After the professor finished discussing the history, he left the room. Following the lecture, we headed to the cafeteria to eat, but when we arrived, the place was completely packed.
"Get in line! There's still a lot of food remaining here!" someone yelled.
"Bastard, stop pushing me around!" another student shouted back.
The students looked like they might start a literal war in here. Seeing the chaotic crowd made me lose my appetite entirely, so I decided it was better to just go outside.
As I was walking, I noticed an exceptional beauty walking around the campus grounds. There was a guy lingering closely beside her who looked incredibly strong. Figuring it was best to avoid trouble, I tried to steer clear, but the girl was heading along the same path as me. Suddenly, she reached out and grabbed my clothes.
"Hey, you're ignoring me," she said.
"Do I know you?" I asked, confused.
"Sigh. It seems you forgot about me, even though we've known each other since we were five years old. I still remember you perfectly."
"W-wait... if I'm not mistaken, you're the fat girl who always used to play with me in the park, right?"
"How rude! But yes, I am."
Before we could speak further, the guy beside her suddenly punched me in the gut. The impact was devastating; I felt like I almost died from his single punch.
"Hey, stop that, brother!" Anya snapped, pulling him back. "You know he's not on the same level as you."
"But this guy approached you familiarly," he grumbled.
"Sigh. You big idiot. You're exactly like father—both of you are total muscle-brains."
Her brother looked genuinely hurt by her words, but thanks to her intervention, I didn't end up dead on the spot.
"Hey, are you fine?" Anya asked, turning back to me."Yeah, I am."
"I thought you almost died from that punch."
"It was just a minor brush," I lied, wheezing.
It actually hurt terribly and felt like it almost killed me. I realized I really needed to enter a dungeon soon, especially since the cooldown of my exclusive skill was finally coming to an end.
"Should I take you to the infirmary?" she offered."
No need. I'm going home anyway."
"Then, goodbye, Lucas."
Despite what I told her, I did stop by the infirmary before leaving campus. The school nurse checked me over and said there was nothing to worry about, reassuring me that the small fracture would heal soon.
On my way out, I noticed a campus poster hanging on the wall. It stated that tomorrow, all students should prepare to enter a dungeon. The timing was perfect; my skill's weekly restriction cooldown was set to disappear tomorrow morning.
I hurried away because my stomach wouldn't stop rumbling loudly, which was starting to make me embarrassed. I headed straight to the marketplace to buy some food, since my dorm fridge was completely empty.
While I was browsing, a street vendor insisted that I buy a specific skill book for just 10 points. Since it was cheap, I paid the points anyway and headed home with my purchases.
I stocked the fresh food in the fridge and immediately started cooking a meal, since I was getting incredibly hungry. After finishing my food, I picked up the cheap skill book, [Mana Circle], to test it out. I channeled a portion of my energy into the text.
[Mana Circle]: Increases your maximum mana capacity by 10% per circle. Maximum of 10 circles.
This skill looked like it would definitely come in handy during battle. After successfully learning it, I went straight to sleep. I still needed to prepare thoroughly for tomorrow's dungeon raid.
Later that night, my phone buzzed. I answered the call from the unknown number and asked who it was. The voice on the other end identified herself as Anya.
"Oh, it's you, Anya."
"Of course it's me! The reason I called you is that I want you to party up with me when we're inside the dungeon tomorrow."
"Why?"
"I want to apologize for what happened yesterday. It's just that my brother is insanely overprotective. Even my father is like that; they don't want me going near any guys."
"It's fine. I would probably do the exact same thing if you were my sister."
"You definitely should! Ah, I forgot to mention—you need to arrive at the gate at 8:00 AM sharp. Just don't be late."
She hung up before giving me any specific coordinates. Where exactly was I supposed to go? Anya didn't even tell me the designated meeting location; she was still a big idiot.
The next morning, I arrived at the school entrance. It seemed every student was prepared, and the campus buses were already lined up and ready to depart. Suddenly, a luxury car approached the crowd and screeched to a halt right in front of me.
"Hey, stop staring at me. Hop in!" Anya called out, rolling down the window.
All the surrounding students were completely shocked, including my classmates. A few guys glared at me with pure envy, even though she was just an old childhood friend. As I climbed into the back seat, I realized we weren't alone.
"You are Lucas Ferios," a booming voice spoke from the front seat. "You just became a player a few days ago, and it seems you are far too weak to become her boyfriend."
