched too deeply into the novice dungeon, but still he did his homework, and there was no such mention of this.

Then came the problem with Neo's experience points (Exp for short), his need for levelling up for was several times higher than the experience required for an evolver to level up. Bella told him how much each level needed to level up.

Level 2: 100 exp

Level 3: 150 exp

Level 4: 200 exp

Level 5: 300 exp

Level 6: 600 exp

Level 7: 1200 exp

Level 9: 2,000 exp

Level 10: 4,000 exp

This was the normal experience required for a person to level up.

{A/N: Exp is the quantification of life force, given the numeric representation of Exp. As adventurers overcome challenges, conquer fearsome creatures, and unravel the secrets of the Tower, they absorb fragments of this extracted life force. These fragments, collected and measured as Exp, serve as a catalyst for their personal evolution, fueling their growth, and allowing them to unlock new abilities and reach higher levels of mastery.}

His Exp requirements were skyrocketing with each level up, and he felt he might not level up further if this kept on. Still, it was still not enough for him to venture into an unknown dungeon, and he decided to go with Option 2, the normal dungeon.

But surprised he was, as fate had something else in store for him when he heard a notification.

『 The first option has been selected automatically for being inactive for over 20 seconds. 』

"Wait, what the h--" Neo couldn't even complete his word, a white light enveloped him and he got teleported to a new zone and from the looks of it, he was standing before the stairs that moved up, might be the first floor. Neo tried going up but couldn't. Some sort of invisible barrier was blocking his path.

『 Please Clear the Goblin King's Keep. Only after clearing the dungeon would you be allowed to leave the dungeon. 』

'That is outright threatening.'

Neo's expression changed, he felt cheated, but again, who could he complain to? He checked but couldn't find any other exit. He checked the description of the dungeon, to see if he could clear the dungeon as fast as possible before the potion effect ran out with some loophole, but there was nothing unusual other than that the whole dungeon was unusual.

Neo calculated the time that had passed since he took the potion and found that he still got 210 minutes.

'Why is this happening to me?'

He felt like lashing out, frustrated but controlled himself as he took deep breaths, getting frustrated was going to get him nowhere.

After calming himself down, he ventured further into the dungeon, vigilant, but fast at the same time. He needed to clear this dungeon as fast as he could. A light flashed in his eyes as he looked at the floor before him.

This floor was a maze-like structure filled with tougher and more aggressive goblins than those found on the first floor. These goblins were armed with crude weapons, such as spears and clubs. Neo came before one of them and used his only skill.

"Inspect."

[Goblin Warrior

Level 10

Health 1250/1250]

The inspection worked, and he got the information on the monster, he was just testing its effect. Neo lunged forward and pierced the goblin with his sword through its chest.

-1100

He could one-shot a goblin, that he had just learned, but then he knew that before because he beheaded many before. With his 80+ points of agility, he was fast. The goblins couldn't keep up with his speed and were getting butchered left and right. Time was tight, so Neo decided to not care about the spheres for now. He was cutting the goblins like weed as he navigated through the maze. It took him over 20 minutes to come out of the other side of the maze, where a colossal door greeted him.

Neo knew what it was, after taking one long breath he barged into the room at full speed and jumped up before plunging the sword directly into the goblin's head, who was sitting on its throne waiting for him to come in. The sudden attack surprised the goblin, it roared and tried attacking him, but Neo was too fast for it and as a result, it only lifted its mace before the sword pierced its head and entered its brain, they really needed to learn to use a helmet.

-1,500

The goblin slid down, dead. Neo sat on the throne, panting as he has been running through the maze and fighting goblins for 20 minutes now. He went through the notifications; he levelled up once more.

『 Defeated level 11 Goblin Elite +1200 experience. 』

『 Collecting the soul of the Goblin Elite. 』

『 Collecting...』

『 Collection successful. 』

『 Strength +3, Stamina +1, Agility+2』

The bluish ball rose from the dead goblin boss and entered Neo's body. This time he was looking at it carefully and saw it was merging, or like a glue, sticking all those lines together. He was puzzled by how it was doing this but put this at the back of his mind as he needed all the help he could get and this was appreciated at the moment.

He split open the goblin boss's chest and took the sphere from its chest. It was of the same size he got from the first-floor boss, but it was more reddish, so higher in quality maybe, which was Neo's speculations.

He put the sphere in his pants pocket and stood up; he had wasted 2 minutes. He needed to speed up even more. From what he learned and knew, the goblin den had 10 floors, so this one would also have that many, at the very least.

Neo had to act fast and efficiently. He stepped onto the stairs as the reward calculation started, and after it was done with calculation, a pair of boots appeared before Neo.

『 Name: Boots of Swiftness

Description: Lightweight boots, made of sturdy leather that provide excellent support and comfort for the feet.

Increase movement speed and grant a small boost to agility. 』

Neo held the boots in his hand and felt the material as he read the description. The boots appeared to be made of dark leather and were lined with fur for warmth. With thick, sturdy soles and small metal studs for traction. The laces appeared to be made of a strong, durable material and were crisscrossed.

Neo wore them as they gave an agility boost, which was something that he needed at the moment. He put his old boots on the stairs and descended.

The sound of his footsteps echoed through the dimly lit stairs as he made his way towards the next challenge that awaited him. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw a large chamber with a massive stone door at the far end.

He cautiously walked toward the door, scanning the area for any signs of danger. Suddenly, he heard a sound of metal scraping against stone, and a group of armoured goblins emerged from the shadows, their swords drawn and ready for battle.

Upon seeing the enemies coming at him, his eyes flashed.

"They were waiting for me in ambush. What sort of dungeon is this?"

But he had no time to contemplate as the goblin swung the mace toward his face, which he swiftly dodged and slashed at the goblin, who swung it. Neo was already fast, but now with the boots, it was like giving wings to a tiger. He was moving around among the goblins and hacked them down one by one. The armour of the goblin gave him some trouble, but they weren't able to use it to its full potential and created many openings for him.

This time, he was also not unscathed as multiple small wounds appeared over his body, but they weren't that deep, so he just clenched his teeth, his eyes glinted as he countered and dealt with the goblins. The messy battle continued for over 5 minutes before he dealt with the last goblin.

He sat down, gasping for breath, he had to focus because a slight misstep might have rewarded him with a deep injury. Because of his high vitality, he could regenerate ~0.2 hp every second, so he wasn't worried about light wounds, but heavy wounds were different news and he didn't bring any medical first aid with him.

Neo felt like cursing himself as he came in so under prepared but then again, he didn't know that he would be swindled like this. He checked his experience once more and found it wasn't even 1/4th yet.

Resting for one more minute, Neo looked at the corpses but saw none of them had that bluish glow and concluded that only bosses or elite ones might have that. He moved toward the boss's room and somehow felt that the surprise attack might not work this time, was his intuition. He had already been jumped on when he descended. The boss of this floor would definitely be ready for him.

Neo checked his condition once more before walking into the boss's room.

[Time Remaining: 3:00:00]