The Runic Alchemist

For a moment, Damian felt a shift in his vision. In just another second, the scene changed from a dark cave to a vast open marshland, dotted with broken huts and wooden outposts visible in the distance filled with puddles of dark water everywhere. Overhead, Damian could see a floor hovering in the sky above them, its dimensions smaller than the platform they were currently on.

Damian assumed this pattern continued for all 25 levels, with the final floor being the smallest. His friends were nearby, also taking in the scenery. Though the place wasn't bright, at regular intervals, flowers emitting vivid colors and glowing green moss made the foul-smelling mist and dense greenery surrounding them somewhat more visible.

There had always been a popular debate about how disconnected the dungeon areas were from the real world, and Damian could now confirm: they were completely disconnected. Other than the six people in his group and the scattered monsters and swamp creatures, Damian sensed no familiar mana in this place or outside. They were far from the beastmen village they had departed from.

Though it might be difficult for others, Damian could easily spot the malnourished-looking, skinny green lizardmen lurking in the distant swamp. Periodically, they emerged to look around, some even noticing the group.

"Yuck... this place smells disgusting," Sam muttered, holding his nose.

"It'll be hard to get through this without getting muddy," Yovan added.

"It's fine. We have three mages. We can build bridges when needed," Geldric reassured.

"Okay, let's go," Damian said, leading the way toward the far end of the floor, where the old man Shin had told him the key to advance further was. Damian created an orb of light and kept it hovering near them, lighting up a small area around them. However, it also served as a beacon for the monsters in this dark, misty place.

That worked to their advantage—after all, they were here to gain monster killing experience.

As they moved forward, Damian had already identified the monsters' positions by sensing their mana and matching it with their figures. The malnourished looking lizardmen were not particularly skilled; they wielded wooden spears, bows, and shields. Most were barely three meters tall—the lizardfolk hatchlings. The scouts, slightly better looking but still weak, posed little challenge.

Occasionally, slithering vines tried to drag them underwater with a plant with a large open mouth waiting underneath, but Damian always sensed them, no matter how well they blended into the environment.

For smaller monsters, Damian allowed everyone to fend for themselves, but when large groups of lizardmen or the big-mouthed plants attacked, he gave warnings and dispatched them with everyone swiftly.

They spent more time building footholds and bridges than fighting, and as Sam so eloquently put it, the place "stank like horse shit." It took them about 40 minutes to cross the floor and enter the second level. This new area was similar but populated with more monsters, including a giant frog-like creature that used its massive tongue to drag them into the water every few meters.

"Why do all these monsters want to drag us into their smelly water?" Sam screamed as he cut off another frog's tongue, which had latched onto his leg despite Damian's early warning.

For some reason maybe because of his unique biology, these swamp creatures were particularly attracted to Sam. Damian had warned him about a major attack five times in a row now. It shouldn't have been funny, but Damian couldn't help but find Sam's struggles with the vines and frog tongues—cursing aloud—really hilarious.

Still, Damian appreciated that Sam was mindful not to overuse his lightning abilities.

The third level was less swampy, featuring more huts and primitive wooden structures resembling early caveman civilizations. However, it also had huge snakes hiding under the swamp water and thick vines everywhere, alongside more lizardmen hatchlings and scouts.

The fourth floor, though, was finally useful to Damian. Up until now, they had only gathered small mana stones, a few rare flowers, and monster parts that Damian analyzed using his skill. The others were gaining experience in skills and leveling up, but Damian, who was already at his level cap, only saw improvements in his spear proficiency.

On the fourth floor, however, they encountered lizardmen with spell-casting abilities—spells Damian could steal. These lizardmen looked similar to the malnourished scouts, but they could cast a poisonous, purple mist that slowed targets and threw off their balance. Those with lower agility stats could struggle, though the mist wasn't deadly.

Another spell they used, summoning small snakes and bugs, was particularly annoying. While it sounded simple, the sheer number of insects created a frustrating distraction, making it difficult to attack while defending against the other monsters. Damian had to summon his fiery red spear and incinerate everything around them whenever they became overwhelmed by the swarm.

Now, with two strange spells added to his arsenal, poison one had a chaos element while the summoning one was of strangely light element, Damian was excited to climb higher levels and encounter more spellcasters. However, his teammates were beginning to struggle. The constant fighting, with only short breaks, and limited mana reserves were taking a toll.

After passing the fourth floor and reaching the next level's entrance, Damian took in their exhausted faces and asked,

"Should we stop? We can come back after lunch."

At every level entrance, they had the option to leave the dungeon, though there was no such thing as saved progress. If they returned, they'd have to start over from the first level. Damian could continue, but the others were running low on mana, they had only entered to see how the dungeons worked anyway, they needed to prepare better.

They might be able to handle the next level, which was to have a mini alligator-type boss, as the fox mage had revealed. But it was better to play it safe.

"I can keep going," Sam said, though he was breathing hard and his clothes were filthy from the constant attacks.

"It's better not to," Yovan replied, clearly exhausted. The new recruit, Theren, nodded in agreement. Einar, who had primarily used her sword and conserved her mana, could likely continue, but she said nothing. Her annoyed expression, especially from the bugs and vines, told Damian all he needed to know—she was done with this floor's creepy surroundings.

Hopefully, the higher levels would have a better environment. The cousins agreed too.

"Okay then, let's take a break," Damian concluded.