Who was this person? Was he Anya's father? I hadn't noticed him when I first stepped inside the car.
"Ah, Lucas, this person is my father," Anya introduced. "He will be coming along after us. I forgot to mention that he is an official executive here at the academy."
I quickly greeted her father, but he turned and stared at me with furious, terrifying eyes that made me freeze in my seat.
"Father, stop staring at Lucas like that! He is not the kind of person you think he is," Anya scolded.
"I'm sorry, my little princess," he replied, his tone instantly softening.
"Hmph. By the way, Lucas, I want to give you this," she said, handing me a ring.
It looked like an ancient ring. I had never seen an item of this specific design before. Why would Anya give me this kind of artifact? It looked far too precious to just give away.
"Ah, Anya, why are you giving me this ring?"
"It might protect you while you're inside the dungeon," she said simply.
I focused my attention on the item, and its attributes materialized in my vision.
Type: Ring
Rank: B
Name: Fate of Life
Effect: Increases all base stats by 20 and increases overall damage by 50%. When user HP drops below 25%, you will gain a protective shield and your damage output will increase by an additional 300%.
When we arrived at the site, a massive crowd of students was already waiting outside the portal to increase their levels.
"Everyone, form a party of up to five members! Those who want to solo, step over here to prepare!" an instructor shouted.
I needed to get stronger as fast as possible. Should I solo this run? Gathering my courage, I decided to take the risk and stepped into the solo queue. When I passed through the portal and entered the dungeon, the monsters inside were massive.
I immediately readied my build. I activated [Aura Body], prepared [Force Strike], and queued up [Thrust Leap]. I'm ready. Here goes nothing...
Eh!? A one-hit kill?
[System Notification]: You have gained 5 random stats automatically, which will be distributed shortly.
[Str 44] -> [Str 46]
[Dex 43] -> [Dex 44]
[Luk 44] -> [Luk 46]
Wait, five stats? How many points were left until I hit my weekly threshold? I checked my interface: [Soul Extract Capacity: 1/100]. What? The counter only went up by 1? I thought it would count as 5 because of the stat points gained. Ahh, I forgot—the capacity counter increases based on the number of souls absorbed, while the stat points given depend directly on the quality of the soul.
Over the next few hours, I hunted relentlessly. I killed 57 monsters in total, completely maxing out my weekly limit and gaining a massive 152 random stats across the board. I opened my interface to review the final build.
Name: Lucas Ferios
Class: Restricted
Title: [Goblin Slayer 2]
Level: 21
[Hp 918], [Mp 236]
Stats: [Str 44], [Int 43], [Vit 42], [Wis 42], [Dex 43], [Agi 47], [Luk 44]
Skill: [Thrust leap], [Force strike], [Fireball], [Wind blade], [Aura body], [Camouflage], [Mana Circle]
Ex Skill: [Soul Extract], [Time of Life and Death]
Rp: 0
I was definitely growing stronger. With my weekly cap filled, I wondered if I should challenge the boss's room.
When I finally arrived at the deepest chamber, the dungeon boss loomed before me. It was absolutely massive compared to the standard monsters I had been fighting. It instantly became clear that I wouldn't have survived this encounter if I hadn't unlocked those extra stats beforehand.
I leaped into the fray. A minute passed, then another, as I continuously traded blows with the creature. It was an incredibly brutal fight; the boss's hide was too thick, and I couldn't figure out where its structural weakness was located. My HP rapidly plummeted down to a dangerous 198.
Looking at my health bar, an idea struck me. Maybe I should purposely trigger the high-risk effect of Anya's ring.
Holding my breath, I intentionally slashed my own palm with my dagger. My HP dropped sharply down to 173, falling below the 25% threshold. Instantly, the ring flared to life, granting me a shield and surging my total damage output by 485%. If this monster didn't die from my next attack, I was absolutely going to be the one who ended up dead.
Suddenly, my eyes caught a small opening—there was an exposed wound hidden on the monster's back.
I channeled everything I had left, driving my attack directly into the exposed wound. The creature shuddered and instantly collapsed into dust. My strike had landed a massive critical hit, but I never expected the raw damage multiplier would let me kill a dungeon boss in a single blow.
A crisp system chime echoed through the empty chamber. My level increased by 3 after slaying the creature, and I gained an additional 45 random stats. The sheer volume of the stat reward was staggering, but I figured it made sense since it was a true boss-level entity.