Chapter 158 - Dungeons

My horse riding skills still weren't perfect, but they were enough not to fall off while traveling at a decent speed. Full gallop was still hard to control but I was getting there.

Gabriel was newer at it than me, with only recently getting the chance but he was a quick learner. The week he spent getting the basics down was enough for our journey to be a quick one.

Riding horses for transportation was just another oddity I had to work through that the new world brought.

Finding the dungeon was easy at this point, after how many we had encountered during our trip. The mana in the air funneled into the cavern leading into the Earth. It was so obvious even my mana skills could detect it, let alone Gabriel's.

He noticed it way before I did and it didn't even take a cursory sweep on our part, just riding close was enough.

"I think this one is deep," He said, dismounting from his horse and beginning to tie it up.

I followed suit and found a strong enough branch for my own, "How can you tell?"

"I couldn't at first, but the ones we found before help compare against what I feel now. The amount of mana it takes in and how far away the draw starts are good indicators of how deep it is." He said.

"Now that isn't always the case and I'm still trying to get a feel for it, but it generally works." He added.

"How many floors deep is it? Enough for me to get a fight or two in?" I asked failing to hide my hope at the answer. If this one went deeper than 8 floors, it would be a perfect place for a fight.

"I don't know, it feels deeper than the one we found a few weeks ago, and that one had 6 floors. So... maybe 9. I doubt it's more than that." He said.

The deepest dungeon we had come across only had 7 floors and that was one of the first ones. While fighting in them was fun, it didn't pose the same challenge as the waves.

I hoped the ones we built our city next to would be deeper.

Dungeon curation was a profession on its own, similar to Blacksmith or Leatherworker, and was notoriously hard to get. The Dungeon Curator profession helped grow and take care of a dungeon.

We knew some details about them but not all. Information was sparse because the profession was held in high regard. Everyone wanted a good Dungeon Curator in their employ, similar to a good Mayor or Merchant.

Their skills helped to grow a dungeon and speed up the rate more floors were added. They would also keep tabs on its condition to make sure it wouldn't break.

Dungeon breaks happened rarely but when they did, it would devastate the surrounding area. Spewing all the monsters from the depths onto the surface for them to roam free and cause wanton destruction.

Curators weren't necessary to keep tabs on a dungeon but they made everything easier. The signs of a break were noticeable to others if they had the skills and knew what they were looking for.

Their other ability, the hastening of dungeon growth, was what they were prized for. Dungeons grew slowly and it took a lot of time and effort to do so. Any way to speed it up was greatly sought after.

Dungeons were the backbone of a faction's strength and finding a good one could cause a faction to rise in power.

Dungeons and the area where a faction was based played the biggest part in how fast they would grow or how high they would reach.

The only problem was Earth was still new to mana and no one would get the Curator profession for a while yet. Those were problems for the future but it was something I thought about when it came up.

"Alright, are you ready? Got everything you need?" I asked.

Gabriel gave himself a once over, patting places to make sure everything was there before nodding.

"Let's go then,"

The first few floors held nothing new. Low-level monsters with the floor guardian capping it off. There were a few hidden alcoves and treasure chests Gabriel found but they didn't hold much.

To the level 10 or 20 who would struggle with the floor the coins and treasure would be great, but for us, it wasn't that much to get excited about.

Some of the metal it dropped I could bend with my bare hands it was so weak.

It was disappointing to find that this dungeon was another material dungeon. Metal was what we had the most of and it was the majority of what the dungeon gave out.

What a dungeon would give as a prize was random. It could be as wide as giving anything, metal, wood, leather, hide, cloth, crystals, gems, skill shards, even mana stones on rare occasion.

Some kept their pool diverse, giving a little bit of everything. Others specified, giving only metal or only wood.

A wide variety or a specialized grouping depending on the dungeon, or a mixture of other things.

One thing dungeons never gave out, was equipment. They gave out all the materials to make it, but would not give you a finished sword or weapon.

Doing that would defeat the purpose of professions.

This dungeon seemed to love metal. It gave it out at every opportunity with a smattering of coins to go along with it, which every dungeon seemed to do. Coins were a staple in every dungeon we came across.

I let Gabriel take care of most of the monsters while I watched him fight. I had seen him do it before but I wanted to make sure he was ready to be back in a dungeon. Confirm there weren't any lingering doubts.

It was mostly baseless, but I wanted to make sure.

He fought similarly to Rachel, except instead of fire exploding out, it was ice. He took the barest sliver of the stuff and turned it into a weapon.

"Do you not have [Shatter]?" I asked after he manually exploded a chunk of ice to finish off a monster.

"No, I didn't think it was worth it and picked up other skills instead." He answered before sending another bolt of ice into a monster ahead of us.

"Care to share? You don't have to if you don't want to." I asked. I knew some of his skills but he hadn't gone into detail about them.

"You know most of them. [Ice Spear] and [Ice Arrow] were the first few I picked up, evolving from [Ice Bolt]. I have a few neutral skills from before I knew my affinity. [Mana Shield] and [Mana Bolt] specifically." He said.

"I didn't know I had an Ice affinity at that point and chose to go neutral. As much good that did." He muttered.

I nodded along and waited for him to get to the big stuff. Those were common skills for mages to pick up and I knew of all of them already.

