Chapter 459

From the moment they entered the dungeon this was one of their fastest delves ever. They had no reason to stay too long and at most they would have had seven floors to clear. With nobody having anything to gain from the first and second floors they simply took the first arch they came across on both floors.

“You go last.” The squad captain informed the empire champion as Ajax made his way through the arch. 

It had been all but agreed upon that the Empire would have had an open kill order on Ajax inside the dungeon. Sure they wouldn’t risk killing the entire expedition but if they had a chance to take out Ajax by himself that wouldn’t draw the full ire of House Goldmancer or Manashaper. This probably wasn’t even a personal decision, just a target of opportunity. 

“That’s quite the power you’re all packing.” Clark complimented once he saw Xavier, Anna and Lexi in action.

The monsters they had defeated had been more than five levels higher than them yet none of them had even been pushed at all. 

“Just wait, next floor you’ll see what we can really do.” Xavier said with a smirk that was reminiscent of his uncle. 

All three of them had agreed to put on a bit of a show for the Empire. As future powerhouses of their respective Houses all three of them had their safety assured. Considering the moves the beastkin were making everyone was expecting that sooner or later a war would break out so they were hoping to show that the next generation of Gryndor was more than just Ajax.

The group had entered barely two hours ago and they had already made it on to the fourth floor. The fourth floor had one of the more distinctive natural environments that Ajax had seen. The group found themselves at the bottom of a long canyon with barely more than two hundred feet from the wall on their left to the one on their right. The walls seemed to stretch up forever and the hot sun was beating down on them from above.

“Keep your eyes on the walls.” Xavier warned them. “I went through a similar floor before and there were small caves in the walls from where lizards that could throw spikes attacked.

Ajax was mildly surprised to find out that the prince had seen a floor layout that he had yet to come across. “Should we climb up and check what’s at the top?” Ajax asked as he scanned the walls for a path to climb.

“No point.” the squad captain said. “These floors have a ceiling before you reach the top. Just like you can’t reach the roots on a floor where you are on a big ass tree.” he made sure to give Ajax an example he could relate to. 

As they neared the first cavern inside one of the walls Ajax threw a rock as deep as it would go before the tunnel turned. From the sound of the impact he put together that these tunnels went deeper in the wall of stone than he had expected.

“The other arches have to be around here.” the Empire champion said, haven’t seen any of them on the outside.

Once inside the cave it didn’t take long before they reached the first arch. It was hidden inside a small chamber off on the side of the main tunnel along with dozens of eggs and one large salamander guardian.

“I’ve got this one.” Anna said with confidence before she started chanting. 

The pyro mage held nothing back as she turned the entire room into an inferno the moment her first spell finished. The eggs had all been ready to hatch, part of the fight being dealing with the small and fragile creatures suddenly swarming you but none of that mattered as the flames had started melting the rock let alone the eggs and hatchlings.

The mini boss was still alive but Anna didn’t even let it get close to her. She had already finished chanting her second spell by the time the salamander managed to get its bearings and jump towards her. An explosive fireball was enough to not only put a stop to the mini bosses momentum but it also sent it flying back towards the other side of the room. 

The injured mini boss was clearly very injured by the first two attacks; it had barely managed to get back up before Anna launched her third and final attack, killing the creature. 

“I’m done, we can go for the next one.” Anna said with a smile as the stunned champion could only stare with wide eyes at the scorched chamber. 

Xavier wasn’t one to be left behind. He was the second to take on a mini boss and he proved just how good he was as a hybrid fighter. While his fight took longer than Anna’s he showed his power through the control he showcased over his opponent. He didn’t bother to block a single attack from the mini boss, simply dodging out of the way at the last second while scoring another deep cut of landing a spell.

In the eyes of the Empire champion Xavier’s performance was much more meaningful than Anna’s, he knew just how many dungeons Xavier had cleared recently, to still have enough control over himself after gaining that many stats to pull that off was something to take note of. 

The most shocking display out of all of them however went to Lexi. The champion hadn’t been able to help himself from exclaiming when she deployed her Domain.

“She knows how to use a Domain?!” The champion’s surprise was understandable since not even Lexi’s grandfather had managed to gain a Domain, though Ajax was sure that as soon as Lexi returned the old man would pester her about learning.

Lexi's fight ended even quicker than Anna’s. Her opening fire spell cleared the room and provoked the mini boss into a reckless attack only for it to be killed by her follow up lightning strike. Unlike Ajax Lexi put a lot more power into her Lightning attacks and focused them for their penetration power instead of the paralysis effect Ajax instinctively went for.  

“You’re sure none of you want to try the fifth floor?” the squad leader asked.

“It’s fine we can do it next time we are here.” Lexi responded. She was sure there would be a next time since now that the Empire would have a first hand account of how strong even the three of them had gotten they would spare no expense to ensure some of their own people got to delve multiple dungeons.

In truth all three of them felt they could handle a level seventy four mini boss; it just needed to be a good match up. The problem was that if they made a mistake the squad leader would be forced to intercede and help them. The empire champion could take that opportunity to attack Ajax. More than that without Ajax hand picking the floors it was much harder to get favorable matchups. 

“Finally caught up, at least a bit.” Lexi said as she gave Ajax a hug before they stepped onto the next floor. “I’m about as strong as you were five years ago.” 

Five years ago Ajax had managed to kill a level seventy four mini boss, just barely. He was sure that Lexi as she was now could actually beat him as he was five years ago if she had enough time to unleash her Domain before he got close to her. Her sheer offensive power was not something he would have been able to deal with back then. The same might be true of the reverse but his effective range was a lot smaller than hers. 

Xavier, Lexi and Anna all left the dungeon as soon as they got on the fifth floor. With their departure the traveling speed of the group increased a lot. They had been previously keeping themselves to the travel speed set by Anna and Lexi who were both pure mages. It took barely five minutes to come upon the first arch.

“Didn’t you need that one?” the Empire champion asked when the squad leader took out the mini boss as they approached.

“I already cleared this floor five years ago.” Ajax’s answer had shocked the man, while the Empire had been able to somewhat gauge how far Ajax had delved in their main dungeon they had no idea how far he had gotten in his boosted run.

The next two floors were no surprise to anyone, Ajax had managed to make it up to level one hundred and twenty all by himself so clearing the next two floors in under half an hour was expected.

‘Here it goes’ Ajax thought to himself as he stood before the arch. ‘Time to see if something happens after clearing one hundred and fifty floors.’

As he stepped onto the eighth floor Ajax received the expected announcement congratulating him for clearing another floor and receiving another +1 to all stats. That wasn’t all there was to it however as he also felt a shiver travel throughout his entire body followed by a wave of energy.

Racial Evolution

Awakend Humanoid (Human) -> Ascended Humanoid (Human)

Requirements: Gain 150 to all stats from Humanoid Achievement Delver.

Rewards : Remaining lifespan doubled. Gain +10 to all stats

Achievement : Rapid Evolution

Evolve your race before the age of 50.

Requires ten Discoveries to earn: Requirement fulfilled by Researcher

Reward : All experience gains increased by 200%.

!(lesser versions of the achievement can no longer be obtained.)

Achievement : Evolution

Evolve your race.

Requires five Discoveries to earn.

Reward : All experience gains increased by 150%.