This was it. The Midnight Dungeon, a popular beginner hidden dungeon. It appeared every night in different lakes scattered across the beginner regions. Once you cleared it, it never appeared for you again, and most importantly, it could only be entered by players below level 10.
There was no combat or experience gain, just three trials that tested your skills, and a guaranteed reward at the end.
For Swordsmen, the trials were consistent: weapon proficiency, attack, and defense. Yamamoto himself had cleared it in his burner accounts, so he was familiar with it.
He drew his novice sword and approached the center tunnel.
A timer appeared in his vision: 15:00
It immediately began counting down. Seeing this, he hurried.
TRIAL ONE: WEAPON PROFICIENCY
The tunnel opened into a larger chamber. Floating in the air were dozens of glowing circles, each one pulsing gently. They began moving, slowly at first, then faster, creating complex overlapping patterns.
The objective was simple, strike as many circles as possible within three minutes using proper sword forms.
Yamamoto didn't hesitate.
He flowed into the first form, performing a quick basic diagonal slash, and his blade passed through a circle. It chimed softly and vanished.
Then the next form, and the next, and the next, and the next…
TRIAL ONE COMPLETE
Time Remaining: 11:23
A doorway opened in the far wall. Yamamoto ran through it without pausing.
TRIAL TWO: ATTACK POWER
This chamber held a single object: a massive stone pillar, perhaps 15ft tall and 6ft thick. Glowing lines ran across its surface, pulsing in rhythm.
The objective was simple once again, deal enough cumulative damage to shatter it.
He activated Sword Slash first, aiming the skill perfectly at the big target. His blade bit into the stone with a satisfying crack, leaving a visible gouge, but it didn't shatter in one hit, so he did so again and again.
Each strike chipped away more stone, but it still didn't shatter.
Once his cooldown was up, he activated Sword Slash again, carving a slightly deeper wound with the boosted damage.
The pillar began to glow brighter, the lines pulsing faster, which was a sign it was close to breaking.
Soon, the stone began to crack, and finally it exploded in a shower of dust and light.
TRIAL TWO COMPLETE
Time Remaining: 7:45
Another door opened immediately.
TRIAL THREE: MAGICAL DEFENSE
The final chamber was the largest so far, and floating in the air, arranged in a semicircle, were five humanoid shapes made of pure blue light.
The objective: survive for three minutes while the dummies cast spells at you. Dodge or tank the damage—it didn't matter how, just don't die.
This was the trial that killed most players. Swordsmen at low levels had terrible magic defense, well, even at high levels, they did; and these dummies main attacks were spells—fireballs, ice shards, lightning bolts; all low level spells, but dangerously effective against a low leveled player.
Well, for a veteran, this was no issue, after all, there was such a thing as a bug, so as soon as Yamamoto entered, he didn't try to tank anything or test his agility against lightning bolts, he just moved to a very specific corner and stood there without doing anything. He could still be detected, but that was the only spot where he would be out of range of the spells, while still being in range to be attacked, so he was safe.
A few minutes later…
TRIAL THREE COMPLETE
Time Remaining: 2:18
The dummies vanished immediately.
In the center of the room, a chest materialized. Plain wood, bound with iron, with a soft golden glow emanating from its seams.
A Mystery Chest.
Above it, glowing text appeared:
ALL TRIALS COMPLETE
Exit Portal Available
Behind the chest, a swirling portal had appeared.
Yamamoto approached the chest, wondering what he would get. Mystery chests were unpredictable by nature—they could contain anything appropriate to the dungeon's difficulty and the player's class and performance atimes. Most of the time, it was equipment, sometimes, consumables.
There was no need to think too much on it. As he reached to open the chest, it disappeared and appeared in his inventory. It was strange, but he didn't question it. He could open it in his inventory apparently, a feature that was new. He opened the chest and golden light spilled out in the animation, coalescing into two distinct forms. The first was a scroll covered in glowing runes, while the second was a small crystalline sphere.
Yamamoto picked the scroll first. It materialized into his hands, and the moment he touched it, information flooded into his mind:
…
[Skill Learned: Piercing Strike]
Channel your strength into a single, devastating thrust that ignores a portion of enemy defense.
Type: Active
MP Cost: 10
Effect: +10 Piercing Damage (ignores 20% of target's defense)
Cooldown: 1 minute
Level: 1 (Proficiency: 0/100)
…
Will You Like To Learn The Skill?
Yamamoto's eyes widened. It was a skill! His luck was already working for him, certainly!
"Learn."
The scroll crumbled to dust in his hands as the knowledge integrated into his mind.
'What a luck to get piercing strike now.'
The crystalline sphere, when he shattered it, it gave him free 5 stat points.
He didn't hesitate. Three points went into endurance—bringing it to 8 and giving him 150 more HP. Two points into vitality, raising it to 7 for better regeneration.
His HP pool jumped to 500 immediately.
With that done, he wanted to test his new skill out.
Yamamoto turned to the chamber wall and activated Piercing Strike. His sword almost glowed with a faint light, and he thrust forward with all his strength.
The blade sank into the solid stone wall up to an extent then stopped, punching a rough hole nearly six inches deep. When he pulled his sword free, the stone around the hole had cracked and fractured a bit.
"Damn," Yamamoto exclaimed to himself.
He tried Sword Slash next for comparison, delivering a powerful overhead strike to a different section of wall. It carved a rough arc, maybe an inch deep.
The difference was stark. Piercing Strike hit much harder. Against even an armored enemy, this would be devastating, and it would only get better the more his stats increased.
Satisfied, Yamamoto sheathed his sword and approached the exit portal, but before stepping through, he pulled up his status one more time:
..
[Status]
Character: Yamamoto Odinson
Race: Human
Title: Hired Assassin
Class: Swordsman
Level: 4
HP: 500/500
MP: 350/350
Strength: 10
Agility: 12
Endurance: 8
Intelligence: 5
Vitality: 7
Free Stat Points: 0
…
Level 4 with 500 HP and two active skills, life couldn't be any better.
With nothing left, Yamamoto stepped through the portal.
The transition was instantaneous. One moment he was in the glowing cave, the next he was standing on the shore of the lake, water lapping at his boots. It felt kind of different from when he entered, perhaps the water had played a part? he wasn't sure, and didn't really care much.
The portal behind him flickered once and vanished.
It was just past 12:30 AM. The dungeon had taken him less than twenty minutes from entry to exit.
Nevertheless, he needed to rest. Just like before, he found a tree with thick branches and good cover, climbed up until he was about twenty feet off the ground, and settled himself into a relatively comfortable position in the crook where a large branch met the trunk.
It wasn't ideal, but it was safer than the ground.
'I don't remember any snakes in these parts per-se… I just hope that hasn't changed.' He comforted himself.
He didn't fall asleep early, but eventually he did.