"After evolving into Cryomancer at level 10, I picked up a few good ones. [Frozen Grasp] and [Icicle Barrage] were my main skills during the tutorial at the time.

"But I didn't only get attack skills, I have a few general skills and supplementary skills as well. [Chilling Touch] boosted my power by quite a lot even though it isn't an attack skill on its own."

His [Chilling Touch] mimicked my [Pervading Cold] in that it focused on the debilitating aspect of Ice and added that to any other Ice skills. It was in the same vein as Jonathan's [Stone Empowerment], the skill was useless on its own and required something additional to work on.

[Stone Empowerment] didn't do anything if there wasn't any stone to empower.

"Oh! [Spreading Ice] is a good one," He said with a smile.

That was one I hadn't heard of and my face showed my confusion.

"Here, watch this!" He said.

During his battles, he usually speared the monsters with a quick ice shard or two and we moved on. We were still on the higher floors and it wouldn't start being challenging for another floor or two.

This time, instead of killing it with a well-placed [Ice Arrow], he did something else. It looked like [Frozen Grasp] but I wasn't sure.

Ice built up from the floor and ensnared the monster's foot, immobilizing it. The monster bucked and clawed at it but it wasn't strong enough to break free.

After that, his mana flared and I could see the ice start to spread. Beginning at its foot, it quickly climbed up its leg. It cracked and splintered as the beast thrashed but it continued growing.

It grew all the way up its leg before spreading faster from there. As much as the beast tried to fight, it couldn't do anything to stop the spreading ice.

It only took a few moments and the whole monster was encased in it, turning into an ice sculpture right where it stood.

I just looked at it with surprise while Gabriel puffed up beside me, "Cool right!"

"It only works on the weaker monsters and it can be broken easily, but it distracts them and makes openings for other skills." He explained after a bit despondently.

"What was that you used first? It felt like you used two different skills." I asked.

"Oh, that was [Frozen Grasp], [Spreading Ice] needs a base to work on. Any kind of ice works, even shards sticking out of them from [Ice Spear] work. All Ice touching the target begins to spread and hinder them!" He said excitedly.

From what I saw, it looked like a great skill. Someone without an affinity for Ice would be hindered greatly as it quickly spread over their body. They would be thrown off and wouldn't be able to move as well, opening them up to other attacks.

Gabriel showed off a few other skills but none were as flashy as [Spreading Ice] and the fights didn't allow for any big stuff. That would only come later.

We traveled along the tunnels for a few more minutes and I could see out of the corner of my eye Gabriel starting to speak only to stop before saying anything multiple times.

After multiple times of this, it got so frustrating I had to say something, "What is it?"

"Have you read the books Abigail packed away?" He asked out of the blue while twiddling his thumbs.

It was a bit out of left field but I went along with it, "Not all of them, but I've read most of them. The important ones."

"So you've read the one detailing the challenges Earth will face?" He asked going somewhere I wasn't sure I liked.

"If you're talking about the trials to keep the Systems protection, then yes." I answered, "But those won't happen for a while yet. It's not something to worry about for now." I said trying to end the conversation here.

I had a feeling I knew what was coming.

"I know, but I was just thinking of it and it got me curious about what you plan to do about them?" He asked looking up at me. There was an expression in his eyes I chose to ignore.

The way he said it made me laugh. Like it was something I had sole control of and it was up to me to prepare for them.

"What do you mean? I don't have any plans for them. My only priority is keeping you and our family safe, anything beyond that isn't as important." I said, brushing him off.

"You haven't thought about it?" He asked slightly aghast, "Not even a little bit?"

"I know they are coming but nothing else. I don't even know what they will be. It seems kind of silly to plan for something when you don't know when or what will happen." I answered jokingly.

"But... but you're the strongest person we've come across, probably one of the strongest in the area, you have to do something about them!" He said animatedly. "Even that one woman gave you a bunch of stuff because you were so strong."

Calling what Tracy did 'Giving me a bunch of stuff' was a bit of a stretch. I paid her for what she gave us, but it was close enough.

What he said made me stop walking and turn to him, "Gabriel, there are millions of people in the world, maybe billions still, it does not fall to me to do anything. My strength is not unique, there are probably thousands who are higher level than I am." I pointed out.

"They might be higher level but are they stronger than you? You're the only person I know to have a Least Law, an Anchor, and a Body of Wood. We have yet to meet someone who could beat you and we've been through multiple big cities." He rebutted.

I scoffed at that, "We've been through maybe four and that hardly constitutes a throughout search. We've barely seen half the country, let alone the whole globe."

He didn't let up and kept staring at me with a look like he didn't believe me.

"What do you want from me, Gabriel? If something is threatening my City then yes, I will fight it, but I will not go out of my way trying to save the world. The world isn't my responsibility, you are." I said firmly poking him in the chest, "Keeping my City and my family safe is the only thing that matters."

"It does not fall to me to do anything." I finished and turned to continue walking.

We were talking about a future challenge that was years off at best. It didn't much matter what I said now, years could change things but I doubted it.

Gabriel had a skewed sense of heroism that the tutorial had thoroughly knocked out of me and I had thought the same of him. Death and destruction were a part of life and no amount of heroism would change that.

I would leave the heroics to others. I had experienced enough death. The ring I wore carried more than it should and I wasn't about to add to that because of a fight that wasn't mine.

The world was large and I was but one man.

There were bound to be people out there stronger than me.